Thank You For Smoking (2005)

Genre: Comedy/Drama

Starring: Aaron Eckhart, Cameron Bright, J.K. Simmons, Maria Bello, David Koechner, Katie Holmes, William Macy

Smoking kills, but Nick Naylor (Eckhart) would beg to differ. He is one man who talks for a living and does he talk! Nick is the Vice President of The Academy of Tobacco Studies which in turn is funded by the conglomerate of tobacco industries. He is the official spokesperson for cigarette manufacturers and smooth talks his way when they are in a mess. Senator Finistirre (Macy) is lobbying against smoking and wants to put a 'poison' sticker on cigarette boxes; call Nick Naylor. BR (Simmons) Nick's boss, is fed up with plummeting sales and wants a new way to increase smoking; ask Nick Naylor. When people keep asking him why he does this job, he smooth talks his way out of it using his own philosophies. After sleeping with Heather (Holmes) a journalist, Nick spills the beans about his job and everyone else concerned with it and soon realises his life is gone for a toss. The initial few moments in the movie are good enough to hold your interest, thanks to J.K. Simmons whose abuses too bring a broad smile to your face. Aaron Eckhart too does a fabulous job at maintaining a constant stream of humour. The movie has some nice humorous dialogues which increases its appeal, but not enough to make you fall off your seat.

Thumbs up: Nice performances, good plot
Thumbs down: More humour would have been preferred

Rating: 7.3/10

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Comedy, Drama, Good Movies,

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Next (2007)

Genre: Action/Fantasy/Thriller/Romance

Starring: Nicolas Cage, Jessica Biel, Julianne Moore, Thomas Kretschmann

Cris Johnson (Cage) aka Frank Cadillac is a magician in Vegas. He has the ability to see in the future and times his acts accordingly. The FBI receives a nuclear threat on LA and FBI agent Callie Ferris (Moore) knows about Cris and his rare ability. She starts hunting him down in the hope that he could look in the future and help them locate the bomb. What she doesn't know is that Cris can only look in the future for events that he is personally involved in. Knowing this, Cris doesn't want to work with them and is constantly running away from her. Cris meets Liz (Biel) in a cafe and starts travelling with her. They both end up liking each other but Cris sees the future and realises that he might end up putting her life in danger if she is with him. The movie has a nice plot to it but the initial few minutes are slow. Nicolas Cage as usual does an amazing performance but the fundamentals of the movie still revolves around a regular hostage situation.

Thumbs up: Nice plot, Nicolas cage
Thumbs down: Storyline cant be explored further

Rating: 6.7/10

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Action, Fantasy, Good Movies, Romance, Thriller,

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World Trade Center (2006)

Genre: Drama/History/Biography

Starring: Nicolas Cage, Michael Pena, Maria Bello, Maggie Gyllenhall

A true life story of Port Authority Police Department officers, Will Jimeno (Pena) and John McLoughlin (Cage) who went to the World Trade Centre compound to evacuate the building, only to get trapped under 20 feet of debris when the buildings collapsed. The story of their families and their wives Donna McLoghlin (Bello) and Allison Jimeno (Gyllenhall) and the 20 hour misery that they both went through. Most of the story revolves around John and Will being trapped inside and how they kept each other alive and were the only support they had. This is again one of those movies that needs time before you can start appreciating it. The movie is very emotional, which truly comes out only in the end. Good performance by the entire cast helped the movie to get more acclaim. They movie fixed itself to the story of only two individuals which was probably a let down. Narrating the story of various families, each of whom had to suffer in one way or another could have made the movie more appealing.

Thumbs up: Good performances
Thumbs down: Story has room for improvisation

Rating: 7.2/10

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Biography, Drama, Good Movies, Historical Event,

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Layer Cake (2004)

Genre: Crime/Drama/Thriller

Starring: Daniel Craig, Kenneth Cranham, Michael Gambon, Jamie Foreman, George Harris, Colm Meaney

XXXX (Craig) heads a gang of London based cocaine dealers. His boss, Jimmy Price (Cranham) wants him to hunt down his associate Eddie Temple's (Gambon) kidnapped daughter. Meanwhile, another drug dealer known as The Duke (Foreman) steals a stockpile of ecstasy pills from a Serbian dealer. Price, wants XXXX to become a middle-man by buying the pills from The Duke and selling them to a buyer. XXXX dosent know that Price is double-crossing him, until Temple comes and enlightens him. Coming from the producer of Snatch and Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, the movie showed resemblance to its brothers, sans the humour. The movie has very heavy British accent, which makes it a little difficult for the unfamiliar to grasp. The initial few moments are spent with Craig teaching you the nuances of drug dealing, should you be needing it. The movie has a decent plot but isn't narrated in the best manner. Daniel Craig's presence didn't help to improve the movies appeal either.

