Waltz with Bashir (2008)

Genre: Documentary/War/Animation/Action/Historical Event/Biography

Starring (voice): Ari Folman, Yehekzel Lazarov, Ron-Ben Yishai, Ori Sivan

The 1982 Lebanon War saw a ruthless attack of the Israeli forces against Lebanon which eventually led to the Shabra and Shatila massacre where civilian minorities were held in a fortified camp and mercilessly killed. Ari Folman (Folman) is an Israeli film-maker who recounts his experiences of war when he was serving in the Israeli Army during the Lebanon War. In 2006, he witnesses a dream where he is in the war with a friend and realises that the war is a memory that he does not recollect anymore. In a bid to refresh his memory and remember what happened, he meets various sets of people who could potentially help him remember what he went through. From traveling to Netherlands to meet Carmi (Lazarov) and meeting the infamous journalist, Ron-Ben Yishai, Armi slowly starts recollecting his thoughts right up to the massacre. The movie follows a very unique animation style that is a blend of typical comic book illustrations, rigid animations but contemporary  that use solid colours along with special effects that are extremely contemporary and advanced. This unique style is pleasing and lifts the heaviness and bloodshed from the movie but at the same time creates a very big disconnect from the movie. It diverts the movies core idea of war, death and destruction and showcases it in a light and cheerful manner. The movie is a Cannes Palm d'Or nominee along with numerous other global victories.

Thumbs up: Unique animation style

Thumbs down: Animation style tends to shift the core focus of the movie

Rating: 7.7/10

Rush (2013)

Genre: Biography/Historical Event/Sports/Action/Drama

Starring: Chris Hemsworth, Daniel Bruhl, Alexandra Maria Lara

Formula 1 is the pinnacle of motor sport, it is what almost every racer who controls four wheels aspires to reach and it is also a deathbed for many. Apart from attention, speed and responsiveness, the sport demanded drives to push themselves and their cars to the very edge, almost to the tipping point where there is no coming back once you fall over. Nikki Lauda (Bruhl) and James Hunt (Hemsworth) have gone down in history for being one of the best drivers from the 70's and their constant on-track rivalry was something that fans yearned to look forward to. Where Lauda was the systematic, meticulous and focused driver, Hunt was the one who had a playboy image and lived an extremely public life. As two different personalities, they were bound to have clashes of ego right from their days of Formula 3 till the time they stayed in F1. The movie charts the journey of these two drivers, their ups and downs and their constant love and hate relationship that they shared. They might be on-track rivals but they soon realised that it is this very rivalry that gets them to go the extra mile, push themselves further and constantly sharpen their skills. The movie is packed with action and adrenaline rushing racing that would definitely thrill any F1 or motor sport enthusiast. Although the movie exaggerates the rivalry between Lauda and Hunt and a few more events, it shows a strong friendship along with an equally strong rivalry between the two. The only downfall in the movie is the occasional personal life stories that take the attention away from the track, perhaps some more on-track escapades could have helped the movie, not that there is anything to complain about. A sure-shot must watch for an F1 fan and a great movie to watch even otherwise.

Thumbs up: Adrenaline rushing action

Thumbs down: Maybe a little less of the personal life stories?

Rating: 7.5/10

The Matrix Revolutions (2003)

Genre: Science-fiction/Action

Starring: Keanu Reaves, Lawrence Fishburne, Carrie-Ann Moss, Mary Alice, Hugo Weaving, Jada Pinkett Smith

