The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo : by David Fincher

David Fincher returns after the critically acclaimed The Social Network.

Best selling novels are the most challenging to adapt for a motion picture.

First of the trilogy from Stieg Larsson , has sold 15 million copies till date.

This 2011 movie , has the 2 most unlikely pairing for the main parts

Rooney Mara as Lisbeth & Daniel Craig as Mikael.

Rooney plays a cold blooded hacker and researcher with a dark mental chronicle.

Craig is a co founder of a magazine company and a sleuth.

Henrik summons Craig to investigate the disappearance of his grand niece Harriet , 

40 years ago.

He agrees to the assignment in exchange for damning information on his just lost libel case victor.

The film is intriguing to the core, with each frame springing a surprise in this labyrinth of a case - The  mystery behind missing Harriet.

There are - many suspects

There is - no substantial evidence

There are - no witnesses

There is - no obvious logic

Finchers' at top of his game.

The mystery unfolds at the errie , serene , cold Sweden.

A taut thriller with edge of the seat screenplay.

Rating : 4.0/5.0

Kahaani : by Sujoy Ghosh

Vidya is the flavor of the season .. back 2 back releases post The Dirty Picture , she is here in a Durga avatar!

Kahaani , directed by under achieved Sujoy Ghosh (a la' duds like Alladin) , was looking delicious as soon as the promos hit the marquee.

The thriller genre in Indian context have been far and few , but this one really packs a punch.

A pregnant Vidya Bagchi , lands in Kolkatta , ironically a City of Joy party to her sorrow. She is in pursuit of her missing husband  , Arnab.

She lodges a complaint at a local police station. Rana Singh played brilliantly by a Bengali actor Parambrata , a coy policeman who is her support in the quest.

The mystery unfolds at NDC - workplace of Arnab which holds the key and is the heart of  lies & deceit. Vidya and Rana move from one clue to another , with a edge of the seat tenacity.

The introduction of a contract killer , Bob Biswas , in the scheme of things played by Bengali Actor , Saswata , intrigues the audience to the hilt.

The IB official - Khan played like a virtuoso by Nawazuddin Siddiqui is an alter ego of Rana , a stern man of can-do-anything-to-wipe-of-criminals ideals.

The suspense unfolds reel by reel , and I was truly madly deeply immersed into the high octane drama.

Interval is at a god smacking moment in the film and makes me wonder the screenplay is simply superlative.

As it moves along in the second half , the audience is still in a dilema and has no answers to the questions posed by the naarative - Who is Arnab ? Where has he vanished? Who is Milind ? What is the conspiracy at NDC ?

The climax - One of the best yet debatable culminations in Hindi cinema , Mr. Ghosh made me smile once I went out of the dark room , gauging what had just hit me!

The screenplay is extraordinary , the music is apt by Vishal-Shekhar and the cinematography is top draw , Kolkatta never seen before!

Performances - Vidya Balan was always the most versatile we had in business , but she has the power to pull a solo cash jackpot with ease!

Kahaani - Hitchcockeneyed - in your face intoxicating thriller!

Rating : 4.5/5.0

Seven Pounds : by Gabriele Muccino

Will Smith is one of the most sincere Hollywood actors and it reflects in the choice of movies he has acted in.

After 'Pursuit of Happyness' , he is back with Seven Pounds.

Will Smith plays Tim Thomas , who is set on a mission to change lives of 7 strangers .

The film kicks off with the search for the worthy and the privileged , 7 lives whose transformation is in hands of Tim.

Tim confides in his brother of his intentions and sets out to donate his organs one by one to each of 7 strangers starting with lung lobe to Ben , his brother.

The second half of the movie sees , Tim falling in love with one of the strangers who has a weak heart . He goes through an emotional turmoil as this was not part of the deal.

Seven Pounds is an extremely poignant and intense screenplay. The culmination of the film has a massive shock value and hit me hard.

Will Smith is admirable as Tim , and his character connects with the audience at different strata of emotions.
The film scores on its original screenplay and the performance by the protagonist

One of the best Tear-Jerkers!

Rating : 3.5/5.0

The Shining : by Stanley Kubrick

 

The Shining , a psychological thriller from Stanley Kubrick is widely recognized as the scariest films of all time.

I was really intrigued & at the same time petrified!

 The film stars Jack Nicholson as a writer who with his wife and young son accept an off season job of a caretaker at an isolated hotel.

The son possesses super natural psychic abilities to see past and future and has an alter ego "Tony".