Thumbs up: Good plot
Thumbs down: Performance, plot execution

Rating: 6.9/10

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Crime, Drama, Good Movies, Thriller,

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Stardust (2007)

Genre: Fantasy/Adventure/Action/Romance/Drama

Starring: Claire Danes, Charlie Cox, Michelle Pfieffer, Robert De Niro, Kate Magowan, Mark Strong

A small town named Wall, harbours a human population. The inhabitants of Wall are not permitted to cross the village wall and move to the other side, a magical world known as Stormhold, of which the humans have no knowledge. Tristan's (Cox) father once managed to cross the wall and fell in love with a slave, Una (Magowan). Una gave birth to Thristen and sent him to his father for safe-keeping. An older Tristan makes a promise with Victoria, the village beauty, that if he brings her back a star, she would marry him. Meanwhile, the king of Stormhold is aging and needs to select an heir. The prince that finds the kings medallion will be the heir. The medallion lands on the neck of a star which falls back in Stormhold. The star, Yvaine (Danes) is a young, bright girl with radiant beauty. Septimus (Strong) the last of the surviving princes, learns about the star and is in pursuit for her. Una leaves Tristan a letter which tells him of a way to reach her, but he instead lands up next to the star. Three aging witches need the heart of star if they want to revive their youth. Lamia (Pfieffer), one of the witches, goes on a hunt for the star. Three persons, each with a different motive, want the star for some use or another. The movie has a very slow start and the plot takes some time getting used to. One might like the movie if he/she is a Lord of the Rings fan, although the movie isn't as good.

Thumbs up: Good plot
Thumbs down: Slow start, needs more action and thrills

Rating: 7.6/10

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Action, Adventure, Drama, Fantasy, Good Movies, Romance,

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Role Models (2008)

Genre: Comedy/Romance/Drama

Starring: Seann Willian Scott, Paul Rudd, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Bobb'e J. Thompson, Elizabeth Banks, Jane Lynch

Wheeler (Scott) and Danny (Rudd) work for Minotaur, an energy drink manufacturing company. They hate their job, which includes visiting schools and convincing kids not to do drugs but drink Minotaur instead, something which is equally harmful. They end up driving the company truck up a statue and assault two police officers, due to which they land up with a jail term. Their only alternative is to do 150 hours of community service at Sturdy Wings, wherein they have to look after kids on weekends when they are lonely. Wheeler is pun in charge of Ronnie (Thompson) a 10-year old African-American with an extra abusive and sexual language. Danny, on the other hand has Augie (Mintz-Plasse) a kid who thinks he is living in a magical world. The movie is a bit boring and Paul Rudd's bored look doesn't do too much to lighten things up either. It lacks jokes and any form of humour that exists, fails to make you laugh.

Thumbs up: Christopher and Bobb'e's performance
Thumbs down: Bad humour, boring

Rating: 5.1/10

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Average Movies, Comedy, Drama, Romance, Sex Comedy,

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Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian (2009)

Genre: Fantasy/Comedy/Action/Adventure

Starring: Ben Stiller, Amy Adams. Owen Wilson, Hank Azaria, Robbie Williams, Steve Coogan, Cristopher Guest, Alain Chabat, John Bernthal

