Les Misérables (2012)

[a depressing 150min]

Les Misérables (2012)

IMDB- 7.9

RottenTomatoes- 70%

RJG Rating- 65

The story of Jean Valjean as he flees a ruthless police-officer hunting him.

Starring- Hugh Jackman,Russell Crowe

Director- Tom Hooper

Les Miserables is spear headed by the acting of Huge Jackman.Hes excellent in every scene and he gives one of his best performances.Playing an officer with a screwed up sense of judgement ,Russel Crowe takes up the part of the villain and blends into the gloomy atmosphere of the movie quite well.Anne Hathaway deserves all the praise shes been showered upon.Her role is one of the best ones shes done till now.But a major letdown is how short her role actually is.Les Miserables boasts of large cast of supporting cast ,and they all are excellent.

Being a musical ,almost all the dialogues are delivered in a musical note.The actors have all done good work here.But the length of some do get a bit out of hand.

The story of Les Miserables is based on the famous novel of the same name written by Victor Hugo and also on the stage musical.While the movie might strike among those who love depression type movies ,it certainly wasnt meant for the rest.The story of Les Miserables stays true to the novel on most parts.A major flaw is how poorly the characters have been developed during the course of the movie.All our one sided and its hard to support or understand the reasoning behind anyone of them.Things happen conveniently throughout, to either deliver more musical numbers or just more depression.

Tom Hooper's direction is excellent.He has easily captured the essence of the novel and even though its generally gloomy ,its still shot in grandeur.Even though the story does push Hooper into one way alleys ,he has extracted the best from his cast.But the movie is gloomy from start to finish and offers no triumph of any sort.The movie enters into over dramatic scenes most of the time.The story of an officer chasing a man who stole bread 25years ago (which includes the 19years he served in prison for it) ,while a revolution is going on is unintentionally hilarious and stupid.The length of the movie is also tiresome.

Dramatic scenes are shot excellently and the actors give it their best but the reasons for which they shout and scream about seems unworthy at most of the times.Romance makes its entry in the 3rd half ,and its poorly conceived.

Overall ,Les Miserables is not for all.Its catered more for the fans of the musical & the novel and will easily bore majority of the casual viewers.People who love hardcore drama and chick-flick romance should give this movie a watch.

Acting- 4.5/5

Story- 2.5/5

Direction- 4/5

Drama- 3/5

Romance- 2/5

Musical- 3.5/5

Oscars - 3

Best Actress in a Supporting Role- Anne Hathaway

Best Makeup and Hairstyling

Best Sound Mixing

Oscar Nominations- 5

Best Picture

Best Actor- Hugh Jackman

Best Original Song - "Suddenly"

Best Costume Design

Best Production Design

Lincoln (2012)

[dull and uneventful]

Lincoln (2012)
IMDB- 7.7
Rottentomatoes- 89%
RJG Rating- 50

The last few months of one of the greatest presidents of all time ,Abraham Lincoln.

Starring- Daniel Day-Lewis
Director- Steven Spielberg

Daniel Day as Lincoln is spot on.Hes just amazing as the 16th President of USA.He has done complete justification to his role and its just brilliant watching him on screen.The same cant be said for the rest of the cast.Sally Field & Tommy Lee Jones go over the top on one too many occasions.Tommy looks too tired to do anything.Joseph Gordon has a short role as Lincoln's son ,and although he does a good job ,his screen time is awfully short.

The story for Lincoln is as dull as it can get.Although its about Lincoln's fight to end slavery ,it rarely brings up any true sense of achievement in the end.THe long speeches get boring after a while and the various characters introduced every now and then creates confusion as to who is who.Those who have studied the basics of American history and of Lincoln might understand ,but majority of the others will just be waiting for Lincoln to appear on screen.

Steven Speilberg does an average job with Lincoln.This isnt his best.He extracts the best from Daniel and has given much thought into bringing Abraham Lincoln onto screen ,but the rest of the movie is a disappointment.The pacing of the movie is too slow and the movie just drags on forever with its running time of over 150min.Even though the act of abolishing slavery is what Lincoln is remembered for ,he had a very motivational story behind it.Even his assassination isnt directly shown.The only moment Speilberg remembers to add any excitement is the Parliament voting scene ,in which over acting goes to unbelievable lengths. Although educational ,Lincoln misses out the entertainment factor.

Overall ,Lincoln is relevant to American audience than to others.Its a boring and dullish movie ,with only Daniel shining in his role.

