Live Free or Die Hard Movie Review (8.0/10)
Posted on July 22nd, 2007 filed in Movie Reviews1 Comment »
A ruthless computer terror group unleashes a major cyber attack on the US literally shutting down the country in a swift. Traffic lights (and subsequent car crashes) go berserk, communications of all kind stop, power goes down, and bank accounts are emptied. There is one gleam of hope however…John McClane is here to ‘Yippie_Ki_Yay’ those Mot***F***ers and has teamed up with a hacker whiz Matt Farrell and his excellency ‘Warlorck’, a hacker guru that runs his command center from the basement of his ‘freaky’ mother’s house.
Pirates of the Caribbean At World’s End Movie Review (7/10)
Posted on June 3rd, 2007 filed in Movie Reviews6 Comments »
Synopsis:
Lord Becket has teamed up with Davy Jones to eradicate all pirates in order to ensure the safety of the East Indian Trading Company ships. Faced with extinction, the pirate lords from all over the world decide that their only chance in survival lies in their joining their forces and recruit whatever assistance they can find including that of Calypso, the goddess of the sea . To achieve the latter, a price must be paid, namely the liberation of Calypso from her Tia Delma entrapment following her Davy Jones betrayal. Her release however can only happen when all nine lords bring together in person their nine ‘pieces of eight’. This necessitates that all nine lords be present including Barbossa, killed earlier by Jack Sparrow, and Jack Sparrow himself, lately swallowed by the Kraken and transferred to Jones locker at ‘World’s End’ . Barbossa is resurrected by Tia Delma and leads the crew charged with the task of rescuing Jack Sparrow from World’s End.
Perfume Movie Review (9/10)
Posted on May 31st, 2007 filed in Movie Reviews3 Comments »
Summary:
Jean Baptiste Grenouille early life has been nothing less than miserable. Born in the most despicable way in the dirt of a fishery to a mother that wanted him dead, he spent his first few years in orphanage and then was sold to do hard menial work in one of the dirtiest underground neighborhoods of 18th century Paris (1738 to be exact).
He has one great talent however and that is an immaculate sense of smell that allows him to appreciate odors that go unnoticed by other people. Following a short and deadly encounter with a street vendor, he becomes obsessed with her smell and determined to find a way to recreate it.
The Prestige Movie Review (9.5/10)
Posted on May 13th, 2007 filed in Movie Reviews7 Comments »
Summary:
Borden (Christian Bale) and Angier are stunt assistants for famed magician Milton, whose illusion ‘Ingenieur’ is wizz Cutter (Michael Caine). A freak stage accident results in the drowning death of Milton’s stage girl and Angier’s wife, Julia (Piper Perabo). Angier blames her death on Borden having tied her hands with a stronger than usual rope knot.
The two men part ways and engage in separate stage magic careers. Borden meets and marries Sarah and becomes a father following the birth of their daughter, Jess. Angier , eternally miserable and obsessed by his wife’s premature death, crashes Borden’s Magic show by sabotaging his ‘Stop the Bullet trick’ and causing him to lose three of his fingers.
Angier teams up with Cutter and starts a magic show of his own only to have that destroyed in turn by Borden. The rivalry and animosity between the two continues unabated. When Borden unveils ‘The Transported Man’, his teleportation masterpiece, he wins the London crowd and amazes the ever obsessed Angiers leading that latter to declare an all out effort to unveil the ‘Transporter’ secret and engineer a better illusion.
The Descent Movie Review (8/10)
Posted on January 7th, 2007 filed in Movie Reviews5 Comments »
Summary: One year following a tragic accident that killed her husband and daughter, Sarah joins her girlfriends on a caving expedition in the Appalachian mountains. Two miles underground they realize that Juno, the adrenaline-junkie adventure leader, has decided to take them down an unexplored cave route hoping that the girls would be the first to discover and thus name this cave. Things don’t go as expected however. A tunnel collapses blocking the entry route, trapping the girls and leaving them struggling for survival amongst numerous dangers that include their physical, mental, and psychological strains, a colony of blood thirsty mutant predators and each other.
Review: ‘The Descent’ is a tightly knit, claustrophobically filmed, skillfully acted and masterfully directed horror movie that is likely one of the most terrifying movies that have graced our screens since ‘The Ring’. You literally find yourself immersed in this underground world, with labored breathing, racing pulse, and facial sweats, wondering with the girls what lies ahead at the next turn, tunnel or chamber.
Director Nick Marshall is the master of his domain and he knows it.
