Monday, November 30, 2009

movie review: Wake up Sid!





Cast: Ranbir Kapoor, Konkona Sen Sharma, Supriya Phatak, Anupam Kher.




Direction: Ayan Mukherji







I
t's a refreshing film. I, personally, watched it for Konkana Sen Sharma for I consider her to b
one f the finest actresses in Bollywood.




For a change, Ranbir acts & for a nother change he doesn't give a
"Im-a-fuckin'-moron-i-do-not-understand-shit" kinda look newhere in the film. Oh-uh my bad, he does once & that's where Konkana tells him "apna expression change karo, pagal lag rahe ho". C'mon
now, Konkana dint mean 'pagal' she meant the look i mentioned above but i guess she ain't that blunt lyk me.





The movie starts off in Farhan's "Lakshya" style. Lazy youth(Ranbir) -- son f a rich businessman -- not
bothered about his life -- no ambition for his future -- spends his father's money on expensive cars, clubbing -- fails in his college exams -- then cut 2, steps in a girl(Konkana) -- changes the way he thinks & gets him back on track.
So, there's nothin new in the film. Everbody in the theatre knew
that when the movie would end Ranbir would b successful after he found his "lakshya".. oops, "goal" is the word used in the film & it's not my dimpled darlin' who says it. The movie would have been dull but Ranbir puts up a fine display of acting on screen. He carries the jus-outta-bed-look efficiently thru'out the film. Konkana plays a sincere & hardworking girl who comes down to Mumbai from Kolkata to earn a loving and befriends Ranbir.




There is an amazing scene between Ranbir & his on-screen mother played by Supriya Phatak where
Ranbir snaps at her for arranging his wardrobe & the next moment realises his fault and quickly goes and apologises by giving her one f his t-shirt to fold. Amazing, aye? Watch it to feel it.




The movie has a bit of hiccups though like Konkana buys a apartment and floods it with expensive
furniture.. no, if u had that kinda cashish then why did she have come all the way to Mumbai to search for a job. Kashmira Shah is unwanted in the film. And the scene in which a lil boy purposely rings Kashmira's doorbell just to see in her in liltle clothing is gross.




The movie is, definitely, a one tym watch with yor buddies.




Like i said above about the movie it's.. uh, uh.. whats the word? Refreshing.. yes, refreshing.


Sunday, October 25, 2009

movie review: Vicky Cristina Barcelona

Cast: Rebecca Hall, Scarlett Johansson, Penelope Cruz, Javier Bardem



Director: Woody Allen







Vicky Cristina Barcelona -- The Portrait of Two Ladies.




This film is typical of a lot of Woody's mid-range work. It involves affluent characters at various levels of sophistication, involved in the arts and the intrigues of love.






The movie shows two women Vicky & Cristina, both best f friends, but think differently when talked about love. Vicky is shown to be a very earnest & sensible woman with the pitch-perfect American accent that the new generation of Brit professionals has mastered while Cristina is portrayed as a saucy blonde, sexually-adventurous kind.


Wilderness of a heart that knows what it wants even when the rest of the body does not! Sensible Vicky (Rebecca Hall) insists that she knows what she wants - her dull fiancee in New York, for one while dreamy Cristina (Scarlett Johansson) does not.





The two girls go to Barcelona, the lovely Spanish city to spend their weekend. But their adventures don't start until they meet Juan Antonio (Javier Bardem) who plays the picasso-ish artist who floors 'em when he expresses his desire to take the girls out for a weekend where they would also engage in love-making. On this Vicky feels offended but it raises a girlish excitement in Cristina. Before you think this to be a love triangle, hold your horses. C'mon, Woody ain't that stupid. Maria Elena (Penelope), Juan's ex-wife, steps in with a tousled hair and thus the screen lights up. She makes you want to lick the screen. Boy, she looks combustible. Phew! Everything she does and says seems to mean more, count for more. Penelope plays a sexy siren with a pulse of a real woman. She alters between speakin Spanish & English with a lovely voice. Maria's & Juan's scenes are the best in the movie. They quarrel in Spanish which is a pleasure to watch.

Penelope won an Oscar for this film. Watch it and you'll know why.






In the meantym, Vicky, leaving her guilt aside, has already made love to Juan and as a result falls in love with him. Juan on the other hand likes Cristina more and advices Vicky to forget him & marry Doug, her NY based fiancee which she finds hard to do. But she does. They get engaged but Vicky cant resist thinking bout Juan. Juan meanwhile juggles between Cristina and Maria. Maria and Cristina kiss. This would make you lick the screen. Yeah.. yet again.



Mr. Allen also uses narrative story telling to fill in the gaps.





Witty script, excellent photography, unexpected arrivals and developments and brilliant acting makes the film watchable. This is one film you wouldn't want to miss. The actors are attractive, the city is magnificent, the love scenes don't get all sweaty, and everybody finishes the summer a little wiser and with a lifetime of memories. I mean.. what's not to quite like?


If u ask me to describe the film in a word, the word would be 'Passionate'






P.S
. Mild violence, discreet sex.

Friday, September 18, 2009

Monday, August 17, 2009

I see red.














An hour at the bus-stop.

It wasn't an hour to b honest.. it was just bout 30min's. But i couldn't think f a better title than this. I remember many tyms writing an essay on this topic while in skool.





