Meenakshi Rao's Bollywood and Hollywood movie reviews

*ing: Robert Downey Jr, Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Benedict Cumberbatch, Don Cheadle, Chadwick Boseman, Zoe Saldana, Josh Brolin, Chris Pratt Rated: 9/10 What the Groot! This can’t be happening! This ain’t happening! But then, Que Sera Sera... When two years ago, Captain America: Civil War ripped the superheroes party apart without a premise, the Marvel horizon started looking dark, grim and fatally crisis-driven, panning out to the audience in a shocking manner the fact that even incredible superheroes can be human, vain and divisive. Just when the rude shock of this realisation was somewhat wearing off, in came Avengers: Infinity War. The grimness snowballed into sheer trauma, shock and awe, all put into one. Not that the scale of the canvas was reduced or action lost any impact or the heroes were not there in full attendance to entertain their loyal fans. They were all there and added quantity, almost all of them — from the enigmat...

*ing: Rahul Bhat, Richa Chadda, Aditi Rao Hydari, Saurabh Shukla, Vineet Kumar Singh, Dilip Tahil, Anurag Kashyap Rated: 7/10 If there is Devdas, Hamlet and Sudhir Mishra embedded in the film, would it not mean that there are lofty ambitions that the movie and its maker savour? Daas Dev is built up wantonly on these there distinctly different pillars and tries to find a balance despite the vast distance of genres that it straddles and moulds. The delightful thing about the film, however, is that it does not take these names in vain and using “inspirational value” from all the three concocts a syrupy political thriller that is high on energy, engaging and never out of sequence. That is Mishra’s cinematic acumen but also the over-confidence of pulling it through at play. Having said that, the old world and simplistic Sharat Chandra may turn in his grave at this interpretation of his superhero of doom Devdas who has, incidentally, seen close to 15 incarnations on the Indian s...

*ing : Abhay Deol, Patralekhaa, Reshma Khan Rated : 6/10 Iconic Iranian filmmaker Majid Majidi’s inaugural Bollywood film was the centrepoint of discussions at the International Film Festival of India this year. A theatrical release of the film may not create the same waves for a number of reasons, the first being its parallel cinema makeover. Set in the bad lanes of crime-ridden Mumbai slums, Beyond The Clouds is expectedly seeped in poverty, crime, angst, sexual harassment, exploitation and all those emotional realities that visit any slum dweller. For one, Majidi’s Spartan sense of cinema encases this aspect with minimum fuss but maximum impact. The unkempt, tousled haired Ishaan at the centre of this journey through life is apt, intense and a perfect fit of the character he plays. A hustler who is learning to live in the mean streets of the slum, indulging in petty crime. For end of day solace, he does turn to his loving elder sister who tries her best to keep him...

*ing: Abhay Deol, Patralekhaa, Reshma Khan Rated: 5/10 The last spooky comedy the Indian audience enjoyed was Go, Goa Gone in which the Over The Top Saif Ali  Khan had quite a romp. Ever since, there has been little to cheer about in this genre which, incidentally, is full of potential. Nanu Ki Janu amply proves that you can have quite a laugh when the spirits are moving around. Much like the main protagonist Abhay Deol the movie, too, is a rare one. It is hilarious but in parts. It is fun, but in parts. It was, indeed, full of possibilities which it fails to exploit to the hilt. But then when was it that we had a full-blooded hearty comedy coming out of the Bollywood coffers? Not that one can remember, so this attempted one comes across as a scatter-brained, meandering, sometimes directionless but funny nevertheless film which could have been oh so better. Abhay Deol as an aspiring goonda with a band of sidekicks does well, as always. He is a master of two-bit roles b...

*ing:  Dwayne Johnson, Naomie Harris, Malin Akerman, Jake Lacy, Jeffrey Dean Morgan Rated : 8/10 The gorilla is back — this time as an albino with blue eyes, huge, more than ever before; funny more than ever before; buddy types more than ever before. And thus, interesting, more than ever before! Helming the gorilla in shape, size and humour is an equally big (by human standards) Dwayne Johnson and his amicable animal instincts. As the primatologist maintaining an animal sanctuary of mostly rescued primates, life is fun for him without the girls and the parties. All he wants is a bond with the gorilla families and their well-being and life takes care of itself. Till, of course, a genetic remodelling experiment falls straight from space and infects his animals into becoming big, fierce, destructive, unreasonable and regenerative monsters on a rampage. The film is fun, fast paced and, above all, smashingly humorous.  The crude and sexist humour between the gorilla (...

*ing : Varun Dhawan, Banita Sandhu Rated : 6/10 October is a good and thoughtful movie which sadly few will watch or enjoy. Director Soojit Sarkar and writer Juhi Chaturvedi have come up with gems, all more extra than ordinary. This one, too, is in the same category. October skillfully makes a virtue of monotony on screen. Sarkar makes it interesting enough for you to sit through a staccato office-to-hospital-to-office-to-hospital movie weaving a moving romance where there is none. Varun Dhawan as the well meaning but lazy hotel management student trying to shirk work with regularity is in a very different role in this one. No buffoonery, no OTT characterisation, no comic relief, nothing to denote the David Dhawan type of screen persona. Just a regular guy who lives a regular life, so regular that he is not even madly in love with the girl who’s medical condition he gets obsessed with, spending days and nights in hospital after she falls from the third floor of the ho...

