Harry Potter And The Half Blood Prince Review

Nine long years since the first Harry Potter movie hit the screens across the world but the enthusiasm refuses to die down. This time around Harry Potter has kept his fans waiting for almost two years the longest break fans have had to endure for a new movie adventure about the teen wizard. Director David Yates has made sure that the wait for the fans has been worthwhile. Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint who have lived these roles almost half their lives do not disappoint this summer.

In Half-Blood Prince, Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe), Hermione Granger (Emma Watson) and Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint) are best pals. Harry's biggest challenge in the school is a secret assignment by Hogwarts headmaster Albus Dumbledore (Michael Gambon). Harry suspects that new dangers may lie within the castle, but Dumbledore is more intent upon preparing him for the final battle with Lord Voldemort (who surprisingly doesn't appear in the entire movie). Dumbledore needs Harry to help him uncover a vital key to unlocking Voldemort's defences critical information known only to Hogwarts' former Potions Professor, Horace Slughorn (Jim Broadbent).


With that in mind, Dumbledore manipulates his old colleague Professor Slughorn into returning to his previous post with promises of more money and the chance to teach Harry. Meanwhile, the students are under attack from a very different adversary as adolescent hormones rage across the ramparts. Harry's long friendship with Ginny Weasley (Bonnie Wright) is growing into something deeper, but standing in the way is Ginny's boyfriend and her big brother Ron.

But Ron's has his won romantic entanglements with Lavender Brown (Jessie Cave) lavishing her affections on him. This leaves leaving Hermione simmering with jealousy yet determined not to show her feelings. And then a box of love potion-laced chocolates ends up in the wrong hands and changes everything. As romance blossoms, one student remains aloof with far more important matters on his mind. He is determined to make his mark, albeit a dark one. Love is in the air, but tragedy lies ahead and Hogwarts may never be the same again.

The movie acts as a great platform for the Radcliffe, Watson and Grint to display their maturing acting skills and they do not disappoint the audience. Whether their acting careers flourish after "Harry Potter" or not, they will leave behind one of the most successful series of films man has ever seen. Michael Gambon Jim Broadben and Bonnie Wright play their roles well in the movie.

The movie drags a bit toward the end but screenwriter Steve Kloves generally keeps the plot rolling. He also adds a new scenes such as the opening attack on London's Millennium Bridge. At 153 minutes the movie seems a shade longer perhaps a 10 minute editing would have made it look better. Harry Potter has always set high standards when it has come visual-effects and Half Blood Price in no exception in this regard....Read More

A tribute to the King of Pop

Heal the world, make it a better place”, these were the words of one of his most famous song. Michael Joseph Jackson better known as the 'King of Pop' was not just a singer he was a culture in himself. The biggest icon of music since the days of Beatles and Elvis Presley in a career spanning four decades Michael achieved what no musician had before him. He was the face of western music in the 80s and 90s becoming a hit machine.

Michael Jackson began his professional career barely at the age of 11 as a member of The Jackson 5 and started his solo in career in 1971 while he was still a member group. In the subsequent years, five of his solo studio albums Off the Wall (1979), Thriller (1982), Bad (1987), Dangerous (1991) and HIStory (1995) became world's best-selling records. He was a dominant figure at the start of the MTV culture and became the first African-American entertainer to amass a strong crossover following.


If his music pleased the soul his dancing techniques were breathtaking. No artist before or after him has looked so great in stage or in music videos. He popularized a number of physically complicated dance techniques, such as the 'robot' and the 'moonwalk'. A famous publication had once described him as “A dancer with the fanciest feet on the street. A singer who cuts across all boundaries of taste and style and colour too.”

Controversies had always been a part and parcel of Michael's life. Starting with the changing colour of his skin to his controversial marriage with Lisa Marie Presley, the daughter of Elvis Presley Jacko had been a favourite for the paparazzi. The biggest of all perhaps was when he was accused of sexually molesting children at his Neverland den. He also had his share of problems with drugs when became dependent on morphine and demerol.

In his glittering career spread over four decades Jacko became one of the few artists to have been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice. His illustrations career also bagged him 13 Grammy Awards, 13 number one singles in his solo career and saw him sell over 750 million albums worldwide. In 1984 his name was inducted into the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his influence in music the world over.....Read More

Terminator Salvation Review

A Terminator movie without Arnold Schwarzenegger seems to be difficult to digest after all Arnie had made Terminator a household name. Terminator Salvation is the latest in the Terminator series after The Terminator, Terminator 2: Judgement Day, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines. Joseph McGinty Nichol, better known McG who had directed Charlie's Angels and Full Throttle helms the movie. The Dark Knight's Christian Bale takes up the responsibility of saving the world and Sam Worthington plays a mystery character.

