The Karate Kid (2010)

Genre: Action/Sports/Drama

Starring: Jaden Smith, Jacki Chan, Taraji P. Henson, Wenwen Han, Rongguang Yu, Zhenwei Wang

A remake of the 1984 classic, the movie tells film-makers exactly how a remake should be made. Rather than lifting each and every thing from the original movie and simply reproducing it in modern times, the movie greatly improves on the story, setup and cast to not just replicate the original but to make it better and more appealing to modern audiences. Dre Parker (Smith) has moved to China with his mother (Henson) since she got a new job in Beijing. Dre finds it extremely hard to adjust with the Chinese students and soon gets bullied by Cheng (Wang) and his friends when Dre tries to befriend Meiying (Han). Dre bears the brunt and is regularly beaten up due to their superior Kung Fu skills that Dre just doesn't have. Dre's apartment house maintenance man Mr. Han (Chang) sees Dre's situation and agrees to help him. Peace talks with Cheng's Kung Fu master, Master Li (Yu) go nowhere and Mr. Han proposes a fight at the Kung Fu tournament. Dre must train under the guidance of Mr. Han regularly is he wishes to emerge as the final winner and win back his honour. The movie carefully replaces USA with China, Karate with Kung Fu, Mr. Miyagi with Mr. Han but leaves everything else to be the same. Lovers of the original would not cry foul but instead love the remake for what it is. It may not take the movie to another level but it lives up to its reputation which is more than just enough. Jackie Chan sheds his Chinese Kung Fu warrior image to take on a more peaceful, unfit Kung Fu master and does a lot by doing so little. Good enough or maybe a little bit better than the original too.

Thumbs up: Jackie Chan

Thumbs down: Doesn't substantially improve the original

Rating: 6.8/10

The Next Karate Kid (1994)

Genre: Action/Drama

Starring: Pat Morita, Hilary Swank, Chris Conrad, Michael Cavalieri, Michael Ironside

A second attempt to revive the legendary movie brand, a lose remake of the 1984 movie sees some big changes than what the earlier movies showed. Julie Pierce (Swank) is a frustrated and angry high school student who lost her parents as a child and currently lives with her grandmother. Julie is unable to get along with her grandmother and when Mr. Miyagi (Morita) sees her behaviour whilst visiting their house, offers to help improve Julie. Mr. Miyagi decides to teach her karate and teach her all she needs to know to become a better person and improve her life. A member of the school security fraternity, Ned (Cavalieri) takes an evil liking for Julie and is very annoyed when she sees her getting friendly with his co-member Eric McGowen (Conrad). Just like the previous movie, this one too is focused on teaching a young American child the way of karate to ultimately defeat the enemy at the very end and reclaim their honour. The movie hugely fails to live up to the expectations of the original movie with no drastic improvements to make it any better. It tries to be different but yet fundamentally retains the same character. It seems hugely overdone and something new in this brand is seriously needed.

Thumbs up: Hilary Swank seems to be the only decent performance

Thumbs down: Slow, boring and too repetitive from the earlier movie

Rating: 5.5/10

Bad Company (2002)

Genre: Action/Crime/Adventure

Starring: Chris Rock, Anthony Hopkins, Peter Stormare, Kerry Washington

An attempt by the CIA to buy back a nuclear warhead in the black market goes bad and they end up losing a valuable operative, Agent Kevin Pope (Rock) to the hands of rival buyers. In order to complete the mission, Pope was needed as the Russian seller, Vas (Stormare) would not sell to anyone else. The CIA discover that Pope had an estranged twin brother where both did not know of the others existence. Enter Jake Hayes (Rock) a New Jersey resident who makes money doing random tasks just like any other person of his kind. The CIA recruit him and have 9 days to train him to look, talk and walk exactly like his twin in order to convince Vas that Pope never died. Agent Oakes (Hopkins) is in charge of the entire mission and must make sure that Hayes is well trained and does not mess the deal which could potentially cost thousands of American lives. Chris Rock's performance is not fabulous but does the job to make the movie interesting and entertaining. Watching him transform from typical street to typical CIA is fun and very much Chris Rock. The movie is like just any other spy movie whdre an American law enforcement agency is chasing after terrorists and bombs but Rock's appearance lighten things up greatly and makes this movie a wholesome entertainment. 

