Season 1 was good. Season 2 equally bad

The #hashtags sum up the tv series in a nutshell. A short, crisp run it had which was obviously cut short by network funding issues and the usual stuff. Nonetheless to walk in the shoes of Sir Anthony Hopkins is no joke and Mads Mikkelsen brings his own flavour of creepy and scary into the role of Dr.Hannibal Lecter. The supporting cast and the visuals are stunning. Must watch if you have an appetite for gory stuff.

Spartacus is a biography of the Thracian slave turned rebel gladiator who becomes the leader of the slaves and fights against the tyrant rule of Roman Empire.

Although Spartacus has been known in recent times as the tv series by STARZ which was very successful, Kubrick showed the journey of Spartacus from a slave to the undisputed champion of the arena to the rebel who almost brings down the Roman empire

197 minutes of the movie filled with slavery, Spartacus’s love for another slave, his leadership skills and a big heart to inspire all.
Although its a bit long but biographies tend to be too narrative and it is worth the watch if you like to watch some serious Drama along with 60’s swordfights and mythology.
Must watch for those interested in roman mythology, adventure movies like Gladiator and The Last Samurai.

A cult, a religion and one of the modern-day cinema’s greatest achievement in science fiction, Star Wars franchise buckled up their boots and breathed new life into the saga with The Force Awakens aka Star Wars 7. Well, being notorious with the ordering has been one of the trademarks and this new movie can be termed as a prequel to Star wars 4: A New Hope from where it all began (chronological not numerological).
Star Wars 3.5 aka Rogue One is set mostly between the creation of fully functioning Death Star and Darth Vader’s rise to power. As it comes off a standalone movie not connected to any trilogy, this might act as the spin-off to explore the enmity between the Empire and the Rebels. Set in the older time does have its constraints and new robots not much advanced like BB-8 are introduced. It’s safe to say this has to be one of those movies straight out of basic warfare games and following the mission of seeking out the death star and destroying it.
Imperial Ships, Major Weapons Test (common don’t be shy to use the word Death Star guys), recruiting talented individuals(mostly criminals, suicide squad for a suicide mission), the avant-garde background score given by John Will…oh wait standalone movie, standalone new music director Michael Giacchino.
PS: Vader and his fear-inducing swag!.

Let’s just say this is not your average spy movie filled with action packed sequences and villains with disfigured bodies gunning for world domination. This movie surpasses the bond movies in terms of swag power.

Based on a hit show of the 1960s with the similar title, Guy Ritchie , as usual, breathes life in this reinstallment with his rugged script and dry humour and over the top cinematography which is his trademark and in the end this movie turns out a perfect blend of RockNRolla and Sherlock Holmes, his previous works.

Napoleon Solo(Cavill) is a thief turned CIA agent kept on a leash by his handler Sanders(Jared Harris).Illya Kuryakin(Armie Hammer) is the perfect KGB spy-Indestructible, raw power with a knack for surveillance technology. Their paths collide in part of Berlin (one under the Russian influence ). And in comes Gaby Teller(Alicia Vikander, fresh from passing the Turing Test in Ex Machina). What starts as a simple rescue mission for Solo turns into a joint mission between the KGB and CIA to infiltrate the evil shipment firm headed by the Alexander and his wife Victoria(Elizabeth Debicki) on a warpath to obtain the research from Gaby’s father and build their own nuclear warhead.

Things gradually build up as they develop the characters of both Solo and Illya while Waverly(Hugh grant) makes a significant but short-lived entry in their plans.

Cut to Highly Sensitive infiltration sequence, betrayals and surprises, we land up with a high-speed monster jeep (Badass!) chases along the island and Cavill dropping the hammer on Victoria, the movie runs away with stellar performances from both Cavill and Hammer. Uncle Rudi and Gaby’s father(A play on the name of Edward Teller, father of hydrogen bomb) are underutilised but the plot seemingly does so in order to avoid making it too narrative.

What works for the movie:-

1)The background score – Daniel Pemberton, You sir are a genius.

