Men of Honor (2000)

Genre: Drama/Biography

Starring: Robert De Niro, Cuba Gooding Jr., Charlize Theron, Aunjanue Ellis

During the Second World War racism prevailed strongly in America, even within the Armed Forces. Carl Brashear (Gooding Jr.) was of an African-American origin and wanted to join the US Navy. Due to his skin colour, he was always pushed back and life was made difficult for him. He kept his chin high and fought through every obstacle that was thrown along his path. From becoming a regular Navy Seaman, he aspired to become a Navy Diver. He fought through bureaucracy and got inducted in diving school. Master Chief Sunday (De Niro) was the commander in charge of the school and was determined to make Carls life hell. Carl was even more determined to pass Sunday's hell and become a Navy Diver. The movie is high on the motivational factor and shows that what one only needs is the determination and will to do things and not to quit. Robert De Niro's performance is unmatcheable and perhaps no one else could have carried out the role better than him. It was simply a tailor fit. On the other hand Cuba Gooding Jr. was not to be left behind. The duo put on one of the best on-screen performances ever. The movie moves a little slowly at times and you might find yourself losing interest. The only part to watch out for is the end. If that scene cant run a chill down your spine, I don't know what else can. For every person aspiring to do and become something big, this movie is a must watch.

Thumbs up: Performances and 'the twelve steps' scene
Thumbs down: Gets a little slow and uninteresting

Rating: 7.6/10

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Biography, Drama, Good Movies,

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Wanted (2008)

Genre: Action/Thriller/Crime/Science-fiction

Starring: James McAvoy, Angelina Jolie, Morgan Freeman, Thomas Kretschmann

Apart from normal human beings, there is a breed who have the ability to perform and do over-the-top things like deviating the path of a bullet, jumping from one skyscraper to another and the ability to perform stunts which would put Arnie to shame. They call themselves 'The Fraternity'. Wesley Gibson (McAvoy) is a frustrated individual whose leading a very normal life, working as an accountant. He gets kidnapped by Fox (Jolie) and is taken to Sloan (Freeman) the leader of The Fraternity. He learns that his father was once a part of this organisation but was murdered by Cross (Kretschmann). Cross was once a part of the organisation too, but betrayed them and started killing each member one by one. His father was a victim. Since he is son, he has inherited this ability and must train himself and one day take his revenge. The story has an interesting twist towards the end which makes you keep your attention on the movie. 2 hours of nice action-packed thrilling performance is what you will get from the movie. What you wont get is the urge to watch it twice. You may not be able to digest the highly-dramatic and insane stunts, but you will get used to it over time.

Thumbs up: Astounding action
Thumbs down: Slow beginning and very generic

Rating: 6.9/10

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Action, Comedy, Good Movies, Science-fiction, Thriller,

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3 Idiots (2009)

Genre: Comedy/Drama/Romance

Starring: Aamir Khan, Sharman Joshi, R Madhavan, Boman Irani, Kareena Kapoor, Omi Vaidya

Aamir Khan has made such a unique mark in bollywood, it is actually said that where Aamir goes, success follows. It's something which Aamir himself has been harping about throughout the movie; excel in something and success follows. Don't chase success, success will chase you. Rancchoddas Shyamaldas Chanchad aka Rancho (Khan), Farhan Qureshi (Madhavan) and Raju Rastogi (Joshi) are three aspiring engineers, studying at the most prestigious engineering institute in India. Rancho is a guy whose good at heart and wishes to challenge the general thinking. Why do we study only for marks and not for knowledge? Why do our grades decide our future and not our brains? Raju, on the other hand, is scared of failure and in spite of having an excellent academic record, cannot keep up in the rat race and starts feeling the pressure. Farhan doesn't want to do engineering and is more interested in wildlife photography. Due to peer pressure, he is forced into doing something he never liked. The movie doesn't have any story as such, its just the daily happenings of three friends. The movie wishes to teach certain fundamental aspects in life, which society has conveniently made us forget and overlook. Do what your heart wants, chase excellence and not success and if anything goes wrong, just put your hand on your heart and say 'all is well' in a typical Indian accent. The movie is must watch for young students and their parents and a definite eye-opener. That said, the movie is not at all philosophical or boring as it may sound, its quite hip, happening and funny and you would find yourself craving for more. The movie characters have some hilariously funny names like Viru Shahastrabuddhe aka Virus (Irani) the college dean and Chatur Ramalingam aka Silencer (Vaidya). The movie is also inspired by the very famous book 'Five Point Someone' by Chetan Bhagat, but only losely. Aamir, Sharman and Madhavan may look a bit too old to play the role of under-graduate students, but I don't think anyone will mind.

Thumbs up: LOL funny and yet highly educative
Thumbs down: Life-time imprisonment for figuring this one

Rating: 9.2/10

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Amazing Movies, Bollywood, Comedy, Drama, Romance,

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Ocean's Thirteen (2007)

Genre: Crime/Comedy/Drama

Starring: Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Matt Damon, Elliot Gould, Al Pacino, Ellen Barkin, Andy Garcia

Continuing the Oceans saga, comes Oceans Thirteen. The Oceans series of movies are quite famous for managing to conjunct crime with comedy which makes it a very entertaining watch. Reuben (Gould) is starting a casino in partnership with Willy Banks (Pacino). Banks manages to throw Reuben out of the partnership and doesn't return his share. Infuriated, Danny Ocean (Clooney) calls his team together which swear revenge against Banks. Falling a little short on funds, they approach their former rival Terry Benedict (Garcia) and ask him to fund him. Banks doom will in turn lead to Terry's win and hence he agrees the deal. What follows is the general planning and strategies and eventually the execution of the plan. The basic idea of a theft hasn't changed throughout the series and watching something similar happening the third time, isn't quite appealing. There weren't any major twists in the story at some point the planning looked a little far-fetched. The movie also lacks the one-liners and the sarcastic humour that the previous versions thrived on. To be watched only if your a die-hard Oceans fan, else it is quite avoidable.

Thumbs up: The George Clooney and Brad Pitt duo look fantastic
Thumbs down: Repititive and unexciting

Rating: 6.7/10

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Comedy, Crime, Drama, Good Movies,

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Paa (2009)

Genre: Drama/Comedy

Starring: Amitabh Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan, Vidya Balan, Paresh Rawal

An actor can live at peace when he knows that at the end of his career he has played almost every possible role and there is nothing more for him to achieve in the movie world. Amitabh Bachchan aka Big B is one such great personality who can now stand up to the entire world and pronounce this achievement. Progeria, is a rare genetic disorder wherein a child's physical appearance is 5-6 times his age but is mentally still a child. Auro (Amitabh Bachchan) is one such child who has to face the daily hardships of this rare disease. His father is the well known MP Amol Arte (Abhishek Bachchan) who impregnated Vidya (Balan) while they were in college. When Amol refused to marry Vidya, she left him and raised the child. Amol is unaware of Auro, yet co-incidentally their paths of life crossed. Auro being aware that he was his father and Amol being unaware that Auro is his son. The entire make-up and get up of Auro is a landmark achievement for the make up artist and must be commended on it. The movie story per se is quite regular and nothing very different. A diseased child and his hard childhood years. The reason to have a sixty seven year old ageing actor play the role of a young thirteen year old is not quite logical. The only reason is purely a marketing one. Probably if a young child artist was asked to execute the same role, the movie would not have got the respect it has now received. The only respite in the entire story is Amitabh Bachchan and his amazing one-liners. Even on his death bed he vows to make you laugh. The movie is a definite watch for gaining sympathy with the unfortunate children who are born with life-threatening diseases and to laugh at Bachchan Sr. and his child-like jokes.