Thumbs up: Chris Rock and his humour

Thumbs down: Run of the mill storyline

Rating: 6.8/10

Batman (1989)

Genre: Science-fiction/Action/Crime

Starring: Jack Nicholson, Michael Keaton, Kim Basinger, Robert Wuhl, Michael Gough

The rich billionaire who is an antique dealer by day goes by the name of Batman at night. He prowls the city and gets rid of all the scum and filth and wipes the streets of Gotham City clean. Few people know the truth about Bruce Wayne (Keaton). Not just about Batman but also about his personal life and past. He leads a very quiet and secretive life and before long the beautiful and charming photographer, Vicki Vale (Basinger) enters his life and manages to change everything. Jack Napier (Nicholson) is a criminal mastermind of Gotham City who has an unfortunate chemical reaction which leaves him with an altered appearance and the knack of laughing all the time, hence he is now known as the Joker. The Joker blames Batman for his appearance and seeks revenge and his revenge will  be the lives of one and all of Gotham City. His threat is about to turn into reality only if Batman can stop him and bring him to justice. The movie is a very typical superhero movie with the good winning over the bad and the usual damsel in distress who needs to be rescued from the hands of the good for nothing villain. Apart from Nicholson's exceptional performance, the movie is the average entertainer. It marks the start of a long line of Batman movies which live up to this very day.

Thumbs up: Jack Nicholson

Thumbs down: Average story, nothing exceptional

Rating: 6.3/10

Passchendaele (2008)

Genre: War/Drama/Romance/History/Action

Starring: Paul Gross, Caroline Dhavernas, Joe Dinicol

We all have heard and watched movies of American, French, British, German and Japanese involvement in the World Wars. This movie shows Canada's involvement in World War I, a war in which she was not directly involved but sent her sons since it came under the British Empire. The movie sets a love story of two separate individuals against the backdrop of the war and all the suffering and emotions that come with it. Sgt. Michael Dunne (Gross) has been asked to returned home since he was diagnosed with neurasthenia and deemed unfit to serve on the battlefield. It was here that he met nurse Sarah Mann (Dhavernas) and instantly felt attracted to her. He was assigned to recruit young men to join the army and one such recruit was Sarah's brother, David (Dinicol). David suffers from asthma and hence cannot serve on the front due to which he cannot get his girlfriends' fathers acceptance who openly ridicules him. The movie shows two men, of different ages, both having their own worries with love and war and both suffering from disorders that disallows them to fight for their country. The movie mixes war and love nicely and brings out the true heartbreak that one must face when war divides love and family. However, the time spent on the romance is slow and stretched which loses audience attention. The movie quickly recovers to offer a decent climax but not the best. The war scenes of gore and bloodshed that may not be watchable for all. A well made movie only needed a more hurtful and emotional climax.

Thumbs up: Good concept

Thumbs down: Slow and dragged at times, climax could be better.

Rating: 6.1/10

Vantage Point (2008)

Genre: Crime/Action

Starring: Dennis Quaid, Matthew Fox, Forest Whitaker, William Hurt, Eduardo Noriega, Ayelet Zurer, Said Taghmaoui, Edgar Ramirez, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver, Alicia Zapien

A world political summit to end terrorism is being held at Salamanca, Spain where leaders of various countries would come together to sign an agreement to end terrorism once and for all. The movie revolves around a unique plot structure where the events of a single day are shown in multiple flashbacks from different points of view of various people at the summit. The movie shows the occurrences through six vantage points, which is, a news reporter Angie (Saldana) and her producer Rex (Brooks), US Secret Service Agent Thomas Barnes (Quaid), undercover Spanish police officer Enrique (Noriega), American tourist Howard Lewis (Whitaker), US President Ashton (Hurt) and terrorist Sam aka Suarez (Taghmaoui). Although the plot layout is interesting, the start of each of the six points are similar which gets a bit annoying to see and hear the same clips and audio over and over again. The movie becomes interesting and picks up pace towards the end to quickly wrap the plot and get over with it. The story, in isolation, is very basic and short but the focus predominantly lies in the same event happening through the eyes of various individuals. Interesting movie and can be recommended for a one time watch for action and crime enthusiasts.

