Movie#86 Aisha (Hindi)

A movie with no substance at all. I could easily satisfy myself by saying that it was worth watching, for the last 15 minutes or so. But, then again, it is worthless if rest of the movie time were just flimsy and superficial. It stars Sonam Kapoor (mainly) and Abhey Deol. One of the producers is Anil Kapoor, Sonam Kapoor's father. It clears the dilemma why a producer should spend a fortune on a movie focussed on extravagance and 'substance less' storyline. I shall say with hush tones that mr Anil Kapoor might be seeking out a way to legalise his black money, earned from oscar winning movie, Slumdog Millionaire. What better way than promote his daughter while legalising the money. Two birds with one stone!
Now for the gist–  the movie is about the life and maturing of a self centered extravagant, carefree, childish and selfish (Sonam's fans would say as innocent and sweet) girl. She is into matchmaking while disregarding social norms. She is eventually put in place by the people she thought she loved but played with. In that realisation, she understands that she had fallen in love and then as usual 'happy ending'. I have nothing personal towards the actress. It could be her good acting skill that potrayed her so badly and made me want to slap her. The director, I guess, has seen a lot of hollywood romantic movies, for he has made an ending identical to most such movies, but out of context with Indian setting. In the story, there is the 'destined to marry' relationship between Dhruv and Aarti (character names), which is very hard to digest for me. It is so laughable. I wonder whether the director had even researched about how love and lust works, and which one could end in marriage. I think he was called up from sleep by mr Anil Kapoor and straight away started to shoot the movie.
Watch it for the songs and love for fashion only. There is nothing worthy to remember this movie otherwise. As the latest financial crisis taught us, there has to be spenders to help savers save. I'm happy that there are girls like this in India. Indias' future is in safe hands. I pity those fathers and mothers though. My personal rating is 2.5 out of 5…

Movie#85 Robin Hood

One of the good films I have seen lately. From the movie, it is very evident that the producers have spent enough money to make this closer to the real story. Starring Russell Crowe and Cate Blanchet, this one is a must see for Robin Hood/ Medieval/ War/ Russel Crowe fans.
The story shows the period prior to the life of Robin Hood as we know it (I may say that as I knew it because I never knew this story. Only knew from the time Robin Hood was established as the Prince of Thieves). In that period, Robin Longstride (RC) was an archer in King Richard's army. Due to circumstances, he had quit the army but got entangled in the plan to assassinate the king (I'm trying to be as vague as possible here–  may appear disconnected at times–  sorry) While carrying out a promise he made to a knight, he discovers his past, his lady love, his elusive past and about his late father, and his destiny. The story shows how he became Robin of the Hood, Prince of Thieves. All the famous names and characters of the known life as a thief, get introduced here.
The movie runs a cool 2 hours and 30 minutes plus in DVD. This include the credits also. But it is gripping enough not to make the viewer feel bored. I liked it because I'm a big fan of medieval movie, especially the life style. Russell Crowe may not find it as his best work because, in my opinion, the dialogues lacked the intensity as in Gladiator. The use of extras and stunts are superb in this one. The war scenes need special attention because of the lavish spending to make it feel grandiose. Cate Blanchet is lady Marion and dishes out a strong performance. So, in the end, the viewers will feel satisfied that they had watched worthwhile. My personal rating is 4 out of 5…

Movie#84 Parayan Marannathu (Malayalam- India)

