Edge of Darkness

I wonder how many of you have seen "Taken". Tough and gritty movie, not a single dull moment. Liam Neesons' daughter is kidnapped and he must find her within 48 hours before she is lost forever in the prostitution underworld. When I saw the promos of "Edge of Darkness", I was subconciously pushed to thinking, "Father avenges daughter, should be good".(background noise of director snickering) Mel Gibson plays the role of Thomas Craven a Boston Police Officer. His daughter comes visiting and she is obviously sick. Daddy is about to take her to the hospital when all of a sudden outside their home, a masked man guns her down, not before screaming "CRAVEN!"(if you remember in Taken, the kidnapper says, "Good Luck"). The police assume it was someone who had it in for the father. Thomas Craven is however more cranial(get it?) than that and decides to look into what his daughter was doing. We soon get to know that she was an MITian(seriously? are there no other good colleges?) and was(note how I am using the past tense) working for a firm called Northmoor(oooooooh). The next hour shows Mel Gibson rattling every cage he comes across, starting with the CEO of Northmoor - Bennet. Subsequently every person he speaks to says the same thing, "Bennet is the bad guy." "Bennet's the man you want". Until slowly but surely Craven realises that Bennet is the one behind everything(this is the main twist). Throw in a fat but creepy man with a british accent who casually talks about the edge of darkness with his doctor, a shady research fa cility that is making nuclear weapons for foreign countries, a flower child organisation that is completely anti-corporate and of course some henchmen in black suits, what do you have? Nothing. Don't even watch this film. Mel Gibson has corny lines. He exit line in one scene is, "... and don't forget to wear your seat belt!". Wow! We have a clear message here: You may have assisted my daughters death but I value your safety(this is my major wtf moment). What really peeved me is when he catches one of the henchmen(after shooting off his leg) and asks him to scream, you guessed it, CRAVEN! People do what Mel Gibson did, go watch "Taken" again!

You dont mess with the Zohan : review

Adam Sandler has, in one hurricane move, taken a jab at Israelis, Arabs and Rajnikanth himself! He does this quite confidently because apparently, "You dont mess with the Zohan". This elaborately titled film has a good dose of satire and crude comedy for the sick minded ones like me. However dont watch it with an aunt like I did. I had to hold back a lot. Not my style at all. Like all good movies that begin well, this film falters somewhere at the end and leaves you a bit unsatisfied(yes like sex with your fat man-servant). While Zohan with his over sized crotch does give us good reason to point and laugh, the humour does get a bit over the top. 

Zohan is an elite Israeli counter terrorist and he is sick and tired of blowing up terrorists(read Arabs). His heart lies in America and he wants to be a hair dresser. He nurses dreams of making the entire world 'silky smooth'. When he is dragged away from a holiday to recapture a militant he had already put behind bars, he sees and opportunity to escape. He fakes his death and stows away on a flight to America.

How he realises his dream of becoming a hair dresser, finds his soul mate and keeps his identity a secret is the rest of the story. 

There is nothing  really that stands out in the film. All the usual faces are there in the film. Rob Schneider et al. It is somehow a very comfortable feeling to see the same caste doing a decent job of a amusing you. Zohan the Israeli quite naturally falls in love with a palestinian hair dresser played by the very very luscious Emmanuelle Chriqui whose accented english is enough to wrench your heart from its foundations! Guest stars include Kevin James(King of Queens, Hitch), John McEnroe( yes THE John McEnroe - he takes off his shirt by the way. Very pathetic) and of course a has-been bimbette, Mariah Carey.

Not a must watch but I would not miss it either. A mindless movie with crude humour. You decide if you want to watch it. I did!

21 : Movie review

I've put off writing this review for long enough now!! I will also be reviewing The Incredible Hulk. That however is a different story.

Ben Campbell is faced with a very simple and straight forward problem when he learns he has been accepted to Harvard Medical School. He does not have the $300,000 needed for the school expenses. His only hope is a scholarship that completely funds the fee amount. Ben is a soon to be graduate from MIT with impressive scores throughout his academic career. He is however told that there are other people equally qualified. What would really set him apart is the essay he will have to write. An esay that makes his stand out. An essay that will 'dazzle'.
At this time, while he is still pondering about what to write, his mathematical abilities impress Prof Micky Rosa(Kevin Spacey) and he is called for a private meeting of students. Rosa then proceeds to explain that they all go to Las Vegas over weekends. They visit casinos and 'count cards' so as to win money while playing BlackJack. While counting cards is not technically illegal, casinos very obviously frown on it and the pit bosses have a good time beating the hell out of people who count cards.
Ben is trained extensively by Rosa and the other team members. He is taught their codes and secret signals. Ben who is reluctant at first then declares that he is doing it only so he can earn the 300,000 he needs for the fee. He is then thrown into a world of big money, seductive women and high stakes. He enjoys it and realises that he is really good at it. Before they realise they start making more money that they imagined. Ben starts saving a lot of money. One of the team members, Fisher, gets jealous of Bens popularity. He ruins the earnings one night by getting drunk and drawing too much attention to himself. Things escalate and a gunfight ensues. Security chief Cole Williams(Lawrence Fishburne) has been watching the card play and he knows that card couting is happening. He now is alert and on the lookout for Ben.

