Dark City

Two budding American internet entrepreneurs – Sean (Emile Hirsch) and Ben (Max Minghella) - find themselves swindled of their business idea in Moscow. Frustrated and hanging out in a discotheque, they hook up with two female American tourists – Natalie (Olivia Thirlby) and Anne (Rachael Taylor). Things begin to turn really strange at the discotheque, when a power surge takes out the lights. Certain strange electrical beings are descending from space, and annihilating the human race (yawn). What makes The Darkest Hour mildly interesting is the form (or lack of it) of the aliens, and the mildly interesting pseudoscience consisting of Faraday cages, microwave bursts and whatnot. Even as the last remnants of the human race fight back, this is a movie which barely leaves a trace as you leave the theatre
10.5/20

Monkey Business

Having a young one in the house keeps us in touch with old favorites. When the Hotel Majestic in New York has Lord Rutledge (Rupert Everett) and Dunston the trained-thief orang-utang over, the scene is set for hilarious escapades with a truly comic cast. Dunston and his young friend Kyle (Eric lloyd), son of hotel manager and late convert Robert Grant (Jason Alexander), must navigate a path around a quirky set of characters, particularly the authoritarian hotel heiress Mrs Dublow (Faye Dunaway), and not lose their heads – or their lives – while solving the ever-increasing list of strange goings-on at their majestic property. Needless to say, Dunston Checks In is an all-time favorite

14/20

Tucker and Dale vs Stupidity

Tucker and Dale Vs Evil is a truly unmemorable movie. Director Eli Craig wants to take a potshot at the urban myth of the slasher hillybilly, and the potshot leaves much gore in its wake. The movie begins innocuously enough somewhere in the Appalachians. Hillybilly protagonists Tucker (Alan Tudyk) and Dale (Tyler Lable) run into a bunch of college kids at a gas station, and try to strike up a conversation, and the first signs of frat pack prejudice are all too clear. And when the duo rescue the fetching Allison (Katrina Bowden) from what was a potentially fatal diving accident, the incident precipitates a chain of events where most or all of the cast is accidentally killed, in incidents that are possibly intended to be hilarious. Eventually, this movie is one for the hillybilly, though not one that the latter may want to be associated with

9.5/20

Only as the Chinese Can

Shaolin is set in the early years of the Republic of China, when warlords ruled the provinces and people lived in abject terror. Warlord Hou Jie (Andy Lau) slays his enemy in a Shaolin temple, and schemes to kill sworn brother Song Hu. In a plot that goes horribly wrong, Hou Jie finds himself losing his most precious earthly possession of all – Shengnan (Xiaoliuna) - his daughter. Distraught, Hou Jie finds his way to a Shaolin temple and rescinds his martial life. Converting to a Shaolin monk, Hou Jie finds penance in alleviating some of the suffering that he and his ilk have caused to the populace. But the winds of change – mostly negative – upon the fledgling republic are too hard to bear. Taking the incredulous action sequences that are typical of the genre to a whole new level, Shaolin is a must-watch, with one caveat - the unabashed tragedy will leave the viewer somewhat depressed

14/20

Take it Out

The life of Joel (Jason Bateman) is one of running his humdrum Extract manufacturing and packaging business, with its excruciatingly boring workforce with their excruciatingly trivial problems, a drink with longtime buddy Dean (Ben Affleck), dealing with obnoxious neighbors, and the wife who has virtually shut off conjugal bliss. On the advice of the old pal, Joel lines himself up for one on the side with hot intern Cindy (Mila Kunis), while hooking his wife up with a gigolo Step (Clifton Collins Jr). With several comic turns, this rather simply concocted movie manages to maintain the atmospheric drabness endemic to the central product and its founder, while being a mild low-key entertainer

