Rann (2010)

Genre: Crime/Drama

Starring: Amitabah Bachchan, Mohnish Behl, Ritesh Deshmukh, Rajat Kapoor, Sudeep, Paresh Rawal

It is common knowledge that the media is the primary source of all our knowledge. News media in particular is one such form where truth prevails and it plays a vital role in shaping our perception. Rann tries to impress on the fact that when politics and media come together, news is artificially created and money is made. Vijay Harshvardhan Malik (Bachchan) is one of the most reputed newsmen in the country and heads the news channel India 24x7. He lives by his morals to serve the people with truthful content and stays away from news manipulation. His channels TRP's are falling and in a desperate bid to improve them, his son Jai (Sudeep) telecasts false news which goes in the favour of politician Mohan Pandey (Rawal) and blames an honest politician for an act of violence which he never did. Vijay is unaware of the authenticity of the news and takes it to be true and supports it. New recruit at India 24x7, Purab Shastri (Deshmukh) smells a rat and his investigations reveal Jai's mischief and the ugly game of politics and money. The movie is very typically Ram Gopal Varma right from the word go and a lot of bits and pieces have been picked up from his previous sensation Sarkar. Amitabh Bachchan talks and does little for majority of the movie, but when he does he proves why he is the god of Hindi cinema. Ritesh Deshmukh sheds his goofy comic role to don a character more suitable for him, whereas Paresh Rawal goes back to the evil politician that he was a decade ago. Fascinating and beautifully entertaining is all I can come up with.

Thumbs up: Performances
Thumbs down: Should have left the twist for the end

Rating: 8.4/10

Coraline (2009)

Genre: Adventure/Fantasy/Animation/Mystery

Starring (voice): Dakota Fanning, Teri Hatcher, John Hodgman, Robert Bailey Jr., Keith David

The name is Coraline (Fanning) and not Caroline. Young Coraline's parents recently moved in to a new town. They write nature articles for a living and are too busy to pay any attention to her. She makes a new friend Whybie (Bailey Jr.) who has a strange black cat (David). She snoops around her new house and comes across a small hidden door. The door leads to a whole new world where her parents love her, where people have buttons for eyes and all her wishes come true. Everyone from her town is there in the other world and are different from their actual self. Whybie's cat too is present and can talk in the other world. The cat warns her that everything is not what it seems like and her other mother (Hatcher) is up to something evil. The movie has a very exciting plot attached to it, which is not only for young children but might appeal to a more mature audience. Unlike other animation movies, the graphics do not try to replicate reality and give it a cartoon-like feel. The suspense is fascinating and it completely absorbs you into it which makes you wish to not let go.

Thumbs up: Great plot, fantastic climax
Thumbs down: The presence of some light humour was missed

Rating: 8.3/10

Ishqiya (2010)

Genre: Crime/Drama/Romance

Starring: Arshad Warsi, Vidya Balan, Naseeruddin Shah

Two casanova Islamic friends Babban (Warsi) and Khalujaan (Shah) wander around north India doing things that usual good-for-nothing people do. Escaping from their creditors, they move from town-to-town and finally end up at Gorakhpur. They wished to escape to Nepal with the help of an old friend, Verma, who unknown to them died in a bomb blast some time back. Krishna (Balan) Verma's wife, provides the duo shelter and takes them in. Babban and Khalujaan fall in love with Krishna and try to win her heart. Krishna, however, wants them to kidnap a rich steel magnate by which the two can pay off their debts and live their life and Krishna can continue hers. Things, however, do not go as planned when Babban and Khalujaan went against each other when it came to Krishna. The movie boasts of a good star cast, Arshad Warsi who has shed his slap-stick comedy character and took on a more serious role. The dialogues are well written and are typical north Indian slang which would make the familiar laugh. The movie sadly does not live up to its expectations with the climax ending on a dead note. Can be watched out of curiosity but don't expect things to go far.

