Sameer Chandra

Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

Hindi Movie: Mumbai Salsa (2007)

In Uncategorized on February 16, 2009 at 7:58 pm

Cast: Vir Das, Indraneil Sengupta, Ray Irani, Linda Arsenio, Manjari Fadnis, Dilip Thadeshwar and Alisha Chinoy

Plot: Story of two sets of four friends, a group of guys and the other girls. Their lives cross each other in a happening Mumbai pub, called Mumbai Salsa and love happens….then starts the complications…
Review: When the movie started, wasnt sure if i wanted to finish it. But soon it started to unravel and eventually was a nice movie to watch. All the actors are unknowns, and did pretty splendid job. 
Rating: 4 of 5

Movie: Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist (2008)

In Uncategorized on February 12, 2009 at 3:31 pm

Cast: Michael Cera (as Nick), Kat Dennings (Norah), Alexis Dziena (as Tris) and others

Plot: Nick O’Leary, meets college-bound Norah Silverberg and she asks him to be her boyfriend for five minutes, while he’s hung-up on his ex Tris. The two soon find out they have more in common, while on their search for the performance of their favorite band…..

Review: It’s an enjoyable film, set with the background of music. The two lead actors are wonderful to watch, with their honest and fresh portrayal of their respective characters. It’s predominantly and indie movie, but it very refreshing. (4 of 5)

The Wind That Shakes The Barley (2006)

In Uncategorized on February 9, 2009 at 5:16 pm

Cast: Cillian Murphy, Padraic Delaney amongst others.

Plot: Story of early Irish revolution and it’s impact on two brothers who end up on separate sides of the revolution. 
Review: A very compelling movie, set in 1920’s, really loved it. No wonder it was a winner of Palm D’or at Cannes. if you love war movies and associated drama, this is a good movie to watch. 
Recommendation: Very good (4.5 of 5). 

Hunting Party (2007)

In Uncategorized on February 9, 2009 at 5:06 pm

Cast: Richard Gere, Terence Howard, James Brolin amongst others. 

Plot: A television journalist (Gere), his cameraman (Terence Howard) and their networks V.P.’s son embark on a journey to catch a war criminal from Bosnia-Serbia war. 
Review: I really enjoyed seeing Richard Gere onscreen with a compelling storyline than Dance with Me….Terence Howard showed why he is already an Academy Award winner. The plot is interesting, the narration by Howard keeps the movie on track and interesting, at all times, with edge of the seat sequences. 
Recommendation: Worth a Watch (3.5 of 5).

Hindi Movie: Ab Tak Chhappan (2004)

In Uncategorized on November 7, 2008 at 10:04 pm

Cast: Nana Patekar (as Sadhu Agashe), Revathy (as Namita Sadhu Agashe), Mohan Agashe (as Commissioner Pradhan), Yashpal Sharma (as Imtiaz Siddiqui) and others….

Plot: A drama based on the life of a honest cop, who eliminates criminals who find loopholes in the system and are never convicted. 
Review: The movie revolved around Sadhu Agashe, an officer with the Mumbai Police, who is an encounter specialist and is helped by a group of seven cops, who work under him, and do not question him, his motives or his actions. Sadhu himself, believes that he is part of the system, the system decides and he merely executes. His subordinate, a sub-inspector Imitiaz does not like the way Sadhu Agashe works, and competes with him for his own tally of number of kills. When a new commissioner takes place of the old one, Imitiaz is favored and Sadhu is sidelined. The don, whom Sadhu is chasing, gets his wife killed. Sadhu quits the force, when he is framed in the murder of a corporator and Imtiaz. The don living in Dubai helps Sadhu leave India, but does not know that Sadhu knows who really killed his wife, and thus invites his own death. 
Verdict: Nana Patekar is brilliant as ever, Revathy is wasted on this movie, there was no need for her to be in this one. Jeeva (who played Commissioner Suchek) is scary. Good Movie if gangster movies interest you. 

Movie: A Journey To The Center Of the Earth (2008)

In Uncategorized on November 7, 2008 at 9:53 pm

Cast: Brendan Fraser (Prof. Trevor Anderson), Josh Hutcherson (Sean Anderson), Anita Briem (Hannah Asgeirsson)

Plot: On a quest to find out what happened to his missing brother, a scientist, his nephew and their mountain guide discover a fantastic and dangerous lost world in the center of the earth. 

