Fair Game - Movie Review

Doug Liman, who was instrumental in giving the Top Movie Bourne Identity, is successful yet again in bringing out a winner in Fair Game. Based on two top selling books, Fair Game is a political thriller, set in the period of President Bush and involving his policies with regard to Iraq war and the political turmoil he had to face in his country. It spins the tale of back-stabbing, getting personal in political wars and breaking up of homes in order to get political mileage. In short, the movie is about the murkier games politicians play to achieve the end-result, where means are of no consequence.

Naomi Watts, the Top Movies actor, plays CIA agent Valerie Plame Wilson, who is married to diplomat Joe Wilson, played by Sean Penn, the star of many Top Movies, and is running undercover operation in the war torn Iraq. Unaware of her true identity, Joe Wilson is arduously campaigning against the Bush administration for the wrongs being done in Iraq and the sufferings of the US soldiers in the unnecessary war being fought in Iraq.

The political bickering get too hot for the Bush administration to handle, when Wilson, in an article written in New York Times, accuses the President of messing up the Iraq war on the Weapons of Mass Destruction issue. To save their own political careers, the top politicians take CIA into confidence and plan to cut down the towering image of Wilson. The scapegoat has to be Valerie and through her Wilson must be cut to size zero of his political career.

All the good work that Valerie has done in Iraq, from safeguarding the undercover American scientists working secretly in Iraq and busting many counter-espionage plans of the Iraqi intelligence, is forgotten by the greedy political top brass. The President launches a counter attack on Wilson in the Senate and is able to barely save his position. Then, in the discreet manner, that is a favorite with the CIA, Valerie is exposed and disgraced. A shattered Wilson is forced to lie low and Valerie is unable to save her broken home.

An out and out dialogue based movie, with a strong narrative and a taut screenplay, helps Liman in bringing out the best from his star cast. Both Naomi and Penn perfectly play their parts with constraint and successfully bring out the characters alive on the screen. The true story of Valerie has been brought out on the screen very effectively by Liman, without delving into the war scenes or field actions of Valerie. There's not much of action but the movie has an undercurrent of tension, which is unleashed by the director in the end. Definitely worth a visit to the theaters.

Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring - Movie Review

The Dark Lord Sauron makes the One Ring to rule the Middle Earth but when Prince Isildur cuts off his hand the Ring is lost for centuries. In the present times the Ring is with Hobbit Frodo Baggins, enacted by Elijah Wood with a performance of top rated movies. Wizard Gandalf the Grey, played by Ian Mckellen's worthy of top movies performance, finds that the Ring actually belongs to the Dark Lord Sauron. Returning to Bag End he advices Frodo to immediately leave for Rivendell and sends Samwise Gamgee, played by Sean Astin with a top movies performance, Merry and Pippin with him.

On way to Rivendell with Elf Arwen who has magical powers, Frodo is joined by Strider but Gandalf joins Frodo in Rivendell and they learn from Elrond, chief of the Elves that the Ring can only be destroyed in the fires of Mount Doom where it was made. Frodo forms the 'Fellowship of the Ring' with Gandalf, Elf Legolas, Dwarf Gimli, Strider a.k.a Aragorn the Prince of Gondor, played with aplomb like a top rated movies act and Boromir Steward of Gondor's son, enacted by Sean Bean with a strong top 10 movies act and they leave for Mount Doom.

The Fellowship is ambushed by the forces of Saruman on the way but they successfully reach Lothlorien, a safe haven of Elves ruled by husband and wife duo of Celeborn and Galadriel. Galadriel tells him that it's in his destiny to destroy the Ring and gives him the magical Phial of Galadriel when they leave for Parth Galen. At Parth Galen, after Boromir's failed attempt to snatch the Ring, Frodo decides to make the journey alone. After he leaves Uruk-hai under Lurtz's command attack the Fellowship but are stopped by Merry and Pippin. Aragorn tries to avert Lutz's attack on Boromir but is unable to save him. Merry and Pippin are captured and Aragorn, Gimli and Legolas pursue the Orcs to rescue them. Frodo is joined by Sam on the way and they continue their journey to Mount Doom.

