HOW DO YOU KNOW (2010)

 How do you know (2010)

Genre: Romance, Comedy

Director: James L. Brooks

Writer: James L. Brooks

Stars: Reese Witherspoon, Paul Rudd and Owen Wilson 

My score 3/5

It starts like a sports movie turns in to a Wall Street thriller and ends like a love story.  Little strange for a mundane romantic movie yet it’s interesting than it looks. 

Lisa who is a softball player gets cut from the next year’s team which forces a change in her life. Without knowing what to do she finds out that a decent guy from corporate world who is currently being investigated for federal fraud and a millionaire base ball player starts to interest her. Confused enough in the middle of these two who are completely different characters from each other she struggles to find a balance and choose who is correct for her.

The plot is short and sweet just like in many romantic movies out there and so do the acting and characters themselves. There is nothing special to go crazy about ‘How do you know me’ but there is something which will make you hang in to it. However when it comes to acting Paul Rudd (Who plays George the corporate guy) is quite remarkable here. It seems like he got the correct role which he surely enjoyed portraying. And the wonderful appearance of Jack Nicolson lights up the story as well.

Lisa played by Reese Witherspoon is a strong character which tries to reason with her own self when something goes wrong. Reese pulls it out quite well. And at times she proves that being positive can actually make you though difficult situations in life. (And dating two guys at once helps too!)

You won’t be taking anything away after watching it for a whole two hours which is quite a bit longer than usual for this kind of flick. You can have some good laughs and be light heart with ‘How do you know me’.

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THE KINGS SPEECH (2010)

The kings Speech (2010)

Genre: Drama, Biography

Director: Tom Hooper

Writer: David Seidler (screenplay)

Stars: Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush and Helena Bonham Carter

My score 4/5

There are no mysteries in this movie to say why it keeps getting nominated in every grand awards ceremony and keep winning in a row.  ‘The Kings Speech’ is not just a drama of any sense but something truly remarkable in its making. 

Story based upon the king George the VI who is suffering from dreaded case of stammer yet reluctantly and unwillingly gets the throne of England after his father pass away and his brother leaves the throne for his own personnel reasons. King George who is gravely introverted to speak in public due to his speech deficiency who has failed miserably in number of occasions before is yet to face the biggest challenges in his life when the Second World War knocks on Britain’s door step sooner than expected. In the mean time the king is introduced to an Australian speech therapist Lionel Rogue who soon realizes the potential in George and takes up the challenge of making the king presentable. Amidst numerous difficulties of taming the hot blooded king and trying dozens of tricks and practices they both soon realize that they become friends more than the doctor and patient. 

 

Colin Firth who plays the king George VI is truly magnificent in his role. No second thought would rise as he walks to the Oscar stage and grab that best actor award because no one else deserves it better than him. Deeply challenging roll of a temper filled king who is faced with challenges in speech and about to drive a nation to war, Colin portray in remarkable manner. So does Geoffrey Rush a veteran in the field wonderfully plays the role of Lionel the speech specialist. These two characters mix with each other so well even though they come from totally different social backgrounds. The whole movie is one enjoyable thing to see which at one point is dramatic and one point heart breaking and then humorous when you don’t expect it to be. 

Tom Hooper the director has achieved one amazing piece of movie with ‘The Kings Speech’. Script wise it’s very intelligent and never boring. Cinematographically it’s a wonder to see as well. The vivid and rich details of the age old kings palaces of Britain and establishments are wonderfully opens up to you like in a fairy tale captured gracefully using wide angle lenses. Almost each scene is picture perfect and photographically correct. And the cast is well chosen and each of them plays their roll with utmost perfection and dedication. What else can make a better movie than all these fine combinations? 

This is a must watch movie so don’t miss it. You will want to watch it again after years so it’s a keeper for any movie fanatic’s drama library. 

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GET LOW (2009)

Get low (2009)

Genre: Drama, Mystery 

Director: Aaron Schneider

Writers: Chris Provenzano (screenplay) C. Gaby Mitchell  

Stars: Robert Duvall, Bill Murray and Sissy Spacek 

My score 3/5

When that white logo appears on the screen says ‘Sony picture classics’ I by experience know that I’m up for a slow ride. But a ride most often does not end when the movie end but give me some insight of life which I can carry on for the future. ‘Get low’ is something quite the same. 

