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NH10 (2015)
Definitely not meant for the typical b'wood audience
First things first, I was a little doubtful of this movie when I was purchasing the tickets because of all the negative reviews I had been hearing on the radio, on TV, and from friends, etc. Turns out, these were the best 100 bucks (yes, 100 bucks; perks of living in Greater Noida) I have spent in a while. The movie was brilliant! A high society couple hailing from a metropolitan of North India head out with nothing but a great weekend on their mind. Little do they know that this adventure road trip of theirs would be met by an incident, pertaining to one of the many social evils that still prevail in the rural parts of India, which would turn their simple journey on National Highway 10 (often abbreviated as NH 10) into a life-altering experience.
I was seriously blown away by the acting and direction, which defy most typical Bollywood movie template where the protagonist fights off three dozen gravity-defying goons of the villain but its a neck to neck battle with the antagonist himself, while his lady love (or rather a sidekick with almost no role to play in the movie) dances around needlessly and both survive in the end with a happily-ever-after ending. Obviously, it is seriously not meant for people who love Chennai Express-type movies. If you still decide to give it a shot, expecting even a pinch of romance, believe me you will be disheartened and disappointed with it, just like the couple sitting behind me who walked out of the theater in under 15 minutes. I liked it because it had a beginning, a mid, and an end. And all the three were properly executed, and did not completely defy logics OR physics, as is the case with most action Bollywood movies nowadays. Anushka was outstanding as the main lead, and other characters were pretty believable too. Nothing felt out of the place. And since its kind of a thriller, I really enjoyed the natural and expected behavior from the actors and I must say that in those regards, this movie even pips some Hollywood same-genre movies in which people are shown doing dumb things and act as if they are devoid of any and all common sense when in a life-threatening situation. I must say I was intrigued as well as immersed in the movie, especially in the beginning and in the end. The cast as well as the director were successful in keeping me from getting bored throughout the movie. And so, I hereby declare it a movie which is a bang for your (the no-nonsense and serious movie-goers') buck, and deserves my 9 rating stars.
Just a heads up, the movie is rated A, probably because of the one cuss word which is muted out towards the ending. Or maybe its because of violence, which most reviewers here are dubbing as "not- for-the-faint-hearted" *shrugs*. But meh.... No nudity or obscene shots, it is okay to watch it with your family, in my opinion.
Friend of the Family (1995)
They don't make it like this no more!
Don't be alarmed by the title. I'm not talking about the vintage bushes. Being an Indian, I have seen an older Indian movie which shares plot similarities with this movie, however that one is an ethical, family value teaching movie. For those interested, its called- Bawarchi (1972).
This movie was a softcore porn combined with a potential script. A lady, acquaintance of the mistress of the house, just emerges out of the blue asking for just a place to live in their house, and eventually ends up ridding the dysfunctional family of their relationship problems. Shauna O'Brien happens to be that unknown angel and I was left stumped with the way she played her role. Absolutely charming and talented she is. Griffin and Lisa were bangin' hot. Burke and Will were good with their roles and kept me interested in the movie, despite my impressions and presumptions of it being another crap B-grade movie. Overall, the story was very well and I would love to give it a go again sometime. This movie gets an 8 from me.
Need for Speed (2014)
Generelly favorable
I always knew that if someday a movie would be made for the NFS series, its going to be based on the 2011 title The Run. But, I went to the movie with the universal rule of games-movies relation in mind. You know what they say, don't expect too much from a movie based on an existing game and vice-versa. Thats the reason I was satisfied with the results in the end. Same is recommended for my fellow gamers/movie-goers. From a gaming enthusiast point of view, nothing was extra-ordinary about this movie. We do all the stunts depicted in the movie, in these games almost everyday. And usually we get to do it our way with the story progressing at its own pace with what us being the protagonists. But as far as this movies is concerned, I'd say it was so-so. There were some unrealistic physics-defying stunts here and there, but like I said, being a gamer, I can forgive that. The pros of the movie were- Poots and the Mustang. Now, the mustang is my personal opinion as I love those cars, but Poots was amazing with her acting. She was cute, she was true to her character and she keeps you interested in the movie. The biggest let down was Dominic Cooper. The guy doesn't seem to want to get into the character. I wish Waugh had casted someone more fitting for this role.
