My Review - Barney's Version

What's not to like about Barney's Version, really? Paul Giamatti, one of my very favourite actors, playing the title role of Barney Panofsky, a funny looking jewish guy, smoker, drinker and hockey lover. A man who admires art, is a total wreck, and yet somehow keeps landing these HOT women every now and then.


An adaptation of a novel by the same name by Canadian writer Mordecai Richler, Barney's Version is essentially a lifestory of Barney's(Giamatti) adventures in love and marriage to three beautiful(and out-of-his-league) women. Minnie Driver and Rosamund Pike(the Bond Girl from Die Another Day) play the two wives for whom Barney is married for the longest time. His beautiful relationship with Miriam(Rosamund Pike) is one of the highlights of the film. Giamatti is absolutely brilliant as the bumbling Barney. Easily one of his best performances;at least from the ones I have seen(Cinderella Man, Sideways, Lady in the Water). Dustin Hoffman plays an excellent supporting role as Barney's father, friend and guide and has some of the best one-liners.


Four stars and a Must Watch recommendation! 


Giamatti received a Golden Globe for this one.

My Review - 50 50

Tagline  It takes a pair to beat the odds.

50/50 stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt, as Adam (Leonardo Di Caprio's assistant/partner-in-crime from Inception) and Seth Rogen as his best friend Kyle (The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Knocked Up, Funny People, Kung Fu Panda). Adam on a routine visit to his doctor learns that he has a rare form of cancer which he may or may not survive. This, in a nutshell, is the story. 

What happens from here is how Adam copes with the disease, with his girlfriend walking out on him, demands from his mother to let her take care of him, Kyle's ridiculous and supremely funny suggestions on how Adam should hit on girls in bars, his friendships with fellow cancer patients and his awkward and unique relationship with Katherine, played by the lovely Anna Kendrick(George Clooney's newbie assistant in Up in the Air). 

Some moments in the movie are heart-wrenching, like when Adam discovers the cancer healing books Kyle has been reading, or when he hugs his mother not wanting to leave her, seconds before his surgery or when he has a nervous breakdown. The best part of the movie is that even though Adam's pain is visible, the suffering is never overdone(Sanjay Bhansali, some tips for you). 

Subtle. Funny. Emotional. 4 stars. 

P.S. - Bryce Dallas Howard is a total waste in the role of Adam's girlfriend.

My Review - The Kids are All Right

The Kids Are All Right is essentially a story of a family involving a lesbian couple, Nic(Annette Bening) and Jules(Julianne Moore) and their children - 16 year-old son Laser and 18 year-old daughter Joni. Nic is the stricter of the two and the 'father' of the family in a way while Jules is more open, the 'mother' who stays at home and owns a landscape design(read gardening) business. Both Nic and Jules are called Mom by their children (:-P) and have become mothers using the same sperm donor, Paul(Mark Ruffalo). 

It so happens that Laser wants to meet his biological Dad so he takes the help of his sister as he is a minor. This gives Mark an opportunity to meet both his children and 'enter' the family as such. The story takes a twist when Mark and Jules start having a secret affair. Also, as the kids start start spending more time with Mark, Nic becomes increasingly insecure of Mark being a control freak that she is. What happens next forms the crux of the story. 

Annette Bening is brilliant as the insecure and cynical Nic and Ruffalo is fantastic as the laid back and unassuming Mark. Julianne Moore does a great job as Jules swinging between her frustration in her 'marriage' with Nic and her fling with Mark. The kids are cute and they play their roles well. One of the best scenes of the film are when Mark comes to their home for the first time for lunch and when Jules addresses the family admitting her mistake.

A very 'real' film with real characters committing real mistakes. Don't miss it!

P.S. - At the end, I was left wondering when will Annette Bening win an Oscar. This was her fourth nomination. Sigh :-(

P.S. - The tagline for this film is absolutely SPOT ON!!! 

