The Black Dahlia (2006)

Genre: Crime/Drama/Action/Mystery/Biography

Starring: Josh Hartnett, Aaron Eckhart, Scarlett Johansson, Hilary Swank, Mia Kirshner

The movie industry has a lot of fame, money and glamour. And it is these elements that attracts young people from various parts of the country to live their dreams of being in the movies. Some young people get through but many end up making compromises, are led with false promises and end up doing things they never wished to do. Elizabeth Short (Kirshner) was one such young lady who came to Hollywood to make a mark in the movies but landed up becoming a heavily mutilated corpse. Dwight Bleichert (Hartnett) and Lee Blanchard (Eckhart) are two LAPD officers who are close friends and partners. They are highly looked up to in the police force and are well respected for the work they do. The duo are put in charge of the murder of Short, whom the media dubs as The Black Dahlia murder case. The soon discover that Short used to do pornographic movies to make her daily bread and butter and used to hang around with a lot of lesbian women. One thing leads to another and the duo start discovering dark secrets about Short and many other people in LA. Although the movie is fundamentally based on the murder of Short, the rest of the movie is a work of fiction. Till date, Short's murder case is unsolved but the movie takes it in a different tangent altogether. Everything apart from her murder is pure fiction, simply to build interest in the movie. The movie is an adaptation of James Ellroy's novel with the same name, who was also the writer of L.A. Confidential. Being a movie with suspense, the build up in the plot to the ultimate climax was missing and that is what shot the entire movie down. Perhaps even a stronger cast could have done wonders for the movie and made it far more interesting.

Thumbs up: A very interesting story

Thumbs down: The actual execution of the plot

Rating: 6.5/10

Shahid (2012)

Genre: Biography/Crime/Drama

Starring: Raj Kumar Yadav, Mohammad Zeeshan Ayyub, Prabhleen Sandhu

The Indian judiciary system is notorious for being delayed, for holding innocent victims in trials for a long time and for serving injustice. With multiple hardline Islamic groups carrying out terror activities within the country, the Indian police started rounding up common Muslim people with remote connections to the incidents and made them scapegoats of the entire situation. Shahid Azmi (Yadav) is one such individual who had to face this similar situation. Shahid had once trained to become Jihadi aka Islamic militia in Kashmir but had a change of heart and escaped from the camp and returned home to Mumbai. The police traced his connections back to the camp and arrested him for plotting against the state. When it took the system 7 years to acquit him of charges, Shahid realised that there would be many more people like him who are caught within the system simply because of their names. In order to aid these people, Shahid decided to fight for those people who have been framed on false charges and deliver them justice. The movie rightfully captures the reality of India's law and system where minorities are often targeted without any rhyme or reason. Raj Kumar Yadav has put on a brilliant performance and has done justice to the role. The movie is a bit slow to progress and is made in a typical 'art movie' fashion. Had this movie been made with a touch of drama, background score and maybe some commercial elements, it would appeal to a wider audience and would make the entire experience of the movie far better. That said, the movie is not bad, it is exceptional in its genre and a highly recommended watch.

Thumbs up: Great acting

Thumbs down: Too slow and bland

Rating: 7.5/10

Superhero Movie (2008)

Genre: Comedy/Spoof/Science-fiction/Action

Starring: Drake Bell, Sara Paxton, Christopher McDonald, Leslie Nielsen, Kevin Hart, Marion Ross, Ryan Hansen

Making a spoof of an extremely popular movie is not exactly new and superheroes are a soft target due to their trademark behaviour and at times outlandish stunts. Rick Riker (Bell) gets bitten by a dragonfly on a field trip and gets super powers but does not get the ability to fly. He has a crush on Jill (Paxton) from his college and tries hard to woo her. Lou Landers (McDonald) is a multi-millionaire whose new invention can give him possible immortality. He needs to harness his technology better in order to gain ultimate freedom. The movie is a frame by frame spoof of the first Spiderman movie with the dragonfly replacing the spider. Don't be misled by the movies title since one might expect the movie to be a cumulative spoof of the many superhero movies. Unfortunately, the movie solely rests on the Spiderman and all other movie references are a blink and miss. The movie poster might convince you otherwise but don't be fooled. This not only makes the movie boring but also does not live up to it's name. Can be watched once just for the heck of it but don't go out of the way.

