This year has not been so active for me on the movie watching front. I am nowhere close to my 'a movie a week' days. One of the reasons is that I have become slightly more selective in the movies I watch these days, so no more watching movies because everyone else is watching it, it does not mean that I read a review before I watch every movie, I still watch many movies (and regret sometimes) because they sound or look interesting, but wherever I have a doubt, I wait for a review. This is because movie watching ain't cheap anymore. Despite having a multiplex which is minimum rickshaw fare away from home, the tickets, the crappy samosas, popcorn and pepsi prices still hurt.
Udaan is the best Hindi movie I have watched this year. A different story which strikes a chord and touches the heart and great performances make it a must watch. Second on my list of good movies this year is Love Sex aur Dhokha. First let me admit that I am a huge Dibakar Bannerjee fan. I absolutely loved Khosla ka Ghosla and Oye Lucky.., so my expectation from this one were sky high. And he did deliver, he took a risky proposition, unknown actors and made it into fascinating cinema. I see him right up there with Vishal Bharadwaj amongst the great directors in Bollywood today. Apart from this I enjoyed watching Ishqiya a lot, mainly for its performances. Raat Gayi Baat Gayi was also worth a watch. Rajneeti deserves a mention, I liked it, although I felt that the end was slightly long drawn, it would have been in the top two had the Mahabharat and Godfather tributes not been taken so seriously.
Raavan was the most horrible movie I have seen this year. I used to be a big Mani Rathanam fan, I enjoyed both Yuva and Guru immensely and expected a masterpiece from his. Besides I am a sucker for historical tales being retold differently. Simply put Raavan was a bad movie. The story moved extremely slowly and the performances were bad. Apart from the music and the great locations there was nothing in the movie, script, direction and performance was almost non existent. Housefull was another irritating movie from the Nadiadwala - Sajid Khan partnership. I thought that Sajid Khan must have reformed after Hey Baby and will give us an intelligent comedy, what we got instead was a silly gag. Can someone please tell them that slapstick is no longer fun. I used to laugh at people fumbling and falling and getting hit on their sensitive spots when I was five years old, I am 28 now and I will hugely appreciate it if some effort went into writing a script which could make me laugh. Akshay Kumar has natural comic timing and I absolutely loved him in Hera Pheri and Garam Masala. I seriously think that he should stick to working with good directors like Priyadarshan (yes he also makes silly movies sometimes) and stay away from retards like Sajid Khan and Shirish Kunder. Maybe my criticism is very harsh, but its from the heart, I blew up more than a grand and got the family to watch this movie in a fancy mall and there was a nice expensive lunch also thrown in after the movie.
On the english movie front Up in the Air looked was great and so was Inception. I was skeptical before watching Inception, I didn't understand Memento properly when I first saw it and I was expecting another confusing ride. But surprisingly I understood the movie and enjoyed it thoroughly. Nolan is a genius at identifying ideas and creating cinematic masterpieces from them. My love for superheroes and fantasy ensured that I liked Percy Jackson, Ironman 2 and Clash of the Titans. Shrek 4 was also a lot of fun, but the 3D glasses gave me a headache at the end of the movie. I was slightly disappointed by Alice in Wonderland, cant exactly pinpoint the reason why, but its was definitely not a bad movie. Maybe my expectations from the Burton-Depp partnership were too high.
On the hindi movie front am looking forward to watching Once Upon a Time in Mumbai, once again my love for gangster flicks will ensure that I watch this on the first day. I missed Tere Bin Laden and hope to watch it soon. On the english movie front, am eagerly awaiting the biggest of them all - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 in November. The trailer look great and I think this is one film which will rival 'The Return of the King' and Avatar in terms of gross.
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