March 2007 Archives

Premonition'
UK Rated: 12A
Runtime: 96min 19secs
Tagline: It's not your imagination..
Directed by: Mennan Yapo
Written by: Bill Kelly

Plot Outline
Linda Hanson (Sandra Bullock) has a beautiful house, a loving husband and two adorable daughters. Her life is perfect, until the day she receives the devastating news that her husband Jim (Julian McMahon) has died in a car accident.

When she wakes up the next morning to find him alive and well, she assumes it was all a dream, but is shaken at how vivid it felt. She soon realises it wasn't a dream, and her world is turned upside down as the surreal circumstances lead her to discover that her perfect life may not have been all it appeared.

Desperate to save her family, Linda begins a furious race against time and fate to try and preserve everything that she and Jim have built together.

Overall Impressions:
An interesting concept that feels like you've seen it before. It falls short of something on quite a basic level in that it doesn't hold your interest. The Lake House was a slightly similar concept but much better handled. The use of alternating between two timelines here gets quite old quite quickly & its also easy to pick out gaping holes in it from a writing perspective.

Supposedly she gets sedated and taken away to an institute at a point, yet the ending reflects something else entirely, in fact what was the end saying anyway??

Performances and overall production value of the flick is good but its not substantial enough to make an otherwise bad film shine out as okay.

Mediocre attempt at supernatural time thriller. (5 out of 10)

Meet Anonymous Lawyer – corner office, granite desk, and a billable rate of $675 an hour. The summer is about to start, and he’s got a new crop of law school interns who will soon sign away their lives for a six-figure salary at the firm. But he’s also got a few problems that require his attention.

There’s The Jerk, his bitter rival at the firm, who is determined to do whatever it takes to beat him out for the chairman’s job. There’s Anonymous Wife, who is spending his money as fast as he can make it. And there’s that secret blog he’s writing, which is a perverse bit of fun until he gets an e-mail from someone inside the firm who knows he’s its author.

Written in the form of a blog, Anonymous Lawyer is a spectacularly entertaining debut that rips away the bland façade of corporate law and offers a telling glimpse inside a frightening world.

Hilarious and fiendishly clever, Jeremy Blachman’s tale of a lawyer who lives a lie and posts the truth is sure to be one of the year’s most talked-about novels.

"We start the summer assuming everyone will leave with an offer to return after graduation. It's yours to lose. It's hard to lose. But it's been done before. Don't make us regret having given you the opportunity to work here. Don't make us wish you were instead working for the firm down the street, where the lunch allowance is ten dollars lower per person, where the Dodgers tickets are four sections farther from home plate, and where they don't even have a gym membership subsidy, You're one of us now. Welcome."

I then proceeded to the multimedia portion of the presentation.Anytime we can incorporate multimedia into our work it's always appreciated by those who have to sit through these things. Well, except for the fiasco last year when I showed a clip from Leni Riefenstahl's Triumph of Will in order to inspire people to pledge their loyalty to the firm in the wake of a series of defections by several star associates.

This year, five film clips. I showed them Collateral so they could see the dangers that await them if they leave the office and start driving around downtown L.A. It's not safe, especially in the sports carsthey're all blowing their salaries to lease.

I showed them Rent to illustrate that while there are indeed 525,600 minutes in a year, the important thingis that every one of those minutes is potentially billable to a client.

I showed them a clip from Brokeback Mountain, which I think was done a tremendous disservice when they pitched it as a gay cowboy movie. I didn't see it, but it's fairly clear from the trailer that the point of the movie is that it's great to have a job that consumes most of your day. "Don't worry about how much time you spend at the office," I told them. "You might fall in love with someone you're working with." There are far too few movies out there that illustrate the fallacy of work-life balance quite so well.

I showed a clip from March of the Penguins for an example of mindless work performed without complaint. The penguins march back and forth to and from the ocean, a long and ardous march in the cold on which many perish, yet none ever bitch and moan. They just do it. No whining, no trying to sneak out of the pack to find a shortcut, no escaping, no giving up. The penguins walk simply because that's what they're supposed to do.

That's all we're asking our associates to do. They don't have to make it more complicated than that. Just march. March to the library. March to the document room. March to the printer. All together now, mindlessly following the herd. That's all we need. Bodies, not brains. The penguins don't expect to be challenged. The penguins don't expect any individual attention. The penguins don't expect any praise for their work. They just do what they have to do. they march.

