Pain & Gain (2013)

[a dark ,dark comedy]

Pain & Gain (2013)

IMDB- 6.7

Rottentomatoes- 45%

RJG Rating- 70

3 bodybuilders get tangled up with some truly unbelivable stuff as they enter a world of drugs and kidnapping.

Starring- Mark Wahlberg, Dwayne Rock Johnson, Anthony Mackie

Director- Michael Bay

Mark Wahlberg leads the trio ,and hes pretty much good at what he does.Dwayne ROCK Johnson ,continues his streak of action roles ,and he once again delivers ,this time with his "strong body-soft heart" type role.Anthony Mackie gives a good balancing act to the two stars and manages to find a place amongst Mark & Dwayne.The acting here isnt anything exceptional ,the main requirement here was to build up their bodies ,which the trio have done quite remarkably.But they step up in the final part of the movie ,where things get really wacky.

Pain & Gain is based on a true story ,which in Hollywood means it has around 10% resemblance to the actual event.Pain & Gain is one heck of a story.The story completely goes nuts towards the end ,and at times its really unbelievable thats its true.Its a wild movie ,which could have been a thrilling dramatic movie ,but somehow is presented as a comedy.And thats where P&G succeeds.The story at start might not get a grip on you ,but once it does ,you are hooked on till the end.

Another highlight are the characters.None are heroes or good guys.They are all bad.And this isnt one of those movies that make the bad guys look so cool that you end up supporting them.P&G's strange sense of humour helps with the transition from "boring" to "likeable" to "wtf".

Ill admit it,Michael Bay has finally come out with something good.Or atleast something thats better than all his previous movies.The pacing was a bit slow at the start ,but it catches up towards the middle and goes steady towards the end ,reaching a high with the climax.The music ,and action scenes were well implemented.With P&G ,Bay actually delivers a good movie.It could have become just another crime drama ,but the way Bay handles the material ,the story is given one heck of a presentation that so easily covers up the gruesome stuff thats actually happening.

Overall ,Pain & Gain is a fun movie if you dont mind some violence.And you shouldnt miss this ,just because its directed by Bay.Its actually his best movie so far.

Acting- 2.5/5

Story- 3/5

Direction- 3.5/5

Comedy- 3.5/5

Action- 3.5/5

Drama- 3/5

G.I. Joe: Retaliation (2013)

[story fails to back up the action]

G.I. Joe: Retaliation (2013)
IMDB- 5.9
RottenTomatoes- 28%
RJG Ratings- 45

The GI Joe's are brought to its knees by their arch enemy COBRA and its time to retaliate.

Starring- Dwayne Rock,D.J. Cotrona,Adrianne Palicki
Director- Jon M. Chu

The sequel to 2009's critically panned Gi Joe ,has one thing going easy, its following up a bad movie ,you cant get worse than that ,right?

Getting the newly crowned Action star ,Dwayne Rock ,was a BIG move for the movie.Rock isnt the best actor around ,but he surely is charismatic and fun to be seen in action movies of this sort.He once again does a good job with GI Joe 2.On the down side kicking out Channing was a backfire.Though it was good that Channing came back to finish his role ,he would have been a perfect match with Dwayne.Coming to the supporting roles ,theres Adrianne Palicki & DJ Cotrona ,as Jaye & Flint.They arent too good ,and serve as just eye candy and Channing substitute ,respectively.Byung-hun Lee & Ray Park as Storm Shadow and Snake Eyes are entertaining.

The story is weak and just falls apart terribly in the second half.It just doesnt make any sense and it all conveniently takes place.Even for a summer action movie ,the story is kiddish and stupid.The grand final evil masterplan about the Zeus missiles was one of the most idiotic thing ive seen.

Direction by Jon M. Chu ,was below average.The pacing was even in the first half but by the second half it gets uneven.The action scenes were initially great ,but towards the end it started getting dull and repetitive.By the time the movie enters into its climax ,it had lost its entire steam and was just dragging on and on.

The mountain fight scene with Storm Shadow was the highlight from all the rest of the dull stuff.

Overall GI Joe Retaliation is a better movie than its first part ,but its still a disappointing dumb action movie.

Acting- 2/5
Story- 1.5/5
Direction- 2/5
Action- 3/5

Terminator reboot gets a date!

The Terminator series will be rebooted and the first part of the newly planned trilogy will be released on June 26, 2015.
After the poor response to Terminator Salvation ,and the legal issues of the franchise , a reboot was the best option.This will completely wipe the slate clean from the old series which consisted of 4 movies from 1984-2009.Arnold Schwarzenegger's involvement is still in doubt ,and a director hasnt been attached to the project as of now.

The planned reboot will be a stand-alone trilogy ,which means it would not be made on the existing storyline.Characters such as John Connor may not be even in the movie.
Dwayne Johnson is rumoured to have a major part in the movie ,but its still a rumour.

