Jawad Daud PK Reviews

Gulliver's Travels (2010)

3D? ..... How about 1D (and not the one you use as emoticon!)?

[1/10 · 5 February 2011]

I came to know about Jack Black after Kung Fu Panda. When I saw him on 'Be Kind Rewind,' I watched it with high expectations. If you have seen it, you know how I felt about it.

When I heard of Gulliver's Travels and saw the trailer, I thought it would be pretty decent. I wish I had known they had cramped the highlights of the movie in the trailer (which means 2:30 or so).

I will not go into great lengths with this. Just one quick thing that forced me to write the review: I feel I completely blew my money on 3D version. Didn't feel a thing with those glasses on. It is painful when you pay top dollars and walk into the theater expecting some mind blowing 3D effects but all you get is a 1D film.

The Order (2001)

Fallinf Flat!

[2/10 · 17 April 2008]

From the director of A.W.O.L, Double Impact and The Last Warrior comes a picture that falls flat on its face and turns out to be a forgettable movie due to various reasons.

The Order starts in 1099 A.D. and narrates the story of a warrior who lived to unite Christians, Jews and Muslims who had been fighting among themselves in the name of religion. This warrior formed an 'Order' comprising these religions and his disciples undertook to spread the word of peace. The warrior composed a code of ethics for his disciples to follow, of which the last chapter goes missing.

Fast forward to the present time where Rudy (Jean-Claude Van Damme) is a common-day thief. When news of his father who has gone missing, reaches him, he goes to Tel Aviv on a lead, where he joins forces with Dalia (the adorable Sofia Milos) and sets on a mission to track his father. With the help of his martial-arts expertise, Rudy finally succeeds in locating his old man but discovers that the kidnapping was actually held to drag Rudy to the city.

Van Damme's action is the only salvation in thethe movie where the pace is fast. Also starring Charlton Heston, as the vile Professor Finley. Overall, The Order is a movie fit for a single watch and tends to turn off interest sporadically.

Living It Up (2000)

Recommended for romantic cum thriller buffs!

[7/10 · 17 April 2008]

A comedy in essence and originally a Mexican movie titled La Gran Vida, Living it up is a fun movie starring Martin (Carmelo Gsmez). A bus driver, Martin is bored with his life. One fine day when he can't take the pressure any more, he stops the bus and runs to the edge of a bridge to commit suicide. Here he meets a mysterious character Salva (Fernando Valverde) who proposes to Martin the perfect way of ending his life — borrow 100 million dollars from the mafia for a week on fifty percent interest markup, live it up and then commit suicide after blowing the cash. In return Salva asks for 15 percent for his services.

With nothing to lose, Martin accepts the offer and gets the money by offering his life as collateral. He lives lavishly, spends millions at the drop of a hat, throws parties for complete strangers; which is where he meets the lovely Lola (the ravishing Salma Hayek). Martin falls for the waitress only to realize that it's too late for him to back out of his deal. The week is up, the money is gone and he can, in no possible way, repay the outstanding amount as, now, he doesn't want to die.

Although a dubbed movie, Living it up has seldom a dull moment. The lines are intelligent and director's grip turns it into a thoroughly enjoyable movie. Comes highly recommended for romantic cum thriller buffs though romance exceeds the thrills!

The Source (2001)

Surge into the Source!

[6/10 · 17 April 2008]

The Surge is a teen movie with a difference. Instead of thrashing out yet another comedy, tragedy, or action flick focusing on teens, the makers have placed their bets on a sci-fi/thriller.

Reese Hauser (Mathew Scollon) plays a guy with a shady past who has just relocated to a new area. Being a misfit, he cannot make any friends. Zack Bainbridge (Edward DeRuiter) comes forward with his sister Ashley Bainbridge (Melissa Renie Martin) and friend Phoebe Lewis (Alice Frank), social outcasts in their own right, to befriend him. Zack also reveals a secret place that is a source of untapped and incredible energy. With some experimentation, these four people transform themselves into super-heroes on campus. Zack can read people's minds, Ashley can force people to do whatever she says and Phoebe can transport objects using telekinesis. Reese is the most formidable among them as he can heel any wound! At first, the group has fun and enjoys their newfound powers. However, they slowly discover the dark side of being so powerful as one of them becomes greedy and plans to eliminate the rest of them to become the most powerful. A bloody battle of survival thus ensues between the four. Definitely a teen flick that keeps you on the edge.

