Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Movie Review: Anger Management

Anger Management
Anger Management (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
 This is supposed to be a funny movie, but I found it pretty sad for the main protagonist. The story is about a mild mannered guy who gets pushed around all his life. He has a great girlfriend who is frustrated with his reservations. He is angry at himself for this and doesn't know what to do. On a flight he gets into trouble with flight attendants and is arrested. The judge sentences him to anger management classes and then everything starts going out of control in his life.

The rest of the movie is about his therapy and coming out as an assertive individual and finally proposing to his girlfriend. If one were to watch this movie without identifying with the characters then it would be a great entertainer and downright funny. When I watch movies I make my decisions early on as to whose side I am and when my side gets beaten up I don't like it. I found this movie rather sadistic, there could have been definitely better ways to show the same incidents and story without actually hurting the dignity of the protagonist.

Bottomline this is available free to watch on Youtube and I watched it. I wouldn't pay to watch this movie. It is an ok way to pass time if you have nothing else to do.
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Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Movie Review: Sky Fall

The latest Bond movie is an action film without the usual glitz, glamor, and gadgetry that is associated with this genre of movies. Sky fall is about an attack on the espionage headquarters of England. Sky Fall starts off with the British espionage agency's computer system getting hacked and a list of under cover agents who have infiltrated terrorist organizations is lost. Bond is in search of this list and the first part of the movie is perhaps the best. The chase involves a high speed automobile pursuit and then a motorcycle chase which ends on top of a train.

The chief of M6 gives an order to shoot to Bond's associate. Expectedly the shot hits Bond instead of the actual culprit. Bond goes underground in shock and is declared dead. Three months later the list is published on the internet and the terrorist organizations start killing the spies. Meanwhile there is an attack on the intelligence headquarters also.
Bond returns to London and reports to duty. His investigations take him to Shanghai and then to a private island where he discovers who the real culprit is. The rest of the movie is about how the culprit is subdued and eliminated.

Like I said earlier the best part of the movie is the chase sequence at the beginning. Surprisingly for a Bond movie there are very few titillating and sexually charged scenes in this movie. This James Bond actor is perhaps the least handsome of all. I wonder why British film industry couldn't find a better actor. Anyway this is what it will be for the next few years I guess.

Monday, July 9, 2012

Movie Review: Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter

Cover of "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter...
Cover of Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter
This is one of the most outlandish movies I have ever seen - seriously the story and screenplay is much much more far fetched and unrealistic than any Hindi or even Kannada movie I have seen. The story features the growth of Abraham Lincoln, former president of America credited with the emancipation of slaves.

Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter starts off with young Abe witnessing his mother being killed by a vampire. He is constantly afraid of the dark and wants vengeance. What he doesn't know that the individual who killed his mother is a vampire. Anyway fast forward into youth, Lincoln goes after the killer and gets hurt. In the process he meets with Henry who becomes his guide, mentor and trainer in vampire hunting.

The rest of the story progresses with Lincoln's moving to Illnois and starting career as a lawyer while killing vampires for a hobby during the nights.

I think this movie has been made/ funded by some southerner who wants to redeem the image of pre-civil war plantation owners as kind, compassionate people. They want the audience to believe that those who meted out atrocities against Black people and Native Americans were not European white immigrants but the vampires. A spirited fictional effort which I sure hope doesn't become history.

In terms of entertainment value I'd give it a three stars on a five star rating.
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Monday, June 4, 2012

Movie Review: Think Like A Man

I heard great reviews about this movie on National Public Radio (NPR), so I decided to go watch it. The movie is just an average entertainer which pits women against men and supposedly teaches the former how to snag the latter and make them propose marriage. I was rather disappointed that NPR promoted this movie and it was definitely not upto the praise the radio program proffered on it.

