Gisteller

V for Vendetta (2006) Cast : Hugo Weaving, Natalie Portman, Stephen Fry, Stephen Rea, John Hurt, Tom Pigott-Smith. Directed by James McTigue. Written by Alan Moore, David Lloyd Screenplay by Wachowski Brothers Review by Zulfiqar (4/5)             How much does anarchy sell? It has the charm for sure but in practical politics, it is certainly overvalued. Alan Moore’s movie ‘V for Vendetta’ partially supports this debatable point of governance, but in a very silent society, which has lost its vocal power to question the power dealings of the control, it cries out for its must existence.             It is based on the comics written by Alan Moore and illustrated by David Lloyd of the same name. The strength of the movie comes from the point that the writers and makers are of highly intellectual nature. Wachowski brothers, who made the Matrix trilogy produce...

Suicide Squad (2016) Cast: Will Smith, Ben Affleck, Jared Leto, Viola Davis Directed by David Ayer Review by Zulfiqar (1.5/5)             Warner Brothers is under a lot of pressure at the failing franchises of its superheroes. While BvS was a clear miss earlier this year from the Box Office mark, Suicide Squad is a nail in the coffin. It suffers from many points. The game certainly changed after ‘Dark Knight’ came, but look how ‘Avengers’ slipped past the rules of that game. While ‘Dark Knight’ was a precise infusion of daily life with modern norms into the superhero genre, Avengers too gave that element but while adding the fantasy elements. It embraced the stupidity of it with quips and puns and was completely comfortable with it. ‘Suicide Squad’ along with ‘BvS’ hangs somewhere between them and thereby axes its own toe.             The story, I won’t go...

Ben hur movie (2016) review Cast : Jack Huston, Toby Kebbel, Morgan Freeman Directed by Timur Bekmambatev Written by John Ridley, Keith R Clarke, Lew Wallace (based on his 1880 book) Review by  Zulfiqar  (3/5) It’s just inevitable that a comparison with the old 1959 version of ‘Ben-hur’ is to be made when you are watching this year’s movie of the same name. Director Timur Bekmambatev compared his movie with the older one and said that his movie is closer to the central theme of forgiveness while the eleven academy awards garnered epic was more about revenge. I digress. Both the movies have themes of forgiveness more compared to vengeance. However bekmambatev missed the mark more. The movie which starts with a promising beginning flags and wavers to become an action set piece centered plot rather than a well structured and finely written one like its predecessor. The chariot race which occurs in the 1956 movie is one scintillating action sequence in the...

Forrest Gump -Movie Review Cast : Tom Hanks, Robin Wright, Gary Sinese Directed by : Robert Zemeckis Review by Zulfiqar (4.5/5)             Sitting at a bus-stop, Forrest Gump narrates his life’s story to any person who happens to sit beside him. He is such a dim witted person that he can’t assess the interest level of his listeners. Some just don’t look at him and some just go on reading their book or minding their baby. Forrest is never deterred by this gesture, in fact he completes the whole narration till the climax when somebody reminds him that his destination doesn’t need a vehicle as he can walk to it. Was this was an intention on the part of the director or not I don’t know. But what I can gather is that Forrest is concerned only with living his life rather than taking other peoples’ take on it. It is such a simple and clear message as to the art of living. Do things undeterred and you would get its fair re...

Jurassic park (1993)  Cast: Sam Neill, Laura Dern, Geoff Goldblum, Directed by: Steven Spielberg Based on the book ‘Jurassic park’ by Michael Crichton Review by Zulfiqar - 4/5             ‘Jurassic park’ is that thrilling juxtaposition of danger and fun you would ever find in cinema. Fun because it is such a titillating experience to see largest of the reptiles, dinosaurs, moving and hunting with their majestic screeches and ear thumping paw-falls. And it is dangerous because how much can you envisage a world in which you could think of co-existing with reptiles, whose predatory instincts are the primal issues that rule them. You could say similarly regarding horror movies or sci-fi fantasies which have been many in Hollywood infusing both the themes. But the thing here is that dinosaurs really existed in the world. They moved and ruled in their times. The only reason we exist is because they did extinct. We ...

