Mon Avis: Movie review - Love Aaj Kal - a 'mango' film (if mango meant - super ordinary, huh! )

Love Aaj Kal is no coincidence - The way Bollywood is ripening , it is no longer shy in providing a sharp-dialogued, tongue-in-cheek portrayal of modern live-in couples who make out, make up and break up - all for a casual fling. But does that mean it is true? Not too far , not too close. I guess film too had to bank on the age old formula (however true or false) - Amongst all the flings, flimsiness and futility of a casual hook up, there is a heart somewhere that beats for love.

All that said, the question is whether Imtiaz could pull this one off with Deepika, Saif and Rishi as main leads. The answer (arguably) is 'Not quite'. The film has its moments but then it has its bores too.

Imtiaz and others of his generation have found a strange refuge in gaudy cinematography at few of the most exotic locales - looking as if someone has meticulously touched up each and every frame. Costumes are funky - Saif is dudish , Deepika is styled in minis and micros and even our own Rishi wears a test cricket (oh so English) sweater. But then Imtiaz realised this and put a contrast - He put together a good-enough 60s ensemble set and gave it a little life with a parallel story (as he says - Eastman color).

Saif and Deepika are an ambitious dating couple who slowly get bored of each other and 'amicably' (you should see this redefinition of word amicable . lol) Saif meets Rishi who gives him a wisdom nugget or two and recaps his flash back of his 'sturdy - surdy' days. So starts a parallel tale of Love Kal vis a vis Love Aaj. How does it all end? As if we cared as long as it is quintessential feel good :)

Ups:

• Saif - Manages superb expressions in his Sardar role and less so in his cocky modern avatar - Watch for those wonderful scenes of him and a new lass (one dimensional , as a dear friend puts it) in the balcony - all love struck and moony eyed :) His modern role is just so much a repetition of DCH, KHNH and other such metrosexual-ish sketches
  
• Deepika - Charms a bit in her straight dialogue delivery but falls short on some real acting. There are many occasion and scenes which demanded far more gravity but none was to be found. But then, she is hardly 2-3 films old. This film , however, presents her well.
• Rishi - Was good, was suave and was as genteel as his young days. I have always maintained he must do more of films.

Downs:

• Imtiaz - Was a let down - Not even comparable scripts to Socha na tha and JWM . His direction in the first half, coupled with some random edits gave the movie a befuddled look. He tried his hand at parallelism and I will give that to him. Else, this film would have been a disaster. Alas, he failed to touch any chords with me or my partner.
• Cinematography - Too gaudy , too colorful and strikingly unwarranted - In an attempt to make it colorful , this film ends up being an unrealistic canvas.
• Music - Two hummable songs Dooriyan and one in end credits - Twist is OK too but after third listen you lose the connection
• Script - Horrifying loopholes, - Deepika's sudden marriage takes a lot of time to sink - ridiculous scenes justifying Saif's recovery of passion was shocking and many such moments that leave you with awkwardness that gets covered up by some decent acting and humor. Even in the humor department, this film takes itself too lightly and gives out few bunch of lines that really dont make anyone laugh. But then, alls well that ends well

A decent watch for the lack of anything else. With a tub of popcorn and an interesting company - all should be well . This is the only choice Aaj Kal.

Mon Avis : Movie Review - X Men : Wolverine - Weakest link!

With nothing memorable to offer like the movies before it, this is reduced to a whirl of movements photographed up close. Jackman leaping onto an airborne helicopter and shearing the tyres of a jeep with his sharp cutlery admantium. This and a wee bit more is added to an otherwise ordinary drama that leaps from frame to frame seemingly dwelling on the making of the clawed man - Wolverine. Then there is Sabertooth played by Schrieber , will only be remembered for his trademark crooked smile. Rest are a bunch of under-powered mutants who fade away when the credits roll unlike Storm, Cyclops, Mystique and Magneto and others from first two ventures. Sadly, no characters stick here.

James discovers his bone claws quite early as a child (in 1845) and is seen being part of his family falling apart. His brother Victor (Sabertooth) carries him to adult age where they join Elite Forces to battle for US knowing their superpowers almost make them unbreakable. A nasty day lands them in a rotten cell from where they are rescued by (now well known from X1,2,3) General WIlliam Stryker(Danny Huston) to form a special force . Affected by all the bloody mayhem, he quits and becomes a lumberjack inside dark woods living peacefully with a sultry Kayla (Lynn Collins). Then happens a chain of events which lands him to Stryker's lab where he volunteers to inject admantium into his bones. This and more, is a superficial attempt to recapitulate the life of Wolverine.

Ups:

• Take it or not - trying to further unravel the mysterious life of Wolverine makes for a decent screenplay full of intrigue, no matter how you find it to be executed in the end.

Downs:

• Eventual lack-lustre execution which ends up leaving you with little thrills
• Mutant concept is highly played down and there is no battle between humans and mutants for supremacy - All this made for a brilliant premise in first three of the franchise.
• The characterisation of main protagonists it self isnt as juicy as your expect - Failing to make any impression - I wonder if this is the end of the franchisee?
• CGI s that were so raved about when the bootlegged version came out , are reduced to a bunch of scenes - Period. You could easily count them in your finger if you have seen the bootlegged version with unfinished CGI. This lands up a major disappointment

Well, its the season of franchises and with T4 and Transformers 2 slated to come out soon, the box office is sure to heat up but so far it hasnt been much encouragement.

