Special Chabbis (2013)

Genre: Crime/Drama/Biography/Comedy

Starring: Akshay Kumar, Anupam Kher, Manoj Bajpayee, Jimmy Shergill, Kajal Aggarwal, Rajesh Sharma, Kishore Kadam

Based on true incidents, a group of 4 con artists conduct false raids against corrupt politicians and wealthy businessmen, posing as CBI sleuths or Income Tax officers. Since the money is illegal and unaccounted for, these politicians and businessmen do not want to file a police case, fearing negative publicity and people learning about their deeds. The group is led by Ajay Singh (Kumar) along with P.K. Sharma (Kher) and their 2 assistants, Joginder (Sharma) and Iqbal (Kadam). The real CBI gets wind of their false raids and CBI officer Wasim Khan (Bajpayee) is put on the job of hunting them down. Along with the help of Delhi Police Officer Ranveer Singh (Shergill), Khan starts following their every footstep and plans to nab them when they are all set to do one last mega-heist before ultimately retiring. Coming from the makers of A Wednesday the movie promised a lot and delivered pretty much to the expected demands. The only grouse that one can come up with, would be the forced romance plot and the unwanted songs. These two aspects break the otherwise good flow of the movie and can seem annoying. Akshay Kumar has finally delivered a decent movie after a very long time and Anupam Kher was his usual best. The duo get along well and can occasionally deliver the sarcastic humour which is enough to make you smirk. A must watch, at least once.

Thumbs up: Great story, amazing climax

Thumbs down: Unwanted romance and songs

Rating: 7.4/10

Argo (2012)

 Genre: Crime/Drama/Thriller/Biography

Starring: Ben Affleck, Bryan Cranston, Alan Arkin, John Goodman, Tate Donovan, Clea DuVall, Christopher Denham, Scoot McNairy, Kerry Bishe, Victor Garber

In 1979, the Shah of Iran was over-thrown by the people for having a very westernised approach, flamboyant life and leading the country towards poverty and famine. Ayatollah Khomeini became the founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran and subsequently its supreme leader, a position created solely for him. The people of Iran demanded that the Shah be returned to them, who was currently hiding in USA for him to be tried and eventually executed. The US governments refusal saw large protests outside the American embassy which eventually saw a crowd taking over the entire embassy and 52 American citizens were taken hostage. 6 diplomats, of the embassy managed to escape through a back door and took shelter with the Ambassador of Canada (Garber). The revolutionists had learnt of the 6 diplomats and would eventually manage to find out where they are hiding. If they are caught inside the house of the Canadian Ambassador, it would create a politically tense situation for not only USA but also Canada. Hence, due to increasing pressure from the Canadian government, USA needed to either rescue the 6 diplomats or risk a political crisis. CIA operative Tony Mendez (Affleck) is assigned the task of rescuing the 6 without anyone being the wiser. His game plan, to fake a Canadian movie production company who is currently in Iran to look for locations. This movie is one of those regular CIA/FBI run-of-the-mill spy movies and can easily be classified into the 'average' category. The big thing about this movie, due to which it has got the astounding acclaim, is only the climax. The steady build up of the suspense and final outburst towards the end is what is exceptionally gripping and very entertaining this is solely what makes this movie a wonderful watch. It should become a case study on 'How to end a movie with a good climax'.

Thumbs up: Phenomenal build up and the eventual peaking

Thumbs down: A bit slow beginning, can be discarded as any other average movie

Rating: 8.1/10

50/50 (2011)

Genre: Comedy/Drama/Romance/Biography

Starring: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Seth Rogen, Anna Kendrick, Bryce Dallas Howard, Anjelica Huston

A lot of movies have been made with people having various diseases, problems and disorders and this movie does not chose to be very different. Based on a true life story, Adam Lerner (Gordon-Levitt) has a tumour in his spine which has turned cancerous. He has a 50% chance of survival and this sudden news seems to have hit him very hard. Most of the movie focuses on the ups and downs with Adam and him trying to cope with the cancer. From a mother who feels left out, a girlfriend who is two-timing him, a friend who is using him as a bait to get women and a psychiatrist who has no previous experience, Adam's life does not become any easy but it only gets harder. The movie does not throw up anything exceptional in terms of Adam trying to deal with his illness and is very normal and predictable. The movie might be worth that one watch, but then again it might not be. Leaving the story out, the movie is perfect in all other aspects but its simply the uneventful plot line that becomes a bit of a damper.

