Mechanic: Resurrection

Posted on January 14, 2017 by Tennyson

Vampire Owl: This reminds me of someone I know very closely.

Vampire Bat: Oh, you mean the Transporter. Or the Hitman.

Vampire Owl: None of them – I know that they are exclusive to the human race.

Vampire Bat: Then who are you talking about?

Vampire Owl: Don’t you remember my zombie minion who was a mechanic?

Vampire Bat: He fixed tombstones. You can’t call him a mechanic.

Vampire Owl: Well, we work through magic. What else is there to repair?

Vampire Bat: But the Mechanic here is a Hitman!

Vampire Owl: And Jason Statham is supposed to be the Transporter!

Vampire Bat: They are all professionals – Hitman, Transporter and Mechanic and there is minimum hair on the head. So, consider them as equals in a divided society and lets watch the movie.

[Gets three cups of masala tea with tapioca chips].

What is the movie about? :: Arthur Bishop (Jason Statham), has left his job as the “mechanic”, which has been a fancy name for a skilled hitman for very long when he was in the field. As he had been more than a professional assassin who specialized in making his assassinations look like accidents, random criminal acts, suicides or just something that happened as a part of collateral damage, he is never really away from his job with the past following him all the time. After pretending to be dead, he has been living in Rio de Janeiro after taking over the name Santos, with no noise, and no more repairing with assassinations as a mechanic. He is approached by a lady named Renee Tran (Rhatha Phongam) who tells him that she knows who he is – she wants him to kill three targets for her boss, and they have to look like accidents or normal deaths.

So, what happens next? :: Using his special skills and experience, Arthur makes his escape from Renee and her mercenaries, making his way into the resort of his old friend, Mae (Michelle Yeoh) in Thailand. There he meets a woman called Gina Thorne (Jessica Alba) who is beaten by a man, and saves her, but later realizes that she is the bait, and someone has put her there to make him fall for her, so that he can later make him do assassinations for him – the same person who was following him in Latin America. It is the man called Crain (Sam Hazeldine) who used to be Arthur’s childhood friend, but that bond no longer remained, only to turn into hate later. He would kidnap the woman, and ask Arthur to do the three kills to keep her safe. Arthur has decided to make sure that Gina remains safe, and so he goes after his first target. But this one is inside a prison, and won’t be that easy – and two more will follow.

The defence of Mechanic: Resurrection :: There is unlimited action guaranteed with this sequel, and one can safely see that it is even bigger than its predecessor in that particular department. All the action remains simple, but effective, and there is no shortage of thrills in this journey. The action actually begins in the first location itself, and there is a fine dose of the same in between – the executions are also nicely done, especially, the one from under the swimming pool at the top of the skyscraper. There are some nice twists to go with the same too, and none of these are without style here – we all know what Jason Statham is capable of from all he has done within this genre. Brazil, Thailand, Malaysia, Australia and Bulgaria – the settings for this movie are all beautiful without doubt; especially those first shots at Rio de Janeiro and what all follows at those times in Thailand.

The claws of flaw :: People might have wished for something more in the story with this second addition to the franchise – a lot more than the usual thing, but they had to be satisfied with the hitman doing jobs with this one. There might also be the need for a more standardized progress with a movie like this and also the requirement for better dialogues and moments to remember. Another thing is that people are going to compare, and that might not do much good here – it is enjoyable what you see on the screen that matters the most. You are also sure to ask more from Jessica Alba’s character and also for Michelle Yeoh. Mechanic: Resurrection could have chosen to satisfy them all, but the fact that it doesn’t try to do the same means that we can watch them all without being bothered by the rest of the world.

Performers of the soul :: Jason Statham once again shines with what he does the best – it used to be The Transporter, Crank or The Expendables, and here, he continues to create that impression on us, as we watch him take on the bad guys. As the person who has been the Transporter before, and as the person who has been the fans’ first preference to become Agent 47 in Hitman, he easily goes through this role which demands nothing that special from someone who is so close to this genre. Well, we need to watch him in this kind of roles as it is how we have known him for a long time. As the hero that we want him to be, he is there again. It is good to see Jessica Alba again, but her role is a little too limited in this one, becoming the damsel in distress for too much time. Sam Hazeldine makes a pretty good villain here, and Tommy Lee Jones scores with the screen time that he has. Michelle Yeoh could also been used more.

How it finishes :: A lot of people might have chosen to degrade this movie, and it might not be the overrated critics’ material – but that doesn’t take out anything from this movie which delivers, and we have no doubt about that. Grossing more than its predecessor, this one proves that there is more to the movie than what the reviews say – Mechanic: Resurrection is not the kind of movie that goes for brainless entertainment either, and so you can be sure that critics have got this wrong, and it is not the case of just with one person. After watching this movie against many opinions, I have only found people who had told that this movie is disappointing, as disappointing for me. It happens very often with action movies as well as the horror flicks; we know a movie is good, and there are those reviews which look at the flicks in a strange way – but we get over it and go through to watch the movie.

Release date: 26th August 2016
Running time: 98 minutes
Directed by: Dennis Gansel
Starring: Jason Statham, Jessica Alba, Tommy Lee Jones, Michelle Yeoh, Sam Hazeldine, Rhatha Phongam, Natalie Burn, Anteo Quintavalle, Femi Elufowoju, John Cenatiempo, Toby Eddington

*Also check Ouija: Origin of Evil, Lights Out, The Witch, Vatican Tapes and Before I Wake specially for this Friday the 13th inspired weekend.

@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

Ouija: Origin of Evil

Posted on January 13, 2017 by Tennyson

Vampire Owl: I feel that this movie is totally against our own existence.

Vampire Bat: What? Why do you think so?

Vampire Owl: They are talking about the origin of evil. We are not supposed to speak about the origins of pure evil. It is so much against the tradition.

Vampire Bat: The humans know nothing of the origin of evil. This is just what they imagined on one jobless day.

Vampire Owl: So, it is not against our vampire beliefs?

Vampire Bat: Not at all! Don’t believe most of the things that these humans say.

Vampire Owl: I have believed in not believing in them. They are hypocrites.

Vampire Bat: See, I have told you that for centuries.

Vampire Owl: But, still we will watch this movie, won’t we?

Vampire Bat: Yes, I am assured of the entertainment in this one.

[Gets three cups of masala tea with potato chips].

What was the first movie about? :: The protagonist of the movie, Laine Morris (Olivia Cooke) is searching for answers as she hopes that she could have done something for her best friend Debbie Galardi (Shelley Hennig) who had committed suicide, and she laments the fact that she was the last one to talk to her and yet couldn’t stop her from doing such an act. As she finds an Ouija board in her house, along with her sister Sarah (Ana Coto) and other friends of Debbie, Pete (Douglas Smith), Trevor (Daren Kagasoff), and Isabelle (Bianca A. Santos) decides to try and contact their recently deceased friend. Soon, they contact a spirit which addresses them as friends, but what they are not aware of is that Debbie already had made a connection to the other world which lead to her death, and they understand that more than one entity is now free. The friends realize that they will just be killed one after the other and there will be no stopping the terror. [Read the full review of the first movie here]

What is this movie about? :: A relative to the dead people returning as spirits, Paulina (Lin Shaye) who resides in a mental asylum seemed to be the key to stopping the evil in the first movie. This flick goes back, and tells her story as a prequel. In the 1960s, a widow named Alice Zander (Elizabeth Reaser) acts as a spiritual medium to help people who are sad and attached to the dead people who used to be close to them – she makes sure that they let the past go and move on with their lives, accompanied by her daughters, the older one, Paulina (Annalise Basso) and the younger one Doris (Lulu Wilson). This is more of a fake show which the three comes up with, using some nicely executed plans. They don’t consider them to be bad, as they believe that they are only helping people in pain to help people to go ahead in their lives rather than living in sadness and pain.

So, what happens next? :: Most of these sessions end with the spirits forgiving the living, which gives them peace of mind. But one day, Alice adds an Ouija board to this programme, which changes things by a long way. They will end up breaking almost all the rules associated with this board. But they initially don’t realise this, with Doris finding some money inside the walls of the house, which lets them keep their home with them, paying for the debts. Alice believes that it is her dead husband communicating with them, and helping them with their lives, and Doris also thinks that it is her father. But Paulina is suspicious about this, even though Alice assures that this is only for the good, as they will now be able to help people by contacting the other world for real. Father Tom Hogan (Henry Thomas) is suspicious about something strange happening with his students, and realizes that the three ladies are going through a dangerous stage, as evil has already made its stand.

The defence of Ouija: Origin of Evil :: As we remember the predecessor, for which this is the prequel, we can be sure that there is a lot of improvement at work even when there was the need to end this movie in such a way that the connection is made well enough. They have managed to create a better work here, not just with the outside looks, but also on the inside, with better scares, and without doubt a better story. The movie scores with the “evil child” idea more than anything else, as the possessed kid is a level higher than any other – Lulu Wilson scores there, as the little demon gets all the applause with the best moments in the movie. Annalise Basso is not far behind as the other kid, belonging to the age, and bringing the scepticism to us. Along with that, Elizabeth Reaser remains strong as the mother figure. The cast and the setting plays a big role in making this movie a success and claim a good seat among the rest of the horror movies with their own spirits.

The claws of flaw :: There are limitations placed on this movie, and without doubt, it is the work of the previous movie, where this one had to reach as a prequel and kind of an origin story. If this one had come earlier, in the regular order, things would have been better for sure with the second movie too. We could have surely had more terror in the final few moments with a surprise finish – but this one chooses to go simple, which is not a bad thing, but with the spirit being so evil, there was bigger potential. There could have been more appearances of the spirit, and even some visuals from the terrible past of the spirit when it was human. Well, there is always more that we can do with an Ouija board, and this one doesn’t cover them all for sure. Maybe, all the best things are left for a third movie, and we can hope for the same. Still, one will feel that this is nothing like The Conjuring. This doesn’t go divergent like Don’t Breathe and Lights Out either.

How it finishes :: Just like I had mentioned in the review of Before I Wake that came before this opinion, Mike Flanagan at the helm has brought the horror genre back where it belongs. We had the Canker Man in that one, and we have the old fashioned possession along with the haunting in this one. Absentia, Oculus, Hush and the upcoming Gerald’s Game right out the Stephen King book of the same name – well, he is someone we horror fans are going to trust for, a period of time which resembles eternity if it is to go on like this. Ouija: Origin of Evil has an improvement from its predecessor which almost all the viewers are going to appreciate – after all, a movie about Ouija board should do well, as it is something on which a horror movie should be made more often. Well, we get to hear about it more than the usual local ghost, so why not we have more movies in this franchise?