Thumbs up: Some decent spoofs

Thumbs down: Not outright funny, does not have other superhero movies except Spiderman

Rating: 4.7/10

Black Hawk Down (2001)

Genre: War/Action/Historical Event

Starring: Josh Hartnett, Ewan McGregor, Eric Bana, Tom Sizemore, Sam Shepard, William Fichtner, Ewen Bremner

Somalia, an east African country was locked in a civil war between the Somali government and an uprising with Mohamed Farrah Aidid proclaiming himself as the new ruler of Somalia. The United Nations, with the support of the US Army, entered Somalia to provide relief and bring peace to the nation. In a bid to take down Aidid and bring democracy to Somalia, the US Army fought the First Battle of Mogadishu between against Somali militia. The entire length of the movie recounts every move of the war from start to end and something that should not have lasted for more than one hour, turned out to become an overnight ordeal for the US soldiers. The US Army suffered 18 deaths and 80 wounded, in comparison to more than 1,000 Somali lives lost, both civilian and militia. Usually, recounting the events of a war, makes the movie dragged and slightly boring unless the war itself is eventful. There is a lot of high-drama and action to visually recount every move of the war and give the viewer a first hand re-count of the battlefield. Coming from Ridley Scott, the movie lived to its expectations in every aspect and ensured that it was a treat for its viewers. A large ensemble of star cast that did justice to their roles and represented all the soldiers that fought and lost their lives. A great war and action movie that would never disappoint.

Thumbs up: Brilliant performances

Thumbs down: Perhaps the story could be broader to capture more aspects surrounding the war

Rating: 7.7/10

American Pie Presents Band Camp (2005)

Genre: Comedy/Drama

Starring: Eugene Levy, Tad Hilgenbrink, Arielle Kebbel, Jason Earles, Crystle Lighting, Mat Barr, Jun Hee Lee

In continuation to the American Pie movie series, the fourth installment sees a revision in cast and the brother of Steve Stiffler coming on as the main protagonist. Matt Stiffler (Hilgenbrink) wants to be just like his brother and aims at getting into making spy movies of college girls, again, just like his brother. His misbehavior at school sees him getting assigned to band camp, a boring and dull annual festival where the bands of various colleges battle it out for the ultimate victory. Elyse (Kebbel) is the band lead and also the very person against whom Matt had tried playing a prank and got sent to band camp in the first place. Matt is finding it extremely hard to fit in between the bandies and decides to make a spy movie with the help of his dorm mate, Ernie (Earles). With a revision in star cast and the lack of any decent storyline, the movie fails on almost all aspects. It lacks outright humour and any form of entertainment and fails to live up to the American Pie brand name. If you're expecting the fun that the previous movies had showcased then you are badly off the mark.

Thumbs up: Nothing specific

Thumbs down: More humour and a better story

Rating: 5.0/10

American Gangster (2007)

Genre: Crime/Action/Biography/Drama

Starring: Denzel Washington, Russell Crowe, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Josh Brolin, Lymari Nadal

Based on the true life story of a heroin dealer who exploited the Vietnam war situation for his personal benefit, Frank Lucas (Washington) learnt the tricks on the street after working with crime boss, Bumpy Johnson and being his right hand man for 15 years. After the death of Bumpy, Frank decided to continue his work of peddling dope on the streets. He learnt from Bumpy to cut out all the middle men and to buy directly from the source. He started doing this by purchasing heroin from Thailand using US Army supply planes that do not have to undergo any customs scrutiny whilst getting in or out. Selling clean heroin, without any impurities, at half the price on the street, sky-rocketed Frank into the big leagues. Richie Roberts (Crowe) is an honest cop, to the extent that he turned in a million dollars, an act that almost none of the cops would do. Seeing his honesty, he is asked to track down the supplier of blue magic and clean the streets of Essex County, New Jersey. The movie has a very strong storyline and the performances of Crowe and Washington are supreme. Add the name of Ridley Scott to this equation and you can never go wrong with this movie.

Thumbs up: Performances

Thumbs down: Nothing

Rating: 8.2/10

Back to the Future Part 2 (1989)

Genre: Science fiction/Adventure/Action/Comedy

Starring: Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson, Thomas F. Wilson, Elizabeth Shue

Marty McFly (Fox) has just returned to 1985 after going back in time and mending their parents' marriage, thus saving himself from extinction. However, the moment he returns, Dr. Emmett Brown (Lloyd) persuades him along with his girlfriend Jennifer (Shue) to come with him to the future, to the year 2015. Dr. Brown discovers that Marty's children turn out to be quite worthless and both of them get arrested for various illegal activities. In order to avoid this, Marty must replace his own son and ensure that a certain occurrence does not take place in order to save his son and daughter from getting into trouble. An older Biff Tannen (Wilson) overhears the doctor and Marty in conversation and quickly understands everything. He chooses to go back in time and make amendments to his life that would change things for him for good. The movie is a continuation to the earlier movie and hence a necessity to understand broad character roles. The movie tries hard to stay at par with the previous movie on most levels but fails to satisfy certain criteria. The constant back and forth in time left some gaping loopholes, and the fact that Marty should go in the future to save his kids is not the most convincing argument one can come across. Apart from these smaller drawbacks the movie is just as entertaining as the first one and a great watch.

Thumbs up: Great entertainment

Thumbs down: Story needed some improvements

Rating: 7.4/10