Thumbs up: Makeup, humour and Amitabh Bachchan
Thumbs down: Pretty average storyline

Rating: 7.6/10

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Bollywood, Comedy, Drama, Good Movies,

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Rocket Singh: Salesman of the Year (2009)

Genre: Drama/Comedy

Starring: Ranbir Kapoor, Gauhar Khan, Shahzahn Padmasee, Prem Chopra

Ranbir Kapoor has finally made his mark into bollywood with three reasonably good movies in one year. Harpreet Singh (Kapoor) is your average college graduate, who has just about managed to scrape through his academic life. His life's ambition, is to become a salesman. Not very ambitious one would say but Harpreet had different plans in mind. He joins a computer manufacturing company and joins the sales team. After being ridiculed at work by colleagues and seniors alike, he gets frustrated but decides never to give up. He collects like-minded people from within the organisation and starts a rival company of his own, Rocket Sales Corp. He harps on those aspects which his employer has completely ignored; honesty and service. The movie tries to showcase the daily routine of a regular salesman but at the same time shows that will and determination can take you anywhere. To succeed you don't need a high flying MBA degree, but just simple self-belief in doing something big. The movie is a must watch for business students and MBA-aspirants. The pace of the movie remained consistent throughout, however, there were a lot of areas for improvement. The dialogues did not have the kind of impact that it should have had. The movie did not have anything big to bank on and the unknown star cast has performed brilliantly.

Thumbs up: Good performance by everyone
Thumbs down: Dialogues were a little loose and failed to hold interest

Rating: 7.0/10

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Bollywood, Comedy, Drama, Good Movies,

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Avatar (3D) (2009)

Genre: Adventure/Thriller/Science-fiction/Action

Starring: Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana (voice), Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang

I always believe that a good movie leads to very clear thoughts. In my case, it leads to a good review. The movie had a lot of hype surrounding it and such movies do not actually live up to peoples expectations. Once in a while there comes a movie which surpasses all barriers and takes the world by storm. Welcome to Avatar. Year 2154, a new planet named Pandora which is like Earth has been discovered. The way of life there, is closely similar to ours. A mineral, unobtanium, is found on Pandora which humans have started mining for their own greed. In order to get the natives, known as Na'vi to co-operate, scientists have made a look-alike body of the Na'vi which can be controlled by the brain signals of a human. Each avatar is synced with the genes of only one person. John Sully (Worthington) is a crippled marine whose twin brother works for this operation. His brother dies, leaving him to be the best person to take control of the avatar, due their similar gene structure. John has to establish communication with the Na'vi's and should try to become one of them. He must convince them to vacate the Hometree, the place where they live which also stands on top of the largest unobtanium mine so that it can be tapped by the humans. John meets Neytiri (Saldana) a Na'vi and falls in love with their world and her and develops a soft corner for the nature that surrounds him. Realising that John is going to fail, the humans want to take the planet by force, much to the disagreement of the scientists. The Na'vi's have to now fight for their right to live on their own planet. Its bows and arrows versus machine guns. Its belief versus ignorance. The sole reason why one must watch the movie is not for its star cast, not for the story and not for the amazing action, but for planet Pandora. The imagination and creativity that has gone into making this beautiful planet is simply breath-taking and unimaginable. The producers have actually created each and every thing from scratch, including the invention of the Na'vi's language and the animals and plants. I don't want to hamper your thoughts by describing them to you, its better you experience it decide for yourself. The movie tactfully displays human greed and intolerance towards nature. We have killed Mother Nature on Earth and we still don't mind doing it elsewhere. Don't wait for stupid dvd-rips, this movie should only be watched in theatres and that too in 3D. For the first time, I might have actually rejoiced in the death and destruction of the human race. To get a little critical, the first one hour may seem a drag, but the slow pace is essential to set the foundation for the thrilling adventure that is to come. There are going to be more Oscars for this one than you can count on your fingers. It's one movie you don't mind bunking your wedding for.

Thumbs up: Planet Pandora and animations
Thumbs down: I wouldn't dare

Rating: 9.0/10

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Action, Adventure, Amazing Movies, Science-fiction, Thriller,

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Flightplan (2005)

Genre: Thriller/Crime/Mystery

Starring: Jadie Foster, Sean Bean, Peter Sarsgaard, Kate Beahen

Kyle Pratt (Foster) is a an aeronautical engineer residing in Berlin, Germany. Her husband dies by falling off the roof and she has to take his body with her to New York to his parents. Kyle is in a terrible condition due to the loss of her husband and her six year old daughter Julia is an even bigger mess. On the flight to New York, Julia goes missing without a trace. The flight passengers dont remember seeing her and the cabin crew deny ever checking her in. Kyle also realises that all proofs of Julia, her bag pack and boadring pass is missing which makes everyone even more suspicious that Julia is a figment of Kyle's imagination. Flight Captain Rich (Bean) manages to find enough evidence to show that Julia died with her husband and Kyle is undergoing a trauma. She is put in custody of Air Marshal Carson (Sarsgaard) and will be arrested on arrival. However, Kyle is convinced that Julia is alive and the whole thing is a huge set-up. On first glance the movie can appear to be quite a bore, which it is for the first 20 minutes. Its only after the kidnapping does the movie pick up interest and pace and feels at home. The movie plot is well formed and interesting gets too slow at times due to which one tends to lose interest.

Thumbs up: Nice plot
Thumbs down: Gets too slow at times

Rating: 6.3/10

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Average Movies, Crime, Mystery, Thriller,

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You Got Served (2004)

Genre: Musical/Drama/Romance

Starring: Omarion Grandberry, Marques Houston, Jennifer Freeman, Christopher Jones, Steve Harvey

David (Omarion) and Elgin (Houston) head a gang which go around competing in street dancing competitions to earn some money. They seem to be unbeatable and when they get challenged by Wade (Jones) an uptown rich youth, they immediately accept without hesitation. Predictably, they lose the competition and when David starts dating Liyah (Freeman) Elgin's sister, their friendship sours. One thing leads to another and the two best friends now don't see eye to eye with each other. When a mega national level dancing competition kicks off, the two friends form their own gang to battle it out for the title. However, they also have to face their previous adversary, Wade and his team. The movie treads on an old and overused 'test of friendship' story and every move is predictable. The movie is a must watch if you want to learn some serious dance movies. One can gain access to a whole amount of insanely amazing hip-hop dance moves which is indeed the only highlight of the otherwise boring movie.

