Evil Dead 2 by Sam Raimi

Category: English

I didn't like this movie at all first, considering the amount of scare quotient the previous one had. But this one is much more funny.

Bruce Campbell pretty much makes this role his and while this time he suffers a lot in comparison to the previous one. He also finally is pushed over the edge to do what's needed to survive. The movie has Bruce Campbell striving for his sanity till he comes across four individuals who don't understand what the Evil Dead is all about and thus starts the cabin horror story with some elements borrowed from the prequel.

Have a look at this if you enjoy horror movies and of course crazy faced people!

Recommendation level: 2.5/5 - I liked this, in some aspects it's better than the original and worse in some other ways. Got this from a friend.

Fight Club by David Fincher

Category: English

The movie that pretty much inspires most alternative music loving youngsters to brag to their pop music loving friends. Ladies & Gentlemen welcome to Fight Club.

At the heart of Fight Club is a protagonist who much like millions of others like himself is punished with the never ending desire of more. This more is represented by several consumerism and the restlessness we have in us as human beings. Eventually there is a conflict which arises and he solves that conflict by creating an alter ego. The alter ego creates an underground organisation that believes every desire we have can be made lighter, our burden made lesser if we are to engage in physical activities that include mayhem and violence. Pretty much the rawest form of Anarchism you can find there, despite the words used sounding very similar to Nihilism, the means are pure Anarchy.

The ends to nihilism were a reset of morals and values to understand nihilism in the first place, Anarchism is far from that.

A lot of people thought they understood Nihilism after this and that's pure bull shit.

The movie has some very good points to be made about consumerism and everything else I just mentioned, but it does lack a really good execution, there's a lot of repetition to enforce certain things and that's something which isn't required and which is why it's a bit drawn out at 2 hours and 19 minutes.

Feel free to have a look at the movie though, if you're 16 and above this movie will change your life if you're above 21 you should be able to pick some good points from it. The acting is as good as the dialogues so that should be able to sum up what Brad Pitt & Edward Norton are doing here.

Recommendation level: 3/5. It's based on a novel, and the novel is more complete than this in the formal sense, still this movie has a funky feel to it.

Evil Dead by Sam Raimi

Category: English

After Night and Fog I watch Evil Dead.

Straight to the premise, Evil Dead features 5 youngsters who go holidaying at a very far off cabin in the woods. They eventually discover a book that brings evil spirits which in turn posses people for the good humour in it. Eventually Bruce Campbell finds himself having to take on all his friends in Exorcist form.

This film spawned a ton of movies which use the same "teenagers going to a cabin for vacation and end up finding more than what they bargained for" premise. Very original in its form and concept, full marks to Raimi for it.

Worth a watch if you're a horror film fan, but then again if you are a horror film fan you might have already seen this movie. Don't watch it otherwise, it might give you nightmares. You have to wait for parts 2 and 3 for Bruce Campbell's character to become bad ass.

Recommendation level: 2.5/5. Got it from a friend.

Diary of the Dead by George A. Romero

Category: English

After the Land of the Dead dud that was made by George A. Romero, the documentary style Diary of the Dead manages to pretty much kick life into the ...Dead series. The film follows a group of film school students who eventually end up recording all the events of the Zombie Apocalypse in which everyone turns into a Zombie (whether bitten or if they died of natural causes)

The only big change is that there's not much gore and violence that's a signature move of Romero, even still the chilling suspense and impending doom on all the people in this film grips you like the cold hand of a Zombie on your shoulder.

The characters aren't that standout barring a few (like the professor) and while the social commentary follows as usual there's also the important question raised in a Zombie fall out (Do we really want to survive in a world like this?) and of course the basic humanity of humans and if they should actually be survivors.

Eventually the movie takes a turn for the worst and fans of happy endings might not really like this ending! But whatever it's worth a watch. Obviously everyone is waiting for Survival of the Dead, the 6th part of the "official Dead series"

Recommendation level: 3.5/5 I had watched it a while back but managed to snare a copy again from a friend. If you like Zombie movies this is a 5/5 though!

