Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 12:19 AM
Genre: Action/Adventure/Thriller/Fantasy
Starring: Dwayne Johnson, Steven Brand, Kelly Hu
The Scorpion King makes a short appearance in The Mummy Returns. The movie goes back into a flashback and narrates how Mathayus (Johnson) became the Scorpion King. Mathayus and his brothers are the last of the Akkadian mercenaries. Memnon (Brand) is conquering kingdom after kingdom with the help of his sorceress Cassandra (Hu). Memnon's remaining adversaries hire Mathayus and his brothers to kill Memnon for good. At his first attempt, Mathayus loses his brothers and is about to lose his life, when his sorceress prevents Memnon from killing him, saying it was bad omen for him. Mathayus learns that Cassandra is forced to do what she has to, and she too would prefer to see Memnon dead. Being a part of The Mummy series of movies, the story has no link whatsoever to them. The movie doesn't have anything new to offer except for the Egyptian background. Dwayne Johnson though, fits the bill of a warrior and does a fine job.
Rating: 5.4/10
Action,
Adventure,
Average Movies,
Fantasy,
Thriller,
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 10:48 PM
Genre: Drama/Crime
Starring: Sandra Bullock, Don Cheadle, Matt Dillon, Jennifer Esposito, Brendan Fraser, Thandie Newton, Terrence Howard, Chris 'Ludacris' Bridges, Michael Pena, Larenz Tate, Shaun Toub, Ryan Phillipe
The movie is based a lot on the move Love Actually (post dated 20/6/09). The only difference being is that unlike showing the different spheres and aspects of love, this movie focuses on racism. Modern day America, its been years since anti-racist laws have been passed, but yet racism prevails on the street. A common perception is that racism only exists between black and white. That is not true, is what the movie tries to say. Chinese, Black, White, Latino, Arab, racism occurs almost everywhere and between anyone. Every character in the movie has a different story attached to it. All the stories converge and unfold in a beautiful manner which makes this movie Oscar deserving, which it rightly got. The movie is worth every minute spent. A must watch for everyone.
Rating: 7.8/10
Crime,
Drama,
Good Movies,
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 8:27 PM
Genre: Crime/Action/Drama
Starring: Collin Farrell, Edward Norton, Jon Voight, Noah Emmerich
There have been many cop corruption movies in the past. It's a good story, but it all depends on how one executes it. A father, 2 brothers and a son-in-law, have their life dedicated to the police force. A police shootout leaves 4 of their men dead. They belong all belong to Officer Francis Tierney Jr. (Emmerich) precinct. Police top brass Francis Tierney Sr. (Voight) makes his son Raymond (Norton) investigate the killings. Jimmy (Farrell) is a corrupt cop who takes money from a drug dealer Angel Tezo. Things got messy when Tezo killed his men and ran away. Ray is in for a surprise when he starts realising Jimmy's dirty dealings and falls into a moral dilemma if he should testify against his own brother or lose his own job. The movie reflects upon a situation that often all of us come across. Should we live up to the reputation of our work, that feeds the entire family and brings us pride, or should we save the skin of our closed one and save the humiliation that we would suffer? More excitement and thrills would have brought the movie to a different level altogether which boasts of a good star cast and a fabulous performance.
Rating: 7.3/10
Action,
Crime,
Drama,
Good Movies,
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 2:01 AM
Genre: Drama/Romance/Comedy
Starring: Jennifer Lopez, Jane Fonda, Micheal Vartan
Charlotte (Lopez) finally finds the man of her dreams, Kevin (Vartan) whom she wants to marry and settle down with. They plan their wedding and everything is set, except getting Kevin's mothers approval. Viola (Fonda) is a reputed TV anchor who was been replaced by her company. After suffering a mental breakdown, she is not prepared to let son go to another woman. Determined to stall the marriage, she becomes Charlotte's worst nightmare in an attempt to scare her away. Charlotte on the other hand, decides to fight fire with fire and take on her mother-in-law. The movie could probably be more appealing if there was more humour to it. The daughter-mother battle offers a very good scope to bring out good laughs, which unfortunately the movie doesn't utilise very well.
