Movie Skyscaper (review)

                          The movie subtly portrays the itch among Chinese to showcase their newly acquired wealth and strength laced with technological prowess. The actor with an amputated leg (Dwayne Johnson) represents present-day battered and bruised the USA who's looking to seek favor from Chinese. It shows the present phase of the USA, where China has emerged as the major competitor and adversary. Implicitly, the movie displays the softer image of China which is accommodating, tolerant but posses a degree of arrogance. In this movie, China has become affluent and emerged in a position to provide the most important thing to Americans 'Jobs' after of course the 'Mexican wall' which I am particularly unsure about😁

                                                     Audience after watching the movie 

                      Like the earlier feeble attempts to make an epic movie like 'The Great Wall' which was ludicrous, unfortunately, sky-scrapper falls in the same zone and is the notoriously similar and modern version of 'Die Hard'.  The story can be summarized as - there are few people who are trapped in the world's tallest building in Hong Kong and need to be rescued against all odds which includes  Dwayne Johnson's family. To add some spice, mercenaries were accommodated who sought money from the owner of the building (Chinese). There's nothing extraordinary in the story, that is a blatant case of plagiarism but then China is a synonym of copyright infringement. A remarkably silly attempt to make a lavish movie, Complete Avoid 

Johnny English Strikes Again (Review)

                              Johnny English Strikes Again is an action/comedy, starring Rowan Atkinson, Olga Kurylenko and Ben Miller. Johnny English is a retired spy that is called out of retirement by the British secret service to investigate a cyber attack that revealed the identities of all the British secret agents. This being the third in the franchise, was a big disappointment for me, as it felt like watching an old Johnny English movie, with same predictable script, usual silly pranks that one can foretell .

                         Rowan Atkinson comedy is well known and his actions can be anticipated making the comedy outdated, maybe, it is pitched at kids rather than adults.This formula has worked in the earlier versions, but watching it the third time, definitely wasn't a charm. Olga Kurylenko was a lost soul, her performance can be rated as mediocre at best. The   misadventure of Johnny English, his tirade to punish bad guys wasn't my cup of tea, the movie can be missed.

Feast Of Love(Review)

                                     Even for a die-hard optimist like me, the movie left more questions then it answered. In the end, the idea behind the story remains hazy with obscure definition of love. Though it started on a promising note, but somehow confused infidelity with love in the middle, even tried justifying it and finally the story became a little confusing. Though one can not stop from admiring the dialogues(at places) which are beautifully sewed to appropriate scenes making it a joyful experience.

                                     The theme of the movie 'that either love being a trick which is played on us, or it is everything and nothing can compare to it' resonates in mind which is creatively linked to the introductory story telling by Morgan Freeman (Grecian myth about the gods who created love because they were bored, and then created laughter "so they could stand it."). Morgan Freeman as Harry Stevenson and Greg Kinnear as Bradley Thomas did justice to their characters and are impressive.The movie is watchable but only, if one can stand strong nudity content and mediocre attempt to explain different love situations.

The Grand Seduction (Review)

                               'Welfare checks are there to sustain you, did not last more than 15 days, but you collect shame for a month' is the dialogue in the movie and summarize the theme of this wonderful movie. The movie portrays the struggle of a fishing village to get a Petrochemical company to select their village as the site for establishing their next unit. The positive windfall being the jobs and prosperity for the natives. The only impediment was the unavailability of a registered doctor, a condition put-forth by industry policy. The unfolding circumstances and the concerted efforts by villagers to seduce a doctor makes it a wonderful story to watch.

                           This movie reminds me of another movie titled 'The Englishman Who Went up a Hill but Came down a Mountain', both of these films are on different subjects but have unique undercurrents, making one's watching experience joyful. A touching, charming and funny movie with identifiable characters and breath-taking landscape makes it a joy to watch. Brendan Gleeson is convincing and has impressed with his acting skills. Overall a light-hearted comedy with a simple story, a delight to watch this movie.

