Makkhi (2012) - Action

I was so keen on checking this one out when it first came in Telugu that it was tough for me to skip it just because of unavailability of Subtitles at that time. A close telugu friend even offered me a copy but I just waited for the original DVD to get released in the hope of getting subtitles. Today I am way too glad that I did waited that long as it just released in Hindi but I am sad that they did not release it in 3D – rather only 2D. Still this was a damn good joy ride for us and even for the kids. Totally rocking movie and I would say it’s a must watch for all action / thriller / animation lovers, this is too good. Initially it takes its own sweet time to develop the story but once the hero of the movie “Makkhi” comes, there is no looking back. Almost everybody in the auditorium was in splits with super acting by “Sudeep” in a negative but dashing role that you actually love to hate him and the use of fantastic VFX in creating that “Makkhi” character. I was totally shocked with the quality and standard as they were way too high than my expectations. I am definitely looking forward to a Blue Ray version now as it was damn neat and never boring, not even for one dull moment. Even after it ended, people kept waiting expecting to see some more as the end credits rolled. Almost 130 minutes of sheer fun and action. Do not miss this at any cost.

Samantha Ruth Prabhu

The Movie: It’s a heart touching story of a guy next door Nani (Nani) falling in love with Bindu (Samantha) being killed by a shrewd business man Sudeep (Sudeep) as he too likes the girl. Nani takes rebirth as a housefly and takes his revenge with the help of his girl friend Bindu on Sudeep and finally kills him in the end. What pursues between them is a cat and mouse chase game with fantastic CGI and Action – never seen before stuff in any Indian movie, we were totally hooked to it big time. The action part is too good to be missed – it is funny as well as very passionately done too. We were amazed with the creativity and attention to detail thinking of the Director and his team, excellent job. The initial hour gives you a good idea of the life of the protagonist Nani who is madly in love with his next door cute girl Bindu, who also knows his love for herself but never acknowledges it. She works for an NGO and the tragedy strikes when she gets noticed by a big womanizer and dashing businessman Sudeep. This is one of the best works of him so far, I have seen him in a couple of south as well as Hindi movies but none comes closer to this one. Here, he is funny, serious, angry, and happy; almost end up playing all emotions and gets a great footage too. The only thing which I felt sorry for him was that he had to play a negative character in this one.

Sudeep the bad guy

The quality of CGI and VFS is simply outstanding and mind-blowing at least from the Indian standards – I must say. I haven’t seen a better movie than this one up till now coming from India when it comes to Action and Fiction. The way whole thing is shot, the birth scene to getting to know how to fly and facing the enemies – its too good, at par with lots of Hollywood animations we have seen so far. I was almost on the edge of my seat seeing that kind of camerawork especially when it comes to showing the housefly’s view and perception, too good. I had a very emotional connect with the movie, almost was in my tears when the fly comes out of that cocoon and fights for survival. How he takes on Sudeep is totally fabulous job. The preparation, planning and execution is mind blowing stuff. Not for one moment it looks out of place or goes overboard where you feel that it was a little too much, you actually get so much involved in the same that end up loving it totally. Bindu on the other hand works as a micro artiste out of her hobby and how that comes handy in preparing the housefly for a fight with a human is a damn good idea, the helmet, weapons, planning and final execution. It’s a fantastic time pass movie and definitely deserves a multiple viewing specially for its special effects – I so much regret not seeing its 3D version, I am sure in 3D it would have been way too good than it is in 2D. 

To Rome with Love (2012) - Comedy

Woody Allen is one guy who never fails to amaze me, he makes one movie a year and that one movie becomes one of the most awaited movies of the year for me. To Rome with Love is no exception and what a fantastic movie it turns out to be. Right from the very first scene till the very end and even the last line will have you in splits and make you wait for another one which he promises with the last scene. What I love about all his movies is the simplistic style of narrating a regular story which will keep you hooked, make you smile, laugh, cheer, shock and entertain big time. The best part is – when he himself plays one of the characters – it becomes double the fun, I for one, have to see all his movies multiple times to enjoy them thoroughly as they are too good and too fast at least beyond my grasping power. And I love seeing them again and again – just done with first round of this one and I can tell you – its one movie you would definitely not like to miss. Run and check it out if it’s still running a theater near you but do make sure that they are showing it with subtitles as there is too much Italian in between. I had a copy with subtitles and totally loved it. Right with the opening scene he obliges his fans with a view of classic buildings of Rome, a fantastic Fiat 500 and trademark Italian Scooters. This one is not to be missed by anyone loving light hearted comedies with a damn good message – you’ve got to look out for that message almost towards the end. Do not miss it at any cost.

Alessandro Tiberi and Penelope Cruz

The Movie: It’s a fantastic combination of four different stories going at the same time with no connection in between them. The best part of the movie is its superb casting, including Woody Allen himself in one of the most important characters, the rest of the cast is too good and almost throughout the running time – you actually don’t feel that they were acting. Everyone is so comfortably fit in their characters that it looks like a cake walk for them. I was totally impressed the way he has pulled this one with those superb actors in fantastic characters – not one person for a moment looks out of place or over the top and none of the stories looked half baked. Wrapping up so much that too in just 100 odd minuets is a superb achievement and that’s called typical Woody Allen movie.

Monica Nappo and Roberto Bengini

Story 1: Woody Allen’s daughter comes to Rome as a tourist and falls for the guy who shows her direction on the very first day. He and his wife come to Rome to meet this guy’s family, who happens to be a lawyer and his father is one of the Funeral Directors. The hilarious thing was his father was a damn good singer especially when he is singing in shower. You’ve got to see what Woody does to this guy since he himself was an Opera Director but now retired. The highlight of this story is Woody Allen and his wife discussions, how and what he does to his son-in-law’s father. The way his wife, daughter, son-in-law and his father oppose him initially, give in due course of time and he succeeds in the end is simply Superb. Watch out for the classic ending.

