King of Comedy (1983) - Comedy

Another classic and a kick ass at that from Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro team – what a joy ride this was, totally rocking stuff. The best part about Robert’s comic timing is – even if he isn’t saying anything or doing anything – I bet you can’t keep a straight face looking at him. He is such a great actor – just looking at him makes my day – seriously. I saw this movie twice today back to back. Rewound it so many times to see the scenes again and again and don’t plan to delete it any sooner from my drive. This movie should be an institute for the Directors learning how to make a comedy and yet keep your audiences on their tows all the time. One hell of a watch – its for everyone – if you like comedies or if you like Robert or if you love Marty movies – this is it – It’s a crime to miss this one – somehow I was a criminal but then I took a dip in holy water today by watching this twice back to back. Do not miss this at any cost.

The Movie: It’s a very simple and straight forward story of Celebrity Worship. Rupert Pupkin (Robert De Niro) is an aspiring stand up comedian who worships the current king of comedy Jerry Langford (Jerry Lewis). Once Pupkin meets Jerry – he thinks that his big chance has come finally and tries his level best to get into the business by visting Jerry again and again trying to persuade him to give him a chance. His scene’s at Jerry’s office are outstanding comedy, that straight face thing what Robert does is simply mind-blowing and out of this world comedy, I so much loved them. Finally he gets thrown of out Jerry’s office by security guys. He even goes to the length of taking his date to Jerry’s house – as if they were great friends – he gets thrown out from there too. One fine day he plans to kidnap Jerry with the help of one of his stalkers Masha (Sandra Bernhard). They successfully do it too – the scene where they kidnap Jerry and how they keep him is totally hilarious. What happens next is the rest of the movie – see it to believe it – how he gets his big break and at what cost.

Robert De Niro is one of my all time favorite actors – undoubtedly he has a great following. Like I said earlier – just by looking at his straight face makes my day and it indeed does the same. Robert and Martin has given us some damn good movies – but mostly they were gangster stories – I guess this is their only comedy movie together and what a great one it turns out to be. Jerry Lewis as Jerry is totally convincing – his expressions are priceless and is a total treat to watch in that confusing state. One hell of a time pass flick this is. Looking forward to see it a couple of more times for sure.

Headhunters (2011) - Thriller

A damn good Norwegian – German movie which came recommended by a good friend and am I glad that I saw it? This takes the trophy of one of those thrillers that made me skip a couple of heartbeats and have no count as how many times I actually stopped breathing and was busy seeing what happens next. One of the best thrillers I saw in the recent times and what a crazy pace this one had. Amazingly Superb movie – a big time must watch for all thriller / suspense lovers. Starts on a very simple note and once it picks up speed – there is no bloody looking back, killer pace and by the end you actually sympathize with the protagonist – even after knowing its wrong what he does – you so much want him to win, but does he? Check it out guys! Not to be missed at any cost – I believe they are already remaking it in Hollywood but this one was too good as you have hardly any expectations from its lesser known cast and Director.

The Movie: Roger Brown lives a dual life – one for the world and his beautiful wife as a Professional Headhunter for an agency and second as an Art Thief. He has an accomplice – Ove – who works with a security agency. They have a very simple way of stealing the paintings – while he will make the owner busy in some kind of interview with one of his clients – Ove will take care of the security part – he will go and replace the original with a fake painting in flat 10 minutes. He follows his own set of rules. He has a complex that he isn’t too tall and hence to keep his tall beautiful wife happy, he keeps stealing the paintings and gifts her expensive things including a $30 Million Mansion for one, whereas all she wants from him is a baby on which he isn’t too keen. His wife operates his own Art Gallery and one day she introduces him to Clas Greve – who turns out to be a perfect candidate for one of the positions of Roger Brown. On the contrary he comes to know that Clas has a painting in his possession which is worth almost a $100 Million – which can solve all his future problems – if he is able to get it. While he successfully steals the painting from Clas’s house with the help of Ove – he shockingly finds his wife’s cell phone in Clas’s house right when he is about to leave. This turns him suspicious as what’s going on? Everything isn’t that straight forward as it looks. From this point onwards – you are totally hooked to the movie and actually want to know what’s happening. Is it Roger’s x girl friend behind all this or is it his wife who is playing a dirty game with Clas’s help. Right before he could uncover anything his friend Ove is found poisoned in his own car in his garage. As he goes out to dump his own friend’s body – he is chased by Clas – the whole thing turns topsy turfy now that we realize even Clas had his own motive in the first place coming to Roger Brown and he is an x Mercenary who isn’t going to let the things go any easier for Roger Brown. Is Roger going to set the records straight with Clas? Roger is already being chased by Cops for the murder done by Clas.

