Skyfall (English)

Bond is Back!! Or that's what we have been made to believe. 'Skyfall' or Bond 23 is being touted as the best James Bond movie ever. But to the purists among Bond fans, this would come across as a dull, conversational flick with occasional bursts of action sequences and the humming of the classic James Bond tune.

The pre-title sequence starts with the trail of a stolen hard drive in a Turkish town, that culminates in a first-fight atop a train, as seen in the trailers. Oh yes, this was supposed to be filmed in India, but didn't happen because the requisite permissions weren't given! At the end of the sequence, Bond is shot and an obituary is written.

Although the start seemed promising, the film goes downhill afterwards. It turns up that the hard disk has the names of secret agents operating in the middle east; remember 'Mission Impossible' anyone? After hearing news of an attack on MI6 headquarters, Bond returns from playing dead to find the bad guy and recover the list.

The bad guy, as it turns out is a hacker; Oh, when James Bond had to come out of the cold war era and appear modern, are computers and hacking the only convenient way to show modernity? What happened to the built up in the previous two Craig movies that dealt with serious themes like terror funding and natural resource monopoly.

While it is tempting to write more about the plot holes, I'm holding short only because those of you who are still keen to see the movie don't get to know how it's going to end. But, all that can be said of 'Skyfall' is that it is hardly a James Bond movie.

Anyone who is familiar with the 20-odd moves made in the Sean Connery to Pierce Brosnan era would agree that Daniel Craig's avatar as Bond is different from the rest. Craig seems more like a street thug in a tuxedo and lacks style and humor. Whatever happened to all those famous one-liners that bond is known for?

Another quintessential missing element is gadgetry from the Q-department. This time, all that he gets is a gun that responds only to his palm-prints and a radio transmitter. The phone that Bond uses looks lousy too. But yeah, it was interesting to see the return of the famous Aston Martin DB5 that first appeared in Goldfinger.

Skyfall has very little role for its lead ladies, Naomie Harris who is shown in the trailers to be taking a shot at 007, plays a fellow agent and Bérénice Marlohe is a woman who gets him to the villain looks exotic but hardly has a few minutes of screen time.

There is nothing exciting on locations either. A major portion of the film is shot indoors and underground including caves, tunnels, or old houses. However, two shots stand out. One, Shanghai skyline at night and two, the deserted island lair of the villain, which is actually an abandoned coal mining colony off the coast of Nagasaki.

The film scores for some extraordinary stunts. The bike chase on the rooftops of the grand bazaar in Istanbul, the train-top sequence and the one involving the London Tube. Bond films are usually good with their camera-work and Skyfall is no less. The overhead shots of Scotland stand out. But there isn't enough for action junkies either.

The other plus is some good acting. Daniel Craig lacks the looks and isn't a suave Bond, but is a good actor. Judy Dench and Ralph Fiennes deliver some good performances. The Academy Award winner Javier Bardem plays a good villain. And this time, James Blond, err Bond and his enemy are both Blonds.

The film's release marks 50 years from the date of the first Bond film, 'Dr No' that starred the legendary Sean Connery. This will be the last film where Judi Dench plays 'M'. If this was a farewell movie for her as it seemed from its plot, then it's an apparently a bad and boring idea. Hope they turn up with a better movie next time!

Rating 5/10: Scores for stunts & acting, fails with its plot

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Dabbanng 2 (Hindi)

Dabangg 2 is another one among the many of the south-style flicks that are raking in the big bucks these days in Bollywood. Specifically the genre is Telugu-Tamil mainstream style which is usually about unrestrained machismo, a homely looking damsel in distress, some Newton-defying stunts and an odd item number.

Per se, I'd avoided the first 'Dabangg', presuming it to be a mindless film. But, this one happened more because it was with a large group, where any movie becomes bearable. After all, one goes to movies like these expecting absolute garbage.

So, the movie is about the Robin Hood Cop, Chulbul Pandey (Salman Khan) who has now taken a transfer to the big city, Kanpur. There, he runs into the local goon and politico Bachcha Bhaiya (Prakah Raj). One thing leads to another and Chulbul kills Bachcha's brother who has threatened a local girl, sending these two on a warpath.

Chulbul's wife Rajjo (Sonakshi Sinha) is now pregnant and his well wishers, including his perpetually hungry foodie boss (Manoj Pahwa) convince him not to engage in a tiff with Bachcha Bhaiyya as he is now a family man and has lot to lose. But, Chulbul can't be talked out of it so easily. When Bachcha hits it below the belt, Chulbul vows revenge which forms the rest of the story. How these movies end is an easy guess!

