Sultan Movie Review :
It took me a few days to get over the trauma of seeing Great Grand Masti. But Finally managed to catch salman's latest

It is said that critics don’t like salman movies, but keeping the actor apart from the characters he plays, his movies are not bad. The last few were pretty good.

This one is his best one yet. Sultan is the closest we have come to a desi Rocky type movie, complete with training montages, life threatening injuries and love interest, this is a sports movie done right.

From the opening scene of Salman designed for whistles and claps, this movie keeps chugging along till it actually gets good in the second half. The acting is decent all throughout, with Salman taking a bit of effort to stay in character and not behave like his usual self. Could another actor have done a better job ? probably, but this was sallu’s starring vehicle and he did as much justice to the role as he could.

Being a yash raj film, this has quite a few songs which slow the movie down and 2 of them look VERY out of place. The second half gets really interesting, its gritty but it could have gone further.
The music and theme song was decent and if someone hasn’t seen Rocky type movies, this formula will work better on them.
Overall a decent film, not overly melodramatic or cheesy.

Rating 7/10. Sports fans would love this, apart from the obvious Sallu fans.

Great Grand Masti Review : Or How I got tortured in the name of film reviews.

Need I say?
This movie is terrible.
It’s horrible.
Its misogynistic and nightmare inducing.
But it’s still better than Mastizaade & Kya Kool hain hum 3 !!!!

This movie can be best described as a relic from the 90’s. Made by Indra Kumar, the plot is some nonsense about a haunted bungalow and 3 dudes wanting to do great grand masti there. Who goes to village to do masti ? they never heard of khap panchayats ?

As expected, the acting is suitably horrible, the actors look like they are regretting ever doing Masti. But as this is Vivek Oberoi’s ONLY way to earn a pay check, they agreed to do it!

Having said that, the first 1 hour of the film is somewhat enjoyable, its pathetic jokes, but the comradery of the trio makes it a bit funny. But once the ghost is introduced, this film goes downhill fast and never recovers.
Songs are bad, the story is crap, the dialogs are left from B-Grade 90’s movies. The three wives and the other characters are caricatures and simply not funny.
All in all, it’s of expected quality.

Rating: 4/10. Fan of such stupidity might enjoy it.
Others, just avoid big time and Play Pokemon Go :)

This movie is going to get bad critical reviews!
The previous movie which came out in 1996 wasn’t well reviewed either, but it was dumb, fun and eye popping back in the day. Its also one of my FAVORITE movies of ALL times. I must have seen it more than 20 times.

This new sequel takes places 20 years after the original and the aliens are back! It’s up to David levinson played by Jeff Goldblum and team to save the day – again.

This movie majorly suffers from Transformer-itis, with a good measure of Blow up the Queen to kill all drones syndrome thrown in for good measure. So is this movie terrible and unwatchable?

Not exactly, there’s good and bad.

Let’s start with the good parts.

It’s great to see quite a bit of the old cast coming back. Former president President Whitmore played by Bill Pullman is back. So is previously mentioned David and his Jewish Father. New cast members included Dylan Heller who is Will smith’s character’s kid from the previous movie. It’s good to see them all together again. The plot moves along swiftly and the movie doesn’t take too much to pick up and get going. The music is fine, the action is passable and the FX is great.
Also, the film makers are self aware and they know what kind of movie they are making, thats one good thing about the film. It sometimes DOESN'T fall for the cliche. But only at times!
Now comes the problematic part. Since the last 20 years visual FX has gotten a LOT easier. So easy, that every director over does it these days. From the new Terminator to Star Wars to this movie, the FX seem TOO much. There is too much going on in the screen, the eye can’t focus on any one cool thing. There is 100s of cool things happening on screen! This is where the direction falters. It’s the film makers job to direct the eye to something meaningful, rather than have everything blowing up and thrown at your face all at once. This is Michael bay’s transformers formulae and this film also suffers from it!
Then comes the rather hack job of editing. The first movie was 2 and a half hours long and had great character and human moments in-between all the spectacle. This one is rushed, it feels rushed. There is NO build-up to the alien’s arrival. The build-up was the BEST part of the first movie, the anticipation of seeing those shadows covering those cities. They got rid of all of that awesomeness.
There is a sudden school bus full of children thrown in good measure, the whole kids plot line comes out of NO WHERE and it feels like their introductions were left on the editing floor.
There is no time to think in between the action, it’s all rushed and going at break neck speeds. They should have spaced out this movie by at least 15 more minutes.
The plot and story is absurd but that is one thing I was expecting all along. They do try to build more mythology about the aliens and their intergalactic war. But it all seems a bit Star Wars-ish.
Some actions or things that happen don’t follow logical choices but that is fine, given it’s a big dumb movie.

