Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 11:09 PM
Genre: Crime/Drama/Action/Thriller/History
Starring: Al Pacino, Steven Bauer, Michelle Pfieffer, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Paul Shenar
In 1980, Fidel Castro opened his ports to allow Cubans to visit their relatives in USA. He secretly also allowed 25,000 Cuban criminals to land on American soil. Tony Montana (Pacino) was one of the 25,000. Along with his army friend Manny (Bauer) they started taking on crime and worked for drug lords who smuggled cocaine from South America. Tony's attitude caught the attention of the lords and he soon began climbing the ladder to reach the top. He made a deal with cocaine manufacturer Sosa (Shenar) and soon became the largest dealer in Florida. Pride and greed got the better of him and he soon found people around him becoming hostile. His close aides did not like Tony's ego and attitude and Tony's fall was an event waiting to happen. Although the movie is a basic rags to riches story, it takes a different way of expressing the tried and tested plot. The plot incorporated Tony's love with Elvira (Pfieffer) and majority of the movie shows Tony's steadily increasing greed and egoistic attitude. The plot seemed a bit too stretched and slightly too dramatic, but Al Pacino's fantabulous performance compensates for all its flaws.
Thumbs up: Do you want me to say 'Al Pacino'?
Thumbs down: Could have been cut short a bit
Rating: 7.7/10
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 8:54 AM
Genre: Crime/Drama/Thriller
Starring: Amitabh Bachchan, R.Madhavan, Ben Kingsley, Dhruv Ganesh, Shraddha Kapoor, Siddharth Kher, Vaibhav Talwar, Raima Sen, Boman Irani (voice)
Many people told me that this movie is going to be an Indian remake of the Hollywood hit, 21. I begged to differ and it is a big relief to say that I was correct, well almost. Prof. Venkat Subramanium (Bachchan) is a mathematics professor at a reputed institute. The university is not accepting his thesis on probability and in order to take things a step forward, he discovers Teen Patti aka flash. He realises that the game can be cracked by his theory and ropes in like-minded students to try his theory more practically. Prof. Shantanu (Madhavan) is being hounded by loan-sharks to repay them their outstanding money. Realising that Prof Venkat's theory could be used on gambling tables, he convinces Venkat to try his theory against professionals. Students Bikram (Ganesh), Siddharth (Kher) and Aparna (Kapoor) too have some need for money and along with the two professors, frequent underground gambling tables to try their luck. The institutes rich kid, Abbas (Talwar) learns of their gambling spree and shows them high-stake tables where they could more than quadruple their winnings. Prof Venkat doesn't like the idea of playing for money but he gets blackmailed by an unknown source threatening to open his secret if he didn't share half their winnings. Greed takes over which soon leads to crime and the game which was once a mathematical experiment gets very ugly. Thankfully the idea of university students gambling to earn money is the only resemblance to 21. The movie takes a different path there on and goes about showing the ill-effects of gambling. Ben Kingsley's role is wasted and uncalled for and is present simply for marketing reasons. His English dialogues have been dubbed by Bomar Irani, further killing any on-screen presence that his role had. The movie has its own bit of thrills and is interesting for most of it, but the over-stretched story goes a bit too far and becomes monotonous. The story feels a bit vague and lacks consistency. The movie does not actually explain Prof. Venkat's theory which makes the movie feel very fictitious. Appealing to the math genius or anyone not seen 21, a mediocre watch for the rest.
Thumbs up: Nice plot
Thumbs down: Story execution lacks structure, a bit too long
Rating: 6.5/10
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 5:56 AM
Genre: Drama/Adventure/Comedy
Starring: Diego Luna, Gael Garcia Bernal, Maribel Verdu
English Title: And Your Mother Too. In Mexico, two good friends, Julio (Bernal) and Tenoch (Luna) are complete casanovas who simply go about spending their fathers' money. Their girlfriends have gone for a trip to Italy and the boys intend to make the most of their freedom. At a wedding, they meet Luisa (Verdu) who is the Spanish wife of Tenoch's cousin. Tenoch and Julio start hitting on her and she tells them about her fantasy of going to the beach. They tell her about a non-existing plan of them going on a road trip to a non-existent beach known as Heavens Mouth, hoping that she would come along. Luisa initially refuses, but later a fight with her husband makes her change her mind. She believes that the boys were speaking the truth and embarks on the trip with them. The trio make a trip to a beach the don't know of and come across fun, betrayal, honesty and not to mention, lots of sex. The movie is not like any other sex-comedy which has corny jokes and very typical American teen humour. It seems quite original and simple and yet highly appealing. Nice performances by the trio and by keeping it sweet and simple anything can be interesting.
Thumbs up: Nice plot and performances
Thumbs down: Some more humour, but I'm not complaining
Rating: 7.9/10
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 2:44 AM
Genre: Action/Adventure
Starring: Alex Pettyfur, Bill Nighy, Alicia Silverstone, Sophie Okonedo, Mickey Rourke
An MI6 agent is spying on a multi-millionaire who is planning to launch a supercomputer in every school in England. He is killed while he is on mission and his nephew Alex (Pettyfur) is assigned the job. Alex secretly underwent training during his adolescence by his uncle in order to prepare him for this day. Darrius Sayle (Rourke) has invented the Stormbreaker, a computer which when installed in every school would change the history of education. MI6 does not trust him and his motives and Alex is sent to find out exactly what is happening. The story is plain dull and boring, something which even its posters reek of. Destruction of the world is an old and overused plot and doesn't enlighten anyone anymore. The movie tries very hard to replicate a junior James Bond and fails hopelessly at it. Over-exaggerated stunts and trying to be witty during very intense moments doesn't help much to increase its appeal. Performances are wasted especially Bill Nighy's and its best to not say anything more about the movie.
