Sunday, 8 June 2014

Movie Review - "Edge Of Tomorrow" - The Real Summer Blockbuster

So, as you would have knew that "Edge Of Tomorrow" is not getting the public support in USA. But, i really don't know the reason for it. After the first trailer, they put out I eventually thought that this is gonna be something new, fresh & interesting. I know we have seen a  lot of alien sci-fi movies, but you must have not seen a movie like this. I am saying this because, how many times that you have a seen a movie in which the hero dies in every single scene & yet comes to life in the other. Confused? Yeah, that was my first reaction too, when i heard about that. But, i had to see the movie, for 3 reasons. First, the awesome trailers. Second, this dying thing in every scene & Third, well that would be obvious Tom Cruise & Emily Blunt & when we mix all these reasons, we get "Edge Of Tomorrow". Scintillating.


(Emily Blunt as "Rita Vrataski" & Tom Cruise as "William Cage" in a scene from "Edge Of Tomorrow)

So, the story starts that their are news of alien attacks in different parts of the world, they are called "Mimics". So, "Major William Cage" played by "Tom Cruise", the head of the "US Military Media Relations" tells the world about the Armed "Exoskeletons" called "Jackets" which will be used to kill the mimics & win the war. He is an officer who has never seen a day of combat ever, yet unknowingly he is thrown into the battle field. As he is going towards the battle field with the Jackets on, the ship explodes with an attack from the mimics and they are forced to drop down all the guys in one go, but some of them die in this process. As, Cage enter the battle field he sees chaos, the people are dying, no one is getting forward, they go to an extent & they die. He & the J Squad, are in a bunker & planning how to kill these things, but "Mimics" come from within the land & kills everybody but Cage manages to kill a "Mimic", but because of all the mimic's blood on his body, he dies. But, as he dies, he again comes to life from the very first point he was brought into the military camp & he goes on to see everything again, everytime he is into battle, he dies & again lives the whole day, again. One day, when he gets to know that "Rita Vrataski" played by "Emily Blunt" would die, he just swoops in manages to save her & tells him that he already saw yesterday how you would die. Rita, finds that she is not the only one who has been having such weird "time travel". She tells Cage that it is because of the mimic he killed, he was an alpha & because you killed an "Alpha", "The Omega" which is controlling all these mimics resets the whole day, after you kill an "Alpha" & to stop all these things & Mimics, they have to kill the Omega. For, more you have to see the movie. No spoilers.

The movie works because of it's "Fresh Plot", to date i have not seen a movie in which hero dies about, i don't know, i even lost the count of how many times Tom dies in it, but you see that is the main reason why you would like the movie, it's not that you would love to see "Tom Cruise" dying, but you would love to see what happens after he dies every single time. It is a time loop movie, so you see every time Tom dies, you start fresh from the very first point, you see it many times but it doesn't get annoying or tedious because of the treatment the director has given to those scenes.

The movie was rested upon the shoulders of "Tom Cruise" & "Emily Brunt", two of the very successful actors Hollywood has. "Emily Brunt" is kick-ass, in the metal suit, she looks ravishing, a killing machine with her helicopter blade & she looks just stunningly hot in this movie. Tom Cruise, has done it again, the star may be ageing but he knows what his fans need from him, he is just special in the movie, with great expressions & his superb comic timing, plus, the awesome action scenes he's got in the movie. He is just brilliant.

Director "Doug Liman" has made a film which would be recognized for it's story & it's screenplay. The director, Lima & screenwriters Christopher McQuarrie, Jez Butterworth & John-Henry Butterworth have put down a mind-blowing film, which will surely take your breath away. Special Effects are just mesmerizing. Action Sequences are breath-taking. All in All, "The Summer Blockbuster We Have Been Waiting For"

GO WATCH THIS ONE! IF YOU DON'T HAVE ANY EXPECTATIONS FROM THE MOVIE YOU WOULD COME OUT WITH AN EXPERIENCE OF YOUR LIFE.

