Flavors

*ing : Reef Karim, Anjan Srivastav, Bharati Achrekar , Anjan Srivastav , Rishma Malik
Director : Krishna D.K., Raj Nidimoru


Tagline : Life like it is. Almost.


One of the better movies in the American-Indian genre.I mean its a whole lot better than the soporific and clichéd American Desi varieties where the entire film revolves around "getting in touch with ethnic roots" and "India is great" syndrome.The characters seem to be thoroughly fleshed out and identification with the issues they face comes easily( although I have never visited the USA).Great performances by Pooja,Reef,Mohit, Gauang, Gaurav...relatively unheard of names but quite believable performances.Bharati and Anjann are as ever ,superb..they looked more like the mature and aging Wagles . As an Indian living in India, I enjoyed it..the Americans would expect I guess a lot of background, far removed as they are from Indian realities and the Indian psyche. With no particular story line that has a beginning and end, this is just a movie that lightens the mood and leaves you amused all through.
Rating :
*** & ½

Don Jon

*ing : Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Scarlett Johansson, Julianne Moore
Director : Joseph Gordon-Levitt

Tagline : Everyone loves a happy ending

I give this movie a 5 star rating because it has a message. It has a true purpose to it, which effects nearly every man on the planet.

Ladies, you can listen to this, but be reasonable. Guys, we all masturbate. Some of us do it more than others, most of us look at porn. Some of us only masturbate to porn and some of us have real hard fetishes.

This movie points to the problem, the process of porn turning our heads, making us believe in perfection and making us ultimately selfish as lovers.

You watch porn, you don't have to please a woman, you don't have to worry about anyone but yourself. It is all perfect. In the real world, in relationships, the other person matters just as much as you, but sometimes, even the real thing is not as good as the fantasy and the ease of it.

Don Jon is about that confusion of liking and appreciating porn more than real women, of becoming addicted to the idea of 'perfection' and the ultimate realization of the effect it has on all us men, making us irritated little boys, incapable of truly connecting with another person.

The message is not that porn is bad, only the way we think and use it is misleading to reality.

But, this is not the type of movie to watch with the family, the girl; it's funny, but not a comedy in a spoof and clown type of way. Watch this movie alone, think about yourself and how porn effects you. It will benefit you greatly.


Rating :
*****

How I met Your Mother (Season 1)

*ing : Josh Radnor, Jason Segel, Cobie Smulders, Neil Patrick Harris, Alyson Hannigan
Creators : Carter Bays, Craig Thomas

Tagline : A love story in reverse.

I wanted a comedy show of 20-25 mins run time to get me thru morning breakfast. Entourage was my perfect companion for that. Bt since its over, I cudnt find any other show to fill its large shoes. I generally avoid shows which has too many seasons of it.(How I met your mother currently is in 9th season. Incidentally also its last.)
How I met your mother (HIMYM) is fun show. Good time pass. Kind what I wanted. The basic premise is quite close to Friends (unfortunately every show with group of friends together will always be compared to FRIENDS) but HIMYM has more similarity. Bunch of friends staying in New York city and facing the issues of living alone. Job, love, sex, insecurities and how friends are important as a part of life.
There basically 5 characters , Ted, Marshal, Lily, Barney and last but not least, very lovely Robin played by Cobie Smulders who I hv to say i hv developed rather big crush on.
Its year 2030 and Ted is telling story to his kids as how he met their mother. This premise is inspired by a movie Defintely, Maybe which was also fun.
So ya, we also cruise along the journey of Ted Mosby and see how he finds his wife. At the end of season, Ted and Robin are couple. And they seem destined for it. Almost like Ross and Rachel from Friends. It will be sad if he marries anyone else.
Lets see how his life goes from here.

Rating :
***

Mikey Virus

*ing : Manish Paul, Dean Alexandrou, Elli Avram, Varun Bandola
Director : Saurabh Varma

Tagline : Meet the weirdest hacker of Dilli...