I didn’t hate this film, it kept me entertained, but it is far from the brilliant original film.

Fans of the first part will like it, new-comers to the genre might not get it.

Rating : 6/10 . See if you like Sci-Fi, but go in with low expectations and it will be fine!
P.S: They left the door open for the next part and I doubt it going to be made…

The first movie had a relentless pace and fun magic tricks, some of which, actually worked on the audience! It had charm and a pseudo smartness which fell away when inspected too closely, but that movie disguised it PRETTY well with misdirection and actually followed its own advice, the closer you look, the more you will miss out on.
But unfortunately, this sequel is rather by the numbers and has none of the cleverness and charm which the audience were expecting.
Just like the previous movie, the four horse men are just patsies in someone else’s plan and the whole movie is spent trying to figure out who and why.
From the stale opening to the lame first act, this movie drags along. Halfway through, there were more yawns than cheers from the audience.
The ending twist / surprise (or the Prestige as Michael Caine himself said in the Nolan movie) Is weak, inconsistent with the previous movie and lacks any kind of punch.

Lizzy Caplan replaces the beautiful Isla Fisher and the movie is all the more awkward for it. The twin role by Woody Harrelson is at times funny, but ultimately it has no pay off and seems like a useless subplot. Michael Caine reprises his role from the sequel and he seems to be tired and not enjoying himself at all.
Daniel Radcliff is severely miscast in his role and he comes across as Harry Potter acting like he was megalomaniac. This role need a serious creep factor which Elijah wood brought in for sin City, unfortunately Radcliff fails miserably.
This movie is obviously partly produced by china as it involves a lot of its action taking place in Macau and the inclusion of the Chinese actors is a bit jarring. But this seems to be the new trend in Hollywood, co-financed by China. Karate kid, Transformers 4, Iron man 3 all went this route and this film really suffers for it…
The plot of such a movie should be so fast paced that the audience has no chance to think and they will just enjoy trick after trick. But this movie miserable fails in that too.
It’s boring, its clichéd and not enjoyable!
I wish this was an amazing sequel, but it sadly falls way below the mark.

Rating: 5/10. No really good reason to see this. Instead see the original again, it was much better!
Note to Marketing Team : Next time your film has a great twist about the villain, DON’T reveal it on your marketing POSTER.

