Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 10:10 AM
Genre: Drama/Historical Event/Biography
Starring: Daniel Day-Lewis, Sally Field, David Strathairn, Tommy Lee Jones, Hal Holbrook, Joseph Gordon-Levitt
Abraham Lincoln (Day-Lewis) is one of the most respected President's in the history of United States politics. This respect is not futile, but something that he has earned due to the work that he did. During his second term as President, the American Civil War between the southern states and the northern states was raging and there was mounting political pressure to end the war and bring peace. Lincoln, on the other hand, was strongly of the favour to bring about the Emancipation Proclamation, the 13th Amendment to the United States Constitution which would prohibit slavery of any kind. This amendment would not only boost public sentiment for the Republican Party but also ensure that the war ends. However, in order to pass the bill, a 2/3 majority is needed in the house and currently Lincoln is falling short of 20 votes. He must procure these votes from the opposition and at the same time battle with his fellow party-men who are against the bill and eventually create history. The sole reason why the movie succeeded was due to the efforts of and only one person, Daniel Day-Lewis. His phenomenal performance of Lincoln is by far one of the best one might have ever seen and he might even be able to put the real Lincoln to shame. The movie wonderfully shows Lincoln to be not only concerned and thoughtful but also shrewd and cunning, the makings of a true politician. The biggest let down of the movie is the first half, which is slow and very dragged. A load of political jargon and verbose dialogues plague the first one hour which makes the movie a difficult and boring watch. Since the first impression is weak, the better next hour can get easily discarded by the audience as being the same, but it thankfully isn't. The movie picks up smoothly and delivers a composed climax which isn't very over-the-top and isn't too blunt either. A great movie to watch about a great man, but just keep some patience.
Thumbs up: Daniel Day-Lewis
Thumbs down: Unsimplified and verbose dialogues, a bit dragged first half
Rating: 7.1/10
Biography,
Drama,
Good Movies,
Historical Event,
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 8:08 AM
Starring: Suraj Sharma, Tabu, Irrfan Khan, Rafe Spall, Adil Hussain
Based on a novel with the same name, Piscine Molitor Patel aka Pi (Sharma) is 16-year old boy who lives with his family in Pondicherry, India. His father, Santosh Patel (Hussain) runs a zoo and Pi has grown up amongst animals. Due to a change in the political environment, his father chose to relocate to Canada and sell all the animals in USA, a decision that Pi was against but could do nothing. The cargo ship on which Pi, his family and all the animals are housed upon, sinks in the middle of the Pacific and Pi is the only survivor on a lifeboat. For company, Pi has a zebra, an orangutan, a hyena and a tiger who goes by the name of Richard Parker. Living on a boat in the middle of a vast ocean with an animal who has every desire to eat you, Pi finds himself in a very difficult situation and realises that he would become Richard Parkers dinner very soon if he doesn't do something about it. The movie is very enchanting and has a mystical aspect attached to it. It talks about god, animals and the wonders of faith and determination. The 3D effects of the movie is stunning and the animations done on all the animals are extremely life-like and very hard to imagine that its actually all digital. Although the movie does get a bit slow in the middle, the movie is still very entertaining with a lot of hidden meanings and aspects attached to it that not everyone would be able to fully grasp or understand the meaning of. Worth a watch, especially in 3D.
Thumbs up: Awesome 3D, very enchanting story
Thumbs down: A bit slow in the middle
Rating: 7.8/10
Adventure,
Drama,
Good Movies,
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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,
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 12:31 AM
Starring: Ryan Reynolds, Justin Long, Anna Faris, David Koechner, Luis Guzman, Chi McBride, John Francis Daley, Kaitilin Doubleday, Robert Patrick Benedict, Alanna Ubach, Vanessa Lengies
We have all heard about the horrible things a waiter can do to our orders if we don't treat them nicely. Spitting, hairs, floor dirt, it can all happen to your food if you upset the people who are making it. The movie revolves around Mitch (Daley) who is the new trainee at The Shenaniganz restaurant and the events of one night through his eyes. Dean (Long) is has been waiting tables for quite some time now and he sees people around him with a better life and a better job and somehow wishes that his life would change. That does happen when Dan (Koechner) offers Dean a promotion for the post of Assistant Manager. Although Dean should be happy with the offer, he surprisingly isnt and he doesnt know why. Monty (Reynolds) is Dean's good friend and is a complete womanizer who is currently trying to hit on Natasha (Lengies), the 17-year-old hostess. The movie is quite objectiveless and simply showcases how each waiter with a different and unique character and personality have to live their lives as who they are. It is a fun entertainer and a good watch but the movie fails to drive to a point. A good one-time-watcher but dont expect anything great out of it.
