The Butler (2013)

Genre: Drama/Biography

Starring: Forest Whittaker, Oprah Winfrey, David Oyelowo, Elijah Kelly, Cuba Gooding Jr., Lenny Kravitz

Abraham Lincoln had officially banished slavery in the United States back in the 19th century. Yet, in spite of that, racism, division, injustice and misuse of African-Americans continued to as early as the 1980's. Cecil Gaines (Whittaker) experienced a difficult youth when he saw his father being murdered by his employer in a cotton farm in cold blood. He soon learns to become a house servant and decided to move on to Washington D.C. to become a waiter. His dedication towards his work and constant urge to learn, brought him in the spotlight to earn a place at The Whitehouse as the butler to the President. His eldest son, Louis Gaines (Oyelowo), wishes to fight for the rights of African-Americans which is a stark contrast to his fathers job of serving those very people who have created the system. The movie showcases the polar differences between father and son and how their lives evolve individually and the times that their paths keep crossing. Forest Whittaker has done a good performance as Gaines, but yet nothing to mark it as outstanding. The movie is a pure narration of events with no major developments and simply showcases individual lives. The movie is loosely based on Eugene Allen and his career as the butler within The Whitehouse but only for timeline of events and not for Gaines' personal life. An interesting movie with an interesting perspective of various American Presidents but still is unable to offer anything different.

Thumbs up: Interesting perspective of American politics

Thumbs down: Lacks something different

Rating: 6.9/10

Mahabharat (2013)

Genre: Animation/War/Fantasy/Action/Drama

Starring (voice): Amitabh Bachchan, Ajay Devgn, Vidya Balan, Sunny Deol, Jackie Shroff, Anupam Kher, Shatrughan Sinha, Anil Kapoor, Deepti Naval, Manoj Bajpayee

The Mahabharat is being credited to be the longest epic poem in the world and when a story of such scale and grandeur, a story that lays the foundation of a religion and hence a society of billions of people is remade into a movie, justice needs to be given. Touted as being the most expensive animated movie to come out of Bollywood, it is no doubt that the audience has modest expectations from it. Bhishma Pitamah (Bachchan) is the mentor or custodian of the throne of Hastinapur. His eldest son, Dhritarashtra was blessed with a 100 sons who were collectively called the Kauravs and his younger brother, Pandu was blessed with 5 who were called the Pandavs. Unfortunately since Dhritarashtra was blind, Pandu ascended the throne of Hastinapur and after his death the throne was handed over to his eldest son, Yudhishtir (Bajpayee). Duryodhan (Shroff), the eldest son of Dhritarashtra was of the opinion that he is the rightful prince to the throne and in order to avoid a fight between the brothers, the kingdom was divided in two halves for each of the princes'. Jealous of his brothers popularity and success, Duryodhan continued to plot against the Pandavs which ultimately led to the battle of Kurukshetra, a war that saw both sides battle it out for the ultimate victory. With a strong cast that covers almost every credible actor in the industry, it is extremely disappointing that no attention whatsoever seems to have been given towards the movies animation. It suddenly seems as if one is watching a movie made 15 years ago with rigid animations, imperfect movements and an overall lack of finesse. A stark contrast to the botched animation is the superb special effects that stand out from the rest of the movie, even though it is used sporadically. Condensing such a long story for a 2 hour movie is a challenge and the makers have been successful in highlighting all the major aspects of the story but yet they seem to be situations that have simply been pieced together with no flow or connect to each other. Major aspects of the story were identified and glued to one another without any concern for logic and maintaining a fluid story. The background score is loud and powerful but the overall lack of finesse in executing the action sequences does not seem to compliment what you hear. The audio does not seem to agree with the visuals and hence look completely out of place. The movie was made to target children and explain to them in a simplified manner the story of Mahabharat. Whilst the movie might achieve this target with the audience it is trying to reach out to, had the animations and overall development of the movie been better, it could have been appreciated by a wider audience which would have worked in the movie's favour ultimately. To be watched only if you have someone younger than 10 years accompanying you, else avoid this at all costs.

Thumbs up: A decent attempt at reaching out to the younger audience

Thumbs down: Bad animation and an overall lack of finesse in the storyline

Rating: 5.3/10

Premium Rush (2012)

Genre: Crime/Action

Starring: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Dania Ramirez, Wole Parks, Michael Shannon, Jamie Chung

Manhattan, New York, it is the place where the world comes together to do business. Billions of dollars is transacted daily and in the midst of all the chaos there is the constant need for information to flow in a correct and timely manner. However, there are times when email and the internet fails to do the task of delivering something and the regular courier companies are far too slow. That is where the bike messenger comes in place. No traffic rules, no speed limits, no parking concerns and no fuel, bike messengers are able to zip through New York traffic and deliver anything within an extremely short time span. Wilee (Gordon-Levitt) is one such messenger who in spite of having a law degree, does not want to sit on a desk wearing a suit and prefers the rush of cycling on the street. Fixed gear and no breaks, that is how he likes it. Nima (Chung) is a Chinese student who asks for Wilee to deliver an urgent package, halfway across town. Bobby Monday (Shannon) is a gambling addicted cop whose hobby has left him in debt. His creditor has agreed to right off all his debts if he retrieves Nima's package and brings it to him. A good action-oriented movie that does not follow a chronological sequence of events. It showcases the raw speed that bike messengers indulge in every day and the rush that they get by swerving through traffic and playing with their lucky with every step. A decently interesting story that has good action and worth that one watch.

