Movie Review: 127 Hours (2010)

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Movie Rating: Wine (Check out the movie ratings scale on the top left pane of the page)

In Short: Frankly, not enough material here to be made into a movie. Over-rated; but the cinematography was quite good.

The latest fare from Danny Boyle, the director of ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ and ‘Trainspotting’, did not impress me too much, although there seems to be a lot of buzz surrounding this one. Without any disrespect to the person who this movie is based on, there was frankly not enough material within this movie to keep me engaged through its entire length. After all, watching a mountain climber stuck in a crevice by a boulder for 127 hours, does not truly make great premise for a movie story. I do acknowledge that it would be a difficult job for any director, to make this into an engaging and interesting watch, and thats where the movie fails.

That being said, the movie did have good cinematography and visuals, and James Franco (the lead actor) did do a rather good job of conveying how it would be for a person (both physically & mentally) being stuck up in a desolate place for so long. The oscar nomination for A.R. Rahman for providing the score for this film, should also keep Indian audiences cheered up and excited for a while.

In my opinion there have been some better accident related  / trapped movies, which have made for a more interesting watch. These include “Alive” (based on a rugby team stuck in the Andes after their plane crashed), “Open Water” (based on a couple who accidentally get left behind in shark-infested waters on a scuba trip), and “Frozen” (based on a group of friends stuck in a ski lift).

So watch this one only if you are a big Danny Boyle fan, or for that matter an A.R. Rahman fan.

Movie Review: Catfish (2010)

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(Warning: This review may contain some minor spoilers)

Movie Rating: Wine (and a half ) (Check out the movie ratings scale on the top left pane of the page)

In Short: A must-watch for all Facebook and social networking fans. As is mentioned in the documentary’s summary — ”This is a shocking product of our times’

Before I start, I agree that I have been going a bit overboard with anti reviews related to Facebook and social networking in general. However, I guess this one would complete the trilogy and is supposedly a true-life example of the dark-side of excess (shall we say) – Facebooking!

According to the movie summary, filmmakers Ariel Schulman and Henry Joost document a story involving Ariel’s brother, Nev, a 24-year-old New York-based photographer, and Abby, from rural Michigan who contacts Nev via Facebook, asking for permission to make a painting from one of his photographs. Then starts the online romance between Megan (Abby’s older sister) and Nev, which leads to shocking revelation finally.

I don’t want to discuss much about this film, as it would become a major spoiler otherwise. I have no idea how true this documentary is, but it does give a good feeler into the power of social networking and the influence it is having on people’s lives in modern times. The ending also indicates why the documentary is called as “Catfish”, and it is quite an interesting one.

Btw, the girl (who Nev loves) in the film does have a facebook profile and it is here. You should first watch the film and then check it  out [and probably even add her 😉 ].

Movie Review: The Other Guys (2010)

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Movie Rating: Wine (and a half  😛 ) (Check out the movie ratings scale on the top left pane of the page)

In Short: This one turned out to be a surprisingly good watch. Quite hilarious in parts, and loaded with black humour. Worth the watch … definitely.

It’s been a while since I have seen a good comedy flick. “The Other Guys” turned out to be a good surprise and quite a hilarious watch, after a string of crappy comedy flicks that I have seen this year. The chemistry between Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg was also good and unique at the same time. There have been a quite a few “cop-duo” comedy films in recent years like ‘Rush Hour’ and ‘Starsky & Hutch’, and this movie is another good one to add to the lot, if you enjoyed the previous two mentioned flicks.

Go see it, and have fun.

Movie Review: Four Lions (2010)

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Movie Rating: Wine (and a half  😛 ) (Check out the movie ratings scale on the top left pane of the page)

In Short: A comedy / spoof film on ‘jihadis’ is difficult to come by. Laugh-out funny in the good parts. Worth a watch.

It’s been a while since I have done a film review on this blog, and since the main context of this blog is flicks, here goes. ‘Four Lions’ is a spoof flick on four so-called jihadis, who plan to carry out a suicide bombing mission. The suicide mission is still not decided, and they think of various (hilarious) alternatives to put them themselves to lets say – good use. I have seen a lot of films centered around the theme of terrorism and jihad, but this film is the first one that puts a comedy twist to that theme.

The movie is laugh-out-loud funny in the good parts, and handles the rather sensitive topic quite well. After all its a comedy film. But I am sure the movie will raise some ire from some factions of the Muslim community. However, since its a british film, I personally felt that the accent is a tad bit difficult to follow sometimes. It would be better to see this movie with subtitles (if you can find them). In a nutshell, the movie is definitely worth a watch. Gives a ‘lighter’ perspective of this ever growing issue, and also shows the futileness of it. To get a better idea about the movie, you can watch the trailer on Youtube given below.

