Hollywood Movie Guide

Best Buy Coupons

2006-10-02T11:43:00.000-07:00

I love technology. Any new technology gadgets that come up I have to get my hands on them. Also I am a movie maniac as you must have figured reading my blog. So what better place than Best Buy. It serves all my needs. Right from Televisions to DVDs, Playstation and X-Box games to home equipment, you can get all of that at Best Buy.

What makes it even better is if you have coupons that offer you great discounts on products you love. If this is what interests you go to Best Buy Coupons to check out the latest Best Buy discounts.

And for your friends ...Best Buy has gift cards for all those great occasions.
Go ahead and make the most of these great discounts.

Poseidon

2006-10-02T11:42:00.000-07:00

Grandness everywhere. Loved the opening sequence Poseidon theme by Klaus Badelt.

The story is almost the same as the original Poseidon adventure, only with a lot more CGI. The end was a little different too. I also watched the special features DVD and it seems the cast did most of the stunts on their own (great job guys).

I feel the rogue wave's approach could have been more dramatic. The sets aboard the ship were absolutely marvellous. This is supposed to be Wolfgang Petersen's hattrick of sea disaster movies, others being Boot, Das and The Pefect Storm. Kudos to another great direction.

Its just a basic story of survival for the passengers aboard the Poseidon, trying to make it to the bottom of the upside down ship which is the only part above he oean water. Will they make it safely out. To find out watch Poseidon.

This is a DVD flick according to me, not really the theatre kind. My 3 out of 5 stars for this one.

Walk The Line

2006-09-25T00:47:00.000-07:00

Final Destination 3

2006-09-25T00:42:00.000-07:00

Invincible

2006-09-20T23:32:00.000-07:00

The Descent

2006-08-29T21:01:00.000-07:00

By far the "BEST HORROR MOVIE" I have seen so far. Scared the be'jesus out of me :-).

The story begins with a group of adventurous girls river rafting. One of the girls, Sarah, is married and has a little girl. Her husband is having an affair with another friend of hers, Juno. While returning back from the trip Sarah and her family meet with an accident and she loses her husband and daughter.

After Sarah recovers, Juno plans a getaway trip for her; an underground cave system excavation. She tells the girls (in all 6 of them) that they are going to be excavating a well known cave, but actually takes them to an unexcavated cave so that the trip could be more adventurous.

The adventurous trip soon turns nasty when they realize that they are not the only people in the cave. They are being hunted as prey.

The scene when the creature first attacks is sure to give you a jump out of your seat. The movie has excellent sound effects backed with brilliant set designs. The makeup is amazing too.

Back to the story, the women try to escape the cave and while they are doing that Sarah realizes that Juno was having an affair with her husband. Does she have her revenge on Juno or do they work together to get out of this death cave?

You MUST MUST see The Descent in the theatre, and when I say you MUST take my word for it because you won't enjoy it as much on DVD, its the horror flick of the year for me if not for the decade.

My 5 out of 5 stars for this movie.

Scoop

2006-08-22T21:53:00.000-07:00

The Illusionist

2006-08-22T21:50:00.000-07:00

Edward Norton, once again delivers a commanding performance in this well made turn-of-the-century Vienna based story. Also featuring is one of my favorite actors Paul Giammati (from Cinderella Man fame).

Ed Norton as a young boy loves magic and learns various magic tricks while growing up. He meets the love of his life, but she being from a rich family they are separated.

Now Ed Norton is a young man and performs Illusions on stage for a living. Very soon he has a large fan following. This does not impress Crown Prince Leopold and he tells chief inspector (Paul Giamatti) to make sure he puts an end to this.

To add to all this Leopold's fiancee is Ed Norton's childhood love. Seeing her again Eisenheim (Ed Norton), hopes they can get back together. But Leopold is already making life difficult for Eisenheim and this further worsens the situation.

Will Eisenheim manage to keep the girl of his dreams or will he lose her to Leopold?

Watch The Illusionist to find out more.
My 4 stars out of 5 for this one.

Little Miss Sunshine

2006-08-14T16:52:00.000-07:00

Beautiful movie. A must must watch. Its really very well made.

The storyline of this movie is very simple nothing fancy. Its based on a family's road trip to California so that the youngest member of the family can take part in the Little Miss Sunshine contest.

Steve Carell is the depressed brother who comes to spend some time with the family after he tries to kill himself. Every member of this family is a strange character, wierd to their core.

On their journey they come across various trip blockers (I don't want to mention them because that will spoil the movie for you), but some way or the other they manage to overcome them. They finally make it to the contest and Olive (the little girl from SIGNS) gets to partcipate.

Will she win after all that they have gone through to get this far? To find out you have to watch Little Miss Sunshine.

My 4 and a half stars for this movie.