It starts with a scene of a burning house. Fires blazing and about to tumble in the night and someone falls down from the roof who is also partially covered with flames and running away from the main scene. The times and whereabouts of this scene is unknown but the story touches up to its very roots of this scene very emotionally at the final few minutes. And the next set of scenes wraps around and old man named Bush who lives in solidarity in a huge land of timber just spending days talking with his mule and looking at the picture of a young lady every night with mixed feelings of sadness and joy. By then it comes to notice that this story takes place around 1930s in America. 

 

Old man Bush who has many scary and unspoken stories to tell about his past seems to be living with regret. And the community where he lives in does not welcome him pleasantly either. And knowing that he is getting too old to be standing on the earth for long he sets up to do something which no one else have tried before. That is an arranging a funeral party for him while he is alive. For the amusement of many no one knows at the beginning what his intentions are but when the story rolls it becomes clear that he is looking for a confession. A confession for some event which took place 40 years ago, which made him isolate him from the society and live with regret for that much long years on his own place which he calls as a prison. 

 

I like the cinematography of ‘Get low’. The details are well created and the overall theme of loneliness is quite well achieved. Veteran actor Robert Duvall plays Bush and the rest of the strong few characters belong to the two people who works closely with him while arranging the funeral party from the funeral house and Mattie who has known Bush for a long time and has their own history. These few characters fill in the whole movie.

This is a movie about regret. The regret of being responsible for something which must have being prevented and knowing that it went wrong because you were not doing what you were suppose to be doing. Slowly yet effectively ‘Get low’ delivers this message. But for some reason I do not find it be exceptionally inspiring. But maybe you will see it a bit differently. 

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MIDDLE MEN (2009)

Middle Men (2009)

Genre: Drama, Crime, Comedy

Director: George Gallo

Writers: George Gallo, Andy Weiss

Stars:Luke Wilson, Giovanni Ribisi and Gabriel Macht 

My score 3.5/5

‘Middle Men’ is not entirely true yet a fantasy created combining true events. As a viewer I have no idea which is really true and which is fiction but one thing true is that it’s never boring. 

Buck and Wayne are two genius guys who actually don’t know that they are about to become millionaires by creating world’s first porn site which requires a membership payment to access. They seem to be having everything but lacking some important aspects like living sober and teamwork. Though they come up with this great idea they practically manages to screw everything up within months by not knowing decent business ethics and keeping up the promises to the partners. This is where Jack Harris comes in who is a legit business man and a problem solver who turns the already million dollar porn business in to new heights by creating a middle party online billing concept. These 3 people who ultimately become victims of their own success, and digs deep in to unknown territory getting involved with very dangerous people.

The story telling is quite catchy in ‘Middle Men’. It’s fast phased and cannot be backtracked if you miss a line yet gives mood to the whole plot. It starts from the end and finishes from the end. The middle is the beginning!

Buck and Wayne played by Gabriel Macht and Giovanni Ribisi respectively are two unique characters. They practically create the cash and demolish everything skillfully. Jack on the other hand played by Luke Wilson is an intelligent businessman who stops at nothing when he wants to achieve something. The whole plot is a struggle between these 3 people who just fails to find common ground even though they keep on earning millions of money by doing the same thing.

There is a kind of rush throughout the movie. This is created strongly using sex and money hand in hand with crime and desire. You will feel like each of these people are time bombs which is about to blow up eventually. Yet they exist like they will live forever. Except Jack who does a very smart move by creating an opportunity of out a grave danger.

A good load of entertainment and some background info on how internet porn and billing has come to light from 80s. It’s never good to forget the history coz the future is shapes upon it! 

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HEREAFTER (2010)

Hereafter (2010)

Genre: Drama, Fantasy

Director: Clint Eastwood

Writer: Peter Morgan

Stars: Matt Damon, Cécile De France and Bryce Dallas Howard

 

My score 3.8/4

I have being following and being a huge fan of movies directed by Clint Eastwood for more than a decade now and not a single movie from him has disappointed me so far. Few of the best dramas embodies in my mind comes from him. Such as Mystic River, Million Dollar Baby and Changeling. Even though his latest movie ‘Hereafter’ will not be the best of him so far it is just as much wonderful as many before.

