Gisteller

Restaurant Australia (2015) Wonderful, high above my ratings After watching that highly addictive reality cooking television epic called Masterchef Australia, it has become a habit for me to scour on the net and telly for some similar programs. And this delicious exploration had brought me to another wonderful series called ‘Restaurant Australia’. Restaurant Australia celebrates the country called Australia and its gastronomic culture from the roots. On their mission to host a dinner for some 250 guests of high cuisine knowledge, a trio of world famous Australian chefs explore to different parts of the country to dish out the best plates for the event. We have to respect the clinical way of this most knowledgeable chefs’ mission. They just don’t strive to showcase their great culinary talents, but at the heart celebrate the nature, they live in. The program has a great vision of man’s basic means of living. Chef Ben Shewry explores the native ingredients both in the me...

Murder on the orient express (2017) Rating : 3/5 Cast : Kenneth Branaugh, Johnny Depp, Penelope Cruz, Daisy Ridley Director : Kenneth Branaugh Based on a story by Agatha Christie Review by Zulfiqar             Poirot, like never before, takes the case on a personal level, which is never his style. It becomes a little jarring as we notice the way he gives a helpless look every now and then over the matter, not because he couldn’t solve the case but because he is lamenting on the human nature. For any other detective, it could be fine, but not for Poirot. Poirot rarely gives into emotions, because he is always in command of his faculties.             Kenneth Branaugh, while directing this delicious slice of Christie’s literature, makes the little detective not only muscle his grey cells, but also his literal brawn, as he indulges in a few brawls with the vil...

Thor : Ragnarok (2017) Rating : 4/5 Cast : Chris Hemsworth, Tom Hiddleston, Cate Blanchett, Anthony Hopkins, Mark Ruffalo, Jeff Goldblum, Tessa Thompson Directed by Taika Waititi Review by Zulfiqar             The flamboyance of the marvel movie franchise is exhibited in the way Thor : Ragnarok is made. The movie’s promos had a lot of loud blaring music with long, tedious ads, which irked me as I didn’t want to get exposed to much of the plot. But you needn’t worry. Taika Waititi stores a lot up his sleeve and divulges it in a very nonchalant fashion.             The tone of the movie for me looked very audacious but this could have gone very wrong. It has retro punk music with glaring colors onscreen and sets, which are constructed on the lines of 80s sci-fi fantasy epics. It looks so artificial and might be jarring, but Marvel franchise goes ahead with this ...

Justice League (2017) Cast : Gal Gadot, Ben Affleck, Henry cavill, Jason Momoa, Ezra Miller, Ray Fisher, Jeremy Irons, JK Simmons, Diane Lane Directed by Zack Snyder Review by Zulfiqar (3.5/5)             The first question after we have watched JL is ‘did the duration of the movie have any effect on its positive outcome’ and for me the answer is convincingly yes. The first cut was reportedly double of the running time as of its 2 hours. There has been a lot of editing and definitely a cohesive screenplay at work here. Though it was definitely Zack Snyder’s baby, Joss Whedon’s last minute inclusion definitely dolled it up good.             However, nothing should be taken away from Snyder here. His vision at last has come to shape in this outing. The movie is a continuous, out and out, fun for the DC comics’ fans. It has probably the most enjoyable first 30...

Stranger things (seasons 1 and 2) Review rating : 5/5 Cast : Finn Wolfhard, Millie Bobby Brown, David Harbour, Gaten Matarazzo, Winona Ryder, Caleb McLaughlin, Noah Schnapp. Directed by Duffer Brothers Review by Zulfiqar It is not just pure pleasure but a very exhilarating and gratifying privilege watching a show like ‘stranger things’. The show had a profound effect on my long spell of silence regarding the reviews of current silver screens and telly world.             ‘Stranger things’ could be accounted on many levels for its wonder but the obvious play is on the aesthetics. It is an exemplary throwback to the 80s for its accurate pressure on the right notes of nostalgia. It recreates that ET magic, which too was based on the aesthetics of innocent, young friendships and local country gossip over a global, but principally originated, simple issue. It extends this picture by building up of an implausible consp...

Spider-man : Homecoming (2017) – Movie Review Cast : Tom Holland, Robert Downey Jr, Michael Keaton, Jon Favreau Director : Jon Watts Rating – 4/5 Review by Zulfiqar             It is becoming really exhausting as to how Marvel is notching not one but many over DC in the franchise run for great BO returns. With Spider-man : Homecoming, it’s the same old tale. If not better, it is the best spider-man till date (in film).             It has many things going for it, but primary of them is the tone. The movie has a great modern, upbeat swag which makes the earlier ones languish with lesser hues of brilliance. While Sam Raimi’s version was true to comics with good production values and especially right to the mark, acting talents, ‘Amazing Spiderman’ was clearly off the bull’s eye with much razzmatazz but didn’t work where the soul mattered. Toby Maguire in the earl...

The Heartbreak Kid (2007)  Cast : Ben Stiller, Malin Akerman, Michelle Monahan Directed by Bob and Peter Farrelly Review by Zulfiqar - Rating  ( 3/5)             Farrelly brothers’ method-in-madness comedy is enjoyable to say the least when it works. And most of the time it works. In ‘Heartbreak Kid’, they follow their simple formula of describing the misadventures of a nerd in his romantic pursuits.             Eddie (Ben Stiller), a sports-shop owner in the up-market area of San Francisco, is out fishing for the perfect girl. He is a loser in terms of amour-al issues and possesses a nice heart that he doesn’t mind attending a past fiancee’s wedding on valentine’s day. His father (Jerry Stiller) cuss-advises him to get hitched with the right girl and he feels he meets her in the face of Lila (Malin Akerman), the girl whose purse he tries to futil...

