Big Eyes - Amy Adams & Christoph Waltz Rock!

The awards season are here and so are my reviews of the latest movies that are receiving some wonderful accolades at these functions. So today I am going to start the series with Tim Burton produced and directed real life story of Margaret Keane - Big Eyes. The movie stars Amy Adams and Christoph Waltz who have been winning one award after the other.

The story tells the turbulent relationship between Walter Keane (Waltz) and Margaret Keane (Adams). Margaret is a good artist who paints children with big eyes. Her work go majorly unnoticed in the early 1950's and soon she falls in love and marries Walter Keane a fellow artist who promises to give her and her daughter Jane (Delaney Raye) security and protection from her ex-husband.

Walter soon starts showcasing her and his creations at every gallery and influential people unless a tiff in a bar makes him a national figure and mistakes Margaret's paintings to be his. Soon people start noticing his work (originally made by his wife) and he becomes a national celebrity and the big eyes kids paintings become a sensation. Using his marketing savvy, he sells the prints cheaply in hardware stores and gas stations across the United States while Margaret is relegated to the background.

Slowly the tensions between the couple heighten when an intoxicated and infuriated Walter tries to set fire Margaret and Jane who escape to Hawaii. Margaret lodges a complaint against Walter claiming the ownership of the paintings ending up in an ugly court fight.

Performances by Amy Adams and Christoph Waltz is outstanding. Both the actors fit the role to the 'T' and bring to life the celebrity couple onscreen. The story, screenplay and dialogues are quite gripping. The period setup looks authentic. Tim Burton has done justice to the subject and comes up triumphant.

On the whole its a wonderful movie and therefore every accolade coming its way is well deserved.

My Verdict: ****
Poor - *, Average - **, Good - ***, Very Good - ****, Excellent - *****

Shy-way: Love it or Leave it: Penguins of Madagascar: Cuteness Personified!

Shy-way: Love it or Leave it: Penguins of Madagascar: Cuteness Personified!: This week I got to watch Penguins of Madagascar which is a spin-off of the Madagascar film series, and takes place right after the eve...

Penguins of Madagascar: Cuteness Personified!

This week I got to watch Penguins of Madagascar which is a spin-off of the Madagascar film series, and takes place right after the events of Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted. Produced by Dreamworks and directed by Eric Darnell and Simon J. Smith, this is a cute movie and will definitely entertain the kids this holiday season.
In Antarctica, three young penguins, Skipper (Tom McGrath), Kowalski (Chris Miller), and Rico (Conrad Vernon), rescue an egg from hungry leopard seals and set themselves adrift on an iceberg. From the egg hatches Private (Christopher Knights) and the four become a team. A decade later, directly after the events of Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted, the Penguins depart from the circus and celebrate Private's birthday by breaking into Fort Knox so that Private can buy Cheesy Dibbles, a discontinued product, from their break room vending machine. However, Private begins to feel unimportant to the team. While Skipper is the leader and strategist, Kowalski is the brains, and Rico the arsenal specialist, Private is continually referred to as just being a cute face and doesn't have any remarkable skills.

The Penguins are suddenly kidnapped in the vending machine and flown to a submarine base in Venice. There, the Penguins meet Dave (John Malkovich), a villainous octopus who disguises himself under the human alias of Dr. Octavius Brine. Dave used to be adored in the Central Park Zoo, until the penguins arrived and unknowingly stole his shine. The octopus was then shipped to other zoos but his fame was stolen each time by a penguin shine. Embittered, Dave now wants revenge on the penguins. Does Dave succeed in his plan to take revenge on the penguins or does the four friend foil his plans is something that needs to be seen on the screen.

The movie starts slowly but thirty minutes through the story it gathers speed and soon you are engrossed in the adventures of the four friends on the mission to save the entire penguin population in the world. Direction by Darnell and Smith is wonderful and the screenplay is quite crisp and engrossing. The movie on the whole will appeal to the children and the message given in the movie about not judging others based on their appearance will definetly strike a chord with the audience.

Overall a nice movie for the holidays!

My Verdict: ****
Poor - *, Average - **, Good - ***, Very Good - ****, Excellent - ***** 

Shy-way: Love it or Leave it: The Interview - Too Much Hype, Delivers Nothing!

Shy-way: Love it or Leave it: The Interview - Too Much Hype, Delivers Nothing!: The Interview starring Seth Rogan and James Franco is the subject of my review this week. Directed by Seth Rogan and Evan Goldberg aft...