Anyway the movie is about this bunch of African-American men who are dating or living in a steady relationship. Their girlfriends want to marry and settle down but the boys are not taking the initiative. Meanwhile Steve Harvey releases a book titled Think Like a Man, Act like a lady which becomes an instant hit among women. These women who read this book will start using the strategies to play men and make them their slaves (not literally... but figuratively). Just when they are succeeding the men get hold of the book and employ the same strategies against the women and guess what happens when they come face to face. Things go wrong and the women make a big issue about the fact that the men were playing dirty and leave. This leads the men to run behind the women, seek forgiveness and get married.

What an anti-men movie directed by a Man. In terms of entertainment I would give it a 3 star rating, acting 2.5 stars, direction maybe 2.5 and overall movie 2.75.

I would say definitely not worth paying $5.50 per pop to watch this movie.

Monday, May 14, 2012

Movie Review: Universal Soldier

I watched this movie just because it is one of Van Damme's action flicks and it was freely available on Youtube. I was definitely not disappointed. This movie is a modern version of Frankenstein, only here the scientist is resuscitating dead male soldiers. The resuscitated soldiers are technologically prepared to feel no pain, obey orders and destroy anything or kill anyone that comes in its way.

Of course the scientist begins to work for the terrorist boss after the government decides to scrap the project. The terrorist organization kidnaps the children of Russian prime minister and set forth a series of usual demands like release of their comrades, money, freedom for a particular region, etc. The government decides to wake up their own Frankensteins and deploy them against the super killer war machine the enemy has.

Now enter the hero into the picture. Van Damme is one such humanoid that the scientists are trying hard to reintroduce into society by training him to think and feel. He is taken back to the military lab and programmed to fight. Then follows the sequence of events that include excellently well staged fights, depicting lots of blood, gore, stunts and explosions.

It is definitely worth watching if you are an action movie fan.

Monday, April 16, 2012

English Movie Review: Death Warrant

I had watched the Hindi Remake of this movie starring Bollywood action hero Suniel Shetty - Vinashak (1998), but at that time I didn't know this little detail. Anyway Death Warrant starring Jean Calude Van Damme is one heck of an action-crime movie set totally in the prison of Canada. Detective Louis Burke is a very successful undercover cop who solves all the cases he is assigned to. He is now requested by the chief of police and the judge to investigate the deaths of several inmates and guards in a prison in a different part of Canada. The modus operandi would be to get arrested as a common armed robber and infiltrate the prison gangs and find out exactly what is going on. Amanda Beckett (Cynthia Gibb) is the liaison between him and the justice department.

Things take an ugly turn once inside the prison, Burke is targeted by the gangsters for death. He discovers some ugly truths in the prison system. A human organ smuggling gang is operating inside the prison, the doctor, warden and several of the guards are involved. The boss of the whole operation is someone else in civil life and is discovered at the end.

The Hindi movie Vinashak is pretty much a frame-by-frame remake of this movie except for the fact that there is a liberal dose of drama thrown in. Few songs featuring the otherwise role-less female co-star in skimpy clothes, gyrating to the tunes, then a rape scene where the hero's sister gets killed and so on.

In my opinion each of the movie was appropriately made for the respective audiences. I can't say one is better than the other because the specific action sequences in both movies have been well executed. As far as a straight forward plot with fast moving storyline is concerned the English movie is the winner. As far as real entertainment, drama, music and a decent pace of the movie are concerned the Hindi movie scores.

Sunday, March 18, 2012

Movie Review: The Champagne Gang

I watched The Champagne Gang on Youtube in the free movies section. This rather boring and predictable movie is based on a true story of four youngsters who live a high life stealing from grocery stores, pharmacies, and other commercial establishments. A gang of four young, sexy, athletic, and well spoken girls live in California and their way of making a living is by stealing cigarettes, alcohol and other easy to dispose items from grocery stores.

In the process they come across one of the hardened criminals who trains them in the art of breaking safes and breaking into grocery stores. He trains them to strike at the right time, i.e. when the safes are full of the weekly collections and when their theft would not be discovered instantly. The four girls also get trained in the art of disabling electronic security systems.

