Shark Bait (English, 2006)

Released as "The Reef" in UK.

If you search for this movie in imdb, the user comments would read, "the worst animation movie ever, ever, ever". And that would be right. Trust imdb, I tell you.

I cannot forgive the makers for this movie for sure. It has put me off animation. A weird combination of Karate Kid and Finding Nemo, The Reef fails on every count. It has no imagination, no excitement. The dubbing voices sound tired, dead in fact; and the story is as dead-pan as the desert-ish sea bed outside the reef. The animation, the colour seems to be a poor copy of Finding Nemo.

I don't intend to waste any more of my blog space writing about this useless movie.

Recommendation - Run away from it to save your life.

Rating - ✘✘✘✘✘

Music and Lyrics (English, 2007)

Something sweet! Something lovable!

Music and Lyrics is the story of a has-been pop singer Alex Fletcher (High Grant), who has got a chance to revive his career but for which he has to write a song and he doesn't have a lyricist. He finds a lyricist in Sophie Fisher (Drew Barrymore). The movie is them writing a song (music and lyrics) together and in the process helping each other with personal issues and finding love in each other.

Music and Lyrics brings back the same feel-good comic-romantic style of films that we know Hugh Grant for. Surprisingly, a movie has a freshness to it which makes you feel happy. The premise of matching music and lyrics to make a song gives us a movie which reminds us why the words 'musical' and 'lyrical' are terms of praise. With good performances from both Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore, this movie is worth watching.

Recommendation - Go for it.

Rating - ✔✔✔

Salaam-E-Ishq (सलाम-ए-इश्क)(Hindi, 2007)

Someone told me this film is the biggest Bollywood hit outside India!!! It can't be true. In an year which has to keep up with last year's wonders like Lage Raho Munnabhai, Rang De Basanti, Dhoom 2 and so on, it is really regrettable that the year's first big release is a big wasted effort. An all-stellar star cast is wasted in a plot which does not know where it is going, and in spite of good acting by some of the cast, the lack of a coherent story and pathetic acting by those who got the maximum screen-time completely kills the movie.

Salaam-E-Ishq is the story of six couples, each going through various experiences and each having their love tested in different ways. A basically nice premise of showing different ways in which love is tested, the film flounders due the lack of a tight screenplay and direction. While Couple One (Anil Kapoor and Juhi Chawla) is going through mid-life crisis, Couple Two (Akshay Khanna and Ayesha Takia) has the groom having pre-marital commitment phobia. For Couple Three (John Abraham and Vidya Balan), the difficulty is that after an accident, the girl finds she has no memories of her husband (convenient, eh!). If they had stopped at this, it may have been a good film. Good performances by all these actors, with their stories making sense in at least a dramatic way. But we also have to cope with Couples Four, Five and Six. Couple Four (Sohail Khan and Isha Kopikar) find themselves meeting an accident every time they try to consummate their marriage (sic!). Couple Five (Govinda and some American Babe) is about an American girl landing in India in search of her boyfriend who has left her to get married to an Indian girl; and the taxi driver who dreams of marrying her but helps her find her ex-boyfriend (sic! sic!). Couple Six (Salman Khan and Priyanka Chopra), who hog the most screen time and are the most intolerable part of the film, have a film item-queen trying to fake a real-life love interest to show the world she can be 'girl-next-door' and get cast in a Karan Johar Movie (sic!sic!sic!sic!.......).

Enough said about a movie which I don't want to even talk about.

Recommendation - Avoid it.

Rating - ✘✘

Guru (गुरू) (Hindi, 2007)

The most anticipated movie of the year; a Mani Ratnam film with big stars; supposedly based on the story of Dhirubhai Ambani; the first film with Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai as a pair which has become a hit.

Is there a decent enough film behind all this glamour and propaganda? Yes, there is. Guru is the story of a villager who has a vision, a vision to make it big and a determination of getting over all the obstacles in his way, by hook or by crook. Abhishek does a wonderful portrayal of a man who refuses to apologize for his success. Mani Ratnam is a genius, but then that is nothing new.

However, and this is a big however, it is not a great film. It is not Mani Ratnam's best, Abhishek has the potential to do better and with an inspiration like Dhirubhai, much better movies can be made. Another jarring thing about the movie is Guru's self-righteous attitude without any logical arguments.

Rating - ✔✔✔

Baabul (बाबुल)(Hindi, 2006)

This is one movie that I have not managed to finish, even in the interest of writing this review. I mean, guys, give me a break. Widow-remarriage! I mean, when Ishwarchand Vidyasagar worked on it in 1800s, it made sense. In today's world and age when people make and break relations to suit their lifestyles, a movie on such an outdated topic is a pain at its best and a plague at the worst, and this meeting is towards the worst end for sure. A three hour story of crying, screaming, melodrama and senseless do-goodness which challenges basic sensibilities is best avoided.

Rating - ✘ ✘ ✘

Notes on a Scandal (English, 2006)

In one of the best movies of the year, Judi Dench and Cate Blanchett put performances that are sure to leave you impressed, in a screenplay that is shocking enough to get you interested and normal enough to keep you interested.

Judi Dench plays an old vampire-istic lesbian. She fancies a new teacher in her school, Cate Blanchett. So when she finds out that Cate is having illicit relations with a student, she uses the scandalous opportunity to get Cate under her power and influence. The movie is a story of this mash of relationships.

Wonderful acting, superb screenplay and very good direction. A must see.

Rating - ✔✔✔✔