Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 9:31 AM
Genre: Comedy/Crime/Drama
Starring: Mike Myers, Heather Graham, Michael York, Rob Lowe, Seth Green, Verne Troyer, Mindy Sterling
James Bond, oops, Austin Powers (Myers) returns once again but the element that makes him the man that he is, has gone missing. Austin Powers has lost his mojo, Austin Powers has lost his libido, Austin Powers has lost his manhood and hence Austin Powers cannot shag! That is very bad news for Mr. Powers and even worse news for the ladies. Dr. Evil (Myers) sent his secret agent, Fat Bastard (Myers) back to 1969 to steal Mr. Powers' man-ly elements whilst he remained frozen during that time. Powers in the year 1999 suddenly realises that something from within him is gone missing and soon learns of Evil's theft in the past. He too decides to go back to 1969 to get his vital organs back in order and also prevent Dr. Evil from bringing down Washington D.C. with a laser beam perched atop the Moon. Along with his oh-so-sexy accomplice, Felicity Shagwell (Graham), Powers must save the world and bring himself back to the ladies. If you think Mike Myers outdid himself with his dual roles of Evil and Powers, he just raised the bar with a third performance of Fat Bastard. The entertainment quotient of the series is ever increasing with the humour, satire and jokes being fabulous and fun. The abrupt ending of Miss Kensington from the previous movie and the absence of Mrs. Kensington in 1969 seems out of place, but who cares really?
Thumbs up: Mike Myers as always
Thumbs down: Awkward plot line
Rating: 7.5/10
Amazing Movies,
Comedy,
Crime,
Drama,
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 8:58 AM
Genre: Comedy/Drama/Crime
Starring: Mike Myers, Elizabeth Hurley, Michael York, Robert Wagner, Seth Green, Fabiana Udenio
What would happen if Jim Carrey would play the role of James Bond? You would get Austin Powers (Myers); the British Spy whose every move gives woman orgasms on the street, whose suave style and character are loved by all and the sole person on the planet who can put an end to Dr. Evil (Myers). Its England in the year 1967 when Dr. Evil freezes himself and escapes from Powers to outer space and promises to return again. Not to get outdone, Powers freezes himself too in order to be ready when Evil decides to return. 30 years later, Evil returns once again with plans of world domination and Austin Powers is reborn. The flashy colours of the 60's, the freedom of unprotected sex, the boot-cut trousers and his overtly sexual character are a complete misfit in this era and our spy is finding it a hard time to adjust himself. Along with his accomplice Miss Kensington (Hurley), the daughter of his 1967 girlfriend Mrs. Kensington, Austin must stop Dr. Evil from planting a nuclear warhead inside the Earths core which would make every volcano explode. The movie is loaded with satire, humour, spoofs and is made not to make any sense but to simply roll you over with laughter. Myers steals the show with his dual performances of Evil and Powers. Its his British humour, awkwardly humorous scenes and the 60's misfit style are simply fabulous. Its shagadelic baby!
Thumbs up: Mike Myers and the amazing humour
Thumbs down: Some slow scenes that break the flow
Rating: 7.5/10
Comedy,
Crime,
Drama,
Good Movies,
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 1:41 PM
Genre: Comedy/Drama
Starring: Kal Penn, John Cho, Thomas Lennon, Amir Blumenfeld, Paula Garces, Danny Trejo
Harold (Cho) & Kumar (Penn) have entertained audiences in the past when they went to White Castle and Guantanamo Bay. The two best friends perpetually landed themselves in trouble with Harold trying to figure a more reasonable way out and Kumar choosing something more radical. The two friends have now parted ways with Harold tired of Kumar's continued immaturity and not being able to accept adulthood. He has settled down with Maria (Garces) and Maria's family decides to drop in for Christmas. Her father Carlos Perez (Trejo) has entrusted Harold with the task of decorating a Christmas tree that he has been growing for years for this special occasion. Kumar is still spending time like a college graduate, smoking weed all day long but things suddenly change when he finds a package with Harold's name on his doorstep. Not having seen him in all these years he decides to pay him a visit and give the package. Kumar, ever-famous for his blunders, puts Carlos' tree on fire and the two now need to look for a new tree and decorate it before he returns home. The movies have consistently focused on the duo and their misfortune events but what made them famous and everyone loved was the slapstick and enjoyable humour. Penn, as usual, brings in all the sex and stupid humour which seemed to lack finesse and character. The movie doesn't make you laugh like the previous movies, gets extremely boring during unwanted melodramatic scenes and lacks a different plot. Fails to live up to the brands name and a big let down for fans.
