Reviews by santanu

It's so incredible how with time our perception changes. The first time I watched this flick I had really liked it but with time and repeat viewing I have come to the conclusion that It's a pretty average film having much greater scope. The first half of the film is pretty dull and at times seems so pointless, but in the 2nd half the story picks it up and scores some good points. I liked the 2nd part of the film and certain scenes really touched my heart. But all in all with an indifferent direction and decent acting My Sassy Girl is a mediocre romantic comedy. However it has increased my urge to watch the original.

I am going 6 out of 10 for My Sassy Girl, which falls short mainly due to stereo type writing.

Pixar is a production house known for the brilliant storylines they use in their incredibly beautiful animation films. They put so much time in the story build up that it never seems artificial. Up is easily one of my favourite animation films from them. In fact I just loved the first 15 minutes of the film where the life of the beautiful couple is described in montages. It's beautiful, touching and funny at the same time. Even after watching it two times I feel like watching it again. Long live Pixar, I just love their films.

I am going 8 out of 10 for Up, the Oscar went to the right people that year for sure.

For centuries Circus has been an attractive subject for film makers. Some really great films have been made on Circus over the years. The complex and demanding circus atmosphere presents a compelling script of human struggle. Behind every laugh there may be lots of tears behind the make up. Add that to the 1931 depression hit atmosphere and we are up against a brilliant set up. Water For Elephants builds up it's story based on this moving premise before throwing it up for the sake of a forced love story.
Water For Elephants starts on a mature note through the recollection of an old gentleman and slowly the flashback takes us to 1931 when a young Polish American Lad Jacob loses his parents and ends up in a Circus Company as a Vet. Very quickly he becomes popular with his inmates and in particular his insane boss August brilliantly played by the awesome Christoph Waltz. Then joins the real attraction of the film Rosie, the giant Elephant. Jacob becomes her Bull man and in a way becomes close to the star of the Circus - Marlena, wife of August. All of a sudden love blossoms and the story takes a predictable turn.
The story had so much potential but neither it chooses to follow the human angle under stress nor the tension between August & Jacob instead the focus turned on to the love story between Jacob & Marlena, but lack of any chemistry between the lead pair fails to put life into the love affair. The second half of the film clearly lacks vision and conviction.

The acting department has a mix bag of performances. Where the supporting cast is lively and believable the lead lacks the punch. Robert Pattinson proves himself once again and surely he should confine himself only to the Twilight Series and leave acting to others. He proves with every scene that acting is not his cup of tea. He seems in total pain while emoting any scene what so ever. I used to be a big fan of Reese Witherspoon but She too is disappointing as Marlena. But Christoph Waltz has been a revelation once again. It felt like he just changed the costume but retained the skin of Col. Hans Landa.
All in all Water for Elephants is a mix bag experience for me. I loved the set up but hated the turn of the story to an romantic end.
I am going with 6 out of 10 for Water for Elephants. It's a combination of two stories. Whereas one of it fascinates me the other half completely disappoints me. Watch it if you like soppy love stories.

What a waste of a film it is. Neither it has any gripping story nor the scary moments one can look for in a film like this. I feel sorry for Stellan Skarsgard, he is good as usual in this otherwise inconsequential prequel. It's high time the makers understand that adding an interesting premise and some subtle subplot can not substitute for a good story. Avoid it if you can.

I always like the films that try to explore the human mind. I surely have the hots for the Psychological thrillers. But the problem with such films is that they often operate on such a risky / absurd storyline that some where down the line we get to see a pretty bogus thriller instead of an exciting one. Shelter starts on a promising note and grows on me till the interval but then all of a sudden it decides to become a religion based thriller and throws out all the logics there after.
As I have already mentioned that Shelter do start on a very interesting note. Cara Harding is a Criminal Psychologist who is literally on a mission to deny Psychological excuses for any crime what so ever. In a turn of event she comes across a young man named David who happens to have 4 Multiple personalities in him and all of them being murder victims. She on the process of curing him or rather proving his identities wrong, starts digging dip before coming up with some serious dirt.