Thumbs up: Good action

Thumbs down: No climax, twists or suspense

Rating: 6.8/10

Dhoom 3 (2013)

Genre: Action/Crime/Drama

Starring: Aamir Khan, Katrina Kaif, Tabrett Bathell, Abhishek Bachchan, Uday Chopra, Andrew Bicknell

The original Dhoom movie started off as Bollywood's take on The Fast and The Furious franchisee with the only difference being the movie being centered around 2 wheels instead of 4. The movie garnered a good following due it's action sequences and vehicular chase scenes which prompted the makers to take the series ahead. Dhoom 3 is the latest offering in the series and continues to feature Abhishek Bachchan and Uday Chopra as the leading cop-duo with the villain and female roles changing with every movie. Chicago, USA, a young boy, Sahir Khan (Khan), is a circus artist and along with his father, they own and perform at The Great Indian Circus. The bank has asked them to vacate the property due to non-payment of loans and Sahir Khan's father subsequently commits suicide. Fast forward to current day and Sahir Khan has pledged to take down the very bank due to whom his father lost his life. His motto is simple, take down the bank, branch-by-branch, and distribute the money to everyone on the street. ACP Jay Dixit (Bachchan) and his side-kick Ali (Chopra) have arrived in the US of A on the request to hunt down Sahir and arrest him. But why should an Indian police officer travel half the world to chase down a robber who is outside his jurisdiction and who has got absolutely no link to India and might not even be an Indian citizen? Today's world is connected with the internet and the audience has access to the best of movies from around the world and now realise what is possible and what isn't. Somehow, the makers of the movie have decided that they would continue to make a fool of the viewer by showing the most bizarre and outlandish stunts and hoping that everyone would happily lap it up. Aamir Khan's bike has the unusual ability to become a motorboat on the click of a button, Abhishek Bachchan can drive an auto-rickshaw across roof tops and the Chicago Police Department either does not have guns or does not have bullets inside them to shoot. The special effects and CGI seemed to have been outsourced to an teenage amateur and the action sequences were randomly pieced together without having any concern for the story. Many people, including me, had some tiny hopes from the movie on the pretext that Aamir Khan's presence might do some justice but sadly that has not been the case. The entire movie revolves only around him, to the extent that there was no focus on the bank robberies in itself and everything was about Sahir Khan's personal life and random bike scenes strewn here and there. The songs too were nothing to talk about and you probably won't go dancing or humming to any of it's tunes too quickly. Katrina's presence is simply only for the songs and she has a total of 18 seconds of non-song role to play. Even in those songs her dances seemed incomplete and unpolished and somehow Aamir '2-left-feet' Khan could pull them off better. All-in-all a movie that you absolutely need to avoid at all costs, even if you get paid to view it.

Thumbs up: Out of all the garbage, Aamir Khan's acting is the least smelly piece

Thumbs down: Each and every aspect of the entire movie

Rating: 4.2/10

Johnny English Reborn (2011)

Genre: Comedy/Crime/Action

Starring: Rowan Atkinson, Rosamund Pike, Daniel Kaluuya, Gillian Anderson, Dominic West, Pik-Sen Lim

The suave and charismatic Johnny English (Atkinson) has been sacked from the MI7 and stripped of everything he had due to a catastrophe that took place in Mozambique. He is currently serving exile at a Tibetan monetary where he is learning self-defense and how to gain control of his mind, body and genitalia. A plot to assassinate the Chinese president during his scheduled talks with the British Prime Minister has come under the radar and English has been asked to return to the agency once more. The head of MI7, Pegasus (Anderson) wants him to go to Hong Kong and meet an ex-CIA agent who might know more about the assassination plot. It is English's last chance at reclaiming himself and prove to the world that he is not as daft as they think he is. As with the first movie, this one too is a humorous take on the James Bond franchisee and the comical antics of a spy. As with many successful movies, the sequel fails to live up to the standards of the original and does not seem to have those elements due to which the original movie was appreciated. Good, credible humour is missing and the attempts at making you laugh is miserable. The movie rests on the shoulders of Rowan Atkinson who seems to have tried hard to make you laugh, but in vain. Perhaps having some support from other characters might have helped but do not watch the movie expecting a laugh riot.

Thumbs up: Rowan Atkinson, but it could've been funnier

Thumbs down: Lack of support from other cast and characters

Rating: 6.2/10

The Hunger Games (2012)

Genre: Adventure/Science-fiction/Action

Starring: Stanley Tucci, Wes Bentley, Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Elizabeth Banks, Woody Harrelson

In a modern day world, the nation of Panem rules over 12 districts where living conditions are miserable and extremely backward. Due to a past rebellion, every district must send 2 'tributes' to the annual Hunger Games to The Capitol, the capital city of Panem. The Hunger Games is an annual contest played between the 24 tributes where each must fight for survival in a wild forest. The last man standing is pronounced the victor. The games are considered more as a source of entertainment for the people of The Capitol with no consideration given to the life's of those are a part of that game. In District 12, Katniss Everdeen (Lawrence) volunteers to become a tribute after her younger sister is randomly selected to represent the district. Katniss, along with her district companion Peeta (Hutcherson) must now train themselves and eventually fight in the battlefield to return victorious and alive. The concept of having the poor or the convicted to kill each other to either get rich or gain freedom has been something that Hollywood is not entirely a stranger to. Movies such as The Condemned and Death Race have already explored this story and hence, to someone who has already seen these movies, this movie becomes a repetition. The story is far too predictable and builds towards an unwanted happy ending. It fails to offer anything new or different, save the modern world approach, and gets a tad boring too after a while. Can be watched if such a plot is new to you, else it is a been there and done that kind of movie.

