CHANCE PE DANCE
Chance Pe Dance is a story of a guy Sameer (Shahid Kapoor) who leaves his hometown to become a star in Bollywood. But then Shah Rukh Khans are not made everyday. So, poor Sam has to do rather embarrassing ads to eke out his existence. His chances are stolen by others, his friends betray him and his landlord throws him out. He is rendered penniless, stays in his car for days before he gets a job at a school and some emotional-cum-romantic support from a scooty-riding choreographer Tina (Genelia D’souza).
After his initial I-hate-kids attitude, Sam finds his solace by making the teenage underdogs of school the dance champs of the city. Eventually, he gets his biggest break as well but only to be matched by the biggest betrayal. Now he has no way but to enter the talent hunt like thousands of other contestants and emerge a winner to fulfill his dream... and our nightmare.
It is a film like Chance Pe Dance that separates a Ken Ghosh from a Farhan Akhtar and Ashutosh Gowariker who actually spend so much time penning the details and seldom leave anything to ‘chance’. In times when flicks run on their taut and realistic storyline, Ken makes his Sameer Behl enter a talent show and eventually pronounces him a winner in an eight-pack flashing jig with virtually no competition whatsoever.
It is Ghosh’s decrepit script and predictable plot that make even Shahid’s otherwise sincere performance go down the drain. Shasha, however tries hard to lend authenticity to his character and succeeds as well. Genelia is as bright and breezy as ever but hardly displays her choreography skills. Alas, for her the film never picks up just like her scooty that perpetually runs on 30km/hr. Despite being a musical, Pritam, Adnan Sami, Ken Ghosh and Sandeep Shirodkar’s work is a big let down.
EDGE OF DARKNESS
Martin Campbell returns to familiar territory with this adaptation of his own 1985 BBC mini-series – a mystery starring Mel Gibson as a detective looking into his political-activist daughter's death and uncovering layers of governmental conspiracies in the process. William Monahan (The Departed) provides the screenplay for the GK Films production, co-starring Ray Winstone and Danny Huston.
LEGION
Scott Stewart's supernatural thriller Legion, scripted by Peter Schink, concerns a group of strangers in an out-of-the-way eatery who become the first line of defense against the human race’s extinction. This motley crew's only spiritual ally is the archangel Michael, played by Paul Bettany. Dennis Quaid, Tyrese Gibson, Charles S. Dutton, and Lucas Black co-star in the Screen Gems production.
EXTRAORDINARY MEASURES
From the front page to the big screen, the true story of John and Aileen Crowley, a daring couple hoping to cure their two children by investing their trust in an unconventional specialist (played by Harrison Ford) is adapted in this drama. What Happens In Vegas' Tom Vaughan directs a script by Robert Nelson Jacobs.
THE TOOTH FAIRY
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is indeed a magnetic screen presence whose charm and charisma are enough for his shortcomings as an actor. Despite that everyone finds it harder to defend his choices of roles over the past few years, including his most recent turn in the family comedy The Tooth Fairy. Striving to produce quality, family-friendly entertainment is certainly a commendable goal, but he could do us a favor by throwing in an occasional action flick every once in a while.
The plot of The Tooth Fairy is within the standard kids-movie genre. Johnson plays a gruff, self-centered minor-league hockey player who, after crushing the dreams of a few wide-eyed youngsters, is sentenced to two weeks of community service as a tooth fairy. Handed wings, a magic wand, invisibility spray, and other standard fairy accoutrements, he’s sent to various children’s houses, where he must brave all matter of domestic hazards to fulfill his tooth fairy obligations.
The Rock is usually the best part of an underwhelming movie like this, but he actually stumbles out of the gate in The Tooth Fairy. What ultimately makes the movie work is British comic Stephen Merchant, recognisable to some as the hapless agent of Ricky Gervais’ chronically underemployed actor, who plays The Rock’s beleaguered fairy case worker. With his thin frame and his subtle, sharp wit, he provides the perfect foil for The Rock’s oversized personality, creating just enough of a comedic spark to make The Tooth Fairy a relatively enjoyable, if altogether unspectacular, experience for both the kids and their babysitters.
