Directed by Jon Favreau
Produced by Avi Arad, Kevin Feige
Starring Robert Downey Jr., Terrence Howard, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jeff Bridges
Music by Ramin Djawadi
Distributed by United States: Paramount Pictures

I am a big comic fan. I love superheros. But still I didn’t know much about Iron Man. Although I didn’t know anything about X-Men either before I saw X-Men 2. Anyways, I came to know about Iron Man movie sometime back when the trailers started arriving and they looked pretty good, and the reviews after the release were very good, so I decided to watch it. And after watching it today I’m pretty much more into comic book superheros more than ever, but Batman still is and will forever be my favorite superhero.

Iron Man is about Tony Stark, a rich industrialist and genius engineer, who runs the company Stark Industries specializing in weapons for US military. After one such weapon demonstration Tony Stark is captured by some terrorist group and forced to develop the same weapon for them, a missile. But instead he secretly makes this strong armor and escapes from there. And then the bad guy lays his hands on one such armor and develops a highly developed version to wreak havoc, and Tony Stark becomes Iron Man to stop him.

So thats about the story, now about the acting. Robert Downey Jr. did a fantastic job for a 43 year old, which he doesn’t look that old in the movie. He’s a very good actor and did a really good job with the role. The action scenes he performed where very good. Gwyneth Paltrow plays the role of Virginia “Pepper” Potts, assistant of Tony Stark. And even she did a good job in the movie. Special effects are very good, nothing is overdone. The gadgetry and technology shown amazes you and doesn’t look unnatural. Action scenes are well done with perfect amount of effects used. The whole Iron Man suit thing is pretty good, the suit looks very cool. Background music is also good.

So overall its a very nice movie and you should really watch it. The movie entertains you with the tech gadgetry, the good storyline and action packed scenes and also some humor. So its a very good summer entertainer.

Rating: 9/10

I love the summer season, not for the intense heat of course, but for the huge huge huge number of movies coming my way. I’m not expecting much from the Bollywood, not many big movies coming already, but Hollywood is packed with movies during that time. Action, comedy, romance, adventure, some sci-fi, you name it and you got it.

So lets just have a look at what Bollywood has to offer then we goto the mega Hollywood summer. Now like I said not many movies, good ones or rather the ones which I would wanna watch, are coming this summer. And the one which I “might” wanna see is “Bachna Ae Haseeno”. Now I put some stress on the word “might” because its true, I’m not sure if I “might” wanna watch it, reason is, the way highly anticipated movies come and crash at the box office is just too much to tolerate. I mean you cant really trust the promos anymore. Tashan for instance had me convinced that I’ll watch it, come the reviews and its a different story alltogether, anyways its not about Tashan its about whats coming, so “Bachna Ae Haseeno” is what I’m waiting which is releasing on 15th August, long time that. It stars Ranbir Kapoor, Bipasha Basu, Minissha Lamba and Deepika Padukone. I’m only concerned about Minissha Lamba and Deepika Padukone coz the rest of them I really don’t like much. This would be Deepika’s first movie after the grand Om Shanti Om. But anyways its long time for that, and before that I really don’t know if there is a good movie coming up. Lets see what else is there, umm…Bhoothnath, no way, Jimmy? ummm…nope. Jannat might be good, but I’ll wait for the reviews. Emraan Hashmi is a fine actor, the music is very good, but lets see hows the movie. Its from the Bhatt camp and it has some expectations, but I’d rather stop expecting much. Then there is Sarkar Raj on June 6 starring Amitabh Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, which I’ll probably safely skip. Then there is Priyadarshan’s Mere Baap Pehle Aap on June 13, now this I could be watching as usually Priyadarshan’s movie carry some good entertainment value. Thoda Pyaar Thoda Magic on June 27, the title which in itself says, its confused, so I’ll skip it. Then sometime later comes Love Story 2050 on July 4. Now I have no clue whatsoever about this one, its ofcourse set in futuristic times, and its a love story, gosh! Bollywood will still have love stories in 2050!!! I hope not. And there are lot more movies but none of which makes it to my must watch, none of these infact. So a dull looking Bollywood summer.