12/20

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

Spread Out

Contagion is a well-paced and largely gripping thriller on the spread of a highly contagious and lethal virus. The movie has one distinctive feature – somehow it manages to hold your attention in spite of every element in it being a cliché. A deadly disease that has its origins in livestock and wild animals in – where else – China. Finds its way to the top of the food chain, to none other than the travelling businesswoman Beth (Gwyneth Paltrow) and her son, but miraculously skips husband Mitch (Matt Damon). Kills millions before the desperate search for a vaccine is finally successful, thanks to the tireless efforts of Dr Orantes (Marion Cottilard) and Dr Cheever (Lawrence Fishburne). In the meantime, notable martyrs include Dr Mears (Kate Winslet), the early health worker, tireless and felled by the disease in the line of duty. The one non-cliched character is the profiteering and rumor-mongering freelancer Alan (Jude Law) – about the only character in the movie who is not a rank stereotype. In the meantime, chew a few fingernails as director Soderbergh (Solaris, Ocean’s Eleven) spreads disease and paranoia all around

13.5/20

Far Below the Belt

Stephen Myers (Ryan Gosling), Junior Campaign Manager for the sitting Governor Mike Morris (George Clooney), for the Democrat Presidential primaries, learns to be beware of The Ides of March and much else besides. So what is Steve up against, really? For a start, Steve needs to understand the priorities of Senior Campaign Manager Paul (Philip Seymour Hoffman) and his respective right and wrong sides. And then there is the campaign manager on the other side – Tom Duffy (Paul Giamatti) and the latter’s machinations. Throw in a beautiful intern – Molly (Evan Rachel Wood) and her dark secrets, a single senator – Senator Thompson (Jeffrey Wright) who could be solely holding the key to the campaign, and cut-throat journalist Ida (Marisa Tomei), and Steve may be down to his very last card in surviving the political game. And no matter who the winners and losers are in this cat-and-mouse political game, what is certain through the movie is that Steve’s brand of passion and idealism will meet a terminal end

14.5/20

Monstrous, Relatively Speaking

In the not-too-distant future, the northern half of Mexico is cordoned off on account of an alien outbreak. While army patrols and enormous military defences struggle to “hold the line” as it were, photo-journalist Andrew Kaulder (Scoot McNairy) takes on an assignment to escort wealthy Samantha Wynden (Whitney Able) across to the safety of the United States. Post a river-boat journey followed by a convoy through the jungle, overnight, Andrew and Samantha find themselves the only survivors of an alien attack. As they make their way towards the safety of the US, certain facts of the ostensibly dangerous infestation never cease to amaze. Monsters is an interesting treatment on alien infestations, and brings noveau to a hackneyed genre

13/20

Shadows of the Mind

The first installment taught the audience to stick to deductive reasoning and not to be carried away by the (seemingly) occult. I am not sure what the second installment did, other than remind the audience of the theatrical elements so successfully used in the first installment. The predictive action sequences were hackneyed. The Europe-wide intrigue was anything but menacing. The incursion into Germany and chase sequences distinctly smelt steampunk way before WWI let alone WWII. In the end, we got a reasonably watchable thriller circa 1900, where the deductive reasoning element seemed to have headed to Brighton on holiday (or, case in point, shown in certain hurried sequences). Am not sure if Sherlock Holmes – A Game of Shadows reeked of Cossacks, but it surely smacked of a light-touch and un-originality. And that too from Guy Ritchie. Tch

11.5/20

The Longest of leaps

The ever so predictable Adam Sandler deviates ever so slightly from the familiar canned humor to produce a surprisingly balanced movie in The Longest Yard. On the face of it, the script does not sound particularly exciting – Paul Crewe (Adam Sandler) the ex-football star, disgraced for shaving points in a big game, finds himself serving a three year prison sentence for theft and drunk driving. Riled by the domineering practices of the prison guards, Paul decides to make a football team out of the inmates that will be more than pushovers for the prison guards’ tune up game. With a small core team, and on the way, picks up a coach in Nate Scarborough (Burt Reynolds), and some valuable players on account of some personal bravado vis-à-vis the theatrically aggressive prison guards. And as the movie progresses towards the predictable climax in the nature of all sports movies, you realize that this is one movie that does balance humor, and old-fashioned inspiration, rather well

