Movie Review Sadda Adda Hindi 2012 : Average

Amidst the lacklustre films gracing the theatre this week, comes yet another film of dismal publicity and awareness Sadda Adda. With a complete new cast and a relatively new crew, let’s see whether this film achieves its purpose or not.

The film starts with a note “The only thing that will stop you from fulfilling your dreams is You”. Six boys from different states come together to share a 2BHK apartment in a middle-class colony, which they lovingly call “Sadda Adda”. All come from diverse backgrounds with dreams to make it big. While one wants to make it in acting, the others in engineering, and sales and design. There’s another who is struggling to find a suitable job.

However, very soon they lose focus, the film takes a predictable downward spiral and finally the boys come back on track to regain lost grounds.

Giving glimpses of 3 Idiots, the film could well remain to that had it not been for the Pyaar Ka Punchnama type of angle where the guys take incessant digs at girls giving in for MCP humour. The initial scenes of boys guzzling beers, ogling at women, having light-hearted moments are all fine but it all goes down the drain when the film tends to tread on clichés and takes to a drama done to death.

Filmmaker Muazzam Beg takes issues highly relatable to the younger lot and shows it with utter empathy hence the audience finds it easier to engage in the actors situation. However, just when the film starts grasping attention, the predictability makes one lose focus and give in to boredom. Some of the situations appear half-baked as if there wasn’t enough thought put behind it.

All the actors are well cast and exude confidence. Very promising debuts by all of them.

Over all, Sadda Adda has the heart in its place but gets mired by poor execution.

Rating : 2/5

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Movie Review Agneepath 2012 Superhit

Mukul Anand created a classic that is yet immortal in people’s memory, here is Karan Malhotra paying a respectable homage to ‘Agneepath’. Though comparisons are bound to happen, we suggest watching the film without any preconceptions and thoughts about the original and you are sure to love it. Master Dinanath Chauhan (Chetan Pandit), a principled man who wants the best for his village Mandwa. Whereas, Kancha (Sanjay Dutt) wants to illegally grow cocaine in the village by fooling and ruling over the poor villagers. Now, he eliminates his only hindrance, Master Chauhan by controversially hanging him in front of his pregnant wife Suhasini (Zarina Wahab) and his 10-year old son Vijay (Hrithik Roshan /Arish Bhiwandiwala). Vijay comes to Mumbai with his mother with only one aim, to get Mandwa back from Kancha. He walks the ‘Agneepath’ (path of fire) that his father has taught him and wins back the trust of his people.

Courtesy : supergoodmovies

Karan Malhotra’s version of Amitabh Bachchan’s 1990 classic has definitely been tweaked from the original. The basic plot is the same but each member of the team has worked hard to create an original film and have partially succeeded. If Yash Johar’s ‘Agneepath’ is still remembered, Karan Johar’s too will have its own space in the history of Indian cinema.

Performance:

Hrithik Roshan convincingly plays his part. Though he doesn’t look as grand as Big B, his aggression was quite evitable on his face and eyes. Priyanka Chopra looked cute and did a decent job. Rishi Kapoor should be commended for his immense versatility as he is par excellence. Sanjay Dutt looks exceedingly scary and performs par expectations. He impeccably portrays evil. Warina Zahab and Chetan Pandit are decent enough. Also, worth mentioning is the fastastic work by child actor Arish Bhiwandiwala. It seemed as if Hrithik had watched his performance before starting shooting for the film and has improvised on it. ‘Chikni Chameli’ is absolutely entertaining and Katrina Kaif has given it her 100 per cent but casting fails here as a half Indian cannot be portrayed as a Mahrashtrian as she did not suit it.

Technicalities:

Malhotra has earlier assisted Karan Johar with his projects and makes a promising debut. He has a long way to go. He has put in the necessary masala elements in a high octane action drama. Sabu Cyril as a production designer is a master at his craft. Cinematography and picturization are good. Characterization slightly suffers as compared to the original. Ajay-Atul’s music as well as the background score complements the film. Dialogues have been taken good care of, especially the ones that Sanjay Dutt mouths.

Positives:

- Performances
- Chikni Chameli

Negatives:

- Too much violence to handle

Final Word: A must watch

Agneepath Movie Rating: 3.5/5

Starring: Hrithik Roshan, Sanjay Dutt, Rishi Kapoor, Priyanka Chopra
Banner: Dharma Productions
Music: Ajay-Atul
Producer: Karan Johar, Hiroo Johar
Director: Karan Malhotra

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Movie Review EK MAIN AUR EK TU : Hit

After the stupendous success of Agneepath, Dharma returns in a span of two weeks to greet Valentine’s day with a romantic comedy Ek Main Aur EK Tu. Imran Khan is on an all time high after the success of his recent films and so is Kareena for the past few years. But it is always fun to see the weirdest couple pull of a cute rom-com. As the trailer suggested we were hoping to see the remake of “what happens in Vegas”. But with Karan Johar in the credit list, we were expecting a surprise as we entered the dark hall. Were we surprised or what?

Once again it is the story of a rule book meets break-the-rules. Rahul (Imran Khan) is the 25 year old yes-boy of his parents who decide everything in his life from which tie to wear to whether to use fork or chop sticks at dinner. He loses his architect job in Vegas. Scared to tell his overbearing parents of his failure he decides to visit a psychiatrist where he meets Rihana (Kareena Kapoor) . She mistakes him to be the spy appointed by her ex-boyfriend and gives him a good show down. When she realises her mistake, she calls him up and asks him out for a drink to make amends. One thing leads to another. Rahul, in a fit of irritation, decides to let loose. They both get drunk and end up getting married in a church. They wake up with a terrible hangover and the shock that they are married. While they apply for an annulment of the marriage, circumstances throw them together. The rest follows but not as usual.

The debutant director has chosen a safe yet difficult path.The storyline is nothing new. We have seen it in Jab We Met, Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara. Yet the story in itself has a refreshing twist which makes it different from any of these films. He weaves towards this well in the second half of the film. His use of humor with liberal innuendos makes Ek Mein Aur Ek Tu a good entertainer. The scenes between Rahul and his parents are done very well. The final scene with Rahul and his family is surely worth a mention. The film is very well paced and does not drag.

Imran Khan as a dull meek youngster bogged down by the ambitions of his parents is commendable. His look and performance compliment his role.He shakes his leg with ease in the film enhancing his ‘cute’ image. Kareena has shown maturity as an actor with each film. She is as bubbly and delightful as ‘Geet’ in Jab We Met. Unfortunately, all her roles are getting stereotyped to that character. Her next film Agent Vinod hopefully will add a new dimension to her characterizations so far. Boman Irani as Imran’s father supports the script very well along with all the other actors.

David MacDonald’s cinematography especially in Vegas takes your breath away and the songs are wonderful. Some of the scenes have been shot with an ad like treatment. The film overall is very visually appealing. Editing by Asif Ali Shaikh is neat and helps the film move forward with ease.

Each and every track in the film is impressive. Amit Trivedi’s ‘Aunty ji’ is a foot tapper. The chemistry, lyrics and the blend of jazz makes it a personal favorite. Moreover, the visuals add an energy that make your head and feet move on their own.

Overall, Ek Main Aur Ek Tu is a typical Dharma Productions with the big stars, big marketing push and high production values. This time the screenplay and storyline work big time too. A good entertainer, this cute rom-com is sure to draw the Gen Y to a full house.

Verdict: Enjoy this Valentine’s day special

Rating : 4/5 – Article courtesy : behindwoods

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Movie Review Players Hindi 2012 Thriller

After the stupendous success of their last film ‘Race’, it took the usually active director duo Abbas-Mustan 3 years to come up with their new film. This time they decided to take up the Italian Job and desi-fy it. For a change, the film is an official remake and not a copy as has been the trend over the last couple of years.

The first Italian Job (1960) was a fun filled comic entertainer. The same film was remade in 2003 as a thriller that is claimed to be one of the greatest entertainers in Hollywood. Players has used the 2003 version as its baseline. Unfortunately, the film leaves out the fun aspect.

