Review: The Hobbit - An Unexpected Journey (2012)

 

Peter Jackson is a legend! Period.

 

First things first, watching "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" in IMAX was in itself an unexpected journey. Until a few months earlier, IMAX was only present in Hyderabad and Mumbai. Now that PVR cut short the long wait by opening one in Bangalore, it was a treat for a person like me who watches movies mainly for the visuals and the "movie making" style. Today, I was fulfilled of a dream - The IMAX Experience! (But was a little disappointed because we were promised to be shown a special 9 minute preview of the Star Trek sequel.)

 

Coming to the movie, The Hobbit is a 3 hour long movie and no where in these 3 hours do you look at your watch. The screenplay is so engaging that you don't feel like looking away from the screen. Now couple that with a huge screen and IMAX projection + 3D. You are taken into the world of Peter Jackson's The Hobbit!

 

What an experience. Fortunately, the movie was screened in 24fps, the images looked life like and huge. The characters move through you and things happen at your back. An experience not to be missed.

 

Music by Howard Shore is original and in places remind you of LOTR only to remind you further how the movie is connected to its epilogue (read. LOTR).

 

Visuals were simply stunning. Peter Jackson has kept most of his LOTR crew here too and no doubt they do magic on screen when brought together.

 

I don't want to comment on the story for it speaks for itself. The connections that The Hobbit has to LOTR is amazing. I mean I know its a prequel to it but still.

 

Martin Freeman, yes the man who played Watson to Sherlock Holmes in the U.K. TV series "Sherlock" does a fantabulous job in keeping us interested. All the other characters have played their parts well.

 

I'm not an avid book reader, I prefer to watch movies and I shall be eagerly waiting for the next part. Looks very promising.

 

Watch "The Hobbit" simply for its visual magic (only if you don't like the story) and its amazing story telling. You will be in complete awe, I promise.

 

Rating: 4/5

 

The Hobbit-An Unexpected Journey: Highly Impressive!

Review: Talaash (2012)

 

Why did Aamir Khan do a guest appearance in India's longest running Crime serial C.I.D? Obvious, He was promoting his latest movie "Talaash". Why? Because Talaash is not something which will stay in the theatres for long.

 

To start off, Ram Sampath's haunting background score forced the viewer into consuming this as a Thriller movie. Not a bad thing but you start to expect too much.

Then comes the character introductions. Every character is serious. There is no one who fools around.

Aamir Khan plays, Inspector Shekawat, a man who is in pain and is assigned to solve a mystery.

 

The screenplay is too good. It keeps you at the edge of your seat and puts your grey cells into action. Right throughout the movie, I was thinking and looking for clues but I couldn't find any and then when the climax was there, I couldn't digest the answer (which apparently lies within as per the movie tagline).

 

Performances of Rani and Kareena are top class! Rani plays her role perfectly without any fuss. Great to see her like this after "Aiyya". Kareena looks plastic at certain contacts but that kept aside she is deadly with her killer looks and seductive body. (I am not editing the last 2 words).

 

Talaash starts off very realistically and I was blown over by its brilliance but when it came to finishing, it was very unrealistic. It did waver around somewhere in the middle where the focus was lost but just when the viewer grew impatient, the story was back on track only to disappoint.

 

With dialogues by Farhan Akthar and Anurag Kashyap, one would certainly want that department to rock. Barring a few amazing and provoking one-liners, there wasn't much to appreciate.

 

I would say Talaash is over-hyped. But it still is a welcome change from commercial cinema. Despite the fact that it doesn't enthrall you enough, it still is a decent attempt at film making by Reema Kagti. Aamir plays the role so perfectly that you start to see him like any ordinary actor. He gets down to the skin of the role everytime. Nawazuddin Siddiqui is an upcoming legend. He has an amazing actor in him.

 

Watch Talaash if you would like to give a pinch of exercise to your brain otherwise you can just let it go.

After a lot of thinking, I finally found a social message which could have been the aim of the movie. But you never know, it might well not be. Watch out for the dialogues.

 

Oh and No, Rani is not the murderer! (For those active on facebook or twitter)

 

 

Rating: 2.5/5

 

Talaash: Still Searching...