Jack The Giant Slayer (2013) Review by Shivom Oza – Mood Slayer!

2/5 Stars

The fantasy-adventure film is based on the 'Jack the Giant Killer' and 'Jack and the Beanstalk' fairy tales. 

Although the performances by the cast members are up to the mark, the screenplay and the ghastly visual effects terribly let the film down. The iconic fairy tale is not well replicated in the film.

Jack (Nicholas Hoult) is a young farmer living in the countryside. Jack has grown up on the legends about King Eric destroying the Giants and keeping them at bay till his last breath. He is so fascinated by this fairy-tale that he believes it to be true that Giants exist.

On a stormy night, when the young adventurous princess Isabelle (Eleanor Tomlinson) lands at his doorstep, a catastrophe occurs. Earlier in the day, Jack had traded his horse for a few beans, and had been promised a handsome amount of money the next day. However, during the barter deal, Jack was warned to not let the beans go anywhere near the water.

But, coming back to the night, one of the beans comes in contact with the rain water and suddenly, you have stalks creeping out of the ground. The creepers elevate Jack’s house as well and keeping growing higher until they are out of sight. Jack tries to rescue the princess, who has been trapped inside the house, but he suffers a massive fall. All the king’s men gather around Jack the next day to inquire about the princess’ whereabouts.

Soon, Jack and a few of king’s trusted men begin their quest to get the princess back to the kingdom. And then, on the top of where the creepers end, the Giants surface!

The film highlights all the bad parts of the legendary fairy-tale. Moreover, the parts which were good are kind of squandered in the big-screen adaptation. After a point, you stop bothering about Jack, Isabelle or the people who have to bear the brunt of the Giants’ fury. As for the giants, one word that strikes you looking at their appearance and behaviour is ‘gross’! They don’t look scary at all! The writing and the visual effects terribly let this film down. Bryan Singer doesn’t quite make the cut with this film.

A promising premise turns out to become a yawn-fest!

Shivom Oza

Ek Ruka Hua Faisla (1986) Review by Shivom Oza – 12 Power-packed Performances!

3.5/5 Stars

‘Ek Ruka Hua Faisla’, based on the legendary Hollywood film, the Sidney Lumet-directed ’12 Angry Men’ (1957), comprises one of the most compelling, gripping and praiseworthy performances among Hindi films.

12 power-packed performances, superb dialogue and screenplay writing form the crux of this entertaining and meaningful film.

12 men sit inside a closed room to discuss the fate of one 19-year-old youth’s life. The boy has been convicted for his father’s murder. While the court has already sentenced him to death, keeping the convict’s young age in mind, it also recommends setting up a committee, comprising 12 men, to decide whether he should be given death or not. An interesting condition put forth by the judge is that a final decision will be reached only when all the twelve jurors agree upon it. Even if one jury member is against the vote given by 11 jurors, the discussion will go on till a consensus is reached. At the beginning of the discussion, 11 members vote for the death sentence, while one man decides that he must be completely convinced before he can put someone’s life on the line. Initially, the eleven jurors are agitated to no end at having been made to sit on a needless discussion when they have better things to do; such as watch a film, carry out their businesses, go for recreational practices etc.  However, this one adamant person wants to start the discussion right from the beginning, putting forth every proof and possibility that can lead them to the truth.

The twelve actors, which are a part of this committee, Deepak Qazir Kejriwal, Amitabh Srivastava, Pankaj Kapur, S.M. Zaheer, Subhash Udghate, Hemant Mishra, M.K. Raina, K.K. Raina, Subbiraj, Shailendra Goel, Annu Kapoor and Aziz Qureshi, are beyond brilliant. Their acting ability along with the brilliant writing by director Basu Chatterjee and Ranjit Kapur (dialogues) keep you intrigued through its 2-hour-duration. The film, while forming a gripping thriller, is also an important satire which picks up relevant social issues. Although this film is a remake of '12 Angry Men', it must have been a tough ask to adapt it into a Hindi language feature film and more importantly, get suitable actors to play the 12 jurors. Credit must be given to Basu Chatterjee, because of whom many Indians got to discover the brilliant original.

The only two weaknesses in the film are; abrupt shot changes and jerky camera movements. The editing and the cinematography, if executed in a better manner, would have rendered this film absolutely flawless.