Charlie (Abhishek Bachchan) is an orphan brought up by a former con man Vinod Khanna. With the help of Vinod Khanna, he forms a team of skillful cons- Ronnie (Bobby Deol), Spider (Neil Nitin Mukesh), Riya (Bipasha Basu), Bilal (Sikander Kher) and Sunny [Omi Vaidya). They call themselves The Players. The team successfully pulls a heist when they rob gold bullion from Russia. But predictably, one of them double crosses the players .The film goes on to narrate how the team along with a new mate Naina (Sonam Kapoor), head out in search of the traitor to retrieve the booty and avenge the death of their captain.

While Players is the official remake of the Hollywood film, Abbas-Mustan have sprinkled generous portions of desi masala and their signature twists to cater to Bollywood sensibilities. Unfortunately, the film ends up too twisted. The first half moves fast with well planned and executed action scenes. The second half is the culprit where the timing of the songs plays the spoiler. The directors take the audience for granted by oversimplifying the plot. There are more than a few jumps in scenes which leaves you expecting answers at least towards the end. But the expectations are not met.

Abhishek Bachchan is a glamorous con. But he carries the same look throughout the film making his performance dull and boring. Vinod Khanna delivers well in his limited role. Bobby Deol is sidelined but impresses when on screen. Bhipasha portrays elegance and confidence. Sonam Kappor takes on a role different from her other films. However, her problems with emotional sequences follow in this film too. Neil tries well but his character falls flat due to poor characterization. Omi Vaidya and Sikander Kher were to be the comic relief. Their antics and Hindi draw a few grins. But their humour fails to make an impact. Omi Vaidya struggles with his one liners. After several tries one or two of them click towards the end. Johnny Lever has been Abbas Mustan’s lucky charm. Even without much scope, he does bring in a smile once in a while.

Technically, Ravi Yadav’s camera work is impressive. Action sequences have been carried out with tremendous skill. The chase sequences, escapes and train scenes were executed in style. Art direction by Ashish Ranade is a mixed bag. The train sequence was done very well but the villain’s lair was not well thought through, reminding you of sets from the 80s.

Music director Pritam delivered some good tracks in his last film Desi Boyz making you look forward to the music in Players. This again is a disappointment as no song leaves an imprint.

Overall the film is a decent watch by Bollywood standards. A great theme with some very good action sequences. However, oversimplification, an overdose of twists and the absence of humour undo a potentially good film.

Verdict: Italian Job- fun = Average Entertainer – Rating : 2.5/5

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Movie Review The Adventures of Tintin 3D

The sheer thrill of seeing one’s favourite childhood comic being transposed on to a different medium (film) combined with technology and the best of hands from Hollywood surely sets one’s expectations soaring. Steven Spielberg’s “The Adventures of Tintin” features superb animation and the most refined use of motion capture technology thus far. This film attempts to bond three different Tintin stories — most notably “The Secret of the Unicorn” (which is the film’s subtitle) as well as “The Crab with the Golden Claws” and “Red Rackham’s Treasure”.

Courtesy : NowRunning

What ‘The Adventures of Tintin’ boils down to is essentially an Indiana Jonesesque movie, and is very much in that vein; a rollicking tour around the globe, hunting for mysterious treasures with various complex outcomes and action set pieces.

Set in the 1930s, Tintin’s (Jamie Bell) adventure starts at a market place in Brussels. A few seconds after he purchases a miniature sailing ship he gets exorbitant offers to sell it off. He learns that the miniature is a replica of a 17th century sailing ship called the Unicorn.

Apparently the Unicorn was navigated by Captain Haddock’s (Andy Serkis) ancestor and was carrying huge treasures in its vaults when it was raided and sunk by the pirates. This ancestor was the only person who knew the exact location of the sunken treasures. So he left behind a clue on a parchment in the three identical miniatures of the Unicorn.

Mild humour is infused in this film by the bumbling police officers Thompson and Thomson (Simon Pegg and Nick Frost) and Tintin’s faithful canine Snowy.

The treasure hunt takes Tintin along with Captain Haddock through exciting and visually delightful chases. Easily the most stunning and ambitious of these is a chase through the streets of a Moroccan port. They are chasing a mysterious man by the name of Sakharine (Daniel Craig) who is also trailing the Unicorn treasure. The sequence is about five minutes long and is conducted in one single, unbroken shot which, given the ludicrous ambition, complexity and pacing of the action, would have been simply impossible if the film had been live action.

It also takes place in a photo-realistic environment, which gives the sequence a physicality that should be at odds with the exaggerated characters, but actually heightens the tension and excitement of the whole scene.

Robert Zemeckis’ design and creation of this film knocks anything he has attempted before. Zemeckis’ earlier films, “Polar Express”, “Beowulf” and “A Christmas Carol” failed to create that photo realistic version of humanity, because trying to motion capture and animate real people in that photo realistic way just makes humans look plastic and dead behind the eyes. Here there is a valid reason for this use. It could be done in no other way.

The animation is attempting photo realism but still has that cartoonish quality. They have the Herge tropes, the funny noses and weird hairstyles. Captain Haddock still looks like Captain Haddock from the comics but it’s Haddock as if he were a real life being.

That technique, however, is incredibly effective, and never distracting.

Unfortunately the sequences aren’t the most inventive. Beyond its gorgeous visuals the film resembles a conflation of “Raiders of the Lost Ark” and “Pirates of the Caribbean” with John Williams’s music always on the point of bursting into the Indiana Jones triumphal march, the film has very little to offer and it is a great shame.

Discussing Tintin’s action sequences makes it sound like it’s little more than a series of set pieces strung together around a wafer-thin plot.

The script is, quite frankly, all over the place, chock full of ellipsis which can sometimes be very helpful to a film but here it is just lazy and sloppy. The talented trio, Joe Cornish, Steven Moffat (of Doctor Who fame) and Edgar Wright haven’t done a very good job of covering the exposition. The plot depends heavily on too-perfect coincidences. It sets out to deliver thrills, spills and chills with as little extraneous stuff as possible, and at that it succeeds beautifully. Also, the dialogue delivery, I am sure would be an issue for the Indian audience.

This grand scale adventure story directed by Spielberg is a clean family film pitched to a much younger audience, probably those below eight years, for the slapstick comedy and good natured fun that does not resort to crass, lowest common-denominator pandering.

There are some very good parts in the film, but as a whole this film is disappointingly unremarkable.

Blistering Barnacles!!! Thundering Typhoons… My heart breaks to say so….

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Movie Review Arthur Christmas : Amazing

By Matt Patches Hollywood : We live in an age where six-year-olds have iPhones, most of our possessions live in a “cloud” and even the refrigerator connects to the Internet. Like it or not, technology has infused itself into every aspect of our lives—so it seems appropriate (and terrifying) that even Santa Claus’ gift delivery operation would upgrade to the 2.0 world. Arthur Christmas, the latest film from Aardman Animation (the Wallace & Gromit films, Chicken Run), introduces us to the newfangled operation. These days, Santa (Jim Broadbent) is just a figurehead for a full-scale war game run by the militant Steve (Hugh Laurie) and his band of black ops elves, who cruise the December skies in their souped up spaceship sleigh. Business is conducted in the most controlled manner, with each elf equipped with dog food launchers and back-up tape dispensers in case of any on-ground mishaps. On the sidelines is Arthur (James McAvoy), a bumbling black sheep who outweighs the entire force in Christmas spirit, but can barely stand on two feet.

The opening deliver sequence is expertly directed by Sarah Smith, whose action is reminiscent of the highly energized Ratatouille, injected with the quirky, British humor one would expect from Aardman. But the dazzling setup doesn’t turn Arthur Christmas into a bombastic, holiday riff, instead using its lead to dig underneath the 2.0 landscape to find true magic. When one present goes undelivered, Arthur stands up against his complacent family members to right the holiday wrongs. The anxiety-ridden younger son teams up with his Grandsanta (Bill Nighy) and an eager wrapper elf Bryony (Ashley Jensen), hitching up the classic sleigh and venturing into the great unknown, all in the name of a young girl who might wake up gift-less.