Judy Davis and Woody Allen

Story 2: A clerk Leopold (Roberto Benigni in a fantastic role) who lives a regular life with his wife and two daughters, wakes up one fine morning and to his shock he has become a celebrity out of nowhere and media is chasing him like crazy, just to know how he slept in the night, what he had in the breakfast, what kind of underwear does he wear that day etc. He starts enjoying it, dating super models, starts attending movie premiers, he even gets his boss’s hot secretary who is supposed to entertain him throughout the day and top of that he even becomes a manager at his own office. What happens in the end to this story is heart touching and a damn good lesson in learning. I totally loved it and agree with what his Ex Driver tells him on the pavement before he goes back to his regular life. Watch out for that scene – I am sure you will love it and agree with me.

Alison Pil and Flavio Parenti

Story 3: John (Alec Baldwin) is a well known Architect who is visiting Rome with his wife and is on a vacation. He lived in Rome about 30 years back, he goes around to look for his old place where he lived and comes across Jack (Jesse Eisenberg the facebook guy), he not only lives at the same place where John lived but also studying to become and Architect as well. They hit it off pretty well and the way their story moves is totally hilarious. Jack lives with his girl friend Sally (Cute Greta Gerwig) who had invited her friend Monica (Ellen Page) to briefly stay with them. Right after their first meeting John warns Jack that Monica is going to screw his life and is over smart, still Jack doesn’t agree with him and goes around with her. What happens is totally rocking stuff – you’ve got to watch out those fantastic scenes with all of them in it and the way Alec Baldwin pulls it off. He is too good – this movie made me realize yet again that Alec Baldwin is one hell of a guy, he is so smooth in here and so comfortable, this looks like a cake walk for him yet you totally end up loving him. Even Jesse is too good in his character – the way he takes it all up and goes talking is fantastic, I like this guy. How it all ends is funny too, although predictable yet it makes you laugh.

Ellen Page, Jesse and Greta Gerwig

Story 4: Is of a newly wedded couple Antonio and Milly (Alessandro Tiberi and Alessandra Mastronardi), who move to Rome from a small town as his rich uncles promised him a job in their family’s business. After a long flight Milly wants to a hairdresser to get her hair fixed and since she has no idea of Rome, she gets lost and even loses her cell phone too. In the meantime as Antonio waits for her coming back, a prostitute Anna (Hottie Penélope Cruz) visits him – she is already paid by his friends to entertain him – that’s what she tells him. Before even he could clear the confusion his uncles and aunts come barging in the room as door was left open by Anna – to save himself he introduces Anna as his wife Milly to them. What happens next is a joy ride for audience as everything goes haywire, wherever they go and whatever they do – half the town knows Anna other than everybody else in the family as gone around with her. Penelope Cruz although in a small role still she looks ravishing in that red dress she wears throughout the movie. Even his wife Milly goes through a very interesting episode as she meets an Actor she admires and what happens with them is totally hilarious. I mean every story in this movie is so damn hilarious that it makes you laugh big time. I was surprised to see Woody Allen had stuffed so much in so less time – I so much wished it just went on and on a little bit more at least but as all good things come to an end – this one does too. But not before he promises to serve you some more from Rome. I sincerely hope he picks up a couple of more stories next year and makes another wonderful movie.

Taken 2 (2012) - Action / Thriller

Disclaimer: I am huge Liam Neeson as well as Old School of Action Movies fan, so I am going to brag here about both of them big time. If you have an issue with any of them – go ahead and skip this post there are better things to do than read my take on this fantastic thriller. Oh yeah! I loved Expendables (both the parts), just so you know what type of movies I love. This is one of those movies which should be called a well deserving sequel – which actually confuses the audience to decide which one was better. Hats off to the Director and to the cast to pull this off in a fantastic style, right from the very first scene till the very climax – it’s a bloody edge of the seat thriller with so much going on screen that it actually makes you forget the coke and popcorn you picked up on your way to your seat. This one starts right where we left the first part, Liam is back after killing the kidnappers of his daughter, separated with his wife and as an over protective father. The tragedy (For villains) is that this time – he is being kidnapped and his daughter helps in the rescue – that’s a complete suicide on the part of villains but the way its done is amazing (Read that Aammaazzzziinngg). The highlight of movie is Liam Neeson doing hand to hand combat with half a dozen guys and letting them bite the dust, he yet again proves that he is and will always an action hero. If you like thrillers – you will Love this. Not to be missed by action lovers and it will be a crime for Liam fans to miss it.

Famke Jenssen

The Movie: As I said, this one starts right where the first one left, father of the guys Murad (Rade Šerbedžija) he killed in Paris to save his daughter decides to take a revenge on him by killing him with whatever people he had left with him. On the other side we see a little relaxed Bryan Mills (Liam Neeson), helping his daughter Kim (Maggie Grace) get a driver’s license by giving her lessons in his own car – it’s great to see him clean the car spick and span before he picks her up exactly at 2 PM, not 1.58 and definitely not 2.01 but exactly as the clock turns 2.00 PM he gets down from his car and rings the bell of his ex wife Lenore’s (Hottie Famke Janssen) house. Only to know that she is gone off with her boyfriend, what he does next is anybody’s guess as he is an Ex CIA agent – so it’s a matter of seconds for him to know her location and pick her up. It was too funny to see him actually do that and his daughter does obliges by driving him back and by parking the car perfectly before she takes the final drive test at DMV to get her own license. But fate had something else in store for them this time. Lenore is having some issues with her current husband and as their vacation plans go for a toss, Bryan offers them to come along with him to Istanbul as he had a private brief assignment after which they all can spend some time together. Bryan goes off to his work in Istanbul and is surprised later to see that his Ex wife and daughter actually drop by to Istanbul and surprise him. They plan to have a quite time together and his Kim makes sure that she leaves her parents alone to have some good time and rekindle their relationship, stays in the room and they go out. 

