My Soul To Take

Now I lay me down to sleep,
I pray to Lord my soul to keep.
And if I die before I wake,
I pray the Lord my soul to take.

My bedtime prayer has always creeped me out a bit. Wes Craven, the legendary horror directer made My Soul to Take, a distinctive slasher film much more different than his Scream and Nightmare series. My Soul to Take is a more obscure movie on a series of fictional murders in which the victims were killed brutally.

Like in most of Craven's movies, the plot focuses on a group of high school kids who live in the same town, previously targeted by a the Ripper many years ago. History begins to repeat itself when teenagers start dying in the same tragic ways. Is it just a coincidence, or is the Riverton Ripper back for revenge after 17 years to fulfill his curse that he would kill all the seven kids born on the same day he died. As the movie proceeds, it doesn't get easier guessing who the killer might be.



I agree with the fact that Wes Craven has directed movie much better than this one. The movie though does offer horror fans some novelties. For example, the scenes where Bug voices out his friends dialogues in that creepy way and that scene where Bug copies Alex's actions for about a minute. The fact that the protagonist was actually the son of a psychotic murderer is also something distinctive about this movie. I mean they don't show anything like that in other movie. To sum it up, I would give a 6/10 to My Soul To Take.

See you next time.

Shaun of the Dead

I recently posted my comeback on Instagram and stated that I would be writing a review on Shaun of the Dead. Most of us know this movie as the foremost film in the zombie-comedy sub genre. Being a parody of zombie films, it ironically follows all the so-called rules of the classic zombie flicks. I don't know if the makers of the film named Shaun to rhyme with Dawn or if it was coincidental.

Shaun is a salesman who is living a shitty life according to his point of view. He has strained relations with his parents and his long term girlfriend, Liz. His only effortless relation is his best friend Ed who is basically a waste of a person. Battling such problems must not have been enough for him because god surely assigned him the much more time-consuming and unappealing task of battling an army of zombies. Slowly, more and more people get infected and the town get unpopulated from humans to zombies. Shaun, Ed and Liz run around from here to there trying to escape zombies and killing the ones that come in their way. Their friends and family turn into zombies making it much harder to kill them and watch them die at their hands.

Shaun of the Dead is an interesting one time watch. So if you like zombie movies or if you're a Walking Dead fan and by chance haven't watched this one, you should be streaming it next on Netflix. Some movies like Zombieland tried to reproduce this acclaimed parody with lame results. Though Shaun of the Dead has been deemed one of the best zombie movies ever, I would prefer Dawn of the Dead over it just because it was more scarier than the former and had a more serious and pessimistic take on the zombie infected world.

Thank you for your presence and any suggestions are recommended!
Monica

The Silence of the Lambs

The 90's was an epic decade that defined some of the best movies made. It was the era of classic masterpieces such as Pulp Fiction, Titanic, The Matrix, Schindler's List, The Shawshank Redemption, Home Alone, Lion King,etc (I can name at least 20 more). Anyways, the best horror movies were also made in the 90s. The best ones were The Silence of the Lambs, The Sixth Sense, Scream and The Blair Witch Project. Silence of the Lambs, released in 1991 giving the 90s a boost in the horror genre. After the film released, legendary filmmakers explored their options and got much more creative with the horror content to be presented on screen. Part of the Hannibal Lector film series, The Silence of the Lambs became the most famous of the series of movies because of the overall plot and the extraordinary actors portraying the lead roles.

The film revolves around a case FBI trainee agent Clarisse Starling has been assigned to by her senior. The case she had been assigned highly depended on Dr. Hannibal Lector, the infamous psychiatrist who was himself a psychotic cannibal who developed a liking for human flesh and organs. Clarisse went on regular visits to Hannibal's cell to extract information from him regarding a new serial killer named Buffalo Bill who was on a killing spree. To get the much needed information, Clarisse had to disclose sensitive parts of her past to Hannibal who was a keen mind-game player.

Sir Anthony Hopkins portrayed the role of psychotic cannibal Dr. Hannibal Lector with excellence, and that creepy look of his throughout the movie is unforgettable. His various dialogues throughout the movie were also magical for horror fans such as myself. Jodie Foster also portrayed Agent Starling flawlessly. Though the movie is not outright scary, the overall environment and Dr. Lector are scary enough to drag the film into the scariest movies ever made. The end part where Starling reaches the wrong home gave me the creeps. If you haven't watched this movie, you should, especially if crime-thrillers entice you.

Thank you!

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Hi readers,

After the first three parts of the Harry Potter movies, I felts as if the story was continuing a bit without the original panache. The Goblet of Fire is mainly based on the Triwizard Championships which are the deadliest championships of them all. The winner of the Championships would be blessed with eternal glory. Sounded pretty fascinating until it is mentioned that many wizards had died during the tournament. The movie can be extremely funny at times. Many trivial parts have been added though, such as the Yule Ball, which I literally skip in case the movie is on.

