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

Dirty Work (1998)

Genre: Comedy/Drama

Starring: Norm MacDonald, Artie Lange, Jack Warden, Traylor Howard, Christopher McDonald, Chevy Chase

'Do what you are always best at', is a famous saying once said by some very famous person. Two good friends, Mitch (MacDonald) and Sam (Lange) intend to literally adhere to this phrase. The duo are good at nothing and have changed an infinite number of jobs but somehow cannot find anything stable. The only thing they are good at is creating mischief. The two always pulled pranks at various people in their lives and a sudden brilliant idea makes them want to cash in on this ability of theirs and earn some money. Sam's father needs a heart transplant and his doctor, Dr. Farthings (Chase) wants $50,000 for the transplant and also to pay off some bookies who are looking for him and would kill him in 9 days. The two now have to come up with $50,000, which was already an uphill task, and must now additionally earn that in an impossible nine days' time. The best thing about the movie is the unique concept and story that makes it very appealing at first sight. The reason why one must not give in to this appeal is because of the poor performances and worthless humour. The movie seems to fit the definition of the word 'lame' and lacks the excitement that it otherwise should have had.

Thumbs up: Unique concept and story

Thumbs down: Bad humour and performances

Rating: 5.5/10

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

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

Horrible Bosses (2011)

Genre: Comedy/Drama/Crime

Starring: Jason Bateman, Kevin Spacey, Charlie Day, Jennifer Aniston, Jason Sudeikis, Collin Farrell, Jamie Foxx

Remember that dinner with friends where someone throws a completely stupid idea and everyone plays along and agrees to doing it knowing full well that its just a stupid joke? And remember the next morning when you wake up and you actually think you might want to after all execute that thought that randomly came up over yesterdays dinner? Three friends, Nick (Bateman), Kurt (Sudeikis) and Dayle (Day) contemplated over the thought of killing their bosses and after a few days that thought started moulding into a real thought. Nick's boss, Dave Harken (Spacey) is a maniac who squeezes every drop out of his employees and treats them like slaves. Bobby Pellitt (Farrell) is Kurt's coke addicted boss who has no interest in the company or anyone's welfare and simply wants to have one big party all the time. Dale's boss is the super-hot and sexy Dr. Julia (Aniston) who is a sex maniac and is trying to get Dale to sleep with her. That may not seem all that bad for most people but Dayle is due to get married and he fears being disloyal to his fiance. The trio decide to kill the three bosses and make their life better and approach the first black shady man they meet, Mr. Motherfu***r Jones (Foxx). The movie is cleverly set against the backdrop of the global recession with dwindling job opportunities and showing people doing almost anything to earn some money. Its got a different edge to it and is definitely a good fun watch. A lot of working folk might associate themselves with the feeling of killing their bosses and this movie captures that exact moment. Its not laugh out loud funny but its definitely worth the entertainment.

Thumbs up: Great fun, good plot

Thumbs down: Would have been a repeat watch if it was crazy funny

Rating: 7.1/10

Dial M for Murder (1954)

Genre: Crime/Drama/Mystery

Starring: Ray Milland, Grace Kelly, Robert Cummings, John Williams, Anthony Dawson

Alfred Hitchcock, murder and crime in the same sentence go very well together. His movies have spearheaded the crime and murder investigation genre and had put a heavy focus on detectives. Tony Wendice (Milland) is a reasonably well to do, married and middle aged man who used to love to play tennis. He married Margot (Kelly) who didn't want him to pursue the sport for whom he was forced to give it up. Margot had an affair with an American crime novelist Mark Halliday (Cummings) about whom Tony later learnt about. His regret for leaving tennis for his wife and now she leaving him for another man pushed him to the edge where he started plotting her murder. His carefully crafted plan involved C. J. Swan aka Captain Lesgate (Dawson) who was to execute the plan and murder his wife. Yet the most well-crafted plan always has a flaw, the most obvious flaw that is undetectable but yet too obvious. The movie crafts a perfect mystery and the character of Tony Wendice, the smart and thoughtful man who thinks far and thinks well and does justice to the plot. The only chink in the erstwhile formidable armour is in the plot itself. The entire crime scene is revealed early on in the movie with the murder itself taking place. Now that you know exactly what happened, its only a matter of solving it. This leaves little room for a climax and stunning end and the audience is more or less prepared for the outcome. A great murder mystery nonetheless which is simple and sweet, to the point and does not have any complicated parallel stories to lose focus of the main plot.

