‘Tron Legacy’ was the most anticipated movie of 2010 that was due release on Christmas. Disney’s ‘Tron’ was the first movie, which was released way back in the 1980s. It became a genre movie at that point of time, which had lot of style and graphical presentations but lacked a proper plot or a storyline. This time ‘Tron Legacy’ was attempted to freshen the memories of the youngsters, who did not much understand and remember the original ‘Tron’, released in 1982.

As mentioned earlier, original ‘Tron’ was a storehouse of thrilling actions and amazing computer graphics without much story, the same has happened for ‘Tron Legacy’ too. The making of the present movie is sleek and smart, the graphical representations are mind-blowing and the special effects are highly polished and thrilling particularly if you are seeing it with a 3D effect. However, the plot of the movie is extremely weak and there is no story as such.

‘Tron Legacy’ begins with the flashback of the older ‘Tron’, where Kevin Flynn (played by Jeff Bridges) talks to his son regarding the history of Tron. There is also a voiceover that explains the audience about ‘the grid’. ‘The grid’ is actually a virtual world that exists and Kevin Flynn disappears into it suddenly 20 years ago.
It is now the turn of Kevin Flynn’s grown up son Sam (played by the very handsome Garrett Hedlund) to take charge of things. But unfortunately he is also trapped in ‘the grid’. There is more confusion awaiting for him there. He finds two fathers there and is extremely confused. One is his original father Kevin Flynn and the other is Clu, who is a negative character. Clu wants to rule the Tron world and almost runs an autocratic rule there. On the other hand, original Flynn is highly enthusiastic about ‘biodigital jazz’ and ‘free information’.

You will be disappointed if you try to find logical reasoning and story in the movie. ‘Tron Legacy’ is all about a movie that has cutting edge visuals and graphical presentations. The visual and special effects department of the movie have done a wonderful job and are sure to be contenders for the Oscars in the ‘Special Effect’ category. The fantasy world that has been created by the director of ‘Tron Legacy’ will only be able to woo the very young generation to whom only the special effects will be interesting. One time watch for the special effects is OK, but not more than that.

Well Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp fans, there is news for you. Here is a movie that has the two most ‘hot’ celebrities of Hollywood. But, don’t expect much from the movie ‘The Tourist’ as you will be disappointed. The movie was thought to be given a twist but it failed to do so completely. The end became quite obvious and there was no nail-biting suspense that could keep the audience on its toes.

‘The Tourist’ is supposed to be some suspense and mystery movie but has lots of beautiful fantasies, plush hotels, beautiful Venice, gorgeous clothes and jewelry and much more. Do these themes go together? Any ordinary person would agree that it would not. This has hampered the movie and the aura of a mystery and suspense movie is lost.
Coming to the plot of the movie, ‘The Tourist’ is about a chase game of which Angelina and Depp are integral parts. Jolie is portrayed as a mysterious woman who is being chased by some armed investigators of Scotland Yard. The crime department believes that Jolie can lead them to the person, who is involved in a robbery. The man has supposedly stolen billions of dollars from a gangster.

The man and Elise (Angelina Jolie) plan to find out a person, who is similar in height and structure of the man so that they can deceive the police and run away. Angelina succeeds in doing so while she was on the train from Paris to Venice, when she was going to the city to meet her lover. She meets a person on the train named Frank (Johnny Depp), who is a teacher of Mathematics and a widower and stays at Wisconsin. She invites Frank and asks him to stay with her at her plush hotel room.
In the spur of a moment, it is seen that there are crime wing agents as well as gangsters who are looking all around for Angelina and Depp and will gun them down if found once. Angelina turns to be an efficient fighter and escapes the attacks successfully. In the end it is revealed that Frank and the other man is the same person. Angelina and Depp flee off to a different place with all the booty.

Acting is good by Jolie and Depp. They have done the best to what could be done with such a plot. One thing that the movie has pictured is beautiful Venice. You can actually go to see the movie for the scenes that are shot in Venice. They are just awesome. The movie is OK for a one time watch.

Julie Taymor’s ‘The Tempest’ has failed to woo the masses the way it was expected to do. People had great expectations from the director of ‘Across the Universe’, ‘ Frida’ and ‘Titus’. Though she tried her best to deal with the movie, ‘The Tempest’ could not make a place with the audience like the other movies in her closet did.

The only positive thing about the movie that makes it attractive is the casting of the veteran actress Helen Mirren in the role of Prospera. It is her wonderful performance and gorgeousness that has been able to anchor the movie a bit. The storyline goes like this. Prospera, played by Mirren, is the Duchess of Milan who is under exile and has found some opportunity to take revenge from her enemies.

Prospera is exiled on an island and she has the company of her daughter Miranda (played by Felicity Jones), Caliban (played by Djimon Hounsou) and a mischievous spirit Aerial (Ben Whishaw). She gets the chance of seeking revenge when another ship brings her enemies near to her. Among her enemies is her brother Antonio (played by Chris Cooper), whom she hates, Alonso – the Emperor of Naples (played by David Strathairn), the counselor of the King of Naples Gonzago (played by Tom Conti) and last but not the least Sebastian – the younger brother (played by Alan Cumming).