The movie is set in 2018 and the atmosphere is post-apocalyptic. An artificial-intelligence network called Skynet has arranged for the earth’s machines to rise up and launch an attack on mankind. Only a few men and women led by John Connor (Christian Bale) stand between the machines and extinction of mankind. Skynet's pinpoints John's father Kyle Reese (Anton Yelchin) as their main target. John and others live in the fear of being spotted and killed by digitally-enhanced exterminating robots. Things get complicated with the arrival of a stranger Marcus Wright (Sam Worthington).


Marcus faces a death row and awaits execution. He is visited by Dr. Serena Kogan (Helena Bonham Carter) who offers him a kiss if he agrees to allow his body to be used for cyborg research. There is a lot of mystery that surrounds Marcus. John Connor has doubts if Marcus, who roams around with a mixture of guilt and aggressive machine-blasting fury has retained his human traits or whether he is an agent implanted by the enemy among their ranks.

The screenplay of the movie is weak and it seems robots being programmed to destroy the human race is the one and only plot in the movie. Christian Bale seems ordinary in most of the movie and allows Sam Worthington hijack the attention of the audience. Arnold appears as a robot for a brief period in the movie reminding us of the hay days of the Terminator series. Other characters have been wasted and hardly make an impression in the movie.

Terminator series has been famous for showcasing effects and technology ans setting benchmarks for Hollywood but most of the technology showcased in Salvation is pretty average. Many a times it seems like a flashback of the earlier movies in the series. The sound effects in the movie lack the degree of sonic sophistication which die-hard Terminator fans are used to. The movie seems like a misfit in the Terminator saga.....Read More

Did Ash play a wicked game with Sonam?

Sonam Kapoor terribly upset with Aishwarya Bachchan as the latter stood as a roadblock to her walking the red carpet at the Cannes Film Festival. Sonam who had been signed as a brand ambassador for L'Oreal and was to walk the red carpet a Cannes with other beauties including Aishwarya, Penelope Cruz, Kerry Washington, Beyonce Knowles, Eva Longoria and Scarlett Johansson.

The excited Sonam in an interview dug her own grave when she offended Aishwarya. Sonam had said would be endorsing the youth brand and Aishwarya would appeal to the older women. This certainly did not go down too well with the former Miss World who has been a face of L'Oreal in India for years. Ash refused to walk the red carpet with Sonam and the L'Oreal had to bow down before her demands.

L'Oreal on its part maintained that Sonam's comments had created a lot of adverse effect and to prevent any escalation of the controversy they had asked the Saawariya actress....Read More

Akshay-Twinkle in obscenity row

Akshay Kumar recently walked the ramp in the Lakme Fashion Week for designer Tarun Tahiliani. After doing his act he went to wife Twinkle Khanna and asked her to unbutton his jeans. This act brought in cheers and roar from the crowd but a certain section was shocked and considered it to be obscene and in bad taste. Little did Akki know that his unbuttoning act would turn into a major obscenity row.

A social worker Anil Nair has submitted a written complaint against the actor, his wife Twinkle, the designer and the organisers of the show to the Vakola police station. He has urged the police to book them for indecent, vulgar and obscene behaviour and submitted clipping and photographs of the event. He said they should be booked under section 292 related to sale of obscene objects and section 293, related with sale of obscene objects to young persons.....Read More

Bigg Boss house mates pay tribute to Goody

After her racism controversy with Shilpa Shetty on the sets of Celebrity Big Brother, Jade Goody had come to India to win the hearts of the Indians. She was considered to be the most promising celebrity when she took part in the reality show Bigg Boss. The producers had paid the highest price tag to rope in Goody as the only international star on the show.

It is very ironic that Goody's battle with cancer started during the show when her reports revealed that she had been diagnosed with cancer. She immediately left the Bigg Boss house but her house mates still remember her and cannot believe that Goody is no more. They still remember seeing her off from the Bigg Boss house in Lonavala and never imagined that will be the last time they would see her.

Debojit Shah said that things happened so fast that he is yet to come in terms with her demise. He added that she was very lovely and also had a smile on her face and was often heard humming tunes of famous Hindi songs. Another house mate Ketaki Dave said that all of them had hoped some miracle would happen and she would be cured.

Raja Chaudhary said he was shocked to hear the new and was sad especially for her kids and worried about them. Calling her a gem of a person he said it was really funny when Payal Rohatgi would translate all that was said in the house to her in English and Goody would try to reply it in her broken Hindi......Read More