The trio’s adventure takes them around the globe, from the busy streets of Toronto to a colorful Mexican town to the planes of an African wildlife preserve. With each wrong turn and each obstacle to overcome (outrunning a pack of lions while wearing reindeer slippers is no easy feat), Arthur’s belief in the greatness of Santa and the wonders of the Christmas are tested. For kids, it might be a familiar existential crisis, but the warmth that accompanies Arthur’s triumphant spirit should resonate with those young and old. That’s an achievement in a Christmas movie, but Smith’s delicate balance of sentimentality and over-the-top humor blend and keep the movie moving at lightning speed.

The movie’s 3D animation and stereoscopic display are top-notch, but the real extra dimension comes from the cast. Aardman has a knack for realizing characters, supporting or leads, who feel fully developed—and Arthur Christmas is no exception. Smith and writer Peter Baynham (Borat, Arthur) know when you trap the Claus family in the result will be brilliance: Steve commanding the floor, Grandsanta telling “when I was young” stories, Santa falling asleep, Mrs. Claus (Imelda Staunton) keeping the peace and Arthur reminding everyone that it’s Christmas. That’s as real as actual Christmas dinner gets. The elves of the North Pole are equally eclectic and odd—even with hundreds of workers scurrying around the ship, each one gets their time to land a joke. Overlaid on the rousing tale his a whimsical score by Harry Gregson-Williams that, much like his work on Narnia, feels simultaneously fantastical and exhilarating (as any good sleigh ride should).

There are so many Christmas movies in the pantheon of the season that it’s almost unimaginable that another could slip in without relying on a gimmick or cynical spin, but Arthur Christmas is as warm, fuzzy and hilarious as they come. Crafted with authentic joy, performed by lively voice actors and subtly imbued with jokes for all ages (no frame goes by without at least one sight or pun gag), those who catch it this year may find themselves returning every season. It’s just that nice.

Movie Rating : 4/5 – it’s a visual treat, don’t miss out this christmas.

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Movie Review The Muppets English 2011

Thomas Leupp Hollywood : Now here is a reboot to cheer for. The Muppets heralds the return of Jim Henson’s beloved furry creations, resurrected from pop-culture irrelevance and lovingly restored to their former greatness in a vibrant comedy-musical.
Jason Segel, in addition to co-writing and starring in the film, served as executive producer and the project’s resident evangelist. His choice of collaborators is inspired. Directing is James Bobin, best known as the co-creator, along with Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement, of HBO’s Flight of the Conchords, a show whose good-natured and yet slyly irreverent tone often recalled that of old Muppet Show episodes. (I’ve never quite recovered from its premature departure.) McKenzie served as music supervisor, contributing several original songs to the soundtrack. Segel’s co-star, Amy Adams, is the rare breed of actress who can transition from playing a pugilistic, potty-mouthed waitress (in The Fighter) to the role of an angelic schoolteacher with ease. And few actors portray cartoonish villainy with more verve than Oscar winner Chris Cooper.
The film opens with a montage introducing the character of Walter, a Muppet raised in Smalltown, USA, who figures himself the first and only of his kind until he happens upon an old Muppet Show rerun, after which he is inexorably transfixed. Together with his “brother,” Gary (Segel), and Gary’s fiancé, Mary (Adams), he travels out to Los Angeles to meet his idols, only to find their studio vacated and on the verge of being demolished by Tex Richman (Cooper), a sinister tycoon who covets the oil reserves beneath it.
The only way to save the studio, naturally, is a kick-ass variety show reuniting the Muppets, long estranged after the demise of their television series. Kermit the Frog is now holed up in a sprawling Bel Air mansion, which he once dreamed of sharing with his former flame, Miss Piggy, who has gone on to become Vogue’s “plus-size” editor in Paris. Consummate entertainer Fozzy Bear is slumming it in Reno with a tribute band dubbed the Moopets; Gonzo is consumed by his work as CEO of the plumbing company Gonzo’s Royal Flush; and Animal is seeking treatment at the Fresh Pathways anger management clinic.
Segel and company’s affection for the original Muppets property is clear, so much so that some viewers may dismiss the film as a tedious exercise in nostalgia. Pay them no heed. Kermit and the crew are as fresh and funny as they were three decades ago, and their anarchic brand of humor with young and old alike. The film suffers from an over-emphasis on its human characters (Gonzo’s miniscule screen time is particularly baffling), and McKenzie’s songwriting, while more than adequate, yields no memorable standouts in the vein of “Rainbow Connection” or “Mah Na Mah Na,” but these are minor quibbles. Only cynical curmudgeons like Statler and Waldorf would waste time finding fault with an experience this joyous.
Cast : Jason Segel, Amy Adams, Chris Cooper, Rashida Jones
Director : James Bobin
Rating : 4/5
Genre : Children’s/family, Comedy
Release Date : 11/23/2011
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Review The Twilight Saga Breaking Dawn

The reason why the ‘Twilight’ series captured our imagination a few years ago was the originality of its idea and execution. Watching the penultimate film in the series, you will be stuck with a series of dejà vus. You won’t have to rake your head hard to figure out where you had seen bits and pieces of “The Breaking Dawn” for it literally takes inspiration from and shamelessly copies the execution of almost every single TV soap-opera and their Indian avatar – the saas-bahu sagas…

Isabella (Kristen Stewart) and Edward (Robert Pattinson) finally get married and Edward unwittingly gets Isabella pregnant. As the fetus grows rapidly, it threatens Bella’s life. But she is unwilling to abort the baby despite the urging of everyone around. Afraid of the half-human, half-vampire baby growing inside Bella, the wolves plan to kill her even as the Cullen family and Jacob (Taylor Lautner), fight to save her.

The only originality the film hold is in its combination of cliches of multiple genres. Thus you have an exotic woman in possession of an ancient wisdom (from the monster movie genre) calling Edward a monster. You have once again a jealous friend in Jacob who mouths cheesy lines (teenage romance genre) and you have a understanding and protective family speaking dialogues straight from soaps (family drama genre)…the list goes on.

It even begins with ‘the’ teenage cinematic marriage sequence of the millennium. As the jealous best fried Jacob runs off in anger, the couple is married in a dream marriage that even Prince Charles and Diana could not have dreamt of. This and the honeymoon is slow and long, but has enough oomph for girls with romance in their eyes to lap up.

There is no point commenting on the acting department which actually relies on the inability of its actors to act, and their abilities to look either pale and white, expressionless or perennially angry.

“The Breaking Dawn” is good only for the die-hard fans of the franchisee, or teenage girls with fairy tale romance lighting up their eyes or fans of Mills and Boons. Others beware of a headache.

Rating : 2.5/5 – Not so captive as the earlier versions – Courtesy : NowRunning

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Movie Review Jack And Jill English 2011

There are those who like refinement in cinema, and many who trip just on the opposite. If you belong to the latter category, ‘Jack and Jill’ is a film hand-made for you. However, if you’re not, avoid the film like the plague. Brother-sister twins Jack and Jill (Adam Sandler both), can’t stand each other. Mostly it’s because Jill manages to get on the nerves of Jack. Hence, during one Thanksgiving when Jill comes and stays with Jack’s family all hell breaks loose till Jill unwittingly seduces Al Pacino, whom Jack needs to save his company.

In the film, Adam Sandler plays a double role. But he is so all over the place that it might seem that he is playing 10 different characters. Thus, if you are a big fan of Adam Sandler, even then you won’t be able to stand this film because Adam Sandler is as full of Adam Sandler in the movie as in this sentence.

Yes, the film has its funny moments. But there are so many gags and jokes stuffed one after the other that the good ones are lost in the melee of the bad ones. There’s not a moment’s respite or silence in the film as one dialogue follows another. By the end of it all, it is a mixed bag in your head.

The jokes and gags are unintentionally funny because they have been done so many times by so many films in the past that it is hilarious to see another film try it once again and fail so desperately.

It is as if the makers of the film knew that they were in possession of a bad film and so tried their best to fill every second of silence with some or the other noise to din out the lack of quality. It, however, worsens the film.

Even the delectable Al Pacino, playing himself, and cameos by many famous people, is unable to save this loud, crash and boorish film.

Indians will perhaps take particular insult to the character of an adopted Indian kid in the family who is always sticking things to his body with duct tape.

Even the wordplay, with words like ‘Prostitwin’ and ‘womb-mate’ (to describe a twin) does not particularly appeal and leaves you disappointed.

