The Hunger Games (2012)

Genre: Action, Sci-Fi, Thrillers

Cast: Woody Harrelson, Donald Sutherland, Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson

My Rating: 2/5

When it comes to mainstream movies, my taste rarely differs with the general audience. However, with this movie, my opinion differs.

This is the second disappointing movie of this year for me after John Carter. At least with the later, i knew what i was getting into with its terrible reviews and poor box office performance. But, with a domestic gross (U.S. & Canada) of more than 400 million dollars and being the only movie next to Avatar to stay at No.1 position for 4 consecutive weekends at the box office, i really expected a lot from this.

May be i am getting too old to watch a movie targeted at young audience, but to my defense, I did like the Harry Potter series and the first part in the Twilight series. Harry potter had a good story plot, Twilight had the vampire and werewolf mix that got me interested till the first part. This movie was aimed at both the male and female audience and probably that's why it made more than the Twilight series' box office which was aimed at female audience.

There are so many things that didn't work in this movie for me. This movie is about a death match between youngsters in a futuristic setting. The main character Katniss (i couldn't even take the name seriously for it rhymed with Cat-piss) volunteers for the match when her sister's name comes up in the lottery. The rest of the movie is about how she manages to win the match among 24 participants.

Having mentioned the story, the first flaw i found was that, most of the movies about a competition or match has a  lead character that is an underdog. With this movie, there are so many other kids that are younger than Katniss and with limited skills. I just couldn't bring myself up to root for her.  Also, there was no character development. I did not know much about Katniss' character except that she is skilled in hunting.  May be  I should have read the books first.

I also felt that having targeted the male and female audience, they tried to give both action and romance but it did not work for me. The action sequences were not intense compared to even the magic duels in Harry Potter. They should have made it more darker. I do not think much about how the events would turn out when i watch a movie, but i could clearly know what was going to happen. They need only one winner and the main character was already shown as skilled enough that you know she is going to win. Also, i felt that the director(or the author in the book) lacked imagination the way in which the characters that side with the main character were killed to make sure she doesn't kill them and in that way make it easy for her to become the winner.

Everything seemed so artificial and silly to me - the fire behind Katniss' dress to impress the audience before the games, the idea of impressing the sponsors to get help during the match that "Twilight" felt like an oscar-worthy movie.

Transformers (2007)

Genre: Action, Sci-Fi

Cast: Shia LaBeouf, Megan Fox, Tyrese Gibson, Jon Voight, Josh Dushamel

My Rating: 5/5

The Autobots and the evil Decepticons, two robot species fight for the "All Spark", a cube that creates their life forms but lose it in space during their war. Finally, the autobots hear news that it has been located in an unknown planet called "Earth".

If you like giant robots transform into cool cars and fight against each other, then this movie is for you. Shia LaBeouf stars as a teenager whose father buys him a used car. It turns out that it is an alien robot that has a mind of its own. It soon signals it's friends, the remaining autobots to come down to earth.

It is then revealed that the teenager's great-grandfather discovers the frozen state of Megatron, the leader of the evil Decepticons, who first locates the All Spark on earth, in the Arctic Circle. Optimus Prime, the leader of the Autobots tries to get to the All Spark location before the Decepticons could so that they do not take the control of the universe. There is plenty of robot and human fight sequences and also between the  two robot species.

Having never seen the original transformer series, I really loved the concept and the action sequences. However, i heard the true fans complain that Optimus Prime was not given much of screen time and that the story revolves around the teenager. But it is definitely worth watching if you are a big fan of action movies and special effects that makes Hollywood famous worldwide.

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.

21 Jump Street (2012)

Genre: Action, Comedies

Cast: Jonah Hill, Channing Tatum, Ice Cube

My Rating: 4/5

The second best R-rated comedy of 2012 so far after Ted. This movie  is based on the 1980's TV series of the same name that launched Johnny Depp's career.

High school classmates Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum join the police force after graduation but are assigned  park patrol duty in bicycles. After messing up on a drug arrest in the park (they forget to read the rights correctly), they are asked to go to "21 Jump Street" for their new assignment. They go to an abandoned church which has a "Korean Jesus" (a Korean looking Jesus statue). Ice Cube plays the priest who assigns them a narc mission in a high school for according to him, both Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum are "Justin Bieber and Miley Cyrus looking mother*******".

The whole plot of the movie is about how both the lead characters infiltrate the high school posing as teenagers and bust the drug dealers and suppliers. The movie is hilarious with fresh plots and is definitely worth a watch.

Smokey and the Bandit (1977)

Genre: Action, Comedies, Adventure, Car Chase

Cast: Burt Reynolds, Sally Field

My Rating: 4/5

Classic 70's muscle cars in action. Highway patrolmen and the protagonist (Burt Reynolds) on a high speed chase across five southern states of USA. It cannot get better than this.

This movie is a lighthearted comedy with high octane car chases. It is about two guys accepting a bet to move banned alcohol alcohol from Texas to Georgia in a truck in a short period of time. Burt Reynolds drives his car to act as a diversion to the cops from getting to the truck. On the way from Texas, he offers a lift to a runaway bride who was supposed to marry a Sheriff's son. The rest of the movie is about the comic high speed chase involving the Bandit and the Sheriff and the various state patrolmen.

