Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 8:39 AM
Genre: Drama/Comedy
Starring: George Clooney, Shailene Woodley, Amara Miller, Nick Krause, Patricia Hastie
The life of an average American man who suddenly seems to have too much on his hand to control. Matt King (Clooney) is a lawyer based in Hawaii and lives with his wife and two daughters. His relationship with his wife, Elizabeth (Hastie) is strained and friends and family inform him its because there was a lack of sex and excitement. Elizabeth suffers a jet ski accident and goes into a coma with no hopes of revival. Its only then that Matt's elder daughter Alexandra (Woodley) informs him of her extra-marital affair with an unknown man. Matt is the sole trustee of a family trust that owns a huge chunk of virgin land on one of the islands. Due to a law his trust would expire in seven years and he has no choice but to sell it. Managing his daughters, his wife's accident, finding his wife's lover and the island deal coming together to burden one average man makes life hard, very hard. Clooney has done a phenomenal piece of acting and rightfully earns the numerous awards he has received for it. The light comedy sprinkled in the first half of the movie and the dramatic second half is the perfect structure for a movie of its kind and is spot-on. The movie is pretty much flawless but suffers from the drawbacks of the genre of the movie. A movie of its kind can get heavy and is slow, attributes that naturally occur and are unavoidable. A definite watch and gives the viewer a lot to reflect upon.
Thumbs up: Fabulous acting, especially Clooney
Thumbs down: Slow and heavy
Rating: 7.7/10
Comedy,
Drama,
Good Movies,
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 2:26 AM
Genre: Crime/Action/Drama
Starring: Hrithik Roshan, Sanjay Dutt, Priyanka Chopra, Rishi Kapoor, Om Puri
A remake of the 1990 blockbuster starring Amitabh Bachchan, Karan Johar attempts a remake of the original made by his father. Johar, more known for his melodramatic and housewife-ish movies, had created a type-casted genre for himself and its no wonder that critics received the movie with apprehension prior to its release. Loaded violence, street crime and raw aggression is the last thing that anyone would associate Johar with and he has successfully managed to live up to the original movie's reputation. I haven't personally seen the original but word has it that the remake is different in many aspects and reaping largest-ever box office collections in India is certain proof. Vijay Dinanath Chauhan (Roshan) was brought up by his father to be noble and wise and not give in to filth and greed of the streets. His father was wrongly framed and killed tortuously in broad daylight by Kancha Cheena (Dutt) the local gangster of the village of Mandwa. Seething with anger and vowing revenge, a young Vijay arrives on the beaches of Mumbai, ready to start a new life. He gets sucked into street crime and joins hands with Rauf Lala (Kapoor) a human-trafficker, Mumbai's largest drug lord and Kancha's enemy. Here he meets his love Kaali (Chopra) and befriends a police officer who agrees to help him take down Kancha once and for all. The movie has power and bucket-loads of aggression in every passing moment which gives you regular andrenaline rushes. Sure, there are up and downs but that is a part and parcel of making a commercial Bollywood movie. The unwanted dance sequences are slow and the family drama is like the garnishing on food; unwanted but still makes it look good. Roshan and company have put on a fabulous show and Dutt has fulfilled the role of an over-the-top villain with finesse. The movie has superbly incorporated religion, aggression, power and drama in its backdrop to make it highly entertaining and worth the 3 hours it demands. Yes loads of scenes can be simply sliced away to make it faster and better, but that's Bollywood!