Equilibrium by Kurt Wimmer

Category: English

A future in which emotions are removed and the people are ruled by a greedy all controlling entity, in all of this our hero Christian Bale's character falls from grace as a top ranking enforcer known as a Grammaton Cleric to join the resistance and bash the baddies!

The fight sequences are pretty well choreographed and while the director is pretty bad at completely controlling things he does make this movie a decent watch thanks to a well backed cast which at times is wasted (Emily Watson, Sean Bean).

The movie definitely has some amount of philosophy in it which is sadly all popular culture based and fans of a dystopian future with an all controling big Brother (Father in this movie) might find this a little flaccid.

Recommendation level: 2/5 - If you're a Bale fan this ranks pretty high so I'd say it's a 4/5. Watch it when you have nothing to do and need to kill time at the end of the week. Got this from my earlier collection. Oh by the way Kurt Wimmer also directed the turkey known as Ultraviolet.

Paris, Texas by Wim Wenders

Category: English

I have never seen a Wim Wenders movie before so watching this was undeniably a treat. Paris, Texas is a film based entirely on a man, portrayed brilliantly by Harry Dean Stanton (HDS), who has had a tragic incident 4 years back which led him to leave his wife and child.

When he's found 4 years later by his brother he meets his son and sets out to find his wife after his momentarily meet with his brother and his wife. On the surface the film is about a man who is torn on the inside and is trying to seek retribution for himself from the people he once held dearly in his life. Lost in the Mojave desert and exploring the Texan landscape, Wenders does a terrific job of mirroring the lifestyle in the year 1984, a year of transition for most people in the US of A.

The search eventually leads him to his wife and even though the end doesn't really matter the journey is as harsh and merciless as the desert in the backdrop, even in Los Angeles the movie finds its way into the dull lifestyle of the brothers family. When it reaches the wife in Houston it takes on a lovely saturation of green and red for a brief moment before re-uniting with the other colors.

Recommendation level: 4/5 - The pace is a little slow but the story of a man torn within because of certain beliefs can possibly hold onto you.

Hostel by Eli Roth

Category: English

A slasher ultra violent movie at the heart with no real story to back it up. Obviously the Elite Hunting agency is created purely to justify the slaughtering that takes place in this movie.

The movie follows 2 American friends who are joined by a Finnish bloke, on their journey they are posed with the question of more hedonism. That leads them to Bratislava and from there begins the violence. Eventually there's some retribution for the lead characters but that all ends with the beginning of the second movie.

There's not much else I can write about barring the setting which is quite eerie at times and although it recaptures some of the Soviet hangover still sported by the Iron-Curtain countries the camera in the movie points only at the 3rd world section or the murderous intent of shady Eastern European looking men.

Recommendation level: 2/5. Catch this if you want to see Eli Roth at the helm of a movie or if you want to see Takashi Miike's blink and a miss cameo.

500 Days of Summer by Marc Webb

Category: English

I am a little befuddled here as to what to say, this film has a lot of potential. It is definitely an interesting film to watch but there's something amiss...

500 days of summer follows the life of Joseph-Gordon Levitt's character who falls in love with Zooey Deschanel's character. Obviously one of them has committment problems and the other doesn't. While on the surface it's a typical "rom-com" as they call it, the only real saving grace has to be the editing and the jumping back and forth in time. The 500 days that Levitt's character knows Deschanel's character are more or less covered in a what appears to be non-linear format. Yet we are very clear about where their love started for each other and while you recollect the movie in your mind you recollect it as a liner narrative.

The acting is plastic at best, neither of them can act aside from looking pretty. Deschanel's character in particular is starved of any emotions to the point that one believes she is deliberately causing all that harm to the one she says she loves. Levitt - well he looks pretty like a school boy but what good is that?

Recommendation level: 2/5 I didn't think I'd be let down by the movie but I was and so there's nothing really to harp about it - barring a little slick editing. Also mister writer when Art is used as a device of revenge it ceases to be art anymore (ref: Any resemblance to people living or dead is purely accidental ... Especially you, Jenny Beckman ... Bitch - at the start of the film).

