The Expendables 2 (2012) - Action

The Team

Would you still ask for more when you get to see Stallone, Statham, Bruce Willis, Arnold, Chuck Norris, Jet Li and JCVD – all in one movie with kick ass action? Still, I am missing a couple of more damn good names intentionally as these were more than enough reason for me to watch this fundoo movie at least a couple of times. I have lost count how many times I have seen the first part and I guess that’s why – this one was awaited even more eagerly – yet some how I missed it on big screen – how sad that it. It will take me at least an hour to explain what I loved about this movie J seriously. Right from the word “Go” its an out an out action movie – yeah yeah – we have seen all that in so many other movies but that’s ok – I can live with that – that too happily. Seeing Arnold and Stallone in one frame that too with guns in their hands is a sight to behold. First 15 minutes of ground breaking action is totally awesome. I specifically love the Boom Boom gun Ceaser (Terry Crews) uses – the sound it makes is fantastic and you’ve got to see the impact it makes too. Its totally a damn good time pass stuff with so much happening and every now and then you have some one or the other popping up to make you smile and impress you. Missing this kind of a movie is a crime and watching it again and again is total fun. I will recommend it to every one with two thumbs up; do not miss it at any cost.

"Terminator", "Rambo" and "Die Hard" All in One.

The Movie: Unfortunately, the second part doesn’t works for me big time as I kept comparing it with the first one which was totally rocking but if I see it as an individual movie and do not compare – it works wonders. Although there is no surprise element here as everything is run of the mill yet you want to see your favorite yesteryear heroes do their part in style and they do it damn good. Age is showing on all their faces and bodies as in the end of the movie there is this line Stallone says “That belongs to a museum” seeing an age old plane in tatters to which Arnold replies “We all do”. Fantastic, isn’t it? Still the initial 15 minutes of action makes you too happy and impresses with what they are doing at this age, all the running around, shooting, killing, hand to hand combat etc. One more highlight of the movie for me was whenever this guy Stallone talks to Statham – its totally fun stuff. Once you are done with the initial action – you get the first surprise in the form of Jean Claude Van Damme and his signature kick the way he kills Billy, reminded me of all his movies from the past.

Chuck Norris after ages

Another surprise – not exactly a surprise but yes, it works is the entry of Chuck Norris – right when they need him badly and don’t even expect – simply the “WOW” moment of the movie and what he does is worth applauds. And then you have that legendry entry of Arnold with “I am Back” which I guess would be most repeated dialogue of its own time for sure. He too comes at a right time and bang on the action continues. You actually don’t care about the story and there isn’t any great one here either but how they do what they do is worth all the money and time. One final scene that too a hand to hand combat between JCVD and Stallone is another high point of the movie and you do notice that he takes his lucky ring off his finger once he is done with him. Even a superhero of his caliber is superstitious at least in the movie. What I love even more was its background score – those rocking songs work wonders too for the magic like they worked big time in the last part. The only problem I had with the movie is – I so much wanted Stallone to Direct it but I guess he is done with that, hence it went to Simon West – he too has give us some of the best action movies we have seen so far from Hollywood. I am sure they are working on the third installment now and if they are not – I will pray they do shortly.

Hottie Yu Nan

Some Scenes: rather some damn good ones other than the ones mentioned above is – there is this one scene in which they are inside an airport terminal and shooting each other down, Bruce Willis gets inside a small car parked in the terminal and gives Arnold a lift to come over and help him kill the goons while on a move, the way Arnold rips open the car door and it flies off is hilarious and they drive it off and shoot so many of them while driving that little car. The local village women shooting our heroes as they arrive and shots going left and right without hitting them is another good one. I had my first doubts on Dolph Lundgren as Jensen even in this part that he is going to betray them and my second doubt was on hottie Yu Nan as Maggie Chan that she may be the one who is going to change sides but none comes as a shock. There is this another scene with Stallone riding his big bad bike and Yu Nan comes over to see him in her spanking new bike and speeds off – is one hell of a scene – for a moment I thought he is going to give her some competition but I guess no bike chases were in the story here. Other than these there are so many short instances between them that make us laugh out loud – all in all it’s a damn good one time watch and multiple watches for that fan in you.

