Review of "9 April"

Genre :Action/Drama/True story
Length :90 minutes
Ratings :7/10

I am not a big fan of war movies. I hate the amaranthine firings, the gory scene, blood stained corpses,the blasting of dust and fear in the eyes of the soldiers. However, there are few exceptions like SAVING PRIVATE RYAN, THE THIN RED LINE. These are some of the war movies that I enjoy fully. Another war movie that I like very much is the 9 April 1940. 

The movie is based on Operation Weserubung-the German invasion of Denmark and Norway. The German had vanquished the Denmark in less than six hour (the shortest battle the German had faced in the Second World war). The movie tells the Denmark side of story in which they are defeated very badly by the German. So, it is a new things that a vanquished side is showing how they were overcomed. Yet there  is dignity in which they were overrun. The movie begins with the close shot of the melancholic second lieutenant driving towards the training centre. The centre was for training of motorcycle infantry and bicycle infantry of Denmark. Yes, you have read it ride the Bicycle infantry of Denmark. There was an impending dan

ger which everyone seemed to know yet they were not ready to admit it. The Germans attack Denmark and overcome it within a few hour. However, the movie focussed on a group of bicycle infantry unit. How they bravely followed order, how they fought the German at three brief battle with the German, how they escaped and finally how they were imprisoned by the German. After they became prisoner of war, a general soldier told them why they engaged in gun fight as the Denmark government has surrendered few hour ago. This scene was worth watching because they realize that they were fighting in futile.

 The Director has produced an astounding movie. The way the ominous war, the impatient wait for the war, the fear in the eyes of the soldier, their heartbreak and the close up shot. All these things makes it an impressive watch. The pace of the movie was very slow, however the Director has able to sustain the suspense in the air to hang till the end of the movie. The slowness of the movie has added a great flavour in this amazing movie. The actors have given a magnificient performance. 

So, it is a film worth watching. 

Review of the film "Manjhi : The Mountain Man"

Genre    :Biopic/drama
Length  :2 hours
Ratings :7/10

It is said that Faith can move mountain. The saying has literally been brought to life by Dasrath Manjhi(the man from Gehlore, Bihar). He is the legend who carves road out of mountain. His tools were not heavy machinery but consists only of primitive tools (a chisel and a hammer). It takes him 22 full years to realise his dream of connecting his backward, underdeveloped village to a nearby city named Wazirpur. Indeed he is the personification of grit, determination, perseverance and ambition. What made him takes up such an impossible task? It is the death of his dear wife that have given him the required strength to do such a herculean assignment. Did he get any help from the government or the people? No, he was jeered at and he was also imprisoned for destroying the mountain. In spite of the above impediment he continues to cut  the path in the mountain. When he dies he dies a Hero. In his honour, the Government of Bihar has given him a state funeral.

The story is not a typical box-office one as there is neither drama nor comedy. However, the Director Ketan Parikh has turn this dry and drudging tale into a enjoyable one. This is does with by developing the tale elegantly from the way Dasrath Manjhi (Nawajuddin Siddique) and Fagunia (Radhika Apte) met, the way they fell in love with each other and the way Dasrath eloped Fagunia. It made the movie alluring. The opening scene of the movie was very dramatic with the protagonist's back facing the camera in a blood soaked ragged cloth looking up the mountain and a ray of sunlight peeping through the cloud. It prognosticated what is to be followed.

About the casting Nawajuddin Siddique came into limelight with the movies like Gang of Wasseypur and Badlapur. Though the part were not as brilliant as the above mentioned film he has to undergo many trouble for this movie like rolled up in mud, drink muddy water from dirty puddle eat green leave (no I am not talking of Man vs Wild).  He did justice to his part. Radhika Apte came to Bollywood with a sex comedy Hunterr (don't watch this movie). He put on the sex quotient with the scanty cloth. Further, he got the look of a common woman yet she is some kind of sexiness in her.

The technical crew has done their homework very well except the Computer Graphic team. Produced under the banner of Viacomm 18 and supported by NFDC. Kudos to them for popularising unsung hero of India.

I would suggest you to watch and takes inspiration from a great son of India.

Review of short movie "el Empleo" (The Employment)

Genre :Short Film/Comedy 

Length : 6.24 min

Ratings: 9/10

What makes us a human being? It is the consciousness, joy, sorrow, pain, pleasure that makes us human. If we take out these ingredients from life then our life will be dull, lethargic, boorish, and above all we become mechanical being. We will be like zombies. This is the message that the short animated silent movie "el Empleo" (meaning The Employment) wants to deliver. 

