Showing posts with label Disney. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Disney. Show all posts

Friday, September 19, 2014

#Khubsoorat Hindi Bollywood Film movie review, Johnson Thomas, Rating: * *

#Khubsoorat Hindi Bollywood Film movie review, Johnson Thomas, Rating: * *


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#Khubsoorat Hindi Bollywood Film movie review, Johnson Thomas, Rating: * *

#Picks&Piques/SnippetFilmReviews/JohnsonThomas19Sept2014
#Khubsoorat(Hindi) Rating: * * A Royal PAIN. #HrishikeshMukherjee must surely be rolling in his grave at this point- what with his rib-tickling laugh delight getting the rough shod re-treatment with an insipid Sonam trying to step into Rekha’s iconic shoes. #AnilKapoor’s bankrolling of this project alongside Disney is surely a misbegotten one ‘cos it’s likely to sound the death-knell for the careers of both his daughters. This is a travesty of a comedy, nothing justified, nothing gained. Everyone’s a loser here other than #FawadKhan and #KaizadKotwal #RatnaPathakShah who provide resounding restraint in an otherwise hysterical, ill defined class clashing misadventure! #Disney #UTV #ShashankaGhosh #SiddharthRoyKapoor

This class-clashing un-believable love drama is strident, shrill , trite and given to unbecoming hysterics. No patch on HrishikeshMukherjee’s original.






Hindi Film Review
Johnson Thomas

A Royal PAIN


Film: Khubsoorat
Cast: Sonam Kapoor, Fawad Afzal Khan, Kirron Kher, Ratna Pathak Shah, Amir Raza Hussain, Kaizad Kotwal
Director: Shashanka Ghosh


Rating: *  *

Attempting a remake of a much loved movie – the Hrishikesh Mukherjee directed, ‘Khubsoorat’ top-lining Rekha in an iconic role, is riven with hurdles for sure. But Shashanka Ghosh of ‘Dasvidaniya’ fame was unperturbed enough to play around with the storyline and even managed to convince a ‘particular’ Anil Kapoor and ‘sharp’ Disney(India) to bankroll it.
The resultant is sheer bedlam- one that could even induce an insomniac into his deepest slumber. I was lucky( or was it unlucky?) enough to have had my essential share of rest before the preview showing so I had to sit-up and take notice of every trite and unbecoming snag in the narrative of this dispassionate class-clashing love drama that tests one’s forbearance to the limits. To make the going worse you have an insipid Sonam Kapoor hogging the show as clumsy dimwit Dr Milli Chakravarthy ( can’t figure out what she specializes in ..physiotherapy?Occupational therapy? Chiropractice? Or is it sports medicine? Nothing is clear here) while an over-the-top Kirron Kher plays to the gallery as her irreverent punjabi Mother , Manju, providing the lame mechanics for cheap laughter.
A Disney-Anil Kapoor films’ misadventure, this intended class clashing romance has little to excite and even less to intrigue. Terribly clichéd, unadmirably vacuous, pitiably mundane and bundled in wafer thin artifice, this film has the power to put even an insomniac to sleep. 


Dr Milli Chakravarthy(Sonam Kapoor) has worked magic on Dhoni and other IPL match winners and once she takes on the role of the Royal magician…oops Royal Doctor, she is bound to make her mark there too. Her rambunctious( the way Kirron Kher plays it read as obnoxious) Punjabi mother Manju has even begun counting the days to the Royal wedding she envisions for her dear daughter. So the intentions are sealed in the first few frames and the rest of the narrative concentrates on getting everything in place for that firmed-up eventuality. Like getting the haughty Royal Prince Vikram Singh Rathod(Fawad Afzal Khan) to break-up with his royal fiancée Kiara(Aditi Rao Hydari), coaxing the Maharaja(Amir Raza Hussain) into getting back on his feet, and giving the Maharani(Ratna Pathak Shah) no choice but to accept the ill-attuned pairing as a fait accompli. 



Don’t know why Anil Kapoor saw fit to bank roll this under-developed script but one thing is certain- his hopes of aiding both his daughters’ careers in films will see a huge setback with this clunker.  Disney is known to scuttle even completed projects if they don’t turn out up to their expectations and it beats me why they chose to allow this sleeper to get through their hawk-eye.

