Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 9:56 AM
Genre: Crime/Action/Drama
Starring: Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Katie Holmes, Liam Neeson, Gary Oldman, Cillian Murphy, Tom Wilkinson, Morgan Freeman
A reboot to the
Batman series by the epic director Christopher Nolan is sure to create fireworks. The movie starts the Batman saga from scratch, by narrating the story of Bruce Wayne (Bale) and how he became the Batman. The son of a philanthropist and multi-millionaire, Bruce developed a fear of bats at a young age when he fell into a well which had a bat cave. Bruce later witnesses his parents' death a street corner by a mugger and is left to be raised by his butler, Alfred (Caine). Years later, a much older Bruce is still seeking revenge for his parents death and decides to train under the guidance of Ra's al Ghul and his trainer Henry Ducard (Neeson) who belong to the League of Shadows, an organisation of discrete crime fighters who wish to eradicate the world from evil. A fallout between Ra's and Bruce sees Bruce return to Gotham City to become The Batman where he fights crime by night and is determined to wipe the cities streets clean. Coming from the stable of Christopher Nolan, the movie is vastly different from conventional superhero movies. Typical of Mr. Nolan's style, this movie too involves the human mind and its abilities and cleverly includes them in the script. The core foundation of the movie movie is still the story of good over bad but the manner in which it is created and executed, is what makes the movie different from the rest. Christian Bale seems to have fulfilled the role with sheer brilliance and puts on an outstanding performance to make it a well-rounded and action packed movie that keeps you wanting till the very end.
Thumbs up: Not the average super-hero movie
Thumbs down: Nothing exceptional either
Rating: 7.7/10
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Crime,
Drama,
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 10:40 AM
Genre: Comedy/Drama/Romance/Adventure
Starring: Tusshar Kapoor, Ritesh Deshmukh, Neha Sharma, Sarah Jane-Dias, Chunky Pandey, Anupam Kher, Scooby
The prequel to this movie, Kya Kool Hai Hum, can be unofficially accredited with turning Bollywood around from the conservative family dramas to the open sexual comedies. The movie shook the nation with its open abuses, sexual jokes and skimpy women and kick-started the trend in this genre. The second part of this movie, aims to be just as openly ridiculous as the first if not more. Adi (Kapoor) is a struggling actor whose only claim to fame is selling ridiculous products on a tele-shopping network. DJ Sid (Deshmukh) is a less-known DJ who is looking for a big party to play at to become famous. Sid goofs up with the music during a fashion show which distracts model Anu (Jane-Dias) and results in a wardrobe malfunction on live national TV. Simran (Sharma) is a call centre executive who meets Adi by chance in a bus. Adi falls in love with her and proposes to her within 9 days which freaks Simran out. Simran lies to him that she is lesbian with her flat mate Anu and hence cannot marry Adi. Anu and Simran head out to Goa for a break and Adi and Sid don't want to be left behind. Unlike the normal formula for making a movie, this one has first created a string of jokes and glued them together on a hopeless plot line. This formula might have just worked, had the jokes been consistent throughout the movie and not gotten melodramatic towards the end. Some unnecessary drama and songs ruin an otherwise decent momentum. The jokes, in isolation, are a laugh-riot and extremely bold. Spoofs on a whole lot of people and movies are made which is a treat to watch. Enjoy the jokes and forget the rest, that's what you need to do in this case.
Thumbs up: LOL jokes
Thumbs down: Humour is not consistent throughout the movie, gets melodramatic at times
Rating: 6.4/10
Adventure,
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Romance,
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 9:30 AM
Genre: Drama/Comedy/Romance/Science-fiction
Starring: Robin Williams, Embeth Davidtz, Sam Neill, Oliver Platt
What is the defining point between a man and a machine? In order to obtain an answer to this dilemma, a robot named Andrew Martin (Williams) learns that he is different and exceptional from the other robots. Andrew's master, Richard Martin (Neill) learns of Andrew's unique abilities to recognise art and the abstract, to learn and develop and to be inquisitive about things that he did not know about. Having befriended Richard's younger daughter, Amanda aka Little Miss (Davidtz) along with Richard's motivation, Andrew set out to learn and understand human beings. His ultimate goal to understand the non-mechanical creatures, and to be more like them, led him to the eventual path of evolving into one, bit by bit. The movie has a very deep and profound message attached to it with respect to humanity, human desires, slavery and emotions. The movie brings out these messages in a good fashion, however, its stretched and slow plot make this movie a slight drag to watch. The climax is indeed touching which does make you think deep about the various messages the movie brings out. Had this movie been shorter and perhaps more powerful, it would have been a more entertaining and enjoyable watch.