Till this point the story really takes itself seriously. But then all of a Sudden the Mystery story sacrifices all sanctity and becomes a Super Natural Religious thriller which really sucks. What really is more disappointing is that whatever suspense the story creates in the first half is given away with some petty Vodooish explanation.
The film scores some decent points on the acting department from the leading stars but the direction falls apart for more than once. Some scenes are spooky all right but once we figure out the reason the scare factor largely becomes dependent on the gimmicks.
All in all Shelter is not a bad film at all rather it's a wasted opportunity to create something worthwhile.
I am going 6 out of 10 for Shelter, it could have been much better had the makers shown better conviction.

It's a story of Boy Meets girl and the boy falls in love but the girl does not or Does she? A perfect formula for a dated romantic comedy but hey wait a minute because "This is not a love story, This is a story of Love".
(500) Days of Summer marks the debut of the incredibly talented Mark Webb and he just delivers one of the best tale of Romance on Screen. Also it showcases the acting prowess of the ever impressive Joseph Gordon-Levitt who ever since has become the Golden boy in Hollywood.

(500) days of Summer lingers on a very Simple story idea of a Boy meets girl but achieves greater height through the imaginative execution. It's a story of Tom & Summer. Tom is an architect who works as a greeting card copywriter falls for the new office girl Summer who is good at everything but hates commitment. Then love follows and so follows the inevitable heartbreak and finally the redemption. A pretty predictable story but what sets it apart from the millions of other Rom-Coms, is the brilliant Script and the narration. The Story moves back & forth breaking the chronological order and looks at the 500 days of Tom's life when summer touched it.
I just loved the way the story is told & the characters complemented the narration brilliantly. Levitt is exceptional as Tom. He plays the role of a hopeless lover with élan. Zooey Deschanel looked so pretty and she also did pretty well as Summer. Rest of the cast fits in quite well.
In a nutshell (500) Days of Summer is an incredibly beautiful story of love. I am Going with 8 out of 10 for this intelligent Romantic Comedy, don't miss it.

The Collaboration of Tim Burton and Johnny Depp has given us some great cinematic moments in the last 2 Decades. With Dark Shadows they complete their 9th films together and honestly I feel it's high time that they part their ways. Dark Shadows is by far the worst film by the duo. The Magic was simply missing and the mediocre approach is surprising. So neither it becomes epic like ED Wood nor beautiful as Sleepy Hollow or dark as Sweeney Todd or deep as Edward Scissor-hands instead Dark Shadows is plain and ordinary.
It's about Barnabas Collins the Vampire who after being held captive inside a Coffin for 2 centuries ( 196 Years to be precise) becomes free in 1970s. Now how he manages to restore the fate of the Collin family and Punishes the evil witch Angelique, forms the drama of nearly 2 hours.
There are a lot of problems with the film. The plot is ludicrous and thin like a paper, the narrative is surprisingly so unimaginative, direction is indifferent and acting is too melodramatic and loud. So ensemble cast of so many talented actors seemed too depended on Depp and the ridiculous screenplay does not help them either.

The story does bring out occasional laughs here & there but unfortunately they are too few and the ace director employs some cheap tricks to give the weak screenplay a funny touch and that is so unlike Tim Burton. Johnny Depp is the life of the otherwise ordinary screenplay and he does full justice to the role, infact I feel he was really very good amidst pretty mediocre acting by the impressive cast. But the real concern with Johnny Depp is that off let where he is as usual brilliant in his performances, his films are all too average. It's now sometime that we have got a good film from him.

I love the work of Tim Burton and I was really offbit about this one despite pretty average reviews but to put it nicely I am disappointed. Where as this is not a bad film at all but at the same time nothing to speak of really.
I am going 6 out of 10 for Tim Burton's Dark Shadows, the ever impressive director misses it big time.

