Talaash (2012)

Genre: Crime/Drama/Fantasy/Thriller

Starring: Aamir Khan, Kareena Kapoor, Rani Mukerji, Nazwazuddin Siddiqui

A mysterious death of a movie star on a sea-side road in Mumbai leads police inspector Surjan Singh Shekhawat (Khan) to investigate and understand what happened and why. On probing further, Surjan finds himself in Mumbai's famous red light district which is teeming with brothels and sex-workers alike. Surjan is having his own set of personal problems in trying to get over his sons death and thus ends up quarreling with his wife, Roshni (Mukerji) much too often. He finds respite in Rosie (Kapoor) a sex-worker who not only gives him some leads in his case but also offers him mental comfort and someone he can talk to. The movie plays upon the mysteries of the mind and the personal vs professional life of a police inspector. Aamir Khan has done his usual outstanding performance with Mukerji being at par with him. The only let down of the movie is the climax which is slightly low-key and not what the audience was expecting. Psychological thrillers are still a relatively new concept for the Indian audience and it be hard to find takers for such a movie. Had the climax been more astounding or twisted, the movie would have been worth the second watch. All that said and done, not a bad movie at all and a decent attempt.

Thumbs up: Aamir Khan and the rest of the star cast

Thumbs down: Not so thrilling climax

Rating: 6.8/10

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Bollywood, Crime, Drama, Fantasy, Good Movies, Thriller,

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Waiting...(2005)

Genre: Comedy/Drama

Starring: Ryan Reynolds, Justin Long, Anna Faris, David Koechner, Luis Guzman, Chi McBride, John Francis Daley, Kaitilin Doubleday, Robert Patrick Benedict, Alanna Ubach, Vanessa Lengies

We have all heard about the horrible things a waiter can do to our orders if we don't treat them nicely. Spitting, hairs, floor dirt, it can all happen to your food if you upset the people who are making it. The movie revolves around Mitch (Daley) who is the new trainee at The Shenaniganz restaurant and the events of one night through his eyes. Dean (Long) is has been waiting tables for quite some time now and he sees people around him with a better life and a better job and somehow wishes that his life would change. That does happen when Dan (Koechner) offers Dean a promotion for the post of Assistant Manager. Although Dean should be happy with the offer, he surprisingly isnt and he doesnt know why. Monty (Reynolds) is Dean's good friend and is a complete womanizer who is currently trying to hit on Natasha (Lengies), the 17-year-old hostess. The movie is quite objectiveless and simply showcases how each waiter with a different and unique character and personality have to live their lives as who they are. It is a fun entertainer and a good watch but the movie fails to drive to a point. A good one-time-watcher but dont expect anything great out of it.

Thumbs up: Great entertainer, funny

Thumbs down: Does not have a climax or an ending

Rating: 7.0/10

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Comedy, Drama, Good Movies,

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Dabangg 2 (2012)

Genre: Comedy/Crime/Action/Drama/Romance

Starring: Salman Khan, Arbaaz Khan, Sonakshi Sinha, Prakash Raj, Vinod Khanna

When a thousand bullets come buzzing towards him, he can dodge everyone of them; when a hundred able-bodied men come charging at him he can put them all on the ground; when his car jumps 30 feet in the air and spins 20 times before crash landing into a pile of junk, he can walk out without a bruise. Ladies and gentleman, I bring to you for the second time, Chulbul Pandey (Khan). The suave and charismatic police inspector is back and this time he has a bigger jurisdiction to handle, the city of Kanpur. A city whose streets are filled with filth, crime and thugs, Chulbul starts cleaning up and when your cleaning such a huge city, there will be people who are not going to like it. Bachcha Bhaiya (Raj) is the local crime lord who is harbouring political ambitions which he intends to win by rigging the elections and thus using this new power to further his interests. But this can never happen if Chulbul Pandey has decided that he will stop Bachcha Bhaiya from achieving this and swears to get rid of him from Kanpur for good. The first movie was epic in its own way, just like how every Salman Khan movie ends up being. However, the second part lacked the humour and stupidity that the earlier movie had that made it interesting. What this movie also doesn't have is a story and thus its just a good guy trying to get rid of the bad one and that's it. Its just too straight forward, not very exciting, not very entertaining and simply, boring.

