Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 5:29 AM
Genre: Crime/Drama/Thriller/Biography
Starring: Ben Affleck, Bryan Cranston, Alan Arkin, John Goodman, Tate Donovan, Clea DuVall, Christopher Denham, Scoot McNairy, Kerry Bishe, Victor Garber
In 1979, the Shah of Iran was over-thrown by the people for having a very westernised approach, flamboyant life and leading the country towards poverty and famine. Ayatollah Khomeini became the founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran and subsequently its supreme leader, a position created solely for him. The people of Iran demanded that the Shah be returned to them, who was currently hiding in USA for him to be tried and eventually executed. The US governments refusal saw large protests outside the American embassy which eventually saw a crowd taking over the entire embassy and 52 American citizens were taken hostage. 6 diplomats, of the embassy managed to escape through a back door and took shelter with the Ambassador of Canada (Garber). The revolutionists had learnt of the 6 diplomats and would eventually manage to find out where they are hiding. If they are caught inside the house of the Canadian Ambassador, it would create a politically tense situation for not only USA but also Canada. Hence, due to increasing pressure from the Canadian government, USA needed to either rescue the 6 diplomats or risk a political crisis. CIA operative Tony Mendez (Affleck) is assigned the task of rescuing the 6 without anyone being the wiser. His game plan, to fake a Canadian movie production company who is currently in Iran to look for locations. This movie is one of those regular CIA/FBI run-of-the-mill spy movies and can easily be classified into the 'average' category. The big thing about this movie, due to which it has got the astounding acclaim, is only the climax. The steady build up of the suspense and final outburst towards the end is what is exceptionally gripping and very entertaining this is solely what makes this movie a wonderful watch. It should become a case study on 'How to end a movie with a good climax'.
Thumbs up: Phenomenal build up and the eventual peaking
Thumbs down: A bit slow beginning, can be discarded as any other average movie
Rating: 8.1/10
Amazing Movies,
Biography,
Crime,
Drama,
Thriller,
{[['
']]}
Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 10:15 PM
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
Bollywood,
Crime,
Drama,
Fantasy,
Good Movies,
Thriller,
{[['
']]}
Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 9:57 AM
Genre: Thriller/Crime/Drama
Starring: Kevin Costner, William Hurt, Demi Moore, Dane Cook, Danielle Panabaker
Everybody has some or the other hobby that we all like to regularly practice. The reason why we have a hobby is because it gives us fun, enjoyment and a lot of satisfaction. Mr. Earl Brooks (Costner), the Man of the Year and a successful and rich businessman, too has a hobby that he regularly practices. He loves killing people. He is known as the 'Thumbprint Killer' since he leaves a thumbprint of the victims after the murder. He has no motive, no pattern and has no connection with the victims whatsoever, pure pleasure. Mr. Brooks has abstained from his sadistic hobby for two years by curbing his desires, but his alter-ego and id, Walter (Hurt) keeps playing with his mind and convinces him to return once more. The movie is a sensational thriller that he keeps you glued for a very long time. Although this may not be a true murder mystery or the kind of crime movie that we are generally accustomed to, its still very different and interesting. What the movie lacks are some sensational twists or some eye-popping scenes, which its simple and consistent plot line seems to be missing, Kevin Costner has done a phenomenal performance of a wealthy man with a wicked and dark side and he seems to be tailor made for the role. A great watch but it has scope for improvement.