Maggie Grace

Change of gears: Right from the moment Bryan and Lenore step out of the hotel in a car, they realize they were being followed by another car. What starts this point onwards is a extremely fast paced chase between the bad guys and Bryan, how he takes them all head on, gets kidnapped with his Ex wife and how his daughter this time supposed to save him is a fantastic cat and mouse chase game. It was simply superb to see Liam Neeson in a again a full fledge action movie – doing what he does best as he tells his daughter – kill em all to settle it once and for all. The movie is actually very intelligently made if you ask me as I had to keep a track of what was going on screen. Bryan’s calculation and the sense of direction, as his and his ex wife’s faces are totally covered, they had no idea where they are being taken, yet the way he manages to exactly locate where they were with the help of his daughter bombing around the city. The device he uses to call those three numbers and which works like a savior to him is simply superb. The movie has its own goof ups too but yet – I am sure we can live with them as long as it delivers a perfect thriller the way it does in this one. I actually ignored the little mistakes as it was too good to see them fight for their life and help each other. Even Maggie Grace got a lot of footage this time and was a part of two damn good chases, one on foot on the roof and another one in a car with his dad giving her instructions, the way she drives around the congested lanes of Istanbul and crashes in US embassy is a totally awesome scene confirming that she is going to get a license after the movie ends. But the best part was how she traces her parents location with the help of Bryan’s instructions is simply superb. Even in the climax – they don’t spare you and give you a nice shock, I kept thinking whether they were hinting on a third part or not – you’ve got to see it yourself to decide as it’s too good to be told. This one turns out to be a great thriller against my hopes as couple of my own friends trashed it after seeing but fortunately I loved it. Hence I will definitely recommend it big time with two thumbs up. Do not miss it.

About a Boy (2002) - Comedy

Hugh Grant is one of my favorite actors; he is such a sweet guy (On-screen) that as many times I come across any new or old movie of him – I again and again fall in love with him. I believe he is one of the most underrated actors of his own times. Barring a very few of his movies – I have almost seen all more then once. This was one of those exceptionally brilliant feel good movies. In this movie, Hugh Grant is a well off guy surviving on his dad's royalties, having a good time doing nothing but watching TV. He dates a single mother but unfortunately their relationship ends amicably, soon comes up with an idea to date single mothers only by joining a group called SPAT (Single Parents Alone Together). What life throws on him is a hilarious ride and how it all ends is simply superb, it actually made me laugh out loud like crazy, totally loved his straight face comedy. The guy even when in so much trouble makes a damn good face and tries to walk out of trouble in his own ways. Watch out for the last scene and his performance on stage – you will be in splits for sure. It’s a damn good one time watch especially for those who love clean comedies. Not to be missed. 

Rachel Weisz

The Movie: As I mentioned earlier, Hugh is such a nice guy even in this movie that all his antics sound and look so genuine. His frustrations, confusions, reactions, even when he blurts out something in anger, it makes me laugh big time. Like it happens in this movie couple of times. The story is very simple and straight forward of a guy “Will” (Hugh Grant), who practically does nothing for a living as his dad composed some Christmas songs and the royalty coming from the same is more than enough for him to live a comfortable life. One fine day he meets a single mother but just in a couple of days he realizes they aren’t meant to be together but since he is a nice guy and cares for her feelings – it’s very hard for him to break off with her. To his shock, even she had the same feeling and they call it off amicably. But with this relationship he realizes one thing that its easy to be in a relationship with a single mother, have a good time and move on to the next, without any commitment or responsibility. During one of his grocery shopping trips he comes across an ad talking about a group called SPAT (Single Parents Alone Together), he joins them and claims that he has a two year old son whose currently gone with his separated wife. There he meets another parent and goes around with her. During one of their picnic trips, he meets her friend’s 12 year old son Marcus (Nicholas Hoult). What happens in the picnic is hilarious stuff as Marcus kills a duck with a loaf of bread but Will saves him by creating a story, with which Marcus gets pretty impressed and develops a bond with him gradually.

Natalia Tena

Marcus’s mother too is a single parent and she tries committing suicide but somehow she is saved by Will and her neighboring friend who Will was dating previously. Marcus tries Will to date his mom to save her from loneliness but after their first date he follows Will and realizes that he neither has a kid nor is a divorcee. Marcus being a smart kid blackmails his way to his home and gets an access to Will’s house as and when he wishes. They develop quite a good bond as they go out together and Will does helps him on couple of things, they do spend some good time together at Will’s house. It was damn good to see Marcus’s popularity starts growing in his school and he too ends up going around with a hot tom boyish girl Ellie (Natalia Tena), in the meantime Will too comes across Rachel (Rachel Weisz) and he uses Marcus as his own son to appear interesting to her. How they all meet and what goes around with Rachel’s son and Marcus is hilarious, finally they end up breaking off as well and finally Will and Marcus too fight it off between themselves. What happens next and how it falls all over in right place is a classic ending. The last half an hour off the movie is too good with thinks going out of hands but again falling in right places. Marcus’s social suicide even after his girl friends warning is too good and how Will saves him on stage is one hell of a scene. The way they have used one of my favorite songs “Killing me softly” here – it had me in splits. I am sure comedy lovers will enjoy this one big time.

Fire in Babylon (2012) - Documentary

I wonder what took them bloody two years to release this fantastic 2010 British Documentary on West Indian cricketers one year in our part of the world. But I am glad it did finally and we get to see the ups and down in Windies cricket with some real good insight thrown in by the some of the greatest crickets of world cricket like Viv Richards, Michael Holding, Gordon Greenidge, Sir Clive Lloyd, Joel Garner etc. With never seen before footage – this is too good to be missed by anyone who loves and lives cricket. How cricket changes not only the lives of the people who play it – it makes a big difference to their culture too – you’ve got to see this to believe that. I can never forget those days in early 80’s, my mom was and is still a big fan of Windies – whenever their matches will be on TV and Viv Richards or Clive Lloyd is playing – we will not be served lunch, as she refused to go to kitchen as her favorites played on. As long as they played against the world she will be cheering, praising and even praying for them but when they played against India – she will be the one to curse them. I can never forget the way Marshal and Holding bowled those dreadful bouncers. I guess that was the best time for the game of cricket, now a day it’s so technical and commercial that it isn’t that much fun. They were unbeatable for guess what? Fifteen years on the trot from 1980 to 1995 – never lost a test series.

