Alia Bhatt is an Indian actress and model who appears in Bollywood films. Born into a family where her parents, Mahesh Bhatt and Soni Razdan, and elder sister Pooja Bhatt were actors and filmmakers,
Rating : 4/10 Release Date : 20th November, 2015 Time : 146 minutes Director : Sam Mendes; Writers : Josh Logan, Neal Purvis, Jez Butterworth (based on the character created by Ian Fleming); Music : Thomas Newman; Starring : Daniel Craig, Christoph Waltz, Lea Seydoux, Dave Bautista, Rory Kinnear, Jesper Christensen
When you light a firecracker named Bond, you don�t quite expect it to fizzle out as badly as this one did. Rarely has the end been as much of a damp squib, where you wonder what it was all about or why Bond villains repeating the mistakes their predecessors of twenty years ago.
Daniel Craig, while on the heels of a villain in Mexico, causes unauthorized carnage. His boss, Ralph Fiennes (M), isn�t too happy, especially as there is a major restructuring of intelligence services underway and his new boss, the young, cocky Andrew Scott (C) is looking for excuses to shut down the Double O programme. However, Mr Craig has his own agenda � and with the sometimes unwilling assistance of Ben Whishaw (Q) and Naomie Harris (Moneypenny) � he�s hot on the heels of Christoph Waltz and his shadowy organization, Spectre. Encountering, along the way, a couple of damsels in distress � Monica Bellucci and Lea Seydoux.
There is a sense of foreboding through the film, particularly in the first half. A kind of tingling anticipation of great things to come, evil villainy, grand masterplans of world or interstellar domination, sizzling secrets and adventurous action. Which is why, given an actor like Waltz (wasn�t he just delicious in Inglourious Basterds and Django Unchained?), the second half is doubly disappointing. Action wise, there was nothing new either � no sequence which stands out in memory (the opening with the helicopter was quite tame compared to say, Goldeneye) and the opening credits were weak with the song positively mournful. And thanks to our censors, in particular the idiotic brown-nosing buffoon, Pahlaj Nihalani, we dont really get to see either Lea or Monica (who has a blink and you miss role) do their stuff.
I like Daniel Craig. I simply adore Christoph Waltz. And have had a crush on Monica Bellucci, like forever. But unfortunately, Sam Mendes and his band of writers are not able to do to Bond what Christopher Nolan managed to do to Batman � take it up a couple of notches and then keep going higher, into the stratosphere. Perhaps naming the previous one Skyfall turned out to be prophetic ?
Rating : 7/10 Release Date : 9th October, 2015 Time : 121 minutes Director : Denis Villenueve; Writer : Taylor Sheridan; Music : Johann Johannsson; Starring : Emily Blunt, Benicio Del Toro, Josh Brolin, Victor Garber, Daniel Kaluuya, Jeffrey Donovan, Bernardo P Saracino, Maximiliano Hernandez
Sicario is derived from the Latin word �Sicarius� meaning dagger man. In Spanish, it means hitman
There is an overwhelming sense of fore-boding, tension that pervades the film, as we watch, virtually through the mostly wide-open, terrified eyes of Emily Blunt, a major operation against a drug cartel�
Emily is relatively new with the FBI, but has been doing active service in that time, kicking down doors in her eighteen months there. The movie begins with one such bust of a house that contains a horrible secret�an outcome of the drug wars from Mexico. The next thing she knows, she is being asked if she�d like to volunteer for a DOD (Dept of Defense) Mission against the cartel � led by Josh Brolin (who�s an advisor to the DOD) and Benicio Del Toro (another advisor). She�s kept totally in the dark as to what�s happening, what�s the objective and soon finds herself more than a bit out of her depth.
Daniel Kaluuya (remember him from Johnny English?), her mate from the FBI, tries to be her eyes and years, help�but this is beyond even their boss, Victor Garber�s, paygrade. You do learn a bit, about how US agencies operate � a bit like their government � they think they�re above the law and try to retain control of events at whatever cost. Benicio is excellent as the silent and sinister type, while Josh is great too, talkative, with the Southern drawl but still menacing. Emily, unforgettable since The Adjustment Bureau, is the soul of the movie.
Secrets tumble. Details about their mission, divvied up in little sorties, are revealed bit by little bit. I loved the way the tension is maintained through the entire film � and even a moment of release � going for drinks at a bar after a rough day, still doesn�t allow the viewer to completely relax (in India most producers would go for an item number). And I liked the end � in all it�s different parts�sometimes, you do wonder what is the point of it all�
