The amazing SPIDER MAN - A well woven web that sticks!

Andrew Garfield fits the role of Spidey to the tee, so does Emma Stone as Gwen Stacey. Rhys Iffan  (Dr.Curt Connors) as the 'villain' a lizard with a conscience is apt for the role. Nice to see good 'ol' Martin Sheen and Sally fields, in a comeback of sorts! Well! our own desi Irfan Kkan essays with ease a small role in the film as Rajit Ratha (I wonder who thought of this name). Denis Leary as Captain Stacey deserves a pat and does bring a smile with his caustic humor. 

The Plot: Peter Parker finds a clue that might help him understand why his parents disappeared when he was young. His path puts him on a collision course with Dr. Curt Connors, his father's former partner.

The graphics and animation scenes simply keeps u spell bound! I really wonder why Bollywood, Kollywood and Tollywood are unable to emulate this quality in their desi productions! Though we employ the best technicians in our films I think it's the basic lack of knowledge of our directors in the field of animation that we fall pathetically short in the field of animation and graphics and fail to produce such works of excellence on screen! Coming back to the film, the action scenes are commendable and in parts outstanding especially as Spidey soars and swings all over Manhattan whipping his sticky web on to walls, bridges, skyscrapers, and even gigantic cranes. The director makes u feel that u are swinging with him ! The Lizard somehow looks like an over made up GODZILLA. 

The chemistry between Peter Parker (Spidey) and Gwen gets a big WOW from me! The climax is rather predictable but you leave the theater with a feel good feel and a big smile! A great entertainer with all the ingredients in right proportions. In fact i really enjoyed Spider Man 4 more than the Spider Man 1!

I would also like to reproduce some of the quotes which i happened to read on the web: 

"What's most amazing in The Amazing Spider-Man turns out to be not the shared sensations of blockbuster wow! the picture elicits, but rather the shared satisfactions of intimate awww".

"The Amazing Spider-Man' is dizzying entertainment that once it gets going will hold you as firmly as one of Spidey's webs".

"All due respect to Sam Raimi and Tobey Maguire, but this is QUITE A BIT better than any of the other Spider-Man films. Garfield and Stone are terrific".

KEEP SWINGING UNTIL NEXT TIME,

hc

SHANGHAI (Hindi) - A Political Thriller - The Plot - Adapted from Greek writer Vassilis Vassilikos’ 1966 novel, Z, the film, like the book and the 1969 Costa-Gavras thriller based on it, opens with a political assassination that is made to look like an accident. A political activist Dr Ali Ahmedi (Prosenjit Chatterjee, a suave videsi  male version of our own desi  Mamata Banarjee) does a 'la Nano by actively protesting against a business park which that displace hundreds of poor families.He is helped by his former student, follower and lover Shalini Sahay (Kalki Koechlin), daughter of a general facing a probe in a Rs 40-crore scam.  Those in power – including a woman chief minister (Supriya Pathak), her principal secretary (Farooque Sheikh) and a local politician who is part of the ruling coalition – are determined to stop the anti-displacement campaigner in his track.Permission is denied for the rally and a violent demonstration is organized against Dr Ahmedi. And then, one final act of desperation knocks the campaigner out of the picture, in cold blood, hit by a pick-up van driven by hired killers.A public outcry ensues and the activist’s strong-willed wife, Aruna Ahmedi (Tilottama Shome) joins Shalini Sahay (Kalki Koechlin), in demanding prompt action. 

The under-pressure chief minister (Supriya Pathak) and her principal Secretary (Farooqi Sheikh) set up a one-man commission of inquiry with a mandate to probe whether the police force was responsible for any negligence. The core question – was it an accident or a murder? – is placed beyond the commission’s terms of reference.

But IAS officer T A Krishnan (Abhay Deol), the man assigned the job of finding the truth, ferrets out more information than the powers that be had bargained for. It endangers everybody caught in the vortex of the case, including a videographer Joginder Parmar (Emraan Hashmi), who films political events in Bharat Nagar and makes pornographic videos. The Climax is rather predictable from the the very start, in fact from the very first scene and so nothing much to write about the end.

The film has been crafted rather well by Urmi Juvekar (screen play) and the director Dibakar Banerjee. The first half of the film starts rather slowly and one feels confused and perplexed as the film meanders its way and finally arrives at the midpoint. One has to be familiar with colloquial Hindi to understand the dry and sarcastic humor. Though it pleased me to note that for once a HINDI FILM makes fun of the way a Northie speaks 'firangi' English instead of deliberately making fun of south Indian languages (especially Tamil) and Abay Deol deliberately avoids making fun of Tamil, though there are a few places in the film the director does indulge in this well known and used Bollywood art of desi comedy. All the actors have performed their parts very well and a big kudos to the director for casting and extracting the best out of each one of them. Emraan, Abhay and Kalki excel. The songs are vibrant and colorful but it fades away from one's memory as soon as you leave the theater. On the whole a truthful and honest attempt from the director to stick to his plot and story line which takes the film a clear notch above the mediocrity we are used to these days. A film the producer and his team can be proud of and probably serve as an impetus to strive harder to make a film that can be termed as a classic the world of Indian cinema can be proud of!