Thumbs up: Certain action sequences
Thumbs down: Plot, acting, stunts, an endless list
Rating: 5.1/10
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 1:41 AM
Genre: History/Biography/Drama/Romance
Starring: Emily Blunt, Rupert Friend, Paul Bettany, Miranda Richardson, Mark Strong
Queen Victoria (Blunt) Queen of England during the 1800's was the longest reigning British Sovereign till date. She took the throne at a mere 18 years of age amidst speculation of her abilities as to rule as Queen. King William IV did not have any heir to pass on the throne to and Victoria was his only choice. Should he die, Victoria would be too young to rule as Queen and a regent had to be appointed. Victoria's mother, The Duchess of Kent (Richardson) along with Sir John Conroy (Strong) wished that Victoria sign a regency where in she states that she is too young to rule Britain and hence appoints her mother as a regent to rule instead of her. She denies the regency and on turning 18 and the subsequent death of the King, Victoria is appointed Queen of England. She romanced her first cousin Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (Friend) and subsequently married him. Most of the movie revolves around Prince Albert and Queen Victoria's romance and their eventual marriage. The movie does not touch upon Queen Victoria's political life and limits itself to her inception to the throne and early marriage. Charming performance by Emily Blunt helps make the movie smooth to go by. The movie could have shown some insights about the Queen not known to many which might have increased its appeal to a greater extent. A comfortable watch, nonetheless but not quite entertaining.
Thumbs up: Emily Blunt
Thumbs down: Not very entertaining
Rating: 6.7/10
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 8:19 AM
Genre: War/Drama/Action/History
Starring: Brad Pitt, Christoph Waltz, Eli Roth, Melanie Laurent, Daniel Bruhl
During the Second World War, the Jews oppressed the Nazi's and were receiving aide from the Allies, notably the French and the Americans. The Inglorious Basterds, headed by Lt. Aldo Raine (Pitt) are an infamous gang of Jew's who were known to ambush German soldiers and kill them. Col. Hans Landa (Waltz) is known as the 'Jew hunter' who goes about the French countryside hunting and killing Jews. Shosanna Dreyfus' (Laurent) family was a victim of Landa's hunt and was the lone survivor. She now runs a small theatre in Paris under a French pseudo Emmanuelle Mimieux. Pvt. Fredrick Zoller (Bruhl) is a war hero and a movie 'Nation's Pride' is being made on his achievement for killing countless enemy soldiers single-handily. Charmed by Emmanuelle, he convinces his producer to hold the premiere of his movie at her theatre. Emmanuelle senses an opportunity to get even with the Germans and plans to blow up her theatre while it is full of Germans. Meanwhile, the Basterds too are doing a bit of their own planning to blow up Emmanuelle's theatre and kill Adolf Hitler who would be attending the premiere. The performances of Christoph Waltz and Brad Pitt are simply outrageous. Pitt's permanent frown and cockery accent along with Waltz obsession to learn the American slang language is just about perfect. In the most tense moments you cant help hide a grin or smirk at the marvellous acting. Hiding humour in a war movie and effectively bringing it out is not in the capacity of everyone. I cant decide if i love Quentin Tarantino more than Guy Ritchie or not.
Thumbs up: Brad Pitt, Christoph Walts, 'hidden' humour, the list goes on
Thumbs down: More consistent light laughs throughout is missed
Rating: 8.3/10
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 5:41 AM
Genre: Crime/Drama/Romance/Action/Thriller/Biography/History
Starring: Johnny Depp, Christian Bale, Marion Cotillard
In the 1930's, crime in America was an all-time high. Chicago boasted of housing the maximum number of criminals in the entire country. Public Enemy No.1, John Dillinger (Depp) and his gang went around robbing banks and soon became the most sought after criminals. He meets and falls in love with Billie Frechette (Cotillard) and promises to take her away from his crime world and stay that way for good. FBI Agent Melvin Purvis (Bale) is appointed to hunt down John Dillinger, dead or alive. The rest of the story is mostly a cop-criminal wild goose chase and doesn't throw up anything interesting. The Untouchables was another movie based on a criminal from the same era, which does the job far better than this one. The movie is long, gets slow and monotonous and Depp is the only saving grace throughout. That said, the movie isn't all that bad and shines out in parts that it has to. Interesting but a wee bit long.
