Aisha

Directed By-
Rajshree Ojha

Produced By-
Anil Kapoor and PVR Pictures

Featuring-
Sonam Kapoor, Abhaay Deol..

Another movie whose trailer seemed far better than its complete running time of 126 minutes. Directed by Rajshree Ojha, Aisha is an below average watch and you definitely wont take long to realize that. Aisha an adaptation of the novel Emma by Jane Austen, starts off flat and just fails to take off at any level. The makers look to have spent more time packaging Aisha than adding the spice required in the script.

Aisha is a story of a young charming girl Aisha(Sonam Kapoor) who finds match-making the most amusing thing in her life and gives it more importance than to make a career outside. She alongside her best friend Pinky(Ira Dubey) are off making couples of every single girl or guy they meet. Then there is her childhood buddy a quiet handsome guy Arjun( Abhay Deol), whom Aisha finds annoying yet likes him who in turn rubbishes every aspiring plan of Aisha. They then find their match making subject in their friend Shefali(Amrita Puri), who's coincidentally looking for a groom too. Then starts the big brand shopping, the polo matches and the lavish spending behind Shefali's make over. Their then off setting her up with every close friend they probably know, the first being dumb headed Randhir(Cyrus Sahukar) who in turn confesses his love for Aisha and then her own cousin Dhruv(Arunoday Singh) who doesn't match with Shefali either. Arjun on the other hand makes constant effort to make Alisha realize the value of love and marriage which Aisha ignores till reality hits her. The events leading upto Aisha's realization and Shefali's quest to find her special one is to watch for yourself.

Careless writing and uninteresting screenplay pulls Aisha straight down. But that does not make Aisha completely unwatchable. Few bits keeps you going and just about makes you sit on your seats for the complete running time. The humor factor is one major thing that Rajshree Ojha fails to capitalize on and somewhere does lead to the failure of its writers. The actors are just about decent. Sonam Kapoor's performance looks raw and Abhay Deol is wasted in a poorely written role. If one has to really compliment that one person in Aisha, it has to be its music director, Amit Trivedi (of Dev D). He's seems to have given Aisha the soul without which Aisha would be nothing but a big bore. Listen to them here. "Sham" being the most special of the lot.

For a few including me, Aisha did look promising but sadly, it disappoints.

I will go with 6 BOP's for Rajshree Ojha's Aisha.






Reviewed By-
Raghav Ramaiah

Go watch this, if you dont find any other watch this weekend.

The Twilight Saga : Eclipse

Directed By-

David Slade

Produced By-

Wyck Godfrey and Karen Rosenfelt

Cast-

Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner

How many of you have read the Twilight series? Well if you have, then you

would be able to understand the movies better, if not you’re gonna have a bit of a tough time getting the hang of stuff, and as is so common with movies that are made out of books and saga’s there is a huge disconnect in explaining everything, a lot of loose ends are left and the audience is wondering what something or the other meant.

Having said that, I believe that the director has done quite a good job in trying to tie up all loose ends and give a vague if not complete explanation of most things , such as imprinting, the were wolves and vampires and their pasts and why they are natural enemies and so on and so forth.

Coming to the characters, Bella Swan(Kristen Stewart), now I don’t know how many of you think so, but I get this very dead vibe from her, and by her I mean Kristen Stewart, I mean what is with that monotonous “I hate this world and I am so dead” look she has on throughout the movie, I don’t see any longing for Edward, no pain, no nothing, just the whole goth inspired make up and dressing and the “I don’t give a damn” look. Really badly done, because Bella Swan, is supposed to be, a little nervous, a little desperate, quite depressed and a little angry, just like every other teenager, but that completely does not come across from Kristen Stewart,so she gets a 2 out of 10 from me.

Edward Cullen(Robert Pattinson), yes he definitely looks every bit the romantic vampire that

every teenage girl would want to marry, and yes he does succeed to an extent in bringing out the intensity and the love he feels for Bella. There are some heart warming moments as well, like when he tells Bella about his old world beliefs and how if he was back in his days then they would have iced tea’s on the porch and kiss sometimes, but only with her fathers permission, and he finally goes down on one knee and puts a stunning ring on her finger and asks her to marry him, quite a good job on Edwards part I must say and I would rate him with a 7 out of 10.

