G.I. Joe 2: Retaliation - Movie Review

Directed by     Jon M. Chu
Produced by     Lorenzo di Bonaventura
Brian Goldner
Written by     Rhett Reese
Paul Wernick
Based on     G.I. Joe
by Hasbro

Starring     

Bruce Willis
Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson
D.J. Cotrona
Lee Byung-hun
Adrianne Palicki
Ray Park
Jonathan Pryce
Ray Stevenson
Channing Tatum

Music by     Henry Jackman
Cinematography     Stephen Windon
Editing by     Roger Barton
Jim May
Studio     Skydance Productions
di Bonaventura Pictures
Hasbro
Distributed by     Paramount Pictures
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release date(s)   

    March 28, 2013

Running time     110 minutesCountry     United States
Language     English
Budget     $135 million

G I Joe Rise of the cobra was a very good pop-corn entertainer with some cool visuals, action and VFX, its sequel to follows the same path, but ends up inferior to the predecessor.

The story continues from the first part. The imposter President of USA frames GI Joes of stealing Nuclear war heads frpm Pakistan and orders military strike on them from which only 3 Joes escape, Roadblock (Dwayne Johnson), Flint (D.J. Cotrona) and Lady Jaye (Adrianne Palicki). Meanwhile the cobra commander escapes from high security prison and along with the imposter President is once again planning to take over the world. Will the GI Joes be proved innocent, how will they save the world etc form the rest of the film.

There are no twists or turns in the films its from start to end a straightforward action flick. The film was supposed to release a year back, but with just one week to go the studio pushed the release date to convert the film to 3D. Now I think that move was just to earn some quick bucks before WOM kicks in and spoils the expenditure recovery.

The film as I said earlier is not upto the prequel. The only jaw dropping moment was the destruction of city of London. Everything else was much predictable. But still its a very much watchable flick. But don't try for 3D as I don't think there is much in it for 3D. 

Much of the film was promoted via WWE, the main reason for The Rock's extended comeback to wrestling. But unfortunately he gets limited scope to show his mettle, his fans will be disappointed. Bruce Willis's cameo gets more claps than Rock. 

Direction was OK. VFX in London scene i mentioned above was superb. BG, camera was good. 

Overall its a above average entertainer, Watch it if you have nothing else to do.

Rating: 2.75/5

Box Office: Will recover cost from world wide run, Domestic US BO run will be poor or average.

Himmatwala - Exclusive Movie Review

Himmatwala - Movie Review by Sree Prasad Nair

Directed by	Sajid Khan
Produced by	Vashu Bhagnani Siddharth Roy Kapur
Music by	Sajid-Wajid
Distributed by	UTV Motion Pictures
Release date(s)	29 March 2013
Country	India
Language	Hindi

Cast

• Ajay Devgan as Ravi
• Tamannaah as Rekha
• Paresh Rawal as Narayandas
• Mahesh Manjrekar as Sher Singh (Rekha's Father)
• Adhyayan Suman
• Zarina Wahab as Ravi's Mother
• Leena Jumani Ravi's Sister
• Surveen Chawla in a Special Appearance
• Amruta Khanvilkar in a Special Appearance
• Sayantani Ghosh in a Special Appearance (Dhoka Dhoka Song)
• Rinku Ghosh in a Special Appearance
• Mona Thiba in a Special Appearance
• Sonakshi Sinha in Thank God It's Friday song
• Dheer Charan Srivastav

The Film is a remake of the 1983 blockbuster 'Himmatwala' *ing Jeetendra & Sreedevi, which itself was a remake of a Telugu flick Ooriki Monagadu of 1981.

Its a good old revenge story, also told in '80's style'. Last year we had Agneepath and this year its Himmatwala. The new Agneepath was a better and updated product in all terms, but sadly Himmatwala chose to go the same old fashion way which may not suit to everyone.

Ajay Devgan as Ravi did a great job, except in dance sequences. The punch lines, fights, ferocity in the eyes etc hit the bulls eye. Tamanna was OK in terms of acting and good in terms of glamour (which is what she has been doing down South for years). Tamanna Bhatia gonna make it big in Bollywood ! Got all the ingredients - Superb dance, Expressions, Cuteness but less scenes.

Paresh Rawal, Mahesh Manjreker were irritating. Paresh Rawal-Devgn combo rocked in 'Athidi kab Jaoge' but here it was epic fail.