Ok so lets get onto the Hollywood factory. Things start off with Iron Man releasing today, and its been getting very good reviews, so I’ll probably watch this one. Although I don’t know anything other than just that fact that he is some kind of a superhero with a metal suit. I might be wrong, but thats all I know.

May

Speed Racer is releasing on May 9th and its surely a promising movie. The trailers look good, ok let me make it clear, Hollywood movies don’t always disappoint so I’m ready to risk my money here and watch it. So like I was saying, Speed Racer, which is directed by the Wachowski brothers. They don’t need any introduction do they? Now c’mon don’t tell me you havn’t heard of them…you have not? Ahh never mind. They brought you “The Matrix Trilogy”, yeah yeah you always knew it. Ok so this time they make a movie based on the old anime series called Speed Racer and I know a lot about the series as I used to watch the original cartoons when I was a kid, so I would love to watch it as a movie. On May 16 comes “The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian”, sequel to “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe”. I’m not too sure if I’ll watch it on the release or wait for the DVD. I do want to watch it, but lets see. Then we have on May 23, “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull”. Indy is back! You just don’t wanna miss it, directed by Steven Speilberg himself, you can’t miss this adventure. I’m surely going to watch this one.

June

June starts with this action comedy “You Don’t Mess with the Zohan” starring Adam Sandler as Zohan and also the sexy Emmanuelle Chriqui releasing on June 6. The trailer suggests that it will be a funny movie, and this I might wanna give a shot. “The Incredible Hulk”, the big green mean fighting machine is back on June 13. I didn’t see Hulk released in 2003, and this is not a sequel to that, as many of you might be expecting, but its more like a reboot to the series, so I could be watching this one. Next on 20th May is “The Love Guru”. Now I’m a Mike Myers fan, and thats convincing enough thats its gonna be a pretty good one, add in the lovely, sexy, Jessica Alba, do I need any more convincing? Naa, I’ll be watching it for sure. Next is “Wall-E”, which I’m not so sure about. I do want to watch it, but whether I see it on the May 27 release or wait for the DVD, I’ll decide later. Then on the same day we have “Wanted”. Ok here is a thing to lure you, how about Angelina Jolie in an action flick. Mouthwatering isn’t it? Wanted should be a kick ass movie. Lots of cool action scenes and a hot looking Angelina Jolie should make the summers hotter. I sure am watching this one.

July

Then we have “Hellboy II: The Golden Army”, releasing on July 11 the sequel to 2004’s Hellboy, which of course I haven’t yet seen. So I could be thinking of skipping this one as well. Also releasing same day is “Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D” starring Brendon Fraser. The trailer was good but I will probably wait for the reviews.

Now comes the most awaited movie, which I have been waiting for ever since I saw Batman Begins in 2005. The same team brings you the sequel to Batman Begins on July 18, “The Dark Knight”. Trailers are very good and the movie should be even better. Its a must watch for me as I’m a big Batman fan and Batman Begins was such a wonderful movie. Heath Ledger plays the role of arch enemy, the Joker so its pretty much a must watch.

August

August starts with “The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor” releasing on August 1, in which we have Brenden Fraser returning to fight the mummy, who is played by Jet Li this time. Its directed by Rob Cohen, so it might be good on the action front and with Jet Li in, I’m sure there will be action in plenty. I’m yet to watch the trailer and if its good enough I might wanna watch it.

August 8 we have “PIneapple Express”, funny name, the movie might be even funnier. Comedy and the Judd Apatow gang go hand in hand it seems. This one starts Seth Rogen and James Franco. With Seth Rogen in you can be rest assured that its going to be a very good movie with a lot of comedy and some action. Must watch, needless to say.

So thats it fellas, there are of course a lot more movies coming, but I’ll keep my eyes on the ones I mentioned only. Have a great summer!

