Hollywood : Summer: X-Men-Hangover-KungFu-Pirates

Hope you guys are enjoying the summer at its best!! And this summer in Hollywood is growing excited week by week. Here’s a gist of coolest releases of early summer…

X-Men First class

Plot: This is the prequel to all X-Men series so far…where we see the origin of interesting characters of X-Men i.e.  Professor X was Charles (James McAvoy) and Magneto was Erik (Michael Fassbender) etc. How together the mutants with variety of skills prevent the World War to happen is interesting.

Goodies: Tightly woven screenplay, interesting story telling, cool performances by youngsters and above all excellent graphics make it the best installment of X-Men Series. One will be thrilled in the scenes where submarine is pulled out of sea, or Pulling back a ship with the giant anchor, Stopping millions of missiles with the Magnetic power…and what not..Everything the young mutants do is exciting and is must a delight to watch.

Rating: 4/5 Strong Go…

Kung Fu Panda -2

How can one just forget the sweet sluggishness of our dear Po? And now he is back in the sequel to save China and Kung fu from evil Lord Shen. In the process Po learns his past and realizes the inner peace. Check out how Kung fu can stop something that stops Kung fu!!

Goodies: With Jack Black dubbing for Po and Angelina Jolie dubbing for Tigress and Jackie Chan for Monkey, Kung Fu Panda 2 has sufficient dose of funny action sequences choreographed in streets of china. Frankly Second installment is not as endearing as the first part, but Po’s journey from being innocent to the winning hero who master’s inner peace with help of his friend’s the Furious Five has good chances of charming you again.

Rating: 3.25/5 Watch it at Leisure

Hangover-2

Plot: This time, our funny four Stu (Ed Helms), Phil (Bradley Cooper), Doug (Justin Bartha), and Alan (Zach Galifianakis) head to Thailand to attend Stu’s wedding. That night, they sit over a campfire and have a beer and roasted marshmallows. And the next morning, they end up waking up in dirty hotel room in Bangkok along with Chinese gangster Chow. And the Adventurous tracking of “what happened Last Night” continues!!

What’s Good/Bad: Seriously the second installment just made in very similar fashion to encash the expectations set by the Original released 2009. This one though was not that rocking because of predictability, is still a great fun.  This time they are given company by chain smoking monkey, silent Buddhist monk, a trans-gender Prostitute and what not that keeps you engaged at its best.

Rating: 3/5  Alas!it’s a Copy of Original!!

Pirates Of Caribbean: Stranger Tides.

Captain Jack Sparrow(Johnny Depp) is back in the fourth installment, in an unexpected adventure to the “Fountain of Youth”. Joining him in the adventure are beautiful Angelica( Penelope Cruz) along with Hector Barbossa, Captain Teague and of course the entire bunch we see in the series.

Goodies: If I guess right, Half of the patrons of pirates have already lost the interest with the series while other half naturally jumps at every release. But trust me, “Stranger Tides” offers way much better than the preceding two parts. Uninvited joiners this time are mermaids,  where a lengthy action sequence where mermaids attack the pirates is mind-blowing. Then we had a romance blossoming between a trapped mermaid and a captive. Johnny Depp with the growing ease provides us more fun with his silly antics.

Rating: 3/5 Pirate Lovers should never miss it!!

That's the fun for now....See you soon!

Hollywood : Spring 2011

Spring is a sort of new start….with trees turning green...flowers blossoming all over…And shining sun. Nature with its fullest love welcomes you to have some unleashed fun every time…And for Hollywood, spring always brings some exciting movies that warms up and gears us for still bigger summer fun.

Check out some interesting stuff about three “too” good movies of this spring….

Thor

Marvel studios were successful in bringing their marvelous comics on to large screen and win the box-office every time…Unlike Marvel’s earlier fictional heroes Spiderman, Hulk, X-Men and Iron Man, Thor is a born hero. Thor is hammer-wielding God associated with thunder and lightning according to the Norse mythology. You know something; Thursday (Thor’s day) was derived from this mighty God.

Plot: Thor, to be crowned king of Asgard is a powerful and fearless but arrogant warrior. His arrogance reignites the ancient war between the Asgardians and their enemies Frost Giants. Thus Thor’s father Odin banishes him and throws his mighty weapon onto the earth. Thor’s evil brother Loki grabs this opportunity, joins hands with Frost giants to kill Thor.

