[Movie Review] The Theory of Everything

It wasn't the fact that this movie is life of the great physicist Stephen Hawking nor was the truth that the lead actor has won the Oscar for his splendid performance as the scientist that made me watch this film. It was the poster. The poster made me see this film. The way Jane and Stephen Hawking held hands and the poster caught the movement when they twirled with joy. And it was upside down that made it even attractive. So good... 

Moving onto the movie. 'The Theory of Everything' is the life story of the physicist who has astonished the world with his mind. Directed by James Marsh and adapted from Jane Hawking's memoir "Travelling To Infinity: My Life with Stephen", this movie revolves around Stephen's Cambridge days to the time when he became the world's most renowned scientist of all time despite his motor neuron disease. Eddie Redmayne was not acting at all, he was becoming Stephen Hawking every single minute. There were times when I thought am I seeing a younger Stephen Hawking? No wonder he got the Oscar. Felicity Jones did a fine job of Jane Hawking. Charlie Cox adorned his role as Jonathan quite well. 

As a life story, the movie was intriguing and fast paced but if we look at it just as a movie then it's lacking the point of keeping the viewers glued. There were a few jokes to lighten the plot but the seriousness prevailed throughout. When I said the movie was fast paced, I literally mean it. His life events were depicted so fast that halfway into this movie I thought what the hell are they going to go on with?! It's almost done. But at the end I was satisfied with this movie. After all, I got to know a Brief History of Stephen Hawking's life. Loved the tag line too: His mind changed our world. Her love changed his. 

[Movie Review] The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies

After watching the prequels- 'The Hobbit' and 'The Desolation of Smaug', I had to watch this one. I still cannot get over the fact that all these three movies is based on one small book. How the hell did Peter Jackson managed to produce three movies out of the small book by J R R Tolkien is still a mystery to me. 

This one stars almost the same characters from previous one. Add a couple of doses of Martin Freeman, Richard Armitage, Ian McKellen, Orlando Bloom, Evangeline Lilly, Luke Evans and many other talented actors and you get a great Peter Jackson movie. The story starts off as a continuation to its prequels. This is the battle of five armies for the gold hoarded by the dragon Smaug in the Lonely Mountain. The dwarves with their cousin takes up one side while the Elves want their ancestor's share. Bard the bowman and the people of Lake Town want their promised share. The darkside Azog and army from Gundabad makes up the last two armies. With this the battle of five armies becomes brutal while Bilbo Baggins tries to stop the great war which brings devastation to everyone who values gold more than home. 

Like all of his movies, Peter Jackson has emerged victorious again. The story went in a way which did make sense even if you haven't watched the prequels. There were a few flashbacks and some interesting details if you note carefully. There were times when the viewers are given a continuity of this movie with the Lord of the Rings Trilogy by providing teeny tiny clues. The good thief Bilbo Baggins is the only one who tries to lighten the mood. I couldn't have imagined another Bilbo other than Martin Freeman. Bard the bowman has been well played by Luke Evans. Legolas-Tauriel-Kili triangle poked up here and there. Tauriel wasn't even in the book and Peter Jackson has done a fantastic job of squeezing her into this trilogy. You will not get bored and that's a guarantee. For a one time watch it's a great movie. I am happy that Peter Jackson can finally get a long rest after back to back trilogies. 

[Movie Review] Oru Vadakkan Selfie

'Oru Vadakkan Selfie'. The name itself can give you the whole theme of the film. It all starts with a selfie. I watched this one with my friends and so it couldn't have gone better.

Directed by Prajith Karanavar, this film stars Nivin Pauly, Aju Varghese, Manjima Mohan, Neeraj Madhav, Vineeth Sreenivasan and many such striking actors. As I said earlier the whole plot starts with a selfie. Umesh (Nivin Pauly) is far below average engineering student or in other words, he flunks every exam. He has got two besties, Shaji (Aju) and Thankaprasad (Neeraj) who are worse than him. When Umesh sees his new neighbour Daisy (Manjima), he falls in love with her. Faith brings Umesh and Daisy together only to cause much greater havoc. When Daisy goes missing, the society turns against Umesh saying he's the traitor. Against all odds, Umesh decides to bring her back and clear his name. 

The whole movie is a potpourri of Thalassery and Chennai. One side you will find the down to earth city with its own culture, politics and society and the other side, you will find the growing market of film industries and urban lifestyle. The first half was unbearably hilarious with Shaji's slapstick comedies and Umesh's attitude against everything. The next half focuses on the plot and gets a bit serious but the comedies do come and go. The movie is a good watch with some major twists and focuses more on youth with numerous references to social media and stuffs. I couldn't say the film blew my mind or anything but it wasn't a waste of money either. I enjoyed it with my friends. Hope you enjoy it too. Thanks for reading... 