Thumbs up: Unique plot structure

Thumbs down: Gets a bit annoying to watch the same footage too many times, basic story

Rating: 6.5/10

The Karate Kid, Part III (1989)

Genre: Action/Drama/Sports

Starring: Pat Morita, Ralph Macchio, Robyn Lively, Thomas Ian Griffith, Martin Kove, Sean Kanan

Continuing from where the second part left behind, Mr. Miyagi (Morita) and Daniel (Macchio) return home to LA only to find that their house is being demolished and they need to move somewhere else. With Daniel's mother busy looking after his ailing uncle, Mr. Miyagi takes Daniel to his house but since the demolition of Daniel's house, he has lost his janitors job and has no source of income. Daniel persuades him to open a bonsai shop and rents a location out of his college fees. John Kreese (Kove) the trainer at the Cobra Kai, the dojo that lost against Daniel is out of business too since no one wants to train with him anymore. He visits his mentor and good friend, a billionaire and crook who helps him to revive his ailing career and promises to get even with Daniel and Miyagi. The Karate championship is coming up once again and Daniel wants to defend his title, to the disagreement of Mr. Miyagi. He doesn't believe that Karate should be used to win trophies and sticks to his view that it should only be used to defend himself in the hour of need. Disappointed, Daniel decides to get trained alone and maybe even from someone else. The movie continues to be a bore like the previous movie and does not spark the excitement that the first movie had. Ralph Macchio's performance is annoying, he looks fat and ugly and cannot act for anything in the world. The movie shows you glimpses of Karate once more and tries to replicate the first movie but fails miserably. The story is far too predictable and the only persons who might want to waste time on it is those who simply want to complete the series, like me.

Thumbs up: Zero

Thumbs down: Annoying Ralph Macchio's performance, boring and predictable

Rating: 5.5/10

Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008)

Genre: Fantasy/Science-fiction/Action/Adventure/Drama/Romance

Starring: Ron Perlman, Selma Blair, Doug Jones, John Alexander, James Dodd, Seth MacFarlane, Luke Goss, Anna Walton, Jeffrey Tambor

In continuation to the previous Hellboy but at the same time adapting a different storyline, the second movie narrates the story of the Golden Army. King Balor is the ruler of the elves who clashed with the humans and fought long and bloody battles with no result. One of the elves builds him a Golden Army, an army of machines that are indestructible and can win any war. With this power he squashed the humans, but the bloodshed gave him a change of heart and he broke the crown that controls the army into three pieces. He made piece with the humans and gave them a piece of the crown and kept two to himself. Only if the three pieces would come together would the Golden Army once again rise. Balor's son, Prince Nuada (Goss) was against his fathers doings and has decided to return from exile and awaken the Golden Army and take the Earth as his. Hellboy (Perlman) is still fighting crime and other paranormal beings with his colleagues Abe Sapien (Jones) a psychic human-fish, Liz Sherman (Blair) his lover who can control fire and Johann Krauss (Alexander & Dodd, MacFarlene (voice)) an ectoplasmic creature and the team leader. They must come together and fight Nuada and not allow him to awaken the army as it will squash the Earth and bring doom to all. The movie is an improvement from the previous version on many fronts by making it more lively and entertaining. The romance between Liz and Hellboy and Abe and Princess Nuala (Walton) might seem to alter the stories speed and continuity but it adds character and makes it feel more wholesome. A sure watch for some good action, a huge helping of beasts and demons and the fair bit of drama.

Thumbs up: Good overall package

Thumbs down: Romance kills the flow

Rating: 6.8/10

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

Genre: Fantasy/Adventure/Action/Drama

Starring: Georgie Henley, Skander Keynes, William Moseley, Anna Popplewell, Tilda Swinton, James McAvoy, Liam Neeson (voice)

Based on the famous childrens' book by C.S. Lewis, the book series become popular with the advent of Harry Potter and the revolution of magical stories for children. A string of books written on similar foundations sprung up, with Narnia being one of them. Four siblings, Lucy (Henley), Edmund (Keynes), Susan (Popplewell) and Peter (Moseley) are transported to the land of Narnia when Lucy discovers a hidden wardrobe in the spare room which leads to the gates of the magical land. The lands are ruled by the evil White Witch (Swinton) who has harboured demons and beasts and wishes to quash freedom in the land and bring only gloom and misery upon all. There lives a prophecy that four humans would come to the land and liberate them from the grips of the evil Witch and free Narnia once and for all. The army of the free people is led by the lion, Aslan (Neeson) who has mustered an army and wants Peter, prophesied to be the next king, to lead the army to victory. The plot is very fundamental and predictable and can only appeal to the mentality of an 8-year-old. The story is patchy with many unexplained bits and lacks the finesse that Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings managed to have. The four central characters are defined as distinct personalities with similar reactions to each situation. Peter; the wise and daring leader, Susan; logical, mindful and practical, Lucy; loving and caring and Edmund; stubborn and childish. The characters tend to behave exactly as they are drafted which makes there every move rather predictable and after a while, annoying. Hugely avoidable unless your aged less than 10.

