Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (2011)

Genre: Crime/Action/Adventure/Thriller/Mystery

Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Jude Law, Noomi Rapace, Jared Harris, Stephen Fry

'Steps on how to tarnish a brilliant piece of English literature'. Step 1, find Guy Ritchie. Step 2, give him the book. Step 3, ask him to make a movie on it. The earlier movie was widely criticised for being too far-fetched from the original Sherlock Holmes created by Arthur Conan Doyle. The sequel still suffers from the same drawback, making Holmes appear to be a James Bond of the 19th century. Detective Sherlock Holmes (Downey Jr.) is investigating a series of murders and terrorist attacks to which he has found a single common link, the widely acclaimed Prof. James Moriarty (Harris). Moriarty is trying to take control of various weapons manufacturing factories and all possible war supplies. In order to fuel the demand for his products, he intends to start a world war. Dr. Watson (Law) Sherlock's close aide has taken time off to get married and enjoy a honeymoon but is rudely interrupted by Holmes and is forced back to work and prevent Moriarty from achieving his objective. The clear improvements in the movie is the aspect of mystery which was largely missing from the earlier movie. The saddest part of the movie is its overtly stretched plot. Had the movie been below a 2-hour runtime, it might have been far more enjoyable and less of a drag. Holmes appears to be an action hero and the entire plot is not derived from any of the books but conjured from thin air. The world loved the novel due to the personality of the character and the story portrayed within it, however, the movie has altered both and hence leaving no real trace of Sherlock except the name. The movie is not for those who loved the book but for those who would drool over mindless action and murder mysteries.

Thumbs up: Twists in the tale

Thumbs down: Not Sherlock in the slightest of ways

Rating: 6.7/10

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Unknown (2011)

Genre: Drama/Thriller/Crime/Action/Mystery

Starring: Liam Neeson, Diane Kruger, January Jones, Aidan Quinn, Bruno Ganz, Sebastian Koch

Liam Neeson will forever be known for his contemporary spy movies and this one adds to the list. Dr. Martin Harris (Neeson) is a professor in biotechnology who has come with his wife Elizabeth (Jones) for a biotechnology summit to Berlin, Germany. He accidentally leaves his briefcase, with his passport inside it. at the airport and injures his head when the taxi has an accident and falls into the river. Falling into a coma, Martin wakes up only four days later and finds his wife not around with him. Everybody he earlier knew refuse to recognise him, his identity stolen by an impostor (Quinn) and with no identity to prove himself he finds himself to be an unknown. With faint traces of his memory after arriving in Berlin, the only person he remembers in Gina (Kruger) the taxi driver who rescued him from drowning. Along with Gina he needs to find his true identity and unravel the mystery behind the 'fake' Martin Harris. The movie is very typical and the role of Martin Harris seems to tailor made for Neeson. His fabulous performance, supported by Kruger, add a lot of character to the movie and make it an interesting watch. The commendable aspect being that till the very end the movie is packing surprises for you, just when you thought you had it all figured out. The sad part, however, is that in the midst of all the twists and turns, there are multiple lose ends that the movie conveniently forgets to tie together leading to gaping visible flaws in the story. All in all, a great Neeson movie that reminded me, oddly, of Taken.

Thumbs up: Neeson and the entertaining plot

Thumbs down: Lose ends in the plot that were never answered

Rating: 7.5/10

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Minority Report (2002)

Genre: Science-fiction/Action/Crime/Thriller/Drama/Mystery

Starring: Tom Cruise, Max von Sydow, Samantha Morton, Collin Farrell

How do reduce crime in the city? Prevent crime from ever happening of course. Three mutated human beings, called Precogs, gain the gift of seeing the future and detecting murder. Washington D.C. sets up a Precrime department, headed by John Anderton (Cruise), whose task is to learn of any murders predicted by the Precogs and prevent them from happening. With the high success ratio of the operation that the city experiences, Precrime is going national and a member of the Department of Justice, Danny Witwer (Farrell) is sent to evaluate the effectiveness of the department before the crucial decision is taken. Since Precrime solely relies on the vision obtained by the Precogs, the possibility of the actual murder not taking place exists and the question arises, how can you arrest someone for a crime they never did but were only forecasted to do. John staunchely believes in Precrime and its ideology but found himself on the other side of the line when a crime to be conducted by him is foretold, where he supposedly is to murder a man he has never met. John tries to prove the prediction wrong and runs against the very ideology that a crime, if predicted, will happen. The movie is layered with multiple stories that all go in the direction to fathom the dilemma that arises out of the ideology of the Precrime department. Tom Cruise has put on a fabulous performance and is not action focused as his more recent movies and comes out as a more contemporary actor who can do serious acting. The movie's storyline is unique and interesting and coming from the notable Steven Speilberg, one expects as much.

