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

The Iron Lady (2011)

Genre: Drama/Biography/History

Starring: Meryl Streep, Jim Broadbent, Alexandra Roach

Based on the life of Britain's first female Prime Minister and the person to hold the office longest in the 20th Century, Margaret Thatcher (Streep) is often known to have been responsible for changing the face of British economy. Thatcher was elected from the conservative party and was elected at a time when unemployment, high demands of trade unions and fiscal deficit was ho unding the British government. With her agressive stance and conservative policy-making, Thatcher soon transformed the country into a profit-making economy and went to war with Argentina over the Falkland Islands. The movie transits between 2008 Thatcher and Thatcher back during her active political days. Margaret is now old and often hallucinates about her dead husband Dennis (Broadbent) and talks to him, imagining him being present all the time. The movie is extremely slow and takes its own time to move and develop. The first quarter is impatient and you want the movie to progress from showing an old Thatcher to showing her active days and move onto something that the audience want to watch and the movie promised to show. Perhaps if the movie focussed more on Margaret then and had little of Margaret now, the movie would have been widely acclaimed by all. Streep has put on a fabulous performance, one of her best in the past few years but sadly the slow pace of the movie, doesnt support her effort in a manner it should to make it an exceptional work of art.

Thumbs up: Meryl Streep's fabulous performance

Thumbs down: Slow, very slow

Rating: 7.0/10

Paan Singh Tomar (2010)

Genre: Biography/Crime/Sports/Action/Drama

Starring: Irrfan Khan, Mahie Gill, Imran Hasnee, Zakir Hussain

Governments across the world are criticised at times for not supporting and honouring citizens who have given their lives and love for the betterment of the country. Often such people are short-lived celebrities who fade into a deep trench soon after. Paan Singh Tomar (Khan) was a young army officer who had a panache for running and joined the sports division in the army, not for the passion but for the unlimited food on offer. His sincerity and commitment saw him excelling in the sport and winning the steeplechase event in the Asian Games for 7 years in a row. His elder brother Matadeen (Hasnee) breaks the news to him that his cousin has forcefully taken over Paan's farmland and has raised a gang of gun-totting goons who refuse to return him his land. Having served the country, Paan wanted the police or the judiciary to intervene and resolve the matter, however, all his efforts were in vain. Giving up all hope, Paan decides to raise an army of rebels who would come the aid of the innocent and get rid of those who try to ruin the common mans life. The movie reflects upon the apathy of those people who honour their country and keep faith in it which in return offers nothing to its citizens. The movie has gained a phenomenal fan-following with Irrfan Khan's exemplary performance in the movie throughout. Sadly, the movie suffers from a drawback that plagues almost every Bollywood movie; over-stretched plot lines. Had the movie shed a handful of minutes here and there, the movie would have been a splendid watch with the dragged and overdone parts being forgotten.

Thumbs up: Stupendous Irrfan Khan

Thumbs down: A bit overdone and stretched at parts

Rating: 7.1/10

Letters from Iwo Jima (2006)

Genre: War/Drama/Action/History/Biography

Starring: Ken Watanabe, Kazunari Ninomiya, Tsuyoshi Ihara, Ryo Kase, Shido Nakamura

Whilst Flags of Our Fathers portrayed the American story of the Battle of Iwo Jima, Letters from Iwo Jima narrates the Japanese story of the same war. Both movies were made by the exact same crew and shot one after the other. While Flags of Our Fathers focuses on the famous photograph and the life of three American soldiers after the war, this movie narrates only the Japanese perception of the events that took place during the war. The movie revolves around the fictional character of Pvt. First Class Saigo (Ninomiya) a newly married baker who was conscripted to join the war. The character of Saigo is the only survivor and is depicted as experiencing all the highs and lows of the war. The insightful general of the Japanese Army on Iwo Jima, General Kuribayashi (Watanabe) faced a tough decision when he learnt that his platoon would not be receiving any backup from the mainland and yet they are to defend the island with every last soldier to prevent the Americans from making it a base. The movie revolves around the cold hardships of war, suicides and bloodshed. The movie is a critics delight with fine performances and picture perfect scenes, however, its not a movie the average audience might appreciate due to its slow and heavy nature. The movie shows the raw approach to war and is widely different from its elder sibling. Another excellent movie from the stable of Clint Eastwood.

Thumbs up: Beautiful performances, great execution

Thumbs down: Slow and heavy

Rating: 7.2/10

The Fighter (2010)

 Genre: Sports/Drama/Action/Biography

Starring: Amy Adams, Christian Bale, Mark Wahlberg, Melissa Leo

Based on the true life story, Micky Ward (Wahlberg) is an Irish-American welterweight professional boxer who has been living in the shadow of his elder brother and dominating mother. His elder half-brother, Dicky Eklund (Bale) was a not so successful boxer whose only shot to fame was when he knocked down Sugar Ray and became a local hero. Dicky became a crack addict and failed to train his brother correctly due to which he simply kept getting older without getting anywhere. Micky's mother, Alice (Leo) was Mickey's manager who doted on her elder son, overlooked all his wrongs and chose to control most of Micky's life. A string of wrong decisions, lost fights and bad training saw Micky going down in boxing which also led him to lose all self-confidence. He fell in love with bar girl Charlene (Adams) who made him stand up against his family and choose what is right and what is wrong for himself rather than let his mom and brother call the shots. The movies biggest and greatest highlight is Christian Bale and his fantastic performance. Nobody would say that the thin, dazed, doped and pale actor was the very same man who previously played Batman and many more such roles in his career. Bale and his performance shone throughout the movie accompanied by Adams for which they both won supporting actor awards. An enticing and interesting movie which is almost flawless.

