Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 8:53 PM
Genre: Crime/Mystery/Drama/Thriller
Starring: Jack Nicholson, Fayne Dunaway, John Huston, Perry Lopez
A classic, multiple award winning and well-renowned movie, Chinatown is based upon the murder of Hollis Mulwray, an engineer at the Los Angeles water department. The government wants to build a dam to provide water to the city which Mulwray is against building. His wife Evelyn Mulwray hires private investigator J.J. 'Jack' Gittes (Nicholson) to investigate on her husbands affair with another woman. Jack unveils the affair and plasters it across newspapers and subsequently Holwray is found dead near a reservoir with Gittes suspecting it to be murder. With a case of mistaken identities and a huge puzzle that just does not add up, Gittes needs to get to the bottom of Mulwray's murder. SPOILER ALERT, the following lines are concerned with the movies climax. The movie progresses in a superb manner, gaining a lot of attention to the point that you are itching to know how the plot unveils. The biggest let down is the final climax which does not come open as any other murder mystery would. Its quite dramatic, different from the approach of the greater part of the movie and personally I don't think it suits the character of Gittes. It does not believe in a happy ending and may not appeal to all, at least not to me. For once perhaps if the movie followed a more conventional approach it might have been better but at the same time lets not forget all the accolades the movie has garnered and assume that it is right in its own part. Jack Nicholson has delivered in an amazing manner and the movie constantly reminds one of the famous Perry Mason series of murder mystery novels and the movie, along with Gittes' character, seem to be inspired from there although there is no official confirmation of it. The best bet you got for a murder mystery with the film noir feel to it.
Thumbs up: Jack Nicholson, amazing plot and mystery
Thumbs down: Unconventional climax contrary to the movies approach
Rating: 8.0/10
Amazing Movies,
Crime,
Drama,
Mystery,
Thriller,
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 9:36 PM
Genre: Crime/Action/Drama/Thriller
Starring: Sylvester Stallone, Antonia Banderas, Julianne Moore
Hit men movies are not uncommon to Hollywood and that too having two assassins is not going to make things any different. Robert Rath (Stallone) is an accomplished assassin and is said to be the best in the business. His daily routine is shattered when he discovers that his targets are being stolen by another assassin, Miguel Bain (Banderas). Bain is an over-enthusiastic newcomer to the business and looks up to Rath and has made him his mentor. Rath once had a Russian friend, Nicoli, whom he killed to become the best assassin available, a technique that Bain now wishes to apply. Rath befriends a target Electra (Moore) whom he agreed to team with to defeat Bain for mutual benefit. The movie plot is quite average with predictable results and some scenes make you think, 'Wait, how did that happen again?' The things to watch out for is the entertaining action and Banderas' psychotic performance to an extent. There really is nothing in the movie for any viewer except for raw action sequences with added flavours of Stallone and Banderas fighting it out.
Thumbs up: Entertaining action, Banderas
Thumbs down: Story
Rating: 6.5/10
Action,
Average Movies,
Crime,
Drama,
Thriller,
{[['
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 9:39 PM
Genre: Crime/Drama
Starring: James Woods, Melanie Griffith, Vincent Kartheiser, Natasha Gregson Wagner
A small time crook, Bobbie (Kartheiser), mugged people and broke into slot machines to get money for his daily dose of dope for him and his girlfriend Rosie (Wagner). Not even of age yet, the two are complete junkies and are a waste in life. Mel (Woods), a more accomplished criminal, discovers Bobbie and decides to introduce him to bigger loots, and along with his live-in girlfriend Sid (Griffith), start to train him. Life is good, money is good and everyone is having a good time when suddenly things start to get very ugly and the 'kids' Bobbie and Rosie start to realise that this might not be what they actually wanted in life. Near death experiences, differences, fights all start eating into their lives and what seemed to be gold on the outside turned out to be ugly rotten filth on the inside. The movie starts on a decently high note but development is slow, boring, predictable and not all that entertaining. Performances are mediocre and there are far better movies on speed-junkies and crime that the world has seen.