Thumbs up: Johnny Depp
Thumbs down: A bit long and slow at times
Rating: 6.3/10
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 12:38 AM
Genre: Drama/Romance
Starring: Shah Rukh Khan, Kajol, Jimmy Shergill, Soniya Jehan, Yuvaan Makar
The world is composed of two types of people. Good and Bad. Discriminating on any other lines of race or colour is not accepted. Rizwan Khan (Khan) is an Indian born follower of Islam who suffers from Asperger's Syndrome. The colour yellow and loud noises make him uncomfortable and he goes into a fit. Although the layman would call him a retard, Rizwan's mind is sharper than anyone else. He goes to San Fransisco to stay with his brother Zakir (Shergill) and sells beauty products. He falls in love and marries a Hindu hair stylist, Mandira (Kajol). Mandira has a son from her previous marriage, Sam (Makar) and all three of them settle down as a happy family. Post 9/11, Islamic people in the United States are looked upon with contempt. In the religious battle, an innocent young Sam is killed. Rizwan realises that his last name has brought misery to Mandira and her family and decides to make a long journey to meet the president of the United States and convey to him a message; my name is Khan and I am not a terrorist. The movie brings out a very strong message about peace and love. It says that every Islamic person is not a threat to society and are after all humans. A message also goes out to all our Islamic brothers that if society is unjust to you, don't make things worse by reciprocating the same. Karan Johar has still stuck to his old formula of Shah Rukh, Kajol and an American location and yet churned out a fantabulous entertainer which thankfully is not a run-of-the-mill family saga. Shah Rukh Khan was the shining star throughout with an amazing performance although slightly overdone at times. The movies start is very typically Bollywood with over dramatic scenes but the movie soon picks up pace and starts playing the right notes. Be good at heart and proud of what you are.
Thumbs up: Good social message, Shah Rukh Khan
Thumbs down: A bit over-dramatic bits
Rating: 8.0/10
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 9:45 PM
Genre: Drama/War/Action/HistoryStarring: Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie, Brian Geragthy
Baghdad, Iraq, the US Army has infiltrated the middle-east country to search for its dictator, Saddam Hussain. The Explosive Ordnance Unit (EOD) of the US Army is responsible for patrolling the streets and diffusing any bomb they come across. The Bravo company of the EOD is comprised of SSG William James (Renner), Sgt. JT Sanborn (Mackie) and Spc. Owen Eldridge (Gergathy). William James has been transferred into this unit as the bomb diffuser expert and is replacing the earlier expert who got killed by a bomb explosion. Sanborn and Eldridge are not comfortable with James' method of diffusing a bomb. Safety is the last thing on his agenda and his adrenaline-rushing tactics often prove to be dangerous for his team-mates. The movie has no real plot and simply describes the day-to-day activities of the Bravo company. The story was put together by a freelance writer who travelled with various EOD squads and created his experiences into a fictional movie. The movie is not the typical American war movie with an action-hero playing the role of the soldier who saves the day. It does, however, show American dominance and forcefulness in the country and the not so tolerant and innocent natives who oppress the American infiltration. The movie seems to have been made not for entertainment purposes but in order to win a bagful of awards.
Thumbs up: Depiction of Iraq
Thumbs down: Love it or hate it plot
Rating: 7.5/10
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 12:29 AM
Genre: History/Biography/Drama/Romance
Starring: Scarlett Johansson, Natalie Portman, Eric Bana, Mark Rylance, David Morrissey, Jim Sturgess
King Henry VIII (Bana), King of England during the 16th century was unhappy with his Queen for her repeated failure to give him a male heir. The Duke of Norfolk (Sturgess) senses an opportunity and approaches his brother-in-law, Thomas (Rylance) to allow his eldest daughter, Anne (Portman) to spend a night with the king. Anne is not able to seduce the king, who instead is attracted to Anne's younger sister, Mary (Johnson). Anne is jealous of Mary and feels that Mary has tricked her. When Mary successfully gives King Henry a baby boy, he turns his back on the child and gets seduced by Anne. The king fulfills all of Annie's whims and fancies, including annulling his own marriage and makes him Queen of England. All his past errors and mistakes come back to haunt him and England is on the brink of a civil war. In spite of being a true-life story, the plot is a little hard to believe, especially the love-hate relationship between the two sisters. The performances are definitely something to talk about, but not something that manages to improve the movie's appeal.
Thumbs up: Certain performances
Thumbs down: A wee bit boring
Rating: 6.5/10
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 4:48 AM
Genre: Drama/Romance/Biography/Comedy
Starring: Meryl Streep, Amy Adams, Stanley Tucci, Chris Messina
An amalgamation of two true life stories brought together in one book, later made into a movie. Julia Child (Streep) lived in Paris, France with her husband Paul (Tucci). Julia could never cook and was bored with her life. In order to pass her time she started taking cooking seriously and soon realised that cooking was her hidden passion. She later went on to publish a book in the United States titled, 'Mastering the Art of French Cooking' which aimed at teaching 'servantless' housewives to cook French food. Fast forward, Julie Powell (Adams), is facing the same dilemma that Julia did and she too resorts to cooking. She creates a blog, The Julie/Julia Project where in one year she masters all of Julia's recipes. She sees a lot of Julia Child in her and the cooking starts eating into her job and married life. Her cooking brings her fame and soon she is hounded by journalists, producers and food critiques who are all vying for her recipes. The movie has no fundamental storyline and keeps movie back and forth in time showing both Julia and Julia both trying to learn and master French cooking. The art of cooking displayed in the movie would simply makes ones mouth drool and every youngster would die for a wife like Julie. Fabulous performances but the story was a little stretched and gets a bit repetitive towards the end.