Thumbs up: The dance moves
Thumbs down: Overused story and poor casting

Rating: 3.9/10

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Drama, Musical, Pathetic Movies, Romance,

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The Brothers Grimm (2005)

Genre: Fantasy/Action/Thriller/Adventure/Comedy

Starring: Matt Damon, Heath Ledger, Peter Stormare, Jonathan Pryce, Lena Headey

Wilhelm (Damon) and Jacob (Ledger) are known as the brothers Grimm. They travel around French occupied Germany, carrying out exorcism and ridding the villages of evil spirits. The only flaw in this entire operation is that the spirits don't actually exist and its just one huge con game. They have been able to carry out their profession quite successfully until the French government manages to apprehend them. They strike a deal with General Delatombe (Pryce) who agrees to let them go if they solve the 'missing children problem' of the village of Marbaden. However, for the first time the brothers find themselves facing a true curse which they absolutely do not believe in or know how to eliminate. With the help of a huntress Angelica (Headey) who knows the forest inside-out, the brothers desperately try to save the village and at times their own life. The brothers Grimm in reality, were folk tale collectors from Germany in the 18th century. Apart from their names, nothing else is in common with the movie. The movie picks up small snippets of various folk tales that were spun up in Europe during that era like Little Red Riding Hood, Hansel and Gretel, Rapunzel etc. and have included them in the movie. The movie doesn't do too much on the humour front with its limited presence. The story is a little less dramatic but nonetheless, tries quite hard. Matt Damon and Heath Ledger made a good on-screen pair but that did not help too much in improving the movies appeal.

Thumbs up: Encompassing various European folk tales
Thumbs down: Lack of twists in the story

Rating: 6.0/10

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Action, Adventure, Average Movies, Comedy, Fantasy, Thriller,

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Terminator Salvation (2009)

Genre: Action/Science-fiction/Thriller

Starring: Christian Bale, Sam Worthington, Anton Yelchin, Moon Bloodgood

2018, Judgment Day has come and gone. The Resistance, headed by John Connor (Bale) continues fighting the machines. John's mother Sarah, has left John tapes filled with instructions on what he should do in the future. John needs to find Kyle Reese (Yelchin) who has to go back in time and save his mother and eventually become his father. If Kyle dies then John wont be born and hence the Resistance wont exist. The Resistance also manages to develop a new technique where in they can intercept the machines' communication radio waves and shut down the machines. Marcus Wright (Worthington) was a prisoner who sold his body for medical research. He suddenly finds himself in the future and in a time unknown to him. He finds his way to Connor, only to find that he is a unique hybrid. Half-man and half-machine. The unique thing about the Terminator movies is that each movie follows where the previous one left and yet one can still watch each movie in isolation without worrying about the story. The fourth installment of the series deviates strongly from the conventional story of the previous three movies by not having the another terminator on a man-hunt behind John. The action is no less entertaining than its predecessors but a crazily destructive sequence like the nitrous truck in T2 and crane sequel in T3 was sorely missed in this movie.

Thumbs up: Story and special effects
Thumbs down: Action could be a tad better

Rating: 7.1/10

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Action, Good Movies, Science-fiction, Thriller,

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He's Just Not That Into You (2009)

Genre: Comedy/Drama/Romance

Starring: Jennifer Aniston, Drew Barrymore, Scarlett Johansson, Bradley Cooper, Ginnifer Goodwin, Kevin Connolly, Justin Long, Ben Affleck, Jennifer Connelly

Love, does not have rules. Desperate single Gigi (Goodwin) with guidance from office colleagues Janie (Connelly) and Beth (Aniston) tries to hook up with a guy by following 'the rules'. She meets a restaurant owner Alex (Long) who throws her rule book out of the window and tells her that if a guy likes you he tells you and if not then he ignores you and there are no rules governing it. Janie is married to her childhood hubby Ben (Cooper) who, unknown to her, feels he has been forced into marriage and starts two-timing her with Anna (Johnson). Beth, on the other hand, has been having a live-in relationship with Neil (Affleck) for a good seven years and yet Neil doesn't feel there is a need to get married. Relationships go for a toss and one huge mess ensues. The movie tries to do another Love Actually but doesn't create the sort of stir that a movie of its scale should have. The star cast is highly impressive but doesn't create the impact that it was capable of. Nothing really in the movie to talk about, worth only a single watch.

Thumbs up: Impressive and interesting star cast
Thumbs down: Doesn't live up to expectations

Rating: 5.8/10

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Average Movies, Comedy, Drama, Romance,

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The Soloist (2009)

Genre: Musical/Drama/Biography

Starring: Jamie Foxx. Robert Downey Jr., Catherine Keener

A stunning true-life story of Nathaneil Ayers Jr. (Foxx) a schizophrenic homeless who has a rare skill with musical instruments. LA Times reporter Steve Lopez (Downey Jr.) bumps into Nathaneil while he is searching the streets for some unique story to write on. After a short story of his life finds itself in the LA Times, the people of Los Angeles start sympathising with him. A very unique relationship is formed between Steve and Nathaneil, which Steve dispises but yet cant do anything about it and wants to continue to help him. Jamie Foxx does a splendid job in the movie. His appearance and execution of the role has brought him into a different league altogether and i wont be suprised if it gets considered for an Oscar. The movie did all the right things but yet did not manage to bring out the sort of emotions that it should have. The movie definitely needs more drama if it needs to create an impact

Thumbs up: Jamie Foxx's Oscar-worthy performance
Thumbs down: Less-dramatic and hence less impactful

Rating: 7.0/10

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Biography, Drama, Good Movies, Musical,

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The Boy in the Striped Pajamas (2008)

Genre: Drama/History/War

Starring: Asa Butterfield, Jack Scanlon, Vera Farmiga, David Thewlis

Set in Nazi Germany during the Second World War, the movie tells the tale of a high-profile Nazi soldier (Thewlis) and his family life. He is asked to relocate to the German country and is made in-charge of the nearby Jewish prison camp. His son Bruno (Butterfield) feels lost and without any companion, starts wandering. He finds an unknown path from the back of his house which leads directly to the prison camp. He be-friends a young Jewish prisoner of his age, Schmuel (Scanlon) and suddenly his life becomes more interesting. His mind being very immature, he doesn't know what is going on in the camp and why the prisoners are there to begin with. The movie goes on to narrate the horrid story of the war and how Bruno's lack of understanding of things ends up giving him and his family too much trouble than what they had asked for. The movie is slow but not altogether uninteresting. It gives a different side of the misery attached with war.

