Walk the Line (2005)

Genre: Drama/Musical/Romance/Biography

Starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Reese Witherspoon, Ginnifer Goodwin

A true-life narration of Johnny Cash (Phoenix), one of the most influential American musicians of the 20th century. He took up music much to the objection of his father and married his childhood sweetheart, Vivian (Goodwin). His creative lyrics and voice soon saw him soar to new heights. He met June Carter (Witherspoon) a fellow country musician and they both instantly became good friends. Johnny's rising fame and fortune started putting him with the wrong people and it was only a matter of time when coke and alcohol took over his life. Multiple convictions for possessing illegal drugs and a strained marriage with Vivian put Johnny's life in complete jeopardy. Most of the movie revolves around Cash's rise to fame and his notorious drug addiction. The music featured in the movie is foot-tapping and makes the music lover want to explore Cash's genre of music. Performances are brilliant and Joaquin Phoenix is exceptional. Reese Witherspoon looks stunning throughout the movie and the duo make a great on-screen pair. The focus only Cash's rise as a musician and the subsequent drug addiction is the only focus of the movie due to which it fails to explore other side of Cash's younger life, like the huge forest fire that his tour bus had initiated. A great biographical and musical movie that is entertaining and enjoyable.

Thumbs up: Great music and great performances

Thumbs down: Could have explored more aspects of Johnny Cash's life

Rating: 7.0/10

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Biography, Drama, Good Movies, Musical, Romance,

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Police Academy 2: Their First Assignment (1985)

Genre: Crime/Drama/Comedy

Starring: Steve Gunttenberg, Bubba Smith, David Graf, Michael Winslow, Howard Hesseman, Art Metrano, Marion Ramsey, Bruce Mahler, Colleen Camp, Peter Van Norden, Bobcat Goldthwait

Crime in the city is steadily increasing, especially in the 16th precinct which has been named as the worst precinct in the county. The local gang leader, Zed (Goldthwait) has created a ruckus in the neighbourhood, ransacking anything that he comes across. The precinct captain, Pete Lassard (Hesseman) has been given 30 days to improve things else he gets fired. 6 new recruits from the police academy are sent in order to assist the precinct and help restore law order. The officers are our friends from the previous movie, Carey Mahoney (Guttenberg), Moses High Tower (Smith), Eugene Tackleberry (Graf), Larvell Jones (Winslow), Douglar Fackler (Mahler) and Laverne Hooks (Ramsey). Captain Lassard's assistant, Lt. Mauser (Metrano) wishes to overthrow Lassard and become precinct chief. He tries to downplay each of Lassards moves in a bid to show him in a negative context. The movie is definitely less enjoyable than the first one, with jokes sounding slightly repetitive and not as funny as its predecessor. Its a good and light watch nonetheless and it would be criminally insane to expect anything more out of it. Watch, enjoy and forget.

Thumbs up: Light and fun watch

Thumbs down: Bland and uninspiring

Rating: 6.4/10

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Average Movies, Comedy, Crime, Drama,

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American Beauty (1999)

Genre: Drama/Romance/Crime

Starring: Kevin Spacey, Annette Bening, Thora Birch, Wes Bentley, Mena Suvari, Chris Cooper

The story of the typical American life. A middle-aged man who is fed up with work, his over-enthusiastic wife who is trying to build a career and a teenage daughter who is forever miffed with her parents. Lester Burham (Spacey) is tired of leading a repetitive life and realises that he might be thrown out of his company very soon. His wife, Carolyn (Bening) is a failing real-estate agent who is unable to make any sale and is determined to not take others' advice and prefers doing things her way. Their budding teenage daughter Jane (Birch) is irritated with her parents who try to be over-friendly with her in order to make her comfortable. Jane's best friend Angela (Suvari) thinks she is something else and tries to seduce Lester, much to the resentment of Jane. Ricky Fitts (Bentley) has newly moved into the neighbourhood and has a mentally unstable past. Jane and Ricky take a fonding for each other in spite of repeated warnings from Angela. Everyone here is trying to straighten out their lives by doing what they always wanted to do. The story, needless to say, is slow and the plot gets a bit too long. A cut-short and a more engaging storyline would have improved the movie to a great extent. That said, the movie is definitely watchable and selective performances are fabulous. A nice family drama, which probably needs a few more fireworks.

