Category: Feature Length Films

A review on Bollywood Action-Drama feature length film, ‘Rangoon’ (2017) [Former Capital of Burma]. The Production Houses are Nadiadwala Grandson Entertainment, VB Pictures and Viacom 18 Motion Pictures.

 

+ Crew

1. Written, Music, Directed & Produced by Vishal Bhardwaj
2. Co-Written by Matthew Robbins and Sabrina Dhawan
3. Cinematography by Pankaj Kumar
4. Edited by Aalaap Majgavkar
5. Co-Produced by Sajid Nadiadwala and Viacom 18 Motion Pictures

 

+Note

The project is a period film set during World War II (1939-1945) with the leading actress supposedly playing a character based on the life and times of Mary Ann Evans aka Fearless Nadia, Bollywood’s first original stunt-woman still remembered for her fiery role in the movie ‘Hunterwali’.

Rangoon is inspired by ‘English Patient’ (1996), while some scenes by ‘Saving Private Ryan’ (1998) and ‘Apocalypse Now’ (1979).

Although this film was viewed for Adults only but still there were several scenes which were opted out by our censor board that I believe was totally unnecessary. Well, first of all the viewers are ADULTS ONLY and secondly those were just kissing scenes. What’s the BIG deal about it? No sexual scenes or references or nudity or political references or hateful content were made / shown in them.

 

+ Main Cast

1. Kangana Ranaut as Miss Julia
2. Saif Ali Khan as Rustom “Rusi” Billimoria
3. Shahid Kapoor as Jamadar Nawab Malik
4. Richard McCabe as Major General Harding
5. Satoru Kawaguchi as Hiromichi
6. Surendra Pal as Maharaja
7. Alex Avery as Major Williams

 

+ Plot

During the year 1943 as the world is about to witness ‘World War II’, the Indian National Army (INA), Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) and British Indian Army (BIA) are in combat with each other. During the trip, Jamadar Nawab Malik is assigned to bodyguard Miss Julia, a young reputable, fame daring film actress. Miss Julia happens to be love interest and mistress of Rustom “Rusi” Billimoria who is one of the leading film directors in British India.

 

+ High Points

i – Kangana Ranaut performance is very good while Richard McCabe as Major General Harding performed great in the supporting role. Other Honorable Mentions: Shahid Kapoor.

ii – There are some worthy, symbolic and in-depth meaning dialogues were spoken in the film.

iii – The art direction in most scenes is well established and of first-rate quality.

iv – The costume design has done a worthy job.

 

 

+ Low Points

i – The film’s first half, where the two main characters are isolated till they are found was totally unnecessary for the film. There was no need for these scenes. It didn’t help the film to progress as such. Instead they could have shown their character shift while their long stays with the BIA, far away from home.

ii – BTW the film’s story is hardly of one hour whereas the film full time length is of 02 hours and 47 minutes. It means that the entire film is stretched till they possibly could.

iii – The way two lead characters are carrying out their secret love affair, anyone can easily notice this. But no one notices this including the army personnel and her to be husband until much later in the film.

iv – When one of the characters is presumed dead by the BIA but later on we get to know that that person has survived, no one in the army investigates how this is possible and where he was all this time?

v – After going from near death experiences (several times), yet in just couple of days Miss Julia starts doing singing, dance shows. In reality that person becomes sober due to such trauma and would refuse to work for several weeks if not months.

vi – If a well reputed actress is engaged and to be married soon, will she or her to be husband (director) would allow her to sing and dance shamelessly in front of army personnel even if it is done to boast up their morale to fight for their country? In Hollywood’s classic war film ‘Apocalypse Now’ (1979), several playmates are called in to sing and dance in front of their army for same above reason. Vishal Bhardwaj clearly failed to understand the difference between these two film characters.

vii – Honestly, I had no good expectations from Saif’s performance but since the director was Vishal Bhardwaj; then yes, I changed my mind and expected his performance to be somewhat similar he gave in the Bollywood film ‘Omkara’ (2006). Unfortunately, here it was not so. Saif Ali Khan’s performance is weak and disappointing.

