Bollywood World

Rating : 6/10
Release Date : 28th August, 2015
Time : 103 minutes
Director, Co-Writer : John Erick Dowdle; Co-Writer: Drew Dowdle; Music : Marco Beltrami, Buck Sanders
Starring : Owen Wilson, Lake Bell, Pierce Brosnan, Sterling Jerins, Claire Geare, Sahajak Boonthanakit

Imagine landing in an exotic (for the Americans) land, somewhere around Thailand,Vietnam, with your family, only to find, in a few hours the place erupting in a revolution with vigilante mobs going around executing all foreigners on sight.


Owen Wilson, finds himself in this predicament, with seemingly no way out. He and his wife, Lake Bell, with their two young daughters (Sterling, Claire) arrive for his expat job with an American water company, barely settle in their hotel and soon find events spiraling out of control. The Prime Minister is shot dead and soon bloodthirsty mobs roam the once peaceful streets. Pierce Brosnan, British, had been on the same flight as them, is in the country primarily for women (or so he says), is staying on the same hotel and may have a part to play, as he�s a regular in the country. But things look really bleak�



This one is all about the tension. About moving from one predicament to another. Just when the family (and you) begin to feel slightly safe � Boom! � next thunderbolt will strike. The young daughters are also shown to be the typical American types � will feel hungry, want to go to the bathroom, wont want to jump � even when clearly their own lives are in peril � and Owen, who�s not been very successful in life and has to mend bridges with his wife � has his hands full as they try to stay alive



It�s not a bad one time watch though I�ve never heard the word �Okay� spoken as many times in one film. The violence shown is brutal, but the pressure-cooker atmosphere does permeate through and makes you want the young American family to make it to safety. Of course, whether they do or not, is another matter.


PS : Found it deliciously ironical that one of the possible safe options was for an American family to go over to the nearby Vietnamese border and seek asylum.

Rating : 5/10
Release Date : 28th November, 2014
Time : 123 minutes
Director : Francis Lawrence; Writers: Peter Craig, Danny Strong, based on the novel �MockingJay� by Suzanne Collins; Music : James Newton Howard
Starring : Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Donald Sutherland, Julianne Moore, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Elizabeth Banks, Woody Harrelson, Mahershala Ali, Jeffrey Wright, Willow Shields, Stanley Tucci, Natalie Dormer



Grim. Slow. Agonizing.

Probably the three words, in that order, which best summarize this film. It lacks the pace, zing of the earlier two installments (Hunger Games & Hunger Games : Catching Fire), misses any key confrontation or action sequences and just seems to meander along (hopefully) setting things up for the next one.



We watch Jennifer Lawrence grudgingly become the face of the revolution, led by Julianne Moore. She becomes the MockingJay, the counterpoint to Josh Hutcherson, who has been kidnapped by the Capitol and now speaks for them. We watch Phillip Seymour Hoffman, as the marketing guru, try to put a glitzy, schmaltzy propaganda campaign together, aided by Elizabeth Banks and Woody Harrelson, who thankfully votes for spontaneity rather than prepared scripts and costumes. We watch Jeffrey Wright, as the tech brains of the movement, try to gatecrash into the Capitol and Mahershala Ali, along with Liam Hemsworth and Natalie Dormer, lead the muscles unit of the revolution. And above all, we watch Donald Sutherland, as the leader of the Capitol, hell-bent on crushing the other districts, toy with the revolution.


Jennifer�s character seems strangely distracted, more preoccupied with personal considerations (Josh, her sister, a cat) rather than the greater objectives of the struggle. The Orwellian setting of the revolution HQ, with the jumpsuits and the underground chambers, along with the strong-willed Julianne Moore as its head, does beg the question whether the Districts are jumping from the frying pan into the fire.


There is very little progress, story-wise, in this edition, and neither do we learn much more about any of the central characters. There is just a dark sense of foreboding throughout, with somber music to match, that doesn�t make for and enjoyable watch