Thumbs up: Good action, great backdrop of the modern world

Thumbs down: Not a new plot, predictable outcome

Rating: 6.4/10

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (3D) (2013)

Genre: Fantasy/Action/Adventure

Starring: Ian McKellen, Martin Freeman, Richard Armitage, Benedict Cumberbatch (voice), Orlando Bloom, Luke Evans, Evangeline Lilly

The second installment of The Hobbit continues from where the first movie ended. 13 dwarves are led by a wizard, Gandalf the Grey (McKellen) and a hobbit, Bilbo Baggins (Freeman) to enter The Lonely Mountain and take back precious jewels that Smaug (Cumberbatch), the dragon, has been closely guarding for all these years. Thorin Oakenshield (Armitage) is the heir to the throne of Erebor, the very mountain which Smaug is guarding, and wishes to find the Arkenstone that would unite the seven dwarf families once again. An evil has slowly been gaining strength and prepares for war against all of Middle-Earth and the dwarves must unite in order to ensure their survival. The second movie continues under the direction of Peter Jackson who successfully directed The Lord of the Rings series of movies, whose story technically succeeds that of The Hobbit. The first movie was notorious for making the journey more slow and dragged, which thankfully, the second movie has improvised upon. The constant action and fresh developments are a treat to watch and help in keeping the audiences attention alive, right to the very end. If you are a fan of The Lord of the Rings and other medival-fantasy movies, then this movie is just what the doctor ordered but prepare yourself with the previous movies storyline. An adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkiens book, The Hobbit.

Thumbs up: Extremely entertaining and good action

Thumbs down: The 3D technology does little justice in improvising on the visual experience

Rating: 7.5/10

Courage Under Fire (1999)

Genre: War/Action/Drama/Mystery

Starring: Denzel Washington, Meg Ryan, Matt Damon, Lou Diamond Phillips, Michael Moriarty

The medal of honor is the highest military honor awarded by the United States government and is awarded for outstanding bravery and valor at the time of combat. The medal, however, cannot just be given to anyone and a deep research precedes the actual awarding of the medal. Lieutenant Colonel Nathaniel Serling (Washington) has been assigned the task to evaluate whether Army Captain Karen Walden should receive the medal of honor who died whilst trying to rescue fellow soldiers. Serling served the army during the Gulf War and had accidentally fired a friendly tank assuming it to be an enemies. The army has kept this information a secret in order to save it's face but this has affected Serling's conscious and he finds it extremely difficult to live with that lie. A probe into Walden's story throws some surprising results with contradictory stories coming from various sources.The army and the government want to go ahead with Walden's story and gain media attention for awarding it to the first female military person ever but Serling is adamant on digging deep and finding out what really did happen that night. A very interesting movie that showcases the insides of the functioning of military organisations and how after a point, the life of an individual does not matter as much as gaining attention and maintaining an image does. The story became slightly repetitive and a hence a bit boring somewhere in the middle and failed to climax with an interesting twist. At the end it still became another movie which highlights American pride and supremacy and seemed to deviate the point that it was trying to make. It is still a good watch for once but do not expect too much.

Thumbs up: Interesting concept

Thumbs down: Story fails to pan out in the way it should have or it intended to

Rating: 6.4/10

Now You See Me (2013)

Genre: Crime/Mystery/Action

Starring: Jesse Eisenberg, Mark Ruffalo, Morgan Freeman, Woody Harrelson, Dave Franco, Isla Fisher, Melanie Laurent, Michael Caine

Magic is the art of manipulation of sight and nothing else. It is due to this very art of manipulation, 4 magicians are brought together to become the ultimate magic troupe in history. J. Daniel Atlas aka The Lovers (Eisenberg), Merritt McKinley aka The Hermit (Harrelson), Henley Reeves aka The High Priestess (Fisher) and Jack Wilder aka Death (Fisher) come together to form the Four Horsemen. The four travel throughout the country, thrilling audiences when suddenly during a show in Las Vegas they announce that they are going to rob a bank standing right there on stage. The troupe's antics and success in pulling off the stunt shakes the police force but are unable to pin anything against the Four Horseman on the basis of lack of logical proof. Dylan Rhodes (Ruffalo) is assigned the task to crack the case and assisted by Alma Dray (Laurent) from Interpol but no matter what Dylan does, the horseman are always 2 steps ahead of him. The movie is an example of when the trailer is far better than the actual movie in itself. The way magic looks marvellous at first sight but when you dig deeper you realise things are not all that great, this movie too follows a similar path. It is visually enticing and can keep you glued but the story itself is extremely shaky and is built upon co-incidents, assumptions, unrealistic occurrences and unresolved mysteries. The flaws in the story are pretty much endless and don't be surprised if you get up in the end scratching your head. The idea of a heist movie with magicians is definitely unique, but the movie lacked the strong story to support this thought.

