Directed by David Dhawan
Produced by Sohail Khan
Starring Salman Khan, Govinda, Lara Dutta, Katrina Kaif, Rajpal Yadav

I wasn’t to keen to watch this movie initially, I didn’t know it was a David Dhawan movie. But I’m glad I went. Boy what a movie it was! A funny entertaining movie. It was a typical David Dhawan movie with lots of hilarious moments and lots of laughs, one of the best brainless comedies from him. Govinda and Salman were too good in the movie. Salman looked pretty much like Prem in No Entry, same style and things. Govinda I saw on big screen after a looooong time, and I was impressed. He is still as funny as he was in Raja Babu. Actressess, man! Lara Dutta & Katrina Kaif were too hot and sexy! Lara especially, as I’m not too big a Katrina fan. Both did a fine job with their roles, Lara much better than Kat. Rajpal Yadav as always was very hilarious and managed to leave a mark yet again even with such a small role. Ali Haji, the young kid who played the role of Rohan’ Lara’s son, impressed me bigtime. Boy that dude has got some style and stuff. He definitely did a great job.

Music wise I loved two tracks, “You’re My Love” and “Soni De Nakhre”. The rest of the tracks weren’t so bad, “Do U Wanna Partner” was a catchy song, “Dupatta Tera Nau Rang Da” & “Maria Maria” were just about OK. Decent music overall. Sajid-Wajid did a good job with the music, it did blend with the movie on some occasions. Costumes were too good, and especially the song “You’re My Love” had fantastic dresses and a superb choreography from the choreographers. Salman’s outfit were great, even Lara had some superb outfits. A very stylish song with lots of ooze.
So to sum it up, a very stylish movie with lots of fun and laughter. The first half is a laugh riot, second too has the fun element present, but some unnecessary plot changes made it a big off track, but still deserves to get 8.5 from me, thanks to the entertainment value. Its a comedy and you don’t really look for scripts and plots here, its fun which you want from the movie, and that it gives in plenty.

Rating 8.5/10

Directed by Chris Miller, Raman Hui (co-director)
Produced by Jeffrey Katzenberg, Aron Warner
Starring Mike Myers, Cameron Diaz, Eddie Murphy, Antonio Banderas, Julie Andrews, John Cleese, Rupert Everett, Eric Idle, Justin Timberlake
Music by Harry Gregson-Williams
Distributed by DreamWorks

The wait was finally ogre (over) as Shrek the Third was released here. I enjoyed watching the earlier two movies so I was waiting to watch this as well. Although I saw it late, but better late than never.

The movie continues at Far Far Away, with Shrek and Fiona now the acting King and Queen of Far Far Away. Shrek ofcourse doesn’t enjoy the royal things and misses his swamp. So he must find Arthur, his nephew to be the new king as King Harold has died. Meanwhile Prince Charming gathers all the villains to fight the good guys at Far Far Away. Shrek also comes to know that he going to become a father soon, and he is shocked and surprised but eventually starts to be happy about it. The villains have taken over the kingdom, and Shrek must now fail Charming’s plans. So Shrek does that with the help of Donkey, Puss, and Fiona and her friends.

The movie was similar to the earlier ones. Shrek was still at his ogre-ist best, Donkey was still annoying and Puss was still charming. All the characters were quite good. The movie had lots of funny moments and was well liked by the viewers in the theater. Although the movie was not really a mind blowing experience, but animated movies are meant for some funny moments, humor and having a nice and light time.  The movie was quite short, 92 minutes in all.

DreamWorks have already announced their plans to continue the series with Shrek 4 & 5 to be made as well. Lets see what Shrek and gang gets into this time. Till then, have a happily ever after.

