The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)

Genre: Drama/Biography/Comedy/Crime

Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Jonah Hill, Margot Robbie, Kyle Chandler

What do you do when you have so much money you have no idea where to spend it? When you can purchase and do almost every unimaginable thing on the planet and do not know what to do next? Jordon Belfort (DiCaprio) was living that exact same life. From having a mansion at the most expensive piece of land, to owning a fleet of cars, having super-model wife and yet spending time with as many girls as he can, a private yacht with a private chopper, consuming every possible drug there exists and not having the least of the worries in the world; that is the life that Jordon Belfort had to deal with. Starting off as a stock-broker, Jordon realised there is a lot of money to be made in selling penny stocks, stocks of companies that cannot get listed and are usually smaller firms, and sell them to people with a lot of money. He was soon labelled as Wall Street's Robin Hood who took money from the rich and kept it for himself and for his employees. His outrageous style of working and providing humongous incentives to employees made him more enemies that friends. His office parties included having a huge bunch of semi-naked women, unlimited alcohol and drugs and throwing midgets on a target and seeing who can do best. With so much flamboyance it was only a matter of time when regulatory authorities would knock on the doors of Stratton Oakmont and give Jordon a hard time, a very hard time. Based on a true life story, the movie shows how outrageous some people can get and what money could do to an individual. Leonardo has done a stupendous piece of acting and backed by the equally good Jonah Hill, they duo have managed to make a fabulous movie on sex, drugs, money and Wall Street.

Thumbs up: Amazing acting

Thumbs down: Some might find the nuditiy, vulagrity and over-emphasis of drugs a bit too much

Rating: 8.4/10

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005)

Genre: Crime/Mystery/Comedy/Action

Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Val Kilmer, Michelle Monaghan

A small-time burglar, Harry (Downey Jr.) botches a burglary attempt, watches his partner getting shot and whilst trying to flee enters a movie audition by accident. His remorse on losing his partner is mistaken as Harry's method acting skills and the director takes a liking for him. Suddenly Harry finds himself at an LA party rubbing shoulders with the high and mighty where he meets Harmony (Monaghan) and takes a liking for her, not realising at that moment that she is his childhood friend. In order to prepare for his new acting role, Harry has to spend time with an actual private investigator and is assigned to spend some time with Perry van Shrike (Kilmer) a very well known person in his field. Whilst snooping around with Perry, they see a car being driven into a lake with a body of women in the trunk. Perry accidentally shoots the body with his gun which would eventually lead the police to believe that he killed her. In a bid to cover up their tracks they dump the body, hoping that it is the last they would see of it. The murder comes back to haunt them and the two realise that there is no way they can get away from it except by getting to the bottom of it. A very exceptional blend of comedy and crime is what the movie instantly gives you at first glance. Robert Downey's performance in a comic role is exceptional and he seems to be tailor made for the role of the bungling idiot. It is very easy to get lost in the movie and not quite know what is happening along with quite a few lose ends but is still a great murder mystery which has the added touch of humour just to liven things up.

Thumbs up: Great entertainer

Thumbs down: Needed a stronger story

Rating: 7.1/10

The Lorax (2012)

Genre: Animation/Comedy/Fantasy/Adventure

Starring (voice): Danny DeVito, Ed Helms, Zac Efron, Taylor Swift, Betty White, Rob Riggle

Dr. Seuss' children's books have long been adapted into various other forms such as cartoons, games and movies. The Lorax is another of his famous books that tries to educate the youth on environmental degradation. A young boy, Ted (Efron) lives in the city of Thneedville. The city is completely made of plastic, with no natural earthly elements present. The residents of Thneedville survive on O'Hare's bottled air which is necessary for a healthy life since the natural air is for too polluted to breathe. One day when Audrey (Swift), the girl whom Ted has a crush on, tells him about trees and how they previously existed on this planet and that she always wanted one for her own, Ted goes on an expedition to find it. His hunt leads him to the Once-ler (Helms), a man who lives outside of Thneedville who narrates Ted the story of the trees and how they soon vanished from the face of the Earth. Just like the book, the movie carries forward the childish narration and theme and has created a movie squarely aimed at the seven-year-old child who should realise the value of trees. The only criticism of the movie is the 'American-isation' of 'the excessive Hollywood treatment' that is been given to the movie which kills the books essence to some extent. All-in-all a fun movie for the younger generation to watch and enjoy that delivers the environments message in a clear, precise and fun manner.

Thumbs up: Great story

Thumbs down: Maybe some more humour

Rating: 7.0/10

The French Connection (1971)

Genre: Action/Crime/Biography/Thriller

Starring: Gene Hackman, Fernando Ray, Marcel Bozzuffi, Roy Scheider, Tony Lo Bianco

A French heroin smuggler, Alain Charnier (Ray) is trying to smuggle heroin into the United States inside the car of an unsuspecting French television actor. NYPD detectives, Jimmy 'Popeye' Doyle (Hackman) and Buddy 'Cloudy' Russo (Scheider) have earned a reputation for themselves for managing to get wind of trails that don't end up anywhere and leave the police with a bad name. Whilst trying to nab a drug dealer, they learn about his source and one thing leads to another and they eventually get wind of Alain's heroin that is landing in New York soon. Due to their history, Popeye and Cloudy have a lot of convincing to do with their superiors to allow them to investigate further. The movie has managed to garner a strong cult following over the years and not without reason. The infamous car chase sequence where Hackman is chasing Bozzuffi in a car whilst the latter is on a train, has gone down in history as one of the most loved car chase sequences in any movie. The scene is very raw and had a lot of firsts in terms of stunts and camera angles that were never seen before in movies of that era. The story is based on a book which in turn is a fictionalised recreation of events in the '60's and '70's where heroin from France was regularly smuggled in through the East Coast. Although the movie has a very raw essence to it, it still seems to lack that outright zing or spark, but don't get me wrong, the movie is still a brilliant watch and is thoroughly entertaining. Anybody wanting to watch a good crime movie that harks back to 'the days' has to watch this one.