Thumbs up: Tom Cruise and the plot
Thumbs down: Repeatedly fast and slow, pace changing plot development

Rating: 7.9/10

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Mission: Impossible (1996)

Genre: Action/Crime/Mystery

Starring: Tom Cruise, Jon Voight, Emmanuelle Beart, Henry Czerny, Jean Reno, Ving Rhames, Vanessa Redgrave

The Impossible Missions Force (IMF) is a secret wing of the CIA whose agents try to execute operations that are quite impossible. Agent Ethan Hunt (Cruise) and his team are preventing an American diplomat in Prague from stealing the CIA's non-official cover (NOC) list which would reveal the identities of all their agents and spies in eastern Europe. His team goes down save himself and, to his surprise, Claire Phelps (Beart). The IMF Director Kittridge (Czerny) reveals that the entire operation was a hoax to spot a mole in the IMF and the actual NOC list was safe in Langley. The IMF suspects Hunt to be the mole and is now wanted by his own boss. The movie was conceived from a famous television series where Agent Hunt was the main protagonist of the show, trying to fulfill the hardest of missions. The movie attempts at being a modern day James Bond who performs the most insane of stunts that you could ever imagine. The climax action-sequence atop the TGV is a bit too hard to imagine with choppers inside tunnels pushing things a bit too far. Overall, a great action movie which needs a more spicy storyline to make it even better

Thumbs up: Tom Cruise, the break-in scene inside the CIA headquarters

Thumbs down: A slightly bland plot with hard to imagine action sequences

Rating: 7.0/10

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Chinatown (1974)

Genre: Crime/Mystery/Drama/Thriller

Starring: Jack Nicholson, Fayne Dunaway, John Huston, Perry Lopez

A classic, multiple award winning and well-renowned movie, Chinatown is based upon the murder of Hollis Mulwray an engineer at the Los Angeles water department. The government wants to build a dam to provide water to the city which Mulwray is against building. His wife Evelyn Mulwray hires private investigator J.J. 'Jack' Gittes (Nicholson) to investigate on her husbands affair with another woman. Jack unveils the affair and plasters it across newspapers, subsequently Holwray is found dead near a reservoir with Gittes suspecting it to be murder. He is later confronted by the Mrs. Mulwray (Dunaway) and realises that the earlier lady was an impostor. Gittes wants to get to the bottom of who would pose as Mrs. Mulwray to hire him and who and why murdered Mr. Mulwray. Spoiler alert, the following lines have to do with the movies climax. The movie progresses in a superb manner, gaining a lot of attention to the point that you itch to know how the plot unveils. The biggest let down is the final climax which does not come open as any other murder mystery would. Its quite dramatic, different from the approach of the greater part of the movie and doesn't suit the character of Gittes. It does not believe in a happy ending and may not appeal to all, at least not to me. For once perhaps if the movie followed a more conventional approach it might have been better but at the same time lets not forget all the accolades the movie has garnered and assume that it is right in its own part. Jack Nicholson has delivered in an amazing manner and the movie constantly reminds one of the famous Perry Mason series of murder mystery novels and the movie, along with Gittes' character seem to be inspired from there, although there is no official confirmation of it. The best bet you got for a murder mystery with the film noir feel to it.

Thumbs up: Jack Nicholson, amazing plot and mystery

Thumbs down: Unconventional climax contrary to the movies approach

Rating: 8.0/10

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Smokin' Aces (2006)

Genre: Action/Crime/Mystery

Starring: Ryan Reynolds, Ray Liotta, Jeremy Piven, Common, Alicia Keys, Andy Garcia, Taraji P. Henson, Tommy Flanagan