Rating 7.5/10

Directed by Vivek Agnihotri
Produced by Ronnie Screwvala
Starring John Abraham, Anil Kapoor, Bipasha Basu, Naveen Andrews, Arshad Warsi & Boman Irani
Distributed by UTV Motion Pictures

I was surprised when I read that a movie named “Goal” was being made in Bollywood! Its really reflects the changing face of Bollywood. Indian viewers are viewing offbeat films now, and lots of small budgets and offbeat films are doing well here. But then in the recent past lots of movies were made on sports, nearly all were based on cricket. None of them managed to have a good day at the box office. So this raises another question, why to make a movie on sports again, and that too football which isn’t a really popular sport among the masses!

But said that, I still welcome such a film. In a cricket mad nation its really heartening to see someone coming up with a movie based on my favorite sport…football. I love the game more than I love any other sport. And this movie is based on the Hollywood movie Goal released in 2005. I loved that movie, and I was really exited to see someone willing to make such a film. But lets see how they capture the emotions, the glory of the game.  John Abraham plays the lead in the movie, I suppose John will do well with the role he has. But its the direction and the story I’m worried about. If they manage to make it like it should be its really a milestone for Bollywood. Cricket is on a decline in India now, sports like tennis, football and motor-racing are taking the center stage. Movies like Goal can really help in creating awareness and respect for such sports which are big in other countries, especially in Europe. So I’m waiting eagerly for this movie, and I hope it lives upto my expectations.

The release date for the movie is yet to be announced.

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End
Directed by: Gore Verbinski
Produced by: Jerry Bruckheimer
Cast: Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom, Keira Knightley, Bill Nighy, Geoffrey Rush, Jack Davenport, Chow Yun-Fat, Tom Hollander and Naomie Harris.
Distributed by Walt Disney Company, Buena Vista Pictures

Ahoy matey! Me has been waiting for this movie for long time coming, and finally me watches it and I’m glad to say it was good. Pirates of the Caribbean is among my favorite movies, I really loved the prequels, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, and I was waiting for the final installment ever since it was known that “At World’s End” will follow the Dead Man’s Chest, and like I mentioned in my Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End Preview, the way Dead Man’s Chest had ended, it left a lot of questions unanswered, so this really made this movie a must watch.

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Spider-Man 3
Directed by: Sam Raimi
Produced by: Avi Arad, Stan Lee, Laura Ziskin, Grant Curtis
Cast: Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, James Franco, Thomas Haden Church, Topher Grace
Distributed by Sony Pictures Entertainment

A superhero movie isn’t just about superpowers and supervillians, it’s about the things which make one a hero and other the villain. The qualities of a good man and a bad man are what make you a hero and a villain. And that’s what this movie is all about. Its not just the superheroes suffer from, we do suffer from it as well. And that’s what the movie is all about. It tells you that it’s not easy to live a dual life, where one has to strike the perfect balance between responsibilities and ambitions. Ok enough of good talks, movie review this is so let’s talk about it.

Spider-Man’s story continues where it left off in the second part. Peter Parker is happy in his life, his studies, his job, and his relationship with Mary Jane Watson. He eventually decides to marry her, and that’s when things start to change. Relationship between Peter and Mary is not going at its best, and Peter still has to fight with Harry for Harry’s father’s death. Then there is this strange black “thing” from outer space which gets onto a changed Spidey. Peter finds himself in a different personality; he is much darker in nature. And then the black “thing” gives him a black suit. He has 4 villains to fight with. One is his old friend in new shape. The New Goblin, then Flint Marko / The Sandman, who eventually turns out to be the real killer of Ben Parker, and then a new photographer on the block , Eddie Brock, Jr. who is after Pete’s job, and who then eventually turns into that black thing Venom, and then finally, Peter himself has to fight the darkness within. He tries to come out of the feeling of revenge, power, jealousy, and other such feelings. So he gets out of it, and teaches the bad guys a lesson.

So that’s what the story was all about. Direction wise, it’s a perfect job from Sam Raimi. Acting wise everyone does a great job. Background score is great. Effects, now this has something which we haven’t seen often, if at all we have seen. The action scenes are very well choreographed and shot and animated. The effects do not take the charm out of the picture, and serves the purpose. The storyline is well carried, although the movie tries to slip during the break, but then it’s necessary to show the lighter moments of the story. The climax keeps you on your seats and makes up for the slip.