A Walk Among the Tombstones (Review)

                                 An intense and gripping story about two deranged sadistic serial killers who also extort money from victim families. The brutality of killers and depiction of severed body parts though in graphic and obscure make one feel uncomfortable. The story revolves around an alcoholic retired police, 'Liam Neeson' , now unlicensed detective (had past history of a cop), who reluctantly decided to pursue the case of abduction and murder of a wife of drug dealer 'Dan Stevens'. As the story unfolds, many intriguing and frightening details about serial killers start emerging who were unfazed by their ghastly murder hogging media attention.

                               Liam Neeson has continuously impressed me for long with his acting skills and is impressive in this movie as well. The story keeps one captivated, although some unnecessary additions can be very well avoided, but unperturbed by such distractions, the story flows swiftly. It is a good movie to watch. 

The Taking of Pelham 123(1974)

                                           The Taking of Pelham 123, is a 1974 action thriller movie with an outstanding performances by Walter Matthau and Robert Shaw. Four armed men, hijack a New York City subway train in the middle of the day holding 17 passengers hostage. They demanded $1 million dollars ransom, which must be delivered in 1 hour, failing which, they would start executing the passengers that were held hostage. The characters didn't shied away from the consequences with very clear-cut thought process which is at times ruthless.

                                        The story is simple, gritty, fast paced and the performance outstanding which makes the movie unique and watchable. The brilliant flow of the movie and skillful narration doesn't make it feel old and is refreshing to watch.

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom(Review)

                        'Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom' is the fourth film in the series of Jurassic film franchise. Unfortunately, the sequel film 'Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom' is a pale shadow of its earlier series. My take is, when you have money to splurge, a brand name to exploit, you behave irrationally and consider yourself invincible, you take audience for granted, alas the audience isn't foolish and the end result being you destroy your brand, that took years of hard-work to built. Wonder, how would genius Steven Spielberg have reacted after watching this movie ? 

                                                      Audience after watching movie

Story in nutshell - Since the writer can't envisage anything unique, so i am trying to present it in my way (notwithstanding,the lesser we talk about screen play, the better). Now, we were told, dinos have evolved as intelligent species that can display and understand emotions, they cuddle you, protect you from 'anti-human' dinos, show affection etc. Humans as we all 'dirty minded' are, have genetically modified dinos to use them in warfare. In a known stereotypical fashion, a businessman (USA capitalist) auctioned them and bought by Russian mafia(ugly communist) while bunch of animal rights idiots try to protect or fight or do something(supposedly to protect dinos), however their exact reason is obscure. In this commotion, dinos freed themselves from captivity and is commanded by 'Blue', the most intelligent of all( Did someone say Apes resurrection ?). 

                                                            Me after watching movie 

                       So, now we have three possible scenarios(silly & hilarious) for next Jurassic movie. Dinos imitate Apes kingdom, Dino 'Blue' would join 'Avengers' to save the world, or Dinos under 'Blue' leadership would fight alongside humans to fight terrorists who are emboldened by entry of dinos who have joined their ranks (where Russians have supplied more lethal dino to terrorists) don't worry we have America who work overtime to protect us😄

                                                            More audience reaction

                     This movie is avoidable not just coz of 'overacting' of Daniella Pineda and Justice Smith while wasting talent of Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas, besides screenplay or rather lack of it.

Advice - When you have money to splurge, a brand name to exploit, you should behave responsibly by applying your mind not make silly movies.

Mission: Impossible – Fallout

                                   MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE - FALLOUT finds Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and his IMF team (Alec Baldwin, Simon Pegg, Ving Rhames) along with allies (Rebecca Ferguson, Michelle Monaghan) in a race against time to save the world from arms dealer John Lark and a group of terrorists known as the Apostles who plan to use three plutonium bombs for a simultaneous nuclear attack on the Vatican, Jerusalem and Mecca, Saudi Arabia to create mayhem. August Walker (Henry Cavill) a CIA hit-man and White Widow (Vanessa Kirby) also added spice to this adrenaline pumping fabulous action flick. With tantalizing action scenes, a viewer is hopelessly mesmerized and glued till the last scene.

