Hugo: Clockwork

Hugo is a more of a tribute to cinema rather than a movie itself, by Martin Scorsese. The movie has a warm story which unfolds slowly and makes the audience immerse in its aroma one scene at a time. One of the best movies technically be it visual effects or sound design without the excessive use of CGI graphics michael bay style. Quite unlike the scorsese most know of. He pays his tribute to the magical art of filmmaking in a very subtle manner. Though gets slow in the middle and not if you want a fast paced 'entertainer', but rather a soft, subtle narrative which hits you emotionally. 

Hugo is a story of Hugo, a little orphan boy who lives at a strain station in paris and winds clocks for a living. He inherits a sort of a robot from his father and finds his purpose in life to be 'fixing' things and later people too. He meets Papa George who runs a toy shop at the station and has a past of his own which he does not wish to get reminded of. Then the movie takes a rather philosophical view of movie making as a form of magic and gets a bit biographical. Martin shows us what it is like to make a movie and how it is a privilege to be a part of this industry. He shows us how he got inspired by the movies and started off. How movies are just not about telling stories but to showcase your dreams and show them to the world. How 'magical' it is to be a part of this world. And he makes this tribute in the most subtle manner possible, without geeting too preachy about it. 

Technically, one of the finest movies in recent times, without the ho halla of CGI graphics or Jarring background score. Subtlety at its best. You feel so immersed in the sequences, its no joke. Recommended to watch in 3D and possibly an IMAX theater. Ben Kingsley is the pick of the lot in the performance department. He portrays the role of papa george without getting too emotional and preachy. Again, very subtle but impactful. Martin is the Hero of the movie actually because of his effortless style of storytelling and calmness by which the movie progresses. 

Though it's a fine piece of cinema, it does tend to feel a bit stretched in the middle, where you wish the plot should be unraveled a bit quicker.You seem to get lost in the narrative and would hope the second half to be a bit faster. Even if you go and grab popcorn, the movie stays there itself. Nothing really moves for a good 15-20 minutes. 

Overall: An absolute recommend to watch if you like subtlety in cinema and are a movie fan in general though gets a big boring in the middle. Not if you like fast paced mainstream entertainers only. Go for 3D.

Feel-O-Meter : 7.5/10

Moneyball: Worth every penny

Moneyball is the usual improbables coming together and winning sports movie masala but without the 'chak de india' factor. Why it works is because it has the usual plot but unusual treatment. It does not have any emotional motivational speeches. Does not have a sad story behind the success of the protagonist. Does not make him a hero of sorts. Basically it's a sports movie without the usual sport movie-ish-ness. Brilliant performance by Brad Pitt. Engrossing Screenplay. Good Direction and overall a light movie you wouldn't mind spending your money on. Though an oscar nominee, it's not one of those heavy oscar movie material where 'cinema' takes precedence over a 'movie'. Absolute Recommended to watch. Though it didn't win it, definitely my pick of the lot this year for it's right mix of lightness, entertainment, story and performances. Totally Feel Good movie of the year :)

Moneyball is about a baseball general manager (Brad Pitt) whose team does not have sufficient funds to compete with the big leaguers. His players are being bought by the other big teams and he is simply sick of sticking to the old rules of buying players and hoping they convert to wins. He meets a fresh Yale Economics graduate, who takes a different view on the things and they decide to buy 'value for money' players and take a statistical approach towards baseball. Everyone hates them, they are on a losing streak and then things change and they (whether or not) end up setting up a record of straight wins (or losses) in the league that year. Along the narrative, there is a backstory of Brad pitt being a young baseball player who leaves a stanford education for the money baseball pays and is a failure. He takes a vow of not taking decisions on money. At the end, he is made an offer where he would be the highest paid GM in the history of the sport. Does he accept? Watch the movie to know. 