Thumbs up: Very few selected scenes that have the Harld & Kumar essence
Thumbs down: Horrible humour, extremely boring at times
Rating: 5.8/10
Average Movies,
Comedy,
Drama,
Sex Comedy,
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 4:26 AM
Genre: Animation/Adventure/Comedy/Drama/Action/Fantasy/Crime
Starring (voice): Antonio Banderas, Salma Hayek, Zach Galifianakis, Billy Bob Thornton, Amy Sedaris
The innocent, brown furred, black-eyed, Spaniard cat from Shrek gets a movie to his own name. Puss in Boots (Banderas) is an outlaw who loots and plunders, not from the innocent, but from those who deserve it, much like Robin Hood. He learns about the magic beanstalk that leads to the Golden Goose that lives high up in the Giants castle and lays golden eggs. He embarks on an adventure to find the magic beans when he crosses paths with Kitty Softpaws (Hayek) a cat much like him and out for the same objective. His adventures lead him to once again come face to face with Humpty Dumpty (Galifianakis) an old friend who started stealing from the innocent which forced Puss to part ways with him. Humpty and Puss had a childhood ambition of growing the beanstalk and now Humpty knows how exactly to do it and needs Puss' help once more. The character of Puss was loved and applauded by all for his cute and suave Latino style. With the Shrek series coming to an end, Dreamworks' attempt at reviving old fairy tales and portraying them contrary to our normal beliefs might have failed in this attempt. Shrek was loved for its humour and unique plot line, however, Puss in Boots fails on both those aspects with below average humour and an extremely predictable story. Targeted towards young kids, the movie needs heavy humour that the audience could associate with and not the rude, sarcastic and slightly sexual comedy that the movie banks upon. A let-down for people who expected the Shrek magic once more.
Thumbs up: Unique blend of various fairytale characters
Thumbs down: Boring humour, hopeless attempt at being entertaining
Rating: 6.2/10
Action,
Adventure,
Animation,
Average Movies,
Comedy,
Crime,
Drama,
Fantasy,
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 11:52 AM
Genre: Drama/Thriller/Crime/Action/Mystery
Starring: Liam Neeson, Diane Kruger, January Jones, Aidan Quinn, Bruno Ganz, Sebastian Koch
Liam Neeson will forever be known for his contemporary spy movies and this one adds to the list. Dr. Martin Harris (Neeson) is a professor in biotechnology who has come with his wife Elizabeth (Jones) for a biotechnology summit to Berlin, Germany. He accidentally leaves his briefcase, with his passport inside it. at the airport and injures his head when the taxi has an accident and falls into the river. Falling into a coma, Martin wakes up only four days later and finds his wife not around with him. Everybody he earlier knew refuse to recognise him, his identity stolen by an impostor (Quinn) and with no identity to prove himself he becomes an unknown. With faint traces of his memory after arriving in Berlin, the only person he remembers in Gina (Kruger) the taxi driver who rescued him from drowning. Along with Gina he needs to find his true identity and unravel the mystery behind the 'fake' Martin Harris. The movie is very typical and the role of Martin Harris seems to be tailor made for Neeson. His fabulous performance, supported by Kruger, add a lot of character to the movie and makes it an interesting watch. The commendable aspect being that till the very end the movie is packing surprises for you, just when you thought you had it all figured out. The sad part, however, is that in the midst of all the twists and turns, there are multiple lose ends that the movie conveniently forgets to tie together leading to gaping visible flaws in the story. All in all, a great Neeson movie that reminded me, oddly, of
Taken.
Thumbs up: Neeson and the entertaining plot
Thumbs down: Lose ends in the plot that were never answered
Rating: 7.5/10
Action,
Crime,
Drama,
Good Movies,
Mystery,
Thriller,
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 10:54 AM
Genre: Science-fiction/Action/Crime/Thriller/Drama/Mystery
Starring: Tom Cruise, Max von Sydow, Samantha Morton, Collin Farrell
How do you reduce crime in the city? Prevent crime from ever happening of course. Three mutated human beings, called Precogs, gain the gift of seeing the future and hence detecting crime. Washington D.C. sets up a Precrime department, headed by John Anderton (Cruise), whose task is to learn of any murders predicted by the Precogs and prevent them from happening. With the high success ratio of the operation that the city experiences, Precrime is going national and a member of the Department of Justice, Danny Witwer (Farrell) is sent to evaluate the effectiveness of the department before the crucial decision is taken. Since Precrime solely relies on the vision obtained by the Precogs, the possibility of the actual murder not taking place exists and the question arises, how can you arrest someone for a crime they never did but were only forecasted to do. John staunchely believes in Precrime and its ideology but found himself on the other side of the line when a crime to be conducted by him is foretold, where he supposedly is to murder a man he has never met. The movie is layered with multiple stories that all go in the direction to fathom the dilemma that arises out of the ideology of the Precrime department. Tom Cruise has put on a fabulous performance and is not action focused, as his more recent movies are, and comes out as a more contemporary actor who can do serious acting. The movie's storyline is unique and interesting and coming from the notable Steven Speilberg, one expects as much.