ABCD (1999)

The ABC of ABCD!

[4/10 · 17 April 2008]

Of late, a host of Indian-English movies has come up that either deal with problems of NRIs or attempt to present a saner version of Bollywood to the west. Their contents or execution may be debatable, but it is a giant leap by Bollywood towards the right direction.

American Born Confused Desi, or ABCD, is the story of an ageing, scheming, and suave mother Anju (Madhur Jaffrey) settled in USA. All she wants is to see her son Raj (Faran Tahir) and daughter Nina (Sheetal Seth) married and have kids. While Raj tries to fulfill her wish, Nina is the one who has taken to the wayward ways of the west. She is the ABCD who cannot choose between her mothers numerous proposals and her all-American beloved. Giving in to her mothers pleadings, Nina agrees to give an Indian Ashok (Aasif Mandvi) a chance and agrees to date him. However, she suspects that all Ashok wants is a green card and not her as a life partner.

Anju tries various matchmaking techniques but her offspring have ideas of their own that they ruthlessly pursue. Together, they must not only battle against American biases against them, they must also counter their own demons. This is director Krutin Patels maiden venture and there are various flaws in the story. The three main characters appear unrealistic and do not win sympathies. However, the sensitive issues raised in the movie turn it into an interesting watch. Like all its predecessors, ABCD also has some sizzling moments to entice international audiences towards it. The finale is somewhat predictable but sensitive and lifelike.

Overall, ABCD may not be in the league of great movies like Mississippi Masala and Immaculate Conception but it is a pleasant experience.

The One (2001)

The One and Only!

[8/10 · 17 April 2008]

Fans of science fiction movies often find themselves disillusioned by B-movies and worthless crap such as Planet of The Apes, often churned out by Hollywood. Occasionally, a movie like Back to The Future trilogy or Matrix comes out that attracts fans again and again to relive the magic and ingenuity of Sci-Fi. The latest offering The One may not prove to be as record breaking as the above-mentioned ones but, at least, it has a clever storyline that would engross viewers from the word go! As the story goes, we do not live in a universe but multiverses and each one of us exists in hundreds on these independent universes. Yulaw (Jet Li) is a killer on a spree who wants to kill all of his other forms so he can become the one. His motive is that each time one of him dies, the deceaseds energy and life force is divided among the survivors and they become faster, stronger. He has killed 123 of his replicas and just one, Gabriel (Jet Li again!) remains before Yulaw can become the most formidable man in the multiverses. The movie is filled with encounters between the two and the battle of survival. Two cops from the most advanced universe Funsch (Jason Statham) and Roedecker (Delroy Lindo) are chasing Yulaw to bring him to justice and explain these incredible facts to Gabriel who he refuses to believe them.

There are enough special effects, astonishing theories, and mind-boggling explanations to keep an avid fan busy for 87 minutes. While a sci-fi fan would drool over the movie, the fans of mushy movies are advised to stay away from this flick

Extreme Ops (2002)

Extremely Op ..... Oops!

[3/10 · 17 April 2008]

Will (Devon Sawa) is a Hollywood producer who excels at making commercials with some extreme sports fanatics on centre stage. When an opportunity arises to do a big-league advertisement, he decides to film it against an actual avalanche. He hires Jeffrey (Rupert Graves) as the director and heads for the Austrian Alps near the Yugoslavian border to film the spot.

His team consists of Ian (Rufus Sewell), Chloe (Bridgette Wilson) and Kittie (Jana Pallaske), three extreme sports connoisseurs who love staring the storm right in the eye. To film such a daring and precarious commercial they need an equally adventurous cinematographer, who turns out to be Mark (Heino Ferch). Together, these six individuals land up in an under construction resort. They start filming, unaware that the place is also the secret hideout of Slobodan Pavle (Klaus Lvwitsch), a Serbian war criminal who is believed to have died in a plane crash. Mark erroneously catches Pavle on tape who believes the six are actually CIA operatives. Pavle orders their execution lest they should blow the whistle on his whereabouts and his latest plans to wreak havoc. Thus begins a battle of survival as the protagonists use every trick and ploy they know to survive and bring down the evil Pavle.

From the story and the trailers, Extreme ops may sound like a flick for a selected audience. Although the movie does not have much of a plot or situations that are aesthetically appealing, the numerous incredible and ingenious action sequences ensure that one stays glued to the couch. The film can be enjoyed only if one watches it without any expectations!—

Reign of Fire (2002)

Rain Reign Go Away!