The best part about the movie according to me was its non-preachiness. the usual melodrama, the rona dhona, the coming together as a team and all those melodramatic 'Sattar minute'  speeches are not present which essentially are considered the very backbone of every sports movie. That's what i loved most. It's a sports movie unlike the other sports movies. It's not about the losers getting motivated and then winning. It's about taking a different approach towards the game and then sticking to it and coming out as a winner. It's not the sad story of a sports coach. It touches the point but is not clingy about it. It's not being too emotional helps the cause else it would have been yet another and it is not. 

The plot itself is the backbone of the movie. It could not have been half the movie it is, had the things that took place, had not taken place. The actual story is very interesting and how the events unravel makes the plot interesting and the director's job much easier. It's not difficult to like a movie when you are absorbed in the story as an audience. Brad Pitt is amazing. Subtle but amazing. He does not go overboard anywhere. He just plays the part as it should have been. Taking it easy like a normal sports GM rather than being a Hero of the game. He believed in something and stuck with it, that's it. He wasn't a hero fo some sort for a larger than life image and that's what he does. Does not portray the character being any larger than he is supposed to be. Though that does not make him an oscar contender but yeah, does well for the movie definitely. 

Well, there was hardly anything that i didn't like about the movie or may be i was too immersed in how the plot would unfold in the end. Then the end credit and a final song sun by the girl adds to the overall feel once the movie is over. On the negative side if you are looking for an award winning movie which makes you think and love the 'cinema' aspect of movie making then moneyball is not the one to go for. Watch The Artist instead. And yeah, i wished that the movie had some more dramatisation especially in the last half an hour. The last half an hour should have been about 45 minutes atleast. Could cut down the earlier 15 and give it to the last part and it would have been more enjoyable. The last 15 minutes actually turn out to be the best. 

Overall: A pretty neat 'feel-good' sports movie without the usual sports movie masala. Absolutely Recommended.

Feel-O-Meter: 9/10

Kahaani: Interesting Indeed

Kahaani is one of those suspense thriller which keep you engrossed in the narration throughout the length and make you think of a million plausible endings to keep you busy . Grippy screenplay, Engrossing Characters, Fine performances, Amazing Background Score, Good Cinematography but may be about 15 minutes longer than ideal. Absolutely Recommended for a watch this weekend. 

Kahaani as you would already be aware by now (after the 753987435 appearances on TV including daily soaps and 65376347 interviews by Vidya to promote the movie) is a story of a wife who is ooking for her lost husband in Kolkata.There are 7-8 other characters which keep getting introduced one by one at constant intervals which help the movie in taking those essential twists and turns necessary to keep you guessing. The plot unravels slowly and in the end you seem to be satisfied with the climax and do not get irritated by it (as in the case of some ill executed mysteries, where you go.. WTF where did this come from types). Offers enough in the screenplay to keep you interested in the unraveling of the mystery towards the end. 

Though screenplay is no doubt the soul of the movie, good performances by almost all the actors help the cause too. The best part about the performances was that the actors never look like actors, but characters they are portraying. May be a lot because almost all of them are new or have done only 1-2 cameos in movies earlier. Its Vidya all the way and though you may seem that too much of bhaav has been given to her, she does 100% justice to it and comes out a winner. Even characters which are just ancillary to the plot have delivered the goods and that's the biggest strength of the movie after screenplay. Its a consolidated performance by the whole cast rather than one or two stars shining and rest just fulfiling the formality. 

Credit also is due to Vishal Shekhar for providing an absolutely mesmerising background score. It involves the audience even more, as if it's taking the scene to a next level altogether. If the scene is 90%, then the score takes it to 100 and you get that overall 'feel' from the movie. No Jarring sounds, No Hans Zimmery shor sharaaba, Just perfect according to the scene. The Cinematography captures Kolkata beautifully and towards the end you realize why kolkata plays such an important role in the narrative. Why it couldn't have been set in delhi or mumbai but kolkata only. 