Thumbs up: Nice performances, good attempt with the plot

Thumbs down: Long and slow

Rating: 7.5/10

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Crime, Drama, Good Movies, Romance,

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Shutter Island (2010)

Genre: Crime/Mystery/Drama/Thriller

Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Ben Kingsley, Mark Ruffalo, Michelle Williams

Boston Harbour Islands, 1954. A war fort on Shutter Island is converted into the Ashcliffe Hospital for the criminally insane. A dangerous criminal inmate, Rachel Solando, has mysteriously escaped from the island without a trace. US Marshal Teddy Daniels (DiCaprio) and his partner Chuck (Ruffalo) are sent to investigate the escape and find Rachel. Teddy does not get a very good feeling about the hospital and suspects that there is something happening here that is unacceptable. Dr. Cawley (Kingsley) the head psychiatrist refuses to comply with Ted's demands to interrogate patients and doctors and go through medical files and history, which only cements Ted's belief that Dr. Cawley has something to hide. His investigations reveal that Rachel Solando might have been purposely set free or had never existed. The move gives out an amazing feel and the story grips you right when it starts. The only downside was Ted's over-dramatic flashbacks into the past which does seem inconsistent with the story but only start making sense towards the end. Leonardo DiCaprio has put on one of the most fantastic performances of this year. The movie sends down the right chills and thrills without being too scary, which put together make it an amazing watch.

Thumbs up: Leonardi DiCaprio, plot execution

Thumbs down: Some over-dramatic bits, the post-climax scene

Rating: 8.2/10

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Amazing Movies, Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller,

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Eagle Eye (2008)

Genre: Science-fiction/Action/Mystery

Starring: Shia LaBeouf, Michelle Monaghan, Rosario Dawson, Billy Bob Thornton

The US government has developed a new super-computer which will record and collect data from every microphone and every camera in the country. It gauges human behaviour and emotions and by using a complex algorithm, can predict the outcome of events. The project is known as Eagle Eye and the computer is called ARIIA. Jerry Shaw (LaBeouf) a good for nothing college dropout, who starts getting anonymous calls from a woman who asks him to do bizzare things. She manages to break him out of FBI custody and seems to know exactly where he is and what he is doing. Rachel Halloman (Monaghan) too faces a similar situation such as Jerry's and they soon realise that ARIIA is behind all of this but they are not sure why. They both get a very bad feeling that this has something to do with the recent death of Ethan Shaw (LaBeouf) Jerry's twin brother who worked in the US Air Force. Loads of movies have come and gone where super-computers were the backbone of national security and their complex algorithms have left loopholes which have put the entire country in a jeopardy. Its a genre where you expect destructive entertainment and nothing more. The movie has a good plot which was well explored and leaves a good twist towards the end. Sit back, relax, watch some cars and buildings blow up and go home. That's what it is all about.

Thumbs up: Decent plot for a movie of its kind.

Thumbs down: Needs a highly-destructive action sequence

Rating: 7.2/10

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Action, Good Movies, Mystery, Science-fiction,

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Per qualche dollaro in pi� (1965)

Genre: Action/Adventure/Western/Crime

Starring: Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef, Gian Maria Volonte

English Title: For a Few Dollars More. It was a time when 'wanted' posters adorned every corner of the streets and the sheriffs office was too scared to run behind them. That was when bounty killers came and hunted down wanted criminals for the reward money. Monco (Eastwood) was one such bounty killer and his eyes were set on hunting down El Indio (Volonte) who had $10,000 reward on his head. Col. Douglas Mortimer (Cleef) has an old score to settle with El Indio and he too is hunting for him. Monco and Mortimer realise that both of them are behind the same target and also realise that if they want El Indio, they cant do it alone. They get into a partnership and Monco goes undercover and joins hands with El Indio in a bid to get inside information on what he is up to. El Indio is all set to rob the most secure bank in the territory and Monco and Mortimer realise they have a huge sum of money waiting for them. One inadvertently compares this movie to The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, considering it came from the same director, similar cast, same backdrop but just a few years earlier. The movie has the same classic charm of gun-wielding and the ultimate western attitude. The music plays a huge role in the movies appeal and a broad grin gets smacked on your face the moment you hear that western jingle. The movie, however, doesn't have the musical appeal that The Good, The Bad and The Ugly had which went on to become the classic sound clip for every western movie (remember the 'Aah-Aah-Aaaaaah?). If you love Mr. Eastwood then there is no denying this.