Thumbs up: Robin Williams and his outstanding performance
Thumbs down: Slow plot
Rating: 6.2/10
Average Movies,
Comedy,
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Science-fiction,
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 10:18 AM
Genre: Crime/Action/Drama/Science-fiction
Starring: Christian Bale, Anne Hathaway, Tom Hardy, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Michael Caine, Gary Oldman, Morgan Freeman, Marion Cotillard
The third installment of an epic series by an epic director needs to be epic; and it is. The Batman (Bale) takes the fall for Harvey Dent's murder, and for eight years stays off the streets of Gotham City. Bruce Wayne is now a cripple and has invested a fortune in developing a sustainable source of renewable energy. When he learns that the reactor's core can be converted to become a nuclear weapon, he shuts down the project and hence millions of dollars of Wayne Enterprises gets permanently locked onto the project, leaving the company in the red. A cat burglar, Selina Kyle (Hathaway), performs a job where she lifts Bruce Wayne's finger prints and sells it to Bruce's rival. Unknown to Selina, her act triggers a sequence of evens where a terrorist by name of Bane (Hardy) intends to take down Bruce Wayne, The Batman and all of Gotham City for good. Superficially, the movie is still the tried and tested good winning against the evil unlike the more un-conventional approach that the earlier movies took. The biggest let-down of the movie was Bane and his character's inability to live up to the reputation of The Joker. The Dark Knight's core reason for succeeding was The Joker, nothing more and nothing less. No doubt the movie was a brilliant work of art, but minus The Joker and it all turns bland. Bane, was the more conventional villain who is strong and muscular, has a stereotypical behaviour and belief and can be associated with any modern criminal. He is far too conventional and a tad uninteresting. The first half took its own sweat time in establishing the plot and foundation which made the movie slow and a bit boring. The second half picks up pace dramatically to end in a superior climax. Although the climax is impressive, it can still be counted as predictable and not what the audience might have expected. The movie definitely packs a whole lot of punch and entertainment but no aspect of it shines out and can be termed as outstanding. Too predictable and conventional in a lot of ways, but don't get me wrong; its still a treat!
Thumbs up: Powerful and a strong second half
Thumbs down: Stretched first half, nothing exceptional to pin-point or praise
Rating: 8.5
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 10:17 AM
Starring: George Clooney, Tom Wilkinson, Tilda Swinton, Sydney Pollack
Michael (Clooney), an attorney at a prestigious New York law firm, Kenner, Bach & Ledeen, and has managed to create a niche for himself where he specialises in 'fixing' problems. Finding legal loopholes, exploiting situations, using connections and worming the client out of a situation, in short. U-North is an agricultural products manufacturing company that is facing a class action suit and is being represented by Aurthur (Wilkinson), Michael's colleague and good friend. When Aurthur starts removing his clothes in the middle of a hearing, everyone at U-North and Kenner, Bach & Ledeen are very worried. Michael is sent to fix the problem who learns of Aurthurs bipolar disorder and the fact that he has been off medication for a very long time. Karen Crowder (Swinton), the general counsel at U- North, gets hold of Aurthur's possessions and is shocked to learn that since the past three years he has been building a case against U-North rather for U-North. The movie has a beautifully sculpted story whose every moment is gripping. Sure, there was a point where things felt slow and dragged, but that was just for a very few moments until the movie rapidly picks up pace. A good complicated plot, fabulous acting by Mr. Clooney and a marvelous execution job makes this a brilliant movie to watch and debate with others, hours after it is over.
Thumbs up: George Clooney, story line
Thumbs down: Some few slow moments, everyone may not like the 'not-so-simple-to-understand' story
Rating: 8.2/10
Amazing Movies,
Crime,
Drama,
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 12:24 PM
Genre: Comedy/Drama/Romance/Musical
Starring: Gene Kelly, Debbie Reynolds, Donald O'Connor, Jean Hagen, Millard Mitchell
The genre listed above is a big personal turn-off. People frolicking around, singing and dancing with the added melodramatic romance scenes is simply not my cup of tea. The fact that this movie turned out to be far more enjoyable than I had imagined, speaks a lot for itself. Set in the year of 1927, when movies were still silent and the new trend of 'talking pictures' was classified by many to be a passing trend that doesn't hold any water. Don Lockwood (Kelly) and Lina Lamont (Hagen) are a hugely successful on-screen duo who have created many famous romantic saga's. Don is a noted dancer, singer and performer whereas Lina has nothing but attractive looks. Her shrill and squeaky voice makes her a misfit for a talking picture but at the same time the studio management has a contract with her on which they cannot go back on. Kathy Selden (Reynolds) is a theatre artist who knows the challenges when it comes to acting while talking and believes that actors in movies are not true actors at all. When Don and Kathy meet at a party, they are both at disagreement over each others thoughts about acting but still find a connection between themselves which makes them fall in love. The movie is filled with energetic performances, mostly danced and sung by Gene Kelly himself. The overdose of music may not go down very well with many, like me, but there are still a few select performances where the moves are marvelous and anybody would appreciate it. Singing and dancing apart, the movie beautifully showcases the evolution of movies and the hilarious challenges that directors, producers and actors had to face alike. A good entertainer where one can easily skip the singing and dancing and move on with the movie.