Rating: 5.2/10
Average Movies,
Comedy,
Drama,
Romance,
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 11:28 PM
Genre: Thriller/Mystery/Action/Adventure/Fantasy
Starring: Brendan Fraser, Rachel Weisz, John Hannah, Arnold Vosloo, Freddie Boath
The High Priest Imoteph (Vosloo) has been resurrected once more by the reincarnation of his past love Anck-su-namun. Meanwhile Rick (Fraser), Evelyn (Weisz), Jonathan (Hannah) and Rick and Evelyn's son, Alex (Boath) come across the Bracelet of Anubis while exploring another pyramid. If the bracelet is worn, the Scorpion King will rise once more with the Army of Anubis. Imoteph wants to defeat the Scorpion King and take the army for himself. When Alex accidentally slips on the bracelet, he gets directions for the oasis of Ahm Shere, where the Scorpion King rests. Imoteph kidnaps Alex and uses the directions to get there. He must reach within seven days else Alex will be killed and the Army of Anubis will rise. Rick, Evelyn and Jonathan, follow Alex's trail and try to rescue him from the hands of Imoteph. The movie has little connection with the previous movie, except Imoteph's character. Special effects are better and the story is more interesting. Waiting to watch the third part.
Rating: 7.6/10
Action,
Adventure,
Fantasy,
Good Movies,
Mystery,
Thriller,
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 8:59 AM
Genre: Action/Adventure/Fantasy
Starring: Harrison Ford, Karen Allen, Paul Freeman
American archaeologist Henry 'Indiana' Jones (Ford) is sought after by the US government to learn more about the Ark of the Covenant. They have certain evidence to believe that the Nazi's are undertaking an expedition, headed by Indy's archaeologist enemy, Dr Belloq (Freeman). The Ark holds immense power, which must not fall in the hands of the Germans. Indy is authorised to prevent the Ark from falling in the Nazi's possession, and bring it back as his own. Marion (Allen) is Indy's ex-lover, who holds a valuable object which shows the location of the Ark. They set out to Egypt to find and retrieve the Ark and prevent it from falling into the hands of their enemies. The movie does not focus a lot on the archaeological aspect as one would want it to be. Many scenes of the movie, especially the action scenes, seem to be a bit overdone and hard to believe, in spite of being a fantasy movie. Doesn't really deserve being in the IMDb top 250.
Rating: 6.2/10
Action,
Adventure,
Fantasy,
Good Movies,
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 10:48 PM
Genre: Mystery/Crime/Drama/Romance
Starring: Edward Norton, Paul Giamatti, Jessica Biel, Rufus Sewell
Set in the early 1900's in Vienna, Eisenheim (Norton) is a magician who has developed affections for Sophie, the Duchess von Teschen (Biel). During their childhood, due to their class divide, the two were separated and forbidden to meet. Eisenheim leaves the village to return after many years. He starts performing magic shows and entices the local audience. He soon learns that Sophie is due to marry the Crown Prince Leopold (Sewell) and humiliates him in one such performance. Leopold realises Sophie and Eisenheim's relationship and one night while drunk, appears to have murdered her. Inspector Uhl (Giamatti) and the locals are quite convinced that the Prince was responsible for the murder, but due to his kingly status, nothing can be done. The movie is set against an interesting backdrop and narrates the story well. Be ready for a nice unexpected twist in the end. The story however is not very new, but its the unfolding of the clues and the mystery that makes it very interesting.
Rating: 8.0/10
Amazing Movies,
Crime,
Drama,
Mystery,
Romance,
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 10:31 PM
Genre: Fantasy/Adventure/Thriller/Mystery/Action
Starring: Brendan Fraser, Rachel Weiz, John Hannah
A group of archaeologists consisting of Richard Connell aka Rick (Fraser), Evelyn Carnahan (Weiz) and her brother Johnathan (Hannah) set out for an adventure to the Egyptian city of Hamunaptra, city of the dead. They come across a rival expedition who is also out to for the same purpose as they are. Accidentally, they resurrect Pharoh Seti's High Priest, Imoteph, who was buried alive and cursed for bedding the Pharoh's mistress, Ankh-su-Namun. Imoteph now wants to use Evelyn's body to resurrect his lost love. A nice action filled, thrilling adventure. A delighting and fun watch watch. Although being a 10 year old movie, the special effects nowhere look out of place.
