Happy Ending Review

Star Cast: Saif Ali Khan, Ileana D’Cruz, Govinda,Preity Zinta, Ranvir Shorey, Kalki Koechlin, Andrew Kneebone

Director: Krishna DK, Raj Nidimoru

What’s Good: The light and breezy feel good milieu, glossy gorgeous frames, the fantastic cinematography, the killer dialogues, the straight faced Saif and ‘above all’ the Kickass Mr. G.

What’s Bad: A semi tenuous second half which falls into the pitfalls and loopholes peculiar to the genre of romantic comedies.

Loo break: Not many.

Watch or Not?: Disguised as a spoof on romantic comedies, Happy Ending does it all – from boy meets girl, to boy-girl fall in love, boy-girl break up and boy-girl re-unite; but the usual drill is peppered with some wit, tonnes of wicked humor, piquant dialogues and infused in an enticing gorgeous set up. Don’t judge me if I have ogled at the shots of a BMW cruising its way through the Pacific Bay Coast, that’s what romantic comedies do! And I am happy to inform you that Happy Ending does the floss and the formula with utter brilliance. I won’t call it a perfect film but I laughed at multiple cues, didn’t get all sappy at their breakup and came out smiling. I am not someone who will buy into the maudlin world of ‘Aashiqui’ brand of romance and for me Happy Ending just fits well – live one day at a time, why do you need to know where you are headed and yet, being in love while you walk through the tunnel whose end is dark. I strongly recommend you watch it, because it’s dollops of happy whoopee.

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Yudi (Saif Ali Khan) lives in a plush apartment in California. His last book was 6 years ago and he hasn’t worked ever since. Stuck in a creative limbo, he begins a manuscript and can never pull through writing the ending – the most perfect, Happy Ending. Bankrupt and penniless, he finds himself at a sticky situation where he has to write a staple rom-com for a Bollywood Superstar (Govinda). He bumps into his muse, the new bestselling novelist of his publication and the woman he falls for. She is as cheeky as him, writes romantic novels and doesn’t believe in the hanky panky of love. As the drill goes, Yudi must win over the girl and sort out his life but the success of this film is not in its climax but the narrative which breezes you through the life of two commitment phobic people and makes you realize that ‘Opposites attract’ stands for magnets mostly, with people you are looking for someone ‘whose soul is made of same thing’ as yours.

Ileana D’Cruz and Saif Ali Khan in a still from movie ‘Happy Ending’

Happy Ending Review: Script Analysis

I had begun to believe that romantic comedies cannot be made with a difference. And I am also right but they can still be made pretty darn good. There is nothing unusual in the film’s story. You can almost predict things and therein lies the fun because Raj and DK too are predicting it with us. Yudi’s alter ego Yogi and me announced the arrival of the big airport scene together and that just assured me, that the film incorporates everything I like watching and does so by poking a little fun of it all. The film starts with Saif and ex lover (real life wife) Kareena watching ‘Love Aaj Kal’. She tells him she loves him, he says erm cool. She says I know you have depth. And he says no, I think this is all I have. Breakup. Eight and a half relationships later, Saif is living in California. An erstwhile bestselling writer who has gone broke and lost his car due to failing his installment payments, he is royally, if I may say, screwed! Amidst all the confusion, he bumps into Aanchal Reddy – a writer who has replaced him at his publication, writes romantic novels for a living and doesn’t believe in love.

As the story progresses, Saif squabbles over how to breakup with his present girlfriend Bishakha – a girl who despite 7 and a half break up attempts doesn’t get it. She averts one attempt by showing Yudi a naked video of him performing a bathroom jig. She doesn’t need a reply to I love you, she already knows he loves her. Get the drift? Career wise, Yudi meets Superstar Armaan-jee and he is indeed the film’s best part. Taking potshots at what works in Bollywood, Armaan is invariably hilarious. I laughed the hardest when he announces that people don’t pay 300 bucks to get a gyaan-seesion about life. As much as I believe in good cinema (which is often equated to dark and serious films), I do agree that paying for understanding life is never the purpose of cinema. If it manages that, fair enough! ‘Hero Heroine Gaana Gatey Hai Toh Gaaney Do, Puppy(Kiss) Lete Hai Toh Lene Do’ is where he functions from.