Thumbs up: The classic western attitude

Thumbs down: Plot could have been spruced up

Rating: 8.2/10

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Action, Adventure, Amazing Movies, Crime, Western,

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Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983)

Genre: Action/Adventure/Science-fiction/Fantasy

Starring: Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrise Fisher, Billy Dee Williams, Anthony Daniels, Peter Mayhew, Ian McDiarmid, James Earl Jones (voice), David Prowse, Kenniny Baker

The final chapter of the Star Wars Series shows Luke Skywalker (Hamill) completing his training to become a Jedi Knight. The last step for him to become what he had always dreamed of becoming is to confront his own father, Darth Vader (voice by Jones, acting by Prowse). The Emperor of the Dark Side (McDiarmid) is building another Death Star, more dangerous and more strong than the previous one. Luke and Leah (Fisher) rescue Captain Han Solo (Ford) and bring him back to life before finally planning an attack on the Death Star. Meanwhile, The Emperor and Darth Vader and laying a cunning trap for Luke and secretly plan to bring him to the dark side. Being the ultimate battle of good over evil, the movie has a highly predictable plot and nothing really amazes you. Everything else seems very familiar and the movie fails in creating an identity of its own. However, it manages to carry forward the plot from the previous movies well and you don't feel as if you have lost touch. A great watch for the Star Wars fan but may seem too familiar to everyone else.

Thumbs up: Special effects for a movie of its era

Thumbs down: Predictable plot

Rating: 7.9/10

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

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Three Kings (1999)

Genre: War/Action/Biography/History/Adventure/Comedy/Crime

Starring: George Clooney, Mark Wahlberg, Ice Cube, Spike Jonze, Cliff Curtis, Nora Dunn

The Persian Gulf War in 1991 saw Iraq invading Kuwait and the United States of America condemning the invasion and pushing Iraqi trips out of Kuwait. Four US Soldiers, Seargent First Class Troy Barlow (Wahlberg), Private First Class Conrad Vig (Jonze), Staff Seargent Chief Elgin and Major Archie Gates (Clooney) forge a plan to steal Kuwaiti gold held in Iraqi bunkers. Their plans go for a toss when Saddam loyalist soldiers reach the site and break the ceasefire agreement by opening fire on local villagers and the American soldiers. Seargent Troy is taken prisoner by the Iraqi soldiers and the remaining are saved by Saddam rebels. Major Gates makes an agreement with the rebel leader Amir Abdulah (Curtis) that he would take them across the Iranian border and give them a share of the gold provided they help them find Troy. The movie has a very interesting plot and manages to bring out the story in a fine manner. Light humour comes across once in a while but nothing to make you fall of your seat. The movie should have either indulged in more humour or made the movie more thrilling and intense. The lack of these two elements make the movie slightly less entertaining as compared to what it could have been.

Thumbs up: Nice plot, George Clooney

Thumbs down: Needs more of either thrills or humour

Rating: 7.7/10

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Action, Adventure, Biography, Comedy, Crime, Good Movies, War,

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Kill Kill Faster Faster (2008)

Genre: Drama/Thriller/Romance/Crime

Starring: Gil Bellows, Lisa Ray, Esai Morales, Monica Delain, Shaun Parkes

A drug-addicted scriptwriter, Joey One-Way (Bellows) gets bailed out of jail by his good friend Markie (Morales) and now wants Joey to write a movie for him. Markie's girlfriend Fleur (Ray) and Joey start having a sexual relationship without Markie knowing about it. However, life is not easy for Joey because his past is always haunting him. He feels guilty for what happened to his wife and two daughters, because of his drug addiction, and cant seem to get over it. No matter how hard he tries his life is just too miserable for him to tolerate anymore. The movie is a big fail when it comes to the plot and performances. The story is just too messed up and goes around aimlessly without making too much sense. It tries to be profound and deep but rather than making it a good watch, it just turns out to make it hopeless. Die, but don't dare watch it.