Rating : 1.5/5 – will definitely fall at the box-office – Courtesy : NowRunning

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Review SherlockHolmes GameofShadows

2009’s Sherlock Holmes found unexpected synergy in the pairing of Robert Downey Jr.’s impish charm and Guy Ritchie’s macho, kinetic visual style, reinventing Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s master detective for a modern blockbuster audience. The follow-up, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, employs the same winning formula while adhering judiciously to the Law of Sequels and its more-more-more dictates: more action, bigger set pieces, higher stakes, and a darker, more convoluted plot. But more, as so many past sequels have taught us, is rarely better.

Game of Shadows marks the emergence of Doyle’s most famous villain, James Moriarty (Jared Harris). Glimpsed only in darkness in the first film, Moriarty takes center stage in the sequel as Holmes’s foremost criminal foil, a genius-level university professor whose extracurricular interests range from horticulture to homicide. Holmes has deduced him to be at the center of a wave of terrorist bombings as well as the seemingly unrelated deaths of various titans of industry, but can’t quite discern just what the professor’s endgame might be. Composed and calculating to a menacing degree, Harris makes for a promising counterweight to Downey’s manic verbosity. But, as in the first film, Game of Shadows’ best moments are found in the comic interplay between Holmes and his reluctant sidekick, Dr. Watson (Jude Law), who is plucked from his honeymoon to accompany the detective on a trans-continental trip in search of clues to Moriarty’s machinations.

And it’s very much a boys-only trip. The female leads from the first film, Rachel McAdams and Kelly Reilly, are tossed aside – literally, in the case of the latter – in Game of Shadows, while the cast’s highest-profile new addition, Swedish star Noomi Rapace (best known as the original, non-emaciated Lisbeth Salander) is a curious non-factor in the role of a Gypsy (or Roma, if you prefer) fortune-teller. The film maintains only the slimmest pretense of a romantic subplot between her and Downey. Rapace, looking perhaps a bit lost in her first English-speaking role, can’t hope to eclipse the Holmes-Watson traveling road show.

Ritchie’s technique, with its signature blend of rapid cutting and slow-mo and super-high frame-rates – perfect for admiring the odd apple tossed in the air, or a piece of bark shot off a tree – is once again evident in the film’s awe-inspiring (and occasionally coherence-defying) set pieces, the most memorable of which is set in a munitions factory, with Watson wielding a gatling gun like an early T-600 prototype. But some of the novelty of the stylistic juxtaposition has faded since the first film. Ritchie tries to compensate by ramping up the firepower, to limited effect. Absent amid the hail of mortar blasts and automatic weapons fire is any real sense of intrigue or suspense, which proves to be Game of Shadows’ most vexing mystery.

Rating : 4/5

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Movie Review New Year’s Eve English Hit

Is it possible to make a film with so many characters played by big stars that each looks like they are doing a cameo and yet make the film watchable? “New Year’s Eve” attempts just that and though there may not be anything original in it, its sweetness and warmth pulls the film through.

As New York city eagerly awaits the annual ball-drop at Times Square on New Year’s Eve, different characters’ lives and actions collide and end in a joyous New Year for all.

There are films that have attempted to play multiple stories at the same time. While most of them have three to four stories intertwined with one another, “New Year’s Eve” attempts to weave together eight stories in two hours.

The result may not be a masterpiece but it holds together well with some witty dialogues, some genuinely funny moments and the warmth of hope that tugs at your heart during festive seasons.

Of course, the main problem you’d find is that none of the stories or their resolution smacks of even a bit of originality. But that does not matter as it is a feel-good film whose only goal is to put you in the holiday mood.

The other issue with the film is that because of so many stories, it is tough to ‘show-don’t-tell’ – the basic rule of any good art. Thus, for example, you hear from the character of Robert De Niro about what a prick was. You don’t have time to actually experience it in his actions. This does seem a little jarring, but not unbearably so.

Fans of the many stars who share screen space in the film would be disappointed by how underutilised they all are.

While you are glad that Jon Bon Jovi does not have a bigger role for he cannot act for the life of his, you are sad that De Niro, Halle Berry, Hillary Swank, Michelle Pfeiffer and Jessica Biel among others are so underutilised.

Thus, while you get involved in one story, another pops along – which sometimes disturbs your rhythm. But it’s a good hearted, moral, family film which you will enjoy if you watch without any expectation.

Rating : 3.5/5 – A Cool Movie

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Movie Review Machine Gun Preacher 2011

Often we see such bad things that it shakes us strongly. But we turn our backs convincing ourselves that it is someone else’s problem. “Machine Gun Preacher” is a true story of a ‘sinner’ who refused to walk away after his eyes were opened and thus changed things.

After realising the error of his ways, drug peddler Sam Childers (Gerard Butler) turns to Jesus and sorts himself out. A few years later on a trip to Sudan, he is appalled by killings that leave thousands orphaned. He tries to help. When his honest attempts are thwarted, he refuses to give up and picks up a gun.

Guns hiding behind Bibles and Korans have made the world a dangerous place. Director Marc Forster thankfully refuses to lose his way in the rhetoric of Christianity to create a compelling, believable drama which focuses on an individual and what he can do to change things.

He paints the transformation of a man and provides those who want to help a template for their own transformation and for bringing change in the world.

We often encounter big problems. Sadly, we get so overwhelmed by their enormity that we don’t even attempt change. After all, how much can you do? Sam Childers answers this question: do whatever little you can. But, do it.

In a scene that can be easily missed, Sam sees a lot of kids sleeping on the ground outside and tries to take them to his room. When reminded that he can’t take all, he says he will take as many as he can. All the problems of the world can be solved if all of us could cultivate this attitude – help and do as much you can.

The larger problems of humanity can make for compelling drama. Yet, most creators of art, cinema and literature choose not to even attempt it. They run after little pointless stories with beautiful but often useless metaphors. “Machine Gun Preacher”, an action film in the typical Hollywood mould that also packs in a caring heart with good writing and direction, gives such films a tight slap.

Hence, besides writer Jason Keller and the director, credit also goes to people like producer Gerard Butler to have believed in a story that needed to be told and for saying it the way it is. That it is true, helps to reinforce the urgency of action.

The film has an even pace and builds the transformation of Sam very well. Yet, where it scores over many others in the genre, is in not ending with just this. It goes beyond and explores Sam’s character, and how he loses sight of his faith in the onslaught of uncaring souls till a second transformation finally purges him.

The film is relevant in the Indian context as well. What’s happening in Africa is also the story of India’s tribal hinterlands.

Those of you who have seen photos of the 644 burnt villages in Chhattisgarh will see an uncanny resemblance with similar scenes in the film. Perhaps burnt villages look the same everywhere. And so does poverty. The poor are expendable everywhere. Yet, the most relevant point is, would you shake up your rust and do even a bit of what Sam Childers continues to do?

Rating : 4/5

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Review MissionImpossible Ghost Protocol

Under the witty direction of animation genius Brad Bird (“The Incredibles’’), “Ghost Protocol’’ acknowledges the incomprehensibility of “M:I’’ plots, which have always been shaky scaffoldings on which to hang the spectacular action sequences that audiences actually pay to see.

Bird has some real doozies up his sleeve, but first he disarms the audience with a title sequence — springing Ethan from a Russian prison — that affectionately kids the series, and even the ’60s TV show from whence it sprang.

This opening is so thoroughly over-the-top absurd that I wouldn’t have been surprised if Val Kilmer’s character from the spy spoof “Top Secret!’’ turned up as the quickly dispatched chief of IMF (alas, it’s an unbilled Tom Wilkinson).

The movie’s sense of humor extends to casting British funnyman Simon Pegg as the gadget-master of Ethan’s team, whose inventions have a way of failing at the most inopportune moments.
Like when Ethan is using his special gloves to climb what amounts to the world’s largest phallic symbol, a 160-story hotel in Dubai, to get to computer servers that somehow can only be accessed from outside the building.
This truly spectacular stunt — supposedly executed without the use of computer-generated imaging — is needed as part of a preposterous scheme to obtain those launch codes by having IMF staff simultaneously pose as the purchasers and sellers of said codes. Well, I said it was convoluted.

