Artificial Intelligence : A.I.

While seeing Steven Spielberg’s brilliant A.I, I was struck with wonder and haunted in ways only the best movies can do.

the movie is about a couple who receives a robot child to replace their child who has cancer and is cryogenically frozen, until a cure can be found.

The beginning parts with the family and Haley Jo Osmet as the Robot child David are fantastic. From the scence where he creepily follows her around the apartment to him watching them eat dinner as he mocks their movements with a fork and a bowl.

The problem with this type of robot is it is programmed to love unconditioally and the love is programmed so strongly that if the parent has to give the child back the best thing to do is to take it to the factory for its destruction.

Trouble begins when the real son is cured and comes home and breeds nothing but contempt for David, to the son David is a little toy to messed with. After a horrible accident by his mother in the woods with only a robotic Teddy Bear as his guide.

In the forest David meets Gigolo Joe a pleasure model designed for sexual gratification, and this begins the dark second half of this film. While the first half is light but creepy Spielberg, the second half is dark gloomy Kubrik. With such things as a flesh fair, (don't ask) and other haunting scenes. This half works as well if not better then the first half, and then it all goes to hell. The last half hour of this movie is atrocious, it was a waste of time and I so steamed they felt it needed to be in the film. I won't give away anything but the movie could have ended with a much tougher and more haunting ending then it did, because after the Kubrik half is over we get a final Spielbergian half hour.

Nevertheless A.I. is also visually stunning with excellent performances from the actors, especially Haley Joel Osment (who was so brilliant in the Sixth Sense) but also Jude Law are very good. It is a movie for adults and it contains disturbing scenes. (I.e. the scenes were humans are making a show out of destroying humanoid robots ).

Overall a good movie but you have to patient throughout.

Rating :

* * * & 1/2

Luck

First thing first, i had no intention of watching this movie in theatre. And i had number of reasons for that..

I hated the previous movie by the same directore “Kaal”.

I Didnt Like the promos at all.

The Music was boring.

And i particularly did not want to see some actors like Danny, Mithun Chakraborty and highly irritating ravi kissan (or kishan, whatever) on screen doing some rumbling mumbling.

Its only when we couldn’t find the show timings right for Transformers we had to settle for this one.

And half n hour into the movie i was dieng to get out of theatre. Completely inspired by host of reality shows around us these days, this movie takes the same concept to a different level playing a game based on luck (sic).

Sanjay Dutt stars as Musa, a gambling kingpin who's made a fortune in human betting. His faithful henchman Tamang (played by Danny Denzongpa) is entrusted the job of travelling the world and recruiting the luckiest people he can find to participate in a Fear Factor-style series of dangerous challenges, while loaded gamblers place bets on them.

Lured by the promise of a fat cash prize to the one who survives all challenges, a motley bunch of misfits – including Imran Khan, Mithun Chakraborty, Ravi Kissen, Shruti Haasan, Chitrashi Rawat, and a handful of your staple foreign extras from Colaba Causeway – volunteer to jump off helicopters and enter shark-infested waters.

Borrowing the premise and key scenes quite liberally from a handful of films in particular a Hollywood B-movie The Condemned, writer-director Soham Shah delivers a mangled mess of a picture that fails to engage because the characters are all stereotypes and you really couldn't care less if they lost their lives in those dangerous stunts.

To be honest, I can think of many reasons why Luck is a dumb film, and chief among them is the fact that there's more bak-bak than dishoom-dishoom, even though it pretends to be an action-adventure. What's worse, every single character in Lucks peaks alike, rattling off metaphors, using the third-person and generally dishing out the kind of filmi punchlines that went out in the eighties. The dialogues are corny, there is no script and people are forced to gamble with their lives. At times, you feel even the actors are not convinced about what they are doing on screen.

Not recommend at all.

Rating :

* *

The Hangover

I have been trying to analyze why The Hangover is such a uproariously funny movie – and I cant seem to be able to pinpoint any one single reason (or two or three or four for that matter). I mean the plot is not at all new - 4 guys have a wild bachelor party in Las Vegas two days before the marriage. The group itself is predictable – one hen pecked guy, one dashing ladies guy, one fat moron and one normal chap. Not a single big name star either – comic or otherwise.