Meanwhile Rosa shows a darker side of himself and fires Fisher from the team. Ben has been in the meantime neglecting his friends. He is supposed to be working on a project with them for a competition called 2.09. He brings in a wrong chip and this pushes his friends over the edge. He is told to leave the team. Ben is in a disturbed state of mind and loses all the money with him at the BlackJack tables. Kevin Spacey truly shines at this point as a 'Fagin'like character when he tells the students very clearly that he is not their father and he is not their mentor. He tells Ben very clearly, that he wants his $200,000 back. He walks away and tells them to find their own way back home. Ben convinces his teammates that they do not need Rosa and that he has been taking 50% of the winnings while he did nothing. They go solo and visit the casinos all by themselves. Unknown to them, Rosa is in the casino and he gives an anonymous tip off to Cole Williams about Ben. Cole gives Ben a severe beating and lets him off with a warning. Ben comes home to find that all the money he has saved and stored in the false ceiling of his room has been stolen. He then realises that all this is Rosa's doing and goes back to him and apologises. Rosa forgives him as Ben is one of the best he has seen.
Time is a crucial factor here for everyone. A new facial recognition software is soon to be installed. This has a two pronged effect. Rosa and his team will not be able to count cards anymore because they will be recognised by the software. Cole Williams and his security team will become obsolete. One set of people are in a hurry to make as much money as possible. Another set is frustrated.
Ben convinces Rosa to be another 'big player' so they can rake in more moolah. Rosa agrees, though it has been years since he counted cards. They get to the casino in disguises and start pulling in a lot of money. Cole bursts in on them all of a sudden and they are on the run. Rosa asks Ben to give him the money and he takes it and runs away to their waiting limo. Ben in the meantime runs through a different route and comes a little later to find the limo gone.
Cole turns up on the scene and tells Ben that he has Rosa and thanks him. What has happenned is this. When Cole was beating up Ben, he tells him that he was a certain Micky Rosa to be handed over to him as he has old scores to settle. Cole assures Ben of one night of zero security, to take how much ever money he could, in return for Rosa. So the whole thing is basically a set up to trap Rosa. The bag of chips which they earned was switched before handing it to Rosa. Cole tells Ben he can walk away but not with the money. Cole explains that he as at the end of his career and needs retirement money. Ben on the other hand is young and sart and has enough time. The movie ends with Laurence Fishburne relaxing at a resort and Ben recounting his story to the Dean and asking him if he has 'dazzled' him.

The movie begins slowly and picks up eough pace to keep the viewers attention. Kevin Spacey like I already said, simply shines. Laurence Fishburne as the hulking surly Pit Boss - fantastic and Jim Sturgess as the young misguided Ben Campbell. Excellent casting and good screenplay. However, the ending quite honestly fails to 'dazzle'. You know Ben will have his revenge. You know he will get ack at Rosa. You know Rosa is going to burn in hell. All this was handled in an overly predictable way!

So this film gets a generous

* * *

from me.

Movie Review : Vantage Point

Vantage point is a movie I saw after a very long time. In the theatre I mean. I am lucky enough to have a friend who is masterful at obtaining back row tickets to any film, 5 minutes before it starts! I watched a late show at Prasads(a multiplex here in Hyderabad).

The plot line is apparently uncomplicated. The president is in Spain for an anti Terrorism summit. He is about to speak when he is shot twice. The same shot is shown from the perspective of eight different people present at that time. As each persons view is depicted, more and more of the story is revealed and a very startling image jumps up! I personally felt it was a well made movie. The shots have been well crafted. Despite having to see some shots again and again, the film does not drag anywhere. The single car chase scene is worth mentioning! It was very well choreographed and I would even go so far as to compare it to the ones I saw in Transporter. Dennis Quaid has done a damn good job as a Secret Service agent. Forrest Whittaker looks like a child with cerebral palsy. I did not quite get what they tried to do with him. The end is dramatic a la bollywood but hey! you need those moments right?

I give it four out of five. Definitely not to be missed.