X-Men:First Class-Indeed!!!

No this is not the MARVEL hangover...this was in fact among the Biggest Blockbusters of Last Summer, and honestly I was surprised. This is a franchise that took off slowly but with each movie they have surpassed the people's expectations-especially with this one. This is a Prequel, and the 5th movie of the X Men Franchise, so one might think that this is just another cash card waiting to be en cashed at the Box Office and move on. It does not have the original actors and although they are characters we know, it's really hard to connect with a different actor playing your favorite character, right? Either that, or this creates a whole new dimension for your favorite characters and you start appreciating the franchise even more. That's what happened with me at least.

The Story takes you back to the Origin of the Leaders of the 2 factions-The X Men & The Brotherhood of Mutants that we know now under Magneto and Professor X, both having their own viewpoints about whether or not Mutants belong among Humans.
This gives a picture of their childhood, how they become friends and how they ultimately split due to their varied ideologies. Fassbender again is a revelation for me with him playing the younger magneto. Keeping my partiality aside(as my favorite character is Magneto as well), I must say that he has been a revelation and has taken this movie several notches higher. The angst, the confusion, the determination and the fall of Magneto have been perfectly depicted in the best way possible. He has lived Magneto in a way.

The rest of the ensemble have played their parts well and it was refreshing and surprising to see the relationship that Prof.X and Mystique share prior to the separation.
There is a certain Mutant who makes a cameo as well, and is a 5 second scene but will stay with you long after you have seen the movie-I guess that is indeed the sign of a good cameo.

Besides everything else, one must keep in mind that this is a period film as well a superhero film. Captain America did a bad job out of the combination( which also released last summer) but X Men:First Class shines out as a part of both Genres and also adds in the comedy, drama and thriller elements.

It's the kind of movie which you would not at all get bored of and there is something in each scene that will keep you wanting more. It's the kind of movie which will pleasantly surprise you with how good it really is.

And with sequels planned for X Men Origins: Wolverine and this movie as well, this franchise looks far from over and if they keep improving the way they have been, this might just go on to be the best superhero movie franchise ever!!!

I'm going with 4 out of 5 for X Men:First Class..Lives up to the name...

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Prometheus-A Sci-Fi with a soul!

One of the most anticipated summer blockbusters is finally here. Or is it??...firstly watching the movie in a theatre that was half empty on a Friday is really discouraging especially when you have a movie of this scale and magnitude from a studio you know won't disappoint with the visuals and deliver the 3D promises and ofcourse behind the lens is one of the most visionary Directors of our time-Sir Ridley Scott!..What went wrong with the ticket sales, I'm not sure, but what I can tell you is what went right and wrong with the movie. So read on...

Now Prometheus was actually a Greek Titan who was known to have created man from clay. This fits in so perfect with the title and the premise of the movie-it's absolutely perfect in hindsight once you have seen the movie. Reason, being that this movie is about the hunt for our origin. Where do we come from? Why are we here?...According to one of the movie's characters, the most meaningful questions a man has ever asked. And if in the near future we get a chance to explore this possibilty and discount God, would we do it??

A bunch of people in this movie do though.The year is 2089 and the two archeoligists discover a pattern that is found across civilazations that spanned thousands of years. Now they see this as an invitation to see their 'engineer' and they hop on on the Spacecraft aptly named Prometheus funded by a huge corporation to go and discover man's origin-to go where no man has gone before. Upon reaching there they see that things are not as simple as they would have hoped. A scientific exploration becomes a battle for their survival as a couple of the crew members unexpectedly die on their expedition. What follows is a sort of thrilling prequel to the Alien series but hopes for a sequel to Prometheus itself lingers around as there are still a few unanswered questions that should be answered in the sequel.

Now I haven't seen Alien and that may be a good thing in this case because I have no scale to compare. People who have seen Alien and then have seen this, seem to be a tad disappointed with the movie. My only comparison is with AVP which was HORRIBLE!!!

The movie is definitely good, no doubt about that, but it falils to be EPIC. The 3D is definitely impressive and the build up to the thrills is quite good, but I just wish that the thrills were not so few and far between.

Out of the cast it's Fassbender playing an Android who stands out. Theron is just wasted again really with a significant yet small part but lends the tiny bit of star power that is required for a film of this scale.

Overall it is definitely a must watch for people who seek a massive 3D Blockbuster this summer, but not necessarily for an action freak because like I said earlier, the thrills are few in number.

I'm going with 3.5 out of 5 for Ridley Scott's Prometheus!