The satirical presentation throws light upon various evils; poverty, corruption, bureaucracy, class and communal discrimination among others. The dialogues, the finer nuances in the characters’ mannerisms and the ‘edge-of-the-seat’ screenplay are the clear-cut winners, which make this film a must, must watch.

Shivom Oza

Silver Linings Playbook (2013) Review by Shivom Oza – Several Silver Linings On Show!

3.5/5 Stars

‘Silver Linings Playbook’ has received eight Oscar nominations, including Best Picture and Best Director (David O. Russell). It has also managed to bag all the nominations in the four acting categories for Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, Robert De Niro and Jackie Weaver. The film is about a dysfunctional family, or rather families, and imperfect individuals.

The film encompasses three genres – romance, comedy and drama. The best aspect about the film is that it does not paint a rosy picture about any character’s life. Instead, it dwells upon imperfections and harsh realities. Jennifer Lawrence delivers one of the best performances of the year in a film, which is filled with powerhouse performers. The film is brutally truthful when it comes to highlighting problems and is equivalently delightful when it comes to offering solutions. Quite easily, the ‘SLICE-OF-LIFE’ film of the year.  

After an eight-month stint in a mental institution, Pat Soliano (Bradley Cooper), who has had a history of physical assaults, emotional outbursts, rocky equations with wife Nikki (Brea Bee), moves back in with his parents, Pat Sr. (Robert De Niro) and Dolores (Jackie Weaver), and tries to get his act together (which includes getting back with his estranged, unfaithful ex-wife).

Pat Sr. and Dolores are facing financial problems of their own in addition to dealing with their son’s mental instability. Then, Pat meets Tiffany (Jennifer Lawrence), who happens to be his ex-wife Nikki’s best friend Veronica’s (Julia Stiles) younger sister. Tiffany’s husband loses his life in a car crash and this creates devastating repercussions on her mental health. The film is about how the two unstable individuals, Pat and Tiffany, bond and help each other get over their tumultuous pasts!

There are uncomfortable instances, notably the ugly physical altercation between Pat and his father, Tiffany’s emotional outbursts at Pat, Pat’s desperation to reconcile with his ex-wife, which will make you cringe and move you at the same time. The story at different points will evoke different emotions – sadness, anger, helplessness, laughter, contentment and in the end, that little bit of redemption!

David O. Russell’s screenplay has been adapted from the novel of the same name by Matthew Quick. The film is not just about a closer-to-reality story and terrific performances. It is as much about brilliant technical achievement in editing, cinematography, choreography and music composing. Cooper’s and Lawrence’s imperfect dance-piece in the climactic moments will definitely get you rooting for the pair!

This film about imperfect people has its imperfections. Don’t know whether it’s Oscar-worthy or not, but it definitely deserves a watch.

Shivom Oza

A Good Day To Die Hard (2013) Review by Shivom Oza - A Bad Film For 'Die Hard'

2/5 Stars

In the fifth installment of the 'Die Hard' film series, 'A Good Day To Die Hard', Bruce Willis is back as John McClane. This time the American cop travels to Russia to help his son Jack McClane crack down a terrorist plot.

Although the action pieces are well-conceived, shot and executed, the story just doesn't make the cut. Back up the ordinary plot with below-the-par dialogues and performances, and the end result is a disappointing film. Die Hard 5 lets the 'Die Hard' title down, big time.

While Die Hard 4/ 'Live Free Or Die Hard' had Officer John McClane (Bruce Willis) rescuing his daughter, this one involves his estranged son Jack McClane (Jai Courtney). Jack has been staying in Russia as a spy working for the CIA. He has been working to prevent a major terror plot. Also, he is supposed to protect the Russian political prisoner Yuri Kumarov (Sebastian Koch), whose life is threatened by Viktor Chagarin (Sergei Koleshnikov), a corrupt, influential Russian official and Alik (Radivoje Bukvić), who is presumably a gang-lord.

John learns about the impending danger to his son's life and he sets off for Russia. Over there, the father-son duo comes face-to-face with all these troublemakers. What follows are numerous gun-shots, car crashes, explosions among other novel action sequences. The plot is a let-down. The story was equally implausible in the fourth film and one realizes leaps of faith need to be taken into consideration for such big-ticket actioners, but Die Hard 5 is just not gripping enough. 

The only bright spots in the film are the wonderful action pieces and some witty banter between Willis and Courtney. Most dialogues focus on Willis' age, baldness, gumption etc. At other times, he is taking jibes at his son. You may welcome a few scenes with a reluctant guffaw, but it doesn't take too long for the proceedings to become outright boring. Director John Moore has made a good action-scene catalog. Feature film, not quite! 

