7 Khoon Maaf (2011)

Genre: Drama/Romance/Mystery/Crime/Thriller

Starring: Priyanka Chopra, Neil Nitin Mukesh, John Abraham, Irrfan Khan, Aleksandr Dyachenko, Annu Kapoor, Naseeruddin Shah, Vivaan Shah, Konkana Sen Sharma

The story of a young and beautiful girl, Susanna (Chopra) who marries 7 men and murders each and every one of them. Major Edwin Rodriques (Mukesh) murdered for being overtly jealous, inhuman and proud. Jimmy Stetson (Abraham) murdered for being a drug-addicted rock star. Wasiullah Khan (Khan) a Muslim revolutionist, murdered for being a wife-beater. Nicoli Vronsky (Dyachenko) a Russian scientist, murdered for cheating and keeping two wives. Keemat Lal (Kapoor) a police officer, who knew about Susanna's crime and murdered for demanding too much sex in exchange for keeping her out of prison. Dr. Modhusudhon Tarafdar (Shah) a well-versatile scientist, murdered for wanting Susanna's money to pull him out of bankruptcy. The biggest flaw and question mark on the movie is the last and final husband, which was weird, stupid and somehow didn't make any sense and felt as if it was a consequence of pure boredom. Vishal Bhardwaj has been known to make some truly fabulous movies but yet this time he seems to have gotten the formula wrong. The entire murder mystery aspect did not come out as well as it could have or at least as it was intended too. A pretty much predictable and boring movie overall which does not live up to its standards.

Thumbs up: Priyanka Chopra

Thumbs down: Awkward ending

Rating: 6.1/10

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Average Movies, Bollywood, Crime, Drama, Mystery, Romance, Thriller,

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Old School (2003)

Genre: Comedy/Drama/Romance

Starring: Luke Wilson, Will Ferrell, Vince Vaughn, Jeremy Piven, Ellen Pompeo

Three friends are hating their age and want to get back to their wild and youthful days. Mitch (Wilson) broke up with his girlfriend when he came to know that she was having sex with random people. Frank (Ferrell) recently got married and cant handle the new responsibility and Beanie (Vaughn) just simply hates his life. Mitch moves into a new house on a college campus but the new Dean of Students, Dean Pritchard (Piven) holds a long grudge against the three of them and tries to get them evicted. In order to be legally allowed to stay on campus, Beanie decides to start a fraternity of misfits and makes Mitch the fraternity godfather. From 18 year-olds to 89 year-olds, everyone wants to be a part of this new wild fraternity, much to the dislike of Dean Pritchard. There are thousands of ways of doing a sex-comedy wrong and only a few methods to get it right. Thankfully, this movie has followed the correct path to produce a hilarious and entertaining movie, just like what the doctor ordered. 

Thumbs up: Great comedy, good fun

Thumbs down: Should have left out the romance bit

Rating: 7.0/10

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

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Unstoppable (2010)

Genre: Biography/Action

Starring: Denzel Washington, Chris Pine, Rosario Dawson

Ohio, USA in the year 2001. An unmanned, half-a-mile long train went on the lose due to an error on part of a hostler who jumped off the train to realign the tracks but the trains brakes malfunctioned and the locomotive picks up speed on full throttle. Unstoppable is based on this true-life incident, although exaggerated, when one such train in Pennsylvania, carrying toxic chemicals, escapes from the yard and hits the main line at the speed of 70mph. A veteran engineer Frank (Washington) and a rookie conductor Will (Pine) come to the rescue when Franks experience tells him that the only way to stop such a train is to grab it by the tail and apply the brakes. When all chances of derailment and slowing the train fail, Frank and Will link up with the train and attempt to slow it down. The movie has some very good high-intensive action which makes it into a very interesting watch for the action-lover. The overall plot was exaggerated than the actual events which were more sober and low-key. The trailer gives out the entire movie along with the climax, yet the movie is worth a watch simply for its phenomenal action sequences.