Thumbs up: Great entertainer, funny
Thumbs down: Does not have a climax or an ending
Rating: 7.0/10
Comedy,
Drama,
Good Movies,
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 11:03 AM
Genre: Comedy/Crime/Action/Drama/Romance
Starring: Salman Khan, Arbaaz Khan, Sonakshi Sinha, Prakash Raj, Vinod Khanna
When a thousand bullets come buzzing towards him, he can dodge everyone of them; when a hundred able-bodied men come charging at him he can put them all on the ground; when his car jumps 30 feet in the air and spins 20 times before crash landing into a pile of junk, he can walk out without a bruise. Ladies and gentleman, I bring to you for the second time, Chulbul Pandey (Khan). The suave and charismatic police inspector is back and this time he has a bigger jurisdiction to handle, the city of Kanpur. A city whose streets are filled with filth, crime and thugs, Chulbul starts cleaning up and when your cleaning such a huge city, there will be people who are not going to like it. Bachcha Bhaiya (Raj) is the local crime lord who is harbouring political ambitions which he intends to win by rigging the elections and thus using this new power to further his interests. But this can never happen if Chulbul Pandey has decided that he will stop Bachcha Bhaiya from achieving this and swears to get rid of him from Kanpur for good. The first movie was epic in its own way, just like how every Salman Khan movie ends up being. However, the second part lacked the humour and stupidity that the earlier movie had that made it interesting. What this movie also doesn't have is a story and thus its just a good guy trying to get rid of the bad one and that's it. Its just too straight forward, not very exciting, not very entertaining and simply, boring.
Thumbs up: Salman Khan. He is probably the only person in the world who can pull off such a role and such a movie
Thumbs down: Far off from part one and seriously lacks the entertainment value.
Rating: 4.9/10
Action,
Bollywood,
Comedy,
Crime,
Drama,
Pathetic Movies,
Romance,
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 3:38 AM
Genre: Adventure/Fantasy/Action/War
Starring: Ian McKellen, Martin Freeman, Richard Armitrage, Ken Scott, Graham McTavish, Aidan Turner, Dean O'Gorman, Mark Hadlow, Jed Brophy, Adam Brown, John Callen, Peter Hambleton, William Kircher, James Nesbitt, Stephen Hunter
The prequel to the iconic Lord of the Rings series of books and movies, this movie narrates the story of Bilbo Baggins (Freeman) and how he came across the ring that led to the story that followed. Bilbo is a peace loving Hobbit who finds himself undertaking an adventure he never thought he would. The dwarfs, led by Thorin (Armitage) are attempting to go back to their land which was besieged by a fearsome dragon that has taken hold of the Dwarf castle and all their gold. Gandalf (McKellen) has agreed to assist the dwarfs and suggests that Mr. Baggins should join them as the burglar. Although Bilbo has never so much as stolen a stone from the ground, he surprises himself by being a part of the 14-member contingent that is out to do the impossible. LOTR was epic in its own way and it is very normal for anyone to expect its prequel to be just as amazing. Sadly, however, the movie is far from its famous siblings. It is slow, very slow, doesn't have the drama or the intensity of LOTR and simply seems to miss that special factor that was required for this movie to be good. It seems the movie was made just to finish the entire franchisee and never really to entertain the audience. I don't know if it was the 3D glasses, the theater or the print of the movie but this has to be by far my worst ever 3D experience ever.
Thumbs up: Stunning graphics and visuals
Thumbs down: Slow, boring and stretched and it yet didn't finish the entire story.
Rating: 7.1/10
Action,
Adventure,
Fantasy,
Good Movies,
War,
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 10:22 PM
Genre: Comedy/Drama/Romance/Fantasy
Starring (voice): Adam Sandler, Selena Gomez, Kevin James, Andy Samberg, CeeLo Green, Steve Buscemi, Molly Shannon, David Spade
Throughout almost all our fairy tales we have always seen big, scary monsters and children hiding under their beds in fear that these monsters would come and eat them up. Ever heard of a story where things happen the other way around? Dracula (Sandler) has built a hotel called Hotel Transylvania where all monsters and beasts can come and feel safe. No scary humans to come and disturb them, only darkness and peace. But when Jonathan (Samberg) a young human bag packer arrives at the castle, Dracula is petrified. Dracula's young daughter Mavis (Gomez) is eager to explore the world outside but her father refuses to let her go into the destructive and dangerous human world. The movie explores a good storyline which is the exact opposite of the stories we usually hear. The movie is light and entertaining but the movie still lacks a lot of humour. Yes it would appeal to a 10-year-old but the movie still needs to give the audience some more reasons to laugh.