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Snow White & The Huntsman!-A Twisted Fairytale

The Summer Blockbusters are here and we are kick starting with one of the most eagerly anticipated movies of the season starring Twilight’s Kristen Stewart as Snow White and Chris ‘Thor’ Hemsworth as the Huntsman in this unique twisted fairytale that is meant to be a ‘Dark’ take on the story. Now if you’ll remember ‘Red Riding Hood’-with it’s ‘New Moon-ish’ feel, failed badly to make a mark. Snow White & The Huntsman is no classic either, but first time director Rupert Sanders ensures that he is remembered for his visuals and drama(which is expected from the producers, Roth Films as well as this is their second movie after Alice in Wonderland).

Now the basic premise of the story is known to all of how the evil queen wanted to be ‘fairest of them all’ with only her step-daughter, Snow White in the way & the way she tried to trick her and kill her so that she can remain young forever. All this is certainly there, with it’s own twisted outtakes and brilliant cinematography and special effects. Credit should also go for the background score and sound mixing for giving it a contemporary yet classical sound that we associate Big-Ticket movies to be. It’s one of those movies which ensure that you feel the scale of it, even if it does not overwhelm you.

Now Charlize Theron is perfectly cast as the Evil Queen, but my only problem with her is that she overacts a bit too much in sections which makes her performance feel inconsistent inspite of her being brilliant in some of the scenes. Apart from that you cannot possibly have a woman looking like that at her age. Absolutely perfect. Chris Hemsworth seems to have carried on from Thor where the only thing is that an Axe has replaced his Hammer. He definitely draws a huge visual appeal but his acting skills can still improve(that being said, he was most impressive among the 3 with his acting). And ofcourse Kristen Stewart looks like she could be fairest in the land and looks much better than she did in any of the Twilight movies but as my friend aptly put-she seems to have a set of expressions which she just keeps reusing. The versitality is highly missing in her but again, for a movie like this, it does not matter that much to be honest.

*SPOILER ALERT*Do not read this if you do not want to-The Biggest Surprise Package has to be the dwarves-I mean, I was almost prepared to do away with 7 dwarves for 1 Huntsman, but the makers realized their importance and they really do create an impact. They are funny and ferocious and their relationship with Snow White is indeed a special one.

Overall, this might not be the Biggest Blockbuster of the season but if you are itching to watch even half an entertainer and you don’t have the patience to wait for the rest of the movies coming, then this might be a safe bet. It’s that kind of movie which isn’t really good, but not unwatchable either.

I’ll give it 2.5 out of 5.

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Ghostrider 2:Spirit of Blah!

It's a BANDH today, and therefore if you are chilling at home you would probably wanna unwind by watching a flick. I am going to help you make that decision today. Continuing with the MARVEL saga, we have one of the most unpopular heroes of Marvel-Ghostrider for his second outing at the cinemas.
The movie had released earlier this year to a decent box office response despite the first one being a dud and the critics and audience reviews were even worse than the first part.

Now if you have seen the first one, you are probably not to keen to watch this one, as was the case with me initially. But you know what, you mite just end up liking this one or at least finding it tolerable.
The reason I say this is because, with the first one there were expectations-HUGE expectations. The trailer looked phenomenal and with Nicholas Cage & Eva Mendes it looked like the dream Summer Blockbuster-Sadly it failed to live upto the hype. Now though, the franchise is down in the dumps and even an average flick seems better than what it really is.

Now coming to the movie.Firstly Eva Mendes is missing without so much of an explanation as to where her character has gone. Johnny Blaze is still the Ghost Rider but is in constant struggle to keep the Rider away at night, much like how Mark Rufallo tries to keep the Hulk away in Avengers.
Then comes the favorite word in the whole world for Johnny-A DEAL.A drunken priest-Mourau strikes a deal with Johnny to save a certain boy who has been captured by mercenaries who work for Roarke(The Devil who struck the deal with Johnny) and in exchange Mourau would help him remove the curse of the Ghost Rider. Johnny grabs this opportunity with both hands and things seem to go smooth enough with an obvious interaction with the boy's mom-Nadya as the three of them manage to escape from the mercenaries(one of whom is Nadya's ex) and go to the monastery where Mourau and the rest of the priests reside. Here Mourau honors his promise as well as there is an unexpected discovery of who really is the 'Spirit' that make him the Ghost Rider. Probably among the more interesting parts of the movie. After this there is a twist of tale as Nadya's ex returns as BLACKOUT, with powers to make the surroundings dark and decay anything he touches. At the end you know who really wins and it's Blah Blah again.

Now, the special FX in most parts of the movie are well done but whenever they focus on the Rider's Face, it seems tacky and unnecessary especially because they do it time and time again. Direction is sloppy and so is the writing. What carries this movie is the visual spectacle and Nicholas Cage as usual. It's so crazy though, and credible too, that Nicholas stars in so many flops but still manages to retain his market value, quite a rare thing considering the kind of movies he does.

Nevertheless watch the movie if you have already taken the first plunge in the series. You hopefully will not regret it.

