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shriharipandula
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All I See Is You (2016)
Don't trust the rating for this one!
If you are a cinephile, just watch it (period). I really wanted to say that and nothing else but this form validation criteria is based on the belief that a movies review cannot be summed up in a sentence so I am forced to write that might not exactly be adding value.
The Descendants (2011)
Better without Pre-conceived Notions!
It's a sad thing that most of us usually come to generate our interest about most of the movies only after their participation or victory in film festivals and annual awards. The downside of such is that we usually already make up our mind to expect a certain level of film-making and story-telling and when the movie doesn't deliver one or the other aspect of that, we begin to jot down what the movie lacked - from our assumptions, of course. So don't compare this title with any of your per-conceived notions or any other title as such; if you were.
A beautiful movie, slow-paced story-telling, technically alright, and a good cast. This movie lacked perfection in many things, dialogues, cinematography, acting and so on and guess that's why it related to us in a better way. This movie is a lyric especially with the over-powering background score that sometimes was annoying, honestly. This is no unreal movie with fantasy islands, miracle workers, or super-smart kids. It's just a regular Joe whom we all love! To sum it up, a good movie to watch on DVD with kids on a lazy Sunday if you are friends with your teenagers. It sucks them in, for good!
Big Miracle (2012)
Truth is beautiful, let's face it!
This is a brilliant movie except for the fact that they tried to twist the facts. I am not saying that if they say "Based on a True Story" they have to stick to the original experience of the incident instead of calling this a miracle where there's no central role for the almighty above. Take a look at the original tragedy of the incident at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Breakthrough which provides us a perspective of "man proposes, god disposes" again and a complete bashing of media on the creation of world's greatest non-event. We, as audience, are now completely mature to take in different viewpoints in reality and do not need happy endings, unless it's a Christmas release. Well, apart from this complaint, I think the movie, even technically, is just awesome - if you don't think too much.
Kahaani (2012)
A different narration for Indian cinema!
KAHAANI: A different narration for Indian cinema! Although, this logical storytelling is a tad above Vyomkesh Bakshi (Remeber, that Indian telly fiction), one can tell that the script has been dwelled upon and revised for a long time - a rarity for T town! Editing is average like a newbie finding out tricks on YouTube. Dialogues are pretty crisp but most of the times they sound more of Mumbai than Kolkatta. Another improvement for Hindi cinema is that they didn't underestimate the audience by repeating all English dialogues in Hindi..."HRD, Manav Sansaadhan Vibhag!" Vidya Balan's body language is perfect - she's a real actress. But the best thing in the whole movie is the background score by Clinton Cerejo! Awesome work, while ekla chalo re, revisited...is pure nostalgia! Must watch - once. As usual, I give more points to the trailers and superb marketing than the actual movie.
The Adventures of Tintin (2011)
Fake!
First, a word about Rotoscopy: Rotoscoping is an animation technique in which animators trace over live-action film movement, frame by frame, for use in animated films. Originally, recorded live-action film images were projected onto a frosted glass panel and re-drawn by an animator. This projection equipment is called a rotoscope, although this device has been replaced by computers in recent years. In the visual effects industry, the term rotoscoping refers to the technique of manually creating a matte for an element on a live-action plate so it may be composited over another background.
Now! This movie is as real as live. Of course, it would be. It's rotoscoped. If the end result was to appear lively, why animation? Why bother? That apart, it killed the nostalgia, the brand value I have for Tintin. Mercilessly.
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998)
It's an experience! Double that, if you may!
Call it stuff! Call it Hunter. Call it Depp. Or just call it Vegas. This is definitely not a 'walk of the factory' movie. It's an experience. You must have had that "been there, done that" in your vocabulary or just plain strawberry love for cinema. The movie is already high! You can opt to double that. And, we know how. This is a review, for those who believe, from the one who believes - hopefully moderated and accepted by...those who know what belief is. Terrible gibberish is what I can title the movie if I had it in my hands. And! All I can say is that this review reflects it. True. Excellent script - and, writing! In other words, if you are a, um...tea-total-err? soberist....non-drugger...whats the word? but whatever you are (pardon for that small b earlier) this can give you the kick...be careful.