Thumbs up: Great performances and good crime scene

Thumbs down: Not a very strong climax

Rating: 7.6/10

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

Mulholland Dr. (2001)

Genre: Crime/Drama/Thriller/Mystery

Starring: Naomi Watts, Laura Elena Harring, Justin Theroux

Pronounced and read as: Mulholland Drive. Profound and deep movies with layered meanings and multiple interpretations are always a difficult watch for the average audience and appeals only to critics, movie fanatics and visitors of film festivals. Betty Elms (Watts) is a struggling actor who has arrived in Los Angeles to become a movie star. Her aunt is a veteran actor who is currently on vacation and has hence decided to lease her massive house to Betty to stay in. Meanwhile, a failed murder attempt inside a limousine sees the victim (Harring) escaping from the crime scene and sneaking into Betty's' aunts house without any one's knowledge. The victim cannot seem to remember her name and assumes the name of Rita. Betty at first thinks she is her aunts friend but later learns of the true story. Betty's childish detective instincts come to life and she tries to unravel Rita's mystery and find out who she exactly is. Meanwhile, a movie director, Adam Kesher (Theroux) is threatened by the mafia to cast a girl of their choice for the lead role in his upcoming movie rather than the actress that he selected. The two major plots are flanked by multiple irrelevant smaller stories that do not make any sense or add up during the initial stages but some culminate right towards the end. The movie is ridiculously long, slow and heavy. Right till the very end the average viewer would have no idea what the past two and a half hours were all about. One would probably need to Google interpretations and meanings of this movie just to simply come to terms with what they just saw. The performances are fabulous, no doubt, but the movie is strictly for minorities and not for the masses. That aside, the thought process that might have gone into this movie to create is an achievement in itself and much praise goes out to director David Lynch. Watch only with a lot of time and an aspirin in case your not prepared for it.

Thumbs up: Brilliant plot conception, good performances

Thumbs down: Too deep, profound, sow and heavy

Rating: 7.3/10

Ken Park (2002)

Genre: Crime/Drama/Romance

Starring: James Bullard, Stephen Jasso, Maeve Quinlin, Tiffany Limos, James Ransone, Julio Oscar Mechoso, Wade Williams, Adam Chubbuck

The individual stories of 5 American youngsters and their encounters with sexuality and family life. Ken Park (Chubbuck) whose friends tease him by reversing his name to 'Krap Nek' (Crap Neck) shots himself in the middle of a skateboarding park. Shawn (Bullard) a boy who knew him, narrates his life story along with that of his friends. Shawn shares a sexual relationship with his girlfriends mother, Rhonda (Quinlin) without the knowledge of anyone else. Peaches (Limos) lives with her overtly-religious father and who has lost her mother at a very young age. Her father resents her relationship with a boy and beats him for sharing a sexual relationship with her. Claude (Rasso) needs to tolerate his drunk and violent father who believes his son is not man enough and resents his skateboarding and everything else that he does. Tate (Ransone) is an unpredictable, unstable and sadistic psychopath who lives with his grand parents. He hates his grand father because he believes he cheats in Scrabble and his grand mother whom he believes invades on his privacy. The movie's title is disconnected from the main plot and although Ken Park's suicide intentions are revealed it doesn't seem to have anything to do with the main characters apart from their common friendship. The movie is slow and is filled with a lot of extreme sexuality and nudity which comes across as being very unpleasant. It has a very deep and artistic approach to itself and is not recommended for all.

Thumbs up: Natural performances and acting

Thumbs down: Too high on sexuality, slow

Rating: 6.3/10

Hugo (2011)

Genre: Drama/Biography/Mystery/Adventure

Starring: Ben Kingsley, Sacha Baron Cohen, Asa Butterfield, Chloe Grace Moretz, Emily Mortimer

A legendary film maker appraises another legend from a different era. Hugo Cabret (Butterfield) is an orphan whose father was a clock maker and a highly intelligent man. His father found a decaying automaton, a unique robot that has the unheard ability to write. After his fathers death, Hugo started running the clocks at the Paris train station without anyone knowing it and simultaneously worked towards fixing his the machine. He regularly stole parts from a toy store on the station which was run by George Melies (Kingsley). Hugo gets caught in the act and George discovers a notebook in his pocket which has Hugo's fathers machine drawings along with the automatons blue print. George confiscates the book without giving any reason, much to the disappointment of Hugo. Hugo befriends George's grand daughter, Isabelle (Moretz) who come together to solve the mystery behind the automaton, George and Hugo's father. The movie is a brilliant work of art that can keep you stumped, awed and entertained for a very long time. It takes you back in time to the very first movie's of human-kind to show the magic and bizarreness that it carried with it during that time.The climax and the mystery steadily builds up to take shape which eventually unleashes to the audience's satisfaction. The only downside of the movie is its speed. Its slow to start and gets a tad disappointing around the half-way mark but the eventual mystery is still gripping enough to keep you enticed right till the very end. An outstanding work of art that is true to the reputation of Martin Scorsese and a must-watch for all.

