Boys Dont Cry (1999)

Genre: Crime/Drama/Romance/Biography

Starring: Hilary Swank, Chloe Sevigny, Peter Sarsgaard, Brendan Sexton III, Alicia Goranson, Jeannetta Arnette

A young girl, Teena Brandon (Swank) has a sexual identity crisis and although she has all the sexual organs of a female, she behaves like a boy and is attracted to women. She flirts with Candace (Goranson) a woman she meets at a bar and later gets acquainted to Candace's sister, Lana (Sevigny). Teena is attracted to Lana and flirts with her and the duo eventually fall in love. John (Sarsgaard) and Tom (Sexton III) are friends of Lana and Lana's mother (Arnette) all of whom regularly go out for a night of revelry. Teena manages to gel well with the family, Tom and John and feels that she is leading a whole new life. Teena has a shady background and is wanted back home for stealing cars. Her legal summons come back to haunt her and its not long that her true sexual identity starts coming out for everyone to see. The most outstanding feature of this movie are the performances, especially that of Hilary Swank. Being able to carry such a difficult role with such finesse gave her the Oscar she truly deserved. Other supporting performances of Sarsgaard and Sevigny added positively to the movie and made it a better watch. The only downside in the movie are the middle forty-five minutes which get a bit slow and boring, but it give it some time and it would throw up a fabulous climax. The movie is a critics delight but an average audiences nightmare.

Thumbs up: Hilary Swank and other performances

Thumbs down: It has its own slow and boring moments

Rating: 7.2/10

Little Fockers (2010)

Genre: Comedy/Drama

Starring: Ben Stiller, Robert De Niro, Owen Wilson, Dustin Hoffman, Barbara Streisand, Blythe Danner, Teri Polo, Jessica Alba

The third installment of the comic epic continues to narrate the life and lies of Greg aka Gaylord Focker (Stiller) and his father-in-law Jack Byrnes (De Niro). Gay is happily married to Jack's daughter Pam (Polo) but Jack continuously interferes with Gay's family life and tries to dictate terms on family management and parenting. Jack fears that his death clock is ticking and his time is coming. He wants someone to continue the Byrne family history in the same manner in which it was held high for so many centuries. In order to do this, Gay must fulfill Jack's standards and Jack only keeps on dictating and judging Gay's moves. Meanwhile, a drug sales agent, Andi Garcia (Alba) is trying to convince Gay to become the spokesperson for the drug to get a higher salary. Unknown to him, his and Andi's meetings have been interpreted wrongly by Jack who thinks his family needs a 'course correction'. The first thing anyone would notice is that the movie has unnecessarily pulled ahead the previous movies storyline thinking that the audience would still enjoy it. Sadly, the first half of the movie is a complete waste and its only right towards the end that the humour seems to get a bit better but not altogether amazing. If you enjoyed the first two movies, this one would never live up to your expectations. Stiller and De Niro could have done much better.

Thumbs up: Different humour which had scope for improvement but only towards the end

Thumbs down: Tries to bask in the glory of the previous movies

Rating: 5.8/10

Hotel Rwanda (2004)

Genre: Biography/Drama/Crime/History/War

Starring: Don Cheadle, Sophie Okonedo, Nick Nolte, Desmond Dube

The 1994 genocide of Rwanda rocked the world where close to 1 million people were brutally killed and murdered. The people of Rwanda and divided in two tribes, Hutu and Tutsi. A rebellion breaks out in the African country after the murder of the Rwandan President and Hutu soldiers scamper across the streets hunting down and killing Tutsi civilians. Paul Rusesabagina (Cheadle) is the manager of the super-luxurious hotel, des Milles Collines. He flatters and bribes influential people by serving them good alcohol in hopes to get associated with them and who could be of use to him during difficult times. Paul is Hutu whereas his wife Tatiana (Okonedo) is Tutsi. He manages to placate the soldiers that come on his doorstep by bribing them and gets his family and neighbours to the hotel. He struggles to take in as many refugees as he can, to ensure their security, to keep the hotel running equivalent to its standards, to look after the safety of his family and be the strength of each and every person who has come to him for help. The movie can be said to be the African Schindler's List and has more or less a similar plot. Don Cheadle has put on a fine piece of acting which makes the movie a classy watch. Brilliant depiction of the genocide which brings out the misery in which so many people are living and how unconcerned the west is to peoples misery. Deserves a five-star applause.