It’s a mind-blowing thriller with a damn good pace – hardly 100 minutes in running still you are hooked to the most of it. It has its own chilling scenes too like a little bloody and gore, which will make you grab your armrests for sure. How he gets caught by Clas, escapes, again gets caught by cops, gets screwed in between cops and Clas, is too good. I tried my level best to predict the ending as well as the person who was behind all this – but no ways – it isn’t that simple. Even the ending is class apart – I couldn’t predict. Check it out guys – I am sure you will end up saying the same for the movie – it was too good.

Alien Resurrection (1997) - Science Fiction

The last movie from the Alien Franchisee was made in the year 1997 and I am surprised they haven’t tried it again in the last 15 years to revive it, that’s actually unbelievable for me because I would love to see Sigourney Weaver kicking some Alien asses again. Unfortunately I missed it somehow till now but not this time when I was watching all of them back to back – I had to see how it all ends. If I have to now rate all the 4 movies – I would say this one is definitely the second best, whereas the best movie as per me would be the second part of the series followed by first and third will be the weakest of them all. This is again a damn good kick ass thriller with some great action and chilling moments thrown in between. I would say this one definitely scared me a bit – not too much but it’s too good to be missed for sure. This starts where the third part leaves us with Ripley killing herself and the Alien queen’s embryo inside her body. As humans are too curious and we know curiosity kills the cat – they bloody are still doing the research 200 years down the line – with her blood and DNA samples they create her clone without realizing that she had the Queen’s embryo inside her – what happens next is again a cat and mouse thriller between Aliens and Humans in outer space and a fight to survive yet again. It does makes for a damn good captivating watch as you are actually keen to know how it all is going to end if it does at all.

The Movie: 200 years have passed and with Ripley’s death in that furnace – they are still doing research with her Blood and DNA samples – we see they have created her clone and are trying to take the Alien out of her body. Once the Alien sample is taken out – they realize the clone No. 8 is still alive – they take her as a prisoner aboard their ship and let her live. What they did not realize is that there was a mix up between her and Aliens DNA hence she is now born with enhanced powers, acidic blood like them and telepathic connections with them. It’s awesome to see Ripley with those new powers and confidence. This movie takes the human curiosity and will to find new worlds to a new high, I was shocked to see their imagination like – they were actually kidnapping humans in the outer space and feeding them to Aliens so they can multiply. A group of Mercenaries arrives including the hottie Winona Ryder who plays an Android in this one – she is simply stunning and too good in the role of an Android. As soon as she comes across Ripley – she knows it’s a big mistake on human’s part to create her again and she tries to kill her but by now it’s too late, as they had already developed adult Aliens and they were growing with each passing moment. It’s amazing to see how far human imagination can go and what all we can create as we see a new turn in the Alien saga with more advanced Aliens with human DNA match – now they are capable of multiplying without laying eggs as they used to do earlier, quite convincing and great to see onscreen.

