Raja Natwarlal

Rating : 4/10Release Date : 29th August, 2014 Time : 141 minutesDirector: Kunal Deshmukh; Writer : Sanjay Masoom; Music : Yuvan Shankar RajaStarring : Emraan Hashmi, Humaima Malick, Paresh Rawal, Kay Kay Menon, Deepak Tijori A good Indian con film needs several ingredients to make it work, none of which are found in this one. Neither a strong lead pair (Emraan is ok while Humaima looks decent but is otherwise wooden), nor an unrelenting pace (broken up by mushiness, many lip locks – its an Emraan Hashmi film after all - and many extremely average songs), or a great con…in this day and age, its rather hard to believe what transpired is actually poss

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November Man

Rating : 4/10Release Date : 29th August, 2014 Time : 108 minutesDirector: Roger Donalson; Writers : Michael Finch, Karl Gajdusek, based on Bill Granger’s book “There Are No Spies”; Music : Marco BeltramiStarring : Pierce Brosnan, Olga Kurylenko, Luke Bracey,Bill Smitrovich, Lazar Ristovski, Will Patton, Mediha MusliovicAn ageing Pierce Brosnan is unable to convince us that he could still pass off as a Bond style secret agent, who comes out of his retirement for one last assignment. A wafer thin plot, full of more holes than Rahul Gandhi’s election strategy, borders on the ridiculous at times, and is only given a tinge of seriousness by Luke Bracey’s

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Mardaani

Rating : 6/10Release Date : 22nd August, 2014 Time : 113 minutesDirector: Pradeep Sarkar; Writer : Gopi Puthran; Music : Salim-Sulaiman Starring : Rani Mukherjee, Tahir Raj Bhasin, Priyanka Sharma, Jishu Sengupta, Anil GeorgeIts Taken (if you’d like to know more about that film, click here) but Indianized. Its Rani Mukherjee, instead of Liam Neeson, playing a Mumbai cop. Not the daughter but someone who is daughter jaisi (wonder why ?). Add a huge amount of melodrama, teary music to an otherwise decent portrayal and you have a film which is decent, has good performances but, thanks to the above melodrama, never really builds up any tension or tautnes

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Expendables 3

Rating : 5/10Release Date : 22nd August, 2014 Time : 126 minutesDirector: Patrick Hughes; Writers : Sylvester Stallone, Creighton Rothenberger, Katrin Benedikt; Music : Brian Tyler Starring : Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Dolph Lungdren, Antonio Banderas, Wesley Snipes, Kelsey Grammer, Randy Couture, Terry Crews, Glen Powell, Victor Ortiz, Ronda Rousey, Kellan Lutz, Harrison Ford, Mel Gibson, Arnold SchwarzneggerThe storyline, for whatever its worth, is childishly simple. Mel Gibson is the bad guy. Everyone else mentioned above are the good guys chasing him. So we have a two hour brawn-fest where people are killed, heavy artillery brough

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Katiyabaaz

Rating : 5/10Release Date : 22nd August, 2014 Time : 84 minutesDirector: Deepti Kakkar, Fahad Mustafa; Writer : Fahad Mustafa; DocumentarySo, this is a documentary. Had walked in thinking it was a movie. It articulates well, a problem faced in many Indian cities, especially in Kanpur, where it is set. Of power theft, loss-making government owned electricity companies, populist politicians determined to milk the situation, get elected, be arrogant, misbehave, sincere bureaucrats (there are a few) trying to improve the system and the titular character, a katiyabaaz, someone who actually makes his living by fiddling the wires to do the theft. The battle

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Guardians Of The Galaxy

Rating : 7/10Release Date : 8th August, 2014 Time : 121 minutesDirector, Writer : James Gunn; Co-writer : Nicole Perlman (based on the Marvel comic by Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning); Music : Tyler BatesStarring : Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldhana, Dave Bautista, Lee Pace, Michael Rooker, Karen Gillan, Djimon Hounsou, John C Reilly, Glenn Close, Benicio Del ToroWhat saves this film is its jaunty, retro music-loving hero, Chris Pratt, the hair- raising antics of Rocket, the raccoon and the overall excellent sense of humour, refusal to take itself too seriously. Otherwise, for someone who hasn’t read the Marvel comics and isn’t familiar with the characters or th

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Into The Storm

Rating : 7/10Release Date : 8th August, 2014 Time : 89 minutesDirector : Steven Quale; Writer : John Swetnam; Music : Brian TylerStarring : Richard Armitage, Sarah Wayne Callies, Matt Walsh, Max Deacon, Nathan Kress, Alycia Debnam Carey, Jeremy Sumpter, Arlen Escarpeta, Lee Whittaker, Kyle Davis, Jon ReepWhat a giddy, exhilarating, roller-coaster ride this is, as the makers, through some fantastic special effects, do exactly what the title promises…An assorted rag tag crew of people find themselves caught up in a small American town, facing a tornado. Or two. Some, like Matt & his crew (Sarah, Arlen, Jeremy, Lee), are actually chasing it down, t

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