Thumbs up: Fabulous performances

Thumbs down: Could have had better plot execution

Rating: 8.2/10

Aashayein (2010)

Genre: Drama

Starring: John Abraham, Farida Jalal, Anaitha Nair, Sonal Sehgal, Ashwin Chitale, Girish Karnad

The story of a chain smoker, Rahul (Abraham) who gets lung cancer due to his smoking habits. He has just 3 months to live and decides to make full use of it. He spends his money left, right and center and believes that since he is a dying man, he is entitled to everything, this attitude and ego get into the way between him and his girlfriend, Nafisa (Sehgal). He learns about a special retreat for dying patients where they can spend the last few days of their life being happy before withering away and decides to relocate there. He meets a whole lot of people at the retreat, including a prostitute, Manju (Jalal) who gained AIDS and is shunned by all the patients, Padma (Nair) a loud-mouthed and rude cancer patient and Govinda (Chitale) a young boy whom people proclaim have super-natural powers. The movie at first sight seems slow, which it is, but give it time and it improves greatly. Each and every performance in the movie is exceptional, big or small, especially John Abraham, Anaitha Nair and Ashwin Chitale, who instead of being overshadowed by the popular image of Abraham, have managed to keep up and support his character throughout. It's a lovely movie and probably many smokers might get an urge to drop the habit right away. The flaw, within the first 10 minutes the rest of the plot becomes predictable but that doesn't make the movie a less enjoyable watch. Is capable of bringing forth a tear even from the cold-hearted.

Thumbs up: Performances of lesser known cast

Thumbs down: First half, predictable plot

Rating: 7.0/10

Saturday Night Fever (1977)

Genre: Drama/Romance/Musical

Starring: John Travolta, Karen Lynn Gorney, Barry Miller, Joseph Cali, Paul Pape, Donna Pescow

The life of a typical American youth. Work and earn money throughout the week and blow it all away on a Saturday night party with women and alcohol. Tony Manero (Travolta) lived the exact same life and was proud of it. He and his bunch of friends went around the city like Casanova's and spent the entire night away at the nightclub. Tony loved to dance and he was the hottest and most dashing young man who burnt the dance floor. Woman craved for him and he loved the attention he got. The club hosts an annual dance competition and Tony along with his partner Annette (Pescow) were last years winner. Annette was head over heals for Tony and would do anything to get his attention and go to bed with him. Tony, however, was eyeing the new girl Stephanie (Gorney) whom he believes is as good a dancer as he is. Most of the movie reflects about the aimless and ambition-less youth for whom sex and money is everything. The movie has some very amazing 70's dance moves and John Travolta fits the role superbly. The movie might appeal to someone who loves music and dance and they might just pick up some really smooth moves too, but apart from that the movie is a now show. Somewhere during the middle the movie gets slow and boring but steadily picks up pace towards the end. Avoidable unless you want to pick up some dance steps or recall your youthful days of the 70's.

Thumbs up: The smashing John Travolta

Thumbs down: May not appeal to all

Rating: 6.8/10

The Last Airbender (3D) (2010)

Genre: Fantasy/Action/Adventure

Starring: Noah Ringer, Dev Patel, Nicola Peltz, Shaun Toub, Jackson Rathbone, Aasif Mandvi, Cliff Curtis

Why? Is the question that immediately pops into ones mind right after the movie gets over.Why did M. Night Shyamalan even try to create a movie on such a horrible plot? Why did Dev Patel ruin a promising career by attempting such a lame role? There existed four kingdoms on Earth, each belonging to one of the natural elements i.e. Earth, Fire, Water and Air. Each community had Benders, people with power to control their birth element. There was one supreme power, called the Avatar, who could bend all the elements and who maintained balance on Earth. The Avatar goes missing for a hundred years, leaving the Earth in jeopardy. Fire Lord Ozai (Curtis) uses his advanced technology to invade and destroy the remaining kingdoms in order to gain control over Earth. Prince Zuko (Patel) his incapable son, is sent to exile and can only be heir to the throne if he manages to find and capture the Avatar. Katara (Peltz) and her brother Sokka (Rathbone) who belong to the water tribe, find the Avatar and rescue him. The Avatar has not completed his training and must learn how to bend the other elements if he has to restore order on Earth and put an end to the Fire Lord's dominance. The movie actually doesn't have as bad a plot as it seems like, its just that the execution was bad which failed to bring out the true essence of the movie. The dialogues were outright horrible and performances were poor. 3D seemed to be a forced addition so its no worry if you watch it in 2D (if that saves some money then even better). In spite of having a known star cast of Dev Patel, Cliff Curtis and Shaun Toub, their presence failed to do any good to the movie. Pure waste.

Thumbs up: If i try very hard, some action sequences and special effects to an extent

Thumbs down: Cast, plot, dialogues, performances, what am i missing out on?

Rating: 4.9/10

Garfield (2004)

Genre: Animation/Comedy/Drama/Adventure

Starring: Breckin Meyer, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Stephen Tobolowsky, Bill Murray (voice)

The famous lazy, fat cat from the comic strip gets featured on the big screen. Garfield (Murray) loves getting pampered by his owner, Jon (Meyer) and loves bullying all the other pets in the neighbourhood. Sadly, the Garfield on reel is not the same like it is on paper. Jon has a crush on the vet, Liz (Hewitt) whom he has known since high school. On her request he agrees to adopt a dog, Odie, whom Liz says would not survive if he doesn't get proper love and hospitality. Garfield gets jealous of Odie and is jealous of all the attention he is getting. He throws Odie out of the house, who gets lost in the city. A famous pet show anchor, Happy Chapman (Tobolowsky) is looking for a new fresh face for his new show. He loves Odie and his amazing dance moves and decides to get hold of Odie before Jon does. The movie is a huge let down to many of the hardcore Garfield fans who were expecting much more. The plot is very typical for a movie based on pets and the names Garfield and Odie were just seem to have been added to create more hype. The movie doesn't have the kind of character and fun that the comic strips had and one would have wished to see more of the typical Garfield insults and attitude. However, it is made to appeal to an 8-year-old and it might just.