That's my favorite "Winona Ryder"

As the mother ship Betty is damaged by the Aliens, it starts moving towards earth by default and they were on a collision course in about couple of hours – the only target they have now is to survive somehow and kill the Aliens if they can before they enter earth’s surface. Will Ripley come back to their rescue? Is the rest of the movie. As we see Ripley was the No. 8 clone in the making – what happens to the rest of the 7 clones developed earlier? The revelations are one of the shocking things of the movie and trust me – it indeed scared me to see the scene – how they have shot it. This one too isn’t an exception in the Alien franchisee and it has its own damn good scary moments with full size adult Aliens in a human killing spree, new one taking birth ripping apart human chests as they did in the past, their acidic blood burning and melting everything on their way. The chases here too are too good, the final escape, fighting with the aliens, their own difference in between the crew members and mercenaries etc. There are so many “Oh My God, Holy Shit” moments in this one too, right from the word go – it’s too good to be missed – if you ask me. As I said earlier – I will definitely rate it as the second best of the series. It’s a must watch for all thriller / science fiction lovers. The final outcome of the Alien as it develops in the new form is simply mind-blowing and shit scary. I bet you will not be able to forget his grunt and face for quite a long time to come and unfortunately but true – even the ending leaves quite a handful of questions unanswered. But I guess that’s how it should be with these kind of movies to leave us asking for more and then come back again with another movie answering all the queries – isn't it?

If you haven't seen the earlier parts - here you can read about them. Alien (1979), Aliens (1986) and Aliens 3 (1992)

Chiriakhana (The Zoo - 1967) - Suspense

First from the series of Detective movies by Satyajit Ray and what a movie this was, totally amazing stuff. It was based on the “Who Dunnit” genre of movies of cases solved by our own Indian Sherlok Holmes “Byomkesh Bakshi”, whose TV serial with the same name was a great success too. They way Ray has presented Byomkesh is damn good – played by Uttam Kumar and his friend who plays his perfect assistant – who he affectionately calls Watson. Byomkesh even keeps a baby snake in his room, I couldn’t understand the relevance though as the movie is in Bengali with subtitles and his assistant is always shown reading a Murder Mystery. How they solve the mystery behind multiple murders is a treat to watch. I must confess – the first character Uttam Kumar plays, was of a Japanese as he was requested to come in a disguise for the first time – trust me - for first 5 minutes – I actually was confused till he started speaking in Bengali, amazing make up and body language this guy had. I was hooked to it big time till the very end to know who the culprit was as I had my doubts on several people and was amazed to see the outcome as I seriously couldn’t guess the right guy. It’s a must watch for those who like detective movies – looking forward to his other works now as I believe he did made quite a few movie of the same genre.

The Movie: The Story revolves around a retired judge who hires Byomkesh on an assignment to find a singer, who had sung a song in a movie and since then not to be found anywhere. Byomkesh starts trailing the singer in his own ways and with his own contacts. He even visits the colony where Judge stays with his wife and lots of other weird characters of which some are x convicts, handicaps, out casts etc. Every character is unique on its own. Next day as Judge calls him on phone to give him some information about the singer – he is brutally killed, while Byomkesh listens to the commotion on phone, here onwards starts the cat and mouse game between him and the killer. So many times as a viewer we have our own doubts on almost all the characters as everybody has got a motive to kill him. While he investigates the first murder, another character that was actually a witness to first murder, gets killed and the story further gets interesting and more confusing. Byomkesh had his own doubts on couple of people and how he resolves the same is the rest of the movie. I tried my level best but couldn’t guess the killer. It’s a damn good one time watch for sure. I was amazed by the attention to detail by Ray that too in the year it was made. Again I would love to quote that he was one hell of a director of his own kinds. I am totally hooked to all his works and loving it more and more.

Bol Bachchan (2012) - Comedy

Just came back from the movie, after a Saturday morning show which was almost houseful. I guess kids had more fun than us adults watching the movie – it was an awesome sight seeing my kiddo and her friend actually jumping on chair with Ajay and Abhishek’s awesome comedy and action. Since this was a Rohit Shetty movie – whose movies even I like to an extent they are damn good time pass with some earth shattering action, I simply love those flying people, cars, explosions and ground breaking background score. Cause I don’t mind walking out of the theatre laughing and dissecting the movie with my wife and kid for days to come. This became one of those movies which actually made me laugh hard and when I say hard – I actually mean so hard that I did skip a couple of scenes as was too busy laughing. I never laughed so much in any of the movies in last couple of years – have always been a Ajay Devgan fan and surprisingly Shetty did damn well with AB too, he is simply awesome in that role. Support cast is too good to, with that Krishna guy taking the cake. The best part of the movie is Ajay Devgan’s English, totally rocking stuff – dunno who wrote those cheesy lines but when he says something – you just can’t help but repeat it yourself and then just laugh on it. I never saw such a lively crowd as we noticed today; people from all age groups were simply laughing, cheering and clapping. It had those “Oh Shit” moments too – typical Rohit Shetty stuff. If you like light hearted comedies, which make no sense yet, are smart enough to keep you hooked to the most part – this is it. Do not miss this as this isn’t a Akshay Kumar mindless movie which is going to offend anyone in anyways – plain simple comedy with lots of laugh out loud moments – I am definitely seeing it a couple of times for simply for Ajay Devgan.