The best bits in the film are between Yudi Saif and Yogi Saif. He indeed has a sexy alter ego who gulps down gallons of red wine and comes up with some quirky lines. Here’s one – ‘Raat Ke 12 se 4 ke beech mard ch****a jaata hai, dimaag ki jagah patloon se sochta hai.’ That entire dialogue rings true because every girl has sat through 2 am drunken ranting, love professing session of some man she was involved with and every guy has done that to some girl at one time or the other.

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Post intermission, Raj and D.K go their Go Goa Gone way, the thick laughs were reducing, you shift a little more in your seats and the glossy frames demand a better story. But 15 minutes into the wobbly second half, you realize, it is impossible to retract from the predictability because Yudi despite being one of the jerks you probably know, is so real that he has bonded with you. It grows on you with its light hearted quick dialogues and luckily no character revels in pretentious cuteness which makes the film fun.

Happy Ending Review: Star Performances

Saif Ali Khan plays himself from Love Aaj Kal but the acting has obviously matured. Playing commitment phobic has been ​his thing in a lot of films and it’s his usual deadpan humor that gets you. I loved Yogi more than Yudi. To be able to deliver such distinct performances, in the same frame needs a sound sense of comic timing and Saif surpasses his best. What Humshakals? That never happened. Period!

Ileana Dcruz gives her most effortless performance since Barfi!. She isn’t Aanchal and is clearly playing herself but does so with a lot of believable earnestness.

Kalki Koechlin despite her small role is great. She gets her antics in to make you laugh and you do find the psycho stalker endearing!

In the same breath, I will mention Ranvir Shorey who is an outstanding actor with a knack for comedy but his frustrated situation will get you laughing. He checks out Bishaka’s lingerie and says ‘Tu Kya, Main Bhi Gauri (his wife) Ko Buri Nazar Se Nahin Dekhta’. His dominating wife, her oops pregnancy and her monotone underwears are the primary problems of his life.

Preity Zinta in a tiny cameo is sparkling.

And finally Govinda is in his words, ‘kickass’. Slipping into the kind of loud humor he knows the best, Raj and D.K contrast it with Saif’s and makes sure the stint gives you the film’s best times. Govinda has now re-arrived and hell, you’ll be irrevocably in love.

Happy Ending Review: Direction, Editing and Screenplay

Raj and D.K have already shown us their thinking space is from extraterrestrial and thank God for that. A scene where Govina’s assistant says Ek South Ki Film Bani and sab uske pichey lag gaye, it just sounded so true! Luckily they too are critical of the same! Their vocabulary is fresh, their writing might not be novel but atleast they were ballsy enough to attempt a half decent spoof on romances. I call it half decent for a reason. The tempo drops in the second hour, there are scenes that will be hard to buy, cues that might seem forced. Does that perturb me much? Not even close. In the end, I loved the film and a large part of the credit goes to Raj and D.K along with Saif who pack together so many right ingredients that you can’t help but invest in the film.

The editing was crisp and a special mention to Sachin Jigar’s music. Thank you for not giving us another lachrymose-ish break up song which will make us cringe. From Pussy Cat to Jaise Mera Tu To Mileya Mileya, there is enough good music to keep you glued.

Happy Ending Review: The Last Word

Happy Ending makes fun of all the films which have made it our bucket list of classic love films and does so without a hint disparaging malice. Yogi and Yudi played by Saif and their well-placed  complimentary, smart-alecky camaraderie, along with the poker faced humor of Govinda makes this film a peachy yet relevant and essentially a droll, chucklesome watch. There aren’t many ‘fur and feathers’ films which go down well with me, this is one of the sparse few which qualify as exception. I am going with a judicious 3.5/5.