Thumbs up: Would appeal to its target audience i.e. kids

Thumbs down: Cliched plot, lacks Garfield attitude and character

Rating: 5.9/10

The Proposal (2009)

Genre: Comedy/Drama/Romance

Starring: Sandra Bullock, Ryan Reynolds, Mary Steenburgen, Craig T. Nelson, Betty White

A workaholic and bossy editor of a New York publishing house is getting deported back to Canada because her visa has expired and a renewal has been refused. Margaret (Bullock) is the typically cold, inhuman and emotionless boss whose mere sight sends all the employees into hiding. Andrew (Reynolds) is her faithful assistant who has been with her for 3 years. It's not because he is the only man on the planet who appreciates her, but because he hopes his hard would promote him to editor one day. Margaret does not want her career tarnished because of her rejected visa and decides to blackmail Andrew into marrying her. Andrew does not want to see three years go down the drain and the editors seat is much too valuable for him to decline. The immigration officer smells a rat and schedules a session where each of them would be questioned about their partners likes and dislikes. Andrew hails from Alaska and his grandmother, Gammy (White) is celebrating her 90th birthday. The two of them decide to go to Alaska and break the news to Andrew's parents. With the interview date coming close, the two of them need to learn more about each other if they both want their respective jobs. It's not easy to get familiar with your heartless boss, least of all fall in love with her; or is it? The entire movie's story flashes in your mind after the first 10 minutes and you know exactly what your in for. Despite such a cliched and predictable plot, the movie still manages to lighten up your mood with a big broad smile plastered on your face for most of the duration. It has a good and decent mix of everything and if only there was a nice twist in the end, the movie would have been time well-spent.

Thumbs up: Nice humour and a nice fun watch

Thumbs down: Predictable plot

Rating: 6.8/10

The Godfather: Part II (1974)

Genre: Crime/Drama/Thriller

Starring: Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Robert Duvall, Diane Keaton, John Cazale, Lee Strasberg, Michael V. Gazzo

The movie runs two parallel stories, one on Michael Corleone (Pacino) and the other on his father Vito (De Niro) and his entry into the mafia world. After the death of his father and brother, Michael Corleone is now heading the Corleone family business. Frank Pentangeli (Gazzo) who took over Peter Clamenza's territory after his death, is facing some problems with the Rosato Brothers. The Rosato Brothers are backed by Hyman Roth (Starsberg) a Jew who has had good relations with the Corleone family in the past. Michael realises that by interfering, he might lose the trust of Roth, something which he cannot afford to do. After a failed assassination attempt at his life, Michael suspects either the hand of Pentangeli or Roth behind the assassination. The life of his wife and kids are at stake and he needs to do something to ensure his security. The movie goes occasionally back in time to show the upbringing of Vito Corleone and his entry into America. Vito grew up in a neighbourhood where local landlords extorted money from people in order to allow them to run business. Vito saw that many people were regularly harassed by them and decided to put an end to the peoples misery and landlords control. Their end saw the beginning of the Corleone family. From a personal stand point, the second movie feels and looks much better than the previous one. Although it is obscenely long, it still manages to hold the audience attention together and uncovers the dirty happenings of the mafia lords. Performances are by far the best ever with Al Pacino proclaiming himself king of crime movies. The movie expects you to pay close attention to the regular occurrences in the plot and if you lose sync, you might just lose the entire focus of the movie. A compulsory watch if gangsters and henchmen are what your looking for.

Thumbs up: Great plot, fantastic performances. Al Pacino at his best

Thumbs down: Michael Corleone will shoot you down if you try to think about this one.

Rating: 8.8/10

Resurrecting the Champ (2007)

Genre: Sport/Drama/Biography

Starring: Samuel L. Jackson, Josh Hartnett, Kathryn Moss, Dakota Goyo

A sports journalist with the Denver Times, Erik Kernan Jr. (Hartnett) is finding it difficult to form a name for himself in the industry. Being the son of a famous radio anchor, he finds it hard to live up to his fathers name and is afraid to lose his job. He comes across a homeless person on the street who calls himself Champ (Jackson) and claims to be a professional boxer. On further probing, Champ reveals to Erik that he is Chicago City's Golden Gloves 147-pound champion, Bob Satterfield. Erik sees this as a big opportunity to write an article of how a once famous boxer has ended up on the streets. The movie is based on a true life incident which many people still claim to be different from what was projected in the movie. Samuel L. Jackson puts on a fantastic performance, something which is expected out of such a role. Yet, the movie is unable to bring out the true essence that it tried to. The Soloist did a far better job to show case a similar plot 2 years later. A decent movie but it somehow doesn't have any element that you would end up remembering for a long time after watching the movie.