Kramer VS Kramer (1979) - Drama

What a perfect timing to watch this one as my wife was gone home for two weeks on a family emergency and I was serving as a single parent to our six year old school going daughter – I came across this gem of a movie based on marriage. Dustin Hoffman as a workaholic husband and father is simply too good and damn convincing – he is one which keeps impressing me with all his movies – I really wonder if he has done any blunders in so many years of his career? I haven't seen one bad movie of him yet. The less I talk about Meryl Streep the better, with maximum Academy Nominations and Victories – no one can ever come any closer to her – even in this one she doesn’t have half as footage as Dustin, still not only she was nominated – she ended up winning it too. Hats off to her – totally. It’s a must watch for all in today’s time as its more relevant today then it was at the time of its release – I firmly believe. It reminded so much of my own father to me because we spent good 5 years alone in each others company – although I was in my teenage then and not as young as Dustin’s son but had a great learning time with him and I still cherish those years big time. The very first scene when you see him make a French Toast for his son and how it turns out is one hilarious scene and the same scene you see again done professionally at the very end of the movie but this time you smile with again tears in your eyes as that happens to be the last French Toast made by him for his son. One thing I love about Hollywood or shall I say other than Indian movies is that they are too close to reality – unlike us where we have 90% movies ending on a happy note. Watch it – if you haven’t seen it yet. One hell of a movie – not to be missed by anyone.

Dustin Hoffman and Meryl Streep

The Movie: Is about a workaholic Ted (Dustin Hoffman) who is an advertising executive working with a firm and is on the verge of being made a partner in the same if everything goes well with one of the deals he is about to strike. As he goes back home one fine day with the great news – realizes his wife is about to leave him for good. He couldn’t believe his eyes and takes away her suitcase – still she goes off, he believes she is going to come back soon but didn’t realize that she is gone for good. What happens next is totally out of this world experience – as he was married for good 8 years and has never taken care of his young school going son still with no clue – his life goes forward and somehow he manages his office and his kid’s school, games, house and other stuff. Their relationship although starts on a bad note but gradually he picks up and they develop quite a good bond as father and son. Right when you think everything is going good – he looses his job as he isn’t able to concentrate and perform on his job cause of household pressure. One after another bad things keep happening as his son falls off a climbing frame in the park and gets hurt badly right below his eye. The following scene of him getting stitched and Ted in pain is something outstanding, one hell of a scene that I will never forget in my life and as a parent myself – I could actually feel his pain that too alone with no one to fall back on. And right when we think everything is falling in place – his wife returns but this time to fight a custody battle for her child who she loves big time but had to leave due to the situation. What pursues is a courtroom drama where we see both their characters being assassinated by their opposition lawyers.

Father and Son

It’s heartening to see him lose his wife first because of his job and then lose his job because he couldn’t manage his time well being a single parent and by the time he gets into another job – he is on the verge of losing his son now. Unbelievable job done by Dustin as father and Meryl as mother. The scenes with them on court are so life like that it’s hard to believe a movie is going on in front of you. I kept imagining the end but could never hit it the way Director handled it. Fantastic is the way they had captured the emotions of its cast, be it father, mother, or the concerned neighbor, even the lawyers were too good. I will definitely watch it again especially for its lead cast they both are too good. Couple of scenes deserving a mention are the French toast scene, kids accident, his interview for a less paying job, the whole courtroom drama, neighbor in witness and the final scene.

PS: Both Dustin and Meryl got Academy Award for their roles as Kramers as movie ended winning Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actress, and Best Adapted Screenplay. 