Thumbs up: Joke!

Thumbs down: Everything

Rating: 4.4/10

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Crime, Drama, Pathetic Movies, Romance, Thriller,

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Outsourced (2006)

Genre: Comedy/Drama/Romance

Starring: Josh Hamilton, Asif Basra, Ayesha Dharker, Sudha Shivpuri, Matt Smith

An American e-commerce company is looking to outsourcing all its sales calls to India in order to cut costs and make larger profits. Todd Anderson (Hamilton) has been assigned the task to go to India and set-up the new call centre and to train the man who will now do his job. For most Americans, India is a nightmare and for Todd it wasn't any better. Purohit N. Virajnarianan (Basra) his Indian replacement keeps calling him 'Toad' and it isn't too long before he starts missing his country and wants to go back home. Slowly and steadily, like most people, he learns to adapt himself and doesn't get freaked out if he sees a stray cow entering his office. He falls in love with Asha (Dhareker) the assistant manager of the call centre and very soon falls in love with India. The movie plot sounds and feels very conventional but has some amusing bits and pieces thrown across the board. An Indian or someone from a different country who has been in a situation like Todd's, would probably relate better to the movie. A light and humourous watch and for an Indian or someone been to India, it gets even better.

Thumbs up: A light and fun movie

Thumbs down: Conventional plot, could have some more laughs

Rating: 7.0/10

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Comedy, Drama, Good Movies, Romance,

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The Forbidden Kingdom (2008)

Genre: Action/Adventure/Fantasy

Starring: Jackie Chan, Jet Li, Michael Angarano, Yifie Liu, Collin Chou, Bingbing Li

An American teenager, Jason (Angarano) is a close follower of Chinese traditions and values. He finds an ancient staff in a Chinese pawn shop and learns of its prophesy. The staff once belonged to the Monkey King (Jet Li) who was cheated by the Jade Warlord (Chou) during battle and was turned to stone forever. Being immortal, he cannot die and if this staff is returned to him, he will rise once more. Jason mysteriously goes back in time to ancient China with staff in hand and meets Lu Yan (Chan) a drunk Kung-Fu master. He tells him that there is a tale where a 'Seeker' would come who would find the staff and bring the Monkey King back to life and that Jason is the Seeker. He embarks on a perilous journey to reach to the Five Elements Mountain and meets The Silent Monk (Jet Li) who agrees to help them and Golden Sparrow (Liu) who seeks revenge from the Jade Warlord for killing her parents. As you might realise by now, the movie is a lame Chinese adaptation of Lord of the Rings. Innocent boy lands himself with a treasured weapon and must venture into the realms of the Earth to destroy it, been there, done that. The only thing the movie is worth looking out for is the kung-fu, which too after a point gets a bit too much. In spite of having two very good Chinese actors, the movie does not shine the way one expects it to and performances are quite weak overall. The story has a lot of lose and unexplained bits which it just tries to force upon you without any reason.

Thumbs up: The kung-fu

Thumbs down: Bad plot, hopeless performances

Rating: 5.5/10

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Action, Adventure, Average Movies, Fantasy,

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The Informant! (2009)

Genre: Drama/Biography/Crime

Starring: Matt Damon, Tom Papa, Scott Bakula, Joel McHale, Melanie Lynskey

ADM, a well-known American company in the corn processing business faces a huge crisis when one of their top executives, Mark Whitacre (Damon) starts revealing company secrets to the FBI. He reveals that ADM has regularly participated in price-fixing scandals with their competitors from throughout the world and agrees to work with them as an informant. He starts working closely with FBI Agent Brian Shephard (Bakula) and FBI Special Agent Bob Herndon (McHale) and over the course of two and a half years he secretly video tapes meetings where price-fixing occurs. The FBI start facing problems when they slowly realise that Mark cannot be completely relied upon because he only speaks half the truth and has consistently lied about a lot of things in the past. He keeps going against the FBI's instructions and ends up creating one huge disaster after another. Slowly and steadily the issue becomes a national scandal and the FBI find themselves in one big mess. The movie is based on a true-life story and is set in the early 1990's. Although the movie builds upon an interesting plot, it does not come out in a manner it should have. Mark Whitacre's bi-polar personality is not properly shown and only an intelligent observation in the movie would make you realise what they are trying to get at. The plot becomes repetitive along the half-way mark and improves, but only slightly, towards the end. Performances were good and nothing exceptional and Matt Damon could have been put to better use. Coming from the makers of the Oceans series of movies, I expected more, much more.

