odadune
Star of the item number
not around much due to stuff in my personal life.
Posts: 1,494
Favorite actor: Currently a certain Kumar, but I like most of them
Favorite actress: whoever's in films I'm interested in this week
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Post by odadune on Nov 19, 2014 15:28:45 GMT
Corbie saw it and commented in the other thread: I haven't sat down and read much in terms of reviews. Can't link to it from here, but Anna Vetticad described it as resoundingly mediocre (and like Corbie felt Ali was shortchanged), but also didn't seemed to find much wrong with it in terms of offensive attitudes/behavior towards women, fwiw. From what I've seen of the promos, I agree with Corbie's opinion of the choreography, and of Ali Zafar's styling in the movie. I personally really like his piratey goatee/mustache.
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Post by dancelover on Nov 19, 2014 18:06:59 GMT
avstv.com gives it 2 stars out of 5. They blame the director and the screenwriter for a poorly-organized script. D.
Corbie saw it and commented in the other thread: I haven't sat down and read much in terms of reviews. Can't link to it from here, but Anna Vetticad described it as resoundingly mediocre (and like Corbie felt Ali was shortchanged), but also didn't seemed to find much wrong with it in terms of offensive attitudes/behavior towards women, fwiw. From what I've seen of the promos, I agree with Corbie's opinion of the choreography, and of Ali Zafar's styling in the movie. I personally really like his piratey goatee/mustache.
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Post by emily on Jan 10, 2015 14:22:47 GMT
This released for buy/rent on iTunes today. Gonna give it a whirl soon.
EDIT: Watched on Saturday night, now here's my two cents.
Piggybacking off of what dancelover posted about a "poorly organized script," I'm gonna have to agree. Some of the lines were cringeworthy, and, like corbie, I feel that Ranveer was the weak link here. Govinda was great as the villain, Ali was a cool cat through and through, and Pari is one of the more talented young actresses India has at this point. I also love that's she's not skinny-mini like Katrina or Deepika. NOT saying there's anything wrong with skinny-mini - just to clear up anyone who would take that thought as "skinny-shaming" - just saying that it's lovely to see a young actress with curves who rocks those curves in this day and age where thin is in.
The soundtrack was okay, hit and miss. Hits were "Bol Beliya" - heck yeah Govinda dancing! - which has been stuck in my head for days, and of course the beautifully picturized "Sajde." Misses were the Birthday Song - yawn - and the prevalence of some very annoying auto-tune in many of the tracks. God, I HATE auto-tune in filmi music.
All-in-all, this is one of those lazy bored Saturday night movies that are good to pass the time. It's not very long for a Hindi film and flies quickly. The eye candy is strong with this one - Ali Zafar was especially very nice to look at - and the action scenes are fresh. But going back to the script, I felt like the dialogue was pretty awkward at times and it ended with a cliche ending when it could have gone down a more unique, darker road. Oh wells.
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odadune
Star of the item number
not around much due to stuff in my personal life.
Posts: 1,494
Favorite actor: Currently a certain Kumar, but I like most of them
Favorite actress: whoever's in films I'm interested in this week
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Post by odadune on Apr 20, 2015 4:07:06 GMT
I liked the spaghetti western vibe, which comes through in a lot of the production design (note the leather fringe on Govinda's pistol, and the Fistful of Dollars poster above Ranveer's bed) as well as the music. Ali Zafar channeling Lee Van Cleef circa For a Few Dollars More (stylish, sarcastic black-clad mentor/buddy of the hero) is one of those things I did not know that I wanted to see until Bollywood showed it to me. In general, I felt like the first half was reasonably good, and so was the last quarter (I agree with Emily that the ending was cliched, but I was sufficiently invested in the characters to be happy at how things turned out for them.) The third quarter (where Ranveer tries to reform) was pretty tough sledding with lots of cringe humor and generic romcom stuff-I think Ali's character trying to put his oar in accounted for most of the best parts in that segment. I think the film overall needed to be weirder and more operatic to make the violence, the comedy and the love story work together, and oddly enough, I think Parineeti, Govinda and (most of) the song picturizations were part of the problem. It was disappointing to see Parineeti move away from her preference for "author-backed roles" in favor of a generic girlfriend-in-a-man's-world with a thin veneer of modernity, and although she gave an intelligent, grounded performance it just didn't seem to fit with the rest of the film. Govinda also gave a solid performance in the quieter moments, and was suitably menacing, but the director seemed to want him to be the kind of bizarre, grotesque character that Anil Kapoor played in Tashan, and that didn't seem to be his style. Ranveer to me seemed to have more difficulty in the restrained bits than in the over the top parts; I generally found him likable and was rooting for him to succeed. Ali's character was a high point, but like his spaghetti western equivalent, was used sparingly so that he would pack more of a punch. It didn't feel to me like his role was being cut down or he was being intentionally shunted to one side. It's not life-changing or anything but if you like the cast and don't mind the basic premise-dashing young assassin stumbles into a Yash Raj romance and his adoptive brother has to protect him from their boss's wrath-and the associated violence and sensual moments, it's worth a look.
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Post by corbie on May 3, 2015 19:14:31 GMT
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