Assassins (1995)

Genre: Crime/Action/Drama/Thriller

Starring: Sylvester Stallone, Antonia Banderas, Julianne Moore

Hit men movies are not uncommon to Hollywood and that too having two assassins is not going to make things any different. Robert Rath (Stallone) is an accomplished assassin and is said to be the best in the business. His daily routine is shattered when he discovers that his targets are being stolen by another assassin, Miguel Bain (Banderas). Bain is an over-enthusiastic newcomer to the business and looks up to Rath and has made him his mentor. Rath once had a Russian friend, Nicoli, whom he killed to become the best assassin available, a technique that Bain now wishes to apply. Rath befriends a target Electra (Moore) whom he agreed to team with to defeat Bain for mutual benefit. The movie plot is quite average with predictable results and some scenes make you think, 'Wait, how did that happen again?' The things to watch out for is the entertaining action and Banderas' psychotic performance to an extent. There really is nothing in the movie for any viewer except for raw action sequences with added flavours of Stallone and Banderas fighting it out.

Thumbs up: Entertaining action, Banderas

Thumbs down: Story

Rating: 6.5/10

Another Day in Paradise (1998)

Genre: Crime/Drama

Starring: James Woods, Melanie Griffith, Vincent Kartheiser, Natasha Gregson Wagner

A small time crook, Bobbie (Kartheiser), mugged people and broke into slot machines to get money for his daily dose of dope for him and his girlfriend Rosie (Wagner). Not even of age yet, the two are complete junkies and are a waste in life. Mel (Woods), a more accomplished criminal, discovers Bobbie and decides to introduce him to bigger loots, and along with his live-in girlfriend Sid (Griffith), start to train him. Life is good, money is good and everyone is having a good time when suddenly things start to get very ugly and the 'kids' Bobbie and Rosie start to realise that this might not be what they actually wanted in life. Near death experiences, differences, fights all start eating into their lives and what seemed to be gold on the outside turned out to be ugly rotten filth on the inside. The movie starts on a decently high note but development is slow, boring, predictable and not all that entertaining. Performances are mediocre and there are far better movies on speed-junkies and crime that the world has seen.

Thumbs up: Good start

Thumbs down: Bad plot development, boring and predictable

Rating: 6.2/10

Cars 2 (2011)

Genre: Action/Adventure/Animation/Comedy/Sports/Drama

Starring (voice): Owen Wilson, Larry the Cable Guy, Michael Caine, Emily Mortimer, Eddie Izzard, John Turturro

A sequel to the first Cars movie, British industrialist Sir Miles Axlerod (Izzard) launches a new bio fuel after realising that fossil fuels are quickly degrading the world. To launch this fuel he is holding a World Grand Prix, a race that would see the top drivers from various motor sports battle it out on three different locations to prove the reliability of the fuel. Lightning McQueen (Wilson) is on the race and this time he decides to bring Mater (Cable Guy) along for the race. Finn McMissile (Caine), James Bond's Aston Martin DB5, is a British spy who is investigating a TV camera and its hidden functionality. Along with his sidekick, Holley Shiftwell (Mortimer) they are to rendezvous with an American spy at the World Grand Prix launch party, who has further information on the case. The American gets cornered and in an act of desperation, plants the device, holding the information, on Mater. McMissile and Shitwell track the device and assume Mater to be a very well disguised spy which according to Mater becomes the adventure of his life. The movie replicates human life very interestingly on cars. It's fun to hunt for the finer details and get amused at the thought process that went behind it. The only let down in the movie was the lack of good humour and comedy. Sure the movie is enticing and would definitely grasp the attention of kids, especially if its your kid brother, but it still lacks the ability to make you roll over with laughter.

