Language:

Genre: Action, Adventure, Drama, Thriller

Cast: Denzel Washington, Gary Oldman, Mila Kunis, Michael Gambon, Ray Stevenson

Director: Albert Hughes & Allen Hughes

Music: Atticus Ross

Reasons to watch: Watch it for the climax and wonderful photography.

Reasons not to watch: Too many glitches that have ‘illogical’ written all over them.

Storyline: Denzel Washington (Eli) is a ‘walker’ on a mission. In a world that has been reduced to a wreck due to ‘the war’ or ‘the flash’ as told in the movie, water, food and all basic amenities which wouldn’t have had much value in a normal world, have become so rare to find, that people kill each other for even an ounce. Survival intricacies have turned people into cannibals.

Gary Oldman plays Carnegie, a mobster king who is on the look-out for ‘a book’ that happens to be in Eli’s possession. He finds out from Solara (Mila Kunis) that Eli has ‘the book’ which in Carnegie’s view could be the weapon to start the world all over again – A new beginning with him playing God. With Carnegie ready to sacrifice any number of lives for the book and Eli who would kill anyone to protect the book, the hunt begins. What happens when Carnegie gets hold of the book? Having lost the book to Carnegie, will Eli succeed in his mission of faith towards the West to give hope for a new beginning for the human race?

Climax Handling: The climax is what holds the movie intact. A surprising and totally unexpected ending. Kudos to the Hughes brothers.

Points: The director of photography, Don Burgess has done an excellent job in portraying a post-apocalyptic world. The whole issue about this movie’s illogical fallacies serve as a driving force for people to watch this movie again. Maybe it was intentional of the Hughes brothers to confuse the viewers with such daft logic.

Rating: 7/10

Comments: You might want to watch it twice to find a solution to the dilemma that will nag your brains at the end of 108 minutes of this movie.

Genre: Action, Adventure, Fantasy

Cast: Karthik Sivakumar, Andrea, Reema Sen, Parthiban, Prathap K. Pothan

Director: K. Selvaraghavan

Music: G.V. Prakash Kumar

Reasons to watch: The pre – release hype and the efforts poured in by the technicians.

Reasons not to watch: Too long and amazingly CONFUSING!!!

Storyline: An archaeologist (Prathap K. Pothan) goes missing on a solitary mission to find the ghost town of the long lost Cholas. His daughter Lavanya (Andrea) is devastated by this news. Enter – Anitha Pandian (Reema Sen) and her bandwagon of military lads led by Ravi (Azhagamperumal) who offers to help Lavanya find her missing father; of course they have ulterior motives behind the offer. Funded by the Government and manpower provided by Muthu (Karthik Sivakumar), a churlish, rustic, bad-mannered guy with prowling eyes and his co - laborers, the entire team sets sail on a journey marred by greed, revenge and utter chaos that eventually has a deeper meaning at the end with a realization of destinies and the unexplainable links between them and one of the world’s earliest civilizations. With a clash of destinies, history is about to repeat itself — and the consequences will be far worse and disastrous than they ever imagined. The first half is awesome with a terrific combination of fanatical violence with dark and gloomy mysticism.

The second half is where the director seems to have gone bonkers along with the movie’s script. Parthiban as the Chola King is all guns in the second half and his intro scene makes you jostle in your seats. The first 45 minutes of the second half tests your patience. It looks like Selvaraghavan wanted to show us ‘more’ and I guess in the end he has shown more than what the audience can take; too much of anything can also be a problem.

Taking cue from Tamil history, Selvaraghavan’s epic movie gives us something totally uncalled for by breaking away from the shackles of stereotypical Tamil cinema and finally confuses us so much that we wonder if we actually liked the movie or not.

Climax Handling: 3 hours of watching this movie and you get this logical but irritating climax that leaves you completely dissatisfied.

Points: Karthik hasn’t shed his Paruthi Veeran look and continues in the same manner. No scope for acting as such in this movie, but a lot of hard work has been put in by the technicians and that is evident. Parthiban’s intro does not allow you to blink, but he is reduced to a caricature as the movie progresses. The songs are a real headache and add to the on-screen confusion. The movie would have been more comprehensible had there been sub-titles in the second half.