The third movie in the trilogy finally comes to a close. The machines are fast drilling towards Zion and they would break the docks in less than 24 hours. Morpheus (Fishburne) had insisted that one of the ships be outside Zion in order to communicate with The Oracle (Alice) which would be of help to Neo (Reaves). Neo is advised to communicate with Deus Ex Machina who is the leader of the Machine World and try to compromise peace and eventually defeat the Smith (Weaving) who is a rogue program that wishes to destroy The Matrix and the real world. With the machines steadily gaining on Zion, all hope is on Neo to successfully reach his destination and save Zion and all of mankind from ultimate doom. Like all of the previous movies, this one too thrives on astounding special effects, CGI and the infamous 'bullet time' effect. In spite of being extremely complicated and have multiple stories running parallel to each other, this movie leaves no lose ends and seamlessly brings the entire story to a close. The action is what everyone enjoyed right from the first movie and it continues to thrill audiences even now. The movie story is not a very big development unlike the previous 2 movies and seems just a movie to tie all the lose ends together. The jargon's continue in this movie and some parts with The Oracle are just impossible to decipher for a common viewer. It may not be the best Matrix of the 3 but it isn't all that bad either.

Thumbs up: Great special effects and action

Thumbs down: Story does not evolve significantly

Rating: 7.3/10

Jai Ho (2014)

Genre: Drama/Action/Crime

Starring: Salman Khan, Tabu, Ashmit Patel, Danny Denzongpa, Nadira Babbar, Yash Tonk, Daisy Shah

I am strongly considering to add the word 'comedy' in the genre list for this movie. Salman Khan is that individual who has a penchant for thrilling audiences with his antics. Be it comedy, romance, action or even his dance numbers, they always seem to find takers. After giving a string of strong box office performers, Mr. Khan has decided to do an Aamir Khan with Jai Ho. It might just remind you of Satyamev Jayate on action-packed steroids. Jai Agnihotri (Khan) is an honest middle-class individual who stands up for what is right and crushes anyone that crosses the line with his bare fists. In a bid to change the world, he goes around spreading the message of love and peace and on one such occasion he sees an individual injuring a street girl. His temper gets the best of him and he makes mince meat of him. Here is where things get very interesting, Mr. 'I-just-got-beaten-up' goes to a local goon and gets him to misbehave with Jai's sister, Geeta (Tabu) and invites Jai to come and see if he has the guts to do anything. He does and he manages to beat up 10 guys in the restaurant and another 20 odd men inside a political party office. The goon goes to his superior goon who then gets 50 guys to beat Jai up and Jai does exactly the opposite. Superior goon goes to the boss of all goons, Dashrat Singh (Denzongpa), who is also the Home Minister, who finally decides it is time to start harming all the near and dear ones around Jai in the hope that he would calm down. In short, the moive is all about Salman Khan beating up a whole bunch of armed guys every now and then along with a love story thrown in just so that gives the director a reason to have some dance numbers. Take Dabangg and remove all the 'Pandeyji' antics, humour and charisma from it and what you would finally get is Jai Ho. Salman's previous movies were never award-winning, but at least his character found takers amongst his followers. Jai Ho seems to have drifted away from that by leaving Salman character-less and projecting him to be a man with a heart of gold. The movie is devoid of any story or any form of entertainment. The comedy that I was talking about earlier is the ridiculous bits that keep appearing every now and then that kind of make you go, 'What the F***!' Daisy Shah has an almost negligible role and her main focus seems to be only the dance numbers. Unlike Salman's earlier movies that had that one kick-ass song that every radio station played in and out and every person would dance on the floor on, this movie seems to have none. The only typically Salman song is the Gujarati one that too may not find many takers. All-in-all, this movie might just be the first Salman movie in a long time to not make the box office go crazy and misses all the elements that make his movie even slightly watchable.

Thumbs up: Not even 1 second of the movie is worth mentioning here

Thumbs down: Not a Salman movie, not even for the die-hard fan

Rating:3.4/10

The Savages (2007)

Genre: Drama

Starring: Laura Linney, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Phillip Bosco, Peter Friedman