I am not a fan of Hollywood horror films. Mostly crowded with cheap Asian remakes and creepy stuffs they do not encourage me much to spend any time. But The Shining is different. First it is from the house of the Master director Stanley Kubrick so it is supposed to be great and yes it is really great stuff. It is rumoured that Stephen King was not happy with film that Kubrick portrait in fact he did come up with a own version of the same film but none the less The Shining is a brilliant effort.
Jack Torrence moves to Overlook hotel as a caretaker and he takes his wiife and children to keep him company. The hotel is closed and all the staffs slowly departs and what remain are is the Caretaker family in a deserted ice ridden hotel. Jack tormented by his inner demons slowly changes himself in the freaky hotel and what happens then pretty much fills the story. The story seems very simple and dated but the treatment sets it apart. It is less of a Ghost story and more of a Psychological thriller and I just loved it for that.

Jack Nicholson as Jack Torrence scared the shit out of me. He did repeat himself in such kind of roles but to be honest he is best when it comes to portray creepy mental roles. Danny Lloyd in the role of Danny was the real surprise, the kid gave a brilliant performance and man he looked so cute on Screen. But the real problem comes from Shelley Duvall, she is incredibly bad in the role of Wendy. She kept hamming through out the film and I feel she was terribly miscast .
All in all The shining is a very good horror film, In fact this is by far the best horror film I have ever seen.

I am going 8 out of 10 for The Shining, the spooky horror film really haunted me .

A film with a débutante director (even though an Oscar Winner for a Short film),a mediocre cast set in Bruges (Belgium)can hardly raise any expectation. In Bruges suffers just for all that whereas it's a cinematic gem yet so under-watched.
Martin McDonagh in his début film has created magic on screen. I was really taken aback by this ingenious work.

In Bruges is a story of two hit-men Ray and Ken who are on a hide out in Bruges after a hideous crime they have committed. Now the film maker takes his time to reveal the actual crime that was committed and gives us some breathtaking views of the little known medieval town Bruges. The characters while on a trip comes in touch with so many other locals and tourists and that set the course of the story that becomes absolutely fascinating once the secret unveils.
It's shear good writing. The script is so tight and never looses any punch. The story is funny at times and really captures the characters of the main protagonists in the backdrop of the beautiful yet lonely city.



Colin Farrell as Ray is the Surprise package. This is his best work till date and he did get to the skin of the character. I love him in it and it's a shame we have not seen him in anything like this more often. But to me the best performance comes from the ever dependable Brendan Gleeson. He is the real star and his power packed performance gives the film a new dimension. In a surprising role Ralph Fiennes did what he does best, looked menacing.



All in all I loved In Bruges. It's a gem of a black comedy. The script is fantastic, the acting is top notch, direction is very competent and above all the cinematography is breath taking. Just by watching the scenes I fell in love with the place.



I am going 8 out of 10 for In Bruges. It's what I call a mind blowing cinematic experience. Don't miss it.

I am amazed to say the least.

Perhaps not the best of the lines to start a review but truly Blue Valentine touched my heart. It's a touching story of a decaying relationship told with a lot of heart. It is raw, real and so beautiful.

The film start at the present day and pokes into a couple of days in the life of Dean & Cindy when their married life takes a serious beating. On the same time we also get to know how they had actually met on a parallel track told in flashbacks. The beauty of the screenplay is that the contrasting stories become perfectly coherent as one without slowing the pace. The shaky camera work adds to the raw realistic approach needed for the narration. But the most fascinating aspects are the lead actors. Ryan Gosling has come up a long way since The Notebook days and he has truly matured as an actor. With Half Nelson, Lars and the Real Girl, Blue Valentine and Drive he has proven his merit. He is absolutely brilliant as Dean.

He had to portray two different shades in the same character and he has done a great job. Michelle Williams as Cindy is so close to the character and she does full justice to it. In fact she gives the most Powerhouse performance in the film.

So riding on a solid script, brilliant acting and some fantastic direction from Derek Cianfrance Blue Valentine becomes a poignant tale of a couple lost in the demons of marriage where sadly love takes a back seat.

I am going with 8 out of 10 for Blue Valentine, It's one of my favourite films from 2011.