I was in Mumbai on the 14th January when the world premier of the movie "XXX: the Return of Xander Cage" took place. I was lucky to get a pass for me and my girl and we attended the premier. Vin Diesel and his co-star the Bollywood starlet Deepika Padukone along with the producer and other of the cast were also there. It was a great occasion and though Vin was some distance away one could not mistake his muscular and macho look. There was also a tremendous chemistry between the two lead actors and I was not surprised when it was announced that Vin and Deepika would be together again in the next sequel to Xander Cage as well.

The original Xander cage movie was made in 2002. it did not fetch rave views and most critics gave it an average rating, but the film stormed the box office and garnered $270 million. That's a lot of money and one wonders why it took Vin 15 years to act in a sequel. Well after 15 years Vin is back doing the same things he did 15 years ago, but he is 15 years older and he has a new girl in the dusky Deepika Padukone. But one will have to doff one's hat to Vin Diesel as he looks every inch what he was 15 years back; macho and muscular. This bald actor has a niche of his own.

The film runs for 110 minutes and is shot in 3D and 4D. This heightens the effects. The story line is weak, but the death-defying stunts are what the public wants to see and they are superb. Vin thrashes the bad guys and gets his girl the lovely Deepika. In between, there are some steamy scenes and the chemistry between the duo exudes from the screen to the viewers. Vin Diesel and Deepika decided on the world premier in Mumbai and now a week later the film is released all over the world.

Vin Diesel had said that Deepika will be the new Hollywood star on the horizon in 2017. One will have to wait and see whether this prophecy comes true. Deepika flaunts a tanned body and is a good foil to the muscular Vin Diesel. But her English accent is a giveaway and one can see that she is Indian. The other girl also in Hollywood Priyanka has better diction. Maybe because she schooled in the United States.

The film has a furious pace and at the end, one does get the feeling that 110 minutes is less. Vin carries the film and it has an international cast. But minus the action sequences the film does not have much of a storyline. However, it's a feather in the cap of Deepika who after decades of Mumbai films has at last broken into the citadel of Hollywood and one hopes she is a hit and she becomes the new Hollywood star of 2017.

Director:    Clint Eastwood

Cast:          Tom Hank, Aaron Eckhart, Laura Linny 

Rating:       Very entertaining, must watch

Genre:        Drama, non fiction

It is very difficult to make an real life event into interesting and suspenseful movie. Further, it is near impossibility to convert a true story into an entertaining and suspenseful cinema. The reason is that most of the moviegoers know what would  happen in the end. There has been exception in the past,is exception in the present and will be exception in the future too. One such exceptional movie is SULLY. 

Based on the true event what is popularly known as "Miracle on the Hudson". On 18 January 2009, a US Airway flight no. 1549 was hit by birds in the mid air. It had resulted in the failure of the two engines of the plane. The flight had no power to fly. However, due to the quick thinking and lots of good fortune of Captain Sully aka Chesley Sully Sullenberger the flight somehow managed to land safely on the Hudson river. All the passengers including the crew members survived the crash with little or no injury at all. 

The movie begin after the plane crash. The Captain and the co-pilot were hailed as heroes by the press, ordinary people and every one. However, there was an investigation going on about the crash. The investigators find some instigating materials against  the two heroes. Captain Sully would be discharged from duty without any pension if the allegation were prove to be true. However, Captain Sully faced the investigation like a man. Eventually the investigators also acquitted him. There are many memorable moments in the movie which makes it very attention gripping. There are many human side to the movie which makes it very gripping. The nightmare of Captain Sully, Captain Sully being hugs by the unknown Manager of the Hotel, his devotion to the duty which can realize from the fact that he was last man to get out of the sinking plane and the frantic call by the passengers. This is originally a story of Captain Sully. 

Directed brilliantly by the Oscar winning Director Clint Eastwood. He has made many memorable films like Million Dollar Baby, Unforgiven, etc. In fact these two films have won the Oscar Award. 

Though the pace of the movie was slow. Yet due to the brilliant storytelling capability of  the filmmakers, the film was suspenseful.  The movie does n't move in a straight line. The story transmigrate between the time. At one time, investigation and the anxiety it cause to Sully were really well picturised in the movie.  This makes the movie very fascinating. Tom Hank as usual was at his best. I don't know how Tom Hank does this. Everytime he is on screen, he puts on a great show. I really love the acting of Tom Hank. 

All in all, a great movie. This is a film worth watching. 

Cast:-Scott Adkin, Rhona Mitra, Robert Knepper

Producer:- Chris Lowenstein

 Rating:-Never watched this movie

You must have seen bad movies, very bad movies, worse movies and worst movies. But you might have not seen the movie that mock the earlier version of the movie. Well, in these category of movies include "Hard Target 2". Directed by Roel Reine. He has directed movies like Death Race 2, Drifter, 12 Rounds 2:Reloaded, etc. 

I don't know why the producer, director, crew members of HARD TARGET allowed the HARD TARGET 2 to be made. The original version was so surreal. It had the grace, the thrill, the enjoyment and above all, it entertained the audience. But the HARD TARGET 2 not only lack the above qualities, it is an illogical, poorly conceived and poor action movie. This movie is so illogical that I don't know whether I am watching a B Grade Bollywood movie or a Hollywood movie. Even a B Grade Bollywood movie has something to look forward in comparison to HARD TARGET 2. 

The plot of the movie is that the Wes Baylor killed his friend in a martial art competition. He traveled to Thailand to overcome the grief of killing his friend. There he met Aldrich (the main villain) who offered him some cash prize to fight. Wes Baylor agreed and he reached Myanmar jungle where he realized that some rich people have made him the target. He runs for his life. Ultimately Wes emerged victorious after murdering the hunters. 