Thumbs up: Good start
Thumbs down: Bad plot development, boring and predictable
Rating: 6.2/10
Average Movies,
Crime,
Drama,
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 9:24 PM
Genre: Action/Adventure/Animation/Comedy/Sports/Drama
Starring (voice): Owen Wilson, Larry the Cable Guy, Michael Caine, Emily Mortimer, Eddie Izzard, John Turturro
A sequel to the first Cars movie, British industrialist Sir Miles Axlerod (Izzard) launches a new bio fuel after realising that fossil fuels are quickly degrading the world. To launch this fuel he is holding a World Grand Prix, a race that would see the top drivers from various motor sports battle it out on three different locations to prove the reliability of the fuel. Lightning McQueen (Wilson) is on the race and this time he decides to bring Mater (Cable Guy) along for the race. Finn McMissile (Caine), James Bond's Aston Martin DB5, is a British spy who is investigating a TV camera and its hidden functionality. Along with his sidekick, Holley Shiftwell (Mortimer) they are to rendezvous with an American spy at the World Grand Prix launch party, who has further information on the case. The American gets cornered and in an act of desperation, plants the device, holding the information, on Mater. McMissile and Shitwell track the device and assume Mater to be a very well disguised spy which according to Mater becomes the adventure of his life. The movie replicates human life very interestingly on cars. It's fun to hunt for the finer details and get amused at the thought process that went behind it. The only let down in the movie was the lack of good humour and comedy. Sure the movie is enticing and would definitely grasp the attention of kids, especially if its your kid brother, but it still lacks the ability to make you roll over with laughter.
Thumbs up: Superb animation, extremely gripping
Thumbs down: Not funny enough although it is entertainment-packed
Rating: 7.0/10
Action,
Adventure,
Animation,
Comedy,
Drama,
Good Movies,
Sports,
{[['
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 8:19 PM
Genre: Drama/Fantasy
Starring: Matt Damon, Cecile De France, Theirry Neuvic, Frankie McLaren, George McLaren
Three people, each with their own worries and miseries and unknown to each other, finally discover solace. Set against the backdrop of two world disasters, the south east Asian tsunami and the London tube bombings, the movie narrates the struggle that each one is facing with the matter of death. George Lonegan (Damon) is an American psychic who unlike others in the business has some truly unique powers which allow him to make a connection with the dead and convey messages. He cant run his life this way anymore and wants to get the so called 'power' out of him in order to run a normal life. A French TV anchor Marie Lelay (France) has a near death experience in a tsunami while holiday in Asia which shakes her life and she is hunting for life's answers. Two British twins, Marcus (McLaren) and Jason (McLaren) are very good friends more than brothers when Jason suddenly dies in a freak road accident. Marcus cant seem to get over his brothers death and is trying to find someone who can answer his questions but finds no one. Half an hour into the movie and you realise its going the Babel way where the individual plots would eventually merge. There really is no fault with the plots per se but the coming together of the entire storyline was predictable to some extent and not all that dramatic and lacked a certain degree of climax. Coming from the Clint Eastwood stable, one expects much more and something far better but that said, its not all that bad either.
Thumbs up: Some good pieces of acting, enticing plot line
Thumbs down: Weak climax, end is not as impressive as one would have liked it to be
Rating: 7.2/10
Drama,
Fantasy,
Good Movies,
{[['
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 9:19 PM
Genre: Action/Crime/Mystery
Starring: Ryan Reynolds, Ray Liotta, Jeremy Piven, Common, Alicia Keys, Andy Garcia, Taraji P. Henson, Tommy Flanagan
Narrating the story of the dirty world of Vegas, the movie depicts crime rings, mob bosses and FBI. Buddy Israel (Piven) is a Vegas award-winning entertainer who enters the crime world and gets affiliated with mob boss Primo Sparazza. Due to differences between Sparazza and Israel, they part ways and Sparazza now wants Israel dead and not just dead, wants his beating heart in his hand and for this he has put a $ 1 million bounty on Israel's head. Word gets around of the bounty and hit men, mass murderers and assassins run amok to get their hands on Israel first including Sparazza's own hired man, the mysterious Swede, of whom the FBI has no record. FBI Deputy Director Locke (Garcia) is in talks with Israel on an immunity deal and Agent Messner (Reynolds) and Agent Carruthers (Liotta) are sent to secure Israel from the 'Swede'. The movie in a way reminds one of how a Guy Ritchie movie would be, sans the humour and sarcasm. It is a decent attempt at showing multiple people gunning for a common target but the movie is still off the mark and along with some additional elements it could have been made much better. Some unwanted dramatic bits but showcases Vegas crime and glamour quite aptly.