Finally, I showed a clip from Independence Day to illustrate that sometimes emergencies happen and you have to work over the holiday weekend.

Monday May 15th - Anonymous

As I was in hunt for the 'Skin Gods' from what I recalled of the poster, as always there was an offer of 3 for 2 at Waterstones & I wasn't actually sure that the Skin Gods was the one I was after, the guy at the store thought it would be one of two books, the Skin Gods (which it turned out to be) or Shadow Man (which I shall start reading next). So I had two of three already, this one just sounded fun by its description (above). Being a blogger myself it had it's appeal on a geek level as well as personal one.

As it turns out, this book is awesome. I've now got to the stage where I'll be trailing through its original source reading all the archives over the next few weeks. I'd recommend reading the book first though, as it has its own self-contained story arc.

From the above extract (chosen carefully as it contains film references ;)) you'll get a vague flavour of what this guy is like. He's the very essence of all of us. The things we all think yet few of us say. In a twisted yet humorous kind of way, he's someone to look upto. Okay I should probably point out he is fictional, but hey, so is Hannibal Lecter & Jack Bauer & David Hasselhoff, okay maybe not the latter, but we all know how frickin' cool they are.

Now funnily enough it's a good thing that this guy is fictional as if he was infact a high flying lawyer he'd probably be pretty screwed. I mean of all places I read that Waterstones fired someone for having a blog where he vented. The irony that I happen to pick up this book by random chance at the same store huh??

Not so surprisingly, I can see a lot of parallels between the lawyer's world and my own, though I'm not in the industry of law, I'm still a part of the Capitalist society that only allows the fittest to survive, kinda like Spartans in suits -- things aren't so different. Their expectations of unconditional love for the firm, lack of any other commitments in life, in an ideal world (in the boss's perspective), this is exactly what they would wish for. There would be tolerated things, but many a thing an employee considered normal, the employer would see as pushing things too far.

It may seem to some of you that all the books that I am reading seem to be having top reviews, so I should clarify, if I get through a book, that in itself is an achievement, unlike films, it is quite normal for me to leave a book 10 chapters in if I get bored. With this one I can't imagine anyone able to do that.

Jeremy Blachman gives us an anonymous lawyer with frustrated rants intwined with high dosages of laugh out loud humour. I would recommend this book to anyone that has a job, or a boss, or a life (or not).

Catch and Release'
UK Rated: 12A
Runtime: 111min 27secs
Written & Directed by: Susannah Grant

Plot Outline
After the sudden death of her fiancé, Gray Wheeler (Jennifer Garner) finds comfort in the company of his friends: lighthearted and comic Sam (Kevin Smith), hyper-responsible Dennis (Sam Jaeger), and, oddly enough, his old childhood buddy Fritz (Timothy Olyphant), an irresponsible playboy whom she’d previously pegged as one of the least reliable people in the world.

As secrets about her supposedly perfect fiancé emerge, Gray comes to see new sides of the man she thought she knew, and at the same time, finds herself drawn to the last man she ever expected to fall for.

Overall Impressions:
Nothing new is offered in the content of this film. As I suggested in my Namastey London post, this isn't necessarily a bad thing, however though it starts off well & keeps you gripped for about half of it, past this point, I felt the only thing keeping me going were the moments with Kevin Smith present.

As the comic relief he's the shining star of this one. I mean all-round the performances are pretty great, but when the characters aren't doing all that much, I find yourself checking my watch every 5 or 10 minutes and this is certainly bad, it's only the comedy that got me to the end, the more sentimental parts were too subtle, too bland in my opinion.

Just about held together by the performances rather than the content. (5 .5 out of 10)

Namastey London'
Tagline: A British Brat meets a Funjabi Boy
UK Rated: 12A
Runtime: 137min 19secs
Directed by: Vipul Amrutlal Shah

Plot Outline:
What happens when you transplant an English rose to a countryside in Punjab and expect her to thrive in an alien environment? The rose will either die or rebel. That’s exactly what Jazz, rather Jasmeet (Katrina Kaif) does when her father Manmohan Singh (Rishi Kapoor) brings her to India and gets her married to Arjun (Akshay Kumar), a rough and tough farmer who can barely speak English. But Jazz too is equally determined to marry her British boyfriend. Caught in this emotional tug of war between father and daughter is poor Arjun, who is helplessly and hopelessly in love with his beautiful but unyielding wife.