Thankfully the setting and the rest of the cast including a well-suited Prince Vikram Rathod(Fawad Afzal Khan) , his Disciplinarian mother Rani sa(Ratna Pathak Shah), his father, Maharaja(Amir Raza Hussain) and the doctor’s Bengali father(Kaizad Kotwal) spare us enough blushes that we may suffer through this royally monogrammed misadventure.

Predictability is a surefire recipe for boredom and this film has plenty of it. In fact, there’s no explaining away the fact that right from the start the agenda is announced loudly and clearly- the good hearted fake sounding Milli is expected to get the haughty Prince to press his suit notwithstanding his impending marriage to royalty. Love is thrust at the audience without any finesse or conviction with all the sublety of a rampaging bull on heat.

A supposedly too busy Prince appears to have a lot of time on his hands -he keeps bumping into the guileless extremely annoying , garishly dressed Milli- as she goes about her job of getting the Maharaja back on his feet following a ten year old tryst with tragedy which left him incapacitated and bereft of hope. In between there’s some crass depiction of class clashes which ring false because of some extremely poor writing and plotting. When the director calls kiss, the the Prince and the blah girl lock lips and seal their fate for happily ever after- love is as simple as that in such achingly familiar bollywood tripe.

Everything appears fake- even the so called Princely abode appears to be impoverished of servants and personnel. Extras flit in and out of the frame only for special occasions like an impromptu celebratory dance. Even the traditional tropes and linguistic punctuations are missing from the enactment. There’s no enlivening this uninteresting, feckless, unbelievingly dull exercise in futility. Even Sneha Khanvilkar’s  beautiful compositions sound out of sync with what’s happening on screen.  There’s no chance of  careers being established or made on the strength( or lack of it) of this feeble salvo. Much more would need to be done to accomplish that. This one’s a royal PAIN…no less!

Friday, May 30, 2014

Maleficent(3D), Hollywood English Film movie review, Johnson Thomas, Rating: * * 1/2

Maleficent(English/3D) Rating: *  * ½  Anjolina Jolie’s Diva-like evil fairy look adds weight to her brand as a Hollywood star but it does little for a film that gives you the point-of-view of the Wicked fairy from ‘Sleeping beauty.’ So it’s not a fairy tale as we know and like it- it’s more of a dark tale about revenge and redemption! This one could be too confusing for the little ones!
                                                     
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English Film review
Johnson Thomas
Film: Maleficent(3D)
Cast: Anjelina Jolie, Sharlto Copley, Elle Fanning, Sam Riley, Miranda Richardson, Juno Temple
Director: Robert Stromberg
Rating: *  * ½

Synopsis:  It’s the story of the evil fairy from ‘Sleeping Beauty,’ with Anjelina Jolie assaying the pivotal role of Maleficent, who as a young girl possessed radiant beauty and a pure heart but because of a human’s greed , transforms into a vengeful huntress.

Review:
Maleficent, is Disney’s revisionist account of the evil fairy who dooms a princess to eternal slumber in the 1959 animation Sleeping Beauty.
 Maleficent when just at the cusp of womanhood falls in love with a human who appears kind and reciprocates her feelings. Unfortunately, that very man grabs at the opportunity to marry a princess and make the kingdom and riches his own by cutting off Maleficent’s wings and causing her to lose her avian glory. That prompts Maleficent’s diabolical transformation into evil.  And that is when she curses the progeny of that union between an ordinary human and a princess, with a dead sleep that will only be awakened by ‘True Love’s Kiss.’
Creating a fiery tale all it’s own, Disney’s scriptwriter Linda Woolverton, envisages this revisionist fantasy creature as one that goes from good to evil to good again. A little too confusing for the young minds it’s targeted at. The tale is not told with any finesse. It lumbers along strangely, looks a bit choppy in transitions and swings from whimsy to despair  and regret without the traditional enchantment that was expected. The multiple rewrites have done little to improve the experience. The tone is very shaky. From an enchanted landscape to a dark and ominous one, the movement is not smooth or gravitating. The film fails to probe into the psychology of it’s lead character and as a result does little to fortify the alternate history it re-imagines.
Opening with a storybook-themed voiceover narration, “Maleficent” tells us about a realm of two rival kingdoms – the world of humans and the outlying moors, which are home to fairies, trolls and imposing wickermen. Darting around the moors like a sort of saucer-eyed Tinkerbell is the winged young fairy Maleficent (Isobelle Molloy), who strikes up an unlikely friendship, and later romance, with a trespassing human farmhand named Stefan (Michael Higgins). That’s when the evil begins to take shape.
 
