Movie Review : Bumblebee

Rumble of Emotions!

Bumblebee

Who isn’t a sucker for Blue round Iris full of vivid Emotions? We all have treated our gadgets, cars, vehicles etc with lot of love and emotion. If ever they returned the favor? Who wouldn’t love to see their car’s mechanical face with big, blue eyes full of emotion reflecting the same love you hold for it? This prequel part of Transformers is all about the emotional connection and chemistry between a teenage girl and the first Transformer that landed on earth and how B-127 became Bumblebee.

Travis Knight the Oscar Nominated director for best Animation film sets the emotional tone for Bumblebee. The look and every shot of emotion is captured and executed to perfection. According to me this exceeds expectation to be the best among all the Transformer movies so far. Bumblebee will definitely give us the vibe of revisiting ET. We will learn why exactly the transformers landed on the planet earth and their planetary history reminds us of the Alien Superman and the destruction of its planet Krypton. Bumblebee is flawless synchronization among Emotions, Comedy and Action giving you a wholesome package and satisfaction of watching a complete movie the way it should be. It is all in the details. The story of Bumblebee the movie is set in the 80’s San Francisco where B-127 crash lands in the middle of military exercise led by secretive government agency and its commander Jack Burns (John Cena). Followed by the arrival of a deception pursuer intent on destroying Bumblebee, threatens to tip the movie over into the series of overindulgent action set pieces. Bumblebee escapes, and ends up losing its memory and ability of speech turns into a Beetle. Later a teenage girl Charlie played by (Hailee Steinfeld) from a dysfunctional American family mourning her father’s death finds it among car wreckage. She wanted a car that her mother couldn’t afford so she decides to repair the Beetle the way her father had taught her to.  Comically B-127 reveals itself that makes both Charlie and Bumblebee afraid of each other, only later to help each other emotionally as both try to adopt. In the process what entails are a series of hilarious, emotional and comic instances similar to that of ET. Knight has served the audience a gleeful movie with wit, warmth and whole bunch of heart. It’s a skillful shaping of what’s essentially a coming of age story for both Charlie and Bumblebee.

The filmmakers portrayal of Bumblebee as the mid-‘60s Volkswagen Beetle may seem like a strange choice, but this model was the character’s original configuration in early stages of the Transformers timeline before morphing into the more muscular Chevrolet Camaro in later movies.  Knight adequately incorporates the Beetle’s familiar, friendly shape into both rowdy action sequences and the more emotional dramatic scenes to form Bumblebee’s immediately recognizable secondary character.

But Bumblebee’s generally warm demeanor isn’t the prequel’s only appealing upgrade. Where earlier Transformer Movies often objectified its female characters, Bumblebee gives us a young woman who’s smart, vulnerable and nuanced. Some of the strokes in the story are stiff and the awkward shift into action pieces can be shaky but Bumblebee has such obvious fondness for its characters that those shortcomings can mostly be put aside. Who Knew underneath all mechanics and action this franchise cultivated a little heart?

Movie Review : Simmba

The Rise of Super Hero Cops!

Simmba

Indian Cinema has always been big on cop capabilities. Relentless, Dashing, Aviator flaunting non-cape crusaders are the Indian Cops. Rohit Shetty the Director with Simmba adds a “tadka” personality to this Super Hero cop who is little over the edge, bad boy, with a crazy bone among obvious traits like strong in action sequence, can deliver a “kadak” punch, emotional enough to care, and gives “tagda” speech.

Simmba a signature style Rohit Shetty film that has all the masala in it. Yet you are left with a question to Mr. Shetty where are the Cars flying scenes? Which is what Rohit Shetty loves showing in most of his movies. Personally, I was really looking forward to the car wreckage. May be the budget didn’t permit him this time. One is sure to find good hearty laugh and emotional drama with minimal super strong action sequence to give it the masala movie viewing experience. Ranveer Singh Played as Sangram Bhalerao Aka Simmba an orphan, is a corrupt ACP always creating opportunities to extract more and in style, as a funny quirky, singing, dancing, cheerful bad boy making his way into your hearts. He also has his typical lines that he delivers so perfectly like “Tell me something I don’t know” “Jey mala mahit nahin tey sanga”. There is no bigger delight than watching him in the first half and laughing at the sheer fun vibe that is Simmba.