Thumbs up: Good story

Thumbs down: Bad plot execution, lacks feel

Rating: 6.4/10

Disturbia (2007)

Genre: Drama/Thriller/Mystery/Romance

Starring: Shia LaBeouf, Sarah Roemer, Carrie-Anne Moss, David Morse, Aaron Yoo

A teenage boy, Kale (LaBeouf) goes under house arrest for assaulting his Spanish professor. With nothing very productive to do, he starts spying on his neighbours from his bedroom window. His spying activities start to become very interesting when he spends most of his time ogling at his hot new neighbour Ashley (Roemer). He also learns that a couple of kids in the neighbourhood are secretly watching porn and that his neighbour, Mr. Turner (Morse) might be hiding something in his garage that he is not supposed to. Kale and Ashley become good friends and he tells her about Mr. Turner and his suspicious movements. Along with Kale's best friend Ronnie (Yoo), the three of them start digging deeper to find out if there indeed is something to hide or not. The saddest part about the entire movie was the constant shift of focus from being a murder mystery to a teenage romance. For a mystery movie too, there aren't any kind of twists or constant new developments with little focus on the investigation of the mystery. The movie does do a decent job in giving you thrills and chills, but that's about it.

Thumbs up: Decent thriller with a good story

Thumbs down: Bad plot execution and doesn't live up to being a murder mystery

Rating: 6.4/10

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)

Genre: Drama/Romance/Science-fiction/Mystery

Starring: Jim Carrey, Kate Winslet, Elijah Wood, Mark Ruffalo, Kirsten Dunst, Tom Wilkinson

Joel (Carrey) is a man who is upset with life. One fine day he decides to break free from his regular routine and goes to a completely unknown location. He meets Clementine (Winslet) a girl wearing a shocking orange sweatshirt with electric blue hair. Somehow they both think they know each other and become the best of friends right from the very beginning. Just when Joel thought his life got any better, he was in for a rude shock. Dr. Howard (Wilkinson) is a man who erases memories for people so there life becomes better. Memories that are unpleasant or if your finding it very hard to get over your ex-partner, Dr. Howard can help you out. Clementine Kruczynski has erased Joel Barish from her memory. This is one of those movies where one would enjoy the most if you stop reading reviews. The first half of the movie is a big huge mess with things just happening left, right and centre which would make you wonder why you are watching the movie at all. The reason why many people don't like the movie is because realisation hits them late. The level to which someone would appreciate such a piece of art is determined by his/her timely understanding of the plot  Trust me, once you do, the movie seems like bliss; never-ending and utterly enjoyable bliss. Jim Carrey, for a change, is not the stupid psycho that we are so used to seeing and for once has proven that he too could carry off a sober role with perfection. Kate Winslet looks much too young for her age and along with Carrey, are able to put on one of the most amazing performances. Watch with your girlfriend / boyfriend / husband / wife snuggled up really close to you.

Thumbs up: Fabulous plot and stupendous acting

Thumbs down: A difficult to understand first half

Rating: 8.5/10

Troy (2004)

Genre: Drama/Action/War/Romance

Starring: Brad Pitt, Eric Bana, Orlando Bloom, Brian Cox, Diane Kruger, Peter O'Toole, Rose Byrne, Sean Bean

Troy is a story narrated in the Ilian, an epic poem written by Homer. It narrates the story of the king of Greece, Agamemnon (Cox) whose greed for power sees him capturing various kingdoms around Greece and bringing them under one coalition under his rule. The city of Troy, however, still stands and is the envy of Agamemnon since a long time. The princes of Troy, Paris (Bloom) and Hector (Bana) come to make peace with Agamemnon. Paris falls in love with Helen (Kruger) Agamemnon's brothers wife and takes her back to Troy. This enrages Agamemnon and he announces war on Troy. Achilles (Pitt) is a Greek warrior and hero who defies the rule of Agamemnon. Yet, Achilles and his warriors, known as Myrmidons, are valued and respected and Agamemnon needs them to fight for him. What ensues is a battle between Agamemnon's mighty Greek army and the Trojan's. A war that was fought not for power or land but for the love of one woman. The movie and storyline is very similar to any ancient mythological story, the only difference being that mystical and magical bits from the movie were left out. Action is one part that the movie shines in and displays one of the best sword and shield fight sequences. A smooth easy watch that gets down to the point that doesn't involve too much nonsense.

