Man of Steel : The Return of the Original Superhero….

The iconic, the original, the most beloved of them all…. The hero we all looked upto during our childhood – the Man of Steel…. Superman. The iconic hero is back with a bang. The Blue and Red costume with a flowing red cape and the symbol of Hope on his chest , the only thing missing is the red underwear on the outside (And I have no idea if he has worn red on the inside !!). Its 7 years since the last Superman movie and 35 years since the first flick. Superman has come a long way since the 1978 release with Reeve portraying the iconic hero. DC Comics characters have always met with criticism about the flicks made on them. The original Batman series, the declining quality of the Superman series, Green Lantern, Catwoman, etc…..

DC Comics have never reached or attained the success their Marvel counter parts have generated/earned. The main reason being the type of characters in DC; mainly being very dark, secretive, and serious unlike the colourful, jovial and comical nature of the Marvel Universe. Superman & Batman can never be compared to the likes of Iron Man & Spiderman. The original Batman series was a disaster and when Nolan stepped in and created his own version of the Dark Knight, Batman breathed a new lease of life. DC Comics was back in action. Banking on the success of the Batman, DC emerged with another hero – The Green Lantern, hoping similar success and fame for the Green Guy of DC. But it was damn obvious from the trailer of green ringed guy – This wont work !! . Green Lantern disappeared without a trace. Catwoman was made for getting the boot; because there was no need of a spin off on that character and especially not with Halle Berry as the Kitty.

  

But the most troubled Hero was Superman. He had his good times, then he fell, he returned and yet again he fell….. Superman has come a long way. Starting from his initial days in 1978 to his latest venture in 2013. The original Superman series which started of in 1978, 35 years ago was a smash hit with the audiences and critics alike. Christopher Reeve portrayed Superman in the same. Reeve was praised for his performance. Made on a measly budget of 55 million $, the flick went on to earn 300 million $. The flick had many other big names associated with it – Marlon Brando as Superman’s biological father; Gene Hackman as Superman’s nemesis Lex Luthor and Mario Puzo as one of the screenwriters. The flick was shot simultaneously with Superman II. Richard Donner directed the first and he simultaneously shot 75% of the second. But due to some controversy, Donner was taken off from the project and Richard Lester was brought in. He had to shot 51% of the film which included refilming some of the scenes already filmed by Donner in order to get the credit as the director of the flick. The sequel of Superman is still infamous for having two directors. The sequel was released in December 1980 and had two arch-enemies – Lex Luthor & General Zod. The flick was received well by the critics, praising it for its humor and the the role of General Zod.

The third part of the series is where Superman began to stumble… Superman III released in 1983 and was subject to mixed reviews by audiences and mostly negative reviews by the critics. Though they praised Reeve’s role as the corrupted version of Superman. The flick is tagged as an action-comedy due to high slapstick content in the flick. The main reason for that being the antagonist of the flick- Gus Gorman portrayed by a comedian called – Richard Pryor. The third flick was directed wholly by Richard Lester.

Superman crumbled and finally fell flat with the final part in the series – Superman IV : The Quest for Peace.The flick released in 1987 and was directed by one Mr. Sidney J. Furie. The flick was Reeve’s last outing as Superman and after the critical and Box Office disaster of the flick which also stared Gene Hackman as Lex Luthor ; Reeve said the following lines – ” Superman IV was a catastrophe from start to finish. That failure was a huge blow to my career.” Though there were plans for a fifth instalment, it never materialised. Reeve’s involvement in the same ended following his paralysis in 1995. The film was 40th in the List of Worst Films Ever Made (40 out of 50). The series went dormant for 19 years till 2006, when Superman returned. The 2006 outing of Superman titled – Superman Returns was a homage sequel to Superman & Superman II, it ignored the events of the third & fourth instalments. The flick stared Brandon Routh as Superman , Kate Bosworth as Lois Lane & Kevin Spacey as Gene Hackman. The flick tells the story of Superman returning to earth after a 5 year absence. The flick was directed by Bryan Singer on a budget of 205 Million $. The flick went on to earn only 391 Million $. Though Warner Bros were disappointed, the flick was highly praised by critics, some even praising it as the one of the Best Superhero Movies ever made (I wonder if he would say the same after Nolan released his version of the Batman). Nolan was impressed by Bryan Singer’s Superman Returns because of its connection with original Donner’s Superman.Superman disappeared once again without a trace and Routh still clamouring to do the sequel.According to me Routh was the worst choice for portraying the iconic hero. The reason he was chosen to play the same was due to his resemblance to Reeve.