Thumbs up: Visually delighting

Thumbs down: Flawed story with too many gaping loopholes

Rating: 6.6/10

Holy Smoke! (1999)

Genre: Drama

Starring: Kate Winslet, Harvey Keitel, Sophie Lee, Dan Wylie, Paul Goddard

India has long been known as the land of snake charmers, exotic lifestyle and enlightenment. People travel the world to meet babas and follow cults that at times might turn out to be a little extreme. Ruth Barron (Winslet) travelled to India with a friend on vacation but soon got mesmerised by a Baba who might have drugged her and psychologically convinced her to be a part of his cult. Her concerned parents, back in Australia, manage to convince her to return home on the false pretext that her father was ill. They hire P.J. Waters (Keiter) an American exit counsellor who specialises in making people leave cults in just 3 days. Ruth and Waters are sent to live in isolation in the Outback where Waters must now convince her to forget about Baba and go back to her life with her parents in Australia. A very interesting story and which builds up in the initial half an hour well, but somehow fails to progress in the same manner throughout. One expects to get involved in the entire cult exiting procedure but progression from day 1 to day 2 does not happen in the linear fashion and you don't quite understand why and how something has happened. Kate Winslet has done good justice to her role and has performed well, however, she has been the only performer with more or less the entire movie resting on her shoulders. A movie to watch out only for Kate Winslet and nothing else.

Thumbs up: Kate Winslet

Thumbs down: Story progression

Rating: 6.3/10

Goliyon Ki Rasleela Ram-Leela (2013)

Genre: Action/Romance/Drama

Starring: Ranveer Singh, Deepika Padukone, Richa Chadda, Supriya Pathak, Gulshan Devaiah, Barkha Bisht

Sanjay Leela Bhansali has been known to create movies that are visually very intriguing and are a treat to watch. Use of vibrant colours, dramatic dialogues, powerful dances and soulful singing, his movies have it all and Ram Leela does not try to be any different. A small village in Gujarat, India, has a law of it's own. The village is divided between two clans, the Saneda's and the Rajadi's who have been fighting for years and are always breathing down each others necks. The new generation in these two families comprise of Ram (Singh) from the Saneda clan and Leela (Padukone) from the Rajadi's. Ram and Leela have never actually met since neither have ever been allowed to cross over to the other side of the village. When Ram decides to play a prank by crossing over to the Rajadi side during the festival of Holi, he meets Leela for the first time and experiences love at first sight. The duo get passionately embroiled in each other, fully aware of the others family background but put their love before their family tussle. However, each of their respective families object to their romance, tear them apart and make them the respective clan heads and enter a killing spree. The movie is a colourful and visual delight with astounding costumes, intricate set designs and an overall vibrancy that almost no movie can match. Ranveer and Deepika have done good justice to their roles by playing the rural, loud-mouthed and sarcastic Gujarati and don't seem to be misfits. The only annoying thorn is the sporadic manner in which the movie progresses. Links seem to get connected ages afterwards, plot is broken and at times you are left scratching your head, wondering how that happened. If it wasn't for the unnecessarily long run time and poor manner in which the movie progressed, it would have been a movie to remember. An adaptation of Shakespere's Romeo and Juliet.

Thumbs up: Fabulous performances across the board, great set designs

Thumbs down: Long run time, broken story progression

Rating: 6.8/10

King Kong (2005)

Genre: Action/Adventure/Science-fiction

Starring: Naomi Watts, Jack Black, Adrien Brody, Thomas Kretschmann, Colin Hanks, Andy Serkis, Evan Parke, Jamie Bell, Kyle Chandler

The 1933 King Kong was hailed for it's path breaking technology and went on to become a legend. This movie, is an almost frame by frame remake of the 1933 movie and re-creates using modern technology. Carl Denham (Black) is a struggling movie director who wants to pursue his hunt for Skull Island, a mysterious and undiscovered island, and possibly shoot at the island along with all its strange creatures and natives. Ann Darrow (Watts) is an aspiring actress whom Carl convinces to be a part of the cast after telling her that Jack Driscoll (Brody), a playwright, is writing the script for the movie. Ann is a fan of Jack's work and instantly agrees to come on board and set sail for Skull Island. The crew of the ship are petrified when the learn where Carl intends to take them and narrate horrific stories of Skull Island and the vile creatures that live beyond its high walls. The entire movie relies completely on CGI and special effects with very little of the movie being actually shot at live locations. There are many moments where one can very easily make out the special effects, which for most part of the movie are good, but fall below standards at few occasions. The biggest chink in the movies armour is the unnecessarily long three hour run time. Had this movie been chopped and compressed to a more reasonable time frame, it would have been a far better and interesting watch. The first half can seem a bit dragged but once the movie settles in, the action keeps you glued and becomes far more entertaining.

Thumbs up: Decent special effects

Thumbs down: Extremely long run time

Rating:5.5/10

When Harry met Sally (1989)

Genre: Comedy/Drama/Romance

Starring: Billy Crystal, Meg Ryan, Carrie Fisher, Bruno Kirby

Love is something that can happen to anyone at anytime and with someone you never might have imagined. When Harry (Crystal) hitched a ride with Sally (Ryan) to head to New York to start a new life, they hated each other from the word go. Harry, was the womaniser and had a set of pre-defined rules on the behaviour of men which did not agree with Sally, a lady who keeps her borders well protected. They mentally vowed never to meet again, or so they thought so. Life progressed, they met new partners, bumped into each other occasionally but maintained their distance. What they didn't realise is that them being away actually brought them very close and eventually made them best friends. Although the movie follows the conventional romance story line, is still very different and not like any run of the mill romance-comedy movie. There is a touch of practicality and it is not something that can only remain in books and movies and never to any individual. Brilliant performances by both Crystal and Ryan and they truly had a strong on-screen chemistry to carry off the role. If a comfortable romance movie is what you seek, then this movie delivers but something that is sorely missed is the slightly more frequent appearance of humour.