The Movie: First of all it’s a remake of the “Golmaal” of 70’s with outstanding Amol Palekar and Utpal Dutt, no ways these guys are any close to the classic but if at all you see this one – you will know that in the first place they shouldn’t even be compared. It’s just the idea that is taken and then they have done their own set of writing and have presented it in a different way altogether with so many new characters, twists and turns. Obviously a plain Jane remake wouldn’t have worked anyways – my wife went to the extent of saying that no one is going to see and enjoy Old Golmaal in today’s time as we did in the past – dunno – I need to see it to believe it – I guess I will still love the old classic in comparison to this one but I wont miss this one just for the heck that it’s a remake. This too is based on the life of a simpleton Abbas Ali (Abhishek Bachchan) who stays in Delhi with his sister Sania (Asin), cause of the family dispute they lose their property and have to move back to Ranakpur with their uncle (Asrani). The trouble starts when AB meets the most powerful man of the village Prithviraj Raghuvanshi (Ajay Devgan) on a wrong foot and one lie leads to another to another till everything comes crashing and they get caught.

Main Characters: Ajay Devgan as Prithviraj is simply mind-blowing – I am sure AB would be jealous of the footage that Ajay has got in this one. Obviously he was the first choice for Rohit Shetty to make this one and their friendship / gang is quite famous – his English speaking character is simply hilarious – right from the very first few minutes of the movie – you fall for him and always look forward to his histrionics onscreen. He is a superb English killer in the movie and has got some best of the lines that are beyond anyone’s imagination. His body language, the way he raises his hand and its pin drop silence everywhere, his looks, those glares, his whole pehalwan gang, his fort and everything about him is so damn good that you just can’t help but fall in love with him.  Abhishek as Abbas Ali cum his own twin Abhishek Bachchan is hilarious – this should be called the best comic role done by him ever. I unfortunately never liked him in any of his earlier movies as much as I loved him in this one. This role suits him to the T – I must say and enacted it too pretty well, beyond my expectations, simply Superb. His dance item in between is a total riot if you ask me, one that you will never forget in life. The Two chicks – Asin as AB’s sister and Prachi Desai as AD’s sister are just eye candy – both of them have hardly any role to talk about but they are just about ok – their characters had to be underrated hence they do well too. Krushna Abhishek as Ravi and Asrani as his dad Shastri – are the two best support characters who will have you in split with their awesome chemistry with each other and with others too. Even Neeraj Vora as AD’s right hand is too good but I guess he is type casted in that character as every other movie of his would have him in the same character – but he too is too good in this one.

It’s a typical Rohit Shetty stuff as I said earlier so no doubt you have rocking comedy and thumping action too. Background score is at times too loud but goes well with the mood of the movie – no doubt on that. I can certainly forgive Amar Mohile for the same cause when you have those hard-hitting characters on screen – you just can’t help but beat the drums badly. You have 30-40 people beaten by our two leads, a dozen cars and SUV’s flying all over, Buses / Trucks crashing and then finally you have a car hanging on the edge of the cliff too. The climax of the movie done in “Ek Hasina Thi – Karz” sytle is too good. It’s a laugh riot right before you walk out after seeing the typical “making and goof ups of the movie”. Its too good to be missed movie and a great time pass at that. A movie that you will walk out laughing and repeating those English killing dialogues of AD. Do not miss it at any cost.