So its another year at Hogwarts which is Harry and his gang's 4th year there. There is excitement buzzing about the Triwizard Championships and the dance on Christmas Eve. The wizards above 17 are only allowed to take part in the competition, and those who want to would have to submit their name in the Goblet of fire. The problem is that Harry and his friends can not submit their names because they are only 14. On the day of the results, everyone is shocked because Harry's name is announced as one of the four champions even though he didn't submit it. Everyone including his friends, deride, defame and mock Harry calling him a cheater and also a poop head. This is probably the only time in the whole Harry Potter series where the poor boy is defamed to such an extent. The next part of the movie concentrates on the main characters desperately trying to find a date for the Yule Ball with the Championships focused on in the latter part of the movie.

The best part of the movie is indisputably the part where Draco is turned into a ferret. Though a like Draco a lot, I don't know why the part felt utterly hilarious rather than a bit insulting to me. The part where Harry and Ron go desperately searching for a girl-date is also really funny. The most memorable scene is when Snape destroys the boy's date searching thoughts by grabbing hold of their heads! Anyways, that is enough for today folks!

Hercules (2014)

We have all heard about the story of Hercules, the demi-god son of Zeus. The enticing story of the powerful and almighty Hercules got a more rocking turn in 2014 when it was released where Dwayne Johnson played Hercules. What better actor to play Hercules than The Rock himself?

Hercules, presently a mercenary fighting for gold travels to Greece along with his five faithful warriers to aid the King of Thrace, Lord Cotys. He is trying hard to live in peace after the treacherous death of his wife and children whom he believes he had murdered in an inebriated state. Trying to forget his self-guilt, he fights and earns gold with his friends. While in Thrace, he feels a strange attraction towards Cotys's gorgeous daughter. In order to save Cotys and fulfill his mercenary duties, Hercules defeats many armies, not having a clue regarding where his true enemy lies. Not willing to expose any of the good parts of the movie, lets just say that I am keeping the true enemy disclosed for those who may not have watched the movie.

Though the movie was a box office hit, many did not really like it because in some sense, the movie does not really depict the legend of Hercules. I found the story very similar to The Gladiator, the Oscar winning epic. The most notable part of the movie had to be the deadly tasks accomplished by Hercules such as the fight with the monstrous lion and how Hercules broke his jaw with his bare hands. 

The Croods (2013)

Hello!

Today I feel like talking about another awesome animated movie. The Croods is a great movie based on prehistoric civilization. The main characters are a caveman family who is really close. The head figure of the family is Grug, an over protective caveman who is determined to keep his family safe by living and hiding in caves. Eep, his daughter is a fun loving, free-minded and adventurous cave-teen. She wants to live her life to the fullest without being afraid of anyone or anything. Eep meets Guy, an innovative human, who she starts liking. The movie basically portrays the survival of an unusual family in dire situations and the love they have for their family.

The appearances of the characters are in line with caveman style. Eep has broad shoulders and a bit of a manly structure which was probably prominent in the cavemen days. And the way the family eats! Boy, that is a scene Guy will probably never forget! The bird chase and the wildcat chase scenes are really funny. The inventions in the movie were also cool. Like when Grug invents lots of weird and failure stuff to prove himself like the pre-historic camera and the shade hats. The best invention was probably the Hug, which he made to rhyme with Grug. My favorite character was the majestic wild cat who ends up being Grugs pet.

Overall The Croods is a great animated movie to kick-off a rather boring or depressing day.

Stay tuned for more reviews!

Despicable Me 2

Welcome back!

Some of you may have read my review on Despicable Me a long time ago. Someone asked why I left out the second part. I said that I didn't leave it out, I just planned to write it later. So here I am, weeks after, about to write the review of Despicable Me 2. Its prequel was amazing and after 3 years when this movie released, we all rushed to the theaters to catch this movie and I can sure tell you people, no one was disappointed. I consider the second part equally fun as the first. Yeah the first one was a tad bit funnier and enjoyable, but the directors efforts to preserve the enjoyable ambience of the movie was pretty successful. Though in the second part, the focus on Minions(and their transformations) was more. The girls are equally adorable and Gru, with his same exotic accent, happens to find love.