My last post was on 14th February, and today is 14th April. 2 months since I last posted something on my blog, so in case people are wondering where I was, well I was just a bit lazy maybe, and I didn’t find/think much to write about. But just to fill that void, here is the first post in two months. So what did I do all this time? Well pretty much the same old stuff, office, gaming, music, movies, sleep. I’ll start with the movies I saw, so I’ll start off with Race

Race Review
Race was a good movie, I liked the cinematography, the performances of the main starts, and for its music. The plot had too many twists in it, and for once you did feel like what was going on. That said, its a good watch, and worth the penny. The car race in the end of the movie was pretty good. Saif Ali Khan was very good, and Akshaye Khanna was even better. His performance was very impressive. The same can’t be said about the girls though, I felt Bipasha was somewhat off in the film. Didn’t impress me much, neither did Katrina Kaif, infact she rarely does impress me. Sameera Reddy’s role was small, and she was only used for being the center of the jokes from Anil Kapoor, who himself was pretty much ok in the movie. Music was the strength of the movie, and some of the tracks are really very good. Overall a good and entertaining movie with lot of style and substance.
Rating: 7.5/10

Sunday Review
Then I saw Sunday, a little late, it was a ok movie, not great, but the suspense factor with some comic scenes saves the movie. Ajay Devgan gives an ok performance, Ayesha Takia, was good. The plot was main strength of the movie. Arshad Warsi and Irfan also did a good job in their comical roles. Vrajesh Hirjee was also a nice character in the movie. The starting scene of his was pretty awesome. Anjana Sukhani looks very pretty. Music wise, other than the title track not much was there in the movie. So overall its an ok watch.
Rating: 7/10

Shaurya Review
I went to this movie, with no clue whatsoever about the movie. Which is quite rare for me, as I usually have something in mind as to what to expect from a movie, but this was a different case. The movie was good but had some flaws in it, but not that big to make it a disaster. Acting was the main strength here, and Rahul Bose, Kay Kay Menon, Javed Jaffrey and Minissha Lamba all did a good job. Minissha Lamba looks very good, and acts very well too. Kay Kay Menon gives a solid performance, especially in the end. Rahul Bose was ok, Javed Jaffrey was in a different role, much different from the comic roles we have seen him in recently, and was quite fine. Music wise not many songs in the movie, but one song was very good. The guy who played the role of Javed was very good, his expressions were very good and impressive. Overall its a nice movie and delivers the message it wants to give. Flaws wise, the movie could have been better on some occasions, especially the build up to the whole story.
Rating: 7.5/10

Juno Review
Juno is a comedy about a 16 year-old who gets pregnant. Ellen Page plays the role of Juno, with Michael Cera, Jennifer Garner, and Jason Bateman also starring. Its a very fine made movie, and Ellen Page gives a great performance. Its a great performance for a 21 year-old, and she was nearly flawless in the movie. Michael Cera wasn’t much in the movie, but was pretty ok. The direction was pretty good, and I liked the simplicity of things. Overall its a very good movie with Ellen Page taking the center stage and delivering a great performance. A good watch.
Rating: 8/10

So thats all about the movies, now for some music. Well not much to write about in here, but recently I’ve been listening to 2 albums quite a lot: Jannat and Tashan.

Jannat Music Review
Pritam makes another musical hit for Bhatts. After some great music in movies like Gangster, Woh Lamhe and Awarapan for Bhatts Pritam gives another album with great music. The first track, “Zara Sa” is a lovely track with the main tune capturing the mind of the listeners. Its superbly done, and KK always sings such songs beautifully. Then the song “Judai” was another good song in the album. Sung, written and composed by Kamran Ahmed, its a nice song, well sung by Ahmed. ‘Door Naa’ is a somewhat slow paced track, but its pretty good. Lots of areas where the song really grab your attention. The other songs were good as well, but the ones I mentioned were my picks from the album.
Rating: 8/10

I have done music review of Tashan separately. Please click here to read it.
Apart from these two albums, I got some Elvis Presley albums which I’ll listen to. I’m also listening to some old tracks as well for a change.

