Take your movie pick for this week

This weekend, Dev Benegal's much awaited film 'Road, Movie' featuring Abhay Deol hits the theatres. Comedy film 'Atithi Tum Kab Jaoge' and drama based on the lives of slum children in India, 'Thanks Maa' also release this weekend. Hollywood has a single offering-Legion.

Bollywood-New releases

Road, Movie

A fun-fair amidst deep desert brings hope of lightening the dull and dry proceedings, as the touring cinema truck is put to use. But soon the Cinema Paradiso promise is cut short with the entire setup turning out to be a dream sequence... or rather a nightmare. Expectedly the end is abrupt and open though you lose direction on this road much before reaching the destination. Indiatimes

French cinematographer Michel Amathieu's brilliant camera work makes it a visual delight.
The screenplay is fantastic and the editing superb, which doubles the charm of watching this film. Dev Benegal scores full marks as a director to keep the film short and crisp, with the right dosage of thrill, humour, sarcasm and reality rolled into one. Ibnlive.com

View the trailer here

Thanks Maa

Thanks Maa is no shitty business. Never since Salaam Bombay or Slumdog Millionaire have the street kids from Mumbai slums been portrayed more realistically and rivetingly in a feature film. All thanks to this maa of meaningful cinema. Indiatimes

It is important to point out one fact that might help you view Thanks Maa with a totally different perspective. Irfan Kamal's film on slummy street kids was first screened at the International Film Festival at Goa in 2008. Which means, it was made before Slumdog Millionaire, the film that swept the world with its take on Indian kids who survive and succeed despite the mean streets of Mumbai. The Times of India

Irfan Kamal makes a solid impact as a first-time director. His choice of the subject as also the handling of the material deserves brownie points. The writing (Irfan Kamal, Vishal Vijay Kumar) is gripping at most times. The background score (Ranjit Barot) is effective. The camera (Ajayan Vincent) follows the protagonist like a shadow and the viewer looks like a participant in the entire exercise. Sify.com

View the trailer here

Atithi Tum Kab Jaoge

Neat. Subtle. And softly funny. Atithi Tum Kab Jaoge is quite unlike the hysterical laugh acts that have been trying terribly hard to make you laugh in recent Bollywood. More of a chuckle-and-a-smirk drama, this one doesn't even try to convince you that life is all ha-ha-he-he. Instead, it creates situations and characters that fill you with warmth and make you smile with the familiar quirkiness of recognisable situations. The Times of India

Writer-director Ashwani Dheer's Atithi Tum Kab Jaoge? almost reminds you of Karan Johar's 'It's all about loving your family' punch in his films - although in the message, not the treatment. But Atithi... is a good eye-opener for today's youngsters who lead a fast life just like Puneet and Munmun, and have no time even for parents. And never does the film get boring or sermonic. Ibnlive.com

Though a few moments get you to chuckle, the pattern (couple gets fed-up, hatches plan, plan backfires) gets cumbersome. What is laudable, though, is unlike Baghban that had severely black and white characters that simply don’t exist in the real world, Dhir’s characters are more flesh-and-blood. Perhaps the finest progression in the story is the adversaries developing a fondness for each other. Sify.com

View the trailer here

Hollywood-New releases

Legion

Performance wise everybody is fine but the story is just too boring and clichéd for you to pay attention to their acting. Legion is an insipid cocktail of horror, action and drama. If you like gunfire, zombies you can still watch it once, otherwise skip it. Indiatimes

Despite the religious trappings, Legion is an old fashioned shoot-'em-up with satisfying gunfights, a pacey plot and barely a dull moment. Dumb fun. Mirror

The movie is close to a guilty pleasure but it is also a very silly, crummily-scripted mess with no idea how to get from one sequence to the next in that way they call... storytelling? Bettany has already shot the director’s next one, in which he plays a vampire-hunting priest. It’s called Priest. We’re hoping they work a few kinks out. Telegraph

View the trailer here

DVD Recommendation

Julie and Julia

At first look, it might seem like a chick flick, but hey, stop being so sexist okay? Julie and Julia, based on two, yeah, two true stories is worth watching thanks to two things: Meryl Streep’s portrayal as Julia Child, and the food. Be warned, this movie will make you hungry. (Recommendation by Yooti Bhansali, features editor, Stuff India)

View the trailer here