                                 Impossible is nothing when Tom is at its best. A combination of jaw dropping stunts, insane daring and ingenious execution, make this a stunning piece of action cinema, probably the finest,i have ever witnessed. MI franchise has improved tremendously with each installment and by far, it is the best among all by a long shot. Each scene is pushed little further, giving it an unprecedented fresh look. The story though simple, is laced with twists,backstabbing and exceeds expectations. My only concern is in this fabulous movie, they have raised the bar and set the benchmark which would be difficult to outdo as viewers would now expect moon. An incredible movie with spectacular action sequences to satisfy the appetite, a must watch.

Movie Gringo

                                Movie Gringo is a complete entertainer. It is one of those movies that completely transforms your mood,i would refrain myself to put this movie in any particular genre. It's story is interwoven with almost everything, thus making it a complete masala flick.  I started watching Gringo with very little or with no expectations but it turns out to be a breath of fresh air. The main protagonist is the black man(David Oyelowo) who happens to be an innocent, a  righteous man hailing from Nigeria trying his luck to live "The American Dream". He is being exploited by his boss disguised as friend, manipulated and cheated by his wife,and,to top it all stuck in quagmire of wrong circumstances. In the utter confusion, it is interesting how the story unfolds creating funny situations eventually benefiting David. Rest assured in the last scene when David looked into the camera and smiled, i couldn't stop myself from reciprocating the gesture. This movie turns out to be a heart touching, funny, comic relief .

                          Charlize Theron and Joel Edgerton along with David Oyelowo were outstanding in their performances. The story does in between looks confusing but soon, all dots were connected.  One of the finest movie, its a must watch for movie buffs.

Movies:- John Wick, Jack Reacher & The Equalizer

                                In this post, i am attempting to give reviews of five movies . As all the five are based on identical themes, so, it defeats the purpose of writing reviews for each one of them separately, besides this way, it wasn't taxing on my mind too. Starting with John Wick film franchise, it is an action thriller series, where a retired hitman grieving the loss of his wife, is forced to come out of retirement to neutralize bunch of different sets of bad guys in both movies. Here, the violent scenes are superbly shot, there isn't much in the story to scratch one's head. There is a portrayal of elegance, luxury and unhindered violence that grips viewers imagination. Keanu Reeves was exceptionally good in both the series, in fact after watching the second part,i got impatient and frantically searched for the first. A sleek and stylish action thriller, John Wick is an action movie series, brilliantly executed that it never becomes numbing and boring and a must watch for action genre viewers.

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                         Jack Reacher series also belongs to the action thriller category. There wasn't much in the screenplay, apart from the violent stunts performed by Tom Cruise that too  have now, become too repetitive and unfortunately uninspiring . This movie series, lack in everything from story to chemistry leaving a dry mediocre action flick. This is the third movie in continuity where Tom Cruise disappoints me, the earlier being "The Mummy" which gives an impression that Tom should work on himself as he now resembles a pale shadow of his earlier self .  I am a his big admirer and is anxiously waiting for his upcoming movie "Mission: Impossible – Fallout" to be released this week and would appreciate if he recovers .

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                        The Equalizer is the poor cousin of the above two action series i mentioned.  McCall (Denzel Washington) a retired army personal  comes out of his self-imposed retirement to punish bad guys for justice. The story was forgettable, the action scenes unrealistic and acting skills of some are questionable. This movie is ridiculously boring and a pain to watch. You can avoid your misery by not watching this blot on action genre movie.