Review: A science fiction film, with shaky science and with over-reliance on fiction. The plot of the movie is weak, acting is ok by Brendan Fraser and Josh Hutcherson. Extensive use of CGI is a bit too much, and not so realistic. The movie is full of geologic anomalies, a bit too much for a geologist in me to bear. 

Verdict: Watched it. Done and over with it. Could be a good movie to keep kids hooked to the screen. 

Movie: Get Smart (2008)

In Uncategorized on November 7, 2008 at 9:44 pm

Cast: Steve Carell, Anne Hathaway, Dwayne John aka The Rock, Alan Arkin…and others.

Plot: Transformation of a behind-the-desk analyst to a field agent (Agent 86) from a secret agency (CONTROL), accompanied by a sexy super-agent, and battling an impending nuclear strike by a terrorist group (KAOS), in Los Angeles, California and plot to assassinate the President. 
Review: A good comedy, more like a goofy James Bond, or The Pink Panther. Steve Carell is hilarious, Anne Hathaway is gorgeous, and Dwayne Johnson is the Rock!
Verdict: Good Time Pass.

Movie: 88 Minutes (2007)

In Uncategorized on October 6, 2008 at 6:04 pm

Cast: Al Pacino, Alicia Witt, Leelee Sobieski, Neal McDonough and others

Plot: A forensic psychiatrist has 88 minutes to solve a murder. His own.
Review: Well, we watched this movie last night, after a brief hesitation on part of my wife, she wasn’t sure, if we really do wanna watch this or the chick-flick, she was more interested in. Anyway, being a self-proclaimed “Pacino Fan”, i had to watch, my wife sacrificed. Even after 20 minutes in the movie, felt like it never started, it just kept going on and on, with stereotype of a brilliant professor and all his students, with girly crush on him….a single guy, who sleep around…..what the heck!
Then, the plot started to unravel, and it became interesting for a while, they got so convoluted, that i missed the point, while working on my Mac at the same time. 
Verdict: The plot is completely inconsistent, and irrelevant, Pacino isn’t brilliant either. overall not a good choice on his part, and waste of time for us. 

Hindi Movie: Welcome to Sajjanpur (2008)

In Uncategorized on September 29, 2008 at 3:47 pm

Cast: Shreyas Talpade, Amrita Rao, Divya Dutta, Ila Arun and others…. 


Plot: Story of a BA (Bachelor of Arts) graduate, Mahadev (played by Shreyas Talpade), who dreams to be a novelist someday, but is the letter writer for the entire village of Sajjanpur in the meantime. He gets into the thick and thin of everything, of everyone in the village. The movie is a satire on the everyday life of a village in rural india, the idiosyncrasies, the guile’s, the politics, the love story, the sacrifice….all with some sort of message for social upliftment.
Review: The movie is set on a very low budget, with some good cast members, which had done true justice to each of their roles. The language, from eastern U.P., seems very homely, funny…..though, difficult for my wife to comprehend….but’s that the language of millions of people. 
Verdict: I enjoyed the movie, it wasnt boring, but not something that is a “must-see”. 

Movie: Deception (2008)

In Uncategorized on September 26, 2008 at 5:18 pm

Cast: Hugh Jackman, Ewan McGregor, Michelle Williams…

Tagline: “When you’re in this world, no one is who they seem, and everyone is playing the game.”

Plot: An accountant is introduced to a mysterious sex club known as The List by his lawyer friend. But in this new world, he soon becomes the prime suspect in a woman’s disappearance and a multi-million dollar heist (Source, IMBD)

Review: The first few minutes of the movie, seems like an excerpt from a documentary…though, it get’s interesting as soon as Hugh Jackman enters the scene…..and goes on from there. The movie is a suspense-thriller, involving an accountant (played by Ewan McGregor), who’s charmed by a hot-shot lawyers (played by Hugh Jackman), and gets introduced into an exclusive “Sex-Club” called The List…..none of the members know each other, and are not supposed to…they just hook up for a night…needless to say, lots of sex scenes follow…
However, the plot thickens, when the truth comes out, that the hot-shot lawyer is not what he pretends….and a love-interest (played by Michelle Williams) goes missing…..to rescue her, the accountant has to transfer a sum of 20 Million Dollars from a clients account to his…for the lawyer….What follows is interesting chain of events….to a nice ending.

Verdict: Quite an interesting movie…..lots of sexuality in the begining….but comes down to the main point in the latter half. Not bad, not an edge of the seat thrillers as others have claimed…