Blog | Amodini's Movie Reviews - Part 47Amodini's Movie Reviews | Movie Reviews by Year, Genre and Rating

Movie Review : Gori Teri Pyaar Mein (2013)

Posted on April 2, 2014 by amodini

Rating : Below Average (1.5/5)
Genre : Romance
Year : 2013
Running time : 2 hours 30 minutes
Director : Punit Malhotra
Cast : Imran Khan, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Shraddha Kapoor, Anupam Kher
Kidwise : G

Another silly-fest from director Malhotra (remember I Hate Luv Storys?). Here are the bare bones :

Sriram Venkat is the un-reverential, relatively uncultured, black sheep of a traditional Tamilian family. When his parents try to arrange a match between him and lovely Vasudha Natarajan (Shraddha Kapoor) Shriram recounts a past love tale to Vasudha, who doesn’t seem all that keen to marry him either. Anyway, the love tale is of lovely Dia Sharma (Kareena) a feisty, justice-wanting activist. The two Sriram and Dia tangle for a bit and break up. When talking to Vasudha, Sriram realizes that Dia actually is the girl for him. But she seems to have disappeared and even if he could track her down, would she have him?

What happens next isn’t all that interesting. Yawn! This is such a jaded, been-there-seen-that film! Kareena Kapoor makes a very unsatisfactory feminist – she might spout all those dialogues on wanting justice and equality for all, but she sees nary a problem when daddy wants to question the bf on how he will “maintain” her lifestyle. Like she’s a cow wanting a warm cowshed. Plus, when push comes to shove, Ms. Activist is content to have lover-boy do all the work (as seen in the second half) – she’s the activist, he’s just dabbling, shouldn’t she want to be in it, front and center? And the cherry on top is her song about the “naughty, naughty tooh”. Excuse me while I barf!

Shraddha Kapoor is cute in her little role. Anupam Kher is reduced to a caricature. The less said about hero Khan, the better. Songs are mediocre. The story is as weak as a new sapling in winter.

This was a majorly problematic film. Yes, it did work in little snippets like those of the traditional Tamilian family and their wayward son. But the characters were so inconsistent – happy and type-A when there was a peppy dance number in the background, and just blah and twitchy otherwise.

Yes, a full 2.5 hours of my life I’ll never get back.

Kidwise : Non-scarring for the kiddos.

Posted in 2013, 2014, bollywood, rating-G, romance | Comments Off

The Music of Little White Lies

Posted on March 28, 2014 by amodini

[amazon_link id=”B00BB8XEJY” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ][/amazon_link]I saw “Little White Lies (Les petits mouchoirs)” on Netflix because it starred Marion Cotillard, Francois Cluzet and Giles Lellouche, 3 French actors (although Cotillard has made forays into English movies too) whose movies I’m familiar with. The film turned out to be great, as I’ve said here. The soundtrack is very good too. Amazingly all the songs in this film are English, even the one song actually physically sung by a French singer in the film. Why do French films have English music? I do not know, but I did enjoy it very much.

My favorite of the lot is the vocal by Maxim Nucci “Talk to me”:

And here are the rest :

Posted in 2014, All Netflix, drama, foreign, french, music, outstanding, recommended | Comments Off

Movie Preview : Revolver Rani (Releases 25th April 2014)

Posted on March 25, 2014 by amodini

2014 will be Kangana Ranaut’s year. Hot on the heels of Queen’s success, comes another Kangana starrer. Let’s hope it’s as good.

Posted in 2014, bollywood, drama, Previews | Comments Off

Movie Review : Shaadi Ke Side Effects (2014)

Posted on March 21, 2014 by amodini

Rating : Average (3/5)
Genre : Drama
Year : 2014
Running time : 2 hours 25 minutes
Director : Saket Chaudhary
Cast : Farhan Akhtar, Vidya Balan, Ram Kapoor, Gautami Kapoor, Vir Das, Rati Agnihotri, Ila Arun, Purab Kohli
Kidwise : PG-13

Sid (Akhtar) and Trisha (Balan) are very much in love. A baby comes quickly after marriage. Working woman Trisha quits her job because she wants to stay home with baby, which leaves musician Sid to bring in the moolah. Needs must. He quits “creative work” and devotes time to composing jingles to bring home the paycheck. Their ideas on parenting differ – while she wants daughter Mili attached at the hip, he wants some couple time, sans Mili. Differences bloom. Then come the little white lies.

