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An error has ocurred. Please try againHonorable Mentions: There Will Be Blood Interstellar Saving Private Ryan Fanny and Alexander Ivan's Childhood
Reviews
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (2014)
Satisfactory end to the middle-earth
Shortest of all but a satisfactory finish to the middle-earth legend. It works as a finale but not as a stand alone film. Thorin being an idiot(dragon sickness) for most part of the film didn't work but when he realizes, the film starts to pick momentum and the last hour is breathtakingly good and this is where it gets the Lord of the Rings vibe.
Battle looked great but ended abruptly(extended cut may be?) with the entrance of Eagles and Beorn and it shifted to Thorin vs Azog. Still it was good but don't expect it to match the likes of Battle of Pelennor fields or Helm's Deep.
Gandalf didn't had much to do. Sauron will be seen in a scene. Aragorn's mention will make some fans happy. Tauriel is surprisingly good this time. Bilbo was okay but he should have got more presence. We don't get to see what happened to some key members(again, extended cut may be?). Earlier half of the film was wasted at Arkenstone subplot. It should have been chopped a bit and that run time might have helped the climax, giving it some depth.
HFR 3D looked different and added depth to the dialog scenes but it looked cartoon-sh in the action sequences.
Will miss these films :( Oh wait , Silmarillion may be ? is it too much to ask Mr. Jackson?
Exodus: Gods and Kings (2014)
Wrath of God
The most ancient and epic story about God's revenge. People who have seen 'Ten Commandments' or at least knew the story of Moses will like it (for most of the part). Others can sit through and experience the spectacular battles and plagues. Scott portrayed them as natural causes and depiction of God may not satisfy some believers. I found it better than Ten Commandments version where God is shown as an invisible person, preaching. Red sea partition is also different from the source material and the earlier film.
Bale was good but not his best. The film lacks balance and editing is uneven sometimes. Scott shined at his strengths i.e visuals but we don't feel for anyone, neither the Hebrews nor the Egyptians.
A story of this kind will not satisfy everyone but Scott should have done better at giving some emotional highs. He did well directing the romance angle of Moses and his wife. Of course, the best part is the plagues.
CGI was fantastic. Musical score was good but lacks variety, someone like Hans Zimmer or James Horner would've elevated the film. Still you can enjoy the splendid visuals and larger than life scale of the film provided with some patience. Yes, it is better than Robin Hood but falls short of Gladiator.
Interstellar (2014)
Mix of Spielberg's warmth, Kubrick's brain and Malick's beauty
Interstellar is a jaw-dropping, awe-inspiring, beautiful, complex and thrilling adventure.The film is a mix of Spielberg's warmth, Kubrick's brain and Malick's beauty.Visually it is one of the best film ever made if not the best. Totally, is it the best film ever made? i don't know. A film of this scope and ambition is sure to have some narrative flaws here and there but it is beyond my ability to judge a film like this and find flaws in first viewing. May be i need to see it again to find any flaws, hell why should i find flaws while enjoyed it immensely.
Performances were great. Hans Zimmer music was terrific and loud at times. Endurance docking and ghost subplot gave me chills. Some of the stuff is hard to understand like the Gravitational singularity, Relativity and 5 Dimensional space. But Nolan connected the dots between them very efficiently and mixed them with love and humanity. If you are a sucker for these things, the film will transcend you into it or else it feels overly sentimental.
Don't miss it. I recommend you to watch it in IMAX if possible.
Govindudu Andari Vaadele (2014)
Foreign 'Manavadu'
A Decent family entertainer with right mix of all emotions.
The main story was simple. The film would have done wonders if the main plot was 'a bit more from the usual' which may have kept the viewers guessing. Still it was okay though and the subplots were interesting.
Ram Charan and Prakash Raj performances, Srikanth Characterization were terrific and the touching Climax lifted the movie to big level.
Gulabi song was well shot. Cinematography was exceptional. Editing should have been better.
An Important film for Ram Charan and a big relief for people who want to escape from mindless heroism and Brahmi comedy.
How to Train Your Dragon 2 (2014)
Big and Beautiful
Dream works trump card How to train your dragon was one of my favorite animated movies of all time. That one was a charming and heartfelt story. This installment was beautiful (thanks to Roger Deakins), funny at the start, tragic in the middle and heroic at the end.
It just delivered what we want.
Toothless was great and he stole the show in the climax. Not a great story but it has enough elements to keep the viewers intrigued till the climax which all of a sudden delivers a power packed punch and then you can't help but to cheer for Hiccup and Toothless.
