Movie Review – Page 13

Movie Review: Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation is a brilliantly crafted thrilling entertainment

August 7, 2015 by Nasheman

Banner: Bad robot Productions, Sky Dance Productions & TC Productions
Producers: J. J. Abrams, Bryan Burk, David Ellison, Dana Goldberg, Don Granger & Tom Cruise
Director: Christopher McQuarrie
Star Cast: Tom Cruise, Jeremy Renner, Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson, Ving Rhames, Sean Harris & Alec Baldwin
Genre: Action Adventure
Verdict: Blockbuster

Christopher McQuarrie is an American screenwriter, director & producer, besides being a regular collaborator of director Bryan Singer. And of course he has done a brilliant job of the latest “Missin Impossible” franchise.

Plot: With the IMF disbanded & Ethan (Tom Cruise) out in the cold, the team now faces off against a network of highly skilled special agents, the Syndicate. These highly trained operatives are hell bent on creating a new world order through an escalating series of terrorist attacks. Ethan gathers his team & joins forces with disavowed British agent Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson), who may or may not be a member of this rogue nation, as the group faces their most impossible mission yet.

Aces: Christopher McQuarrie’s perfect directional skills & powerhouse performances by Tom Cruise, the main protagonist, followed by Jeremy Renner & veteran actor Alec Baldwin.
Minuses: Amongst all the “Mission Impossible” franchises, ‘Mission Impossible – Rogue Nation” could have been crafted even more better as the “Mission Impossible” viewers expectations bar is rising with every sequel.

Last Word: Certainly not to be missed weekend fare for the entire family, in fact for one & all.

Movie Review: Drishyam is a perfectly crafted masterpiece sans any loopholes

August 3, 2015 by Shaheen Raaj

Director: Nishikant Kamat
Cast: Ajay Devgn, Tabu, Shriya Saran, Ishita Dutta, Rajat Kapoor, Mrinal Jadhav, Kamlesh Sawant et al
Music: Vishal Bhardwaj & Sameer Phaterpekar

‘Drishyam’ has been made & re – remade in every South Indian languages possible and all the versions have ended up winning appreciative accolades galore. And now comes the Hindi version directed by an already reputed director named Nishikant Kamat, who needs no special introduction. Incidentally speaking this particular movie’s original version in Malyalam also had the same name ‘Drishyam’. Its other versions were ‘Drishya’ in Kannada, ‘Drushyam’ in Telugu and its most recent version was ‘Paapnasam’ in Tamil.

The re – directed & re – plotted scenario, to suit the Mumbaiyya sensibilities, of director Nishikant Kamat’s ‘Drishyam’ kick starts with Vijay Salgaonkar (Ajay Devgn) waiting at Pandolem police station in Goa. The story, then goes into a flashback mode in which it mirrors all the events that led Vijay in the present day situation. Vijay Salgaonkar is a middle class hard working businessman, running a cable TV business. His life revolves around movies and his family consisting of his wife Nandini Vijay Salgaonkar (Shriya Saran), his teenage daughter (Ishita Dutta) and his younger daughter. Life goes on pretty smoothly for the Salgaonkars, till one day his elder daughter bumps into a notorious Sam in a school camp. Despite repeated warnings, Sam doesn’t stop pestering her, so much so that he even plants a hidden camera in her washroom. Grabbing this ‘opportunity’ with both hands, Sam demands sexual favour from Vijay’s daughter in return for the MMS being deleted. And when Nandini intervenes, he asks for a sexual favour from Nandini instead. Raging with anger & helplessness, Vijay’s daughter hits Sam with a rod that results in him collapsing on the spot. The mother & daughter get furthermore shocked when they learn that Sam was the only son of none other than IG Meera Deshmukh (Tabu). Frightened & helpless they narrate their ordeal to Vijay when he returns back from his office. Vijay then hatches a master plan that will help his family to get rid from the clutches of the police. After this begins the cat & the mouse game between Vijay & Meera.