Thumbs up: A new and interesting story
Thumbs down: No real climax, needs more humour
Rating: 6.4/10
Average Movies,
Comedy,
Drama,
Fantasy,
Romance,
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 8:38 AM
Genre: Romance/Comedy/Drama
Starring: Hilary Swank, Gerard Butler, Lisa Kudrow, Gina Gershon, James Marsters, Kathy Bates, Javier Bardem
Jerry (Butler) and Holly (Swank) are a young married couple who had taken the decision to be together without the consent of their respective parents. The two enjoy a love-hate relationship where they are stupidly in love but yet fight a lot. Fast foward a few months ahead and Holly is now a spinster. Jerry suffered from a brain tumour and subsequently passed away. It is only now that Holly realises how much Jerry meant to her inspite of all the fights they had. Whilst on his deathbed, Jerry realises that his passing away would have a disastrous consequence on Holly and he plans to help her have a smooth getting-over. Jerry cleverly leaves behind a trail of bread crumbs asking Holly to do exactly as his letters ask her to do. The movie is a fun to watch romance-comedy and can very easily bring forth a tear even amongst the stone hearted. Swank and Butler seem to share the perfect on-screen chemistry and look absolutely brilliant. A truly fantastic watch and recommended for anyone who doesn't want a heavy and mushy romance movie but rather something light, simple and enjoyable.
Thumbs up: Great fun to watch
Thumbs down: Just seems perfect in a lot of ways.
Rating: 7.0/10
Comedy,
Drama,
Good Movies,
Romance,
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 10:03 AM
Genre: Crime/Drama/Biography
Starring: Sally Field, Alfred Molina, Sheila Rosenthal, Roshan Seth
An American citizen, Betty (Field) has married an Iranian man, Dr. Mahmoody aka Moody (Molina) and they live a happy life in America with their daughter Mahtob (Rosenthal). Moody hasn't seen his family in Iran since a very long time and they haven't met Betty or Mahtob either. Moody manages to convince Betty to accompany him to Iran with Mahtob and assures her that they would not stay there for long. Whilst staying in Iran, Moody confesses to Betty that he was fired from his job in America on racial grounds and he intends to stay in Iran and look for a job here. Moreover, he wants Betty and Mahtob to live here with him much to the disagreement of both of them. Moody takes advantages of the Islamic laws in Iran and starts physically assaulting Betty each time he disagrees with her and puts her on house arrest and forces her to stay back with him. The movie may not agree with a lot of people simply because of its depiction of Iran and Islam. The movie has very skewed opinions and projects the country as being intolerant towards woman empowerment, supports male domination and extremely strict on religious grounds. The movie is a true life depiction of Betty's life and is based on a book authored by her by the same name. A good movie on technical grounds but an uncomfortable watch otherwise.
Thumbs up: Good performances
Thumbs down: Stereotypical and skewed representation of Islam and Iran
Rating: 6.5/10
Average Movies,
Biography,
Crime,
Drama,
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 3:17 AM
Starring: Thomas Turgoose, Stephen Graham, Joseph Gilgun, Andrew Shim, Vicky McClure, Jo Hartley, Andrew Ellis
Set in the 1980's in England, a young boy Shaun (Turgoose) gets constantly bullied at school and cannot accept everyone walking all over him. His recently lost his father who was in the army when England went to war with Argentina over the Falklands. Shaun encounters Woody (Gilgun) who is the leader of a skinhead gang and who takes pity on Shaun and sheilds him from anyone who picks on him. Shaun gradually gets inducted into the gang as its youngest member and seems to be enjoying his new life. Combo (Graham) is an old friend of Woody's who has just recently returned from prison and is also a more senior skinhead member. Combo expresses strong English nationalist views and expresses hatred towards other races that have settled in England and taken jobs that belong to the English people. He wants Woody, his skinhead gang and his friends to come support him to fight against immigrants and make England English once more. The movie craftily narrates the slow evolution of a pre-teen boy and his exposure towards the more darker side of life. It showcases the strong racist hatred that some people still hold and the measures that one can go to in the name of nationalism. A very beautiful movie indeed and a recommended watch.
