Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002)

Genre: Crime/Action/Drama/Comedy/Spoof/Adventure

Starring: Mike Myers, Seth Green, Beyonce Knowles, Michael York, Robert Wagner, Mindy Sterling, Verne Troyer, Michael Caine

The James Bond with obscenely high testosterone levels is back once more to make the ladies shiver with excitement and save the world. Austin Powers (Myers) has learnt that his father has been kidnapped and is stuck back in time in the '70s. He must go and save him from the clutches of Goldmember (Myers) an obnoxious Dutch who loves Gold and loves eating his dead skin. He encounters an old acquaintance Foxy Cleopatra who is working undercover as a part of Goldmembers team. Austin meets Dr. Evil (Myers) who too has travelled back in time to take Goldmember to the future and help him destroy the world. Austin along with Foxy must prevent Dr. Evil and Goldmember from accomplishing their evil deed and save the world from ultimate doom. The movie series were famously known to spoof various spy movies, especially the James Bond movies which provide the basis for all jokes and story. Myers exceeds expectations but increasing his role from 3 to 4 by executing the character of Goldmember apart from Austin Powers, Dr. Evil and Fat Bastard. Its an insane laugh riot which might seem very similar in humour to its previous movies but is still a very fun movie to watch.

Thumbs up: Mike Myers

Thumbs down: Overdone humour in the series, lacks freshness

Rating: 6.9/10

readmore »»  

Pulp Fiction (1994)

Genre: Drama/Crime

Starring: John Travolta, Uma Thurman, Samuel L. Jackson, Ving Rhames, Bruce Willis

There is something about Tarantino's movies that is unsaid. There is a deeper insight, a test of patience, ironic humour, characters that don't add any value to the story and a simplicity within complexity that make his movies so outstanding. The movie revolves around the everyday lives of a handful of individuals with no relevance to each other who merely cross paths for a few minutes in the plot. Vincent Vega (Travolta) a hit man along with his associate Lance (Jackson) need to recover a briefcase filled with gold from their bosses partner. Marsellus Wallace (Rhames) a local gangster hires Butch (Willis) a boxer to go down in a pre-decided boxing match. Vega wants to go out for dinner with Wallace's wife Mia (Thurman) and denies any affection for her but simply enjoys the company. Most of the movie focuses on the finer aspects of each of their lives with subtle humour. The movie oozes of Tarantino's style in and out and much of the movies character was re-used whilst making Inglorious Basterds. Typical to Tarantino, the movie does not follow any chronological sequence and hence one needs time and patience to understand and fully appreciate the cinematic brilliance.

Thumbs up: Samuel L. Jackson and everything else

Thumbs down: Long, slow and stretched

Rating: 8.5/10

readmore »»  

Flags of our Fathers (2006)

Genre: War/Action/Drama/History/Biography

Starring: Ryan Phillippe, Jesse Bradford, Adam Beach, John Benjamin Hickey, John Slattery, Barry Pepper, Paul Walker, Neal McDonough, Thomas McCarthy

Can a single photograph change the course of world events? Not likely, but for US Marines Ira Hayes (Beach), Rene Gagnon (Bradford) and John Bradley (Phillepe) it certainly did. Set in WWII, USA is launching an attack on Japan and needs to capture the island of Iwo Jima. Most of the movie narrates the occurrences on the island and gradual advancement of the troops. The marines planted the US flag atop a mountain on the island and a photograph taken at the correct time reached the mainland and the press in no time. Three marines who survived from those that planted the flag were recalled back to USA to market war bonds in the effort to fund the countries war efforts. The US treasury was empty and dollar had lost any value it ever had. The country cannot borrow anymore and hence is trying to sell bonds to the citizens and hopes that the photograph along with the presence of the three marine officers would aid the sale. The movie comes from Clint Eastwood and anyone familiar with his recent movies would quickly identify the style to be very similar to its other movies. The movie is a directors delight and has a lot of appeal and insight. It smartly weaves multiple plot lines together without making a mess and keeping audience attention intact. One of the better war movies of this age and a superb watch.