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Ugly Review

Star Cast: Ronit Roy, Tejasvini Kolhapure, Rahul Bhat, Vineet Singh, Girish Kulkarni, Siddhanth Kapoor, Surveen Chawla, Vipin Sharma

Director: Anurag Kashyap

What’s Good: When you get to see noir at its best in a Bollywood film. The film true to its name isUgly. It is dark and certainly not for the faint-hearted. Anurag Kashyap is one of the few directors who knows how to build a plot with multiple characters and yet leave us wanting for more as we meander into their lives and try to find a reasoning to their actions. Unraveling the true nature of human greed, this film is a mirror for all of us who have demons inside us.

What’s Bad: Well, not all would want to sit through a grim film that stretches for over two hours. The film is not a regular drama and if you are one of those who want cinema to be an enjoyable experience, this is certainly not for you.

Loo break: Control it! This is life unfolding in front of you.

Watch or Not?: Once again stressing on the fact that this film is not for those weak and those who want to ease their minds off while watching a film. This is a complete Anurag Kashyap masterpiece and if you are familiar with his style of film making, this one is a must-watch for you. He does what he is best at, give us a something that is unforgettable. Don’t make the mistake of comparing it to his previous works, this one is a gem in itself.

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A 10-year-old Kali goes missing in a bustling street after being left in the car by her father Rahul, who is a struggling actor. Thus, follows a story of kidnapping, ransom and a string of grim characters who come under the radar of the police. As Kali’s step-father, a cop, takes on the mission to find this little girl, he encounters a lot on his way including his current wife’s ex-husband and his college enemy Rahul.

In the midst of the disappearance of a young child, can these adults move over their past and put behind their egos or will they hold onto their grudges and sacrifice the life of a 10-year-old mid way?

Ugly Movie Poster

Script Analysis

Bollywood has always stayed away from dark dramas and among the very few filmmakers, Anurag Kashyap is one who dares to bare it all in his films. Ugly is raw, grim and a in-the-face film which deals with multiple characters who falter prey to their own greed as they are caught up in a strange situation. The script is bang-on and probably Kashyap’s best.

I haven’t felt the chills of his story telling ever since Black Friday and this is a second. His three lead characters are messed up, one being the struggling actor Rahul (Rahul Bhat), other being his ex-wife Shalini (Tejaswini Kolhapure) who is suicidal and now a caged wife of a ruthless cop played by Ronit Roy. While all three have a back drop, they keep struggling to get in terms with their life then and now. Ego and greed being the two main angles in this story, Ugly really gets ugly as the course of the story builds. The pace is amazing and this is a truly gripping script. Right from the first scene of the film where a listless Tejaswinin Kolhapure is contemplating her suicidal thoughts, the film sets its tone. This is an excellent story and with its blissful casting it shines in every frame.

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Star Performances

One person who truly enthralls us in this film is undoubtedly Ronit Roy who plays a ruthless cop. He is fearless and determined to find his step-daughter Kali but is at the same time held back by his haunting past. A male-chauvinist, he would rather cage his wife than let her out of sight. Ronit does a fine job and truly plays his character with full might.

Rahul Bhat who plays Kali’s dad and a struggling actor does a good job too. The actor who is seen after a decade in a film is quite surprisingly up to the mark and we wonder why the hibernation period.

My other favorite pick is certainly Vineet Singh. He is flawless as the casting agent who is slimy and sly as required.

Siddhanth Kapoor does not have a plum role in the film but his most iconic scene for sure will remain in memory as he dances with bundles of cash tucked in his underpants.

All I will remember Surveen Chawla who plays Rakhee the item girl will be for her ‘Nichod De’ performance. A good mockery on the item songs.

But out of all the aforementioned character, you truly feel sad for Tejaswini Kolhapure’s character which she pulls off with complete finesse as one who remains to be nothing but a woman who is conquered by both the men in her life and I mean ‘conquered’ instead of being loved. She portrays a torn woman who could neither receive nor give love.