The Interview - Too Much Hype, Delivers Nothing!

The Interview starring Seth Rogan and James Franco is the subject of my review this week. Directed by Seth Rogan and Evan Goldberg after the disappointing 'This Is  The End" attracted a lot of hype and negative publicity when in June 2014 the North Korean government threatened of "merciless" action against the USA if the movie was released. The movie also got a lot of attention when a terrorist body the Guardians of Peace threatened terrorist attacks against every cinemas that played The Interview forcing the makers to release the movie online instead of theaters. However I felt the hype and all the negative publicity was for nothing after watching this mindless and souless comedy.
Dave Skylark (James Franco) and his producer Aaron Rapoport (Seth Rogen) run the popular celebrity tabloid TV show "Skylark Tonight." When they discover that North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un (Randall Park) is a fan of the show, they land an interview with him in an attempt to legitimize themselves as journalists. As Dave and Aaron prepare to travel to Pyongyang, their plans change when the CIA recruits them, perhaps the two least-qualified men imaginable, to assassinate Kim Jong-un.

The story and screenplay by Seth Rogan, Dan Sterling and Evan Goldberg travel on a thin plot which does not make any sense. The dialogues are crassy and the performances are bad. James Franco throughout the movie has a constipated look and expression, and tries hard not to irritate the audience. Seth Rogen tries hard to act but with no success. A bunch of Chinese looking actors do not add much value to the plot. Randall Park seems to impress a little with his dictator act.

On the whole the entire movie is just a waste of time.

My Verdict: *
Poor - *, Average - **, Good - ***, Very Good - ****, Excellent - ***** 

Shy-way: Love it or Leave it: PK Is Not A 'Bhaste' Of Time! Watch It :)

Shy-way: Love it or Leave it: PK Is Not A 'Bhaste' Of Time! Watch It :):   Rajkumar Hirani films are always celebrated equally by masses and classes as the movies come with a heart and connects with the audien...

PK Is Not A 'Bhaste' Of Time! Watch It :)

 Rajkumar Hirani films are always celebrated equally by masses and classes as the movies come with a heart and connects with the audience's hearts. This week the long in the making and the most anticipated movie of the year, with a quirky name and most popular star of the generation - PK released. Like all Raju Hirani movies PK also tackles an issue and this time it is God & Godmen - Rings a Bell? Yes but No! Although the plot has a striking resemblance to Akshay Kumar - Paresh Rawal starrer Oh My God! but it is different.

PK (Aamir Khan) is an alien who comes to Earth to study its beings. His first encounter with humans force him to stay on Earth forever until he finds the remote that gets stolen and is the only key for him to return back to his world.

In the process of his journey in getting his remote back he asks several questions and affects several people's lives, and one among them happens to be Jaggu aka Jagat Janani (Anushka Sharma) and another Bhairon Singh (Sanjay Dutt). The movie is a beautiful piece of art and as I said earlier has its heart in the right place. It questions our believes in God and Godmen and makes us laugh at our own tomfoolery that we have been practicing and following for generations.

Aamir Khan is wonderful as PK and I could not see any other actor doing it better than what Aamir has done. Anushka as usual is confident and powerful in her role as Jagat Janani. Sushant Singh Rajput in an extended cameo has done a wonderful job. Supporting cast including Saurabh Shukla and Boman Irani has done a good job however I felt Boman was quite under utilized compared to his roles in Hirani's previous movies.

Story, Screenplay and Dialogues by Raju Hirani - Abhijat Joshi combination is quite powerful. The dialogues are hilarious, the scenes are funny and during the entire run time you never feel bored or distracted. However I felt that few scenes were rushed through like the Sushant-Anushka love track and Aamir's sudden romantic feelings for Anushka which although necessary for the plot was like a hurried and sudden thing. Rest I did not find much flaws in the movie.

The songs by Shantanu Moitra, Ankit Tiwari and Ajay-Atul are simple and hummable like all previous Raju Hirani movies. In songs 'Love is a Bhaste of Time', 'Char Kadam', 'Nanga Punga Dost' and 'Tharki Chokro' stand out. Editing by Raju Hirani is quite crisp and the cinematography by C.K. Muralidharan is quite enigmatic especially the Brugges part which makes you feel as if you are being treated to a fairytale setting.

Overall the movie is quite entertaining and everyone should definitely watch it at least once and I guarantee you that you will not regret the decision.

My Verdict: ****
Poor - *, Average - **, Good - ***, Very Good - ****, Excellent - *****