Prince of Persia

Director Mike Newell (Four Weddings and a Funeral, Donnie Brasco, HarryPotter 4 n Pushing Tin to name a few) sets out to bring us a new video-game-to-screen attempt. With previous efforts (not Mike's) like Doom, Street Fighter, Mario Bros n Mortal Kombat failing to even reach the shadow of their original games' glory, i was apprehensive about catching his flick.

I mean in defense of the genre, a lot of stories in video games are absurd, with weird and crazy characters and moves, action and mind-blowing graphics almost impossible to match. But where there have been some respectable attempts (see Lara Croft, Final Fantasy*, Resident Evil (1st one only) and Max Payne (well i liked it!) I was still cautious about expecting much about it.

Surprisingly, well pleasantly though, i truly enjoyed this movie. Jake Gyllenhall managed to pull of the role of Prince Dastan who gets entangled in a time-skipping adventure with new 'it' gal Gemma Arterton, along with Sir Ben Kingsley and the awesome screen presence of Alfred Molina. Action packed, with some very cool CGI, good one liners and slick swordplay (well it's set in a loong time ago, no guns!) makes for a truly entertaining fare just short of 2 hours.

Story goes a little like this: an orphan is adopted into the royal family, but grows up to be the roguish hero of lot, and is always eager to please his brothers. As part of a campaign for their father the King, the princes lay siege to a holy city (after some dubious reasoning by their uncle {sidenote: very Mahabarata-ish this part}). This sets off a chain of events that leads thru an ostrich race, some Hassansins, sandstorms, snakes, and swords! Loads of swords!

* it was animated, but was damn realistic CG that one

verdict : nice one!

Series Finale(s)

This weekend marks the closing of the past 6 years journeys of two of my favourite TV shows. From the concepts, writing, acting performances, strength in story telling (no matter how absurd they seemed), thrills, action and downright woah-shocker-twist-dang it-wtf-b!@tch!! moments over the past 6 and 8 seasons respectively, Lost and 24 will both face their final curtain call this Sun and Mon.

How will it turn out for the remaining survivors of the ill fated Oceanic flight 815? And how will it end for the downward spiral Jack Bauer finds himself trapped in now? How??

All answers will be revealed. And since it's not live here in Bolehland, you'll be sure that i'll be downloading em to watch, while staying clear away from the blogs, reviews, yahoo etc. Nooo spoilers for me.

Housefull

it's been awhile since my last hindi flick outing, and i guess 3 Idiots had satisfied that thirst enoug. But now, with an interesting trailer, and an attractive (both in performances and being visually appealing) cast with much to promise peaked my curiosity enough to make a trip down to the neighborhood cinema to catch this one. Why not right...

OOh wrong. First half hour had me cringing at the bad acting, lame script, very rehearsed slapstick, and even poorer comedic timing. I thought i had duped myself into believing that it couldn't have been that bad. But it was. Bad. Very bad. first 30 minutes.

But then it took a small twist in the plot, and additional characters were introduced, mainly Boman Irani (yeay!). A couple of entertaining (read lyrically funny) songs, some great one liners and we were off. Some measure of relief. Maybe.

So all in all Akshay Kumar pulled off his role well, aptly supported by current hit gal Deepika Padukone, Ritesh Deshmukh(he had the best lines in the movie), Lara Dutta (after Blue, you'd thought she'd bounce back, but hasn't gotten the right roles yet), Jiah Khan, and a bunch of cameos.

simple story, some foot tapping songs, but great one-liners, and some hilarious situations all in all barely saves the flick.

verdict: um... watch it if u have a free night, but leave ur brain in the car for this one

Robin Hood

Ridley Scott teams up again with his Gladiator star Russell Crowe to bring to us an awesome retelling of the famous folk lore of Robin Hood. This realistic and almost historically accurate depiction enables us to enjoy the tale from a totally different aspect.

We join Robin as an archer in King Richard's in the Crusades, who makes his way back to England with a few fellow deserters at the end of the war. Bent on completing a task, he heads to Nottingham where he meets Marion (Cate Blanchett) and seems to find his place back in civilization, until Sir Godfrey(Mark Strong)'s forces (he's working with the French) start to create havoc in the north and eventually happen upon Robin n his pals.

From there on it gets all action with the lords joining forces to drive out Sir Godfrey and the French, ally with a King they despise and then drive off the marauding forces of King Phillip on the shores of England, in front of the picturesque Seven Sisters.

However, the King then goes against his word, and outlaws Robin Hood and his men, who then seek refuge in Sherwood Forest... and hence begins the tale.