Udta Punjab.
This movie is India’s answer to Crash. Like other ensemble piece such as ‘Mumbai meri jaan’, this film follows the story of 3 or 4 main characters and how their lives are affected by the drug problem in Punjab.
Let’s start with the positives first, this is a VERY powerful film…
The message in the film is very definitely anti-drug and it does not in any way endorse the use of drugs. But it manages to send this message without being preachy or overly morose. There are a lot of tragic-comedy scenes in the film and it also definitely has a VERY dark sense of humour at times.
The first half is very well paced and fast moving. The story is involving and engaging, but then the second half slows down and the movie drags on for a while before coming to its inevitable conclusion. Despite the story, the characters are at times half-baked and clichéd and only a few times do they manage to be deep and rewarding.
Breaking Bad this is not, when it comes to character development.
Coming to the acting, Shahid Kapoor straight out rips off ben kingsley’s performance in Iron man 3 as the British actor Trevor. His mannerisms, facial expressions, hand movements are all reminiscent of that character. Maybe the films makers told him to do so, I don’t really know. His acting is not bad at all, it’s just a bit of a rip-off. But despite this, he is able to portray a man gone down the drain who slowly gets back his mojo (he literally says he got back his mojo).
Kareena Kapoor-Khan’s character is reminiscent of her roles in Chameli and Dev. She does her role well without taking us out of the movie. She actually looks more attractive without the glitzy makeup of her normal roles. She also plays a more central role than the trailers would indicate.
Alia Bhatt does a tremendous job of playing a daily wage earning laborer. Her makeup shows her sun damaged skin and her acting shows her damaged soul. Despite her young age, she is an actress who has true range in this often shallow industry and is not afraid to look un-herione like. she is not just de-glam in this film; she is made to look like a normal laborer. Her face and features are of-course too pretty to completely hide her beauty, but that is also used a plot point and it the later revelation of her character's origin works well and rounds off her character quite well.
All other roles are done well enough by the actors and the secondary characters are believable, but their Punjabi dialog is hard to follow for those who don’t know the language.
The film also has a surprisingly high gore value, especially towards the end. It’s very brutal and realistic. It’s a little surprising to see such a gory movie in Bollywood, but it’s a welcome change from so called action movie who don’t have the guts to show gore at all.
Now the bad parts, not that there are many of them…
The editing is a bit choppy at times, characters teleport from place to place (or so it seems because of the editing). As mentioned before, the pacing of the second half gets slow, especially a lot of footage is covered over one night’s incidents and it almost felt like the movie will end within the span of that night (like NH10). Thankfully the next morning dawns and the movie catches is pace again.
Other than this… the movie is quite well made.
Now let’s come to the reason this movie has gotten infamous. The swearing and the drug abuse depicted, as well as the story which deals with the narco-political angle (a word used often in the movie itself).
The swearing is quite natural, though normally Bollywood films don’t depict this vulgar reality of life. People swear and they swear OFTEN. I would go so far as to say, they didn’t show enough swearing! People in real life,swear more often to express their anger, frustrations and disappointment.
As for the plot of drug abuse… Most people are not aware of the drug problem in the country. If there is any truth and factual basis behind the story, there is little wonder why the politicians will be rattled by this exposure of something, which most of the aam junta are unaware of.
Overall, as a film, it has its flaws, it’s not the best film ever made, but it’s a VERY important film.
People need to go and watch this film. Despite it being pirated before release, I hope people go to the theatres and see the film on the big screen like it was meant to be seen.
Rating : I would give this film a 6.5/10 just on the film making alone. But adding extra 2 points for the sensitive but crucial subject matter and the sheer guts of the filmmakers to make such a film.
Final Rating: 8.5/10.

The Conjuring 2 Movie Review :
Based on the real life events in Enfield, England. 1977. The Conjuring 2 Follows the further adventures and investigations of the Warrens.
BUT the thing is… This isn’t a typical horror film.
Spoilers:
NO ONE dies during the course of the movie! Huge surprise, no one died in the previous Conjuring movie too.
The scares are genuine, the acting is good and this movie has surprisingly involving humane moment sprinkled throughout its runtime.
This movie, just like the previous part is not by the numbers.
Sure the movie has its share of clichés and typical jump scare moments, but the difference between this and other low grade horror films is that they actually SUCCEED in scaring you, making you feel for the characters and making you care for them and how the climax takes shape.
Overall it’s more of an investigative adventure than a just horror film.
The acting by the two leads and then four children is VERY solid and you start to believe them as real people.
The direction by James Wan of Fast 7 & SAW fame is meticulous and perfect. The music is adequate without being overbearing. All in all, a well put together film.
Fans of the horror genre who liked the previous movie will njoy this one a lot.
Rating: 7.5/10. Must watch for horror fans.
P.S : Wait for the end credits where the play the REAL tape of the incidents in the movie. This audio was scarier than anything in the movie. Because this audio is REAL.

