Angle has fallen

"Angle has fallen"

Watched English movie "Angle has fallen". Direction: Ric Roman Waugh. Screenplay: Robert Mark Kamen, Matt Cook and Ric Roman Waugh. Story by Creighton Rothenberger and Katrin Benedict. Produced by Gerard Butler, Alan Siegel and others. Cinematography Jules O'Loughlin. Music by David Buckley. It features Steven Gerard, Morgan Freeman, Nick Nolte, Piper Perabo, Jada Pinkett Smith, Danny Huston, Tim Blake Nelson, Lance Reddik. The movie was released in 2019 and runs for about 2 hours. I watched it on Netflix on 16th Jun 2021.

An assassination attempt is made on President of USA. He is saved by head of his security, Mike Banning, but all other secret service staff is killed. President is in coma, VP is in charge of country. Mike is accused of masterminding the assassination. The guardian angle has fallen.

This is the third movie of fallen series. This time it's the guardian angle who is accused to be fallen. Mike has no one to go to. He has to prove his innocence but the only man who can vouch for it is in coma. The story is how he achieves it. 

The story has all the commercial ingredients. The action scenes are top class. There is surprise help. There is betrayal. There is unyielding loyalty. There is supreme trust. There is family reunion and there is promotion. 

It's an action movie so one should not delve on the nuances of story. One shouldn't think why the villain does it and why is he happy in death or how come a pariah become angle within 10 seconds or how transfer of power happens or what's in it for the politician etc..

Gerard and Morgan are good. Others support. Cinematography is good. Special effects are realistic. Attempted assassination of President is the best scene. This movie made a good profit. 

Worth watching once if you have watched previous two movies. 

Toofan (तूफान)

"Toofan (तूफान)"

Watched Hindi movie Toofan (तूफान). Directed by Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra. Produced by Farhan Akhtar, Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, Ritesh Sidhwani. Written by Anjum Rajabali, Vijay Maurya, Farhan Akhtar. Cinematography Jay Oza. Music Shankar-Ehsan-Loy. It stars Paresh Rawal, Mrunal Thakur, Farhan Akhtar, Hussain Dalal, Vijay Raaz, Supriya Pathak & Mohan Agashe. I watched this movie with Aditi, on Amazon Prime, on 20th Jul 2021. The movie is about 2 hour 41 min long.

Farhan, muscle for a local goon, has two new entrants in his life. One is the lady doctor, Mrunal and another boxing. He is crazy for boxing and takes big strides. Then he falls. 

Mrunal has lovely smile and acts decently. She plays a non glamorous roll. Farhan does well but is let down by the story and direction. Paresh is good as usual. Other actors play their roles diligently.

Story and direction leave lot to be desired. Director handles the story casually. Rakeysh is better than director this. It's inconceivable that a person who decides to take the right path agrees to throw away the match. It's also inconceivable that the girlfriend has a change of heart when a friend accepts the blame. It's also inconceivable that a person who is clearly out of shape and who has boxed for maximum one year in his life, thaat too 5 years ago, comes into shape, performs incredibly well and wins the championship. Director could have given one year easily. The stampede scene was not effective. Bringing the character of Patil back was also unnecessary. Movie slows down considerably after match fixing scandal. Length of the movie is also longish. Shot of patch up between Farhan and Paresh was the high point of movie, but it was very brief. 

In short, movie lives up to neither the hype nor expectation. Thankfully I did not have to buy the ticket. 

Watch if you have Amazon Prime subscription. If you don't have it, give it a miss.

Gods of Egypt

"Gods of Egypt"

Watched English film "Gods of Egypt". This film is directed by Alex Proyas. Written by Matt Shazama and Burk Sharpless. Produced by Basil Iwanyk and Alex Proyas. Cinematography Peter Menzies Jr. The film stars Gerard Butler, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Brenton Thwaites, Courtney Eaton, Chadwik Boseman, Elodie Yung, Geoffrey Rush, Rufus Sewell. This film was released in 2016. It runs for about 2 hour 8 minutes. I watched with Aditi on Netflix on 12th Jun 2021.

As the title suggests, it's the story of the era of Gods. Egyptian Gods. Osiris decides to crown his son Horus as king of Egypt when Osiris' younger brother Set intervenes, blinds Horus and usurps power. A thief, Beck, and his girlfriend Zaya decide to help Horus. Beck cuts a deal with Horus that Horus can't honor. 

Being a mythological movie it has Grand sets. Egyptian Gods are twice as tall as humans. They turn into animal or bird. They fly. Their riches are plenty. There is a lot of action. In short a lot of scope for special effects. The special effects are good. Especialy, scenes of God and man together. However, the conceptualisation of action is not satisfactory. The action scenes are not much different than other movies. 

My expectations were raised with the entry of Sphinx. But thre Sphinx wasn't impressive. It was a disappointment.

Gods are portrayed as powerful, vain, self centred, having no respect for humans and lacking tender emotions. Humans serve Gods, are afraid of them and do whatever they can to appease them. All the actors do a decent job. 

