Avengers: Age of Ultron

This installment in the Marvelverse starts with Team Avengers raiding a Hydra base and being introduced to Quicksilver and Wanda Maximoff. The mission is successful in that they are reunited with Loki's scepter. Stark and Banner discover artificial intelligence buried in it and use it to come up with a global defense program. The program comes to life and decides rightly that humans are the biggest threat. What ensues is the usual inner bickering in the team and some good ass kicking as the Avengers struggle to defeat the Ultron menace. Definitely enjoyable for people who hate Abbas Kiarostami films.

Rating: * * +

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Lucy

Lucy is forced in to becoming a drug mule that sees her turning in to something way nastier. The drug pouch that is shoved in to her intestines leaks in to her blood stream and makes her neurons fire between pathways undiscovered in the human brain. In the background you have a professor lecturing about the untapped power of the human brain while Lucy starts to kick ass. Unfortunately, neither Mr. Freeman's voice or Ms. Johansson's pyrotechnics saves this film from the shit pile. 

Rating: * +

Poster licensed under Fair use via Wikipedia.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier

Two years have passed since the events in The Avengers and Captain America finds himself adjusting to the 21st century as an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. Things are turned topsy turvy when Nick Fury is brutally attacked and Steve Rogers finds himself with no one he can trust. But the real action begins with a whisper from the past that comes attacking him in the form of the Soviet hitman called the Winter Soldier. Thankfully the cloying American propaganda that was a huge part of the first Captain America movie has taken a back seat and you are left with a good vs evil superhero flick. Marvel unleashes another sidekick and they have picked well in choosing the Falcon. Throw in some hot red headed action in the form of Natasha Romanov and you have yourself a fine escape from reality for a couple of hours.

Rating: * * +

The Avengers

The refrain of "Avengers Assemble" was echoing out of this film as Marvel, after years of setup with Iron Man, Hulk, Thor and Captain America, bring their iconic team on to the big screen. Technically the film should have been called The Ultimates with Joss Whedon liberally borrowing from the Marvel reboot of their Avengers franchise. Loki is up to mischief again as he steals The Tesseract (go see Thor) in return for an alien army from the mysterious Other to subjugate Earth. The story does not get deeper than that as the film focuses on the formation of The Avengers and the ensuing carnage against the invading alien force. Granted the plot could have been made complex if Whedon borrowed a tad more from the graphic novels. But sometimes action that causes enough adrenaline to pump is good enough excuse for enjoyment.

Rating: * * *

Iron Man 2

Take Iron Man down a few notches... well lets make that a dozen notches... and you have its follow on. The gist of the film is Whiplash (a wasted Mickey Rourke) coming for Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) when the reactor in his chest is acting up. The plot is thin and the jokes are forced. To make up for that couple of star characters from the Marvel universe, Nick Fury and the Black Widow have been thrown in. Except that Scarlett Johansson looks out of place as the Widow even with her 6 inch heels. Technically Samuel L. Jackson is a perfect fit for the Ultimate version of Nick Fury but it feels like Jules from Pulp Fiction was transported here. Plus if you have read the Marvel Civil War saga, Iron Man can never be in your virtual good books.

Rating: *

Vicky Cristina Barcelona

Vicky (Rebecca Hall) and Cristina (Scarlett Johansson) go to Barcelona, meet Juan (Javier Bardem) who is obsessed with his ex-wife Maria Elena (Penélope Cruz) and end up in a mighty existential tangle. Woody Allen continues remain in my book as a noisy and overrated director!

Rating: * +

The Nanny Diaries

Annie (Scarlett Johansson) graduates and runs to a job interview at Goldman Sachs. But sadly the job she lands is that of a nanny in Manhattan. Through Nanny the viewer is given a slice of life in the East Side. Alicia Keys plays Annie's friend who is a poor NYU student but strangely walks around in designer wear. Even if 20% of this film is true then God help the East Side. It has the most virulent form of the human virus breeding there. A well taken film but a tad hollow to hold any interest.

Rating: * +

The Black Dahlia

From the master of some classic gangster movies, Brian De Palma brings this fictional take on a true incident - the unsolved murder of a young nothing in Hollywood. But somehow, I found the movie a victim of trying to be very stylish - fastly packed first hour or so, with no real buildup. Unlike the Zodiac for instance, which I liked for its very deliberate plot. Worth a watch though for a reasonable thriller - Scarlett Johansson comes out the strongest I think, while Hilary Swank somehow doesnt fit playing an evil one. Blame it on stereotyping.

Rating: * *

The Island

Ewan McGregor, Scarlett Johansson, Djimon Hounsou, Sean Bean and Steve Buscemi all have two things in common. They are all fine thespians but also made the mistake of signing up to feature in Michael Bay's futuristic pile of pure unadulterated shite.

Rating: *

Girl with a Pearl Earring

Tells the ficitionalised story behind this famous Johannes Vermeer painting. The movie is based on a novel by Tracy Chevalier, and again it appears as though the book would have been sufficient in telling this story. Well made though, and Scarlett Johansson impresses.

Rating: * *

The Prestige

Lot of hype surrounding the movie - understandable, considering it was Chris Nolan & about magicians. The beginining and the build-up of the story was good - Michael Caine explaining the basic tenets of magic tricks, the manic obsession of the main characters for their craft, and their sheer ruthlessness came across very well.

But the last bit wasn't half as tight as it should have been. I understand that the book, from which the movie was adapted, was different - esp the latter part of the story. Probably explains the sudden dilution of events in the movie. Usual tricks are present: the movie transports the viewer to&fro across time - which sadly is not a novelty anymore. Good performances though from everyone.

A good movie, but certainly not in the same class as Memento.

Rating: * * +