My Review - The King's Speech

A film that has to be seen from start to finish in one go. An underdog story in a way. Yeah, I know. Hollywood obsession!!! But the underdog here is a King, George VI, played brilliantly by Colin Firth, with all the right qualities except that he stammers and a King can't do that. Not certainly in an age where 'Kings have to invade the homes of their countrymen' via the radio and 'not just look respectable in a uniform and not fall of a horse'. And this is just the early 1900s, mind you :-P. 

Enter Lionel Logue(Geoffrey Rush), an Australian speech therapist, with methods that are unorthodox and controversial. There are twists and turns subsequently and a final speech which King George VI has to deliver to the nation, needless to say, with Lionel's help.

Your heart goes out to the King as he stumbles, stutters and stammers throughout the film, feeling helpless and humiliated, to his wife who patiently supports him come what may and to his countrymen who are looking for hope and direction. Our very own Bhansali could take some pointers as to how to portray suffering in a dignified manner.

You can see why The King's Speech swept the Oscars. What worked for me was a great cast, fine performances, great setting, some brilliant camerawork and finally the uber snobbish British Accent. Colin Firth is brilliant(Did I say that already?) and Geoffrey Rush is a revelation as the speech therapist. I don't recall having seen any of his films(not a fan of the Pirates Series) but he is simply wonderful in this film as Lionel Logue. I thought he was better than Firth. The conversations between George II and Lionel are the highlight of the film. Helena Bonham Carter also chips in with a fine performance.

Highly recommended! 

Inception - My thoughts

My friends and few readers of this blog would note I had refused to see Inception at the time of its release. There was too much Inception baazi going on everywhere and I was sick of it. I did manage catch Inception some days back. And that too on a uncensored, uncut, extended Blu Ray version. And here are my thoughts. 

Inception IS a brilliant film. The dream within a dream within a dream concept! How do these Hollywood guys think of stuff like this? 

Chris Nolan has scored back to back centuries in the form of Dark Knight and Inception. Leonardo Di Caprio was in fine form as well. One could see the pain of loosing a loved one right from the start. Come to think of it, Caprio has had a dream run too. Aviator, Blood Diamond, Departed, Revolutionary Road, Shutter Island, and now Inception. I don't think any other actor has shown such consistency of scripts and growth as an actor. By the end of it, I was too drained(mentally) to think whether the last scene was a dream or a reality.

Having said all that in praise of Inception, I have to say that the film does not have any repeat value. It has if you are a Fight Club fan(pun intended) and you wish to absolutely find out whether it was a dream or a reality at the end, you would watch reruns of the movie or like a friend told me(I have seen it 10 times, at the time of release!). But for lesser mortals like us, with limited time and intelligence, one watch is all it takes. In no ways is it a Little Miss Sunshine or a Sideways. Or even a Cinderella Man. 

But one thing I just don't understand is why(TF) was Nolan not nominated for Best Director in the Oscars???!!!! 

My Review - Sideways

Wonderful, a Hollywood comedy not set in New York. I finally managed to catch this 2004 comedy-drama a couple of days back. It's been there on my to-do list for a long long time.

So here it goes. Miles, played by Paul Giamati(Russell's Crowe's manager in Cinderella Man), and Jack(Thomas Haden Church, the guy who played the baddie in Spiderman 3) decide to spend a week in wine country before Jack's impending marriage. Miles, an English teacher, is an extremely frustrated middle-aged man, unable to come to terms with his unsuccessful marriage and career. He hopes to spend the one week tasting wines, playing golf and enjoying the countryside. Jack, on the other hand, is an actor and voiceover artist who wants to spend the week having a 'nice time'. For the last time! Once they arrive at the countryside, they happen to meet these women, Maya and Stephanie, to whom both of them take a liking to.

Based on a book, Sideways is lazy yet funny, untouched yet intelligent screenplay of a fun trip with its own twists and turns of emotions and what not. Although one is not desperately waiting for the next twist, you get attached to both the characters who are lovable losers in their own sort of a unique way. While watching this, I could get the Rainman/My Cousin Vinny feel. A perfect film for a lazy Saturday or Sunday.

Highly recommended with four stars!

Trailer - Sideways
Rotten Tomatoes - 97%
Roger Ebert's Review

P.S. - This $16 million film made $110 million at the BO. And Giamati was not nominated for an Oscar.