Thumbs up: Good performances

Thumbs down: A very predictable and obvious story

Rating: 6.5/10

Lincoln (2012)

Genre: Drama/Historical Event/Biography

Starring: Daniel Day-Lewis, Sally Field, David Strathairn, Tommy Lee Jones, Hal Holbrook, Joseph Gordon-Levitt

Abraham Lincoln (Day-Lewis) is one of the most respected President's in the history of United States politics. This respect is not futile, but something that he has earned due to the work that he did. During his second term as President, the American Civil War between the southern states and the northern states was raging and there was mounting political pressure to end the war and bring peace. Lincoln, on the other hand, was strongly of the favour to bring about the Emancipation Proclamation, the 13th Amendment to the United States Constitution which would prohibit slavery of any kind. This amendment would not only boost public sentiment for the Republican Party but also ensure that the war ends. However, in order to pass the bill, a 2/3 majority is needed in the house and currently Lincoln is falling short of 20 votes. He must procure these votes from the opposition and at the same time battle with his fellow party-men who are against the bill and eventually create history. The sole reason why the movie succeeded was due to the efforts of and only one person, Daniel Day-Lewis. His phenomenal performance of Lincoln is by far one of the best one might have ever seen and he might even be able to put the real Lincoln to shame. The movie wonderfully shows Lincoln to be not only concerned and thoughtful but also shrewd and cunning, the makings of a true politician. The biggest let down of the movie is the first half, which is slow and very dragged. A load of political jargon and verbose dialogues plague the first one hour which makes the movie a difficult and boring watch. Since the first impression is weak, the better next hour can get easily discarded by the audience as being the same, but it thankfully isn't. The movie picks up smoothly and delivers a composed climax which isn't very over-the-top and isn't too blunt either. A great movie to watch about a great man, but just keep some patience.

Thumbs up: Daniel Day-Lewis

Thumbs down: Unsimplified and verbose dialogues, a bit dragged first half

Rating: 7.1/10

Not Without My Daughter (1991)

Genre: Crime/Drama/Biography

Starring: Sally Field, Alfred Molina, Sheila Rosenthal, Roshan Seth

An American citizen, Betty (Field) has married an Iranian man, Dr. Mahmoody aka Moody (Molina) and they live a happy life in America with their daughter Mahtob (Rosenthal). Moody hasn't seen his family in Iran since a very long time and they haven't met Betty or Mahtob either. Moody manages to convince Betty to accompany him to Iran with Mahtob and assures her that they would not stay there for long. Whilst staying in Iran, Moody confesses to Betty that he was fired from his job in America on racial grounds and he intends to stay in Iran and look for a job here. Moreover, he wants Betty and Mahtob to live here with him much to the disagreement of both of them. Moody takes advantages of the Islamic laws in Iran and starts physically assaulting Betty each time he disagrees with her and puts her on house arrest and forces her to stay back with him. The movie may not agree with a lot of people simply because of its depiction of Iran and Islam. The movie has very skewed opinions and projects the country as being intolerant towards woman empowerment, supports male domination and extremely strict on religious grounds. The movie is a true life depiction of Betty's life and is based on a book authored by her by the same name. A good movie on technical grounds but an uncomfortable watch otherwise.