Last but not the least Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner) , drool drool drool and drool some more, ok now that we’ve got that out of the way, there really isn’t anything else worth talking about. Yeah, Jacob Black doesn’t have much else to do except for swagger around shirtless and showoff that great bod (drool drool drool). No role, no acting, no nothing, even the action is taken over by the digital were wolves, so well he gets a 10 out of 10, *wink wink wink* hey no complaining, the carved out of rock bod, does the trick, ok ok acting wise 1 out of 10 .

The others are just side kicks, who do their bit quite well, such as Carlisle and gang, and the Volturi (what a waste of Dakota Fanning’s acting prowess), the New born vampire gang, led by blood thirsty Victoria played by Bryce Dallas who has replaced Rachelle Lefevre, who is after Bella’s blood, because Edward killed her mate James. Must say Bryce was not as convincing as Rachelle.

The crowning jewel of this movie was the FIGHT between the Cullen family alongwith the Werewolves against the newborn vampire army. It was definitely worth waiting through the rest of the movie for this sequence, extremely well shot and well put together, very impressive.

Cut to the end of a 124 minute flick, not bad, lived up to true Twilight reputation, all in all Masala flick. Entertaining! I give it 7 BOP’s.

Reviewed By -

Taru Girdonia

Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai

Directed By -

Milan Luthria

Produced By -

Ekta and Shobha Kapoor

Featuring-

Ajay Devgan, Emraan Hashmi, Randeep Hooda, Kangana Ranaut..

Bollywood has yet again brought out the good old subject of the Mumbai underworld with Luthria choosing his subject well this time. Believed to be based on the lives of Haji Mastan and Dawood Ibrahim, Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai definitely manages to deliver the goods well. Milan Luthria's style of story telling is different and is quite evident with Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai and we saw that previously with Taxi 9211 too. Showing the shades of Mumbai in the 70's, Once Upon a Time in Mumbai is quite well crafted, may it be its writing, its dialogues or its acting department.

Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai, is a story of the two most

notorious mafias in the Mumbai Underworld, Sultan Mirza(Ajay Devgan) believed to be based on Haji Mastan and Shoaib Khan(Emraan Hashmi) believed to be based on Dawood Ibrahim. Sultan Mirza a poor man's Robin Hood, sees himself achieve great heights becoming the only big smuggler in Mumbai and also by earning the trust of a lot of people in very short span of time literally ruling the streets of Mumbai. He soon finds Shoaib, wanting to join Sultan Mirza and his underworld group. The story post Shoaib's encounter with Sultan Mirza is for you to watch it yourself.

Once Upon a Time in Mumbai's highlight are its actors and its dialogue writing. Both impressive in their own ways. Ajay Devgan is quite brilliant playing Sultan Mirza and so is Emraan Hashmi. Randeep Hooda does a good job playing ACP Agnel Wilson and is well supported by Kangana Ranaut and Prachi Desai.

Music by Pritam is good and people are sure to like a few in the album, "Pee Loon" being the most catchy of all.

I'll give 8 BOP's to Milan Luthria's Once Upon a Time in Mumbai

Try and watch this one, and all you people who love real life stories this one's for you.

Reviewed By-

Raghav Ramaiah

Coming Soon - Dabangg and We Are Family

Dabangg

Featuring: Salman Khan, Arbaaz Khan

Directed By: Abinav Singh

Produced by: Arbaaz Khan

Release : 10 September 2010

The trailer that promises to be a no brainer entertainer.The new look of Salman Khan is sure to impress.
___________
We Are Family
Featuring: Kajol, Kareena Kapoor, Arjun RampalDirected By: Siddharth MalhotraProduced By: Dharma ProductionsRelease Date: 3 September 2010

The trailer surely looks promising and is said to be a remake of the english flick "Stepmom".
__________

Inception

Directed By-

Christopher Nolan

Produced By-

Christopher Nolan and Emma Thomas

Cast:

Leonardo DiCaprio, Joseph Garden-Levitt, Ellen Page, Tom Hardy, Cillian Murphy, Ken Watanabe, Dileep Rao, Marion Cotillard

I am sure you have heard the words “mind blowing” before, but here’s a movie that gives a whole new meaning to those words.