Narrating the story of the dirty world of Vegas, the movie depicts crime rings, mob bosses and FBI. Buddy Isreal (Piven) is a Vegas award-winning entertainer who enters the crime world and gets affiliated with mob boss Primo Sparazza. Due to differences between Sparazza and Israel, they part ways and Sparazza now wants Israel dead and not just dead, wants his beating heart in his hand. He has hired the mysterious 'Swede' as a person to carry out the operation, of whom the FBI has no record. Word gets around of the 1 million bounty and hit men, mass murderers and assassins run amok to get their hands on Israel first. FBI Deputy Director Locke (Garcia) is in talks with Israel on an immunity deal and Agent Messner (Reynolds) and Agent Carruthers (Liotta) are sent to secure Israel from the 'Swede'. The movie in a way reminds one of a Guy Ritchie movie sans the humour and sarcasm. It is a decent attempt at showing multiple hit men gunning for a common target but the movie is still off the mark and along with some additional elements it could have been made much better. Some unwanted dramatic bits but showcases Vegas crime and glamour quite aptly.

Thumbs up: A nice action and crime entertainer

Thumbs down: Lacks that 'feeling' or 'punch' before you can really start to appreciate it

Rating: 6.8/10

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The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn (2011) (3D)

Genre: Action/Adventure/Mystery/Crime/Animation

Starring (voice): Daniel Craig, Jamie Bell, Simon Pegg, Andy Serkis, Nick Frost

When a legend is recreated, everyone is apprehensive if the legend would be made even more legendary. The Tintin comic book series by the famous Belgian, Herge has won fans around the world and has been recreated in many forms. The latest adaptation comes from Steven Speilberg and his attempt at making a movie on the adventures of the young Belgian journalist according to whom this is his take on a childrens version of Indiana Jones. Tintin (Bell) and his faithful dog Snowy spot a unique model ship known as the Unicorn and instantly falls in love with it and purchases it. Soon after, a horde of people try to buy it off him with the ship eventually going missing from his apartment. Tintin realises that something indeed must be unique to the ship if so many people are behind it and eventually discovers the secret of the Unicorn. Ivanovich Sakharine (Craig) has taken Captain Haddock's (Serkis) ship as his own and is trying to locate the treasure of the legendary pirate, Red Rackham. With Tintin holding a piece of the puzzle to the location, Sakharine must get it from him before Tintin discovers what he is up to. Don't let the movie title fool you because the movie is not entirely based on 'The Secret of the Unicorn'. In fact only the first quarter, with some heavy improvements and modifications, is based on the afore mentioned comic, the second quarter from 'The Crab With Golden Claws', the third quarter being the scriptwriters own creation and the final quarter coming from 'Red Rackhams Treasure'. The red Jeep Willy from 'Land of Black Gold' makes a special appearance too. Amalgamating so many books into a movie could have had disastrous consequences but the movie doesn't really come out too bad. The third quarter, which isn't part of any book but a creation for the movie, is probably the most disastrous part especially the over-the-top crane scene which seemed completely out of place for the era in which the movie is set. Apart from that, the fluidity in which the various books merge into each other is amazing. The animations used in the movie are extremely sharp and life-like which definitely sets the bar for modern-day graphics. Another missing element in the movie which made people love Tintin was the humour. Although Thompson (Pegg) and Thomson (Frost) were present, their presence did not carry too much humour and comedy, a missing ingredient from an otherwise fun-to-watch flick. And this comes from a die hard Tintin fan.

Thumbs up: Superb animation, great adaptation of multiple comic books

Thumbs down: More of the twin inspectors and their humour, the crane scene and the dam scene seemed out of place

Rating: 8.0/10

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Dude, Where's My Car (2000)

Genre: Comedy/Adventure/Science-fiction/Mystery

Starring: Ashton Kutcher, Seann William Scott, Jennifer Garner, Marla Sokoloff, Hal Sparks

Two pot-heads have a crazy night and the next day, they don't remember a thing. Jesse (Kutcher) and Chester (Scott) cannot remember where they went and what they did but all they know is that they might have had a really good time. The two forgot their anniversary with the twins, Wanda (Garner) and Wilma (Sokoloff), forgot where they kept their gifts, forgot why a transsexual is demanding $200,000 from them, forgot why two Nordic dudes, a group of girls calling themselves 'hot chicks' and a team of very geeky cult members are after them for the 'Continuum Transfunctioner' a device that can destroy the entire universe and forgot where they parked Jesse's car. They realised that if they find the car most of their questions about last night would be solved, but that is if they can find out where the car is. Since this movie preceded The Hangover one can say that it might have been the source of inspiration for the epic laugh riot. This movie, however, was not all that funny but just plain stupid. Its the very typical slap-stick humour that you sit and enjoy with friends and simply erase it from your memory later. Stupid and funny but don't expect too much out of it.

