#Amy #hollywoodBollywoodDocumentaryFilmReview #JohnsonThomas Rating: * * * *

#Amy #hollywoodBollywoodDocumentaryFilmReview #JohnsonThomas Rating: * * * *

#PicksAndPiquesSnippetFilmReview10thJuly2015 #JohnsonThomas

 

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#PicksAndPiquesSnippetFilmReview10thJuly2015

#JohnsonThomas                             

 

#Baahubali/#TheOneWithTheStrongArms(Bahubali-The Beginning) (Hindi) Rating: * * ½  Aiming for magnificent but settling for cheesy, this ambitious south-side offering from the impressive ‘Makhi’ director/Producer has the gloss but not the art, seamless DI tech crispness or the heart to make it matter. Apparently Rs 250 crore( for both 1 & 2 ) thereabouts was frittered away on this epic Magnum Opus mythic fantasy that slithers into formula in order to gain greater bandwidth. Laughable and intermittently entertaining but not exactly  food for the soul, is the verdict! And it’s a relief it’s not in 3D. The #DolbyAtmos sound effects are crisp and resounding though.    #KaranJohar #DharmaProductions #SSRajamouli #RanaDagggubatti #TamannaahBhatia #Makhi #MMKreem #Prabhas #AnushkaShetty #RamyaKrishnan #Nassar #Satyaraj #ArkaMediaWorks #StudioGreen #UVCreations #GlobalUnitedMedia #AAFilms

#ILoveNY(Hindi) Rating: * ½  Old embarrassment comes to haunt a recently remodeled Kangana, flying high on the super success  of #Queen and #TanuWedsManuReturns and it’s a sorry sight to say the least. Costumes, styling and pairing are the pits. Story is old hat too. Even #Sunny would be looking away from this one and let’s not talk about the heroine’s atrocious tone and accent. All this just when #Kangana is looking to get a firm grip on her Stardom with #KattiBatti and #Sunny is looking to hit the right notes once again with #GhayalReturns. #SunnyDeol #Kangana Ranaut #RadhikaRao #VinaySapru #SuperCassettesIndustriesPvtLtd

 

#ThodaLutfThodaIshq (Hindi) Rating: * Talents being abused are quite a familiar sight in the B grade hemisphere  of Bollywood. #SachinGupta Who made #ParatheWaliGali dips a few notches lower to hit on your funnybone and it’s not a laugh for sure. It’s irritating and completely off-putting. Why don’t filmmakers realize that having #RajpalYadav in a film doesn’t guarantee comedy? only solid sensible scripting and smart storytelling  can do that. You won’t find that here for sure. #HitenTejwani makes an ass of himself here..and he was a TV superstar once. What a pity.  #NR2 #Neelam  #RRPathak  #SachinGupta #RajpalYadav #HitenTejwani #SanjayMishra

 

#2Chehare( Hindi) Rating: *  Oh My Gawd !Talk about ‘ancient’ being resurrected- this one has faces that you would well have forgotten a long time ago. It’s better to remember them in their heyday rather than visit this monstrosity that  crawled out of the woodwork quite unceremoniously. At a time when one SuneilShetty is deemed to be two much having two of them in a film sure about kills everything! #AltairMedia #AshwaniShukla #SuneilShetty #Farah #ShatrughanSinha #NegarKhan

 

#Best #Amy(English/Documentary) Rating: * * * * This comes right close to the 4^th anniversary(July 23) of #AmyWinehouse’s tragic death from alcohol poisoning and is a befitting tribute to her unforgettable universally toasted, multiple Grammy winning talent as it is an unstinting record of her downward spiral in a tragedy called ‘Life.’ Unique, super talented, Jazz artist fritters away her life on wine, drugs, co-dependency and song and #AsifKapadia (who also did a great docu-bio on #Senna) does a bang-on job capturing  the highs and lows of the musical supernova, on camera. It’s a hard to stomach, archival and hidden footage enriched no-holds-barred docu that makes you experience the entire going-to-seed experience right from the front row. This one is a painful watch but it’s as true as the writing on the wall and will have you wanting to reach out and save this lost soul. If only… #HardlyAnonymousPR #AsifKapadia #AmyWinehouse #MitchWinehouse #JanisWinehouse #BlakeFielderCivil #SalaamRemi #JulietteAshby #YasiinBey #NickShymansky #PeteDoherty #MarkRonson

 

