This page has additional observations, other than the ones noted in the main review.

Plot Summary

Batman tries to clean up Gotham City with the help of Lt. Gordon and the new District Attorney, Harvey Dent. Into this situation, enters the Joker, who forces the Batman to make choices which have devastating consequences for all concerned.

What worked

• The action scenes are superbly done; one, where Batman goes to Hong Kong and “extradites” an accountant who launders money for the crime families, and two, the chase sequence where the Joker is arrested by Lt. Gordon, with the help of the Batman and Harvey Dent.
• The dialogues between Michael Caine and Christian Bale coruscate with subtle wit and meaning. As also the scenes written for the Joker; the scene where he disrupts a meeting of the crime bosses is adroitly written and excellently enacted so as to manifest the immanent violence and menace of the Joker’s character. The soundtrack is also very well done: in the Joker’s scenes the soundtrack goes all hiss and buzz in a spiraling droning sort of way which only amplifies the sense of menace and disorientation

What didn’t

• The sound track is muted, and this sometimes affects the comprehension of the dialogues as our audiences are not used to “soft” speech and keep making sounds to fill up the void! This is not a black mark against the Director, but against the multiplex audience!

Nitty-Gritty

Nittigritties

Back to main review

This page has additional observations, other than the ones noted in the main review.

Plot Summary

The O Connell family has to stop an Ancient Chinese emperor from coming back to life and ruling the world.

What worked

Nopes! Nothing!!

What didn’t

• The mother, father, and son dialogues on parenting and parental responsibility are so inane, the less said the better.

Back to main review

This page has additional observations, other than the ones noted in the main review.

Plot Summary

Indiana Jones pushes off to the Amazon to help an old friend who had been working on tracing a mysterious artifact and who has now been kidnapped.

What worked

• The scene at the beginning of the film where Indy stumbles onto a nuclear test site just seconds before detonation. Very well done and we get to see Indy silhouetted against a large full screen mushroom cloud!

What didn’t

• The fight in the Amazon jungle – this was so unintentionally funny, the vehicles move on two parallel tracks, ha, ha, and there is a lot of jumping, and catching, and sword fighting. The scene also looks quite tacky because of the special effects used.

Back to main review

This page has additional observations, other than the ones noted in the main review.

Plot Summary

A teenager obsessed with kung fu films is thrown back into the past where he has to return an object to its rightful owner. He falls in with a collection of misfits who aid him in his task

What worked

• The fight scene between Jet Li and Jackie Chan. Jackie is great with his Drunken technique, while Jet Li is phlegmatic and all iron, using his robes to great effect.

What didn’t

• The plot is too simplistic and the climax entirely predictable, but then one really cannot complain!

Back to main review

This page has additional observations, other than the ones noted in the main review.

Plot Summary

Bearing no relation to Robert Ludlum’s original novel - picks up where Supremacy left off. Amnesiac ex-CIA hitman Jason Bourne (Matt Damon) remains on his quest to rediscover his real identity. So far, the trail has led him to discover his involvement in the clandestine ‘Treadstone’ project. The top brass at the CIA still consider him a serious threat (despite his best efforts to convince them otherwise), and new Deputy Director Noah Vosen (David Strathairn) wants him located and terminated.

No surprises there.

Back to main review

This page has additional observations, other than the ones noted in the main review.

Plot Summary

FBI agents fly to Riyadh to investigate a terror attack on American citizens on Saudi soil.

What worked

• The last action set piece; the climax is well shot and has bombs exploding on the highway, cars tumbling and rolling like roulette wheels, and an all out fire fight with automatic weapons and rocket launchers running wild.
• Jennifer Garner’s presence as a woman in an all male Islamic society is delineated well in two scenes; one where she is asked to cover her chest before meeting the Saudi prince, and two when the Saudi police officer has a tough time telling her that she would not be invited to the palace for an official meeting as that is an all male preserve

What didn’t

• The simplistic explanation at the beginning of the film about the reasons behind the conflict in the Kingdom
• Why should other nations and their people bar America, be depicted as ineffectual and possibly unjust? But is one asking for too much?

