Dial M for Murder (1954)

Genre: Crime/Drama/Mystery

Starring: Ray Milland, Grace Kelly, Robert Cummings, John Williams, Anthony Dawson

Alfred Hitchcock, murder and crime in the same sentence go very well together. His movies have spearheaded the crime and murder investigation genre and had put a heavy focus on detectives. Tony Wendice (Milland) is a reasonably well to do, married and middle aged man who used to love to play tennis. He married Margot (Kelly) who didn't want him to pursue the sport for whom he was forced to give it up. Margot had an affair with an American crime novelist Mark Halliday (Cummings) about whom Tony later learnt about. His regret for leaving tennis for his wife and now she leaving him for another man pushed him to the edge where he started plotting her murder. His carefully crafted plan involved C. J. Swan aka Captain Lesgate (Dawson) who was to execute the plan and murder his wife. Yet the most well-crafted plan always has a flaw, the most obvious flaw that is undetectable but yet too obvious. The movie crafts a perfect mystery and the character of Tony Wendice, the smart and thoughtful man who thinks far and thinks well and does justice to the plot. The only chink in the erstwhile formidable armour is in the plot itself. The entire crime scene is revealed early on in the movie with the murder itself taking place. Now that you know exactly what happened, its only a matter of solving it. This leaves little room for a climax and stunning end and the audience is more or less prepared for the outcome. A great murder mystery nonetheless which is simple and sweet, to the point and does not have any complicated parallel stories to lose focus of the main plot.

Thumbs up: Great performances and good crime scene

Thumbs down: Not a very strong climax

Rating: 7.6/10

Mulholland Dr. (2001)

Genre: Crime/Drama/Thriller/Mystery

Starring: Naomi Watts, Laura Elena Harring, Justin Theroux

Pronounced and read as: Mulholland Drive. Profound and deep movies with layered meanings and multiple interpretations are always a difficult watch for the average audience and appeals only to critics, movie fanatics and visitors of film festivals. Betty Elms (Watts) is a struggling actor who has arrived in Los Angeles to become a movie star. Her aunt is a veteran actor who is currently on vacation and has hence decided to lease her massive house to Betty to stay in. Meanwhile, a failed murder attempt inside a limousine sees the victim (Harring) escaping from the crime scene and sneaking into Betty's' aunts house without any one's knowledge. The victim cannot seem to remember her name and assumes the name of Rita. Betty at first thinks she is her aunts friend but later learns of the true story. Betty's childish detective instincts come to life and she tries to unravel Rita's mystery and find out who she exactly is. Meanwhile, a movie director, Adam Kesher (Theroux) is threatened by the mafia to cast a girl of their choice for the lead role in his upcoming movie rather than the actress that he selected. The two major plots are flanked by multiple irrelevant smaller stories that do not make any sense or add up during the initial stages but some culminate right towards the end. The movie is ridiculously long, slow and heavy. Right till the very end the average viewer would have no idea what the past two and a half hours were all about. One would probably need to Google interpretations and meanings of this movie just to simply come to terms with what they just saw. The performances are fabulous, no doubt, but the movie is strictly for minorities and not for the masses. That aside, the thought process that might have gone into this movie to create is an achievement in itself and much praise goes out to director David Lynch. Watch only with a lot of time and an aspirin in case your not prepared for it.

Thumbs up: Brilliant plot conception, good performances

Thumbs down: Too deep, profound, sow and heavy

Rating: 7.3/10

Hugo (2011)

Genre: Drama/Biography/Mystery/Adventure

Starring: Ben Kingsley, Sacha Baron Cohen, Asa Butterfield, Chloe Grace Moretz, Emily Mortimer

