Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 6:24 AM
Genre: Crime/Mystery/Drama
Starring: James Mason, Simone Signoret, Harry Andrews, Harriet Andersson, Maxmillian Schell
Samuel Fennan works for the British Foreign Office and is recently promoted. Him and his wife Elsa's (Signoret) past connections with communism lead many of his superiors to believe that he might be stealing confidential information which he now has access to. Charles Dobbs (Mason) a Secret Service Agent is asked to interview him and to learn more about his past connections. Later that night when Fennan is found dead, police label the death as suicide, but Dobbs is not convinced. Along with Inspector Mendel (Andrews) they get cracking on the case to find what the real truth is. Mason meanwhile, is facing family problems with his wife Ann (Andersson) who has is a perpetual sex addict and has fallen in love with Charles' friend Dieter (Schell). The problem with crime and mystery movies is that one has to wait till the very end to learn the outcome of the entire mystery. Many a times when the twist falls flat on its face, it feels like a waste of precious energy and time. This movie turns out to be no different. The investigation does not create enough suspense and the final verdict makes you raise an eyebrow and you ask yourself, "That's it?" That pretty much sums up the movie's capability. A definite no-show.
Rating: 5.6/10
Average Movies,
Crime,
Drama,
Mystery,
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 12:37 AM
Genre: Drama/Adventure
Starring: Emile Hirsch, Catherine Keener, Jena Malone, Vince Vaughn, Hal Halbrook, Marcia Gay Harden, William Hurt, Brian Dierker
Why do we have to work? To earn money. Why do we need money? To live a luxurious life. Why do we need a luxurious life? To keep ourselves happy. Does happiness necessarily come from money? To get out of this vicious circle of life, Chris McCandless aka Alexander Supertramp (Hirsch) leaves his family after graduation to live a life of his own. A life he had dreamed of, an adventure. Career, money, job, that's all in the mind and is something which we are forced to do and not do it by choice, is what Chris says. Travelling down the Grand Canyon, living with gypsies, harvesting crop on a farm, he lead his life the way he wished. His final choice was to go to Alaska and come back and write a book about all his adventures. The movie is slow but is not unexciting as it may sound. There is a lot of narration by Chris' sister Carine (Malone) who remembers her brother and Chris himself on life and how we should find happiness elsewhere. One needs to look deep if any meaning is to be understood from the movie. It is something that may not appeal to a wide audience, but yet a highly recommended watch. You need to give the movie time before you can appreciate it. A tragic and touching end. Based on a true story.
Rating: 7.5/10
Adventure,
Biography,
Drama,
Good Movies,
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 5:47 AM
Genre: Action/Comedy/Spoof
Starring: Dr. Rajendraprasad, Nasser, Raju Sundaram, Rambha
Many a times one watches a movie with certain ambitions and expectations, and most of the time these expectations are not met. Not necessarily in a negative manner. Shri Quick Gun Murugun (Rajendraprasad) is the Indian cowboy, protector of cows and against non-vegetarianism. He has to battle Rice Plate Reddy (Nasser) the local villain, who is converting all vegetarian restaurants to non-veg. In the epic battle, Quick Gun is killed. That, is something that defies the law of movie-making in India and cannot happen. Hence 25 years later, he is 'returned to sender' to avenge his death. Rice Plate meanwhile, has been setting up non-veg dosa restaurants around the world named McDosa, and is looking for the perfect dosa making recipe. He wants mothers love in his dosa recepie, and kidnaps Murugun's brothers wife. Mango Dolly (Rambha) is Reddy's mistress and falls in love with our super-hero and helps rescue his sister-in-law, and helps him fight his battle. The movie leaves you in laughs, be it Rowdy MBA's (Sundaram) background score that goes 'Yem Bi Yay, Yem Bi Yay' or Quick Gun's gun wielding antics which are direct spoof of Rajnikant. Unlike a conventional Bollywood movie, you dont have unwanted songs every 10 minutes, not even stupidly funny ones. Mika Singh's soundtrack is catchy and fits the bill perfectly. The movie is short and simple and dosen't have any unnecessary trash that eats up your head, as if the movie script wasn't enough to do that. Had the movie been any longer it would have been a useless and unnecessary drag. If anyone can find the 'Coconut Tree Climbing Institute (Recognised) also teaching palm tree and betelnut tree climbing (Diploma)' should let me know. I would love to sign up. Watch it, I say.
Rating: 7.6/10
Action,
Bollywood,
Comedy,
Good Movies,
Spoof,
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 4:30 AM
Genre: Drama/War/Romance
Starring: Kiere Knightley, James McAvoy, Saoirse Ronan
Love is something which no one can ever understand until experienced. It is said that it never comes twice, and when it does, it is very hard to forget. Detachment from your lover is perhaps the worst thing that can ever happen to someone. Briony (Ronan) a young 13 year old, lives with her sister, brother and mother, in a rich countryside mansion in England. Her sister Cecilia (Knightley) shares a unique relationship with the gardener Robbie (McAvoy) with whom she has studied and been with since childhood. A string of events witnessed by Briony mixed with hasty conclusions and immaturity, leads her to believe that Robbie is a sex maniac and wrongly accuses him of rape. Just as Robbie and Cecilia's love is about to bloom, Robbie is taken away from the mansion and put behind bars. 5 years later, Briony realises her mistake and wants to atone her sins. Robbie and Cecilia cant seem to put their love behind them and with every passing day, life only gets worse. The movie's background score was something unique and catchy. Normal sounds like a typewriter, hammer hitting a car, water dripping etc. evolve and form a part of the movies background score which sounds quite amazing. Watching the movie would perhaps be the best way to describe its finesse and charm. I don't want words to ruin it. Based on Ian McEwan's novel with the same name.
