Saturday, December 31, 2016

Bowling for Columbine

Another Michael Moore documentary. This one is about guns and Gun policy in US. Somehow I liked Sicko better than this. Although this is just as good, with just as much punch. Looking at all this, one feels US is such a sick country! 
Rating: Good

Sunday, December 18, 2016

The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

Continues in the same vein as the prequel. Dialog, like in the previous one, is just astonishing. Even thought-provoking. Dialog delivery is good too by the actors. Screenplay is wonderful. Refreshing. Movie as such is not comical but some unrelated scenes are. Casting and cinematography is good too.
Rating: Good

Sunday, December 11, 2016

Barbie in Princess Power

A weekend movie with the daughter - complete with magical powers, flying humans, some amount of kids humor, princesses and the royalty, villains, etc. Nice time-pass. Daughter loved it! But I must admit, good dialog that adults can relate to too.
Rating: Average

Neerja

Wow, what a movie, what a story. Truly touching. Superb acting by every single person - the passengers, the terrorists, the family members and Neerja herself. Awesome direction. Great casting and setting. Heart goes out to Neerja's family. Looks like she was born just for that day to save so many lives. The moving is a fitting tribute to her. Many thanks to the movie-makers, else heroes like her would go unnoticed.
Rating: Must-see

Friday, December 2, 2016

Sicko

Wow, what a movie! This is one hard-hitting soul-breaking documentary about how uncultured, uncivilized & unbelievably pathetic the world's greatest country aka US is! It is superlative in commentary, high in humor, heartrending, globe-trotting and punch in almost every dialog. Choice of words is amazing. The sad scenes are tear-jerking. Aaah, this one is just too good to miss. It is a must-watch for every single person. I have become a big fan of Michael Moore. And as part of this movie, he not only did extensive research on the prevailing issues, he made a movie about it and in the process he bettered the lives of many people. Wow!
Rating: Must-see

Saturday, November 26, 2016

Phir Hera Pheri

Just as good as the previous one. In fact, even more so. Lots of complications with antique guns, cocaine, chit funds, money, etc and yet fluidly intertwined. Super sense of humor. Great casting. Good direction. Absolute entertainer. 
Rating: Good

Sunday, November 20, 2016

Eloise at the Plaza

This one was not as great as the previous one that we saw but it was good enough. The same lushness of the Plaza, the same wonderful hotel personnel, Eloise's crazy mischiefs, little bit of innocent romance in the air, etc. Added to this was a Prince, a Ball and of course, New York!
Rating: Average

Lone Survivor

The movie was a shortened version of the book. Editing could have been better. There seemed to be too many unwanted scenes at the start of the movie. This led to shortening up the real story which is up on the Hindu Kush mountain when the Lone Survivor tries to well, survive. Nevertheless, it still has some tight scenes and very clearly brings to screen what we cannot picture while reading the book. A great story, and the fact that it is a true story, makes it even more jaw-dropping.
Rating: Good

Minions

A weekend movie with the daughter. It wasn't all that jovial as I expected. But it wasn't boring either. The movie was fluid enough with enough twists and turns but amount of comedy wasn't that much. Time-pass.
Rating: Average

Sunday, November 13, 2016

Wreck-It Ralph

Another weekend movie for & with the daughter. The movie, like so many of these kiddo animation movies is really superlative. This one combines a number of old-time video game consoles into a behind-the-scenes character-coming-alive into a thrilling, complicated games-intertwined story that shows how being a bad character in a game is not always bad. This is a movie that ranks alongside the Cars series, Lego Movie, Inside Out and similar. Totally enjoyed - daughter too.
Rating: Good

Saturday, November 12, 2016

The Best of Men

A remarkable story of half paralyzed men who get back their lives due to Dr Ludwig Guttmann's strange yet absolutely correct methods of treating bedridden youths affected due to WWII. Excellent direction, narration, acting, casting and story that never bores for a single moment. It is hard to imagine the odds that this German doctor might have undergone to get the English gentlemen back on their feet when the whole world hated Germans at that time. Truly a miracle man at a miracle time. 
Rating: Must-see