This film should disappoint 'Die Hard' loyalists as well!

Shivom Oza

Murder 3 (2013) Review by Shivom Oza – The Bhatts Come Of Age!

3/5 Stars

‘Murder 3’ manages to incorporate all the elements of a ‘typical’ Bhatt film – great music, beautiful locations, decent performances, at least one horror element, interesting and improbable twists, ample number of lovemaking sequences and unintentionally funny dialogues. Starring Randeep Hooda, Aditi Rao Hydari and Sara Loren, the film is about how romances are marred by circumstances. Or something on those lines!

Vishesh Bhatt’s directorial debut packs a punch. Although there are several sequences where the tackiness does show through, the film largely remains a good effort. While it is not known if the story has been lifted from another source, it must be said that the plot is quite different and intriguing.

Vikram (Randeep Hooda) is a struggling photographer who moves with his girlfriend Roshni (Aditi Rao Hydari) from Cape Town, South Africa to Mumbai, India, in order to get a better career opportunity. On reaching Mumbai, Vikram gets enamoured by the lifestyle of the rich and the glamorous and gets too pally with one of his female colleagues. A few days later, Roshni mysteriously disappears. A grieving Vikram tries to pull back his life together and gets involved with a waitress Nisha, played by Sara Loren.

Now, who was the female colleague? Where did Roshni disappear? How did Nisha crop up suddenly? These are questions which will be best answered if you go watch the film yourself.

The film has its share of highs and low(s). While the lone low remains several badly-written scenes, the highs are far too many.  The film has great music by Pritam (terrific sounds of KK, Mustafa Zahid, Nikhil D’Souza and Shafqat Amanat Ali) and the guest composers of the popular band, Roxen. The screenplay, co-written by Mahesh Bhatt and Amit Masurkar, is crisp and gripping. Devendra Murdeshwar’s editing deserves lavish praise as at two hours, the film manages to keep you on the edge of your seats and the climax’s flourish is the icing on the cake. There are a few scenes wherein the humour creeps up unintentionally. However, these are minor blips and don’t affect the film much. Randeep Hooda has delivered a terrific performance. Even the female leads, Sara Loren and Aditi Rao Hydari, have done a fine job. One only wishes that the makers of the film would have promoted it differently. From the promos, ‘Murder 3’ did seem like another sleaze fest. However, the story is clearly the winner here. Films made by Bhatts usually end up making money, irrespective of the quality of their work or the mandate given by the reviewers. ‘Murder 3’ is a fine film and one hopes, that the Bhatts, who release a number of films in a year, don’t get complacent and keep getting better with every attempt. Vishesh carries forward the baton from here and going by his debut, things are looking bright for the production house.

‘Murder 3’ is not just another ‘Murder’ film, which promises a lot of skin-show. There’s good content, thankfully! 

Shivom Oza

Zero Dark Thirty (2013) Review by Shivom Oza – Half-baked Real-life Drama

3/5 Stars

9/11/2001 is a forgettable date. There’s no particular emotion that you can attach to this event. The first real feeling of being ‘unsafe’ crept into our consciousness when the most powerful country in the world was attacked by a bunch of terrorists and almost brought down to its knees.

Barely a few days after 9/11, a gruesome face was revealed to the world. That face was supposed to be responsible for the terrorist strikes, which brought down the World Trade Centre twin towers and took over 3000 lives. Soon, the face became synonymous with everything evil in the world. He became the ‘mascot’, so to speak, for terrorism. It was none other than the Al Qaeda leader, Osama Bin Laden. The US called for his head and began a mission to hunt the man down and eliminate him. In this film, the team, which is hunting down the most dreaded terrorist in the world, is spearheaded (although not initially) by Maya (Jessica Chastain). Other CIA persons include Dan (Jason Clarke), Joseph Bradley (Kyle Chandler) and Jessica (Jennifer Ehle). The film concentrates on the major events that lead to the killing of Osama in May 2011. In the interim, we are shown how the CIA goes about doing their job, which includes interrogation, building a good network in a foreign country, keeping an eye out for every possible clue and identifying connections between statements given by criminals/terrorists. It is a tough job, and the film shows it as it is. However, what the audiences are made to miss out on is proper explanation about every clue that the CIA gets in its run-up to finding Bin Laden. Names are thrown in, major terrorist strikes such as the 2005 London bombing and the Marriott Hotel blast among others are featured, more names are thrown in, assassination attempts are made on the CIA officers and more names are thrown in. This entire Osama manhunt is an absolutely brilliant subject to capture on celluloid. However, trying to fit in 8 years into an hour-and-half (regarding the first half of the film) is an impossible job. If one wishes to educate the viewer, more information should be dispensed through the work of art (film, book anything!). Here, it’s just one random event followed by another and suddenly, voila! We found Bin Laden’s carrier! YOU could have, but how do WE know? The main purpose for anyone to watch this particular film would be, besides being entertained, to actually know about how the US went about looking for the Al Qaeda leader. Sadly, it is not clear enough. 