Thumbs up: Great storyline

Thumbs down: Doesn't bring out the final verdict too well

Rating: 7.0/10

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Biography, Crime, Drama, Good Movies,

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Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998)

Genre: Crime/Drama

Starring: Jason Flemyng, Dexter Fletcher, Jason Statham, Nick Moran, P.H. Moriarty, Lenny McLean, Stephen Marcus, Vinnie Jones, Jake Abraham, Victor McGuire

A group of four friends, Tom (Flemyng), Soap (Fletcher), Eddy (Moran) and Bacon (Statham) are looking for easy ways to make some easy money. Hatchet Harry (Moriarty) is a porn king and has an underground high-stakes gambling den. Eddy is good at reading expressions and determining the kind of cards the opponent may hold and hence wins most of the times. The four friends put together some money and sent Eddy to play at Harry's den. Eddy unfortunately loses and they now have to pay Harry five times the amount they initially had. Big Chris (Vinnie) is Harry's debt recovery agent is put on alert since Harry does not expect Eddy to pay his money back. Harry fancies a pair of antique guns which are going out on auction and tells his bodyguard, Barry the Baptist (McLean) to get them by hook or by crook. Barry instructs two low-life crooks, Gary (McGuire) and Dean (Abraham) to do the job, who do conduct the job successfully but land up selling the antiques to Nick the Greek (Marcus). What happens thus is Snatch and RocknRolla all over again. Although this movie was conceived long before the above mentioned ones, they all put together seem like a repetition. The movie doesn't have any outright humour but the dialogues and the screenplay do bring out a giggle or two, provided the British slang and sarcasm gets through you. The plot may seem complicated and a little weird, but that is what makes a Guy Ritchie movie such a fabulous work of art. For someone watching  his movies for the first time, it is a good watch, else it seems slightly repetitive.

Thumbs up: Nice plot, brilliant dialogues

Thumbs down: Lacks outright humour, would seem repetitive for those who have seen later Guy Ritchie movies

Rating: 8.1/10

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Amazing Movies, Crime, Drama,

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Kick-Ass (2010)

Genre: Action/Crime/Drama/Spoof/Comedy

Starring: Aaron Johnson, Lyndsy Fonseca, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Mark Strong, Nicolas Cage, Chloe Moretz

Dave Lizewski (Johnson) is a low-life, good for nothing youth. Neither a math geek nor a sports hero, he gets absolutely no attention in college and is pushed around by everyone. He suddenly wonders why nobody has ever considered being a super-hero as a profession and decides to become the first one, naming himself Kick-Ass. His first crime-fighting stint lands him up in the hospital, naked, and he is pronounced gay by the entire college. The good side being that the college beauty Katie (Fonseca) starts taking pity on him since he is gay. Meanwhile, Damon Macready (Cage), an ex-cop is seeking revenge from Frank D'Amico (Strong) for killing his wife and framing him wrongly for dealing in narcotics. Once out of jail, he starts training his very young daughter in weapon wielding and crime-fighting. Together, they become Big-Daddy and Hit-Girl and plan to avenge D'Amico. In order to get even with this new found rage in  becoming a super-hero, D'Amico makes his son Chris (Mintz-Plasse) the Red Mist. The movie is a spoof of Spider-Man with most of the plot being borrowed from there. The movie may not be outright hilarious but its still a fun watch. Nicolas Cage's performance is quite wasted and the same role could have been done by a lesser known actor without hampering too much of the movies outcome. A mix of humour and crime fighting conjures a good combination which is worth a watch.

