Bengali Warrior

I must confess that I am thrilled by a Bengali hero (Dev) holding his own through kitschy plots filled with a delectable heroine - Nandini (Mimi Chakraborty), malicious villians, a storyline that could be a copy of a hundred others, and special effects that are some three decades behind Hollywood - in short, a Bengali movie that looks oh-so-suspiciously like a Bollywood flick. Dev holds his own as a passable warrior and a mostly passable romantic hero, as a flashback storyline plays back and forth. Yoddha is quite entertaining for the average Bengali movie-goer who gets a treat of Bollywood from Tollywood.

12/20

Movie to Die For

Dripping with intensity, Sin City 2 – A Dame to Kill for – the latest edition of the noir graphic novel-turned-thriller is perhaps my movie pick for what has unarguably been one dull year for movies. The story somewhat centres around Marv (Mickey Rourke), a character of formidable intensity, the face-off between the young hustler Johnny (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) and the power-hungry Senator Roarke (Powers Boothe), and the machinations of the devious vixen Ava Lord (Eva Green). With animation blending into reality, and oozing with memorable dialogue, the stellar cast and cinematography will hold you in thrall. Suffice to say, watch this movie.

16/20

Maze of Errors

Maze Runner is a fast-paced teen fiction - turned - movie, that will keep you reasonably entertained, as long as you do not apply yourself on the glaring inconsistencies in the movie. Cannot desist taking pot shots at a few - over three years, a bunch of people that can build complicated huts but did not think of building themselves a ladder, an experiment that makes little coherent sense, a helicopter ride that was three years too late. Anyways, the story is about a group of boys that arrive - in gaps of one month - into a clearing in the middle of an ostensibly life-threatening maze. Having said that, if one is willing to suspend all semblance of a logical storyline, Maze Runner does not feel like an utter waste of time

11/20

Reptile Vigilantes

It cannot be easy making a convincing storyline about four Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and their mutant rat chief, living in the sewers of New York, being overly fond of pizza, and going out of their way to save New York from a copybook gang. To its credit, the movie pulls it off, thanks to in part the disconcertingly attractive journalist April (Megan Fox), the excellent special effects - notably an avalanche and some capers atop the Empire State Building, and an easy-as-pizza-to-digest storyline (call it a bare shell of a plot?) where all key players are inexplicably intertwined. In the balance, an excellent treat for kids, and for adults like yours truly, not a bad deal either

14/20

The History of November

Peter Devereaux (Pierce Brosnan) is a secret agent who has trained protégé David Mason (Luke Bracey), but has not quite been convinced about the latter’s capabilities. Enter intrigue in the Balkans – an escaped witness to war crimes in Chechenya – Alice Fourier (Olga Kurylenko), who is being hunted down by the Russians, Russian presidential hopeful Arkady Fedorov (Lazar Ristovski) with his own bag of secrets, and people within the CIA itself that cannot be trusted. The November Man shifts the centre of the copybook Hollywood spy thriller to Bosnia-Herzegovina, with the ubiquitous shootout and car chase now permeating beautiful Belgrade

13.5/20

Somewhat Expendable

The Expendables 3, while adding to the star cast of the traditional expendables (Antonio Banderas, Mel Gibson) also brings forth a new kind of “expendable” – Kellan Lutz of Hercules fame, or Ronda Rousey of MMA fame, in particular. The storyline remains superficial, and actions continue to speak louder – much louder – than words. Barney Ross (Sylvester Stallone) puts together an all-new crew to take out friend-turned-foe Stonebanks (Mel Gibson). With much killing in myriad forms, as expected, The Expendables 3 does nothing to detract from the possibility of a fourth edition

12.5/20

Reflected Horrors

Kaylie (Karen Gillan) and brother Tim (Brenton Thwaites) set out to undo a wrong – a father accused of killing a mother – theirs – and seek to prove, through a carefully controlled experiment, that the actual culprit was an antique mirror in the house. Armed with extensive research into the series of deaths surrounding the mirror, Kaylie aims to set all wrong right with a “kill switch” what will destroy the mirror, eventually. In a (reasonably) riveting drama of two determined siblings vs. the supernatural, Oculus executes well, and trails off with a rather poignant climax

 13.5/20

Twisted Encounters

Into the Storm follows the predictable path of the eponymous Twister, into great storms of unimaginable fury, threating to wreak havoc on US Midwestern towns and familial relationships. The intensity is immense, in fits and starts, and some light touches of humor and romance help nudge the light storyline along. The power and might of 21^st century special effects are, of course, brought to bear. Mid-week Midwest entertainment for me and the family