The plot is filled with numerous weakness. The flaws can be listed as follows :-

1. How can a martial art fighter die in the ring while fighting his opponent? This needs serious explanation.

2. How the hero (Scott Adkins) end up in Thailand as a fighter? If he continues to to fight then he can still continue to fight in his homeland not in Thailand? Why are the Hollywood movies trying to depict Asia in the bad light?

3. Why do the rich people (read villains) wants to kill people? Are they insane or just murderer? I can't find logic in this.

4. Why Myanmar is shown in bad light by the movie?

and so on. 

Well, you need to know that making a movie is a hard and time consuming task. But that can't be excuse to make such a  worst than the worst movie to be released in the market. 

The film was supposed to be an action film. The fight sequences were poorly executed and shown except two revolving kick by Scott. There is  nothing spectacular in the movie. The gun fight scene and fight scene were choreographed hurriedly. It seemed that the action director was in a hurry to complete the sequence. 

I don't have nothing to say more than don't watch this movie even by mistake also. Lest, you will start to hate Scott Adkins for working in this movie.

A few years ago, Tamil Cinema was dishing out the worst movies in India.  There was absolutely no attempt made to show reality in any way, and it was quite common for the hero to be glorified as the man for all times. Each and every hero would bash up more than eighty bad boys at any point in time, and he would go around dancing with heroines who would be fit enough to be his daughters.  Rajnikant was and still is, the worst guilty hero in this respect. He had very successfully followed the MGR formula, and the leading lady of any movie would fall head in heals in love with him, the moment they saw him.  He would never chase any heroine, and would never show any emotion till the girl showed her love for him.

Even in movies like "Sivaji", which had several comic scenes where he would try to woo the leading lady, he was shown as the hero who would do no harm, and in one particular scene, would bash up more than one hundred bad boys, single-handed. The much larger than life personality of his, is there for all to see, and it is a big mystery as to how he has survived for such a long time, when age was easily seen on his face, in spite of all the make up.

This particular image trap of Rajnikant has inspired other heroes like Vijay and Ajith, both of whom, are also shown as larger-than-life heroes. So, Tamil Cinema is caught in a big spiral of masala movies and the all too familiar story lines.

However, some changes are now coming and, in a big way.

Just over fifteen months ago, there was this movie called "Kaaka Muttai", which was a very realistic account of how two small slum kids from a North Chennai slum, long to eat a plate of pizza, just once in their lives. Unfortunately, even when they earn the money to have the pizza, they are beaten by the security man, and an employee of the pizza outlet.  The scene goes viral, and becomes a big issue.

The mother of the two children cries out for help, and when the two children really get to eat the pizza, in the full glare of the media, they do not find it fascinating, and go back to their own ways of picking up small pieces of coal that get dropped from railway wagons and selling them for a small amount.

The stark realities of life, in a North Chennai slum, was brilliantly depicted.  The film went on to win international acclaim, and also won the National Award. 

The film woke up the entire Tamil movie goers to realities of life.  It brought to the center of all discussion, how Tamil films should be made.  There has since been a huge discussion in the print media about the need for Tamil cinema to be focused more on movies like Kaaka Muttai, and move away from the masala movies and the traditional stories.

The likes of Rajnikant, Vijay and Ajith,  suffer from an image trap of gigantic proportions.

There are quite a large number of movies where the stories have been different, and have been based on realism, and have avoided the masala trap, and this includes those of the aforesaid heroes as well.

For example, several years ago, that is, almost thirty years ago, Rajnikant acted in one of his best movies called "Mullum Malaram", which showed the real affection of the hero for his sister.  The sister was played by one Shoba, who was such a superbly talented actress.  She committed suicide for some unknown reason.  The movie brought out the different talent of Rajnikant.

However, since then he has acted in movies that simply took his image to a huge larger-than-life myth of all sorts.  This continues till today.  Ditto for the other two heroes.

However, there are several reasons why Tamil cinema should move out of this trap. 

Firstly, the fact is that movies like Kaaka Muttai, simply stir up the conscience of an entire State population.  It does make people think and makes them have some empathy for others. 

Secondly, when such movies reach the foreign shores, it is just as well that those abroad understand what life in Indian slums really is.  With all sound and fury about the emerging India, it will make such people look at India as a highly tolerant nation, and look at several aspects of life in India.  In fact, spirituality of the kind that is practiced in India, is now appreciated the world over. 

Thirdly, realistic movies also bring out the creativity in a huge number of directors and even producers.  Such movies get produced at a huge fraction of the cost of masala movies.  So, it does make economic sense too.

Fourthly, Tamil movies are now the second largest or the third largest number of movies produced in Indian languages, with Hindi leading the way.  So, producing creative movies will enhance the popularity and reach of Tamil cinema.

Fifthly, the huge number of movies that are different will certainly bring some new thinking among the Tamil population, more so, when it is at cross-roads, what with a huge melting point of political parties systematically robbing them of all wealth, and creating a record number of drunkards in society, who are only interested in the crumbs thrown around by the parties as freebies.  The creative movies will certainly make the Tamils think about the virtues of hard work, sincerity and honesty, as these values come out loud and clear through and in such movies.

So, the message is loud and clear.  We certainly need a push towards the best of creative movies like Kaaka Muttai in Tamil.  The number of such movies should not only increase substantially but increase at a good frequency as well.  Yes, the Government had announced tax breaks for Kaaka Muttai and one is sure will do so, for other similar movies.  This should motive our creative directors and producers even more.