Anamorphic

12 Angry Men (English - 1957)

2009-11-15T10:18:00.000-08:00

12 Angry Men is a 1957 American classic, or epic, or whatever you call it, movie which deals with the complicated emotion of prejudice. It tells the story of a jury of 12 men from various aspects of the society who tries to find out a unanimous decision about whether a 17 year old boy accused of killing his father is guilty or not. From the cross examination of eye witnesses and circumstantial evidences, 11 of the 12 are convinced that the boy is guilty and they argued for death sentence. But there was one man who was not convinced that the boy was guily. Since they have to come up with a unanimous decision, those who says "GUILTY" tries to convince the person who said he had a doubt.

As mentioned before, the group consists of different kind of people. One of them has to attend a function in the evening, so he wants to wrap the things up quickly. Another person had a bitter experience from his own son, hence he believes most of the kids are bad. All these prejudices masked their ability to take the correct decision. The discussion gradually becomes an arguement and the sole person who had doubt in whether the boy is guilty or not manages to convince the other 10 that there is a chance that the boy is innocent. But there is still one person who believes that the kid is guilty, and now the situation is exactly the opposite to the situation when they started the discussion, ie 11 "GUITLY" to 1 "NOT GUILTY". The film ends with the only person arguing that the boy is guilty admitting that he can be "NOT GUILTY", and the jury moving to the court to declare their decision that the boy can be "NOT GUILTY".

The twist and turns are so engaging that you'll watch the movie without even taking a break.The dialogues will keep you glued to your seat. The entire movie is shot in a single room, but it is never going to bore you. I give it a must watch rating.

My Rating : Must Watch (****)

Body Of Lies (English - 2008)

2009-10-25T10:30:00.000-07:00

Director : Ridley Scott

Cast : Leonardo DiCaprio, Russel Crowe, Mark Strong, Golshifteh Farahani

Body of Lies is a 2008 English Action Thriller movie directed by Ridley Scott (director of Blade Runner and Gladiator). It is based on a 2007 novel by the same name. It tells the story of three secret service men and their fight against terrorism and themselves. The focus of the movie is on a CIA Agent who works in Jordan to capture a terrorist big fish with the help of the Jordanian secret service.

DiCaprio plays the role of Roger Ferris who is the above mentioned CIA Agent. He works under the supervision of Hoffman (Russel Crowe), and he believes that for his mission to succeed, he should make a good relationship based on trust with the Jordanian General Intelligence Department chief Hani Salaam (Mark Strong). While his attempt was going on, Hoffman runs parallel operations and this irritates Hani who sends Farris out of Jordan. Once out of Jordan, he makes a masterplan which he believed will help them identify where the terrorist big fish Al-Saleem is hiding. For this purpose, they manipulated on a Jordanian architect, and without his knowledge, made him responsible for a fake explosion in the US base in Turkey.

Ferris' calculations proved correct when Al-Saleem himself made conact with the architect. But before he could make any further move, the architect was kidnapped and when forced, he informed them that Ferris could've manipulated him. When Hani came to know about all these things, he decides to play a double game. He makes a deal with Al-Saleem swapping Ferris for money. With the help of an insider in Al-Saleem's group, Hani identifies the hideout where Ferris is being tortured, and reaches just in time with his soldiers to save him and arrest Al-Saleem. Later Ferris decides to quit CIA and he convinces Hoffman that he has taken the right decision. The film ends with Hoffman ordering his operatives to abort tailing Ferris since he is now not part of their organisation.

Most part of the movie is set in the middle east and very often they mention middle east as uncivilized due to the deteriorating human condition there. Also the movie gives an inside view of how the CIA handles their Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) for surveillance and tracking, and how the militants easily fool their tech savvy counterparts by turning their back towards technology. The movie is fast, crisp, entertaining and entirely watchable.

My Rating : Good (***)

Taken (English - 2008)

2009-10-25T08:55:00.000-07:00

Taken is a 2008 English action movie. Liam Neeson plays the role of Bryan, an unstoppable and highly trained, but retired, CIA official who follows the kidnappers of his only daughter Kim, played by Maggie Grace. The story is of a kind which we have heard a lot, but its an adrenalin filled movie with lots of action packed moments.

Kim is kidnapped with her friend while on a trip to Paris by some Albanian trafficking mafia. Before being taken away she calls and informs her father Bryan. Bryan decided to enter into the game and by exploiting all the available clues and chances, and with the help of the specially acquired skills from his earlier job as a CIA Agent, Bryan finally reaches his daughter and saves her from the human traffickers. Then he takes her back to her mom and step-dad who are living seperately from Bryan. The film ends with Bryan taking his daughter to a famous singer whose life he had saved earlier while working as her body guard to fulfill her dream of becoming a singer.

Neelson's performance is really good and a really worth attempt is made to match the films with movies like the Bourne Series. But due to the week story line, it fell a little short of that goal. But the movie is good and watchable.

