Set in a future-world where humans can control other humans in mass-scale, multi-player online gaming environments, a star player (Butler) from a game called “Slayers” looks to regain his independence while taking down the game’s mastermind (Hall). The Star cast in the movie are Gerard Butler, Amber Valletta, Kyra Sedgwick, Logan Lerman, Alison Lohman, Terry Crews, Michael C. Hall.

Set in post-apocalyptic 2018, John Connor is the man fated to lead the human resistance against Skynet and its army of Terminators. But the future Connor was raised to believe in is altered in part by the appearance of Marcus Wright, a stranger whose last memory is of being on death row. Connor must decide whether Marcus has been sent from the future, or rescued from the past. As Skynet prepares its final onslaught, Connor and Marcus both embark on an odyssey that takes them into the heart of Skynet’s operations, where they uncover the terrible secret behind the possible annihilation of mankind. The Star Cast in the movie are Christian Bale, Sam Worthington, Moon Bloodgood, Helena Bonham Carter, Bryce Dallas Howard, Jane Alexander, Chris Browning, Beth Bailey.

Security guard Larry Daley infiltrates the Smithsonian Institute in order to rescue Jedediah and Octavius, who have been shipped to the museum by mistake. The Star cast in the movie are Larry Daley, Amelia Earhart, Jedediah Smith, Kahmunrah/The Thinker/Abe Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, Ivan the Terrible, Napoleon Bonaparte, Octavius, General George Armstrong Custer, Nicky Daley.

Based on the popular video game franchise, female fighter Chun Li embarks on a quest for justice. The Star cast in the mvie are Kristin Kreuk, Chris Klein, Neal McDonough, Robin Shou, Moon Bloodgood, Josie Ho, Michael Clarke Duncan, Edmund Chen.

When a film begins as “Frantic” to become “Rambo”, it is more for thrill-seekers and those who like their suspense more Cartesian. Potable entertainment after a day of hell, “Taken” simply ignores the road after a few seconds.

Directed By: Pierre Morel
Rating: 2/5
Cast: Maggie Grace, Liam Neeson, Marc Amyot, Arben Bajraktaraj, Xander Berkeley, Rasha Bukvic, Mathieu Busson, Katie Cassidy, Michel Flash, Ivette Gonzalez, Nicolas Giraud, Jon Gries, George Hertzberg

Bryan (Liam Neeson) has long worked for the U.S. government. He retired to be closer to his daughter Kim (Maggie Grace). Passing through Paris with a friend, these two ladies are kidnapped by traffickers in Albania. To find her, Dad decides to use the hard way and use his contacts. Feature films that are about a kidnapping are common. If the references remain the thrillers of Hitchcock and the sublime “The man who wanted to know” George Sluzier, several stories have managed to mark the spirits, whose glacial “Frantic” by Roman Polanski and unequal “Breakdown” by Jonathan Mostow. “Taken” is not part of this category. Therefore it is produced and written by Luc Besson and is directed by his handyman Pierre Morel.

The only parallel that is held is with “Eye for Eye” by John Schlesinger. In conversation with her daughter, a father realizes that she is being taken off! From this premise there is a brutal manipulator about the possible, or a man decides to take the law in making the job. His goal is not to release these girls who are sold on the black market, but to save his offspring. The hell with their destiny and that of Kim’s friend if the primary interest is out of danger!

Once swallowed the leitmotif, the test can be regarded as a comedy. With an invincible hero who will never see his beard grow during his long journey. Despite his age, he is able to get rid of ten villains in the blink of an eye while identifying criminals takes three movements. Everything is in training and the many hazards that would make Michael Bay jealous. The pill is even better, there are gags at every turn, much humor (often unintentional), racist replica, a horde of clichés and all the things that come with it.

It is simplistic, primary and stupefying. This can be exciting and delirious, but on condition to leave his brain at the entrance of the cinema. Never before Liam Neeson has appeared so bitter and violent. On this side, it has nothing to envy to the figures of new action film, Matt Damon and Daniel Craig in the lead. On top of his 6 feet 4 inches, he is wrong that rectifier vile torture of individuals while injuring innocent people to get valuable information. But why did not Maggie Grace learned how to be credible and that he never informed the friend of her daughter not to trust strangers?

“Taken” is to be placed in the category of “guilty pleasure”. This is not good, but it is allowed to watch with a wide smile. Only to see how much it can be fetched, and it is. Considerably. Too? Probably. Except it was much worse.

In a gritty and alternate 1985 the glory days of costumed vigilantes have been brought to a close by a government crackdown, but after one of the masked veterans is brutally murdered an investigation into the killer is initiated. The reunited heroes set out to prevent their own destruction, but in doing so discover a deeper and far more diabolical plot. The Star cast in the movie are Carla Gugino, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Patrick Wilson, Malin Akerman, Billy Crudup, Jackie Earle Haley, Matthew Goode, Stephen McHattie, Laura Mennell, Danny Woodburn.