So the movie starts out with cutie pie Agnes's birthday. Gru makes an entry as the fat and hairy fairy princess. Gru is a happy father to the girls and he is running a new business of making disgusting jelly. Gru is quite complacent and feels he needs to spice up his life with some action. He meets Lucy, an agent of the Anti Villain League. He joins the AVL with Lucy as his partner. He is assigned the task of filtering out the villain from many suspects who supposedly stole a dangerous serum that transfers living beings into indestructible monsters. While on his mission, Gru comes across a Mexican restaurant owner who largely resembles the deadliest villain 20 years ago, El Macho, who was thought to be dead. Gru's Minions are getting kidnapped and taken to an exotic place and experimented upon, only to be transformed into purple monster freaks. Meanwhile, Gru starts to like his partner Lucy, though she is transferred to another location. Gru battles El Macho to save his Minions, his love and the world using jelly guns and the lipstick taser. Well I guess he proved it another time that he isn't a villain.

My favorite parts are when the Minions become evil. I mean, anyone would find that part cool. And by the way, the Despicable Me 3 trailer isn't as exciting as I expected it to be.

See you people later!

Forrest Gump 1994

Welcome back readers.

There are so many classics and in today's world we sometimes forget to give them recognition for the large parts they played in the cinematic world. One of the best classics in Hollywood is Forrest Gump. The story of a stupid but good-hearted young man just seemed to win the viewers hearts. It was also the winner of the prestigious Academy Award for the Best Picture. It was an amazing combination of the major historical events and the life of a young man who has great survival skills in every possible situation.

The movie starts out with a young Forrest who had braces on his legs due to some condition. His braces do come off due to some miracle, and I may as well exclaim that there were yet many miracles to come in the young Forrest Gump's life. In the small town in Georgia, the two most important people in his life were his mother and his childhood sweetheart Jenny. After Forrest grows up, he lands himself a position in the army and is in the team that goes to Vietnam during the war season. His friend Bubba dies there and his Lieutenant, Lt. Dan becomes crippled. Due to his bravery there, Gump becomes partially famous. His fame rises when he becomes a ping-pong champion and goes to China for the final match. He remains in an on-off friendship with Jenny whom he really loves. Jenny fails to understand him and goes on living her undisciplined life. Gump remains in contact with a crippled Lt. Dan. Forrest keeps his best friends promise and also opens a shrimp business as it was his friend's dying wish. It is no coincidence when Forrest Gump is seen to be part of many historical events and inventions such as the invention of the smiley face and famous "Shit happens" phrase.

The most notable scene of the movie is the one where Forrest is sitting on a bench and tells his life's story to strangers. If any of you haven't watched this movie, I recommend it greatly because in our lifetime, we must at least watch the classics.

Goodbye.

Split (2017)

Split (2016)

Hello readers,

In case you might have been wondering how Split is, I have got a review for you folks of it. I was all excited when Split was released in USA about a month ago. I didn't know when it would release in India, and I wasn't even sure it would be releasing here at all. I have watched all of Shyamalan's movies. All of them except After Earth and The Last Airbender were amazing movies based on human psychology in one way or the other. I love the way the guy thinks. We should all draw inspiration from him in the sense that he has the ability to transfer his other-worldly thoughts and stories into amazing movies with intricately bound plots and his usual shocky endings. Split is on par with his Sixth Sense. Though no movie of his will actually reproduce the excitement we witnessed in that movie, Split is almost an equivalent.

Split is based on a man, Kevin, who suffers from Disassociative Identity Disorder. Thus being, he has 23 psychological entities whom he manifests at different periods of time. At one time, he becomes a woman called Ms. Patricia while at some other time, he is a dumb 9 year old named Hedwig, etecetra, etecetra. One of his sinister personalities Dennis,  is compelled to kidnap three girls and he succeeds in doing so. He keeps the girls in some sort of a basement. Kevin's main personality is Barry, who visits his psychiatrist Ms.Fledger. She is a wonderful psychiatrist and she actually cares about all of her patients. She thinks of people with DID as supernatural entities. Anyways, she suspects Kevin of kidnapping the girls. reveals to a reluctant Fledger that there is a 24th personality of him called the Beast, whose skin is as thick as hide and who is really tall and has muscles. The other 23 personalities of Kevin are also dead scared of the Beast. Will the Beast rise, or will Kevin be able to keep it concealed within him?

The movie is very enticing and will surely keep you in your seat. There are really funny parts within the movie especially every time Hedwig arrives. James McAvoy has portrayed the role of Kevin fantastically. The special appearance of Bruce Willis at the end is really cool cause we never thought we would ever see him in a Shyamalan film in the future. Anyways, this is an awesome movie so you guys shouldn't miss it in the theaters because it is running in limited shows only.

Thank you.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Greetings.

The first three Harry Potter movies were great but things really started getting worse from the fourth installment. From the fourth part, Voldemort started appearing, the trio's friendship started getting complicated with possible love triangles and more focus was placed on those boring Quidditch matches. Anyways, that is not a matter of concern as I am about to review the third movie of the franchise. The most fascinating part of the Prisoner of Azkaban is obviously the time turning part of the movie, when Harry and Hermione go back in time to save Sirius Black. I also found the Death Eaters enticing.

