Jack Reacher: Never go back

"Jack Reacher: Never go back"

Watched English movie "Jack Reacher: Never go back". This film is directed by Edward Zwick. Written by Zwick, Richard Wenk and Marshall Herskovitz. It's produced by Tom Cruise and others. It stars Tom Cruise, Coby Smulders, Danika Yarosh, Patrik Heusinger . The film runs for about 2 hours and released in 2016.

Jack Reacher busts a human trafficking racket (although he has no formal authority) with the help of Major Susan Turner. Turner is arrested for espionage. Jack Reacher senses more to it and spirits her off the prison. Then the chase and action begins. A possible daughter of Reacher adds to the complication. 

Typical Tom Cruise movies have little story. Sprinkling of emotions. Chases, high octane action & thrill. This movie is no different. It is what you expect of Tom Cruise movies. 

Lee Child, author of the book by same name, on which this movie is based, makes a guest appearance in the movie. 

Protagonists do justice to their roles.  Cinematography is good. Action sequences are good. Direction is adequate. This is second movie of Jack Reacher series.

Watch it for action, not for substance. 

15 August (१५ ऑगस्ट)

"15 August (१५ ऑगस्ट)"

Watched Marathi movie 15 August (१५ ऑगस्ट). Directed by Swapnaneel Jaykar, Produced by Madhuri Dixit and Shriram Nene. Story & Screenplay Yogesh Vinayak Joshi. Cinematography Milind Jog. It stars Mrunmayi Deshpande, Adinath Kothare, Rahul Pethe, Abhishek Deshmukh, Namrata Kadam, Satish Pulekar, Vijay Patkar, Naina Apte, Vaibhav Mangle, Chandu Parkhi & Uday Tikekar. I watched this movie with Aditi. The movie is about 2 hour long and was released in 2019. It's a Netflix film.

It's the story of an independence day in a chawl. Mrunmayi and Rahul love each other but her family disapproves. On the fateful day, a prospective groom, Adinath, and his parents are coming to meet Mrunmayi and her family to finalize marriage. At the same time a boy in chawl has stuck his hand in a hole made for flag and solutions are coming fast. 

How did the boy stick his hand? What does the chawl do to extract it? Will Adinath like Mrunmayi? Will she say yes? What about painter Rahul?

The story is light. But it's not really about independence day. It's a love story. Director spends too much time on the hand stuck in the hole. Rahul's character appears too passive. Otherwise direction is ok, finishing could have been better. 

Mrunmayi looks beautiful,  but the age has started showing, on occasions. She acts well. Rahul plays the silent lover and unsuccessful painter well. Adinath scores in the short but decisive role.

Supporting cast is well known and they are all good and accomplished actors. The chawl has all kind of characters and they are used to create humor. The child artist is cute. 

Cinematographers idea of transposing from one scene to other using a common thread is very creative. 

It's a good entertainment. Ok for family viewing, except the swear words. 

Recommended watching. 

Wedding cha shinema (वेडिंगचा शिनेमा)

"Wedding cha shinema (वेडिंगचा शिनेमा)"

Watched Marathi movie "Wedding cha shinema (वेडिंगचा शिनेमा)". Direction Saleel Kulkarni, Screenplay Nihar Bhave & Saleel Kulkarni, Production Atul Athavle & others, Music Saleel Kulkarni. The film features Mukta Barve, Sunil Joshi, Bhau Kadam, Shivaji Satam, Alka Kubal, Pravin Tarade, Ashwini Kalsekar, Shivraj Waychal and Rucha Inamdar. There is a guest appearance of Shreyas Talpade. The movie runs for about 2 hours 15 min. This film was released in 2019. I watched it with Aditi, Siddhant and Mihika.

Mukta is a trained film maker but has to do a pre-wedding film to pay her bills. Pari, the bride, is from Mumbai and Prakash, the Groom, from rural Saswad. This apparently simple and boring assignment gradually becomes interesting. 

What kind of marriage is it? What do they expect in - wedding film? Will the filmmaker get artistic pleasure? What enriching experiences will she get? Will it be a smooth affair?

The story is good. It's all about human relations and relationships on the backdrop of a marriage between urban and rural families. When I started watching the movie I fervently hoped that this will not turn out to be Marathi Monsoon Wedding. Rest assured,  it isn't! 

