Daddy

Stepdad, Brad Whitaker, is a radio host trying to get his stepchildren to love him and call him Dad. But his plans turn upside down when the biological father, Dusty Mayron, returns.

Don

A New Jersey guy dedicated to his family, friends, and church, develops unrealistic expectations from watching porn and works to find happiness and intimacy with his potential true love.

Stalker

Jack is pushed past the brink of his stalking obsession when he decides to break into Emily's home to take what he wants by force.

Tuck3r Mu$t Di3

Three ex-girlfriends of a serial cheater set up their former lover to fall for the new girl in town so they can watch him get his heart broken.

Benefits

While trying to avoid the clichés of Hollywood romantic comedies, Dylan and Jamie soon discover however that adding the act of sex to their friendship does lead to complications.

J0y

Joy is the story of a family across four generations and the woman who rises to become founder and matriarch of a powerful family business dynasty.

Big Zombie

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

Movie Review: Warm Bodies

Warm Bodies
Directed by: Jonathan Levine.
Written by: Jonathan Levine based on the novel by Isaac Marion.
Starring: Nicholas Hoult (R), Teresa Palmer (Julie), Analeigh Tipton (Nora), Rob Corddry (M), Dave Franco (Perry), John Malkovich (Grigio), Cory Hardrict (Kevin).

The biggest problem I always had with the Twilight books and movies is that I always thought it was silly for a vampire and a human to fall in love. After all, vampires are predators, and human are their prey, so it’s kind of like a lion falling in love with an antelope. And vampires, of course, are not alive, but “undead” – so they are essentially walking, talking, killing corpses. How could someone fall in love with a corpse? And why is it that people fall in love with vampires so easy, but never fall in love with a zombie?

As if in answer to my query comes Warm Bodies – a funny teen romance where a zombie and a human really do fall in love. Yes, the premise is as ridiculous as Twilight, but one of the many charms of Warm Bodies is that it knows full well that the premise is ridiculous – and has some fun with it. The movie plays with the conventions not only of the zombie genre, but also romantic comedies. It isn’t trying to be a “generation defining love story” as some have ridiculously claimed Twilight is – but rather just a fun zombie comedy. And while it is no Shaun of the Dead or Zombieland, I had a hell of a lot of fun watching it.

The movie stars Nicholas Hoult as R, who also narrates his adventure. He doesn’t remember his real name – but thinks it started with a R – and doesn’t remember what he did for a living (although, as he states, judging on his hoodie, he was unemployed). He doesn’t even remember how he became a zombie, just that he is, and although he feels guilty about eating people, he does so anyway. The “new hunger” is too strong for him to ignore. Like many other zombies, he lives at an airport. He has made his home in an old passenger plane that he has filled with whatever he comes across and likes. He loves vinyl records for example, but has a lot of other stuff. One day he and a group of zombies come across a group of survivors, and one thing leads to another, and R is soon eating someone’s brains. This is when we learn that when a zombie eats the brain of somehow, he gets to see their memories. I’m sure some purists of the genre will argue this goes against well-established genre rules, but considering I haven’t really seen another movie from the point of view of a zombie, I cannot say it really does. Anyway, what he learns is that the guy whose brain he is eating is in love with Julie (Teresa Palmer), also at that raid. When R sees her, he is instantly flooded with love – and rather than eat her, he saves her life and brings her back to his plane. Obviously, this is not the way to start a healthy relationship, but R doesn’t really have another option. And once Julie realizes that R means her no harm, she starts to relax around him, and open up. And gradually, R starts becoming more and more human.

Warm Bodies owes much of its charm to its two stars. Hoult, who first came to audience’s attention 10 years ago in About a Boy, has grown up a lot, and turned into quite a good actor. The role requires him to be funny under a lot of zombie makeup for much of its running time, and for the most part, he succeeds wonderfully. Perhaps even better is Teresa Palmer who really did remind me of a sunnier, less mopey, Kristen Stewart, and who is quite charming. They get good support for Annaleigh Tipton as Julie’s best friend (who picks a perfect song for a makeover montage), John Malkovich, who is clearly doing this for a paycheck, but it is still fine, and especially Rob Corddry, who steals his scenes as R’s best friend M.

