Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 1:14 AM
Genre: Science-fiction/Action/Crime/Fantasy
Starring: Michael Keaton, Michelle Pfeiffer, Danny DeVito, Christopher Walken, Michael Gough
The second movie of the very famous Batman comic series. A deformed baby is born in Gotham city who is thrown away by his parents due to his deformity. The young child gets raised by penguins in the city zoo and lives within the sewers. Years later, this child emerges as the Penguin (DeVito) and announces that he wants to trace back his identity and discover himself. Max Shreck (Walken) is Gotham city's biggest industrialist and wants to install more power plants within the city. Although the city currently generates a surplus, Max is trying to convince investors and the mayor that Gotham would soon need more power and he is investing for the future. In reality, power plant would actually drain power from the cities power grid and this is discovered by Max's secretary, Selina Kyle (Pfeiffer). Selina, originally an introvert, survives a murder attempt by Max and converts herself into the Catwoman and hatches a plan of revenge against Max. Meanwhile, Bruce Wayne aka Batman (Keaton) smells a rat when The Penguin decides to run for mayor and starts to get down and discover what the actual reason is. The movie is quite similar to the earlier movie with only the villain changing and the addition of The Catwoman. What makes this movie very desirable is Danny DeVito and his fabulous performance of The Penguin. Somehow, Batman's villains have always had good performances, including the new and old versions. The movie is a very normal super-hero entertainer but is worth that entertainment value and is enjoyable.
Thumbs up: Danny DeVito's stupendous performance
Thumbs down: Nothing in particular, its very well rounded
Rating: 7.2/10
Action,
Crime,
Fantasy,
Good Movies,
Science-fiction,
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 1:33 AM
Genre: Romance/Drama
Starring: Channing Tatum, Amanda Seyfried, Richard Jenkins, Henry Thomas
Most romantic movies are too good to be true. Most movies have a twist towards the end due to which the relationship does not work out and its this very twist that determines the fate of the movie. A young soldier John Tyree (Tatum) is home on vacation and falls in love with a college student Savannah (Seyfried) over the summer. Savannah has to return to college and John needs to report to duty and they both promise to meet after a year. 9/11 happens and John is compelled to extend his duty and cancel leave and to serve his country. The young romance that happened over a year ago just over a couple of weeks, has blossomed to large levels over the regular exchange of letters. However, everything is too good to be true and disaster strikes. Like I send before, there always is a twist that determines the outcome of the movie. In this case, the twist was just simply lame. In fact the whole climax goes mostly unexplained and makes you wonder how that even happened and why would anyone do that. It comes across as stupid and irrational and kills the otherwise steady movie. Most of the movie is the normal blossoming of love between the two without getting too boring or too interesting. What entirely kills the movie is the final outcome. The movie is watchable for romance fans but it really wont touch you or make you go 'awwww...' towards the end.
Thumbs up: Good romance, easy watch
Thumbs down: Horrible climax
Rating: 5.2/10
Average Movies,
Drama,
Romance,
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 10:10 AM
Genre: Comedy/Drama/Fantasy
Starring: Paresh Rawal, Akshay Kumar, Om Puri, Mithun Chakraborthy, Mahesh Manjrekar, Poonam Jhawer, Lubna Salim, Govind Namdeo, Murli Sharma
The world is divided into two parts, those who believe in god and those who don't. God holds a strong sentimental value within most of us and we blindly follow the faith without thinking twice about why we are doing something and what is the meaning behind it. Kanjibhai (Rawal) is a middle-class atheist residing in the bustling city of Mumbai. He makes a living by running an antiques shop where he sells religious idols by faking its history and value. Its a profession people look down upon, he mocks people who believe in idol worship and those who celebrate festivals. One day, after insulting the high priest of a temple, Siddheshwar Maharaj (Namdeo), Kanjibhai finds his shop destroyed in an earthquake. The insurance companies refuse to settle his claim since earthquakes are classified as 'an act of god' and society tells him that he is being punished for not worshipping the lord above. Frustrated, he decides to take God to court and sue him for damages caused due to the loss of his business. Enter Krishna Vasudev Yadav (Kumar) who is the modern incarnation of Lord Krishna and shows Kanjibhai the right path from the wrong. The movie is indeed an eye-opener and shows how people around the world do something in the name of religion where practicality and common sense gets simply thrown out of the window. Although the movie tries to create awareness about correct religion, its message is still a bit jumbled and unclear. The message somehow doesn't get conveyed with the clarity that it should have been and seems very lost and vague. Apart from that, Paresh Rawal has done a good job which is different from his usual slap-stick comedy that we are so used to seeing him in. A great entertainer and a must watch with the entire family.