Directed amazingly by Santiago Buo Grasso. He is an Argentinian animator and director. Besides this movie he has directed two other short films viz., Padre and Hello. The movie " el Empleo"  has won 7 awards in many film festivals like Annecy International Animated Film Festival, Havana Film Festival, Hiroshima International Animation Festival,etc. The movie was produced in 2008.  

The movie opens with closeup of a watch having a human being with its two hand acting as the minute and hour hands. The alarm rings and a hand slowly puts it off. Then, a long face with half open eyes devoid of any passion is shown. He shaves in front of mirror with the hand having no face holding the mirror for him. He drinks his coffee on a chair and table of human beings. He goes off to work neatly dress. He waits for the taxi. However, the taxi is  no car but is human being carrying him on the back. He reaches his office and the door is also made up of human beings. In the office he lays down on his stomach in front of a door. Then a human steps on his back, rubs off his shoes and went inside. The movie ends here. 

The movie is poetic in character both storywise and technically. You can see that people are exploited by the superior. As it can be seen in the movie. He sits on the chair and table made of human.  It represent exploitation of weak and poor by the strong and rich people. Further, it also highlights that what it seen from the outside is not always true inside. The long face man although neatly dressed become the door mat in the end. If you lose your passion you will become mechanical as the long face man represent. He lacks the passion for his work. 

The movie is silent as zombie, dead people, weak and poor people has no voice. The light was dim representing lack of energy. The pace of the movie was lethargic representing the whole theme. 

I will suggest everyone to watch this wonderfully made short movie. 

Review of "SUPERBOB"

Genre: Romantic/Comedy
Cast: Brett Goldstein (Bob), Catherine Tate (Theresa), Natalia Tena (Doris)
Running Time: 1 h 25 m
Rating:6/10

Great things often comes in a surprising manner. It has been true since eternal time. This is exactly be said about Superbob which has no star cast, little Computer Graphic and no sex at all. It is a interesting movie if you can comprehend the hidden meaning.
The film begins with a man being hit by a meteor and he eventually turns into a super hero. The funny thing about this super hero is that he is a British
Civil Servant. Although he has the superpower he can't do anything without the approval of the concerned authority. He gets holiday decided by the United Nations. He can't work (read save people) on this day. The movie takes a turn when Superbob refuses to shake hand with a high ranking official of another country. During this time while he is waiting for his girlfriend to arrive the gossip mongering media speculate how dangerous he is. He is often described as weapon of mass destruction. The two countries were at logger head. The movie ends when he finds his love and he refuses to be a civil servant. This is the story of the movie.
The message of the movie is that anybody can be a super hero like the man being hit by the meteor. When he tries to do great and noble things people will obstruct his/her grand idea. People will try to do every thing in the world possible to bring him/her on the line. If he/she could bear this intermediate moment then he/she will definitely become the super bob.
Directed beautifully by Jon Drever. This is his first full length feature film. He has directed the documentray WeRide: The Story of Snowboarding, and short film like Tequila, Manland,etc. The pace of the film is somewhat slow but you will enjoy the movie. Nothing spectacular is there in the movie except the plain and simply beautiful storytelling. If you are looking for a enjoyable movie devoid of sex and violence then this is definitely the movie to watch.

Review of "The Signal" (2014)

Genre: Science fiction/Thriller

Cast : Laren Fishburne, Brenton Thwaites, Olivia Cookes, Beau Knapp.

I have seen movies which are difficult to understand and movies are easy to comprehend. However, the "Signal" is a movie which is neither too difficult nor to easy to make the story.

Directed by William Eubank. He is an American film director, screenwriter and cinematographer. The movie premiere in the Sundance Film Festivals.

The story is about three kids/teens (Nic Eastman, Haley Peterson and Jonah Breck) who are going on a road trip. They are the students of MIT and had been following a hacker with the name "NOMAD". They chase him down at night in a abandoned shaggy house. After an horrific and unexplained event they find themselves in a bizzare institute and Haley is in coma. Nic was questioned again and again by Dr. Wallace Damon in the institute. They escaped from the institute very easliy. However, Jonah Breck was killed by a bullet. The last part of thew movie revealed that they have been abducted by the so called alien. That is the story for you.