The film was written and directed by Jonathan Levine, and even though it is quite different from his last film – the cancer dramedy 50/50 – he shows once again a gift for comic timing behind the camera. Warm Bodies may not be a great movie, but it is great fun to watch.

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

Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola (2013)

Genre: Comedy/Drama/Crime/Romance

Starring: Imran Khan, Anushka Sharma, Pankaj Kapur, Shabana Azmi, Arya Babbar

Vishal Bharadwaj has a distinct style of his own that makes his movies different from the rest of the lot. Usually set in rural India, unique story lines, sarcastic humour and rowdy abuses; that is what Bharadwaj is all about. Mr. Harry Mandola (Kapoor) is an extremely rich land lord living in the village of Mandola in Harayana, India. His dreams of setting up an automobile factory near the village, is not as simple as he thought when the villagers refuse in transferring their lands to him. However, Mr. Mandola actually has a bigger problem then simply acquiring land, and that is his alcohol problem. 4 pegs of his favourite drink is all that he needs to become a completely different person, so much so, he even led a protest outside his own house against himself. To counter this problem, he hires Hukkum Sigh Matru (Khan) a well-educated driver and servant who is in charge of preventing him from getting too drunk.Chaudhari Devi (Azmi) is the local politician who has vested interests in the land deal and Mandola and his wealth. She strategically wants her son, Badal (Babbar) to marry Mandola's daughter Bijlee (Sharma) so that she may inherit all of Mandola's wealth when he eventually passes away. Pankaj Kapur puts on a fabulous performance of a drunk Mandola, of a stern Mandola and of a frightened Mandola with so much of ease and simplicity. The movie has got good performances but the songs get a bit too much after a point. The movie too is not up to the expectations that you would have of Bharadwaj but nonetheless, the movie is definitely worth it to hear Pankaj Kapur's drunk antics and the regular 'Bhencho-Bhencho'.

Thumbs up: Fabulous Kapur and the rest of the cast

Thumbs down: A bit long and too many songs

Rating: 7.3/10

Movie Review: The Day He Arrives

The Day He Arrives
Directed by: Sang-soo Hong.
Written by: Sang-soo Hong.
Starring: Jun-Sang Yu (Sungjoon), Sang Jung Kim (Youngho), Seon-mi Song (Boram), Bo-kyung Kim (Kyungjin / Yejeon).

Sang-soo Hong’s The Day He Arrives is a quietly moving film. In many ways, I suppose, it is autobiographical. It is about a filmmaker Sungjoon who returns to Seoul for a few days visit from his teaching post in the country. He directed four films, but apparently no one saw them, so he has taken up teaching. He has no plans while in the city except to visit his old friend Youngho, a movie critic. But he spends the first night alone, not being to get in contact with his old friend, and instead going drinking with a group of film students before confusing them by taking off on them. He then visits an old girlfriend, and begs forgiveness.

Finally, he will meet up with Youngho, and the rest of the movie plays like variations on a theme. In each, Sungjoon and Youngho go to a bar with Youngho’s attractive female friend Boram, a film professor, where they spend their time drinking while the owner is away. Eventually, the owner Yejeon, comes back – and Sungjoon is struck by how much she looks like that old girlfriend (since they are both played by the same actress, he’s right). But what happens in each of these variations changes slightly. They have similar discussions, but they take on different meanings as one character will say or do something different. Twice they will meet up with a former actor of Sungjoon’s – once he is angry with Sungjoon for abandoning him for a bigger star after their first movie, and one time he is a lovable, drunken oaf. In all of them, Boram seems to be attracted to Sungjoon, even though he thinks she should be with Youngho, and she flirts with him, oblivious to the fact that he is more drawn to the bartender. And the way Sungjoon expresses that attraction to the bartender – and the results – is also different each time.