Thumbs up: Great raw action

Thumbs down: Needs a bit more spark

Rating: 8.0/10

Queen (2014)

Genre: Drama/Adventure/Comedy

Starring: Kangana Ranaut, Lisa Haydon, Rajkummar Rao, Mish Bokyo, Joseph Guitobh, Jeffrey Ho

Kangana Ranaut has come a long way from being hugely criticised and made fun at in Fashion to projecting herself as a versatile and strong actress who can do a lot more. Rani (Ranaut) is a young middle-class girl residing in Delhi. Like any other girl of her upbringing, she speaks little English, is shy, has been brought up with strict morals and values and has never explored the world beyond Delhi. Her engagement gets fixed with Vijay (Rao), a young and successful boy, and Rani is quite excited. Vijays shows her dreams of travelling the world and having the most amazing life but everything comes crashing when Vijay abruptly calls off the wedding, 2 days prior, without giving any reason. Struck with grief, Rani is clueless on what she should do and decides to go for her prepaid honeymoon, alone. Not lived outside her comfort zone, Rani instantly realises that what she has done may be a mistake but it was too late to turn back. In Paris, she befriends Vijaylaxmi (Haydon)  who is part Indian and works in the hotel that she is staying and in Amsterdam she meets 3 young men with whom she has to share a room and quickly becomes friends with. These new people help her losen up and enjoy life the way it is supposed to which subsequently transforms Rani into a whole new person. An extremely contemporary movie that has a very different story and plot then conventional Bollywood movies. Kangana Ranaut has beautifuly played the part of Rani and has done complete justice to every bit of it. The antics and situations of someone who comes from a conservative family and has never experienced a different country and culture can be quite hilarious and the movie captures all of these to give you more than just a few reasons to laugh. Although the situations could have been much more than what they were, it is still a job well done. The movie does get a bit slow at times which is a slight turn off but makes up to it with good humour. A good, bold and funny entertainer that should not be missed.Some

Thumbs up: Kangana Ranaut all the way

Thumbs down: Get's a bit slow at times

Rating: 7.6/10

Back to the Future Part III (1990)

Genre: Science-fiction/Adventure/Action/Comedy

Starring: Micheal J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Mary Steenburgen, Thomas F. Wilson, Lea Thompson

The third and final movie of the movie series sees Marty (Fox) and Dr. Brown (Lloyd) travel back in time. Continuing from where the previous movie left off, Dr. Brown accidentally went back in time to 1885 instead of 1985 and finds himself between Indians and cowboys. When Marty learns of Dr. Browns plight, he goes back in time in order to save him, in spite of being warned against doing so. Marty finds himself meeting his ancestors and the notorious bandit, Buford 'Mad Dog' Tannen who is Biff Tannen's great-grandfather. Having finally found Dr. Brown, Marty wants to take him back to the current day but is unable to do so since the DeLorean is out of fuel and hence they need to figure another way of achieving the desired speed in order to travel to the future. The final movie brings a close to the hugely confusing story and all the constant time travel. Although the movie does not offer anything exceptional from the previous movies it is still an entertaining watch and manages to keep the same momentum as the earlier movies.  Unlike most movies where subsequent parts do not manage to live up to the charm of the first one, this movie is completely in-sync with the earlier ones and is just as entertaining. Had the movie actually had an interesting story, it might have been a tad better but it is not all that bad either.

Thumbs up: Good entertainer

Thumbs down: Needs an interesting story

Rating: 7.7/10

Shaadi Ke Side Effects (2014)

Genre: Comedy/Romance/Drama

Starring: Farhan Akhtar, Vidya Balan, Ram Kapoor, Ila Arun, Vir Das

A lot of jokes and stories have long been circulated on marriages and post-married life. With the success of Pyaar Ke Side Effects, the makers of the movie decided to extend the story from live-in relationships to post-marriage issues. Sid (Akhtar) and Trisha (Balan) are a happily married couple who do a lot of crazy stuff to keep their love life active. When Trisha accidentally becomes pregnant, she decides to keep the child and Sid gets talked into agreeing to it. Sid wanted to enjoy his life without a kid and spend more time with Trisha and feared how his life would evolve once he becomes a father. When the inevitable happens, Trisha becomes the typical mother who is always busy behind the child and pays little attention to Sid, who in turn starts feeling lonely and struggles to be a good father. The movie tries to narrate how an individuals life turns around over night and what used to be crazy love for each other, slowly dies away into becoming an obligation. Somehow this movie does not ring the right bells in spite of having a promising cast and a story that provides humongous scope for humour. Vidya Balan and Farhan Akhtar did do justice to their roles but the lack of good outright humour, which we saw in the previous movie, was entirely missing. A good movie to watch for just married urban couples but avoidable for everyone else.

Thumbs up: Good acting

Thumbs down: Story could be more interesting

Rating: 6.2/10