Thumbs up: Young actors, Butterfield and Scanlon
Thumbs down: Quite slow

Rating: 7.2/10

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Drama, Good Movies, War,

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Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003)

Genre: Science-fiction/Action/Thriller

Starring: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Nick Stahl, Claire Danes, Kristanna Loken

The machines are steadily taking over Earth. The human race led by John Connors (Stahl) is moments away from victory. In a bid to change the sequence of events, the machines have sent two terminators back in time to kill John but both have failed. In a third attempt, T-X (Loken) an advanced robot is sent to kill John and all his aides so as to prevent their victory in future. A Terminator (Schwarzenegger) is re-programmed and sent back in time by the humans in order to protect John and finish T-X. Skynet is a huge computer-run system which controls all weapons of the United States government. The system gets infected with a virus which steadily spreads throughout the world and threatens to launch nuclear weapons and wipe out mankind , thus bringing forth Judgment Day. John, along with his high-school classmate Kate (Danes) have to stop the machines at all cost. The movie doesn't require the person to have any prior knowledge of the earlier movies, as the movie itself educates the audience about the earlier story. The movie story doesn't actually deviate from the what we have been seeing in the previous two movies and the only addition is the story of the machines coming into power. The movies boasts of powerful action and stunning action sequences which get highlighted by the mere presence of the great Arnold Schwarzenegger. A movie every action fan must watch.

Thumbs up: Action and Arnie
Thumbs down: Repetitive story

Rating: 6.8/10

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Action, Good Movies, Science-fiction, Thriller,

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Speed Racer (2008)

Genre: Sports/Science-fiction/Action/Drama/Adventure

Starring: Emile Hirsch, John Goodman, Christina Ricci, Roger Allam, Matthew Fox

Based on the very popular Japanese cartoon with the same name, Speed Racer narrates the story of the Racer family for whom racing runs in their blood. Speed (Hirsch) is an aspiring racer and learns to walk on the footsteps of his deceased brother Rex, who died in an accident while racing. Speed starts gaining popularity and is soon offered an alliance with a huge corporate entity headed by Royalton (Allam). Speed and his family decline the offer and Royalton tells him that all Grand Prix races are rigged and Speed would never be a true racer. Speed is approached by Inspector Detector and Racer X (Fox) who want Speed to race at the notorious Cassa Cristo Rally and help Taejo's team win. If that happens then Taejo would reveal vital information required to arrest Royalton and put an end to all rigged races. The movies underpinnings are same as that of the original cartoon and the only difference being is that the movie is based in a world much ahead of ours. The cartoonish and animated effects may be a little weird but its definitely different. The movie is absolutely adrenaline-rushing and you might just find yourself standing up and cheering 'GO SPEED GO!'

Thumbs up: Thrilling action and gripping story
Thumbs down: Part-animation and cartoonish effects may not appeal to everyone

Rating: 7.5/10

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Action, Adventure, Drama, Good Movies, Science-fiction, Sports,

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Zack and Miri Make a Porno (2008)

Genre: Drama/Comedy/Romance

Starring: Elizabeth Banks, Seth Rogen, Craig Robinson, Jason Mewes

The name says it all. Zack (Rogen) and Miri (Banks) are two 'good' friends, who share the same apartment but yet don't share a sexual relationship. Their meagre salaries isn't enough to pay off the house rent. In an act of desperation, the decide to overcome the sexual hurdle between them and make a porno. Love blossoms on the set and they live happily ever after. As you can inadvertently see, the story is quite lame and does little to entertain. The movie doesn't play on either the comedy aspect or the romance part and loosely hangs in the middle. It tries very hard to make you laugh but the jokes fall flat on their faces. How this movie has managed to achieve such high ratings is beyond me. The movie displays some fair amounts of sexuality, but that is not a very convincing reason for its popularity.

Thumbs up: Seth Rogen and Elizabeth Banks make a goon on-screen couple
Thumbs down: Lame story and even lamer jokes

Rating: 4.8/10

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Comedy, Drama, Pathetic Movies, Romance, Sex Comedy,

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Deep Impact (1998)

Genre: Science-fiction/Drama/Action/Romance

Starring: Tea Leoni, Morgan Freeman, Elijah Wood, Leelee Sobieski, Robert Duvall

This is one of the first movies, to my knowledge that harped about the world coming to an end due to a natural disaster. Leo Biederman (Wood) a young astrologer, discovers a comet zipping through space while star gazing. The comet was said to be the size on New York City and on impacting with Earth, would destroy all life. Jenny Lerner (Leoni) a budding journalist, hits upon a story that the US government along with the Russians is building a space ship which would intercept the comet. All techniques to save the Earth fail and doom is inevitable. The movie goes at a very vague pace, going slow at the parts that are insignificant and rushing through the parts that actually relate to the disaster. The special effects of the movie were quite good, considering the era in which the movie was made. It can actually challenge new movies of today when it comes to special effects clarity. A lot more detailing on the comet and the disaster would have made the movie a more interesting watch, but it instead incorporated typical government conspiracies and law-enforcement agencies, seen in multiple American-made movies. The movie is quite typical and offers nothing different. Highly-avoidable

Thumbs up: Special effects
Thumbs down: Zips through the more relevant parts

Rating: 5.6/10

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Action, Average Movies, Drama, Romance, Science-fiction,

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The Boat That Rocked (2009)

Genre: Drama/Musical/Comedy/Romance

Starring: Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Bill Nighy, Tom Sturridge, Nick Frost, Rhys Ifans, Chris O'Sowd, Rhys Darby

In 1966, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBS) was the only radio station in all of Britain and it only played 45 minutes of music every day. Radio Rock is a fictitious radio station that sprang up which played only rock n roll all day and night. The station was on a boat docked in the North Sea, in international waters in order to prevent being intercepted by the government of UK. Carl (Sturridge) is a young fellow who was sent by his mother to the boat so that his life may improve. 'Marvelous mistake' are the words by Quentin (Nighy) the radio boss. Pirate radio is filled with 8 insane DJ's who live off music day in and day out and have done perhaps the most outrageous things ever. The government, however, is not happy with the success of Radio Rock and forms a new law in order to shut it down. The movie is not actually based on a true life event, although the movie might convince you of their existence. The first half more or less revolves around the daily happenings on the boat with their eventual fall. The movie is slow and a little too long. There would be many occasions for you to laugh at but the movie is still a little unexciting. Not quite good as one would have expected it to be. It is a highly recommended watch for all music fans, especially rock and roll.

Thumbs up: Amazing performances by the entire cast and wonderful depiction
Thumbs down: Slow, a little too long and uneventful

Rating: 6.9/10

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Comedy, Drama, Good Movies, Musical, Romance,

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De Dana Dan (2009)

Genre: Comedy/Drama/Romance

Starring: Akshay Kumar, Sunil Shetty, Katrina Kaif, Paresh Rawal, Sameera Reddy, Neha Dhupia, Manoj Joshi, Chunky Pandey

A standard formula has been set when it comes to hardcore comedy in Indian Cinema. The same cliched star cast, stale overused jokes, pure stupidity, usual mess-ups and foreign locations. De Dana Dan doesn't even try to be slightly different from the lot, in fact a lot of bits and pieces of this movie has been strongly influenced by a previously seen movie Do Knot Disturb. Nitin (Kumar) is very frustrated with his work and his life. He is deeply in love with Anjali (Kaif) but cant marry her cause hes broke. He tries to commit suicide but is saved by courier boy Ram Mishra (Shetty). Ram too has a similar sob story to tell. He loves Manpreet (Reddy) but like Nitin, cant afford to marry her. The duo are contemplating on suicide when they get a sudden brilliant idea of kidnapping Nitin's mistresses beloved dog. The kidnapping happens, but the dog escapes. The police are under the impression that it is Nitin who has been kidnapped and go on a man-hunt. On the other hand, Harbans Chadda (Rawal) is a businessman who is on the verge of going bankrupt. He wants to get his son Nonny (Pandey) married so that he can pay-off his debts with the dowry. His wedding is fixed with Manpreet and is due to take place at a lavish Singapore hotel. A host of other stupid side stories adorn the main story line and when there are too many cooks, the broth is bound to get spoilt. The first half of the movie is pretty much boring and quite slow. It's only when the confusion at the hotel starts happening when you actually feel like laughing. The movie uses overused methods to make you laugh hard which just doesn't work anymore. Not worth wasting a Saturday night.