Director Nishikant Kamat has excelled in his directional skills and crafted a picture perfect masterpiece almost akin to all the versions. He has taken great pains & care to keep the legacy of the film’s ‘vision’ & all the versions alive. Adding & abetting him in his directional journey was the film’s ever perfect script with not even an iota of a loophole. He has created a perfect ambience oriented suspense to keep the cine goers interest alive from the starting point to the finishing line. In fact the entire, behind the scenes, team of the captain of the ship Nishikant Kamat deserves a special noteworthy mention. And his team comprises of Vishal Bhardwaj & Sameer Phaterpekar (music), Aarif Shaikh (editor), Avinash Arun (cinematographer) & above all Upendra Sidhye (script writer).

Performance wise it is but natural that the top most scorers are Ajay Devgn & Tabu. Their incidental & instinctive battle of histrionics is just seen to be believed. The Southern actress Shriya Saran succeeds in holding her fort amongst the 2 powerhouse performers namely Ajay Devgn & Tabu. That apart the other actors like Ishita Dutta, Rajat Kapoor, Mrinal Jadhav & Kamlesh Sawant too have acquitted themselves perfectly in their respective roles.

Tail Piece: Films like ‘Drishyam’ are made just once in a while. So guys just go for it at the earliest opportunity that you can avail of. Period!

Movie Review: ‘Janiva’ is a bold & meaningful film

August 3, 2015 by Shaheen Raaj

Banner: Blue Eye Productions & Angel’s Production
Producer: Milind Vishnu, Arvind Kumar, Reshma Vishnu & Srman Jain
Director: Rajesh Ranshinge
Cast: Satya Manjrekar, débutantes Vaibhavi Sandilya, Anuradha Mukharjee, Devdutt Dani, Sanket Agarwal along with Kiran Karmarkar, Renuka Shahane, Atul Parchure, Indira Krishnan, Usha Nadkarni & Kishore Kadam

Director Rajesh Ranshinge, after creating ripples of successful waves on the small screen for almost a decade, has now stepped into the Marathi movies arena with a bold & meaningful film like ‘Janiva’ which means realisation. It underlines not only the trauma that a rape victim undergoes but also how a common boy metes out appropriate justice to the rape victim in his own way.

Sameer Deshpande, a common boy, is a tech savvy guy and always reaches out to help people in distress in his own way. He also runs a band with his 5 friends who also lives a carefree & lively life like him. Sameer gets disturbed once when he comes to know of a rape victim living a life like a vegetable since the last 3 decades. Her rapist has already served a sentence of 7 years but Sameer feels that this is not the right justice as compared to the 30 years trauma that the victim has undergone. So Sameer decides to take the law in his own hand. And then begins a long drawn out court battle.

Rajesh Ransinghe has handled the subject very sensitively displaying his directional expertise. But somewhere along the line he misses the boat precisely because the movie lacks conviction especially for the Marathi audiences who are so used to the tamasha & lavani oriented commercial trappings. He has indeed handled the court scenes brilliantly including extracting a finest performance from the senior actors like Renuka Shahane, Kishore Kadam & above veteran actress Usha Nadkarni. The lack of commercial trappings & romantic angle may not go down well with the cine goers. Yet the producers team headed by Milind Vishnu & director Rajesh Ranshinge deserves full marks for pulling a leaf out of real life and turning it into a an offbeat & a realistic film.

Performance wise it is the senior actors like Renuka Shahane & Kishore Kadam who walks away with all the honours as a defence lawyer & public prosecutor respectively. Satya Manjrekar, as the main protagonist, gives a good account of himself but he still has miles to traverse before he turns into a reliable actor. Other notable performances have been delivered by Indira Krishnan & Kiran Karmarkar as Sameer’s parents and of course veteran actor Usha Nadkarni as the rape victim’s Nurse & Caretaker.

Tail Piece: A good viewing for lovers of good cinema. Besides it will go down well with the festival circuit audiences.

