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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