Thumbs up: Great story and fabulous performances

Thumbs down: Might need some more humour

Rating: 7.0/10

European Vacation (1985)

Genre: Adventure/Comedy/Drama

Starring: Chevy Chase, Beverly D'Angelo, Dana Hill, Jason Lively

The Griswold family is back again, and this time they are on an European vacation. When Clark Griswold (Chase) and his family win a trip across Europe via their Pig in a Poke gaming show victory, it was a dream come true, only for Clarke. His son Rusty (Lively) and daughter Audrey (Hill) are not quite keen on the trip but are forced to come along on their parents' insistence. The trip turns out to be a string of unfortunate events. Under-promised hotel accommodations, car accidents, stolen cameras, a dog falling off the Eiffel Tower, Ellen (D'Angelo) being featured in a pornographic movie and a lot more. Sadly though, the movie fails to live up to any humorous expectations and can get quite boring. A stretched story line and nothing interesting to throw up makes the movie fall flat on its face. There seems to be little difference between this movie and the previous one in terms of the storyline. Both of them are based on the same Griswolds having a similar travel experience and with similar catastrophe. The movie fails to live up to the entertainment levels that the previous movie gave us and seems like a bad attempt at recreating the old magic.

Thumbs up: Nothing exceptional

Thumbs down: Bad humour, monotonous

Rating: 5.0/10

Mickey Virus (2013)

Genre: Comedy/Crime/Mystery/Action

Starring: Manish Paul, Elli Avram, Manish Choudhary, Varun Badola, Puja Gupta, Nitesh Pandey

Today's youth is extremely tech-savvy and most of them would not get lost within all the technology and gadgets that are floating around these days. Mickey Virus (Paul) is one such techie youngster who, along with his friends, solve IT issues, create viruses, hack into peoples accounts and a lot more for money. ACP Siddharth (Choudhary) of the New Delhi police, gets wind of Mickey and his accomplishments and persuades him to do some good work for the police force and help them round up hackers who are carrying out illegal activities. Mickey and his friends are developing a game called Kung Fu Chameli and ironically, he meets his real life Chameli who resembles her in almost every way. Mickey falls in love with Kamayani (Avram) but he later realises that her love costed him a lot when one fine morning he is charged with murder and money laundering, something he never actually did. The movie tries to target the young guns and toady's lifestyle and mix that with a crime story. Manish Paul is known for his comedy acts and he has skilfully carried them forward to the movie. The plot and movie progression is smooth and linear but what actually gave everything away is the climax. The movie fails to open in an exciting manner, and instead becomes a narration of the entire plot and lands up being one big joke. It was a good attempt with almost everything correct, but the ultimate suspense is what gave this movie away. An interesting watch just for one time, but do not expect too much.

Thumbs up: Good humour

Thumbs down: Bad climax

Rating: 5.5/10

The Book of Eli (2010)

Genre: Adventure/Action/Crime

Starring: Denzel Washington, Gary Oldman, Mila Kunis, Ray Stevenson

With every country in the world having nuclear armament, the next world war has the potential to wipe out almost all of humanity. What happens when this apocalypse takes place? Years after a deadly war destroyed almost the entire human race, Eli (Washington) is a traveler who is looking at heading east where he believes lies some ray of hope. The new generation who is born after the war, is unaware of the world that existed to the extent of not knowing how to read and write. Water is probably one of the most scarce resources and Carnegie (Oldman) is a crooked landlord who has taken control of wells and fresh water pools and is building towns around it. Carnegie is obsessed on finding a book, a book that he says will help him control mankind and eventually take over the world. Conceptually, the movie has a very strong story and builds up suspense in a positive manner. It is engaging and entertains the audience well. The biggest chink in it's armor are the unexplained loose ends and the personification of Eli as a human god. Eli seems to posses skills and talents that are seemingly non-human but still are unexplained for within the movie. Had these lose strings been tied and the movie made more tighter in it's story, it would be a far better movie to watch and enjoy.

Thumbs up: Great story

Thumbs down: Denzel Washington's unexplained character traits

Rating: 6.5/10

Gravity (2013)

Genre: Drama/Science-fiction/Adventure/Thriller

Starring: Sandra Bullock, George Clooney, Ed Harris (voice)

A team of astronauts are servicing the Hubble Space Telescope and are aboard the space shuttle, Explorer. Dr. Ryan Stone (Bullock) is the mission specialist and this is her first journey outside the atmosphere. She is accompanied by a veteran astronaut Matt Kowalski (Clooney) who is commanding his final expedition amongst others. A Russian missile strike on one of their defunct satellites leads to a chain reaction of space debris that was orbiting Earth at high speeds. The debris ripped the Explorer apart and killed the crew of Explorer save Matt and Ryan. The duo have also lost contact with NASA and is now up to them to find another satellite and use it to get back to Earth safely. The biggest marvel of this movie is it's accurate depiction of space and life on space. The movie is near perfect in showcasing the visual brilliance of the universe and what lies beyond. Most of the focus of the movie lies with Sandra Bullock and her fight for survival and return to Earth and she has done a very good job at it. The movie adapts a very simple survival story and does not try to complicate things. The finale seemed a bit abrupt and quick and perhaps if the experience of returning to Earth was showcased more, it would have done a better job of ending the movie. A truly exceptional movie and to be simply watched for the sheer brilliant display of our Earth.