Rating: 7.4/10
Action,
Adventure,
Fantasy,
Good Movies,
Mystery,
Thriller,
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 8:37 AM
Genre: Drama/Crime
Starring: Robert DeNiro, Joe Pesci, Sharon Stone
The movie gives a deep insight into the funtioning of Las Vegas casinos somewhere in the 70's - 80's. Sam Rothstein aka Ace (DeNiro) is put in charge of running the new Tangier's Casino. Nicky Santoro (Pesci) is Sam's old friend who is appointed to keep Sam safe. Sam marries Ginger (Stone), a hustler who makes money off high-rollers. He believes that by marrying her he can make her love him and improve her life. Sam believes that a casino is a way to earn money, whereas Nicky believes that a casino is a way to steal money. He starts cheating and eventually gets banned from entering any Vegas casino. Left with no choice, Nicky and his gang turn into gangsters and take on theft and murder. His shady activities start putting Sam and Nicky's relationship into media focus which attracts heat to Sam's casino. Ginger meanwhile, still cant get around to love Sam and the only thing she does love is his money. Things get messy when the law starts coming down on Sam hard and his wife gets too close to Nicky. Greed eventually leads to murder which eventually leaves behind one bloody mess. The movie narrates a good and interesting story, but gets too long and monotonous. Probably if the movie was more short and direct, it would be able to hold audience interest better.
Rating: 7.1/10
Crime,
Drama,
Good Movies,
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 12:00 AM
Genre: Musical/Drama/Comedy
Starring: Jack Black, Mike White, Joan Cusack
Dewey Finn (Black) is a wannabe rock star who has just got voted out by his rock band. Rosalie Mullins (Cusack) is a school principal of a snobbish prep school who needs a substitute teacher. She contacts Ned Shneebly (White) who also is also Dewey's room-mate, to fill in the post. Dewey, currently unemployed, impersonates his friend and takes his job without informing him. Rock and roll being the only subject he ever learnt, he starts teaching that to the kids, citing it as a 'secret inter-school project competition', and slowly forms a band of his own to compete in the Battle of the Bands competition. A hilarious and laugh out loud comedy, Jack Black puts on an amazing performance. Although it feels a bit overdone, but that's how he is and that's what makes him amazing. Many songs featured in the movie are actually sung by Black's own band, Tenacious D. The movie has a nice outcome and is an amazing watch.
Rating: 7.0/10
Comedy,
Drama,
Good Movies,
Musical,
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 3:38 AM
Genre: Action/Crime/Romance
Starring: Paul Walker, Laurence Fishburne, Olivia Wilde, J.R Villarreal
Bobby Z is an American drug lord whose now supposedly dead. Tim Kearney (Walker) is a loser of a person and is serving his fourth stint in jail. Tim, seems to have an uncanny resemblance to Bobby Z and DEA agent Tad Guzsa (Fishburne) wants to use this. He decides to make him impersonate Bobby Z and exchange him across the border with a Mexican drug dealer, Don Huertero in exchange for his former partner whose been kept hostage by the Mexicans. Tim is promised freedom once across the border, however the exchange doesn't go as planned and Huertero decides to kill Bobby because of what he did to his daughter. Tim's new life and old life gets messed up when he gets together with Bobby Z's ex-girlfriend Elizabeth (Wilde) and son Kit (Villarreal) and some old rivals from his earlier life are in hot pursuit of his life. Paul Walker does look faintly familiar to the original Bobby Z but not a look alike who can talk, walk and behave like him and expect no one from the whole wide world to recognize the change. The movie has a funny way of ending each individual character stories. They just die. Boom, boom, one dies, boom, boom, a bike gang is down, boom, boom, everyone's dead for good.
Rating: 5.8/10
Action,
Average Movies,
Crime,
Romance,
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 5:21 AM
Genre: Adventure/Action/Science-Fiction
Starring: Brendan Fraser, Josh Hutcherson, Anita Briem
Prof. Trevor Anderson (Fraser), a geologist, is trying to prove a volcanic theory that the world ridicules. He lost his friend Max in 1997 while he was trying to prove this very theory. Max's son Sean (Hutcherson) comes over to spend a few days with him, something Trevor is not looking forward to. When he gets hold of his old friends possesions, he discovers strange writings in Jules Verne's book The Journey to the Centre of the Earth written by Max himself. He discovers some sort of seismic activity later that day which is exactly the same to the day when Max got lost. Along with his nephew, he sets on a quest to Iceland to decipher the codes and to unlock the secret Max was pursuing. He hires a mountaineer Hannah (Briem) who is the daughter of a scientist who along with Max, belonged to a secret society that believed that the writing in Jules Verne's book was for real. The trio get lost in the deep confines of the earth, only to stumble across one of the most amazing discoveries of mankind. Although I saw the normal DVD version, many parts of this movie seem to have been created simply to give 3-D viewers thrills, which seem uncalled for. The special effects and visuals are horrible and seem to have been made over two decades ago. I really don't know if that is because of the 3-D print or not, but the overall job was quite bad. Certain parts seem to good to be true, like outrunning a T-Rex and riding a wave of lava in a dinosaur skull. Although being an adventure-fiction, it gets a bit too hard to believe at times.
