Hi

It was a long weekend with Friday being ‘Mahashivratri’ and a public holiday. Wife and kiddo had gone to see her parents. I decided to see some long due English movies and for the first time I saw six movies all in a weekend. (thanks to my Big Flix membership). It was too much of asking rate for me. I have penned down the reviews of all the movies I saw in the weekend. Hope the reader finds it useful-

1. Terminator Salvation

Genre- Fiction/ Thriller

Recommendation- Watch it

It is an excellent action & fiction movie. I had seen the lead protagonist ‘Sam Worthington’ in Avatar before watching him in Terminator. The protagonist of the film ‘Sam’ is really a big star in the making. His onscreen charisma is ecstatic. He was nominated for the fresh face of the year 2009 in Teen Awards. The movie (4th in Terminator series) is about the war between humanity and Skynet. Terminator Salvation, set in 2018, focuses on the war between humanity and artificial intelligence. Skynet is the primary antagonist — an artificially intelligent system which became self-aware and revolted against its creators. Skynet was originally installed into the U.S. military mainframe to control their arsenal. Shortly afterward it gained control and the panicking operators, realizing the extent of its abilities, attempted to shut it down. Skynet perceived the attempt to deactivate it as an attack on it and came to the conclusion that all of humanity would attempt to destroy it. To defend itself, it came to one conclusion: Humanity must be terminated. The film is about saving the human race.

John Connor (characterised by Christian Bale) is the human leader fighting for resistance. He is supported by Marcus Wright (characterised by Sam Worthington), a machine in himself and both of them jointly fight and destroy the Skynet before it destroys the rest of the mankind.

The screenplay and action sequences are good. However, one needs to see all the Terminator series to know the background of all events happening. For fiction lovers it is a Paisa Vasool movie

2. Hangover

Genre- Comedy

Recommendation- Watch it

Personally I did not find it that much comical as it has been advocated to be. A good concept but certain things really do not fit in place. One needs to keep their mind aside and should not try to find logic in everything. Two days before his wedding, Doug and his three buddies drive to Vegas for a blow-out night they’ll never forget. But when the three groomsmen wake up the next morning with pounding headaches, they can’t remember a thing.

It is a story about four friends, one of whom (Doug) is getting married. The four decide to go for a bachelor’s party at Las Vegas. At Vegas they book a villa in a five star hotel and from there on the blunder starts. The three friends being drugged at night fall trap into number of events which they do not recall in the morning because of the ‘Hangover’.

With no clue of what happened and little time to spare, the trio attempts to retrace their bad decisions from the night before in order to figure out where things went wrong and hopefully get Doug back to L.A. in time for his wedding. However, the more they begin to uncover, the more they realize just how much trouble they’re really in

The casting has been good and they are befitting the story line. Bradley Cooper and Heather Graham are exceptional

3. Shawshank Redemption

Genre- Drama

Recommendation- Must Watch

A long and slow paced movie with hard hitting content. It is a 1994 classic. Too late for me to see the movie. One should not miss the discourses to catch the ‘catch’ in the storyline. It is a simple story told with poignancy. Tim Robbins, the protagonist, has marveled in his character as ‘Andy’. I have not seen such planning for freedom which began from Day 1 in the Shawshank prison and successfully ended after nineteen years.

The main theme is hope, not despair, and the violence serves only as a backdrop to that message. Unashamedly a feel good movie, by the end one is wishing only that it would continue for a few more moments.

Tim Robbins stars as Andy Dufresne, a successful young banker who is sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of his wife and her lover. Andy is sent to Shawshank prison, a dour and depressing place where brutality from both guards and other prisoners is commonplace. Andy makes friends with Ellis Boyd “Red” Redding (Morgan Freeman), a lifer who has already spent many years inside. Red specialises in smuggling items into the prison for the other prisoners. Andy improves the prison’s tiny library, and helps those prisoners who want to study. He also handles the guards’ tax returns, and even helps the swindling Warden (Bob Gunton) cook the books. His Banking knowledge and acumen helped him to win over the prison warden and guards. Over the years, he gains the respect of most of the other prisoners and guards

This was all part of his plan to escape from Shawshank prison. The real thrill is in knowing the master plan of how he over the years mastered the escape plan and put in effort towards suceeding it. He had hope and he did not lose it. He never stops believing in life’s possibilities, but to make the most of them he needs to be free

It is not a movie for action buffs. It is a slow movie. You might feel it is getting stretched in between. Also sometimes it is difficult to catch the dialogue sequences of Tim Robbins. Morgan freeman is clear as always. A must see movie

The film is a patiently-told, allegorical of friendship, patience, hope, survival, emancipation, and ultimate redemption and salvation by the time of the film’s climax.