Thumbs up: Great mix of almost everything

Thumbs down: Should have had better humour

Rating: 7.5/10

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Action, Comedy, Crime, Drama, Good Movies, Sex Comedy, Spoof,

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The Godfather (1972)

Genre: Crime/Drama

Starring: Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, Robert Duvall

Italian organised crime on the east coast of America is dominated by Don Vito Corleone (Brando) who has most of the politicians and lawyers in his pocket. His elder son Santino 'Sonny' Corleone (Caan) helps him in the business along with his consigliere Tom Hagen (Duvall). Don Corleone's younger son, Michael (Pacino) is a World War II war hero and stays away from the family business. The Don gets a proposition to deal in drugs and narcotics, which he puts down because he finds it too dangerous. Sonny wants to go ahead with the deal because of the huge profit that lies inside it but the Don sees a more long term danger and refuses the deal. The drug peddlers are not happy because without the Don's consent, they wont be able to distribute in New York. The Don is attacked and is heavily injured and Michael has no option but to assist his brother and avenge his fathers attack. The movie has developed a cult following over the years and at no point of time can you ever imagine that you are watching a movie of another era. Marlon Brando and Al Pacino have put together an absolutely unmatchable performance that each new generation is bound to appreciate till the end of mankind. Its not a movie where you have attitude-filled, gun-trotting mafias gunning down anybody that crosses their path. It is a movie that calls for your attention and wants you to listen to every line that is said. The movie, however, is slightly longer than one would like it to be and hence you may just find your attention wandering at times. An all-time classic adaptation of Mario Puzzo's famous book by the same name.

Thumbs up: Great performances and amazing plot

Thumbs down: A bit too long

Rating: 8.5/10

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Amazing Movies, Crime, Drama,

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Remember the Titans (2000)

Genre: Drama/Sport

Starring: Denzel Washington, Will Patton, Wood Harris, Ryan Hurst, Donald Faison, Craig Kirkwood

1971, Alexandria, Virginia, black and white divide ran deep, very deep. The school board wanted to bring an end to this and thus integrated the black and white schools and hired a black football coach to take over. Football was a religion, more worshipped than Christmas and the white folks objected whereas the blacks rejoiced. Coach Herman Boone (Washington) was not here to teach football but to bring everyone together. He faced a lot of resistance from all sides, including Coach Bill Yoast (Patton) from whom he took over. Gerry Bertier (Hurst) was team captain and soon realised that if the team needs to win, the racial divide needs to end. He became best friends with Julius (Harris) someone whom he hated from the very first day and slowly and steadily the friendship between black and white grew, not only amongst the team players but amongst the people of Virginia. The movie narrates a true life story which is delivered in the perfect manner. Denzel Washington fits the bill of the aggressive and tough football coach who will stop at nothing. Its a wonderful and very inspiring movie and leaves you with a good feeling.

Thumbs up: Nice performances, good plot execution

Thumbs down: Nothing in particular but nothing spectacular either

Rating: 7.6/10

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Drama, Good Movies, Sports,

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Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008)

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

Starring: Harrison Ford, Kate Blachett, Shia LaBeouf, Karen Allen, Ray Winstone, John Hurt

Indiana Henry Jones (Ford) returns once again after a long gap of over a decade. Soviet troops, headed by Colonel Irina Spalko (Blanchett) infiltrate a secret US Military location to hunt for a strange object. They force Dr. Jones to assist them in this hunt after which he manages to escape. He is approached by a young lad, Mutt Williams (LaBeouf) who tells him that his old friend Oxley (Hurt) has gone missing after finding a crystal skull while looking for the city of Akator aka El Dorado. Oxley has left behind a trail of clues which are in Mutt's possession. The Soviets are looking for the clues and a person to interpret it and who better than Dr. Jones himself? The good part is that the movie withholds a lot of the old charm of the initial Indiana Jones movies. Although Harrison Ford looks too old to perform such insane stunts, he still manages to do them with near perfection. What the movies messes up in is the plot. Lot of things don't make sense and the plot is one big, huge mess. You know that something is happening but you got no idea what it is. The movie drops a subtle hint as to the next Indiana Jones and no, it does not appear that Mr. Ford is going to continue this job. An action-packed and thrilling entertainer with a useless plot.