*ing: Bella Thorne, Patrick Schwarzenegger, Rob Riggle, Quinn Shephard Rated: 7/10 Romance has gone out of the system of cinema and if it comes visiting once in a while, it is twisted, post modern and mostly unromantic. There were times when the month of February the Hollywood would essentially come up with a groovy romance which you would await eagerly. Not anymore. First, our film-makers do not have romantic inclinations. Second, the complexities of life irritatingly creep into a story making it complex and boring and even stressful, at times. So when a sweet and simple old world film comes along in which there are two youngster totally focussed on love, with no intricate sub-plots coming along, you settle down after initial surprise. The same goes for Midnight Sun where the girl suffers from a one in a million disease which entails that the sunrays never touch her. She lives her life behind special windows and comes alive only at night. The boy is someone she rom...

*ing: Rose Byrne, Domhnall Gleeson, Sam Neill, Daisy Ridley, Elizabeth Debicki, Margot Robbie, James Corden Rated: 8/10 The bunnies are here with their becoming animations and colourful carrot-lettuce-tomato landscape drawn diligently by the animators while Peter Rabbit and his clan of three sisters and bro-pal running amok in a farm taken away from them by a grumpy old man who ate up Peter’s father in a rabbit pie years ago. Beatrix Potter’s 19th Century creation, these bunnies in their 2018 avatar are much too raucous, ungainly, in disciplined and creatures of a chaotic world to honour the originals but for the Indian audience, not very familiar with the before of the story, Peter Rabbit is a funny animated movie which may not be a wonder but is no blunder either. The story revolves around a family of bunnies and their love for the girl next door, a village beauty who has a soft corner for wildlife, the bunnies included. The farmhouse is inherited by a stiff upper lip...

*ing: Irrfan Khan, Kirti Kulhari, Divya Dutta, Arunoday Singh, Omi Vaidya Rated: 4/10 As Irrfan battles a rare brain ailment in a hospital abroad, his latest film Blackmail rolled out this week without much ado. The film, an attempted black comedy of blackmail, deceit, infidelity and murder is no Box Office ringer even though the genre is new and worked hard upon. Irrfan is the centrepoint of the film and does not let you down even once but even his acting acumen is unable to save the film which has weak plot, too much of the same thing going on throughout the film, thus nibbling away the interest of the viewers. A middle class advertising agency employee (Irrfan) loves his beautiful wife who does not reciprocate so he makes do with other employees wives’ pictures in office if you know what I mean. He admires his wife’s beauty from a wall hole in the bedroom but one day when he returns early with dreams of romancing his wife, he finds a big burly guy in her bed. And thus star...

A Quiet Place *ing: Emily Blunt, John Krasinski Rated: 10/10 This near silent movie explodes with so much force that you are startled t the core by its unexpected pulling strings. The only explosive sounds you here are of excellence, precision, emotion and sheer survival in the face of a devastating alien monster invasion which leaves next to no humanity on Earth. Now these craftily curated monsters are predators of sound. They are otherwise blind to everything but just a tap or even whisper can bring them to the spot in seconds to eat up everything around. The near perfection of this movie lies in the fact that writer-director-actor John Karsinsky is courageous enough to nattily shape a 1 hour 95 minutes feature film without using dialogues and serenading the sound of silence in any which way you can imagine. The actors (there are only five in the entire film) walk barefoot; the wife puts up cloth chimes so that no sound comes out of them; the family talks in sign lang...

*ing: Tabu, Manoj Bajpayee, Annu Kapoor Rated: 7/10 This psychological thriller, aptly propped by heavy duty actors Tabu and Manoj Bajpayee for most part keeps you interested. It lives up to its tag, keeping the suspense up till the last two two-three shots and playing constant mind games, which means the viewers are understandably perplexed about who is the psycho in the film. Tabu, as usual, is brilliant as the mother of a three-year-old girl called Titli who is kidnapped from her resort room in Mauritius and there is no trace of her being anywhere. In fact, all through the film, we do not get to see the face of the little Titli. Director Mukul Abhyankar does a good and interesting build-up in this thriller which has everything going. Bajpayee, as an edgy philanderer, is, however, a wee bit over-stretched in trying to be histrionically brilliant as just another middle class man bored with his married life and indulging in tasteless but relentless “harmless flirting” while...

*ing: Tiger Shroff, Disha Patani, Manoj Bajpayee, Randeep Hooda, Prateik Babbar Rated: 5/10 Yes, Tiger Shroff has worked at everything here. Yes, he has managed to shed the   chikna   tag by somehow and anyhow growing some amount of facial hair. Yes, his body shames even the legendary Adonis and his abs are packed with tougher and unrelenting muscles than any other Bollywood star. And yes, he is in the middle of action — extreme, intense, prolonged and unimaginably well-choreographed action that gives this film its life and bread. But   Baaghi   2 still does not go the whole hog. It falters. It picks up, and then falters again. Till the time Tiger is fighting all the goons, he is a tiger and the film wildly kickass. But when he stops, and he often does so by going into uninteresting memories laced with un-required song and dance, the film stops too. There are too many distractions and that's what makes   Baagi   2 a less-than-its-potential action ...