The movie starts out with Harry getting in trouble once again at his Uncle Vernon's home. Furious, he decides to leave home early before school starts (after performing a bit of domestic magical violence). From people at Hogwarts, he learns that he is being hunted by an escaped Azkaban Prisoner, Sirius Black, who betrayed his father and was assisting Lord Voldemort. Death Eaters were stationed outside of Hogwarts who were on parole to hunt the escaped Sirius Black. After repeatedly sinister encounters with the Death Eaters, Harry looks up to Professor Lupin to learn how to defend himself from the deadly creatures. Harry, Hermione and Ron go on a quest to find out the truth behind the mysterious Sirius Black and his involvement in the death of his parents. While searching for the truth, the trio encounter an unexpected visit from werewolves, the Grim and Peter Pettigrew. When things don't work out as expected, they also get a second chance to save two innocent lives.

Though not as interesting as the first and second parts, this movie was obviously better than the latter parts of the series, intentionally made complicated when it should have remained identical to three friends coping with the strange life of Potter. Sirius taught us that the ones who truly love us never actually leave our side and Harry taught us that within ourselves, there lays a power greater than any force in the whole world.

Dumb And Dumber (1994)

Today, I present my review on one of the funniest movies ever made. Dumb and Dumber is a classic comedy movie about two good-hearted, but incredibly stupid best friends who drive across the country to return a beautiful woman's lost suitcase. The movie is a classic masterpiece which couldn't have been reproduced. No wonder the sequel which released 20 years later was such a bummer.

Lloyd and Harry are two best friends who are trying to make ends meet and survive in spite of their incredible stupidity. Lloyd, a limo driver encounters a tense and beautiful passenger and instantly falls in love with her. She happens to forget her suitcase at the airport. Lloyd tries to return it to her, but before that, she had boarded the flight. Harry is a dog groomer and care-taker. Both of them happen to get fired that day and return to their one room apartment dismayed. Lloyd wishes that he could have a new life where he mattered and he wasn't a nobody. He decides to go all the way to Aspen to return the lady's briefcase. That being, the two dumb friends go cross country to Aspen, experiencing many adventures during their journey. They encounter criminals and drunk red-neck truck drivers, they cause somebody to die, and they take a wrong turn making them end up in Nebraska instead of Colorado. In the end, they do succeed in returning the suitcase to Mary, regardless of its contents, but the biggest thing they realize is that their friendship is unbreakable no matter how dumb they are.

The most noteworthy scenes of the movie are when the two dumb-asses hand over those so called bottles of beer to the police officer and when they accidentally poison the crook with rat poison after adulterating his burger with hot peppers. I couldn't actually figure out who the dumber one was out of the two, but I think it was Lloyd. Nevertheless, Dumb and Dumber is a great and entertaining watch no matter how many times you have watched it before.

Thank you!

Scream 2 (1997)

Greetings readers.

I hadn't watched a single movie for about 10 days. A pretty long streak for me. I decided to break the streak with a sequel of one of my favorite movies, Scream 2. Scream was a masterpiece, so I did expect substance from Scream 2, though horror movie sequels do not usually exceed the original. I can tell you people, Scream 2 was awesome. Though not as great and exciting as the original Scream, this movie was a good attempt in continuing the Scream franchise.

The movie starts out with a theater scene. Two teens are heading to the local theater to watch the Stab movie, a movie based on the Woodsboro murder book by Gale Weathers. The two teens are suspectedly killed during the screaning of the movie in disturbing ways. After that and the murder of another college student, the town goes into a frenzy with Sidney, Randy and Dewey scared about the fact that history is repeating itself. Dewey and Gale investigate the murders hoping to find the killer while a disturbed Sidney goes into deja-vu mode remembering the past and trying to connect it with the present. As Randy says, all sequels of horror movies have a higher body count and more disturbing murders. Such is the case in this movie too, because it seems that Ghostface is not only killing for revenge or for terror, but is killing for fun (not that he didn't kill for fun in the original).

The plot of the movie is similar to the first part. I could figure out who Ghostface was before his revelation, but the true mastermind of the crimes was a shocker. I would rather not ruin the movie for those who have not watched it already. Anyways, Scream 2, though not as exciting as the original , is a successful attempt in continuing the franchise. Currently saving the next Scream 3 to watch later.

Farewell folks.

The Spy Next Door (2010)

Jackie Chan movies can be a treat sometimes, especially the Hollywood movies. Shanghai Knights, Rush Hour and 80 Days Around the World were great comedies were Jackie Chan was the co-actor to another American actor. The Spy Next Door is another Jackie Chan comedy which is a tad different from those previously mentioned. In this movie, Jackie does not have a co-actor and he has to mess around with three kids. The movie is about a CIA spy juggling the task of taking care of his girlfriend's kids and facing the risks of his undercover spy work.