viii – There are so many movie mistakes in the film such as during the mud scene, where the two lead stars are slightly drunk and having fun. We know well that experienced army personnel have muscular physique and by hitting softly on their leg, would not make fall down (at least not so easily). But he does fall several times. And in the same scene, both of these characters are completely covered in mud but in the very next scene we are shown that one of character’s clothes and slightly face is in little bit of mud otherwise almost completely clean.

ix – Not even once does the film mentions that Miss Julia is an expert in knife throwing but in a song,  we suddenly showed that she is one. However, the problem does not end here. You see, in much later in the film she feel the urge to rescue her lover and literally runs on top of running train while dismantling up to 8 – 10 army personnel in able to reach to the Major’s room and disarm him too. This entire scene may have happened if Miss Julia was either an elite commando or that this was just a dream sequence.

x – Shahid Kapoor’s character was written very limited (intentionally), but if Shahid was given the chance, he would have performed even better than Kangana.

xi – After the interval, the film became so predictable that viewers started guessing the film’s next move / scenes.

xii – To show a mole / traitor in the army, it would have been better if that secret was exposed to the main character and audience at the same time. Here the audience already knew who that ‘Traitor’ was.

xiii – No contact of the ‘Traitor’ is shown with his/her base to know and understand fully his/her tasks and intentions properly.

xiv – The visual effects of this film are as cool as of ‘B’ grade TV film.

xv – After watching this film, you can make a personal top 10 list of WTF moments. The entire film is so unrealistic, even for the standards of Bollywood film making. In comparison to South Indian films, one does expect highly unrealistic and illogical scenes in their films but not in a Bollywood film, (at least not like these) whose director is famous for directing wonderful films like ‘Haider’ (2014) and ‘Omkara’ (2006).

xvi – In its ending, most of the audience was laughing out so loudly where some of them had to cover their mouths. The film turned out to be a huge comedy for the viewers. Besides the joke, there was a minor reference in the first half of the film regarding of the main character’s stunt that he/she performs in the end. But, please! This CAN NOT happen in real life or in a given situation as it is shown in the film. But since so many illogical and impractical things were happening throughout the film therefore this scene would just be a cherry on a pie.

+ Overall

Rangoon is a shameful entry by the fame director whose work we usually look forward to.

 

Rate: 0.5 out of 5 stars

A review on Bollywood crime thriller feature length film, ‘Mom’ (2017). The Production Houses are MAD Films and Third Eye Pictures while its Distributors are Zee Studio and Sridevi Productions.

 

+ Crew

1. Written & Directed by Ravi Udyawar
2. Cinematography by Anay Goswamy
3. Co-Written by Girish Kohli (Screenplay & Story) & Kona Venkat Rao (Story)
4. Edited by Monisha R. Baldawa
5. Produced by Boney Kapoor, Sunil Manchanda, Naresh Agarwal, Mukesh Talreja & Gautam Jain

 

+Note

It is a rape-revenge thriller film. This film is inspired by Hollywood fame film ‘Eye for an Eye’ (1996) where Sally Field who plays the mom’s role in as protagonist. The first remake by Bollywood was ‘Dhusman’ (1998) of Kajol Devgan playing a double role.

It was announced in early 2016 that Sridevi would be starring next in Boney Kapoor’s woman-centric home-production titled Mom to be directed by Ravi Udyawar. Nawazuddin Siddiqui was cast in an important role in the film while the actor revealed that it was a dream, come true for him to work with Sridevi.

The Music is composed by AR Rahman. Mom marked Sridevi’s 300^th film appearance.

 

+ Main Cast

1. Sridevi as Devki Sabarwal
2. Sajal Ali as Arya
3. Abhimanyu Singh as Jagan
4. Nawazuddin Siddiqui as Daya Shankar Kapoor / DK
5. Akshaye Khanna as Mathew Francis

 

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+ Supportive Cast

1. Vikas Verma as Charles Diwan
2. Adarsh Gourav as Mohit
3. Adnan Siddiqui as Anand
4. Pitobash as Baburam

 

+ Plot

Devki Sabarwal (mother) acts as a vigilante, who sets out to avenge her daughter’s rapists.