[4/10 · 17 April 2008]

Reign of Fire (ROF) starts innocently enough with a young boy, Quinn, visiting his mother at a London excavation site. She erroneously sets free a fire-breathing dragon that brings chaos to the modern world. Fast forward to 2020 where Quinn (Christian Bale) is fighting the battle of survival with a handful of his men. Apparently, they have devised mechanisms to warn them of the beast's arrival, but actually fighting one is quite a challenge. Enter Van Zan (Matthew McConaughey), a tough-talking American looking for shelter with Alex Jensen (Izabella Scorupco), a daredevil helicopter pilot. Zan claims to have killed quite a few dragons using a technique that not only sounds far-fetched, but also ridiculous.

Quinn soon figures out that Zan and his men are completely insane. He asks them to leave and resists as Zan plans to recruit his men to finish off the flame spewing creatures. However, when Zan reveals there is just one male dragon hiding in London and producing millions of offspring, Quinn decides to join forces with him to encounter the beast one last time.

ROF portrays Americans yet again as the sole saviours of the world. Although we have adored dragons in movies like Dragonheart and Dungeons & Dragons, ROF brings to the screen their might and terror. The director, who has movies such as Airborne and The X-Files to his credit fails to electrify the viewer with more drama than action, unimposing special effects and a weak storyline.

The Mothman Prophecies (2002)

Paranormal Activity!

[7/10 · 17 April 2008]

From the director of Arlington Road comes another gripping tale of horror, paranormal events and psychic visions that promises to leave the viewers stunned and gasping for more with clever screenplay, exceptional acting and polished execution.

The Mothman Prophecies is the story of a reporter John Klein (Richard Gere) whose wife Mary (Debra Messing) dies under mysterious circumstances. In her last days, Mary draws some bizarre pictures of a baffling winged creature. Two years pass and while Klein is driving to meet the governor of Virginia when his car breaks down, he seeks help from a local, Gordon Smallwood (Will Patton) who accuses Klein of stalking him. If that is not inexplicable enough, Klein soon finds that somehow he drove in complete opposite direction and covered 400 miles in 90 minutes to reach Point Pleasant, in West Virginia. He comes across Sergeant Connie Parker (Laura Linney) who tells him that in the past few weeks, the locals have been filing sighting reports of a winged creature. Curiosity gets the better of Klein and he decides to investigate further since the locals' description of the creature matches his wife's drawings. As the story unfolds, he seeks the help of a paranormal expert Alexander Leek (Alan Bates) to ascertain if this creature, 'Mothman,' wants to tell him and the residents something.

The movie is based on a book that narrates true paranormal events that rocked Point Pleasant in 1966. The director has taken the facts to spin a chilling tale and you would want to see it again to understand the mechanics of the movie better. The horror/sci-fi fans should watch it for intense performances by Gere and Linney. The movie would not disappoint you either.

Deewaar (1975)

The Greatest Trick!

[9/10 · 21 March 2006]

Deewar (that, interestingly enough in English, would loosely be pronounced "The War" without the risk of falling out of the context of the story!) is a treat in every aspect. Drama, action, emotions, romance, tears - everything has been added in perfect quantity. No one who has watched it would ever forget the strong & clever reference of a Hindu using billa (badge) number 786 (a number sacred for Mulims and how it saves his life on occasions) or the sequence where one brother boasts screamingly of having the "world" and the other - in undertone - reveals he has the mother!

However ..... there is a SERIOUS flaw!

Remember the first and the last shot of the film? Its the mother accepting a medal on behalf of her son inspector Shahshi Kapoor. Remember everything in between? Its all in flashback.

So?

What is wrong with that?

Well ..... nothing!

That is, if you are comfortable with the mother "flashing back" to show us her son - Amitabh - screwing Parveen Bobby passionately, Parveen attempting abortion or something, the son roaming around shirtless, et al. How the makers got away with it and why did they choose not to show it in linear form is still a mystery.

With that "minor" glitch, Deewar is inarguably one of the finest movies of the Big B. The writer duo of Saleem-Javed has created some of the most memorable lines and one of the most fascinating films in the history of Asian cinema. The director and producer deserve a medal on each anniversary of the film!

In short, it is a movie that every writer, actor, and director should watch and keep on watching until they "get it"!