Capote

2006-08-12T23:40:00.000-07:00

16 Blocks

2006-08-10T23:30:00.000-07:00

Miami Vice

2006-08-02T23:12:00.000-07:00

I don't know what the big hype was about Miami Vice. I mean I didn't find anything special. I agree there were some great action sequences but it gets really slow at times.

The story is nothing new. Couple of cops, Colin Farrell and Jamie Foxx, go undercover to expose a notorious gang. Thats about it, really :-). You may have already guessed what happens in the end too :-D...if not then you haven't watched enough cop movies ;-).

There are a few steamy scenes, which I feel were kind of forced into the story. There were times in the movie I was actually contemplating about leaving the theatre because some parts are just unbearably slow.

Definately not to be watch as a late night show, I can assure you, you will sleep if you do.

I think you can wait for this one to come on DVD. My 2 out of 5 stars for Miami Vice.

Firewall

2006-07-24T21:42:00.000-07:00

Good movie. I can't believe Harrison Ford can still pull off a movie single handedly.
So Harrison Ford is the VP of Network Security for a bank. Paul Bettany is the guy who wants Ford to withdraw $10,000 each from the bank's top 10,000 richest clients and transfer it to his Cayman islands account. He along with his 4 accomplices are holding Ford's family as hostages.

Will Ford be able to save his family in time or will he let the bank that he has protected all his life be stolen from ?

My 3 and a half stars out of 5 for this one.

The Producers

2006-07-09T15:33:00.000-07:00

A good movie to miss. Even on DVD. A musical. Poor casting (but Uma Thurman is gorgeous).

Didn't really understand the humor of the movie till the end. A few funny moments here and there thats all. The musical was not very musical.

The main story line of this movie is, an accountant, Matthew Broderick and a broadway producer, Nathan Lane, try to produce a FLOP broadway show so that they can make big money using some basic accounting tricks. They manage to find a horrible story written by a Nazi supporter, Will Ferrell, based on Hitler which they are sure will FLOP. They hire a gay director and the worst cast ever.

Obviously instead of being a FLOP the show becomes a big satirical hit and things don't go according to plan. The producers are angry because they didn't get their flop and Will Ferrel is angry because Hitler was potrayed as a comic character.
The cops intervene and catch Nathan Lane with the books and put him in jail.
Nathan Lane feels betrayed and just when he is about to get the sentence, here comes back Matthew Broderick. Then there is a very bland end to this movie, don't really have much to talk about it.

My 1 and a half stars out of 5 for this one.

Pirates Of The Caribbean : Dead Man's Chest

2006-07-09T15:11:00.000-07:00

Didn't like it. Maybe because I wasn't paying attention as I was watching the 11pm friday night show. But I don't really think that is the reason. I usally watch movies, be it at any time of the day, with full concentration :-). And this one didn't really hit the spot. It could also be because I had a lot of expectations from this sequel.

Anyways whatever be the reason, I found the movie below average. The story is weak but well connected to part one. Davy Jones is looking for Captain Jack Sparrow as his 13 years are over serving as captain of the Black Pearl and now Jack has to serve on Davy's ship as promised. Also looking for him are the British authorities. They arrest Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley and want them to get something back from Jack Sparrow.

This is basically what drives the whole movie. Everyone wants Johnny Depp :-).

The movie has light weak humor, but 1 great fight sequence; you'll know what I'm talking about when you see it.

In the end there is a clear indication to Part 3.
I would say you can watch this one on DVD at home. My 2 and a half stars for this.

Superman Returns

2006-07-02T21:43:00.000-07:00

The movie has been extremely popular among the people I know who have seen it. Even my wife Ash says she loved this movie. I thought it was above average though, not fantastic.

The parts that put me off were, too much romance for Superman in the movie and almost all the climax scenes being very predictable. Otherwise the movie has done a good job with the special effects, story and the new young Superman, Brandon Routh.
In some scenes where his face has been shown partially in the dark shadow, the shape of his face would remind the viewers of the original Superman, late Christopher Reeve.

The movie is a continuation, I guess, of the original Superman movie series. Superman suddenly returns after being gone for 5 years. The love of his life, Lois Lane now has a little boy and is seeing a successful editor in Daily Planet. She is upset with Superman for having left her without giving her a reason. Thats where all the drama and romance is going on (too cheesy for my liking in a super hero movie).

On the other hand Lex Luthor played by Kevin Spacey is devicing yet another plan to kill Superman and take over the world. So with the love of his life having moved on, Superman has to forget his grief and once again save the world and himself from Lex Luthor's evil plan.

Can he succeed or is he overcome by Lex ? To see what happens in the end watch this classic superhero movie...SUPERMAN RETURNS.

My 3.5 / 5 stars for this one.