Thumbs up: Kevin Costner, interesting story
Thumbs down: Lack of good twists and an engaging climax
Rating: 7.6/10
Crime,
Drama,
Good Movies,
Thriller,
{[['
']]}
Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 10:55 AM
Genre: Thriller/Drama/Crime
Starring: Daniel Manche, Blythe Auffarth, Blanche Baker, Madeline Taylor, Benjamin Ross Kaplan, Graham Patrick Martin
At times there are some movies that you wonder why anyone would want to make them. The question mark over this movies existence is not based on it being too outrageous but the mere fact that it gets far too disturbing to watch. Set in the '50's, the movie narrates the experiences of a pre-teen boy, David (Manche) and a life-changing incident that he witnessed which changed him forever. Two young girls, Meg (Auffarth) and Susan (Taylor) are sent to live with their Aunt Ruth (Baker) after the loss of their parents in a tragic car accident. Ruth and David are neighbours and David regularly spends time with Ruths' sons and the other boys in the neighborhood. David is immediately attracted towards Meg and so are all the other boys. However, there was a difference between David's attraction, which was friendship and love, and the other boys, which was purely sexual. Ruth saw Susan and Meg as a burden on her and her displeasure towards them led her to severely punish them for every small deed until the intensity of the punishments kept growing to the point of no return. The movie portrays David as being a witness to the incident and although he never agreed with what was happening, he was unable to do anything to prevent it. Although the movie builds on a good foundation, it simply gets extremely disturbing and far too graphic to be a peaceful watch. You would probably wince and turn your head on multiple occasions, so be warned before you watch.
Thumbs up: Good depiction of a single event
Thumbs down: Slow, can get extremely disturbing towards a point
Rating: 5.8/10
Average Movies,
Crime,
Drama,
Thriller,
{[['
']]}
Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 9:12 AM
Genre: Thriller/Crime/Drama/Fantasy
Starring: Keanu Reaves, Charlize Theron, Al Pacino, Jeffrey Jones, Connie Nielsen, Craig T. Nelson
A small-town man captures the eye of a big-city business tycoon who offers him everything in the world. But as so many movies in the past on this plot line have taught us, too much money can cause too much collateral damage. Kevin Lomax (Reaves) is a successful lawyer based in a small town in Florida. Lomax has a record for never losing a case even though he knew his client to be guilty but yet managed to get an acquittal. John Milton (Pacino) a senior partner at Milton, Chadwick and Waters learns of Lomax and his winning streak and offers him a big figure salary in his firm in New York City. A fancy apartment in a prime location and a whole lot of money tempts his wife Mary Ann (Theron) who wants Kevin to accept the offer. However, Kevin's job demands far too much of his time and Mary Ann having no job to spend her time, starts getting increasingly annoyed with staying at home alone day in and day out which starts straining Kevin and Mary Ann's relationship. Although the movie classifies itself as a 'thriller' there isn't too much in it to send chills down your spine. Most of the movie appears to be a rags to riches story and the eventual downfall, but the climax turns out to be surprisingly different. Al Pacino puts on a good performance and there is something about his look in the movie which gives him a very sly and cunning appearance right from his first shot. Theron puts on an outstanding performance, especially in the second half and does every piece of justice to her role. A decent fantasy cum thriller but with a slightly tried and tested story.
Thumbs up: Charlize Theron's fabulous acting
Thumbs down: Stretched, run-of-the-mill story
Rating: 6.2/10
Average Movies,
Crime,
Drama,
Fantasy,
Thriller,
{[['
']]}
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,
{[['
']]}
Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 9:48 AM
Genre: Crime/Drama/Romance
Starring: Sean Penn, Benicio del Toro, Naomi Watts, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Melissa Leo
Normal individuals, each living a separate life culminate together due to an incident, big or small. Its a plot line that is not new to the movie industry and success or failure of the movie solely depends upon the depth and relevance of that very incident. A mathematics professor, Paul Rivers (Penn) has a fatal heart condition due to his smoking habit and needs a transplant if he wishes to survive. He has managed to get back to his wife Mary (Gainsbourg) although their relationship is very distant. Jack Jordan (del Toro) is a convict who is out on parole and learns the way of Jesus to redeem himself of his sins and give up on his alcohol and drug problems. Christina Peck (Watts) is a happily married mother of two beautiful daughters who has managed to put her drug abuse behind her and move on to become a responsible and caring mother. The three families come together when Jack accidentally runs over Christina's husband and two daughters and kills them. Christina decides to donate her husbands organs and his heart reaches Paul who undergoes a transplant. Jack is filled with guilt and decides to turn himself to the police. Paul wants to find out whose heart is inside him. Christina needs a shoulder to cry on and cannot seem to move on in life. The incident that brings the three together is well crafted but the movie is far too slow and stretched and demands a lot of patience from the audience to sit through the entire 2 hour ordeal. The performances are good with Naomi Watts particularly standing out for her exceptional performance. The movie can be acclaimed on technical grounds but lacks the entertainment factor that the average viewer is always looking for.