Thumbs up: Good humour by O'Connor, fabulous song sequences
Thumbs down: Too many songs for the average person to enjoy
Rating: 8.0/10
Amazing Movies,
Comedy,
Drama,
Musical,
Romance,
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 10:29 AM
Starring: Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Marisa Tomei, Ethan Hawke
When two desperate brothers are desperate for money and land up taking desperate measures to fulfill their needs, the results can be disastrous. Andy Hanson (Hoffman) is a senior finance executive of a company whose funds he has been regularly embezzling. His game plan is to steal enough money and flee with his wife Gina (Tomei) to Brazil. Having spent the money on coke and with the upcoming audit, he needs to collect enough money to flee to Rio and start a new life there. Hank Hanson (Hawke) is the under-confident younger brother of Andy who is unable to pay for child support and never has enough money to lead a regular life. The more aggressive and confident Andy takes his younger brother in confidence about stealing a jewelry store, something in which none of them have any expertise. The theft does not go well and the two brothers soon find themselves in a big, big mess, far from what any of them could imagine. The movie appears to be very slow at first glance but give the plot some time and it manages to capture your interest. The movie does not occur in a perfect chronological order and that might seem a little annoying but that actually forms the true essence of the movie. The climax is decent and reasonable and the multiple parallel plots add a lot of value to it. A decent crime and drama movie which some viewers might find slow but its not all that bad either.
Thumbs up: Great performances, a new angle to the conventional robbery
Thumbs down: Some might find it a little slow
Rating: 7.2/10
Crime,
Drama,
Good Movies,
{[['
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 10:37 AM
Genre: Comedy/Drama/Romance
Starring: Seth Rogen, Anna Faris, Ray Liotta, Michael Pena, Collette Wolfe
An over-ambitious shopping mall security guard, Ronnie (Rogen) aspires to join the police force and thinks that he is just the man for it. He thinks of himself being capable of doing far more things that in reality he can never do. When the mall is hounded by a flasher who openly shows his genitals to women, Ronnie thinks he has a case on hand that needs to be cracked. Brandi (Faris) is a cosmetics sales girl on whom Ronnie has a crush and who has been subjected to a full view of the flasher and his tools. Police Detective Harrison (Liotta) has been appointed to catch the flasher much to the ire of Ronnie, who thinks it is his case and his moral right to save Brandi from the clutches of the flasher. The movie might appear to be interesting and entertaining but sadly does not turn out that way. Seth Rogen is annoying rather than being funny, Anna Faris is the usual dumb blond that she is always known to play and the humour between them is simply non-existent. Its not exactly unwatchable but it is still highly avoidable.
Thumbs up: Some bits of humour are good, but rare
Thumbs down: Annoying performances, not funny throughout
Rating: 5.3/10
Comedy,
Drama,
Romance,
Sex Comedy,
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 10:06 AM
Genre: Action/Crime/Mystery
Starring: Keanu Reaves, Forest Whitaker, Chirs Evans, Terry Crews, Hugh Laurie, Amaury Nolasco, John Corbett, Jay Mohr
Not able to come over his wife's tragic death-by-rape incident, LAPD detective Tom Ludlow (Reaves) is disillusioned, an alcoholic and slightly over the top. He works in the Vice Special department under Captain Jack Wander (Whitaker) and his team of undercover detectives who are known to regularly bend the law in order to complete assignments. A former unit member and Tom's ex-partner Terrence Washington (Crews) has removed himself from the corrupt life that his other unit members lead and decides to go clean with Captain Biggs (Laurie) of Internal Affairs. Tom is informed that Washington has made him his prime target and Tom wants to talk things out and reason it out with him. A situation of being present at the wrong time and the wrong place leads to Tom witnessing Washington's cold-blooded daylight murder in a grocery store by two masked bandits. Ridden with guilt, Tom wants to apprehend the killers but Jack does not allow him saying that he is the prime suspect of the murder and probing any further would only lead him to lose his badge. The movie is not the average good cop-bad cop story but is far more than just that. There is a good crime story which has a steady build up and an interesting climax. A decent mix of action and a parallel story of Tom's personal life, makes this movie believable and watchable. Although it has a good mix of everything that a crime movie should have, its not amazing that you could discuss for hours altogether.
