Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 4:30 AM
Genre: Drama/War/Romance
Starring: Kiere Knightley, James McAvoy, Saoirse Ronan
Love is something which no one can ever understand until experienced. It is said that it never comes twice, and when it does, it is very hard to forget. Detachment from your lover is perhaps the worst thing that can ever happen to someone. Briony (Ronan) a young 13 year old, lives with her sister, brother and mother, in a rich countryside mansion in England. Her sister Cecilia (Knightley) shares a unique relationship with the gardener Robbie (McAvoy) with whom she has studied and been with since childhood. A string of events witnessed by Briony mixed with hasty conclusions and immaturity, leads her to believe that Robbie is a sex maniac and wrongly accuses him of rape. Just as Robbie and Cecilia's love is about to bloom, Robbie is taken away from the mansion and put behind bars. 5 years later, Briony realises her mistake and wants to atone her sins. Robbie and Cecilia cant seem to put their love behind them and with every passing day, life only gets worse. The movie's background score was something unique and catchy. Normal sounds like a typewriter, hammer hitting a car, water dripping etc. evolve and form a part of the movies background score which sounds quite amazing. Watching the movie would perhaps be the best way to describe its finesse and charm. I don't want words to ruin it. Based on Ian McEwan's novel with the same name.
Rating: 7.6/10
Biography,
Drama,
Good Movies,
Romance,
War,
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 5:15 AM
Genre: Science-fiction/Action/Adventure
Starring: Cristopher Eccelstone, Sienna Miller, Channing Tatum, Marlon Wayans, Dennis Quaid
There's something about science-fiction movies about the extent to which one can imagine or accept it. The Matrix was unimaginable but yet acceptable. At times, a movie comes by which is imaginable but yet highly unacceptable. Duke (Tatum) and Ripcord (Wayans) are NATO officials who have been authorised to protect and transport a newly developed bio-weapon. The weapon on its way is attacked upon and an attempt to steal it is made, only to be foiled by the G.I. Joe team, a special undercover unit consisting of the best army men the world has. A second attempt at stealing it is successful, and newly incorporated unit members Duke and Ripcord have to bring it back and prevent it from being used on the world, and give McCulllum (Ecceslstone) the creator of this weapon, world supremacy. When it comes to 'victory of good over bad' movies, one does not look for what the story is, or rather how it's done. The story is highly cliched and offers nothing new. Modern and high-tech gadgets, evil scientists with perfect-figured babes, destruction of the world and on and on. The movie did however provide good amount of metal clunking action, under, over and on land. Seems more fit for a video game story.
Rating: 6.6/10
Action,
Adventure,
Good Movies,
Science-fiction,
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 3:46 AM
Genre: Drama/Crime
Starring: Clint Eastwood, Cristopher Carley, Bee Vang, Ahney Har
The movie would have been an utterly hopeless waste of time and money, if it hadn't been for just one thing. Clint Eastwood. The old man has done a brilliant piece of work and has shown once more, that he is the best Hollywood man this world has ever seen. Korean war veteran and grumpy old Polish man, Walt Kowalski (Eastwood) hates almost everything around him. Society, neighbours, Father Janovich (Carley) at church, his own sons, and everyone hates him back with equal passion. The only thing that everyone does like about him is his property, assets and his 1972 Ford Gran Torino in impeccable condition. He cant stand the sight of his Hmong neighbours and when Thao (Vang) influenced by his gangster cousins tries to steal his Gran Torino, Walt decides to instill some sense and responsibility into him to make him a better person. He gets friendly with Thao and his sister Sue (Har) and as time goes, becomes more and more involved with their daily lives. At first glance, the movie seems unexciting, but like I said, Mr. Eastwood makes sure that is not the case. He and his stunning beauty on wheels steal the show throughout, and look like perfect fits for each other. At 78, the old man of Hollywood conjures another miracle.
Rating: 8.3/10
Amazing Movies,
Crime,
Drama,
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 9:48 AM
Genre: Drama/Crime
Starring: Stephen Dorff, Van Kilmer, Marisol Nichols
A simple American man Wade Porter (Dorff) is living the a simple American life with his simple American wife Laura (Nichols). Their simple life becomes thoroughly complicated overnight, when Wade accidentally kills a burglar in their house and is sentenced to prison. Still trying to be the simple American man doesn't help him, when he gets involved in messy feuds with his inmates and is wrongly framed for incidents. His prison term gets extended, which makes things even more difficult for his wife and child. His cell-mate John Smith (Kilmer) is serving a life sentence, and decides to help Wade get his normal life back at the cost of his own. The movie tries to show the happenings within a prison, and how innocent people get dragged in the murderous and crime-filled life of inmates cutting their sentence within. Van Kilmer looks unidentifiable with his buffed physique and thick beard which suits him. At some point it felt as if the movie was trying to replicate a Shawshank Redemption in a slightly different manner, which to an extent it did achieve, but failed to generate the impact that the historical movie had created.