Thumbs up: Salman Khan. He is probably the only person in the world who can pull off such a role and such a movie

Thumbs down: Far off from part one and seriously lacks the entertainment value.

Rating: 4.9/10

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Action, Bollywood, Comedy, Crime, Drama, Pathetic Movies, Romance,

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The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012)

Genre: Adventure/Fantasy/Action/War

Starring: Ian McKellen, Martin Freeman, Richard Armitrage, Ken Scott, Graham McTavish, Aidan Turner, Dean O'Gorman, Mark Hadlow, Jed Brophy, Adam Brown, John Callen, Peter Hambleton, William Kircher, James Nesbitt, Stephen Hunter

The prequel to the iconic Lord of the Rings series of books and movies, this movie narrates the story of Bilbo Baggins (Freeman) and how he came across the ring that led to the story that followed. Bilbo is a peace loving Hobbit who finds himself undertaking an adventure he never thought he would. The dwarfs, led by Thorin (Armitage) are attempting to go back to their land which was besieged by a fearsome dragon that has taken hold of the Dwarf castle and all their gold. Gandalf (McKellen) has agreed to assist the dwarfs and suggests that Mr. Baggins should join them as the burglar. Although Bilbo has never so much as stolen a stone from the ground, he surprises himself by being a part of the 14-member contingent that is out to do the impossible. LOTR was epic in its own way and it is very normal for anyone to expect its prequel to be just as amazing. Sadly, however, the movie is far from its famous siblings. It is slow, very slow, doesn't have the drama or the intensity of LOTR and simply seems to miss that special factor that was required for this movie to be good. It seems the movie was made just to finish the entire franchisee and never really to entertain the audience. I don't know if it was the 3D glasses, the theater or the print of the movie but this has to be by far my worst ever 3D experience ever.

Thumbs up: Stunning graphics and visuals

Thumbs down: Slow, boring and stretched and it yet didn't finish the entire story.

Rating: 7.1/10

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Action, Adventure, Fantasy, Good Movies, War,

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Hoteal Transylvania (2012)

Genre: Comedy/Drama/Romance/Fantasy

Starring (voice): Adam Sandler, Selena Gomez, Kevin James, Andy Samberg, CeeLo Green, Steve Buscemi, Molly Shannon, David Spade

Throughout almost all our fairy tales we have always seen big, scary monsters and children hiding under their beds in fear that these monsters would come and eat them up. Ever heard of a story where things happen the other way around? Dracula (Sandler) has built a hotel called Hotel Transylvania where all monsters and beasts can come and feel safe. No scary humans to come and disturb them, only darkness and peace. But when Jonathan (Samberg) a young human bag packer arrives at the castle, Dracula is petrified. Dracula's young daughter Mavis (Gomez) is eager to explore the world outside but her father refuses to let her go into the destructive and dangerous human world. The movie explores a good storyline which is the exact opposite of the stories we usually hear. The movie is light and entertaining but the movie still lacks a lot of humour. Yes it would appeal to a 10-year-old but the movie still needs to give the audience some more reasons to laugh.