Release date: 21st October 2016
Running time: 99 minutes
Directed by: Mike Flanagan
Starring: Elizabeth Reaser, Annalise Basso, Lulu Wilson, Parker Mack, Henry Thomas, Lin Shaye, Halle Charlton, Alexis G. Zall, Doug Jones, Kate Siegel, Sam Anderson, Ele Keats, Nicholas Keenan, Michael Weaver

@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

Before I Wake

Posted on January 12, 2017 by Tennyson

Vampire Owl: Do I get to make a sentence with this title?

Vampire Bat: What are you talking about?

Vampire Owl: I really wanted to make a sentence with these words as those school children do.

Vampire Bat: Why do you want to imitate school children when we are self-taught and vampire-learnt?

Vampire Owl: I just want to try it once like they do.

Vampire Bat: Okay, come up with the sentence.

Vampire Owl: Before I wake, I remember that I need to brush my teeth.

Vampire Bat: This is the most ridiculous sentence that I have heard – you never brush your teeth. And you should remember that before going to sleep, not after falling asleep.

Vampire Owl: I do brush my teeth, but I do that only in secret.

Vampire Bat: Secret? It is not like you are planning to bring the end of the world.

[Gets three cups of masala tea with banana chips].

What is the movie about? :: The married couple of Jessie (Kate Bosworth) and Mark (Thomas Jane) Hobson makes the decision to adopt a child after their young child dies all of a sudden, and as they realize that they can’t be parents biologically anymore. They haven’t really recovered from the loss of their only child, but they decide to go on with the adoption anyway hoping that it will make them forget and provide a child with a better life. The one whom they adopt is the eight year old boy Cody Morgan (Jacob Tremblay), who was adopted many times, but had to return to the foster home for a variety of reasons. After not much of a thought, they decide that this is the child for them. Even though Jessie is a lot more concerned with parenting after the unexpected death of her son, she decides to bring all the love to Cody, and so does Mark.

So, what happens next? :: There are just happy moments with the three around, and they get along really well. Cody seems like a good child, and the the couple leaves nothing behind in loving him. One night, the couple are surprised to see beautiful butterflies of different colours fly across the living room. But when Cody wakes up, things get back to how it used to be, and the butterflies suddenly disappear without leaving any trace. Another night, after talking to Cody about their dead son, they find the child standing in front of them at the main hall, and see him disappear when Cody wakes up. Jessie is fascinated by this, and shows him many videos of his son so that there is a better chance that Cody dreams about him when asleep – she also tries to keep him asleep so that he can dream. But there is more to his dreams that they know – and it will be revealed soon.

What all awaits in the dreams and nightmares? :: Cody talks a lot about The Canker Man (Topher Bousquet) who is always with him. As this person is supposed to arrive when he is asleep, he mostly stays awake reading about butterflies and other nice things. He often talks about this creature having eaten his mother, and keeps making sure that this shadowy creature is not present around him just before going to sleep. With all these powers that Cody’s dreams have, there is only more that the powerful nightmares can do, especially during a bad day at school or at home. It is certain that nobody believes him when he talks about it, and not many people who have seen it remains alive, with the rest of them in the mental asylum. With such dark power waiting to be unleashed, does the couple realize what they are going to face?

The defence of Before I Wake :: Well, this is not the horror-fest that we need, but the beautiful horror that could do even better. There are enough scary moments, and along with the same, the main idea is superb – to have a mind that could create things, but good and bad, through the dreams which become reality; you sleep, but what you have in your dreams and nightmares become the reality for the people who are awake. When you are not in control of these, you don’t wish to sleep at all – nobody can blame you for the same. There is a nicely designed creature here, and the same can be said about the environment as well as the world that is created inside the dreams and nightmares. Mike Flanagan has provided us some of the most interesting horror movies including Ouija: Origin of Evil and Oculus, and Absentia and Hush are two highly rated ones from him too, with Gerald’s Game coming up based on the Stephen King’s novel of same name. You can always expect something special when he is around.

The claws of flaw :: This one could have surely added more frightening moments, and also should have picked up the pace faster in the beginning stages. We do have an idea early enough, but things just move rather slowly during those times. The Canker Man, the monster, should have been in the movie for longer too – so could have been the use of his powers, with sleeping and dreaming being part of the action on screen when least expected. With the scope for imagination to run wild as this is about dreams and nightmares, one is sure to say that this movie could have easily made it into the list of favourites on many lists with more attention. There could have been something similar to the magic which Guillermo del Toro had created with his creatures in more than one movie, but this one’s focus keeps shifting from what was its biggest strength among them all – the nightmare creature, or the Canker Man.

How it finishes :: There is one thing that we can be sure about – it is that Before I Wake is more than just a horror movie; it dares to be different in its treatment of its monster and how things change to reach that end which leaves a smile on our faces. It ends with more of a beautiful feeling than anything else – it is something that horror movies don’t usually have. As Kate Bosworth provides with a performance that makes us feel the dreams and nightmares, happiness and sadness, life and death – all at one place, we are made sure that this is the horror movie which is not just about being terrifying, but also about something more than that. It is the success of this kind of a movie that we see here, which is part a fairy-tale and also a horror movie, being the kind of movie that we wish to watch before we go for sleep and have our daily dose of dreams and nightmares. Here we have those which make Crimson Peak and Mama proud.

Release date: 31st July 2016
Running time: 97 minutes
Directed by: Mike Flanagan
Starring: Kate Bosworth, Thomas Jane, Jacob Tremblay, Annabeth Gish, Dash Mihok, Topher Bousquet, Scottie Thompson, Justin Gordon, Kyla Deaver

@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

10 Cloverfield Lane

Posted on January 11, 2017 by Tennyson

Vampire Owl: I have an intense desire to say no to this movie.

Vampire Bat: Why would that be so? Is it your death anniversary?

Vampire Owl: No, it is because I have watched the 2008 movie called Cloverfield.

Vampire Bat: This is the sequel for that movie, but is not really a continuation of the same.

Vampire Owl: That makes things quite bad.

Vampire Bat: A spiritual successor to the 2008 movie, as they say.

Vampire Owl: I couldn’t stand the 2008 movie. It was as terrible as the usual found foootage movies.

Vampire Bat: And we do wonder why the critics like such an immature genre so much.

Vampire Owl: You call it a genre? I call it a disaster.

Vampire Bat: Well, this one is not found footage. The camera is good here and they use it well this time.

[Gets three cups of masala tea with jackfruit chips].

What is the movie about? :: Michelle (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) drives through the countryside after having an heated argument with her lover whom she was hoping to marry, but meets with an accident on the road and losses consciousness. She wakes up with injury on her leg, chained to a bed in a cellar with no idea where is she is or how she reached there. Her questions are answered by a man called Howard Stambler (John Goodman) who comes there and unchains her. He tells her that he saved her life, as it was certain death out there. The world has been devastated by a massive nuclear or chemical attack, most possibly by aliens or maybe even from an enemy country. The air outside is contaminated and people are all dying out there. All those whom she loves should have already died and there is no hope outside.

So, what happens next? :: Michelle finds it difficult to believe him at all. Then she meets Emmett (John Gallagher Jr.), how is Howard’s employee, who had helped him build this bunker and had forced his way in there when something terrible seemed to happen outside. She realizes that Howard has been planning this for a long time, as he got ready to face the apocalypse – he always believed that the world was going to end soon, and he had to surive; this idea from him had even kept his wife and daughter away from him. Howard shows Michelle two dead pigs outside the bunker with terrible sores on their bodies which seemed to prove that the air is contaminated. But at the same time, she sees the pick-up truck which had hit her car causing the accident, and it makes her wonder if it is all something planned to keep her a captive.

The defence of 10 Cloverfield Lane :: There are so many questions in 10 Cloverfield Lane, and there are twists all around, as the suspense is maintained right till those final moments in the bunker. Throughout the movie, there is the question if there is some attack going on outside the bunker, or is it just a lie used to keep the girl a captive – there is also the doubt about what all are outside – are they aliens, demons or an enemy nation bringing the war to the United States? You don’t know the exact answer for most of the movie. Despite this lack of answer, there is always the feeling of danger – we never really get to see the outside world till the final moments, but there is so much tension that we know that something really bad is going to happen, and the only question is if it is from an outside force or from the humans inside. The doubt is if they are safe inside the bunker or outside it. This is the mystery that you need.

The claws of flaw :: There will always be people who wishes for this movie to go the usual way, and there will be the fans of the first movie looking forward for this movie to follows the same path – but both of them are not going to happen here. There are also moments when you feel that the movie is stretched, and also those scenes outside the bunker which won’t do that much justice to this movie as a whole. There could have also been more scares, even without seeing what happens outside. There could be darkness and there could easily be nightmares that could have ruled the world underneath – but 10 Cloverfield Lane takes a more direct approach which is effective in another way, but without the quick and surprise scares. This movie also asks you to get into the setting, which you will need to do to get the maximum effectiveness – with the minimum resources and maximum effect, that may not be possible for everyone.

Performers of the soul :: Mary Elizabeth Winstead is the kind of actress whom you can choose for this kind of a movie without second thoughts – she has been nothing less than amazing in this role which had so much focus on her, as the central character – the leading lady as well as the protagonist; the survivor who needs to make it through the whole thing. Most people must have seen her as Bruce Willis’ popular character John McClane’s daughter Lucy in Live Free or Die Hard and A Good Day to Die Hard, the two of the last Die Hard movies. We remember her more for Final Destination 3 though – yes, the one with the roller coaster ride, and one of those five movies in which they all die a painful death. She is perfectly suited as the horror queen for this kind of a setting. John Goodman also brings a fine work here, and keeps us guessing about his past as well as the intentions. John Gallagher Jr. provides the needed support.