Thumbs up: The song 'paisa paisa' and Asrani in the Chinese get up
Thumbs down: Unoriginal humour

Rating: 4.9/10

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Bollywood, Comedy, Drama, Pathetic Movies, Romance,

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Leatherheads (2008)

Genre: History/Sports/Drama/Comedy/Romance

Starring: George Clooney, John Krasinski, Renee Zellweger, Jonathan Pryce

Set in the 1920's, World War I has just gotten over. Soldiers from the army have started playing unorganised football since they prefer the game over farming. Carter Rutherford (Krasinski) has all the looks, charm and skill to become a famous football star, which he slowly is. He also holds the reputation of getting an entire German platoon to surrender, for which he is loved by the people. Lexie Littleton (Zellweger) is a famous news reporter working for the Chicago Tribune. Her editor sends her on a field mission where shes supposed to romance Carter and get information out of him to publish in the paper. Dodge Connolly (Clooney) is a local football player whose retirement is overdue since quite some time. He realises the potential of having organised professional football and starts lobbying for it. The movie more or less narrates the revolution that underwent American Football to what it has become today. The movie has a strong story and a good cast but still failed to create an impact. It needs more of drama and the bits of humour thrown randomly in the movie are insignificant.

Thumbs up: Nice piece of history selected to make a movie on
Thumbs down: Quite boring and uneventful

Rating: 5.3/10

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Average Movies, Comedy, Drama, Historical Event, Romance, Sports,

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The Ugly Truth (2009)

Genre: Drama/Comedy/Romance

Starring: Katherine Heigl, Gerard Butler, Bree Turner, Eric Winter

This movie reminded me of a famous movie of the past, Hitch. The fundamentals of both the movies are the same. In the latter you have the 'date-doctor' and here you have Mike Chadway (Butler) the host of a local TV show 'The Ugly Truth' who tries to convince people that the way to a mans heart is only true his penis. Abby (Heigl) is a celebrated channel producer and accidentally watches one of Mike's shows. Shes utterly disgusted with his thoughts, but to her misfortune, her boss hires him in a bid to improve the channel ratings. He tries to prove his point by making Abby's next door neighbour fall for her using his methods, but Abby is not convinced. Like every other romance movie, opposites attract and the duo fall for each other. It's nothing different really and its a very plain, old, tried and tested story retold in a not very different manner. Worth one watch, not two.

Thumbs up: Katherine Heigl looks stunning
Thumbs down: Nothing different or unique

Rating: 6.4/10

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Average Movies, Comedy, Drama, Romance, Sex Comedy,

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I Love You, Man (2009)

Genre: Comedy/Drama/Romance

Starring: Jason Segel, Paul Rudd, Rashida Jones

Peter (Rudd) and Zooey (Jones) are crazy in love with each other and are all set to get married. Their life is perfect just for one thing. Peter is a girls man and just doesn't have any close male friends. When he overhears a conversation of Zooey's friends pointing out that flaw in him, he feels embarrassed and decides to do something. He starts going out on man-dates in the hope of making some good friends. He meets Sydney (Segel) an in-your-face kind of guy and Peter gets instantly 'attracted' to him. He gets more involved in doing more 'manly' things due to which Peter starts undergoing a manly transformation. The movie is hilarious and laugh out loud all the way. You might just finding yourself spending 2 hours with a broad grin on your face. It might not have the roll-over and fall-off-your-seat laughter but its still fun. Best watched with your lover next to you.

Thumbs up: Segel and Rudd all the way
Thumbs down: Girls would probably want more mushy-mushy romance in it

Rating: 7.4/10

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Comedy, Drama, Good Movies, Romance, Sex Comedy,

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The Rock (1996)

Genre: Action/Crime/Adventure/Thriller

Starring: Ed Harris, Nicolas Cage, Sean Connery, John Spencer

Boasting of a very strong star-cast, The Rock was a very promising movie. Brigadier General Francis X Hummel (Harris) is a Vietnam war hero and is disappointed with the fact that several US Marines have lost their lives in battle but have not received any form of respect from the US government. Taking the law in his own hands, he takes control of 'The Rock', a prison island off the coast of San Francisco and prepares to launch deadly bio-weapons at the city if his demands are not met. John Mason (Connery) is a British spy who was once held up in that very prison and knows it like the back of his hand. He is aware of a passage which would allow the Navy Seals to gain access into the island and take control of it. Dr. Stanley Goodspeed (Cage) is an FBI chemical weapons expert and knows how to diffuse the bio-weapon. The two are sent inside the island in order to perform their tasks and bring the situation back to order. The movie is very action-packed and if insane stunts and gun-wielding army men is what your looking for then it is definitely something you would want to watch. The trio put on an amazing show which is why this movie is very appealing. Although old, it still holds its charm.

Thumbs up: Gripping and entertaining
Thumbs down: The general hostage situation and good vs bad story

Rating: 7.2/10

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Action, Adventure, Crime, Good Movies, Thriller,

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The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (2008)

Genre: Fantasy/Thriller/Action/Adventure

Starring: Brendan Fraser, Jet Li, Maria Bello, John Hannah, Michelle Yeoh, Luke Ford

In ancient China, there lived an Emperor Han (Li) who had conquered all his desires and wishes except for death itself. He summoned a witch, Zi Juan (Yeoh) to grant him immortality, instead she cursed him and confessed her love for his General. The emperor along with his massive army was forever turned to stone. The year is 1947, Rick o'Connell (Fraser) and his wife Evelyn (Bello) are requested by the government to go to China and hand over a rare artifact to the Shanghai museum. They meet their son Alex (Ford) their who has uncovered Emperor Han's tomb. Alex gets double-crossed by his excavation companion and the emperor is reserructed. The mighty king now wants his army back and will reclaim what was once his. The movie story dosent really continue from the previous versions. Although the story has taken a new perspective of the term 'mummy' it still maintains the charm that the previous movies had. Action packed and thrilling moments is what you will get. What you dont get, however, is the mystery which the earlier versions had. You somehow know what is going to happen in the end and it is the inevitable victory of good over evil.

