Saturday, October 14, 2017

Blade Runner 2049


You decide to watch a movie on a lazy sunday and then hop on to your bike to the theatre to watch your movie. As you reach the theater, you come to know that the show is cancelled. What to do you do?

I simply hopped on my bike and went to another theater and got the tickets in time to watch the movie that happen to be this one.

It is said to be a sequel to the movie Blade Runner in 1982 (isn't that a long time?) and I have not watched it. Too bad as if you have not seen the movie as getting to understand this movie will not be easy.

The movie is based on a plot that takes place in the future wherein bio engineered humans are integrated into the society. There are various versions of these out of which rogue replicants were to be made extinct. The job of this was given to the blade runner, a part of the LAPD but again a bio engineered human.

The task is assigned to K (Ryan Gosling) who ends up killing a replicant on a farm and finds a body hidden below the ground.Forensics reveal it to be the body of a female replicant who give birth to a child. 

Believing that if word of it got out could end up creating chaos, his boss (Robin Wright) orders him to find the child and kill it. On his search to find the child he ends up passing on the information to Niander Wallace (Jared Leto), a scientist creating bio-engineered humans who send his replicant Luv (Sylvia Hoeks) to find the child so that he could bolster the bio engineered humans production.

 It becomes a mouse and cat hunt as K ends up uniting the father & the child in the end.

The movie is too slow even though its able to keep audiences glued to the screen. I ended up yawning in between something that has never happened before.

The climax of the movie is disappointing. Even though the father & daughter meet, the way they meet and ending shown seems abrupt. It leaves you yearning for more like how replicant got pregnant and all.

Harrison Ford seems to be wasted in this movie as there is hardly any role for him to play in. The rest of the actors from the likes of Ryan to Sylvia have done a decent job.

Not sure how many people have watched the first part but they certainly should have included the background of the plot for people to understand.

The movie is a one time watch and you wont be missing it if you dont watch it...

Thursday, May 4, 2017

Baahubali 2: The Conclusion

I was trying to get tickets for this movie from the day it went live and I couldn't. The theaters were going house full. Finally managed to buy a ticket and watch this movie Baahubali 2.

I missed watching the first part on the big screen and made sure that I watched this in the theater.

Normally when a movie's sequel is made, lot of high expectations are set and pressure too that they do well. Indian movies are not known for making sequels compare to their western counterparts. So a movie made on such a grand scale mattered on all the scales.

The beginning of the movie itself gets your attention giving a peek into the first part of the movie. If you have watched the Lord of the Rings movie series, then it feels a similar touch has been given to this. However this does not take away the uniqueness and thought put out to create the sets of scenery.

The story is in continuation of the first part which is about the son taking revenge of the father's murder by the unworthy King. Even though the plot line of the story has been seen in many movies, its the treatment and the variation that gets the movie going. 

One cannot completely take away their eyes from the screen as it maintains its momentum. It has its moments be it the love story of Devsena & Baahubali or the motherly affection between Sivagami & Baahubali. It also does well on the comic part and yes the jealousy emoted by Bhalla & his father.

The movie relies heavily on the VFX and special effects but it felt as if they missed out on giving finishing touches as there were scenes where one could easily made out the models created of forts. Given that this is could be probably the first Indian movie relaying so heavily on it can be over looked.

The story line is not tight as one expected it to be.None of Indian movies normally have as they depend on human emotions of the audiences to sway them from the gaps.

The battles gets your attention. Specially the part wheren Baahubali rips apart Bhalla's chairot or the way they penetrate the fort in the climax. Bhalla's eyes screaming for revenge when he throngs himself on Baahubali.

Everyone played their part to the tee. One wont be able to see an actor in a dull moment as they are etching out the characters they play. They all do well from Prabhaas, Anushka Shetty, Rana Daggupatti, Ramya Krishna, Satyaraj & Nassar. Tamanna hardly had any role to play in this one.

It certainly would have been a tough task for the director Rajamouli to direct such a movie when very few get made least in India. He surely did a good job at it. The tougher job probably would be for the editors to choose which ones to keep and delete.

The climax though seem hurried in a bid to end the movie and that certainly does not leave you with a feel good moment when you leave your seat in the end.