Soon they are breaking into stores and stealing large amounts of money, stamps and other valuables. The money makes them live the high life, driving flashy cars, living in a great home, visiting the fanciest clubs, etc. Of course the law catches up with them and they get caught. Smart girls they are they make a deal with the judiciary and get away with a simple 2-year sentence in which the four continue to share the same cell.

The movie is worth watching if you have lots of time on hand, if you don't watch it then you have not missed a whole lot.

Thursday, March 8, 2012

Movie Review: 21 Jump Street

One thing about Americans, they have the capability of selling anything to anyone. Just like few Bollywood film makers take bits and pieces of several English movies and make one Hindi film, Sony pictures has made a full length feature film out of a TV series. I must say they have been quite successful at that and I am pretty sure this movie will be followed up by a series of others.

I wouldn't have even heard of the movie if not for a website http://www.gofobo.com which sent me two free passes to pre-release screening of the movie. Of course every movie buff in DFW seemed to be in the line to watch the free movie but we did manage to get in and grab a decent seat.

The movie deals with the highly over rated and mythical "High School Experience" in America. An age when kids are learning to be independent, party, try out recreational drugs, learn smoking and drinking habits, and mature into presumably "responsible adults". Jona Hill is Schmidt a nerdy high school kid who is dreaming about going to the prom with the hottest chick in school. Of course the girl rejects him. On the other hand is Channing Tatum playing Jenko, an academically dumb but sporty and cool kid in the school. He barely makes a grade and results in getting barred from attending the prom.

Fast forward seven years, the duo land up in the same class of the Police Academy and graduate to become bicycle cops. They are looking to arrest someone and make a name but only end up making fools of themselves. The chief fed up with their antics transfers them to a undercover unit known as 21 Jump Street. The head of the unit is trying to recruit young underachieving officers who look like high school kids to infiltrate high school and bust a crime ring that is selling a lethal drug to teenagers.

The rest of the story is how the duo fit into the high school life and how roles get reversed. Schmidt becomes the cool guy in sports, and drama, while Jenko becomes a nerd who hacks into the school's drug dealers phone. The movie is a laughter riot, it is definitely worth watching.

21 Jump Street is releasing in theaters on March 16, 2012, try to catch it first day first show.

Thursday, February 16, 2012

Movie Review: Hero Wanted

What happens when a trash truck driver falls madly in love with a beautiful bank teller? Is able to muster up the courage to go and talk to her? Or will he pull some stupid stunt and cause a whole bunch of trouble?

That is the story of this movie I watched on Youtube. Cuba Gooding plays the role of Liam Case a trash truck driver who has recently lost his pregnant wife in an accident. One day Case is on his lunch break mulling over wife's memory he witnesses an accident in which a little girl is trapped inside a burning car. He jumps in and rescues the girl and becomes an instant Hero.

Case is madly infatuated with a bank teller and he devises a complicated plan to win her affection. He requests his friend to cause some trouble in the bank and he would scare him away and become a hero in front of her. This would help him win her affection and thus get his stable life back. Things go wrong, Case is double crossed and in the scuffle few people get hurt including the love of his life. An enraged Case starts taking revenge by eliminating the four people who were involved in the robbery.

What happens is the rest of the story. Is Case successful in getting his revenge? Will he win the love of his life? Will he get his life back in control? Watch the movie to know more. It is available free on Youtube.

Friday, February 10, 2012

Hindi Movie Review: Karma

This movie starring Jackie Shroff, Anil Kapoor and Naseeruddin Shah was released in 1986 and was a moderate hit at that time. The movie follows the theme of the legendary movie Sholay. Dilip Kumar plays the role of a compassionate jailer, Anupam Kher plays notorious terrorist commander Dr. Deng who gets arrested and placed the former's jail. In one of the interactions Dilip Kumar slaps Dr. Deng and earns his enemity. An angry Dr. Deng organizes his terrorist group and massacres the entire jail residents and Dilip Kumar's family.

