Monday 9 June 2014

Movie Review : Step Up 4 (2014)

Movie Review : Step Up 4 (2014)



Plot:

Step Up Revolution also known as Step Up: Miami Heat is the fourth installment in the Step Up series. It’s a 3D Dance movie directed by John M. Chu.
Just like the past movie this one is also based on dancing for a change.
 ‘The Mob’ is flash mob which performs dancing acts on the street and other places of Miami and becomes very famous, however the members remain unidentified.
Emily is the daughter of a big building tycoon but has an obsessive interest for dance and declines to go further with any more corporate studies.
Sean is the leader of mob and works in Dinmont Hotel as waiter. He and his crew are locals of a Miami slum. He meets Emily and is soon they both become friends. Sean introduces Emily to the Mob and she asks to join them for the next act. She does pretty well and is welcomed whole-heartedly in the club Mob.
Soon enough the news gets out that Emily’s father Bill Anderson plans to deconstruct their slum. The Mob flinches at the news but they don’t know Emily’s ID and decide to go on with her plan of performing a protesting act at the next town meeting held for the deconstruction of slum.



Later when it doesn’t bring any change they find out about Emily’s real ID and plan a dangerous mob without her resulting in arrest of the members.
After they are bailed out, Bill announces to build a community instead of a plaza.
The movie ends with past Step Up stars joining up for an outstanding dance act.

Review:


This movie can be considered as the best of Step Up series till date.
The dance which is the central idea for the movie is more than just great. The acts are stupendously well performed and the tracks are just love to the ears.
Talk about the characters in it, Ryan Guzman and Kathryn McCormick show us an extraordinary chemistry there. The acting is above average but dance beats every flaw in that movie.



Now the mobs: the movie takes it start with a street mob, oh! what they did with the cars there makes you gasp and with every change of music you wanna get up to your feet and that is just a starter! The protest mob is a feast to eyes! The corporate dancing figures were just awesome, the placid faces moving identically to the beat were commendable. The restaurant mob is favorite.
This flick has a flat seen-before kind of a plot but the dance keeps the spirit up. Obviously when you go for a movie like Step Up would you like to decorate the screen other than dance.
It is fancy bright-colored movie which doesn’t let the entertainment factor go down the meter. It doesn’t demand any effort to understand the script and use your brain to decipher the drama but simply serves you with heartwarming acts and deep beauty of dance.

I just loved Kathryn’s dance act on ‘I wanna dance without you’ and enjoy it everytime its on the screen so for me this movie deserves
***⅕

Reviewed by Adina Farid

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Sunday 8 June 2014

Movie Review: Oculus (2014)

Movie Review: Oculus (2014)



Plot: 

Oculus is an American horror film released in April 2014. Directed by Mike Flanagan.
It is based on a story of two siblings trying to destroy the evil entity residing in an antique mirror which 11 years earlier killed their parents.
Alan and Marie Russell bring home an antique mirror for decoration. Right after that they both experience supernatural episodes in their house; Alan being locked in his office spending secretive time with a girl named Marisol who has mirrors in place of eyes and Marie who feels her body slowly decaying.
The kids are quite concerned and terrified by their parents fighting at night and acting weird. This goes on for a while and turns into a serious situation when Marie loses herself and attempts to kill Tim. However, he is saved and their father then chains Marie to their bedroom wall and refuses calling help.



Kids also try to reach help but they can’t. One night Alan, possessed by the entity in mirror, unchains Marrie and both of them attack the kids. While strangling Kaylie, Marie comes back to her consciousness and is shot dead by Alan. He then forces Tim to kill himself.
Eleven years later Kaylie gets hold of the mirror again and tries to destroy it but her actions are wasted as the mirror plays trick on their minds and makes Tim kill Kaylie.
In the end while Tim is forced in car by the police he sees Kaylie join the other victims of the Mirror.


Review:

Oculus is a psychological horror which has well directed freak shots and a dull and silly story.
The movie takes power from the outstanding performances of actors and is all in all a must watch for horror lovers. But the more you go deep into it the more you realise the fact that the movie is more psychological than horror. It leaves you dubious at one point and you start looking for the evidence to prove to its supernatural worth.
However, with the plot being silly this movie brings out the screams that are obligatory for a horror flick and the ghosts are very ghostly, too. So cheers to the visuals!