Thumbs up: A nice action and crime entertainer
Thumbs down: Lacks that 'feeling' or 'punch' before you can really start to appreciate it
Rating: 6.8/10
Action,
Crime,
Good Movies,
Mystery,
{[['
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 8:52 PM
Genre: Drama/Romance/Sports/Biography
Starring: Al Pacino, Matthew McConaughey, Rene Russo
Brandon Lang (McConaughey) is a professional football player who had to taken an early retirement due to a career-ending injury. He started advising people on the kind of bets they should put on football games due to his intense knowledge of the game, the players and their strategies. His high and consistent accuracy rate got the attention of Walter (Pacino) a New York based betting adviser, one of the largest in the country, who trains him and shows him how he could put his skills to better use. He creates a fake identity of John Anthony who is the slick, sharp and confident New Yorker as against the more bland and sober Brandon. Brandon slowly climbs the career graph where money, woman and all the sins of the world are easily thrown at his feet. The movie kicks off on a decently high note, but as it progresses further, it soon becomes evident that it is another rags to riches story where money does more harm than good and the inevitable downfall. The movie is based on the true life story of a certain Brandon Lang who had experienced a similar life as depicted by John Anthony. The movie tries to bank upon Al Pacino who delivers the usual filthy-rich businessman who has no worry in the world and is shown to be super-smart and cunning. A pretty average movie that could have been far better.
Thumbs up: A good start, good adaptation of a real life story
Thumbs down: Predictable outcome, poor performances
Rating: 6.5/10
Biography,
Drama,
Romance,
Sports,
{[['
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 1:05 AM
Genre: Action/Adventure/Mystery/Crime/Animation
Starring (voice): Daniel Craig, Jamie Bell, Simon Pegg, Andy Serkis, Nick Frost
When a legend is recreated, everyone is apprehensive if the legend would be made even more legendary. The Tintin comic book series by Herge has won fans around the world and has been recreated in many forms. The latest adaptation comes from Steven Speilberg and his attempt at making a movie on the adventures of the young Belgian journalist. Tintin (Bell) and his faithful dog Snowy spot a unique model ship known as the Unicorn and Tintin instantly falls in love with it and purchases it. Soon after, a horde of people try to buy it off him with the ship eventually going missing from his apartment. Tintin realises that something indeed must be unique to the ship if so many people are behind it and eventually discovers the secret of the Unicorn. Ivanovich Sakharine (Craig) has taken Captain Haddock's (Serkis) ship as his own and is trying to locate the treasure of the legendary pirate, Red Rackham. With Tintin holding a piece of the puzzle to the location, Sakharine must get it from him before Tintin discovers what he is up to. Don't let the movie title fool you because the movie is not entirely based on the book, 'The Secret of the Unicorn'. In fact only the first quarter, with some heavy improvements and modifications, is based on the afore mentioned comic, the second quarter from 'The Crab With Golden Claws', the third quarter being the scriptwriters own creation and the final quarter coming from 'Red Rackhams Treasure'. The red Jeep Willy from 'Land of Black Gold' makes a special appearance too. Amalgamating so many books into a movie could have had disastrous consequences but the movie doesn't really come out too bad. The third quarter, which isn't part of any book but a creation for the movie, is probably the most disastrous part especially the over-the-top crane scene which seemed completely out of place for the era in which the movie is set. Apart from that, the fluidity in which the various books merge into each other is amazing. The animations used are extremely sharp and life-like which definitely sets the bar for modern-day graphics. Another missing element in the movie which made people love Tintin was the humour. Although Thompson (Pegg) and Thomson (Frost) were present, their presence did not carry too much humour and comedy, a missing ingredient from an otherwise fun to watch flick. And this comes from a die hard Tintin fan.
Thumbs up: Superb animation, great adaptation of multiple comic books
Thumbs down: More of the twin inspectors and their humour, the crane scene and the dam scene seemed out of place
Rating: 8.0/10
Action,
Adventure,
Amazing Movies,
Animation,
Crime,
Mystery,
{[['
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 9:01 PM
Genre: Comedy/Fantasy/Romance/Drama
Starring: Jim Carrey, Morgan Freeman, Jennifer Aniston, Steve Carell, Philip Baker Hall
Every time something in our life goes wrong we curse god, we curse our luck and we wish our life could be better. Who wouldn't want the power of god to change our own world for good? But gaining gods responsibility is not as easy as it might look. Bruce Nolan (Carrey) is a TV news reporter who never got the big stories but was stuck with the smaller insignificant stuff. Frustrated with his life, his bad luck and how things are just not working out, he curses God (Freeman) who decides to teach Bruce a lesson. He grants Bruce all of his powers and tells him to the job of being God for a while and see how it is. Bruce has a field day with his wife Grace (Aniston), he improves his life at work and does the biggest mistake of granting every ones wishes to be true. The movie portrays our perception of God and how at times we wish for something but at the same time don't know the consequences of what we wish for. We might want something but if given the opportunity to grant that desire, we might just think twice about what we asked for. The movie is a good mix of comedy and romance and with Jim Carrey doing the slapstick stuff it can never get any better. A light entertainer which makes you laugh and improves your mood.