My Rating : Good (***)

Dil Bole Hadippa (Hindi - 2009)

2009-09-20T11:17:00.000-07:00

Dil Bole Hadippa is a 2009 Hindi movie directed by Anurag Singh under the banner of Yash Raj Films. The lead roles are played by Shahid Kapoor and Rani Mukharjee. Its about the story of a Punjabi girl Veera's (Rani) desire to play for the team representing India against Pakistan and to win the Aman Cup held on the Independance Day every year. So when a team selection for the Indian team happens after the ninth consecutive defeat against Paksitan, she also went to join the team, and was sent back because she is a girl. But she didn't give up and in her next attempt, dressed up as a male (Veer), she passed the test and became a member of the team. Rahul (Shahid) is the captain of the team and in the due course of the plot, he caught Veera in the men's changing room. But she convinces him by telling that Veer is her brother. And then a love story happens between Rahul and Veera, and Veer is the intermediary. During the next match, Rahul identifies that both Veer and Veera is the same person and this made him lose his concentration in the game resulting in the Pakistan team piling up a huge score to chase. But then all the drama occurs and Veera is called back to the team as Veer. Then he gets injured, but still manages to help the team win the game. In the end, he reveals to the audience that "he is a she", and convinces them that she was right in doing this double role.

The main things around which the movie revolves around are the India Paksitan cricket rivalry, contrast between Indian culture and western culture and the situation faced by women interested in sports and games in India. All these things are conveyed beautifully without any lack of continuity in the whole flow of the movie. Its an entertainer, but we've seen such things before also. There is nothing new the movie could offer. And here and there you may spot some resemblence with "Jab We Met". Also there are some unwanted elements like the roles played by Rakhi Sawant and Sherlyn Chopra who are playing two roles that looks like made for them only on special request. From the actors' side, they have all done pretty well eventhough these are not ofcourse their best performances. Last of all, there is a comparatively high preference for songs in this movie, that too Punjabi style.

All in all, the movie will come somewhere around 2 stars and 3 stars. And I'll finalize a 3 star for it just because of the humor and entertainment it provides.

My Rating : Good (***)

Final Destination 4 3D (English - 2009)

2009-09-19T10:36:00.000-07:00

Final Destination 4 is a 2009 English Supernatural Thriller film directed by David R Ellis. Its the fourth one in the Final Destination series, and the first among the 4 to be shot in 3D. The plot is the same as in the previous movies. A group of people who were supposed to be dead in a car accident in a race course were saved due to a premonition occured to the hero. After the incident, the hero gets some wierd visions once in a while and very soon somebody from that group of survivors dies. They found out a pattern in all these deaths, and also informations about cases in which similiar kind of premonitions occured earlier. Now they are trying to save their lives, but as always, "Death cannot be cheated".

The movie has plenty of gruesome scenes including headless body, internal organs and stuffs like that. But the visual effects are really good provided you watch it in 3D. The pace of the movie is good (just about 1 hour 20 minutes) and the acting part is also ok. The plot is the same, the climax is the same, only the charectors are different. So if you've not seen the previous versions, go for it. Otherwise dont go expecting that you can see something that were not in the previous versions other than some brutal ways of death.

My Rating : Waste your time :) (*)

Blade Runner (English - 1982)

2009-09-09T06:29:00.000-07:00

Blade Runner is a 1982 Sci-Fi moive directed by Ridley Scott starring Harrison Ford, Rutger Haeur and Sean Young in the leading roles. The plot happens in 2019, when there are the offworld colonies where genetically engineered androids (Replicants) are employed in hazardous enviornments. Tyrell Corporation, a leading genetic engineering firm develops a superior version of androids called Nexus 6 which have better emotions and intelligence. But their lifetime is kept as 4 years as a safety measure to avoid emotional developments leading to any sort of uprising. But the inevitable happens, and they were declared illegal and were ordered to be officially terminated. This process known as "Retirement" was carried out by a special group of police personnels named "Blade Runners".

Harrison Ford plays the role of a retired Blade Runner brought back to trace down and retire a group of some dangerous Nexus-6 Replicants. Following the information that these Replicants may try to attack Tyrell Corporation, he visits the company and meets Sean Young. She is another Replicant, but a better one which had undergone memory implants and she strongly believes she is a human. Based on the clues available, Ford starts chasing the Replicants and hunts down them one by one. Once he was saved by Sean after which both of them enter into a relationship. Rutger Haeur plays the role of the lead Nexus Replicant and both him and Ford will have a fierce fight towards the end of the movie. Ford was brutally attacked and when he attempted to jump from one building to another, he falls down but manages to hold on a slippery pipe. As he was about to fall down, the Nexus saves him and tells him about the plight of being a slave. This shows the level of intelligents the replicant has. And by the end of that conversation, the replicant's life is over and it retires. Ford then comes back to his place worried about Sean Young, but she is alive and both of them leave the place to a safer location.