You start off in a strange place with an old Japanese man mumbling a sort of riddle, to a haggard looking DiCaprio, dragged in from the sea shore, and you end wondering “What the????”.

Inception, the word is perfectly defined through this movie. It is a time in the future where entering peoples minds and stealing information through dreams is a perfectly possible phenomena, and ofcourse Mr.DiCaprio is the best man in the world for the job, he is also the man being hunted by the United States Government, in connection with his wife’s murder. He is the only suspect, his wife told them so.

He chases dream after dream and his wife chases him through them, stepping out when least

expected, always attacking, sometimes in gruesome manner. It comes to a point where he can no longer build a dream, and he has lived so much of his life chasing people in their dreams, that now it is the only way he can dream.

In comes a Mr.Saito (Ken Watanabe), and asks only a simple question. If a thought, an idea, a bit of information can be stolen from a mind, then can an idea be planted in the mind as well? While Dom’s (DiCaprio) sidekick, Arthur (Joseph Garden-Levitt) begins to explain to Saito why this is not possible Dom merely asks if he has a choice to not take up the offer to do, hence making it quite clear that “Inception” is possible.

Dom and Arthur are walking away from Saito, and he asks if Dom would like to go back home, to the United States, back to his children, at the mere mention of his children Dom is hooked, and from that point there’s no looking back.

First step is to form a team and that of trust worthy people, next step is to get them to agree! He

finds an accomplice, and an architect to build the dreams, he has his trusty side kick, and now for a specialist in chemistry, a man who can make some really potent drugs to put you into a deep hypnotic sleep for hours on end.

The idea to be planted is quite simple, a man must be convinced to break up his father’s empire, but to plant an idea in someone’s mind, they need to go way deep down, hence levels upon levels of the dream is constructed, at the same time Dom’s thoughts of his wife, his dreams of his wife and the most dangerous memories of his wife are getting worse and worse and it is getting more and more difficult to enter someone’s mind without Dom’s projection of his wife interfering.

Knowing all these complications, the whole team along with Saito get onto a flight from Sydney to LA, and on this flight is the man whose mind they need to plant the idea in. The journey into his mind begins, and little do they know that he has been trained to keep extractors out of his mind, they fight through the military like security force in his mind, and proceed from level to level.Finally the architect, Ariadne (Ellen Page), helps Dom realise that his wife is dead and keeping her memories locked up in his head wont keep her alive, but what she doesn’t know is that the first person Dom tried the concept of Inception on was his wife, and he must live with the guilt of its consequences forever more.

They are finally able to successfully plant the idea in the mind of Robert Fischer, but at the same time there is the fear of Saito, who was been badly injured in one of the levels of the dream, dying. DiCaprio wants to save his life, but this requires a big risk on his end, which he is ready to take, for if he doesn’t save Saito, he will never be able to get back home to his children.

Does he save Saito? Does he get back home? What is a dream and what is reality anymore? Don’t you want to know? Watch and find out! The movie is sure as hell gonna keep you at the edge of your seat, and its gonna put some wild thoughts in your head. Just when you thought you had it all figured out, you are brought face to face with, Inception.

This movie had me on tenterhooks , definitely gets 9 BOP’s. Totally blown away, and I am sure you will be too.

Reviewed By-

Taru Girdonia

PS: I watched it twice, tee hee…

Knight and Day

Directed By:

James Mangold

Produced By:

Cathy Konrad & Todd garner

Cast:

Tom Cruise, Cameron Diaz, Paul Dano, Peter Sarsgaard

Did we walk into the movie hall with expectations? Yes, we did! Did the movie live up to them? No, it didn’t. Do most movies ever live up to expectations? Unfortunately not! Hence what we have here is an expected run of the mill (and not even a high quality mill at that), movie.

What can I say about Tom Cruise, the years are not just being kind, they are being generous to

the man. The age shows, but in a good way, he total works the swagger and that cocky attitude, that is so him and was so missed in the last couple of movies he worked in. The spy-good guy-bad guy-confused guy? Eh! Who cares?! He grips you and holds you till the end.

Cameron Diaz on the other end! Ahem Ahem! Maybe botox aint that bad an idea after all lady, cause you got some serious lines on you, and believe you, me, they aint doin you no favour. Moving forward, what is with that role??? A damsel in distress is such a disappointment after her role in Charlies Angel’s etc. Well, anyway, the woman is extremely annoying throughout the movie, it would’ve been a way better watch if it didn’t have her at all.

