The Ugly Truth (2009)

Genre: Drama/Comedy/Romance

Starring: Katherine Heigl, Gerard Butler, Bree Turner, Eric Winter

This movie reminded me of a famous movie of the past, Hitch. The fundamentals of both the movies are the same. In the latter you have the 'date-doctor' and here you have Mike Chadway (Butler) the host of a local TV show 'The Ugly Truth' who tries to convince people that the way to a mans heart is only true his penis. Abby (Heigl) is a celebrated channel producer and accidentally watches one of Mike's shows. Shes utterly disgusted with his thoughts, but to her misfortune, her boss hires him in a bid to improve the channel ratings. He tries to prove his point by making Abby's next door neighbour fall for her using his methods, but Abby is not convinced. Like every other romance movie, opposites attract and the duo fall for each other. It's nothing different really and its a very plain, old, tried and tested story retold in a not very different manner. Worth one watch, not two.

Thumbs up: Katherine Heigl looks stunning
Thumbs down: Nothing different or unique

Rating: 6.4/10

I Love You, Man (2009)

Genre: Comedy/Drama/Romance

Starring: Jason Segel, Paul Rudd, Rashida Jones

Peter (Rudd) and Zooey (Jones) are crazy in love with each other and are all set to get married. Their life is perfect just for one thing. Peter is a girls man and just doesn't have any close male friends. When he overhears a conversation of Zooey's friends pointing out that flaw in him, he feels embarrassed and decides to do something. He starts going out on man-dates in the hope of making some good friends. He meets Sydney (Segel) an in-your-face kind of guy and Peter gets instantly 'attracted' to him. He gets more involved in doing more 'manly' things due to which Peter starts undergoing a manly transformation. The movie is hilarious and laugh out loud all the way. You might just finding yourself spending 2 hours with a broad grin on your face. It might not have the roll-over and fall-off-your-seat laughter but its still fun. Best watched with your lover next to you.

Thumbs up: Segel and Rudd all the way
Thumbs down: Girls would probably want more mushy-mushy romance in it

Rating: 7.4/10

The Rock (1996)

Genre: Action/Crime/Adventure/Thriller

Starring: Ed Harris, Nicolas Cage, Sean Connery, John Spencer

Boasting of a very strong star-cast, The Rock was a very promising movie. Brigadier General Francis X Hummel (Harris) is a Vietnam war hero and is disappointed with the fact that several US Marines have lost their lives in battle but have not received any form of respect from the US government. Taking the law in his own hands, he takes control of 'The Rock', a prison island off the coast of San Francisco and prepares to launch deadly bio-weapons at the city if his demands are not met. John Mason (Connery) is a British spy who was once held up in that very prison and knows it like the back of his hand. He is aware of a passage which would allow the Navy Seals to gain access into the island and take control of it. Dr. Stanley Goodspeed (Cage) is an FBI chemical weapons expert and knows how to diffuse the bio-weapon. The two are sent inside the island in order to perform their tasks and bring the situation back to order. The movie is very action-packed and if insane stunts and gun-wielding army men is what your looking for then it is definitely something you would want to watch. The trio put on an amazing show which is why this movie is very appealing. Although old, it still holds its charm.

Thumbs up: Gripping and entertaining
Thumbs down: The general hostage situation and good vs bad story

Rating: 7.2/10

The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (2008)

Genre: Fantasy/Thriller/Action/Adventure

Starring: Brendan Fraser, Jet Li, Maria Bello, John Hannah, Michelle Yeoh, Luke Ford

In ancient China, there lived an Emperor Han (Li) who had conquered all his desires and wishes except for death itself. He summoned a witch, Zi Juan (Yeoh) to grant him immortality, instead she cursed him and confessed her love for his General. The emperor along with his massive army was forever turned to stone. The year is 1947, Rick o'Connell (Fraser) and his wife Evelyn (Bello) are requested by the government to go to China and hand over a rare artifact to the Shanghai museum. They meet their son Alex (Ford) their who has uncovered Emperor Han's tomb. Alex gets double-crossed by his excavation companion and the emperor is reserructed. The mighty king now wants his army back and will reclaim what was once his. The movie story dosent really continue from the previous versions. Although the story has taken a new perspective of the term 'mummy' it still maintains the charm that the previous movies had. Action packed and thrilling moments is what you will get. What you dont get, however, is the mystery which the earlier versions had. You somehow know what is going to happen in the end and it is the inevitable victory of good over evil.

Thumbs up: Equally gripping as its predeccessors
Thumbs down: A slightly predictable story-line

Rating: 6.8/10

Constantine (2005)

Genre: Drama/Thriller/Horror/Fantasy/Action

Starring: Keanu Reaves, Rachel Weisz, Shia LeBeouf, Djimon Hounsou

Angels and demons still exist in this world with humanity in between. Neither angel nor demon can cross over in their pure form and come on earth. They must come in the form of a half-breed which is part human and part devil/angel. An equal balance between good and bad is maintained on earth, however, increasing demon activity has recently tipped the scales. John Constantine (Reaves) is an exorcist who has been sending demons back to hell regularly. He knows his time is about to come and wishes that he ends up in heaven for the good deeds he is doing in spite of knowing that god does not agree with what he is doing. Angela and Isabel (Weisz) are twin sisters. Isabel is a mental patient who one night jumps off the roof and dies. Her death appears to be suicidal, however, her detective twin sister, Angela refuses to buy that story. Angela meets John in a chance encounter and learns about the existence of angels and demons. John offers the explanation that her sister might have been caught in the battle between good and evil which has landed her a place in hell. As the duo start uncovering the secrets of Isabel's past, they stumble across many horrifying facts which might just put humanity as a whole to the brink of extinction. The movie is loosely made and is extremely slow. Don't be surprised if you have to stifle a yawn or two. Except for a few startling moments, there isn't too much in the movie to actually horrify you into getting sleepless nights. The acting wasn't anything great either. In short, its quite a boring watch.

Thumbs up: *thinks hard* the little suspense that the movie had
Thumbs down: Not too thrilling for a movie of its kind

Rating: 4.4/10

The Untouchables (1987)

Genre: Crime/Drama/Biography/History/Thriller
Starring: Kevin Costner, Robert De Niro, Sean Connery, Charles Martin Smith, Andy Garcia

Al Capone (De Niro) was an infamous bootlegger that operated from Chicago in the 1930's. He dirtied the hands of almost every city official, law enforcement agency and politician in order to get his work done. Treasury department agent Eliot Ness (Costner) takes up the task of putting Al Capone behind bars for good. On his team is beat cop Jimmy Malone (Connery) sharp shooter George Stone (Garcia) and a treasury accountant Oscar Wallace (Smith). Repeated at getting Capone fail miserably and the team gets a bad name in the media. The team also suffers the loss of two team members but the rest diligently move on and finally manage to nab the mafia don and put him behind bars. The movie is well narrated considering the era in which it was made, but there are a lot of areas in which it could have improved in. The story was a little too simple and not as dramatic as one would have liked it. A bit of more drama and thrills would have taken things to a different level. Sean Connery's presence, however, didn't do too much of good as Robert De Niro's did.

