Up in the air

Started off as a very powerful and classy movie. Uncharted territories of filmdom such as frequent flyer membership, being on the move and enjoying, industry of firing professionals, etc. Some extremely powerful dialog and touching scenes. Midway during the movie, it kinda slowed down and at the end, it almost became a so-so movie.
Rating: Good

2 Days in New York

Just chanced upon this movie on the TV and enjoyed thoroughly. Tagged as RomCom but it is more of a movie about families and relationships. This is a movie directed by Julie Delpy herserlf, and it is outstanding in terms of narration, naturality (like the two sisters fighting in the dinner table), spontaneity  (like the two sisters fighting in the restaurant in front of a stranger) and dialog (like when Julie spells her name in both negative and positive manner). Storyline is simple and yet it has nonstop family action! Highly enjoyable!
Rating: Good

The Karate Kid

I remember seeing a Jackie Chan movie where he was the young student and he was being taught by a master. In this movie, his role is changed to the master for a young student. I initially thought it is a simple movie of Jackie Chan teaching and the student winning the tournament (which is obvious) but the uniqueness of his teaching is the essence of the movie. Story seems to be a straight lift from the 1984 movie of the same name. A refreshing Jackie Chan movie in true Jackie Chan style. It seems so much better to see his pure hand fights again as compared to his fights with the gun. But it is heartening to see him old :(

Rating: Good.

Beauty and the Briefcase

A romcom after a long time. Catchy dialog. Predictable plot. Sometimes felt direction was similar to Confessions of a Shopaholic. Refreshing movie for a Friday night.

Rating: Good

Cocktail

Started out well but ended as a pretty average movie. A normal triangle love story but the key differentiator is the unique characterization of each of the three folks. Not a great bunch of great dialog but few are good punch liners. Pretty much nothing happens after the intermission. So I felt it could have ended about one hour earlier!! Also noted that Saif's first and last scenes with Diana have same dialog - good direction but very similar to Aamir's interaction with Preity Zinta in Dil Chahtha Hai.

The Surrogacy Trap

Excellent narration, direction and edge-of-seat thriller (at least the last half of the movie). Makes one think twice before opting for surrogacy...
Rating: Good

Rise of the Guardians

A free movie on the big screen on the green lawn of the Great Park of Irvine - a summer weekend night activity. Totally enjoyed the atmosphere more than the movie. Lying under the stars and kids running all around. But the movie was good too, with a nice concept.
Rating: Good.

English Vinglish

Pretty boring start, and a predictable story line. Of course, the movie was all about Sridevi's return to acting. She seems average, sometimes even overacting. But her acting in the emotional scenes is outstanding, as ever. However full credit to Rama's acting, role, dialect and presence in the movie. Absolutely hilarious. Totally enjoyed the classroom scenes. Reminded me of Mind Your Language.
Rating: Good

Dum Maro Dum

Expected very less from this film but it turned out to be a mild thriller - which made it watchable and interesting. Some scenes even turned out to be brilliant - like the head-on car accident; and the scene when AB is about to commit suicide. Even the story conceptualization is good but, as with most thriller stories, it is sometimes too loopy to think that the 'Good Guys' are spared too loosely when they can be oh-so-easily killed.

Maid in Manhattan

Predictable storyline. Not much of a punch that makes you go wow. Average, timepass movie for a lazy Sunday.

Life of Pi

Wanted to desperately see this movie after having read the novel. Finally got the chance in Cathay Pacific airlines from LA to Hong Kong. As it is rightfully said, this is an unfilmable novel and the fact that this was made into a movie in itself is remarkable. Good thing about the movie is that nothing from the novel is taken out. If any, scenes have been added (I think, because I don’t remember Pi’s girlfriend-story in the novel). Apart from that, movie is exceptionally well taken. If we thought Titanic is the be-all and end-all of sinking ship movies, this was even better. One can feel the storm in the movie, the way ship rocked to and fro, and sunk. One can feel the fear when Pi sees Richard Parker in the life boat. I didn’t feel it when I read the novel but I certainly did when I saw the movie, even though I knew it was there! That’s the magic of movie! Thoroughly enjoyed it.

Ramona and Beezus

A movie hosted in the Tustin Library for children 12 and under with parents. This was kind of the first "theater" experience for Paavani although she still doesnt understand movies and its stories. But the movie itself was very nice, entertaining and filled with feel-good factor although the emotions in the story-line was going down and down three quarters of the movie. A very nice movie from the eyes of a 9 year old.
Rating: Good

Barfi!

Wow. What a movie! I could only say this when I saw the movie twice. I had to rewind and forward and rewind and forward the movie several times (on the same day) to truly soak in each scene of the movie, and appreciate the beauty of the direction and story. This is in the class of The English Patient, Life is Beautiful, Sadma and such movies that doesn’t deserve a single viewing. This one has mystery, romance, adventure and tragedy all packed into one solid punch. One really needs to see it on a system where dialogs and scenes can be heard back and forth at the viewer’s pleasure – not just once, like on the Big Screen. Many scenes seen during the first viewing makes complete sense when the movie is seen twice or even thrice. It is a movie (similar to the aforementioned movies) that completely gut-wrenched me and the hangover lasted for most of the next day. Very few movies touch me so much. And this is one of them. Truly top class!

Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara

A road trip by three friends in Spain. Three major sports chosen by each person. Each sport opens up a pent-up feeling in one of the friends each time. Nothing great about the movie, but not boring or avoidable. Worth a watch.
Rating: Good

Ladies Vs Ricky Behl

A con movie. Not boring. Refreshing set of characters. Middle-class life portrayed well.
Rating: Good

Housefull

A below average movie. Full of cheap jokes that doesn't have much humour. Pretty thin direction. Avoidable.
Rating: Average

Aan Milo Sajna

Another typical old Hindi movie. Nice, clean dialog, simple but complicated romance, one villain and happy-ending climax.
Rating: Average

Chup Chup Ke

Rajpal Yadav and Paresh Rawal. It is for them the movie has to be seen. And Priyadarshan's direction, of course. It is humorous, has good dialogs and interesting story twists.

Rating: Good

High School Musical - 2

Musical teenage movie. Time pass.
Rating: Average

Upkaar

Typical old movie about good son - bad son, and the bad son realizing his mistakes in the end. But this movie has a lot of patriotism thrown in. Also emphasizes the farmers duty to the land. Made me remember The Good Earth.
Rating: Average