Returned 45 results for 'Category: Hollywood Movie Reviews'
Unlock the Sci-Fi Code of Matrix
Friday, November 25th, 2011
Movie: The Matrix
Year: 1999
Genre: Sci-Fi/Action/Thriller
Directors: Andy Wachowski, Lana Wachowski
Stars: Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne and Carrie-Anne Moss
Snapshot of Story:
The Matrix movie is about a world set in the future where an unknown source creates a virtual world for humans housed in animated suspension. The digital entity known as the matrix uses the energy of the human brain waves to furnish their own survival by allowing humans to live in a dreamlike world but appears real to them.
Movie Ratings and Reviews of Matrix
Storyline:
There is a band of humans who live outside of the Matrix and searching for the coming saviour that can infiltrate the Matrix and thus release all humans from it’s clutches. Keanu Reeves plays ‘Neo’ as the hero in this movie and meets up with Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne) who is the leader of the renegade team in search for freedom.
In one scene Morpheus offers Neo a red pill and a blue pill in each hand and asks Neo to choose. In his decision, Neo opens his eyes and sees the ‘real world’ outside of the matrix and Morpheus introduces him to his other team and their mission.
In the ship that they use to move around in the desolate wasteland of the world, Morpheus and his team have methods to enter the matrix and pull out by a phone call to one of the many phone booths within the matrix. Neo begins to see the ‘other side’ and the entire team begins to feel that Neo could be their potential savior. He must battle with the ‘Agents’ within the matrix to accomplish his mission and save mankind.
The Matrix movie is a very intelligent movie and came about at the right time where the digital world is widespread and makes this story all that more believable. Many people at first were confused by the concept of the matrix but in essence it is quite simple. The Matrix is a virtual world which required someone who could see through this and bend this world to his shape and liking as Neo does towards the end.
By using humans as energy traps and suspending them in an animated state, the matrix allowed the networking of the brains to create a virtual world. The humans effectively think they are living ‘real lives’ but in essence they are living in a vast computer program creating the virtual matrix. The whole matrix setup opens up interesting avenues for stories which the directors have done with superb clarity, creativity and execution.
Towards the end of the movie Neo finally understands the limitations of the matrix and is able to defeat the agents with some of the best action scenes in the movie.
Further Thoughts:
The Matrix movie caused quite a sensation when it first appeared and now has a cult following. With two Matrix stories to follow, ‘Reloaded’ and ‘Revolutions’ were equally original, creative and highly entertaining. The movie created some milestones in filming where the directors employed an array of multiple cameras surrounding the action scene to create some of the effects in the movie. In particular where we see Neo dodging an Agent’s bullet and the camera pans around Neo showing the bullet nearly missing him in slow motion.
The movie was a big hit when it came out and the initial complexity in deciphering it’s meaning did not hinder many people as this was a perfectly great movie in it’s own right with all the actions and thrills of a Sci-Fi action film.
Rating:
9/10
Tags: Carrie-Anne Moss, Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, review of the movie Matrix, Unlock the Sci-Fi Code of Matrix
Movie Rating and Review - Star Trek
Wednesday, November 23rd, 2011
Movie: Star Trek
Year: 2009
Genre: Sci-Fi/Drama/Action
Director: J.J. Abrams
Stars: Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto and Simon Pegg
Snapshot of Story:
The phenomenal success of the Star Trek movie series is followed by this helping where we are taken to the early days of James T Kirk as he embarks on his career in the Star Trek cadet school and almost immediately flung into his first adventure.
Movie review of Star Trek
Storyline:
Like many well known series there comes a time when producers of movies go back in time and tell a story of the ‘first happenings’ and how it all came to be. This maybe fueled in part by the huge success of the original series and the audiences desire to seek more. In any case, it is a challenge for producers to come up with something unique and in the process retell a story that is in the past with many references made from the series. For example, in many of the series Kirk or other members of the ship will recollect some events in the past while they were in the cadet which had an amusing tale or twist. Thankfully, many hardcore-fans will be pleased to learn that most of those historical facts are in tact in this story. A most notable past event that has been referenced many times was how Kirk single-handedly defeated the computer war program as part of his training, something which no other person was able to do. This scene was well portrayed and some of the dialogues exchanged between Kirk and Spock marked the hallway towards their future relationship and in particular their contrasting nature of thinking ie. rationality as opposed to logic.