Rating: 6/10

Comments: Brush up your history before watching this complex brain-racking movie.

1. The Book of Eli

Director: Allen Hughes, Albert Hughes

Cast: Denzel Washington, Gary Oldman, Mila Kunis, Ray Stevenson, Jennifer Beals

Release Date: January 15th 2010

Summary: Denzel Washington is a lone warrior who must fight to bring society the knowledge that could be the key to its redemption. Gary Oldman has been set to portray the autocrat of a small expedient town who’s determined to take possession of the book in Eli’s guarding.

2. Extraordinary Measures

Director: Tom Vaughan

Cast: Harrison Ford, Brendan Fraser, Keri Russell, Courtney B. Vance

Release Date: January 22nd 2010

Summary: This is the story of a biotechnology executive and his wife, who hire a research scientist and defy all odds to pursue a cure for the life threatening Pompe disease in order to save the lives of their affected children.

3. I love you Phillip Morris

Director: Glenn Ficarra, John Requa

Cast: Jim Carrey, Ewan McGregor, Leslie Mann, Rodrigo Santoro

Release Date: February 5th 2010

Summary: I love you Phillip Morris is a fact-based film about Steven Russell, a married father and also a convict in jail. The story is about his mad love for his male cell-mate, who eventually gets freed and Steven’s four time escapades from Texas prisons to meet his love.

4. The Wolfman

Director: Joe Johnston

Cast: Benicio Del Toro, Emily Blunt, Anthony Hopkins, Hugo Weaving, Geraldine Chaplin, Kiran Shah, Art Malik

Release Date: February 12th 2010

Summary: Lawrence Talbot (Benicio Del Toro) is a haunted nobleman and the disappearance of his brother lures him into his family estate. Reunited with his resentful father (Anthony Hopkins), Talbot sets out in search of his brother’s whereabouts which leads him to realize his ghastly destiny. Inspired by a yesteryear horror classic, The Wolfman might just bring the classic definition of ‘haunting’ back.

5. Shutter Island

Director: Martin Scorsese

Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Ruffalo, Ben Kingsley, Emily Mortimer

Release Date: February 19th 2010

Summary: Easily the biggest and the most expected movie of 2010 – goes into the list of “unmissables”. Martin Scorsese gives life to Dennis Lehane’s psychic thriller with Leonardo DiCaprio and Mark Ruffalo in the lead. The two of them play U.S Marshals investigating the disappearance of a patient from Boston’s Shutter Island Ashecliffe Hospital whose activities later on turn out to be unethical to illegal to downright sinister. As they turn the heat on their trail by amassing clues, they soon begin to lose trust on each other, their memories and their sanity.

6. Alice in Wonderland

Director: Tim Burton

Cast: Mia Wasikowska, Johnny Depp, Anne Hathaway, Helena Bonham Carter

Release Date: March 5th 2010

Summary: An imaginary sequel to Lewis Caroll’s classic, Alice returns to Wonderland at 17. As she makes her way through, she realizes that the place has changed since her last visit. A change that she least expected — a sparely haunted, disordered and overrun Wonderland.

7. Green Zone

Director: Paul Greengrass

Cast: Matt Damon, Jason Isaacs, Greg Kinnear, Brendan Gleeson, Amy Ryan

Release Date: March 12th 2010

Summary: The successful duo that gave us two of the three roller coaster hits in The Bourne Series is back. Matt Damon and director Paul Greengrass team up again for Green Zone which depicts the U.S led regime in Iraq. Matt Damon is a warrant officer who stumbles upon an elaborate cover-up by his own people as he goes in search of weapons of mass destruction believed to be hoarded in the Iraqi desert.

8. Clash of the Titans

Director: Louis Leterrier

Cast: Sam Worthington, Liam Neeson, Ralph Fiennes, Gemma Arterton

Release Date: March 26th 2010

Summary: Based on the 1981 film bearing the same name, Clash of the Titans is a story about the transcendental encounter over power between men and Gods. With the Gods fighting amongst themselves, darkness and destruction looms large which could very well destroy the world. Perseus (Sam Worthington) who is halfman-halfGod strives hard to save his family from Hades, the bloodthirsty and vindictive God of the underworld.