Barfi! - 2012

Barfi! This is the second movie in the recent times that I believe I am not capable of reviewing and even if I do – I will not be doing justice to the same. WOW, what an impact it had on us. Fantastic treatment and what an awesome job by its cast in totality – even the lesser known ones (Footage wise) were too good, like the guy who plays Ranbir’s dad – I keep forgetting his name, Ranbir’s side kick (Thank god they did not take Rajpal Yadav), Rupa Ganguly (Ileana’s mother), PC’s foster home caretaker grand dad and his assistant, Saurabh Shukla’s assistant, Ashish Vidhyarthi etc almost all of them make a great mark on the audience. Another fantastic thing was the Anurag and Pritam combo – I totally loved the live music of “A life in….. Metro” the way Pritam performed those songs in between the movie and here too – the way his band of three keeps playing the background throughout the movie sitting and standing on various locations – its totally awesome – even they become a character in the narrative. Songs are damn well placed – they make you laugh, make you smile throughout, they make your eyes moist at times and there is this one moment that you actually are in tears yet smiling. We saw it in a packed hall and trust me when I say this – even as the last frame freezes barring a few college going kids – almost no one got up – expecting something to come up again and they do as they showed some shots with the end credits – again the public loves it till finally the screen goes black with only names rolling – is when every one gets up with a smile to go back to their regular lives – I guess I read some people complaining of its length – I am glad that Anurag did all the detailing he could like showing the faces of the characters for quite good 20-30 seconds to capture those priceless expressions which as per me was required and works damn well. We had no issues with its length rather we kept asking for more as it ended. I disagree on another point that PC will give any competition to Vidya for best actress this year – no ways, she is damn good no two things about it but this movie certainly belongs to only one person and that’s Ranbir – she doesn’t even have that much screen presence that I would give her a best actress award (Over Vidya Balan for sure) – otherwise this was certainly one of her best jobs till date and she did it perfectly (Thank god she didn’t go overboard) as my kiddo who has an Autistic classmate kept saying “Papa, Naomi bilkul aise hi karti hai jaise priyank chopri karti hai”. (Dunno why she calls her Chopri)

Finally, we have our own “Life is Beautiful” now as my wifey too said the same couple of times that this movie reminded her of that too much. Anurag did take too many cinematic liberties but that's all forgivable in the name of a classic movie. I am sure we are going to watch it couple of more times as we do with almost all of Ranbir movies but this one is definitely putting him in a different league altogether. He is like a fresh breath of air right from the moment “Go” and remains etched in your memory long after the movie is over – Life means a little different for him and does changes your outlook towards the same a little at least if not much. His best companion in this one as per me is none other than Saurabh Shukla as the cop behind him all the time. Its totally funny watch they fight off each other both are a damn good compliment to each other – reminding us of good old days with Charlie Chaplin, Goodies, Laurel Hardy and other comedians. One seen was a total rip off of a Jackie Chan movie too with them chasing each other in congested corridors – knocking each other out with opening windows. It was a laugh riot to say the least as almost the whole crowd was cheering, shouting, yelling and laughing with them. I almost forgot for quite a while that there is Priyanka Chopra too in the movie who was yet to come and it gets a little brighter with her arrival. Once she comes – you forget about the rest and get engrossed in her story and character. And then you think again what happened to Ileana? The story yet again goes back to her and bang! There we are finally with all of them together. Its such an engrossing and intertwined that it never leaves you free. After half the way it becomes almost an edge of the seat thriller with some real good twists and turns – it all ends in a damn good way with a great message – I would say it certainly is an experience of a life time and a great lesson in learning to see them moving forward in life even after so many set backs later. Damn! That was inspiring. A damn good and a must watch for all. 