Seldom certain movie give hope that Malayalam movies were indeed alive and kicking. This one stars none of the so called super stars but has Biju Menon, who I think, is taking the Val Kilmer line of Hollywood, that is, staying off from high cost–  high profile main stream movies.
The story is that of various interactions in a village. A single mother is struggling to bring up her only daughter, who is now in standard 12. A tailor and his family are their neighbours. This mother has a helper in the form an adopted son, a rowdy but with a nice heart and who is interested in her daughter. A village money lender harassing this mother and daughter because she had borrowed some money from him. A lot of villagers who are directly and indirectly connected to the daily life of this mother and daughter. The clue to the story direction is given early through a news in the paper about the suicide of a school girl. The villagers comment that adolescent girls need only small reasons to end their life. But this clue will not be picked up as it is introduced as a passing remark in the movie. Only on hindsight or after reading this review, will one think of it. Anyway, let me get back to story gist telling–  as mentioned above, the story is the interaction between the various characters. It brings forth the action–reaction of the spur of the moment decisions one take selfishly (in Indian context). It also makes the viewer understand that there could be hidden reasons to someone's actions even though it may appear silly on the outside. The movie has a nice story, intimacy, budding romance, family love, guilt and death.
Now for the negatives–  the director takes a long time to start the story. I know that if he dives straight into the story, the movie would be finished in less than one hour but he could have cut the time wastage by axing few songs. Those songs hadn't served any purpose than prolonging the movie. Character introduction, which takes bulk of the time at the start of movie, could have been trimmed. You would notice that there were few scenes which were the effect of bad editing. No reason at all to be shown. All in all, one of the better works in Malayalam movie making I have seen since this blog started. My personal rating is 3 out of 5…

Movie#83 Splice

The danger of playing with Gods' building blocks. I'm not preaching and I'm not a religious fanatic either. But I sense that there are certain things with which humans shouldn't play with, in the name of science. What is wrong with people dying of cancer, of having Alzheimer's disease or any genetic disease. Accept it as nature's way of weeding out and survival of the fittest. Science should know its limits.
Two rogue genetic scientists ( I shall say that the term psychologically challenged more apt) create a creature by splicing DNA of various animals and human. They justify their act as 'for science' initially and later when things start to go out of control, they start to play master and God. Anyone could have seen that what they did or were doing, was wrong, except themselves. That is why I suggest alternate description for their mental state. The creature's behaviour has an animal instinct which is insufficiently put under control by the its human instinct. The interaction between Adrien Brody (male culprit) and Sarah Polley (female culprit), in the initial part of their wrong doing, reminded me of Adam and Eve in the Bible. The little doubts AB develop of their actions were quickly quashed by SP. And he willingly let her control him.
The movie as a whole manages to hold just above average. The creature makeup and special effects are superb. But, while watching it, makes us feel that something was missing somewhere. It could be the absence of powerful music in concordance with the awe the creature morphology conveys. Some of the scenes could have been avoided in my opinion. It develops a certain kind of repulsion to the frailty of humans, when hormones control the urge to mate. Because of that this movie is definitely not a family watch especially in unrated DVD, as my copy. Towards the end, the director seemed like he wanted to end the movie quickly. The offspring of the creature grows quickly than its mother and grasps speech without training. Hmmmm…interesting! And the end, the motivation for money seem to conquer reasoning. Hope this experiment never happens in real life. I really hope….
My personal rating is 3 out of 5…

Movie#82 Tinkerbell and the Great Fairy Rescue

Yes, it is an animation movie. And I don't find any reason why I shouldn't enjoy an animation. I went to the store and didn't have any choices. All the others were rented out and this was only left. I think I have exhausted the store options. Thinking about moving to the next one.
There is nothing much to write about this one. Straight story and superb animation. I should also say that the animation work had been done extensively in India. I couldn't guess that until I saw all Indian names in the credits. very professional work indeed.
Suggesting this to all who dare to take a break from respective 'adult' lives and wish to revisit their childhood. It will make you very very happy
My personal rating is 3.5 out of 5…

Movie#81 The Legend is Born- Ip Man (Mandarin)

