The Taking of Pelham 123

Folks...you have to excuse me, but this review is gonna be biased. Heck, what else you expect when you have a movie with Trovolta playing the bad guy. Add to it Denzel Washington...and the movie becomes a scorcher no matter how deadpan is the storyline. These are two iconic stars of our generation who make screen come alive with their mere presence.

It's not an action movie, so don't go expecting huge explosions and flying daggers and bullets. Rather, for a good part, the movie is merely a conversation between our two leading men, Garber (Denzel Washington) and Ryder (John Trovolta). But just listen to it and it's trillion tons more enjoyable than exploding screens. Garber, a regular railway employee who directs subway trains, is caught in an awkward situation to talk to Ryder who has taken hostage a subway train with passengers in it. Ryder wants $10 million only to reveal later that the stakes are much high than that amount.

Garber becomes the chief negotiator and has to also hand over money to Ryder in the train, and also drive the train to take Ryder to safety. However, Garber decides to play supercop and chases down Ryder and ends up face to face in a do-or-die situation.

The plot has some serious loopholes and the direction too is not enigmatic. Tony Scott is definitely not the greatest director ever. However, the mere presence of Trovolta and Washnigton lifts the movie several notches higher than the regular crap Hollywood spews these days.

Watch it and enjoy you two hours.

The International: A superb thriller with the one of the best gunfight scenes ever shot

Just go for it. Period. The International is the best thriller of the year so far. And to top it all -- it has got one of the best ever gunfight scenes...gripping, gruelling and gross!

The plot of the movie is quite topical. With the whole ready to crucify bankers for being those who brought the recession, the movie suggest that it is the bankers who hold the whole world to ransom and are the real evil of this world.

The International starts with the Interpol agent Louis Salinger's (Clive Owen) colleague getting killed. He tracks all this fishy business to IBBC bank, which is involved in a multi-million dollar arms deal. Throughout sporting a dishevelled look, which quite suits him, Clive Own, aided by the beautiful Eleanor Whitman (Naomi Watts), chases the killer from Berlin to Paris to Milan to New York, where eventually the epic gunfight happens. But tracking down the killer is just revealing the tip of the iceberg. It's the powerful people at IBBC who make the shady deals that involve everyone in the system. I won't reveal the final plot as to how Clive Owen brings the bank down...or does he?

The International is a gripping tale of international conspiracy and murder. The cinematography is absolutely marvellous, with fantastic overhead shots of various locations in Europe and smart camera angles during the gunfight. It's a movie with lots of brains also...there are times in The International when you gasp and say...that's bloody smart!

The only sore spots with The International is editing and dialogues. With smarter editing and dialogues, it could have been in the same league as the Bourne series. Still, The International makes a spectacular watch. An absolute fun, you'll come out fully entertained...the reason you go to movies!

Seven Pounds: A tale that'll touch your heart

Two movies in two days - well that's exactly what I've done in a long time this weekend. The first one, which I had reviewed yesterday was Tom Cruise's Valkyrie, a racy thriller. Today, was exact opposite - Seven Pounds, an emotional drama with a lumbering pace.

So, getting down to the verdict - well if you can sit through the whole movie, you'll come out with a lump in your threat. The movie, running around two hours, is, for most of the part very slow, and only picks up in last 20-25 minutes. The team of "The Pursuit of Happyness" gets together to tell another touching tale. However, the second act isn't as good as the first one. For first hour, it's just various things happening in patches and you can't really connect to the whole plot. Even with the iconic Will Smith present, the film almost manages you to put to sleep in this first hour, and you might as well be tempted to leave the theater. But...only if...you hang for few more minutes the movie comes into its own and makes you crouch for all the incidents start to connect and brings out a remarkable story.

The film starts with Ben Thomas (Will Smith) blasting the blind customer care person, Ezra Turner(Woody Harrelson) and saying the meanest things about him being blind. Ben tries to contact a number of people - Emily Posa (Rosario Dawson), who is running a huge debt; Connie Tepos (Elpidia Carello), who is regularly abused by her boyfriend; Holly (Judyann Elder) who needs a liver. And Ben is trying to help these complete strangers, going out of his way to do so. Things keep happening, with Ben never revealing much about himself to anyone, including Emily, who he falls in love with. Ben keeps getting nightmares about a car crash, which killed seven people, including his family. It's only in the last 20-25 minutes that you get to see all the pieces weave together to spin a touching, heart-wrenching tale.

It's definitely not something that'll cheer you up much, so I'll say keep the movie to some time when you are feeling a bit low, a bit philosophical about life and just wanna be alone. It'll warm your heart.

And the title, Seven Pounds? Well, I still can't figure out why did they name the film so. My guesses include It's seven people whom Ben tries to help, as he was responsible for death of seven people. May it's because...well, that'll be revealing the plot too much. The performances are okay. Both Will Smith and Rosario Dawson have given superb performances. However, there isn't much to do for masters like Woody Harrelson.

So, sombre down a bit, relax and don't get out in the middle...it's worth watching the complete movie.

Valkyrie: An edge-of-the seat thriller

First the correct pronunciation - it's wall curry. I didn't get it until i went to see the movie; so, relax if u are still twisting your tongue around it. Now the verdict - fantastic fare that deserves your two hours of the busy weekend.

As a director, what would you do if you get a fairly straight plot, not the glittering line up of stars, and same-old, hackneyed World War II plot to set your movie in. Well, you direct your movie bloody well. And that's what Valkyrie comes out - a bloody well directed movie. With Tom Cruise as the one-eyed, Colonel Clauss von Stauffenberg, who plots to kill history's one-of-the-most hated dictators and destiny's favorite child, Adolf Hitler - the Fuhrer, and save his country from going down the drain, the film revolved around the plot to kill. With tight and nail-biting plots where the protagonist comes close to being caught, the film is backed by a smart script and solid screenplay. As Colonel Stauffenberg resolutely goes about executing the plan, the first few hours after the assassination attempt are such tense and edge-of-the-seat affairs, it draws oohs-and-aahs from the audience, acknowledging how some of the decisions made in pressure went on to change history; how a simple Yes instead of No could have changes the world forever. The film is able to fully capture the viewers' mindspace and makes you glued to your seat till the very end.

To accompany Tom Cruise, there are old warhorses like Tom Wilkinson and Bill Nighy (seen as Captain Devy Jones in Pirates of the Caribbean). Director, Bryan Singer, who gave us Oscar winners like Usual Suspects is in great form and delivers a great effort. It's hard to say if it'll be in Oscar's race but it can certainly come close to nominations.

The movie has not been publicized much, and there were hardly 40 people in the theater we went to watch it. However, everyone was left mesmerized by the movie. So my advice would be -- Go watch it, it's worth it!