The Movie Geek

We are a country where Liam Neeson is famous for Taken franchise and not for Schindler's List . A country where David Fincher is relatively unknown compared to Michael Bay. A country which sees Hollywood only for a grand screen of destruction and not at the art and depth of films it can offer. On an average, two out of five movies that get nominated for Academy Awards do not get released in India with 2016's Best Picture Academy Award Winner not seeing light in India until after it's win. Yet, not a single feature from Fast & Furious or Transformers will be overlooked by Indian audience. 2016, was no different. Three critically acclaimed, Oscar buzzed movies, Moonlight , Manchester by the Sea and Hacksaw Ridge didn't get a release in India. There were other great movies that got their release but were not paid enough attention by the audience. Out of them, I pick two, which for all their brilliance, deserved a great deal of attention we were unable to offer. ...

***Spoiler Alert!*** The Spin-off of Harry Potter  franchise had made Potter-heads go bonkers when it was announced. Then it was announced that Eddie Redmayne (Theory of Everything and The Danish Girl fame) was cast as Newt Scamander and that David Yates (Director of last 4 Harry Potter movies) will be directing this venture. Though Yates was not able to make his magic work with Tarzan, I've expected him to work wonders with Fantastic Beasts. Then, great talents as Colin Farrell, Jon Voight, Ezra Miller and of course, Johnny Depp join in and make this movie one of the most anticipated movie of this year. Trailers boasted of quality, action, thrill and magic. Let's see if the movie has managed to live to the expectations. Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne) reaches NY in 1926 with a case full of magical creatures with an intent to release Frank, a giant Eagle-like creature. One among them, is a Niffler, sneaky duckbill platypus-looking animal, which has a thing for shiny o...

***Spoiler Alert!*** Golden Rule #1: Not every super hit movie needs a sequel. Golden Rule #2: When you force a unnecessary sequel on audience with absolutely no interesting plot, it falls flat. It'll not even work as a cash grab. Yup, the makers of Rock On 2 totally and completely ignored both these golden rules. They tried forcing this movie so desperately on audience that they didn't even hesitate to twist each and every one of our favorite characters from the first part so much that they lost all that we loved about them. Totally. Rock On!! ends perfectly. The story of Magik , a rock band and their friendship, sorting out their issues and giving closure to all the characters involved. Rock On 2 completely undoes all that work and creates a mess. And moving forward, it keeps messing up the situations and characters that at a certain point, you feel like every character involved need psychiatric treatment. Though Rock On!! was a complete picture, when Rock On 2 was ...

***Spoiler Alert!*** After a long time since its inception, MCU introduces magic to their universe and due to that, Doctor Strange has been a very important movie. They got is perfect with casting. This is one of the most star-studded cast movies in the whole of MCU. Being an origin story and not having much of connections with the rest of MCU movies, Doctor Strange had large audience base and Marvel has been successful in getting them give a shot for their latest outing. With a strategically planned path by Kevin Feige (President of Marvel Studios) and wonderful vision of Scott Derrickson (Director of Doctor Strange) , Doctor Strange comes out as a fresh serve-up. Doctor Strange starts off with Master Kaecilius (Mads Mikkelsen) and his disciples stealing forbidden rituals from their London Sanctum Library (too much for being a safe house eh!) . They hold the librarian with Lassos of Truth  something that looks like the Lasso of Truth (of Wonder Woman) and beheads him. ...

***Spoiler Alert!*** Thanks to my sisters, I had to watch this movie which I wouldn't have otherwise! The best thing about this movie? The whole controversy stirred couple of weeks before it's release. Yup, that was much more entertaining! Though I didn't have much hopes from Karan Johar, I've always been an admirer of Ranbir Kapoor's acting, especially when he cries and looking at sensible subjects he usually chooses  (barring a few like Besharam, Roy e.t.c.) , I was tricked into believing there'll be something new in the movie. Oh boy, was I wrong! The movie starts off with Ayan (Ranbir Kapoor) being interviewed after he has become a successful singer. One of the questions from the interviewer makes him start his life story with Alizeh (Anushka Sharma) and Saba (Aishwarya Rai). Ayan has these obsessive feelings (ooh! creepy!!) towards Alizeh, a weak character who is obsessed (creepy part 2!!) with Ali (Fawad Khan). As Alizeh carries off to marry Ali af...

***Spoiler Alert!*** Clint Eastwood is a Legend! At 85, his American Sniper (overrated) instantly grabbed 6 Academy Award Nominations. Tom Hanks is another Legend who needs no introduction. The team-up of these two Legends to tell an untold story of 'Miracle on Hudson' pilot Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger created enough buzz among the movie world. The Trailer  created enough attention to become one of the biggest movies of this year. Though the movie works, the "true events"  play minimal part in this thrilling tale. Sully wakes up from a nightmare as he crashes Flight 1549. This happens the same day as he actually saves the flight (partially!) and 155 passengers in it by force landing on 'The Hudson River' after losing both the engines after a bunch of birds crash into them. What follows is a couple of days investigation from NTSB, who thinks Sully landing the plane on The Hudson was a bad move and finally clearing him off after a dramatiz...

***Spoiler Alert!*** You better take the title seriously because if you won't, chance is that you'll be in real trouble! It's been real long for a movie with quality Thriller/Horror content to shaken up the movie industry. Fede Alvarez , director of latest Evil Dead took the challenge to put an end to our wait. The cat and mouse chase, though an usual concept, gets executed wonderfully. For a movie with most part being in just one house and only four characters, this thriller keeps us at the edge of the seat all way long! Sam Raimi is yet again involved as the producer and I see that this guy is not gonna let any quality horror film pass without having his involvement! Money ( Daniel Zovatto ), Rocky ( Jane Levy ) and Alex ( Dylan Minnette ) are three thieves who break into houses of their victims and rob them. Money finds out about a blind man ( Stephen Lang ), a veteran, who's got lot of cash stacked in his place. Being an easy target, all the three of them pro...