Thumbs up: *Yawn*

Thumbs down: Weak special effects, patchy story, poor acting

Rating: 5.4/10

The Avengers (3D) (2012)

Genre: Fantasy/Science-fiction/Action/Adventure

Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Tom Hiddleston, Clark Gregg, Samuel L. Jackson

Marvel, finally having run out of ingenious ideas to create more bizarre super heroes, has decided to mhx all the ingredients into one huge pot and just boil, stir, simmer and serve. The amalgamation includes Thor (Hemsworth) from Thor, Tony Stark (Downey Jr.) from Iron Man, Dr. Bruce Banner (Ruffalo) from Hulk and Steve Rogers (Evans) from  Captain America. The movie is in continuation to Thor with Loki (Hiddleston) seeking revenge from his brother which he intends to do so by destroying Earth and obtaining Tesseract, an unknown self-sufficient energy source with powers unlimited. With Tesseract gone missing, Dr. Banner is recruited by the Black Widow (Johansson) a smooth-talker, to help develop a way to locate it. Captain America has recently been woken up after being frozen for almost half a century and Tony Stark is just simply summoned to make his presence felt. Thor drops from the sky in search of his brother and hence they together form The Avengers, a team of heroes out to save the planet for sure death and destruction. The plot has absolutely nothing attached to it except for the usual good over evil tale with predictable climaxes and outcomes. Many of the more popular characters of Marvel were left out of this series, perhaps due to storyline or marketing purposes. The movie does expect its audiences to have seen the respective movies of all the characters at least once just so that they are in sync with their background and history. Even if you haven't, you wont miss out on too much but its helpful simply to understand the more finer details of every character. All in all, the movie is pure entertainment and does not intend to do anything else apart from that.

Thumbs up: Special effects, action and entertainment

Thumbs down: Bland plot, not as exciting as it sounds

Rating: 6.8/10

Hancock (2008)

Genre: Action/Fantasy/Drama/Romance

Starring: Will Smith, Charlize Theron, Jason Bateman, Eddie Marson

Everyone has seen the invincible super hero who brings an end to evil and saves the world, but who is gonna tell you the other side of the story? John Hancock (Smith) is man with super-human strength, can fly, can easily regenerate and is an alcoholic. Unlike the conventional super heroes, Hancock is hated by the citizens of LA for the collateral destruction he causes while trying to nab the bad guys and everyone wishes he would just leave. John is not particularly fond of the public himself and openly hates them back. Ray Embrey (Bateman) is a PR consultant who is struggling to get a good pitch across to his clients when he suddenly finds himself in a life-threatening situation and is saved at the very last minute by Hancock. Although he does also derail an entire freight train, Ray wants to thank him for saving his life and realises that if he could, as a PR consultant, change the way people look at him, he would not only repay Hancock but also give a huge boost to his struggling career. This idea does not go down well with Ray's wife Mary (Theron) and takes a little bit more than just convincing John to listen to him. The movies attempt at projecting a different super hero than what one reads in comic books is achieved to a certain degree but is still not perfect. Lose ends and some unanswered questions continue but the movie might not have been made for awards and is more focused towards pure entertainment. It does deliver action-packed performances, destructive scenes and the typical Will Smith humour and if it this that you need then that is what you will get. Don't expect anything more.

Thumbs up: Entertaining, a non-conventional super hero

Thumbs down: Lose, loses traction after a while

Rating: 6.0/10

True Grit (2010)