Sunday, November 6, 2016

Eloise at Christmastime

My daughter is a big fan of Eloise story books. So, ordered this DVD thinking it is an animation movie but it was not. In fact, it was a very nice movie - full of energy of a 6-year-old, lush richness of the Plaza hotel and big-hearted-ness of everyone that makes a hotel great. Added to this, was a whiff of romance and suspense of a wedding. Nice movie to see with a 6-year-old daughter on a lazy Sunday, especially when the Sunday has an extra hour due to Daylight Savings Time end.
Rating: Good

Airlift

The fact that this was a movie based on a true story led me to see it. And it is worth it. Although Akshay Kumar's character could have been better portrayed (especially the initial scenes with his wife) and some better screenplay dialog, the story itself is tight enough to keep the audience occupied and guessing what will happen next - and fervently hoping for the best. Much of us in India never knew the plight of Indians in Kuwait when Saddam attacked and this is as good a documentary/movie that we could ever see. 
Rating: Good

Fail Safe

A passing conversation regarding upcoming election (Trump v Hillary) in the office led me to this movie, especially what would Trump do in such a case as depicted in this movie when a mechanical failure leads to US Air Force dropping bombs on Moscow. A thrilling movie with excellent dialog and beautiful debate on all aspects from different personnel in Government & Military. Rather unexpected and slightly disappointing ending though.
Rating: Good

Saturday, October 22, 2016

Touching the Void

Perhaps Aaron's novel got me introduced to this. I wanted to read the book before the movie, as usual, but the book was unavailable at the local lib. The movie is too good though. Superbly taken scenes, although at times it resembles a documentary. Doesn't bore one bit, and is almost a edge-of-seat-thriller. The story itself is mind-boggling. How Joe survived in the middle of Andes all alone when folks thought he was dead is a miraculous and unbelievable story. A definite must-see to believe it!

Zootopia

A good time-pass movie for a lazy weekend with daughter. Nice catch-line though: Try to make the world a better place, no matter what. Not too many scary scenes for the little one.  
Rating: Good

Sunday, October 16, 2016

Premam (Malayalam)

A nice rom-com movie. Some scenes are hysterically comical. Some scenes are total time pass. An extremely light-hearted movie that involves nothing but one person's love fluttering from one girl to other like how a butterfly flutters from one flower to another. School scenes, college scenes, all add flavor to the wholesome entertainer.
Rating: Good

Saturday, October 1, 2016

Into Thin Air

Ever since I read the book, I wanted to see the movie. Finally got a copy of the DVD and got to see the movie. It does good justice to the book - depicting only the salient aspects. Some of the dialog is verbatim from the book. Anyone who doesn't want to read through all pages of the book, can just see the movie. The setting & casting is all well-made. Mt Everest (& the trek up) looks all real in the movie. A short movie - half of which is the ascent and the other half is the descent (read tragedy). I feel for the folks who passed away in this expedition - esp Rob Hall. 
Rating: Good

Sunday, September 25, 2016

The Big Short

I tried to read the book but it seemed too tough to understand, and very vague. The concepts of subprime mortgage, CDO and other wall street jargon never went into my head. So I started watching the movie with the same thought that I might not be able to understand it. But the movie was super awesome! It explained concepts very easily. The whole book has been made very cleverly into a thrilling, captivating story. And to think, it is all true story. Best part is, wherever (few scenes) it is not a true story, the narrative confesses it - humorously! The whole story revolves around the 2007 mortgage crash in US economy - and how four individuals made money out of it.
Rating: Must-see

Sunday, September 18, 2016

Death of a Salesman

I saw a colleague of mine reading a book of the same name, and I was compelled to know more about it. As it happened, my local library had this movie. Still, I was in two minds - whether to see or not, especially it was because it seemed so old. Finally made up mind and got the DVD. It started off ok. There seemed to be too much of conversation and without subtitles, I was just able to make out the gist of what was happening. Almost the first hour of the movie was just a simple conversation in a lower middle class house. Finally, the second half opened up the movie into things unbeknownst to the viewer. Dustin Hoffman's acting is superb. His character is very nicely woven and the amount of talking he has done is unbelievable - and with that flair of a salesman! As it happens, the story of the family unfolds based more on just conversation rather than actual events shown on screen!
Rating: Good

