Movie Review : Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

It's a long time after I am getting my hands dirty for a movie review... but since I had the privilege of watching premier of the movie it seems to be a nice contender to re-start!


Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day (ATHNGVBD) is a light hearted movie which tells story of a 12 year kid who usually doesn't end up on good sides of luck as compared to his family members until one day...


The story revolves around various happenings of his Father (Steve Carrel), Mother(Jennifer Garner) and his sister & brothers. Only speculation I had was how would the movie feel once you are focusing on a bad day and impressively the feel which you get out of it is amazing.


All characters including alexander (Ed Oxenbould) pulls a strong performance also Ed being australian links the character's desire in the original 1972 book of the same title.


All in all, it was a good time laughing and a nice feeling coming out of the theatre which matters at the end of the day.


It's definitely worth a watch.


Stars : [****]

Movie Review: Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara

Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara....

Starcast... Promising, yes three of the most promising actors of Bollywood coming together in a movie alone makes it worth watching... (did I mention finest actors...) Abhay, Farhan and Hrithik you can't even rate them one superior than another...

Ohhh not to forget Katrina... well who else you could have asked for???

Title... Catchy, A title which is catchy enough to attract the attention of masses... and to make sure to create a wave plus buzz on facebook... yeah this fact can't be neglected... social network advertising and publicity!!!

Plot or Storyline... Excellent, Well I dont remember any noticable bollywood movie on bachelor party and after recent success of this concept you couldnt go wrong... Bollywood's transition phase is now yielding some good results...

Location... Unexplored, Spain we haven't seen much of it on screen. It seems all the factors are very carefully chosen for this movie... something which a Chef does to his dish when he chooses the ingredients!!!

Snacks... yeah that also matters... thanks to my lovely wife... for the delicious Paav Bhaji :)

Execution... Could this combination or team go wrong... answer is NO and they did not!!!

Songs... OK. Sanorita is the one which will be remembered!!!

Plus points... Farhan's voice in background when the movie slows down, punches and comic sequences of the TRIO reminds me of Dil Chahta Hai (masterpiece of Indian cinema) and the message from the movie...

Negatives... well if there were some, I am ready to ignore them!!! :)

Recommendation... does that really matters... I guess almost everyone would have watched it!!!

Stars: [****]

Review: Switched at Birth

Switched at Birth

After a handful of Movie reviews over last couple of months... this time It was a TV show which made me write something, I am referring to a brand new drama on american television Switched at Birth - Monday at 9 on ABC.

Initially it was an interesting trailer before a movie with a different plot which attracted me to watch the first episode... but later the way the story is building up, it's almost impossible to miss even a single edition.

Switched at birth is a story about two families suddenly realizing that their teenage daughters were SWITCHED AT BIRTH in the hospital itself and one of them turned out to be deaf. How the families react and tackle the situation is just one part of the story... how the relatinships gets twisted thereafter is another!

The experience from this one is refreshing, a lot different from snail-pased daily TV Soaps ruling Indian television from last decade and half. My expectation from the story, thanks to Ekta kapoor's K-Soaps, is that one secret will not be revealed till 5 weeks and we will see various iterations of same expressions... ( You can't forget dialogs like Nahi... Nahi... Nahi..., later two being echo :)) which were the integral part of the drama; whereas being a weekly soap, what makes this different that by the time you realize oh... thats the secret of the story... every character knows it and have already reacted... which is someting which I have never seen before on TV(atleast in India, except movies like Malamaal Weekly and Jhonny Gaddar).

The other point which actually compelled me to write this blog... was various shades of Grey on which the characters were sketched in this drama... Not even a single person in the story, has a completely fair, or for that matter, dark side. This helps me to connect the situations with real life with a completely unexpected twist almost everywhere... which is again unusual from my past TV experiences. Where the central character never does something wrong and even If does it ends up adding another silver jubilee(25 episodes) to the series.

It's like enjoying a dish which explodes into delicious flavors in your mouth; something which makes you enjoy the cuisine to the fullest. All in all, atleast My monday appointment is fixed!!!

Stars [****]; keep in mind this is a consistent rating after 9 weeks. :)

Movie Review: Transformers 3 - Dark of the Moon

Transformers 3: Dark of the Moon

Some movies leaves a strong effect for a long time and some of them for a short time, this one had a short effect but the enormity of the experience makes you feel that the car in front or side, while driving back home, is gonna turn into an Autobot any time, the background score still plays on your mind and makes room within the noise of the traffic.