Thumbs up: Tom Cruise and the plot
Thumbs down: Repeatedly fast and slow, pace changing plot development
Rating: 7.9/10
Action,
Crime,
Drama,
Good Movies,
Mystery,
Science-fiction,
Thriller,
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 6:28 AM
Genre: Crime/Drama/Thriller/Action
Starring: Clint Eastwood, Andrew Robinson, John Vernon, Reni Santoni
The city of San Fransisco is facing a sadistic serial murderer calling himself Scorpio (Robinson) who would stop at nothing to extort money from the city. If he doesn't get what he demands for, a life would be lost. Faced with the dilemma of fueling crime versus saving the people, the Mayor (Vernon) appoints Inspector Harry Callahan (Eastwood) the task of finding and arresting the lunatic. However, getting hold of him seems harder than what Callahan had anticipated leading to a cat and mouse chase for the rest of the movie. The movie showcases Eastwood's evergreen and fine performances that have always gripped and thrilled audiences. What the movie lacked was a unique plot development and perhaps even some twists. Unfortunately the killer and his identity were revealed early on in the movie leaving no surprises for the audience. All that ensued was Callahan chasing Scorpio and his attempts at apprehending him. The movie is raw and tries to be as practical as possible by showcasing how crime is tackled in the real world, but you wish it had something unexpected to turn up right towards the end; it's a movie after all.
Thumbs up: Clint Eastwood, raw performances
Thumbs down: A bland plot which needs some more spice
Rating: 6.9/10
Action,
Crime,
Drama,
Good Movies,
Thriller,
{[['
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 4:05 AM
Genre: Action/Crime/Drama
Starring: Tom Cruise, Dougray Scott, Thandie Newton, Ving Rhames, Richard Roxburgh, John Polson, Brendan Gleeson, Rade Serbedzija
The second edition of the acclaimed
Mission Impossible movie, Agent Ethan Hunt (Cruise) returns once again to recover the dangerous virus Chimera and its cure, Bellerophon from the hands of former IMF Agent Sean Ambrose (Scott). Dr. Nekhorvich (Serbedzija) was forced by his employers at Biocyte to produce a monstrous virus, Chimera, which can effectively kill a person within 20 hours and also create its cure which could be then sold to the world at astronomical rates. Nekhorvich is intercepted by Ambrose before he can hand over the virus and the cure to the IMF and is killed. Ambrose intends to sell the stolen drugs back to Biocyte and thus ensuring a healthy profit for himself. Hunt along with the help of a professional thief, and Ambrose's ex-girlfriend, Nyah Nordoff-Hall (Newton) must recover the virus and the cure before all hell breaks lose. The concept of the first movie was to portray an impossible mission and not merely something that is difficult. The impossibility factor is lacking in the movie along with the aspect of a mystery and a strong climax. The movie also includes a romantic angle which slows the pace greatly. All that said and done, the movie packs a lot of punch and adrenaline-rushing action which makes up the flaws to an extent. Perhaps if the mission was more 'impossible' and not merely 'find and retrieve' it would have lived up to the first movie's expectations.