It's a story of what a mortal can do, to what extent can he go, how he can put himself in harm's way for his love. It ends with Gods realising the power of love and meaning of sacrifice.

This movie barely recovered its costs and wasn't highly rated. 

Watch for fun or give it a miss. 

Koi jaane na (कोई जाने ना)

"Koi jaane na (कोई जाने ना)"

Watched Hindi movie Koi jaane na (कोई जाने ना). Directed by Amin Hajee. Produced by Bhushan Kumar, Kishan Kumar, Amin Hajee. Writer Amin Hajee. Cinematography Arun Prasad. Music Tanishq Bagchi, Amaal Mallik, Rochak Kohli, Vikram Negi. It stars Kunal Kapoor, Amyra Dastoor, Ashwini Kalsekar, Sameer Khandekar, Kareem Haji, Atul Kulkarni, Vidya Malwade, Neha Mahajan, Kamlesh Sawant, Achint Kaur, Raj Zhutshi, Aditi Govitrikar. I watched this movie with Aditi, on Netflix, on 29th May 2021. The movie is about 2 hour 18 min long.

Kunal is a writer by the day and vigilante by the night who is contracted to a publisher to write a second self help book that he is unable to. His wife has divorced him after her affair with his publisher. He decides to go to Pachgani to his ancestral home to complete his book. There someone starts killing. The killer is exactly like hero of books that he writes as Ghost writer. 

The story is ok. Concept is good but the execution lacks finesse, its crude. Director could have done a much better job. I was able to guess the killer much earlier. 

Kunal acts well. Amayra tries to act well, but she has limitations. Ashwini, Atul and others do their job as supporting cast. 

This movie has lot of unrelated things. A lot of things are left without any closure. The maid, the sardar disguise, suspense of Ghost writing, shooting of Police Inspector, doctors doubt at the end erc. 

The movie ends with the hint of a sequel. 

AVOID.

Haseen Dilruba (हसीन दिलरुबा)

"Haseen Dilruba (हसीन दिलरुबा)"

Watched Hindi movie "Haseen Dilruba (हसीन दिलरुबा)". This movie is directed by Vinil Mathew. Produced by Bhushan Kumar, Krishan Kumar and others. Written by by Kanika Dhillon. Music Amit Trivedi. Cinematography Jaya Krishna Gummadi. It stars Tapasee Pannu, Vikrant Massey, Harshavardhan Rane, Aditya Stivastava. The film runs for 2 hours 16 minutes and was released on 2nd July 2021. I watched the movie on Netflix with Aditi on 3rd July 2021.

A blast. Vikrant is dead. Flashback. Tapasee is married to Vikrant, but they are like chalk and cheese. Things are not going well when Vikrant's cousin, Harshavardhan, comes to stay with them. Sparks fly. Did she kill Vikrant or didn't she?

The scenes between them, immediately after their marriage, are nothing short of amateurish. There is a lot of space for improvement. Movie is slowish. Action is lacking. Palpable tension keeps the viewers interested. In such a movie the end is supposed to shock the viewers. But end of the movie is very predictable. Hardly any surprise!

Tapasee looks stunning, especially in sarees. She acts decently. Not one of her better performances. Vikrant impresses and the character suits him. Harshavardhan plays the macho but lacks acting skills. Aditya has been playing inspector for decades, so it comes to him naturally. 

Locations are good. Village in UP is brought to life. Cinematography is good. Couldn't remember any song after movie.

In short: Decent plot. Acceptable acting. Directorial shortcomings. Plain handling of story. Predictable end. 

Not a must watch. 

First daughter

"First daughter"

Watched English movie "First daughter". This movie is directed by Forest Whitaker. Produced by John Davis, Mike Karz, Wycik Godfrey. Story by Jessica Bendinger, Jerry O'Connell. Screenplay Jessica Bendinger and Kate Kondell. Music Michael Kamen, Blake Neely. Cinematography Toyomichi Kurita. It stars Katie Holmes,  Mark Blucas, Amerie, Margaret Colin, Lela Rochon Fuqua, Michael Keaton, Michael Milhoan. The film runs for 1 hours 46 minutes and was released in Mar 2004. I watched the movie on Amazon Prime with Aditi on 21st May 2021.

Daughter of President of US (First daughter) wants to go to university like a common student, without media limelight, without security, without attention. She chooses an institute in far away California. There she finally meets a boy who treats her like a girl next door, not a celebrity. 

Who is the guy? Will his attitude change? What will she experience in this new school?

Katie Holmes looks sweet and acts well. Probably the movie was shot over a long duration because in some scenes she has put on weight. Mark Blucas looks handsome and acts well. Michael Keaton is a good actor but doesn't look President of United States. Michael Milhoan has 3 or 4 sentences but leaves an impression with his non verbal acting. 

This movie was released in 2004, so the technology isn't like today. The story is decent. Direction and cinematography is ok.

This film made a loss at box office. 

Watch iit for a change.