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The only way to fairly judge a film like 'Housefull 2' is to compare the film with Sajid Khan's previous works. Expecting anything different, like smarter gags, better humour or a coherent narrative will very obviously leave you overtly disappointed. Anupama Chopra says in her review:

Housefull 2 has exactly the same mix of stars, foreign locations, farcical plot and spectacularly dim-witted comedy as the first Housefull.  This is the cinematic equivalent of junk food - when you walk in, you know exactly what you're going to get.

I guess that is the best defense the 'Housefull 2' team can think of, Chopra adds:

But then the Housefull crew never promised us story, performances, characters, craft. In an interview to www.glamsham.com,  Akshay Kumar said that the film has 'love, letch and lots of adventure.' If that's what you look for in the movies, by all means venture in.

If you are looking for plot and narrative, then Gaurav Malani is right to point out:

Ah, coming to the storyline

Read More »from Y! Meta Review: Housefull 2

Housefull funIf you like Sajid Khan's style of comedy you will not complain too much about 'Housefull 2'. It's the tried and tested Bollywood formula, complete with skimpily clad women, brawny men (read, John and Akshay), dollops of slapstick humour, a hot item girl, fight sequences where John can show off his muscles and Akshay can display his martial art skills and lots of mindless banter.

The plot is simple enough: the fathers are searching for rich and eligible son-in-laws for their daughters. The daughters easily fall for the suitable and wealthy boys after some initial reluctance. The boys are impostors and all of them have hidden agendas. If you are not quite confused yet, the 'dirty' dozen end up in the same house creating more confusion as they try to resolve the mess they have created.

Akshay has acted in so many of them that he has become a pro in handling such foolish comedies. John, Riteish and Shreyas too have previously had their share of slapstick humour. As a

Read More »from Review: Housefull 2

Cast: Akshay Kumar, Asin Thottumkal, John Abraham, Jacqueline Fernandez, Riteish Deshmukh, Zarine Khan, Shreyas Talpade, Shazahn Padamsee, Mithun Chakraborty, Rishi Kapoor, Randhir Kapoor, Boman Irani

Directed by Sajid Khan

Rating: *

Comedy fueled by confusion yields very little. And in Bollywood, this leads to people repeating their punch lines, screaming while spitting with expressions more animated than the next Pixar production. Here we have a house full of just this. The success factors are the usual: foreign locations, a minimum of two top stars (John-Akshay) and a maximum of two average stars to make the top stars feel more significant (Shreyas-Riteish). Then there has to be unaccountable opulence (since the audience wants to escape from their middle-class drudgery), dhishooming at the ratio of 30:1, naach-gaana by the united blues of Thailand and so on.

Read More »from Housefull 2 review

Dhanush and Shruti in 3I am not a Tamil film buff but I wanted to watch '3', just to see if the film would live up to even half the hype that 'Kolaveri di' managed to create. That said I know that we should judge a film on its own merit and not on the basis of a fun (soup) song that went viral. Even on its own, it's very clear that Aishwarya had no idea whether she wanted to make a romantic film or a tragedy at the onset.

The film's first half is an endearing love story, where teenagers Ram (Dhanush) and Janani (Shruti) fall in love with each other. It's actually amazing how convincing 28-year-old Dhanush is as a schoolboy. The love story holds the film together in the first half as their love blossoms and they decide to marry despite familial opposition. There's an element of suspense that underlines the first half when you realize that Ram is dead and Janani has no idea what happened.

However, the second half is a long drawn saga with no romance, no suspense, no redeeming element whatsoever. Read More »from Review: 3

Cast: Kunal Kemu, Amrita Puri

Directed by Vishal Mahadkar

Rating: 0.25 *

Two images spring to mind looking at the above photograph: SRK and the movie ‘Titanic’. And while anyone who stretches his arms isn’t SRK, this film has a lot in common with a sinking ship. The title and the promos may suggest a crummy mix of ‘Wall Street’ and ‘Blood Diamond’ but it’s largely a snore fest often interrupted by a jolting background score. So let’s make this review a little less painful and attempt a graphic novel approach.

Read More »from Blood Money review

Agent Vinod in action'Agent Vinod' is not all bad, in fact it starts with a lot of promise but Sriram Raghavan's previous works had raised our expectations. For once, we prayed that this thriller will not just be style over substance but Raghavan disappoints. Raja Sen in his review says that the film is just not 'clever enough':

If only Agent Vinod were a video game. It has all the hallmarks of a classic: from explosive wall-to-wall action to various levels of globetrotting mayhem, from challenging moments of hand-to-hand combat and clue-hunting to an eclectic slew of fascinating side characters, from a helluva background score to, quite vitally, the fact that it doesn't end where it should and instead keeps giving the protagonist more to do.

Alas, 'Agent Vinod' is not a video game and a film demands a coherent narrative. Like Kaveree Bamzai points out, there are a lot of elements that work:

Keeping a light tone is the toughest thing to do for a filmmaker. One wrong step and the laughs turn into sniggers.

Read More »from Y! Meta Review: Agent Vinod

With ‘Agent Vinod’ managing to impress very few, we wonder if the genre has been jinxed. Find out

There was a time when anything futuristic tickled the curious mind and offered a form and flesh to the unknown. And while the values of VFX have progressed by epic proportions, we still end up with duds like Agent Vinod, Players and Game. This brings us to question whether the concept of a thriller is to just look like one or is there a deeper reasoning to it? Lately, wearing fancy suits and skipping across the world trying to find clues to a global propaganda seems to be the ultimate recipe. Don’t believe us? Check out our reviews of the big-budget turkeys that have subscribed to this ultimate formula for failure in recent times.

Game

Read More »from Why wannabe thrillers don’t work anymore

Cast: Abhishek Bachchan, Kangana Ranaut, Anupam Kher, Boman Irani, Jimmy Shergill

Directed by Abhinay Deo

Rating: 0.5 *

Each time Bollywood tries to ape the west, it twists its ankle and trips over a puddle of poop, face-first. And Game is such a poop-drenched, wannabe-whodunit thriller that on watching, you might want to find out who's done this movie, why and couldn't he just light a bonfire with the disposable money used to produce it?

The movie begins as billionaire Kabir Malhotra (Anupam Kher) invites an odd mix of people from across the globe to visit his personal Greek island of Samos for a chance to enrich their sorry lives. As the recipients scan their letters, the name Samos pops up often and can spark a sudden craving for the savoury snack (Samosa!). A tip: keep munchies accessible.

Anyway, the lucky invitees include, drug-lord cum club-owner from Turkey, Neil Menon (Abhishek Bachchan), who's suited, booted, wears designer shades and beats people to pulp, usually when they

Read More »from Game review