Genre: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller

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

Director: Martin Scorsese

Reasons to watch: One of the best you can ever get.

Reasons not to watch: Are you out of your freaking mind? WATCH IT!

Storyline: It is 1954 and U.S. Marshals Teddy Daniels (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Chuck Aule (Mark Ruffalo) make their way to Ashcliffe Hospital housing the criminally insane in Shutter Island (one can say it is an equivalent to Alcatraz). As Daniels and his new partner try to solve the case of the disappearance of a particularly violent patient Rachel Solando, Daniels’ suspicion moves to a particular lighthouse and Dr. Cawley (Ben Kingsley), the chief physician at the penitentiary. As the Marshals dig their way into the case, they realize that there is some secret that connects all the patients and orderlies in the hospital.

Daniels who is already suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder due to the death of his wife (Michelle Williams), has trouble keeping his cool and gets frustrated with insufficient answers from the hospital staff. With constant hallucinations about his time at Dachau in World War II that get intensified by a hurricane walloping the island, Daniels and Aule figure out that they immediately need to get out of the island but soon realize that making an exit is impossible. Shutter Island is a grotesque creation of mystery, that gives us an access into Scorsese’s expansive proficiency of film-making. Perfectly schemed and stirringly orchestrated,  Shutter Island is an ode to dementia by director Martin Scorsese.

Climax Handling: It just can’t get better because it plays with your mind. It takes a while before you can actually comprehend what is going on. Watching the movie for the second time will make the climax seem obvious right from the first scene onwards.

Points:

Dr. John Cawley: We don’t know how she got out of her room. It’s as if she evaporated, straight through the walls.

Rating: 8.5/10

Comments: Well, if you thought Shutter Island was going to be one hysterical train-wreck like most suspense thrillers with a stereotypical climax; think again! This is Scorsese we’re talking about. Don’t miss it!

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Genre: Comedy, Romance

Cast: Jessica Alba, Ashton Kutcher, Bradley Cooper, Kathy Bates, Jessica Biel, Eric Dane, Patrick Dempsey, Jennifer Garner, Topher Grace, Taylor Lautner, Anne Hathaway, Jamie Foxx, Hector Elizondo, Shirley MacLaine, Emma Roberts

Director: Garry Marshall

Music: John Debney

Reasons to watch: The star-cast.

Reasons not to watch: Absolutely no realism. Stone-age humor.

Storyline: It’s Valentine’s Day and love is in the air. The locals in Los Angeles are bracing themselves for all the chances on offer and the romantic cherry pies that is definitive of V-Day. Florist Reed Bennett (Ashton Kutcher) has proposed to girlfriend Morley Clarkson (Jessica Alba) who is uncertain and reluctant to take the next step forward; Julia Fitzpatrick (Jennifer Garner), a school teacher is all set to floor her apparently on-a-business-trip doc boyfriend (Patrick Dempsey); football star Sean Jackson (Eric Dane) is healing from the wounds of a bad breakup and is considering to ‘move on’; a long flight journey brings together Kate Hazeltine (Julia Roberts) and Holden (Bradley Cooper); having entered a new relationship with Jake (Topher Grace), phone sex employee Liz (Anne Hathaway) battles to sustain her ‘knack’ at daily gigs; sports correspondent Kelvin Moore (Jamie Foxx) hooks up with public relations consultant Kara Monahan (Jessica Biel) by hearing her out on a day she expresses deep sorrow and sings the blues; Grace (Emma Roberts) has a very important American Pie-like agenda of flummoxing her virginity before getting out of college for good; and finally (wait let me take a breather)…  yes, and finally after 50 years of happy married life, infidelity surfaces in the lives of Edgar (Hector Elizondo) and Estelle (Shirley MacLaine).

Climax Handling: You watch this movie and it will haunt you forever making you feel guilty for having spoiled a wonderful day because after 122 excruciatingly painful minutes, the movie is fittingly endless.

Points:

Holden: Stalin once said, “No retreat, no surrender.”
Kate: I think that was from a Jean-Claude Van Damme movie.

The movie is totally anachronistic like Holden’s statement and as ignorant as Kate’s response.