Nacho Libre

2006-06-24T21:19:00.000-07:00

This is a pretty hilarious movie. May not look very attractive as something you might wanna watch...but the movie is deceivingly funny.
Jack Black is a member of a monastry where he works as a cook for the orphan children. He has a liking to wrestling though, because he feels that thats where the fame and fortune lies. But being in the monastry he can't do that openly. So he becomes Nacho Libre the wrestler; he finds a tag team member, this frail guy who would always steal the nacho chips meant for the orphans from Jack Black.

Together they take on other wrestlers and though they lose they are paid well for all the entertainment they provide the public. But Jack Black wants to be a winner and not paid because he lost.
He tries a lot of different things to try to be a winner. Does he succeed in the end though ?

To find out watch Nacho Libre.
My 3 and a half out of 5 stars for this one.

CARS

2006-06-20T17:04:00.000-07:00

Cheesy love story ;-). Nah...its not that bad. But its a love story never the less. So its about this rookie race car that wants to make it big. In the beginning this rookie is arogant and thinks he can win any race all by himself without a team.
But the experience that he has at a small town off the Interstate 40 along Route 66, changes the way he thinks and looks at life. Ofcourse he finds the love of his life there too.

But he still has to win the final race to win the cup; does he do it or does he fail ?

Watch CARS to see what happens.

The animation is too real to believe it. It is best I have seen so far.

My 4/5 stars for this amazing Pixar/Disney animation.

The DA VINCI code

2006-06-16T23:20:00.000-07:00

I really liked this movie. I had heard a lot of criticism about the movie being made badly. But it didn't seem that bad or slow as most critics said it was. Maybe because I haven't read the book, and I never will :-).
Tom Hanks as usual was wonderful. This is one of the few movies in which he hasn't played a role which you would feel pity for. This was one of the few movies in which he has played a serious role. The other main character played by Audrey Tautou was good too...its surprising I haven't seen her in any other movie. I have started noticing the French guy Jean Reno a lot lately. He was in Godzilla and Pink Panther. He is really good too.

The movie overall was a set of puzzles, riddles and anagrams. Its the battle between the TRUTH and FAITH. The movie is completely based in France and London. This is the movie for you if you love history and like the idea of solving puzzles and riddles.

My 4.5/5 stars for this one.

Aeon FLux

2006-06-12T14:49:00.000-07:00

Typical Sci-Fi movie, another clones concept. Charlize Theron is brilliant. The story however is weak. The action is excellent. Story is about the future world where most of the world population has died due to a virus. A scientist finds the cure to this virus but the cure is not perfect. Its side effects are very bad; it causes impotency in women. So to keep the human race going, the scientist has made a closed environment for the humans to live and the human DNA is recycled so that the human race keeps going on. Finally the scientist, who has recycled his own DNA several times each time transferring his knowledge to his new clone, finds the perfect cure. However his evil brother doesn't want this cure to go out since that would mean the end of cloning and hence his end.

Here begins the battle between the scientist and his brother. To see who wins in the end, watch AEON FLUX on DVD.
My 3/5 stars for this one.

X Men : The Last Stand

2006-06-12T14:42:00.000-07:00

I liked the movie. Was like any other XMen movie. So if you liked the others you'll like this one too. This one had some of the XMen dying, some coming back to life and others losing their powers :P....too much drama I must admit :-).
Story is about the same; people who are against the mutants V/S All Mutants and the good mutants against the bad Mutants. A pharmaceutical company has found a way to neutralize mutants powers so they become normal like other human beings and are accepted in the society without any fear. They call it the CURE...which makes some mutants angry because they don't consider it a disease.

Watch this final battle between the good Mutants and bad Mutants and see what unfolds for the XMen in this supposedly Final Chapter to the movie series.

And by the way please do sit right till the end of the credits to catch an important scene which might get you thinking.

My 3.5 out of 5 stars for this one.

Munich

2006-06-12T14:36:00.000-07:00

Based on a true story triggerd by events that occured in the 1972 Munich Olympics where 11 Israeli athletes were murdered by Arab terrorists. In response to this, MOSAD assigns a secret assignment to Avner (ERIC BANA) to find the terrorists and the planners of the 1972 massacre and assassinate them. Most of the movie is about ways and means that Avner uses to find the terrorists and kill them.

However towards the end he is in for a surprise. To find out what the surprise is you MUST watch MUNICH.

My 4 out of 5 stars to this one.