Rating: 7.6/10
Biography,
Drama,
Good Movies,
Romance,
War,
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 5:15 AM
Genre: Science-fiction/Action/Adventure
Starring: Cristopher Eccelstone, Sienna Miller, Channing Tatum, Marlon Wayans, Dennis Quaid
There's something about science-fiction movies about the extent to which one can imagine or accept it. The Matrix was unimaginable but yet acceptable. At times, a movie comes by which is imaginable but yet highly unacceptable. Duke (Tatum) and Ripcord (Wayans) are NATO officials who have been authorised to protect and transport a newly developed bio-weapon. The weapon on its way is attacked upon and an attempt to steal it is made, only to be foiled by the G.I. Joe team, a special undercover unit consisting of the best army men the world has. A second attempt at stealing it is successful, and newly incorporated unit members Duke and Ripcord have to bring it back and prevent it from being used on the world, and give McCulllum (Ecceslstone) the creator of this weapon, world supremacy. When it comes to 'victory of good over bad' movies, one does not look for what the story is, or rather how it's done. The story is highly cliched and offers nothing new. Modern and high-tech gadgets, evil scientists with perfect-figured babes, destruction of the world and on and on. The movie did however provide good amount of metal clunking action, under, over and on land. Seems more fit for a video game story.
Rating: 6.6/10
Action,
Adventure,
Good Movies,
Science-fiction,
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 3:46 AM
Genre: Drama/Crime
Starring: Clint Eastwood, Cristopher Carley, Bee Vang, Ahney Har
The movie would have been an utterly hopeless waste of time and money, if it hadn't been for just one thing. Clint Eastwood. The old man has done a brilliant piece of work and has shown once more, that he is the best Hollywood man this world has ever seen. Korean war veteran and grumpy old Polish man, Walt Kowalski (Eastwood) hates almost everything around him. Society, neighbours, Father Janovich (Carley) at church, his own sons, and everyone hates him back with equal passion. The only thing that everyone does like about him is his property, assets and his 1972 Ford Gran Torino in impeccable condition. He cant stand the sight of his Hmong neighbours and when Thao (Vang) influenced by his gangster cousins tries to steal his Gran Torino, Walt decides to instill some sense and responsibility into him to make him a better person. He gets friendly with Thao and his sister Sue (Har) and as time goes, becomes more and more involved with their daily lives. At first glance, the movie seems unexciting, but like I said, Mr. Eastwood makes sure that is not the case. He and his stunning beauty on wheels steal the show throughout, and look like perfect fits for each other. At 78, the old man of Hollywood conjures another miracle.
Rating: 8.3/10
Amazing Movies,
Crime,
Drama,
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 9:48 AM
Genre: Drama/Crime
Starring: Stephen Dorff, Van Kilmer, Marisol Nichols
A simple American man Wade Porter (Dorff) is living the a simple American life with his simple American wife Laura (Nichols). Their simple life becomes thoroughly complicated overnight, when Wade accidentally kills a burglar in their house and is sentenced to prison. Still trying to be the simple American man doesn't help him, when he gets involved in messy feuds with his inmates and is wrongly framed for incidents. His prison term gets extended, which makes things even more difficult for his wife and child. His cell-mate John Smith (Kilmer) is serving a life sentence, and decides to help Wade get his normal life back at the cost of his own. The movie tries to show the happenings within a prison, and how innocent people get dragged in the murderous and crime-filled life of inmates cutting their sentence within. Van Kilmer looks unidentifiable with his buffed physique and thick beard which suits him. At some point it felt as if the movie was trying to replicate a Shawshank Redemption in a slightly different manner, which to an extent it did achieve, but failed to generate the impact that the historical movie had created.
Rating: 7.0/10
Crime,
Drama,
Good Movies,
{[['
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 8:28 AM
Genre: Thriller/Drama/Action/Crime/Mystery
Starring: Tom Hanks, Ewan McGregor, Ayelet Zurer
Contrary to general belief, Angels & Demons is not a continuation to The Da Vinci Code in spite of having Robert Langdon (Hanks) as a common character. A phial containing anti-matter developed at CERN, Geneva, is stolen and finds its way to Vatican City. On receiving a terror threat, Robert Langdon, in spite of having a controversial relationship with the Roman Catholic church, is called upon to decipher the meaning and implication of the threat. It is realised that four of the most likely successors to the recently deceased pope are kidnapped and will be murdered one at a time every hour, and at midnight the anti-matter phial will be used, possibly to destroy entire Rome. Langdon along with a CERN scientist Vittoria (Zurer) and Camerlengo Patrick McKenna (McGregor) have to bring back the phial and save the Vatican. The movie producers decided to stay away from the Catholic controversy it created during their previous attempt. The movie is more simple to understand and follow, and doesn't require the viewer to have a prior knowledge about Christianity. The movies final twist becomes very predictable if one simply thinks on the lines of The Da Vinci Code, due to which it loses some of the charm and mystery it manages to create.
