Metallica: Some Kind of Monster (2004)

Genre: Documentary/Musical/Drama/Biography

Starring: James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich, Kirk Hammett, Robert Trujillo, Bob Rock, Phil Towle

The world most popular heavy metal band, Metallica were facing a crisis and were at an all time low in their career during the year 2001. The band hasn't toured in three years and just as the band was about to regroup for their 8th album, bassist Jason Newstead decided to quit the band. Newstead was apparently unhappy about the direction in which the band was heading and was unhappy that band leader James Hetfield wasn't allowing Jason to undertake side projects. Hetfield himself was battling drug and alcohol abuse and went into rehabilitation just months after the band started recording. Hetfield was away for over a year and drummer Lars Ulrich along with lead guitarist Kirk Hammett were annoyed with his continued absence. The band had previously hired a therapist, Phil Towle with whose help they wanted to get over their differences, improve performance and get rid of all the negativity. The band started recording once Hetfield returned and band producer Bob Rock filled in as bassist for the album recording until a new bassist, Robert Trujillo, was taken on the band. Metallica has ever since risen out from the ashes and retain their No.1 spot till this day. The documentary focuses on intra-band disagreements, the verge of the band breaking up, their battle with Napster, the making of St. Anger, selection of Trujillo and the eventual album release. It focuses on most of the core areas that any fan would want to know about Metallica and clearly reveals all the ups and downs that the band went through. Dont be mistaken that the movie is only for metal-heads. Apart from the blaring music that would smack a smile on the die-hard fans face, any other person would appreciate the movie and revelation of the functioning of a band. A must watch for fans and a recommended for anyone else.

Thumbs up: Great portrayal of every aspect, personal as well as professional, of each band member

Thumbs down: A boring 2nd part after a strong start and an equally strong end.

Rating: 7.4/10

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Jackass Number Two (2006)

Genre: Comedy/Documentary/Action

Starring: Johnny Knoxville, Bam Margera, Steve-O, Chris Pontius, Ryan Dunn, Jason 'Wee-Man' Acuna, Preston Lacy, Dave England

The most outrageous TV show on the planet returns in its movie format with a second installment. Fancy getting leaches put in your eyes, or enjoy a swim with a bleeding cheek in the midst of a shark, or does getting a cow brand on your butt appeal to you or would you rather play with an anaconda? If you replied 'yes' to any of the above, please contact the Jackass team. The movie is a compilation of the teams crazy, insane, daring and what some may call stupid, stunts and antics. Most of them are highly dangerous which can cause serious damage to yourself and others around you but many are funny at the same time. The movie is not very different from the first installment when it comes to the quality and level of stunts. Its not any MORE crazy, stupid, insane or daring but more or less on the same level. The format and structure of the movie too remains pretty much the same but that may not be a point of argument for a Jackass fan. As long as the insanity continues, that is all that matters. Its crazy, but if you're a fan you would love it.

Thumbs up: The guts to perform such daring stunts

Thumbs down: Some very gross and graphic scenes

Rating: 5.7/10

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Inside Job (2010)

Genre: History/Biography

Starring: Matt Damon (voice)

The 2008 global financial meltdown rocked the entire foundation of the human civilisation. Millions lost their jobs and their life savings overnight. How can such a huge disaster occur without any prior warning or anyone knowing about it? Inside Job looks into the development of the sub-prime crisis and its eventual impact on humanity. Greed for money and power ensured that corporate big-wigs could corrupt the United States political system into making money for self-gain at the cost of social development. The movie brings out how foolish decisions taken by Wall Street and Washington took the world to where it now stands. The movie has boldly shown the people responsible behind it and their indifferent behaviour before and after the crisis. The only flaw to the movie is the financial jargon which makes it hard for a non-finance person to understand. However, if the movie did go into the intricacies of all these definitions, the movie would be endless and would lose its objective. Hence this movie might only appeal to the understanding of the well-versed and those individuals would realise the full potential of it. Apart from the jargon, the movie correctly brings out how careless and near-sighted all the corporate heads of Wall Street are and the only point on their agenda is to make money for themselves. A great movie that shows the lengths and breadth of the sub-prime crisis.

