Thursday, December 06, 2012

JAB TAK HAI JAAN (2012) (Guest Review)



Guest Review- Arnab Goswami

JAB TAK HAI JAAN (2012) (Spoilers ahead)

A Yash Chopra brand of love triangle with a contemporary treatment.

AG Rating : to be revealed at the end of the review. (hehe...so read it !!)

The story opens with the 98th bomb defusal by Major Samar Anand (Shah Rukh Khan) who is widely known as 'The Man Who Cannot Die' in the bomb disposal squad fraternity.
Samar is a reserved, quiet and an angry man who fearlessly defuses bombs almost as if he is waiting for that 1 bomb which will blow him to bits and end his life.
He also maintains a diary, which falls into a certain young journalist Akira Rai's (Anushka Sharma) hands, through which we are transported right back to the year 2002 in London,
where we see a much younger Samar Anand as a struggler who does turns as a snow shoveler, a fish seller and also as a waiter.In a rather poetic way and a curious set of circumstances,
we see the gradual meeting of Samar and the daughter, Meera (Katrina Kaif), of a rich businessman (Anupam Kher), their growing friendship and their subsequent love.
Through an unfortunate series of circumstances and also in part due to Meera herself, Samar leaves the country never to return. 10 years later, he becomes 'The Man Who Cannot Die'!

Akira, on knowing his history, decides to film a documentary on him highlighting his daredevilry. A friendship ensues and sooner rather than later, Akira falls in love with him, despite
knowing everything about him. It becomes time for Akira to leave for London and as she leaves, Samar even starts slowly warming up to her and even goes to London when she calls
him there regarding the documentary.

Lightning rarely strikes twice but when it does, it does so terribly. Samar meets with the same unfortunate accident which had in the past led to his departure from London 10 years ago.
Through an unexpected twist of fate, Samar becomes trapped in a time warp via retrograde amnesia and it so happens that the last 10 years during which he was in the army has been erased from his memory completely.
He now thinks Meera has become his wife and calls for her. What happens now ??

Acting

SRK is the backbone of JTHJ. From beginning to end, he plays every part with the utmost conviction and this really shows on screen. As the joyful and carefree Samar to the broody and scrawly bearded Major Samar to the Samar recovering from retrograde amnesia, he
is extremely convincing and also, no one has made army officers look as good as SRK has done. In my opinion, though this is not his best, in the film however, he completely owns it.
And also, SRK has never looked this good on screen. Ever.
Katrina Kaif tried her best but sadly I couldnt envision Samar sacrificing his whole life for her.

Anushka Sharma was her trademark bubbly and cheerful self along with a very good performance overall though her role looked to me to be very unsatisfactory. If it wasnt for Yash Chopra, I dont think she would have done this film.

Music

Challa was the best song in the film in my opinion followed by Jiya Re and then Ishq Shava, Heer was brief but very good. Saans wasnt half as bad onscreen as off it. The best part about the songs is that they arent at all placed inappropriately or needlessly. They are very apt.

Direction

JTHJ shows how great a director Yash Chopra (RIP) truly was. Even with a flawed script, he creates a film that is picture perfect and poetic in every frame. From the 1st scene to the last, it is pure poetry on screen.
I have never seen London look this good on screen. The scene in which the young Samar is introduced was like a breath of fresh air to me with the way the snow had been captured.
The 1st half especially is extremely commendable. It literally flows along like poetry. Several scenes will leave you breathless and on the edge of your seat. The way he has envisioned the whole film is a concrete proof that this is his baby, albeit not a perfect one.

The Film

Only Yash Chopra can turn a flawed story like JTHJ into something that, somewhere, somehow manages to touch you. His skilful blending of the visuals and the background score leads to an experience that haunts you long after you have left the cinema hall.
The film is such that you will never be bored. Never. One has to understand that since this film is an old world romance in a contemporary setting, the key aspects of such a romance are unchanged, which explains why Meera does what she does. However, it may hurt the sentiments of a major religion though the chance of that is minor.