Genre: Western/Drama/Action/Adventure

Starring: Matt Damon, Jeff Bridges, Hailee Steinfeld, Josh Brolin

The second movie adaptation based on a novel, the movie charts the adventure of Matie Ross (Steinfeld) who is out to avenge the death of her father by the notorious criminal Tom Chaney (Brolin). Tom double-crossed her father when he had hired him for an assignment and fled with his gold after killing him. Matie, a young and determined 14-year-old has more sense and guts than an adult twice her age and decides to hire the best gunslinger her money can buy and get him to track and arrest Chaney for his crime, somebody who has true grit. U.S. Marshall Rooster Cockburn (Bridges) agrees to offer but not after Matie had to pester and nag him once too many times. Matie insisted on coming along with him for the journey much to his despise. En route, they meet Texas Ranger LaBoeuf (Damon) who is also hunting for Tom Chaney for another crime. Not being familiar with the land of Arkansas, he approaches Cockburn for a partnership where they both capture Chaney and share the rewards. Nominated for 10 Oscar awards, the movie is not for everyone and demands a whole lot of patience and understanding. Its slow to start and slow to progress and that is where you tend to lose interest. Its only towards the very end that the movie gets some meaning and momentum and where you start appreciating the movie completely. Fabulous performances especially by the young Hailee Steinfeld.

Thumbs up: Great performances

Thumbs down: Slow plot but matures well

Rating: 7.4/10

Barb Wire (1996)

Genre: Action/Crime/Drama/Science-fiction

Starring: Pamela Anderson, Victoria Rowell, Steve Railsback, Temuera Morrison, Jack Noseworthy

Have you watched a movie with the lead performer being someone who should never actually be in that role? Like an industrialist, a sports persons wife, an ex-politician or in this case, a porn star. The year 2017, the entire United States is engulfed in a civil war with Steel Harbour being the only free city in the country. Barb Wire (Anderson) is a mercenary and the owner of a bar in Steel Harbor. She struts her stuff, shows too much cleavage, has her legs exposed at all times, flaunts a 17" waist and can perform insane stunts wearing skin-hugging tight leather outfits. And there is something about a pair of German contraband contact lenses that can allow anyone wearing them to pass through a retina scan without any problem and a whole bunch of people trying to get their hands on it for a variety of reasons. There is too much skin show, in case I forgot to mention that, with everyone speaking in loud whispers with a thick, seductive and I'm-too-sexy touch added to it, especially Miss Anderson. The movie is a complete washout and although I would like to say that the movie is good enough at least to ogle at Pam, that too does not quite happen. The plot is badly glued together, randomly evolving and does not quite get to you even after pausing the movie and thinking about it for half a day. Is there enough already to suggest this is avoidable?

Thumbs up: HAHHAHAHHAHAHHAHA

Thumbs down: I'll write a blog post about that

Rating: 3.6/10

The Karate Kid, Part II (1986)

Genre: Action/Drama

Starring: Pat Morita, Ralph Macchio, Dany Kamekona, Tamlyn Tomita, Yuji Okumoto, Nobu McCarthy

Why is a sequel necessary? Any producer or director would give any one of the following two reasons. Firstly, the story is incomplete which needs to come to a logical conclusion, which is a perfectly acceptable reasoning, or secondly, to fully exploit a successful movies concept to extract as much juice as you can. Its the latter that causes most of the sequels to fall flat on its face with part II of The Karate Kid being no exception. Directly continuing where the movie left the last time, Daniel (Macchio) is the proud winner of the Karate tournament and is continuing his training with Mr. Miyagi (Morita). Miyagi recieves a letter from Okinawa, his village in Japan where his father is sick and is lying on his death bed. Miyagi explains that he once loved a woman called Yukie (McCarthy) who was arranged to marry his best friend Sato (Kamekona). When Miyagi announced his intentions, Sato wanted him to fight to death. Not wanting to fight Sato, Miyagi fled to the states without Yukie. Now, Miyagi has to return to Okinawa and realises that he would have to face Sato's wrath that he has curtailed for all these years. The movie is a massive deviation from the first movie and has lost its focus from Karate to become a family drama. Miyagi becomes the central character of the movie and Daniel seems to just be there because he has to. There is absolutely no training or excitement left in the movie that made its predecessor so famous. The movie is also inconsistent with respect to Daniel and Miyagi's love life and is a hugely predictable, two-hour long boring waste of time.