The Buddha: The story of Siddhartha

Its more of a documentary than a movie. A very neat, clean narrative of Gautam Buddha from his birth till his death. I felt it was rather slow at times and it could have been made shorter. But still, the commentary was very good and captivating. The choice of words used to describe the narrative is super awesome. Too many things in the movie to learn - and instill in life. So, worth the watch.
Rating: Good

Sunday, September 11, 2016

Mumbai Meri Jaan

Wow, what a movie! Superb acting, direction, screenplay - and the thought behind each and every scene is absolutely powerful. Paresh Rawal's role and acting is unmatched. The movie is based on the actual train bombings that took place in Mumbai on July 11th 2006 but the tale itself is a fiction of many lives who were affected by the bombings one way or the other. A high-impact movie with "punchful" dialog and scenes. Absolutely gripping with subtle, wry humor. 
Rating: Must-see

Tuesday, September 6, 2016

The Man Who Knew Infinity

The amazing true story of Ramanujan beautifully pictured. It is captivating from the beginning till the end. It is astonishing how Ramanujan came up with all those theorems and conjectures and what not. The story itself is so thrilling that the movie hardly needs any brilliance and yet the movie-making does not fall short. The acting, screenplay and direction are all as neat as it could be. 
Rating: Must-see

Sunday, August 28, 2016

Baby (2015 - Bollywood)

Movie almost has a Jason Bourne theme of 'Govt has Plausible Denial' on key personnel doing covert operations for the good of the country. It has similar edge-of-seat thrill during many parts of the movie. But, for me, it seemed longish and not too wow-ish like the Bourne series. Editing could have been better. Some of the operations seemed superfluous - and time consuming. The Nepal episode is well-taken. The Saudi episode drags on for a bit. At one point, I was like, ok get it done with...
Rating: Average

Sunday, August 21, 2016

The Revenant

Multiple Oscar winner. And partly a true story. Hence saw the movie. But didn't like it as much. It was okay. Theme, as the title says, is all about revenge. So not much of a suspense, as ending is pretty much known. So, the movie is all about the how. Which is taken very well. The cinematography is superlative. Some parts of the movie is really gruesome - like how Leonardo sleeps inside a horse! Yeah, you read that right! Dialog is sparse. There are many minutes in the movie when there is just no talking - which is exactly how it needs to be, given the scene. Scenery is breath taking - Montana, Nebraska, Yellowstone - all uncharted in mid 1800s. And winter. Good pastime, if you are ok with the gruesomeness. Oh yeah, there is the fight with the grizzly too. That's a-stunning.
Rating: Average

Sunday, July 31, 2016

Timbuktu (Multilingual - Arabic, French, Bambara, etc.)

Well, it depicts the sad state of affairs in a jihadist place. No smoking, no playing, no music, etc. And there are instances of people going against, and consequences to such people. The movie then shows a simple family thrown into a drastic drama - ending is pretty evident. Seemed like an artistic movie, many scenes seemed superfluous. Yet, the movie won lot of awards - Best Foreign Film and many other bests - editing, director, sound, cinematograpy, screenplay, etc. Personally, it wasn't that great for me.
Rating: Average

Sunday, July 24, 2016

Wild Tales (Spanish)

One of the most weirdest movies I have ever seen. In fact, not even sure if it can be called as a movie, because it is just a collection of 6 short stories, which are, as the title depicts, indeed very wild. The imagination has truly run loose and all forms of norms are thrown out! It is lunacy at its best and yet at the same time, thrilling and comical in many aspects. The cinematography, narration, scenes, settings are all superb. Each tale is gripping and so close to normal layman life-story. 
Rating: Good

