Shrek the Third (English, 2007)

Murder! Sacrilege! Crime!

The whole point in Shrek was its originality, its inherent "different from the normal lore" stuff, an intelligent spoof on fairy tales. Shrek 3 commits the same crime that Shrek started making fun of - of being repetitive, unoriginal and just trying to cash on the existing popularity.

Shrek 3 adds more fairy tale characters to the storyline, gets Fiona pregnant and has Shrek coming to terms with impending fatherhood while trying to search for a successor to the throne of Far Far Away and thwarting Prince Charming's evil plans.

If you have not seen any of the Shrek movies, then you may like this one. It does have the same ingredients that the franchise has had till now. However, if you have tasted this dish before, the feeling is of having the same food again and again and again.

Recommendation - Avoid
Rating - ✘✘

Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (English, 2007)

This is the Hollywood summer of sequels. And none of them live up to the mark. All my reviews this summer have been saying - sequels are bad. For a change, Fantastic 4 Part 2 is better than Part 1. Having said that, anything had to be better then Part 1, so that was not a difficult thing to achieve.

Fantastic 4 Part 2 is just that, another sequel. Slightly better graphics, perhaps; same old boring storyline; mediocre acting and nothing else.

Fantastic 4 Part 2 sees the group fighting Silver surfer, their arch-enemy Victor and a creature who eats planets. It also sees them coming to terms with each other and with their super powers. The only thing good that can be said about this franchise is that it treats comic book heroes like comic book heroes and remains at that childish level rather than making it too complex and too adult.

Hollywood has gone bankrupt for sure! I am dreading going to cinema halls these days.

Rating - ✘✘✘

Cheeni Kum (चीनी कम) (Hindi, 2007)

A good dish needs a delicate sense of proportion of its ingredients, and a meal needs the same sense of matching the dishes. So before I begin this review, let me tell you about one of the best meals I have ever had outside my home. It was at Tandoor, a Mughlai restaurant in Bangalore, India. We began with Jaljeera, which had just the right amount of salt and sugar and jeera, went on to have a kebab platter where all the kebabs were delicately done, melting in your mouth just as your teeth begin to feel the piece, and tantalising my taste-buds with just the right spices. Sheer bliss. Even though we were full, we did the mistake of ordering the main course which was the exact opposite - cold, bland and stale. Thankfully, we just left the main course as it is and proceeded to the fabulous deserts, thus leaving a good after-taste in our mouths and fond memories of the meal till date.

Now before you start thinking I have gone mad, let me tell you - that's exactly the review of Cheeni Kum. A wonderful concoction of light-hearted interplay of two interesting characters, portrayed beautifully by Amitabh and Tabu is what starts the movie and carries it through. Amitabh is a 64-year-young restaurant owner in London and Tabu is a 34-year-old software professional visiting the country. They start liking each other and decide to get married.

All is good up to this point. The courtship between an obviously mismatched couple is filmed amazingly well. Amitabh's relationship with his neighbour Swini Khara, a kid with cancer, is heart-winning. The second half of the movie is a drag, and this comes as a big surprise given that second half revolves around an actor of the calibre of Paresh Rawal, who play's Tabu's father in the movie and goes on a satyagraha to prevent his daughter from marrying an old man. Still, that small boring part does not reduce the overall enjoyment and you leave the movie with a good aftertaste.

Brilliant acting by Amitabh, Tabu and Swini. Paresh Rawal doesn't get scope to act. Imaginative, innovative screenplay that not only makes you laugh, it makes you smile as well.

Recommendation - Must see for those who like acting based light-hearted films.
Rating - ✔✔✔. Would have given 4 ticks if the satyagraha part was not there.

Ocean's Thirteen (English, 2007)

You got group of movie stars to act in the same film and you made a movie which was basically a stylish heist. For some vague reason which defies logic, the movie clicked. That's about the best I can say about Ocean's Eleven.

You should have left while you were ahead. Instead, what you did, you made not one, but two sequels. Bad move!

Ocean's Thirteen seems to be a prime example of the sequel ennui that afflicts Hollywood and which is at its full peak this summer. It offers nothing new, apart from a tired looking Al Pacino. There is a lot of technical mumbo-jumbo about creating artificial earthquakes and magnetrons and doctored dices and what nots. There is a lot of pregnant half-statements and cheeky tricks that characterise Ocean's series.

But there is absolutely nothing new. As you are watching the movie, you feel it is just dragging along. Dragging along for last 3 years.

Is there anything good about the movie? Yes, it shows a fabulous hotel.

Recommendation - Watch it if you have nothing better to do.
Rating - ✔