In this movie we see a Spock played by Zachary Quinto which at first seems at odds end to the Spock that we have all come to know and love. Spock is portrayed by a ruthless sense of logic that makes him so cold and unapproachable and a character that many would like to disassociate. However, as we progress through the movie we see the ‘softening’ of Spock and a shift towards the character that we have come to appreciate today.
By far the two most important characters in this movie are Kirk and Spock with of course the arch nemesis to make the storyline. The young Kirk is well portrayed as a care-free immature man longing for something more and how his character becomes more refined and mature through each step of the movie. In typical Star Trek fashion, Kirk needs to make quick instantaneous decisions that can mean the difference between life and death. There is much action in this movie to keep all the action fans happy as well as those who seek to see the youthful star trek teams and how they came to be assembled in their current form.
Final Thoughts:
The director JJ Abrams has done a great job of putting together a movie of what could have had potential holes and leave the audience wanting. His portrayal of the characters were unique and accurate and the entire movie is highly watchable for Trekkie fans as well as an excellent movie in it’s own right.
Rating:
8.5/10
Tags: Chris Pine, J.J. Abrams, Movie Rating and Review - Star Trek, review of movie Star Trek, Simon Pegg, Zachary Quinto
Movie Ratings and Reviews - Ready
Wednesday, November 23rd, 2011
Movie: Ready
Director: Anees Bazmee
Time: 2011
Genre: Comedy, Romance, Family
Stars: Salman Khan, Asin and Paresh Rawal
Snapshot of the story
This is yet another Salman Khan Movie and in typical fashion does not make any sense and made for pure entertainment only. Director Anees Bazmee has made romantic movies like “Pyaar To Hona Hi Tha” and comedy like “Deewana Mastana”, “Mujhse Shaadi Karogi” and “No Entry”. This time expectations were high from him but failed to live up to the hype and made an average score in the movie halls with an average story.
Movie review of Ready
Storyline
Ready is a fast paced movie and comes with all the entertainment components such as comedy, drama, musical, romance and action. The story revolves around two goon brothers (Chaudhary brothers) separated by their differences in thinking. Both brothers are in pursuit of an inherited property following the death of their sister. This billion dollar property would go their sister’s daughter Sanjana Singh (played by Asin) and both brother want their brother-in-law to get married to Sanjana and acquire the billion dollar property. In the process of hiding from his own uncles Sanjana meet Prem Kapoor (played by Salman Khan) waiting at the airport to receive his father’s friends daughter whom he never met before. Hiding her identity from Prem and other family members Sanjana enters in to the family.
This entire plot gets exposed to Prem as he gets the access of Sanjana’s Passport. Sanjana tells him the truth of why she is in hiding. Prem promise Sanjana that he will help her in getting her out of this mess. Sanjana and Prem starts liking each other and this is the romantic part of the movie. Salman and Asin looked very good as romantic heroes on-screen.
Like Salman Khan’s other movies Ready also does not make sense and take an unusual and unpredictable twists and turns where finally Prem manages to save Sanjana from her uncle and marry her. In the entire process both Sanjana’s uncles learn the lesson and decide to quit his bad habitual work and promises to live a normal life.
Final Thoughts
Asin looked very beautiful in this movie and once again she has shown her talent after Ghajani. Salman Khan is again shown as larger than life character and was able to defeat all opponents that come his way. Music of the movie is average and failed to give the kind of push needed to the movie, however the song “Dhinka Chika” was a chart topper for many month. In spite of a big cast the movie failed to attract audience due to it’s weak storyline and screenplay. Ready did not shake the box office despite the festive season that it was launched.
Rating
Ready scores 5 out of 10 only because of Salman Khan and Asin as they looked beautiful together. Apart from this, Ready does not offer any freshness in the storyline and Pritam also did not score well with his music.
Tags: Asin, Movie Rating and Review of ready, Movie Ratings and Reviews - Ready, Movie review of Ready, Salman Khan
Movie Ratings and Reviews - Legion
Tuesday, November 22nd, 2011
Movie: Legion
Year: 2009
Genre: Fantasy/Action Thriller
Director: Scott Charles Stewart
Stars: Paul Bettany, Dennis Quaid and Charles S. Dutton
Snapshot of Story:
Legion is fantasy movie where an angel comes to earth and along with a band of humans try to save mankind.