Thumbs up: Robert De Niro in any avatar is always stunning
Thumbs down: A little more chills and thrills

Rating: 7.3/10

2012 (2009)

Genre: Science-fiction/Action/Drama/Thriller

Starring: John Cusack, Amanda Peet, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Thandie Newton, Oliver Platt, Zlatco Buric

A lot of movies, books and theories have come to light citing the inevitable destruction of the world, but most of them either don't hold water, have come and gone or are not expected in the near future. 2012 is perhaps one of the first such theory which does have a scientific explanation backing it up and has also a fixed date of occurrence. Jackson Curtis (Cusack) a little-known novelist, part-time limo driver for a Russian business tycoon and a divorcee, has taken his kids out camping. He sees a lot of strange things and meets a semi-demented radio jockey Charlie Frost, who explains him about a disaster waiting to happen. He also learns that the governments of various countries are building huge ships in China to seek refuge and survive this impact. He collects his family and along with his employer Yuri (Buric) they all head to China. Meanwhile, American geologist Adrian Helmsley (Ejiofor) with the help of an Indian astro-physicist had predicted the disaster but did not expect to occur so early. All top US officials have been killed and the White House Head of Staff Carl Anheuser (Platt) is now head of the US govt. He only wants people with big pay-checks and influence to be on-board. The movie has got poor detailing and graphics and could have been much better. Comparing it to The Day After Tomorrow, the movie fails to have the visual impact that its predecessor did. All that said and done, it gives out a very vital message. If such a calamity should befall human-kind, rather than being a racist we should all live as humans and not as attitude-laden animals trying to outdo each other. Peace-out!

Thumbs up: Teaches you a thing or two about being more human
Thumbs down: Poor graphics and detailing

Rating: 7.1/10

The Gods Must Be Crazy II (1989)

Genre: Comedy/Adventure/Drama

Starring: N!xau, Lena Farugia, Hans Strydom, Eiros, Nadies

Xi (N!xau) is back within an even crazier version of his adventures. Xi goes hunting for some food in the jungle along with his kids Xiri (Eiros) and Xisa (Nadies). A truck belonging to poachers is parked in the jungle with a compartment filled with water. Xiri and Xisa have never seen so much water in all their life and decide to have some fun. However, when the truck starts, the two cant seem to get out of it and are trapped inside. A desperate Xi starts pursuing them on foot to rescue his children from 'the strange beast'. Meanwhile, a wildlife expert Dr. Stephen Marshall (Strydom) is taking Ann (Farugia) a New York lawyer, out for an aerial safari in his mini-plane when they suddenly realise that they are badly out of fuel and have to crash land. Stuck in the middle of the Kalahari desert, there is very little that they can do. On the other hand, a lost Cuban and Angolan soldier are trying to get the better of each other by holding the other one prisoner. All three stories come together at one central point which simply makes this movie an even more entertaining watch. Scenes from this movie just seem to stick in your head and are simply unforgettable.

Thumbs up: Everything is just LOL
Thumbs down: Not in the mood to think this one out

Rating: 7.9/10

The Gods Must Be Crazy (1980)

Genre: Comedy/Drama/Adventure

Starring: N!xau, Marius Weyers, Sandra Prinsloo, Louw Verwey

Comedy movies are even more appealing when the humour in them does not seem to be picked from somewhere or over-used. This movie provided a fresh taste of comedy and is still one of the very fondly loved movies. Xi (N!xau) is a Sho tribesman living in the Kalahari Desert in Africa. He and his tribe members are very content with their simple life and have no worries. Their peaceful livelihood goes for a toss when an empty Coke bottle, thrown out of a low-flying plane falls on the ground and is discovered by Xi. The tribesman takes it as a gift from god and starts finding many uses for it. This eventually leads to fights, enmity and squabbling between the tribe members, emotions they were earlier unaware of. In order to set things straight, Xi decides to walk to the edge of the earth and throw the bottle away. Another side-story consists of a shy biologist Andrew Steyn (Weyers) and a journalist Kate (Prinsloo) and their blossoming love story within the jungle. Initially you might feel the movie is a whole load of trash, but give it some time and it would show you its true colours.

Thumbs up: N!xau all the way
Thumbs down: People throwing Coke bottles from the sky.

Rating: 7.7/10

State of Play (2009)

Genre: Crime/Drama/Mystery/Thriller

Starring: Russell Crowe, Ben Affleck, Rachel McAdams, Helen Mirren

Russell Crowe's mere presence in a movie adds a lot of credits to it, this movie being no different. The US government decides to outsource all of its military operations to a private company. A petty thief gets murdered in a Washington alley along with a pizza delivery boy who witnessed the murder. Congressman Stephen Collins' (Affleck) aide, Sonia Baker dies in a train accident. Three separate events have one common link; PointCorp. The very same company to whom the military operations have been assigned to. The very company against whom Stephen is investigating and hurling charges of monopolistic practices. Cal (Crowe) is a polished journalist with the Washington Globe and also a very close friend of Stephen. When the media discovers about Stephen and Sonia's intimate relationship, all hell breaks lose and Stephen turns to Cal to help him get out of his mess. Much to Cal's horror, this story has much more than what it seems to be. Cal, along with Della (McAdams) the papers online reporter, start uncovering the truth bit by bit to uncover the entire conspiracy of corruption and deceit. The idea of a 'journalist solving a murder mystery' was better looked into by Zodiac, but then again that was a real-life incident and this one is completely hypothetical. The story gets a little predictable and you might just stifle a yawn or two, but its not exactly unexciting.

Thumbs up: Russell Crowe all the way
Thumbs down: Predictable, lacks some bit of suspense

Rating: 7.4/10

Duplicity (2009)

Genre: Drama/Crime/Romance

Starring: Clive Owen, Julia Roberts, Tom Wilkinson, Paul Giamatti

Many a times many people have tried to emulate the Oceans series of movies but the original is the original no matter how hard you try. Claire (Roberts) and Ray (Owen) are a smart duo who love making other people with lots of money look stupid. Not just that, they passionately love each other and cant trust the other person with an even bigger passion. Howard Tully (Wilkinson) and Richard Garsik (Giamatti) are heads of rival FMCG companies. Garsik has hired a team of sleuths which includes Claire and Ray to find out what is that big thing that Howard Tully is so eager to announce at his shareholders meet. Garsik wants the product specifications stolen from Tully and wants to announce it before he can. Claire and Ray, however, have different plans. The movies kicks off on a very confused start, going back and forth into time and it takes a while to get the hang of things. The movie doesn't have the sort of excitement that it should have and the background score was the only thing that was trying to make the movie look funny. The twists are fun but could have been with a little more excitement and suspense. On the acting front, Julia Roberts and Clive Owen look like they are made for each other were probably the big thing that kept the movie going.

