Wall Street – Money Never Sleeps: Worth a watch for Douglas

Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps is definitely a worthy sequel that delivers strong performances and that classic Gordon Gekko character that everyone can’t get enough of.

After serving time for securities fraud, Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas) the former King of Wall Street is now a humbled man who has two chances to redeem himself. One involves helping an idealistic young trader named Jake Moore (Shia LaBeouf) invest in a promising new green energy source, while the other involves mending his broken relationship with his liberal daughter (Carey Mulligan), who just so happens to be dating Moore. On the surface, Gekko indeed appears to be a changed man – but can a leopard really change its spots? (more…)

Beauty and the Beast 3D: Super cute fun

Beauty and the Beast the 1991 released Disney classic has been rejuvenated with 3D and more polished animation for the new release. But even then, this movie is sheer as much worth a watch for nostalgia sense as is for the beautiful love story it narrates.

Belle (voice of Paige O’Hara) is the most beautiful girl in a provincial town in France. Unfortunately for those who might want her as a wife, including the dim, narcissistic Gaston (Richard White), she’s also one of the village’s oddest denizens. She keeps to herself, helping her inventor father, Maurice (Rex Everhart), with his contraptions, and, in her spare time, devouring books. She has read just about everything available in the town, and eagerly awaits the arrival of anything new. Every time she ventures outdoors, she draws stares and snickers, but, despite her strangeness, Gaston is determined to marry her.

Then, one fateful day, her father disappears in the forest. Belle goes searching for him and stumbles upon a dark and scary castle. Venturing inside, she discovers a gallery of magical creatures. There’s Lumiere (Jerry Orbach), a candlestick with impeccable manners and an voice that recalls Maurice Chevalier; Cogsworth (David Ogden Stiers), a clock with a high impression of himself and his role in the castle; Mrs. Potts (Angela Lansbury), a grandmotherly tea pot; and many others.

Then there’s the Beast (Robby Benson), the terrifying creature who rules over this domain and holds Maurice captive. Once a handsome prince, he has been cursed to remain a beast until he finds someone who truly loves him in spite of his appearance. Now, he is filled with equal parts hope and dread at Belle’s arrival — hope that she might be “the one” to break the spell, and dread that she might be repulsed by his ugliness. Nevertheless, he agrees to release her father if she accedes to being his permanent guest. She makes the bargain, Maurice is set free, and she is trapped. In time, however, Belle discovers that life in the castle is not as dreadful as it initially seems.

Beauty and The Beast

First things first, the film offers some new material. It includes a little extra dialogue (principally Belle reading to the Beast from “Romeo and Juliet”) and one new song, “Human Again”. The real allure of the movie, however, is the amazingly-detailed animation and a half- dozen spectacular song-and-dance numbers. The ballroom sequence, which mixes computer- generated backgrounds with hand-drawn characters, is the best scene in the movie, but it is nearly equaled by a handful of others. And, while the camera in most animated films remains largely static, here it’s frequently on the move, soaring and zooming as it circles characters and imitates tracking shots. Visually, Beauty and the Beast is so carefully-constructed that repeated viewings reveal new details, like the wayward strands of hair that fall across Belle’s forehead.

Combining many diverse elements, Beauty and the Beast attains a nearly-perfect mix of romance, music, invention, and animation. While many animated features claim to appeal equally to adults and children. It’s a family feature that someone over the age of 18 can venture into without an accompanying child.

Rating: 3/5
Starring: Voices of Paige O’Hara, Robby Benson, Rex Everhart and Richard White
Director duo: Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise

Shutter Island: A terrific thriller

Rating: 3.5/5

June 5, 2010 (Sampurn Wire):The movie takes place in 1954; US Marshals Teddy Daniels (DiCaprio) and new partner Chuck Aule (Mark Ruffalo) take a Massachusetts ferry to Shutter Island, where a prison for the criminally insane insulates its inmates from the mainland. In fact, Chief psychologist Dr. Crawey (Ben Kingsley) prefers that the residents of Shutter Island be called “patients” – and in the case of the present mystery, one such disturbed individual has mysteriously escaped from her locked room while a bevy of guards stood watch. (more…)

A Nightmare on Elm Street: A bad remake

Rating: 2/5

Nancy (Rooney Mara), Quentin (Kyle Gallner), Kris (Katie Cassidy) and Jesse (Thomas Dekker) are a group of high school kids who don’t realize how much they have in common (aside from all of them living on Elm Street). Each one has started to have strange dreams starring a psychopathic dude with a fedora, striped sweater and a glove with knives attached to the fingers, Freddy Krueger (Jackie Earle Haley). Freddy is chasing these young kids to exact revenge, and wants to kill each one while they are asleep in dreamland, so they will die in real life, too. But then why does Freddy want revenge? (more…)

Daybreakers- Entertaining And Provocative

Rating: 3/5

With the recent fan frenzy trend involving vampires (‘True Blood‘, ‘New Moon‘), the producers of ‘Daybreakers‘ picked the perfect time to release this gothic movie. Starring Ethan Hawke and Willem Dafoe, the movie, which was shot more than two years ago, is clever and gory enough to keep horror-seekers happy. (more…)

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time- Cool Entertainer For Hot Summer

Rating: 2.5/5

Based on the video game series created by Jordan Mechner, “Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time” begins with Dastan (William Foster) as an orphaned boy being rescued in the marketplace by King Sharaman (Ronald Pickup). (more…)

Shrek Forever After- A fine finish

Rating: 3.5/5

Shrek is back this time in 3-D. While some might call it an unwelcome thing feeling that the oversized green ogre has already overstayed his welcome with feckless second and third chapters. But for many, this fourth installment of the Shrek franchise will be an extremely entertaining enterprise as this one is not only smart, imaginative but also an exceptionally hilarious sequel that wraps up the series. (more…)

Remember Me- For Robert Pattinson fans

In this romantic drama current teenage heart throb, Pattinson plays Tyler Hawkins, a sort of modern day James Dean, rebellious and brooding, emotionally crippled by the suicide of his older brother and the indifference of his work-obsessed, filthy rich, Wall Street lawyer father (Pierce Brosnan) who he is obviously terrified of becoming. (more…)

The Back-up Plan- Needed a better back-up script

The Back-up Plan is a comedy that explores dating, love, marriage and family in reverse. After years of dating, Zoe (Jennifer Lopez) has decided waiting for the right one is taking too long. Determined to become a mother, she commits to a plan, makes an appointment and decides to go it alone. That same day, Zoe meets Stan (Alex O’Loughlin) a man with real possibilities. (more…)

‘Iron Man 2: Funtastic!

In its second outing, the Iron Man franchise is bigger, louder, funnier, darker and more emotional than before. So much so that you hardly notice how thin and choppy the plot is. (more…)