Overall Impressions:
I came out of this feeling quite good about myself. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Thinking about it to myself the overall synopsis, scenes and plot had little new to offer & this gave a me a bit of a surprise. I guess the current flow of Bollywood films that flow against the commercial tide isn't the only way forward. More typical entertainers do have their merits too, as long as they are done well. This one fits the bill almost entirely.

It has its minor fallbacks and cliche's too, but since the narrative moves at a swift pace these are easily overlooked and forgiven. The way the girl is taken for a 'family trip' to India and forced to see suitors to marry her off to are not far from reality in our world. It was refreshing to see this done so casually yet accurately. You don't find yourself blaming the girl or the father when the marriage is forced upon her.

The father is looking out for her best interests in his own way & she is merely being cautious for the outcome of her actions could be quite out of her control if she were to not gracefully accept. Admittedly talking to the boy was probably her best option, but even there the outcome would be a mystery, but this forms the first half of the film, getting married & coming back to London, only to find that she turns the tables once she finds herself home & safe, letting her intentions become clear. The marriage ceremony holds nothing over the law here, she considers herself free and ready to marry her actual boyfriend.

In true Bollywood fashion, the latter half is about how he allows her to pursue her path & wins her over this way, though you know this from the very first scene. We have seen him walk her down the aisle to her British boyfriend as she looks towards Akshay as he walks away. It's this half that could have been polished a little. In parts in can paint quite a generic image of the westerners and their perception of our culture, though not entirely accurate, on the whole it helps the comic releif factor, but perhaps a little less black-and-white would have helped hitting perfection on this aspect.

Performances wise Akshay Kumar is the shining star, his change from what appears to be the naive bachelor from a small town village, to a husband whose wife doesn't see him as anything more than an acquaintance is all handled by this man alonewith total convinction. You really feel for him at intermission point when he come to terms with the fact that she sees their marriage as an escape to freedom.

Katrina Kaif plays her part well and looks rather stunning, though I haven't seen her in much she's certainly showing potential as an actress as well as a drool-worthy stunner, Upen Patel has a rather small role which he fills well, the dark horse however I thought was Rishi Kapoor playing the part of the cunning yet caring father to an accurate measure just as we'd expect from our cultural background, our parents & uncles & aunties.

Thoroughly enjoyable, Educating on the huge social/cultural differences. Highly Recommended. (7 out of 10)

300'
UK Rated: 15
Runtime: 117min 28secs
Tagline: Prepare for Glory!
Written & Directed by: Zach Snyder
Writing Credits: Kurt Johnstad & Michael Gordon

Plot Synopsis:
Adapted from the graphic novel by Frank Miller: In the Battle of Thermopylae of 480 BC an alliance of Greek city-states fought the invading Persian army in the mountain pass of Thermopylae. Vastly outnumbered, the Greeks held back the enemy in one of the most famous last stands of history.

The Persian king Xerxes sends his massive army to conquer Greece. The Greek city of Sparta houses its finest warriors, and 300 of these soldiers are chosen to meet the Persians at Thermopylae, engaging the soldiers in a narrow canyon where they cannot take full advantage of their numbers.

The battle is a suicide mission, meant to buy time for the rest of the Greek forces to prepare for the invasion. However, that doesn't stop the Spartans from throwing their hearts into the fray, determined to take as many Persians as possible with them.

This battle is said to have inspired all of Greece to band together against the Persians, and helped usher in the world's first democracy. How historically accurate it is? Ram-Jaane (God Knows) but it certainly holds a mythical value if not more.

Overall Impressions:
Expect that my thoughts will be slightly exaggerated as its one of those where I've treated myself to the IMAX experience. :) Yes the screen is 'that' good. Considering I go to the cinemas at least twice a week on average, a treat for me is the IMAX, or a film festival, or Pizza .. ah I'll move on.

Firstly, I should mention that these 'epic' films, don't realy grasp me as awesome, big battles do not sell a film to me, I mention this merely to clarify I'm not a fan of the genre, that said I can appreciate when it's well done & this specific film is certainly one where this is the case. It's quite interesting to see a whole society that thought so much differently to today, a reflection of what we have come from. The way children were discarded based on their abilities is quite fascinating.