Zarina Wahab was good, so is Leena Jumani, Ajay's sister! Junior Suman as usual wasted, so is Ritiesh Deshmukh's cameo!

The action sequences were cool, even-though over the top, except the 'Tiger' fight, which was the Biggest Comedy Scene Of The Decade.

Himmatwala first half was kinda lame, but second half was much better.

Songs were Okay, even-though the Dhokha song featuring 5 item dancers was just horrible.



Himmatwala is a Low Level Masala All The Way! Weird Tribute To Original Himmatwala! Still expect a Great business at Single Screens! Multiplex audience will hate it! Mass People will adore it! But film s nowhere near to Dabangg or RowdyRathore or Singham! One of the worst remake ever made n Bollywood! STILL Sajid Khan & UTV gonna have the last laugh! Leave your brains safe and sound at home and get yourself prepared for an 80's kinda film if you wanna enjoy this 'Himmatwala'

Rating -2/5

BoxOffice- Super Hit [Expected]

PS: Lets see if Sajid Khan's claim of the film crossing 150 crores will come true or not.

Himmatwala - Movie Review by Sree Prasad Nair

https://twitter.com/i_spn

Mohanlal's Ladies & Gentleman - Exclusive Posters Set

Red Wine - Exclusive Malayalam Movie Review

Red Wine Exclusive Malayalam Movie Review

 Directed by     Salam Bappu
Produced by     A.S. Gireesh Lal
Screenplay by     Mammen K. Rajan
Story by     Noufal Blathur

 Music by     Bijibal
Cinematography     Manoj Pillai
Editing by     Ranjan Abraham
Studio     Gowri Meenakshi Movies
Distributed by     Reelax Eveents
Release date(s)         March 21, 2013
Country     India
Language     Malayalam

Starring

• MOHANLAL
• T.G RAVI
• ASIF ALI
• FAHADH FASIL
• MEGHNA RAJ
• MIA
• SAIJU KURUPPU
• ANOOP CHANDRAN
• SUNIL SUGUTHA
• MARIA JOHN
• ANU SREE
• MEERA NANDAN

 Plot

The movie RED WINE [means "this is my blood"] tells the story of true friendship, love, social commitment and sacrifice.

The story revolves around the lives of three characters Ratheesh Vasudevan (Mohanlal), Anoop (Fahadh Fazil) & Ramesh (Asif Ali). Even though  they come from different circumstances they share some common ideologies which being the reason for their boundedness .The story start off with certain incidents happening in the lives of 2 youngsters and that is when the third character, at certain point makes an entry into their lives and changing its course

Evaluation

Red Wine is designed as a 'who-dunnit' thriller, but the problem is that the anybody with commonsense can easily understand who, why, when and where midway itself.  The first half was decent but the its the below average second half that spoiled the party. We have seen plenty of films like this in the past, Red wine is neither different nor entertaining.

Fahad gets the maximum screen time out of the three heroes and has done a superb job as young comrade from Wayanad. The role of investigating Officer was cake walk for Mohanlal, IMHO the film/role didn't demand a legend like him, but still he tried in his way to make it look refreshing. Asif Ali did a decent job compared to last few outings. The supporting cast was also very good. Heroines didn't get much scope, only Mia got more than a couple scenes.

Salam Bappu, looks like have a lot to learn from his guru Lal Jose before making another attempt into direction. A director like Joshiy could have saved the movie, but Salam couldn't. The genre demanded much better execution. . Music was average, Background was loud and not effective except the signature tune. Camera looked Old school, may be the Director demanded it so.But It looked heavily pixalated in most scenes (don't know if it was the problem with the projection). Story was nothing unique and screenplay/dialogues couldn't do much to lift the film either.

Red Wine ends as an average, predictable thriller

Rating

2.75/5

Verdict

a Thriller that doesn't thrill or excites you - Average

Box Office

Below Average or Flop

60th National Film Awards 2012-13 - Complete Winners List

60th National Film Awards 2012-13 - Complete Winners List

Best Feature Film: Paan Singh Tomaar

Best film on Social Iissues:   Spirit (Malayalam)

Popular film providing wholesome entertainment: Vicky Donor and Usthad hotel

Indira Gandhi award for Best debut director: Chittagong

Best Film on environment: Malayalam film Black Forest

Special Jury Award: Rituparno Ghosh, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Lal, Thilakan, Parineeti Chopra