[Movie Review] The Fault in our Stars

Having read the book, I felt a strange desire to watch the movie. I have always wanted to know whether movie version is different from book version. Like most of the book based movies, 'The Fault in our Stars' was a cut and copy of the book and that made this a tiny bit dull but it was good and sticks well onto our mind for some appreciable amount of time.

Starring Shailene Woodley, Ansel Elgorth, Nate Wolff, this movie is about Hazel Grace Lancaster, a cancer survivor who meets Augustus Waters at the support group run by church. Hazel feels enchanted meeting Augustus who not only redefines her life but also gives her the chance to live, laugh and love once again. 

Actually, I wanted to see this movie soon after I put down the book but I ended up seeing this a little too late. Anyway, I was glad I saw it. The movie showcased some amazing places capturing the details so wonderfully that I was awe struck. This is an emotional movie but I didn't feel like shedding tears. Maybe it's because I read the book first or maybe it's because some of the actors were so lousy in their acting that the ended up crying for wrong reason. Being a romantic movie, one must not expect great storyline but I must say that 'The Fault in our Stars' was slow, simple but beautiful movie.

[Movie Review] Big Hero 6

 

One look at Baymax will force you to watch the entire movie. Being an oscar winner is not much of a reason to watch 'Big Hero 6' but Baymax is indeed a reason to watch this film and that's how I came to watch this film.

Directed by Don Hall and Chris Williams, 'Big Hero 6' is all about Hiro Hamada, a young prodigy with a craze for technology and robotics. When his brother introduces him to Baymax, a personal health care robot, Hiro's life changes from the dumb routine of a normal youngster. Soon enough, Hiro discovers dark evil tampering with the technology invented for the good of mankind.

'Big Hero 6' is an okay movie but I am not sure why it won Oscar. The nominees included much better ones. The thing about 'Big Hero 6' that attracted me most was Baymax. That thing was the heart and soul of the movie. Baymax often repeated this line, "I am Baymax, your personal heath care robot" and this became the hilarious part when he was low on his battery. The plum robot slightly had problems fitting into the super hero costume too. Like all animation movies, this movie had its own share of comedy. This movie was definitely something different from the usual range of animation plots and overall it's good for one-time watch.

[Movie Review] Without a clue

If you like Sherlock Holmes, you will definitely like this movie. "Without a clue" might be the funniest mystery genre movie that I saw. Before seeing this movie I didn't realise that mystery movies could be so funny. 

Starring Ben Kingsley and Michael Cane, this movie is total opposite of the classic Sherlock Holmes. Michael Cane portrays the character of a Sherlock Holmes who is a brilliant detective only physically meanwhile Ben Kingsley acts out the role of John Watson who is actually the mastermind behind the observations and deductions involved in solving a case. Being sick of the way Sherlock takes credit for all the hardwork, Watson decides to end his acquaintance with Sherlock and publish the truth through his own autobiography. At the verge of publishing and having come face to face with a new case, Watson realises that he is a mere person without Sherlock and also that people won't accept the truth. 

This movie had the classic plot which almost every mystery movie has but incidental and dialogical humour mostly prevailed till the end. Michael Cane doned the role of stupid Sherlock amazingly while Ben Kingsley could have done a bit better. I am not saying that he was entirely horrible but he could have stopped smiling at some weird places. Over all, it's an old movie but it was really hilarious. 

[Movie Review] The Hundred Foot Journey

Where to start? is my real question. Well this film is what you call a recipe for disaster. "The Hundred Foot Journey" is a comedy-drama film directed by Lasse Hallstrom which has been adapted from the book of the same name written by Richard C Morais. 

The story is about a boy named Hassan and his family who emigrated to France from Mumbai. They decided to open a restaurant with Indian cuisine but found themselves face to face with (hundred foot away from) a starred French restaurant run by Madame Mallory who is stubborn in her own ways to have the best restaurant in the town. Hassan's acquaintance with Marguerite, a sous chef from Mallory's restaurant and his keen sense of learning takes him to exciting levels in the cuisine world. 

The movie was a total waste of time. The dialogues were pitiful and sometimes irritating. When Hassan's dad says, "Brakes break for a reason", I was like what the heck is wrong with the man. Honestly, I felt like slapping the script writer when similar dialogues followed. The romance between Hassan and Marguerite was horrible. Marguerite was consumed with jealously almost till the last twenty minutes or so and after that it was 'voila' everything's okay with them. With all the French elegance and Indian tradition, I thought the film was going to be atleast beautiful but the only thing that kept me through the whole two hours was the food, the spicy savoury Indian food. Bon voyage... 