9. Ironman 2

Director: Jon Favreau

Cast: Robert Downey Jr., Mickey Rourke, Gwyneth Paltrow, Sam Rockwell, Don Cheadle

Release Date: May 7th 2010

Summary: Having disclosed his Iron Man identity to the public, Tony Stark the billionaire inventor is reluctant to share his scientific know-hows with the military. But, forces beyond his control hatch a devious plan against him.

10. Robin Hood

Director: Ridley Scott

Cast: Mark Strong, Russell Crowe, Kate Blanchett, Kevin Durand, Matthew Macfadyen

Release Date: May 14th 2010

Summary: The story of how an archer in the service of King Richard the Lionheart became to be known as Robin Hood, the famous archer and outlaw of English Folklore. Featuring historically accurate characters such as Sir William Marshall and grounded in reality (in a similar way to Gladiator), this is the making of the legend we have come to know him as now.

11. Shrek Forever After

Director: Mike Mitchell

Cast: Cameron Diaz, Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Antonio Banderas, Julie Andrews, Justin Timberlake

Release Date: May 21st 2010

Summary: A sick and tired Shrek (Mike Myers) who seems to have lost his ‘ogre’ self, gets duped by Rumpelstiltskin who promises to restore Shrek’s ‘original’ self. This takes Shrek to an awry and perverse Far Far Away, where Rumpelstiltskin is the King and ogres are the hunted. Moreover, the most disorienting fact is that Shrek and Fiona have never met in that kingdom. So, Shrek begins to materialize his efforts by trying to restore the actual Far Far Away and regain his true love.

12. Prince of Persia: Sands of Time

Director: Mike Newell

Cast: Jake Gyllenhaal, Gemma Arterton, Ben Kingsley, Alfred Molina

Release Date: May 28th 2010

Summary: Based on the popular video game, Prince of Persia is set in medieval Persia where a bold and daring prince joins hands with an emulous princess to find a time-manipulating dagger which is the only means of stopping an angry Grand Vizier who wishes to destroy the world by unleashing a huge sandstorm.

13. Sex and the City 2

Director: Michael Patrick King

Cast: Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Cattrall, Kristin Davis, Cynthia Nixon

Release Date: May 28th 2010

Summary: It is an upcoming sequel to the 2008 movie, Sex and the City. The movie is in production stage right now and is slated for a May 2010 release. It comes with the tag-line “Carrie On” which is a sort of a pun in comparison to the “Get Carried Away” for the previous movie.

14. The A-Team

Director: Joe Carnahan

Cast: Liam Neeson, Bradley Cooper, Sharlto Copley, Quinton Jackson, Jessica Biel

Release Date: June 11th 2010

Summary: Having been framed for a crime that they never committed and now in the U.S military’s most wanted list, four Iraq War veterans look to clear their names with the U.S military. But yet, they are forced to go on a run. The movie is based on a 1980 classic action-comedy TV series that tickled the funny bone of an entire nation.

15. The Twilight Saga: Eclipse

Director: David Slade

Cast: Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner, Billy Burke, Ashley Greene

Release Date: June 30th 2010

Summary: Victoria is still on the run and is out to avenge James’ death. With the previous movie New Moon just ending in a standstill, Eclispe may just answer all the questions that were left unanswered. Meanwhile Bella’s feelings for Jacob leave her torn apart in this love triangle.

16. The Last Airbender

Director: M. Night Shyamalan

Cast: Noah Ringer, Nicola Peltz, Jackson Rathbone, Dev Patel

Release Date: July 2nd 2010

Summary: Based on a Nickelodeon TV series, The Last Airbender is about the dangerous journey of a hesitant young child who strives to bring unity in a war torn world where civilization exists as four mighty empires.

17. Inception

Director: Christopher Nolan

Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Ken Watanabe, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Marion Cotillard

Release Date: July 16th 2010

Summary: After giving us the biggest hit of 2008 in The Dark Knight, Christopher Nolan returns with the story that is said to explore the architecture of the human mind. Leonardo DiCaprio plays a higher up executive who gets himself involved in a blackmailing scandal.