How it finishes :: The best thing about this movie is that it is not a direct sequel to the 2008 movie, Cloverfield. It would have been such pain to watch this one as a similar found footage horror movie which is the cheapest genre available. With this one daring to be different, and developed from a script titled The Cellar, manages to be a movie which has only a supernatural invasion as the one thing that joins the two. There is also the third movie in the franchise coming up in 2017, titled God Particle, which has a team of astronauts on a space station with Earth having disappeared – this one seems to be more or less a spiritual successor too, and lets see how it goes. As we wait for the next movie to come, we can watch 10 Cloverfield Lane and enjoy the variety in horror – there is always the need for the same, and this movie delivers that.

Release date: 11th March 2016
Running time: 103 minutes
Directed by: Dan Trachtenberg
Starring: Mary Elizabeth Winstead, John Goodman, John Gallagher Jr., Suzanne Cryer, Bradley Cooper (voice)

@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

The BFG

Posted on January 10, 2017 by Tennyson

Vampire Owl: Is it like LPG and CNG?

Vampire Bat: You seriously need to work on your studies about abbreviations.

Vampire Owl: So, it is not another kind of dirty fuel that humans use to destroy nature?

Vampire Bat: No, it stands for Big Friendly Giant.

Vampire Owl: Now, that is new. I am BFVO then. Big Friendly Vampire Owl.

Vampire Bat: Everybody knows that you are not friendly. You are surely not big either.

Vampire Owl: Come on, it is one of those lies spread by Werewolf Anger. He is just angry at me for no reason.

Vampire Bat: But I witness your lack of friendliness everyday.

Vampire Owl: You, sir need to check your vampire mind for hallucinations.

Vampire Bat: This is a Steven Spielberg movie. Will you just watch it?

[Gets three cups of masala tea with banana chips].

What is the movie about? :: Sophie (Ruby Barnhill), a ten year old orphan girl spends her nights at an orphanage at London by reading books, as she has a sleeping problem. She is more of a loner and has less number of friends there. Even though it is not allowed, she manages to stay awake at night all the time. One night, at three in the morning, which she herself calls the witching hour, she sees an old giant (Mark Rylance)outside through her window and the creature sees her too. It captures her and takes her to the Giant Country which is a secret place. As he establishes himself as a friendly giant and doesn’t want to eat her, she asks him to let her go, but he tells her that she has to stay there forever as she has seen him and now knows that the giants exist, which she will tell the other humans causing trouble for them. He also adds that if she tries to escape, one of those non-vegetarian giants will eat her.

So, what is it really about? :: There she understands that none of the giants really like the one she has named BFG a.k.a. Big Friendly Giant, starting with their leader, the Fleshlumpeater (Jemaine Clement) who thinks that he is good for nothing as he eats those which he considers as pathetic vegetables. The Bloodbottler (Bill Hader) doesn’t fall behind in hating the giant who doesn’t belong either. The list is long with the rest of the giants, the Butcher Boy (Michael Adamthwaite), the Bonecruncher (Daniel Bacon), the Manhugger (Adam Godley), the Gizzardgulper (Chris Gibbs), the Meatdripper (Paul Moniz de Sa), the Childchewer (Jonathan Holmes) and the Maidmasher (Olafur Darri Olafsson). All these giants are bigger and stronger than the BFG, and are not hesitant in making fun of him each and every time they meet.

So, what happens next? :: The special thing about the BFG is that unlike the other giants who spends their time in laziness, he is more of a scholar who can not only read, but is also skilled in many other fields. What he does with most of his life is to capture the dreams from Dream Country and send them to little children. With one of the giants getting hold of Sophie’s blanket, the BFG realizes that she won’t be safe anymore, anywhere in the Giant Country and tries to get rid of her – but she doesn’t agree to it, and soon, all the giants are at BFG’s place looking for the little human being for dinner as they can smell her. With all the destruction they cause at his place, finally the two friends decide that enough is enough, and these flesh-eating creatures need to be taught a lesson. But shouldn’t their preference be to survive rather than anything else? How can they do anything to the group of powerful giants?

The defence of The BFG :: The visual treat is the one thing that makes The BFG score really high, and there is absolutely no fault in that – the world of giants, dreams and everything is nothing less than that enchanting fairy-tale that we hope to see waiting for us. There is no dark shade to this tale either, even with those giants looking for humans to eat whenever it is possible – this is why there is so much of a magical effect which goes right into one’s heart to satisfy a childish side which rests there. The child takes over, and we can only see how satisfied that one is. The visual beauty is one thing, and the strong emotional side just gets right into us with Mark Rylance as the good giant making us feel amazingly good. The kid, Ruby Barnhill doesn’t stay far behind either, as this combination works like magic for all of us who have been looking for more and more of beautiful feelings within us. You are going to leave this one with a smile on the face, that stays.

The claws of flaw :: When you consider this one only as a Steven Spielberg movie, one is sure to expect more from The BFG. No, this is not going to stand that kind of an expectation, with our movie coming from a 1982 children’s book which was written by the British novelist Roald Dahl. Also illustrated by Quentin Blake, it is supposed to be an expansion of a short story from Dahl’s own 1975 book Danny, the Champion of the World. The first live-action adaptation of the same is this one, and so what we need here is to accept its childishness – otherwise, things are not going to work. This is the kind of movie which would have become my instant favourite if this had released during my childhood – still, it is surely not without its flaws, as rarely does it try to rise above what seems to be in the material; there is no attempt to make it bigger, as there was scope without doubt. The repetitions could have also been avoided.

How it finishes :: Even those adults who feel that there is nothing serious happening in a children’s movie will agree that there is fun in this one, and there was surely a visual treat that nobody can miss. There are those moments which come up with positive messages, and there is the funny side. Friendship is found when it is least expected, and the same is the case of courage and wisdom – you will know when you watch this movie. The sweetness in this movie will surely make you feel good, and wish that there was one big friendly giant who could bring a better meaning to your life – it is that much which the child in you will ask for, and it is what this movie delivers visually. It is your inner child and the misfit in you that wins this battle to choose the movie to go for, as I checked for some of the movies in my favourite genre, and still got attracted to this one more than those first choices on the list; your case will be no different.

Release date: 1st July 2016
Running time: 117 minutes
Directed by: Steven Spielberg
Starring: Mark Rylance, Ruby Barnhill, Penelope Wilton, Jemaine Clement, Rebecca Hall, Rafe Spall, Bill Hader, Michael Adamthwaite, Daniel Bacon, Adam Godley, Chris Gibbs, Paul Moniz de Sa, Jonathan Holmes, Olafur Darri Olafsson, Marilyn Norry, Chris Shields, Matt Frewer, Geoffrey Wade

@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

Midnight Special

Posted on January 9, 2017 by Tennyson

Vampire Owl: Now this one should be more about us.

Vampire Bat: What? I don’t see why!

Vampire Owl: It is midnight special. We are people of the midnight.

Vampire Bat: That was long ago. We are anywhere at any moment of time these days.

Vampire Owl: But what about our attacks during midnight?

Vampire Bat: The special plans are no longer limited to midnight, and there are no attacks.

Vampire Owl: But I do come up with attacks. Even on the last midnight, I scared twenty three people from outside their room’s windows.

Vampire Bat: Yes, but as a whole, we are a peace loving community.

Vampire Owl: Never mind. I will launch my personal attacks with my zombie minions.

Vampire Bat: As long as you keep it not connected to the vampire community, it should be fine.

[Gets three cups of masala tea with potato chips].

What is the movie about? :: Roy Tomlin (Michael Shannon) and his friend, a former state trooper Lucas (Joel Edgerton) are on the run with an eight year old boy named Alton Meyer (Jaeden Lieberher), as alerts keep coming on the television about a missing boy with Roy named as the kidnapper. Roy is revealed to be the father of the boy, but he has been trying to escape from both the government as well as a mysterious and fanatic religious cult, both who have been chasing the group of three. But the group is not willing to stop at any cost, and hopes to get further away from those who wants to capture them. The boy who is extremely photosensitive is protected by them, who are joined by Sarah Tomlin (Kirsten Dunst) who is the boy’s mother who is extremely delighted to see them again, but is not happy with almost the whole country chasing them.

So, what is it really about? :: This fanatic religious cult called The Ranch has been raising Alton for a long time, as he is supposed to be some kind of a saviour for them, who has come after years of prayers from them. Pastor Calvin Meyer (Sam Shepard) will not stop until he has his cult’s messiah back with them, and has sent his people to find the boy. At the same time, Agent Paul Sevier (Adam Driver) finds encoded satellite transmissions in the pastor’s sermons which is supposed to have been found from Alton’s talks, and it has FBI right after them, finding the boy as a threat to the national security. more and more people seems to be after them, with running and hiding becoming rather too difficult for the group. With time running out for them, they decide to keep fighting.

So, what happens next? :: The fact that this special boy even brought one satellite down just because it was tracking them, doesn’t help their case at all. One boy with so much of power seems to be something which the government can’t afford to go free – they surely has more plans for him, as there are more people after him after causing what seemed to be a meteor shower in the form of a destroyed satellite. They are also involved in terrible confrontations with state troopers and don’t get much of help from even their old friend from the cult. As the journey goes on, the boy only gets weaker and weaker. With him seeming to be extremely sick and might even possibly die, there seems not be not many options around other than to give up. But Alton himself has another idea for him, which none of his guardians can agree to. In the end, will they find the secret behind his powers and get him to safety?

The defence of Midnight Special :: There is a different story in store here as this science fiction flick’s divergence works throughout its run. Its specialty should be that it keeps the supernatural at a distance rather than exposing it to us in the beginning itself. It successfully keeps us guessing in the beginning stages as we wonder what this boy is all about, and what big twist is coming up near end. There is something huge going to happen, but we have no idea what it is, and the more we guess, the more we get confused – this one provides that kind of a feeling throughout its stages. The whole movie goes on like some chase, and our protagonists rarely get to stop here or there. The power of visuals are there when they are used to the movie’s advantage, even though that last very less. We are also left with the hope for a sequel in the midst of an emotionally powerful ending that comes as the end is reached, and you know that the drama works towards the end – the finish has its sadness.

The claws of flaw :: Well, Midnight Special is a movie which had the potential to do something better both with its philosophy as well as its content which wanders rather too much on the emotional side, due to which the ending is also not a thrilling one – something which has surely contributed well to its lesser total collection from the theatres. If there was more focus on what was happening rather than diving deep into the emotional side without enough explanations, this one could have done a lot better for the common man as well as those who think. There are mysteries that are not solved, and there are moments which could have been presented in a better way. With some signs of the visual spectacle which it could have been, also there, maybe there was surely the idea to do more, but it was to make itself just a good movie instead of becoming that special movie which was to stay in our minds for a long time.

