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Transformers: Dark of the Moon (3D) (2011)


Genre: Science-fiction/Action/Adventure

Starring: Shia LeBeouf, Rosie-Huntingtong Whiteley, Josh Duhamel, John Turturro, Tyrese Gibson, Patrick Dempsey, Frances McDormand, Alan Tudyk, Peter Cullen (voice), Hugo Weaving (voice), Leonard Nimoy (voice)

Final verdict, mixed reactions. The story first; the Autobots are living peacefully on Earth and are helping humans resolve their worldly conflicts. As they continue to help, they are searching for any clues about Megatron, their enemy, and Cybertron, their home planet. Sentinel Prime (Nimoy), the leader of the Autobots, was carrying a technology that could save their race but was intercepted by Decepticons and his space craft crash landed on the moon. Neil Armstrong found this site and NASA has kept this information a secret from the world. Optimus Prime (Cullen) learns about it and revives the Sentinel to lead the Autobots once more. However, unknown to him, Megatron (Weaving) has a cunning plan up his sleeve to take over planet Earth once and for all. Sam Witwicky (LeBeouf) basking in his fame and glory after saving mankind twice, cannot find himself a job. Along with that, he is not being involved in the Autobots missions which has made his life even more frustrating. To add more fire, the boss of his super-sexy girlfriend Carly (Whiteley) is showering her with gifts and compliments that Sam cant take anymore. The action sequences and special effects of the movie are mind-numbing. The insane new technology has provided the utmost clarity and detail that this movie demands. However, there are some scenes which look like a video game but that aspect can be overlooked. Shia LeBeouf's role has been over-shadowed by the Autobots and he seems to be a forceful addition since he was present in the earlier movies. What was even more disbelieving were his insane stunts and falls that left him with little injuries and minor scratches. All in all, the movie is worth watching only to enjoy the clarity of the special effects that too in 3D and no more. The movie is all about its graphics and loses out on all other aspects.

Thumbs up: Great special effects, super hot debutant Rosie-Huntington Whiteley
Thumbs down: Over dramatic action

Rating: 7.3/10
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Napoleon Dynamite (2004)


Genre: Drama/Comedy

Starring: Jon Heder, Jon Gries, Aaron Ruell, Efren Ramirez, Tina Majorino, Haylie Duff

Geeky, alienated, dim-witted, immature, scrawny and boring are only some of the adjectives that one would associate with Napoleon Dynamite (Heder) a teenage kid from a small town in Idaho, USA. He gets pushed around and bullied in school all day and that does not come as a surprise considering his awkward behaviour. He meets a new student from Mexico, Pedro (Ramirez) who is like him in many ways but is more bold to confront society. The two get along fine when suddenly Pedro decides to run for class president and Napoleon needs to help him get there. The movie at first glance promises to be hugely funny but fails to deliver. If the sloppy behaviour of Napoleon and his crazy antics are supposed to make audiences laugh, then I must say the movie has failed horribly. Apart from Napoleon's story, multiple side plots run which include Napoleon's brother Kip (Ruell) who is trying to become 'cool' by going on a dating website, his uncle Rico (Gries) who is looking after them and wishes he could get his youth back and Deb (Majorino) a shy girl who has feelings for Napoleon. A highly avoidable movie which could have been far better.

Thumbs up: Good acting by Ramirez and Heder
Thumbs down: Pathetic attempt at trying to make you laugh

Rating: 5.5/10
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The Mechanic (2011)


Genre: Action/Crime

Starring: Jason Statham, Ben Foster, Tony Goldwyn

A remake of the 1972 movie with the same name, Arthur Bishop (Statham) is a hit man who specialises in making hits look like suicides, accidents or any other way you like it. Dean (Goldwyn) assigns Arthur the task of killing Arthur's close friend and mentor which Arthur is forced to do. Steve (Foster) the son of Arthur's friend, is enraged and is thirsty for revenge. Steve does not know that Arthur was behind the killing of his own father and Arthur, ridden with guilt, starts training Steve and makes him his accomplice. The duo get along well and Arthur tries every way to hide the truth from Steve. Once the first half an hour progresses, one quickly realises the final end and trajectory the movie would take. Its a complete back-to-the-basics assassin movie with nothing new or exceptional to offer. One expects some extremely gripping action sequences from a Jason Statham movie which, sadly, were missing. An average watch-it and forget-it action movie.

