"Picks" and "Pricks" of the Summer '09 : A Special Report

I and lot of you people would have expected this summer to be a great treat for movie lovers with a huge line up of releases.Now that the summer is almost over (atleast not in Chennai where summer is the only weather existent) , lets see how the movies have impacted me.

First let me give you the let downs , personally quoted as 'Pricks' of the summer :
(starting from 'OK' to 'WORSE')

5. New York (Rating : 2.5/5) : The only thing good about the movie was the story but for that everything else wasn't impactive.



4. Kambakkht Ishq (Rating : 2/5) : A serious waste of time and money, better to avoid.But one thing ,i felt this movie was better than PKS.



3. Angels and Demons (Rating : 1/5) : The let-down of the year.Seriously disappointing.

2. The Hangover (Rating 1/5) : Though others liked it a lot , i thought it was crap.


1. ShortKut (Rating 0.5/5) : As a behindwoods reviewer perfectly quoted : 'Pick your shortcut out of theatres'



Ah, well now the let downs are finished , it is time for top 5 of the 'Good' Ones.
(Starting from 'OK' to 'BEST')


5. Terminator Salvation (Rating 2.5/5) : Though it had stunning special effects ,it failed to recreate the judgement day magic.



4. Ice Age 3 : Dawn of the Dinosaurs (Rating 2.5/5) : Nothing much except for childish comedy and the excellent 3-D experience.


3. Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince (Rating 2.5/5) : Masala and Magic in unequal proportions.



2. Transformers 2 : Revenge Of The Fallen (Rating 3.5/5) : Brilliant and Entertaining!


1. Star Trek (Rating 4/5) : Greatest space odyssey ever!


So , i hope most of you would agree with me on this.Anyways for people who don't drop in your comments and open up your thoughts.
As for now, my blog will be dormant for few months unless i watch a spectacular movie or there is some 'hot' topic that i feel free to write about.Till then keep giving me suggestions to improve or things to write on.

Thank You!
Happy Reading!

Review : Harry Potter And The Half Blood Prince (2009)

MAGIC MASALA!

Rating: 2.5/5
Genre : Adventure / Mystery / Fantasy / Romance

Disclaimer : Before i start , i would want you people to know that i haven't read any of the books and i have been following only the movies.

So , does this movie satisfy a harry potter fan?
A little ,the reason being , the script 'almost' sticking to the book.This is quite because of the return of the screen-writer of the first 4 movies.
Though , there are parts which are deviated from the book and there are some omissions too.

Well , on the other hand , does this flick satisfy a regular movie goer?
Not much except for the special effects , the girls and the comic dialogues.

I would say that people who have been wanting to watch the movie after the book might be a bit disappointed.This might be attributed to the overdose of romance and comedy at the cost of deletion of important scenes especially the last fight scene which was omitted. (That is what i had learned about from my pal)



The Movie strikes a lower chord on the viewer's mind with too much of talking and less of action sequences but there are mind boggling scenes of quidditch and Dumbledore taking Harry to different places and also the scenes where Harry sees Tom Riddles past through safely collected memories by Dumbledore.It has its ups and downs and even though more of the former is prevalent , it fails to entertain on the whole.

There were people comparing this to the last week's summer bonanza 'Transformers 2' , i personally wouldn't want to compare both of them but still Micheal Bay did show us his 'magic'.

Acting , is one of the reason why this installment of Harry Potter is worth a watch.Everyone has developed their acting skills , the most significant improvement being seen in Daniel Radcliffe.He has totally churned himself into a fine actor and one can admire his casting on the film as the protagonist.
A Special note is to be given to the director for making the chicks (those portraying Hermione , Ginny , Luna Lovegood and some of the background stars) show their presence on screen and also to the cinematographer for the reason you people know.


Coming to the tech-aspects , CGI work is brilliant especially in the first scene where a bridge is destroyed by death eaters causing heart breaks in every architect and civil engineer's minds but nevertheless it was a visual treat.
Music was brilliant and the special effects were perfectly blended with the visuals though second half's audio was rather out of sync ,maybe because of some fault in the theatre although i watched it in sathyam RDX.