Bob(Chan) is an undercover Chinese spy who works for the CIA. He plans on marrying his girlfriend Jillian, who is a mother to three children. The children despise Bob terribly and he is determined to change that. He bravely volunteers to take care of Jillian's kids while she is away on an emergency. Knowing that things with the kids wont be easy, Bob tries to be friends with the kids. But the kids aren't willing to accept their weird next door neighbor, Bob, as their mom's boyfriend. Though things are difficult at first, Bob eventually gets the hang of taking care of the kids by utilizing his spying apparatus. While everything is going good, the boy downloads Stockholm GBS mistaking it for a concert recording. The Russian mafia trace the downloaded location to be Bob Ho's house and target Bob and the children. Jillian finds out and takes her kids away from him, though the kids like him want to spend more time with him. While Bob is performing his undercover work, the boy follows him and wishes to join his work. After the final encounter with the retarded mafia is over, the kids persuade Jillian to start a new life with Bob. They get married. The End. The plot may sound a bit boring, but the movie surely isn't.

The best parts are probably when the kid feeds their pet pig bacon and when the Russian mafia shoots the phone and the ridiculous outfits. The accent of the Russian woman is also funny. The stunts though not as good as other Jackie Chan movies are acceptable. Overall, I would rate this movie a 7/10.

Sherlock Holmes 2009

Hello everyone,

I was sort of on a writing break, so I didn't post any reviews for about a week. Today I feel like discussing the Sherlock Holmes movie which released in 2009. People are really into the Sherlock TV series going on right now. I really do not wish to comment on the series because surprisingly enough, I haven't watched a single episode of it yet. Anyways, that isn't relevant to the movie I wish to discuss. I loved the original Sherlock Holmes movies in black and white and I feel that no adaptations of Sherlock Holmes will ever be that enticing. One of my favorites of the series is The Hound of Baskerville. Though it has probably been over 10 years since I watched it, I remember the crrepy environment of the black and white movie. The original Sherlock Homes was also awesome. The 2009 adaptation of Sherlock Holmes played by Robert Downey Jr. was also pretty good. It was pretty weird to see him playing Sherlock after watching him in the billionaire-playboy-sarcastic avatar in Iron man, but he gave the role hard-core justice. Being an American, I thought that he played the role of Sherlock pretty well with an acceptable English accent. The humour within the movie was fantastic and Downey Jr. really fit in the role of shabby-messy-sarcastic-egoist Holmes. The bond between Dr. Watson and Sherlock Holmes is also entertaining to watch.

Mysterious deaths start occurring in England, and Sherlock employs himself to the task of finding out the cause of the murders. Accompanied by his doctor friend, he sets out to investigate the truth behind the mysterious deaths. Though appearing to be the result of black magic, Holmes finds out that the happenings are not as they appear and that there is someone planning something very sinister. Lord Blackwood who was presumably incarcerated by Holmes and Watson appeared to have come back from the dead. Sherlock and Watson amidst their constant cycle of fighting with each other and saving each other's asses manage to solve the mystery in the end using Holmes sharp perception and Watson's resourcefulness.

The movie was filmed quite well and the scenery looked accurately like England in the late 1800s. With little bits of humor inserted within the movie, it was quite entertaining. Though not as mysterious as the original movies, this re-adaptation was nicely put together.

The Forbidden Kingdom (2008)

I have always had a certain penchant for watching Kung-fu, be it live, tv shows or movies. In fact if I could change anything in my life, I would have decreased the time I spent in playing sports and reading and would have gave that time away to train in Kung-fu. The art of Kung-fu astonishes me. I love the movements, attitudes fights associates with Kung-fu. I have started to divert from the main topic right now. I have logged in mainly to discuss The Forbidden Kingdom, a Action/Fantasy/Kung-Fu movie. The movie stars Jackie Chan and Jet Li as a Kung-fu master and a monk respectively. A teenager, mostly living in daydream land is dragged into the esoteric world of China on a quest to save the imprisoned Monkey King.

The movie starts out with the introduction of a teenager who is lost in his dreams of Bruce Lee and Kung-fu dreaming that he will one day be a Kung-Fu expert. In reality, the teen is just a wimp, being beat up by bullies and wishing that life may be different for him. He seas an old man injured(who is actually the Jade Emperor) and sick in the Chinatown area and then goes into the nearby coffee-shop. Things take change abruptly from there. He finds himself teleported to a strange land accompanied with the beautiful Sparrow, the same girl he met at the coffee-shop whom he recognized. They then meet Jackie Chan, a homeless scholar, a master in Kung-Fu who teaches him the art of Kung-Fu. Accompanying them is the strange and stubborn monk (Jet Li). The quadruple encounter the villains, the white-haired assassin(I thought she was really cool) and The Jade Warlord. The quadruple then fight the antagonists to free the enslaved Monkey King.