Movie Beirut

                              The first part of movie starts in 1972 Beirut, Mason Skiles (Jon Hamm) a U.S. diplomat, hosting a cocktail party along with his wife Nadia (Leila Bekhti) oblivious of the impending disaster in their lives . They have no children of their own, as yet, but treat 13-year-old orphan refugee Karim as “part of the family.” Karim projected himself as a Palestinian refugee with no family, the story starts and revolves around Karim and Mason, as the movie progresses it unfolds mystery about Karim. This period denotes the tinder box situation of 70's , when Lebanon was standing at the anvil of civil war, while Israel fresh from its victories was itching to go after PLO in Lebanon.

                            The second part of movie, starts a decade later in war ravaged Lebanon of 1980's. As CIA lost one of its spies, Mason was brought back from self imposed retirement and is entrusted the job of rescuing him. The story moves slowly, as this isn't  an adrenaline-pumping spy movie. It captivates audience with interesting story line laced with numerous twists. Beirut is an espionage thriller, which competently narrates a story without being biased or demonizing any faction. Jon Hamm is exceptionally comfortable in his role, at times one forgets that he is acting. Rosamund Pike too did justice to her role and has raised the bar through her acting skill. It's a treat to watch Beirut, although it reminds us of the miserable condition in that part of world where peace and prosperity remains elusive to this day.

The Fault In Our Stars

                                        Maybe one of the finest movies i have stumbled upon after long time ,i would like to advise all of my friends to go and watch this beautiful ,simple ,enigmatic ,brilliant movie "The fault in our stars". It's about love ,life ,and mostly about living life. I think its dark ,thoughtful rather ingenious way to put life in ones perspective. The protagonist beautifully portrays life (struggle) at the periphery of death.

                                          Two teenagers Hazel and Augustus struggling with life threatening diseases embarked on a romantic journey after they meet and fall in love at a cancer support group. Incredible movie with beautifully executed storyline , worth watching.

Movie - The Next Three Days

                                                  Firstly let me clarify, it is a romantic movie. True feelings of a husband towards his wife, kid and family and the resolve of a husband to do whatever it takes in an unprecedented circumstance to get back his wife and unite his family, rest as we say is just a story beautifully woven around this theme. A remarkable movie with spine chilling suspense . The Next Three Days, Russell Crowe plays John Brennan, a college professor whose wife has been wrongly arrested for killing her boss. When all legal avenues exhausted, John decides as a last resort to break her out of jail where she was imprisoned for life, without inferring about consequences.

                                                 Russell Crowe and Elizabeth Banks did justice to their characters. Both the leads gave an inspiring, powerful performances that makes this movie a treat to watch. It's one such rare movie where one questions life, the good and bad things that happen to us, and how we handle it. How would one react to unbearable circumstances when life takes a turn for worse? A great movie to watch .

Movie - The Man With The Iron Heart

                                               Movie is a historical war drama based on events on the life of Reinhard Heydrich during World War II , from his disgraceful Court martial to his rise to power and his assassination . It's about a man, who Hitler himself described as "Man with the Iron Heart" .The movie in the first half portrays the working mindset of the SS as a spine-chilling murder machine, right from the foot soldiers till the top, Reinhard Heydrich himself. Watching the movie, one gets the impression that  someone shot two separate movies, first half is Heydrich's biography, second being action thriller about his assassination. In his attempt to look unique (as everyone is aware of the story) and different from 'the movie Anthropoid (2016)' director has tried his best to dwell in personal life of Heydrich and in the process many important events are left out (war time atrocities) or shown through short collages with voice-over and music playing and one gets sense of haste and incompleteness .

                                   The assassination scene of Reinhard Heydrich by Czechoslovak paratroopers in Prague is fascinating and is similar to Anthropoid which i believe was short better. Jason Clarke and Rosamund Pike gave powerful performances and did justice to their characters. It's a watchable movie but if you have watched 'Anthropoid' you won't appreciate the second part of this movie. The famous Church battle is touching and overwhelmes you with emotions. and reminds me of poem-

                                         "And how can man die better, Than facing fearful odds,
                                            For the ashes of his fathers,And the temples of his Gods."