Though due to so many characters being introduced every now or then, sometimes you are like 'Ab bass karo yaar, ab bata hi do kya hua arnab bagchi ko' coz with every introduction the plot takes a turn and you seem to be going farther away from guessing the plausible ending and towards the second half you almost give up. That is when you seem to mind the length of the movie. May be about 15 mins shorter in the second half and coming to the point slightly quickly could have made it even better. 

Overall: Very Good in every aspect with enough twists and turns to keep you engrossed. Recommended.

Feel-O-Meter: 7/10 

Dear long distance relationships, why don't you bloody leave me alone???.. oh wait... damn it... #getit

Paan Singh Tomar: Bandit King.. Well Not Really..

Paan Singh Tomar tries very hard to be in the same league as Omkara and Bandit Queen. It gets close but not close enough. It just seems trying too hard to be another omkara and misses its own self. Though it has a very gripping and interesting story with a Very powerful performance by Irrfan Khan and pretty neat screenplay, but it still left a lot more to be desired (atleast by me). Though on paper it's a very moving story but I didn't feel moved for PST and it felt much longer than its 2 hours 15 minutes length. A Good Watch nonetheless, but not as great as the feedback you might have got. (Or may be it's just because I had very high expectations). A bit more emotional, A bit less stretchy in the middle and it could have been my choice for this year's Oscars entry from India but that wasn't the case. 

Paan Singh Tomar is the story of.. well.. Paan Singh Tomar an Armyman, who participated for India in Asian Games Steeple Chase event. Returned to his village after retiring from the army and 'circumstances' forced him to turn into a Dacoit (Or Bhaghi as he calls it). Though the movie on paper is very moving and you want to feel for PST, but while on screen you don't seem to feel his pain. May be that's the way the director envisioned the lead character. May be he thought of him as not very emotional, someone who did not have any emotional connect with neither the sport he played or his family and Irrfan played the character in the same way as well. Very to the point, straightforward and when you come across so un-emotional, it's hard to feel for such a character. He seems forced to become a dacoit, but the circumstances don't seem to move you a lot. His Family members are dying, He is struggling in between the red tape of bureaucracy and police-gangster nexus but still you don't feel his pain. Atleast I didn't. There were hardly any emotional moments which could justify his turning into a dacoit. Or may be I expected the portrayal to be a bit more filmy. May be he turned into one, for the money and not because of circumstances as much. May be he wasn't the hero he was portrayed as. May be he was just an athlete who got drawn into it and was not forced into. Who Knows the true story, but I atleast didn't feel the character suffers as much to be pushed into it. 

I am not saying that Irrfan has not done justice to the character. He is absolutely brilliant and may end up winning an award or two as well, but my problem was more with the director than the actor. Also, i felt there was a bit more Irrfan in PST than PST in Irrfan. It's like Irrfan portraying PST on screen rather than him 'being' PST. He is one of the best actors in India and I just expected less of his 'Kaa bhaiya' and be more character-ish. Not to take away anything from his performance though. He is the King of the movie and all others go un-noticed. You hardly seem to remember anybody else. This is where it is not in the same league as Omkara. Coz though Omkara has the pivotal role in the plot, you seem to remember all others as well. But in PST, there is no one, you can remember apart from PST. But may be that's the way it is supposed to be, a biopic about him only and not about anyone else. 

I know that Tigmanshu Dhulia is considered one of the finest of our generation but I still feel he could have done much better in this. He could have shown the emotional side of PST and dealt more with the circumstances that lead him to become a dacoit rather than concentrated more on the humour or his sportsmanly credentials. Also, the movie in the end is shown as a dedication to the lesser known sports persons but i don't know. For me, it just wasn't emotional enough. For me, Chak De was much more emotional than this. Lagaan was as emotional a sports movie can be or has been in bollywood. PST was just not there in the same league. 

Overall : A pretty good plot with a phenomenal performance by Irrfan Khan. Recommended to Watch. But don't expect the kick-assiness you might have heard of about the movie. 

Feel-O-Meter : 6/10