Thumbs up: Stupid humour, a sex-comedy with a plot

Thumbs down: Not funny enough

Rating: 6.2/10

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Revolver (2005)

Genre: Crime/Drama/Action/Mystery

Starring: Jason Statham, Ray Liotta, Vincent Pastore, Andre Benjamin, Terence Maynard

Ego is something which we cannot live with; we all want to win it, build it, garner it and do exactly what it tells you to do. Jake Green (Statham) is a conman who specialises in gaining your confidence and eventually conning you. He serves seven years in prison in solitary confinement where his neighbours was a master conman and a chess master. The chessmaster and conman used to communicate with each other by writing at the back of books on quantum mechanics along with their secret formulas to success. Jake learns of these formulas which can be applied to any game to make the player win against any opponenet under any situation. When Jake gets out of prison he uses this forumla in casinos to quickly make a lot of money and earn himself a reputation of being unbeatable. Dorothy Macha (Liotta) is a crooked casino owner who had once forced Jake to play on his behalf. When all of Jake's winnings mysteriously disappeared, Macha framed him and sent him to prison. Now Jake wants revenge but two loansharks, Avi (Benjamin) and Zach (Pastore) tell him that he suffers from a rare blood disease due to which he would die in three days. They offer to protect him and help him survive for as long as he can in return of all of Jake's money. The movie starts on an extremely promising note and with the reputation of Guy Ritchie riding on it along with Jason Statham, one definitely expects fireworks. However, the movie focusses deeply on ego, greed, power and over-riding the inner thoughts. It gets highly philosophical and starts to represent a very emotion-laden art movie. Its just the end and the philosophical nature of an otherwise good movie that does not make it worth the watch.

Thumbs up: Good promising start, good performances

Thumbs down: Complicated plot, bad ending

Rating: 5.8/10

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Wild Things: Foursome (2010)

Genre: Crime/Romance/Drama/Mystery

Starring: Jillian Murray, Marnette Patterson, Ashley Parker, John Schneider, Ethan S. Smith, Jessie Nickson, Josh Randall

The fourth version of the sexual murder mystery is here; and you wonder why. The first Wild Things was something else. The twisted and unpredictable plot along with the sizzling Denise Richards' love scene gave the movie a different credibility. The subsequent movies have tried to utilise the same format, with different actors with a lot more emphasis on the sexuality, which has failed miserably. In spite of the second and third movies not doing very well, the fourth installment has come out with no exceptional differences. Carson Wheetly (Parker) is the son of one of Florida's richest men and becomes a rich heir when his father dies in a car crash. Brandi Cox (Murray) a colleague of Carson's arch enemy Shane (Randall) accuses Carson of raping her and demands a large sum of money as settlement. Double-crossing becomes a ritual and relations get bloody as everyone now wants a part of the money. Detective Frank Walker (Schneider) smells a rat and realises that everything is not as simple as it seems and boldly decides to dig a little further. The movie has its own bit of twists and turns but each and every one of them is more or less predictable along with being stupid and lame. The performances are hopeless and the movie is only trying to sell sex and nothing at all. Probably if some more high-profile actors were selected along with a more improved and modified plot line, the movie would have been a whole lot better and the franchise would have done well.

Thumbs up: There is no shortage of chicks of hunks

Thumbs down: Bad plot, weak performances

Rating: 4.9/10

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The Hangover Part II (2011)

Genre: Comedy/Drama/Adventure/Mystery

Starring: Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, Zach Galifianakis, Justin Bartha, Ken Jeong, Mason Lee, Jamie Chung

When a legendary movie tries to make a come back with a second edition, many people are sceptical about the success of the re-attempt and fear that the legend would be damaged forever. I, was a part of this clan and now I stand corrected. In every way, the part II is in every way same as the first movie with only two changes, the location and mess-ups. Stu (Helms) is getting married to Lauren (Chung) in Thailand accompanied by his friends Alan (Galifianakis) Phil (Cooper) Doug (Bartha) and Lauren's younger brother Teddy (Lee). Stu did not want a bachelor party and a few harmless drinks by a bonfire on the beach led to a similar outcome as last time. Doug, apparently, is at the hotel cause he went back to bed quite early. Phil, Stu and Aaron are in a dingy hotel in Bangkok along with Chow (Jeong) whom they got no idea where he came from and Teddy is missing with only his chopped finger found on the floor. The movie has some really good laughs and although the entire fundamentals of the movie is exactly the same as the previous one, the movie is equally unpredictable and very funny. Performances are top-notch and almost flawless. Hats-off to the entire crew but I would still be wary if they try to make a third part.