Simmba through his good connections with the minister gets transferred to Mirmar Police station known to be a gold mine for corrupt officers. This is where he meets Sarah Ali Khan (Shagun) who plays his love interest. She is  the daughter of an encounter specialist Father. She is now an orphan running a catering service that supplies lunch dabbas to the cops at the Miramar police station. Like most movies where the hero is made to look larger than life the heroine has very little to do than to dress well, sing and dance.

The chemistry however is between Simmba and Ashutosh Rana (Nityanand Mohile) the head constable who is a lone non-corrupt hawaldar at Miramar Police station. They banter like the married couple each trying to influence the other with their theory on becoming corrupt. Mohile keeps refusing to honor his grade and pushes him to become righteous with his police duty. 

Aakruti Dave is a medical Student that teaches children in the evening outside the church in goa. Simmba considers her to be his little sister. The story changes when she dies of rape in pursuit of evidence that children were being used to transport drugs.This is when Simmba turns to likes of Singham  and stands up against the rapist brothers of  a drug mafia Villain (Durva Ranade) played by Sonu Sood. The entire second half is about him rising to the occasion getting justice for the father and doing the right for the greater good of the society. The real Singham that is Ajay Devgan specially appears to show how it’s done. He is the state appointed in charge for investigation of encountered Ranade Brothers by Simmba; suspects of rape and Murder of Aakruti. You will not want to miss out on this action sequence where Singham pulls out Simmba from a tough situation with Durva Ranade . In all it’s the making of the Cop super heroes in all its glory doing the right, and standing by the right. There are bouts of emotional drama to show how a corrupt cop turns into doing right. These scenes can make you count seconds to just get it over with. Emotional Drama is definitely a weakling in the story and not a strong forte of Rohit Shetty in an otherwise a pretty power packed film. There isn’t a dull moment in the entire first half for which this movie shouldn’t at all be missed and second half for Ajay Devgan.

Movie Review : Zero

Odds that Even out

Zero

What is confidence in life? Bauua played by Shah Rukh Khan will tell you. The world has changed from being underdogs to believers in exploring every thought and idea that pops to the head. Extremes tread on thin lines and so does Bauua a loud, eccentric, extremely confident with a tall ego and short height.

One thing to give out is that you will not fall short of enjoying the various facets of this character Bauua who keeps landing himself in to difficult situations on his own accord and gets out of it through his little rough charm. I have to give it to the director Anand L. Rai to bring out such rough around the edges characters in his movies. I simply can not imagine anyone other than Shah Rukh Khan playing this character, it is so him. The king of romance even with his short height weaves the magic we have always demanded in every one of his movies. This triangle  though, is so reverse from the last Yash Raj directorial (Jab Tak Hai Jaan). We have Anushka Sharma as scientist named Afiya with cerebral palsy stuck on a wheel chair, illustrating a very close resemblance to Stephen Hawking . Katrina Kaif plays Babita Kumari an actress jilted in love and unable to move forward. Anushka fails to sell her character whereas Kartrina woes us with her near perfect performance. Most intriguing aspect to Bauua and Alifiya falling in love with each other is their ability to joke on themselves and their disability or them being differently able. The story is about three odd characters damaged in their own ways eventually finding their balance for themselves and what they truly as individuals are.  The first half of the movie is completely signature style Anand L. Rai and keeps us glued to explore all the three characters and their odd traits. However, he chooses to flip these characters in the second half which is a stretched continuation of the story line. The film should have been a two hour affair and would have been precise with its story but looks forcibly extended.

The dialogues and self jibes are hilarious in the first half and seem little over the top in the second half. The characters that seem real in the first half develop super capabilities in the second half and tend to look a little out of place from logical progression stand point.  Yet, the build up from the first half of the story keeps you rooted to know the unfolding of the characters and their romance. The dialogues for the part of Katrina Kaif are the most interesting and well delivered. I liked the part where she narrates a very complex made up story about her parents, and the second instance where she drags Bauua out of her house by his collar, are extremely fresh and flawless scenes. So, for me Katrina is the show stopper for this film. 

Zero falls short to sizzle in our heads because the complexities and tangles become difficult to manage and entangle from. It is still a great effort at a story line of differently able, yet confident people making the same ordinary mistakes as our species normally do. I will therefore implore to watch Zero for a differently able perspective to romance and its shenanigans.

