Dinesh Kamath’s column ‘New movie-releases in Navi Mumbai’ (RoboCop, Gunday, Winter’s Tale, Her and They Suck at School) that was published in Newsband

New movie-releases in Navi Mumbai

By Dinesh Kamath

RoboCop

RoboCop is a 2014 American science fiction action film directed by José Padilha. It is loosely based on the 1987 film of the same name and is a reboot of the RoboCop film series, making it the fourth installment of the franchise. The film stars Joel Kinnaman in the title role.

In this remake of the 1987 film, the year is 2028 and multinational conglomerate OmniCorp is at the center of robot technology. When Alex Murphy (Joel Kinnaman) – a loving husband, father and good cop doing his best to stem the tide of crime and corruption in Detroit – is critically injured in the line of duty, OmniCorp sees their chance for a part-man, part-robot police officer.

The premise of Robocop is simple. What happens when you take a man and turn him into a machine? Robots were already being used in other countries, but the American public was wary of being policed by machines. The solution: What if it were a mix of man and machine?

Robocop is not only a better version of policemen because he has none of the weaknesses of a human, but he was the perfect marketing campaign for a new kind of police force.

The flick is a straightforward action movie, and has gratuitous violence and impactful action scenes.

Gunday

Gunday (English: Outlaws or Goons) is an Indian action crime thriller film written and directed by Ali Abbas Zafar and produced by Aditya Chopra. The film will feature Ranveer Singh and Arjun Kapoor in the lead roles while Priyanka Chopra and Irrfan Khan appear in supporting roles. The film starts off in the 1970s with a young Bikram and Bala, who live on the wrong side of the law, becoming gun carriers and coal bandits. They grow up to become famous bandits of Calcutta or Kolkata.

Set in the 1970s West Bengal, the film tells the story of two friends - Bala and Bikram - played by Arjun and Ranveer respectively. The two grow from being small time inconsequential coal thieves to the most powerful black marketing mafiamen. The plot fits well with the time it portrays and also includes the world of cabaret dancers with Priyanka playing cabaret dancer Nandita.

Thus the film has Ranveer Singh as Bikram, Darshan Gurjar as young Bikram, Arjun Kapoor as Bala, Jayesh V. Kardak as young Bala, Priyanka Chopra as Nandita and Irrfan Khan as A.C.P. Satyajeet Sarkar.

Winter’s Tale

Winter's Tale (released in the United Kingdom as A New York Winter's Tale) is a 2014 American supernatural drama film based on the 1983 novel by Mark Helprin. The film is directed and written by Akiva Goldsman and stars Colin Farrell as Peter Lake, Jessica Brown Findlay as Beverly Penn, Jennifer Connelly as Virginia Gamely, Russell Crowe as Pearly Soames, and Will Smith as Lucifer though originally credited as "Judge". The movie marks Goldsman's debut as director of a feature film.

Set in 1916 and present-day Manhattan, Winter's Tale follows the story of Peter Lake, a thief who falls in love with Beverly Penn, a dying girl who has tuberculosis and occupies one of the houses he breaks into. Lake is saved from the insane Irish gangster Pearly Soames and his henchmen by Athansor, a mysterious white horse who becomes his guardian angel.

The film has Listo, an Andalusian stallion that plays Athansor, Colin Farrell as Peter Lake, Jessica Brown Findlay as Beverly Penn, Jennifer Connelly as Virginia Gamely, Russell Crowe as Pearly Soames, Eva Marie Saint as Adult Willa, Will Smith as Lucifer, William Hurt as Isaac Penn, Ripley Sobo as Abby, Matt Bomer as Peter's father, Lucy Griffiths as Peter's mother and Finn Wittrock as Gabriel.

Her

Her is a 2013 American science fiction romantic comedy-drama film written, directed, and produced by Spike Jonze. The film stars Joaquin Phoenix, Amy Adams, Rooney Mara, Olivia Wilde, and Scarlett Johansson as the voice of Samantha. The film centers on a man who develops a relationship with an intelligent computer operating system (OS) with a female voice and personality. It marks Jonze's solo screenwriting debut.

Set in an unspecified near future, the film stars Joaquin Phoenix as Theodore Twombly, a talented writer for BeautifulHandwrittenLetters.com, a company that provides paying customers the service of having heartfelt correspondences written for them by professionals. Theodore is great at crafting moving, funny, and poignant missives for others, but in his own life, he's lonely and unsure of himself. In the midst of finalizing his divorce, he's finding it difficult to pull the trigger and sign the papers that will permanently separate him from Catherine (Rooney Mara). Feeling especially lost one day, Theodore impulsively purchases a sophisticated new operating system, designed with a personalized artificial intelligence that promises to meet his every need. In truth, it sounds more like a potential friend than a piece of software. After answering a few tailored questions and specifying that he'd like the system to have a female voice, it starts up and immediately introduces itself as Samantha (with voice provided by Scarlett Johansson).

Samantha has been built with intuition, so she evolves and learns from her experiences, growing more complex and intelligent as time goes on. Samantha's curiosity about the world has a positive effect on Theodore, shaking him out of his funk, and he in turn allows Samantha to further develop herself. Much in the way that love can encourage us to strive toward our full potential, Theodore and Samantha blossom in each other's care. And quite naturally, their relationship turns romantic; they can even go out on dates in public, as Theodore communicates with her through an earpiece and a little handheld gizmo with a built-in camera that allows her to have "sight."

They Suck at School

The film They Suck at School is based on the book Vampire Academy. Vampire Academy is a 6-book series that centers around Rose Hathaway, a half-human, half-vampire (called a dhampir) and her best friend, Princess Lissa Dragomir.

Based on the hit book series by Richelle Mead, the film stars Zoey Deutch, Lucy Fry, Danila Kozlovsky, Gabriel Byrne, Sarah Hyland, Joely Richardson, Cameron Monaghan, Sami Gayle, Claire Foy and Ashley Charles.

The film tells the legend of Rose Hathaway (Zoey Deutch) and Lissa Dragomir (Lucy Fry), two 17-year-old girls who attend a hidden boarding school for Moroi (mortal, peaceful Vampires) and Dhampirs (half-vampire/half-human guardians). Rose, a rebellious Guardian-in-training and her best friend, Lissa - a royal vampire Princess - have been on the run when they are captured and returned to St. Vladamirs Academy, the very place where they believe their lives may be in most jeopardy. Thrust back into the perils of Moroi Society and high school, Lissa struggles to reclaim her status while Rose trains with her mentor and love-interest, Dimitri (Danila Kozlovsky), to guarantee her place as Lissa's guardian. Rose will sacrifice everything to protect Lissa from those who intend to exploit her from within the Academy walls and the Strigoi (immortal, evil vampires) who hunt her kind from outside its sanctuary.