How it finishes :: One special thing about Midnight Special even when it slows down in pace so much, is that it is a science fiction movie with a stronger human side than many others including Interstellar and Gravity. With Michael Shannon coming up with an emotionally powerful performance, and Kirsten Dunst supporting the same later, we have Joel Edgerton’s character as the most likable, and Jaeden Lieberher does a very good job as the kid too. Despite not everyone liking this movie in this same way considering it as a flick which would depend on the tastes of people to have it loved, one can be sure that Midnight Special will affect its viewers in one way or the other. You will also wish that it was a better movie, but one feels that this is exactly how the makers wanted the movie to work, and in no other way. Take your time and find what can be termed “special” in Midnight Special.

Release date: 18th March 2016
Running time: 111 minutes
Directed by: Jeff Nichols
Starring: Jaeden Lieberher, Michael Shannon, Joel Edgerton, Kirsten Dunst, Adam Driver, Sam Shepard, Paul Sparks, Nathan Brimmer, Bill Camp, Scott Haze, James DuMont, Billy Slaughter, Sean Bridgers

@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

Central Intelligence

Posted on January 8, 2017 by Tennyson

Vampire Owl: So, are we looking for what the Rock is cooking?

Vampire Bat: No, we are not. We will just watch the movie and come back to the castle.

Vampire Owl: But I am hungry. As hungry as a werewolf on an indefinite hunger strike during a full moon night.

Vampire Bat: When he say so, it doesn’t really mean that.

Vampire Owl: So, he doesn’t cook?

Vampire Bat: Whether he cooks or not, we are not going to have that.

Vampire Owl: So, it is not available with the movie. You mean to say that there is no offer.

Vampire Bat: No, it is not. We have to buy our own food with money from our pockets.

Vampire Owl: And unfortunately, we have a cashless vampire economy.

Vampire Bat: But we have the food here.

[Gets three cups of masala tea with tapioca chips].

What is the movie about? :: At a big event, the school’s most popular student and star athlete Calvin Joyner (Kevin Hart) is being honored by the students and teachers. At the same time, a bully, Trevor Olson (Jason Bateman) and his arrogant friends grab the overweight student Robbie Wierdicht (Dwayne Johnson) from the gym shower and throw him into the centre of the event to humiliate him. With only Calvin and his girlfriend, Maggie Johnson (Danielle Nicolet) showing some sympathy to him, Robbie disappears from the school never to be heard about again for a long time. Many years later, Calvin is married to Robbie and is working as a forensic accountant. With both of them working, and spending almost no good time together, they feel that their marriage is in trouble, and Calvin is also disappointed with his work itself, finding it dull and boring.

So, what happens next? :: While spending his boring time at work and being highly displeased that people who are not that good as him are getting promotions and raise, Calvin receives a friend request on Facebook from a man named Bob Stone – even if he can’t figure out who this man is, he just accepts the request. The man on the other side reveals that he is the old schoolmate Robbie who had disappeared long ago, and asks for a meeting. As they meet, the two are surprised to see that the situation has gone upside down with the man who was supposed to be a big success is caught in a job he doesn’t like, and the one who was humiliated and considered to be good for nothing is now a muscular man with a lot of confidence and happiness – plus he is more than that. Calvin will know more about it when a group of CIA agents led by Pamela Harris (Amy Ryan) arrive at his house – it is the time to save the world, can it be done?

The defence of Central Intelligence :: There is fun guaranteed with Central Intelligence as the two of the leading actors and situations continue to bring the laughter to us, and the action is also stylish from The Rock. There is one thing that we can be thankful about more than anything else, and it is that this one doesn’t go on to be like that terrible, third-rate movie called Kingsman: Secret Service which was the worst comedy movie which we had the chance to watch in such a long time – so many people have pretended to like it just because critics have felt something in the vulgar and violent presence in the movie, but nobody here is falling for that. Here in this movie, we have the fun that we can relate to, and with The Rock punching not just through the walls, but also through our need for comedy, there is the strength of Central Intelligence that gets magnified with its cast. It is the same reason why the movie holds things together even when it is going through a lazy path in between.

The claws of flaw :: One has to feel that with more situations added, Central Intelligence could have been a lot more fun, and might have even become the funniest movie in a long time. The plot also doesn’t hold on strong enough, with a climax that doesn’t go on to create that much of big effect with its twists or the comedy – the big twist could have been done better, but this one refuses to do the same. We do feel this idea is done too many times before, and this one needed the special ingredient within. There are jokes that are rather repetitive, and some of them are not really funny for the common man or the thoughtful ones – the presence of such jokes could have been avoided to fill up with those more quality ones. We remember the movie The Rundown which was also called Welcome to the Jungle – with The Rock himself teaming up with Seann William Scott, that was actually more fun.

Performers of the soul :: The Rock stays at the centre of this one too, bringing all fun right to us – Dwayne Johnson plays this role bringing so much entertainment to us. Always the entertainer, whether it is the WWE where he is one of my all-time favourite wrestlers with the Undertaker and Triple H, or even in the movies like Hercules or the Fast and Furious series, there is no exception on his part here. He scores not just with the comedy, but also with those action sequences. Kevin Hart becomes the right partner for him with all the fun around. Their combination is so much fun that, they provide almost everything that this movie needs – it is only until the two meet that you have to wait, and everything begins right there, as you would expect. Aaron Paul who is a lot remembered for Need For Speed, once again has a nice role to do which seemed to be so simple for him. Amy Ryan nicely fits in as the agent too.

How it finishes :: Along with the entertainment, there is a strong message against bullying in Central Intelligence. It shows how someone who was bullied and considered to be among the worst students in all ways, having the least chance to succeed, get to be the person that nobody expected him to be. The same works the other way too, with the big success story of schools and colleges being not meeting the expectations. Well, you gain nothing by underestimating or overestimating people, as none of them are the same. One day or the other, each of us have to face the world in our own ways, and with what we want being different in each case, the judgment that people pass on us won’t be the right one. Everyone is different, and all of us have our own success stories. It is up-to the so called society to accept us as what we are.

Release date: 17th June 2016
Running time: 107 minutes
Directed by: Rawson Marshall Thurber
Starring: Dwayne Johnson (The Rock), Kevin Hart, Amy Ryan, Aaron Paul, Danielle Nicolet, Jason Bateman, Dilan Boyack, Timothy John Smith, Megan Park, Ryan Hansen, Thomas Kretschmann, Phil Reeves, Kumail Nanjiani, Slaine, Melissa McCarthy (cameo)

@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

The Legend of Tarzan

Posted on January 7, 2017 by Tennyson

Vampire Owl: I remember this particular person.

Vampire Bat: Did you read his story a long time ago too? There were so many available novels with him as the central character.

Vampire Owl: The Great Vampire Owl doesn’t read such things.

Vampire Bat: Then who are you talking about?

Vampire Owl: I am talking about the person on the dead tree near our castle.

Vampire Bat: Dude, he is the werewolf who was called to decorate our special spooky tree for the upcoming Vampire-Werewolf cultural fest.

Vampire Owl: So, he is not this Tarzan. It is disappointing, but the same does inspire me to throw a stone at that werewolf.

Vampire Bat: One stone means nothing to a werewolf. He won’t even know about it.

Vampire Owl: For my health to remain good, I hope he won’t know about it ever.

Vampire Bat: You are lucky to be alive with such plans going on in your head.

[Gets three cups of masala tea with banana chips].

Flashback to the tale :: We remember this character from our childhood, don’t we? There might have been many more at a more English kind of a world of books and comics, but here the main characters were The Phantom, Mandrake and Tarzan, a group which was challenged only by those superheroes with names ending with men – Batman, Spider-Man, Superman and He-Man; that was all for my childhood. Edgar Rice Burroughs was known only to us for writing Tarzan during those days, but after watching John Carter, my favourite character from him did change. There were a good number of translated Tarzan novels available in Malayalam during those days, and I grew up reading them, while the rest of the superheroes came in comics and rarely on corners of newspapers. This tale of the child raised in the African jungles by the Mangani great apes was a fascinating one for a long time.

What is the movie about? :: In the year 1884, at the Berlin conference, the colonial powers of the world had decided to divide Congo, the area that has most of the River Congo flowing through and around it. King Leopold of Belgium claimed the the bigger area, that should be mostly the Democratic Republic of the Congo of these times or as earlier the Republic of Zaire, which includes the vast Congo Basin, rich in ivory and a lot of minerals. With an intense ambition to exploit his new colony and its resources, he uses all his power for control as well as building the infrastructure for his forces, but five years later, he only ends up in debt desperate for money to pay for his army stationed there. With his reputation fading infront of the other colonial powers, he sends his most trusted follower, Leon Rom (Christoph Waltz) the the Congo to find and gather the legendary diamonds of Opar.

So, what happens next? :: Leon and his group of soldiers are ambushed and except him, each gets murdered by the tribe that guards the diamonds. The leader of the tribe, Chief Mbonga (Djimon Hounsou), has a discussion, and offers him the diamonds in exchange for an old enemy whose death is considered as his salvation, Tarzan (Alexander Skarsgard). But there is no longer a Tarzan, as he is now John Clayton III, Lord Greystoke (Alexander Skarsgård), who has settled down at his ancestral home in London with his American wife, Jane Porter (Margot Robbie) with no more of the thoughts related to Africa. Even though his tales have a certain kind of legendary status in the city, he doesn’t intend to go back to the forest and has managed to blend into what all were part of the civilised life there. With his adaptation of the Victorian lifestyle, there would be no man who would identify him as not part of London.

So, where does the twist happen? :: Through the British Prime Minister (Jim Broadbent), he knows that he is invited by King Leopold to visit the Congo and see its development. An American envoy, George Washington Williams (Samuel L. Jackson) also requests him to have a look to see how the native population is treated there, as he feels that the king’s men have enslaved them terribly – finally Tarzan agrees. After being persuaded by Jane, he allows her to accompany him along with George. As they arrive at Congo and rest at a tribal village with the inhabitants being known to them from their earlier stay, they are captured by the troops of Leon, but Tarzan and George escapes. Tarzan will not rest until he finds Leon and finish him after rescuing Jane. But with the guns of the Belgian troops and mercenaries against him along with one ferocious tribe looking for his blood, can he accomplish the same?