Thumbs up: Paresh Rawal at his best
Thumbs down: A very confused and vague delivery of the ultimate message that the movie wants to put forth.
Rating: 7.4/10
Bollywood,
Comedy,
Drama,
Fantasy,
Good Movies,
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 9:57 AM
Genre: Thriller/Crime/Drama
Starring: Kevin Costner, William Hurt, Demi Moore, Dane Cook, Danielle Panabaker
Everybody has some or the other hobby that we all like to regularly practice. The reason why we have a hobby is because it gives us fun, enjoyment and a lot of satisfaction. Mr. Earl Brooks (Costner), the Man of the Year and a successful and rich businessman, too has a hobby that he regularly practices. He loves killing people. He is known as the 'Thumbprint Killer' since he leaves a thumbprint of the victims after the murder. He has no motive, no pattern and has no connection with the victims whatsoever, pure pleasure. Mr. Brooks has abstained from his sadistic hobby for two years by curbing his desires, but his alter-ego and id, Walter (Hurt) keeps playing with his mind and convinces him to return once more. The movie is a sensational thriller that he keeps you glued for a very long time. Although this may not be a true murder mystery or the kind of crime movie that we are generally accustomed to, its still very different and interesting. What the movie lacks are some sensational twists or some eye-popping scenes, which its simple and consistent plot line seems to be missing, Kevin Costner has done a phenomenal performance of a wealthy man with a wicked and dark side and he seems to be tailor made for the role. A great watch but it has scope for improvement.
Thumbs up: Kevin Costner, interesting story
Thumbs down: Lack of good twists and an engaging climax
Rating: 7.6/10
Crime,
Drama,
Good Movies,
Thriller,
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 10:00 AM
Genre: Comedy/Drama/Romance
Starring: Brendan Sexton III, Dan Fogler, Zoe Lister Jones, Jon Polito
Also known as: Wedding Bros. Two brothers who are completely opposite of each other, find themselves in an identically similar situation. Anthony Marconi (Sexton III) is the first person in his family to graduate from college and intends to use his knowledge in improving the family business. Carmine Marconi (Fogler) is a good-for-nothing and uneducated man who works in the family business because he has nothing better to do. The Marconi families business is in selling carpets and Anthony's father is not interested in applying any of Anthony's fancy marketing ideas to increase business. Whilst carrying out a carpet laying assignment, Anthony and Carmine meet Lou Burns (Polito) who is a wedding videographer and is looking for two assistants to help during the next wedding assignment. Sensing an opportunity, the two brothers decide to quit the family business and start a whole new life with Burns and his videography business. The movie is quite uninteresting and seems to based on a very lame idea. Although the plot does somehow manage to blend a lot of elements together, it just gets very dragged and boring after a while. Lack of decent humour or enjoyable romance leaves it with nothing very interesting. An average movie that is watchable but not very enjoyable.
