Movie Review: Queen..deserves her elevated status

 
Given quite the royal reception on its opening on Women’s Day, Queen deserves most of the glory showered upon it. I say most, because its not perfect, but to be fair some scenes are so exceedingly well done, that it makes up for the gaps.

A great part of the movie is that it is very relatable and for the initial part, what you watch is pretty much the actions, reactions, emotions, discussions of a typical middle class Punjabi family. Then while the settings and surroundings change, the transition is still very smooth and seems natural. Sure it strikes a few jarring notes here and there (which you really wish it hadn’t) but quickly gets back on track. The flash back and forward during the first half also works well and is contextual to the proceedings without seeming out of place.

There are two problems with Queen. One, it tries to say a little too much or maybe nothing at all but stretches certain sequences unnecessarily nonetheless. The other is that it can’t make up its mind whether its protagonist is a simple girl breaking free or just plain dumb. Some scenes would show her as learning – a trial by fire – while others would have you label her as too dumb to save her own life, and that lowers her credibility

Other than that, Queen deserves a pedestal of her own as the movie breaks new barriers and presents a fresh face to a tried, tested and even stale plotline. A familiar sequence/ context would come up and you would grimace at the obvious conclusion it would have – only, it doesn’t. The ending credits are particularly neatly done so stick around even after the movie is over

Queen puts centre focus on Kangana Ranaut and she delivers a near flawless performance in her heavily mainstream role. A far cry from her ‘Gangster’ days (when frankly I found her dialogue delivery intolerable) this is a much more in-control, graceful and highly capable of emoting Kangana Ranaut in Queen. Her expression and delivery is near perfect in every scene and her transition seems natural and smooth as well. You won’t like Raj Kummar’s character one bit and I guess that’s testament to his wonderfully restrained performance as well

If you haven’t gone for a visit yet, you might want to book your tickets to pay tribute to both Queen as well as Kangana for a job well done

Movie Review: Highway..derails post interval

 
Highway starts off giving visuals to a nice idea. The initial development is taut, tense and realistic. An interesting revelation leads to an intriguing interval. Post interval there is even a bit of Breaking Bad’esque magic. And then, silence…we are quite clearly lost after that

Highway could’ve been made so differently – a little more focus on the rear view window to give a solid context to the road ahead and the journey itself would’ve come into its own. It would’ve removed the need for the path to be so meandering and the pace to unnecessarily slow down. The message would’ve been subtle yet screaming in silence, the agony obvious to the viewer..but I digress..that’s not what has happened

The reality is that the second half will take you on a picturesque journey, never mind the story. If you’ve been postponing that vacation to our very own Paradise on Earth, you’ll likely pursue it with renewed vigor after watching Highway. The sprawling landscapes and snow capped peaks make for many a pretty sight. Then the dreams would end and the story would culminate to its by now, inevitable conclusion.

After Rockstar, Imtiaz Ali seems to have done it again. A promising start is let down by a sense of abandon towards the original script in the second half. Much like Rockstar started as a journey of a musician and his coming of age and then digressed to a forced love story, Highway too starts off with a unique idea and then digresses to something else entirely. Given this context the climax is still quite decent but the message is shouted out rather than felt

I am not sure why A R Rahman has given the music for this movie. In my view, the script didn’t require music in the first place and any songs would slow proceedings and take away from the realism of the visual drama. Still as it stands, there are songs and none too great to stay with you after the movie (but then Rahman’s songs have their latent effect so who knows)

What is commendable though is Alia Bhatt’s ability to pull off a rather tough role, in only her second movie. Kudos to her to even consider such a role so early in her career and even more to have performed so well in it. The innocent yet independent teenager she plays may come naturally, but the varying shades her character takes through the course of the movie would take some doing. Randeep Hooda is good but he is on all too familiar grounds with his angry brooding avatar. He could take a leaf from Alia’s book and try something more challenging

Highway then, lets itself down. After a promising start to an intriguing adventure, the course of the journey disappoints and there isn’t much to cherish once you reach the final destination