Thumbs up: Performance, the character that the movie presents itself with
Thumbs down: Slow and unwanted scenes break the flow
Rating: 8.3/10
Action,
Amazing Movies,
Bollywood,
Crime,
Drama,
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 8:47 AM
Genre: Drama/Biography
Starring: Sean Penn, Mark Ruffalo, Kate Winslet, Jude Law, Anthony Hopkins, Patricia Clarkson, James Gandolfini, Jackie Earle Haley
Loosely based on Huey Long, Governor of the state of Louisiana, Willie Stark (Penn) worked as a small-town lawyer and was roped by the local political muscle, Tiny Duffy (Gandolfini) to run for governor. What Stark didn't know was that he was being fooled and he wasn't supposed to win. Upon learning of Duffy's ambitions he decides to run as Governor by himself and wins by a landslide. He reached to the poor and promised to uplift them from poverty and was against well-settled city people enjoying all the benefits, much to the ire of large oil companies. Jack Burden (Law) a noted journalist from an elitist family, became Stark's advisor in spite of being advised against taking the position by everyone around him. Stark was accused of creating public services but secretly using them to rob the state of taxpayers money to keep for himself. With these accusations against him, Stark was brought forward for impeachment in the senate and wanted Jack's god-father, Judge Irwin (Hopkins) to be on his side rather than against. Sean Penn is a brilliant adaptive actor which can be seen from
Milk and this movie. His role as the Governor, bringing the correct accent and character and the fabulous performances were show-stealing. Not just his but the rest of the cast, including Law, put on fabulous performances and supported his character in every way. With such a line-up its not wrong to keep expectations high but its very wrong when these expectations fall to the ground. The story and plot execution is weak, the movie is very slow and can get a bit boring at times. Mostly its Stark's heavy accent that makes it hard to grasp the developments in the movie, but other elements of storyline also come into play in downplaying the movie greatly. The amazing performances seem to have no outcome whatsoever and the slow progress makes it very dull and boring.
Thumbs up: Strong performances
Thumbs down: Very dull, too slow
Rating: 5.8/10
Average Movies,
Biography,
Drama,
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 8:23 AM
Genre: Comedy/Drama/Romance
Starring: Ed Helms, John C. Reilly, Anne Heche, Isiah Whitlock Jr., Kurtwood Smith, Sigourney Weaver
An award-winning insurance agency, Brownstar, has been successful so far in winning the Two Diamonds awards given out annually to the best insurance agency. Brownstar insurance agent Tim Lippe (Helms) is selected to represent his company this year at the awards ceremony after the agent who usually took up this task decided to move on in life. Tim has never stepped out of his home town, has been living a sheltered life and is very immature for his age. He has no idea on how he is supposed to live to his boss's expectations and come back winning the awards. He befriends his roommates Dean Zeigler (Reily), the very man whom his boss asked him to stay away from, and Ronald Wilkes (Whitlock Jr.). He is attraction to Joan (Heche), nervousness about winning the award, learning about independent life the hard way and getting accustomed to reality make those few days seem far longer than they were intended to be. The movie is pretty much your average run-of-the-mill comedy movie but it wont fail to entertain. Its light, funny, cheerful and uplifting and would try very hard to make you smile. Its smooth and enjoyable but its not the kind that you would want to watch over and over again.
Thumbs up: Light and fun
Thumbs down: Cliched and can slow in parts
Rating: 6.5/10
Average Movies,
Comedy,
Drama,
Romance,
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 7:45 AM
Genre: Crime/Drama/Action
Starring: Mithun Chakraborty, Verna Raj, Rana Jung Bahadur, Mohan Joshi, Shakti Kapoor, Razak Khan, Harish Patel, Mukesh Rishi
Speechless. There are these select few movies, rarely found, that manage to be so ultimately horrible that its an amazing watch. Its like the village idiot who lacks any personality but is yet laughed at by all. But don't get me wrong, Gunda would never fall into that category. Its amazingly huge cult following that swear by it can not be wrong. Shankar (Chakraborty) is the common man frustrated with corrupt politicians and the harassment that every individual faces due to gangsters openly walking on the streets. He takes the law into his own hands and decides to bring an end to them once and for all. Bulla (Rishi) is a well-connected gangster that works for a politician and gets rid of his opposition. His sidekicks include Pote (Joshi), Ebu Hatela (Patel) and Bulla's bisexual brother, Chuttiya (Kapoor). Every goon has their own introductory line which they keep narrating every now and then. Bulla claims to keep everything in the open (mein rakhta hoon sab khulla), Chuttiya vows to basically make life horrible even for the best (achche achchon ki khadi karta hoon khatiya), Pote literally means grandson which he claims even your dad wont have (?) (jo tumhare baap ke bhi nahin hote) and Ebu Hatela explains his ancestry and wants you to eat his banana (!) (Maa meri chudail ke beti, baap mera shaitan ka chela, khayega kela?). If these lines crack you up, what would the first 5 minutes of the movie do to you? Google the dialogue list and you would find loads of websites where fans have listed the hilarity. Apart from these award winning dialogues, the movie is pure trash. Skip through the jargon and enjoy the essence. Its a clear case of love and hate and I must say, I'm lovin' it.