If you have seen Pyaar Ke Side Effects, know that that film is superior, and that movie didn’t even have the star-power this one has. PKSE was cute, quirky and charming. SKSE is full of forced cuteness. You’ll have to imagine the quirk and the charm is kinda absent.

It is not that the film doesn’t try – it brings up valid points of difference in a relationship and gives us the (believable) lowdown on the transition from double-income-no-kids to life-with-baby. But, and this is where it fails, it doesn’t know what it is or where it is going. Is SKSE a farce? Are we supposed to laugh at these ridiculous, whiny, new parents having semi-breakdowns? Or is it making a point for feminism and domestic equality? Or is it just being Bollywoodian, and lazily meandering along with nary an end in sight? The director didn’t seem to have a clue.

Farhan and Vidya, great actors both, can do only so much to salvage the film; they are bound by the lazy, pointless script. Ram Kapoor, ballooning by the minute, is himself, effortless and charming as the smarmy, smug brother-in-law. Vir Das is wonderful in his short role.

I’d sum up this film as a big blah. Yes, it’s better than all the other trash out there, because the lead actors bring their classiness wherever they go. But when post-watch, the film hasn’t entertained, made a point, or even given you a mild, tepid, feel-good buzz, it has failed. Let’s chalk this up to a not quite.

Posted in 2014, bollywood, humor, rating-PG13 | 4 Comments

Movie Review : Bewakoofiyaan (2014)

Posted on March 16, 2014 by amodini

[amazon_link id=”B00IIJVXXI” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ][/amazon_link]
Rating : Above Average (3.5/5)
Genre : Romance
Year : 2014
Running time : 2 hours
Director : Nupur Asthana
Cast : Sonam Kapoor, Ayushmann Khurana, Rishi Kapoor, Gurpal Singh
Kidwise : PG

Mohit Chaddha and Mayera Sehgal. Two yuppies in love. Disagreement. The crash of breaking hearts. A stark, cold breakup just when the family is warming up to the idea.

That’s the gist. And really while this luv-shuv ka drama was going on, it was like deja vu. How many love stories have trodden this weary path? (Yup, rhetorical question.) So, interval time comes, and I’m preparing for a snooze-fest. And that is when this film really gets going.

First things first – is this a predictable film? Of course! It is a love tale in Bollywood complete with BF-hating Papa. We know that that there is love story in trouble, and rescue will come by the time the film ends. The question is the how.

Well, the how is charmingly done. The lead pair are fresh and young, and look realistically in love. The story has these authentic moments I’ve come to associate with Habib Faisal’s writing, where the twosome look adoringly at each other or coo sweet nothings, and we are with them, hoping that they have this happy future with each other that they are dreaming of. Sonam and Ayushmann are good actors, and it is to their credit that they look appropriately besotted, and have us so invested in their happiness.

The first half does stretch the overbearing-father-in-law joke a tad, and the humor is forced at times. Rishi Kapoor is the rotund, retired bureacratic servant, all puffed up in self-importance (and fat). He does well, his jowls quivering with the indignation that is the birthright of all good Bollywood-ian dads with daughters of marriageable age. Sonam looks lovely, and acts appropriately high-maintenance as the indulged beti of above dad. Ayushmann is our hero with that heart of gold. And he looks it – there’s something like-able about that boy.