Thumbs up: All performances
Thumbs down: Poor ending

Rating: 6.5/10

A Clockwork Orange (1971)

Genre: Crime/Drama/Science-fiction

Starring: Malcolm McDowell, Patrick Magee

Set in future Britain, a gang of hoodlums headed my Alex (McDowell) go about the night raping women and stealing money. Alex's gang members developed a hatred against his leadership and frame him while they attempting another theft. Alex is imprisoned for 14 years on account of murder. The prison is attempting a new scientific technique wherein jail inmates would be psychologically treated to become averse to sex and violence. Alex learns about this course which releases inmates within a fortnight of inception and signs up in a bid to get released early. Alex is treated as an experimental volunteer and he is unaware of the side-effects of the procedure. The patient would start feeling sick the moment he feels the need for sex and violence, which the doctors claim would bring down crime if treated on all prisoners. The movie is modern in its approach, considering the time it was made in. The drama is very theatrical and melodramatic which puts it on flimsy grounds. The plot is interesting but did not go deep in exploring the story further. Either you love it or hate it and there is no sitting on the wall.

Thumbs up: McDowell and his outstanding performance
Thumbs down: Certain parts are a drag

Rating: 7.2/10

My Sister's Keeper (2009)

Genre: Drama/Romance

Starring: Cameron Diaz, Abigail Breslin, Sofia Vassilieva, Jason Patrick, Evan Ellingson

A cancer-ridden patient, Kate Fitzgerald (Vassilieva) is fighting for her life by borrowing body parts from her younger sister Anna (Breslin). Anna was conceived by her parents Sara (Diaz) and Brian (Patrick) just so that she could donate her body parts and save Kate. Anna is fed up of the donation and wants to lead a normal life, which she would not be able to do, if she donates her kidney. Anna sues her parents in court for medical emancipation so that she could decide what to do with her body rather than her parents. Sara is a frustrated individual who loses her temper too fast and does exactly what she likes. She fails to understand her children or what they want. The movie is a more of an intra-family battle between individuals. Its heavy and difficult to get through, but has a fantastic ending. It is obviously slow, something expected from a movie of its kind but does an amazing job of conveying a valuable message. Cameron Diaz played a role more fit for her and the entire cast puts on an amazing performance to make this movie highly watchable.

Thumbs up: Good performances
Thumbs down: Lighter moments in-between to lift the mood are not there

Rating: 7.2/10

Wild Things 2 (2004)

Genre: Crime/Mystery/Thriller

Starring: Susan Ward, Leila Arcieri, Joe Michael Burke, Isaiah Washington

If you have seen Wild Things you have seen its 'straight-to-video' released successor too. Rich heiress Brittney Havers (Ward) goes to Blue Bay High and leads a normal life. Her mother committed suicide and Niles, her dad hates her. Her father dies in a place crash and according to his will everything goes to charity or to his blood heir, if any, but nothing for Brittney. Maya King (Arcieri) Brittney's classmate claims she is Niles' daughter and inherits $70 million. Local coroner Julian Haynes (Burke) along with Brittney and Maya, manipulate the DNA tests that prove Maya as Niles' daughter, so that they could all share the money. Things get dirty and messy when everyone wants a larger share of the green paper. The movie is strikingly similar to the earlier movie, same rich girl, same poor low-life tramp, a hot threesome and similarly twisted twists which leaves you flabbergasted and wondering where it came from. The lose and unexplained ends still persists, which casts a doubt if I should venture into the third installment of this series.

Thumbs up: Might appeal to a first time watcher
Thumbs down: Too similar to the earlier movie

Rating: 5.3/10

Punisher: War Zone (2008)

Genre: Action/Crime/Dama/Thriller

Starring: Ray Stevenson, Dominic West, Doug Hutchison, Colin Salmon, Wayne Knight

A mob war kills a peaceful New York family. The lone survivor, Frank Castle (Stevenson) vows to eliminate all big mobster families one-by-one. Frank calls himself The Punisher and his next target is Billy (West) whose trying to smuggle in a huge biological weapon. An undercover FBI agent gets shot in the cross-fire by Frank and Billy's face gets destroyed. Billy survives and frees his brother, Loony Bin Jim (Hutchison) a man-eating psychopath to get on Frank's trail and kill him. FBI agent Budiansky (Salmon) is gunning for The Punisher because he killed one of his men. The pot is very regular and over-used. The action, however, is good but very gory, which might appeal to those few who like it. The movie takes its own sweet time to narrate the story, which gets irritating. Decent continuous action, a plot with good performances and interesting twists is something that you would not find in this movie.

