The Mothman Prophecies

Directed by Mark Pellington, this movie stars Richard Gere and Laura Linney in the lead. Its a story of a Washington Post Journalist John Klein [Gere] who finds a house of their dream [ him and his wife Mary]. Both are very happy to the content. On their way of returning Mary is startled by a a winged black caped figure. running it over she loses control over steering and the car skids where she hits the her head badly, though John gets no injury. She dies in hospital lately. The devastated John finds the sketches of his wife which shows a black winged figure. the story takes a leap of 2 years, where john finds himself at night in Point Pleasant, West Virginia where his car stops working. He ends up in a house for help, where he is blamed by the house owner for coming again and again at the same time on his house and asking for the phone from three days. John on the other hand is unaware of all and is surprised. Then he calls a local cop Connie [Laura] who herself is struggling with various people seeing strange winged creatures. The rest movie is about solving the mystery of the winged creature commonly known as Mothman.


Coming straight to the performances, both the lead stars have given their best and done a good job. Direction of the movie is nice. The best thing is the background score which is good enough to build up tension among the viewers and it maintains the mood of the movie. Well this movie is adapted from real incidences which were reported in 60's but the story is modified according to the taste. But after viewing the whole movie you still feel that something is missing. May be script could have been better, or may be not much changes should have been made while adapting it. The movie is a good one time watch. It will keep you guessing till the end.

Most importantly i read in Discovery's site that "This movie has allegedly cursed 82 people ultimately leading to death." If you keep that in mind it becomes more interesting to watch.

My Rating - 7 on 10

House of Wax [2005]

House of Wax is a remake of a classic named the same. I came to know after i saw the movie. This one's directed by Jaume Collet-Serra. The story is about six teenage friends who heads on a journey to watch a football match. after a long journey they decide to camp in the middle of woods for the night. the following morning arrives with problems as the fan belt of a car is found broken. Also they find a place where pile of deer meat is rotting  and one of the girl fell into it. After the happenings two of them decides to ride with a local to the town for finding a fan belt and the rest heads for the football match. The town has this House of Wax which is built by two brothers in which every single thing is made of wax and the human figures are worth appreciation coz of the realistic look. But whats the secret behind it is whats all next in the movie.

Well this movie features Paris Hilton as a supporting actress only and not in the lead. She is rarely seen in the movie and is just for the body show. Actually should be thanking the director for it coz she's the weakest link of the movie. One of the worst act i have ever seen in a movie. She looks fake all the time. The direction of the movie is ok. No need to comment on script coz this one's a remake. Haven't seen the original so wont compare. The fear factor is missing somewhere otherwise this one's a nice one timer. The climax has a twist which although was not needed. The effects in the wax house are good and the strengthening pillars of the movie. Overall can be watched once.

My Rating - 6 on 10

But if i keep in mind Paris Hilton its 5.5

Up [2009]

 

Up is a 3D animation movie directed by Pete Docter. Its a story of a young boy Carl Fredrickson who meets an adventurous girl named Ellie one day. Both idolizes the adventurer Charles Munts which is the key thing common in them to start on their friendship. They both fall in love with each other and marry themselves. Ellie always had a dream to build a house on the Paradise Falls, a lost land in South America. The story takes a leap and 70 years later, Ellie is no more and Carl lives on his own with the sweet memories. He's forced to move in a retirement home when he hits a construction worker. On the same day an 8 year boy named Russel arrives on his doorsteps who is seeking to get a badge for assisting an elderly person. Before they can take Carl to the retirement home, he makes the house fly with him with the help of several balloons tied to the house. Soon he finds that the boy Russel is also there. Together they start on their adventure on a journey to Paradise Falls and what happens next is what the rest movie is all about.

This movie by Pixar is one of its best work till date. the movie is a whole package of adventure, emotions and drama. The movie is directed very well. The background score is good. With a running time of 96 min it makes you stick till the end. A movie not meant just for kids, can be viewed easily by all age groups. Its funny and hilarious and at times it makes you emotional too. The feelings of the person is justified in Carl throughout and at the same time you can feel the essence of innocence in the kid Russel. For me the movie works great. A must watch for all.

My Rating - 9 on 10

Halloween aka Rob Zombie's Halloween [2007]

 

Just saw this psycho horror remake of Halloween by Rob Zombie. Its a story about Michael Myers a nine year old sweet boy living with a dysfunctional family. His mother who is a strip dancer in a club is married to a crippled man who is worthless and an alcoholic. His sister is more of an easy going chick type. Lastly he's having a baby sister whom he loves the most. On one day of Halloween he brutally murders whole of his family and thus he's sent to Smith's Grove Sanitarium, where Doctor Samuel Loomis handles his case. Despite of overcoming Myers develops his psychotic behavior and is driven by the animal instinct which makes him speechless and emotionless. On one night he escapes the sanitarium and returns to Haddonfield where he searches for his baby sister Laurie who is the sole survivor of his family.

Well the movie is directed with lots of blood and slashers. Unlike the original Halloween, this one is overdosed with the expose, and sexual content which may be liked by certain people. it has got certain chills which was completely missing in the original one for me. its not boring with the running time of 2 hours. Coming on acting part, Malcolm has one nicec job as Loomis and you don't have to care about the rest. I am not quite a fan of the Halloween series, but i feel this one is a nice one time watch for all.

My Rating - 6.5 on 10

Sorority Row [2009]

 

Watched this horror thriller movie directed by Stewart Hendler. Well I wasn't aware at first that this movie is adapted from a classic horror - The House on Sorority Row. So this is a story of sorority sisters of Theta-Pi. on one day they decide to play a prank with the brother of one of the house sister and it goes awfully wrong and one of the sister is killed accidentally. This is where the problem begins. All of them decide to cover up the death of the girl and hide her body. After one year of the incident, they all are reminded of the past on the Graduation Day. The house sisters starts dying one by one forcing a thought in everyone's mind that the dead girl is back. The rest of the movie is packed with the whole dramatic tension that builds up after each incident and the secret is revealed in the end.