Direction, Editing and Screenplay

Anurag Kashyap is a director who believes in presenting the human nature and its raw elements on celluloid. This time on his radar is greed and the demons inside us which even overpower our usual emotional sides. A story of a 10-year-old being kidnapped transforms into much more complex as each character flips sides according to their suitability. This film is evocative of raw emotions. The lighting in the film is as dark and dim as all of its characters.

One of the best scenes captured by the director is that of the police station where Rahul Bhatt who is the father of the kidnapped child comes to file a complaint but is cross questioned and asked to talk about call phones and explain how to set a contact photo in a cell phone. Can you imagine the frustration one would go through if this happened? Well, that’s what this all about.

The editing is tight and in spite of having multiple characters, we rarely find a character missing and the director gives us no chance to forget them. As perverse as his characters are, the locations too speak a lot about them and thus as always in any of Kashyap’s films, the atmosphere too tells the story.

The Last Word

Ugly is a mean, dark and unsettling film that will rip you off in its last scene. This film is for the strong-hearted. It is honest, bare and raw in all its sense. As disgusting as the characters are, you want to watch this film for their diverse personalities and just to see what goes on in warped brains that bring out the worst in them. I loved the film for its brave nature and I am going with a 4/5 for its bold content.

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Alone Review

Star Cast: Karan Singh Grover, Bipasha Basu, Zakir Hussain

Director: Bhushan Patel

What’s Good: The use of all possible creepy elements such as wooden doors that make noises, swing and an overall horrific location. Interestingly, Bhushan Patel manages to infuse a good amount of suspense in the film and stretches it to the very climax even though one starts getting the hints quite early on. The visual effects are quite decent and it seems Patel is getting the hang of it with every film.

What’s Bad: Well, I would say a wrong timing of intimate scenes that nearly breaks the link of a ‘could have been’ gripping tale. Also the spine chilling moments don’t come very often and more often than not it is the background score that gives away what’s coming, thus leaving you all ready for the scene.

Loo break: Won’t miss much! Relieve yourself!

Watch or Not?: Alone is once again not an out and out horror film and so it won’t satiate your scary needs or give you nightmares. If you are a fan of Bollywood’s horror films then this one is worth your watch. Don’t even think of comparing it to its original Thai film by the same name, because I couldn’t watch that one without closing my eyes every two seconds. Alone is a decent weekend watch if you have nothing else to do.

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Sanjana and Anjana are conjoined twins who swear to be together no matter what. Right from their childhood, the twins seem too share distinct personalities and while Sanjana is usually the loving and caring one, Anjana is somewhat spoilt by this. As years pass by and the twins grow old, the more and more attention that Sanjana gets, it creates insecurities for Anjana and jealousy steps in when both fall for the same guy, Kabir (Karan Singh Grover). Kabir falls in love with Sanjana and that’s unbearable for her twin sister.

Well, after years of losing her sister in an operation to separate them, Sanjana who is happily married to Kabir returns to her hometown Kerala, only to be haunted by her sister’s ghost. Whilst hurting Sanjana what are her sister’s motives? Is it just Kabir or something else? Watch to find out.

Karan Singh Grover and Bipasha Basu in a still from movie ‘Alone’

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Script Analysis

I have to agree even though adapted; the film’s story is quite a breath of fresh air with a haunted twin as the focus. Alone has its own spine-chilling moments and in certain scenes the visual effects such as the ‘rotating bed scene’ almost takes you back to the Exorcism of Emily Rose. The story is well-kept and with a tinge of suspense it is gripping in parts.

The only problem is that once again like most horror stories this one too relies on the same old tricks and more often than not they are cheap thrills, nothing that give you a haunting experience. Use of Kerala backwaters as the scary location is a good move. Bhushan Patel gets better with his story and certainly he has gone a notch higher from his last Ragini MMS 2.

All in all the story is a winner for the hero considering both the twins are not only obsessed with him affectionately but sexually too! At one point it seems as though all the ghost wanted to do was to sleep with Karan Singh Grover since that is the only thing that happens when the ghost possess a body.

Overall this one disappoints since it does not really break Bollywood’s streak of coming up with average, not-so-nerve-wrenching dramas.

