The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (2013) - Adventure / Comedy

I like Action / Adventure movies and when I read somewhere that this one had Ben Stiller at the helm of things – I was doubly excited – imagine a movie Directed by him with himself in lead as Walter Mitty and the bonus is Sean Penn in a kool cameo. It turns out to be an amazing roller coaster laugh riot with a perfect ending, although it gets a bit predictable but who cares as long as you are having fun with it. Walter works with a magazine as a negative assets manager (Photographs) which is about to close shop and go online – for the final issue he needs to develop a picture sent by photojournalist Sean (Sean Penn) which he misses – what pursues is a roller coaster ride to find the lost negative. Oh and before I forget – he has a crush on his colleague too who has a young son – you’ve got to watch out his short meeting with the son and superb skate board stuff this guys shows him. The movie has it all – starting from updating his profile on a dating site to a terrific business class ride to Greenland, Jumping on sea from a chopper to fighting with a shark, taking a bike / skate board ride to an erupting volcano, scaling himalayas and so much so that I actually lost count of his adventures – all in all it’s a must watch for comedy / action lovers. I will definitely give it a good 3.5/5 and highly recommend it. I wonder what critics were expecting from this one as I believe none of them recommend this one. Not to be missed at any cost.

Her (2013) - Romance

I simply love movies which have one or two characters only and the whole story revolving around their lives – I mean the lesser the characters the better is the insight. Now imagine a movie with one lovable introvert guy (Joaquin Phoenix in an freaking outstanding character) who recently got divorced by his childhood sweetheart (Confession: I’ve got to see the movie again to know why she leaves him), he writes letters for those who have problems expressing their feelings and what he writes – you’ve got to hear – its simply fantastic. One fine day he buys a new operating system for his computer which has artificial intelligence and talks back to him and is super intelligent as well, voice over done by Scarlett Johansson. What pursue are heart to heart conversations between him and his operating system from casual discussions to life – he actually falls in love with the machine. I was actually expecting a surprise turn of events that it can’t be a machine that he was talking to and one fine day she will straight walk in to his life – because the character is so life like unbelievably kool, or does she really walks in to his life? You’ve got to watch the movie to find out. I can only say it has a little scary but a great ending. The movies best part is their interaction and how they start living and enjoying each others company, the way he shows her everything with the help of his mobile camera – it’s totally rocking stuff. One thing which indeed shocked me was Amy Adams in the movie on a thankless role – I wonder why she agreed to do this one? Her character has no scope of any development and will hardly be remembered for this one. Joaquin is too good – imagine this guy almost retired from the movies not so long ago and what a comeback he had with three back to back fantastic movies. He is at such an ease with the character that it feels like it was a kind of cake walk for him, I will definitely look forward to watch this one couple of times more in very near future and will give it a damn good 4/5 with two thumbs up and a very high recommendation to all romantic movie lovers.

Dallas Buyers Club (2013) - Biography

There are quite a few actors whose mere presence in a movie raises the standard of the same and soars the expectations a couple of notches. Matthew McConaughey is definitely one of them – I mean he is one of those guys that one can just not watch him in a movie and not love – simply outstanding is the way he walks, talks, moves and his trademark swagger is something to be seen again and again to love him more. In this particular movie which is straight out of a real life story – he has gone the “Chiristian Bale” (Another superbly adorable guy) and lost 23 Kgs to get into the skin of the character and so much so that initial 5 minutes into the movie – I simply couldn’t believe my eyes that it was indeed McConaughey that I was watching on screen and not Bale. The film is based on the true-life tale of Ron Woodroof, an AIDS patient who began smuggling unapproved pharmaceutical drugs into Texas when he found them effective at improving his symptoms. Who was initially given only 30 days to life goes on to live more then 6 years with his own smuggled drugs and he indeed saved so many lives or should I say prolonged death for those guys, how he does all that in style is the movie all about, he indeed made FDA change the laws. He is aptly supported by superb Jennifer Garner and equally brilliant Jared Leto. It was totally mindblowing to see him in various avatars moving country to country doing his own research on the illness looking for a solution. I will not be surprised if he picks up the Best Actor award this season at the Academy but I will be rooting for Leonardo DiCaprio for “The Wolf of Wall Street” – it’s going to be tough for the jury to decide. I will definitely give it a good 4/5 with a must watch recommendation to all, I totally love Biographies and this is one heck of a movie anyways.

Lone Survivor (2013) - War Film

I have seen thrillers and I have seen action movies especially the ones related to wars and all that – but I haven’t seen a movie which comes any closer to this one or better than this one for sure. One heck of a movie – even the name tells what exactly to expect or predict from this one even then it works big time on many counts – initial half hour once the introduction is done there is no freaking looking back and you simply cannot pause the movie and do anything else it’s that engrossing and what a way it ends. Before I forget – it’s based on a true story. High time that I saw Mark Wahlberg in a meaningful movie to remember – this one is definitely going to be remembered for a long long time for sure – at least I will rate it as one of the best performances from the guy. The action is simply mind-blowing and it kept me thinking – how could they actually shoot it the way its shown, haven’t seen anything like this ever in a movie. As it’s told the film dramatizes the failed United States Navy SEALs mission Operation Red Wings, in which a four-man SEAL reconnaissance team was tasked to track Taliban leader Ahmad Shah. Unfortunately it hasn’t released in our part of the world yet but I guess it should be released this week or next for sure – I am up for a big screen watch definitely and will recommend it to all action / thriller lovers – not to be missed at any cost. I am definitely going to rate it a damn good 4.5/5.

Dedh Ishqiya (2014) - Comedy / Thriller

Dedh Ishqiya became one of those few movies from bollywood that I thoroughly enjoyed and really had a great time watching it – so much so that I never wanted it to end, on top of that the way it ends is simply amazing as it kept me asking for more. I don’t remember which movie I enjoyed the way I loved this one after “Gangs of Wasseypur(s)” barring last year’s “The Lunchbox” which was definitely one of the best I have seen from our part of the world. This one isn’t great but still one of the best and a fantastic one at that – a superb entertainer and it actually has that charming feel about it. Naseeruddin Shah is definitely the best pick of the lot – watch out for his expressions and those awesomely expressive eyes in so many scenes especially the very first when he lays his eyes on Begum Para (Madhuri Dixit) the very first time, you will be in love with him in that very particular shot. Arshad Warsi as his nephew Babban is simply out of this world character – genuinely hilarious and he is so comfortable in that character – it’s actually hard to tell if he is playing Babban or he actually is the way he portrays the character. Unfortunately I was never a Madhuri Dixit fan rather I never liked her hence had this feeling about this movie that it’s not going to work out (Not for me at least), she is totally out of place (for me) doesn’t have that in her to play a character like that convincingly – still I will call it an average performance. Credit should be given to Director plus to Huma Qureshi, Vijay Raaz and even Manoj Pahwa for those hilarious moments, it’s simply a laugh riot thanks to their fantastic performances. I guess this movie has to be seen multiple times to enjoy properly, I am definitely up for quite a few viewings shortly. What I missed in this particular movie is a song like “Dil to bachcha hai ji” as they had in its prequel – not one song to remember once the movie is finished barring that it’s a damn good movie – not to be missed at any cost and I will definitely give it a good 4/5 with two thumbs up recommendation.