Movie Review: Badhai Ho

The Later’s Baby!

Badhai ho

As they say Love like Wine gets better with Age, so should the sex!  And Bam! We have rocking pregnant parents. The wonderful journey of this pregnancy is full of giggles, laughs and winks. There are no uncomfortable complications or scenes throughout the film, which makes it one of the best family time entertainment. Needless to say, there is subtle satire as well as hilarious bits of laughter. The society’s unacceptability of couples having sex, who have grown up children is tastefully ridiculed.

Badhai Ho is about lives disheveled over the pregnancy of a middle-class, middle-aged couple Jeetu (Gajraj Rao) his wife Priyamvada (Neena Gupta) living in in Lodhi Colony in Delhi with old aged typical mother (Surekha Sikri) and two grown up sons one appearing his board exams Gullar (Shardul Rana) and the other Nakul (Ayushmann Khurrana) working in an IT company having a girlfriend Renee (Sanya Malhotra) from a Delhi socialite widowed mother. The film unfolds his perspective to having pregnant Parents.

The acid-tongued mother in-law is the best acted part along with Neena Gupta and Gajraj Rao that do not deliver lecture lines but stay true to their character of this couple that has sheer chemistry even at middle age of life and can find love and solace in each other’s company. Two people who understand each other perfectly and can fit into each other’s life so well is a rarity in itself. The makers have chalked this relationship delicately and perfectly. Director Amit Sharma skillfully makes these complex characters and their entwined relationships understandable and relatable to the audience. That is a job well done!

It has everything that a typical Indian family mind set has with a mother in-law doting her son, picking up claims of incompetence in the daughter in-law. Two children who will feel embarrassed at the thought of their parents having sex with judgmental comments of the world to deal with. Add to this the drama at the wedding having the relatives with their short and bitter tongues give us the perfect masala for laughter.

The middle-class dysfunctional family with set core values ends up a perfect functional family at the end. The topic of late pregnancy and intimacy between middle-aged couples could not have been handled any better than this and when they come with messages in satire and comedy blended should not be missed.

  

Movie Review: First Man

Armstorming to Moon!

First Man

The tales of every successful and unsuccessful achiever intrigues the world over. It is simply human nature to be inquisitive about the shortcomings and struggles of those who succeed or fail in a Capital way. First Man as they rightly say is a story of Neil Armstrong the first man in the history of mankind to set foot on our Moon in 1969. The Film adaptation is based on his official Biography by James R. Hansen. At the center of all Space travel is this one thought of being there alone and lonely “What if I got there, got to the moon and couldn’t get back… I’m afraid to die alone, so far from home. And if there’s no God, then that’s really, really alone.” This sense of cosmic isolation echoes throughout a range of space movies. It now resurfaces in powerful form in First Man, Damien Chazelle’s real-life account of the 1969 moon landing, which turns a spectacular space-race adventure into a low-key study of grief.

The first scene is of Ryan Gosling playing Neil Armstrong almost skipping an experimental plane off into space finally landing it safely back. The film is all about his love for his dear daughter Karen who leaves him too soon at the age of 3 suffering from brain tumor, making him desire to leave the surly bonds of earth. when Nasa is trying to recruit trainee astronauts, he applies in hopes of a new beginning. Yet he is’nt able to wipe out Karen’s memory that haunts him throughout training and into his Apollo 11 mission – a vision of her hair running through his fingers recurring at key moments of crisis.

The direction and cinematography is so brilliant as one sees shots of Armstrong alone in the darkness of his house and same in space. Chazelle describes this tale as existing “between the moon and the kitchen sink.” he juxtaposes convincingly evoked Nasa sequences with back-garden scenes of beers and barbecues in which the moon glimmers distantly through the trees. Clare Foy who plays Janet Armstrong his wife is actually the real shine of the movie she plays the silent, smart wife-mother so well and her character is the one that struggles to keep the connection for Neil for the two worlds open as he seems to have closed the door for his family post the demise of his daughter. It is as if the space created in his heart is equivalent to the vast loneliness of space of universe and hence he is able to drift into the reality of this universal space as he feels within his heart. There are many emotional facets to Neil’s story as lots of sacrifice from other astronauts, deaths, accidents end up to finally a successful landing on the moon surface which was a huge race between USA and Russia back in those days.