Thumbs up: Bold display of all facts and figures

Thumbs down: Too much financial jargon

Rating: 7.1/10

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Jackass: The Movie (2002)

Genre: Comedy/Documentary/Action

Starring: Johnny Knoxville, Bam Margera, Ryan Dunn, Steve-o, Jason 'Wee Man' Acuna, Chris Pontius, Preston Lacy, Dave England, Ehren McGhehey, Phil Margera

Would you walk on a tightrope across an alligator pool with raw meet attached to your underpants? Would you play dashing cars with golf carts? Would you go deep-sea diving with sharks with shrimps in your underwear? Would you roll across a room filled with mouse traps almost naked? If you answered yes to any of the above questions then your probably one of the above mentioned persons starring in the movie, in case you said no then welcome to the world of Jackass. Jackass is an MTV TV show which telecasts mostly the above mentioned actors performing insane stunts. The show garnered a huge fan following in the United States and hence a compilation of these stunts got together to form the first Jackass movie. If you have never seen one of their episodes or have no idea how insane they truly are, my advice, watch one before venturing into this 90 minute torture. The movie is plagued with ridiculous insanity which once again would appeal only to those who are fanatics of the movie. There are some really funny moments but many parts are utterly gross and completely unwatchable.

Thumbs up: Some really funny and 'sane' stunts

Thumbs down: Other completely ridiculous and horrible stunts

Rating: 5.7/10

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This Film Is Not Yet Rated (2006)

Genre: Documentary

Starring: (various)

The MPAA (Motion Pictures Association of America) and its long serving president, Jack Valenti implemented a ratings system on Hollywood movies in order to curb the explicitly movies were supposedly portraying. This ratings system did not go down well with Hollywood directors because of its secret and non-transparent feature. Films were supposedly watched by ordinary parents of children aged 3-7 years who rate movies and decide whether the movie is appropriate for children to watch. Movies which get rated NC-17 don't go down well with the director since children below 17 cannot watch those movies and they lose their core movie-watching audience. The MPAA members are heads of the worlds largest media corporations and accusations of bias in ratings in favour of these corporations has been alleged. Kirby Dick, the director of this movie tries to dig deep and reveal the profile of the raters and bring out the truth whether the MPAA is actually doing what it set out to do and what it claims to do. The movie reveals quite a few secrets about the film industry and the liberal and free America quickly appears to be conservative and timid, something you never associated it to be. Probably everyone associated with the movie industry should watch this, probably to learn something new or get a fresh perspective.

Thumbs up: Reveals a lot of unknown secrets

Thumbs down: Being a documentary there wasn't much to pick up as flaws

Rating: 6.8/10

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Michael Jackson's: This Is It (2009)

Genre: Documentary/Musical

Starring: Michael Jackson, Kenny Ortega

The man who invented the 'moon walk', the epitome of all dance forms, the legend, Michael Jackson. For more than a decade, he stayed away from stage performances and his life was marred by controversies. He finally decides to make a public appearance once again at a concert in London in the month of July in 2009. June 2009, preparations for the concert were in full swing and barely weeks before the eventful day, MJ lost his life. It was a tragic day for the world and for the millions of fans who loved his music. A video recording of the rehearsals was being made which was to a part of the concert. That same recording took the form of this movie. The movie is like any other behind the scenes story of an event and doesn't hold any major significance. It perhaps would have been better if it retold the story of MJ's life with all his ups and downs, major concerts, biggest hits etc., instead the movie focused only on the making of the London concert. The movie is a must watch for any die-hard MJ fan, but for anyone else, it is highly avoidable.