13/20

Demi-god by Design

Hercules finds a circumspect puffed up lead (Dwayne Johnson), who, along with his band of mercenaries, sides with the Thracians to defeat the warlord Rheseus (Tobias Santelmann). Things are not quite what they seem, however, and the warrior soon finds himself requiring to draw upon his remarkable strength as well as the many legends surrounding him, to rally armies in favor and bring to pass what is righteous and just. Nothing like the disaster earlier this year (The Legend of Hercules), Hercules is a treat to watch, with a reasonable balance of special effects and the human element, and a few no-holds barred treats in raw physicality to boot

13/20

Galactic Hotch-potch

Guardians of the Galaxy – well, I refuse to review this one. As I write this, I am looking at mindboggling ratings on the *leading movie review sites* for what is really a smorgsbard of an intergalactic thriller (that I am sure Marvel aficionados are well aware of) that does not have a speck of originality save the tepid bursts of mild humour. I quite liked Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) but, for the most part, he careens through a chaos of a plot, that, surprise surprise, is succeeding wildly at a commercial level. All the best to this Galaxy

9.5/20 

More Dragon

Here’s to finding a parent, dragon-care in the family and beyond, and having a good old bare-knuckles good-vs-evil fight with alpha dragons and some not-so-beta-dragons. While How to Train your Dragon 2 is quite entertaining, perhaps the grown-up watcher will notice the lame effort for a storyline. Or, perhaps not. My kid loved it, is enacting sequences at home right now. Mission accomplished, Hollywood for Kids..

12/20

The Lizard Chronicles

Godzilla aka Gojira is yet another tired remake of a hackneyed franchise. Barring a few visual effects that stand out somewhat, the balance is largely a smorgasbord of Gojira playing the guardian angel and trying to save the West Coast of the United States from some mythical destructive insect species, thereby following the laws of Nature of a gargantuan scale. Again, vague memories of the movie and its many clichés, without remembering a single concrete detail. My bad. Or is it?

11/20

Mutant Woes

X-Men - Days of Future Past - is another prequel to a continuum of X Men movies that I have long lost track of. This one is about Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) being sent to the past (1973, to be precise), to save mutant-kind from the scourge of the Sentinels - robots that have been created by the Trask group to find and exterminate mutants. A week down the line, I vaguely remember it as a mildly watchable movie but little else besides - a sign that this franchise, like several others, is for the diehard fan beyond a point

11/20

Be Real

Sitting with Rikk sleeping on my lap, on a Sunday evening, I wished for my very own six-year old that he always remains Divergent – at least all of Erudite, Dauntless and Abnegate. And this is where this piece of teen fiction-turned-movie is a winner for me. It has a core thesis – a rarity and a great find – and some great acting in terms of a very central lead Beatrice Prior (Shailene Woodley), who, with the weight of being a Divergent, has to find an acceptable path for herself, her affections, and her world. Well-paced, reasonably authentic, somewhat gripping, a must-watch

15/20

Don

Neither men nor women quite understand intimacy. While we have suave student Jon Martello (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) preferring the excesses of porn to the drudge of the real thing, for the so-called ideal woman Barbara (Scarlett Johansson), intimacy is about possessiveness and behavioral controls. Finally, it takes an offbeat relationship to bring some semblance of normalcy to Don Jon. Captivating, though difficult to understand the director’s intent on this one

12/20

Amazon Party

Resplendent with colour, catchy music, and a storyline that is somewhat touching in parts, Rio 2 is a winner. Blu (Jesse Eisenberg) and Jewel (Anne Hathaway) head out to the Amazon to find the last of the Spix's macaws. The search results in success, but not without much adventure. Where Rio 2 is exceptional is its continuous ability to induct freshness through an all-new cast of cameo characters – sloths, mosquitoes, and turtles included

14/20

Walter out there

A quiet man – Walter Mitty (Ben Stiller) sees off the last issue in print of “Life” magazine, sees the first whiff of adventure by flying to Greenland, and then to Iceland, in the footsteps of his photographer. Cast into adventure, and something akin to love, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty captures the poignancy of things that shall pass, and how we are remembered

12/20

Sinking Ark

The eponymous Noah takes the Biblical tale, rips it into shreds, and brings Hollywood-style special effects and plot twists, both of which appear utterly incongruous. Noah brings the best of Hollywood together, and buries the plot in the midst of utterly poor cinematography, poor script editing, and dialogue that seems to be delivered in discontinuous monosyllables. Strictly one to avoid, this is one ark that, for me, sinks without a trace