 

+ High Points

i – Sridevi as Devki Sabarwal (mother’s role). After a long time, we as audience welcome her with love and support to see her give ‘A’ graded performance on big screen. She is truly a remarkable actress where the time stand stills when she is giving her performance. In fact, any praises would fall short on playing out her delicate, emotional character.

The key scene to watch her performance of top notch is when she visits the hospital and is informed of sexual assault of her daughter.

ii – Nawazuddin Siddiqui plays a low earning, honest private detective. Such a wonderful actor he is where everyone in the audience anticipated him to perform up to their expectations which he did brilliantly. His off / on humor punch lines made people laugh all of a sudden. The audience simply loved to watch his scenes with keen interest.

iii – Able to shoot bold scenes without showing vulgarity; kept at bay for the people to use their imagination.

iv – The consequences after committing a heinous crime that is raping someone and to see the trauma, how the victim goes through it especially the victim’s family tries to cope up with the society they live in without getting any justice — we as audience see the behavior and the temperament of the victim in such cases and imagine it as to what if to be in their place.

v – Some of the dialogues are very well said, well written. Such as:

 

Devki: ‘DK shb, hur jaga khuda nahi hotha hai’

DK    : ‘Ha, jubi to usne Maa di hai’

Or

Arya: Usne kaha ‘Apni Maa ko bulaa’!

Or

DK: ‘Mard? Tu mard thori hai. Mard rape nahi khartha hai… Suaar khartha hai’.

 

+ Low Points

i – The story is actually very simple, rape-revenge thriller film. The suspense is quite low as the film is very straight forward with predictable outcomes, (mostly). I believe that if the film maker is able to achieve the primary objectives from his film then he could focus on achieving the secondary objectives as inserting bigger twists in a plot like this.

ii – A number of unconvincing scenes such as Devki so easily entering people homes, apartments to do her mischievous work while the victim is depending on his CCTV as only security option. She able to visit the patient at the hospital whereas no police / security is available outside the room as this is on-going police case.

iii – Its ending gave a typical Bollywood signature. All this time Mathew is looking for hard evidence to arrest the vigilante but now everything suddenly changes for him. Instead, now he encourages the culprit to … R-E-A-L-L-Y?!

iv – No / hardly any proper vocal songs available in the film.

 

+ Overall

At the start of the film, Mom is very uncomfortable to watch as it tends to be that way but then we see the consequences of committing such an act of evil in a desperate attempt with perfect performances, especially Sridevi and Nawazuddin who melted themselves entirely into their characters… physically and emotionally.

 

Rate: 3.50 out of 5 stars

 

A review on Hollywood Epic Space Opera feature length film, ‘Rogue One’ (2016). The Production House is Lucas film Ltd while it is Distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures.

+ Crew
I. Directed by Gareth Edwards
II. Cinematography by Greig Fraser
III. Screenplay by Chris Weitz & Tony Gilroy
IV. Edited by John Gilroy, Colin Goudie & Jabez Olssen
V. Produced by Kathleen Kennedy, Allison Shearmur & Simon Emanuel

+Note
Jimmy Smits, Genevieve O’Reilly, and Anthony Daniels reprise their roles from previous films as Bail Organa, Mon Mothma and C-3PO. Darth Vader physically portrayed by Spencer Wilding & Daniel Naprous while its voice done by James Earl Jones. Guy Henry physically played as Grand Moff Tarkin while CGI special effects are used to replicate the likenesses of Peter Cushing.

The story is written by John Knoll & Gary Whitta and the music is composed by Michael Giacchino (Original Star Wars themes composed by John Williams).