Thumbs up: A good and easy to watch action-bundle
Thumbs down: Nothing great or exceptional

Rating: 6.4/10
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Inside Job (2010)


Genre: History/Biography

Starring: Matt Damon (voice)

The 2008 global financial meltdown rocked the entire foundation of the human civilisation. Millions lost their jobs and their life savings overnight. How can such a huge disaster occur without any prior warning or anyone knowing about it? Inside Job looks into the development of the sub-prime crisis and its eventual impact on humanity. Greed for money and power ensured that corporate big-wigs could corrupt the United States political system into making money for self-gain at the cost of social development. The movie brings out how foolish decisions taken by Wall Street and Washington took the world to where it now stands. The movie has boldly shown the people responsible behind it and their indifferent behaviour before and after the crisis. The only flaw to the movie is the financial jargon which makes it hard for a non-finance person to understand. However, if the movie did go into the intricacies of all these definitions, the movie would be endless and would lose its objective. Hence, this movie might only appeal to the understanding of the well-versed and those individuals who would realise the full potential of it. Apart from the jargon, the movie correctly brings out how careless and near-sighted all the corporate heads of Wall Street are and the only point on their agenda is to make money for themselves. A great movie that shows the lengths and breadth of the sub-prime crisis.

Thumbs up: Bold display of all facts and figures
Thumbs down: Too much financial jargon

Rating: 7.1/10
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Green Lantern (3D) (2011)


Genre: Science-fiction/Fantasy/Action/Adventure

Starring: Ryan Reynolds, Blake Lively, Peter Sarsgaard, Mark Strong

Super-hero movies is not new to cinema and saving the world through the discovery of a super-natural power is not new either. Upon the creation of the universe, the Guardians decided to hold it together by tapping into the will power of all beings surviving within it. The universe was divided into various sectors, each controlled by a Green Lantern who would look into the well-being of all the planets with it. Hal Jordan (Reynolds) is fighter jet test-pilot with Ferris Aircraft company who stumbles upon a dying Green Lantern. The Green Lantern's ring selected Jordan as the successor for the dying warrior and all the responsibilities that come with it. When confronted by Sinestro (Strong) the leader of the Lanterns, Hal realises he is not up to the task and loses faith in his powers. Meanwhile, Dr. Hector Hammond (Sarsgaard) is asked to conduct an analysis of the dead Green Lantern's body who comes in contact with an organ that adversely affects his mental and physical structure. The movie outline is a tried and tested super hero story which does not have anything new to offer except for the design of his suit. The 3D technology used in the movie is extremely inferior with blurred and hazy images constantly occurring. Although the blame may lie with something outside the scope of the producer, it still makes the 3D experience not worth the extra cost. A big no-show, not even on a DVD.

Thumbs up: The bold attempt to create something so lame
Thumbs down: Bad graphics, poor plot

Rating: 6.1/10
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The Good Shepherd (2006)


Genre: History/Drama/Crime/Thriller

Starring: Matt Damon, Angelina Jolie, Tammy Blanchard, Billy Crudup, John Turturro, William Hurt

The CIA has been the US Governments primary agency for intelligence and counter-intelligence activities for many years. The agency was founded as the OSS during World War II to collect information on Nazi troop movement. The agency continued in the Cold War period to gather data on Russian spies and their movements and this movie intends to narrate the birth of this very agency. Edward Wilson (Damon) a Yale graduate is approached by the FBI to spy on his poetry professor whom they suspect to be a Nazi spy. He slowly climbs the secret services ladder and is soon asked to head the OSS and gather intelligence on Nazi troop movement. He is forced to marry his friends sister Margaret (Jolie) whom he slept with and impregnated although he loves a deaf girl Laura (Blanchard). The movie is loosely based on the CIA's inception with many primary people being depicted by different names. The biggest flaw of the movie is its length which leads to a stretched story and subsequently becomes boring. Performances are decent and at times the movie does manage to pick up tempo which gets lost quite quickly. The multiple side-plots do not got down very well either and focusing on the main story would have been a far better idea.