Thumbs up: Phenomenal direction and acting

Thumbs down: The story lacks variation and seems to show the same thing over and over again

Rating: 7.6/10

readmore »»  

The Descendants (2011)

Genre: Drama/Comedy

Starring: George Clooney, Shailene Woodley, Amara Miller, Nick Krause, Patricia Hastie

The life of an average American man who suddenly seems to have too much on his hand to control. Matt King (Clooney) is a lawyer based in Hawaii and lives with his wife and two daughters. His relationship with his wife, Elizabeth (Hastie) is strained and friends and family inform him its because there was a lack of excitement. Elizabeth suffers a jet ski accident and goes into a coma. Its only then that Matt's elder daughter Alexandra (Woodley) informs him of her extra-marital affair with an unknown man. Matt is the sole trustee of a family trust that owns a huge chunk of virgin land on one of the islands. Due to a law his trust would expire in seven years and he has no choice but to sell it. Managing his daughters, his wife's accident, strained marriage and the island deal coming together to one average man makes life hard, very hard. Clooney has done a phenomenal piece of acting and rightfully earns the numerous awards he has received for it. The light comedy sprinkled in the first half of the movie and the dramatic second half is the perfect structure for a movie of its kind and is spot-on. The movie is pretty much flawless but suffers from the drawbacks of the genre of the movie. A movie of its kind can get heavy and is slow, attributes that naturally occur and are unavoidable. A definite watch and gives the viewer a lot to reflect upon.

Thumbs up: Fabulous acting, especially Clooney

Thumbs down: Slow and heavy

Rating: 7.7/10

readmore »»  

Agneepath (2012)

Genre: Crime/Action/Drama

Starring: Hrithik Roshan, Sanjay Dutt, Priyanka Chopra, Rishi Kapoor, Om Puri

A remake of the 1990 blockbuster starring Amitabh Bachchan, Karan Johar attempts a remake of the original made by his father. Johar, more known for his melodramatic and housewife-ish movies, has created a type-casted genre for himself and its no wonder that critics received the movie with apprehension prior to its release. Loaded violence, street crime and raw aggression is the last thing that anyone would associate Johar with and he has successfully managed to live up to the original movie's reputation. I haven't personally seen the original but word has it that the remake is different in many aspects and reaping largest-ever box office collections in India is certain proof. Vijay Dinanath Chauhan (Roshan) was brought up by his father to be noble and wise and not give in to filth and greed of the streets. His father was wrongly framed and killed tortuously in broad daylight by Kancha (Dutt) the local gangster of the village of Mandwa. Seething with anger and vowing revenge, a young Vijay arrives at the beaches of Mumbai, ready to start a new life. He gets sucked into street crime and joins hands with Rauf Lala (Kapoor) a human-trafficker, Mumbai's largest drug lord and Kancha's enemy. Here he meets his love Kaali (Chopra) and befriends a police officer who wishes to help him take down Kancha once and for all. The movie is powerful and aggressive in every passing moment. Sure, there are up and downs but that is a part and parcel of making a commercial Bollywood movie. The unwanted dance sequences and slow, family drama is like the garnishing on food; unwanted but makes it look good. Roshan and company have put on a fabulous show and Dutt has fulfilled the role of an over-the-top villain with finesse. The movie has superbly incorporated religion, aggression, power and drama in its backdrop to make it highly entertaining and worth the 3 hours it demands. Yes loads of scenes can be simply sliced away to make it faster and better, but that's Bollywood!

Thumbs up: Performance, the character that the movie presents itself with

Thumbs down: Slow and unwanted scenes break the flow

Rating: 8.3/10

readmore »»  

All the King's Men (2006)

Genre: Drama/Biography

Starring: Sean Penn, Mark Ruffalo, Kate Winslet, Jude Law, Anthony Hopkins, Patricia Clarkson, James Gandolfini, Jackie Earle Haley

