DesiReflections

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Cast & CreditsIndiana Jones: Harrison Ford Irina Spalko: Cate Blanchett Marion Ravenwood: Karen Allen Mutt Williams: Shia LeBeouf "Mac" McHale: Ray Winstone Prof. Oxley: John Hurt Dean Stanforth: Jim Broadbent Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Say it aloud. The very title causes the pulse to quicken, if you, like me, are a lover of pulp fiction. What I want is goofy action--lots of it. I want man-eating ants, swordfights between two people balanced on the backs of speeding jeeps, subterranean caverns of gold, vicious femme fatales, plunges down three waterfalls in a row, and the explanation for flying saucers. And throw in lots of monkeys. The Indiana Jones movies were directed by Steven Spielberg and written by George Lucas and a small army of screenwriters, but they exist in a universe of their own. Hell, they created it. All you can do is compare one to the other three. And even then, what will it get...

It hardly seems possible. The same people who made "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" into one of the best films of 2005 have turned around and made one of this year's biggest disappointments. The second installment of C.S. Lewis' "Narnia" saga, subtitled "Prince Caspian," is exactly one minute longer than its predecessor, but it's a dragged-out exercise, with no epic scale and no spirit worth talking about. The filmmakers fall into the same trap that the makers of "The Golden Compass" did. They take a fantasy story and simplify it to the point that it's just a war movie - about a war that never happened, featuring a side that can't lose. The stakes aren't particularly high, either. It's not a battle between absolute evil versus absolute good. Rather it's a battle between ruthless pragmatism versus ineffectual idealism. Ben Barnes, who was so good in "Stardust," plays Prince ...

"Dances in Hong Kong: Boundries Not Included" Our friend Mani had the premier of her film "Dances in Hong Kong: Boundries not Included" this week and I have to tell you it's extremely good. "Just like a real one" as we say in Fiji: It's probably rude to say I'm amazed it's so good, but it seemed such a casual thing at the start. Three years ago, we were working on a script "Mooncakes" with Red Carpet Club when Mani said had an idea for a film of her own, and asked our friend German-Michael if she could borrow him and his camera for a few days. And that's the genesis. Truly. Yup, Mani made this film with a borrowed camera. Sounds like it should be the start of the biography of a famous film-maker, doesn't it! Initially Michael helped out as cameraperson, but it didn't take long before Mani got confident and started to do it without him, and the film just grew from there. And then, this week, it had its world premier an...

Filled with roaring engines and vroom! breathtaking visuals, Speed Racer is the perfect movie for video-gaming kids--but for others it may cause headache.This big-screen, live-action adaptation mostly captures the look and feel of the '60s cartoon many of us grew up watching. It could have used a few more occurrences of our favorite line, "Look out, Speed! AH!" but oh well. As it goes, Speed (Emile Hirsch) has grown up with motor oil pumping through his veins, helping his Pops (John Goodman) make racecars and idolizing his older brother Rex (Scott Porter), a top-notch driver. Then tragedy strikes when Rex is seemingly killed in an accident. Heartbroken, Speed is determined to take his place, showing some serious skills on the track. His girlfriend Trixie (Christina Ricci) thinks he's the bomb, as do his mom (Susan Sarandon), younger brother Spritle (Paulie Litt) and pet chimpanzee Chim-Chim. But Speed is soon in for a rude awakening when he is introduced to the corrup...

KOLKATA : CITY IN SLOW MOTION GRADUALLY WILLING TO COME IN ACTION Visiting Kolkata after a gap of one year gave the same feeling. Yes, it is still a city in slow action. Be it hand pulled rikshaw, which may put humanity to shame, the roads predominantly flooded with age old yellow black Ambassador Taxis or people contended with chewing paan or enjoying surti and working in slowest motion. But this time I had a feel of some change, eight lane road from Airport to Salt lake in construction, lot of multi level structures emerging in the Rajar Haat or in the vicinity of Saltlake. This some how assure changing face of slow motion city. But a big question is that the old Bhadra Lok mind set will allow best of the country brain to take up emerging new jobs or it will restrict to Bengali youth, who is in absence of fair play and tough competition become complacent and thus lost desire to grow. The finest example of fair play is till now Bombay where sole criterion of getting work/ job is ...

TASHAN Banner:Yash Raj Films Cast: Anil Kapoor, Akshay Kumar, Saif Ali Khan, Kareena Kapoor Action: Peter Hein Choreography: Vaibhavi Merchant Cinematography: Ayananka Bose Music: Vishal, Shekhar Director: Vijay Krishna Acharya Producer: Aditya Chopra The movie is set on a little different backdrop, although one may find little similarity with Bunty Bubbly as this film also set in the backdrop of Kanpur. The story is about the bad guy Bhayyaji (Anil Kapoor) who has this strange penchant for learning English and flaunts his style in his own way. For this, he seeks the help of call centre executive Jimmy (Saif Ali Khan) who is reluctant to do so but then thanks to the intelligent and beautiful Pooja (Kareena Kapoor), he takes up the assignment and has a tough time trying to be a teacher to a don. In this process, he falls for the pretty Pooja and love happens. However, things don't look so straight as they seem and as a result of some unexpected twists and turns, the don Bhayyaji...