Rating: 7.3/10
Action,
Crime,
Drama,
Good Movies,
Mystery,
Thriller,
{[['
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 3:28 AM
Genre: Action/Crime/Comedy
Starring: Gerard Butler, Tom Wilkinson, Thandie Newton, Mark Strong, Chirs 'Ludacris' Bridges, Toby Kebbell, Karen Roden
Someone once told me that all Guy Ritchie movies are the same. I could neither negate nor accept it since Snatch is the only other movie of his that I have seen. Lenny (Wilkinson) is a real estate mafia lord, whom you cant bypass if you need property in London. Archie (Strong) is his right-hand man, who has remained faithful to him for years. When Uri (Roden) approaches Lenny for a settlement, he offers Lenny his lucky painting to have for a few weeks. The 'lucky painting' one day disappears, and not just that. Uri's accountant Stella (Newton) is double-crossing him by stealing the money that Uri is supposed to pay Lenny. Within all this mess get involved One Two (Butler) and his gang called The Wild Bunch, Lenny's rock star step-son Johnny (Kebbell) who is supposedly dead and Johnny's record producer Mickey (Bridges) just to mention a few. After watching this movie, I seem to agree with the statement made earlier. Replace diamond from Snatch with real estate, and you get RocknRolla. All that said, its still a very entertaining watch. The dialogues and curses in this movie are unimaginable and might just add a few words here and there to your explicit vocabulary. Acting and screenplay are quite typical to the producers style. The twist revealed in the end had no actual link to the story narrated, which was a bit off-track.
Rating: 7.8/10
Action,
Comedy,
Crime,
Good Movies,
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 1:29 AM
Genre: Musical/Drama/Crime
Starring: Renee Zellweger, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Richard Gere, Queen Latifah
Life of showbiz and glamour has never been too easy, and this movie just proves the point further. Velma (Jones) a successful showgirl, gets blood on her hands by murdering her sister and husband after catching them red-handed with each other. Roxie Hart (Zellweger) an aspiring showgirl, kills her agent after he fails to live up to his promise of getting her an act. With two glamour-hungry girls in her jail cell, corrupt jail-keeper Matron Mama Morton (Latifah) senses an opportunity and puts them in touch with Billy Flynn (Gere) a successful lawyer who has never lost a case and specialises in woman's cases. Each person is Chicago only works for himself, and its a battle to get the most out of what's put in front of you. Catherine Zeta-Jones looks absolutely stunning and Billy's character seems to be tailor-made for Richard Gere. Renee frails in comparison to the other two, but is not entirely a let-down. A well show-cased movie which changes ones perception of a 'musical' and at one point you actually appreciate it, in case you hate it. The story slides down your throat like some really smooth scotch whisky without you even realising it. It's one glamorous performance, either you love it or hate it.
Rating: 7.6/10
Crime,
Drama,
Good Movies,
Musical,
{[['
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 10:34 PM
Genre: Thriller/Drama/Science-Fiction
Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Marie McDonnell, Homes Osborne, Jena Malone, Drew Barrymore
Donnie Darko (Jake Gyllenhall) is an average high school student who suffers from Schizophrenia and starts seeing delusions about a six foot tall ugly look bunny rabbit. In the movies very beginning, the rabbit tells him the countdown to the worlds end. The countdown serves as the movie backdrop right till the very end. The rabbit apparently tells him to do stuff like sleep-walk out of his house, burst the school water pipe and burn down a house. Donnie starts studying and learning about time travel and gets further delusions in which he is able to look a couple of seconds into the future and determine peoples movement. The rest of the story progresses about his illness and comes to a very abrupt end. On a personal level, I never really liked or understood such deep psychological movies which have no definite end to it. The movie is very hard to accept and definitely not the type everyone and anyone would like to watch.
Rating: 6.2/10
Biography,
Drama,
Good Movies,
Science-fiction,
Thriller,
{[['
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 10:38 AM
Genre: Drama
Starring: Russell Crowe, Jennifer Connelly, Ed Harris
John Nash (Crowe) is a mathematical genius studying at Princeton University. Probably capable of solving any possible logical or mathematical problem put forward to him, the only thing he cant solve is the logic behind love. He finally befriends his student Alicia (Connelly) and ends up marrying her. John secretly works for William Partcher (Harris) at the US Department of Defense and is an authorised code-breaker assigned a top secret project involving the diffusion of Russion nuclear weaponry. John gets paranoid about getting caught by the Russians and starts behaving erratically. Alicia reports these behaviours to the doctors, who later diagnose him for Schizophrenia. His entire military 'job' including Partcher and his office, seem to be a figment of his imagination, to the extent that even his room-mate at Princeton and his niece were also found out to be non-existent. Therapy proves to be difficult, and life for Alicia too turns out to be frustrating, with her having to manage a new born child, and a mentally ill husband. The movie is based on a true story of John Foster Nash, winner of the 1994 Nobel Prize in Economics. Russel Crowe plays a role starkly different from what he usually does. A sensational piece of acting which probably could not have been done any better. The movie trudges along at its own pace, and one needs to give it time. All that said and done, the movie closes in a beautiful manner and that's when you realise the reason behind the Oscar.