9/20

Stop

The featureless Non-Stop reminds one of a dozen similar movies, keeps you waiting for the /breakway feature that never materializes. The one-great and now-shunned Air Marshal (Liam Neeson) needs to find a serial killer on board a plane. He does so eventually, after some knocking around of all of the passengers and crew. Truly non-descript

10.5/20

Robotic

I like the intent behind this version of Robocop – the story of a near-dead-in-action police officer Alex Murphy (Joel Kinnaman), a family man – and the objectives of the megalithic Omnicorp to monetize him – turn him into an emotionless law enforcement officer - literally drowning emotions with dopamine in the process. But it does not come through in any meaningful degree. While wife Clara (Abbie Cornish) plays the wronged housewife in a totally uncharacteristic role, it is Dr. Norton (Gary Oldman) and his moral pangs that possibly lend some semblance of thespian consistency in a movie that does not leave much of a mark on the viewer

12/20

No Child’s Play

The Lego Movie does some extraordinary execution of the story of a child’s imagination. There is the simple guy – Emmet (Chris Pratt) – a construction worker whom no one notices. Emmet gets thrown into a chain of events that need him to become the Special – to find the Piece of Resistance and stop the Kragle, a weapon unleashed by Lord Business – and save the various realms of Lego world. With more than one innuendo, all of which unravel by the end of the movie, this one has more positive surprises than the "average" adult would think at the outset

14/20

Keep Discovering

The Europa Report is more about human goodness and courage than your average science fiction movie. Led by Captain William Xu (Daniel Wu), the Europa mission sets out to Europa – one of Jupiter's moons – with the mission of possibly discovering extraterrestrial life. Remoteness and the sheer inherent level of risk expose the team to fatal dangers. However, what shines through is the determination of the team to complete the mission – to communicate back to Earth that we are not alone in the universe. A must-watch on the lines of Moon and Gravity, The Europa Report demands some degree of initial patience but quickly grows on the viewer

15/20

Alone

Tough and alone, Riddick kills without compunction, finds his way around a predator-infested planet, tames a jackal as ally, lives off the land. And yes, sees off two mercenary hordes, with some lessons and reminiscing along the way. Somewhat simulation-like, Riddick is copybook one-man-army in an alien planet – good entertainment in sepia tinted hues

13/20

Fallen Demigod

The resoundingly insipid The Legend of Hercules takes the eponymous character and makes a totally blotched job on possibly all conceivable fronts. Poor cinematography, a total absence of character build-up, near-invisible visuals, a musical score that was turn-on turn-off and incongruous with the story in the background, the inexplicable hurried execution that makes the movie look more like a collection of trailers – where does one even start? The only saving grace is that with a few minor exceptions, each of the actors looked their part. If you are generally a period movie buff, I suppose this is a must-watch, simply because there is so little of the stuff going around. For anyone else, this is an unequivocal miss

9.5/20

He Wolf

For me, The Wolf of Wall Street operated at several different levels. At one level is the unavoidable allusions – the Mayflower (twice!), the crazy partying,choices related to marquee employers/small employers/entrepreneurship, the kid that’s oh so close in spite of all that is going on in life, the back pain pills – what can one say save what an outcome in spite of it all?! At another level is the debauchery, the over-the-top movie, the living-on-the-edge recklessness combined with high performance, the coke high to get over the lemmon high, perception versus reality across it all. Jordan Belfort (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Martin Scorcese come together to produce a one-of-a-kind movie that is profane, intense, irretrievably materialistic and out-and-out a one of a kind movie. Absolutely unmissable, whether you belong to the 99% or the 1%

16/20

Bengali Movie v 2.0

I went in to watch Chander Pahar expecting incongruity – the barely-peripatetic Bengali out in the open wilderness in Africa, on a treasure hunt that is not his own. The first half of the movie kind of corroborated this impression. And then came the second half. Some spiffy acting, stunning or near-stunning vistas, and the Bengali explorer Shankar (Dev) standing shoulder to shoulder with the Portuguese explorer Diego Alvarez (Gerard Rudolf). While the special effects leave a lot to be desired, the movie itself is stunning – weaving its way through the part-fiction part-reality almost-mythical lands of Africa