Moving on from the lifestyle and getting on with the major content of the film, it is clearly about the 300 against the huge numbers and how they strategicially did the best they could when the numbers were against them. It's amazing to see the way they did this. Looks like a lot of research must have gone into the mythology and history of Ancient Greece.

I can understand why Frank Miller has mentioned recently that for future graphic novel adaptations, he would like to direct himself. In his head he could probably see the scope for detailed scenes that perhaps didn't even make it to the book. He's definitely got the mindset and the eye for it.

Taken almost frame for frame out of the graphic novel, it's no secret that what is getting '300' its most merits is the style. The extreme contrasts in colour, the faded browns to emphasise the red and the attention to details that would on a normal film be ignored are things you take away as surprisingly cool, though if asked it may not be so simple to pinpoint.

An example of this is where we see the red robes trail behind them as they march forward, getting dirtier slightly as they move on. It's a good thing that such detail is incorporated. I would say it is rather ground-breaking stuff for the film world, hopefully something to be maintained & improved. All praise given where it is deserved for using this, but it's nothing new really. Back in the days when films were black-and-white, it was crucial to have such detail, maybe the industry has just slackened and is now picking up the pace again. Hitchcock had it, Chaplin had it, now Miller has it.

It has its share of flaws too, the subplot with the Queen, not really needed (or in the source material). The action sequences began with the Spartan approach with shields all parallel and shifting forwards, then they started freelancing about all over the place, okay their actual appraoch would have got a bit boring to watch but really, why'd they ditch the hunchback guy again? Seems to defeat the point.

Another little something that stood out to me is that their point was to hold their ground until reinforcements arrived. Their heroic stand inspired many many thousands to fight back in the end, but this wasn't very apparent in the film. At least adding one of those captions saying this would have wrapped it up better.

Performances all round are upto scratch, obviously Gerard Butler is to take away the most applause as he leads the 300 on with his royal command. The dialogue again fitting, actually pretty inspiring, (straight out of the book in most places), some parts stand out as perhaps a little modern as mentioned in some reviews I've read, but it doesn't hinder the ongoings as the adrenaline pumps on. The background score is pretty good but I wouldn't say it stood out enough, a little generic for an epic style film.

Going back, I'm not a fan of Epic films, this one didn't seem long like most do, which gives it a huge plus, it's a must see film, perhaps a little over-hyped, I wouldn't have thought it deserves to be in the top 250 films of all time. It's pretty damned good, but not that good.

Stylish, Slick, Heroic, Epic - Definitely a Cinema Film! (7.5 out of 10)

It is the steaming heart of summer in the City of Brotherly Love. Back on the force after taking a bullet during the arrest of a sadistic murderer, Detective Kevin Byrne warily returns to police headquarters. He cannot shake the memory of the Rosary Killer's innocent victims --- or his growing sense that the evil has not been vanquished. And when he and his partner, Detective Jessica Balzano, are called in on a bizarre case, Byrne's gravest suspicions are confirmed.

A madman, dubbed The Actor by the homicide unit, is meticulously re-creating Hollywood's most famous --- and most gruesome --- death scenes. The first murder is caught on film, spliced into a rented VHS edition of the Hitchcock black-and-white masterpiece Psycho. But in place of Janet Leigh is a real-life woman, and this time, the blood is red and the knife is real. Soon, more thrilling classics are turned into terrifying snuff films and placed on video store shelves for an unsuspecting public to find.

Chapter Fourty-One

A coffee shop, one of the cookie-cutter chains on Walnut Street, just around the corner from Rittenhouse Square. Coffee-cult figures hover over alternative weeklies.
'What can I get for ya?'
She is no more than nineteen, with fair skin, a thin intriguing face, frizzy hair pulled back into a ponytail.

'Tall latte,' I say. Ben Johnson in The Last Picture Show. 'and I'll have one of them there bis-cottis.' Them there? I almost laugh. i don't, ofcourse. I've never broken character and I'm not going to start now. 'I'm new to this city,' i add. 'I haven't seen a friendly face in weeks.'

She makes my coffee, bags the biscotti, caps my cup, taps the touch scren. 'Where are you from?'
"West Texas," I say with a broad smile. "El Paso. Big Bend country"
'Wow,' she replies, as if I had told her I was from Neptune. 'You're a long way away from home.'
'Aren't we all?' I hand her a five.