#Minions(English/Animation/3D) Rating: * *1/2 The Minions from #DespicableMe hog the show and it’s not as enjoyable as one might presume. They are cute but not very happening. And they are just not suited for a lead role. #Illumination #UniversalPictures #JascintoFernandes #ChandrashekarNeeli #MoesArt

#SandraBullock #PierreCoffin #JonHamm #MichaelKeaton #AllisonJanney #SteveCoogan #JenniferSaunders #GeoffreyRush
#SteveCarell #LaraineNewman #TaraStrong #PeterSerafinowicz #KyleBalda #PierreCoffin

#TheGallows (English/Horror) Rating: * * Derivative and crude found-footage horror flick set in a school , having a tagline that misleads with ‘Every School has it’s spirit’

is just not tangible or inventive enough to strike a chord with even the horror fans!  It’s a laughably bad horror flick ..period! #ReeseMishler #PfeiferBrown #RyanShoos #CassidyGifford #TravisCluff #ChrisLofing #WarnerBros #AnkitAgarwal

English Film Review

Johnson Thomas

Exacting but Powerful

Film: Amy

Cast: Amy Winehouse, Mitch Winehouse, Janis Winehouse, Tyler James, Tony Bennett, Andrew Morris, Nich Shymansky, Juliette Ashby, Blake Wood,  Salaam Remi

Director: Asif Kapadia

Rating:  * * * *

 

Runtime: 2 hours 8 minutes.

About the Jazz singing supernova Amy Winehouse whose life ended quite tragically, this documentary by Asif(Senna) Kapadia is a tribute to her indisputable talent as an artist, songwriter and performer as it is about her failings as a human being who battled abandonment issues, drug co-dependency and alcohol abuse all through her young life that upended four years ago on July 23^rd when she was merely 27 years old. And it’s not an amiable portrait. It’s a truthful one drawn from archival footage, home videos and intimate interviews with her entourage, all accessed with the blessings of her family members. It’s another matter that once the film got made, the family members found it too hurtful to their own image and therefore sought to oppose it.  

Asif Kapadia’s film gives us a front row view of her life through all it’s emotional upheavals and abusive largesse. Just as success began to become her regular bedfellow so did drugs and alcohol and Blake, the man she loved obsessively to the detriment of her own health and career.  Kapadia  spoke with around 80 people, including Winehouse's childhood friends, bodyguard, parents, first music manager, and ex-husband Blake Fielder-Civil. Armed with those interviews, some of Winehouse's own journals, and never-before-seen home-video and TV footage, Kapadia paints a depressing picture of a resounding talent going to seed. It digs deep inside her public image to get to the real person behind that beehive bouffant and soul-touching voice. And it’s definitely not an easy watch. 

She self-admittedly did not see herself becoming a star performer given that her kind of jazz music did not have much of a mainstream following. So when her biggest hit came her way- that too after her very public rejection of rehab and supported by her avaricious father, she found herself unable to cope and as a result went deeper and deeper into a drug and alcohol induced haze. Of course she had on-off boyfriend Blake suddenly latch on to her success like a leech and eventually pushing her towards self-destruction.

In the documentary it’s clear through her father’s own words and the lyrics of the song Rehab, that he was the driving force, keeping her on a lucrative concert tour and away from professional help. The lyrics are tellingly hard-hitting “I ain’t got the time / And if my Daddy thinks I’m fine…” – words that she lived by. The song no doubt made her an overnight sensation and it also brought on her destruction. She is asked to perform it at talk shows and gigs and she does so with a unique innovative flourish-adding style and substance to the number with vocal calisthenics that heighten the gravity of a monumentally unsound decision. Did she know what she was letting herself in for ? Seems like it.

Amy hero-worshipped Tony Bennett and when she earned the opportunity to record the Jazz standard body and soul duet with the legend, for his upcoming album, at Abbey road Studios, she was on tenterhooks. But eventually Tony’s comforting words made her come good. Winehouse, then 27, was just a few months away from death and this duet was to be the very last number she would ever record. The songs lyrics were the last words on record that she would utter- “My life a wreck you’re making,You know I’m yours for just the taking. I’d gladly surrender myself to you, body and soul.” 

Going through the distance here might be tough but the payoff is definitely worthwhile. At the end you are left with the feeling that she could well have been saved. And it’s pretty much agonizingly ironic that her biggest hit came off her objection to rehab. Such are the vagaries of fate!

 

‘Amy’ is a film that could well help other potential musical supernovas from self-destructing- but that’s if they watch it and learn from Amy’s experiences.

Johnson Thomas

johnsont307@gmail.com