Star Performances

Bipasha Basu is known to be the ‘horror queen’ and she does maintain this image of hers with Alone The actress other than flaunting her hot bod in the normal avatar does a much better job when she takes up the ghostly garb. She is scary but sadly don’t let her speak is what I would say. Beware she might scare you off with her obsessive erotic thoughts. Well, after Sharon Stone in Basic Instinct, all men may get scared of this one.

Karan Singh Grover debuts with this film but he still acts just like it is a TV serial drama. More often than not, he is stone faced in the film but the actor does best at flaunting his body and well that’s all for his character.

Direction, Editing and Screenplay

Bhushan Patel is certainly one of the better one when it comes to mixing erotic and horror in one film. In this one, thankfully he sticks to the intimate portions only with one song and that is quite a relief. The problem comes when there is a repetitive background score which may scare you for a bit but after a point it is just monotonous.

Also it would have been better if the director had introduced some fresh elements in the film rather than the same old practices of wooden doors reeking and utensils banging and of course why do people keep pianos in the house, for ghosts to come up and play in the middle of the night. The editing is fine as the film is kept crisp for most portions other than songs that could have been chucked since they break the overall link.

The Last Word

Alone at the end is quite a typical Bollywood horror film which will scare you in bits and parts. Of course it’s an achievement it does not get funny since we have a habit of usually taking it lightly considering the primitive effects they used earlier. For its special effects, its not exceptional but does a decent job of giving you minor jerks in the seat. I am going with a 2.5/5 for this film.

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Dolly Ki Doli

Star Cast: Sonam Kapoor, Rajkummar Rao,Pulkit Samrat, Varun Sharma

Director: Abhishek Dogra

What’s Good: A quirky story line that does not shy away from having a unconventional ending and also Varun Sharma and Rajkummar Rao’s brilliant performances. This runaway bride is a metaphor to modern, free spirited girls who may not want to be struck down by a marriage.

What’s Bad: Unfortunately, a pretty looking lass like Sonam Kapoor does no justice to this sprightly character. This bridal drama is actually steered by the grooms. Also a second half that drags as it loses the quirky nature.

Loo break: You certainly can miss one of Dolly’s multiple weddings.

Watch or Not?: This is a one-time watch. A no-brainer that you can enjoy with your family. Dolly Ki Doli may have nothing new to offer but it surely makes up for a decent weekend watch.

Dolly (Sonam Kapoor) is a con bride who plunders potential grooms after carefully researching their background. Along with her fake family, this looteri dulhan indulges in multiple hoax marriages. Dolly’s robbery journey remains smooth until two of her grooms Sonu (Rajkummar Rao) and Varun Sharma not only unfold her truth but also seek police help.

Amidst this, cop Robin Singh (Pulkit Samrat) is assigned for her case but with his keen interest on capturing her, is there a back story for Dolly and Robin?

Who will Dolly ultimately settle for is the question!

Sonam Kapoor, Varun Sharma, Rajkummar Rao and Pulkit Samrat in a still from movie ‘Dolly Ki Doli’

Script Analysis

As a film, Dolly Ki Doli entertains with a fluff story and so if you start putting logic to it, it will leave you speechless. Right from its start, Dolly is shown doing what she calls the only thing she can do in life – robbing. There is never a point in the film, which provides a logical reasoning for it. Interestingly, in the age of Instagram and Facebook, Dolly has escaped from her con weddings without being snapped (uh! That’s why. No logic).

Aside these obvious loopholes, the script is quirky and has a handful of funny sequences such as Archana Puran Singh’s character and also a scene where Dolly’s crew member of the fake family, Daadi is captured by the police. The dialogues are catchy and that’s what is enjoyable. But I give full credit of this film to the grooms Rajkummar Rao and Varun Sharma who actually carry the film on their performances. In fact, I would have rather named the film Dolly Ke Dulhe instead. Another positive part about the script is the non-inclusion of any change of physical garbs which is staple for con films.