Now Thor has to survive in USA as illegal alien. And on top of it, he has to save the mankind and his own kingdom from his evil-brother Loki. And thus he learns a lesson f his life as what makes a real hero.

What to look for: The movie comprises of wonderfully choreographed fight sequences, brilliantly dipped in spell-bound CG work.  Awesome production design by Bo Welch (Men in Black2) gives the film, an elegant look.  And Chris Hemsworth stands above all with the honest portrayal of mighty Thor. Overall slick look, good story and wonderful production values make it a delightful “3D” watch!!

Rio

Rio is creation of Fox movies, the creators of Ice Age trilogy.

Plot:  Blu is domesticated little bird, who never learned to fly leads a comfortable life with his best friend and the owner Linda.  Time comes when Blu has to travel to faraway land “Rio de Janerio” to join his only surviving female counterpart Jewel to save their breed. And thus adventure and fun unleashes the colorful landscapes of Brazil and gives way to a cute love story of little birds.

What to look for: The movie is true delight for kids. The plush landscapes of Brazil and the carnival event are well captured. Voice over given by Anne Hathaway and Jesse Eisenberg (Social Network) makes the romance appealing to adults as well. Lot of characters including fat Chicken, mischievous monkeys etc keep us engaged throughout.

Fast Five

 This fifth installment of Fast and Furious series reunites the veterans from all the first four films of the series. They are headed by Dom (Vin-Diesel), the car-crazy thief.  Special attraction to this flick is the addition of “The Rock” Dwayne Johnson who plays the undeterred cop Luke Hobbs.  They had to accomplish their last job of looting the corrupt business man of Rio de Janerio in Brazil.

What to look for: This chick-flick which is absolutely story-less, but yet survives big with its breath-taking action sequences. This fifth installment gives you high-octane pleasures with more number of chases, fun filled races and leaves no dull moment.  Adventure starts with nail-biting Train sequence and ends with a lengthy car chase that involves two cars pulling the bank locker tied to them. Action lovers should not afford to miss this one…

All three movies cater to three different sets of audience…and yet again have universal appeal…All three are good watch…Catch them for sure in nearest theatres!!

Summer 2010: Animation Vs Action

Hi Friends…here I am to share with you about two nice movies released this summer..!!Well one of them belongs to Action genre and the other an Animation.

SALT an Angelina Jolie starrer comes as high octane action thriller. Apart from just being another action film, the movie keeps you engaged in guessing “Who is Salt?”

Plot and Pros: Evelyn Salt works for CIA. But one fine day, she is accused of being Russian Sleeper agent sent to USA to cause destruction. Now she’s on her shoes to prove the acquisition wrong. In the process she seems to complete her mission assigned by her Russian team. Was she really the deep cover agent of Russia? How she could prove the point if she is not? Forms the crux of the flick and of course makes the movie a real nice puzzle.

Watch it just for Jolie: Angelina fights against all the odds that come in her way, bashes the numerous hurdles and does whatever that seems impossible for even a man…Right from initial 15 minutes, movie picks up the pace and the tempo is carried till the climax. And no wonder if you stood up at the end to clap for Jolie because it she and she alone made this best action movie of this summer in spite of its own plot holes…

In fact this script is prepared for Tom cruise,but has to be filmed on Jolie. Hats off Angelina…you are the Wo’man’!!

Despicable Me

Animation flicks are no more looked down and especially the summer 2010 truly belongs to them. With continuous streak of hits like ‘How to train your Dragon’, Toy Story, Shrek and now Despicable Me…seems that animations would give the other genres a run for their money in future!!

Plot and Pros: This is a story of Gru, a super villain whose hobby is to steal the greatest monuments in the world. Now he is on the biggest mission of stealing the Moon. His task is not as simpler because on one hand he has to control his army of minions-tiny yellow pill shaped creatures and on other he also has to outwit his rival villain Vector. His troubles just double when three little orphan girls come into his life…

Giggles and giggles all the way: Here is the assurance that you are gonna tickle your funny bones throughout the duration…Thanks to the nasty things done by our little yellow army. And The Gru’s bond with the young girls grows touches us by the end…

So don’t miss despeble..Sorry despicle…Errrr…”Despicable Me” …Yes the name is tongue twister, but believe me movie is joyous roller coaster!