Thumbs up: Naomi Watts and her exceptional acting
Thumbs down: Too slow and stretched to be likable
Rating: 6.7/10
Crime,
Drama,
Good Movies,
Thriller,
{[['
']]}
Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 9:29 AM
Genre: Crime/Drama/Thriller/Mystery
Starring: Naomi Watts, Laura Elena Harring, Justin Theroux
Pronounced and read as: Mulholland Drive. Profound and deep movies with layered meanings and multiple interpretations are always a difficult watch for the average audience and appeals only to critics, movie fanatics and visitors of film festivals. Betty Elms (Watts) is a struggling actor who has arrived in Los Angeles to become a movie star. Her aunt is a veteran actor who is currently on vacation and has hence decided to leave her massive house to Betty to stay in. Meanwhile, a failed murder attempt inside a limousine sees the victim (Harring) escaping from the crime scene and sneak into Betty's' aunts house without anyone's knowledge. The victim cannot seem to remember her name and assumes the name of Rita. Betty's childish detective instincts come to life and she tries to unravel Rita's mystery and find out who she exactly is. Meanwhile, a movie director, Adam Kesher (Theroux) is threatened by the mafia to cast a girl of their choice for the lead role in his upcoming movie rather than the actress that he selected. The two major plots are flanked by multiple irrelevant smaller stories that do not make any sense or add up during the initial stages but some culminate right towards the end. The movie is ridiculously long, slow and heavy. Right after the very end the average viewer would have no idea what the past two and a half hours were all about and how does it link to the movies climax. One would probably need to Google interpretations and meanings of this movie just to simply come to terms with what they just saw. The performances are fabulous, no doubt, but the movie is strictly for minorities and not for the masses. That aside, the thought process that might have gone into this movie to create is an achievement in itself and much praise goes out to director David Lynch. Watch only with a lot of time and an aspirin in case your not prepared for it.
Thumbs up: Brilliant plot conception, good performances
Thumbs down: Too deep, profound, sow and heavy
Rating: 7.3/10
Crime,
Drama,
Good Movies,
Mystery,
Thriller,
{[['
']]}
Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 9:51 AM
Genre: Drama/Thriller/Crime/Mystery
Starring: Vidya Balan, Parambrata Chatterjee, Saswata Chatterjee, Dhritiman Chatterjee, Nawazuddin Siddiqui,
Good performances, an enticing storyline and a superb climax is just what the doctor ordered to make a good movie. Vidya Bagchi (Balan) arrives in Kolkata from London to look for her husband who mysteriously disappeared a few days ago. Her husband, Arnab, came for an assignment to Kolkata and suddenly stopped answering telephone calls and any form of communication. A local police officer Rana (Parambrata Chatterjee) agrees to help her in her quest to seek her husband. The hotel in which she claimed her husband was staying in denied him ever checking in along with the National Data Centre (NDC) the company in which he was supposed to have been working for. Suddenly Arnab Bagchi does not exist and nobody, right from his parents address, school records, professional records do not seem to match the claims made by Vidya. What does emerge is Arnab's uncanny resemblance with Milind Damji, a man with a shady past and an obscure link with Arnab. Vidya realises that in order to get Arnab, she must find Milind but Khan (Siddiqui) the commander-in-chief of the NDC warns her to step out of it or she might lose her life. The movie is very gripping and keeps you wondering and glued to your seat right till the very end. No matter how many theories you might cook up half-way through the movie, it would all go for a toss once the climax is out. The only low points was the forced romance in a true Bollywood style, which thankfully was without any unnecessary song sequences. The movie is beautifully shot against the backdrop of the Bengali festival of Durga Pooja which adds power and aggression to the movie and a huge scoop of character. Vidya Balan has shined once more with some superb acting and has definitely made a mark for herself in the industry, if
The Dirty Picture hasn't already done that.