Rating: 8.0/10
Amazing Movies,
Biography,
Drama,
{[['
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 10:45 PM
Genre: Drama
Starring: Robbin Williams, Matt Damon, Stellan Skarsgard, Minnie Driver
A born genius mathematician Will Hunting (Damon) is working as a janitor at MIT. Prof Gerald Lambeau (Skarsgard) discovers his ability to solve the most complicated mathematical problems within minutes, something which took him years altogether. He wants Will to use this ability of his so that he can develop a future and succeed. However, incidents in Will's past has made him a very defensive person, who keeps blaming himself for what he is and refuses to get along with anyone. Sensing the need for some psychotherapy, Lambeau introduces Will to his childhood friend and psychologist, Sean Maguire (Williams) who agrees to treat Will. Therapy is difficult for both of them, as Will is unwilling to respond and Dr. Maguire is not going to give up on him so easily. Dr Maguire starts stimulating Will to approach Skylar (Driver) and develop a relationship with her in a bid to improve his self-confidence. The movie is terribly slow and the therapy sessions seemed to be a bit overstretched, but that doesn't make the movie a bad watch nonetheless. Robbin Williams as usual puts on an amazing act, something quite expected from him.
Rating: 6.8/10
Biography,
Drama,
Good Movies,
{[['
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 3:25 AM
Genre: Action/Crime
Starring: Paul Walker, Vin Diesel, John Ortiz, Jordana Brewster
Continuing from where The Fast and the Furious left, Brian O'Conner (Walker) now in the FBI, is in hot pursuit of a Mexican drug dealer. Dominic Torreto (Diesel) is out stealing gas trucks, when one day he finds that his girlfriend Letty has been murdered. Dom's observation leads him to Roman Campos (Ortiz) a Mexican drug dealer wanted by the FBI, who employs fast drivers to deliver goods across the border. After meeting each other after a long time, Dom and Brian cant still get over previous grudges, but realise that if they have to defeat a common adversary, they need to forget the enmity and come together. The movie doesn't have the adrenaline rushing racing, car detailing and crazy mods that the earlier three movies had. The focus has greatly shifted from cars to crime, something which the earlier movies in the series did not have. That said, the movie does definitely live up to the reputation of its predecessors. Bringing back the old star cast was a good move, but the poor execution of the story is a let-down.
Rating: 6.8/10
Action,
Crime,
Good Movies,
{[['
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 12:23 AM
Genre: Drama/Comedy
Starring: Morgan Freeman, Jack Nicholson, Sean Hayes
Two contrasting individuals share a hospital room, and have only one similarity between them; their illness. Carter Chambers (Freeman) is a not-so-well-off black man. Edward Cole (Nicholson) on the other hand is a super-rich owner of that very hospital. Edward has all the riches in the world, but no companion except his personal secretary cum servant cum valet Matthews (Hayes). With only countable days remaining, Cole and Chambers decide to get out of their beds and see the world and enjoy what is left of their lives. An extremely heart-rendering and touching story of friendship and attachment. There is obviously no doubt about the fine piece of acting of both Nicholson and Freeman, at whose shoulders the entire movie rests. True friendship comes from the most underestimated and opposite person. Just stick with it.
Rating: 7.9/10
Comedy,
Drama,
Good Movies,
{[['
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 5:29 AM
Genre: Adventure/Thriller/Romance
Starring: Steven Strait, Camilla Belle, Cliff Curtis
An ancient tribe called the Yaghal's get attacked by the 'Four Legged Demons'. D'Leh (Strait) is the holder of 'the white spear', given to the person who hunts down a mammoth. He is also offered Evolet's (Belle) hand in marriage, who has also been his childhood love. One day when 'The Four Legged Demons' attack and ransack their village and kidnap Evolet, D'Leh along with Tic Tic (Curtis) and few others, form a search part to track down the kidnappers and save Evolet. Their adventure takes them across mountains, jungles and forests, where they meet new tribes and discover worlds unknown earlier. The only good thing about the movie is its visuals and special effects, not a surprise, considering the producers are well-versed in this category. The movie has an overtly tried and tested story, retold with a different backdrop. However that doesn't make the movie totally avoidable, and is genuinely worth one watch.
Rating: 6.3/10
Adventure,
Good Movies,
Romance,
Thriller,
{[['
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 8:48 AM
Genre: Action/Adventure/Thriller/Fantasy
Starring: Michael Copon, Karen Shenaz David, Simon Quarterman, Randy Couture
After The Scorpion King, its successor goes back into a second flashback, narrating the childhood of the Scorpion King's childhood. A young Mathayus (Copon), dreams of becoming a part of the Black Scorpions, the most elite rank of soldiers serving the Emperor of Akkad. His trainer Sargon (Couture) takes a dislike for him, and his friend Layla (David), both who aspire to join the ranks. Years later when they finally graduate, Sargon becomes emperor by forming a coup, and murders Mathayus' brother with charges of spreading false rumours against him. Layla and Mathayus escape to Egypt, and befriend an explorer Ari (Quarterman). The trio, along with some mercenaries decide to steal a sword from the goddess Lady of Astrate, and take revenge from Sargon. With every passing movie, The Scorpion King series of movies is only losing its focus and link to The Mummy series, which it is a part of. The story takes into account too much of fantasy and less of reality and logic, to narrate an age old story in no particularly different manner. Less said the better.