18. The Expendables

Director: Sylvester Stallone

Cast: Sylvester Stallone, Jet Li, Jason Statham, Mickey Rourke, Eric Roberts

Release Date: August 13th 2010

Summary: “The Expendables” is a story that follows a team of mercenaries whose task is to infiltrate and overthrow a dictatorial regime in South America. With an impressive starcast, this movie has already set the verbal “hyperboles” rolling.

19. Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows: Part One

Director: David Yates

Cast: Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, Helena Bonham Carter

Release Date: November 19th 2010

Summary: With Dumbledore gone and darkness spreading, it is up to Harry, Ron and Hermione to find Voldemort’s remaining horcruxes and destroy his soul completely. In their quest for the horcruxes, they stumble upon the mystical three ‘Deathly Hallows’ which they will need to succeed in their endeavour.

20. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

Director: Michael Apted

Cast: Georgie Henley, Skandar Keynes, Ben Barnes, Will Poulter, Gary Sweet

Release Date: December 10th 2010

Summary: Aboard The Dawn Treader, a wondrous Narnian ship captained by King Caspian; Edmund and Lucy along their irksome cousin Eustace Scrubb find themselves headed for the very edges of the world in a journey encountering dragons, slave traders and merefolk.

10 – Where the Wild Things Are

Director: Spike Jonze

Cast: Paul Dano, Forest Whitaker, Mark Ruffalo, Catherine Keener

Points: Moving sleekly from being splendorous to farcical, it creates a profoundly simple cohesion between the  two worlds of fantasy and reality. But having been adapted from a book that was enthralling, it needed to be better.

9 – A Serious Man

Director: Joel Coen & Ethan Coen

Cast: Michael Stuhlbarg, Fred Melamed, Richard Kind, Aaron Wolf

Points: The Coen brothers hit the deck again with their fleckless film-making and Roger Deakins’ editing gave way to fabulous cinematography.  But this movie missed in shades due to a lack of modicum of empathy and humanity.

8 – Up in the Air

Director: Jason Reitman

Cast: George Clooney, Vera Farmiga, Anna Kendrick

Points: This movie proved to be a capper for Clooney who has had a great year. Up in the Air is a movie of immense etiquette and unobtrusive aspirations. For a dry comedy flick, it had an essence of unfortunate exigency in it. It was worth a watch, but I doubt if it deserved the price of a ticket.

7 - (500) Days of Summer

Director: Marc Webb

Cast: Zooey Deschanel, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Clark Gregg, Minka Kelly

Points: (500) Days of Summer struck a chord with a male skewed audience by redefining the romantic comedy genre. Substantial performances by the lead characters with entertaining musings.

6 – District 9

Director: Neill Blomkamp

Cast: Sharlto Copley, Jason Cope, David James, Mandla Gaduka

Points: District 9 is an inhumane and rapacious tale. With a powerful and captivating script, it is a figment of modern day fiction with a contemporary theme. District 9 came out with all guns blazing – tyranny, avarice, hegemony and a conflict of cultures at odds.

5 – Fantastic Mr. Fox

Director: WesAnderson

Cast: George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Jason Schwartzman, Bill Murray

Points: Absolutely ‘Fantastic’. This puppet fantasy movie is filled with hilarious and delightful moments that will make your hearts reach out to heaven. The best animation movie this year after Up.

4 – The Hangover

Director: Todd Phillips

Cast: Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, Zach Galifianakis, Justin Bartha

Points: It is totally insipid, stupid, unweaned and definitely that sort of movie which would lead to your mother spanking your ass for watching it. But that is exactly what worked for the movie. Defines the word ‘hilarious’.

3 – The Hurt Locker

Director: Kathryn Bigelow

Cast: Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie, Bryan Geraghty, Evangeline Lilly

Points: The Hurt Locker is full of cutting-edge realistic action and visceral human drama thats all in all makes it a gripping film. A true to reality depiction of modern day warfare that silently questions the purpose of war.

2 – Up

Director: Peter Docter

Cast: Ed Asner, Jordan Nagai, Christopher Plummer, John Ratzenberger

Points: How does Pixar continue to do it? Previously it was Wall-E, now it is Up. Coming from a collaboration of Disney and Pixar, Up has raised the standards of film-making (both animated and ordinary) in Hollywood. I never thought I would relate myself to this movie because it was about an old man who ties balloons to his house. But, within less than five minutes into the movie, something in me told me, ” NO, I don’t want this movie to end.”

