Killa

With all the Oscar noise right now, I decided to watch this movie. Many people think Killa should have been sent to the Oscars instead of Masaan. 

Killa is a Marathi movie and I managed to find a good copy with subtitles. 
It has been directed by Avinash Arun and stars Amruta Subash, Archit Deodhar, Parth Bhalerao, Gaurish Gawande and Atharva Upasni.

The Gift

I read good reviews online and we watched this flick on Friday night. I knew the movie was a thriller of some kind but didn't know if it was a ghost movie or not. 

The flick stars Jason Bateman, Rebecca Hall and Joel Edgerton. It has been written, produced and directed by Edgerton. 

The scariest part about the movie were the bunch of girls in the theater who would scream in anticipation of the action that never really happens. 
This is supposed to be a psychological thriller- whatever that means. 

Rahasya

I watched this movie on the flight yesterday. I had read decent reviews when it released. According to the promotions before it released, the movie was supposedly based on the Aarushi Talwar case. In fact, the Talwars had gone to court to stay its release. 

The movie stars Kay Kay Menon, Ashish Vidyarthi, Tisca Chopra, Mita Vasisht, Kunal Sharma, Ashwini Kalsekar and Sakshi Sem. 

Drishyam

I had the misfortune of watching this flick yesterday. I had read "ok ok" reviews online and didn't want to waste my money but KC was keen on watching it. So I downloaded it. 

The Bollywood movie is based on a Malayalam movie and is supposedly brilliant. No such luck in the Bollywood version. 

The flick has been directed by Nishikant Kamath and stars Ajay Devgan, Tabu and Shriya Saran in lead roles. They are supported by Rajat Kapoor, Ishita Dutta and Mrunal Jadhav. 

The Vatican Tapes

I watched this movie last night with my colleague. Don't ask me why we watched this one. It was the only one playing at a decent hour- after work but not too late. 
The movie stars Olivia Taylor Dudley, Dougray Scott, John Patrick Amedori and Michael Pena. 

Masaan

In the olden days, non-commercial or art movies were made with a social message. These days, they are made because of the following reasons:

• So a newbie director can be taken seriously. Fact is, the new guy will not be able to make a commercial movie with top stars so this is a good way to get some fame
• The top production houses are making movies with the stars. The content based movies get funded by Phantom films. Where does that leave other production houses? With movies like Masaan
• The movie is sent to one of the film festivals where it may or may not be appreciated. Who knows, right? For marketing, make the known face wear clothes by the top designer and promote it everywhere

Harud

I started watching this flick on the Junglee channel on youtube on Saturday but I was quite exhausted and fell asleep. I found time to watch the rest of it.
The movie stars Shahnawaz Bhat as Rafiq in a lead role and is co-written and directed by Aamir Bashir. Harud is Aamir's directorial debut. 

Guddu Rangeela

Few weeks back we wanted to watch this flick mainly because of Arshad Warsi and the song "Mata ka email aaya hai" but we didn't get time, thankfully. I downloaded the flick and watched it over the weekend. Ok, ok, I didn't really watch it. It played in the background while I was busy with something else. 

Rangeela (Arshad) and Guddu (Amit) are wedding singers who are informants for thieves. They give information about how much money families, at which they sing, have and the right time to steal. But they want to get rich so they take up the job of kidnapping Baby (Aditi Rao Hydari) who is the niece of Ronit Roy- a local goon and politician. 

There is so much going on that am not sure which bit to talk about:
- Baby's sister was killed by Ronit Roy and she is out to get revenge from him. She has taped him having sex with other women. The evidence could destroy his career as a politician.
- Rangeela's girlfriend was from an upper caste while Rangeela is from lower caste. They cannot get married because of all the opposition. I think Rangeela even thinks she is dead and finds out in the end she is not. The main person to oppose them was Ronit Roy.
- There is a lot of fighting in the end. Even though the cops and the government is supporting Ronit Roy, Guddu and Rangeela manage to annihilate him

Avoid this flick. The story is not new. Sure, the director- Subhash Kapoor, tried to have a rustic setting and all, but it doesn't work. Terrible flick. Arshad Warsi is good. So is Aditi. Amit Sadh needs to up his game. Ronit Roy is fabulous as always.

Dil Dhadakne Do

I cannot believe I have to review this flick. It is bad enough I had to watch it.