Old age is a haunting reality that everyone must eventually face. Along with all the blood pressure and arthritis, there is a lingering fear in the minds of some with regards to the support they would have from near and dear ones. Lenny Savage (Bosco) is an ageing and dyeing man who is slowly and steadily slipping into dementia. He drifted away from his son, Jon (Hoffman) and daughter Wendy (Linney) over the years and the three have never actually kept in touch with each other since a long time. When Lenny's girlfriend passes away, Jon and Wendy need to find him a house where he can stay and be taken care of. Neither of them were comfortable with the thought of their old father staying with them and decide to put him into a nursing home where he would be looked after. Lenny's condition unknowingly brings the family together and the brother and sister find time for each other after years of being apart. As the review might suggest, the movie is extremely slow and rides heavily on emotions and family bonds. Lenny faced karma after he abandoned his children who now were feeling him as a burden that must be looked after. It showcases the personal relationships that each of the characters had and how that affected their judgement in their normal lives. A movie with a lot of depth and emotion and might not be very suited for the average viewer.

Thumbs up: Good acting

Thumbs down: Slow and deep, not meant for everyone

Rating: 6.2/10

American Hustle (2013)

Genre: Crime/Drama/Biography

Starring: Christian Bale, Jennifer Lawrence, Amy Adams, Bradley Cooper, Jeremy Renner

Irving Rosenfield (Bale) was a simple con-artist who took money from people who were desperate for loans and to whom banks had already turned down. He took a processing fee with no guarantee of the loan being sanctioned and no scope for refunds. None of the loans were ever sanctioned. He worked hand-in-glove with his mistress, Sydney Prosser (Adams) who posed as a British socialite with banking connections in London from where the money would come through. When FBI agent Richie DiMaso (Cooper) busts their racket, Richie offers Irving and Sydney complete immunity if he helps them apprehend 4 other fugitives. Mayor of Camden, New Jersey Carmine Polito (Renner) wants to revamp Atlantic City and thus create hundreds of jobs for his people and for this he needed some investment backup. The FBI hatch a plot to create the fake identity of an Arab Sheikh and create sting operations where he would offer a bribe to Carmine and other Congress members and provide them a false hope of investments to build Atlantic City. The movie is loosely based on an actual FBI sting operation involving a fake Sheikh and the Mayor of Camden although other elements in the movie are fictional and only to add drama to the story. David O. Russell has earned a reputation for himself for being able to churn out Oscar winners and this movie seems like it would go down the same path. It boasts of very strong performances from each of the cast members, however, the movie lands up only focusing on the characters with less thought going towards the story. Being a con-movie, one would typically expect a sensational climax and a story that would blow your mind away; this movie does none of that. There are some obvious loopholes and some parts that one may not completely understand and those add to the movie losing steam halfway down the line and not being very engaging. Having said that, the movie is not exactly a drag either but do not expect it to be like Oceans Eleven. The main and only highlight is the performances and had the story been stronger, this would have been one amazing movie.

Thumbs up: Great acting from across the board

Thumbs down: Story gets a bit slow and not very enticing

Rating: 6.9/10

The 40-Year-Old Virgin (2005)

Genre: Comedy/Drama/Romance

Starring: Steve Carrell, Seth Rogen, Catherine Keener, Paul Rudd, Romany Malco, Jane Lynch

Is sex really that important for an individual to be happy and in order to maintain a healthy relationship? If you would ask Andy (Carrell) he really wouldn't know because he is 40 and he is still a virgin, but that doesnt upset him at all. With failed sexual attempts in the past, Andy's mind has somehow managed to move on and not be affected by the opposite sex and has more or less turned him into a geeky loner. David (Rudd), Jay (Malco) and Cal (Rogen) are colleagues of Andy who learnt of Andy's virginity and have taken it upon themselves to ensure that he loses it. Each of them have their own way of tackling the issue and Andy ends up bearing the brunt of it. From picking up drunk girls, speed dating, chest waxing, shemales and everything else that comes along with it, Andy has tried it all. The movie is a hilarious take on attempted sexuality and can keep you rolling on the floor in splits. Steve Carrell does not attempt to make you laugh the way Jim Carey does, it just somehow manages to happen. The only pain point in the movie was its extended runtime which runs well over 2 hours. You really dont want a movie of its time to be so long and one would rather it be a movie you watch, enjoy and forget. The long runtime gives the movie a lot of slow moments that pulls the humour away to a point that you want it to now end and get over. Having said that, the movie is not a disappointment, far from it and is indeed something that would make you laugh hard, very hard.