15.5/20

City of Cultural Murder

The Mortal Instruments - City of Bones is good for a laugh, and ranks somewhere between the cringe-worthy Twilight series and the downright horrific Percy Jackson series. It is quite entertaining, with the term mundane quite clearly applicable to the movie as a whole rather than merely humans. There is also the ubiquitous love triangle that makes all such movies so alluring. Stupid stuff

10/20

Frame by Frame

Not for a moment do I deny the cinematic quality, the excellent casting, the flawless special effects, and the sheer riveting spectacle that is The Hobbit - The Desolation of Smaug - the fifth installment of the LOTR/ Hobbit series. The issue is that we are perhaps too used to the excellence, and maybe the reader is left wondering just what justifiable reason could be given for stretching (by LOTR standards, a brief) novel to such lengthy proportions. Yes, it is a good watch while it is there. No, beyond a point, it is just pretty monotonous. A monotonous must-watch - a fate that i suspect that this Hollywood trend of milking franchises to the hilt will have to hear a lot more of

14.5/20

Girl on Fire

If you ignore the sheer murder of elements of ancient history – the pomp and splendor of the gladiatorial arena adorned by tributes in lycra, the hackneyed morality tale meets teen romance storyline, and the hangover of a tepid first part, The Hunger Games – Catching Fire is actually a (gasp!) taut well-narrated story. Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) and Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson) find themselves reluctant ambassadors for the Capital and President Snow (Donald Sutherland), and their ambivalence and potential to cause disruption is well-noted. Enter the latest edition of the games, and this time it is the 75^th edition and a kill-or-be-killed across previous winners. What the movie obviously lacks in a meaningful storyline, it makes up in some pretty cutting edge cinematography. Worth a watch and will not test your patience at all

14/20

Dark mediocrity

Thor (Chris Helmsworth) and Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) re-unite to fight the forces of the dark world. The latter are the forces released on a once-in-a-millenium planetary alignment that opens up a portal somewhere in London. Thor: The Dark World Pure entertainment, largely mindless and unmemorable, reminiscent of Star Wars more than Norse fable, and set for much commercial success

11.5/20

Chris Helmsworth

Natalie Portman

Tom Hiddleston

Anthony Hopkins

Christopher Eccleston

Jaimie Alexander

Rene Russo

Stellan Skarsgard

Leading from the Front

Captain Phillips, of the movie of the same name, delights with the return of Tom Hanks, who will lead the crew of the ship Maersk Alabama through the attacks of a Somalian pirate crew. Faced off with a pirate crew led by captain Abduwali Muse (Barkhad Abdi), while the crew are overwhelmed initially, soon the power and might of the US navy overwhelm the pirates in question. The movie is not just an action sequence – it exposes the aspirations and vulnerability of a people who are facing some pretty hard choices for improving their lives. Touching not thrilling in the balance, Captain Phillips – and the men he faces off with – all all winners in this sea encounter

14.5/20

Not your Average Game

Andrew Ender Wiggin (Asa Butterfield) is blessed (?) with the right quotient of aggression that could wipe the Formics off the face of the universe and once and for all avenge the pogrom they unleashed upon mankind. A series of trials (in near earth space in zero gravity) create the atmosphere for somewhat incongruous preparations for a final assault. And in the latter, the line between fiction and reality becomes increasingly blurred in Ender’s Game. While mildly interesting, clearly did not bowl me over unlike all the hype

13/20

Gamb-le

A heist with a simple little twist in the tale. Harry Deane (Colin Firth) is seeking to take revenge on his former boss Lord Lionel Shabandar (Alan Rickman) by stealing (or is it substituting?) a painting. He is helped by a free spirited girl from Texas PJ Puznowski (Cameron Diaz). You will not see the last twist coming – not, however, that that makes Gambit particularly remarkable

12/20

Fifth and First

The Fifth Estate profiles the groundbreaking work of Julian Assange (Benedict Cumberbatch), whose key contribution to the noble act of whistleblowing was committing to privacy. While exposes on Julius Baer's shady clients, the goings-on of banks in Iceland and dictators in Kenya, were fairly one-sided stories, the possibility of confidential information putting people in harm's way is accentuated in the last episode of release of information of US Government war-room text messages. A good watch, though perhaps not as intense and engaging as it could have been

13/20

Proud and Strong and Made to Be Free

Mishawr Rawhoshyo (Bengali) takes the proud and unrelenting Kakababu (Prosenjit Chatterjee) to Delhi and then Egypt, to discover the true secret behind certain Egyptian hieroglyphics. Aided by cousin Shontu (Aryann Bhowmik), and an uncertain relationship with the revolutionary-at-large Hani Alkadi (Indraneil Sengupta), Kakababu gets on a search for the truth, fraught with danger, where friends such as the businessman Al Mamun (Rajit Kapur) may not be what they seem. A fitting end to Ashtami/ Nabami this year