The one thing that will definitely disturb the heck out is the unexplained and incomplete ending. Surely director had to leave the room for following sequels.
The crazy part is that Oculus sticks to the mind like a chewing gum not because of the ghost and stuff but for its successful attempt of messing up with the mind of viewers.
The movie is more like a breath of fresh air in the street of haunting flicks as the story is not another house-haunt! The Mirror element is strong and mysterious enough to be focused in the next one.

I liked the looks of mirror-eyed ghosts so I would rate this awkward yet horror movie
***
Reviewed by Adina Farid


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Friday 6 June 2014

Movie Review : Confessions Of A Shopaholic (2009)

Movie Review : Confessions Of A Shopaholic (2009)



Plot:

“Life would be a lot easier if conversations were rewindable and erasable, like videos."

An American comedy film based on a series of novels by the author Sophie Kinsella, Confessions of a shopaholic is kind of an autobiography of a hopeless shopaholic Rebecca Bloomwood.
She is crazy about clothes and stuff and crosses every limit to and spends every penny to rob the shops off their collection.
The movie is a series of events which come into her life making her a writer for the magazine ‘Successful Savings’ following an auction of her clothes to pay debt and finally meeting the love of life. But the thing is, its not all that straight as it sounds. After all its Sophie Kinsella meets Isla Fisher movie!
Its a must must watch for comedy lovers. Who wouldn’t like an hour of uninterrupted ShopaholicNess and not so fluent Finnish!

“Shopping is actually very similar to farming a field. You can't keep buying the same thing, you have to have a bit of variety. Otherwise you get bored and stop enjoying yourself.” 


Review:


“I love new clothes. If everyone could just wear new clothes everyday, I reckon depression wouldn’t exist anymore.” 

This movie is for those who are into fun without wearing the heavy critical eyes of a very professional cinematographic owl!
I mean, for once let us all laugh at what Isla Fisher has done to the previously awesome novel. What has she done? Pure Justice. She was in her element and did every scene effortlessly. She can bring the laugh out of even the grumpy one.
The movie really is a secret garden for shopaholics as to feast the eyes with fancy items and is much more entertaining than the poster suggest.
This movie to me is like a many times watch. The idea of ‘The Girl in the Green Scarf’ is very interesting as well as fresh.



Not only a comical view of a shopaholic, but an educational one too.

This movie is just perfect to release the steam of a busy stressful week and give yourself some nice laugh therapy.

“I mean, when I think about it, what's more important? Clothes - or the miracle of new life?” 

I will rate this branded comedy with
***½

Reviewed by Adina Farid

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Thursday 5 June 2014

Movie Review: Highway (2014)

Movie Review: Highway (2014)



Plot:

Written and directed by Imtiaz Ali, Highway is an Indian film released in 2014 with high hopes and expectations towards Imtiaz’s story and A.R Rahman’s music.
Its a movie about a rich urban girl Veera Tripathi (Alia Bhatt) whose accidentally kidnapped a day before her wedding. As her captors come to know the truth about her father’s power and sources they panic. However, Mahabir Bhati (Randeep Hooda) would not let it slip easily from his hands and is all set to antagonize her family in order to avenge his hate towards the rich.
Everything that comes later on to the screen unfolds the extraordinary characters stuck into a situation which is unlikely but true.



By abducting Veera Mahabir has originally set her free. She is not afraid of her captor, instead she lives a life full of adventures and far from the heavy curtains of class oriented family which gave her nothing more than a troubled childhood. On the other hand Mahabir is a poor deprived village boy who saw his own mother being molested by a rich officer and bears only hate for the rich.
The movie is a clash of two different worlds but it flatly leaves the anomalies behind and creates a world of raw fantasy as the truck moves forward exploring the beauties of Highway.


Review:

Highway sends us home with an urge to live life in its purest form. To take off the mask of an urbanite and be free for at least once in life.

Imtiaz Ali has created a movie which is all slow serene and raw to its fullest, if you go with the critics you might not want to admit that aven after the low ratio of high pitched entertainment this movie is better than many. Highway is perfect as it is. Its not a typical lovestory, to be honest its a kind of cinema which has created two opinions. Its simplicity and unhurried details are a beauty to eyes. Highway cannot be considered as a streamlined road movie or a previously witnessed romantic thriller, it is a whole new experience on a long highway all the way up to the mountains.