The movie is both funny and sad. As with other films of Sang-soo Hong that I have seen (and I feel I should see more), the film is made up of a series of scenes where the characters drink and talk – and then go somewhere else to drink and talk some more. The film is shot in beautiful black and white, which gives an element of sadness to the proceedings. Sungjun seems lost and aimless. He has nowhere to go – either in Seoul or in his life – so he just keeps repeating his day ad nausea. The film students recall what he once was – young and idealistic – and while its fun to look back at that for a while, eventually he must flee. His relationship with his girlfriend is over – but he has to go back and revisit that as well. And then, when he meets the barmaid, who looks just like her, he must repeat the pattern all over again. Some people have criticized Sang-soo for simply remaking the same film over and over again – and I can’t help but think that The Day He Arrives is a slight shot at those critics, as he has made a film about a filmmaker who keeps living the same day, with slight variations again and again.

The movie is filled with Sungjoon’s longing for something more – something he will not discover, at least not during the film’s fleet 79 minute running time. At the end of the film, he’s still wandering around in circles, still melancholy, still doomed to repeat his mistakes again and again. The Day He Arrives is a deceptively simple little film.

Movie Review: This is 40

This is 40
Directed by: Judd Apatow.
Written by: Judd Apatow.
Starring: Paul Rudd (Pete), Leslie Mann (Debbie), Maude Apatow (Sadie), Iris Apatow (Charlotte), Jason Segel (Jason), Annie Mumolo (Barb), Robert Smigel (Barry), Megan Fox (Desi), Charlyne Yi (Jodi), Graham Parker (Himself), Chris O'Dowd (Ronnie), Lena Dunham (Cat), Albert Brooks (Larry), John Lithgow (Oliver), Melissa McCarthy (Catherine).

The biggest problem with Judd Apatow films is that he doesn’t know when enough is enough. With The 40 Year Old Virgin and Knocked Up he made two of the best comedies in recent years – and even his third film, Funny People, has a lot of great stuff in it. His latest, This is 40, is very much the same. Somewhere lurking in the movie’s nearly two and half hour runtime is a great comedy about what it means to be in a long term marriage with kids. But like all of Apatow’s films, he doesn’t seem to know that sometimes less is more. He wants to include pretty much every idea he has in his head in the final film. The result is a movie that feels bloated, and although so much of the movie is good – either insightful or funny or both – the overall impact is dulled simply because Apatow’s story cannot support the films mammoth running time. It reminds me of the story of the editing of Annie Hall – when the editor convinced Woody Allen to cut out an entire subplot that would have added an hour of running time, and instead to concentrate solely on the relationship between Alvie and Annie. The result is one of the greatest screen comedies ever made. Apatow needs an editor like that.

The film reintroduces Pete and Debbie (Paul Rudd and Leslie Mann), the couple who provided the example (either of what to do, or what not to do, depending on how you look at it) to the main characters in Knocked Up. They are both turning 40 within a week of each other, but Debbie insists she’s really only 38 – but she’s not fooling anyone. He owns his own indie record label, and its struggling, and she owns her own fashion boutique, and it isn’t doing well either. Not only are they facing financial difficulties, their relationship has reached a state of complacency. With two daughters, demanding jobs, and demanding extended families (two of the many subplots involved their fathers – Albert Brooks as his, who constantly needs money, and John Lithgow as hers, who is never around), they are taking each other for granted. And things get even worse during the course of the movie.

This is 40 is one of the few movies out there that take an honest look at what it is like to be married to the same person for years on end. The love between the two of you never really goes away, but that passion that most movies are about fades after years together. As much as you love the other person, sometimes they can drive you absolutely crazy. The movie is at its best when it concentrates on Rudd and Mann together – the bickering, the arguing, the lying, the frustration. But it’s not all bad. They still love each other; they’re just not sure what to do next. But when push comes to shove, they are still there for each other. You can insult them as much as you like – but no one else can.

The movie is bloated because there are too many subplots. Albert Brooks constant demand for money. John Lithgow’s absentee dad. Pete’s attempt to resurrect the career of Graham Parker. His problems at work with is staff (including Chris O’Dowd). The two clerks at Debbie’s store – Charlene Yi and Megan Fox. Debbie’s trainer (Jason Segel). A feud with another mother at school (Melissa McCarthy). Pete’s bitch sessions with his best friend (Robert Smigel). And then all the problems with the kids themselves (Maude and Iris Apatow). The fact that so many of these performances – especially by Brooks, Lithgow and McCarthy – are great helps all the subplots go down easier than they should. Yet, there is still way too much going on for one movie to deal with. The movie would have been much better off jettisoning several of these subplots, and concentrating on what works best – Pete and Debbie themselves.

