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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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