MOVIE REVIEW
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Director: Nitesh Tiwari
Writers: Piyush Gupta, Shreyas Jain
Cast: Farah Ahmed, Manoj Anand, Raj Awasti, Amitabh Bachchan
Runtime: 155 minutes
Strength: A fun movie, well suited for family entertainment
Weakness: Weak script and predictable storyline, unnecessarily long
Showbiz rating: 2.5/5
Plot: Bhoothnath Returns takes Bhoothnath's story forward. As he returns to 'Bhoot World' he is greeted with taunts and condemnation from other ghosts for bringing disrepute to the ghost-community for getting bullied by a kid on Earth. Post the humiliation, Bhoothnath decides to redeem himself and come back to scare a bunch of kids.
Review: After his last visit to earth, Bhoothnath (Bachchan) goes back to exotic Bhoothworld, where ghosts lavishly live it up. Bhoothnath's search for kids brings him to Akhrot, a slum kid who is also the only person who can see ghosts. They form an inseparable team of ghostbusters - evicting haunting bhooths from buildings, and other earthly endeavours (like cleaning up garbage on the streets and inside the system). Soon they meet the conniving politician Bhau (Boman), and after some awakening Bhoothnath agrees to contest elections as the first ever bhooth candidate. Tiwari's sequel sets off with a lot of promise, entertainment, laughs and endearing camaraderie between a bhooth and a boy. The first-half has wittily written scenes - strung with satire and emotion, but the story slowly turns into a tedious vocational course on voting. The preaching distracts from some superb performances and inadvertently loses humour, but the story does have its heart in the right place. 'BN' makes a comeback at a perfect time - bang on with our Indian elections, and packs a powerful message, albeit with potholes in the plot.
Reviewed by Broti Rahman
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SAVING MR. BANKS
Director: John Lee Hancock
Writers: Kelly Marcel, Sue Smith
Stars: Emma Thompson, Tom Hanks, Annie Rose Buckley, Paul Giamatti
Runtime: 125 min
Strength: Strong cast and story
Weakness: Weak character development, some acting talents not used well on screen
Showbiz Rating: 3/5
Plot: Author P.L. Travers reflects on her childhood after reluctantly meeting with Walt Disney, who seeks to adapt her Mary Poppins books for the big screen.
Review: Even a fairy tale has depth and Disney always seems to take those old tales and make them too childish. They hardly try to engage the adult audience like Japanese animation does. To me, Marry Poppins was never my cup of tea. Surprisingly though, Saving Mr. Banks was engaging because it showed the other side of things. Author P.L. Travers, played by Emma Thompson never wanted to sell the rights to Walt Disney, played by Tom Hanks. Although overly rude Emma's behavior can be forgiven only because we get frequent flashbacks of P.L. Travers' sad childhood, which shows us the connection between Marry Poppins, the story and her life. It also unfolds the reason why the author was so reluctant to sell the rights. Walt Disney, on the other hand, leaves us in confusion. Is he a man who just loves to entertain children or just another capitalist who gets what he wants by any means? Disney's adaptation of Marry Poppins still remains the most successful movie produced by Disney. Whether we like Marry Poppins or not, the movie manages to make us feel sympathetic towards Emma's character. Supporting characters like Walt Disney needed more development and Paul Giamatti's character was just a waste of screen time. All in all, not one of the best movies I've seen in recent times.
Reviewed by Zia Nazmul Islam
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DOGVILLE (2003)
Director: Lars von Trier
Writer: Lars von Trier
Stars: Nicole Kidman, Paul Bettany, Lauren Bacall
Runtime: 178 min
Strength: Story, acting & set-design
Weakness: Runtime
Showbiz Rating: 4.5/5
Plot: A woman on the run from the mob is reluctantly accepted in a small Colorado town. In exchange, she agrees to work for them. As a search visits town, she finds out that their support has a price. Yet her dangerous secret is never far away.
Review: Not knowing anything about the movie, one would be wondering for quite a while. Dogville has no locations. It is shot entirely inside a warehouse with chalk marks on the floor defining houses and roads. It's filmed like a stage play. Many would say, is it really a cinema? Having said all that, it is definitely one of Lars von Trier's greatest works. With Dogville, he proves that he is one of the leading intellectual provocateurs of contemporary cinema. The rusty voice-over by John Hurt gives the feeling of another dimension, a feeling of reading a book. The storyline is about Nicole Kidman who we feel a connection with from the get-go. Soon we come to sympathize with all the people living in Dogville – a depressed town – where Nicole takes shelter. The story slowly uncovers the true reality of human life. Even the most innocent and docile of them all at Dogville brings out our loath. We see the brutal side of humans when we find one in distress. You may call it a pessimistic thought. Even at the very last scene we can't help but cheer when we see the sufferer becoming a monster. Perhaps, our satisfaction watching the last scene proves the whole point of the movie. If you want a different on-screen taste, don't wait much longer – watch Dogville.
Reviewed by Zia Nazmul Islam
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