Peter Jackson, who has been associated with many top rated movies projects, directs this magic oriented tale about a ring which has Dark Powers. The movie is a sure chart buster and is bound to be in the top 10 movies list of the year. The story and the characterization have been deftly handled by Peter using digital make-up special effects and the viewer is not going to have a dull moment.

Peter has decided to follow the original story of J R R Tolkien which is full of top movies stuff and make a trilogy of the ring. The musical score has been composed by Howard Stone who has got splendid performances by The London Philharmonic Orchestra, New Zealand Symphony Orchestra and The London Voices. Viewers are going to wait eagerly for the next edition and the final one to see the fate of the ring.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 1 - Movie Review

This movie is based on the last of the Harry Potter novel's written by J.K. Rowling. Screenplay has been scripted by Steve Kloves and the movie has been produced by J.K. Rowling, David Heyman and David Barron. Directed by David Yates, it was split in two parts after being filmed in one schedule. The series has met with stupendous success and all previous six Potter movies have been Top Movies of their times.

This part starts with the Minister of Magic announcing to the wizard media about the Ministry gaining strength with the increase in strength of Lord Voldemort. On hearing from Privet Drive about the departure of Harry, Voldemort takes the wand from Malfoy, since his own wand is ineffective on Harry. Meanwhile at Privet Drive, it has been decided to create six decoys of Harry, before Harry is moved to safer place. The decoys are ambushed and killed along with Mad-Eye and Hedwig, but Voldemort's borrowed wand is unable to kill and slice Harry. Harry dreams of Voldemort torturing Ollivander on the failure of his wand. Actors who had given the successful Potter movies earlier, have once again come together to give this Top Movie.

Death Eaters disrupt the wedding of Fleur Delacour and Bill Weasley. Harry, Hermione and Ron disapparate London and live at 12, Grimmauld Place, where they discern that the inscription R.A.B on the Horcrux locket stands for Requlus Arcturus Black and that the original Horcrux has been stolen by Fletcher. But Fletcher when apprehended by Dobby and Kreacher, discloses of the locket being with Umbridge, which the trio is successful in getting and flee to the forest. To negate the suspicious thoughts that the locket generates, the trio take turns to wear it. Ron, on wearing the locket, prevails over by suspicion about Harry and Harmione and leaves them. Harry again dreams that Voldemort is seeking information from wand maker Gregorovitch, who reveals that the original wand was stolen by a small boy. Voldemort leaves to find the thief.

In the evening harry follows a Patronus, which leads him to the sword of Gryffindor which can destroy the Horcrux. Harry is unable to get the sword from the frozen lake, but with Ron's help they finally are able to destroy the Horcrux. After destroying the Horcrux, the three of them visit Lovegood to enquire of a symbol that they had seen quite a few times on their voyage. Lovegood tells them that the symbol stands for the Deathly Halllows, where they can find the Resurrection Stone, the Elder Wand and the Cloak of Invisibility. However Lovegood deceives them to Death Eaters so as to get his abducted daughter back from Voldemort. Harry has the vision that Voldemort has learned from Grindelwald that the Elder Wand is with Dumbledore.

Voldemort arrives at the tomb of Dumbledore and finds the Elder Wand there and shoots a lightening bolt in the sky to make the announcement that he has got the original Elder Wand. The top movie ends here to be finally culminated in the final episode of the Harry Potter Top Movie, Part 2

For Colored Girls - Movie Review

For Colored Girls has been sensitively handled by Tyler Perry, whose earlier works on Afro-American women have been Top Movies in their own rights and it would not be fair to this talented director to label him a feminist. Yes, he can be aptly labeled as having brought the sufferings of these women in a feminist way on the screen, by highlighting their feminism against the macho-ism of the men, at whose hands they suffered. No other director would have done justice to Ntozake Shange's landmark 1975 play, revolving around the lives of two sisters, surrounded by a few women who have much to give and little to get from the male dominant society they live in.

