#Maggie #EnglishHollywoodFilmMovieReview #JohnsonThomas #Rating: * * *

#Maggie #EnglishHollywoodFilmMovieReview #JohnsonThomas #Rating: * * *

#PicksAndPiquesSnippetFilmReview29thMay2015 #JohnsonThomas

 

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#PicksAndPiquesSnippetFilmReview29thMay2015

#JohnsonThomas

 

#Welcome2Karachi(Hindi) Rating: *  * Playing Dumb. This one dumbs it down to the bottom of the pit and proves more tedious and boring than entertaining. Quite a come down after all that promotional swagger. Two dumb idiots set out to have fun and end up saving the world. Havn’t we seen that many times over? There’s no humor here ..just a lot of stupidity that tries to pass off as funny!Watch the trailer instead…

#RaindropSolutions #JackyBhagnani #ArshadWarsi #DaleepThahil #LaurenGottlieb #VashuBhagnani

 

#Me( English) Rating: * *  Slow and stressful. The ponderous narrative centered around justifying the film’s title is obvious and off-putting. Aims for psychological edge-of-seat thrills but  gets waylaid by verbosity and dull performances. The mental illness at the core of this story deserved much better elaboration than what’s done here. The entire set-up appears to be amateurish and un-enlivening. #SammeerSatish #AdilAman #GurpreetKaur #TheIllusionistsFilmCompany #DrSantoshSawane

 

#ChaarCutting(Hindi/Shorts) Rating: * * * ½ The best bet this week. Four shorts by young unsung directors that will floor you with their poignancy, techno smarts and depth. #ManilaRunning #Blouse #Bawdi #SkinDeep #VikramadityaMotwane #JamuuraTalkies  #AditiVasudev #NaveenKasturia #PriyansuPainyuli #SonalJoshi #PreetiSharma #SumeetVyas #ImranRashid #UdayChandra #OlivierBorten #HardikMehta #AnujGulati #VivekSoni #VijetaKumar

 

#IshqeDariyaan(Hindi) Rating: No Show. A romantic drama. #Evelyn #Mahaakshay

 

#PSePMTak (Hindi) Rating: * *Of corruption and  ‘Dirty Politics,’ all old hat as far as Hindi cinema is concerned. An attempt at grotesque dark satire comes unstuck. There’s nothing new or interesting on display here. Even the much hyped about #MeenakshiDixit who doesn’t look anything like Madhuri Dixit, cuts a sorry figure. Director #KundanShah doesn’t seem to have regained his touch of yore(#JaaneBhiDoYaaron). #ParullGossain #KundanShah

 

#ILoveDesi(Hindi) Rating: No Show  A romantic comedy. #PankajBatra #RockyDaswani #AkshayKumar #VedantBali #PriyankaShah.

 

#SanAndreas(English/3D) Rating: * * ½ This big bombastic Hollywood disaster movie with more CGI representations than real time shoots, promotes former pro wrestler turned actor #DwayneJohnson as the rescuer par excellence who saves his own family and two others while every one else struggles to find a foothold in this lop-sided depiction of the greatest disaster ever. Seemed like everyone else was expendable but the lead family. Life is just a side show in this one. Larger takes the cake!  #WarnerBros #AnkitAgarwal #GeorgeJohn #VillageRoadshowPictures #TimeWarner #DwayneJohnson #CarlaGugino #BradPeyton #KylieMinogue #ArchiePunjabi #IoanGruffud #PaulGiamatti #AlexandraDaddario

 

#Maggie(English) Rating: * * * A surprisingly engaging and totally involving zombie flick that’s not quite the usual Hollywood pack rat. #AbigailBreslin does a challenging turn as the teenager infected by a virus that will eventually turn her into a zombie. And #ArnoldSchwarzenegger is  quite wonderful as the doting father pained by the unimaginable plight of his lovely daughter. #HenryHobson #JohnScott3 #PVRPictures #AbigailBreslin #ArnoldSchwarzenegger

 

#BestFilmsReleasedthisWeek29thMay 2015 #JohnsonThomas

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#BestFilmsReleasedthisWeek29thMay 2015 #JohnsonThomas

