Movie Review: Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice..deserved a brighter beginning

For those of you who didn’t ‘get’ the beginning referred to in the title of this blogpost, I am sorry I can’t help you. For those of you who did, that’s exactly what this movie is supposed to be about and everything else is just an incoherent hash of random emotions, dialogues, fists, punches and crashes. Is that a good thing? Most certainly not.

Dawn of Justice begins with a rather unique perspective – though its an ugly reminder of the metal mangled mess that Man of Steel was, it presents proceedings differently and was a refreshingly good idea. Unfortunately, like a lot of other stuff in the movie, its very superficial and doesn’t leave any impact, on you or the plotline (if you could call it that).

I am not one for a superhero face-off – I’d prefer them saving the world rather than bashing each other up. Still, there is potential in such a script, if the motives for each side were clear, you weren’t sure whom to root for and there was a philosophical angle that made neither a white knight. This one fails on all three counts. In fact, the big face-off happens for a laughably bad plot device and it would be hilarious if it weren’t so sad. Speaking of laughter, well there’s none of it – there’s just dull, gloom and despair with plenty of brooding to boot. The best ‘fun’ lines are already covered in the trailers.

Nolan should probably thank Zack Snyder. After the soaring heights he achieved with the Dark Knight, Rises was quite underwhelming as the finale. However, with the Snyder version of the Dark Knight (or rather Bat of Gotham) you get to witness what depths the character could have fallen to and thank your stars that Nolan did it so much better. I wouldn’t blame Affleck – he does what he can, with his poorly written character. Henry Cavill is in no different state. He has shown us what he can do, given the right canvas (if you still haven’t seen The Man from U.N.C.L.E, you are missing something), but if you give him Man of Steel there is precious little that even he can do about it. Eisenberg suffers the same fate, whose Lex Luthor looks retarded instead of a maniac. The only one who looks somewhat sane is Amy Adams, who has a shorter part (than in Man of Steel) and does a decent job.

And then, there is Mr Snyder with his obsession of his original movie Man of Steel. Much as we hate it, he keeps taking us back to it, still failing to prove a point, if any. There is exactly one shock and awe moment and that too dies away in the dust, fumes and smoke. I am at a loss why this movie was made in 3D at all – there is nothing that feels like 3D except perhaps for the maple leaves in the opening credits. Also, I know its Han Zimmer, but that doesn't mean the background score has to start blaring for every single shot.

I would’ve written an even more scathing review, given how things were shaping up around the half way stage, but the latter half of the movie, some what makes up for considerable lost ground and the action depicted towards the end is quite well done. The premise it builds up to excites even more so there may be hope for this franchise still. Wonder Woman (they really shouldn’t have revealed her in the trailers) is perhaps the most refreshing hero on-screen though she has the minimum air time. Even her abilities are just assumed to be understood by the audience and much potential to establish her heroics is squandered away. That said, the ‘super-heroism’ (if there is such a word) is done quite well in the finale and that is probably the best reason to watch this movie. The effects are good, the action is realistic and well shot.


With his latest offering, Mr. Snyder joins my (so far short) list of directors whom I can neither appreciate nor understand (joining Mr. Mendes and Mr. Bhansali for company). Dawn of Justice doesn’t do ‘justice’ to either Batman or Superman..or for that matter the other characters it heralds the beginnings of. Let’s hope they have a better day in the sun - the dawn has cast more of a dark shadow than a bright light on the future of this franchise.

Movie Review: Kapoor & Sons (since 1921)…a moving celebration of family

To be really honest, I wasn’t at all flattered with the movie title. That and the trailer of this movie had me convinced that this one wasn’t going to be worth my time. Despite such misgivings, I still went for it and I don’t regret the decision. I don’t think you would either.

Kapoor & Sons, like the family it portrays is far from perfect. The movie could easily have been 20 minutes shorter, some scenes could definitely have been cut out or at least made more snappier. However, apart from that and the pitiably low quality of music this one has, there is little fault to find with this imperfect family.

The family’s characters have been etched out really well and despite this being a Karan Johar production, there is a significant amount of realism built into the visuals and the character portrayals. Some of the background chatter and one to one conversations may even have you reflecting if this is something you’d encounter in your own home. Of course, its all exaggerated to tell a story, but it doesn’t seem to be set in the make-believe world that Karan Johar movies normally are.

