Dragon Movies

Covered the four Dragon movies back to back and had a lot of fun doing that, especially on Blu-Ray. Reign of fire was the most fun, despite making the least amount of sense.

1) Eragon



2) Dragon Heart


3) Reign of Fire

Not Inspired to view Iron Man 2 and Shrek 4

I am not sure, but I have no enthusiasm whatsoever to watch Iron Man 2 and Shrek 4.

I did not really like the Iron Man 1 (Robert Downey Jr. was great though), so I guess that explains the lack of interest for the second installment.

I was (and still am) a very big fan of Shrek 1, the original. The magic simply started fading ever since, despite very clever and witty script writing that has always blessed the franchise.

Even if I eventually do end up watching them on DVD, I will spare you with the reviews.

I am very much looking forward to see what the pixar guys have in store for us with Toy Story 3 though!

Wikihow - How to build a Lego Technic Table

Here's my wikihow article: [link]

Sorry for the shameless, out of context, help wiki promotion.

Law Abiding Citizen

Over All Rating: 3 Stars

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Story: 2.5 Stars
Direction: 3.5 Stars
Photography: 3 Stars
Acting: 3 Stars
Characterization: 3 Stars
Effects: 1 Stars
Dialogues: 2 Stars
Entertainment Factor: 4 Stars

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Director: F. Gray Gray [link]

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It starts out with a very gripping (and for a parent/family person almost nauseating) scene. It then paces into the meat of the story fairly quickly, skips thru the boring parts remarkably well. It maintains a very taut narration and a "keep you guessing" story line, attempting to break all the cliches (like the one where instead of taking the bail, he surprises us by biting back at the judge) - well done Felix!

The overall storytelling was as entertaining as the Italian Job remake, which was a lot of fun to watch (Disclaimer: I love heist/con movies). I the script/story line would have provided the same level of support. The plot falls off the cliff (and since its got a great start its a tall cliff) about 60 % of the way into the movie.

Gerard Butler's character was pretty decent, his acting was okay too. Jamie Foxx also did pretty well (though I felt his character did not achieve the full potential).

Leslie Bibb's character was completely unnecessary for the movie. Initially I thought she was the outsider helping the insider, that would have been a cliche but at-least would have justified her existence. But no.

I am sure James Bond will crib about the lack of suave gadgets after the reboot of that franchise after seeing this movie.

The biggest problem with the movie, and where it fell apart was the point of it all and more importantly, if making the point was the point of it all then there was no good reason for sparing Jamie Foxx. He should have been the first on the list. Another issue with the logic was that there are over 5 prison facilities in Philly area, so digging under a prison with the assumption that it would be the prison where he would ultimately be held is quite a bit hopefull. Also having so many chances to quietly take him out, without any damages to governmental property, Jamie finally chooses to go with blow up option, taking out half of the governmental compound.

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Now, here's what I would have changed if I was in control.

* Give a good solid reason for not killing Jamie Foxx's character, maybe he is Gerard's child's god father and they have a history.

* Reduce the dependence on gadgetry and improve the wit factor.

* Not kill so many seemingly innocent folks (how ever obnoxious their characters might have been portrayed).

* Change the ending / maybe Jamie shoots him OR he escapes.

District 13: Ultimatum

Over All Rating: 1 Stars

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Story: 0.5 Stars
Direction: 1.5 Stars
Photography: 1 Stars
Acting: 0.5 Stars
Characterization: 1 Stars
Effects: 1 Stars
Dialogues: 1 Stars
Entertainment Factor: 2 Stars

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The first movie of this series is, in my books, the BEST action movie ever. This one is just simply terrible.

I wouldn't have put up this review if it were not for my love of the first movie.

Where the first one didn't care about anything other than the action, the second one focuses too much on the story. Where the first one matched the action heroes with an equally intriguing bad guy, the bad guy in the second one is painfully bland.

It would suit you well to ignore this one.

