Sunday 27 May 2007

Lost - Season 2

It is amazing how many fans Lost have attracted despite how hopeless the topic is, actually. I also liked it when I watched the first season, but the second season is really hopeless. The series has begun to be more like soap than a series. There is little progress in the series, as in soaps. It is only interesting in the end of some episodes and the last 4-5 episodes of the season. Elsewhere, it is only time pass. It will be interesting to see for how long time the makers can continue with so boring story.

Rating: 3/2 of 6

Saturday 26 May 2007

Raqeeb

Maybe people do not have so high expectation from Raqeeb since the producer, Raj Kanwar, has given some flop movies in the last. Those people should reconsider their view, because the movie is above average and is absolutely worth watching.

The movie started with the title song performed as an “item bumber” by Tanushree Datta. The echo voice of a male in the song works very good to give the thriller atmosphere.

The movie is interest catching and their were all right performances. Rahul Khanna wasn’t so convincing in the movie, and suits more in serious drama roles in non-Bollywood movies. Jimmy Shergill had cool style/role in the movie, but unfortunately his role wasn’t so big and wasn’t so much on screen.

The climax was routine-based with some clichés and went over relatively quickly.

Rating: 4/5 of 6

Tuesday 22 May 2007

Freakonomics

Freakonomics is a popular book among economists in these days. It deals with different themes and myths in the society and the authors present some analysis and conclusions on how these are related to the reality. For instance, what are the incentives of a property dealer to give you the best price, how much good parenting and their care will affect their children etc.

The book is somehow funny, and uses academic analysis to describe the facts. As the authors say; it is not something new data they have invented, but how the existing data can give relevant (and funny) conclusions. But the book is not super entertaining as a novel. Therefore, I skipped the bonus material in the book which was the published articles on the analysis and conclusions.

This book can also be read by other people than economists. It has been used academic view to conclude on different (relevant) topics, which will be understandable for other people as well.

Rating: 4 of 6

Sunday 20 May 2007

Sex, Lies & Murder (Minnis First Time)

Sex, Lies & Murder is an interesting thriller about a teenage girl who is boring and executes a controversial plan to get rid of her boredom.

Rating: 4 of 6

Kya Love Story Hai

Kya Love Story Hai is an OK movie. It has minor faults in the script, but still there was something which let you watch the rest of the movie despite the fact that you know what is going to happen in the end. It had some good songs as well.

Rating: 4 of 6

Good Boy Bad Boy

Good Boy Bad Boy is a useless and time pass movie, and Emran Hashmi has been wasted in the movie. The music wasn’t good as well despite Emran Hashmi was in the movie (mostly of his movies tends to have good music). The script was full of faults and the climax was poorly executed.

Rating: 3/2 of 6

Saturday 19 May 2007

The Departed

The Departed is made by Martin Scorsese, who has made numerous classical action movies, i.e. Casino and Goodfellas. The Departed will also go in the history as a classical movie, and the chances for this are even more increased when it won Oscars.

The movie is inspired by the South-Korean flick “Infernal Affairs” and the life of a previous Boston-based gangster who is at number two on FBI’s most wanted list. The story deals around some characters, and there are among others two characters which makes the story intense. These two characters are Leonardo and Matt Damon’s roles, which are playing under covers. One of them working for the mafia gangster and the other one for the police.


he story is well told with fast dialogues and nice execution. I think people will like more of this movie when they watch it next time, because multiple stories are told parallel with fast clips. This makes some confusion some times, but next time there wouldn’t be any confusion since you know what is going on.

Rating: 5/6 of 6

Sunday 13 May 2007

Ta Ra Rum Pum

Ta Ra Rum Pum is produced by Yash Raj Studios, who have given us lots of blockbuster throughout the time. Ta Ra Rum Pum seems to not achieve as much success as the previous movies. The reason is simply that this movie is too predictable and there is not so much new with it. In addition, in the middle of it, it got boring, and could easily been cut.

Rating: 3 of 6

Saturday 12 May 2007

Shakalaka Boom Boom

After watching the very first trailers of Shakalaka Boom Boom, it didn’t sound so interesting. But the trailers which were released later were much more interest capturing. The movie is drama set in the (desi) music industry in New York. Most of the actors have delivered good performances, i.e. Upen Patel, Celina Jaitley and Bobby Deol.

The story is about two characters, played by Upen Patel and Bobby Deol. Bobby’s character is a big music star, and Upen’s character wants to make it big. Then follows a race between these two characters which is the story of the movie, and there will only be one winner. Both characters are very interesting and also have their negative shades, so you don’t know which party you will like to take.

Rating: 5 of 6

Poseidon

Poseidon is a horrible catastrophe movie, which is full of clichés and stupid faults which are common in movies with such category. It is very common in such movies that there is big problem, and some heroes, who have done PhD in problem solving, are solving these problems. And new problems follow previous problems in 60-70% of the time in the movie, and you know what is going to happen in the end of the movie. Actually, after watching 50% of the movie, I was hoping that everybody dies in the movie so it could be ended before scheduled.

In addition, there was none impressive artistic revolutions to write home about.

Rating: 1 of 6

Tuesday 8 May 2007

Life Mein Kabhie Kabhiee

Life Mein Kabhie Kabhiee has an interesting topic, which is to discover how people define their happiness. Some care about money, some with fame, power etc etc. And they will do whatever to achieve these goals. I will say that the movie is somehow mixture of old masala, but the difference is that this time you will find five stories with their main characters in one movie instead one movie for each character.

The story is well told with a nice background score. Vikram Bhatt (who has also made Red, which also was commented some weeks ago) has made this flick, and I must say that I’m impressed. He has given so many boring movies in the last, and finally he has succeeded to make a good one. Maybe he should change his main genre/category which he is so famous for (thriller). Unfortunately this movie flopped despite its qualities.

Rating: 4/5 of 6

Lady in the Water

Lady in the Water is made by M. Night Shyamalan, who previously has made The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, Signs and The Village. His movies seem to be predictable to some extent. Throughout the movie, you get somehow bored, and the end is surprising with a larger meaning. In Lady in the Water, he has used some of the same concept. I got bored throughout the movie, and the end was good. But the good end will not compensate for the boredom during the movie this time, therefore:

Rating: 3 of 6

Thursday 3 May 2007

Aksar

This is the second time I have watched Aksar, which in itself is a sign of that it is a good movie. In Aksar, the not so much super popular, Dino Morea, has given one of his better performances. And which other role will fit Emran Hashmi than as a chakri lover boy.!? He has its own style of performing the role, and gives a funny contribution to the story line.

The movie has an interesting background score, which is inspired from horror and thriller movies. This in turn has given the movie an intense atmosphere, which works very will in the movie plot. Not only the plot, but the background score also gives additional help to portray Udita Goswami’s character.

Aksar has really good music, and I have been listening to it since it came. It is not without reason that it is regarded as one of the best albums of 2006.

Lastly, a warning to those who haven’t seen this movie and are considering watching Aksar: We are here talking about a typical gandi movie with Emran Hashmi, which is not meant for vulnerable souls ;).

Rating: 5 of 6