Ghajini: Movie Review

The Good:

• Did someone say Aamir Khan? I beg to differ. Well, the man deserves credit for his performance in parts. He carries of the suave business tycoon character with aplomb and delivers a polish performance there. And then he screams and grunts as a revenge thirsty man and that is when he lets down an ardent fan like me.
• Asin, the female lead, gives a short and breezy performance. She does well and the romance between Asin and Aamir was the part when I enjoyed the most in the movie.
• A.R. Rehman once again. A couple of songs are very good.
• Gawd, the bod. Aamir sure has worked hard on it and it shows.
  

The Bad:

• The story. Well aside from being predictable it is also saps your vital essential body fluids . The screenplay goes on and on for three and a half hours that leaves you gasping.
• The bad guy. Pradeep Rawat is not villainous enough. He looks like a sidekick. For an action film the villain had to be good. Mukesh Rishi would have fared better.
• Aamir Khan in a fit of anger. Either it does not suit him or he overdoes it. Seeing him seething in anger, gritting his teeth and practically growling didn't go down well. I'm still trying to forget that part.
• Short term memory loss. Well it was supposed to be "THE" new angle to an otherwise average revenge drama. The fact is it was not played out well. More specifically the character was not fleshed out properly. The way he dissects clues and the way he goes about hunting down the wrongdoers is left out with only scratchy details about his modus operandi.
• Jiah Khan. Gawd, the moment she came on screen I started to squirm in my seat. She has a bad hairdo, looks terrible and can't act.
  

The Ugly:

• Action. The fight sequences are run in semi fast forward mode which try to give it a slick feel. But it looks totally uncool. I've been dying for a decent action flick from bollywood but alas. Et tu Aamir.
• After three hours and fifteen minutes of near torture for me, the movie begins to end. The reason I say this is because Aamir sits on a bench, remembers Asin and they hold hands and a song plays slowly in the background and it goes on and on before the end credits. The camera pans on Aamir for what seemed like eternity and a friend commented this as narcissism. I had to agree.
  

Endnote
Avoid unless you are the one who has willed to be cremated with any Aamir Khan movie when you die

Bachna Ae Haseeno: Movie Review

The Good:

• The story. It is sensible although predictable. Right when you start to think that this would be a love triangle or quadrilateral when it turns out to be completely different. I do not know if the story is inspired from some other flick (foreign or domestic) but kudos to the writers
• Screenplay. Indeed one of the few movies which do not loose their bearing although the pace may vary over the course. The screenplay is good and keeps you interested.
• Ranbir Kapoor. Well he definitely looks good and there are no two ways of saying that. He does not overdo his stuff which is good. He might do well in future too.
• Bipasha Basu. For once I appreciated her act, really, she has outdone the others in the movie.
• The characters are developed well and are consistent over the course of the movie.
• Music is catchy with most of the tunes hummable and the title track is of course a golden oldy although remixed. Vishal Shekhar redeem some browny points.
• Locations. Well this has been the mainstay of YRF where foreign locales are used generously. This is no exception.
  

The Bad:

• I would have to say Deepika Padukone. She tries but comes out as a stiff act. She needs to loosen up a little. Whenever she comes on-screen it looks as if she running through her lines rather than acting through.
• The second half slips in the entertainment quotient.

The Ugly:

• None.
  

Endnote
Watchable affair with popcorn by your side to keep you busy in the second half.

Singh is Kinng: Movie Review

The Good:

• Hmmm... Let me think. Comedy was OK. Music was just about OK. Akshay Kumar was OK. Katrina looked good, again. The movie is well... below OK.
  
• There are a bunch of laughs sprinkled here and there. Akshay Kumar does his best with his brash sense of comedy as the punjabi jat (yet again..). For the most part the characters at least try hard to make the audience laugh.
• With rampant publicity across the world the business minds behind the movie did well to make up the cost of the movie and also rake in some profits.
• The title song is catchy with our desi female rapper Hard Kaur doing the jigs as well as vocals.

The Bad:

• Well apart from the title song, none of the songs pack a punch although the mould is punjabi bhangra which is fast catching up in bollywood movies. The music is a let down.
• Akshay Kumar is getting into this mould of a brash jat who has a knack of uttering sniggering punchlines. Well nothing wrong with that but I sincerely hope Akshay does not get stuck in this mould. He is a good actor and one of my favorites. The repetitive style is killing the jokes and the true fan following. Akshay sir, kuch action wagerah bhi ho jaaye.
• Screenplay. Well it moves like a old station wagon who has run out of steam. It jerks and burps and never settles on a thread long enough to hold your interest. In a race of who blinks first, between the audience or this screenplay, this screenplay looses.
• Too many side characters. It becomes difficult if you have to provide for everybody. Javed Jaffery comes and goes, Om puri is reduced to nothing in the second half and Sonu Sood had nothing much to do either. None of the supporing cast helps the cause.
• I went with high hopes and came back big headache. Some might argue that you should leave your brains home before watching such fare. I think the film posters should advertise this fact that "Brains not allowed".
  