Dark Water

2006-05-15T12:26:00.000-07:00

Gandhi

2006-05-15T12:20:00.000-07:00

Racing Stripes

2006-05-15T12:15:00.000-07:00

SwordFish

2006-05-15T12:11:00.000-07:00

United 93

2006-05-15T12:08:00.000-07:00

Mission Impossible III

2006-05-15T12:05:00.000-07:00

The Exorcism of Emily Rose

2006-04-18T12:57:00.000-07:00

Constantine

2006-04-16T23:42:00.000-07:00

Scary Movie 4

2006-04-16T23:36:00.000-07:00

Lucky Number Slevin

2006-04-09T20:25:00.000-07:00

Eight Below

2006-04-09T20:19:00.000-07:00

Inside Man

2006-03-27T19:49:00.000-08:00

A History Of Violence

2006-03-27T19:38:00.000-08:00

Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit

2006-03-27T19:31:00.000-08:00

V For Vendetta

2006-03-19T10:20:00.000-08:00

Waiting

2006-03-15T23:20:00.000-08:00

SAW II

2006-03-15T23:16:00.000-08:00

The Pink Panther

2006-03-03T15:44:00.000-08:00

Rear Window

2006-03-03T15:41:00.000-08:00

March Of The Penguins

2006-03-03T15:35:00.000-08:00

The Constant Gardener

2006-03-03T15:31:00.000-08:00

The Greatest Game Ever Played

2006-03-03T15:28:00.000-08:00

Corpse Bride

2006-03-03T15:24:00.000-08:00

Lord Of War

2006-01-31T13:18:00.000-08:00

Glory Road

2006-01-29T19:15:00.000-08:00

Mona Lisa Smile

2006-01-23T20:43:00.000-08:00

Equilibrium

2006-01-22T11:14:00.000-08:00

The Hostel

2006-01-22T11:11:00.000-08:00

Fun With Dick And Jane

2006-01-16T18:59:00.000-08:00

Chronicles Of Narnia

2006-01-16T18:57:00.000-08:00

The Island

2006-01-16T15:33:00.000-08:00

Crazy Axel-Man

2006-01-12T11:42:00.000-08:00

The picture says it all. Need I say more.
This guy is the closest reincarnation of CARTMAN (from South Park) that I know.
His favorite movie is 'House Of Wax' because his to be wife is acting in it.
He loves to eat at Souplantation. If you ever want to give him a gift card to a restaurant...Souplantation it is.
At work he often goes by several different names viz. Harold, Jeremy, Tony and sometimes Josh.
One sport that you never discuss with him is Basketball. He hates Basketball.
He loves golf though. Kobe is his favorite golfer.
Josh is VERY Hardworking. Infact he is HARDLY working.
There is one little secret that only I know about Josh. He has an imaginary friend called Doria that he keeps talking about.
Josh is my Best Friend.

The Untouchables

2006-01-09T10:53:00.000-08:00

Casanova

2006-01-07T12:34:00.000-08:00

Syriana

2006-01-01T11:56:00.000-08:00

The Shawshank Redemption

2005-12-31T16:06:00.000-08:00

Schindler's List

2005-12-31T16:03:00.000-08:00

Spider

2005-12-25T17:49:00.000-08:00

King Kong

2005-12-24T18:32:00.000-08:00

Forrest Gump

2005-12-21T11:56:00.000-08:00

Minority Report

2005-12-21T11:47:00.000-08:00

Good Science fiction. I liked the concept of the PreCogs. Being able to predict or forsee crime and then stop it, good job. But why would you arrest someone for something he was about to do, but hasn't really done it. That was my concern, but then thats just me :-).
All in all a great action packed thriller. Tom Cruise is good. Story line is great, just too much technical jargon at times.
But you should watch it atleast once, after all it is a Spielberg direction. My 3 stars out of 5 for this one.

Radio

2005-12-17T11:53:00.000-08:00

Kiss The Girls

2005-12-14T14:10:00.000-08:00

The Contender

2005-12-09T13:49:00.000-08:00

Not a movie that would interest me, but I watched it never the less. It had a lot of Political mumbo jumbo which frankly I don't understand and don't want to either. But I must admit the movie does have an interesting twist towards the end.
The story is more or less about a lady being elected as a Vice President and awaiting confirmation by the Congress. Its the challenges she faces during this entire period. There are issues about her personal life raised during the confirmation but she chooses not to answer them. Not because she is guilty of them but because she feels politics and personal life should never be mixed together.
My 2 and a half out of 5 stars for this one.
You can watch this one on a DVD if you like Politics mixed with some Thrill.

The Grand Canyon National Park

2005-12-04T23:15:00.000-08:00

A Grand Experience. Even though this was my 2nd visit to the Grand Canyon National Park I was still in complete awe of what I saw. I must admit that the weather was much better than last time. The sun was high, but at the same time a cool breeze blew throughout the day. I saw most of Canyon in the car. We drove from point to point and took lots of pictures.
If you want to stay at an affordable place close to the park's entry, the Grand Canyon Inn is the perfect choice. We got two rooms for a night for $131.
The next time I go to the Grand Canyon I would definately want to see the canyon from a helicopter or a chartered plane. Hiking was something we missed on, which I would like to do next time. Even though we didn't take the aerial tour of the canyon, the IMAX at the Grand Canyon gave us a great simulation of the same.
Can't wait to go back to the Grand Canyon.