Movie Rating and Review of Legion
Storyline:
The angel ‘Michael’ played by Paul Bettany lands on earth in much the same way as the ‘Terminator’ movie and makes his way to a remote gas station. At first we are not sure of his intentions as he battles with some police officers but we soon come to learn that Michael has good intentions.
He arrives at the gas station run by Bob Hanson played by Dennis Quaid where a group of diners already inside the establishment will be taken through a ride of their lives as they battle some of the spirits sent by heaven to bring down planet earth.
There are some excellent special effects scenes as they rage battle against the shape-shifters with their supernatural powers. In particular the old woman arriving at the station was well executed as her body twists and contorts and springs horror inside the diner. The quick thinking of Bob manages to eradicate the vermint but they must battle a greater war that is imminent.
Michael must protect the baby that is still unborn in one of the woman who will be the saviour of the planet earth. In one scene, the angel Gabriel arrives and we hear the sound of some distant trumpets which was very well done. However, the movie is now almost taking on the similar plot of Terminator.
Final Thoughts:
The movie ends with Michael battling Gabriel and manages to overcome him. Although the movie is based on the angels of heaven, they don’t really have any bearings on the teachings and philosophy of the religion and was made entirely for entertainment only. The movie scores well in the special effects arena but fails to deliver in the original script. However, the movie is still watchable as it has all the remnants of other movies such as the Terminator and Quentin Terantino’s ‘From Dusk till Dawn’.
Rating:
6/10
Tags: Charles S. Dutton, Dennis Quaid, Movie Ratings and Reviews - Legion, Paul Bettany
Movie Ratings and Reviews - The Messengers
Monday, November 21st, 2011
Movie: The Messengers
Year: 2007
Genre: Horror/Thriller
Directors: Oxide Pang Chun, Danny Pang
Stars: Dylan McDermott, Penelope Ann Miller and Kristen Stewart
Snapshot of Story:
A family arrives in a rural farmland to take up residence in a farm house away from the bustle of city life and comes across some horrifying ghostly beings.
Review of the movie - The Messanger
Storyline:
Kristen Stewart who plays Jess is now a superstar celebrity after her debut in the ‘Twilight’ series but this movie may have very well been the springboard to her fame. In effortless style Kristen Stewart plays the shy and introverted teenager with a troublesome life and parents who are overbearingly protective. The scene with her and Bobby played by Dustin Milligan in their first meeting was superbly portrayed and shows the candid innocence of two teenagers when they first meet.
The horror action was well executed and there were many moments of tensive scenes where the creatures appear out of the dark and randomly appear clinging to the roof or simply levitating in the air.
In one scene Jess freezes in the hallway as her brother witnesses a ghost coming towards them but Jess has her back to it. She remains in this position for what appears to be forever until the creature almost touches them and then she turns. This seemed to be an unnatural piece in the scene where I would have expected Jess to turn right away and make a run for it.
In the early part of the movie where Jess witnesses the ghostly happenings around the house, I felt that a ‘real person’ in that same predicament would hide and go the other way whereas Jess continues to explore the sounds and events that has already terrified her. I came up with a term for this and called it ‘a sadistic need for terrification’ meaning a desire to be terrified.
There is a twist at the end of the movie where the actual hired helper is the culprit and the ghostly beings were there to send a ‘message’ to the newcomers of the imminent danger (*spoiler).
Final Thoughts:
Kristen Stewart plays the innocent and shy teenager who comes face to face with some ghastly creatures of the farm house and her acting is up to par but some of the scripts are not so believable. In particular the scene where she freezes momentarily while a creature comes from behind. I found that the directors must have been horror aficionados after watching this movie as I saw some snippets of similarities from ‘The Shining’, ‘Poltergeist’, ‘The Birds’, and the ‘The Sixth Sense’. All in all the movie is watchable and has it’s good moments but the plot and overall acting is not substantial enough to put this movie in the category of the best.
Rating:
6.5/10
Tags: Dylan McDermott, Kristen Stewart, Movie Ratings and Reviews - The Messengers, Movie review of The Messenger, movie reviews and ratings, Penelope Ann Miller