My Rating : Good (***)

Kaminey (Hindi - 2009)

2009-08-19T08:43:00.000-07:00

Kaminey is a 2009 Hindi Movie directed by Vishal Bhardwaj starring Shahid Kapoor (in double role as twin brothers Charlie and Guddu) and Priyanka Chopra. The approach to the story is a little different from what we used to see in usual Hindi movies. The film starts by showing the parallel lives of Charlie and Guddu. Their choice of life are in such a way that they are never supposed to cross each other. Charlie is a part of a mafia which does some business in horse racing. Guddu works among sex workers spreading information about the importance of using condoms. Charlie wants to start a booking house on his own and he is pulling strings to achieve that dream. Guddu at the same time, was staring at his girlfriend Sweety (Priyanka Chopra) who informed him that she was pregnant and her brother is a major politician cum don of the locality.

From here on, the story twists and turns and in the end, both of them cross their paths. Now both are fighting for money, and their childhood stories are being revealed. There are also instances where the links between police forces and the underworld are being depicted. The first half is a little bit lagging, but then the second half moves pretty swiftly. By the end of the movie, there are a lot of people behind the money and it ends in a shootout which was taken in a very different way. Almost all of the shooting scenes gives the viewer a 'slow-motion' feeling with lot of emotions.

The songs are good and the action sequences are close to reality. Altogether its a new kind of bollywood movie which I felt is worth watching. But unlike most of the critics who gave upto 4.5/5 rating to this movie, I'll give it a 3.5/5 because of the usual type of ending where everyone except the hero who got shot are dead. It may be the most feasible ending for a commercial movie like this, but then till the ending, it was so out of the box thinking and then all of a sudden it became like an ordinary movie - a little hard to digest. But still, it can be considered as one of the top class Bollywood movies.

My Rating : Must Watch (****)

Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince (English - 2009)

2009-08-03T08:35:00.000-07:00

Its the sixth movie of the famous harry potter series. The movie presents a very good visual and audio effects even though there is a lack of action as compared to the previous parts. All the kids are now grown up and there is more romance in the movie. The entire movie is like a build up to the last of the series, the Deathly Hallows. And I hope that one will be full of action to complement this.

The movie starts with the attack of 3 death eaters on a bridge in London used by Muggles (non-magical people). Later on the day, Dumbledore picks Harry from a railway station and together they went to meet Slughorn who agrees to be the new Potions teacher in Hogwarts. Later Harry was dropped at Weasley's house where his trunk and owl were waiting for him. He was back again with his friends Ron and Hermione. Fred and George, the elder twin brothers of Ron had started a shop in Diagon alley. After attending the inauguration ceremony, Harry and his two friends happened to stumble across Malfoy and his mother. They saw some kind of a ritual being performed in a shop, and somehow manages to escape unnoticed. Malfoy was being selected by Lord Voldemort to do certain task and his mother with the help of Bellatrix makes Severus Snape vow that he will do the task if Malfoy wont be able to carry it out.

Back in Hogwarts, security has been beefed up so as to protect the school from death eaters. All the baggage of students were checked and walls were further fortified with magic. And later as per the instructions from Dumbledore, Harry tries to get Slughorn's memory regarding his advice to Tom Riddle (young Voldemort) and he succeeds in that too. From that memory, Dumbledore and Harry figure out that Voldemort has made 7 parts of his soul and kept those in Hurcruxes. Dumbledore informs Harry that they already have destroyed two of the Hurcruxes. Then they setout to find another one in a rocky island in the ocean. The Hurcrux was in a deadly potion and Dumbledore drank it. This made him very week, but he manages to save Harry from the attack of inferis from the lake in that island. Dumbledore is very week by now, and Harry took him back to Hogwarts. Then Dumbledore sends him to get Snape for help. But before he left, Malfoy arrived and revealed that he had been chosen to kill Dumbledore. By this time, he had managed to get 4 death eaters into Hogwarts. Malfoy was not in a mental position to kill Dumbledore, but then Snape arrives and much to Harry's horror kills Dumbledore using Avada Kedavra. Snape then escapes with the other death eaters. Harry tries to stop him by using a spell he learned from the half-blood Prince's Potions book he got from Slughorn's class room. But it didn't work out, and Snape reveals that he was the Half-Blood Prince.

Before leaving the castle, the death eaters create the Dark Mark and destroys the Great Hall. Then all the wizards and witches in the palaces illuminate their wands in honor of Dumbledore and in that illumination the Dark Mark vanishes. Later Harry identifies that the locket he and Dumbledore retrieved from the island was fake and somebody else has already moved it from there. The movie ends with Harry, Ron and Hermione deciding to find all the remaining Hurcruxes and destroying them.

The movie is good, except the fact that there is not much action. But then considering the fact that this is more like building up for the next movie in the sequel, we can hope for the best that one. The movie gives you hundred percent visual satisfaction. And they've handled comedy pretty well. Altogether it is going to be a nice time watching the movie.