Thumbs up: Good crime story
Thumbs down: The murder mystery aspect should have been deeper.
Rating: 7.3/10
Action,
Crime,
Good Movies,
Mystery,
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 10:30 AM
Genre: Thriller/Crime/Drama/Mystery
Starring: Elijah Wood, John Hurt, Julie Cox, Leonar Watling, Jim Carter
Lets have a math class, shall we? Complete the series; 1, 2, 3, ___. If you thought 4, Aurthur Seldom (Hurt) may not entirely agree with you. A well-renowned mathematician at the University of Oxford, he, like all other mathematicians, believes that a series may have infinite possibilities, depending upon the logic one applies. Martin (Wood) is a young American student who has come to study at Oxford and particularly hopes that Seldom would be his research supervisor. Martin is staying as a paying guest at the house of Mrs. Eagleton who lives with her daughter Beth (Cox). Mrs. Eagleton is murdered and her body is discovered by both Seldom and Martin together. Seldom claims to have received a clue during a conference which led him to Mrs. Eagleton's house. The clue contained a circle which, according to Aurthur, is the first symbol of a symbolic series and Aurthur suggests that there could be more to come. Martin and Aurthur start diving deep into murder solving and try to list down the various possible symbols that cold come after the circle and try to track the murderers next target. The movie is a fabulously well made whodunit that can keep you absorbed right till the very end. It magically uses maths, probabilities, science and logic, all together, to track every tiny move that the killer might make. The average viewer might find themselves getting lost amongst the numbers, the mathematical jargon and the complex logic that the movie throws up, but the actual charm lies right there. The climax is fitting for a movie of its kind, but some might classify it as too obvious. It does not have a fabulously great ending, but neither is it too ordinary.
Thumbs up: A hugely enjoyable murder mystery
Thumbs down: Too much mathematical jargon, climax could be improved
Rating: 7.8/10
Crime,
Drama,
Good Movies,
Mystery,
Thriller,
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 9:50 AM
Genre: Comedy/Drama/Crime/Action/Romance
Starring: Abhishek Bachchan, Ajay Devgan, Asin, Prachi Desai, Asrani, Krushna Abhishek, Archana Puran Singh, Neeraj Vora
A Rohit Shetty film has a standard formula. Create a theme for humour, build a story around it, hire some cars, do a bunch of action sequences with those cars crashing into each other and ALWAYS have Ajay Devgan playing the lead role. Bol Bachchan does not promise to be any different from this formula either. Abbas Ali (Bachchan) has lost all forms of livelihood in New Delhi with not even a roof over his head anymore. Under the suggestion of his mentor, Shastri (Asrani), Abbas decides to move with him to the town of Ranakpur to start a new life there. The town is overseen by Prithviraj Raghuvanshi (Devgan) who is of royal heritage and looks after the town and its well-being. When a boy falls within a moat inside a locked temple premises, Abbas breaks the door open to save the child but realises that upon revealing his true faith he might get into trouble. In order to save Abbas' skin, Shastri's son, Ravi (Abhishek) tells Prithviraj that Abbas' name is Abhishek Bachchan. Prithviraj's lack of tolerance towards liars sees more and more lies being piled one on top of the other to the extent that Abbas leads two lives, one of that of his true self under the false name of Abhishek Bachchan and the other of his gay twin brother under his true name of Abbas Ali. The movie is a family laugh-riot that does not make any amount of sense. Ajay Devgan does a good attempt at trying to make you laugh but Abhishek Bachchan is a complete washout. Cliched and over-emotional Bollywood dialogues plague the movie and often enough boredom seeps amidst the attempted humour. Don't attempt to criticise the plot or decipher anything projected in those two and a half hours, just kick back, relax, enjoy and forget.
