* * * * * / 5

In a class of his own

When this movie came out, everyone read the names “Hunter S Thompson” and “Johnny Depp” and immediately expected a wild fun adventure such as “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas”. Well, it isn’t. It is a better movie. Though it is cruel to compare the two movies, both brilliant in their own genres, this one is a better mainstream cinema.

The movie begins with the protagonist played by Depp waking up with a hangover in Puerto Rico hotel. He is there for a job as a journalist and he is late. He is habitually late throughout the movie which could be taken as a metaphor in its own way. The decadence of a nation, while the rich get richer and tear down more truths to establish a mafia of real estate barons.

Depp’s character is brilliant as always. Like all his films he brings a lot to this one too. Makes the character living breathing personality that will make you stand and cheer. He is in a new job in an old newspaper which seems to be on the verge of going out of business. Depp meets interesting people. The photographer and the crime reporter are brilliantly played by talented actors. The whole atmosphere of dread and celebration is there for you to witness. Dread and desperation for many poverty stricken bitter people. Celebrations for a handful of rich elite. Enter Eckhart as the big player making things possible for his criminal associates. He wants to hire Depp’s skills. Helps out Depp when he is in trouble. Depp follows the events as if in a daze. He just goes with the flow. Even falls hard for Eckhart’s girl. Yet he is a gentleman throughout. He single-handedly keeps the flame of righteous journalism burning. Alas, no one gives a damn.

The movie is a lot closer to the chaos of “The Tailor of Panama” than to Depp’s previous turn as a junkie journalist in “Fear and Loathing…”, and you have to enjoy the story rather than compare things with Hunter S Thompson’s original works.

Apart from the leading cast, the best thing to look forward to is the music by Christopher Young. If you bought this DVD and liked it, I am sure you will be tempted to go out and buy the Original Sound Track of this motion picture too.

There is not a single dull moment in the lives of these mesmerising characters. The rum, the locals, the beatup car, the woman, the job, the jail, the parties, the cockfights, the drunken dialogue, the entire set and visuals, it is all a thrill to watch.

Keep an open mind and beware not to compare it to other movies/books and you will surely enjoy this product. An immensely satisfying story and magnificently crafted movie. Johnny Depp proves yet again, he is in a class of his own.

* * * * / 5


Eye Candy for the Horror Fans

LOLz. If you like blood and gore horror flicks, this is a must watch. And yes, I came to watch WWE Pro Kane in a movie, but admired the film instead. It takes a life of its own. Like a spawn of the gutter that you stare at irrespective of how awful stench and foul shape it possesses. This is a good horror movie.

We begin with a good scare. The first ten minutes have you hooked completely. Then the real cast shows up. And we get the routine which is so well practiced in horror movies, yet we see something new and disturbing everytime.

Its got everything you need in a horror movie:
1. A scary beginning
2. A cop who loses almost everything as he tries to kill the beast
3. Fast-forward to 4 years later
4. The surviving cop is in a new job
5. There are teenagers, an essential commodity of a blood and gore fest
6. The teenagers are convicts from a detention center being taken to a trip to do some social work to help an old lady covert a rundown hotel into a homeless shelter
7. The teenagers are criminals to the core. They have other plans.
8. There is the essential trapped inside a madhouse feeling. These teens and the cop accompanying them can’t leave this hotel. It is locked down till the job gets done. So no escape for the bad criminal teens
9. And of course something goes wrong. There is the beast inside the hotel. And he is out for a killing rampage
10. Conflicts. Conflicts among the teens. Conflicts within the beast.
11. Raging hormones in the teens. Some mischief. Some investigation by the cop.
12. And murder and mayhem.

Can these teens survive the ordeal? What’s with the senile old lady who thinks all is well? Does the cop get the beast this time around? There are hot ladies with guns, but is that enough to stop KANE?

Have a blast. Have a beer. Add some rum. Watch this on a lonely night. I watched it on Friday the 13th April 2012.

* * * * * / 5

Action, Thrills and some good FUN!!!

Firstly, let me tell you that if you are an elite critic and watched this movie, ask yourself why. Do you even like the action-movie genre? No? Then don’t waste our time by writing reviews about stuff you don’t enjoy. We like it here and we like Hollywood. So astalavistababy.

For all WWE Fans and those who have come to see John Cena blow things up by more than just his fist – this is an awesome action flick. I too came to see this movie because I am a fan of WWF now known as WWE and because I admire John Cena as a person and not just as what we see him do inside the squared ring.

The first 5 to 10 minutes of the movie needs to be passed over. To be forgiven. It is not the best start to an action movie. And this is an out and out thriller of an action movie. But then Robert Patrick shows up and everything rocks and everything is cool again. Yes, I came to see Cena and got bowled over by Robert Patrick. Patrick carries this movie. I would say he saved the movie. Cena is great. He is our hero. And we cheer for him throughout the movie as he gets beat while trying to rescue his dear wife. But you can’t help fall for Robert Patrick. He waltzes in all bad-a$$ and mean. He is ultra, uber-cool. He makes the badguy role come alive and give meaning to the whole story. As in any story, for the hero to be a hero, you need a strong adversary. We get that in the form of a team of criminals led by Robert Patrick.