Rating: 4.1/10
Action,
Adventure,
Fantasy,
Pathetic Movies,
Thriller,
{[['
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 12:47 AM
Genre: Romance/Drama/Comedy
Starring: Ashton Kutcher, Cameron Diaz
Joy McNally (Diaz) and Jack Fuller (Kutcher) face dejection in life, and decide to get over it by going to Vegas for the weekend. The two meet there, and after spending a drunk night, get married to each other without realising it. They both cant stand the sight of each other, forget about marriage. The court advises 6 months of marriage counselling, after which only can they consider a divorce. If one of them pulls out of the marriage, the other one would get possession of the $3 million they one in Vegas. It's a battle to outdo the other and claim the prize. A nice comedy romance, but not enough laughs that a possible drunk marriage could generate. We saw a similar but better version of this story in The Hangover (post dated 02/08/09).
Rating: 5.6/10
Average Movies,
Comedy,
Drama,
Romance,
{[['
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 5:39 AM
Genre: Adventure/Drama/War
Starring: Richard Gere, Terrence Howard, Jesse Eisenberg
Simon Hunt (Gere) has the reputation of being one of the most famous war journalist on TV. When he loses his cool on live TV during one such coverage, his life goes down the drains. He becomes a freelancer and tries to cover the war by himself, when he meets his old cameraman buddy Duck (Howard) along with the network's vice-presidents son, Benjamin (Eisenberg) who is training himself to be a journalist. Simon tells them that he knows the whereabouts of a wanted Bosnian terrorist, known as 'The Fox' and if they accompany him, they can share the bounty. Simon, actually wants to avenge his girlfriends death, who was killed in Bosnia by The Fox's men. Unlike other war movies, the movie talks more about the spoils of war from the perception of a citizen, rather than that of a soldier. The Fox's character was portrayed as being very deadly, but the final outcome looked didn't justify all they hype.
Rating: 6.9/10
Adventure,
Biography,
Drama,
Good Movies,
War,
{[['
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 12:19 AM
Genre: Action/Adventure/Thriller/Fantasy
Starring: Dwayne Johnson, Steven Brand, Kelly Hu
The Scorpion King makes a short appearance in The Mummy Returns. The movie goes back into a flashback and narrates how Mathayus (Johnson) became the Scorpion King. Mathayus and his brothers are the last of the Akkadian mercenaries. Memnon (Brand) is conquering kingdom after kingdom with the help of his sorceress Cassandra (Hu). Memnon's remaining adversaries hire Mathayus and his brothers to kill Memnon for good. At his first attempt, Mathayus loses his brothers and is about to lose his life, when his sorceress prevents Memnon from killing him, saying it was bad omen for him. Mathayus learns that Cassandra is forced to do what she has to, and she too would prefer to see Memnon dead. Being a part of The Mummy series of movies, the story has no link whatsoever to them. The movie doesn't have anything new to offer except for the Egyptian background. Dwayne Johnson though, fits the bill of a warrior and does a fine job.
Rating: 5.4/10
Action,
Adventure,
Average Movies,
Fantasy,
Thriller,
{[['
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 10:48 PM
Genre: Drama/Crime
Starring: Sandra Bullock, Don Cheadle, Matt Dillon, Jennifer Esposito, Brendan Fraser, Thandie Newton, Terrence Howard, Chris 'Ludacris' Bridges, Michael Pena, Larenz Tate, Shaun Toub, Ryan Phillipe
The movie is based a lot on the move Love Actually (post dated 20/6/09). The only difference being is that unlike showing the different spheres and aspects of love, this movie focuses on racism. Modern day America, its been years since anti-racist laws have been passed, but yet racism prevails on the street. A common perception is that racism only exists between black and white. That is not true, is what the movie tries to say. Chinese, Black, White, Latino, Arab, racism occurs almost everywhere and between anyone. Every character in the movie has a different story attached to it. All the stories converge and unfold in a beautiful manner which makes this movie Oscar deserving, which it rightly got. The movie is worth every minute spent. A must watch for everyone.