Where the Wild things are by Spike Jonze

Category: English

Haha, if you were one of the people who liked this film, obviously it should be a no brainer that you're either 12 years old or you are still stuck mentally at being 12. This was probably one of the worst films I've seen till date. Ah yes, snuggly creatures that looked like over sized Sesame Street characters (that was an intentional comment) give me a break, these guys are probably someone whom even Jason from Friday the 13th wouldn't want to snuggle up with.

So the premise yeah - kid wants attention, said attention whore kid runs to a magical land (maybe he just had a shroom eh?) and encounters giant furballs who somehow teach him how much a family matters.

Spike Jonze - I hope you hate this film yourself, I hope the money was worth it.

The adaptation isn't even that great, even a hardcore fan of the book admitted that it goes off on a tangent. Even the kid is annoying.

Recommendation level: 1/5 - Haha I couldn't put it below The Hills have Eyes, now can I?

Sherlock Holmes by Guy Ritchie

Category: English

What can I say? There's crappy movies and then there's a movie like Sherlock Holmes which is even worse. The only time I have ever wanted to doze off in a cinema hall - thanks to the Homo-erotic Adventures of Holmes and Watson.

Downey Jr. & Jude Law are pretty pathetic in this film with almost no real identities or character development. I hope a lot of people were disappointed, but sorry looking pretty doesn't make you a good actor. Jude Law's mustache is about as annoying and discomforting as his plastic acting skills and Downey Jr. is pretty much Tony Stark but in the past. I have to say Downey Jr. stopped his acting a few movies back and now just loves playing a drunk, talented person.

Recommendation level: 1/5 - I didn't even yawn at other crap movies like the Day of the Dead remake. Give it a miss, but you probably have already seen it. I can't believe Guy Ritchie made this movie, probably because Joel Silver whipped him around. I watched this in the cinema hall, so yeah I spent a good amount of money for trash.

The Girlfriend Experience by Steve Soderbergh

Category: English

Quite easily one of the best movies I've seen in a month or two. Surprisingly it's by Steve Soderbergh who returns back to his roots of understanding the human aspect of cinema. He experiments a fair bit with sound, thoughts and the leads but the best part about this movie has to be, Sasha Grey.

The movie follows a few days in the life of an escort portrayed by Sasha Grey a real life Adult Video star. She lives with her boyfriend and they share a committed-open relationship. There's a fair amount of political commentary pertaining to Obama and American politics and even though the movie is meant to have a feeling of being in touch with reality, it seems very staged - if this is on purpose or not by the director I am not sure.

The movie has its strong moments, as I mentioned some of the images we see (look at the poster, I love it) create a strong bond with you that lasts. It's an experimental film in some ways but is not difficult to watch. It explains relationships on a very different level, and while I can go on and on about this, I suggest you take a look.

Recommendation level: 3.5/5 - So close on the 4, but it didn't deliver in some places. Got it from a friend, just make sure you lay your hands on this, it's short.

Zombieland by Ruben Fleischer

Category: English

A busy schedule lets me review movies with less frequency but anyway when I do get the chance I obviously review. On Sunday I caught Zombieland and I was looking forward to this movie, since there hasn't been a good zombie movie release in a while and Survival of the Dead won't be here for a few months or might never.

Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Stone, and Abigail Breslin are all survivors who band together despite some treachery on the part of the latter two. The premise being the world has been over run by Zombies and they are all traveling together to possibly find a safe zone. Eventually they find themselves in different scenarios fighting tons of zombies (only sometimes for a good 30 mins there are no Zombies).

The movie has some originality when it comes to the whole "rules of survival" most of them are explained, some repeated and of course some changed as the movie progresses. Woody Harrelson is apt in his role and so are the rest, the women in the movie were a little annoying and the little girl should have got her head bitten off but oh well.

