What's your Raashee?

Watched What's your Raashee? yesterday. Again, kinda unplanned. Being an AG movie, the expectations were a bit on the higher side. We missed a few minutes of the movie (with which I have no issues) and the trailers (to which I strongly object). Google said the show begins at 12:30, my ticket said 1 O'clock, so I guess the powers that be at Rahul decided to take an average and began the show at some time in between.

The story of the movie is simple. A faaren return guy wants to marry in India, and that in a hurry, and he has recently learned that each Rashee has its own distinct characteristics, so putting his newfound knowledge in practice, he decides to meet one girl of each Rashee. The question of why an Univ. of Chicago MBA chooses to believe in astrology is not answered. But the handling is good. The movie is lengthy, like most AG flicks, more than 3.5 hrs, but I did not get bored. Little subplots are nicely integrated with the main theme. AG's acute observation of aam aadmi (so called mango people), and attention to detail (just to take one example, how two different characters from different backgrounds pick a champagne glass. A seemingly trivial thing, not at all important to the narrative, but I think that's the way to perfection). Priyanka has done justice to all the twelve different characters she plays. Even Harman is good. If you've watched his earlier movies, you'll notice how much he has improved. I think the guy has great potential, but needs to be careful of who he chooses to work with.

Overall, this is paisa vasool movie, a good timepass (thanks partly to the length :p). Again, this stands somewhere in between must watch and passe, and again having no brighter ideas for tags, I'll put it in must watch. So go and watch it and have a nice time. Just remember one thing, astro-vastro sab bakwas hai :p.

Donnie Darko

No, I'd never heard that name before...and neither does it ring any bells. Heard of the movie from Hemant and since his previous movie choices were outstanding I gave this one too a try.
This movie is nice. Its different and there are a variety of ways the watcher can interpret the concept.
Basic theme is time travel. But its done so well, without ridiculing any beliefs/concepts and so clean is the direction that its definitely worth much more accolades. Now I don't know if anyone else had heard about the movie before. Has anyone?
As for the actors, they are good. The lead protagonist Jake Gyllenhaal, we'll call him Donnie has performed very well. At first I found his acting too sleepy, but then as the movie proceeds you realise that his performance befits his character in the movie. He has done very well in showing a slow paced progression in emotions of a troubled teenager.
The movie starts slow, but it picks up speed speedily and then keeps you guessing till then end. And when the end comes, you are left clueless as to what it meant, what was it! And that's when you make your own interpretation of the movie. So I suggest a must watch!
My interpretation follows from here. I suggest you don't read it until when you have seen the movie and formed your own.
What I made of the movie is that, the whole movie was Donnie's dream. He knew he is afraid of being alone. And hence he made his own fictional character called Charlie Frank. Or even better the whole movie was like a glimpse he saw of his life as he wanted it to be, just before he died. If anyone thinks differently please feel free to write :)
After you are done with your reasonings, you have to read this. There's a bit too much explanation and I found it confusing too. But, the article tells me that the concept of the movie is not as simple as I thought it is but rather a complicated one with time loops and stuff. Do read.

Up up and above...

That's precisely what happens in this movie. If you don't want spoilers don't click the link. Ok, the movie we're talking about here is UP. Its an animated entertainer. The 3D effects add to it.
Yes, people might say its a kiddie's watch, but I beg to differ. It does tickle your funny bone, no matter your age. Its cute and sweet and kiddish and funny and enjoyable.
The movie theme is simple, just tells you to go and chase your wildest dreams once in your lifetime and no its never too late to do so. The small kid is fun with his 'ohh so smart of me' dialogues. The old guy is much more fun with his 'yes, I know you think you're smart' dialogues.
And the dogs doing all weird stuff is fun to watch. Throughout the movie imaginations runs wild and the scenic beauty is just too beautiful! Pay attention to the mild rainbow that just shows up when you first see the waterfall. Its breathtaking!
I wouldn't want to write more, that's because then I would put in spoilers, which I don't want to.
So all I can say is, go and enjoy the movie. I bet one time is not enough, you would surely want to watch it again :)

Enigma

As the name suggests, the movie plot is truly brilliantly inexplicable. The story revolves around a young cryptanalyst who is trying to decrypt German codes as well as the mystery surrounding the woman he loves.
It is fascinating to see the machine called 'enigma' used to decrypt intercepted messages. You put in the settings and then press the same letter twice but each time it outputs a different character. Nice, I loved it!
I also liked the mystery girl and her involvement in the whole plot, though she wasn't present physically throughout. The puzzle as to what the motive for a traitor could be and the journey towards discovering the traitor is built up well.
The movie also throws some light on the unfortunate 'Katyn Massacre' wherein thousands of Polish officers were murdered, and the government denied the mass murders.
I also liked the way the appalling state of the male protagonist is portrayed, when his lady love leaves him, since he denies discussing government secrets with her.
I recommend a must watch just for directorial and story telling intelligence.