Thumbs up: Brilliant visualisations

Thumbs down: The slightly abrupt ending

Rating: 7.8/10

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

Grand Masti (2013)

Genre: Comedy/Drama

Starring: Vivek Oberoi, Aftab Shivdasani, Ritesh Deshmukh, Manjari Phadnis, Karishma Tanna, Maryam Zakaria, Bruna Abdullah, Kainaat Arora, Pradeep Rawat, Sonalee Kulkarni, Suresh Menon

First step, collect all the famous gags and jokes from American Pie, Mr. Bean and Austin Powers movie, put them all together one after the other, hope that the audience has never seen those movies in the past, add loads of skimpy bikini clad girls and voila! Amar (Deshmukh), Meet (Oberoi) and Prem (Shivdasani) are good friends who have now moved on in life and are all married. Amar is unable to make love to his wife anymore ever since his son, Pappu came into this world. Meet's wife is his senior at work who is too involved with work to give him any attention and Prem's wife is extremely occupied with the house chores to spend time with him. Frustrated, the trio decide to attend their college re-union without their wives so they can get lucky with some college girls and once again re-live their happy days. The movie is an assortment of sleaze and random jokes that do not seem to blend with the story and exist only to supposedly entertain. An over-load of nonsensical humour coupled with horrible performances and a non-existing story, creates the perfect environment to walk out of the movie in the first 30 minutes itself. Yes, there is loads of eye candy in the movie to ogle at and if that is your objective of watching the movie then go ahead, else avoid at all costs.

Thumbs up: Nothing

Thumbs down: No story, too much sex

Rating: 3.0/10

Butterfly on a Wheel (2007)

Genre: Drama/Crime/Mystery/Thriller

Starring: Pierce Brosnan, Gerard Butler, Maria Bello

What happens when your perfect life is put to test and you see everything you have lived for falling apart? Neil (Butler) and Abby Randall (Bello) are happily married with an adorable daughter. Like any other normal day, they set to work only to realise that they have been carjacked by a lunatic with a gun. Tom (Brosnan) has kept their daughter hostage with the 'planted' babysitter and threatens to harm her if they don't do exactly what he asks them to do. He somehow doesn't seem to be behind their money and never actually tells them what he wants and leads them on a wild goose chase across the city. Although the movie is built on an interesting plot with a strong star cast, it fails to deliver and doesn't quite seem to click. The story has it's bits of thrills, twists and turns but it seems too far-fetched and hard to believe. Based on too many assumptions and co-incidences, it is not the kind of story that can hold your attention for too long. Had they utilised the plot outline to draft a more solid script, perhaps this movie would have been a true thriller than what it actually turned out to be.

Thumbs up: Good star cast

Thumbs down: Not a very enticing story

Rating: 6.2/10

Man on Fire (2004)

Genre: Action/Drama/Crime/Mystery

Starring: Denzel Washington, Dakota Fanning, Marc Anthony, Radha Mitchell, Christopher Walken, Mickey Rourke

In Mexico City, an infamous gang is known for kidnapping the children of rich parents and extorting money from them. Most of the times, the children don't come back. In fear that his daughter might be in danger, Samuel Ramos (Anthony) hires John Creasy (Washington) to protect his daughter at all times. Creasy has a perpetual drinking problem that takes a toll on his mental life and also affects his work. Creasy finds a friend and a daughter in Lupita 'Pita' Ramos (Fanning) and takes a liking to her and realises that she could be the reason he would want to live and not put a bullet in his head. Pita gets kidnapped in spite of Creasy's best efforts and her kidnapper demands money. The Mexican police gets involved in the kidnapping and the situation goes out of control with the kidnapper announcing that he Pita would not come back. Creasy decides to take the situation in his own hands and starts to hunt down Pita's kidnapper and seek revenge. The movie is a remake of a novel with the same name and a 1987 movie re-make of the novel. The biggest chink in the movies armour is its extremely long run time that makes the movie very slow and dragged. It is an average action and mystery movie that you can watch, enjoy and forget but by extending it's run time to two and a half hours is unwarranted and only makes the movie a bigger task to watch. Denzel Washington does justice to his role but is not exceptional or someone you would remember for this role. A good enough entertainer that could have been better.

Thumbs up: Decent story and mystery

Thumbs down: Extended run time

Rating: 6.5/10

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011)

Genre: Crime/Drama/Adventure/Mystery

Starring: Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, Tom Hardy, Mark Strong, Ciaran Hinds, Benedict Cumberbatch, David Dencik, Toby Jones, Stephen Graham, Simon McBurney, John Hurt

