Gisteller

             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...

Zombieland Directed by: Ruben Fleischer Cast: Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Emma Stone, Abigail Breslin, Bill Murray Rating: 4/5 Review by Zulfi             Zombieland is that post apocalyptic utopian fantasy which delights by the very concept and enthrals by infusing the extra dosage of humour. Zombies are those creatures which for me held no thrill until I watched ‘Shaun of the dead’, which by the way is a great classic and which undoubtedly should have contributed a sliver of inspiration for this movie. Jesse Eisenberg’s character, who is called by his place, Columbus (as are the rest of the small cast) starts by doling out the rules for surviving in the barbaric and survival times of Zombieland. There is a brief narration of ‘zombie’ contagion affecting the population with only a handful of people remaining unaffected and how USA now is officially US of Zombieland. He follows his self propounded rules...

Raman Raghav 2.0 Director : Anurag Kashyap Music : Ram Sampath Cast : Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Vicky Kaushal, Sobhita Dhoolipala Rating : 2.5/5 - It's all about embracing your inner animal Review By zulfi.  ‘Raman Raghav 2.0’ is a criminal biography of a character and his search for the salvation of not his doings but his own existence. It is undoubtedly the darkest movie from the legendary filmmaker Anurag Kashyap. The movie states at the start that it isn’t based on the real life Mumbai based serial killer of the same name in the 60s, and follows the character in only imitating a certain part of his biography. However, the rest is a completely different psychic take on the protagonist’s life cycle. Raman is in search of that remaining ‘Raghav’, who completes him and he meets him at the most unlikeliest of times.             In a pre title sequence, the movie starts with a scene at a drug peddler’s hovel whe...

            Game of thrones – Battle of Bastards (Spoilers ahead)             Cast: Kit Harrington, Sophie Turner, Kristofer Hivju, Iwan Rheon             Ponderings of the episode             4.5/5 - by Zulfi              When the preceding episode didn’t denote any happenings out there in the north, there was a sense of forecast that the ninth episode was going to be solely about the epic battle between the two mentioned characters. But the weekly presentation began with the events in the south where dragon queen, Daenerys enters the great pyramid like palace of Meereen and discusses political angles of the imminent attacks of Masters’. This is the first time in the whole series, I feel as though the central...