Never Let Me Go (2010)

The Plot
Tommy, Kathy and Ruth are 3 young students at Hailsham, a place where young kids are raised with the sole purpose of donating their vital organs to people who need them. These kids are born to be donors. Some become carers and then start donating. Usually the youngsters complete their lives by the time of their 3rd donations.

It's quite a sad depressing plot. Ruth falls in love with Tommy just to keep Kathy away from Tommy. Ruth is the first to complete her donor cycle. Then Tommy and Kathy appeal for a deferral citing their true love for each other. But, they discover that there is nothing called a deferral and Tommy eventually completes his life too. The movie ends with Kathy reflecting on their lives and getting ready for her first donation

Hits

•  Beautiful acting by all the 3 lead players be it Andrew Garfield, Keira Knightley or Carey Mulligan. So natural, poignant and touching. The young kids who play the 3 roles are also perfectly in sync with their roles.
• Aesthetic sense is perfect be it the locations, the BG score or the general serene setting

Comments

• Very sad and depressing theme. 
• The donors often talk about finding their perfect match and the persons based on which they were modeled. This is quite confusing. 

VERDICT

A movie that makes us sober and feel quite low. Worth watching for the top class aesthetics and the acting

Engaeyum Eppothum (2011)

The Plot
The film talks about a very important issue amid the backdrop of 2 beautiful contrasting love stories.

Kathiresan and Manimekalai are a pair in Trichy. While the guy is very shy and ever obedient, the girl is the exact opposite. She dictates terms and makes her guy move according to her wishes. But, it is true love between the two.

The other love track between Amudha and Gautham happens in the span of 1 day as Gautham helps a totally helpless Amudha around Chennai for her interview. Their love travels through the Chennai buses, lanes and after they part at the end of the day it becomes stronger.

Kathir and Mani board a Trichy -> Chennai government bus as Kathir wants to introduce his girl to his family at Arasur near Villupuram. Gautham and Amudha go in search of each other to Trichy and Chennai respectively. While Gautham is in the aforementioned Trichy -> Chennai bus, Amudha is in the Chennai -> Trichy bus.

A terrible bus accident happens involving the above 2 buses and what happens to the 2 pair of lovers and their lives is the climax which has high impact and is very emotionally involving.

Hits

• All the 4 performers Anjali, Jai, Ananya and Sharvanand. Anjali is boisterous, lively and turns in a spellbinding performance in the climax. Jai is perfect as the shy and soft guy who doesn't have any bad habits. Sharvanand is the suave Gautham who slowly falls for the naive Amudha and Ananya is the beautiful innocent small town girl who slowly starts falling for Gautham. 
• The Jai - Anjali track is very lively and entertaining thanks to the contrasting pair. Ananya makes the other love track tick with her innocence and suspecting nature. The emotions in both the love tracks make the occurrences in the climax even more involving. 
• The much hyped bus accident scene is a total shocker. Such details, such pain and such impact has never been seen in Indian cinema before. 
• The songs are lovely. Great debut by composer Sathya. The 'Maasama' song has been beautifully picturized. It has one highly addictive shoulder movement as part of the dance. 
• The editing is top notch. The post accident and pre accident scenes are beautifully juxtaposed using certain elements.
• The cinematography by Velraj gives the required jerk, nervous energy and tension. 
• A poignant message about organ donation is thrown in the climax amid all the blood and death. Hats off. 
• Each character in the bus has a beautiful story board. So touching. 
• The climax is a complete emotional pot boiler. Uff. 

Comments

• Gutsy production by Murugadoss and Fox Star. More such small budgeted gems need to be rolled out at regular intervals. 
• The BG score is too loud at places. 

VERDICT

A movie that entertains and yet gives out a very socially relevant message. Miss it at your own risk. Flawless debut by director Saravanan. Another stunner from Tamil cinema. 

Thor (2011)

The Plot
The film is a visual fantasy that shows 2 realms in outer space, Asgard and Jotunheim. Jotunheim has the 'Frost Giants' who have the power to freeze their opponents. The earth is also one of the nine realms.

