Knowing

Nicholas Cage has given several boring movies lately, but still I gave this movie a chance after a recommendation. And the movie turned out to be pretty interesting and good. The movie is a good mixture of several categories; drama, thriller, action and science fiction.

A couple of CGI scenes weren’t that good made, but still all right. The climax scenes which where made by CGI were good and the climax in itself was also good. Several reviewers has slaughtered the movie, and I think the reason is that they are captured in their mindset where there is no space left for somehow different tracks for how a movie should be. They are probably in love with cliché movies, where all the movies are similar.

Rating: 5 of 6

X-files: I want to believe

Disappointing and somehow boring movie. I like(d) the series when I was younger and it was on its top popularity during the 90’s. The concept of hunting and investigating paranormal activity is still somehow interesting, but the movie makers haven’t demonstrated any new way to show this topic in order to make it interesting.

Rating: 3/2 of 6

Big Fish

A boring fairy tale kind of drama, made by Tim Burton who tends to make strange movies. It’s about Edward Bloom who loves to tell unbelievable stories. His son is tired of this, and doesn't know who his father really is, and he hasn't spoken to his father for years. His son get a call that his father is dying, and he comes home and tries to get know to his father, and then we are told these boring unbelievable stories which are far from reality and full of fairy tale elements. In the ending, we get sort of a moral message about the meaning of fairy tales in life etc. Still, the first 95% of the movie can’t be regarded as good entertainment in my view, and somehow boring!

Despite my disliking, this movie is actually regarded as Top250 movies ever according to imdb.com.

Rating: 2 of 6

Varg Veum – Falne Engler / Fallen Angels

This is the fourth movie in Varg Veum series. The background score which worked very well for the first two movies, is missing this time, again. This movie is typical as just other Norwegian crime thrillers which tends to lack interesting background score, and focuses hugely on drama element with no music.

Rating: 4 of 6

Dexter – Season 1

Cool series. It tells the story of a blood expert at Miami Police Department, who has a dark secret; he is a serial killer! But he is not just like other serial killers as we have seen in numerous movies. He has codex on who he will kill, and often it is people who have criminal record, but have got away (easily) from the legal system. Soon he founds another fascinating serial killer who starts playing a game with him…

I found the series very interesting. It’s very different from other portrays of serial killers, and you get to know him more deeply in the series. In addition, the series is shot in Miami, which I think have amazing locations. This also enhances the watching experience and urges you to visit this place.

Rating: 5/6 of 6

Runaway Jury

I actually watched this John Grisham book-based drama thriller when it came some years back in 2003, and I regarded it as just an average thriller. Still, it managed to get stuck in my mind and I was fascinated by its topic. The story is about manipulation of a court trial by selecting each member of the jury very analytically. This is done by analysing the jury candidates by psychological profiles, blackmailing them by finding their dark secrets etc etc. This actually gives some challenges to the democracy and trust on judicial system. As one of the selection consultants (Gene Hackman) say in the movie; “Trials are too important to be decided by juries”, and this tells us how far some people are willing to go in order to win such cases.

Rating: 5 of 6

Død Snø / Dead Snow

This is the first Norwegian zombie movie, probably first nazi zombie movie ever. I’m actually pretty tired of zombie movies, but still I gave it a chance. In addition, the concept of some few people in a no man's land surrounded by some monsters or zombies, is so outdated that horror movie makers with respect for themselves should look after other concepts. Is this what these so-called artists call creativity??

The movie started well and had several elements in terms of creating the mystic atmosphere which could have given a proper horror movie. But soon, our zombie friends arrive and create the largest orgy of blood and gore in Norwegian cinema till date. It had some funny moments, which improved the experience. Overall, it’s a pretty average horror movie but still somehow fascinating that it is made in a Norwegian context.

Rating: 4 of 6

Gang

Cool action flick made by late Mazhar Khan and released in 2000 after 10 years in making. Actually, Mazhar Khan passed away two years prior to the release of the movie. Despite the fact that it used that much time in making, it has several novel techniques which have been used in later movies.

The climax is really well executed, with brilliant background score.

Rating: 5 of 6

State of Play

All right thriller with Russel Crowe and Ben Affleck. The plot is inspired by real events and it deals with the concept of outsourcing war services. For instance, US have used Xe (earlier Blackwater) in the war against terror in Iraq. There is a similar company in the movie, and has its own agenda.

Rating: 4/5 of 6

Aatish

All right cool action thriller from 94. I remember it was pretty cool when it came and it had creative action scenes at that particular time. Unfortunately, it had lost some of this coolness factor, but still all right entertainment.

The director of the movie, Sanjay Gupta, is known for copying foreign movies. This movie is based upon State of Grace and/or A Better Tomorrow, according to Wikipedia.

Rating: 4/5 of 6

Die Hard 4.0

Cool action flick, just like last time.

Rating: 4/5 of 6

Blade Runner

All right science fiction movie from the 70’s. The movie could have been remarkable especially taking into consideration that it came in 70’s, but after watching several good science fiction movies from 90’s, this one seems only average.

Rating: 4 of 6

Jism

Interesting thriller which probably is inspired by Body Heat (1981). It had both good songs and good background score which helped to give the right feeling of the atmosphere. This movie is among the very first movies with Bipasha Basu and John Abraham, and their voices were dubbed over (this was also the movie where Bipasha and John “found each other”). The dubbing actually spoiled some of the experience. Still, the movie is good entertainment.

Rating: 5 of 6

Khuda Gawah

Good old classical, which I use to say in Punjabi; ”Apne zamane di badi wadiya film æ”. It’s made by Mukul S. Anand who has made several remarkable movies, and some of the movie tends to be too filmy. But still, it’s entertaining and has good songs.

Rating: 5 of 6