‘Hereafter’ speaks of an uncommon domain. What truly happens after death and where do we go from there. Even though we all have that question it is seldom we speak of it and try to truly understand it. This may in broad might sound like a horror movie or even a documentary. But how the movie is constructed around this subject is so magnificent that you will be engulfed by quite a few emotions which are deeply connected to each other.

The plot has parallel story lines switching in between three characters. A French lady who is a TV presenter and just had a near death experience while on vacation by a Tsunami. A psychic from USA who has the ability to speak with the dead but finds that ability has ruined his life and the capability to connecting to another human as a normal person. A little boy from England who has just lost his twin elder brother and is gravely surrounded by sorrow and loneliness looking for a connection. These 3 characters one who has truly experienced death by herself, one who deals with death as a living and one who is effected by death and loss of a loved one lives so far from each other yet seems to be travelling towards a  common cause. I will not be describing the plot too much as the beauty of the whole movie is severely in balance with the events which effects them.

‘Hereafter’ is a not too short or not too long. And so fast phased or severely slow either. Not too elegant or not too dull. Nor it’s too loud or too silent. It’s a perfect balanced for a dramatic motion picture and once you start to sink it to the story you will find it’s more than the outer layer perfection. All the main characters are well balanced in appearance and none of the story lines seems be dominating another one. And the performances of actors are serene yet very strong at every scene sometimes bring chuckles and tears on your face.

There is more to be seeing and experienced about ‘Hereafter’ than it’s practically possible to explain in writing. I won’t be wasting much time deciding if to watch it again or not. So you should at least try it for the first time.

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Chronicles of Narnia – The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (2010)

Chronicles of Narnia – The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (2010)

Genre: Fantasy, Adventure

Director: Michael Apted

Writers: Christopher Markus, Stephen McFeely

Stars: Ben Barnes, Skandar Keynes and Georgie Henley

 

My score 3/5

Chronicles of Narnia has always being a movie franchise comes in the fore front of fantasy titles in the past recent years. Alongside its main rival Harry Potter which was bigger than life at some editions it still managed to enchant a good load of fans around the globe. Starting from ‘Lion, Witch & the Wardrobe’ (2005) and getting better and better with the ‘Prince Caspian’ (2008) it had returned with its latest edition ‘The Voyage of the Dawn Treader’ (2010). Thought to my amusement is a wee bit weaker than the first two movies I must say. 

Lucy and Edmund Pevensie are called back in to Narnia again and this time with their annoyingly big mouthed cousin Eustace. They meet Prince Caspian and join a trip across seas on the royal ship Dawn Treader. In this voyage of reaching the edge of the world they encounter various threats, dangers and creatures which at times amuse them and at times testing their skills to the brim. 

The plot is well created yet it could have being more comparing with the first two movies. For example the most colossus fantasy franchise ever ‘Lord of the Rings’ were capable of creating the most amazing 3^rd edition with the ‘Return of the king’ and that’s how a fantasy movie should go down in history. Here I see lot of action but less potential to be great. 

The animation and CG quality is at its best. Coming out in HD the thrill is spectacular if you are in a position to watch it that way. Even the smallest details are carefully given attention which is a must. This brings back some memories from movies like the Lord of the rings and Clash of the Titans. 

Very good astonishing and loud score contributes to the thrills quite a lot while the set department creating the wonderfully detailed sets for each occasion. 

A good load of hard work is surely has gone in to creating ‘The Voyage of the Dawn Treader’ no doubt. But it’s a question if that hard work truly delivers something memorable once it finishes. Yes there are some things unique about this movie but not as unique as there are many movies which hit the screens with fantasy magnet in the back. And every one of them is filled with eye popping special effects and that itself will not be good enough right now. 

