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Reviews
Inception (2010)
Inception is the best game I have ever played!
Inception is a film with such brilliance involved in its thinking that it makes James Cameron's over rated Avatar look like a pin ball inside a massive football stadium. Pardon me if I' am overdoing it, but I just can't come out of the experience I had watching this gigantic piece of cinema. Christopher Nolan, who gave us some of the finest films in the millennium like Memento and The Dark Knight, proves it once again that he has no suitable competitors presently.
Now Leonardo DiCaprio is 'Dom Cobb', a high-end thief who can extract information out of a sleeping person's brain. Ken Watanabe plays 'Saito', a business man who hires 'Dom' to plant an idea inside the brains of his foe, 'Robert Fischer', played by Cillian Murphy. 'Saito' opts to implant an idea instead of stealing one as this idea will destroy the whole of his foe's business empire! Soon we see 'Dom' and his exciting team setting out for the toughest challenge they have ever witnessed, leaving the audience dumbstruck with the most exciting game they have ever played! Now talking more about the premise or its characters will only spill the beans over the fun of watching it; or to be precise, the fun of figuring out what is actually happening. And I hate to give out spoilers.
The screenplay is par excellence, with a killer characterization given to each person involved in the cast, which gives you a feel that you know them all long back, right after you dig into the first few minutes of the film. Leonardo DiCaprio as Dom Cobb is nothing less than a stunner, where as the rest of the cast including Joseph Gordon, Tom Hardy, Dileep Rao, Ellen Page, Marion Cotillard, Cillian Murphy and Ken Watanabe blends into the characters. But its Christopher Nolan's screenplay, which constantly keeps you on the edge. You just don't have the time to rate the performances of the actors, when you already have a tedious job of understanding the film! More over, the film is a mind blowing visual extravaganza. Take for instance, the scene in which Dom Cobb trains the dreamer, in a dream she has with the city bursting out part by part, or even the scene in which the whole city folds itself into a book! But don't go into the cinema expecting some CGI driven film, and that's when you get completely lost. Because Inception is a film that tests your Intelligence and concentration; its a film which demands so much of attention that you might regret losing even a small detail, when you blink for a second. Now don't get me wrong on that; Inception is not that film which shows off its intelligence, its that film which defeats you with its intelligence. And its the best game I have ever played.
Now the biggest challenge Christopher Nolan might face in the future is to outsmart his own creation. Because if Avatar was a landmark, Inception is the ultimate. No matter what happens, a bomb scare or even terrorist attack, never miss this one at the theaters. Its a film to die for.
My Rating: 5 / 5 PS: By the way, I recommend this film only to those who have a minimum I.Q. level; because i hate it when people shout out loud nonsense in the theater when they have perfectly no clue about what is happening inside the film. If you can't understand the language, don't go in to spoil the fun others are having!
Robin Hood (2010)
A big bore
Right from the start, everybody involved in this film seems to have taken them way too serious and I could see only cold, stiff faces with one single troubled expression on their boring faces.
Russel Crowe looks like he is straight out of the Gladiator climax, and is simply wasted in an uninteresting, humorless role. Well, you expect some smart humor from Robin Hood, don't you? Only the faithful Robin Hood fans would know what I' am talking about. This Robin Hood is single dimensional, boring and irritating at times.
And to make the matters worse, the screenplay makes you think if it was still stuck up at the first draft! You really do have time for an easy nap and a coffee(Only if you are willing to spend more cash, as you have already wasted some for the ticket).
This film is no where near Gladiator, and is just a piece of visual opalescence. The exhilarating camera work, and war scenes sadly doesn't save the film's plight! Now what do you expect? If you are just that idiotic movie goer, who gets satisfied with those gimmicks they show you, then this is the right choice. Go for this 3 hours of payed torture. Others, please keep out, because there are better films out there, with sleeker running time and most importantly a better screenplay.
Now I have a question to ask. How did this title get 7/10 Rating in here? Members, please vote it low, else the people might end up thinking its a good film.
3/10
Raavanan (2010)
A Stupendous piece of eye candy
Mani Ratnam was the only director in India, who handled melodrama in the most natural way; and that was evident in his films like Nayagan, Roja, Bombay, Alayipayuthe, and even the recent Guru. But after watching Raavan/Raavanan, I' am forced to rub off that very statement from my head, because right from the start, whatever happened on screen seemed to be contrived and artificial at most parts, with the very character of Raavan not even being properly established!