All in all, it was an okay movie. I wasn't even planning on seeing it when I first saw the trailer, but Poots really held it all together.
7/10 should suffice.
Stand Up Guys (2012)
Oh. My. God.
I'm sorry but this must be one of the best movies out there. I am writing the review too late; I watched it back when it was released and its been stuck in my mind since then. I just felt like reviewing this title but since its been 2 years, I couldn't remember the name of the movie, nor the names of any cast or anything (hell, I was seeing almost all of the actors for the first time back then). Believe me when I say I had to provide Mr. Google a ton of clues and bits that I remember for the movie for almost 2 hours before it could guess the exact name of the movie. Just for the record, I struck gold in the try where I gave these tags to google for guessing: Dodge Challenger, Surf n Turf, movie.
Anyways, enough with the chit-chat. I watched this with my dad, and despite both of us being used to seeing only action movies, we absolutely loved it. Neither of us was able to figure out what exactly we loved in it, because it may seem like a slow movie to many without much action, and it actually is, but there was something (probably the direction?) which keeps you from yawning and more importantly, keeps you interested in the movie. Al Pacino was fabulous in his role. Walken was pretty much the only actor I was familiar with. But the bonding between them as friends and dealing with old age as ex-stick up kids was the main focus of the movie. I won't want to spoil the plot, but personally this a 10/10 from me. Definitely recommended.
Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters (2013)
Pure entertainment, no bullshit.
Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters is a slightly over the top fun and light-hearted movie. Now, if you've watched Van Helsing and happened to love it, you're guaranteed to love this one as well as its based on a somewhat similar theme. However, in this case, as the title suggests, its witch-hunting. Whats more, it features the fantastic Jeremy Renner and the famous bond-girl Gemma Arterton.
Now, Hansel and Gretel are orphan siblings well-known for their witch-hunting skills and this movie is about them investigating a case of 11 children which went missing from a tiny village. So, obviously there is apt action, which is surprisingly well-directed and the characters seem realistic as they're not taking blow after blow and still kicking the bad guys' asses as if its nothing, like in Die Hard movies. Needless to say, Jeremy and Ms Arterton were fantastic in their roles and do justice to the movie. I kind of expected more action from Hansel's character being played by Jeremy and all, but I'm glad that there wasn't so that the movie could stay true to itself. Gemma was smoking hot (and I don't mean in a bad way) as well as beautiful. This movie was good for a change, for me and I really loved it. My two cents- this movie is recommended. And I think it has proved itself worthy enough to find a permanent place on my low-on-space hard drive.
V/H/S (2012)
Pathetic excuse for a movie
I'm not sure whats so exciting about this movie. I've seen people go all head-over-heels over this movie in particular. It came highly recommended and thats why I agreed to watch it. I was expecting some real genuine horror from this one. But most of the time I found myself fast forwarding the movie to cut to "at least something" watchable that made any sense. Although, I'll admit that the movie has a couple of scenes that get you at the edge of your seat, for the most part, though, it was disturbingly bad and I had to watch it in 4 separate parts because it always got boring and for me fast with its nudity and painful to watch worthless crap recordings. Moreover, the movie does not even focus on a specific problem or goal that is a must in any movie. Its just some unclear beings, each uniquely appearing in all the 5 or 6 different stories which have nothing to do with each other at all. You may call them ghosts, aliens, mutated beings or just serial killers who have nothing in common apart from a habit of scaring and brutally murdering random people who are featured in this movie. Finally, the last point which goes against it is that it doesn't conclude anything. I mean its not fair to expect it to necessarily conclude anything at the end, especially from this genre, but then again its not something which would leave you pondering over for days considering the director leaves the many possibilities up to your imagination, or a twist in the climax that impresses you or anything that at least forces you to watch it a second time, let alone committing the sin of recommending it to others.
Honestly, its just a waste of time. I would never watch the second part even if I got it for free. If you want to watch some cool "found footage" genre movies you're better off watching Afflicted (2013), The Dyatlov Pass Incident (2013) or The Tunnel (2011). I, personally, was really disappointed. Note to self, all critically acclaimed movies aren't that good at all.