Thursday, October 31, 2013

Arrow 2x04 "Crucible" reveals more than its predecessors

Arrow's second season has been getting  good reviews since its premiere a month ago. To justify those, i would like to add that there hasn't been one episode till now that would let you rest. The very first episode ended with the intro of Black Canary, and for the past two episodes they have build up on her character. We know she is ruthless and very agile. That has made the viewers happy and content, but Arrow doesn't waste much time to give you more. In 'Crucible', Green Arrow unmasks the Canary...and ho! He was in for a shock!

The dynamics between the Arrow and the Canary has also been stepped up in this episode. Where they used to fight crime alone, in their own ways, this episode helped them to team up against a crime warlord called the Mayor. We are surely going to see a lot more of them together, as it was also revealed that they knew each other, and also had to go through some serious stuff together on the island.

Another important reveal was that of the character named Brother Blood. This character from the DC world, is trying to build an army for himself to rule over the Glades. Now we come to know that one of the characters from the previous episodes is Blood. Maybe easy guesses for the fans. He wears a mask that looked very similar to the one that Scarecrow covers himself with, in the Dark Knight trilogy. Not to confuse that with this anyways. But it certainly seems like they would like the viewers to associate  themselves with the Nolan universe.

Here we also have Laurel trying to drown her sorrows in booze, and her father with his experience trying to dissuade her of it. Roy and Thea helps each other, while Canary's sidekick Sin gets injured in a shootout. Something with Felicity rubbing Ollie's chin ;). Lots happening in every episode, and a lot of characters have been already pushed onto the screen. The only problem now for the producers is to find them space and time to interact with the viewers. Well the very next episode is titled the "League of Assassins". So i take it that DC is not going to slow down, but just keep delivering you with more kicks. Well, i hope the next one tops this episode, because for now this has been my favourite.

Watch the teaser for next episode :


Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Dhoom 3 Trailer review


So, Yash Raj Films released their new trailer online on youtube just an hour ago, for which the ardent fans were eagerly waiting. Did they get what they came to see?

The first impression of the new trailer is actually good compared to the previous teasers which just introduced the characters. This is also an 2 min intro trailer for Aamir. Now we even know Aamir's name in the movie - Sahir, the clown thief. In the previous trailer where Aamir with his little motorcycle trick looked totally out of the place, has come out with a better image for his character in this one. He looks and behaves like a thief in here. The odd expression he does with his mouth while engaging in action scenes is very off putting, and it still continues. The baby look and charm that falls on the face, that expression being one factor why i believed earlier why Aamir was not cut out for this role. Imagine....Aamir not being cut out for any role? I always worried the makers would try to macho up Aamir, but luckily we can see thats not happening too much here. He is not going to be a John Abraham or Hrithik Roshan, but will come up with his own brand of action sequences. So looking forward to see what else is there in his kitty in this movie.

Katrina just comes on screen in what seems like a song, tries seducing Aamir and goes off. She works with Aamir in his circus company it seems. All we see of her is she doing some extra stretchy dance steps in white powder. Abhishek gets some dialouges in this trailer, but he looks exhausted, and the producers had the brains not to use too much of Uday Chopra, which actually saves the trailer. That duo is getting old. The may get their trailers in the coming days.

Some really inspired (from other hollywood movies) action and nail bitting fight sequences are in store for you. So why not watch and decide yourselves where you wanna be on Dec 20th. Enjoy the trailer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yeF_b8EQcK0

Monday, October 28, 2013

Escape Plan is not the perfect prison break

When two of the most renowned action superstars come together in a movie, the expectations for the amount of 'BAM BAM' increases accordingly. Thats why movies like 'Expendables' are filled with those to the brink. But in a movie where guts can be of no use without brains, firepower doesn't really help. Maybe the two aging stars also decided that they want to do an action film without requiring them to do too much of jumping and crashing. So they came up with a prison break idea.
Escape plan treads on familiar storyline most of the times. An ex-lawyer(Sylvester Stallone) who now works for a security company breaks out of prisons for money, is invited to break out of a high security prison for the most dangerous criminals of US. He is unaware that he was being set up. Once inside, he gets to know that this is no prison of any ordinary kind, and his skills were of no use in there. Plus, he had to worry about the evil warden (Jim Caviezel). He then befriends an ex-software guy (Arnold Schwarzenegger) who has been put into the prison for some path breaking software that posed a security risk, and such stuff. Using Stallone's prison breaking skills, and Arnold's connection within, they make an Escape Plan.
Stallone and Schwarzenegger, have aged and little comes out from their faces emotionally. So only hard hitting punchlines, or blatant dialogs could actually tell you what the characters were feeling. The only relief there was Jim, whose villain character did seem to have a little potential. Plus, there is something so silently eerie about Jim Caviezel which worked in his favour.
The first half moves at a snails pace, trying to set up the scenario for the audience. Couple of times it was difficult to know what Stallone was saying with his mouth so scarcely moving at all. But the second half of the movie gathers some momentum, as the Escape plan is in place. But the script isn't all that brilliant to make the audience gasp with excitement.
The Escape plan might work for ardent Stallone-Schwarzenneger fans, but for the rest who wants a decent action thriller might feel wanting for more than what is given.