Thumbs up: Equally gripping as its predeccessors
Thumbs down: A slightly predictable story-line

Rating: 6.8/10

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Action, Adventure, Fantasy, Good Movies, Thriller,

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Constantine (2005)

Genre: Drama/Thriller/Horror/Fantasy/Action

Starring: Keanu Reaves, Rachel Weisz, Shia LeBeouf, Djimon Hounsou

Angels and demons still exist in this world with humanity in between. Neither angel nor demon can cross over in their pure form and come on earth. They must come in the form of a half-breed which is part human and part devil/angel. An equal balance between good and bad is maintained on earth, however, increasing demon activity has recently tipped the scales. John Constantine (Reaves) is an exorcist who has been sending demons back to hell regularly. He knows his time is about to come and wishes that he ends up in heaven for the good deeds he is doing in spite of knowing that god does not agree with what he is doing. Angela and Isabel (Weisz) are twin sisters. Isabel is a mental patient who one night jumps off the roof and dies. Her death appears to be suicidal, however, her detective twin sister, Angela refuses to buy that story. Angela meets John in a chance encounter and learns about the existence of angels and demons. John offers the explanation that her sister might have been caught in the battle between good and evil which has landed her a place in hell. As the duo start uncovering the secrets of Isabel's past, they stumble across many horrifying facts which might just put humanity as a whole to the brink of extinction. The movie is loosely made and is extremely slow. Don't be surprised if you have to stifle a yawn or two. Except for a few startling moments, there isn't too much in the movie to actually horrify you into getting sleepless nights. The acting wasn't anything great either. In short, its quite a boring watch.

Thumbs up: *thinks hard* the little suspense that the movie had
Thumbs down: Not too thrilling for a movie of its kind

Rating: 4.4/10

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Action, Drama, Fantasy, Horror, Pathetic Movies, Thriller,

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The Untouchables (1987)

Genre: Crime/Drama/Biography/History/Thriller
Starring: Kevin Costner, Robert De Niro, Sean Connery, Charles Martin Smith, Andy Garcia

Al Capone (De Niro) was an infamous bootlegger that operated from Chicago in the 1930's. He dirtied the hands of almost every city official, law enforcement agency and politician in order to get his work done. Treasury department agent Eliot Ness (Costner) takes up the task of putting Al Capone behind bars for good. On his team is beat cop Jimmy Malone (Connery) sharp shooter George Stone (Garcia) and a treasury accountant Oscar Wallace (Smith). Repeated at getting Capone fail miserably and the team gets a bad name in the media. The team also suffers the loss of two team members but the rest diligently move on and finally manage to nab the mafia don and put him behind bars. The movie is well narrated considering the era in which it was made, but there are a lot of areas in which it could have improved in. The story was a little too simple and not as dramatic as one would have liked it. A bit of more drama and thrills would have taken things to a different level. Sean Connery's presence, however, didn't do too much of good as Robert De Niro's did.

Thumbs up: Robert De Niro in any avatar is always stunning
Thumbs down: A little more chills and thrills

Rating: 7.3/10

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Biography, Crime, Drama, Good Movies, Historical Event, Thriller,

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2012 (2009)

Genre: Science-fiction/Action/Drama/Thriller

Starring: John Cusack, Amanda Peet, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Thandie Newton, Oliver Platt, Zlatco Buric

A lot of movies, books and theories have come to light citing the inevitable destruction of the world, but most of them either don't hold water, have come and gone or are not expected in the near future. 2012 is perhaps one of the first such theory which does have a scientific explanation backing it up and has also a fixed date of occurrence. Jackson Curtis (Cusack) a little-known novelist, part-time limo driver for a Russian business tycoon and a divorcee, has taken his kids out camping. He sees a lot of strange things and meets a semi-demented radio jockey Charlie Frost, who explains him about a disaster waiting to happen. He also learns that the governments of various countries are building huge ships in China to seek refuge and survive this impact. He collects his family and along with his employer Yuri (Buric) they all head to China. Meanwhile, American geologist Adrian Helmsley (Ejiofor) with the help of an Indian astro-physicist had predicted the disaster but did not expect to occur so early. All top US officials have been killed and the White House Head of Staff Carl Anheuser (Platt) is now head of the US govt. He only wants people with big pay-checks and influence to be on-board. The movie has got poor detailing and graphics and could have been much better. Comparing it to The Day After Tomorrow, the movie fails to have the visual impact that its predecessor did. All that said and done, it gives out a very vital message. If such a calamity should befall human-kind, rather than being a racist we should all live as humans and not as attitude-laden animals trying to outdo each other. Peace-out!

Thumbs up: Teaches you a thing or two about being more human
Thumbs down: Poor graphics and detailing

Rating: 7.1/10

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Action, Drama, Good Movies, Science-fiction, Thriller,

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The Gods Must Be Crazy II (1989)

Genre: Comedy/Adventure/Drama

Starring: N!xau, Lena Farugia, Hans Strydom, Eiros, Nadies

Xi (N!xau) is back within an even crazier version of his adventures. Xi goes hunting for some food in the jungle along with his kids Xiri (Eiros) and Xisa (Nadies). A truck belonging to poachers is parked in the jungle with a compartment filled with water. Xiri and Xisa have never seen so much water in all their life and decide to have some fun. However, when the truck starts, the two cant seem to get out of it and are trapped inside. A desperate Xi starts pursuing them on foot to rescue his children from 'the strange beast'. Meanwhile, a wildlife expert Dr. Stephen Marshall (Strydom) is taking Ann (Farugia) a New York lawyer, out for an aerial safari in his mini-plane when they suddenly realise that they are badly out of fuel and have to crash land. Stuck in the middle of the Kalahari desert, there is very little that they can do. On the other hand, a lost Cuban and Angolan soldier are trying to get the better of each other by holding the other one prisoner. All three stories come together at one central point which simply makes this movie an even more entertaining watch. Scenes from this movie just seem to stick in your head and are simply unforgettable.

Thumbs up: Everything is just LOL
Thumbs down: Not in the mood to think this one out

Rating: 7.9/10

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Adventure, Comedy, Drama, Good Movies,

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The Gods Must Be Crazy (1980)

Genre: Comedy/Drama/Adventure

Starring: N!xau, Marius Weyers, Sandra Prinsloo, Louw Verwey

Comedy movies are even more appealing when the humour in them does not seem to be picked from somewhere or over-used. This movie provided a fresh taste of comedy and is still one of the very fondly loved movies. Xi (N!xau) is a Sho tribesman living in the Kalahari Desert in Africa. He and his tribe members are very content with their simple life and have no worries. Their peaceful livelihood goes for a toss when an empty Coke bottle, thrown out of a low-flying plane falls on the ground and is discovered by Xi. The tribesman takes it as a gift from god and starts finding many uses for it. This eventually leads to fights, enmity and squabbling between the tribe members, emotions they were earlier unaware of. In order to set things straight, Xi decides to walk to the edge of the earth and throw the bottle away. Another side-story consists of a shy biologist Andrew Steyn (Weyers) and a journalist Kate (Prinsloo) and their blossoming love story within the jungle. Initially you might feel the movie is a whole load of trash, but give it some time and it would show you its true colours.

Thumbs up: N!xau all the way
Thumbs down: People throwing Coke bottles from the sky.