Thumbs up: Good performances

Thumbs down: Stereotypical and skewed representation of Islam and Iran

Rating: 6.5/10

21 (2008)

Genre: Crime/Drama/Biography

Starring: Jim Sturgess, Kevin Spacey, Kate Bosworth, Laurence Fishburne, Aaron Yoo, Liza Lapira, Jacob Pitts, Josh Gad

Casino movies seem to have always been loved by the larger audience. The thrill of winning and the emotions of big losses has traditionally gone down well with audiences. The game of Blackjack is largely based on math and fast calculations, apart from just pure luck. An MIT professor, Micky Rosa (Spacey) has trained a team of players who are skilled in calculations and who would play in Blackjack in Vegas every weekend. The idea is to count cards, which is not illegal but simply looked down upon by casinos, and win a whole lot of money. Ben Campbell (Sturgees) is a top-grade MIT student who has got admission in Harvard Med but cannot afford the $300,000 fees. Micky sees a potential player in Ben and manages to convince him to join the team in lure of being able to pay off his Harvard fees. The movie has managed to garner a huge fan following, mostly since it has showcased a lot of casinos and gambling. 21 has a very interesting climax to it but what actually pulls it down is the slow segments that the movie keeps having. The movie is good fun to watch, especially for someone who loves the game. Maybe some more interesting performances and a more consistent plot throughout would have helped in making this movie even better.

Thumbs up: Great story

Thumbs down: Slow segments in-between

Rating: 6.8/10

Persepolis (2007)

Genre: War/Historical Event/Drama/Romance/Animation/Action/Biography

Starring (voice): Chiara Mastroianni, Catherine Deneuve, Danielle Darrieux, Simon Abkarian

The story of a young girl who witnesses the rise and fall of Iran and its evolution from a free monarchy to an intolerant democracy. Like any other country of its time, Iran too was ruled by a ruler, the Shah of Iran. The Shah's ruthlessness against his enemies and those who opposed him did not go down well with his citizens and was eventually overthrown in the Iranian Revolution. Marjane Satrapi (Mastroianni) was brought up in a contemporary Muslim family, where freedom and western lifestyle was easily accepted and widely protested against the Shah and wanted Iran to be free. When Islamic Fundamentalists win the first general elections with a landslide victory, the peoples hopes of any freedom are squashed. Woman are forced to cover themselves from head to toe, all forms of music and entertainment are banned and life becomes hard to get by. Marjane's parents do not want her to be brought up in this Iran and send her off to Europe to experience a good life with freedom and education. If it is a lesson in history that you seek, the movie accurately recounts the Iranian Revolution and depicts modern fundamentalist Iran very accurately. The childish but yet modern animation is clever and easy to watch and makes the movie much lighter than what it would have been in regular print. An autobiographical movie is made only when the persons life story has something unique to narrate. Apart from being a part of a revolution at a young age, most of Marjane's life is like any other teenage girl and does not reflect a uniqueness that it should have. A slow and slightly tedious movie but a must watch for history lovers.

Thumbs up: Good animation

Thumbs down: Slow, nothing unique about the autobiography

Rating: 6.4/10

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007)

Genre: Western/Drama/Adventure/Biography/Crime

Starring: Brad Pitt, Cassey Affleck, Jeremy Renner, Garret Dillahunt, Mary-Louise Parker, Sam Rockwell, Paul Schneider

Jesse Woodson James (Pitt) was a famous American outlaw, bandit, murderer, gang leader, thief and robber from the state of Missouri who operated the James Gang along with his elder brother. Robert 'Bob' Ford (Affleck) was a young man just out of his teens who idolised Jesse and wanted to join his gang with him. Charley (Rockwell), Bob's elder brother and Bob himself, soon became a part of the gang and carried out many of the gangs operations. Although Bob looked up to Jesse, Jesse and his other gang members often teased Bob for his age and for his socially awkward behaviour. Due to heavy pressure from law enforcement agencies, the gang was forced to break up and Jesse realised his inevitable arrest. An event that involved two of Jesse's gang members, Dick Liddil (Scheider) and Wood Hite (Renner) resulted in a string of events that later led Robert to assassinate Jesse James. The movie is based on the true life incident and eventual death of Jesse James. The movie is not the regular western movie with stand-offs, gunslingers, saloon fights and hardcore action, but in fact is slow and dramatic and examines the unique relationship between Jesse and Rob. The movie has a touch of beauty to it in its own sense and Brad Pitt's phenomenal acting simply takes the cake. Although the movie has an extended run time, it does not appear to be slow or boring but it does expect the audience to be patient and let the movie work its charm on you.