Sunday, July 17, 2016

Unstoppable

Had seen parts of this movie long time ago. But came across this movie again, and saw that it is loosely inspired by true events in 2001 in Ohio. So, got the DVD from local lib and saw the movie from the beginning. It is very gripping from Scene One and very well directed to keep the movie in a tight grip all through. Acting by all cast members is good and so is the dialog - some of which are even true. Nice to watch this kinda thriller movie after a long time. A decade ago, this was one of my fav genre & I used to watch a lot of such flicks!
Rating: Good

Sunday, July 10, 2016

Golmaal (2006), Golmaal Returns and Golmaal 3

Jovial, as long as you are in a light-hearted mood. No need to tax your brains a lot, or even use it at times! Some hilarious rib-tickling scenes good for a lazy weekend. All movies are in same vein and almost have same set of characters. Fun stuff! 
Rating: Good

Talvar

Wow, what a movie! Gripping and shocking. Three perspectives of the murder mystery shown in equal measure but the middle one seems the most plausible. However, once caught in the hands of justice and political system, there is no way to know where one ends up. Sad to know the state of affairs for Aarushi's parents on whom the movie is made. Superb acting, narration, direction, casting, screenplay, et al. 
Rating: Must-see

Sunday, June 26, 2016

Interstellar

A gripping futuristic movie about outer space journey in order to save the earth. At times, it gets overly complicated to understand. Time, space, gravity all get interlinked in multi-dimensional mode and things start getting all boinky. In Earth, time moves the way we know, but when people in blackholes start interacting with Earth beings - the timeshift becomes tough to understand. Fathers start becoming younger than their own children! So, I myself had some black holes in my mind while I was watching this movie!! But enjoyed it nevertheless and even replayed some scenes as soon as the movie ended, just like how I do usually with Must-see movies. Whoever thought and wrote this script is ultra-imaginative!! Matthew's (the hero) acting is outstanding.
Rating: Good

Sunday, June 19, 2016

The Intouchables

Wow, what a movie! And a true story at that. What could have been easily a tear-jerker of a tale has been completely churned out as an out-and-out jovial (and at times, even funnily edge-of-seat) experience and equally narrated/directed so. Whoever can imagine the life of a quadriplegic can be led in such an exciting manner. Whoever can imagine a petty thief and con-man to be the best ever care-giver? The story and the movie - Simply brilliant. Now, waiting to read the book!
Language: French
Rating: Must-see

Monday, June 13, 2016

Detective Byomkesh Bakshy!

Either it was just me or it was the movie. It seemed the plot was too thick, too many twists, too many characters - and somewhere I lost track and just couldn't keep up with the tale. Also, it seemed dubious to me that a detective who rejected (and got hit) by a customer (during introduction phase) goes to such extents to solve the case on his behalf. Story seemed good with grandiose schemes but the movie itself is very dark - both figuratively and literally. Not the kind that I wanted at the time when I saw it...
Rating: Average

Sunday, June 5, 2016

Two Countries

A Malayalam movie after a long time. Thoroughly enjoyable. Awesome direction, humor, dialog, acting, setting, story-line, narration - and pretty much everything else that makes a movie. Some lies, some intertwining love triangles, some mistaken identities, some nice lungi-dances by Canadian men near Niagara Falls (!), typical Kerala scenery and typical Canadian life style - all bundled together to become a definite must-see. 

Saturday, May 21, 2016

Hera Pheri

I had seen bits and pieces of this movie before but never in entirety. Finally was able to see it this weekend. Nice, light-hearted comedy. Dialog is rib-tickling at times. Paresh Rawal - his acting and his character in the movie - is awesome. Nice time pass.
Rating: Good

Saturday, May 14, 2016

The Grand Budapest Hotel

Light-hearted comedy. Extremely complicated happenings. A twist every 5 minutes. Some happenings too far-fetched for reality. But acting, costumes, direction, narration, dialog (especially since the era is a decade ago), cinematography are all superlative and extremely pleasing. The English language is at its best. Definitely worth a watch.
Rating: Good

Saturday, May 7, 2016

Death at a Funeral (2007 UK)