Till next time, hC

PROMETHEUS - PROMISES TO DISAPPOINT

Prometheus (Greek: Προμηθεύς) is a Titan, culture hero, and trickster figure who in Greek mythology is credited with the creation of  man from clay and the theft of fire for human use, an act that enabled progress and civilization. He is known for his intelligence, and as a champion of mankind.

The punishment of Prometheus as a consequence of the theft is a major theme of his mythology, and is a popular subject of both ancient and modern art. Zeus, king of the Olympian gods, sentenced the Titan to eternal torment for his transgression. The immortal Prometheus was bound to a rock, where each day an eagle, the emblem of Zeus, was sent to feed on his liver, only to have it grow back to be eaten again the next day. In some stories, Prometheus is freed at last by the hero Heracles (Hercules). Among the ancient Greeks, Prometheus was venerated as a divinity.

In the Western classical tradition, Prometheus became a figure who represented human striving, particularly the quest for scientific knowledge, and the risk of overreaching or unintended consequences. In particular, he was regarded in the Romantic era as embodying the lone genius whose efforts to improve human existence could also result in tragedy: Mary Shelly, for instance, gave The Modern Prometheus as the subtitle to her novel Frankenstein (1818).

'PROMETHEUS' - I really can't understand as to why this title was conceived or thought about for this film. The film promises to give us at least science fictional explanations for some of the great questions of human existence and the origin of the creator, but it ends up never having the the courage to answer these questions. The plot - A team of explorers discover a clue to the origins of mankind on Earth, leading them on a journey to the darkest corners of the universe. There, they must fight a terrifying battle to save the future of the human race. Director Ridely Scott gets back to his favorite genre "Sci-Fi" after a brief hiatus! Well! He does show his class and there are quite a few portions of brilliance which will leave you spell bound, but at the end of it all falls short of achieving excellence. The film per say is devoid of boredom in most parts. A rather colorful star cast in Noomi Rapace, Micheal Fassbender, Charleez Theron etc perform their roles with aplomb. The 3D effects simply "GORGEOUS"! (pardon the pun). The visual effects and action sequences quite stunning. The space craft etc takes you back to the "Spielberg" era! All in all a visual treat for "Sci-fi" fans. There are quite a few gory and liquid oozing "jello" scenes which seems to be  a part and parcel of today's Sci-fi films. Over all an a reasonably satisfying  entertainer - Well!Could have been better. To sum it up "The tragedy of this Prometheus is that it begins to ask huge questions, and then saves the answers for a sequel.

UNTIL NEXT TIME WITH PROMise OF MORE! hC

90 PLUS 90 = 90

Sorry about my arithmetic - The Tamil film 180 fell short of my expectations. The director Jayendra in my opinion could have delivered a hit  had he used his vast experince to weave a meaningful story. The film opens with the H.T (Hot-throb-deliberate pun) NRI doctor Siddarth while taking a dip in the ganges,in one fleetimg moment realizes the value of living a meaningful life and to never fear death and that too from a young boy! Then its all about our hero Sid who goes around painting chennai with all the good deeds the director could think of. His penchant and speciality being helping young poor boys pushed into child labour working as newspaper boys, in tea shops etc. Yes! you must have guessed it if you have not you dumbos let me enlighten u - HEROINE no 1 watches this whole processwith facination -at least you should have guessed by now- H1 madly falls in lovewith SID, but our  poor SID  is blissfully unaware that she has (jollu vazhinching) fallen in love with him. As the film meanders nearly to the interval point H1 proposes to SID unaware of the existence of H2 but poor sid is totally aware of anything  is totally stupified and dumb stuck literrally. SID then suddenly decides to slink out of town but our H1 gives  hot chase but in the bargain meets with an accident and yes our hero SID is forced to fly her to the USA where the whole story initially began soory didn't i tell  u about this earlier.Am i confusing you-YES! I am, So please go and watch the second half and meet Heroine 2 and SID'S dear old friend who will help u unfold the second half of the story. Honestly guys a lot of effort has been put in by way of Camera work, Costumes and painstakingly chosen locations, so please go and watch the film at least once for my sake. Yes! I did come out rather dissappointed, but my wife and daughter rather liked the film. The negatives - The climax that left a lot to be desired. Another major flaw in the film being -Why does the chief doctor fail to disclose to SID'S wife that her husband is alive and kicking. No 2-The director somehow seemed to be confused with the characterisation of the hero - as he oscillates between a cancer patient facing death who somehow turns into a schitzophonic time and again.

Now to sum it up 90 PLUS 90 IS 90 AND NOT 180. Until next time.