Rowe, Roberts, Garner, Croft and Richards

The Documentary: West Indies is one team which has been my favorite right from my school time days – when cricket wasn’t that much available on TV. Whenever they would visit India or India will go to play with them to foreign destinations – it will be a sight to behold. Fantastic was the way they batted, bowled and fielded. I was shocked to see Sunil Gavaskar playing against the best of the bouncers that too without wearing a helmet – I guess he was the only cricketer who did that during those days. Now a days, you should see the way they come prepared wearing so many pads and stuff to not to get hurt. This is one of its kinds of documentaries that I ever saw on West Indian cricketers. It was heartening to see them up close and personal in this one, I guess this was the first time I saw Vivian Richards talking his heart out and telling us so many never known facts of their life. How and why they became a powerful side, what took them to beat the world and prove that they weren’t a spent force. It was stunning to see what they did against England on their own turf and against Aussies in Australia. How that changed the life of millions of black migrants world over. This proves very clearly that cricket is just not a sport, its way too more than just a game. How the new crop of cricket players emerged in early 70’s in West Indies and later when Clive Lloyd was appointed as captain in mid 70’s – it changed the game in totality for Windies. I still remember my mom rated him too high and realized he was respected world over as one of the greatest cricketers of his own times; he is still respected big time.

Sir Clive Lloyd

The documentary talks about the struggle West Indian players had faced in the initial years; their pay packets were so thin that it was tough for them to keep up with the changing times. It talks about the ban they faced by playing against the apartheid South Africa and its effect on Windies cricket. The arrival of Gordon Greenidge, Desmond Haynes, Joel Garner and Malcolm Marshal (My all time favorite bowler) in West Indian cricket team. They were unstoppable and unbeatable for so many years in Test Cricket especially. I remember those days very clearly when they were one of the most feared cricket teams ever. It shows us everything about them, the good days, the struggle, the emergence of modern cricketers. Even today when I see their new age Chris Gayle, Simmons, Bravo, Sammy or Kieron Pollard batting, it reminds me of those great criketers. One of the best part of the documentary was its background score and music – I totally loved Bob Marley’s presence in it, although brief but it was too good. It was heartening to see him meeting the team and telling them to win for the country. He even sang songs to motivate them.

Project X (2012) - Comedy

In the series of college disaster movies – we have another addition in the name of “Project X” with a fantastic almost unknown cast and a debut Director – this is too good to be missed. Nothing new or great about it though but a perfect time pass – with a couple of beers and friends – this could be great fun. They have kept the premise straight and simple with 4 losers trying to make it big in school by throwing a party that too with their parents due permission. Because of their no popularity in school they expect a gathering of 30 odd people but what it turns out in real is something unbelievable and what they do to the guy's poolside house – whose celebrating his 17^th birthday is something you’ve got to see it to believe it. How they make it to the Breaking News with a fleet of cops chasing them in cars and choppers is one hell of a joy ride for the audience. Its one of those crazy movies that you see on a lighter day and laugh out loud – a damn good time pass. It has everything in it for everyone, good music, hot chicks, drugs, sex, tragedy, comedy etc.

The Host's

The Movie: In Pasadena, Costa and JB plan to throw a party for their friend Thomas’s 17^th Birthday at his house. As that happens to be his own parents Anniversary weekend – they too go out for the weekend leaving him alone in the house with strict instructions to have a party with only 30 odd people, to not to touch the pool or his dad’s Mercedes. He is although given the keys of his mom’s mini van to drive around if he needs to. They are a bunch of losers who are almost invisible to the rest of the school hence they need to make it big by throwing a fantastic party so they become popular in school. They hire Dax – another student to film the whole birthday party. The whole movie has that hand held camera shot feel to it because one of them is shown as shooting it throughout the night. All of them visit a drug peddler to buy some drugs and end up stealing one his lawn gnome which they plan to use a party mascot. The whole scene of them buying drugs, stealing the statue and being chased by the drug dealer is one outstanding shot of the movie with hilarious stuff. The word of mouth and texts go faster than they think, within no time almost whole of the school is invited whereas no one has any idea who this guy Thomas is? Who is throwing a party? He even ends up inviting one of the hottest chicks of the school with his boyfriend who has a crush on Thomas. They even hire two cute little security guards to take care of the house as they plan to do the party on the backyard.

Alexis Knapp

The Party: Because of the mass invitation and his friends putting the ad on Craiglist and a local ration station – the public goes out of control. It hilarious to see what it turns out to be from what they expected. Even the audience gets a shock of their lives by seeing that kind of a crowd present in the loser’s party. As the party goes on – they end up breaking the drug dealer’s gnome and realize it was full of ecstasy tablets which are subsequently consumed by them and it turns out to be a hell of a situation with whole crowd on a high. What all stunts they do is mind-blowing to see. The way his whole house is ripped including the pool and topless babes swimming and running all over is totally awesome. With neighbors fuming and calling cops the situation goes out of hands. What happens to his Dad’s car is something you’ve got to see in the movie and how they are first warned by the cops but later it turns out to be other way round as the mob bullies the cops and fights back. We were totally in splits with the stunts that they all do in the party and with so many shockingly comical scenes. They even make his mother’s dog fly by tying so many balloons on his body. They put up a board at the pool saying “Only Nude Girls” and the response was hilarious. Teat a teat with their neighbor who they try to invite to the party too to save the hassle goes wrong. The scene where they negotiate with cops and whole crowd hides in the backyard and maintain pin drop silence is totally awesome.

Kirby Bliss Blanton

I loved its comic timing with so many funny guys and situations thrown in. there is this dwarf who some of the guys put him in a microwave and how he takes revenge on the hosts is one of the best hilarious stuff. The final half hour of the movie with the mob and cop action followed by drug dealer’s revenge on the guys is totally freaking stuff. I mean, I never expected that kind of action – it was totally out n out comic action. Hilarious stuff and so many “Oh My Fucking God” situations. The final out come of the movie is too good with Thomas being confronted by his father – what happens in the school next day is rocking stuff. I would say this was a damn good time pass movie and should be seen by all for plain and simple fun.

Visitor Q (2001) - Japanese Controversial

I don’t know where I read about this term called “Mindfuck”. Trust me I did, but never knew what it actually meant till I saw this Japanese movie “Visitor Q”. I guess a friend mentioned its name somewhere in a movie discussion and it stuck in my mind. Today as I saw it – I realized the meaning of that term in all its senses. This one blew my mind off in such a way, the way it was never blown earlier by any other movie. Yes, I have seen some real bad ones, some made me puke (in reality) the movies I could never complete – challenged my friends and they came out with flying colors watching the same movies, the ones that I could never standby. But that was History till I saw this one as this opened up a new chapter – I am totally shocked with its content, handling, shooting and the final product. I will not write much in details because it’s crass, gross, and lethal. Just to give you a glimpse on what to expect in this one is a father making a documentary on Japan’s Youth, screws his own daughter, even pays for it, while his Heroine addict wife is being beaten black and blue by her own son for buying a wrong tooth brush. The son is being bullied by his classmates; they shoot fire crackers in his room, make him shit in his own pants. Full frontal nudity, sex with a corpse, dumping the body after cutting it into pieces, unlimited killing, thrashing, blood and gore etc. I mean it has so much in it that it beats all the other movies from the same or whatever genre they may belong to. Why did I see this? Go back and read the first line. 