Movie Review: ‘The Vatican Tapes’ is a yawn inducing and a most boring stuff one has ever seen

August 1, 2015 by Shaheen Raaj

Producer: Chris Cowles, Gary Lucchesi, Chris Morgan & Tom Rosenberg
Director: Mark Neveldine
Star Cast: Kathleen Robertson, Micheal Pena, Djimon Hounsou, Dougray Scott & John Patrick Amedori
Genre: Horror
Verdict: Average

More famous for their ghostly films, the Neveldine brothers are one of the Horror Masters of Hollywood, just as the Ramsay Brothers were the Horror Masters of Bollywood. The Vatican Tapes depicts the horrific happenings in a young woman’s life.

Plot: It follows the ultimate battle between good & evil & God versus Satan. Angela Holmes is an ordinary 27 – year – old until she begins to have a devastating effect on anyone close, causing serious injury & death. Holmes is examined and possession is suspected, but when the Vatican is called upon to exorcise the demon, the possession proves to be an ancient satanic force more powerful than ever imagined. It’s all up to Father Lozano to wage war for more than just Angela’s soul, but for the world as we know it.

Aces: The demonic & the exorcism scenario.

Minuses: Quite a repetitive and boring stuff which has nothing new or much to offer.

Last Word: Director Mark Neveldine in his debut solo effort could not hold the viewers interest in the prequel, yet he has given ample hint of a sequel. Anyways go ahead and give it a miss.

Movie Review: ‘Pixels’ is the dullest fare and not at all enjoyable

July 31, 2015 by Shaheen Raaj

Producer: Adam Sandler, Chris Coloumbus, Allen Covert, Mark Radcliffe & Micheal Barnathan
Director: Chris Columbus
Star Cast: Adam Sandler, Kevin James, Michelle Monaghan, Peter Dinklage, Josh Gad, Brian Cox, Ashley Benson & Jane Krakowski
Genre: Sci-Fi
Verdict: POOR

A Dull Fare

Chris Columbus’ body of work includes the Home Alone & Harry Potter series besides of course other comedy oriented films. In his latest film Pixels he has tackled the mindset of the extraterrestrial creatures with a tongue in cheek attitude.

Plot: As kids in the 1980s, Sam Brenner (Adam Sandler), Will Cooper (Kevin James), Ludlow Lamonsoff (Josh Gad) & Eddie “The Fire Blaster” Plant (Peter Dinklage) saved the world thousands of times, at 25 cents a game in the video arcades. Now, they’re going to have to do it for real. In Pixels, when intergalactic aliens discover video feeds of classic arcade games and misinterpret them as a declaration of war, they attack the Earth, using the video games as the models for their assaults, and now US President Cooper must call on his old school arcade friends to save the world from being destroyed by PAC – MAN, Donkey Kong, Galaga, Centipede & Space Invaders. Joining them is Lt. Col. Violet Van Patten (Michelle Monaghan), a specialist supplying the arcaders with unique weapons to fight the aliens.

Aces: The only thing good about Pixels is the display of its flawless special effects.

Minuses: Bad direction topped with bad performances.

Last Word: It’s an awfully crafted movie. Can’t even recommend for kids viewing.

Movie Review: ‘South Paw’ is an absolutely forgetful fare

July 31, 2015 by Shaheen Raaj

Producer: Todd Black, Jason Blumenthal, Steve Tisch, Peter Riche, Alan Riche, Antoie Fuqua & Jerry Ye
Director: Antoine Fuqua
Star Cast: Jake Gyllenhaal, Forest Whitaker, Rachel Adams, Naomie Harris, Victor Ortiz, Curtis Jackson, Miguel Gomez, Oona Lawrence, Beau Knapp, Rita Ora & Clare Foley
Genre: Thriller
Verdict: AVERAGE

Antoine Fuqua is known more as an action director as he has mostly directed action films. His most famous action film is The Replacement Killers. And in his last offering South Paw too, he has delved into the same genre of filmmaking.

Plot: It tells the riveting story of Billy “The Great” Hope, reigning Junior Middleweight Boxing Champion of the World (Jake Gyllenhaal). Billy Hope seemingly has it all with an impressive career, a beautiful & loving wife (Rachel McAdams), an adorable daughter (Oona Laurence) and a lavish lifestyle. Tragedy strikes when his lifelong manager & friend (Curtis Jackson) leaves him behind, Hope hits rock bottom and turns to an unlikely saviour at a rundown local gym: Tick Willis (Forest Whitaker), a retired fighter & trainer to the city’s toughest amateur boxers. With his future riding on Tick’s guidance & tenacity, Billy enters the hardest battle of his life as he struggles with redemption to win back the trust of those he loves.