Set in post-war Britain where global super-powers are trying to harness as much intelligence as possible in the midst of the cold war and the possible outbreak of world war 3. The head of British Intelligence, Control (Hurt) sends an agent Jim Prideaux (Strong) to Soviet Hungary in order to get some high-quality information. Jim gets shot in Hungary and the incident sparks a diplomatic outrage with Control being evicted from the agency along with his right hand man, George Smiley (Oldman). Percy Alleline (Jones) now becomes the head of the 'circus' along with Bill Haydon (Firth), Roy Bland (Hinds) and Toby Esterhase (Dencik) as his support team. Percy starts sourcing his information via an operation called 'Witchcraft', information that Smiley and Control had earlier avoided since they don't trust it's credibility. Smiley is asked to join the circus back to investigate a claim by an MI6 operative, Ricky Tarr (Hardy) on a possibility of a mole in the agency and unravel the mystery behind it. The movie is a complex, thrilling and twisted spy tale that involves a whole lot of jargon, layers and side stories which all culminate to a thrilling end. It tries to be as close to reality as possible and it fulfills it's motive to a large extent. The performances in the movie are exceptional but the execution of the plot is where the movie failed to come out completely. It's complexity has gone against it, making it a little hard for the average audience to follow and appreciate. Had it been more simple with a more thrilling climax, the movie would have recieved far more appreciation. The end to the movie was not all that splendid and the outcome is more or less predictable. If you want a James Bond without the gadgets and action and only raw suspense, then the movie ticks all the right boxes for you.

Thumbs up: Performances

Thumbs down: A bit too hard to follow

Rating: 7.4/10

W. (2008)

Genre: Drama/Biography/Historical Event

Starring: Josh Brolin, Elizabeth Banks, James Cromwell, Ellen Burstyn, Thandie Newton, Richard Dreyfuss, Jeffrey Wright, Scott Glenn, Toby Jones, Bruce McGill

George W. Bush was probably one of the most controversial, joked about and hated US President in modern history. His take on Iraq and Afghanistan as well as his foreign policies on Middle-Eastern countries has long been debated and not always considered to be in the best interest of the American citizens. George Bush Jr. (Brolin) was born and brought up in a political family. His father, George H. W. Bush (Cromwell), was a senator and eventually became the 41st President of the United States of America. George was never known for his dedication and focus in his youth and was a heavy smoker and an alcoholic. His life was in a complete disarray for quite some time with him not able to get a secure career and depending far too much on his father and his political background. From there on, it was history. Being a Texas boy, Bush had a typical way of talking and walking and was often labelled as the 'Cowboy President' for his brash behavior. The movie seemed to have poked fun at George Bush but not in a humorous way but a more subtle, sarcastic and multi-layered manner. The movie also reveals how Bush took the call to bomb Iraq simply with motive of tapping into it's oil reserves and on unverified intelligence information. The movie focuses on Bush's life as a college boy right up to the Iraq war and includes many aspects of his personal as well as professional life. It does not seem to be a very serious take on his life and the movie seems to have been made with half-hearted efforts. Not the best movie to watch on Bush but still very informative.

Thumbs up: Josh Brolin's impeccable performance of George Bush

Thumbs down: Not a very serious take on his life

Rating: 6.3/10

Madras Cafe (2013)

Genre: Crime/Historical Event/Action/Drama/War

Starring: John Abraham, Nargis Fakhri, Rashi Khanna, Siddharth Basu, Ajay Rathnam, Prakash Belawadi

The Sri Lankan Civil War was a long fought battle between the Sri Lankan Government and a rebel group whose demands were a seperate Tamil state. The movie is based on the Indian intervention in Sri Lanka and the eventual assassination of Ex Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi. Major Vikram Singh (Abraham) is assigned an operation under the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) and relieved of his army duties. The task is to get the rebel leader, Anna (Rathnam) to lay down his arms and accept peace talks with the Sri Lankan government. He encounters a British journalist, Jaya Sahni (Fakhri) who has come to Sri Lanka to cover the conflict. Vikram learns that Sri Lanka is far more complicated than he thought with multiple double-crosses, information leaks and the constant threat to his life. The story of the movie is very strong and an almost identical representation of the actual events except for the character of Vikram Singh. The names and identities have been mildly altered in order to not portray this as a movie based on true life events, but as a work of fiction. Performances have been extremely strong but the casting of John Abraham seems to have been an obvious mistake. He is unable to carry the role of Vikram Singh and having an actor who is more 'normal' would have helped rather than having someone who looks like an on-screen hero. A good political thriller but it had tremendous scope of being much better.

Thumbs up: Great Story

Thumbs down: John Abraham's casting

Rating: 7.4/10

Batman & Robin (1997)

Genre: Fantasy/Action/Science-Fiction

Starring: George Clooney, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Chris O'Donnell, Uma Thurman, Alicia Silverstone, Michael Gough, Robert 'Jeep' Swenson

In continuation to the Batman series of movies, this one sees a change in star cast and a drastic change in the way in which the story is put in place. Bruce Wayne aka Batman (Clooney) has a new sidekick called Robin (O'Donnell), a continuation to the previous Batman movie. Batman and Robin keep having differences of opinion on how they should go about fighting crime and this creates serious cracks in their relationship. Mr.Freeze (Schwarzenegger) is the new villain in Gotham City and is out to steal diamonds in order to keep his suit running. In parallel, Dr. Pamela Isley (Thurman) is a botanist and a nature lover who gets transformed in one of her experiments as Poison Ivy. Along with her strong and bulky sidekick, Bane (Swenson), Ivy wants to get rid of all industries and let Mother Nature flourish once more. The movie is made with a highly amateurish outlook and is probably the worst Batman movie to be ever made. When you transform a cartoon into a movie, some amounts of sensibility and maturity needs to be added but this movie seemed like a direct transfer without any thought going into it. George Clooney failed to live up to the expectations of his character and most of the stories are baseless and lack the sensibility that the previous movies had. Avoid at all costs.

