Ishaqzaade (2012) - Hindi Movie

I simply love those movies which are unpredictable and you are actually shocked to see what happens next. These movies are a must watch on the first week of their release itself - if you really want to enjoy them. Otherwise a whole lot of people like me will give away its unique and surprising things and then you end up giving them below average ratings as nothing shocks you, as it becomes "Yaa, I know, My friend already told me that". Go ahead take a look as you know it is from the same guy who gave us "Do Dooni Chaar" and Wrote "Band Baaja Baarat". Both were damn good movies - totally entertaining. Do not miss it at any cost.

Story is based supposedly in a small town of UP. What you see is actually true account and happens in so many small towns of India, even today. I could actually see the glimpses of our own college days and that's exactly how we wud celebrate a friends marriage, by gun shots in open air. Those bike chases and violence on road is quite entertaining and looks life like. There are so many instances in the movie where you simply gasp and say "Oh Shit". The differences between both the families and their falling in love with each other will remind you of 80's movies. Where the hero will sit on a bench in front of his heroines house for hours. Come rain, come sun shine, he won't move an inch and finally the girl will fall in love too. But everything isn't that hunky dory in the end as there has to be a twist in the tale.

My hardcore movie critic wife surprisingly got the twist before even it happened and I was shocked as she gave me the points too that made her predict and bang!! She was right. I couldn't guess it hence I was in for the shock and then I was swept in their unique love story with a mind blowing twist in the mid and a heart touching ending. You do come out of the auditorium smiling as if you did win the war in the end. There are so many small small things which make you smile. That's typical Habib Faisal stuff and music is equally great. The moment you hear the tune - it reminds you of Dev D and you know its Amit Trivedi in music department. But the songs are really nice and I'm going to humm them for quite a while.

The locations and cinematography is excellent. I totally loved the camera movements. Following a character, moving ahead, coming back, going up and capturing the mood is just excellent. He keeps you involved in the movie. Writing is another good part as so many dialogues make you cheer, laugh, clap and hoot too. No out of the world or cliché lines but the real-time lines as we speak everyday. Its a totally nice movie to watch. Reminded me of my own college days and made me feel good. I'm convinced with the ending too and there cudnt be a better ending than how it ends.

Arjun Kapoor cudnt have asked for a better debut and Parineeta Chopra is damn good. As much I hate her cousin Priyanka who is becoming worse in looks by the day cause of all those lip jobs, nose jobs and what not. Parineeta is simply beautiful and I don't think they require much make up to make her look more beautiful. She is good in expressions and acting, definitely going to go a long way. The support cast is excellent, specially the two dads and Arjun's friends. One of whom we saw sometime back in "Sadda Adda".

Its a must one time watch. You will surely enjoy it.

Tezz (2012): Hindi Movie.

A fantastic comedy and another movie which expects you to keep your brains behind while going to watch it. I can guarantee - you will laugh on everything right from the word "Go". I mean everything is hilarious. I loved Anil Kapoor's best lines "Its my duty" he says that with full emotions at least 3 times. The action scenes and CGI is a lousy attempt and I can definitely write a trilogy of books on them. The best is "Monkey Jump", you see Zayed doing a "Jason Statham" on foot and will give some competition to monkeys. I mean in todays age and time in India - thats the best they can serve us?? Then you have Mohanlal in a thankless role - his monkey jump to save his own life in the last shot had me in splits. I really wonder how he managed that with his body weight. Its a must watch if you love laughing and having good time with friends. I really wonder how they presented the script and idea to Devgan so he agreed to do it.

Priydarshan should stick to do what he does best. Make movies down south or do strictly comedies. Action and serious stuff is not his forte - he should stay away from it. I mean look at the whole idea of this movie. Based on a non immigrants life in UK, who is deported to India since he was working illegally. Although he marries a Citizen but guess what? In a hindu temple and they I think forgot to register it. Laugh Laugh. He is deported and his wifey who loves him so much stays back :). Guess she was waiting for him to get a legal visa and come back. He comes back, but not to meet her in 4 years but to take revenge with the govt and two of his friends help him with all they can to put a bomb on a train and blow it - if they don't get 10 million euros. Awesome idea. Isn't it? What pursues is a hilarious cat and mouse game between cops and these idiots. Ending with a double idiotic ending.

There are so many movies these days which are made with no head and tail. No one bothers about a script. Its actually shot in episodes and edited together to make a movie. Like this one. Three tacky action chase sequences. One item number. One love song. One sad song. A great cop working one extra day after his retirement. A great dedicated railway service manager. Another great cop in a cameo. Shot them all separately and sewn them together haphazardly to make a movie hence the outcome - A Complete DISASTER. 

