The Asian Americans are back and are funny in their own weird way. Certainly not for ones hard to please, but still there’s something about the daring pair which is tough to resist.

The story follows Harold Lee and Kumar Patel who fly to Amsterdam to help Harold meet his love, Maria. In the airport, they bump into Kumar’s ex-girlfriend Vanessa and her fiance, Colton a highly influential person. When the two board the plane and are mid flight, Kumar begins to light a smokeless bong which makes him be billed a terrorist. The plane returns to Washington and the two are taken to custody and are sent to Guantanamo Bay detention camp. The two manage to escape and place all their hopes in Colton to rescue them. But the man turns out to be not as expected and his true colors are revealed. Harold and Kumar fight Colton and knock him down. Vanessa is upset but she forgives Kumar as soon as he begins reciting the ode he had written on the day he met her. As for Harold, he unites with Maria and the movie ends on a happy note.

Click here to watch ‘Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay’

Renew your spirit to begin the year with a bang and to do so a heist movie might be of good help. The work of writer / director, Leonti; Daylight Robbery though a small budget can be credited for its high degree of professionalism. Geoff Bell plays the lead role who masterminds the robbery. He has done his part well. Nevertheless, the movie has its share of flaws too. For instance, Blackwood, Gregory and Nicholls who are thought to be capable actors could have done more.

Coming to the plot: The story follows Alex who hatches a plan to rob a bank and joining in the quest is an obscure gang of robbers who prepare themselves to venture into the underground vault of the London Exchange Bank and make away with millions of cash. The groundwork is all well done. The gang pretends to check in for a flight and merges with a crowd who participate as England supporters in the World Cup Tournament in Germany. But instead of heading towards the Departure lounge, the gang scurries off to the car park and gets into a van to reach the bank. Their mission has a good start with all exits being blocked. But unforeseen circumstances puts them in a very difficult situation and it turns out that they are not merely faced with a task of robbery but also have to deal with a tough sequence of events. Also, they have only two hours to board the plane before which their target must be complete.

Alright, enough being said about the movie, time to watch it.

Click below to watch ‘Daylight Robbery’

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Directed by Sam Fell, Rob Stevenhagen, this is an adaptation based on Kate DiCamillo’s book about a stalwart mouse and could be one of the best animated films with a wonderful soundtrack, this year.

In the Kingdom of Dor where the land is filled with happiness, terror strikes and the king is left broken hearted and the local people mourn the death of their Queen, cause of which is a rat named Roscuro. Consequently, the king bans all rodents and soup creations from his kingdom The young mouse, Despereaux, our hero with comical ears is against this policy. He defies his parents who believe that rats are to be timid and prefers an adventurous life. He manages to be the friend of the human Princess Pea which he does at the risk of being sent into the World of Rats from where is is impossible for rats to return. Along with these two rats, there is also a third story concerning a serving girl who believes herself to be the princess.

The cartoons are realistic although the humans look artificial. But the most interesting part would be the voices behind each of these characters. The story’s narrator has however done the best job giving the feel of a mother telling a story.

Click below to watch ‘Tale of Despereaux’

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The Coen Brothers are known for their blockbusters like No Country for Old Men, Fargo etc. This time too, they have churned out another hit Burn after reading. Speaking of the cast, it’s an awesome combination - George Clooney, Frances McDormand and Tilda Swinton (all of whom have won Oscars) and joining them are the Oscar nominated co-stars, Brad Pitt and John Malkovich.

In the opening scene, we find Malkovich who plays Osborne Cox being fired owing to his alcoholism. The angry Cox vows to sketch a memoir in his disc but misfortune causes the CD containing the vital information to fall into the hands of two employees at a Washington fitness center, Linda Litzke (McDormand) and Chad Feldheimer (Pitt). The employees set out to threaten the CIA Analyst and make an effort to collect a reward in exchange for the disc. In the meanwhile, Osborne’s wife Katie has an affair with a married man, Harry Pfarrer (Clooney), an inveterate internet dater.

As you see, as far as the plot goes, there isn’t much but everything is found in the dialogue offering peppy entertainment. The Coens have given their lead characters a kind of quirkiness but it would be most surprising to know that Brad Pitt plays an altogether different role. It’s really fun to watch the actors fool around, but if you’re looking for human attachment, this is not the one for you.

Click here to watch ‘Burn after reading’

Madagascar - Escape 2 Africa is funnier and more witty than its prequels, thanks to the efforts that has gone into the screen play. Children and adults can enjoy the breathtaking animation which would provide a perfect entertainment. Now that the festive season is here, this would be the big family hit. The voice casts for the lead roles are Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, Jada Pinkett Smith - and David Schwimmer.

The quartet (Alex the lion, Marty the zebra, Gloria the assertive hippo and Melman the hypochondriac giraffe) being shipwrecked in Madagascar, cast all their hopes on a rickety plane to be brought back to their Zoo in New York where Alex is the center of attraction. But their plane crashes and they land in Africa. The animals think they have reached their true home but soon they realize that a whole lot of problems await them.

The movie is not just about animals, you can find humans too. One such human is a hunter who kidnapped Alex from his home. Another two legged creature is the all-American grandmother (Elisa Gabrielli), who is more tough than one can expect.

You wouldn’t be surprised to know that Alex’s mane is more realistic than any of his actions so much so kids watching would want to touch his mane. All that could be said about the images are they are simply astounding and over all the film has a great visual approach.

Click here to watch ‘Madagascar - Escape 2 Africa.’

A movie based on a short story written by Clive Barker, known for his solid works through the years, this one is yet another quality and interesting thriller.

