Back from Jaipur...Short reviews of Hancock and JTYJN

I was gone for two days only, but did so much in those that it seems I was gone for a while.

Anyway...I got chance to watch two movies consecutively for two days. One of my choice...and one of someone else's. One was good enough and one sucked.

It was turn of Hancock first, and it didnt disappoint.

What I liked about it was that it didnt have any boring moments at all. It kicks off with an action sequence, with some humor added in, and never goes in slow mode after that. Its packed with action sequences, funny scenes and some twists.

Will smith is the usual Will-funny and charming, which is in no way a bad thing. Charlize adds sexiness and also is the twist in herself (OK I know I might have spoiled a bit here).

Spolier ahead

A common complain that I heard was that the movie didnt explain why Hancock and Mary were made that way, that they will die if they be with each other. My take on it is this that its a fiction. For every fiction, there is an envelope, which is fictional. In that envelope, in that universe, you must state reason of everything. For example, in Hancock, the director must explain why Hancock got hurt. But the boundaries of that fiction envelope, need not be explained. Otherwise it wont be fiction. So in my opinion, they dont need to explain why they were made that way. Thats the boundary of fiction of Hancok.

Spoiler end here.

In the end, it has to be said that Hancock is in no way an inspirational, ground-breaking, jaw-dropping or masterpiece. But what it is, is a solid popcorn summer flick, to be watched with a lite-head, fun mood. It is entertaining.

Now coming to Jaane tu ya jaane na. I might sound like I dont like Bollywood movies at all, and bash every Bollywood movie in sight. But what the case truly is, is this that there are so few praise worthy Bollywood movies that writing or talking about most of them would sound like bashing.

Actually, movies like Swades, Rang de basanti and 1971 are some of my all time favorites.

Concerning movie of the occassion, the first thing I would like to say about JTYJN is that its a movie of regular bollywood cliches, stock characters, a bland plot and a super-recycled screenplay. 

Consider the story. A boy and girl are best friends, cant live without each other for a moment. But they dont realize that they are in love, they think they are just best friends. The movie is story how they realize that they actually love each other. Sounds familiar? Well...you have seen it a thousand times already.

Then there are stock characters. The brother of lead female character is a cocky and irritating guy, always insults lead male character, who is poor (oh I see I didnt mention that. Well...the guess you just made is correct...the heroine is reach). But come the end...and he is revealed to be actually a nice guy....and was actually so because of negligience from his own family.

Then there is mother of Hero, a know all one. She knows exactly when her son is thinking what, and feeling what and is upto what. 

Another one is girlfriend of hero. She comes to realize that the boy she loves, actually loves his best friend and she, you guessed it right again, sacrifices her love for the better.

A well-built, seemingly perfect guy is another of those. He is a womanizer of sorts, which establishes the fact right from his entry that he is not the one for our lovely female lead. He is evil, and we know it. We also know that at some point, he will show his ugly face, and our poor innocent heroine will come to know this.

Friend circle of leads. They have one guy, who always is in weeping mode (replacing the regular innocent, stupid and lovable friend of other movies), a funny Gujrati guy who will do some comedy, a girl who knows exactly whats going on in minds and hearts of other people in her group and a match for the stupid guy, an innocent and cute girl.

And finally, a funny and tough duo. Two brothers who travel on horses everywhere, are happy go lucky. They play pivotal role, in the end, for the success of Hero's quest for stopping his real love, who is....yes....leaving the country and right now is in Airport. Thats totally another deal that he could have called her right away. But then how the hell a regular Bollywood cliche, a chase of love to the airport would have been possible?

There are many othre stock characters and cliches in the movie, but writing about them would be wasting space and time. The bottom line is, it is just like regular garbage Bollywood has produced over the decades. Watch it just for a minute anywhere in between its story and you would be able to tell what has happened and what will happen.

List of movies I watched in Between-

Hancock- 9/10.

Jaane tu ya Jaane na- 3/10.

The other Boleyn girl- 9/10.