After the disappointing previous movie, I decided to watch some martial arts action. Even though this was in chinese, I was assured that subtitles were adequate for understanding. I shall skip naming the actors here because I have no clue who they are.
I have had watched another movie about Ip Man and liked the style of martial arts. This one didn't disappoint either. I don't need to write any gist about the movie because the summary is well summarized in the title itself. It is the story of initial days of a famous chinese fighter named Ip Man. The movie as a whole was really enjoyable leaving out the constant distraction of trying to read the subtitles to understand the story, instead of viewing the picture. The characters were pleasant and the fights were thrilling to watch. The story was never boring as every shot will have something as martial art practice, fights or romance. Moreover, if an english dubbed version were available, it would have been an excellent family movie too.
To further the discussion in a controversial way, I shall say that China has moved away from the dream of Ip Man. The story is centered around the time China was defeated by Japan, and had to live under the atrocities of Japan. Ip Man dreamed about liberating China and be tolerant to others. How China has deviated from that at present! If Ip Man was alive today, he would have been disappointed, I should say.
My personal rating is 3 out of 5…

Movie#80 Black Death

What a drag! This movie is clearly over hyped. I took this one from the store after reading a review from a gossip magazine. Now I understand that certain review writers could be paid employees of production houses and 'above fair' reviews could be marketing strategy. It stars Sean Bean and Eddie Redmayne.
The gist of the movie is about the time of plague in Europe. People are dying and the church conveniently blames it as the wrath of God. Guess, marketing strategies were designed very long back. The church also learns that a certain village was not affected by plague because they followed ungodly ways including black magic. It forms a group of warriors (mercenaries in my opinion) to capture the leader of black magic and investigate why that village was spared. With the help of a monk, they set out to that village. Well, that is the teaser for you. Don't you feel curious to know the end? I had, and that was what made me rent it.
The whole movie is 'colourless'. The setting has a grey tinge till the end. The story is very straight forward. Out of the many actors in it, I don't find and worthy to mention about. The monk stayed true to his character though, an idiot. No enjoyable music, no pretty sceneries, no special effects, no worthy fight scenes etc. I'm sure that the director would have dozed off one or few times while directing this because of the dull story. Now for the positives–  I'm a fan of medieval movies. I had mentioned this before at some other blog. The costumes, I think, were excellent. The shabbiness and the ruggedness of characters were also brought forward nicely.
My personal rating is 2.5 out of 5…

Movie#79 Dabangg (Hindi)

Do you prefer to unwind your weekend by watching a movie which tickles your emotions in a soft way or by watching something which is hard on emotions? If your answer is the former, this is a must see. It stars Salman Khan, Sonakshi Sinha, Arbaaz Khan, Vinod Khanna, Dimple Kapadia, Om Puri and Anupam Kher
Now for the superlatives–  this movie is pure fun. It is altogether in a different genre. I shall put it as a nonsense–sense category. What I mean to say is that you would notice sense within nonsense, taken with immaculate care not to go overboard. In other words, Pure Illogical Fun, period! From start to finish we feel assured that hero would last till the end and it would be a happy ending. He would get whatever he wanted, in whichever way, whenever he preferred. Am I sounding nonsensically sensical?..lol.
Now comments about the finer parts. I shall not venture into the indigestible scenes because of the disclaimer I wrote above. The heroine turned out to be a dud. She has the looks, the eyes, the smile, the curves and the tears. Sadly, acting part is missing. The stunt scenes reminded me of a particular Jackie Chan–  Owen Wilson movie and Jason Statham movie. I don't wish to elaborate more, you will find the resemblance. The stunt scenes are taken in a fascinating way. The guys' dying, instead of creating the usual anger-awe-fear emotions, creates a comical feeling and cause laughter. Watch and feel for yourself. The songs are a colour riot. The latest news is that the song featuring Malaika Arora (cameo–  item number) had become a sensation in India and Pakistan. The dance step holding the belt buckle was a novelty for me.
My personal rating is 3.5 out of 5…

Movie#78 Cheriya Kallanum Valiya Poleesum (Malayalam- India)

