Saw some moves over the last one week and here are my views.
1.
Super 8. Though a decent SciFi movie, I expected much more from a JJ Abrams & Steven Spielberg combination. The movies is about a bunch of kinds who are shooting an amateur movie in a railway station, when a train passing by is involved in a major accident. When they look for survivors, they find one of their school teachers in a truck, who advises them to run away from the crash site. The site, and the whole locality is taken over my the US Army who are searching for 'something'. How the kids stumble upon the 'survivor' and help him is the story. Though the movie moves fast, the special effects could have been much better. A must for all SciFi fans.
2.
Already Dead. This movie stars Ron Eldard (who also acts in Super 8) and Til Schweiger. Ron Eldard acts Archer whose wife is attacked and son killed. The police start a preliminary investigation, and the detective in charge is removed from the case. The detective points Archer to a psyche who directs him to a set of shadowy vigilantes who chase and catch the culprits and allow the victims to take personal revenge on the culprits - all for a price. Archer is led to an abandoned building and his culprit (Til Schweiger) tied to a chair. As he starts torturing 'The Man', Archer realizes he is not the culprit. Working with 'The Man' , Archer tries to escape from the place and has to fight with the shadowy organization that wants to kill them both.
Ron Eldard does not act too well, while Til Schweiger is in his elements. Some of the torture scenes are so realistic, it makes you flinch and feel the pain yourself.
3.
Blind Horizon. Van Kilmer acts as Frank Kavanaugh, a man who wakes up with a head shot wound in a desert. As he recovers from the wound, Franks sees flashes of threat to POTUS. Nobody, excepting for a local Sheriff, believes him including the secret service. As the days pass, the Sheriff starts realizing the threat is real, but is unable to take action because of the speed at which the events unfold.
Van Kilmer looks old and tired and that suits his role superbly. Not the same Van Kilmer whose acting in The Ghost and the Darkness was so powerful. A decent movie for regular movie goers.
4.
Tezz. Most people including the critiques have written off this movie, but I did like it a lot. It has a number of plus points. One; it is not the usual run around a tree nonsense. Two; the players are ordinary people. Three; the director has merged Indian and British/American actors well. Four; Anil Kapoor, Ajay Devgun, Bomman Irani, and Sameera Reddy all play their roles well. Five; photography and editing is very good.
The story revolves around the lives of 4 illegal immigrants to the UK who want to lead simple lives but are chased and harassed by the immigration authorities. They then plan to take revenge on the UK government. They are challenged by a retired police detective who wants to stop these people at any cost. Since these people are not professionals, the police are hot on their tail they find it increasingly difficult to execute their plan.
This is one of the movies that I feel, if done completely in English, could have run decently in the International circuit.
5.
Run. I picked up this movie by sheer chance and was pasted to my couch for the length of the movie. Charlie Farrow is studying for law, and works in a automobile repair shop doing shall jobs. He is also a compulsive gambler, and manages to rip his friends regularly. One day the repair shop owner asks him to drive a Porsche to Atlantic City for delivery. As he is doing that, Charlie get stuck in a small town when the Porsche breaks down. A cab driver, mistaking him for a rich kid, drops him at a local gambling den owned by a local mob. There Charlie's luck is with him again and he continues to gamble and win - but he wins against the local mob leader's son - Denny Halloran. Denny is a poor loser and gets into a fight with Charlie. Charlie is no match for Denny, but Denny slips, bangs his head against a ledge, and dies. Now the whole town and all the police are after Charlie thinking he killed Denny. Charlie starts running from that moment to stay alive. In a deadly game of cat and mouse, Charlie has to stay one step ahead of the mobsters and the police. Quite a gripping movie if you like such movies. Patrick Dempsey, as Charlie Farrow, does a commendable job.
Cheers