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Star Performances

Sonam Kapoor shows little improvement with this film. In spite of having a film that has her as the lead character, her weak dialogue delivery is disturbing.

Rajkummar Rao once again proves he can fit into any character. As a typical snobbish yet foolish Haryanvi guy, he fully entertains us. Grabbing the perfect accent and even dancing full power withMalaika Arora Khan, he scores full marks for his performance.

Varun Sharma is another delight in the film. His character as a desperate, young spoilt mama’s boy is commendable. He makes us laugh with his brilliant comic timing.

Pulkit Samrat sadly disappoints in the film. It’s as if he was given a role of becoming Chulbul Pandey’s son. His over replication of Salman Khan spoils it.

Direction, Editing and Screenplay

For a debut film, Abhishek Dogra does a decent job. The film being a regular commercial drama, does surprise us with a not so Bollywoodish ending. But the film’s overall feel shows a high influence of Arbaaz Khan.

Fortunately, the film is kept short and there is no over stretched wedding sequence which is a relief. Sadly, Dogra falters at keeping up the same pace for the second half. Nevertheless, he makes up for the boring second half with the last scene where Dolly shows who is next on her radar and shows a Salman Khan picture calling him her ‘Prem Ratan’. Overall the screenplay is lucid.

The Last Word

Dolly Ki Doli is a time-pass entertainer that you can enjoy if you keep your brains at home. This film comes as a breath of fresh air from all the South remakes and thought-provoking dramas that are most oftenly served. After particularly loving Varun Sharma’s comic antics and Rajkummar Rao’s sheer genuine acting, I am going with a 2.5/5 for this peppy film.

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Bang Bang (2014)

Bang Bang has two gorgeous leads, some eye-popping stunt scenes, a slew of beautiful locales, and pretty hummable music. It would take an especially awful script and a truly incompetent director to deliver an unwatchable film out of those ingredients.

Within the first ten minutes of the movie, the MI6 headquarters in London have been broken into, a most-wanted terrorist freed, and a brave law enforcer killed. If you've ever watched a James Bond film in your life, you'll know the place is swarming with Secret Service agents. Perhaps they were all out to lunch when this was happening.

Okay, so this film is going to require some suspension of disbelief. No problem. Then, we're introduced to Katrina Kaif's character. If you can buy the idea of Katrina as a boring bank receptionist in Shimla who must sign up on an Internet blind-dating site to get a little romance in her life, then boy, you probably believe Santa Claus is real too!

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Bang Bang is an official remake of the mediocre Tom Cruise-Cameron Diaz starrer Knight And Day, and it's fashioned as a fast-paced actioner, which basically means the plot is going to be threadbare. Hrithik Roshan is Rajveer, a mysterious thief who's stolen the Kohinoor diamond, no less. As he dodges both the cops and the henchmen of a criminal mastermind who wants the rock,Rajveer meets Harleen (Katrina), who gets sucked into this globetrotting adventure with him.

The premise itself isn't so much of a problem as is the fact that Hrithik and Katrina have virtually no chemistry. The pair sizzled in Zoya Akhtar's Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara, but here they produce fewer sparks than a box of soaked matchsticks. Both actors look a million bucks, particularly Hrithik who is made to lose his shirt at every conceivable opportunity and show off those well-oiled abs. Katrina, sadly, is stuck playing a pathetic ditz; the kind of insufferable character you wouldn't want to be sitting next to on a long-haul flight.

Director Siddharth Anand, the man who gave us such excruciating films as Tara Rum Pum and Anjaana Anjaani, applies the same pedestrian sensibilities to what could've been a slick enjoyable romp.

The film is weighed down by a teary familial back-story, and a twist that anyone who's watched even three masala potboilers can predict from a mile away. The blatant product placements are embarrassing, the dialogues so clunky they make you cringe. And yet if there's one reason to watch the film, it's Hrithik. He's charming and charismatic, and he appears to be having a good time. Here's a movie star who actually looks like he could pull off those action scenes for real.

