John Travolta, Jonathan Rhys Meyers From Paris With Love

Title: From Paris Love

Starring: John Travolta, Jonathan Rhys Meyers

Director: Pierre Morel

Run Time: 92 Mins

Release Date: 11th March 2010 (Norway)

Based on the Story by Luc Besson

They are two CIA officers from two different sides of the coin.

Charlie Wax (John Travolta) is ruthless, quick and gets the job done even if by unorthodox means. A seasoned undercover agent he is called by the French US embassy to help stop a bomb from Pakistani terrorists targeting an African summit.

The other partner James Reese (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) is the personal assistant of Ambassador Bennington (Richard Durden), a sharp Ivy League alumnus tired of low agents work like changing number plates and planting bugs he dreams of real work.

Coming of the trigger happy Charlie puts Reese in frontline job.

Reese fiancée Caroline (Kasia Smutniak) plants bugs at Reese apartment and frequents seedy parts of town till the day of African summit reaches.

The viewer gets confused with Charlie’s trigger happy tendency of blasting away Chinese, Pakistani’s and Arabs in sight till later when the  viewer is glued to climax as he joins the dots of storyline.

The actors play their roles superbly. The go happy, gun-toting Wax is given an anti-thesis with the soft Reese.

The story flows superbly with the action packed, but the only reservation is it seems the terrorists’ easily die with little care of themselves during shootouts.

Tim Robbins, Morgan Freeman The Shawshank Redemption

Reading Stephen King’s Novel from Print to Reel
Title: The Shawshank Redemption
Starring: Tim Robbins, Morgan Freeman, Bob Gunton
Director: Frank Darabont
Runtime: 142 Mins
Date Released: 6th January 1995 (Norway)
Based on Stephen King’s Novel ‘Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption’


At Shawshank prison in Maine, everyone is innocent they only got conned by their lawyers. The only guilt is being locked behind the walls where prisoners pry on each other. The guards too fleece the inmates with permission sought even for peeing.

Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins) is charged with two life sentences served back to back for the purported murder of his wife and her lover. Being a workaholic banker he pushes his wife away.

In 1947 he starts serving his sentences at Shawshank where he meets Ellis Redding ‘Red’ (Morgan Freeman) already at 20 years of his life sentence on a murder he committed as a young man.

The two develop a mutual understanding and friendship as they serve their sentences.

Redding is the prison conman who gets Andy a rock hummer which buys Andy his freedom after digging a tunnel for 19 years.

Warden Norton (Bob Gunton) believes in bible and discipline till he finds out that Andy could skew figures the IRS. Norton forces Andy to collude with him in stealing by killing an inmate who could have proven Andy’s innocence.

Harboring hope amid despair Andy Dufresne suddenly disappears from his cell. Silently like a fart in the wind he disappears with Norton’s money…..

The movie is hot since it has 7 Oscars nomination, 13 other nominations and 12 wins in different categories

Robert John Burke, Lucinda Jenney, Stephen Kings Thinner

A King Movie, King Author Stephen King

Title: Stephen King’s Thinner

Starring: Robert John Burke, Lucinda Jenney, Michael Constantine, Joe Mantagne

Director: Tom Holland

Runtime:
92 Mins

Release Date:
25th October 1996 (USA)

Based on Stephen King’s Novel Thinner

The gypsy caravan slowly snakes its way in a white town. They seem to be everywhere till a confrontation ensues between them and the whites.

Lawyer Billy Halleck (Robert John Burke) while driving from a dinner with his wife Heidi (Lucinda Jenney) accidently kill a gypsy woman.

Convinced that the gypsy’s are a nuisance Judge Phillips (Howard Erskine) sets Halleck free without giving the gypsies a hearing in the court.

Seeing that the white man’s justice is no justice at all, 106 years old Tadzu Limpke (Michael Constantine) the king of the gypsies the father of the dead woman unleashes a gypsy curse.

Simply administered the curse makes the victim thinner claiming judge Phillips who dies a horrible death. With a ballooning weight of 297 pounds Billy rapidly thins to a skeleton. Neglected by his wife who turns to a doctor friend Billy sets off to find a cure for the curse.

With the help of a mobster client Richie Ginelli (Joe Mantegna) they force the gypsies to revert the curse to another person leaving Billy to choose his next victim.

The director Tom Holland did a great job of immortalizing the King of Horror/Thriller books Stephen King on the big Screen. Suspense holds the viewer vice-like and the makeup brings King’s horror description vividly from print to reel.

King’s readers will surely enjoy the movie together with lovers of movies reading like novels.

The movie had an award in 1997 by Academy of Science, Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films of USA

Don Cheadle Traitor

Cheadle in a Surveillance look at Traitors in War on Terror.
Title: Traitor
Starring: Don Cheadle, Guy Pearce, Said Tagmaoui
Director: Jeffrey Nachmanoff
Runtime: 114 Mins

Release date: 23rd January 2009



As a young boy, Samir Horn (Don Cheadle) witnesses his Islamic cleric father being killed in a car bomb while living in Khartoum, Sudan. Samir ends up a ‘terrorist’ bomb expert in Afghanistan war against Russia. He later sells bombs to Yemeni ‘terrorists’ till he gets busted by FBI agents Roy Clayton (Guy Pearce) and Max Archer (Neal McDonough).

