Mini Movie Reviews - 2012 January to April

The Avengers aka Marvel's The Avengers aka Marvel Avengers Assemble - I guessed a year ago that the most pivotal parts in the movie would be played by The Hulk and Hawkeye and oh yes, I was right. Raising the bar for every other superhero and marvel movie to be made in the future, The Avengers is good entertainment because, at first it constantly challenges audience expectations, and then later it delivers strongly in agreement with your expectations, and then it surpasses them. It has a smart script with a punchline every 5 minutes, and the action is not about the explosions but about the people involved in them, and the green guy with the least screen time smashes everything on the screen and still becomes the most cheered one on the screen. And so finally, after years of planning behind the scenes both on and off the screen, Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, Hulk, Hawkeye and Natasha Romanoff aka Black Widow with the support of Nick Fury join together to form a superhero group to fight against the forces of Loki and the Chitauri army and to protect the world and so The Avengers become a team for the first time on a movie screen, and so Marvel's phase 1 comes to a successful conclusion. All the actors from all the earlier movies of marvel's phase 1 like Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Samuel L. Jackson, Tom Hiddleston, Clark Gregg, Stellan Skarsgard and so on return along with the new additions of Mark Ruffalo and Jeremy Renner. Both the ending and the action climax of the movie are really big, interesting and above all, exciting and the people are going to compare all the climaxes of all the movies that are going to be released in the next couple of years to that of this one. Final Verdict - So many things, so little time! You will feel that 142 minutes are not enough and after all this time, finally The Hulk gets some proper treatment and so the audience got completely behind Hulk for anything and everything. So what all this means is that, quite simply, this movie is Fully Entertaining. Hence it wasn't surprising that the audience felt completely 'marvel'lous about it. 3 words - DON'T MISS IT!!!

Wrath of the Titans - The scale and effects in this movie are big and the atmosphere which it creates is somewhat interesting but sadly everything inside it is unremarkable. The first movie in the series (Clash of the Titans) which was kinda worth a watch at least had some old school 'b movie' fantasy adventure feel going for it but this one has none of that which made that one interesting and nothing new that makes this one worth remembering. If you are looking for just a weekend distraction then it gets the job done satisfactorily but don't hope for anything more as it is like one of those 'ya ya whatever' type of movies. The storyline and editing are incomprehensible but then, in this type of a movie nobody is gonna even care about that. When Bill Nighy appears on the screen, for a few minutes you have a hope that this movie is gonna go somewhere now but sadly after a few minutes it returns to the same way it was moving earlier. Though Liam Neeson plays Zeus, Ralph Fiennes plays Hades and Rosamund Pike plays Andromeda, none of them can raise this movie to a good level or at least save this movie. Final Verdict - The best thing about this movie is that it makes the earlier one look like a good movie now. Timepass is the only way to describe this movie. The movie could not even reach up to the level of its trailer as that looked much more cooler and better than this movie. It is not really a good movie so only go if you have low expectations and are looking for some weekend distraction but maybe some people who are action fans and maybe god of war fans maybe interested because the movie bombards you with an action scene every 15 minutes. Other than that, this movie has really nothing to write about.

The Artist - Finally my wish for catching a Best Picture Oscar winner while it is in theatres comes true... Once upon a time, long before actors became idiots selling shampoos and soaps, there was a time when an actor was supposed to be a showman, an entertainer, a man who believed that he could do anything and so the actors were able to make the audience believe that they also could do anything like them. That is why they were regarded as Movie Stars. That is the tradition that this movie makes you remember and that is the type of star who is the main character in The Artist. The director has done some good research regarding silent movies and it shows superbly on screen and also the background music is delightful and it is definitely one of the best movies in recent history and it reminds you why they used to love watching movies back then and then it reminds you why you still love watching movies even today. Final Verdict - The Artist has a good chance of becoming a Classic Forever. It's no wonder that this one got a total of 10 nominations at the academy awards and won the Oscars for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Score and Best Costume Design which also makes Jean Dujardin the first French actor to win the best actor Oscar and The Artist the first French film to win the best picture Oscar and the first black and white movie to win the award since 1960 and the first silent film to win the award since 1927's Wings at the very first Oscar awards ceremony. Plus Jean Dujardin won the Cannes Festival award for Best Actor also. The best thing is that It got all these awards simply because it deserved it. It's charming, it's simple, and it's a feel good movie. People were leaving feeling happy at the end and so was I. So would I recommend this movie? With Pleasure!!!

