Pirates of Carribean : Heralding a new Beginning

The Pirates series has yet been revitalised following the launch of the new installment in the POC triology oops quadrology now forth. The movie is all about Jack Sparrow..... sorry I forgot there should be a "Captain" somewhere. Johnny Depp continues from where he left in Public Enemies. His performance in one word Stellar. The movie is all about him right from the very start to the very last stroll on the carribean beach where we are still left pondering if a next Pirates is on the cards or not.

The movie is new start fresh with a new story and new characters put into place to appeal to the audience who have not even seen a single part of the so famous franchise. I dearly missed Keira Knightly but with Penelope in the picture we can forgot the British damsel. The movie is dark in comparison to the previous versions, there is a lot of mystery in the story. Questions popping up every now and then but the story is held together by the answers to many a puzzles. And the idea to revolve the story around the myth of the FOuntain of Youth was a masterstroke considering that every one has his own version. And being a fantasy movie we did not even expect anything logically sane. The movie has been wild locales (that is the precise word I would use). The rain forests, the snake and the weird surroundings do manage to seem creepy at times. Creepy, creepy and creepy but yeah gripping. The movie rolls on smoothly and I did not even realize that it was already intermission time when it actually came. And to top it all beautiful mermaids. Except for the part where they kill, elsewhere they just managed to grab my fantasy.

Coming to the acting scene, Johnny Depp runs the movie from beginning to end. Give him any role and he would not disappoint no matter what. Penelope is a pretty damsel who manages to fit into the scenario. Other characters form the integral part of the POC franchise and they did chip in with good performances. Keira and Orlando were missed but the Jack made sure the miss was not that huge and the movie did revive the franchise.

Go for it and watch it. I will give it a 4 star rating.

SmallVille - End of Clark Kent and Beginning of SuperMan

This is one series which has been close to my view for over last 4 years watching all the 10 seasons episode by episode, but as the curtains drew on it on 13 May 2011, I realized I was going to miss the series which I had started watching during college even going almost 21 hours at a stretch to watch some episodes. But yeah I have liked the series very much, especially Lana in the initial seasons and then it was Kara.

Smallville is the story of Clark Kent before he even became Superman. The first season really gets you knowing all the characters associated with the mega series especially Clark, Lana and Chloe with rest of the characters playing a side fiddle and oops how can I forget his arch rival Lex Luthor. Lex's was one character which grew the most over the 10 seasons finally becoming the nemesis he was supposed to be as a part of the Superman chronicles. As the series grew up in seasons, so did the characters adding more and more superheroes from the Justice League including the Green Arrow, Flash amongst the few. Villains also went on the rampage namely Braniac, Darkseid, Granny amongst the few. But all through out the series had kept me glued to it in spite of the occasional family dramas being added into the scene. As the series progresses Clark learns of his powers, weakness though he knew from the first episode itself. He learns his purpose which is reflected in the series finale.  We also get a lot of insight into the Superman world, learning about how it all began till the present situation. Overall the series did live up to the billing and delivered some actuals to the fans of Superman.

The series had some awesome soundtracks, twists and plots, crazy ideas of villanism and many other things. But all together it is a series to be watched slowly rather than spending sleepless nights on the trot trying to wrap it up.

Fast Five - Cruising along on Five Gears

Hi,

Back after a hiatus owing to some work overload but Fast Five made me forget all those extra hours of hard work. The movie did not disappoint at all as I had good expectations from it after the pevious failures. The movie was a high adrenaline action drama right from the word go and yeah it got both THE ROCK and DOM aka VIN in the same movie providing the battle of physique on screen and it was really something watch as they fought it out the old style.