Race To Witch Mountain

**Warning, there are spoilers if you intend to watch the movie.
This is another alien movie I watched over the weekend. And after watching District 9, this movie just falls flat on its face. Okay, aliens don't need to look like insects with antennas etc., they could look human is what this movie suggests.
Aliens can no more survive on their planet because of the atmospheric changes there, and so they are looking for a new habitat. Of course earth is their favorite choice, but these two child aliens know how it is so wrong to invade another's land. So they come looking for something that would prove to the aliens how life on their planet can be sustained.
They come to earth and are helped by a taxi driver "The Rock" and a astrophysicist "Carla Gugino". The script is very weak and hence fails to utilize acting talent. The special effects are also way too normal and fails to create a must watch movie. The direction is not bad and the screenplay is fine too. There is a government official too that is chasing the aliens as they are a must have biological experiment. There is so much confusion and so many people and so many missions that you fail to understand why they were all made part of one small movie like this.
My suggestion is there is nothing to watch, except if you just want a nice airconditioned seat ;)

Another mushy romantic movie

I watched P.S.I Love You just because I had seen books with the same name, supposedly based on the movie. And I had seen so many of them so too often, that I somehow felt the movie is a must watch!
The movie starts by showing how inseparable Hillary Swank(Holly) and Gerard Butler(Gerry) are. One moment they are swearing at each other and the next they are in each others arms. But then suddenly Holly's world is devastated. She is left alone. Gerry is no more. This feeling is the remaining part of the movie.
The movie moved me...as it showed how one can love someone so truly that he could anticipate her every move even after he was dead. The movie also tries to portray how one feels when someone loses their most valued possession.
The funniest thing I remember is when Holly is trying to find a profession she likes. her options display the likes of 'vampire slayer' which is hilarious.
The screenplay with past and present intermingled is good. All other characters play their part well. I liked the part where Holly's mother tries and tells her how she felt when she lost her husband. The only thing the movie portrays is that life moves on even if we don't. Its upto us to move against the current or with it.

The  movie is good, but it hardly comes close to pinching your tear glands. It just passes by without leaving much of an impact. So I would recommend a one time watch for someone who enjoys romantic movies. Others don't waste your time.

The Game Plan

This movie stars 'The Rock' and Maddison Petis. Maddison Petis as peyton plays a wonderful job of a daughter in serach of love oh her father. She's cute, and witty and intelligent and smart and uses her head to think not only for herself but for everyone's well being.
This movie is nothing out of the world. It has a character who is very self centered, so much so that his wife abandons him and doesn't even inform him that he has a daughter. All he knows is his game, his championship and his workouts. All he thinks about is his image and how he could use this image to earn money and fame. All's going well when suddenly out of nowhere his daughter pops out and he is forced to look after her. The  the usual daughter troubles father and father still succumbs to daughter's please etc are good to see. Especially when the daughter is so cute and enacts her role very well.
The movie has a happy ending when the father realises how he cannot live without his daughter and all of a sudden he realises how selfish he has been over the years.
This story is a bit too predictive and has forced moments of laughter and the art of balle dancing pushed in for no rhyme or reason. However it can make an enjoyable family viewing.

Not just another Alien movie

Aliens are humans. Watched District 9 yesterday. Thanks to Vodafone Tuesday, we had to pay for only three tickets, for six people. For one thing, this movie does not have aliens wanting to conquer earth, but aliens accidentally trapped here. They are pretty human like too, I mean, they manage to survive in Earth's atmosphere without special suits, they have similar body structure to that of humans (though all are size 0, thanks to Rabbitt for pointing out), even red blood. Hell, they even understand English. They love their kids like we do, they care for their friends like we do. And they want to go home, just like we do.

