Movie Review : Action Replayy

Directed by : Vipul Amrutlal Shah.
Starring : Akshay Kumar, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Neha Dhupia, Om Puri

Action replayy is a mish mash of a sci-fi and rom-com genre. It has Akhsay and Aishwarya as the main lead and Om puri and Kiron kher as support cast.

Now, about the movie.You expect the movie to be a no-brainer coz of the presence of akki baba. But I dont think its his fault anyway, its the producers and directors who flock to him with money and think that his presence alone will suffice in box office success. Well, if they dont even learn from the fiasco of Housefull or Chandni Chowk to China, then I dont know how they ever will.

The story goes like this. Bunty(Aditya Roy Kapoor) is a commitment phobic young man. He thinks that post marriage relationsihps degrades to the level of what he observes at home. The continuous fights between his father Kishen(Akshay kumar) and Mala (Aishwarya) is driving him nuts and when on their 35th anniversary a big fight breaks up between them, he decideds to go to their past using his girlfriends dad's time machine and fix up their marriage. phew.

So the movie is extremely dumbed down version of Back to the future. The movie was ruined to me since I am such a fan of the fun filled original. But still, I thought the beginning was not that bad. But once the initial euphoria of 70's fashion and atmosphere dies, you begin to realize its the same sad treatment all over. Over simplifying things for the masses. (Why cant they just treat the audiences with some respect, is beyond me.)

The music is the only saving grace of the film and that too because Pritam always puts in 1-2 catchy songs in every movie he does. Here they are "Zor ka jhatka", "O Bekhabar" & "chhan ke mohalla"

Akshay is over acting (As usual) Aishwarya and Neha showing their thighs in 70s (Blasphemy). And the rest of cast bumbling along. You know the outcome from the beginning, and the journey is painful to say the least.
Avoid it if possible.

Rating *

  

Movie Review : Legend of the Guardians (2010)

Directed by : Zack Snyder.

Starring : Emily Barclay, Abbie Cornish, Essie Davis

Run time : 97 min.

I have to admit, I got a thing for animation movies. Especially with the kind of stories being told in them (shrek, up, wall-e, 9 etc), they have become irresistible.

Zach Snyder is a big enough name to be taken very seriously, with movies like 300 and watchmen to his credit. So expectation were huge from this film and the movie doesn’t disappoint.

This is a story about two young owl brothers Soren and Kludd. They got adoring parents and cute lil sister. Soren is a dreamer and always wants to reach out to stars, thinks of myths and legends that their parents tell them and keeps his lil sis mystified by telling her those stories again and again.

Kludd on the other hand is a practical no nonsense and ambitious owl. Once while their parents were away the brothers fall down from the tree and got kidnapped by evil owl army of “Metal beak”.

They were slaved and forced to stay against their wishes. Kludd sees an opportunity to grow and gets corrupted by the riches offered while Soren maintains his innocence and decides to flee.

And thus the adventures begin. How Soren and his merry band of friends find the TREE of ga’hoole and play a pivotal role in the fight of good against bad is the rest of the story.

The story has been done numerous times before but the treatment is different. The animation flawless, the production quality – very high standard and the story telling supreme.

The fight sequences are beautiful to watch and the music is absolute fun.

It will appeal to the kid in all of us

Rating: ***1/2

Movie Review : Salt

Directed by  Phillip Noyce

Starring : Angelina Jolie ,  Liev Schreiber ,  Chiwetel Ejiofor

Salt is a fast paced action caper starring Angelina and Liev Schreiber. It’s the story of a CIA agent on the run, which goes something like this.

Salt is a CIA  field agent, highly trained and skilled. Post marriage she decides to opt for a desk job. All’s going well for her but on her anniversary all hell breaks lose.

She was suspected of being a double agent. A sleeper spy planted by Russia during the cold war times. One of the many for the anticipation of Day X. She goes on the run around the city. Is she the victim or the spy. Which side she’s on ?

Salt is right up ms. Jolie’s alley. She has done this before (Wanted, Mr. and Mrs. Smith & tomb raider). That she still brings something new to this shows her capability. She looked both vulnerable and tough.

Liv Schreiber is suitably vicious and sharp. He brings a whole lot of charisma to the job. Another power packed performance from him too.

But the winner is the director and editor, who run the show with strict discipline. The audience never got bored. He keeps introducing twists and turns to the story at regular intervals, leading to the climactic twist in the tale.

This should compete for the best action movie of this year with RED (more on which later) and just topples over “From paris with love”

Must watch.

Ratings: ***1/2