Thumbs up: Great foundation story
Thumbs down: Long, stretched and boring

Rating: 6.1/10
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X-Men: First Class (2011)


Genre: Science-fiction/Action/Fantasy/Adventure

Starring: James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Kevin Bacon, Rose Byrne, Jennifer Lawrence, January Jones

The fifth installment of the X-Men series goes back in time to 1962 when Charles Xavier (McAvoy) graduated as a mutant researcher, brimming with knowledge and working towards creating peace between humans and mutants. He himself is a mutant with the unique ability to read peoples minds and control them. Erik Lehnsherr aka Magneto (Fassbender) suffered at the hands of a Nazi officer, Sebastian Shaw (Bacon) who murdered his mother in order to enrage Erik and bring out his magnetic powers. Ever since, Erik, seething with anger, has sworn revenge against Shaw and his accomplices. Shaw is trying to take advantage of the Cold War and has pitched the Russians and the Americans against each other and hopes to trigger a nuclear war which would see the destruction of the worlds two largest super-powers with him emerging as the ruler of the world. Erik, Charles and CIA Agent Moira MacTaggert (Byrne) along with a group of young mutants have decided to take matters into their own hands to prevent a third world war. The biggest plus side of the movie is the continuation of the story and not just the simple good vs evil plotline. The movie highlights the fallout between Xavier and Magneto which was an essential missing link to the main storyline. Their is tons of hugely destructive action sequences, although many people may point and laugh at the super-natural powers and its complete preposterousness. The movie hints at a sixth installment and considering the missing story from X-Men: Wolverine be prepared for at least 2 more movies in this ever famous series.

Thumbs up: Great action, good plot
Thumbs down: Good enough for a prelogue to the main story, no major fallout

Rating: 7.2/10
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Salt (2010)


Genre: Action/Crime

Starring: Angelina Jolie, Liev Schreiber, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Daniel Olbrychski

A long-serving CIA Agent, Evelyn Salt (Jolie) interrogates a Russian spy Orlov (Olbrychski) who tips Salt about the assassination of the Russian President who is due to visit the USA. He sings a tale of how American children were kidnapped and brainwashed to become Russian spies and sent back to USA to carry out secret operations. Orlov mentions that the name of the spy who will kill the President is Evelyn Salt. Scared for her and her husbands life, Salt is on the run and her boss Ted Winter (Schreiber) refuses to accept the fact that she could be a Russian spy. The biggest plus point of the movie is the amount of action and explosion that it packs. It might get a bit too much towards the end but for any die-hard action fan, this is the movie to watch. However, the overload of action has taken a front-foot over the story which leaves the movie only about kicks, punches and explosions and no decent story to build up on. The movie suggests that a sequel will follow; wait and watch.

Thumbs up: Amazing action
Thumbs down: Lack of plot

Rating: 6.8/10
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The Hangover Part II (2011)


Genre: Comedy/Drama/Adventure/Mystery

Starring: Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, Zach Galifianakis, Justin Bartha, Ken Jeong, Mason Lee, Jamie Chung

When a legendary movie tries to make a come back with a second edition, many people are sceptical about the success of the re-attempt and fear that the legend would be damaged forever. I, was a part of this clan and now I stand corrected. In every way, the part II is in every way same as the first movie with only two changes, the location and mess-ups. Stu (Helms) is getting married to Lauren (Chung) in Thailand accompanied by his friends Alan (Galifianakis) Phil (Cooper) Doug (Bartha) and Lauren's younger brother Teddy (Lee). Stu did not want a bachelor party and a few harmless drinks by a bonfire on the beach led to a similar outcome as last time. Doug, apparently, is at the hotel cause he went back to bed quite early. Phil, Stu and Aaron are in another dingy hotel, hundreds of miles away in Bangkok along with Chow (Jeong). They have no idea how Chow got here, Teddy is missing and only his chopped finger is what remains on the floor. The movie has some really good laughs and although the entire fundamentals of the movie is exactly the same as the previous one, the movie is equally unpredictable and very funny. Its not a great improvement over the previous movie, but it is more or less there. Performances are top-notch and almost flawless. Hats-off to the entire crew but I would still be wary if they try to make a third part.