She stops, frozen for a moment, as if I said something profound. step out into Walnut Street, feeling tall and fit. Gary Cooper in The Fountainhead. Tall is a method, like weakness.

I finish my latte, breeze into a men's clothing store. I fashion up, vogue briefly near the door, gather my suitors. One of them steps forward.

'Hi' the salesman says. He is thirty. His hair is cropped short. He is suited and booted, wearing a wrinkled gray T-shirt beneath a navy-blue three button number at least one size too small. This seems to be a fashion statement of some sort.
'Hello' I say. I wink at him and he colours slightly.
'What can I show you today?'
Your blood on my Bokhara? I think, channeling Patrick Bateman. I give him my toothy Christian Bale. 'Just looking'.

The Skin Gods, written by Richard Montanari was a novel I picked up only knowing the vague plot synopsis above. It seemed to incidentally fit in with the thoughts & inspirations behind a currently progressing screenplay I'm involved with. - "How films might affect people and their actions", though the screenplay is the opposite genre entirely, on a concept level they equate.

Being a film nutt and looking at this idea from an entirely obtuse angle was something I was looking forward to & boy was I hooked. As the police investigation parallels the works of the psychopath, both racing ahead, it's definitely one of those novels that has given me the experience of understanding the feeling of "can't put it down" & "must read more" that you tend to get whenever you read a book review. Though it's a lot more work than watching a film for a couple of hours at the cinema, I'm going to say it's worth it for just the detail. After all, the devil is in the detail, right?

His next novel titled Broken Angels should hit the shops next month & though this time its not film-related, I'm quite likely to pick it up on the merits of this one. This one was sold to me by the below poster at a tube station:

Highly Recommended to fans of Crime Thrillers, Mysteries & Movies :)

Hattrick'
UK Rated: 12A
Runtime: 111min 35secs
Directed by: Milan Lutharia

Character Sketches:
Dr. Satyajeet Chavan & Madhav Anna played respectively by Nana Patekar & Danny Denzongpa: Madhav Anna, a veteran cricketer is married to his Love – Cricket, cricket and more cricket! Dr. Satyajeet Chavan, a crazy doctor, loves to hate cricket and prefers bouncing glucose to the ball! Talk about cricket to him and he will bowl you out of his hospital! The crux of the story here is that our veteran cricketer ends up in his hospital during the world cup.

Saby & Kashmira played by Kunal Kapoor & Rimi Sen: Saby is a cricket addict, so much so that his television set is better company than his seductive wife. Give his wife a chance to spin a passionate moment and what you have is a practice session on how to conceal the remote control from a husband who is clean bowled by Dhoni’s performance than his wife’s love. A crash course in cricket and his wife is all for the game. Well, not exactly, she is stumped by love… love… for ace cricketer Dhoni! Then commences Saby’s relentless fielding to outwit his wife’s accelerating obsession.

Hemu Patel played by Paresh Rawal:One the other side of the planet, London, is Hemu Patel. A janitor, a cricket maniac and an illegal immigrant! His single pre-occupation in life is scoring a UK citizenship, even if that implies tampering his passionate Indian patriotism to disguise his English fidelity. A victim of racism within himself as well as around him, Hemu Patel is at the batting end of a maiden over.

Deriving it’s name from the famous magical expression, “Hat Trick”, it deals with three stories across different slices of life, each of which reaches a crescendo and each of which needs the protagonist to pull out a magic trick from the hat, something that they’ve never done before, and something that must be done now, in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds… Because it will make the difference between winning and losing!

The life of each character with Cricket, to be specific, with the World Cup 2007 that is to be played in the Caribbean.

Overall Impressions:
It seems to be the in-thing at the moment to have multiple independant stories that culminate in one climax. Thanfully this one doesn't try too hard to integrate the stories, in fact it doesn't bother at all - but it works. All three stories keep you interested and with a mere 2 hours to cover the three it doesn't feel long (which is the other common feeling I seem to find recently).

The songs have been shifted to almost background and snipped short to keep the on-goings pacy. This is a definite plus. When films have songs that do not move the narrative along or have a distinctive need structurally, then this is the ideal way to fit them around so that they are not lost yet not a hindrance.