Thumbs up: Graham's good aggressive performance
Thumbs down: Plot could have gone on for another 30 mintues, seemed incomplete
Rating: 7.5/10
Crime,
Drama,
Good Movies,
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 10:16 AM
Genre: Action/Crime
Starring: Michael Caine, Noel Coward, Raf Vallone
A British thief, Charlie Crocker (Caine) is released from prison and learns that his good friend has been killed by the Italian mafia over the Alps. His friends widowed wife gives Charlie the tapes of a plan that her husband was going to undertake until he got killed by the Mafia. A Turin-based automobile manufacturing company, Fiat, regularly transfers large stash of money from Turin airport to various destinations. The plan is to isolate this convoy in the middle of Turin and steal the stash. For this assignment he needs a gang of people and he breaks into prison to meet his ex-warden, Mr. Bridger (Coward) to ask him to arrange this for him. Mr. Bridger learns that the Chinese are heavily investing in Fiat towards the setting up of a new factory and agrees to help Charlie. The only reason this movie is iconic or has a cult following is for the Mini Cooper cars that are featured in this. The movie is famous amongst car fanatics for displaying an array of fast cars from the '60s and showcasing their raw power and ability. Lamborghini Miura, Aston Martin DB4, Jaguar E-type, Mini Coopers and what not, they all make their own respective appearances winding through the twisted and flat roads of the alps. The only drawback of the movie is the crime itself which seems to be hugely skewed in favour of movies main protagonist. Can you steal a stash of gold from a heavily armed convoy with bats and sticks? Does an armoured truck take 10 tries to smash open a wooden door? And no matter how many times Mr. Crocker manages to shake off the cops in a heavily modified Mini they always seem to come back right on his tail. And what is with the awkward ending? The movie is a love or hate kinds where action and car fans might enjoy it simply since it fulfills their desires but a more average audience would probably shake it off as being nothing very different.
Thumbs up: The beautiful cars!
Thumbs down: Laughable crime plot
Rating: 6.5/10
Action,
Crime,
Good Movies,
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 12:57 AM
Genre: Crime/Drama/Biography
Starring: Jim Sturgess, Kevin Spacey, Kate Bosworth, Laurence Fishburne, Aaron Yoo, Liza Lapira, Jacob Pitts, Josh Gad
Casino movies seem to have always been loved by the larger audience. The thrill of winning and the emotions of big losses has traditionally gone down well with audiences. The
game of Blackjack is largely based on math and fast calculations, apart from just pure luck. An MIT professor, Micky Rosa (Spacey) has trained a team of players who are skilled in calculations and who would play in Blackjack in Vegas every weekend. The idea is to
count cards, which is not illegal but simply looked down upon by casinos, and win a whole lot of money. Ben Campbell (Sturgees) is a top-grade MIT student who has got admission in Harvard Med but cannot afford the $300,000 fees. Micky sees a potential player in Ben and manages to convince him to join the team in lure of being able to pay off his Harvard fees. The movie has managed to garner a huge fan following, mostly since it has showcased a lot of casinos and gambling.
21 has a very interesting climax to it but what actually pulls it down is the slow segments that the movie keeps having. The movie is good fun to watch, especially for someone who loves the game. Maybe some more interesting performances and a more consistent plot throughout would have helped in making this movie even better.
Thumbs up: Great story
Thumbs down: Slow segments in-between
Rating: 6.8/10
Biography,
Crime,
Drama,
Good Movies,
{[['
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 9:00 AM
Genre: Action/Crime
Starring: Robert De Niro, Jean Reno, Jonathan Pryce, Natascha McElhone, Stellan Skarsgard
A group of people from various backgrounds have come together to perform a high-value crime. Seamus O'Rourke (Pryce) is an Irish terrorist who has employed Deirdre (McElhone) to assemble a team of operatives who can attack a convoy and steal a briefcase. Sam (De Niro) an ex-CIA agent who is on the run is part of the team along with Frenchman Vincent (Reno) and a polish computer specialist Gregor (Skarsgard) amongst others. The contents of the case is never revealed and what ensues for the rest of the movie is an action-packed wild goose chase across France for the briefcase with a lot of twists and turns. The movie is based on a tested storyline but it has a very entertaining second half. The first 30 minutes appear to be slow and dragged but once the action kicks in, its a blast of a movie to watch. The crime or the performances are not something to watch and the only thing that might appeal to the audience is the raw '90s action without any special effects or over-dramatic sequences.A great entertainer and a good one-time watch.