Thumbs up: Jim Carrey, an overall decent entertainer
Thumbs down: More humour maybe?
Rating: 6.8/10
Comedy,
Drama,
Fantasy,
Good Movies,
Romance,
{[['
']]}
Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 10:36 PM
Genre: Drama/Sports
Starring: Mickey Rourke, Marisa Tomei, Evan Rachel WoodAs children, we all grew up watching hard-bodied, tough men wring it out in the wrestling arena. We all once harboured ambitions to be like them and be as hardcore as possible. And we all knew somewhere in the back of our minds that it is all fake and made up but never wanted to listen to that voice in our head. Randy 'The Ram' (Rourke) is a professional wrestler whose glory days were in the '80's but inspite his old age and illness he continues to wrestle. He doesn't lead the life like we would all imagine wrestlers to lead and lives off a trailer park, makes measly money in the fights, and is like just another average person in the showbiz. He tries to romance a stripper Cassidy (Tomei) and get back to his estranged daughter Stephanie (Wood) in a bid to redeem his life and mistakes. The movie mostly revolves around the life of Randy and Cassidy, both in the show business with demanding skills. In Randy's life people within his show love him but in the real world he is a nobody and people don't care for him. For Cassidy it is the exact opposite who isn't cared or loved for in the club but has a family and children with people around her to love and care for her. The movie shows the true world of wrestling and the skill demands some jobs have on people just so that the average person is entertained.
Thumbs up: Fabulous performance, good paradoxical story
Thumbs down: Slow, would have been more interesting had it been based on a true life incident
Rating: 7.8/10
Drama,
Good Movies,
Sports,
{[['
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 4:58 AM
Genre: Comedy/Crime/Action/Adventure
Starring: Bubba Smith, David Graf, Michael Winslow, Leslie Easterbrook, Marion Ramsey, Janet Jones, Lance Kinsey, Matt McCoy, G.W. Bailey, George Gaynes, Rene Auberjonois
The fifth installment of the Police Academy series shifts base to the exotic Miami when Comdt. Eris Lassard (Gaynes) gets kidnapped. Captain Harris (Bailey) is as usual trying to overthrow Lassard and take over his position and has learnt that Lassard has crossed the state mandatory retirement age and is overdue to vacate the post. Lassard is always being awarded the police officer of the decade at Miami and he invites his trusted officers to accompany him for the ceremony. Tony (Auberjonois) is a thief who recently stole some diamonds but accidentally managed to switch bags with Lassard at the airport. With his diamonds with Lassard, he decides to kidnap him to extract them with Lassard's team hot on his trail. The movies in this series were never really high on entertainment with average humour, predictable plot and weak acting. A lot of the actors and characters were subject to shuffling, with the latest being Steve Guttenberg who played the lead role of Carrey Mahoney and was absent from this movie. An avoidable movie only to watch if you really need something light and simplistic.
Thumbs up: Nothing exceptional
Thumbs down: Humour and acting
Rating: 4.6/10
Action,
Adventure,
Comedy,
Crime,
Pathetic Movies,
{[['
']]}
Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 4:01 AM
Genre: Drama
Starring: Javier Bardem, Maricel Alvarez, Hanna Bouchaib, Guillermo Estrella, Eduard Fernandez, Diaryatou Daff, Cheng Tai Shen
Set in Barcelona, Spain, the plot revolves around Uxbal (Bardem) a man with an unstable and weak income who would do just about anything to make some money. From talking to the dead, selling replicated designer wear and trafficking Chinese labourers, Uxbal is the man you would want to approach if your stuck in the mud. Uxbal seperated from his wife Marambra (Alvarez) due to her mental condition and her inability to look after their two children Ana (Bouchaib) and Mateo (Estrella). Uxbal is suffering from cancer and has only a few months to survive. In these few months he needs to sort many things in his life out to make sure that his children have a safe and happy future. Mambra is desperate to get back to him and with no other person to trust his children with, Uxbal is forced to accept her in his life once more much to his despise. His worries seem to be endless with his children's future being the pinnacle of the lot. The movie seems to be a bit 'arty' and may not be the conventional movie one wold come across in theatres. The performances of Javier Bardem, Maricel Alvarez and everyone else is simply outstanding and merits those endless awards the movie has received. The only reason to watch this movie is to enjoy the fabulous acting and the fine plot execution that it enjoys. Yes, it is slow and can get a bit boring for some but that is how one would expect a movie of this particular genre to turn out to be. Sheer brilliance I tell you!