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WELCOME TO THE RILEY'S (2010)

Welcome to the Riley’s (2010)

Genre: Drama

Director: Jake Scott

Writer: Ken Hixon

Stars: James Gandolfini, Kristen Stewart and Melissa Leo 

My score 4/5

Doug Riley is a plumbing supplies contractor from Indianapolis who lives with his wife Lois and reaching their 30^th wedding anniversary. After they lost their 15 year old daughter in a tragic car accident the couple has grown distant with no exchange of intimate relationship and spoken barely few words a day. It seems like Doug and Lois both miss their lives inside yet don’t know where to begin in finding it again. Meanwhile Doug finds comfort in a black waitress yet that relationship doesn’t last long either even though it brings some kind of a peace in to Doug’s life. Lost and torn this couple seems to be just living their days for nothing. 

Doug goes to New Orleans for a convention and there he unexpectedly meets a 16 year old girl Mallory who is a stripper. Rather than taking advantage of her with her own consent Doug see someone else in her and starts to emotionally care for her. He somehow makes in an ambition to take this teenage girl out of her miserable life and give her some comfort and long lost fatherhood. But this task become difficult by the day as Mallory resist to change or to accept Doug’s generosity even though she know his genuine motives.

‘Welcome to the Riley’s’ is a heartfelt drama. Most of the moments are silent and filled with self perseverance but the script gradually builds up a solid story line. It’s not boring even though it’s a little slow which almost all dramas are. But there is something special about this one. This one is about self retribution. Don’t know if it’s totally correct to describe it that way but I feel like Doug is trying to find peace in his heart by dedicating his effort to make a something good for Mallory. The society is a wicked place to be good some times which the script proves over and over. The harsh words coming out of Mallory’s mouth must have pierced Doug’s heart one too many times. Yet he patiently set on his path which maybe his experience in life has tough him to do so.

Acting wise the movie is mention worthy. Doug played by James Gandolfini is a role skillfully done. And at the same time Melissa Leo effectively plays Lois the depressed, grieving mother who hasn’t set foot out of the house for months. And finally the Twilight famed Kristen Stewart portraying the damaged and arrogant stripper girl make us forget her glamorous lead role in the romantic vampire franchise with her performance in ‘Welcome to the Riley’s’.

As a viewer you will be made to judge these characters. You will be asked to decide if what they do is right or wrong or if they did really succeeded in their roles at the end.  Even thought it has no fairy tale ending this movie will live in your minds for a long time. 

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THE NEXT 3 DAYS (2010)

The Next 3 Days (2010)

Genre: Drama, Thriller, Romance

Director: Paul Haggis

Writers: Paul Haggis, Fred Cavayé

Stars:Russell Crowe, Elizabeth Banks and Liam Neeson 

My Score 3/5

Russell Crowe is a promising actor. Coming from a great history like Gladiator and Master & Commander he is not a person to mess around with. But I have my doubts if his potential is completely used in ‘The Next 3 Days’.

The story goes like this. Russell portrays a community college teacher John Brennan. Having a perfect loving life with his wife and son it comes to a sudden halt when his wife Lara (played by Elizabeth Banks) is convicted for murder. With hard evidence to back the case she ends up in jail and John left helpless and heartbroken with his kid. Believing that his wife is not guilty he tries his level best to go through proper legal channels in order to get her free. After years trying every option and hitting a dead end he decides that it’s time to play dirty. With that the calm dramatic movie suddenly starts to smell like Prison Break. 

‘The Next 3 Days’ is a long movie. It runs for good 15 mts more than two hours. But to my amusement it was not boring. There is lot of details involved and little little bits and pieces gathered from here and there which ultimately pulls of the master plot. Even though it’s slow the plot manages to keep the attention centered well while providing intelligent twists time to time. So the story is quite unpredictable and its one reason why it’s good. The other reason is that it concentrates on family and drama than being a jail break movie as a whole. Most of the scenes take place outside the prison walls and surrounding John so there is a vast number of opportunities and space to move about. 

However the script is not perfect. For me there are too many coincidences. You might call it luck but too much luck is not that good in a movie. After you watch the whole thing if a single one of those lucky moments were missing the movie should have ended quite early than expected. So depending on luck is not very promising when someone is working his brains out of a plan like this one. 

There is good performance from the leading actors but nothing worthwhile mentioning. Script doesn’t offer space for good memorable quotes or maybe little weak at following timelines. 

 Overall ‘The Next 3 Days’ is a good view. But it will not go down in the history as one of best movies of Russell or Elizabeth nor will it be one of the best movies in your movie collection. You will not watch it twice but pretty much will enjoy it in one viewing. 