Yet it is definitely the funniest movie of the year. Instead of any one reason or sequence, the entire movie just works !! From start to finish ! And the movie succeeds in being a laugh riot without the vulgarity that inevitably accompanies every guys-only movie. The humour comes in form of smart one-liners, bizarre incidents and some really random images with the end credits !!

The movie is basically about the groom’s three best friends Phil (Bradley Cooper), Stu (Ed Helms) and Alan (Zach Galifianakis) who wake up after a wild bachelor party in Vegas to face some really unexplainable things – and a missing groom ! And worst of all, they don’t remember a thing about the night !! As the poor guys struggle to reconstruct the previous night, the night starts to become more and more bizarre …

Interestingly, the movie hardly ever goes into a flashback mode, so we dont actually see what happens – its left for us to imagine & recreate from the conversations of the movie. Which probably adds to the enjoyment of the movie. The three guys themselves share a great chemistry – which makes you, the viewer, get interested in what actually happens to them. Or rather what happened to them the night before. Mike Tyson also makes a guest appearance in the movie … though that’s all I would say.

Alan is the most lovable of the guys – he carries off the weird-guy-act with such conviction that you would think he is like that in real life !! The others are equally good in their roles - Phil as the dashing alpha male who is always looking to take the lead, but turns out to be as clueless as everyone else and Stu as the hen-pecked and bullied boyfriend.

The ending of the movie is slightly sweet – it does seem a bit out of place, but then we are soon presented with the end credits and there are some real howlers there !!

A great fun ride, The Hangover introduces a whole new bunch of talent to Hollywood, specially Zach, the nerd. Don't miss it.

Rating :

* * * *

Following

For me.. Christopher Nolan is one of the most favourite director in the world and Memento, The Prestige and The Dark Knight are one of the favourite movies ever.

Now Before there wasMemento, there was Following which. Following contains many of the same themes writer/director Christopher Nolan explored in Memento - identity, deception, and unrequited love. But (most notably) Following is similar to Memento in that it toys with the audience by shifting the timeline away from the linear, a technique which is at first confusing but eventually incredibly satisfying
and here too Christopher Nolan uses his signature fragmented story telling skills to tell a gripping tale.

The storyline of Following is almost impossible to discuss without giving some pivotal plot point away, but here's a synopsis: An aimless young man and a wannabe writer spends his days following people around, just to see what they'll do with their day. He eventually finds himself following one particular man around, until the man confronts him. It turns out that he's a thief, and isn't terribly upset by the fact that he's been stalked for the last couple of weeks. He offers the young man the chance to accompany him on a few jobs. To say any more would be unfair and downright cruel.

Nolan's first feature was obviously shot on a minuscule budget - the film's in grainy black and white, there are no recognizable actors, etc. - but it manages to be just as fascinating and compelling as Memento was (if not quite as polished). The first half hour seems to be a simple story of a guy with way too much free time on his hands, but as we soon discover, there's a lot more going on than is initially revealed. Nolan takes his time peeling back the layers (and plays around with our notions of what's in the present and what isn't in a big way), but when everything is laid out - it's a stunner.

And it makes sense, too. Unlike some other flicks that have had this sort of labyrinth structure, Nolan's made sure that everything works (same as he did with Memento). It's the sort of film (again, like Memento) that demands a second viewing, just so you can see what sort of hints Nolan dropped along the way.

Following is a superior modern film noir - a neo-noir if you like - which is always engaging, keeping you guessing, right up until the bitter and twisted end. Anybody who enjoyed Nolan's subsequent film Memento, will certainly love Following.

Rating :

* * * & 1/2

The Escapist

Any prison break movie is going to come up against some major classics, but The Escapist more than exceeds expectations with this low-budget British thriller .

The twist here is that the escape is shown right at the beginning as inmates Lenny (Fiennes), Brodie (Cunningham), Lacey (Cooper), Viv Batista (Jorge) and finally Frank (Cox) make a break for it through a hole that leads into the cavernous sewer system beneath the prison. Intercut with this is the arrival of Lacey, a young first-time offender who is made to share a cell with Frank.

As the backstory unfolds - intercut with further scenes of the escape itself - we learn just why these men are risking their lives for freedom. Frank, after receiving a letter saying his 20-year-old daughter is now a drug addict, is determined to see her again after 14 years inside. His carefully chosen crew includes bare-knuckle boxer Lenny and Viv, who cooks up and deals drugs to the other prisoners.