2)The humane side of the Russian Spy (High fashion designing sense in woman’s clothing)

3)Hugh Grant!

4)Henry Cavill as Napoleon Solo, judging the fact that the likes of Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ryan Gosling, Robert Pattinson, Matt Damon, Christian Bale, Michael Fassbender, Bradley Cooper, Leonardo DiCaprio, Russell Crowe, Chris Pine were approached for the role too.

The movie does keep you intrigued till the very end (Blame the sentimental Russian and his father’s watch) and keeping aside the fact that it was an origins story, the slow narration and lack of freshness in the story is justifiable.

Genre: Dharma Production(KJo should get this genre patented)

Actors: Ranbir (Rockstar Janardan) Kapoor, Anushka (Soon to be Kohli) Sharma, Aishwarya (Back with a Bang)Rai Bachchan.

The word “Friendzone” is joked about a lot on the internet and some movies do touch this topic in a more polite and dry humoresque tone. Well, KJo takes this friend zone to a new level aka “Marte dum tak I Friend You, I Friend You too”.

Johar returned to writing and directing after judging people in reality and talent hunt shows but its weak story is what pushes the envelope way too far than the audience can tolerate.Yes, we do judge you too for we expect something good out of good directors who come out of hibernation after long breaks and still deliver sub-par stuff.

Coming back to the movie Ayan, Aalizeh(Jackie Shroff yaad aagaya maa kasam bey) and Saba are what the poster of the movie delivered. Ranbir’s Ayan is the blend of all the roles he played in Tamasha, YJHD, Wake Up Side and Bachna Aey Haseeno.(Not pointing to the pattern but Bombay Velvet ke baad Ranbir sirki puppy eyes ko exploit karna banta hai). Anushka, the queen of friend zone and the old red wine Aishwarya’s Saba being the weakest link in the story that completes the full circle of cliche ridden journey called Ae Dil hai Mushkil.

Not jumping into the story to dissect for it is very cruel to dissect a romantic movie but what works and what doesn’t can be easily pointed out.

The Yay’s:

1)The music(Pritam kahin se bhi uthao, par keep making this short term addictive music,. Its trippy and touches all the right chords of our heart)

2)SRK cameo(I would just release his sequence as a short movie on youtube and it would rake in all the money from advertisement! Such power,much wow that sequence was)

3)Thinking that the story might take a turn and Aishwarya might be Anushka’s mother..or maybe Ranbir’s. #FanFiction

The Nay’s:

1)Weaker supporting cast/cameos in the form of Fawad,Lisa Haydon and Alia.

2)Stretching the “Toote dilse hi sangeet nikalta hai theory”(Samosa me story wala aalu daal hi nahi gaya)

3)Ranbir narrating his story like Ted Mosby delivering the 9 year long monologue to his kids about how he met their mother (Okay come to think of it, KJo might have been watching the HIMYM finale while getting high on 500 days of Summer and thinking lets release this on Diwali and make people cringe at friendships.)

Isolated Hotel, twin sisters, paranoid child and an unemployed writer taking up the job to take care of the hotel.Perfect recipe for a scary ride.REDRUM REDRUM!!!

A Stephen King novel with Kubrick Twist!

Jack Nicholson was bang on with every role he played in the 1980s and 1990s.

He plays a writer Jack Torrance who is yet to write something meaningful and needs the money to go on and finds this Hotel which is located out of nowhere.

To earn a quick buck he agrees to become the caretaker of this Hotel and brings his family along with to live in the hotel.

His son has some sort of a telepathic gift known as “The Shining” due to which he sees disturbing visions of the hotel’s past.

It turns into a nightmare for Jack and his wife Wendy(Portrayed by Shelley Duvall) as the solitude and eerie situations fiddles with their imagination and the quote “An Idle Mind is Devil’s Workshop” comes at play with Jack Nicholson going all apey on his wife and child and becomes hell-bent on killing them.

The visions of the by show him two twin girls and he keeps uttering the words REDRUM REDRUM to his mother.