Rang De Basanti (2006)
I have rated this 20, just that IMDb doesn't allow more than 10 :)
Absolutely no words required for you if you relate to India in some or the other way or know something about India or want to know something about India. Just a word of caution, this movie may keep you thinking for hours if not days and weeks.
Aamir Khan, Rakeysh Om Prakash Mehra, and even A. R. Rahman just contributed to shoot something as eruptive and yet gorgeous as India - more of a Before and After comparison where there is not much of a difference. Bottomline: Kudos to Mr Mehra for shooting the longest ever commercial till date. The movie sells it to you. And, hard sells!
A. R. Rahman got the nerve of the movie and composed his usual best, but still nothing compared to Roja yet. Mehra got lucky and I would have prayed him if only I were to decide not to watch his other movies. Aamir gets lucky every time, he is a carefully marketed commodity which won't lose its luster in the near future, at the least.
The Rum Diary (2011)
A Tribute Well Paid
There are 2 kinds of reviews that can be done for this movie. First, by those who have read Hunter already and second by those who choose to know Hunter after watching this movie. I am the second type. I haven't read any of Hunter's books and hence a pure movie critique this! A sensible movie well made by director Bruce Robinson. Johnny Depp central role of Hunter Stockton Thompson is totally justified. This is the kind of cinema any movie lover would want to cherish. What impressed me first is the different and detailed perspective of Puerto Rico by, should I say, a mainlander? The movie goes in it's own pace never to appear slow. But what influenced me most is the fact that this movie is so close to reality even to the present day and a pretty practical closure. Somehow, it made me happy. Now, I am in bit of a hurry to jot this down, as I need to watch more Hunter movies.
Hugo (2011)
English sight, French taste, and American stink
The positioning is vague, Hugo is definitely not a film for children just because 2 kids star in it. If kids liked this movie, I am sure they loved Titanic too! It's a movie out and out for film-making lovers who know or are curious of the film history. Scorsese tried to give us a ride into the past using clips of earliest of the films but somehow the nostalgia wasn't created enough. The storyline is more or less a Brit drama. Cinematography is brilliant in the first 2 scenes which coupled up with seamless editing and fx but blame the DI team for inconsistent saturation and contrast throughout the film. In the predictive story element, the relationship between film-making, automaton, magic tricks, and mechanical toys have been established but somehow it shows the convenience of the script writers who totally dealt with under-developed characters till the very end. They also didn't seem to understand that there's a difference between artistic storytelling and drag which made the film terribly slow in the first half. It looked like a couple of good-to-have (as opposed to must-have) scenes were just added externally to display 3D special effects workmanship that were barely palatable. Actors were flawless. The film-title at start may be clichéd but the background score at end credits is lovely. Hugo is in talks only because of "Scorsese", rest everything, the kids, 3D, graphics, history, is plain effective marketing. I may have expected more from a Scorsese movie, but Hugo didn't even reach up to my average expectations from cinema.
Tere Bin Laden (2010)
Surprisingly Intelligent
Decided to watch it after it was in the news after the 'big' news! 'Tere Bin Laden' is an intelligent and a confident comedy from India.
Kudos to the well researched and meticulous script and great TIC humor! A gutsy subject and perspective without the usual India-basing-Pakistan kind of satire! I can dare say this is the birth of new genre of intelligent comedy for Bollywood. I am really fed up of senseless and extremely low IQ comedy of errors that fill up the scene usually. Atp script. Perfect length. And practical direction of out a logical script - something unknown to Bollywood till now.
My first 10/10 on IMDb.
Loved it - especially for the foresight ;)