I.Watch.I.Read

What the journey of “The Hobbit” lacks is momentum.

Laya Maheshwari — Fri, 28 Dec 2012 12:44:33 +0000

This article contains spoilers for the movie in question. You’ve been duly warned. In this piece I won’t talk about the decision to shoot and project in 48fps. I won’t talk about how the advances (or lack thereof) in special effects reflect in this new technology. I won’t even talk about the 3D, and whether [...]

Overwhelmed: That night at the Mumbai Film Festival

Laya Maheshwari — Sat, 10 Nov 2012 13:43:55 +0000

By all logic, conventional or otherwise, I should have written this post a week ago. An illness waylaid me, though, and I have only gotten around to it now. Sorry. I don’t get sentimental all that often. I mean, it’s just easier to be aloof and indifferent. Moreover, it also seems cooler. Haven’t we [...]

Why I’m excited about “The Perks of Being a Wallflower”

Laya Maheshwari — Mon, 05 Nov 2012 06:00:50 +0000

The high school coming-of-age drama is my personal soft spot. It’s been so for a long time. For me, there was always an intrinsic appeal to watching an adolescent (or, as is often the case, a group of them) stumble through school, family, love and life and walk out of these adventures a different person [...]

Movie Review: “Looper”

Laya Maheshwari — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 12:30:16 +0000

Originally, I wasn’t going to write a review for Looper. Director Rian Johnson’s third feature (he’s made Brick and The Brothers Bloom earlier) came out worldwide a fortnight ago and has already been the subject of intense reviews, conversations, praise and dissections online. Adding to the ocean felt redundant. However, as the film drew to a close, I realized [...]

Movie Review: “Dark Shadows”

Laya Maheshwari — Mon, 14 May 2012 03:25:39 +0000

Wikipedia describes Dark Shadows as a “Gothic horror comedy-drama film.” If I could only meet Tim Burton once, I’d love to ask him which one (or two) of those words did he really want this film to be. I am trying, but I can’t recall any film in recent memory that is as much of an [...]

5 Reasons You Should See “The Raid.”

Laya Maheshwari — Fri, 11 May 2012 10:45:35 +0000

I’ve seen The Raid (*) twice now. It’s the best action film I’ve seen in years and years. I tried to write a conventional review for The Raid. I really did. But, after staring at a blank screen for more minutes than I’d like to admit, I realized that trying something different for this particular [...]

“Hugo” is the love letter “The Artist” never was.

Laya Maheshwari — Thu, 10 May 2012 06:48:43 +0000

It’s nearly a year since The Artist first screened to audiences. And it’s nearly a year now people have been calling it a love letter to just about everything under the Sun. While I completely understand if someone likes the film, the reasons they give for liking the film often leave me nonplussed. I saw [...]

Movie Review: “Safe”

Laya Maheshwari — Fri, 04 May 2012 20:08:08 +0000

I find it hard to review a film like Safe. If it’s a movie I love, I can’t wait to sit in front of the screen and fashion a paean. If it’s a movie I dislike, then I like to write out my gripes with it and, often enough, they come easily too. If it’s [...]

Movie Review: “The Lucky One”

Laya Maheshwari — Thu, 03 May 2012 07:34:47 +0000

Film is a manipulative art form. The reason a director positions his actors in a frame in a particular way, makes them say some lines with a certain inflection and later has the scene scored to one specific piece of music is so that she can manipulate you to achieve her intended effect. And that’s okay. [...]

Movie Review: “The Avengers”

Laya Maheshwari — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 19:12:37 +0000

The following article has NO spoilers for the movie in question. You may proceed without any caution whatsoever. As evidenced by this interview (excerpts from which I’m going to quote in the review), Joss Whedon gets it. How do you take a green monster prone to rampage, a billionaire playboy with an overwhelming suit of [...]