Thumbs up: Good action

Thumbs down: Slightly lengthy

Rating: 6.9/10

12 Angry Men (1957)

Genre: Drama/Mystery

Starring: Martin Balsam, John Fiedler, Lee J. Cobb, E. G. Marshall, Jack Klugman, Edward Binns, Jack Warden, Henry Fonda, Joseph Sweeney, Ed Begley, George Voskovec, Robert Webber

A young 18-year-old boy has been convicted of murdering his father. He is being tried in court and the jury needs to take the final decision if he should be acquitted or served a death sentence. In order to send him to the chair, the law states that the decision of the jury should be unanimous and if even one juror has a reasonable doubt in his mind, the accused cannot be convicted. The 12 jurors are locked inside a room and given all the time they need to arrive at a conclusion. For 11 jurors the death sentence is but obvious, however, for Juror #8 (Fonda) there is a reasonable doubt in his mind and until that is cleared, a unanimous decision cannot be taken. Within the first 10 minutes when you grab the the essence of the plot, you know your in for a big treat. The greatest marvel of the movie is its simplicity and its closer-to-life replication of an event. The movie carefully includes elements and tiny sub-plots which makes the movie very realistic and practical. Things were made extremely simple and effort was taken on focusing on the most minor points even if it has no relevance to the larger picture. One can actually imagine a jury taking a decision in this fashion and if it weren't as old, it can actually pass of a as hidden camera footage within a jury room. The kind of movie that needs your attention and understanding and one that would leave you overwhelmed right till the end.

Thumbs up: Simple cover, amazing content

Thumbs down: Zilch

Rating: 8.9/10

Me, Myself & Irene (2000)

Genre: Comedy/Drama/Romance/Adventure

Starring: Jim Carrey, Renee Zellweger, Anthony Anderson, Mongo Brownlee, Jerod Mixon, Chris Cooper, Michael Bowman, Richard Jenkins

A simple and down-to-earth cop belonging to the Rhode Island State Police leads a hard life by taking a lot of shit everyday from people around. From an 8-year-old to an 80-year-old, nobody takes Charlie (Carrey) seriously and he doesn't have the guts to stand up for himself. His wife had an affair with a black midget and left him to take care of three super-intelligent black boys. The daily nonsense kept getting bottled inside him when one fine day the volcano erupted.  He developed a rude and violent split personality, caused by Advanced Delusionary Schizophrenia with involuntary Narcissistic rage aka Hank, his other half. One side of his was still the good old Charlie whereas the other side of him is Hank, the man who comes to live when someone throws any kind of nonsense at him. Charlie is asked to escort a prisoner, Irene Waters (Zellweger) to Massena, New York for a hit and run case. When Irene's boyfriend, who runs a shady business and is worried that she might spill the beans on him, tries to kill her, Irene wants Charlie to help her and save her life. Its a cross-country trip with Hank, Charlie and Irene that promises to have you in splits. Its quite obvious that Jim Carrey puts on his ever famous stupid act together to bring out the comedy aspect of this movie. Its only the start and end half an hours that are worth the watch, with the middle part being boring and slow. What truly is exceptional is Charlie's dual personality and the hilarious bit of internal conflict towards the end. The movie has a reasonably good plot, the perfect person for comedy but yet failed to exploit it completely. A nice piece of entertainment that wont disappoint you, provided you can tolerate the Carrey madness.

Thumbs up: Jim Carrey at his best

Thumbs down: Slow and boring during the middle

Rating: 5.6/10

Heist (2001)

Genre: Crime/Drama/Action

Starring: Gene Hackman, Danny DeVito, Delroy Lindo, Sam Rockwell, Rebecca Pidgeon, Ricky Jay

Joe Moore (Hackman) is a smooth-operating criminal mastermind who works with his team of operatives, Bobby (Lindo), Pinky (Jay) and his young wife Fran (Pidgeon). His jobs come from Mickey (DeVito) who tells him what to rob and they split the loot in half. Joe is scared of the heat his operations are creating and wants to quit once and for all. Mickey is not going to let him go so easily and insists they do a 'Swiss' job. To ensure that Joe doesn't walk out on him, he sends his nephew Jimmy (Rockwell) to conduct the heist with them. The job is to loot a Swiss cargo airline carrying tons of gold bars. Joe wants to get even with Mickey for not sharing the loot from the last robbery and is going to use every trick up his sleeve to ensure that happens. The movie is loaded with surprise twists and turns which make it interesting. However, the plot is not supported by the cast, whose performance is mediocre and uninspiring. The entire plot execution itself doesn't make it all that interesting as it should be which brings down an otherwise good movie. Would appeal to someone looking for a good robbery but not its not Oceans Eleven.

Thumbs up: Amazing storyline

Thumbs down: Poor performance and poor plot execution

Rating: 7.1/10

Shrek Forever After (2010)

Genre: Animation/Comedy/Romance/Adventure/Fantasy

Starring (voice): Mike Myers, Cameron Diaz, Eddie Murphy, Antonio Banderas, Walt Dohrn