Thumbs up: An average entertainer
Thumbs down: Not very funny or interesting, a bit boring
Rating: 5.0/10
Average Movies,
Comedy,
Drama,
Romance,
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 10:27 AM
Genre: Spoof/Comedy/Drama/Musical
Starring: Shoshana Bush, Damon Wayans Jr., Essence Atkins, Affion Crockett. Shawn Wayans, Amy Sedaris
Spoof movies are usually the kinds that you would want to watch once and forget for the rest of your lives. A sudden out-break of dance movies (
High School Musical, Step Up, You Got Served) has prompted this hilarious break dance that intends to laugh at every other musical movie there is. Megan White (Bush) is an amateur ballet dancer who moves to the inner-city from the suburbs. She finds it difficult to adjust to the new life and has a lot of misadventures. She befriends Charity Uncles (Atkins) who is a single mother with very bad parenting skills. Her boyfriend and the father of the child, Baby Daddy (Wayans) has abandoned the child and spends very little time with him. Thomas Uncles (Wayans Jr.) the younger brother of Charity, is stuck for a street gang lord to whom he owns a lot of money. Thomas and Megan fall in love with each other and Thomas intends to teach her how to dance on the street and forget about ballet. This review itself might sound outrageous but that is because the movie is just like it. Stupid humour and a plot that can harldy be called a plot forms the basis and foundation of this movie. If you have seen one spoof movie, you have seen them all. It would be good fun for those who have seen the movies in question and can do with a bit of humour, but everyone else might feel a bit out of place.
Thumbs up: Good spoof
Thumbs down: Random scenes that are only created to spoof some movie
Rating: 5.0/10
Comedy,
Drama,
Musical,
Pathetic Movies,
Spoof,
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 11:21 AM
Genre: Fantasy/Comedy/Drama
Starring: Adam Sandler, Guy Pearce, Courteney Cox, Laura Ann Kesling, Jonathan Morgan Heit, Keri Russell, Teresa Palmer, Russell Brand, Richard Griffiths
Every movie need not necessarily blow your mind away. There can be some that simply keep you entertained and that's all. Skeeter Bronson (Sandler) works in a ultra-luxurious hotel as a handyman. His father once owned that very hotel but due to financial troubles he had to sell it to a friend who gave him a verbal promise of eventually allowing Skeeter to run the hotel. Barry Nottingham (Griffiths) has decided to not live up to his word that he gave to his friend and Skeeter continues to remain as the handyman, hoping that his hard work would eventually pay off some day. When Skeeter's sister Wendt (Cox) asks him to babysit her two children whilst she was out of a town for a few days, Skeeter doesn't realise that this would change his life forever. The bedtime stories that he used to narrate to the children every night, started coming true in reality and he realised that he could probably use these stories to make his life much better. The movie is very typically made for the young and could only possibly appeal to their mindset. Adam Sandler is funny, but not all and out funny. It is good enough for the audience it is conceived for and is a decent family entertainer.
Thumbs up: Great entertainer
Thumbs down: Sandler could be more funny
Rating: 6.2/10
Average Movies,
Comedy,
Drama,
Fantasy,
{[['
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 12:21 AM
Genre: Comedy/Drama/Fantasy/Action
Starring: Simon Pegg, Kate Ashfield, Nick Frost, Lucy Davis, Dylan Moran, Penelope Wilton, Bill Nighy
When a group of worthless and objectiveless friends suddenly find themselves surrounded by zombies all over, their life takes a turn. Shaun (Pegg) and his childhood buddy (Ed) share an apartment where Shaun works at an electronics store and Ed does nothing. Whilst Shaun hates his job and life, Ed sits at home playing video games all day long. Liz (Ashfield) Shaun's girlfriend is tried of Shaun and his hopeless attitude and his love for the pub called Winchester. Liz feels that Shaun is being held back because of Ed and is not able to progress in life because Ed cannot support himself. One fine morning, the group find themselves facing a zombie catastrophe and Shaun decides that he needs to rescue Liz and his mum and take them to safety. His amazing plan is to pick up Liz, her friends, his mum, her husband and take them all to good old Winchester until the zombie situation dies down. The movie is quite funny and is a good mix of comedy and action with the casual thrills and chills thrown here and there. Its a good mixed pot but lacks any one of the elements to really stand out. Its not all that funny, the action is not all that great and the plot is way too simple. Pegg and Frost have appeared in many movies together and the duo make a solid humour pair and are virtually unbeatable. A good entertainer but nothing too exceptional.