There are a lot of differences from the book , you can read them at :

Click here



There have been lot of comments on imdb ,rotten tomatoes and other famous websites about this being the worst adaptation ever and there were also people saying that this was the winner of the summer releases but all that ain't true, this movie is definitely worth watching in the theatres and it is truly not 'THE' movie of the summer.

So , wrapping it up , HBP is certainly a bit of a disappointment but it has its own relishable moments.

Thank you for reading!

I am sorry if i made people who've been waiting for this movie to sigh after reading but the fact remains told and precaution given.

Review : Transformers - Revenge Of The Fallen (2009)

CGI Extravaganza!

Rating : 3.5/5
Genre : Action / Adventure / Sci-Fi


Ok , I have been reading a lot many reviews about this movie and i would like you people to throw them into crap.But in one way reading them really helps , it totally tells you that movie is shit and wants you to hate it but when the scenes roll in with the pace that would pump up your adrenaline , you will be liking the movie more than usual.

Personally , all the imdb users have gone mad , i mean where have they kept their brains.Do they think that they are some genius or what?When you know that you are watching a movie that is adapted from comics and cartoon , the IQ level of it would just be the same.One cannot expect a Godfather kind of story telling or say Shawshank redemption kind of acting.This is a fantasy movie for @%$'s sake and you WILL have to appreciate it the way it is.People acclaimed movies like "I am Legend" , "Sin City" etc. but they were all crap when seen on the whole , they simply had either a good story telling or story line.

So , people don't believe all this and go watch the movie.It is worth every penny and definitely on par with the first installment.
Micheal Bay hasn't kept his mind at bay, he has made sure that every part of the movie is according to fantasy logic and has added another blockbuster to his kitty.

Now, coming to the reviewing of the movie.This movie definitely has a plot though half way into the movie might give you a different perspective.So , here it goes , Sam Witwicky suddenly learns about the origin of the transformers and the decepticons return to earth to revive their old leader , the fallen.Meanwhile , Autobots which have kinda reproduced in number from the last movie try to protect Sam from them and whether the decepticons revive the fallen and destroy Earth or not forms the rest of the story.

The major part of the movie consists of pure action sequences with jaw dropping graphics and an awesome background score which makes you go gaga over and over again.





Shia Labeouf has done an amazing job and is carving a niche for himself in hollywood.He has matured in acting and his best is in the scene where he gets a mental breakdown in his astronomy class.



Megan Fox is just an eye candy, the sight of whom causes a lot of hormonal changes possibly withstandable.All credits to the cinematographer.



Coming to the autobots , they have definitely grown in number but not anywhere close to decepticons.With bumble-bee developing emotions , it is quite melodramatic in few scenes where you would just doze off but then you have a bigger amount of well-choreographed action sequences created using CGI.
A lot of detailing in the bots was needed because most of them are repeated ones from last movie and they need to be brought back with the same parts and for the new ones, for both autobots and decepticons , quite a huge amount of pre- and post- production work was required and all that hasn't gone in vain.You can watch the movie twice just for the sake of the CGI and the bots.

Now , just graphics won't do any good unless it is coupled with good music.So, Steve Jablonsky and his score producer Hans Zimmer have created new sounds with no cliche of any sort.Hats off to them.Also , in this context , Linkin Park's new solo "New Divide" needs to be talked about.It has amazing vocals and a rocking bgm which is sure to be played in every party or even at home.



The only flaw , sort of , came in when the decepticons started speaking english in their planet.But then you can bid all that goodbye and continue watching the movie BECAUSE it is a science-FICTION flick and not a realistic drama wherein all logic has to be there.

Michael Bay needs laurels and not the way critics have been treating him.He might be the most intelligent in directing action-thrillers but when it comes to a cartoon based fantasy , he deals it the way any talented director would and i take a bow at him.Bay has definitely shown the WAY it is done and i personally am looking forward to the next chronicle of transformers by counting every day till the release of it in 2012.Till then i would be watching both these movies again and again.

So, slamming imdb and all the other notable critics , i declare that the eye-popping CGI-action flick "Transformers :The Revenge Of The Fallen" is awesome and is sure to entertain you in every pixel of every scene of it.

Thank You for reading through the review.I hope you people like it and look forward to watching the movie.
Pour in your comments as i always say and only some people take pains to write 'em.


Coming Soon :

Review of the Harry Potter and half blood prince
and also top 5 movies this summer...