My Name is Khan

Over All Rating: 4.5 Stars
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Story: 4.5 Stars
Direction: 5 Stars
Photography: 4 Stars
Acting: 5 Stars
Characterization: 5 Stars
Effects: N/A
Dialogues: 3 Stars
Entertainment Factor: 5 Stars

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Director: Karan Johar [movie link]
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Not for even a wafer-thin moment of the two and a half hour long movie do we see the slightest glimpse of the star Shah-Rukh Khan. The King Khan is vacuously missing his place is taken up by another Khan with a heart of gold who shows us the world in a different light. Gone is his confident signature (somewhat fakish) smile, to be replaced by the mannerisms demanded by his character.

This is Karan’s best movie. He was able to, with the help of an incredible script and directorial ingenuity, keep Shahrukh Khan from dominating the character he was playing. The songs fade in and fade out like a piece of weightless pastry that melts on your tongue, meshed in so well that you are in the middle of the song even before you realize it.

When watching a movie that focuses on people with disabilities, one is usually bound by sympathy towards the condition of the characters. Remarkably, that’s not the case here. Rizwan, through his righteous actions, slowly grows on us to become this endearing person that we connect with. Bhagwad Gita’s principal teaching of Karm Yog (focus on doing good things without worrying about the end result) kept coming to my mind throughout the movie, which in itself is a little bit strange considering that Rizwan is a deeply religious Muslim.

The success of this movie is critically balanced on the shoulders of three people, two of them we have already discussed, the third one being Shibani Bhatija, the writer of this movie. Kudos Shibani!!! This is exactly the kind of intellectual fodder that needs to be fed to one billion ill fed minds. The Indian movie industry seems to be slowly coming out of the creative slumber that it found itself in thru the 80s, the 90s and the early 2000s when it came to script. For me, with this script, Shibani joins the ranks of the thought leaders in Hindi cinema script writing, Pooja Ladha Surti and Amol Gupte among others. Even the lighter moments of the movie were brilliantly scripted (and then executed), like Rizwan’s shy, face covered laughter on marriage proposal or Mandira’s friend joking on death of all men due to bees.

Kajol as Mandira was adequate.

Now let’s put my love fest for the movie on hold and talk shop.

I don’t completely agree on the number of hurdles Rizwan gets tested under (Asperger/Autism, 9/11, Floods, lethal racial attack on family). And the only justification I could find, it was necessary for bringing out his character and I am not convinced.

I like to see the main characters undergo some sort of a change, like an uncut diamond being converted into a finished beauty due to the punishing and polishing experiences it undergoes. That was not true for Rizwan, he remained pretty much unchanged (OKAY, there was one tear in his right eye in the end).

I also felt that some of the racial (re)actions depicted in the movie, post 9/11, on the brown skinned folks were a tad bit over the top.

The TV coverage of this Indian who is the first one to lead the Katrina ‘reconstruction’ efforts is just plain unbelievable.

Katrina happened in 2005, Obama got elected towards the end of 2009 so it seems highly unlikely that Rizwan, his brother and their supporters were fixing the broken church in Georgia for four years.

Rizwan’s brother had a university of Mississippi on a scholarship (given the time line it had the likely hood of being a computer related field of study) but he ends up being a herbal beauty products dealer. Something here doesn’t Gel.

Mandira’s response to the Reese’s confession is also bizarre. Reese who was himself a kid was threatened and was afraid he himself didn’t do anything wrong, in fact tried to help Sam.

The doctors potential cohorts showed an unnecessary aggression to know who the instigator in the story was in the Shaitan scene, as if the villainous doctor was the only one on the planet who had access to Koran. Haven’t they heard about Google?

Few more things, but I don’t want to get into, primarily because despite all of its flaws, the movie is so well executed that I was ok letting them slide by.

For me this not a movie about terrorism or love or disabilities but simply a beautiful poem on how to live life based on principles and promises.

Mel Gibson might not have figured out what women want, but Rizwan Khan has certainly cracked the seminal code, they want to be listened to /really listened to/, and Rizwan does just that. May all women be blessed by husbands who have a slight sprinkle of Asperger Syndrome spiced into their personalities J
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Now, here's what I would have changed if I was in control.