Thumbs up: Efforts by the entire star cast
Thumbs down: Uneventful and unexciting

Rating: 6.1/10

Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani (2009)

Genre: Drama/Romance/Comedy

Starring: Ranbir Kapoor, Katrina Kaif, Upen Patel

With a string of flop movies, Ranbir Kapoor decided to do a movie based on his life. Half-way through Wake Up Sid he realised the movie was getting a bit too serious and hence decided to do Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani. Prem (Kapoor) is president of the Happy Club, a club for unemployed and useless youths. He keeps getting put down by his father for not earning money and supporting the family. The members of Happy Club specialise in helping two lovers get together. Jenny (Kaif) is the new beauty in the neighbourhood and Prem is all head over heels over her. He tries to do everything within his reach to keep her happy and win her love. Usual love story saga ensues where the guy loves the girl but cant tell her and 'too-dumb-to-realise' girl loves someone else which she later realises is not made for her but the first guy who cares for her and loves her so much. In spite of very promising trailers the movie was a big no-show. The humour in the movie is definitely fresh but parts of it seem to have been inspired by Govinda movies. Katrina Kaif should condemn any form of emotional acting and admit that it is beyond her. Her British accent kept getting into the way of Hindi dialogues and should also pledge to not do her own dubbing. Upen Patel was overtly ridiculous with a very lose piece of acting and the even more obvious fake English accents. I still haven't figured out the logic behind one scene where Katrina runs past Ranbir shouting 'Prem, Prem' and does an about turn and comes back into his arms!? One can safely rename it as Bechare Ranbir ki Intni Bhi Ghazab Nahin Hai Kahani.

Thumbs up: Ranbir Kapoor and his attempts at humour
Thumbs down: Katrina, Upen and the duos accent problems

Rating: 5.7/10

Enemy of the State (1998)

Genre: Action/Drama/Crime

Starring: Will Smith, Gene Hackman, Jon Voight, Lisa Bonet

The US government wants to pass a bill which would allow them to survey citizens private property which is been done in the interest of national security. Congressman Reynolds (Voight) murders fellow Congressman Phillip Hammersly when the latter refuses to vote for the bill. Unknown to Reynolds, the entire murder was shot on a nature watchers hidden camera who wants to make millions by publishing it. Soon Reynolds and his men are in hot pursuit of him and get him killed but could not find the camera on him. What they do realise is that he interacted with Robert Dean (Smith) an innocent labor lawyer and slipped the tape into his bag without him realising it. Its now a wild goose chase behind Dean who does not have the slightest of idea of who is following him and why. Brill (Hackman) an ex-NSA operator who also supplies Dean with any information he needs agrees to bail him out of his mess. The movie is no different from any other American crime movie which involves practically every law enforcement agency abbreviated, blowing up cars and buildings as if it were a video game. Will Smith's presence in the movie does not help it any way. The movie does however have an interesting story line, only if wasn't stretched to its very limits.

Thumbs up: Story, Gene Hackman
Thumbs down: Too long for its kind, over-stretched car chases

Rating: 6.4/10

Frost/Nixon (2008)

Genre: Documentary/ Drama/ History/Biography

Starring: Micheal Sheen, Frank Langella, Sam Rockwell, Kevin Bacon, Matthew Macfayden, Oliver Platt

A good movie can be aptly judged by two things. Firstly, the position of a persons back to the seat along with the expression on his/her face. In this case, my nose was barely inches away from the screen, staring as each pixel swiftly changed form and a broad grin on my face. Secondly, the flow of thought that immediately comes to ones mind right after a movie, which was the first few lines that you just read. Richard Nixon (Langella) is the only president of the United States to have ever resigned from office. Charges of corruption, burglary and misuse of presidential power hounded his feet. He never gave a pubic testimony accepting these charges and his successor gave him a presidential pardon, thus ruling out a court trial. The American publics sentiments were hurt and they wanted an all out confession. David Frost (Sheen) was a noted British comedian and talk show host, who had the brilliant idea of interviewing Nixon and trying to get a confession out of him. A lot of hurdles came across his way and his entire experience and fame as a journalist was put to test by this one man. The movie depicted a cold feeling between David and Nixon where they both seemed to fight a battle for coming out on top of the other. Michael Sheen and Frank Langella have beautifully managed to actually bring out that feeling on screen; simply watching them debate and hit out on each other is simply astounding. Its not just about representing the actual interviews but bringing out those emotions and facial expressions that bring it as close to reality. Langella's five second screen shot where he manages to show an array of thoughts and feelings of surprise, confusion, anger, sorrow, self-pity, humiliation and what not, all by one look on his face defines him as a good actor.

Thumbs up: Langella with Sheen not far behind
Thumbs down: Too busy appreciating the good points to figure this one out.

Rating: 8.5/10

Underworld: Rise of the Lycans (2009)

Genre: Fantasy/Thriller/Action/Drama/Adventure

Starring: Bill Nighy, Rhona Mitra, Michael Sheen, Steven Mackintosh, Kevin Grevioux

Being the third installment of the Underworld series, the movie like its predecessors, leapfrogs onto a very different story from what we have seen so far. The first movie gave a small glimpse of Sonja (Mitra) and Lucian's (Sheen) love. Sonja, daughter of the Vampire elder Viktor (Nighy) shares an intimate relationship with Lucian (Sheen) a Lycan. Lucian was the first werewolf to have the ability of free transformation between werewolf and human and hence gave birth to the Lycan race. Viktor on learning about their relationship, condemns his own daughter to death. The movie simply goes back to an old story and narrates with more precision of what exactly happened. Underworld Evolution focused more on the Vampires side of the story, and the focus this time, has shifted to the Lycans Evolution. If one has seen both the previous versions, this movie doesn't really have anything new to add to the entire Lycan-Vampiric mystery. It's merely a detailed story of an event already revealed in the earlier movies. It neither continues nor adds to the storyline which makes it a bit uninteresting. The only good part of the movie is that no prior knowledge of the series is necessary to understand the movies basic storyline. It would be a good watch for someone who hasn't seen the earlier movies, but can be very boring for someone who has. The movie did not end as a finale and since it did not follow the story of the previous movies, the place where the second movie ended is yet to be finished, which would happen later on in the fourth version of the Underworld series.

