Wednesday, June 23, 2010

movie review : Badmaash Company.

Cast : Shahid Kapoor, Anushka Sharma, Vir Das & Meiyang Chang.




Direction : Parmeet Sethi.







I always said bikini's, short skirts, extremely tight tops are all fyn but atleast have a story around it. Well, this one had. I think so..



Trendy clothes, short tops & shorts(this ones for the lady.. uh, what's her name? umm..ummm.. oh, forget it), cool sunglasses, limos, casinos, blackjack, Bangkok, US that's it.


And yeah, the Indian Idol guy.. he's good.




Badde se badda buisness paise se nahi ek badde idea se badda hota hai.. yeah, whatever, dude.

Sunday, May 23, 2010

movie review : Houseful.

Cast : Akshay Kumar, Ritesh Deshmukh, Arjun Rampal, Lara Dutta, Deepika Padukone, Jiah Khan, Chunky Pandey



Director : Sajid Khan.







1. Locations : US, London, Italy.



2. Lara, Deepika & Jiah expose unnecessarily.



3. Akshay, Ritesh & Arjun go shirtless.




.. & yeah, a story built around this. That's pretty much about it.






P.S.
the monkey who slapped Kumar did a better job than Chunkey Pandey.





Saturday, May 1, 2010

The IPL-3 final -- Post Mortem.

MumbaiIndians v/s Chennai Super Kings



Location: D.Y.Patil, Navi Mumbai.






I
t was the last match of the maddening IPL -3 season. The MI blondie's were goin to dance & blow
kisses at the camera for one last tym. Sivamani was goin to irritate for one last tym. It was the last of many things & beginnings of some new careers, TV soaps, movies & a lyf apart IPL.




It was a perfect day for cricket. Being a Sunday the final was sure to attract some serious
cricket fans, some bored public, some Tendulkar(read: me) & Dhoni fans, some people who juswanted to watch a cricket match live & some stayin close to D.Y.Patil.



Although the first ball was to be bowled at 20:30, spectators began to thong the stadium

from 17: onwards or even before. The show started with some interviews of cricketing experts all dressedin classic black. Then there was performance of Bipasha Basu a.k.a kaali-billi. Bips, I loveyou. I love your hot-bod more but enough of that xposure, it's tym to wear some clothes,darling. Jus for a change. A.R.Rahman sung a few notes that were apparently live & Shahid danced later.If you ask me.. all these weren't required.

I was lookin out if my Zinta babe had turned up.
Sadly, she din't. She was required.




It was 19:30 then. I got a call from a friend. He wanted me to join him at a sports bar to

watch the final there. This completely disrupted my plans f wearing shorts, sittin with a
bowl f chips & watching the match at home.

We arrived at the bar. That friend f mine invited two other friends f his who were unknown
to me. Since Im a non-drinker(yes, Im proud to be a non-drinker & yes, Im a self-confessed health-freak), there i was sitting with an orange juice surrounded by delightfully high crowd. By ordering an orange juice I managed to invite a few surprised stares towards me.I dint bother as Im used to this, now.




The toss happened. Tendulkar lost the toss. I got a bad feeling right there & i was not

alone. Dhoni decided to bat first. He thinks lyk a fox, Im tellin you.



It was good start. Vijay & the mighty Hayden fallin cheaply. Hayden failed in this year's IPL.
Later, Raina dropped. Ball fell in between Fernando & Nayar both f whom thought the other would take the catch. Fernando was the culprit.I got a feelin Raina would make this count. I was wrong.Raina gave a nother chance. This tym, Zaheer dropped. Butter fingers, eh, i thought.I think it was a keeper's catch. Ambati Raydu, if only he were a
lil more xperienced he would have known that it was his catch. It's usually easy for
keepers to take a catch running backwards. Ultimately, I seemed lyk I wasn't wrong.
Raina made MI pay for their sloppy efforts on the field. C'mon now, you can't
drop a man-in-form catch twice in a same match.