A legendary film maker appraises another legend from a different era. Hugo Cabret (Butterfield) is an orphan whose father was a clock maker and a highly intelligent man. His father found a decaying automaton, a unique robot that has the unheard ability to write. After his fathers death, Hugo started running the clocks at the Paris train station without anyone knowing it and simultaneously worked towards fixing his the machine. He regularly stole parts from a toy store on the station which was run by George Melies (Kingsley). Hugo gets caught in the act and George discovers a notebook in his pocket which has Hugo's fathers machine drawings along with the automatons blue print. George confiscates the book without giving any reason, much to the disappointment of Hugo. Hugo befriends George's grand daughter, Isabelle (Moretz) who come together to solve the mystery behind the automaton, George and Hugo's father. The movie is a brilliant work of art that can keep you stumped, awed and entertained for a very long time. It takes you back in time to the very first movie's of human-kind to show the magic and bizarreness that it carried with it during that time.The climax and the mystery steadily builds up to take shape which eventually unleashes to the audience's satisfaction. The only downside of the movie is its speed. Its slow to start and gets a tad disappointing around the half-way mark but the eventual mystery is still gripping enough to keep you enticed right till the very end. An outstanding work of art that is true to the reputation of Martin Scorsese and a must-watch for all.

Thumbs up: Brilliant story, very enticing

Thumbs down: Slow at times

Rating: 8.9/10

Kahaani (2012)

Genre: Drama/Thriller/Crime/Mystery

Starring: Vidya Balan, Parambrata Chatterjee, Saswata Chatterjee, Dhritiman Chatterjee, Nawazuddin Siddiqui,

Good performances, an enticing storyline and a superb climax is just what the doctor ordered to make a good movie. Vidya Bagchi (Balan) arrives in Kolkata from London to look for her husband who mysteriously disappeared suddenly. Her husband, Arnab came for an assignment to Kolkata and suddenly stopped answering telephone calls and any form of communication. A local police officer Rana (Parambrata Chatterjee) agrees to help her in her quest to seek her husband. The hotel in which she claimed her husband was staying in denied him ever checking in along with the National Data Centre (NDC) the company in which he was supposed to have been working for. Suddenly Arnab Bagchi does not exist and nobody, right from his parents address, school records, professional records do not seem to match the claims made by Vidya. What does emerge is Arnab's uncanny resemblance with Milind Damji, a man with a shady past with an obscure link with Arnab. Vidya realises that in order to get Arnab, she must find Milind but Khan (Siddiqui) the commander-in-chief of the NDC warns her to step out of it or she might lose her life. The movie is very gripping and keeps you wondering and glued to your seat right till the very end. No matter how many theories you might cook up half-way through the movie, it would all go for a toss once the climax is out. The only low points was the forced romance in a true Bollywood style, which thankfully was without any unnecessary song sequences. The movie is beautifully shot against the backdrop of the Bengali festival of Durga Pooja which adds power and aggression to the movie and a huge scoop of character. Vidya Balan has shined once more with some superb acting and has definitely made a mark for herself in the industry, if Dirty Picture hasn't already done that.

Thumbs up: Astounding performances, gripping plot

Thumbs down: Climax might seem a bit far-fetched too few, forced romance scenes.

Rating: 8.5/10

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988)

 

Genre: Crime/Drama/Mystery

Starring: Steve Martin, Michael Caine, Glenne Headley, Anton Rodgers, Ian McDiarmid

A nice, enjoyable movie with some mystery, humour, twists and a sprinkle of fun is always a good watch. Some recipes never go bad. Lawrence Jameison (Caine) is a suave and sleek Englishman who makes a living out of tricking rich woman off their money. He is English in every aspect that you can imagine and has a very methodological, well-planned and characteristic form of executing his cons. Freddy Benson (Martin) is as American as anyone can be and is Lawrence's counterpart from across the Atlantic. They both meet in a small French town which is Lawrence's home turf that Freddy is threatening to overtake. Freddy's raw, unsystematic and shabby style of working fails to impress Lawrence who underestimates his skill. The duo decide to have a face-off where they both would try to con the same lady of the same amount of money and the winner takes it all. The movie is a brilliant spectacle of fine performances from two very accomplished artists and is a delight to watch. The half-way mark feels a drag with slow developments but once you get past the poor patch, its a thrilling climax for an astounding twist of events.

Thumbs up: Great performances, fun watch

Thumbs down: Can get boring and dragged in some bits

Rating: 7.0/10