Thumbs up: Watching the previous movies is not a prerequisite
Thumbs down: Story doesn't reveal anything new.

Rating: 5.9/10

Taxi (2004)

Genre: Action/Comedy/Crime

Starring: Queen Latifah, Jimmy Fallon, Jennifer Esposito, Gisele Bundchen

Andy Washburn (Fallon) is utterly hopeless. A disgrace to the NY PD and a bigger disgrace to the driving community. 'Ze Germans' are robbing a bank in Manhattan, which turns out to be a gang of stunning looking girls headed by Vanessa (Bundchen). Andy decides to take a cab to the location, since he lost his cop car and is the closest to the location. Belle (Latifah) the cab driver, knows the streets inside out has her car all pimped up. As usual, our fumbling idiot messes things up and ends up getting fired and Belle's car gets impounded. Andy wants to reclaim his lost respect by getting catching the thieves, and Belle wants her precious car back. I actually wanted the 1976 classic Taxi Driver and landed up with this movie. Queen Latifah looks sorely out of place and does not fit into an action movie from any angle whatsoever. The initial humour in the movie is laughable, but beyond that it gets tiresome. The car chases in this movie though are very interesting and are capable of matching more highly rated action movies. The plot is nothing very different, but perhaps if the humour was ruled out and replaced with more suspense and actually deciphering the modus operandi of the robbers, it would probably been at a very different level.

Thumbs up: Car chases
Thumbs down: A very out of place Queen Latifah

Rating: 5.8/10

Surrogates (2009)

Genre: Science-fiction/Action/Crime/Mystery

Starring: Bruce Willis, Radha Mitchell, Rosamund Pike, Boris Kodjoe, James Cromwell

An American scientific-research company manages to create a robot in order to help the handicapped. The persons brain is synced with the robot, and whatever the human things, it is executed by the robot. However, this technology finds more appeal to the general audience, who can now put up a false physical profile for the world to see, while they sit back at home and control their bots, known as surrogates. These surrogates are designed in a way which will not kill the human, even if the robot dies. A young college student is found dead one day, who died when his surrogate was attacked, something which is not supposed to happen. The youth was later found to be the son of the inventor of the surrogates Canter (Cromwell). He and his son used look-alike surrogates and thus due to a mistaken identity, his son was killed instead of him. FBI agent Tom Greer (Willis) and his assistant Peters (Mitchell) are assigned to solve the mystery behind this impossible killing. His research brings him to the brink of a near-death experience in which he ends up losing his surrogate and realises that the 'flesh-life' is strikingly different from the fake life he has been living all this while. He wants the others too, to experience reality and give up the robotic one. The movie is a very typical big American corporation exploiting society to make money story. The mystery and the twists in the tale add some interest to the movie, but it only comes after the movies half-way mark. In order to differentiate from surrogates and humans, all surrogate characters were seemed to have been given an extra dose of make-up and the humans none. A lot of small detailing can be seen in the movie, which tries to bring you close to reality. The movie might get a tad bit confusing somewhere in the end, but you somehow get the point of it all. A unique concept and nothing else.

Thumbs up: Character detailing
Thumbs down: Same story, different technology

Rating: 6.9/10

Underworld Evolution (2006)

Genre: Fantasy/Thriller/Action/Science-fiction/Mystery/Adventure

Starring: Kate Beckinsale, Scott Speedman, Tony Curran, Derek Jacobi

In continuation with the previous movie, the movie goes into a flashback, tracing the evolution of Lycans and Vampires. Alexander Corvinus (Jacobi) was the first person to go against the order of nature and develop immortality. His sons Marcus (Curran) and William were bitten by a bat and a werewolf respectively to start the Vampire and Lycan races. Marcus offered immortality to Viktor to him and his army in exchange for his support to control his savage brother. Viktor instead imprisoned William and took the Lycans as slave. If William was killed, the Lycan race would die and hence Viktor would lose his slaves. Fast forward to the current year, Marcus has been awoken by the blood of a Lycan scientist and he learns all of Kravens misdeeds. With Viktor and Amelia dead, he has the opportunity to free his imprisoned brother. Selene (Beckinsale) and Michael (Speedman) the hybrid, are on the run. Selene knows the exact location of the prision, since her father was commissioned to build it. Marcus is on the hunt for the key to open the prison and to learn of its location from Selene. The movie takes on a slightly different course than the previous movie, and focuses more on the Vampires history rather than the Lycans. It also has little history and suspense than its predecessor, but definitely has more action. The Gothic approach with a hint of technology offers a brilliant blend. Kate Beckinsale's performance stole the entire show, which made Scott Speedman look like small change.

Thumbs up: Action, Gothic-tech combine
Thumbs down: Lack of enough mystery

Rating: 7.1/10

Underworld (2003)

Genre: Fantasy/Science-fiction/Thriller/Action/Mystery

Starring: Kate Beckinsale, Scott Speedman, Billl Nighy, Michael Sheen, Shane Brolly

Lycans or werewolves, and with the Vampires, have been co-existing unknown to the human race for centuries. Both sworn enemies, the Vampires have been killing the Lycans every since the fall of their leader, Lucian. The Lycans for years have been trying to form a hybrid of the two species, but have consistently failed. They found a trait in the bloodline of a certain Corvinus family which allows the amalgamation to take place. They start searching for that descendant of the family who holds the pure trait, Michael Corvin (Speedman). Selene (Beckinsale) realises that the Lycans are after Michael and warns Kraven (Brolly) the vampire in-charge of the coven about this. She also realises that Lucian (Sheen) who was supposed to have been killed by Kraven, still lives. When Kraven ignores her warnings, Selene decides to take things in her own hands. The Vampires have a unique way of ruling. Each Vampire elder hibernates for two centuries while the third one rules. At the end of the century, the ruling elder rests while the next one in line takes over. Selene has an attachment to Viktor (Nighy) the vampire elder who is currently resting. She feels he is the only one who can solve the issue and awakens him one whole century before his reign is to begin. The Vampire-Lycan combine manages to take place, to create a beast who is half-vampire, half-lycan but stronger than both. The entire movie is potrayed very well, giving a gothic cum modern feel to things. The movie ends with a small scene indicating that there is more to come, which did come in the form of Underworld Evolution in 2006.