If the best thing about movie is asked, there lies one name on top of everything that is Alia Bhatt. She was born to play Veera Tripathi. The life that she brought to the character is genuine. No matter how badly Karan Johar spoiled her acting skills in the good for nothing ‘Student Of The Year’ Alia managed to throw it all back with her outstanding performance of a girl who’s real, who doesn’t need any makeover to feed on to, who is wild, soft and raw at the same time. A thousand thumbs up and hats off to her!
Randeep Hooda as Mahabir Bhati was a hit choice by the director as he never leaves the feel of his character and the Haryanvi boy accent is commendable. All in all Mahabir becomes him!
The second best thing of Highway is the precious pure and perfect music! The duo of Imtiaz Ali and A.R Rahman striked again with a blow of chartbusting tracks like Patakha Guddi and Maahi Ve. Rahman also used the local folk singers they met on the way which adds to the feel of the movie. Cherry on top is a lullaby sung by Pakistani pop singer Zeb Bangash and Alia Bhatt called Sooha Saha.
It was frequently said that Highway is an unbelievable story, far from possibility. But what do they know about the strange things that happen on the way. Life is all about coincidence. Either we accept it or not Strange Things Do Happen.



Highway has the kind of happy ending we seldom see.
This movie is a must watch.

I neither want to go back to the place from where you brought me, nor to the place where you are going to take me, but this road is very good, i don't want to leave it.” 

I loved the journey, so I will without any hesitation rate this movie:
****

Reviewed by Adina Farid

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Wednesday 4 June 2014

Book Review: If You Could See Me Now by Cecelia Ahern


Book Review: If You Could See Me Now by Cecelia Ahern


Plot:

“We do not need magic to transform our world. We carry all of the power we need inside ourselves already.” 


A magical tale by one of the best creator of fiction love Cecelia Ahern.
‘If you could see me now’ is about Elizabeth who’s serious responsible and stuck in a small romantic Irish town, which bears not a hinge of interest for the placid-thinking Elizabeth, with her 6 year old nephew Luke.
The abandonment of her free-spirited mother in early age has made her look and think far from her age while on the other hand Saoirse, her younger sister, is replica of her mother. She left her newborn son in charge of Elizabeth and left to live life to its fullest, though she comes back time to time in her life for favors.
Then there is Ivan, he is and isn’t at the same time, well the hero (My most favorite of all other fictitious heroes) is an imaginary friend.
Ivan is a citizen of the Imaginary World where there are fairies and friends always present to help disturbed children. But as the tale proceeds its not only Luke who needs a friend.
Ivan soon realises that Elizabeth can feel his presence, the more she gets deep into depression the she feels him. At last there comes time when she could see him but not as Luke’s imaginary friend. They both go out and spend time together changing and transforming each other, completing themselves. Elizabeth smiles down to the life that she had around her forever, she allows herself to finally feel the pull of love thats greater than gravity.



At that point the task that was given to Ivan is complete. He has done what he was sent for, mending the lives of his friends. Opal, Ivan’s boss feels the change in him and reminds him that their Love is as imaginary as him.
Eventually there comes a time when Elizabeth stops seeing Ivan and he is again invisible to her (a major heartbreak).
Somehow they both carry on with their lives, transformed into something better,
But Elizabeth Remains His Favorite Friend.

“Don't ever take for granted when people look in your eyes; you have no idea how important it is to be acknowledged. Even if it's an angry stare, because it's when they ignore you, when they look right through you, that you should start worrying.” 

Review:

“I think I wished for you all of my life.”

The Happily Ever After is not what you expect but here it comes in a style that only Ahern can write.
If you could see me now is something beyond words. The love and the feel of this outstanding book is everlasting. The fiction within the fiction is so real that makes you believe the stories of childhood and relive them with a new dimension.

This book is special, as special as every small moment of happiness in life is. This book is not about Elizabeth or Ivan, but this is a story of how angels are sent down to bring people back to life. It is lovestory that doesn’t need any place or time to survive, only a moment of realisation will do.



If I let go without writing about the moment of separation, it remains incomplete. Ahern has given words to the feel of leaving your loved one alone and watching them as they go on with their lives, living the dreams that you saw together. It is that time when you wish that They could see you now,


The air of magical romance of a small Irish town mixed up with an unforgettable Lovestory that one can ever get hands on to,

“If you love something, let it go. if it was meant to be, it will come back to you.” 