I dint not quite understand Tendulkar's bowling changes. I mean, giving Bhajji the 1st over
was understood. But why slinga-Malinga was given the next one. When slinga-Malinga is so, so good at the death & Zaheer's so good with the new ball why Slinga instead f Zaheer. Zaheerwas given the 3rd over. Bhajji was taken outta attack followed by Malinga bowlin the 4th.I dint understand this. Tendulkar wasn't allowing his bowlers to settle. Even if its a 20over match, bowlers need to settle.




Dhoni opted to start the bowling with R.Ashwin, understandably, as the guy is in tremendous
form & has the guts to bowl at the start. Chubby-Bowlinger bowled the 2nd. Tendulkar played xtra cautiously.Shikar Dhawan forward defencing Ashwin. I mean, the guy's good but man, its a T20. 3 overs for 7runs. Shikar Dhawan played a careless shot thus giving chubby his 1st wicket. Big-eyed Murli bowled well. Jakarti was courageous. Sending in Bhajji to accelerate the innings was a good move. Bhajji failed. Raydu replaced him.Tendulkar had just hit a six in the over in which he got out why was there a need for him to play the half-hearted shot. Another bad decision. Following this came a nother one when he sent Duminy before Pollard. Duminy is a good batsman but he wasn't required at that stage of the match. What was required was a hard-hittin batsman who cared a damn for the bowler's reputation.


Sometyms you don't need Stewards, you need alsatians. This was jus that moment. Tendulkar failed to read this opportunity & consequently MI lost the finals & won a huge disapointed crowd.




Mistakes was all MI committed during the final but it was the brilliant mind f MS Dhoni

that capitalised on those opportunities. Bowling changes, field placements were jus great.

Dhoni is a good skipper.





And in the end.. it was all yellow.





Mistakes:

1. Malinga not bowling in the death overs.

2. Zaheer not given the new ball.


3. Raina dropped twice.


4. Slow-start.


5. Failin to convert 1's to 2's by Tendulkar & Nayar.


6. Tendulkar playing a careless shot


7. Pickin Nayar instead of Bravo.


8. Duminy sent instead f Pollard.


9. Ambati Rayudu wanting the strike when he has someone lyk Pollard at the other end.


10. Brilliant captaincy by Dhoni.






.. all this forces me to think -- was the match fixed?

movie review : Death at a funeral.

Cast: Matthew MacFadyen, Peter Dinklage, Ewen Bremner, Rupert Graves



Direction: Frank Oz





The actors were British. I could tell from the accent & by their stiff-upper lips which never moved no matter what. The movie was British. I could tell from the type.





Daniel played by Matthew MacFadyen, arranges his Father's funeral at which he gets a wrong casket delivered at first. His
Brother, Robert played by Rupert Graves, who is a well known novelist in New-york travels 1st class to get to the funeralbut claims poverty when Daniel asks him to pay half the amount for the funeral. Daniel's wife, KeeleyHawes, stalks him throughout the film asking him whether he booked 'em a new flat after Daniel had once promised her that he would take her out of his mother's house. The reverend adds to Daniel's trouble when he asks him to hurry up with the details coz he has to be
some place else by 3pm. The most striking guest is the dwarf played by Peter Dinklage, who shows up uninvited.



The movie's best twist comes when Peter reveals that he was his deceased father's gay-lover & has photos of 'em in
compromising positions as evidence which he threatens to show it to everyone at the funeral if he's not payed 15,000 pounds.In the chaos of tying up Peter & not giving him the money and keeping him a secret from other people, Peter accidentally bangshis head against a corner f a glass table and dies. The way they put him off is also fun.



