Moviewalah - We Heart Movies

Movie Review - Precious: Based on a Novel PUSH by Sapphire

Sunil Chaudhary — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 12:10:32 -0800

When I saw the new Lee Daniel's movie, Precious I noticed a lot of similarities between this movie and last year's Oscars hearthrob Slumdog Millionaire. And I'm not talking about the fact that both movies won the Audience Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival. What I'm talking about is that they both tell a story of teenagers, born into a world filled with suffering, despair and abuse, that most of us can't even relate to. The best part, however, is that they use these horrible circumstances as a backdrop only and focus on the resilience of their main characters and how hope of finding love (Slumdog) or fame (Precious) gives them energy to fight. That message of hope and optimism is what our world needs right now and Precious delivers on it.

Precious tells the story of a morbidly obese African American teenager Claireece "Precious" Jones (Gabourey 'Gabby' Sidibe) who lives in Harlem with her emotionally and physically abusive mother Mary (Mo'Nique). She's pregnant with her second baby from her rapist father and she just got kicked out of her school. She's illiterate for the most part, except she's good in math. She gets an opportunity to better her life when she enrolls in an alternative school Each One/Teach One where she develops a special bond with her teacher Ms. Rain (Paula Patton) and her motley crew of classmates. In addition to the support from Ms Rain and her classmates, she also finds help from a social worker Mrs Weiss (Mariah Carey) and develops confidence to continue to improve her life and eventually believe that she can take care of her kids and break all ties from her mother.

Other than the story and the message, what truly stands out are the Oscar worthy performances from the newcomer, Gabby and the comedienne Mo'Nique. Director Lee Daniels does a great job in telling this story and getting some great work from actors across the board. Lenny Kravitz and Mariah Carey looked very different without all the rockstar and diva glitz around them. They both do a great job.

Walking out of the theater I felt the movie deserved 5 stars and that's what I'm going with. It's an important story and has been told well. Go watch it!!

The movie had a limited release last week in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Atlanta and opens wide later this month.

Movie Review: Michael Jackson's This Is It

Sunil Chaudhary — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 16:26:39 -0800

I never thought a celebrity's death could affect me so much, but when the King of Pop Michael Jackson died, I was in a shock for a week. Its still hard to believe that he's gone and partly because MJ was one of those icons that people (or at least me) thought was never going to die. In a way he didn't, all of what he stood for is still alive and that's exactly what the documentary, This is it, is all about. Made from the footage shot during the rehearsals of his upcoming This Is It tour, the movie showcases the man's greatness, his influence and command on every aspect of entertaining - music, singing, dancing and showmanship. Basically reminding us of everything that people forgot about him in the last decade.

Movie starts with, a group of talented young dancers who auditioned to be part of the Michael Jackson tour, describing their experience and what it means for them. Some of them get teary eyed when they say how this opportunity has given them a new found purpose in life and how great of an opportunity it is for them to be part of MJ's legacy. While I was watching this, I can't help but think, where were all these videos and these people when the rest of the world (including me) had closed the chapter on MJ as a tabloid freak. If only it had been about music and not about his plastic surgeries, lawsuits and all the other drama, maybe all this wouldn't have ended so suddenly. And then the music started, those familiar beats that spanned generations and continents, and all was forgotten. I immersed myself in this one last helping of my childhood pop icon because this was it!

Documentary showcases all the behind the scenes work that went into every number, the dance steps, the music, the videos, the stage etc. It also focuses on certain key individuals that were instrumental in putting this concert together. They talk about their association with MJ and how much it has meant for them to be working with him be it over the years or only on this concert. But most importantly the documentary brings out facets of MJ's personality that most people assumed existed but never really saw. For example Michael as a motivator when he playfully encourages his fellow performers after pointing out their mistakes, Michael as a perfectionist who wants every note to be right and Michael as a human being when he gets excited about a brilliantly done, Thriller video.

I think the director probably wanted to make a "happy" documentary and edited out stuff that would make Michael look unhealthy and weak. He seemed very happy and healthy, unlike what the news said about his condition before his death. Another thing that I thought the movie lacked in was some of the back story on his classic numbers. It would have been nice to show a then and now piece on some of the major songs and would've made it more nostalgic. Other than that I loved the movie and I'm glad I got to watch it.

This is a limited engagement so if you've ever rocked to MJ's songs, go out and see it, this will change your opinion about the most important musical icon of our generation, if his death already hasn't.

Movie Review: Where The Wild Things Are

Sunil Chaudhary — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 00:39:41 -0700

Spike Jonze's much anticipated adaptation of children's book "Where The Wild Things Are", finally hit the theaters Friday October 16th. I was able to catch an early early show at 12 am (depends how you look at it, it was the late late show on Thursday night) and absolutely loved it. Like any movie there are some things here and there that were not perfect, but overall the movie nails the essence of the story.

For people who grew up with this book, this story holds a special place in their hearts. So this was a tough task for the director, however I think the simple narrative does a lot of justice to the book. Obviously converting a 30-40 page book to an hour and half long movie will require filler scenes and periods where not a lot happens, but the beautiful cinematography, costumes, music (by Karen O) and the lovely dialogue makes you overlook the slowness.

The lead, Max, is a young boy with a wild imagination and some serious anger issues. One evening he's being insolent with his mom and in a fit of anger runs out of his house and gets on a boat and ends up on this island which is the land of Wild Things. He ends up being their king and how his presence on the island and his relationship with them affects their life and his own life is the crux of the story. There are some big lessons in this story and the movie subtly touches on them. Overall what I liked about the movie was that even though its a fantasy movie, it's very realistic in it's tone. It walks a fine line between being preachy and turning into Chronicles of Narnia (nothing wrong with that kind of movie, but I was happy it didn't go that route).