On the other hand ,2015 is gearing upto become one hell of a summer...Check this out!
The Avengers 2 (May 1)
Assassin's Creed (June 19)
Terminator (June 26)
Independence Day 2 (July 3)
Pirates of the Caribbean 5 (July 10)
Jurassic Park IV
Star Wars: Episode VII

Rock for Hercules

Dwayne Rock is taking up yet another awesome role.....and its HERCULES!

Directed by Brett Ratner ,the movie will be based on the graphic novel -Hercules: The Thracian Wars.Check out the official synopsis :

"Haunted by a sin from his past, Hercules has become a mercenary. Along with five faithful companions, he travels ancient Greece selling his services for gold and using his legendary reputation to intimidate enemies. But when the benevolent ruler of Thrace and his daughter seek Hercules’ help to defeat a savage and terrifying warlord, Hercules finds that in order for good to triumph and justice to prevail… he must again become the hero he once was… he must embrace his own myth… he must be Hercules. "

I dont like the sound of this at all.First its by Brett Ratner ,secondly the story sounds so cliched.Third ,the writers have removed any sort of supernatural stuff.This is an obvious attempt to make Hercules more human ,but come on! Hes a God! This is like replacing Conan (the barbarian) with Hercules. (which actually makes sense)

The movie set to release on July 25, 2014 ,and will most probably put an end to Rock's golden streak of success.

Fast & Furious 6 (Furious 6) (2013)

[non stop action]

Fast & Furious 6 (Furious 6) (2013)

IMDB- 7.7

RottenTomatoes- 72%

RJG Rating- 85

Dom and his crew sre recruited by Hobb, to track down a criminal by the name of Owen Shah.

Starring- Vin Diesel,Paul Walker,Dwayne Rock Johnson,Luke Evans

Director- Justin Lin

The entire cast is brought back and that itself lends some magic into F6.Dwayne Rock continues to be a fantastic action superstar.Vin Diesel is amazing as well.Michelle Rodriguez was good.Gina Carano excelled in the action sequences.Paul Walker and the rest of the cast were good.Luke Evans as Shah was not a kickass villain, but compared to past villains of the franchise ,he is relatively better.

The Fast & furious movies arent the type in which you can expect mindblowing stories.For an action movie ,F6 had a decent story although its a bit thin.Most of the plot points were just excuses to deliver action scenes.Comparatively the story isnt as tight as Fast 5 or the first F&F ,but its still an engaging ride.The middle portion is loose and a bit of plothole is formed once a twist is revealed towards the end.Theres a nice blend between the comedy and drama as well.The humour manages to keep the audience from getting buzzed out from the action and the drama.

Direction by Justin Lin was great.He found the formula for this franchise with Fast Five ,and for F6 he maximizes them to the point that they are just on the edge of being over the top.The pacing is fast but still there were some scenes that could have been cut out due to its lack of importance.But the movie is absolute fun for the fans of the series.

Action scenes were just amazing.From start to finish its back to back action ,and they did save the best for the last! The plane sequence is bound to leave you amazed.The fight scenes were powerful and its a treat to watch the Rock battle it out! The comedy was surprisingly good throughout the movie.On the downside ,killing off characters is turning into a bit of a cliche ,and some romantic dialogues could have been shortened.

Overall ,Furious 6 is another excellent addition to the F&F series.A must watch for fans and action junkies!

Acting- 3.5/5

Story- 3/5

Direction- 4/5

Action- 5/5

Comedy- 4/5

The Joes keep the box office ringing

The Joes keep the box office ringing

[Mar 29-31]

#1-G.I. Joe: Retaliation made a fantastic debut ,the movie made $41.2million ,which is certainly above expectations.The first part was heavily criticized and the sequel was postponed by around 8months to undergo 3D conversion.Even with such buzz kill the movie has managed to make a great start.With an overseas collection of $80million ,GI Joe 2 has safely recovered its $130million budget in its opening week itself.Starring Rock ,Channing Tatum & Bruce Willis ,GI Joe 2 has already become the 2nd hit of 2013 for these 3 actors.

Still GI Joe couldnt please the critics.Although most agree that it is a huge improvement over the rotten first part,the non stop action is said to have taken a toll on the viewers.As of now it has a rating of just 29%.But considering the other 2 new releases have a rating of 13% and 12% ,GI Joe is relatively a fantastic movie.

#2-The animated hit ,Croods made a good stand ,making $26.5million which is just a 40% drop.The movie boosted by good reviews has already made $227million and recovered its $135million budget.

#3-Suprisingly Tyler Perry's Temptation: Confessions of a Marriage Counselor ,made it to 3rd spot with $22million.Directed by Tyler Perry ,this movie like the rest of his dismal filmography was panned universally.The movie has just a 13% ,with majority of critics blasting it in every department.