The treatment was little predictable but the 'chief has come home'.
Music score, Animation and 3D were great too.
Best film of the year so far. Cheers !
Manam (2014)
A well crafted Family fantasy
A story that fits only to Akkineni family and a film that only looks plausible with Telugu viewers.
When time and misfortune separates, love and re-incarnation brings and ties them together.
Performances were decent but nothing outstanding. Samantha looked more comfortable out of them all. ANR has less screen time but he did enough justice even at that age.
Some comedy scenes in first half should have been chopped to move forward to the plot point as fast as it can. But it didn't. So we have to wait till the interval for the main proceedings to happen. Interval and Climax were its strongest points.
Vikram Kumar has a classic taste in direction and i want to see his work more in the future. Cinematography was neat and clean but the color tones should have been changed accordingly to bring the contemporary look to the varied time periods. Background score and Prema Prema song are excellent.
Even some cinematic clichés are sugar coated with feel good factor and then you can't help but to appreciate and enjoy.
Yes. Go, appreciate and enjoy
Godzilla (2014)
Saviour Monster
Godzilla, the King of Monsters returns to the silver screen. Surprisingly , he himself didn't had much screen time to woo the audience. Even when he appears they cut to humans and other things leaving the viewers disappointing. This has been done many times in the film and it had an advantage of creating the tense but a regular fan boy might get disappointed of this style. The final battle was good and the film concluded in a good fashion though.
Gareth Edwards tried to balance the human aspect and the monster-action but he was partly successful. He had put more efforts on the humans but they didn't have much to perform but only there to felt shocked and panicked. He teased the viewers and created the tension till the Big G's arrival which paid well for the initial half. He should have focused more on a compelling narration but he insisted more on creating the environment.
Bryan Cranston performed well as Joe Brody and he carries the first part of the movie on his shoulders. Aaron Taylor-Johnson was good as Naval technician Ford and he performed well. Elizabeth Olsen as Ford's Wife didn't had much screen time. A good actor like Ken Watanabe was there only to stare at the consequences happening let alone performing. It's hard to have compelling characters when the film is based on a Monster but a even in a film like this has to have good characters for the viewers to connect.
The film was good at parts with more tension than action catching some viewers in this aspect but at the same time it leaves others who expect popcorn entertainment. It was good but not as good as we wanted it to be.
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014)
Not the Spider-man we deserve
The film had too many villains just like Spider-man 3. Surprisingly Marc Webb didn't cared for them and instead he tend towards his trademark romance. It's understandable because the 'farewell Gwen. Welcome Mary Jane' time has come.
Electro is there for nothing. A very good character like Harry Osborne was wasted with 'I got a disease- i want to destroy everything' phenomenon. Seriously? the villains purpose in this film didn't convince me at all. Vfx and 3D were excellent.
Hans Zimmer did a good job but his music didn't fit a teen hero like Spidey.
Overall, lead pair romance with an emotional ending, one or two action sequences and Vfx were good.. but the villainy was bad.
I didn't get disappointed since these films are just starters and we'll see the real Spidey and some imp characters like Mary Jane, JJ Jameson, Dr. Octopus and Venom are yet to come.
300: Rise of an Empire (2014)
Style and Belligerence
Rise of an Empire shows the Battle of Artemisium where Athens general Themistocles(Sullivan Stapleton) fights with Persian naval commander Artemisia(Eva Green). On the parallel side to this, the Battle of Thermoplyae happens between King Leonidas of Sparta and King Xerxes of Persia which we've seen in the earlier part 300. Rise of an Empire also shows Xerxes past and the events after 300 in parallel with the naval war.
All the graphic violence in the earlier part appears in this one too. Perhaps thats the reason why we flock to theaters. But this installment lacks the 'Act of Valor' of Leonidas and his troops that made 300 a smashing hit. The cult fan base of 300 will be satisfied enough and the people who like graphic violence can give this a shot but for others its just a good looking video game.
Sullivan Stapleton was OK but the film lacks Gerard Butler's presence. Eva Green stole the show as Persian naval commander and she was the highlight of the film. Lena Headey didn't had enough screen time but she did a good job.
Noam Murro honestly imitated the style of first film but Zack Synder would've done a better job. Murro delivered a stylish one but the script didn't allowed him to elevate the film even then it was a mediocre attempt.