There has been sleuth of movies based on delhi. In recent times, Vicky Donor and Fukery comes to mind.
When the trailer of Mickey Virus was unleashed on the internet, everybody started comparing the movie with critically acclaimed Vicky Donor(probably both the films were Delhi based and title sounded same). However, if Vicky Donor was heaven then Mickey is a ride through hell, sort of.

Delhi Cops are on the verge of cracking a case which involves high intensity of hacking for which they seek help of young-clad, computer geek Mickey. As they start solving the case, series of events unleashes new mystery involving lots of twist and turns.

First time director Saurabh Verma chooses the script which promises to deliver an intellectual-comic thriller but believe me neither there is any story nor any direction. The plot is confusing as is the screenplay. First half is monotonous and perfunctory. Chemistry between Manish Paul and Ellie Avaram is half baked. Things turns bit interesting after the murder but loses the steam with a blink of eye. Manish Paul shows some potential as Mickey Virus but needs to improve on his expression. Ellie looks gorgeous but has long way to go in terms of acting. Varun Badola steals the thunder and is the only silver lining in the film.

Overall, all the hype-hoolah surrounding film is drowned by a wafer thin plot. Neither comical nor thriller
Rating :
**

Monsters University

*ing : (voices of ) Billy Crystal, John Goodman, Steve Buscemi
Director : Dan Scanlon


Tagline : School Never Looked This Scary

Monsters, Inc. was one of the first Pixar movie where I saw their genius. Such an incredible mix of themes and emotions. From the basic premise of "humanizing" monsters to the tiny details in Boo's behavior. it was beautiful and original.
But Why Pixar, Why ? why are u hell bent ruining my favorite movies by churning out unnecessary sequels (or prequel in this case) !
To be honest, the film cud hv been a decent fun had it been first movie released. Bt no, you released it after a masterpiece which is always a tough task to achieve the level.
Final advise, please let alone ur other classics. Don’t ruin them with gimmicky sequels. Be original. Sure u guys can do better
Rating :
** & ½

Entourage (Season 7)

*ing : Kevin Connolly, Adrian Grenier, Kevin Dillon , Jerry Ferrara , Jeremy Piven
Creator : Doug Ellin

Tagline: Maybe you can have it all

Breaking Bad is one of the greatest TV series in terms of Drama Thriller Suspense but if its only about fun, I have loved Entourage. If not more. More thoughts on it after final season
Rating :
**** & 1/2

Grand Masti

*ing Vivek Oberoi, Riteish Deshmukh, Aftab Shivdasani
Director : Indra Kumar

Tagline :

Another bad bollywood movie cashing on its hit first part. Grand masti is a sex comedy which is fine. Bt it’s a bad offensive and just not funny.
And that, film did above 100 crores. Man I cant believe wat has happened to taste of Indian audience. Don’t watch it.
Rating :
*

Phata Poster Nikhla Hero

*ing : Shahid Kapoor, Ileana, Padmini Kolhapure
Director : Rajkumar Santoshi


Tagline :

Shahid Kapoor is a decent actor but quite overrated star. I think much of his fame came cause he was dating kareena kapoor. He has done couple of good movies but that’s about it.
Its been long long that he gave a hit movie. Last I think was Kaminey. And since then he has been trying desperately hard to get a good box office performance.
Alas, Phata Poster Nikhla Hero is surely not the one. A full on bollywood commercial film all the masala and item numbers and herogiri cant also get decent run at the box office.
Shahid tries hard and couple of scenes are funny. Bt that’s all.
He will hv to wait even more the elusive hit.

Rating :
**

The Hangover III

*ing : Bradley Cooper, Zach Galifianakis, Ed Helms
Director : Todd Philips

Tagline : The End.

Always wanted to see the film as I am fan of the first movie. The second was not enjoyable, but I had hoped the conclusion would be a return to form. I was hugely disappointed by the lazy script, cruel tasteless gags, and the predictability of the film. I love comedies but I only laughed once or twice. The cruel animal death 'jokes' killed the mood of the film. Film is no where smart or witty like the first one.
I wanted to enjoy a fun experience like I did with the first Hangover film. Mr Chow is a hugely irritating, monotonous character, whose only purpose seems to be to hurl out nonsense at every opportunity. The Hangover Part III will ruin the experience of the first film for you - if you want a film that is original, and good fun - avoid this shameless grab for cash. I can honestly say this was a chore to watch.

