Movies I watched last week

was on a movie watching spree last week..almost saw most of the genres..romance, comedy, war, sci-fi, drama, animation....stayed away from horror as this is a territory I dare not cross....

Do Dooni Char (3.5/5): Have already posted my review earlier...one of the better movies of 2010

Mirch (3.5/5): Interesting, funny and hilarious movie..dealt with a topic (female adultery) never touched in Bollywood...all the 4 stories are riveting....however the plot which binds all the 4 stories is lacklustre...this could have been much better....raima is too expressive with her eyes and konkona is superb...Boman plays his part with aplomb...

No Problem (1/5): Giving a single point for all the spot boys, assistants, make-up artists who had to work hard for such a stupid crap movie....movie had big names but neither the story was good nor the acting...

Well Done Abba (4/5): One of the most underrated movies of 2010...had zero expectations before I started watching the movie..Minissha has given her career best performance and Boman has scored another winner....i commend the way they have adapted to Hyderabadi accent...the supporting cast is also good...the movie seems to drag at the end...could have been 15-20 mins shorter to creating a far greater impact..

Break Ke Baad (3.5/5): Far better than 2010 rom-coms such as IHLS, Aisha and Anjaana Anjaani....Deepika is an eye-candy..absolute treat to watch...has also given a good performance...Imran is pretty decent...

District 9 (4/5): Loved this movie...the junior alien reminded me of E.T...the guy who played Wikus acted really well...

The Secret in Their eyes (4.5/5): There is something about this movie which keeps haunting me...may be the rape/murder topic..or may be the quest of Esposito...or maybe the love of the husband....justice was done in the form of academy awards for best foreign language film last year..

Persepolis (3.5/5): Had high expectations but was somewhat let down by this movie...

Hurt Locker (4/5): First movie I saw which dealt with the Iraq war...had a good story and equally interesting performances....direction was spot on...

Johny saves the sinking Black Pearl

This movie was a disappointment...what an anti-climax to the built-up that was created by POTC-2...Johny was the only saving grace in the film though not on par with POTC 1 and 2....Barbossa (Geoff rush) too was mediocre...Orlando as usual was bland....however Keira showed a terrific improvement over 1 and 2.....

visuals are stunning....especially the last 45 minutes (the entire fight between flying dutchman and black pearl)....

if ratings need to be given to each of the installments then POTC-1 wld get 10/10, POTC-2 would settle with 8.5/10 and POTC-3 will get 7/10....

anyways Jack Sparrow rocks and who cares if the movie was bad....though i wld like to see an animated film on POTC with voiceover by Johny Depp

Spidey 3: These webs are intertwined

Movie is an absolute downer....never expected this from Sam after his previous outing in Spidey 2....

the movie starts off well with the action sequence between Harry and Peter...however the entrance of Sandman and presence of gwen stacy (the beautiful Bryce Howard) mars the proceedings....the movie suffers from too many villains viz. Sandman, Harry, Eddie and Peter himself with few negative shades....the track involving Gwen was not needed.....also they could have done away with one of the villains (probably sandman)...Harry's character was a bit uncanny....in the start he wants to kill Peter, then after recovery he befriends him (because of memory loss), later he plots against him and in the end again fights on his side.....

Tobey is good as Peter aka Spiderman...one can truly see his acting skills in the scenes on the street and the restaurant when the black spider takes over him.....Kirsten is strictly ok...she didnt look as beautiful as her previous 2 installments....Harry is brilliant with different shades.....Bryce is a visual treat...she never looked that good in any of her previous movies (village or lady in the water)...however not much was required from her either....Tom Hadden Church aka sandman (Paul's buddy from Sideways) too didnt have much scope and his character was underdeveloped...also the movie didnt show what happened to him at the end.....

The stunts were excellent and so were the visuals....But that is expected from a Spidey movie....

Showcasing Johnny Depp

He is the most versatile Hollywood actor of this generation...He even surpasses Tom Hanks due to the variety of roles he has played. He is so eccentric in each of his roles that you always get to see a different aspect of this guy.

Till previous month I had seen only a handful of Johnny Depp movies (including Pirates 1 and 2) but within the past few weeks I have seen many of his movies and am right now in a position to review his acting in each of his films that I have seen

1) Pirates of the Caribbean 1 and 2: Johnny Depp's biography/profile is incomplete without Jack Sparrow. Jack is perhaps the most celebrated/whimsical character played onscreen. He is such a lovable character that even the harshest critics of Johnny will vouch for this performance. If there is one performance which was worthy of an Oscar then it was his portrayal of Jack Sparrow (he was nominated for it). I still have a big Jack Sparrow poster in my room. Am desperately waiting for Pirates 3 to release


2) Ed Wood: This is the movie which I saw today and he acted really well as a transvestite. He played the role of a struggling director to a T.








3) Chocolat: Johnny played a very very sweet gypsy in this movie. He had a brief role in this feel good movie yet its impact was noteworthy. He looked his best (in terms of appearance) in this movie.










4) Charlie and chocolate factory: No current actor would have played Willy Wonka better than Johnny. His overall getup in the movie was also praiseworthy so were his expressions.










5) Blow: He was brilliant as George Jung. Even though the film may get boring at times his performance was excellent throughout. Penelope was wasted in this movie.





6) Donnie Brasco: The best actor of this generation (Johnny) and of the last generation (Al Pacino) coming together in this real life drama on Donnie Brasco and Lefty. Both of them gave a riveting performance.






7) Secret window: Johnny was amazing as the scared writer in this movie. I had seen this movie a couple of yrs back when I was not a big johnny fan but still I enjoyed his performance in this movie.