Thumbs up: Michael, the legend
Thumbs down: Doesn't include past life

Rating: 6.1/10

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Frost/Nixon (2008)

Genre: Documentary/ Drama/ History/Biography

Starring: Micheal Sheen, Frank Langella, Sam Rockwell, Kevin Bacon, Matthew Macfayden, Oliver Platt

A good movie can be aptly judged by two things. Firstly, the position of a persons back to the seat along with the expression on his/her face. In this case, my nose was barely inches away from the screen, staring as each pixel swiftly changed form and a broad grin on my face. Secondly, the flow of thought that immediately comes to ones mind right after a movie, which was the first few lines that you just read. Richard Nixon (Langella) is the only president of the United States to have ever resigned from office. Charges of corruption, burglary and misuse of presidential power hounded his feet. He never gave a pubic testimony accepting these charges and his successor gave him a presidential pardon, thus ruling out a court trial. The American publics sentiments were hurt and they wanted an all out confession. David Frost (Sheen) was a noted British comedian and talk show host, who had the brilliant idea of interviewing Nixon and trying to get a confession out of him. A lot of hurdles came across his way and his entire experience and fame as a journalist was put to test by this one man. The movie depicted a cold feeling between David and Nixon where they both seemed to fight a battle for coming out on top of the other. Michael Sheen and Frank Langella have beautifully managed to actually bring out that feeling on screen; simply watching them debate and hit out on each other is simply astounding. Its not just about representing the actual interviews but bringing out those emotions and facial expressions that bring it as close to reality. Langella's five second screen shot where he manages to show an array of thoughts and feelings of surprise, confusion, anger, sorrow, self-pity, humiliation and what not, all by one look on his face defines him as a good actor.

Thumbs up: Langella with Sheen not far behind
Thumbs down: Too busy appreciating the good points to figure this one out.

Rating: 8.5/10

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District 9 (2009)

Genre: Documentary/Science-fiction/Action/Thriller

Starring: Sharlto Copley

There is a stark difference between making a documentary and making a movie. What happens when a hybrid of the two occurs i.e. 'a purposeful or fake documentary'? An alien mother ship enters earth and halts atop Johannesburg, South Africa. The million-odd aliens from within the spaceship are rescued and are given housing accommodation in District 9, Johannesburg. Over two decades pass, the housing soon becomes an alien slum, with the aliens feasting off trash like scavengers. Human tolerance levels fall, and people start protesting against the aliens and want them out of the city. Vikus Van De Merwe (Copley) is an officer working at MNU, an arms manufacturing company. His company has been contracted with the assignment of forcibly evicting the aliens to a new a location and Vikus is the field operator in-charge. During his eviction spree, he gets exposed to alien fluid which slowly starts altering his bodies genetics and transforms him into an alien. He suddenly becomes the most sough-after individual on the planet, since alien weaponry can only be used by someone who has the aliens DNA. He befriends an alien, Cristopher Johnson and has a deal with him. The alien will make him human again, only if he can get hold of the fluid, currently in MNU labs and escape from earth. The movie wonderfully creates an almost real-life visual, with in-between interviews with alien specialist. One actually comes close to believing that the incident did actually take place, but was kept closely under wraps. It gives a whole documentary feel to it, but keeps switching to 'movie mode' every now and then. Almost anyone would today scoff at the idea of 'alien rights', but the movie makes you realise that if such a day would arrive for human beings, what sort of an ugly scenario might befall us. Although the movie moves very slow, it is still a very interesting watch, simply because it is very different from conventional movie making concepts.

Thumbs Up: Combo of documentary and movie
Thumbs Down: A bit slow, gory scenes

Rating: 7.4/10

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The Queen (2007)

Genre: Documentary/Drama

Starring: Helen Mirren, James Cormwell, Michael Sheen

One might want to call this movie a documentary, which is true but not completely. The movie kicks off by showing news clippings of the sudden death of Princess Diana. The people of England are taken aback and each person has a different reaction, be it the People of Britain, the Prime Minister, Tony Blair (Sheen) or the Royal Family within Balmoral castle. A lot of complications arise since The Queen (Mirren) and the Royal Family are refusing to acknowledge and give Princess Diana the respect she deserves since she isn't a part of the family anymore. The movie has managed to showcase and bring out some very essential moments and reactions of the Royal Family, earlier unknown to most people. Helen Mirren's performance as Queen Elizabeth has played the essential role in the movie quite nicely to bring out its charm, which it might have lost if it wasn't for her. The numerous awards won by this movie all for the same title (Best Actress) makes you want to watch it just for the sake of the good acting, which I am pleased to say, is exceptional.

Rating 7.9/10

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