It looks like public do not halt for a cop's car with a siren turned on those days. Burt Reynolds gets all the help he can from the public by making them block the cop's cars or delay them by communicating through his transmitter.You also get to see the America of the 70's with the entire movie having been shot on the freeway, local highways and the diners.

Duel (1971)

Genre: Action, Thrillers, Car Racing

My Rating: 5/5

Director: Steven Spielberg

Steven's Spielberg first directorial venture. This made for TV movie later had a limited release and helped launch his career. In fact, I like this one better than "Jaws" which made him famous.

This movie is a highway chase thriller where the protagonist is chased by a truck.Though it's a one liner story, it's the genius of Spielberg that makes this movie interesting till the end even though you don't get to see the face of the driver. I could still watch this though it was made in early 70s.

You might find the first few minutes boring where we get to know about the hero but once he passes the old truck on the highway, the movie really kicks off.

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.

The Grey (2012)

Genre: Action, Thrillers

Cast: Liam Neeson

My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

I think this movie is good in its own way. I made the mistake of expecting it to be another "Taken" or "Bourne" type of movie with unbelievable action scenesand was disappointed and hated it initially. Do not make my mistake and let it go at its pace. This movie is realistic and has a serious tone.

It is about a group of men fighting it out with wolves in a severe Alaskan winter. The first thing that would go in one's mind is "Which era are we in?  Are wolves a threat to humans?" This movie takes you back to the stone age for the group do not have any modern day weapons. You get to experience how harsh life was during those times where humans had (were/are ) a threat everywhere (though not as big a threat as humans against each other).

I couldn't help but wonder if the director got the idea about this movie from "Twilight" series where the wolves claim that the vampires are not allowed in their territory. In this case, the humans are not. This movie also borders on the slasher genre on how the wolves kill them one by one but the comparison ends just there.

Liam Neeson plays a security guard in Alaska for an oil drilling team. He grieves over his wife's death(his real-life wife died in 2009) and tries to commit suicide while on mission but the gun wouldn't fire. After the drilling, the team boards the plane only to crash in a severe storm. The rest of the movie is about whether the survivors realising that they are in the gray wolves' territory get out of it safely.

John Carter (2012)

Genre: Action, Sci-Fi

My Rating: 2 out of 5 stars

One of the reasons i started writing my blog is because the mainstream critics seem to always love movies that are realistic, too long and too slow. On the other side, some people like me, want movies to be unreal. We want all that action & drama around it, things that can only happen in the movies, not in real life.

When i heard that it's about a guy, who, one minute is going after gold and chased by Indians, and the other minute, finds himself in Mars, i decided to ignore the critics' poor reviews. Unfortunately, I will have to agree with the critics here about this movie. This movie sucked, it was too long and boring. I somehow got through the entire movie. To start with, the hero doesn't have the screen presence like other action heroes. We do not clearly understand who the villains are, what powers they possess and what they want to do.  It talks about a ninth ray that can give infinite energy but once again, it was vague.

Do not waste your precious two and half hours of life and ignore this.

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.

Kick-Ass (2010)

Genre: Action, Action Comedies, Superhero Films

Cast: Aaron Johnson, Nicolas Cage, Christopher Mintz- Plasse

My Rating- 4 out of 5 stars

If you thought "Batman" is a realistic superhero who doesn't fly or spin a web or possess any supernatural powers except for gadgets, watch "Kick-Ass".

The hero is a regular teenager who gets inspired by the comic books and sets out to become a superhero by just wearing a masked bodysuit without any superpowers or skills. But of course, he learns it the hard way that it is not easy to become a superhero by getting beat up. But, he doesn't give up and goes on with it. He later comes to know that he is not alone and that there are others like "Big Daddy" (Nicolas Cage) and "Hit-Girl" who don the superhero suits and use cool gadgets to fight crime. He soon becomes a target of a mob boss for having intervened in his business.

This movie is also funny except for its portrayal of violence and gunfights. It is R-rated becasue of this compared to the other superhero movies which are mostly PG-13.

The Good, the bad and the Ugly (1966)

Genre: Action, Western

Cast: Clint Eastwood, Eli Wallach, Lee Van Cleef

My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

The movie that made Clint Eastwood a Star and popularized the spaghetti western genre. This movie is the third movie of the "Dollars Trilogy" but you need not watch the first two to see this one. Clint Eastwood plays "The Good" aka "Blondie"as a man with no name. Eli Wallach steals the entire show as "The Ugly" Tuco with his comical talent. I would say that if not for Eli Wallach, the film would have been a bore given its running time of almost 3 hours.

The film is about three gunmen in search of buried confederate gold. Tuco(The Ugly) tries to kill Blondie(The Good) before he stops to loot a carriage from where he learns he name of the cemetery about the hidden gold from a dying man. Before he could fetch water, the man dies revealing the name of the grave to Blondie. This forces Tuco to form a reluctant partnership with Blondie to go after the gold. Meanwhile, "The Ugly" who is a hitman who kills for money is also after the gold and the movie enters the climax with the three on a "Mexican Standoff" with their guns pointing at each other.

The movie is famous for its music for the introduction of "The Ugly" and also in its depiction of violence.

I would recommend that you have enough patience and time to watch this gem of a movie.