Tooth Fairy..... somewhat entertaining...

For lack of nothing else to do on Friday evening we decided to go to a movie at the dollar theater in Plano. The intent was to watch a Jackie Chan movie, but there was none playing at a night show. So we decided to watch The Tooth Fairy instead. This is a fairly entertaining kids movie... apart from a few minutes of fantastic ice skating and a some comedy frames there is nothing much worth watching in this movie.

The story traces the life of an aging ice hockey star who is named the tooth fairy because he knocks out teeth of his opponents. His girlfriend has two kids, the daughter just loses one of her teeth and the mother tells the story of tooth fairy. The protagonist tries to tell her the truth in a rude manner to the chagrin of the mother. The son doesn't like this guy because he is rude, and sarcastic.

The story moves on to fairyland when the player gets called to do some community service and then after some seriously boring drama and some funny scenes the movie ends with a soulful transformation of the protagonist. I definitely wouldn't pay the regular theater ticket to watch this movie....

Movie Review: Mandinga

Slavery, Sexploitation and Incest

I would never have come across this flic if not for youtube's new movie channel. This a movie about the slavery era of United States of America, when being a white man was the most privileged status one could aspire for. The movie starts off with the arrival of the sister-in-law of a plantation owner from England. The guest's sister had died mysteriously and she pretty much comes to take her place in the plantation. The plantation owner as like every other white man lusts after the female slaves, though black and considered beneath animals.

One such slave girl is the virgin daughter of the chief of Mandinga tribe. A group of hardy, strong and supposedly exotic black people. She is raped by the plantation owner and predictably becomes pregnant and delivers a baby. The infant is hidden away by the other slaves who fear that the owner might kill it. Despite a long winded search the owner is unable to find the baby.

Meanwhile the white woman is lusting after slave men to satisfy her carnal cravings. A few years pass and the only son of plantation owner, Clarence, returns from England after completing his education. The white woman immediately latches on to him and starts a torrid affair with him. Clarence while at the market meets the daughter of the pastor and promptly falls in love with her and decides to get married. A fact detested by his aunt and paramour, who is awaiting for revenge.

The newly wedded bride gets pregnant and delivers a bonny baby boy but the infant is black and not white. This confounds everyone and they all decide that she has indeed cheated on her husband and hence a black child was born. Clarence returns and what takes place forms the crux of the story. If you can digest watching the gory sex scenes and sights of a woman forcing herself on a imprisoned man you will get to the part when the plot is revealed.

The movie is one of the several C grade flics churned out from Hollywood and clearly exposes the desire of white people to show off their superiority. Even the slave girl who is raped is supposed to be the daughter of a chief, a princess in short. Why? an ordinary slave girl couldn't have gotten pregnant from the rapacious owners??? Or is the director attempting to show that even when slaves were raped their social class was considered???

Movie Review: Mojave Moon

Only For Die Hard Fans of Angelina Jolie
I wouldn't have watched this movie if it were not freely available on Youtube and if I didn't have a few hours to kill and was feeling too lazy to go out and do something productive. Anyway the highlight of this movie is the surgeon's masterpiece Angelina Jolie, in her pre-famous avatar.

The movie starts with Al McCord, a divorced used-car dealer from New York, who is trying to make a new life in Los Angeles. When he is hanging out at his favorite restaurant with friends and gawking at the beautiful girls passing by. In comes the the thick-lipped and big-busted Ellie (Angelina Jolie) and starts talking to him. She convinces him to go with her to Mohave Desert, to visit her mother.

The road trip completely transforms Al's life, Ellie falls in love with him, he falls in love with her mother. Then there is her mother's jealous, violent and drunk boyfriend who is ultra-possessive not only of the mother but also about daughter. Al meets with Jolie's mother and spends some time with her and heads back to LA only to find a half-dead man in his trunk. Al gets back to LA and starts wondering what to do about the body and his car gets stolen. The rest of the movie is how they escape from Jolie's mother's boyfriend and how Al and the latter hook up.

This movie is completely passable, and only Jolie's fans could probably watch this movie without getting exasperated. There are some scenes where Jolie reveals her surgeon-sculpted body. There is absolutely no storyline at all. Take my advise don't watch it.

Movie Review: The Mini Skirt Mob

Story of a Manipulative Woman and Gullible Men

If you want to see to what extent a spurned female would go to take revenge on her former lover and his present partner then this movie is a much watch. The movie tells the story of Shayne, a glamorous, manipulative and sexy woman, who is head of a female motorcycle gang known as The Mini Skirt Mob. Shane and Jeff, a rodeo champion are former lovers. Trouble starts when Jeff decides to retire from rodeo, get married and settle down as a rancher.