Rating: 7.7/10

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Adventure, Comedy, Drama, Good Movies,

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State of Play (2009)

Genre: Crime/Drama/Mystery/Thriller

Starring: Russell Crowe, Ben Affleck, Rachel McAdams, Helen Mirren

Russell Crowe's mere presence in a movie adds a lot of credits to it, this movie being no different. The US government decides to outsource all of its military operations to a private company. A petty thief gets murdered in a Washington alley along with a pizza delivery boy who witnessed the murder. Congressman Stephen Collins' (Affleck) aide, Sonia Baker dies in a train accident. Three separate events have one common link; PointCorp. The very same company to whom the military operations have been assigned to. The very company against whom Stephen is investigating and hurling charges of monopolistic practices. Cal (Crowe) is a polished journalist with the Washington Globe and also a very close friend of Stephen. When the media discovers about Stephen and Sonia's intimate relationship, all hell breaks lose and Stephen turns to Cal to help him get out of his mess. Much to Cal's horror, this story has much more than what it seems to be. Cal, along with Della (McAdams) the papers online reporter, start uncovering the truth bit by bit to uncover the entire conspiracy of corruption and deceit. The idea of a 'journalist solving a murder mystery' was better looked into by Zodiac, but then again that was a real-life incident and this one is completely hypothetical. The story gets a little predictable and you might just stifle a yawn or two, but its not exactly unexciting.

Thumbs up: Russell Crowe all the way
Thumbs down: Predictable, lacks some bit of suspense

Rating: 7.4/10

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Crime, Drama, Good Movies, Mystery, Thriller,

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Duplicity (2009)

Genre: Drama/Crime/Romance

Starring: Clive Owen, Julia Roberts, Tom Wilkinson, Paul Giamatti

Many a times many people have tried to emulate the Oceans series of movies but the original is the original no matter how hard you try. Claire (Roberts) and Ray (Owen) are a smart duo who love making other people with lots of money look stupid. Not just that, they passionately love each other and cant trust the other person with an even bigger passion. Howard Tully (Wilkinson) and Richard Garsik (Giamatti) are heads of rival FMCG companies. Garsik has hired a team of sleuths which includes Claire and Ray to find out what is that big thing that Howard Tully is so eager to announce at his shareholders meet. Garsik wants the product specifications stolen from Tully and wants to announce it before he can. Claire and Ray, however, have different plans. The movies kicks off on a very confused start, going back and forth into time and it takes a while to get the hang of things. The movie doesn't have the sort of excitement that it should have and the background score was the only thing that was trying to make the movie look funny. The twists are fun but could have been with a little more excitement and suspense. On the acting front, Julia Roberts and Clive Owen look like they are made for each other were probably the big thing that kept the movie going.

Thumbs up: Efforts by the entire star cast
Thumbs down: Uneventful and unexciting

Rating: 6.1/10

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Average Movies, Crime, Drama, Romance,

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Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani (2009)

Genre: Drama/Romance/Comedy

Starring: Ranbir Kapoor, Katrina Kaif, Upen Patel

With a string of flop movies, Ranbir Kapoor decided to do a movie based on his life. Half-way through Wake Up Sid he realised the movie was getting a bit too serious and hence decided to do Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani. Prem (Kapoor) is president of the Happy Club, a club for unemployed and useless youths. He keeps getting put down by his father for not earning money and supporting the family. The members of Happy Club specialise in helping two lovers get together. Jenny (Kaif) is the new beauty in the neighbourhood and Prem is all head over heels over her. He tries to do everything within his reach to keep her happy and win her love. Usual love story saga ensues where the guy loves the girl but cant tell her and 'too-dumb-to-realise' girl loves someone else which she later realises is not made for her but the first guy who cares for her and loves her so much. In spite of very promising trailers the movie was a big no-show. The humour in the movie is definitely fresh but parts of it seem to have been inspired by Govinda movies. Katrina Kaif should condemn any form of emotional acting and admit that it is beyond her. Her British accent kept getting into the way of Hindi dialogues and should also pledge to not do her own dubbing. Upen Patel was overtly ridiculous with a very lose piece of acting and the even more obvious fake English accents. I still haven't figured out the logic behind one scene where Katrina runs past Ranbir shouting 'Prem, Prem' and does an about turn and comes back into his arms!? One can safely rename it as Bechare Ranbir ki Intni Bhi Ghazab Nahin Hai Kahani.

Thumbs up: Ranbir Kapoor and his attempts at humour
Thumbs down: Katrina, Upen and the duos accent problems

Rating: 5.7/10

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Average Movies, Bollywood, Comedy, Drama, Romance,

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Enemy of the State (1998)

Genre: Action/Drama/Crime

Starring: Will Smith, Gene Hackman, Jon Voight, Lisa Bonet

The US government wants to pass a bill which would allow them to survey citizens private property which is been done in the interest of national security. Congressman Reynolds (Voight) murders fellow Congressman Phillip Hammersly when the latter refuses to vote for the bill. Unknown to Reynolds, the entire murder was shot on a nature watchers hidden camera who wants to make millions by publishing it. Soon Reynolds and his men are in hot pursuit of him and get him killed but could not find the camera on him. What they do realise is that he interacted with Robert Dean (Smith) an innocent labor lawyer and slipped the tape into his bag without him realising it. Its now a wild goose chase behind Dean who does not have the slightest of idea of who is following him and why. Brill (Hackman) an ex-NSA operator who also supplies Dean with any information he needs agrees to bail him out of his mess. The movie is no different from any other American crime movie which involves practically every law enforcement agency abbreviated, blowing up cars and buildings as if it were a video game. Will Smith's presence in the movie does not help it any way. The movie does however have an interesting story line, only if wasn't stretched to its very limits.

Thumbs up: Story, Gene Hackman
Thumbs down: Too long for its kind, over-stretched car chases

Rating: 6.4/10

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Action, Average Movies, Crime, Drama,

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Frost/Nixon (2008)

Genre: Documentary/ Drama/ History/Biography

Starring: Micheal Sheen, Frank Langella, Sam Rockwell, Kevin Bacon, Matthew Macfayden, Oliver Platt

A good movie can be aptly judged by two things. Firstly, the position of a persons back to the seat along with the expression on his/her face. In this case, my nose was barely inches away from the screen, staring as each pixel swiftly changed form and a broad grin on my face. Secondly, the flow of thought that immediately comes to ones mind right after a movie, which was the first few lines that you just read. Richard Nixon (Langella) is the only president of the United States to have ever resigned from office. Charges of corruption, burglary and misuse of presidential power hounded his feet. He never gave a pubic testimony accepting these charges and his successor gave him a presidential pardon, thus ruling out a court trial. The American publics sentiments were hurt and they wanted an all out confession. David Frost (Sheen) was a noted British comedian and talk show host, who had the brilliant idea of interviewing Nixon and trying to get a confession out of him. A lot of hurdles came across his way and his entire experience and fame as a journalist was put to test by this one man. The movie depicted a cold feeling between David and Nixon where they both seemed to fight a battle for coming out on top of the other. Michael Sheen and Frank Langella have beautifully managed to actually bring out that feeling on screen; simply watching them debate and hit out on each other is simply astounding. Its not just about representing the actual interviews but bringing out those emotions and facial expressions that bring it as close to reality. Langella's five second screen shot where he manages to show an array of thoughts and feelings of surprise, confusion, anger, sorrow, self-pity, humiliation and what not, all by one look on his face defines him as a good actor.

