Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 10:16 AM
Genre: Action/Crime
Starring: Michael Caine, Noel Coward, Raf Vallone
A British thief, Charlie Crocker (Caine) is released from prison and learns that his good friend has been killed by the Italian mafia over the Alps. His friends widowed wife gives Charlie the tapes of a plan that her husband was going to undertake until he got killed by the Mafia. A Turin-based automobile manufacturing company, Fiat, regularly transfers large stash of money from Turin airport to various destinations. The plan is to isolate this convoy in the middle of Turin and steal the stash. For this assignment he needs a gang of people and he breaks into prison to meet his ex-warden, Mr. Bridger (Coward) to ask him to arrange this for him. Mr. Bridger learns that the Chinese are heavily investing in Fiat towards the setting up of a new factory and agrees to help Charlie. The only reason this movie is iconic or has a cult following is for the Mini Cooper cars that are featured in this. The movie is famous amongst car fanatics for displaying an array of fast cars from the '60s and showcasing their raw power and ability. Lamborghini Miura, Aston Martin DB4, Jaguar E-type, Mini Coopers and what not, they all make their own respective appearances winding through the twisted and flat roads of the alps. The only drawback of the movie is the crime itself which seems to be hugely skewed in favour of movies main protagonist. Can you steal a stash of gold from a heavily armed convoy with bats and sticks? Does an armoured truck take 10 tries to smash open a wooden door? And no matter how many times Mr. Crocker manages to shake off the cops in a heavily modified Mini they always seem to come back right on his tail. And what is with the awkward ending? The movie is a love or hate kinds where action and car fans might enjoy it simply since it fulfills their desires but a more average audience would probably shake it off as being nothing very different.
Thumbs up: The beautiful cars!
Thumbs down: Laughable crime plot
Rating: 6.5/10
Action,
Crime,
Good Movies,
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 12:57 AM
Genre: Crime/Drama/Biography
Starring: Jim Sturgess, Kevin Spacey, Kate Bosworth, Laurence Fishburne, Aaron Yoo, Liza Lapira, Jacob Pitts, Josh Gad
Casino movies seem to have always been loved by the larger audience. The thrill of winning and the emotions of big losses has traditionally gone down well with audiences. The
game of Blackjack is largely based on math and fast calculations, apart from just pure luck. An MIT professor, Micky Rosa (Spacey) has trained a team of players who are skilled in calculations and who would play in Blackjack in Vegas every weekend. The idea is to
count cards, which is not illegal but simply looked down upon by casinos, and win a whole lot of money. Ben Campbell (Sturgees) is a top-grade MIT student who has got admission in Harvard Med but cannot afford the $300,000 fees. Micky sees a potential player in Ben and manages to convince him to join the team in lure of being able to pay off his Harvard fees. The movie has managed to garner a huge fan following, mostly since it has showcased a lot of casinos and gambling.
21 has a very interesting climax to it but what actually pulls it down is the slow segments that the movie keeps having. The movie is good fun to watch, especially for someone who loves the game. Maybe some more interesting performances and a more consistent plot throughout would have helped in making this movie even better.
Thumbs up: Great story
Thumbs down: Slow segments in-between
Rating: 6.8/10
Biography,
Crime,
Drama,
Good Movies,
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 9:00 AM
Genre: Action/Crime
Starring: Robert De Niro, Jean Reno, Jonathan Pryce, Natascha McElhone, Stellan Skarsgard
A group of people from various backgrounds have come together to perform a high-value crime. Seamus O'Rourke (Pryce) is an Irish terrorist who has employed Deirdre (McElhone) to assemble a team of operatives who can attack a convoy and steal a briefcase. Sam (De Niro) an ex-CIA agent who is on the run is part of the team along with Frenchman Vincent (Reno) and a polish computer specialist Gregor (Skarsgard) amongst others. The contents of the case is never revealed and what ensues for the rest of the movie is an action-packed wild goose chase across France for the briefcase with a lot of twists and turns. The movie is based on a tested storyline but it has a very entertaining second half. The first 30 minutes appear to be slow and dragged but once the action kicks in, its a blast of a movie to watch. The crime or the performances are not something to watch and the only thing that might appeal to the audience is the raw '90s action without any special effects or over-dramatic sequences.A great entertainer and a good one-time watch.