American History X

2005-12-04T22:56:00.000-08:00

Good Movie. But not as good as Crash; my friends claimed it to be otherwise.
Ed Norton gives another scintillating performance. But I would still say he was better in Red Dragon.
This movie revolves around the white man and the black man community. Crash on the other hand handled the same issue but on a wider scope. They had a bigger target audience according to me.
One thing is for sure though, races interact with each other the most in Los Angeles. Thats why we've now had two movies with anti-racism messages, both based in Los Angeles.
I would recommend you to watch it atleast once on DVD, but I wouldn't rate it too high. 3 out of 5 stars for this one.

USC To The ROSE Bowl !! Wooooooooo !!!

2005-12-04T09:32:00.000-08:00

We did it AGAIN !!!
I knew we would make it to the Rose Bowl but never anticipated that we would be so dominating in our win against UCLA; what could make a Trojan feel better than beat UCLA comprehensively just before the finale on January 4th 2006 at Pasadena.
Reggie did his magic (my candidate for the Heisman Trophy), Matt came back strongly in the second half (his final appearance at the Coliseum), LenDale White had a great game too.
USC destroyed UCLA. Our offence was just too strong for their defence.
This was our 34th consecutive victory.

Now only Texas stands in the way of USC and the 3rd consecutive National title, a feat never achieved in the history of college football.

GO TROJANS !!!

Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire

2005-11-20T09:42:00.000-08:00

The Bone Collector

2005-11-20T09:41:00.000-08:00

Along Came A Spider

2005-11-16T13:44:00.000-08:00

Wonderful thriller. Very well made. Morgan Freeman is fantastic. The little girl in the movie has done her part pretty well too.
The movie is based on a psychopath who wants to commit the crime of the century. He wants Morgan Freeman (an ex-FBI agent) to make him famous in the media after he kidnaps the senator's daughter. But was this really what was planned, or is there more to it. The movie has brilliant twists and turns and finally reveals in the end what the plot really was.
Must Must Watch.
4 and a half stars out of 5 for this one.

Remember The Titans

2005-11-16T13:42:00.000-08:00

Chicken Little

2005-11-16T13:40:00.000-08:00

DOOM

2005-10-23T10:19:00.000-07:00

Great beginning to this GAME based MOVIE. The ROCK has done a great job. But something went wrong in the end. You'll know what I mean. Rosamund Pike looks beautiful. No real story to it. Just the regular. Something goes wrong during an accident on a Mars based space lab. And ofcourse the Dead start walking....and there are wierd looking creatures (you'll know what I mean if you have already watched Resident Evil or Dawn Of The Dead). The Rock and his team are sent to this space station to eliminate the danger. And so they try doing. Whether they FAIL or SUCCEED..watch DOOM to find out.
I would rate this as a One Time Watch on the DVD for DOOM lovers.

Flight Plan

2005-10-23T10:17:00.000-07:00

The Rock

2005-10-23T10:14:00.000-07:00

Garden State

2005-10-23T10:12:00.000-07:00

Guess Who

2005-10-23T10:07:00.000-07:00

Bruce Almighty

2005-10-23T10:03:00.000-07:00

Movies

2005-10-19T16:32:00.000-07:00

Since I now have sufficient time to post several reviews of flicks that I've seen (and enjoyed), I'll do so. You see, unlike Mr. USC, during working hours, I'm extremely busy and can never seem to find time to update his blog as quickly as he would like. If I were to leave it up to Mr. USC, he would have me halt my job responsibilities (much like what I'm doing right at this moment) and post something....anthing, to his most beloved blog!

So, Mr. USC, this is especially for you....hope you enjoy.

The Fog

2005-10-19T16:22:00.000-07:00

"The Fog" - not quite sure what Selma Blair was thinking when she took on this role; she plays a single mother, disc jockey withher own radio station. She's not exactly a primary figure in this horror flick and the few scenes that she's featured are lackluster at best.

As far as horror flicks go, the storyline was not too bad - revenge with a hint of romance - different from the usual gory details that are prevalent in this genre of filmmaking. I'm a big "scary cat", so I jumped out of my skin at the most appropriate times in the movie. If you want scare easily, then this is the movie for you. Those that are more "seasoned", may not be impressed.

A must see - NOT! But, if you're bored or have seen ALL the other movies you're dying to see, then this flick is not a complete waste of your time.

Mystic River

2005-10-12T12:18:00.000-07:00

Great beginning and excellent build up towards the climax. Climax sucked though. Was very disappointed with the end.
Story begins with three young boys playing on the street. A couple of guys posing as cops take away one of the boys and hold him captive in a room and abuse him for several days. The boy somehow manages to escape soon though. Scene Cut. Next scene, we see the lives of these 3 kids all grown up. How that episode affected each of their lives is shown as the story proceeds. The 3 guys meet once again this time connected by a murder investigation of one of their daugters. The story twists and turns and to see what happens with the investigation and how that was related to the events that happened in their childhood watch this movie atleast once on DVD.
My 3 out of 5 stars for this one.