Rating: 4/10

Comments: Don’t waste your V-Day watching this mass celebrity gimmick. Save your money… Save your time…. And save your love!

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Genre: Drama, Mystery, Thriller

Cast: Russell Crowe, Ben Affleck, Rachel McAdams, Helen Mirren

Director: Kevin Macdonald

Music: Alex Heffes

Reasons to watch: The element of surprise that hits you hard when you think you’ve got it all figured out.

Reasons not to watch: Unless you loathe Russell Crowe, you have every reason to watch it.

Storyline: Based on the similarly titled BBC mini-series, State of Play is a fictional thriller that instantly strikes a chord with the current times. Russell Crowe stars as Cal McCaffrey, a no-nonsense journalist employed at the Washington Globe. He puts himself on the line as he begins to investigate the death of Sonia Baker, the research assistant and love interest of his congressman friend Stephen Collins (Ben Affleck). Stephen’s political career takes a slump as the young woman’s death publicizes their affair. In order to help Stephen regain his political status, protect Stephen’s wife and to get a story up and running for the Washington Globe, Cal teams up with young inquisitive blogger Della Frye (Rachel McAdams) to solve the murder which he later on finds out is only a small piece in a conspiracy of much larger magnitude. Both timely and timeless, State of Play is a thriller that questions the existence and genuineness of newspapers and blogs that work in a vicious 24-hour cycle. It also addresses the functioning of private military organizations for whom war means an opportunity to make money.

Climax Handling: A shade implausible with minor errors that can very well be forgiven as the rest of the movie packs a punch.

Points: Money and power – a lethal combination.

Rating:8.5/10

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Genre: Horror, Thriller

Cast: Renée Zellweger, Bradley Cooper, Jodelle Ferland, Ian McShane

Director: Christian Alvart

Music: Michl Britsch

Reasons to watch: You absolutely have nothing else to do.

Reasons not to watch: You wouldn’t want to verbally abuse yourself would you? Well that is just what you might end up doing for watching this movie.

Storyline: The Oscar-winning actress Renée Zellweger plays Emily Jenkins, a social worker whose attempts to save a young girl from abuse turns out to be a dreadful misconception.

Emily Jenkins comes across a case of child abuse by the Sullivans and decides to pay them a visit. After having made some sort of conversation with the psycho household, Emily is convinced that there is something worrisome about this case but she does not have enough evidence to prove her point. The same night she takes Detective Mike Barron (Ian McShane) into confidence and goes to check on the Sullivans’. There she finds Margaret and Edward Sullivan trying to cook their daughter in an oven. She takes parental custody of Lillith and the Sullivans are sent to a rehab center for the mentally challenged.

Soon enough, Emily is surrounded by tragic deaths of her loved ones which include Detective Mike Barron and Douglas J. Ames (Bradley Cooper). With Lillith’s behaviour overtly suspicious, Emily visits the deserted Sullivan household only to realize that the psychotic Sullivans were actually trying to do everyone a favor by cooking her for dinner!

Climax Handling: What climax??

Points: Bradley Cooper is wasted in the movie. The whole movie is a royal waste of time. Watch The Orphan instead.

Rating: 4/10

Comments: The tag line says it all – Some cases should never be opened. Definitely don’t open this one.

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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, Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller

Cast: Robert Downey Jr., Jude Law, Rachel McAdams, Mark Strong, Eddie Marsan

Director: Guy Ritchie

Music: Hans Zimmer

Reasons to watch: Racy entertainer that keeps your mind ticking.

Reasons not to watch: No particular reason as to why you shouldn’t watch this movie.

Storyline: The mystery involves a heinous and aristocratic Blackwood (Mark Strong) who schemes to take over the world. Well you might be wondering what sort of mystery exists in this plot — that is what puzzles me too. The plot is banausic and the script is desolate. But what works for  the movie is the set piece shifting of one fight to another — Especially the fight sequence featuring Downey in slow-mo is absolutely out of the world. The Tower Bridge set-up and the depiction of London of the yesteryears is commendable.