The action is non-stop. As soon as the villain has done his first job in the movie – the action keeps up the tempo and we get big gunfights and bigger explosions. The crazy black dude routine is well played here by a henchman of Patrick. I was a bit disappointed with the truth behind the “rock candy story” – they should have made it as big as it sounded. But there is plenty of more fun in the movie. Some dark humour and Cena is incredible as he chases down the bad guys in the mandatory car chase sequence and then on in the swamps. This is thrilling from there till the very end. Some good hand-to-hand fights. Cena gets punished and he triumphs. The deviation with the 2 other crooks in the same swamp thinking Cena is a cop looking for them is also brilliant turn of events. More action. More a$$-kicking. The scenes with the explosion are very well shot.

The two big ones with Cena at the petrol pump explosion and him at the shack in the swamp exploding are incredibly well captured. You could feel Cena getting the fury of the fire. Awesome stuff. And Patrick is unstoppable too. He is determined and he has the wife as a leverage and hostage. There is the essential bad girl accompanying the villain, Patrick. She does a great job, better I think than the actress who plays Cena’s wife. In all I would rate high the casting as the team of Patrick is well picked bunch of actors doing what they do best. These bad guys are worth cheering for.

Cena of course makes it to the climax. An epic one it is, involving a truck, a motorboat, explosions, fistfights, splattering of blood and the suspense of whether Cena’s wife will survive this ordeal or not.

Watch this one and make sure you reload the popcorn.

The Ultimate Dreamgirl
* * * */ 5
The movie is about a third assistant director who remembers his time with Marilyn Monroe when she shot the movie The Prince and the Showgirl in England for Sir Laurence Olivier.

I had high hopes of the movie so was of course disappointed. Based on the memoirs of the third assistant written as a book in the nineties, it is an engaging yet unsatisfying movie.

Yes, you get some insight into Marilyn Monroe’s lifestyle during the height of her success and how she dealt with the attention and how people regarded her despite her obvious talent. She was a pinup for most, not a real celebrity, not a real Hollywood royalty.

But it is not much of a story. Maybe the editor in me is dissatisfied with the plotline. But what plot? This is a memoir, not a fiction story.

So it is an engaging movie. Entertaining, revealing, emotionally fragile, intense and wild. Marilyn Monroe comes alive on the big screen again. I caught the last day last show at 11:05 PM and had a good time.

The girl from Harry Potter movies makes a good small supporting role in the movie. The actor playing Colin Clark (Eddie Redmayne), the third assistant is brilliant. Kenneth Branagh shines as a out-of-patience Laurence Olivier. Michelle Williams is most comfortable as Marilyn Monroe. No complaints regarding the movie as such – it keeps you glued to your seat – just that it is a BBC made memoir and hence not fictionalised the way Hollywood makes The Aviator, Catch Me If You Can or other such biopics. It is a very real movie, which should be a good thing, but kind of leaves you feeling something is missing. Yes, Ms Monroe left us all too early in real life and that’s how you feel after this movie is over.

Colin sums up the tension on the sets with the simple explanation…

Colin Clark: “It’s agony because he’s a great actor who wants to be a film star, and you’re a film star who wants to be a great actress. This film won’t help either of you.”

http://myweekwithmarilynmovie.com/

http://www.myweekwithmarilynbook.com/

Worth catching and reminiscing.

The Ultimate Dreamgirl
* * * */ 5
The movie is about a third assistant director who remembers his time with Marilyn Monroe when she shot the movie The Prince and the Showgirl in England for Sir Laurence Olivier.

I had high hopes of the movie so was of course disappointed. Based on the memoirs of the third assistant written as a book in the nineties, it is an engaging yet unsatisfying movie.

Yes, you get some insight into Marilyn Monroe’s lifestyle during the height of her success and how she dealt with the attention and how people regarded her despite her obvious talent. She was a pinup for most, not a real celebrity, not a real Hollywood royalty.

But it is not much of a story. Maybe the editor in me is dissatisfied with the plotline. But what plot? This is a memoir, not a fiction story.

So it is an engaging movie. Entertaining, revealing, emotionally fragile, intense and wild. Marilyn Monroe comes alive on the big screen again. I caught the last day last show at 11:05 PM and had a good time.

The girl from Harry Potter movies makes a good small supporting role in the movie. The actor playing Colin Clark (Eddie Redmayne), the third assistant is brilliant. Kenneth Branagh shines as a out-of-patience Laurence Olivier. Michelle Williams is most comfortable as Marilyn Monroe. No complaints regarding the movie as such – it keeps you glued to your seat – just that it is a BBC made memoir and hence not fictionalised the way Hollywood makes The Aviator, Catch Me If You Can or other such biopics. It is a very real movie, which should be a good thing, but kind of leaves you feeling something is missing. Yes, Ms Monroe left us all too early in real life and that’s how you feel after this movie is over.

