DVD Review

jab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani movie is a forthcoming Bollywood movie of today hot pair Ranbir Kapoor and Katrina Kaif. Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani movie which is schedule to release in 2009, a Bollywood Romantic comedy film . Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani is an upcoming Bollywood film directed by Rajkumar Santoshi. In this Love story Ranbir Kapoor,Katrina Kaif and Upen Patel are playing lead roles. The film is said to be a Romantic Comedy and the shooting locations are considered to be Ooty, Mumbai, Goa & Turkey.

In this movie Ranbir playing a depressed lover-boy hopelessly in love with his character inspired by the one played by his late grandfather Raj Kapoor in ‘Mera Naam Joker’, The movie would also feature Salman Khan in a special role while Upen Patel and Asrani are present in the supporting cast. 95% of film shooting is complete, and remaining parts will be over by Apr 2009. All the songs are recorded by Pritam. The film is written jointly by Rajkumar Santoshi & R.D.Tailang Choreography by Ahmed Khan Action by Tinu Verma. The film is scheduled to release in June 2009.

Before becoming an actor, Ranbir studied acting at The Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute in New York. Before starting off his career as an actor, Ranbir worked as an assistant to director Sanjay Leela Bhansali, where he was involved in the making of the film Black.

Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani movie starRanbir Kapoor as PremKatrina Kaif as JennyUpen Patel as RahulSalman Khan as Guest AppearanceAjab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani movie release dateKatrina Kaif and Ranbir Kapoor starrer Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani movie will hits the Indian cinema Halls in 18 Sep in this year. For more information see here

http://24×7entertainments.blogspot.com/2009/04/ajab-prem-ki-ghazab-kahani-movie-star.html

When I watch what I feel is a good movie I love to tell everyone about it.  So here is my review of the movie “17 Again”. 

The movie is great.  Zac Efron is a wonderful actor and is extremely talented.  He played the role of a frustrated father (first played by Matthew Perry), and husband that goes back in time and has the opportunity to change his past.  He was very convincing playing a middle aged  father in a young man’s body.  There were times when you would actually think that this young actor was a husband and a father.  He had it down to a science.  The movie had a wonderful mix of humor and drama.  I hope to see Zac Efron in many more movies and I was especially impressed with a scene where he demonstrated his talent with a basketball. 

I also like the character, Thomas Lennon,  that played Zac Efron’s best friend in the movie.  He played a guy that had become a millionaire with a somewhat childlike quirky personality.  This actor added a lot to the movie especially the way he continously pursued the female high school principal in an unconventional way.

The actress, Leslie Mann, who plays Zac Ephron’s soon to be estranged wife in the movie, always does a good job in any movie she plays in.  In this movie she sees similarities in appearance in the character played by Zac, and her husband which adds some pretty funny scenes.

The teenagers in the movie were also very good expressing puzzled looks as their new friend – father (unknown to them), acts like a parent around them.

I coaxed my husband into watching the movie with our kids telling him that it was not just a “chick flick”, and he also thought that the movie was great.

The going back in time story has been done before but the creator of this movie pulled off this story perfectly with its own originality.  I rarely buy a movie but after first renting it I decided that this one was worth purchasing.  I hope that “17 Again” someday becomes a cult classic.