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TRON LEGACY (2010)

TRON legacy (2010)

Genre: Sci Fic, Action, Adventure

Director: Joseph Kosinski

Writers: Edward Kitsis, Adam Horowitz

Stars: Jeff Bridges, Garrett Hedlund and Olivia Wilde 

My score 3.5/5

Every year there are few or more science fictions hit the screen. And year by year they become colossus and bigger in budget and visual effects. ‘TRON Legacy’ is one of those science fictions which stand tall among others and will give you solid reasons to remember a year by its name. 

Setting up a sequel to the 20 year old TRON the story evolves around Sam Flynn who is the son of a computer programmer and visionary Kevin Flynn. Kevin goes missing when Sam was a kid leaving his company unbalanced while working on a ground breaking software platform he calls as the ‘grid’. After 20 years Sam finds the key to this grid and transform himself in to the program and in to the grid just like Kevin did long ago. There he realizes that his father’s program is much more than just a normal operating system but a universe which evolves by itself and sustain. He finds his father trapped in there for good reasons and starts to play along the game of escaping from the grid and back to reality. 

Just like it sounds in many fantasy movies like Alice in wonderland, Bridge to Terabithia or Chronicles of Narnia the heroes trapped in a strange realm must do tough tasks in order to get back home. And each of these realms is unique and never seen before fantastic. Yet you should brace yourself when you enter the realm of the grid. For the simple reason is that it’s just purely mind blowing and remarkable. You will feel exhausted even trying to understand the designs, effects and background work which must have gone in to creating that realm. It is that astonishing. There is nothing in the movie history for this to compare with and not even Avatar or Star Wars stands in its way. That’s what so unique about ‘TRON Legacy’. 

Apart from the stunning visual effects and the thrill ride or unrealism the movies is pretty much the usual. The plot is not that ground breaking or acting is not going to make you cry. So to speak ‘TRON Legacy’ has no heart even thought it tries to build up a little connection between the father and son. Or even the real feeling of hatred between the enemies is also nonexistent. So if you’re emotional or looking for emotions ‘TRON Legacy’ is not the place for you. And we have seeing many Sci Fi movies with a heart in past years which you cannot actually blame the audience for expecting some from ‘TRON Legacy’ being it that huge. 

 But keep that all aside like I mentioned before the visual effects and the thrills only will transform you to another realm    ‘TRON Legacy’ is a totally different experience for the movie lovers and we would love to settle at that for this time. But since the movie ends with a hint of another coming on our way, we would love to see a plot with heart and mind in next one. Or else just like ‘Transformers’ I don’t want to feel dizzy after watching the same old actions in bigger scale over and over. 

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THE BUCKET LIST (2007)

 

The Bucket List (2007)

Genre: Drama, Comedy

 

Director: Rob Reiner

Writer: Justin Zackham

Stars: Jack Nicholson, Morgan Freeman and Sean Hayes 

 

My score 3/5

Edward is a 70 years old billionaire who suffers from a terminal cancer and has no family of his own. Carter also suffers from a terminal cancer but a mechanic who has a loving family. These two meet up at a hospital and shares a room for a long time until they discover that they have reached the final year of their lives.  Then they decide to do a list of things which is called a ‘Bucket List’ before they die and sets off with. For Carter it was a trip of his life time with all expenses paid and for Edward it’s just luxury life style and temporary get away from the shadow of death. While in this journey they discover some meanings of life mixed up with experience and become very good friends.

As the plot sounds and the story goes the movie is quite entertaining. The old dudes played by Morgan Freeman (Carter) and Jack Nicolson (Edward) are gritty , miserable yet funny. The script is intelligently written at times which throw good lines out of each of them. Morgan and Jack being veteran reputed actors undoubtedly does their roles very well. Jack is mean and low at values at heart portraying Edward and Morgan is intelligent and patient portraying Carter. There are no other characters which is worthy of mentioning as supporting actors because the whole movie is strongly depend on the old duo throughout.

When you look at it from a point of a dying person who has regrets of his life and want to do something to at least to fix them while he can ‘Bucket List’ is a very emotional movie. Maybe even it will give you a tear or two at the end. But if you look at the whole movie and the plot in practical angle it becomes kind of a joke. That’s the main reason why ‘Bucket List’ will not be an all-time memorable drama. 