Recommendation level: 3/5 - It's no Romero movie but definitely a good movie to watch if you're looking for some decent gore and are a Zombie movie fan, there are some impossible situations and of course watching Woody Harrelson perform the impossible (winning a stand off against a horde of zombies) is a bit unnatural but fine. Oh yes, the Bill Murray angle is pretty cute too!

Boogie Nights by Paul Thomas Anderson

Category: English

I've been waiting to check this film out for a while now and I have to say Paul Thomas Anderson (now referred to as PTA) has a unique way of getting an ensemble cast to act perfectly. He gets every bit of acting that he can from these talented bunch of people unlike some multi-starrer turkeys. Best part is, not one person can lay claim to the film.

The movie follows the pornographic industry while it was rising in the 1970's and 1980's in America. There's plenty of references to porn stars of those years, heck Mark Wahlbergs' character is based on a famous porn star. It's all loosely based but there's important landmarks to remember and watch the movie in - for example the advent of the video tape and the "creative differences" the director has with the financier concerning it.

The film follows the meteoric rise (no pun intended) of Dirk Diggler (Wahlberg) and the people he interacts with and the kind of work he produces. His addiction to cocaine and eventual fail in the industry, the movie however does end on a happy note. . . Sucks.

The cast includes PTA's favorites; Julianne Moore, Alfred Molina, William H. Macy, John C. Reilly, Philip Seymour-Hoffman as well as Burt Reynolds, Heather Graham and a host of others who shine in the movie in their own little way.

Recommendation level: 3/5. Got this one on VCD, but the Indian version is heavily censored. Same director to give us Magnolia, Hard Eight and other good movies from Hollywood.

I Love You, Man by John Hamburg

Category: English

Paul Rudd's character is to get married to Rashida Jones' character and while their busy looking at the wedding they realize that Rudd never had a strong male bond with any of his friends. Over the years he has only women friends and so the quest for finding his Best Man or his 'bromance' begins.

After hunting around with the help from his gay brother and the internet he eventually finds nothing. Enter Segel's character and things take a turn for good as he instantly connects with him.

While the movie takes a pedestrian look at how guys bond in the most stereotypical manner, Rudd manages to pick this movie up from the standard set of comedies that are around these days. Segel is the perpetual best friend, this guy can almost never be a lead - am convinced. Everyone (even in real life) wants a best friend like him right from his How I met your mother days.

Entertaining to watch with the friends after a hard days work I reckon. But not world class cinema.

Recommendation level: 2/5. Rudd and Segel take this to 2.

G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra by Stephen Sommers

Category: English

I enjoyed this film, growing up playing with the figures and watching the animation, the movie was a let down in places but not completely.

This film tracks down the origins of Cobra and establishes a lot of the characters and their motivations (albeit superficially). Even still, some of the characters manage to stay with you even after the film is over. Joseph Gordon-Levitt is definitely one of the characters to watch out for. Christopher Eccleston is pretty formidable as Destro.

Well it's still not the best cinema you're going to encounter and as such is pretty mindless in places including the famous chase sequence in Paris. Sienna Miller is put to good use as is Rachel Nichols.

Recommendation level: 1/5 - Christmas cheer! But very crappy in places, if you like G.I. Joe then it should be a 5/5.

Unleashed by Louis Leterrier

Category: English

Probably one of the Jet Li's under appreciated roles and movies in general. Bob Hoskins captures Jet Li when he's a kid and trains him to be a living weapon, trained only to kill and basically everything non-human almost like a "dog". When his collar is removed, Danny goes on a mindless killing spree. Eventually the dog escapes and his helped by a blind musician portrayed by Morgan Freeman.

Bob Hoskins wants the dog back and bla bla!

The movie doesn't deal with any great themes barring some references to classical music. It's written by Luc Besson, and one wonders why does that even matter when the film is obviously not so well crafted.

Recommendation level: 2/5 - Just for Jet Li & Massive Attack's soundtrack! If you like action films and Jet Li then this would be a 5/5 for you.