 

#ChaarCutting(Hindi/Shorts) Rating: * * * ½ The best bet this week. Four shorts by young unsung directors that will floor you with their poignancy, techno smarts and depth. #ManilaRunning #Blouse #Bawdi #SkinDeep #VikramadityaMotwane #JamuraTalkies  #AditiVasudev #NaveenKasturia #PriyansuPainyuli #SonalJoshi #PreetiSharma #SumeetVyas #ImranRashid #UdayChandra #OlivierBorten #HardikMehta #AnujGulati #VivekSoni #VijetaKumar #LoudspeakerMedia #MauliSingh

 

#Maggie(English) Rating: * * * A surprisingly engaging and totally involving zombie flick that’s not quite the usual Hollywood pack rat. #AbigailBreslin does a challenging turn as the teenager infected by a virus that will eventually turn her into a zombie. And #ArnoldSchwarzenegger is  quite wonderful as the doting father pained by the unimaginable plight of his lovely daughter. #HenryHobson #JohnScott3 #PVRPictures #AbigailBreslin #ArnoldSchwarzenegger

 

English Film review

Johnson Thomas

Zombie flick.. but it’s Different!

Film: Maggie 

Cast: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Abigail Breslin

Director: Henry Hobson

Rating: * * *

Runtime:  90 mins

Synopsis:

An Indie Zombie flick with a budget of $ 4 million starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and Abigail Breslin and directed by first time feature filmmaker Henry Hobson and written by first time feature writer John Scott 3, This film is not typically a zombie film. It’s more of a character study dealing with the developing relationship between a teenage girl Maggie(Anigail Breslin) ,from the Midwest(infected with a deadly zombie virus called necroambulist) and her loving father. Wade(Arnold Schwarzenegger) must do his best to care for his infected daughter while preparing himself for the final outcome of the infection.

Review:

I wasn’t ever a fan of the undead scavenging for human flesh and the zombie movies that came before this were mainly horror actioners that plied gory and unpalatable in ample measure. ‘Maggie’ doesn’t have it’s focus on the cannibalistic scavenging on human flesh or the fight for survival between the uninfected and the infected. Maggie in fact works more as a human story- about an unfortunate incident that transforms the life of a normal teenager and turns her into an outcast..literally. 

 The small town in the Midwest where Maggie and Wade  live, is already infested with the virus and the victims are set into isolation. Wade is searching for his daughter and he finds her in the isolation ward.  

It’s a compassionate, intriguing tale and draws you in right from the very beginning..in spite of your reservations about the subject. The film details the relationships between Maggie, her friends and family and highlights the drama effected with close ones dealing with someone who is terminally ill. Maggie takes you to a different dimension altogether. It’s not action and horror oriented which was what was expected. You see the deterioration of the person’s body, mind, hopes and dreams. Hobson and John Scott 3 have created such believable characters that you can’t help rooting for them even though they happen to resemble some of your worst nightmares. That’s the power of screen character build-up and it works beautifully here. Eschewing all horror genre tricks and allowing for only the most natural of progressions into deterioration of the body and mind, it’s a horrific rendering nevertheless. 

Abigail Breslin is wonderful as the ailing girl who has been quarantined and forcefully separated from her boyfriend and who now has to face up to becoming something she never ever dreamt of. Her final interactions with friends and the dawning of the realization that there will be no future for her comes across powerfully through the emotive resonance of her performance. Even Scwarzenegger, better known for his woodenness does well to show us his pain while fighting for his daughter’s right to live in dignity instead of being culled off while in quarantine.  It’s a surprising display of emotion from this seasoned action star and shows us that he is capable of much more.

Technically too, this film is quite spiffy. Hobson’s choice of sticking with the emotional drama rather than a horror actioner puts the experience on a different level altogether. There’s plenty of heart-break here and emotions will be stirred quite strongly too. Cinematographer Lukas Ettlin’s canvas is also worthy of mention. He paints a dramatically hued narrative effectively radiating the right atmosphere and resonance. 

Johnson Thomas

johnsont307@gmail.com