My Rating : Good (***)

Hangover (English - 2009)

2009-08-02T20:03:00.000-07:00

Hangover is a 2009 English movie. It tells the story of Doug and his three friends. Doug is going to marry and the 4 friends decide to celebrate it. They went to Las Vegas for a bachelor's party and had lot of boozing. Also they consumed a date-rape drug thinking that it was Ecstacy. This made them extremely out of control and the next morning they couldn't remember an incident from the previous night. Doug was missing, there is a tiger in the bathroom and a child in their cupboard. One of them, a dental doctor was missing one of his teeth too.

Then they start to trace back their previous night. It turns out that the doctor, who was living with a dominant woman married a stripper when they were out of mind and it was her kid that was there in their room. The tiger belonged to Mike Tyson. And above all, the doctor himself pulled out his tooth to prove that he is indeed a good dental doctor. But by the end they manage to find out Doug and solve all the problems. The film ends with a set of photos they took when they were under the effect of alcohol.

The movie is so hilarious that I was laughing from beginning to end. It contains a little vulgarity, but being an English movie with the story of a bachelor party it should be expected. Its not a family movie, but guys if you ever had a all out drinking party, then you should watch this. :)

My Rating : Must Watch (****)

Terminator Salvation (English - 2009)

2009-07-05T22:49:00.000-07:00

Terminator Salvation is a 2009 English Action Movie which is a sequel of the famous Terminator series. Its a complete action filled science fiction movie which tells the story of a full fledged war between humans and machines. If you've watched the previous movies, you'll find it easier to understand and link with the concepts.

The film starts with an incident that took place in an American prison in 2003. An inmate Marcus, who was sentenced for execution by lethal injection is convinced by a scientist of Cyberdyne systems to donate his body to a scietific project. And in 2004, if you've watched Terminator 3, the skynet system gets activated and it destroys most of the humanity in an event known as Judgement day. But the remaining humans got together and started to fight against the machines in an attempt to regain control of the earth. Then the film advances to 2018 and we are in a war field with a number of human soldiers (the Resistance) lead by John Connor (Christian Bale) is raiding a skynet base. There they found out lot of human captives and it becomes clear that the machines are using these humans for the development of new type of terminators which resembles humans in the external appearance. But before the team lead by Connor can do anything the machines attack their own base with nuclear arms and everyone except Connor got killed. Before leaving the site, Connor had to fight hand to hand with a Terminator, but he survives in the end and leaves to his base. Later from the base one more person comes out and that is Marcus. He also proceeds on foot to find out someone.

After a long walk, Marcus reaches Los Angeles and there he was attacked by a terminator. But then an young lad Kyle Reese and his friend, a mute girl, came to his rescue and they informs him about the Judgement day and what happened to the world. By this time, Connor reaches his head quarters and informs his seniors about the humans he had found in the skynet base and the possible plans of the machines to create advanced Terminators. The headquarters is in a submarine and Connor was air dropped to the sea for entering into the head quarters. That was an awesome scene. From the head quarters he is informed about a particular frequency that was believed to be useful in shutting down the machines. He takes that and leaves to his base. Later Marcus and Reeves happen to hear Connor's radio broadcast and they leave Los Angeles in search of other humans. Enroute they got chased by a terminator, but Marcus manages to destroy it. They reaches a fuel station where they found out some humans, but within a few minutes, a bigger terminator arrives and takes a number of people as hostages.

Marcus, Reeves and the little girl manages to escape, but were chased by the terminators. They caught them on a bridge, and Reeves and the little girl were also taken as prisoners. By this time, the Resistance had spotted extensive movements in an area near to Los Angeles and sent two fighter air crafts for support. These fighters engages with the terminators and both were destroyed. The terminator took the hostages to its base. Marcus fell down to the river under the bridge, but manages to survive and he finds out Williams, the fighter pilot. Both of them then moves to the nearby base. Enroute they were attacked by a number of humans who didnt believe in the war. They tried to harm Williams, but then Marcus came to her rescue and this made them close to each other.

Later when they arrived at the base, Marcus is wounded by a land mine. And the people at the base were stunned to find out that he is a cyborg. But Marcus and Williams believes that he is human and Williams later helps Marcus to escape from Connor's prison. In the following fight, Marcus saves Connor from the terminators, and they make a pact. According to that, Marcus will go to the Skynet headquarters and will try to disable the defence system so that John can enter into it and can save the humans who were taken as prisoners.

The Resistance was planning to launch an attack on the machines that day. But because of this development regarding Marcus and the prisoners, Connor requests his leaders not to launch the attack. But they wont listen to him and soon after an arguement, Connor was released of all his commands. But the soldiers who were loyal to Connor refused to launch an attack and they stayed with Connor. By this time, Marcus enters the Skynet Headquarters and helps Connor to get in. Marcus comes into contact with the central system and he came to know that he indeed was a project of the Skynet and they were using him to bring Connor to the Skynet. And it turned to a trap. Even the frequency that the Resistance got was part of the trap. But Marcus refuses to accept all these and in a rage, he destroys the interface. Then he goes in search of Connor.