And there are humans. The hero (or at least the main character) is no mahaatma , just an ordinary guy, with ordinary hopes and fears, which was a big relief. Being a Peter Jackson movie, fundoo special effects are to be expected. The cinematography is good, keeps you glued to your seats. I liked the sound effects too. And the poignant humor. We meet people betraying their own daughter, others eating alien flesh thinking they will get alien powers this way, still others hunting an innocent man like a dog. As I said, sometimes, Humans are aliens.

Y.M.I - Why do I exist if I make no change?

Yes, that's precisely what I felt. Why do I exist if I cannot make a change, if I cannot try and improve the current state the country is in? And the movie gives hope, hope that good exists, hope that we are progressing in our beliefs, hope that we will remove the biases and prejudices of caste and creed and live together harmoniously.
And after watching a gem of a movie like this one, it seems bollyworld isn't dead after all.
It has all hard hitting facts. And yes they hit you hard in the face. These are the facts you have all seen and/or experienced at one time or another. Do we believe in goodness? No, we believe in doing unto others what they have done to us. But this movie teaches differently.
It starts with a very funny and cleverly told story which says "You know why I believe God exists? I have proof because I went to India. There is so much hatred there. A hindu hates a muslim and the muslim hates a hindu. A car driver hates an autorickshaw wallah. A person residing in a state hates people who have come from a different state. Now when there is so much hatred, but yet the country is progressing...it has to be God who is working this wonder!" This gives you a gist of the movie right. Yes, that's precisely what the movie hits at.
Every aspect is very well portrayed. All the characters are well built and they have enacted their roles extremely well. Credit goes to the director for the same. There are a couple of parallel running stories that seem to be independent. But all the threads reach a common point. It is a story of one day in the life of Mumbai.
The dialogues are very precise and to the point and have an everlasting effect on your mind. Consider these "Bura majhab nahi hota, insaan hota hai", "Jisne is daur ke insaan ko paida kiya hai, wo mere bhi khuda ho, manjoor nahi".
Every story has a different issue associated with it. Just because a person residing in a different region in the same country, migrates to another region in the same country doesn't give anyone the right to ridicule him. The country is one. Every Indian is at home whether he resides in Maharashtra or Bihar. Being rich does not give you the power to buy another individual's self respect. Neither does it give you the right to ridicule someone poorer than you. Being poor doesn't label you as a thief. Similarly being a muslim doesn't label you as a terrorist.
It is because we play the blame game, that we never really look at our own faults.
Why is it that we have failed to trust anyone these days? It is only because of some few selfish individuals who have planted seeds of hatred in the heart of the innocent that the country has to come to a state where we cannot trust even our own parents.
The movie has a happy ending, and it is very much needed because it gives us a hope that the current state is about to change.
I recommend a must watch! It is a serious movie, but it leaves you all charged up and looking forward to a bright future for the country!

A walk in the clouds

This is a nice, simple love story. Anyone who likes romantic stories with happy endings will surely enjoy this movie. The script as I mentioned is fairly simple and highly predictable.
The lead pair is cute i.e. Keanu Reeves and Aitana-Sanchez Gijon. All the characters play their part well and the story unfolds clearly and enjoyably.
Though the movie is not that great, there are some parts that you will truly enjoy. I liked the part played by Alberto Aragon (Victoria's father) and the relationship between him and his daughter. It is so rough that you would hardly believe they were father and daughter. The final realisation that love and attachment need to be displayed affectionately is depicted very well. Alberto viz.,Giancarlo Giannini has played the part really well.
All in all, an okish movie.

Cloverfield

Alien attacks are common. In Hollywood, I mean. Watched Cloverfield recently which is based on the same theme. Alien monsters (of people eating variety) attack a city, and what happens next. There is in an important variation though, you experience the movie not from the god's eye view of the director's camera, but from a survivor's camera. It might not look like much, but really makes a difference. This guy (Hud) runs, screams, jokes, panics, holding the camera on which he was documenting the party earlier that night. The movie has the look and feel of a fast paced FPS. OK, there are no guns, but it reminded me of that. The story is pretty straightforward, but it succeeds in keeping you glued to your seats. I would've liked more on Aliens though (at least where they came from). This movie falls somewhere on the line between Must Watch and Passe, more towards the latter. You'll not learn anything (or maybe you will, I did not for sure), but you'll enjoy the moments. As I currently don't have any bright ideas about a tag name that falls in between (at least not brighter than [(Must Watch + Passe)/2]), I'll put it in latter.

Enjoy!!