Rating: 7.8/10
Crime,
Drama,
Good Movies,
{[['
']]}
Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 8:27 PM
Genre: Crime/Action/Drama
Starring: Collin Farrell, Edward Norton, Jon Voight, Noah Emmerich
There have been many cop corruption movies in the past. It's a good story, but it all depends on how one executes it. A father, 2 brothers and a son-in-law, have their life dedicated to the police force. A police shootout leaves 4 of their men dead. They belong all belong to Officer Francis Tierney Jr. (Emmerich) precinct. Police top brass Francis Tierney Sr. (Voight) makes his son Raymond (Norton) investigate the killings. Jimmy (Farrell) is a corrupt cop who takes money from a drug dealer Angel Tezo. Things got messy when Tezo killed his men and ran away. Ray is in for a surprise when he starts realising Jimmy's dirty dealings and falls into a moral dilemma if he should testify against his own brother or lose his own job. The movie reflects upon a situation that often all of us come across. Should we live up to the reputation of our work, that feeds the entire family and brings us pride, or should we save the skin of our closed one and save the humiliation that we would suffer? More excitement and thrills would have brought the movie to a different level altogether which boasts of a good star cast and a fabulous performance.
Rating: 7.3/10
Action,
Crime,
Drama,
Good Movies,
{[['
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 2:01 AM
Genre: Drama/Romance/Comedy
Starring: Jennifer Lopez, Jane Fonda, Micheal Vartan
Charlotte (Lopez) finally finds the man of her dreams, Kevin (Vartan) whom she wants to marry and settle down with. They plan their wedding and everything is set, except getting Kevin's mothers approval. Viola (Fonda) is a reputed TV anchor who was been replaced by her company. After suffering a mental breakdown, she is not prepared to let son go to another woman. Determined to stall the marriage, she becomes Charlotte's worst nightmare in an attempt to scare her away. Charlotte on the other hand, decides to fight fire with fire and take on her mother-in-law. The movie could probably be more appealing if there was more humour to it. The daughter-mother battle offers a very good scope to bring out good laughs, which unfortunately the movie doesn't utilise very well.
Rating: 5.2/10
Average Movies,
Comedy,
Drama,
Romance,
{[['
']]}
Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 11:28 PM
Genre: Thriller/Mystery/Action/Adventure/Fantasy
Starring: Brendan Fraser, Rachel Weisz, John Hannah, Arnold Vosloo, Freddie Boath
The High Priest Imoteph (Vosloo) has been resurrected once more by the reincarnation of his past love Anck-su-namun. Meanwhile Rick (Fraser), Evelyn (Weisz), Jonathan (Hannah) and Rick and Evelyn's son, Alex (Boath) come across the Bracelet of Anubis while exploring another pyramid. If the bracelet is worn, the Scorpion King will rise once more with the Army of Anubis. Imoteph wants to defeat the Scorpion King and take the army for himself. When Alex accidentally slips on the bracelet, he gets directions for the oasis of Ahm Shere, where the Scorpion King rests. Imoteph kidnaps Alex and uses the directions to get there. He must reach within seven days else Alex will be killed and the Army of Anubis will rise. Rick, Evelyn and Jonathan, follow Alex's trail and try to rescue him from the hands of Imoteph. The movie has little connection with the previous movie, except Imoteph's character. Special effects are better and the story is more interesting. Waiting to watch the third part.
Rating: 7.6/10
Action,
Adventure,
Fantasy,
Good Movies,
Mystery,
Thriller,
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 8:59 AM
Genre: Action/Adventure/Fantasy
Starring: Harrison Ford, Karen Allen, Paul Freeman
American archaeologist Henry 'Indiana' Jones (Ford) is sought after by the US government to learn more about the Ark of the Covenant. They have certain evidence to believe that the Nazi's are undertaking an expedition, headed by Indy's archaeologist enemy, Dr Belloq (Freeman). The Ark holds immense power, which must not fall in the hands of the Germans. Indy is authorised to prevent the Ark from falling in the Nazi's possession, and bring it back as his own. Marion (Allen) is Indy's ex-lover, who holds a valuable object which shows the location of the Ark. They set out to Egypt to find and retrieve the Ark and prevent it from falling into the hands of their enemies. The movie does not focus a lot on the archaeological aspect as one would want it to be. Many scenes of the movie, especially the action scenes, seem to be a bit overdone and hard to believe, in spite of being a fantasy movie. Doesn't really deserve being in the IMDb top 250.
Rating: 6.2/10
Action,
Adventure,
Fantasy,
Good Movies,
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 10:48 PM
Genre: Mystery/Crime/Drama/Romance
Starring: Edward Norton, Paul Giamatti, Jessica Biel, Rufus Sewell
Set in the early 1900's in Vienna, Eisenheim (Norton) is a magician who has developed affections for Sophie, the Duchess von Teschen (Biel). During their childhood, due to their class divide, the two were separated and forbidden to meet. Eisenheim leaves the village to return after many years. He starts performing magic shows and entices the local audience. He soon learns that Sophie is due to marry the Crown Prince Leopold (Sewell) and humiliates him in one such performance. Leopold realises Sophie and Eisenheim's relationship and one night while drunk, appears to have murdered her. Inspector Uhl (Giamatti) and the locals are quite convinced that the Prince was responsible for the murder, but due to his kingly status, nothing can be done. The movie is set against an interesting backdrop and narrates the story well. Be ready for a nice unexpected twist in the end. The story however is not very new, but its the unfolding of the clues and the mystery that makes it very interesting.