Loosely based on Huey Long, Governor of the state of Louisiana, Willie Stark (Penn) worked as a small-town lawyer and was roped by the local political muscle, Tiny Duffy (Gandolfini) to run for governor. What Stark didn't know was that he was being fooled and he wasn't supposed to win. Upon learning of Duffy's ambitions he decides to run as Governor by himself and wins by a landslide. He reached to the poor and promised to uplift them from poverty and was against well-settled city people enjoying all the benefits, much to the ire of large oil companies. Jack Burden (Law) a noted journalist from an elitist family, became Stark's advisor in spite of being advised against taking the position by everyone around him. Stark was accused of creating public services but secretly using them to rob the state of taxpayers money to keep for himself. With these accusations against him, Stark was brought forward for impeachment in the senate and wanted Jack's god-father, Judge Irwin (Hopkins) to be on his side rather than against. Sean Penn is a brilliant adaptive actor which can be seen from Milk and this movie. His role as the Governor, bringing the correct accent and character and the fabulous performances were show-stealing. Not just his but the rest of the cast, including Law, put on fabulous performances and supported his character in every way. With such a line-up its not wrong to keep expectations high but its very wrong when these expectations fall to the ground. The story and plot execution is weak, the movie is very slow and can get a bit boring at times. Mostly its Stark's heavy accent that makes it hard to grasp the developments in the movie, but other elements of storyline also come into play in downplaying the movie greatly. The amazing performances seem to have no outcome whatsoever and the slow progress makes it very dull and boring.

Thumbs up: Strong performances

Thumbs down: Very dull, too slow

Rating: 5.8/10

readmore »»  

Cedar Rapids (2011)

Genre: Comedy/Drama/Romance

Starring: Ed Helms, John C. Reilly, Anne Heche, Isiah Whitlock Jr., Kurtwood Smith, Sigourney Weaver

An award-winning insurance agency, Brownstar, has been successful so far in winning the Two Diamonds awards given out annually to the best insurance agency. Brownstar insurance agent Tim Lippe (Helms) is selected to  represent his company this year at the awards ceremony after the agent who usually took up this task decided to move on in life. Tim has never stepped out of his home town, led a sheltered life and is very immature for his age. He has no idea on how he is supposed to live to his boss's expectations and come back winning the awards. He befriends his roommates Dean Zeigler (Reily) the very man whom his boss asked him to stay away from, and Ronald Wilkes (Whitlock Jr.). He is attraction to Joan (Heche), nervousness about winning the award, learning about independent life the hard way and getting accustomed to reality make those few days seem far longer than they were intended to be. The movie is pretty much your average run-of-the-mill comedy movie but it wont fail to entertain. Its light, funny, cheerful and uplifting and would try very hard to make you smile.

Thumbs up: Light and fun

Thumbs down: Cliched and can slow in parts

Rating: 6.5/10

readmore »»  

Gunda (1998)

Genre: Crime/Drama/Action

Starring: Mithun Chakraborty, Verna Raj, Rana Jung Bahadur, Mohan Joshi, Shakti Kapoor, Razak Khan, Harish Patel, Mukesh Rishi

Speechless. There are these select few movies, rarely found, that manage to be so ultimately horrible that its an amazing watch. Its like the village idiot who lacks every kind of personality but is yet laughed at by all. But don't get me wrong, Gunda would never fall into that category. Its amazingly huge cult following that swear by it can not be wrong. Shankar (Chakraborty) is the common man frustrated with corrupt politicians and the harassment that every individual faces due to gangsters openly walking on the streets. He takes the law into his own hands and decides to bring an end to them once and for all. Bulla (Rishi) is a well-connected gangster that works for a politician and gets rid of his opposition. His sidekicks include Pote (Joshi), Ebu Hatela (Patel) and Bulla's bisexual brother, Chuttiya (Kapoor). Every goon has their own introductory line which they keep narrating every now and then. Bulla claims to keep everything in the open (mein rakhta hoon sab khulla), Chuttiya vows to basically make life horrible even for the best (achche achchon ki khadi karta hoon khatiya), Pote literally means grandson which he claims even your dad wont have (?) (jo tumhare baap ke bhi nahin hote) and Ebu Hatela explains his ancestry and wants you to eat his banana (!) (Maa meri chudail ke beti, baap mera shaitan ka chela, khayega kela?). If these lines crack you up, what would the first 5 minutes of the movie do to you? Google the dialogue list and you would find loads of websites where fans have listed the hilarity. Apart from these award winning dialogues, the movie is pure trash. Skip through the jargon and enjoy the essence. Its a clear case of love and hate and I must say, I'm lovin' it.

Thumbs up: The best script ever!