Thumbs up: Brilliant story, very enticing

Thumbs down: Slow at times

Rating: 8.9/10

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

Vicky Donor (2012)

Genre: Comedy/Romance/Drama

Starring: Ayushmann Khurrana, Anu Kapoor, Yami Gautam, Dolly Alhuwalia, Kamlesh Gill

Conservative families, social issues and lack of acceptance of modern ideologies is a sure shot formula for a Bollywood movies success. Vicky Donor explores the preconceptions of sperm donation that prevail within the conservative Indian society and revealing its true intentions. Vicky Arora (Khurrana) is jobless and lazy and has no motivation or direction in life. His widowed mother runs a beauty parlor and is fed up of Vicky's high cost of living and no income. Dr. Chaddha (Kapoor) is an infertility specialist who cant seem to find the right sperm donor to fulfill the demands of his high profile clients. All his advertisements for sperm donors bear no fruit since the more healthy and versatile people look down upon sperm donation and the only ones who come forward are penniless and jobless people looking to make some easy money. One fine day, Dr. Chaddha spots Vicky and his sixth sense tells him that he is the man he is looking for. A sperm test reveals that his mojo is in top order and after a lot of persuasion and nagging, Vicky becomes a sperm donor. He soon realises that he can make a whole lot of money out of it and makes it his profession. Vicky eventually falls in love with banker Ashima Roy (Gautam) and wishes to marry her, much to the despise of Dr. Chaddha who sees Vicky as his only source of income. The story touches upon the social stigma in a humorous and fun manner but suffers from having a conventional foundation. Initial success, problems arise, the downfall and the eventual happy ending are all very predictable. Its an outline that almost every movie on the planet works on which makes it lose its traction and interest and hence is not unique inn itself. John Abraham has managed to produce a good entertainer with above average performances but still needs to work hard if it needs to make a sounding impact at the box office.

Thumbs up: Performances, humour and an all-round urban entertainer

Thumbs down: Predictable plot outline, gets a tad boring at places

Rating: 7.3/10

Iron Maiden: Flight 666 (2009)

Genre: Documentary/Musical/Drama/Adventure

Starring: Bruce Dickinson, Steve Harris, Nicko McBrain, Dave Murray, Adrian Smith

Band tours are very typical in the manner in which they are executed and so are the concert movies that are made thereafter. Tour locations, clippings of performances, behind the scenes footage and interviews with various persons is the norm. Iron Maiden's Somewhere Back In Time World Tour in 2008 was special, not because of the locations or the style but because of the manner in which they were going to execute it. Bands usually have to pay huge travel bills on world tours for carrying the huge necessary cargo along with the long line of essential crew members that need to be present. Iron Maiden decided to innovate and combine the two by modifying a Boeing 757 which could carry both the crew and the cargo on one airline with lead vocalist Bruce Dickinson piloting the plane.The band toured 4 continents, 12 countries and 21 cities which took 45 days and thousands of miles to cover. The band covered remote cities that other mainstream bands can never even think of. From large metros like Los Angeles, Tokyo and Mumbai to Bogota, San Jose and Moneterry, the band covered a wide array of locations unheard of and unimaginable. They toured almost every South American country in its first leg and later went to tour USA, Western Canada, Europe, parts of Asia and once again toured the countries of South America that they previously left behind. This documentary focuses on the first leg of the tour, before they began the USA tour. The movie starts off on an interesting note, highlighting their attempts at fulfilling this landmark achievement. As the movie progress, it becomes hugely repetitive with similar footage in every city, showing crazy fans and head banging maniacs with excerpts from band members. Its a great watch for maiden-heads and rock fans, whilst others can still attempt at watching it and realise the marvels of the rock and roll circuit. Irons up!