In response Dilip Kumar decides to take revenge and he picks up three convicts in jail and trains them into fighting machines. Together they destroy Dr. Deng's empire and camps and eliminate him. Thus eliminating all the threats to India. This is one of the formula movies of Bollywood. Three heroes, two heroines, a villain and supporting actor. Five songs, couple of attempted rape scenes, etc. It is worth watching once and does definitely inflame passions for the country.

Monday, February 6, 2012

Kannada Movie Review: Mylari

Complete family entertainer from Shivanna!

I have said in this blog and elsewhere time and again that since the early 2000s the quality of Sandalwood movies has significantly improved. There is some real meat in the story, there are great and truly hummable songs without any double meaning. Then of course the acting and direction seems to have matured. Then of course there are a brood of imported heroines from other states who are vying for top spot in Sandalwood. All this means good entertainment for the average cine-goer in Karnataka. Hopefully now Kannadigas will start watching Kannada movies instead of patronizing other language movies.

Anyway coming to this movie, the central character Mylari (Shivrajkumar) is the older son of a rural farmer. He is not interested in studies and his father has to continuously coax, threaten, beat, plead with him to go to school. On the contrary his younger brother is a brilliant student who is doing great in school. This of course leads to discrimination from father and illtreatment of the older son. Then there is Anitha the heroine who is the village headman's daughter. She goes to the same school as Mylari and both of them are in love from childhood but neither has the courage to express it. So Mylari does the best he can, he writes his feelings in the form of poetry, and prose literature and becomes a great poet. His father of course doesn't appreciate it.

Finally one day Mylari comes to know that Anitha is getting engaged to someone else and takes the step to express his love. This leads to lot of complications and results in getting him thrown out of the house. He ends up in Bangalore and there starts the real saga. He hooks up with his old friend who has become a famous journalist in Bangalore. The latter gets him a job as a journalist/ writer and then the trouble starts. As a press reporter Mylari breaks some important stories against prominent political figures. The political leader threatens Mylari's friend and since nothing comes out of it he eliminates the entire family.

An enraged Mylari goes on a killing spree and eliminates the politician and his henchmen. Then he is arrested and sentenced to death by hanging. The entire story is said as a flash back. It is definitely worth watching and can be watched with the whole family. There are some real touching scenes in the movies, that have been excellently executed by the main actors.

Saturday, February 4, 2012

Kannada Movie Review: Buddhivanta

Laughter Riot
 
Upendra starrer Buddhivanta (2008) is a movie in which Upendra has lucidly executed his role. The movie starts off with several people coming to lodge complaints with the police against one individual who has cheated their sisters off the money by entering into a fake marriage with them. When they compare the pictures of the complainant all of them have the same picture. The police are convinced that they are dealing with the same person who is masquareding as different individuals and taking the people for a ride. They are hot on pursuit for this individual. There is a bus accident and all the passengers are admitted into the hospital, when police come to investigate they find the culprit among the injured. The police arrest the accused and present him to court.
 
The rest of the movie is a courtroom drama with Upendra the hero effectively arguing his case against all the women. The judge played by Lakshmi has pretty much no role except to sit there and watch. The heroine Pooja Gandhi also doesn't have much role except for running behind Upendra like a mad woman. Towards the end of the movie it is revealed who Upendra really is and why he went into disguise and what he hoped to achieve by doing what he did.
 
I would say this is a complete family entertainer with a generous dose of comedy included. It is totally watchable once.