The defence of The Legend of Tarzan :: It always good to have a new take on the tales that we have read as children, and this movie also provides the same, and works as a nice sequel for the people who have lived through this man’s tale. There are some very nice action sequences in this one, and the best of them should be Tarzan traveling on the ropes, and fighting his ape-brother. There are some really good performances to support this too, with Alexander Skarsgard leading the way as Tarzan, a role which he seems to have taken in as the way it is supposed to. Meanwhile, Margot Robbie excels as Jane, with her character seemingly having more dimensions than a usual fan would have thought – something which we saw more intensely with her Harley Quinn in Suicide Squad; the two characters are poles apart, but she has nailed them both, without leaving one with chances of questioning – unless there are some dumb questions to ask, for which there is no shortage as long as there are people.

The claws of flaw :: The flashbacks in the story are not really that good, as it comes at those times when we are going through the flow of the proceedings, and the journey back only breaks it. There is also some slowing down in the pace of the movie, and there are times when it makes us wait rather too much for the next thing to happen. More firepower could have been used, and more beautiful shots were to be used in the jungle which had so much possibilities – they have had the basic material about Tarzan for such a long time, and there is this technology, and they could have easily made this one without the slowness and the dull moments which come in here and there. There is also no doubt that Tarzan could have used a better thought process behind it, but as it is now, it remains an interesting action-adventure that takes you back to the childhood days – it is never really away from the movie that we wished to watch in the childhood.

Release date: 1st July 2016
Running time: 110 minutes
Directed by: David Yates
Starring: Alexander Skarsgard, Samuel L. Jackson, Margot Robbie, Djimon Hounsou, Jim Broadbent, Christoph Waltz, Casper Crump, Hadley Fraser, Genevieve O’Reilly, Yule Masiteng, Simon Russell Beale, Matt Cross as Akut, Madeleine Worrall, William Wollen

@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

Star Trek Beyond

Posted on January 4, 2017 by Tennyson

Vampire Owl: So where does it go beyond?

Vampire Bat: How can I know? I have only seen enough to know that it is Star Trek.

Vampire Owl: Can it be beyond the gates of hell?

Vampire Bat: Yes, it is indeed possible.

Vampire Owl: Do you know that there are many other interesting gates which can lead to better places?

Vampire Bat: Yes, but everyone makes their own choices about movies, and we do go for this one!

Vampire Owl: And we do make some wise choices.

Vampire Bat: We made such choices for the previous movies of this franchise.

Vampire Owl: This should be the chance to make three out of three.

Vampire Bat: I don’t see why not.

[Gets three cups of masala tea with jackfruit chips].

What is the movie about? :: As the USS Enterprise arrives at the space station known as Yorktown, Captain James T. Kirk (Chris Pine) has applied for a position as Vice Admiral because he can find no meaning to what he has been doing with the spaceship with endless journeys which had stopped making sense to him. Spock (Zachary Quinto) is to be the new captain of the ship according to him, but the man from Vulcan is also not without his problems as he wishes to continue the work of his own future self as the person has died. His relationship with Nyota Uhura (Zoe Saldana) had become too strained that it no longer exists. Kalara (Lydia Wilson) who comes out of an uncharted nebula to Yorktown, seeks help to reclaim her stranded ship along with its crew. The Enterprise volunteers to be of use and is immediately sent on a rescue mission.

So, what happens next? :: The only place where USS Enterprise reaches is right into trouble, as an ambush awaits them led by an enemy called Krall (Idris Elba) who seems to be some kind of mutated alien creature from unknown space. Krall and his army search for a relic called the Abronath which the crew had as part of an unsuccessful diplomatic mission. As his search turns out to be unsuccessful, he takes most of the crew as prisoners instead, and the ship is destroyed. Only a few of them including Kirk and Spock manage to be free on the new planet. There, they would come across Jaylah (Sofia Boutella), an alien scavenger and with Leonard McCoy (Karl Urban) and Montgomery Scott (Simon Pegg), prepare plans to save their crew members and try to stop the dangerous villain from finding that relic to use it as a weapon which could destroy life on more than one planet.

The defence of Star Trek Beyond :: The movie looks really good, and the visuals effects keep saving the day again and again. We know that there are so many worlds, and this one makes use of such presence to bring some visual splendour on the screen. There are also some interesting action sequences to go with it, or rather a lot of them. We cannot question this movie’s skills as an action movie, as Star Trek Beyond excels right there, even though one might feel that it happens at the expense of other factors of the flick. With evil trying to destroy the whole world and our heroes trying to save it again, the thrills are there as expected too. There is also the message about unity in diversity, if you want to look at it that way. We also have all out interesting characters continuing to be here, except for the one played by Alice Eve, which is surely a bad miss.

The claws of flaw :: For some reason, this third movie of the franchise doesn’t make the best use of all those which are available. It had the opportunity to make us explore a new world with the protagonists, but they just choose to go normal, which is not that appropriate considering the kind of scope this franchise has. The villain is also not that powerful as the antagonists of the previous movies – we feel that he is stronger in the beginning, but as things progress towards the end, he becomes part of that twist which is not that effective. It is a lot like the ideas getting limited for no reason. There was so much scope with how things were going, but all of a sudden, people seems to be afraid to try anymore, and even when they have managed to keep this one enjoyable, we are always looking for more with a Star Trek movie – it is supposed to get better and cross frontiers to go beyond without being repetitive!

Performers of the soul :: This movie’s entertainment is surely not that much dependent on its performers who don’t get to do that much as they did in the previous movies, as the movie provides less chance with going for the visual effects and action instead of concentrating enough on the characters. The one person who impresses more though, is Karl Urban who gets to bring more fun to us than in the previous flicks. There is also Sofia Boutella playing an alien scavenger, and even though her character is more cliche and without providing us with the surprises, she is really good there – we had to get a good character in here, and here is one. Even with Idris Elba playing the villain, they just couldn’t get enough of that ‘evil creature trying to destroying the world’ idea. We surely had it working better in the previous two movies. Zoe Saldana does mostly nothing, and Chris Pine as well as Zachary Quinto are not that much fun as in earlier movies with the crisis in their characters’ minds.

How it finishes :: One does feel that the makers shouldn’t take this much time to come up with a sequel, as we know that three years is too much of a gap between movies in a franchise like this – they did the same with the first two movies too, but this time, the time period between the two feels even more. I have to say that even though this movie is not as good as its predecessors, it is still an enjoyable flick, and we can look forward to another movie in the series with better ideas. There is still one thing that I would hope for – for the space ship in this movie to not be destroyed partially or completely, and I would also make a humble request not to make the action take the centre stage – it should not get to become Fast and Furious or XXX in space, because Star Trek should always be more than that. We trust the franchise enough to hope for that.

Release date: 22nd July 2016
Running time: 122 minutes
Directed by: Justin Lin
Starring: Chris Pine, Karl Urban, John Cho, Simon Pegg, Zachary Quinto, Sofia Boutella, Zoe Saldana, Anton Yelchin, Idris Elba, Lydia Wilson, Sara Maria Forsberg, Deep Roy, Joe Taslim, Melissa Roxburgh, Shohreh Aghdashloo, Greg Grunberg, Danny Pudi, Kim Kold, Anita Brown, Doug Jung, Dan Payne, Shea Whigham

@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

Suicide Squad

Posted on January 3, 2017 by Tennyson

What is the movie about? :: During the events that follow Superman’s (Henry Cavill) death in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, CIA’s Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) assembles Task Force X, a team consisting of dangerous criminals. The team was to consist of a highly skilled hitman who is never supposed to miss with his gun in the hands – Deadshot (Will Smith), a former psychiatrist who has a lot of madness inside her which she isn’t afraid to show to the world creating chaos – Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie), a pyrokinetic gangster who refuses to be evil anymore after a disaster – El Diablo (Jay Hernandez), a thief who is exceptionally skilled in using boomerang – Captain Boomerang (Jai Courtney), a genetically mutated crocodile-like human supposed to have cannibalistic tendencies along with his superior strength – Killer Croc (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje), and a mercenary with high level grappling and scaling skills with a lot of combat practice – Slipknot (Adam Beach).

So, what happens next in the movie? :: Amanda intends to use them for the defence of the nation, as the big void which was left by the superhero’s death is sure to make it easy for the dangerous and twisted criminals and metahumans to strike terror upon the heart of common man, and the usual military and police might not be able to stop them. The new expendable assets are placed under the command of Colonel Rick Flag (Joel Kinnaman). Each member has a nano bomb inside their necks, which could be activated to explode, so as to make sure that none of these criminals try to do anything smart of make an attempt to escape. Another one whom Amanda intend to recruit is Rick Flag’s girlfriend and archeologist Dr. June Moone (Cara Delevingne) whose other form is Enchantress, an ancient goddess and witch who has taken over her body, and appears at times.

So, what all trouble awaits our people? :: Enchantress is not someone who will take this dishonour of her godly self lightly, as she turns on Amanda for imprisoning her, and with the help of her brother Incubus (Alain Chanoine), unleashes terror. The ancient evil finds herself ready to destroy everything that humans holds dear in return for their disrespectful treatment of her. With their vast magical abilities, the brother and sister duo takes control of a subway station and transforms humans into monsters listening only to their command. But Enchantress is just one of their problems as there is someone else after them – The Joker (Jared Leto) who is coming to get Harley Quinn. The situation only gets worse when the team members get the reality about what all are being hidden from them. But they form the last hope for humanity in a world without Superman – what will they choose to do with the world having done nothing for them?

The defence of Suicide Squad :: We can consider this movie more as some kind of poetry in motion, with lots of music being used here and there, and the way in which the action progresses is also nothing less than poetic – you will see a lot of it with the Harley Quinn – Joker sequences which come as flashback scenes. The movie had to introduce so many characters at once, and this one has managed to do that – something which a lot of movies will fail to do, and some of them won’t even try, and in that case, Suicide Squad is a clear winner with its attempts. There are smart dialogues and fine action sequences, with those special effects doing the job really well. Unlike the fake characters in the overrated Guardians of the Galaxy, there is no pretending going on here either – we know who all these people, and they make us believe. Well, you don’t need to pretend that you didn’t like this one just because a number of critics said so!