The movie was quite entertaining and a good first time watch. The best part of the movie is probably the fight at the end of the movie. Chan's role however, as not as entertaining as his roles in more prominent movies. I would give this movie a rating of 6.5/10. 

Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)

The only type of movies I usually like are horror films, thrillers, mysteries, fantasy films, animated films and comedies. I never really liked super hero movies or those action packed movies movies my brother used to watch all the time, though Transformers 1 was an exception. When Mad Max released I was skeptical that I would find the movie enticing so I didn't go to the theater to watch that movie with my family. That was probably the worst movie judgement ever. Not only did I miss watching the amazing movie in the theaters, I misjudged my all time favorite movie, which I regret with great sorrow. A movie needs to pass a lot of my mental tests to become one of my favorites and most of my favorite movies usually belong to the genre of those listed above. When you loved a movie so much, you can't exactly name the things you liked the most about it. After I watched Mad Max, my first reaction was "What a film, what a lovely film". I don't know what triggered my obsession for the movie. Whether it was the post-apocalyptic representation of the world, Imperator Furiosa, the cool ass dialogues, the flame breathing guitars, the war rigs and monster trucks, or whether it was a combination of all these deadly factors.

The plot of the movie is very different and is basically based on the post-apocalyptic world where there are only wastelands and deserts. Immortan Joe, the tyrant of the citadel area has been storing supplies of water and only a limited amount is available to the public. He keeps his wives in a secluded place away from the public. His wives are prized breeders and one of his most important assets. His wives get tired of him and they do not want their children to become war boys so they decide to run away. Imperator Furiosa a strong woman hides the wives and promises to take them to the "green land", the place where she was born and where trees and plants existed. Mad Max is a mysterious man who tried to flee from the war boys with a great effort but instead ended up becoming their blood bag. Max's past troubles hims and destiny leads him to the path of redemption along with Furiosa and they go on a quest to discover the green land away from Immortan Joe and his war boys.

The shooting locations of the movie are amazing and the monster trucks, bikes and war rigs shown were fantastic. All of the characters had been flawlessly portrayed. Imperator Furiosa was the best character of the movie and she just happens to be my new role model. And as for the war boys besides Nux, I don't think any of them are going to be riding the highways of Valhalla for eternity.

Signing off till I encounter another cool movie.
Monica

Ice Age 3 (2009)

Hey readers,

So its winter and some people may be feeling cold in this part of the year so I thought about taking up a cold environment related movie. Ice Age 3 is the third installment of the Ice Age movie series. The series is based on animal characters in the ice age era thousands of years ago. The movies are great and I loved all of the first three parts. The first Ice Age reminded me a lot of Shrek in the sense of the main character with his irritating sidekick.  Anyways, the name of this installment is Dawn of the Dinosaurs, and you many guess, there are dinosaurs in the movie. The thing I loved about this movie was the inclusion of dinosaurs as different roles in the movie. On one hand, Sid the sloth steals dinosaur eggs and becomes the proud father of baby dinosaurs and on the other han
d, the whole lower land is terrorized by the frightening dinosaur monster Rudy, who is pursued by a jack-ass weasel Buck.

The movie starts off with the ice age gang: Manny the mammoth, Ellie his wife, Sid the sloth and Diego the saber tooth. Manny and Ellie are on the verge of being parents and are anxiously waiting for their baby. While Manny was becoming more and more overprotective of his family, Sid, with the desire of becoming a father stole three dinosaur eggs and somehow got separated from the gang. Manny and Ellie then head out on a journey to find Sid in the lower part of the lands where dinosaurs existed. There the gang meets Buck, an adventurous one-eyed weasel who is continuously in pursuit of the fearsome Rudy. Buck decides to help the gang in their journey to find Sid. Buck and Ellie's possum brothers have a great time whereas Manny and Ellie are a bit nervous about their upcoming child. On the other hand, Sid is busy raising his dinosaur children with an unexpected encounter from the dinosaur's actual mother.

The movie shows Scrat the squirrel at regular intervals chasing the acorn like a mirage. In pursuit of the Elysium-like acorn, Scrat seems to fall in love with a girl-squirrel. But does falling in love with a she-squirrel help him forget his eternal love for the acorn or not?