Thumbs up: Performances, hugely funny
Thumbs down: None whatsoever

Rating: 8.0/10
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Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (2011)


Genre: Action/Adventure/Fantasy/Comedy/Drama

Starring: Johnny Depp, Penelope Cruz, Geoffrey Rush, Ian McShane, Kevin McNally

The ever famous Captain Jack Sparrow returns once again in the fourth edition of the Pirates of the Caribbean series of movies. It was rumoured that Captain Jack Sparrow has visited the Fountain of Youth and with the Spanish searching for the fountain, the English want to get there first. Captain Barbossa (Rush) has joined alliance with the Crown and wants Jack to be first mate and get him to the Fountain of Youth. Jack, ever fond of his pre-fix 'Captain', refuses to play second fiddle and escapes, only to encounter his long lost love from Spain, Angelica (Cruz). Angelica reveals herself to be the daughter of the pirate Blackbeard (McShane) who has been prophesied to be killed by Barbossa in a fortnight. Fearing his life, Blackbeard wants to get to the fountain before the prophesy can turn out to be true and Captain Sparrow will be the one to get him there. The movie is a massive let down to all Jack Sparrow fans with a whole lot of 'new' changes which have spoilt the fun and feel of the previous movies. The movie is a reboot from the previous story with a fresh adventure and hence the demand for some new characters. The movie misses out on the Jack Sparrow charisma and humour which made the movie different from the conventional. Nonetheless, Johnny Depp has taken the show away and done a fabulous performance just like what one can expect it to be. I just hope Disney does not make a fifth one and ruin the entire series.

Thumbs up: Johnny Depp
Thumbs down: New star cast, new story, new director

Rating: 6.6/10
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Toy Story (2010)


Genre: Animation/Adventure/Comedy/Drama

Starring (voice): Tim Allen, Tom Hanks, Joan Cusack, Ned Beatty, Don Rickles, Michael Keaton

The third installment of the very famous Toy Story series finally comes after almost a decade after the release of the second movie. The Toy Story movies were known for their unique plot and high-quality animation which, thankfully, the second movie has continued. Woody (Hanks) is a toy cowboy who was once Andy's favourite. Andy has now grown up and is all ready to go to college and does not play with his toys anymore, much to the disappointment of Woody and his friends. Andy intended to put his toys away in the attic but they accidentally find themselves being donated away to a daycare centre. Woody wants to stay back with Andy but the other toys feel Andy doesn't care for them any longer and should move on. The toys at the daycare centre follow the orders of an evil bear, Lotso (Beatty), who puts all the new toys to the toddler rooms since he knows they will get beaten up and misused, something that none of the other toys want to go through. Woody manages to escape from the daycare but comes back when he learns of the cruelty that all his friends are suffering and needs to find a way to rescue them. The audience of the original movies was much different who have now grown up and the new younger generation are not familiar with the character and movie background. Nonetheless, the movie is an easy and entertaining watch that will appeal to all, young and old. It excels at what it was created to do and anything beyond that would be asking for too much.