Yours Truly

HC

MY TAKE ON "KO"

It suddenly dawned on me that i should review the films i watch, so i decided to make a beginning with the most recent film i viewed "KO". TAMIL CINEMA IS ON A REMIX MODE. "KO" IS A REMIX OF MANY TAMIL,ENGLISH AND OTHER LANGUAGE FILMS. K.V.ANAND HAS CLEVERLY CRAFTED AND PACKAGED AN ENTERTAINER WHICH HAS SHADES OF MANI RATHNAM, K.S.RAVIKUMAR AND SHANKAR ALL WOVEN AND REMIXED INTO ONE COMMERCIAL ENTERTAINER. THE MOVIE IS SHOWCASED AS A SERIOUS THRILLER BUT ENDS UP LITERALLY AS A SPOOF OF A SERIOUS TAMIL THRILLER. THE MACHO REPORTER (JEEVA) THE DRESSED UP DOLL Y KARTHIKA WHO KEEPS ROLLING HER EYES ALL THE TIME. THE AGGRIEVED SECOND HEROINE PIA BAJPAI WHOSE DEATH SOMEHOW FAILS TO MOVE YOU. THE NEW GENERATION VILLAINS WHO REMIND YOU OF THINGS TO COME. AS A BONUS CAR CHASES, ITEM NUMBERS, STUNT SCENES AND EXOTIC LOCATIONS ARE THROWN IN TO SATISFY THE AVERAGE TAMIL CINEMA VIEWER. ALL IN ALL WHAT MR.MANI RATHINAM LOST IN "GURU" AND "RAVAN" WAS FOUND AND REMIXED BY MR K.V.ANAND . SOMETIMES I THINK THAT AS A WRITER AND DIRECTOR I SHOULD STOP WORKING TOO HARD ON MY SCRIPTS AND CONCENTRATE ON REMIXING MY THOUGHTS! I INVITE UR POINT OF VIEW ON THIS REVIEW OF MINE AND YOUR TAKE ON THE FILM "KHO". BYE !FOR NOW,

HC

Source Code - "Adi Shankara" Went one further!

Source Code a much hyped film is once again a remix of quite a few films! "Avatar" ,:"Timeline"; and "De-Ja-Vu" being a few.The director once again has acheived the magical remix formula! Here our hero is a dead helcopter pilot whose brain is used to teleport his thoughts to another body ( I mean literally) a victim of a train disaster (effected by  demented terrorist). Here as usual  a very hush hush agency of the U.S govt discovers a remarkable method to tele port our hero into the body of the victim to discover 1) the explosive device, 2) the villain  and 3) his future mega disaster plan to reduce Chicago to a rubble so that a new "NERO" vision future idealistic city to be built by the crazy demented villain. The film is a triangular cat and mouse game between the hero, the inventer of the source code and the villain. The hero a look good "hot" bodied individual (as my daughter puts it) and so does the heroine who falls for him instantly on a rebound. The goateed villain who walks with a limp and a walking support probably to denote a war hero? And the innocent looking sinister villain. All in all the viewer is mentally zipped and zapped between time zones but bodily kept glued to his seat. To the director's credit he has hardly used any graphics or gimmicks but has effectively potrayed his thoughts very well on celluloid. To sum it all "Adi Shankara" it appears wanted to experience marital bliss and so he left his body and teleported his soul into the body of a king who was in his death bed and ended up experiencing all the nuances of married life. The only glich in this methodology being his original body had to be guarded carefully till his soul returned to it. Any takers on a sequel "Source Code-2"! Thanx! for a couple of responses on my first take on "KHO". Do keep writing,  HC

FAST FIVE-WOW! Man this flick really moves fast !

Director Justil Lin should be complimented on sticking to his task 'A fast and furiously paced racey action film is " FAST FIVE". An Indian desi heroes dream masala film but fortunatelty for me it was catapulted on the right track by a good director who knew all the tricks of this genre . Every actor from Van Diesel, Paul Walker, Jordan Brewster to Dwayne Jhonson have played their parts so well that you are on the edge of your seat most of the time. The plot follows a similair and well  used formula by hundreds of hollywood action thrillers.

A Former cop Brian O'Conner partners with ex-con Dominic Toretto on the opposite side of the law. Dominic and his crew find themselves on the wrong side of the law once again as they try to switch lanes between a ruthless drug lord and a relentless federal agent.I dont want to reveal anything more as there is nothing more to reveal! Really guys I am not joking! But still the film is a complete entertainer par exellence!

The modified cars racing along a running train simply awesome. The cars dragging the safe fault and chased by cops and the villain throughout rio de jeniro leves you open mouthed. The action and fight scenes are straight out of a James bond movie and the pace of the action scenes could be compared with Ong Bak.There is not one dull moment throughout the film. It is Hollywood MASALA at its best. The DOP has done a fantastic job! YOU Travel through Rio de Jeniro in first person.The stunts by Heather Arthur and co and the visual effects by Briana Aebey great. The art direction along with special effects and sound very good indeed. On the whole a CLEAN, AWESOME ACTION FILM one from which i learnt quite a few tricks. Finally if you didn't know let me enlighten you with a small piece of additional info that VAN DIESEL one of the heroes in the film is also one of the producers of the fiilm. So what are you waiting for grab ONE popcorn One coke and have ONE girl friend by your side and enjoy the fillm as she clings on to you screaming with joy forgetting the Coke and the Popcorn! HAVE FUN! and pl dont forget to thank me!

HC