My Review - Kaminey

At one point of time in Kaminey, there is a shot of Charlie(Shahid) with a revolver walking away from the camera on a railtrack and a shit scared Guddu(Shahid) running away with a guitar held close to his chest. You get the feeling that ah well...this is the end. And Baaam! It's not over. Not until a good 25 minutes of craziness, negotiations and violence.

It is this unpredictability and the brilliant brilliant writing which make Kaminey and its characters watchable. Immensely watchable. Kaminey is about twin brothers Charlie Sharma and Guddu Sharma, who hate each other's sights and how their lives get intertwined by a simple twist of fate or should I say a simple string of a guitar! :-) Charlie is a small time thug who dreams of getting rich 'through a chota shortcut' and Guddu has a panchayati raj type 14 year plan to settle down in life with his girlfriend Sweety(Priyanka Chopra). Apart from having a lovable ensemble of ganglords(Bengaali, African and Ladakhi) and corrupt cops(Lobo and Lele) from the Mumbai Police Anti-Narcotic cell, Kaminey has as one of its highlights Bhope Bhau, a 'Jai Maharashtra' spouting local politician, played by Amol Gupte, writer of Taare Zameen Par.

Kaminey is a treat to watch. Because it treats the viewer with some amount of respect and leaves it for him to see, understand and laugh. Reminiscent of the Coen Brothers in parts, Kaminey is both visually dark and emotionally entertaining. After enduring severe human rights violations in the form of a Ghajini and Love Aaj Kal (M not even counting the Kambakht Ishqs and CC2Cs), Kaminey gives you hope that there is still someone in Bollywood who can make rivetting, realistic and meaningful cinema (Apart from the Johnny Gaddaar dude).

Shahid and Priyanka come of age and its unlikely that they will be able to better this one in the near future. Amol Gupte is a revelation as Bhope and Shiv Subramaniam is absolutely hilarious as Lobo.

Ramgopal Varma used to say - I am the anti Yash Chopra. I am like the Al-Qaida and Yash Raj is the United States. I guess that mantle lies now with the wonderfully talented dialogue-screenplay-story writer, music director and director Vishal Bhardwaj.

The anti-thesis of Bollywood and the future of Bollywood is here. And he is awfome!

My Review - 17 Again

After a long long time, I went to the theater to watch a movie. The choice was no doubt dictated by the better half. I chose to meekly follow as the reviews were satisfactory. There have been other films on the same theme, namely 13 Going On 30, which was a light, delightful, New Yorky comedy.

17 Again is about 37 year old Mike O'Donnell(played by Mathew Perry), leading a typical American life(pun intended) - job going nowhere, kids hate him, wife has filed for a divorce etc etc. Somehow he turns 20 years younger and gets a chance to/at redo everything. And everything he does - getting his daughter to break up with the college bully, teaching his son the tricks of the wooing trade and getting back with his wife. Assisting him in these tasks is his college geek buddy Ned(played brilliantly by Comedian Thomas Lennon) who falls for the college principal.

A nice and thoroughly enjoyable romantic comedy. Don't miss it!

P.S. - Somehow the better half found the lead actor cute. I thought he had a bad boy look. Whatever...!

My Review - Syriana

If you are interested in the petropolitics and the violence of the middle east, if you are amazed why America never takes one step to reform the stone-age country Saudi Arabia is, if you wonder why Iraq was invaded, if you marvel at the fact that there are virtually zero democracies in the gulf region and if you wanted your own "How to be a suicide bomber?" guide, Syriana is the film for you.

Starring hollywood biggies like Matt Damon, Chris Cooper, William Hurt, Jeffrey Wright and George Clooney(who won a Best Supporting Oscar for this one and doubles up as the executive producer), Syriana is slow and confusing initially as you get introduced to a myriad of characters going about their jobs in a ruthless manner.