Thumbs up: Pegg and Frost duo is amazing, good mixture of everything
Thumbs down: Nothing really stands out
Rating: 6.7/10
Action,
Comedy,
Drama,
Fantasy,
Good Movies,
{[['
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 10:03 AM
Starring: Reese Witherspoon, Matthew Broderick, Chris Klein, Jessica Campbell, Delaney Driscoll
A high school student body election turns out to be very eventful, apart from being extremely hilarious. Tracy Flick (Witherspoon) has regularly come first in class, been a part of almost all student body departments, is extremely clever and, has a lot ego about herself. Her intelligence is her pride and she considers herself to be perfect in everything. After spending years in establishing a reputation for herself in school she finally decides to run for student body president, a post she is vying to take up for years. The school history teach, Mr. Jim McAllister (Broderick) is like the teacher counterpart of Tracy who too has won numerous 'Teacher of the Year' awards and is respected a lot by the school management. Jim holds a grudge against Tracy, from past events and due to Tracy's smug look and 'know-it-all' attitude. In order to give Tracy some competition, he decides to convince the school's football captain who is now injured and cannot plat. He hopes that is his popularity would work in his favour to topple Tracy from winning the title. The movie is a fun watch with a lot going for almost everybody. Its not hilariously funny but its still good enough to watch and enjoy. Reese Witherspoon has put on a good show for her part and fits the role that she was supposed to fulfill. A good and enjoyable one-timer.
Thumbs up: Reese Witherspoon
Thumbs down: Not all that funny
Rating: 6.4/10
Average Movies,
Comedy,
Drama,
{[['
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 2:42 AM
Starring: Rachel Blanchard, Scott Speedman, Devon Bostick, Arsinee Khanjian, Noam Jenkins
A young university student, Simon (Bostick) gets a brainwave during his French class, a thought whose future repercussions he would never ever have been able to imagine. When Simon's French teacher, Sabine (Khanjian) is narrating a past newspaper story report where a Palestinian terrorist plants a bomb in his pregnant fiancees bag without her knowing it and tries to put her on a flight to Israel, it prompts Simon to try and envisages his own Palestinian father Sami (Jenkins) to be the terrorist, his mother Rachel (Blanchard) to be the pregnant lady and he was the yet unborn child. Sabine is impressed with Simon's creativity and tries to get him to draft a play for the drama theatre and convinces him to believe the story to be true. In reality, Simon's father and mother died in a car accident which Simon always feared to be untrue. Simon's grandfather was always of the notion that Simon's father, killed them both on purpose and it was not an accident. The movie is very slow to pick up and can appear to be a tad confusing at first. Give it time, and the story slowly takes shape and starts to make a whole lot more sense. The unique story is well drafted and executed which makes it a good watch, although a bit slow at times. An interesting movie but be prepared to be forced to use your brains a bit.
Thumbs up: Fabulous story, good plot execution
Thumbs down: A bit slow and too confusing
Rating: 7.0/10
Drama,
Good Movies,
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 10:12 AM
Starring: Nicole Kidman, Aaron Eckhart, Dianne West, Tammy Blanchard, Miles Teller, Sandra Oh
A couple who loses their young son in a tragic car accident are unable to overcome the loss. Becca (Kidman)a and Howie (Eckhart) are still mourning the loss of their son, Danny, which starts affecting their personal lives and strains their relationship. Becca wants to give away all of Danny's belongings and attempts at erasing all the memories there ever was of him, much to the ire of Howie. Howie lives in Danny's memories and wants to have another child but Becca does not agree with him. Becca's loss starts affecting her relationship with her mother who compares Danny with Becca's brother who passed away due to a drug overdose. The movie primarily revolves around the strained relationship of a couple and how that starts affecting their personal relationship with people around them. The movie can get slow and heavy at times and may not be to the liking of all. If it is family drama that appeals to you, the movie is a fabulous watch. Kidman and Eckhart have a great on-screen chemistry going that gives you a more 'real world' feel.
