Brave (English) Movie Review

HOLLYWOOD NEW: THE BRAVE MOVIE POSTER

Story: Princess Merida does everything that a princess ought not to do -- she excels in archery, speaks her heart out loud and clear, and moves around shabbily with hair unkempt. Of course, there is a price she has to pay for all that she does....

Teri Meri Kahaani (Hindi) Movie Review

TERI MERI Kahaani Movie Review

Story: Three love stories set in three different eras; all of which go through the inevitable love-cycle of hook-up, heartbreak, separation and reunion.

MEN IN BLACK III 3D Movie Review (ENGLISH)

MEN IN BLACK 3 in 3D

Story: Agent J has to stop the alien criminal from assassinating his partner, Agent K... in time. But how?

Movie Review: Let's rewind history. Shall we! It's been a decade since the Men in Black (MIB) put on their suits for the last time ever: first in 1997 and then in 2002.  So it won't really be a bad idea to brush up a little on why we liked (and missed) the secret society of protectors. Well, the MIB gave us good comedy, great special effects, inspiring performances, and ample action. Welcome to Circa 2012 and nothing much seems to have changed.

Critic's Rating: 

Direction: Barry Sonnenfeld

Cast: Will Smith, Tommy Lee Jones, Josh Brolin, Emma Thompson, Jemaine Clement

Genre: Sci-fci

Duration: 1 hour 43 minutes

Avg Readers Rating: 

WATCH THE MOVIE TRAILER IN HD

There's Agent J (Will Smith) who still gives us rib-tickling moments with his one liners. In his own words: 'Men for me are 'K'; women for me are 'O'. I refer to couples as 'OK'!' There's the grumpy, agent-of-hardly-any-words, K (Tommy Lee Jones), and tales of his heroic deeds and achievements that have been saving planet Earth. And above all, there are aliens, once again seen as our next-door friendly refugees who are still using New York as their hideout from mean intergalactic creatures. Of course, now we have Boris the animal ( Jemaine Clement), who has just escaped from the Lunar prison and is on the lookout for Agent K for settling scores of the last forty years. Agent J, on the other hand, is on a spree to change the course of his buddy and partner's life... and that of mankind. All this, simply to save the future while he travels back in time. 

Once the time travel begins (in the movie), it is simply a trip down memory lane. You are actually transported to the USA of the 1960s... in time to witness the launch of Apollo 11 and man's maiden journey to the moon. Don't miss out the setting, the headline makers and the style statement of the Big Brother then. And just incase you thought the Smith-Jones pairing is what kept the MIB series alive, here is more. No doubt, the two have put up a great show in all MIB movies, but taking the partnership forward this time is the Will Smith (Agent J) - Josh Brolin (Agent K, the younger one) bonding. In fact, it's hard to believe that Agent K of the 1960s is not really Agent K of 2012. So convincing is Brolin as the young Tommy Lee Jones. As for Will Smith, he fits the bill (the MIB suit in every sense of the word) as always. 

Now, for the special effects. The monster show where Smith fights it out with a huge fish that attacks diners is surely worth every penny. The moment when Smith jumps off the Empire State Building to travel back to the past is worth every cutting-edge moment. Add to that some cool gadgets -- the state-of-the-art MIB workplace and the wheel Hoover-bike, for instance -- and you are left high and dry. 

Sadly, it's the 3D that does not really spruce up the drama, but once you know you are in for some real MIB-isms (a hi-tech, buddy sci-fi comedy that features everything weird, creepy, funny and wonderful in and around the universe), you don't really care.


Courtesy: The Times Of India

Rowdy Rathore Movie Review (Hindi)

ROWDY RATHORE MOVIE REVIEW

Story: Low-life thief Shiva and top-cop Vikram Rathore are identical. Vikram's killed by foes but his daughter thinks Shiva's her dad - can this Rowdy win respect?

Critic's Rating: 

Cast: Akshay Kumar, Sonakshi Sinha, Nasser, Yashpal Sharma

Direction: Prabhudheva

Genre: Action

Duration: 2 hours 15 minutes

Avg Readers Rating: 

Movie Review: In case I get a spelling wrong, that's because my ears are still ringing with all the seetis and taalis at Rowdy Rathore. The film's an unabashed, gunpowder-hot, sambar-spiced star-vehicle which runs along energetically most of the time because its star - Akshay Kumar, essaying a double role as Rathore and Shiva - is worth it, something that's emphasized often. At one point, a girl asks Shiva, pursuing pretty Paaro (Sinha) from Patna, 'Na tum mein Hrithik ke looks hain, na Shah Rukh ka charm, na Aamir ki cuteness, na Salman ki body - what's so cool about you?' Akshay drawls back, "Lagta hai Khiladi ko bhool gayi aap." Cue for crowd - erupt in rapture.

ROWDY RATHORE OFFICIAL TRAILER (HD)

Multiply that moment by 100 and you have Rowdy Rathore, a peppery pot-boiler brimming over with action, slapstick comedy and romance, dynamite lines and Akshay Kumar - lots of Akshay Kumar, channeling vintage heroes Dharmendra, Vinod Khanna, Amitabh Bachchan, adding a dollop of Jeetendra, topping with his trademark flair as he snarls, tongue deeply in-cheek, "Don't angry me!"

A lull in its second half aside, Rowdy's mostly quick-stepping, moving from Mumbai's malls to medieval Bihar where Baapji (Nasser) and his hamming henchmen terrorise Devgarh's townsfolk through pillage, beatings and rape. Till cop Vikram Rathore (Kumar) arrives on the Shramjeevi Express, assaulting local yokels with handy gannas, infusing new meaning to 'sugar-cane'. With terrific overhead shots capturing his exploits, the fearless Rathore even bumps off Baapji's vicious beta Munna, so Baapji won't rest till Vikram is killed.

SEXY SINHA: SONAKSHI SINHA

Despite an injury to his brain (which the doctor says causes 'hammo-rage'), Vikram and his little daughter Chinki reach Mumbai. Here, their paths cross with Shiva who adopts Chinki when Vikram's felled. And goes to Devgarh where he tells Baapji, 'A village can have only one Rowdy.' It's time Baapji - or 'lemon-chus', as Rowdy addresses him - shoved off.

This involves toe-curling violence though. A guy gets stabbed in the mouth, a head's crushed on a rock, swords slash through navels. Against the gore, Shiva's dancing with Paaro provides breezy relief but the music itself is unmemorable. In a Prabhudheva picture, expectedly the dances are eye-catching, some moves like sweet caresses, some sexy little bites. Sonakshi glows as Paaro, a spunky Indian beauty showing flashes of her star-father's confidence when she snarls at the villains, 'O saand ke bhes mein kukur." This Patna girl's stepped out in style with Rowdy. But the same can't be said for those playing Devgarh's dread-struck. Apart from Yashpal Sharma (sincere as a junior cop), the rest are unconvincing, as is the villainous set-up itself, located somewhere oddly between feudal Bihar, accented Andhra and Sholay's bandit lair.

Indeed, Rowdy Rathore pays homage to iconic filmi characters - identical heroes, golden-hearted chors, brave Men in Brown beating evil people to pulp. However, it pays most homage to its own star, Akshay Kumar, who pulls off Shiva with style but Vikram less so, possibly because all that violence overwhelms acting itself. Not that the crowd seemed to mind. As Shiva exhorts a woman raped by Baapji's son to beat him up, the girl next to me cried, "Why doesn't she?" Her neighbour replied, "She will." And she did - much to the crowd's Rowdy delight.

Tip-Off: Fans will love Akshay's mooch-twirling masala-act but be ready for hardcore action too - some pretty gruesome.