Thumbs up: Performances, hugely funny

Thumbs down: None whatsoever

Rating: 8.0/10

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Dum Maaro Dum (2011)

Genre: Crime/Drama/Romance/Thriller/Mystery

Starring: Abhishek Bachchan, Bipasha Basu, Prateik Babbar, Rana Daggubati, Aditya Pancholi, Govind Namdeo, Muzammil S. Qureshi

Goa, India, the land of sun and sand, bikinis and babes, hippies and druggies, crime and murder. People from around the world come here to party and get high, but the party is just about to get disrupted by one big party-pooper. Lorsa Biscuta (Pancholi) is the drug lord of Goa. If there is anything at all going on in the drug world, he would be the first to know. ACP Vishnu Kamath (Bachchan) is a corrupt cop in the narcotics division. One day when his family dies in a car accident due to a druggie, his life changes forever and he swears to clean the streets of Goa. Laurence Edwardo Gomes aka Lorry (Babbar) is the average Goan youth who aspired to go to USA to study, along with his girlfriend. His dreams, however, come crashing down when his financial aid does not get approved but his girlfriends does who has to leave him to pursue her academic career. A local drug peddler hears about Lorry's sob story and agrees to pay off his fees provided he carry some cocaine with him to the US. In an act of desperation, Lorry agrees much to his later regret. Meanwhile, ACP Kamath is cracking a whip on the party scene and Biscuta stashes his dope with a mysterious Michael Barbossa. In each part of Goa he is known by a different name, nobody knows him, nobody has seen him and Kamath is out to search for him. Joki (Daggubati) is Lorry's well-wisher who is trying to prevent him from doing what he is about to do. His ex-girlfriend Zoe (Basu) went through the entire phase that Lorry is about to go through now and he doesn't want to lose another friend. The stories eventually merge to bring out a possibly predictable outcome. If you actually put your head to it its not hard for some people to figure the mystery out. Rohan Sippy's movies were always something and this movie too aspires to be different. Abhishek Bachchan and Prateik Babbar put together a fabulous performance, although Bachchan always seemed over-aggressive and too enthusiastic, it suited the role he was trying to play. The only flaw in the otherwise decent movie was the extended run-time. Bollywood is notorious for stretched movies and this one is no different. Possibly if the plot developed slightly faster with a more twisted climax, the movie would have been far more interesting. Great watch with some nice foot-tapping numbers.

Thumbs up: Good performances, nice plot

Thumbs down: A bit stretched

Rating: 7.8/10

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7 Khoon Maaf (2011)

Genre: Drama/Romance/Mystery/Crime/Thriller

Starring: Priyanka Chopra, Neil Nitin Mukesh, John Abraham, Irrfan Khan, Aleksandr Dyachenko, Annu Kapoor, Naseeruddin Shah, Vivaan Shah, Konkana Sen Sharma

The story of a young and beautiful girl, Susanna (Chopra) who marries 7 men and murders each and every one of them. Major Edwin Rodriques (Mukesh) murdered for being overtly jealous, inhuman and proud. Jimmy Stetson (Abraham) murdered for being a drug-addicted rock star. Wasiullah Khan (Khan) a Muslim revolutionist, murdered for being a wife-beater. Nicoli Vronsky (Dyachenko) a Russian scientist, murdered for keeping two wives. Keemat Lal (Kapoor) a police officer, who knew about Susanna's crime and murdered for demanding too much sex in exchange for keeping her out of prison. Dr. Modhusudhon Tarafdar (Shah) a well-versatile scientist, murdered for wanting Susanna's money to pull him out of bankruptcy. The biggest flaw and question mark on the movie is the last and final husband, which was weird, stupid and somehow didn't make any sense and felt as if it was a consequence of pure boredom. Vishal Bhardwaj has been known to make some truly fabulous movies but yet this time he seems to have gotten the formula wrong. The entire murder mystery aspect did not come out as well as it could have or at least as it was intended too. A pretty much predictable and boring movie overall which does not live up to its standards.

