Review: Fantastic Four 2: Rise of the Silver Surfer

Fantastic Four 2: Rise of the Silver Surfer
Cast: Ioan Gruffudd, Jessica Alba, Chris Evans, Michael Chiklis
Direction: Tim Story

The superheroes are back and what a homecoming! In a post 9/11 world, when all our superheroes — Batman, Superman, Spiderman — are becoming philosophical, introspective and moody about their magical powers, the Fantastic Four are still fun-loving and untroubled by existential woes.

Thank God for that! To be or not to be: no Hamletian dilemmas for this foursome that knows it has to save the world from the inimical Dr Doom with its special powers of stretchy limbs (Reed), electrical force fields (Storm), human torch infernos (Johnny) or just sheer power (Ben). And no cerebral debates on good versus evil or the evil within in this high octane drama, laced with state-of-the-art special effects. Enough to give the kid in you chills, thrills and marvels.

This time, the threat is doubled. On the one hand, there is old foe, Dr Doom (Julian McMahon) who is desperate to unleash his reign of evil; and on the other hand, there is the bigger enemy, Galactus, an intergalactic force that wants to gobble up the planets. Weird changes in weather patterns and radioactive fields around the earth cause a flutter, the world over. They even manage to disrupt the wedding of the century between super scientist Mr Fantastic (Gruffudd) and the Invisible Woman (Jessica Alba).

When the world begins to fall apart, the couple have no option but to postpone their wedding and get down to the business of saving the world. Their only hope: the silver surfer who has actually been sent to destroy it. They must bring out the man in him and appeal to his humaneness. Do we see a tear on his cold, steely cheeks?

Grab your popcorn, round up your neighbourhood kids and gatecrash for your share of gape-and-gawk gizmology.

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Review: The Train

The Train (thriller)

Cast : Emran Hashmi, Sayali Bhagat, Geeta, Basra

Direction : Raksha Mistry

A film that copies another film, scene by scene can only be described as brain-dead. Come on guys, credit yourself with a pinch of originality at least. Why cut, copy and paste a recent Hollywood flop, Derailed, and call it The Train.

For those who still remember the last Jennifer Aniston release, this one truly is deja vu all along the insipid tracks... Even the tagline — Some lines should never be crossed — is the same. Tch tch! The film flounders in usual Emraan territory: Bangkok, a bored marriage, an extra-marital affair, blackmail, murder, treachery and a bunch of hummable songs.

Add to this, a kid who needs a kidney transplant and you have the usual Fatal Attraction funda of a good wife (Sayali Bhagat) and dull domesticity threatened by the over-sexed one-night stand (Geeta Basra).

Emraan, the harried husband-father, finds a delectable bit on the side during his daily metro ride to office. But the bit turns out to be indigestible and it's left to the troubled man to flush it out from his life... not until a few guns explode and some tears are shed. Emraan is Emraan: okay and average. The girls are waxen: cold and oomph-less. And the film is forgettable: not even a cover version of the original.

Source : tThe Times of India

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Review: Mera Pehla Pehla Pyaar

Mera Pehla Pehla Pyaar (romance)
Cast : Hazel, Ruslan Mumtaz
Direction : Robby Grewal

it's been a long 'Samay', but Robby Grewal, who made a fine debut with the Sushmita Sen thriller ends up dabbling with popcorn romance this time. Nothing wrong with that. Only here, the popcorn seems to have lost its crackle and what should have been a sizzling teen affair, turns out to be soggy and listless.
The film begins well and the first half does have an innocent charm to it. Crafted as a school romance, it features a bunch of teens who take pride in tearing up the rules' book. The lingo is smart and snazzy, the boyz and girlz are familiar public school bandaas and the pranks and prattle is nostalgic.
The high school romance is fine too — gawky, awkward and clumsy — but only in the beginning. Once the mushy notes begin and the boy decides to follow his girlfriend to Paris for their Eiffel Tower tryst, it gets downhill all the way. The plot gets unrealistic, the drama goes out of hand.
But more than all this, the bachchas (the lead pair) just can't handle all this adult drama-baazi .Time-pass fare for teens, MP3 could have been imbued with more masti and masala to make it a fun-filled desi Grease.

