Category Archives: English Movies

English Movie Reviews

Crime, Drama, English Movies, Genre, Must Watch, Rating, Reviews, Thriller

The Departed

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The Departed – This is 2006  movie directed by Martin Scorsese.  It is a crime thriller where a police superintendent makes one of the new recruit to infiltrate the  drug trafficking gang. While the boss of the gang simultaneously makes one of the gangster infiltrate the police department. With moles in each group the plot gets interesting when both the boss and the police superintendent figure out the existence of moles in each of their groups. The rest of the movie is a race between them to uncover the moles faster than the other so that their own person in the other group is protected. What happens in the end is the rest of the plot. This movie is a remake of the 2002 Hong Kong movie Infernal Affairs.

The movie has a very close resemblance to the original, including many of the camera angles. For a director like Martin Scorsese to do this, you know how well the original has been made. Like the original this also follows the 3 Act Play to the book as mentioned in my recent Friday Fact section. The movie has some brilliant casting with Matt Damon, Leornado DiCaprio, Jack Nicholson, Martin Sheen and Mark Wahlberg. The movie just gets much bigger due to its cast ensemble. Kudos to Martin Scorsese to bring such a movie again back to the screen with strong casting a true tribute to the original. The Departed went on to win the Academy Award for the best picture. For the brilliant casting and narration this is a must watch.

Must Watch

Crime, Drama, English Movies, Genre, Must Watch, Rating, Reviews, Thriller

Infernal Affairs

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Infernal Affairs – This is a Hong Kong movie directed by Andrew Lau and Alan Mak.  It is a 2002 crime thriller where a police superintendent makes one of the new recruit to infiltrate the  drug trafficking gang. While the boss of the gang simultaneously makes one of the gangster infiltrate the police department. With moles in each group the plot gets interesting when both the boss and the police superintendent figure out the existence of moles in each of their groups. The rest of the movie is a race between them to uncover the moles faster than the other so that their own person in the other group is protected. What happens in the end is the rest of the plot.

I had promised you that I will write about a movie which has followed the 3 Act Play to the book as mentioned in my recent Friday Fact section. This is the one. It keeps you at the edge of the seat throughout. Its a well written screenplay and the complications build up very nicely leading to a phenomenal end to the story. The characters who has infiltrated the other group for more than a decade undergo identity crisis, which I thought was very brilliant thought by the director and it also helps in making the scheme of things very interesting. This movie is treated as a rebirth of Hong Kong cinema and went to win many awards in the Hong Kong Film Awards Ceremony. The movie had been remade in multiple languages including The Departed in English and Homam in Telugu. Post the success of the movie Andrew Lau made a prequel Infernal Affairs II and a sequel Infernal Affairs III to the original which also had very good reception with the audience. For an engaging and thrilling script this movie is a must watch.

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Action, English Movies, Fantasy, Genre, Rating, Reviews, Superhero, Worth a Watch

Man of Steel

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Man of Steel – The most expected superhero movie of the year brings the rebooted Superman to the silver screen. As it is a reboot the movie is all about the origin of Superman and establishing his identity as Superman. As a boy Clark Kent is worried about the superhuman abilities he has and is confused if he would be accepted by the society and live a normal life as a human. He goes on a long journey covering his path and identity. But the circumstances and his super human abilities would not let him be in the dark for too long. Soon he is faced with the challenge to save the earth and the only way he could do is by revealing his identity. Did he reveal his identity? Did the human race accept him? forms the rest of the plot.

The movie had a load of expectations on itself with names like Christopher Nolan, Zack Snyder, Russell Crowe, Kevin Costner in the credits. DC delivering a phenomenal reboot for the Batman just raised the expectation of this movie much higher. In comparison with the expectations the movie works in parts. There is a newer side of Superman’s childhood and the emotional turmoil he goes through which is taken very well. However once he takes the superhuman form it just becomes an average film. There is overdose of visual effects, which makes you bit exhausted in the end of it. Henry Cavill looks good as a superman however he has just limited expressions which becomes a bit monotonous through the movie. The movie does promise a good beginning for some promising sequels to come. If we were to take off the overloaded expectations of the movie it is a good watch.

Its a Bird, Its a Plane, Its Superman go for the red cape hero you had been inspired for decades.

Watchable – for Superman fans

Comedy, English Movies, Genre, Must Watch, Rating, Reviews

Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines, Or How I Flew from London to Paris in 25 Hours 11 Minutes

Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines, Or How I Flew from London to Paris in 25 Hours 11 Minutes – is a 1965 British comedy movie. The story is set in the 1910 when  air crafts were evolving. A British newspaper magnate organizes a flying competition from London to Paris with an award sum of 10,000 pounds to prove Britain is number one in the air.

The movie is well made considering it was done in the 1965. It is hilarious and interesting to see all those various kinds of flying machines and their flying crew ensemble which in sort is a representation of the culture of the nation they are representing. British comedy has its own charm, flavor and places its intellectual demands on cherishing the humor. As the title the movie is crazy and is a fun ride through out from start to the finish line.

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Drama, English Movies, Genre, Must Watch, Rating, Reviews

Good Will Hunting

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Good Will Hunting –  Will Hunting is a 20 year old unrecognized genius who works at the MIT University as a janitor and anonymously solves difficult mathematical problems posted by Professor Lambeau. Will gets into a fight with a police officer and the Professor comes to his rescue with an agreement that Will would undergo therapy sessions with Sean Maguire a friend of Lambeau while working with him for advanced mathematics. Will has a rough personality due to the hardships he has faced in the past. He is hard to get through and Sean is the right man who could do so. The rest of the movie is about how Sean Maguire helps Will discover his fears, love, friendship and eventually the biggest decision of his life that would change his destiny.

