Batman Begins

After being bit by a radioactive bat, life turns upside down for millionaire Bruce Wayne. He realises he can fly, he can dance, he can see in the dark; and all this without having to be a reporter. He also discovers what hanging out with his friends really means. And like all good bats, Bruce decides to fight crime. He gets a butler, a spare Dick and a spanking new phone called Batmobile, which saves him the trouble of running to phone booths. Thus begins the saga of Batman.

Christopher Nolan's Batman is dark, brooding and intense look at one of the most misunderstood superheroes of our times. The humane face of batman has never been so vividly portrayed before, not with Michael Keatin and Val Kilmer anyway. Christian Bale is, by far, the best batman since Don Bradman. The camerawork is outstanding and the editing, taut. An array of seasoned actors, with guest appearances by all earlier batmen make this movie a memorable cinematic experience.

Rating: 99.97

Paheli

There is a famous sequence in The Godfather where Don Corleone plays with his grandson in his vegetable garden. Brando improvises by putting an orange peel in his mouth and scaring the kid. A few seconds later, he keels over and dies.

Shah Rukh Khan plays homage to this orange peel sequence in Paheli. A blatant rip-off of Casper, the movie is strictly for the kids - one mindless gag after the other. Leave your brain at home if you must watch it.

Rating - * 1/2

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants

Finally, a movie that lives upto its name.

****

Kya Kool Hain Hum

Kya Kool Hain Hum (KKKHH) is the epic tale of the Koolani family, who came over to India during the partition. Kkumar Koolani, the patriarch, sires four sons and a bastard daughter after settling down in Jhumritalaya. The sons take up different professions - one fixes pots and pans, the other goes into textiles, the third enters the army and a fourth gets into espionage. The daughter lies low during the first half, showing up (in a thong) only for a dance set in Switzerland. How Kkumar brings all the four sons back into the family business (soap manufacturing) forms the rest of the story.

Rating: ***k

D

F.

Parineeta

Pradeep Sarcar's Parineeta is a brilliant adaptation of Sarat Chandra Bongopadhyaya's classic novel of the same name. The movie is set in Kolkatta of the 1960, which makes it Calcutta, actually. The story revolves around the trials and tribulations in the life of Lolita (newcomer Vidya Balan) and the many older men in her life. From the first scene itself, the movie succeeds in capturing our attention and we sit back and watch as the labyrinthine plot unfolds amids the byzantine setting. Far from being a dirty, commie-infested city, Calcutta of the 1960s would have given London a run for its money. Also, Chicago.

Vidya Balan has been the real find for Bollywood. She, as we all know by now, is a Tam Brahm, which gives her an obvious edge over lesser mortals. Also she's named Lolita in the movie. Then there's Soyf Oli Khon. Can we get enough of this wonderfully underrated actor? With his chiselled looks and designer wear, he looks the part of a tormented Bong genius. Also, if you watch carefully, you can catch him looking at Vidya Balan's parts. Sunjuy Dutt does a reprise of his Saajan role. There are quite a few delightful cameos in the movie, most of them by out-of-work or obscure artistes. See how many you can spot. And when you have quite finished, you can consider watching See Spot Run.

Rating 8.5 (would have been 9, but for mild profanity)

Shastri

The Darshan-starrer Shastri is a racy thriller about a Brahmin boy who on realising that life is not all about sambar sadam takes to eating beef, at the behest of his Malayali girlfriend. Little does he know what he gets into. The Sangh Parivar gets into activist mode, hacks thirtythree Muslims and seventeen Dalits to avenge the murder of a cow. They also demand Advani's resignation. All hell breaks loose as Advani demands an apology from Shastri. The rest of the movie is about how Shastri battles his demons and comes to discover his inner spiritual self.

Strictly for Darshan fans. Yo Nagaraju!

Rated X for explicit smoking scenes.

8 1/2

8 1/2 is Fellini at his best. His directorial touches are all over the movie, like fingerprints left by an inept burglar. The stylized lighting, the cat'o nine tails, the claustrophobia and the man puking over a bridge: it's the work of a master at the peak of his craft.

The story is about Catherine, a girl of feline grace. Nicknamed Puss, she gets into various scrapes and misadventures - eight of them to be precise. She plunges into a torrid affair which - but I don't want to spoil the movie for you.

Rating - ********1/2

Mr and Mrs Smith

Mr and Mrs Smith is a rip-roaring yarn about a poor little rich boy called John Smith (Brad Pitt) and his wife Jane, a closet transvestite (Angelina Jolie). Smith (the male) works with an insurance company, selling fire insurance to bored housewives. He doesn't need the job of course; his daddy made a billion bucks selling patented fire extinguishers. Smith (female) is a housewife. She doesn't do much apart from practicing her pout.

The editing is the highlight of this movie. Each scene blends into the other seamlessly, delighting the trained eye of movie aficionados.

Rating: ****

So Many Movies

So little time.

Here we go.