Warcraft Movie Review:

I REALLY wanted to like this movie! I REALLY did, but from the first trailers, it seemed a bit iffy…

This movie has been critically panned almost worldwide and with good reason too.
I don’t base my views on other critics, but there are some major problems with this film.
The basic one is that… this film is a prequel which we had no need for! The entire events of this film should have been the first 15 minutes of the film.

Let’s go step by step.

First off, the story and setting is confusing to new audiences and unlike LOTR and Star Wars, the film makers don’t manage the world building effortlessly. I found myself a bit lost during the first 30 mins or so. I still can’t name the cities or the main characters.
The movie starts with them, going from place to place, confusing the audience and killing any kind of anticipation of the orc raids. Plus, the orc raids are not shown at all, we can’t even connect to the peril they pose!

Then comes the story itself. It’s a bit weak, despite this huge premise, the story falls flat.
The acting is amateurish at best and despite the effort taken in costume and sets, the scenes all look a bit fake and not realistic (Like LOTR – Made in 2001!)

Paula Patton plays an attractive half human, half orc character. But how did she come to be? it’s not made clear, since it seems human have never encountered orcs before!
Who were the other species in the movies? Dwarfs, elves? They have nothing to do, they are not explained properly or used in any impactful sort of way.
Characterization is mostly improvised through dialog and we come to understand important character moments because someone says it out loud in dialog…

The writing of the film is to blame for all these issues!
Then comes the pacing of the film. This film has very uneven narrative, sometimes things happen fast, sometimes it get too slow. Some of the plot points are completely confusing and seem like it was written by a 6-year-old trying to fix the script!
For example, a book important to the plot is conveniently located via ghost/ convenient plot point of some ancient power, which leads to no great revelation, just more confusion!
The ending has no build up, the villain and his twist is out of the blue and seemed forced and clichéd.

Now finally I come to the good parts of the film.
Some action sequences are decent. The visual FX is good at times, VERY video gamey at times.
Overall I have nothing too good to say about this film. Despite how much effort, hard work and time it went into making this film, it’s quite a disaster.
Duncan Jones the director has made some GREAT films in the past, but his step into big budget action adventure is more of a misstep than a success.
This entire movie sets up for sequels which we are not going to get… so it’s pointless seeing this film!

Rating: 5.5/10
(Would have given it 3.5, but out of respect for the hard work needed to make such a film, giving it 2 points more)

Verdict: Avoid! Unless you are HUGE world of Warcraft fan and this movie makes 100% sense to you!

This movie seems to have gotten a bad rep from the critics. After 2 Super Hero Movie tent poles since March, the superhero genre is a bit fatigued. But let me say this first, this movie is GOOD!
I don’t know which film the critics were seeing, but they are dead wrong about this particular film.
X-Men Apocalypse is about this super mutant who has been alive for thousands of years and was then buried since 3600B.C. This mutant is back to wreak havoc. Kill all humans, end the world etc…
Only the X-men can stop them.
A lot of the movie now falls on the newer and younger X-Men. This movie does a good job of slowly building up and explaining every character and how the events around them influence their decisions.
Singer does another competent job of direction and this movie feels a bit reminiscent of x2 from 2003. The music is at times nostalgic, at times new. The acting is even all around. The trailers make it look like this movie will focus a lot of Mystique/Raven. It features her, but she doesn’t steal the limelight. She shares almost equal time with Beast and their chemistry still shines through.
Over all, this is a great 3rd part after First Class and Day of Future Past.
This movie could have been better, there is no denying that, the build up is there but somehow the climactic feeling of the end of the world is quite missing and that is my only issue with the film. When things come to a head, it doesn’t feel epic even though it should.
Rating : 7.5 / 10 .
Overall it’s a good film that follow the previous 2 films. It’s essential that the viewer has seen the previous two films in this trilogy.

