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Broken Arrow (1996)
Ridiculous
Stupid hackneyed movie, totally not worth your 105 minutes. The plot pops out of nowhere, "experienced" ex-Marines shooting away like stormtroopers, nuclear devices that can be turned ON and OFF by chubby little keypads and remote controls, which looks way too cute even for your sister's TV. Travolta overacts while the Slater keeps flashing his charming smile like this is some silent movie. Even Woo was aware this movie had nothing going for it, that is why he kept putting in the awesome soundtrack wherever he could. Hans Zimmer has done a great job on the track, it had me pausing the movie and rushing to try it out on my guitar. Manthis does a good job, but then again she was underwritten, also no explanations as to how a park ranger has such rad martial arts skills. And lets not even go the part where Slater lets her do the risky stuff and goes off to the authorities for help. Seriously, don't watch it.
Zodiac (2007)
Purely Fincheristic
An intense, albeit slow, telling of the story of the Zodiac killings, this movie transports its audience back to the 60's and 70's, and makes them relive the tension and paranoia that shrouded the lives of the public back then. The Zodiac Killer was active during those days, a serial killer who would leave codes and mail ciphers and letters to the newspapers, gloating over his kills. It follows the story of the young cartoonist Robert Graysmith, played by Jake Gyllenhaal, for whom hunting down the Zodiac became a morbid obsession and remained so long after the case had gone cold and the police had stopped hunting him down. It also follows the lives of Inspector Toschi (Mark Ruffalo) and Paul Avery, the first journalist to take an active interest in the Zodiac killings (Robert Downey Jr.). The film-makers have shown as accurate a picture as possible on celluloid, basing their stories on the book by the real-life Graysmith. This is a must-watch for all those who love the crime- thriller genre. It has an ending that leaves the audience wanting to believe something, but not being sure.
Antitrust (2001)
A waste of time!
I saw this movie because it featured in some most-watchable movies list, and having seen it, I don't trust the list so much. It is one of your run-of-the-mill thriller belonging to the days when computer geeks were still a revered, and rare, species. Ryan Phillippe plays Milo Hoffman, a stereotypical computer geek, who originally wants to make a software, open-source and all, with his best buddy Teddy Chin (Yee Jee Tso), both of them being among "the top 20 programmers in the world" (how convenient!). But then comes Bill Gates' doppelganger Ryan Winston, offering them the benefits and perks of coming to work in N.U.R.V., the monopolistic giant of the computers industry (wink wink Microsoft!). Milo takes it, Teddy doesn't. Teddy dies. Between the name of the movie and the sequencing of the scenes, you can see the 'twist' coming from a mile away. But what really does this movie in is its portrayal of computer geeks, playing on every stereotype you can think of; they live and work in their garages (why they were doing it while the house was clearly theirs, beats me), they have no social life ("you have a girlfriend? Thats rare around here"), coding and generating algorithms being basically two guys prancing around the computer, hitting the keys with hand movements that would put the Jedi to shame, and yes, one of them HAS to be Asian. This apart from the obvious hate that the writers had for Microsoft; there is no way you can look at Ryan Winston and not be reminded of Bill Gates, and of course the computer that finally beats the system HAD to be a Macintosh. My advice, stay the hell away from this one and random internet lists.
The Way Back (2010)
Sorry, I didn't cry
The Way Back is the story of a a group of prisoners breaking out of a siberian Gulag and walking across Siberia, Mongolia, China and Tibet, an epic journey of 4000 km to reach freedom in India. Its one of those movies you don't want to miss out on seeing. The cast is wonderful, and the cinematography is breathtaking. Exotic and grandiose shooting locations contrast nicely with the all-too human struggle for survival of the characters.
There are no specific flaws in this movie that you can point out and say,"There! Thats where they screwed up". No, but the movie somehow leaves you unsatisfied in the end. Its not about what the movie did wrong, but there were so many places where it missed out, where it could have transcended the gap between Good and Fantastic. For one, the characters seemed to mould into one another, there wasn't much to tell them apart, you could have easily switched the back-stories of any two characters and it wouldn't have made a difference. As such, there was no emotional bond you form with any of them, deaths hardly matter to the audience. There have been movies where a character dying would break the heart of the viewer, but here it barely registers.
Also, it hardly brings out the true nature of suffering. Apart from the extensive make-up and the occasional staggering-and-falling, there is not much of an indication of the physical toll and mental trauma that a person would go through in such a circumstance. As such, when they do finally make it to their destination, the happiness that the viewer feels is short-lived and minor.
A Way Back reads more like a documentary. It doesn't manage to pull off the human side of it. One movie which had so much potential, I would be glad if there's a remake, by a better director and cast.
Messages Deleted (2010)
Clichéd
A movie that starts off with a mockery of clichés and then goes on to show that it contains each one of them. There is blood, there is a workaholic cop, a struggling professional in a dysfunctional relationship who realizes he cares for his girl in the moment of crisis, the prodigal protégé' and a "twist" that could be spotted from the moon. I had narrowed down on the eventual villain 20 mins into the movie, and so will you.
Performances are forgettable, a very lame and unconvincing attempt by the actors to show sexual tension between their respective characters, and its as if death, even of your loved ones, can be forgotten in a matter of minutes.
I am not even writing this review properly, coz seriously, even trashing this movie seems like a waste of time. You wanna stay away from this one, trust me.
Ragini MMS (2011)
Applaud the effort
In a country where movies like 1920, and Phoonk qualify as horror tales, you have to see the major step forward that this one makes. The location chosen was good, especially the grove of trees that one has to cross to get to the house (Blair Witch Project). I remember seeing the couple pass through it on their way in, at the beginning of the movie and it had struck me then that the last scene will most likely play out there (and it did). Apart from that, the director has got a lot of techniques right; the inclusion, and focus on, mirrors, using night-vision and switching it off at all the right places. Even the basic premise of the place being rigged with cameras and the whole movie being shown through their lenses (Paranormal Activity), gives it the more realistic and hands-on touch.
My only complaint to the director is why not let that authenticity prevail? Why put in those shrieking and high-pitched background noises every time the ghost makes an appearance, speaking of which, why show the ghost so early in the movie, or even at all? Why not let the imaginations of the audience fly and let them fill in the gaps themselves? Because when you do that, every member of the audience fills it up with what terrifies him/her the most; the fear of the unknown being much greater.
Another credit to the movie is that its parallel storyline, the one about the guy videotaping his sex sessions, was interesting enough to make you forget, at least for a few moments, that you are in to watch a horror movie. You even pray at times, for the ghost to intervene quickly, before the guy gets any material. Also, when the ghost does kill the guy, she doesn't stop going after the girl, something I was really afraid would happen, the ghost revealing her benevolent self and everyone going home happy. For Bollywood horror movies, this does represent a level of maturity, hitherto mostly unseen.
A special mention for the casting; the female lead plays her role well, depicting an innocent and trusting girl caught up in her boyfriend's malevolent schemes, and later running for her life from the ghost. All in all, watch it if you are an avid Bollywood movie-watcher, its unlike anything you have seen till date. And for the ones into Hollywood horror movies like myself, watch it, but don't expect a single shock, or even a mild chill, and then sit down to write a review.