The Staircase sequence and the bathroom sequence are the most horrifying scenes with an equally daunting background score to keep us on the edge of our seats.

Now this movie has been both.Some like to think it's a horror genre masterpiece, some think it's just total nonsense.

You got to watch it to either be amazed by the storytelling or curse the director for ruining the book.

Key things to watch out for:
1)The mystery behind room 237
2)Jack Nicholson and his epic outbursts!
3)The end scene.

As sometime back, a wise guy told me that If you want to watch Romantic movies..just don’t follow the ratings ..read the story, if it appeals to you then watch it whether it is a 4 or a 5 or a 6.

So here goes the story of this gem of a movie.

Tim (Gleeson) is a very timid and a shy guy with a typical dysfunctional family.

But his father(Bill Nighy) has a secret, a family secret that the men in his family can go back in time and change what their actions were.(Time travel+romance=does not stick in the beginning)



Now as he states it doesn’t affect the fabric of time-space continuum, it becomes rather a gift which Tim was hoping would let him meet the love of his life and have great kids and live peacefully

He does meet Rachel McAdams and he rather manipulates key moments so that he can meet her and fall in love with her.

The story pretty much takes a nosedive after they get married.

Some loopholes are revealed in the time travel business and Tim learns the hard way to let some things go.

It starts as a romedy but the second half of the movie sticks us with more important thing in the world than love ..FAMILY

It's a good movie.Definitely a one time watch.

Things to watch out for:

1)Rachel McAdams is stunning!

2)Bill Nighy ‘s father act is impeccable

3)The ending sequence which fills us with nostalgia and memories of our happy days.

An ageing man sets out on a journey to claim his million dollar sweepstakes. But wait, has he actually won it?

Nebraska starts as a road trip the Grants, Woody(Bruce Dern) and his son David(Will Forte) take up as the father’s last-ditch efforts to finally achieve something in his worthless life.

Woody is a drunk old guy, who keeps forgetting things but makes it sort of his dying wish to get to Nebraska and claim his Million Dollar Sweepstake which he doesn’t know is just an advertisement gimmick.

He persuaded his son to take him to Nebraska in their old car, dodging his wife Kate(June Squib) who is one heck of a lady for her age and start the road trip.

They visit their old town where Woody has some unfinished business with Ed(money issues) and brawls in the local pub, becomes a town hero by declaring he has won a million dollar and becomes the centre of attention for the whole town.

But his attention is short-lived as Ed opens his eyes to the fact that it's just sweepstakes and not that he has earned a single buck and was just boasting around the town like a drunk who has gone mad.

David, in his quest to understand his dysfunctional father tries to convince him to just end his journey and just be done with it but heck they give it a shot and reach Nebraska finally where some surprise awaits old Woody
It's a light humoured movie with a brilliant background score and some performance of a lifetime by Bruce Dern and June Squib.

Although a bit slow for a road trip, it starts to grow on you after the first 20 minutes and then another road trip starts in your mind which is much more enjoyable and which feels more real
Special mention:
1)The Graveyard – Kate Scenario
2)The bar brawl of Woody

A must watch it if a good, light drama is what you are looking for to freshen up your mind.

The story of a guy (budding guitarist and singer) and a girl(good pianist) and their eventful week in Dublin.
So this movie has been one of the best modern day musicals and a very refreshing background score and music makes it worthy of the Oscar it received for Best Achievement in Music written beating August Rush the same year.
An immigrant finds a wannabe singer in the streets and what follows is a bunch of jamming sessions, some wonderful memories and heartwarming love stories.
The songs keep on ringing in your ears and their stories which they narrate in a sing-song manner are mesmerising and at the same time not too mushy and fake looking
You feel genuine chemistry between the guy and the girl and as their recordings get better, you sway to their tunes and feel as if you are enjoying music straight from the heart with romance not overwhelming enough which makes it a simplistic and real movie
Watch it if a feel-good movie with less mushiness is what you are looking for and can relate to romance through lyrics of a song rather than normal words.