The Overlook hotel is cut off from the mainland during a snowstorm and only Jack and his family is left behind to take care.

The Chef of the hotel takes them around the layout of the the premises.

Jack's wife , Wendy and her son Danny have fun around the hotel , meanwhile Jack's novel writing is going nowhere.

As time passes , Jack starts acting strangely and gets frustrated. Spooky incidents take over the hotel.

Room 237 "Shines"

Stanley Kubrick was a masterclass and is widely regarded as a superlative technician. His attention to detail in this film creates a creepy milieu which is truly spine chilling

Finesse Examples 

• Fast Camera movements behind Danny's bicycle ride across the lobby
• Trademark , ghostly eye staring by Jack
• Eerie typewriting keys noise
• Zoom in wall picture at the climax
• Jack's face sticking out of the axe broken door

The Shining , released in 1980 , still packs a chill and scares your guts out!

Horror at its best !

Rating : 4.5/5.0

Shutter Island : by Martin Scorsese

Shutter Island is an adaption of a psychological  thriller novel by Denis Lehane published in 2003.

Martin Scorsese has his best bet in Leonardo Di Caprio to play the protagonist 'Teddy Daniels'.

He has been his favorite since Gangs of New York to The Aviator to The Departed.

Shutter Island has an eerie millieu right from the outset....

Daniels , a U.S Marshall with his new partner Chuck is entrusted with the job of finding clues to en ravel the disappearance of a criminally insane patient from Ashe cliff hospital on the remote island.

The Island has many deranged patients and the hospital is headed by Dr. Crawley played by Ben Kingsley ( Gandhi Fame ).

The film had me focussed right in , each moment a revelation into the mystery surrounding the screenplay.

Somewhere the sequences between Daniel & his wife got me cringe , but soon it became evident the crux of it all. 

The editing is superlative with attention to detail on the creepy Shutter Island. The background score compliments the ghostly tone.

Performances , exemplary by Caprio , he is growing in stature with such skills in acting , he will surely get his hands on the Oscar statue soon.

If you have not read the book ...

Watch Shutter Island for Scorsese & Caprio combo which lights up the celluloid each time every time.

Rating : 4.0/5.0

Inception : by Christopher Nolan

                                              

Inception  'root' or a 'source' of an idea planted in a dream , seems intriguing, ain't it?  

Nolan has always generated a 'buzz' with his film-noir , non linear genre be it The Dark Knight , The Prestige or The Following.

Memento broke onto the screen a decade ago and provided us with a spectacle in story telling so rare that it dumbfounded us.

A script that has been worked on for over a decade, Nolan's endeavours are inescapable in its pure complexity and brilliance.. Being a die-hard Nolan fan , I was itching to watch this piece of creativity and what a revelation!

I simply cannot explain the idea incepted by Nolan through this cinematic endeavour , it is to be seen to be dreamt of!

To summarize , it is a journey of an dream extractor Cobb , played with aplomb by Leonardo  who wishes to spend a happy life with his little children after his wife's death.

Saito , a highly influential man , hires him for his last job to incept an idea into his rival's mind to bring down his empire!

The unique concept of entering dreams offers the opportunity not only for a unique species of heist but also a way to dig deeper and deeper into one's subconscious, and the ability to plant an idea which could define that person, or destroy them.

The ensemble in this subconscious labyrinth is exemplary with the Architect : Ariadne , the Forger : Eames , the Researcher : Arthur , and the Chemist : Yusuf  ... one heck of a maze!

No wonder it is steady at #3 of all time at IMDB.

Inception is a cinema experience so audacious, so incredible, and in the end so gratifying, that it truly is unmissable, and will remain a benchmark for many filmmakers in years to come.

Rating :   5 ⁵  / 5.0

Karthik Calling Karthik : by Vijay Lalwani

 

Karthik Calling Karthik made me jump to a conclusion of an interesting plot.

Farhan Akhtar and Deepika Padukone seemed to be an interesting pairing.

Fresh director and Foot-Tapping music from Shankar's den seemed interesting too.

Alas! Disappointingly Dis interesting ..

The film was cropper in terms of content and failed miserably in keeping the audience on tenterhooks.

Acting was above average from Farhan , I found him better in Rock On!

Deepika needs an acting course ,quick!

Script was a rehash of "Beautiful Mind" meets "I Know What You Did Last Summer" 

Soundtrack was the best part of the movie - "Uff Teri Ada" was rhythm divine!

Watch it for being different yet predictable!