The editing was okay and the cinematography was good. The good part about this movie is the location namely the lush green forest where the Nic Eastman (the hero) jog and the breathtaking canyon over which a long bridge is built. Besides that there is nothing intersting in this movie. The movie suffer from the following weak links. Nic Eastman who could not walk but he can drive which is amazing. Further, the two able friends stay in the car while the lame Nic go inside a store and purchased coffee for the able friend and he fells down. Further, in the movie it was shown that Nic was able to walk on his own. It was not highlighted how he couldn't walk. Further, I don't know the reason why the alien abducted them and did some weird experiment on them. Nothing is clear in this movie except that it is not a movie to watch.

The storyline is very weak. The thrilling part is not very thrilling. So I would suggest you all to skip this movie and make your leisure a pleasant one.  

Review of “THE ARTIST”

     It is said that action speaks louder than word. The film “the  Artist” glorifies this saying. It is a film that is based on the action not on words. It is a black and white movie as well as a silent movie. So whatever the actors want to convey they had to do so through their acts alone. Indeed they had succeeded in doing so. This film has won the Oscar award for the best film for the year 2012. Really, it deserves it.

     You can learn a lot from this film if you are willing to learn. First of all, the film has proved true that the greater the risk the greater is the reward. The Artist is a silent movie. Being a silent movie the film crew has taken a great risk in today's world of multimedia and technology. It has been richly awarded with many rewards.

     Secondly, the film proved that “nothing fails like success” (quoted by Robin Sharma). The protagonist of the movie Mr. George Valentine was once the apple of everyone’s eye when the silent movie was in vogue. But due to his pride, his unwillingness to adapt to the change in circumstances he finds himself in trouble.  He lost his popularity, his fan, and moreover the work as an actor.

     Thirdly, the movie also preaches that you should constantly innovate yourself or be ready to perish. As the hero of the movie find out through the difficult situation when he stops innovating. He finds it ridiculous the idea of the talkies. Soon, the audience finds out that talkies made better sense than silent movie. The hero finds himself out of work. However at the end the hero along with the heroine gives the concept of musical movie to the world of cinema.

     Fourthly, you can get a lesson in history also. The Great Depression of the 1920s, the birth of talkies, the emergence of the musical movie have all been shown in this movie. Thus the movie is steep in knowledge as well as in wisdom.

     Well, I would like to thank Mr Michel Hazanavicius the director of the movie for directing such a wonderful movie. Next I appreciate the risk taking ability of Thomas Langgman, the producer of the movie for producing such a great movie. The actor specially the Jean Dujardin (George Valentine), Uggy (the dog) and Berenice Bejo (Percy Miller) have done a tremendous acting. They have uplifted the movie to its present height.

     So it is a must watched for discerning audience.

Review of the FANTASTIC FLYING BOOK OF Mr. MORRIS LESSMORE.

A thought provoking short animation film from Moonbot studios. It has won the Oscar Award for the Best Short Animation film 2012. Indeed, it has all the ingredients of an award winning movie. A silent short animation film that speaks so beautifully without any sound from the characters. Only the background music as well as the acting of the characters will make up for the voice that is not there. Who needs to hear when you can listen with your own eyes? This is unique feature of this short animation film.

     The film begins with Mr. Morris reading and writing on his diary sitting comfortably on his balcony. Suddenly there was a storm or a cyclone. It shattered everything including the building of Mr. Morris. When the cyclone subsides it leaves behind a trail of destruction. It wipes out the colour from the life of the people. Then Mr. Morris with his empty diary was walking sullenly. Unexpectedly he sees a flying lady being pulled by flying books. He jumps over the fence. Then there is colour in his life again. He finds a house full of books. He spends the rest of his life gaily among the books. When he dies he was flying just like the flying lady.

     The story seems to be very simple. But it has a deep meaning. It shows that life will be only black and white without books. It is the books that bring colours to our life i.e. by entertaining us through wonderful stories, parables, novels, poems. Books   not only entertain us but also provide useful information as well as wisdom. In other words, books give us the reasons to be happy.

     The film is directed by William Joyce and Brandon Olenburg. They had done a tremendous job in directing this movie. William Joyce is also the writer of this movie. It is a dedication film to Mary Katherine Joyce.

     The film will entertain small kids by the flying books, flying lady, the way Mr. Morris is swept away from his balcony by the cyclone. All these will be enjoyed thoroughly by the kids. Adult will find this movie thought provoking. So it is a film that will  be equally enjoyed both by adult as well as kids.