Thumbs up: Morita's performance

Thumbs down: Loses charm of first movie, outright boring

Rating: 5.6/10

Paan Singh Tomar (2010)

Genre: Biography/Crime/Sports/Action/Drama

Starring: Irrfan Khan, Mahie Gill, Imran Hasnee, Zakir Hussain

Governments across the world are criticised at times for not supporting and honouring citizens who have given their lives and love for the betterment of the country. Often such people are short-lived celebrities who fade into a deep trench soon after. Paan Singh Tomar (Khan) was a young army officer who had a panache for running and joined the sports division in the army, not for the passion but for the unlimited food on offer. His sincerity and commitment saw him excelling in the sport and winning the steeplechase event in the Asian Games for 7 years in a row. His elder brother Matadeen (Hasnee) breaks the news to him that his cousin has forcefully taken over Paan's farmland and has raised a gang of gun-totting goons who refuse to return him his land. Having served the country, Paan wanted the police or the judiciary to intervene and resolve the matter, however, all his efforts were in vain. Giving up all hope, Paan decides to raise an army of rebels who would come the aid of the innocent and get rid of those who try to ruin the common mans life. The movie reflects upon the apathy of those people who honour their country and keep faith in it which in return offers nothing to its citizens. The movie has gained a phenomenal fan-following with Irrfan Khan's exemplary performance in the movie throughout. Sadly, the movie suffers from a drawback that plagues almost every Bollywood movie; over-stretched plot lines. Had the movie shed a handful of minutes here and there, the movie would have been a splendid watch with the dragged and overdone parts being forgotten.

Thumbs up: Stupendous Irrfan Khan

Thumbs down: A bit overdone and stretched at parts

Rating: 7.1/10

Letters from Iwo Jima (2006)

Genre: War/Drama/Action/History/Biography

Starring: Ken Watanabe, Kazunari Ninomiya, Tsuyoshi Ihara, Ryo Kase, Shido Nakamura

Whilst Flags of Our Fathers portrayed the American story of the Battle of Iwo Jima, Letters from Iwo Jima narrates the Japanese story of the same war. Both movies were made by the exact same crew and shot one after the other. While Flags of Our Fathers focuses on the famous photograph and the life of three American soldiers after the war, this movie narrates only the Japanese perception of the events that took place during the war. The movie revolves around the fictional character of Pvt. First Class Saigo (Ninomiya) a newly married baker who was conscripted to join the war. The character of Saigo is the only survivor and is depicted as experiencing all the highs and lows of the war. The insightful general of the Japanese Army on Iwo Jima, General Kuribayashi (Watanabe) faced a tough decision when he learnt that his platoon would not be receiving any backup from the mainland and yet they are to defend the island with every last soldier to prevent the Americans from making it a base. The movie revolves around the cold hardships of war, suicides and bloodshed. The movie is a critics delight with fine performances and picture perfect scenes, however, its not a movie the average audience might appreciate due to its slow and heavy nature. The movie shows the raw approach to war and is widely different from its elder sibling. Another excellent movie from the stable of Clint Eastwood.

Thumbs up: Beautiful performances, great execution

Thumbs down: Slow and heavy

Rating: 7.2/10

Kung Fu Panda 2 (2011)

Genre: Action/Drama/Animation/Adventure/Fantasy


Starring (voice): Jack Black, Angelina Jolie, Dustin Hoffman, Gary Oldman, Jackie Chan, Gary Oldman, Seth Rogen, Lucy Liu, David Cross, Michelle Yeoh, James Hong

Ever wondered how did a Goose manage to raise a big, fat, furry Panda? Well your questions are now answered. The movie continues from part 1 where Po (Black) the panda, becomes the dragon warrior and fights to save China with the rest of his 5 team members. Lord Shen (Oldman) once a part of the dynasty that ruled China, was sent to exile by his parents for his evil ways. The court Soothsayer (Yeoh) prophesied that a panda would bring an end to him and his evil ways and Shen decides to kill each and every panda possible in China. After 30 years, Shen returns and wishes to gain control over his ancestral house and dead parents' kingdom. He wishes to use his new invention to bring the world under his feet and bring an end to Kung-Fu once and for all. Po needs to fulfill his destiny and bring an end to Shen and discover the truth about his past and who he really is. The movie is a huge improvement over the earlier movie with drastic improvements in plot and humor with dazzling animation and special effects. The only let down were the dialogues which could have had punchier in some places but fizzled due to the preference given to humor. Po's background, the main mystery of the movie, is not really a major mystery and comes across as very obvious and a let down to the climax. All in all, the movie is very entertaining and action-packed with a huge improvement over the previous movie.