Music Concert Review: Indian Ocean Concert (Hard Rock Cafe, Mumbai, August 2010)

Rating:  Wine (Check out the ratings scale on the top left pane of the page)

I know this is a departure from the main context of this blog, viz. movies ….. but what the heck, I thought to put in some colour here and add in this review.

A bunch of us friends went for the Indian Ocean concert on 6th August 2010 at the Hard Rock Cafe in Mumbai. The first thing to put us off was that the gates were to open at about 8.30 pm, but we were made to stand in queue (and that too a long one) until 9.30 or 9.45 pm. As soon as we get in we realise that Hard Rock cafe has oversold the tickets, and there is no seating arrangement, and we were made to stand. Come on, Indian Ocean is not your typical rock band …… you need to sit down, relax and unwind to the music of Indian Ocean. But I guess considering the big fan following of Indian Ocean, and the commercials involved, most establishments cannot help but capitalise on the opportunity at hand.

First let me rewind a bit and tell you a bit about Indian Ocean (band) first. To know more about them you can visit their Wikipedia page here. Anyways, carrying on, the performance finally began at 10.15 pm or so, a good 2 hours post when we reached the venue. To make things worse, there appeared to be no unlimited starters, as was promised in the passes. Some waiters passed around with starters once in a while, and considering the huge crowd, we literally had to pounce on the food like a pack of hungry hyenas :P. I am sorry to bitch about food, in a music concert review, but this was a dissapointment, considering that I am foodie ;).

Anyways, moving on to the music, the band opened with one of their most popular tracks “Bandeh”, which seemed to get the crowd (including me) excited. Then it started to go downhill from there. The songs they chose to perform, seemed to be mostly from their new album, which in my opinion is quite unimpressive. And I have heard most of their earlier albums and good songs. However, thankfully their closing song was “Kandisa”, which happens to be one of their earliest tracks and also my fav one. If you want to sample this song, I have provided a Youtube link of one of their live performances below. The other saving grace was that booze was unlimited, although it was only Indian stuff (and most of the brands I had never heard off). But what the heck, who cares about the brand of alcohol, when you are at music concert, looking to get high…lol.

In a nutshell, the show was not too entertaining or impressive, considering that I am an Indian Ocean fan. I guess their music will be more enjoyable in a more low-key event.

Movie Review: Salt (2010)

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Movie Rating: Wine (and a half :P)   (Check out the movie ratings scale on the top left pane of the page)

In Short: Quite interesting and keeps you hooked for most of the time. Your standard popcorn movie, and this one doesn’t bull-shit much.

After seeing quite a few doozies this year, I went for this movie with low expectations. However, it turned out to be quite enjoyable, fast – paced, and kept me glued for most of the run time. Ofcourse this flick did have its fair share of popcorn elements , and cheesy scenes, but all-in-all this one turned out to be quite an entertaining watch. Angelina Jolie delivered a fine enough performance, but I can’t help but observe that she seems to be getting thinner by the day (and thus unattractive as well). Anyways, from the ending of the movie it looks like Salt will have a part 2 soon, and I hope that the sequel should also be as good….. and hopefully Ms. Jolie would have put on some weight by then 😛

Movie Review: Inception (2010)

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Movie Rating: Wine   (Check out the movie ratings scale on the top left pane of the page)

In Short: Interesting idea and shot well. But the movie gets too confusing to the point that your brain starts to hurt and you don’t give a squat anymore. Moreover, the ending does not justify the bheja-fry that you were made to endure for more than two hours. Watch, only if you are a big Christopher Nolan fan, otherwise pass this one and save some brain cells 😛

I went with high expectations for this movie, knowing that this was directed by Christopher Nolan (of Memento and Dark Knight fame), and on seeing the 9 plus (out of 10) rating that the movie got on IMDB website. ‘Memento’ was also a intellectual movie that required the viewer’s  100% attention and maybe difficult for some to digest on their first sitting. However, the ending of Memento, and the way all the dots connected were worth the enduring sit. In case of ‘Inception’, I felt clearly otherwise. Not only during half time did my head started hurting, but I also started to get irritated by the end of it and didn’t give a damn on the final revelation (which frankly was quite limp).

I remember coming out of the movie hall with my friends, feeling like I had just given a 3 hour exam, and demanded a smoke from one of my friends to drowse the headache that I developed during the 2.5 hours sit. However, I gotta admit that the visuals and the background score were quite impressive, and so was the basic premise of the story (although it could have been developed much more). That is the only reason I would give this flick a “Wine” rating (3 out of 5 score), otherwise it merited an even lower rating.

In a nutshell, watch only if you are a big Christopher Nolan fan and if you are willing to kill some brain cells. Otherwise pass this one.