In the tradition of your best lovable buddies, Cheech & Chong, Reyn and Stimpy, Beavis and Butthead, Pinky and the Brain, comes “Pineapple Express,” a stoner comedy that partakes of the lovable comaradarie that buddies share, not to mention a few bong hits, before hitting the hard stuff for a major John Woo action-style blowup.
If you think you’ve seen this movie before, you probably have caught its multiple inspirations. It was written by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, who took their own adolescent antics and gave us “Superbad,” a charming smutfest about three hormonally freaked-out teenage boys. In some respects “Pineapple Express” plays out like the follow up to but a nastier version of the previous shoot em up, growing up, “Super Bad.”
Rogen plays Dale Denton, a process server who eases the tension of serving subpoenas upon unsuspecting victims by being stoned as much as possible. Throughout the early moments of the film we see Dale dressing in a variety of costumes as he carries out his job serving folks subpoenas, divorce papers and other varieties of unwanted legal documents. It is an early source for comedy and it is used wisely and sparingly. His final drop for the night is with a man named Ted (Gary Cole) who ironically turns out to be Saul’s bud supplier. The thing is Saul’s bud is so potent and special, that it can easily be traced back to the user.
So when Dale is the only witness to a murder in Ted’s living room involving a crooked cop, Ted and brains splattered all over the window he forgets his delivery and high-tails it out of there. In “Pineapple Express,” as it happens, the getting of the ultimate joint is never as thorny as the disposing of it. In his haste to leave the scene he is seen and his abandoned roach becomes a link back to Saul as Ted recognizes the strain he sold Saul, and Saul alone. Saul’s revered pineapple express is so rare, remember, that it is easily traceable back to its smoker.
This becomes a vexing issue for Dale when he leaves a roach behind at the scene of a crime he has just witnessed, the murder of an Asian crime boss at the hands of a corrupt cop ( Rosie Perez) and her drug lord lover (Gary Cole). Our boys are on the run and our film has a plot.
Finding himself a gangland target, Dale efficiently implicates his high-school-aged girlfriend Angie (Amber Heard), her parents ( Ed Begley Jr. and Nora Dunn) and the epically out-of-it Saul.
The strange thing about the film though is when they called it an action comedy, they weren’t kidding. While the action is mostly played for laughs, it’s also cool on its own, and pretty hardcore, make no mistake this is a hard R movie. For example remember that scene in Kill Bill where Uma Thurman and Vivaca Fox turn her living room into dust. There’s a scene like that in Pineapple Express, at the house of a nigh indestructible drug middle man named Red who damn near steals the movie, except that the fight spirals out into different rooms onto different floors escalating in madness until a pitch perfect beat involving a bathroom sink threatens to cause you to herniated with laughter and squirm in your seat at the same time.
Taking producer and story credit roles is Judd Apatow, a man that after 40-Year-Old Virgin and Knocked Up could do no wrong. Then after he produced Superbad it seemed there was no failing. Raunchy humor seemed to be the big appeal. The thing is dick and fart jokes are starting to wear on audiences just as did torture porn… and quickly.
People will enjoy this film, it isn’t a movie anyone should really walk out of disappointed. The finale pretty much guarantees you should walk away happy as it is easily the best part of the production, but that doesn’t mean its early faults should be overlooked. The film had alot of media and build up since last year, so there should be alot of audience for the film, but it will be interesting to see if it will rise up to any kind of critical acclaim that “Knocked Up” and “The Forty Year Old Virgin” received. Overall, the movie is average, and if you’ve had a little of your own pineapple express before seeing the movie, then you should enjoy it just fine.

Now, I am probably about 15 years older than the girls in this movie, and I am a man. Fortunately, I had no trouble empathizing with the four young women who are bound to friendship through their magical bifurcated nether garment(fancy word for pants) — more so than I did with the Sex and the City gang, who are much closer to my age, but still, 180 Degrees different from my gender.
Like Sex and the City, Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 works better if you know the characters already through their previous appearances, because you’re already emotionally invested in them. I hadn’t read the young-adult novels by Ann Brashares, but my sister, who is a big fan, filled me in and we determined that this movie is based mostly on the fourth book in the series, with a few changes, so even if you’ve read the books you get some surprises. Don’t think that you are at a loss if you have not read any of the novels, as you are still able to get a good understanding of each character, and the story lines are easy to follow.
The chief problem is the four-part storyline, which, like the first film, finds the main characters separated for the summer and keeping in touch by sending back and forth the “magical pants” remember bifurcated nether garments? that fits all four of them. Be prepared to follow this movie along the four different storylines. This time it’s the summer after freshman year of college for the girls, and while Carmen (America Ferrera) plans to spend the break at home with her pals, the others have bigger plans. Tibby (Amber Tamblyn) sticks around NYU to work at a video store and work on her screenplay, Bridget (Blake Lively) treks off to an archaeological dig in Turkey, and Lena (Alexis Bledel) takes a figure drawing class in Rhode Island.
A pair of secondhand jeans inset with rhinestones plays a major role in “The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2.” Anyone who saw the first movie or read the novels that inspired the films will be familiar with these well-worn bottoms. They serve as a bond among four girlfriends. Each can magically squeeze into them, although the pals are different sizes and shapes.
Their lives, already starting to pull apart in the first “Pants,” rip apart further in this thoroughly engaging sequel, which has some gems of wisdom to impart but does so gently. With one year of college now over, the girls are on the cusp of becoming full blown grown ups. Holding on to the past is difficult when the future keeps intruding. To remind themselves of what they had together as best friends, they mail the gritty jeans to one another at various summer ports of call.
During their summers, the four women deal with issues of trust, love, guilt, and value. Partially due to their separate adventures, and partially due to their increased independence and individuality, the girls primarily go through their journeys of discovery on their own, and develop their own independence. At times, the increased separation between them is obviously apparent. At others, it becomes an opening for a strong cast of supporting characters/mentors to shine. But at the end of the day, the girls prove that while there are certain things they must discover on their own, they will always be there for each other and to provide that kind of guidance and support that a tight bond can only do.
Most impressing was that these women seemed to come away from their challenges stronger, wiser, and, for the most part, in places better than where they were before. At the end, you get the sense that they actually are in healthy relationships, that they have learned from their mistakes, and that love and friendship have in fact triumphed over selfishness and isolation.
And while there’s an element of fantasy to much of the movie, serious issues, including teen pregnancy and mental illness, lurk beneath the cinematic sheen.
Like its predecessor, “Sisterhood 2″ is based on two radical ideas: namely, that young women’s stories are about more than the pursuit of men, and that happiness isn’t something that you are given, or is something that is external. It is inside you, and you need to find it for yourself.
This is a great teen movie, or even a great mother daughter movie to wind up the Summer with. With a strong cast and engaging story line, “Sisterhood 2″ is a wonderful second spin around the block.