13.5/20

What-ever

...and this is where I part ways with the Vigil Idiot. A movie like Chennai Express (Hindi) was not meant to make any sense whatsoever. There is the cast of characters - the boy who has scant regard for tradition, the feisty girl who is the daughter of a South Indian .. er... thug, who finally ropes him in, the illogical sequences and songs... why was it ever supposed to make any sense?! Which does not take away from the fact that the movie does drag in parts

12/20

Grave Challenges

Alfonso Cuaron's Gravity is one to be remembered for excruciating attention to detail. Two astronauts - Ryan (Sandra Bullock) and Matt (George Clooney) - out to repair the Hubble space telescope - are hit by flying debris, and it is a war for survival from there on - played out in absolute silence. Unmissable, for the level.of detailed rendition. Highly recommended

15.5/20

Jobs

While Jobs has opened to somewhat justified mixed reviews, what is indisputable is that pretty much any movie about the life of Steve Jobs is bound to be an inspirational tale. Pure genius combined with force of personality and extreme perfectionism - Jobs shows the copybook old-school recipe for success, with enough and more roadkill on the way. The movie does trail off somewhat abruptly at the beginning of Jobs' second innings. Notwithstanding the indisputable scope of better execution on almost all fronts, Jobs is a pretty decent watch

14/20

Death Race

Rush captures the 1976 formula season - a headlong battle between the flamboyant Brit James Hunt (Chris Hemsworth)  and the ultra-disciplined Nikki Lauda (Daniel Bruhl). Well developed characters, pretty vivid depictions of the tensions on the track. Yet another resounding success from Ron Howard (of Apollo 13, the da Vinci Code, A Beautiful Mind) fame

15.5/20

Adamant(ium) with Japan

Here is a prequel that is unabashedly made for Japanese audiences. With a few skirmishes with Yakuza gangsters and atop bullet trains thrown in for effect in the balance this prequel feels more like a Japanese sitcom with the occasional technological gizmo, or odd ninja, thrown in. Using just about every stereotypical element that one can imagine in a movie that is wholly set in Japan, The Wolverine is unmitigatedly directionless and needs to trail off with the promise of the return of the X-Men for any impact at all

10.5/20

House Down Part Deux

What were the odds of two near-adjacent posts on this blog, both based on movies about the White House going down? This time it is the disgruntled weapons lobby, led by the US President Sawyer’s (Jamie Foxx) former head of security detail – Martin Walker (James Woods) – and a team of mercenaries – that take over the White House over a series of bombings, gunfights, and hostage-takings. Once again it is up to an underdog – out-of-favour Cale (Channing Tatum), out on an ostensibly harmless White House tour with daughter Emily (Joey King), to save the White House and by implication the world. White House Down is a tad more believable than Olympus Has Fallen, with a lot more detail, and never a dull moment

13/20

Pacific Threats

Gigantic sea creatures called the Kaiju come through the Breach – a portal at the bottom of the Pacific – and start devastating cities along the Pacific Rim. Manking designs the Jaeger (robot) program to take on the Kaiju – and succeeds. Till the Jaeger program finds itself questioned, and competing with the Wall, and failures of the Jaegers to take on the particularly larger and more difficult of the Kaiju. However, when the Wall shows the proverbial cracks, and it is again the Jaegers that hold back the Kaiju in Sydney, it is back to the remnants of the Jaeger Program, led by a marginalized Pentecost (Idris Elba), and a notable robot – Gipsy Danger – driven by Becket (Charlie Hunnam) and Mako (Rinko Kikuchi), to save the day and the world. In the words of Del Toro himself, this is no "super-brooding, super-dark, cynical summer movie", and the focus is purely on "big, beautiful, sophisticated visuals". In that he succeeds, but one cannot help feeling that the execution could have been just a little bit better with a little more development of the human characters, especially given the backdrop of shared adversity

13.5/20

Suited to Kill

Suits (TV Series) is the story of the eponymous New York city law firm Pearson Hardman, centered around precocious kid Mike Ross (Patrick J Adams) and mentor and fast riser Harvey Specter (Gabriel Macht). With the support of Jessica Pearson (Gina Torres), and a few allies including rookie Rachel (Meghan Markle) and spunky secretary Donna (Sarah Rafferty), the duo take on unusual client cases, and the likes of disgruntled partner Louis Litt (Rick Hoffman). Suits is a fun watch, perhaps with a weaker cast than say Boston Legal, and weaker cases too – but then Suits makes do… by and large