Mother, Son and Father

The Movie: The movie starts off with a note “Have you ever done it with your dad?” and you already know where this movie is going. Next what you see is a sex scene where a father is filming his own daughter who is a prostitute as he is making a documentary on Japan’s Youth. The whole video of them having sex is shot on his camera, he ejaculates too early to which she doubles the charges – I mean its mind numbing gross stuff still it can’t be called porn as well. I guess porn movies are better than this one as they don’t bother you the way this one does. I was thinking hard – what actually Director wanted to show with this? How sick a person can be? Or how gross can you make a movie?  Next caption you see is “Have you ever been hit on the head?” And Bang! A stranger hits the father on his head for no reason. The movie moves on to the next part called “Have you ever hit your mother?” I mean it keeps going up on the grossness quotient if there is any. And bang! What you see is mind blowing stuff – a teenage son hitting his own mother black and blue just because she got him a wrong tooth brush to which she keeps requesting “Don’t hit me on the face”. How sick one can be. It keeps getting worse with every scene, next what we see is the same guy who hit the father on head is the visitor and having dinner with him while his own son beats his wife.

Fujiko The Daughter

The Father: keeps filming his documentary even when he comes across his son’s friends bullying him on the road. On the other side mother is getting ready to go to work even after getting beaten up badly with all the cuts, bruises and a limp. Again she too is a prostitute who is shown in next scene whipping her customer as per his wishes. She comes back home after work and it keeps getting better or shall I say worse from this point onwards as their visitor teaches her a new technique of squeezing her own breasts and spray out the milk, WOW! What an imagination and what a scene it is – totally blowing your mind off your head. And to make it worse she enjoys it big time and gets addicted to it too as you see her do the same again and again. The father in the meantime tries to shoot his documentary with his colleagues help. She gets fed up with the whole thing and walks out on him. To which he beats her right on the road and rapes her while all that is being captured in a camera by the Visitor. He ends up choking her to death mistakenly and the worst scene of the movie comes with the father having sex with a corpse and even to top it all – his penis gets stuck in the body. What they do next is something that you will never forget in your life and the final outcome is worse then what you saw till this moment.

Kazushi Watanabe The Visitor

This became the worst movie I ever saw so far in my entire experience of watching movies of last two decades or more I guess. I haven’t seen something so gross yet in my life. The movies that I have discarded so far or the one’s that I haven’t seen full because they were too bad – they look classics in front of this one. I guess its going to take years for me to come across a movie worse than this one for sure. 

English Vinglish (2012) - Drama

Some movies are so real life like that you just cant help but get amazed by the creativity and deep thought process of the Writer / Director and in this movies case both the department are headed by the debutant Gauri Shinde. She claims it’s her mother’s story whereas I felt as if she showed me my mother’s life story and I guess lot of people like me will definitely relate it to a lot of Indian Housewives whose stories were never told before, never in this way at least. It is class apart and a damn good movie with so many heart warming moments that it keeps you totally hooked to it. You just can’t wait for the climax and the moment of glory to come with it, which you look forward to so badly. Entire cast does justice to their roles, like you hate her daughter for laughing at her, you love her son for his unconditional love towards his mother, you again hate her husband too to be so heartless, you love her niece to help her out, totally love her classmates, so on and so forth but the cake goes to Sridevi for an outstanding performance. I tried hard to imagine who else could have lived this character so well but none of the name comes any closer to the way she plays it. I was never her fan – although I chose her above Madhuri and liked her for the characters she portrayed on screen – she was and is still damn good looking. This is a must watch for all the married guys, who knows? You may be making the same mistake her husband was doing and it’s a must watch for all of the housewives, who knows? A course like that may change your life too. Even otherwise – it’s a damn good entertainer if nothing else, not to be missed by anyone.   

English Learning Class

The Movie: Is based on the life of a middle aged Indian Housewife Shashi (Sridevi), who’s married to Satish (Adil Hussain) lives in Pune with her two young kids and mother-in-law. She is a damn good dedicated mother and a good wife yet her own daughter and husband leave no opportunity to make fun of her. Specially her daughter whose a 7^th grade student – she is too embarrassed to go with her mother in a PTA just because of her inability to speak in English to other parents and her class teacher. It is shown in the movie in such a subtle way that I just couldn’t help but draw parallels to my own life where I actually hated my mom – when it came to going to my school to take my progress card or when I had to accompany her to the market or local grocery store. It was a scene cut of my own life in the movie – moved me big time, I now feel so sorry for being like that. How she overcomes that successfully yet to the embarrassment to her own daughter who feels she overdoes it and still not not happy. I was shocked to see her husband so heartless – who had no feelings towards his own wife – who’s so good in everything she does, a wife who is so good right from cooking delicious food, to being with the kids all day, taking care of the household, his own age old mother etc. On top of that she even makes damn good Laddoo’s (Indian Sweets), which are like well known and praised by one and all in the society – she does makes good money too with her own small scale business. 

Priya Anand "The Niece"

Twist in the life comes in the form of an invitation from her sister who invites them all to attend her daughter’s marriage in United States of America. Now Shashi, who is already weak in English and who couldn’t communicate with anyone properly has to go to USA that too alone because she had to help her sister in marriage preparations and obviously her kids and husband coundnt join her because of office and school. Even the thought of the same was scary for her, how she takes the flight and goes to USA to her sister is one hilarious ride yet heart touching drama to say the least. One moment you are in splits and in second you are serious and thinking about her plight. How she tackles those ups and downs is totally commendable and the highlight of the movie. Once in USA – its good to see her loving niece taking good care of her, helping her out so well, I wish her daughter was half as good as her niece – life would’ve been so good for Shashi. One fine day she comes across an Advertisement in a bus claiming “Learn English in 4 Weeks” – how she enrolls for the course and how it all changes her life upside down is the rest of the movie. You’ve got to see it to believe it. Trust me the best part of the movie starts when she comes out of the class on the first day. That point onwards there is no looking back – not for her and not for the Shashi loving and cheering audience. It’s an amazing experience seeing her success and happiness. So much so that – I actually wanted to stand in the end and clap for her and I realized – I was not the only one who was feeling that ways – even my wife, her friend and almost all the people in the auditorium had the same feelings.