In the meantime, Simon(Mr. Tudyk), Martha's(Daisy Donovan), going-to-be husband is drugged when Martha gives him Valium which actually
is a illegal experimental hallucinogen found at her Troy's(Kris Marshall) place who is freelance chemist. This drug makes Simon laugh, go naked & threaten to jump off the roof at the funeral. This totally ruins Simon's plan f creating a good reputation in front f Martha's uptight father. Simon is brilliant in the film.


During this Troy looses the bottle f Valium which he carried & searches it

everywhere which creates quite a nuisance. Since all British comedies must have at least one cast member of Love Actually in the film (I think that’s an unofficial rule), Kris Marshall plays Martha’s drug-dealing grad student brother Troy.




Another character Justin who is madly in love with Martha & follows her everywhere even when she is dealing with drugged
Simon. Daniel's best friend Howard(Andy Nyman), has a skin condition which he's quite concerned about and goes around at the funeral asking if anyone could provide a solution to his problem. Uncle Alfe(Peter Vaughan), is a bad word giving old-head who makes Howard's life miserable.






It was British comedy at it's best. The sometimes predictable script could, however, be tighter.






P.S.
Still, in "Death at a Funeral," Oz has created a fun and well-made film, with a pleasant and
oh-so-British vibe, transforming what could be the grimmest of situations into a jolly good time.

Saturday, April 24, 2010

movie review : How to lose a guy in 10 days.

Cast : Kate Hudson, Matthew McConaughey


Direction : Donald Petrie






T
his is based on the book by Michelle Alexander and Jeannie Long.



Ms. Hudson plays Andie Anderson, who writes how-to columns for a famous women's magazine called Composure. A journalism graduate, Andie yearns to write about more substantial topics than shoes, orgasms and yoga. She refers to this as -- i want to write anything I want. But her editor is looking out for topics in her magazine that would increase its sales than Ms. Hudson's interests.

The recent break-up of her co-worker gives Andie the idea to write a topic for the magazine -- how to lose a guy in 10 days.
For that she decides to get hold of a man, make him fall in love with her and then through a combination of clinginess and psychotic behavior, drive him away. All this within 10 days.




Ben Barry (Mr. McConaughey) works in an advertising firm which is going after a big jewelry account. Ben,to get away from a pair of scheming women, makes a bet that he can make any woman (read: Andie) fall in love with him in those same ten days.

Oh the irony, how delicious. Wait, it gets better: this film was based on a book.




In truth, there are about twenty minutes in the middle of this shipwreck that work well. The disruption of a boys-only
poker night, the creation of a virtual "family album," and the redoing of Benjamin's apartment in estrogen are strokes of mad brilliance. The visit to that family, by the way, is one of the more unlikely turning points in the entire antagonistic love affair.

Andie's other ways to repulse Ben include herself turnin into a weepy monster, sending him off to
buy her a soda in the final seconds of a close Knicks game, sniffling over the rack of lamb Ben had prepared for their second date and giving his penis an embarrassing nickname.

You can't nickname our member "Princess Sophia". Ben, Im with ya.





The film advertises ''Sleepless in Seattle'' whose executive producer, Lynda Obst, also produced this movie.



This movie tries to tell the tale f a man and a woman's behaviour. But Sex and the city had, already, set high standards
which this movie could not meet.



If you suspect you've already seen this movie a hundred times, you probably have.



P.S. discreet sexual references and scenes and some profanity.

Friday, January 29, 2010

movie review : Tera kya hoga Johnny.

Cast : Neil Nitin Mukesh, Kay Kay Menon, Shahna Goswami, Sudhir Mishra, Anurag Kashyap, Sikandar Agarwal, Soha Ali Khan, Saurabh Shukla, Karan Nath.




Direction : Sudhir Mishra



If you've seen Johnny Gaddar, Oye Lucky oye!, 99 you'll probably realise that this film belongs to the same genre. I wonder if this is the new formula for commercial success.. making these kinda films & attracting audiences. No complaints, we love these kinda films.