Cast - Tom Cruise, Emily Blunt, Bill Paxton, Brandon Gleeson
Director - Doung Liman
My Rating - ****&1/2

Tuesday, 3 June 2014

5 Recent Bollywood Movies Which Were Awesome.

1. Madras Cafe (2013)

        Madras Cafe is a thriller about Sri Lanka at the time of Civil War & how this whole chapter of war & the socio-political aftermath led to the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi. In his best performance till this date, "John Abraham" plays the role of an army man on a mission assined by RAW in Sri Lanka. The film tells you an original story & it works because of it's political narration & superbly scripted suspense. It is a superbly scripted spy thriller which basically focuses on the working of intelligence agencies. Shoojit Sircar, has done an awesome job in giving us the movie that had a great story, even if we already knew it, but Sircar made it so compelling that you wouldn't want to miss a scene of it. In my opinion, it was one of the few Bollywood movies that looked like we are seeing a Great Hollywood movie. It just had to be on top of my list.



Cast - John Abraham, Nargis Fakhri, Leena Maria, Rashi Khanna, Ajay Ratnam, Siddhartha                    Basu.
Director - Shoojit Sircar
My Rating - ****&1/2


2. Queen 

        The movie is based on "Rani", a typical Delhi-girl played by "Kangana Ranaut", who is very shy & an obedient girl. She is a sincere girl, always listens to everyone. The only thing that she does by her self is "LOVE". She falls in love with Rajesh played by "Rajkumar Rao". They decide to get married. Everything was going well, Rajesh goes to "London" & just before 2 days before marriage he refuses to marry her because after returning from London, he thinks she is not right for her. But, the fun starts when she alone, goes to her scheduled honeymoon. This is the first time, a bollywood movie has emerged as a winner like this, the story was fresh, real & humorous. Kangana Ranaut, the backbone of the movie, single-handedly make this movie from "Excellent" to "Super-Awesome". Director, Vikas Bahl has not left a scope for a scene to be made fantastic. Everything is perfectly scripted & shot.



Cast - Kangana Ranaut, Rajkumar Rao, Lisa Hayden
Director - Vikas Bahl
My Rating - ****


3. Highway (2014)

         Actually to be honest, this is not just a movie, it is a POETRY. .This movie has a soul. A silent scream of a person that has nowhere to go and no one to speak to...and so life is just a HIGHWAY !! Two people from different economic strata, brought together by fate, yet having similar childhood of mistrust, trauma and abuse. There is that void..a deep hole within the soul that can never ever be forgotten and never be filled ever again. This movie has so many layers deep within it like how men react differently to traumatic childhood by being aggressive and secluded within, longing for the mother figure to comfort them, and women on the other hand become carefree, wanting to just run from it all and always longing for that father figure that can take care of her always. Imtiaz Ali has researched it so well that you can feel the pain, the inappropriate joy and the crazy feeling of comfort in the most strange circumstances. Brilliant piece of art with such a grey hue and painted on landscape of colors !! Alia Bhatt..has talent, plenty of it, and Randeep Hooda is brilliant. Imtiaz Ali knows the soul and heart of a woman and recreates it well in all its brilliance.A MUST watch Film !!



Cast - Alia Bhatt, Randeep Hooda, Durgesh Kumar
Director - Imtiaz Ali
My Rating - ****


4. Special 26 (2013)

         The first Bollywood movie of 2013, that was really good. Just like his first movie, "A Wednesday", Neeraj Pandey has done it again by providing us one more gripping thriller set against a very unusual issue which to the fact, actually none of us knew & the icing on the cake was that, "All this is based on a True Story". Akshay Kumar, Anupam Kher, Rajesh Sharma & Kishore Kadam, play the roles of 4 con men who pose as CBI officers who investigate about the black money with Politicians & Big Businessmen. But, the twist comes when the real CBI comes to know about this. A top team headed by officer Wasim Khan played by "Manoj Bajpayee" is sent after the conmen. It is an intelligent film making at his creative best. Acting performances are awesome, story is brilliant & yes, the last 10-15 minutes of this movie is just phenomenal. A Must Watch!!