Though outwardly Shane says that it is all over between her and Jeff, inside she is one angry and jealous woman. She wants to make life for Jeff and his new bride miserable and hence gathers up her motorcycle gang which includes former friends of Jeff, Lon and Edie (Shayne's sister), LG and others and follows Jeff's trailer as he tries to get out and spend a quiet moment with his wife.

What follows is 80 minutes of terror for the newly married couple and merriment for the viewers. The stand off ends with the death of every one of them except Jeff and his wife. It is surprising to note that the Hero (Jeff played by Jeremy Slate) has pretty much no role. He is portrayed as a gutless coward who seems to always try to avoid confrontation with his former girlfriend and her mob. I would say the movie is all about how Shayne plots trouble and manipulates the men in her gang like Lon to do her dirty work. It is worth watching once if you don't have anything to do... oh! yes it is available free on Youtube... I wouldn't pay to watch this movie....

Fun Movie for the entire Family

Title:Imagine That
Starring: Eddie Murphy and others
Genre: Family

With nothing much else to do on Saturday night we decided to head out for a movie at the Dollar theater. My feeling is going to a regular theater is just not worth the money ($8-12). Only this movie caught our fancy because of its funny theme.

Well what do I tell you about the movie? My early memories of Eddie Murphy is from his role as a cop in Beverly Hills Cop. He was a serious, no-nonsense policeman busting drug cartels, and beating up thugs. Now he seems to have retired from that role and taken up comedy, and he is doing a darn good job at that.

Imagine That features Eddie Murphy in the role of a single parent grappling with a serious job as an investment banker. He is faced by two major challenges, one at the work place where a competitor calling himself "..... White Feather" is threatening to take his job. At home his daughter is hallucinating about a magical land with three princesses, a queen, and a dragon.

The final message of the movie is delivered by Murphy's estranged wife "You have two jobs, one at the office and the other as a father. You need to give equal importance to both." Whew... I wonder why people in America consider parenting as a "Job". Anyway how he realizes the importance of being a parent and wins the sought after promotion is the gist of the story.

Watch out for some really funny scenes, dialogues, and acting. It is a movie of clean fun and entertainment for the entire family.

Stuntwoman at 68, that is Sandy Gimpel for you

What is the most daring act you can imagine a 68 year old woman would do? Definitely not jumping off high rise buildings and rocky cliffs; crashing cars and getting more than a simple bruise in the process. Well, think again, all these and more are just routine for veteran Hollywood stuntwoman, Sandy Gimpel. Till I read about her on Coffee News, a local advertising news magazine, I could not even imagine that a 68-year-old woman could be so daring and adventurous. But now my opinion has changed completely. I read with awe the numerous achievements of Sandy Gimpel, a fourth-level black belt holder and instructor of karate and professional hollywood stuntwoman.

In her job she routinely rolls down long flights of stairs, jumps down high cliffs, and acts as a double for some of the most famous names in Hollywood. Recently, she was thrown by Eddie Murphy into a crowd of people in front of a building for his film Norbit. According to several fitness trainers and gurus, Gimpel has maintained her body as supple and fit like a 20-year-old. Gimpel has performed death defying stunts for nearly 100 hollywood thrillers, doubling up for numerous glam doll actresses including Jodie Foster, Sally Field and Sara Jessica Parker. Some of her most recent movies include Meet the Spartans, The Invasion, Rat Race, Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot among others.

If you thought that Sandy Gimpel did nothing other stunts, think again. She has produced and released her own workout video titled Stuntblasters - Cardio Mix DVD and does some freelance interior designing too. Despite her busy shooting schedule she makes time for her grown up daughter, trains every day with a mix of martial arts, aerobics, and weight work.

How it all started
Daughter of a gymnast, Gimpel was born and bred in California and she started her career as a dancer, but couldn't sustain in the field because of her petite frame. Later in 1967 she got recruited into a stunt job to act as double for the show's 11-year-old star. Since then there has been no looking back, she just got into it and continues to do her favourite stunts for movies even today. Stunts which would send shivers down the spines of young and sprightly men, she accomplishes with finnesse and elan.

Sandy Gimpel is one of the few women who has broken into and succeeded immensely in the male-dominated stunt trade. Now she juggles time between doing stunts and directing them.


I wonder how many of us will be even half as fit as Sandy Gimpel, at 68. I am only 34 and I am pretty sure that I can't do all that Sandy Gimpel can do at 68. Working out hard and in a disciplined manner is the secret of being fit even at old age. I gotta start maintaining a routine pretty quickly, else I will become frail and weak like so many others who are in sedentary professions.

Information and pictures from: The Christian Science Monitor
TVAddicts