Captain America: Civil War Movie Review :

Captain America: School Yard Brawl Is a more appropriate title for this film. Don’t get me wrong, I loved the film, but this reminded me of my school days when in the break we used to play aba-dhupi, aka standing in a circle and throwing a ping pong ball at each other. For those 10 minutes, everyone was my enemy, but the moment the break got over, we were all friends. That, in short describes this film.

Plot summary is... Captain America and Iron Man have a fall out over the Sokovia accords and this movie deals with that conflict.

The action is awesome, the direction is top notch, but the stakes are at an all-time low. Unlike Avengers 1 & 2, Winter Soldier, there is no huge change, no fall of hydra or city wide battle. This is a fun romp of seeing your favourite superheroes fight it out in battle royale style.

Is it as pointless as Batman V Superman? not quite, for one thing, the movie doesn’t take itself seriously at all, there are so many self-referential jokes inside it, poking fun at Cap’s shield’s physics is one of them.

Plus the dialogs are hilarious, the comedy moments even during the fighting is laugh out loud and everything said is insanely quotable ! this movie is a walking talking meme generator !
Add to that characters we already know and we love, it all combines into a winning mixture of fun, humour and action.

Scriptwise, both the sides are equally balanced, with no side coming out as right or wrong, its OK to support either side. This movie is also more of sequel to Age of Ultron as compared to Winter Soldier. There is no point seeing this without seeing Avengers 2 and Winter Soldier.

Take this seriously we cant.

Spoilers :
Character wise, Spider-man is definately an stand out, outshining the more sombre and quite Black Panther. Everyone else seems to fit into their roles pretty well. Vision is turning out to be quite an interesting character. No one character went totally wrong in this and everyone does an amazing job. I am now very excited about the new Spider-Man Homecoming movie ! this smart quips and trash talking is so well done in this version.

Rating: 8/10 . It’s fun, its full of action, it’s cool, but it has no weight to it at all. Enjoyable over all.

It’s obvious from the trailers that this film is YRF’s love letter to SRK.
This has to be the most narcissistic film EVER made. But is the movie any good ?

Yes. Definitely. The movie is good, but after the end, the entire audience was left with the question, why ? what was the point of the film ? what was it trying to say ?

Fan is about a guy called Gaurav, from Delhi who is super-Star Aryan Khanna’s (SRK) Biggest fan. He wants to meet his idol, show him his trophy. Instead his dreams get crushed and he plots revenge.

The direction of this film is very good. In the first half most scenes are VERY realistic and true to life, not over blown or treated like a typical blockbuster. But the second half raises the stakes, adds a thriller element and also becomes a bit over the top. But that is to be expected from an SRK film.

Music wise this movie suffered a lot. The music was adequate but not inspiring, nor did it manage to carry out the action scenes that well.

Now we come to big selling point of this film. SRK’s Double role and acting. I am not a huge fan of SRK, but he has truly outdone himself. His double take as Gaurav the Fan and Aryan the star are portrayed SO differently, that just from body language its clear who is who. If the aim of this film was to show case SRK’s range, it did so rather well.
Special mention for Gaurav’s makeup. His nose is very different from SRK’s real nose and his eyes are bigger to. I have NO idea how they did those, make up, FX, prosthetics, god knows. But they managed to make Gaurav look like a 25 year. It was simply amazing how much they looked alike YET different.

Normally I would rate this film a Six out of Ten. But plus 1 point for the AMAZING double role, makeup and two SRK’s interactions with each other. Also Plus Half a point for SRK’s acting as Gaurav.

Displaying shades of Darr, this is SRK’s most innovative & narcissistic film in years. This is miles and miles ahead of Duplicate by Mr. Bhatt and his best double role till date.

Rating : 7.5 / 10.

Footnote : I don’t know if this film is trying to disrespect fans in general or just saying that over the top fandom is a bad thing. But either way, why comment on it? since the first day first show audience is always the FANS!