Thumbs up: Langella with Sheen not far behind
Thumbs down: Too busy appreciating the good points to figure this one out.

Rating: 8.5/10

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Amazing Movies, Biography, Documentary, Drama, Historical Event,

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Underworld: Rise of the Lycans (2009)

Genre: Fantasy/Thriller/Action/Drama/Adventure

Starring: Bill Nighy, Rhona Mitra, Michael Sheen, Steven Mackintosh, Kevin Grevioux

Being the third installment of the Underworld series, the movie like its predecessors, leapfrogs onto a very different story from what we have seen so far. The first movie gave a small glimpse of Sonja (Mitra) and Lucian's (Sheen) love. Sonja, daughter of the Vampire elder Viktor (Nighy) shares an intimate relationship with Lucian (Sheen) a Lycan. Lucian was the first werewolf to have the ability of free transformation between werewolf and human and hence gave birth to the Lycan race. Viktor on learning about their relationship, condemns his own daughter to death. The movie simply goes back to an old story and narrates with more precision of what exactly happened. Underworld Evolution focused more on the Vampires side of the story, and the focus this time, has shifted to the Lycans Evolution. If one has seen both the previous versions, this movie doesn't really have anything new to add to the entire Lycan-Vampiric mystery. It's merely a detailed story of an event already revealed in the earlier movies. It neither continues nor adds to the storyline which makes it a bit uninteresting. The only good part of the movie is that no prior knowledge of the series is necessary to understand the movies basic storyline. It would be a good watch for someone who hasn't seen the earlier movies, but can be very boring for someone who has. The movie did not end as a finale and since it did not follow the story of the previous movies, the place where the second movie ended is yet to be finished, which would happen later on in the fourth version of the Underworld series.

Thumbs up: Watching the previous movies is not a prerequisite
Thumbs down: Story doesn't reveal anything new.

Rating: 5.9/10

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Action, Adventure, Average Movies, Drama, Fantasy, Thriller,

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Taxi (2004)

Genre: Action/Comedy/Crime

Starring: Queen Latifah, Jimmy Fallon, Jennifer Esposito, Gisele Bundchen

Andy Washburn (Fallon) is utterly hopeless. A disgrace to the NY PD and a bigger disgrace to the driving community. 'Ze Germans' are robbing a bank in Manhattan, which turns out to be a gang of stunning looking girls headed by Vanessa (Bundchen). Andy decides to take a cab to the location, since he lost his cop car and is the closest to the location. Belle (Latifah) the cab driver, knows the streets inside out has her car all pimped up. As usual, our fumbling idiot messes things up and ends up getting fired and Belle's car gets impounded. Andy wants to reclaim his lost respect by getting catching the thieves, and Belle wants her precious car back. I actually wanted the 1976 classic Taxi Driver and landed up with this movie. Queen Latifah looks sorely out of place and does not fit into an action movie from any angle whatsoever. The initial humour in the movie is laughable, but beyond that it gets tiresome. The car chases in this movie though are very interesting and are capable of matching more highly rated action movies. The plot is nothing very different, but perhaps if the humour was ruled out and replaced with more suspense and actually deciphering the modus operandi of the robbers, it would probably been at a very different level.

Thumbs up: Car chases
Thumbs down: A very out of place Queen Latifah

Rating: 5.8/10

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Action, Average Movies, Comedy, Crime,

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Surrogates (2009)

Genre: Science-fiction/Action/Crime/Mystery

Starring: Bruce Willis, Radha Mitchell, Rosamund Pike, Boris Kodjoe, James Cromwell

An American scientific-research company manages to create a robot in order to help the handicapped. The persons brain is synced with the robot, and whatever the human things, it is executed by the robot. However, this technology finds more appeal to the general audience, who can now put up a false physical profile for the world to see, while they sit back at home and control their bots, known as surrogates. These surrogates are designed in a way which will not kill the human, even if the robot dies. A young college student is found dead one day, who died when his surrogate was attacked, something which is not supposed to happen. The youth was later found to be the son of the inventor of the surrogates Canter (Cromwell). He and his son used look-alike surrogates and thus due to a mistaken identity, his son was killed instead of him. FBI agent Tom Greer (Willis) and his assistant Peters (Mitchell) are assigned to solve the mystery behind this impossible killing. His research brings him to the brink of a near-death experience in which he ends up losing his surrogate and realises that the 'flesh-life' is strikingly different from the fake life he has been living all this while. He wants the others too, to experience reality and give up the robotic one. The movie is a very typical big American corporation exploiting society to make money story. The mystery and the twists in the tale add some interest to the movie, but it only comes after the movies half-way mark. In order to differentiate from surrogates and humans, all surrogate characters were seemed to have been given an extra dose of make-up and the humans none. A lot of small detailing can be seen in the movie, which tries to bring you close to reality. The movie might get a tad bit confusing somewhere in the end, but you somehow get the point of it all. A unique concept and nothing else.

Thumbs up: Character detailing
Thumbs down: Same story, different technology

Rating: 6.9/10

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Action, Crime, Good Movies, Mystery, Science-fiction,

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Underworld Evolution (2006)

Genre: Fantasy/Thriller/Action/Science-fiction/Mystery/Adventure

Starring: Kate Beckinsale, Scott Speedman, Tony Curran, Derek Jacobi

In continuation with the previous movie, the movie goes into a flashback, tracing the evolution of Lycans and Vampires. Alexander Corvinus (Jacobi) was the first person to go against the order of nature and develop immortality. His sons Marcus (Curran) and William were bitten by a bat and a werewolf respectively to start the Vampire and Lycan races. Marcus offered immortality to Viktor to him and his army in exchange for his support to control his savage brother. Viktor instead imprisoned William and took the Lycans as slave. If William was killed, the Lycan race would die and hence Viktor would lose his slaves. Fast forward to the current year, Marcus has been awoken by the blood of a Lycan scientist and he learns all of Kravens misdeeds. With Viktor and Amelia dead, he has the opportunity to free his imprisoned brother. Selene (Beckinsale) and Michael (Speedman) the hybrid, are on the run. Selene knows the exact location of the prision, since her father was commissioned to build it. Marcus is on the hunt for the key to open the prison and to learn of its location from Selene. The movie takes on a slightly different course than the previous movie, and focuses more on the Vampires history rather than the Lycans. It also has little history and suspense than its predecessor, but definitely has more action. The Gothic approach with a hint of technology offers a brilliant blend. Kate Beckinsale's performance stole the entire show, which made Scott Speedman look like small change.

Thumbs up: Action, Gothic-tech combine
Thumbs down: Lack of enough mystery

Rating: 7.1/10

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Action, Adventure, Fantasy, Good Movies, Mystery, Science-fiction, Thriller,

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