Robert Downey Jr. stars as the protagonist with Jude Law playing Dr. Watson, his faithful sidekick. This Sherlock Holmes is neither the ones you have already seen before in the early 70s nor is he a depiction of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s imagination. So far, about 75 actors have played this role, but none of this kind. Guy Ritchie gives a new dimension to the tight-lipped sleuth and Downey has done immensely well.  He’s demented, delineated, rustic and has a hoarse voice — something about this characterization reminded me about the dirty and decrepit sailors in Pirates of the Caribbean. Downey essays his role with a skittish humor and a devilish charm. Jude Law’s performance conforms to the customary portrayal of Dr. Watson.

The ‘bromance’ between Watson and Holmes is the best part of the film. Though Ritchie provides both these men with women interests, they are just diversions to prevent a development of homo-eroticism among viewers. The essence of the movie is the Holmes-Watson chemistry escalated by their boisterous and wacky arguments.

Climax Handling: The movie ends with a definite hint of a sequel which I think is very much necessary. This movie demands a sequel; hopefully a smarter one.

Points: A Sherlock Holmes movie is thoroughly enjoyable when  it centers around a mystery that truly leaves you perplexed, the suspense and the way Holmes solves it with his overwhelming dogmatic reasoning. This version of Sherlock Holmes does not have a plot that inclines itself to the strongest form of mystery but the movie is certainly entertaining for three reasons –

A. The stunt sequences.

B.  The star-cast that works wonders for the script.

C. Hans Zimmer’s music is as always effective.

Rating: 8/10

Comments: Don’t watch this movie expecting another Snatch from Guy Ritchie. This one is less classy, but yet the approach works.

Language: English

Genre: Comedy, Satire

Cast: Rowan Atkinson, John Malkovich, Natalie Imbruglia, Tasha de Vasconcelos, Ben Miller

Director: Peter Howitt

Music: John Powell

Reasons to watch: Rowan Atkinson aka Mr. Bean shines in this movie.

Reasons not to watch: Not for those who hate Rowan’s satirical facial expressions.

Storyline: Fear looms large in the highly secure Tower of London as a plan is hatched to steal the crown jewels of the royal family. The British Government decides to assign the case to secret agent Johnny English (Rowan Atkinson), in order to prevent the theft. NO! This does not make English the best secret agent ever; it’s just that he is the only secret agent who is alive at the moment the Government needed one. Though English’s intentions are genuinely for the best and he dreams of being a smooth, stylish operative, the pathetic Brit strikes catastrophe everywhere he goes. As he tries to save the royal empire from the holds of French prison mogul Pascal Sauvage (John Malkovich), the mastermind behind the evil plan, English makes you laugh your hearts out as he goes about misusing Bond type gizmos, recklessly leaking his plans to his enemies, taking the most antagonistic route into Sauvage’s castle, and sky-diving into a hospital instead of Sauvage’s skyscraper — but, he somehow gets away with all his foolhardiness. Assisted by his loyal sidekick Bough (Ben Miller) and Special Agent Lorna Campbell (Natalie Imbruglia), English with his inane brashness literally fractures your funny bone throughout the movie.

Climax Handling: Really funny!!!! Though the rest of the movie is excruciatingly predictable, the climax is a complete surprise.

Points: He knows no Fear. He knows no Danger. He knows Nothing!

Rating: 7/10

Comments: A laugh riot spoof movie. Go crazy with Her Majesty’s most trusted Secret Agent — Johnny English.

Genre: Drama, Sci-Fi, Mystery, Thriller

Cast: Cameron Diaz, James Marsden, Frank Langella

Director: Richard Kelly

Music: Win Butler, Regine Chassagne, and Owen Pallett of Canadian band Arcade Fire.

Reasons to watch: Only for Sci-fi maniacs and for people who like the show Deal Or No Deal!

Reasons not to watch: Offers nothing original.

Storyline: Based on a short story ‘Button, Button’ by Richard Matheson, The Box revives all the sci-fi cliches that were left untouched by directors for many years.

