Die Hard 4.0

Lately (in 2007) there have been greatly disappointing Hollywood action flicks. All these supposedly action movies were less action and more crappy romance. Most of the time action gave way for romantic unneeded tearjerkers and what not. But the dearth of all the action of 2007 seems to have been taken care by one Mr. John McClane in Die Hard 4.0. Once again, the ‘Yippe kay Yied’ super cop, John McClane does it in good ol’ way in Live Free or Die Hard...or Die Hard 4.0. Saying that this show is action packed would be an understatement. It is ‘action every single minute of the movie’ would be a more appropriate statement….Let’s begin….
What happens when a highly skilled team of hackers led by one of the most technically proficient programmer/hacker decides to prove a point. Well, “Die Hard 4.0” happens…Kidding…nah not really. That is the plot of the movie. Thomas Gabriel (Timothy Olyphant) – the Black Hat hacker- the bad guy, if you may…and his team of hackers decide to bring US of A to the knees by doing a Fire Sale attack. In hacking terms, a Fire Sale attack means to disrupt the transportation systems, steal financial records and siphon of huge amounts of money and disable public utilities (Electricity, Gas, Water). And as Thomas Gabriel does exactly that in a very well planned manner, chaos reigns throughout USA. Traffic signals stop functioning creating traffic jams all over NYC. Cars pile up in tunnel as Thomas Gabriel plays with the transportation system. Stocks plummet at Wall Street creating panic amongst the traders. Telecommunications networks are jammed and are in total control of the hackers. It gets worst at night. Cities plunge into darkness as USA is taken off the grid, zip code at a time. Everything stops functioning. Big Apple, DC and other cities literally come to standstill and are at the mercy of the hacker….(Too much automation has its disadvantages too)…
Now for the good guys - John McClane (Bruce Willis) aided by a young computer hacker, Matt Farrell (Justin Long) decide to take on Thomas Gabriel and Co. It is a mighty task and both of them compliment each other well. John McClane shows why he is a super-cop and Matt Farrell brings his forte of hacking skills to chip in his bit.
Not one instant in the movie does one get respite from the action. Crashing cars and choppers, bullets and bombs, acrobatic fights, death defying stunts, high speed chases, zooming F35’s and many more make Die Hard 4.0 a true action thriller…
Lucy McClane (Mary Elizabeth Winstead of Final Destination 3 fame) plays John’s daughter. And nope, she doesn’t indulge in any romance! Thanks Len!…She is a cop’s girl and she behaves like one…Anyways…I can keep going on and on…Can’t help it…A truly good hacking movie (since Swordfish) and an excellent action movie after a long time. It is a must watch in theatres. I repeat…A ‘must’ watch. Rating 9/10.

Ocean's Thirteen

Ocean's 11 was good...Ocean's 12 wasn't as good as Ocean's 11...But this one - Ocean's 13, has been the pick of all three, if not THE best of the movies this year.
The tagline of the movie goes - "What are the odds of getting even? 13 to one...Ocean's 13 is all about about revenge.When Reuben Tiskoff (Elliot Gould), one of the Danny Ocean's 11 member, is betrayed/double crossed by Mr Banks (Al Pacino), the other ten members decide, it's pay back time for Mr Banks. They plan a heist, rather a plot to ruin Mr Bank's new multi-million dollar casino hotel in Vegas.

Ocean's perfect team does that in style. Brad Pitt's calm, Clooney's calmer and the others...well, they are just as perfect in the execution of their duties as they were in 11 and 12. In between, Danny Ocean partners with Mr TerryBenedict (Andy Garcia) ...yep, the same casino mogul whose three grandiose casinos were robbed my none other than Danny Ocean's 11. And Terry offers to help out of his personal dislike of Mr Banks. In the end...Ocean's genius team pulling off the heist is always enjoyable and this one is no different. Steven Sorderbergh has done his part well in directing the movie and guys you do your part in watching this heist of Ocean's in theatres.It 'should'be an entertaining experience...Rating 8/10.

Life in a ...Metro

When I walked into the movie theatre, I was clueless about the movie. Nor did I know the cast. So every name that came up in the starting credits was like news to me….

