Sunny Grewal’s May film watch

May 12 2014

THERE’S AN EXCITING ANNOUNCEMENT ABOUT SUNNY’S FILM COLUMN… (May 12), FOLLOW @asianculturevul and @sunnyandsay or see home page on www.asianculturevulture.com

Sunny Grewal (pictured left above), one half of the radio partnership that is Sunny and Shay (his wife) – and with her, they both host the Sunny and Shay show on BBC London 94.9FM, every Sunday between 6pm and 8pm.
Sunny, a massive film buff and nascent actor-director, will be giving www.asianculturevulture.com his thoughts on the films he has seen every month and the ones he’s most looking forward to seeing…

“X-Men”. There are going to be some big releases this summer and among the biggest is going to be “X-Men”. If you don’t want to know too much of what is going on don’t watch the trailer. There’s quite a lot in it – that could be a good or bad thing as you can see there is a re-imagining of everything. I am really excited about this movie. I think it is going to be the blockbuster movie of this year – but that’s me going out on a limb.

“Godzilla” Either you are going to love or hate this film – the trailer gives a way lot; there are so many trailers on line, go and look at all of them, it’s amazing, they have really built up the anticipation for this. So happy that Godzilla’s back on the big screen and with a traditional look. If you don’t know anything about Godzilla, you are in for a big surprise, these are the two big movies for children and everyone this month. A little bit of trivia for you, did you know that the word Godzilla is a combination of the Japanese for Gorilla and Shark?

“A Million Ways to Die in the West” If you want a good laugh, look at “A Million Ways to Die”, it’s by Seth McFarlane, who did “Ted”, it’s going to be the funniest movie out this year. Going by the trailer, I don’t think the best bits have been given away, there’s a lot more going on this film than is in the trailer…I guarantee it (but no money back offer! Haha)

“Blue Ruin” – if you are a movie buff and want something more challenging. This is for hardcore film fans. The trailer is out there and it has piqued my interest. It picked up a couple of awards in Cannes last year.

“The Edge of Tomorrow” I am a big fan of Tom Cruise and he is dyslexic (so am I, but the birds helps) and this offering is intriguing. Have a look at the last trailer – it looks like “Groundhog Day” with guns and Emily Blunt, a British actress looks great in this and I think she is going to steal this movie, she did just from the trailer alone.

“The Wind Rises” Not a big offering from Bollywood this month that I can find…but do not fear, I have something from Japan. If you’re not into animation and want to get into it, the best way is to go to the cinema where you are not going to get interrupted and there is a film called “The Wind Rises”. This trailer does not give too much away.

“Maleficent” Yes, Angelina Jolie is on the big screen – it’s based on Sleeping Beauty and Angelina looks amazing and so is her makeup and costumes and visually it all looks stunning – I wouldn’t be surprised if she gets nominated for an Oscar for costume design.

“Fading Gigolo” – Starring alongside Sharon Stone, who we haven’t seen for a while, is Woody Allen and John Turturro, who is a brilliant actor. Basically, it’s about him becoming a gigolo and it’s quite funny and eccentric. I’m worried you can see the whole movie from the trailer. I am only going to see it, because I am a big fan of Woody Allen and I love it when he does these acting roles and I hope he is in it a lot.

Here are the films I saw last month and my verdict on them.

“Spiderman” We all got excited and unfortunately I saw everything in the trailer – it showed so much of the movie, it was amazing. This is when the trailer ruins the movie for you. The film itself didn’t feel like other superhero movies where the story is quite strong. It just felt like there was so much going on with his love story which was interesting but it just didn’t gel. It didn’t have the wow factor. It wasn’t slick at all, it felt like different movies put together – when the action came on it was brilliant, the acting was superb, especially with the love story and when they were showing the development of the Green Goblin from Harry Osborn I was totally intrigued, but it didn’t gel together and it was not as good as “Captain America – Winter Soldier”. Every time he does the quirky fun stuff, it’s great but then the director takes him away that and we don’t see the Spiderman of the comic books. The director Marc Webb doesn’t let him be.
2/5 webs

“The Double” It’s like Terry Gilliam’s “Brazil” – this film is quite dry. It is a bit like the director Richard Ayoade who comes over as a bit dry. When you see the trailer it was really intriguing and I really liked it and it was taking you out of your comfort zone and was something out of the ordinary. It’s about a guy and his double…and then the real one doesn’t exist – nice concept but it was flat. It is a bit like the film “The Enemy” (2013 and starring Jake Gyllenhaal) with the same kind of premise, but it’s done better.
2/5 doubletakes

“The Raid 2” I was very excited about this movie and I was not disappointed. What you are going to get from this movie is a whole load of action and whole load of useless script which you don’t need. The first was 90 minutes and this is a bit longer and to be honest with you, some of the conversations could be just cut out…what you are treated to is a brilliant car chase the way it should be done and an action sequence that goes on for about 25 minutes at the end and it is some of the best footage ever put together on the screen from an action point of view. Hollywood can and will take from this without relying on special effects. A really brilliant effort when it comes to an action movie – you are in for a treat. Really worth watching.
5/5 punches

“The Lunchbox” This is Hindi cinema – I can’t call it a Bollywood or an arthouse film. I am going to call this an Indian arty independent film but it is not arthouse, or abstract or difficult to watch. I think this is one of the best movies to have come out of India so far. It stars Irrfan Khan, Nimrat Kaur and Nawazuddin Siddiqui and like any good movie it takes you on a roller-coster of emotions and you can literally smell the food. You do really fall in love with the characters and you could easily watch this for another one or two hours. Deserves all the credit it’s been given.
5/5 tiffins

“Locke” This very much relies on the main actor, Tom Hardy. It’s just him sitting in a BMW and it’s him talking on the phone and he is defined by who he is talking to – it’s an outstanding performance. It’s claustrophobic. Slowly we learn he is not what we think and there are a lot of questions and Tom holds it all together. If this was television, it would have been a 5/5 but it’s not so it’s..
3/5 wheels

Yes, finally, as you know I am big supporter of Punjabi films, I know, I know but you have to do your bit, so I saw “Disco Singh”. It is everything that is wrong about Punjabi films. It’s a waste of time, please don’t see it. They can and should have done better.
0/5