Thumbs up: The best script ever!
Thumbs down: Very typical Bollywood B-grade from the '90s
Rating: 7.0/10
Action,
Bollywood,
Crime,
Drama,
Good Movies,
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 11:57 PM
Genre: Crime/Action/Drama
Starring: Ryan Gosling, Carey Mulligan, Bryan Canston, Albert Brooks, Oscar Isaac, Ron Perlman
After
The Transporter the Americans decided they wanted something like that too; enter
Drive. Thankfully, they realised they cant make a blatant copy of the European series and hence decide to twist things up in many ways. Driver (Gosling) is a movie stunt artist who doubles as a getaway driver by night. He gets friendly with his neighbour, Irene (Mulligan) whose imprisoned husband Standard (Isaac) is due to be released. Standard owns protection money to a gang which he was to pay once he gets out. The sum has increased almost ten-fold and is unaffordable to pay back. He arranges a deal where he would help rob a pawn shop as payback and they would never shadow him again and for this he asks Driver for his services. I personally don't agree that the acclaim the movie has garnered is justifiable. Yes its good, no its not phenomenal. The movie has an interesting plot line, performances are superb and the sheer character that the movie keeps is outstanding. It feels inspired from crime-based video games,
GTA: Vice City to be precise, but that is open to debate. It has a 90's feel with a hint of film-noir hear and there which makes the approach very interesting. The complete let down is the pace and progress of the plot. One can argue that it adds a lot of character that makes the movie fantastic, but it is still something that the average movie-goer would classify as boring. A must watch for the film-lover and the critic, the rest can give it a shot and see what side of the argument do they fall on.
Thumbs up: Great feel and character, very GTA-ish
Thumbs down: Slow to progress and build up, needed more pace
Rating: 7.2/10
Action,
Crime,
Drama,
Good Movies,
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 6:40 AM
Genre: Comedy/Drama/Spoof/Adventure
Starring: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, Craig Bierko, Bill Pullman, Anthony Anderson, Leslie Nielsen, Conchita Campbell, Beau Mirchoff, Kevin Hart
The Scary Movie series of movies can be attributed with the revolution of spoof movies where the plot never really mattered and all that counted for was the ridiculous humour derived out of current events, TV shows and mostly movies. The fourth installment of the series decides to take on The Village, The Grudge and War of the Worlds, all in one go. Cindy Campbell (Farris) has taken up a job as nursing an old-aged woman and finds that her house is haunted by a Japanese child who predicts the destruction of Earth and tells Cindy that only she can stop the alien invasion. Tom Ryan (Bierko) is a divorcee who has to take care of his children Rachel (Campbell) and Robbie (Mirchoff). Tom and Cindy are new neighbours and fall in love with each other just as catastrophe strikes Earth with a deadly alien invasion. Cindy along with Brenda (Hall) and Tom must use the Japanese kids advice and stop Earth from ultimate doom. The movie has derived its core plot from a non-horror movie and hence failed to live up to the brand name to an extent. The jokes are only moderately funny and the full extent of the humour can only be absorbed if one is familiar with the movies/personalities that are being spoofed on. You can watch it but you wont miss out on anything if you chose not to.
