Arthur Christmas

Just imagine…

A letter …

Dear Santa…

Are you real? If u live at the North Pole, how come I can’t see a house when I look at Google earth? Are you Saint Nicolas? coz you’d be incredibly old! How do you have time to read all the letters, with all the children in the world? And how many cookies & mince pies have you eaten in all of history? How do u get all d presents in the sac? Does your sac have to get bigger every year coz of the exponential population growth? & how do u get down chimneys? I put my head in & it’s really small & even if u cud squeeze down  in 1 min, there’s 9 houses in my road, so that’s nearly 10mins & there’s millions of roads in the world… it must be so hard being Santa these days…My friend says you are not real… She says if you had to deliver all these gifts in one night you’d have to be so fast that it’d make the reindeer & the sleigh & you, all burned! But I think you are real! But how do you do it? How can you get round the whole world in just one night? For this Christmas I’d love a pink pinker bicycle with stabilizers, but please don’t bring it if it makes you & the Reindeer burn!

Love

Gewn

This is a letter written to Santa by little Gwen; Innocent & full of faith. There are several such letters written by children, from all round the world sent to the Santa Clause Headquarters at the North Pole. These letters are read & the wishes are fulfilled with the help of a frenetic high-tech operation involving several gizmos, innumerable elves, a spaceship & ‘the big man’ Santa- all focused on only one aim- delivering gifts to every child on Christmas!

But this Christmas there has been an error, one child has been missed! How could this happen?

Does Santa not care anymore for the feelings of for One child? Has scientific upgradation led to Santa’s emotional degradation? Will Santa Malcom be able to correct the blunder in time? Will Steve be able to take charge of the ‘post’ of ‘Santa’? Is it a lost cause or rather lost ‘clause’? Or will the bumbling Arthur along with the grumbling Gran-Santa be able to save the Christmas?

Beautiful animation, great humour, amazing voice-overs & a magnificent story make this movie a MUST WATCH! It is a lovely Christmas Classic, with all the ingredients- Family, emotions, love, moral lessons, legends, & most of all faith & fun!

Do not miss it if you like movies like Despicable me, How to train your dragons, Kung Fu Panda or Megamind!

Merry Arthur Christmas!

L(ov+uc)

Heartbreaker

Just imagine…

Classifying women in relationship into three categories; one: happy & contended, two: Unhappy & ready to deal with it and three: Unhappy & unaware about it! The third category is what brings business for Alex(Romain Duris), his sister Melanie (Julie Ferrier) & her husband, Marc (François Damiens). The trio use the method of seduction to open the eyes of the discontented & unhappy women which culminates into a ‘break-up’.

Alex, the break-up artist prefers to call himself principled, why? Coz he takes up an assignment only if the woman is truly unhappy in the relationship, just as he says- ‘he breaks only relationships, not hearts’!

The story takes a ‘cheesy’ French twist when under ‘life-threatening’ situation Alex is forced to take up a job to break the relationship of a smart & beautiful heiress with a suave & rich businessman, that to within 10 days!

Juliette (Vanessa Paradis) is different; she is unlike the other targets he has seduced before! She is smart, emotional, funny, bold & witty! None of the rehearsed lines work, all the plans fail & it seems that the seducer is getting seduced! The break-up artist has finally met his match!

The film is a light hearted romantic comedy, but it comes with a terrible dubbing- most of the French jokes & humour seems to have been lost in translation! The casting is impeccable & the performances flawless. The back drop of Monaco definitely adds to the ‘romance’.

Watch it if you like ‘Katherine Heigl’ kind of rosy romantic comedy flicks.

L(ov+uc)

P.S.: Rumour has it that the Bollywood movie Jodi-Breakers is based on this flick!

Ghost

Just imagine…

A nurse performing an item song for a hypersexual senior doctor, a junior Female intern Doc. whose clothes are as little as the fear factor of ‘ghost’, a detective who seems to have more lipcolor on him than intelligence or expressions!  

The movie begins with a series of murders at a hospital & thus hiring of ‘the best’ detective, Vijay (Shiney Ahuja). The evidence supposedly puts the newly recruited Dr. Sunhani (Sayali Bhagat) into the ‘suspect’ zone! From then on ensues a silly romance between the detective & the suspect! Cliché! There are more coffee breaks & item songs than any sharp deductions or smart conclusions!

