Movie Review: American Hustle..You may not fall for it..

American Hustle..the title may mislead some of us who are familiar with the hit television show ‘Hustle’ which is about a group of conmen who take gleeful pleasure in first conning the ‘mark’ and then letting the audience wonder how they did it, before the big reveal giving great detail of how it was actually pulled off. Never mind how contrived and co-incidental it all gets, you still go along for the ride since its so thrilling and fun. With American Hustle, you get none of the above and if that’s the expectation with which you went in..you are bound to come out bitterly disappointed

American Hustle should be seen for its performances, tight storyline and plot development upto a point and crackling dialogue and screenplay. Particularly noteworthy are scenes which will have the characters serious and the audience in guffaws Some of the lines are a brilliant character study and may not even sink in, in the first watch.

The plot development is tight and interesting to about the half way stage. After that, things suddenly turn awry, almost becoming dysfunctional to the main storyline and you wonder what went wrong. The climax is interesting though it might be unconvincing. For the most part, direction is smart and sharp. However, there are some movies whose makers consider themselves far too intelligent, their script far too superior to be explained to even an interested audience. The result – you don’t end up falling for it and come out feeling somewhat cheated and bewildered. American Hustle just might make you feel that way.

Now to the best part – the performances. I was pretty much convinced that the ‘wolf’ had it ‘in the bag’ for the Oscars this time around. After watching American Hustle, am not so sure. Bale’s performance is so natural, he may as well be his character – he’s definitely giving Leonardo a run for his money at the Oscars. Bradley Cooper also gets a meaty character, including an entirely new look but he doesn’t convince as much, especially in scenes of high emotion. Amy Adams does a credible job of a complex character whereas the only thing unconvincing about Jennifer Lawrence’s character is her blonde wig. Jeremy Renner does justice to his relatively smaller role as well

Given its dialogues and natural performances, better treatment of its story would really have gone miles as an overall package. However, the smug version of it that you get to watch finally doesn’t really make you fall for it – hook, line or sinker. If you are willing to trade that off for great performances – with 10 Oscar nominations – you might want to check out what American Hustle offers. However, if you think that’ll make you feel conned out of good money, you might want to give it a second thought

Movie Review: Dedh Ishqiya..is a decent one-time watch..

The original always has its own allure. The characters are new. The setting is unknown and the story is inviting and intriguing. While making a sequel the toughest part is that the characters are now familiar and expectations are set. The sequel needs to now go one-better with new additional characters, possibly a different setting and story. In this respect, Dedh Ishqiya certainly succeeds – all the way. That said, it isn’t really the through n through dark, comic thrill ride it promises to be

The movie starts off almost old worldly romantic, the time of the nawabs and their opulence – so much so that you aren’t sure if this is period drama or a new age caper. Be prepared to read a lot of subtitles because most of the dialogues are in Urdu rather than Hindi and if you choose to watch this one without subtitles then I am not sure how much of the movie you can follow altogether

I don’t plan to give much away and in a thriller with twists and turns its always a dilemma how much to share. I will say though that much like the original – the story development keeps you interested. You might get bored in parts and wish that the story develops at a brisker pace, but it does just enough to keep you interested. There are some directorial gems too with a group at gunpoint and others which are almost inspirational in their presentation - much like the Hollywood stalwarts would do it  - otherwise ordinary scenes leading to guffaws and laughs. However, the movie could have definitely had an overall tighter presentation – a song or two less and perhaps a few lesser brooding moments. Add to that the second half, wherein after a point things become somewhat predictable and the movie tends to lose its charm. The script in itself doesn’t suffice in this case – it’s the wonderful performances that really lift the movie to greater heights

With the star studded cast it boasts – stalwarts like Madhuri Dixit and Naseeruddin Shah leading the way, the dependable Arshad Warsi at his most comfortable sidekick role and the striking Huma Qureshi as well – performances weren’t really a matter of question. What is suprising though is that the biggest scene stealer is the unlikely Vijay Raaz. While his character seems to pick up from that in Delhi Belly – look included – his timing and delivery clearly stands out. The others do a great job too -  Madhuri looks enchanting with a wonderful, restrained performance, Naseeruddin Shah and Arshad Warsi are more than comfortable in now familiar roles and Huma Qureshi does justice to her part as well

With the rave reception it got on opening, I probably went in with high expectations for this one. I wouldn’t recommend that. Don’t go expecting too much. Go expecting half the fun you had with your first outing (Ishqiya) and you might end up having more than your share of it.

Movie Review: The Wolf of Wall Street…is an entirely different animal

How much do you enjoy watching biopics? And am not necessarily talking about moralistic, inspirational stories like Chris Gardener (Pursuit of Happyness) and stuff – but just a large slice of a famous life with some of its rights and mostly its wrongs, intact. The answer to that question may well decide whether this particular animal is your type.

Its always easier to look up to a righteous human being – one who has believed in doing good and is driven by moral principles and ideas. The Wolf…however, is anything but and his immorality is not only shown but rather showcased in this story about his life. He is inspirational in his own way but you may not agree with his methods. There are subtle messages every now and then to be picked up but Scorsese isn’t here to tell you an Aesop fable.

What Scorsese does do is what he does best – present this slice of life with a long dialogue exchanges between central characters without letting it get boring, comic relief in the most unlikely of scenarios and displaying the frenzy and addled state of mind, when required, without covering anything up. Sure, it gets a little too much to handle, with some scenes blatantly disturbing – quite likely to get the shake of a head in disapproval – but Scorsese doesn’t want to hide any of it. I only share this to help you make up your mind, since at 179 minutes, The Wolf..ends up taking a rather large slice of ‘your’ life in the process

If the Wolf…works somewhat, its largely due to two factors – Scorsese’s direction and Leonardo Di Caprio’s Oscar worthy performance. Despite its faults in character, Leonardo throws himself whole heartedly into the role of Jordan Belfort and pulls off a rather complex character with great panache. His expression is just perfect especially in scenes where he could have been deadpan as well, but the way he puts it across, it brings new emotions to the fore and a different insight to his character – masterfully done. There are cases where he gets a little over the top too, but his character itself is such that over the top also seems to come naturally to him – so its hard to argue.

Despite this though, I wouldn’t put The Wolf…in the ‘must watch’ category simply due to its length and how obvious that becomes as the movie progresses. At 45 minutes shorter, The Wolf might well have been worth a howl, so unless you are a big fan of biopics you might want to be very sure before you go hunting for this particular animal