Thumbs up: Great action

Thumbs down: Bad plot

Rating: 7.4/10

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

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Raajneeti (2010)

Genre: Crime/Drama

Starring: Manoj Bajpai, Katrina Kaif, Ranbir Kapoor, Arjun Rampal, Nana Patekar, Ajay Devgan, Sarah Thompson Kane

Dont go by the above poster as its highly misleading. Naseeruddin Shah has a role smaller than Ranbir Kapoor's chauffeur and no, the story is not based on the life and lies of Sonia Gandhi as many speculate it to be. In fact, the movie is more of a modern day adaptation of Mahabharat, infusing the characters of the Gandhi family. The Pratap family is sitting on the throne of India's largest political party, yet there is turmoil within. Veerendra Pratap (Bajpai) and Prithviraj Pratap (Rampal) are first cousins but are having a war of words when Veerendra's father chooses Prithviraj's father to lead the party instead of Veerendra himself. With the elections drawing close, each of the brothers want their own sidekicks to be filed as constituent nominees, leaving the party leaders in a fix. Prithviraj's younger brother, Samar (Kapoor) has recently returned from USA and is least bothered about politics but the assassination of his father sparks a deadly anger within him and he seeks revenge. Suraj Kumar (Devgan) is a popular local youth leader representing the backward cast who wants to fight for the upcoming elections. He joins hands with Veerendra and together, they swear to overthrow Samar and Prithviraj and lead the new government in India. In the midst of this lust for power and money, Indu (Kaif) who has a long-time crush on Samar, is compromised and is made to marry Prithviraj simply as a business-political deal. It is a sad fact of Bollywood movies that no matter how contemporary the director tries to make the movie, some very fundamental elements of Bollywood manages to seep in and ruin it. Long run-time, irrelevant songs, over-done melodrama and the typical dialogues ruin an otherwise good show. The movie consists of a fine star cast and most of them deliver up to the mark. Manoj Bajpai does exceptionally well and Katrina Kaif is exceptionally horrible. She can neither act nor speak proper Hindi and is simply a marketing eye-candy for the audience. I wonder why she even tries. The movie would have probably been better had the duration been shorter and it was made closer to the real-life events of the Gandhi's, something which we all know cannot happen in democratic India.

Thumbs up: Manoj Bajpai and most of the remaining cast

Thumbs down: Katrina Kaif and the lengthy plot

Rating: 5.9/10

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Average Movies, Bollywood, Crime, Drama,

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Unforgiven (1992)

Genre: Western/Drama/Crime/Action

Starring: Clint Eastwood, Morgan Freeman, Gene Hackman, Anna Levine, Frances Fisher, Jaimz Woolvett

In the town of Big Whiskey, Wyoming, Delilah (Levine), a prostitute, is attacked and butchered by two men leaving deep scars on her face. The town sheriff, Little Bill (Hackman) does little to punish the men and orders them to give the brothel owner horses as compensation. This act infuriates the prostitutes who decide to pool in their money and offer a $1000 bounty to anyone who kills the two men. Bill Munny (Eastwood) was a notorious assassin who was known to kill ruthlessly. Marriage teaches him a lesson and he changes his bad ways. A young cowboy going by the name of Schofiel Kid (Woolvett) approaches Munny and tells him of the $1000 bounty. Although Bill has stopped killing, he needs the money and agrees to help him hunt down the two men. Bill never works without his partner, Ned Logan (Freeman) and gets him to come along on the trip. Little Bill does not like gunslingers coming into his town and has every intention of protecting the two men from cowboys. Clint Eastwood seems to have the fabled golden touch, where each and every movie turns out to be a box-office extravaganza. With a mighty impressive star line-up, the movie delivers exactly what you have in mind, which comes as a huge relief. Fabulous plot and an amazing show, can seem to get a bit slow at times, but the rest of the movie is too good to bother about such anomalies.