Sri Devi - The Confident Shashi

Some Outstanding Scenes: Right from the very start, when she goes to deliver those laddoo’s – you realize almost everyone knows and respects her big time other than her own family who takes her for granted all the time. When Shashi goes to attend the PTA – the hilarious situation, her success and embarrassment for daughter – all happening in one time. Fight to USA with a helping stranger – entertaining her throughout the way with a damn good message as they end their journey. Her niece helping her to attend her classes without letting know of her own sister. The entire classmates and the whole English learning sessions. Shopping scene with her niece and entire introduction of New York to Shashi and audience with damn good score from Amit Trivedi. French guy, helping her on the first day, restaurant scene, falling in love, their communication without knowing each others language. There were so many scenes that I can go about on and on, but I will end it here now. Go head watch it – do not miss it.

The Possession (2012) - Horror

I am one of those guys who need to gather all his guts to watch a Horror movie alone and usually I do it in broad day light – at best – I close the curtains just to give it a little real feel. As this was another based on a true story horror – how I could miss it. Unfortunately I will call it – at best – a good thriller nothing more than that. It did give me some shocks and scared me little bit towards the ending and final fight with the evil spirit etc but otherwise for a hardcore Horror Buff – it will be a big disappointment. And for someone who has seen and loved Exorcist – this will be a walk in the park and will make you laugh at times. Totally predictable stuff – right from the very start you know where it is going still the question remains “how” hence I had to see it. With Jeffrey Dean Morgan in lead who I always confuse with Javier Bardem and Natasha Calis as Emily his possessed daughter – I seriously couldn't skip it. If you like thrillers – do not miss this as it works like a good thriller for sure.

Natasha Calis "Possessed"

The Movie: I don’t know why but most of the horror movies start with almost the same premise – a broken family in trouble which is bound to fall back in place by the time it all ends. Here too the man in lead – Jeffrey Dean Morgan is a freshly divorced guy with two daughters moving to their new house which is in middle of nowhere. As fate had it – they stop for a sale and his daughter Emily picks up a weird looking box, which she isn’t able to open anyways. This was the same box which we see at the very start of the movie in the introduction as a old lady tries destroying it and some kind of power ends up killing her in a brutal way while his son keeps knocking on the door. The trouble starts with the arrival of the box – as soon as she comes home with it – the neighboring house’s old lady who is heavily bandaged – reacts big time looking at the box and the nurse shuts the curtains giving you a tarrying feeling as something is wrong with the box. How she opens the box and what all is inside – is something you’ve got to see on screen, its totally spooky stuff and I was already getting Goosebumps by thinking what is in store ahead for me in it. Life changes upside down as Emily gets possessed by something weird which the audience couldn’t see but the way her behavior changes is totally awesome. The way she eats a lot of stuff and still feels hungry – is spooky as you know something is inside her body – with weird moments of that inside creature on her face and body was something giving me chills – big time with solid background score thrown in to scare you even better.

Natasha Calis

One thing which bothers and makes me smile all the time while watching a horror movie is – why don’t they turn on the lights? Even this one is too dark and that works big time in its favor to make a perfect horror cum thriller. Those stabbing, checking herself out on the mirror and with a torch scenes are the ones that made me jump on my seat while watching them. One moment you see a different Emily and the second you have that innocent little girl who has no clue what happened to her previously. Next when Jeffrey finds out about the box and tries to dispose it off without telling Emily where he does that. It’s a fantastic scene leading the movie to oncoming superb climax. Where Jeffrey finally seeks help and tries to settle it all. There are so many scenes one after another that it totally keeps you hooked to the movie to the very end. Like the one with their room full of moths and Emily reaction as what happened? Where are they moving now? Jeffrey’s wife reaction when she is told that he hit her whereas he didn’t – as it look like that. Jeffrey in trouble asking help of a fellow professor – who himself was surprised to see him. A scene where Emily’s step father almost finds out what’s wrong with her but misses the action with a fraction of a second, what happens next is totally rocking stuff. Emily in the MRI room and the image that we see on the computer is another fantastic scene of the movie – with those flickering lights adding to the horror. The best part of the movie is its ending – the totally last half an hour is superb action and chilling at its best. As I said earlier – it’s a must watch for all thriller cum horror fans – it doesn’t works like a superb Horror for sure but nevertheless works like at least a damn good thriller.

Rock of Ages (2012) - Musical

The last musical that I saw was “Mamma Mia” with one of my favorite bands ABBA written all over it and to this day I cannot forget what an experience it was to watch my favorite stars singing all time favorite songs – the songs we’ve grown listening to. This one unfortunately I missed watching it on Big Screen and today regretted it big time after watching it twice today that too back to back at home. Then I realized – it was a box office dud with $75 Million budget and it end up making only $50 Million. There is another reason to it – as per me – you will love it only if you were born in 70s – the earlier the better. I totally loved the songs – some are as good as you will just stand up and kick some air for sure. If you love Rock – Do not miss this anymore. Totally rocking music (that’s subjective) and some damn good rocking performances by one of my all time favorite Tom Cruise as a reclusive rocker Stacee Jaxx, awesome Paul Giamati as his manipulative and cunning Manager, Hottie Malin Akerman as Rolling Stone reporter, my favorite Alec Baldwin as the owner of the club where whole of the movie takes place, Russel Brand as club’s Manager, Katherine Zita Jones as Mayor’s wife who wants to close down the club and the fantastic lead pair of Hottie Julianne Hough and Diego Boneta as the lead couple – it’s a totally rocking cast of beautiful people singing awesome songs at the drop of a hat. My wifey was like “they don’t talk much but keep singing”. I have already downloaded its soundtrack and loving it – check it out – if you love Musicals – this one is one of its own kinds – if you like Rock – This Is It!