Larry Daley (Stiller) the night guard the Museum of Natural History, New York left his job to start a company which invents innovative and new useful home devices. He misses the museum and he knows he is not happy. A random visit to his earlier workplace and he sees that the museum is under going a renovation and many of his old friends are going to be replaced by new exhibits. The exhibits would be shipped out to become a part of the federal achieves, Smithsonian, Washington D.C. and that too without the tablet of Ahkmenrah, rendering them lifeless. Capuchin, the monkey, steals the tablet and takes it with him to the Smithsonian. He receives distress calls from Jedediah (Wilson) and decides to head out to D.C. and save his friends. He encounter Kahmunrah (Azaria) the brother of Ahkmunrah who wants to use the tablet to recall his army from the dead and take over the world. Kahmunrah forges an alliance with Ivan the Terrible (Guest) who actually wants to be known as Ivan the Awesome, Napoleon (Chabat) who is very sensitive about his height and Al Capone (Bernthal). Larry meets Ameilia Earhart (Adams), the first woman to fly across the Atlantic and they both have to crack the code for Kahmunrah and save his friends. The movie is much in accord with the earlier one. It's a nice fun watch and the short pieces of humour when you least expect it. Ben Stiller performed amazingly and is well-received.

Thumbs up: Ben Stiller, humour
Thumbs down: Too familiar to the earlier movie

Rating: 7.8/10

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Action, Adventure, Comedy, Fantasy, Good Movies,

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Crank 2: High Voltage (2009)

Genre: Crime/Comedy/Action

Starring: Jason Statham, Amy Smart, Ling Bai, Art Hsu, Efren Ramirez, Joseph Julian Soria

Chev Chelios (Statham) cant just seem to keep his head out of shit. F*** you Chelios is what everyone tells him and he rightly deserves it. The Triad gang leader is aging his bodily parts need replacement. Who other than the great Chev Chelios who managed to survive the deadly Chinese poison. The Triad kidnaps Chev while he is busy falling off a helicopter from the sky. They first transplant his heart with an artificial one which runs on a battery pack which fuels the internal battery which in turn pumps the heart. Next, they want to amputate his penis but Chev escapes and is on the hunt for Johnny Vang (Hsu) who carries his heart in a box. His external battery pack has limited life and in order to recharge his internal batter, he keeps needing shots of electricity. Chev manages to come across a lot of old friends from the previous movie, including Kaylo's twin brother Venus (Ramirez) and his girlfriend-who-thought-he-was-dead-and-now-works-at-a-strip club Eve (Smart) and some enemies. The movie recalls a lot of characters from the previous movie but the story has little association with it. The style of action and comedy is in terms with the earlier version but the story keeps deviating at times to show insignificant clips which try hard to make you laugh. A very typical Jason Statham movie and a good watch if you don't mind some gory action.

Thumbs up: Jason Statham and action sequences
Thumbs down: Similar to Crank in almost all aspects

Rating: 7.5/10

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Action, Comedy, Crime, Good Movies,

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Van Wilder: Freshman Year (2009)

Genre: Comedy/Romance/Drama

Starring: Jonathan Benett, Kristinn Cavallari, Jerry Shea, Nestor Aaron Absera, Steve Talley, Kurt Fuller, Nic Nac

Continuing the tradition of his forefathers, Van Wilder the fifth (Benett) comes to Coolidge College. Coolidge has changed drastically in the past few years and is now under military control. Dean Charles Reardon (Fuller) has imposed strict military regulations which includes a ban on partying and drinking. Van Wilder is about to change that. He starts hitting on the dean's right hand officer, Dirk's (Talley) girlfriend, Katilin (Cavallari) and proves it to her that his way of life is much better than Dirk's. The dean still holds a grudge against Van's father and along with Dirk, they want to throw Van out of Coolidge once and for all. Each side try and outdo the other, the dean by his army tactics and Van by throwing one amazing party. The movie title and Van's dog, Ballsack, are the only two things that have been kept in continuation with the previous two movies. Apart from that, all other traces are missing. The movie is a very regular sex-comedy and doesn't boast of being different.

Thumbs up: Good humour, although little
Thumbs down: Repetitive, very regular

Rating: 5.3/10

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Average Movies, Comedy, Drama, Romance, Sex Comedy,

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Michael Jackson's: This Is It (2009)

Genre: Documentary/Musical

Starring: Michael Jackson, Kenny Ortega

The man who invented the 'moon walk', the epitome of all dance forms, the legend, Michael Jackson. For more than a decade, he stayed away from stage performances and his life was marred by controversies. He finally decides to make a public appearance once again at a concert in London in the month of July in 2009. June 2009, preparations for the concert were in full swing and barely weeks before the eventful day, MJ lost his life. It was a tragic day for the world and for the millions of fans who loved his music. A video recording of the rehearsals was being made which was to a part of the concert. That same recording took the form of this movie. The movie is like any other behind the scenes story of an event and doesn't hold any major significance. It perhaps would have been better if it retold the story of MJ's life with all his ups and downs, major concerts, biggest hits etc., instead the movie focused only on the making of the London concert. The movie is a must watch for any die-hard MJ fan, but for anyone else, it is highly avoidable.

