X-Men : Days of Future Past [Movie-2014]

Director - Bryan Singer
Run Time - 2 hours, 11 minutes
Genre - Action/Thriller/Superhero

Boom! Bryan Singer is back with a bang with the biggest and best X-Men movie till date. After the boring Wolverine solo movie, this movie was really amazing. And what better storyline to pickup on other than one of the greatest stories of the X-Men - 'Days of Future Past'. Though being a comic book purist, I was a bit dissapointed at how they've altered the X-men universe. For example, since when did Kitty Pryde attain abilities to send people back in time, or how does Bishop even come into picture, being from another reality?
Though the 'super sentinels' were a really amazing addition. Also, do not go to watch the movie with the thought of - 'Oh, it's rated so high on IMDB, its in the top 250, it will be the best superhero movie ever'
It does not come close to Nolan's Batman trilogy or even The Avengers.

All this aside, Bryan Singer has done a marvelous job, and that's the reason why Fox wanted him back after the steady decline in audience and critical response for X-Men movies since X2. Hugh Jackman, reprising his role as Wolverine for the 7th time is stupendous as ever. One cannot imagine anyone else playing the character. Also, Michael Fassbender, James McAvoy, Peter Dinklage and Jennifer Lawrence are also a delight.Though in the actual comic book, this story is very short and is incorporated in 4 issues, the writer here has done a good job to make a 2 hour movie, keeping everyone enthralled as well. The addition of so many characters never hurt. Who would have ever thought of seeing characters like Warpath, Sunspot or Blink on the silver screen?
Everyone was ridiculing Quicksliver when we saw the first posters, but boy, did he impress us. The 'Breaking into the Pentagon' scene was one of the best scenes of the movie. The character of Quicksilver fulfilled some much needed comical relief to a otherwise, much serious movie.

The movie starts off in the future where highly advanced sentinels are out to kill/imprison every mutant in the world. We see Bishop, Shadowcat, Iceman, Warpath, Sunspot, Colossus and Blink take on these sentinels in the first scene itself. To combat these sentinels, Shadowcat [Ellen Page] sends Bishop back in time to warn the X-men against the attack. Later on, they are met up by Professor X, Magneto, Wolverine and Storm, who have deduced to stop all this, someone needs to be sent  to the past to where it all started, the murder of Bolivar Trask [Peter Dinklage] by Mystique [Jennifer Lawrence]. Thus, Wolverine is sent back to the past to convince young Charles Xavier [McAvoy] and Magneto [Fassbender] to collaborate and stop the assassination. Random plot twists keep you wanting to know what happens the next second.

Great use of special effects, though again, 3D could have been avoided. Nothing special comes out of 3D, atleast in Indian Cinemas. Great story and acting. Hoping for Age of Apocalypse now.Those not aware or who didn't understand the post-credits scene, we have a young Apocalypse - still in his humanoid form being worshiped by Egyptian people. They are chanting his original name i.e El - Sabah - Nur. Although you can skip the scene. It provides no insight of the movie, other than the main antagonist, which we were well aware of even before this movie released.

The only backdrop of the movie was that it was very fast paced. It was just Action, action, action all along. A movie needs some drama as well.Otherwise a pretty great movie. Do watch it.

My Rating - 8.2/10

Black Swan [Movie-2010]

Director - Darren Aronofsky
Run Time -1 hour, 48 minutes
Genre - Thriller/Drama

Boom. Darren Aronofsky succeeds in fucking up your brain all over. Black Swan is another great movie by the director of other mind-fucking movies such as Requiem of a Dream [one of my favorites], Pi and The Fountain. Great acting put in by two extremely talented and beautiful ladies of Hollywood - Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis. Fuck, the intimate scene between these two literally made me go bonkers. Vincent Cassel puts up a decent performance as the Thomas Leroy, the director of the play, upon which the story is focused - Swan Lake.

Like other movies mentioned, this movie keeps you enthralled throughout. The movie proceeds at a very good pace, nor too fast, neither too slow. Perfect, just as Nina Sayers - our Swan Queen, portrayed by Natalie Portman intends to be, in the movie. The soundtrack by Clint Mansell, is a delight as always. An extremely successful partnership that Mansell and Aronofsky have established - 6 times they have partnered together to create impeccable music.

