Gisteller

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...

             Match point Directed by Woody Allen             Cast: Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Scarlett Johansson, Emily Mortimer, Brian Cox, Matthew Goode, James Nesbitt, Ewen Bremner. Review by Zulfi – 4/5             In ‘Match Point’, Woody Allen again toys with one of his often played out favorite story point, that of a commoner facing the situation of killing a fellow human and dealing with it. Though it comes very late, the movie has a somber and macabre mood from the start which explains many things regarding it. For one the characters and other, common human emotions, which you could never possibly avoid.             Chris Wilton (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) is a young tennis coach at a London club. He has a very humble background and is completely in contrast with the ri...

How to lose friends and alienate people Cast : Simon Pegg, Kirsten Dunst, Jeff Bridges, Megan Fox, Danny Huston Directed by : Robert B. Weide Review by Zulfi (3.5/5)             In ‘How to lose friends and alienate people’, Sidney Young (Simon Pegg) arrives on the New York scene after he writes a sarcastic column in his own small movie gossip magazine based in London on the Sharps Magazine’s editor in chief, Clayton Harding (Jeffrey Bridges). Sharps magazine is like the Vatican of celebrity gossip. Though he makes some witty sarcasm on the editor, the latter opens the door for this budding talent. Sidney Young is a hound of the celebrity parties, where he is generally shooed off as he is on their red alert list (people to look out for and avoid). He joins the overwhelming staff of the Sharps, which has crafty Lawrence Maddox (Danny Huston) as his boss and reserved Allison Olsen (Kirsten Dunst) as his colleague....

Udta Punjab Cast: Shahid Kapoor, Alia Bhatt, Kareena Kapoor, Diljit Dosanjh Director: Abhishek Chaubey Music : Amit Trivedi Review by Zulfi (4/5)             Amidst all the mayhem and furore of politics, ‘Udta Punjab’ was released ten days back with lukewarm reception. It didn’t match all the box office fever which generally is seen in Friday released movies. But for a movie suffused with the hype of censor’s initial rejection and later legislation’s approval, it was really good. And it is saying a lot. Expectations were high, and it did surely match them.             The movie intersects the lives of three principal characters, who are facing the drug problem at some level. At one corner is Gabru AKA Tommy Singh, sensational pop/ rock artist, who is a music sensation (wearing Percy Jackson shoes in half the movie),  but he needs a snort before he can...

Udta Punjab Cast: Shahid Kapoor, Alia Bhatt, Kareena Kapoor, Diljit Dosanjh Director: Abhishek Chaubey Music : Amit Trivedi Review by Zulfi (4/5)             Amidst all the mayhem and furore of politics, ‘Udta Punjab’ was released ten days back with lukewarm reception. It didn’t match all the box office fever which generally is seen in Friday released movies. But for a movie suffused with the hype of censor’s initial rejection and later legislation’s approval, it was really good. And it is saying a lot. Expectations were high, and it did surely match them.             The movie intersects the lives of three principal characters, who are facing the drug problem at some level. At one corner is Gabru AKA Tommy Singh, sensational pop/ rock artist, who is a music sensation, but a snort is mandatory before he can perform. Probably he needed cocaine as a creative...