 

+ Main Cast

1. Felicity Jones as Jyn Erso
2. Diego Luna as Cassian Andor
3. Ben Mendelssohn as Orson Krennic
4. Donnie Yen as ChirrutÎmwe
5. Forest Whitaker as Saw Gerrera
6. Alan Tudyk as K-2SO
7. Riz Ahmed as Bodhi Rook
8. Jiang Wen as Baze Malbus
9. Mads Mikkelsen as Galen Erso

+ Plot
The Rebel Alliance sends their trustworthy, efficient Cassian Andor (Rebel Alliance Intelligence Officer) with unreliable Jyn Erso, the daughter of the unwilling designer of the Galactic Empire’s super weapon, the Death Star, and her quest to retrieve his plans for destroying it.

+ High Points
i – Felicity Jones as Jyn Erso and Ben Mendelssohn as Orson Krennic are the real stars of this film. They have made a mark in the hearts of the viewers and fans alike. Ben Mendelssohn who appeared in TDKR as business tycoon nemesis of Bruce Wayne, here yet again delivered a spectacular performance as menacing shrewd lead villain in this film. Other Honorable Mentions: Diego Luna as Cassian Andor, Alan Tudyk as K-2SO, Guy Henry (physical) as Grand Moff Tarkin and Spencer Wilding, Daniel Naprous (both physical) & James Earl Jones (voice) as Darth Vader.

ii – CGI special effects that are used to replicate the likenesses of Peter Cushing & (Special Easter Egg) are so realistic that you would almost believe that the film has some kind of a time machine that brought back the real faces of the stars from the original episodes.

iii – The overall visual effects and sound mixing / design throughout the film, is one of the best of this year’s films.

iv – The WRATH of Darth Vader! His scenes are absolutely awesome to watch, in fact more superior to the ones of the lead character of this film; and simply Why Not? After all this is THE Darth Vader we are talking about here! The director kept his best scene at the last of the film where I can assure you that you would NOT be disappointed!

v – There are so many Easter eggs in this film where some of them were really SURPRISING for me. Though I would NOT give away the spoilers but I do admit that I was very PLEASED to see them. If you are really a STAR WARS fan who have watched their episodes many times already (and know its ‘In & Outs’) then yes you would EASILY recognize these few seconds of Easter eggs that be shown to you.

+ Low Points
i – Just for your knowledge, there is no starting title crawl shown before the film actually begins nor duel of light sabers or appearances by Jedi Knights / Masters. This film is based on the event between episode III & IV. So it was hard for us viewers to overcome with this fact even if you knew this beforehand.

ii – Since this film is a standalone story with no sequels attached to it, which is why the supporting characters were hard to be connected with the viewers’ interest.

iii – Some people thought we might able to see more of Darth Vader scenes where in actual were quite few.

iv – Naturally the film would not have met expectations with the episodes’ saga. Those people were mostly disappointed who had high expectations from this film.

+ Overall
Star Wars’s latest installment is not exactly the one that audience are looking for, however Star Wars: Rogue One is still a warm welcome to the long running epic franchise.

Rate: 3.50 out of 5 stars

A review on Hollywood feature length film, ‘Alien: Covenant’ (2017). The Production Houses are 20th Century Fox & Scott Free Productions while its Distributor is 20th Century Fox. The Story is written by Jack Paglen & Michael Green.

+ Crew I

1. Directed & Produced by Ridley Scott
2. Cinematography by Dariusz Wolski
3. Screen Play by John Logan & Dante Harper
4. Edited by Pietro Scalia
5. Music by Jed Kurzel
6. Produced by Mark Huffam, Michael Schaefer, David Giler & Walter Hill

 

+ Note

The film is a sequel to the 2012 film Prometheus, the second installment in the Alien prequel series, and the sixth installment overall in the Alien film series, as well as the third directed by Scott. Javier Botet portrays a Xenomorph via motion capture. Goran D. Kleut plays the role of both the Neomorph and the Xenomorph in costume and on set. Each Alien film features a different type of group interacting with the Xenomorphs: Miners in the original Alien; Military in Aliens; Prisoners in Alien3; Smugglers in Alien Resurrection; and Research Scientists in Prometheus while Scientists / Colonists in Alien: Covenant.