The 40 year old virgin- 9/10.

The station agent- 10/10.

The notebook- 8/10.

Run fatboy run- 8/10.

Pan's Labyrinth- 8/10.

Nim's island- 8/10.

 

Top 10 most awaited movies this year

This is summer and this is the time when most of the biggies get released. So I thought that it wasn't that bad of an idea to post my top 10 most awaited movies list. Without wasting any time, we put up the list.

10. The happening
Director: M.Night shyamalan
Cast: Mark Wahlberg, Zooey Deschanel

When The Village was released, many people thought that it was the sign that Shyamalan's career was going downwards. And after Lady in the Water, the movie no one saw, everyone thought that there was no more hope for Shyamalan. As far as I am concerned, I think there is still hope with The Happening. Although I would agree that if this movie fails too, Shyamalan might have to go to low-budget movies.

The story, once again written by Shyamalan himself, is that in their last ditch effort, plants release chemicals in air which start killing humans-their worst enemies. The premise may or may not be interesting for some people, but I think if Shyamalan can keep the movie dark enough, depressing enough and post apocalyptic enough, it will do just fine. What I am afraid of more is that this movie is going toe to toe with The Incredible Hulk, which will hurt it.

Release date- 13th June.

9. Iron man-
Director- Jon Favreau
Cast- Robert Downey Jr., Terrence Howard, Leslie Bibb, Gwyneth Paltrow.

After 15+ years in development, the comic hero first based on Howard Hughes is refashioned as a contemporary industrialist whose technology is being used in the Middle Eastern war effort. Director Jon Favreau was the first name talent associated with project, and any doubt as to his ability to bring in a polished, smart-looking film should have been erased by not only the principal cast he got to sign on, but also his plan for the first film of a proposed trilogy.


Here's what we know: Stark is taken prisoner is Afghanistan, and that's where he builds the suit; both the grey suit and the red and gold suit will appear; Stark's alcoholism won't be addressed during the first go-round.

Release date- 2nd May

Update- Saw it today (May 6th) in Fame Adlabs and I must say that I put it lower in this list. It was such a good movie! Just like any ideal Superhero movie should be- a perfect blend of comedy, action and fun! I was tad a bit disappointed that Gwyneth didn't get that much of an importance in movie or screen time, but Superhero movies are always about the hero so I can't complain. All in all, a must watch!

8. Tropic Thunder
Director- Ben Stiller
Cast- Ben Stiller, Jack Black, Robert Downey Jr.

Want to get people to forget about Owen Wilson dropping out of this project? Easy, just put the formerly troubled Robert Downey Jr. in some potentially controversial make up and litter the Net with your kinda-awesome-but-not-quite-there-yet trailer. And then? Sprinkle a Tom Cruise cameo on top and you have some late-summer hotness kicking up. It's great to see Stiller back behind the cameras, gunning for a hard R rating, and assembling an epic cast of characters (and production budget) that few actor-directors can fetch. We wish those Epic Movie dudes would aim this high.
The Plot: Through a series of freak occurrences, a group of actors (Stiller, Black, Downey Jr., and others) shooting a big-budget war movie are forced to become the soldiers they are portraying in a real-life battle.

Release date- August 15th

7. Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian-
Director- Andrew Adamson
Cast- Georgie Henley, Skandar Keynes, William Moseley

I wont say that I didnt like The Chronicles of Narnia: The lion, the witch and the wardrobe, but I didnt like it to death either. It was a decent movie, with really good special effects and family watching values. But why I am all in this the sequel is because of Walden media, cause they gave one of my favorite movies of all time, Bridge to Terabithia.



The plot goes like this- With an evil king ruling over Narnia, the Pevensie children are summoned to help restore the throne to its rightful heir, Prince Caspian.
If for nothing else, this movie can be watched because of mythological setting, picturesque sceneries and breath taking special effects.

Release date- May 16th.