Harvard educated Prince Nasir(played brilliantly by Alexander Siddig) wants to reform his oil rich country by bringing in democracy and granting voting rights to women. Assisting him in his reform process is Bryan Woodman(Matt Damon), an energy analyst who is loosing touch with his own family based back in the US. Somewhere else, Robert Gates(George Clooney), a veteran CIA officer, is entrusted by the US Govt with assasinating Prince Nasir.

What happens next is something to be seen - sibling rivalry, corporate greed, preservation of national interest(read OIL), treachery, assasination attempts and the birth of suicide bombers. Syriana is an eye opener for those who don't know and a confirmation for those who do.

Don't miss it!!!

My Review - Tropic Thunder

Tropic Thunder starts with a promo of Scorcher, an action film starring Tugg Speedman(Ben Stiller), ready with a gun and a baby(?!!!) to save the world. Then come the promos of Scorcher II, III, IV and V. In this hilarious satire-action-comedy partly written and wholly directed by Stiller himself, three actors from different genres come together to make a war movie. So Stiller plays Speedman(modelled on Stallone), Downey, Jr. is Kirk Lazarus, an australian actor(loosely modelled on Russell Crowe) who goes great depths to 'get into' the character and Jack Black is Jeff Portnoy, an actor who has done films like The Fatties(a take on Eddie Murphy) and is addicted to drugs. Speedman is desperate for a hit, Lazarus is desperate to be in character even between shots and Portnoy is desperate for cocaine.

The story is simple, the screenplay is apt and the satire is immensely enjoyable. Watch out for the scene where Lazarus(Downey) advises Speedman(Stiller) never to go full retard while playing a mentally retarded character. There are cameos by almost half of Hollywood including the much appreciated cameo of Tom Cruise as Less Grossman, the producer of the film.

I give it four stars and put it on my must see list.

Also See

Roger Ebert's Review of Tropic Thunder

My Review - Scarface

I remember the first time I saw Agneepath. I remember the last time I saw it. I remember the dialogues. I know the scenes which I really like. I remember "Apun ka naam Vijay Dinanath Chavan, poora naam, maa ka naam Suhasini Chavan, gaon Mandwa".

Now that I have seen Scarface, I feel let down. Cause Agneepath is a copy, certainly not a scene-by-scene DVD copy like Zinda, but the concept, styling and character detailing has been lifted straightawayfrom the 1983 Brian De Palma crime drama about a cuban refugee's rise to the top of the Miami underworld.

Watching Scarface is a treat cause you get to see Al Pacino in full form; his volatile character being one of the highlights for this film. One also gets to see the 1980s Miami and a very young Michelle Pfeiffer.

Highly Recommended!

My Review - Rainman

My first introduction to Tom Cruise was in late 1990(I was 13) when I saw his poster at a friend's house. This girl was crazy about Tom Cruise. It was Cruise, cruise and cruise everywhere for her. And I thought huh, yeah he's good looking so what? As my passion for movies grew over the years, I consistently avoided Cruise's films based on this presumption alone. Not that I heard much about Rainman, Born on the fourth of July, A Few Good Men, The Firm, Color of Money etc but I did check out the Mission Impossible series but then that is more of Manmohan Desai kind of cinema. The only Tom Cruise movie I had heard about a lot was Jerry Maguire. So on a relatively sunny day of the cold Delhi winter season in 2003, I saw Jerry Maguire. And INSTANTLY became a Tom Cruise fan.

This little piece of history is important not because I am his die-hard-will-watch-his-movie-first-day-first-show fan but because Cruise has always been a fantastic actor.

In Rainman he plays Charlie Babbit, a car dealer who is in a bit of trouble and requires a substantial sum of money to clear his dues. Somewhere at the same time, he gets to know that his estranged father, with whom he never ever got along, has died. Expecting to gain something from this father's will, he is surprised to learn that he has just left him an old car and donated his entire wealth($3 Million) to the mental institution where his autistic brother(Raymond/Dustin Hoffman) lives. Charlie kidnaps his brother and take him along with himself to meet his lawyers. Since Raymond is afraid of flying, they go by road from Cincinnati to Los Angeles. What happens eventually forms the crux of the movie. Although Dustin Hoffman is perfect(He won an Oscar for this one) as the autistic Raymond, it is Tom Cruise who shines as the icy cold Charlie Babbitt. His journey from being frustrated and irritated at Raymond's actions to a caring and protective brother is touching. The plot is simple and the storytelling is brilliant.