#4-The other big action movie ,Olympus Has Fallen got a blow from GI Joe's debut.It made $14million to bring its domestic total to $54million.Even though the movie seems to be slowing down it will recover its budget of $70million eventually.

#5-Wizard of Oz continued its downward fall ,making just $11.6million on its 4th week.The movie is so far the highest grossing movie of 2013 ,with a worldwide collections of $412million.

Now this brings us to the 3rd new release,The Host.The movie tanked at the box office barely making $11million.Based on the novel written by Twilight author Stephanie Meyer,Host was heavily bashed by the critics as well.The movie that deals with some sort of alien invasion with a twilight-like love triangle in between ,it just scored 12% ,and seems to be even worse than the Twilight series.

The Host ,is now the second movie,after Beautiful Creatures, based on teenage-romance novels to crash land this badly.

This week we have a 2 different types of classics.One is a remake while the other has been converted into IMAX 3D for its 20th anniversary.My pick of the week is....

1-Evil Dead-Remake of the 1981 movie ,which launched Sam Raimi's (Spiderman 1-3) career ,Evil Dead 2013 ,is directed by newbie Fede Alvarez under the guidance of Sam.The movie has been hyping itself up saying its the most terrifying movie ,and with an initial rating of 79% ,it seems it might not bad.Critics say its definitely excellent and a worthy remake of Evil Dead.

2-Jurassic Park -Dont get me wrong, i LOVE Jurassic Park and have watched it nearly a hundred times.But i would like to see a new movie this time and then watch Jurassic Park! Released first in 1993 ,this 3D conversion is to mark this classics 20th anniversary.The promos have been doing great work and i have my fingers crossed for Jurassic Park to cross the billion dollar mark (its currently $85million away) !

Pain & Gain Trailer

And HES BACK ! MICHEAL BAY ! Trailer for the awesome Pain & GAIN ,starring Mark Wahlberg & The ROCK
Trailer1 Link #1

Trailer1 Link #2

just kidding about the excitement,the movie looks like another Trademark Bay flick- Explosions,Hot Chicks ,Male obsession (Last time transformer toys ,this time muscles),some running etc.
But this just might turn out to be a decent flick ,judging by the trailer.And Rock & Mark look great!

Pain & Gain poster

Teaser poster for Micheal Bay's next directorial venture after his Transformers Trilogy.Pain & Gain stars Mark Wahlberg & Dwayne Rock Johnson.The film is about two bodybuilders,who get caught up in a kidnapping scheme that goes terribly wrong.Its set to release on April 26 2013.

Madagascar3 stays strong

Madagascar 3 and Prometheus defended the first and second position at the Box Office ,against Tom Cruise's Rock of Ages and Adam Sandler's Thats My Boy.Both Rock of Ages (15million) & Thats My Boy (13million) opened to 3rd and 4th position and considering its poor openings both are expected to bomb.
Meanwhile,even though Madagascar 3 is doing quite well worldwide (277 million) ,Prometheus is slowly losing momentum (217million),dropping 60% in its 2nd week.

Journey 2: The Mysterious Island (2012)

[an adventure for kids]

Journey 2: The Mysterious Island (2012)
IMDB-6
RottenTomatoes-42
RJG rating-55

Sean & his step father decode a signal broadcast believed to be sent by Sean's missing grandfather.

Starring- Dwayne 'Rock', Josh Hutcherson
Director- Brad Peyton

Journey 2 is the sequel of 2008's Journey to the Center of the Earth (Brendan Fraiser & Josh H). It like its predecessor is a awesome visual treat.

The main highlight of the whole movie was Dwayne 'Rock'. His charm easily lifts the movie and sets it on course and the viewers are able to forgive the cheesy dialogues and over acting from Josh & Vanessa.Luis is a great comic relief for this movie and he gives ample support to Dwayne for many funny sequences.Michael Caine is wasted.

Story is average.It isnt very great and just plods on.Direction from Brad is not very good.The movie drags in many places and when its time for a plot point ,it quickly picks up pace and ends up looking a rushed up scene.The movie is also too kiddish and lacks common sense in many scenes.The cheesy dialogues exchanged too is quite embarrassing.

The visuals are upto the mark (although the Center of the Earth is still better). The island and its bizarre nature is well captured but not extensively utilized.The action scenes are also quite good.

Overall ,fans of Dwayne 'Rock' will enjoy it.Due to the overdose of kiddish material ,kids will love this movie.

Acting-2.5/5
Story-2/5
Direction-2/5
Action-3.5/5
Visual Effects- 4/5

GI Joe : Retaliation Trailer #2

Second Trailer GI Joe : Retaliation

Trailer #2

Surprisingly awesome !! Could the Rock actually make GI Joe a watchable movie?