I guess this had been a 2008 or 2007 release. I missed it then and when I saw it this time in the store, I took it. It starts Mukesh, Jagadeesh, Suraaj Venjaranmoodu, Jagathy, Salim Kumar (waste bin) and a whole lot of comedians.
The director, I guess, meant this work as a comical look into the social issues of the Kerala society. The story starts as Mr Jagadeesh writing a letter to his wife. He had come to find a job and failed. In the letter, it is written about his intention to commit suicide soon after. The letter reaches his wife at his home village. As with any village in India, everyone knows everyone. So the news spread about Jagadeesh's suicide. Different people have different outlook and feelings towards the tragedy. For example, the village tea shop owner (Salim Kumar) is more concerned about the number of visitors to mourn and their food plans which directly profits his business; the village political members (Jagathy and co) are concerned about improving their political mileage by faking the sadness, a village elderly is more concerned about the future of Jagadeesh's pretty wife and the gossips of her imagined lover, their long lost relatives start appearing to fight for scraps of family's property etc. The incident becomes the talk of town and the house becomes a place of social gatherings. It is to such a situation Mr Mukesh appears from nowhere and takes it his responsibility to help the family till the body arrives. No one knows who he is or what his intentions are. Comical acts are spiced more by the local SI of police, Mr Suraj Venjaranmoodu.
I should say that the acting and comics were indeed refreshing till 3/4 of the movie. From then onwards, it starts to drag and the last 20 mins it turn serious. This mixture of emotional play killed the movie. Why can't they make a comical movie as comical? Why do they think that every movie needs all kind of emotions in it? My personal rating is 2.5 out of 5…

Movie#77 Thanthonni ( Malayalam- India)

A movie which brings forth all male fantasies. And meaningful start of the story is from the 50th minute onwards. Till then it is all character introduction with rowdy dialogues and chauvinistic acts. It shows the deficiency of a professional movie editor in malayalam film industry. The story of film runs a cool 2 hours 20 minutes plus, but could easily be trimmed to 1 hour 20 minutes or below if had been edited properly. How can one justify wastage of time, money and efficiency with 50 meaningless minutes at the start of the movie?
Why did I say male fantasy? Well imagine this life–  You are a member of a very rich family which run successful multiple businesses and the net worth of the family is a cool 1300 crore plus (in this movie, time is wasted in showing certain buildings to reaffirm this fact). The members of the family are a minister, IAS officer, IPS officer, rich uncles, successful criminal lawyer, a very loving and tolerant mother, and a beautiful and sexy fiancé who just finished PhD and loves only you. Imagine a front lawn of a house littered with all the luxury cars. A friend who is a comedian and sincere to the core. And you, a happy go lucky person, drinking the days away and win all the fights you get into (I wonder which alcoholic drink would improve your physical health the more you use it) And moreover the fiancé supports your drinking habit. Now thats not all, even though you seem like wasting your life away, there is a hidden emotional and monetary truth which no one knows. This monetary truth is worth much more than the entire worth I just mentioned above. Now how about that!
The real story of the film, which is really only one hour worth, is satisfactory-good level. The acting is good in patches. I don't think that anyone would find it difficult to blurt out emotional dialogues with glycerine. Personally, I liked the part in which Mr Jagathy, a comedian, gets introduced and finishes off his part in the movie later. The songs sequence are a eye candy. The fights are total joke. I could not digest the rope tricks. Imagine a sequence in which the hero stands 20 or so meters away from three villains, and then floats through the air and and hit the three with multiple kicks, really laughable. Definitely malayalam movie industry is turning away from truth and down to earth movies for which it was famous for. Now action sequences are copied shamelessly from tamil, hollywood and chinese movies without considering the built of the artists and nature of context.
My personal rating is 2.5 out of 5…