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002)

I have always been a Harry Potter fan since I was little. I remember my parents rushing to the bookstores to buy me the latest Harry Potter books. Though I must admit, a really enjoyed only the first two books of Harry Potter. The rest of the books were read on my part only as a compulsion to finish the story of the series, or to compete with my other nerd friends. Even when it came to the movies, I loved the first two parts the most. Somehow, I just loved Harry Potter and his friends when they were kids, without any complications of feelings of love in between them. The used to be the best est of friends in the first three parts and though it could never have stayed that way, it was a complacent yet smug feeling that they would never stop being best friends no matter what. The Chamber of Secrets has to be my favorite movie among all. Some may think, why this movie? Well it offers a mysterious plot and glimpses into the past of an evil wizard's days in Hogwarts. The reason I found the movie enticing was the ambiance of the film. The Chamber and Tom Riddle's diary seemed utterly eerie. The Basilisk was probably the most frightening creature of all the movies.

The movie starts out with Harry at his Uncle Vernon's house. There, Harry receives a visit from Dobby, a house elf, warning him not to go back to Hogwarts. Harry, pretending that he doesn't exist, gets saved by Ron, Fred and George. They are ready for their second year at Hogwarts. Ron and Harry miss the train and go to Hogwarts in Ron's flying car. There at Hogwarts, strange incidents start to happen. Words in blood are written on the wall: "The Chamber of Secrets has been Opened. Enemies of the Heir Beware." Students turn up petrified in odd places and positions. In such a situation, Harry, Hermione and Ron search for answers regarding the Chamber of Secrets and the heir of Hogwarts. While searching for much needed answers, Harry comes across a strange diary which happens to e Tom Riddle's diary. He finds out many horrifying truths from the diary and it leads him to the deadly creature within the chamber.

The most noteworthy parts of the movie:

1. The escape of Harry Potter from Uncle Vermin...sorry Vernon's house.
2. Ron and Harry in the flying car.
3. The scene where Draco pisses of the Mandrake and he bites his finger and then Draco has that vengeful look on his face.
4. The scene where the warning is written in blood on the wall and Mrs. Norris is found petrified on the wall.
5. When Harry talks with Tom Riddle through the diary.
6. When Hermione is shown petrified.
7. When the Chamber of Secrets is opened in the girl's bathroom.
8. The fight between The Basilisk and Harry.
9. The scene where the true identity and intentions of Tom Riddle is revealed.

Bean (1997)

Bean was the first Mr. Bean movie based on the famous Mr. Bean television episodes. We all recognize Bean as a mumbling idiotic freak who has a penchant for getting in trouble and making us laugh. I loved watching Mr. Bean as a kid and I could always relate to him because I also used to get tangled in problems like him. Anyways, Bean is a wonderful movie that depicts the personality of Mr. Bean, or Dr. Bean as in the movie. The movie also shows the friendship between two unlikely pals.(And I am not talking about the friendship between Bean and his teddy bear!) The episodes of Mr. Bean used to be only 25 minutes long and we did not get as much acquainted to Beans nature in the short episodes as we did in the movie.

The plot of the movie though simple has been given a complex experience by Bean. Rowan Atkinson has done an amazing job and he should have been presented with an amazing award for portraying the character of Mr. Bean so flawlessly and for winning the hearts of millions of children worldwide. Anyways, the plot of Bean revolves around Mr. Beans journey to LA to represent an English gallery and to provide his views on the unveiling of the famous painting Whistler's Mother. There Mr. Bean stays at John's house. John has faith in supposed Dr. Bean and believes that he will give the best perception of Whistler's Mother. Once he finds out who Bean really is, he is shocked and scared. Bean, with his indefatigable habit of getting in trouble just happens to ruin the multi-million dollar painting. It is fun seeing how he manages to deal with the mishap and continues living his life Bean-style.

The funniest parts of the movie have to be when Bean poses for his passport photo in the most retarded way anyone can pose and when he is held in the probation room and dances in front of a one way mirror glass. The scene where he ruins the priceless painting can be thought of as one of the scariest scenes in the history of The Bean. Anyways, this movie is pretty awesome watching material for all ages and I would rate it a 8.5/10.

Holes (2003)

Welcome to another review.

Today I will be giving a review of the movie adaptation of one of my favorite books from when I was a kid, Holes. Holes by Louis Sachar is a wonderful story about an unlucky boy named Stanley Yelnats. Stanley is wrongly convicted of theft and sent to Camp Green Lake. The Camp is a place in the deserted area of the country and all the 'bad boys' are sent there for correction. Everyday, each boy has to dig a 5 feet deep and 5 feet wide hole in the desert. The living conditions are also terrible. Stanley has a great deal of trouble in the beginning, adjusting to the harsh conditions and mean boys there. Stanley befriends an unusual kid Zero, not knowing that there is a deep connection between him and Zero regarding the past. Holes is a great mix of the present and past of Stanley's life, his ancestor's lives and the story behind the terrible Camp Green Lake.