Thumbs up: Good humour, nice animation and action

Thumbs down: Punch lines, Po's life story

Rating: 7.7/10

The Fighter (2010)

 Genre: Sports/Drama/Action/Biography

Starring: Amy Adams, Christian Bale, Mark Wahlberg, Melissa Leo

Based on the true life story, Micky Ward (Wahlberg) is an Irish-American welterweight professional boxer who has been living in the shadow of his elder brother and dominating mother. His elder half-brother, Dicky Eklund (Bale) was a not so successful boxer whose only shot to fame was when he knocked down Sugar Ray and became a local hero. Dicky became a crack addict and failed to train his brother correctly due to which he simply kept getting older without getting anywhere. Micky's mother, Alice (Leo) was Mickey's manager who doted on her elder son, overlooked all his wrongs and chose to control most of Micky's life. A string of wrong decisions, lost fights and bad training saw Micky going down in boxing which also led him to lose all self-confidence. He fell in love with bar girl Charlene (Adams) who made him stand up against his family and choose what is right and what is wrong for himself rather than let his mom and brother call the shots. The movies biggest and greatest highlight is Christian Bale and his fantastic performance. Nobody would say that the thin, dazed, doped and pale actor was the very same man who previously played Batman and many more such roles in his career. Bale and his performance shone throughout the movie accompanied by Adams for which they both won supporting actor awards. An enticing and interesting movie which is almost flawless.

Thumbs up: Marvellous acting and performances

Thumbs down: None in particular

Rating: 8.2/10

The Karate Kid (1984)

Genre: Sports/Drama/Action

Starring: Ralph Macchio, Pat Morita, Elizabeth Shue, Martin Kove, Randee Heller, William Zabka

Daniel (Macchio) and his mother Lucille (Heller) have just moved in to Los Angeles from Newark when Daniel’s mother got a new job offer. Daniel is not liking the move and is finding it hard to adjust. He befriends and falls in love with Ali Mills (Shue) who comes from an affluent family who too loves him back. Ali's ex-boyfriend Johnny (Zabka) is jealous of Ali's new love and does not like the fact that she has gotten over him for someone else. Johnny makes Daniel’s life miserable by beating him up and bullying him at every opportunity. Daniel is unable to stand up for himself and Ali does not appreciate that. Mr. Miyagi (Morita) is the local repairman in Daniel’s neighborhood who learns of Daniel’s problem and agrees to teach him Karate to defend himself. Daniel has two months to train himself for the big championship where he intends to take Johnny down once and for all. The movie has garnered a cult following over the years and has become a known name in martial arts movies. The character of Mr. Miyagi as the wise Japanese old man has been replicated through various forms over the years. The plot, however, is too basic and highly predictable right till the very end. In spite of its overtly predictable plotline, the movie manages to keep audiences engaged and shows the true spirit of Karate over what the commercial Karate schools intend to teach. A good entertainer for the entire family.

Thumbs up: Great action-packed martial arts entertainment

Thumbs down: Simply and predictable story

Rating: 6.8/10

Armageddon (1998)

Genre: Science-fiction/Adventure/Action/Drama

Starring: Bruce Willis, Ben Affleck, Billy Bob Thornton, Liv Tyler, Will Patton, Steve Buscemi, William Fichtner, Owen Wilson, Michael Clarke Duncan, Peter Stormare, Ken Hudson Campbell, Jessica Steen

World catastrophe movies are not new but somehow Armageddon stands out from the crowd. Harry (Willis) is a business tycoon who has made a fortune from drilling oil. His hands-on approach and close involvement in his rigs has given him the title of being the world’s most experienced and accomplished driller. He and his team have drilled on every possible location and situation that Earth could throw up to him and this time he faces a new situation, something even beyond Earth. A huge asteroid, the size of Texas, is heading towards Earth which would most likely result in the extinction of all life forms on Earth. NASA has a limited time frame and tries all possible options to put Earth out of harms way and the only solution appears to be to land a team of astronauts on the asteroid, drill a hole 800 feet deep and plant a nuclear bomb within it. Who else than the accomplished Harry Stamper to do the job? The movie seems very far-fetched in most ways. Firstly, the whole concept of landing on an Asteroid and drilling through it is too outlandish for anyone’s likings. The action is very typically Michael Bay with random and incoherent explosions which are over-dramatised. The only commendable aspect of the entire movie is the method in which the audience tends to fuse with the characters and share the emotions and bonds of love and death. The drama adds tremendous value to the movie and without it, the movie would probably be a complete washout.

Thumbs up: Great mix of action and emotion

Thumbs down: Too outlandish and bizarre

Rating: 7.3/10