Movie Review: Hancock

I usually don’t miss any of Will Smith’s movies. He is one of my favourtie actors…and there’s only one other in the list. I love Fresh Prince of Bel Air and watch some of the very old episodes when ever they are on tele. He is one person who lives life to the fullest, has a great sense of humour and is a great example of the ‘rags to riches story’. Last friday, I watched interviews of Jay Z and Will Smith on ‘Friday Night with Jonathan Ross’ and when asked how he is motivated…Jay Z  simply replied ‘Being Broke is the Greatest Motivator’. Few videos…

 

…..and I love Friday Night with Jonathan Ross 😀 Fantastic show!

Oh Yes…Hancock..I forgot!

Hancock (Will Smith) is a story of a super hero everybody loves to hate. He unlike any other super heroes out there. He hates chasing the bad guys and prefers to get himself drunk and sleep on the streets. Along comes Ray (Jason Bateman), a kind PR exec who takes up the responsibility of improving Hancock’s image even though his wife Mary (Charlize Theron) is not so sure about her husband’s friendship with Hancock.

The rest of the story is how Hancock’s life changes when he comes to know of his origins and why he was sent to earth. There is no ‘real’ bad guy in the movie…like Lex Luther in Superman or Joker in Batman since this is just a toaster.

Jason Bateman was terrific in the movie. Totally charming and humourous as a PR exec…a loving husband and a loyal friend. Will Smith is his usual. He doesn’t need to put much effort into the roles he plays…it comes naturally to him. Be it action, comedy or romance. He is fantastic. When ever he is on screen, there is a certain energy he brings to the audience.

I won’t say the movie is mind-blowing or anything. It is definately watchable but don’t expect a Spider Man or Batman. This one is different. Give it a try.

My Rating: 3/5

Sowwiee…was tempted to put up a pic of Will Smith instead of Hancock 😀 Love Him!

Movie Reviews: Female Agents & Thoda Pyar Thoda Magic

We went to watch Female Agents (Les Femmes de l’ombre) yesterday starring Sophie Marceau and what a fantastic movie it was. Once in a while you get to watch a master piece and this was one of them. THe only mistake we committed was to watch Thoda Pyar THoda Magic after and what a dreadful experience it was!

Female Agents is a partly true story of Louise Desfontaines (Sophie Marceau) a trained sniper with the French Resistance. When her husband is shot dead by the Nazis, Louise along with brother (Julien Boisselier) recruits four other exiled French women; Suze (Marie Gillain), a showgirl and a seductress; Gaelle (Deborah Francois), a chemist and explosives expert; Maria (Maya Sansa), a Jewish Italian radio operator, and Jeanne (Julie Depardieu), a prostitute for the SOE in order to infiltrate a German Hospital and recoup a British Geologist (pretending to be a German) captured in Normandy whilst checking to see if D-Day aircrafts could land on the beach.

The women successfuly manage to retrieve the British Geologist only to be told that in order to go back to England, they will have to complete a final task of assasinating an SS officer Col. Heindrich. The rest of the story is about how these five women go about in completing their task in Nazi controlled France.

What I liked most about the movie was how realistic it was. You feel for the women once the movie ends. So often, we have heard and seen how men die during wars but rarely did any movie capture the plight of women in war. The suffering and abuse they go through for sacrificing thier life for their country.

I will recommend everyone to watch this movie.

My Rating: 3.5/5

As I said previously, the only aspect of yesterday that did mess up my head was watching TPTM (Thoda Pyar THoda Magic) after Female Agents. S consistently pestered me to walk our of the cinema but I resisted. Even the two most boring movies of my life; Saawariya and Mohabbatein, I had to sit through…TPTM was better than those atleast 😛

For me TPTM was a mixture of many english movies. It has bits and pieces of Mary Poppins, Sound of Music and Nanny McPhee. Rani Mukherji does not look like an angel…not that I came across one…but when you see one..you will know 😉 I mean, you’d expect an angel to have a glow on his/her face which Rani absolutely doesn’t have anymore. She looks dull and tired. Her clothes are deplorable. She looks more like a hippy than an angel. The movie could be a good watch for people who haven’t watched the english flicks I mentioned earlier but for me…it was boring. And also, there’s a little too much crying and illogical dialogues which are not in my comfort zone. The only good thing about the movie was the Kids, Saif Ali Khan Topless and one song…Beetey Kal Se…which touches many important issues….like Save the Tiger, India’s new found wealth and how the poor are missing out etc etc…which I feel strongly about.

You could probably watch the movie once but it was not my cuppa 🙂

My Rating: 2/5 

Silverstone and Weekend Movies

Last weekend, we were lucky enough to get a few tickets for World Series by Renault at Silverstone…YES! the F1 circuit 😀 We couldn’t make up our mind till the last minute….but me…all excited about visiting Siverstone…brain washed S and a couple of friends. It was a nice warm day…and when we entered the circuit..Renault was showing off their various models of cars…from Clio to Espace. We weren’t really impressed…I mean c’mon…we didn’t come to watch renaults passenger carriers…we came for some action…we came to watch some ‘real cars’.

After wandering around the place…we took our seats just to the side of the grid lane. We weren’t sure what what to expect….but then we saw these rows of F1 cars come up on the grid lane with the technicians. Suddenly…we were all excited. We could see them changing the tyres, giving last minute tips to drivers…models standing with the brand boards and media persons taking interviews.