Acting- 3.5/5
Story- 2/5
Direction- 3/5
Drama- 3.5/5


Oscars

Won -2
Best Actor -Daniel Day-Lewis
Best Production Design

Other Nominations - 10
Best Film
Best Director -Steven Spielberg
Best Supporting Actor -Tommy Lee Jones
Best Supporting Actress -Sally Field
Best Adapted Screenplay -Tony Kushner
Best Cinematography -Janusz Kaminski
Best Costume Design
Best Editing
Best Original Score -John Williams
Best Sound Mixing

Die Hard wins on a rotten weekend

Die Hard wins on a rotten weekend.

[Feb 15-17]

1-A Good Day to Die Hard manage to win the top spot beating 3 other releases on Valentines weekend.Die Hard 5 made $25million and is going strong.The movie has already recovered its budget of $92million ,with strong overseas performance.Die Hard 5 has so far made $112million worldwide.But other than making money ,Die Hard was a major disappointment for its fans.The movie was panned by the critics and currently has a rotten rating of 16%. Majority of the critics blamed the cliched story.

2-Identity Thief made a surprisingly strong stand.Falling just by 32% ,the comedy movie made $23.4million on week 2 ,bringing its overall domestic total to $70million.Made at a budget of $35million Identity Thief is making quite a huge profit.

3-The romance chick flick ,Safe Haven made a decent debut with $21.4million.This is a good opening for a movie based on a Nicholas Sparks novel.But like most of the movies based on his novels ,this one too failed to keep the critics happy.Scoring just 13% ,the major criticisms were its melodramatic scenes ,idiotic plot twists and the usual cliches found in a Sparks movie.Still the movie has managed to recover its budget of $28million.

4-Escape From Planet Earth made a poor opening with just $16million.The animated movie was dumped by the producers on Valentines Day hoping to reel in the kids and thus they made no attempt at any marketing.Lack of marketing could also be due to the fact that the movie looks poor ,lacking any quality of a good animated movie.The movie was slammed by the critics ,scoring just 24%. Every aspect of the movie has been criticized and the movie ,which has a budget of $40million is heading towards a flop.

5-Warm Bodies made $9million which is just a 20%drop from last week.The zombie comedy has made $67million worldwide but is slowing down.

The 4th new movie ,was Beautiful Creatures which flopped heavily.Made at a budget of $60million ,this teenage fantasy movie made only $7.4million.Although it was much better reviewed than the other 3 releases of the week ,the movie had just average ratings.Currently at 45% ,critics say the cast is good but the story and setting is poor and seems to be just an attraction for the Twilight crowd.

Meanwhile heres updates on worldwide box office collections:-

Lincoln-$235million 

Life Of Pi- $575million

Django Unchained- $365million

Hobbit 1- $959.4 million

Skyfall- $1.1billion

This week we have 2 dark movies.But my pick will be:-

Snitch- The movie is about a father whos son has been caught up on some false charges,and in order to rescue him ,he goes undercover in a drug gang.The major selling point here is The Rock ,and though the movie doesnt sound too great ,Rock's charisma will keep the guys hooked on.So ,this will be my pick of the week.

Dark Skies- The movie is about a couple who start experiencing disturbing events within their home.It sounds interesting ,but unlike Snitch theres nobody interesting here.The director has earlier made 2 big horror flops (Legion & Priest) ,and the story doesnt sound too interesting.

Marketing has been on the low for both these movies ,showing that the producers dont believe that much in them either.It looks like another rotten week ahead!

Iron Man 3 Posters !

Even Heroes Fall

Don Cheadle as Rhodes.He reprises his alter ego ,War Machine from Iron Man 2.
The suit hes wearing is called the Iron Patriot ,and in comic book history ,it was made by Norman Osborn aka Green Goblin

Jurassic Park 3D Poster

Poster for the upcoming Jurassic Park 3D.

(Not to be confused with Jurassic Park 4 thats coming out in June 2014)
This Jurassic Park is the 3D version of the first movie that released in 1993 and is part of the 20 year anniversary.

Zero Dark Thirty (2012)

[an intense movie ,with a powerful climax]

Zero Dark Thirty (2012)
IMDB- 7.7
RottenTomatoes- 93%
RJG Ratings- 95

The story behind the biggest manhunt in recent history

Starring- Jessica Chastain
Director- Kathryn Bigelow

Jessica Chastain gives a powerful lead in Zero Dark Thirty.The whole movie is carried on her shoulders and she delivers a fantastic performance.Over the last 2 years she has been part of a series of good movies ,ranging from Tree of Life to Lawless ,and its easy to see why Jessica is able to carry Zero Dark Thirty by herself.The supporting cast do a great job as well.The acting is on the spot.