Thumbs up: Steve Carrell and some really outstanding humour

Thumbs down: Too long a runtime

Rating: 7.3/10

Midnight in Paris (2011)

Genre: Fantasy/Romance/Comedy/Drama

Starring: Owen Wilson, Rachel McAdams, Michael Sheen, Tom Hiddleston, Corey Stoll, Kathy Bates, Marion Cotillard

Paris, the city of culture, art, music and love. Artists and lovers, both travel to Paris to rekindle their respective passions and hope to find enlightenment and a fresh perspective. Gil Pender (Wilson) is a successful Hollywood script writer who feels that movies does not allow him to exploit all of his creativity and yearns for something different. He tries to write a book but ends up experiencing a writers block and is frustrated on how he could get around it. On a trip to Paris with his fiancee, Inez (McAdams), he is smitten by the beauty and charisma of the city and finds himself contemplating a life here away from California. Inez, however, feels that Gil has lost his mind and he needs to snap back to reality and forget about living in Paris. On a drunk nightly stroll across the city, Gil is invited inside a vintage car and soon realises that he has time-travelled back to the 1920's. Here, he meets all his literary idols like Ernest Hemmingway (Stoll), Scott Fitzgerald (Hiddleston), Gertrude Stein (Bates), Pablo Picasso, Cole Porter an every other major artist of the 1920's. All of a sudden, he is living his dream life in his dream era and rubbing shoulders with the very people he idolised. Night after night, he waits for the clock to strike twelve so that he can venture back in time and live his dream. The movie beautifully showcases the stereotypical Paris that we have always known it as and has portrayed Gil and Inez as a couple whose opinions are poles apart and yet together and are about to get married. Owen Wilson has done good justice to the role and adds humour quite naturally to his performance, he seems perfect for it. For those who dream of a life in romantic Paris, this movie helps you indulge in all your fantasies and dreams and being a Woody Allen movie, you really cant go too wrong with it. The biggest let down was the hasty manner in which the movie brought itself to a close, perhaps a better climax and a smoother transition might have helped the flow. A great romance movie that isn't all soppy and mushy and can actually be quite fun.

Thumbs up: Owen Wilson, depiction of Paris

Thumbs down: Hasty end

Rating: 7.6/10

Serendipity (2001)

Genre: Romance/Drama

Starring: John Cusack, Kate Beckinsale, Jeremy Piven, Bridget Moynahan, John Corbett

Every accident that takes place need not be for the worse. Such accidents that cause happiness rather than despair is called Serendipity. Sara Thomas (Beckinsale) is a psychiatric counsellor who leaves her entire life to luck and fate. She believes that if fate has it, then somethings will happen no matter what and if some things are not meant to be then they will never pan out, no matter how hard we try. When Jonathan (Cusack) met Sara during Christmas shopping, something sparked between them that Jonathan eagerly wanted to take ahead. Sara felt it too but left it up to fate to decide whether or not they are meant to be. She wrote her name and number in a copy of Love in the Time of Cholera and decided to sell it off at a bookstore the next day. If Jonathan finds it, then he can contact her and retrospectively, Jonathan wrote his name and number on a $5 bill and if that note comes to Sara somehow, then she would know his name and number and hence, serendipity. A very typical romance with an ending that we all can guess but it is the build up towards that climax that makes this movie special. Many women out there would swear by this movie to be 'the best ever' and you can see why. Also John Cusack and Kate Beckinsale may not actually set the screen on fire with their romance and chemistry, it portrays an idealistic romance that every girl would love to experience. Do not watch with your wife or girlfriend unless you are in the mood to invite trouble to yourself, don't say I didn't warn you!

