The world of cartoons please all of us, no matter young or old, the colors, the images and the innocent appeal is just so likeable, the feeling of nostalgia and a break from the real world is just more than welcome. However, when you put humans inside the artificial yet pleasing world of cartoons, it would definitely spoil the broth. Warner Bro’s Speed racer comes as a total surprise this summer. When Wachowski brothers The Matrix was released, it gave us so much to cud on, the extreme action sequences, the incoherent dialogues, the binary-equated plot pleased us all. It was extremely refreshing and full of brilliant futuristic ideas, though the subsequent releases in The Matirx didn’t capture the fancy to that level but still they built a lot of expectations from the director duo. (more…)

(Stills) What would you call another movie that spins around the assassination of the high priest of American Politics, the so-called most powerful man of the world, the President of United States? Simple, Vantage Point! Yet, another thriller with some punch in it! Through out the movie you get the feeling of untangling a bundle of entwined wool or a possible jigsaw puzzle while every piece intrigues you with a possible way out. Even if you get the feeling that it has been inspired from master director Akira Kurosawa’s Rashomon, a movie that kept the audience far from finding out the truth owing to the conflicting accounts or eye witnesses till the end, Vantage Point does give you something fresh to cud on, without any political, social or even moral sidekicks. (more…)

Daunting it is to imagine oneself being the only survivor on a wilderness or an uninhabited island. A tangible theme for a feature, yet not many movies try to explore a scene of total solitude from human race. One forceful reason may be that it is hard to hold the audience single-handedly (for any performer), without any entertaining situations arising out of interaction with ones own kind or warmth of relationships in the life of lead actor. (more…)

The first Rush Hour flick was entertaining; I’ll give you that. The second got on your nerves a little, but then again, the first was a hit so there was no avoiding that. But when the third installment of the movie came out, I braced myself before entering the movie hall. You see, I feared that I would be subjected to mindless antics of tired stars who were doing the entire thing on a lark and the whole purpose of the movie is to rake in the moolah on the strength of the popularity of the predecessors. How I wish that I could say I was being simply paranoid and prejudiced and that the film is not quite bad! Sadly, I was right bang on and I could not wait to get out of the theatre. (more…)

Beowulf and Grendel is a touching story of vengeance, mercy and helplessness in the conflict between Norsemen and Christianity. It is based on the poem of the same name written between the seventh and eleventh centuries. The film scores in depicting the dark story against the craggy mountainous backdrop of Iceland. It also includes a chilling portrayal of death as a bone white creature of the sea, with dangerous claw like digits that grab the victim out of the blue. (more…)

Saw III left Jigsaw and his apprentice Amanda dead. He returns in Saw IV as a green shaded murderer. Jigsaw is more visible than in the previous two Saw movies. Two FBI detectives Scott Patterson and his colleague Agent Perez, portrayed by Athena Karkanis set out to investigate the murder of Detective Kerry. They come to help senior detective Hoffman played by Costas Mandylor figure out the puzzle behind a spate of gruesome murders in the city. Unfortunately SWAT commander Rigg, played by Lyriq Bent gets abducted and must use his brainpower to rescue his kidnapped wife and daughter. (more…)

Oh yes. I am talking about the film- The Bourne Ultimatum. The third in the Bourne trilogy, I was a little skeptical about it from the start. Right up till the time that the commercials were on and I was munching popcorn in the darkened theatre, I had my doubts about this last one measuring up to the previous two. You see, most successful films have bad sequels and this after all, is the third part. I figured that since you can’t even play around too much with amnesia, how on earth would one make it look fresh for the third time? (more…)

Oh yes! There is nothing better than something really tasty to eat and something really great to watch. The combination of the appeasement of these two senses is of vital importance to me and once the two are satiated, I’m one happy person. Some films are so great that they make you forget what is happening in your world because they pull you into theirs. (more…)

I always wondered about the comic and cartoon characters I know from my childhood. What if they were to become human? Ok, fine, I’ll settle for something more realistic. What if they were given human forms by some great film maker? Would that not be super? Well, no. Till now, The Flintstones did not work for me; Fantastic Four are not that fantastic anymore and Superman, well, let’s not go there. The point is, by doing something like this, you ruin someone’s imagination and anyone who tries it better makes something good, or face the wrath of many fans. (more…)

There have been endless movies made on war-it has always been a popular genre. The Vietnam War, in particular, has been a favorite with Hollywood directors. Some of the movies made have clearly affected the lives of those who were not there, who were not a part of the massacre. They have shown us what man is capable of and what spirit truly is. To eternalize heroes-this is what the main point of war films is. (more…)