Thumbs up: Superb animation, extremely gripping

Thumbs down: Not funny enough although it is entertainment-packed

Rating: 7.0/10

The Wrestler (2008)

Genre: Drama/Sports


Starring: Mickey Rourke, Marisa Tomei, Evan Rachel Wood

As children, we all grew up watching hard-bodied, tough men wring it out in the wrestling arena. We all once harboured ambitions to be like them and be as hardcore as possible. And we all knew somewhere in the back of our minds that it is all fake and made up but never wanted to listen to that voice in our head. Randy 'The Ram' (Rourke) is a professional wrestler whose glory days were in the '80's but inspite his old age and illness he continues to wrestle. He doesn't lead the life like we would all imagine wrestlers to lead and lives off a trailer park, makes measly money in the fights, and is like just another average person in the showbiz. He tries to romance a stripper Cassidy (Tomei) and get back to his estranged daughter Stephanie (Wood) in a bid to redeem his life and mistakes. The movie mostly revolves around the life of Randy and Cassidy, both in the show business with demanding skills. In Randy's life people within his show love him but in the real world he is a nobody and people don't care for him. For Cassidy it is the exact opposite who isn't cared or loved for in the club but has a family and children with people around her to love and care for her. The movie shows the true world of wrestling and the skill demands some jobs have on people just so that the average person is entertained.

Thumbs up: Fabulous performance, good paradoxical story
Thumbs down: Slow, would have been more interesting had it been based on a true life incident

Rating: 7.8/10

Police Academy 5: Assignment Miami Beach (1988)

Genre: Comedy/Crime/Action/Adventure

Starring: Bubba Smith, David Graf, Michael Winslow, Leslie Easterbrook, Marion Ramsey, Janet Jones, Lance Kinsey, Matt McCoy, G.W. Bailey, George Gaynes, Rene Auberjonois

The fifth installment of the Police Academy series shifts base to the exotic Miami when Comdt. Eris Lassard (Gaynes) gets kidnapped. Captain Harris (Bailey) is as usual trying to overthrow Lassard and take over his position and has learnt that Lassard has crossed the state mandatory retirement age and is overdue to vacate the post. Lassard is always being awarded the police officer of the decade at Miami and he invites his trusted officers to accompany him for the ceremony. Tony (Auberjonois) is a thief who recently stole some diamonds but accidentally managed to switch bags with Lassard at the airport. With his diamonds with Lassard, he decides to kidnap him to extract them with Lassard's team hot on his trail. The movies in this series were never really high on entertainment with average humour, predictable plot and weak acting. A lot of the actors and characters were subject to shuffling, with the latest being Steve Guttenberg who played the lead role of Carrey Mahoney and was absent from this movie. An avoidable movie only to watch if you really need something light and simplistic.

Thumbs up: Nothing exceptional

Thumbs down: Humour and acting

Rating: 4.6/10

Biutiful (2010)

Genre: Drama

Starring: Javier Bardem, Maricel Alvarez, Hanna Bouchaib, Guillermo Estrella, Eduard Fernandez, Diaryatou Daff, Cheng Tai Shen

Set in Barcelona, Spain, the plot revolves around Uxbal (Bardem) a man with an unstable and weak income who would do just about anything to make some money. From talking to the dead, selling replicated designer wear and trafficking Chinese labourers, Uxbal is the man you would want to approach if your stuck in the mud. Uxbal seperated from his wife Marambra (Alvarez) due to her mental condition and her inability to look after their two children Ana (Bouchaib) and Mateo (Estrella). Uxbal is suffering from cancer and has only a few months to survive. In these few months he needs to sort many things in his life out to make sure that his children have a safe and happy future. Mambra is desperate to get back to him and with no other person to trust his children with, Uxbal is forced to accept her in his life once more much to his despise. His worries seem to be endless with his children's future being the pinnacle of the lot. The movie seems to be a bit 'arty' and may not be the conventional movie one wold come across in theatres. The performances of Javier Bardem, Maricel Alvarez and everyone else is simply outstanding and merits those endless awards the movie has received. The only reason to watch this movie is to enjoy the fabulous acting and the fine plot execution that it enjoys. Yes, it is slow and can get a bit boring for some but that is how one would expect a movie of this particular genre to turn out to be. Sheer brilliance I tell you!