Thumbs up: Amazing action
Thumbs down: Mission difficult, not impossible
Rating: 6.9/10
Action,
Crime,
Drama,
Good Movies,
{[['
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 11:09 PM
Genre: Action/Crime/Mystery
Starring: Tom Cruise, Jon Voight, Emmanuelle Beart, Henry Czerny, Jean Reno, Ving Rhames, Vanessa Redgrave
The Impossible Missions Force (IMF) is a secret wing of the CIA whose agents try to execute operations that are otherwise impossible for regular agents. Agent Ethan Hunt (Cruise) and his team are preventing an American diplomat in Prague from stealing the CIA's non-official cover (NOC) list which would reveal the identities of all their agents and spies in eastern Europe. Hunt's entire team goes down in the operation, except himself and Agent Claire Phelps (Beart). The IMF Director Kittridge (Czerny) reveals that the entire operation was a hoax to spot a mole in the IMF and the actual NOC list was safe in Langley. The IMF suspects Hunt to be the mole and is now wanted by his own boss. The movie was conceived from a famous television series where Agent Hunt was the main protagonist of the show, trying to fulfill the hardest of missions. The movie attempts at being a modern day James Bond who performs the most insane of stunts that you could ever imagine. The climax action-sequence atop the TGV is a bit too hard to imagine with choppers inside tunnels pushing things a bit too far. Overall, a great action movie which needs a more spicy storyline to make it even better
Thumbs up: Tom Cruise, the break-in scene inside the CIA headquarters
Thumbs down: A slightly bland plot with hard to imagine action sequences
Rating: 7.0/10
Action,
Crime,
Good Movies,
Mystery,
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 10:01 PM
Genre: Action/Adventure/Science-fiction/Drama/Fantasy
Starring: Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman, Hayden Christensen, Ian McDiarmid, Samuel L.Jackson, Frank Oz (voice)
The epic inter-galactic saga comes to an end after five successful movies with the sixth movie aiming to bring a end to the entire story. The movie had garnered millions of fans from throughout the world of all ages, right from those who have seen the very first movie back in 1977 to their sons who enjoyed the prequel movies. Anakin Skywalker (Christensen) is a Jedi warrior and is in love with Padme (Portman). Senator Palpatine (McDiarmid) has been kidnapped by the enemies of the republic and Anakin along with Obi-Wan Kenobi (McGregor) must rescue him. The Jedi council and particularly Master Yoda (Oz) had their doubts on Anakin and were not sure if the force within him was for good or for bad. Anakin breached the Jedi's regulations by submitting himself to desire and want by fathering a child with Padame. Anakin saw a vision of Padame dying during childbirth but did not know what he could do to stop it without the Jedi council knowing about it. Senator Palpatine is in reality the Sith Lord who realised that the dark side was strong within Anakin and lured him to join hands with the context of being able to save Padame. The greatest achievement of the movie is its ability to fluidly join the story lines together although the first movie began halfway through the story.
Episode III and
Episode IV might have been made around 30 years apart yet each and every aspect of new vs old have been cunningly brought together with adequate detailing on the finer aspects. The movie, however, failed to bring out a high climax which would have been deservedly fit for a saga of its kind. That said, it does give a good closing feature which gives you the impression that it has finally all come to an end. This movie is perhaps the most dissected and detailed movie ever, with every vehicle, army, planet and character having a name and story behind it. A worthy finishing movie with only some minor drawbacks.
Thumbs up: Good ending, highly entertaining
Thumbs down: Climax sequence is a bit weak
Rating: 7.5/10
Action,
Adventure,
Drama,
Fantasy,
Good Movies,
Science-fiction,
{[['
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 2:28 AM
Genre: Comedy/Drama/Adventure
Starring: Rowan Atkinson, Breckin Meyer, Cuba Gooding Jr., Vince Vieluf, Seth Green, Whoopi Goldberg, Lanei Chapman, John Cleese, Jon Lovitz, Kathy Najimy, Amy Smart
The owner of the Venetian Hotel and Casino, Las Vegas, Donald Sinclair (Cleese) is probably the most self-proclaimed eccentric man ever. He realised that the rich and famous are bored of the normal card games played in the casino and want to bet on something more irrational and fun. From 'which chamber maid can hang from a rod the longest', 'how much would a hooker charge for doing something very absurb' to, of course, the rat race. 6 groups of people were picked at random from the casino to take part in a cross country race to Silver Springs, New Mexico where the winner wins $2 million. Sinclair and his friends get to bet on who they think would be the winner. Football referee Owen Templeton (Gooding Jr.) has lost his reputation for messing up a coin toss during the recent game and fans would willingly beat him up on sight. Petty cooks and brothers Duane (Green) and Blaine Cody (Vieluf) have achieved nothing in life and think this might just be it. Vera Baker (Goldberg) has just met her long lost daughter Merill Jennings (Chapman) after years of being apart. Nick Schaffer (Meyer) has no intentions of taking part in the race, however, his flight to Chicago is grounded, thanks to the Cody brothers, and he meets a helicopter pilot Tracy (Smart) who is heading towards Silver Springs. Since she is going there after all, and since he cant get to Chicago, he reckoned he might as well get back to the race. Enrico Pollini (Atkinson) a narcoleptic Italian keeps falling off to sleep at completely random places, only to wake up and continue onwards. Randy Pear (Lovitz) is a gambling-addict who has come with his family to Vegas on vacation. He lies to his family that he has work in Silver Springs and keeps cooking up stories on the way. The movie is funny and is a sure-shot dose of entertainment. You might not fall off your seat though, but it would give you a pretty good laugh!
