Megamind (2010)

4/5 Hilarious

So my bro and me wanted to spend some quality time together, “what better way to have a quiet dinner on a saturday night”, we thought. We barely survived the car journey, and by mutual consent decided to see a movie instead. I think Megamind saved the day ;-).

The movie is the story of Megamind, who, thanks to his blue skin colour, is treated unfairly by society and grows up into a great villain. Every great villain deserves a great hero, enter MetroMan. Adored and loved since birth Metroman is the darling of the city. The story is about the battle between these 2 arch rivals. Yet another battle between good and evil? Not this one!

The movie will keep you laughing till the very end. The jokes range from cynical jabs at society/life, to down-right-tom-foolery.

The star-studded cast are not readily recognizable in the characters, but this doesn’t make the movie less watchable.

I saw the 2D version, but 3D is going to come out soon, cant wait.

Tron Legacy (2010)

3/5 neat if you have seen part 1.

Tron Legacy is the much delayed sequel to the 1982 cult classic Tron.

I only enjoyed the first half of the new Tron because I had seen the 1982 version. The first half is a lot of recap with no explanation. You are introduced to things and people with NO context. As a result if you havent seen part1 most of the first half is just a blur with nothing important to take home. BUT if you do take the time to see part 1, you will relish the way Disney has been so true to the original, while enhancing it and making it believable. Actually if you dont see part 1, everything becomes quite meaningless. As in, it becomes an action flick with no link to reality and infact no rhyme or reason in anything. Its like watching a war movie without knowing why the war is being fought.

For example they dont mention what the tron world is all about. They dont tell you about who tron is and why its his name on the title. They dont say how the “world” begins or what is the seed in the real world that gives rise to the ideas in the digital world.

As I said I really loved the way Disney has been so loyal to the original (including the main actor), but still making everything awesome and real. The downside is that there is only one new concept added in the whole movie. But the action and the 3D world make up for that in a way. The 3d is well used through the movie with things being thrown at you and the whole room spinning out of control a couple of times.

In the end the thing that I really loved about this movie is the fact that the concepts from part 1 are so awesome that they look so awesome even today, with a little help from technology.

Quarantine (2008)

Quarantine 3/5
Browsing the channels on a sunday night, I came across what looked like a documentary. The camera work was done on a hand-held camera with a lot of shaking and unfocused shots. Then things started taking a bizarre turn. A Lady, who looked like she was suffering from a bad case of post alcoholic vomiting, suddenly attacks her helpers. She manages to rip off the neck of one of them with her teeth. From that point on, it just gets crazier and crazier.
The movie is taken by a reporter crew who are following up on a case of a screaming woman (mentioned above) in an apartment block. It is later found out that the lady is suffering from a particularly virulent form of rabies. The apartment is quarantined by the authorities and the inmates are left to fend for themselves. The movie is about the TV crews struggle for survival within the quarantine and their attempt to escape.
This movie is definitely not safe for epileptics and people with a weak heart would be advised to avoid it. The heroine is really irritating and spends most of the movie, screaming and shaking like a drug addict. The acting otherwise is quite good.
The movie keeps fulfils its task of keeping you on the edge of your seat admirably, with a few steamy scenes thrown in for good measure. For all you horror lovers, this is worth a watch.

Despicable Me 3D!!!!! (2010 )

5/5 and some more ! 😀 😀 😀

All those people who watched this without 3D really lucked out! I loveD it, I loveD it, I loveD it!

It was simply fantabulous. And the 3D is real 3D. Its not that wishy washy stuff that has been passed around as 3d (Avatar yuck!, that was camera blur compared to this).

What Illumination Entertainment has done is push 3D in cinemas further than any production in recent past, (and they boast a bit about it during the credits). If you are going to see this movie, make sure the screen is HUGE and you get a seat smack bang in the middle (Which I did, thanks to the cinema buffs of Bangalore!). Things will be thrown at you, you will be tossed around and you will feel your stomach move with the 3D!

But that is just in the background. The story is so adorable, the characters are SOOO cute and the storyline very engaging ! 2hrs will just fly away and you wont move until the credits finally run to a close, apart from giggles and guffaws at regular intervals!
Again! loveD it, loveD it, loveD it!

I am not going to say anything about the story so as to not spoil it for anyone!

Despicable Me

Corpse Bride (2005)

4/5 Nice!

The movie follows Victor Van Dort’s ill-fated attempt to get married to Victoria Everglot. Victor is a bumbling nervous wreck, due to a dominating mother and very subservient father. The marriage rehearsals go terribly as Victor cant remember his vows. He escapes to the woods to calm his senses and while practicing his vows by mistake proposes to a corpse. The rest of the story is about the corpse bride trying to be all the bride she can be, while Victor is torn between Victoria and the guilt of breaking the heart of the corpse bride.

The movie is an emotional love story-comedy-musical deal with a little intrigue and revenge to wash it all down. The animation is amazing and the story swells with ideas and characters. My personal favourite would have to be the maggot residing in the heroines brain, who acts as her 2nd conscience :-D. The depiction of the dead people can be a bit gruesome at times but its all fun!

Finally the musical score is beautiful and the choreography of the songs (its a musical) is real fun to watch.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0121164/

Eight Below (2006)

4/5 amazing

Having never heard of this film before, I didnt have any expectations when I saw the beginning credits on HBO. The only actor I could recognize was Bruce Greenwood (our “President” in “National Treasure: Book of Secrets”) and so I took for granted that this must be a low-budget movie, but the snowy backdrop and the shots of wildlife interested me and anyway I had my laptop to work on during the boring parts so what the hell.