Positives and negatives :: There is no doubt that people will have many reasons to like as well as dislike this movie, and there will be occasions when both will be the same – certain beauty of some parts of this movie will be what some people won’t like, and vice versa; it is how this movie works personally. There are also some characters that go away without being noticed, and even with a full squad, some of them are just not completely there. We surely needed more of the Joker, but it is not there – he is not the villain as some people might have thought, as the Enchantress takes up that position. Also in comparison, one might not find this version of the man to be making that much impact as they wanted him to. Opposite to what some people had said, this is actually a better movie than the hype which was Guardians of the Galaxy, as we get to connect to the bad guys as people in this flick, unlike the fakes which we had there – and the fun here is more real, and so is the danger.

Performers of the soul :: The best of performances begin with Margot Robbie as the crazy female villain who brings a grand effect to us. There is something about each action of the character, and this one is a full entertainer as long as she is there. There is a certain kind of dark poetry related to her, and some of it can be seen also in the Enchantress played by Cara Delevingne who brings one of the better female villains around – there is something about her from the very first time she is introduced, and whether as the witch-goddess or as the archeologist, she looks too good. Will Smith also scores at his moments, as the hitman who makes us emotionally connected to the character. Jay Hernandez has El Diablo going steady, while the rest of the bad guys just follow the path with these people getting to score more than the others, and as I said earlier, the Joker is underused.

How it finishes :: Suicide Squad is special because it is different, and even in that difference, this one is divergent in an excellent manner. Maybe people still wanted to have the same kind of superhero movies, but not with this one – it has decide to change things, and it is one’s choice to like it or go for the “usual superhero saving the day after destroying a whole city and killing so many people around” kind of thing. Even with the so called criminals teaming up, the number of common people killed in this movie is not much – not that much of top level evil in the bad guys, as you can see. This would make a perfect video game too, with these interesting characters around – but if there is a computer game existing for a movie, won’t the pseudo-intellectuals reviewing the movies make this one look even worse with their reviews? Lets hope that movies like Suicide Squad will be saved from such people! At the same time, I hope that you have enough divergence and a little bit of madness in you good enough to understand this movie.

Release date: 5th August 2016
Running time: 123 minutes
Directed by: David Ayer
Starring: Will Smith, Jared Leto, Margot Robbie, Cara Delevingne, Joel Kinnaman, Viola Davis, Jai Courtney, Jay Hernandez, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Ike Barinholtz, Scott Eastwood, Karen Fukuhara, Ike Barinholtz, Adam Beach, Alain Chanoine, David Harbour, Alex Meraz, Jim Parrack, Shailyn Pierre-Dixon, Corina Calderon, Ben Affleck (cameo), Ezra Miller (Cameo), David Ayer (cameo), Jason Momoa (cameo)

@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

X-Men: Apocalypse

Posted on January 2, 2017 by Tennyson

What is the movie about? :: En Sabah Nur (Oscar Isaac), later known as the Apocalypse, the world’s first mutant possessed powers that were stronger than everyone else combined, and ruled the ancient Egyptian civilisation as the force that nobody could think about stopping. Worshipped as God and obeyed as the king, he enjoyed unlimited powers in the greatest civilisation of its time on the banks of River Nile. Using his powers to make himself even stronger and supported by four other powerful mutants who are referred to as the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, he easily got rid of all those who stood against him. But one day, his worshipers who had enough of his tyranny manage to hold and bury him inside a pyramid at a time when he was changing his body to keep his eternal life going. With his mutant force dead while trying to preserve him, he stayed there, buried deep.

So, what happens next in the movie? :: After many years, Apocalypse awakens to a world which is nowhere near his vision. With the weaklings humans having control over everything with their machines, he decides to destroy all that mankind has built to create a new world which will have him and his fellow mutants as gods and demigods, who are to be worshiped by the weak humans. With Egypt as the centre of the new world again, he would bring the change that every mutant would have wanted to happen at some point. As an immortal being, he understands that he should still be the greatest power of the time, even bigger than the weapons of mass destruction that the man has invented, and also those mutants of the newer age. With the rise of the Apocalypse, Jean Grey (Sophie Turner) begins to have terrible visions about the end of the world.

So, what follows the rise of Apocalypse? :: Alex Summers a.k.a. Havoc (Lucas Till) finds out that his younger brother Scott a.k.a. Cyclops (Tye Sheridan) is mutating and is having problems with controlling the optic beams coming out of his eyes. He takes Scott to Professor Charles Xavier’s (James McAvoy) institute for mutants, hoping that they could find some way to bring him in control. There, Scott meets Jean and they become good friends. Meanwhile, Apocalypse finds his four horsemen starting with Ororo Munroe a.k.a. Storm (Alexandra Shipp) who is a pickpocket wandering around the streets of Cairo, Psylocke (Olivia Munn) who happens to be a blackmarket enforcer, Angel (Ben Hardy) who used to be a fighter, and Erik Lehnsherr a.k.a. Magneto (Michael Fassbender) who is deeply saddened by the death of his wife and daugher in the hands of humans.

What fate awaits the world with Apocalypse unleashed? :: With Raven Darkholme a.k.a. Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence) returning to the institute with the new recruit Kurt Wagner a.k.a. Nightcrawler (Kodi Smit-McPhee) to talk about Magneto and Peter Maximoff a.k.a. Quicksilver (Evan Peters) joining them in a search for his father, can they stop the evil that threatens to destroy the world right from its foundation itself? What does Dr. Henry McCoy a.k.a the Beast (Nicholas Hoult) who is looking forward to being themselves and the CIA agent Moira MacTaggert (Rose Byrne) who has been witness to the rise of this ancient evil think? What role does Colonel William Stryker (Josh Helman) has to play as he looks forward to turn these mutants into weapons following his Weapon X programme? Does any of these mutants stand a chance against Apocalypse and his upgraded horsemen?

The defence of X-Men: Apocalypse :: The big advantage of this X-Men movie that it makes the viewers think – it is a development that has come a long way since this series first showed up. The action sequences are also nothing less than amazing, with the mutants at their full power battling for what they think is the best for their world. The battles are nicely done, and there are lots of visual effects that are used really well. In the end, it become more of that visual treat, and its mutant characters are all very interesting, and the most interesting one should be Nightcrawler who returns to the franchise after a long time. Sophie Turner as Jean Grey becomes a nice improvement for this character that we have seen before and had gone to the worst possible level in X-Men: The Last Stand. Olivia Munn as Psylocke also catches our attention even when she gets less screen space, and with all of them around, the final battle becomes something nothing less than a full action treat.

Positives and negatives :: Among all X-Men movies, I have felt that this one is not just the best looking, but also the best-fitting into that long list of puzzles that make the franchise. Some people might find this rising evil and saving the world to be repetitive, but without that what would superhero movies do? Maybe Apocalypse is that kind of a villain who got even more possibilities, but this one works as it is. This one also doesn’t directly continue from where the last movie had left off. Meanwhile, the movie also reminds you of how good Michael Fassbender is, as Magneto never gets to be any less interesting. Evan Peters’ Quicksilver continues to catch one’s attention, as he also gets his own nice sequences. There is one sad thing though, and it is that Mystique doesn’t get enough of her place as a character with her own style to be interesting, and the same is the case of the Beast and Storm. Well, you needed a spectacle bigger than the previous movies, and you can have it here – just keep the thoughts of repetitions away from the mind!

How it finishes :: X-Men: Apocalypse is actually an improvement from its predecessors released in the last few years, including X-Men First Class, The Wolverine, X-Men: Days of Future Past and Deadpool. Filled with entertainment right from the beginning, and also having a fine emotional side, this movie will make sure that the full 144 minutes don’t go missing. With all these mutant powers running wild, one has to wonder why people can choose not like this movie. The full dose of action that is present here often makes one wonder if Avenger movies can take something right out of this one. There is intelligence in the choice of mutants and the use of their powers displayed on screen, and we have to accept the fact that this is a superior superhero compared to many others which get too much of positive opinions.

Release date: 27th May 2016
Running time: 144 minutes
Directed by: Bryan Singer
Starring: James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Oscar Isaac, Nicholas Hoult, Rose Byrne, Tye Sheridan, Sophie Turner, Olivia Munn, Lucas Till, Ben Hardy, Josh Helman, Lana Condor, Tómas Lemarquis, Warren Scherer, Rochelle Okoye, Monique Ganderton, Fraser Aitcheson, Zehra Leverman, Željko Ivanek, Anthony Konechny, Hugh Jackman (Cameo), Bryan Singer (cameo)

@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

Warcraft

Posted on January 1, 2017 by Tennyson

Vampire Owl: An orc story? How can you even think about it? This is a no-orc zone around here.

Vampire Bat: It is a humans against orcs tale.

Vampire Owl: Whatever it is, I just can’t stand these orcs. They don’t even smell good.

Vampire Bat: Why do you try to smell them? It is totally unnecessary.

Vampire Owl: It is not intentional. We just come across one or two of them at the Goblin Market all the time.

Vampire Bat: Why do you go to the Goblin Market?

Vampire Owl: What? I just love their special fruit juice.

Vampire Bat: Dude, they are not healthy drinks. You should just stick to the natural vampire drinks.

Vampire Owl: Still healthier than those human-made things like Pepsi and Coca-Cola.

Vampire Bat: Well, I can agree to that.

[Gets three cups of masala tea with banana chips].

Flashback to the game :: As all of you would know by now, Warcraft is an adaptation of the game of the same name, just as Resident Evil, Silent Hill, Hitman, Max Payne, Need For Speed, Alone in the Dark and Prince of Persia had been, among the others. But what Warcraft has achieved here, is that it has gone on to become the highest grossing video game adaptation of all-time, thus creating a fine record, despite what the critics have been saying. We know that the critics are never fond of a movie made from a video game, as they are all sitting there waiting to blame the attempt. But Warcraft has a longer history for me than any other game, as Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness is the first real-time strategy (non-turn based) or any strategy game that I had ever played, thus making way for more strategy games getting into my head, from Age of Empires to Caesar, Age of Wonders, Age of Mythology, Disciples and Civilization. Therefore Warcraft has a special place in my mind, as for many others.