Thumbs up: Fabulous performances
Thumbs down: May not appeal to all, a bit slow and heavy
Rating: 6.9/10
Drama,
Good Movies,
Romance,
{[['
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 11:02 AM
Genre: Comedy/Drama/Adventure
Starring: Sacha Baron Cohen, Anna Faris, Ben Kingsley, Jason Mantzoukas
Middle-Eastern dictators and their larger than life approach has astonished the entire world. Everyone has heard of their laws where they take down anyone opposing them, having countless mistresses, having all the money you can imagine and doing almost anything that comes to their mind. President Prime Minister Admiral General Haffaz Aladeen aka Allison Burgers (Baron Cohen) is the dictator of the small north African country of Wadiya. His love to kill anyone who disagrees with him, no matter if he is already dead, is the supreme head of everything, from military to hospitals and schools and has trained female bodyguards at all times. The UN decides to intervene in Wadiya's economy be preventing them from developing nuclear weapons and forcing them to sell their oil. In order to prevent a military attack from the UN, General Aladeen reaches NY, USA or in his words 'The Birthplace of AIDS'. The movie is hilarious but its the kind of humour that doesn't make sense and can be defined as 'lame' by many. But isn't Sacha Baron Cohen all about having lame humour? The puns and insults at various real people, organisations and companies is shocking at first but hilarious later. The movie is a far better improvement from Borat and Bruno but still has a far way to go to become really exciting. A leave-your-brains-at-home movie after which you might just make you contemplate the level of absurdity that people can get to.
Thumbs up: Light and fun
Thumbs down: Humour might be a bit too lame for some
Rating: 6.3/10
Adventure,
Average Movies,
Comedy,
Drama,
{[['
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 10:55 AM
Genre: Thriller/Drama/Crime
Starring: Daniel Manche, Blythe Auffarth, Blanche Baker, Madeline Taylor, Benjamin Ross Kaplan, Graham Patrick Martin
At times there are some movies that you wonder why anyone would want to make them. The question mark over this movies existence is not based on it being too outrageous but the mere fact that it gets far too disturbing to watch. Set in the '50's, the movie narrates the experiences of a pre-teen boy, David (Manche) and a life-changing incident that he witnessed which changed him forever. Two young girls, Meg (Auffarth) and Susan (Taylor) are sent to live with their Aunt Ruth (Baker) after the loss of their parents in a tragic car accident. Ruth and David are neighbours and David regularly spends time with Ruths' sons and the other boys in the neighborhood. David is immediately attracted towards Meg and so are all the other boys. However, there was a difference between David's attraction, which was friendship and love, and the other boys, which was purely sexual. Ruth saw Susan and Meg as a burden on her and her displeasure towards them led her to severely punish them for every small deed until the intensity of the punishments kept growing to the point of no return. The movie portrays David as being a witness to the incident and although he never agreed with what was happening, he was unable to do anything to prevent it. Although the movie builds on a good foundation, it simply gets extremely disturbing and far too graphic to be a peaceful watch. You would probably wince and turn your head on multiple occasions, so be warned before you watch.