Prospera’s aim is not only to be free and gain back her title; she also desires to marry her daughter Miranda to Prince Ferdinand (played by Reeve Carney), son of King Alonso. But Caliban plots against her and plans to kill her. He also wants Miranda and thinks that killing Prospera will make him get Miranda as well.
Talking of the acting prowess, all the actors have done their parts quite well. Nothing needs to be said of Mirren. She is the one, who has kept the characters in sync and made the story interesting. All the characters in the side roles have also portrayed their parts to the best abilities. Alfred Molina as the drunken butler Stepahno and Russel Brand as the cowardly tailor Trinculo have a lasting impression on the audience.

Prospero in The Bard’s ‘The Tempest’ was a male figure. However, things have been changed here and the change well appreciated and accepted. The autocratic wizard has been given a new face altogether. The softer side of Prospero has been brought out here, where she seeks the happiness of her daughter Miranda with Ferdinand and wants them to have a happy life. However, the director should have restrained from using those special effects, which had almost marred the movie. The acting cast somehow managed to save it.

C.S Lewis has written wonderful books for children and has been highly successful in creating a world all by itself. The Narnia novels are such books that are loved by children across the globe. Like the Harry Potter books, the Narnia novels have also been portrayed in films. The previous Narnia movies like ‘The Chronicles of Narnia’ are extremely popular with people of all ages to this day. ‘The Chronicles of Narnia -The Voyage of the Dawn Treader’ is almost like a sequel to the previous movie. The movie is not only entertaining but also emotionally satisfying.

‘The Chronicles of Narnia -The Voyage of the Dawn Treader’ is from the very able and experienced hands of the veteran director Michael Apted. He has played a major part in many films that have grabbed an Oscar. Not only that, he has also been an integral part of action movie, which also includes a James Bond movie. In the hands of such an able director, this movie was sure to show colors. Lewis’s Christian allegorical fantasies have been wonderfully portrayed in the movie that are even lacking in the very popular Harry Potter movie.

The story is couple of years after ‘Prince Caspian’. Here the two young Pevensie kids – Lucy (played by Gergie Henley) and Edmund (played by Shandar Keynes) are trapped badly in the World War II of Britain and are somehow managing to save themselves from the constant bombarding that is going on there. They are also accompanied by their unbearable and incorrigible cousin Eustace (played by Will Poulter). However, Lucy suddenly realizes that one of the paintings in her room has something ‘Narnian’ in it. In the spur of a moment, all the three kids are washed away by huge waves and are drowned under the sea. They are rescued by Caspian (played by Ben Barnes) and his crew and board the ship by the name ‘The Dawn Treader’.

There are more challenges that they have to be face, many jobs that they have to complete and so on. The movie has some very interesting moments. The movie also preaches good things through a brave and chivalrous mouse called Reepicheep. The sermons in the movie are dealt in a great way and do not look like sermons being preached and fed to the kids. The other effects in the movie are just great and are sure to be liked by children and adults alike. The movie is a must watch for people of all ages.

Farah Khan’s Tees Maar Khan was one of the most awaited and anticipated movies that released in 2010. The movie received unprecedented hype for Katrina Kaif jiving to ‘Shiela ki Jawani’, but on the whole it fell by the face completely. Farah Khan’s previous movies were also fun-filled and had subtle humor. Her movies also had satirical elements that mocked the society at large. This movie was also attempted at that. However, it failed to do so completely.
Akshay Kumar plays Tabrez Khan – a jailbird, whose passion is to rob and he makes a living by that. He flees by deceiving the police time and again. His biggest challenge comes when he is asked to rob a train, which is carrying a carriage full of treasure. He is hired by two a duo of crooks called the Johari Brothers, namely Rajiv and Raghu to accomplish the job. Tabrez Khan loves to call himself Tees Maar Khan and takes up the job with lots of vigor and enthusiasm.
He proclaims the job to be an easy one. However, there are many things that come in the process. To attain his goal of robbing the carriage, he creates a plot. Tees Maar Khan involves an entire village and the foolish villagers. Among the bunch of idiotic villagers, is his brainless girlfriend Anya, played by Katrina Kaif, an Oscar obsessed movie star, played by Akshaye Khanna and some crooks. Katrina Kaif wants to be an actress and is shown to act in some stupid movies.
Tees Maar Khan was meant to be a total fun movie. But it somehow failed to impress the masses. The beginning of the movie is pretty good as the action on starts from the word go. There are too many things happening in the movie but the plots are not connected. As a result, it looks like a haphazard piece of work. Tees Maar Khan becomes intolerable after the interval. All the plots come together and there is no connectivity between them.
Farah Khan has always tried to do something new with age old ideas, but Tees Maar Khan failed in that also. The film was made as a spoof and remained a spoof till the end. There is nothing special and remarkable about Akshay Kumar. The less said about Katrina, the better. Apart from the ‘hot’ Shiela ki Jawani number, there is nothing she has done. The only surprise in the movie is Akshaye Khanna. He has stepped down from his sober and simple style to that of an edgy superstar, who has lost the Oscars for Anil Kapoor in Slumdog Millionaire. The music by Vishal-Shekhar also fails to make a mark.
To sum it all, Tees Maar Khan has proved to a flop in all sectors. Not even worth a one-time watch.