I left my heart in the last page of the book where Ivan watches Elizabeth and Luke happy with their lives.
So I would rate this epic tale:
*****

Reviewed by Adina Farid

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Tuesday 3 June 2014

Book Review : The Other Side Of Midnight by Sidney Sheldon

Book Review : The Other Side Of Midnight
by Sidney Sheldon


Plot:

Novel by one of World’s favorite storyteller, Sidney Sheldon. This epic tale is a story of two women born far away from each other but linked closely by fate. One of them being the most beautiful powerful and wild Noelle Page and the other being the smart brainy and unaware of the mysteries that beauty and sexuality beholds, Catherine Alexander.


Noelle has a tough start to life as she struggles to become something she thinks she is. On the way road to success, moving past/with different men she finds the one who’s ‘the one’ the American RAF pilot Lawrence "Larry" Douglas.

She has a nice warm affair with him but soon he leaves her, alone and pregnant, dressed up for wedding.
She then swears on her life to take everything away from Larry which would quench the thirst of her rage starting from his unborn child.



Larry meets Catherine and gets married to her soon after. This is when Noelle meets the Powerful Constantin Demiris (Costa) and finds her way to go to the extreme limit and destroy everything. Everything. Including herself.

Review:


“If you don't know why, I could never explain it to you.”


Written by the pen of Sheldon, this one beholds a tale of deception and rage which eventually results in doom. One of the great thing about this book is the drama and theme of it. The strong storyline and bewitching characters may be a part of fiction but never once you feel them far from reality or you don’t want them to be.
The character of Noelle Page is the protagonist. She has a different nature, the one you would want to know more about. Sidney creates an aura of mystery around her and even when she does evil you can not disagree to her moves keeping in mind all that she had to bear. the rise and fall in her career is a mirror to a struggler’s life.
The story is different. Theme is fantastic and to sum it up this book is a must read.


“To be successfull you need friends and to be very successfull you need enemies.” 


I would give this one of my two introductory books of Sidney Sheldon (the other being ‘Stars shine down)
a whole-hearted:

****1/2

Reviewed by Adina Farid

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Monday 2 June 2014

TV Series Review : One Tree Hill

TV Series Review : One Tree Hill


Plot:

One of the longest running American Drama series, the one to die for, One Tree Hill is originally a story of one’s belonging. Its is about a place call Tree Hill and the not so ordinary citizens.

The series started with the focal point of rivalry between two half brothers Lucas and Nathan Scott and soon became high school teenage tale of America’s most famous teenagers; the most beautiful gorgeous & Lucas’s Pretty Girl Brooke Davis, the smart but confused yet the most desirable Peyton Sawyer, the tutor girl meets the funny meets the hot and honest friend Haley James and her Basketball star bf Nathan Scott, last but not least the storyteller Lucas Scott.

The series went on and on from that point focusing numerous love affairs, crazy and unforgettable new characters, brilliant basketball players, evil dads, gorgeous designers, uncountable heartbreaks, peppy rock stars and all the way down to the cute next generation of Tree Hill teens: Jamie Scott (Haley & Nathan’s son).

To sum up the 10 years of successful run there is only one statement One Tree Hill doesn't focus exclusively on the teenagers, but also stretches out to include dedicated subplots for their parents and other adults.


Review: 


You ever heard the expression “the best things in life are free”? Well, that expression is true. Every once in a while, people step up they rise above themselves…sometimes they surprise you and sometimes they fall short. Life is funny sometimes.

The characters in this drama series are unique attracting and different. Somehow we get to see the youth of the new world and how it evolves from the high school routine life to the exposure of practical world. Some survive this evolution while some remain tied to the roots of home front. The Series showed us Brooke Davis & Haley getting everything they want and also Peyton Sawyer fighting the troubled family setting. 

Then to the male characters we saw Lucas & Nathan on the road to success with a ton of turmoils. About the adult cast the evil dad Dan Scott is a constant villain while Deb struggles her way out of a troublesome marriage. It is a series that survived too long and enjoyed full interest of audience. It leaves memories and moments that are worthwhile.



One Tree Hill is tv’s most loved shows ever. The music, the story everything is upto expectations. Its a dreamland, a wish for a perfect teen life. It attracts every kind of audience with the story that it conveys.

There is no reason to rate it any less than five stars and every reason to watch it again and again, the story of never ending friendship never becomes old, the songs have an ever lasting aura.
So yes, a straight:

*****

Reviewed by Adina Farid

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