Totally hilarious. Remembered Priyadarshan Bollywood movies. There is a comical twist every 5 minutes up until the very last minute. Enjoyed thoroughly. Super casting, acting, story, etc. 
Rating: Must-see

Black Friday

Another Anurag Kashyap movie but this one was better. Though based on a book, it is excellently acted, directed and photographed. Could have been edited better, some chase scenes were avoidably long. Story itself is shocking. Fact that Tiger Memon is still not caught is jaw-dropping. I was not aware much of the 1993 Bombay blasts (I was a 13-year-old in Bangalore who was more interested in Hardy Boys than local news!) and this movie was an eye-opener. Although movie goes back and forth in time, it is still easy to comprehend & follow. Worth watching.
Rating: Good

Saturday, April 30, 2016

Bombay Velvet

Movie is set in 1970s during Mumbai's turn of events. The filming, setting, costume, direction, acting all seemed good (considering the bygone era) but story kind of lost steam - especially when you see the hero blasting away his gun in the middle of a gazillion bullets without even getting a single shot. And then the inevitable ending, which is common to all heroes of the genre of Satya, Company, etc. I mean, all that for what - if there is no ingenius twist in the tale? The biggest shocker of the movie was when I saw the screen splashed with 'Interval' when I really thought we had reached the climax. To sit through rest of the movie was a pain.
Rating: Average

Sunday, April 24, 2016

The Jungle Book (2016)

Much hyped, much popular, but seemed very amateurish to me with little or no punch. There are some scare-inducing scenes but for what, I have no idea. Went to a theatre to see this movie, Paavani's second. Ambience was good, but the movie caused a head-ache more than any feel-good. Felt if we had avoided it, we wouldn't have regretted.
Rating: Average

Monday, April 18, 2016

Wild

The movie does good justice to the book. So, if one is not interesting in reading the book, this movie suffices. Except for a few short stories here and there, much of the book is depicted in the movie - including the dialog verbatim. It is well made, with an emotional chord running always in the background. Good acting, good casting. I was hoping more of good scenery of PCT but not much is shown. Worth a watch.
Rating: Good

Sunday, April 10, 2016

Mantralaya Mahatme

Felt like seeing a Dr Rajkumar movie since it had been a really long time. Came across this movie. Although knew most of the story, still felt like watching it. Role of Raghavendra Swami superbly enacted by Dr Raj...worth a watch once.
Rating: Average

Shakespeare in Love

An extremely witty and intelligent movie. It is purely fictional and yet so tightly woven into actual happenings of 15th Century that it almost seems real. There is Christopher Marlowe's mysterious death, there is Romeo and Juliet, there is Shakespeare, there is character Voila in Twelfth Night, and so many actual facts. Using all of these, a beautiful script is magically woven into this comically genius movie that is not only entertaining but is almost akin to Romeo & Juliet itself! The creation of that era, the setting, the language, the costume, the casting, the acting, everything...Absolutely brilliant!
Rating: Must-see

Saturday, March 26, 2016

Conviction

I had two minds prior to seeing this movie. It seemed like a dark, intense movie with not-so-good casting. But the cover page of the DVD was impelling. The movie turned out to be very good, in fact. The direction & narration seamlessly moved from 1980s to 1990s to 1960s, from MA to NY, from law-school to prison. It was as perfect as it could be. The story itself is a stunner, considering it is a true-story. It is such a pity that the victim spent 16 years of life behind bars just because of a egoistic cop. And such an inspiring act by victim's sister to dedicate her whole life to get her brother out - even at the expense of her own life as a wife and mother. 
Rating: Must-see

Sunday, March 20, 2016

Tanu Weds Manu Returns

Well. Good sequel. Story continues in the same vein with same casting for same characters. Slightly better than the prequel in terms of direction & story (Meaning - it didn't go from good to worse). Light humor. Madhavan's character portrayal seems to be like a "stupid idiot" a lot. He hardly talks. And once again, the name gives away the ending anyways. Worth only for total time-pass.
Rating: Average