Thumbs up: Great story and culmination of events

Thumbs down: Cast selection could have been better

Rating: 7.1/10

Mr. Joe B. Carvalho (2014)

Genre: Comedy/Drama/Action/Romance/Crime

Starring: Soha Ali Khan, Arshad Warsi, Javed Jaffrei, Vijay Raaz, Shakti Kapoor, Geeta Basra, Vrajesh Hirjee

Mr. Joe B Carvalho is the outcome of trying to make a Johnny English for the Indian audience. Thankfully though, the movie is not a frame by frame ripoff  and is simply inspired by the Rowan Atkinson starer. Joe B Carvalho (Warsi) is a detective in the city of Bengaluru and assumes himself to be the best in the trade. Sadly though, he has a failing reputation of a bungling idiot who cant do even a simple job correctly. Khurana (Kapoor) is a rich businessman who wants Joe to track down his missing daughter and prevent her from marrying her boyfriend. Meanwhile, an international terrorist Carlos (Jaffrei) has been assigned the task to kill the daughter of a rich businessman before their wedding takes place. Enter Shantipriya (Khan) a dreaded police officer who has learnt of the assassination plan and must go to all lengths to prevent it. What ensues is an attempt to make you laugh but only ends up being a massive pain in the head. Every scene seems to have forced comedy and jokes hammered in the script with an overdose of over-acting to execute that humour. The entire casts' objective might have been on delivering comedy and only Jaffrei and Warsi seem to have done some justice with everyone else being a complete fail. Soha Ali Khan has a reputation of doing good character roles and in this movie she seemed to be a complete misfit and unsuited for the role. She completely fails to carry out the action scenes and is an even worse comic, yes she looks good in that bikini but that's about it. The movie does not follow any consistent or sensible plot line and it seems more as if a bunch of jokes were written and then a story was made around these jokes. The songs too are nothing that you want to put on your iPod and enjoy during your day. With songs such as Ring ring ring ring ringa roses and  I hate chumma chaatti you would probably want to wonder who would write such horrible lyrics. These too, just like the humour, are unwanted in the movie and forced in through dream sequences and unwanted moments. Yes, the movie has more bad then good but there will still be a segment of the audience who would enjoy the nonsensical and leave-your-brains-at-home sort of slapstick humour. If such is your agenda then the movie kills your 2 hours of time else if you are looking at watching something more sensible, walk away, instantly!

Thumbs up: Some of the comedy scenes that might just make you laugh

Thumbs down: Bad acting and Soha Ali Khan

Rating: 4.6/10

Life as We Know It (2010)

Genre: Comedy/Drama/Romance

Starring: Katherine Heigl, Josh Duhamel, Josh Lucas

There are some movies whose eventual outcome is extremely obvious, right from the word 'Go'. 10 minutes into this movie and almost anyone can tell you exactly what happens for the next 100 minutes, more or less. Holly (Heigl) runs a bakery store and is absolutely in love with it and the success that she is experiencing. Messer (Duhamel) is a television technical sports director and has been working extremely hard to get that promotion he always wanted. Peter and Alison are friends with both Messer and Holly and decide that the two should meet each other because they are extremely compatible and they could do with each others company. Their first encounter does not go correct and they each vow to hate the other person for the rest of their life. Peter and Alison unfortunately die in a car accident and as per their will, Holly and Messer are appointed guardians to their 1 year old daughter, Sophie. The new found parenthood comes as a shock to both of them and in order to protect Sophie from going into Child Protective Services, they need to stay together and ensure that Sophie has a good upbringing. A very cliched story that fails to offer anything new. Even the romance or the humour aspect seems to be force-fed down your throat and lacks any form of innovation. If an average romance-comedy is what you seek then the movie does fine but it is not the kinds that will make you go 'awwww' every now and then.

Thumbs up: Nothing in particular

Thumbs down: Cliched plot, lacks interesting elements

Rating: 5.7/10