Performances all-round are top notch, in particular Kunal Kapoor in his second film after Rang De basanti is one to watch out for. The veterans Nana Patekar & Danny Denzongpa are on form as always. Paresh Rawal is totally believable in his annoying, comical & emotional parts.

The cricket season is sure to catch the crowd that its aimed at, but it doesn't end there. You don't have to know or enjoy cricket to get a good vibe from this film. A winner all-round.

Thoroughly enjoyable, short and sweet. Recommended. (7 out of 10)

TMNT - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'
UK Rated: PG
Runtime: 86min 45secs
Tagline: Raising Shell In 2007.
Directed by: Kevin Monroe

Plot Outline
After the defeat of their old arch nemesis, The Shredder, the Turtles have grown apart as a family. Struggling to keep them together, their sensei, Master Splinter has sent Leonardo away to seek inner learning of leadership that will be his greatest power.

Strange events are occurring in New York City, and the Turtles are needed more than ever, but Raphael, Donatello, and Michelangelo have become lost and directionless in the absence of their leader.

It's now the time for Leonardo to return and Zen Master Splinter to restore unity and ninja discipline to the Turtles, for only they can unravel the mystery and battle the big bad that the city is soon to face.

Overall Impressions:
Unfortunate that its still aimed at kids. Personally, I'd say fricking ninjas that live off pizza and fight crime should be well at least a 15 rated slicing and dicing fare, with lots of blood & gore, but not really to my surprise, this isn't the case. The fact that the Shredder has no part in this is also bad, the fact that they don't use the old cartoon theme tune at all is totally unforgivable, but it has to be said the recreation of the Turtles is not all as terrible as I'd anitcipated.

I'm sure the kids will love it, it's a fairly well structured story and what not but me though, I only wanted nostalgia, and as I mentioned above, no Shredder & theme tune was already a bad start. I did get some nostalgic moments through the trailer and the more recent featurette, as for the film only the first introductions of the characters were a pleasure but past that I just plain got bored. It has a few moments but my search for something more from the original cartoons let it down.

A disappointment for people that followed tha cartoon. Quite possibly okay otherwise. (5 out of 10)

Gone'
UK Rated: 15
Runtime: 88min 24secs
Tagline: The trip of a lifetime.
Directed by: Ringan Ledwidge.
Written by: Andrew Upton and James Watkins

Plot Outline
A contemporary psychological thriller in which a young British couple travelling through the Australian outback become involved with a mysterious and charismatic American whose motive for imposing his friendship upon them becomes increasingly suspect and sinister.

Overall Impressions:
With a small release and little publicity, I think this won't reach out and find its audience, however if it did, its pretty impressive. It reminds me that small budget films can be just as good as any other. There is limited cast & location, but quite well done.

Scott Mechlowicz is definitely one to watch out for. He has the young boyish looks plus a certain evil streak about him, he remind me a little of Cillian Murphy. Since the Australian couple have little to do but fear him or be manipulated into awkwardness, he ends up stealing the show hands down.

Yet another film that though requires the quiet moody atmosphere, seems to have just a little bit too much of it. Seems these days editors don't like snipping much, maybe its a director/editor power trip thing. Either way, it seems a little snipping here and there would do a lot of films a bunch of good.

Creepy at times, Jumpy at times, Eerie at times, Subtle Thriller. (6.5 out of 10)

Good German, The'
UK Rated: 15
Runtime: 107min 34secs
Tagline: If war is hell then what comes after?
Directed by: Steven Soderbergh

Plot Outline
This one is a book to film adaptation of a novel by Joseph Kanon. Set in post-war Berlin. In order to cover the Potsdam Conference, an American military journalist (George Clooney) is called in, only to find himself drawn into a spiral of events including a murder investigation of his driver (Tobey Maguire) who he finds with involved with his former mistress (Cate Blanchett). There is more to her than meets the eye, this may have cost his driver's life. How far however is he willing to go to uncover the mystery behind her?

Overall Impressions:
The feature is in black and white and it works surprisingly well capturing a certain mood that seems crucial for this genre. At many a moment you find yourself concerned about characters safety merely due to the eery alleys and doorways capture in b/w. It's an interesting story but perhaps a little slow-paced. By the time it all unravels I did find myself caring very little of the outcome. A little snipping during the editing stage certainly would have added more impact.