* Not a single memorable dialogue in the entire movie including the title which owes its impact to repetitions
* Limit the number of hurdles in Rizwan’s path

* Just because he can’t express himself doesn’t mean that he cannot feel or change

* Change Mandira’s response to Reese after confession

* Correct the timelines between Katrina and Obama’s election, which in fact becomes unnecessary if we reduce the number of hurdles

* I don’t know why it bothered me, it is really really inconsequential, but Officer Vaughn coffee cup was slightly tilted down, which showed that he was holding an empty cup, I would have liked to have the cup held correctly. Now please feel free to hate me for the nit pick

3 Idiots

Over All Rating: 4 Stars
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Story: 3.5 Stars
Direction: 5 Stars
Photography: 5 Stars
Acting: 3.5 Stars
Characterization: 3.5 Stars
Effects: N/A
Dialogues: 5 Stars
Entertainment Factor: 5 Stars

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Director: Rajkumar Hirani [movie link]
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3 Idiots is way too short a movie, which is simply another way of saying that it is an extremely entertaining movie! Raju Hirani has served an hattrick. Three great movies in a row. Raju has brought his Gandhigiri to the world of education, this time the Gandhian is Rancho.

Acting is great by Boman Irani, Sharman Joshi and the best Omi Vaidya or Chatur, without whom 3 idiots would not have been what it is.

Its almost impossible to find any significant deviations to excellence when you have a team like this one. Raju, Boman, Aamir, the perfectionist to name a few.

But there were a couple of things under the surface that disturbed me a little bit.

To start with the easy one, When you piss off a senior (excuse the pun) the in the first 5 minutes of entering the college, you know for sure it cannot end there. So from that point of view, the ragging scene mysteriously ends prematurely. Another one is, Boman Iirani or Virus knows Rancho’s dad’s monthly income but not his address? They spend 10 years searching for him, why didn’t they check the college register?

Now for some serious ones.

I like Aamir Khan movies because you never ever ever see Aamir, you only see the character he is playing, which is exactly how it should be. Unlike Salman Khan and Shah Rukh Khan movies where you see the movie stars instead of their characters (exceptions apply of course, for example in Chak de India you couldn’t find Shah Rukh even if you wanted to). In 3 idiots, I got to see Aamir Khan more than a couple of times and I was surprised. That got me thinking, why would our perfectionist entertainer allow for something like this.

The plot thickens and the mystery deepens. Hmmmm. So I dug deeper and eventually hit the gold mine. Its not Aamir, it’s his character Rancho which has a fundamental flaw that even Aamir could not overcome. Rancho is projected as someone who loves to learn, he wants to take in every ounce of knowledge he can absorb for any source possible. But his actions are that of a revolutionary, from teaching the director on how to teach to mocking the definitions of machines and books. On one side he is a sponge, an introvert on the other hand he is a rebel, and extrovert. These opposites needed reconciliation in the story.

Somewhere along the way, even meanness crept in. I am referring to Chatur’s switched speech. Now don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed every bit of that scene. But that does not mean that it flowed with Rancho’s character. I think the writers mixed up Aamir’s earlier characters, Aakash from Dil Chahta Hai would do this in a heartbeat, DJ from Rang de Basanti would probably go one step beyond, but not Rancho and definitely not for a “demo”. Rancho is pure, or at least that’s what Raju is portraying him.
The same goes with the climax. Now, even though, all of us cheered when Chatur got shafted towards the end in a strange twist of fate. Some how I had a hard time believing that filing 400 patents and signing with the Japanese gel well with this Gandhian educator.

Aamir, in his interview, mentioned his approach to looking young in the movie. His pacings, mannerisms, style of dialogue delivery etc. He executes brilliantly on them.

Madhavan is decent. He could have been much better.

Omi Vaidya, or Chatur, is the real find of this movie. Hope to see more from him.

One additional aspect which is not easily apparent is that this is one of the few movies that projects intelligence with the coolness it deserves, and not in the traditional Hollywood style of nerdniness. This is a better role model for students. Towards that end it is on par with Matrix.

To make it clear, this movie is vastly more entertaining than most of the movies of 2009. But I am not comparing this movie with other movies, that would be like comparing apples with windows. I am comparing this to other Aamir and Raju Herani movies. And in that comparison, this does not shine as bright.

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Now, here's what I would have changed if I was in control.