Lucky Number Slevin Movie Review (8/10)
Posted on November 7th, 2006 filed in Movie ReviewsComment now »
Summary: When Slevin Kelevra (Josh Hartnett) headed to New York to visit his friend Nick Fisher, little did he know what awaits him. First he gets mugged, loses his wallet and IDs, and gets his nose broken. Second, Nick is nowhere to be found and there is no sign as to where he may be. Third, two gangs of mobsters looking for Nick confuse Slevin for him and drag him, one at a time, to see their feuding bosses, The Boss (Morgan Freeman) and The Rabbi (Ben Kingsley). Seems that Nick is in deep trouble. He owes The Boss $96,000 and The Rabbi $33,000 both from gambling bets. Slevin’s efforts to explain the case of mistaken identity are in vain. The Boss offers him a chance to wipe out his debts by killing The Rabbi’s son. The Rabbi himself offers to forgive the debt as well in return for him killing The Boss. To make things even more complicated, Mr. Smith (Bruce Willis) a high profile hired assassin seems to be pulling the strings behind the scenes on both sides. And finally there is detective Brikowski (Stanley Tucci) that is running 24 hour surveillance on both gangs and subsequently Slevin. The only bright side amidst all this chaos is Lindsey (Lucy Liu), Nick’s neighbor and the city coroner, who takes an immediate liking to Slevin. She also loves playing detective and decides to investigate Nick’s disappearance.
Hard Candy Movie Review (9/10)
Posted on September 20th, 2006 filed in Movie Reviews1 Comment »
Following a sexually charged and flirtatious online chat session between Thonggrrl14 and LensMan319, they agree to meet. Jeff and Hayley seem to immediately hit it off exchanging various ‘I like you much’ signals to each other. Hayley asks if Jeff wants some Tiramisu, he picks some from her lips. Jeff buys a tee shirt to Hayley and insists she models it for him. She does but only after flashing him in a semistage of undress. Hayley seems the most assertive of the two and aggressively pursues Jeff until he agrees to take her to his home. I know what you’re thinking. This is just another ad movie about how online encounters can successfully evolve into real relationships. But that’s of course because you are not aware of a very simple detail: Hayley is 14 and Jeff is 32!
Inside Man Movie Review (8/10)
Posted on May 18th, 2006 filed in Movie Reviews1 Comment »
Summary:
Four masked people lead by Dalton Russell (Clive Owen) overtake a crowded Manhattan Bank and render the emloyees and customers hostages. New York Police rushes to the scene and so does hostage negotiator Keith Frazier (Denzel Washington) who is under investigation for the disappearance of $140,000 evidence cash. Frazier soon realizes that the criminals’ behavior is not typical of a robbery/hostage situation and gets even more curious when a high-powered P.R. woman (Jodie Foster) arrives at the scene with her own agenda in mind.
Review:
Spike Lee is back with “Inside Man”, a serious departure from his prior work, and arguably one of his best. This a clever robbery/hostage film that is well acted and masterfully executed.
First comer, Russell Gerwitz, gets a solid start with his very smart, quite elaborate, and extremely well plotted script that makes it very difficult for one to poke holes into.
The opening monologue is quite smart leading one to make all kinds of assumptions and thus get quite amazed later on as plot unveils. The film then moves back and forth in time while always adding new characters and story elements with Lee remaining faithful to using specific camera angles and film grains for each time frame making it trivial for the audience to be clear of where in time each scene belongs to.
V for Vendetta Movie Review (9/10)
Posted on April 4th, 2006 filed in Movie Reviews4 Comments »
Summary:
It is November 5, 2020 and Britain is under a totalitarian oppressive government that, in the name of religious self righteousness, rules by fear and practices brutal ethnic, political and religious cleansing. The whole country seems to have succumbed with no resistance to speak of. Comes V, a charismatic, sophisticated, masked man who blows up the ministry of justice then takes over the government controlled TV and invites his fellow citizens to fight their oppressors and take back their country. V sets a date of exactly 1 year later for him to blow the parliament building.
Background:
1) November 5 is a date celebrated in Britain to honor Guy Fawkes, an English soldier that was part of a catholic attempt to overthrow the government in 1605 by blowing up the parliament and killing King James 1 of England. The coup failed however and was discovered prior to completion. Guy Fawkes was then hanged.
The mask worn by V is a Guy Fawkes mask.
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The Pink Panther Movie Review (7/10)
Posted on March 5th, 2006 filed in Movie Reviews3 Comments »
The infamous Inspector Clouseau, immortalized by the genius of the late Peter Sellers, is back. Steve Martin plays the bumbling, fumbling, inept, idiotic, repressed and uniqely french accented inspector and the result is a mixed bag. Great for some, disappointing for others.
