Timeline (2003)

Genre: Sci-Fi, Action, Thrillers

Cast: Gerard Butler, Paul Walker

My Rating: 4/5

Director: Richard Donner

As a big fan of time travel movies, i decided to give this a try since it was also directed by Richard Donner. Gerard Butler of "300" fame, then an unknown actor and Paul Walker of "Fast & Furious" series star in this.

Though there are some logic defying plots in this movie (since time travel is not a possibility yet, you shouldn't care for any logic for that matter), the movie does make it for an interesting viewing by making it story setting around the "Hundred Years" war between Britain and France.

An archaeologist goes missing but soon his son and his students find his lens- a modern day equipment with a letter in a old excavation site of the Hundred Years war between Britain and France asking for help. Shocked, they go to the funding company to, of course, learn about the time travel. They then go back to France in 1300's to bring back the archaeologist. The rest of the movie is about how they manage to survive the war in 1300's and all the while changing the course of history.

The Hangover (2009)

Genre: Comedies

Cast: Bradley Cooper, Zach Galifianakis, Justin Bartha, Heather Graham

My Rating:  5/5

I have never heard so many laughs in a movie theater before watching this movie. We all laughed out so loud that we couldn't understand the next dialogue. One of my favorite comedies of all time.

The movie trailer initially reminded me of "Dude, Where's My car?". Though it had the same plot, this movie is definitely better.

Justin Bartha (National Treasure) goes to Las Vegas with his three friends to celebrate his bachelor party.The next morning, the groom is missing. There is a tiger in the suite, a baby and one of them is missing a tooth. Okay.. I have seen those things in other movies. But, when they get a cop car from the valet for their car and a tiny Chinese guy pops out of a trunk, I gave in. The surprise and shock never ended. Even when i thought there would be no more surprises when they go to exchange the money for their friend it kept coming.

Unbreakable (2000)

Genre: Thrillers, Superhero Films

Cast: Bruce Willis, Samuel L. Jackson

My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

A brilliant original superhero origin movie from director M. Night Shyamalan during his prime years.  This movie was released right after "The Sixth Sense" became a monster hit. I liked this movie better than the other one though. It's a shame that this one didn't make as much in profits as the previous one due to poor marketing efforts.

It's about a superhero who doesn't know he is one. Bruce Willis plays the unbreakable guy- he cannot be hurt by anything. He survives during a train crash that kills every other passengers, but he thinks that he was just lucky to have survived till he meets Samuel Jackson who has a condition totally opposite- his bones are too fragile that it breaks often.

What I liked- The original plot and the acting of both the main characters. It had all the suspense initially and is believable.

Dislikes - As any other Shyamalan movie, this movie was slow but it had of course enough suspense and build up that i could sit through it.

The Oxford Murders (2008)

Genre: Thrillers, Serial Killers, Mystery

Cast: John Hurt, Elijah Wood

My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

If you are into movies about murder mystery, then this one is for you. It is about an Oxford Professor and a student trying to solve a string of murders. Though this movie has interesting plots that would keep you guessing till the end about the murderer, i have to warn you that they have too many "intelligent" conversations between the professor and the student. I guess that because it is "Oxford" they had to have those.

After every murder, there would be some deliberate clues left behind by the killer. The professor deduces that the killer commits his crime in a way that someone else would get caught for those murders thereby making it a perfect crime.

You can do all the thinking and reasoning you want while watching this movie or you can just sit back and let the story unfold. Either way you won't be disappointed. But as i mentioned before, the dialogues sometimes seem very unrealistic.

Paycheck (2003)

Genre: Sci-Fi, Action, Thrillers

Cast: Ben Affleck, Uma Thurman, Aaron Eckhart, Paul Giamatti

My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Director: John Woo

Director John Woo has tried a sci-fi movie with his regular action material and it doesn't disappoint. You may find some of the scenes in this movie to be unbelievable and unrealistic, but once you stop thinking logic, you would find this movie interesting.

Ben Affleck plays a reverse engineer, who makes a deal  with Aaron Eckhart, a friend of his for a job in return for huge shares in his company. But the project would take three years and the whole three years of his life would be erased from his memory as part of his job. When he starts work, he meets Uma Thurman and they fall in love.

After the project is completed, he doesn't remember anything and finds that he has not received any money in his account. To his horror, he finds out that he has voluntarily forfeited the shares. And he also receives a package containing items used in everyday life such as glasses, cigarettes which were not his but were sent by him. And to top this, he is also pursued by FBI for the murder of a physicist. He slowly finds that the trivial items in his possession holds the key to saving his life from danger and about what exactly he did during his three years that he can't remember.

Mr. Brooks (2007)

Genre: Thrillers, Serial Killers

Cast: Kevin Costner, Demi Moore, William Hurt

My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Mr. Brooks is a wealthy man. Mr. Brooks is a famous businessman. But, he has a terrible secret. He is the "Thumbprint Killer", a serial killer who has been trying to control himself from killing for two years.

