Quik Quik Round-up

Kung Fu Hustle
Yet another in the long line of action movies that seem to come out from the Far east based on martial arts ? Yeah, to an extent, but where this movie differs from the rest is in its outrageous screenplay. Its wild, its whacky and it definitely needs supsension of belief but the bad guys are so cool, the stunts so astonishing on the eye and the dubbing so horribly funny that the 2 hours are one heckuva joy ride.
3.5/5

Kinsey
2004 was the year of bio-pics in Hollywood and though The Aviator and Finding Neverland won more critical acclaim and awards, IMHO, I think the best effort of the year would undoubtedly have to be Kinsey. Written and directed by Bill Condon, the movie explores the life of Albert Kinsey, the man responsible for single handedly ushering in the sexual revolution of the 50s through his controversial books 'Sexual Behavior In The Human Male' and 'Sexual Behavior in the Human Female'. Though the subject in question is very touchy even in the present times, why the movie scores high in my opinion is in the sensitive way it has been handled with the focus being clearly on exposing the motivations of the man than in sensationalising his ways and methods.
4/5

Arindhum Ariyamalum
Low key banners producing medium budget clean entertainers for family audiences by investing in the talents of new comers rather than established stars is a trend that is fast becoming prevalent in Kollywood. Another trend that is gaining rapid ground is the re-emergence of a well etched out, multilayered villain character(s), started ironically by Prakash Raj in Ghilli who here plays a different kinda baddie in this movie. The strengths of this movie are its simple naration, excellent performances by Arya and Prakash Raj and some cool music by Yuvan Shankar Raja.
3.5/5

D - The Company
Another gangsta saga...Another gritty, racy thriller from RGVs Factory...The movie does not break new ground and is maybe not as good as Satya or probably even Company but is worth a dekho if not for anything but Randeep Hooda (which again reinforces my tremendous respect for Sush). Hooda as Deshu the silent yet menacing baddie delivers what is one of the finely nuanced performances I've seen, one that illustrates that lesser is better. Hooda is one of those guys who is blessed with rugged, unconventional good looks (with that stubble and those shades he is much better than Vivek Oberoi on the eye) and what gives him that extra edge is the fact that he can realy emote when called for. A born-again Chunky Pandey and razor sharp editing which ensures that the runnning time of the movie is less than 2 hrs are added bonuses whilst a jarring background score and some loud caricatures tend to bog the film down. Still worth a dekho.
3.5/5

Bunty Aur Babli
Warning: Leave your brains back home, ignore the lack of logic, come in with minimum expectations and you can have a blast. BaB borrows liberally from a lot of Hollywood movies most notable of which is that memorable flick Bonnie and Clyde and as it happens in most such cases the desi adaptation simply flatters to deceive. Though many of the cons border on the absurd, you cannot but delight at the odd moments of sheer mirth. Though a lot has been written about AB(sr)'s performance being the saving grace in what hard-nosed critics claim is a sorry excuse for a madcap entertainer, I strongly differ. Blame it on the lack of depth in the writing or whatever but AB(Sr)'s Dasrath Singh just does not impress except in a few sequences where he is saved by some really witty lines. The real strength of the movie is the amazing chemistry that Ab baby and Rani share which leads me to believe that we might have the next big star jodi after SRK-Kajol. I am a huge fan of SELs brand of music and anything I say about BaBs music might sound biased but suffice to say that the songs are top-class with a good mix of melody and foot tapping folksy tunes which are brilliantly picturised esp the Chup Chupke number....which brings us to a couple of other things I have to say abt this song..The locales are zimbly awesome and the costumes of both the leads mindblowing...not to mention the sensuous smooch they share to kickstart the song...smackkkk....one of the best I have seen in a looong loooong time. Hindi cinema is indeed coming of age :-)

ps: Someone kill Aishwarya Rai pls
3.5/5

Coming soon:
Mr and Mrs Smith
Batman begins
Parineeta
Anniyan