[Movie Review] How to Train Your Dragon 2

This movie is the sequel to the movie "How to train your dragon" and is interesting but not quite interesting as its prequel.

Directed by Dean DeBlois, this film includes Jay Baruchel, Kristen Wiig, Gerard Butler, Craig Ferguson and many other talented voices.

The movie begins by reminding viewers about the uniqueness of our hero's city. And that is "Dragons". Unlike the prequel, their city is not famous for hunting dragons but instead it's famous for dragon sports. Hiccup and Toothless in this movie looks a bit older. Toothless looks nearly the same but Hiccup has got some sprouting beard and looks much taller. 

This movie has brought in a new character which is sure to surprise us. Hiccup-Toothless team is sure to keep you entertained throughout the film. The movie is not as interesting as the first one but it is worth a watch.

[Movie Review] Interstellar

From the director Christopher Nolan comes another science fiction movie "Interstellar". The movie stars Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Jessica Chastain, Mackenzie Foy, John Lithgow, Timothee Chalamet and many others.

"Interstellar" tells the story of a man and his mission to find another place to thrive when our planet is at the verge of destruction. Cooper (Matthew McConaughey) finds himself destined to undertake a voyage along with astrophysicists and scientists to search a better place for mankind leaving his family far behind. 

The first half of the movie focuses mostly on his family. In the later half the movie grips more of science than of fiction and this can be a little irritating for the not-so-science-lovers. It will be a bit dry due to its complex science facts but the movie with its beautiful scenes is sure to make you cry. Christopher Nolan's magic has spilled a bit too much in "Interstellar" and the film is almost three hours long. The movie with its amazing actors keeps the viewers glued and as of whole it's not that bad either but it's definitely not Nolan's best. 

[Movie Review] Divergent

"Divergent" is a dystopian movie based on the author Veronica Roth's book by the same name. Each of the scenes in this movie is entirely from the book and thus, it is highly similar to the book regarding everything.

The movie stars Shailene Woodley, Theo James and Ansel Elgorth in lead roles. 'Divergent' is a movie about choices. The film starts off with a detailed narration of their world from Beatrice Prior (Shailene Woodley). On coming to the age, each teenager is free to choose a faction out of the five factions available - Abnegation, Candor, Erudite, Amity and Dauntless. Beatrice aka Tris is intrigued by the lifestyle of dauntless faction and she becomes a part of it on the choosing ceremony. Soon she is making new friends, getting weird tattoos, romancing with her trainer, Four(Theo James), learning secrets about factions and fighting to save her family, friends and creating a new space for the divergents.

The differences I found between the movie and the book is that the movie focuses on the story rather than on Tris - Four relation (which makes the book quite annoying). The second difference is that the movie is quite fast paced unlike the book and finally, its lot better than book thanks to the actors.

'Divergent' is greatly popular among teenagers all because of Veronica Roth's book but honestly speaking I wasn't much into the book. As of whole, 'Divergent' movie is definitely not a must watch but if you are looking for a dystopian movie spiced up with a bit of romance, courageous acts and fighting then this movie is all yours.

[Movie Review] Edge of Tomorrow

"Edge of tomorrow" is one of the best movies that I saw till-date. Being an 'alien invasion' kind of movie, I tried avoiding it but after watching this movie I confess that I was indeed a fool for avoiding it. From the name you won't even know what the film is about and because of it this amazing film lost many of its would-be viewers. This film is based on a Japanese novel "All you need is Kill" by Hiroshi Sakurazaka.

Staring Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt in lead roles, the film has got a strong female character. 'Edge of tomorrow' mainly focuses on three genres- action, time travel and alien invasion. The movie gives more space to the development of the characters instead of the usual wreckage caused by the aliens and this indeed is a better change. 

The movie starts of with Mr Cage (Tom Cruise) broadcasting his soldiers' new defence system for the country's protection. Soon after his communication, he ends up being one of such soldiers but fails having had neither training nor experience. Step by step, he realizes his mistakes and decides to amend it by literally going back. He seeks the help of Rita Vrataski (Emily Blunt) who is the only person who can get him out of his confusion circle and back on track to save the rest of mankind. 

This is indeed a movie which you should not miss out by any chance. 'Edge of Tomorrow' having got its gloomy title couldn't get the expected box office but it has managed to earn massive support and fans from all over the world. For the satisfaction of everybody they decided to add a tagline (Live. Die. Repeat.) which pretty much sums up everything about this movie. Be sure to check this one out!