After music, its time about some gaming. Well pretty much the usual gaming, FIFA 08, Need for Speed: Most Wanted. But I played a new game, Aliens versus Predator 2 and its expansion pack Aliens versus Predator 2: Primal Hunt. I like the AvP franchisee so this game was surely I wanted to play. It lets you play as the Alien, as the predator or as a marine soldier. I completed the Predator levels in the game and its expansion pack. I started the Alien campaign as well and completed some half of it. Its a pretty good FPS and AvP fans will love it. Its kinda old, released in 2001, so the graphics look like of old games, but it still is very good to look.

Now about some sports. I haven’t played much football over the last few weeks, but Manchester United has been putting up some good performances, and so was Ferrari. Manchester United entered the semifinal of the UEFA Champions League and is also comfortably on top of the Barclays Premier League to retain their title this season as well. Ferrari got a 1-2 in Bahrain as Massa took the win after some forgettable first two races.

So that was my update about the last 2 months. Hopefully there won’t be another gap between the next post.

Directed by Sriram Raghavan
Produced by Sriram Raghavan
Starring Dharmendra, Neil Mukesh, Rimi Sen, Vinay Pathak, Zakir Hussain, Ashwini Khalsekar, Govind Namdeo
Music by Shankar Ehsaan Loy

I usually don’t see many thrillers, but this was really good I must say. But this is certainly a great movie and very entertaining from start to finish.

Johnny Gaddaar is a story about a group of a group of people who are going to make a big deal. They were to share the profit from the deal but then one of them decides to take it all for him and then its all exiting and gripping. Neil Nitin Mukesh makes a great debut. The grandson of legendary singer Mukesh and son of singer Nitin Mukesh, Neil does a splendid job and impresses me a lot. Rimi Sen was also very good and This is the second time I really loved watching her. Dharmendra is really good here. I enjoyed watching him. He’s still pretty good and I really wish he comes on screen more often. Vinay Pathak is again very impressive and I’m a fan of this guy. Ashwini Kalsekar is another actress whom I believe should come more on the screen. She plays the role of Vinay Pathak’s wife. Rest of the cast was good. But Neil and Vinay Pathak were the ones who really left a mark.

The presentation is very good, the background score is really awesome. What I loved the most about the movie is the way and the style in which its all presented. A good pace, never bores you and always entertaining and consuming. The music, the story all mixes well and things are smooth in all parts of the movie. Superb cinematography, the screenplay and dialogues are awesome. It does what a movie of its genre should, I didn’t see Sriram Raghavan’s previous film Ek Hasina Thi, though, but this is really good. A great dedication to James Hadley Chase I believe.

Rating 9/10

Directed by Sajid Khan
Produced by Sajid Nadiadwala
Written by Sajid Khan
Starring Akshay Kumar, Fardeen Khan, Riteish Deshmukh, Vidya Balan, Boman Irani
Music by Shankar Mahadevan,Ehsaan Noorani,Loy Mendonsa
Distributed by Nadiadwala Grandson Entertainment, Eros Labs
Release date(s) August 24, 2007

Sajid Khan is a well known entertainer. We love his comical stuff, and its no wonder really that his first directorial movie had to be a comedy. It had 2 of the best comedy actors, Akshay Kumar and Ritesh Deshmukh. Does it live upto the expectations? Well I think so, especially as it was a first attempt at direction.

Its a story about 3 guys, Aroush (Akshay Kumar), Tanmay (Ritesh Deshmukh) and Al (Fardeen Khan). All 3 don’t believe in love and marriage and flirt and sleep around lot of gorgeous women. But suddenly their life change when they find a very young child at their doorsteps. They suddenly have to take care of the child and then suddenly the mother of the child appear and then they try to get the baby back.

Akshay Kumar just never fails, no matter what sort of role it is, no matter what sort of movie it is he is always flawless. He again gives a great performance in the movie. Ritesh is another actor I like in comic roles. Fardeen Khan isn’t really a comic role material but his innocent looks at certain looks make him decent enough. Here he is similar to the role he played in No Entry and is quite fine. Vidya Balan is very good. She’s really making her mark as a good actress. Boman Irani was as always pretty good at whatever he does. And yeah before I forget, the baby is very cute and lovely. Really adds to the charm of the whole movie package.

