TDKR: Will miss you Batman

To confess at the start I am a huge Batman fan, ever since I was exposed to Comics I have found Batman intriguing to say the least. Its the simplicity of a man without any extraordinary powers trying to bring justice to his city.  I admire him for his tenacity, his will to be morally just. For me he is the superhero we need, we deserve.
When I saw Batman Begins it brought out the old memories of the Batman Animated Series and how we saw him then, and how real it all feels now. I knew that Christopher Nolan was a genius and he will justify this Comic book adaptations. But somehow the first one felt incomplete, then came "The Dark Knight", the movie still gives me goosebumps to the sheer excitement of catching it on the first day, to clearly amazed at how brilliantly The Batman was showcased. I had always believed The Joker to be the perfect contrast to the Bat, but when it all played out its was magic. I could have never in my dreams thought that a character can outperform the Bat in his own yard. But Heath Ledger gave us a gem before he left us and he will be always remembered as the man who perfected the Joker. After four years of ardent wait I was completely fanatic about catching Rises as soon as possible.
So here we have Gotham, either years forth after the events of the TDK clean from organised crime through powers of a lie and putting the corrupted Harvey Dent on a pedestal. Then we have Bane a muscular genius looking to bring Gotham to its feet by creating mayhem and chaos and of course we have The Batman in hibernation for eight years. What follows is a thrilling ride of amazing set pieces, great battles and a fantastic finale.
All of Nolan's creativity came into play while looking to end this trilogy in a satisfying manner. When I look at the complexity of the script and the characters I can see why it took Nolan four years to come back. Everyone performs exceptionally well,but some obviously stand out. Firstly Selena Kyle, Cat-woman an interesting addition was played exceptionally well by Anne Hathaway, she brought along all the nuances and grace required. Tom Hardy was brilliant in Inception and his physicality scared the wits out of me with his portrayal of Bane. He infused life into his character and his voice transition was perfect.Some of the other minor characters all did it well. I felt the role of Miranda did not suit Marion Cotillard.
Now to come to the man himself "The Batman", Christian Bale is an exceptional performer he gives all his synergy to his craft and he just display the perfect balance of emotion and muscle to bring Batman to life. Many have tried but without contention Bale takes the cake.
The story is layered and complicated, it has many dimensions and many of my friends have come back to me saying "this does not add up". What they should understand that it is impossible to end a series that can go on for ever and when you need to find an end where none exists certain liberties have to be undertaken, goodbyes are tough and tougher even to portray.All I can say is this movie keeps you hooked and holds you tight, I will not judge you if you drop a tear because with this movie ends one of the greatest trilogy ever made and it will not come back.
I will end by saying as one cop does to another when Batman returns to Gotham-"You're in for a show"

Bol Bachchan : The formula will never fail

Rohit Shetty is a frolic filmmaker. He goes to length to achieve a simple laugh, but what I have always liked about his movies is that he is unapologetic about his cinema and their appeal. Ever since his debut with Zameen there is something likeable about his cinematic mind. When he came out with Golmaal I was amazed at his adept hand in comedy. I was not a fan of most of his next movies though they did very well at the box office but I absolutely adored All The Best. So when I entered to watch Bol Bachchan on Friday morning I had apprehensions regarding how well the movie would fare.

The plot is simple enough to understand and the movie is superb from start to finish, it is a fun 2 hours to be in a cinema hall and laugh at every silly dramatic act on screen. On his Comedy show days he promised the actors he will give them a movie and he did so Krishna is give a big part in this movie along side Abhishek Bachchan but the true star of the movie is Ajay Devgan he steals the show with his complicated English and how others play off him. The one liners in the movie are fantastic and they bring out the laugh quotient. Though similar to Golmaal Original in plot it is a great adaptation of another brilliant comedy. Asin and Prachi Desai's characters are non existent, another gem is played by Archana Puran Singh. 

The movie has Shetty's brand of action which is over the top and probably is the weakest part of the movie. The music in the movie is non existent and fails to inspire, no tracks are worth the mention.

Definitely some great flaws in the movie and Abhishek Bachchan felt closer to Krishna in acting prowess than Devgan still full marks to Rohit Shetty for a fun movie and on my birthday I had a great time watching it.

The Amazing Spiderman - Soul is missing

Being a fan of the original Spiderman Trilogy my expectations from the new franchise were minimal. Though I will be the first person to accept that the original three movies had flaws which increased with each new sequel. But it was a fun ride with Tobey Maguire underplaying Peter Parker beautifully.I noticed Andrew Garfield first in The Social Network but never expected him to rise so fluidly to head a big banner production such as this, though trying very hard and getting it mostly right I still prefer Tobey. Call me rigid, call me stubborn that man brought out the nuiances of the comic on screen.

