Luck By Chance (2009)

Its a pity that I saw this movie only now, coz its such a good movie!! Farhan Akhtar delivers brilliantly, konkona sen is rock solid dependable as ever and the rest of the cast are upto a lot of good. Isha Sharwani in articular was probably supposed to be just eye candy which she gloriously was, but over and above she pleasing too. A pat on the back for director cum Farhan's sister, Zoya Akhtar.

Do watch this movie!

The Angrez (20060

Aboslute trash. Don't watch it.

toy story (1995)

The world's first fully computer generated feature length animation movie! Thats the USP of Toy Story 1.

tom hanks and tim allen lend voices to the main heros(toys) in the movie.

The movie is about a set of toys which come alive in the absence of human presence. There's an intelligent plot about their lives and how they overcome a particular challenge.

dir: john lasseter who's produced the who's who of great animation movies. take your pick from - WALL-E, finding nemo, the incredibles, monster's inc, ratatouille

Office Space (1999)

a compact comedy!

a no frills screenplay gives you the feel of a reality show except for the deliberately dramatized scenes. Really impressed by the acting of David Herman; he looks very natural.

The story is set in a software company and the protagonists are disgruntled software engineers. People from the IT industry will relate a lot to this movie.

We also have some dilbert-ish sub plots that are quite hilarious.

Overall a fun watch and a quick one too

dir: mike judge (creator of beavis and butthead)

also starring: john McGinely, Dr. Perry Cox of scrubs fame, as a management consultant..thats where the dilbert scenes come in

Wicker park (2004)

a love story well told! Josh Hartnet experiences love at first sight with diane kruger.
..and the movie's rolling to a typical finish but in a slightly atypical way.

I liked the climax; nicely emotional.

Also starring: Rose Byrne (Hector's sister in Troy; very cute), Mathew Lillard (Shaggy of scooby doo)

Dir: Paul McGuigan. has Lucky Number Slevin (2006)to his credit. a good watch that too, thriller sorts. Again, Josh Hartnett is the protagonist

Slumdog Millionaire (2008)

Its a good movie, not a great movie. period!

But then you can't disagree with the hype. If one looks at it from a non-Indian perspective the scenes mark a definite depart from regular hollywood fare. Slumdog Millionaire (SM) is insightful from that point of view. But to an Indian, its just another love story. The much touted slums are a regular feature in many a bollywood flick. So are the visuals of syndicated begging rings and organized crime.

SM is a good film, no doubt about that. The plot is good and the screenplay is crisp. The viewer is never bored. The cast performs exceptionally well and credit for tying it all together ofcos goes to Danny Boyle. Interestingly, little is talked about Loveleen Tandon, the co-director.

I checked up on Danny Boyle and found that he's got movies such as Trainspotting to his credit.

To sum up, its a bit sad that it takes a global director to highlight Indian cinema.

Anwar (2007)

Dir: Manish Jha (also by him Mathrubhoomi)
This movie had potential. Alas, the lack of good editing spoiled it. As adaption of a short story in Hindi, the movie, according to me erred in the fact that it was too slow. Yet while your so called 'art' movies are also slow, it is coz the director is exploring thought provoking scenes. In Anwar similar scenes tend to be just irritants that force you to check the slider's progress on the media player.

The plot is certainly good and i believe the short story would make a great read. Probably an attempt was made to reproduce the text word for word.

I also felt that the movie failed to focus on a central theme. It explored several ideas in bits and pieces and tried to create a climax of sorts. To speak in favour of Anwar, the last 15 minutes were absorbing.

Siddharth Koirala plays Anwar and does a good job. Looks every part the protagonist, Anwar. Nauheed Cyrusi plays 'Mehru', the girl whom Anwar falls in love with. She looks great in the movie.

Eventually, a thought provoking film, if you can manage to sit through it. And ofcos, you could watch it for the mellifluous 'maula mere maula mere' song which is beautifully picturized.

Concept: 8/10
Screenplay: 7/10
Performance: 7/10
Technical: 6/10 (Editing)

Overall: 7/10