Star Wars : The Force Awakens

Rating : 6/10
Release Date : 25th December, 2015
Time : 135 minutes
Director & Writer: JJ Abrams; Co-writers: Lawrence Kasdan, Michael Arndt (based on characters created by George Lucas); Music : John Williams;
Starring : Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Adam Driver, Domhnall Gleeson, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, Andy Serkis




The best moments of this episode of Star Wars are due to nostalgia – the sight of the rascally Harrison Ford and Chewie, for example – rather than the story (ordinary, predictable), special effects / stunts / characters / weapons / ships (nothing great, unlike past editions). What does work though, are two fine, new, relatively unknown leads (Daisy Ridley, John Boyega) and some snappy humour, particularly between the two of them (& Harrison).

Luke, the last Jedi, has vanished. The Republic and the Resistance needs him and some new heroes as they are about to be over-run by the Third Force (powered by Adam, Andy and Domhnall, among others). The usual thrills and spills follow, with one sequence where Daisy, John flying in the Millenium Falcom, fight off some enemy airships, standing out in memory, the others being quite run of the mill and none of the characters really being sufficiently built up to make us truly care.

Spoilt on tales like Game of Thrones, even the ‘twists’ seem strangely tame and the entire story very linear, straightforward. Maybe it was too much to expect from a storyline, which has been, right from inception, the classic tale of good vs evil (and how, quite deliciously, both reside in each one of us - perhaps an angle more relevant today, should be played up). Or, perhaps, they’re just moving the story on, for the next episode…

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Shaandaar

Rating : 3/10
Release Date : 22nd October, 2015
Time : 144 minutes
Director, Writer : Vikas Bahl; Co-Writers : Chaitally Parmar, Anvita Dutt; Music : Amit Trivedi;
Starring : Shahid Kapur; Alia Bhatt; Pankaj Kapur; Sushma Seth, Sanah, Sanjay Kapoor, Vikas Verma



This is a desperate attempt at cuteness

Frogs, an animation back story, dreams drawn on strips of paper, horses, damsels that need rescuing (or someone to make them sleep), glitzy sets, flying ladybugs, more abbreviations than in the Oxford dictionary, a cuddly kind of love, an unending supply of songs, Karan Johar, fireflies, Sindhi jokes rehashed, gold, a touching father-daughter relationship, imaginary cups of tea (with two cubes of sugar), fake moustaches and the gravelly voice of Naseeruddin Shah – everything is thrown at us in the vain hope that something sticks, something connects – anything to distract our attention from the fact that there is no story – and the only thing with real substance in the film is Sanah

Add to this potpourri, a dominating matriarch (Sushma Seth) – who has decided that Sanah, her grand-daughter (born to her son, Pankaj) will get married to a golden, glitzy, garish Sindhi family (headed by Sanjay Kapoor) - a kind of a business deal to save them from impending bankruptcy. The fact that Sanjay’s brother, the groom, Vikas, is a gym / protein shake obsessed, narcisstic idiot with eight (and a half) pack abs, and precious little else doesn’t make them think again. Nor does the fact that he so obviously doesn’t relish getting married to the slightly overweight but pretty, smart Sanah, make the entire clan even pause for thought.

Alia, meanwhile, is a poor, little, wee anath, brought home by Pankaj, against the wishes of his mom or his wife. Obviously, there is a predictable secret somewhere but no one really questions the otherwise jelly-in-front-of-his-mother Pankaj or dissuades him from doing so. Alia is an insomniac, reads a lot of books, is a trivia queen but like all good girls, is waiting for her prince to come and put her to sleep.

Enter Shahid. The wedding organizer in the rented mansion / hotel. Who also doubles up as lead dancer. He doesn’t hit it off with Pankaj. Does with Alia. And you can, pretty easily, fill in the rest of the blanks…

Alia and Sanah (Pankaj’s daughter in real life too) stole the show with their performances. Shahid and Pankaj tried just that teeny-weensy bit too hard. The rest hung around in the background for their two bit parts

This was an attempt at a fairy story. A kind of a reverse Sleeping Beauty – where an insomniac prince is needed to make the insomniac princess fall asleep – and learn to dream. Will work for you if you’re under 12. Or like songs. And big fat Indian weddings (pun intended). Or sets with twinkling lights, heart shapes and cuddly-wuddly stuff. But will stretch interminably and senselessly for all others. Vikas Bahl, after Queen, this Shaandaar failure ? Et tu ?!

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Child 44

Rating : 5/10
Release Date : 26th June, 2015
Time : 137 minutes
Director : Daniel Espinosa; Writer : Richard Price, based on the novel by Tom Rob Smith; Music : Jon Ekstrand
Starring : Tom Hardy, Noomi Rapace, Joel Kinnaman, Gary Oldman, Vincent Cassel, Fares Fares, Jason Clarke



This is like one of those brooding, heavy Russian novels – where an oppressive, weighty air of depression hangs over everybody and everything (most of the movie is set in the just-rid-of Stalin 1953). I think there is actually just one scene where someone smiled. And in the midst of it all, Tom Hardy, a rising star of the secret service, has to cope with the intrigues of office politics, the indifference of his beloved wife (Noomi Rapace), and the ‘minor’ challenge of finding a serial child killer in a country where murder doesn’t officially exist. Murder, after all, is a capitalist disease, borne of greed and cannot exist in Paradise.

There is a touch of much ado about nothing. Something cinematically is not handled the right way as the emotion, the shock, the revelations don’t come through with the requisite impact. There is a lot happening – the jealousy of a fellow officer, Joel Kinnaman, who’s a little too quick to pull the trigger. The travel internally, the glimpses of industrial Russia, the chasing down of a traitor (Jason Clarke), the change in fortunes, the horrible death of the child of a close friend and colleague (Fares Fares) and the meeting with a General, Gary Oldman, who reluctantly helps with the investigations. It was also disappointing to see Noomi, so feisty in Sherlock Holmes : Game of Shadows, reduced to a rather passive role.

But through it all, it doesn’t manage to inveigle us emotionally – apart from some feelings towards our hero – waging a lone, heroic battle against the rest of the world – you don’t truly feel the shock, horror, anger that you should as the tragic, horrible events occur. Just an overall sense of apathy, which isn’t good for a film which seems to last longer than it actually is…

PS : Rant Begins : Why do westerners take so much delight in only showing, portraying the negative sides of the non-western bloc countries ? Has there ever been a Hollywood film, set in Russia, which shows its positive aspects, happy people ? Isn't this a most dangerous, insidious form of propaganda ? : End of Rant

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