Paul Rudd is a fine comic actor, and while the movie demands more dramatic work from him than we’re used to seeing, it’s mostly good in those scenes as well (although he does resort to talking really loud too often). Leslie Mann is wonderful though as Debbie – sympathetic, funny, sexy, but also kind of annoying in the way that only wives can be. She nails it.

Overall, This is 40 is a good film. It is way too bloated, and at times the editing seems choppy – as if Apatow is more concerned with jamming everything he wants into the movie than how it all flows together. And yet, what works in the movie is wonderful, honest and funny. This is 40 could have been a great film – but I’ll settle for the good one Apatow made.

Movie Review: Sleepwalk with Me

Sleepwalk with Me
Directed by:  Mike Birbiglia.
Written by: Mike Birbiglia and Joe Birbiglia and Ira Glass and Seth Barrish.
Starring: Mike Birbiglia (Matt Pandamiglio), Lauren Ambrose (Abby), Carol Kane (Linda), Cristin Milioti (Janet), James Rebhorn (Frank).

Mike Birbiglia is a talented stand-up comedian, who mines his own life for his material.  He is soft spoken, socially awkward, shy and rather quiet. Which is why, as Sleepwalk with Me shows, it took a hell of a long time for his career to take off. Birbiglia wrote, directed and stars in this autobiographical movie, which like him is funny, charming, touching and just downright likable.

Birbiglia stars as Matt Pandamiglio, who wants to be a stand-up comedian, but in reality has simply become a bartender in a comedy club. He has been with Abby (Lauren Ambrose) for since college and everyone tells him how lucky he is to have her as his girlfriend. And it’s easy to see why – Abby is sweet, smart, sexy and ever supportive of everything Matt wants to do. While everyone else thinks Matt stand-up career is going nowhere, she encourages him to stick with it. But of course, just because everyone else thinks Matt and Abby are perfect for each other, that doesn’t mean they are. The movie is about how Matt’s career takes off, just as his relationship crashes and burns.

Birbiglia based on the movie on his one man show that was well received on Broadway, and helped Birbiglia land some episodes on NPR’s This American Life. Birbiglia is a natural storyteller, and Sleepwalk with Me is best when he speaks directly to the camera, telling his story. He knows how to hold the audience’s attention simply by talking to them. Of course, Birbiglia is also excellent when he’s on stage. As an actor, he is okay – he is after all, playing himself, although there are few dramatic scenes where he is clearly outclassed by Ambrose, who is excellent as Abby, who is perfect, just not perfect for Matt.

 
I don’t know whether Birbigilia has a real future as either a director or an actor, unless he continues to mine his own life to make movies – and I would like to see that. Sleepwalk with Me is charming and funny, and unlike many first films, doesn’t try to do too much. Birbiglia knows this story inside and out, and tells it well. I liked him in the movie, and because I did, I liked the movie as well.

Waiting...(2005)

Genre: Comedy/Drama

Starring: Ryan Reynolds, Justin Long, Anna Faris, David Koechner, Luis Guzman, Chi McBride, John Francis Daley, Kaitilin Doubleday, Robert Patrick Benedict, Alanna Ubach, Vanessa Lengies

We have all heard about the horrible things a waiter can do to our orders if we don't treat them nicely. Spitting, hairs, floor dirt, it can all happen to your food if you upset the people who are making it. The movie revolves around Mitch (Daley) who is the new trainee at The Shenaniganz restaurant and the events of one night through his eyes. Dean (Long) is has been waiting tables for quite some time now and he sees people around him with a better life and a better job and somehow wishes that his life would change. That does happen when Dan (Koechner) offers Dean a promotion for the post of Assistant Manager. Although Dean should be happy with the offer, he surprisingly isnt and he doesnt know why. Monty (Reynolds) is Dean's good friend and is a complete womanizer who is currently trying to hit on Natasha (Lengies), the 17-year-old hostess. The movie is quite objectiveless and simply showcases how each waiter with a different and unique character and personality have to live their lives as who they are. It is a fun entertainer and a good watch but the movie fails to drive to a point. A good one-time-watcher but dont expect anything great out of it.