Matt Damon (Will Hunting) and Robin Williams (Sean Maguire) are heart and soul of the movie. Their interactions sparkle the screen. The script written by Ben Affleck and Matt Damon is the strength of the movie. The movie is straight and simple. As Will discovers his future it touches upon many of footprints of Will’s personality the viewers have within themselves. If you are in mood for a soul searching movie that is truly inspirational … This is a must watch!

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Comedy, English Movies, Genre, Must Watch, Rating, Reviews

The Gods Must be Crazy – Part II

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The Gods Must be Crazy – Part II – Very rarely you see a sequel of a block buster which matches up to the expectation of the previous one. This one definitely meets the expectations and yet again a rib tickler. Xi is having 2 kids who out of their curiosity get on board a travelling water tanker used by elephant poachers. Xi is on a quest to get his kids back. In parallel a zoologist and a lawyer get stuck in the Kalahari desert after a plane crash and are trying to get out. There are also two soldiers fighting against each other stranded on the dessert. All the incidents contribute in making the movie a laugh riot again. Humor takes precedence over satirical messages in the second one. You end up admiring the naive and beautiful life of the native bushman tribe and their deep knowledge of nature… its gift, its perils and how to co-exist with nature without disrupting it.

You can read the review of Part I here

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Comedy, English Movies, Genre, Must Watch, Rating, Reviews

The Gods Must be Crazy – Part I

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The Gods Must be Crazy – Part I –  A South African comedy film released in 1980, which revolves around the life of Xi who is part of the Bushman tribe. From the busy materialistic city life where enough is never enough the movie switches over to Kalahari Dessert where the Bushman tribe is happy and content with what they have got and are very thankful to the almighty. Their lives take a turn when a empty coke bottle falls from the sky (from a flying plane). They think this is another boon from God however this brings in envy, jealousy, violence within the tribe which they haven’t experienced before… as there is only one of it. Xi takes on a mission to destroy it by taking it to end of the earth and giving back to the Gods. The movie is about his journey and the kind of incidents he finds himself in through out his journey is rest of the movie. It is one of the hilarious movies I had ever seen and it guarantees ROFL. This is first of the series… There is also a very satirical take on the city life where people live in excess and are still not content with what they have got…. you would start appreciating what nature has given you once you see this movie…

Must Watch – ROFL Guaranteed

Action, English Movies, Genre, Must Watch, Rating, Reviews, SciFi, Thriller

Looper

Looper – A sci fi movie which deals with time travel. In 2074 criminal organization send the people who they wanted to be killed, back to 30 years in the past. They get hunted down by a group called looper. A looper retires when he kills his self from the past and is rewarded with gold to enjoy his retirement life for the next 30 years. Things get complicated when Joe (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) meets his self from the future and lets him escape without being able to kill.  The movie is slow till the point where Joe lets his future self escape. From then on it turns into a racy thriller leaving the audience guessing what the end outcome would be. But for the initial slow paced script the rest of the movie is definitely engaging. As we had seen many movies with time travel and concepts like Inception this may not strike very unique but still a must watch film.

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Comedy, English Movies, Genre, Rating, Reviews, Worth a Watch

Blades of Glory

Blades of Glory – American Comedy movie released in 2007. The plot is about two skillful ice skaters who get into tie for the gold in Winter Olympics. They end up fighting on the podium which results in them getting banned for life from taking part in the men’s single skating title. Their life turns into a mess. An old time coach uses the loopholes in the rules of the ban and tries to get them back into the game and the only chance they have to rebuild their career is by pairing with each other and becoming the world’s first ever same sex pair and compete for the pair skating. It makes an interesting watch due to its non-conventional plot and they have made a decent movie out of the simple plot. The scenes flow into each other well and builds up to the climax. The scenes in the skating rink has been shot very well. It has the typical drama elements of any average comedy movie. As I said it is watchable for the unique plot and good performances by Will Ferrell and John Hedder. 

Watchable

Animation, English Movies, Genre, Rating, Reviews, Worth a Watch

Rise of the Guardians

Rise of the Guardians – An out and out movie for kids. It has all the fairy tale characters Santa, Sandman, Jack Frost, Tooth Fairy, Bunny and Boogy man who had featured in many stories told to kids. They have created a neat little story using all these characters. Keeping faith in good things will help you ward off evil is an excellent message to pass on to the kids with all their favorite characters. Go for it for the kid in you!

Watchable

Comedy, Drama, English Movies, Genre, Rating, Reviews, Wait for DVD/TV

Seven Psychopaths

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Seven Psychopaths – A crime comedy which revolves around a struggling screenplay writer who is looking for inspirations to complete his screenplay. Very soon he is entangled into the crime world as he along with his friend decides to write on real experiences of Psychopaths. Their quest turns into an adventure which turns the life of everyone of them involved. Very interesting plot but it gets too complicated. It becomes very difficult to keep track of the story line after a while and you end up trying to attach things together constantly. The narration is stylish and if you love dark comedy movies then you might enjoy this. I am giving this a rating of Wait for DVD/TV as you would be able to enjoy the script better when you watch at home.

Wait for DVD/TV

Action, English Movies, Genre, Must Watch, Rating, Reviews, Thriller

Argo

Argo – A very engaging political thriller. Ben Affleck proves he is a very talented film maker and he succeeds in bringing the real life drama of saving the six fugitives from revolutionary Iran. What makes it more compelling is that it is based on a real life incident. As the movie progresses it keeps one on the edge of the seat till the end credit rolls… The movie excels in all the departments of editing, screen play, acting and background score. It is a very enjoyable watch. I missed it when it was in the theaters and had to see it on DVD.

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