Movie Review: 'American Sniper'

 It is a real-life story of Chris Kyle (Bradley Cooper), the deadliest sniper in the U.S. Military history based on his memoir. A young kid born to hit the bull’s eye is taught to be a “sheepdog” by his father and grows up to be a kickass bronco rodeo rider whose heart beats for his country. He joins the U.S. Navy SEALs. The crack shot gets deployed in Iraq to save the lives of American soldiers by stopping the enemies from ambushing their Marines. He operates mainly from terrace tops with the telescopic vision of his rifle. During his four tours of duty he gets the title of Legend with 160 confirmed kills to his name.

The movie has the potential to transport you to the warzone and gives you some serious moments when your eyes get glued to the screen without a blink while you struggle to hold on to the edge of the seat. The one in which Kyle blows Mustafa’s head from 2100 yards shows a real mettle of the man. Some of the scenes are so fantastically shot that they resemble live footage being run. The best thing about the movie is that it is filled with believable frames. Chris is always on the war, be it on the field or off it, be it struggling to be with his family or regretting over what he could have done. He is lost in the war field even when he is home with his wife (Sienna Miller) frequently calling out to him. Also, his ears reverberate with gun sounds whenever he hears any raucous sound.

A fine film-making presents subtlety with strength and keeps narration at bay. I simply loved that the director Clint Eastwood has done a fabulous job of not letting the words dominate the movie. Emotions and sounds have done better justice and added beautifully to the overall impact of the movie. The characterization of Chris Kyle is so strong that by the end of the movie one can know him well enough and say that he was not only an ace sniper but also a great human being and above all, an extremely proud patriot. To get a look of the Legend, Bradley Cooper packs on 40 pounds and claims a power pack performance. This is a movie made with a heart; needless to say it's really a good watch to know the Legend that lived.

Movie Review: 'The Theory Of Everything'

An ambitious cosmologist Stephen Hawking (Eddie Redmayne) badly wants to define the equation that could explain everything. He wants to lock Time up with all its mysteries in an equation but before that happens, Time shows its might and pits him against the gruelling motor neuron disease when he is only 21. A doctor tells him he is left with 2 years but his love of life, also his first wife, Jane Wilde (Felicity Jones) looks after him so well that Hawking becomes a world known name in next 30 years but she gets jaded in the process, singlehandedly supporting him and raising their three children. Responsibility-laden Jane then gets further close to the choirmaster Jonathan (Charlie Cox) who offers her support in the beginning, before offering himself in totality.

The movie belongs to Redmayne who portrays a lean, hunched, bespectacled Stephen with an ever-wearing Hawking smile and letting out perfect Hawking gestures, both disease-borne and natural ones. Even though during its early part the movie shows the nerve to carry such loaded biopic with multiple dimensions to balance, the latter part lacks the punch and dilutes into normalcy ranging within obvious and known. The movie exhibits theories on life with opportunities and vulnerabilities, love, patience, determination, and attitude, but floats mainly on the surface without sufficiently allowing us to look into the life of the living legend.

Staying away from Christopher Nolan’s path of testing the intellect of the audience, director James Marsh makes a movie for the masses and lays out the story of Stephen Hawking after filtering out all the heavy scientific theories and other complexities. The theory Of Everything is based on Jane Hawking’s memoir which has more messy things about their marriage breakdown and has also Stephen being painted in not so charitable light. Overall the movie looks like a sanitized version of the selective yet inspiring reality, packaged with undoubtedly brilliant performances, and that makes it certainly watchable.

If you think life sucks then go and see how this tough guy sucks life.

Movie Review: '2 States'

Krish (Arjun) is a relaxed Punjabi with an IIT degree to flaunt. Ananya (Alia) is a modern Tamilian with an Eco-topper tag to her credit. Both meet at a queue leading to a bad sambar and a good rasgulla, become friends, and slowly graduate in love along with graduating in MBA from IIMA. They decide to tie the knot but come to know that the threads of their families are differently knotted. They decide to tackle the easy end of the problem first – to convince Ananya’s parents to agree. Krish chooses Chennai as his work location, warms up with her family, gives her younger brother IIT tuition, encourages her mother to pursue singing, helps her father prepare a presentation, and then hits the iron when it is hot by sweetly proposing the entire family to marry him; and that does the trick. The South okays to meet the North; or should I say, the low-keyed agrees to meet the loudmouthed. The Northerners seem to feel that the position of the state in the map reflects the level of status in the society and behaves accordingly. Krish's mom, Amrita Singh, becomes a tough nut to crack and convincing her disturbs the delicate equations. Some sparks fly when the two opposite poles try to unite. The whole drama with various tactics to woo the opposite party and to compromise on some of the things you hold so dearly to your heart is woven really well.

The film touches many of the untapped angles on the path from courtship through to marriage. I applaud director Abhishek Varman for effectuating the perfect frames to pull off Chetan Bhagat’s story; especially the wedding scene towards the end with apposite background sounds is the scene that made me go wow. Ronit Roy nicely fills the shoes of a bully-with-a-heart father. Amrita Singh and her counterpart, both give a punch of their presence. Arjun looks good in the role of a soft-spoken, levelheaded lover. But the pleasant surprise for me is Alia Bhatt who emerges as a true headturner with the mind of her own, showing proudly the mettle of her acting. The movie is a candid display of a sweet love story with parents creating a rough weather and lovers keeping their cool, settling the dust by the end. The enjoyable thing is the culture clash that is amazingly captured both in the book and in the movie. There is indeed a watchable stuff in here and is as fun as watching delicious chicken being served in a banana leaf with a potful of sambar and a bottle of booze by the side of a hungry gut.