While there were a lot of mixed criticism from many quarters, i enjoyed the storytelling in this form. It seemed more real (Costner's version was always very romanticised), and more believable. Crowe is spectacular as usual, and while not as good as Gladiator, he does a great job wielding the longbow. Cate Blanchett's portrayal of Marion is nothing like the damsel in distress in earlier versions. She's equally apt with sword n bow, and while the chemistry is not entirely convincing, she was superb in her role.

Mark Strong is coming up with better performances with each movie he is cast in, but he may want to start looking for other roles other then the typecast baddie. as in Kick-Ass, Strong is utterly good playing bad!

The soundtrack i felt was a little let down, maybe this could have been what let the overall experience fall a little short.

verdict : Value for money, but could be much more

TV Show Update Pt 2

So here's the latest, based on the previous post

CANCELED/ENDING
FlashForward (ABC) - NO SEASON TWO

Heroes (NBC) - WILL END AFTER CURRENT SEASON

Nip/Tuck (FX) - WOW didn't see this one coming 7 seasons

Trauma (NBC) - Damn shame about the damn ratings.

24 (Fox) - Thanks Jack! for 8 great seasons!!
Dollhouse (Fox) - saw it coming
Eastwick (ABC) - ditto
Lost (ABC) - Thanks Jack (nope not Bauer)
Scrubs (ABC) - couldnt replace the magic from before

Iron Man 2

now this is indeed a little late, but in my humble defense, i did miss about 18 minutes during my first viewing (i know, i admit i'm a twit!) so i had to make sure i could only do a write up after watching it in full, hence the second viewing!! So here goes.

This time we join Tony Stark as he continues to be America's favorite son, who maintains the global peace while trying to fend off the Uncle Sam's effort to obtain the Iron Man weapon. So while he continues being his narcissistic self (he admits it later hehe), with Pepper Pots (Paltrow - thank god she got more screen time this time) trying to keep him sane manages to entice new enemies (of course) and in the process enrage his buddy Rhodes (Cheadle this time around), all while keeping a fatal secret to himself.

We follow Downey Jr n co on a superb sequel of a roller coaster ride, with excellent one-liners, great action, loads of tips and hints towards the Avenger initiative, which continues to develop all while we root for the usual good vs bad outcome. What else do u want? It is a comic book story!

And who knew Downey Jr could make good be so bad...i had a pal who couldn't get enough of Tony Stark, he said the movie was too short. Well to each his own man crush!

Col Nick Fury's (Jackson) short role, accompanied by butt-kicking eye candy Agent Romanoff (Sca-Jo!) and Agent Coulson manage to give more signs towards the long awaited Avengers movie being one of the heir apparent stars in the Marvel Studio's barn.

For once, in the recent crazy times, a great action movie WITHOUT 3D! Yeay!

verdict: Heck Yeah!

ps: so did u guys see the shield, maps, hammer etc? No? maybe this will help >

TV Shows update

Got an update on the regular shows i usually watch/download/follow from a yahoo article. With summer movie releases in full swing, it's that time of the year the networks reshuffle the lineups in preparation for the fall (note for those uninitiated: Fall is for TV what Summer is for the big screen)

RENEWED (YEAY!!!)

30 Rock (NBC)
The Amazing Race (CBS)
Bones (Fox)
Brothers & Sisters (ABC)
Cougar Town (ABC)
Fringe (Fox)
Glee (Fox) - haven't really followed, but those episodes i did catch seemed ok.
The Good Wife (CBS)
Modern Family (ABC)
Survivor (CBS)

LOOKING GOOD
American Idol (Fox) -wonder how they're gonna fare after the Royal Sulk leaves
The Biggest Loser (NBC)
Chuck (NBC)
Criminal Minds (CBS) - if only i had back episodes
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (CBS)
CSI: Miami (CBS)
CSI: NY (CBS)
Grey's Anatomy (ABC)
House (Fox)
One Tree Hill (CW)
Private Practice (ABC)
V (ABC)

NOT LOOKING SO GOOD
FlashForward (ABC) - predicted this may not get to a 2nd season
The Forgotten (ABC) - this too
Heroes (NBC) - one season too far?
Trauma (NBC) - this one sooo deserves to be extended

CANCELED/ENDING
24 (Fox) - Thanks Jack! for 8 great seasons!!
Dollhouse (Fox) - saw it coming
Eastwick (ABC) - ditto
Lost (ABC) - Thanks Jack (nope not Bauer)
Scrubs (ABC) - couldnt replace the magic from before