Lebanon (2009) - Thriller

A superb thriller and I should say it is one of its own kinds as never seen anything as good as this one. The whole movie is shot inside a tank and the only outside window for audience as well as cast is the binocular vision of the gun they had. It was simply terrific as I could never imagined how fantastic it could be – terrifying is the sound of the gun moving left, right, up and down with that hydraulic whining sound as well as the jerks of guns blaring, missiles fired, shots taken by the tanker. it is indeed a hell of a movie if you ask me – a must watch for all thriller lovers especially those who love war movies, this one is a visual as well as imagination gone wild treat. It had so many Goosebumps as well as hearth in your mouth moments that I can’t even describe. The total cast consists of only four people – tanks driver, missiles loader, gunner and the commanding officer, rest of the people keep coming and going briefly. They are ordered to clean sweep whatever comes on their way in Lebanon and support the army and what all they through during the course of I guess one day is simply mind blowing and terrific. The team of four had hardly any Live experience of war and how they handle the situation and the tension is simply outstanding. Never seen anything like this ever before and I am sure it will remain in my head for quite a long time to come. Not to be missed by anyone – a totally must watch movie.

Hatchi: A Dogs Tale (2009) - Drama

Although this one is a remake an old Japanese movie again based on a true story of early 20^th century about a dog – Hachiko, who waited everyday for his deceased master at a Japanese railway station for almost 9 years. Richard Gere as usually is too good in lead as the master who finds the dog on a railway platform and takes it home. They try their level best to find the owner or a family who will adopt him but then as fate had it – they keep him and how he becomes an important part of their family and what happens next is a heartwarming drama. It’s such a nice story and made in an awesome way that we were hooked to it big time – so much so that now I want to see its original too just to know if it would be any better than this one. The majority of the movie has almost no dialogues but just the dog in full frame waiting for his master to come back and how the camera follows him throughout. Even the support cast like the Railway Station Manager, Hot Dog Stand guy, Lady in restaurant and couple of more people leave a mark on the audience. It is an outstanding story of a dog and shows us yet again that why a dog is called the most loyal animal known to mankind. It’s a must watch for all and a movie which should never be missed by anyone. I will give it a damn good 4.5/5 – almost a classic.

Phata Poster Nikhla Hero (2013)- Comedy

This became 300^th movie of the year for me and unfortunately I had no expectations from Rajkumar Santoshi this time as he picked up Shahid Kapoor in lead. Surprisingly it turned out to be a laugh riot for us, my kiddo was hell bent on seeing it ASAP and I obliged her this Sunday. One good part of watching a movie right on its second day of release was that we hadn’t made an opinion of the movie based on others reviews and had no idea what’s in store for us hence this worked for us big time. Shahid Kapoor was in top form in lead as a wannabe bollywood hero and his mother supremely played by Padmini Kolhapure too was in outstanding form – I should say. Even the support cast consisted of some damn good actors and almost everyone played their part to their best like Zakir Hussain as the corrupt cop, Sanjay Mishra as the wannabe writer, Darshan Zariwala as ACP were too good too. The only weak link as per me was Ileana as the love interest of our hero but fortunately she didn’t had much to do but look damn good in almost all the songs and that she does in style. A quick yet an outstanding cameo by Salman Khan was too good, I wonder he is the only one know can take anyone else’s name in a movie and get away with it, watch it – you will know what I am talking about. It was almost a full house and crowd really cheered and laughed hard. I will definitely call it a good time pass movie which is clean comedy and a complete family entertainer. I will rate it a good 3/5 for sure and will recommend it to all.