The story of Zero Dark Thirty is a very integral part of this movie.Any mistake here ,and the entire movie would have suffered.But theres no such problem.The story paints a picture thats completely makes the running time of 157min justified.Its smooth and the way it connects with major events is nicely pieced together.Full marks to the writer ,Mark Boal.

One thing that i noticed from Scene 1 of Zero Dark Thirty is how well its directed.Kathryn Bigelow brings in the same realistic setting she had used in Hurt Locker ,and puts Zero Dark Thirty into a higher scale.Her direction is what gives this movie a sense of perfection.The much awaited climax is worth the wait and it puts the viewer right into the midst of the manhunt.

Theres very little to complain about ZDT.This isnt the exact true story ,but it does its utmost best to be as close to the truth as possible.The only downside i felt was that it was too convenient of a clue they found ,which is the core factor that leads to Osama.But this is debatable since ,it could have happened considering its highly based on the real deal.

Overall ,Zero Dark Thirty is an engrossing movie ,and a must watch.It gives you an idea how such missions works and the climax is worth the wait !

Acting- 5/5
Story- 4.5/5
Direction- 5/5
Thriller- 5/5
Action- 4/5
Drama- 4/5

New Poster & Trailer for Oblivion

Oblivion New Trailer - Trailer #2

The trailers dont seem to be keeping back much.The concept of Oblivion is starting to look similar to that of Equilibrium .What do you think?

Beautiful Man Of Steel Banner

Monsters University New Trailer

Hilarious new Trailer for Monsters University

Trailer #2

New Poster for Red 2

Identity Thief grabs the spotlight

Identity Thief grabs the spotlight

[Feb 8-10]

#1-Identity Thief debuted at the top spot with a solid collection of $36.5million.Directed by Seth Gordon of Horrible Bosses ,Identity has done remarkably well.The only competition the movie faced was the winter storm,Nemo , in North America.On the other hand the movie hasnt managed to make the critics happy.Scoring just 24%, only Melissa & Jason's performance was appreciated while the story was deemed a rip off other comedies.The movie has already recovered its $35million budget and considering its good start its expected to be another big hit ,following last years Ted.

#2-Warm Bodies made $11.5million bringing its worldwide total to $45.3million.The movie is doing a good business and with its fresh concept ,its bringing in the crowds.

#3-Acclaimed director Steven Soderbergh's final movie before retirement ,Side Effects ,turned out to be a disappointment.The movie just managed to make $10million.The medical thriller was praised by critics for its twist filled story.The movie has a fresh rating of 86%.

#4-Silver Linings Playbook had another good week making $6.9million.The movie is holding strong and is inching its way to a domestic gross of $100million.Currently the movie has made a worldwide total of $120million from a budget of $21million.

#5-Hansel and Gretel:Witch Hunters has turned out to be a hit.Making $5.7million in its 3rd week ,the movie has made a domestic gross of just $43.8million from a budget of $50million.But its overseas collection has been strong.The movie has made $84million just from overseas ,putting the worldwide collections to $127.8million.

Tom Cruises' Top Gun 3D re-release turned out into a bitter disappointment.The movie made just $1.9million strengthening the notion that 3D re-releases might not be such a great idea.

Boosted by its overseas collection ,Skyfall & Hobbit are still making big bucks in the international market.Skyfall has made $1.094billion (#7 highest grossing movie all time) and Hobbit Part 1 is at $955million (#18 in the same list).

With Valentines around the corner ,Hollywood has lined up 4 interesting movies.One romantic drama ,one teenage fantasy ,one kids movie and one action packed thriller.My pick of the week will be---

1-Die Hard 5- A Good Day to Die Hard will have a tough sell this time.Headed by Bruce Willis ,this is a sequel to a series of tough as nails action movies.But on the down side its director,John Moore is having a bad run (MaxPayne ,Omen) ,and the Die Hard series always are at the border of being cliched and amazing.And also to be considered is the curse of the Expendables.So far all 3 action movies of the stars who acted in the movie have tanked ,will this effect Die Hard too? Whatever it is ,Die Hard seems to be the best option this week.This is MY PICK OF THE WEEK!

2-Beautiful Creatures ,is based on the novel of the same name ,and is in the same line as of Twilight series.Whether it will be as bad as the latter is yet to be seen ,but its undeniable that its catered to the female audience of below 18 years of age.The story is about 2 teenagers falling in love and uncovering their families dark secrets.