Katherine Zita Jones

The Movie: Based in the late 80’s – it starts with Sherrie’s (Julianne Hough) arrival to LA from a small city of Oklahoma, instantly on landing she gets robbed of her records and stuff and Drew (Diego Boneta) comes to her rescue – they hit it off pretty well right from the very start. He gets her enrolled as a waitress in the club he works for “The Bourbon Room” owned by dashing Dennis (Alec Baldwin) and managed by Lonny (Russel Brand) in a damn good comical role. All their feelings and discussions are in songs – one better than another types and you get to know of their characters – it’s too good to hear all those songs from your old collection – one after another. The good part is – they all fit in so damn well that you just keep smiling and moving your feet with the beats. Story takes a turn as Stacee Jaxx (Tom Cruise) comes to give one final performance at their club with his band “Arsenal” before resigning from the same. The club is in big debts and they need this show to be a grand success to pay off the debts they were facing. The mayor’s hot wife Patricia (Katherine Zita Jones) and her followers are already protesting against the night club and plan to shut it down to save the city from Sex, Drugs and Rock n Roll. The number performed by her is too good.

Malin Ackerman

The cute lead couple Drew and Sherrie is already fallen in love as the movie progresses – they confess as Stacee’s performance gets cancelled and Sherrie convinces the manager to let Drew perform instead with his gang on stage for the first time. Another fantastic scene is going on in the meantime as Paul Giamati (Stacee’s Manager) arranges for his interview with Rolling Stone’s hot Interviewer (Malin Ackerman) – they end up singing a couple of songs and right when they are about to have sex – Malin realizes she is doing a mistake and walks out on him. But right at that time Sherrie passes through Stacee and Drew thinks that they did had sex – their relationship breaks up and in anger he ends up performing damn well on the stage. While his girl friend quits her job and joins a strip down the road in anger. It has so much happening all the time with so many songs being performed that you do lose sense of time and track of story and realize that there isn’t much of the story anyways. I guess that’s the reason why this movie didn’t appeal to a log of people and lead to its box office failure – may be. What I loved is the situation and perfect use of awesome songs – these songs speak so much of the situations and I am sure the Director did quite a good research while collecting them all and sewn them together in such a fantastic way. Like when Katherine Zita Jones is protesting against the club the song in the background plays “Hit me with your best shot” and as Tom Cruise and Malin Ackerman are about to make love the song being played was “I want to know what love is” – its so damn apt for the situation. The pace is so fast that everything goes off in no time and then again falls back in place as nothing happened in between – I guess that’s what the turn off was for public that they couldn’t connect with the whole thing neither with the characters. Fortunately for me the high point of the movie was its soundtrack and songs – that worked big time. I already saw twice and will definitely see it a couple of more times in the very near future.

Julianne Hough and Diego Boneta

Rest of the movie covers how everything stats falling in place and lovers join each other – after certain time it becomes too predictable and you exactly know where it is going – still the premise is too good and you actually don’t mind that. I wonder Stacee goes solo at the club after breaking up with his band as the club too tries to call off “Rock n Roll” and move to Pop with no success – they do go back to “Rock n Roll” and prove that Rock N Roll will never die as mentioned and believed otherwise earlier. I didn’t mid the hurried ending as I had a great connect with the cast and music. I am sure a lot of music lovers didn’t mind the falling back thing and loved it the way we did. Who doesn’t likes the happy endings after all. 

Supermen of Malegaon (2012) - Documentary Drama

Some movies have “Passion” written all over them – in last couple of months we have seen a couple of them and praised them like anything. I am sure lot of people like me will swear on movies like “Gangs of Wasseypur” etc and will review them again and again to love them even more. This movie has changed my thinking big time of calling myself a movie buff or a movie freak or a guy very passionate about movies and all that – my foot! We are nothing in front of this guy or shall I say these guys – who don’t even just watch movies – they bloody make their own movies and how or what they do – is all there for all of us to see. I can vouch that you would have never seen anything like this ever before and if you call yourself a big movie freak – you’ve gotta watch this one out to know what I am talking about. Hats off to this one man army called Faiza Ahmad Khan of Malegaon, who not only makes his own movies – he lives movies. We are absolutely nothing in front of him – Kudos to this guy and to his whole team who worked so passionately in the movie and what a fantastic final product it is – it had us in splits big time. The sad part is – as in the movie Superman fights with the Tobacco villain – in real life he died of Cancer right next day after the movie got released, but his dream was fulfilled. This is a must watch for all – not to be missed – if nothing else – it will make you laugh big time – especially for those who call themselves “Passionate about movies” this will change the meaning of Passion for you.

Superman and his Girl Friend

Malegaon: It is one of the largest cities of North West Maharashtra based around 300 Kilometers from Mumbai with a population of 12 to 14 lacs. It is on the Mumbai Agra national highway – we always pass through Malegaon whenever we go to my hometown Indore. I had no idea of its existence before I saw this movie and realized what kind of passionate movie freaks stay in there – majority of the population is Muslims and mostly they are into Powerlooms as shown in the movie too. Malegaon came in news big time in the year 2008 for the two bombings in the area killing so many innocent people. They have their own Micro Movie making Industry called Mollywood and they make their own set of movies – mostly spoofs on Bollywood movies with some big names like “Malegaon ke Sholay”, “Shaan”, “Lagaan”, “Doctor” etc. They are all comedy movies made by locals in their own language and even songs. What they like is that the Hero and Heroines of their movies talk right like the local people of the area talk. When they spoofed one of the Bollywood classics Sholay – they made it with a shoe string budget of INR 50K hence the great train robbery sequence was done on a Local bus with dacoits robbing the bus in their bicycles – that will give you a good idea of what kind of movies these guys make – but trust me – they are Hilarious to say the least. you’ve got to check out a couple of them to believe it.