Finally the DC guys & the Warner Bros guys came to their senses, when they announced the reboot of the Superman series. David S Goyer & Nolan were approached to write the story of the flick, with Nolan to be the producer too. Many A listers were approached to direct the reboot which was finally given to Zack Snyder… The list of potential directors included – Guillermo del Toro, Robert Zemeckis ,Ben Affleck, Darren Aronofsky, Duncan Jones, Jonathan Liebesman, Matt Reeves and Tony Scott. The reboot titled – Man of Steel has Henry Cavill , known for his role in the flick – Immortals cast as Superman. He built and worked on his body gaining a lot of weig ht for fitting the role perfectly. Amy Adams was cast as Lois Lane, Russell Crowe as Jor-El; Superman’s biological father, Kevin Costner & Diane Lane as his foster parents. Michael Shannon portrays Superman’s arch nemesis from his home planet Krypton – General Zod.

The flick released on June 14th 2013 to very postive response from the audience with the reboot earning about 195 Million $ worldwide in two days. The critical response has been somewhat mixed, mentioning the presence of excessive action in the flick. The principal cast of the flick have been praised for their acting, especially Cavill , Shannon & Adams. The flick is heading out to be the opening to a DC Cinematic Universe, with a sequel and a potential Justice League flick in tow.

 

One can say that Nolan has brought forward a new outlook to the world and characters of DC Comics.So please keep your fingers crossed and pray that the Justice League and further sequels happen soon 🙂

Go Watch Man of Steel in the theatres , and try watching it in 2D.

Click here to Watch the Latest Outing of the Icon ….

10 Days to Go……

THE ALL TIME FAVOURITE …
The Original Super-Hero….

Summer at its Peak !!! : June Releases…..

I am back after a two week hiatus due to other commitments :-)….. And during the hiatus, I am done with The Great Gatsby, The Hangover Part III & the Migraine Inducer….. Loved Two of them and found one to be not as bad as expected…. And with that May has come to an end…. We have the half year mark up ahead, the month of many potential blockbusters. The Summer Blockbuster Month, The Peak of Summer – June. We have action, comedy, a reboot of a superhero, romance, animation, family saga, magicians & Zombies once again. Following are the releases for the peak of summer… Some of these are to be sure-shot blockbusters (hopefully) – – – –

JUNE 7  – 

JUNE 14  – 

 

 

JUNE 21 – 

JUNE 28  – 

 

 

And a few unconfirmed releases… The release dates of theses Hollywood flicks in India are yet to be decided…..

 

 

So all in all we have a mind blowing month ahead, with amazing titles hitting the screens backed by amazing star power.With the likes of biggies  like the Deol Clan in their 3rd venture together, Will Smith & his Son’s adventure, Magicians, A.R.Rahman’s Musical, Emraan & Vidya’s fun filled Ghanchakkar, Brad Pitts’s battle against Zombies, Monsters Inc. prequel & the Biggie – the Superhero Reboot – The much awaited — MAN OF STEEL 🙂

Enjoy this fun filled June with an amazing movie every week of the month 😉

 

The Hangover Trilogy : Blast into the Past Part II

We are back with the second part of Blast into the Past coverage of the upcoming movie : The Hangover Part III…. This flick marks the end of the Hangover Trilogy that started with a bang in the summer of 2009. The R rated flick became an instant success and its sequel, The Hangover Part II is still the highest grossing R rated movie. The Hangover Part III is supposed to be the final adventure of the wolf-pack. But for fans like me, even a dozen more installments would be anticipated with utmost eagerness 🙂

The Hangover Part III is once again directed by Todd Philips, who had originally brought the series into being. The third and final installment marks the return of the Wolf-Pack to the place where it all began – the place where Doug (portrayed by Justin Bartha) went missing, the place where Alan (portrayed by Zach Galifianakis) messed up the entire Bachelor’s party & created the Wolf-Pack, the place where Stu (portrayed by Ed Helms) married a prostitute (portrayed by Heather Graham), the place where the Wolf-Pack met up with Mike Tyson, his tiger & the unforgettable Chinese gangster –  Leslie Chow (portrayed by Ken Jeong). The Wolf – Pack messed up in Vegas big time and now they are coming back for one last time. This time around the Wolf-Pack are on their way to drop Alan of at a Rehab type place, but they are attacked on the way by a Gangster portrayed by John Goodman. Goodman wants to find Chow and he thinks the wolf-pack have the best chance of finding him. So he puts them to it and keeps Doug as hostage. Thus starts a journey for the three buddies, the inseparable buddies , in their quest to find Chow which eventually takes them to Vegas.