I personally felt that DreamWorks should not have ventured beyond Shrek 2, something which got proven right with the fourth installment of the series. Shrek (Myers) the big, fat, ugly, green ogre and Fiona (Diaz) are back and this time they have 3 kid ogres too. Parenting starts taking a toll on Shrek and he soon realises that he cant do the things he loved to do. Scaring the villagers, lazing around, taking mud baths, its a long forgotten life. His frustration peaks and he confesses the he would want to go back to the days before he met Fiona and before all of this started. Back during the time when Fiona was still locked in the tower, Rumpelstiltskin (Dohrn) was closing a deal with the king and queen that he would free Fiona if he got their kingdom in exchange. However, Shrek rescued her and the deal never happened. Rumpel, notorious for creating contracts which have tricky fine prints and very difficult exit clauses, approaches Shrek and offers him a day where he could do all that he liked in exchange for one day of his life. Unknown to Shrek, Rumpel took away from Shrek, the day he was born. With Shrek no longer in this world, Fiona would never get rescued and Rumpel would have the entire kingdom to raise havoc. The story sounds interesting, but that's all there is to it. Ask a 12-year-old what he/she understood out of it and an expressionless confused face stares back at you. The story is a little difficult to fully understand on the first instance, especially for children who are their primary audience. The movie does have loads of entertainment but not too much on the lines of humour. We enjoyed watching Donkey (Murphy) and Shrek in the previous movies but the pair loses its fizz in this one. Not bad, but not great either and it would be suicidal to create a fifth part.

Thumbs up: Interesting plot, although slightly unstructured

Thumbs down: Lack of humour

Rating: 6.2/10

X2 (2003)

Genre: Action/Science-fiction/Drama

Starring: Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Halle Berry, Famke Janssen, James Marsden, Anna Paquin, Rebecca Romijn, Brian Cox, Alan Cumming

Continuing from X-Men, Magneto (McKellen) is locked up in an all-plastic prison. Mystique (Romijn) is Magneto's only surviving aide who frees him. William Stryker (Cox) a retired military scientist was largely involved in creating Wolverine (Jackman). Prof Xavier (Stewart) runs a school for mutant children where he teaches them to control their power. Stryker's son once attended Xavier's school but Stryker was not happy with the results. Fed up with mutants, he decides to take the law in his own hands. He builds a replica of Cerebro, the machine which allows the user to communicate with every mutant on the planet. Prof. Xavier is kidnapped and is hypnotised to control Cerebro and destroy all mutants. The X-Men have to come together with Magneto if they wish to save their own lives. The movie is still saving the planet mantra and is not very different from its previous version. Lack of serious action and predictable outcomes are still major flaws with the movie.

Thumbs up: Nice performances and special effects
Thumbs down: Not a very exciting plot

Rating: 6.0/10

The Blind Side (2009)

Genre: Biography/Drama/Sport

Starring: Sandra Bullock, Quinton Aaron, Jae Head, Tim McGraw, Lily Collins, Ray McKinnon

If a homeless black young man is spotted on the streets, many white people would run for cover. Leigh Anne Tuohy (Bullock) took pity on Michael Oher aka Big Mike (Aaron) when she found him walking in the rain on a cold night. One night under the roof of the rich Tuohy family and Michael became a family favourite. Michael goes to a Christian school along with his new siblings SJ (Head) and Collins (Collins). His abnormally large size and athletic skills soon put him on the field. His career in football was almost certain, except for his grades. Leigh Ann and her husband Sean (McGraw) saw to each of Michael's wishes and took all the efforts to make sure his grades were up so that he could continue football. The movie hints on the miserable condition of certain black folks living in the United States and the fear that white people have for them. The movie does a splendid job to bring these emotions out. Amazing performances by Quinton Aaron and Sandra Bullock and she does look absolutely ravishing in the movie. 2009 NFL Draft, Michael Oher gets drafted by the Baltimore Ravens.

Thumbs up: Performances and execution of the plot
Thumbs down: Lets not commit a crime

Rating: 8.6/10

Watchmen (2009)

Genre: Drama/Science-fiction/History/Action/Mystery/Crime

Starring: Malin Akerman, Billy Crudup, Matthew Goode, Jackie Earle Haley, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Patrick Wilson,

In the 1940's, there lived a masked crime fighting team known as the Minutemen. The Minutemen dissolved, which in turn gave birth to the Watchmen. The Watchmen team members each emulated one Minutemen team member. Very soon even the Watchmen were removed from public service following public opposition. The Watchmen altered the course of history including the assassination of Kennedy and the Vietnam War. New York, 1985, a member of Watchmen known as The Comedian aka Edward Blake (Morgan) is murdered. Rorschach aka Walter Kovacs (Haley) learns of the crime and senses a conspiracy to eliminate the Watchmen. He informs all his previous team members including Dr.Manhattan (Crudup), Silk Sceptre II (Akerman) Ozymandias (Goode) and Nite Owl II (Wilson). Dr Manhattan aka Jon Osterman was genetically mutated by a scientific accident to give him supernatural powers like looking in the past and the future. His girlfriend, Silk Sceptre II aka Laurie Jupiter is fed up of his inhuman behaviour and leaves him toand joins Nite Owl II aka Dan Dreiberg. Meanwhile, Rorschach is investigating The Comedian's murder and gets framed for killing a witness and is sent to jail. The alteration of the course of history by the Watchmen has brought the world to the brink of a nuclear World War III between USA and Russia. The Watchmen want to stop it but have no means to do so. The movie is quite complicated from the start, apparent by the text you have just read. Being a super-hero movie, the movie does not show fighting crime but instead shows the psychological pressure and thoughts that such a crime-fighter undergoes. The lack of enough twists, action and an extra long plot don't help in improving the movies appeal. The plot is definitely new and fresh but still misses out on a lot of things which makes in unappealing. It tries to work on the lines of The Dark Knight but sadly does not come even close in doing so.