The protagonist is Leon Kauffman played by Bradley Cooper who is New York’s photographer trying to achieve a break-through with the sensational photographs he captures for the newspaper. He looks for an opportunity to prove his talent and his girl friend Maya played by Leslie Bibb helps him to do what he aspires. She seeks her friend Jurgis’s help played by Roger Bart who arranges for a meeting with the hotshot Susan Hoff played by Brooke Shields. At the outset, Susan is not impressed with Leon portfolio and dismisses it by virtue of the photos not presenting the true picture of the city.

Apparently, she is looking for more breath-taking pictures. This is evident when Leon successfully returns with pictures of an attempted rape. Although he manages to saves the victim, he captures a few pictures of the incident. Susan then becomes keen on covering more such criminal activities of the city. Thrilled over the new assignment, Leon takes up the task willingly. But he discovers that the woman whom he rescued went missing the previous night. After probing into the episode, he uncovers some shocking revelations.

The movie is certainly not for the weak at heart. All viewers of the movie are advised to pluck up to take the most terrifying ride.

Click here to watch ‘The Midnight Meat Train’

Many of us can well associate with the ultimate subject covered in the movie. Andy (Jay Baruchel) is an inveterate gambler who loses huge sums of money in the affair, besides he also owes too much money to people whom he insults every now and then. One of Andy’s annoyed creditors decides to send his hit man, an Aussie by the name Reuben (Randy Quaid) to finish off the debtor. But the hit man makes up his mind to let him live for 75 minutes. Blaming everyone for his misfortune, Andy can’t think of a single soul who would bid farewell to him. Reuben encourages him to stop whining and to spend the remaining minutes fruitfully. However, Andy even at the point of death doesn’t wish to give up his bad habits.

Randall Cole, the writer / director has included some gratuitous elements rendering the movie a tad tiresome. But the stunning performances of Baruchel and Quaid make up for these boring bits. On removing the emphasis laid on Andy and Reuben, the movie becomes as good as the stellar performances given by the two.

Click here to watch ‘Real Time’

Relax your eyes and watch a movie that has a profound visual impact. Truly the creators have achieved an admirable feat with a film that surpasses all imagination.

Dragon Hunters is a computer-animated film based on Dragon Hunters TV series that had a brief run in France. The movie centers around four characters, three of whom would look familiar to you as they appeared on the TV series which for some time was also aired on the United States television through Cartoon Network. Speaking of concept and scope, the movie is far superior to any other computer-animated film and is a real treat to watch.

Gwizdo, Lian-Chu, Hector are three characters you would have already known and joining the cast of these regulars is Zoe, the new face. Not forgetting to mention, the scenery plays a vital role in the movie. The entire setting exists in the sky with a huge part of the earth floating like lily pads on an unruffled pond.

And to summarize the plot: Lord Arnold is in search of knights to destroy the powerful dragon, World Eater. Zoe, his grand niece sneaks out of the castle looking for knights. She is attacked by the deadly dragon and Lian-Chu rescues her from the peril. Zoe thinks that the former is a knight. On hearing of Zoe’s wealthy uncle, Gwizdo and Lian Chu decide to pretend to be knights. Once they’re briefed about the World Eater and their mission, that is to prevent the dragon from destroying the planet; the four set out on their quest to hunt down the dragon and get the gold to enable them live on a farm.

Families with small children and computer-animation fans, it’s your time now. You mightn’t be wrong in making guesses on how the movie would end, nevertheless it’s worth spending your time.

Click here to watch ‘Dragon Hunters.’

Traitor could be a classic example of a quality thriller that’s no different from reality, This was co-written by Steve Martin and Jeffrey Nachmanoff who also directed the movie. He has done his job well giving clarity to a complex drama.

The story revolves around the protagonist, Samir Horn (Don Cheadle), a Muslim American of Sudanese origin who at a young age sees his father getting killed in a terrorist attack. Migrating to the States, he joins the military where he later is trapped in a terrorist network. Meanwhile FBI agent Roy Clayton played by Guy Pearce is assisted by Max Archer (Neal McDonough) in an investigation of a terrorist outfit in which Horn may or may not belong to.

The characters have been well defined and given the seriousness of the theme both Cheadle and Pearce are equally good in their roles. Their performances are further augmented by the powerful script of Jeffrey Nachmanoff giving the audience good background of the two main characters.

Directed by D. J. Caruso, this is undoubtedly a preposterous action thriller where by the time you get to know what’s happening, you would have stopped caring. Shia LaBeouf plays Jerry Shaw, a slacker who works at a copy store. On returning home from his brother’s funeral, he stops at the ATM and surprisingly finds that his normally empty bank account has now a staggering amount of $750,000. He draws as much money as possible and makes his way home while wondering about this new and absurd development. On reaching his shoddy apartment, he notices that it is no longer empty but is filled with weapons all around. He receives an anonymous call and the unknown voice at the other end gives him a warning that the FBI may get there any time and he just has seconds to leave the apartment. Jerry pays no attention to the call and soon he is arrested by the FBI and sent to jail.

He doesn’t spend much time in jail and soon finds himself acting according to the whims and fancies of the unknown voice. The unknown voice appears to have complete control over all technologies. Even the poor guy’s cellular connection is controlled by the anonymous voice. The mysterious voice gets Jerry to talk to his mom, Rachel and threatens that if she doesn’t co-operate, he would have her son killed. The movie continues as we try to make guesses about the mysterious voice’s plans and purpose of the mission. But the last bit is an annoying part when things turn real silly. Nevertheless, I suggest you watch it to try and figure out the much better movies that resemble this one.

Click here to watch ‘Eagle Eye’