Thumbs up: Great humour
Thumbs down: Everything else
Rating: 6.8/10
Adventure,
Comedy,
Drama,
Good Movies,
{[['
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 9:22 PM
Genre: Drama/Musical/Biography/Romance
Starring: Vidya Balan, Naseeruddin Shah, Emraan Hashmi, Tusshar Kapoor, Rajesh Sharma
Does sex sell? Well at least India's queen of melodramatic soap operas intends to find that out. A true-life story of a South-Indian porn star, the movie explores how sex was used, and might still be used, to sell a movie. Ironically the movie itself employs conservative Vidya Balan to shed everything that covers her to add enough oomph to the movie to make it more appealing to audiences. Reshma aka Silk (Balan) aspired to be in the movies and ran away from home to head towards Madras where she wished to realise her dreams. Film producer Selvaganesh (Sharma) discovers her and her willingness to reveal everything on screen and decides to feature her in some songs opposite the super-star of South-Indian cinema, Suryakant (Shah). Surya is notorious for his affairs with young aspiring actresses and satisfies his sexual desires with Silk who in the meantime gets a lot of movie offers due to her 'friendship' with Surya. Contemporary director Abraham (Hashmi) wants to reach Hollywood and hates using sexuality and 'spice' to sell his movies. Although he makes fabulous films that win him awards, it does not get him any money at the box office. Suryakants brother Ramakant (Kapoor) is attracted to Silk after a fallout between his brother and her and tries to romance her. The movie aspired to shatter Indian mainstream cinema with Balan's three-inch-deep-cleavage with truckloads of sex and vulgarity to reveal the inside on-goings of the industry. Sadly the only focus of the movie seems to be Balan and every other characters presence being very rigid and structured. Enter, do your bit, and move out of the script all together. Since the focus has been on Vidya Balan throughout, her transformation from rags to riches has been shown with a steady evolution. Even her appearance, gradual weight-gain, and puff on her right cheek were taken care of and shown with subtlety. If its Balans navel and exposed thighs that you aspire then the movie beckons for you, else go watch something else.
Thumbs up: Vidya Balan and the focus on her character, Awesome dialogues add humour
Thumbs down: Poor piecing together of the plot, poor supporting cast performance, predictable and a bit boring
Rating: 5.6/10
Average Movies,
Biography,
Bollywood,
Drama,
Musical,
Romance,
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 3:10 AM
Genre: History/Biography/War/Action/Drama/Adventure
Starring: Orlando Bloom, Eva Green, Martin Csokas, Brendan Gleeson, Jeremy Irons, Edward Norton, Alexander Siddig
The heavily fictionalised tale of Balian of Ibelin (Bloom) a French blacksmith who journeys to Jerusalem after meeting his estranged father. He forgives his fathers mistakes and in return his father knights him, just before he dies. Balian arrives in Jerusalem at the court of King Baldwin IV(Norton) and serves the king just like his father would. Jerusalem being the holy city for both Muslims and Christians, it was subject to heavy war with both sides trying to gain control over it. King Baldwin does not believe in anti-Muslim killings and does not support the Knights Templar that kills Muslims mercilessly and hence peace prevails. The Kings sister Sybilla (Green) is married to Guy de Lusignan (Csokas) who is waiting for the leprosy stricken King to succumb to his injuries and hence become king of Jerusalem and kill all the Muslims. The movie recounts the true incidents that took place during the Crusades of the 12th century and recalls the story of Balian of Ibelin although it may not be historically accurate. Coming from the stable of Ridley Scott, the very man that gave us
Gladiator and
American Gangster, the movie is a very big let down. There is no visible plot for quite a bit and the plot development is slow and boring. Edward Norton's performance was a waste especially since he was forever behind a mask. Orlando Bloom failed to live up to the expectations of creating an exciting movie and story in general was extremely immature and predictable. A very typical medieval heroism movie that probably should never have been made.
Thumbs up: Nothing exceptionally stands out
Thumbs down: Orlando Bloom, story and execution
Rating: 6.3/10
Action,
Adventure,
Average Movies,
Biography,
Drama,
Historical Event,
War,
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