Coming to the plot, a wronged by the government spy, a battery to be saved, a usual girl next door, yada yada yada, many half-baked action sequences, exotic locations, bikini’s, dresses, suits, luxury hotels later, we’re still at yada yada yada!

Tom Cruise definitely does his bit to the T and why not? After the MI movies I would think anything else would be a let down, anywho! He pretty much finds the woman just as annoying and proceeds to drug her or “martial-art” her into sleeping through his fight sequences, which we obviously don’t get to see either, hence I wonder why they would take an expert action hero and make an action comedy if they did not want to show us the action!?!

The action sequences which we do get to see are so predictable, including the “every action movie with a couple on a bike” scene, where the woman goes around, sits on the guys lap and shoots the “BAD GUYS!” , I actually turned to Raghav and went “I told you so”. So we get on with the plot, oh wait! Did I say the word “plot”? I wonder what I am thinking, considering there really isn’t one!

So, let me sum it up for you, girl meets boy at the airport, they like each, boy turns out to be psycho killing apparent good guy trying to save a battery from the bad guys, who refuses to let go of the girl throughout the movie, and fight, fight, fight, Happy ending!

I must at this point mention that the movie did have its funny moments, don’t get excited, not too many, and not too funny either, the one pretty funny scene showed a very stereo typical perception of women, so I’m wondering if calling it funny is really a good idea.

Well, anyway, its good to be back at reviewing, and I shall strive to remain regular, thank you all for reading up regularly, now that we’re back, you keep reading.

The movie? Oh rite! It gets 5 BOP’s!

Reviewed By,

Taru Girdonia

I Hate Luv Storys

Directed By,
Punit Malhotra

Produced By,
Karan Johar and Ronnie Screwala

Featuring,
Imran Khan, Sonam Kapoor,

Dharma Productions have come a long way from the time when Shahrukh Khan used be the only weapon in their arsenal. Karan Johan's trust on young directors has worked wonders for him, may it be Nikhil Advani with Kal Ho Naa Ho or Ayan Mukherji with Wake Up Sid, they have delivered just about everything that they probably needed. And this time around its no different, directed by debutant director Punit Malhotra, I Hate Luv Storys is a good watch.

I Hate Luv Storys is a story that revolves around Simran(Sonam Kapoor) and Jay(Imran Khan). Simran, who's an art director and Jay, assistant director with a leading production house. For Simran, life's just like a love story with everything just about perfect with everything red and blue. And for Jay, Life's just Life. Simran loves anything and everything about romantic movies and sees the Mr.Right in her fiance Raj(Sammir Dattani) and Jay hates every aspect of the same. Both their lives intertwine when Jay's asked to work under Simran for an upcoming romantic film. From here's when, Simran and Jay's chemistry takes a big leap. And the fun string of events that follow leading up till the climax is for you to watch it yourself.

What makes IHLS an enjoyable watch is its freshness. Punit Malhotra's writing seems average and so does the screenplay. Both Imran Khan and Sonam Kapoor look impressive with their respective roles and are supported well by the rest of the cast. Though the movie impresses you with the funny bits, it has its share of moments that's sure to make the audience restless. And this is the biggest low of IHLS. The main reason why Wake Up Sid worked, was its stupendous screenplay which IHLS lacks. But this does not make IHLS completely unwatchable.



Music of IHLS by Vishal-Shekhar is impressive. Tracks "I Hate Luv Storys" and "Jab Mila Tu" being the most catchy ones.

I'll give 7 BOP's for Punit Malhotra's I Hate Luv Storys.

Go with no expectations and you're sure to like it.

Reviewed By,

Raghav Ramaiah

Julie & Julia

Director: Nora Ephron

Cast: Meryl Streep, Stanley Tucci, Amy Adams, Chris Messina

Let me get done with this: “awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww”!

Heartwarming, endearing, delightful, adorable, and all the other synonyms for these words wouldn’t be enough to describe this movie and the acting.