Rating: 8.0/10
Amazing Movies,
Crime,
Drama,
Mystery,
Romance,
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 10:31 PM
Genre: Fantasy/Adventure/Thriller/Mystery/Action
Starring: Brendan Fraser, Rachel Weiz, John Hannah
A group of archaeologists consisting of Richard Connell aka Rick (Fraser), Evelyn Carnahan (Weiz) and her brother Johnathan (Hannah) set out for an adventure to the Egyptian city of Hamunaptra, city of the dead. They come across a rival expedition who is also out to for the same purpose as they are. Accidentally, they resurrect Pharoh Seti's High Priest, Imoteph, who was buried alive and cursed for bedding the Pharoh's mistress, Ankh-su-Namun. Imoteph now wants to use Evelyn's body to resurrect his lost love. A nice action filled, thrilling adventure. A delighting and fun watch watch. Although being a 10 year old movie, the special effects nowhere look out of place.
Rating: 7.4/10
Action,
Adventure,
Fantasy,
Good Movies,
Mystery,
Thriller,
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 8:37 AM
Genre: Drama/Crime
Starring: Robert DeNiro, Joe Pesci, Sharon Stone
The movie gives a deep insight into the funtioning of Las Vegas casinos somewhere in the 70's - 80's. Sam Rothstein aka Ace (DeNiro) is put in charge of running the new Tangier's Casino. Nicky Santoro (Pesci) is Sam's old friend who is appointed to keep Sam safe. Sam marries Ginger (Stone), a hustler who makes money off high-rollers. He believes that by marrying her he can make her love him and improve her life. Sam believes that a casino is a way to earn money, whereas Nicky believes that a casino is a way to steal money. He starts cheating and eventually gets banned from entering any Vegas casino. Left with no choice, Nicky and his gang turn into gangsters and take on theft and murder. His shady activities start putting Sam and Nicky's relationship into media focus which attracts heat to Sam's casino. Ginger meanwhile, still cant get around to love Sam and the only thing she does love is his money. Things get messy when the law starts coming down on Sam hard and his wife gets too close to Nicky. Greed eventually leads to murder which eventually leaves behind one bloody mess. The movie narrates a good and interesting story, but gets too long and monotonous. Probably if the movie was more short and direct, it would be able to hold audience interest better.
Rating: 7.1/10
Crime,
Drama,
Good Movies,
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 12:00 AM
Genre: Musical/Drama/Comedy
Starring: Jack Black, Mike White, Joan Cusack
Dewey Finn (Black) is a wannabe rock star who has just got voted out by his rock band. Rosalie Mullins (Cusack) is a school principal of a snobbish prep school who needs a substitute teacher. She contacts Ned Shneebly (White) who also is also Dewey's room-mate, to fill in the post. Dewey, currently unemployed, impersonates his friend and takes his job without informing him. Rock and roll being the only subject he ever learnt, he starts teaching that to the kids, citing it as a 'secret inter-school project competition', and slowly forms a band of his own to compete in the Battle of the Bands competition. A hilarious and laugh out loud comedy, Jack Black puts on an amazing performance. Although it feels a bit overdone, but that's how he is and that's what makes him amazing. Many songs featured in the movie are actually sung by Black's own band, Tenacious D. The movie has a nice outcome and is an amazing watch.
Rating: 7.0/10
Comedy,
Drama,
Good Movies,
Musical,
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 3:38 AM
Genre: Action/Crime/Romance
Starring: Paul Walker, Laurence Fishburne, Olivia Wilde, J.R Villarreal
Bobby Z is an American drug lord whose now supposedly dead. Tim Kearney (Walker) is a loser of a person and is serving his fourth stint in jail. Tim, seems to have an uncanny resemblance to Bobby Z and DEA agent Tad Guzsa (Fishburne) wants to use this. He decides to make him impersonate Bobby Z and exchange him across the border with a Mexican drug dealer, Don Huertero in exchange for his former partner whose been kept hostage by the Mexicans. Tim is promised freedom once across the border, however the exchange doesn't go as planned and Huertero decides to kill Bobby because of what he did to his daughter. Tim's new life and old life gets messed up when he gets together with Bobby Z's ex-girlfriend Elizabeth (Wilde) and son Kit (Villarreal) and some old rivals from his earlier life are in hot pursuit of his life. Paul Walker does look faintly familiar to the original Bobby Z but not a look alike who can talk, walk and behave like him and expect no one from the whole wide world to recognize the change. The movie has a funny way of ending each individual character stories. They just die. Boom, boom, one dies, boom, boom, a bike gang is down, boom, boom, everyone's dead for good.
Rating: 5.8/10
Action,
Average Movies,
Crime,
Romance,
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 5:21 AM
Genre: Adventure/Action/Science-Fiction
Starring: Brendan Fraser, Josh Hutcherson, Anita Briem
Prof. Trevor Anderson (Fraser), a geologist, is trying to prove a volcanic theory that the world ridicules. He lost his friend Max in 1997 while he was trying to prove this very theory. Max's son Sean (Hutcherson) comes over to spend a few days with him, something Trevor is not looking forward to. When he gets hold of his old friends possesions, he discovers strange writings in Jules Verne's book The Journey to the Centre of the Earth written by Max himself. He discovers some sort of seismic activity later that day which is exactly the same to the day when Max got lost. Along with his nephew, he sets on a quest to Iceland to decipher the codes and to unlock the secret Max was pursuing. He hires a mountaineer Hannah (Briem) who is the daughter of a scientist who along with Max, belonged to a secret society that believed that the writing in Jules Verne's book was for real. The trio get lost in the deep confines of the earth, only to stumble across one of the most amazing discoveries of mankind. Although I saw the normal DVD version, many parts of this movie seem to have been created simply to give 3-D viewers thrills, which seem uncalled for. The special effects and visuals are horrible and seem to have been made over two decades ago. I really don't know if that is because of the 3-D print or not, but the overall job was quite bad. Certain parts seem to good to be true, like outrunning a T-Rex and riding a wave of lava in a dinosaur skull. Although being an adventure-fiction, it gets a bit too hard to believe at times.