Thumbs up: Uma Thurman for being the only person who did justice to her character

Thumbs down: Bad story, horrible performances

Rating: 4.9/10

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)

Genre: Fantasy/Action/Adventure/War

Starring: Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, Liv Tyler, Viggo Mortensen, Sean Astin, John Rhys-Davies, Bernard Hill, Billy Boyd, Dominic Monaghan, Orlando Bloom, Miranda Otto, David Wenham, Andy Serkis, John Noble

The third and final movie sees the ultimate journey of Frodo Baggins (Wood) and Sam Gamjee (Astin) to the depths of Mordor to the destroy the One Ring. With King Theoden (Hill) finally revived and once again the King of Rohan, the fellowship turn their attention to Gondor at whose throne Aragon (Mortensen) must ascend and command the army of men to the black gates of Mordor. It is the final battle for Men and humanity to save the world from the black evil of Sauron. As with the previous movie, this too focuses on the battle against evil and culmination of all races to fight for a common purpose. The movie leaves you with an uplifted and inspired feeling and is an improvement over the previous movies. This would be the best of three movies and has done good justice to the book. All the movies have been a fabulous attempt at recreating the book to the finest detail but the third movie has truly lived to the splendour of The Lord of the Rings. J.R.R. Tolkien would be proud if he were to watch these movies today. A movie that demands your time and patience but will reward you with pure entertainment.

Thumbs up: Fabulous performances and truly gripping

Thumbs down: None

Rating: 9.0/10

Jobs (2013)

Genre: Biography/Drama

Starring: Ashton Kutcher, Dermot Mulroney, Josh Gad, Lukas Haas, Matthew Modine, J.K. Simmons, Ron Eldard

Steve Jobs was an inspiring figure, not only for the technology industry but also for all of humanity. His thoughts and ideas may not have agreed with everyone but it pushed us all to take that one more step to raise the bar and help technology develop. If it wasn't for him, we might be living a life ten years behind what we currently have. Steve Jobs (Kutcher) grew up with a simple life at Reeds College where he was adopted by the Jobs family who raised him as their own. Whilst working for Atari, he kept insisting on doing something different but the people around him were limiting his thoughts and ideas. When Atari offered him a project on his own, he took it up but hit a stumbling block with the computer board of which Jobs had very little knowledge. It was then that his good friend, Steve Wozniak (Gad) came to his rescue and helped him develop a path-breaking board. From their on, there was no end to Steve and Wozniak's alliance. They started Apple Computers and started selling the Apple I. With the help of a venture capitalist Mike Markulla (Mulroney), they managed to get some much needed money in the business and from there on there was no turning back. His ideas and 'go-different' thoughts even got him sacked from his own company. Although Steve was an inspiring figure for a lot of us, the movie sadly isn't. It does not feel like a biopic of an individual of high stature but a mere narration of his life events all put together in a two hour movie. Perhaps if the movie focused on one aspect of his life rather than everything that ever happened with him, the movie would have been far better. The movie doesn't leave you with a sense of pride, motivation or you don't even remember the iconic figure-head once you get up. It feels far too average and normal and does not raise the bar of movie-making unlike his inventions.

Thumbs up: Ashton Kutcher for being able to step into Jobs' role pretty decently

Thumbs down: Uninspiring, far too much information crammed in a short span of time.

Rating: 6.4/10

American Reunion (2012)

Genre: Comedy/Drama/Adventure/Romance

Starring: Jason Biggs, Alyson Hannigan, Chris Klien, Thomas Ian Nicholas, Tara Reid, Seann William Scott, Mena Suvari, Eddie Kaye Thomas, John Cho, Jennifer Coolidge, Eugene Levy, Katrina Bowden, Ali Cobrin, Dania Ramirez, Chuck Hittinger, Vik Sahay, Jay Harrington

The American Pie series played a very large role in bringing sex-comedy in mainline cinema and poking fun at college life. Ever since then, many spin-offs and versions were formed but nothing seemed to do justice like the first 3 movies did with their original star cast. With the original cast now grown up in reality, the movie tries to build upon that by reuniting them and making it a movie of growing old versus the new generation. Jim (Biggs) and Michelle (Hannigan) now have a baby boy and are leading the typical married life. Their sex life is not going too well and both of them are not very happy about it. The class of '99 is reuniting at East Great Falls and Jim, Michelle along with their son plan on meeting Jim's dad (Levy) and meeting the old gang once more. Kevin (Nicholas) is happily married to his wife, Oz (Klien) is a sportscaster on a TV news channel, Finch (Thomas) is an adventurer and traveller and Stiffler (Scott) works as a temp at an investment firm. Jim bumps into Kara (Cobrin), the girl next door whom he used to babysit, who holds a secret desire to lose her virginity to Jim. Kevin meets Vicky (Reid) and finds all his previous emotions towards her coming back to life which he does not know how to control. Oz is dating a sex-hungry super model Mia (Bowden) but realises he still loves Heather (Suvari). The movie comes across as a breathe of fresh air amongst other movies who seem to only focus on sex and nudity and not bother too much about humour. This movie, instead, focuses on trying to make you laugh and everything else is a means to an end. The audience of the original movie would have grown over the years too and hence can also relate to the older life as against the college days. The movie showcases maturity very well, although there are some moments with too much emotion and dialogues and pulls away from the humour, but all in all if you have enjoyed the movies of the original cast then this movie would never let you down.

Thumbs up: LOL funny and a good improvement from the original movie

Thumbs down: Those few emotional moments that could be avoided

Rating: 7.1/10