Movie#76 Iron Man 2

Very few sequels perform at par or above par with first part. When I think of some, the few that comes to mind are Terminator series ( 4 parts and the last one fizzled but the second was better than first), Lord of Rings Triology, Harry Porter (?maybe) etc etc. I shall put this one among the list as I found it more satisfying than the first. Maybe the end, the very end I mean, came abruptly but can be overlooked.
It stars all Robert Downey Jr, Don Cheadle, Gwyneth Paltrow, Scarlett Johansson, Sam Rockwell, Mickey Rourke, Samuel L Jackson and Jon Favreau (incidently he is the director too). The story picks off from the first part. Tony Clark (RDJr) is living his eccentric life as Iron man and he company affairs are well looked after by assistant Pepper (GP). His ego is hurt when a mysterious man with almost the same technology appears and matches him in a fight. They have a common past and he is out to take revenge. The world loses faith in Iron man. Also the palladium cores powering his body is poisoning him and he is unable to find a substitute. All the while, he is facing stress from US government as they want to own his iron man suit. A few super heroes appear in this part with whom I'm not familiar with. I was not a comic book fanatic in my childhood. So the movie proceeds with multiple missions to accomplish for Iron man.
1. He has to fulfill his father's dream
2. Find suitable substitute for palladium
3. Protect his suit from government
4. Protect his reputation and defeat the mysterious man
Watch out for the superb special effects at the Monaco Grand prix and towards the end. It is a 'wow' riot. My perosnal rating is 4 out of 5…

Movie#75 In Ghost House Inn ( Malayalam- India)

Few movies in India run multiple sequels and this is one. Even though actress changed from the ever comical, unsurpassable first part, In Harihar Nagar, the actors, Mukesh, Siddique, Jagadeesh and Ashokan, remained till this third edition. All of them remain young at heart even though it shows the opposite in their movements, body shape and faces. After a disappointing second part, this edition redeemed the franchise and makes us, malayalees, crave for another one.
The gist of the story is that Ashokan ( real name, not character name), with the money from second part, buys a big bunglow at a hill station with plans of converting it to a resort (as always with all malayalees–  the usual business of fleecing foreigners. Not the idea or concept in this movie though). But this bunglow has a sinister history. It was here, 70 years ago, the real owner, Mrs Dorothy (screen name) after murdering her husband and his mistress, dumped their bodies together with that of her chauffer who found out about the murder into a well. As story goes, their souls haunt the mansion. All the subsequent realtors who bought the bunglow from Mrs Dorothy, had to sell it back to her, because of the hauntings, and consolidate their loss. So the present owner, Ashokan, who considers this as his last chance to be successful in life, invites his three friends over to prove to the villagers that it was all indeed superstition. They also decide to bring their wives to doubly prove that the spirits neither affect males nor females. Sinister incidents start to happen and they decide to get help from Mr Nedumudi Venu (real name) for exorcism. Will they succeed? Was it all superstition or did ghosts really exist? Watch it and enjoy.
After a many attempts, Jagadeesh started getting his comical acts to be funny again. It has been a long time since malayalam comical acts gave me a good laugh and this has been satisfying. The absence of malayalam waste bin, Mr Salim Kumar, was a big relief. There is one part where the movie almost killed itself. As a regular viewer, I felt it but I don't think majority would. If I reveal it here, it would kill the movie. I shall try to be as vague as possible. Why would one call up and boast about how he has fooled a victim, after such elaborate and labourious attempt? Don't he have to do it again with future victims and won't the current victims warn authorities? I think director Lal got confused at the end and almost blew it. It missed to pull the movie down because the movie is a treat to watch till then.
My personal rating is 3.5 out of 5. I would have given it a higher rating if only they made the end digestible. But I suggest to viewers that they should not miss this movie after a disappointing second part. Go enjoy…

Movie#74 9th Company (Russian)

Don't ask me who all acts in this movie because I have no clue. I took it from the store because it came recommended by the clerk. He said that it was a excellent war movie and with less dialogues and clear subtitles, it was easy to understand. Since there was nothing to borrow last night, I took a chance and brought it to view. So, after watching it, I shall recommend this as a must watch to war movie lovers.
The story is that of a Russian army unit called 9^th company in Afghanistan. The initial part of the movie is how the guys bond from the time of recruitment to their arrival at Khost province in Afghanistan. As with every war movie, the bonding part of the movie has got profanity in the dialogues, ill tempered fights and sex. They get trained under a veteran fighter with psychological problem, but get trained nevertheless. They arrive in Khost and confront reality. Their order is to guard a vantage hill and ward off Afghan fighters (ghosts) from disrupting supply route and troop movements. At the end of the movie, just before the credits, it was written that it was based on true events.
The movie appears very realistic with the scenic shots, emotions, stunts and equipments. I remember as there were more than 8 guys involved and since I didn't know who was the exact hero in the movie, it became more interesting as unexpected guys get killed in battle. From start to end the movie retains the thrill to keep the viewer interested in it. To sum at the end, watch it to get an idea about Russian version of Afghan war other than from western propaganda from bias CNN and BBC. My personal rating is 3 out of 5…