Kevin Costner plays Mr. Brooks who has an alter ego, played by William Hurt that drives his desire to kill . I loved the way Brooks interacts with his alter ego, as if they are two partners in crime. Demi Moore plays the cop who investigates the serial murders.

Brooks finally gives in and kills a couple. As always, he leaves their thumbprint on the lamp shade. His alter ego then notices that their curtains were open.
Unfortunately, one of the neighbors, Smith,  takes photographs of his killings.  But, all Smith wants in return for not turning him to the police is to take him along for his next killing. Whoa. Two serial killers in a movie? But wait, there is more coming.

Brooks' daughter quits college telling her parents that she has become pregnant. But, when police visit their home to question her about a murder that took place at her college, Brooks realises that her daughter too has it in her.  I would like to stop right here for you to find out what happens next.

The Dukes of Hazzard (2005)

Genre: Comedies, Action Comedies, Car Racing

Cast: Sean William Scott, Johnny Knoxville, Jessica Simpson

My rating: 5 out of 5 stars

A mindless comedy with car chases. This is one of those movies which i can watch anyday, anytime. Some facts- This movie is directed by Jay Chandrasekhar - of course- of Indian origin. It stars Sean William Scott (Steve Stifler of American Pie series) and Johnny Knoxville of "Jackass" Series. This movie is based on a 80's TV show of the same name. It also stars Burt Reynolds (a big actor in the 70's and 80's who mostly starred in car racing related movies) as the villain.

 Sean William Scott and Johnny Knoxville star as cousins Bo and Luke, who run moonshine(illegal alcohol production) business along with Uncle Jesse and cousin Daisy(Jessica Simpson).  They go around the "Hazzard" County using their orange colored Dodge Charger car nicknamed by Bo as "General Lee".  The county Commissioner (Burt Reynolds) unable to their moonshine lab, plants a fake one and confiscates their farm. The Dukes hear about the same incident in other places and set out to find the commissioner's plan and discovers that he is planning to turn the entire county into a coal mine. The movie is about how they thwart his plan while also participating in a car race competition and also being chased by police.

Don't think too much of the plot and just go with the movie.

Underworld (2003)

Genre: Action, Horror, Vampire, Werewolf

Cast: Kate Beckinsale, Michael Sheen, Bill Nighy

My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

This is a serious vampires vs werewolves at war film unlike the "Twilight" vampire vs werewolf one. You get to see lots of violence (it's rated R) that includes shootings, beheadings and stabbing.

The movie is about centuries long feud between vampires and werewolves. The vampires have the upperhand in the present believing they have already killed the werewolf leader and try to kill the remaining werewolves. However, the werewolves engage secretly in finding a perfect weapon to kill the vampires. They also try to test the blood of the descendants of the "Corvinus" bloodline to find the pure source from where both the vampires and werewolves descended. They eventually find that Michael Corvin, an ordinary human being is the true descendant and bite him before being ambushed by Vampire Selene. He then later gets bitten by Selene and transforms into a hybrid. It just can't get better..

The movie is full of stylish fight scenes and has lots of action sequences between the vampires and the werewolves. The best thing about this movie is that it also has a nice and interesting storyline that makes it different from the movies of the same genre.

Iron Man (2008)

Genre: Action, Superhero Films

Cast: Robert Downey Jr. , Jeff Bridges, Gwyneth Paltrow,
          Terrence Howard

My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

One of my favorite superhero movies. Everything seems to have worked well with this movie. But, a special mention should go to Robert Downey Jr. for making an arrogant and an egoistic character downright likeable. Even if he has gone a little overboard, his character would have attracted hatred. If you look at any other superhero movie, the lead character has some sort of a problem. For Batman, he sees his parents get killed in front of his eyes during his childhood, Spidey feels responsible for his uncle's death and Superman- well, he just doesn't belong to this world.Whereas, Tony Stark aka Iron man is a billionaire, genius, playboy and even his ladylove seems to be okay with him fooling around with other ladies and he has all he wants at his disposal. So, any moviemaker would have a problem making a character who does not connect with normal people or without any major problem as a hero. But luckily for Jon Favreau the director, he has got Downey. I just cannot imagine anyone else portraying Iron man other than Downey.

Tony Stark, who owns Stark Industries that produces weapons for U.S. military visits U.S. troops in Afghanistan for a presentation of his latest missile and gets captured by a terrorist group with severe injuries. A fellow prisoner builds an electromagnet that keeps him alive from the pieces piercing his heart. They secretly build an iron suit powered by an arc reactor and Tony escapes from the group with the help of it and returns to the troops and gets back to US but his inmate gets killed. Tony, having seen his company's weapons at the terrorists announces that he is shutting down the company but is stopped by his partner.