If you like your sci-fi movies on the full-blooded side, Outlander should prove an experience to savour. The movie is produced by Barrie Osborne, from one of the makers of ‘Lord of the Rings Trilogy’ and is directed by Howard McCain (Underworld: Rise of the Lycans), ‘Outlander’ boasts of an estimated 580 visual effects shots and is sure going to be a treat for the audience.The movie is distributed in India by Behind The Scene.

Cast: Jim Caviezel (The Passion of the Christ), Ron Perlman (Hellboy), John Hurt (V for Vendetta), Sophia Myles(Underworld) and Jack Huston.
Genre: Sci-Fi, Action, Adventure.
Producer: Barrie Osborne (’Lord of the Rings Trilogy’)
Director: Howard McCain (Underworld: Rise of the Lycans)
Distributed in India: Behind The Scene.
India Release: 6th February, 2009

Synopsis: Humanoid Kainan (James Caviezel) tumbles down from space into the world of the Norwegian Vikings. His spaceship has crashed. Taken hostage by the local warrior clan, he tries to warn his captors that he has not come to Earth alone.

“My people call it a Moorwen. Believe me, the first time I saw one, I didn’t know what I was looking at. It was just a smudge of light in the darkness… it kills men, beasts, everything – and it smells like death.”

They dismiss his stories as “some lies about a dragon,” but when they are finally confronted with the Moorwen, they begin to understand the terror that is driving Kainan. Together they decide and plot to destry the monster. But apparently its not as easy as it seems, they learn.

“Outlander is a full-blown epic with all the trimmings; The Sea, under water flexography, a CGI creature, a Viking village, animals, children. The film was shot in the frozen north of Canada, in Newfoundland and Nova Scotia.

“I really thought it was cool. For a guy like me and for my writing partner Dirk Blackman who both like genre films, Beowulf is the progenitor of all western monster movies. You look at James Cameron’s Aliens or Lord of the Rings, they all have their roots back in Beowulf. That story has become so embedded in so many ways in pop culture – this story of a mother monster, a baby monster, a Viking. Science-fiction is our way of buying into that so we gave the story the science fiction twist. Also, Dirk and I really like mixing genres. We even coined our own phrase – Sci-mythic.” says Director Howard McCain.

The movie will simultaneously release in Hindi and will be called Kurukshetra. It is also being dubbed in Tamil and Telugu.

The Star cast in the movie are Martin Kove, Jeanette Roxborough , Chris Mulkey, Teya Roxborough, Eric Etebari, Louis Mandylor, Bridgett Riley, Spice Williams-Crosby, Joanne Baron, Anthony Cistaro, Mylin.

The prequel story traces the origins of the centuries-old blood feud between the aristocratic vampires known as Death Dealers and their onetime slaves, the Lycans. In the Dark Ages, a young Lycan named Lucian (Sheen) emerges as a powerful leader who rallies the werewolves to rise up against Viktor (Nighy), the cruel vampire king who has enslaved them. Lucian is joined by his secret lover, Sonja (Mitra), in his battle against the Death Dealer army and his struggle for Lycan freedom. The Star cast in the movie are Michael Sheen, Bill Nighy, Rhona Mitra, Steven Mackintosh, Kevin Grevioux, Tania Nolan, Craig Parker, Leighton Cardno.

Cast: James Caviezel (The Passion of the Christ), Ron Perlman (Hellboy), John Hurt (V for Vendetta), Sophia Myles (Underworld) and Jack Huston.
Producer: Barrie Osborne (’Lord of the Rings Trilogy’)
Director: Howard McCain (Underworld: Rise of the Lycans)

Synopsis: Humanoid Kainan (James Caviezel) tumbles down from space into the world of the Norwegian Vikings. His spaceship has crashed. Taken hostage by the local warrior clan, he tries to warn his captors that he has not come to Earth alone.

“My people call it a Moorwen. Believe me, the first time I saw one, I didn’t know what I was looking at. It was just a smudge of light in the darkness… it kills men, beasts, everything – and it smells like death.”

They dismiss his stories as “some lies about a dragon,” but when they are finally confronted with the Moorwen, they begin to understand the terror that is driving Kainan. Together they decide and plot to destry the monster. But apparently its not as easy as it seems, they learn.

“Outlander is a full-blown epic with all the trimmings; The Sea, under water flexography, a CGI creature, a Viking village, animals, children. The film was shot in the frozen north of Canada, in Newfoundland and Nova Scotia.