Thumbs up: Nice action though not brilliant
Thumbs down: Regular story, regular performances

Rating: 5.5/10

Wild Things (1998)

Genre: Crime/Mystery/Thriller

Starring: Matt Dillon, Denise Richards, Neve Cambell, Kevin Bacon, Bill Murray, Carrie Snodgress

A wild and twisted tale of Sam Lambardo (Dillon) a high school guidance counsellor who is accused of rape by his student Kelly Van Ryan (Richards). When Suzie Toller (Cambell) too gets up and points a finger at Sam, the case is set, only to later learn that the rape was a joint set-up by the two girls to take revenge from Sam. Sam gets paid $8.5 million in lieu of damages by Kelly's rich mother. Police Detective Ray Duquette (Bacon) is convinced that the case is not what it seems like and its just a game plaid by the three of them to get rich. His investigation uncovers a lot of startling fact, a lot of which his superior is not willing to accept. They movie gained a lot of reputation for a particular love scene between Dillon, Richards and Campbell. The plot has some good twists which would appeal to the mystery loving aficionado. The twists are a little too twisty though which leaves some lose ends and some unexplained logic. The movie tried to play on a good plot but it lacked certain elements which brought it down.

Thumbs up: Nice story with good twists
Thumbs down: Some unexplained logic

Rating: 6.8/10

American History X (1998)

Genre: Crime/Drama

Starring: Edward Norton, Edward Furlong, Avery Brooks, Beverly D'Angelo

Racism is strongly prevelant in modern America. A young white American, Derek Vinyard (Norton) is brain-washed to join the Nazi-loving, all-white Skinhead gang, whose motive is to remove all immigrants and coloured folk first from the town of Venice Beach and then from the country. Derek's brother, Danny (Furlong) is walking on the steps of his brother and is his idol. Three black youths try to jack Derek's car and he kills two of them. Derek lands up in jail and does a three year stint before being released. Freshly out of jail, he sees a lot of things have changed around him and Danny has become more passionate about becoming the gang leader. With the help of Dr. Sweeney (Brooks), Derek realises that the gang is all lies and is not worth it. Certain events in jail have brought him closer to those people that he earlier hated. He wants to get out of the gang and those gang members who earlier hailed him as god, are now gunning for him. The movie rightly deserves the praise that it has been recieving in so many years. Edward Norton puts up a fabulous performance and young Edward Furlong is not bad either. The movies main focus are the philosphies of racism and it does well in disseminating it. A good watch, gets a little slow and heavy at times.

Thumbs up: Edward Norton and Edward Furlong
Thumbs down: A little slow and heavy at some instances

Rating: 7.4/10

Rain Man (1988)

Genre: Drama

Starring: Tom Cruise, Dustin Hoffman, Valeria Golino, Gerald Molen

An imported car dealer Charlie Babbit (Cruise) leads a life away from his father, with whom he seperated over certain issues. When his old man passes away, he is shocked to find that the only thing left behind to him is a car and a prize-winning rose bust whereas $3 million and the entire estate is put in custody of a trust. On further investigation he realises that he has a mentally sick elder brother Raymond (Hoffman) of which he had no knowledge. Raymond's doctor, Dr. Bruner (Molen) has been entrusted with Raymond's share of the will. Charlie takes his brother on a road trip to LA and tells Dr. Bruner that he must give him $1.5 million so that Raymond can be sent back to the asylum. Charlie, however, develops a liking for Raymond and they enjoy certain moments together. Charlie now wants to keep Raymond in his care and feels that he can take care of him. The movie potrays a good brotherly relationship, but it goes very slow and is too long. More emotional outbursts would probably have brought out the actual strain on the relationship and perhaps made the movie a better watch, although heavy. Dustin Hoffman puts on a very good performance and Tom Cruise is nowhere near matching it. Not as good as the ratings put it.

Thumbs up: Dustin Hoffman
Thumbs down: Slow and long

Rating: 5.4/10