The trailer seems to be promising, especially because it feels different from the previous installments of the series. The major drawback of the critically panned 2nd part was the similarity in the story (same as that of the first). But the makers of the flick have assured us that we are in for a different game all together this time around. The role of John Goodman was originally offered to Sean Penn & Robert Downey Jr. It would have been great to watch the Downey-Galifianakis pairing once again after the “Due Date”.

The Hangover Part III releases in theatres on 23/05/13 in the US & in India on 31/05/13. So we will have to wait for a week after its worldwide release to watch the wolf-pack back in action 😦  The Hangover Part III has a huge opponent this week at the Box Office – the sixth installment of a highly successful series – Fast and the Furious 6, especially after the phenomenal 5th part when Dwayne Johnson joined the series. But since the The Hangover series has a huge fan following of its own and due to the presence of stars like Galifianakis & Cooper, the flick is sure to topple its predecessor The Hangover Part II from the top of the Highest Grossing R Rated Flicks 🙂

Check out the Wolf-Pack Here……..

” It All Ends” 😉

The Hangover Trilogy : Blast into the Past Part I

  

Time for another round of Blast into the Past, this time we have another trilogy in hand – The Hangover Series. The series culminates this year with the final edition of the same which goes by the name – The Hangover Part III.

The Hangover Series started of with The Hangover, which was directed by Todd Philips, the man who is known for R rated comedies like Road Trip, Due Date & Old School. The first flick in the Hangover series released in the summer of 2009 and was made on a measly budget of 35 million $, but it went on to earn 400+ million dollars. The flick was also met with great critical success along with its commercial success. The Hangover also won a golden globe award in the Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy category.

 

The concept of the flick was as simple as its title, four men including the groom and the bride’s brother along with two friends of the groom go to Vegas two days before the wedding and get drunk. When they get up the next day after a severe hangover, they realise that they don’t remember anything from the previous night, including the whereabouts of their friend, the groom. All they have is a trashed up hotel room in Vegas, a Tiger in their bathroom and a human baby. They trace back their steps with all the stuff they can find in the room, in their pockets, on their bodies and what not….. Mike Tyson makes an appearance as himself in the flick. The movie was successful because of its novel idea, a story which had an element of surprise. And unlike other R rated comedies, this one had a good cast backed by an experienced director. The commercial and critical success of the first hangover, led to the development of another hangover in the making for Hollywood.

The Hangover Part II released during the summer of 2011, on Memorial Day to be exact. The second part in the series went on to become the highest grossing R rated flick with a box office collection of 500+ million dollars. The second installment was a box office success, but was panned by the critics. The main reason for the panning, which I too felt while watching the flick was – The story of Hangover Part II….. The major difference between the first and the second is the person who goes missing is not the groom to be. And the groom this time time around is one of the friends of the groom in the original.

To make it a bit more different, they changed the location too – they do all the missing man search in Thailand this time around. It was a surprise that the flick went on to be such a big hit. Mike Tyson makes an appearance once again. They get an hangover once again, but instead of a hotel room in Vegas, they are in a dump in Thailand. And they have a monkey and a Buddhist monk for company instead of a tiger and a baby…… And the end credits are similar too, camera shots of their drunken adventures….. But for a fan of the series and especially the characters depicted in the series, the flick was a fun filled watch, even for me…. A die hard fan 🙂

Coming to the cast of the flick…. The groom in the original was portrayed by Justin Bartha, the friends of the Groom by Bradley Cooper & Ed Helms, the bride’s brother who happens to be the star of the series – Zach Galifianakis. Another notable character in the series, Ken Jeong; a Chinese gangster, who is their adversary in the first, but becomes a friend in the second.Heather Graham also stars in the flick, but only in the first. The relationship between the principal cast, named as the Wolfpack by Zach’s character which strictly includes only the 4 friends from the original is the striking part of the series. The original was a classic for moviegoers and fans alike, but the second was just remixed version of the original, but the audience didn’t let the makers down even though the critics did 🙂

The final part in the series is due this year, again on Memorial Day. The Hangover Part III is supposed to be different from the previous two in the series, so hopefully Todd Philips wont disappoint us with another remix of the Wolfpack.