6. Hellboy II- The Golden Army
Director: Guillermo del Toro
Stars: Ron Perlman, Doug Jones

Let me confess one thing- I didn't like the original Hellboy movie. I haven't read the comics so I wont say how close that movie was towards the comics, but even if seen on 'just movie' scale, it was a half hearted attempt. But this movie makes in my list because it comes from the very talented director of Laberinto del fauno, El (Pan's Labyrinth).



The trailer was a bit generic, same like all the superhero movies, reminding us that 'our last hope' is this or that. But then again, marketing are decisions of studios and not of the director (and I dont think they would have learned a lesson from marketing Bridge to Terabithia in totally wrong way), so I am still all for it.

Release date- July 11th.

5. The Incredible Hulk-
Director: Louis Leterrier
Stars: Edward Norton, Liv Tyler, Tim Roth

I liked the Original Hulk, although many people didn't. It wasn't really great, but it wasn't bad either. Now they are rebooting the franchise, with Edward Norton, who almost won the role in the first one too. I don't know if Liv tyler is a good choice here, but she sure will add star power to the movie.


The trailer, in my opinion, was good enough. It was only after the trailer that this movie climbed a place or two in this list.

Release date- June 13th.

4. Wanted-
Director: Timur Bekmambetov
Stars: Morgan Freeman, James McAvoy, Angelina Jolie

Its a strange feeling. When I first saw the cast of the movie, I was like...wow. Then I read the plot and was like...meh! Then when I saw the trailer for the first time, I thought that this was going to be a B-grade movie with stellar cast. But then, when I saw the trailer again after a few days, I liked it. And after a few days, this movie stands at a place in this list worthy of its cast.

The plot- Wesley Gibson (McAvoy) discovers his recently murdered father was an elite assassin, the young man is recruited into his father's old organization and trained by a man named Sloan (Freeman) to follow in his dad's footsteps.

Release date- June 27th.

3. Indiana Jones and the kingdom of Crystal skull
Director: Steven Spielberg
Stars: Harrison Ford, Cate Blanchett, Shia LaBeouf

If Steven Spielberg is the director of a movie, I am in, without an if or a but. After all, he has given three of my all time favorites- Artificial Intelligence: AI , Schindler's List and Saving Private Ryan and almost all others of his movies rank high. So, without any second thought, I put this movie so high.


The plot- Indiana himself looks up to the stunts and challenges of his fourth adventure; he'll adventure with his son -- a greaser-fied Shia LaBeouf -- at side (but at what point does he realize they're related?) and have some sort of reunion with Marion Ravenwood; his dad will be MIA, too. Most tellingly, early odds are on the storyline coming full circle, meaning the archaeologist and his progeny are rumored to be on the hunt for the Ark of the Covenant.
Release date- May 22nd.

2. Hancock-
Director: Peter Berg
Stars: Will Smith, Charlize Theron, Jason Bateman

I can't believe Aishwarya rai opted out of this movie!
Apart from sporting the biggest star, Will smith, this movie is as cool of a superhero movie as they come. The trailer was too awesome and the special effects and action are going to be in plenty. Anything else missing, Will smith's comedy will do for it.



The Plot: An apathetic, hard-living superhero (Smith) who has fallen out of favor with the public is approached by a public relations professional (Bateman) who has ideas as to how he can repair his client's image.

Release date- 4th July

1. The Dark knight-
Director: Christopher Nolan
Stars: Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Aaron Eckhart

Batman Begins is not only the best superhero movie I have ever seen, but it is also one of the favorites for me. The sequel of that gem of a movie, with the same stellar cast and great director, tops the list. Christian bale is slowly and steadily becoming my favorite actor and even only after the trailer, I can say that he is going to be super great in this one.



The Plot: The Caped Crusader (Bale) teams ups with Gotham's Lieutenant Jim Gordon (Oldman) and District Attorney Harvey Dent (Eckhart) to take on the city's newest villain -- The Joker (Ledger).

Release date- July 18th.

So folks, here ends my long list. As a sequel and couterpart to it, I am planning to put 'Top 10 most awaited games' list too! Stay tuned.