Best Actor: Irrfan Khan (Paan Singh Tomar) & Vikram Ghokale

Usha Jadhav named Best Actress for Marathi film 'Dhag

Best Supporting Actor: Annu Kapoor (Vicky Donor)

Best Supporting Actress: Kalpana (Thanichalla Ngan)

Best Male playback singer: Shankar Mahadeven (Chittagong)


Best Dialogues: Anjali Menon (Usthaad Hotel)

Best Adapted Screenplay: OMG

Best Screenplay (Original): Sujoy Ghosh (Kahaani)

Best Editing: Kahaani

Best makeup artist: Raja for Vazahkku En 18/9

Best Lyrics: Prasoon Joshi for Chittagong
  

Best Tamil Film: Vazhakku Enn 

Best Non-Feature Film: Shepherd's of Paradise

Best Back Ground Score - Bijibal ( Kaliyachan )

Best Film by debutant Dir. - 101 chodyangal - Sidharth Shiva (Marimayam, ANT fame) &
Chittagong

 Best VFX - Eega

Best Telugu Film - Eega


Best Malayalam Film Celluloid

Best Hindi film: Filmistaan

Paradesi wins best costume designer award for Poornima

Vishwaroopam Best choreography (Birju Maharaj) & art direction ( Lalgudi Ilayaraja) & Production Design

Best Child Artist - Minnan for 101 Chodhyangal

Best Animation Film - Delhi Safari (dir: Nikhil Advani)

Best Director - Shivaji Lawson

Feature Film Awards follow
Best Non-Feature Film: Shepherd's of Paradise
Best Biographical Historical reconstruction: Celluloid Man
Best Film on Agriculture: Timbucktoo
Best Social Film: Behind the mist
Best Adventure Film: Manipuri Pony
Best Investigative Film: Inshallah Kashmir
Best Editing: Celluloid Man

0th National Film Awards Announced Jury headed by Shri Basu Chatterjee for Feature Films, Ms. Aruna Raje for Non-Feature Films and Shri Swapan Mullick for Best Writing on Cinema announce the Awards

The prestigious 60th National Film Awards for the year 2012 were announced here today  at a joint Press Conference addressed by the Chairpersons of the three juries, Shri Basu Chatterjee for Feature Films, Ms. Aruna Raje for Non-Feature Films and Shri Swapan Mullick for Best Writing on Cinema.  The award for the best feature film has been conferred  to Paan Singh Tomar (Hindi) produced by UTV Software communications Ltd. and directed by Tigmanshu  Dhulia .  In  non-feature film category, the award for the  Best Film has been conferred to Shepherds of Paradise (Gojri & Urdu)  produced and directed by  Raja Shabir Khan.  In the category of Best Writing on Cinema section, the book  Silent Cinema in India – A Pictorial Journey (English) written by B.D. Garga and published by Harper Collins Publisher India has bagged  the top honour,  whereas Shri P.S. Radhakrishnan has been conferred the award for the Best film Critic.  In  the Feature Film category, a total of 38 films from 14 languages have been selected for the 60th National Awards.  Chittagong (Hindi) and 101 Chodiyangal (Malayalam) have shared the Indira Gandhi award for the Best Debut Film of a Director.  The award for the  Best Popular Film for providing wholesome entertainment has been shared by  Vicky Donor (Hindi) and Ustad Hotel (Malayalam).  The award for the  Best Director has been conferred on Shri Shivaji Lotan Patil for the film Dhag (Marathi).  The award for the Best Actor has been shared by Shri Irrfaan playing the title role in Paan Singh Tomar and  Shri Vikram Gokhale for the film Anumati(Marathi).   The award for the Best Actress has been conferred on Ms Usha Jadhav for her performance in Dhag (Marathi).  The award for the best Supporting Actor has been conferred on Shri Anu Kapur for the film Vicky Donor.  The award for the best supporting Actress has been shared by Ms Dolly Ahluwalia for the film Vicky Donor and Ms Kalpana for the film ThanichallaNjan (Malyalam).  The Best Child Artist award has been shared by Master Virendra Pratap for Dekh Indian Circus (Hindi) and Master Minon  for 101 Chodiyangal (Malayalam). The award for the Best Male playback singer has been conferred on Shri Shankar Mahadevan for the song Bolo Na from the film Chittagong. The award for the Best Female Playback singer has been conferred on Ms Samhita for the song Palakein Naa Moon Don from the film Aarti Anklekartikekar (Marathi).  The award for the best Screen play writer (original) has been conferred on Shri Sujoy Ghosh for the film Kahaani.  The award for best Screen play writer (adapted) has been conferred on Shri Bhavesh Mandalia and Shri Umesh Shukla for the film Oh My God. The award for the best Dialogue has been conferred on Ms Anjali Menon for the film Ustad Hotel (Malayalam).  The award for the best lyrics has been conferred on Shri Prasoon Joshi for the song Bolo Na from the film Chittagong.  A special jury award has been conferred on Shri Rituparno Ghosh and Shri Nawazuddin Siddiqui  for the films Chitrangadha (Bengali), Kahaani, Gangs of Wasseypur, Dekh Indian circus and Talaash (Hindi).  The award for the best choreography has been conferred on Pt. Birju Maharaj for the film Vishwaroopam (Tamil). In the Non-Feature Film category, Shri Vikrant Pawar has got the Best Director award for the film Kaatal (Marathi).  The Award for the Best Debut Film of a Director has been conferred to Shri Lipika Singh Darai for the film Eka Gachha Eka Manisa Eka Samudra (Odia).   Shumona Goel and Shai Heredia for the film I Am Micro (English) and Vasudah Joshi for Cancer Katha (English) have been selected for Special Jury Award.  Timbaktu (English) has been awarded as the Best film in the Environmental category  and  Dreaming Taj Mahal ( Hindi & Urdu) has been conferred the award for the  Best Promotional film. Click the below Pics for the Entire List of Winners with more details