Rating :
*

Despicable Me 2

*voices of : Steve Carell, Kristen Wiig, Benjamin Bratt
Director : Pierre Coffin, Chris Renaud

Tagline : When the world needed a hero, they called a villain.

Despicable me 1 was the one of the first animation movies I saw, and I loved it. So I hv emotional attachment to the series and despite being a little underwhelmed by this one, I still quite liked parts of it. The film is not as funny or doesn’t have that great a story line liked the first one. Seems they are only trying to cash in the franchise part here. Yet, I don’t mind seeing Gru and his cute little minions on the screen. Minions I also must say are the funniest part of the movie. They are just hilarious.. watch it with family for a decent time pass.
Rating :
***

Entourage (Season 4)

*ing : Kevin Connolly, Adrian Grenier, Kevin Dillon , Jerry Ferrara , Jeremy Piven
Creator : Doug Ellin

Tagline: Maybe you can have it all

Watching it in super speed, and loving it even more than previous seasons. If you have any interest in movies, Hollywood in particular, you just cant miss this show. ! You will learn how stars live, behave and enjoy their life. What are the insecurities, how are they approached for movies and how they negotiate with their agents. It’s a fun series. Too much fun I must add.
Rating
**** & ½

Entourage (Season 3)

*ing : Kevin Connolly, Adrian Grenier, Kevin Dillon , Jerry Ferrara , Jeremy Piven
Creator : Doug Ellin

Tagline : A lifestyle is a terrible thing to waste.

I don’t think I have finished any season of any series this fast. Evidently, I am loving it soo much. ! perhaps the best I have seen since Friends. And its definitely a huge complement. Hope the show never dips and continues to give entertainment and story about Vincent Chase, the star.

Rating :
**** & 1/2

Entourage (Season 2)

*ing : Kevin Connolly, Adrian Grenier, Kevin Dillon , Jerry Ferrara , Jeremy Piven
Creator : Doug Ellin

Tagline :Let's hug it out, bitch.

Living the life of a celebrity, and tugging along are his group of friends, Vincen Chase, the hot star in Hollywood is living his life to fullest. He is getting money, movies and girls. Series is still funny, still sharp and even tho is set in a completely different world from what we know, feels soo real. ! and the series is made so well, feels like we are living with these guys.
Loving it
Rating
**** & 1/1

Entourage (Season 1)

*ing : Kevin Connolly, Adrian Grenier, Kevin Dillon , Jerry Ferrara , Jeremy Piven
Creator : Doug Ellin

Tagline : His fame is their fortune.

I can say that Entourage is easily my favorite TV show after Friends. Its extremely funny, entertaining and has plot which I hv keen interest in, Movies. ! Vincent Chase is a Hollywood star staying in Los Angeles with his frends and goes thru up n down of a celeb career with his trusted agent Ari Gold. His friend who is also his manager, Eric Murphy handles his career and wants to see him as a big star. Other 2 staying with him are his elder brother, Johny Drama and Turtle. My favorite of all 5 is Turtle. He is super funny and very adorable character.
I have a blast watching this one.

Rating :
**** & ½

Kick-Ass 2

*ing : Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Chloë Grace Moretz, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Jim Carrey
Director : Jeff Wadlow

Tagline : You Can't Fight Your Destiny.

I liked the original "Kick-Ass" which was both a fresh idea and had a good portion of innocent fun and good humor. Sadly I have to say that the franchise can be announced dead and buried.

The writer of "Kick-Ass 2" has completely misunderstood the idea behind the original film, and has written a sequel which has lots of troubles. It's lame, boring, violent, childish, bloody, gory, foul-mouthed, stupid and too long.


I'll still honor the idea behind the first, but already in the trailer we could see that this second outing had completely missed the mark, also when it comes to the humor. Watch the two trailers, and you'll easily see what I mean. I was expecting this to be nothing like the first, but I didn't expect it to be that bad.

