Spectre (2015) (James Bond)

Disclaimer – This writer is a massive James Bond fan.  He has collected every single release of James Bond on DVD and plans to convert the same (shortly) into an enviable Blue Ray collection before the release of Bond 2017-18.  He can rarely find fault in a James Bond movie and therefore can be classified as a “classic fanboy”.  Read on.

Tears of the Sun

Fresh on the success of Training Day in 2001, Antoine Fuqua, came up with his 4^th full length feature in 2003 – Tears of the Sun.  For those who are familiar with the Fuqua style of direction, it would not come as too much of a surprise to see a hard hitting, tell it like it is type of narration.  And he doesn’t change his style one bit in this action flick which is built on the situation of Nigeria being taken over by a ruthless military dictator.  So you can expect a lot of violence, blood and enough of gore to make your stomach churn in acute distress.  There is enough action as well for those who are keen followers of the genre.

Lt. Waters (Bruce Willis) and his team of Navy SEALs are given an assignment of “search and rescue” for a certain Dr. Lena Fiore Kendricks (Monica Bellucci).  She works for Doctors without Borders to help the victims of the civil war in Nigeria.  Now why is a French hottie doctor being saved by some American Navy Seals? Turns out she is married to some hot shot American and it is important to save her from the mess.  Well Dr. Mrs. Kendricks says she is willing to come with Waters and Team if and only if the Navy Seals commit to taking all her hospital inmates along with them.  Talk about holding the government to ransom!!!! And what do you know – Lt. Waters’ heart melts for the sick people and the hot doctor and he decides to lend his services to the nobel cause.  Sigh. 

But then, on a serious note, that is what the movie is all about.  One line that sticks out like a sore thumb and stays with you for a while after the movie is over is - "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing".  This is a line by an Irish statesman called Edmund Burke.  The Right Honourable Edmund Burke totally knew what he was talking about and was bang on the button.  How many times have all of us good, bad or ugly not done something which was the right thing to do? Quite a bit I would guess when I count my own instances.  Guess all he and Fuqua are asking us to do is – something.  If there is an opportunity to correct some wrong then all we have to do to ensure that it stays is – nothing.  Interesting and perfect take I guess.

Tears of the Sun is a well made movie and worth watching either on DVD.  The performances from the cast are quite good.  Bruce Willis is – how can I put it – Bruce Willis. No other way to describe his effort.  Belluci looks stunning as always and I would be jealous of her boyfriend or husband – real or fictional – and in this case, I would not mind being her patient :P.  There are not too many other people in the movie to talk about.  The editing and cinematography are as good as Fuqua has always been.  A very good overall attempt.  I give it 7 on 10.

Watch the trailer at http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi2962030873/

Shoot 'Em Up

Are you in the mood for TNA (Total Nonstop Action for the not so educated with wrestling as a sport). But the TNA that I am talking about now has nothing to do with wrestling. Just a TLA (Three Letter Abbreviation) that I wanted to use for a long long time. But then the movie that I saw around 2 pm this afternoon was a heavy load of TNA in the style of Clive Owen. It had guns, guns and loads of guns. It had a chase or a fight sequence every 38.37 seconds. And for most part, you will be wondering as to why are these fights happening in the first place? Thankfully you will not need to wait for too long to find out. Thankfully. The pace of the movie is fast enough through its 86 minutes – 80 minutes thanks to the editing that has been done on Warner Brothers Movie Channel – and you will reach the levels of understanding that you want to reach sooner than later.


Smith (Clive Owen) is waiting at a bus stand in the middle of the night (or so I assume) when he sees a woman (Ramona Pringle) in a bright yellow coat walking past holding her stomach and crying out in pain. Yes – she is pregnant but doesn’t really seem like she is about to deliver immediately. A few seconds later, she is followed by a villainous looking man with a gun. She runs into a warehouse of sorts and the man follows, obviously with an intent to relieve her of her life and the life that she is carrying. Smith, obviously cannot look the other way and mind his own business. Only cowards do that right. So he follows the 2 into the warehouse and just as the man is going to kill the mother to be, Smith stops him and follows it up by killing 10-15 other men while simultaneously helping the woman in the yellow coat deliver her baby. Once the baby is delivered, he is confronted with another bunch of shooters, this time led by the lead villain, Hertz (Paul Giamatti) who is after the girl and her new born. This time around, hero not only manages to keep the bad guys away but does it with the woman and baby in tow – in his arms – after a point of time, you check the screen again to see if its Clive Owen or Rajani Saar. So when they show the woman with a bullet in her head – our hero is unable to save her – you are reassured that Rajani Saar is still in India.

A few more bullets and a few more car chases later, you are more clear on what the entire story is about. Expected a bit better from Clive Owen – in his choice of movies that is. This one is more like a mindless Vin Diesel movie and not one for Clive Owen. Clive Owen is a bit more classy than this. And what the hell is Paul Giamatti doing here? Taking his new found love to be a villain a bit too seriously? Hello – both of you – stick to roles that demand a bit more of you. And if you are running short of money then the find yourself an investment consultant soon. But don’t stoop down to these levels. The silver lining in the movie – and this has nothing to do with good movie making – is luscious eye candy in the form of Monica Bellucci – red hot furniture (a term I have used previously with Eva Mendes in The Other Guys). The direction is average at best. And I would not put too much of money on Michael Davis henceforth if I was a producer. But, if you like action movies of the mindless Vin Diesel, as mentioned yesterday, variety then this one is definitely for you. As a movie – 5 on 10 is what I can give this on my best days. Today isn’t. So it will be a 4 on 10.

Watch the trailer at http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi2256994585/