The best thing about the film is the look and Anjelina Jolie’s Diva like presence. Unfortunately that also happens to hamper the immiscibility.robert Stromberg’s direction is not very assured and even though the film has a clever take, it’s just not coherent in it’s emotional arcs.   The imagery is exquisite and the scope magnificent. Unfortunately the 3D does little to aid the enjoyment. And that’s the unfulfilling story of ‘Maleficent.’


Friday, March 21, 2014

Muppets Most Wanted, English hollywood Film Movie Review, Johnson Thomas, Rating: * * 1/2

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English Film review
Johnson Thomas
Film: Muppets Most Wanted
Director: James Bobin

Rating: * * ½

Synopsis:The Muppets return in this Euro-set adventure that pits them against the dastardly Constantine, a dead ringer for Kermit who sparks a fun-filled caper for the gang. Ricky Gervais, Tina Fey, and Ty Burrell head up the human cast, with James Bobin from a script he wrote with Nicholas Stoller
 
Review


This is a transcontinental caper that is quite simply shameless about it’s attempt to cash in on the success of the first. It even has a song that blares out that irreverence, “We’re doing a sequel” is it’s opening song which acknowledges the inferiority of most follow-ups. This latest chapter picks up precisely where the last one left off, down to featuring stand-ins for the backs of Amy Adams and Jason Segel, who have not returned. Newcomer Walter (voiced by Peter Linz) sings the opening number.


This is the eighth outing for Jim Henson’s creations but it’s not anywhere close to achieving the playfulness and fun of the earlier (most recent) one. The sheer fun and engagement of that outinf obviously will not be matched at the box-office either. It’s typically Disney- engaging but not altogether entertaining.
Returning director James Bobin, wrote the screenplay with returning co-  scenarist Nicholas Stoller, but Jason Segel and Amy Adams contribution to all that fun is sorely missed.  “Muppets Most Wanted” looks and sounds eager to please but the  feel is like a heavy-duty effort to turn its stalled creativity into some sort of self-referential joke
 
Although they’re newly rebanded and apparently more popular than ever, Kermit and friends have no idea what their next move(movie) should be, but after quickly brainstorming ideas (“Gonzo With the Wind” is quickly rejected), they decide to embark on a lavish world tour.

Manager  Dominic Badguy pronounced “Badjee”(Ricky Gervais), takes iver the entourage completely and only cautious, responsible Kermit has the prudence to object to  renting out the largest theater in Berlin for their opening-night performance. But the other Muppets increasingly side with Dominic over their frog leader, who’s already stressed out enough by Miss Piggy’s plan to use the tour as a backdrop for their lavish wedding and honeymoon (none of which, of course, Kermit has even agreed to yet). The difficulty is obvious. Throw in a doppelganger and it becomes doubly complicated. Dominic has Kermit
suddenly kidnapped and thrown into a Siberian gulag, where he finds himself at the mercy of several dozen Russian crooks and Nadja (Tina Fey), a stern but Broadway-obsessed prison guard who harbors a not-so-secret crush on her newest charge. While, in a “Great Dictator”-esque twist,  diabolical doppelganger, Constantine, “the world’s most dangerous frog,” takes over the tour as Kermit. 
Naturally, as they wind their way across Europe by train, it takes the Muppets (save for the ever-perceptive Animal) almost the entire film to realize that there’s an evil, English-mangling master thief in their midst, and that Dominic has been using the gang’s musical gigs as cover for an elaborate series of heists, each one bringing them a step closer to the Crown Jewels in the Tower of London.
The script is quite adept and knowing in it’s barrage of gags and plot. Everything here appears to have been  predicated on a general assumption of the Muppets’ appeal. Blink-and-you-miss- star turns( by Ray Liotta, Celine Dion,  Christoph Waltz, James McAvoy, Tom Hiddleston, Saoirse Ronan and Chloe Grace Moretz) don’t generate any extra interest here. The randomized spitting out of  musical sequences and movie references (everything from “A Chorus Line” to “Lawrence of Arabia” to “The Silence of the Lambs”)  is also a little too oddball to keep the entertainment flowing. The human element, specifically an understanding of how the human actors are meant to interact with their soft-fabric co-stars is also quite distinctively missing. So have fun for as short a time it lasts!