Thumbs up: Great animation, good plot
Thumbs down: Some more humour maybe

Rating: 7.8/10
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Full Metal Jacket (1987)


Genre: War/Drama/History/Action/Crime

Starring: Matthew Modine, Adam Baldwin, Vincent D'Onofrio, Kevyn Major Howard, Arliss Howard, R. Lee Ermey

A group of young boys decide to take the boldest decision of their life, to join the US Marine Corps. Their drill instructor Gny. Sgt. Hartman (Ermey) has sworn to make their life as miserable as he could. he recruits get names according to their nature and behaviour. The funny person was called Pvt. Joker (Modine), the fat person was called Pvt. Pyle (Baldwin) and so on. The movie is more or less narrated with the perspective of Pvt. Joker and his experiences during military training and the subsequent deployment in Vietnam. He became a war correspondent for the army by interviewing soldiers and covering stories from the battle field. The journalists craved to pull the trigger of their guns at least once in battle and when the time finally came, everybody wished it never did. The movie does not have any objective or something in particular to bring out from the movie. Its a simple narration of a soldiers life from scratch till war. The performances in the movie were good and well supported. Although this movie cannot be classified as an outright comedy, it has the satire and hidden humour that would definitely bring out those unintentional giggles. Although the movie more or less tries to focus on overcoming your fears, the end of objective may not be clear to all. Perhaps a more structured and objective plot might have helped in the movie reaching out to a wider audience. Nonetheless, a great war movie.

Thumbs up: Brilliant acting
Thumbs down: Plot is a simple narration

Rating: 7.8/10
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Ben-Hur (1959)


Genre: Drama/Romance/History/Biography/Adventure

Starring: Charlton Heston, Stephen Boyd, Hugh Griffith, Martha Scott, Cathy O'Donnell, Jack Hawkins

The tales of Jesus Christ, infused with the story of the Jewish Prince, Judah Ben-Hur (Heston) who got betrayed by his Roman childhood friend Messala (Boyd) for Judah supported the Jewish cause over the Roman one. Judah and his family, his sister Tirza (O'Donnell) and mother Miriam (Scott), were sent to the gallows by Messala to rot and die. Judah, in all his determination, vows to return and take Messala's life. He then gets thrown in a journey of slavery and travels to Jerusalem where he once again encounters Messala and decides to stub the Roman arrogance out of him, once and for all. The movie is well renowned and popular, however, the entire storyline, in isolation, is quite simple and nothing out of the ordinary. Friendship that turned sour and revenge that was sworn. The attribute that made the movie better was the Roman-Jewish setup along with the background of Jesus Christ. Although the movie proclaims to be the tale of Jesus Christ, there is very little of him which majorly comes only towards the end. The movie is a lovely watch, with some very phenomenal performances. The movie has a unique blend of film noir along with some more contemporary performances which makes it even better.

Thumbs up: Great performances, good plot outline
Thumbs down: Stretched and long

Rating: 7.7/10
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Dum Maaro Dum (2011)


Genre: Crime/Drama/Romance/Thriller/Mystery

Starring: Abhishek Bachchan, Bipasha Basu, Prateik Babbar, Rana Daggubati, Aditya Pancholi, Govind Namdeo, Muzammil S. Qureshi

Goa, India, the land of sun and sand, bikinis and babes, hippies and druggies and crime and murder. People from around the world come here to party and get high, but the party is just about to get disrupted by one big party-pooper. Lorsa Biscuta (Pancholi) is the drug lord of Goa. ACP Vishnu Kamath (Bachchan) is a corrupt cop in the anti-narcotics division. One day when his family dies in a car accident due to a drug-infused driver, his life changes forever and he swears to clean the streets of Goa. Laurence Edwardo Gomes aka Lorry (Babbar) is the average Goan youth who aspires to go to USA to study, along with his girlfriend. His dreams, however, come crashing down when his financial aid does not get approved but his girlfriends' does who has to leave him to pursue her academic career. A local drug peddler hears about Lorry's sob story and agrees to pay off his fees provided he carry some cocaine with him to the US. In an act of desperation, Lorry agrees much to his later regret. Meanwhile, ACP Kamath is cracking a whip on the party scene and Biscuta stashes his dope with a mysterious Michael Barbossa. In each part of Goa he is known by a different name. Nobody knows him, nobody has seen him and Kamath is out to search for him. Joki (Daggubati) is Lorry's well-wisher who is trying to prevent him from doing what he is about to do. His ex-girlfriend Zoe (Basu) went through the entire phase that Lorry is about to go through now and he doesn't want to lose another friend. The stories eventually merge to bring out a possibly predictable outcome. If you actually put your head to it its not hard for some people to figure the mystery out. Rohan Sippy's movies were always something and this movie too aspires to be different. Abhishek Bachchan and Prateik Babbar put together a fabulous performance, although Bachchan always seemed over-aggressive and too enthusiastic, it suited the role he was trying to play. The only flaw in the otherwise decent movie was the extended run-time. Bollywood is notorious for stretched movies and this one is no different. Possibly if the plot developed slightly faster with a more twisted climax, the movie would have been far more interesting. Great watch with some nice foot-tapping numbers.