The Ugly:

• Akshay Kumar everywhere in the frame, yet not being able to salvage the fare. He is practically in every frame of the movie.
• Om Puri's character elicited some laughs and promised more but unfortunately he was omitted out.
  

Endnote
Avoidable with a sigh for it could have been better.

The Dark Knight: Movie Review

The Good:

• JOKER. Hey, this guy is absolutely evil. The purest evil of them all. The character is intelligent, disgusting and has no morals at all. He'll go to any end if he is having fun. The character played by the Late Mr. Heath Ledger might be the best one that he has essayed so far. You take your eyes off Batman but not Joker.
• Some of the action sequences are stud in their class. This one is definitely notches above the first one.
• BATMOBILE. Hmmm, this is a new one. The 2-wheeler ride is an absolute stunner.
• The Direction. Nolan is good and he proves it yet again.
  
• The subplots. I would say there is just one involving Harvey Dent but that is nicely stitched into the main plot.
• The story. Well the story weaves and spins taking along its characters and developing them nicely on the way. The story has its twists and turns and leaves you guessing at times as to how would the next frame pan out. The screenplay is also done to the T.
• Realistic and not Comic. The last one and this offering also is more realistic and closer to what you and I would relate rather than the comic/artificial feel that the earlier Batman fares have been, except of course for the very first Batman.
• There has been much talk about how everybody falls in the morality quotient in this movie to do what they must. Well its true partly but overall its still good versus evil. Batman looses his cool and goes down to get Joker by hook or by crook and what if some laws are broken.
  

The Bad:

• Probably the length of the movie is a tad too long. This could be a bad or a good but seriously it does not matter.
• The end. Though justified by the plot, I had this craving for more action and a thrilling finale. It had all the makings and the setup but it simply did not come. Alas...
• Rachel. Well the actor playing Rachel is OK but Kate was much better.
  

The Ugly:

• None
  

Endnote
Watch it for sure with your black capers on... It's the Batman.

Jaane Tu ya Jaane Na: Movie Review

The Good:

• The cheerful mood, the youthful feel, the wonderful music, the as-a-matter-of-fact comedy, the witty dialogues, the romance, the freshness of the lead pair of actors, the innovative screenplay and much more.
• The performances by the actors was kind of balanced with everyone working within their limits. Neither Imran overdid nor Genelia and this was the hallmark of the movie.
• The fun in the first half is absolutely infectious to say the least. At least it gave me a sense of nostalgia.
• A couple of sub-plots thrown in which makes this affair more fun. The first one is the Naseer-Ratna Pathak trail and the second one if the Arbaz-Sohail khan waltz on the horses and the good part is that both these tie up to the main plot which is both entertaining and funny. Thumbs up.
• The music is uber-cool with rehman dishing out some good scores AGAIN. The music blends with the overall feel of the movie.
• The direction is good. Straight, no funny angles, no wasteful closeups.
• There are a host of guest appearances which makes this fair even better; Paresh Rawal, Naseeruddin Shah, Arbaz Khan, Sohail Khan & Rajat Kapoor.
  

The Bad:

• Well nothing much here except that the story was a no-brainer but the packaging of the movie sort of negates this aspect as well.
  

The Ugly:

• None
  

Endnote
Wow, Goody Goody. Lap it up. A worth watch.

Thoda Pyaar Thoda Magic: Movie Review

The Good:

• Well, the movie has something for the kids. The pranks, some shararat and the characterisations would make the kids happy.
  
• On the special effects front, there is not much to say but again a flick here and a swish there and the kids are giggling.
• The story is a simple one and told in a simple way with not too much complications. It seems that the moviemakers knew that they did not have much to play around with so they simply played it straight and simple.
  

The Bad:

• There are no performances to boast about. In fact Rani is at her effervescent best trying to lift the mood but in the early part of the movie she overacts a tad too much as the natkkhat pari. Saif has not much to do except brood and more-brood and later cry. Whoa.. man, whats with this crying of guys in movies nowdays. Its catching up like flu.
• The film tries a yo-yo between pranks by kids and healing magic by Rani but none of them are too convincing for the audiences.
  

The Ugly:

• Without doubt Amisha Patel. She is made out to be a bimbo without brains, clothes, dialogues and screen time just to mention to a few. The role is just the sort that some side actor would do because no-one else would touch it. I feel this is an all time low for Amisha who had a dream start in the Bollywood.
  

Endnote
Avoid at all costs. This is a movie for the kids with a bikni song by Amisha in which she dares to bare all... Eeeks... Gives me the jeepers.