Well, the basic premise, inspired from the Indian epic Ramayana is entirely predictable, but a taut screenplay would have done the job! When the Tamil version suffers hugely from a bad casting and a far from great performance from the usually dependable actor, Chiyan Vikram, the Hindi version excels in the performance section, but falls flat on the screenplay, which is a total mess in both cases! But as far as I have analysed, the Hindi version has a far better execution than the Tamil version.
The cinematography by Santhosh Sivan oozes sincerity and demands a standing ovation; Santhosh Sivan's visuals add life to every dull moment, and remains the best part of this king size film. The DI is of international quality, and the expert colouring adds to the beauty. The music by AR Rahman is brilliant, but the background scores disappoint to a large extent! Veterian editor Sreekar Prasad saves the film from drowning down into the heavy rain forests, which is continuously wet! Samir Chanda makes every frame rich with his intelligent use of vibrant colours and art work. The actions scenes by Peter Hein are exquisitely shot with a lot pain and passion, which is evident on screen, as those are the only parts where the theater comes alive, with excellent use of Sound by Tapas Nayak.
Abhishek Bachchan as Beera in Hindi outsmarts Vikram as Veerayya in Tamil, whereas Prithviraj surprises you as Dev in the Tamil version, and comes out with an edgy performance, which stands out and ends up being far better than Vikram's portrayal of Dev in Hindi, which is shocking, but true. Aishwarya Rai has nothing much to do, other than portraying a poorly written character! All other supporting actors, including Govinda and Ravi Kissen in Hindi seems to be more into the characters, and convincing than Karthik and Prabhu in Tamil!
Leaving its negatives apart, the film surely has its moments. For instance, take a look at that scene, in which the character of Dev pierces the burning cigarette into a mere newspaper cutting! Well, that Mani Ratnam magic is hidden somewhere deep inside, but sadly doesn't come out. And moreover, each frame of the film is a separate, million dollar visual, which will take your breathe away; the credit goes largely to Mani Ratnam's vision as a director! Raavan puts you in a rather awkward situation, when you almost forget that you are watching a movie, and start rating the beautiful shots individually! And I have to admit that most of the film's major flaws went unnoticed by me during my first watch of Raavanan, and later on ended up noticing a few in the Hindi Raavan, mainly due to the above mentioned reason.
In the end when you leave the theater, all you remember is the stunning camera work, the nerve pumping action scenes, and a little bit of brilliance spread out in the 2 hour 7 minute saga! Raavan falls short of the expectations, but indeed is worth the money you pay for the ticket. I give a generous three out of five for the Hindi version and two out of five for the Tamil version. Its far from being a classic, but nevertheless entertains to an extent!
Hindi Raavan: 3/5 (Manages to entertain) Tamil Raavanan: 2/5 (Dull)
PS: My rating is very very liberal, and that's mainly for the love of Mani Ratnam's film making style, which seems to be drowning away now; Raavan is just a stupendous piece of eye candy! Where are those subtle, dramatic moments, which used to fill our senses with pleasure, passion, gut and energy? Where are those smart dialogues? Where is the screenplay? Everything is missing here.
ALTERNATE TAKE
If I were Sreekar Prasad, and if the footage appears to be poorly directed, I would have opted for a simple, linear editing pattern for Raavan, rather than screwing up in the non linear pattern.
Raavan (2010)
A Stupendous piece of eye candy
Mani Ratnam was the only director in India, who handled melodrama in the most natural way; and that was evident in his films like Nayagan, Roja, Bombay, Alayipayuthe, and even the recent Guru. But after watching Raavan/Raavanan, I' am forced to rub off that very statement from my head, because right from the start, whatever happened on screen seemed to be contrived and artificial at most parts, with the very character of Raavan not even being properly established!
Well, the basic premise, inspired from the Indian epic Ramayana is entirely predictable, but a taut screenplay would have done the job! When the Tamil version suffers hugely from a bad casting and a far from great performance from the usually dependable actor, Chiyan Vikram, the Hindi version excels in the performance section, but falls flat on the screenplay, which is a total mess in both cases! But as far as I have analysed, the Hindi version has a far better execution than the Tamil version.