What impresses about The Escapist is the direction, in tandem with the superb photography and the extraordinary production design. Scenes like the mist-engulfed shower scene when Tony corners Lacey, are full of genuine menace, while the shots of the labyrinth rain-soaked tunnels border on the surreal.

A smartly directed thriller, The Escapist contains a heartfelt centre that packs a real emotional punch in the final reel. Boasting robust turns from the core cast, particularly from Cox.

Loved one of the dialoge from the movie where jail head tells Cox.. You are too Old to Die Young. Chilling literally.

Rating :

* * * & 1/2

Harry Potter and The Half Blood Prince

Saw Harry Potter and Half Blood prince this Saturday in PVR and it turned out to be utter waste of time and money. Cudnt post the review as soon as i saw it for the reasons that i cudnt get hand on internet as i was away for whole weekend.

But I desperately i wanted to write how much i hated the movie. I have never been diehard fan of harry potter series but iv not disliked it either. Haven’t read the Harry Potter books. Not even one. I think I just don't like the books very much. Too many pages for me and it’s just not my subject to read about. The movies are different. I like the movies very much.. Apparently I had heard that half blood prince was supposedly the best book in the series but movie has turned out to be a disaster for me.

I discussed the movie with few of my friends who have read the book and has also seen the movie had lots to say about it.

They all had to say that this is the Worst Harry Potter move thus far.

While the opening scene was a thrilling 3-D like ride which should be seen at an OmniMax, the 3 minutes or so it lasted were definitely not enough to sustain my interest. There was absolutely no suspense. Not enough action, not enough revelations.

I wanted to know more about the characters and their deep dark world, Harry Potter, Lord voldermort, Snape but I was left totally unsatisfied.

Though definitely Loved the teen hormone theme but the rest of this was a real sad excuse for Harry Potter film. But I would have liked to see more of the things that the book shared with readers than watching adolescent teens 'snogging'.

This type of film needs the ending we expect or at least something close. But the climax was a major disappointment. It was one of the most abrupt ending for movie of such scale. If you have not read the book,as in this case I was the one, you wouldn’t really understand what and how everything finished so soon.

Somehow this bad experience has not deterred me from looking forward the next movie of the franchise. Let’s be positive and expect the next movie to provide all the answers.

Rating :

* *

Wristcutters: A Love Story

I have always been fascinated by the idea Life after death. I always wonder wat happens to us once we are dead. Are we reborn or we have to pay for all the sins we have committed. I also thought about the prospect a completely different world for people who are dead.

I hadn’t thought that director Goran Dukic would make a film which would match my curiosity to the T.

Its Bleak film of death and a depressing afterlife. Its story about few people who have “Offed” themselves and are living in a strange world.

I liked this story because it's not your classic suicide story. Its takes the morbid taste of suicide and gives you a twisted perspective of life after death. It's creative in this way.

So if Thinking about suicide? Think again. And watch WRISTCUTTERS: A LOVE STORY before you pull out that razor blade, swallow those pills, or pop that gun barrel into your mouth. The world beyond is not what you want! Zia (Patrick Fugit) is so depressed about his girlfriend leaving him, he feels he cannot go on. One slit of the wrists and it's bye-bye boy. But what lay beyond for Zia? Well, it ain't any prettier. In fact, it's downright depressing. No laughter. No smiles. An empty road full of empty lives lay ahead. Or so it seems.

All the actors did their job well and seemed perfectly cast. I specially loved the Russian rockstar. He was funny.

Overall I did enjoy Wristcutters. I can't say it was all that I hoped for though: as the story progressed it just got more bizarre where I thought it should grow funnier

But the one question i kept asking myself was why aren't they looking for answers? Why is Zia searching for something that belonged to his previous life?

They have the opportunity to find the answers I have been seeking for all my life...

But it was director’s vision and he did a fine job with it.

. The ending, however, was stellar. I don't want to give it away, but I'll just say that somehow in the last scene two characters poured out their souls without ever saying a word. If you can do this, as a filmmaker you must be doing something right.

Recommended.

Rating :

* * *

Surveillance

Got a lil bit of time today morning so squeezed in a just one n half hour movie. Its surveillance.