He secretly improves his iron suit at his house and fights against the terrorist group without revealing his identity. However, his partner who has been supplying the arms to the group comes to know about the suit and wants one for him. The rest of the movie is about how Tony succeeds against his partner and whether he reveals his identity to the public. What seems like a serious plot has its funny moments and is enjoyable by everyone.

Grindhouse: Death Proof (2007)

Genre: Action, Thrillers, Serial Killers

Cast: Kurt Russell

My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Director: Quentin Tarantino

A typical Tarantino movie. The movie starts very slowly with plenty of dialogues that i felt like switching off( i in fact dozed off). But as most of Tarantino's movies go, it picks up pace later on.

Kurt Russell stars as a stuntman whose car is designed to protect the driver from any accidents. He is also a serial killer who drives his "Deathproof" car directly at women's car and kills them instantly.

The story really begins when a group of women take a car for a ride. One of them plays a game where she ties her belts to the two sides of the car and holds it by lying on the hood and asks her friend to drive at high speeds.I was totally amazed at how well the woman(who is a stunt person in real life) on the hood performed those scenes. Our killer follows them behind and tries to kill them with the woman on the hood getting thrown away. Here, I was thinking its going to be another movie where the women would somehow get lucky and manage to kill the killer. Instead, to my surprise, the women get angry at him and decide to go after him having already shot him in the arm. Now, the killer is on the run chased by angry chicks who finally catch up with him.

Death Race (2008)

Genre: Action, Car Racing

Cast: Jason Statham, Joan Allen, Tyrese Gibson

My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Do you like non-stop action, car chases with explosions? Then this is your movie.

The premise of the movie is that in the near future, prisons are being privatized due to bad economy. One such prison's firm invents a game called "Death Race" to make money by allowing the prisoners to race against each other to death. Each racer gets his own crew in the prison that redesigns their car and fits it with guns and heavy armor. How cool is that?

Jason Statham plays a convict framed for killing his wife and is asked to participate in the race with a promise that if he wins he can earn his freedom. The rest of the film is about the prisoners racing against each other and blowing up each other's cars with heavy artillery.

National Treasure (2004)

Genre: Adventure, Treasure Hunt

Cast: Nicolas Cage, Diane Kruger, Justin Bartha

My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

The name says it all. Nicolas Cage stars as a treasure hunter from a line of family who spent their lives in search of a huge treasure supposedly hidden by the founding fathers of America only to be criticized for lack of evidence of its existence.

Nicolas Cage, being a historian naturally shows interest in finding the treasure and starts with the clue told by his grandfather. Cage stumbles upon clue after clue, one such clue  leading him to the much protected "Declaration of Independence" signed three centuries ago by the founding fathers. He ends up stealing it from the Museum only to find another clue leading to the treasure. The rest of the film is about how he eventually finds the treasure deciphering the carefully laid out clues by the freemasons all the while avoiding trouble from a wealthy businessman who is also after the treasure.

Being a history fanatic, i loved the way the movie mixes fiction with US history.

Dude, Where's my Car? (2000)

Genre: Comedies

Cast: Ashton Kutcher, Sean William Scott

My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

To think about this movie now, its similar to "The Hangover", where the main characters forget what happened the previous night and try to retrace their steps. This movie is out and out stupid that you might enjoy it or hate it looking at the sheer stupidity.(Honestly, i hated it the first time but started liking it when i watched it the second time on cable). So, do not think about any logic and give it a chance.

Both Ashton Kutcher and Sean William Scott(Steve Stifler in the American Pie Series) play two slackers who wake up with a hangover and no memory of what happened the previous night and their car. The movie is about the series of encounters they have with different races of aliens, one of hot women that try to destroy the universe and the other of good alien men trying to protect the same, a chinese woman where they order their carryout(i laughed out  loud during this scene), a group of UFO believers and an ostrich. It all comes down to how the two main characters save the universe using the transponder device given to them by the good aliens the previous night and find their car.

Wild Hogs (2007)

Genre: Comedies

Cast: Tim Allen, John Travolta, Martin Lawrence, William H.Macy, Peter Fonda, Marisa Tomei

My Rating - 5 out of 5 stars

This is one of the hilarious movies i have ever watched and i have seen it countless times. It is about 4 middle aged guys on a road trip from Cincinnati to the west coast on their bikes to escape the routine suburban life. My advice would be to switch off your brain and just relax and enjoy the movie and do not think about the plot or any technical glitches.

Having always seen John Tavolta in many serious movies( of course i liked him(her) in Hairspray), i really liked his lighter side as well. In fact, i started liking him only after seeing this movie. Everyone except Tim Allen did a great job.I especially enjoyed all the scenes that took place(the second half of the movie) in the small town. It just takes you to the vacation mode.