Rating: 7.0/10
Crime,
Drama,
Good Movies,
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 8:28 AM
Genre: Thriller/Drama/Action/Crime/Mystery
Starring: Tom Hanks, Ewan McGregor, Ayelet Zurer
Contrary to general belief, Angels & Demons is not a continuation to The Da Vinci Code in spite of having Robert Langdon (Hanks) as a common character. A phial containing anti-matter developed at CERN, Geneva, is stolen and finds its way to Vatican City. On receiving a terror threat, Robert Langdon, in spite of having a controversial relationship with the Roman Catholic church, is called upon to decipher the meaning and implication of the threat. It is realised that four of the most likely successors to the recently deceased pope are kidnapped and will be murdered one at a time every hour, and at midnight the anti-matter phial will be used, possibly to destroy entire Rome. Langdon along with a CERN scientist Vittoria (Zurer) and Camerlengo Patrick McKenna (McGregor) have to bring back the phial and save the Vatican. The movie producers decided to stay away from the Catholic controversy it created during their previous attempt. The movie is more simple to understand and follow, and doesn't require the viewer to have a prior knowledge about Christianity. The movies final twist becomes very predictable if one simply thinks on the lines of The Da Vinci Code, due to which it loses some of the charm and mystery it manages to create.
Rating: 7.3/10
Action,
Crime,
Drama,
Good Movies,
Mystery,
Thriller,
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 3:28 AM
Genre: Action/Crime/Comedy
Starring: Gerard Butler, Tom Wilkinson, Thandie Newton, Mark Strong, Chirs 'Ludacris' Bridges, Toby Kebbell, Karen Roden
Someone once told me that all Guy Ritchie movies are the same. I could neither negate nor accept it since Snatch is the only other movie of his that I have seen. Lenny (Wilkinson) is a real estate mafia lord, whom you cant bypass if you need property in London. Archie (Strong) is his right-hand man, who has remained faithful to him for years. When Uri (Roden) approaches Lenny for a settlement, he offers Lenny his lucky painting to have for a few weeks. The 'lucky painting' one day disappears, and not just that. Uri's accountant Stella (Newton) is double-crossing him by stealing the money that Uri is supposed to pay Lenny. Within all this mess get involved One Two (Butler) and his gang called The Wild Bunch, Lenny's rock star step-son Johnny (Kebbell) who is supposedly dead and Johnny's record producer Mickey (Bridges) just to mention a few. After watching this movie, I seem to agree with the statement made earlier. Replace diamond from Snatch with real estate, and you get RocknRolla. All that said, its still a very entertaining watch. The dialogues and curses in this movie are unimaginable and might just add a few words here and there to your explicit vocabulary. Acting and screenplay are quite typical to the producers style. The twist revealed in the end had no actual link to the story narrated, which was a bit off-track.
Rating: 7.8/10
Action,
Comedy,
Crime,
Good Movies,
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 1:29 AM
Genre: Musical/Drama/Crime
Starring: Renee Zellweger, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Richard Gere, Queen Latifah
Life of showbiz and glamour has never been too easy, and this movie just proves the point further. Velma (Jones) a successful showgirl, gets blood on her hands by murdering her sister and husband after catching them red-handed with each other. Roxie Hart (Zellweger) an aspiring showgirl, kills her agent after he fails to live up to his promise of getting her an act. With two glamour-hungry girls in her jail cell, corrupt jail-keeper Matron Mama Morton (Latifah) senses an opportunity and puts them in touch with Billy Flynn (Gere) a successful lawyer who has never lost a case and specialises in woman's cases. Each person is Chicago only works for himself, and its a battle to get the most out of what's put in front of you. Catherine Zeta-Jones looks absolutely stunning and Billy's character seems to be tailor-made for Richard Gere. Renee frails in comparison to the other two, but is not entirely a let-down. A well show-cased movie which changes ones perception of a 'musical' and at one point you actually appreciate it, in case you hate it. The story slides down your throat like some really smooth scotch whisky without you even realising it. It's one glamorous performance, either you love it or hate it.