Then there are the nicely etched minor characters – another Faisal speciality. One is Gursharan uncle (Gurpal Singh), Sehgal’s PA/friend/sounding-board who offers his opinion on most things plaguing Sehgal; i.e.; the troublesome, good-for-nothing boy-friend the daughter has brought home. Singh does a wonderful job as slow, cloying, stick-in-the-mud Gursharan. Another great minor character is Radha, who keeps house and cleans for the Sehgals.

“Bewakoofiyaan” is a feel-good movie with the happy buzz of romance. And it oozes charm. And some appropriately peppy music. Granted the story is not the creative concoction that “Mujhse Fraandship Karoge” was, but it is a pleasantly told tale, once it gets past the cliches clogging the pipeline. Hold out till interval time and all will be well.

Kidwise : The lead pair kiss and cuddle; further encounters of the closer kind are implied. Nothing to scar the young ones with though.

Posted in 2014, bollywood, rating-PG, romance, watchable | 3 Comments

Movie Preview : Bewakoofiyaan (releases 14th March 2014)

Posted on March 13, 2014 by amodini

Bewakoofiyaan releases tomorrow. High expectations from this one, because it is directed by Nupur Asthana who also directed the rather cute “Mujhse Fraaandship Karoge?”.
)

Posted in 2014, bollywood, Previews, romance | 1 Comment

Movie Review : Queen (2014)

Posted on March 10, 2014 by amodini

Rating : Very Good (4.5/5)
Genre : Drama
Year : 2014
Running time : 2 hours 26 minutes
Director : Vikas Bahl
Cast : Kangana Ranaut, Rajkummar Rao, Lisa Haydon, Mish Boyko, Guithob Joseph, Jeffrey Chee Eng Ho
Kidwise : A, R

I had a pretty good idea, from the trailer, what this film was about. So no surprises there; the film is predictable. There is no hero (almost); only Ms. Ranaut to carry the film on her shoulders. She does it well. This film works. And how!

The film is about Rani (hence the title : Queen), a girl from Rajouri Garden, Delhi. Rani’s dad owns a mithai ki dukan, a sweet shop and they live in middle-class affluence; a conservative Punjabi family with a sweet, docile daughter. In time, budding engineer Vijay, the son of family friends, falls in love with this docile, obedient girl, and the two being willing, a date is set for the marriage. Vijay (Rajkumar) returns from London, where he is working, for the wedding. The day before the wedding he summons Rani to a cafe and calls off the wedding. Rani is shocked and flustered, and after much weeping, decides to go on her honeymoon alone. That is when her journey really begins.

I have very few complaints with this film. The story, screenplay, direction and acting was great. The characters felt very real, from Rani’s protective parents to Vijay and his smarmy family. The settings feel authentic and the little details are just right. Rani herself was beautifully drawn, a hesitant, unassuming plain jane, going to college and helping out at the shop. All she’s ever done is listened to her parents, and done what everyone wanted, and what was “allowed”, as she puts it. Her lonesome honeymoon is her own little rebellion, a trip she says she will not take if her parents disapprove. They, concerned parents that they are, let her go, with admonitions to be very careful, and to talk to them everyday.

Conservatively brought up Rani is shocked out of her middle-class sensibilities when she meets leggy, liberated Parisian hotel-maid VijayLaxmi (Lisa Haydon), and later other folk from different countries. This feel-good film picks up steam as Rani goes about her adventures, her eyes and her mind opening wider and wider to the array of possibilities. Kangana is spectacular as Rani, preserving Rani’s core of grace and good-heartedness throughout her transformation. Thanks to Kangana (and the script), towards the end of the film Rani does not turn into some revenge-seeking harridan (not that I’d have a problem with that), but a quiet, confident, and still soft-spoken woman. It is lovely to see!

Haydon does well as VijayLaxmi. The non-Indian cast of Mish Boyko (playing Russian Oleksander), Guithob Joseph (playing French Tim) and Jeffrey Chee Eng Ho (as Japanese Taka) were good, although the Japanese character seemed a tad cliched. The music of the film is another big plus, with the thrumming “London Thumakda”.