All in all it’s a great movie for summer. Should and will do well in theaters. And with the fourth movie being discussed, Spider-Man fans will be happy.

Rating 8.5/10

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End
Directed by: Gore Verbinski
Produced by: Jerry Bruckheimer
Cast: Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom, Keira Knightley, Bill Nighy, Geoffrey Rush, Jack Davenport, Chow Yun-Fat, Tom Hollander and Naomie Harris.
Distributed by Walt Disney Company, Buena Vista Pictures

The Mega Movie Month - May, third big movie to be released in this month, third part of the Pirates of the Caribbean series.

In the end of Dead Man’s Chest, Will, Elizabeth, and company were with Tia Dalma, who offered them the chance to rescue Captain Jack Sparrow. She says they will need a captain, “who knows those waters,” prompting the reappearance of Captain Barbossa, who was believed to be dead. The last movie then left some questions unanswered:
First: How the hell did Barbossa reappear?
Second: How the hell could Jack be swallowed by a giant squid? Errr….that ugly Kraken.
There might be some more questions in your mind, but never mind, the Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End is here to answer all those questions.

The trailers have been airing for quite sometime now, and it projects an exciting end (hopefully) to the tussle between Lord Beckett & the pirates, lots of them, from around the world, who have joined forces, and meet in Singapore. They then rescue Jack Sparrow, and then begin the battle against Lord Beckett, who now posses the heart of Davy Jones, and hence control over Jones and the Flying Dutchman.

So the movie promises an action packed time, with lots of wit and humor from Captain Jack Sparrow, romance between Will & Elizabeth, and the strange alliance between Sparrow and Barbossa. Wonder how did they join hands! So Ahoy Matey! Thou Shalt see this one, as thy movie shalt nay be missed (You should see this movie, its not to be missed)
The third trailer of the movie came out today. Click here to view it.
Official Site

Spider-Man 3
Directed by: Sam Raimi
Produced by: Avi Arad, Stan Lee, Laura Ziskin, Grant Curtis
Cast: Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, James Franco, Thomas Haden Church, Topher Grace
Distributed by Sony Pictures Entertainment
Its summer time and that means lots of movies (other than the usual heat of course), and the first one to hit your nearest theater is the comic flick Spider-Man 3, the third installment in the blockbuster Spider-Man franchisee.

The same team of Sam Raimi,Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, James Franco along with some new characters, comes back with another action packed superhero flick to thrill you. The latest trailer came out today, exactly 2 weeks before the US release. You can find the trailer here. The story is about Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) finally getting settled in life, eventually deciding to marry his love, Mary Jane Watson (Kirsten Dunst). But then suddenly things start to get nasty, and suddenly Spidey finds himself in all sorts of troubles. And…his suit has turned black. Wow! looks cool Spidey! So then he fights the blackness within himself, teaches the bad guys some lessons, ummm…yeah some new bad guys this time. Most importantly the reason of that black suit, Ven…bah! I don’t want to spoil it for you guys, but for the Spider-Man fans they have already got the hint, others are Sandman & the New Goblin, No, Willem Dafoe is not back as the Green Goblin, but we have another Goblin, the first Goblin’s son, the New Goblin. Enough of Gobling, its James Franco (Harry Osborn) as New Goblin, so he is trying to take revenge from Peter for his father’s death, and then its the usual action, and finally the winner takes it all. And winner is always Spidey. So do watch it, its a must see, more so if you are a Spider-Man fan, and if you saw the first two flicks then again see this, even if not still see it, its worth it. Venom…aahhh…I spilled it, well anyways, Venom, finally makes his first proper appearance in this latest trailer. So it would be interesting to see his story.