Talking about Acting, Salman Khan still can't act and director Arbaaz sleepwalks in his role as Chulbul's brother Makkhi. And all that Sonakshi Sinha had to do was to look homely. And then, what's the obsession with Prakash Raj as the villain? As good an actor that he may be, it has become too tiresome actually!!

What sucks is its woeful editing, one scene cuts from the other suddenly. Seems like a hurriedly packed up jumble of scenes placed in the following order: there is a joke, followed by a stunt, followed by a song; and the cycle repeats over and over.

The much talked about item song 'Fevicol Se' has Kareena Kapoor gyrating to some desi beats and hinglish lyrics. But, it lacks the zing that 'Munni Badnaam' had created in the earlier Dabangg. But, silly as it may be, the song stays in your mind.

In short, Dabangg 2 is a film that you can watch if you leave your brain in the car park, not expecting the least bit of logic from it. If the current trend is to be believed, the day is not far when there will be hardly any difference between Telugu-Tamil movies and Bollywood flicks, barring language and the lead star hailing from the Hindi belt.

As such, Salman Khan's name is enough to draw crowds. So, the mantra seems to be: 'who cares about logic as long as people laugh & producers make fast buck!!'

Rating 4/10: Crass movie, but doesn't give you a headache!

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Ek Thi Daayan (Hindi)

For an audience that has gotten used to spooky flicks that range from scary to sorcery, flying ghosts, witches, sudden shock element, etc., it is incredibly tough to come up with something new. This is especially true of Bollywood that has seen an overdose of Ram Gopal Verma flicks. Amidst all the gloom comes a refreshing ‘Ek Thi Daayan’ with a gripping story, although the climax goes tad haywire.

Magician Bobo (Emraan Hashmi) is a successful magician who suddenly is being troubled by strange visions. When hypnotized, it is revealed that he holds a dark secret to how his sister and father died and the story being the spooky elevator in the building where he lived as a child. The more he seems to dig into the past to unearth its antecedents, the deeper he gets into the mystic world. Not any more should be revealed about the story because it is a worthy suspense.

The first thing I did after watching ‘Ek Thi Daayan’ was to Google out the difference between a ‘Chudail’ and a ‘Daayan’. As it turns out from a random web page, a ‘Chudail’ is an ugly demon that emerges when a woman dies during childbirth and lives in remote areas. A ‘Daayan’ is a beautiful enchantress that has become one on account of harassment during her lifetime and therefore attacks men and usually lives in urban areas. Whoa, who could ever guess that!!

Some of its songs are impressive. The best of those is ‘Yaaram’ that’s performed at the housewarming hosted by Lisa, followed by the eerie ‘Lautungi Main’ but Punjabi flavored ‘Totey Ud Gaye’ sounds lame. A few more impressive numbers could have carried ‘Ek Thi Daayan’ even further.

The choice of locations is impressive. The opening scenes are filmed at Gurgaon’s “Kingdom of Dreams” which stages an extravaganza of sound and light with impressive transitions, a must see for those visiting the region. The locations for the eerie home and the lift are neat too. The hypnotic background in the psychiatrist’s office is an interesting piece of décor and serves as a backdrop to some key scenes.

Talking about acting performances, Emraan Hashmi does what is best at. It’s amazing that despite such type-cast roles and similar performance in all films, his movies still work well at the Box Office. But, Konkona is the better actor in this film. Kalki and Huma Qureishi also do reasonably well.

The Verdict: Unfortunately, not much of the story can be discussed in a review without revealing a bit of the suspense. So, if you want to know what it is, it is better to catch it while it is still in the cinema halls. This is surely not a movie that you could wait till it comes on TV. Although one shouldn’t watch it with exalted hopes, since it fizzles out towards the end, you wouldn’t regret watching it at all.

Rating 6/10: New kind of thriller with a couple of nice songs

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Silver Linings Playbook (English)

Silver Linings Playbook, adapted from a novel of the same name by Mathew Quick drew acclaim and 8 Academy Award nominations. it is also the first film in 31 years to be nominated in all four acting categories. While all the performances were top-notch, Jennifer Lawrence won the Best Actress Oscar. All this is alluring enough to make a movie buff watch the film. And it turns out to be totally worthwhile.