Asgard is ruled by Odin who has 2 sons Thor and Luki. Luki is actually an adopted son found in Jotunheim post the conquest by Odin. Luki is jealous of his brother Thor and wants to become the king of Asgard.  He is a cunning manipulator with magical powers.

In the beginning, Thor looks to aggressively demolish Jotunheim with his small gang of aides. He almost pulls it off when his father intervenes, strips him off his powers, his hammer and banishes him from Asgard. Thor lands on Earth in New Mexico.

He is helped by a curious scientist Jane Foster in his mission to find his hammer and return back to his home land. Jane is intrigued by Thor's story. They start loving each other. Erik and Darcy are Jane's company. Thor is countered on Earth by the Frost Giants who are instigated by the scheming Luki. Thor gets his hammer at the right moment and banishes the enemy.

In the end, Thor realizes the value of life and starts believing in wisdom. He returns to Asgard with his hammer. He convinces his ailing father that he will indeed be the future king. Luki is banished now and he lands somewhere on Earth.

Jane waits for Thor while he is in Asgard listening to Heimdall the gatekeeper who has extra-ordinary powers to see people on Earth too. The bridge called Bifrost, that connects Asgard to Jotunheim and also to the Earth, is broken and hence Thor can't get back to his love on Earth.

The films ends with the premise for a sequel.

Hits

• Terrific VFX, graphics and imagination. As expected.
• Natalie Portman as Jane is goddess personified with her elegance and pure, innocent beauty.
• Chris Hemsworth as the macho super hero is imposing and very charming as the huge Thor
• Lots of mystic creations like Bifrost, Asgard, Jotunheim etc. etc. 
• Entertaining references to SHIELD and Tony Stark from Iron Man. 

Comments

• Very simple story of a superhero realizing the purpose of his life. The standard templates like a demure girl who loves the superhero are all present in Thor. 

VERDICT

Another "Marvel Comics" visual effects extravaganza

Mausam (2011)

The Plot
The film is basically a love story between a Punjabi boy Harinder Singh aka Harry and a Muslim girl Aayath. It starts in 1992 and finally meets a happy ending in 2002. Their love travels from the Punjabi village Mallugat to Scotland and back to India at Ahmadabad.

Their love has many hurdles in the form of the Babri Masjid riots in 92, the Kargil war in 99 and the final Gujarat riots in 2002.

Harry's duties as an IAF pilot are also a reason for the delay in the happy ending. But after some major drama in the climax due to the Gujarat riots, the lovers unite and live happily ever after.

Hits

• Shahid Kapoor is the rock of the film. The various transitions from the young village boy to the young pilot to the final mature look, are all perfect. He emotes very well and looks like a million bucks as always.
• The cinematography is the next major plus. Be it the pristine locales of Punjab or the Scottish locations, they are extremely pleasing to the eye.
• The initial scenes in the Punjabi village where the love blossoms are light hearted and entertaining. Then, the scene in the Scotland train where Shahid madly searches for Sonam is another thrilling highlight amid the total bore. 
• Among Pritam's melodies, 'Rabba' is very pleasing to the ears. 

Comments

• Sonam Kapoor is plastic and fake. She doesn't know to act and has one or two standard expressions. Looks pretty and elegant at places.

Misses

• Extremely slow moving and boring at many places
• The editing by Sreekar Prasad is a major letdown. 
• We expect at-least the war scenes in the fighter aircraft to have some fizz. But, that too goes bust. 

VERDICT

A flop in the making. Shahid Kapoor is the lone reason to check out this long drawn out love story. 

Analyze This (1999)

The Plot
Paul Vitti is a dreaded gangster who starts getting some panic attacks due to his troubled past. The exact reason is the death of his father when he was a young kid. Paul doesn't know the exact reason for his panic and hence he approaches a psychiatrist with a lot of hesitation.

The psychiatrist is Dr.Sobel who is about to get married for the 2nd time. Paul and his side-kick Jelly repeatedly barge into Dr.Sobel's space for Paul's consultation. There are a lot of funny moments as Sobel botches his marriage ceremonies on some occasions.

Finally, Paul fixes his issues thanks to Sobel's expertise and Paul decides to quit the mob business for good. He is sent to jail and continues to have sessions with Sobel who visits him. Sobel also gets married. The climax scene where all the mob bosses meet up and Sobel as Paul's acting lawyer gives one helluva funny speech, is a riot.