The second-half, in comparison, is way more superior, owing to the fact that this section only covers a year or so in the lead-up to the final attack. It’s much more understandabe, swift-paced and follows a linear path (as all real-life based films should, ideally!). The actual mission ‘Operation Geronimo’ is definitely going to keep you on the edge of your seats. The final 30 minutes of the film are gripping and filled with emotionally-charged moments. As far as the performances go, everybody in the cast has done a fine job. Chastain has delivered a brilliant performance. However, it is not the best of the year. The locations could have been a huge problem. All the ‘Pakistan’ areas shown in the film were actually shot in Chandigarh, India. The locations have been perfectly altered to be made to look like they are cities in Pakistan. There are a few blips, such as shops bearing Hindu names and cars of Indian-make, but you can’t pan them down for everything. Their efforts to convert a small section of Chandigarh into Pakistan are commendable.

The screenplay, as already pointed out, bears several flaws. This film could have actually been a documentary series. The subject, as already mentioned, is first-rate and the story deserves to be told in a truthful, elaborate manner. 'Zero Dark Thirty' can be watched for entertainment. However, to know what actually happened, start looking for books and articles. Kathryn Bigelow, the director, has made a half-baked real-life drama. It is highly unsurprising that she hasn't bagged an Oscar nomination for Best Direction.

Just a thought - Don't believe the solution to terrorism lies in capital punishments, air raids, counter bombings, revenge and retribution. Let’s give peace a chance, till they don’t start doing the same.

Shivom Oza

Satyakam (1969) Review by Shivom Oza - Dharmendra, Dialogues Steal The Show

3/5 Stars

The film 'Satyakam' is a Dharmendra-Sanjeev Kumar starrer, directed by Hrishikesh Mukherjee. Another slice-of-life representation by the legendary auteur!

The 1969 film, based on a Bengali novel of the same title, written by a renowned writer Narayan Sanyal, is a poignant tale about how a righteous individual had to give up his life, while trying to lead a truthful life. Dharmendra, Sanjeev Kumar, Sharmila Tagore and Ashok Kumar deliver brilliant performances in this melancholic drama.

The film revolves around Satyapriya Acharya's (Dharmendra) struggle to choose between right and wrong. For him, there has never been any choice - it has always been concurrent with the foundations of truth and honesty. Be it a normal class lecture, a work assignment, a building contract, a woman's chastity, accepting an 'impure' lady or any other matter, Satyapriya has always chosen the 'right' path. And for this, he has always ended up bearing the brunt of this self-centred society of the newly independent country. Satyapriya's fight against all the corrupt elements of the society takes such an intense turn that he starts questioning himself. Over his journey, his grandfather Satyasharan Acharya (Ashok Kumar), wife Ranjana (Sharmila Tagore) and his friend Narendra Sharma (Sanjeev Kumar) play an important, not necessarily instrumental, role.

An interesting line uttered by Dharmendra's Satyapriya in this film goes on the lines of 'Honest is not a policy. In fact, dishonesty is a policy. Honesty is religion to me.' The film is filled with similar thought-provoking gems. The writing team, comprising Bimal Dutta, Rajinder Singh Bedi and the original author Narayan Sanyal, come up with a profound story and screenplay. Hrishikesh Mukherjee has pulled off this satire, albeit with a tragic undertone, with impeccable perfection. There are a few blips on the way - the length, the underwhelming music and several editing errors. However, these mistakes can largely be attributed to the era in which the film was made.

It is a compelling watch and there are few scenes, which will certainly give you goose bumps if not a few tears. Dharmendra and the dialogue writers are clearly the winners here!

Shivom Oza