Thumbs down: Very typical Bollywood B-grade from the '90s

Rating: 7.0/10

readmore »»  

Drive (2011)

Genre: Crime/Action/Drama

Starring: Ryan Gosling, Carey Mulligan, Bryan Canston, Albert Brooks, Oscar Isaac, Ron Perlman

After The Transporter the Americans decided they wanted something like that too; enter Drive. Thankfully, they realised they cant make a blatant copy of the European series and hence decide to twist things up in many ways. Driver (Gosling) is a movie stunt artist who doubles as a getaway driver by night. He gets friendly with his neighbour, Irene (Mulligan) whose imprisoned husband Standard (Isaac) is due to be released. Standard owns protection money to a gang which he was to pay once he gets out. The sum has increased almost ten-fold and is unaffordable to pay back. He arranges a deal where he would help rob a pawn shop as payback and they would never shadow him again. He asks driver for his services. I personally don't agree that the acclaim the movie has garnered is justifiable. Yes its good, no its not phenomenal. The movie has an interesting plot line, performances are superb and the sheer character that the movie keeps is outstanding. It feels inspired from crime-based video games, GTA: Vice City to be precise, but that is open to debate. It has a 90's feel with a hint of film-noir hear and there which makes the approach very interesting. The complete let down is the pace and progress of the plot. One can argue that it adds a lot of character that makes the movie fantastic, but it is still something that the average movie-goer would classify as boring. A must watch for the film-lover and the critic, the rest can give it a shot and see what side of the argument do they fall on.

Thumbs up: Great feel and character, very GTAish

Thumbs down: Slow to progress and build up, needed more pace

Rating: 7.2/10

readmore »»  

Scary Movie 4 (2006)

Genre: Comedy/Drama/Spoof/Adventure

Starring: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, Craig Bierko, Bill Pullman, Anthony Anderson, Leslie Nielsen, Conchita Campbell, Beau Mirchoff, Kevin Hart

The Scary Movie series of movies can be attributed with the revolution of spoof movies where the plot never really mattered and all that accounted for was the ridiculous humour derived out of current events, TV shows and mostly movies. The fourth installment of the series decides to take on The Village, The Grudge and War of the Worlds. Cindy Campbell (Farris) has taken up a job as nursing an old-aged woman and finds that her house is haunted by a Japanese child who predicts the destruction of Earth and tells Cindy that only she can stop the alien invasion. Tom Ryan (Bierko) is a divorcee who has to take care of his children Rachel (Campbell) and Robbie (Mirchoff). Tom and Cindy are new neighbours and fall in love with each other just as catastrophe strikes Earth with an deadly alien invasion. Cindy along with Brenda (Hall) and Tom must use the Japanese kids advice and stop Earth from ultimate doom. The movie has derived its core plot from a non-horror movie and hence failed to live up to the brand name to an extent. The jokes are only moderately funny and the full extent of the humour can only be absorbed if one is familiar with the movies/personalities that are being spoofed on. You can watch it but you wont miss out on anything if you chose not to.

Thumbs up: Its not easy to make good movie spoofs

Thumbs down: Not very funny

Rating: 5.6/10

readmore »»  

Next Day Air (2009)

Genre: Crime/Drama/Comedy

Starring: Donald Faison, Mike Epps, Wood Harris, Omari Hardwick, Emilio Rivera, Darius McCary, Cisco Reyes, Yasmin Deliz, Lobo Sebastian

There are some movies that make you simply wonder, 'Why'? Why would anyone want to waste all the resources to recreate garbage? Doesn't the world create enough of that already? If you filter the trash, one would find that most of these movies feature African-American crime and comedy that hardly ever appeals to the masses. Leo (Faison) is a simple mail delivery man who delivers post after getting high. In one such instance, he drops of a box full of 10 bricks of cocaine to the wrong house. Guch (Harris) and Brody (Epps) are wannabe gangsters who have befriended a completely unknown person to rob a bank which goes hopelessly wrong. A miscommunication leads them to steal the 'tapes' instead of the 'cash' and now they're broke with no money, until there is a knock on the door and they're delivered an unknown package. Across the hallway, Jesus (Reyes) is awaiting for his coke shipment to arrive from drug lord Bodega (Rivera). The package never comes, Bodega is mad and Jesus is pissing in his pants. Guch and Brody decide to sell the stuff to Brody's cousin Shavoo (Hardwick) not knowing that the package belongs to their friendly neighbour. The movie is the average entertainer with the regular comedy that is often associated from this genre of movie. Watchable, but not commendable.