I saw promos of a new bollywood movie “Hiss” starring Mallika sherawat and Irffan Khan, the movie is directed by Hollywood legend David Lynch’s daughter Jenifer lynch.

Browsed her biography nd got to knw abt previous films she has directed. Surveillance was the most recent one and had also won some award in Cannes Film Festival.

I must say, when I saw this film at a 6.5 on this site, I figured it was well worth a view. I was sorely disappointed. From nearly the opening scene, it is obvious the two supposed FBI agents are, in fact, the killers. Could they have made it any more obvious? If that is the intended "twist" in this film, that's pretty sad.

surveillance" starts so promising... its a pretty raw movie and from the obscure opening on to the landscape shots, introduction of the characters until the unfolding of the stories begins its interesting while not using any music or effects or whatever. Basically the movie is about a couple of FBI agents who are interrogating three survivors of a bloody crime and trying to find out what happened. The way the story is told through the eyes of the different survivors who all got something to hide and therefore all tell different stories while the real occurrences are shown is really interesting and tense. The characters, especially the twisted corrupt cops, the little girl and the drug-addict are also great and everyone in that backwoods police station where the interrogations take place delivers.

What really irritated me is that it was not at all the kind of movie that I wanted to watch. I expected a kind of "detective story" and didn't expect the total turnaround the script takes. Not that I don't like being surprised by a well-constructed script. But this one rather let me down.

If you find the depiction of violent murders and wanton police brutality expressed in a plot less film with glacial pacing entertaining, then you're bound to enjoy Surveillance. For me, it remained a good opportunity gone waste..

Rating :

* * & 1/2

40 year old virgin

back again with a movie.. after i had a tiring, exhausting, demanding weekend..!..i was almost food deprived, sleep deprived, energy deprived, movies deprived. hw u expected me to survive..?

i badly needed some comedy to survive.. scanned my library nd got hold of a movie which has 7.5 rating (81,234 votes) on IMBD. I knew it won’t disappoint me. And it certainly dint.

The stock supervisor of Smart Tech store Andy (Steve Carell) is a nice guy and good colleague. One night, his colleagues David (Paul Rudd), Jay (Romany Malco) and Cal (Seth Rogen) invite him for a poker game, and in the end of the night, they find that Andy is a 40 years old virgin and they decide to help him to score. When he meets the divorced Trish (Catherine Keener), the owner of "We Sell Your Stuff on eBay" store, they agree to have no sex before their 20th date. Andy gets into many troubles due to these situations.

I was surprised at how raunchy this movie was. It's reminiscent of American Pie, and Porkys in the amount of sex jokes, and sexual content. There is a good amount of drinking and drugging too. The racial humor is also abundant, and nothing is held back. I may sound like I was offended, but I have to tell you, in this movie it works! It really is a smart comedy. The relationship between Steve Carrell and his friends is similar to the relationship between the girls on Sex & The City. These people care about one another. They're totally believable. The movie's payoff is extra sweet, because we care. We really care. Steve Carrell has made a movie for adults that adults can enjoy without sacrificing adulthood. Really funny stuff!

Rating

* * *

Shoot em Up

The WeeKend starts and so does the movie watching spree.. but this weekend is going to be different.

i will be spending most of my time away frm my laptop so might not get opportunity to watch lot of movies,

still wud try to squeeze atleast coupel.

Wanted to see some racy fast paced short movie and picked shoot em up from my list. And it dint disappoint on many aspects.

I love action movies, I mean, I really love action movies, even the most unrealistic one's like Die Hard and Commando, they're just all in good fun and enjoyable. Either the action movie is going to be great and unrealistic or great and have a fantastic believable story.

So I saw Shoot 'Em Up the today, yeah, it can be fun at times to watch, it brought me back to the good ol' days of Commando where this guy is just getting shot at by 50 men at the same time yet he kills them all and doesn't get a scratch. Just like Paul Giamotti's character said "OK, do we really suck that much or is this guy really that good?", so true, at least they recognize it. But Shoot 'Em up is just for those who are just very trigger happy and doesn't have the best script. I just thought that Shoot 'Em Up could've had a great story with terrific actors, but they went the other way.