Thumbs up: Great performances
Thumbs down: Slow for some
Rating: 7.7/10
Drama,
Good Movies,
{[['
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 12:31 AM
Genre: Action/Drama/Romance/Science-fiction
Starring: Shah Rukh Khan, Kareena Kapoor, Arjun Rampal, Tom Wu, Armaan Verma, Shahana Goswami
Time and again I have said that Bollywood lacks recipe and in spite of rapid evolutions in movie-making, ideas still seemed to be ripped out of Hollywood blockbusters. Shekhar Subramanium (Khan) is a game developer for Barron Industries but does not appear to be cool enough in the eyes of his son Prateek (Verma). In a bid to get into his sons good books and make an outstanding video game, Shekhar develops the ultimate super villain, Ra.One (Rampal & Wu). Ra.One is equipped with artificial intelligence where he quickly learns the moves of his players and gets smarter and hence tougher. Things start going haywire and Ra.One from the game comes to life and wrecks havoc. He is out to hunt for Prateek whom he has learnt is his most formidable opponent and decides to hunt him down. In order to stop Ra.One, the good guy, G.One (Khan) is brought to life and to bring an end to this mutiny. Shekhar's wife Sonia (Kapoor) and Prateek are in danger of being killed and it is up to G.One to save them. The movie is a rip-off of Hollywood's best superheroes all in one. Ra.One and G.One share the same suit design as
Iron Man, especially the HART which is a direct copy of the same device on
Iron Man. Many fight scenes are copied from
Terminator including the one from
Terminator 2 where T-1000 rebuilds itself after getting disintegrated by liquid nitrogen. The movie has supposedly tried to use the most advanced special effects to date but yet many scenes seem be hopeless and look tacky even for 20-year-old graphics technology standard. The movie is a total washout and a case study of 'How to create too much buzz for an entirely worthless product'. It still kills me on how G.One managed to come back to life after being killed, any answers?
Thumbs up: Arjun Rampal filled Ra.One's character well with some scenes being executed with finesse
Thumbs down: Copied plot, very poor special effects.
Rating: 4.8/10
Action,
Bollywood,
Drama,
Pathetic Movies,
Romance,
Science-fiction,
{[['
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 11:25 PM
Genre: Action/Adventure/Crime/History/Romance
Starring: Matthew Macfayden, Milla Jovovich, Luke Evans, Ray Stevenson, Orlando Bloom, Logan Lerman, Christoph Waltz, Gabriella Wilde, Mads Mikkelsen, Freddie Fox, Juno Temple
Based on the famous French novel, the story is set in 17th century France which was then under the reign of King Louis XIII (Fox). The kings Three Musketeers, Athos (Macfayden), Porthos (Stevenson) and Aramis (Evans) serve the king and hence serve France. A young country lad D'Artagnan (Lerman) is anxious to join the Musketeers and comes to Paris to realise his dreams. He meets his mentors who are impressed with his skills and D'Artagnan soon becomes friends with the trio. Milady (Jovovich) Athos' ex-wife who earlier betrayed him, is hired by the Duke of Buckingham (Bloom) and the French Cardinal Richelieu (Waltz) to steal Queen Anne's (Temple) diamonds from Paris and bring it to Buckingham. The Queen is framed with having an affair with Buckingham and the King gets word of it. To test her loyaly and the truth of the accusation, he orders the Queen to wear the diamonds to the ball in five days, if she fails to wear them then Buckingham and the Queen's fate would be sealed. The novel has been made into a movie a countless number of times with this movie being the latest so far. The movie in general has nothing to write home about with action and performances being mediocre. The visual effects though are quite nice with the 3D effect being very life like. An average entertainer that could have been far better if the plot and action was moulded in a slightly different manner.
Thumbs up: 3D experience
Thumbs down: Average action and plot
Rating: 6.5/10
Action,
Adventure,
Average Movies,
Crime,
Historical Event,
Romance,
{[['
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