In the very first scene in Battleship, a $200m summer popcorn flick based on the Hasbro board game (“based” being used in the loosest terms imaginable), a scientist explains what a habitable planet is to a room full of NASA staff. Let me reiterate that, for added impact: He explains the meaning of the term “habitable planet” (using bright, colorful and childlike graphics)… TO A ROOM FULL OF NASA SCIENTISTS. If...

Titanic is just one of the very few, isn’t it? Of course, since its release, there have been films which ended up costing more. A film has grossed more at the box-office. Multiple  blockbuster epics have been critical and commercial successes. Its production design and special effects have been surpassed too. But as a cultural landmark, as a behemoth and as a conversation starter, very few films can claim to be Titanic‘s...

Good science-fiction has to have a point. Just like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind provides such beautiful insight on how our memories and experiences (even if they belong to a failed relationship) make us who we are, Inception deals with how we find it so hard to let go of our regrets and mistakes…so much so that they invade our minds every time we are faced with a blank canvas. It’s one of the biggest strengths of the...

In an alternate universe, Kim and Krickitt Carpenter’s story could be made into a good movie. After all, the story is amazing – an account of how Kim regained Krickitt’s love after she had been in an accident that wiped out her memory of the most recent 18 months in her life, which included the period she had dated Kim (and their marriage). Krickitt never got her memory back, her recovery was slow and there were times...

The Iron Lady is thoroughly broken at its most fundamental level. From the framing device it employs in its narration to the incidents in Margaret Thatcher’s life it chooses to focus upon to the inclusion of her husband, Denis Thatcher, as a ghost, the film is full of bad choices made and decisions taken. I’m afraid I can’t think of many positive things to say about it. The film opens in 2008, against the backdrop of the...

It is so easy to hate on Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close even before watching it. Firstly it’s directed by Stephan Daldry (The Reader), one of the most workmanlike high-profile directors working today. Then, it’s based on a (supposedly) sentimental bestselling novel by Jonathan Safran Foer and uses 9/11 as a key event  in its plot. As earnest as it may be in its intentions to be endearing, something like this could very...