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 - World's Greatest Dad

This was probably my first Robin Williams movie. Ahh I know. Sad. I always thought of him as a funny guy. But this recommendation for the 2009's 'World's Greatest Dad' from Mihir Fadnavis introduced me to a number of things - Robin Williams, the serious actor, Bobcat Goldthwait, the cult movie maker and a whole new style of Black Comedy. 


Williams stars as Lance Clayton, a single father and high school English teacher. A kind of softish guy, who has his own dreams of becoming a successful writer. His son, Kyle, a 15 year old sex-obsessed sociopath, hates him and repulses every attempt made by his father to bond with him. Kyle only has one friend, Andrew, who spends his evenings at the Clayton house due to some issues at home(parents again). Andrew admires Lance for what he is what he is trying to be even as Kyle does not leave any opportunity to demean his Dad.


Lance's life is torn apart one fine evening when he discovers that Kyle has accidentally killed himself while ....emmm.......masturbating. To avoid embarrasment, he disguises the death as a suicide along with a (suicide)note that he writes himself. The unexpected twist that the story takes from here gives Lance whatever he has ever wanted in life, until it starts to suffocate him. 

Williams gives a brilliant, brilliant, BRILLIANT performance as Lance Clayton. They way he portrays his loneliness, hesitation and love for his hostile under-achieving son is absolutely spot on. Refreshing story, perfect screenplay, apt dialogues and some fine performances by the entire cast make for a great watch. 


Hats off to Bobcat Goldthwait for the brilliant direction!!! 5 stars and a Must See rating on this one. 

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! 

4 reasons why Love, Sex or Dhokha is a cult film!

It is. A cult film. In case you have not seen it yet. Go check it out. Now to the hows and the whys.

Reason number 1 – The “characterless” Characters

Remember the last time you saw a Bollywood film, and you said – Arre yaar, aisa kahan hota hai? Or Shit yaar, Aise thodi hota hai!!! Whatever happens in LSD, actually aisa hi hota hai. Right from Shruti’s father(hypocrite and horny), to the girls in the dept store(one the silent types and the other the loudspeaker), from the item girl(willing to be exploited) to the pop star Lukki Local(waiting to exploit), from the TV producer(will do anything for TRPs) to the journalist(trying hard not to compromise on his ethics).

Reason number 2 – The Analogies

If you did not get the analogies here they are in the following order

‘Love ‘ Story – Nitish Katara Case
‘Sex’ Story – N number of MMS videos on youtube.
‘Dhokha’ Story – Replace Lukki Local with our very own Mika and the item girl with Rakhi Sawant. Put in a 24 hour Hindi news Channel and the picture completes.

Reason number 3 – The Acting

Need less to say, the nameless actors play their parts with great conviction and earthiness, right from Meter Down(guard), the actress’ father, both the girls in the dept store, the journalist, his boss, the item girl and the king of Pop – Lukki Local. Lukki Local takes the cake with his Punjabi accented English and his mannerisms. An actor to watch out for!

Reason number 4 – The Connection(s)

Dibakar Bannerjee does treat his audience with respect. All three stories are connected and only when the end credits roll the viewer realizes what happened when and where. In a space of 90 minutes, Dibakar Bannerjee weaves a tale of Love, Hypocrisy, Greed, Voyeurism, Jealousy and exploitation, all as seen through the invention we know as the camera.

A smashing film that gets the DESIBLAB 5 stars.

P.S. - I have not mentioned the sex scene coz it's not a sex scene. just like any MMS, it's shot as a private moment between two people.

Iron Man 2 - Yoohoooooooooooo!

Stylish. Very very stylish.

My Review - Up in the Air

After a long time, comes a comedy which is as serious as it is funny; as painful as it is insightful. It has some of the best one liners, some wittiest on screen conversations and some of the smartest women characters you wud have seen on screen in a long time.

George Clooney plays Ryan Bingham, a high flying executive whose job is to travel all over the US to fire people. For Ryan, firing is not about company policy or financial restructuring. Its an art. And art he turns it into, advising 50 yr olds on how to restart their careers all over again and how to do something they really really wanted to do(a Hollywood obsession). He does all this while pursuing his ultimate goal - frequent flyer miles. In between all of this, he gets into a casual relationship with Alex(played by the very sexy Vera Farmiga) and has to coach Natalie(Anna Kendrick). The movie mainly is about how these two relationships affect his attitude and thinking.

George Clooney fits the role to a T and does a remarkable job while charming you with his usual 'sexiest man alive' smile. Kendrick is lovable as the confused Natalie and Vera Farmiga is perfecto as the sexy Alex. The writing and dialogues are absolutely mindblowing. Sample this

" I am not racist. I just stereotype."

"There has never been a worse time for America. This is our moment."

"I thought our relationship was perfectly clear. You are an escape. You're a break from our normal lives. You're a parenthesis. "

I loved the ending where some laid off employees remark to the camera that if you have your family with you, you can battle almost everything and anything!

An intelligent and emotionally stimulating film. Must watch for our recessionary times! Highly recommended!

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 - My Cousin Vinny

No one recommended this 1993 courtroom drama to me. Or suggested. Or Praised. I had never heard of it or maybe I had heard but then I thought "Joe Pesci with Marisa Tomei...not worth it man".

I managed to catch this one on Star Movies yesterday and found it to be well L O L. My Cousin Vinny is about Vinny(Pesci), who travels to Alabama along with his girlfriend Mona Lisa(Tomei), to defend his cousin(played by "The Karate Kid") and a friend who are wrongly accused of a murder. Vinny is not your usual lawyer. He is someone who has zero trial experience having taken six years and six attempts to become one. He fumbles, mumbles, fails to get enough sleep, fights with his girlfriend, lies to the judge and does every damn thing possible to defend his cousin.

While Pesci plays his character to a T and Tomei is brilliant as the sexy Mona Lisa Vito(she got an Oscar for this one), it's the writing and the courtroom sparring between Vinny and the prosecution lawyer that are the movie's highlights.

Not many films get the DESIBLAB 5 stars. This is one of them. Don't miss it!

Rotten Tomatoes Rating : 89%

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

What I learnt from Kung Fu Panda!

This very cute and very very inspiring film does not need a review. It is a must see film and a must have DVD. I don't know if its just the state I am in where the lessons from the film seem to be very apt and bang-on-target. While Rashmi Bansal and some other bloggers have come out with their own Management Lessons from Kung Fu Panda, here is what I learnt from this very 'awsome' movie.

1. There are no accidents... : What is is meant to be and how it was destined to be. Do not regret.
2. Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift. That is why it is called the present : Learn from the past. Do plan for the future but live in the present. I loved this line. Absolutely!!!
3. No matter what you do, that seed will grow to be a peach tree. You may wish for an apple or an orange, but you will get a peach : If a young boy is destined to be a scriptwriter/storyteller/director he will be one. He can't become a doctor. On a different note, if a young boy is meant to redefine music through algorithms, then no point forcing him to go to Indian Idol.
4. There is no secret ingredient in the secret ingredient soup : To make something special, you just have to believe it's special. Love this thought! Totally!
5. Hollywood not only makes great movies, they make the movies with the best messages too : The Shawshank Redemption, Forrest Gump, A Beautiful Mind, Rocky, Little Miss Sunshine, Crash, Spiderman 1 & 2. Need I say more.

The only film which I give 5 stars. Highly recommended!!!

This is hilarious

...and also a revelation. A reasonable Pakistani. Must see

Thank you India Uncut!

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!"

Ping Pong

Matrix Style! Must see...