Thumbs up: Astounding performances, gripping plot
Thumbs down: Climax might seem a bit far-fetched to few, forced romance scenes.
Rating: 8.5/10
Amazing Movies,
Bollywood,
Crime,
Drama,
Mystery,
Thriller,
{[['
']]}
Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 3:54 AM
Genre: Crime/Action/Adventure/Thriller/Mystery
Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Jude Law, Noomi Rapace, Jared Harris, Stephen Fry
'Steps on how to tarnish a brilliant piece of English literature'. Step 1, find Guy Ritchie. Step 2, give him the book. Step 3, ask him to make a movie on it. The earlier movie was widely criticised for being too far-fetched from the original Sherlock Holmes created by Arthur Conan Doyle. The sequel still suffers from the same drawback, making Holmes appear to be a James Bond of the 19th century. Detective Sherlock Holmes (Downey Jr.) is investigating a series of murders and terrorist attacks to which he has found a single common link, the widely acclaimed Prof. James Moriarty (Harris). Moriarty is trying to take control of various weapons manufacturing factories and all possible war supplies and eventually intends to start a world war to fuel the demand of his products. Dr. Watson (Law) Sherlock's close aide has taken time off to get married and enjoy a honeymoon but is rudely interrupted by Holmes and is forced back to work and prevent Moriarty from achieving his objective. The clear improvements in the movie is the aspect of a mystery which was largely missing from the earlier movie but it suffers from an overtly stretched plot. Had the movie been below a 2-hour runtime, it might have been far more enjoyable and less of a drag. Holmes appears to be an action hero and the entire plot is not derived from any of the books but conjured from thin air. The world loved the novel due to the personality of the character and the story portrayed within it, however, the movie has altered both and hence leaving no real trace of Sherlock except the name. The movie is not for those who loved the book but for those who would drool over mindless action and murder mysteries.
Thumbs up: Twists in the tale
Thumbs down: Not Sherlock in the slightest of ways
Rating: 6.7/10
Action,
Adventure,
Crime,
Good Movies,
Mystery,
Thriller,
{[['
']]}
Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 11:52 AM
Genre: Drama/Thriller/Crime/Action/Mystery
Starring: Liam Neeson, Diane Kruger, January Jones, Aidan Quinn, Bruno Ganz, Sebastian Koch
Liam Neeson will forever be known for his contemporary spy movies and this one adds to the list. Dr. Martin Harris (Neeson) is a professor in biotechnology who has come with his wife Elizabeth (Jones) for a biotechnology summit to Berlin, Germany. He accidentally leaves his briefcase, with his passport inside it. at the airport and injures his head when the taxi has an accident and falls into the river. Falling into a coma, Martin wakes up only four days later and finds his wife not around with him. Everybody he earlier knew refuse to recognise him, his identity stolen by an impostor (Quinn) and with no identity to prove himself he becomes an unknown. With faint traces of his memory after arriving in Berlin, the only person he remembers in Gina (Kruger) the taxi driver who rescued him from drowning. Along with Gina he needs to find his true identity and unravel the mystery behind the 'fake' Martin Harris. The movie is very typical and the role of Martin Harris seems to be tailor made for Neeson. His fabulous performance, supported by Kruger, add a lot of character to the movie and makes it an interesting watch. The commendable aspect being that till the very end the movie is packing surprises for you, just when you thought you had it all figured out. The sad part, however, is that in the midst of all the twists and turns, there are multiple lose ends that the movie conveniently forgets to tie together leading to gaping visible flaws in the story. All in all, a great Neeson movie that reminded me, oddly, of
Taken.