Movie#73 Pramani ( Malayalam- India)

Another malayalam movie to show that malayalam movie making is on the downward trend. This one clearly lacks creativity instead tries to copy stunts from neighbouring tamil movies.
Starring malayalam stalwart Mammootty, Siddique, Sneha, Prabhu, Janardhanan etc etc, this movie is all about stereotypical roles. Mammootty, as hero can turn from bad guy to good guy in a flash. He cannot be cheated upon and can beat down men of the size of bull dozers (How come Indian commando head quarters never recruited him?). It is not just beat down but those bull dozers will actually be thrown around like tennis balls. Really laughable!. Siddique, as usual will remain loyal to his character, a bad guy. No amount of goodness can change him. Janardhanan looks like a lion with the makeup. Guess his make up man was a zoo worker before. Prabhu has to be always a good guy otherwise tamil fans will boycott the movie. Then the usual filler, the real waste bin actor of malayalam industry–  Salim Kumar. To my comfort, the director literally forgot about his existence in the movie and he mysteriously disappears after the first  half. The actors who acted to potential are the ones with minor role such as Baiju and; Mammootty character's uncle and aunt. The other comedian, Suraj Venjaranmoodu, is losing his mind slowly. He started his career with a bang and now stuck with stale comical acts and mannerisms.
The story is that of a panchayat president who was neck deep in corruption. He is into acquiring land from others by hook or crook, hence the name Pramani. The director tries to poke fun at capitalistic america through his nick name in the village. After a crucial incident, the president decides to turn good while his cronies choose not to (as usual). Suddenly the new avatar president preaches goodness and expects others to follow. He decides to fight against illegal land acquisition he himself authorized before. And as usual wins at the end. I'm sorry to let out the 'thrilling end'. You could have never guess how the movie was flowing otherwise–  really sorry.
This one is a total waste of time and money. Keep away. Only Mammootty fans may pay no heed to my advise. My personal rating is 1.5 out of 5…

Movie#72 Heartless

This movie is not for everyone. The real movie lovers would not mind sitting through till the end and finding out the obvious things unfurling in the movie but the rest would find it boring as it lacks good action, vibrancy and happiness, intimate scenes (at the least) or seemingly gripping storyline.
The storyline is simple superficially. It shows the life of a guy with a heart shaped tattoo around his left eye and a lonely life. The only close member in his life is his mother. Because he has a tattoo, he finds it difficult to socialize or to find a girl friend, and develops a different outlook towards the dull and difficult world around him. He tries to find answers to the questions based on the advice given by his late father. His father had told him that he was a special kid and needed to look at the world differently and the world would be difficult for him, but he would be able to see things around him differently from others. So he lives on. Things change when he notices creatures and demons around him and the tattoo mysteriously disappears. He befriends a mysterious little girl and her much much elder, with disfigured hand companion and strikes a deal with him much to his regret later. Things start to happen fast around him and he starts to lose the people he brings in to his life. Finally when he figures out what was happening, it was too late and too much for him to accept who had been responsible.
For people who are interested in psychological thrillers, this is a good watch. Others who know the actors and admire any of them, will also find this a worthy watch. But for the ones who demand fast pace action and happy movie, keep away and save your money. Personally I liked it. I shall give this one a 3 out of 5…

Movie#71 Avan (Malayalam- India)