Copyright © 2009 Ed Bagley

Last Chance Harvey – 2 Stars – Average

Is it possible for your two leads to be nominated for Best Actor and Best Actress Golden Globe Awards and yet your magnum opus is average at best?

Yes it is, especially if your leads are Dustin Hoffman and Emma Thompson, and the writer/director of the film is Joel Hopkins. Then you have the makings of “Last Chance Harvey”. This film is far too dark and depressing to be a romantic comedy, it feeds off of more negative than positive energy.

Last Chance Harvey is no misnomer. Harvey Shine (Dustin Hoffman) is a preoccupied person who is not comfortable to be around and hardly likeable. Most of his time is spent bemoaning his condition in life. His wife dumped him years ago. His dream job was to be a jazz pianist, but he settled for a job as jingle writer for a Manhattan advertising firm, which is about to dump him for younger talent.

His wife remarried, and his daughter is closer to her step-dad than him. Harvey has made a career of being absent by choice. Now he travels to London for his daughter’s wedding and gets a very cold reception from his ex and everyone who counts. He becomes a disaster at the rehearsal dinner, can’t wait to leave London, and informs his daughter that he will not be attending the wedding reception.

Unfortunately for Harvey, he gets caught in a traffic jam, misses his flight, and is promptly informed that he has been fired.

He finds solace in a bar after forcing himself on Kate Walker (Emma Thompson), a survey taker who has never married and is now concerned that she will become a spinster. Long story short, these two losers find just enough in each other to tolerate being together.

In short order, Kate convinces Harvey to attend his daughter’s wedding reception and he agrees as long as she accompanies him. Long story even shorter, they almost have a great time at the reception and agree to meet at noon the next day. It this scenario sounds familiar, just think “An Affair to Remember”.

Harvey, of course, doesn’t make the rendezvous because the elevator is broke at his hotel, he runs up the steps, has an attack of arrhythmia and is off to the hospital. Kate waits dutifully and is crushed when Harvey no shows, just like a sappy teen-aged girl. It never occurs to her that Harvey might have been run over by a Mack truck on his way to meet her; she assumes the worst because she follows miserable results like stepping in quicksand. Does it all work out in the end? What do you think? This is the reason you watch the film, such as it is.

It is not the acting that makes Last Chance Harvey an average film, it is the writer/director Joel Hopkins. Trust me when I say that Hopkins did his best to make this film an artistic and financial winner. In the end, it becomes neither.

Last Chance Harvey reminds me of a film Jack Nicholson made named “About Schmidt” that is just terrible.

As a movie buff and movie reviewer, I am into relationship pictures, human dynamics and the psychology of living and existing. Both Harvey and Kate as characters are written as people who exist, moan and complain rather than choosing to live a better life. It is a good thing that they found each other because misery does love company.

Harvey is simply not likeable as a character, and Kate is not much better.

Last Chance Harvey made $14 million at the box office; hardly a rip-roaring success. Other than the two Golden Globe nominations for Hoffman and Thompson (neither won), award givers avoided this film like the plague.

Hopkins lacks experience as a writer or a director, and has courted failure by trying to become both the writer and director. I am sure his ego did not give him much choice in the matter. For every wannabe that thinks they can make great films as a writer/director, there are at least 10 more who fail miserably.

Job one for Joel Hopkins is to learn how to become a good storyteller. Hopkins should study “Waking Ned Devine” by Kirk Jones and “Secondhand Lions” by Tim McCanlies. Both Jones and McCanlies are on the top of my list of great writer/directors, and neither had much experience when their talent was evident.

Waking Ned Devine was Kirk Jones’ first effort as a writer/director, and Secondhand Lions was Tim McCanlies’ second effort as a writer/director. If I had millions to invest, I would fund both Jones and McCanlies, get out of the way, and watch magic happen on the big screen.

In all likelihood, Hopkins has more talent than we have seen; he just needs to continue improving and hone his craft. And here is a postscript to start with—never name a character in a depressing movie Harvey Shine, because Harvey does anything but shine, and we are reminded about it throughout the entire movie.