Madras Cafe

The movie starts with Sri Lankan PM assassination. And mistakenly I thought the movie was about that assassination. By the time I realized it was actually about Rajiv Gandhi's assassination, half of the movie was already over. Somewhere then I realized perhaps it was a true story. But it really isn't. It is just a story made in and around the assassination. A good story and pretty tightly woven. Keeps audience on the edge although the ending is pretty much known already as General Knowledge...
Rating: Good

Saturday, March 5, 2016

Eat Pray Love

True story of Elizabeth Gilbert. Nice, catchy movie. Smooth-going, thought-provoking, scenic and relaxing as the story moves from New York to Italy (Eat) to India (Pray) and finally to Bali (Love). Definitely worth a watch. Book is better, of course.
Rating: Good

Sunday, February 28, 2016

Insomnia (Norwegian)

Well, maybe I had high expectations looking at the IMDB ratings. Whatever. Didn't seem to be a great movie. Murder mystery that rather easily gets solved. But then something happens which makes it a suspense thriller. Still, it is not an edge-of-the-seat. Seemed pretty ordinary stuff.
Rating: Average

Saturday, February 27, 2016

Love & Other Drugs

A movie on pharmaceutical and medical industry in the form of a romantic tale of a salesman. Some excellent dialog with punch liners on how the healthcare industry in US has crippled lives in the name of 'we make lives better' and boomed in business. The romantic twist in the movie makes the tale going although it takes off in tangents at various times - all very interesting scenes indeed. Extremely adult-ish movie.
Rating: Good

Sunday, February 21, 2016

Max Manus: Man of War

True story of Max Manus, a Norwegian underwater saboteur in World War II against Nazis. A gripping tale, excellently directed & acted. It seems as if Death just left Max alone - he escaped so many times luckily. And yet, everywhere, his close friends all died around him despite his intention of being near to Death every time, trying to sabotage the enemy behind the enemy lines - and almost every time successfully. Many thanks to the film crew to get this story out as a movie, otherwise I might have never known about this fantastic tale! It is amazing to know there were so many such minor groups against Nazis heroically winning, risking their own lives - which collectively led to the final result of World War II. 
Rating: Good

Monday, February 15, 2016

Ted 2

Continuation of Ted. Just as raunchy, just as loosely entertaining. Good for a lazy Sunday. No great laughs but not boring either. Good casting, though.
Rating: Good

Amour

A French movie about an old man and an old woman. It is a nice movie, in fact excellent acting. But it is definitely not an entertainer. It isn't meant to be anyways. It gets too depressing, even to see, at times. It is a sharp truth about man's old age and how sometimes it gets so unbearable. Just like how the old man feels in the movie towards his own wife, even my wife and I felt towards the movie after just half way through!
Rating: Average

Thursday, February 11, 2016

Force Majeure

Superior! Awesome location. Excellent cinematography. Tense acting. Beautiful background score. Simple yet powerful event/concept that spans not more than a minute and yet has an impact on an entire 5-day vacation. Beautifully directed, narrated & filmed. Thoroughly loved this French movie.
Rating: Must-see

Sunday, February 7, 2016

Desi Boyz

Total time pass for a lazy Sunday. An absolute no gain, no loss. Not too many good laughs, almost on the brink of bore but not really, some good dialog, bearable acting, catchy songs.
Rating: Average - a third one for the same weekend :(

Ajami

I saw the cover of this Arabic movie DVD as 'Almost as good as Cidade de Deus' and picked it from the library shelf. But I was not impressed. A heavily complicated, intricate web of events, and added to that, the director weaves the scenes back and forth in time and it gets hard to understand what scene actually occurs at what time. Plus, there are innumerous scenes which are absolutely unnecessary to the crux of the story. I saw the movie twice to understand and still there were some parts which remain mystery. Got a headache, not impressed. But the story is good and uses the same classic 'great-movie' technique of unconnected lives connecting at a certain point in time. If only the movie was directed and edited well with a good narration...
Rating: Average

PS: After a long, long time, did a back-to-back movie marathon.