Performances are top-rate all round, I was most impressed by Blanchett, her accent seemed flawless. Clooney seems to have a history with the director that seems to show & Maguire, well, let's say as a sinister little chap, he's showing he's a little more beyond Peter Parker.

An eerie noir reminisent film, niche audience flick. (6.5 out of 10)

Nehle Pe Dehla'
UK Rated: 12A
Runtime: 125min 21secs
Directed by: Ajay K. Chandok

Plot Outline
Johny (Sanjay Dutt) and Jimmy (Saif Ali Khan) are small time crooks who dream to become rich and make lots of money. The duo meet in jail where they constantly land up for their misdeeds. A hotel manager (Shakti Kapoor) embezzles his company's 30 crores. Johny and Jimmy come to know about it and want to blackmail him. They join the hotel as waiters and are waiting for the perfect opportunity. But a terrible mobster trio (Mukesh Rishi, Aasif Shaikh and Shiva) kills the manager. When Johny and Jimmy find the manager dead, they take his dead body and present him as alive. They keep doing it until they find the real culprit.

Overall Impressions:
The highlight of the film is how they manage with the dead body of the manager in public. Actually its all rather silly from the very outset, in addition you have music that sounds early 90's, you have a 70's plot, plus throw in a dead body being lugged about and walking to the sound of a particular type of music due to some mystic gone wrong. Really it is that silly.

In parts it has a few funny moments & the principal cast of Sanjay Dutt & Saif Ali Khan are pretty cool in it, but that's where the praise ends. To be honest I'd rather watch some of the early 90's flicks of the same actors like Main Khiladi Tu Anari or Thanedaar again.

Maybe, just maybe, would have worked in the early 90's. (4.5 out of 10)

Some of you have noted I've added FS to my links & comment there every so often, what hasn't been said is that Richard Brunton who runs FS has been very helpful during my restructure of this place, helping me with the little things that frustrated me. Many Thanks - Rich! (This is ofcourse before I lost steam & stopped doing anything. Hopefully I'll pick up again in the near future).

Anyway, back to FS, its a very frequently updated Film information site, on which you'll find out the latest and greatest of the current on-goings of the western world of films. In particular I would recommend his reviews up there for they cover an in-depth structural analysis that's readable by the avid film-goer and the vaguely-interested alike. His knack for being in depth yet not revealing the plot in his reviews is uncanny (as Simone once pointed out). This is definitely an area that I still must develop. That said most of what I put up here is merely my 2 cents, I wouldn't really call them reviews unless I explicitly state it (mostly just the Hindi flicks).

1 year on - I find myself using Film Stalker as a reference to much of my film watching (which as you can see is quite a regular theme), the community is friendly & almost family like. Go on over & have a browse. Add a comment if you have any thoughts or questions, I guarantee you'll get a response --- FILMSTALKER

Ghost Rider'
UK Rated: 12A
Runtime: 109min 53secs
Tagline: Long ago he made a deal to save someone he loved.
Written & Directed by: Mark Steven Johnson

Plot Outline
Based on the Marvel character, this is the story of a young stunt cyclist Johnny Blaze who sells his soul to Mephistopheles and sadly parts from the pure-hearted Roxanne Simpson, the love of his life, in order to save his dying father.

Years later, Johnny (now Nicholas Cage)'s path crosses again with Roxanne (Eva Mendes) who is now a reporter. Mephistopheles also pops by to cash in on his asset, he offers to release Johnny's soul if Johnny becomes the fabled, fiery Ghost Rider and defeats the despicable Blackheart, Mephistopheles's nemesis and son, who plans to displace his father and create a new hell even more terrible than the old one.

Overall Impressions:
Being one of the comic book films that isn't taking itself too seriously is definitely where it scores highest. I'm not all that familiar with the comic book, but from what I saw here, it sounds like it is a simple story and what you have to go on is humour (& fire & skulls & motorbikes).

It certainly does a great job of bringing a comic book to life keeping the nature of the story intact & in this its aimed at quite a specific audience. The bad guys are bad, the good guys are good. Its not a thinker, nor is it a chick flick. It's a comic book flick. So sure there will be many who don't like this, but truly its not all that bad at all.

