Once (2006)

Genre: Drama/Musical/Romance

Starring: Glen Hansard, Marketa Irglova

There are movies which boast of a big star cast, complicated stories, special effects, exotic locations, sets, makeup and a host of other things. All of this just to spruce up the experience of the audience whilst watching the movie. And on the other hand, you have movies such as Once which is the exact opposite of everything above. In Dublin, Ireland, a man in his late thirties (Hansard) is an aspiring musician who plays his guitar on street corners. He also helps his dad at a hoover repair shop when he's not playing on the street. He once had a girlfriend, with whom he has parted ways and she now lives in London. One evening, his songs catch the attention of a young Czech girl (Irglova) who is fascinated with his self-written lyrics. The two quickly become friends and bond over their common love for music. She occasionally plays the piano when she has the time and two start jamming together and realise that they make a good duo. Her husband has left her and her daughter alone in Dublin whilst he is away in Czech Republic. Both of them find a lot in common with each other, music and estranged love lives. This movie is the pure definition of a simplistic movie which has a straight forward storyline and has no frills attached to it. It is a true example of how the most simple of movies can turn out this exceptional. The music in the movie is particularly catchy that adds the true essence to the entire movie. Many a times songs in the movie seem a forced addition but in this case it blends seamlessly to the movie and is brilliant. Don't let the genre of the movie turn you down, it's not a sloppy romance but an example of good cinema.

Thumbs up: Amazing sound track, very neat and simple

Thumbs down: Can be a bit slow for those who prefer fast-paced movies

Rating: 7.8/10

The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997)

Genre: Science-fiction/Action/Adventure/Thriller

Starring: Jeff Goldblum, Julianne Moore, Vince Vaughn, Pete Postlethwaite, Arliss Howard, Richard Attenborough, Vanessa Lee Chester, Richard Schiff

In a direct continuation to where the last movie left off, the idea of Jurassic Park turned out to be a disaster and John Hammond (Attenborough) has lost everything he had. His nephew, Peter (Howard) is now in control of his company and intends to capture the animals and bring them back to San Diego and put them up in a zoo. Hammond wants to make for all the wrong that he has done and wishes to document the animals in their natural habitat and wishes to rally support from world over. In order to do this, he has approached Dr. Sarah Harding (Moore) a paleontologist, Nick Van Owen (Vaughn) a documentary expert, Eddie Carr (Schiff) a field equipment expert and Dr. Ian Malcolm (Goldblum) a mathematician. Having been a part of the previous disaster, Ian believes that John Hammond is once again doing a mistake by going back to the island and is also furious that his girlfriend, Sarah, is already on the island without informing him. He agrees for the trip, not to help John but to convince the others to come back with him. The earlier movie focuses on the park in itself and how dinosaurs can't be contained inside one. This movie seems to have no objective on it's own and simply showcases a lot of humans being attacked by dinosaurs and the ultimate rescue that takes place. With a lack of a clear story line objective, it can get a bit boring by seeing the same T-Rex and Velociraptors as in the previous movie, once again chasing humans down. The movie lacks any form of creativity in terms of dinosaurs, an objective or even the final outcome of the movie. A decent action-thriller but lacks the excitement of the previous movie.

Thumbs up: Great special effects and depiction of dinosaurs

Thumbs down: Repetitive as the previous movie

Rating: 6.4/10

Hackers (1995)

Genre: Crime/Action/Drama/Science-fiction

Starring: Jonny Lee Miller, Angelina Jolie, Renoly Santiago, Matthew Lillard, Jesse Bradford, Laurence Manson, Fisher Stevens, Wendell Pierce

An eleven-year-old Dade Murphy aka Zero Cool is charged with hacking into 1,507 computer systems in one day and causing a seven point drop in the New York Stock Exchange. Dade is banned from ever touching a computer till he is 18 and when he does turn 18, he is just the same. His parents are now divorced and his mother is moving to New York to find better career prospects. Dade follows her and is made to join high school in New York. There he meets Kate Libby aka Acid Burn (Jolie), Ramon Sanchez aka The Phantom Freak (Santiago), Emmanuel Goldstein aka Cereal Killer, Paul Cook aka Lord Nikon (Manson) and the young Joey Pardella (Bradford). Joey, in order to prove that he is just as smart as the others, hacks into a supercomputer belonging to a minerals company and copies a garbage file. What Joey doesn't realise is that the garbage file is not actually garbage and holds a virus. Eugene Belford aka The Plague (Stevens) is the companies IT chief and has planted the virus there himself. Eugene wants to cover his tracks and will do anything to make the world believe that Joey, with the help of Dade and his friends, are evil hackers who want to watch the world burn. The movie seems very hazardously made having no coherence or flow. Many subplots that don't add too much value to the movie and very tacky animation is what it offers. The animation and special effects hopelessly fails to replicate the action method that hackers use and seems to only predict their work environment in an unbelievable manner. Can only be enjoyed by computer geeks, maybe.