If you are looking for a very different take on kids movies, this could be what you are looking for.

Movie Review: All The Best - Fun Begins

Prashant Chaudhary — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 00:39:34 -0700

Rohit Shetty has tried to rework his magic of Golmal and Golmal Returns with this Ajay Devgn (yeah that's how he spells his last name nowadays) starrer slapstick comedy - All The Best: Fun Begins. It is a clean family entertainer mainly targeted at the masses. Working with a Rs. 40 crore budget, Rohit has successfully created an entertaining movie for Diwali. Though weak on the story (and logic), the film is pure entertainment and worthy of a family outing on this festive occasion.

All The Best: Fun Begins is an Indianized adaptation of Neil and Caroline Schaffner's play Right Bed, Wrong Husband. The film is produced by Ajay Devgn, and it stars Bipasha Basu, Sanjay Dutt, Fardeen Khan, Mugdha Godse and Ajay himself. It is a situational comedy at its core, but it does rely on slapstick routines to keep the audience laughing. You can check out the trailer here.

Life becomes challenging for Veer (Fardeen Khan) and Prem (Ajay Devgn) when Veer's brother Dharam (Sanjay Dutt) pays an unexpected visit to Veer's place. In order to have his allowance increased, young bachelor Veer had written to his pocket-money-sourced brother that he is married. Time does not give an opportunity and Dharam's unpredicted stopover creates inescapable circumstances where Prem's wife Jhanvi (Bipasha Basu) is mistaken for Veer's wife and Veer's girlfriend Vidya (Mugdha Godse) for Prem's wife. Apparently Veer is also qualified to be in the hate list of Vidya's father. Veer and Prem start juggling between the prolonging debt payment to a local don and appeasing Dharam about their false marital status.

Even with a slightly complex plot, Rohit has managed to sprinkle in enough one-liners and gags to make it one of the more entertaining comedies of the year. The movie does lack performers with good comedic timing although Sanjay Dutt is good in that respect. A few sequences involving Sanjay Dutt, Ajay Devgn and Johnny Lever are very good. The bigger problem is that the movie tries to showcase a large group of characters and sometimes ends up annoying the audience. Editing is loose and the movie runs for two and half hours which is a bit too long. The action scenes are well executed. Art direction is dismal at best. Pritam's music is good, though I am not sure if any of it was copied from somewhere else (like in the past).

Story development happens early in the movie and the first half of the movie is pure madness. However, the second half is always trying to play catch up. The movie slows down comparatively in the second half and becomes annoying at times. Absurdity keeps on increasing and some people may find the climax to be bit of a let down. The entire ride is chaotic, over-written and at times over-acted.

Ajay Devgn undoubtedly has the major role and he is really good in the comic scenes. Sanjay Dutt and Johnny Lever are fun too. Fardeen Khan again shows improvement in this film over his earlier ones and has given a good performance. Both females - Bipasha Basu and Mugdha Godse - have nothing to do in the movie.

Verdict: All The Best is a good family entertainer and will be a fun watch on this Diwali. Don't go in expecting a great story and you will be fine. It won't earn any awards but will definitely make you laugh spontaneously at times. It is definitely a better watch this weekend when compared to Blue and Main Aurr Mrs Khanna.

Hitf and Miffef fo far in 2009...

Vijay — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 23:11:41 -0700

Believe it or not, Shahid Kapur has given the biggest hit of this year so far. Yef, Kaminey is the biggeft hit to come out of Bollywood thif year :) Let's see what are the other hits and misses of 2009.

Wanted and Love Aaj Kal are the two other major hits. I have not watched Wanted yet so can't tell how good it is. But I have seen both Kaminey and Love Aaj Kal and I liked both of these movies. Kaminey, in my opinion, is India's answer to Tarantino style of film-making. Whereas Love Aaj Kal is DDLJ of 2000s although it might not have been such a huge hit. Ever wondered on Saif Ali Khan's growth as an actor? Earlier he could not deliver hits even in two-hero projects but now he has given a hit in a double-role! Veer Singh could not have been played better by any other actor.

*source of this list: IndiaFM.com

Kambakht Ishq might have collected 32+ cr but it still is a flop courtesy its high cost. Even if it was a hit, it would still remain a pathetic movie. I don't want to waste my time on it. 2.5 hrs were enough. New York was a well made movie but somehow I felt it was a bit dated and the punch was missing in the 2nd half although I liked how the story was built up. John was excellent. Life Partner and Do Knot Disturb will give a new lease of life to Govinda. But for him, these movies were mediocre. Akshay Kumar gave 2 more super flops this year. I could barely watch 10 minutes of Chandni Chowk To China - it was so bad. Haven't got a chance to watch 8x10 kholi ..oops Tasveer.

Emran Hashmi proved yet again that when it comes to delivering solo hits, he's not to be taken lightly. Raaz - The Mystery Continues was his yet another solo hit in trademark Bhatt style. With Delhi 6, the belief - that Aamir Khan ghost directs - has even grown stronger. Don't believe me? Just glance through the next movies of some of the directors who have given their best movies with Aamir. Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra being a prime example here.

Last week I watched Wake Up Sid and liked it immensely. Watch out for Ranbir Kapoor. He's the next superstar in the making. Well, that's all for now. To know how much other movies made, see the list above. For complete listing visit indiafm.com.

With Diwali releases round the corner, I am sure you are as excited as I am. I am awaiting eagerly for Main Aurr Mrs Khanna, All The Best, Blue, Aladin, London Dreams and Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani amongst other forthcoming releases.