Norma Lewis (Cameron Diaz) and Arthur Lewis (James Marsden) with their son Walter Lewis, make a normal suburban family. Until one morning, the door bell rings and Norma finds a box at the doorstep. The same evening Arlington Steward (Frank Langella), the person who delivered the box comes knocking on the Lewis’ residence with an offer. The scene is depicted like an eerie version of Deal or No Deal . They press the button, they get $1 million, but someone, somewhere in the world will DIE… someone whom they don’t know. With 24 hours to make a decision, after which the box will be collected and the offer would be made to someone else, Norma and Arthur find themselves in a moral dilemma that leaves them to face the true nature of humanity characterized by desire, greed and selfishness.

Climax Handling: Could have been better. The message is clear — Life is a vicious circle.

Points: The Box runs on the lines of The Day the Earth Stood Still. The latter was a high budget disappointment and the former turns out to be a low budget disaster!

Rating: 6/10

Comments: ‘No Deal’ Mr. Richard Kelly!

Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller

Cast: Joaquin Phoenix, Eva Mendes, Mark Wahlberg, Robert Duvall, Burton Perez, Alex Veadov

Director: James Gray

Reasons to watch: Have some time to kill? Then watch it.

Reasons not to watch: There are better movies of the same genre out there.

Storyline: Bobby Green (Joaquin Phoenix) is the outcast in his family and as the stylish and famous manager of El Caribe, the celebrated Russian-owned night club in Brooklyn, he has burrowed his connection with his family of distinguished NYPD cops. For Bobby, life is always a party in a miasma of cigarette smoke and dizziness of disco lights. All night long he is busy socializing with clients at the club and dancing with his ravishing and dazzling girlfriend, Amada (Eva Mendes). With New York’s drug trade at it’s peak and escalating by the minute, the cops are on a crackdown on the drug mafia lead by Russian gangster, Vadim (Alex Veadov) who is operating out of the El Caribe. Bobby tries to keep a friendly and safe distance from Vadim after being warned by his brother, Joseph (Mark Wahlberg), a promising NYPD officer, and his father Burt (Robert Duvall), the renowned deputy chief of police. With Vadim and Joseph being mutual targets, things begin to get dirty and out of control. Caught in between the two sides of the law, Bobby now needs to make a choice. Will the two brothers beyond their differences, come together to put an end to this mayhem?

Climax Handling: James Gray tries to pull off a Scorsese, but falls short.

Points: Though it has some continuity errors, the car chase in the rain has a gripping effect on the viewers. Robert Duvall and Mark Wahlberg are wasted in the movie.

Rating: 7/10

Comments: Routine and overlong cop drama that’s worth a watch.

Genre: Drama, Sports

Cast: Sandra Bullock, Tim McGraw, Quinton Aaron, Jae Head, Lily Collins

Director: John Lee Hancock

Reasons to watch: A truly inspiring movie.

Reasons not to watch: Running time of 2 hours 8 minutes is a little too long and Sandra Bullock puts on a forced accent.

Storyline: The movie is based on Michael Lewis’ remarkable true story as told in his autobiography, “The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game”. Since I haven’t read this book, I assume that John Lee Hancock has taken some artistic liberties to increase the emotional quotient in the movie.

The Blind Side is a football drama; and as there should be in any sports movie, there is always an underdog. After having had a poor and oppressed childhood, Michael Oher a homeless African – American over-sized teenager, gets adopted by the Touhys, a well-to-do American white family. Living in a new and unfamiliar environment, Michael is accosted by an entirely different set of challenges to overcome and meanwhile, the Touhys also make incisive self-revelations as a result of Michael’s presence in their household.

Soon, Leigh Anne Touhy (Sandra Bullock) begins to learn about the tyrannies the teen has gone through in his life and the more Leigh Anne soaks up about Michael’s agitated past the more striving she is to help the boy achieve success in life. With valuable help from his coaches and adopted family, Michael Oher toils hard and eventually emerges as an All-American aggressive left-tackle and a football sensation.

Climax Handling: A depiction of kindness that a blind man can see and a deaf man can hear.

Points:

Leigh Anne (Sandra Bullock) reading to Michael (Quinton Aaron) and SJ (Jae Head) — “And then she thrust his face deep into her heaving bosom as his hands reached down into his……Whoops! Wrong book! Sorry, kids.”

Rating: 8.5/10

Comments: If inspiration is what you need in life, then this is one of those movie to watch.