By this time, Connor rescued all the prisoners and was in search of Reeves. He was aware of the execution list that the machines were following to destroy the resistance. He was the second one in the list an Reese was the first one. Reese was the person in the first Terminator film who came to rescue Sarah Connor. And John knew that Reese is going to be his father. But he faces a terminator(Arnold) in the prison that was told to him before as the prison of Reese. And there starts a big fight. The terminator is so strong that whenever it gets hold of Connor, he is thrown away. Later Marcus also comes to his help and they manages to destroy the Terminator. But in this fight, Connor is seriously hurt. Later Connor, Marcus and Reese are air lifted to the base.

In the base, Connor is in a critical situation. His heart is damaged. But Marcus tells them that he is ready to sacrifice himself for the humanity by donating his heart (he has a human heart, but metal body) to Connor. In the end Connor broadcasts a radio message to the fellow Resistance members telling that eventhough they won this war, it is not yet over.

The movie is for only an hour and around 40 minutes. But its fully action packed and its worth the money you are paying. I give a 4 star to this movie.

My Rating : Must Watch (****)

Kurukshetra (Malayalam - 2008)

2008-10-08T08:30:00.000-07:00

A 2008 Malayalam movie by Major Ravi starring Mohan Lal as Commanding Officier Col. Mahadevan. The film has been shot at Kargil and nearby areas in Kashmir. This has given the film a real militiary outlook. The story is about the Pakistan invasion in kargil during 1999. This is Major Ravi's third film, and this time also he didnt put much effort to move out of his favorite way of story tellling. An officer with a unit under him trying to fight against the enemies. He has got all the negative forces against him including not so friendly officers and seniors and also the journalists are there to give him much trouble.

The action starts when the Pakistan army violates an existing treaty which was signed after one of the previous wars. They captured some of the very important posts of the Indian Army and in the film its clearly mentioned that this action was carried after the direct instructions from the then Pakistan Army Chief Parvez Musharaff. India responds to this by sending a command under Col. Mahadevan who has been promoted from Major rank.
As Col Mahadevan takes control of the situation, there is heavy fighting between the two sides. And in the end, as the history says, Indian Army pushes the intruders back to their own land, and captures some of their land too. The last scenes of the film resembles the pictures we saw on the newspapers as India won the kargil war.

The fight sequences are really good, and puts the malayalam film industry above all other regional film industries in technical aspects. But the director has included a number of sentimental situations, which would've suited the course of the film if done in a more professional manner with some good dialogues and actors. An important thing to mention is that the casting of the actors was done well, but regarding the actress, the casting turned out to be tragic. Also we can see the officers talking to other people (including pakistan officers) in malayalam. Eventhough this was meant to give the audience a better understanding of the situation, it has taken away the between the troops of india and pakistan, there was an area where the soldiers at both the posts of India and Pakistan were friends. They shared their amneties with each other eventhough their countries were on war.

The movie lasts for about 2 hours, and during all the situations other than those showing the warfront, the film is boring. But the technical effort involved in this film is superb and the effort taken by the crew is really appreciable.

My Rating : Good (***)

Thirakkadha (Malayalam - 2008)

2008-10-05T20:42:00.000-07:00

A 2008 Malayalam movie starring Prithviraj, Anoop, Priya Mani and Samvritha Sunil in the leading roles. And you can also see poor Nishanth Sagar playing the role of a post throughout the film.

Prithviraj plays the role of an young film director who owns and maintains a cafeteria. Anoop and Priya Mani are also related with the film industry. Anoop plays the role of a superstar, whereas Priya was a leading heroine in the Malayalam film industry who is now nowhere near the limelight.

The story is about Akki(Prithviraj) trying to direct a film based on the love life of Ajay(Anoop) and Malavika(Priya). He gets all the information regarding that relationship from a late director's(Renjith) letters to his wife and his dairy notes. The relationship is like this. Ajay who is the son of a makeup man is working on his first film (Itha oru Manjukalam) in the anti-hero role. The hero is an actor named Sekhar and the heroine is Malavika/Malu. By the end of that film, both of them started a relationship. Things become worse when Malu's mother caught both of them kissing on a park bench in the shooting location on her birthday. After that, her mom never allows her to play the heroine role against Ajay. But later they got married in a register office. After some time (may be months, ie not mentioned), Malu becomes pregnant. But Ajay wants to abort that because he was on the edge of taking his career to higher ends. Eventhough malu was against this idea in the beginning, she later agrees to abort the child for the sake of saving Ajay's career. But later she came to know that during abortion, another surgery was made which made her incapable to become pregnant in the future. This lead them to a split and she become an alcoholist.