Thumbs up: Brilliant acting, great plot

Thumbs down: Long run time

Rating: 7.4/10

Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007)

Genre: Drama/Romance/History/Biography/War/Action

Starring: Cate Blanchett, Geoffrey Rush, Jordi Molla, Samantha Morton, Abbie Cornish, Clive Owen

Queen Elizabeth I of England (Blanchett) was known in history for a string of reasons. She was a virgin queen who never married or conceived a child, the reason for which is not clear. She also stood up against the King Phillip II of Spain (Molla) who despised Elizabeth's Protestant belief as against his Catholic one. He consumed all of Europe in holy war to ensure that the Protestant belief was squashed and only England stood in the middle of his path. He built the famous Spanish Armada, a massive fleet of ships to charge against England which unfortunately crumbled under Elizabeth's shrewd and tactical war strategies. Elizabeth was also known to have expanded England's borders to the new world through the explorer, Sir Walter Raleigh (Owen) who founded the land of Virginia and named it after his virgin Queen. The movie is a sequel to the 1998 movie and focuses on the latter part of Elizabeth's life as compared to the earlier movie that looked at the accession of Elizabeth to the throne of England. The movie provides immense historical knowledge about Elizabeth but sadly focuses too much on her love life and focuses little on the matters of politics and state. The focus on drama and romance is not actually a bad choice but it makes the movie a tad boring. 

Thumbs up: Cate Blanchett's performance

Thumbs down: Boring bits, too much focus on Elizabeth's personal life

Rating: 6.3/10

Elizabeth (1998)

Genre: History/Biography/Drama

Starring: Cate Blanchett, Geoffrey Rush, Christopher Eccelston, Joseph Fiennes, Richard Attenborough

When King Henry VIII consummated with his mistress after his wife failed to conceive, their offspring was Queen Elizabeth (Blanchett). However, Elizabeth was third in line for the accession of the throne, of which her brother died young leaving her elder sister Mary to ascend the throne. With the death of Hency VIII, England was divided into two parts, the Catholics and the Protestants. Mary was a staunch Catholic who intended to wipe out the Protestant faith from the country. Mary died of child-birth leaving the Protestant Elizabeth to become Queen of England. Elizabeth became Queen in harsh times. The treasury was depleted, the army was short of arms, there was holy war brewing, her life was threatened by Catholics attempting to assassinate her and she was unmarried and hence did not have an heir to the throne. She fell in love with Lord Robert, the Earl of Leicester (Fiennes) but was forced to consider marriage outside England, particularly with Spain and France, for political alliances. The movie beautifully shows the early life of the Queen and all the difficult decisions and hardships she had to face. Cate Blanchett has performed with finesse and fit perfectly into the shoes of the role. Although this movie only focuses on the first half of her life, the second half is portrayed in the sequel to this movie that comes almost 10 years after.

Thumbs up: Cate Blanchett

Thumbs down: Needed more enthusiasm; felt bland

Rating: 7.1/10

Alpha Dog (2007)

Genre: Crime/Drama/Biography

Starring: Justin Timberlake, Emile Hirsch, Fernando Vargas, Shawn Hatosy, Bruce Willis, Ben Foster, Sharon Stone, Anton Yelchin, Chris Marquette