 The film then isn't unwatchable, but at 2 hours and 35 minutes, it certainly tests your patience. How many times have you ordered a dish that looks terrific photographed in a menu, but disappoints when it shows up on the table? Bang Bang is that kind of meal.
Source: www.ibnlive.in.com/

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Directed by	Siddharth Anand
Produced by	Fox Star Studios
Written by	Abbas Tyrewala (Dialogue)
Screenplay by	Patrick O'Neill (Original Screenplay) Sujoy Ghosh Suresh Nair (Adapted Screenplay)
Story by	Patrick O'Neill
Based on	Knight and Day by James Mangold & Patrick O'Neill
Starring	Hrithik Roshan Katrina Kaif Danny Denzongpa Javed Jaffrey Jimmy Shergill
Music by	Original Songs: Vishal-Shekhar Background Score: Salim-Sulaiman
Cinematography	Sunil Patel
Edited by	Akiv Ali
Production company	Fox Star Studios
Distributed by	Fox Star Studios/20th Century FoxInternational Productions
Release dates	2 October 2014 [1]
Running time	154 minutes
Country	India
Language	Hindi

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Bang Bang (2014)

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Life of PI

The Taiwan-born Ang Lee rapidly established himself in the 1990s as one of the world's most versatile film-makers, moving on from the trilogy of movies about Chinese families that made his name to Jane Austen's England (Sense and Sensibility) and Richard Nixon's America (The Ice Storm). If he revisits a place or genre it's to tell a very different story – a martial arts movie in medieval China (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) is followed by a spy thriller in wartime Shanghai (Lust, Caution), and a western with a US civil war background (Ride With the Devil) is succeeded by a western about a gay relationship in present-day Wyoming (Brokeback Mountain).

He adopts different styles to fit his new subjects, and while there are certain recurrent themes, among them the disruption of families and young people facing moral and physical challenges, there are no obsessive concerns of the sort once considered a necessity for auteurs. He has a fastidious eye for a great image but he also has a concern for language.

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His magnificent new film is a version of Yann Martel's Booker prize-winning novel, Life of Pi, adapted by an American writer, David Magee, whose previous credits were films set in England during the first half of the 20th century, Finding Neverland and Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day. From its opening scene of animals and birds strutting and preening themselves in a sunlit zoo to the final credits of fish and nautical objects shimmering beneath the sea, the movie has a sense of the mysterious, the magical. This effect is compounded by the hallucinatory 3D, and in tone the film suggests Robinson Crusoe rewritten by Laurence Sterne. 

The form is a story within a story within a story. An unnamed Canadian author whom we assume to be Yann Martel himself (Rafe Spall) is told by an Indian he meets that there is a man in Montreal called Pi who has a story that will make you believe in God. He's Piscine Molitor Patel (Irrfan Khan), a philosophy teacher, and he tells the curious story of his own extraordinary life, beginning as the son of a zookeeper in Pondicherry, the French enclave in India that wasn't ceded until 1954.

The movie's two central characters both obtained their names by comic accident. The deeply serious Piscine (played by Gautam Belur at five, Ayush Tandon at 12 and Suraj Sharma at 16)was named after an uncle's favourite swimming pool, the Piscine Molitor in Paris, but changed his name to the Greek letter and numinous number Pi after fellow schoolboys made jokes about pissing. He later became fascinated by a Bengal tiger in the zoo caught by the English hunter Richard Parker who called him Thirsty. On delivery to the zoo their names were accidently reversed and the tiger became Richard Parker. Was this fate or chance?

Growing up, the ever curious Pi becomes attracted to religion and the meaning of life, a spiritual journey that the film treats with a respectful wit as the boy rejects his father's rationalism and creates a personal amalgam of Hinduism, Christianity and Islam. His faith is tested as an adolescent when his father is forced to give up the family zoo, where Pi realises he's been as much a captive as the animals themselves. A Japanese freighter becomes a temporary ark on which the Patel family take the animals to be sold in Canada. But it's struck by a storm as dramatic as anything ever put on the screen, and Pi becomes a combination of Noah, Crusoe, Prospero and Job. Alone above the Mariana Trench, the deepest part of the Pacific, he's an orphan captaining a lifeboat with only a zebra, a hyena, a female orang-utan and the gigantic Bengal tiger Richard Parker for company. 