Back to main review

This page has additional observations, other than the ones noted in the main review. Warning: this section has some details that could distort your experience while watching the movie. I strongly recommend reading this only after you have seen the movie or if you have decided not to see it.

Plot Summary

A newly married couple returns to a small town from America, and inhabit their family mansion. The mansion has a secret, and strange events are set in motion when the bride unlocks a forbidden room.

What worked

• The dance sequence just before the climax is good; one gets to see a ‘classical’ dance after ages in a Bollywood film. Vineet is a great dancer and his dancing in tandem with Vidya Balan is thoroughly enjoyable. Pritam for once seems to have composed a tune set to carnatic beats (which in itself is very strange, considering that the movie is set in North India and leads one to conclude that he might have been heavily ‘inspired’), but it is delightful nonetheless

What didn’t

• The entire film barring the climax! It is too loud, too gross, and the script and direction just do not create a world where the strange goings on in the haveli forge a tension which is then resolved at the end, much to the delight and relief of the viewer.

Back to main review

This page has additional observations, other than the ones noted in the main review. Warning: this section has some details that could distort your experience while watching the movie. I strongly recommend reading this only after you have seen the movie or if you have decided not to see it.

Plot Summary

Satyaveer Randhawa is a junior engineer in the Water department and also the writer (under a pen name) of a thriller novel called Manorama, which manages to sell only two hundred copies. This failure compels him to write for pulp magazines instead. Frustrated and dissatisfied with his existence and the burden of failure, he tries to redeem himself by taking up a mysterious assignment for the wife of a local politician, who wants him to spy on her husband. But then everything is not what it seems and things go haywire, as future events manifest.

What worked

• The pacing of the film is beautifully measured; it creates a mood where the film takes us into the mind and character of Satyaveer Randhawa and the world that he inhabits. The use of the voice over to air Satyaveer’s thoughts in a laconic dry monotone adds to it.
• The scene where he is assaulted by two goons on the work site is just marvelous. It is an inspired reworking of a similar scene from Chinatown where two goons, one played by director Roman Polanski himself, assault the detective played by Jack Nicholson and cut his nose. Here the same scene is modified to an assault on Satyaveer by two goons who look really threatening and end up breaking his little finger: the senior partner eats peanuts and is asthmatic, the younger one is a real road romeo who is squeamish when it comes to breaking bones. They reappear throughout the film in various scenes, including the one at the end. The director then shows us the original scene from Chinatown later in the movie, in a moment where Satyaveer enters his house, and the scene from Chinatown is shown playing on his television.

What didn’t

• The music is completely unnoticeable throughout, it really does not add to the mood of the film or enhance it.
• The script puts all the plot lines together in the end through the voice over of Satyaveer. This was done, I felt, only for the benefit of the audience who might have been confused. But this detracts from the fine pacing and the subtleties of the script that were on display earlier. The director should have left it to the audience to reflect on and decipher the various plot lines, instead of giving a modified “bhashan” (lecture) at the end. That really took away the feel of the film.

Back to main review

This page has additional observations, other than the ones noted in the main review.

Plot Summary

In the film, the lead character, a rat called Remy, wants to give up his “ratty” life and instead become a chef, as he adores food and wants to emulate a Master chef called Gusteau (a play on Gustatory – to do with taste). He just cannot eat rotten or junk food as his clansmen do; instead he wants to create food by playing around and combining different ingredients. This of course, is anathema to his father and clansmen. The film then proceeds to narrate his various trials and tribulations, as well as the strange alliances he needs to enter into to realize his dream.