* Raggers are caught by the director and are convinced without any "pressure" not to rag any more
* Reconcile Rancho’s character’s fundamental flaw, requires serious deep dive
* Motivation for Chatur’s speech prank redone, maybe not even instigated by Rancho
* Some better reason why nobody can find Rancho
* Redo the Javed Jaffery scene where he talks to his dead father, turning the tables to show that Javed actually wanted to take his father to Disney Land but his father kept on insisting that they wait for the highway contract to go thru. That would be hilarious.
* Sharman Joshi’s family is so central to him but are missing 10 years later, in the starting scene, some how bring them in. Maybe his wife is on the phone talking to his sister, happily married in Bombay, when she yells “No Pants”.

Terminator Salvation

Over All Rating: 1.5 Stars
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Story: 0.5 Stars
Direction: 3 Stars
Photography: 3 Stars
Acting: 1 Stars
Characterization: 1 Stars
Effects: 2.5 Stars
Dialogues: 1 Stars
Entertainment Factor: 1 Stars

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Director: McG [movie link]
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Let’s start with the good, governator (Arnie) CGI is unbelievably amazing and that’s it.

Now for the Bad. We have a case of missing story. I can’t explain why a 200 Million Dollar film would not invest a single dollar in buying some pencils. Anyways, now that I have started to write this review and you have started to read it, let’s salvage the situation, by poking some fun.

In the Letterman tradition, let’s do a ‘top 10’ speculating the reasons the movie team would give for the missing story:

10: We spent 200 mil on the damn robot, ran out of budget for pencils.
9: We thought the Terminator brand and the Dark Knight was all that would be required for the movie.
8: Our dogs ate our story.
7: We saw the first two terminator movies and gave up, can’t beat those.
6: We were copying Bollywood (But these days even they have stories. errr Can we take back this excuse?).
5: We watched too many Jerry Springer reruns, and then we couldn’t think.
4: We spent all of our time playing with the Terminator dolls and talking in Arnold’s voice /Hasta la vista baby/.
3: Since LA was destroyed during Judgement Day, all the writers were dead.
2: The Terminators terminated our writer's contract.
And the number one reason why we dont have a story is >>
1: If Avatar doesn’t need a story, then why do we?

In the earlier movies the machines came to our world with a target, which was clear to understand. In this movie, since we have been taken to their world, where the machines have already (almost) destroyed the planet, their motivation to do so is not at all clear. Why do they want to eliminate mankind and what do they gain from it?

When the terminators came to our world in the earlier movies it was imperative for them to look like us, that was understandable. But in their world why do they need to emulate human life form (T600/700/800)? If anything, that would be an impediment for them to have only two eyes and walk with human like legs etc etc....

Ok, I have a long list of complaints, but since no matter how much I try, I am not going to get my 2 hours back. Lets cut to the chase and conclude the review.

McG and Christian Bale cannot save this. Christian, I became a big fan after watching the very disturbing The Machinist. This was disappointing.

Frankly I was surprised that they got their money back and then some.

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Now, here's what I would have changed if I was in control.

* For me, this one is beyond saving, a complete flush/rewrite is required.

Wake up Sid

Over All Rating: 3.5 Stars
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Story: 4 Stars
Direction: 4.5 Stars
Photography: 3 Stars
Acting: 4 Stars
Characterization: 4 Stars
Effects: N/A
Dialogues: 2 Stars
Entertainment Factor: 4 Stars

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Director: Ayan Mukerji [movie link]
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Hats off to Ayan for penning this script and then directing the same at the young age of 26. The movie has a decent ‘slice of life’ story, pretty good characterization, good direction and most importantly no villains.

Konkona Sen Sharma shines as usual in this movie (actually I don’t know a single movie where she has not shined). She might not have the traditional movie star look but she is bundled with oodles and oodles of acting skills and charm to more than make up for it.

Ranbir Kapoor is pretty good too. He plays his part almost close to realism. Sid the character is in firm control, you hardly ever see Ranbir the star. And that’s how it should be.

Over all a pretty decent and lite film for an easy movie watching experience.