Rating: 4.6/10
Action,
Adventure,
Pathetic Movies,
Science-fiction,
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 1:57 AM
Genre: Drama/Romance
Starring: Anna Faris, Emma Stone
Shelly (Faris) is a playboy playmate, whose enjoyed the life of richness and luxury ever since she was young. After a sudden exit from the Playboy Mansion, she finds herself on the street with nowhere to go. She finds a sorority house of misfits, Zeta Alfa Zeta headed by Natalie (Stone) and gets inducted there. The ZAZ house might get demolished if Natalie doesn't manage to get 30 new members in their house. Shelly applies her playboy experience by converting the simple girls into stunning calendar girls which makes them gain a lot of popularity. They have to battle it out with the sorority house right across the street who is all set to take over their house if they don't have the required number of members. Anna Faris is highly irritating, trying to talk dirty and naughty all the time. Her squeaky voice and stupid talks are too much to handle. From no angle do the ZAZ girls look any more approachable than they were before their makeover. Not worth wasting one and a half hours.
Rating: 4.4/10
Drama,
Pathetic Movies,
Romance,
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 7:45 AM
Genre: Action/Adventure/Drama
Starring: Takashi Shimura, Toshiro Mifune, Yoshio Inaba, Seiji Miyaguchi, Minoru Chiaki, Daisuke Kato, Isao Kimura
English Title: Seven Samurai. A small Japanese village is threatened by bandits who would steal all their crops when they are harvested. Fed up, the villagers decide to hire samurai to protect their village in return for three square meals. They finally manage to recruit Kambei Shimada (Shimura) who understands the villagers plight and agrees to fight for respect and not for the monetary benefits. He manages to find six others like-minded samurai who all agree to protect the village. The rest of the movie is predictable, but that doesn't mean its any less a good watch. A very direct, to the point and simple movie. No unnecessary nonsense, and a wonderful watch. Toshiro Mifune brings out the little humour the movie has and does an outstanding performance. Classics like these are worth collecting. It also inspired the less successful Bollywood movie China Gate. Please don't judge the movie on the basis of its Indian counterpart.
Rating: 8.2/10
Action,
Adventure,
Amazing Movies,
Drama,
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 5:49 AM
Genre: Sports/Drama
Starring: Laurence Fishburne, Derek Luke, Orlando Jones
Jalil aka Kid (Luke) is an amateur biker, whose dad is a part of the Black Knights racing gang headed by Smoke (Fishburne). Smoke holds the title of the undisputed King of Cali who has never been defeated. Kid never liked the fact that his father always had to do what Smoke wanted him to do, and vowed never to do what his dad did. When he loses his father in a freak accident, Kid decides to start a gang of his own and get a move on in life. His mom is scared that he might just end up like his father and doesn't want Kid to race. She confides in Smoke by revealing to him that Kid is actually his son and that he should take care of her when he's on track. Kid is fed up of Smoke's fatherly affections towards him and challenges him to a race. The loser quits racing for good. The movie doesn't have adrenaline rushing biking action that one would hope for. Instead there is a mother-father-son family emotional drama weaved into it. Fishburne looks to old and out of place to pull off Smoke's character. Its hard to imagine him as a biking gang lord.
Rating: 6.2/10
Drama,
Good Movies,
Sports,
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 10:15 AM
Genre: Comedy/Drama
Starring: Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, Zach Galifianakis, Justin Bartha
Doug (Bartha) is gonna get married. He and his friends Phil (Cooper) Stu (Helms) and Alan (Galifianakis) decide to throw him a bachelors party at Vegas. After a very crazy night, none of them can remember what happened the night before, and the worst part being, they cant find Doug. Their best buddy and groom-to-be has got lost, and they need to find him and bring him back to his wedding on time. The three friends try to re-trace their steps only to find horrifying facts of what they did the night before, of which they have absolutely no memory. The movie is a total laugh riot filled with all the nonsense one can possibly generate in this world. From stealing Mike Tysons tiger and a cop car, pulling out ones own tooth, to marrying strippers, finding babies in the closet and getting hospitalised without realising it, this movie just does it all. The movie is different from your conventional American sex-comedy movies who just focus on nudity and sex to make themselves more appealing. The bachelors party photographs at the end of the movie is a must watch. Best go watch it with a couple of good friends and some beer. Cheers!
Rating: 7.6/10
Amazing Movies,
Comedy,
Drama,
Good Movies,
Sex Comedy,
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