Thumbs up: Good storyline and movie visuals
Thumbs down: Story could be a bit more complex with some more dramatic fight scenes

Rating: 7.3/10

Charlie Wilson's War (2007)

Genre: Drama/War/Biography

Starring: Tom Hanks, Philip Symour Hoffman, Julia Roberts, Amy Adams

First, a short history lecture. The Afghanistan government was threatened by Islamic mujahideen's, who were revolting against the government. Feeling insecure, in 1979, the government asked USSR to invade Afghanistan and take over the countries defense. The United States was at cold war with USSR and at that time and the government had a lot of anti-communism sentiments. Charlie Wilson (Hanks) a Congressman from Texas long with CIA agent Gustav (Hoffman) fought with their government for the Afghani cause. They wanted the government to increase Afghan funding and give the mujahideen's capable weapons of fighting the mighty Soviet Union. The weapons could not be directly sourced from USA because if the Afghans were caught with American made weapons, it would mean serious trouble. Hence, they decided to purchase Soviet weapons stocked at Israel and smuggle them in via Pakistan. This eventually led to USSR withdrawing its troops in 1988. The entire move to support Afghanistan against the Soviets was cited as a very bold and strong move. However, the US government failed to re-build Afghanistan soon after the war, which led to a lot of Anti-American sentiments within the people of Afghanistan. According to them, USA supported them only to fulfill their own intentions and didn't actually care two hoots about their country. This is said to have eventually led to 9/11. The movie does require the viewer to have some amount of prior knowledge about the USSR-Afghan war if he were to understand anything. The movie doesn't reveal the implications of not helping Afghanistan re-build itself after the war. The movie is a good watch to improve ones knowledge of the war but can be slightly confusing and uninteresting for others.

Thumbs up: Tom Hanks as always.
Thumbs down: The movie could have described post-war implications for USA

Rating: 7.1/10

Wake Up Sid (2009)

Genre: Drama/Romance

Starring: Ranbir Kapoor, Konkana Sen-Sharma, Supriya Pathak, Anupam Kher

Change is always refreshing, especially when it comes from someone you don't expect it. Karan Johar dumps his cliched star cast comprising of King Khan, Bachchan family and company. Not only that, he has also deviated from his stereotypical family drama stories and has taken up a funky, creative and urban storyline. Ranbir Kapoor, on the other hand, has nicely proven that he isn't here to act just cause his parents made him do it. He can actually do that stuff. Sid (Kapoor) is a spoilt rich kid, whose life has only one agenda, spending his dad's hard earned money. Sid meets Ayesha (Sharma) an aspiring writer from Calcutta who wants to lead an independent life. Sid's academic career goes for a toss, and after a family fight he leaves home and joins Ayesha. First few days go no different for him, until he finally realises that he has to do something if he wants to get anywhere. He pursues photography, the only thing he was ever interested in and finds himself a job. The movie is a big change from the Hollywood rip-off romance movies currently hitting cinemas. The story may sound familiar and not unique, but its not the story but the execution of the story that matters. The movie trailer hints at this very story and it leaves no surprise. Konkana plays the part of the creative writer wonderfully, no surprises there, since she always played the role of an urban youth. Ranbir Kapoor complimented her role with perfection throughout. The movie missed a few beats somewhere after the half-way mark, but she quickly picked up her skirts and came back on par. The perfect alarm the movie industry needs. WAKE UP!

Thumbs up: Ranbir, Konkana, portrayal of Mumbai
Thumbs down: An ending with more climax could do

Rating: 7.8/10

The Invisible (2007)

Genre: Fantasy/Thriller/Drama/Crime

Starring: Justin Chatwin, Margarita Levieva, Marcia Gay Harden, Chris Marquette

Nick Powell (Chatwin) is a high-school smart and rich boy. A school street gang leader Annie (Levieva) steals some jewelry but gets busted later on. She doubts Pete (Marquette) Nick's best friend, for going to the cops and telling them about her. Pete puts the blame on Nick, thinking that Nick is on his way to London but he is actually not. The gang finds Nick and beats him up in which Annie accidentally kills him. Nick's ghost comes alive and he sees the true faces of many people. He also realises that if his body is found, he can still live. Annie's conscious starts getting the better of her and she also realises that Nick was not guilty of turning her to the cops. She repents her doings and wants to undo her mistakes. The movie goes quite well until half-time. The logic behind recovering his body and coming back to life is not convincing and a bit awkward. Annie's ability to suddenly start taking orders from Nick's ghost also is also not explained for. These niggles make the movie a bit far-fetched even for a fantasy movie. It lacks the entertainment factor in any possible movie genre.

Thumbs up: An otherwise decent story
Thumbs down: Unexplained logic

Rating: 4.8/10

Do Knot Disturb (2009)

Genre: Comedy/Drama

Starring: Govinda, Lara Dutta, Ritesh Deshmukh, Sushmita Sen, Ranbir Shorey, Rajpal Yadav, Sohail Khan

Does David Dhawan intentionally make such mindless comedies or is that he is incapable of churning out something better? Govinda, the very person who pioneered this particular genre, features in this leave-your-brains-at-home comedy as Raj, an industrialist married to Kiran (Sen). Kiran dominates over him and he starts two-timing her by dating supermodel Dolly (Dutta). Mangu (Yadav) spots the two-love birds at it and takes a photograph. Co-incidentally, Govardhan (Deshmukh) gets in the picture frame. Raj must now convince his wife that Govardhan is Dolly's boyfriend and not him. The usual mess up takes place with an apparently dead detective Nunu (Shorey) at a Dubai hotel which tries to pass off as a Delhi location. You cant really expect good laughable humour from Govinda or Ritesh Deshmukh, however, certain one-liners would occasionally tickle your funny-bone. Lara Dutt seems to have worn clothes just because she was forced to and for a change Govinda looked sober. He seems to have swapped dressing sense with Sushmita Sen whose ugly dresses only made her look even more old and out of place. Its definitely an improvement from what we have been seeing since so long but still a long way to go.

Thumbs up: Govinda for his serious attempts at laughter
Thumbs down: Sushmita Sen

Rating: 5.4/10

Shortbus (2006)

Genre: Drama/Romance

Starring: Sook Yin Lee, Paul Dawson, Lindsay Beamish, PJ DeBoy, Raphael Barker, Jay Brannan

I don't know what made me watch this movie and what is the bigger thing that is making me write this review. I thought The Dreamers was the closest one could get to seeing high levels of sexuality in an openly released movie. I was wrong. Shortbus surpasses all levels of expectations. Gay, lesbian, threesomes, you name it and this movie has it. Many would get simply grossed out after watching the first few minutes itself. Its more like a porno with a story. Sofia (Lee) is a sex therapist and is disappointed about the fact that she cant reach an orgasm and feels singled out from society. Jamie (DeBoy) and James (Dawson) are gay partners. Jamie is disappointed with life and feels lost and alone. They meet Ceth (Brannan) and very soon their duo becomes a group of three. Severin (Beamish) is a prostitute who is under depression because of what she is doing. Eveyones life in this movie seems to be a mess right now and they all meet at a sex bar called Shortbus. They all end up finding sanctuary in someone else and relieve their sexual tension and become better beings. I simply don't understand why such high and detailed levels of sexuality were required to portray this story. Even if it was, some utterly gross scenes could be avoided. The movie doesn't actually create an impact and the motivational feel that it tried to bring out. A very avoidable movie even in the censored version (I doubt if there is even one).