What worked

• The animation of the film is smooth and the film has some wonderful sequences; one where Remy is separated from the rest of his family and has to travel down a canal using Gusteau’s cookbook as a raft; another where he skips from a boat to the bank of the Seine, and then to a boat again, while being pursued by the insane head chef; and yet another where the home of Anton Ego (an acerbic food critic, whose reviews make or break restaurants) is shown designed like the interior of a plush coffin, complete with red felt lining and all!
• There is another scene in the film where the clan of rats takes over the kitchen to help Remy prepare meals for the patrons, as the human help has refused to work with a rat as head chef! This scene possibly suggests that dialogue between one social group and its Other is imperative to dispel prejudices and foster respect, and that this could be achieved by the very basic activity of cooking and eating food together.

What didn’t

• I thought that the length could have been trimmed down a bit by cutting down on the romance between the garbage boy and Colette (one of the assistant chefs); which I felt was not essential to the plot, and tended to take the film away from its main themes. But then the film is set in Gay Paree; c’est la vie!

Back to main review

This page has additional observations, other than the ones noted in the main review.

Plot Summary

Rikki Thukral (Abhishek) meets Alvira Khan (Priety Zinta) at a Railway station where they have come to receive their respective fiance. The train is delayed by 2 hours and the duo share a table in a crowded café. They recite their ‘How I met my fiance’ tale to each other, Rikki saying he is betrothed to Half Pakistani -Half French Anaida(Lara) and Alvira saying she is engaged to Half Indian-half Brit Steve Singh (Bobby Deol). Both Rikki and Alvita are actually reciting concocted stories, and actually fall in love during the two hour wait. With aid of Laila (Lara in non-concocted avtaar) and Satwinder (Bobby in non-concocted avtaar), the couples are re-aligned: Rikki with Alvira and Satwinder with Laila.

What worked

• Aki Narula’s Costumes are very apt and happening. Never mind the Jack Sparrow angle, Big B looked fabulous.
• The tinge of Punjabi accent in Abhishek’s dialogue delivery was surprisingly smooth, reminded me of Ranvir Shorey’s exploits in Khosla Ka Ghosla.
• Exchange of expletives between Lara and Priety was fun.

What didn’t

• The gross overdose of drama whilst Rikki and Alvira are reciting their ‘Harry met Sally’ episodes.
• Big B is used only for the title track, he does not play any character, his presence has no link with the progress of the story, and his only dialogue in the movie is a 10 second laugh. Add to that his dance steps, especially the ones at the stroke of interval, are a mere caricature of his 70s avtaar.
• Why on earth did the censor wallas pass this movie uncut? They should have edited the sequence where Rikki dares Alvira to play the game of ‘Run your way up on a down-moving escalator.’ Just like Tridev’s Oye Oye became the National Anthem for Eve teasers and the bike mania of Dhoom lead to a spurt in road accidents, I suspect this wreched sequence might actually trigger a few accidents inside shopping malls.

The first half is boring, and a few minutes into the second half you realize that the entire first half was unnecessary! May be Shaad is trying for a slot in Ekta Kapoor’s group, for with a movie such as this, Yash Raj is surely going to dump him and plots such as this can only work with Ekta!

• Bobby’s dialogue delivery is almost as bad as the mumbo-jumbo that Hritik Roshan ususally dishes out. Bobby’s pre-kiss dialogues with Zinta are barely audible.

Nitty-Gritty

How come a Britain bred Alvira pray to Jesus in Hindi, when a French bred Anaida speaks French most of the time?

• Why does the shop where Hafeez Bhai is munching jalebi bear the STD code of Jalandhar(0181) and not that of London, Paris, Bombay or Karachi?
• Why does Rikki plead with Satwinder to lead him to Alvira;s place? Was it just to recreate history of ‘Deol & Bachchan in side-car’ a la Sholay, because Rikki did have Alvira’s mobile number anyway.
• Why does the lottery ticket mention the first prize in small font and the second prize (7 days in Hollywood) in extra-large fonts?

Back to main review