And yes, the movie isn’t out yet, and there are already talks about the fourth Spider-Man flick! Yes! Reports are that the script is already in discussion about the fourth installment, but Raimi’s involvement is a bit of a uncertainty, as he is having The Hobbit to attend to, so either Spidey 4 will be pushed back, or a new director will take the Spidey project, which should be interesting if it does happen. As Tobey Maguire has told that he will work if Raimi is directing it, Kirsten Dunst too said, if both Tobey and Sam were in the project, she was willing to take her role of Mary Jane Watson again. Well enough of the fourth, lets enjoy the third shall we?

Official website
International release dates

Ta Ra Rum Pum
Directed by: Siddharth Anand
Produced by: Aditya Chopra
Cast: Saif Ali Khan, Rani Mukerji

I went to Yash Raj Films’s website, and saw this new flick’s promo coming up. Ta Ra Rum Pum is the name, directed by Siddharth Anand of Salaam Namaste fame. With Saif and Rani at the star cast, I expected it to be another of those Yash Raj films with same old love stories, but then the trailer somewhat shocked me. They had a story of Saif as a NASCAR racer!!! I mean who in India knows about NASCAR leave alone watching it? And what made Yash Raj/Siddharth Anand think that this should be a life story of a racer? Seriously I’m out of thoughts here. The trailer gives me the impression that its a happy family, with great things happening, and then Saif has a big racing accident, which makes his family think that he should give up racing. Then the same old fights and melodrama, and then things get better again. Well this is what I felt after looking the trailer. One can only tell after the movie comes out. Overall the NASCAR shots were looking great in the trailer, although one scene was hard to digest, the scene in which they showed a car ramming into the car and kaboom!…a blast! I’ve never seen a “blast” in a NASCAR event, dunno if it does happen. The music was good in the trailer. The movie since based on a NASCAR racer, is of course shot and based in the USA. So lets see what Sid Anand shows us this time, I loved his last movie Salaam Namaste very much, and it is in my list of favorite movies.

The movie is slated for a 27 April 2007 release.
The trailer can be viewed on the official movie site.

Cast
Daniel Craig as James Bond
Eva Green as Vesper Lynd
Mads Mikkelsen as Le Chiffre
Judi Dench as M
Caterina Murino as Solange

Plot

Daniel Craig gets his 00 status, and is now tracking Le Chiffre, a banker who specializes in taking care of the terrorists’s accounts. Bond then enters Casino Royale to play a game of Poker with Le Chiffre, who in turn was playing to win back the money he lost in a bet over a jetliner sabotage at the airport. So a lot of things happen during these days over at Casino Royale. Bond wins finally, but then the truth baffles him, and he gets even with the baddies.

Review
Honestly, this is the first Bond movie which I thoroughly enjoyed watching. It indeed takes Bond “back to his roots”. The plot of the movie is nice, good pace, very well presented. Action scenes are very well shot, the chase sequence in the beginning will really take your breath away. The background music is very nice. And that Bond theme still feels nice to listen to. Lovely locations as well. The best part of the movie was that nothing was overdid, unlike the previous few Bond movies which had too much of gadgetry and visual effects. This has a new feel, which is timed well as a new sixth Bond has come up. And what can be a Bond movie without a Bond girl & an Aston Martin. Eva Green did a good performance. Looks awesome in that dress which Bond gives her. Caterina Murino too looked great in her small role. As for the Aston, there were two of them, Aston Martin DBS & a Aston Martin DB5. Both were lovely.
Overall a great movie to watch. The next Bond film will certainly have to live up to the new standards.
Until then, “The name’s Bond. James Bond”.

Rating
I give it 8.5 out of 10

Don - The Chase Begins Again

Directed by Farhan Akhtar
Produced by Ritesh Sidhwani
Written by Javed Akhtar,Salim Khan
Starring Shahrukh Khan,Priyanka Chopra,Arjun Rampal,Kareena Kapoor,Isha Koppikar,Boman Irani,Om Puri,Sushma Reddy
Music by Shankar Mahadevan,Ehsaan Noorani,Loy Mendonsa

Now I don’t quite remember the 1978’s Don starring Amitabh Bachchan, Zeenat Aman, Pran, as I had seen the movie long ago. So I don’t
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