5 English Films

The Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D
Its a kids film and does the job perfectly as far as its target audience is concerned but doesn't offer much for adults. The 3D is nice initially. Its fun seeing things close-up and there are a few nice jolts throughout the film as a variety of creatures snap at us. But the fun does wear off pretty soon as we start look for excitement and thrills and the movie's sorely lacking in those. There are quite a few action setpieces but they are handled in a comic vein and so everything's rather tame and there's no real tension. Pretty much everything's rendered by computer graphics and so things are pretty to look at but not very realistic. So the film just feels like a non-interactive video game.

Shutter
This is the Hollywood remake of the Thai horror film of the same name, which by the way, was remade in Tamil last year as Sivi. While I haven't seen the Thai original, which is supposed to be really scary, Sivi was actually scarier than this Shutter. The basic story's the same but the change in setting(its a modelling firm in Japan instead of the college in Sivi) results in the creepiness being diluted in many scenes while some of the more effective scenes(like the one in the darkroom) have been inexplicably removed altogether. The only good part is the ending, which is still effective even if not surprising. The film's another addition to the long line of weak and watered-down Asian horror films.

The Bank Job
A heist movie that focuses more on the aftermath of the heist. As the name indicates, its about a bank robbery(in London in the 60s) where a team robs the safety deposit boxes at a bank. While they are simply after the money and jewellery, the contents of some of the boxes make them the target of some rather unsavory people. The heist isn't very complicated to begin with and becomes even simpler once they start it. So the lack of the meticulous planning and detailed MO is a little disappointing. But most of the film's excitement comes after it. The screenplay is a bit complicated initially as we are shown multiple tracks but they tie in nicely towards the end.

Definitely, Maybe
The romantic comedy is definitely my least favorite genre among Hollywood movies but this one takes a route that's different for the genre. It starts off with a man telling his daughter about his past girlfriends and asking her tofigure out who her mom is. So we get three separate tracks and there's some suspense about who he does end up with.The tracks themselves aren't your usual tracks and feature interesting characters and intelligent conversations. Therevelation about the girl's mom does come as a surprise though the subsequent happenings feel a bit forced. The three actresses do well though the hero seems a little bland.

The Orphanage
Saw this a while ago but realized I never wrote about it. A Spanish horror film, that gets everything right that the Hollywood remakes, like Shutter, usually miss. It doesn't have much violence but is genuinely scary and creepy. It has some good 'Boo' moments made more effective since they're used sparingly. It has a terrific, heart-wrenching twist that leads to an unexpected, haunting climax that leaves a lump in your throat. A must-see for horror movie fans looking for more than cheap scares and gratuitous blood and gore.