3-Safe Haven.Now this is the most standard romantic movie that you can expect to be released this week.Its based on a Nicholas Sparks novel (his novels have been made into movies such as Notebook,Walk to Remember,Dear John and so on).Since its based on his novels ,theres 2 things that are guaranteed - its going to be a cheesy movie and its going to be a hit among the female audience.The story is of a young woman who comes into town and starts a relationship with a store owner ,and dark secrets start to turn up. (dark secrets seem to be a favorite this week)

4-Escape From Planet Earth ,is the animated movie of the week ,and this is the one you MUST miss at all costs.Poorly marketed ,cheesy looks and animation is not so great either.This is a movie made for just one reason ,its the only family movie this week.Die Hard is rated R ,and Safe Haven & Beautiful Creatures are both PG13 ,which leaves Escape that seems to be the only option for families with little kids.Itll be worth it if you sit at home rather than watch this.

ABCD & Special strike at Box Office

New Releases make this Week Special

[Feb 8-10]

ABCD [HIT]

Prabhudeva's dance movie made an excellent collection of Rs.17cr.The 3D movie has been getting above average reviews.Critics have praised the movie for its dance but the story came up short.It was quite obvious the movie was following on the heels of Step Up and many similarities popped up.Also the various characters were said to be too uninteresting.
But made at a low budget of around Rs.12cr ,the movie is already churning up profits.

[Watch It]


Special Chabbis (26) [HIT]

After a slow start not many expected Special 26 to make an impact at the box office ,but the movie went on to score Rs.24cr which is quite a solid collection.Both critics and audience have given this movie a thumbs up.Critics have praised the actors chemistry and the witty script.This is a heist movie based on a real life con artists that pulled off multiple robberies in the 1980's.Akshay's & Manoj Bajpai's performance has also been praised.

[Must Watch]


Vishwaroop- Hindi [Average]

Kamal Haasan's movie has slowed down at the box office.The movie just managed to make Rs.1.2cr ,for a domestic total of Rs.11cr.


Race 2 [Super Hit]

Race 2 has become the first movie of 2013 to make it into the 100cr club.Race 2 has so far made Rs.101cr.


The major release of this week is Murder 3.Starring Randeep & Aditi Rao ,this will be the first movie of the Murder series to not have Emraan Haashmi.The movie is expected to make a good impact.

Community Season 4 Mini review

The first episode from Season 4 of Community was below expectations.Sure a major portion was parodying cheesy TV sitcoms ,but there wasnt much good comedy in this one.Was firing the creator ,Dan Harmon the reason for this result? Hopefully the show will soon pick itself up!

Loads of news from Spiderman 2 ,Avengers 2 Prequel ,Mission Impossible 5 ,Hitman and more!

1-After the successful reboot of the Spiderman franchise last year ,with the Amazing Spiderman ,fans have been waiting for news on the sequel.Today the synopsis of the sequel has been revealed-
"In The Amazing Spider-Man™ 2, for Peter Parker, life is busy – between taking out the bad guys as Spider-Man and spending time with the person he loves, Gwen, high school graduation can’t come quickly enough. Peter hasn’t forgotten about the promise he made to Gwen’s father to protect her by staying away – but that’s a promise he just can’t keep. Things will change for Peter when a new villain, Electro, emerges, an old friend, Harry Osborn returns, and Peter uncovers new clues about his past."

So far, this movie has brought in major new characters with Mary Jane (Shailene Woodley) ,Electro (Jamie Foxx), The Rhino (Paul Giamatti) and Harry Osborn (Dane DeHaan) joining up for this sequel.Is this a good idea?

2-Other than Iron Man 3,Thor 2 ,Captain America 2 and Ant Man , there is one more superhero movie that will set up for the events that take place in Avengers 2 in 2015.And that is Guardians Of the Galaxy.
The first actor confirmed for a role is Chriss Pratt who will play the lead role of Star Lord.Chriss has acted in various comedy roles and was last seen in the gritty Zero Dark Thirty.James Gunn will direct the movie and its set to come out on August 1 2014.

GOG is about a team of superheroes who protect the galaxy.Led by Star Lord ,son of a human mother and an alien,hes a charming troublemaker who serves as an interplanetary policeman.GOG also consists of-
-Drax The Destroyer,a superhero born when his human spirit was placed inside a powerful alien body.Drax's arch enemy is Thanos*
-Gamora is an alien warrior and adopted daughter of supervillain,Thanos*.
-Rocket Raccoon ,is the guardian of a sector of outer space.Hes a master tactician and commander and he also happens to be a raccoon.
-Groot, is an alien tree ,that first appeared as a villian ,but later on became a member of GOG after SHIELD captured him.His powers include ,controlling trees and other such tree related stuff.