Thumbs up: Performances and the cooking
Thumbs down: A little long and slow
Rating: 7.1/10
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 11:20 PM
Genre: Drama/Biography/History/Sport
Starring: Morgan Freeman, Matt Damon, Tony Kgoroge, Adjoa Andoh
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela (Freeman) was the first South African President to be elected in a fully representative democratic election. Apartheid was in force in South Africa for a long period of time by which the white people were given powers not in the hands of the native African people. On being elected as President, Mandela realised that he must win the confidence of the white community and must remove the racial divide prevailing within the country. Rugby was a sport played by the white folk and soccer was popular amongst the black people. The Springboks was the country's national Rugby team who were consistently losing and the people were losing faith in them. The black community wanted the Springboks to be abolished. Mandela realised that improving the team and making Rugby popular within the country would solve most of his problems. He communicated this message to the Springboks captain, Francois Pienaar (Damon) who too realised that the country is dependant on them. The world cup is less than a year away and the Springboks with the help of Francois and Mandela must outperform themselves. The movie talks about superior leadership and how one man, ridiculed by half the country turned the nation around by the snap of his fingers. Morgan Freeman's exceptional performance and his precise emulation of the great President has made the movie a fantastic and highly entertaining watch. Matt Damon too is not left behind and uses the typical local accent to make the character feel more at home. The movie sadly focuses only on Rugby and Mandela's vested interest in the sport and does not explore the other aspects of Mandela's presidency. An amazing movie and worth the Oscar nomination.
Thumbs up: Fantabulous performances
Thumbs down: Does not explore other aspects of Mandela and his presidency
Rating: 8.7/10
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 12:35 AM
Genre: Action/Fantasy/ThrillerStarring: Emily Blunt, Benicio Del Toro, Anthony Hopkins, Hugo Weaving, Art MalikIn the small village of
Blackmoor, England there lives a legend that talks about the existence of a dangerous werewolf. The werewolf is known to have taken many lives including that of Ben
Tablot, the son of a rich and influential man. Ben's fiancee, Gwen (Blunt) writes to Ben's estranged brother, Lawrence (
Toro) who is a theatre actor from America currently performing in England. Lawrence returns to his father and vows to find his brothers killer. One such search gets nasty when the werewolf attacks Lawrence and bites him. A werewolf's bite is known to convert a healthy being into a werewolf which would convert on a full moon's night. The village folk are terrified and Scotland Yard's Detective
Abberline (Weaving) pursues Lawrence to capture him and prevent him from biting any more people. The movie has the very typical werewolf story and
doesn't show anything new. The werewolf plot was better explored in
The Underworld which traces the history of werewolves unlike this movie. The action is slightly gory but nothing to
impressive. A lot of scope for improvements and a movie worth missing.
Thumbs up: Depiction of a typical 19
th century English village
Thumbs down: Plot, action and everything else
Rating: 5.7/10
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 8:30 AM
Genre: Action/Science-fiction/Drama
Starring: Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Halle Berry, Famke Janssen, James Marsden, Anna Paquin, Rebecca Romijn, Brian Cox, Alan Cumming
Continuing from X-Men, Magneto (McKellen) is locked up in an all-plastic prison. Mystique (Romijn) is Magneto's only surviving aide who frees him. William Stryker (Cox) a retired military scientist was largely involved in creating Wolverine (Jackman). Prof Xavier (Stewart) runs a school for mutant children where he teaches them to control their power. Stryker's son once attended Xavier's school but Stryker was not happy with the results. Fed up with mutants, he decides to take the law in his own hands. He builds a replica of Cerebro, the machine which allows the user to communicate with every mutant on the planet. Prof. Xavier is kidnapped and is hypnotised to control Cerebro and destroy all mutants. The X-Men have to come together with Magneto if they wish to save their own lives. The movie is still saving the planet mantra and is not very different from its previous version. Lack of serious action and predictable outcomes are still major flaws with the movie.
Thumbs up: Nice performances and special effects
Thumbs down: Not a very exciting plot
Rating: 6.0/10
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 10:51 PM
Genre: Biography/Drama/Sport
Starring: Sandra Bullock, Quinton Aaron, Jae Head, Tim McGraw, Lily Collins, Ray McKinnon
If a homeless black young man is spotted on the streets, many white people would run for cover. Leigh Anne Tuohy (Bullock) took pity on Michael Oher aka Big Mike (Aaron) when she found him walking in the rain on a cold night. One night under the roof of the rich Tuohy family and Michael became a family favourite. Michael goes to a Christian school along with his new siblings SJ (Head) and Collins (Collins). His abnormally large size and athletic skills soon put him on the field. His career in football was almost certain, except for his grades. Leigh Ann and her husband Sean (McGraw) saw to each of Michael's wishes and took all the efforts to make sure his grades were up so that he could continue football. The movie hints on the miserable condition of certain black folks living in the United States and the fear that white people have for them. The movie does a splendid job to bring these emotions out. Amazing performances by Quinton Aaron and Sandra Bullock and she does look absolutely ravishing in the movie. 2009 NFL Draft, Michael Oher gets drafted by the Baltimore Ravens.