Thumbs up: Good attempts at humour but not the best
Thumbs down: Horrible Abhishek Bachchan
Rating: 5.7/10
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Bollywood,
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Drama,
Romance,
{[['
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 10:06 AM
Genre: Western/Drama/Adventure/Biography/Crime
Starring: Brad Pitt, Cassey Affleck, Jeremy Renner, Garret Dillahunt, Mary-Louise Parker, Sam Rockwell, Paul Schneider
Jesse Woodson James (Pitt) was a famous American outlaw, bandit, murderer, gang leader, thief and robber from the state of Missouri who operated the James Gang along with his elder brother. Robert 'Bob' Ford (Affleck) was a young man just out of his teens who idolised Jesse and wanted to join his gang with him. Charley (Rockwell), Bob's elder brother and Bob himself, soon became a part of the gang and carried out many of the gangs operations. Although Bob looked up to Jesse, Jesse and his other gang members often teased Bob for his age and for his socially awkward behaviour. Due to heavy pressure from law enforcement agencies, the gang was forced to break up and Jesse realised his inevitable arrest. An event that involved two of Jesse's gang members, Dick Liddil (Scheider) and Wood Hite (Renner) resulted in a string of events that later led Robert to assassinate Jesse James. The movie is based on the true life incident and eventual death of Jesse James. The movie is not the regular western movie with stand-offs, gunslingers, saloon fights and hardcore action, but in fact is slow and dramatic and examines the unique relationship between Jesse and Rob. The movie has a touch of beauty to it in its own sense and Brad Pitt's phenomenal acting simply takes the cake. Although the movie has an extended run time, it does not appear to be slow or boring but it does expect the audience to be patient and let the movie work its charm on you.
Thumbs up: Brilliant acting, great plot
Thumbs down: Long run time
Rating: 7.4/10
Adventure,
Biography,
Crime,
Drama,
Good Movies,
Western,
{[['
']]}
Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 12:55 PM
Genre: Comedy/Drama/Romance
Starring: Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Greg Kinnear, Dax Shepard, Romany Malco
Who says you need to be married to become a mother? Who says you even need a partner to become a mother? Who says you even need to get pregnant to become a mother? Katherine Holbrook (Fey) is a successful corporate employee who chose promotions over starting a family. Now 37, she feels the need to become a mother and eventually start a family. Without a boyfriend or a husband, normal conception gets ruled out. Her adoption requests never get sanctioned since she is single and her abnormally shaped uterus does not allow her to use donated sperms. Her only option now is to opt for a surrogate mother where her ovaries would be used but the child would be carried by another lady. Enter Angie (Poehler) a low-income girl who many would classify as 'white trash' who decides to become Kate's baby mama. Kate works for a company that sells organic products and hence despises anything chemical or artificial. It's more than just an uphill task to get Angie to stop the Pringles, Dr. Pepper and Laughing Cow and switch over to pea soup, carrots and orange juice. The movie is a light entertainer which has a decent set of twists, humour and drama to make it a well-rounded movie. An easy and smooth watch which you can never really go wrong with.
Thumbs up: Decent sprinkling of humour on the drama
Thumbs down: Some more LOL humour would have made it more appealing
Rating: 6.8/10
Comedy,
Drama,
Good Movies,
Romance,
{[['
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 9:18 AM
Starring: (various)
Ever heard of the famous saying 'Too many cooks, spoil the broth?' Well this movie wants to put that exact same saying to test. A sequel of sorts to
Paris, Je t'aime, the movie comes from the
Cities of Love franchisee, and is the second movie in the series. The movie sticks to the core foundation of the franchisee and brings together a whole lot of directors and actors to create a string of short movies glued together. The movie features a total of 11 directors with 31 lead actors and actresses. The various short stories are set against New York City and its various moods, offerings, likes, dislikes, characteristics and features. All of the stories are independent of each other and have almost no connection and little overlap. In isolation, each of the stories are to the point, well-made and interesting. Shekhar Kapur's segment which features Shia LeBeouf, sees the actor portray a role with such expertise and finesse, its hard to imagine that this was the same young action hero of
Transformers. Brett Ratner's segment has a pleasant and unique twist and Joshua Marston's segment shows an adorable elderly couple who keep quibbling but yet strongly in love. Apart from these handful of good segments, everyone else seemed to offer nothing special. Yes, they were interesting but not inspiring. Some were too short and sweet to the point of being pointless and lame. Mira Nair, Jiang Wen and Shunji Iwai seemed without objective, abrupt, uninspiring and too simple. The fillers used to stick the plots together were not any great either and the videographer supposed to have captured the entire movie seems very far-fetched and something the audience might not capture. Its an interesting attempt with an interesting franchisee, but if all the plots were on the same level or had a common outcome, perhaps on the line of
Love Actually, the movie might have been far more interesting.