The Villain

Supermen of Malegaon: Its more of a documentary cum drama movie which feels like we are seeing something like a “Making of Supermen of Malegaon”. It gives us quite an insight on the movie and its making, the whole cast and crew too is being interviewed with little snippets of how they make the whole movie. Its very funny to see the whole process and the hard work which goes in the making of a fantastic movie. Hilarious is the way they do the preparation right from the costume, camera, audio, background, cast, hiring, location, songs, dialogues, dubbing, sponsors and in the end you see the final product which is an out and out laugh riot to say the least. The Director is a local videographer who now owns a denim shop for his income and very passionate about movies. He makes all kinds of spoofs on Bollywood mostly and this was his first attempt on a Hollywood movie as with the changing times – he wants to serve something like that to his audience mostly the people of Malegaon. They want to see their own Superman flying over the city and how they do it is the movie all about. It is indeed very interesting to see the whole process – I was shocked to see that these guys are actually pretty advanced to edit the scenes, change the background, dubbing and voice over etc. In reality they have done a pretty good job and made a damn good movie worth 70 minutes. The story is pretty simple as Superman is going through the town on a routine flying expedition – a dude going in an auto rickshaw chewing tobacco spits on his face as mistakenly. Superman chases him and after thrashing him finally comes to know of the villain who is a Tobacco producer named “Dang Dong Ding” and whose only motto in life is to make Malegaon a filthy place, he wishes everyone should just chew tobacco and spit everywhere as his punch line goes like “I Love Filth”. How Superman shuts down his Dang Dong Ding’s tobacco factory and saves his own girl friend from the clutches of the villain is the rest of the movie. He even gets to sing a very interesting song in the movie too with his sweetheart. Check it out guys – I am sure you will love this laugh riot and cherish it for quite a while.

Oh My God (2012) - Drama

Akshay Kumar has screwed his reputation so badly these days that picking up his movies to watch is no less than an adventure. But with Paresh Rawal at the helm of things in this one – I was bound to check this one as soon as I could and I am way too glad that I saw it finally – it was a laugh riot and too damn good on the subject. The best part of the movie is – its too damn true and stays true to its subject – so many times we end up exclaiming “Oh yeah, that’s how it is indeed”. “Yes, it happens”. I even read somewhere that such was the impact of the movie that the usual donations have gone down in religious places after movie’s release last week – don’t know how true that is in reality though. Paresh Rawal is too good in lead with an awesome supporting cast especially Akshay Kumar, Om Puri, Govind Namdeo and Mithun Chakraborty. Based on the life of an Atheist (Kanjibhai – Paresh Rawal) who sues god because his shop gets destroyed in a earth quake and insurance company rejects his claim as “Acts of God” are not covered under the claim – what happens next is a hilarious ride and a fantastic lesson that everyone needs to learn with this one. A must watch for all – it entertains you big time and teaches you something great too. Not to be missed at any cost. 

Govind Namdeo, Mithun and Poonam Jhawer

The Movie: The movie is based on a Gujarati Play Kanji VS Kanji and with a plot similar to an Australian Movie “The Man Who Sued God”. It’s based on the life of one Kanji bhai – a middle class shop owner who sells Hindu Idols and religious stuff to people. He himself is a big time atheist and a non believer, it’s hilarious to see how he gets all those statues and stuff which he calls antiques and sells at a way too high price – playing with the sentiments of religious God fearing people. One fine day he offends a devout Hindu Maharaj in between an on going festival and makes the crowd disperse just to get his son back to home. The Maharaj gets offended and shouts that “God will curse you” and the very next day a very minor earthquake occurs in Mumbai with almost no damage to no one but only to Kanji Bhai’s shop, which gets totally ruined with nothing left intact inside. He goes to the Insurance Company’s office to file for a claim for loss of property but is denied on the grounds that “Act of God” isn’t covered by Insurance provider. Here onwards the movie takes a turn as Kanji Bhai runs from pillar to post to get his claim sanctioned – he tries all the tricks he could to get it but fails big time. He is left with no option but to file a case against God but again – no lawyer would come forward to file such a never heard ever case that too against God. Finally, he gets a lawyer Hanif Qureshi (Om Puri) as he is already discarded in his own society for taking up Hindi cases – he offers to help him by sending notice to God men but will not be able to fight the case in court of law because of his physical disability. Kanji Bhai takes it up on himself to defend his own case in court of law. They do send the notices to all God men like the Hindu Maharaj (Govind Namdeo), Gopi Maiyya (Sexy Poonam Jhawer), their leader Leeladhar (Mithun) and Insurance Company’s lawyer (Hilarious Mahesh Manjrekar).

Prabhu Deva and Sonakshi Sinha (Item Number)

After the first hearing: The case further gets complicated as Kanji Bhai makes a solid case out of his dilemma in such a convincing way that even court has to give him to prove his case to them. The whole crowd – who are out and out God fearing people turn against him and it becomes tuff for him to go out in public with everywhere people lining up to beat him up for filing a case against their Gods. Right then – when he is about to get beaten up – a stranger comes to his rescue – it’s a tacky scene of modern Krishna (Akshay Kumar) who lands from a sky scraper on his bike and rescues him away in style. Finally Kanji Bhai reaches home somehow and realizes that his wife leaves him along with his kids in the wake of all the troubles they’ve been facing because of his case. Akshay Kumar comes over to his house as the new owner and advices him how to proceed with the case. How Kanji Bhai goes on to the court and fights his case – is totally an experience of a life time and an eye opener for the society. Especially to those who blindly follow the religion and priests without knowing any reasons or basis what so ever. The commercialization of religious places, temples, mosques, churches etc. It’s shown in such a way that you end up gasping big time and realizing – that’s actually how it is in our society today. I seriously wondered how our so called “Over Sensitive Censor Board” cleared this movie for a public viewing – hats off to them for this one at least. How he represents his case and even ends up winning it is not only hilarious but damn good. It has a perfect message for the current times and I am sure the audience will understand and make amends too in their life.

Akshay Kumar - Modern Krishna

Fantastic is the way they have shown the true face of society in this movie. How the religious groups take the God fearing crowd for a ride and make so much of money out of it. How they make millions in collections and do nothing for the society and support the political parties for their own motives is totally true. One man’s fight with the corruption in society that too in the name of religion is an eye opener, we all come across these things in our daily life but when its about religion – no one opposes it as we are all God fearing people – this movies teaches us to become God loving than fearing. I myself do not believe too much on God and Super Powers etc yet I do visit temples and religious places for the sheer historical value. I am highly against donations to these places and people – totally liked the way they projected it in this movie and throw more light on it with right reasoning.