On with the review, the new Spiderman tries to capture the school years of Peter Parker and his journey from the nerdy school kid to everyone neighbour Spidey. A drastic change in approach by Marc Webb as he interpreted the superhero was the witty sense of humor and a lighter feel to this film. As the story goes Peter Parker's father and his partner come across a new research and try to generate a human without weakness while under pressure from Oscorp and experimenting on himself Dr Connors turn into the Lizard. 

I was quite dissapointed with the overall scheme of the movie where it never felt completely right. I just was not engaged to the plot and somehow everything felt as if I have seen it before. I could not fathom why a successfull franchise be rebooted when it could not be taken forward. Nothing in the movie was exceptional, everything was just OK. The set pieces were good, money well spent. But barring from a few funny scenes and a beautiful looking Emma Stone I could hardly fathom why someone would bother recreating a successful franchise, the dearth of creative and innovative people within Hollywood or the lack of any dedication to creating original cinema is missing as we see old movies getting rebooted and being told in exactly the same manner as before.

Snow White- Why you make this.

A classic fairy tale retold for the modern audience with a slice of twist. Some tales are worth adapting and they can be great additions to the silver screen. Sadly Snow White is not one of them. Even as fans we love the Good v Evil story and we are inspired by the nuances in these fairy tales, we need to question as creative people would they make a good movie. Truth be told not every book can be a good movie and this goes true for this one.

The movie starts of slowly and falls apart without giving us much. The story is just not energetic enough to keep the cinema goers on the toes and you will soon fall into bouts of drowsiness. Though a good adaptation of the book, it is just not entertaining enough to keep you engrossed for the entire length. As we already know the whole story it seems pointless to keep watching. There are no outstanding performances and nothing great about the movie, it is an average flair and lacks the synergy to hold its own.Also considering the story we liked most is Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, we hardly get any screen time with the seven.

I am almost completely surprised whenever I see Kristen Stewart in a movie. Apart from the hype surrounding her, I am yet to see a performance of substance from her. She dissapoints again as Snow White, though always expecting more but somehow she has never grown out of her distinctive acting style which involves a small collections of expressions and flat dialogue delivery. On the other end of the coin is Charlize Theron as the White Queen, though from her I always expect brilliance, it isn't quite like her to dissapoint me twice in one week with her choice of roles.Most of the other members of the cast are let down by a lackless script.The Dwarfs are cast well but they have hardly no role to play within the movie and I was dissapointed at the how the script handled them.

Nothing exciting in this one, rather sit at home and read the fairy tale or this movie might ruin that for you too.

Prometheus- Cannot wait for the next one

Building up Prometheus as a prequel to Alien is the biggest disservice done to this amazing movie. A new story that promises a franchise and characters that give the much needed thrust to an unimaginative story.

Ridley Scott returned to his beloved space genre after 33 years and he gave a spark that needs to be followed up by a bang. Though Prometheus stands tall, I am more excited at the prospect of its sequel which would reveal the Pandora' box of secrets.

In 2089 humankind still trying to find the mysteries of our origins find the answer on a distant moon LV 223.A group of scientists funded by the Weyland Corp.  take the plunge into deep space to resolve the age old battle of creation vs evolution. The movie has everything from great set pieces to amazing performances and direction. The CG I looks amazing and the planet is mesmerizing. What lacked in this almost completely fulfilling story was the script. Though adventurous at first, it slows down and somewhere lets the movie slip from perfection. But you will forgive some lackluster moments and in the end would be thrilled at the possibility of a sequel.

Noomi Rapace as the lead was a great cast, she delivers a steady performance and one of scenes would absolutely blow your mind. She is the rock of this movie and holds it together till the end. Idris Elba is another good cast, he delivers an tactful performance. I was excited to see Charlize Theron and expected to see more of her, but she was gravely underutilized and this movie did nothing to show of her skills. Finally we come to Michael Fassbender as the android David. I am watching Michael for the second time after his remarkable performance in X Men : First Class and here again he dazzles. Along with Noomi he is the one to watch out for, clearly leaves everyone behind and probably will be the most remembered character from this movie.

Though the movie does not justify the hype. It surely gives us a new insight into the big bad alien world and I am so eagerly awaiting a sequel as the movie leaves a pot full of unanswered questions.