13.5/20

Another Falling

Out-of-favour Presidential security guard Mike Banning (Gerard Butler) finds himself pitted against a veritable army from North Korea, that somehow manages to mobilize an inconceivably large quantity of people, arms and ammunition, and lays siege to the White House. Full of as many inexplicable moments as there are gun battles (President's son rescued, yet President Asher (Aaron Eckhart) meekly hands over the Cereberus code; the Cereberus code and their failsafes are located in the same physical location - and would  instantly set off the entire US nuclear arsenal when called upon (!!!); the strange and incongruous motivation of Forbes to side with... er... North Koreans), and with a more than decent cast and screenplay trying to rescue an impossible-to-justify storyline, Olympus has Fallen singularly fails to make sense, let alone impress

10.5/20

Welcome to the Planet

Man of Steel owes its excellent execution of a hackneyed genre to some spot-on casting, and a Superman that cuts across a wide swath of dramatic turns - from saving cities and counterattacking aliens in space, to being mama's boy in a remote corner in Kansas. Superman/Clark Kent/ Kal-El (Henry Cavill) is supported particularly well by one Lois Lane (Amy Adams) of insatiable curiosity, and father Jor-El (Russell Crowe) who lives on in spirit - and as an uploaded intelligence over time. The story begins with Jor-El defying usurper General Zod (Michael Shannon) and transporting Kal-El through space to Earth. The same Earth, that becomes the target for Zod as he resurrects himself, and tries to terraform Earth into a Krypton-like world, and wipe out the human race in the process. Hopefully, Kal-El will find the humanity to bridge the races rather than have one survive at the expense of the other. Excellent rendition of a copybook franchise, and a near-unmissable summer entertainer

14.5/20

Dark Horses

Four magicians - Daniel (Jesse Eisenberg), Henley (Isla Fisher), Jack (Dave Franco) and Merritt (Woody Harrelson) - get a mysterious summons that is later found to be from one Arthur Tressler (Michael Caine). The four maricians form the Four Horsemen - who put up a show in Vegas that unbelievably has a man from teh audience rob a bank in Paris, and distribute the largesse to the attendees. The act of crime, however benevolent, does not go unnoticed, and the quartet soon find tenacious detectives Dylan (Mark Ruffalo) and Alma (Melanie Laurent) hot on their trail. But is that really an accurate picture of the goings-on, or, in the true nature of magic, are we seeing less the closer we get? Now you See Me is no The Prestige, but what it lacks in dark noir intensity, it more than makes up in a never-a-dull-moment script with a cops-and-robbers sequence interspersed by some pretty spectacular magic shows

14/20

The Destructive Side

The likes of Robin Cook have continually explored the thin line between going the extra mile for patients versus the pressures of big medicine. When Emily Taylor (Rooney Mara), a depressive patient, is prescribed a new anti-depressant medication on advise of her psychiatrist Jonathan Banks (Jude Law), the consequences are devastating for Emily and her husband Martin (Channing Tatum). As Emily ostensibly grieves over her murdered husband, Jonathan tries to piece together facts that have derailed a promising career, especially the role of Victoria (Catherine Zeta-Jones), Emily’s previous psychiatrist. Side Effects is less about the side effects of medication, that the side effects of all-pervasive and destructive ambition within the medical fraternity

13/20

Future Shock

Even as the world has not quite gotten over Shyamalan-bashing, Shyamalan himself has moved on to a reasonably good piece of work in After Earth. The Pursuit of Happyness showed the intense father-son pairing of Will Smith and Jaden Smith. After Earth takes us to the same pairing. A spaceship carying the duo crash-lands on a (now abandoned by humans) Earth. With lead Will Smith (Cypher Paige) incapacitated, son Jaden Smith (Kitai Paige) is entrusted with a perilous mission to cross a hundred kilometers of hostile terrain to activate an emergency beacon. With an Earth that is perhaps labeled a tad more hostile than the way it has evolved, and friends and enemies alike in nature, Kitai has to battle a plethora of calamities and a paucity of resources, and draws upon generous doses of inspirational pep talk to get to his objective. A movie that has, at the time of writing, faced the harshness of (clearly undeserved) extreme reviews

13/20