Thumbs up: Fabulous car chases and action sequences
Thumbs down: Un-original crime plot
Rating: 7.0/10
Action,
Crime,
Good Movies,
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 9:03 AM
Genre: Action/Adventure/Crime/Fantasy
Starring: Craig Sheffer, Eric Roberts, Sonia Couling, Gary Daniels
A security guard of a biometrics facility gets implanted with a unique device with the power to change the world. Chad Turner (Sheffer) must now travel to Berlin from Bangkok along with the chip in order to bring it to safety. In order to ensure Chad's safety, Cooper (Roberts) the head of security of Avanti, the maker of the chip, travels with him from Bangkok to Berlin. A rival company wants to get hold of this chip and hires a hitman, Joseph Pike (Daniels) to trace down the chip and bring it back at any cost. Joseph learns that the chip is traveling with Chad and decides to hijack the aircraft and obtain it.Coming from a Christian movie making company, the movie has a lot of Christianity infused into it and most of it seems to be done rather forcefully. Nowhere in the movie is the consequences of the chip explained, the action is horrible and plot is overall very boring. The unwanted religious preachings that seem to have no connect with the actual movie does not actually add any value to it. The makers seemed to want to drive a point and somehow that objective got built around an action movie storyline. Highly avoidable and only to be watched by the religious.
Thumbs up: Nah
Thumbs down: Lame action, boring, forced Christianity preachings every now and then
Rating: 2.0/10
Action,
Adventure,
Crime,
Fantasy,
Pathetic Movies,
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 1:47 AM
Genre: Action/Crime/Adventure
Starring: Daniel Craig, Javier Bardem, Judi Dench, Ralph Fiennes, Naomi Harris
Celebrating 50 years of James Bond on film, Skyfall is the twenty-third movie in the franchisee and Daniel Craig's third. 007 (Bond) is on a mission in Turkey where a mercenary killed several MI6 agents and has stolen a hard drive that contains the information of several NATO operatives who are hiding undercover in various terrorist organisations throughout the world. If this information gets revealed, several operatives would be compromised. When Bond and Eve (Harris) fail to recover the hard drive from the mercenary, M (Dench) comes under political pressure for failing to save the lives of so many agents and is asked to take up voluntary retirement. The MI6 headquarters comes under a terrorist attack which causes further damage to M and her image. 007 was assumed to have been shot dead in Turkey but who actually survives. He enjoys death and decides to retire for good when the troubles back home convince him that he is needed once more. An old, unfit and alcohol addicted James Bond returns to duty with a huge question mark slapped on his head on whether he can continue the job or not. The movie is very different from the usual Bond movies where we are accustomed to seeing Bond romance several beauties, have a gadget loaded car and have blistering action sequences. There was no 'Bond girl' in this movie, there were hardly any awesome gadgets that 007 used and save for the first 20 minutes there was absolutely no other captivating action sequence the movie could bring up. Javier Bardem was a saving grace to some extent but somehow he too does not feel like the right villain that Bond would usually fight. The movie was disappointing and although I haven't seen each and every Bond movie, I will go as far as claiming this to be one of the worst I have come across.
Thumbs up: Good action at the start, shows a different side of Bond
Thumbs down: Does not feel Bond-like. A lot of the necessary Bond elements are missing
Rating: 5.8/10
Action,
Adventure,
Average Movies,
Crime,
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 9:17 AM
Genre: Comedy/Drama/Adventure
Starring: Jonah Hill, Michael Cera, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Bill Hader, Seth Rogen, Martha MacIsaac, Emma Stone
When three underage teenagers are out to have a crazy night of revelry, things go wrong, way too wrong. Seth (Hill) is a fat kid who is obsessed with sex and is a little too eager about getting laid. Evan (Cera) is a bit more practical and although he too shares the same desires as Seth, he wants love rather than lust. Fogell (Mintz-Plasse) tries very hard to be tough and project a bad boy attitude but fails almost every time. Seth and Evan are very close friends who have been doing almost everything together since they were a kid. People call them inseparable which might be true. Jules (Stone) is throwing a party and the three guys offer to somehow arrange for the alcohol. Evan has a crush on Becca (MacIsaac) who too agrees to come to the party if Evan can get for her her favourite alcohol. All three of them intend to get their lady loves drunk enough to get lucky with them. When Fogell gets a fake Hawaii drivers license with his name as 'McLovin' and age 25, when he clearly doesn't look that old, and whilst trying to buy the alcohol the shop gets robbed and cops come down to inspect, things seem to be getting very messed up. The movie builds on a not-so-genuine concept of a crazy night out but it still manages to entertain to a certain degree. The run time of the movie is too long (almost 2 hours), the humour is lacking in most areas and it just somehow doesn't seem to be complete. The movie probably needed a good humour touch up and that would make it an awesome entertainer. Good story, but could have had more.
Thumbs up: Nice plot, entertaining to a certain degree
Thumbs down: Too long, needs more humour
Rating: 6.2.10
Adventure,
Average Movies,
Comedy,
Drama,
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