Thumbs up: Great action

Thumbs down: Predictable plot

Rating: 7.4/10

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Action, Biography, Good Movies,

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Breach (2007)

Genre: Crime/Drama/Biography

Starring: Chris Cooper, Ryan Phillipe, Laura Linney

FBI agent Robert Hanssen (Cooper) was suspected of selling US military secrets to the Soviet Union which caused heavy damages to American national security and compromised American allies. Along with that, he was also suspected of creating and uploading pornographic content on the internet. Eric O'Neil (Phillipe) an FBI computer specialist with little field experience, is assigned the special task to become Hanssen's assistant and to gather evidence so that the FBI can take him down. During the course of this task, Eric learns to respect Robert for all the special and unique abilities he holds to the point that he thinks that he is innocent. He realises that things are not as easy as they seem to be when it starts disrupting his marriage and is quickly running out of time. The movie is a fictionalised story based on a true-life event and Hanssens deeds have been said to be the biggest breach in US intelligence. The movie is quite slow and there are points where it can get very boring. It lacks complete suspense and most of the movie revolves around the relationship between Hanssen and O'Neil. The movie needed to be spiced up with some thrills and suspense in order to become more enjoyable. A good movie which could have been better.

Thumbs up: Decent plot

Thumbs down: Slow, needs more enthusiasm

Rating: 6.5/10

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Average Movies, Biography, Crime, Drama,

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The Good German (2006)

Genre: Crime/Drama/Thriller/Mystery

Starring: George Clooney, Cate Blanchett, Leland Orser, Toby Maguire

Post World War II, the Allies convened at Berlin to decide the fate of Germany and her allies. Berlin was divided into four sectors, each belonging to USA, Russia, France and Britain. Tully (Maguire) was an American soldier who used to smuggle supplies onto the Russian side for money. Tully was assigned to be the driver for Jake Geismer (Clooney), an American soldier born and brought up in Berlin, who was on his way home after the end of the war. Tully's girlfriend, Lena Brandt (Blanchett) is a prostitute who wants to escape from Germany and is taking Tully's help in doing so. Tully learns that Lena's dead husband is wanted by the Russians and he decides to strike a deal with them, intending to escape with the money without delivering Emil Brandt. Tully's dead body is subsequently found on Russian territory and Geismer smells a rat. He decides to dig a bit deeper and find out why Tully was shot, by whom and why do the Russians and the Ameriancs want Emil Brandt so much. The film was shot in black and white and was made to depict the film noir of the 1940's. The very typical drama and acting from that era adorn the film throughout. There really is no visible reason why such a style was given to the film since it does more to destroy and little to enhance the overall effect of the movie. The 40's style may not go down well with audiences of today and possibly if the movie was made in the regular manner sans the melodrama, it might have been a much better watch. A good attempt at being innovative yet, in the end, it is a love it or hate it film.

Thumbs up: Decent murder mystery plot

Thumbs down: 40's style and melodrama may not go down well with everyone

Rating: 6.3/10

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Average Movies, Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller,

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How Do You Know (2010)

Genre: Drama/Romance/Comedy

Starring: Owen Wilson, Jack Nicholson, Reese Witherspoon, Paul Rudd

Lisa (Witherspoon) an aspiring softball player doesn't make it to the final team which makes her frustrated and depressed. She gets caught between two men; Matty (Wilson) the self-obsessed and ignorant baseball player and George (Rudd) a Wall Street executive who has a federal charge against him. George's father Charles (Nicholson) framed George for inappropriate business dealings since Charles himself feared going to prison if caught. George's life comes crashing when his girlfriend leaves him and his fathers companies' board of directors refuse to pay his legal fees. He finds solace in Lisa who is already in love with Matty but is unsure if she is doing the right thing. The movie is a plain-jane love saga with nothing exceptional to offer. Apart from the few giggles and laughs that the movie manages to conjure, it is more or less a complete waste of any ones time and money. Makes you wonder why any sane-minded person would make such movies.

Thumbs up: The few and scattered humour

Thumbs down: Boring, cliched

Rating: 5.8/10

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Average Movies, Comedy, Drama, Romance,

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