Shoot 'em Up - The real senseless fun

I never really understood the phrase "senseless fun" and when some critics (especially on rediff.com) say that we should leave our brains at our home while watching so and so movie. I often felt insulted when critics use those phrases and honestly, I don't want to leave my brains at home when watching any movie. Also, most of the movies, in fact all of bollywood movies don't belong in that genre. They are not the "senseless fun" movies as the filmmakers say they are but are simply "senseless".

This is the real "senseless fun" if there is one.

Here, the filmmakers know exactly what they are doing and when things go crazy, I mean really crazy, we know that we need to laugh with the movie as opposed to laugh at it.

There is no point in knowing the story of the movie, as there isn't any and even if there is one, the movie twists and turns it in so many weird ways that you need to pinch yourself to believe what you are seeing. All you need to know is that Clive Owen is the good guy who is trying to rescue a new born baby from the baddie played by Paul giamatti. And yes, there is hot girl played by none other than sexy Monica Bellucci. His weapons - the usual guns and a carrot. Yes, a carrot does a lot of things in this movie and you have to see it to believe it.

I cannot compare this movie to the anything I have seen before. The closest one that comes to my mind is "Transporter 2" which had a few scenes similar to this one. But it was not even half as much fun as this one.

For a brief period of time, I got a little tired of watching movies and postponed my hobby for several weeks now. I am glad that I started my usual schedule with this movie. I liked it so much that I showed it to a couple of friends the very next day and I sat through the entire thing.

One friend who knew what the movie was all about enjoyed it and the other one was confused on whether this was a comedy or a serious action movie.

My rating : 3.75/5

New on DVD-Enchanted

Movies like Enchanted are my current favorites. I am not sure how to explain when I say, "movies like Enchanted". They are the movies where there is parallel universe in addition to the one we know and live in. There is happiness, self-satisfaction and not to mention magic and things which cannot be explained by rational thought in that parallel world. Adults do not believe in that world but kids do. Other great movies that belong in this genres are Harry potter series, Spiderman, Ratatouille , to mention a few.

The very idea of the movie, where a princess from another land is pushed into empty and lonely city of New York, itself is enchanting and in addition to that we have the lovely Amy Adams in the leading role. I loved her in her previous film "Junebug" where she played an innocent country girl. She is again brilliant in her new role and we believe her in every scene that she is as innocent as she appears to be.

The first 15-20 minutes of the movie is shot in animated format where we learn that the princess is looking forward for her dream Prince to come and take her into his arms. She sings about her dream lover and when the dream lover finally arrives to marry her, his step mother comes into the picture. She cannot let her marry his step son as she would loose her crown. So, she throws the Princess down the abyss of a well to the other end of which is a man-hole right in the downtown of current day's New York.

The Princess is alone in the New York city and she is found by an handsome young man who allows her to sleep in his apartment for the night. The young man is realist, rationalist and does not believe in tales where people live happily ever after. As expected, he takes her to be a mentally challenged girl and helps her with money, clothes and some advice on practical life. However, he loves the innocence in the girl and eventually falls in love.

Susan Sarandon plays the evil step mother and she does make an evil entrance as needed by the film. Her sidekick is the British actor who played the role of Peter Pettigrew in Harry potter. He is just the perfect cast for the role.

The movie is rated at 97% on the tomatameter and it certainly does deserve that rating. After watching this movie, I am waiting for the next movie in this genre of parallel universe. Needless to say, this movie ends where all the characters will live happily ever after.

My rating : 5/5

New on DVD - The Mist

Nothing special. I had to skip here and there and fast forward the movie (mostly during the second half) and felt the movie would have been better if it was at least 20 minutes shorter.

This is another typical Stephen King story set yet again in a small town in Maine, where everybody knows everybody.

Apart from being a typical King's story, this is a typical monster movie as well and that is the bad part. The movie is very good till the monster attacks start and once it does it is almost a cliche, almost.

This time the set up is in a local grocery store where all the characters in town are stuck and have to deal with one another to get out of the situation safely. The most interesting character in the movie is played by Marcia gay haden as a devoted Catholic. She feels that it is the Judgement day and manages to convince a majority of the people in her beliefs and if needed she will even not hesitate to kill the non-believers.

The ending of the movie is very sad and reminded me of "Storm of the century", another King's novel about a monster attack in a small town (yes, again in Maine).

I cannot quite recommend this movie but it is fun at times and boring/routine most of the time. There is one scene that I absolutely loved and almost applauded. I will not reveal the suspense but I can give you a hint. It has to got to with the crazy Catholic woman.

My rating : 3/5

Grindhouse - Don't!

One of the faux trailers for Grindhouse