Saleel Kulkarni, a well known music composer displays his directorial skills. He generates light moments by doing the unexpected and milking the urban rural contrasts. He has also co- written the script. Looks like we have an allrounder in the making. Music, though, is disappointing.

Rucha and Shivraj bring the freshness to the movie. Rucha had to watch jet voice. Shiraz is a surprisingly refreshing package. All others are accomplished actors and play their role to perfection. Full marks to the casting. Each character appears to have been written for that particular actor. 

One improvement would have been the length. Had the movie been quarter to half an hour shorter, it would have become crisp. Director chooses not to give a very profound message and sticks to the story. 

A good family entertainment. Recommend watching.

Notebook (नोटबुक)

"Notebook (नोटबुक)"

Watched Hindi movie "Notebook (नोटबुक)".  Directed by Nitin Kakkar, Screenplay Darab Farooqui, Produced by Salman Khan and others,  Music Vishal Mishra, Cinematography Manoj Kumar Khatoi. It stars Pranutan Bahl and Zaheer Iqbal in main roles,  supported by Muazzam Bhat, Farhana Bhat, Soliha Maqbool, Baba Hatim, Ricky Raina, Zahoor Zaidi, Mir Sarwar and Mir Mohammed Mehroos. The film runs for about 1 hour 58 min and was released in 2019. I watched it with Siddhant.

A young man decides to go to his homeland, Kashmir, to teach in a school located in a very remote area. Here he finds diary of teacher Firdaus, who taught previous year. He comes to know Firdaus through the diary and falls in love without even seeing her. 

How was Firdaus? Can one fall in love by reading a diary? Will they ever meet?

This movie is a remake of Thai film 'The teacher's diary'.

The story is good. The idea of diary love is interesting. While Indianizing the story, they have given it a Kashmir backdrop. It kills many birds in one stone. State of general disrepair, apathy towards education, implicit terrorism undercurrent and breathtaking beauty. All of it conducive for the movie.  

Pranutan is very good. She looks good and acts well. She plays her quiet but firm character very well. She is Mohnish Bahl's daughter and granddaughter of legendary Nutan. Zaheer Iqbal is handsome, but needs to learn acting. His eyes lack any expression and look glazed. Supporting actors are good. Special mention of Rocky Raina, who sparkles in his cameo, and Mir Mohammed Mehroos, the sweet boy.

Direction is ok. Some issues of continuity that should not be there in a professional film. Some of the scenes appear shallow. There was opportunity to make them more meaningful, but it was lost. Normally when you do remake, it's expected that you improve or not make mistakes. Interesting thing is that she writes the notebook in hindi but in Roman script. 

Music is ok. Song to remember is remix of Bumro. How much credit should music director get for a remix?

Cinematography is awesome. Cinematographer captures breathtaking and serene beauty of Kashmir very well. It's a pity such a beautiful land is troubled for so many years. 

This movie was not commercially successful. 

Watch for Pranutan and Kashmir.

Game (गेम)

"Game (गेम)"

Watched Hindi movie Game (गेम). Directed by Abhinay Deo, and produced by Farhan Akhtar and Ritesh Sidhwani. Story & Screenplay Althea Delmas and Kaushal. Music Shankar-Ehsan-Loy. Cinematography Kartik Vijay. It stars Anupam Kher, Kangana Ranut, Jimmy Shergil, Boman Irani, Shahana Goswami, Sara Jane Dias & Abhishek Bacchan. The movie is about 2 hour 14 minutes long and was released in 2011.

Kabir Malhotra (Anupam) calls actor Vikram Kapoor (Jimmy) from Mumbai, Indian Thai Politician Ramsey (Boman) from Thailand,  Indian-British Journalist Tisha Khanna (Shahana) from UK and Casino owner Neil Menon (Abhishek) from Istanbul to a secluded Greek island called Samos. There he accuses the three men of destroying a life. Next day Kabir is killed in a room that's locked from inside. 

What did the three men do? Who killed Kabir? Why? What's the game?

The film starts with a promise. Each of the invitee is in some sort of distress. Kabir entices them to join him and then accuses them. His murder introduces intrigue. But thereafter the film starts to disintegrate. What with Kangana initiating surveillance, one of them dodging it and turning out to be prime suspect to be eventually revealed as someone else. The story loses the grip and goes haywire. 