This movie stars a lot of actors, some of them are Bala, Vijay Yesudas, Riyas Khan, Vijayaraghavan, Jagadish, Riza Bava and Muktha.
The storyline is a fairly okay. It shows how innocence get into the world of crime and the inevitable end. The gist of the story is that 2 friends get separated in their childhood due to forced circumstances. The hero gets lured into the world of crime. On one of his missions, he come to face the past. But crime has to pay and he ends up in jail. Due to his good behaviour in the jail, he gets invitation to a realty show called Crime and  Music. He opens out his heart and tells all. But will the people waiting for revenge leave him be?
I don't know where to start the comment section. As I had mentioned earlier, the story line is satisfactory. The acting needs a lot of tweaking. It is not that the director could do anything now but he has a lot to improve if he has planned another venture. Barring the main actors, all others seem to be blurting out memorized lines. It seems as though the director has instructed only the main actor on what should be done on each shot, the rest of them seem confused and at times hilariously seen looking at the main actor to do his bit and wait for cues. Very poor improvisation and originality. Also I think the director got confused whether this was a musical or crime thriller. Too many songs at wrong time. It dragged the movie. He could have shortened it to one and half hour movie with proper editing.
As usual, the heroine had no role at all. The producer could have saved money there. It was purely wasted talent and time for Muktha. I hope she was paid well for such a story line. The child artists need to be selected carefully. Compared to hollywood child artists who are very comfortable and professional in front of camera, the ones in this movie fails all front. They totally lack the emotion and intonation in dialogues. But I put the blame squarely on the director. He should have over–seen that. And lastly, the film used lacked the colour vibrancy. The locale may have been apt but very very dull because of the low quality film used.
Finally I shall give it a 2.5 out of 5 because the movie gained intensity towards the last 30 minutes.

Movie#70 Cop Out

Have you heard the phrase 'it would grow on you with time'? Well, according to me, this movie is the perfect example. Starring an unusual combination of Bruce Willis and Tracy Morgan, it is categorized under the genre of action-comedy-crime in imdb.com
The story gist is that BW and TM are police officers and partners. After screwing up a cover operation both of them get suspended. BW need money quickly to pay for his daughter's wedding or else he would feel slighted in front of his ex's second husband. So, BW decides to sell of his rare baseball card for money but it gets stolen and ends up with a dangerous gang. Now he needs to retrieve the card and to do so he gives in to the demand of the gang boss that he would find his stolen mercedes. But the mercedes hides something that he had not bargained for…
I felt so bored with both BW's and TM's acting at the starting of the movie. BW was trying hard to be 'cool' while TM was trying very very hard to be funny. The problem is that director tried to convey the comics through TM's dialogues and it really gets irritating. Then enter Mr Sean William Scott towards the end of the 1^st  half. It is from this point on the movie redeems itself. TM's vocals tone down and comics get funny through facial expressions and actions, more with the help of SWS. Cool scenes happen in which the director wrecks a mercedes and a dodge in a car chase bit. BW's 'coolness' improves towards the end and that's how all in all the movie grows on you. But it is not a must watch though.
My personal rating is 2.5 out of 5…

Movie#69 The Last Airbender

I'm back after a short hiatus. I was away due to personal reasons for anyone who cares to know. This new release was waiting for me when I stepped into the store.
The defining statement for this work for the people who haven't yet seen it. Watch it only for the shooting sets, locales and special effects. If you are looking for anything more, you will be thoroughly disappointed. The storyline is new, the dialogues are flimsy and superficial, the acting is below par in all the actors, the music is forgettable and there is virtually nothing to put you in a gripping mood as the director would have meant it.
Mr Night Shyamalan has wasted the massive budget he was allocated for the movie. Maybe we are expecting too much from him and compare all this work to his first two super releases. I have seen that all his latest works were below average. He is the Ram Gopal Verma of Hollywood. But one should admire his never say die attitude, if allocated such a huge budget. Now I don't want the actors to take it personally when I say that Noah Ringer as Aang didn't have the punch, Dev Patel as Prince Zuko made me laugh when he gave the cruel glare, Nicola Peltz and Jackson Rathbone suck, but Nicola fared better comparing the two. Aasif Mandvi as Commander Zhao wasn't the correct person for the role. Primary reason is his character name–  chinese name for a South Asian guy!, Cliff Curtis as Fire Lord Ozai fared ok because he didn't have much role in the movie. The only person aptly cast and did his part well is Shaun Toub as Uncle Iroh.
Now when I come to give my personal rating, I average the score between factor mentioned intially as what to look for in this one. So I give it a 2.5 out of 5. It gives me second thoughts whether I have given it too many.

