Save the Forest

A dismissive Katherine (Amanda Seyfried) comes to visit her father Professor Bomba (Jason Sudeikis), who is apparently obsessed with the war between the Leaf-Men – led by Ronin (Colin Farrell) – protectors of the forest – and the Boggans – destroyers of the forest – led by Mandrake (Christoph Waltz) – all of which Katherine considers figments of her father’s imagination. The Boggans go one up on the Leaf-men by taking out the Queen of the forest (Beyonce Knowles), and it is up to a (much-diminished) Amanda and her father to bring in some timely intervention and save the trees and those that, well, protect them. Based on William Joyce’s The Leaf Men and the Brave Good Bugs, Epic is the children’s movie for the ongoing summer holidays – not breathtaking or deep, just pretty well made

13.5/20

Recall, Run

Post World War III, the great oppressor of history – the United Federation of Britain (UFB) lords it over the Colony (loosely, today’s Australia) – and the latter send a daily retinue of workers to the former through a subterranean transport system referred to as the Fall. Douglas Quaid (Colin Farrell), a nondescript worker from the Colony with an inexplicably stunning wife Lori (Kate Beckinsale), decides to go deeper into his mind to find an escape from daily monotony and a distraction from disturbing dreams that could well be memories. Quaid enters virtual reality – through Total Recall – as a secret agent. And here is where Quaid’s life blurs between fiction and reality – and even love interest Melina (Jessica Biel) and access to none other than Matthias (Bill Nighy) – the kingpin of the Resistance – could well be elements in a very elaborate virtual reality experience. Unlike its predecessor 22 years ago, this edition Total Recall leaves the viewer in some doubt as to fiction and reality, even as the action is as immersive as it could possibly be

13.5/20

In Hell

Why are London-based hit-men Ray (Colin Farrell) and Ken (Brendan Gleeson) stuck for two days in the cold medieval Belgian town of Bruges? They do not know, and neither does the audience. In the meantime, the architectural magnificence around him holds no charm for Ray, haunted as he is by his accidental murder of a child. What the duo do not know is kingpin Harry (Ralph Fiennes) has sent them to Bruges for a dark purpose, that will not be known till later. Against the backdrop of the beautiful and relatively unknown town, three cold-blooded murderers play out a dark comedy In Bruges. Hard-to-forget movie because of the deliberate incongruousness of it all

13.5/20

How Horrible

Nick (Jason Bateman) has a psychotic boss in Dave Harley (Kevin Spacey) – the latter promotes himself into a post that he has been holding up to his subordinate as a carrot all the while. Dental assistant (!) Dale (Charlie Day) has a man-eater of a boss in dentist Julia (Jennifer Aniston) who is out to “deflower” him and end his relationship. Lastly, Kurt (Jason Sudeikis) has an unworthy inheritor in Bobby (Colin Farrell) for a boss, who is all out to run Kurt and the business to the ground. All the three, in a fit of frustration, decide to kill their bosses. But our protagonists here are hardly the experts when it comes to crime. So while they roll out their grand plans, beginning with surveillance and moving on to actual execution, almost everything that can go wrong does. The outcome, however, is reasonably logical, while surprising. With an all-star cast (of bosses), Horrible Bosses is a lighthearted take at the all-too-familiar reality of utterly intolerable workplaces

13/20

Such a Long Journey!

At long last, an adventure movie to crow about, in the copybook inspirational adventure genre. How far would you walk to escape the dreaded Siberian Gulag? To India?! In 1941, Polish prisoner of war Janusz (Jim Sturgess), hardened resident criminal Valka (Colin Farell), American actor Mr Smith (Ed Harris), and three other Gulag inmates – Voss (Gustaf Skarsgård), Tomasz (Alexandru Potocean), and Kazik (Sebastian Urzendowsky) – escape imprisonment in a labour camp in the Siberian Gulag, in The Way Back. The first step in a great southward journey is to reach Lake Baikal – a journey of months and hundreds of kilometers. On the verge of death by starvation and exposure, most of the escapees manage to reach the lake, where they are joined by Irena (Saoirse Ronan). Irene has a questionable alibi, but brings much needed morale to the team with her effervescent personality. In an unbelievable trek across snow, the plains, the desert and again the snow, will any of this unlikely band survive? The movie is based on a novel by Slawomir Rawicz, a Polish POW in the Siberian Gulag, and has the twin challenges of making an excruciating ordeal believable to an audience, as well as depicting emotional connect between a diverse group of individuals bound by the same challenge. It succeeds commendably on the former count, but falters somewhat in the latter – in the end, creating a striking end-product nevertheless, that is at the very least inspiring. Director Peter Weir (The Truman Show, Master and Commander, Dead Poets Society) does not do any injustice to his specialization of depicting the inspirational, across multiple settings

15.5/20