Thumbs up: Intresting plot and characters
Thumbs down: Too long, lacks interest and good twists

Rating: 6.5/10

Striker (2010)

Genre: Drama/Thriller/Crime/History

Starring: Siddharth Narayan, Aditya Pancholi, Ankur Vikal, Anupam Kher, Padmapriya, Vidya Malwade, Anoop Soni

The story of the underdog and the 1992 Mumbai riots. A young lad Suryakant (Narayan) grew up in Malvani, Mumbai, a north-west suburb of the city. His brother Chandrakant (Soni) was an ace carrom player and he taught his younger brother the tricks of the game. As Surya grew up his carrom playing skills brought him a lot of reputation. Like any other youth, he had ambitions to get big and thus left playing carrom and dreamt of a job in Dubai. His Dubai dream job shattered when the agency shut-shop and his money went in the hands of local goon, Jaleel (Pancholi). Jaleel had heard about his carrom skills and challenged him to play against one of his men. Surya defeated everyone that Jaleel threw at him and Jaleel was highly impressed. Surya's best friend, Zaid (Vikal) was a drug dealer cum police informer. A new commissioner Farooq (Kher) vowed to clean the streets of Mumbai and was on the lookout for Jaleel. Zaid was a close confidant of Jaleel but he wanted to bail out. The riots take place and the once Hindu-Muslim brothers are now thirsty for each others blood. The movie has an amazing plot which it uses quite well, however, it goes a little too far with the carrom-gambling and it seemed a little over-stretched. The end is not all that climaxing with the beginning and middle being much better to absorb. Entire star cast shines with their performance, especially Pancholi and Narayan. May not be to the liking of the typical Hindi-movie audience but definitely worth a watch for the others.

Thumbs up: Fabulous performances, good story
Thumbs down: Boring end, Stretched story

Rating: 7.7/10

X-Men (2000)

Genre: Action/Science-fiction

Starring: Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Famke Janssen, James Marsden, Halle Berry, Anna Paquin, Tyler Mane, Ray Park, Rebecca Romijn

Mankind has always known to evolve and adapt within his environment. Humans are due for another evolution which slowly starts taking place. A handful of people from around the world are experiencing a mutation in their genes which gives them special powers, each person having something different. The mutants are divided in two groups, the more peaceful one headed by Professor Xavier (Stewart) who believes in teaching mutants how to control their power and make it more useful as opposed to another force headed by Magneto (McKellan) who believe in taking a more aggressive stand against normal humans. The US government wishes to impose a new act which would force mutants to come under control. Magneto has developed a device which would convert normal humans into mutants which he wishes to use against the world. Xavier has a new recruit known as Wolverine aka Logan (Jackman) who has an alloy made skeletal system with sharp extended claws. He, along with the other X-Men need to destroy Magneto's device before he can unleash it on the world. The movie's plot is like any other super-hero story of saving the world and doesn't harp of anything new. Yet, in spite of this the movie does a lot to hold interest and makes it worth a watch. The initial few moments are boring and lack interest but the movie finally picks up pace to end at a high note.

Thumbs up: Interesting characters
Thumbs down: Slow and boring beginning

Rating: 6.7/10

Apocalypto (2006)

Genre: Action/Drama/Adventure

Starring: Rudy Youngblood, Dalia Hernandez, Jonathann Brewer, Carlos Emilios Baez, Raoul Trujillo, Gerardo Taracena

Mel Gibson's most hailed movie, Apocalypto narrates the story of a peaceful tribe from the South American Amazon forest. The tribe finds its peace hampered when a Mayan army invades it and ravages the village. Many are kidnapped and the rest are mercilessly killed. Jaguar Paw (Youngblood) is the son of the village chief and is captured by the Mayan's. Before being caught, he hides his pregnant wife Seven (Hernandez) and his young son, Turtles Run (Baez) in a dry well. The Mayan's take them to the heart of their empire, where greed, filth and poverty prevail. The woman are sold as slaves and men are taken for a human sacrifice to placate the disturbed son god. Jaguar Paw is saved from the sacrifice and manages to escape from his captives and makes his way home but not before killing the Mayan Generals son. The Mayan General, Zero Wolf (Trujillo) is enraged and chases Jaguar Paw all the way back to his village along with his soldiers. The sole reason why the movie shines out is due to the real-life feel that it brings out. The characters seem to have been hand-picked from nomadic tribes rather than swank movie studios. The action is very gruesome and gory but perhaps without this the movie might have lost its effect. Make sure your not eating while you watch this else you might just throw up on your screen.