Movie#68 Irandu Mugam (Tamil- India)

Is there anyone with 121 minutes of their productive life for free giveaway? And then you may regret by hitting your head against the wall like me. If there is anyone, this movie is apt for such an experiment. There is no superlatives to term how wasted this movie is. I feel sorry for Sathyaraj and other few known actors in this who may have fallen for the cash offered. I'm sure they lost some of the gained popularity in their life work because of this.
The story line is tried and tested. There is no novelty. We can easily guess where the movie is turning even 30 minutes before it happens. The initial half is total joke. As anyone would say, time pass. Maybe the director will argue as 'build up' but I would say that he lost it completely. A political career aspiring man and his two side kicks waste time with really really STUPID jokes which are conveyed verbally as if blurting out memorized lines than acting per se. Even when I type this, I clench my teeth in disgust. Due to a sudden political change, he gets elected as minister. Had it been so simple to get elected as minister, then I'm planning a political career too..lol. A dedicated and sincere IAS officer is introduced fighting crime in the public distribution system of ration commodities. Even in this, the dialogues are boringly elaborate to make the viewer understand how the scam is taking place. He is now posted under the amateur politician, the movie hero. This fellow is slowly getting to know how to amass wealth from bribes and that ticks off the IAS officer. The officer plans out a way to make a man out of minister. The plan is so silly and laughable.
I don't have much to comment further as my first line would summarize how this movie is. My personal rating is 0.5 out of 5…

Movie#67 The Ghost Writer

This work is thought provoking. Although it is claimed as fiction, it can also put seeds of doubt into lot of people and also provide a clarification to the nick name, 'poodle' of an ex– leader in an european country. It is not impossible for such an act of infiltration, but in a world where children are told not to lie, in schools, while perceive lies all around them, much to their distress; such an incident, if happened or happening, is acceptable.
Renting this movie, I had my doubts. I was under the impression that it was a dour political drama. I thought I could take my time to watch it and shall do it in 2–3 sittings. The movie is fairly long, almost 2 hours and 15 mins with credit. It stars superb actors such as Pierce Brosnan, Ewan McGregor and Olivia Williams. The story gist is that a writer is hired by ex–  prime minister of England to be the ghost writer for his memoirs. The previous ghost writer had died under mysterious circumstances and patchy investigation had concluded that it was death due to drowning under the influence of alcohol. Anything more in the gist about the story line would be a give away of the superb build up and thrill involved. But I think that the end could have been done better, but it served enough for the gruesomeness of the tale. Once it started, I found it impossible to stop and watched it in one sitting. The intrigue and the twists are excellent. The plot is thick and manages to hold the thrilling mystery until the very end. The dialogues and crisp, and there is humour peppered within them. The acting and directing (Roman Polanski) are par excellence. The shooting locale serves up for the mystery and thrill.
While watching this, it also made me think about a recent newspaper report in my home country. The report was that of heir to prime ministership of my country had a girl friend while pursuing studies abroad. But all of a sudden that relationship came to an end. The report splashed her photo and it surprised me that while there were reports of 'fame and money' seeking women disclose of their relationship with famous men for all kinds of benefits, how come this woman had kept mum even after such a news tickle? And it was also reported that the break up was allegedly due to the instruction from his famous mother. Then how strong a man is he? There were also suggestions that he sacrificed his love to be the future leader of his country without distractions. The man in questions is currently hovering 40, I think. Does such a sacrifice really needed to be a leader? Is there a hidden story or twist like in this movie? Questions and questions, I know. Thats what this movie did to me. I rate this movie as a MUST WATCH with a 5 out of 5 rating…