Inglourious Basterds

Over All Rating: 4.5 Stars
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Story: 5 Stars
Direction: 5 Stars
Photography: 5 Stars
Acting: 3 Stars
Characterization: 4 Stars
Effects: N/A
Dialogues: 4 Stars
Entertainment Factor: 4.5 Stars

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Director: Quentin Tarantino [movie link]
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This is a wonderful WWII movie Quentin style. He likes to think of it as a spaghetti western more than a war movie. I loved the Mexican standoff which happens somewhere in the middle of the movie.

I absolutely fell in love with Christoph Waltz as much as I was filled with hatred for Christoph's character Col. Hans Landa! What a devilishly delightful character! The whole movie was just a show case for Christoph Waltz. Hope he gets an Oscar. Quentin said that this was the "greatest and most complex characters" ever written by him, I would go on to say that this is one of the best characters I have seen in entire history of cinema, period!

Another great performance was by Diane Kruger who played the character of a big German Actress. I did not see a single glimpse of Kruger in her character in the entire film.

Brad Pitt was ok. So was the rest of the crew. And that’s what kind of brings down the overall acting ratings for the movie despite Christoph and Diane.

I felt that Martin Wuttke potrayed Hitler with a slight animated touch, almost to the point of comedy. Don’t know if Quentin intended that. It was almost like Rick Moranis’s Darth Vader spoof in Mel Brook’s Space Balls.

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Now, here's what I would have changed if I was in control.

* A really small observation and change, Landa says towards the end of the movie that "you would need to kill all four, Hitler, Bormann, Goebbles and Goering to end the war". Now I don’t think the head of propaganda, Goebbles would have been able to keep WWII going after Hitler and others were removed. But that’s a really fine point.
* I would have saved one of the leading ladies, probably Shoshanna.
* Made Hitler’s portrayal less animated and a little bit more serious. Quite, with almost no dialogues.

Avatar

Over All Rating: 3 Stars
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Story: 2 Stars
Direction: 3.5 Stars
Photography: 5 Stars
Acting: 1 Stars
Characterization: 1 Stars
Effects: 5 Stars
Dialogues: 1 Stars
Entertainment Factor: 4.5 Stars

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Director: James Cameron [movie link]
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The effects are pretty decent. This is 3d done right, no scaring the audiences with sudden jabs and scares. This is 3d simply done right and that's it.

I suspect that James got lost in his love for his 3d toys that he simply closed shut Pandora's story box. And same goes for characterization, two of my most beloved treasures of a movie. Both, the story and characterization are pretty weak. Who is Jake as a person. Who is Colonel miles and why cant he find a shirt with sleeves in an air conditioned facility? So many unanswered questions, so much of lost potential. James, you started out well, with the whole Avatar /gaming/ concept, but lost the mojo quite early.

The acting is uninspiring. I don't even think anybody even tried.

Attempt to make Zoe's avatar attractive does work some times, reminds me of Angelina Jolie's flirtatious fish avatar Lola in Shark Tale .

One easy story flaw was that when the Colonel shoots the choppers they are bullet proof but arrows go right thru??!! And whats up with Zoe's aviator flying goggles, they actually have glass/plastic lenses in them!!! Way to go for a civilization which has not even figured how to cook the food they eat!!!

Avatar almost felt like Kaena redone on a handsome budget.

One small question that remained unanswered by me was how was the avatar connected to the human body? Was there a wireless link? And then the next level, how was the avatar powered? Kind of important questions, especially if you think of body/avatar swaps that happen towards the end.

This movie was ok fun for first time viewing. Did actually enjoy the effects and the 3d but I will not watch it again. Sorry James, this might break a lot of movie records, but, for me, it can never sink to Titanic heights!

2012 remains as the undefeated special effects movie champion of 2009 for me.

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Now, here's what I would have changed if I was in control.

* Shorter and crisper storyline, this film goes on and on (at least it shouldn't seems that way)
* Get rid of the tails on the Navi, I guess its a matter of personal choice, I am not much if a tail person (at least not on humanoids)
* Get rid of the flying mountains thingy (No crouching tiger, No hidden dragon and No flying mountain)
* Somehow, in our fictional worlds, we always tend to associate technological advancement with evolution of intelligence of a species. The Navi, without a single iPod to their credit, are hence shown as simple folks. I would depict them with greater levels of intelligence in a more Yoda like wiseness who simply chose not to pursue technology.