Hotel Rwanda

2005-10-07T21:06:00.000-07:00

Skeleton Key

2005-08-28T10:26:00.000-07:00

Red Eye

2005-08-23T09:57:00.000-07:00

The 40 Year Old Virgin

2005-08-23T09:55:00.000-07:00

Four Brothers

2005-08-23T09:53:00.000-07:00

Sky High

2005-08-09T15:25:00.000-07:00

Nice movie. Similar genre to Fantastic 4, X-Men, The Incredibles.
A boy belonging to a Super Hero family is expected to also be a person possessing super powers. But he doesn't. Then comes the time when he has to go to sky high (where his parents studied and were trained to use their super powers). Here starts the fun journey of the boy meeting up other children with superpowers or sidekicks. Things heat up towards the end when evil super powers try to take over ... what happens after that ... Does the boy eventually get superpowers or does he fight the evil as a sidekick ?
Watch it to find out.
My 3 / 5 stars to this one.

Must Love Dogs

2005-08-09T15:22:00.000-07:00

You'll love this if you :
1. Love Cute Romantic Movies.
2. Love Diane Lane OR
3. Love John Cusack.

If you don't love one of the above...don't bother watching this one.
The story isn't really anything to narrate. Diane Lane is single at 40; her family wants her to meet someone to go out with. John Cusack is recently divorced. They meet through a dating agency. He falls for her....she falls for a student's father...in the end they get together. As lame as this story sounds so is the movie.
Don't waste your time on this one. Half a star for this one for the DOG ;-)

Charlie And The Chocolate Factory

2005-07-22T17:52:00.000-07:00

Even though there is a lot of buzz about this movie all around, it disappointed me a little.
Maybe because I was comparing it to the original Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory. That was a classic.
Johnny Depp has done a great job, just as expected, playing the role of Willy Wonka. But I would have liked it if they would have shown him a little less demented (atleast I thought he acted like one). The Oompa Loompas were adorable (even though they all looked alike :))). The movie as a whole was naratted pretty well, but what disappointed me was:
1. Depp acting a little demented. Although he did put up a great attitude that goes with the Willy Wonka character.
2. The way Willy Wonka tells Charlie that he is going to be the hier to his Chocolate factory.
In the classic original movie the climax is brought out really well when Willy Wonka tells Charlie and his GrandPa that Charlie is going to get the chocolate factory after him. The new one didn't really have it, and that to me was a very important part of the movie.
If you ask me, I'd say go and see it atleast once in the theatre even if you have seen the classic. For those who haven't...order it on NetFlix or get it from BlockBuster TODAY !!
And YES do eat a chocolate bar after the movie. I was craving for one at the end of the movie.

Fantastic 4

2005-07-15T12:03:00.000-07:00

I have seen a lot of the Fantastic 4 cartoons and enjoyed them. The movie making effort was always going to be challenging; but I think they did a decent job. Nothing great, but definately above average.
It all starts with a freak accident at a space station. Everyone aboard gets exposed to the radiations from a space storm and their DNA undergoes some changes to give them all super powers. You have Mr Fantastic who is flexible like rubber, The Invisible Girl, The Human Torch and The THING ( the one most affected, because unlike the others he always looks UGLY ;) ). The Evil owner of the space station, Van Doom also get exposed to the radiations and gets transformed into some hard, magnetic metal; he is capable of absorbing any kind of electric power and use it against his enemy.
So starts the battle between Good and Evil. You do learn some Science 101 too :-).
You should watch it atleast once in the theatres. On the TV at home, I am not sure you'll feel the same effect.

War of The Worlds

2005-07-08T20:15:00.000-07:00

Audio-Visually very good. Great effects. But the story is very weak, really lame. Tom Cruise plays the role of an irresponsible father, who realizes the importance of his children after Aliens From Another World attack Earth (if you think about it, it seems so ridiculous that it took such a massive event to make a father realize his responsibilities, but what the hell, this is the Movie World). The story doesn't really have anything spectacular to write about, its all about the effects. And I must agree they are really good.
Tom Cruise has acted just fine, but the little girl, Dakota Fanning who plays the role of Tom's daughter, according to me stole the show.
I did see one of the live sets used in the movie, that of the plane crash at Universal Studios, and it looked pretty neat both on and off the screen.
A one time watch, I suggest.
But don't think too much while watching the movie.
Shut your brain and watch the drain.