Tuesday, January 31, 2012

One month into the New Year

It has been one month since the 2012 started and I have not been able to start reading any new book. The only books I have been looking at are the voluminous college textbooks. The books while full of knowledge are tailored to specific groups of people hoping to or pursuing a career in those fields. When I look at the academic rigor of this semester I don't think I will be able to read any book outside the curriculum of my school. I hope I will be able to catch a movie or two occasionally and post a review soon. Movies don't take that much involvement and it is over in a short period of time, usually less than 2 hrs. Even when I watch bollywood movies I shorten by fast forwarding the song n dance sequences and unnecessary fight scenes. This way I can cut short a 3 hr movie to less than 2 hrs. It is kind of time when I have to work long and hard and play short and hard. Look out for more movie reviews during the first quarter of this year.

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Hindi Movie Review: Haqeekat

Haqeekat, starring Ajay Devgan, and Tabbu in the lead role with Amrish Puri, Johnny Lever and a group of villain actors is one of those typical bollywood potboilers. Shiva (Ajay Devgan) is an orphan who owes his gratitude to the local underworld don for having raised him. The Don is assigned the task of eliminating the Chief minister of the state by his competitor and quite expectedly Shiva is asked to execute it. Things go wrong and the Chief Minister survives and police start searching for Shiva.

Fearing for his life his boss sends him off to Mumbai and tells him that he will be known as Ajay in future. The actual story begins here. Ajay starts living in Mrs. David's home as a paying guest. Tabbu lives in the same apartment and one day some local hooligans attempt to rape her. Ajay saves her from them and love blossoms between the two. Later it is revealed that Tabbu is a widow and her sister-in-law prevents her from meeting Ajay. Amrish Puri the assistant commissioner of police intervenes and marries the love birds.

Ajay decides to go straight and give up the life of crime and opens up a car garage. Just when things seem to be settling down his past catches up with him. His former boss comes looking for him and asks him to return to the underworld. Ajay refuses and says he is now turned a new leaf and doesn't want a life of crime. His boss reveals that Ajay is the one responsible for the death of Tabbu's first husband and this leads to marital discord.

The next turn of events make the bulk of the story and it involves another attempt to assassinate the chief minister. How Ajay successfully eliminates his enemies and regains his love is interesting to watch. There are many loopholes in the story but that is quite expected I guess, it is after all movie showbiz.

It is worth watching once if you are an Ajay Devgan fan... I love the scene when Amrish Puri refuses to accept a bribe from the local politician. That is by far one of the best scenes in the movie.

Monday, January 23, 2012

Hindi Movie Review: Chal Chala Chal

Govinda Stars in Sentimental Idealist's story
This movie is the story of what would happen to an idealistic person in India - he would be oppressed, dominated and cheated by everyone he comes across. Govinda plays the role of the youngest son of Om Puri who is a retired school headmaster. Om Puri owns a beautiful bungalow in the heart of Mumbai which is sought after by several builders and real estate developers. Being idealistic young man Govinda is emotionally attached to the home where he believes the memories of his late mother are present. Govinda has two sisters who live with him with their families in the same family bungalow. Though well settled his brothers-in-law want to sell the house and get the cash. They don't attach any emotional significance to the home.

Om Puri is fighting a legal battle with the school he was employed at for his pension and retirement benefits. The opposition lawyer is none other than his own son-in-law who is bent to save the school the money. Finally the court orders the school to give Om Puri some property to the value of his retirement benefits and they end up with a broken down bus which Govinda decides to restore and deploy on the road to earn livelihood. His bus conductor flees with the collection of a whole month and not wanting to trouble the conductor's parents Govinda decides not to lodge a police complaint. This leads to further complications.

There is a namesake heroine in the movie who doesn't have much role. The part could well have been eliminated but I guess Indian movie makers are still obsessed with the idea that without a heroine it is impossible to make a movie work. The rest of the story focuses on the tussle between the driver, conductor and owner of the bus and how the union gets involved. At each juncture Govinda displays an amazing humanity and continues to pardon those who cheat him. Finally he decides enough is enough when members of the workers union decide to vandalize the bus. There is one final fight and a court drama before the end of the movie.

This movie reinforces the message that if one is an idealist, he/ she has no place in the corrupt dog-eat-dog Indian society.

