The Dark Knight: Something to die for

Runtime: 2hrs 30 mins
Genre: Thriller/Action
Director: Christopher Nolan
Cast: Heath Ledger, Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, Aron Eckhart, Maggie Gynelhall



"Madness is like gravity...all it takes is a little push" exclaims the joker with aplomb. And it's the joker who you wait for to come on screen to make the exciting look nerve wrecking, to make the evil look brutally devilish, to make the clinking hear like maddening thunder.

It's Heath Ledger all the way. His portrayal of joker has got written an Oscar all over it. No remorse, no cry...just being at diabolic best is what comes out splashed all over the screen with Ledger delivering such a towering performance. He scares Gotham not just in the body but in the spirits. And Batman, the do-gooder can at best watch helplessly as the Joker trundles his way to make the entire Gotham hostage to his undying zeal to cast the evil over the city.

The movie starts with a heist in the Gotham city. Naturally, Batman (Christian Bale) being the protector, gets after the criminals. And who better than Joker to assure all the dons that if they eliminate Batman, Gotham city would be ruled by them. But then, Gotham has got crusaders like Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart), a highly talented lawyer, who is hell bent to put behind bar all the criminals. With Batman aka Bruce Wayne, the industrialist, realizing that Gotham needs a crusader with a face rather than a caped crusader like him, throws his weight and might behind Harvey Dent. Dent manages to put behind bars all the criminals, but not the Joker, who is busy executing his menacing plans. Judges and Police chiefs are blown up, the entire Gotham city is getting empty, and people have started loosing trust in goodness....all that joker wanted. And yes, Joker also manages to transform the good fellow Harvey Dent into a hardened soul, who is out to kill those he think are responsible for his miseries. However, the good (Batman) has to triumph over the evil, and so he does with Lucius Fox (Morgan Freeman) and Alfred Pennyworth (Michael Caine) as his trusted aides.

The movie is full of face-offs between the the Joker and the Batman. Like when joker crashes into the party and declares to the scared gathering, "Ladies and Gentlemen! We are the entertainers tonight." And in the prison cell where the Joker teases and plays with Batman.

Rock solid direction from Nolan...not even a moment is dull...absolutely riveting stuff. Christian Bale also delivers a good performance with Maggie Gyllenhall delivering goods in a supporting role. Morgan Freeman and Michale Caine are of course legends and do not disappoint. But in the end, it's the Joker root for. Too sad, Ledger has left...but this is the best parting gift any actor worth his salt could give.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull: Endless Adventure, Unlimited Fun

Duration: 1hr 50 minutes

Genre: Action-Adventure

Directed by: Steven Spielberg

Starring: Harrison Ford, Cate Blanchett, Shia Labeouf, John Hurt

At the outset, I'll put my hand up and say that I have not seen any of the three products of the famous Indian Jones franchisee...so no preconceived notions and no scope for bias for a childhood favorite flick, which would be the case with many a reviews of this movie.

So what do we have here...well, just imagine how much fun can a movie be, and you have got Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of Crystal Skull. Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) caught right in the middle of a nuclear explosion, swordfight atop the army jeeps driving at the breakneck speed through the amazons, the crew caught in the monstrous waterfalls, giant contraptions and mazes...edge of the stuff all through. Spielberg delivers the way only he can.

The movie begins with Indi (Indiana Jones) caught by Russians, led by Irina Spalko (Cate Blanchett) who have control over a strategic location in Nevada. A thrilling escape by Indi, not just from the Russians but a nuclear explosion, which incinerates everything (discover how he escapes that). Indi is asked to leave his job as Professor of Archeology due to FBI investigations being carried out about him. Mutt Williams (Shia LeBeouf), the knife-happy street junkie catches Indi and tells him that his old colleague, Oxley (John Hurt) disappeared after discovering a crystal skull. That brings Indi to Peru to solve the crystal maze. Fighting tribals jumping out of caves, escaping quick sand using a snake as rope, caught by the human devoring red ants, Indi and crew discover the crystal skull and finally bring to the place it belongs to, only to discover the secret shrouded behind the legends and mythology of the place.