Thumbs up: Good depiction of a single event
Thumbs down: Slow, can get extremely disturbing towards a point
Rating: 5.8/10
Average Movies,
Crime,
Drama,
Thriller,
{[['
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 10:33 AM
Genre: Fantasy/Science-fiction/Action/Adventure/Crime
Starring: Chris Evans, Dakota Fanning, Camilla Belle, Djimon Hounsou, Ming-Na, Cliff CurtisThere have always been movies about another race of human beings on the planet that are unknown to us and posses special powers. What differs within these movies is how outlandish the 'other' human species can be conceived to be. There exists a breed of humans that posses super-human powers and are classified within themselves according to the power they posses. A governmental body to control their kind, called the 'division', is after a suitcase. Everything else in the movie is one big question mark leaving you with a thousand unanswered questions with the biggest one being, why is Nick Grant (Evans) and Cassie (Fanning) even involved in all of this. Although the movie tries to build upon a decent concept and has an above average ending attached to it, most of the story is a complete washout and seems to be glued together in a highly tacky manner. It does a decent job of being a fantasy movie with decent action, but that's all there is to it. Don't try bothering to figure out whats happening cause its not worth it.
Thumbs up: Decent action, a good entertainer
Thumbs down: Horrible story that doesn't make any amount of sense
Rating: 5.6/10
Adventure,
Average Movies,
Crime,
Fantasy,
Science-fiction,
{[['
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 10:27 AM
Genre: Fantasy/Adventure/Action/Drama
Starring: Georgie Henley, Skander Keynes, Will Poulter, Ben Barnes, Simon Pegg (voice)
The Pevensie children are back in England and are leading their normal human lives. Susan and Peter are away to university, leaving Lucy (Henley) and Edmund (Keynes) to live at their cousins residence. Their cousin, Eustace (Poulter) is an extremely annoying, pampered and timid individual who does not make Lucy and Edmund's life easy. When Narnia summons them, Eustace becomes an uninvited guest to the mystery land. The three find themselves aboard the Dawn Treader, a huge ship which is led by none other than Prince Caspian (Barnes) himself. The four find themselves on an adventure to the far corners of unexplored Narnia land where they encounter evil, mysteries and demons they have never ever seen or heard of before. The movie is a huge disconnect from the previous movies with the story like just another adventure with the same cast. It might be appealing to the younger generation, but is no match for the more reputed fantasy and adventure movies known. A big let down for a Narnia fan and an average watch for everyone else.
Thumbs up: Decent adventure
Thumbs down: No link to previous stories
Rating: 5.8/10
Action,
Adventure,
Average Movies,
Drama,
Fantasy,
{[['
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Posted by Bell Mattew
Posted on 10:14 PM
Starring: Kate Winslet, Leonardo DiCaprio, Kathy Bates, Kathryn Hahn, David Harbour
The people who appear to be the most happiest in their lives may not actually be as happy or lucky as their outward appearance would suggest them to be. Frank Wheeler (DiCaprio) and April Wheeler (Winslet) were the envy of a lot of people because of their positive relationship. Even though they appeared to be the best couple in the neighbourhood, there were a lot of fissures in their relationship. April was a budding actress whose career never actually took off. Her theatre performances are just about mediocre and she cannot take any more of peoples false praises of her acting. Frank is doing a job he hates which he only got since his father previously worked in the same company. In order to give herself a new life and give Frank the option of discovering what he wanted to do, April suggests they start a new life in Paris. Initially absurd, Frank slowly buys into it and they start preparing, only to find out that April is pregnant and cannot risk travelling to Paris in this condition. All their ambitions and whatever they hoped for come crashing down on them and Frank gets a surprise promotion which gives him every reason to stay back and not go to Paris. The movie taps on a unique fundamental thought that many of us what to do something very absurd but somehow don't explore it due to fear of being labelled as 'weird' and 'impractical'. The movie is quite slow, which is expected from its kind, but makes up to it by the fabulous performances of Kate Winslet and DiCaprio. The two make a good on-screen pair and their spectacular acting makes the movie worth that watch. There is a climax to the movie that you would yourself looking forward to, but the slow nature of developments and progression may not go down well with everyone and may not be to all tastes.
Thumbs up: Fabulous Winslet and DiCaprio
Thumbs down: A bit too slow for everyones liking
Rating: 7.5/10
Drama,
Good Movies,
Romance,
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