PANIC ROOM (2002)

My Score

 Meg Altman is a single mother who is going through a divorce and just moved in separately with her pre teen diabetic daughter Sarah. She has bought a new home in New York which is practically a mansion. For their amusement this mansion has a room called ‘Panic Room’. This room is equipped to keep people safe in the event for an emergency. And when some burglars comes to steal some thing the only safe place Meg and Sarah can find to hide is the panic room. But things start to become quite tense when they realize that what the burglars are looking for is also in the same room. While the bunch of crooks plan on how to get inside the room, Meg and Sarah has to look for a way to get help from the outside world. 

 Panic Room is a very thrilling ride. It takes place 99% inside the mansion and over night. The sequences builds tension minute by minute and every move made by the burglars and the home people becomes tense every time. For the viewer it’s a game of hoping for the best. 

And this packs good performance by Jodie Foster (Meg). When her kid starts to get sick she becomes desperate to find help. And she makes several very risky moves keeping her life on the edge. 

One other major reason for the success of this movie is the cinematography. Especially the sequences which require very dramatic camera movements and long shots combined with CG and moving cameras are done very skillfully. The viewer actually feels how big the house is and how you can really move in and around about it. 

This was directed back in 2002 by David Fincher way before he won the best director award at Golden Globes for ‘Social Network’. And he actually nailed it.

Genre: Thriller

Director: David Fincher

Writer: David Koepp

Stars: Jodie Foster, Kristen Stewart and Forest Whitaker

THE COMPANY MEN (2010)

 

My Score

 The Company Men is knitted around few corporate big shots who work for a multibillion dollar shipping company. And for some of them it’s the end of the line when the company decides to cut costs by downsizing when the economy is hard hit by the recession. One day they have all the luxuries they can imagine with big houses, sports cars and expensive suits and on next day they are left with a resume at hand and mortgage to pay. 

When Bobby Walker (Ben Affleck) loses his job he gets utterly disappointed and angry but he seems to be taking the economic situation too light. While his wife insist on cutting down the expenses and urging him to find another job he spends time driving his porch and playing golf. Beaten by ego and having too much experience and performance under his belt he let down some job offers thinking something better waits out there. But he seems to be wrong. When the time goes tougher he is forced to sell off the valuable possessions and move out of the house. Finding work as a carpenter and working for his brother in law is the last thing he wanted to do but he is left with no choice. 

The story clearly follows Bobby as the main lead. But it covers the side of some other colleagues who face the situation and the bosses who fire them. What’s good about the story telling is that for the viewer nothing is ambiguous. The underlying reality is how the decisions are made in big corporate firms and what pushes them to take the hard ones and how the employees are forced to take the hit. And the script takes good care of showing the emotional side of all the important individuals involved.

 This is packed with some talented cast. Ben Affleck and big names like Tommy Lee Johns and Kevin Costner. The casting is good and so do the acting. Story flows well without any sudden spikes or drags. 

For most of us who works at corporate companies the movie can be a warning. And it reminds you that nothing is permanent and when times are tougher there are very tough choices to make. And those choices are always not in your favor but making they will pull you through. 

‘Never love your company, because it never loves you’. 

Genre: Drama

Director: John Wells

Writer: John Wells

Stars: Ben Affleck, Chris Cooper and Tommy Lee Jones

MORNING GLORY (2010)

My Score

 Rachel McAdams is a wonderful actress. She is beautiful, sweet and energetic to fit the role. And her acting is flawless and definite to make you giggle. In Morning Glory all of those qualities of her just glorify the whole movie. As the movie itself has little to talk about its Rachel that makes everything possible. 

Becky Fuller is an ambitious television producer who unfortunately the company decides to lay off due to budget cuts. Desperate to find a job and being a workaholic she finds a new position at IBS network as a producer of the morning show “Daybreak”. Sadly Daybreak being a sinking ship doesn’t offer much for her but she decides to sail up. 

While looking for an anchor she offers it to a veteran journalist Mike Pameroy. Mike being a senior in the field with his own boosted ego and fixed hot temper combined with an irritating attitude rejects at first. But later on he joins the Daybreak crew as he was jobless and wanted the money. 

And now Becky has to deal with Mike’s attitude, a likely to succeed new boyfriend and a show which is due to get cancelled as its ratings are low. She is in the middle of the juggling game working day in and day out trying to reach her dreams. 

Coming from the writers of ‘Devil wears prada’ this movie has that taste. Working class woman, ambitious, stress, bossy bosses, relationship issues and all of that seems familiar. But Morning Glory is not at all boring. As I mentioned at the start Rachel’s acting works the magic. She has so many words to spit out and too many things to consider throughout. 

Harrison Ford (Mike) contributes to his role but for who he is this is not at all a real character which he should be playing.  Therefore his performance is not amusing and mostly under delivered. 

Even if you take the plot, actors, acting and everything else Morning Glory is an average flick. It’s more like a TV sitcom but it will entertain you. If you want something to watch while you relax then choose it. 

Genre: comedy, Drama, Romance

Director: Roger Michell

Writer: Aline Brosh McKenna

Stars: Rachel McAdams, Harrison Ford and Diane Keaton

SHAUN OF THE DEAD (2004)

My score

There are zombie movies which are scary. And then there are comedies which are hilarious. What’s the result when you combine these too? Its ‘Shaun of the dead’ no doubt. And it’s entertaining.