The movie is a fast paced thrilling horror which dont leave you bored up. It contains some sexuality and nudity too with the use of slang language. It is packed with strong bloody violence too. You'll find few scenes that will put some chills down your spine. So in short, it has got what is needed in a horror movie. The direction of the movie is fine. The acting by the star cast is also fine. Especially Briana Evigan playing the role of Cassidy is the eye-catcher. The movie build enough suspense for you to keep guessing throughout and the secret revealed at the climax is fine too. I dint found anything wrong with this movie, its a good watchable movie for all.

My Rating - 7 on 10

District 9 [2009]

 

district 9 is a sci-fic action thriller directed by Neill Blomkamp. the plot of the movie is like there is a ufo or alien spacecraft which stopped functioning and so there are these millions of extra terrestrial creatures  who are left homeless away from their planet. all of them are forced to live in slum conditions in District 9. after 20 years of their living the govt decides to transfer them to another area. but the real motive is to take control of all the alien weapons as their technology is far better than humans. we can see the illegal rackets running in District 9 just to possess the alien weapons. but the point here is that the weapons work on genetic codes and thus cant be used by humans. the problem occurs when Wikus Van De Murwe reaches there to get the scrawl of the aliens for moving them to a new place. on the process of recovering illegal weapons, he incidentally gets a black fluid on him and he then starts converting into one of them creatures only.

hats of to the direction of the movie. all the things have been screened in a well manner. it has got emotions, it has got action, it has got thrills. it basically focuses on how mean and self centered the govt has become. how beyond limits can it reach for self interests. we can see a brilliant acting by Sharlto Copley  [Wikus Van De Murwe] . the movie is in short very good and a great experience.

i would recommend it to all the people. its worth a watch.

my rating - 8.5 on 10

pandorum [2009]

 

just saw this sci - horror movie directed by Christian Alvart. the movie is specifically meant for the sci-fic fans. the movie is set in outer space. it starts with a man coming out of the chamber [ben foster] who soon identifies himself as a member of the flight crew on a special mission named bower. but he's not able to recall himself. then comes another man payton [dennis quaid] he recalls himself as the lieutenant of the flight crew. after spending some time, they decide to get out of the space craft and this is where problems begin. bower finds a unusual creature who attacks a corpse and drags him out of his sight. he's sure that he's not a human and some other creature.. later he finds other survivors too. they team up to find a way out. the rest of the movie revolves on how they fight with these extra ordinary creatures to their way out.

so this movie is packed with action which is a good point for action lovers, but the good thing is that the action is not mindless. it has good vfx and sfx embedded in it. the direction of the movie is above average and so is the plot. the movie could have been much better but it still dont dissapoints and bores. acting by everyone is fine not great. yoy may remember movie like alien, the descent, ghostship etc while watching it. nice sound effects are used to give you a chill sometimes but not if you are a regular horror watcher.. so i would say a good movie to enjoy in short.

my rating - 7 on 10

paranormal activity [2007]

 

horror of the year, the most horrible movie , the best cam movie was all i heard from every where, even the critics rated it high, higly rated on imdb too. so finally i downloaded a blu ray rip to watch and see what it has got. first of all its a pure cam movie that means just 1 person camera view is what you'll be watching throughout.. it starts with a couple who just shfted to a new house. the girl is threatened or  sometymes possesed by a demon, so they decide to put a camera to record the paranormal activities going on and also put devices to record the sound frequencies.. the result is + ve which means someone is after her.. what happens next is nothing new, all the nights you can see them sleeping , and sometimes activities lyk the door slams open or closed , lights flickering on and off and so on.. so this is what the movie is all about.

am going against the critics. this movie fails to give a chill down your spine. nothing is scary at all. yeah sometimes in the movie , tension is created but when nothing as such happens its just a waste. i guess being released after two years, this movie got hype too much.

the movie has been shot with 3 different endings-

-theatrical cut

-alternate cut

- second alternate end

the alternate cut has a poorly shot ending which leaves you blank. the theatrical cut has a better climax and it can give you a sudden chill. the second alternate end is extended version of the theatrical cut.

overall i dint liked the movie much. we have a few more horrible and scary cam shot movies than this like 'REC'. so my rating is

theatrical cut - 5 on 10

alternate cut - 4.5 on 10

second alternate end - 5 on 10

My Name is Khan

 

ok finally i get to see it. the much hyped comeback of the super hit jodi - king khan nd kajol. i had much much expectations from this movie as srk had no release last year plus it was k Jo's movie plus it had the superhit jodi .  the movie started well , the opening act of srk was enough for the audience to realize that they are up for a brilliant act which i consider true coz he has done exceptionally good acting throughout. the movie had its ups and down throughout. its a story about a brilliant person rizwan khan suffering from autism. its about his journey to meet the president and tell him that he's not a terrorist [the reason though is disclosed in the last half an hour]. the film revolves in the flashback of his memories where comes kajol. it covers up their love story how they met and got married and all. 

now coming on to direction, the direction of the movie is not awesome or you may say that the story wasnt enough or complete or new. we have seen films based on 9/11 earlier also like new york. so it was an average script. but the way the acts are done is exceptional. all the stars have tried their best and given great performances. the best although is clearly srk with an awesome act. the music score of the movie is simply great which binds with the movie well and maintain the feel. few dialogues of the movie are well enough to force your hands to clap.

summing up, overall i found the movie a great experience. a movie which you can enjoy with your family. could have been better though but still a must watch for all..

my rating - 8.5 on 10