Rating: 4.6/10
Action,
Adventure,
Pathetic Movies,
Science-fiction,
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 1:57 AM
Genre: Drama/Romance
Starring: Anna Faris, Emma Stone
Shelly (Faris) is a playboy playmate, whose enjoyed the life of richness and luxury ever since she was young. After a sudden exit from the Playboy Mansion, she finds herself on the street with nowhere to go. She finds a sorority house of misfits, Zeta Alfa Zeta headed by Natalie (Stone) and gets inducted there. The ZAZ house might get demolished if Natalie doesn't manage to get 30 new members in their house. Shelly applies her playboy experience by converting the simple girls into stunning calendar girls which makes them gain a lot of popularity. They have to battle it out with the sorority house right across the street who is all set to take over their house if they don't have the required number of members. Anna Faris is highly irritating, trying to talk dirty and naughty all the time. Her squeaky voice and stupid talks are too much to handle. From no angle do the ZAZ girls look any more approachable than they were before their makeover. Not worth wasting one and a half hours.
Rating: 4.4/10
Drama,
Pathetic Movies,
Romance,
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 7:45 AM
Genre: Action/Adventure/Drama
Starring: Takashi Shimura, Toshiro Mifune, Yoshio Inaba, Seiji Miyaguchi, Minoru Chiaki, Daisuke Kato, Isao Kimura
English Title: Seven Samurai. A small Japanese village is threatened by bandits who would steal all their crops when they are harvested. Fed up, the villagers decide to hire samurai to protect their village in return for three square meals. They finally manage to recruit Kambei Shimada (Shimura) who understands the villagers plight and agrees to fight for respect and not for the monetary benefits. He manages to find six others like-minded samurai who all agree to protect the village. The rest of the movie is predictable, but that doesn't mean its any less a good watch. A very direct, to the point and simple movie. No unnecessary nonsense, and a wonderful watch. Toshiro Mifune brings out the little humour the movie has and does an outstanding performance. Classics like these are worth collecting. It also inspired the less successful Bollywood movie China Gate. Please don't judge the movie on the basis of its Indian counterpart.
Rating: 8.2/10
Action,
Adventure,
Amazing Movies,
Drama,
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 5:49 AM
Genre: Sports/Drama
Starring: Laurence Fishburne, Derek Luke, Orlando Jones
Jalil aka Kid (Luke) is an amateur biker, whose dad is a part of the Black Knights racing gang headed by Smoke (Fishburne). Smoke holds the title of the undisputed King of Cali who has never been defeated. Kid never liked the fact that his father always had to do what Smoke wanted him to do, and vowed never to do what his dad did. When he loses his father in a freak accident, Kid decides to start a gang of his own and get a move on in life. His mom is scared that he might just end up like his father and doesn't want Kid to race. She confides in Smoke by revealing to him that Kid is actually his son and that he should take care of her when he's on track. Kid is fed up of Smoke's fatherly affections towards him and challenges him to a race. The loser quits racing for good. The movie doesn't have adrenaline rushing biking action that one would hope for. Instead there is a mother-father-son family emotional drama weaved into it. Fishburne looks to old and out of place to pull off Smoke's character. Its hard to imagine him as a biking gang lord.
Rating: 6.2/10
Drama,
Good Movies,
Sports,
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 10:15 AM
Genre: Comedy/Drama
Starring: Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, Zach Galifianakis, Justin Bartha
Doug (Bartha) is gonna get married. He and his friends Phil (Cooper) Stu (Helms) and Alan (Galifianakis) decide to throw him a bachelors party at Vegas. After a very crazy night, none of them can remember what happened the night before, and the worst part being, they cant find Doug. Their best buddy and groom-to-be has got lost, and they need to find him and bring him back to his wedding on time. The three friends try to re-trace their steps only to find horrifying facts of what they did the night before, of which they have absolutely no memory. The movie is a total laugh riot filled with all the nonsense one can possibly generate in this world. From stealing Mike Tysons tiger and a cop car, pulling out ones own tooth, to marrying strippers, finding babies in the closet and getting hospitalised without realising it, this movie just does it all. The movie is different from your conventional American sex-comedy movies who just focus on nudity and sex to make themselves more appealing. The bachelors party photographs at the end of the movie is a must watch. Best go watch it with a couple of good friends and some beer. Cheers!
Rating: 7.6/10
Amazing Movies,
Comedy,
Drama,
Good Movies,
Sex Comedy,
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