What a royal waste of time, money and talent. Barring Ajay, Boman and Anil - no one leaves no impression on you. And they all look helpless. Even if you watch it without thinking anything - by the end you realize "what the hell just happened". But it does make you laugh your ass off - big time. I mean take that scene with Ajay meets Sameera first time after he returns to take revenge, she gives him half a dozen phones. Make one call and toss it to the bin :). That white water raft chase scene by Ms Sameera Reddy followed by her dirt bike chase - I guess she must be dreaming of replacing Angelina Jolie in next action movie. Zayed Khan doing a "Jason Statham" on foot chase. His monkey jumps will have you in splits. Bag full of C4 bombs is such a comic sight. They buy it as if they are buying chocolates. I mean he is deported and comes back in 4 years with so much money to buy two bag fulls of C4 :). Wow. Why do you need to settle in UK if you can make that kind of money in India that too in just 4 years.

Another best scene of movie is - when Good Cop Anil realizes that a bag full of C4 is about to blow in 3 seconds - he simply jumps out of the window and saves himself - Bravo!! What a great cop and what an idea. All this while Ajay and his friends were shooting people and bombing trains etc still his wife doesn't know one thing and she is like "he is here to meet us" ROFL. Its a total laugh riot.

Not to be missed - if you like serious comedies.

The Avengers (2012)

A super hero movie is always a delight for any movie freak - how about one with half a dozen of them thrown in together fighting for one cause? That too a two and a half hour long joy ride on 3D. A very dear friend made me doubly happy by buying me those push back reclining seats where you have your own table and blanket too :). Battery powered recliner with a foot rest, so you can set your own angle. I wish they let me live there. NOT TO BE MISSED. Superb movie. Awesome action. You will duck a couple of times and lost the count how many times we all shouted, cheered and clapped like kids.

When it comes to action movies, there is no better than a super hero movie, be it spiderman, superman, ironman, thor, batman, so on so forth. And when you put half a dozen of them in one movie avenging and saving the planet from bad guys and their army - is simply amazing. If I have to pick one favorite - it will be quite a tough task. I will definitely pick up Ironman followed by Hulk followed by Thor. Captain America will show up last in my list and that Black widow will never make it to my list ever. I don't need a glamour quotient in an action movie for sure. Scarlett Johansson was a mere caricature here, dunno why she did it.

Ironman beats everybody hands down in here. I totally love everything about him. The way he walks, talks, jokes - simply mindblowing. One scene which deserves a mention is when he lands on the top of his building and the way his suit is being taken off his body by automatic process by machine and he keeps walking on an open corridor talking to his girl friend - is an amazing sight. I can see this movie twice for that shot only. One hell of an amazingly shot sequence. Second is Hulk. He is located to be in Calcutta (India) and called to help the team beat up Loki and his army who are here to take control of unlimited supply of energy in a cube. Mark Ruffalo is a blessing as New Hulk and he is simply amazing. He has already won our hearts in his last couple of movies and after you see this - I am sure you too will look forward to his upcoming movies.

Jeremy Renner as hawk is amazing too, although he is forced to join the bad guys but when he joins the team back - its simply mind blowing action that he delivers with his automated bow and arrows. Simply stunning camera shots of moving arrows that too on 3D is one hell of a sight. Captain America as per me is plain average. Although he too has got some great action but personally am not a big fan hence didn't enjoy it that much. Thor as usual is damn good. Although as an individual movie I didn't like Thor that much as it was a little too much for me but here, in a small role he is acceptable. I love his magnetic hammer though which he keeps losing and catching again and again.

I guess at least four or more times, I actually ducked to save myself from flying and crashing objects. Like in one sequence when you have a broken wing of air plane is thrown on audiences. And that flying army of Loki, Hawks arrows, Flying ship of SHIELD the organization to which they all report and work with. Sam Jackson gets some of the best lines and watch out for the ending ;). You will know what I'm talking of. Robert Downey too gets some fantastic lines, his facial expressions and timing is simply superb. He is the best of the lot. In the end you actually feel like you never get enough of him.

New York has gone through so many disasters in last one decade in movies that I am sure they have used all corners of the city to the full. Even in this one it looks so run of the mill action. Even when the US govt orders a typical Nuclear Missile to be blown in Manhattan - you just don't show any expression as that's pretty normal for them. One solution to all world problem is a bloody nuclear blast that's such a ROFL stuff.
All in all - its a damn good watch for action lovers and is a definite multiple viewing for movie freaks. Its a nice one time watch for regular cinegoers. And if you love 3D movies - this is the movie of the year. If you ask me personally - I will rate its CGI one notch lower than AVATAR. If Avatar was 4/5 for me - this is definitely a 3/5 and no less.

Do not miss it at any cost.
It deserves a big screen viewing.
You will love it.

The Lucky One (2012)

Another classic case of wrong casting and Boy - what a disaster. Why in the hell someone would pick up Zac Efron of all to play a Marine? Even if he plays a 25 year old, it isn't good enough convincing for me. He remains wooden for the most of the part as if all marines are supposed to be expressionless. His expressions remain same even while he is killing enemies or making love. At times his expressions are like "what am I doing here?" and same is what you think by mid way. Its a classic waste of time and money in the name of a love story.