That’s it for now…and these two flicks are in Top 10 from past 5 weeks and are still playing in theatres…

INCEPTION

Have you ever dreamt of a dream that you had in the dream which again happened in a dream…Ahaa J sounds confusing right….But those who watched Inception can figure this out…

INCEPTION…The latest movie directed by Christopher Nolan who earlier directed critically acclaimed movies like ‘Momento, Dark Knight’ has changed our perception about the dreams…

Yes in the same way we had movies like Matrix and James Cameron’s visual wonder “Avatar” which are the greatest vision’s of those corresponding brilliant directors who could imagine beyond the future and that are presented in celluloid still more brilliantly that a common man can visualize them…Inception is Christopher’s vision about the dreams…It is purely fictional and of course a marvelous fiction.

Story (Not a Spoiler): Leonardo DiCaprio acted as Dom Cobb who possesses the elegant skill of reading the person’s sub consciousness while they are in sleep. So he snatches the visions/ideas in the dream. Now he is assigned a toughest job of implanting the new idea i.e. ‘“Inception” of thought ‘into a business tycoons mind. Cobb knows that they (Cobb’s Team) need to travel deeper into target’s sub consciousness i.e. dream in a dream in a dream (3-4 levels of dream). Cobb who flees from America to France as he is charged for his wife’s death accepts this extremely dodgy mission as the last chance to see his kids.

Christoper Nolan is terrific guide

In this exhilarating ride…where we travel through the dreams inside dreams, we were nowhere lost and the credit goes to the Christopher Nolan who guides us with utmost care in a well crafted manner.

Christopher starts the tour with example giving us the idea of the basic plot. Then he throws our Hero into the actual “Inception” Plan. He from there puts us in central character’s shoes and makes us travel through the entire operation. In the course, he keeps your mind engaged each moment. But if you snooze for a while, you have to revisit the game.

The best part is the emotion that is a inter-weaved thread in this visual buffet.

Characters/Actors:

The Director uses all the characters very brilliantly …Not even a single either goes unnoticed or we do feel they are wasted. Cobb’s team comprises a set of skillful people who could help him in this toughest task.

Leonardo Dicaprio played the central character Cobb so brilliantly and one should figure it out whether it is his best or one of the best. He looks damn perfect in the character he played.

Joseph Gorden-Levit acts terrifically as the right hand to the Cobb.

Ellen Page who acted as the dream Architect is lovable. This 23 year old girl is simply brilliant and is very supportive to the Cobb in the flick

Tom Hardy acted as another skillful team mate who could fake an identity in the dream world.

Ken wantabe, a Japanese actor acted as the employer of this team is the one who actually picks Cobb for this project.

Cillian Morphy acted as the Target (Rival business tycoon), while Marion Cotillad acted as Cobb’s wife

Visual feast…

Visuals… (CGI) play prominent role in the movie…We know that our dreams have sky as a limit and we dream of anything even beyond our vision. And Christopher had actually took the dreams a step forward and made us see them while we are awake.

The Earth can fold over itself…A train can burst into the streets…Infinite stairs…Streets constructed in never ending fashion…Skyscrapers loose the gravity, the everything we dream and only dream, comes true…

That’s the symphony of all crafts...cinematography …sound design and whatever technicalities involved in them...Full credit goes to those people behind the screen.

One Last word…

I used to come across a word “Edge of the seat thriller” and was wondering what it is, till yesterday when I sat at the edge of the seat by the time climax is done…Yes this is the movie …A complete one…which I could never imagine in my wildest dream…

Friends who never watched… don’t miss it…And I am sure people who watched it are gonna watch it again because our perception do change after watching this Inception again and again…

Hats off Christopher...May be it's time I need to revisit your old movies...:)

Hollywood:Spring is done...!!

Spring is done and summer is in. Toys in Toystory3 are truly enjoying the summer vacation with overwhelming response all over…

Here’s a light on the other spring/pre-summer flicks that I liked…Do check it out and you might like watching them either in theater or at home…

Karate Kid: The remake of 1984 classic cheered up the kids once again.

Its story of young kid Dre (Jaden Smith) who along with his mom leaves Detroit and reaches Beijing, their hometown for livelihood. Dre quickly tussles with local group of thugs who happen to be Kung fu masters. Mr. Han (Jackie Chan) comes to his rescue and he reluctantly agrees to teach Kung Fu to Dre.