The movie packs more than a punch, with brilliant performances from everyone. Harrison Ford is still charming at 65 and oozes that rugged style, which makes him the perfect choice for the role. Cate Blanchett is the perfect Russian General (yeah...she gets her R's and T's right). Shia plays the perfect foil to Indi. Amidst all the adventure, Mutt also discovers that Indi is his real father, what with the romantic undercurrents still strong between his mother and Indi. And yes, he does participate in his mother and father's marriage in the end.

So, my advice to you movie buffs is ....IPL can take a back seat. Grab your pop corns and enjoy to hilt.Publish Post

Iron Man: Join in the Fun

Duration: 1hr 50 minutes

Genre: Comic-Book Action-Adventure

Directed by: Jon Favreau

Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Jeff Bridges

Another one from Marvel stable, and another fantastic rollercoster ride. Iron Man is sheer fun, all through. The plot is simple, but the treatment is grand. The movie starts off with Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.), the multi-billionaire head of Stark Industries, the premier manufacturer of hitech weapons. Stark also has a pretty secretary, Pepper Pots (Gwyneth Paltow). Tony Stark is also a top-notch R&D scientist. He lands in Bagram (Afghanistan) to demonstrate his new-breed missiles , which could smoke out terrorists from their hides. Stark proudly claims that this weapon is indeed going to make world safer, only to regret it later. The demo is perfect, but not his ride back. Terrorists attack the convoy and Stark wakes up in a dark cave. And with what...a contraption embedded in his chest to prvent the sharpnels from piercing his heart. And who did that...another felllow prisoner.

Well aware of Stark's capabilities, Pashto and Urdu spreaking terrorists (could you ever imagine that you would get to hear dialgues such as "In kutto pe nazar rakhna" in a mainstream Hollywood movie!) ask him to come up with the missile right there in the captivity. After initial refusal, Stark agrees but only to work on an entirely different thing...Yes! The Iron Man suite. With the help of fellow prisoner, Stark blasts his way out of the cave, before destroying all the ammunition --consisting mostly of high-class weapons from his company that were now property of terrorists.

Stark comes home, and announces at his home-return pressconference that Stark Industries would shut down the production of all the weapons, which were being used against US Army by terrorists, only to be shooed away and kept out of public view by partner, Obadiah Stane (Jeff Bridges). Stark, the nerd, and now an anti-war protagianist, prepares a much-advanced version of the Iron Man suite. Things take strange turns, when Stark discovers further disturbing truths about the operations of Stark Industries, with her only confidante being Papper. His realization of protecting innocent lives takes him to Afghanistan to give terrorists a taste of their own medicine, but he has his biggest adversary back hom in US. The Good triumphs over the Evil, with enough scope for the Evil to rise from the ashes gain and again be quashed by the Good. Yes, I am talking about a sequel, folks...set for April 2010.

The movie has several things working in its favor. Robert Downey Jr. might not sound like an ultimate superhero stuff, but he essays the role of the Iron Man to the hilt. He is as effortless in being a spoil, aloof rich man as he is being the saviour of the world. Special affects are eyeball-catching stuff. Especially watch out for the sequence where Iron Man flies with two fighter planes trying to bring him down. Escaping rockets and missiles ready to rip him part, Stark is on th phone with his friend from US Airforce, who suspects the unidentified flying object to be Stark and calls him up. It's humor and action as never before! Downey also shows his humrous side working with all the geek stuff at his laboratory. Whether he is trying to balance his flight in Iron Man suite or his joyrides up into and outside the atmosphere, he is great fun to watch. The only sore point is that Gwyenth Paltrow does not have much to do in the movie. However, such a movie doesn't give you much choice also, playing a second fiddle to the superhero.

The movie ends with a press conference after all the bedlam comes to an end, and Stark has to calm down all the speculations of the world's press. The parting line from Stark is the killer blow in th movie, and you just keep admiring that line, delivered so in-your-face by Stark, long after you have seen the movie! And yes...just as the credits roll in, it's Black Sabbath's strigs strutting in the background with their iconic hit, Iron Man! Did you say, expected? Heck...so what. It was heady!

To wrap it up, this one's a knockout.

10000 BC: A mindless, insipid waste of time

Duration: 1 hr 50 min.