Hottie Ileana

Almost everyone leaves a big impression on you – let’s not even talk about Ranbir as Burfi or Murphy – whatever! He is totally out of this world – every scene with him is a delight – he knows the magic to make you smile, laugh, cry and smile again – all in one go. There were more then 2-3 scenes which had that kind of impact on me, I wouldn’t write about them here as if you haven’t seen it – it loses the impact once you see and if you have already seen it – you exactly know what I mean. Unfortunately, I’d been a Priyanka disliker till today and now as you see that was the past – after this – respect for her has certainly grown – what a fantastic job she has done in this one. I have almost seen all the South Indian movies of Ileana as we have lived quite a few years in Hyderabad – I tell you she is one hottie to watch out for down south and I am way too glad that she got a perfect break – looking forward to her upcoming hindi movies big time now. She is too good and fits the character damn well. This movie is a kind of a complete package – it has everything for everybody, we all enjoyed it together – my kiddo who is just 6 years old never got bored for a moment yet it has so much to keep us hooked to it. Go ahead, watch it, do not wait any longer before someone tells you how it all ends, still then I would say – see it for yourself – its worth all the money and time that you put in.

The Chaser (2008) - Korean Thriller

The problem that I face now a day is of a different kind, whenever I see an old movie – say which is like 10 years or more – is already remade in some other form. You pick up a foreign movie and realized it was already made again in our part of the world too. Similarly while going through my quota of Korean movies came across this movie last night and was shocked to realize right in the first ten minutes, that our “Murder 2” was a scene to scene copy of this one. Although they again changed it as per Indian taste and standards (Read – screwed it) but I wonder how in the hell they did not credit this one for the idea? Just read on Wiki that it was an unofficial remake of this movie. The less I say about Emran who plays the lead in our movie the better – if you see this one – you will curse him big time as the dude who plays the lead in Korean movie is simply outstanding – his body language, dialogue delivery, facial expressions – almost everything is simply superb. At times he reminded of “Irfan Khan”, they both actually talk and behave the same way. One hell of a movie this is – fantastic thriller with a damn good pace – not to be missed by any thriller lovers but mind it – some scenes are over the top typical Korean stuff. Even after having a run time of 2 hours – it never feels long – even while it ended I was looking forward to some kind of miracle hoping it will continue a little longer. 

Beautiful Seo Yeoung

The Movie: Starts with Eom Joong (Kim Yoon Seok) who is a former police officer, going through a financial crisis as couple of his prostitutes are missing – he has a hunch that one of his customers is selling them to someone. He sends one of his girls Mi Jin (Seo Yeoung) to a customer even when she is sick and is reluctant to go – later realizing that this was the same guy who had take the other missing girls as the last customer. He meets one of his friends in police and asks him to help tracing the missing girl but the cops are already busy as the mayor of Seoul is already in the town and someone had thrown shit on his face publicly. Its quite hilarious to see the whole episode of Mayor being attacked and culprit taken in custody while a female cop drives the vehicle and Eom’s friend curses the culprit for attack, who in place wants to take a leek but they refuse to give him a break. The pace is simply superb and so much happening onscreen keeps the audience hooked to their seats. While Eom looks everywhere for the missing girl with whatever address he has in records where she goes in his Jaguar, he does comes across the guy followed by a fantastic on foot chase, which is too close to reality, simply one of the outstanding scenes of the movie. All this while Eom is accompanied by 7 year old daughter of Mi Jin. There are so many small instances which actually touch your heart and make you connect well with the character of Eom, he isn’t a bad guy but stuck in a bad situation, the way he handles the kids, feeds her and takes care of her. He hopes to get her mother back at any cost although he is afraid of her being alive anymore too. The cold blooded killer is another highlight of the movie – the way he is shown on a killing spree is not everyone’s cup of tea, its brutal on your face stuff which at times is a little too much on unsuspecting audience. He is actually on a killing spree for no rhyme or a reason – explained during his interrogation in the police station while they catch him but had to let him go cause of no evidence found.

Seo Yeoung Tortured

The use of hammer and chisel by the killer is something you do not expect in the first place and the way it is shot is totally gross. My heart wished that Eom should be able to find Mi Jin alive and unite her with her daughter, the killer should get cause after so many murders and should be hanged – but I guess all wishes don’t come true. So was the case of this movie. You’ve got to watch the movie to know what happens next. It was a perfect Saturday night thriller for me – I was actually looking forward to some friends but couldn’t resist finishing the movie right on time as its pace was such that I simply couldn’t stop it and watch it later – I had to finish it one go. One more thing that I love about Korean movies is their awesome use of songs in the background – this too has some of the best songs although because of the language barrier – I couldn’t understand them – unfortunately the subtitles too aren’t there for those songs. It was a damn good watch and made me curse the Indian Director who made a Hindi movie out of it and screwed the originality. I guess they should have stuck to the original while remaking – it would have come out to be a great movie. Check out both the movies and decide for yourself which one is better.