Thumbs up: Some very great segments and performances
Thumbs down: Seemed haphazardly stuck together
Rating: 6.2/10
Average Movies,
Drama,
Romance,
{[['
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 10:17 AM
Genre: Comedy/Drama/Adventure
Starring: Breckin Meyer, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Bill Connolly, Bill Murray (voice), Tim Curry (voice), Bob Hoskins (voice), Iam Abercrombie
The orange, rotund feline is back once more, and he has a twin. Garfield's (Murray) nightmare is about to come true. Jon (Meyer), his owner, intends to keep him and Odie locked in an animal shelter whilst he is away to London with his girlfriend Liz (Hewitt). Garfield, for the cat that he is, decides to tag along with Jon and Odie has no intentions of being left behind. Prince (Curry) a British cat with the exact same appearance as Garfield, is an heir of a sprawling mansion in the English meadows. Lord Dargis (Connolly) was expecting to inherit the mansion when his aunt passed away who instead left it to her cat, much to his disappointment. He now intends to get rid of Prince and eventually control the mansion and convert it into a hotel. Prince and Garfield get swapped and a situation of mistaken identities occur where Garfield is living life Prince-size, and Prince has to live in a hotel like a commoner. The movie is an improvement from the previous movie and Garfield is more sarcastic, rude and uncaring than the previous movie. Although the movie plot has its flaws, its meant to appeal to the mindset of young children and it definitely will.
Thumbs up: Great Garfield humour
Thumbs down: Not all that entertaining
Rating: 6.0/10
Adventure,
Animation,
Average Movies,
Comedy,
Drama,
{[['
']]}
Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 10:44 AM
Genre: Comedy/Drama/Romance
Starring: Olivia Alaina May, Lauren Walsh, Todd Leigh, Dustin Harnish, Seth Cassell
A just-turned-18 teenage girl, Katie Powers (Alaina May) wants to lose her virginity. Her best friend Rose (Walsh) decides to take her to a graduation party where she intends to sleep with Ryan (Harnish) a boy she has a crush on who once kissed her in the 6th grade. Ryan refuses to sleep with virgins due a bad experience in the past and hence she decides to first lose her virginity to someone else and then approach Ryan. The rest of the movie is a long and boring drab with Katie trying to get any man she can find to sleep with her, including even her good friend Spencer (Leigh). One expects a movie with this story to be remotely entertaining but it sadly isn't. Humour is almost non-existent which makes the movie a very long and tedious watch even though it doesn't have a very long run-time. The movie believes that loads of skimpy-clad, young and attractive women is enough reason for you to watch the movie but that sadly isn't the case. If its
American Pie or
Van Wilder that you are looking for, you would be disappointed. If its clothes-less woman you aspire, its spot on.
Thumbs up: LMAO!
Thumbs down: Bad performances, non-existent humour and the hugely boring story
Rating: 3.2/10
Comedy,
Drama,
Pathetic Movies,
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Sex Comedy,
{[['
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 10:03 AM
Genre: Crime/Drama/Comedy/Action/Science-fiction
Starring: Scarlett Johansson, Samuel L. Jackson, Gabriel Macht, Eva Mendes, Sarah Paulson, Dan Lauria, Louis Lombardi
In Central City, USA, the Octopus (Jackson) has let all hell loose with crime and order spiraling out of control. Denny Colt aka The Spirit (Macht) is a crime-fighting super-hero who prowls the streets at night and has the ability to evade death. He longs to end Octopus once and for all but Octopus too holds the unique ability to never die just like him. Sand Seref (Mendes) is Denny's long lost love who left him and the city when they were still children. Denny finds evidence of Sand's return to the city and wishes to bring her back to his life once more. Sand loves golds and jewels and Octopus wants the mysterious Blood of Hercales. Sand steals Octopuses box and Octopuses side-kick Silken Floss (Johansson) steals the box meant for Sand. The movie is created against the film-noir backdrop with shadows and flashes of light being a common appearance. The humour is more sarcastic and negligible and does not make you laugh all out but simply lightens the movie to an extent. The movie lacks and character and does not really give a reason to you to enjoy it. It feels something like a modern Batman with a film-noir touch added to it.
Thumbs up: The effort and effects that might have gone to give the movie its special feature
Thumbs down: Uninteresting plot, film-noir feature may not go down well with all
Rating: 5.9/10
Action,
Average Movies,
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Drama,
Science-fiction,
{[['
']]}
Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 9:46 AM
Genre: Fantasy/Science-fiction/Adventure/Action
Starring: Keanu Reaves, Jennifer Connelly, Kathy Bates, Jadden Smith
A modern remake of the 1951 film with the same title, it is yet another movie that talks about global warming and aliens invading the world. Why is it that of all the 196 countries in the world, every alien invasion and natural calamity to strike Earth must first hit the USA, mostly in New York City and almost always in Manhattan? A strange alien globe lands in Central Park and an alien creature in the form of a human being arises from within it. The alien calls himself Klaatu (Reaves) and wishes to speak to the leaders of the world and bring about an awareness of Earth's climatic condition. Klaatu represents an alien community who believes that human settlement is causing irreversible damage to Earth and they must wipe out the human race to preserve Earth. Dr. Helen Benson (Connelly) believes in Klaatu and his mission and tries to release him from the clutches of the US government who intend to take military action against him and the alien race. The movie is a sad drab with almost nothing being exceptional about it. The story is an age old tried and tested plot and the movie attempted to recreate a legacy and hope that people would once again relate to it. A bad attempt and a movie that never should have happened.