And then it started…the vrrrrommmmmm vrrrommmmmmm and God…how loud it was!!!!!! For a moment..I thought we’d go deaf..but it was EXHILARATING and when all the green lights came indicating start of the race…my oh my….the engines of the cars making the trademark noice which I watched loadzz of times on tele…it was high adrenaline stuff. We saw a few cars crash..drivers over taking each other…and when ever these cars crossed the grid lane..we literally had to close our ears. It was unbelievably loud. When we watch the races on tele…we very conviniently reduce the volume….we do not realise how loud it gets at the actual event. But trust me…ITS LOUD..and this is only Renault..when you have the Ferraris..the Mercs, the BMW’s…just imagine how loud it could get.

Nevertheless, it was totally worth it and we had a FANTASTIC TIME. This was just starters. No doubt, we will be there for the next F1 event in Silverstone!!!

A few pictures..

I tried posting some videos too but some problem with wordpress 😦

Went to watch The Happening and Mere Baap Pehle Aap. I though both of them were crap. Atleast The Happening had Mark Wahlberg in it 😛

PS: New Photographs in my Photoblog. Do take a look

Movie Reviews: THe Incredible Hulk & Dasavatharam

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Brief reviews of the two movies I watched yesterday. Manged to watch one after the other 😀 O

HULK:

I LOVED THE MOVIE! Edward Norton (HULK) is one of my FAV actors. There’s this innocence about his face. There’s so much love in the movie. 

Incredible HULK is definately different to the previous HULK since this HULK doesn’t want to be the angry green man anymore.  Liv Tyler is fab too as HULK’s ‘girl friend’. Though sometimes, it did feel like I was watching Beauty and the Beast 😀

Special effects are fantastic….though I thought HULK could be a little more good looking 😉

There definately will be HULK 3 and it could have Iron Man in it 😀 That will be fabulous! To know why…you should go watch the movie.

Overall, the movie is thrilling, exciting, full of action, lots of love and fantastic locales (e.g. Brazil).

My rating: 3.5/5

DASAVATHARAM

The first tamil movie I watched was Sivaji because of all the hype and it did not have subtitles 😦 Considering I don’t speak or understand a single word of tamil, it was a nightmare. I had to be satisfied with the eccentricites of RajiniKanth….which were surprisingly entertaining. It was astonishing that there were just 10 pple in the screen watching the movie.

It was a different story for Dasavatharam. People were standing and watching the movie and it had subtitles too 😀 and what should I say about Kamal Hassan. He is simply FANTASTIC. He is truly blessed. He plays ten characters in the movie; Govind Ramasaamy (the real Kamal Hassan), Rangaraja Nambi (devotee of Lord Vishnu), George Bush, Avtar Singh (a famous pop singer), Christian Fletcher (ex-CIA member aka the villian), Shinghen Narahasi (Chinese martial arts master), Krishnaveni (grandma), Vincent Poovaraagan (social activist), Kalifullah Khan (a rather tall muslim man) and Balaram Naidu (my favourite character of all…RAW official…and a telugu).

The movie starts off sometime in the 12th century. Rangaraja Nambi is drowned in the sea with the idol of Lord Vishnu by the King who is a follower of Lord Shiva. He is reborn in the 21st century as Govind Ramasamy and works for a Biotech COmpany in the US. His company is on the verge of selling a very effective but a dangerous bio-chemical weapon to the US army and Govind is out to stop this from happening. THis takes him from US to India. Following his every movie is Christian Fletcher (Kamal again) who has been assigned by the weapons manufacturer to kill Govind and get the sample back. Govind is held captive by RAW officials (Balram Naidu also Kamal) on his return India and the rest of the story is revolves around how Govind retrives the sample and saves the world 🙂

Kamal Hassan touches on many issues in the movie….from Global Warming, to War….from Social Discrimination to Religion. Considering his age…he’s in good shape. I have been a great fan of his dancing skills since Sagara Sangamam.

My Rating 3/5

Movie Review: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

OK..my dear readers…let me first tell u that there definately will be another Indiana Jones and you will know in a minute why 🙂

This is one of the most highly anticipated movies of this year and I consider myself privileged to have watched it on the day it released…(since I am not in Cannes this year :D)

I shouldn’t have watched Entertainment Tonight (ET) on BBC before going for this movie. If it weren’t for ET and the guys sitting behind us burping, chatting and laughing away to glory…I might have enjoyed the movie. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is not as spectacular as the previous ‘Indi’ movies. Harrison Ford is in good shape…but does look older…with  the slight stoop and the wrinkles. Can’t really blame him can we? He is 66 for Pete’s sake.

I did not understand the story very well but I will try and give an abridged version. So the story starts off with the KGB (The Russian Secret Service) trying to steal a Crystal Skull belonging to the Peruvian Gods……which will give the person who find it and places it at their temple, ultimate power over things and beings and Mr. Jones is out to stop this from happening. While doing what he does best…he is betrayed but also finds love and family (a son aka Shia LeBeouf of The Transformers…who I am sure is the next Indiana Jones) and the rest is usual.

The movie could have been definately more exciting. This movie is more like a bridge between the old Indiana Jones’s movies and the upcoming ones…where I am sure Shia will be Henry Jones Jr aka Indiana Jones Jr.

I love mysteries, adventures….but when we compare this movie with National Treasure 1 and 2, NT scores big time! The movie is a drag sometimes…with Shia and harrison ford ocassionally providing us with some humour. There could have been more action, more fun and less reptlies 😛 I won’t say more sense…’cuz I did not find any sense in ‘Indian Jones and the Temple of Doom’. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade is my favourite.

My Rating: 3/5

PS: I don’t know why SS (Spielberg) cannot move on from the whole theroy of aliens being a part of our world. The ending spoilt the whole movie for me. Leave the aliens to The X-Files…their movie is coming up soon 😛

Okhay…Dirty Sexy Money is on…so I am gone 😀