Sin City: A Dame to Kill for

The original Sin City was a brilliant film that stunningly brought to life the neo-noir graphic novel series of the same name by Frank Miller. So when the follow up was released by the same directorial duo the assumption was that it would continue in the same vein. The film in many ways does do that by reappraising most of the original cast. Miller has thrown in a few stories from Vol 2 and tried to mesh them in a similar fashion as in its predecessor. In other ways the handling of story lines is poor and almost as if the hope was the CGI would be distracting enough to make up for it.

Rating: * +

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Sicario

The movie opens with Agent Kate Mercer, a up and coming straight laced FBI agent, finding a horde corpses when raiding  a den of kidnappers. The ensuing explosion points at something more than a kidnapping den. She is then drafted into a CIA / DoD task force investigating the event. Part of this team is Alejandro Gillick (Benicio Del Toro) whose identity and allegiance all seem very murky. A taunt action thriller that never leaves you bored but there are times you wish Emily Blunt's character was played by a man and treated the same way. Somehow I feel that it would have been more effective. But that is just a minor nitpick in a well crafted thriller.

Rating: * * +

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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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Thor: The Dark World

Loki is locked up and Thor with is warrior friends are forging a peace across the nine realms following the rebuilding of the Bifrost after the previous debacle. But the calm is not allowed to build as Dark Elves, who are thought to be obliterated eons ago are re-awoken by an unwitting Earthling. You are then treated to some heavy CGI magic and loads of hammer wielding Thor action resulting in an enjoyable shallow action flick. 

Rating: * * +

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The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1

Katniss Everdeen makes her way back to screen after the disastrous end to the Quarter Quell. She finds herself deep beneath the ground in District 13th with the rebels. Advised by the rebel President Coin and cajoled by her friends and advisers, she reluctantly agrees to become the face of the revolution. Thanks to being a movie you are spared the whiny inner dialog of Ms. Everdeen. But the movie makes up for that with its boring pacing and uneventful screenplay. A book that easily could have fit in a single movie is dragged across two films with no real reason other than greed. The only saving grace is that you got to see Philip Seymour Hoffman one more time.

Rating:: * +

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Gangs of Wasseypur

 

Was reminded of this * * * * movie when I saw Nawazuddin Siddiqui in The LunchBox recently. Plucked seemingly out of nowhere, NS plays Faizal Khan to perfection - a shadowy, chillum-smoking character who reluctantly transforms to become the lynchpin of one of the gangs involved in a bloody multi-generational tussle. GoW, the finest hour of Anurag Khashyap's career thus far, in a way is also a study of the evolution of India from independence to "modern" day. Outstanding soundtrack. And a brilliant cast of nobodies.

Rating: * * * *

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: * +

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Divergent

Every once in a while it is important to check on your prejudices. Watching 'Divergent' was just that. Reassured me that it is perfectly rationale to avoid the realty game show type, hormone filled adventure genre.

Rating: * +

Guardians of the Galaxy

Marvel's cosmic mishmash of a superhero team makes it way to the big screen. The comic books are known to be a little meandering with a host of characters and plot lines. This of course had to be simplified to make things fit in a 2 hour time frame. What you have then is an action packed slug fest that brings a team of an earthling, a tree, an assassin, a rodent and a green thug chasing after an orb whose fate will seal the future of the galaxy. Lots of 80s music and cheesy humor makes the film pleasant, but the Bollywood like melodrama wears on you after a while. Do watch it if you are a faithful Marvel fan for the sake of completion otherwise give it a miss.

Rating: * *

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Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

The sequel to Rise of the Planet of the Apes starts off 10 years later showing Ceaser ruling his clans of apes peacefully in Muir Woods amidst the decimation of the human race by the ALZ-113 virus. A chance encounter by couple of the young apes with a human survivor rekindles the contact between the two species and reignites the buried hatred among some of the apes. All the humans want is access to a dam that is in the land occupied by the apes. All the apes want is to be left in peace. But politics and personal gain apparently exists everywhere, even among apes showcasing they indeed were our forefathers. A slightly sad turn to what was shaping to be a promising franchise.

Rating: * *

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X-Men: Days of Future Past

The world of the present sees a dark place for mutants. Robot Sentinels roam the planet rooting the holder of the mutant genes out and sending them to meet their maker. Any humans harboring them are dispatched too. This situation has brought Professor Xavier and Magneto together as they struggle to hold off the robot enemies. The solution that is forced upon them is to send Wolverine back in time to try and fix the root of the problem. Time travel is treated differently here as it is more like sending someones memory back in time. And it kind of makes sense. The past sees a very different Professor and Magneto with Beast in tow. Jeniffer Lawerence takes on the role of Mystique and kicks some ass. A fun watch in what arguably could be the best film of the X-Men series.