John Carter - Industry watchers were worried that after a misguided marketing campaign, this was gonna be a giant flop, but as positive word gets around this one still has a chance of making a comeback here. More western and space fantasy than sci-fi, it's been a very long time since I was seriously watching the world inside a movie with much focus and was interested in it's characters and felt my money was well spent. John Carter of Mars was one of the first adventure stories and it gave a lot of inspiration to a lot of directors and so we can find traces of star wars, superman, avatar etc in here though since this is being made into a movie only now, you might end up feeling that this is all a little bit too derivative from all those movies that got inspired by the john carter series. Taylor Kitsch does the best he can and he is ably supported by Lynn Collins as a fierce warrior princess and by Willem Dafoe who voices tars tarkas, the jeddak of the tharks along with samantha morton and mark strong as the villain. Plus the music by michael giacchino of the movie really has that old school feeling of adventure and danger and like the music of star wars, it has a definite classic feel to it. Final Verdict - Keep mid range expectations and then go. Sometimes there's nothing more fun than an escapist movie which is an adventure, fantasy, 'get involved & leave everything behind' kinda movie and if you ever have any doubts you can look around to hear your friends say 'paisa vasool movie yaar' (well worth the money man). Seriously, get your money's worth of entertainment and adventure ASAP!!!

Journey 2: The Mysterious Island - It's not just about jules verne this time. Taking ideas from three different novels that all have the common theme of 'adventure in a lost world', Journey 2 dazzles you with wild nature, exotic danger, 'big is small, small is big' reverse ideas and all kinds of visual treats. It's more fun and less serious than Journey to the Center of the Earth which was the earlier one in the journey series and it's a lighthearted family adventure type of movie with a theme park kinda feel. If Jurassic Park was for adults then this is for kids. Keep that in your head and you will like it. Though it doesn't have Brendan Fraser from the last one, Josh Hutcherson returns and it also has Vanessa Hudgens as his love interest and Michael Caine in a supporting role and best of all, The Rock becomes the center of the movie and once in a while he behaves like the good old rock of the WWF with the charismatic 'over the top' trash talking 'you can put a good man down but he will get right back up' attitude. They are trying to make it into a family adventure type of series and it is slowly but surely on its way. At the end, there are hints that the next adventure will probably be based on another novel by jules verne dealing with a journey to.... The Moon! Final Verdict - Keep mid range expectations and then go because if you are looking for a silly but fun adventure and if visual stuff is your thing then your weekly diversion is right here. P.S. Catch it in 3D, it's worth it!

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows - The problem with movies these days is that they are all good to look at but they don't engage the audience and the case is the same here. The first half was really flat, like it was 'just normal, just going through' and so it was really slow but thankfully the second half is somewhat better. The movie actually begins at 30 seconds before the interval and the high points have to be the ultra super slow motion shoot-outs and the climax which is somewhat ok but it lacks the soul and charm of the first movie. What's even more disappointing is that the score does not have the originality or energy of the music from the first one despite both being made by Hans Zimmer and so in total, this one doesn't have the energy or the ridiculousness of the first one so it's not fun or interesting. Final Verdict - The mental fights between sherlock & moriarty (somewhat like the fight between jet li & andy lau in 'Hero') are what really stand out in the movie and in the end somehow the director pulls the movie through by forcing you to smile in the last shot and though in that sense the movie is somewhat ok but seriously speaking, it's just another one of those quickly forgettable sequels to a hit first movie and so sherlock holmes 2 doesn't even come anywhere near to the original.

Though Journey 2: The Mysterious Island had a feel free, feel good atmosphere it's aiming only for a mid range fun summer movie and though John Carter was good to see on the screen, it does have some flaws like editing and inconsistent direction and people will think that it takes a little too much time to get to the point and so it's a case of 'good but it could have been great' type of movie if it been made much better and though The Avengers is a cool summer blockbuster type of movie that will be in the top 5 of all time superhero movies, despite all these big budget movies being good, all of them got outclassed by a relatively small black and white silent movie which was a love letter to silent films and it did it with such simplicity and total honesty to the old family friendly black and white movies and that too with such charm and in its last scenes it has some wonderful dancing as well which is very entertaining and will make you feel a lot of happiness and so, after considering all the facts, ladies and gentlemen, The Best Movie of 2012 January to April is... The Artist.

Thank you for reading Mini Movie Reviews - 2012 January to April. Hope you have enjoyed it and had a good time with my movie reviews. There are 2 opinion polls below regarding which movie you thought was the best movie and what you thought about my article of movie reviews, so please feel free to take them, comment and give your opinions. Hope to see you soon on another article about movie reviews. Have a good day and once again, thank you for reading Mini Movie Reviews - 2012 January to April.

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