From the word “Go” the movie grabs you and keeps u in its grasp!
Meryl Streep! Over and over she makes me fall in love with her, is there anything the woman cant do? WOW! Mind blowing, she can single handedly make a movie work, the woman is a living legend, I once again pledge my undying devotion to her.

Amy Adams, also stood her ground, and did hold up as much of the film as possible, but when Meryl Streep is part of the same movie , can you really manage to be shone? But I must say that it was a commendable effort and successful to a certain extent.

Every element of this movie is “just right”, not a bit more not a bit less, the feeling of inherent satisfaction is brought out after watching this movie, the maternal vibes given out by Meryl as a woman who everyone loves, or rather a woman who no one can hate, and the “lost soul” vibes given out by Amy as the government employee who’s wasting her life away, for she has never achieved any goal she ever set herself, all these things just hit the right note with us average people.

Enough about the women, though the movie is by them, for them and about them, we come to the men, they are not merely there to look good or make the women look good, they have their parts, and are absolutely indispensable to the plot of the movie.

Whether it is Stanley Tucci as Meryl’s all-supportive, unconditionally loving husband or Chris Messina as Amy’s almost-always-supportive and almost-unconditionally loving husband, they have both created the image of a real person, playing their parts, they are believable, they are within reach, and that I think is an achievement. They did make their presence felt in a movie all about the women.

Well coming to the plot, once again I will say, it is something so believable, so plausible, and so acceptable. Yes, I know its based on a true story, which is part of why it is believable, but it is the actors who act out each of those scenes who provide you with a sense of reality. Scenes where Julie (Amy) has a breakdown and is lying flat on the floor crying, or where Julia(Meryl) is informed of her sisters pregnancy and even through her happiness she cannot hide her tears of sorrow, for she is childless. These scenes touch you, they make you laugh and cry with them.

Well in conclusion all I can say is add a dollop of butter to anything, and it becomes bearable, lets use that philosophy in life, laugh throw the sorrows, for they will go away one day, and there will be sunshine again. This is a must watch for all the girls and women, and for men who can enjoy a movie that involves real emotions.

I would give this one 8 BOP’s.






Reviewed By-
Taru Girdonia

Kurbaan

Directed By-

Renzil D'Silva (Debut)

Produced By-
Dharma Productions

Featuring-
Saif Ali Khan, Kareena Kapoor, Vivek Oberoi..

Dharma Productions have always lived up to the expectations and this time around its no different. I said this when i reviewed Wake Up Sid and am telling it yet again. Kurbaan is a good example that shows the amount of homework done before coming up with such a script, all thanks to the debutant director Renzil D'Silva. Kurbaan is an intense thriller based on backdrop of terrorism in the US. Having already seen numerous scripts that dealt with terrorism before, Kurbaan still manages to stand out and this time with an impact, thanks to its fabulous screenplay.

Without letting out anything major about the plot, Kurbaan is a love story between Ehsaan(Saif Ali Khan) and Avantika(Kareena Kapoor) that begins in Delhi and ends in New York. Both their lives post their marriage is something for you to watch it yourself.

The highlight of Kurbaan are its actors. Saif Ali Khan and Kareen Kapoor share some magnificent on screen chemistry and at the same time look the best in the most intense scenes. Did anyone know there was Vivek Oberoi too in the film? And if you didn't you are in for a surprise. Vivek Oberoi is flawless and looks impressive in every bit. If you think Kurbaan is a mixture of Fanaa and New York, then you have mistaken! Kurbaan alone makes a massive impact what Fanaa and New York made put together.

The music is another thing that adds on to your experience. Salim-Sulaiman are stupendous and looks like they might just give all the other music directors a run for their money in the best music category this year.

I'll go with 8 BOP's for Renzil D'Silva's Kurbaan.






Go watch this if you love quality cinema.


Reviewed By,
Raghav Ramaiah

2012

Director: Roland Emmerich

Cast: John Cusack, Amanda Peet, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Thandie Newton

I wonder why he does this? Mass destruction, absolute disaster, End of the world! Whoa! Slow down, we get the point, the planet has begun circling the drain, but dude how about toning down on the issue?

Yes the first few shots of absolute destruction are breathtaking, but after a while you’ve taken one too many breaths and your sick and tired of being expected to keep taking those deep breaths for the same old same old.