Abhishek is good. Anupam too. Others are OK. Kangana does not act, looks stiff, does not look beautiful either. There are flaws in the story. The evidence of finger print is flimsy. 

One of the songs is good. Cinematographer has lost some good opportunities. Some of the characters are not developed enough (e.g. Tisha).

This film was not successful on box office and could not recover the investment. Rightly so!

AVOID. 

Ungli (उंगली)

"Ungli (उंगली)"

Watched Hindi movie "Ungli (उंगली)". Story, screenplay and direction Rensil D'silva. Produced by Hiroo Yash Johar and Karan Johar of Dharma productions. Music is by Aslam Keyi, John Stewart, Gulraj Singh. It stars Kangana Ranaut, Randeep Hooda, Angad Bedi, Neil Bhoopalam, Imran Hashmi, Neha Dhupia, Sanjay Dutt and Raza Murad. Guest appearance Shraddha Kapur, Arunoday Singh. The film runs for about 1 hour 58 min and was released in 2014. 

A medical intern, a mechanic, a Computer shop owner and a crime reporter are fed up with the corruption in the system and decide to take matters in hand and punish the bureaucrats and politicians. Public enthusiastically names them Ungli gang. Police wants to unmask them and assign the case to Sanjay and Imran.

Can police apprehend Ungli gang? Why did Ungli gang become vigilante? Will they be content with punishing petty government employees or they have a larger target?

The story is simple. The reason for the friends becoming Ungli gang is not portrayed powerfully. The story has a flow but the story and its handling appears superficial. This movie could have been made profound but director missed the opportunity.

There are some obvious flaws / errors. Why would a corrupt police officer offer a plum position to honest officer and ask him to pay bribe? Why would one make a graffiti on the wall of HQ, that can become a proof against them? Why would one paint Ungli graffiti on open terrace at the gang rendezvous? Does everyone use saliva to count money?

Kangana had a limited role and is mostly wasted. Randeep and Angad make an impact. Neil is OK. Imran has got an unnecessary kissing scene based on his reputation rather than story. Sanjay is decent. The movie had one hit song.

Watch if you have a free afternoon and don't want to go out. Not a must watch.  

Bazaar (बाजार)

"Bazaar (बाजार)"

Watched Hindi movie "Bazaar (बाजार)". It's written and directed by Gauravv K. Chawla. Produced by Nikkhil Advani, Viacom18 and others. Music by multiple music directors. Written by Nikkhil Advani, Aseem Arora and Parveez Sheikh. Cinematography by Swapnil Sonawane. The film features Saif Ali Khan, Chitrangada Singh, Rohan Mehra, and Radhika Apte in main roles. The movie runs for about 2 hours 15 min. This film was released in 2018.

Saif (Shakun Kothari) is a ruthless self made businessman and Chitrangada his wife. Rizwan Ahmed (Rohan) is a stock trader from Allahabad who revers Saif as  God and comes to Mumbai to work with him. Here he meets Radhika. What follows after that is exactly like share market, lots of up and down. 

This movie shows the back room dealings, insider trading, exploitation, blackmail and what not. It's a world where money is God and nothing else matters. It's a roller coaster ride. 

Saif is impressive as ruthless businessman. He underplays the character and exudes tension with his each dialogue and move. He has matured as actor with age. Chitrangada has very limited scope, but appears stiff and not natural. I expected much more from her.  Rohan is smart and his acting is intense. Although this is his debut film, he doesn't let that know by his acting. Radhika plays a meaningful role and does justice to director's trust. There is a sizzling chemistry between Rohan and Radhika.

Some if the things appear simplified. They could have been made more intense and more shocking. Had it been done this movie would have remained in public memory for years.

Writers have used Warren Buffet's two rules as Saif's rules, with a slight alteration. Writers have also used the Monsanto controversy in this movie using fictitious company. They also use 2G scam. Embedding real incidents gives authenticity to fiction and makes it more appealing.

Music is ok. Cinematographer has limited scope as large portion of movie is shot indoors,  but he does well for outdoor scenes.  All in all a good package. 

Recommend watching.