Bird has also done a great job of staging an exciting chase in the mother of all Dubai dust storms.
When the action moves to Mumbai for reasons I can’t begin to explain, Ethan and one of the generic bad guys battle for possession of the codes on a series of revolving car elevators.

Great fun! The director, alas, can’t do much with a soggy coda that reaches for unearned poignancy by asking audiences to actually remember Ethan’s wife from the unfortunate “Mission: Impossible III.’’

The film also wastes the coiled intensity of Jeremy Renner, as the newest member of the IMF team with a none-too-compelling past. Bird does keep audiences guessing whether Renner is the only leading actor in Hollywood who’s even shorter than Cruise.

The team is rounded out by Paula Patton — amusingly jumping from her role as a lesbian schoolteacher in the Oscar-winning “Precious’’ — whose principal function here is to seduce an Indian mogul in pursuit of, you guessed it. Codes.

Except for a threat to Dumpster-dive without a shirt, Cruise, who’s pushing 50, plays a more mature iteration of Ethan.

But given the actor’s vanity and limited sense of humor, it would probably be expecting too much for him to more directly acknowledge his advancing age, the way Sean Connery did in his final James Bond film, made when he was not much older than Cruise.

Clocking in at well over two hours, “Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol’’ overstays its welcome a bit, but delivers the goods where it really matters.

Rating : 4/5 – A Mission Well Accomplished.

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Review Alvin and Chipmunks Chipwrecked

As with its two predecessors, the animated/live-action hybrid Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked is positioned to open during the holiday season, when demand for family entertainment is high and standards are grievously low. How low, you ask? The first two episodes in the franchise, 2007’s Alvin and the Chipmunks and 2009’s Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel earned over $800 million worldwide combined. It hurt to write that last sentence.

You’d think such success would instill a certain pride of craftsmanship in the filmmakers, but almost everything about Chipwrecked suggests the opposite, from the hackneyed screenwriting to the lazy acting to the cheap-looking production design. The only aspect that truly impresses is the animation of the CG characters, who are crisp and detailed and vibrant – a far cry from their human counterparts.

After sitting out much of the Squeakquel, Jason Lee, his schedule freed up following the cancellation of My Name Is Earl, returns as the Chipmunks’ beleaguered manager, Dave Seville. Also back for another quick payday as the primary nemesis, Ian, is David Cross, no doubt ruing the three-picture contract he signed.

Dave, Ian, the Chipmunks, and their female counterparts, the Chipettes, are aboard a luxury cruise liner when a mishap triggered by the ever-disobedient Alvin (Justin Long) casts them overboard and onto a remote tropical island, where they embark on a series of sub-comic misadventures, finding time in between for the odd ear-splitting rendition of a contemporary pop tune. Songs covered include Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance,” Pink’s “Trouble,” Destiny’s Child’s “Survivor,” Willow Smith’s “Whip My Hair,” and LMFAO’s “Party Rock Anthem.”

What’s always amazed me about these films is the impressive roster of actors recruited to voice the Chipmunks and Chipettes – including Long, Anna Faris, Amy Poehler, and Christina Applegate – when digital helium added in post-production renders them all but unrecognizable. Aside from differences in pitch, the characters’ voices are nearly indistinguishable from each other.

For those parents who find themselves forced to endure Chipwrecked, the best thing I can say about it is that it will keeps your child’s brain occupied without doing serious damage to yours – provided you don’t get a concussion from repeated face-palming.

Courtesy : Hollywood – Rating : 3/5 – Not as Great as its Predecessors, but still an enjoyable outing.

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Review We Bought A Zoo English 2011

We Bought a Zoo opens with the voice of Dylan Mee (Colin Ford), narrating glimpses of his journalist father Benjamin’s (Matt Damon) worldly adventures. Ben’s been embedded with violent dictators, covered with killer bees and flown through the eye of a hurricane, but as Dylan explicitly states, “nothing prepared him for this one”—the “this one” being the titular purchasing of a zoo on the brink of closure. Director Cameron Crowe (Jerry Maguire, Almost Famous) has never been one for subtly, but that’s never been the goal. We Bought a Zoo drops the cynicism, wears its heart on its sleeve and doesn’t mind laying it on thick in an effort to move you, which it does—whether you like it or not.

Courtesy : Hollywood

Six months after his wife’s death, Ben still doesn’t have a grasp on how to be a good parent. He struggles to throw together bagged lunches for his daughter Rosie (Maggie Elizabeth Jones), watches Dylan downward spiral into school expulsion, reluctantly accepts lasagnas from the sympathetic family friends and grieves over iPhoto montages of a life that once was. Every corner of his home conjures up familial memories, prompting Ben to hightail it out of town. After a desperate house hunt, Ben sets his sights on a stunning country home that comes with one twist: it’s the home to lions and tiger and bears (oh my!).

Along with its diverse collection of fauna, Ben’s new zoo sports a colorful cast of staff members, including Peter MacCready, the temperamental Scottish maintenance man, Robin, the laid-back handyman with a monkey on his shoulder, and Kelly, the young, committed animal handler (Scarlett Johansson). Ben inspires his team with motivational speeches (and signed checks), and together, they work to rebuild and reopen the park.

We Bought a Zoo explores its themes of loss and renewal on the surface, with cartoony characters, hammy dialogue and a score by Jónsi of Sigur Rós that steers you towards an emotional destination. But it all works, thanks in large part to Matt Damon’s charm and a general air of niceness to the whole package. Damon is one of the few stars capable of playing a Regular Joe. Watching him have his butt kicked by zoo chores is delightful, while he adds true gravity to the dramatic moments. Whether he’s butting heads with his morose son in a screaming match or tearing up over his inescapable past, Damon digs deeper than Crowe and Aline Brosh McKenna’s (The Devil Wears Prada, 27 Dresses) screenplay. The rest of the cast manages to elevate the material too—Johansson keeps herself down to Earth; Thomas Haden Church, as Ben’s skeptical brother Duncan, knocks every joke out of the park; And the young Elle Fanning inspires once again as Kelly’s bubbly, tween cousin who falls for the disgruntled Dylan (although no one seems to have a problem with a 12-year-old spending her days working/living at a zoo; her parents are completely out of the picture).

The movie doesn’t take unexpected turns or make profound statements, but it succeeds in its goal of tugging the audience’s heartstrings. The world of We Bought a Zoo is one where everything works out if you persevere, have hope and open yourself up to love. That’s not reality, but rather, inspirational thinking. Perfect for the holiday season.

Rating : 3.5/5 – A Heart Warming Story

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Review In The Land of Blood and Honey

In the Land of Blood and Honey adorns the name “Angelina Jolie” across its marketing materials, but don’t expect to see the seraphic starlet pop up on screen. Jolie makes her directorial debut with the Bosnian war film, a powerful drama that strives for realism in its use of homegrown talent, the setting’s native tongue and graphic depictions of violence. The goal of the movie is apparent: the genocide committed across the Balkan region in the early ’90s was all but swept under the rug, and Jolie is ready to unleash those horrific truths upon willing audiences. In the Land of Blood and Honey pulls no punches. The movie is terrifying and provocative, telling a conventional love story only as a way of connecting with the mainstream. War is ugly, and Jolie’s film presents it truthfully.

Courtesy : Hollywood

Ajla (Zana Marjanovic) and Danijel (Goran Kostic) are two Bosnians in the beginnings of a relationship—one that is eventually cut short by the eruption of conflict. Danijel, a Serb police officer, is recruited by his militant leader father Nebojsa (Rade Serbedzija) to join the Serb Army, whose goal is wipe the country clean of Bosnian Muslims. He’s eventually reunited with Ajla, after she’s captured by the Serbs and incarcerated in a concentration camp. There she is subjected to mental and physical torture, serving the Serbs as they return from systematically wiping out her people and routinely being the target of their sexual abuse. Before finding himself whisked away on reassignment, Danijel clues Ajla into an escape route, which sends the prisoner on a journey through the war-torn country, in hopes of reuniting with her family, and possibly, Danijel.