13/20

Change the Game

It takes a lot of conviction to bring a new technique – in this case, hardcode quantitative analysis to major league baseball – and then to stick by it. And what does “sticking by” really entail? Well, for a start, being a one-man proponent of a technique that requires the coach replaced, and many star players traded out for unknowns or perceived also-rans. It also means taking hard decisions all too often. So when Billy Beane (Brad Pitt) takes on the unenviable task of resurrecting the Oakland A’s, in the capacity of General Manager, his odds, to say the least, are pretty limited. And, in the tradition of sports movies, Billy makes something significant of that nothing – in his words, he makes a difference and leaves his very own indelible mark on the game – Moneyball. While the movie is generally tipped to go the way of the likes of The Blind Side and Invictus come Oscar night, unlike these predecessors, Moneyball does require a baseball gene to be appreciated, and does not resound with universal appeal

12/20

No one in Nome

For those not on a weekly diet of spooky movies, The Fourth Kind is reasonably creepy – i.e. reasonable enough to qualify as a science fiction horror movie without further qualification, while not quite spooky enough to make hairs stand on end, especially on a 21 inch screen. The premise is simple enough. A mockumentary (in the style of the Blair Witch Project) shows one Dr Abigail Tyler (Charlotte Milchard, and her younger avatar, Milla Jovovich) being interviewed on television, recounting her research into unexplained disappearances in Nome, Alaska. The movie weaves its way through pseudo-real footage, ancient languages (Sumerian!) making inexplicable appearances in Nome, and other reasonably copybook alien abduction routine. However, where the movie succeeds is (as mentioned earlier, if you are not brought up on a one-horror-movie-a-day routine) showing some disturbing footage that appears real, and makes you mildly curious about the strange goings-on in remote Alaskan towns

11/20

Blaze a Trail

In a movie that bears little resemblance to the eponymous TV series, Burn Notice – The Fall of Sam Axe finds US Marine Commander Sam Axe (Bruce Campbell) shipped off to a dangerous mission in the jungles of Colombia. However, his mission to unearth the dangerous guerilla group Espada Ardiente (The Flaming Sword) does not quite lead to expected outcomes? How above-board is the outfit that he is working with? And how much of a terrorist group is the Flaming Sword, actually? While the skeletons tumble out of the closet one after another, the admittedly low-intensity action keeps the movie humming along. Truly unremarkable, even in respect of the surprises, and only redeemed by the periodic mild comic turns brought in by Sam Axe

10/20

Puncturing Lives

A needle stick is a regular occurrence across US hospitals – health workers getting accidentally pricked with patient needles – and diseases like AIDS and Hepatitis B spreading as a result. In addition, continued use of plastic, as opposed to glass, syringes, meant that re-use without sterilization was also leading to a large number of needless deaths especially in the poorer countries. So when Mike Weiss (Chris Evans) and Paul Danziger (Mark Kassen) and their small Texas-based personal-liability focused law firm take up the cause of scientist Jefferey Dancort (Marshall Bell) and his safety needle, their case, at the outset, seems to be quite in the clear. What the duo and their client have not reckoned with are the brute forces of the organized healthcare industry, and their deep reach into both the political and legal systems. With their law firm virtually on the brink of bankruptcy, and a somewhat wearied Paul increasingly pitted against an unrelenting Mike, does the duo actually manage to pull off a David-vs-Goliath? Post The Lincoln Lawyer, Puncture is the best law movie that I have come across, and in the nature of those (movies) that suffer without an exalted cast and special effects, vastly under-rated

14/20

Con the Con

A procurement of clothes in Lucknow for a trader, that’s entirely fictitious. A building sold in Delhi that is not even owned by the seller. A painting (Husain, no less) sold in Mumbai that is, well, not genuine. In all cases, there are (admittedly gullible) women and their entourages wronged, by con artist Ricky Behl (Ranveer Singh). Now three wronged and extremely dangerous women from three cities get together and field their trump – one delectable and persuasive salesgirl Ishika Desai (Anushka Sharma) to con the conman, in sunny Goa. However, as expected, things do not quite fall according to plan. The conman has oodles of experience and all the smarts required to outwit his avengers. However, in the nature of Bollywood heroes, he also has a heart of gooey mush. On the whole, Ladies vs Ricky Bahl is entertaining, while it admittedly defies logic in (many) parts