Young kids, too much money and way too much freedom are some sure shot ingredients for witnessing some disastrous results. Johnny Truelove (Hirsch) is a small time weed dealer in California who gets his supply from his very own father (Willis). His uber-rich friends are gangsters in the day and party animals by night who assist him in all his dealings. Jake Mazursky (Foster) is one of Johnny's henchmen who sell his drugs but ends up owing $1,200 to him which he cant afford to pay back.When Jake's parents refuse to repeatedly bail him out due to his mistakes he ends up having a spat with both, his parents and Johnny. Jakes half-brother Zack (Yelchin) looks up to his brother and aspires to live the life of drugs, alcohol and woman and decides to run away from his home and attain freedom. In an act of frustration and desperation, Johnny, his right hand man Frankie (Timberlake) and TKO (Vargas) abduct Zack from the streets and decide to hold him as ransom for the $1,200. When Johnny realises the consequences of abducting Zack, he gets desperate and when you get desperate the situation only keeps getting worse. The movie is based on a true life incident that took place in August of 2000 which changed names. It recreates the murder of Nicholas Markowitz ordered by Jesse James Hollywood over a paltry sum of $1,200. The movie gives a more realistic picture about drug-related crime on the street and gives the viewer a more realistic experience of the consequence of such crimes. A great crime movie to watch, although a bit slow and stretched.

Thumbs up: Good performances and great realistic portrayal of the crime

Thumbs down: Messed up climax scene, slow and a bit stretched

Rating: 7.4/10

Hugo (2011)

Genre: Drama/Biography/Mystery/Adventure

Starring: Ben Kingsley, Sacha Baron Cohen, Asa Butterfield, Chloe Grace Moretz, Emily Mortimer

A legendary film maker appraises another legend from a different era. Hugo Cabret (Butterfield) is an orphan whose father was a clock maker and a highly intelligent man. His father found a decaying automaton, a unique robot that has the unheard ability to write during the time period the movie is set in. After his fathers death, Hugo worked towards fixing the automaton and regularly stole parts from a toy store which was run by George Melies (Kingsley). Hugo eventually gets caught in the act and George discovers a notebook in his pocket which has Hugo's fathers machine drawings along with the automatons blue print. George confiscates the book without giving any reason, much to the disappointment of Hugo. Hugo befriends George's grand daughter, Isabelle (Moretz) who come together to solve the mystery behind the automaton, George's behaviour and Hugo's father. The movie is a brilliant work of art that can keep you stumped, awed and entertained for a very long time. It takes you back in time to the very first movies of human-kind to show the magic and bizarreness that it carried with it during that time.The climax and the mystery steadily builds up to take shape which eventually unleashes to the audience's satisfaction. The only downside of the movie is its speed. Its slow to start and gets a tad disappointing around the half-way mark but the eventual mystery is still gripping enough to keep you enticed right till the very end. An outstanding work of art that is true to the reputation of Martin Scorsese and a must-watch for all.

Thumbs up: Brilliant story, very enticing

Thumbs down: Slow at times

Rating: 8.9/10

The Iron Lady (2011)

Genre: Drama/Biography/History

Starring: Meryl Streep, Jim Broadbent, Alexandra Roach

Based on the life of Britain's first female Prime Minister and the person to hold the office longest in the 20th century, Margaret Thatcher (Streep) is often known to have been responsible for changing the face of the British economy. Thatcher was elected from the conservative party and was elected at a time when unemployment, high demands of trade unions and fiscal deficit was hounding the British government. With her aggressive stance and conservative policy-making, Thatcher soon transformed the country into a profit-making economy and went to war with Argentina over the Falkland Islands. The movie transits between 2008 Thatcher and Thatcher back during her active political days. Margaret is now old and often hallucinates about her dead husband Dennis (Broadbent) and talks to him, imagining him being present all the time. The movie is extremely slow and takes its own time to move and develop. The first quarter is impatient and you want the movie to progress from showing an old Thatcher to showing her active days and move onto something that the audience want to watch and the movie promised to show. Perhaps if the movie focused more on Margaret then and had little of Margaret now, the movie would have been widely acclaimed by all. Streep has put on a fabulous performance, one of her best in the past few years but sadly the slow pace of the movie, doesn't support her effort in a manner it should to make it an exceptional work of art.