 This is grand adventure on an epic scale, a survival story that takes up half the movie. It's no Peaceable Kingdom like Edward Hicks's charming early 19th-century painting, where the lion sleeps with the lamb. This is a Darwinian place that Pi must learn to command. Using state-of-the-art 3D and digitally created beasts, Lee and his team of technicians make it utterly real, as they do a mysterious island that briefly provides a dangerously seductive haven. The 227 days at sea are a test of physique, mental adaptation and faith, and Suraj Sharma makes Pi's spiritual journey as convincing as his nautical one.

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He confronts thirst and starvation, finds a modus vivendi with the fierce tiger, endures and wonders at a mighty storm, a squadron of flying fish, a humpbacked whale, a school of dolphins, a night illuminated by luminous jellyfish. This brave new world is observed by a young Chilean director of photography, appropriately named Claudio Miranda. The movie does for water and the sea what Lawrence of Arabia did for sand and desert, and one thinks of what Alfred Hitchock, who used 3D so imaginatively in his 1954 film of Dial M For Murder, might have done on his wartime Lifeboat had he been given such technical facilities.

Source: www.theguardian.com/

Life of Pi Official Trailer #1 (2012)

Life of Pi

 

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Stolen (2012)

 Stolen is very different from Pierre Morel's 2008 exploitation megahitTaken: There are six letters in its title, not five. It's set in New Orleans, not Europe. And it stars Nicolas Cage, not Liam Neeson. So any resemblance between these two films about fathers who'll stop at nothing to get their kidnapped offspring back is purely coincidental. Except one is a lot less fun than the other, and not just because its basic plot points and tone are, well, borrowed, if not stolen.Stolen is less shameless thanTaken — which featured evil Albanians and other assorted politically incorrect appurtenances — which also makes it less effective.

Directed by Simon West — re-teaming with Cage for the first time since Con Air — Stolen always seems to be looking back over its shoulder, checking to see if it's eliciting the desired effect. Even the violence — which includes the requisite number of eyes gouged by thumbs and big guys being thrown against glass coffee tables — feels tepid, no match for the sight of sweet, sad-eyed Neeson going ballistic and torturing a baddie with an electrical current.

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Part of the problem is Cage himself: Here he plays career thief Will Montgomery, who's arrested after a heist goes bad. He spends eight years in prison, and upon his release all he wants to do is reconnect with his estranged daughter (Sami Gayle).

His partners (Malin Akerman and Josh Lucas), who were left hanging after the failed heist, have taken different paths in rebuilding their lives: Akerman goes straight and gets a job in a bar frequented by cops, while Lucas, embittered against Will for one reason or another, simply goes off his nut. You know that because he shows up as a cab driver with matted dirty blond surfer hair, spewing lots of crazy talk. Convinced that Will actually has the dough the trio had originally set out to steal, he makes off with Will's daughter, demanding his share of the loot in exchange for her return.

Will is desperate to get his daughter back, to the point of, inexplicably, enlisting the aid of the cop who's always had it out for him (Danny Huston). But Cage just isn't as good as Neeson is at playing the fatherly anguish card. Cage can be, and could be again, a marvelous, soulful actor. But here he plays paternal protectiveness as a means to an end: He looks crazy and determined, all right, but not any more so than in any other Nic Cage action role — the poor teenage daughter, locked in the trunk of a nutter's taxicab, is just an afterthought.

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It doesn't help that Cage's hair is only getting stranger as he gets older: He resembles a monk in some medieval illumination, and while that look may get some people's wimples in a tizzy, it doesn't exactly scream "virile action hero." It's long past time for Cage to go with the flow — doesn't he know that some of the best people have no hair? In Stolen, he steals away with nothing; he's simply stalled out.

Source: www.npr.org

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Stolen (2012)

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