Thumbs up: Great entertainer, funny

Thumbs down: Does not have a climax or an ending

Rating: 7.0/10

Dabangg 2 (2012)

Genre: Comedy/Crime/Action/Drama/Romance

Starring: Salman Khan, Arbaaz Khan, Sonakshi Sinha, Prakash Raj, Vinod Khanna

When a thousand bullets come buzzing towards him, he can dodge everyone of them; when a hundred able-bodied men come charging at him he can put them all on the ground; when his car jumps 30 feet in the air and spins 20 times before crash landing into a pile of junk, he can walk out without a bruise. Ladies and gentleman, I bring to you for the second time, Chulbul Pandey (Khan). The suave and charismatic police inspector is back and this time he has a bigger jurisdiction to handle, the city of Kanpur. A city whose streets are filled with filth, crime and thugs, Chulbul starts cleaning up and when your cleaning such a huge city, there will be people who are not going to like it. Bachcha Bhaiya (Raj) is the local crime lord who is harbouring political ambitions which he intends to win by rigging the elections and thus using this new power to further his interests. But this can never happen if Chulbul Pandey has decided that he will stop Bachcha Bhaiya from achieving this and swears to get rid of him from Kanpur for good. The first movie was epic in its own way, just like how every Salman Khan movie ends up being. However, the second part lacked the humour and stupidity that the earlier movie had that made it interesting. What this movie also doesn't have is a story and thus its just a good guy trying to get rid of the bad one and that's it. Its just too straight forward, not very exciting, not very entertaining and simply, boring.

Thumbs up: Salman Khan. He is probably the only person in the world who can pull off such a role and such a movie

Thumbs down: Far off from part one and seriously lacks the entertainment value.

Rating: 4.9/10

Movie Review: Hyde Park on the Hudson

Hyde Park on the Hudson
Directed by:  Roger Michell.
Written by: Richard Nelson.
Starring: Bill Murray (FDR), Laura Linney (Daisy), Samuel West (Bertie), Olivia Colman (Elizabeth), Elizabeth Marvel (Missy), Olivia Williams (Eleanor), Elizabeth Wilson (Mrs. Roosevelt), Martin McDougall (Tommy), Andrew Havill (Cameron), Eleanor Bron (Daisy's Aunt), Nancy Baldwin (Mrs. Astor).

Franklin Delano Roosevelt was a great President, and he deserves a great movie to be made about him. Hyde Park on the Hudson is not that movie – in fact, it’s one of the worst films of the year. The whole movie seems so silly and inconsequential, even when it tries to get serious about the issues it addresses. Like The Iron Lady last year, about Margaret Thatcher, I couldn’t help but think as I was watching Hyde Park on the Hudson that at the heart of the movie is one of the most powerful, most fascinating political figures of the 20^th Century, and this is the story you want to tell about him?

The movie stars Bill Murray as FDR – and if that sounds like bad casting, let me assure you, it’s the least of the films problems. In fact, Murray is actually quite good as FDR. He least seems to be having fun, and tries his best to enliven the stillborn proceedings of the movie, ultimately to no avail. Anyway, Europe is on the brink of war, and King Geroge (Samuel West) and Queen Elizabeth (Olivia Colman) are coming to visit America, in the hopes of convincing them to back them against the Nazis. The Cabinet doesn’t want FDR to meet with them, but he insists, but compromises on the location – instead of receiving them at the White House, he’ll do so at his mother’s home in upstate New York. The movie takes place over the course of a weekend, where it looks like the two sides will never come together, but ultimately, of course, do.

This probably sounds like a fascinating story – and it should be. But curiously, writer Richard Nelson and director Roger Michell decide to devote much of the story to Daisy (Laura Linney), a distant cousin of FDR, who in the months preceding the Royal Visit, also becomes his mistress. Daisy is quiet and fades to the background when around a large group of people, but comes alive when it’s just she and FDR. He had many mistresses, and his wife Eleanor (Olivia Williams) knows and doesn’t care (the movie implies, as many have, that Eleanor was a lesbian).