Rating: * * +

Godzilla

The iconic Japanese monster is back at its rampaging best in this American avatar of the king of monsters. It starts from the point of view of the actor who actually drew me to the film. Bryan "I am the danger" Cranston plays Dr. Joe Brody who is caught up in the terrifying destruction of the power plant that he oversees. Soon it flows to his son and family while the back story about the creature and its predators are filled in. Storyline is simple. Monsters converge on to San Francisco and destruction ensues as we watch in awe. The original allegory of Godzilla to nuclear weapons / US and rest of the world, give way to a correlation between arrogant humans and disregarded nature. That alone could have sustained this film, but the director had to pander to the masses and introduce a human angle. Blank that out and you are left with one of the better reincarnations of this franchise.

Rating: * * + 

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: * * +

Django Unchained

Quentin Tarantino tackles the spaghetti western with his usual dark twist by putting a black man as the main protagonist in the wild west. Dr. Schultz (Christoph Waltz) is a German bounty hunter disguised as a dentist who buys a slave Django (Jamie Foxx) to help him identify three outlaws. In return he promises to teach him the trade and set him free. Django sweetens the pot by adding a request of freedom for his wife who suffers at the hands of an evil plantation owner (Leonardo DiCaprio). With that premise, Tarantino unleashes a whole lot of slick violence and blood in his signature style. For nothing else, this film needs to be watched for Samuel L. Jackson in the role of a nasty Uncle Tom. 

Rating: * * + 

Looper

It is the year 2044 and Joe (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) works as a "looper" for a crime syndicate. His job is to kill and dispose individuals sent back in time by the syndicate. The film based on this interesting premise has endless possibilities, but the director picks a predictable one where Joe is tasked with killing his own self from the future. Things go wrong and young Joe ends up chasing old Joe (Bruce Willis) around.  In spite of the predictable plot, the film is strangely engaging  and you never once feel like switching off.

Rating: * *

Wanted

Wes Gibson (James McAvoy) is deeply embedded in a dead end life, snacking on anti-panic medication and living with a cheating partner. All this changes when a mysterious woman, Fox (Angelina Jolie), arrives and tells him his father was an assassin and his murderer is out to get Wes now. Wes ends up joining the Fraternity, a secret society of assassins and Timur Bekmambetov then takes you on a rollercoaster ride that Mark Millar detailed in the graphic novel of the same name. Enjoy the fun and believe in bullets that curve.

Rating: * * *

PS: It should be noted that one Ms. Sophiya Haque makes a brief cameo in the film.

Skyfall

The latest Bond film finds MI6 under attack and M all alone with her trusted 007 out in the cold. He is helped by a lone field agent Eve (Naomie Harris) as they pursue the mysterious Raoul Silva (Javier Bardem). For a change the film focuses a tad more on the characters, their flaws and tribulation instead of the usual stream of tech toys that 007 wields. Here he is more MacGuyver than his usual suave self which does come peeping out when he runs in to the stunning Bérénice Marlohe. But the actor who dominates is predictably Mr Bardem who adds a whole lot of color to the latest Bond villain. This definitely is one of the better Bond films in recent times.

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: * * *

Kick-Ass

Mark Millar's epic graphic novel graces the screens bringing to colorful life the morbid story of high school loser, Dave (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) who decides to become a super hero with disastrous results. I.E. until he meets the crazy father-daughter duo, Big Daddy (Nicolas Cage) and Hit-Girl (Chloë Grace Moretz). Their mission is to bring down the evil drug lord Frank D'Amico. Throw in is some teenage romance, carnage, violence and you have a way to escape your sorry life for a couple of hours.

Rating: * * *

War of the Arrows

When a friend claimed the movie was the highest rated on Netflix, it seemed like a no brainer to watch it in spite of dark forebodings in my mind. Set in Korea at the onset of the second Manchu invasion, the film centers around a brother - sister pair. The brother is a master archer and when the Manchurian army kidnaps his sister on her wedding day, he sets off in pursuit taking them off one at a time. There is not much else to say about the film which has high production quality but it does not help overcome the poor story line and screenplay of the film. The moral is to never trust Netflix rating and recommendations of a certain friend.

Rating: *