Aces: Some of the boxing scenes and riveting performances mainly by Jake Gyllenhaal & Forest Whitaker.

Minuses: The dull proceedings from “The Start” to “The End”.

Last Word: Watch it only if you have no other choice for the weekend.

Movie Review: ‘Ant-Man’ disappoints, as it is not so impressive

July 25, 2015 by Shaheen Raaj

Producer: Kevin Feige
Director: Peyton Tucker Reed
Star Cast: Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, Corey Stoll, Bobby Cannavale, Micheal Pena, Tip Harris, Anthony Mackie, Wood Harris, Judy Greer, David Dastmalchian & Micheal Douglas.
Genre: Fantasy
Verdict: Average

Peyton Tucker Reed is an American television & film director. He is best known for directing comedy films like Yes Man, Bring It On & The Break Up and now his latest offering is the super hero film Ant-Man. But somehow one feels that Ant-Man has failed to leave up to the expectations of the fans & cine goers of super hero films.

Plot: Armed with the astonishing ability to shrink in scale but increase in strength, master thief Scott Lang must embrace his inner hero and help his mentor, Dr. Hank Pym, protect the secret behind his spectacular Ant-Man suit from a new generation of towering threats. Against seemingly insurmountable obstacles, Pym & Lang must plan & pull off a heist that will save the world.

Aces: The grandeur & the gloss and the huge scale on which the movie has been presented.

Minuses: Right from the word go the whole exercise seems unbelievable.

Last Word: They have served a new super hero recipe in Ant-Man now be prepared for its sequel franchised Ant-Woman.

Movie Review: ‘Mr. Holmes’ is an artistic film excellently made

July 25, 2015 by Shaheen Raaj

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Producer: Anne Carrey, Lain Canning & Emile Sherman
Director: Bill Condon
Star Cast: Ian Mckellen, Laura Linney, Milo Parker, Hattie Morahan, Hiroyuki Sanada, Patrick Kennedy, Roger Allam, Phil Davis, Frances De La Tour, Colin Starkey, Nicholas Rowe, Francis Barber & John Sessions.
Genre: Suspense
Verdict: Good

Bill Condon of Gods & Monsters and the 2 final instalments of the Twilight Sagas fame, has made as artistic film in Mr. Holmes. He has touched upon the core truth of how Sherlock Holmes remained a brilliant sleuth even at the age of 93, barring the fact that age had really started catching him off guard.

Plot: Long retired and near the end of his life, Sherlock Holmes (Ian McKellen) grapples with an unreliable memory and must rely on his housekeeper’s son Roger (Miko Parker) as he revisits the still unsolved case that led to his retirement.

Aces: Bill Condon’s skilful presentation of the last days of Sherlock Holmes topped with extracting excellent performances mainly from Ian Mckellen as Sherlock Holmes & Milo Parker as his sidekick Roger.

Minuses: The snail’s pace of the movie really gets on your nerves.

Last Word: Catch it before it vanishes from the silver screen.

Movie Review: ‘Masaan’ is a very disturbing fare

July 24, 2015 by Shaheen Raaj

Producer: Anuraag Kashyap, Vikramaditya Motwane etc
Director: Neeraj Ghaywan
Star Cast: Richa Chadda, Vicky Kaushal, Sanjay Mishra, Shweta Tripathi, Pankaj Tripathji, Nikhil Sahni, Satyakam Anand & Vineet Kumar
Genre: Drama
Verdict: Good

Debutante director Neeraj Ghaywan’s Masaan has earned rave reviews in the global festival circuit, but will it suit the palate of the Indian audience is a bit doubtful. Yet the movie in itself is laudable and a critics delight.