The movie is quite funny and even hilarious at times. Mr. Martin shines as a matter of fact and performs some of his funniest to date. What haunts him however is that, a good portion of the audience, namely fans and cult followers of the Sellers’ Inspector Clouseau, will come to theatres expecting, quite unreasonably if you think about it, a reincarnation of Peter Sellers, and for many this is the only reason why they came to the movie theatre in the first place, only to be disappointed that this is not the case.
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Eight Below Movie Review (7/10)
Posted on February 22nd, 2006 filed in Movie Reviews2 Comments »
Summary:
In a research center in Antarctica, Jerry Shepard (Paul Walker – Into the Blue), and his eight highly trained sled dogs, embarks on a dangerous mission to assist scientist Davis McClaren (Bruce Greenwood -Capote) find and bring back a meteorite from planet Mercury. The mission proves successful despite an almost fatal accident in which the dogs tactfully and selflessly save the life of the scientist.
Once back, they are told they must evacuate at once as a horrendous storm is heading their way. There is no space for the dogs on the chopper and so, Jerry ties them up close to the base after being assured of the pilot returning coming back for them iin few hours . That fails to materialize however and the dogs end up stuck and tied up on their own, in the cold, harsh, stormy polar weather!
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Movie Review (8/10)
Posted on January 13th, 2006 filed in Movie Reviews3 Comments »
Summary:
After the highly anticipated Quidditch world cup, which was marked by the ominous appearance of the Dark mark in the sky, Harry Potter and his friends are off to their fourth year at Hogwarts. But this year is special in its events; The Triwizard Tournament, which is the most legendary and dangerous magical competition amongst the three different witchcraft and wizardry’s schools in the world, is being held at Hogwarts. The Goblet of fire chooses the names of the three competitors but then, much to everybody’s disbelief, it inexplicably spits out Harry’s name, who three years too young to be even eligible could not enter the competition in the first place. This is without doubt the evil doing of the death eaters, nevertheless, Harry is now forced to rise to the challenge and fight dragons, decipher riddles, breathe underwater, and find the Goblet in the enchanted maze and inevitably face Lord Voldemort in person!
Movie Review: The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (7/10)
Posted on December 20th, 2005 filed in Movie Reviews3 Comments »
Summary:
This movie is the adaptation of the enchanting C.S. Lewis novel. During the Second World War, the 4 Pevensie children, Peter, Susan, Edmond and Lucy, are taken away to safety into the huge country house of an old and unconventional professor. While playing hide and seek, young Lucy hides in a massive wardrobe which leads her to the snow covered land of ‘Narnia’. She then takes her siblings and the adventure begins in a world where it is always winter but never Christmas, in a world where the most mystical creatures live, fauns and beavers are your friends and all the animals talk. In this enchanting world, the children must swear alliance with Aslan, the Great King of Narnia, and fight the evil white witch, who has kept Narnia under her glacial spell for over a century and turns to stones everybody who disobeys her. In this defining battle, the children will learn that love and courage can conquer all…
Movie Review: Stay (7.5/10)
Posted on November 5th, 2005 filed in Movie Reviews1 Comment »
Plot:
Ewan Mcgregor plays Sam is a psychiatrist who lives with his girlfriend artist, Lila (Naomi Watts) one of his ex patients that survived a suicide attempt earlier. One day, Sam is visited by Henry, an art student that lets him know of his intention to commit suicide the next Saturday, which coincides with his 21st birthday. Sam commits himself to help Henry and prevent the suicide from happening.
Review
My initial impression after watching this movie was that Ewan McGregor, Naomi Watts, and Ryan Gosling gave compelling performances in this beautifully filmed but rather disjointed and frustratingly confusing story. I walked out of the theatre extremely annoyed at how I mostly wasted these last 2 hours.
In Her Shoes Movie Review (6.5/10)
Posted on October 23rd, 2005 filed in Movie Reviews3 Comments »
Summary:
In a nutshell, this movie is about the bad sister and the good sister, their relationship and impact on each other’s lives. Maggie, played by Cameron Diaz, is a sexy blond with a knock out body but very reckless and irresponsible lifestyle. She still lives with her father and step mum to save on rent, cannot hold a job and basically goes through life partying, getting totally wasted and sleeping around. Her sister Rose, played by Toni Colette, is a very hard working, lawyer who is overweight and has self image problems. Despite their differences, these two sisters care a lot about each other, share a dark family history and a great love for shoes. Having no place to stay, Maggie moves in with her sister and starts messing up her apartment, clothes and taking her shoes but she really commits the unforgivable act when she sleeps with Rose’s Boyfriend.