Thumbs up: Its not easy to make good movie spoofs
Thumbs down: Not very funny
Rating: 5.6/10
Adventure,
Average Movies,
Comedy,
Drama,
Spoof,
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 1:47 AM
Genre: Crime/Drama/Comedy
Starring: Donald Faison, Mike Epps, Wood Harris, Omari Hardwick, Emilio Rivera, Darius McCary, Cisco Reyes, Yasmin Deliz, Lobo Sebastian
There are some movies that make you simply wonder, 'Why'? Why would anyone want to waste all the resources to recreate garbage? Doesn't the world create enough of that already? If you filter the trash, one would find that most of these movies feature African-American crime and comedy that hardly ever appeals to the masses. Leo (Faison) is a simple mail delivery man who delivers post after getting high. In one such instance, he drops of a box full of 10 bricks of cocaine to the wrong house. Guch (Harris) and Brody (Epps) are wannabe gangsters who attempted a bank robbery and managed to steal the 'tapes' instead of the 'cash' and now they're broke with no money, until there is a knock on the door and they're delivered an unknown package. Across the hallway, Jesus (Reyes) is awaiting for his coke shipment to arrive from drug lord Bodega (Rivera). The package never comes, Bodega is mad and Jesus is pissing in his pants. Guch and Brody decide to sell the stuff to Brody's cousin Shavoo (Hardwick) not knowing that the package belongs to their friendly neighbour. The movie is the average entertainer with the regular comedy that is often associated from this genre of movie. Watchable, but not commendable.
Thumbs up: Keeps you involved the entire time
Thumbs down: Unexciting and predictable
Rating: 5.8/10
Average Movies,
Comedy,
Crime,
Drama,
{[['
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 8:32 AM
Genre: Documentary/Musical/Drama/Biography
Starring: James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich, Kirk Hammett, Robert Trujillo, Bob Rock, Phil Towle
The world most popular heavy metal band, Metallica was facing a crisis and were at an all time low in their career during the year 2001. The band hasn't toured in three years and just as the band was about to regroup for their 8th album, bassist Jason Newstead decided to quit the band. Newstead was apparently not satisfied with the direction the band was heading in and was unhappy that band leader James Hetfield wasn't allowing Jason to undertake side projects. Hetfield himself was battling drug and alcohol abuse and went into rehabilitation just months after the band started recording. Hetfield was away for over a year and drummer Lars Ulrich along with lead guitarist Kirk Hammett were annoyed with his continued absence and lack of information. The band had previously hired a therapist, Phil Towle with whose help they wanted to get over their differences, improve performance and get rid of all the negativity. The band started recording once Hetfield returned and band producer Bob Rock filled in as bassist for the album recording until a new bassist, Robert Trujillo, was taken on the band. Metallica has ever since risen out from the ashes and retain their No.1 spot till this day. The documentary focuses on intra-band disagreements, the verge of the band breaking up, their battle with Napster, the making of St. Anger, selection of Trujillo and the eventual album release. It focuses on most of the core areas that any fan would want to know about Metallica and clearly reveals all the ups and downs that the band went through. Don't be mistaken that the movie is only for metal-heads. Apart from the blaring music that would smack a smile on the die-hard fans face, any other person would appreciate the movie and revelation of the functioning of a band. A must watch for fans and recommended for everyone else.
Thumbs up: Great portrayal of every aspect, personal as well as professional, of each band member
Thumbs down: A boring mid-section after a strong start and an equally strong end.
Rating: 7.4/10
Biography,
Documentary,
Drama,
Good Movies,
Musical,
{[['
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 8:47 AM
Genre: Action/Adventure/Crime
Starring: Tom Cruise, Jeremy Renner, Simon Pegg, Paula Patton, Michael Nyqvist, Vladamir Mashkov
The second and third movie of this series was criticised by me for not being impossible enough as the series had initially set out to be. The fourth movie of the series attempts to bring back the character of the first movie and heavily including a lot of impossible moments in it. Agent Ethan Hunt (Cruise) of the Impossible Missions Force (IMF), a discreet wing of the CIA, has to break into the Kremlin and retrieve information on Cobalt (Nyqvist) a leader of a terrorist organisation who intends to get hold of Russian nuclear missile codes and launch them against the United States of America. The Kremlin infiltration goes wrong with a bomb planted by Cobalt going off. The Russian government learns of IMF presence within the Kremlin and declares war on USA. Agent Hunt and his team members, Agent Dunn (Pegg) Agent Carter (Patton) and Analyst Brandt (Renner) must retrieve the codes from Cobalt before he could use them and bring catastrophic damage to the world. The movie is an improvement over what the audience is being served in the previous two attempts and is a far more enjoyable watch. However, the plot line is too basic and predictable and lacks the twists and complications of the previous movie. Hence, although the movie has taken giant leaps in terms of improvement, it fell back on other vital aspects. A great action movie nonetheless.