Side effects of 'Shaadi ke side effects' - Prize

A nice T-shirt with a DVD and a creative calender is a combo of side effects of my review of "Shaadi ke side effects". Thanks, TV18 Broadcast Ltd. 

Movie Review: 'Shaadi ke side effects'

Sid (Farhan Akhtar) and Trisha (Vidya Balan) try to cover almost all the possible angles of disputes, bargains, expectations, finesse, and romance a couple goes through mainly in the initial few years of marriage. They apply various formulas to cope with changes and continue a happily married life but everything bombs out. Even though the side effects of marriage strike both the partners, the story is shown particularly from Sid’s view.

Farhan and Vidya stick to their acting abilities and fit the bill conveniently. Ram Kapoor is fun to watch as Trisha’s brother-in-law. Ila Arun does well in her role of a bumptious caretaker but frankly her role is one of the avoidable or editable pieces of the second half. Vir Das as Farhan’s cool bro grabs attention with his firm grip on comedy. Oh yes, there is also Purab Kohli in the movie who seems to have come straight after the shooting of Nescafe’s new ad and hasn’t forgotten his character of a dying-to-meet neighbour eyeing up the girl next door. He has been given the same role with the same duration.

Couple of instances really snatch the laughs out of you, like the one in which after confirming her pregnancy when Trisha asks Sid of his opinion whether to keep the baby or not, Sid answers, “Tumhari body hai, tum decide karo”. The other ones include - Sid’s cutting the Donald Duck cake on his birthday by slicing the Duck’s neck; the desperate attempts made by Sid to understand whether his daughter feels cold, hot, or hungry. There is a hilarious scene wherein Sid’s friends come over to his place to watch a football match together but they have to keep calm, can’t cheer, and mute the volume because it’s Trisha’s order to Sid to follow instructions for keeping their baby asleep! Ram Kapoor bags some of the really side-splitting moments specially while ordering his son in various foreign languages.

Overall, the movie is a visual and musical Wedlock Manual showing dos and don’ts for keeping the married life alive and kicking. The best part of the movie is its first half, filled with contextual one liners and a hotfooting script. After the interval, side effects of marriage and the movie kick in beyond a limit so much that they not only fracture the pace of the movie but also put the patience to test. The topping of emotions simply doesn’t go very well with the fine base of comedy when Sid suffers, understands, becomes wise, and preaches that there are no formulas for a happy marriage; only staying truthful works. I give three stars to the movie - two and a half for the pre-interval fun, and the rest half for the dedicated acting.

Prize, yet again!

Prize for the Dedh Ishqiya review. When you get a prize for a good review of a good movie, it feels good. My friends would again tell me to have a change in career! Thanks,TV18 Broadcast Ltd. 

Movie Review: 'Dedh Ishqiya'

Here is a teaser, not the full story that is wonderfully directed by Abhishek Chaubey. Two rustic thugs Iftikhar Khalu (Naseeruddin Shah) and Babban (Arshad Warsi) are out on a mission of stealing an expensive neckpiece as rookies who lack smartness yet bubble with confidence. They are chased by the police and then Khalu goes missing with the neckpiece. Babban comes to know that in Mahbubabad, Khalu being chalu, portraying himself as a Nawab among many others tries his luck with winning a swayamwar competition of Begum Para (Madhuri Dixit) who had apparently given a promise to her late Nawab husband that she would remarry! Like every year, wanna-be grooms with poetic tastes assemble to form a huge gathering to impress the Begum with their verses and shooting skills. Babban gets erotically occupied with Begum Para’s close aide Muniya (Huma Quereshi) whereas rhapsodic Khalu’s heart begins to touch heavens as he hears his name sexily uttered by Para. But there is one guy who can create ripples to this soothing love lake, and don’t take him for granted, he is the local MLA Jaan Mohammad (Vijay Raaz). Things change thereafter and the story takes couple of turns to unfold some new elements.

The best part of the movie is its refreshed writing that has carved many lippy lines and has found some of the spic-and-span comic areas that can have the entire theatre in splits. Like the scene in the first half shows that everyone points guns at one another; then they argue on who would surrender first; when nobody wants then all literally stick to their guns and stay in the same position throughout the night till they hear school children sing in the morning “Hamko mann ki shakti dena” and decide to let go of their guns the next moment! Also, the real power of creativity is shown when the climax looks simply hilarious even though it has gun shots with fights on the railway station (named “Baap”)! The only excusable shortcoming that often stays along with the movie is its lackadaisical pace lowering the grip specifically during its middle segment.

All the actors get their fair share of play and do justice to their parts. Naseeruddin Shah is mighty as ever. Madhuri is graceful as Begum and Huma is good as well. Arshad is just spot-on, making Babban as strong a character as Circuit of Munnabhai. Last but certainly not the least it is must to mention the overpowering performance of Vijay Raaz who very easily pulls off humour while blending menace with fabricated decency. The high point of the movie lies in great attention to detail, from the names of places and characters to seven-course love explanation. For people appreciating Urdu it’s a cherry on the cake. Go and relish the superbly scripted enjoyable stuff. Such combinations of original writing, perfect casting, and impeccable performances rarely come as a combo.