Gandhi (epic movie) – Independence day special Cast : Ben Kingsley, Rohini Hattangadi, John Gielgud, Martin Sheen, Vikram Seth, Alyque Padamsee Directed by: Richard Attenborough Movie analysis: Zulfiqar             In some private discussions, I have participated with my friends, which were to do with India’s way to independence, I have been sometimes given the opinion that probably Indian non-violent struggle had made our independence to come rather late, by say 20 or 30 years. As years passed, I understood that it is otherwise. The way India waged the non-violent struggle against British raj is probably tougher than the violent way it could have gone for. Gandhiji’s success and his rise to such applaudable prominence are probably due to the restraint he had over the millions of Indians against committing any act of violence during this struggle for freedom. Richard Attenborough’s biopic on our father of the nat...

LORD OF THE RINGS: FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING (4 oscar wins) Cast: Ian McKellen, Christopher Lee, Elijah Woods, Orlando Bloom, John Rhys Davies, sean Bean, Sean Astin, Cate Blanchett, Ian Holm, Andy Serkis, Viggo Mortensen, Liv Tyler, Hugo Weaving Direction by: Peter Jackson Review by: Zulfiqar (4.5/5)             If I mention ‘fellowship of the ring’ while speaking, I should also mention ‘Harry Potter’s philosopher’s stone’. If the latter thought all the best was happening with it, it probably didn’t foresee what was happening with ‘LOTR: fellowship ….’. Both movies released in 2001. ‘Philosopher’s stone’ written by the creative gem and master storyteller, JK Rowling, had Chris Columbus, who couldn’t be more perfect directing the movie. He had the lightheartedness of a kid, applying the book’s thrilling sequences with his vibrant vision, novel approach and a lot and lot of right help from the VFX. But what the prod...

Dark Knight (2008) Cast: Heath Ledger, Christian bale, Michael Caine, Aaron Eckhart, Gary Oldman, Morgan Freeman. Directed by: Christian Bale Analysis by: Zulfi (5/5)             Garbed in the visual imagery and fantasy laden superhero world of cinema, ‘Dark Knight’ is a psychic take on the good and bad of the world. Here, these two basic characteristics are represented by characters. Good and bad is not divided by a fine line but a huge blur of the in-between which almost constitutes the whole of population, but here it is also given the name of a character. It is no secret that Joker represents the bad. But who represents the good? Is it Batman or Harvey Dent.             Batman does the good thing by curbing crime in the city, his parents had built before they died while he was a child. He is feared by almost every mob lord and is a symbol, who sends chil...

Midnight in Paris Director: Woody Allen Cast: Owen Wilson, Rachel McAdams, Martin Sheen, Corey Stoll, Tom Hiddleston. Review by: Zulfi (4/5)             Woody Allen shows Hollywood how time travelling could be done with the lowest budget in ‘Midnight in Paris’. That’s because his time travelling has more to do with meeting the past writers of the surrealism era in Paris rather than any other thing. Sure, there are shots of old Paris, but they are generally managed in interiors of old dim lighted hotels, bars, and clubs of the 20’s. but when you such a wit in your writing and a wild fertile imagination even at such an old age, what more could you ask for. ‘Midnight in Paris’ has that flair in writing with mordant remarks on the present when compared to the nostalgic past.             The movie begins when Gil Pender, a Hollywood hack who didn’t give actual li...

BFG (2016)  Director: Steven Spielberg Cast: Mark Rylance, Rubin Barnhill, Rebecca Hall, Bill Hader, Rafe Spall Screenplay by: Melissa Mathison Review by: Zulfi (4/5) BFG has many things working for it. Listing it out, it has those childish dreams, which they hope to be true and if true, to be dangerous and if dangerous, be harmless. It has a child’s world, which unfolds after midnight with things which they believe to be consisting of huge proportioned humans or monsters. It has a listless imagination, whose extent is the universe. But most of all it has BFG.             BFG as Sophie (the ten year old orphan from London orphanage, from where the former had abducted her as she saw him) says is the Big Friendly Giant. She can’t sleep until late into the night and believes miracles and sinister things happen at 3 in the early morning as that is the least wandered time zone. As the quintessentially inquisit...