Thumbs up: The star casts' guts to perform those scenes on camera
Thumbs down: Everything else

Rating: 2.2/10

Snatch (2000)

Genre: Comedy/Crime/Drama

Starring: Jason Statham, Brad Pitt, Alan Ford, Benicio Del Toro, Stephen Graham, Dennis Farina, Rade Serbedzija, Lenni James, Vinnie Jones, Robby Gee

I had to see this movie the second time just in order to post a review for it here. A long cock and bull story all for an 84-carat diamond. A very typical Guy Ritchie movie with black humour, sarcasm and one-liners. Every character has their own funny accent to talk in and the movie is best understood with subtitles, especially if you wanna get past what Brad Pitt is trying to say. Franky Four Fingers (Toro) stole a diamond and brought it to London. He informs Cousin Avi (Farina) and in the course of time, a bit too many people get informed. It now becomes a wild goose chase to reach the diamond first. Somewhere else, Turkish (Statham) the boxing promoter named after an airline and his associate Tommy (Graham) not named after a gun but in fact a ballet dancer, go out caravan shopping to some gypsies. They end up losing their best fighter who has a match coming up and decide to replace him with Mickey (Pitt) the gypsy who knocked him out. Brick Top (Ford) the boxing event organiser and a gangster notorious for feeding people to the pigs, has the event rigged and wants Mickey out in the fourth round. Boris the Bullet Dodger (Serbedzija) sends Franky to Brick Top's bookies to put up a bet for that very boxing match. He sends Sol (James) and Vinny (Gee) behind him to steal the case carrying the diamonds. Avi learns about Boris' scheme and hires Bullet-Tooth Tony (Jones) to go look for the sneaky f****** Russian and retrieve the diamond which now is in his possession. It's one whole big mess which also involves a dog who swallowed half a shoe, a squeaky toy and an 84-carat diamond. Might not be a laugh out loud comedy, but definitely worth a watch, if not two.

Thumbs up: Everything
Thumbs down: Nothing

Rating: 8.4/10

Bad Boys (1995)

Genre: Action/Crime/Comedy

Starring: Will Smith, Martin Lawrence, Tea Leoni

Mike (Smith) and Marcus (Lawrence) are police officers working in the narcotics division of the Miami Police Department. A load of confiscated heroin from the police quarters get stolen and Mike and Marcus are assigned the case to bring it back. Julie (Leoni) is a police witness who sees the thieves that stole the dope, murder her best friend. To save her life, she is put into protective custody with Marcus. A case of switched identity is the highlight of the entire movie and adds to the comical factor. The focus is little on crime and more about the stupid antics of the cop duo. There really isn't too much in the movie to watch out for. Will Smith and Martin Lawrence make a good pair, and their stupid black humour is probably the only to thing to watch in the movie. Tea Leoni though, looks gorgeous, and considering the fact that the movie is over fifteen years old, its not a big surprise.

Rating: 6.6/10

Igor (2008)

Genre: Animation/Comedy/Fantasy/Science-fiction

Starring (voice): John Cusack, Jay Leno, John Cleese, Eddie Izzard

In the peaceful and prosperous town of Malaria, everything is well until a dramatic climate change alters citizens' life for over. King Malbert (Leno) announces an annual competition, where scientists can make evil inventions of mass destruction and the most destructive of all will be pronounced the winner. This was to be one of his ways of improving the economy. Any person who has some kind of deformity, is made to become an Igor. They are to be slaves and perceived as someone stupid and lacking intelligence. A certain Igor (Cusack) serving Dr. Glickenstein (Cleese) is quite smart, and when an experiment kills his master, he takes over his masters dream of making the most destructive monster. Being an animation movie, it is supposed to appeal to young kids. However, even my nine-year-old brother gave up just half way through. The movie doesn't incorporate any comical elements and becomes plain boring. Animation and special effects are up to the mark, but don't really help in making the movie any more appealing. Igor's sidekicks, Scamper, the immortal bunny and Brain, are the only characters that actually try to make you laugh.

Rating: 5.5/10

Valkyrie (2008)

Genre: War/Crime/Drama

Starring: Tom Cruise, Bill Nighy, Kenneth Branagh, Tom Wilkinson

Adolf Hitler, the dictator of Germany aka The Third Reich, bringer of the second world war. He strived hard to give Germany something it had never had before. Nobody doubted his love for his country, what they doubted were the means he was using to achieve his vision. Valkyrie narrates the failed attempt at Hitlers life. Apart from just re-telling the assassination, it brings out the point that even within high-ranking officials within the Nazi Party, many would rather see him dead, not to bring power in their own hands, rather to rid Germany of Hitler altogether. Colonel Stauffenberg (Cruise) is said to have headed the 15th known attempted at Hitler's life along with General Olbricht (Nighy) and a host of other top-ranking Nazi generals and officers. The only focus throughout the movie is on the assassination, and there are no unwanted side-stories to fill in time. The only flaw in this movie that one can remove is the multi-national star cast, whose fluent English in strong American and British accents, do not give a 'German' feel to the movie. More use of the German language with a German star cast, playing lead roles would probably have helped the movie a lot.

Rating: 8.1/10

Gulaal (2009)

Genre: Crime/Drama

Starring: Kay Kay Menon, Ayesha Mohan, Raj Singh Chaudhary, Abhimanyu Singh, Aditya Srivastava, Jesse Randhawa

Dirty politics. Dirty, stinking politics. Dirty, stinking, rotten politics. Dileep (Chaudhary) an innocent young man, comes to Jodhpur to further his education. He gets ragged by Jadwal and his goons along with his lecturer Anuja (Randhawa). Dileep's roommate Ransa (Singh) makes him retaliate against them but of no avail. Dukey Bana (Menon) a powerful local figure and revolutionist, wants a free Rajputana and wants to go against the very idea of democracy. Dukey Bana intervenes the battle and offers Ransa to stand for the college General Secretary's post. Against Ransa, Kiran (Mohan) fights for the same seat. With Ransa appearing as the apparent winner, Karan (Srivastava) Kiran's brother and Ransa's illegitimate brother kills Ransa. Dileep is made to replace Ransa and becomes General Secretary. Dileep is still new to the idea of politics, and gets mislead along the way, causing him to take some unpopular decisions and tie alliances with people whom Dukey Bana doesn't approve of. The movie has an interesting soundtrack and the lyrics if closely listened to, offer a lot meaning and maybe even a laugh or two. The characters in the movie did justice to their roles which seems to come from within. The lack of any big star presence in the movie did not become its weak point. The movie rightfully portrays each and every persons own hunger and greed for money and power. Anurag Kashyap also does away with gory and bloody scenes, that his earlier movie Black Friday was criticised of. Perhaps if it wasn't for a few over-dramatised scenes, the movie would've been a more pleasant watch.

