The Sorcerer’s Apprentice Review with Trailer

The film is another addition to the super-hero fantasy genre. It centres around a simple story about sorcerer Balthazar’s (Cage) attempts to find a person who could defeat Morgana (Alice Krige) who had tried to unseat Merlin a millennia ago. To add a love story, we have Balthazar’s beloved Veronica (Belluci) trapped by the bad guys. Finally, Balthazar picks a student Dave (Baruchel) who he thinks can finally help defeat Morgana and the baddies.

Like any youth-oriented fantasy films, ‘The Sorcerer’s Apprentice’ has everything from adventure, mythology, comedy, wizardry and romance tightly packed. You have similar scenes over and over again that kids could well relate to.

The cast combination is also good with excellent show by Molina as villain. Refreshing, and relieving, is Baruchel’s looks, which is not exactly of the hero next door. There are some classic shots with a good dose of graphic effects.

Overall, the film has too much jumping from characters and at times, the ‘childish script’ falters too long. ‘The Sorcerers’ Apprentice’ is a not a work of art, but will certainly be a hit with kids.

Reviewed by Robert L.Sungte, Deccan Herald
English (U)
Director: Jon Turteltaub
Cast: Nicolas Cage, Alfred Molina, Jay Baruchel, Monica Bellucci

INCEPTION (U/A)

Mind games can be quite entertaining onscreen when presented in a straight forward manner and with most of the players masters in their respective roles.

In this sci-fi thriller Dom (DiCaprio), an expert “extractor”, is capable of entering people’s dreams to fish out any data. So, a top investor hires him to plant a thought into the mind of a competitor. The task seems almost impossible, but Dom with two other accomplices work to create dreams-within-dreams to accomplish the job. However, their target has been well-trained to thwart such attacks, and to make their task more difficult, Dom’s dead wife appears in their dreams unleashing a trail of disaster. Will Dom and his teammates wake from the dreams that’s so real or be trapped forever in their subconscious world? Well, to know that you have to see it for yourself.

We have seen Leonardo playing with minds and dreams in the recently released ‘Shutter Island’ and now with this film, he has matured to prove to the world that he can deliver romance and action without a hitch.

With director Christopher Nolan of ‘The Dark Knight’ fame behind the camera, the film juggles time cleverly. In fact, there are no pretensions of trying to tell the conflicting mind game in any particular order. Balanced treatment and clarity are the film’s hallmark. They make the complex story vivid and rational while remaining creative and most of all entertaining.
However, on the minus side, ‘Inception’ is unsympathetic towards the emotions of the audience, it being all about speed. So, there’s little time to know and associate with each of the characters. Otherwise, the film is a terrific sci-fi drama meant to take you on a roller coaster ride. And, on the technology front, no one was complaining that the film is not in 3D, as the screenplay itself is a tech driven-visual treat.

Review by Robert L.Sungte, Deccan Herald
Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Marion Cotillard, Ken Watanabe, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ellen Page, Cillian Murphy
Director: Christopher Nolan

‘Zoram Khawvel’ eBook release on July 15

New Delhi: The 1991 Mizo Academy of Letters ‘Book of the Year’ ZORAM KHAWVEL (PART I) which took Mizo literary world by storm is all set to be released in an eBook) format on July 15, 2010. The day also marks the author Pu L.keivom’s 71st birthday celebrations during which a website would also be launched.

“The world is progressively shrinking and the gap of communication is bridging up day by day as we advance in tehnological knowledge and wisdom. Innumerable new websites open up daily…. Our Zoram khawvel is getting closer day by day. One of the key steps we thought will be useful in bringing the people of Zoram khawvel closer is to open Zo Basket where we will put all available works of Zo literature and music as much as possible and turn the site as a major source of information on Zo life, culture and literature,” said  Pu L.Keivom.

The purpose of releasing this eBook and the website is to treasure all works of literature in different Zo dialects, including dictionaries, Bible translations and recorded songs and music.

“To start with, I have gladly donated my book Zoram Khawvel-1, winner of 1991 Book of the Year in Mizoram and it can now be accessed and downloaded free. I also take this opportunity to invite writers and publishers and people in the music world to donate their works to the Zo Basket… It is my hope and trust that this website will be a blessing to all visitors and users, increasing oneness and better understanding amongst them,” the former IFS officer said in a statement.

Zoram Khawvel Part 1 was published 19 years ago with just 3000 copies. Since, there were no reprints many youngsters who wanted to read the book never had the chance to lay their hands on it. This would be a big free birthday gift to all Mizo book lovers.

‘Zoram Khawvel’ series (Vol I-VIII) is authored by the noted Mizo litterateur and retired Indian Foreign Service officer, Pu L.Keivom in Mizo (Duhlian).

The eBook was supposed to be released during the second week of June but was delayed due to re-editing works.

It may also be noted that Pu Keivom’s book NUN RAM was released by Inpui.com and Indin last year. The e-book is available for free download here.

While NUN RAM is a collection of short essays, ZORAM KHAWVEL (PART 1) will be the first Mizo hardcover book to be released in the e-book format. However, the style and format of the new e-book is not yet known.

To get your Free copy Visit: ZORAMKHAWVEL.COM