Thumbs up: Neeson and the entertaining plot
Thumbs down: Lose ends in the plot that were never answered
Rating: 7.5/10
Action,
Crime,
Drama,
Good Movies,
Mystery,
Thriller,
{[['
']]}
Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 10:54 AM
Genre: Science-fiction/Action/Crime/Thriller/Drama/Mystery
Starring: Tom Cruise, Max von Sydow, Samantha Morton, Collin Farrell
How do you reduce crime in the city? Prevent crime from ever happening of course. Three mutated human beings, called Precogs, gain the gift of seeing the future and hence detecting crime. Washington D.C. sets up a Precrime department, headed by John Anderton (Cruise), whose task is to learn of any murders predicted by the Precogs and prevent them from happening. With the high success ratio of the operation that the city experiences, Precrime is going national and a member of the Department of Justice, Danny Witwer (Farrell) is sent to evaluate the effectiveness of the department before the crucial decision is taken. Since Precrime solely relies on the vision obtained by the Precogs, the possibility of the actual murder not taking place exists and the question arises, how can you arrest someone for a crime they never did but were only forecasted to do. John staunchely believes in Precrime and its ideology but found himself on the other side of the line when a crime to be conducted by him is foretold, where he supposedly is to murder a man he has never met. The movie is layered with multiple stories that all go in the direction to fathom the dilemma that arises out of the ideology of the Precrime department. Tom Cruise has put on a fabulous performance and is not action focused, as his more recent movies are, and comes out as a more contemporary actor who can do serious acting. The movie's storyline is unique and interesting and coming from the notable Steven Speilberg, one expects as much.
Thumbs up: Tom Cruise and the plot
Thumbs down: Repeatedly fast and slow, pace changing plot development
Rating: 7.9/10
Action,
Crime,
Drama,
Good Movies,
Mystery,
Science-fiction,
Thriller,
{[['
']]}
Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 6:28 AM
Genre: Crime/Drama/Thriller/Action
Starring: Clint Eastwood, Andrew Robinson, John Vernon, Reni Santoni
The city of San Fransisco is facing a sadistic serial murderer calling himself Scorpio (Robinson) who would stop at nothing to extort money from the city. If he doesn't get what he demands for, a life would be lost. Faced with the dilemma of fueling crime versus saving the people, the Mayor (Vernon) appoints Inspector Harry Callahan (Eastwood) the task of finding and arresting the lunatic. However, getting hold of him seems harder than what Callahan had anticipated leading to a cat and mouse chase for the rest of the movie. The movie showcases Eastwood's evergreen and fine performances that have always gripped and thrilled audiences. What the movie lacked was a unique plot development and perhaps even some twists. Unfortunately the killer and his identity were revealed early on in the movie leaving no surprises for the audience. All that ensued was Callahan chasing Scorpio and his attempts at apprehending him. The movie is raw and tries to be as practical as possible by showcasing how crime is tackled in the real world, but you wish it had something unexpected to turn up right towards the end; it's a movie after all.