The scenes of the space travel and moon landing are brilliantly picturized and will remind us of the movie Gravity, but First Man is more than a sci-fi movie, and lot about the struggle for the project to work successfully and lives involved with it. I will recommend to watch the film for the story of Neil Armstrong who I felt was lucky to have had succeeded over many others to successfully complete the first human Lunar mission.

Movie Review: Venom

Poison Cravings!

Venom

Why the world does not need a venom spewing alien superhero? Simply because this named Venom does not spew no venom! Duh! What were the makers thinking? Literally, logically why name an alien “Venom” that isn’t poisonous and rather feeds on other species? I mean look at the poster swirly and pointy tongue, far too many sharp teeth and eyes that make the letter "V", that is it. The creature looks more like the Alien from the movie “Alien Vs Predator.” The makers really wanted to play around with the concept of Good can be Evil, Evil can be Good so they created this illogical version of a superhero stemming out of the monstrous alien. They should have just shown the good-looking Tom Hardy as is and we would have accepted him as super hero and would have been happy watching him. With absence in logic to begin with Venom falls in the category of comedy movies to entertain yourself this year.

Few far fetched witty dialogues, page after page of borrowed action sequence and least bit of originality, the only thing that feels right is watching an alien as parasite hosted by Tom Hardy bounce around each other and their conversations in the head.

The lack of hope and love for humanity is the concept that has ruled in Hollywood for more than a decade now. They can’t do without  showing aliens living among  humans, so now they want to show aliens that dwell within humans. One would expect power packed, mind-boggling action sequences. All you will get are  the car and bike chases, which I found illogical as the Venom the alien was much faster on its own so why put him on any vehicle? There aren’t super fights between the good and the bad alien and this one fight only breaks out at the very end for a very short period. The alien says that he has started to like this human (Tom Hardy) but why the alien chose him and killed the other hosts is blurry and unclear. There are more questions than answers. The makers really need to visit how they want to unfold this story because I do anticipate a sequel.   

Venom with no venom can spew hilarious moments and Tom Hardy can bring across self-humor delightfully. It is a good time pass and you would come out of the hall happy and laughing.  I would recommend it for things to watch over the weekend after a bad week.

  

Movie Review: Andhadhun

Eccentric Connections!

Andhadhun

Frenzied tendencies or simply bold dark sides, whichever way you try to construe this saga it only keeps mind baffling. It's not a light watch but a guess what happens next kind of watch. You will wonder what would you do if placed in these situations. Will there ever be a dull moment? Nope! Andhadhun is truly the director’s artistic genius of his craft. Director Sriram Raghvan has his very peculiar style of storytelling that amalgamates music to the eccentric crimes in the movie. It is all a stylish display to your eyes.

Andhadhun has all its characters showing out their eccentric dark side when met with desperate situations. One keeps wondering of the actions we would take while facing circumstances if placed in the similar situation. Andhadhun is definitely not for light viewing though there are circumstantial humor bouts, the movie will still give you the heavy weight feeling. One is compelled to wonder the negative shades that humans can display in absence of choice and to survive under the most dreadful circumstances. The thriller with murders with not so much mystery is a clear entertainer. Every single shot is tightly choreographed to provide that perfect masala, yet it seems so easy and shocking at the same time.

The first half rolls on to us, it’s a fun enjoyable ride one after the other. The plot changes quite a bit in the second half with angles totally different. Every single character performance is perfect out of the text book so as to say, however the real deal is Tabu. I am mesmerized by her sheer ability to bring alive any shade the character wants to take. We surely need to see her more in our movies. Andhadhun definitely revolves around Akash played by Ayushmann Khurrana as this is his story and all the events that affect him. Radhika Apte has made her acting quite stereo type and is visible through out her roles.  

The retro songs along with pieces of Beethoven to showcase the most twisted parts is brilliant, it’s a different class altogether by Sriram Raghvan. When every single aspect of the story telling is going well there is hardly any reason left to not watch this saga. The end of the plot is left upon the audience to infer, so really it’s up to us on how twisted we want it to be. Watch Andhadhun for its dhun!