So we have the failed writer, with the failed marriage and he’s also a failed father, in short the “LOSER”, typical zero to hero track, how many times do we gotta deal with that? Fine we get past that, and what do we find? The loser guy hits jackpot in the form of a cracked radio jockey who is relaying updates on the end of the world as predicted by the Mayans, the poor guys most probably ran out of paper on which to write out the further calendars, but it is human nature my friends, to expect and to an extent want what is the worst, I guess its just a way to make our selves feel better for the lives we are living right now (sitting in front of a monitor writing about movies like this ;) ).

Anyhow, lets not lose the plot, so Mr.Loser’s ex-wife is living with a man who specializes on Boob

jobs or the like, and he quite obviously could not convince the love of his life to look a little more womanly, but we shall not dwell on that. Well we have Mr.Surgeon, who is the exact opposite of Mr.Loser, for he won over the latters lost wife and got the kids free in the package, and they quite obviously adore and idolize him, which makes Mr.Loser feel more loser-ly, and how can we not mention that Mr.surgeon also flies planes and does every other heroic thing our zero to hero doesn’t.

Coming back to the movie, everyone is packed first into a limo, then into a twin engine aircraft,

then into a full fledged Jumbo Jet and finally into the “very big ship”. And quite obviously the various modes of transport that is being used by the heroic family will be the one that somehow escapes with just a close shave, add to the family, the fat Russian boss of Mr.Loser, his bimbette wife who is having an affair with the pilot, and his 2 evil twin sons. Phew, how much more must we add to this already complicated plot.

I would like to sideline the plot for a few minutes to ask, why the hell does the INDIAN scientist

have an AMERICAN accent, and why the hell does he live in some god forsaken remote place, Why the hell is he wearing a kurta pyjama, which is also something his 10-12 yr old son is wearing? Why Why Why?? Why are we still being portrayed as the snake charming, elephant riding, chess playing weirdo’s?? If your gonna make a big budget movie and your gonna portray a certain sect of people , please do your god damned homework. Oh! And I forgot, the only other thing they can think of to pportray India is the temple, while we are a secular country, and have places of worship of almost every religion present over here, all they can think of portraying India with is a temple breaking to pieces . Sad.

Well all that being said, the movie isn’t a total disappointment, its got its good points being mostly the panoramic views of mass destruction, the actors have hammed their way through the movie and some very shoddy camera work but over all it’s a mediocre movie, and I would suggest you watch it only if you are capable of shutting down your brain to logic.

I'd give it 5 BOP’s to Roland Emmerich's to 2012.

Reviewed By,

Taru Girdonia

Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani and Jail : Mini Review

Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani

Ajab Prem Ki.. is an absolute fun film. Having seen Rajkumar Santoshi experiment with comedy before, APKGK is not another Andaz Apna Apna but tries hard to revive the old classic. The movie starts well and somewhere during the middle is when you start to wonder if Santoshi wanted to make a comedy movie or a love story. The movie is funny and has its share of dumb-foolish moments spoiling the fun here and there. Having Ranbir Kapoor and Katrina Kaif in the lead roles, makes APKGK all more special. Both actors play their roles convincingly and makes you like them instantly. The music is by Pritam and is above average.

I will go with 7 BOP's for Rajkumar Santoshi's Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani.

Jail

Madhur Bandarkar has never disappointed, has he?? Having proven himself previously with scripts that dealt with social issues, Madhur this time around has let us down with Jail. Story that revolves around a young ambitious boy Parag Dixit(Neil Nitin Mukesh) who is falsely convicted in a drug case. The life of Parag changes post conviction and his quest to freedom is for you to watch it yourself. Jail is a good film but for its pace which makes you restless as the movie steps in to the second half. Neil Nitin Mukesh is commendable and delivers just about everything what the role requires. Music by Sharib Sabri and Toshi Sabri is average and goes unnoticed provided the theme of the movie.

I will go with 7 BOP's for Madhur Bhandarkar's Jail.

Reviewed by,

Raghav Ramaiah

Up (2009 - Animated film)

Directed by - Pete Docter

Cast - Edward Asner (Carl Fredricksen), Jordan Nagai (Russell), Bob Peterson (Dug) and Christopher Plummer (Charles F. Muntz)


Disney-Pixar does it again. After the tough-to-top Wall-E, the gold mine of animation has come up with, yet again, another visual treat for the young and old alike. "UP" is Pixar's tenth movie to-date. And it doesn't disappoint.