Thumbs up: Meryl Streep's fabulous performance

Thumbs down: Slow, very slow

Rating: 7.0/10

Paan Singh Tomar (2010)

Genre: Biography/Crime/Sports/Action/Drama

Starring: Irrfan Khan, Mahie Gill, Imran Hasnee, Zakir Hussain

Governments across the world are criticised at times for not supporting and honouring citizens who have given their lives and love for the betterment of the country. Often such people are short-lived celebrities who fade into a deep trench soon after people have forgotten them. Paan Singh Tomar (Khan) was a young army officer who had a panache for running and joined the sports division in the army, not for his passion but for the unlimited food on offer. His sincerity and commitment saw him excelling in the sport and winning the steeplechase event in the Asian Games for 7 years in a row. His elder brother Matadeen (Hasnee) breaks the news to him that his cousin has forcefully taken over Paan's farmland and has raised a gang of gun-totting goons who refuse to return him his land. Having served the country, Paan wanted the police or the judiciary to intervene and resolve the matter, however, all his efforts were in vain. Giving up all hope, Paan decides to raise an army of rebels who would come the aid of the innocent and get rid of those who try to ruin the common mans life. The movie reflects upon the apathy of those people who honour their country and keep faith in it which in return offers nothing to its citizens. The movie has gained a phenomenal fan-following with Irrfan Khan's exemplary performance in the movie throughout. Sadly, the movie suffers from a drawback that plagues almost every Bollywood movie; over-stretched plot lines. Had the movie shed a handful of minutes here and there, the movie would have been a splendid watch with the dragged and overdone parts being forgotten.

Thumbs up: Stupendous Irrfan Khan

Thumbs down: A bit overdone and stretched at parts

Rating: 7.1/10

Letters from Iwo Jima (2006)

Genre: War/Drama/Action/History/Biography

Starring: Ken Watanabe, Kazunari Ninomiya, Tsuyoshi Ihara, Ryo Kase, Shido Nakamura

Whilst Flags of Our Fathers portrayed the American story of the Battle of Iwo Jima, Letters from Iwo Jima narrates the Japanese story of the same war. Both movies were made by the exact same crew and shot one after the other. While Flags of Our Fathers focuses on the famous photograph and the life of three American soldiers after the war, this movie narrates only the Japanese perception of the events that took place during the war. The movie revolves around the fictional character of Pvt. First Class Saigo (Ninomiya) a newly married baker who was conscripted to join the army. The character of Saigo is the only survivor and is depicted as experiencing all the highs and lows of the war. The insightful general of the Japanese Army on Iwo Jima, General Kuribayashi (Watanabe) faced a tough decision when he learnt that his platoon would not be receiving any backup from the mainland and yet they are to defend the island with every last soldier to prevent the Americans from making it a base. The movie revolves around the cold hardships of war, suicides and bloodshed. The movie is a critics delight with fine performances and picture perfect scenes, however, its not a movie the average audience might appreciate due to its slow and heavy nature. The movie shows the raw approach to war and is widely different from its elder sibling. Another excellent movie from the stable of Clint Eastwood.

Thumbs up: Beautiful performances, great execution

Thumbs down: Slow and heavy

Rating: 7.2/10

The Fighter (2010)

 Genre: Sports/Drama/Action/Biography

Starring: Amy Adams, Christian Bale, Mark Wahlberg, Melissa Leo

Based on a true life story, Micky Ward (Wahlberg) is an Irish-American welterweight professional boxer who has been living in the shadow of his elder brother and dominating mother. His elder half-brother, Dicky Eklund (Bale) was a not so successful boxer whose only shot to fame was when he knocked down Sugar Ray and became a local hero. Dicky became a crack addict and failed to train his brother correctly due to which he simply kept getting older without getting anywhere. Micky's mother, Alice (Leo) was Mickey's manager who doted on her elder son, overlooked all his wrongs and chose to control most of Micky's life. A string of wrong decisions, lost fights and bad training saw Micky going down in boxing which also led him to lose all self-confidence. He fell in love with bar girl Charlene (Adams) who made him stand up against his family and choose what is right and what is wrong for himself rather than let his mom and brother call the shots. The movies biggest and greatest highlight is Christian Bale and his fantastic performance. Nobody would say that the thin, dazed, doped and pale actor was the very same man who previously played Batman and many more such roles in his career. Bale and his performance shone throughout the movie accompanied by Adams for which they both won supporting actor awards. An enticing and interesting movie which is almost flawless.

