Movie Review: Transformers: Tried and tested drabness

Director: Michael Bay 

Megan Fox plays the usual unbelievably attractive Hollywood college girl of the disaster movies 

Alien attack! Not again. You know what to expect and you have seen it all before. The attack is on an US army camp as usual. This time they are robots from the planet of Cybertron. The good ones are Autobots led by Optimus Prime, the bad ones are the Decepticons led by Megatron. Both are looking for the cube -the source of great power, hidden somewhere on the earth. Somehow, the cube's location is embedded on the spectacles of a teenager's grandfather.

Autobots do not want to harm humans, the evil robots want it for more power and what else - destroy humanity (yawn). The Hollywood formula is played along, clueless teenagers, beautiful college girl, beautiful geniuses, black geniuses, US saving the world.

The action scenes remind you of all the routine Hollywood war and disaster movies you have seen. Apart from brief moments of imagination, the action is chaotic and loud, before one figures out who is killing whom, good has won over evil, yet again.

Optimus Prime is the autobot leader

No surprises here, no great story, pedestrian humour, yawn-inducing ending. As for the robots, they indulge us briefly with their view on humans, nothing more. An average movie, held up by expensive special effects.

Why didn't Steven Spielberg- the executive producer, direct the film. Not challenging enough for him?

Megatron leads the evil decepticons

LIFE IS A CELEBRATION

Why do we find joy only on our birthdays? Could not every day be a celebration? Is this an impossible idea?

Movie Review: Guru

Date of Release: 12th January 2007
Director: Mani Ratnam
Main Cast: Abishek Bachchan, Mithun Chakraborty, Aishwarya Rai, Madhavan, Vidhya Balan.

Until the judicial proceedings agaisnt the film's protagonist, Guru is riveting, engaging and believable. The moment when Gurukant Desai, suddenly bursts to a speech from his paralysis, that the film moves to implausibility.
A crowd claps, camera flashes blink, and the judicial panel find their stance softened by the "hero's pep talk."The hero must win at all costs including logic.

Otherwise, Ratnam creates an endearing drama of a Polyster merchant's rise from the 1950's to the 1980's. His love for rain sequences are very noticeable. The first half takes Guru from his youth to middle-age, at a good pace, and the second-half through the obstacles to his success. Ratnam displays the married couple chemistry well, and the confrontations between people of differing views, as he has in Bombay, Roja and the don epic -Nayakan.

Scenes such as Guru's decision to marry for money, comparing his wife to a silk cloth, showing a pot belly, stand out. A couple of song picturisations are uninspired, including the Aishwarya introduction song.Vidhya Balan and Madhavan are wasted in minute roles. Mithun gets under the skin of his character. Abishek does his most challenging role to date convincingly.

Rahman's songs gel well, although the same cannot be said for the background score, which gets too loud at times. Rajiv Menon's cinematography provides an epic look to the film.
Guru grabs your attention but it is in the summing up of the story that it falters to hero worship.