Have you ever had a dream as a kid? A plan? One that you swore you would see through no matter what?

Meet Carl Fredrickson. A shy, quiet boy whose hero is the world renowned explorer Charles Muntz. Carl befriends Ellie, a feisty little chatterbox who shares his devotion of Muntz. Ellie dreams of moving to South America one day and building a house on top of Paradise Falls and makes Carl promise he'll take her there someday.

Ellie and Carl grow up and get married, living blissfully and very much in love. They try to save up money to go to Paradise Falls but something or the other always crops up and makes it impossible. After several years, just when it seems like they can finally make it there, Ellie dies of old age, leaving Carl alone and bitter, missing his wife very much (Four minutes of wordless, heart-breaking montage encompassing Carl and Ellie's life together, set to a haunting number by composer Michael Giacchino - One of the many reasons I love this movie) To make matters worse, the City Council wants to run down Carl's house and build something else in its place.

When it all finally gets too much, 78-year old Carl hatches a plan to get away from the concrete jungle and honour Ellie's wishes at the same time by moving his house to Paradise Falls. Using, literally, thousands of helium balloons tied to his house, he lifts it off its foundations and floats his way to South America.

But unbeknownst to Carl, eight-year old Russell, a little-too-eager boyscout stows away along with him. Carl has no choice but to take Russell along with him. When they finally crash-land in South America after running into a storm, they realize they need to walk the rest of the way to get to the Falls and pull the house behind them.

Along the way, they run into a colourful, chocolate-loving bird whom Russell adopts on the spot and names Kevin (we are later told Kevin is, in fact, a female), a talking dog named Dug (a voice box on his collar allows him to speak) who adopts them and a whole lot of trouble which they were better off staying out of.

The what, the who and the how that follow is what makes this movie one of the best in 2009. The laughs are aplenty and it gets you chuckling in all the right places. Russell (the first Asian-American lead in a Pixar movie) and his naivety are just adorable. The initial moments between him and Carl are something to watch out for. Dug steals the show (A talking dog! Come on!) and his obvious love for Carl and desire to please him is just so like a dog that you can't help but love him.

It's a simple, heart-warming storyline that touches every aspect of life - love, death, sadness, betrayal, friendship and that tricky little thing called hope - with amazing finesse and leaves you longing for an adventure of your own.

I'm gonna go with 10 BOPs for this visually stunning masterpiece

(I would give it more if I could - I dare you to come out of the movie theatre and say you disagree with me. Now, shoo. Go watch it!)

Reviewed by,
Mithila Ananth

Wake Up Sid

Directed By-
Ayan Mukherji

Produced By-
Dharma Productions

Featuring-
Ranbir Kapoor, Konkana Sen Sharma..

Dharma Productions have always lived up to the expectations and this time around its no different. Wake Up Sid in one word is delightful. Directed by debutant director Ayan Mukherji, Wake Up Sid has something in it that makes you like it instantly. An old plot that is well packaged and presented. More like "Old wine in a new bottle".

Wake Up Sid's protagonist Siddharth Mehra aka Sid(Ranbir Kapoor) is a college student who like any other boy of his age is carefree-laidback and totally uninterested in many aspects of life. He's excited by simple things may it be parties, long drives or abstract photography. He soon meets Aisha(Konkana Sen) in a party and within no time they start liking each other's company and much to Sid's amazement finds out that Aisha to be independent, career oriented girl unlike him. Just when things seem fine in Sid's life, is when he fails in his exams and over a long argument with his father leaves home in frustration. Soon to realize the tough world outside. He's sheltered by Aisha and here's when is starts realizing the things that was missing in his life. The things leading up to Sid's transformation is for you to watch it yourself.

Wake Up Sid is one movie that delivers even with such an old storyline, hats off to its screenplay. The movie is engaging and keeps you with it till the credit roll. Both the leads are impressive and deliver the goods well.

The Music by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy is good as always.

I will go with 7 BOP's out of 10 for Ayan Mukherji's Wake Up Sid.






Go in with no expectations and you are sure to like it.

Reviewed By-
Raghav Ramaiah