The movie stars Shia LaBeouf as Stanley. Though he has acted well, there is some distance between the Stanley we expected from the book and the Stanley shown on reel screen. I guess it is very hard to adjust movie characters exactly as they were described in the book version. Anyways, the shooting location of the movie is on par with what we had visualized from the book. Though, the size of the holes does not look as intimidating as we had pictured in our minds there, the look of the Yellow Spotted Lizards sure covers for that there. The rest of the cast had been chosen adequately according to the characters. Almost all of the dialogues of the movie have been synchronized according to the book. I watched the movie even though I had read the book thrice, so the movie was repetitive and highly predictable to me.

Though the movie is a good watch, the Holes book by Louis Sachar is a better read and anyone not familiar to the story of Holes should read the book first, as watching the movie first will obviously spoil the reading experience of the award winning book.

Van Helsing (2004)

Van Helsing is a fantasy/thriller movie based on the mythical characters of the past. Whether the mythical characters existed is of course only known to god, as with time, knowledge of the past becomes more obscure. While there are many movies made about vampires such as vampire-romance films (which personally I despise) and also vampire-comedy films. I find most of such films a waste of time and effort. Do not misinterpret me, there have been a few vampire-comedy-romance films which I have enjoyed such as Dark Shadows and Vampires Suck. Van Helsing is a marvelous film which depicts the relation between the mythical characters such as Frankenstein, vampires, werewolves, and many more among themselves, with humans and with the notorious Van Helsing, a man who hunted monsters. I loved the direction, cinematography and shooting locations. I don't know whether they have used sets or actual locations, but the scenery is amazing and adds to the eerie ambiance of the movie. Transylvania is shown scarier than ever.

The film starts out with a scene many years ago, showing Dr. Victor Frankenstein and Dracula. Dracula kills the doctor as he wishes to use his reanimation technique for sinister purposes. Centuries later, Van Helsing, a notorious monster hunter, is assigned the task to save Anna and her family from Dracula and his vampire brides in Transylvania. Anna belongs to a family of pure blood kings who were hunted down by Dracula for generations. Van Helsing who suffers from memory loss is clueless about his past, but hopes that he can get information from Transylvania. There he finds out that he had a past connection with Dracula and Transylvania. He accompanies Anna on a quest to kill Dracula and his brides and stop him from reanimating his vampire progeny.

The film is one of the best vampire mythology films along with Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter. I will give a review on the latter in another post as it is a marvelous film. The best parts of Van Helsing is probably the initial fight between Van Helsing and Mr. Hyde. The experiments at Dracula's place are also fascinating. This movie is not recommended for children below 10 years or the faint-hearted viewers, because I assure you, some scenes can be visually upsetting such as Dracula's brides. They are so weird and scary to some extent. When I watched the movie about 10 years ago, I remembers nothing or noone but the female vampire monsters and their disturbing avatar changes. Besides this, the movie is an amazing watch and will provide you a great movie experience.

Regards.

Hangover 2 (2011)

The Hangover series is known as one of the funniest and immoral modern movies. Though there is a unsurprising level of shit within the movie, it provides an unlimited amount of laughs and fun. It's basically based on a made up punchline "What couldn't possibly go wrong in Vegas?" In the case of Hangover 2, the plot summarized in a sentence is exactly the same, the only difference is the location which is Bangkok. The second part of the franchise is made with the same level of notoriety and intelligence regarding the presence of comedy. Though, the plot suffers from complete dependency on the first part. I mean the story is almost the same disregarding the location changes and a few character changes.

So Stu whom we know from the first part as the dentist who did stupid things in the past is finally getting married to a Thai girl with an overly sophisticated family and an obsessive father. Two days before the wedding, the guys (Stu, Phil, Alan, Doug and Ted) go hang out and have a drink or two. No guesses what happens next. Phil, Alan and Stu wake up in a shithole the next morning and cannot remember a single thing that happened after they sat down to have their beer. They find one of their companions, Stanford student Teddy (who is Stu's fiance's kid brother) missing. They also find Teddy's finger in water. Anyways, the Wolfpack desperately roam Bangkok to find Teddy to save Stu's marriage. But Alan's immature behavior and Chow's psychotic antiques pose too many problems to for Phil and Stu to handle.

The smoking drug dealer monkey, the aggressive monks and the treacherous streets of Bangkok are the highlights of the movie. As for the Wolfpack, they surely were fooled by the outrageous city. As for the Wolfpack trio, they sure gave us a few surprises. Stu happens to awaken the devil inside him (which supposedly only awakes when he's drunk or drugged). Alan continues his spree of drugging his friends (this time he spiked the marshmallows). Phil continues to act as the most responsible member of the trio and the 'Pretty Boy'. Anyways, this movie is made for those people who enjoyed the original Hangover or those who enjoy watching buddy films.