Watch this if you are a die hard comic fans and have followed the first 3 religiously.

With an approval rating of less than 30 % on Rotten Tomatoes , this is surely a rejected sequel (prequel , whatever!)

Mon Avis: Movie Review - Star Trek (XI) - Mega FX spectacle, fun for 'series' lovers !

We have all known the franchise Star Trek as a long running series spanning across atleast two generations (43 long years) and we have all known JJ Abrams (director) through smash hit addictions like ALIAS and LOST. So here he comes again re imagining and bringing to life a mega special effects extravaganza with all the capabilities of present day animation. So whats the result? Well, some exotic display of space frontiers, star ships, morphed creatures and state-of-the-art video game like yield.

But along with all this jamboree, poor non-Star Trek lovers like me was sucked into the confounding world of Vulcans and Earthlings and took as many as first 30 mins just to figure out the backgrounds attached to the characters. Coming to the plot - This is claimed to be not so vintage Star Trek - To begin, we go back to the day of James T. Kirk's birth in deep space while escaping in a capsule out of a wasted ship, when his father makes a noble sacrifice to save the lives of others, including that of his to be born son . The next time we see young Jim — in an energetic Spielberg-influenced sequence (one of the best moments of the film(— he's a bratty Iowa boy of about 11, stealing a car called a vintage car on fossil fuel (we are talking about 2050s i guess). Flash forward another decade and Kirk (Chris Pine) is a townie. He's still a brat, but also brawny and possessing a William Shatner-esque swagger (My favorite swagger by the way - Boston Legal - also Ex- Star Trek Kirk). Then there is rest of the classy cast of Spock (Zachary Quinto)and other members with whom the series lovers will identify. Rest of the story - When you go and see the movie.

Mind you , this is not the first attempt of Star Trek on Big Screen but 11th. Last one was about seven years ago. Not that people dont tell me it has a fresh look and feel ought to be present in an ambitious summer blockbuster.

Ups:

• Grand FX and pure Star Trek space adrenaline - The graphics are nothing short of a spectacle as they must be for a movie reaching across universe and galaxies - Even in characterisation - Kirk and Spock are played wonderfully and cast with precision :)


• Though it takes a while for a newbie to get hang of the storyline, but once you do there is enough there to keep you hooked - eg. chemistry between Kirk and Spock is well developed

Downs:

• Believe it or not - JJ falls into his own trap of doing too many series and at the point of climax it looks more like a silly tele series than a grandeur movie ending. A bit kiddish to say the least but can be ignored


• Though I appreciate the effort in adaptation but for non-star trek watchers like us - the storyline could be a little simplified rather than waiting for first 30 mins to aid our comprehensions.

All in all, a refreshing sight to see a blockbuster come through this summer after miserable Wolverine (yet to hit India) and Angels & Demons et al.

Watchable PG 13 family movie with or without encyclopedic knowledge of all things Trekkian may sputter ! :)

Mon Avis: Movie Review: Angels and Demons - kitschy gibberish, a modest thriller!

Book was a prequel - The derivative film is a a sequel - all set to tap into the euphoria surrounding Dan Brown's pulp fictions that read like a hooey and get watched panning a range from kitsch to profundity. The story line is filled with esoteric references that even a Catholic would find very hard to relate to and we the audience had to just make do with the elements of thrill and pretension that 'Oh! There is a puzzle'.

Nonetheless, the movie dint allow you to look at your wrist watches till the end of the second hour. But lo! The suspense dint end yet and there was more to come - Like those Abbas Mustan movies thrusting at your face in the (n-1)th minute - Are you sure who the real killer is? Lol

Langdon has irked the Church for telling it that Jesus was a family man , yet he is summoned for solving appearance of a mysterious sign belonging to a mythical secret society called the illuminati. One of its agents has kidnapped the Four Cardinals after the Pope is dead (later suspected of murder). Langdon is joined by Vittoria Vetra (immensely beautiful Ayelet Zurer) introduced through a sub-plot of having created the deadliest explosive in the world (in CERN) called the Anti Matter a.k.a The God Particle, that gets stolen. Thus begins a fast paced chase taking the audience through sealed crypts , dangerous catacombs, deserted cathedrals and even inside the most secret vault in the Vatican. Langdon begins to unravel the location of the Church of Illuminati where the kidnapper has also kept the stolen God Particle for blowing up the Vatican.

Ups:

• Thrills - The screenplay and script is strictly OK and will keep you glued till much later.
• Cinematography - Pity that most of the flick was not shot in actual Vatican but on lookalike sets but understandably so. Vatican could not allow too much of access after Da Vinci Code. However, the landscape is portrayed beautifully and the churches effuse a rustic charm

Downs :

• Clocking 138 mins eventually gets to you and that is a serious minus for an otherwise bearable film
• Tom Hanks doesnt add much grace to his role as he plays haggard Harvard Professor who makes an exaggerated effort to create an air of importance and mystery with senseless renditions of Catholic history

Overall, it isnt a bad flick - If you are Tom Hanks 's fan, you may be on your guard. For the fan of the book - I think this one does not live up to the standards of cinematic adaptations