Thumbs up: A new and interesting story

Thumbs down: No real climax, needs more humour

Rating: 6.4/10

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Average Movies, Comedy, Drama, Fantasy, Romance,

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P.S. I Love You

Genre: Romance/Comedy/Drama

Starring: Hilary Swank, Gerard Butler, Lisa Kudrow, Gina Gershon, James Marsters, Kathy Bates, Javier Bardem

Jerry (Butler) and Holly (Swank) are a young married couple who had taken the decision to be together without the consent of their respective parents. The two enjoy a love-hate relationship where they are stupidly in love but yet fight a lot. Fast foward a few months ahead and Holly is now a spinster. Jerry suffered from a brain tumour and subsequently passed away. It is only now that Holly realises how much Jerry meant to her inspite of all the fights they had. Whilst on his deathbed, Jerry realises that his passing away would have a disastrous consequence on Holly and he plans to help her have a smooth getting-over. Jerry cleverly leaves behind a trail of bread crumbs asking Holly to do exactly as his letters ask her to do. The movie is a fun to watch romance-comedy and can very easily bring forth a tear even amongst the stone hearted. Swank and Butler seem to share the perfect on-screen chemistry and look absolutely brilliant. A truly fantastic watch and recommended for anyone who doesn't want a heavy and mushy romance movie but rather something light, simple and enjoyable.

Thumbs up: Great fun to watch

Thumbs down: Just seems perfect in a lot of ways.

Rating: 7.0/10

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Comedy, Drama, Good Movies, Romance,

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Not Without My Daughter (1991)

Genre: Crime/Drama/Biography

Starring: Sally Field, Alfred Molina, Sheila Rosenthal, Roshan Seth

An American citizen, Betty (Field) has married an Iranian man, Dr. Mahmoody aka Moody (Molina) and they live a happy life in America with their daughter Mahtob (Rosenthal). Moody hasn't seen his family in Iran since a very long time and they haven't met Betty or Mahtob either. Moody manages to convince Betty to accompany him to Iran with Mahtob and assures her that they would not stay there for long. Whilst staying in Iran, Moody confesses to Betty that he was fired from his job in America on racial grounds and he intends to stay in Iran and look for a job here. Moreover, he wants Betty and Mahtob to live here with him much to the disagreement of both of them. Moody takes advantages of the Islamic laws in Iran and starts physically assaulting Betty each time he disagrees with her and puts her on house arrest and forces her to stay back with him. The movie may not agree with a lot of people simply because of its depiction of Iran and Islam. The movie has very skewed opinions and projects the country as being intolerant towards woman empowerment, supports male domination and extremely strict on religious grounds. The movie is a true life depiction of Betty's life and is based on a book authored by her by the same name. A good movie on technical grounds but an uncomfortable watch otherwise.

Thumbs up: Good performances

Thumbs down: Stereotypical and skewed representation of Islam and Iran

Rating: 6.5/10

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Average Movies, Biography, Crime, Drama,

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This is England (2006)

Genre: Crime/Drama

Starring: Thomas Turgoose, Stephen Graham, Joseph Gilgun, Andrew Shim, Vicky McClure, Jo Hartley, Andrew Ellis

Set in the 1980's in England, a young boy Shaun (Turgoose) gets constantly bullied at school and cannot accept everyone walking all over him. His recently lost his father who was in the army when England went to war with Argentina over the Falklands. Shaun encounters Woody (Gilgun) who is the leader of a skinhead gang and who takes pity on Shaun and sheilds him from anyone who picks on him. Shaun gradually gets inducted into the gang as its youngest member and seems to be enjoying his new life. Combo (Graham) is an old friend of Woody's who has just recently returned from prison and is also a more senior skinhead member. Combo expresses strong English nationalist views and expresses hatred towards other races that have settled in England and taken jobs that belong to the English people. He wants Woody, his skinhead gang and his friends to come support him to fight against immigrants and make England English once more. The movie craftily narrates the slow evolution of a pre-teen boy and his exposure towards the more darker side of life. It showcases the strong racist hatred that some people still hold and the measures that one can go to in the name of nationalism. A very beautiful movie indeed and a recommended watch.

Thumbs up: Graham's good aggressive performance

Thumbs down: Plot could have gone on for another 30 mintues, seemed incomplete

Rating: 7.5/10

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Crime, Drama, Good Movies,

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