Rating: 7.6/10
Crime,
Drama,
Good Movies,
Musical,
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 10:34 PM
Genre: Thriller/Drama/Science-Fiction
Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Marie McDonnell, Homes Osborne, Jena Malone, Drew Barrymore
Donnie Darko (Jake Gyllenhall) is an average high school student who suffers from Schizophrenia and starts seeing delusions about a six foot tall ugly look bunny rabbit. In the movies very beginning, the rabbit tells him the countdown to the worlds end. The countdown serves as the movie backdrop right till the very end. The rabbit apparently tells him to do stuff like sleep-walk out of his house, burst the school water pipe and burn down a house. Donnie starts studying and learning about time travel and gets further delusions in which he is able to look a couple of seconds into the future and determine peoples movement. The rest of the story progresses about his illness and comes to a very abrupt end. On a personal level, I never really liked or understood such deep psychological movies which have no definite end to it. The movie is very hard to accept and definitely not the type everyone and anyone would like to watch.
Rating: 6.2/10
Biography,
Drama,
Good Movies,
Science-fiction,
Thriller,
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 10:38 AM
Genre: Drama
Starring: Russell Crowe, Jennifer Connelly, Ed Harris
John Nash (Crowe) is a mathematical genius studying at Princeton University. Probably capable of solving any possible logical or mathematical problem put forward to him, the only thing he cant solve is the logic behind love. He finally befriends his student Alicia (Connelly) and ends up marrying her. John secretly works for William Partcher (Harris) at the US Department of Defense and is an authorised code-breaker assigned a top secret project involving the diffusion of Russion nuclear weaponry. John gets paranoid about getting caught by the Russians and starts behaving erratically. Alicia reports these behaviours to the doctors, who later diagnose him for Schizophrenia. His entire military 'job' including Partcher and his office, seem to be a figment of his imagination, to the extent that even his room-mate at Princeton and his niece were also found out to be non-existent. Therapy proves to be difficult, and life for Alicia too turns out to be frustrating, with her having to manage a new born child, and a mentally ill husband. The movie is based on a true story of John Foster Nash, winner of the 1994 Nobel Prize in Economics. Russel Crowe plays a role starkly different from what he usually does. A sensational piece of acting which probably could not have been done any better. The movie trudges along at its own pace, and one needs to give it time. All that said and done, the movie closes in a beautiful manner and that's when you realise the reason behind the Oscar.
Rating: 8.0/10
Amazing Movies,
Biography,
Drama,
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 10:45 PM
Genre: Drama
Starring: Robbin Williams, Matt Damon, Stellan Skarsgard, Minnie Driver
A born genius mathematician Will Hunting (Damon) is working as a janitor at MIT. Prof Gerald Lambeau (Skarsgard) discovers his ability to solve the most complicated mathematical problems within minutes, something which took him years altogether. He wants Will to use this ability of his so that he can develop a future and succeed. However, incidents in Will's past has made him a very defensive person, who keeps blaming himself for what he is and refuses to get along with anyone. Sensing the need for some psychotherapy, Lambeau introduces Will to his childhood friend and psychologist, Sean Maguire (Williams) who agrees to treat Will. Therapy is difficult for both of them, as Will is unwilling to respond and Dr. Maguire is not going to give up on him so easily. Dr Maguire starts stimulating Will to approach Skylar (Driver) and develop a relationship with her in a bid to improve his self-confidence. The movie is terribly slow and the therapy sessions seemed to be a bit overstretched, but that doesn't make the movie a bad watch nonetheless. Robbin Williams as usual puts on an amazing act, something quite expected from him.
Rating: 6.8/10
Biography,
Drama,
Good Movies,
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 3:25 AM
Genre: Action/Crime
Starring: Paul Walker, Vin Diesel, John Ortiz, Jordana Brewster
Continuing from where The Fast and the Furious left, Brian O'Conner (Walker) now in the FBI, is in hot pursuit of a Mexican drug dealer. Dominic Torreto (Diesel) is out stealing gas trucks, when one day he finds that his girlfriend Letty has been murdered. Dom's observation leads him to Roman Campos (Ortiz) a Mexican drug dealer wanted by the FBI, who employs fast drivers to deliver goods across the border. After meeting each other after a long time, Dom and Brian cant still get over previous grudges, but realise that if they have to defeat a common adversary, they need to forget the enmity and come together. The movie doesn't have the adrenaline rushing racing, car detailing and crazy mods that the earlier three movies had. The focus has greatly shifted from cars to crime, something which the earlier movies in the series did not have. That said, the movie does definitely live up to the reputation of its predecessors. Bringing back the old star cast was a good move, but the poor execution of the story is a let-down.