Lucky Star - Exclusive Malayalam Movie Review

Lucky Star Malayalam Movie Review

 Written & Directed By - Deepu Anthikkad
Produced By- Milan Jaleel
Co.Producer- Nadir Jaleel
Music- Ratheesh Vega
Cinematography- Vijay Ulaganath
Edited By- V.T Sreejith
Exe.Producer- Manoj Menon
Production Designer-Razak
Production Controller- Baburaj Manissery
Stills-Hassif Hakkim
Designs-Antony Stephens

 

Starring

Jayaram, Rachana, Mukesh ,Pooja,Mammokoya etc

Expectation

The first attraction towards the movie was that it marks the debut of Mini Screen actress Rachana, who became quite popular through 'Marimayam' a weekly comedy sitcom. The Posters, Songs, Trailer etc increased the hype to even greater heights.

Plot Outline

The theme of the movie is centered on the life of Ranjith (Jayaram) who aims to become a rich man. To become billionaire, Ranjith foresee two ways; take lottery tickets or to become a movie star.

Falling too short of his dreams, Ranjith meets junior artist Janaki (Rachana Narayanankutty) and their friendship later ends up in marriage. Ranjith and Janaki who were not ready to compromise other than becoming rich thought of another plan. The idea was to think about surrogacy- an arrangement in which a woman carries and delivers a kid for a different couple or individual. Moving forward with the idea, Ranjith and Janaki meet Dr Joseph Chittilappally, an infertility specialist and share their purpose of visit.

But what they expected didn't carry out as the couple land in trouble finding no way to get rid of it. 

 Evaluation

Lucky Star is a complete family film that delivers what it promised. The first half is full of humour, while in the second half the movie turn completely serious. The movie has a Sathyan Anthikkad flavour to it, who is a mentor and great inspiration for Director Deepu

The storyline is similar to the 1989 Mohanlal classic 'Dasharatham', which one of the characters also mentions in the movie. 

Jayaram has made a comeback through Luck star after a small gap. We also got glimpses of the old Mukesh, which sadly was limited just to the first half of the movie. Rachana has made a rocking debut in big screen, may be one of the most talked about/awaited heroine intro in Mollywood in years. Rest of the cast like Pooja Ramachandran [SS Music VJ, actress], Mamukkoya, Amu [Sun TV Anchor, VJ], Sreekumar [Marimayam fame] etc have also done good job.

Cinematographer has done a very good job, even though the DI [I think so] made it look dull in many scenes.  BG and Music was good. Editing was smooth and efficient.

The drastic change from comedy to serious can be a turn off for few people especially the mass, youth audience.  Serial like narration comes in places quite often. The 2nd half could have treated more lightly. The climax is similar to recent Sathyan Anthikadu movies - Haste and Unconvincing/Unsatisfying.

All in all Lucky Star will be a treat for Family audience, after a long gap, I think. 

Go to the theater have a nice time with Lucky and his family 

Rating: 6.25/10

Box Office: - Expecting a Family Hit