After their split, they acted together in another movie after a number of years. At that time, Ajay tries to explain Malu what really happened. But she was not ready to hear. Soon, Malu disappeared from the movie screens and people forgot about her.
Akki decides to make this as a film and Ajay didnt want Akki to do that story. He tried to play the lead charector, so that he can bring in some changes in the script later, but Akki discards his offer. Later Akki happened to find out Malu. But by that time, she had got Cancer and she looked terrible now after undergoing chaemotherapy. Akki brings her back home and she is on her death bed. At that time, she came to know from the doctor that they had earlier removed an cancer infected organ from her body during the abortion and it was as a result of that surgery that her ability to deliver children was gone. She actually misunderstood that Ajay did it for selfish reasons and now she understood everything. She insists Akki to call Ajay and when he came, she wanted him to take her to the location of their first film location where they first met and their love life started. The film ends with Malu lying in the hands of Ajay telling him that she is afraid to die, on the park bench of Cloud's End, the villa where their first film was shooted.

The film is a good one and the director has picturised the love life between Ajay and Malu in a very beautiful manner. In between, you will be able to see some resemblence with the real life of filmstars like Mohanlal, Mammooty, Kamal Hasan and Sreevidya. And there is enough description about how this superheoism has affected the malayalam film industry. The only part in the film that is not impressive are the songs. They've got really slow songs which can make u feel that time is not moving at all. The climax scene is really touching and take my word, your eyes are gonna be wet in the end if your heart is not so hard. :-)

My Rating : Good (***)

Madambi (Malayalam - 2008)

2008-08-19T22:28:00.000-07:00

2008 malayalam movie starring mohanlal, kavya madhavan, siddhique and ajmal in the lead roles. mohanlal plays the role of a money lender in a small village in kerala. Siddhique is his rival in the same field. But being the protagonist, mohanlal stays with the local people in many issues which are created by Siddhique and his team. Kavya Madhavan plays the role of a private bank manager in the same village.

Ajmal is mohanlal's brother who is very unhappy in the way his brother treats him. Siddhique later succeeds in bringin Ajmal to his side, fighting against Mohanlal. They plots against Lal many times, but he gets out of them with ease. At a certain stage, Lal doesnt even get the support from his mother who thinks Lal is just behind money and gives no importance at all to relationships. But by the end, with the help of some flash back related to his father, Lal changes his mother's attitude towards him. And with the help of a court he brings his brother back to his side.

The story line seems just a normal Mohanlal type, that we have been watching for the last few years. But there is something in the film that makes you feel comfortable to stay watching it. And if you are a Mohanlal fan, then you are gonna love the film. Unlike other films, a difference with this one is that it doesn't end with an action sequence. There are no unwanted dialogues and superhero image, and the film is taken in a nice manner. Kavya has done a good job in this film, but Ajmal is not that impressive. And to get the smiley effect they have got Suraj Venjaramood, who now is a common face in malayalam films.

My Rating : Good (***)

Veruthe Oru Bharya (Malayalam - 2008)

2008-08-15T20:11:00.000-07:00

2008 malayalam movie starring Jayaram and Gopika in the lead roles. Its supposed to be a come back in Jayaram's career. And its the last film by Gopika before her marriage.The film is about the life of a middle class family. Jayaram plays the role of the husband who is a government employee. Gopika is his wife who does all the work at home. They have a daughter Anjana (Niveditha) who is studying in the school.

As the story moves forward, Gopika becomes a person who is very unhappy with the way her husband treats her. She feels like she has been locked to the house. Also she is very unhappy in the lack of interest shown by her husband in her parents. To her surprise, Jayaram takes them for a trip with the others in his office, but he drinks a lot on the way and makes an issue at Tamil Nadu which prompts the ladies in the group to wind up the trip. Things get worse when Jayaram gave less importance to a call from Gopika's home. Because of that, they were not able to reach Gopika's house before her mother dies of illness.

This hurts Gopika a lot and she decides to start a strike by not doing the so called duties of a wife at home. This makes jayaram restless and he beats Gopika. She leaves his home and stays at her house with her father and brother. Now its Jayaram's duty to take care of their daughter and all the other matters at home. Soon he become over protective because of some unfortunate events and loses his mental stability. But Gopkia reaches home with some others from Jayaram's office just in time to see the kid suffering with severe fever and Jayaram under mental illness. They tries to get the girl out of his custody, but Jayaram feels like they are somebody else trying to hurt his child, and on trying to save her, accidentally hits the girl with an iron rod on her head. Then he loses his conciousness. Fortunately, the child is saved and Jayaram was brought under mental treatment. Later with the help of the doctor they decide to return to their old life and the film ends in a postivie way.

The film has got a lot of relevance in the current social life in kerala. It shows about the bad elements in the society that can affect the peaceful atmosphere of a family. If you are looking for entertainment, then i cant offer you that in this film. But if you want something to think, like something related to family life, then you should watch this movie. And the film is considered as a good re-entry for Jayaram in the Malayalam Film industry.

