MOVIE REVIEW

22 JUMP STREET (2014)

Directors: Phil Lord, Christopher Miller
Writers:  Michael Bacall, Oren Uziel
Stars: Channing Tatum, Jonah Hill, Ice Cube
Runtime: 112 minutes
Strength: Easy comedy, good acting
Weakness: Humour seemed a bit forced in some parts
Rating: 3/5

Plot: After making their way through high school (twice), big changes are in store for officers Schmidt and Jenko when they go deep undercover at a local college.
Review: Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill return as a pair of unlikely, bumbling cops in 22 Jump Street, one of those rare comedy sequels that succeed in delivering more laughs than its winning original. Returning directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller retain the self-mocking tone of 2012's 21 Jump Street by poking fun at the predictable nature of sequels and their reluctance to take chances. It's a recurring joke in this film, whose very premise is constructed around it. After successfully busting a high school drug racket in the earlier film, Schmidt (Hill) and Jenko (Tatum) are dispatched by their permanently angry boss (Ice Cube) for the exact same assignment. Only this time, they must infiltrate a college to figure out who is behind a major drug dealing operation. The other running gag in the film involves the 'bromance' between the two men, which serves as a dig at the homoeroticism in so many buddy-cop movies. When Jenko befriends a jock in the college football team, Schmidt becomes jealous. The pair has the funniest beak-up scene in any recent romantic movie or comedy. All of it works because the directors serve up the jokes at a fast and furious pace, and because Hill and Tatum make such a terrific comic pair. Tatum is especially hilarious as the dumb Jenko; he plays his stupidity to perfection, confusing 'carte blanche' with 'Cate Blanchett' in one scene. Like in the previous film, the action set-pieces aren't particularly original or impressive, and to be honest nothing about the film feels groundbreaking. This is dumb fun, well performed and cleverly written. And it works for most audiences, except looking for any proper takeaways from the film.

Reviewed by S.M. Intisab Shahriyar

***

JIGARIYAA

Directors: Raj Purohit
Writers: Vinod Bachchan, Apratim Khare
Stars: Cherry Mardia, K.K. Raina, Harshvardhan Deo
Runtime: 130 minutes
Strength: Camerawork, acting and screenplay
Weakness: Music; the plot has no surprises anywhere
Rating: 2.5/5

Plot: Shaamu falls in love with Raadha at first sight. As they grow close to each other, destiny takes another turn.
Review: Small-town love stories with their own unique colours, flavours and aromas hold a peculiar charm. Of late, there have been many small-town takes on 'Romeo and Juliet'. Anand Rai's 'Raanjhaana', Sanjay Leela Bhansali's 'Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram-Leela' and Manish Tiwari's under-rated 'Issaq' come to mind immediately. Jigariyaa, about a confectioner's (called 'halwaai' in the film) son's eruption of unbridled passion for a zamindar's daughter, has a sweet tender ricocheting charm of its own. The bustling Agra ambience is beautifully bridled and unleashed to bring out the urgency of a desperate irrational love. The courtship is filled with smile-a-while gusto. And as we watch, the love come done and then undone, we can't help getting involved with these two headstrong wannabe Romeo and Juliet of Agra. Purohit goes completely rustic and raw with a plot that transports the love birds to the era of Govinda in the 1980s. The film has some brilliant camerawork by Sriram Ganpathy who captures the 'galli and mohallah' culture with warmth and vividness. While newcomer Cherry possesses a certain unvarnished awkwardness that makes her Radha seem endearingly vulnerable, it is Harshvardhan, who, as the 'galli ka chichora chora' Shamu pitches in a playfully pungent performance filled with childlike mischief and yet underlined by a sexual aggression. The music is a letdown. If music is the food of love, then this film definitely needed some nourishment. Jigariyaa is a flamboyant,  and earthy take on Romeo and Juliet, with star-crossed love against the backdrop of the Taj Mahal.

Reviewed by Broti Rahman

***

CLASSIC REVIEW

IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE (1946)

Director: Frank Capra
Writers: Frances Goodrich, Albert Hackett
Stars: James Stewart, Donna Reed, Lionel Barrymore
Runtime: 130 minutes
Strengths: A definite feel-good movie, perfectly scripted movie for its time

Plot: An angel helps a compassionate but despairingly frustrated businessman by showing what life would have been like if he never existed.
Review: Originally made for Liberty Films, it is one of the most popular and heartwarming films ever made. Frank Capra regarded this film as his own personal favorite - it was also James Stewart's favorite of all his feature films. It was actually a box-office flop at the time of its release, and only became the Christmas movie classic in the 1970s due to repeated television showings at Christmas-time when its copyright protection slipped and it fell into the public domain in 1974 and TV stations could air it for free.  The film's screenplay was based on "The Greatest Gift," an original short story first written on a Christmas card by Philip Van Doren Stern. It is actually a dark, bittersweet post-war tale of a savings-and-loan manager who struggles against a greedy banker and his own self-doubting nature in a small town. Earnest do-gooder George Bailey (James Stewart) recognizes his life as wonderful and truly rich, even in its humdrum and bleak nature, only after suffering many hardships, mishaps and fateful trials. He is given encouragement by a whimsical, endearing, trainee-angel named Clarence (Henry Travers). The story changes when the hysterical, despairing, and melancholy family man is shown what the small town would be like without him. It's a frightening, nightmarish, noirish view of the world that brings him back from self-destruction. He returns to the idyllic, small-town world that he left, with renewed faith and confidence in life itself. Hence, the film's title: It's a Wonderful Life. The picture earned five Academy Award nominations: Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Director, Best Sound Recording and Best Film Editing, but did not win any since it was eclipsed by William Wyler's award-winning The Best Years of Our Lives.

Reviewed by S.M. Intisab Shahriyar