Cinematography was good but most of the shots had lens flare which distracts our eyes but its the CGI that stands tall out of the whole film. Original Score was good at times but mostly we hear the loud noise. Editing was crisp.
Just when i thought all this was UN-necessary, they've given a cliffhanger at the ending. May be a 'Return of the King' vibe for a third part? We have to wait for that. For now fans will eventually see this one because ain't bad but ain't that good either for others to run to theaters.
Highway (2014)
Tragic Travelogue
Highway Starts when an about-to-get married Veera Tripati gets abducted by a gang and takes her away with them. She sooner connects to the leader of the gang and from there they both travel through places which she feels like a bird that got its freedom. But things turn into a tragic situation which might be a spoiler if i reveal here, so i won't.
The entire film had two plots points, one at the start and the other at the end. Rest of it feels like a 'hey don't-be-a-nerd, have-some-love- towards-nature' stuff.
Alia Bhatt performance was a standout one and its the major highlight in an otherwise dull film. Randeep Hooda was okay
Imtiaz Ali mainly depended on Alia's performance and the climax he constructed. Fans might either love or hate this attempt from him.
If you can connect with those plots points, Highway will appeal to you otherwise its a journey to skip through.
The Monuments Men (2014)
Saving Michelangelo
Does History worth saving even at the cost of soldiers' lives? Monuments Men tries to answer by appointing a team of historians, architects who must save stolen art from Nazi thieves during the end of World War 2.
Most of the part its submissive to style and star cast but passive to its premise. Hence only a 30min out of 120min looks intriguing. There were some funny moments which provides some relief.
I was expecting a 'Da Vinci Code in Fuhrer's era but Mr.Clooney tried a historical action which appeals only at times. He made it as stylish as possible but failed to show the meticulous level of the saved art that was shown at the end just as a montage.
Can watch it for the star cast and humour but Monuments Men disappoints if you expect a serious adventure that it had promised.
Yevadu (2014)
A Surgery of Two Tales
Yevadu offers nothing new. It has a simple story but well executed.
Ram Charan's Screen presence, Vamshi's direction, Dsp's back ground score and some dialogs are big assets to the movie. But it follows the regular Telugu movie cliché and at times too predictable.
Allu Arjun appears only 15 min on the screen but he reminds us through out the movie. In strict words Yevadu is a powerful entertainer.
Powerful?
Yeah. The scenes 15 min at the starting, 15 min before interval, Freedom song, 30 min before climax makes every fan go crazy.
A Feast for fans and a one time watch for others.
1 - Nenokkadine (2014)
Skyscrapper on a Weak Basement
Wait ! How could anyone build a Skyscrapper on a weak Basement. U won't believe me, but Sukumar really tried to build one. The Skyscrapper here is the thriller screenplay and the basement is the revenge drama.
1 tries to be Smart, Sentimental, Action-esq and what not. It tried really hard to be a honest film. Mahesh's brilliant performance, Rathnavelu's Cinematography, Dsp's Background score backed the movie very well. But the Mediocre story couldn't rise to the occasion.
Hence what should have been a cakewalk turned into a painstaking process.
But somehow '1' made the audience to sit through the 2 hr 50 min run time. Why? Bcoz the viewer wanted the Protagonist Gautam to succeed in his painful quest.
If u can bare the revenge drama '1' offers some good thrills and performances
Dhoom:3 (2013)
Partly good
Got mixed feelings watching Dhoom 3.
Movie had its moments Courtesy of Aamir khan's presence, Katrina's beauty, Uday's fun and Lavish expenditure. On the other side Over-the-top stunts, prolonged scenes makes it a tough watch.
The Twist act was inspired from Christopher Nolan's 'The Prestige'. People who haven't seen that movie will be thrilled but it leaves a 'Oh! Come on -i've seen this in - The Prestige' kind of feeling for others.
Last 15 min was good though. Even after leaving the screening you still can't decide whether you liked it or not.
I say it is Partly likable. Watch it if u r a fan of Aamir
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (2013)
Well paced and action packed
"Desolation of Smaug" picks up the proceedings quickly unlike "An Unexpected Journey" where much of the time has been wasted. DoS is well paced and action packed compared to AUJ.
Visually the film is stunning. It takes us through the dark forest, Kingdom of Elves, the beauty of Lake town and the grandeur of Erebor.
Its no wonder the film feels a bit stretched because these Hobbit films have thin story lines. Of course we don't expect much from them because its a small book. Smaug episode was promising but it takes too much of time for the final act.