To be perfect is the aspiration of every artist in the world, and Nina Sayers, our protagonist, suffers the same predicament. To gain the lead role in the play of Swan Lake, she even steals make-up from the predecessor. She is touted to be perfect for the role of the White Swan, with her perfect control and coordination. Alas, the new play requires the same dancer to play the roles of both the White, as well as the Black Swan. To become the Black Swan, she must loose herself, and succumb to darkness. In this movie, we get to witness this transformation, as Nina goes through physical, as well as mental transitions. Mila Kunis - Lily - The New Girl, who is a 'party-hard' girl is the perfect aide to help Nina in the transition. Nina's jealousy towards Lily is the element, which brings out her dark side.

In this movie, we get to see a psychological thriller, which we hadn't seen in a quite long time. After the movie, you need a breath of fresh air to get yourself back to earth. Such is the power of this film. It is no surprise that this movie was nominated for 5 Oscars -  Best Actress, Best Movie, Best Director, Best Cinematography, and Best Editing.

If you are looking for a psychological thriller, or something that shall blow your brains out. Watch this movie ASAP.

My rating - 7.910

Shahid [Movie-Hindi-2013]

Shahid. Gem of a movie. Marvelous acting by Rajkummar Rao. I feel he has great potential to become a fine, classy actor, in the mound of someone like Naseeruddin Shah. Even his choice of films has been tactical, with all of these films being critically appreciated movies. Though he does not have a charismatic appeal of a Ranbir Kapoor or a Imran Khan, he does have the ability to connect with the audience.

Director - Hansal Mehta
Run Time - 2 hours, 3 minutes
Genre - Biography/Drama

Through this simple film, we learn how appalling the Indian Police and Judiciary is, and how they continuously label innocent people as terrorists, and delay Justice, just because of a religion they follow. 'All Muslims are not terrorists' is a line that has been repeated all over the world, but we still do not take this into consideration, and this movie shows us how innocent Muslims are tortured just because they represent the minority in India. This movie is based on the real life story of Shahid Azmi, a lawyer, who fought for such innocent people, and was brutally killed for doing so.

In the movie, we see the journey of Shahid [Rajkummar Rao] from an innocent witness of the Mumbai Riots of 1992, to a militant training camp in Kashmir, and back. Back in Mumbai, he gets arrested for allegedly being a terrorist, and is tortured barbarically in jail. In Jail, he meets up with Omar Sheikh, who tries to brainwash him into joining Jihad. A fellow inmate, War Sab [K K Menon] comes to his rescue and influences him to study further. This leads to him obtaining his law degree and becoming a lawyer. While working under Majeed Menon, he does not like the way the firm handles the cases. To change the system he starts his own firm, and fights cases who he believes are innocent and have been falsely accused. He is very successful, and achieves a name for himself. Along the way, he is also labelled a terrorist, and receives death threats. His brash, and unorthodox manner in which he fights the cases, eventually leads to his demise.

The scenes of the terrorist training camp are shot with utter reality, as are the court scenes, which give us a greater look into the Judicial practices of the country. I feel the director could have concentrated more on the personal life of Shahid, his mother-brother, as well as his wife-stepson as it seemed a bit incomplete. 'Beparwaah', the single song of the movie is one of the best Hindi songs I've heard in recent times. It's so soft and beautiful, far apart from all the 'dhinchak' music of Bollywood.

Great acting by everyone. A great film. A good watch.

My Rating - 7.4/10

Double Indemnity [Movie-1944]

Director - Billy Wilder
Run Time - 1 hour, 47 minutes
Genre - Thriller/Film Noir

A classic. This movie ranks amongst the greatest movies of all time. And among the films which initiated the genre of 'film noir' To look back, it was nominated for 7 Academy Awards, sadly, could not win any of them.

Billy Wilder, one of the top movie makers of his time, takes James Cain's highly successful novel, and with the casting of Fred MacMurray [Walter Neff], Barbara Stanwyck [Phyllis Dietrchison], as well as, Edward Robinson [Barton Keys] and turns it into a masterpiece.

Walter Neff is an insurance salesman, working under the sharp minded Barton Keys, who can sniff out if there's any wrongdoing in an insurance claim. Walter being the best salesman in the company, is as again on the job to get more insurances for the company goes to the house of Mr. Dietrichson, for renewal of his auto insurance. There, he meets Mrs. Dietrichson, and he is immediately lovestruck by her.

Therein, we progress to the story, and Walter and Phyllis, execute a plot to murder Mr. Dietrichson, that too, on a train, so as to achieve a double indemnity clause of the 'Accident Insurance' that Phyllis purchases for her husband, on his unknowing. The Murder is executed as planned. Now we proceed to the main part of the movie. What shall happen next? Have they fooled everyone? Will they escape? Will they live happily forever?