A really long one (2 hrs 30 min+) and must be a treat if you are looking for kick-ass action of Autobots and Decepticons.

Last two had Megan fox, considered the hottest but who do you have in this one... Rosie Huntington-Whiteley(No. 1 in Maxim Magazine's Hot 100 list, voted No.1 in FHM's World's Sexiest Woman, courtesy Wiki) and boy was she hot??? One can't get hotter than this...

Well a movie for action buffs and Transformers' fans, which might be the best of the Transformers trilogy...

Recommendation... go and watch it, you might get disappointed by duration but not with the action sequences.

Stars: [***]

It seems I will have only sequels (part 2, 3, 5 or 8) to review this summer!!!

Movie Review: Harry Potter and The Deathly Hollows Part 2

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows Part 2

I still remember when I first saw Harry Potter movie and was astonished the way novel was brought to screen... (although I read the novel later on). It seems that happened yesterday and now I stood in line that was long enough to encircle the whole AMC theater, with tickets in hand for the LAST part of the saga which always made us believe such a world exists with an entry on platform number 9¾.

In my opinion the initial movies were full of CGI and things to mesmerize one on screen but towards the latter half it came more to storytelling and emotions rather than wizardry.  Ohhh seems like I am reviewing the whole series... Let’s go back to the last one... so where was I, hmmm in a line where more than 200 people were already waiting for another show of Harry Potter.

This time it wasn't mesmerizing, but it feels great to see everyone to come together to fight against evil, scenes which makes the whole theatre laugh, number of times the silence is so deep that even having popcorns are distracting...

The saga ends with Voldemort dying... finally; and next generation of Harry, Hermione and Ron getting ready for their wizardry!!

Nothing spectacular or amazing... but One Movie which should be seen for Harry Potter fans and everyone else... as a tribute to the Era of one of the most successful Octalogy; and you won’t feel the money wasted while moving out of the theater....

Stars: [***1/2]

Movie Review: Bad Teacher

Bad teacher...

One of the movies where, for the first time, in the second week running, 75% of the whole crowd was female and that means a lot of Vitamin-I (the later should be read as EYE) :) .

To see a movie which looked real promising in trailers, few comic scenes were catchy... but still something was missing! I had the right expectations from this one, but such raw nature of jokes was not easily digested.

A teacher (Bad Teacher), dumped by her boyfriend, in need of money for the artificial enhancements, playing with people around and that's how Cameron Diaz portrays the role. She looks everything but not hot. Justin Timberlake clearly overdid though Jason Segal was promising, at places.

In a movie season like a Big Food Festival, it was a dish half served with a little more pinch of salt which doesn't improve the delicacy... I liked the comedy but can't really recommend this...
See if you can handle the jokes.

Was that a coincidence that the movie title started with BAD???

Stars: [**1/2]

Movie Review: Kung Fu Panda 2 3D

Kung Fu Panda 2 - 3D

This one did not start with dialog as fabulous as "There is no charge for awesomeness and attractiveness..." rather a quiet one as "My fist hungers for justice!!! That was... my fist..." which Jack Black (voice) and CGI made look hilarious.

Well this review can't be complete without the comparison with the masterpiece prequel... at least for me... Kung-Fu Panda 2 brings another 3D spectacular to the screen, might be not as good as the first one... but an eligible part 2.

I was looking to find something as memorable as
A. Dialogs from the first one... each crafted with meaning and timing or
B. Concept of last bite Kung-Fu sequence!

...which were missing; but the movie kept up with pace and events. A Hero with personal issues finally overcoming a dangerous villain with the help of Friends to save Kung-Fu & china.

A movie that entertains and keeps storyline connected , dialogs not as catchy as previous one, A villain not as dangerous as Tai Lung(the Leopard villain from the last movie), Po(The Panda) with the same awesomeness as before and lastly Spectacular CGI... which gives this movie everything it needs... to become a blockbuster. :)

A refresher for the weekend and movie which will make place in sequel collections of all Movie Buffs... and give them INNER PEACE (not PIECE as Panda understood)!!!

Highly recommended... if you haven't watched it yet!!!

Stars: [****1/2]