Thumbs up: Keeps you involved the entire time

Thumbs down: Unexciting and predictable

Rating: 5.8/10

readmore »»  

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

readmore »»  

Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999)

Genre: Comedy/Crime/Drama

Starring: Mike Myers, Heather Graham, Michael York, Rob Lowe, Seth Green, Verne Troyer, Mindy Sterling

James Bond, oops, Austin Powers (Myers) returns once again but the element that makes him the man that he is has gone missing. Austin Powers has lost his mojo. Austin Powers has lost his libido. Austin Powers has lost his manhood. Austin Powers cannot shag! That is bad news for Mr. Powers and even worse for the ladies. Dr. Evil (Myers) sent his secret agent, Fat Bastard (Myers) back in time to 1969 to steal Mr. Powers man-ly elements whilst he is frozen. Powers in the year 1999 suddenly realises that something from within him is gone missing and soon learns of Evil's theft in the past. He too decides to go back to 1969 and get his vital organs back in order and also prevent Dr. Evil from bringing down Washington D.C. with a laser beam perched atop the Moon. Along with his oh-so-sexy accomplice, Felicity Shagwell (Graham) Powers must save the world and bring himself back to the ladies. If you think Mike Myers outdid himself with his dual roles of Evil and Powers, he just raised the bar with a third performance of Fat Bastard. The entertainment quotient of the series is ever increasing with the humour, satire and jokes being fabulous and fun. The abrupt ending of Miss Kensington from the previous movie and the absence of Mrs. Kensington in 1969 seems out of place, but who cares really?

Thumbs up: Mike Myers as always

Thumbs down: Awkward plot line

Rating: 7.5/10

readmore »»  

Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997)

Genre: Comedy/Drama/Crime

Starring: Mike Myers, Elizabeth Hurley, Michael York, Robert Wagner, Seth Green, Fabiana Udenio

What would happen if Jim Carrey would play the role of James Bond? You would get Austin Powers (Myers). The British Spy whose every move gives woman orgasms on the street, whose suave style and character are loved by all and the sole person on the planet who can put an end to Dr. Evil (Myers). Its England in the year 1967 when Dr. Evil freezes himself and escapes from Powers to outer space and promises to return again. Not to get outdone, Powers freezes himself too in order to be ready when Evil decides to return. 30 years later, Evil returns once again with plans of world domination and Austin Powers is reborn. The flashy colours of the 60's, the freedom of unprotected sex, the boot-cut trousers and his overtly sexual character are a complete misfit in this era and our spy is finding a hard time to adjust himself. Along with his accomplice, Miss Kensington (Hurley) Austin must stop Dr. Evil from planting a nuclear warhead inside the Earths core which would make every volcano explode. The movie is loaded with satire, humour, spoofs and is made not to make any sense but to simply roll you over with laughter. Myers steals the show with his dual performances of Evil and Powers. Its his British humour, awkwardly humorous scenes and the 60's misfit style are simply fabulous. Its shagadelic baby!

Thumbs up: Mike Myers and the amazing humour

Thumbs down: Some slow scenes that break the flow

Rating: 7.5/10

readmore »»  

A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas (3D) (2011)

Genre: Comedy/Drama

Starring: Kal Penn, John Cho, Thomas Lennon, Amir Blumenfeld, Paula Garces, Danny Trejo

Harold (Cho) & Kumar (Penn) have entertained audiences in the past when they went to White Castle and Guantanamo Bay. The two best friends perpetually landed themselves in trouble with Harold trying to figure a more reasonable way out and Kumar chosing something more radical. The two friends have not parted ways with Harold tired of Kumar's continued immaturity and not being able to accept adulthood. He has settled down with Maria (Garces) and Maria's family decides to drop in for Christmas. Her father Carlos Perez (Trejo) is a very religious person and believes in celebrating Christmas with all his heart. Harold and him dont get along and Carlos has entrusted Harold with the task of decorating a Christmas tree that he has been growing for years for this special occassion. Kumar is still spending time like a college graduate, smoking weed all day long and finds a package with Harold's name on his doorstep. Not having seen him in all these years he decided to pay him a visit and give the package. Kumar, ever-famous for his blunders, puts Carlos' tree on fire and the two now need to look for a new tree and decorate it before he returns home. The movies have consistently focussed on the duo and their misfortunate events but what made them famous and loved was the slapstick and enjoyable humour. Penn, as usual, brings in all the sex and stupid humour which seemed to lack finesse and character. The movie doesnt have humour like the previous movies, gets extremely boring during unwanted melodramatic scenes and lacks a different plot. Fails to live up to the brands name and a big let down for fans.