Pat/ Patrizio Solitano Jr. (Bradley Cooper) is released into the care of his parents after having spent a while at a mental health institution. Although under treatment for Bipolar Disorder, he detests pills and has a hard time dealing with the fact that his wife Nikki has now moved on after an episode when Pat beat up her paramour in fit of rage and he faces a restraining order from her and the school where he used to work.

Ronnie, a friend of Pat's invites him over to his place for dinner, where he meets his sister-in-law Tiffany Maxwell (Jennifer Lawrence) who recently lost her husband and has her own share of psychological issues which manifests in the fact that the whole town seems to know for her freewheeling promiscuity. Oddly though, both hit of well over a conversation about the medication they have been on and bond well thereafter.

The best written parts in the story are the conversations between Pat and Tiffany, in what can be described as 'no holds barred'. There's a time when Pat says "I don’t have a filter when I talk", which essentially describes their condition and bonding over the fact that they don't have to pretend with one another, unlike the rest of the society.

And among the most hilarious instances is when Tiffany chases Pat,

he tells her "I'm married" to which she says "So am I",

Pat: "But, your husband is dead", Tiffany: "where's your wife?", Pat: "You're crazy?"

Tiffany "I'm not the one who just got out of that hospital in Baltimore"

The other characters, Pat's parents Patrizio Sr (Robert De Niro) who is probably as 'differently wired' as his son, Pat's mother (Jacki Weaver), his humorous friend from the Baltimore institution Danny (Chris Tucker) and therapist Dr Patel (Anupam Kher) also manage to leave their mark as the film allows these characters to take lives of their own without getting into unnecessary details or sub-plots.

Strong script, Yes! But the film also draws its strength from powerful performances. Bradley cooper is very convincing as the man on recovery mode, taking to fitness. Tiffany as the girl who found a socially unacceptable way to deal with her loss, De Niro as the gambling addict and Anupam Kher, a serious therapist who turns out to be a crazy Eagles fan. Chris Tucker is a great addition to the film despite the small role.

Well, what does the title actually refer to? The silver lining is driven by the strong belief that Pat has in happy endings. His feelings are evident in an animated conversation that Pat has with his parents in the wee hours debating on why in one of Hemingway's books does the story has to end with somebody's death. He is driven by the principle 'Excelsior', the latin word for 'ever upwards' which he keenly lives by.

Some pitfalls in the movie could be that the romance in the story is very predictable and that may not have ended in any other way. Generally, that is true for most romances that thrive on culminating in happy endings. Another is question on whether or not this role of Bradley Cooper is an accurate portrayal of Bipolar Disorder or not. And then the obsession of De Niro's character on betting all his money over superstition.

The verdict: The Oscar nominated movie 'Silver Linings Playbook' is definitely worth a watch for the skilful writing and humor brought out in the oddest of circumstances. While the movie is careful enough not to poke fun of any mental condition, those that have reservations about its portrayal on screen, could better stay away.

Rating 8/10: Deliciously funny script despite being a predictable romance

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Special Chhabbis (Hindi)

In the recent past, Akshay Kumar has mostly been seen in comic flicks, barring the odd stunt-based brain-dead crass films like Rowdy Rathore. Amidst all this, 'Special Chabbis' comes as a welcome break with director Neeraj Pandey delivering yet another gem after his much acclaimed 'A Wednesday'.

The film is inspired by the real life 1987 Tribuvandas Bhimji Zaveri Jewel heist where a middle-aged conman had posed as an Income Tax Officer staging a raid with 28 'newly recruited' officers who were told that they were doing a mock-raid as a part of their training. The thief, who called himself Monsingh disappeared with the Jewellery and was never caught. To date, this is said to be an 'unsolved mystery'.

While picturizing a single event would have looked like a documentary, the writers have added more meat to the film through events and developing each of the key characters, presenting most aspects of their lives, love interests, family, etc., Sure, the storytelling has repeated shots of people walking or driving for dramatic effect, which gets tiresome after a point. But then, the story doesn't lose pace.

The first scene shows a walk-in interview to recruit CBI Officers. Cut to flashback, Ajay Singh (Akshay Kumar), PK Sharma (Anupam Kher) along with Joginer & Iqubal are seen raiding a Minister's house in Delhi assisted by a cop Ranvir Singh (Jimmy Shergill). After they have recovered lakhs, it is revealed that the four men posing as CBI officers are actually fakes. The four soon disappear into the crowd with the loot.