Source : The Times of India

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Review : Fool 'N Final

Fool 'N Final (comedy)
Cast : Shahid Kapoor, Sunny Deol, Viveik Oberoi, Ayesha Takia
Direction : Ahmad Khan

They both may have been on a high after the success of their last films, but they both come tumbling down from the pinnacle they had reached post Vivah and post Shootout at Lokhandwala . Yes, Fool ‘n Final brings down the career graph of Shahid and Viveik with its insipid script and its no-laughs comedy which provides no room for histrionics.
The first half of the film is a complete washout as it trudges lethargically through a series of misadventures that try to establish the identity of the lead players. Sunny Deol makes his debut with the usual punch and blows as he tries to save distressed damsel, Sameera Reddy, as she cowers behind a batata basket in a crowded subzi mandi in not-so-distant Dubai. Shahid rollercoasts across the highrises on a toddler’s bike, trying to play the perfect stuntman-chor, a la our rollerblading Dhoom ll baddie.
Ayesha Takia suggestively sucks a lolly, and then stays silent for the rest of the movie. What a waste! And Viveik Oberoi begins with a Himesh Reshammiya number and then strangely chooses to ape his look for the entire length of the film.
What a fate! And if that wasn't desultory enough, there’s a talent like Om Puri hovering on the fringes; Paresh Rawal playing a predictable Bihari; Chunky Pandey trying a comeback with another strange avtar (remember his Nepali act!); Jackie Shroff surfacing in the closing moments as the yawnsome hitman; and Arbaz Khan wilting as Moscow Chikna, the infamous Dubai don who actually has nothing to do.
The only saving grace in this listless laugh show is the banter between Johnny Lever and Paresh Rawal which, once again, occurs in the dying moments of the film. Till then however, you’ve already died of boredom. Sad! Because the summer months are perfect for unleashing the Great Indian Laughter Show on the big screen.

Source : The Times of India

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Review: Dharm

Dharm (drama)
Cast : Pankaj Kapoor, Supriya Pathak
Direction : Bhavna Talwar

Anyone who makes therapeutic cinema in choleric times deserves a kudos. Dharm is a film that needs to be made mandatory viewing in all schools across India if we really want to build a secular nation, without giving up on our traditional heritage.
More importantly, it needs to be screened — free public viewings — for each and every fanatic organisation that exists within our country and in every communally sensitive town, kasbah, colony. Finally, it should be made compulsory viewing for some of our political leaders — and we won't take names — who have made a killing out of orchestrated communal frenzy and caste violence. Dharm is not an ordinary film.
Its power lies in the fact that it gives us a progressive interpretation of religion, straight from the head pontiff who has pursued a life of misconstrued religiosity. A respected Brahmin priest, Pandit Chaturvedi (Pankaj Kapoor) has dominated the spiritual landscape of Benares with his strict adherence to the traditional tenets of practised Hinduism.
Like all conventional priests, he believes in caste and communal differences and his world almost falls apart when he realises he has adopted a Muslim child.
The foundling who became Karthik for him was actually Mustafa, a child lost in the communal carnage that had ripped the city apart. When the child's mother returns, the Pandit not only hurriedly gives him up, but also undergoes days of penance to purge his home, mind, body and soul, supposedly defiled by the presence of a non-believer.
Is this the true essence of Dharm? No, declares the Pandit, when the city begins to rage once again in the communal cauldron and his followers brandish their sharpened swords in half-burnt colonies. Set against the scenic backdrop of the Benares ghats, the film ends up equating Dharm with its true tenets: the world is one big family; any discrimination on the basis of colour, caste and community is anti-dharm.
Pankaj Kapoor towers like a colossus amidst the dying social fabric and what could have been a didactic sermon on spirituality, turns up as uplifting soul curry.

SOURCE : THE TIMES OF INDIA

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