Rating : 3.0/5.0

Rear Window : by Alfred Joseph Hitchcock

Today's generation marvel at mysteries be it from M.Night.Shyamlan supernatural repertoire to Christopher Nolan's mysterious non-linear films.

but Sir Alfred Joesph Hitchcock .. is where it all started , Father of murder/suspense.

Rear Window is one such flick from his portfolio, which in a subtle way , creates a milieu of suspense with a tinge of humour splattered too.

It is a story of a wheelchair bound photographer , who is recuperating from a fractured leg , passing time looking into the neighbourhood from his apartment window.

The director has created a setup where the audience sees the lives of people in the adjacent building through the protagonists' eyes.

One fine day , the photographer with all his gadgets , catches a glimpse of mysterious circumstances at the rear window, convincing him of a crime!!

With support from his girlfriend , nurse and his cop friend , he embarks on the path of finding the truth!!!

Notable Sequences

1. The Glowing Cigarette light in the opposite dark window.
2. The Flash bulb scene.
3. The Gory Anecdotes of the Nurse.

Year 1954 , makes this movie a 54 year old drama , present day ,

... but for me it is a Classic!!!

Rating : 4.5/5.0

Following : by Christopher Nolan

Breaking a Story into Pieces and Restructuring ..

Nolan is God ...

a true grandmaster .. outwitting the audiences.

This is the 5th installment I have witnessed , and I am simply blown away time and again starting right from Memento , Batman Begins , The Prestige to The Dark Knight.



Following( is Nolan's Debut - 1998) ....... is about this lonely , struggling writer , who takes up a weird hobby of following people on the streets with the motive of inspiring his next novel using the commonalities .

In the process , he finds himself into a sequential ( so to say non- linear for us ) parody of events , teaming with a professional thief by accident.

The length of the film at 70 minutes makes it sharp , crisp , and into a what-happens-next mould , with mouth-gaping end reeels.

WYS - I - N (Not) - WYG .... Christopher Nolan's Mantra ...

Take a bow !

Rating : 4.5/5.0

V for Vendetta : by James McTeigue

V for Vendetta is a classy film bringing forth the governments' fictitious under-hand dealings leading to mass-killings due to human-experimentation's in a country plagued with problems ...

Wachowski brothers (Matrix Trilogy Fame) have adapted the screenplay for this film based on a comic-caper written by Alan Moore and David Lloyd and it is Superlative!!!!

V played by Hugo Weaving threatens the government of the country to blow up the parliament on November 5th. The Chancellor takes immediate action and two officers are hot on his trail.

In the meantime , Eve played by Natalie Portman , is taken a hostage by V in an attempt to protect her.

The story moves along with jack-out-of-the-box approach , V unveiling his mask in every scene , uncovering his plans in every reel.

The second portion of the film surprises the audience when suddenly Eve finds herself captured n tortured in a prison cell , the events thereafter are intriguing.

Hugh Weaving(Agent Smith , Matrix Fame) done a good job with his voice doing all the work and Portman excels in some portions.

Worth Noting Dialogue :

"Voilà! In view, a humble vaudevillian veteran, cast vicariously as both victim and villain by the vicissitudes of fate. This visage, no mere veneer of vanity, is a vestige of the vox populi, now vacant and vanished. However, this valorous visitation of a bygone vexation stands vivified, and has vowed to vanquish these venal and virulent vermin van guarding vice and vouchsafing the violently vicious and voracious violation of volition! The only verdict is vengeance; a vendetta held as a votive, not in vain, for the value and veracity of such shall one day vindicate the vigilant and the virtuous. Verily, this vichyssoise of verbiage veers most verbose, so let me simply add that it's my very good honor to meet you and you may call me V " -------- (V's introduction)


Nice Watch....

Rating : 4.0/5.0

Race : by Abbas Mustan

RACE .... Abbas - Mustan have got it right this time ...

The film is a typical edge-of-the-seat thriller... making the cinegoer gasp for more ...

Saif and Akshaye play step-brothers , owners of a Ranch and dealing in the big time moolah!!

The girls in the film Bipasha and Katrina have a performance packed roles ... Bipasha playing the love interest of Akshaye and Katrina , Saif's silent admirer...

Sudden turn of events , puts the life of the 2 brothers in jeopardy , and hence unfolds the web of DECEIT & SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST!!!!

The music of the film is racy and gels with the movie superbly , Pritam does it again after Jab We Met!! , songs worth mentioning is the title track and the Atif Aslam song which is melodic to the ears.