Thumbs up: Michael, the legend
Thumbs down: Doesn't include past life

Rating: 6.1/10

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Average Movies, Documentary, Musical,

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Heat (1995)

Genre: Crime/Action/Drama/Thriller

Starring: Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Val Kilmer, Jon Voight, Tom Sizemore, Diana Venora, Amy Brenemman, Mykelti Williamson, Ashley Judd, Danny Trejo

Neil McCauley (De Niro) along with his gang of robbers, which includes Chris (Kilmer) Trejo (Trejo) and Michael (Sizemore) rob $1.6 million in the form of bearer bonds from an armoured truck. Lt. Vincent Hanna (Pacino) an LAPD homicide detective gets on the tail of McCauley and his group. McCauley and his gang are planning to rob a bank at the risk of getting caught or killed. They have just been double crossed by an accomplice and their position is compromised. It's a do or die situation for McCauley and Vincent and they're both thirsty for each others blood. The movie is a very typical cop story. Complicate the plot, get a good star cast, have an amazing action sequence and watch the ratings rise. The movie doesn't have anything different to offer in terms of its plot which is fundamentally simple but has been complicated due to the excessive use of jargon. It's a very typical and regular movie and I really don't know what the fuss is about.

Thumbs up: Pacino and De Niro as ever, nice action sequences
Thumbs down: Regular run of the mill plot, gets boring at times

Rating: 6.8/10

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Action, Crime, Drama, Good Movies, Thriller,

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Grandma's Boy (2006)

Genre: Comedy/Drama

Starring: Linda Cardellini, Allen Covert, Doris Roberts, Nick Swardson, Peter Dante, Shirley Jones, Joel Moore

Alex (Covert) is a video game tester who has just been evicted from his house for not paying his rent. Now homeless, he doesn't have a place to stay and out of desperation he crashes at his grandmothers house. His granny and her two roommates aren't all that bad as Alex had anticipated. They smoke weed, play video games, make out with guys a third of their age and do every possible thing that Alex would want them to do. The movie has no real story and its just about how Alex and his pals along with their new boss Samantha (Cardellini) have a great time together. The movie is definitely funny on more than one occasion which makes it an amazing watch if you have a bunch of freaky friends next to you. A drug peddler with a pet monkey who can do taekwondo, the companies game designer who keeps thinking he is a robot and one amazing party. The movie takes a little time to pick up, but when it does its time smartly invested.

Thumbs up: Humour and performance
Thumbs down: Slow start

Rating: 7.1/10

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Comedy, Drama, Good Movies, Sex Comedy,

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The Prestige (2006)

Genre: Drama/Mystery/Science-fiction

Starring: Hugh Jackman, Cristian Bale, Rebecca Hall, Scarlett Johansson, Michael Caine

There are always three parts to every magic act. The pledge, the turn and finally, the prestige. Robert 'The Great Danton' Angier (Jackman) and Alfred 'The Professor' Borden (Bale) are two rival magicians who once worked together as assistants for another magician. A fatal accident killed Robert's wife for which he blames Alfred. The two spent their entire life battling each other to emerge as the best magician. Alfred has a unique trick known as 'The Transported Man' with which he gains a lot of recognition. Robert attempts to do the same trick but he knows it is not the method that Alfred uses and this loss starts consuming him. He manages to get a unique device constructed by a scientist and is at the peak of his career, when suddenly the act goes wrong and he dies. Alfred is later convicted for murdering Robert Angier and is served the death sentence. The movie has a nice plot, but the first half may leave you a little lost in the story. The plot keeps moving back and forth in time and it takes a while to get a complete grip of it. The movie has a good twist in the end, but not as good as it should have been. There is enough mystery but not enough suspense to compliment it. A more dressed up end would have given the movie a better appeal.