Thumbs up: Good performances, nice plot
Thumbs down: A bit stretched

Rating: 7.8/10
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Fast Five (2011)



Genre: Action/Crime


Starring: Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Jordana Brewster, Tyrese Gibson, Chris 'Ludacris' Bridges, Matt Schluze, Gal Gadot, Dwayne Johnson, Elsa Pataky, Joaquim de Almeida

The Fast and Furious saga started of as movie with adrenaline rushing racing, crazy cars and hot babes. The past few movies (including this one) have, sadly, shifted their focus and cars have been quickly replaced by crime. Dominic Toretto (Diesel) is sentenced to prison for his crime in the previous movie but escapes shortly with the help of Brian O'Conner (Walker) and his sister Mia (Brewster). Before the police can get to them, the trio drive their way down all the way to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and meet up with Dominic's old accomplice Vince (Schulze). Reyes (Almeida) is Rio's biggest crime lord and Mia, Brian, Dom and Vince do a job with Reyes and his men. The job goes wrong and they attract enough heat to get FBI Agent Hobbs (Johnson) to come all the way down to Rio and sort business out. Dom wants to do one last job before they quit the business forever, one job where they take Reyes down for good. The movie did have some really amazing action and hugely destructive action sequences, yet the plot did not live up to the brands reputation. Whatever cars and racing was there, it seemed to be forced rather than blend with the movies plot. Two masterminds assembling a team for one big robbery, ever heard of Oceans Eleven? Amongst other faults, the attribute for which each team member was selected by Dom and Brian did not reflect in the movie. It is entertaining, no doubt, but not the Fast and Furious kind of entertainment. Felt more like a heist movie on steroids.

Thumbs up: Great mind-bogging action
Thumbs down: No racing, not too much of cars

Rating: 6.2/10
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Thank You (2011)


Genre: Comedy/Drama/Romance

Starring: Akshay Kumar,Sonam Kapoor, Bobby Deol, Suniel Shetty, Irrfan Khan, Celina Jaitley, Rimi Sen

The million dollar question, what is Bollywoods one and only formula to create a comedy movie? Answer; Akshay Kumar + a foreign location + tons of skimpy clad woman + husband-wife complications. Been there, seen it and done that. Raj (Deol), Yogi (Shetty) and Vikram (Khan) are three friends who do business together and who regularly cheat on their wives and have loads of other mistresses. To avoid getting caught, they watch out for each other and have a ball of a time. Raj's wife Sanjana (Kapoor) loves her husband to no end and refuses to agree upon the fact that he might be cheating on her. Yogi and Vikrams' wives, Maya (Jaitley) and Shivani (Sen) introduce her to detective Kishan (Kumar) who specialises in conducting sting operations against cheating husbands/wives. Meanwhile, Raj, Vikram and Yogi suspect that there is someone trying to bring out their secret to their wives and hence they too hire Kishan to find out who is uncovering their secrets. The usual confusion, mix-up and stupidity follows which gives you a week-long hangover. The plot is utterly ridiculous and the melodrama and unwanted craziness is just too much to digest. My condolences to everyone who had to bear the brunt of this movie and my sincere apologies for not posting this review early enough.

Thumbs up: Hmm, probably the tons of bikini-clad woman will win this one
Thumbs down: Everything, literally

Rating: 4.2/10
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