Though this kind of Story is being made many a times on-screen with various sports in background, Karate Kid is received warmly all over the world yet again. Freshness seen in the locations of china, Enjoyable Stunt sequences, Believable characters and glacial pace of the movie are the factors that contributed to the movie’s success.

Jade smith, son of Will smith and Jackie Chan delivered honest performances. Kids will have a lesson or two from the movie and it’s a decent watch altogether.

Knight and Day:

Tom Cruise plays super Spy Roy Miller in this latest flick. He drags in the ordinary woman June (Cameron Diaz) into his plot of rescuing a young scientist and his invention.

This movie is filled with intentionally made funny action sequences which seemed to be extremely stupid. But it is Tom cruise who is super comfortable of what he is doing made us feel that all the wildest stunts on the screen look cool and enjoyable. Moreover his chemistry with Diaz was great and I really enjoyed the flick. Go for it if you never mind watching mindless movie…just for Tom cruise and exotic locations…

Shrek Forever After:

Shrek had his fourth and final outing this summer. He had a grand farewell thanks to the consistency in the series in delivering the decent content combined with required fun throughout.

In this Last Part, Shrek feels bored with his mundane life feeding his crying kids and being a family man. He feels that he lost his freedom completely. Shrek in distress accepts a deal from wicked Rumpel.The deal is he gives a day out of his life and he would get his happiness…And you know what Rumpel snatches Shrek’s birthday. So Shrek is lost now and everything he has done in last 3 parts is undone. Check out how Shrek breaks this deal?

So if you like Shrek series, His Final chapter won’t disappoint you…!!

I was disappointed watching Iron Man2, Alice in wonderland ...and partially liked Prince of persia...

That’s Hollywood for you, friends…Will be back with summer action updates….

Toy Story 3

ToyStory3, the third installment of ToyStory series from Pixar studios is right now shaking the Hollywood Box office. It is indeed great kick-off for summer fun. Pixar studios which gave us wonderful animated flicks like Cars, Finding Nemo, Wall-E and Up yet again delivered the best collecting 110 million in the opening weekend(2^nd top grosser behind Shrek)

Toy “Story”: Andy, the owner of the toys now grows up and need to go to college. So he places all the Toys in a bag to store them in antic. But the toys have a misconception that they will be thrown in garbage. They escape from the bag and sneak in a box that is supposed to reach a Sunnyside Daycare. Initially they were happy to see so many toys there but slowly realize that it is not a safe place as the kids there torture these toys.

So how these toys realize that their master Andy still loves them??

How they escape from almost a prison Sunnyside day care?? Is all about this amusing roller coaster ride

Toys are great fun to watch…

The central characters are real fun to watch…here’s a brief about these toys

Woody: The cowboy is the as usual the hero of this series leads the escapade. He is brave and smart too…

LightYear Buzz: the sidekick to the hero entertains us when his settings are altered. So he talks in Spanish and behaves oddly.

Then we have Mr. and Mrs. Potatohead who have flexibility to take any form provided they have their eyes and hands with them…

We also have Barbie in the gang and she meets her boyfriend Ken at Sunnyside…

Lotso (Lots of hugging Bear) is the villain…in the sense it monitors the Sunnyside Daycare and sees to it that toys don’t escape…

Other toys like Rex the dinosaur, Slinky dog (dog with spring), Jessie love interest of Buzz and lots more to add fun.

Toys are not toy’s Anymore

Are you thinking that Toy stories are supposed to be for kids…then you are absolutely wrong…After all the toys are the forms of their living counter parts… So they are full of life…

The entire escapade episode in the movie is adventurous and engaging all through with not even a single dull movement. With lots of funny moments and loads of exciting happenings, the movie chuckles you throughout.

Not just the Fun!!

Do you believe if we ever can have tears watching Toys flick. But yes these toys touch your heart towards the climax.

There is a scene where Andy hands over all his toys to the small girl Bonnie explaining how much he loves them. That reminded me my toys I had in my childhood…Yes I am sure you will too…

Final Word:

Toy Story is a never miss for kids. And for all those who love animated flicks this is the one that never disappoints you.

Clash of the Titans

"Clash of the Titans” Released this week,provides an insight into amusing myths of greek Mythology,Apart from taking us to a journey filled with amazing landscapes, Breath-taking Visuals and enormous creatures.