Rating: 7.7/10

His Girl Friday (1940)

Genre: Drama/Comedy

Starring: Cary Grant, Rosalind Russell, Ralph Bellamy

The movie portrays the environment prevailing in the journalism and newspaper industry during World War II. Newspaper editors would go to any length to create news and to keep it from falling in the hands of rivals. Walter Burns (Grant) is the editor of The Morning Post. Hildy (Russell) is an ex-journalist at The Morning Post and Walters ex-wife. One day when Hildy pays a visit to Walter to announce her wedding to Bruce (Bellamy) Walter smooth-talks Hildy to come back and interview a convict about to be hanged as one last task for the paper before she resigns for good. Hildy on the other, knows every trick in the book and knows exactly what is going on behind Walters mind. The convict however, manages to escape after the interview and causes a whole lot of confusion for the police, the mayor and the journalists. Cary Grant does a brilliant piece of acting, typical of a classic American actor. He is probably the only reason the movie dosen't feel like one big drag. The movie did create box office ripples when it was released, but unlike other classics, doesn't appeal to audiences of today. The movie has a lot of dialogues over lapping each other, characters talking fast-paced and before the other person finishes, giving a very life-like feel and journalist feel. Although the movie is classified as a comedy, it hardly makes you smile and the jokes would not actually make sense to people of today, as they are direct insults of the events happening during the war.

Rating: 5.0/10

The Deadly Affair (1966)

Genre: Crime/Mystery/Drama

Starring: James Mason, Simone Signoret, Harry Andrews, Harriet Andersson, Maxmillian Schell

Samuel Fennan works for the British Foreign Office and is recently promoted. Him and his wife Elsa's (Signoret) past connections with communism lead many of his superiors to believe that he might be stealing confidential information which he now has access to. Charles Dobbs (Mason) a Secret Service Agent is asked to interview him and to learn more about his past connections. Later that night when Fennan is found dead, police label the death as suicide, but Dobbs is not convinced. Along with Inspector Mendel (Andrews) they get cracking on the case to find what the real truth is. Mason meanwhile, is facing family problems with his wife Ann (Andersson) who has is a perpetual sex addict and has fallen in love with Charles' friend Dieter (Schell). The problem with crime and mystery movies is that one has to wait till the very end to learn the outcome of the entire mystery. Many a times when the twist falls flat on its face, it feels like a waste of precious energy and time. This movie turns out to be no different. The investigation does not create enough suspense and the final verdict makes you raise an eyebrow and you ask yourself, "That's it?" That pretty much sums up the movie's capability. A definite no-show.

Rating: 5.6/10

Into the Wild (2007)

Genre: Drama/Adventure

Starring: Emile Hirsch, Catherine Keener, Jena Malone, Vince Vaughn, Hal Halbrook, Marcia Gay Harden, William Hurt, Brian Dierker

Why do we have to work? To earn money. Why do we need money? To live a luxurious life. Why do we need a luxurious life? To keep ourselves happy. Does happiness necessarily come from money? To get out of this vicious circle of life, Chris McCandless aka Alexander Supertramp (Hirsch) leaves his family after graduation to live a life of his own. A life he had dreamed of, an adventure. Career, money, job, that's all in the mind and is something which we are forced to do and not do it by choice, is what Chris says. Travelling down the Grand Canyon, living with gypsies, harvesting crop on a farm, he lead his life the way he wished. His final choice was to go to Alaska and come back and write a book about all his adventures. The movie is slow but is not unexciting as it may sound. There is a lot of narration by Chris' sister Carine (Malone) who remembers her brother and Chris himself on life and how we should find happiness elsewhere. One needs to look deep if any meaning is to be understood from the movie. It is something that may not appeal to a wide audience, but yet a highly recommended watch. You need to give the movie time before you can appreciate it. A tragic and touching end. Based on a true story.

Rating: 7.5/10

Quick Gun Murugun (2009)

Genre: Action/Comedy/Spoof

Starring: Dr. Rajendraprasad, Nasser, Raju Sundaram, Rambha

Many a times one watches a movie with certain ambitions and expectations, and most of the time these expectations are not met. Not necessarily in a negative manner. Shri Quick Gun Murugun (Rajendraprasad) is the Indian cowboy, protector of cows and against non-vegetarianism. He has to battle Rice Plate Reddy (Nasser) the local villain, who is converting all vegetarian restaurants to non-veg. In the epic battle, Quick Gun is killed. That, is something that defies the law of movie-making in India and cannot happen. Hence 25 years later, he is 'returned to sender' to avenge his death. Rice Plate meanwhile, has been setting up non-veg dosa restaurants around the world named McDosa, and is looking for the perfect dosa making recipe. He wants mothers love in his dosa recepie, and kidnaps Murugun's brothers wife. Mango Dolly (Rambha) is Reddy's mistress and falls in love with our super-hero and helps rescue his sister-in-law, and helps him fight his battle. The movie leaves you in laughs, be it Rowdy MBA's (Sundaram) background score that goes 'Yem Bi Yay, Yem Bi Yay' or Quick Gun's gun wielding antics which are direct spoof of Rajnikant. Unlike a conventional Bollywood movie, you dont have unwanted songs every 10 minutes, not even stupidly funny ones. Mika Singh's soundtrack is catchy and fits the bill perfectly. The movie is short and simple and dosen't have any unnecessary trash that eats up your head, as if the movie script wasn't enough to do that. Had the movie been any longer it would have been a useless and unnecessary drag. If anyone can find the 'Coconut Tree Climbing Institute (Recognised) also teaching palm tree and betelnut tree climbing (Diploma)' should let me know. I would love to sign up. Watch it, I say.

Rating: 7.6/10

Atonement (2007)

Genre: Drama/War/Romance

Starring: Kiere Knightley, James McAvoy, Saoirse Ronan

Love is something which no one can ever understand until experienced. It is said that it never comes twice, and when it does, it is very hard to forget. Detachment from your lover is perhaps the worst thing that can ever happen to someone. Briony (Ronan) a young 13 year old, lives with her sister, brother and mother, in a rich countryside mansion in England. Her sister Cecilia (Knightley) shares a unique relationship with the gardener Robbie (McAvoy) with whom she has studied and been with since childhood. A string of events witnessed by Briony mixed with hasty conclusions and immaturity, leads her to believe that Robbie is a sex maniac and wrongly accuses him of rape. Just as Robbie and Cecilia's love is about to bloom, Robbie is taken away from the mansion and put behind bars. 5 years later, Briony realises her mistake and wants to atone her sins. Robbie and Cecilia cant seem to put their love behind them and with every passing day, life only gets worse. The movie's background score was something unique and catchy. Normal sounds like a typewriter, hammer hitting a car, water dripping etc. evolve and form a part of the movies background score which sounds quite amazing. Watching the movie would perhaps be the best way to describe its finesse and charm. I don't want words to ruin it. Based on Ian McEwan's novel with the same name.