Thumbs up: Fabulous car chases and action sequences
Thumbs down: Un-original crime plot
Rating: 7.0/10
Action,
Crime,
Good Movies,
{[['
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 9:03 AM
Genre: Action/Adventure/Crime/Fantasy
Starring: Craig Sheffer, Eric Roberts, Sonia Couling, Gary Daniels
A security guard of a biometrics facility gets implanted with a unique device with the power to change the world. Chad Turner (Sheffer) must now travel to Berlin from Bangkok along with the chip in order to bring it to safety. In order to ensure Chad's safety, Cooper (Roberts) the head of security of Avanti, the maker of the chip, travels with him from Bangkok to Berlin. A rival company wants to get hold of this chip and hires a hitman, Joseph Pike (Daniels) to trace down the chip and bring it back at any cost. Joseph learns that the chip is traveling with Chad and decides to hijack the aircraft and obtain it.Coming from a Christian movie making company, the movie has a lot of Christianity infused into it and most of it seems to be done rather forcefully. Nowhere in the movie is the consequences of the chip explained, the action is horrible and plot is overall very boring. The unwanted religious preachings that seem to have no connect with the actual movie does not actually add any value to it. The makers seemed to want to drive a point and somehow that objective got built around an action movie storyline. Highly avoidable and only to be watched by the religious.
Thumbs up: Nah
Thumbs down: Lame action, boring, forced Christianity preachings every now and then
Rating: 2.0/10
Action,
Adventure,
Crime,
Fantasy,
Pathetic Movies,
{[['
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 1:47 AM
Genre: Action/Crime/Adventure
Starring: Daniel Craig, Javier Bardem, Judi Dench, Ralph Fiennes, Naomi Harris
Celebrating 50 years of James Bond on film, Skyfall is the twenty-third movie in the franchisee and Daniel Craig's third. 007 (Bond) is on a mission in Turkey where a mercenary killed several MI6 agents and has stolen a hard drive that contains the information of several NATO operatives who are hiding undercover in various terrorist organisations throughout the world. If this information gets revealed, several operatives would be compromised. When Bond and Eve (Harris) fail to recover the hard drive from the mercenary, M (Dench) comes under political pressure for failing to save the lives of so many agents and is asked to take up voluntary retirement. The MI6 headquarters comes under a terrorist attack which causes further damage to M and her image. 007 was assumed to have been shot dead in Turkey but who actually survives. He enjoys death and decides to retire for good when the troubles back home convince him that he is needed once more. An old, unfit and alcohol addicted James Bond returns to duty with a huge question mark slapped on his head on whether he can continue the job or not. The movie is very different from the usual Bond movies where we are accustomed to seeing Bond romance several beauties, have a gadget loaded car and have blistering action sequences. There was no 'Bond girl' in this movie, there were hardly any awesome gadgets that 007 used and save for the first 20 minutes there was absolutely no other captivating action sequence the movie could bring up. Javier Bardem was a saving grace to some extent but somehow he too does not feel like the right villain that Bond would usually fight. The movie was disappointing and although I haven't seen each and every Bond movie, I will go as far as claiming this to be one of the worst I have come across.
Thumbs up: Good action at the start, shows a different side of Bond
Thumbs down: Does not feel Bond-like. A lot of the necessary Bond elements are missing
Rating: 5.8/10
Action,
Adventure,
Average Movies,
Crime,
{[['
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 9:17 AM
Genre: Comedy/Drama/Adventure
Starring: Jonah Hill, Michael Cera, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Bill Hader, Seth Rogen, Martha MacIsaac, Emma Stone
When three underage teenagers are out to have a crazy night of revelry, things go wrong, way too wrong. Seth (Hill) is a fat kid who is obsessed with sex and is a little too eager about getting laid. Evan (Cera) is a bit more practical and although he too shares the same desires as Seth, he wants love rather than lust. Fogell (Mintz-Plasse) tries very hard to be tough and project a bad boy attitude but fails almost every time. Seth and Evan are very close friends who have been doing almost everything together since they were a kid. People call them inseparable which might be true. Jules (Stone) is throwing a party and the three guys offer to somehow arrange for the alcohol. Evan has a crush on Becca (MacIsaac) who too agrees to come to the party if Evan can get for her her favourite alcohol. All three of them intend to get their lady loves drunk enough to get lucky with them. When Fogell gets a fake Hawaii drivers license with his name as 'McLovin' and age 25, when he clearly doesn't look that old, and whilst trying to buy the alcohol the shop gets robbed and cops come down to inspect, things seem to be getting very messed up. The movie builds on a not-so-genuine concept of a crazy night out but it still manages to entertain to a certain degree. The run time of the movie is too long (almost 2 hours), the humour is lacking in most areas and it just somehow doesn't seem to be complete. The movie probably needed a good humour touch up and that would make it an awesome entertainer. Good story, but could have had more.
Thumbs up: Nice plot, entertaining to a certain degree
Thumbs down: Too long, needs more humour
Rating: 6.2.10
Adventure,
Average Movies,
Comedy,
Drama,
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