Thumbs up: Marvellous acting and performances

Thumbs down: None in particular

Rating: 8.2/10

Flags of Our Fathers (2006)

Genre: War/Action/Drama/History/Biography

Starring: Ryan Phillippe, Jesse Bradford, Adam Beach, John Benjamin Hickey, John Slattery, Barry Pepper, Paul Walker, Neal McDonough, Thomas McCarthy

Can a single photograph change the course of world events? Not likely, but for US Marines Ira Hayes (Beach), Rene Gagnon (Bradford) and John Bradley (Phillepe) it certainly did. Set in WWII, USA is launching an attack on Japan and needs to capture the island of Iwo Jima. Most of the movie narrates the occurrences on the island and gradual advancement of the troops. The marines planted the US flag atop a mountain on the island and a photograph taken at the correct time reached the mainland and the press in no time. Three marines who survived from those that planted the flag were recalled back to USA to market war bonds in the effort to fund the countries war efforts. The US treasury was empty and dollar had lost any value it ever had. The country cannot borrow anymore and hence is trying to sell bonds to the citizens and hopes that the photograph along with the presence of the three marine officers would aid the sale. The movie comes from Clint Eastwood and anyone familiar with his recent movies would quickly identify the style to be very similar to its other movies. The movie is a directors delight and has a lot of appeal and insight. It smartly weaves multiple plot lines together without making a mess and keeping audience attention intact. One of the better war movies of this age and a superb watch.

Thumbs up: Phenomenal direction and acting

Thumbs down: The story lacks variation and seems to show the same thing over and over again

Rating: 7.6/10

All the King's Men (2006)

Genre: Drama/Biography

Starring: Sean Penn, Mark Ruffalo, Kate Winslet, Jude Law, Anthony Hopkins, Patricia Clarkson, James Gandolfini, Jackie Earle Haley

Loosely based on Huey Long, Governor of the state of Louisiana, Willie Stark (Penn) worked as a small-town lawyer and was roped by the local political muscle, Tiny Duffy (Gandolfini) to run for governor. What Stark didn't know was that he was being fooled and he wasn't supposed to win. Upon learning of Duffy's ambitions he decides to run as Governor by himself and wins by a landslide. He reached to the poor and promised to uplift them from poverty and was against well-settled city people enjoying all the benefits, much to the ire of large oil companies. Jack Burden (Law) a noted journalist from an elitist family, became Stark's advisor in spite of being advised against taking the position by everyone around him. Stark was accused of creating public services but secretly using them to rob the state of taxpayers money to keep for himself. With these accusations against him, Stark was brought forward for impeachment in the senate and wanted Jack's god-father, Judge Irwin (Hopkins) to be on his side rather than against. Sean Penn is a brilliant adaptive actor which can be seen from Milk and this movie. His role as the Governor, bringing the correct accent and character and the fabulous performances were show-stealing. Not just his but the rest of the cast, including Law, put on fabulous performances and supported his character in every way. With such a line-up its not wrong to keep expectations high but its very wrong when these expectations fall to the ground. The story and plot execution is weak, the movie is very slow and can get a bit boring at times. Mostly its Stark's heavy accent that makes it hard to grasp the developments in the movie, but other elements of storyline also come into play in downplaying the movie greatly. The amazing performances seem to have no outcome whatsoever and the slow progress makes it very dull and boring.