Blast into the Past of the Hangover Trilogy continues with Blast into the Past Part II; and its not a remix of the original like The Hangover 🙂

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17/05/13 : Novel Adaptations, A Kiddie Feature & An Old Emperor

As we approach mid May, we meet up with a few interesting releases. This weekend can be termed as a mixed bag too, because of the genres at the cinemas near you. We have a Romantic Period flick, a hard hitting Thriller, a treat for kids & a Bollywood Masala flick. Big Names are coming to a screen near you today, so be ready to receive them with open arms 🙂 Numerically speaking, we have two Hollywood Flicks, One Bollywood & the fourth a mix or cross between the two.

First up we have The Great Gatsby (Trailer), the big screen adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s 1925 novel. The flick tells us about the life of one Mr.Gatsby, who is mysterious to one and all and is known as the guy who throws grand parties. The story recounts the encounter of Gatsby’s neighbor Nick Carraway with Gatsby. It also involves other characters such as , Nick’s cousin Daisy who has a past of her own, her husband – Tom, Daisy; the women with whom Daisy wishes to couple Nick with. The flick also involves further stories about each and every character and all of it has a great link among themselves.

                                                                   

Coming to the cast, Leonardo Di Caprio portrays Gatsby, Tobey Maguire portrays Gatsby’s neighbor Nick, Carey Mulligan portrays Daisy and of course the major attraction for Indians around the world – Big B a.k.a Amitabh Bachchan doing a brief cameo in the flick as Gatsby’s business associate – Meyer Wolfsheim. The Great Gatsby is directed by Baz Luhrmann, the director who made classics like – Romeo+Juliet (with Di Caprio) and Moulin Rouge. The Great Gatsby has an amazing soundtrack made fit for the era it represents – the 1920’s or the Jazz Age. The flick released in the US on the 10th of May and it was the first flick to be screened at the Cannes this year. The flick has been met by mixed reviews from the critics, with some critics not approving of Luhrmann’s direction and others praising the movie’s visual appeal and Caprio’s acting skills.

Hollywood’s next offering this week, marks the 3rd flick this year to be released in India before its release in the US . This one belongs solely to the kids, a summer treat for them and it goes by the name of – Epic (Trailer). The flick is a 3D animated feature from Blue Sky Studios, the animation division of 20th Century Fox. The Studio has released 6 feature length flicks so far, with Epic being the 7th. Notable flicks include – Ice Age series, Robots, Rio, etc. Epic is directed by Chris Wedge, who previously directed Ice Age & Robots. So one can expect a lot from his latest venture. The 3D flick features the voices of  Amanda Seyfried, Colin Farrell, Josh Hutcherson, Christoph Waltz, Aziz Ansari, Pitbull, Jason Sudeikis, and Beyoncé Knowles. Epic tells us the story of a young girl voiced by Amanda, who steps into a magical world of miniature warriors called Leafmen. Eventually she is forced to assist these warriors to defeat the evil Boggans and their leader – Mandrake voiced by Waltz and thereby save their world….. The trailer didn’t seem so appealing and the story doesn’t make it any better. Hopefully director Chris Wedge has something in store to amaze his audiences.

As we approach our cross over point to Bollywood releases for the week, we have a another flick up for release today, a flick which is adapted from a novel and premiered at the Venice Film Festival in August last year.The Reluctant Fundamentalist (Trailer) directed by Mira Nair, who is famous for her debut feature – Salaam Bombay !, which won an award in the Cannes and was nominated for an Academy Award in the Beast Foreign Feature Category  The Reluctant Fundamentalist is the adaptation of a novel by Pakistani author –  Mohsin Hamid. The book and the flick as well tells us the story of a Pakistani lad who graduates from Princeton, about his American dream, about his affair with an American girl and his eventual abandoning of America all together. The flick stars some famous names from Hollywood & Bollywood alike – Kate Hudson, Liev Schreiber, Kiefer Sutherland, Om Puri & Shabana Azmi. The principal character or the Pakistani lad is portrayed by Riz Ahmed, a British actor & rapper. The flick has received average reviews from the critics.