Avatar by James Cameron

Category: English

By the time you read this, most of you will have already seen Avatar. You must be in awe and possibly even looking forward to a ton of new movies based on the ingenious film-making concepts executed in this film.

The story is crap, but you know this, the themes are complete rubbish either - there's no deeper meaning in this film. If you're here to even consider that a simple dialogue of Stephen Lang's character about "waging a war on terror" be a shot at America's own war on terror then you're even more stupid than the people who just watched the film for the pretty blue colors.

Avatar's dealing of the issue of aliens and the proverbial "who's side are you on?" raised once again by Lang's character at the end is also pretty weak. District 9 speaks volumes of such issues on the deepest level till date. Avatar is just very revolutionary, just like that first film made by the Lumière brothers where people ran out of the cinema hall thinking the train was coming towards them. It's going to be remembered, make no mistake about it but does it have any aesthetic and artistic value? I'll leave that to you to decide.

The histrionics aren't that superb either, their passable, Stephen Lang had me cheering for him in the end. Now that's a fucking G.I. Joe.

Recommendation level: 3/5 - Path breaking, but everyone's too quick to judge the story, I think even Cameron made peace with himself about that before he made something like this. For me, I am not sure how much we should be relying on technology to interfere with our art form, we're already so distant from reality, do we need more distance?

Pineapple Express by David Gordon Green

Category: English

My reviews will continue to get more and more erratic this month as I try to find time since it's Christmas!

A stoner movie starring Seth Rogen wasn't something I was looking forward to but thanks to his superior supporting cast (James Franco of Harry Osborne fame in Spiderman, Danny McBride, Gary Cole) the film is actually watchable. So the movie has Seth Rogen as a process server and on one of his errands while smoking the wonderful Pineapple Express he ends up witnessing a murder and he immediately runs to his peddler (Franco). Little did all of us know that Gary Cole is a mob boss now out for Rogen's blood. He deploys two hitmen, one of them portrayed by Kevin Corrigan.

On the way running from the mob there's tons of faces they come across, they even pick up a 3rd member towards the end (McBride who refuses to die from gunshot wounds). The film oddly enough gets a little serious and violent towards the end and I couldn't figure out why. None the less this isn't the best cinema you can watch, but it's alright to watch it with friends.

Recommendation level: 2/5 - Purely because of Franco and the supporting cast.

The Fifth Element by Luc Besson

Category: English

While I found this movie extremely crappy the first time I saw it, I must say even after more than 10 years the movie doesn't seem as bad as I thought it was years ago.

The plot is simple, Milla Jovovich's character is the fifth element sent to save the world from a probable catastrophe. She lands into Bruce Willis' taxi (he's a taxi driver) and they set out to save the world along with Sir Ian Holm. There's also a wealthy industrialist, Gary Oldman who is out to claim the ultimate power to himself.

There aren't too many positives about this film, the sub standard acting or the wafer thin plot doesn't give this film a lot of ability to expand on itself. Still if you're completely bored then go ahead and watch this film. Everything is pretty main stream - so what does that mean? Right from the dialogues to the production values to the future they portray... Everything is very much the way Hollywood has been looking towards the future.

There's some experimentation done with the film used in this movie, but I couldn't be bothered, also Luc Besson and everyone else involved has done better cinema than this.

Recommendation level: 2/5 - Saw this on TV.

Layer Cake by Matthew Vaughn

Category: English

erm, if you've seen any of the Guy Ritchie films (read the trilogy I reviewed a few weeks back) then this one isn't that different from them. Yeah, pretty insulting but it's really true, this one however lacks and benefits from certain factors.

It lacks Guy Ritchie but it benefits from Daniel Craig and Sienna Miller!

The plot is simple at the start with Daniel Craig playing XXXX who deals heavily in cocaine and decides to eventually quit the business until everything turns upside down and inside out. There's betrayal and most of the characters who come on screen have their own agendas which they are interested in executing - no matter what the price.

I am not really sure how much I liked this film, but I think it's just about average in places.

Recommendation level: 2/5. Got this from a friend.