I was waiting for a girl-friend f mine at the bus stop. The bus stop was the nearest landmark that she managed to give me. So there i was. Punctual that
Im.. i reached on tym. As is custom, girls always come late. I stood patiently for 10min's, then i saw a seat empty.. u now they have these new bus stops, seems like a T20 dug out, with a seat within.. so, i went sat on it. I noticed, i wonder why dint i notice this while i was standing, a man, a old man in his early 60's, may b, would shout on top of his voice & urge people to get in the bus.. "maaro dhakka" he used to scream everytym a bus halted at the bus stop. I bet that did put a lot f presure on his lungs. He coughed twice every tym he shouted. He even used to shout at the people already in the bus askin 'em to move forward so that the bus could accommodate more people. He did the same for every bus that came at the bus stop. I think, he was probably retired and had nothing to do post dinner.





For the ladies at the bus stop, he used be a lil polite & ask them to board the bus from the front door & would even ask them to wave their hand at
the bus if they wanted the bus to stop for lil longer. He even said this to a boy in his teens to which the boy replied " mein ladki thodi na hun.. mere haath dhikane par woh bus thodi na rokhega". Quite true, i must say. The old man laufd out loud over this. Coughed once after that.





A particular bus saw the man's wrath. The bus dint have it's number & it's destination lightened. This drew him crazy. He got up from his seat went up
to the front door to reach for the driver & shouted at him "eh, salla light on nahi karta hai". The bus driver dint pay attention. He, probably, heard this everyday.





He also had a friend seated next to him. He was also doin the same but he dint shout that much as this old head. He also met some other people at the
bus stop. I think, the old man did this everyday & hence got acquainted with the regulars over there. I even noticed that he carried a whistle with him. In case, there was too much notice & if he felt that shouting would cause his lungs to pop out he would blow the whistle instead. Smart!!




There was this lady standing outsyd the bus dug out who was waiting there for a long tym. I was busy noticing the old head to catch some more non-sense
of his. In the mean tym i heard a voice "Bhaiya, sunno". I looked around to see who's the brother & the sister. It was me. She had addressed me lyk that & asked me to notify her if i saw a particular bus arriving. I nodded my head & thought 'okay, sister'. After bout 4Min's, my newly-found-sister's bus arrived & lyk a good newly-found-brother, i brought that to her notice. But, she couldn't board the bus. With all the men jumping to get in, my sister dint stand a chance. Then our man spoke. He said "aage se chaddo aap". She heard, dint react, moved back and stood next to me.






After bout 2 more Min's the old head got up. I was lost in my thoughts by then. He crossed me & went out of the bus dug out & asked the lady "kya
hua?". She explained to him her grievance. He offered some solution, came back, crossed me again, told his friend that he offered up a solution, both smiled. I bet, the lady found that man extremely helpful. I could tell that from her face.






It was the 29th minute of my wait. She came. A smile, a sorry and a hug did the trick for her. I forgot that she made me wait for 30 damn minutes
watch all the non-sense. A chatty cathy that she is, she immediately started chatting as I thought 'Man, I wouldn't wanna live that long to find out that I, actually, don't have nothing to do'.




I wonder what happened after i left. Did my newly-found-sister get her bus? Did the old man got tired & stop shouting? Did he go home? Did he realise
that the person seated 3 feet away from him was laufin at him?





She: .. so, what do you think?


Me: uh.. uh..

movie review : Public Enemies.

Cast: Johnny Depp, Billy Crudup, Christian Bale



Director: Michael Mann





S
eduction by machine gun would be the movie's other name. Shot in high-definition digital by a filmmaker who’s helping change the way movies look.




Johnny Depp is brilliant, Christian Bale is wasted, Billy Crudup is terrific in the film.






The story centers on two dramatic antagonists, low-voltage Dillinger(Johnny Depp) the Indiana farm boy and Melvin Purvis (a remote Christian Bale), the
F.B.I. agent who doggedly, if often ineptly, led the hunt for America’s most wanted. Johnny Depp is shown as the robin-hood style bank robber. Billy Crudup stars as the young J Edgar Hoover, then the head of the fledgling FBI and Christian Bale plays the agent in charge of bringing Dillinger to justice. This cat and mouse also has a love angle to it between Dillinger and Billie, the beautiful girl played by Marion Cottilard. I must admit, the romance shown between the two f 'em constitute the finest scenes in the film.






Johnny Depp plays Dillinger with a charm and Mann doesn't miss 'em. A striking short scene of a wounded escapee being dragged alongside the speeding
car while Dillinger and another man struggle to pull him up. In the most startling shot, Mr. Mann places the camera right next to the fallen man, pointing it up at Dillinger’s dark, ominous figure as he almost blots out that blue sky. Dillinger holds on until the man’s grip wilts, the dead body slipping away in one direction as the car races off in the other. Laying the blame elsewhere, he next tosses another man out of the moving car.






The relationship between Dillinger and a hatcheck girl named Billie Frechette eats up considerable time. Mr. Depp looks good as Dillinger — few
contemporary actors can play such a character as persuasively — but the performance sneaks up on you, inching into your system scene by scene. The same holds true of "Public Enemies", which looks and plays like no other American gangster film I can think of. At the end, Dillinger grins wryly at a black-and-white picture with Clark Gable as the kind of gangster who could only have been invented by the movies, a gangster who is as false as the bullets that finally stopped Dillinger were real.






What I dint like in d movie is this .. Johnny Depp manages to escape a flurry of bullets, and plays cat and mouse with the feds by hiding in plain sight.

C'mon man, these kinda crap is shown in Bollywood.





Remark
: Public enemies is not-so-great film. It's an enjoyable blow-'em-up film for action fans. Watch it only if you are a Johnny Depp fan.

Sunday, August 9, 2009