My Ratings : Good (***)

The Mummy - Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (English - 2008)

2008-08-09T21:03:00.000-07:00

A 2008 english movie. Third in the famous mummy series, and the story happens 14 years after the second part. but take my word, not as impressive as the previous two. Brendan Fraser plays the role of Rick O'Connell, Jet Li as Emperor Han, Maria Bello as Evelyn (not the same cast as in the previous films) and Luke Ford as Alex O'Connell. Those who have watched the second part might not have forgotten about Alex O'Connell, a smart little kid. He is now grown up and follows his dads way, but i'm sure he lost his charm.

Alex decides to follow the path shown by his dad and succeeds in bringing out the dragon emperor's tomb from under the desert. At this time, the British Government assigns O'Connell Senior who is now enjoying a retirement life, for a mission in China. The mission was to return to the Chinese government the Eye of Shangri-La which originally belonged to China, but was kept in the British Museum. O'Connell reaches the Chinese museum with his wife Evelyn where the dragon emperor was brought in by his son. They didn knew that this egg is capable of resurrecting the dragon emperor who is now under a curse. The dragon emperor got the curse from a witch Zi Yuan while he was trying to become immortal, and got converted to statues. General Yang was a general in the Chinese army and he believes that only the dragon emperor can save this world. With the help of the chief of the Chinese museum, the general captures the Eye brought in by O'Connell and resurrects the Dragon Emperor. And the fight starts. Rest is almost same as that of the previous films. And in guest appearence are three yetis (monkey/bear like creatures that are believed to be existing in the Himalayas) which came in time to save O'Connell's team from the dragon emperor and his general during a fight in the Himalayas. The last fight of the film is between the army of the dragon emperor and the mummies of the people who were killed by him. Meanwhile the emperor has attained immortality from the pool of Shangri La in the Himalayas. But by sacrificing the immortality of herself and her daughter Lin, Zi Yuan makes him mortal again.

the witch is later killed by the emperor, but she somehow manages to get a knife which is the only way to kill the king. Followed by this there is a fight between the O'Connells on one side and the emperor on the other, and in the end the emperor is killed by the O'Connells.

The film is not as interesting as the previous versions. You will feel really bored in most of the first half. The second half starts with a strong fight sequence, but doesnt last long. It was in this fight sequence that they brought in a trio of Yeti's to help the O'Connells and its effects are worth
mentioning. There is also a good amount of comedy, mainly by Jonathan(John Hannah) which contributed a lot in not making the film utter boring. And for those who are going to watch the movie to see more from Brenden Fraser, i've got bad news. He is not there for long, and his son is given equal importance. Also Mrs. O'Connell is casted by a different actress and it didn work out well as in the previous movies, thats what i think. I dont recommend you to go to the theatre and watch the movie. Try some other methods. :-)

My Ratings : Yawn (**)

The Pursuit of Happyness (English - 2006)

2008-08-09T08:55:00.000-07:00

A 2006 english movie based on the life story of the famous american entrepuener and philanthropist, Christopher Gardner. Will Smith plays the role of Chris gardner. This is a real story, very inspiring and i recommend u to watch this movie as early as possible.

The film tells how chris gardener struggled in his life to attain the position that he is in at present. While the film progresses we can find gardener facing some situations that are really tough and we will be very anxious to know how he is gonna tackle with them. Also Smith's son is playing the role of Gardener's son. He didn have money to pay his parking bills.Hence he was arrested and put in jail for one night. He didn have money to pay the house rend. So he was thrown out from his room and he and his son slept for some days in places where they can find safety. They once locked themselves in a public toilet in the railway station in the night. But he financially recovers after some months of very hard working and strong determination.

In the last scene, Christopher Gardener appears himself in the film as a person walking past Will Smith and his son. Smith then looks back at that person too. According to me, this is the best scene in this film. You wont identify Gardener that easily, and i got the information from Wikipedia.

And i strongly recommend u to watch this movie.

Chris Gardener is a $65million business man in US (as per 2006).

My Rating : Must Watch (****)

The Kingdom (English - 2007)

2008-07-29T19:55:00.000-07:00

A 2006 english movie based on the experiences of an FBI team in Saudi Arabia while they were investigating on a terrorist attack that hit an American base in Saudi causing heavy casuality. The american government and the fbi were not interested in sending more americans to Saudi, but the team somehow manages to get permission and reaches there. Unfortunately for them, the attitude of the local security officials and the american embassy officials in saudi were not supportive. And they were not allowed to collect evidences and carry an investigation of their own in that foriegn country. Later the fbi team leader manages to get a permission from the saudi prince and tracks down the terrorist gang and its leader. By that time, the team got into a better relationship with the local security forces and they started planning the operations together.