Watch the movie to know about it.

The character of Barton Keys struck me as the best character, with his love for the profession, and ability to sniff out any wrongdoing. In all, I really liked the movie. An all time great pick for sure.

My Rating - 8.2/10

The Counselor [Movie-2013]

Director - Ridley Scott
Run Time - 1 hour, 57 minutes
Genre - Action/Thriller

Cameron Diaz. Penelope Cruz. Brad Pitt. Javier Bardem. Michael Fassbender. With a cast like this, you expect a movie worth your time. But a star cast alone cannot make the movie a success. This movie could have been so much better if more importance was given to the plot. It was confusing, haphazard, and simply put, TOO much in too little time duration.

There were way too many characters. As the title suggests, The Counselor' -Michael Fassbender should have been the protagonist but that doesn't seem to be the case here.The movie, which identifies itself in the genre of an 'Action' or a 'Thriller', fails to justify so. It is incorporated with heavy dialogues and at times one doesn't even seem to identify the point of them. The plot is lousy, with a very little explanation as to the events in the movie, and is degenerated even further by its weak climax.

Sin is a choice. The tagline of the film. We see the movie revolve around the basic evil that the world faces, i.e. GREED. Everyone is money hungry, and we see the characters delve into drug trading, kidnapping and murder to attain more wealth. But the thing is, we do not get a rationale behind the events taking place in the movie. For example, why would the cartel not want to talk to The Counselor after the murder of 'The Green Hornet'. Nor do we see a confrontation between The Counselor, and Ruth - the Green Hornet's mother, who was his client. We just get to know, Ruth is asking for the head of The Counselor.

The leopards, the long scene with the diamond dealer who goes on talking about Jews and how the countries which rejected Jews do not prosper [WTF] and Malkina's [Cameron Diaz] showdown with the priest in the confession box too make no apparent sense in the movie, and as stated earlier, makes the movie disorganized and confusing. Ridley Scott, acclaimed director of movies like Alien, Blade Runner, Black Hawk Down and American Gangster fails miserably in this movie. Not expected from someone of his status.

The movie starts with The Counselor, falling in love with his girlfriend Laura [Penelope Cruz] and asking her to marry him. Amidst this, he is planning to start a nightclub with his friend Reiner [Javier Bardem]. To finance this venture, he gets into a drug trade investment with Westray [Brad Pitt], who promises to give a 400,000 times return on the investment. Greed, which is a central theme of the movie, is exhibited here. Enter Reiner's love interest Malkina, who is apparently trying to get all the money for herself. We have no idea how she gets onto the whole schematics of this trade. Thus, the trade goes wrong, and the blame comes on The Counselor, and mind you, the Mexican drug cartel is not forgiving. Add in some brutal murders, more confusion. We reach to the climax, which is even more diasspointing. We do not even get an insight into what happens to The Counselor at the end.

We have small, very small cameos from Natalie Dormer of Game of Thrones fame [Margarey Tyerll] and Dean Norris of Breaking Bad [Hank Schrader] fame - who's role in the film is also just added for the sake of it.

If the director could have focused more on the plot, rather than adding useless scenes, which do not bear any addition to the plot of the movie, it could have been a much better movie.

The appeal of the star cast led me into watching the movie, but I advise you to avoid it all costs. Not worth wasting time on. My rating - 5/10

Fifth Estate [Movie-2013]

Director - Bill Condon
Run Time - 2 hours, 8 minutes
Genre - Drama/Biography

The Fifth Estate. The fifth realm of the estate. The powerful world of bloggers, and journalists, who operate outside the world of mainstream media. In this movie we witness the actual power of the fifth realm.

The story about WIKILEAKS. Yes, this movie is about the story of how the biggest NEWSMAKER of 2010 came into existence. We have Julian Assange here played by Benedict Cumberbatch, who is progressing into the world of cinema viciously, and is proving his credentials as one of the best upcoming actors. Accompanying him, as the 'alleged' co-founder of the site, we have Daniel Berg, played by Daniel Bruhl, of the 'Rush' fame.

Now, I cannot seem to fathom how this movie has got such a low rating among various movie rating sites such as IMDB, Rotten Tomatoes and MetaCritic. I found it to be a pretty good movie. Here, I do not use the word amazing, as I do in many of my reviews, because it lacked certain elements, to make it so. I do not understand why is this movie considered as a failed thriller, because it is based on a true story, i.e. the creation of a site, and what it came to be. It is a biography, and it serves it's purpose as that. Yes, it is not even remotely of the same parity as 'The Social Network', but it is pretty well made.