Let me begin with the music. I am not a great fan of Bollywood songs or music and hence I avoid discussing it. But the soundtrack is so impressive that I would like start of with it. One word for the soundtrack - Superb. Rock enthusiasts- take note. It’s an all Rock soundtrack!! Metal and Rock being my kinda music, I loved almost all the tracks in the movie…. What a fresh change from those typical Bollywood songs. Pritam Chakraborty (Music Director), you deserve an award.

As the name suggests…the rechristened name i.e. ‘Life in a…Metro’ is about the lives of people in a metropolitan city... It’s about lies and deceit. It’s about illicit love affairs. It’s about shattered dreams and of broken hearts. Kudos to Anurag Basu here for brilliantly interweaving the daily lives of the 7 lead characters. All of the 7 stars deserve a mention here but my favorite amongst them will always be Irrfan Khan. Not that others were boring. But if you’ve watched the movie, y’all know. Irrfan Khan plays Debu…who is in his late thirties and is on the hunt for his life partner. When he comes on screen, expect nothing but some comic scenes. He will make you laugh, that’s for sure…I won’t delve into each of the stories. They all are worth watching is what I can say. I was thinking all the time whether it was a copy of some Hollywood film but I couldn’t think of any. Upon coming home, I googled for it and it turns out that “Life in a… Metro” is a clear copy of 1960’s Hollywood Classic movie, “The Apartment”.

Well this doesn’t belittle “Life in a…Metro”. “Life in a… Metro” is to “The Apartment” like how “Kaante” was to “Reservoir Dogs”.

My rating 8/10. It is a must watch and the soundtrack – A must have.

Spiderman 3

Photo Courtesy: Yahoo! Movies

Your friendly neighborhood Spiderman is back and this time he has a new sinister black outfit plus two brand new enemies, “Sandman” and “Venom”. Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) is living a comfortable life whilst saving NYC from the evils. He is a superhero or an icon as he calls himself in the movie. His girlfriend, Mary Jane Watson (Kirsten Dunst) is going through worst time in her life. She loses her Broadway job and it gets worse when she sees Spidey kiss the Police chief’s daughter Gwen Stacy (Bryce Dallas Howard) at a function thrown in the honour of Spiderman….just for the record…Bryce Dallas Howard looks amazinggg in her bleach blonde hair!

The first half an hour or so is very engaging. A convict at large, Flint Marko (Thomas Haden Church) turns into a Sandman when he accidentally lands in particle physics lab experiment. At the same time, a parasitic life form comes to the earth from a meteorite. Spidey’s enemy and his once best friend – Harry Osborn/Goblin is mad at Spiderman and attacks him. The chase and the fight between the buildings between Osborn and Spiderman would surely get your adrenaline rushing. With all these characters (Sandman and Venom) taking shape at the start of the movie got me very excited. I was thinking how would Spidey handle these two new enemies, rather three…. But much to my disappointment, the movie drifted into a love story, which goes awfully wrong for Spidey. Blame poor Peter Parker for it who somehow always manages to do the wrong thing at the right time.

Anyways, I wasn’t disappointed for long, for in the end I saw my comic book hero in action. Spidey himself gets addicted to the parasite, which unleashes his dark side, and a powerful Spiderman in an all black outfit emerges albeit for a short while. His other new enemy is his rival photographer Eddie Brock/Venom played by Topher Grace. Eddie Brock turns into Venom when Spidey discards the parasite for his good old red-blue suit.

J Jonah Jameson also known as J J J (played by J K Simmons), the editor of fictional New York newspaper Daily Bugle, is amusing to say the least. His presence means that audience will have something to laugh or smile about. We just love to see him bashing Peter Parker or at action in his office with his employees.

In the end, my verdict is…Not a sensational movie but not bad too. It is entertaining, except for the philosophical love story in between stretched a little too much for a Spiderman flick. But Sandman, Venom, Spidey and Osborn do the balancing act to enthrall the audiences. I would give it a 3/5.