Thumbs up: Performances and execution of the plot
Thumbs down: Lets not commit a crime
Rating: 8.6/10
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 5:07 AM
Genre: Drama/Science-fiction/History/Action/Mystery/Crime
Starring: Malin Akerman, Billy Crudup, Matthew Goode, Jackie Earle Haley, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Patrick Wilson,
In the 1940's, there lived a masked crime fighting team known as the Minutemen. The Minutemen dissolved, which in turn gave birth to the Watchmen. The Watchmen team members each emulated one Minutemen team member. Very soon even the Watchmen were removed from public service following public opposition. The Watchmen altered the course of history including the assassination of Kennedy and the Vietnam War. New York, 1985, a member of Watchmen known as The Comedian aka Edward Blake (Morgan) is murdered. Rorschach aka Walter Kovacs (Haley) learns of the crime and senses a conspiracy to eliminate the Watchmen. He informs all his previous team members including Dr.Manhattan (Crudup), Silk Sceptre II (Akerman) Ozymandias (Goode) and Nite Owl II (Wilson). Dr Manhattan aka Jon Osterman was genetically mutated by a scientific accident to give him supernatural powers like looking in the past and the future. His girlfriend, Silk Sceptre II aka Laurie Jupiter is fed up of his inhuman behaviour and leaves him toand joins Nite Owl II aka Dan Dreiberg. Meanwhile, Rorschach is investigating The Comedian's murder and gets framed for killing a witness and is sent to jail. The alteration of the course of history by the Watchmen has brought the world to the brink of a nuclear World War III between USA and Russia. The Watchmen want to stop it but have no means to do so. The movie is quite complicated from the start, apparent by the text you have just read. Being a super-hero movie, the movie does not show fighting crime but instead shows the psychological pressure and thoughts that such a crime-fighter undergoes. The lack of enough twists, action and an extra long plot don't help in improving the movies appeal. The plot is definitely new and fresh but still misses out on a lot of things which makes in unappealing. It tries to work on the lines of The Dark Knight but sadly does not come even close in doing so.
Thumbs up: Intresting plot and characters
Thumbs down: Too long, lacks interest and good twists
Rating: 6.5/10
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 4:29 AM
Genre: Drama/Thriller/Crime/History
Starring: Siddharth Narayan, Aditya Pancholi, Ankur Vikal, Anupam Kher, Padmapriya, Vidya Malwade, Anoop Soni
The story of the underdog and the 1992 Mumbai riots. A young lad Suryakant (Narayan) grew up in Malvani, Mumbai, a north-west suburb of the city. His brother Chandrakant (Soni) was an ace carrom player and he taught his younger brother the tricks of the game. As Surya grew up his carrom playing skills brought him a lot of reputation. Like any other youth, he had ambitions to get big and thus left playing carrom and dreamt of a job in Dubai. His Dubai dream job shattered when the agency shut-shop and his money went in the hands of local goon, Jaleel (Pancholi). Jaleel had heard about his carrom skills and challenged him to play against one of his men. Surya defeated everyone that Jaleel threw at him and Jaleel was highly impressed. Surya's best friend, Zaid (Vikal) was a drug dealer cum police informer. A new commissioner Farooq (Kher) vowed to clean the streets of Mumbai and was on the lookout for Jaleel. Zaid was a close confidant of Jaleel but he wanted to bail out. The riots take place and the once Hindu-Muslim brothers are now thirsty for each others blood. The movie has an amazing plot which it uses quite well, however, it goes a little too far with the carrom-gambling and it seemed a little over-stretched. The end is not all that climaxing with the beginning and middle being much better to absorb. Entire star cast shines with their performance, especially Pancholi and Narayan. May not be to the liking of the typical Hindi-movie audience but definitely worth a watch for the others.
Thumbs up: Fabulous performances, good story
Thumbs down: Boring end, Stretched story
Rating: 7.7/10
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 11:21 PM
Genre: Action/Science-fiction
Starring: Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Famke Janssen, James Marsden, Halle Berry, Anna Paquin, Tyler Mane, Ray Park, Rebecca Romijn
Mankind has always known to evolve and adapt within his environment. Humans are due for another evolution which slowly starts taking place. A handful of people from around the world are experiencing a mutation in their genes which gives them special powers, each person having something different. The mutants are divided in two groups, the more peaceful one headed by Professor Xavier (Stewart) who believes in teaching mutants how to control their power and make it more useful as opposed to another force headed by Magneto (McKellan) who believe in taking a more aggressive stand against normal humans. The US government wishes to impose a new act which would force mutants to come under control. Magneto has developed a device which would convert normal humans into mutants which he wishes to use against the world. Xavier has a new recruit known as Wolverine aka Logan (Jackman) who has an alloy made skeletal system with sharp extended claws. He, along with the other X-Men need to destroy Magneto's device before he can unleash it on the world. The movie's plot is like any other super-hero story of saving the world and doesn't harp of anything new. Yet, in spite of this the movie does a lot to hold interest and makes it worth a watch. The initial few moments are boring and lack interest but the movie finally picks up pace to end at a high note.