Fearing loss of face, the minister refuses to lodge a complaint, much like most of their earlier victims. It is revealed that the conmen use the fear of law to loot black money whose owners would never want the public to know that they had it in the first place. Soon, the news of the loot reaches the real CBI where Wasim Khan (Manoj Bajpai) is tasked with finding them. He is helped by the now-suspended cop Ranbir Singh.

What follows is a very interesting chase across cities, peppered with the right dose of comic lines delivered at the right time. In a way, the movie reminds you of Tom Hanks, Leonardo DiCaprio starrer 'Catch Me If You Can' and the famous 'Ocean' series and packs in adequate drama. Although many Bollywood filmmakers have heist flicks before, only a rare few could get the formula right and 'Special Chabbis' is a good one!

Some may argue that the film surely has a moral dilemma angle to it. One, that it makes heroes out of conmen. But the other argument would be that the people they robbed were bad anyway. The weakest link is probably the love track which rather delays the film, and some repeated footage that could've been avoided.

On acting, the best among them is Anupam Kher who plays the greedy old man, which is closely followed by a predictably good performer in Manoj Bajpai and Akshay Kumar demonstrating that he hasn't forgotten acting. Kajal Aggarwal, as Akshay Kumar's love interest, at best is a pretty distraction and hardly has much to do. Jimmy Shergill as the cop and Divya Dutta who plays his assistant perfectly fit their roles too.

The single biggest achievement in the film, is its production design: portrayal of 1980's India with traffic free roads, no cell phones, no modern cars, etc. And this had to be repeated for all the cities that the story is depicted in. The best of such scenes is an overhead shot of Delhi's Connaught Place which zooms down to Manoj Bajpai riding a scooter. There are some other scenes that are tacky, but can be pardoned.

Take my advice and don't wait for it to come on TV. With tons of advertisements to interrupt the show, the chase drama would lose its charm. For all the good screenplay, intelligent dialog, occasional humor and some twists, make sure that you don't miss 'Special Chabbis', what many believe is the Indian answer to Ocean's series!

Rating 8/10: Heist movies have come of age in Bollywood!

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Iron Man 3

After Batman, Iron-Man is probably the coolest one among super-heroes not just because the suits and gadgets, but because of the attitude with which they carry on their tasks of being vigilantes. Incidentally, the films made on them in this decade have had intriguing villains and have been enormously successful and have been visually stunning. Super-heroes and all the swashbuckling action is here to stay!

In the third edition of 'Iron-Man', the focus is mostly on Tony Stark rather than the antics his suit can perform. It's more an effort to portray that Iron Man is more about him rather than the suit. To that extent, they have succeeded but, as a result, the movie seems rather bland as compared to the stylized effects we'd previously seen.

The film flashes back to Switzerland to the New Year's celebration at the turn of the Millennium where Stark (Robert Downey Jr) is busy hanging out with botanist Maya Hansen (Rebecca Hall) that  he ignores a crippled scientist Aldrich Killian (Guy Pearce). An unexplained blast briefly disturbs their night; but this is soon forgotten.

Cut to present day, America seems to be haunted by a new villain who calls himself the Mandarin (Ben Kingsley) claiming responsibility for blasts that seem to be occurring just about anywhere. And, a new version of Killian, now well built and suave approaches Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) at Stark Industries seeking a partnership to advance his genetic technology called Extremis, which she refuses.

A turn of events leads to Tony Stark challenging the Mandarin to a fight, at his home, to which the villain promptly responds by destroying it. Stark and Potts barely survive the attack and the former now seeks to get to the bottom of this.

Some spoilers; we are told that the genetically modified bodies heat up to three thousand degrees before blowing up. And while everything around them is vaporized, their clothes are only slightly tattered. Fire resistant clothing, huh? And there is no real clarity on what can actually destroy the genetically modified villains.

The most annoyingly boring scenes include those in Tennessee. Did Stark really have to go there? And what was so significant in that file that he tries to retrieve? And what was that precocious kid doing out there, all by himself! If at all an Indian film maker came up stuff like this, the audience and critics would have ripped it apart.

Putting this aside, the visuals effects are spectacular. If Iron-Man 2 sported a suit that comes out of a briefcase, Iron-Man 3 has a Mark 42 suit whose parts are programmed to remotely fly down towards him and get attached to Stark. Also in the movie is Colonel Rhodes' War Machine branded as Iron Patriot in Red-Blue-White.