While the Romeo and Juliet-esque romance between Danijel and Ajla adds to the weight of the situation, it never feels like the focus of In the Land of Blood and Honey. Rather than developing the complexity of the duo, Jolie uses her characters as emotional proxies, which works as a window into the unimaginable events of the war. Marjanovic and Kostic deliver compelling performances as Danijel and Ajla–both characters struggle with what they’re romantic actions with one another mean to their respective causes—but even with their thread, the real drama comes from the world around them.

There’s no safety filter on the gut-wrenching atrocities Jolie puts on display: lines of Bosnian Muslims stripped naked and executed, women seized by the Serbs and used as human shields, and hidden refugees sacrificing their own just to remain concealed. The film is shot simply, but the images speak for themselves. At times, the character/dialogue-driven moments feel more like necessary pit stops before the next harrowing sequence—even in introspective moments, like a scene in which Danijel contemplates and resists sniping a nearby enemy—but without them, the movie would lack the necessary truth of the final product.

In the Land of Blood and Honey is a complicated film, one that doesn’t entirely work as an act of storytelling, but whose end goal is a grisly success. Jolie’s commitment to history makes the film a brave work of art and a must-see. Blood and Honey will leave you shaken, and it’s an experience you owe yourself to have.

Rating : 4/5 – The Lady is Back with a Bang

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Movie Review The Devil Inside English

By Thomas Leupp Hollywood : The opening credits of the found-footage excretion The Devil Inside include a helpful disclaimer advising us that the Vatican “did not endorse this film, nor aid in its completion,” just in case we might be inclined to believe the Holy See were in the business of making schlocky horror flicks. One’s heart goes out to Satan, whose involvement in the film is pretty clearly implied by the title, but who received no such disclaimer. Even he deserves better than to be associated with this dreck.

The pseudo-doc-style story centers on a young girl, Isabella Rossi (Fernanda Andrade), whose mother, Maria (Suzan Crowley), murdered three people twenty years prior during what was later revealed to be an exorcism gone awry. Seeking to learn more about the tragedy that consumed her mother, Isabella travels to Italy, where Maria is currently housed in a Vatican-run mental hospital. The doctors prove frustratingly insensitive to her mother’s affliction, causing Isabella to see out a pair of young renegade exorcists (Simon Quarterman and Evan Helmuth) for help.

Maria is one creepy bird, a frazzled cat-lady whose eyes blaze with penetrating, high-octane craziness even under heaviest of sedation. An early scene, in which Isabella meets with her near-catatonic mother and gently tries to ascertain whether her insanity is of the conventional or demonically-inspired variety, oozes tension as we wait for her whispered ramblings to explode into full-on Satanic mania. It’s a terrifically fraught scene, by far the best in the film, and, sadly, the only point in which we ever come close to being scared.

The film proffers a variety of different narrative threads and chooses to resolve none of them. What happened to the English priest’s uncle, or Isabella’s baby? And what of that poor possessed gal with the hemorrhaging vagina? Was she ever able to get that under control? God only knows. Even crazy-eyes Maria, the film’s MVP, makes an all-too-hasty exit, never to be hear from again after a half-baked exorcism attempt.

Director/co-writer William Brent Bell’s clear aim is to mimic the wildly successful Paranormal Activity films, but he ignores the found-footage standard-bearer’s most important precept, which is to keep the story simple, rely as little on the “actors” as possible, and pile on the cheap scares, one after another. Instead, we’re handed an abundance of character details we never asked for, and which never really amount to anything, save for some choice over-acting in the third act when the devil’s machinations turn everyone against each other. The film devolves into a kind of exorcism-themed Real World episode, replete with “confessionals” in which the characters tearfully air their frustrations — as if we gave a damn. Perhaps it’s a good thing we don’t, because The Devil Inside concludes with what might be the least-satisfying horror ending in a decade.

Director : William Brent Bell
Cast : Fernanda Andrade, Simon Quarterman, Evan Helmuth, Suzan Crowley
Release Date : 01/06/2012
Rating : 2/5
Genre : Horror

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Movie Review Joyful Noise English Film

A massive hit never ends at its own conclusion, for better or worse. Lost, Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland, The Blair Witch Project and other pop culture milestones spawned plenty of imitators of wavering quality that trickled on to screens until the phenomena tapered off. Joyful Noise, the new film starring Queen Latifah and Dolly Parton, is one these auxiliary creative endeavors, a direct descendant of the cheeky drama/comedy/musical hybrid Glee. But instead of teenage issues and pop covers, Joyful Noise swaps in familial struggles, gospel tunes and a sizable serving of Christian faith. The combination results in a movie that lacks the jazz hand energy of Glee, but packs good-natured laughs to keep someone awake for its two hour duration. More “noise” than “joyful.”

Mere minutes after the passing away of choir leader Bernie, Vi Rose (Latifah) inherits the position—along with a serving of negative vibes from Bernie’s wife G.G. (Parton), who was hoping to take the job herself. The new responsibility is only the beginning of Vi Rose’s troubles, as she attempts to balance her rebellious daughter Olivia’s (Keke Palmer) raging hormones, her son Walter’s (Dexter Darden) Asperger’s syndrome, her husband’s absence during a military stint and her own old school, God-faring ways. Hardships are whipped into further chaos upon the arrival of Randy, G.G.’s rambunctious, horny grandson, who shows up at rehearsal with an eye on Olivia and undeniable vocal skills. Randy’s rock and roll edge is readily embraced by the group, but even with the national gospel championship on the line, Vi Rose isn’t ready to toss tradition aside.

Joyful Noise is a mixed bag, sporadically entertaining when director Todd Graff (Camp, Bandslam) lets his two commanding stars flex their comedic muscles or belt soulful tunes. Latifah and Parton can do both with ease—Latifah has a natural charm, while Parton essentially fills the “kooky Betty White” here—but instead of letting the two fly, Graff breaks up the action with overwrought drama and bizarre side character stories. The script injects a lot of ideas into the picture—loss of faith, modernizing ideologies, coping with tragedy, sexuality under the eye of God—but every tender moment is fumbled. A gut-wrenching conversation between Vi Rose and her autistic son should have weight, and the actors do their best, but the material doesn’t service the emotional complexity of the scenario. Instead, it opts to cut to a musical number. Another sequence involving the overnight demise of another character is even played for comedy, even when it causes one woman to question her beliefs.

Thank God for the musical numbers, which have enough energy to brush the flimsier moments under the rug. The Glee-inspired pop tune covers (Michael Jackson’s “Man in the Mirror,” Usher’s “Yeah”—both tailored with religious modifications) aren’t nearly as interesting or powerful as the straight-up gospel songs. But unlike the tunes, Joyful Noise doesn’t have rhyme or reason. A mishmash of played out character stereotypes, narrative cliches and enjoyable, but erratic music, the movie feels more like a cash-in than it should. Latifah and Parton are a sizzling duo, but the vehicle built for them is a clunker. As Vi Rose might say, the only way to have a great time at Joyful Noise is to believe. Really, really hard.

Joyful Noise (2012)
Release Date: 01/13/2012
Rating: 2/5
Runtime: Not Yet Available
Genre: Comedy
Director: Todd Graff
Cast: Queen Latifah, Dolly Parton, Keke Palmer, Jeremy Jordan

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Movie Review Contraband English 2012