Thumbs up: Interesting characters
Thumbs down: Slow and boring beginning
Rating: 6.7/10
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 6:26 AM
Genre: Action/Drama/Adventure
Starring: Rudy Youngblood, Dalia Hernandez, Jonathann Brewer, Carlos Emilios Baez, Raoul Trujillo, Gerardo Taracena
Mel Gibson's most hailed movie, Apocalypto narrates the story of a peaceful tribe from the South American Amazon forest. The tribe finds its peace hampered when a Mayan army invades it and ravages the village. Many are kidnapped and the rest are mercilessly killed. Jaguar Paw (Youngblood) is the son of the village chief and is captured by the Mayan's. Before being caught, he hides his pregnant wife Seven (Hernandez) and his young son, Turtles Run (Baez) in a dry well. The Mayan's take them to the heart of their empire, where greed, filth and poverty prevail. The woman are sold as slaves and men are taken for a human sacrifice to placate the disturbed son god. Jaguar Paw is saved from the sacrifice and manages to escape from his captives and makes his way home but not before killing the Mayan Generals son. The Mayan General, Zero Wolf (Trujillo) is enraged and chases Jaguar Paw all the way back to his village along with his soldiers. The sole reason why the movie shines out is due to the real-life feel that it brings out. The characters seem to have been hand-picked from nomadic tribes rather than swank movie studios. The action is very gruesome and gory but perhaps without this the movie might have lost its effect. Make sure your not eating while you watch this else you might just throw up on your screen.
Thumbs up: Fantastic acting, amazing depiction
Thumbs down: Too gory for some
Rating: 8.7/10
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 5:31 AM
Genre: Crime/Myster/Drama/Thriller
Starring: Sarah Laine, Dina Meyer, Sandra McCoy, Linden Ashby, Michael Mantell, Brad Johnson
What is the point in making three movies, near identical to each other? The third installment of Wild Things, is an amalgamation of the earlier two parts to create an equally boring third one. Marie Clifton (Laine) along with her step-father Jay (Johnson) have inherited a pair of priceless diamonds from Marie's deceased mother. They both cant do anything to the diamond until either one of them permits the other to do so or one of them dies. Marie's classmate Elena (McCoy) accuses Jay of rape and sends him to prison. Unkown the Jay, Marie and Elena have hatched the plan together and blackmail Jay to hand over the diamonds to Marie or spend the rest of his life in jail. Detective Morisson (Ashby) and his assistant Kristin (Meyer) dont buy the story and try digging deeper. There is no point in watching the movie if you have seen the previous two stories, however, the movie is not an all together replica with the climax scene being a tad different but not altogether a whole new plot. The movie still oozes of sex with Sarah Laine wearing close to nothing throughout the movie.
Thumbs up: Slightly different plot from previous movies
Thumbs down: Still a long way to go
Rating: 5.5/10
Average Movies,
Crime,
Drama,
Mystery,
Thriller,
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 1:41 AM
Genre: Crime/Drama
Starring: Amitabah Bachchan, Mohnish Behl, Ritesh Deshmukh, Rajat Kapoor, Sudeep, Paresh Rawal
It is common knowledge that the media is the primary source of all our knowledge. News media in particular is one such form where truth prevails and it plays a vital role in shaping our perception. Rann tries to impress on the fact that when politics and media come together, news is artificially created and money is made. Vijay Harshvardhan Malik (Bachchan) is one of the most reputed newsmen in the country and heads the news channel India 24x7. He lives by his morals to serve the people with truthful content and stays away from news manipulation. His channels TRP's are falling and in a desperate bid to improve them, his son Jai (Sudeep) telecasts false news which goes in the favour of politician Mohan Pandey (Rawal) and blames an honest politician for an act of violence which he never did. Vijay is unaware of the authenticity of the news and takes it to be true and supports it. New recruit at India 24x7, Purab Shastri (Deshmukh) smells a rat and his investigations reveal Jai's mischief and the ugly game of politics and money. The movie is very typically Ram Gopal Varma right from the word go and a lot of bits and pieces have been picked up from his previous sensation Sarkar. Amitabh Bachchan talks and does little for majority of the movie, but when he does he proves why he is the god of Hindi cinema. Ritesh Deshmukh sheds his goofy comic role to don a character more suitable for him, whereas Paresh Rawal goes back to the evil politician that he was a decade ago. Fascinating and beautifully entertaining is all I can come up with.
Thumbs up: Performances
Thumbs down: Should have left the twist for the end
Rating: 8.4/10
Amazing Movies,
Bollywood,
Crime,
Drama,
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 2:55 AM
Genre: Adventure/Fantasy/Animation/Mystery
Starring (voice): Dakota Fanning, Teri Hatcher, John Hodgman, Robert Bailey Jr., Keith David
The name is Coraline (Fanning) and not Caroline. Young Coraline's parents recently moved in to a new town. They write nature articles for a living and are too busy to pay any attention to her. She makes a new friend Whybie (Bailey Jr.) who has a strange black cat (David). She snoops around her new house and comes across a small hidden door. The door leads to a whole new world where her parents love her, where people have buttons for eyes and all her wishes come true. Everyone from her town is there in the other world and are different from their actual self. Whybie's cat too is present and can talk in the other world. The cat warns her that everything is not what it seems like and her other mother (Hatcher) is up to something evil. The movie has a very exciting plot attached to it, which is not only for young children but might appeal to a more mature audience. Unlike other animation movies, the graphics do not try to replicate reality and give it a cartoon-like feel. The suspense is fascinating and it completely absorbs you into it which makes you wish to not let go.