Finally we stumble upon our Bollywood release of the week, with I Love NY yet again getting delayed for release, we have Yash Chopra production’s feature up for release this week. Aurangzeb (Trailer), directed by new comer – Atul Sabharwal, and stars a mixture of new and retro stars of Bollywood – Rishi Kapoor, Arjun Kapoor (x2) (Double Role), Jackie Shroff, Malayalee actor Prithviraj Sukumaran & Pakistani actress and singer – Sashaa Agha. The movie tells us the story of  a real estate developer portrayed by Shroff  and his illegal works and how he gets away with it all because of his crew member portrayed by Arjun Kapoor. The police capture Arjun’s character and replace him with his look alike to track down Shroff’s illegal activities. The policemen are portrayed by Rishi Kapoor & Prithviraj. This flick marks Arjun’s and Prithviraj’s (his first being Aiyaa) 2nd flick in Bollywood . Pakistani actress Sashaa plays Arjun’s love interest in the movie. The trailer seems to show too much of the movie, so it seems like we have already watched the movie, until and unless the director has a surprise in store for us.

 

So for the flick of the week….. I am a bit confused… mainly due to the lack of choices… So to be on the safe side, I would select The Great Gatsby & Epic  for an enjoyable weekend watch. Gatsby due to its star power in terms of acting & directing  and Epic because it comes from a production house that has always entertained the audiences with its animated features 🙂

10/05/13 : A Biggie Sequel, A Novel Experiment & The Coming-of-Age

    

If the big screen adaptation of The Great Gatsby had released, we would have had 4 releases this Friday… But nevertheless, all’s well with just these three …. Hollywood has another sequel to offer, once again releasing in India a week before it hits the American screens. Whereas Bollywood has an experimental genre to offer; a never before attempted theme and a movie which majority of the Hollywood flicks were based upon long time ago – the coming of age flick.

We will tackle the big guy first like always…. Hollywood is yet again releasing a flick in India before it releases it in the US; two weeks ago it was Iron Man 3. This time around it is the sequel to the 2009 hit Star Trek; Star Trek Into Darkness (Trailer). This is the 12th movie in the Star Trek film franchise. Into the Darkness is directed by J.J Abrams, who directed the original in 2009. Abrams is now all set to direct another outer space saga – Star Wars Episode VII in 2015.

     

Into Darkness continues from where the first ended and tells the story of yet another bad guy in outer space trying his luck at destroying Earth; John Harrison/Khan who is portrayed by none other than the amazing Benedict Cumberbatch; which undoubtedly is the USP of the sequel. This would be Benedict’s first starring role in a Hollywood feature film. Benicio Del Toro was originally cast as Khan, but was replaced by Cumberbatch. The principal cast from the original reprise their roles in the sequel which includes Chris Pine as Captain Kirk, Zachary Quinto as Spock, Zoe Saldana as Uhura, Simon Pegg as Scott, John Cho, Anton Yelchin & Karl Urban. The early reviews have been very positive with critics praising the space adventure as rousing.

Bollywood has two varied genres for its audiences, the similarity between the two is that they both are low key flicks. The first and foremost; and of course the more eagerly anticipated of the two – Go Goa Gone (Trailer). The flick is the new experiment, a theme which Bollywood has never set foot upon. The “Zom-Com” is about three friends played by Kunal Khemu, Vir Das & Anand Tiwari who go to Goa to have fun, but end up on an island infested with zombies and a mafia guy with a Russian accent who is portrayed by Saif Ali Khan. The story revolves around their attempts of escaping from the island.  Saif Ali Khan sports a blonde look in the flick, which suits his Russian Avatar – Boris. The flick should do well, especially because of – the Director Duo of   Raj Nidimoru and Krishna D.K, the duo who directed hits like – “99” & “Shor in the City” and because of the cast. The music of the flick is another plus point.