Thumbs up: Amazing performance and an amazing star cast

Thumbs down: Lacks the old-world charm of The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

Rating: 8.3/10

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Action, Amazing Movies, Drama, Western,

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Road Trip: Beer Pong (2009)

Genre: Comedy/Adventure/Drama/Romance

Starring: Preston Jones, Michael Trotter, DJ Quallas, Nestor Aaron Asbera, Danny Pudi, Julianna Guill

A sequel to the 2001 hit movie Road Trip, this movie narrates the life of Andy (Jones) and Katy (Guill), a crazy in love couple who have to go to different universities to pursue their education. Andy's friend Korken (Trotter) is always behind him to forget about Katy and to forget about being loyal and to enjoy college life to the fullest. Andy and Jake (Asbera) are beer pong champions and are representing The University of Ithaca at the national beer pong championship. Katy decides to get a transfer to Andy's college, something which freaks Andy out. Andy also comes across his childhood crush on the Internet and decides to meet her at the beer pong championship. The four friends need funding for the road trip and approach Arash (Pudi) the son of the dictator of Tandor (which is a subtle spoof on India). He agrees, provided he can come along on the trip. Overnight, the government of Tandor falls and the five of them find themselves on the street without any money. The movie uses a lot of elements from the previous movie and tries to incorporate it in a new story. The entire outcome is an average plot, poor performances and the lack of any kind of humour making it plain boring. A messed-up version of the original

Thumbs up: Decent attempt, although messed-up

Thumbs down: Lack of humour

Rating: 5.6/10

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

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Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (2010)

Genre: Fantasy/Action/Adventure/Romance

Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Gemma Arterton, Ben Kingsley, Toby Kebbell, Richard Coyle, Alfred Molina

Based on the very very famous video game, the movie narrates the adventures of Prince Dastan (Gyllenhaal), the prince of Persia. Dastan was adopted by the Persian king and went on to become a great warrior. The kings brother Nizam (Kingsley) and the kings sons Gus (Coyle) and Tarsiv (Kebbell) loved him and respected him. The Persian army invaded the holy city of Alamut based on infromation that it was manufacturing arms and supplying them to enemies. They seized Queen Tamina (Arterton) and made her the wife of Tarsiv. Dastan finds a dagger, which does not look like an ordinary dagger and holds a special power of which he has no knowledge. The king of Persia is murdered and Dastan is accused of treachery. He flees with Tamina and later learns of the power he holds in his hands. If the jewel on the dagger is pressed, he can go back in time and change the course of events. However, this can happen only if there is enough magical sand in the dagger. Dastan needs to go to Alamut to refill the dagger and go back in time to change the course of a lot of misfortunate events. The movie gives you a very mixed response with the adapted screenplay not being executed well enough. Jake Gyllenhaal was a huge misfit for the role of Dastan and action just does not suit him. There is nothing really to look forward to in the movie, the action is nothing special, Jake Gyllenhaal doesn't click and plot is badly executed. It does fulfill the role of an overall entertainer but nothing special here.

Thumbs up: Special effects

Thumbs down: Poor casting

Rating: 6.2/10

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Action, Adventure, Fantasy, Good Movies, Romance,

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Heist (2001)

Genre: Crime/Drama/Action

Starring: Gene Hackman, Danny DeVito, Delroy Lindo, Sam Rockwell, Rebecca Pidgeon, Ricky Jay

Joe Moore (Hackman) is a smooth-operating criminal mastermind who works with his team of operatives, Bobby (Lindo), Pinky (Jay) and his young wife Fran (Pidgeon). His jobs come from Mickey (DeVito) who tells him what to rob and they split the loot in half. Joe is scared of the heat his operations are creating and wants to quit once and for all. Mickey is not going to let him go so easily and insists they do a 'Swiss' job. To ensure that Joe doesn't walk out on him, he sends his nephew Jimmy (Rockwell) to conduct the heist with them. The job is to loot a Swiss cargo airline carrying tons of gold bars. Joe wants to get even with Mickey for not sharing the loot from the last robbery and is going to use every trick up his sleeve to ensure that happens. The movie is loaded with surprise twists and turns which make it interesting. However, the plot is not supported by the cast, whose performance is mediocre and uninspiring. The entire plot execution itself doesn't make it all that interesting as it should be which brings down an otherwise good movie. Would appeal to someone looking for a good robbery but not its not Oceans Eleven.

Thumbs up: Amazing storyline

Thumbs down: Poor performance and poor plot execution

Rating: 7.1/10

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Action, Crime, Drama, Good Movies,

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