Thumbs up: Very few selected scenes that have the Harld & Kumar essence

Thumbs down: Horrible humour, extremely boring at times

Rating: 5.8/10

readmore »»  

Puss in Boots (2011)

Genre: Animation/Adventure/Comedy/Drama/Action/Fantasy/Crime

Starring (voice): Antonio Banderas, Salma Hayek, Zach Galifianakis, Billy Bob Thornton, Amy Sedaris

The innocent, brown furred, black-eyed, Spaniard cat from Shrek gets a movie to his own name. Puss in Boots (Banderas) is an outlaw who loots and plunders, not from the innocent, but from those who deserve it, much like Robin Hood. He learns about the magic beanstalk with the Golden Goose that lives high up in the Giants castle and lays golden eggs He embarks on an adventure to find the magic beans when he crosses paths with Kitt Softpaws (Hayek) a cat much like him, out for the same objective. His adventures lead him to once again come face to face with Humpty Dumpty (Galifianakis) an old friend who started stealing from the innocent and hence parted ways. Humpty and Puss had a childhood ambition of growing the beanstalk and now Humpty knows how exactly to do it and needs Puss' help once more. The character of Puss was loved and applauded by all for his cute and suave Latino style. With the Shrek series coming to an end, Dreamworks' attempt at reviving old fairy tales and portraying them contrarty to our normal beliefs might have failed in this attempt. Shrek was loved for its humour and unique plot line, however, Puss in Boots fails on both those aspects with below average humour and an extremely predictable story. Targeted towards young kids, the movie needs heavy humour that the audience could associate with and not the rude, sarcastic and slightly sexual comedy that the movie banks upon. A let-down for people who expected the Shrek magic once more.

Thumbs up: Unique blend of various fairytale characters

Thumbs down: Boring  humour, hopeless attempt at being entertaining

Rating: 6.2/10

readmore »»  

Unknown (2011)

Genre: Drama/Thriller/Crime/Action/Mystery

Starring: Liam Neeson, Diane Kruger, January Jones, Aidan Quinn, Bruno Ganz, Sebastian Koch

Liam Neeson will forever be known for his contemporary spy movies and this one adds to the list. Dr. Martin Harris (Neeson) is a professor in biotechnology who has come with his wife Elizabeth (Jones) for a biotechnology summit to Berlin, Germany. He accidentally leaves his briefcase, with his passport inside it. at the airport and injures his head when the taxi has an accident and falls into the river. Falling into a coma, Martin wakes up only four days later and finds his wife not around with him. Everybody he earlier knew refuse to recognise him, his identity stolen by an impostor (Quinn) and with no identity to prove himself he finds himself to be an unknown. With faint traces of his memory after arriving in Berlin, the only person he remembers in Gina (Kruger) the taxi driver who rescued him from drowning. Along with Gina he needs to find his true identity and unravel the mystery behind the 'fake' Martin Harris. The movie is very typical and the role of Martin Harris seems to tailor made for Neeson. His fabulous performance, supported by Kruger, add a lot of character to the movie and make it an interesting watch. The commendable aspect being that till the very end the movie is packing surprises for you, just when you thought you had it all figured out. The sad part, however, is that in the midst of all the twists and turns, there are multiple lose ends that the movie conveniently forgets to tie together leading to gaping visible flaws in the story. All in all, a great Neeson movie that reminded me, oddly, of Taken.