What a disaster of a movie to come from Roland Emmerich, the man who has given the likes of 'The Independence Day' and 'The Day After Tomorrow'. Do not even consider watching this stupid, nonsensical, and bland movie, which is full of mammoths, and, for that matter, their shit. You actually don't get to see the shit, but feel you are slithering down the piles of it as the movie progresses. Horrible script, eminently forgettable characters, armies of demented tribes (who keep on rambling nonsense, which is supposedly their language), and lackluster direction make this my candidate for the worst movie of the year award.

Coming to be touted as having out-of-the-world computer-graphics effects, I was pained to say they are extremely poorly handled. Mammoths do make a lot of noise, but not even one scene make you feel on the edge of the seat. The giant Sabre tooth is actually a pussy who just happens to roar. And creatures which run amok in the jungles are extremely irritating..you feel like quashing one and then pee on it.

If you have read this far, I am sure you have already chosen to make you weekend much more happening by choosing to sleep. However, if you still wanna try out 10000 BC, I just have to say, "Watch out! You'll actually get to know the taste of shit."

National Treasure: Book of Secrets -- A Thoroughly Entertaining Joyride

Nicholas Cage, in his role of Benjamin Gates, is back to hunting down the treasure of even vaster proportions, this time fueled by the desire to absolve his sullied family name in being a conspirator to the killing of America's favorite president, Abraham Lincoln.

The film opens with a post-Civil War peaceful, sedate evening in 1865 becoming one of the landmarks-- tainty as it may be-- in the history, what with Lincoln being shot in head in a theatre. In another place, a highly skilled cryptologist cum puzzle solver is asked to solve a coded message, who manages to smell a rat in the whole thing. The cryptologist, manages to solve the puzzle but throws the paper in fire instead of parting with solution, as he knows its about a treasure that Confederates want to get hold of. He is shot before his son, but not before he tells his son "The debt that all men pay."

Cut to circa 2007. Benjamin Gates is addressing a conference on Civilian Heroes, along with his father. Mitch Wilkinson (Ed Harris) produces the half-burned page that bears a name, Thomas Gates, the great-great grandfather of Ben, and accuses Gates' great-great grandfather of hatching the plot to kill the President. Ben's father is extremely hurt at this family name being tarnished with such accusation, which everyone seems to have started believing. The only option before Ben to prove his great-great Grandfather not guilty, is to actually track down the Gold treasure -- the treasure that he has to find using only a half-burnt piece of paper and the last words that his great-great grandfather spoke to his son. Thus, begins a treasure chase -- assisted by his friend, girlfriend and now-estranged Dad and Mom-- that goes across countries from Eiffel Tower in Paris to Buckingham Palace in Britain to the Oval Office in Washington DC to the Library of Congress to Mount Rushmore. Ben craftily wades his way through all the trouble and of course finds the treasure, to eventually clear his family name. But not before, he survives near death on many occasions.

The movie delivers what it promises. The action is not superlative, but sufficiently fast-paced and adrenalin-pumping to keep you on the edge of your seat. Cage carries the movie on his shoulders, and is able supported by his co-actors. But still, take out Cage, and I might just not go to the movie. Such is Cage's panache, his effortless dialogue delivery, he makes the movie
an absolute must watch. How many actors in the world can deliver the following lines with as flawless an ease as Cage on being asked how is he doing -- "Well, My girlfriend has kicked me out. I am staying with my father. And, my family lineage has been accused of being conspirators to Lincoln's murder." No one, but king Cage only. Subtle as well as profound, humor runs throughout the film. There is even a lesson for Americans trying to drive in Britain!

The film is full of smart-ass tricks as well as nail-biting sequences (watch the sequence where four people are perched atop a dobble-dabble rectangular block, and everyone, including the bad guy, Mitch Wilkinson, must co-ordinate with each other in balancing the stone, lest all of them are hurled down the dark abyss - an absolutely gripping sequence.) Cage also manages to kidnap USA's president (with full support from the President), and obtain the address of an arcane book of secrets handed down from one president to another, and which stores the darkest of secrets of American history.

This one is not to be missed at any cost. No profanities, just good clean entertainment, which will set your pulse racing. Still pandering to your weekend relaxation watching TV? Go, get a life - Watch National Treasure: Book of Secrets.