Thumbs up: Clint Eastwood, raw performances
Thumbs down: A bland plot which needs some more spice
Rating: 6.9/10
Action,
Crime,
Drama,
Good Movies,
Thriller,
{[['
']]}
Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 8:53 PM
Genre: Crime/Mystery/Drama/Thriller
Starring: Jack Nicholson, Fayne Dunaway, John Huston, Perry Lopez
A classic, multiple award winning and well-renowned movie, Chinatown is based upon the murder of Hollis Mulwray, an engineer at the Los Angeles water department. The government wants to build a dam to provide water to the city which Mulwray is against building. His wife Evelyn Mulwray hires private investigator J.J. 'Jack' Gittes (Nicholson) to investigate on her husbands affair with another woman. Jack unveils the affair and plasters it across newspapers and subsequently Holwray is found dead near a reservoir with Gittes suspecting it to be murder. With a case of mistaken identities and a huge puzzle that just does not add up, Gittes needs to get to the bottom of Mulwray's murder. SPOILER ALERT, the following lines are concerned with the movies climax. The movie progresses in a superb manner, gaining a lot of attention to the point that you are itching to know how the plot unveils. The biggest let down is the final climax which does not come open as any other murder mystery would. Its quite dramatic, different from the approach of the greater part of the movie and personally I don't think it suits the character of Gittes. It does not believe in a happy ending and may not appeal to all, at least not to me. For once perhaps if the movie followed a more conventional approach it might have been better but at the same time lets not forget all the accolades the movie has garnered and assume that it is right in its own part. Jack Nicholson has delivered in an amazing manner and the movie constantly reminds one of the famous Perry Mason series of murder mystery novels and the movie, along with Gittes' character, seem to be inspired from there although there is no official confirmation of it. The best bet you got for a murder mystery with the film noir feel to it.
Thumbs up: Jack Nicholson, amazing plot and mystery
Thumbs down: Unconventional climax contrary to the movies approach
Rating: 8.0/10
Amazing Movies,
Crime,
Drama,
Mystery,
Thriller,
{[['
']]}
Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 9:36 PM
Genre: Crime/Action/Drama/Thriller
Starring: Sylvester Stallone, Antonia Banderas, Julianne Moore
Hit men movies are not uncommon to Hollywood and that too having two assassins is not going to make things any different. Robert Rath (Stallone) is an accomplished assassin and is said to be the best in the business. His daily routine is shattered when he discovers that his targets are being stolen by another assassin, Miguel Bain (Banderas). Bain is an over-enthusiastic newcomer to the business and looks up to Rath and has made him his mentor. Rath once had a Russian friend, Nicoli, whom he killed to become the best assassin available, a technique that Bain now wishes to apply. Rath befriends a target Electra (Moore) whom he agreed to team with to defeat Bain for mutual benefit. The movie plot is quite average with predictable results and some scenes make you think, 'Wait, how did that happen again?' The things to watch out for is the entertaining action and Banderas' psychotic performance to an extent. There really is nothing in the movie for any viewer except for raw action sequences with added flavours of Stallone and Banderas fighting it out.
Thumbs up: Entertaining action, Banderas
Thumbs down: Story
Rating: 6.5/10
Action,
Average Movies,
Crime,
Drama,
Thriller,
{[['
']]}
Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 4:20 AM
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
Average Movies,
Crime,
Drama,
Historical Event,
Thriller,
{[['
']]}
Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 5:55 AM
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
Bollywood,
Crime,
Drama,
Good Movies,
Mystery,
Romance,
Thriller,
{[['
']]}
Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 7:23 AM
Genre: Drama/Romance/Mystery/Crime/Thriller
Starring: Priyanka Chopra, Neil Nitin Mukesh, John Abraham, Irrfan Khan, Aleksandr Dyachenko, Annu Kapoor, Naseeruddin Shah, Vivaan Shah, Konkana Sen Sharma
The story of a young and beautiful girl, Susanna (Chopra) who marries 7 men and murders each and every one of them. Major Edwin Rodriques (Mukesh) murdered for being overtly jealous, inhuman and proud. Jimmy Stetson (Abraham) murdered for being a drug-addicted rock star. Wasiullah Khan (Khan) a Muslim revolutionist, murdered for being a wife-beater. Nicoli Vronsky (Dyachenko) a Russian scientist, murdered for cheating and keeping two wives. Keemat Lal (Kapoor) a police officer, who knew about Susanna's crime and murdered for demanding too much sex in exchange for keeping her out of prison. Dr. Modhusudhon Tarafdar (Shah) a well-versatile scientist, murdered for wanting Susanna's money to pull him out of bankruptcy. The biggest flaw and question mark on the movie is the last and final husband, which was weird, stupid and somehow didn't make any sense and felt as if it was a consequence of pure boredom. Vishal Bhardwaj has been known to make some truly fabulous movies but yet this time he seems to have gotten the formula wrong. The entire murder mystery aspect did not come out as well as it could have or at least as it was intended too. A pretty much predictable and boring movie overall which does not live up to its standards.