AG Rating : 80/100

The AG verdict : Despite a flawed storyline, Yash Chopra concotes an experience of a lifetime which manages to touch you (it did so for me), makes you laugh, makes you cry and haunts you long after you leave the hall !!

ParaNorman (2012)


[one of the best animated movie of all time]

ParaNorman (2012)
IMDB- 7.2
RottenTomatoes- 86%
RJG Rating- 100

Norman ,has a special gift.He can talk to ghosts.

Starring- Kodi Smit,Tucker,Casey Affleck,Anna Kendrick
Director- Chris Butler, Sam Fell

In the era where majority of the animation movies are made with computers ,the stop motion movies are slowly disappearing.In a year theres barely 2-3 that do release ,and out of them very rarely does one become a superhit.Stop motion might not be fancy but if put to good use, as done for Paranorman,it definitely is a heart warming experience.
The animation is brilliant and just smooth.Everything is done neatly and gives the movie the wacky look and 80's effects.The characters are well drawn up and the emotions are perfectly captured and the voice cast do a great job.

Usually its the Pixar movies that rule in the story department ,but this year ParaNorman gives the audience a beautiful tale.The story is original and is a mixture of comedy ,horror and some surprising drama.Its a straight forward story ,but the climax was just outstanding.The story is funny with a slight sprinkle of horror ,but theres enough material to keep both adults & kids entertained.

Direction is top notch.The movie grabs our attention from the very start and doesnt let go till the very end.Add to the fact that the climax was just beautiful ,raises Paranorman to a high level.The pacing of the movie was fast and never dulls in any place.

Overall ,ParaNorman is a brilliant animated movie ,one of the best movies of 2012.A must watch!

Animation- 5/5
Story- 5/5
Direction- 5/5
Comedy- 4/5
Thriller- 4.5/5
Drama- 5/5

24fps vs 48fps



finally i found 2 good examples of 24fps & 60fps videos...
http://www.48fpsmovies.com/high-frame-rate-example-videos/

the 2nd example was small and easy to understand!
what are your thoughts on 48fps?doeit enhance movie viewing or is at just an unwanted enhancement.

try out the fps yourself!
http://frames-per-second.appspot.com/yourself

(PS:Peter Jackson's Hobbit is getting loads of negative response for its 48fps)

FYC Ads


Anna Karenina
Theres not much hope of this movie making it into the Top 10 ,but theres a good chance of Keira Knightley getting a nomination for Best Actress.













Brave #2
Unlike Up & Toy Story 3 ,Brave isnt worthy to get a Best Picture nomination.















TDKR #4
Theres a slight possibility TDKR might edge itself into the Top 10 Best Picture nominees but winning it is quite impossible.
The Nolan Bros deserve a nomination for the Adapted Screenplay.




TDKR #5
The cast of the Dark Knight Trilogy are solid and have given amazing performances.Christian will miss out on Best Actor ,Anne is set for Best Actress for Les Miserables .Gary Oldman ,Micheal Caine & Morgan have been ignored from the days of Batman Begins.Tom Hardy has less than 10%chance to make it through.












Hobbit
Hobbit is a lock for technical awards ,but for the major categories?Based on initial reviews ,Hobbit will make it through for Adapted Screenplay if the competition is light.















Hotel Transylvania
One of the big animated hits of 2012 ,Hotel T has a good chance to be one of the 5 animated movie nominees.














Madagascar 3
Its a great movie and might get a nomination ,but winning it is quite difficult.
















Moonrise Kingdom
Wes Anderson is a brilliant director and His latest movie has racked up universal praise.Its a guarantee for a Best Picture nomination.



ParaNorman
Easily the best animated movie of 2012,ParaNorman should not only get nominated but also win it.ParaNorman has the edge over the other animated movies ,but its main competition will be Frankenweenie.












This is 40
The movie is yet to be released ,but by initial promos ,it looks like a classic Apatow movie.And Apatow movies dont make it into Oscars however good they might be.If This is 40 turns out to be great ,it might get the Best COmedy/Musical at the Golden Globes, but the Academy wont consider comedies.

Star Trek Into Darkness Teaser

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