Thumbs up: Great plot, fantastic climax
Thumbs down: The presence of some light humour was missed
Rating: 8.3/10
Adventure,
Amazing Movies,
Animation,
Fantasy,
Mystery,
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 8:33 AM
Genre: Crime/Drama/Romance
Starring: Arshad Warsi, Vidya Balan, Naseeruddin Shah
Two casanova Islamic friends Babban (Warsi) and Khalujaan (Shah) wander around north India doing things that usual good-for-nothing people do. Escaping from their creditors, they move from town-to-town and finally end up at Gorakhpur. They wished to escape to Nepal with the help of an old friend, Verma, who unknown to them died in a bomb blast some time back. Krishna (Balan) Verma's wife, provides the duo shelter and takes them in. Babban and Khalujaan fall in love with Krishna and try to win her heart. Krishna, however, wants them to kidnap a rich steel magnate by which the two can pay off their debts and live their life and Krishna can continue hers. Things, however, do not go as planned when Babban and Khalujaan went against each other when it came to Krishna. The movie boasts of a good star cast, Arshad Warsi who has shed his slap-stick comedy character and took on a more serious role. The dialogues are well written and are typical north Indian slang which would make the familiar laugh. The movie sadly does not live up to its expectations with the climax ending on a dead note. Can be watched out of curiosity but don't expect things to go far.
Thumbs up: All performances
Thumbs down: Poor ending
Rating: 6.5/10
Bollywood,
Crime,
Drama,
Good Movies,
Romance,
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 12:19 AM
Genre: Crime/Drama/Science-fiction
Starring: Malcolm McDowell, Patrick Magee
Set in future Britain, a gang of hoodlums headed my Alex (McDowell) go about the night raping women and stealing money. Alex's gang members developed a hatred against his leadership and frame him while they attempting another theft. Alex is imprisoned for 14 years on account of murder. The prison is attempting a new scientific technique wherein jail inmates would be psychologically treated to become averse to sex and violence. Alex learns about this course which releases inmates within a fortnight of inception and signs up in a bid to get released early. Alex is treated as an experimental volunteer and he is unaware of the side-effects of the procedure. The patient would start feeling sick the moment he feels the need for sex and violence, which the doctors claim would bring down crime if treated on all prisoners. The movie is modern in its approach, considering the time it was made in. The drama is very theatrical and melodramatic which puts it on flimsy grounds. The plot is interesting but did not go deep in exploring the story further. Either you love it or hate it and there is no sitting on the wall.
Thumbs up: McDowell and his outstanding performance
Thumbs down: Certain parts are a drag
Rating: 7.2/10
Crime,
Drama,
Good Movies,
Science-fiction,
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 10:49 PM
Genre: Drama/Romance
Starring: Cameron Diaz, Abigail Breslin, Sofia Vassilieva, Jason Patrick, Evan Ellingson
A cancer-ridden patient, Kate Fitzgerald (Vassilieva) is fighting for her life by borrowing body parts from her younger sister Anna (Breslin). Anna was conceived by her parents Sara (Diaz) and Brian (Patrick) just so that she could donate her body parts and save Kate. Anna is fed up of the donation and wants to lead a normal life, which she would not be able to do, if she donates her kidney. Anna sues her parents in court for medical emancipation so that she could decide what to do with her body rather than her parents. Sara is a frustrated individual who loses her temper too fast and does exactly what she likes. She fails to understand her children or what they want. The movie is a more of an intra-family battle between individuals. Its heavy and difficult to get through, but has a fantastic ending. It is obviously slow, something expected from a movie of its kind but does an amazing job of conveying a valuable message. Cameron Diaz played a role more fit for her and the entire cast puts on an amazing performance to make this movie highly watchable.
Thumbs up: Good performances
Thumbs down: Lighter moments in-between to lift the mood are not there
Rating: 7.2/10
Drama,
Good Movies,
Romance,
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 1:16 AM
Genre: Crime/Mystery/Thriller
Starring: Susan Ward, Leila Arcieri, Joe Michael Burke, Isaiah WashingtonIf you have seen Wild Things you have seen its 'straight-to-video' released successor too. Rich heiress Brittney Havers (Ward) goes to Blue Bay High and leads a normal life. Her mother committed suicide and Niles, her dad hates her. Her father dies in a place crash and according to his will everything goes to charity or to his blood heir, if any, but nothing for Brittney. Maya King (Arcieri) Brittney's classmate claims she is Niles' daughter and inherits $70 million. Local coroner Julian Haynes (Burke) along with Brittney and Maya, manipulate the DNA tests that prove Maya as Niles' daughter, so that they could all share the money. Things get dirty and messy when everyone wants a larger share of the green paper. The movie is strikingly similar to the earlier movie, same rich girl, same poor low-life tramp, a hot threesome and similarly twisted twists which leaves you flabbergasted and wondering where it came from. The lose and unexplained ends still persists, which casts a doubt if I should venture into the third installment of this series.