During his confrontation with Walter, David asks him if he’d rather “serve in Heaven or reign in Hell”. The line refers to John Milton’s poem “Paradise Lost”, where Lucifer claims it is “Better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven”. This fits with David’s ultimate desire to no longer be subservient to mankind. In addition, “Paradise Lost” was the original subtitle for this film, before “Covenant” was chosen.

 

+ Main Cast

1. Michael Fassbinder as David 8 and Walter
2. Katherine Waterston as Daniels “Dany” Branson
3. Billy Crudup as Christopher Oram
4. Danny McBride as Tennessee
5. Demián Bichir as Sergeant Lope
6. Carmen Ejogo as Karine Oram
7. Amy Seimetz as Maggie Faris

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+ Supporting Cast

8. Jussie Smollett as Ricks
9. Callie Hernandez as Upworth
10. Nathaniel Dean as Sergeant Hallett
11. Alexander England as Ankor
12. Benjamin Rigby as Ledward
13. James Franco as Jacob “Jake” Branson
14. Uli Latukefu as Pvt. Cole

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+ Recurring Cast (Guest Appearances)

15. Noomi Rapace as Dr. Elizabeth Shaw
16. Guy Pearce as Peter Weyland

 

+ Plot

The crew of the colony ship Covenant, bound for a remote planet on the far side of the galaxy, discovers what they think is an uncharted paradise, but is actually a dark, dangerous world. When they uncover a threat beyond their imagination, they must attempt a harrowing escape.

 

+ High Points

i – Michael Fassbinder’s performance as Walter & David 8 (Reprising role) is played out magnificently. Both roles were written very differently which was challenging for the actor.

ii – The guest appearance reprised role by Guy Pearce as Peter Weyland was very pleasing to watch.

iii – The story has touch of Prometheus and Alien. I loved both of these films hence made a good combination as Alien: Covenant.

iv – The production design are yet again praise worthy. Ridley Scott is truly a master in its Art direction.

v – The Visual effects and Makeup & hairstyling helped this suspense sci-fi horror film to reach the ranks of a successful film in the Alien franchise.

vi – We are able to witness blood / gore as Alien franchise have in common with intro of new species of Alien race.

 

+ Low Points

i – It’s not rocket science to find out the minor hints / clues that they give for the film’s twists and turns, including how the film is going to end. Almost every twist came out as very predictable.

ii – The character developments usually lack in slasher films. Here too is another example of it. However the backstory they gave in Prometheus for Dr. Elizabeth Shaw was missing for the protagonist as Daniels “Dany” Branson.

iii – It character of Walter was not as inspiring or fascinating as of David 8 in (its predecessor) Prometheus.

iv – There was serious lack of strong supporting cast missing in this film as did in its first part. Such as in the film Prometheus, there was Michael Fassbinder as David 8 (Android), Idris Elba as Janek (the captain of the ‘Prometheus’ spaceship while having a military background), Charlize Theron as Meredith Vickers (daughter of Peter Weyland and had conflicts with Elizabeth Shaw) and Guy Pearce as Peter Weyland (Head of this Trillion dollar company and searching their creators for many answers especially how to stop death).

In Alien Covenant we have Michael Fassbinder as Walter (Android), James Franco as Jacob “Jake” Branson (in Cameo appearance, former captain of ‘Covenant’ spaceship and husband of Daniels) and Billy Crudup as Christopher Oram (New captain of ‘Covenant’ spaceship).

v – Noomi Rapace as Elizabeth Shaw performed much better than Katherine Waterston as Daniels “Dany” Branson

vi – The characters of its predecessor were well written than in Alien: Covenant.

 

+ Overall

A good effort as sci-fi horror thriller of deep, bloody gore film which will leave the viewers satisfied with a welcome back note to Alien franchise especially Michael Fassbinder, who yet again delivered charismatic, cunning character.

 

Rate: 3.50 out of 5 stars