4. After the Sunset

Genre- Suspense/thriller

Recommendation- Tolerable

It is for Peirce Brosnan fans. Not a well knitted movie. However at the same time Brosnan (Max) and the explosive Salma Hayek (Lola) have pulled the movie.

Max is an ace thief and plan to retire after his loot of Napoleon Diamond 2. Max and his girlfiend Lola plan to settle down in a private island. The FBI agent (Stan Lloyd- Woody Harrelson) appointed for the Diamond security  is baffled by his loss against Max. He makes a plan and lures Max to steal the Napoleon Diamond 3. With all resistance from Lola, Max still gets attracted and steals the diamond. However, this time FBI agent had the upper hand as Max got trapped in his Master plan and lost the diamond to him. Harrelson, an actor whose better roles sadly seem to be behind him, never manages to deliver his lines with anything more than a bored slur. In the end, Brosnan take control of his car and of course the diamond. I did not find this fitting in the story line. It was more like a ‘Hindi’ movie end wherein the Hero always wins.

Harrelson plays the agent as a bumbling idiot, with Pierce Brosnan and Salma Hayek constantly getting the upper-hand in all situations. For Salma Hayek fans, she has exposed a lot. Ideally in all scenes she is exposing or seducing Brosnan.

Salma Hayek’s wasted as Brosnan’s love interest/accomplice. A totally one-dimensional character that fleets in and out of scenes in increasingly less clothing, Hayek can do and normally does much better than this.

5. Fatal Attraction

Genre- Drama

Recommendation- Must Watch

It is a classic, nail biting and edge of the seat drama. It is a 1987 movie with Michael Douglas and Glenn Close playing the lead role. The screenplay is amazing and hats off to Douglos and Glenn Close for pulling off a high intensity drama with Douglos playing the infidel husband (because of his one night stand with Glenn) and these moment haunt his family life. It is a story about sex, sleaze, family, drama, love, etc.

Dan Gallager (Michael Douglos) is an upper class business executive living with his wife and 5 year old daughter in Manhattan. One evening, he and his wife, attend a book opening party attended by a writer named Alex Forrest (Glenn Close). Dan and Alex immediately hit it off and strike up a conversation. Later in the movie, they eventually find that they click in a sexual way, and wind up on the bed. This affair continues for a few weeks, with Dan spending the weekend at Alex’s apartment while his wife and daughter are away. Dan feels guilt for ditching his lovely wife and calls off the so called affair with Alex. However, Alex, a psychopath, begins to feel more than just sexual feelings for Dan and is not at all pleased that he had left her.

Alex stops at nothing to keep Dan all her own, including allowing herself to get Pregnant, harrassing him at work, phoning him at all hours, pretending to be an interested buyer in their Manhattan condo, kidnapping his child from school, and following his family to their new country home in Upstate New York.

The drama unfolds in the end when Dan’s wife kills Alex in a dramatic action sequence. Guys if you not seen this classic do not miss it. I am watching it after 23 years of release.

6. Unborn

Genre- Horror

Recommendation- Avoid

It is a horror movie with horrifying content. Predictable plot devices and narrative twists are part and parcel of any ghost story. The story which starts with a dog wearing a boy mask is calling for a serious trouble.

The Unborn is at its worst early on when, instead of bothering to introduce any of the protagonists it simply launches into a litany of bad horror movie clichés. The experience of sitting through the first half of the movie is much like watching the longest horror movie trailer you’ve ever seen. There are no connecting threads between any of what’s going on, the movie just flips from one supposedly scary sequence to the next.

The ghost in the movie is the dead twin brother who had died in the womb and is taking revenge. The movie sequences are not directed as desired. No doubt the cinematography is good with locations in Chicago used purposefully. I think that was the only good stuff.

The climax beats any Hindi movie. I guess ‘Ramsay brothers’ would be impressed. The Rabbi ( Gary Oldman) exorcises on the lead actress and the biggest irony is that the ghost is not inside her. Then what was the use of the exorcise. Neways, after all it is a movie.

If you have excess time and want to do nothing watch this movie for some horror show.

Happy Viewing!!