I will never understand people’s fascinating with famous people’s sex lives. Really, is the most interesting thing you can say about FDR is that he was a womanizer? When you have a movie about the Royals visiting him on the eve of WWII, do we really need to add in the sad little story of one of his many dalliances? And if you want to include that, shouldn’t you at least do something to make that woman interesting? Daisy is a dull, lifeless character. I know the normally great Laura Linney was trying to make her into a shy wallflower, but there is a difference between quiet and boring – and she doesn’t find it. And do we need endless scenes of FDR seducing her, including a rather tasteless one in the car, and their intimate moments together, that revolve mainly around stamps? Or how about the endless scenes of preparing for the royal visit? The story that should be front and center of Hyde Park on the Hudson is shunted to the background – and barely registers, so we can get the endless crap the movie delivers.

Perhaps Hyde Park on the Hudson would have played better had it not been for two superior recent movies. The first is 2010 Oscar Winner The King’s Speech – in which Colin Firth won an Oscar for playing the stammering King, that poor Samuel West is stuck trying to play here. West is okay I suppose, although his stuttering doesn’t seem natural, but he cannot hold a candle to Firth, and I spent the whole movie comparing his performance to Firth’s (it should be said that Olivia Colman does better with Elizabeth than West does). And the other movie is Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln, which managed the difficult trick of making Abraham Lincoln into a towering political figure and a touchingly fragile human being, while still telling an important historical story. Because Spielberg handles that so masterfully, and Roger Michell handles this so clumsily, the film looks probably worse than it really is by comparison.

Still, perhaps that’s just me trying to come up with something nice to say about one the most dull, lifeless films of the year. How you can cast Bill Murray as FDR and still almost put me to sleep, I’ll never know – but Hyde Park on the Hudson accomplishes just that.

Hoteal Transylvania (2012)

Genre: Comedy/Drama/Romance/Fantasy

Starring (voice): Adam Sandler, Selena Gomez, Kevin James, Andy Samberg, CeeLo Green, Steve Buscemi, Molly Shannon, David Spade

Throughout almost all our fairy tales we have always seen big, scary monsters and children hiding under their beds in fear that these monsters would come and eat them up. Ever heard of a story where things happen the other way around? Dracula (Sandler) has built a hotel called Hotel Transylvania where all monsters and beasts can come and feel safe. No scary humans to come and disturb them, only darkness and peace. But when Jonathan (Samberg) a young human bag packer arrives at the castle, Dracula is petrified. Dracula's young daughter Mavis (Gomez) is eager to explore the world outside but her father refuses to let her go into the destructive and dangerous human world. The movie explores a good storyline which is the exact opposite of the stories we usually hear. The movie is light and entertaining but the movie still lacks a lot of humour. Yes it would appeal to a 10-year-old but the movie still needs to give the audience some more reasons to laugh.

Thumbs up: A new and interesting story

Thumbs down: No real climax, needs more humour

Rating: 6.4/10

P.S. I Love You

Genre: Romance/Comedy/Drama

Starring: Hilary Swank, Gerard Butler, Lisa Kudrow, Gina Gershon, James Marsters, Kathy Bates, Javier Bardem

Jerry (Butler) and Holly (Swank) are a young married couple who had taken the decision to be together without the consent of their respective parents. The two enjoy a love-hate relationship where they are stupidly in love but yet fight a lot. Fast foward a few months ahead and Holly is now a spinster. Jerry suffered from a brain tumour and subsequently passed away. It is only now that Holly realises how much Jerry meant to her inspite of all the fights they had. Whilst on his deathbed, Jerry realises that his passing away would have a disastrous consequence on Holly and he plans to help her have a smooth getting-over. Jerry cleverly leaves behind a trail of bread crumbs asking Holly to do exactly as his letters ask her to do. The movie is a fun to watch romance-comedy and can very easily bring forth a tear even amongst the stone hearted. Swank and Butler seem to share the perfect on-screen chemistry and look absolutely brilliant. A truly fantastic watch and recommended for anyone who doesn't want a heavy and mushy romance movie but rather something light, simple and enjoyable.

