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