The writing of the movie is surprisingly quite good – that and the sincere performances are what keep you invested throughout. After a long while, Kapoor & Sons brings together a story and characters, where you actually feel the connect, wish the best for them and join in their tears when the mood gets gloomy. While the first half is predictable to a fault, it is no less enjoyable.The second half meanwhile, has quite a few tricks up its sleeve especially if you saw the trailer and made any inferences. The trailer, I might add, is a smart ploy. It gets you thinking about the movie’s story in one direction while it marches in the exact opposite one. The background score compliments the visuals especially towards the climax, and while you can poke holes into how the story progresses, you can’t help but be moved by it as well.

Kapoor & Sons’ well written scripted is lifted by its performances – veterans Rajat Kapoor and Ratna Pathak Shah deliver a wonderfully natural performance – they may well be their characters. Rishi Kapoor has a delightful, albeit one dimensional character and he brings much welcome laughter and mirth to the scenes. That said, while the prosthetics make him look the cute grandfather, there’s not much else to convince that he is that character, in terms of his performance. Amongst the newbies, it is Fawad Khan who is the real revelation with a wonderfully understated and nuanced performance – this guy will be one to watch out for. In an ensemble cast where all the characters have almost equal air time, he manages to stand out. As Tia, firebrand Alia while a refreshing presence on the screen, has little to do, but in one emotional moment, she asserts herself and proves just why she is not just the new kid on the block. Siddharth Malhotra, is perhaps the weakest link, who while he does justice to his character, struggles with the emotional bits, quite visibly.


I have to admit, I am one of those who really liked K3G as well, so maybe such drama gets to me. However, am pretty sure that even if K3G was not up your alley, this particular family will get your approval. Kapoor & Sons, while it deserved a better title, is not just about one big happy family – it delves much deeper into relationships, conversations and emotions and its director Shakun Batra deserves all the applause to knit such complexity together with panache and a generous dose of realism. Don’t get dissuaded by the title like I did, this one definitely deserves a closer look.

Movie Review: Zootopia..modern day Animal Farm

Zootopia is not a children’s movie. It’s a full on regular movie that just happens to be animated and features only animals. If you were looking to go for zootopia to amuse your kids or have a laugh or two then you’re clearly going with wrong idea. In fact, I am not even sure it can be called ‘for kids’ with some of the themes and scenes it presents. What Zootopia is though, is a socially aware movie that gives subtle, and sometimes not so subtle messages about our current state of society.

Traditionally animation movies are supposed to be light, entertaining and around one central message or theme. Zootopia is anything but. The runtime is just one hour fifty minutes but the movie easily feels longer, simply because it introduces so many themes and motifs into the fray. The attempt is laudable but I wish they’d not tried to do ‘everything’ in the same movie. They could’ve taken a leaf from the book of ‘Inside Out’ which took a simplistic theme and built on it naturally. Instead, much like the animals that inhabit zootopia, the movie has ideas of all shapes and sizes but tends to cram them all together making the arrangement a little messy – it makes a scathing commentary on stereotypes and prejudices but also crams in media manipulation, racism, pokes fun at certain practices and psychological evaluations to name a few. Despite saying so many things, there are a lot of subtle touches here and there too – the movie has so much to say.(watch for the iphone with the carrot logo)

The 3D is practically non-existent. Seriously watch this in 2D if you can. The only thing the 3D ends up doing is dulling the visuals and that doesn’t make for a pretty sight. Being populated with only animals Zootopia gets to use all the animal phrases as one-liners which is pretty effective and will definitely induce the odd chuckle or two. There’s a lot of freshness to the characters though and some of the cameos especially Flash and Mr. Big are bound to have you in splits. Then again, some other characters are weakly fleshed out and not as convincing. As to the performances, the voice acting is rock solid for both the bunny (Ginnifer Goodwin) and the fox (Jason Bateman) and their exchanges will keep you interested throughout the runtime.

Zootopia is a great idea and brings a lot of freshness to the storyline – something Disney has been doing well ever since Frozen. However, while other movies have tried to say only one thing or two – zootopia tries to teach too many lessons. Its biggest save is one line at the end – which tries to sum up what this movie is all about - No matter what kind of animal you are – change starts with you. That should give you some idea of what to expect.

Watch Zootopia, but not for the kids – it just happens to be an animation movie.