Plot: The plotted scenario of Masaan is set in present day Banaras it follows 2 separate story that eventually converge. In the 1st story Devi and (Richa Chadda) and her fellow student, Piyush, check into a hotel room. They are interrupted when the police bursts in, accusing them of indulging in indecent behaviour. In the 2nd story Deepak (Vicky Kaushal), a young boy (also from Banaras) works in a funeral pyre. Deepak meets & falls in love with Shaalu (Shweta Tripathi).

Aces: Neeraj Ghaywan’s apt directorial treatment coupled with stellar performances from Richa Chadda as well as debutante actors like Vicky Kaushal, Shweta & Pankaj Tripathi and a special mention must be made of child actor Nikhil Saini.
Minuses: The grimness of the film leaves you drained of all emotions.

Last Word: Strictly recommended for lovers of art house cinema.

Movie Review: ‘Bajrangi Bhaijaan’ is an emotional journey of an Indian man & a Pakistani Child

July 20, 2015 by Shaheen Raaj

Banner: Salman Khan Films & Kabir Khan Films
Producer: Salman Khan & Rockline Venkatesh
Director: Kabir Khan
Cast: Salman Khan, Kareena Kapoor, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Harshaali Malhotra, Najeem Khan, Ali Quli Mirza, Deepti Naval, Om Puri, Sharat Saxena & Adnan Sami (Spl App)
Music: Pritam Chakraborty, Komail Shayan (KK) & Julius Packiam

Director Kabir Khan is known for his films like ‘Kabul Express’, ‘New York’ & ‘Ek Tha Tiger’. He seems to have a penchant for cross border problems which he keeps showcasing in most of his films including in his latest directorial offering ‘Bajrangi Bhaijaan’ too. But this this time he has succeded in delivering an endearing & a heart touching film.

A 6 year old speech impaired girl Shahida (Harshaali Malhotra) accompanies her mother from Pakistan to Delhi to visit a Muslim Shrine. On her way back to Pakistan Shahida aka Munni gets separated from her mother on the Indian border. Munni then bumps into Pawan Kumar Chaturvedi (Salman Khan), who is a staunch bhakt of Hanuman. After some initial hesitation Pawan takes the oath of Hanuman to return Munni back to Pakistan to deliver her safely in the hands of her parents. So off he goes to Pakistan without even having a Passport not to forget the Visa. He encounters a lot of problems on his way to and in Pakistan too. His trouble starts right from the Wagah border and then continues till the end, during which a local news reporter Chand Pasha (Nawazzuddin Siddiqui) and his cameraman (Najim Khan) also help him a lot.

Except for a few exaggerated hicups & glitches director Kabir Khan does succeed in winning the cine goers heart especially in the 2nd half and post interval portions which is also punctuated with the right doses of humorous punches. Especially notable are the scenes of the trio of Salman Khan, Harshaali Malhotra & Nawazzuddin Siddiqui. That apart Salman Khan deserves a standing ovation for backing such an emotionally oriented sensitive film like ‘Bajrangi Bhaijaan’. A fair share of credit also goes director Kabir Khan and his entire team of the cast & the crew for totally living upto his highest expectations.

Performance wise the film clearly belongs to Salman Khan and the most sensatonal discovery namely Harshaali Malhotra. Yes! Sallu miyan for a change has delivered a very emotionally charged restrained performance, if only he could have resisted those few Dishoom Dishoom scenes. And the girl child Harshaali Malhotra seems to be God gifted. She is so expressive and simply outstanding. Nawazzuddin Siddiqui as usual is brilliant to the core. Sadly enough Kareena Kapoor Khan is not up to the mark as she had nothing much to do in this emotional drama. While the rest of the cast comprising of Najim Khan, Ali Quli Mirza, Deepti Naval, Om Puri, Sharat Saxena, Adnan Sami et al just fit the bill and lend an able & adequate support.

Tail Piece: ‘Bajrangi Bhaijaan’ initially sounds, like it is coloured with communal essence but as the film progresses it leaves you emotionally drained. Don’t miss ‘Bajrangi Bhaijaan’, a perfect festival (Ramzan Eid) & weekend gift for one & all.