Music is good, the tracks Dholna, Heyy Babyy and Mast Kalandar are the best tracks from the movie. Overall its a good movie with lot of funny moments and offers great value of entertainment. I’m sure Sajid will mature enough as a director and should give us more to enjoy.

Rating 7/10

Bhool Bhulaiyaa
Directed by     Priyadarshan
Produced by     Bhushan Kumar, Krishan Kumar
Written by     Neeraj Vora, Madhu Muttam
Starring     Akshay Kumar, Vidya Balan, Amisha Patel, Shiny Ahuja, Vineeth
Music by     Pritam, Ranjit Barot
Cinematography     S. Thiru
Editing by     N. Gopalakrishnan, Arun Kumar
Distributed by     Eros International (U.S.); Super Cassettes Industries Ltd.
Release date(s)     October 12, 2007

Priyadarshan always manages to entertain you, even if its the same comedy genre with nearly the same stars, but we still love the movies he makes. Bhool Bhulaiyaa is no different. Its a very entertaining movie and gives a great mix of suspense, comedy and horror.

The story of the movie is about a haunted palace which is said to have some ghosts in it. Siddharth (Shiny Ahuja) and Avni(Vidya Balan) come to live in the palace and Avni opens the locked door which prevented the ghost to come out. Now that its out it causes some weird events inside the palace. Siddharth then calls his friend Aditya Shrivastav (Akshay Kumar) a psychologist. He then arrives and solves the real mystery about the haunted palace.

Acting wise its a good performance from Akhay Kumar again. Vidya Balan was good enough. Shiny Ahuja didn’t impress me much in comical scenes. Rest of the cast was good on their part. I felt Rajpal Yadav could have had a better role, or rather more of time on screen. Amisha Patel too didn’t have much to do, but did a good job for whatever role she had.

Not many songs in the movie, but the pick is of course the popular chart buster title track “Bhool Bhulaiyaa”. Rest of the songs are good too. Allah Hafiz and Labon Ko were the other tracks I liked in the movie. The background music was quite good in view of the stuff you need to scare you in horror movies. Cinematography was quite good. The overall presentation was also impressive. The story isn’t as predictable as one would expect initially and both the halves are interesting. So to sum it up its a good movie and you won’t be disappointed.

Rating 8.5/10

Om Shanti Om
Directed by Farah Khan
Produced by Gauri Khan
Written by Topper Alam, Abbas Tyrewala
Starring Shah Rukh Khan, Deepika Padukone, Shreyas Talpade, Arjun Rampal
Music by Vishal-Shekhar
Cinematography V. Manikandan
Editing by Shirish Kunder
Distributed by Red Chillies Entertainment, Eros Labs

I have not seen a movie recently being promoted at this level and so much being spent into publicity. Shah Rukh Khan himself has been at the forefront in this mega Diwali launch “Om Shanti Om”. Farah Khan and SRK have really done well in publicizing the movie and it has paid off very well. The movie is a hit…and its breaking the box office records.

Ok let me just summarize what the movie is…no not the story…but what the movie is…for what I feel its like a tribute to Hindi cinema, a tribute to SRK, its his film, its all about him in the movie, and yes Deepika Padukone does manage to grab attention but it still is a SRK film. But still its a great film mind you, SRK sells doesn’t he? So does this movie. Its a hit and has been breaking records all over the box offices, so it doesn’t come as a surprise. Because its a home production for SRK, Gauri Khan has produced the movie, publicity at this level was quite obvious, be it the “6-pack”, be it the debut of Deepika Padukone, be it the second movie of Farah Khan, or be it anything. It all paid off…and all the money spent has been well recovered.

So lets begin with the story, its about Om (SRK) working as a junior artist in the 70s and he is in love with the superstar Shanti (Deepika) and eventually meets her and then he dies saving her, he is then reincarnated and he gives justice to Deepika. I can’t shorten the story more than this, as its already known, the story, and if you don’t, then go and watch this, I don’t want to spoil it for you.