Thumbs up: Plot, casting and performance
Thumbs down: Weak climax, mixed up story

Rating: 7.3/10

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Drama, Good Movies, Mystery, Science-fiction,

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Fanboys (2008)

Genre: Comedy/Drama/Adventure

Starring: Chris Marquette, Dan Fogler, Sam Huntington, Jay Baruchel, Kristen Bell

A group of Star Wars fanatics find it hard to move on in life. All they do is waste time and watch their favourite movie for the millionth time. Linus (Marquette) has cancer and has very little time left. Not enough time to wait for the new Star Wars movie to release. In order to give him something to live for, his childhood buddy Eric (Huntington) decides their entire group should do a road trip across the country and break into George Lucas' house to make Linus watch the movie before it releases. Windows (Baruchel) the group geek, wants to meet his online girlfriend and thinks this trip is the perfect chance. Zoe (Bell) loves Windows but cant tell him and Hutch (Fogler) simply wants to get laid. Travelling in Hutch's van aka space ship across the country makes them encounter a whole lot of adventures which includes beating up a gang of Stark Trek fans. The movie is hilarious but misses the point. More humour and playing more on the 'sex factor' would have helped the movie increase its appeal. Its not LOL funny, but funny enough to lighten you up.

Thumbs up: Good plot
Thumbs down: Could have used some 'American Pie' content to improve things

Rating: 5.9/10

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Adventure, Average Movies, Comedy, Drama, Sex Comedy,

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Van Wilder 2: The Rise of Taj (2006)

Genre: Comedy/Drama/Romance

Starring: Kal Penn, Lauren Cohan, Daniel Percival, Anthony Cozens, Holly Davidson

Continuing the tradition of his mentor, Van Wilder, Taj Mahal Badalandabad (Penn) travels to England to teach at Camford University. The college is divided as per houses and each member of the college must support a house. He receives an invite to join the Foxes and Hounds, the most prestigious house on campus, only to be rejected due to a typographical error which supposedly states that he cannot be a member of the house. He vows enmity with the house leader, Pip (Percival) and has a crush for his girlfriend Charolette (Cohan). He lands up being a part of the most disgraced house on campus, Cocks and Bulls and wants to change the way things happen in there. In order to do so, he decides to make the house take part in the Hastings Cup, which is an inter-house tournament and wishes to overthrow the consistent winners, the Foxes and Hounds. The movie is a huge improvement from the previous movie and a big step forward in being much more fun to watch. The jokes are still not good enough, but Kal Penn's performance is enough to keep your attention.

Thumbs up: Kal Penn all the way
Thumbs down: The humour can still be further improved

Rating: 5.9/10

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Average Movies, Comedy, Drama, Romance, Sex Comedy,

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Wargames: The Dead Code (2008)

Genre: Science-fiction/Drama/Thriller

Starring: Matt Lanter, Amanda Walsh, Chuck Shamata, Nicholas Wright

Will Farmer (Lanter) is a computer super-genius, who was simply trying to help his Arabic neighbour by fixing his computer. He stumbles across his neighbours online bank account, which he manages to hack in and discovers thousands of dollars saved in it. His friend Dennis (Wright) persuades him to take some money and gamble it on an online game known as Wargames. Wargames is actually a game run by the US Government. The governments new super computer known as Ripley, believes that if any person can cross level 5 in Wargames, he/she has the necessary intelligence and traits to become a future terrorist and hence should be eliminated. The logic is obviously flawed, but the federal officers don't yet realise it. A wild goose chase begins with officers chasing Will, and ends up involving Annie (Walsh) Will's secret crush and takes the duo to Montreal, Canada. Ripley starts acting irrationally and the government soon realises she herself is a threat to the national security and has to be shut down, something she isn't programmed to do. The movie starts on very shaky grounds but steadily picks up pace. The final climax scene is thrilling, but that is the only piece of excitement the movie can conjure. It seems the movie has been in the making for a bit too many years and by gods grace was put together and made ready for release. The computers voiceovers are terribly annoying, especially Joshua.

Thumbs up: Thrilling climax
Thumbs down: Lousy everything else

Rating: 5.7/10

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Average Movies, Drama, Science-fiction, Thriller,

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