127 Hours

Suggestion: Ditch the movie and stick to the book, which is far, far better. I expected a lot more from the Slumdog guy (Danny Boyle). Certain scenes are good - when the knife enters the skin, when the bone shatters, when they dive into the water, the Canyonlands, etc. Although there are some pages in the book which is better understood in the movie, at times it gets to a point when one almost feels 'When will it end?' The story itself is unbelievable - since it is a true story but the movie could have been done better. 
Rating: Average

Sunday, January 31, 2016

McFarland USA

Wow, what a true story! Just unbelievable. A very inspiring tale of an American coach who gets stuck with a job in McFarland (a city full of Spanish folks in California) and then creates state-winning cross-country running team out of a bunch of hard-working students. The movie gives good justice to the story - especially the last scene where the actual heroes are shown in person. The movie has the right ingredients - casting, direction, etc. Just loved it!
Rating: Must-see

Ted

A movie where 'Wish comes true' and a stuffed toy Teddy Bear comes alive! But that's pretty much the end for any child wanting to see! It then becomes a grown-up movie. Light humor all through. Pretty fun to watch.
Rating: Good

Sunday, January 24, 2016

American Sniper

I thoroughly enjoyed the autobiography and I was looking forward to see this movie. The movie is as good a replica of the book and pretty well-made, complete with the same real-life dialog as jotted down in the book. Good acting, good direction and pretty decent movie.

But what came as a shock to me was - when I read the book, it said 'Chris Kyle lives with his family in Texas'. So I was expecting the same ending. But in the movie, I was shocked to reality that Chris Kyle was killed in 2013, just a year after the book was published. I just could not get over the reality. I mean, the guy saved so many lives and was so lucky. He escaped Death by mere inches all his life in the war. It was as if Death itself was ensuring his safety for the greater good, and then all of a sudden, he gets killed in such a useless way. I just could not get over it. 

RIP Chris. What a man...what a life.

Rating: Good

Friday, January 22, 2016

Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram-Leela

Just like any other Sanjay Leela Bhansali movie, too much of pomposity, overacting, grandness, slowness and artwork rather than the story itself. Not much of my type. 
Rating: Average

Sunday, January 17, 2016

Dil Dhadakne Do

Wholesome entertainer. Some amazing scenes and fantastic dialog. Very picturesque locations - Greece, Turkey, Istanbul, etc. Excellent casting, acting, direction, cinematography, etc. Thoroughly enjoyed!
Rating: Good

The Beauty and the Beast

A weekend movie for the daughter, who wanted to know the story of Belle. Nice catchy lyrics in songs & good animation but otherwise a pretty average time pass story/movie. 
Rating: Average

Sunday, January 10, 2016

The Martian

Although I knew the story to a certain extent, the movie was still gripping. Thanks to a great direction, acting, casting and narration, it was almost an edge-of-the-seat thriller. Consecutive space movies seen now. Visit to NASA in November has it's effects! Truly remarkable and unimaginable state of life for astronauts!
Rating: Good

Monday, January 4, 2016

Gravity

An easy-going yet edge-of-seat movie about a space mission that goes awry. When the movie was released, I was not that much interested. But after visiting NASA center in Florida recently, I am now open to watch space movies. I wonder though if such movies encourages folks to become astronauts! As a movie, it was fairly interested.
Rating: Good

Saturday, January 2, 2016

Jab Tak Hai Jaan

Total time-pass. Knew it before started seeing it, still checked it out. Loose acting (SRK is just as bad), loose direction but cinematography was good. Pretty average-ish movie all through. Never gets too good nor does it get too bad. Most of the crying scenes are totally laughable. Sorry, but that's how it was for my wife and me!
Rating: Average

Dumb and Dumber To

The movie continues in the same vein as the prequel. Same direction. Almost similar story of running behind a girl. Just as enjoyable, just as dumb and just as dumber. Some superb acting by Jim and Jeff, even though it has been 2 decades. They carry on as if there has been no break. Two decades ago, this kind of a movie was a 'Must-see' for me at that age. Now, not-so... but still loved it
Rating: Good