After tracking the location of the terrorist group, the american forces launches a commando operation which resulted in the death of some gang members who were not the top ones. and most of them were less than 18 years too. so this forced the authorities to pack up the team and while they were on their way back to the airport, the terrorist group attacked them with a car bomb. but the team manages to escape somehow from the attack, but the terrorists captures one of the team members and took him for execution (the terrorists usual way of executing infront of a video camera to broadcast it later). the next 20 minutes shows the heavy fight between the two sides.it resulted in the death of a lot of terrorists and their leader. also a local security official, who by then had become a good friend of the team was killed. later after consoling his family, the team returns to america.
The last scene of the most interesting scene, thats what i felt. It shows the resemblance in the dialogues delivered by the hero and villain in two different situations. Aat first it was the hero's consoling his colleague after the attack at The Kingdom Of Saudi. Then it was the dialogue of the terrorist leader to his granddaughter while dying. Both said "Dont worry, we will kill them".

My Rating : Good (***)

The Bourne Ultimatum (English - 2007)

2008-06-18T07:02:00.000-07:00

Released on: 21 September 2007
Directed By: Paul Greengrass
Starring : Matt Damon, Julia Stiles, David Strathairn,Joan Allen, Edgar Ramirez

Trailer - [hey...dont worry if u c a mobile phone ok...the trailer will show up soon...]

Jason Bourne(Matt Damon) is again on the move...
the ultimate jason bourne...
full of chases and plots and action...

bourne ultimatum is the third among the bourne series, following bourne identity and bourne supremacy.
this extreme action thriller has got its backbone from Robert Ludlum's identically titled books, and pls note, the film has got nothing to do with the book except the base line.
you will find it very hard to find some relationship with the incidents in the film and the book.
so no need to apply the harry potter tactics, ie book first film next, in this case.

so, about the story line, jason bourne is behind the killers of his girlfriend (which happens in the beginning of the second film, the bourne supremacy).
the story works around the CIA and its dirty alliances. you will also find that the cia agent Pam Landy (Joan Allen) who tried her level best to catch him in the bourne supremacy stands with him in this film, which inturn will help her to bring the unholy practices of the cia infront of the law.

the story proceeds with stunning action sequences and cia covert operations, and jason tackles all the attempts of the great brains of the cia and thier ultra perfect assassins with great expertise.
the cia is trying to cover up some of their previous activities and unfortunately for them, jason bourne is trying to uncover those operations.

the film has got some sequences which are similiar to the scenes in the previous films, identity and supremacy.

the film lasts for almost 1 hour 50 min and take my word, you are gonna enjoy each seconds of this film.

My Rating : Must Watch (****)

PS : Try to see the other two in the series also.

Vantage Point (English - 2008)

2008-06-16T05:45:00.000-07:00

Released on: 22nd February 2008
Directed By: Pete Travis
Starring : Dennis Quaid, Matthew Fox, Forest Whitaker,William Hurt, Édgar Ramírez, Eduardo Noriega

Trailer - [hey...dont worry if u c a mobile phone ok...the trailer will show up soon...]

the film is about the abduction of the american president Ashton (William Hurt) at sweden by a terrorist group and his body guard Thomas Barnes(Dennis Quaid) saving him.
the american president is at Spain for some peace talks and treaty stuff with the country.
the conflict is mainly between the presidents two body guards Thomas Barnes(Dennis Quaid) and Kent Taylor(Matthew Fox) who works for the terrorist group.

the us president needs to go for a public appearance with a spanish mayor.
a terrorist group plans to abduct him.
us intelligence gets the information.
they too goes for a replacement and the original president is taken back to the hotel (very smart).
the duplicate president got shot by a remotely controlled sniper (good tactics, must c).
a bomb explodes under the stage jus after the president was taken to the hospital.
the terrorists who had already identified that the double is brought in carries out a commando operation (assassin:Édgar Ramírez) at the hotel and takes the original after killing all the guards (ultra smart rt???).
to get the feel, its better u watch it on screen...

the theme, we all have heard a lot of times rt???
bt something is there that makes the film different...
its not a lengthy one...jus 1hour 30 min...
n the incidents last only for 20-25 min...
but we are given six different perspectives...
the story is told and retold from various angles which includes those of a media channel, the President's body guard Thomas Barnes(Dennis Quaid), Enrique (Eduardo Noriega) who is a spanish police officer in charge of the Mayor's security ,Howard Lewis (Forest Whitaker) a person who takes the video of the incidents in his personnel camera , the original american president and the terrorist group.
though the film is full of firing and explosion and action sequences, it also has a touching relationship the person had with a little girl who couldn't find her mom after the bomb explosion.
a must watch sequence is Thomas Barnes(Dennis Quaid) chasing Kent Taylor(Matthew Fox) in the busy streets of spain just after the assassination attempt.
and the film ends with the president being taken in a copter to a safe place from the middle of the road...
the public is unaware of all these plots...they are later informed through media that the assassin has been shot dead and the president is safe...
and i'm sure u r gonna enjoy it...
forgot to mention...there is a situation where all the secret service advisors tell the american president to launch a missile on some target in response to the assassination attempt and the president, to my surprise, decides not to do it and to take a peaceful but strong action which is not so common under current circumstances!!!

good film...can be considered as a must watch if u r sort of an action, thriller, suspense fan...
enjoy...

My Rating : Good (***)