Story :

The three Olympian brothers namely Zeus, Poseidon and Hades will win over the Titans.Then Zues becomes the King of the Gods,Posedion becomes the King of the sea’s and Hades who is tricked by his brother Zues is offered the underworld.

Gods create humans and they enjoy their worship.But the day has come when humans(People of City Argos) become strong and they declare war against the gods by demolishing the statue of their god Zues.

Hades(King of Underworld) take this oppurtunity and convinces his brother Zues that he would invade humans and create fear among them so that humans would be humble towards god and never forget worshipping in future.Zues believes in his brother and agrees for the proposal.

So Hades attacks the Argos and kills many soilders and warns them that within 10 days,If the princess of Argoes is not sacrificed,his own creature Kraken,A ferocious Sea Monster would destroy the city Argos.Actually Hades has crooked plan of occupying the Earth.

King of Argos is so worried .He finds that the Perseus(Hero) the son of a fisher man is infact son of non other than God Zues himself.He seeks his help to protect his city and his daughter.

Remaining story is about how Persius and his team manages to win over the Hades.In their journey they encounter giant scorpions.They will have tough fight with Gorgon-(half women-half snake) and finally the Kraken ..the gigantic sea monster .

Actors/Characters :

Sam Worthington who played the hero in Avatar was again in the lead role of Perseus.

Lo,beautiful lady who has boon of agelessness guides Perseus and also loves him.Gemma Arterton who played this role acted as bond lady in Quantum of Solace.

Hades king of Underworld is played by Ralph,who previously is seen as Lord Voldemort in Harry Potter.

Brilliant Visuals :

There are many interesting episodes like..

Huge Scorpions attacking the soldiers.Excellent choregraphy is designed there.

Then the Fight with Gorgon is awesome and breath-taking.The half human-half snake has power to convert humans into stones just by her vision.

Then extremely enormous sea Monster is an Visual treat altogether.

Disappointments :

Well All said.Movie is strictly for Visuals.Performances are all mediocre.

There are barely any emotions as such in the movie.Even the love story of Lo and Perseus is not etched well.

So it falls flat in drama.It has its own dull moments .

While Avatar is fun filled ride with awesome visuals,Clash of the Titans is just few Visuals bereft of fun

Final Verdict :

If you like me love to watch only visuals,Movie do not disappoint you.

Titans will have a tough competion from Dragons(animated fllick How to train your Dragon).

But it has the potential to stay in Top 5 till summer releases arrive.

How To Train Your Dragon?

It’s a Summer time..and high time for Hollywood adventurous and action packed flicks…

This week we had a release of animation flick “How to train your Dragon”.Produced by Dreamworks,this movie proudly stands beside their earlier movies Madagascar,Shrek and Kungfu panda etc..

Story :

There’s a village "Berk" in an island.Habitats there are called Vikings.These people had a continuous attacks from Dragons disturbing their lives.So People there need to fight with dragons for their survival.

Hiccup an young boy,son of the Chief of the village is not strong enough like other vikings.He always tries to prove himself strong to his dad and off course his beautiful classmate Astrid.

So he succeeds in shooting a Dragon.Attempting to get proof of his success,he manages to find the dragon he shot down.Hiccup instead of killing it…develops a soft corner for the wounded dragon.Slowly befriends it and tames it.

What all he gained from his new dragon friend?Was he able to prove himself strong?Why are these dragons attacking them continuously?

Answers to these questions take us to great fun and adventurous ride altogether.and a cute chemistry between Hiccup and Asterid(his beautiful classmate) amuses you..

Watch it in 3D..

Hmmm..3D mania is ruling the roost nowadays.Movie has some nice moments that will be still better in 3D.

If you like the dragon’s episode in Avatar,you will love this movie.Characters etched are all beautiful and so are the landscapes.Not even a single boring moment.I thoroughly enjoyed the flick..

Don’t worry even a 2D version would be great.

Short flick :(

The only disappointment is Movie is short.1 hour 40 min..

I was deeply involved and did not realized that that was the end..Wow…appreciated the direction and screenplay…J

Final Verdict :

Recommended to watch this Animated “Avatar”..Kids will love it and offcourse adults too.I always feel we all have a kid in us too.So make Kid in urself happy..;)