(*Thanos was the villain that was shown during the credits in Avengers)

Got to say ,Raccoon & a Tree will be a hard thing to explain in the movies!

3-After making the brilliant ,Cloud Atlas, Wachowski's have redeemed their names.Their next project is called Jupiter Ascending ,and while nothing much is known about it ,the cast for the movie includes -Channing Tatum ,Mila Kunis & Sean Bean.
The synopsis of the mysterious movie is as follows-
"In a universe where humans are near the bottom of the evolutionary ladder, a young destitute human woman is targeted for assassination by the Queen of the Universe because her very existence threatens to end the Queen's reign."

Although it sounds great ,the chances of getting this screwed is high !

4-Hobbit The Unexpected Journey continues to inch its way to a Billion Dollars ,and most fans are waiting for the bluray release ,and also for the extended version.Although i felt the theatrical version was long itself ,its almost confirmed the extended version will come out ,but only by this Christmas.Meanwhile the normal version will release on MARCH 24.The bonus features are a disappoint though (they are waiting to release the full features with the extended version).Other than trailers ,there are the 10 video blogs that Jackson posted throughout the last 2 years (available on YouTube).

Meanwhile the teaser for the second part ,Desolation of Smaug ,will be shown on March 24 aa well.

5- After Disney bought off the Star Wars franchise and announced plans to continue the series ,many have debated about the possibilities of spin off movies.Now, the CEO of Disney,Bob Iger ,confirmed that there will be spin off movies focusing on major characters of the original trilogy.These movies wont have much of an influence over the new trilogy -Episode 7,8& 9 ,and will be stand alone movies.
There are rumors that the first stand alone movie will be a prequel on the Jedi Grand Master ,Yoda.

6- After the immensely successful Mission impossible Ghost Protocol ,the fifth part is preparing for a 2014 release.Not much is known at the moment other than Tom Cruise will lead the movie as expected.
Today ,Christopher McQuarrie confirmed that he would be directing MI5.McQuarrie has previously directed Cruise in last years Jack Reacher and has also written Screenplays for -Usual Suspects ,Valkyrie ,upcoming 2013 movies such as Wolverine ,Jack the Giant Slayer etc.

7-Paul Walker ,star of the Fast & Furious series ,is all set to play the lead role in Agent 47 ,which is based on the famous video game series -HITMAN.
A movie version of Hitman was made back in 2007 but was considered a failure.Agent 47 will be a reboot ,and set for release in 2014.
Skip Woods ,who wrote the 2007 Hitman movie ,will be writing for the movie and Aleksander Bach will be directing.

Wreck-it Ralph (2012)

[a fun watch but not fully satisfied]

Wreck-it Ralph (2012)
IMDB- 8.0
Rottentomatoes- 87%
RJG Rating- 65

Ralph ,a villain in an arcade game is tired of being the bad guy.To win some respect he ventures out of his game.

Starring- John C. Reilly,Sarah Silverman
Director- Rich Moore

Animation was great.Blending the 8-bit style into this movie was pretty neat.It carried a sense of perfection within the movie ,something which animation legends ,Pixar is renowned for.But on the downside ,the voicing cast could have been chosen more wisely.Sarah Silverman as the voice of Vanellope was a wrong choice in my opinion.

The story was a great concept which carried almost infinite potential.The idea of arcade games coming to life at night might sound like a modernized version of Toy Story ,but Wreck It Ralph manages to bring out some interesting points along the way.The introduction into such a world was amazing and was done quite well ,but what followed up was a bit disappointing.As the movie progressed it started bending towards a more kiddish and a bit cliched story.But on a positive note,the twists towards the end was a welcome change.And the cameo of various 80's game icons was an excellent touch to the story.

Direction was by Rich Moore was good.Although he tried to make the movie to be acceptable to all ,he does mess it up in the second half.With 80's iconic game characters and a somewhat a new concept ,he might have roped in much of the audience ,but its undeniable that the second half just throws it all out to cater for the kids alone.Much sense is lost and setting up majority of the movie in candyland seems to be a forced attempt to make the kids happy.

The comedy wasnt too fresh but was definitely family friendly (something many animated movies forget these days).the movie excelled in its action sequences and the drama scenes were well set up.

Overall ,Wreck It Ralph is a good attempt ,although it doesnt fulfill expectations.But since sequels is inevitable considering the large universe the movie has opened ,several flaws can be fixed.

Animation- 4.5/5
Story- 3.5/5
Direction- 3.5/5
Comedy- 3/5
Action- 4/5
Drama- 4/5

Oscar Nominations- 1
Best Animated Feature Film