1- Inglourious Basterds

Director: Quentin Tarantino

Cast: Brad Pitt, Christoph Waltz, Michael Fassbender, Eli Roth

Points: Quentin Tarantino seems to be hanging on to a lost world of movie-making and setting his own standards which he matches every time he comes up with a  wonderfully complex story such as this. Tarantino gives life to this intriguing and absorbing World War II drama by adding a touch of fantasy and signature Tarantino-style visualization.

Genre: Action, Adventure, Sci-fi, Thriller

Cast: Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldaña, Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang, Giovanni Ribisi, Michelle Rodriguez

Director: James Cameron

Music: James Horner

Reasons to watch: Amazing VFX and photorealistic 3D imagery.

Reasons not to watch: Weak storyline that bores you as it progresses.

Storyline: It is 2154 and the focus is on Pandora – a planet few light years from the Earth, inhabited by an abnormally tall, cat eyed, blue-skinned humanoid race called the Na’vi. Humans are at work on this planet with three different motives. A group of scientists is led by Dr. Grace Augustine (Sigourney Weaver), the brains behind ‘Avatars’ – bodies identical to the Na’vi clan, that are created by the inter-linking of human and Na’vi DNA but remote-controlled by scientists, with a sole purpose of maintaining diplomatic relations with the locals. Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) is a paraplegic Marine who volunteers for the Pandora program by taking his deceased twin brother’s place.

A major mining conglomerate and the military dudes sum up the remaining human task-force on Pandora. Giovanni Ribisi (makes a fool of himself in the movie) stars as Parker Selfridge whose obsessed agenda is Unobtanium – a valuable mineral found on Pandora, especially at one of the most holy places of the Na’vi. The plan is to let the avatars live among the Na’vi, quell them up, offer them various improvements (I wonder why they would need ‘improvements’ with flying giants on their side) and take the Unobtanium from right under their noses (big ones) . Colonel Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang) heads a league of ex-military dudes who have been hired to provide security; but these guys are impatient brats itching to provoke the Na’vi into war. Stephen Lang’s overacting gives you the feeling he is constantly on steroids.

Having lost his way during a training program and rest of the team abandoning him, Sully is rescued by Neytiri (Zoe Saldaña), a young Na’vi lady, with whom he later falls in love (James Cameron loses the plot here). Thereafter, Sully lives with the Na’vi and soon gains enough trust and information that would make him a valuable asset to the Pandora program. Torn between the two worlds, Sully finds himself in a climacteric fight for his own survival and that of the natives.

Climax Handling: A logical ending to a not so extraordinary story. 3D imaging at it’s best.

Points: Avatar, the ’so called’ future of cinema is finally out. James Cameron’s confounding epic is a mix of mind-boggling visuals and eye rolling silly stuff. For all the pre-release banter about how this movie was going to change the future of movie-making, it disappoints. So is it worth a watch? Absolutely yes! But only for the technical bustle. But as a consummate movie? There lies the problem.

Rating: 8.0/10

Comments: Avatar scores in the depiction of it’s CGI world, but fails like 2012 with a messed up screenplay filled with clichés and hackneyed expressions.

]]> http://www.themovieanalyst.com/2009/12/17/avatar-english-movie-review-2009/feed/ 7 http://www.themovieanalyst.com/2009/12/11/2012/ http://www.themovieanalyst.com/2009/12/11/2012/#comments Fri, 11 Dec 2009 07:32:44 +0000 Suraj http://www.themovieanalyst.com/?p=184 Language: English

Genre: Action, Adventure, Drama, Sci-fi, Thriller

Cast: John Cusack, Amanda Peet, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Thandie Newton, Danny Glover

Director: Roland Emmerich

Music: Harald Kloser

Reasons to watch: Mind-blowing visuals and special effects.

Reasons not to watch: Lengthy run-time and horrible screenplay.

Storyline: The year is 2012 and the future of human civilization looks bleak. Looks like the Mayans were right after all. US President Thomas Wilson (Danny Glover) is warned by Dr. Adrian Helmsley (Chiwetel Ejiofor), that some drastic measures need to be taken to prevent the extinction of the human race. Why? Dr. Adrian and a group of geophysical scientists from all over the world, while scrutinizing the effect of radiations from the solar storms on the earth, figure out that the earth’s crust is breaking apart.