Thumbs up: Fantastic acting, amazing depiction
Thumbs down: Too gory for some

Rating: 8.7/10

Wild Things: Diamonds in the Rough (2005)

Genre: Crime/Myster/Drama/Thriller

Starring: Sarah Laine, Dina Meyer, Sandra McCoy, Linden Ashby, Michael Mantell, Brad Johnson

What is the point in making three movies, near identical to each other? The third installment of Wild Things, is an amalgamation of the earlier two parts to create an equally boring third one. Marie Clifton (Laine) along with her step-father Jay (Johnson) have inherited a pair of priceless diamonds from Marie's deceased mother. They both cant do anything to the diamond until either one of them permits the other to do so or one of them dies. Marie's classmate Elena (McCoy) accuses Jay of rape and sends him to prison. Unkown the Jay, Marie and Elena have hatched the plan together and blackmail Jay to hand over the diamonds to Marie or spend the rest of his life in jail. Detective Morisson (Ashby) and his assistant Kristin (Meyer) dont buy the story and try digging deeper. There is no point in watching the movie if you have seen the previous two stories, however, the movie is not an all together replica with the climax scene being a tad different but not altogether a whole new plot. The movie still oozes of sex with Sarah Laine wearing close to nothing throughout the movie.

Thumbs up: Slightly different plot from previous movies
Thumbs down: Still a long way to go

Rating: 5.5/10

Rann (2010)

Genre: Crime/Drama

Starring: Amitabah Bachchan, Mohnish Behl, Ritesh Deshmukh, Rajat Kapoor, Sudeep, Paresh Rawal

It is common knowledge that the media is the primary source of all our knowledge. News media in particular is one such form where truth prevails and it plays a vital role in shaping our perception. Rann tries to impress on the fact that when politics and media come together, news is artificially created and money is made. Vijay Harshvardhan Malik (Bachchan) is one of the most reputed newsmen in the country and heads the news channel India 24x7. He lives by his morals to serve the people with truthful content and stays away from news manipulation. His channels TRP's are falling and in a desperate bid to improve them, his son Jai (Sudeep) telecasts false news which goes in the favour of politician Mohan Pandey (Rawal) and blames an honest politician for an act of violence which he never did. Vijay is unaware of the authenticity of the news and takes it to be true and supports it. New recruit at India 24x7, Purab Shastri (Deshmukh) smells a rat and his investigations reveal Jai's mischief and the ugly game of politics and money. The movie is very typically Ram Gopal Varma right from the word go and a lot of bits and pieces have been picked up from his previous sensation Sarkar. Amitabh Bachchan talks and does little for majority of the movie, but when he does he proves why he is the god of Hindi cinema. Ritesh Deshmukh sheds his goofy comic role to don a character more suitable for him, whereas Paresh Rawal goes back to the evil politician that he was a decade ago. Fascinating and beautifully entertaining is all I can come up with.

Thumbs up: Performances
Thumbs down: Should have left the twist for the end

Rating: 8.4/10

Coraline (2009)

Genre: Adventure/Fantasy/Animation/Mystery

Starring (voice): Dakota Fanning, Teri Hatcher, John Hodgman, Robert Bailey Jr., Keith David

The name is Coraline (Fanning) and not Caroline. Young Coraline's parents recently moved in to a new town. They write nature articles for a living and are too busy to pay any attention to her. She makes a new friend Whybie (Bailey Jr.) who has a strange black cat (David). She snoops around her new house and comes across a small hidden door. The door leads to a whole new world where her parents love her, where people have buttons for eyes and all her wishes come true. Everyone from her town is there in the other world and are different from their actual self. Whybie's cat too is present and can talk in the other world. The cat warns her that everything is not what it seems like and her other mother (Hatcher) is up to something evil. The movie has a very exciting plot attached to it, which is not only for young children but might appeal to a more mature audience. Unlike other animation movies, the graphics do not try to replicate reality and give it a cartoon-like feel. The suspense is fascinating and it completely absorbs you into it which makes you wish to not let go.

Thumbs up: Great plot, fantastic climax
Thumbs down: The presence of some light humour was missed

Rating: 8.3/10

Ishqiya (2010)

Genre: Crime/Drama/Romance

Starring: Arshad Warsi, Vidya Balan, Naseeruddin Shah

Two casanova Islamic friends Babban (Warsi) and Khalujaan (Shah) wander around north India doing things that usual good-for-nothing people do. Escaping from their creditors, they move from town-to-town and finally end up at Gorakhpur. They wished to escape to Nepal with the help of an old friend, Verma, who unknown to them died in a bomb blast some time back. Krishna (Balan) Verma's wife, provides the duo shelter and takes them in. Babban and Khalujaan fall in love with Krishna and try to win her heart. Krishna, however, wants them to kidnap a rich steel magnate by which the two can pay off their debts and live their life and Krishna can continue hers. Things, however, do not go as planned when Babban and Khalujaan went against each other when it came to Krishna. The movie boasts of a good star cast, Arshad Warsi who has shed his slap-stick comedy character and took on a more serious role. The dialogues are well written and are typical north Indian slang which would make the familiar laugh. The movie sadly does not live up to its expectations with the climax ending on a dead note. Can be watched out of curiosity but don't expect things to go far.

Thumbs up: All performances
Thumbs down: Poor ending

Rating: 6.5/10