Thumbs up: Great performances

Thumbs down: Slow for some

Rating: 7.7/10

Ra.One (2011)

Genre: Action/Drama/Romance/Science-fiction

Starring: Shah Rukh Khan, Kareena Kapoor, Arjun Rampal, Tom Wu, Armaan Verma, Shahana Goswami

Time and again I have said that Bollywood lacks recipe and in spite of rapid evolutions in movie-making, ideas still seemed to be ripped out of Hollywood blockbusters. Shekhar Subramanium (Khan) is a game developer for Barron Industries but does not appear to be cool enough in the eyes of his son Prateek (Verma). In a bid to get into his sons good books and make an outstanding video game, Shekhar develops the ultimate super villain, Ra.One (Rampal & Wu). Ra.One is equipped with artificial intelligence where he quickly learns the moves of his players and gets smarter and hence tougher. Things start going haywire and Ra.One from the game comes to life and wrecks havoc. He is out to hunt for Prateek whom he has learnt is his most formidable opponent and decides to hunt him down. In order to stop Ra.One, the good guy, G.One (Khan) is brought to life and to bring an end to this mutiny. Shekhar's wife Sonia (Kapoor) and Prateek are in danger of being killed and it is up to G.One to save them. The movie is a rip-off of Hollywood's best superheroes all in one. Ra.One and G.One share the same suit design as Iron Man, especially the HART which is a direct copy of the same device on Iron Man. Many fight scenes are copied from Terminator including the one from Terminator 2 where T-1000 rebuilds itself after getting disintegrated by liquid nitrogen. The movie has supposedly tried to use the most advanced special effects to date but yet many scenes seem be hopeless and look tacky even for 20-year-old graphics technology standard. The movie is a total washout and a case study of 'How to create too much buzz for an entirely worthless product'. It still kills me on how G.One managed to come back to life after being killed, any answers?

Thumbs up: Arjun Rampal filled Ra.One's character well with some scenes being executed with finesse

Thumbs down: Copied plot, very poor special effects.

Rating: 4.8/10

The Three Musketeers (3D)

Genre: Action/Adventure/Crime/History/Romance

Starring: Matthew Macfayden, Milla Jovovich, Luke Evans, Ray Stevenson, Orlando Bloom, Logan Lerman, Christoph Waltz, Gabriella Wilde, Mads Mikkelsen, Freddie Fox, Juno Temple

Based on the famous French novel, the story is set in 17th century France which was then under the reign of King Louis XIII (Fox). The kings Three Musketeers, Athos (Macfayden), Porthos (Stevenson) and Aramis (Evans) serve the king and hence serve France. A young country lad D'Artagnan (Lerman) is anxious to join the Musketeers and comes to Paris to realise his dreams. He meets his mentors who are impressed with his skills and D'Artagnan soon becomes friends with the trio. Milady (Jovovich) Athos' ex-wife who earlier betrayed him, is hired by the Duke of Buckingham (Bloom) and the French Cardinal Richelieu (Waltz) to steal Queen Anne's (Temple) diamonds from Paris and bring it to Buckingham. The Queen is framed with having an affair with Buckingham and the King gets word of it. To test her loyaly and the truth of the accusation, he orders the Queen to wear the diamonds to the ball in five days, if she fails to wear them then Buckingham and the Queen's fate would be sealed. The novel has been made into a movie a countless number of times with this movie being the latest so far. The movie in general has nothing to write home about with action and performances being mediocre. The visual effects though are quite nice with the 3D effect being very life like. An average entertainer that could have been far better if the plot and action was moulded in a slightly different manner.

Thumbs up: 3D experience

Thumbs down: Average action and plot

Rating: 6.5/10