 

Bollywood’s second release this week – Gippi (Trailer). This flick is from a well known stable – Dharma Productions i.e. produced by Karan Johar. The flick basically stars new comers and has a theme which is very common in English flicks – coming of age. The flick tells the story of one Gurpreet Kaur a.k.a Gippi , portrayed by newcomer Riya Vij. The director is also a newbie – Sonam Nair. The feel of the flick is on the same lines as flicks like Chillar Party, Stanley ka Dabba; flicks about childhood days.Flicks that are generally tagged as flicks with a heart. But there is no assurance that this one can be as heart warming as Stanley ka Dabba & Taare Zameen Par.

So the flick of the week….. and we have a tie !!! Star Trek Into Darkness because of its past triumphs and fan base, the effect the 2009 original had and of course the USP – Benedict Cumberbatch as the antagonist. The 2nd – Go Goa Gone ; the reason – a novel concept in Bollywood, looks stylish and funny and reminds me of “Zombieland”.So make it a double bill this weekend – Into Darkness & Go Goa Gone 😉

Pacific Rim : Upcoming Biggie !!!

Everyone remembers Godzilla and those shape changing Robots called Transformers, they made a trilogy out of it, with each flick in the series worse than the previous 😉 Well this year we have something similar , actually like a cross between the two; Godzilla type thing meets a Bot. A mash-Up ….. But it looks classy, sure blockbuster material and hopefully they don’t finish showing us all the action sequences in the trailer itself 🙂

     Guillermo Del Toro – The Director

 

Pacific Rim is directed by one of the most iconic men in the industry – Guillermo del Toro.  The Mexican director is well known for his Spanish fantasy flicks like Pan’s Labyrinth & The Devils’s Backbone and American action movies like Blade II & the Hellboy Series. His fascination with monsters is evident in most of his works. His frequent collaborator Ron Perlman makes an appearance in Pacific Rim too. Pacific Rim is Del Toro’s first flick after Hellboy II as a director. In other words, Del Toro returns to the silver screen after 5 years.

On with the story…. Pacific Rim’s storyline is simple – A Godzilla type thing (called “Kaiju”) arises from a crevice  in the Pacific Ocean which destroys life and resources on earth. Hence to combat this threat, man in turn creates a monster, massive robots (called “Jaegers”) controlled by 2 humans whose minds are locked in a neural bridge. But the robots are no match for the Kaiju and the humans are left dazed and confused about their chances of survival. So as hope fades, 2 humans pilot an obsolete Jaeger; which they believe can save mankind from the terror from under the sea.

       

       

The cast of the flick are barely well known; which is typical of a Del Toro flick. Though it includes stars like long time collaborator Ron Perlman and little known star Idris Alba.The role of Idris was initially offered to Tom Cruise. If it had worked out, we would have a star among the monsters 😉

 

Anyway stars don’t matter much here, since the real deal here is the Kaiju vs Jaeger fight sequences… And hopefully it will be amazing, mind blowing and a  flick worth watching in the theatres. I have all my hopes on Del Toro who has said that this film will be ” a beautiful poem to giant monsters”. Another aspect about the movie that I am anticipating; the 3D effects of this flick and hopefully by then the long awaited IMAX screen will finally open up here 😉

Hopefully after watching this flick, I can name it as the best Bot movie ever…. Transformers should like look like child’s play in front of this magnum opus 🙂

Catch the Monsters battling it out Here  – Trailer of Pacific Rim …..

A Few Trailers to Ogle over : A Bit too Late… But nevertheless ;-)

I know I am a bit late with these trailer updates…but circumstances were such …..So without wasting more time… I present to you 3 trailers to ogle over… All 3 for different types of moviegoers …

First up is the Bollywood flick – Raanjhanaa…National Award winning  Tamil actor Danush’s debut in Bollywood alongside Sonam Kapoor & Abhay Deol. And obviously its a love story with music by A.R.Rahman and the flick is directed by Aanand L.Rai, who directed “Tanu Weds Manu”. The flick is set in Varanasi and the music is set to have a folk-classical touch to it. Shahid Kapoor & Sonakshi Sinha were considered for the lead roles initially, but were replaced by Danush & Sonam (Thank God for that ;-)) .

Raanjhanaa releases on 21/06/13.