Thumbs up: Special effects
Thumbs down: Tried and tested story, very lame plot outline
Rating: 5.9/10
Action,
Adventure,
Average Movies,
Fantasy,
Science-fiction,
{[['
']]}
Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 9:38 AM
Genre: Drama/Comedy/Romance
Starring: (various)
Building upon a unique structure and format, the movie narrates the romantic life of various, unrelated individuals. Each story is directed by a unique film-maker, having a unique cast and a unique story but set against the backdrop of Paris. For those unfamiliar with Paris' structure, the city is divided into 20 arrondissements or zones and each of the short movies are shot in each of the cities arrondissements and hence have a unique backdrop. The stories, however, do not converge to a common ending but each remain unique in their own self. In a way the format is interesting and entertaining since you don't have to endure the slow pace of romance movies for 90 minutes and can be contend with just 9 minutes. On the flip side, some of the movies have an abrupt ending and do not somehow seem complete. Many of the movies try to explore a unique film-making technique with Sylvain Chomet's segment experimenting with miming and Alfonso Cuaron using a single continuous shot throughout the segment. A unique and entertaining watch, brace yourself for more cities around the world being explored in a similar format.
Thumbs up: Unique movie construction, smooth and easy watch
Thumbs down: Some abrupt and some incomplete segments
Rating: 7.0/10
Comedy,
Drama,
Good Movies,
Romance,
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 9:46 AM
Starring: Shane West, Mandy Moore, Peter Coyote
Bad guy meets good girl, bad guy becomes good and they don't live happily ever after. Landon Carter (West) is the cool dude and the bad boy around who drives fast cars, does daring stunts and flirts with all the girls. Jamie Sullivan (Moore) is the exact opposite of everything he is. The Reverand's (Coyote) daughter, an honest Christian, simple and does not care what people think of her. When Carter gets caught trespassing on private property whilst playing a prank on a fellow student that goes wrong, he is sent to mandatory after-school activities and participating in the school play. He meets Jamie, a girl whom he knew all his life but never exchanged words with. Jamie agrees to help him with learning the play lines and believes that there is some good in Landon that she can change and bring out. The inevitable and most predictable aspect of the movie happens when they fall in love. But Jamie has a secret which Landon does not know about. The story is extremely typical and can only appeal to the fairer sex or mushy couples. Stereotypical drama and romance plague the movie and almost every bit of is predictable. An over-dramatic love saga and a walk, not to remember.
Thumbs up: The gradual transition of Landon from good to bad
Thumbs down: Melodramatic, slow and very heavy
Rating: 5.7/10
Average Movies,
Drama,
Romance,
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 10:16 AM
Genre: Fantasy/Action/War/Adventure
Starring: William Moseley, Anna Popplewell, Skander Keynes, Georgie Henley, Ben Barnes, Sergio Castellitto, Pierfrancesco Favino, Damian Alcazar, Liam Neeson (voice), Peter Dinklage
1,300 years in Narnia has passed when the Pevensie siblings were living in the real world for only 1 year. Contrary to their expectations, Narnia has changed a lot from what they last knew it to be. The Telmarines are a non-magical, human race that have put the Narnians on the verge of extinction with most of them assuming that they are already extinct. A Telmarine Lord, Lord Miraz (Castellitto) is the brother of the King of Telmar whom he killed along with all his sons, save Prince Caspian (Barnes). Now that Lord Miraz has a newborn heir, he intends to get rid of Caspian and hence pronounce himself the King of Telmar. Caspian escapes Telmar and in an act of desperation, summons the Queens and Kings of Old, the Pevensie siblings. Aslan (Neeson) has not returned and the Telmarines intend to attack the Narnians and Prince Caspian and wipe them out once and for all. The movie is a large improvement from the previous movie on multiple fronts. There is far more action, adventure and anticipation than before and the useless and immature dialogues have been thrown for something more mature and needful. It's a wholesome, entertaining fantasy- war movie that young and old can enjoy and relate to alike.