The nautical heist thriller Contraband is a remake of Reykjavik-Rotterdam, an Icelandic film from 2008 which, admittedly, I’ve yet to see. (It’s curiously difficult to find stateside.) Presumably, there must have been something about it that was compelling enough to warrant the effort and expense of an American adaptation. Whatever it was, it didn’t survive the no doubt complicated process of translating it into a proper Mark Wahlberg vehicle.
Wahlberg plays Chris Farraday, once a legendary New Orleans smuggler but now happily law-abiding as a home-security contractor. The same, however, cannot be said of his punk brother-in-law, Andy (Caleb Landry Jones), who runs illegal shipments for a tattooed hoodlum named Tim Riggs (Giovanni Ribisi). When Andy makes the unwise decision to dump his valuable narcotics cargo in advance of a Customs raid, earning the dreaded pay-up-or-die ultimatum from his unsavory boss, Chris tries in vain to intervene on his behalf, only to be rudely rebuffed. Which leaves him with only one option to save Andy’s skin: One Last Job.
The director of Contraband, Baltasar Kormakur, actually starred in Reykjavik-Rotterdam – a piece of trivia which, unfortunately, proves far more interesting than anything found in his remake. It seems his familiarity with the material bred banality, if not necessarily contempt. His approach is a kind of Bourne-lite: the shaky-cam is restrained enough to minimize audience headaches, but the ultimate result is stultifyingly generic.
Essential to any successful Mark Wahlberg film, from Boogie Nights to The Fighter, has been to surround Wahlberg with more accomplished and versatile actors, thereby allowing him to focus on his core competencies of scowling, cursing, and otherwise radiating his unique brand of low-watt charisma. Kormakur assembled capable-enough performers for Contraband, only to saddle them with uniformly bland characters.
Having grown accustomed to Kate Beckinsale as the leather-clad heroine of the Underworld films, I found it odd – and a bit disappointing – to see her reduced to the role of the protagonist’s fretful wife. Ribisi’s novel strategy for transcending his miscasting as a clichéd white-trash villain is to adopt a bizarre, high-pitched accent, presumably Southern in origin but unlike any Southern accent I’ve ever witnessed. Ben Foster plays Wahlberg’s best friend, an ex-con and recovering alcoholic who seems doomed to relapse on both fronts, if only because he’s being played by Ben Foster. Diego Luna, J.K. Simmons, Lukas Haas are underutilized in one-note roles.
I confess to be unfamiliar with the vagaries of illicit foreign-goods transport, but I have to think it’s more exciting than what unfolds in Contraband. No one expects it to rival the glamour and of, say, casino robbery, but Kormakur depicts smuggling with all the verve and panache of a tax audit. The film’s lone fireworks occur on land, during a stop-off in Panama City, when Wahlberg’s character is forced by the local crime boss (Luna) in an armored-car hold-up. A heist-within-a-heist, if you will. But soon it’s back on the boat, where the momentum ceases, and the movie sinks.
Release Date: 01/13/2012
Rating: 2.5/5
Runtime: 1 hr 49 mins
Genre: Action
Director: Not Yet Available
Cast: Mark Wahlberg, Kate Beckinsale, Ben Foster, Giovanni Ribisi
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Movie Review Big Miracle 2012 English

You’d be forgiven for assuming Big Miracle, the new film from Ken Kwapis (He’s Just Not That Into You, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants), to be a made-for-TV movie. Its feel-good fervor and human-interest subject matter – the true tale of three whales trapped beneath the ice off the coast of Alaska in 1988 and the rescue efforts mounted on their behalf – certainly merit the Hallmark seal of approval, and its ensemble cast is littered with small-screen stars. But it opens this week not on the Discovery Channel or Lifetime but theaters – a few thousand of them, in fact. Perhaps that’s the “miracle” of which the title speaks.

John Krasinski, taking care not to stray too far from his Office persona, stars as Adam Carlson, a Barrow, Alaska, TV newsman dreaming of the big time when a local boy (Ahmaogak Sweeney) arrives with a story that just might get him there: On the eve of their annual migration, a trio of grey whales have become marooned under the Arctic Circle’s fast-forming ice sheet. Incapable of making the four-mile trek to open seas without running out of air, they cling to a shrinking hole in the ice, their only source of oxygen, as time slowly runs out.

No sooner has Adam filed his first report than Barrow is inundated with reporters, turning the plight of the whales into a media cause célèbre. A broad-based coalition is formed to free Fred, Wilma, and Bamm-Bamm, as they come to be nicknamed, bringing together such strange bedfellows as a headstrong environmental activist (Drew Barrymore), a scheming oil magnate (Ted Danson), a White House political operative (Vinessa Shaw), a native Alaskan tribe, and the Soviet navy.

Big Miracle is conceived an inspirational family film, and as such there are the usual array of heart-tugging scenes, but there’s also an odd strain of cynicism that permeates it. Hardly a soul in the film, save perhaps for Barrymore’s character, embraces the whales’ cause with what might be deemed altruistic intentions. Krasinski’s anchor eyes the crisis as an opportunity to advance his career, as does a rival reporter, played by Kristen Bell, who arrives on the scene shortly thereafter. Danson’s oilman is seeking a public-relations boost, while Shaw’s politico hopes to burnish the eco-friendly credentials of George H.W. Bush in advance of his presidential run. Even Krasinski’s Eskimo sidekick makes a killing hawking souvenirs and accessories to visiting rubes. The whole thing ends up feeling like some kind of saccharine paean to the virtues of self-interest, a Hallmark special scripted by Ayn Rand.

Big Miracle never quite rises to the level of tear-jerker, despite the best efforts of Barrymore, who all but channels the whales’ suffering with her histrionics. Part of the problem, frankly, is that grey whales aren’t the most photogenic of species. (There’s a reason why their oceanic rivals, the dolphins, get the bulk of the plum movie jobs.) At any rate, their majesty is scarcely apparent when confined to a hole in the ice, depriving Big Miracle of those endearing “Awwwww…” moments so crucial to the success of animals-in-peril films.

Still, it’s hard not to feel bad for the poor creatures, unsightly as they may be, as their plight is gradually overshadowed in Big Miracle by the contrived human drama that ensues on their periphery. (They are, in many ways, surrogates for the audience.) In the end, when the whales finally escape their icy prison and take leave of their human “helpers,” one longs to escape with them.

Release Date : 02/03/2012
Rating : 2.5/5
Courtesy : Hollywood
Runtime : Not Yet Available
Genre : Comedy drama, Romance, Adventure
Director : Ken Kwapis
Cast : John Krasinski, Drew Barrymore, Dermot Mulroney, Tim Blake Nelson

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Movie Review The Woman In Black 2012

There isn’t much of a twist to The Woman in Black’s haunted house tale: man goes to a creepy, old house, runs into an angry ghost, and mayhem ensues. That standard horror plot would be fine if the execution were thrilling, every scare sending a chill down the spine. But star Daniel Radcliffe’s first post-Potter outing has less life than its spectral inhabitants, with impressive early 20th century production design, sharp cinematography and solid performances barely keeping it breathing. Much like the film’s titular spirit, The Woman in Black hangs in limbo, haunting the quality divide.

Arthur Kipps (Radcliffe) is barely holding on in life, having lost his wife during the birth of their child and struggling to stay employed as a lawyer. To stay afloat, Kipps reluctantly takes on the job of settling the legal affairs of a recently deceased widow. Living in her home, the you-should-have-known-this-house-was-haunted-by-the-name Eel Marsh House, Kipps quickly realizes there’s more to the woman’s life than he realized, unraveling her mysterious connections to a string of child deaths and a ghostly presence in the home. Even with pressure from the townspeople, Kipps continues his investigation, hoping to right any wrongs he’s accidentally caused by putting the violent Woman in Black to rest.

Radcliffe bounces back and forth between the dusty mansion, made even more forbidding by the high tides that routinely cut it off from civilization, and a town full of wide-eyed psychos who live in fear of the kid-killing Woman in Black. Even after losing his own son, Kipps’ neighbor Daily (Ciarán Hinds) is convinced the “ghost” is a fairy tales, while Daily’s wife (Oscar nominee Janet McTeer) finds herself occasionally possessed by her dead son, scribbling forbidding message to Arthur about future murders. Arthur wrestles with the two extreme points of view, but Woman in Black doesn’t spend much time exploring the hardships of a skeptic, quickly slipping back into standard horror mode at every opportunity. When they have time to play around with the twisted scenario, all three actors are top-notch, but rarely are they asked to do anything but gasp and react in a terrified manner.

Director James Watkins (Eden Lake) conjures up some legitimately spooky imagery, leaving the space behind Arthur empty or cutting to an object in the room that could potentially come back to haunt our befuddled hero, all in an effort to tickle our imaginations. But like so many “jump scare” horror flicks, Woman in Black relies heavily on the “Bah-BAAAAAAH” music cues, obtrusively orchestrated by composer Marco Beltrami. A rocking chair, a swinging door and the reveal of a decomposing zombie ghost lady could work on their own, especially in such a well-designed environment as Eel Marsh House, but Woman in Black insists on zapping a charge of musical electricity straight into our brain, forcing us to shiver in the least graceful way possible.