 

Coming to Hollywood, first up we have Thor 2 in Marvel Phase Two’s 2nd release after Iron Man 3. Thor 2 : The Dark World is directed by Alan Taylor who replaces the director of the original; Kenneth Branagh. Thor 2 brings back majority of the principal cast from the original including Loki who is seen inside a prison in Asgard after the events of The Avengers. As the trailer suggests, Thor brings his love interest played by Natalie Portman to Asgard from Earth for her safety. The trailer doesn’t reveal much, but towards the end of the trailer things get interesting 🙂 . Chris Hemsworth reprises his role as the crown prince of Asgard – Thor.

Thor 2 : The Dark World releases on 08/11/13.

     

Next is another comic book adaptation, this time from Dark Horse Comics ; R.I.P.D (Rest in Peace Department). The live action adaptation stars Ryan Reynolds, Jeff Bridges, Kevin Bacon & Mary-Louise Parker. The flick tells the story of a cop who dies during duty and how he joins the R.I.P.D to hunt down his killer. The role of Jeff Bridges was originally given to Zach Galifianakis , but he opted out due to scheduling conflicts 😦   Other Dark Horse Comics that have been adapted for the big screen before R.I.P.D include Hellboy, 300, Sin City & The Mask.

R.I.P.D releases on 19/07/13.

Click Here for the trailer of the Rahman Musical (Raanjhanaa)…..

Click Here for the trailer of Asgard Crown Prince…..

Click Here for enrolling in the R.I.P.D….

 

 

03/05/13 : Celebrate Indian Cinema with a Shootout ;-)

   

May is here …. And rejoicing the fact that summer is finally upon us, Indian Cinema celebrates its 100 years with a very special anthology flick and alongside is the dramatisation of the first ever registered encounter by the Mumbai Police. Hollywood has a small release in India this week.

So for starters, lets begin with the Anthology Flick that celebrates 10 years of Indian Cinema – Bombay Talkies (Trailer). This flick is directed by 4 of the finest directors of Bollywood, each contributing one short flick/story to the anthology.  The flick basically displays and celebrates the emotions of Indian Cinema, the emotions that are displayed in majority of the flicks in India; the emotions that define Indian cinema. The four short stories – the first is directed Karan Johar and stars Rani Mukerji & Randeep Hooda; the second, directed by Dibakar Banerjee staring Nawazuddin Siddiqui; the third, directed by Anurag Kashyap and the fourth, directed by Zoya Akhtar staring Katrina Kaif in a cameo. The music of the flick is by Amit Trivedi and as usual, he does wonders with the music…. Akkad Bakkad & Murabba are amazing tracks…The title track of the flick has many of the big names in Bollywood coming together for the same including Aamir Khan & SRK. Though the flick celebrates 100 years of Indian Cinema, the flick only involves Bollywood and no other industry and that implies that the flick celebrates 100 years of Bollywood ? Hopefully the big names attached to this flick wont disappoint, especially the short films directed by Banerjee & Kashyap. The Zoya flick looks cute due to the presence of the child artist.

Next up is the much awaited Sanjay Gupta flick without any Sanjay Dutt in it 🙂  Shootout at Wadala (Trailer) is the sequel to the 2007 hit “Shootout at Lokhandwala ” which was also directed by Sanjay Gupta. Shootout at Wadala is based on the book – Dongri to Dubai; which tells the story of the Mumbai Mafia and stars an amazing pool of talent with the likes of Anil Kapoor, John Abraham, Manoj Bajpai, Sonu Sood & Tusshar Kapoor. The story basically revolves around the characters of Sonu Sood & John Abraham, as they both battle it out to take over the Mumbai Mafia. Anil Kapoor essays the role of a cop and Manoj Bajpai as Sonu’s elder brother. The flick features 3 item numbers featuring Priyanka Chopra, Sunny Leone & Sophie.

Hollywood has a small release this week – Mud (Trailer) staring Matthew McConaughey & Reese Witherspoon. It tells the story of Mud portrayed by McConaughey , a fugitive who is trying to re-unite with his love Juniper played by Reese and how two teenagers help him to achieve the same without getting caught.

So for the flick of the week : I would go with Shootout at Wadala because of its talented star cast and because of the storyline; expecting a lot from John, Anil & Bajpai. Bombay Talkies seems good about it may lack that cohesiveness among the stories… 😉