The Mummy

                                        One of the worst movie that i have come across lately. 'The Mummy' is a complete waste of time and resources besides wasting the stupendous acting talent of Tom Cruise. The movie  merges action, mythology, horror and comedy resulting in confusion . No characters are fully explained, silly comic scenes and a plot which sucks big time makes it a nightmarish experience. Some of the action scenes are breathtaking ,alas they by themselves can't lift the story and can't compensate for unnecessary rats and faceless zombie scenes. One doesn't understand the logic behind certain scenes , though action sequences are brilliantly filmed.

                                        The movie starts by accidentally excavating a cursed tomb of an Egyptian princess by two rogue treasure hunting soldiers in the middle of Iraq,how and why were they associated with US Army,please satisfy yourself with feeble explanation. The erstwhile princess thus rises from the death and starts seducing Tom Cruise for inconclusive idiotic reason. The whole story revolves around this plot while traversing between different locations and time. Some other characters are also around like the British archaeologist Jennifer Halsey ( Annabelle Wallis ) who played the love interest of Tom although everything looks plastic, devoid of any chemistry between the two. Russell Crowe as a leader of a shadow organization is irrational and illogical. The only saving grace is ( Sophia Boutella ) Ahmanet a.k.a. The Mummy, her transitions from a creepy, violent monster to a seductive goddess with ease is mesmerizing .

                                     The verdict is out, this movie is a combination of action sequences of many movies, complete inadequacy of story telling. A vague attempt to create a series based on myths which falls short of expectation and hence should be avoided.

                                       

Logan Review

                             Its the final chapter in X Men series , its about saying bid adieu to seventeen years of Wolverine journey of splendid breathtaking performances we are all accustomed to . This movie is unlike any other X-Men movie and is raw, emotionally draining while giving best possible unique compassionate sendoff to its central character ‘Logan’ and yes, your eyes do betray your resolve and get moist when Hugh Jackman eventually fights and succumbs after his chosen last battle.

                             Unlike any other X Men movie, this movie starts with Logan being robbed and beaten by bunch of hooligans while he struggles to shrug them off . He is old, has lost his healing power and draws his claws slowly a sorry figure as compared to old days . The year is 2029, he is hiding near Mexican border with Charles Xavier who is old and has lost his power to control his mind and thus branded WMD by government . Soon you realize the idea was the two wanted to remain aloof from civilians and die in oblivion but the turmoil in their life occurred as a female approached Logan to drive a young mutant girl to safety. The movie took a violent turn (brutally violent with claws stabbing face and heads chopped off, arms ,legs amputated in rough raw ways with blood oozing) as the young mutant is vulnerable to band of mercenaries who are out to capture or kill mutants like her. The responsibility to take the girl to safety rests on Logan who soon realized the relationship he had with her, thus drawn into one final battle, this time to save his daughter.

                                    The final act by Hugh Jackman surely is worthy of watching , undoubtedly this Wolverine will be greatly missed . He did full justice to his role and excelled in acting skills which is noteworthy. One can easily enjoy watching it for raw action and superb storytelling, a must watch for all wolverine fans after all its the end of one of the iconic super hero.

The Great Wall

                              Another silly movie that one should avoid. Earlier it was only Americans who were tilling relentlessly to save humanity from Aliens , diseases etc. But seems Chinese have now started shouldering this responsibility voluntarily with USA. It seems as the Chinese economy grew and American hegemony is continuously being challenged around the globe , Chinese now have started thrusting their contributions to humanity in movies . Like all Chinese goods are, this movie too, has some scenes blatantly being copied from other movies (Watch World War Z).