I actually really understand why Jim Carrey has refused to promote this film, after he saw the result. I originally thought that sounded stupid, but oh boy was he right! This is how NOT to make a sequel!


Rating :
*&1/2

This is the End

*ing : James Franco, Jonah Hill, Seth Rogen, Jay Baruchel, Danny McBride , Craig Robinson , Michael Cera , Emma Watson
Director : Evan Goldberg, Seth Rogen

Tagline : Nothing ruins a party like the end of the world.

This movie simply wasn't funny. It dragged on interminably; scenes with little comedic value got dragged out for far too long presumably because the directors (and main featured actors) were too high while making this steaming pile of wasted time.

We get it. You like to do drugs and are generally wastes of humanity and oxygen on this planet. This movie isn't funny though. There have been many funny drug movies made, and made by funny people on drugs. This movie is a nauseating bromantic drama pretending to be a comedy. I expected the two main characters to start making out at the end. Not that there would be anything intrinsically wrong with that, in fact it would've been cathartic since they so obviously were in love with each other.

The two funniest actors in the movie, Ansari and Cera, die within the first ten minutes and all you're left with is a weak cast and weaker script.

AVOID



Rating :
*&1/2

Coupling (season 4)

*ing : Jack Davenport, Gina Bellman, Sarah Alexander
Created by : Steven Moffat

Tagline : The naughty new comedy about nothing...but SEX!

Just when I had started to get hang of the series, its over. And I am not really unhappy about it. Wasn’t really much fan of it anyway. All ends well and all of them overcome insecurities about their love and sex life and apparently are poised to lead a happy life. My fav of all the series was Jeff, unfortunately they had chopped his portions for last few episodes.

Rating :
***

Hollywood Ending

*ing : Woody Allen, Téa Leoni, Bob Dorian
Director : Woody Allen

Tagline : It's Going to be a Shot in the Dark!

This offering isn't as bad as reviews had suggested. But I would only recommend it to the diehard Woody Allen fan. No one does Woody's material as well as he and his material is really quite amusing. OK so the May-November relationships are getting a bit But his personal life aside, this has some funny stuff. He rants, he obsesses, he stammers, but Woody still delivers. Wait, that's what he does!

Tea Leoni is one of his strongest leads of late who stands up quite well to his challenge and succeeds. Debra Messing serves up the classic bimbo. (don't we get the joke?) George Hamilton was actually entertaining and well cast as the Hollywood stooge and Treat Williams was exceptional.

The Woody Allen-esque metaphors are overly evident, and I found myself being able to spot the lines or phrases that would tie back in. Usually, he is much more subtle about his themes.

Not as many laughs, but enough to keep u entertained for runtime.

Rating :
***

We're the Millers

*ing : Jason Sudeikis, Jennifer Aniston, Emma Roberts
Director : Rawson Marshall Thurber

Tagline : -If anyone asks.

We're the Millers is going to make you laugh. The movie is more hilarious than you would think. You will be surprise how creative some of those "stupid", funny and ridiculous scenes are. The girls are doing a great job. Emma Roberts as an angry teen with a big mouth and Jennifer Aniston as a sexy stripper with mother instincts. Loved the stripper scenes with Jennifer who looks as hot as ever. Kenny (Will Poulter)is just so perfect for the part of virgin, sweet teenage guy and of course Jason Sudeikis as David - the drug dealer - is the one and only who can pull that character as good as he did. The Millers are just the perfect "family". They picked just the right people for this comedy. You can expect dirty, funny, sexy, ridiculous! Just go and see it so you can have a good summer laugh!

Rating :
***

Coupling (season 3)

*ing : Jack Davenport, Gina Bellman, Sarah Alexander
Created by : Steven Moffat

Tagline : The naughty new comedy about nothing...but SEX!

I don’t hv much to add from what I did last 2 times I reviewed the show. It’s a british show (accent helps) abt 6 friends (like american show Friends) who wants nothing bt sex. There are certain relationship issues bt they are mostly related to sex only. A few episodes are mildly funny, rest are just Okayish. Nothing special.
Rating :
** & ½