mettalicatrush Reviews

Gulaal (2009)

Lost Glory and Misguided Beliefs

[8/10 · 15 March 2009]

Anurag Kashyap may well be the fountainhead that lets Bollywood finally get back on its feet. After the indie movement in the 80's, the Shah rukhs and the Salmans took over....and thus followed years of mindless duds.

Gulaal tells the story of a Rajput boy losing his innocence in the murky world of politics and betrayal. Interwoven with this are tales of deception, greed and apathy for mankind.

What happened in Rajasthan years ago makes it a perfect backdrop for this tale and the clever use of lyrics also let Kashyap rant about all that is going wrong in the world.

Gulaal, much like Kashyap's other film makes the viewer think long after the movie has ended. There are no definite endings and characters cannot be labeled as good or bad.

Even if you are a fan of mainstream bubblegum Bollywood, this movie deserves a dekko for the performances alone. Kay Kay has never shone brighter, Abhimanyu Singh leaps ahead of the pack and the Raj Singh shows a lot of promise.

I like my share of masala ficks, but this isn't Bollywood...this is Indian Cinema at its best....a must watch

Free Jimmy (2006)

A labour of love

[7/10 · 26 August 2008]

The story's about the life of a junkie circus elephant and the filth of the human society who want to make money off him.

The movie is quite sad and will bring out emotions in the viewer which are normally not associated with animation. Animation does seem to be the right medium for this real-life inspired tragedy.

Its a tribute from the director to a brother who lost his life to drugs. Obviously once one knows the history this movie is borne out of, it becomes easier to appreciate the story.

Joachim Nielsen, rest in peace. If you are up there watching this, i hope you enjoyed it as much as i did.

Hancock (2008)

Overrated...but not a complete disaster

[6/10 · 11 August 2008]

Will Smith lives the life of a city bum who has no regards for other peoples' feelings or well-being. The city has a love hate relationship with Hancock, because he stops crime, but only because he's bored and likes to cause unnecessary damage. Enter Jason Bateman, a PR manager who tries to turn Hancock's life around by inspiring him to become a hero everyone loves.

That's where the movie stops being fun and the scripts just shoves plot twists at you to keep you interested. The angle about "human" follies of superheroes is completely wasted by an overly simplistic script.

What really is a let down are the performances. Smith is above average, as usual but nothing great. The rest of the cast just moseys along as if being forced to work on this project.

It's still a great watch on a lazy afternoon but it could have been a whole lot more

Alien (1979)

going on 30 years...still undefeated

[9/10 · 5 August 2008]

Scott's vision of hostile aliens paved the way for many lesser directors to portray hostile alien lifeforms but barring a few none have been able to create the same amount of horror as Alien did.

A strange signal on an off-world leads the humans straight into the path of a species which is parasitic in nature and evolved to the extent of being the perfect killing machines.

The movie might be science fiction on the outset but plays out like a edge-of-the-seat horror. Thankfully the lack of CGI forces the special effects crew and Scott to exploit lighting, sound and clever editing to the full extent.

Unfortunately, the Alien franchisee has been murdered by the studio and is now a joke. Its foolish to wait for the studio to ever redeem themselves, so horror fans, accept that 1979 was as good as it gets and watch the reruns as often as possible.

The Dark Knight (2008)

'08 Summers' Best yet

[8/10 · 19 July 2008]

Gotham is on the right track, Scarecrow is behind bars, Gordon is doing well, Dent is putting the gangsters behind bars....this is when Joker makes his appearance and from now on Gotham is THE playing field for super-villains and.... Batman.

A tight script with enough plot twists, excellent portrayal of Gotham City and gritty direction keeping in mind that even adults like to see Batman makes the The Dark Knight a great watch.

But its far from perfect, while Batman fans will lap it all up(cause its all so good),casual viewers will find the movie very wordy. A little more action would have really cranked it up a notch.

Ironically, Bale, who is the best Batman yet is completely overshadowed by stellar performances by just about everybody. Eckhart and Oldman put in powerhouse performances...and Ledger, well you have to see it to believe it. He has taken cues from both Nicholson and the namesake comic and created the Joker persona that is truly frightening.

A solid watch, performances by actors alone qualify a viewing, as for the ardent Batman fans, its Christmas in summer.

Renaissance (2006)

Evolution of Animation

[9/10 · 8 March 2008]

Time for Hollywood to sit up and take notice! If the actors are acting snooty, all you need to do is get the animators who worked on this little marvel. Renaissance is probably the first animation flick which makes you forget that you are not seeing human beings. Although the voice overs by the cast (Craig, McCormack, Pryce etc.) are some of the best i have ever heard but even then the emotions portrayed by the 'cartoons' are unnerving.

This style of animation is not very new but the use of light and shadows makes the movie a living painting. Ironically, such technical wizardry makes you forget that this is actually a very very nice movie. The pacing and plot development are marvelous and the dialogs crisp.

Plot: Disappearance of a mega corporation's top employee unravels a tale of deceit and corruption with a Cold hearted hero at the helm. Can't say much without giving it all away...except that while the movie keeps you at the edge of your seat, the climax leaves you speechless.

A must watch..even for the 'grown-ups' who smirk at 'cartoons'