Rating: 6.8/10
Action,
Crime,
Good Movies,
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 12:23 AM
Genre: Drama/Comedy
Starring: Morgan Freeman, Jack Nicholson, Sean Hayes
Two contrasting individuals share a hospital room, and have only one similarity between them; their illness. Carter Chambers (Freeman) is a not-so-well-off black man. Edward Cole (Nicholson) on the other hand is a super-rich owner of that very hospital. Edward has all the riches in the world, but no companion except his personal secretary cum servant cum valet Matthews (Hayes). With only countable days remaining, Cole and Chambers decide to get out of their beds and see the world and enjoy what is left of their lives. An extremely heart-rendering and touching story of friendship and attachment. There is obviously no doubt about the fine piece of acting of both Nicholson and Freeman, at whose shoulders the entire movie rests. True friendship comes from the most underestimated and opposite person. Just stick with it.
Rating: 7.9/10
Comedy,
Drama,
Good Movies,
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 5:29 AM
Genre: Adventure/Thriller/Romance
Starring: Steven Strait, Camilla Belle, Cliff Curtis
An ancient tribe called the Yaghal's get attacked by the 'Four Legged Demons'. D'Leh (Strait) is the holder of 'the white spear', given to the person who hunts down a mammoth. He is also offered Evolet's (Belle) hand in marriage, who has also been his childhood love. One day when 'The Four Legged Demons' attack and ransack their village and kidnap Evolet, D'Leh along with Tic Tic (Curtis) and few others, form a search part to track down the kidnappers and save Evolet. Their adventure takes them across mountains, jungles and forests, where they meet new tribes and discover worlds unknown earlier. The only good thing about the movie is its visuals and special effects, not a surprise, considering the producers are well-versed in this category. The movie has an overtly tried and tested story, retold with a different backdrop. However that doesn't make the movie totally avoidable, and is genuinely worth one watch.
Rating: 6.3/10
Adventure,
Good Movies,
Romance,
Thriller,
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 8:48 AM
Genre: Action/Adventure/Thriller/Fantasy
Starring: Michael Copon, Karen Shenaz David, Simon Quarterman, Randy Couture
After The Scorpion King, its successor goes back into a second flashback, narrating the childhood of the Scorpion King's childhood. A young Mathayus (Copon), dreams of becoming a part of the Black Scorpions, the most elite rank of soldiers serving the Emperor of Akkad. His trainer Sargon (Couture) takes a dislike for him, and his friend Layla (David), both who aspire to join the ranks. Years later when they finally graduate, Sargon becomes emperor by forming a coup, and murders Mathayus' brother with charges of spreading false rumours against him. Layla and Mathayus escape to Egypt, and befriend an explorer Ari (Quarterman). The trio, along with some mercenaries decide to steal a sword from the goddess Lady of Astrate, and take revenge from Sargon. With every passing movie, The Scorpion King series of movies is only losing its focus and link to The Mummy series, which it is a part of. The story takes into account too much of fantasy and less of reality and logic, to narrate an age old story in no particularly different manner. Less said the better.
Rating: 4.1/10
Action,
Adventure,
Fantasy,
Pathetic Movies,
Thriller,
{[['
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 12:47 AM
Genre: Romance/Drama/Comedy
Starring: Ashton Kutcher, Cameron Diaz
Joy McNally (Diaz) and Jack Fuller (Kutcher) face dejection in life, and decide to get over it by going to Vegas for the weekend. The two meet there, and after spending a drunk night, get married to each other without realising it. They both cant stand the sight of each other, forget about marriage. The court advises 6 months of marriage counselling, after which only can they consider a divorce. If one of them pulls out of the marriage, the other one would get possession of the $3 million they one in Vegas. It's a battle to outdo the other and claim the prize. A nice comedy romance, but not enough laughs that a possible drunk marriage could generate. We saw a similar but better version of this story in The Hangover (post dated 02/08/09).
Rating: 5.6/10
Average Movies,
Comedy,
Drama,
Romance,
{[['
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 5:39 AM
Genre: Adventure/Drama/War
Starring: Richard Gere, Terrence Howard, Jesse Eisenberg
Simon Hunt (Gere) has the reputation of being one of the most famous war journalist on TV. When he loses his cool on live TV during one such coverage, his life goes down the drains. He becomes a freelancer and tries to cover the war by himself, when he meets his old cameraman buddy Duck (Howard) along with the network's vice-presidents son, Benjamin (Eisenberg) who is training himself to be a journalist. Simon tells them that he knows the whereabouts of a wanted Bosnian terrorist, known as 'The Fox' and if they accompany him, they can share the bounty. Simon, actually wants to avenge his girlfriends death, who was killed in Bosnia by The Fox's men. Unlike other war movies, the movie talks more about the spoils of war from the perception of a citizen, rather than that of a soldier. The Fox's character was portrayed as being very deadly, but the final outcome looked didn't justify all they hype.
Rating: 6.9/10
Adventure,
Biography,
Drama,
Good Movies,
War,
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