Jackson Curtis (John Cusack), a writer and a divorced dad of two (but drives his car like he just got out of the racing derby), stumbles upon the same information when he meets Charlie Frost (Woody Harrelson) while camping with his kids at the Yellowstone National Park. With the world in the brink of an impending cataclysm, the world leaders come up with usual crap ideas to save humanity and Curtis struggles to find a way to save his family. Meanwhile, Roland Emmerich has his usual share of fun by immersing us in the vulgar mayhem as he reduces the famous monuments around the world to crumbling debris.

Climax Handling: Waterlogged finale feels drippy.

Points: Roland Emmerich has always had an obsession to rely heavily on special effects and out of the world visuals in an attempt to make the best movie ever (at which he has failed miserably). Having spent a whopping $200 million, Roland Emmerich and his co-writer Harald Kloser have screwed up the movie’s screenplay with utmost care. Kudos to the special effects team for giving the viewers the best that technology has to offer.

Jackson Curtis: When they tell you not to panic… that’s when you run!

Rating: 6.5/10

Comments: Train wreck…. Plane wreck…. Car wreck…. Yawn!

Genre: Fantasy, Sci-fi, Action, Adventure

Cast: Kurt Russel, James Spader, Jaye Davidson, Viveca Lindfors, Alexis Cruz

Direction: Roland Emmerich

Music: David Arnold composes a great sci-fi soundtrack – rich and ominous

Reasons to watch: Vintage sci-fi, Jaye Davidson as Ra..! Excellent graphics considering a pre – CGI era movie.

Reasons not to: Poor characterization, the movie suffers from the poor second-half syndrome

Story: Something was unearthed in Egpyt, something much more than just an artifact – a gate to another dimension – The Stargate. But how does it work? Enter Daniel Jackson – a nerdy genius – who reveals the truth of the Stargate and discovers how to use it. Now the Stargate must be utilized – but who’ll dare to discover the hidden truths of another world? Enter Colonel Jack O’Neil and his team of soldiers, all set to take a journey across time and space.

But what is a Sci-fi movie without a villain? Enter Ra – the demi-god, the leader of an alien race, who has enslaved humans and uses their bodies to rejuvenate his youth. And thus begins the conflict between Slaves and Masters, Good and Evil and the fate of a civilization, and Earth itself hangs in balance as Ra plans to send a nuclear bomb via the Stargate.

Jackson and O’Neil must fight Ra and his army of warriors, and find the symbol, the symbol to control the Stargate.

Climax Handling: Confusing and predictable.

Points: A movie which was a forerunner to two popular TV series, Stargate begins on a promising note but disappoints later. A movie that could have been.

Rating: 6.5/10

Comment: Worth a lazy look, maybe more than that for a science fiction enthusiast.

Language:

Genre: Action/Drama/Crime/Thriller

Cast: Bruce Lee, Shih Kien, John Saxon, Jim Kelly

Direction: Robert Clouse

Reasons to watch: BRUCE LEE.! (His last completed movie, he died during post-production), mind boggling action sequences – the best ever

Reasons not to: Don’t miss it for anything, even if you hate martial art movies.!

Story: Lee (Bruce Lee) a master of the physical and spiritual disciplines of the martial arts and member of a Shaolin Temple is being visited by Braithwaite (Geoffrey Weeks), a British law officer. Braithwaite wants Lee to participate in to a tri-annual martial arts tournament held on an island owned by Han (Kien Shih), a reclusive billionaire who was once a member of the Temple but has turned traitor. He wants Lee to investigate Han’s island and his tournament as the British intelligence suspect him to be the mastermind of an Opium trade ring and a prostitution racket. When Lee discovers that Han and his men are responsible for his sister’s death, he agrees to become Han’s nemesis.

Also attending the tournament are two American martial arts experts, John Roper (John Saxon) and Kelly Williams (Jim Kelly), who served together in Vietnam and took differing paths toward martial arts upon their discharge – Roper is on the run from Mafia gambling debt collectors, while Williams is on the run after killing two racist cops.