Thursday, January 19, 2012

Book Review: The Offensive Internet

I read a major part of this book over the winter break. When internet exploded during the decade of 1990s it was fascinating and presented a whole new world to everyone. Specially to people like me struggling students in the third world India. Now decades later the internet is slowly and surely becoming extremely offensive. Internet is everywhere and everything about everyone seems to be online. There has been no discretion about what should and should not be posted on the internet. It is free so everyone wants to post everything over there.

Then there are those who hide behind the cloak of anonymity and post offensive stuff about people, religion, communities, laws, countries, and everything possible. The internet has become the breeding ground for illegal, unethical, and offensive behavior by people who would otherwise be law abiding and quiet citizens of the world.

This book focuses on the perils of having an unhindered internet. This kind of research that focuses on the baneful effects of the internet is perhaps first of its kind. This is one of the few volumes that I have come across that focuses on the abuses and malpractices that are possible because of the anonymity, freedom from litigation, and lack of accountability that the internet provides. The essays featured in the book are all written from scholars of law, philosophy, technology, and other humanistic fields. This concept of the book is more like how to control/ curb the frontier spirit that once upon a time resulted in the conquering, and subsequent elimination of native American tribes and formation of this country. I wonder how much of a real effect this book will have on the establishment, but it sure provides a great starting point.

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Sankranti Greetings

Last week was Makara Sankranti or Pongal festival in India and across the world. I would like to recall a song in Kannada Movie Halli Meshtru in which the hero and heroine sing a duet on the occasion of this festival. This song only shows the enjoyment and fun aspect of the festival in rural Karnataka. The spiritual and learning aspect has been completely ignored.

Monday, January 16, 2012

Saradara Kannada Movie Review

Kannada film industry seems to be getting more and more mature. The films are getting better and there is a distinctively different storyline in many of the movies I have watched. I don't know whether the movies are being remade from other languages or they are originally conceptualized for Sandalwood. Saradara, starring Darshan is a movie with a difference. The storyline is well narrated and it upholds the traditional Indian values of family, marriage and how things work in rural India.

Darshan plays the hero with Srinivasa Murthy, Lokesh and Tara rendering excellent support for the storyline. Maada (Darshan) is an orphan whose mother would have given him to the temple priest and breathed her last. He is raised by the village and he works for the village headman. The village headman's daughter falls in love with Maada and then the twist happens. The twist that leads to several things, more and more sadness, sorrow and grief for Maada.

Throughout the movie the importance of respecting elders, and parents is emphasized. This is much like Darshan's previous movies he seems to be taking up movies in which respect to elders is the subtle message. I guess it comes right in time when young people are abandoning their parents in favor of career and other pressing priorities. I do hope the film industry continues to get better and the social message affects today's youngsters.

Thursday, January 12, 2012

Kannada Movie Review: Chandu

Kannada film industry went through a transformation with the advent of younger (now older) stars such as Ramesh, Sudeep, Darshan, Puneeth Rajkumar, and others. One of the initial movies of Sudeep is Chandu, a romantic love story with several twists, a little bit of action. This movie helped establish Sudeep as a hero in Sandalwood - Kannada film industry.

Anyway the story of this movie is pretty straight forward. Sudeep is a n angry young man living in Hyderabad, he beats up the local don and his brother and during the street fight is when he encounters the heroine for the first time. His parents fearing for his life send him to Bangalore to live with his sister, whose house is incidentally next to a ladies hostel, where the heroine lives.

Invariably both of them end up in the same college, become friends and later lovers. A small altercation leads to the lovers fighting and getting separated. The rest of the movie shows how each of them behave and finally marry each other. The movie highlights Sudeep's performance as a carefree young man with a romantic heart and a short-tempered, and stubborn heroine who finally caves in and marries him.