Thumbs up: Jolie looks quite attractive

Thumbs down: Not very thrilling as it could have been

Rating: 5.2/10

Life of something Like It (2002)

Genre: Romance/Comedy/Drama

Starring: Angelina Jolie, Edward Burns, Tony Shalhoub, Christian Kane

A famous TV reporter Lanie Kerrigan (Jolie) is living the life that she always dreamed of having. She is dating a famous baseball player, earning well, is on the brink of moving on to a bigger and better network and is just very happy. Lanie fails to get along well with ace cameraman Pete Scanlon (Burns) and to her dismay, is asked to interview a self-proclaimed prophet, Jack (Shalhoub) with Pete behind the lens. Jack predicts the outcome of the football match that night, with the exact score, hail the next day, Lanie's failure in getting her new job and her death in seven days. When the first two predictions come true, and a host of others later on, Lanie realises that her life is jeopardy and she needs to make amends. With only a week left, she tries to reconcile with people she couldn't get along and make amends for her sins. A very typical rom-com movie with an extremely predictable outcome is what you would understand after watching this movie. Neither Jolie nor Burns tried too hard in making any efforts at acting and it shows in the dismal failure of the movie. Although the movie tries to play on a good idea, it fails in executing that thought and ends up bringing something mediocre. Rom-com fans might just be able to get by the movie but from a neutral stand-point, it's a washout.

Thumbs up: Nothing in particular

Thumbs down: Bad acting and even worse plot execution

Rating: 5.1/10

Man of the Year (2006)

Genre: Comedy/Drama/Crime/Romance

Starring: Robin Williams, Christopher Walken, Laura Linney, Lewis Black, Jeff Goldblum

Everyone is tired of politicians, their false promises, artificial behaviour, corruption, lack of accountability and a host of other things. TV comedian, John Dobbs (Williams) is the host of a popular comedy talk show when one of his viewers suggested that he run for president. The comment initially got passed off as a joke but with more and more fans suggesting the same idea, John Dobbs decided to run for president. He stood for everything that the other candidates did not and gave immense confidence to the public that he can change their lives for good. Eleanor Green (Linny) works for a software company called Delacroy who is currently developing a computerised system of vote counting rather than the conventional paper and ballot method. Eleanor finds a bug in the system that could potentially swing votes to another candidate because of a flawed algorithm and decides to escalate the matter to the upper management. John Dobbs ends up winning the presidential election with a landslide victory, a win that Eleanor knew was false. With Delacroy stocks shooting through the roof, the management decides to let the problem pass under the rug and ensure that Eleanor is kept silent. The movie explores a good concept of a comedian becoming the president and is actually a good watch for the first half an hour or so. It is only after this point, that the movie gets slow, the romance starts seeping in and Robin Williams is not funny anymore. The story is the kind that could've been wrapped up in no time whatsoever but was unneccessarily stretched in the interest of completing the run time. The only saving grace in the movie was Robin Williams whose humour actually does make you laugh and instills his persona of being a comedian. A good entertainer for a few laughs, but if you turn it off after the half way mark, you won't be missing anything special.

Thumbs up: Robbin Williams and his humour

Thumbs down: The second half

Rating: 6.2/10

Rear Window (1954)