Johnny (played by Sikandar Agarwal), the title character is a kid who makes his living in Mumbai serving tea during the night. His job brings him closer
to a few of his customers – a drug addict, Vishal (Karan Nath), a model/ actor, Preeti (Soha Ali Khan) and Parvez (Neil Nitin Mukesh). Johnny hopes that someday one of his customers would help him find a better life and send him to work in Dubai. It's with this intention that he maintains a good relationship with all his customers. There's narration from Johnny’s perspective. This is probably the only part that made the writing look a tad sloppy.
Johnny’s customers include Begum(Saurabh Shukla), the trans-gender ‘madam’ operating a brothel and Chiple (Kay Kay Menon), a corrupt police officer. Parvez carries on an extramarital relationship with Chiple’s wife Divya (Shahana Goswami). (Why does Neil always get to charm other men's wives, remember Johhny Gaddar?) Parvez, with Johnny’s help steals the money from Chiple's apartment where he stores his corrupt earnings from bribes. Preeti and Vishal on the other hand share a live-in relationship. A TV Network owner (Sudhir himself) exploits Preeti’s vulnerability. But what I can't really understand is – Why her? Vishal’s client played by Aditya Bhattacharya whose business dealings are to collect money that he lends to others? But again, why de lend 'em the money on the first place. Anurag Kashyap makes a cameo as Sudhir’s henchman.





There are a couple f scene related to sex shown in the film. The drug dealer, besides giving blow jobs to Begum. Then there is Johnny’s friend, another
struggling kid, whose only characterization in the movie is that a middle-aged man sexually abuses him. While we are with the subject of sexual abuse, Johnny himself comes close to getting raped by a police officer.




This film is in no comparison with Sudhir's Hazarron Khwahishen Aisi but you will walk away pleased.

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

movie review : Raat gayi, baat gayi.

Cast: Rajat Kapoor, Dalip Tahil, Vinay Pathak, Anu Menon, Navneet Nishan, Neha Dhupia, Iravati Harshe



Director: Saurabh Shukla



This movie had all the right actors and a good script but somehow dint click.





I'll tell u about the scene where i almost clapped --With her husband sitting beside, the wife quickly turns up to a waiter at a coffee shop, holds his
hand, smiles and bluntly passes him on her phone number. She looks at the husband then, and asks, “Now do you know how it feels to be hurt?”

There’s a touch of universal truth in that moment. It sort of explains why women should feel more betrayed when cheated on. They can quite often get
whoever they want. Whether married, single, old or ugly, the fairer sex is rarely short of attention. They’re still seldom bowled over by flattery by male hunters."Some" Men slip as easily as one could imagine.





I dint quite connect with the scene wherein at the coffee shop itself when Anu gets up and goes Vinay sings "jaane kyu log pyaar karte hai" and
something happens to her, she comes and hugs him. I wonder, what emotion arose within her.




That gentleman (Vinay Pathak) at the cafe, an unexplained moron in his manners, is kicked out of his house, caught chatting up a soft-porn stranger,
Jennifer on the Internet. His best friend Kapoor (Rajat Kapoor) has a bigger issue to deal with. A married Kapoor has absolutely no memory of an eventful night(previous night) beyond a point. He can’t recall whether he did (or did not) bed this unknown, mysterious girl (Neha Dhupia), who’d apparently walked in blank-faced, in a backless dress, and who’d found Mr Kapoor’s first name Rahul, “interesting”. Drifting away a lil, Neha, you
looked hot as hell, sister! Iravati Harshe still looks gorgeous. Navneet Nishan plays her role superbly.





The movie revolves around Rajat calling around, moving back & forth on the memory of the party, going from one apartment to another with a backdrop
of a Pakistani soft-music.





The party looks fake. The film makers couldn't show the Question in the form of a point that has troubled women all over for centuries together --
Why are all men the same?, efficiently.




This flick neither touches nor tickles enough.







P.S. get us Hangover, any day.