Importantly, this film shows how women are “kept in place”, by telling them that the restrictions on them are for their own good or because their actions will dishonor the family. It shows how docile daughters are created, and then turned into obedient wives who can’t work outside the home, can’t dance as they please, can’t roam around alone. It also shows how patriarchal society colludes to make girls believe that marriage is the ultimate goal, and that women denied that goal (like Rani) are only worthy of pity. When Rani discovers the truth, it sets her free.

In Bollywood where feminist films are rare, Queen is a breath of fresh air. It’s theme of empowerment/finding oneself is similar to that of “English-Vinglish”, but Queen does it better. Highly recommended!

Kidwise : This film is mostly clean. There are some scenes filmed in a sex-toy shop, and around women pole-dancing, hence the R rating from my side.

Posted in 2014, bollywood, drama, feminism, humor, outstanding, rating-A, rating-R, recommended, social issues, women | 16 Comments

What to Watch on Netflix Instant : Edition #16

Posted on February 20, 2014 by amodini

[amazon_link id=”0792846427″ target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ][/amazon_link]- Fargo (USA, 1996): I’ve watched this film a couple of times; it is an impeccable Coen brothers film. Frances Dormand is absolutely fantastic as pregnant Sheriff Marge Gunderson of Brainerd, Minnesota. William H. Macy is Jerry Lundegaard who is the manager of his overbearing father-in-laws’s car dealership. Jerry is in some financial trouble and all his attempts to extract money from the old man have proved futile. It’s too bad the police are involved now.

– 4 Months 3 Weeks and 2 Days (“4 luni, 3 saptamâni si 2 zile”, Romania, 2007) : This is a gut-wrenching film about Gabita, a young pregnant woman who wants an abortion.

[amazon_link id=”B001NE5IZ4″ target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ][/amazon_link]The film is situated in Romania of the 1980s, under the Ceausescu regime, so abortions are illegal. Gabita’s roommate and friend Otilia helps her find an abortinist, a quack who warns and threatens, offers no guarantees and finally demands outrageous forms of payment for performing the illegal procedure.

This is a pretty stark film about the desperation of women who have been shorn of their reproductive choices, a bleak lesson to those of us who would want to suppress women’s rights in the name of religion. This excellent film won among others, the Palme d’Or at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival.

[amazon_link id=”B0041KT3NK” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ][/amazon_link]- Cairo Time (Canada, 2009) : This wistful romantic drama stars the luminous and graceful Patricia Clarkson as Juliette Grant, visiting her husband in Cairo. As her husband is embroiled in some emergency or other, away from Cairo, Juliette is shepherded through town by her husband’s friend, Egyptian native Tareq Khalifa.

American Juliette, unused to the jostling, staring men on the streets and the spaces reserved exclusively for men, finds comfort in Tareq’s erudite company and he comes to value hers.

This is a slow paced, delicate film, wonderfully wrought.

[amazon_link id=”B00BMW82YG” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ][/amazon_link]- My Worst Nightmare (“Mon pire cauchemar”, France, 2011) : I could almost see this as a Bollywood masala film, since this was a trifle outlandish, but overall fun film. Agathe’s son is great friends with the son of uncouth oddjob-man Patrick. When her husband (Andre Dussolier) hires Patrick to do some longstanding repairs at their home, Agathe (Isabelle Huppert) finds him constantly underfoot, butting in with his opinion and unwanted advice.

This unusual romance has humor and the very French quirkiness I’ve remarked on before. Do watch.

[amazon_link id=”B0041ETK0M” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ][/amazon_link]- Udaan (India, 2010) : This is one of the few remarkable films to come out of India, and I’ve seen it more than once. It is about a father-son relationship, the father rigid and harsh and unyielding and his teenaged son, home from boarding school, on the cusp of youth, hopeful and tentative and wanting his father’s affection.

Great performances all around, and some very slick direction make this moving, poignant film stand out. Here is the detailed review, and here are clips of the wonderful poetry featured in the film.