Colin sums up the tension on the sets with the simple explanation…

Colin Clark: “It’s agony because he’s a great actor who wants to be a film star, and you’re a film star who wants to be a great actress. This film won’t help either of you.”

http://myweekwithmarilynmovie.com/

http://www.myweekwithmarilynbook.com/

Worth catching and reminiscing.

Appallingly Entertaining


* * * */ 5

It is not the most memorable film of 2011 but it is very entertaining nonetheless. I did not see it on IMAX 3D version but it is spectacular still. The film starts with the young son of a successful newspaper baron getting himself put down by his father for being a useless person – that he really is. The father dies and the boy is now a grown up useless man. All he can do is party, get drunk, get laid and wonder why his coffee tastes like shite.

Enter Kato. The man entrusted by the newspaper baron to maintain his expensive collection of cars. It seems the young man-boy-son is not really a jerk. The father was indeed a pain in the ass. But he was an upright man and still respected by society at large. The man-boy-son understands nothing of the responsibility to run an independent newspaper (The Daily Sentinel). He has a friend in Kato but their relationship is not as solid as you would expect out of seeing the talent that Kato is. Because after all he is paired up with an idiot – the man-boy-son.

In a public act of desecration the man-boy-son accidentally becomes a hero in his own eyes and a criminal in the eyes of the law. He decides to fight crime, but with a twist. He will not be known as a hero. He will fight crime from within by appearing to be a criminal. Kato who has already proved himself as a one man army develops the car Black Beauty and the gizmos. And the duo are ready to take the law in their own hands.

This movie is a gem in the hands of Seth Rogen (The Green Hornet) and Jay Chou (Kato). I didn’t miss Bruce Lee. This is a very different take on the epic TV series. And fun too. Kato is Kato’s real name and there is some good humour in trying to decide his alternate name. Seth Rogen co-wrote this movie and he is a good comedian. The humour brings alive the relationship between these two friends.

Enter Cameron Diaz. She is hot. When is she not? Anyways, she is put to good use and is not a useless prop in this movie. She is employed at The Daily Sentinel and covers the news on the crimes of The Green Hornet with the blessings of her boss, the man-boy-son who inherited the newspaper business.

The villain is played incredibly well by Cristoph Waltz. Only he could make a villainous name of “Chudnofsky” memorable and worthy of inducing fear.

This movie should have done better at the box office. There is good action, camerawork, script, acting, humour and an overall good plot. I guess fans were expecting more serious caper in line with the TV series and so this didn’t go as big as it should have.

A fun movie to catch, even family entertainment.

Appallingly Entertaining


* * * */ 5

It is not the most memorable film of 2011 but it is very entertaining nonetheless. I did not see it on IMAX 3D version but it is spectacular still. The film starts with the young son of a successful newspaper baron getting himself put down by his father for being a useless person – that he really is. The father dies and the boy is now a grown up useless man. All he can do is party, get drunk, get laid and wonder why his coffee tastes like shite.

Enter Kato. The man entrusted by the newspaper baron to maintain his expensive collection of cars. It seems the young man-boy-son is not really a jerk. The father was indeed a pain in the ass. But he was an upright man and still respected by society at large. The man-boy-son understands nothing of the responsibility to run an independent newspaper (The Daily Sentinel). He has a friend in Kato but their relationship is not as solid as you would expect out of seeing the talent that Kato is. Because after all he is paired up with an idiot – the man-boy-son.

In a public act of desecration the man-boy-son accidentally becomes a hero in his own eyes and a criminal in the eyes of the law. He decides to fight crime, but with a twist. He will not be known as a hero. He will fight crime from within by appearing to be a criminal. Kato who has already proved himself as a one man army develops the car Black Beauty and the gizmos. And the duo are ready to take the law in their own hands.

This movie is a gem in the hands of Seth Rogen (The Green Hornet) and Jay Chou (Kato). I didn’t miss Bruce Lee. This is a very different take on the epic TV series. And fun too. Kato is Kato’s real name and there is some good humour in trying to decide his alternate name. Seth Rogen co-wrote this movie and he is a good comedian. The humour brings alive the relationship between these two friends.

Enter Cameron Diaz. She is hot. When is she not? Anyways, she is put to good use and is not a useless prop in this movie. She is employed at The Daily Sentinel and covers the news on the crimes of The Green Hornet with the blessings of her boss, the man-boy-son who inherited the newspaper business.

The villain is played incredibly well by Cristoph Waltz. Only he could make a villainous name of “Chudnofsky” memorable and worthy of inducing fear.

This movie should have done better at the box office. There is good action, camerawork, script, acting, humour and an overall good plot. I guess fans were expecting more serious caper in line with the TV series and so this didn’t go as big as it should have.

A fun movie to catch, even family entertainment.