Fast X, Review: Vin some, lose some Weapons and vehicles are the twin jet propellers on which Fast X rides. Weapons come in all potencies and sizes, including IT software/hardware and a (nuclear?) bomb that could blow up a whole city. Vehicles too, come in all shapes, sizes and models, including a container and a mini-aeroplane. All these are transported across continents, with the ease of greased lightning. There are two more twin jet-propellers that help the film cruise along, and these are...

Kantara, review: Dispossessing the 'possessed' Kantara is about conflict. Conflict between nature and human beings. Conflict between landlords and their subjects. Between Forest Officers and villagers using forest resources for subsistence. Between two powerful and major landlords. Between humans and ‘possessed-by-deities’ humans. Between humans and wild beasts. Between a mother and her son. Between a hero and his nemesis. Between a film and its audience. Yes, a film and i...

Jumanji, The Next Level: Low level fare Jumanji was first released in 1995, at a time when video games were the new fad. Since then, the franchise has had three forays into filmdom. The latest one is titled The Next Level, but, ironically, it is a slide down to a new low. Amateurish and even puerile, this movie is probably aimed at pre-teens, but since pre-teenagers cannot be expected to perform such adult acts as are depicted, and the story has already established several grown-ups, and only...

Fighting with My Family, Review: Soap opera in spandex Somebody must tell biopic makers, especially true stories about sports personalities, that there is very little difference between one and the other. They all follow, more or less, the same road map, and get to the same place. And because these are true stories, the writers and directors do pretty little to enliven the journey, lest they be accused of taking too many liberties, or, worse, earn the ire of the personality in person, if aliv...

Skyscraper, Review: The Rock climber’s burning issues Disaster films have been appearing on the screen for decades. In some of them, it is the earth that plays the villain (earthquakes), in others, it is water (floods), in still others it is wind (tornadoes, hurricanes) and fire, naturally occurring or man-made, is the burning issue in some of the movies. Dwayne Johnson, aka The Rock, tackles impossible odds in Skyscraper and onlookers applaud his bravura. As we see the crowds playing t...

Iconic horror film-maker, of the Living Dead fame, Romero dies at 77 Often called the father or progenitor of the modern zombie movie, American film director George A. Romero has died of lung cancer, in Toronto. He was 77. George A. Romero passed away on Sunday July 16, listening to the score of The Quiet Man, one of his all-time favorite films, with his wife, Suzanne Desrocher Romero, and daughter, Tina Romero at his side. He died peacefully in his sleep. Born in The Bronx, to a Cuban-born ...

Belinda as Carmen and Dwayne Johnson as Mitch Buchannon in the film BAYWATCH by Paramount Pictures, Montecito Picture Company, FlynnPicture Co., and Fremantle Productions   Photo credit: Frank Masi   Copyright: © 2017 PARAMOUNT PICTURES. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. ...

San Andreas, Review: Earth, fire, water, disaster Almost all disaster films rely on one or more of the following elements: earth (quake), fire (inferno), water (flood, tsunami, sharks, piranha), wind (hurricane, tornado) and virus (epidemic). Since all of them have been done to death, we now have a category of alien invasions and inter-galactic warfare that has become extremely popular over the last 25 years or so. One wonders how much longer will this one last, though many of the films based...

Hercules You could add an extra dimension to a demi-god and turn him into a full god. But the power of a God would not find much in common with human film-goers living a mundane existence, who secretly identify with the on-screen exploits of super-MEN. Why not work it the other way around? Why not subtract a dimension? Why not doubt even the demi-god status, and let the audience think that the tale is a myth, and that the real Hercules is just a hard-hitting, large-framed mercenary? They will...