11.5/20

Another Mission Possible

Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) begins Mission Impossible – Ghost Protocol with a little help from his friends in getting out of a Russian prison. However, on a subsequent routine if difficult assignment in Russia, things go awry, and the IMF suddenly finds itself under Ghost Protocol – disavowed at the best of times, they are now on their own and behind enemy lines. Under the circumstances, the prospect of thwarting a warmonger’s evil plans to trigger a nuclear apocalypse seem remote indeed. Something that will necessitate a trip to Dubai and – hold your breath – Mumbai – to get things moving. This MI edition will stick in your memory for two distinct reasons. One is the Burj Khalifa – the tallest building in the world – and some rather unforgettable feats related to the same. The other is our very own Anil Kapoor in a meaningful if comic role. Overall, in the copybook thriller mould, Mission Impossible – Ghost Protocol does not disappoint, but does not attempt any transmogrification of the genre either 13.5/20

Clean Distant and Accurate

Whether it be the clinical kills of Vassili Zaitsev (Jude Law) in Enemy at the Gates, or Private Jackson’s (Barry Pepper) Biblical utterations prior to every shot in Saving Private Ryan, or a terrified Stu Shephard (Colin Farrel) frozen in a Phone Booth, the sniper has always held a special place in our psyche inasmuch action movies are concerned. So when Chad Michael Collins (Marine Brandon Beckett) receives a summons to rescue a stranded European farmer in the midst of the wilderness of the Democratic republic of Congo, in Sniper - Reloaded, things do not quite go according to plan as an unknown – guess what – sniper – turns on the rescuers. Poorly reviewed and possibly a misdirected watch for most, I, on the other hand, shall rate this movie way higher given the genre is close to my heart. Expecting the general movie-going crowd to celebrate a sniper movie is – well – a long shot

12/20

Heart of a Warrior

Tommy Conlon (Tom Hardy) is a deserter turned war hero, goes by his mother’s maiden name – Riordan - for a surname, and takes after his once-alcoholic father Paddy (Nick Nolte) as a natural born wrestler. Brother Brendan Conlon (Joel Edgerton) is a family man and schoolteacher, who needs to get into the mixed martial arts (MMA) ring to prevent being dispossessed of his home. Warrior begins with a family wholly estranged, with members blaming each other for past wrongs suffered. And what better arena to bring out the family dirty linen in public than the fighting arena. And after they are through with a bevy of prize-fighters, the brothers – somewhat expectedly – go for each other. With emoting that is of hardly the highest standards, Warrior would have been a damp squib if the fight scenes were not so good, and with a generous dose of help from the unlikely combination of Captain Ahab and Beethoven. This is in some respects an un-missable movie, where in spite of a limp storyline, the sheer execution sets this movie apart

16/20

A Demon Wronged

Johnny Depp's triumphs never end. A coldblooded avenger in 19th century London? No sweat! Benjamin Barker (Johnny Depp) is a man wronged - charged of a crime he did not commit and thereafter exiled, by the near-theaterically evil Judge Turpin, who then abuses his wife Lucy (Laura Michelle Kelly) and even drives her to suicide. Benjamin returns to London under the alias Sweeney Todd, determined to seek the revenge owed to him. Sweeney Todd proceeds to partner with Nellie Lovett (Helena Bonham Carter) and work as a barber at her meat pie shop on Fleet Street, and extract his pound of flesh - some would say literally - from those that have wronged him. Sweeney Todd - The Demon Barber of Fleet Street - is a retake on a character much depicted on multiple media - the version herein is possibly a reasonably faithful adaptation of the Stephen Sondheim musical. Like most of the protagonist's work, the sheer brilliance of the protagonist's acting abilities takes this adaptation to a different level

15.5/20