Hits

• Robert De Niro as the gangster who struggles with his emotions in private while putting up a brave face in public, is a charmer. The way he cries is particularly funny.
• Billy Crystal as the psychiatrist impresses in the scenes where he is caught up between Paul and his wedding commitments. His speech in the climax is THE moment of the film
• Paul's side-kick Jelly looks so funny and chubby. 
• The scenes showing the gangsters with all their crazy names and their plans, are quite funny. For a funny movie, even such serious scenes look spoofed and entertaining. 

VERDICT

Some light hearted fun.

Shooter (2007)

The Plot
Bob Lee Swagger is a retired gunner in the US Army. He leaves the force after a mission in which he loses his close friend and spotter Donnie. He lives in a hilly area with his dog Sam.

One day, he is approached by Colonel Johnson and his men asking for a favor. They want him to plan an assassination of the US President because they feel there is a threat to the life of the President as he is to tour Washington, Delaware and Philadelphia.

Bob plans it, gives them valuable recon and details as to how this assassination can be carried out. But, in a shocking twist, Bob is shot by his own men and he is blamed for the assassination. The actual plan was to shoot the Archbishop of Ethiopia and not the US President.

He is badly hurt but he recovers taking the help of Sarah, Donnie's widow. Another FBI guy Nick Memphis also wants to know more about this obvious conspiracy and he joins hands with Bob to find the truth.

The bad guys are expectedly Johnson and the US Senator. The reason why they want to shoot the Archbishop is because they had wiped out an entire African village for the sake of oil. The Archbishop was about to tell this truth at the Philadelphia meeting and hence he was killed.

Bob finds the truth but he isn't able to prove that Johnson and co. are guilty. So, he shoots them out in the climax in his own inimitable style and precision.

Hits

• Mark Wahlberg is made for such rough and touch action movies and he is perfect with his stubble and aggressive swagger
• The screenplay of the movie is very engaging and fast. Like the Bourne series. 
• The cinematography is top class particularly in the starting war sequence and the pre-climax sequence on top of the snow clad peaks. 
• Kate Mara as the damsel in distress Sarah is super hot. We can empathize with her character as the war widow.
• Michael Pana as the FBI officer Nick who is eager to make a difference to the case and save his dignity, is the second most important character in the film.  

Misses

• The villains in the movie are like caricatures. They aren't imposing. 

VERDICT

Another super fact action entertainer on the lines of the Bourne series. Worth watching.                                                                       

Mere Brother Ki Dulhan (2011)

The Plot
Younger brother Kush has to choose an appropriate bride for his brother Lav. Lav is in London and he has just broken up with his girl friend Piya

Kush sees a lot of girls but none of them look like suiting his brother. Then he comes across Dimple. He and Dimple had already been acquainted some yrs back when they were in college. He decides that Dimple will be his brother's dulhan and Dimple also does a video chat with Lav. The marriage is set.

Then, Kush and Dimple get very close as they make all the arrangements for the marriage together. They fall in love, elope but, decide to return back.

Then they plan a big drama involving Lav's girlfriend Piya who comes to India as Dimple's friend. There the fire is rekindled between the 2 broken-up lovers and they elope and get married. Kush and Dimple also get married as planned after some more drama involving the 2 families.

                                                                       
Hits

• It's Katrina Kaif's movie completely. What style, attitude, cuteness and energy. She acts very well nowadays. 
• Imran Khan is boyish, charming and very handsome. Decent show
• Ali Zafar is debonair and acts well as the cool dude London brother. His girl friend Piya looks hot too. 
• The songs by Sohail Sen are a major plus. Very colorfully picturized too. Dhunki, Choomantar, the title song, Madhubala etc. etc. Aural and visual treat.  
• The first half is very likable and moves like a dream. 
• A lot of popular Bollywood characters have been spoofed most notably My Name is Khan's SRK. Good fun ... 

Comments

• The second half has all the typical Bollywood drama elements. The drama before the climax in particular is needless

VERDICT

Good time-pass entertainer. Yash Raj ishtyle light-hearted romantic drama