Trying to bank on ‘Friday, the 13^th’ factor the movie does involve a lot of Christian religious symbolism in form of devil’s time being 3am, Mary Magdalena (Conveniently or coincidently reminds us of Dan Brown’s novels), Crucifixion, quotes from the Bible & finally realisation of Jesus.

The movie defiantly generated more laughter than fear- so I am as of now confused in what genre would it fit into! May be it has succeeded in creating a new Category- Comedy Horror! Nothing missed if you don’t watch it, neither horror nor comedy!

The boredom generated by the movie never dies, it only Kills!

L(ov+uc)

Chaalis Chauraasi (4084)

Just imagine…

Four friends attempting to rob a whopping 20 cr. guarded only by 2 men at a lonely locality. But there is a glitch; they do not have a plan!

Pankaj suri (Nasaruddin Shah), ex HOD & English literature professor at the University ropes in three of his friends; Albert Pinto (Kay Kay Menon)- a car thief obsessed with vintage Fiat, Bobby (Atul Kulkarni)-a Pimp who calls himself the ‘Manager’ & Shakti Chinnappa (Ravi Kishan) a straightforward drug-peddler who dislikes moral lecturing!

It is a heist gone wrong movie! The four of them plan to pose as Mumbai police in order to scare off the two men guarding the loot. Obviously, to pretend as policemen they require khakhi pants, sunglasses, a few pistols & a Police van. Albert manages to get his hands on a red van numbered 4084, which they intend to revamp into a police van, but to their dismay it is stolen from them! Now that their master plan has gone for a toss, they decide to go ahead with 'no-plan' as their new plan!

With no vehicle how would they look convincing enough? What about their ‘New plan’? Will they be able to get their hands on the 20 cr.? What if special agents & real policemen get involved? What if another character, gangster ‘Tony bisleri’ gets entangled in this situation?

Fantabulous performances by the veteran actors is the only opium that would keep you intoxicated in this crime comedy movie. Screen play is good despite loopholes in the story. The ‘chemistry’ between Atul Kulkarni & Kay Kay Menon manages to generate quite a few LOL moments & is far better than chemistry or biology of the tacky item songs! Overall result- manages to scrape through as a raunchy heist comedy!

Watch it if you like the actors, but do not expect too much from the movie- Acting is flawless, the movie is not!

L(ov+uc)

Players

Just imagine…

Having Paneer-tikka pizza or Veg. handi pasta; basically a tangy masaledar Indian twist to An Italian Job!

The film begins with Charlie (Abhishekh Bacchan) trying to gather his Angels or rather ‘Devils’, with the help of Victor Dada (Vinod Khanna), to loot a locomotive laden with 10000 crores worth of gold, travelling from Russia to Romania. His Team consists of the Best Illusionist (Bobby Deol), world class Prosthetics expert (Omi Vaidya), Desi Bomb expert (Sikender Kher), a seductress who is an  automobile expert (Bipasha Basu) & the best hacker on the planet (Niel Nitin Mukesh); all conveniently from the same country- something like  hum paanchi ek daal ke!

With a blotched up yet thrilling & fast paced plan the team does succeed in their mission. But not all of the team members are loyal; someone intends to kill the rest of the gang & gobble up everyone’s share! Who is the mole? Will he be able to kill all the team members? Is revenge on cards for him? Will he be able to escape the wrath of the survivors?

As far as the plot is concerned, there are several loose ends but thankfully the fast paced action doesn’t really leave much time for the audience to think. The train robbery shot is worth a watch and Omi Vaidya & Johnny Liver’s acting & comic timing is commendable! Bobby & Abhishekh have the same expression plastered on their faces throughout the movie as on the poster of the film- so no need to waste time and money if you want to see their acting skills! Niel wastes the scope of the character he plays, thanks to his limited acting skills! Bipasha is good enough & Sonam is, simply put- Irritating! Spoiler alert- Sonam does an ‘item’ song- well, she should learn an item or two from Bips!

The first half of the film is thrilling, fast paced & better scripted while the second half falls prey to mediocrity & innumerable loopholes. Overall not very bad- thanks to Omi & Johnny! Watch it for them & you might just enjoy the show!

L(ov+uc)

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Just imagine…

At the zenith of the cold-war scenario, sometime during the mid-20^th century, a retired British intelligence officer George Smiley (Gary Oldman) is rehired by the government to hunt a mole who is a double agent of the soviets, in their intelligence service; MI6, better known as the Circus!