Thumbs up: Great fun to watch

Thumbs down: Just seems perfect in a lot of ways.

Rating: 7.0/10

Movie Review: The Comedy

The Comedy
Directed by: Rick Alverson.
Written by: Rick Alverson and Robert Donne and Colm O'Leary.
Starring: Tim Heidecker (Swanson), Eric Wareheim (Van Arman), James Murphy (Ben), Gregg Turkington (Bobby), Kate Lyn Sheil (Waitress), Alexia Rasmussen (Young woman), Jeffrey Jensen (Cargill), Liza Kate (Sister in Law), Seth Koen (Male nurse), Rock Kohli (Raj).

Swanson is pretty much a protypical hipster. He drifts through his life with no purpose, sees everything ironically, takes nothing seriously, and pretty much makes fun of everyone around him who are foolish enough to have things like beliefs or jobs. He doesn’t have to work – his father is rich, and Swanson is just killing time until the old man finally kicks the bucket, and all the money is his own. Swanson takes no pleasure in anything he does. He is a hollow, empty character.

When we first meet him, he is doing what he’ll do repeatedly throughout the movie – cruelly fuck with another person. The person this time is his father’s male nurse, who he mocks for having a girl’s job, questions his sexuality, and subjects him to an endless series of questions about a distended anus. Swanson clearly thinks he’s better than the nurse – just like later he thinks he’s better than the gardener he mocks, the wealthy couple who employs the gardener, the cab driver he subjects to a racist rant and the group of black men he subjects to an even more racist rant. But he’s not a racist – he’s just an ironic racist, making racist jokes not because he believes them but because, well, I have no idea. His only two hobbies other than mocking other is to seduce gullible young women and get them back to his house boat. He does this is pretty much the same way – by saying hugely inappropriate things (“I’m not saying I agree with Hitler, but…”). His other hobby is to hang out with his equally obnoxious hipster friends – all sporting the same silly beards, sunglasses, shorts and flip flops – ironically, of course.

If The Comedy was a more honest movie, it could have been a great one. But it seems to want to have it’s cake and eat it to, and that dooms the film to the miserable failure that it is. This is a movie made for hipsters, by hipsters that criticizes hipsters. If Swanson’s main sin is being so ironically detached for life, what does it say about the filmmakers who have, of course, ironically named their film The Comedy, when the film is anything but funny.

Swanson is a deviant little psychopath, unable to feel empathy with anyone around him, and unable to bring himself to care. One of his hookups has a horrific end that isn’t about what he does, but rather what he doesn’t do – which is pretty much anything. No matter what is happening around him, Swanson cannot bring himself to give a shit. Perhaps the point of not giving any of the female characters in the movie a name – they are even identified in the credits as Young Woman, Waitress, Sister-in-Law – is that Swanson doesn’t care enough about them to even learn their names, but it still comes off as rather crass and sexist. But where the movie truly lost me is in the late going, when all of a sudden, it starts to ask the audience to feel sorry for Swanson – that deep down, he really is a person too, with real feelings, that he is simply masking with his ironic detachment. What a crock of shit.

The movie has other problems as well. The film makes it’s point about Swanson’s detachment in the first scene, and then proceeds to bludgeon us to the death for more than an hour with the same point again and again and again. We get it. But one thing in the movie that works, strangely enough, is Tim Heidecker’s performance as Swanson. He is actually perfect as this obnoxious asshole. I’m not a fan of Heidecker’s previous work – earlier this year, he and his partner in crime Eric Wareheim (who appears here as one of his friends) made Tim and Eric’s Billion Dollar Movie (an extension of their TV show Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!) and it is the only movie from 2012 that I turned off part way through. After about a half an hour of their brand of no-comedy comedy, I was so annoyed I wanted to put my fist through the TV screen, so decided to just turn it off instead. But in The Comedy, Heidecker proves he can actually act if he wants to. What he needs next time is a real movie – not this horrible, empty, dishonest, ironically detached movie that tries so hard to make you think Swanson is an asshole, and then tries to convince you he has feelings to. This is one of the year’s worst films.