Genre: Crime/Mystery/Thriller/Drama

Starring: James Stewart, Grace Kelly, Wendell Corey, Themla Ritter, Raymond Burr

A famous professional photographer, L.B. Jefferies (Stewart) broke his leg whilst trying to get a good shot on a racetrack that has left him bed-ridden. A man that enjoys being on the field, for him being stuck at home is a nightmare. Having nothing much to do, Jefferies spends his time looking out of his window and keeping an eye on his neighbours and what they are constantly up to. Lisa Freemont (Kelly) is an extremely beautiful socialite who is in love with Jeff. However, Jeff is of the opinion that Lisa and him would never get along since their lifestyles are completely different. One night, when Lisa and Jeff are discussing about why a future together is or is not possible, Jefferies attention falls on his neighbor Lars Thorwald (Burr). Jefferies has been noticing Thorwald and his wife since a few days and has realised that the two are not quite happy with each other. When Jeff spots Thorwald making trips in the middle of the night with suitcases and his wife suddenly going missing one night, he suspects that something might be wrong. Upon further investigation, Jeff and Lisa are convinced that Thorwald has murdered his wife and has cut her body in pieces to get it disposed. The theory does not go well with Detective Thomas Doyle (Corey) who brings evidence to prove otherwise but Jeff is not convinced. Alfred Hitchcock is famous for his movies on crime and mystery and this movie has been touted as one of his best. In spite of the movie being 60 years old, it still feels as if it was created in today's modern age and never looks out of place. It manages to conjure a steady thrill and excitement in the audience that is quite amazing. The only downside to the movie is the manner in which the crime was unraveled. Many pieces of evidence and lose strings were not acknowledged and are left hanging with no explanation. Had their been a close to the entire story, it truly would have been a wonderful movie, not saying that it isn't. A stupendous crime movie that has simplicity and yet the amazing thrill of a Hitchcock.

Thumbs up: Very gripping and interesting

Thumbs down: Story does not close completely.

Rating: 8.1/10

A Scanner Darkly (2006)

Genre: Thriller/Crime/Mystery/Drama/Animation/Science-fiction

Starring (voice): Rory Cochrane, Robert Downey Jr., Keanu Reaves, Winona Ryder, Woody Harrelson

Substance D, a powerful hallucinatory drug has taken over the streets of USA and has resulted in a lot of people regularly consuming it. The drug has adverse affects on the mind with the possibility of permanent brain damage. In order to get to the root of the problem, the government has hired a team of detectives who are to intermingle with the drug lords and help gain information. In order to protect their identity, the detectives wear scramble suits at work, suits that constantly change the appearance of the wearer, so as to not be able to identify them. Bob Arctor (Reaves) is one such detective who was assigned to obtain more information about Donna (Ryder) a known drug peddler but instead gets addicted to Substance D himself. Bob shares his apartment with his friends, James Barris (Downey Jr.) and Ernie Luckman (Harrelson) who, like him, are all addicted to Substance D. Most of the movie revolves around Bob and his friends and their antics whilst high on Substance D. It also includes much of Bob Arctor and his attempts at gaining more information from Donna and his gradual deterioration of his health. Most of the movie is filled with jargon, especially with respect to Downey Jr.'s character, and the average viewer may get lost before the end of the first half. The movie requires a lot of attention and patience which is well rewarded by a good climax and nice ending. Yes, the movie is very dialogue heavy and you might be left wondering many a times with 'what is going on' but if you watch it carefully, the intelligent minds would understand. The movie's animation technique is very different and typically cartoon-ish. All the character's appearance is modeled around their actual real-life faces which gives it a good edge of realism. It is a movie that can be interesting but at the same time extremely boring, depends upon how you watch it.

Thumbs up: Great ending, good animation technique

Thumbs down: Extremely wordy, confusing dialogues

Rating: 6.5/10

Swordfish (2001)

Genre: Action/Crime

Starring: Hugh Jackman, John Travolta, Halle Berry, Don Cheadle, Sam Shephard

Ex-American president, J.Edgar Hoover had allegedly started a secret department called Black Cell whose sole purpose was to initiate attacks against terrorists who have attacked or tried to attack American citizens. The department still continues, albeit illegally, by Senator Reisman (Shephard) who protects Gabriel Shear (Travolta) and lets him do the work he needs to do. Like any other terrorist outfit, Gabriel needs money to carry out his anti-terrorism operations and is looking for a capable hacker to help him in this. Enter Stanley Jobson (Jackman) one of the most famed hackers who is now leading a sedentary lifestyle after going to prison for 2 years on charges of computer crimes and also losing custody of his daughter to his drunk wife. Stan is desperate to get his daughter back, for which he needs money and it is something that Gabriel has in abundance. Gabriel simply wants Stanley to hack in to the WorldBanc mainframes and transfer him some money that he could use for his operations. Agent J.T. Roberts (Cheadle) was the man who put Stanley behind bars and is once again hunting down Stan and Gabrielle and wants to put an end to everything for good. The movie is a very typical American action movie with corrupt politicians, hackers, complicated computer systems, cars and planes blowing up every now and then and conspiracy theories. It lacks strong dialogues and good acting to complement the mildly innovative story. A good entertaining watch for those who love popcorn-action movies but if you're looking at a more solid story and good acting then this movie might not really deliver.

Thumbs up: Decent action entertainer

Thumbs down: A typical Hollywood action movie with nothing very different to offer

Rating: 6.5/10