Mr. & Mrs. Smith

2005-06-26T09:54:00.000-07:00

Mr. & Mrs. Smith, you can watch it once in the theatre, but you can also opt watching it just on DVD. The first hour and fifteen minutes of the movie were good. I think they should have ended it right there. The next 30 mins was a DRAG. Angelina Jolie is HOT, period. Brad Pitt has done a decent job.
Mr. and Mrs. Smith are inividual contract killers, but they don't know about each other's profession. Their married life is dragging now, but things pick up when they both get the same assignment. Now its Mr. Smith against Mrs. Smith. Its like a husband-wife domestic fight, only more violent. With Guns and Gadgets. The Guns and Gadgets really got me. Great action. As the movie proceeds the plot just twists even more and the consequences force the Smiths to work together. But will they be able to do that. I don't wanna give it away, watch it to know more.
One observation though. Somehow I felt they always ended up showing the wife being more smart than the husband. Arggghhh.
Anyways decent movie, good for a one time watch.

Beaches - VHS - Title BA - BI Shopping at dooyoo.co.uk

2005-06-21T13:46:00.000-07:00

Beaches - VHS - Title BA - BI Shopping at dooyoo.co.uk

The Cold-Hearted Devil kept dropping my Wireless Connection !!

2005-06-18T15:29:00.000-07:00

Saturday afternoon, I came back home from the bank around 1.30pm, fixed myself a cold glass of mango juice and switched on my laptop to get some work done. I went online to check Russell Peter's show timings and ticket costs on ticketmaster.com. Its summer, we normally never need the AC, but since I was working on a Saturday I rewarded myself with some cool breeze from my AC. Hunger struck me all of a sudden. I got up to get myself some lunch and remembered I had some fried rice and spring roll from the previous night. I love that combination. So I kept it in the microwave to heat it for a minute. Meanwhile I switched on the TV and watched some documentary while waiting for the food to get heated. Then I realized I had to check directions to an address in Long Beach "Light House" cafe. So not caring about the documentary and the food being heated I rushed to my room from the hall and opened the IE Browser to go to http://maps.yahoo.com . It opened. Then when I put in the address and clicked 'Next', it said "page cannot be found". OK. So I went back and tried it again. Again the same thing. WTF Mate. Then I looked down to the right side bottom of my screen, "Trying to acquire IP address".Hmm...
So I Repaired my Wireless Connection by clicking REPAIR option in the menu for the WireLess Network Connection (thats what usually solves it). No effect. Same problem. Network connection dropped and came back in second, only to drop the next second. Now I tried to guess that the problem might be with the router. That is usually the second Plan Of Action, if your wireless keeps dropping on you. So I restarted my cable modem and restarted my router (this is also called POWERCYCLING). No change to status of the error. Same thing again. Hmm.. now I dont really have much faith left in my 2 year old Toshiba laptop after it already visited the Repair shop twice, (once for the hard disk and once for the LCD screen). I was starting to think it had developed a liking for the people there and wanted to keep visiting them, not realizing that her visit there was getting expensive for me. So I doubted my laptop's wireless card's integrity. And so I tried to connect to my neighbour's wireless (evil thing to do), but I just wanted to be sure that it wasnt my laptop again. Voila...it connected. Thank God and it didn't drop. But I couldn't go to any sites, signal was too low, so I still wasn't convinced that my laptop's wireless card was doing fine. So I started up my Dell laptop. Hmm...Hmm...Hmm... WTF Mate. Same problem. Did this one want to visit the service station too. No that can't be, it was too new to be TRUE. Then I went to my room mate's laptop, it worked FINE. Maybe a superior Model than mine.
My food was long heated up and my microwave kept crying all this time with a BEEP, "PLEASE TAKE OUT URE FOOD - I HEATED IT DAMN IT".
I then went to the router configuration from my room mate's laptop, http://192.168.1.1....tried a couple of password combinations, as we had changed it so many times that I didn't remember which one it was. Everything looked fine there. I was getting really frustrated, so I called my room mate, told him the problem and tried to blame him for any uninformed changes he had made and so my laptop wasn't working. He said he hadn't changed a thing.
And so I got even more nervous about my laptop. I can't afford another service center trip for my laptop. It would be the third in 5 months. My other electronic devices would feel neglected and WHAT IF THEY START MALFUNCTIONING TOO JUST TO GET MY ATTENTION.
I did the following steps 17 times approximately:
dim counter : counter = 0
Do While NOT (Wireless Connection is Stable)
1. Renenable Wireless Card.
2. Restart Machine.
3. PowerCycle Cable Modem and Router.
counter = counter + 1
Loop
Final Result : No Change.
Oh and by the way all this while the microwave still kept yelling !
Doing all this on a summer afternoon one would imagine the amount I must be sweating. But to my surprise as much as yours I wasn't.
Why cos the AC was on Dummy ! Pay attention to the details in the blog. Pay attention to....
Hmm...so what was so different since morning that screwed my wireless, couldn't be the router and I could't have two deffected machines sitting together, too much for the Laws of Probability to handle. Think... Think... and now it is kind of getting cold, must turn off the AC, the AC........THE AC.
Thats it thats whats different..........THE AC - SWITCH OFF.
That was INDEED it.
ALAS - My Wireless Internet Connection worked. Finally some peace of mind!!
Moral of the above story : THE AC WAS INTERFERING WITH MY WIRELESS CONNECTION.
I Just Had To BLOG THIS.
Now to stop my microwave from beeping and to go and eat some lunch.