The Mummy (2017) - Movie Review Cast : Tom Cruise, Russell Crowe, Sofia Boutella, Annabelle Wallis Directed by Alex Kurtzman Review by Zulfiqar   Rating - 2.5/5 There goes another production house reincarnating another franchise so that it can mint coins for another 10 to 12 years with just its title. Movie franchises in this day are the symbols for our concession of defeat in the field of creativity. In this new Mummy, whose title has no numbers or follow-tags to differentiate it from the previous movies, the makers make it clear that this is the first in the franchise. Taking a new stab at the old formula might be a stimulating experience. But the director and the writers fall prey to the many hallmarks of the old movies so much that they can’t shrug off many ‘déjà vu’ moments in the movie like screaming face in the sand-storm, spiders (earlier beetles) creeping out in patterns out of the catacombs, bidding walking skeletons chasing the cars and the lis...

JOHN WICK – 2      Rating- (3.5/5) Cast : Keanu Reeves, Ruby Rose, Common, Ricardo Scamarcio, Ian McShane Lance Reddick, John Leguizamo Director : Chad Stahelski Review by  Zulfiqar The headshots’ savvy gun-slinger cum assassin is back again roaming on the streets of crime piling up the head count as he observes some long forgotten but rejuvenated contract. Momentarily dipping in the solitude of retirement, after the retribution of his dead puppy (a token for his healing grief by his deceased spouse), he resurfaces when a ‘marker’ is thrust upon him. the man who does this is not an immediate heir of Italian mafia family and who in the past has done a favor to the master assassin. Honoring the blood pact, though reluctantly, Wick readies himself for walking along the streets of mystic crime armored with a myriad set of arsenal shooting on live targets and globe-trotting while doing so. This time his mission takes him to Rome where the coron...

Jolly LLB 2  (2017)  – rating (4/5) Cast : Akshay Kumar, Saurabh Shukla, Annu Kapoor, Kumud Mishra, Huma Qureshi, Sayani Gupta, Sanjay Mishra, Rajiv Gupta Director : Subhash Kapoor Review by  Zulfiqar On the heels of the well handled out court procedural in last year’s ‘Pink’, comes ‘Jolly LLB 2’, which has just the right theme and narrative power of the court and its judicial undergoings, albeit a little bit on the lighter note. But at the end carves out a larger picture of a serious issue. Indian cinema after the advent of Anurag Kashyap and Vishal Bharadwaj had gone the right way in adhering to the everyday scenarios of people with the beautiful backdrop of real life, both in atmospheric and aesthetic sense. ‘Jolly LLB 2’ gains a lot in staying true to the nativity of ‘pan-chewing’ Lakhnawi milieu with cluttered traffic and middle class sensibilities of cordial neighbors and hearty give-and-takes of friends. Director Subhash Kapoor, who has a string...

The Hateful Eight (2015)  – 3.5/5 Cast : Kurt Russell, Samuel L Jackson, Tim Roth, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Michael Madsen, Demian Bichir, Bruce Dern, Walton Goggins Director : Quentin Tarantino Review by  Zulfiqar Quentin Tarantino’s ‘hateful eight’ is a confused genre of cinema which leaves the viewer undecided regarding his inference of the characters and their motives behind the happenings. Quentin Tarantino, a legendary filmmaker of shuffled screenplays and long intriguing verbal exchanges, doesn’t give either of his defining traits, the usual treatment he generally dishes with a very panache-laden hand. Even then because of the cohesive script and crisp depiction of the characters and the events, ‘hateful eight’ manages to go as a passable thriller, if you resort to not aspire for the usual artisanship of the auteur filmmaker. The movie starts post-civil war era, with a bounty hunter, John Ruth (Kurt Russell), who is on the move in a stagecoach with his late...

Sherlock Holmes (2009) Rating – 4/5 Cast : Robert Downey Jr, Jude Law, Rachel McAdams, Mark Strong, Kelly Reilly, Eddie Marsan Directed by Guy Ritchie Review by  Zulfiqar              Watson is finding hard to lodge with his best friend and uncanny sleuth, Sherlock Holmes. Not just because of the weird ways, Holmes employs to solve the cases, but because Watson nuptials are in the offing and it is the time to take the next turn for a more ordered life. These are the times, when ‘Sherlock Holmes’ story opens in the Doyle’s medieval England. Watson is aspiring get order in his life, at this instance in the form of a woman, sensible and beautiful Mary Morstan. But boys will be boys. Holmes throws subtle tantrums like a neglected child, but then he will come around. In the mean time, he will try to deviate Watson with the newest and groundbreaking case of Lord Blackwood, who rises from the grave and wants t...

Sherlock Holmes : a game of shadows (2011)         Rating (4/5) Cast : Robert Downey Jr, Jude Law, Kelly Reilly, Jared Harris, Rachel McAdams, Stephen Fry, Naomi Rapace, Eddie Marsan Directed by Guy Ritchie Review by Zulfiqar Holmes fears come true in ‘game of shadows’, when Watson is the groom-to-be and the famous sleuth tries to show his reluctance as much as he can while he bids adieu to his comrade-in-arms. He throws a spurious and spoilt stag party, while his brother Mycroft (Stephen Fry) guffaws with his own set of intellectual jousting. Sherlock takes Watson in a completely physical and mental disarray to the latter’s wedding and look how he gathers an adventurous kick as he ruins the new couple’s honeymoon. But this is all in good spirit and best nature as Downey Jr and Jude Law show their warmth in their characters to imbue the same in the terrific bro-mance chemistry between the literary pair. It is the easiness with ...