Thumbs up: Fantastic footage, adrenaline rushing performances

Thumbs down: Repetitive format that gets to you after a while

Rating: 7.1/10

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

The Baxter (2005)

Genre: Comedy/Drama/Romance

Starring: Michael Showalter, Elizabeth Banks, Michelle Williams, Justin Theroux

If you thought your love life is messed up, you might want to know about the story of Elliot Sherman (Showalter). Elliot calls himself a baxter, or someone who has lost their girlfriend to her ex-boyfriend who casually walks back into her life and sweeps his lady love off her feet. Not once, but twice and it just happened the third time. Elliot was to marry Caroline (Banks) until her high school crush Bradley (Theroux) arrives at the wedding and proposes to her leaving Elliot in a position he is no stranger to. The movie flashes back and goes on to tell you exactly how this awkward situation arose and what comes thereafter. Cecil (Williams) is Elliot's temporary secretary whom he grows fond of and confines his fears of getting dumped again when he is all set to marry Caroline and bring her into his life. The movie builds on an interesting concept, different than what a normal romance comedy would be and attempts at being realistic rather than being idealistic. The movie suffers with being slow and stretched and since it gives away the climax at the very beginning, you know exactly what to expect and hence one is simply expected to enjoy the journey till the end. That, sadly does not happen and your thankful the movie is over rather than getting up with a broad smile and a sense of enjoyment.

Thumbs up: Good idea to explore upon

Thumbs down: Stretched, slow and boring

Rating: 5.7/10

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

Housefull 2 (2012)

Genre: Comedy/Drama/Romance

Starring: Akshay Kumar, Ritesh Deshmukh, Shreyas Talpade, John Abraham, Zarine Khan, Shazahn Padamsee, Jacqulien Fernandes, Asin, Randhir Kapoor, Rishi Kapoor, Johnny Lever, Chunky Pandey, Mithun Chakraborty, Boman Irani

Bollywood comedy needs a serious lecture from Charles Darwin. It seems the theory of evolution applies to each and every entity on this planet except for the Indian film industry and especially its comedy genre. Jai (Talpade) is a bachelor whose parents are visiting Mr. Chintu Kapoor (Rishi Kapoor) and his family asking their daugher Henna's (Asin) hand in marriage. Chintu insults his father and throws him out of the house, much to the anger of Jai. Chintu does not want to get his daughter married to just anyone and demands a rich son-in-law, perhaps maybe even the son of JD (Chakraborty). Chintu's elder brother Daboo Kapoor (Randhir Kapoor) is also looking for a groom for his daughter, Bobby (Fernandes) and has similar demands as his younger brother. Daboo and Chintu are not on talking terms and always try to do something to outdo the other. Enter Jolly (Deshmukh) the son of JD who is good friends with Jai. To get revenge on the Chintu, Jai and JD hire Max (Abraham) to go to Chintu as JD's son and marry their daughter and dumping her before the wedding. Max ends up going to Daboo instead of Chintu and hence the duo now hire Sunny (Kumar) to get the real job done. Jai wishes to marry his sweetheart Parul (Padamsee) and Jolly wants to marry JLo (Khan) but is too scared to talk about his true love in front of his father. The movie is a complete mess of characters with all the male leads constantly switching roles and partners to make, what could possibly be, the worlds biggest botched movie. As all Indian comedy movies, this one too thrives on a complicated and confused story, bad humour, bikini babes and too many stars. It really isnt any different from any other Hindi comedy movie that you might come across and does not even attempt at being so. Charles Darwin, I call thee to come down here and give a lesson or two to these mindless mortals!

Thumbs up: Zarine Khan looks hot, Shazahn Padamsee is hot, Asin sizzles and Jacquelin is every mans wet dream

Thumbs down: Hopeless plot, bad humour worse acting

Rating: 4.9/10

The Iron Lady (2011)

Genre: Drama/Biography/History

Starring: Meryl Streep, Jim Broadbent, Alexandra Roach

Based on the life of Britain's first female Prime Minister and the person to hold the office longest in the 20th Century, Margaret Thatcher (Streep) is often known to have been responsible for changing the face of British economy. Thatcher was elected from the conservative party and was elected at a time when unemployment, high demands of trade unions and fiscal deficit was ho unding the British government. With her agressive stance and conservative policy-making, Thatcher soon transformed the country into a profit-making economy and went to war with Argentina over the Falkland Islands. The movie transits between 2008 Thatcher and Thatcher back during her active political days. Margaret is now old and often hallucinates about her dead husband Dennis (Broadbent) and talks to him, imagining him being present all the time. The movie is extremely slow and takes its own time to move and develop. The first quarter is impatient and you want the movie to progress from showing an old Thatcher to showing her active days and move onto something that the audience want to watch and the movie promised to show. Perhaps if the movie focussed more on Margaret then and had little of Margaret now, the movie would have been widely acclaimed by all. Streep has put on a fabulous performance, one of her best in the past few years but sadly the slow pace of the movie, doesnt support her effort in a manner it should to make it an exceptional work of art.

Thumbs up: Meryl Streep's fabulous performance

Thumbs down: Slow, very slow

Rating: 7.0/10

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