We see the egoistical Assange, along with his loyal friend, or as Assange would call him, employee, Berg, building up the blocks for the site. Hosting tech-conferences which no one attends, and travelling across Europe to set up servers for the site, courtesy 'a couple thousand euros' saved up by Berg's hardwork. As the site grows, differences throw up between the two, culminating into the termination of their friendship/partnership. You can somewhat compare the story with 'The Social Network' - I was doing it, while watching the movie. But, do not consider it to be anywhere close to what the David Fincher's masterpiece was [one of my all time favourites].

We have a brilliant performance by both our lead actors. Cumberbatch playing the pompous and deceitful Julian Assange with no great difficulty, and Bruhl playing the calm and composed Berg, who infuses rationale and emotion as the co-founder of the site. We have two opposing figures in the movie. But that's it. What the movie lacked was more screen presence and influence to the story by the supporting characters.

The graphics were brilliant, especially the imagery of the data flow. The imaginative office of 'WikiLeaks' adding a touch of class to it.

In all, a decent movie.

My Rating - 6.9/10

Dodgeball : A True Underdog Story [Movie-2004]

Director - Rawson Marshall Thurber
Run Time - 1 hours, 32 minutes
Genre - Sport/Comedy

DodgeBall was a sport, which had it's movie due. We have seen movies on all almost sports, and DodgeBall was the one off the checklist. And the movie starring 'Frat Pack' members; Ben Stiller and Vince Vaughn does not disappoint. It's hilarious, it's edgy, and it has grown men getting hit on their balls. Can't get funnier than that. Add to that, cameos from Lance Armstrong, and Chuck Norris, and we have a smash hit. Ben Stiller, as White Goodman, is a heck of character, with his inflated ego, and weird antics. This is classic Stiller.

The plot is pretty basic, with White Goodman, owner/founder of Globo-Gym, the biggest gym franchise in the world, wanting to takeover Average Joe's, the gym owned by Peter Lafleur [Vince Vaughn], his long time nemesis. To avoid his gym being sold off, Peter and his gym members, need to cough up 50,000 dollars. In order to earn this money, they enter the World DodgeBall Tournament Qualifiers, albeit with no experience, or training, and lose bitterly, only for the other team to be disqualified. Thereafter, they are approached by DodgeBall legend, "Patches" O'Houlihan, who trains them into a playable team. We move to the tournament, where the team, to everyone’s surprise, reaches the finals, for a face off against Globo Gym Cobra's. The team suffers the death of Patches next. What shall happen to the team? Will they win? What shall happen to the gym?

It's amusing, and rollicking. Be sure to watch this gem of a movie.
My Rating - 7.5/10a

2 States [Movie-Hindi-2014]

Director - Abhishek Varma
Run Time - 2 hours, 29 minutes
Genre - Romantic/Comedy

In 2 States, we witness a 'war', between two different cultures of India, namely, the Punjabis and the Tamilians. This romantic comedy explores the differences between the two cultures, and how our narrator, and his wife/girlfriend go about to expel the various problems. With quirky dialogues and some brilliant acting, the movie is pleasing to watch.

2 States is a film carried by the scintillating acting by it's two lead characters, Krish Malhotra [Arjun Kapoor] and Ananya Swaminathan [Alia Bhatt]. The story, as I had already read the book, did not offer me anything more, as it was lifted, word for word. Adapted screenplay should inculcate some innovation/creativity. There were times, when the plot dragged, and we wait for the movie to pick up the pace. The movie did not possess the captivating power of the book. But I was highly impressed by the acting of these two young actors, and we are beginning to witness this New Generation of actors, who can actually ACT very well.

The plot begins in IIM-Ahmedabad, where Ananya is complaining about the quality of 'Sambhar' in the canteen. Enter our shy IITian, the 'Punjabi Munda', Krish, who offers Ananya his 'rasgulla' in compensation of the 'shitty' Sambhar. This commences a friendship between the two, which slowly transfigures into romance. In 2 years, these two have completely fallen in love with each other, and decide to marry. But as the narrator mentions in the movie, for a wedding to go-through, love between the husband and wife is not enough. The girl's family has to love the boy, the boy's family has to love the girl, and the boy's family has to love the girl's family. And here starts the 'wooing' of the family phase. Will there be a marriage or not?

The songs were useless, and not needed. Could have been avoided, but for the love of 'naach-gaana' in our Bollywood films.

Watch it if you haven't read the book. Can pass if you have.

My Rating - 7/10