The suspects are narrowed down to four people code named – Tinker, Taylor, Soldier & common-man; these are the men with great power, acumen & influence; they are at the highest echelons of MI6! Will Smiley be able to uncover the soviet double-agent?

The movie boasts of a great ensemble of performances by Toby Jones, Colin Firth, Ciaran Hinds, David Dencik, Benedict Cumberbatch & Tom Hardy. Beautiful cinematography, brilliant background score, magnificent dialogues & sharp deductions make it an award winning film!

Since the movie depicts an era when there were no high tech gizmos, master computers & advanced gadgets, the smart Spy relies only on pure intellect & accurate inferences. The power-packed performances do compensate for the lack of fast-paced action.

Being a hard-core Mumbaite, ‘fast pace’ runs in the very blood stream & anything that is slow seems like a blockage- this is a warning for people like me! No matter how good the performances are or how great the plot is or how many nominations or awards this movie has bagged; it will test your patience to the hilt! My Pop-corn, Pepsi & Nachos combo rarely gets as much attention & appreciation as it got during this show!

Watch this film only if you like slow paced yet razor sharp spy movies that lack in fast paced action & thrill!

L(ov+uc)

Kya yahi sach hai?

Just imagine…

A brave idealistic IAS officer fighting the corruption that corrodes the very essence of democracy! It seems almost like, been there & watched that kind of plot! Well I am not talking about Sunny Deol’s Indian or Ajay Devgan’s Gangajal or Salmaan Khan's Dabaang! This new movie is a maiden directorial venture of an IAS officer named Y.P.Singh, whose book ‘Carnage by Angels’ is the main inspiration for the film!

Initially, I could not understand whether the movie has begun or the movie hall is showing some Devendra Khandelwal short films like Mumbai ruki nahi, saaf Mumbai or dhumrapan nished! Post 5 min of parade I realised I was about to watch almost a shoddy documentary film for the next 2 hrs.! Kya yahi saach hai? I couldn’t help but relate to the title of the film!

Below average performances, underutilised premise, lack of power packed dialogues, pathetic cinematography & camera work, intermittent story line & terrible background score spoil what could have been a bulls eye premise for a successful film, especially at this point of time, when the focus is on ‘anti-corruption Anna’!

If you want to overlook the flaws & just go to see an officer’s struggle, go ahead, may be just to be supportive. With all due respect to Mr. Y.P.Singh’s struggle, however lousily, the movie does get its point across.

By the end of the movie I was IAS (I am sorry)! Sorry for the state of both- the Indian system & this film!

L(ov+uc)

Zhakaas

Just imagine…

Avinash, a silver-tongued but essentially likeable weasel manages to convince three different women of his three guises! He is Sandy for Neha, Suhaas for Anagha & Subhanrao to Manjula. Hell breaks loose when the three women come together for work, Neha as a photographer, Anagha as an advertising consultant & Manjula as a “kolhapuri mirchi” model! Three independent strong-willed women at the same place & in love with the same man!

Avinash finds himself flummoxed on many a turn, where he lies magnificently through his teeth- mostly with the aid of his friend, Pankaj. The sidekicks of respective heroines are all too eager to be in their good books & eventually marry them, if it wasn’t for this smooth-talking lad, Avinash, their dreams would have be realised long ago.

Whom will Avinash marry eventually? Will Neha, Anagha & Manjula marry their own “friends”? Will the sidekicks be able to blow Avinash’s Cover or will they aid him?

Story is not really instrumental to a movie like this. What is crucial is the characters and the situations they get trapped in. Humour and comedy arise out of such circumstances. So much of chaos & confusion, all of which leads up to a beautifully managed farcical climax that interweaves several remarkable surprises.

Ankush Chaudhari, Amruta Khanvilkar, Pooja Sawant, Sai Tamhankar, Jitendra Joshi, Pushkar Jog, Vikas Samudre, Sanjay Khapre, Jayawant Wadkar, Atul Parchure- the entire ensemble shows off top-notch comic timing resulting in hilarious effect, balancing the confusion with wildly over-the-top slapstick; everyone manages to get a laugh!

Judging from a full-house audience relentlessly convulsed with laughs, I would be very surprised if this isn't a successful hit. The film has flaws, but more than enough charm & rib-tickling moments to leave you in splits!

Jhakaas, is a joyride worth the price of a ticket. Comedy, as is said, is a serious business. Seriously- WATCH IT!

L(ov+uc)