Zanjeer (2013) - Action

Another Bomb from Apoorva Lakhia camp and he actually lived up to the expectations – everyone knew from the very start that this one will be another disaster of the year and it actually turns out to be WTF movie of the year. Very second thought as we sat seeing this disaster on screen giving tribute to Ram Charan’s immediate family right from the very start showing his Dad and Uncle’s movie posters in background – we were glad that neither Prakash Mehra nor Praan Saab lived up to see its remake and that’s such a big relief. The original was a career defining movie for Amitabh Bachchan and even as we see its re runs on some TV channels today they still appeal to us big time. Comparisons are anyways inevitable and why not – when they have guts of remaking the classics they should be ready for brickbats too – movie has no heart, no passion and they almost tried nothing with it – barring Sanjay Dutt who has a disastrously written character still he becomes such a nice saving grace for the movie – we only wished his role was a little better and longer– I will call it a special appearance of sorts nothing more. Priyanka Chopra – the less said the better as even wifey found her to be over the top and she tried way too hard to be in the character than she should have – it’s an outright OMG performance. When it comes to remakes – they should at least make a movie which still works like an independent movie – like Farhan Akhtar did with his Don series, they are still watchable if nothing else at least as sleek glossy action / comedy movies respectively. This was a total disaster – give it a miss if you have missed it anyways – I will give it 1/5 and this one star seriously belongs to Sanju Baba for his amazing looks and performance.

The Iceman (2012) - Thriller

Another Fantastic “Based on True Story” movie – on the life of notorious hitman Richard Kuklinski played supremely by one of my favorite actors “Michael Shannon”. Fantastic isn’t the right word to explain this movie – with Shannon’s towering personality and a killer character of a hitman / ruthless cold blooded killer in hand with Ray Liotta as his boss and Chris Evans as his brief partner – you just can’t ask for more in one thriller. Oh! And before I forget – Winona Ryder as his cute and clueless wife – who has no idea of his profession. Its indeed awesome to watch how he proposes, maries and raises two daughters till they come to know who he actually is. How he killed almost 100+ people during his killing spree and got the name “The Iceman” is something you’ve gotta see it for – this guy is an awesome actor and he has proved it couple of times not so long ago but this movie seals it for him – big-time. I haven’t seen a better hitman ever for sure – totally loved him as a crazy cop in his last movie “Premium Rush” and now this one. The movie actually becomes an edge of the seat thriller couple of times as you see him in anger – especially one scene where he mistakenly bumps his car into another in front – the look that he gives the other guy is scary enough for him and audience – what pursues next is something you’ve got to watch the movie for – Superb Thriller! He became one of those villains that we hate to love like “Joker” from Dark Knight. It is one hell of a thriller and I will definitely give it a great 4/5 with two thumbs up – a must watch for all thriller lovers.

Satyagraha (2013) - Political Thriller

The quality of Prakash Jha’s movies have started going down in last decade or so – I guess the best he made in last ten years will be “Gangajal” followed by “Apaharan” and finally “Raajneeti” which was still good. The reason as per me – why that’s happening is because he started making movies every year – no heart – no research hence the result an undercooked story trying to cover up too much as they say – too many cooks spoil the broth. Here too – he end up taking too many stars in a movie which he should have kept simple and straight to the point. Unfortunately it turns out to be a yawn inducing movie which is too long saying too little and all drama with no substance. Although it starts off pretty well but loses the steam midways starts going nowhere and the audience just wait for the end which is not even convincing and looks like a hap hazard ending of a Priyadarshan movie. The best part of the movie is the scenes with Ajay Devgn and Amitabh Bachchan (Together) – superb! I will give it one star each for their performances and a half star for the background score “Satyagraha (Song)” will run in my mind for next couple of weeks – awesome music with fantastic use of guitar in it, Salim Sulaiman simply rocked it. Undercooked characters and script is the culprit here. Kareena Kapoor is miscast big time – you’ve got to watch out for her scenes – they are simply hilarious with her fake pout and poses – every time camera comes towards her is laughable, she is totally out of place in this one and less we talk about her affair with Ajay is the better. Fortunately I had no expectations this time around with Prakash Jha that’s why it was a little easy for me to digest this movie – and I will definitely call it a great opportunity missed by him – it could’ve been so much better in the current context of Indian political / economic situation but I guess what he wanted to make is something which will work commercially too – it will but will never be called a good or great movie on the subject. No problems if you have missed it – its tough watching it full in one go anyway – I will still give it 2.5/5 just for the effort and Ajay / Big B’s heartfelt performances.