The movie was really simple yet had the power to keep you glued to your seats not giving you a clue about whats gonna happen next. And the cineatic portrayal of Rio was something realistic going into the alleys and side paths to get a realistic approach to the concept of illegal street racing and the lives of people in it. The visuals have been stunning and the locations street like. The movie has some family drama but you can skip all that in a movie of such thrill and action. The movie does pose some questions to Newton's laws and earth's gravity, but in a such paisa vasool movie who cares of all that. And there is one scene where you can't help question how did that happen and I am not referring to the stunts. If you still want the answer you can ask me. And babes, come on I was unable to shut my mouth. Speed and sexy girls go hand in hand. The movie is an evidence to that. The fights have been hand-to-hand, with Dom and Rock you would not want stunts, no way. The humour in the movie is also really good with Roman taking all the accolades for making us tickle.

Now coming to the acting department, everybody has tried to keep it plain simple and thus sparking a new life to the Fast and Furious franchise. Rock is quite of an arrogant revelation who uses sheer raw power and brute force to get his job done. Vin does what he does best, muscles his way with the Mustang at the end. Paul Walker and Mia both give in a good performance, nothing out of the ordinary but a good one. And then we have Gal Gadot. My eyes' were stuck to her through out and oh boy she was hot hot hot. Rest of the crew were also chipped in with notable performances. Elena and Han were good at what they did.

And lets talk about the mean machines. The off terrain vehicle used in the initial part made me think, where the hell were such things were being made. Then we had Ford GT 40, the classic which was a phenomenon in its own time. Gurkha LAPV was a monster for sure matching the dimensions of The Rock, I wish I could lay my hands on one of them. Then we have the ever present 1970 Dodge Charger which belonged to Dom. Koenigsegg CCX, 2011 Dodge Charger Police Interceptor, Dodge Charger SRT, Nissan GT-R, Honda NSX, 2010 Lexus LFA, Dodge Challenger, Subaru STi, Nissan 370Z, Pantera Detomaso, 1965 Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sport were some of the muscle and exotic and classic cars being filmed along with the Ducati Street Racer.

Overally the movie was a arenaline pumper from all possible angles. Do watch the movie if you are a racing buff. WIll give it a 4-star. A must watch.

Thor --- Please someone hammer the movie

I am back after a sleepy weekend and I bring on the plate THOR based on Norse mythology which turns out to be an utter disappointment. A long journey from my place to the multiplex, some amount of tiring walking and a not-upto-the-grade movie just made the Sunday like one to forget. The movie is like one Mahabharat but one brother against another instead of five pandavas against 100 kauravas. But the movie struggles to hold the plot together.

The movie did start off well cinematically. The visuals makes you open your mouth watching with your mouth wide open wondering the beauty the movie had to offer in the form of Asgard. The 3D effects even leave you wondering if such a place can exist or not. But lets move on, we have seen such things which let you down at the end. The before intermission part keeps you engrossed between an arrogant warrior going berserk with his Mjolnir wiping out a whole army of frost giants and the same person's comical indulgence into the human world. Things turn humorous after Norse culture and Human tendencies go for a romantic attraction. The first half's raw action keeps you waiting for more and the end is also quite intriguing considering the hammer is no more usable but we can guess it that Thor is going to use it. The father banishes the arrogant warrior son to earth to teach him the attributes to become a king but he still goes around fighting with SHIELD agents flooring everyone. So the intermission keeps you wondering whats gonna happen next.

The second half moves almost 1.5x times faster than the first half. I was pretty puzzled what was happening with the incidents happening in fast forward. Thor gets his power back, kills the destroyer as if it were some wooden plank. Here comes the evil brother who has been trying to keep the throne for himself. Whatsoever, they simply hurry through the script and the acting is non existent. The end is predictable, with the good brother seeing off the bad brother. Sacrificing love for home. The move is all so known to the watcher.

Coming to the acting class, Chris aka Thor is there for fighting not acting. Natalie Portman after Black Swan should not have done this movie, with she being almost next to non existent. Loki aka the bad brother is really good at being bad and I should say his acting is standout. The rest of the actors are average.

Cinematic the movie is splendid. Acting wise thumbs down. Ergonomically not worth spending 200 bucks at the multiplex for this movie. Raw action and no script gives it a 2 and half star.