However it does get it me thinking what was Bhalla's Dad doing at Baahubali's coronation.Why was he kept alive? Maybe a third part on the way? Something we will never know.

This movie certainly deserves a watch more than once for its magnum opus.

Sunday, February 19, 2017

Jolly LLB 2

I am very choosy when to comes to watch movies in theaters. Majority of the time it will be English and yes I do go for Hindi and other movies provided I think they are good enough to watch on big screen.

Heard good reviews about Jolly LLB and decided to watch it in the theater.

However, like every other Indian movie, the makers of the movies believes in playing with emotions of the audiences. Instead the plot of the movies always goes for a toss. What matters is you have a bigger star in the movie.

I though Jolly LLB 2 was going to be different but alas it was not going to be different. I have to say that Jolly LLB was much better when you look from the story plot angle.

This time round the role of Jolly, the lawyer was played by Akshay Kumar. He was good at his role but like I said story plays an important part of the film making too which was a big let down.

Its the story of a legal assistant who wishes to practice on his own. To do it, he must own a place in the court chambers and that leads to the death of Hina who wants the lawyer Rizvi under which he works to fight her case. 

Post her death, its the remorse that makes Jolly to take up the case and prove the innocence of Hina's husband and punish the guilty.

The drama of the courtroom has its moment with some witty liners that has punches.

However the climax and the way the movie progresses is a big let down.

For e.g., if there is a case of mistaken identity, the first thing one would do is check the photos of the person involved. Apparently this big flaw of the story was never thought of. On hindsight, if they had they probably would have to change the plot of the movie.

On top of that the actor has four days in hand to defend himself in front of law board. In those four days he traveled to J&K and back. Indian film makers certainly have a tendency of thinking the audience as fools.

The movie could have been better had the story line was kept tight. Also in the end, it felt as if the fight was about all Jolly's glory and not about the lives lost as the movie ends.

Akshay was usual at his best. Huma Qureshi was like a lost cause as her role was not defined. Wearing a Gucci dress in UP locality seriously needs a thought.

The highlight of the movie will be Sayani Gupta who played Hina and she certainly gets your attention. Anu Kapoor and Saurabh Shukla do enthrall you with their acting. However the story could not do the justice.

The Holi song is sure going to be catchy. The writing and direction of Subhash Kapoor did not do justice to the movie.

All in all, its a one time watch movie if you want to see the acting of Sayani Gupta, Akshay Kumar, Anu Kapoor and Saurabh Shukla...

 

Wednesday, January 11, 2017

Dangal

When I heard about Dangal, the plot sounded similar to Sultan which had release few months earlier. However this movie is said to be inspired from the true story of Mahavir Singh Phogat.

The movie stars Amir Khan as Mahavir Singh Phogat as the wrestler who resigns himself to his desk job as he had to choose between earning money to follow his passion of wrestling. 

However the passion refuses to die. His dreams of fulfilling it through his son could not happen as his wife bears him four daughters. He gives up on his dream until one day his two daughters end up beating up two boys. 

That stirs up his passion as he aims to fulfill it through his daughters. Both of them who had to go through a strict rigorous plan at an early age. Geeta (Fatima Sana Shaikh) excels followed by her sister Babita (Sanya Malhotra).

The relationship between the father and daughter Geeta strains as she goes on the national level and her performance deteriorates. Family intervenes and relationship is back to being a healthy one. 

However no movie can be complete without a villain in the form of the national coach Pramod Kadam. The coach techniques were different from Mahavir. However father won over the coach and daughter ends up winning the competition with the coaching from her father.

I must say that though the movie is projected as some kind of women empowerment and their achievements. It certainly is not given that the daughters were never given choices of their own. It was like the father wish being put on them to fulfill his desire. Quite a contradiction if you think about the movie Three Idiots. 

The movie has been directed well that it keeps engrossed. However the writing was not that scripted well when they decided to introduce the national coach as a villain. It felt like he had a vengeance from the beginning.

Amir as usual was at his best. The new comers Fatima & Sanya too did their job pretty well. One of the underplayed character was perhaps of Sakshi Tanwar the mother of the daughters. Even though it was a small role, but she does leaves her mark.

The wrestling matches sure gets one going.

Its a  one time watch movie.