Of the two sisters, the elder one is Tangie (Thandie Newton, star of many Top Movies), who cares two hoots for life, is a whore not by choice but by compulsion and the younger one is Nyla (Tessa Thompson), who is trying to be a teenage dance prodigy. Both the actors have given outstanding performances which are fit for Top Movies. After the death of their father, the two girls have been living with their mother (played by Whoopi Goldberg, veteran of many Top Movies), who is a religious fanatic, in an apartment situated in an old building and where all the other characters of this lovable movie reside.

There is the apartment manager (portrayed by Phylicia Rashad) who is caring and loves the sisters, taking good care of them in the absence of their mother and filling the void of loneliness in her own life. Crystal (played by Kimberly Elise, a Top Movie actor), who works as an assistant to Jo (Janet Jackson, the Top Movie star), the high profile editor of a magazine, is also leading a life full of sufferings at the hands of her boyfriend (enacted by Michael Ealy), who is a Iraq war veteran and treats her badly. Then there is Yasmine (Anika Noni Rose), dance teacher of Nyla and a kind hearted soul, who also works as an organizer for an AIDS Clinic (run by Loretta Devine). The final character in this saga of feminine apathy and silent sufferings is a Social Worker (Kerry Washington) who tries her best in helping Crystal with her two children.

The lives of these strong willed women are not simple, are full of complications but the underlying strength of their characters is steel like and they are determined to lead their lives in their own ways. This is what has been portrayed effectively by Perry. The sufferings these women face in their lives are the basis of their mutual admiration and their standing in solidarity. This is one movie that is not only a must for the women but also an eye opener for men. See it to understand the silence of the suffering feminine gender.

Megamind - Movie Review

An animated movie, fit for Top Movies slot, produced by DreamWorks Animation, Pacific Data Images (PDI) and Red Hour Films has been directed by Tom McGrath to a screenplay written by Alan J. Schoolcraft and Brent Simons. Voiced over by Will Ferrell, Jonah Hill and Brad Pitt, the movie is a clever piece of intelligent story-telling and equally deft direction.

An alien, Megamind (whose voice-over is Will Ferrell - scion of many Top Movies), sent to Earth by his parents because his home planet is being sucked by a black hole, becomes a loser to Metro Man (whose voice-over is Brad Pitt - Hero of many Top Movies), another alien, who is savior of Metro City. His only companion is Minion (whose voice-over is David Cross - actor of many Top Movies) and both are unwanted in the Metro City. Realizing that he is good at destructive ideas and can never succeed until Metro Man is alive, Megamind plans to eliminate him. He kidnaps Roxanne Ritchi (whose voice-over is Tina Fey - scion of many Top Movies), a news reporter and holds her captive in the city observatory as a bait to lure Metro Mind in a fight to death. Metro Man is eventually killed by the Death Ray of Megamind, who is now crowned king of Metro City's underworld.

With no challenges left in life, Megamind starts getting bored and decides to create an opponent with the serum of Metro Man. Disguised as a Museum curator, Bernard he has started dating Roxanne and during one such meeting, gives her the indication of what Megamind has in store for the people of Metro City. Roxanne, along with her cameraman Hal Stewart (whose voice-over is Jonah Hill - actor of many Top Movies) enters the hideout of Megamind to stop him. In the ensuing fight the serum gets injected into Hal, who becomes Tighten, the next savior of Metro City. Megamind's true identity is accidentally revealed to Roxanne and she severs her relationship with him.

Tighten challenges Megamind to a fight, which Megamind loses miserably and decides to end his life. Minion persuades him to find a way to defeat Tighten and both are eventually successful in getting Roxanne by their side. In the final fight, the trio is successful in eliminating Tighten, when Megamind is able to extract the serum of Metro Mind from Tighten. Megamind's change of heart gets him the respect of the people of Metro City and he is crowned savior of Metro City.

A typical hero vs villain story, the intelligent twist in the movie is turning Megamind into a hero from a super villain which earns him the love of people. Love wins even a diehard opponent.