The cinematography by Santhosh Sivan oozes sincerity and demands a standing ovation; Santhosh Sivan's visuals add life to every dull moment, and remains the best part of this king size film. The DI is of international quality, and the expert colouring adds to the beauty. The music by AR Rahman is brilliant, but the background scores disappoint to a large extent! Veterian editor Sreekar Prasad saves the film from drowning down into the heavy rain forests, which is continuously wet! Samir Chanda makes every frame rich with his intelligent use of vibrant colours and art work. The actions scenes by Peter Hein are exquisitely shot with a lot pain and passion, which is evident on screen, as those are the only parts where the theater comes alive, with excellent use of Sound by Tapas Nayak.
Abhishek Bachchan as Beera in Hindi outsmarts Vikram as Veerayya in Tamil, whereas Prithviraj surprises you as Dev in the Tamil version, and comes out with an edgy performance, which stands out and ends up being far better than Vikram's portrayal of Dev in Hindi, which is shocking, but true. Aishwarya Rai has nothing much to do, other than portraying a poorly written character! All other supporting actors, including Govinda and Ravi Kissen in Hindi seems to be more into the characters, and convincing than Karthik and Prabhu in Tamil!
Leaving its negatives apart, the film surely has its moments. For instance, take a look at that scene, in which the character of Dev pierces the burning cigarette into a mere newspaper cutting! Well, that Mani Ratnam magic is hidden somewhere deep inside, but sadly doesn't come out. And moreover, each frame of the film is a separate, million dollar visual, which will take your breathe away; the credit goes largely to Mani Ratnam's vision as a director! Raavan puts you in a rather awkward situation, when you almost forget that you are watching a movie, and start rating the beautiful shots individually! And I have to admit that most of the film's major flaws went unnoticed by me during my first watch of Raavanan, and later on ended up noticing a few in the Hindi Raavan, mainly due to the above mentioned reason.
In the end when you leave the theater, all you remember is the stunning camera work, the nerve pumping action scenes, and a little bit of brilliance spread out in the 2 hour 7 minute saga! Raavan falls short of the expectations, but indeed is worth the money you pay for the ticket. I give a generous three out of five for the Hindi version and two out of five for the Tamil version. Its far from being a classic, but nevertheless entertains to an extent!
Hindi Raavan: 3/5 (Manages to entertain) Tamil Raavanan: 2/5 (Dull)
PS: My rating is very very liberal, and that's mainly for the love of Mani Ratnam's film making style, which seems to be drowning away now; Raavan is just a stupendous piece of eye candy! Where are those subtle, dramatic moments, which used to fill our senses with pleasure, passion, gut and energy? Where are those smart dialogues? Where is the screenplay? Everything is missing here.
ALTERNATE TAKE If I were Sreekar Prasad, and if the footage appears to be poorly directed, I would have opted for a simple, linear editing pattern for Raavan, rather than screwing up in the non linear pattern.
Raajneeti (2010)
It could have been better
Prakash Jha, who gave us gems like 'Gangaajal' and 'Apaharan', comes out with a mammoth size, star studded, Political drama entitled 'RAJNEETHI'. Now as soon as the titles roll in, the drama builds up like ocean waves on a sea shore and keeps you thrilled and awe stricken with its sheer energy!
Supported by great performances, the movie is delicious in parts. It had great potential to become one of those memorial Political dramas in the history of Indian cinema; but sadly, the screenplay goes on like a free bird, post intermission!
Ajay Devgan was back in great form in the first half, but was completely wasted in the second half. I found it ridiculous that an actor like Naseerudhin Shah was given such an awfully written character. The merciless editing, which concentrates more on the Ranbir - Katreena plot, adds to the trauma. Its a pity, for if the makers had worked more on the screenplay, which seems to be still on the first draft, the film would have been much more! This is not the Prakash Jha we had seen before. Please go back to your old self.
Though I felt a lump on my throat witnessing the makers wasting a brilliant opportunity, Rajneethi is still worth a watch for the rich, yet inconsistent drama it showcases.
Rating: Nearly 'Good'
Devdas (2002)
Big bore
Neither the novel was a work of art, nor any film based on it. Devdas is shockingly among the most boring, unidimensional characters Indian literature could have possibly produced! Even Sharat Chandra Chattopadhyay had admitted that the novel was a mistake he committed during his 20s; an age when almost all of the youth is into self pitying and self destruction.
Shah Rukh khan as Devdas overacts and makes you laugh at times when he cries out loud, and sounds like a hungry goat! With some mediocre acting and an overdose of glitz, this melodramatic crap isn't worth watching for any reason, except for some soothing music.
Rating: SUPER DUD!
PS: On contrary, Anurag Kashyap's DEV-D is a brilliant attempt, which gives you a positive outlook of the immensely negative character.