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Maggie, Review: My daughter, the zombie!
First-time writer John Scott 3 and first-time director Henry Hobson’s humane zombie tale Maggie treats the genre differently and has many poignant moments. It is slow, hazy and morbid, though there are several interesting twists to this pandemic tale.
Most of the world has been plagued by the Necroambulist virus that turns people into zombies/cannibals. Farmers have burnt down their fields and crops to prevent further contamination. Wade Vogel (...
Poltergeist, Review: Respect the dead, or…
Dictionary meaning of Poltergeist: A ghost or other supernatural being, believed to be responsible for physical disturbances, such as making loud noises and throwing objects about.
Mid 19th century: from German ‘Poltergeist’, from poltern= to 'create a disturbance' + geist 'ghost'.
Poltergeist 2015 is a reboot and remake of producer and co-writer Steven Spielberg's and director Tobe Hooper's 1982 film of t...
Tomorrowland, Review: Human dystopia, robotic utopia
You could look at as a mammoth promo for Disneyland. That might mean great advertising but cinematic disappointment for those you have not visited the parks, and a sense of déjà vu for those who have. Instead, I suggest you watch Tomorrowland for the bedazzling effects and compelling performances, and you will imbibe a science fiction story with a twist, that is smoothly packaged and painstakingly executed.
Walt Disney Pictur...
Big Game, Review: Game on
Incredible and ambitious, Big Game is also warm and infectious. It is a good example of how some thoughtful writing can make a far-fetched premise convincing and exciting. Jalmari Helander, the Finnish film-maker who first made a splash with the controversial Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale (2010), has adapted a 2013 novel by Petri Jokiranta and blended both Hollywood and northern Finland with bartender-like finesse.
A hunting clan in Finland is initiating 13 year-ol...
Surkhaab, Review: Where are the feathers?
First things first: the title. It is an Urdu/Persian word, also part of Hindi, that means the ruddy sheldrake/shelduck bird. Literally translated, ‘surkh’ means red and ‘aab’ means water. There is a river in north-west Asia that is also called Surkhaab, which is easy to link to the meaning. The bird has rare type of feathers, and so, someone who has special qualities is said to be possessing 'surkhaab ke par' (surkhaab&...
Vanita Kohli Khandekar Myleeta Aga
FICCI F...
FICCI FRAMES 2015, Part III
Shooting for the Stars
India could well become global entertainment super-power, if key catalysts, such as flawless and timely execution of policies and interventions at a local level like speeding-up permissions for multiplexes, live events and film shoots, are put in place by the government.
For the Indian media and entertainment players, it is imperative to have tailored content strategies for global, national and local audiences (India has dozens of local lan...
FICCI FRAMES 2015, Part II
At the inaugural session of FICCI FRAMES 2015, the government of India held out the assurance that it would address upfront the challenges before the media and entertainment sector, such as emerging technologies giving way to new media platforms, great diversification of content, industry trying out new business and revenue models and the fact that today every youngster was keen on installing and using mobile phone applications.
“These are exciting times for ...
FICCI FRAMES 2015, Part I
Hotel Renaissance in Powai, Mumbai, an area that can well be called the ‘lake district’, was once again the venue where thought leaders, entrepreneurs, creative artistes ...
Danny Collins, Review: Letter and spirit
Dan Fogelman, in his feature directorial debut, gives ample evidence of a truly fertile imagination that builds an edifice on an apparently flimsy premise. Considering he’s the man who wrote Crazy, Stupid, Love; Tangled and Cars, this should not come as a surprise. After all, a good screenplay means convincing fiction, doesn’t it? Almost anything can trigger a film script: a news item, a book, a biography, a personal experience, or, a...
Hot Pursuit, Review: Cool comic caper
A go-by-the-book cop from San Antonio, Rose Cooper (Reese Witherspoon), who has a reputation for inefficiency and low intelligence, is assigned by Captain Emmett (John Carroll Lynch) to escort a murderous drug baron, Vicente Cortez (Joaquín Cosio)’s lieutenant, Felipe Riva (Vincent Caresca), and his wife Daniella (Sofia Vergara) to a court in Texas, where they are to testify against him. As soon as she arrives at the house, with her police co...
Playing it Cool
Justin Reardon’s debut film Convention started in 2011, but has yet to reach cinemas. His second effort, A Many Splintered Thing, began shooting in 2012, and we now have it released as Playing It Cool. If I were to choose between the two titles, I would find A Many Splintered Thing more interesting and cool, in spite of the obvious pun on Splendoured. Incidentally, the splintered line is actually used in the film. Playing it Cool is a drab title.
Chris Evans’ char...
Gabbar is Back, review: No, he’s not
In his first incarnation, he was called Ramana. When the Tamil film was remade in Telugu, they called it Tagore. Then came the Kannada version, called Vishnu Sena (deriving its title from the lead actor, the late VishnuVardhan). Now, 13 years after the first film, we have a fourth version, called Gabbar is Back, starring Akshay Kumar, and hitting cinemas 40 years after Sholay, which starred late Amjad Khan as Gabbar Singh, the ultimate villain. Gabba...
While We’re Young, Review: Means and ends
Documentary film-maker and lecturer Josh (Ben Stiller) and his wife Cornelia (Naomi Watts) are a middle-aged New York couple who befriend a free-spirited, liberal younger couple, Jamie (Adam Driver) and Darby (Amanda Seyfried). The young couple claim to be fans of his, and Jamie is an aspiring documentary-maker himself. Josh is struggling on the post-production of his new documentary film about leftist intellectual Ira Mandelstam (Peter Yarrow) ...