Thumbs up: Fabulous special effects
Thumbs down: Being an all-rounder there isn't much one can complain about
Rating: 6.6/10
Action,
Adventure,
Fantasy,
Good Movies,
War,
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 9:15 AM
Genre: Drama/Romance/History/Biography/War/Action
Starring: Cate Blanchett, Geoffrey Rush, Jordi Molla, Samantha Morton, Abbie Cornish, Clive Owen
Queen Elizabeth I of England (Blanchett) was known in history for a string of reasons. She was a virgin queen who never married or conceived a child, the reason for which is not clear. She also stood up against the King Phillip II of Spain (Molla) who despised Elizabeth's Protestant belief as against his Catholic one. He consumed all of Europe in holy war to ensure that the Protestant belief was squashed and only England stood in the middle of his path. He built the famous Spanish Armada, a massive fleet of ships to charge against England which unfortunately crumbled under Elizabeth's shrewd and tactical war strategies. Elizabeth was also known to have expanded England's borders to the new world through the explorer, Sir Walter Raleigh (Owen) who founded the land of Virginia and named it after his virgin Queen. The movie is a sequel to the 1998 movie and focuses on the latter part of Elizabeth's life as compared to the earlier movie that looked at the accession of Elizabeth to the throne of England. The movie provides immense historical knowledge about Elizabeth but sadly focuses too much on her love life and focuses little on the matters of politics and state. The focus on drama and romance is not actually a bad choice but it makes the movie a tad boring.
Thumbs up: Cate Blanchett's performance
Thumbs down: Boring bits, too much focus on Elizabeth's personal life
Rating: 6.3/10
Action,
Average Movies,
Biography,
Drama,
Historical Event,
Romance,
War,
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 4:05 AM
Genre: Crime/Drama/Action/History
Starring: Manoj Bajpai, Jaideep Ahlawat, Richa Chadda, Reema Sen, Piyush Mishra, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Tigmanshu Dhulia, Vipin Sharma, Pankaj Tripathi, Syed Khan, Jameel Khan
India's rural gangs and dacoits are a ruthless lot. Anurag Kashyap's latest venture traces the story of the coal mafia in the past century. Wasseypur is a small town in Erstwhile West Bengal, later a part of Bihar and now Jharkand. Soon after independence, the coal mines were distributed amongst businessman and a group of such mines came under the control of Ramadhir Singh (Dhulia). Ramadir recruits Shahid Khan (Ahlawat) to become his henchman and recruit workers to work in the mines. When Ramadir learns of Shahid's secret desire of controlling the mines for himself, he decides to eliminate him. Shahid's brother, Farhan (Mishra) escapes Wasseypur with Shahid's son, Sardar Khan to nearby Dhanbad. Years later, Sardar (Bajpai) grows up and vows to get rid of Ramadir once and for all, but not kill him, but to torture him and make suffer, bit by bit. The movie is raw and ruthless with a unique melange of motormouth characters, guns, swords, blood and loads of sarcastic humour. If some scenes can make you wince then there are an equal number of scenes that would give you a hearty life. The movie is made in two parts which were shot together but would release in a span of a few months. The biggest flaw in the movie is its endless and slow story that takes a yawning amount of time to evolve and move on. With an almost three hour run-time, the movie is not an easy watch and audiences are warned to brace themselves for a time of their life.
Thumbs up: Brilliant performances across the board, amazing humour and a great crime story
Thumbs down: Very slow to evolve
Rating: 8.2/10
Action,
Amazing Movies,
Bollywood,
Crime,
Drama,
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 10:14 AM
Genre: Action/Drama/Crime
Starring:Uma Thurman, Lucy Liu, Vivika A. Fox, Julie Dreyfus, Sonny Chiba
Long story short, an attempted murder victim is out to hunt her assassins down. Short story long, The Bride aka Black Mamba (Thurman) was a former member of the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad who was targeted by its members during her wedding reception. A blood bath occurred where everyone was presumed dead, including The Bride who got a bullet through her head. Surprisingly, the bullet does not kill her but puts her into an indefinite coma and she wakes up 4 years later. Black Mamba is now thirsty for revenge and O-Ren Ishii aka Cottonmouth (Liu) is target #1 and Vernita Green aka Jeannie Bell aka Copperhead (Fox) is target #2. The movie is very typical of Tarantino's style and character in every way. The subtle sarcasm and humour looming in the background that does not come out in your face but stays there simply adds to the movie's brilliance. The action is an all-and-out blood bath so stay away if you cant see the swish of a samurai sword and the head rolling on the floor with a red geyser emitting from the neck spraying itself all over the room. The random anime segments and the sudden black and white scenes with its non-chronological order add to the entertainment value of this amazing watch.
Thumbs up: Fabulous action, great film-making and Uma Thurman
Thumbs down: A slightly weak start, very slightly weak
Rating: 8.5/10
Action,
Amazing Movies,
Comedy,
Crime,
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