Namastey London

Cast: Akshay Kumar, Katrina Kaif, Rishi Kapoor

Not bad at all! Came as a surprise to me, this one. I was expecting it to be a yet another dumb movie with some bollywoodish songs shot in exotic locales. But I got it completely wrong for two reasons-story and songs. This movie has some story. Not a heck of a story but sensible story nonetheless unlike most Bollywood movies these days. I got the song thing ‘way’ wrong- Not only are there some lame songs but these are also backed by nasal (read horrendous) voice of Mr.Horrible Reshammiya. Sorry, I just can't stand his voice.

Aight, the movie now…Jasmeet a. k. a Jaz (Katrina Kaif) is a British born British bred, Indian girl. She wants to marry her British boyfriend. Her dad, Manmohan Singh (Yeah Manmohan Singh!) played by Rishi Kapoor is dead worried over her wasted ways. So he decides to trick her into marrying an Indian boy. He does succeed in taking her to India and getting her married to Arjun (Akshay Kumar). Now Arjun is a typical …hmm what’s that word…yeah kind of a larrikin from Punjab. Obviously, Jaz will fight back. She delivers her blow when they return to London after marriage. Jaz simply refuses to accept Arjun as her husband. Well…the rest of the movie is about getting Katrina, back. The director has managed to throw in some pretty good comic scenes in between. And there are some nicely done scenes, which will surely invoke the patriot in every Indian!

There is one goof up in the movie though. Katrina is in some club in London with her friends. And one of her female friends is wearing a ‘Metallica’ top!!! in a club playing house/pop music!!Duh! I mean…do you call that a bad fashion sense or a bad music sense or both?!…. Anyways …can’t say that the movie is a must watch, but if you do watch it, I guess u wont regret it except for the forgettable songs .I like coming back to songs. Innit?

Blood Diamond

Thumbs Up for this one from Edward Zwick!! They say “Diamonds are Girl’s Best Friend” and “Diamonds are Forever”….Watch Blood Diamond to see what goes on in world of conflict diamonds.And the next time you are buying that hardened piece of carbon, you will make sure you'd ask for “Certificate of Origin”.

Diamonds mined in illegal mines are smuggled out to the western world. And this money is used to fund the conflicts. Hence the name –Conflict diamonds.

Set in Sierra Leone amidst civil wars, this is a story of a quest for a pink diamond.... Danny Archer (Leonardo Dicaprio), a smuggler, persuades Solomon Vandy (Djimon Hounsou) into partnering with him to get back the diamond that Solomon had found in one of the illegal mines. In exchange, Solomon would be united with his family. Jennifer “Lovely” Connelly is a journalist who is in Africa to write on conflict diamonds… I must say, I loved Leonardo's new South African accent every bit as much as I enjoyed the movie!! Hmm, I guess that’s enough for starters…So rush to the theatres people!

Vivah

Vivah - Shahid Kapur, Amrita Rao,Anupam Kher

Oh my God! Where to begin.... Well, this movie should be classified as THE boring movie of year 2006...well No, “Umrao Jaan” gives it a tough competition...Anyways lets see what was interesting in the movie...Ah, Did I say interesting!..Yeah *The Ending Credits* were the most awaited and interesting part...I was so relieved to see the EXIT sign turn on in the theatre...before I start, I would like to thank me mates, for helping me make it to the end of the movie.

Anywayz lets talk about the movie…I am not spoiling it...coz for spoiling we need to atleast have a story…Alrite, there’s this stinking rich dude whoz father decides that he’s gonna marry a typical gaon ki chori from a poor family and they end up marrying!!Thats it!! Throughout the movie, there is this typical stuff about arranged marriages...some of it is unbelievable and unbearable! The bride uses the word 'JAL' instead of ‘PANI’! …come on, we know she is simple, but'JAL'!!!!...Bollywood movies aren’t complete without songs!...So the songs in the movie are-I can’t find a word…Is there any synonym for miserable/pathetic?!...The songs make u feel that Monday mornings are much better. I will end my review by saying that it's nothing but a sheer wasteof 120 bucks. So my advice...Your family will like it. But boyz, you dare not go for it! I am still recovering from the afta effects of the movie.