Body Of Lies Director: Ridley Scott Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Russel Crowe, Mark Strong and Golshifteh Farahani You'd expect a lot from a film by Ridley Scott, the man who directed such masterpieces as Blade Runner, Alien and The Gladiator. The addition of talents like Leo DiCaprio and Russel Crowe simply heightens your expectations. Leo plays Roger Ferris, a CIA operative who's smack-dab in the thick of the terrorist heartland in the Middle East and Russel is his laidback, overweight, over bearing boss who sits on his fat ass in his white-picket-fence home in America, doling out orders and meddling in Roger's operations. In a bid to foil the next terrorist attack and capture a radical extremist group, Roger must devise a plan, execute it and figure out who's lying and who's telling the truth. Easier said than done with his mendacious boss around. Bombs explode, bone fragments of his buddies get lodged in Leo's face, he gets bitten by rabid dogs and roughed up by a variety of different goons but he still finds time to visit a clinic and fall for a local nurse. Russell Crowe's character of Ed Hoffman is utterly expendable to the entire plot, Leo's plans are amateurish and the entire film just seems vapid and run of the mill. The adrenalin rush never quite picks up pace swerving from the plotline occasionally and the narrative is just plain boring. Brit actor Mark Strong who plays Jordanian Intelligence Head Hani Salaam is the only original thing about this film. His good looks and wonderful performance as the anti-hero brings something fresh to this otherwise banal film that will get lost in the flood of terrorist films infiltrating our theaters.

Quantum of Solace Director: Marc Forster Cast: Daniel Craig, Mathieu Amalric, Olga Kurylenko and Judi Dench The expectations for a Bond movie are always high right from the opening credits of the film, which are usually a treat to watch. Quantum of Solace kicks off with some disappointing opening credits and a title soundtrack that jars on the ears. Not a good sign. Taking off from where Casino Royale left off, Quantum's opening scene accelerates the pace early with a car chase through picturesque Italy. Not as adrenalin packed as the Parkour action of Casino and quite seen-that-before in nature it sets the tone for the rest of the film, which is a series of action-packed, stunt-defying, dare devil antics that are, unfortunately, the only thing good about this film. Bond (Daniel Craig) is out to avenge the death of his girlfriend Vesper from Casino Royale and jumps, somersaults and careens through various parts of the globe but in the process you lose track of where he is and what exactly he's chasing. In the background is the shadow of an ominous and clandestine organisation of evil called Quantum that even MI6 is unaware of. Mr Greene (Mathieu Amalric) is the criminal mind pitted against Bond but the puny and pale Mathieu Amalric is a pesky fly at best and fails to fascinate or titillate your dark side like other Bond villains. There aren't any gadgets or unwanted clichés or corny lines ("The name is Bond. James Bond" and the like), which one can be thankful for but still one misses them. That's what Bond was about. Daniel is stony faced and in some scenes makes Superman look like a wimp. But that callous demeanour, far from inspiring awe in you, makes you long for a witty one-liner or some semblance of humanity that so many previous Bond actors have brought to the role. With a weak plot and absolutely no substance or mission per se, Quantum seems more like an in-between film, a stop-gap that will bridge Casino Royale and a third film that will hopefully resolve the Quantum conundrum that this film glosses over providing absolutely no resolution to this vacuous venture

Ek Vivah Aisa Bhi Director: Kaushik Ghatak Cast: Sonu Sood, Isha Koppikar Tough to believe that the film is Tapasya (Starring Rakhee and Parikshit Sahani) remade for today's audience and is also about a young woman who chooses to stay chaste and unmarried until her siblings are grown up and 'settled' although she has an ardent lover. Even more laughable to see the loverboy asking for her permission to 'continue to long for her'. But that alas is the story. Here, both are musicians, falling in love when they enter a music contest (filmed to look like talent contest shown in Milan and Bawarchi rather than Indian Idol or Sa Re Ga Ma Pa), and over what feels like a hundred years the two continue to sacrifice and look longingly at each other while their siblings and friends grow up, get married, and have babies. Miraculously, the two never grow older, and sport not a single wrinkle. But we give them credit: Sonu Sood tries to cover up his lame part by pretending he's Amitabh Bachchan (note his hair, the way he stands, walks, even talks to the mirror!), and Isha Koppikar makes us forget her painfully long chaste role by wearing interesting clothes. Thank goodness, the friends though interesting characters, are unexplored or the movie would've been longer! Ravindra Jain's ghastly repetitive songs with forgettable lyrics numb your senses. Eesha's siblings are as annoying as children can get in a movie: the brother breaks windows, the sister is teary and clingy. Suddenly you find respect for TV soaps. They offer drivel like this over 52 weeks, not three hours