Thumbs up: Improved from previous movies, addition of more 'impossible' tasks
Thumbs down: Story is too simple and predictable
Rating: 7.3/10
Action,
Adventure,
Crime,
Good Movies,
{[['
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 3:54 AM
Genre: Crime/Action/Adventure/Thriller/Mystery
Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Jude Law, Noomi Rapace, Jared Harris, Stephen Fry
'Steps on how to tarnish a brilliant piece of English literature'. Step 1, find Guy Ritchie. Step 2, give him the book. Step 3, ask him to make a movie on it. The earlier movie was widely criticised for being too far-fetched from the original Sherlock Holmes created by Arthur Conan Doyle. The sequel still suffers from the same drawback, making Holmes appear to be a James Bond of the 19th century. Detective Sherlock Holmes (Downey Jr.) is investigating a series of murders and terrorist attacks to which he has found a single common link, the widely acclaimed Prof. James Moriarty (Harris). Moriarty is trying to take control of various weapons manufacturing factories and all possible war supplies and eventually intends to start a world war to fuel the demand of his products. Dr. Watson (Law) Sherlock's close aide has taken time off to get married and enjoy a honeymoon but is rudely interrupted by Holmes and is forced back to work and prevent Moriarty from achieving his objective. The clear improvements in the movie is the aspect of a mystery which was largely missing from the earlier movie but it suffers from an overtly stretched plot. Had the movie been below a 2-hour runtime, it might have been far more enjoyable and less of a drag. Holmes appears to be an action hero and the entire plot is not derived from any of the books but conjured from thin air. The world loved the novel due to the personality of the character and the story portrayed within it, however, the movie has altered both and hence leaving no real trace of Sherlock except the name. The movie is not for those who loved the book but for those who would drool over mindless action and murder mysteries.
Thumbs up: Twists in the tale
Thumbs down: Not Sherlock in the slightest of ways
Rating: 6.7/10
Action,
Adventure,
Crime,
Good Movies,
Mystery,
Thriller,
{[['
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 8:06 AM
Genre: Action/Adventure/Crime
Starring: Tom Cruise, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Ving Rhames, Billy Crudup, Michelle Monoghan, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Maggie Q
Your mission, Agent Hunt (Cruise) is to find and retrieve the Rabbit's Foot, however, we would be unable to provide you with the exact details on what exactly Rabbit's Foot is and might not directly reveal it to you even after you retrieve it back for us. A notorious criminal Owen Davian (Hoffman) would be selling the Rabbit's Foot to a middle-east buyer and the IMF has no clue on what it is and what it is capable of. Hunt's image has been tarnished after his execution of a mission was not appreciated and his loyalty to the agency became questionable. Hunt decided to take matters in his own hands by apprehending Davian and attempting to retrieve the Rabbit's Foot. The movie series was founded on the idea of a spy performing missions that are otherwise impossible. The first movie stressed on the mission being impossible, showcasing the CIA headquarters break-in. The second movie lacked some aspects of impossibility but yet held on to the core belief. The third movie is completely devoid of any kind of unachievable mission, so much so, the only impossible break-in to steal the Rabbit's Foot was never shown, leaving viewers high and dry. It's like James Bond without his Martini, Jackie Chan without his kung-fu and Austin Powers without his mojo. The movie is as good as any other spy action movie but is a huge let down for the series.
Thumbs up: Good action
Thumbs down: Movie doesn't live up to the series' reputation and belief
Rating: 6.7/10
Action,
Adventure,
Crime,
Good Movies,
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