I'm going with 2 out of 5 for Ghost Rider:Spirit of Vengeance.

P.S-I'm guessing The Ghost Rider will ditch his bike soon considering the steep hike in Petrol Prices ;-) Hehe...
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Captain America-The First Avenger-And also the worst!!!

Now looking at the title of this review, I firstly want to let you know that I am not going to bash this movie and demean it. But you have to keep in mind that I am comparing this film with the other individual Avenger movies and this one along with the first movie of Hulk is the worst of the lot.

Now Captain America has been one of the biggest comic books for Marvel, so the expectation to film was always going to be high. Secondly, I feel, that the biggest challenge that was faced by the makers was that he was a superhero from the past, and therefore it is not only a superhero film, but a period film as well!...And when it cam to the comic-The Avengers, he was the lead avenger as well..but that is only in the comic world...

Now coming to the movie, Bases around the times of the World War 2, Chris Evans plays Steve Rogers, a sickly thin malnutritioned boy who aspires to get into the US Army(amazing VFX work to make him look like that though), but has failed numerous times to do so. His brother being a part of the US forces obviously caused him jealousy but also triggered the aspiration even more. Eventually they pass him through a test only to find out that he is actually a part of a Government Experiment-which lucky for him, goes right and he becomes the real Chris Evans with the muscles et all. The same experiment was later tried by Hulk as we know which went horribly wrong. Now after this he becomes a mascot to promote war bonds, more than a real war hero-which is quite lame actually.
Now there needs to be a villian in order for the hero within to come out, and that is HYDRA from Europe which is actually an organisation that is after the 'Tesseract' and use it to fuel their 'World-Ending' inventions, and you'll know what I am talking about if you've seen avengers. How Captain America rises to the occasion and save the world is obviously what the rest of the movie is about.

There is a love interest as well in the form of Ms.Peggy carter played by the beautiful Hayley Atwell and their scenes together are among the better parts of the movie. There's familiar names in form of Stark Senior a.k.a Iron Man's dad who is quite prominent throughout the film.
Hugo Weaving makes his best villian outing since The Matrix and is one of the reasons you are able to sit through the movie.
Now my major issue with the movie is that firstly, it's very slow for a superhero film. It doesn't ever feel like one to be honest because of the pace of a World War kind of film which also makes the action very limited and the special effects at a minimal. Apart from that, Captain America itself is quite sad. He doesn't seem to have any super powers except that he can use his shield really well and that too the shield is a STARK product. So you know what I' talking about. It's not ebtirely unwatchable and is necessary for the continuity to The Avengers most definitely but I hope the sequel which is planned is more fast-paced and has something new to offer.

I'm going with 2 out of 5 for Captain America!...
P.S. Don't forget to watch the credits...

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THE AMAZING SPIDERMAN-4 MINUTE PREVIEW!

THOR-A Superhero like no other!!

The Latest Marvel Superhero to hit the screens last year was Thor, and he is a superhero like no other. Reason: he is a GOD, the god of thunder actually who is strong and powerful but also arrogant of his own abilities.He definitely looks like he could take a pack of supervillians and destroy them but like all superheroes, you have to take the fall before you rise up, and Thor is no different.

This was actually made as a build up movie for the Avengers and it could easily been just another movie. But this movie delivered BIG TIME. So much so that they have 2 sequels planned already and trust me, I am really excited about it.The biggest reason is because of Chris Hemsworth who brings out the character to an absolute connect in both, the action scenes as well as the scenes where he is just another muscular guy.

Now coming to the premise-Thor is from Asgard, another 'Realm' altogether. He is a God and is the heir to the throne of Asgard but is banished to earth by his father due to his arrogance of wanting to attack Jotenheim, home of their enemies, The Frost Giants. Now his brother, Loki, like you'll would know if you'll have seen Avengers is no sweet guy. And in this movie too, it's Loki who is behind the downfall of his brother. How Thor manages to live on Earth, strike a friendship with the beautiful Natalie Portman who finds him on Earth and ofcourse returns to Asgard to save it from sure destruction is what the rest of the movie is all about.

It's a typical ending, but the continuation to Avengers and the prospect of Thor 2 and 3 makes it really exciting. The scene that strikes you the most is when he wants to get his hammer out of a rock on earth and fails. It's a scene where you awe at Chris' performance and his muscles at the same time. It's what these movies are made for, emotional connect with the super fun factor.

Natalie plays the role of a girl next door to perfection and looks the part too. I was seriously disappointed that she wasn't there in Avengers but I'm glad that she's going to come back for the sequels. Loki though, will have lost respect in the upcoming movie especially after what Hulk did to him :-p Haha...

All in all, it's among the better Marvel Superhero movies and you will definitely find it a treat to watch!!

I'm going with 3.5 out of 5 for Thor...

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