Mr. Smith is just sitting at a bench, minding his own business eating a carrot, he sees a young pregnant woman running down the street. A car skids by and man gets out chasing after the woman and is about to kill her, but Mr. Smith decides to get involved, he delivers the baby while in the middle of a shoot out, but the mother gets killed, he keeps the baby and realizes that this baby means something. He gets a hooker, Donna Quintano, to help him take care of the baby, but this hit man Hertz is not giving up and will get this baby even if it requires killing Mr. Smith, the ticked off British nanny.

There is a scene where Mr. Smith and a bunch of Hertz's men jump out of a plane and somehow are still shooting at each other, now I can accept unrealistic, but that was way way way way beyond anything that could be believable and I just ended up laughing at. It has the smooth talk and stunts of a perfect action movie, I just had a hard time because I think this was one of those movies that could have had a better developed story, it would have been better. I do give Clive better credit than I thought, he made a great hero, just if we are going to do unrealistic, make it fun unrealistic, like Commando, not tell us Mr. Smith's history and not tell us why he decided to get involved with this.

Hey, did I mention Monica belcucci , i think i dint. She looks as hot and sexy as always. The sex scene in movie was also shot quite differently.

Recommended if u can digest such slam bam gory movie.

Rating:

* * *

Gosford Park

finally completed the movie which i had been watching for last 5 days.. jsut to clarify, i dint complete the movie late because it was boring..only becauase i dint hv time..

bt when it was finished today, i analyzed few things and concluded that it was a very classic movie..

Let me start out by saying this is not a film for people that do not like or understand filming. This is not a normal murder mystery. In fact, its not even about the murder. Its about the characters! If you are used to normal popcorn flicks and know nothing nor care about huge ensemble pieces, directing, or characterization you probably will not appreciate this film for its powers. Save your time. It will probably bore you. Robert Altman introduces a wide range of aristocrats and their servants and spends three-fourth of his film letting them show you their various personalities through their interactions with each other. And he's devilishly subtle about it leaving dialogue and visuals low-key when they should be. People who have already seen this film should make a special note to remember how each single character was practically introduced in some shape or form. There is almost not a person staying at Gosford Park that does not get their word in and does not add to the intrigue of the plot. The storyline is set with people who have motives to kill and subtle hints are given to the reasonings of the killer...but the killer remains to be known until the end and by then you don't mind the killer or his/her reasonings. This is perhaps the best casted ensemble piece I have ever seen. Every person is their character. Every person is believable. Helen Mirren's performance is a near flawless example of an affective quiet role. Maggie Smith was perfectly casted as the snippy Aunt Constance. Kristen Scott Thomas plays the uber-bitch lady of the house to the t. The list goes on... I almost felt that AMPAS could have filled the Best Supporting Actress category with women from this film and been perfectly justified.

Rating :

* * *

X-Men Origins Wolverine

After a long working week, I was prepared to watch quite a few movies this weekend. Though downloaded months ago, i couldnt get time to watch this movie despite good reviews.

Finally saw it today and liked it too.

For the most part I thought it was exciting, action packed, and a great comic book movie for the most part. I was not the biggest fan of the X Men films, but I loved this film.

Basically the film is about Wolverine(go figure). It shows how he gave up a life of violence to try to live a normal life, only to have to go back to what he wanted to get away from.

A lot of credit should be given to Hugh Jackman. He really does an outstanding job as Wolverine in this film. You do not see many performances better than his in a comic book style film.

The story is pretty good in this film. There are some flaws though. I think they may have jumped to Wolverine as an adult too quickly, they really did not even scratch the surface of what his childhood was about. But I think that helps the film to get going fast, basically most of the back story is shown in the opening credits. It jumps to the main story right away. I do not think that choosing to not show much of his childhood is necessarily a bad thing, like I said, it helps the film to get going.

The action is legendary in this film. Wolverine gets in a lot of action as do many of the other characters. It is a spectacle to behold and some of the better action scenes in a film in a while. Better than anything that was in the other X Men films.

I also liked the villains. Sabertooth was great, great background and motives as well as just being a scary guy. I was looking forward to seeing Deadpool and I thought he was portrayed in a unique and interesting way. Also agent Striker was great as the backstabbing U.S. Agent type.

Gambit I was looking forward to as well. He was OK, but it seemed that he was there to serve only one purpose and did not do enough. Also I do not understand why Cyclops was in the film.

Only these minor belmishes else, the movie is worth your money.

Rating :

* * *