Thumbs up: Priyanka Chopra
Thumbs down: Awkward ending
Rating: 6.1/10
Average Movies,
Bollywood,
Crime,
Drama,
Mystery,
Romance,
Thriller,
{[['
']]}
Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 12:37 PM
Genre: Crime/Drama/Thriller/Mystery
Starring: George Clooney, Cate Blanchett, Leland Orser, Toby Maguire
Post World War II, the Allies convened at Berlin to decide the fate of Germany and her allies. Berlin was divided into four sectors, each belonging to USA, Russia, France and Britain. Tully (Maguire) was an American soldier who used to smuggle supplies onto the Russian side for money. Tully was assigned to be the driver for Jake Geismer (Clooney), an American soldier born and brought up in Berlin, who was on his way home after the end of the war. Tully's girlfriend, Lena Brandt (Blanchett) is a prostitute who wants to escape from Germany and is taking Tully's help in doing so. Tully learns that Lena's dead husband is wanted by the Russians and he decides to strike a deal with them, intending to escape with the money without delivering Emil Brandt. Tully's dead body is subsequently found on Russian territory and Geismer smells a rat. He decides to dig a bit deeper and find out why Tully was shot, by whom and why do the Russians and the Ameriancs want Emil Brandt so much. The film was shot in black and white and was made to depict the film noir of the 1940's. The very typical drama and acting from that era adorn the film throughout. There really is no visible reason why such a style was given to the film since it does more to destroy and little to enhance the overall effect of the movie. The 40's style may not go down well with audiences of today and possibly if the movie was made in the regular manner sans the melodrama, it might have been a much better watch. A good attempt at being innovative yet, in the end, it is a love it or hate it film.
Thumbs up: Decent murder mystery plot
Thumbs down: 40's style and melodrama may not go down well with everyone
Rating: 6.3/10
Average Movies,
Crime,
Drama,
Mystery,
Thriller,
{[['
']]}
Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 2:51 PM
Genre: Crime/Drama/Thriller
Starring: Ben Whishaw, Rachel Hurd-Wood, Dustin Hoffman, Alan Rickman
Gifted with an extremely powerful sense of smell, Jean-Baptise Grenouille (Whishaw) knew that his life would be something out of the ordinary. He grew up in an orphanage and quickly realised his ability and its powers behind it. He could recognise a scent from miles away which gave him the ability to know and do more than anyone else. One night he smelt a girl so lovely that he could not resist her and his mind lost all control. After murdering her he smelt her as much as he could but quickly realised that he couldn't preserve the smell forever. Craving for the knowledge to preserve smell, he encountered Giuseppe Baldini (Hoffman) the once renowned perfumer of Paris who has now lost his touch. Jean-Baptise worked for him and hence learnt all that he could in the art of distilling and preserving smells and all that he wished to know on making the perfect perfume. With all that knowledge and skill within him, Jean-Baptise sought to make the worlds finest perfume, something which no one would have every smelt or imagined. The movie has a very interesting story line to it but it has its own set of flaws which bring it down. The first and most obvious dislike with the movie is its length due to which a lot of parts become a bit slow. After a while the movie feels stretched and you wish you could urge it to move on. Dustin Hoffman did not seem to fit into the role, although he did put up a good performance. His American accent and style did not allow him to be a fine Italian perfumer that he was supposed to be. The movie also has a lot of graphic scenes, although its not gory, but yet it might be unwatchable to some. All in all a brilliant movie with some fabulous performances, but with a nip and a tuck here in there, it could be much better.
Thumbs up: Great performances, good plot
Thumbs down: Length
Rating: 7.0/10
Crime,
Drama,
Good Movies,
Thriller,
{[['
']]}