The villain is menacing and makes Iron-Man's life difficult. He is not only physically strong but is also smart enough to be manipulative. Nothing more can be disclosed in a review without disclosing the details. Just one mention; since the villain is named the Mandarin, he is shown sporting Chinese tattoos and also breathes fire.

Acting performance is on par with the previous versions with Downey Jr, Paltrow and Don Cheadle reprising their roles. Guy Pearce and Ben Kingsley do well in their respective roles while Rebecca Hall didn't have enough screen time. Some info, Gwyneth Paltrow actually has six-pack abs. How cool is that!

The Verdict: Okay, granted that it has some failings and does get boring in parts; but the sheer star-power of Robert Downey Jr and some cool action keeps it alive. The post-credit scene also shows Stark meeting up with Dr Bruce Banner a.k.a Hulk. Is an Avengers movie lined up? Never mind what's in the pipeline; watch 'Iron-Man 3'.

Rating 7/10: Not overwhelming but entertaining enough

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Shootout at Wadala (Hindi)

Sanjay Gupta and Balaji Telefilms are back with another Shootout. After their 2007 film that was based on an incident of 1991 that took place in Lokhandwala, this time, they portray the 1982 killing of gangster Manya Surve. An incident which is known as the first ever 'encounter' by Mumbai Police, which triggered a series of them.

Based on the book 'Dongri to Dubai', the film tries to bridge between fiction and real life incidents and attempts to make it as real as possible. However, barring the lead character, the rest of the names have been changed for obvious reasons! Also, since the title itself reveals what the movie is all about, there is no suspense there.

The story starts off with a scene in Kirti College, Mumbai where a studious Manohar Surve (John Abraham) is writing his exam paper and refuses to show his paper to his girlfriend and classmate Vidya (Kangana Ranaut), thus establishing him as an honest-to-the-core character. He is keen to avoid the murky past of his father and his step-brother and seeks to make an honest living after completing his studies.

However, a freak incident changes it all and Manya is falsely implicated in a murder case along with his step-brother who actually committed it. With dreams shattered, and a hard time in prison, he bulks up, learns to fight and Manohar turns into Manya. While serving his sentence, he teams up with a fellow convict Sheikh Munir (Tusshar Kapoor) and the duo stage an escape after having done time of around nine years.

Manya returns to the Mumbai and seeks employment with the Haksar brothers Zubair (Manoj Bajpai) and Dilawar (Sonu Sood) who are seen as a challenging force to the Pathans. When he is denied entry, Manya decides to form his own gang and challenge them to the supremacy towards proclaiming himself as the 'Baap' of the city.

On the side, his love tale also evolves, since Vidya is now a widow and the couple rekindle their romance. And this eventually proves to be his Achillies heel when a cop Afaaque Baaghran (Anil Kapoor) along with his colleagues Tambat (Ronit Roy) and Shinde (Mahesh Manjerekar) chooses to eliminate Surve and his likes.

The movie attempts to portray the dark days of Mumbai when gangs ran the show and how an innocent college lad turned into a fearsome goon, thanks to the pathetic justice delivery mechanism and the corrupt establishment. The story shows how cops wait on the sidelines as one gang tries to eliminate the other. And when it comes to picking a target for an encounter, they obviously pick the easier one.

What stands out in the film are some good performances. John Abraham looks the part as the goon who was once held the title of 'Mumbai Shree' as a professional Bodybuilder and delivers an honest performance. Manoj Bajpai does well as usual while Sonu Sood delivers a powerful performance. Anil Kapoor is good enough too.

Among other actors, Kangana Ranaut readily fits the bill of the 70's and 80's look and acts reasonably well. Tusshar Kapoor does ok and his character does bring out occasional laughs. Shakti Kapoor's son Siddhant makes his debut as one of Manya's gangsters. Bollywood's noted yesteryear villain Ranjeet, who was last seen in Housefull 2, makes an appearance as Bhaskar Dada, who has a skirmish with Manya.

The songs aren't memorable, except that they are played repeated on television. The oft repeated ones are its three item numbers, one each by Sunny Leone in 'Laila', Priyanka Chopra in 'Babli Badmaash' and Sophie Chaudhary in 'Aala Re Aala'. Well well, no prizes for guessing which of these three is better!

Verdict: When a movie has good acting and item songs, and yes, dialog loaded with swear words, there is a tendency of such movies to gravitate towards mass appeal. Nonetheless, for all that it offers, 'Shootout at Wadala' is a decent watch. But, those of you who detest gory violence are better off staying away.

Rating 6/10: Typical gangster tale, for mass entertainment

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