What was the game about? :: The game had orcs entering this dimension through a portal, and after the initial raids, were slowly making their way more and more into the human lands. The first game, Warcraft: Orcs & Humans, even though it might look too simple for the gamers of this age, had a firm base for the battles established, which Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness nicely used to its advantage with new additions. Winning a good number of awards during the year of its release, the second game was nothing less than top quality fun. In the game, even though orcs have the superior strength and keeps on gaining brutal victories, there are interesting units on both sides. Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos which comes much later introduces two new races, the Night Elves and the and Undead. It was followed by the expansion, The Frozen Throne. Then there was World of Warcraft, a massively multiplayer online role-playing game, and with a number of expansions, the saga continues – so can the movie live up-to that?

What is the movie about? :: The orcs are in a battle for existence as their world is almost near extinction – they look forward to finding new lands for their people, as Gul’dan (Daniel Wu), a powerful orc warlock opens a portal to the human world, and invites all tribes of orcs to join forces for one purpose, to claim new lands for themselves. Durotan (Toby Kebbell), the chief of the Frostwolf Clan is a man who believes in honour and fairness, and he also joins the first group of orcs who come through the portal as he is looking for a better place for his family to thrive. With the brutal raids from orcs destroying villages, Khadgar (Ben Schnetzer), a mage finds the evil magic of fel in the bodies of the dead, and warns the knight Sir Anduin Lothar (Travis Fimmel). King Llane Wrynn (Dominic Cooper) chooses to call for the Guardian, Medivh (Ben Foster) with whose help, they capture Garona Halforcen (Paula Patton), a half-orc. But things are more than just about a battle between the two races.

The defence of Warcraft :: There is one thing about Warcraft that everyone should agree on – it is an amazingly good-looking movie; with visuals which will make one feel the fantasy world with all its beauty. There are shots from the top which often reminds one of the game itself, not just the one this is inspired from, but also about many other strategy fantasy games. The visual effects make sure that the magic combined with swordfights create even better impact. Among the characters, it is the half-orc played by Paula Patton that steals the show. The movie’s message is sacrifice throughout its run, as both the races got the respective leaders striving to make sure that it gets better for their own people. Even in an effort to survive, there is no loss of honour on the good side, and there is no missing pieces of evil on the other side, the dark magic that comes in between the two races. Fans have waited for this movie so long, and so they should like it without doubt.

The claws of flaw :: There are places where Warcraft could have been better and less predictable. It could have had more races in the battle scenes instead of just being present there. The orc characters are actually better than the humans too, winning our respect, while the humans trail – it is surprising that the orcs decide not to finish off the human knight, but they allowed their own cheftain to be killed earlier; there is something strange in the working in totality. The two main human characters, the guardian and the commander knight become flaws of the movie as they keep losing strength all the time. Well, it is the time for orcs to have some fun – the hobbits had so much of the same, and the undead have been enjoying too much; let the orcs get their due too. There are times when one wonder if the movie could have used more of the games, and there will be the question if the special effects were overused.

How it finishes :: There can be many claims against Warcraft, but the truth is that it manages to be better than many other movies which doesn’t have the backup of a video game – just because this is based on a popular game, this has been given too much negative reviews. But Warcraft is better than all that, and along with being the highest grossing video game adaptation of all-time, it also has enough in it to gain the attention of those who are not prejudiced. With the chance for a sequel open, we can be sure that this can expand into a fine franchise, as long as the sceptics won’t bother us with more of the prejudice saying that this is from a video game and so it can’t be good. This one has almost all that one needs in an entertaining movie without going through the path of some dumb fun. Therefore, it needs to be shown some appreciation that it deserves.

Release date: 10th June 2016
Running time: 123 minutes
Directed by: Duncan Jones
Starring: Travis Fimmel, Paula Patton, Ben Foster, Dominic Cooper, Toby Kebbell, Ben Schnetzer, Robert Kazinsky, Daniel Wu, Ruth Negga, Anna Galvin, Callum Keith Rennie, Burkely Duffield, Ryan Robbins, Dean Redman, Terry Notary, Michael Adamthwaite, Glenn Close

@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

The Purge: Election Year

Posted on December 27, 2016 by Tennyson

Background to the movie :: This tale, at its background, has the group which is known as the New Founding Fathers of America (NFFA), whom after taking control of the American government, establishes a new state. They go on to legalize what they called “The Purge” which would take place every year from seven in the evening of March the twenty first to seven in the morning of March the twenty second, during which all crime including murder and robbery becomes legal. With an emergency broadcast, the Purge begins, and with the same, unleashes the terror. Only the government officials with the authorization levels that are ten or higher are provided immunity from the Purge, and all police, fire, and emergency medical services remain unavailable for the twelve hours of time. There is only chaos in the streets, and people unleash themselves on others, and most of the time, it is the poor who suffers, with not enough money to pay for their security.

Flashbacks of the Purge :: The first movie was set in the year 2022, with James Sandin (Ethan Hawke), a seller of top security systems, returns home to spend the night of Purge locked inside his home with his wife, Mary (Lena Headey), and their two kids, Zoey (Adelaide Kane) and Charlie (Max Burkholder), but finds themselves in trouble from the purgers who are looking for a wounded man (Edwin Hodge) whom they had given asylum inside their home. The second movie, The Purge: Anarchy was set exactly an year later, with Sergeant Leo Barnes (Frank Grillo) looking for vengeance against the man who killed his son, a married couple Shane and Liz (Zach Gilford and Kiele Sanchez) trying to escape from the purgers as their car breaks down during the beginning stages of the Purge and the mother and daughter duo of Eva and Cali (Carmen Ejogo and Zoë Soul), all whose paths cross at some point on that eventful night of chaos.

So, what is this particular movie about? :: In the year 2022, just after the events of the first movie, we see a family being tied up at their home by a group of purgers. Soon, we are led to a situation, eighteen years later, which is seventeen years after the events of the second movie. Charlie Roan (Elizabeth Mitchell), the girl who was part of the family which was attacked by the purgers in the first sequence of the movie, has grown up to be a senator, and brings the fight against the Purge, as she seems to be the one predicted to win the next presidential elections. The common man has also started to believe that the Purge is part of the economic agenda of the New Founding Fathers who are looking forward to eliminate the poor in favour of the rich. The crowd believes that they are reducing unemployment and poverty, only by replacing the lower class with corpses, and she is only gaining more and more momentum when the next Purge is announced.

So, what is coming up after this situation? :: The NFFA, lead by Caleb Warrens (Raymond J. Barry) knows that she is a threat to their organization, and has to be eliminated, which is why they decide to revoke the Purge rule that protects the government officials above the ranking of 10, keeping nobody immune. Roan decides not to back away into a safe place and stays at home so that she could face the Purge just like common people much to the dismay of her head of security, former police officer Leo Barnes (Frank Grillo). They set up tight security at the house, but mercenaries sent by the NFFA manages to get through into the house, and both of them run away to the streets. Surrounded by purgers, they are saved by a convenience store, owner Joe Dixon (Mykelti Williamson) and his assistant at the place, Marcos (Joseph Julian Soria) who are out to guard their store. Together, they hope to stay alive.

The defence of The Purge: Election Year :: This one surely has the idea strong, and the strength in its core is without doubt. It surely has a lot in its mind and soul, which we can find if we look deeper into the movie. There is also the right use of thrills, and with its violence and twisted world makes one feel that it is more horror than any other genre, and it does look good. The action is good and the thrills feel real – the whole thing is extremely relevant to our current world too, as we see the ruling governments forcing things upon the people which benefit the rich who only gets richer. With such a situation, there is the worry about what the rulers won’t do for the rich and the influential, who power the political parties. A number of dead common people are of no concern to the government, and this is exactly what the idea of Purge talks about, except for the fact that it only happens brutally, and once in an year – in our world, it happens all the time and not many people care.

Claws of flaw :: Unlike expected, this one doesn’t manage to be an improvement on its predecessor – there was the idea which could have powered it to that status, but we see that the movie decides to go on predictable lines on more than one occasion instead of developing completely on the big idea. This could have done more with its theme, as a lot of people were sure to have such an expectation. The movie is also violent and won’t suit the taste of everyone, even though one can be sure that an idea like this can be even more violent. The doubtful will also won’t like this movie that much, and the same is the case of people who are looking to move forward without thinking – I am sure that there are such people around in need of the action mayhem and lots of blood, but despite the bloody background of the idea, this movie holds on to the idea rather than its gore.

How it finishes :: Making its point just like its predecessors, this one also leaves an opening for a fourth movie despite having all in the story to end the franchise as a trilogy. Just like the previous movie, it is powered by the performance of Frank Grillo, and Elizabeth Mitchell is excellent as the other lead character. There is one thing that a person who watch this movie can admit with ease, and it is that there is enough evil in this world for humanity to go for a purge – so much is the hate that each and everyone got for the others. And there is the second thing, and it is that there is nothing that the politicians won’t do to oppress the poor, and provide the rich with all they need to make them richer – we see them all the time, and the always rising petrol and diesel prices are just one example of the same. The purge is always there, in one way or the other, and we are all suffering, going to suffer more.

Release date: 1st July 2016
Running time: 109 minutes
Directed by: James DeMonaco
Starring: Frank Grillo, Elizabeth Mitchell, Mykelti Williamson, Joseph Julian Soria, Betty Gabriel, Terry Serpico, Raymond J. Barry, Edwin Hodge, Kyle Secor, Liza Colón-Zayas, David Aaron Baker, Christopher James Baker, Brittany Mirabilé, Juani Feliz, Christy Coco, Roman Blat, Jamal Peters, J. Jewels, Matt Walton

@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

Rocky Handsome

Posted on December 25, 2016 by Tennyson

What is the movie about? :: Somewhere in the state of Goa, Kabir Ahlawat a.k.a. Rocky (John Abraham) spends his usual boring life running a pawn shop. As nothing much happens in his life, he goes through his routine and has no friends as he is reluctant to talk to people. Despite his lack of interest in being friends with people, a little girl next door, Noami (Diya Chalwad) considers him as a friend and talks to him all the time. Even though he is not that interested in returning that friendship, he remains sympathetic to the girl and helps her or invites her for food at his apartment. Her mother Anna (Nathalia Kaur), is a drug addict and bar dancer and lives alone except for a boyfriend who is not any better. With nothing positive coming from her mother, Naomi looks at Rocky as a friend and guardian and calls him by the name “Handsome”.