Avengers: Age of Ultron, Review: Fan-fare
Overloaded, campy and ‘fancentric’, Avengers: Age of Ultron is the Marvel Comics and Studios’ counterpart of the Justice League of America, the other array of comic book heroes that have thrilled young readers for several decades now. Just as readers were thrilled to find Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Green Lantern, Aquaman, Cyborg, Firestorm and Element Woman (current line-up, different from original members) between th...
CommunicAsia2015, III: Creative Content and Film Production Zone
CommunicAsia2015, from 2 - 5 June 2015, at Marina Bay Sands, Singapore, incorporates BroadcastAsia2015, SatComm2015 and EntepriseIT2015.
What can be expected at CommunicAsia2015 and EnterpriseIT2015:
SatComm2015, the strategic platform for the satellite communication industry, will see the gathering of over 160 satellite-based companies to address key issues within Asia-Pacific’s mobile ecosystem. Representatives includ...
CommunicAsia2015, II: Andrew Milroy on IoT and SDx
Andrew Milroy, Senior Vice President, ICT Practice, Asia Pacific, at Frost & Sullivan, is billed a summit speaker at CommunicAsia2015. Andrew has spent 20 years in the ICT industry. Besides holding held senior management positions at Frost & Sullivan and IDC, he co-founded NelsonHall, a BPO advisory firm, in the United States. More recently, he has led research and consulting projects in cloud computing, 'The Internet of Things...
CommunicAsia 2015, I: What NXT?
Marina Bay Sands Hotel, among the top attractions in Singapore, is the venue for this year’s four-in-one event, CommunicAsia2015, BroadcastAsia2015, EnterpriseIT2015 and SatComm2015. It is the same venue where the 2014 event was held. The dates are June 02-05. Even content-wise, there is a triple focus: three themes, separated into clusters: NXT Cities, NXT Enterprises and, for the very first time, NXT Connected Lifestyle. NXT Connected Lifestyle will cov...
Margarita, With a Straw, Review: Heady Cocktail of Passions Raw
Earlier titled Chhoone Chali Aasman (she’s reaching for the sky), the film settles for an even more abstract title. Margarita, as a drink, might be known only to the club/bar circuit among the upper middle class and upper class of Indian society. Moreover, a large part of the dialogue is in English, often-sub-titled. Then to discover that it is the story of a young woman struck with cerebral palsy, who wants to be a creati...
Ek Paheli Leela, Review: ‘Porn’ again?
Sunny Leone plays Meera, the pseudo-Italian model/performer who sets England ablaze with her hot numbers and even hotter anatomy. (Italy is the favourite real-life destination of the 34 year-old Canada-born porn-star, whose real name is Karenjit Kaur Vohra). A long and high profile assignment in the desert of Jaisalmer, Rajasthan, India, follows the London extravaganza, but Meera has a mental condition that makes her terrified of flying, so ...
It Follows, Review: STD (Sexually Transmitted Death)
Some Detroit teenagers have pre-marital sex, and, in the process, get cursed with visions of stalkers, who appear as young and old, strangers and family members, clothed or naked—but with one definite aim: killing the latest in the chain of promiscuous youngsters. The target can buy time by having sex again, with another person, who will then be killed first, but the thing—IT—will get to you in the end. You can run, you ca...
Home, Review: Me & Oh
DreamWorks Animation's Home is a 3D computer-animated feature film set in the future, which is based on Adam Rex's children's book, The True Meaning of Smekday. It stars Rihanna, Jennifer Lopez, Jim Parsons, and Steve Martin, as the voices of its main characters.
When Earth is taken over by the overly-confident Boov, an alien race on the run from its enemies, the Gorg, and in search of a new place to call home, all humans are promptly relocated to other ...
Kaay Raav Tumhi, Review: Come off it, you three
Three here means three old men, out to have one sexual encounter with a young woman as vindication of their ‘old is gold’ brand of virility. Sounds bold for an Indian film, and bolder for a film made in the regional Marathi language, spoken mainly in Maharashtra. Roughly translated, the title would read ‘Come off it, Sir’. Can’t help it if it sounds like a double-meaning line. Incidentally, the film is full of doubl...
Nanda’s first death anniversary: One Nanda-less year, plentiful legacy, nonetheless
March has its Ides in Shakespeare. In the life of the Karnataki family, it has two significant dates. Jayprakash Karnataki was born on the 14th. His older sister, Nanda, died on the 25th.
Born Nandini Winayak Karnataki, on 08 January 1941, today is her first anniversary, and the first time Jayprakash did not get her gift of Rs. 5,000 to buy a new shirt, wear it and show it to his loving sister on the oc...
Insurgent, Review: Prior knowledge
Metaphors, here, metaphors there, metaphors everywhere. Besides metaphors, there’s a lot of pain and anguish and a large take-away moral in Insurgent: unity in diversity/let a thousand flowers bloom/different does not mean bad or hostile/religion or caste should preach respect and love for others, not hatred. In that milieu, the appropriate title for the second coming, Divergent being the first foray, should have been Convergent. Obviously, that would ...
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About Siraj Syed
 Syed Siraj
(Siraj Associates)
Siraj Syed is a film-critic since 1970 and a Former President of the Freelance Film Journalists' Combine of India.
He is the India Correspondent of FilmFestivals.com and a member of FIPRESCI, the international Federation of Film Critics, Munich, Germany
Siraj Syed has contributed over 1,015 articles on cinema, international film festivals, conventions, exhibitions, etc., most recently, at IFFI (Goa), MIFF (Mumbai), MFF/MAMI (Mumbai) and CommunicAsia (Singapore). He often edits film festival daily bulletins.
He is also an actor and a dubbing artiste. Further, he has been teaching media, acting and dubbing at over 30 institutes in India and Singapore, since 1984.
Bandra West, Mumbai India View my profileSend me a message
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