Bhoothnath: Movie Review

The Good:

• The first half. You get to laugh and enjoy the innocent charm of the movie. The characters are lively and the movie seems promising. The Bhoot and kid conjure up fervent energy first up and you are welcomed to the party. Moreover
  
• The young kid Aman Siddiqi is promising, too bad he is not given too much of a leeway to break a leg. He is charming, cute and naughty.
• Juhi Chawla provides ample support to the story, cast and to the plot to some extent.
• Mr. Amitabh Bacan as Bhootnath. His getup is good and his chemistry with the kid Banku is crackling.
• Special Effects are really cool.
• In the initial sequences the art department did a fantastic job creating the eerie look and feel and the horror quotient was just enough to keep you interested. Even the kids would get hooked.
  

The Bad:

• The second half was a let down. The movie promised and failed to deliver. The plot meandered into emotional sub terrain when tear-jerking takes over the Universe and unfortunately Mr. FunPrank failed to save the Universe.
  
• Mr. Amitabh Bachan as Mr. Nath. I think it was the misplaced subplot that was responsible and even Mr. B could not revive it.
• Vishal Shekhar have two catchy tunes which might last a little while and the rest is again average.
• The screenplay which starts like a would-up toy motor car which races ahead, slows down and grinds to a halt.
  

The Ugly:

• The sub-plot responsible for Mr. B being a Bhoot. How I wish it would have been different.

Watch it for the first half, the second half if you have patience

The Forbidden Kingdom

The Good:

• Jackie Chan and Jet Li. I think I am seeing them together for the first time and that was a big big reason for me to go and watch this movie. I'm a fan of both of them. Jet Li is fast... real fast and he can give those deadly no-nonsense scares which only mean 'get away or get hurt'. The first time I saw him was in Lethal Weapon-4 and I became a fan. Jackie Chan is an entertainer and I love his histrionics. He nearly always plays the underdog who gets the girl in the end and gets to beat the bad guys with his pyrotechnics. Watch them both fight in a sequence midway in this movie. It is nicely choreographed.
  
• The attempt to create a near ancient fairytale story where there are humans and gods, evil and good.

The Bad:

• Story: You get inspired by 'Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon' and 'Lord of the Rings' and decide to create a nice mix of story. What a big let down! 'The divine shaft bearer passing though the gate of no-gate to take on the journey that he himself must take in order to return the shaft to the tomb of the monkey king to resurrect him in order to end the evil immortal king some blah blah.' This sounds so corny and predictable.
• Sub plots: Under developed most of the time. The love angle between the protagonist and his woman-at-arms (The Sparrow). The training of the protagonist. The love-hate relationship of Jackie Chan and Jet Li. All of them missing. It seems that the director wanted to rush through to the final sequence and be done with it.
  
• Fight Sequences: I think they have hired some of the best in the industry but the fight sequences are simply ordinary. The actors are much more capable. This might have been the only ray of hope for this movie but an opportunity lost.
  

The Ugly:

• Barring Jackie Chan who came up with cameos in between, there was a general lack of urgency in the acting department. Sometimes it felt like I was watching a TV show with bad characters spluttering their lines.
  

Watch only and only if you like Martial arts in whatever shoddy form it is served or if you are a fan of Jackie Chan or Jet Li.

Tashan

The Good:

• Akshay Kumar without doubt. I wonder what the movie would have been without his pyrotechnics. His acting is good. The goofy character that he plays has the meat to make you feel wanting for more. His comic timing is good and improving and the brawn is in full display if the need be so. This movie can only be watched because of him. The rest of the cast look sidekicks when he is around.
• Use of first person narratives interspersed in the movie. It is a kind of a refreshing change and prompts you about something different about to happen next.
• An attempt to portray a story where all the characters are crazy or half-crazy with some idiosyncrasy or the other, where the masala is not the story but the characters that play the story, where make-believe, phony and larger than life are meant to be and to be appreciated.
  

The Bad:

• Well almost most of it... the story.. the action.. the everything
• Action sequences were a dud. Sparing a couple from Akki baby the action was not too good. The use of never-emptying-machine-guns and inifito-magazino-pistols is not a something I liked. The camera shook violently to give a different feel to the action scenes but it was more of headache than enjoyment.
• Story, nothing really in it.
• Music: This is probably the worst by Vishal Shekhar. The music is jarring and tuneless. I think they have tried and experimented with a little bit of metal and hard rock for their title track but its...jarring.
• Saif again relegated as a sidekick.
  

The Ugly:

• Kareena Kapoor with a Figure Zero. She had a little to do except to show some oomph which she did and gawd... somebody feed her. I loved her in 'Jab We met' and hated her looks here.
• Anil Kapoor overacted most of the time. He had some moments of panache as the zany goon with a devil-may-care attitude but overall it was a waste.

Watch only if you are an Akki fan because the rest of it is all a big bad bakwaas.