I was pleasantly shocked.

The story is set in the backdrop of Antartica where a group of researchers of the National Science Foundation are performing weather related measurements. A rare meteorite lands a few kilometers from the camp and Scientist David MacClaren (Bruce Greenwood) sets out there led by Jerry Shepard and his dogs. Meanwhile a storm is reported at home-base, predicted to be the biggest of the year. What follows is a struggle against natures fury and a story of fraternity between man and dog.

Two things stand out in this movie, the camera work and the dogs. The scenery and the wildlife is beautifully captured, as is the life of the huskies in the barren wilderness. The dogs though are the real stars of this movie . They make you cry, feel guilty and smile, without a single word. Kudos to the trainer and the director.

Really enjoyed it and didnt get a single bit of work done. 🙂

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0397313/

Osmosis Jones (2001)

3/5 it will keep you interested if it doesnt make you throw up.

Frank's Police Department.

The evil virus (Red Heat) attempts to take over yet another universe (read human body of Frank). It is further assisted by the corrupt politics of the mayor of Franks Cerebellum. There is only one team who can save the situation, the disgraced FPD (Frank’s Police Department) white blood cell officer Osmosis Jones and his sidekick Drix (short form for Drixorial, a cold capsule).

The cartoon, takes us through the whole virus life-cycle in the form of a homeland-security break down gone terribly wrong. The different cells of the body become different inhabitants of “The City of Frank” under the protection of “Frank’s finest” the immune system. The movie reminded me, a lot, of Rush Hour, the straight cop and the wacko cop cleaning the streets (in this case the Veins/arteries of Frank).

The movie is quite heavy with medical terminology, and certain parts could be used to teach “the immune system” in schools and colleges. That said, the details make for an interesting viewing with a couple of laughs thrown in for good measure. On the flip side, certain things are just down-right wrong and make the movie more of a publicity piece for cold-tablets.

The only down side I felt is the gore! The human body is shown in all its mucousy, phlegmy, frothy, gunk filled best and even goes through the life cycle of a cyst, which is shown to burst and its contents sprayed everywhere. Then there are the constant reminders of the effects of not looking after your body, the mucus filled nose (mucus sucked back into the body in this case), the breaking of wind and vomit. Thank god I wasn’t eating at the time, but I confess I had to turn away quite frequently.

In the end though its an interesting watch, but avoid food and drink while watching!

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0181739/

Dukes of Hazzard (2005)

1/5 (oh please!)

When I was young I vaguely remember catching a glimpse of “Dukes of Hazzard” on TV before being ferried to my bedroom for beddy byes. I always remembered it to be one of my dreams to actually watch the TV series. So I had a lot of good feelings when I heard a movie was being put out. In the end though, this movie robbed me of all my good feelings for this franchise!

The 1 (of the 5) is for a couple of things that were interesting in the movie. The Narration (as in background voice that explains what is going on) deserves mention and reminds one of the other car-westerns like “smokey and the bandit”, but unfortunately pales in comparison as far as humour is concerned. The other thing I really enjoyed are the stunts, i.e the slick driving and flying cars and pile-ups that abound in the movie. If you are into these things (like I am) you would be justified in giving this movie a glance, albeit a brief one.

What the movie really lacks is good humour. It revels in slapstick humour on the lines of the japanese shows you see on pogo after 10pm, basically with a lot of people falling over, getting punched in the head or things blowing up.

So how come I watched it you may ask? Wireless technology allows work to continue even in the toughest of situations, in the middle of a jungle, on the road, at the coffee joint, and remarkably even in front of a TV with HBO (not to be performed without proper experience).

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0377818/

A Fish called Wanda (1988)

Rating 2.5/5 passable (you will sit and giggle)

A silly slapstick movie written by “our Lord” John Cleese :-). Funny in parts, terribly vulgar and completely bonkers. It really is of the level of the Monty python movies. I never really liked Monty python, but you end up giggling through all of it because the situations are just so Bizarre. There are a few laugh-out-loud moments  and the characters are completely daft. In conformance with Monty-Python it spends 80% of its time making fun of the British and the Americans.

Definitely NOT a family movie, you cannot take  your family along.

Acting is all Monty-Python level, no trying to display human feelings and emotions, its all just being as outrageous possible, while remembering the script. If you are looking for a thinking movie, strike this out immediately.

A good watch on a boring sunday evening with nothing else to do. Unless of-course if you are a monty-python fan, in which case it becomes the movie to call the guys together on friday night and dont forget the strippers :-).

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0095159/

Salt (2010)

Rating 3/5 a good watch.

If you are looking for a movie to get your blood racing, this will definitely find its place in your list. The overall storyline is not really fair to the viewer and is a bit like the murder mysteries of old, where the key piece of evidence is kept away from the reader, until the very end. What keeps it from my list of top10 thrillers is the fact that there are no scenes where doubt is planted ,meant to be missed by the viewer. To explain, consider Night Shyamalan’s “sixth sense” where throughout the movie, nobody (except the boy) actually talks to the hero or even confirms his presence, the truth is in plain sight but no-one catches it. In this movie the actors act as if the present storyline (the false red herring) is indeed the truth, with no slips or any clues left behind. The action sequences are nicely done, and the music is superb. No oscars for the acting here though, atleast not from me.

Salt (2010)