BatMan Begins

2005-06-16T21:49:00.000-07:00

Fantastic start to what I expect would be another great series. And why not, after all its "BatMan Begins".
For the first time it felt that Batman is really human. He wasn't just born a super hero. He transformed into one. Christian Bale has done a great job potraying himself as both Batman and Bruce Wayne.
He has been well supported by Michael Caine (Alfred) and Katie Holmes (his childhood friend in the movie).
So it all starts with Bruce trying to run away from his fear of Bats and the murder of his parents. He ends up in a jail in an Asian country. There he is picked up by an extremists group that is trying to destroy Gothom and put an end to all the crime there. They train Bruce for combat and help him overcome his fears. But Bruce soon realizes that these people just want to destroy Gothom and not the crime in there. What happens after that is a transformation of an ordinary man to BatMan. Will Bruce save Gothom or will he join the extremists to destroy it.
Watch it to find out more.
Towards the end there have been clear indications that there is more to follow this movie as a part of the series; OR was this a prequel to the previous BatMan movies just to complete the series, like Star Wars or the Hannibal series? Its kind of becoming a trend now, isn't it. Well we'll never know till they decide to remake the previous Batman movies again or they DON'T.
I'll be waiting eagerly for them if they do come out...cos I think they will be as good as this one was.
My 10/10 for this one.
Don't miss it!!

Cinderella Man

2005-06-05T16:23:00.000-07:00

It is the story of James J. Braddock. He earned his nick, the Cinderella Man, because of his fairytale like rise from a poor local fighter to the heavyweight boxing champion of the world. Russell Crowe plays the role of the boxer, James, and Renée Zellweger his wife. This story is from the period of 'The Great Depression' that hit America in the early 30's.
It is the story of this boxing legend, of how he fights back after being down and out for a long time, but he never gives up only so his family can survive. One of the best comeback stories in the history of Boxing.
This is going to be one of my favorite movies, hats of to the wonderful direction by Ron Howard, and fantastic acting by Russell Crowe and Renée Zellweger.
Something pretty close to Beautiful Mind. Great movie to catch in the theatres.
You can read more about Jimmy at : http://www.jamesjbraddock.com/

The Longest Yard

2005-06-03T00:17:00.000-07:00

All you 'convicts' who love FootBall....this is the movie you MUST watch. I saw this on a weekday to refresh myself during the week and boy it did a great job.
Its about this X-QuarterBack (Adam Sandler) who has been expelled from NFL for throwing away a game. He is now with his girlfriend (Courtney Cox - Monica from Friends) who treats him like she owns him. Sandler gets arrested for DUI, wrecking his girlfriend's car after getting all drunk and is taken to a prison in Texas where he has to prepare a football team of convicts to play the guards.
A challenge for him to get the convicts to play, he gives them a motivation...they get to beat up and get back at the guards during the game. The toughest convicts team up for one objective - BEAT UP THE GUARDS. I couldn't believe the size of some of them, they were huge. He prepares the team for the game along with Chris Rock and Burt Reynolds. Chris Rock is hilarious. Will the team beat the guards or will they be let down by Adam Sandler who threw away a game for his team 7 years ago.
To find out what happens Go Watch . . . THE LONGEST YARD.

Madagascar

2005-06-01T15:04:00.000-07:00

Funny and light animated entertainment. Its about these animals in the NY zoo who have never seen the outside world and when they do they realize how tough it is out there. The movie has a Zebra (v.o. Chris Rock), a Lion, a Hippo, a Giraffe and last but not the least the evil penguins. The Zebra is very enthusiastic about seeing the world, the lion is happy where he is as he is the most popular in that zoo and the giraffe(v.o. David Schwimmer - Ross from Friends) is a health freak. The best line in the movie that I really liked was when this squirrel (who claims himself to be the king of a small group of animals) tries to be cool and says, "See You Later Crocodile" instead of "See You Later Aligator".
I came across families in the theatre who had already seen the movie 2 or 3 times. That was a bit annoying because the kids would repeat the dialogues, some of them would laugh before the funny scenes making the scenes no longer funny....and some of the mom's were equal to the task.
But as a whole its a good family movie. Go Watch It.
...."I Like To Move It Move It....I Like To Move It Move It....I Like To Move It Move It....I Like To...Move It" -- You'll know what I am talking about once you see the movie.