Thumbs up: Might appeal to a first time watcher
Thumbs down: Too similar to the earlier movie
Rating: 5.3/10
Average Movies,
Crime,
Mystery,
Thriller,
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 10:43 PM
Genre: Action/Crime/Dama/Thriller
Starring: Ray Stevenson, Dominic West, Doug Hutchison, Colin Salmon, Wayne Knight
A mob war kills a peaceful New York family. The lone survivor, Frank Castle (Stevenson) vows to eliminate all big mobster families one-by-one. Frank calls himself The Punisher and his next target is Billy (West) whose trying to smuggle in a huge biological weapon. An undercover FBI agent gets shot in the cross-fire by Frank and Billy's face gets destroyed. Billy survives and frees his brother, Loony Bin Jim (Hutchison) a man-eating psychopath to get on Frank's trail and kill him. FBI agent Budiansky (Salmon) is gunning for The Punisher because he killed one of his men. The pot is very regular and over-used. The action, however, is good but very gory, which might appeal to those few who like it. The movie takes its own sweet time to narrate the story, which gets irritating. Decent continuous action, a plot with good performances and interesting twists is something that you would not find in this movie.
Thumbs up: Nice action though not brilliant
Thumbs down: Regular story, regular performances
Rating: 5.5/10
Action,
Average Movies,
Crime,
Drama,
Thriller,
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 5:40 AM
Genre: Crime/Mystery/Thriller
Starring: Matt Dillon, Denise Richards, Neve Cambell, Kevin Bacon, Bill Murray, Carrie Snodgress
A wild and twisted tale of Sam Lambardo (Dillon) a high school guidance counsellor who is accused of rape by his student Kelly Van Ryan (Richards). When Suzie Toller (Cambell) too gets up and points a finger at Sam, the case is set, only to later learn that the rape was a joint set-up by the two girls to take revenge from Sam. Sam gets paid $8.5 million in lieu of damages by Kelly's rich mother. Police Detective Ray Duquette (Bacon) is convinced that the case is not what it seems like and its just a game plaid by the three of them to get rich. His investigation uncovers a lot of startling fact, a lot of which his superior is not willing to accept. They movie gained a lot of reputation for a particular love scene between Dillon, Richards and Campbell. The plot has some good twists which would appeal to the mystery loving aficionado. The twists are a little too twisty though which leaves some lose ends and some unexplained logic. The movie tried to play on a good plot but it lacked certain elements which brought it down.
Thumbs up: Nice story with good twists
Thumbs down: Some unexplained logic
Rating: 6.8/10
Crime,
Good Movies,
Mystery,
Thriller,
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 4:06 AM
Genre: Crime/Drama
Starring: Edward Norton, Edward Furlong, Avery Brooks, Beverly D'Angelo
Racism is strongly prevelant in modern America. A young white American, Derek Vinyard (Norton) is brain-washed to join the Nazi-loving, all-white Skinhead gang, whose motive is to remove all immigrants and coloured folk first from the town of Venice Beach and then from the country. Derek's brother, Danny (Furlong) is walking on the steps of his brother and is his idol. Three black youths try to jack Derek's car and he kills two of them. Derek lands up in jail and does a three year stint before being released. Freshly out of jail, he sees a lot of things have changed around him and Danny has become more passionate about becoming the gang leader. With the help of Dr. Sweeney (Brooks), Derek realises that the gang is all lies and is not worth it. Certain events in jail have brought him closer to those people that he earlier hated. He wants to get out of the gang and those gang members who earlier hailed him as god, are now gunning for him. The movie rightly deserves the praise that it has been recieving in so many years. Edward Norton puts up a fabulous performance and young Edward Furlong is not bad either. The movies main focus are the philosphies of racism and it does well in disseminating it. A good watch, gets a little slow and heavy at times.
Thumbs up: Edward Norton and Edward Furlong
Thumbs down: A little slow and heavy at some instances
Rating: 7.4/10
Crime,
Drama,
Good Movies,
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 3:26 AM
Genre: Drama
Starring: Tom Cruise, Dustin Hoffman, Valeria Golino, Gerald Molen
An imported car dealer Charlie Babbit (Cruise) leads a life away from his father, with whom he seperated over certain issues. When his old man passes away, he is shocked to find that the only thing left behind to him is a car and a prize-winning rose bust whereas $3 million and the entire estate is put in custody of a trust. On further investigation he realises that he has a mentally sick elder brother Raymond (Hoffman) of which he had no knowledge. Raymond's doctor, Dr. Bruner (Molen) has been entrusted with Raymond's share of the will. Charlie takes his brother on a road trip to LA and tells Dr. Bruner that he must give him $1.5 million so that Raymond can be sent back to the asylum. Charlie, however, develops a liking for Raymond and they enjoy certain moments together. Charlie now wants to keep Raymond in his care and feels that he can take care of him. The movie potrays a good brotherly relationship, but it goes very slow and is too long. More emotional outbursts would probably have brought out the actual strain on the relationship and perhaps made the movie a better watch, although heavy. Dustin Hoffman puts on a very good performance and Tom Cruise is nowhere near matching it. Not as good as the ratings put it.
Thumbs up: Dustin Hoffman
Thumbs down: Slow and long
Rating: 5.4/10
Average Movies,
Drama,
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