Thumbs up: Marvellous acting and performances

Thumbs down: None in particular

Rating: 8.2/10

Flags of our Fathers (2006)

Genre: War/Action/Drama/History/Biography

Starring: Ryan Phillippe, Jesse Bradford, Adam Beach, John Benjamin Hickey, John Slattery, Barry Pepper, Paul Walker, Neal McDonough, Thomas McCarthy

Can a single photograph change the course of world events? Not likely, but for US Marines Ira Hayes (Beach), Rene Gagnon (Bradford) and John Bradley (Phillepe) it certainly did. Set in WWII, USA is launching an attack on Japan and needs to capture the island of Iwo Jima. Most of the movie narrates the occurrences on the island and gradual advancement of the troops. The marines planted the US flag atop a mountain on the island and a photograph taken at the correct time reached the mainland and the press in no time. Three marines who survived from those that planted the flag were recalled back to USA to market war bonds in the effort to fund the countries war efforts. The US treasury was empty and dollar had lost any value it ever had. The country cannot borrow anymore and hence is trying to sell bonds to the citizens and hopes that the photograph along with the presence of the three marine officers would aid the sale. The movie comes from Clint Eastwood and anyone familiar with his recent movies would quickly identify the style to be very similar to its other movies. The movie is a directors delight and has a lot of appeal and insight. It smartly weaves multiple plot lines together without making a mess and keeping audience attention intact. One of the better war movies of this age and a superb watch.

Thumbs up: Phenomenal direction and acting

Thumbs down: The story lacks variation and seems to show the same thing over and over again

Rating: 7.6/10

All the King's Men (2006)

Genre: Drama/Biography

Starring: Sean Penn, Mark Ruffalo, Kate Winslet, Jude Law, Anthony Hopkins, Patricia Clarkson, James Gandolfini, Jackie Earle Haley

Loosely based on Huey Long, Governor of the state of Louisiana, Willie Stark (Penn) worked as a small-town lawyer and was roped by the local political muscle, Tiny Duffy (Gandolfini) to run for governor. What Stark didn't know was that he was being fooled and he wasn't supposed to win. Upon learning of Duffy's ambitions he decides to run as Governor by himself and wins by a landslide. He reached to the poor and promised to uplift them from poverty and was against well-settled city people enjoying all the benefits, much to the ire of large oil companies. Jack Burden (Law) a noted journalist from an elitist family, became Stark's advisor in spite of being advised against taking the position by everyone around him. Stark was accused of creating public services but secretly using them to rob the state of taxpayers money to keep for himself. With these accusations against him, Stark was brought forward for impeachment in the senate and wanted Jack's god-father, Judge Irwin (Hopkins) to be on his side rather than against. Sean Penn is a brilliant adaptive actor which can be seen from Milk and this movie. His role as the Governor, bringing the correct accent and character and the fabulous performances were show-stealing. Not just his but the rest of the cast, including Law, put on fabulous performances and supported his character in every way. With such a line-up its not wrong to keep expectations high but its very wrong when these expectations fall to the ground. The story and plot execution is weak, the movie is very slow and can get a bit boring at times. Mostly its Stark's heavy accent that makes it hard to grasp the developments in the movie, but other elements of storyline also come into play in downplaying the movie greatly. The amazing performances seem to have no outcome whatsoever and the slow progress makes it very dull and boring.

Thumbs up: Strong performances

Thumbs down: Very dull, too slow

Rating: 5.8/10

Metallica: Some Kind of Monster (2004)

Genre: Documentary/Musical/Drama/Biography

Starring: James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich, Kirk Hammett, Robert Trujillo, Bob Rock, Phil Towle

The world most popular heavy metal band, Metallica were facing a crisis and were at an all time low in their career during the year 2001. The band hasn't toured in three years and just as the band was about to regroup for their 8th album, bassist Jason Newstead decided to quit the band. Newstead was apparently unhappy about the direction in which the band was heading and was unhappy that band leader James Hetfield wasn't allowing Jason to undertake side projects. Hetfield himself was battling drug and alcohol abuse and went into rehabilitation just months after the band started recording. Hetfield was away for over a year and drummer Lars Ulrich along with lead guitarist Kirk Hammett were annoyed with his continued absence. The band had previously hired a therapist, Phil Towle with whose help they wanted to get over their differences, improve performance and get rid of all the negativity. The band started recording once Hetfield returned and band producer Bob Rock filled in as bassist for the album recording until a new bassist, Robert Trujillo, was taken on the b`nd. Metallica has ever since risen out from the ashes and retain their No.1 spot till this day. The documentary focuses on intra-band disagreements, the verge of the band breaking up, their battle with Napster, the making of St. Anger, selection of Trujillo and the eventual album release. It focuses on most of the core areas that any fan would want to know about Metallica and clearly reveals all the ups and downs that the band went through. Dont be mistaken that the movie is only for metal-heads. Apart from the blaring music that would smack a smile on the die-hard fans face, any other person would appreciate the movie and revelation of the functioning of a band. A must watch for fans and a recommended for anyone else.

Thumbs up: Great portrayal of every aspect, personal as well as professional, of each band member

Thumbs down: A boring 2nd part after a strong start and an equally strong end.

Rating: 7.4/10