Highly Recommended!!!

Also Read
Roger Ebert's Review

My Review - Luck by Chance

After the dissapointments which came last year in the form of a Hancock or a Hulk, a Ghajini or a Rab ne(and please don't even get me started on the Tashans, Singh is Kings and suchlike), I was really looking forward to watching Luck By Chance(LBC).

In his review Rajeev Masand spoke about the opening credits sequence and indeed it is mindblowing especially the shot where Zoya's name comes. LBC is a part-serious part-hilarious look at the hindi fIlm industry. A place which is full of punjabi producers, kanpuria strugglers, overprotective divas, dumb stardaughters, selfish friends and manipulating magazine editors. Zoya Akhtar, having seen most of the behind-the-scenes action herself, narrates the story of Vikram Jai Singh(Farhan) and Sona Mishra(Konkona) beautifully. So you have Zafar Khan(Hrithik), reigning superstar walking out of a producer's film to play second lead in a Karan Johar movie, the flop actor(Sanjay Kapoor) of a big producer turning director, a yesteryear's actress(Dimple) scripting every move of her daughter(Isha Sharwani) to make her entry into Bollywood easier and the saddest but the funniest of the lot, producer Romi Rolly(Rishi Kapoor) who is trying to manage everybody.

There are cameos by almost half the fillum industry(Aamir, SRK, Abhishek, Vivek, Ranbir, Dia, Akshaye Khanna, Javed Akhtar, Shabana Azmi, Manish Malhotra) including a brilliant two scene cameo of Anurag Kashyap as a (DVD copycat) writer. The pace is somewhat slow but the gags and punches keep you in the loop. The entire cast plays their part to a T but the highlight is Rishi Kapoor as producer Romi Rolly. He is funny, cunning and emotional at the same time. The only weak link I found in the film is Farhan(who is unconvincing in some scenes) and the music.

Luck by Chance is an exciting debut by Zoya Akhtar. Not to be missed.

Also Read

Anupama Chopra's Review

IndiaFM - Taran Adarsh Review

Nikhat Kazmi - TOI Review

My Review - A Wednesday

A lot of people recommended this film to me, including some of my dear friends and I have to say ‘A Wednesday’ is THE best film of the year. Ten minutes into the movie and you are hooked; anticipating what's going to happen next. Anupam Kher(after a long long time) gives an excellent performance as the Bombay Police Commissioner. Jimmey Shergill hardly has five lines, enough to make an impact. Amir Bashir is cute as usual. But the role of the film is with the nameless character(the common man) played by Naseeruddin Shah, who gives an inspiring 10 minutes speech at the end after which you cannot help but stand up and clap. Continuously!

Must Watch for every Indian!

My Review - The Dark Knight

Finally I saw The Dark Knight today. Just a couple of hours back. I am still stunned. Heath Ledger is not around. I mean when you like a cinematic performance, you want to listen to the person concerned(actor/director) bask in its glory and live the moment. It could be anybody - Farhan Akhtar after Dil Chahta Hai, Ashutosh after Lagaan, Aamir after TZP etc etc. Unfortunately Heath is not around. So I will put it in these words which were sent to me by a certain Mr "Lost-in-his-own-world" from Chicago. Verbatim.

"Ok So we believe that the days where we "live" the characters of the movie are gone. I did. I thought I had grown up. "Acting" like a movie character after watching it was a thing of the past. It had to be either really smart or really artistic. Something has to be really "convincing" or "captivating" to make me do that..The Joker did.Very few things live up to the hype that surrounds them these days.. Joker's potrayal by Ledger is one of them. I was "acting" like him after the movie. Really well supported by the "eerie" music whenever he comes on the screen .. no overwhelming-orchestra-music here.. normal superhero movie.. has its moments.. 2.5 hrs long.. watch it for heath...! Javier Bardem, make way for the new bad man!"