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

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

Evan Almighty (2007)

Genre: Drama/Comedy/Fantasy

Starring: Morgan Freeman, Steve Carrell, Lauren Graham, John Goodman, Wanda Sykes, John Michael Higgins

Bruce Almighty, the predecessor to this movie, focused on Bruce and his tryst with God in the bid to outdo Evan. Now, Evan Baxter (Carrell) faces God (Freeman) when he decides to quit journalism in favour of running for Congress. His slogan, ‘Change the World’ attracts a lot of following and attention which wins him an office in Congress. Congressmen Long (Goodman) is pushing for a new land reform bill for which he wants Evans backing. Evan does the mistake, or maybe the right thing, by asking God for help in ‘Changing the World’. God instructs him to create an Ark if he wants to achieve his goal and forces him to become Noah and build a huge boat which would survive an inevitable flood that God would bring down upon the people of New York. The movie is very different from the previous movie and lacks the slapstick humour and stupidity that is often associated with Jim Carrey. Carrell tries his best at being funny, but is no Carrey. That said, the movie is far from boring and is a decent entertainment and a way to kill time but does not score very high on the 'Movies to Watch Before I Die' list.

Thumbs up: A good entertainer

Thumbs down: Could be funnier, maybe Carrey should have been around

Rating: 6.5/10

Puss in Boots (2011)

Genre: Animation/Adventure/Comedy/Drama/Action/Fantasy/Crime

Starring (voice): Antonio Banderas, Salma Hayek, Zach Galifianakis, Billy Bob Thornton, Amy Sedaris

The innocent, brown furred, black-eyed, Spaniard cat from Shrek gets a movie to his own name. Puss in Boots (Banderas) is an outlaw who loots and plunders, not from the innocent, but from those who deserve it, much like Robin Hood. He learns about the magic beanstalk with the Golden Goose that lives high up in the Giants castle and lays golden eggs He embarks on an adventure to find the magic beans when he crosses paths with Kitt Softpaws (Hayek) a cat much like him, out for the same objective. His adventures lead him to once again come face to face with Humpty Dumpty (Galifianakis) an old friend who started stealing from the innocent and hence parted ways. Humpty and Puss had a childhood ambition of growing the beanstalk and now Humpty knows how exactly to do it and needs Puss' help once more. The character of Puss was loved and applauded by all for his cute and suave Latino style. With the Shrek series coming to an end, Dreamworks' attempt at reviving old fairy tales and portraying them contrarty to our normal beliefs might have failed in this attempt. Shrek was loved for its humour and unique plot line, however, Puss in Boots fails on both those aspects with below average humour and an extremely predictable story. Targeted towards young kids, the movie needs heavy humour that the audience could associate with and not the rude, sarcastic and slightly sexual comedy that the movie banks upon. A let-down for people who expected the Shrek magic once more.

Thumbs up: Unique blend of various fairytale characters

Thumbs down: Boring  humour, hopeless attempt at being entertaining

Rating: 6.2/10