“I really thought it was cool. For a guy like me and for my writing partner Dirk Blackman who both like genre films, Beowulf is the progenitor of all western monster movies. You look at James Cameron’s Aliens or Lord of the Rings, they all have their roots back in Beowulf. That story has become so embedded in so many ways in pop culture – this story of a mother monster, a baby monster, a Viking. Science-fiction is our way of buying into that so we gave the story the science fiction twist. Also, Dirk and I really like mixing genres. We even coined our own phrase – Sci-mythic.” says Director Howard McCain.

The movie will simultaneously release in Hindi and will be called Ek Aur Kurukshetra. It is also being dubbed in Tamil and Telugu

Worldwide Release: 23rd Janurary, 2009

Just when you thought that Madagascar was a roller coaster ride with Alex (the lion) and his bunch of friends entertaining everyone by dancing and doing a rock n roll, DreamWorks got you Madagascar 2- Escape to Africa. We give a brief idea for people who (unfortunately) haven’t seen Madagascar

1. The movie saw these four animals (lion, giraffe, hippo and a zebra) spoiled by their upbringing with no idea what real life looks like. The four of them escape from Central Zoo, New York, smartly assisted by four absconding penguins, and find themselves in Madagascar among a bunch of merry lemurs which leaves the story in Madagascar itself paving its way for Madagascar 2- Escape to Africa.

Director: Eric Darnell, Tom Mc Grath
Cast: Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, David Schuwimmer, Jade Smith playing the voice of lion, zebra, giraffe, hippo
Rating: 4/5

The movie kick starts with Alex and his friends taken for a ride on the plane by (again the absconding penguins) and end up crash landing in the continent of Africa. Africa, the den of the wild where Alex and his friends actually discover what life is beyond the Central Park Zoo, New York.

Coincidently, Alex meets his parents in Africa and becomes popular as the ‘The King of New York’ there. Unfortunately, Alex’s increasing popularity and fame is not well digested by a fellow lion (Makunga), who has his eyes on capturing the alpha throne. He outsmarts Alex and henceforth becomes the new king of the jungle.

Everything then goes gala-gala where Alex and his troop have a ball of time. Everyone has his share of peace and fun; Melmen enjoying his new job as a doctor, Gloria getting all possible attention from the male hippos, Marty with all his fellow zebras racing away here and there and Alex getting all the pampering he required from his parents.

The penguins too aren’t left much behind. They manage too fool (again, what’s new) few people who came to enjoy the wild nature. The penguin with the help of monkey try to fix in their plane so that they could go home.

The movie then takes a turn and a series of events and mishaps happens like Alex being banished after being fooled by Makunga, Melman (giraffe) left heart broken by Gloria (hippo) who fell for Moto Moto (a big size male hippo), who boasts about his name (Moto Moto) saying, “the name is so nice, that you feel like saying it twice”. Next in turn is Marty (zebra) who feels that Alex and his friendship are fading away, because Alex never gives Marty a chance to say about his side of problems.

Now comes a situation where Alex could prove himself. The jungle has started drying up, the animals are almost on the verge of dying and at that moment they remember their kind former king, Zuba (Alex’s father). When Alex comes to know about the drought he decides to go off the reserve in search of water, which was the only way to prove himself. The lemur (King Julien XIII) as he is called (with a strange ascent) suggests that a sacrifice should be made for the Gods in the volcano, so that they will be happy and bestow water for everyone.

Alex, later joined by his father find them selves trapped amidst few people, lead by an old (but strong) lady who felt like having a lion for supper. Alex then delivers a mind blowing dance performance, shaking his booty, saying that this is the only thing he is good in. The father and son manage to woo their audience and ultimately succeed in escaping as well as bringing water from there for their jungle and henceforth Alex once again proclaims his title as ‘The King of New York’.

The movie ends in a ‘happy ending’ way, with Marty and Alex becoming best buddies again, while this time (for a change), Gloria realizes her love for Melmen and also saves him from becoming a sacrifice to the Gods in volcano. Zuba once again is proclaimed the pride’s alpha lion throne. The Adelie penguin finally gets married to his doll (irritating) and leaves Africa, in a half constructed plane.

The movie is picturized in a very beautiful way showing the wild side of Africa. All the characters, needless to say where mind blowing. The penguins got a better role this time (their leader is worth watching). The lemur or in a better way, King Julien X III was someone whom you will feel like watching a thousand time (do note his ascent).

Director Eric Darnell and Tom Mc Grath have done a terrific job. The voice lenders, Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, David Schuwimmer, Jade Smith and others have simply been outstanding.

The movie is better than the original as the fun mania has been doubled this time. So enjoy this amazing stuff delivered by Alex and his team who have entertained us right from the Central Park, to Madagascar, to Africa. A must, must watch.