Cast - Anupam Kher, Akshay Kumar, Kajal Agarwal, Manoj Bajpayee, Rajesh Sharma, Kishore              Kadam, Jimmy Shergill, Divya Dutta
Director - Neeraj Pandey 
My Rating - ***&1/2


5. SHAHID

          The movie is based on a young man walking into riot-infested street hearing cries, only to watch the mobs set people ablaze. But, the movie is not based on "riots". The boy "Shahid" played by "Rajkumar Rao" grows up to be a Human Rights champion & a Lawyer who fights for those who are wrongly accused in terrorism cases. The movie takes turn when his family is victimised during Mumbai riots. The rest that follows is "One Of The Best Courthouse Drama" i have ever seen. Hansal Mehta is in top form with this movie, while his previous movies were all duds. But, this movie takes him into the big league. Rajkumar Rao, with the role of his career delevers a stellar of a performance. Hansal Mehta won The "National Award For Best Direction" & Rajkumar Rao won The "National Award For Best Actor" for this movie. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!



Cast - Rajkumar Rao, Prabhleen Sandhu, Tigmanshu Dhulia, Kay Kay Menon
Director - Hansal Mehta
My Rating - ****&1//2


THESE ARE THE RECENT BOLLYWOOD MOVIES THAT I LOVED. WHICH MOVIES WERE YOUR FAVORITES? DO COMMENT WITH YOUR FAVORITES. :)

Monday, 2 June 2014

Movie Review - "Citylights" - The Truth Of Life, SHOWN!

After winning "National Awards" for "Best Direction" (Hansal Mehta) & "Best Actor" (Rajkumar Rao), this movie was eagerly waited for. The trailer of the movie got a massive & over-whelming response. But, the real momentum was build by one of the most romantic & awesome song i have ever heard, "Muskurane Ki Wajah" by "Arijit Singh", if you haven't heard this song, please listen to it. With such talents like "Rajkumar", "Hansal Mehta" & also "Mahesh Bhatt" (producing the movie), with such superb & talented people backing the film, we had to have expectations sky high.


(Patralekha & Rajkumar Rao in a scene from "City Lights")

FYI, the movie is a re-make of "BAFTA" nominated British Movie, "Metro Manila"

So, the story of the movie revolves around Deepak Singh played by National Award Winner "Rajkumar Rao", who lives in a small village in Rajasthan with his wife & daughter. Since he is finding it difficult to run his house, he plans to movie to Mumbai. But, his wife is hesitant about this plan to move to a big city like Mumbai, without any plan to move forward, but in the end she finally agrees. Soon they reach the city, they get cheated by some people who pretend to help them to get a house. All things go from "Good" to "Bad" when they lose their Ten-Thousand Rupees which they had & now the family doesn't have a penny to stay or to survive. Hesitantly, they have to live in an under-construction building. Now, to earn money, both Deepak & his wife "Patralekha" try find jobs. Deepak gets a job in a security agency & his wife, has to work in a bar as a "Bar Dancer". The scene where she is inside the bar & asking the manager for the job is really emotional. Deepak, eventually gets to know that he is getting trapped in a conspiracy that is being implied by his own manager who is pretending to be his friend. Even after all this, he tries to comfort his wife that all the things would be back to normal & they will live happily, again.

The concept of the movie is not so fresh, but the movie shows us the reality of life, that how someone can go to an extent to keep his/her family happy. The performances are the real backbone of this film, National Award Winner "Rajkumar Rao" has again delivered a superb performance as Deepak, every time you see him in pain, you will put your heart out for him. But, the performance which steals the show is of "Patralekha", she looks fresh & she is absolutely stunning in his role.

But, one thing that i didn't liked in thew movie was that, there were too many songs which, every time halts the narration of the movie. As a whole, "Citylights" was an ambitious project by Mehta & somewhat it succeeds in showing the truth of life & reality of "Mumbai" which is known to be the "City Of Dreams" but can be a "City Of Darkness" for some people.

Overall, A Good Film, but with names like "Hansal Mehta", "Rajkumar Rao" & "Mahesh Bhatt" backing the project, i myself, expected more from this movie. And if you are wondering, why i am making a fuss about these names, please go & watch "SHAHID" on a DVD & you'll get to know.

A DECENT ONE TIME WATCH!

Cast - Rajkumar Rao, Patralekha
Director - Hansal Mehta
My Rating - ***