Together they face Han and his army, and some kick-ass action follows. Will they survive.? Well, Enter the Dragon to know.

Climax Handling: A nerve-wracking action sequence, rated among one of the best in the history of Hollywood

Points: Bruce Lee – the Clint Eastwood of the East, or the Charlton Heston, they call him many things – you’ll know why did they call him a legend when you see this movie, The Hall of Mirrors, The 70’s Hong Kong at its realistic best, brief cameos by a lot of people – including Jackie Chan, “it’s like a finger pointing away to the moon”, adrenaline pumping action – without any wires, mind you… There are so many things to admire in this masterpiece

Rating: 9.5/10

Comment: The definitive Martial Arts movie – Don’t miss it for anything!

Genre: Drama/Family/Adventure/Wildlife

Cast: Virginia McKenna, Bill Travers

Direction: James Hill

Music: John Barry, Frederic Talgorn & The Royal Scottish National Orchestra. This movie won 2 Oscars in 1967 for its music, Best Original Score and Best Original Song, for John Barry.

Reasons to watch: Pure family movie, beautiful landscapes and cute lion cubs, a heartwarming story line

Reasons not to: The direction needs a bit to be desired for.

Story: George Adamson (Bill Travers) and Joy Adamson (Virginia McKenna) live in the wilderness in Kenya. One day George kills a lion and his mate only to discover that they were protecting their three cubs. He takes them home and he and his wife decide to raise the orphaned cubs. They give two of them away to zoos, but can’t part with Elsa, a lioness they adore with their heart. But Elsa grows too big for them they realize they can’t keep her and neither do they want to put her in a zoo. There is only one way out. Elsa must return to the wild. But can she survive there? Can they help Elsa return to the wild, or will they have to send her to the zoo? Watch the movie to find out.

Climax Handling: The movie ends on a heart-wrenching and emotional note.

Points: Realistic portrayal of the life in the wild, cute shots of animals, a brilliant title track and a clean and exceedingly simple story with a message for all.

Rating: 8/10

Comment: A must for Animal lovers and non-lovers alike. A perfect movie to watch for the entire family!

Follwed by: Living Free and Forever Free

]]> http://www.themovieanalyst.com/2008/06/18/born-free/feed/ 0 http://www.themovieanalyst.com/2008/06/13/ice-age/ http://www.themovieanalyst.com/2008/06/13/ice-age/#comments Thu, 12 Jun 2008 18:30:32 +0000 Shantanu http://www.themovieanalyst.com/?p=84 Language: English

Genre: Animation/Adventure/Comedy

Cast: Ray Romano, John Leguizamo, Denis Leary, Chris Wedge

Direction: Chris Wedge and Carlos Saldanha

Music: David Newman

Reasons to watch: Great CGI, believable characters, excellent voiceovers and one-liners, funny incidents with surprising character development

Reasons not to: No love stories or romantic angles involved(at least in this part)

Storyline: With the threat of the Ice Age looming over them, animals are immigrating to the south of the world which is warmer. Sid is a stupid Sloth that is left behind by his own family. Walking in his way, he meets Manfred, a grumpy mammoth who believes he is the last mammoth left and doesn’t care about the extinction and is going north. Sid, follows Manfred when he saves his life from Rhinos and in the middle of their journey, they find a human mother with her baby. The mother eventually dies but Sid decides to take care of the baby and return the baby for the humans. Manfred has to give into Sid’s plan and they take the help of Diego, a saber-tooth tiger, who claims to know the location of the human camp. Diego however is from a clan of saber-tooths who hate humans and want to kill the baby.

Adding to all this mayhem is an acorn-loving saber-toothed squirrel named Scrat, who pops on the screen time and again.

What happens when Manfred saves Diego’s life? Will they be able to save the baby from the claws of the saber-tooths? Will Scrat finally secure his beloved acorn? Watch the movie to know.

Climax Handling: There is no climax in the strict sense of the term, the movie ends on the similar notes as it begins.

Points: A very simple tale which touches the heart at times, few lessons to learn alongside some breathtaking animation and truly entertaining conversations

Rating: 9/10

Comment: The perfect family movie. Watch it for sure.

Followed by: Ice Age 2 and Ice Age 3

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