-Pratik Maheshwari

Down these mean streets a man must come. A hero born, murdered, and born again. When a Rookie cop named Denny Colt returns from the beyond as The Spirit, a hero whose mission is to fight against the bad forces from the shadows of Central City. The Octopus who kills anyone unfortunate enough to see his face who has other plans. He’s going to wipe out the entire city. The Spirit tracks this cold hearted killer from the city’s rundown warehouses, to the damp catacombs, to the windswept waterfront all the while facing a bevy of beautiful women who either want to seduce, love or kill the masked crusader. The stars in the movie are Gabriel Macht, Scarlett Johansson, Samuel L. Jackson, Eva Mendes, Jaime King, Michael-David Aragon

Disgruntled Korean War vet Walt Kowalski sets out to reform his neighbor, a young Hmong teenager, who tried to steal Kowalski’s prized possession: his 1972 Gran Torino. The Movie Stars are Clint Eastwood, Christopher Carley, Bee Vang, Ahney Her, Brian Haley, Geraldine Hughes, Dreama Walker

Film: JOURNEY TO THE CENTRE OF THE EARTH
Cast: Brendan Fraser, Josh Hutcherson, Anita Bremin
Director: Eric Brevig
Rating: 2/5

He is accompanied by his nephew Sean (Josh Hutcherson) who soon after going to Iceland meets a tour guide named Hanna (Anita Briem). Together they find themselves lost in the magical ‘world within a world’ but must soon find a way to escape before the place heats up to melting point.

The movie’s plot line is incredibly simple. The are no unnecessary twists and turns to annoy the viewer. The pacing doesn’t lag and is punctuated timely with some nifty action sequences. The only disappointment is that once they get to this magical world they don’t spend enough time there. We don’t get to soak in the magic. As soon as they reach this place, they have to begin to escape. But while there, we are introduced to some glowing birds, menacing fish and even a predatory dinosaur. It is clear that the film makers took full liberty with the computer generated imagery.

Fraser is a fine actor and he does well here. His comic timing is impeccable. But he suffers from a poor script. The one-liners are limp and fall flat occasionally. Josh Hutcherson does a commendable job. Anita Briem complements the men well by playing a no-nonsense woman who is independent and brave.

The director Eric Brevig allows too much dialogue in the initial parts of the film but manages to transition well when it comes to the action. A lot of space is given for the viewer to construct in their own imagination as they enter this magical world.

Adults may not find enough to admire in this movie since it seems to be designed for 10-year-old boys. But for children who are familiar with the Jules Verne book, this movie should meet their expectations. For those not introduced to Verne, this movie might just whet the appetite.

For clean wholesome family fun, and a few scares, this movie is a nice experience even as it strives to not blow us away, but just thrill.

– By Sevanand Gaddala

There have already been quite a few summer action blockbuster movies this year, and the “The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor” tries to sneak in and make an impact. It is not going to succeed. With “The Dark Knight” already getting incredible critical and box office success, any other movie following that one is doomed, at the best, to be mediocre.

Film: The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor
Director: Ron Cohen
Cast: Brendan Fraser, Jet Li, Maria Bello, Michelle Yeoh, Luke Ford
Rating: 1/5

The Mummy franchise returns for a third time and the tragedy of this instalment is just how much of a good thing it squanders. It had millions of dollars and some semblance of an interesting story. But it is unforgivable for the way it wastes some very fine Asian actors like Jet Li and Michelle Yeoh.

The film makers chose to ignore any kind of story and the potential good acting at hand, and chose to just go for as many explosions and as much noise as possible. The plot seems to be at the service of action and some exotic locales. It takes us to the deserts of China, the Himalayas and even allows us to encounter some snow animals called yeti.

Even the dependable actor, Brendan Fraser, gets very little from the script to build on. Another fine actress, Maria Bello, is not allowed to sink her teeth into the role. There is no chemistry between these two lead actors or between Fraser and Luke Ford, who plays his son. Ford could go down as the most bland character in an action movie this year.

The movie starts with a flashback from history of an ancient emperor along with his army being turned to clay by a spell cast by a woman. The woman is in love with another man and the emperor is against this union. Fast forward a few thousand years and Luke Ford’s character has discovered this tomb, and well, all hell breaks loose after this. This is also the point where the movies starts losing its wheels and just rambles on, taking us for an inconsequential ride.

The only good thing about this movie is the action. It delivers in some way.

There is nothing new in terms of technique or filming, but it does strive hard to thrill. Pre-teens may find this appealing and adults looking for a good break from anything cerebral might also appreciate the explosions.

The director Rob Cohen might have understood this a little too well and thinks he doesn’t have to offer anything more than that. The writers, Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, are not interested in coming up with anything fresh or even aware of the sheer acting potential in all their actors. Each of these actors has won rave reviews for at least one other performance in other movies. They could have been given much more to handle in this one.

This movie works best when there are no expectations and demands. For the sake of pure thrill and mindless fun with action in exotic locales, this movie will satisfy.

– By Sevanand Gaddala