Thumbs up: Neeson and the entertaining plot

Thumbs down: Lose ends in the plot that were never answered

Rating: 7.5/10

readmore »»  

Minority Report (2002)

Genre: Science-fiction/Action/Crime/Thriller/Drama/Mystery

Starring: Tom Cruise, Max von Sydow, Samantha Morton, Collin Farrell

How do reduce crime in the city? Prevent crime from ever happening of course. Three mutated human beings, called Precogs, gain the gift of seeing the future and detecting murder. Washington D.C. sets up a Precrime department, headed by John Anderton (Cruise), whose task is to learn of any murders predicted by the Precogs and prevent them from happening. With the high success ratio of the operation that the city experiences, Precrime is going national and a member of the Department of Justice, Danny Witwer (Farrell) is sent to evaluate the effectiveness of the department before the crucial decision is taken. Since Precrime solely relies on the vision obtained by the Precogs, the possibility of the actual murder not taking place exists and the question arises, how can you arrest someone for a crime they never did but were only forecasted to do. John staunchely believes in Precrime and its ideology but found himself on the other side of the line when a crime to be conducted by him is foretold, where he supposedly is to murder a man he has never met. John tries to prove the prediction wrong and runs against the very ideology that a crime, if predicted, will happen. The movie is layered with multiple stories that all go in the direction to fathom the dilemma that arises out of the ideology of the Precrime department. Tom Cruise has put on a fabulous performance and is not action focused as his more recent movies and comes out as a more contemporary actor who can do serious acting. The movie's storyline is unique and interesting and coming from the notable Steven Speilberg, one expects as much.

Thumbs up: Tom Cruise and the plot
Thumbs down: Repeatedly fast and slow, pace changing plot development

Rating: 7.9/10

readmore »»  

Dirty Harry (1971)

Genre: Crime/Drama/Thriller/Action

Starring: Clint Eastwood, Andrew Robinson, John Vernon, Reni Santoni

The city of San Fransisco is facing a sadistic serial murderer calling himself Scorpio (Robinson) who would stop at nothing to extort money from the city. If he doesn't get what he demands for, a life would be lost. Faced with dilemma of fueling crime versus saving the people, the Mayor (Vernon) appoints Inspector Harry Callahan (Eastwood) the task of finding and arresting the lunatic. However, getting hold of him seems harder than what Callahan had anticipated leading to a cat and mouse chase for the rest of the movie. The movie showcases Eastwood's evergreen and fine performances that have always gripped and thrilled audiences. What the movie lacked was a unique plot development and perhaps even some twists. Unfortunately the killer and his identity were revealed early on in the movie leaving no surprises for the audience. All that ensued was Callahan chasing Scorpio and his attempts at apprehending him. The movie is raw and tries to be as practical as possible by showcasing how crime is tackled in the real world, but you wish it had something unexpected to turn up right towards the end. It's a movie after all.

Thumbs up: Clint Eastwood, raw performances

Thumbs down: A bland plot which needs some more spice

Rating: 6.9/10

readmore »»  

Mission: Impossible II (2000)

Genre: Action/Crime/Drama

Starring: Tom Cruise, Dougray Scott, Thandie Newton, Ving Rhames, Richard Roxburgh, John Polson, Brendan Gleeson, Rade Serbedzija

The second movie of the acclaimed Mission Impossible movie, Agent Ethan Hunt (Cruise) returns once again to recover the dangerous virus, Chimera and its cure, Bellerophon from the hands of former IMF Agent Sean Ambrose (Scott). Dr. Nekhorvich (Serbedzija) was forced by his employers at Biocyte to produce a monstrous virus, Chimera which can effectively kill a person within 20 hours and also create its cure which could be then sold to the world at astronomical rates. Nekhorvich is intercepted by Ambrose before he can hand over the virus and the cure to the IMF and is killed. Ambrose intends to sell the stolen drugs back to Biocyte and thus ensuring a healthy profit for himself. Hunt along with the help of a professional thief and Ambrose's ex-girlfriend, Nyah Nordoff-Hall (Newton) must recover the virus and the cure before all hell breaks lose. The concept of the first movie was to portray an impossible mission and not merely something that is difficult. The impossibility factor is lacking in the movie along with the aspect of a mystery and a strong climax. The movie also includes a romantic angle which slows the pace greatly. All that said and done, the movie packs a lot of punch and adrenaline-rushing action which makes up the flaws to an extent. Perhaps if the mission was more 'impossible' and not merely 'find and retrieve' it would have lived up to the first movie's expectations.

Thumbs up: Amazing action

Thumbs down: Mission difficult, not impossible

Rating: 6.9/10

readmore »»