Book Review: The Dark Tower Series

For all the fantasy lovers out there, if you liked the LORD of the RINGS, you will most definitely like STephen King's The Dark Tower Series. Seven books with close to 4500 pages makes this a huge set. But you will not be disappointed for even a minute. Stephen King takes all his experience in writing horror to create a fantasy masterpiece.

Roland of Gilead and his unusual band of gunslingers' quest to the Dark Tower will definitely last for times to come. A fantastic hourney of suspense and adventure.

Overall Rating: 9/10 for the entire series.

Movie Review: Cube (1997) English

Directed By: Vincenzo Natali
Starring: David Hewlett, Maurice Dean Wint and others
Running Time: 90 Min
Overall Rating: 7.5/10

A gripping sci-fi movie which haunts you for quite some time. Cube has a well made concept and keeps the audience at the edge of their seats.

Six strangers find themselves going from one cube to another in hope to escape from the maze.

While their acting skills need work, the cast does pretty decently to keep up the tempo of the movie. While some parts of the story have been left openended, i guess it was intentional.

With a limited budget, this movie has drawn quite a huge cult following.

Do the trapped people get out? Watch the CUBE.


+
Concept, Suspense

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Acting, Gaps in storyline, Some amount of repetitive screenplay

Movie Review: Stranger than Fiction (2006) English

Directed By: Marc Foster
Starring: Will Farrell, Maggie Gylenhall, Queen Latifah, Dustin Hoffman and others
Running Time: 113 Min
Overall Rating: 8.0/10

Author Karen Eiffel is facing a writer's block. She has been unable to finish her latest tragedy for quite sometime now. Queen Latifah playes the role of an assistant from the publishers who is here to help Karen Eiffel finish her book.

Harold Crick (Will Farell) is an IRS agent who lives his life by the numbers. He is so phenomenal with numbers that his co-workers would rush to him rather than a calculator. Everyday his schedule is governed by numbers. For example: He brushes his teeth x number of times and takes y number of steps to reach the bus stop etc. For most of Harold's actions, there is a female narrator who explains every single one of them, until one day..... when he begins to hear the voice in his head.

Confused, Harold proceeds to consult a psychologist but to no avail. He finally consults a professor in a university (played by Dustin Hoffman). Together they explore and search for answers. Finally one day, by sheer accident, Harold discovers that Karen Eiffel is the voice. He goes in search of her and finally succeds in finding her. He discovers that the book she is writing is his life story.

Soon he also finds out that the ending she wrote in her book involves in Harold's death. What would Harold do? He had just found the love of his life. He wanted to live and not die. He proceeds to read the manuscript of the story and takes the most important decision of his life.

What happens next? To find out, watch Stranger Than Fiction... :)

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Concept, Storyline, Narrative style, Will Farrell, Dustin Hoffman

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Some parts of the story seem a little out of place and ill paced; Queen Latifah is wasted in her role as an assistant,

Movie Review: Mr. Bean’s Holiday (2007) English

Directed By: Steve Bendelack
Starring: Rowan Atkinson, Emma de Caunes, Willem Dafoe and others
Running Time: 90 Min
Overall Rating: 6.0/10

Not as good as the first movie but a definite watch nonetheless. Rowan Atkinson returns in this comedy flick wherein he wins a trip to the French Riviera. En route he unfortunately manages to split up a father and son in the train. A trip around the countryside follows with the usual Bean antics.

Does the family get back together? Or Does one disaster lead to another?

Dont forget to watch Mr. Bean's Holiday to find out...

+
Rowan Atkinson, Comedy, Scenic Locales

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Weak Storyline, Supporting cast,

Movie Review: Layer Cake (2004) English

Directed By: Matthew Vaughn
Starring: Daniel Craig, George Hardy and others
Running Time: 105 Min
Overall Rating: 8.0/10

Layer Cake is a 2004 British gangster thriller, directed by Matthew Vaughn. It is based on a novel of the same name by J. J. Connolly. Starring Daniel Craig in the lead role as a drug dealer, this film provides many nuances on the British Underground system.

"The Layer Cake is a metaphor for different levels of British society, whether it's the crime world or anything else", says director Matthew Vaughn. "The movie’s about showing how drugs are everywhere and it doesn’t matter who or where you are, you’re only one person away from drugs, scoring drugs or being involved with criminals. There's a speech at the end of the film where Temple uses Layer Cake as a metaphor for life and how you go up and up and up from one layer of the cake and to the next rising above the shit from the previous layer.

Though the primary plot revolves on how to be an effective middleman, many sub plots are woven in to make the layer cake extremely enjoyable. Daniel portrays brilliantly the multiple facets and emotions when one is forced to move from being a drug dealer to being unable to retire from it all to being a killer.

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Daniel Craig, Good Plot and subplots, Acting, Direction and Style

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Suspense, Some open ends

Movie Review: Chaos (2005) English

Directed By: Tony Giglio
Starring: Jason Statham, Wesley Snipes, Ryan Philippe among others
Running Time: 106 Min
Overall Rating: 7.0/10

A star cast including Jason Statham (of Transporter fame) and Wesley Snipes along with a storyline which provided enough twists are the major highlights of the movie, CHAOS.
Released in 2005, Chaos begins with Detective Quentin Connors and Detective Jason York) under fire for their involvement in a tragic shooting on Pearl Street Bridge. Two people are killed including one on-the run criminal and a hostage. Connors is suspended and York fired.

Connors is reinstated when a criminal, Lorenz who claims to be the younger brother of the convict killed at the Pearl Street Bridge shootout, calls for him to be the negotiator while he robs a bank. A young rookie, Shane Dekker assists Connors and part of his old team. Lorenz manages to get away with his four accomplices inspite of everyone’s best efforts.

At first glance it seems that nothing has been stolen only to find out later that a computer virus had been set free which stole under a $100 from almost all the accounts and transferred the same to another account, thereby committing fraud to the bank to the tune of close to a billion dollars.

To complicate matters, Lorenz is eliminating his partners one by one to clear his trail. Will Connors be able to capture Lorenz? Or will there be a different twist to the whole ball game?? Watch the movie and find out… J

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Jason Statham, Funky-Hypnotic background score, Decent Plot, Plenty of Twists, Chaos theory is used well, One Chase Sequence

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Unexplained actions and sequences, Incomplete background on both detectives and a few other missing pieces.

Movie Review: The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe (2005) English

Directed By: Andrew Adamson
Starring: George Henley, Skandar Kaynes, Jim Broadbent, James McAvoy, Tilda Swinton and Liam Neeson as the voice of Aslan.
Running Time: 143 Min
Overall rating: 7.5/10

Nice movie but not to be compared to LOTR. Some people make the mistake of comparing such fantasy movies with each other. That should not be done. LOTR and Chronicles of Narnia were written for two different audiences.

For One, the story was smooth and flowing. The characters were well created especially Aslan The Lion and The witch. The witch could have used a little less makeup during the ice scenes though, but thats okay i guess. A nice narrative and good special effects make it a must watch for the younger generation.

Good scenes include the final battle and the attack of the wolves.



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Aslan The Lion, Costumes, Makeup, Special Effects, Story, Narration and flow



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Acting by the four kids, Background score