The script by Jane Goldman (Kick-Ass, X-Men: First Class) tries to throw back to the slow burn, character-first horror films of classic cinema, while injecting the sensibilities modern filmmaking. The combination turns Woman in Black into visually appealing, dramatically bland ghost story. Radcliffe still has a long career ahead of him, as Woman in Black does suggest, but this isn’t the movie that get people thinking there’s life after Potter.

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Movie Review This Means War English 2012

By Thomas Leupp hollywood : In This Means War – a stylish action/rom-com hybrid from director McG – Tom Hardy (The Dark Knight Rises) and Chris Pine (Star Trek) star as CIA operatives whose close friendship is strained by the fires of romantic rivalry. Best pals FDR (Pine) and Tuck (Hardy) are equally accomplished at the spy game, but their fortunes diverge dramatically in the dating realm: FDR (so nicknamed for his obvious resemblance to our 32nd president) is a smooth-talking player with an endless string of conquests, while Tuck is a straight-laced introvert whose love life has stalled since his divorce. Enter Lauren (Reese Witherspoon), a pretty, plucky consumer-products evaluator who piques both their interests in separate, unrelated encounters. Tuck meets her via an online-dating site, FDR at a video-rental store. (That Lauren is tech-savvy enough to date online but still rents movies in video stores is either a testament to her fascinating mix of contradictions, or more likely an example of lazy screenwriting.)
When Tuck and FDR realize they’re pursuing the same girl, it sparks their respective competitive natures, and they decide to make a friendly game of it. But what begins as a good-natured rivalry swiftly devolves into romantic bloodsport, with both men using the vast array of espionage tools at their disposal – from digital surveillance to poison darts – to gain an edge in the battle for Lauren’s affections. If her constitutional rights happen to be violated repeatedly in the process, then so be it.
Lauren, for her part, remains oblivious to the clandestine machinations of her dueling suitors, and happily basks in the sudden attention from two gorgeous men. Herein we find the Reese Witherspoon Dilemma: While certainly desirable, Lauren is far from the irresistible Helen of Troy type that would inspire the likes of Tuck and FDR to risk their friendship, their careers, and potential incarceration for. At several points in This Means War, I found myself wondering if there were no other peppy blondes in Los Angeles (where the film is primarily set) for these men to pursue. Then again, this is a film that wishes us to believe that Tom Hardy would have trouble finding a date, so perhaps plausibility is not its strong point.
When Lauren needs advice, she looks to her boozy, foul-mouthed best friend, Trish (Chelsea Handler). Essentially an extension of Handler’s talk-show persona – an acquired taste if there ever was one – Trish’s dialogue consists almost exclusively of filthy one-liners, delivered in rapid-fire succession. Handler does have some choice lines – indeed, they’re practically the centerpiece of This Means War’s ad campaign – but the film derives the bulk of its humor from the outrageous lengths Tuck and FDR go to sabotage each others’ efforts, a raucous game of spy-versus-spy that carries the film long after Handler’s shtick has grown stale.
Business occasionally intrudes upon matters in the guise of Heinrich (Til Schweiger), a Teutonic arms dealer bent on revenge for the death of his brother. The subplot is largely an afterthought, existing primarily as a means to provide third-act fireworks – and to allow McGenius an outlet for his ADD-inspired aesthetic proclivities. The film’s action scenes are edited in such a manic, quick-cut fashion that they become almost laughably incoherent. In fairness to McG, he does stage a rather marvelous sequence in the middle of the film, in which Tuck and FDR surreptitiously skulk about Lauren’s apartment, unaware of each other’s presence, carefully avoiding detection by Lauren, who grooves absentmindedly to Montel Jordan’s “This Is How We Do It.” The whole scene unfolds in one continuous take – or is at least craftily constructed to appear as such – captured by one very agile steadicam operator.
Whatever his flaws as a director, McG is at least smart enough to know how much a witty script and appealing leads can compensate for a film’s structural and logical deficiencies. He proved as much with Charlie’s Angels, a film that enjoys a permanent spot on many a critic’s Guilty Pleasures list, and does so again with This Means War. The film coasts on the chemistry of its three co-stars, and only runs into trouble when the time comes to resolve its romantic competition, which, by the end, has driven its male protagonists to engage in all manner of underhanded and duplicitous activities. This Means War being a commercial film – and likely an expensive one at that – Witherspoon’s heroine is mandated to make a choice, and McG all but sidesteps the whole thorny matter of Tuck and FDR’s unwavering dishonesty, not to mention their craven disregard for her privacy. (They regularly eavesdrop on her activities.) For all their obvious charms, the truth is that neither deserves Lauren – or anything other than a lengthy jail
sentence, for that matter.
Release Date : 02/17/2012
Director : McG
Cast : Reese Witherspoon, Chris Pine, Tom Hardy, Chelsea Handler
Rating : 3/5
Genre : Comedy
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* English * Movies * Review Review Ghost Rider Spirit Of Vengeance 3D : Hit

Actor Nicolas Cage has a lot in common with his superhero counterpart Ghost Rider, featured once again on the big screen in the pseudo-sequel Spirit of Vengeance. Much like the daemon-infested crime fighter, Cage has the power to make anything he touches explode into a wild, blazing inferno, thanks to his unique performance techniques. Cage does not simply deliver a line, he detonates it; He does not simply react to his co-stars, he executes an interpretive dance; He does not simply throw a punch, he unleashes physical armageddon. Occasionally, the style provokes unintentional laugher, but in Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, anything less would be unrealistic.

The new adventure finds Ghost Rider aka Johnny Blaze, a former stunt man cursed after begging the Devil to save his father’s life, hiding out in Eastern Europe where he believes his soul-sucking alter-ego can remain silent. But Blaze’s TLC session is cut short when Moreau (Idris Elba), an Algerian priest with connections to the Devil’s latest diabolical plan, arrives. Seems Satan, who walks the Earth under the alias Roarke, is hellbent on inhabiting Danny, the young son of Nadya, who made her own deal with the Prince of Darkness. If he succeeds, Roarke will continue existing in the world of man—so, of course, it’s up to Ghost Rider to put the kibosh on the end-of-the-world scenario.

If you didn’t see the first Ghost Rider movie, don’t fret; the sequel isn’t confined by any established mythology, nor is it that concerned with the logic of its own story. Directors Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor employ a manic eye for action displayed in earlier films like Crank and Gamer, shooting motorcycle chases, shootouts and flaming skull transformations with adrenaline-infused camerawork that should leave anyone susceptible to motion sickness running to the bathroom. The 3-D transfer of the movie is a non-factor, the post-convereted stereoscopic effects rarely intrude on the zippy camerawork. Unlike the Crank films, Ghost Rider contends with its script, dragging when the movie tries to explain what the heck is going on and only picking up when the directing duo and Nic Cage are allowed to play.

A host of solid supporting actors breath traces of life into half-baked villain and characters—Ciaran Hinds stands out as Roarke, playing him like a forgotten Dick Tracy baddie—but at the end of the day, Spirit of Vengeance is all Cage’s show. With the fire of hell burning inside, Blaze is in a constant fight against himself and Cage embodies the monstrous struggle with cockeyed rage and growling vocals. Neveldine and Taylor make the most of their larger-than-life lead, and Cage spends most of the film teetering on the edge ballistic fury. That’s not to say the movie doesn’t take its quiet moments–a scene between Cage and Elba where Blaze begs Moreau to remove the Ghost Rider curse is surprisingly dramatic—but the movie has goals: to rattle you at 100 miles per hour.

Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance isn’t as fun, flashy or poignant as some of its recent comic book contemporaries, but for 90 minutes, Neveldine and Taylor revel in the ridiculous, wringing their character and lead actor for every ounce of mayhem. This is a greasy, gritty, grunge Ghost Rider, purposefully disgusting and low-fi. While a stronger emphasis on story would only help the spotty action flick, Spirit of Vengeance proves a decent alternative to the faithful boyscouts and friendly neighborhoood superheroes that fill our big screen blockbusters. Ghost Rider belches magma, pisses fire and plays nasty—you probably already know if this movie is for you.

Director: Brian Taylor
Cast: Nicolas Cage, Ciarán Hinds, Violante Placido, Idris Elba
Release Date : 02/17/2012
Rating : 4/5
Genre: Action

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