The Post-Interval Events with the intro of Anil Kapoor ( the cop) and his sidekick Sameera Reddy spice up the storyline to the next level....

Noteworthy Performances : Akshaye Khanna is superlative , Saif a close second!

Any Glitches!?!!? ----- Too Many Twists Spoils the Plot Somehow

SUPER SLICK , SMART , SEXY THRILLER ....... GET SET GO!

Rating : 4.0/5.0

Sin City : by Frank Miller and Robert Rodriguez

Sin City is not a run-of-the-mill flick , it is a film with the novelty of watching something eye-catching in a long time!

Sin City : the film is based on a series of comics by Frank Miller by the same name, the USP of the film is the narration in neo-noir pattern as seen in Usual Suspects and Memento .....

The movie is divided into three stories told in a true comic craper style with lot of flair , over-the-top dialogues , hardcore histrionics.

The film is set in Basin City (a fictional town) where in Crime , Sex , Gang-War and Killings are the high points of people inhabiting the same.

Let's talk about the stories:

1. That Yellow Bastard (Part 1) : Saviour n a Girl n a Mutant

2. The Hard Goodbye : A Typical Revenge pot boiler

3. The Big Fat Kill : Gang-War

4. That Yellow Bastard (Part 2) : Culmination of Part 1

My personal favorite is story # 2 , has a lot of masala and dramatization ....!!

The starcast is huge and its good to see an ensemble of talent in one reel ranging from Bruce Willis to Benicio del Toro to Jessica Alba to Elijah Jordan Wood.

The movie is worth a dekko , go for it , i'll grab the copy of the comic series ...

Rating : 3.5/5.0

Se7en : by David Fincher

Seven Deadly Sins :

PRIDE ,
GLUTTONY ,
LUST ,
GREED ,
ENVY ,
WRATH ,
SLOTH ..

David Fincher is at it again , It cannot get better than this ... !!

Zodiac was a disappointment , Fight Club was a revelation ..

Se7en is just terrific , this is an understatement ....

Morgan Freeman and Brad Pitt play detectives on the trail of psychic murders , flabbergasted by the events. Detective Sommerset (Freeman) is about to retire and detective Mills (Pitt) is the new kid on the block.

This bridge of experience and youth , gives freshness to the film starting at Sin Number One GREED.

The murders are gruesome ... gory toooo!!! The detectives have no clue , no evidence , until things take a flip , confusing the audience for sure.

The end reels had me DUMBFOUNDED ... the director shooting a bolt from the blue!!

Full Marks for captivating the cinegoer and shocking at the same time !!!

Rating : 5.0/5.0

Michael Clayton : by Tony Gilroy

Michael Clayton played by George Clooney is about an attorney termed as a FIXER hired by a law firm to control unlawful situations.

Arthur Edens ( a leading attorney of the firm U-North ) is in a middle of a controversy when he incoherently talks at a hearing.

George Clooney is summoned to help him get out of this mess and he discovers that Arthur is into mental illness due to non-medication.

The turn of events puts Michael Clayton in a fix where he is in a tangle of deceit and trickery. The film meanders with the sole purpose of finding the truth which has been mis-represented , Michael Clayton is the man to find it!

The performance by George Clooney is worth noting after seeing him in Ocean's Thirteen long since. Tom Willkinson is just about ok as an eccentric attorney stuck in a lawsuit .

Noteworthy , not oustanding.

Rating : 2.5/5.0

The Prestige : by Christopher Nolan

This is the second Christopher Nolan installment after Memento which I have seen from start to end , and he dumbfounds me each time !!!

The Prestige is a period film set in London , where in MAGIC is the bread n butter of aspiring artists and a delight for the audiences.

Christian Bale plays Borden and Hugh Jackman plays Angier , two ambitious Magicians. Michael Caine plays the veteran , having all the tricks up his sleeves.

One fine day , Borden in his charm for experimentation , makes a blunder , which turns Angier as his only foe. The Prestige at this point comes out as a survival of the fittest (magician !) with both of them trying to out do each other.

The turning point in the film is the Transported Man trickery performed by Borden(Bale) , making people marvel him.

This cat and mouse duel in between all the ABRACADABRA ... culminates in such a manner never seen before.. !!

The director has always been an expert in non-linear narration (a la' Memento) , and comes out good this time too.

Awesome execution of the plot!!

Rating : 5.0/5.0

Sunday : by Rohit Shetty

Sunday is one hell of a hilarious ride with a pinch of suspense adding a cherry on top of the cake.