Take terminal cancer for example and how it effect the oldies. After they were told that they have only 6-12 months to live they go sky diving. I don’t have to be a doctor to understand that a patient at that age and stage of a cancer has more important and painful stuff to deal with every day of the rest of his life than going on a trip around the earth. And things which is less hassle to their health and practically achievable than trying to climb the Himalayas! And then it’s true that these two build up some friendship and does a thing or two to comfort themselves while still living but those things does not really have a weight to call as ‘life changing’. So if Carter thinks he has become a changed man after he met Edward then I got puzzled coz Carter was a good man any way. What the hell did Edward taught him that he already didn’t knew? 

My advice is to take ‘Bucket List’ for its surface value. Sit back and enjoy its interesting moments and emotional times rather than going in to detail. If not you might actually think that you can do all the crazy stuff after you get cancer and that is not good. You really need to stay at home and be with your family you know what I mean.

Trailer

THE FIGHTER (2010)

The Fighter (2010)

Genre: Drama, Biography, Sport

Director: David O. Russell

Writers: Scott Silver , Paul Tamasy

Stars: Mark Wahlberg, Christian Bale and Amy Adams 

 

My score 3.5/5

 

By now if you have not heard about ‘The Fighter’ in some way I believe you were in some coma for the last 6 months and missed all the good movie news, award nights and web chatter. If so please note that ‘The Fighter’ is a movie which made huge success and very positive reviews and big time awards like Golden Globe and Oscar was also in its favor. And it was one of the movies which was based on true life events out of few which was making box office and topping up best movie award nominations for 2010. It seems like Hollywood is finding more unique stories out of the real life events year by year and fans like us say ‘wow’ and ponder about the real life people in them more and more. In my case I don’t know how it is to be a boxer or how it is to be living in a small Us town in the 80’s so may not make that much sense knowing it’s a true story but there is some appeal in the whole art of movie making and touching the hearts of the audience. ‘The Fighter’ does is pretty damn well. 

Based on true life events of two brothers Micky and Dicky who are bonded for good and bad and their path to fame in the boxing ring. ‘The Fighter’ has it wonderful moments. Micky played by Mark Wahlberg and Dicky played by Christian Bale who are similar in many ways with long term ambitions but totally different on the other hand who just cannot find a balance in their lives. Micky is an ambitious young boxer who struggles to make some wins and play big time. But he is under the shadow of his controlling mother and brother Dicky who was once a champion but wasted his life without cause for drugs. Micky faces criticism, trouble and humiliation for failure and he takes the blame for himself while Dicky gives himself up for his addiction.  When Micky finally realizes that he need a break from his brother and his family and do something for himself, he makes the move with his newly found girlfriend Charlene. Finding a new trainer and a manager he sets up to train hard and bring some trophies while his family and girlfriend tries to tear him up both ways.

‘The Fighter’ has some several very strong performances. No doubt Mark Wahlberg was dedicated and had concentrated well on his character and even stunning is the performance of Bale. We know Bale for his crazy performances and insane dedication toward his role from the past. I was shocked the when I saw him in ‘The Machinist’ back in 2004. It seems like he did it all over again for portraying Dicky. Simply superb performance which ultimately gave him the best supporting actor at Oscars this year. Even the rest of the cast is well played. Mickys mother Alice and girlfriend Charlene is wonderfully played by Melissa Leo and Amy Adams respectively.

Well-made script and cinematography will quickly push you back in time with great detail and feeling. David O. Russell doesn’t ring much bells as a director other than one of my all-time favorite ‘Three Kings’ (1999). However here he has made his strong mark in the silver screen.

But there are few reasons which I will note rate is as a must watch movie. The lead character at times looks like the supporting roll. Dicky takes more audience than Micky and the story go out of balance maybe. It’s not a big issue as such but it should not be like that. And at times some scenes are just too chaotic and becomes a struggle between characters. If you had a boxing movie in mind this is not exactly what it will deliver. I would like it more if the real boxing had more weight comparatively to the troublesome life of Micky and Dicky. Well that’s how I feel.

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