In short it is a highly entertaining movie totally family friendly. It is more than ten years old so you will have to find the movie in a DVD format or online on Youtube.
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Monday, January 9, 2012

Movie Review: The Eight Legged Freaks

Eight Legged Freaks
Image via Wikipedia
I had watched part of this movie several years ago in India and had forgotten about it. Out of the blue I somehow remembered the movie about larger than life spiders and searched for it on Youtube and found it. So now I can say that I have watched the complete movie The Eight Legged Freaks.

The movie takes places in a small mining town in American heartland.  A chemical spill leads the local creek getting polluted. Close at hand is the home-cum-laboratory of spider researcher Mike. The spiders consume insects from the creek, caught by mike and grow into disproportionate sizes. They first eat the scientist himself and start attacking life in the town. Cats, dogs, chicken and other small animals begin to disappear and the people of the town are perplexed. One day the phone lines go dead and the spiders attack the town killing and eating everything moving people, cattle, even cars. Nothing and no one is spared.

How the town reacts and how they get over the spider menace forms the rest of the story. There are small sidelines which deal with the deputy sheriff's family. How her teenage daughter and geeky young son handle the situation. Her estranged lover returns and they how they make up and get together again. There are some interesting off road motorcycle riding scenes. It is definitely worth watching and a completely family movie at that.
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Thursday, January 5, 2012

Movie Review: Fatal Desire

What happens when a beautiful woman is stalked by two men, one handsome and reckless, another creative, and business savvy? Who does she choose to be with? What is the outcome of such a love triangle? Is there really love or just plain convenience and lust? These are the questions that come to one's mind when you watch this movie. Directed by Roberto Schlosser, Fatal Desire is a 100-minute romantic thriller with a dash of erotica, starring Wendy Guess (Sue), Pierre Perea (Rick) and Jordan Williams (Ben).

Ben is a movie producer on whose sets a stuntwoman is killed on sets and he is facing charges of negligence. Ben has other problems, his trophy wife Sue - beautiful and sexy - is having an affair. Ben sets a private detective to follow her and get evidence. Meanwhile Rick the man who Sue is cheating with devises a plan to eliminate Ben and make it look like an accident. This way their obstacles will be cleared and they also get to collect the $2 million Ben's life insurance money. Initially hesitant, Sue agrees and the duo execute the plan. Something goes horribly wrong and Sue is being stalked by a stranger on a big motorcycle.

The end of the movie is quite surprising and goes on to show how a manipulative, and beautiful woman can get away with everything and emerge winner. I'd recommend this movie to adults and older teens. It is definitely not a family movie.

Monday, January 2, 2012

Kannada Movie Review: Indra

I have started watching Kannada movies only after moving to the US. I could say that I started watching movies itself after moving here, because when I was in India every minute of my free time was spent reading about adventure travel or participating in outdoor activities. So my movie reviews may not come across as professional but just the opinion of viewers.

Indra features Darshan and Namitha in lead roles and it is the story of an educated individual who would have given up his white collar career to become a rowdy following the brutal killing of his entire family. The movie starts off with the killing of an industrialist in Mumbai close to the Gateway of India and immediately scene shifts to the Agrahara (Brahmin's colony) in SriRangapatna town in Karnataka. Indra (Darshan) is the focus in both settings. In Mumbai he is the killer and in SriRangapatna he comes to Rama Shastri's home seeking employment as a clerk in the temple.

Indra's good nature and silent demeanor captures the hearts of Rama Shastri's family members and the neighbors. Time passes on and one day Indra hears about the release of rowdy sheeter Cat Rama from the jail. This becomes the turning point of the movie when Indra murders Cat Rama in cold blood in full view of Rama Shastri. Then there is a dramatic scene in front of the Shastri residence when Indra's background is explained and shown as flash back.

The rest of the movie is how Indra eliminates all the bad elements of the state and emerges victorious. The movie deserves one time viewing and nothing more. There is no role for the heroine, her role could have as well been eliminated. Songs are totally unnecessary in this movie. The movie can be watched with family except small children who would be better off without watching all that blood and gore.