Its an entertaining movie, worth the money, and another great effort from Farah Khan. It does have some Farah Khan trademarks which reminded me of Main Hoon Na many times. Farah has definitely improved a lot, what I like most about her work is the level of attention she pays to small things. Her way to putting things into place is really good, the effects used in the movie during the shooting sequences with 70s scenes and the OSO scenes were blended very well, sets were great, it really takes you back to those 70s and the movie takes you back to the way movies were made in those days. Its a really good tribute to the Hindi cinema. It does have some similarity to Karz to some extent, but I don’t feel that it was anything like a copy. Its a different movie and both are good.

Acting wise SRK was great as always, this is easily among his best performances of late, very energetic and young. Deepika Padukone, gosh, she is beautiful, and she is here to stay, not just because of her looks but for her acting too. She is really impressive in the movie. She couldn’t have imagined for a better launch to her career than starring in a SRK movie directed by Farah Khan. Its a great launch and she should build on this by working on some more good films. Shreyas Talpade plays the role of SRK’s good friend, and he was pretty effective and good. Kiron Kher is becoming the Rakhi of today’s cinema. I mean she is the best woman to play the mom role these days. She was in Main Hoon Na too, and here too she is just as effective as she was in Main Hoon Na. Arjun Rampal plays the bad guy role and he did a fair enough job.

Overall its a great movie, good music, great presentation, and its entertaining. Farah…a job well done. SRK once again rules the box office and shows us why he is the King of Bollywood. Deepika’s debut is impressive. So in view of all this its definitely a must watch.

Rating 8.5/10

Read the music review of Om Shanti Om

Ratatouille
Directed by     Brad Bird, Jan Pinkava (Credited as co-director)
Produced by     Darla K. Anderson, John Lasseter, Brad Lewis
Written by     Brad Bird
Starring     Patton Oswalt, Lou Romano, Peter Sohn, Brad Garrett, Janeane Garofalo, Ian Holm, Brian Dennehy, Peter O’Toole
Music by     Michael Giacchino
Distributed by     Walt Disney Pictures

I love the way Pixar gives life to concepts like Ratatouille. The most important factor in any animated movie is that there should be a good story and an equally impressive set of characters who look realistic and believing. Ratatouille is another of the Pixar animated films and clearly among the best.

The movie revolves around a rat who loves to cook, and ever since he reads the phrase “Anyone can cook” he knows he’s got to cook. His idol Gusteau has influenced him enough for him to forget that he’s a rat who can’t cook. So he somehow gets to Gusteau’s famous restaurant. And he cooks a soup, and Linguini looks what the rat did. And from then on its a great ride on. Lots of interesting scenes and a great storyline unfolds. Its really a wonderfully created environment and you are really immersed in the virtual things in the movie. The relationship between the human and the rat is the main idea around the movie along with the phrase “Everyone can cook”

All the characters are very good, the rat Rémy and Linguini are both impressive. The storyline is good. The main thing was the animation, it was really very good. DreamWorks Animation also had a rats based movie last year, Flushed Away. But Ratatouille is a bit better than Flushed Away.

Overall I rate it as a pretty good movie, definitely among the best animated ones I’ve seen. Its a refreshing movie, not very complicated or anything, lovely animation. Just about perfect for a Pixar animation film.

Rating 8.5/10

Yes you heard it, the fourth installment in The Fast and The Furious series is coming to streets…errr…theaters, and most importantly the main characters, Vin Diesel and Paul Walker have confirmed their return. Not much is known about the rest of the stuff like who’s the director and what cars are in it, but then isn’t Vin Diesel and Paul Walker’s return good news enough? Can’t wait for more on this, so Watch this Space!

Directed by Michael Bay
Produced by Steven Spielberg (executive), Tom DeSanto, Don Murphy
Written by Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman, John Rogers
Starring Shia LaBeouf, Megan Fox, Josh Duhamel, Tyrese Gibson,
Voices Peter Cullen, Hugo Weaving
Music by Steve Jablonsky
Cinematography Mitch Amundsen
Distributed by DreamWorks Pictures, Paramount Pictures, United International Pictures

When I saw the first teaser I knew it would be interesting, when I saw the theatrical trailer I was anticipating the release, and when I finally saw the movie I was awestruck. What a movie! Really awesome!

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