The way things progress is certainly good to begin with. It does seem to lose a bit of pace in the latter reels, even the plot seems to have some huge holes and the villains are fricking pathetic, but hey, who cares? You're not really meant to believe in this beyon the film - I mean its a guy who's skull & hands are on fire, with a motorbike, you can't expect reality out of it

Actually quite enjoyable, provided you suspend belief & reality. (6 out of 10)

Illusionist, The'
UK Rated: PG
Runtime: 108min 52secs
Tagline: Nothing is what it seems.
Written & Directed by: Neil Burger
Based on Short Story: Eisenheim the Illusionist: Steven Millhauser

Plot Outline
Set in turn-of-the-last-century, Vienna, a magician (Edward Norton) falls in love with a woman (Jessica Biel) well above his social standing. When she becomes engaged to the crown prince, the magician must use his powers to free her of this & make her his own. In the process he also undermines the stability of the royal house of Vienna.

Overall Impressions:
Its a pretty weak plot. Coming to the UK a few months after the much better Prestige, it hold little appeal. The point seems to be the tricks and how he pulls them off, but its far from surprising as the plot unravels. Its not as terrible as I am probably making it sound, its okay to watch, it just seems rather pointless.

The performances are not anything worth complaining about, nor are they outstanding enough to make the dust shine. That said the inspector played by Paul Giamatti stands tall above the rest. He brings humour and interest to an otherwise dull film.

So so film about a magician. Poor man's Prestige (5.5 out of 10)

As most are aware, in my line of work (as in that 9 to 5 crap - not the 'other' stuff), there are multiple corporations and puppets in the corporations that depend on me & my specialities. The aim of my work is to ensure everyone has a stable "For The Win" protocol. My experiences with this protocol has got me a regular stream of applaud and I understand that there is a specific need for my role in the world.

The other guy that works this protocol is the Vamp. If you're a third party with contact merely in regards to the protocol. It seems logical to confuse us as he does the same exact thing I do and he also has a dual-monitor setup & a simplistic Sainsbury's mug & iPod. Lestat and I even cut our own hair, although I have a slightly better haircut (its shorter, well .. shaved).

Anyway, the Vamp has been off for over a week now, he's gone to the land of Kangaroos, getting his girlfriend married off to one, no wait, his girlfriend's brother's getting married, right, yea that's it.

Meanwhile I've stood tall against the requests for protocol. To be honest, I expected things to be a lot busier & they have been, I also expected this to take a bit of a tally on myself, which to my surprise has been less the case. I seem to have coped quite well with the man-down situation. One more week to go, hopefully the winners will keep winning & the losers will die already. Touch wood.

School for Scoundrels'
UK Rated: 12A
Runtime: 101min 26secs
Tagline: Nice Guys Graduate Last.
Written & Directed by: Todd Phillips
Writing Credits: Scot Armstrong

Plot Outline
Roger (Jon Heder), a beleaguered New York City meter maid, is plagued by anxiety and low self-esteem. In order to overcome his feelings of inadequacy, Roger enrolls in a top-secret confidence-building class taught by the suavely underhanded Dr. P (Billy Bob Thornton).

Dr. P uses unorthodox, often dangerous methods, but he guarantees results: Employ his techniques and you will unleash your inner lion. Surrounded by a band of misfit classmates, Roger's confidence grows and he makes his way to the head of the class, even finding the courage to ask out his longtime crush from accross the hallway, Amanda (Jacinda Barrett).

However Roger quickly discovers that star students have a way of catapulting Dr. P's competitive side into high gear. Soon enough, the teacher sets out to infiltrate and destroy Roger's personal and professional life. Nothing is off limits for Dr. P, not even the object of Roger's affection. In order to show Amanda Dr. P's true colors, Roger must rally his new friends and find a way to beat the master at his own game.

Overall Impressions:
I hadn't spotted the name of Todd Phillips when I went in to see this, but as soon as the credits rolled & the music kicked in I felt the Starsky & Hutch feel to it & I love that 70's stuff & that's when it hit me. I think this film may be inspired by a film from 1960 with the same title. Even if its not it certainly has influences from many a film I've seen in my time, but this is no bad thing. It gets a good balance between emotive moments & laugh out loud moments & switches between them when you don't necessarily expect it.

The performances by the main cast is spot on, it could be said their roles seem repetetive somewhat, but they're being given what they do best.

An enjoyable light-hearted entertainment. Simple & Pleasant. (6.5 out of 10)