Gandalf didn't have much screen presence this time. Its the Elves leaded by Legolas that bring smartness to the film and Tauriel is a scene stealer. In the end the Dwarfs, Gandalf, Elves, Orcs, Smaug were thrown to different places so they have to get together for "There and Back Again". 'Arkenstone' and 'Black arrow' will have much to play in the grand finale.
Its always a treat to watch middle-earth films but Mr.Jackson please do not stretch "The Hobbits", they aren't "The Lord of the Rings".
Overall, DoS is a better film than AUJ. Period
I'm very much excited for "There and back Again" !!
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013)
Darker and deeper
The Hunger Games: Catching fire -
Better than the 1st part but only by a slight margin. Unlike the 1st part, catching fire concentrates more on Capitol targeting Katniss because she inspired a rebellion in the districts. OK, thats how it goes against a totalitarian government, right?!
This one is more darker, exactly how a middle installment should be and the climax revealing a smart twist which drives the franchise into Mockingjay. Waiting for that.
Visually, Catching fire is double that of hunger games.
While i enjoyed the later part of the movie but didn't get through the lengthy setting for an already established characters. should have been more crisp instead of prolonging Katniss relationship. Of course, that is one of the main subplot but still i don't get the length they gave to the relationship.
Jennifer Lawrence getting better day by day.
Gravity (2013)
Technical Brilliance
The Sci-Fi's have been long waiting for a best picture nod from the Academy.
Looks like the time has come for them.
I always hated Sandra Bullock but this time i have to agree that she did a great job.
Cinematography, Score, Vfx were perfect.
Felt as if i am in the space, thanks to 3D.
Alfonso Cuaron entered into another level. Being an editor himself, just nailed it.
Watch it in a good theater if not in Imax
Ramayya Vastavayya (2013)
Un-necessary violence
Ntr is one of the few talented actors in Telugu.
Whenever a promising director decides to do a movie with him, they restrict themselves to a formula.
1st half was entertaining and the interval block promised a lot.
Unfortunately the later half turned out be a clichéd revenge drama.
Harish tried hard to elevate the movie but it became dull due to predictable and violence filled scenes and it continued till the end.
Ntr's performance was good. Songs were OK but the background score was loud and repetitive.
Overall, it failed to live up to the expectations
Watch it if u r so desperate for a mass movie
Attarintiki Daredi (2013)
Atharintiki Daaredi- Humour with heart
Story is simple but told in a superficial way. Now here comes Trivikram's Intelligence, he used it to good effect and did magic. Hence it doesn't look superficial.. instead it was very appealing.
Apart from the high entertainment quotient the film has good dosage of sentiment scenes. There are hardly any negatives except for the run time, still manageable though. Director included some highly hilarious scenes whenever the graph goes down.
Pawan kalyan was at his very best. Resulting in a must watch movie especially for family audience.
The best telugu movie of 2013, hands down.
The Dark Knight Rises (2012)
The Dark Knight Rises- Good bye Batman, Thank u Nolan !
Yes!., its a perfect conclusion to a great trilogy and guess what Nolan did it again., forget about some damn people who criticize the film.
After the end of movie when title scrolls as The Dark Knight Rises, then the tag line comes "From Christopher Nolan", everyone of the audience clapped and praised the movie .. its been a privilege for me to watch such an occasion !., thats y i said "thank u Nolan"
there are hardly any flaws(only few! that a person like me can't criticize the caliber of Nolan, but could only just admire him).
from the starting scene itself it takes of an adrenaline rush and Batman comes and Goes,falls and rises again.There are some twists in the Pre- climax ( i won't tell and them spoil now), followed by an epic and emotional climax makes us stunning !!
Christian bale makes a stand out performance and remaining cast are as usual good, only surprising moment is Hathaway's Selina kyle ..she is really good and had a perfect chemistry with Bale., Bane is gigantic but his character doesn't generate much feel (which the Joker generated)., Wally Pfister's cinematography is Brilliant (i guess he gets an Oscar nomination)., the action sequences are Breathtaking and visual effects were too good, probably the best so far i've seen.,Hans Zimmer is as Good as ever with his spell bounding music .. and what else can i describe Nolan's magic, he is a genius really.
Though its not as gripping as TDK , but TDKR is great in its own way and its an Epic , the best movie of 2012 ., Don't miss it.
PS: I really wonder how Nolan ends the climax of every film, so amazing !., it makes me feel like i'm getting trained and turning from a rookie to a pro