Rohit Shetty after Golmaal , enthralls the audience with this film similar to the genre of Welcome / Golmaal / Dhol / Dhamaal .

The "USP" of this movie is the murder mystery in between all the whacko hilarity.

The plot revolves around this girl played by Ayesha Takia who is a animation dubbing artist caught in a maze of events she does not re-collect.

Ajay Devgan plays a semi-corrupt cop , handling the re-occuring crimes in and around Delhi.

The best of the lot are Irrfan Khan ( wannabe bollywood superstar) and Arshad Warsi (the street taxi driver) .... they just make a lethal combination ... having me down on the floor , laughing out the loudest !!!

The post-interval portions of the film intrigues the cine-goer as the suspense is unraveled!

A BIG THUMBS UP TO THE DIRECTOR FOR A ROLLICKING RIDE
....... eagerly waiting for Golmaal Returns!

Rating : 3.5/5.0

Zodiac : by David Fincher

"Zodiac" , I was having enormous expectations from this movie , coming from the den of David Fincher a la' Se7en and Fight Club ,

Zodiac is about the notorious crimes in San Francisco during 60's and 70's commited by a serial killer named as Zodiac. These random killings bamboozles the San Francisco Chronicles staff and the Vallejo Detectives .

The Cryptic Letters with blood-soaked shreds puzzles one and all except the over-obssessed Cartoonist at the same newspaper.

The case meanders over the years , stumbling upon evidences and clues and suspects , of no avail , and then the turn of events courtesy Jake Gyllenhaal (the cartoonist) throws light on the facts.

The story picks up in some of the portions , otherwise the screenplay is dull.

It was disappointing . Period .

Rating : 2.5/5.0

Dus Kahaniyaan : by S,M,H,A,R

10 Stories at a price of a single movie ticket .. is it paisa vasool??

Yes to a certain level , Sanjay Gupta with his production association with Sanjay Dutt brings through an amalgamation of real - life - drama tales with a sting in their tails!!

The 5 directors as with their initials mentioned in the title above have done a praiseworthy job.


NoteWorthy Tales :

1) Matrimony : Mandira Bedi and Arbaaz Khan potray a relationship pradigm common to the couples these dayz..

2) Zahir : Manoj Bajpai and Diya Mirza shock us with a simple yet complex mis-representation of betrayal.

3) Rice Plate : A story made by Rohit , passes on a message applicable to each n every today's individual . Shabana Azmi is superlative as south indian brahmin woman.

4)Strangers in the Night : Best of the lot leaving the audience dumbfounded at the end of the narration , a tete-a-tete between Neha Dhupia and Mahesh Manjrekar.

Rest of the lot made little sense , should have been more like a bolt from the blue!!!!! .. good effort nevertheless.

Rating : 3.5/5.0

12 Angry Men : by Sidney Lumet

12 Angry Men is a movie which defines that one does not need a storyline backed up by an ensemble,towering sets,songs,dance,rhapsody,flair,special fx ....


This is 1957 classic , is set in a single room ; 12 men having the task to unanimously give a verdict on an 18 year old commiting a gruesome murder on his father.

The film starts and ends with the discussion between these 12 men . Henry Fonda , one man standing between the judgement of guilty / not guilty.

Amazing part of the film is the screenplay where in each character is sketched with super - detailing , each having opinions as diverse as colors in an artists palette.

The culmination of the film makes the audience realize the weight of reasoning and argument can turn the tables on facts !!!!

A True Gem of a Classic ...

Rating: 5.0/5.0

Usual Suspects : by Bryan Singer

Usual Suspects is one of the finest neo-noir movies ever made and remains a cult film as I see it ...

Bryan Singer's direction is superlative at the onset with the characters perfectly etched for the set of 5 actors.

Hockney, McManus,Keaton,Fenster,and Verbal .... (in the same order as the picture)

The movie is all about a boat hijacking event happening for cocaine deal. These 5 convicts after moving out of jail are forced to execute the hijacking by a shadow boss a la' Keyser Söze .

The movie unravels the event in the form of an interrogation between a NYPD cop and Verbal , who escaped the boat catastrophe!!!

The script of the film packing everything into a 1:45 min reel deserves an ovation...Kevin Spacey as Verbal won the best supporting actor academy for his role and I am not surprised at all not taking anything away from the other actors playing their parts...

Verdict : What can I say for a movie ranked at 20 in the all time list of hollywood flicks!

Rating :5.0/5.0