robin_dhanju-1 Reviews

Shootout at Wadala (2013)

Cigarettes, Sex, Action and a Ton of Slow Motion - Shootout at Wadala

[3/10 · 4 May 2013]

Shootout at Wadala is just another run-of-the-mill money grab that uses a historic event in the Mumbai crime scene, translating it into an underwhelming "film" or lack there of.

John Abraham is cast as Manya Surve, a well-to-do college student who goes by the books and according to him, does nothing wrong. Cast alongside Abraham as his love interest is Kangana Ranaut as Vidya Joshi.

The tempo is set early with Abraham being the last hope of his mother to establish himself as an honest man earning an honest living. However, Surve's brother, a gangster, is attacked by local thugs and as Surve pulls one of them off, the brother stabs the bandit and thus Surve is held accountable alongside his brother.

After what seems like a brief stay in prison, Surve escapes and begins his life as a new member of the Mumbai underground. Along the way, the story sees Surve undergo a very abrupt and unrealistic development as a character. The so-called nice guy becomes a complete power hungry alpha-male-mentality driven gangster that gets it all and manages to lose it as well.

Now, a Bollywood Action-Thriller would not be complete without some songs and a lot of slow-mo. The Item songs are okay, but they add nothing to the plot of the story. In years past, the songs would at least provide some sort of connection to the overall story. But in today's day and age, it's all about having item songs that showcase gorgeous women in skimpy outfits. Not only that, but this film had a lot of awkward sex scenes. Bollywood has long been known as a very conservative film medium and the various innuendo and straight forward sex scenes in this film just made the viewing very awkward, especially the make supposed lust-filled make-out session between Abraham and Renaut. It also seems as though Indian cinema has become very accustomed to using slow motion and bullet time. It would be bearable if it occurred here and there to emphasize intricate fighting scenes. Unfortunately, a large portion of the minutes in this film are used to show John Abraham running shirtless in slow motion, or to showcase every single hit no matter how weak in really slow motion.

Overall, Shootout at Wadala is a film that could have been done much better, yet falls way too short in terms of plot and character development and fails to really get anything across beyond fighting, cigarettes, sex and lots and LOTS of unnecessary slow motion.

The Cabin in the Woods (2011)

Best Horror Movie I Have Seen in a While

[9/10 · 2 May 2012]

I am not a big horror buff, but I absolutely loved this movie.

My friends had seen it the week before and were still willing to watch it again and had hyped this movie up quite a bit before we even got to the theatres. I was expecting A LOT and it exceeded my expectations.

I like to sit there and try to predict the outcome of movies, it's an annoying habit... but one that was not able to be exercised. The film has a good plot line, and there are so many twists, turns, cranny's, valleys etc. that you're mind just doesn't have enough time to process what the hell is happening.

I don't want to give the story away, and if you are a fan of Hollywood and good cinema, I urge you not to read a synopsis. Watch the movie and you will thank yourself for going in with a complete sleight!

Moneyball (2011)

A Total Bore, Even to an Avid Baseball Fan

[23 September 2011]

First and foremost, I want everyone to know that I love baseball and I do understand the intricacies associated with the game, and the fact that the A's were competing with a payroll of 1/3rd of the Yankees is very significant. However, I found the story line to be extremely slow, and boring.

I came into this movie totally hyped up and excited about a baseball movie after way too long of a wait. I went to a matinée with only about 20 other people there to watch the movie on opening day (I know it was early but 20 is very low). Most of them seemed like avid fans as well, judging by their giggles at some of the jokes (very few) in the movie. The first thirty minutes were O.K., as it was meant to build the story line and introduce the characters. That was understandable, what was not, was the fact that the story didn't capture my attention any more throughout the the next one hour or so. I believe that the movie touched upon three players, mostly the first basemen and their transition to becoming an Athletic. I also felt that the movie focused way to much on Brad Pitt and Billy Beane, and I understand that he is the GM that revolutionized the game, but the character development really didn't reach a climax. Billy Beane had the same attitude towards baseball, and his life in general, as he did in the start. And the two hours that it took to get to that point really didn't accomplish much. I also felt that the climax of the movie was VERY rushed, it was condensed into 15 minutes that really didn't have me very interested, rather had me thinking to myself "what the hell just happened".

Overall, I believe the movie was a total let down, and even Brad Pitt's and Jonah Hill's presence isn't enough to keep baseball fans (let alone casual viewers) interested. I am going to be generous and give this film 5 stars out of 10, although I hope I could get those wasted two hours back of my life, to do something meaningful, like watching "Major League".

Drive (I) (2011)

Found My Self Drawn to It More and More as Soon as I Left the Cinema

[20 September 2011]

I went into this film not expecting much, just to pass a couple of hours on a subsidized ticketing day. However, I was very surprised, as well as pleased with this film.

Although it starts off slow, the story line gradually picks up and even if it doesn't have heart pounding edge of your seat action, it does have a solid story line and some very good acting. I found it to be one of those movies that you could sit back and enjoy, you didn't have to be captivated by pulsating music, people screaming, or nudity (although all of the aforementioned criteria is there at some level). The story line was great, I liked how it somehow reminded me of old great action films of the late 20th century, as well as how the violence wasn't overbearing, but extremely gory when present. I saw my self plainly "liking" the movie, but the two or so hours since leaving the cinema, I have found myself thinking that this will be most likely my favourite Ryan Gosling movie and one of my favourite action movies of the year.

I found that Goslings acting really mirrored the situation almost to the point of it becoming paradoxical. I am very well pleased with the movie overall and would give it a solid 4.5/5 for how brilliantly it was all put together. I would definitely recommend watching this movie at least once if not twice, or thrice...

Zombieland (2009)

Really Funny

[7/10 · 5 October 2009]

First of all, I'd like to say that I love zombie movies in general so that may have added a little bit of bias towards my review. Overall I thought that the movie was a good mix of comedy and action. The plot was pretty predictable, even the minor twists but overall Im assuming that the viewers go to watch zombies getting their ass kicked. It had some funny parts, some really funny parts, and some dull parts. Without going into too much detail, the best parts are when all four main characters are together. There was a lot of blood and organs being spewed around which made it kind of hard for me to eat my food. The acting was really good I enjoyed it, the characters blended really well and they all delivered great performances with a guest appearance from Bill Murray. The movie was good overall but not great, its not going to be a block buster hit but if you enjoy watching reckless violence mixed in with some comedy I would recommend this to you.

Dragonball Evolution (2009)

A beyond Sub-par interpretation of Dragon Ball onto the big screens.

[1/10 · 24 March 2009]

This is a total butchering of what I had held great hopes of seeing. The movies attempts to follow the dragon ball story line, meanwhile adding a "modern" spin on it (ie. chi chi's castle, and Master Roshi lives in a regular semi whats up with that?). What the viewers want to see is a storyline that follows the cartoon series without any changes, and additions. Overall, the plot is weak, the characters do not look like the cartoons (ie. Yamcha, Master Roshi), the 2D cartoon series had better special effects than the movie (and the series had NO special effects, thats how terrible it was). I created an IMDb account JUST to comment on how they butchered Dragonball for me and I hope that Hollywood is smarter next time as to when they bring such a strong fan based series onto the big screens or they will only infuriate more of the audience.