Dil Dhadakne Do = Sooraj Barjatya + Karan Johar

That's it. That is the review because the movie sucks. To paraphrase from Orange is the new black, if shit was constipated and it took a dump... that shit would be called Dil Dhadakne Do. I know it makes no sense, that is why we have imagination.

Amit Sahni ki List

I watched the flick on the flight. It rang a bell because I had heard of the movie somewhere.

The flick is about an investment banker Amit Sahni played by Vir Das who has a painful breakup as a teenager. He makes a list of characteristics he wants in his woman and sets off to find the perfect woman.

Tanu Weds Manu

I didn't remember much about this movie and decided to watch it yesterday. The sequel would make more sense if I refreshed the memories about the first one.

The movie is directed by Anand L. Rai and stars Kangana Ranaut, R. Madhavan, Deepak Dobriyal, Swara Bhaskar, Jimmy Shergill, and Eijaz Khan. 

I started watching it and all the memories of hating this flick came back to me. It is a surprise I liked the sequel considering how shoddy this one is. 

Aashayein

Many people had recommended this Naagesh Kukunoor movie on fb few weeks back and I managed to watch few days back.

The movie stars John Abraham, Sonal Sehgal, Farida Jalal, Girish Karnad and Anaitha Nair. 

American Sniper

I watched 2 movies today- Roy and American Sniper and though I would like this post to be at the top am reviewing it first because I have too many thoughts I need to write down.

The flick was highly recommended by an acquaintance and I downloaded it without knowing what it is about. Of course, the word sniper means it is a war movie. So I could watch it along with KC since he is into such movies. But I realized he likes movies like 'Border' which have some happy ending, songs, melodrama. Everytime I hear 'Border' KC's mimicry of Suniel Shetty or Sunny Deol from the movies reverberates in my ears. Yep, he is good at mimicking people... but it's not funny to hear 'Major Veerbhan Singh' in Sunny Deol like voice.

Baby

Despite bro's warnings against this flick, I watched it last night. I had already downloaded it, if it was THAT bad I would just turn it off after 15 mins.

I didn't give the flick all the attention it needs because I wanted to catch up on all the magazines of this month. Also, Cosmopolitan had an interesting article '18 signs you're with the man you should marry'. How could I not read it? 

The Shaukeens

After the mind numbing Foxcatcher I decided to watch something light. The Shaukeens had varied reviews when it released. Some liked it, others didn't.
This flick is a remake of an old movie called 'Shaukeen'. Very original, isn't it?

The movie stars Annu Kapoor, Anupam Kher, Piyush Mishra, Lisa Hayden, Akshay Kumar and Cyrus Broacha. 

Dolly Ki Doli

After the fiasco that was Khoobsurat I had decided that never to watch a Sonam Kapoor movie in the theatre again. She is so damn fake... even more fake than Aishwarya.
I was happy to find a decent copy online. How cool is it that copies online are available on the same day as the release!!! Money and time saved.

*spoilers ahead*

Hunger Games : Mockingjay Part 1

For people who have not read the books, the series is all about the 'hunger games' but for those, like me, who have read the books it is about the revolution.
Quite a few people were disappointed when they watched the 2nd part which had very little of the hunger games. That's what I thought the initial bad reviews were all about- people who didn't understand what the story is all about and only want to see the games. But when I couldn't find even 1 good review I decided to skip it in the theatre and wait for a good online print. The print wasn't great but it was watchable.

Edge of Tomorrow

I read some good reviews on twitter and decided to watch this one today. It isn't the kind of movie I watch in the theatre since it is the action genre and all. Action movies are so boring. 

PK

I am up at 2 am writing this review so I can save some lives, money and time. Please do not make the mistake I did... specially not at increased ticket prices. 
Let me start by saying that I have not liked Rajkumar Hirani movies. I thought 3 idiots was stupid... it made Chetan Bhagat's book seem so much better. I walked out of Lage Raho Munnabhai because I couldn't tolerate the sentimental shit and watched the 2nd part on TV. 
I didn't know what to think about PK but all the hype around it drowned my sceptical thoughts. Lesson learned in 2014- good movies usually come without the hype. Example, Queen. It is still my top movie of 2014.

Sulemani Keeda

Lesson learned today: Always... always... always rely on Anupama Chopra's reviews on her youtube channel Film Companion. They are the most authentic and genuine reviews. 
I watched this movie despite her 2.5 stars and regret it.