                          Firstly the story , its movie has two potent Chinese historical characters woven with glimpses of socialism ( this tale shouldn’t be revealed to outside world one General said , typical Communist policy of censorship - lol ) and implicitly acknowledging and taking credit of introducing gun powder in battles . Instead of revealing much about story , let me try and rephrase the whole story in different context to make it more interesting for my readers . So here it is…

                           For some time now , PLA (People Liberation Army of China) has been practicing to invade Tibet. The Tibetans have constructed a formidable wall around Lhasa as defensive tactics to evade the bloodsucker Army( btw PLA role is played by Dragons). The Tibetans are peaceful and brave community , who are facing the onslaught of Chinese for sometime with no help whatsoever from the outside world (only hollow sermons of respecting sovereignty and peaceful resolving conflict was heard from different quarters that Dragon don’t understand as animals only understand violent measures ) .Finally the day of reckoning came and on the D-Day, PLA attacked the Tibet . Newer weapons were employed by Tibetans who fought bravely , thus successfully thwarted the PLA from invading Tibet and saving the world from communist monster .

                             I have rephrased the movie in my thoughts and told the story, I seriously hope and pray for Tibetan independence . Some of you might be wondering where did Matt Damon go? Truth is , his role is inconsequential . I don’t understand why he decided to do this movie , he actually demoted himself after working in this movie , guess this is what happens when one lives out of his means and smoke excessive weed , your debt forces you to do mediocre Chinese garbage .

                                     
                                             Verdict - Useless movie “ A Must Avoid ”. 

xXx: Return of Xander Cage

                             One of the worst movie that I came across lately . It(Film) created so much hype but turned out to be a damp squib and only later you remember the idiom “Everything that glitters isn’t gold”. So much hoopla created by media and blushes of Deepika (to be working for a Hollywood movie with Diesel ) make gullible people to fall in the trap , and you end up cursing your stars for wasting precious time over a mediocrity .

                           I would refrain from elaborating upon story line not because it will ruin the suspense but unfortunately there’s none . An over smart, oversized Uncle( Diesel or Petrol I don’t really care) does kiddish stunts and forgot acting in the meantime . Some gizmos and bunch of idiots will be entrusted task of saving humanity from disaster(watching this movie is a catastrophic event for me) . Couple of actors from Asia were taken (for visibility quotent) so as to increase the world wide collection of this otherwise pathetic movie . 

                           I am recusing myself from commentary on Asian actors except Deepika. Like other girls in movie, she also tried successfully to join the harem of Gigolo /patriot/ hunk/ engineer /scientist etc. .Perhaps makers believe the monkey stunt performance is the latest fad seducing girls . One advice to Deepika, for how long you think people will watch your legs and tits and satisfy themselves ? Its time you seriously start acting or take the plunge and use your legs more creatively enchanting audience for some more time .

                           Overall a wasted effort and anyone planning to watch it, should do it at his own risk, as watching Xxx can seriously damage your brain cells. If you want to watch purely for entertainment watch “Chota Bheem” instead .

Movie Allied - Review

                                      Allied is a romantic thriller shot in the backdrop of Second World War. A story about deceit,patriotic fervor yet its about two individuals madly in love in its purest form. The story mesmerizes you and haunts you in the end when your fears come true while you actually prays against it.

                                   Brad Pitt is in his usual best and reminds me of ‘Inglorious Bastards’ is playing an Intelligence Officer of the Royal Canadian Air Force serving. He was sent on a secret mission to assassinate a German Ambassador in Casablanca where he meets his fellow French spy( French Resistance fighter) played by Marion Cottilard who assisted him on this suicide mission . As they successfully executed their mission, the circumstances and the intimacy the two shared surpassed the artificiality of their relationship into stronger bond. After marriage, Captain contended himself to the desk job but the question soon emerges, is the marriage for real or he being played by his wife as she once mentioned, to avoid being detected(as an impostor) she plays emotions with honesty and dedication .

                                      Brad Pitt did a fabulous job and Marion Cottilard looked elegant and did complete justice to her role. A fantastic movie with subtle performance captivates you till the end, a must watch.