Thumbs up: Strong performances

Thumbs down: Very dull, too slow

Rating: 5.8/10

Metallica: Some Kind of Monster (2004)

Genre: Documentary/Musical/Drama/Biography

Starring: James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich, Kirk Hammett, Robert Trujillo, Bob Rock, Phil Towle

The world most popular heavy metal band, Metallica was facing a crisis and were at an all time low in their career during the year 2001. The band hasn't toured in three years and just as the band was about to regroup for their 8th album, bassist Jason Newstead decided to quit the band. Newstead was apparently not satisfied with the direction the band was heading in and was unhappy that band leader James Hetfield wasn't allowing Jason to undertake side projects. Hetfield himself was battling drug and alcohol abuse and went into rehabilitation just months after the band started recording. Hetfield was away for over a year and drummer Lars Ulrich along with lead guitarist Kirk Hammett were annoyed with his continued absence and lack of information. The band had previously hired a therapist, Phil Towle with whose help they wanted to get over their differences, improve performance and get rid of all the negativity. The band started recording once Hetfield returned and band producer Bob Rock filled in as bassist for the album recording until a new bassist, Robert Trujillo, was taken on the band. Metallica has ever since risen out from the ashes and retain their No.1 spot till this day. The documentary focuses on intra-band disagreements, the verge of the band breaking up, their battle with Napster, the making of St. Anger, selection of Trujillo and the eventual album release. It focuses on most of the core areas that any fan would want to know about Metallica and clearly reveals all the ups and downs that the band went through. Don't be mistaken that the movie is only for metal-heads. Apart from the blaring music that would smack a smile on the die-hard fans face, any other person would appreciate the movie and revelation of the functioning of a band. A must watch for fans and recommended for everyone else.

Thumbs up: Great portrayal of every aspect, personal as well as professional, of each band member

Thumbs down: A boring mid-section after a strong start and an equally strong end.

Rating: 7.4/10

The Dirty Picture (2011)

Genre: Drama/Musical/Biography/Romance

Starring: Vidya Balan, Naseeruddin Shah, Emraan Hashmi, Tusshar Kapoor, Rajesh Sharma

Does sex sell? Well at least India's queen of melodramatic soap operas intends to find that out. A true-life story of a South-Indian porn star, the movie explores how sex was used, and might still be used, to sell a movie. Ironically the movie itself employs conservative Vidya Balan to shed everything that covers her to add enough oomph to the movie to make it more appealing to audiences. Reshma aka Silk (Balan) aspired to be in the movies and ran away from home to head towards Madras where she wished to realise her dreams. Film producer Selvaganesh (Sharma) discovers her and her willingness to reveal everything on screen and decides to feature her in some songs opposite the super-star of South-Indian cinema, Suryakant (Shah). Surya is notorious for his affairs with young aspiring actresses and satisfies his sexual desires with Silk who in the meantime gets a lot of movie offers due to her 'friendship' with Surya. Contemporary director Abraham (Hashmi) wants to reach Hollywood and hates using sexuality and 'spice' to sell his movies. Although he makes fabulous films that win him awards, it does not get him any money at the box office. Suryakants brother Ramakant (Kapoor) is attracted to Silk after a fallout between his brother and her and tries to romance her. The movie aspired to shatter Indian mainstream cinema with Balan's three-inch-deep-cleavage with truckloads of sex and vulgarity to reveal the inside on-goings of the industry. Sadly the only focus of the movie seems to be Balan and every other characters presence being very rigid and structured. Enter, do your bit, and move out of the script all together. Since the focus has been on Vidya Balan throughout, her transformation from rags to riches has been shown with a steady evolution. Even her appearance, gradual weight-gain, and puff on her right cheek were taken care of and shown with subtlety. If its Balans navel and exposed thighs that you aspire then the movie beckons for you, else go watch something else.

Thumbs up: Vidya Balan and the focus on her character, Awesome dialogues add humour

Thumbs down: Poor piecing together of the plot, poor supporting cast performance, predictable and a bit boring

Rating: 5.6/10