Following

Watched Following yesterday, which was on my list since long. It's a Christipher Nolan movie, which is another way of saying, it's different!. The narrative is non linear, not the reverse flow of Memento, but more like the pieces of a jigsaw. At first I was a bit confused, but as the movie progresses, things fall into place. It's as exciting as solving a jigsaw (or at least watching a clever solution in action). Another impressive thing is the clever use of sound. The annoying sound that follows and precedes Joker in The Dark Knight had much impressed me. Clearly Nolan has used the trick before. The tension in some scenes is conveyed wonderfully effectively using sound effects. As an end note, I suggest you keep an eye on the end titles. You'll find something there. Highly recommended!

Enjoy!!

Shadow

Yes, it is very well hyped. A blind actor as the lead protagonist. If you try to watch the movie from that perspective, you may still not find a good reason to have seen it. No, I'm not denying the fact that Nasser Khan has done justice to his role, his acting is not bad. I would place the blame on the director. The story does not build up. Its just bits and pieces put together. The major stress being, nasser can do action and comedy and romance and dance and action and sing too.
The underlying story is just left underneath. Acting talents such as Sonali Kulkarni, Sachin Khedekar are wasted. Even a single character has not been built up. A new character pops out from nowhere, and their existence is nowhere explained. The corrupt politicians daughter suddenly appears and threatens to leave the house, but were we ever shown that she exists? The director has taken the concept of "love at first sight" much too literally. The female protagonist falls in love with a mechanic after just speaking to him for less than a minute, during which he does nothing more but annoy her (and the audience) by his try at being funny.
The movie appears to have been made, just for Nasser Khan to showcase all his skills. Obviously you could display your skills in a way such that the onlookers may enjoy it too. I guess someone failed to think about the audience while churning out this movie. Even the songs and choreography (however irrelevant they may be) fail to generate some gluing agent to keep you in your seats. So, my advice 'Don't bother'

Life is Kaminey

Kaminey was in the news since long. For one, it's a Vishal Bhardwaj movie, and his movies generally receive great critical acclaim (I remember even checking wikipedia to see what play of Shakespere's Kaminey is based on, none is the answer). The cleverly crafted promos and catchy songs (esp. Dhan te tan) had created much hype. Everybody was waiting for it, and then came H1N1 panic. Yes, a real problem was there, but it was hyped beyond proportions (thanks to our responsible media). More to the point, it caused Multiplexes to close. First for four days, then a week. Meanwhile Kaminey was released, and we're like, "multiplexes khulne do, fir jayenge". (One of my friends rode 100km to Pane Pen to watch it). Eventually the multiplexes did open, but I guess the steam had cooled by then. I would have probably missed it, or at least missed it watching in a theater, if not for Lalit and Zarin. Thanks for coming up with a pilan.

We missed the first few minutes of the movie. The most impressive thing I found was that Shahid can act and quite well too. Probably it depends much more on the director than previously imagined. Priyanka's performance is superb too. The growl in her accent does justice to the character. Other performances are good too. The story is simple, even rather trivial, but direction and cinematography set this one apart. On the whole, the narrative feels rather arbitrary, but there are these small things that make almost every scene memorable. Even simple lines like "kaife kaife log, aife aife hote hai..". And that looks exactly like life to me. It may seem arbitrary, and rather trivial on the whole, but there are those small things to make it worthwhile. A song, a book, a movie.. Like I said, Life is Kaminey. And the lesson of the movie (if there is one) is, everybody's a kamina (at some point or another). In this other sense also, Life is Kaminey. Awefome movie! Do not miss!

Enjoy!!

Aa gaya tu.. (shayad tum ye kaho)

Arey Deewano,
Mujhe Pahchano,
Kaha se aaya,
Mai hu kaun..

So yes, here I am, yours truly, a movie buff since a child, not in the sense of watching every movie, but in that other sense (you try defining that :). Let me first thank Zarin for giving me the opportunity to contribute to this blog. I keep ranting about movies on my other blog too, (some of it here), now I have one more place. Yippee! I think the things I would be talking about (whenever I get my lazy a** to do that) would be quite different, owing to our different tastes (I swear by Angrez :), so you'll see diversity here. I guess that's enough for an introduction. I will close with those immortal lines from one of my all time favorites (no need to tell it's name),

Neo: I thought it wasn't real.
Morpheus: Your mind makes it real.

Enjoy!!