8) Sleepy Hollow: One of my favourite Johnny depp films because of his entire body language and acting. He was simply superb as detective Ichabod Crane











9) Finding Neverland: He brilliantly portrayed the character of Jim Barrie in this oscar nominated role. His character was a lot subdued then any of the characters he had played but yet he was pleasant to watch.










He played a real life character in Blow, Ed Wood and Donnie Brasco. Also he is going to play real life characters in Sweeney Todd (directed by his fav Tim Burton) and Shantaram (based on an Australian who took refuge in Mumbai. By looking at this it seems that he has a penchant for true life characters.

Some of his movies that I am planning to watch in the coming days are Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Edward Scissorhands, Corpse Bride, Whats Eating Gilbert grape and Don Juan de marco....

Also it is rumored that he is going to be a part of Sin City 2....if this is true then I cant wait to see the combination of Tarantino and Depp onscreen....

Driving down the "Mulholland Drive"

I had a mind boggling experience watching this film....one of the best movies to be churned out in the new millenium....a 2.5 hr film that shocks you and keeps you guessing specially in the last half hour of the film....I cannot expect any Bollywood director make such a film...a 2.5hr film which you might find boring at one point of time but the last quarter of the film stuns you...my passion for Hollywood films in the past few months has made me appreciate Hollywood more than Bollywood...I no longer find Bollywood films interesting...Memento, Fight Club, Prestige, Snatch, Blood Diamond, Gladiator are some of the brilliant films I have seen in the last couple of months and now add Mulholland Drive to that...

You have to see this film 2-3 times to understand it....I saw it twice in a single day (though the second time I just saw selected scenes) and had to refer several websites to find out what was happening. Even the ever reliable Moviespoiler website failed in understanding this movie....this movie is a big jigsaw puzzle like Memento where it is upto the audience to tie various pieces....

David Lynch(director) has come out aces with this film...will have to watch his other films...Naomi Watts and Laura Harring excel in a tailormade role...

He is backkkkkkkkk

cant wait to see johnny perform the memorable Jack Sparrow character.....Waiting with bated breath for 25th May......

Check the HD trailer

There can be no "Prestige" without mystery....

Movie Review: The Prestige

Stand up guys and applaud another cinematic masterpiece from Christopher Nolan.I cant stop raving abt this accomplished director...first Memento and now The Prestige..the movie starts off really well and keeps one glued till the end..and when the end comes it jolts you...you wouldn't have expected this...also as Memento it leaves some questions unanswered and hence it is upto the audience to think what happened..

Set in late 19th century, this film is about 2 rival magicians Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale who are trying to win the battle of tricks..each one wants to do the ultimate trick which would prove that he is the greatest magician in England.Hugh is under the guidance of Michael Caine while Christian has Scarlett Johansson (little miss snow white) as her accomplice...the run up to the ultimate trick "the transported man" takes a heavy toll on both of their lives.Andy Serkis (Gollum from LOTR) and David Bowie also play their part well..

Like Memento, Nolan succeeds in showing scenes cut back and forth between present and past...the cinematography and art direction is neat and that is apparent with Oscar nominations in both the categories..wish this film could have been nominated in the editing and adapted screenplay category as well..

"Memento" for the rest of life

Just saw this movie (Memento) yesterday....amongst the finest movies ever to hit Hollywood.....one is awe-struck with the manner in which the film is shot/edited....each scene shot fits into the frame perfectly.....the screenplay too is class apart...if someone needs to take a lesson in editing, story telling and screenplay then one needs to watch this film first.....the story is narrated in a highly convoluted manner juxtaposing scenes in the reverse chronological order (shown in color) and chronological order (black and white scenes).....though nominated for academy awards in 2002 for best screenplay and editing it didnt win the awards.....however this film went on to win several awards in the screenplay, editing and best picture category......

Director Christopher Nolan is at his best...i am desperately waiting for The Prestige to come out on DVD on 20th Feb.....Nolan has struck thrice in a row now (Memento, Batman Begins, Prestige).....Guy Pearce(Leonard) and Joe (Teddy) have acted really well.....

this film leaves a lot of questions unanswered and particularly the climax opens a can of worms which leaves the audience with 1000 questions in mind.....

a must see film for all hardcore movie fans.....not to be missed

Jack Sparrow rules yet again

Just came out of the theatre watching this movie.....and man its worth every cent of my tickets....a great movie which sets up sky high expectations from the third movie......

Jack Sparrow is and will always be my most endearing, lovable screen characters of all time....all credit goes to writer and director who created this character and full marks (can i have more than that) to Johny depp...he is simply inimitable.....no other hollywood actors could have essayed such a difficult role with aplomb....he is amongst the finest actors hollywood has seen.....

Keira and Orlando were ok in this movie though not as impressive as POTC: Black pearl....but when there is jack sparrow in the movie there is nothing else to see.....

moreover the climax of the movie set up an interesting start to the next movie....the re-entry of Barbossa....i have started playing guessing game as to why Barbossa has been introduced again.....

all in all a fun film to watch and the best summer movie so far.......

The Da Vinci Code review

I happened to see this movie today and even though I haven't read the book I found the movie gripping and well-paced......many of my friends who have read the book have complained that the movie was boring....so am planning to read it to check if that is true:))))...movie is definitely worth a watch for everyone (who have read it and who haven't read it)....

The movie lacked a good background score...moreover i was not satisfied with the camerawork (sloppy at places) and to some point with the direction....emotions were not flowing correctly in some scenes where it was needed specially in scenes involving silas as well as the jesus era.,....tom hanks was strictly ok...no big shakes....he looked a tad too old...however audrey tautou was quite impressive...she was camera-friendly....