Movie Review: 'Her'..offers you only what you can take from it

'Her' isn’t an ordinary tale. In fact, am not even sure if I can call it a tale. There’s no beginning, climax and end, nothing that I can call a plot – just a very unique context (which may be not be too far a stretch of imagination, the way the world is going) and a lot of emotional depth in a lot of conversations. In fact, 123 minutes later when you emerge from the hall, you are still not quite sure what you’ve just seen  - its all too layered and complex – 'Her' is that kind of movie

If you don’t wish to explore it, trouble the ol’ grey cells or maybe in this case, more importantly, pause and reflect, you might as well not watch 'Her'. You’ll likely get bored with all the random conversation, moping about and sheer pacing of the movie. However, if you are one of those who likes to go deeper, unravel the layers and reach out to what lies at the core – 'Her' may well be a goldmine. I am not even sure that the director himself has an explanation for every scene he’s shown and what it implies

Like a good idea (and one of the movie characters), 'Her' just grows independently, evolving to have a personality of its own and its depth is more about how you interpret it, than how the director intended it. Me, I am still struggling with the ending of the movie – not quite sure what that depicted. The movie explores many important themes and emotions – love, relationship, the need for connection and simply human nature without stamping its own message with either of them. Its only what you take away from it that matters. There is some subtle irony as well but again it takes some doing to catch it

Given the lack of characters, a lot of responsibility falls on Joaquin Phoenix who does a very credible job with an extremely complex character.  Amy Adams in a much simpler role also does a good job, as does Scarlett Johansson in her very unique character. Sorry..can’t say more

'Her' then is a layered and complex movie. One viewing may not be enough to take away all it has to offer. Go for it only if you are willing to explore what lies beneath

Movie Review: 12 Years a Slave..is cold, hard and relentless

12 Years a slave is a very well made movie. No one can doubt that. However, despite how good it is, I wouldn’t say you should go and book your tickets right away. Here’s why

The thing about a true story is that it is scarcely the romanticized stuff we want it to be. The highs and lows cannot be pre-decided, hardly ever are things ‘planned’ to go a certain and even so, most of those times also the plan tends to get derailed. Thus, if one has suffered much hardship, the hopelessness of the situation has been all too obvious, despite any amount of courage and there has been much despair and grief, then that’s how their story will be. One can’t fault the makers for it. And that’s the issue with 12 Years a Slave

Exquisitely executed, in painful (and I mean the word literally here, as well) detail Steve McQueen does not shy away from showing the horrors that a man suffered in the despicable act of slavery. The basest of human emotions and utter sadism is exposed bare (again, quite literally) in scene after scene in unrelenting fashion. That such savagery existed amongst humans, itself, is a shame for humanity altogether and the movie makes no efforts to hide any of it.

As a result then, 12 Years a Slave can scarcely be described as ‘entertaining’. If anything, it gets more and more gruesome and depressing as it progresses and while you feel for the protagonist and his circumstances, the whole situation itself is over-whelmingly off-putting. After a point, the whip lashes, kicks, bared backs and blood marks become too much to withstand and you will the movie to move on to the better part, content-wise.

Apart from the subject matter itself, the treatment of the movie is perfected to a fault. Dialogues spoken plainly would sting you long after they’ve been said. A lingering scene will have you thinking deeply about it rather than pass it off as a mere occurrence. The character of Chiwetel Ejiofor suffers too much but is pulled of extremely well by him. That said, I don’t think his character was as complex as the others in the race for the Oscars. Brad Pitt’s role is too small to speak of. Michael Fassbender is fantastic as the evil slave owner and Benedict Cumberbatch is more than equal to his relatively smaller role as Mr. Ford

12 Years a Slave is right up there in terms of quality movie making. However, given the extremely depressing nature and hopelessness of the situation the protagonist finds himself in over and over again, for majority of the movie, it makes for a rather grim watch. Bear that in mind if you decide to go for this one

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