Shaun is a looser. He is 29 years old and works in an electronics shop as a supervisor. No one respect him there even by mistake. And then he has a fat roommate who plays console games all the time and doesn’t contribute anything as such. Shaun girlfriend just dumps him coz he don’t have any plans for the future. How can he when all he can think of is drinking beer in a single familiar joint! He got a stepfather who he never liked for 17 years. And bunch of other so called friends who really don’t give a damn about him or neither he about them. He lives a normal pathetic life living the same routine every day until the dead starts to come alive. Streets of England start to get packed with zombies and when few of them starts to eat Shaun and his fat roommate ED things really needed to change. No time for routine. It’s the time to be a hero or a loser (which he already is). So he decides to be a hero and rescue his ex-girlfriend and mother from the zombie mess.

Shaun of the dead is not the typical zombie movie or the typical comedy. There is enough blood and gore and body parts here and there but still its looks funny enough to make you laugh. Doesn’t lag in between any scenes and just smoothly flow till the end. And yes there is quite a good ending as well. some good dudes die and some survive just like in all zombie flicks. And many turns in to ‘those’ which ultimately get killed by the x friends and family. 

  What’s good about this movie is that maybe this is how it will exactly be if there is a zombie epidemic happens. Many normal citizens will not know what to do. All other zombie flicks are packed with some kind of a kick ass action dude and a sexy babe to accompany him but here it’s just day to day people trying to get going without getting eaten by some ugly looking zombie dudes. And that’s it. They don’t have big plans or big guns to survive. Even they find guys they don’t know how to shoot it properly.

Witty, scary and yucky in one movie and it all happens for good. Shaun is the hero who goes hitting them zombies with a cricket bat and boy he does it well.

Genre: Horror, Comedy

Director:  Edgar Wright

Writers: Simon Pegg, Edgar Wright

Stars: Simon Pegg, Nick Frost and Kate Ashfield

BATTLE LOS ANGELES (2011)

My Score

One fine day when the world thinks that it's just another normal meteor storm heading towards earth they are wrong. The world is about see something which they have never seeing and experience devastations in scales which they have never experienced. It's the time for the greatest battle of the human kind against an unknown enemy lures in to the earths atmosphere from an unknown place. Yes extraterrestrial with super fire power and intelligence is here to hunt the human race down and claim the planet. And militaries around the planet face their greatest challenge of offensive operation.

'Battle Los Angeles' is simply above. It sounds like a war movie packed in the shell of a science fiction or the other way around. But what's sad about it is that the science in it is total failure and war in it is too much to handle. Other than that it doesn't have anything else. It does but not up to the standard where it impacts you as a viewer. We have seeing war movies and we have seeing sci fics as well. BLA reminds me of Black Hawk Down. A troupe sent on a mission gets stuck in the hostile territory when their getaway is blocked and the external finds difficult to reach them. So they have to manage on their own. Pretty decent attempt and plot there. But not like in Black Hawk Down here they fail to deliver the punch of survival. Surely there is a big distraction. The aliens. But still character development is poor which leaves little room for the viewer to feel for the actors.

Keeping that aside the action sequences is very well made. And the computer graphics and set creation as well. If they were not up to where it was I must have got really fed up watching this. It's not easy to make a boring war movie when there is intense action in it but if that action is too much then you might lose interest. Not every time but at some points BLA makes that mistake. Too long action sequences and nothing much happening to feed the story line.

Like I said before the science in this is quite questionable. We have seeing 'Independence Day'. And that was like one of the most stupid sci fic movies ever made but it was a good entertainer. BLA fails to entertain and fails to deliver science as well. Just like all alien invasion movies humans finds some quick methods to get rid of the aliens. A virus, some kind of a weapon or a point of attack which such sophisticated alien army falls on their knees. This mistake happens in this movie as well. This makes the whole effort a waste.

BLA is good for hardcore action fans. Or teens who think action is 'the' thing which makes a movie best. If you're not one of them you will just watch it and forget it.

Genre: Action, Sci Fic

Director: Jonathan Liebesman

Writer:   Christopher Bertolini

Stars: Aaron Eckhart, Michelle Rodriguez and Bridget Moynahan

DRIVE ANGRY (2011)

My score

 

Now you must be thinking that when a movie is good it’s hard to write a review of it and when the movie is bad it’s a piece of cake. Yeah it is if I can just finish by saying ‘That’s a load of crap’. But writing a review is not that simple. 

Drive Angry is a wonderful title. Come on think about it. It can give you some great wild ideas. Some great driving sequences and who know a bit of revenge and fistful of action as well. But one thing I can say about ‘Drive Angry’. If you are about to drive after watching this flick then you better tighten your seat belts as you will be so angry when you come out of the theater and yelling for your money back!

I’m finding it difficult to come up with something to actually tell good about it. Maybe the explosions?

Naaah. We have seen better ones than that. Maybe the acting then? You gotta be kidding me. Cage looks good in those shades but acting? He has totally lost the charisma. Do better movies dude. You used to be on top of my best actors list. 

Amber Heard you got my attention. But right where the skin is showing and the pants are short. The rest of you suck. What happened to all these people? It’s just like you act on a movie with no one is acting. The only watch worthy performance comes from William Fichtner. Yeah man you rock. You are totally out of hell police. 

Drive Angry honestly is the worst movie I watched this year. The plot is typical with a bit of twist here and there. Packs a lot of BS in the name of hell and revenge. I don’t buy that sorry. Maybe someone tried to be Quentine Torantino but has failed miserably. My advice to all the folks out there, if you want to waste time play a computer game at least. But not this.

 Genre: Crime, action

Director: Patrick Lussier

Writers: Todd Farmer, Patrick Lussier

Stars: Nicolas Cage, Amber Heard and William Fichtner