Rating: 7.6/10

G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra (2009)

Genre: Science-fiction/Action/Adventure

Starring: Cristopher Eccelstone, Sienna Miller, Channing Tatum, Marlon Wayans, Dennis Quaid

There's something about science-fiction movies about the extent to which one can imagine or accept it. The Matrix was unimaginable but yet acceptable. At times, a movie comes by which is imaginable but yet highly unacceptable. Duke (Tatum) and Ripcord (Wayans) are NATO officials who have been authorised to protect and transport a newly developed bio-weapon. The weapon on its way is attacked upon and an attempt to steal it is made, only to be foiled by the G.I. Joe team, a special undercover unit consisting of the best army men the world has. A second attempt at stealing it is successful, and newly incorporated unit members Duke and Ripcord have to bring it back and prevent it from being used on the world, and give McCulllum (Ecceslstone) the creator of this weapon, world supremacy. When it comes to 'victory of good over bad' movies, one does not look for what the story is, or rather how it's done. The story is highly cliched and offers nothing new. Modern and high-tech gadgets, evil scientists with perfect-figured babes, destruction of the world and on and on. The movie did however provide good amount of metal clunking action, under, over and on land. Seems more fit for a video game story.

Rating: 6.6/10

Conspiracy Theory (1997)

Genre: Romance/Action/Drama/Mystery

Starring: Julia Roberts, Mel Gibson

Considering the amount of dialogues Mel Gibson has to say in this movie, it must have cost us one whole forest to produce the paper used for making the script. Jerry Fletcher (Gibson) has partial mental instability and keeps cooking up 'Conspiracy Theories' from aliens invading earth to NASA hatching a plot to kill the president. But somehow one of his very theories turn out to be true and the only person he trusts is the very person he stalks. Alice Sutton (Roberts) who works in the U.S Justice Department, gets involved with Jerry's insane lifestyle and cant seem to get out of it. One day Jerry gets kidnapped and undergoes mentally torture and in a fit of rage attacks everyone around him and escapes. Very soon the FBI, CIA and every other crime enforcement agency is on his tail. Alice later learns that long ago in the '70's, the government undertook a project wherein they would brain wash innocent people and convert them into hardened assassins. Jerry Fletcher was one of them and it is believed that he murdered Alice's father. Jerry keeps having memory flashes and wants to retrace his past. The movie has an extremely similar story line to the Bourne movies, only difference being is that the entire story is being compressed into one solid movie here. Mel Gibson talks a lot, does a good piece of acting of being a paranoid, but is highly irritating and at times seems to overdo things a bit.

Rating: 6.3/10

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009)

Genre: Fantasy/Adventure/Thriller

Starring: Danielle Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, Michael Gambon

Harry (Radcliffe), Ron (Grint) and Hermione (Watson) are starting their sixth year at Hogwarts. With Voldemorts Death Eaters at large, there is no safer place than Hogwarts, under the very person who Voldemort fears, Albus Dumbledore (Gambon). Dumbledore is not wasting his time and is out trying to search for any leads that would tell Harry and him more about their enemy. Their adventures through memory-lane bring up some frightening discoveries that even astounds the great headmaster. Lord Voldemort, has created Horcruxes by splitting his soul and embedding it in seven different objects. Dumbledore and Harry must destroy them all if they are ever to defeat their enemy. This movie only encompasses the finding of one of the seven Horcruxes. The movie, on a whole, is a big disappointment when compared to other fantasy movies such as The Lord of the Rings. The movie simply takes up excerpts from the main plot of the book and puts it together, which leaves out many essential details while incorporating certain unwanted ones. The movie doesn't show the straining relationship between Dumbledore and Harry and how being 'the chosen one' starts frustrating him. Apart from just re-telling the story in a video format, the movie could have been much better had it tried creating enough drama and suspense, which it simply failed to do. Special effects and movie locations are indeed beautiful and something which we have all seen in the previous movies.

Rating: 7.4/10

What Women Want (2000)

Genre: Drama/Romance/Comedy

Starring: Helen Hunt, Mel Gibson

Nick Marshall (Gibson) is an egoistic, chauvinistic and a very attractive advertising executive. His boss decides to hire Darcy McGuire (Hunt) for the very post that he was vying for. After a freak accident he obtains a super-power; the ability to hear what woman think. With this power he manages to read Darcy's mind and uses her ideas as his own and wins back his bosses confidence. But somewhere down the line he realises he's fallen in love with Darcy and repents doing whatever he did. In the end he confesses the truth to her and finally feels he has found his true love and his powers disappear. A very typical romance movie which except for the mind-reading bit has nothing different to offer.

Rating: 6.0/10

The Kite Runner (2007)

Genre: Drama

Starring: Khalid Abdalla, Atossa Leoni, Zekeria Ebrahimi, Ahmad Khan Mahmoodzada, Homayoun Ershadi, Shaun Toub


Based on Khaled Hosseni's book with the same title, the movie narrates the story of two friends Amir (Ebrahimi) and Hassan (Mahmoodzada) living in Kabul, Afghanistan. Amir is the son of a rich man, Agha Sahib (Ershadi) and Hassan is the son of a servant whose family has been working in that very house since ages. The two boys get along with each other like bread and butter and love flying kites. Hassan loves his friend and would readily do anything for him, which eventually makes Amir frustrated with his incapacity to stand up for himself. To satisfy himself, he frames Hassan for theft and gets him fired. When the Soviet invades Afghanistan, Amir and his father escape to Pakistan leaving the house in care of his fathers friend Rahim Khan (Toub). Fast forward to America, 2000. Amir (Abdalla) marries Soraya (Leoni) is leading a normal American life. Soon after his fathers death, Rahim Khan one day calls him and requests him to come to Pakistan. Rahim Khan reveals that Hassan is Agha Sahib's illegitimate son. The Taliban have killed Hassan and he must go back to Kabul and bring back Hassan's son Sohrab and raise him as his own. A very touching and emotional tale which showing a different side of friendship. A true friend is someone who will stand by you, no matter what and will do anything for you, even if it means giving up ones life.

Rating: 8.1/10