Give it a royal ignore if you like love stories or the one's with a little drama thrown in between. Its too boring. Starting is so slow and it just drags till the mid way when you really see some conflicts. But before you think of any action taking place, everything falls in right places and everybody is happy before it all ends. You see, director was actually making a feel good movie. I wonder how did it made so much money in Hollywood.

Zac is a marine posted in Iraq. While the war goes on - one fine day he locates a mirror like object at some distance. As he walks to picks it up - a missile lands where he was sitting and everybody else is killed in the freak blast. It was actually a picture of a girl which saves his life. Second time again while he is traveling in a humvy they come across a blast and again he is saved cause he was looking at the picture. So, he decides - if he survives the war - he will go and find the girl and thank her for keeping him alive.

Finally, he comes back home and takes a cross country drive to locate the girl. As he meets her for the first time, she thinks he is there to apply for a job of a dog trainer / cleaner. He happily takes it up thinking he will tell her about the whole story later. Taylor Schilling is beautiful and wears hot pants mostly. Her job is to just look good and smile. She has a background tOo and is a single mother with a young kid. They fall for each other gradually and some tough times later everything falls in place and movie ends on a happy note.

They actually tried too hard to make it a mushy love story but it fails big time to hold your interest. Its so so simple and highly predictable that you actually know what's going to happen next and it does. What does not work for me - is the cast. I had so many expectations from them. Even the drama isn't convincing. I had full sympathy with the guy who plays her husband, as he had to play a villain out of nowhere cause the story goes nowhere without a twist. Its another movie you just see and forget. Its totally misleading to write on the poster - "from the acclaimed author" of "notebook" and "dear john".

A Better Tomorrow (1986): Chinese Movie.

Another fantastic example of "A classic always remains a classic" even after so many remakes, you just can't better it. Made on a meager budget - it was a blockbuster and even today when you see it after 25 years of its making, it doesn't feel one bit old and you remain truly hooked to the edge of your seat throughout the movie. What an experience it was. Found a dubbed version in english - it was a fantastic action thriller. The name "John Woo" is more than enough for any movie buff to watch it and you realize - he is actually the father of modern action movies.

It was made in Hindi by Sanjay Gupta as "Aatish" which indeed shot Sanju baba, Aditya Pancholi and Atul Agnihotri to fame. I so much loved it that its still a part of my collection but after watching the original - respect for Sanjay Gupta has definitely gone down a few notches. How they botched it up for Indian market is unbelievable. The difference between both the movies is - when you see "Aatish" today - you actually end up laughing on half of the movie. And when you see the original - its serious business and action is so genuine and serious that you totally love it, even today. Still Aatish will remain a favorite for its mind blowing action and my all time favorite Sanjay Dutt.

A better tomorrow - is a story of two best friends (Sung and Mark) who work for a gang whose primary business is to print counterfeit dollars. They are both the right and left hand of the boss and very well respected members of the gang. Sung has a younger brother who wants to become a police officer. When he realizes his brother's actual job, he starts hating him and because of him their dad too is killed in a freak incident. Later Sung goes for a deal to Taiwan with a new member of the gang and is double crossed - he lands in jail for 3 years. By the time he comes back, everything has changed. His brother becomes a cop and his friend mark is in rags. The new member who double crossed him is the new boss now.

Sung wants to give up his earlier life of crime and tries to lead a good life by driving a taxi. He wants to win his brother back. He meets his old friend Mark too. Its such a classic scene when they both meet for the first time after he returns from jail that I just cannot put it here in words. It actually touches you deep inside. Sung and Mark are such great friends that they can die for each other and Sung loves his brother so much that he can kill anybody for him. They leave the crime world but the criminals don't spare them that easily. They are actually blackmailed into it and had to come back to a criminals life.

If they do not end it by ending the whole gang - Sung's brother and his girl friends life too are in danger. The action sequence in the ending half hour is simply superb, mind blowing old school action. You have to see it to believe it. Amazing is the word for it. The way hell breaks lose and the way they take their revenge and the final out come is totally heart wrenching. The whole movie in its entirety is an experience on its own - one that you just can't forget for quite a while. Rather you will end up digging its remaining two parts to know what happens next - right the way I am going to do now.

Some scenes which I will remember for quite sometime: When Mark goes alone to take revenge of Sung's arrest with the guy who double crossed them. He hides his guns in flower pots in the corridor and as they start shooting on him - he takes out those hidden guns and shoots them all.
After his release from jail when the two friends meet - the situation in which they were in - mark is a cripple, cleaning cars for a living, Sung is a taxi driver - their meeting is the emotional high of the movie. A scene of a life time.
Final revenge and the result - truly rocking.
Special mention should be made of its fundoo background score which gels so well with the happenings on screen.

Its a must watch for all action and thriller lovers. Its old school action - the one that we all grew up too with machine guns shooting, bombs blowing, lots of blood and gore. Not to be missed at any cost.