Born in Sudan and brought up in Chicago Samir Horn is considered a traitor by the Americans who recruited him as a CIA undercover and the ‘Terrorists’ who considered him a brother.

Traitor is a philosophical movie taking a surveillance watch on the war on terror and every means employed to win it. During war every mean, orthodox and off the record have to be used to win.

The ‘terrorists’ and agents have to know to whom they are answerable to; God or Patriotism. In the war of terror there are fanatics and opportunists.

The CIA takes opportunity on Samir Horns’ Islamic believe and plants him as a mole with ‘terrorists’. A religious fanatic Omar’s (Said Tagmaoui) faith in Jihad is exploited by Fareed (Alyy Khan) for business end. Every religion hangs on an axis that’s why fanaticism bounds.

That’s why when 30 terrorists make their way to a bus terminus in US and a bomb kill 8 people at US embassy in Marseilles, France.

A CIA agent is holed up as a terrorist in a Yemeni prison and a young jihadist is found dead in a French Muslim ghetto.

Or when the FBI is trying to solve a bomb blast orchestrated by the CIA then there is a traitor.

An informer in the FBI linking bombers with classified materials or a ‘terrorist’ bomb expert working as an undercover agent.

Then the traitor lies in a fulcrum to be weighed by the audience.

Traitor has earned 5 nominations including Cheadle as the best actor with Said in best Image.

Adam Sandler, Chris Rock, Burst Reynolds, Nelly The Longest Yard

Longest star list with flat humor lines

Title: The longest Yard

Starring: Adam Sandler, Chris Rock, Burst Reynolds, Nelly

Director: Peter Segal

Release date: 6th January 1995 (Norway)

Runtime:113 Mins

The longest yard promises big with its array of stars but disappoints to deliver.

Peter Crewe (Adam Sandler) after failing as a football star finds himself imprisoned for three years for charges of driving under the influence.

In prison the former pro-footballer is faced with corrupt wardens looking for a team to revive their poor performance. Lead by Captain Knauer (William Fichner- Alex Mahon of Prison Break) and Donham (Steve Austin) they force Crewe to assemble an inmates team into a game.

Crewe teams with Caretaker (Chris Rock) to transform the riff raff criminals to a professional team to challenge the wardens. Banking in the team’s hatred for the sardonic wardens the teams find leverage.

Amid limited players and equipments they gain momentum till the wardens get worried. That is when dirty tricks of winning the match takes center stage.

There are many star faces to reckoning with movie lovers. But the storyline hobbles to the end with flat humor lines leaving viewers with quizzical looks.

Amongst the stars are rapper Nelly, WWF’s Dalip Singh aka Great Khali.

Movie Review: Gifted Hands The Ben Carson Story

Movie: Gifted Hands

Starring: Cuba Gooding Jr, Kimberly Elise, Anjanue Ellis

Director and Producer: Thomas Carter

The enriching life of Dr. Benjamin Carson has been immortalized in a movie.

The movie is based on the book Gifted Hands: The story of Ben Carson written by Carson and Cecil Murphey about the pediatric neuro-surgeon at John Hopkins, Baltimore.

The movie starts with the 1987 birth of siamese twins in Ulm City, West Germany. The parents were told the twins were joined on their heads after a scan. The Rauchs (played by) refused an abortion and killing on child since they loved them both.

The twenty two hours operation became the first separation of twins worldwide done by Dr, Ben Carson (Cuba Gooding Jr.)

Dr. Ben Carson grew up in the ghettos of Detroit from wielding knives to a renowned worldwide surgeon by wielding a scalpel.

From a dummy at the bottom of his fifth grade class Carson raised himself by dedication to God, extensive reading books and thinking positive amongst other tributes.

Thomas Carter, The producer and director has done a great job in summarizing the original book. The ground breaking surgery work by Carson is captured by the separation of the Rausch twins.

On the other hand Gooding Jr make up makes him resemble Dr. Carson in real life.

Movie Review: My Best Friend’s Wife

Movie: My best friend’s wife

Starring: John Stamos, Daniel London, Meredith Salenger and Tara Westwood.

Director: Doug Finelli

Reviewer: Manuel Odeny

My best friend’s wife tries to look at unfaithfulness in the life of couples after a long stay and the first spark dies.

Steve Meyers (John Stamos) convinces his wife Claire (Tara Westwood) of a swap with his childhood buddy Eric Meyer (Daniel London) to avoid infidelity in their relationship.

Meyers argues that after birth and free sexual experiences couples are tied up together in steady relationships. Boring albeit. The boredom may be eased by controlled infidelity!

On the other hand Eric Meyer finds it an uphill task to convince his sweetheart Ami (Meredith Salenger) of the swap plan.

When at last the swap happens the effect is felt in tension in their relationship and family.

Tension builds when Ami and Steve sleep together while Eric and Claire opt to be faithful.

The director Doug Finelli skillfully makes the story line to grip and the characters play their parts superbly to hold the viewer to the end.

The only thumbs down is that in African culture where sex in held in privately and least casual the movie only makes for an emotional fantasy.