Psycho (1998) - Horror / Thriller

My first encounter with a Horror movie dates back to mid 80’s, while watching the then horrors like “Evil Dead”, “Nightmare on Elm Street” etc my dad challenged us to sit through Alfred Hitchcock’s “Psycho”. I still remember that fateful night – when we bloody three brothers started that movie which was to be followed by another classic “The Birds”, I am sure I did not sit for more than 20 minutes and later refused to turn off the lights for like a week. My second stint with Psycho came in mid 90’s again when I got the DVD free with my first home theatre and again I did a mistake of trying to watch it again in the night – followed by the whole freaking weekend – I kept all the lights of my apartment turned on, was too scared to take calls on my phone and didn’t barge out of the house at all. My final and third opportunity came in late 90’s when the movie was again released on big screen – thanks to some ongoing film festival in Delhi. I and my best buddy in Noida dared ourselves to watch it on big screen this time and went ahead – booked our tickets. What followed was an out of this world experience guys. I actually saw half of the people specially girls with their boyfriends rushing out of the theater in flat first half hour (First Murder). We somehow set through the whole movie and totally loved it. I have still not forgotten its killer background score with 100 violins playing together in sync giving us Goosebumps all the time. It was shit scary and today I saw Gus Van Sant’s version of classic “Psycho” and will say only one sentence – this is how you make a drama cum thriller out of a terrific horror movie. I am now going to gather my guts again and watch the classic – once my wife comes back home.

Anne Heche and Vince Vaughn

The Movie: If you do not compare it with the original – it still can be called a damn good thriller at best - will certainly not call it a horror though. Fortunately they did not temper with the original story and kept it straight like the earlier version, with Marion Crane (Anne Heche) on run with her boss’s $400 thousand dollars. As she is being followed by a suspicious cop, she takes a break at a motel whose owner happens to be a psycho. Anne Heche as the girl was good for the role – I actually liked her – she was quite convincing in the character. Vince Vaughn was damn good as Norman Bates the psycho – I guess if the movie would have worked – this should have been called his best work to date, totally awesome job by him but unfortunately the comparisons were inevitable hence the failure. Norman Bates stays in a scary house with his Mother, who keeps shouting on him as we can over hear it from the motel, although she is never shown on screen but audience can definitely see a shadow in the window at times. The whole background of the motel even the house behind it – is almost scene to scene same – I wonder how they got something like that – it almost looked identical as in the original. I guess it doesn’t work for the audience because we already know what’s going to happen next hence no surprises. But for someone – who hasn’t heard or seen the earlier movie – it would still be a first rate thriller at least. After she is killed and dumped in a pond by Norman – she was followed by a private detective Arbogast (William H Macy) – who again gets killed in the same way. Fortunately before being killed – he lets Marion’s Sister Lila (Julianne Moore) know his location and some facts about her being in the motel etc. After Arbogast’s disappearance Lila joined by Marion’s boyfriend comes over to the motel in search of her sister and detective. They do meet the county sheriff and inform him of the disappearance of both the guys with no trace of money. What happens next – is a thrilling ride in the motel and that scary house behind it.

Julianne Moore

It is definitely a great one time watch for those who haven’t seen the original and if you have already seen it – it still works like a good thriller – I had those “Oh Fuck” moment twice while I saw it today. I am actually too scared to watch horror movies alone – hence I saw it on a sunny afternoon today but now I am planning to see the original with my wife that too in the night as she has no idea about the movie yet. I will be posting the experience shortly – keep reading. If you haven’t seen this – go ahead – take a look – who knows, you might end up liking it.