So, what happens next in the movie? :: One day, Anna with the help of her boyfriend steals drugs from the drug kingpin, Mantoo (Uday Tikekar). This brings two of his fellow gangsters, the brothers who are into more than just drugs, Kevin and Luke (Nishikant Kamat and Teddy Maurya) to the scene. With a professional assassin Attila (Kazu Patrick Tang), they arrives at Anna’s apartment and tortures her for the drugs. She had hidden the drugs in a camera which she had pawned to Rocky, and both the mother and daughter are kidnapped. This brings Rocky to the scene, and with the desire to take over the whole business from Mantoo, the brothers Kevin and Luke bring a plan which will make sure that both Rocky and Mantoo ends up in the prison or get shot by the police. With an organ harvesting business and also child trafficking in their list, they will stop at nothing to gain more.

So, what is coming up after this situation? :: This does put Dilip Sangodkar (Sharad Kelkar), a cop from Anti-Narcotics Bureau on Rocky’s trail. He will stop at nothing to clean the city from drugs and those who deal with the same. After murdering Mantoo and Anna, and sending Rocky to police custody, Kevin and Luke thinks that everything is done, but that is surely not the case. Kevin might be the new kingpin of all crime in the city with Luke on his side, but that might not be enough to save him from what is coming to him. Rocky has a past that will make him almost impossible to keep down and he will stop at nothing to find the missing girl. He has a depressing past involving Rukshida (Shruti Haasan) and has had that kind of training which will make sure that he is going to have his way, in one way or the other. With his first loss, Kevin will understand he has made the wrong person angry, but the question remains if Rocky can save the girl in time despite all his skills.

The defence of Rocky Handsome :: The best thing about this movie is the action – the action sequences are all neatly done, with no exaggeration, but a lot of fights which even when having the protagonist a lot outnumbered, are believable for a character whom the hero is claimed to be. There is enough style here, and it is not overdone; unlike the usual dumb Bollywood action movie – there are weapons and sequences in the rain, and there is a powerful emotional side that we can feel right into our hearts rather than going the path of a ridiculous melodrama which Bollywood always brings for the viewers, like they did in thousands of movies, even in Dear Zindagi at a time when things were to get better for the movie. There are the thrills, and this an adventure that takes us through without giving chance for second thoughts as long as we get into it. It surely welcomes us into that world of chaos which has more chance for the evil to gain at least one small victory.

Claws of flaw :: For some reason, Rocky Handsome gets too lazy in between. Along with that predictable and boring flashback that comes in between, there are also those moments which won’t go well with the rest of the movie. The connection between the two main stars, even though one of them is only there for a cameo, is missing – she makes us feel that the scenes are outside the movie, and even our hero at those moments is in trouble. The movie will lack in connection with those who were looking for mass masala, as a certain amount of working brain is needed to go with this – it is more of a flaw as most of the people who watch Bollywood need flicks for the brainless, and Rocky Handsome won’t provide them that. We can’t ask for a Masaan everyday, but things can be better for sure. There is also the violence and sometimes the talk about the violent ways, which people can also choose to criticize. As an official adaptation of the 2010 Korean movie, The Man from Nowhere, I won’t be able to judge this one, but the original had 100% fresh rating earlier.

Performers of the soul :: John Abraham continues to impress with those fight sequences in the movie, especially those with the knives and fists. Nishikant Kamat has done nice to bring the looks and style of the evil druglord, but villain is still not that strong except when he is threatening, and the same is the case of most of the people on the dark side, except for Kazu Patrick Tang’s assassin who is not there for the words – still the whole darker setting makes sure that all of them work out better for the viewers; pure evil has to be stronger in any case. Shruti Haasan is there for one full song and also in the memories of John Abraham’s character, and does almost nothing, bringing no positives in a role which could have played by anyone else in a cameo – we come close to feeling that right at the first shot when she is shown. The kid, Diya Chalwad does a nice job for sure. Sharad Kelkar has a smooth run in this movie too.

How it finishes :: John Abraham does provide a similar performance in Force 2, and if you watch two of these movies together, you might end up confused with the action sequences except for those moments when this one chooses to go violent – it is the official remake of a South Korean movie, and so that was always supposed to happen. This one will also remind one as the other side of the highly realistic Madras Cafe starring John Abraham, all of these produced by the same man himself. Even as the remake, Rocky Handsome has been nicely converted from its Korean model and has been worked on well enough to make itself another movie that evokes our interest despite having a story-line that has almost zero difference. This one is a good mix of all things, and never tries to overdo its strengths, which is why Rocky Handsome deserves your attention.

Release date: 25th March 2016
Running time: 119 minutes
Directed by: Nishikant Kamat
Starring: John Abraham, Diya Chalwad, Nishikant Kamat, Nathalia Kaur, Sharad Kelkar, Yash Tonk, Shiv Kumar Subramaniam, Suhasini Mulay, Teddy Maurya, Kazu Patrick Tang, Uday Tikekar, Shruti Haasan (cameo), Nora Fatehi (special appearance)

@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

Lights Out

Posted on December 24, 2016 by Tennyson

Vampire Owl: I often feel that Don’t Breathe is Lights Out.

Vampire Bat: Where does the confusion come from? Why is that so?

Vampire Owl: Because lights are out in Don’t Breathe.

Vampire Bat: And I hear that you don’t breathe in Lights Out.

Vampire Owl: But lights are also out in Lights Out – so we don’t breathe too? So there are two movie titles inside this one.

Vampire Bat: Yes, and with lights being out in Don’t Breathe, there are two of them there too.

Vampire Owl: Such confusion! So many of my friends are confused between these two impressive horror movies.

Vampire Bat: Yes, they end up talking about one movie when asked about the other flick.

Vampire Owl: Why can’t people be better informed about horror movies?

Vampire Bat: Because people just not good enough to know the eternal truth in life, which is undoubtedly horror.

[Gets three cups of masala tea with banana chips].

What is the movie about? :: Paul (Billy Burke) is running a textile warehouse, and is married to Sophie (Maria Bello) who seems to be having certain mental problems, talking to herself in the dark which has their son Martin (Gabriel Bateman) a lot worried. One night, Esther (Lotta Losten), Paul’s assistant sees a dark figure when the lights are turned off, but nothing is seen when the lights are turned on. He warns Paul about the same, but he doesn’t want to listen to her as he is busy with his own problems at home. Left alone in the warehouse, he himself sees the shadowy figure when the lights are out. Despite his best efforts to keep the light turned on, they just keep going out. Even though he manages to lock himself inside his cabin with lights turned on, the figure manages to enter after turning off all lights at the warehouse, managing to murder him.

So, what happens next? :: Paul’s stepdaughter, Rebecca (Teresa Palmer) lives separately, after problems with her mother. But when Martin starts having problems at school and his mother doesn’t pick the phone, Rebecca is called by the authorities and she visits Sophie only to decide that it is better to have Martin move to her place. As they move to her place leaving a depressed Sophie behind, Rebecca sees a shadowy figure at the door which attacks her, but disappears with the light. This reminds her of something that she experienced as a child, and determined to do something about it, with the help of her boyfriend Bret (Alexander DiPersia), she gets the much needed information about this creature of darkness that was referred to as Diana during her childhood. But there is more to it than she thinks, with a long flashback which ties this creature with the memories of Sophie.

The defence of Lights Out :: Are you afraid of the dark? Well, this one makes sure that you stay afraid of darkness no matter how hard you try to escape from that fear, so better be warned. With a creature that vanishes with light and appears with no light or a very low amount of light, this movie manages to bring the best possible scares in a short amount of run-time. There is the creature which one can’t seem to stop, except for hoping that the lights don’t go, and with the realization that the absence of light is darkness, which is the reality as the night arrives, one can’t dare to stop being afraid. With the idea from the director’s own short horror movie, this also manages to be clever just as the short-film. It brings to us variety in horror, and with a run-time of less than one and half hours, it keeps us not breathing for most of the time. If it does bring back to the valiant, the most common fear of the dark, one needn’t be surprised.

Positives and negatives :: Your need to be afraid while switching off the lights is back – this kind of horror movies which uses the basic fears have been missing for long, but has returned for the best. Consider yourself in the theatre watching this movie in the dark, and then the power goes – what would you think? Watching this one late night is surely the better idea. With better attempts from the protagonists to stop this creature, we could have had more here though, but this movie ends too early – less than one and half hours is too less for this kind of a movie at a time when pathetic movies are rather too long. We need movies like this one, to be longer, as this is one creature that we are going to miss except for when the lights are turned off and we misunderstand one of our hanging shirts to be a creature. Maybe a better flashback story and more of it would have helped – maybe we could have had more scares before the family comes together with the creature.

Performers of the soul :: As Lights Out attempts to use your most possible fears against you, we have our cast which is very well suited for this movie. Teresa Palmer, as expected, leads the way, as she looks less like Kristen Stewart like she did in Warm Bodies and Point Break, and once again performs a lot better than her in Twilight and Snow White and the Huntsman. She does make a fine choice for horror movies, as she has proven in this one. Having her in this one was a big bonus with the creature being too good by itself, and we can say that Maria Bello keeps her character safe. Gabriel Bateman also joins in, and Alexander DiPersia does better than a usual supporting character in a horror movie will do. Before Insidious: Chapter 4 and Annabelle 2 coming up from him, James Wan has produced another gem here, which goes with a long list of fine horror movies.

How it finishes :: This interesting horror movie, Lights Out is based on a 2013 Swedish short-film which had the same concept of a creature of darkness using the same to bring the scares to the viewers. Running for just three minutes, it was one nice scary work from the same director, and the actress featured in the short-film also had a small role in this flick, as the assistant at the warehouse. Among the two movies, the way the short-film brings the scares in such a short amount of time, is just an act of brilliance, and it is sure to scare you more than enough to get you interested in this full-length movie. If you haven’t watched the short-film yet, do watch it below, and then you can understand what this movie is about. Most of the people have already watched this one, as it had went on to become very popular on Facebook and Twitter.

AND MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! 🙂

Release date: 22nd July 2016
Running time: 81 minutes
Directed by: David F. Sandberg
Starring: Teresa Palmer, Gabriel Bateman, Alexander DiPersia, Billy Burke, Maria Bello, Amiah Miller, Alicia Vela-Bailey, Ava Cantrell, Lotta Losten, Andi Osho