Thumbs up: Priyanka Chopra

Thumbs down: Awkward ending

Rating: 6.1/10

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The Good German (2006)

Genre: Crime/Drama/Thriller/Mystery

Starring: George Clooney, Cate Blanchett, Leland Orser, Toby Maguire

Post World War II, the Allies convened at Berlin to decide the fate of Germany and her allies. Berlin was divided into three sectors, each belonging to USA, Russia and Britain. Tully (Maguire) was an American soldier who used to smuggle supplies onto the Russian side for money. Tully was assigned to be the driver for Jake Geismer (Clooney) an American soldier born and brought up in Berlin who was returning home after the end of the war. Tully's girlfriend, Lena Brandt (Blanchett) is a prostitute who wants to escape from Germany and is taking Tully's help in doing so. Tully learns that Lena's dead husband is wanted by the Russians and he decides to strike a deal with them, intending to escape with the money without delivering Emil Brandt. Tully's dead body is subsequently found on Russian territory and Geismer smells a rat. He decides to dig a bit deeper and find out why Tully was shot, by whom and why do the Russians and the Ameriancs want Emil Brandt so much. The film was shot in black and white and was made to depict the film noir of the 1940's. The very typical drama and acting from that era adorn the film throughout. There really is no visible reason why such a style was given to the film since it does more to destroy and little to enhance the overall effect of the movie. The 40's style may not go down well with audiences of today and possibly if the movie was made in the regular manner sans the melodrama, it might have been a much better watch. A good attempt at being innovative yet, in the end, it is a love it or hate it film.

Thumbs up: Decent murder mystery plot

Thumbs down: 40's style and melodrama may not go down well with everyone

Rating: 6.3/10

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Lucky Number Slevin (2006)

 

Genre: Crime/Drama/Thriller/Mystery

Starring: Josh Hartnett, Ben Kingsley, Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman, Lucy Liu

Slevin (Hartnett) a young man who has had a bad day has just come in to New York to meet an old friend of his, Nick Fischer. His bad day continues when he gets mugged and finds that Nick is not at home. Nick's over-enthusiastic neighbour, Lindsey (Liu) concludes that Nick is missing and starts investigating around the house like a crime-scene scenario. Nick owed money to two mafia lords, The Boss (Freeman) and The Rabbi (Kingsley) and since Nick was not at home, Slevin gets picked up. The Boss agrees to forget Nick's debt if Slevin kills The Rabbi's son and The Rabbi just demands his money back whether Slevin is Nick or not. In the background, a mysterious assassin called Smith a.k.a Mr. Goodkat (Willis) is carefully pulling the strings and planning a good murder. The movie has a different feel to it that is absent in the normal crime movie that you would stumble across. The climax is the highlight of the movie, although its not all that great. A good crime movie with a good plot, which makes it a great entertainer.

Thumbs up: Climax, plot

Thumbs down: Needs to be more spiced, lacked some good action

Rating: 7.2/10

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Inception (2010)

Genre: Science-fiction/Action/Thriller/Mystery

Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ellen Page, Marion Cotillard, Tom Hardy, Ken Watanabe, Dileep Rao, Cillian Murphy

Mind, one of the most complex objects ever known. So complex, that we ourselves don't know the full potential of this amazing creation. Subconsciously, many of us hide our deep, dark and secret memories away in one tiny corner of the brain, not expecting anyone to find it. Cobb (DiCaprio) is an extractor, who goes inside ones memory and digs out and steals that very information that you try to hide. His entire procedure involves the extensive use of dreams. Dreams are randomly created by the brain, a function that he takes over and artificially creates a well-structured dream. Through this dream, he carefully plans a crafty plot by which he gets access to any information he needs. Saito (Watanabe) a Japanese business tycoon wants to do the exact opposite of extraction, inception. If information can be stolen from a dream, he believes it is possible to also plant information via a dream. Robert Fischer (Murphy) is the heir apparent of Saito's rival company and Saito wants him to break off his fathers massive business empire so that he may then control the industry. If Cobb could plant an emotion in Fischer's mind which would make him want to do away with the empire, Cobb would be handsomely rewarded. Cobb has had a very shaky past with his wife, Mal (Cotillard) who died in an accident. Cobb was never able to forget Mal and she somehow keeps getting in-between his dreams and missions and almost ruins them. Inception is not child's play and Cobb understands that he is putting his and five others' lives in danger while trying to perform this. The movie definitely gains appraisal for putting together such a fantastic plot and not executing it in a cliched manner. The mix of fantasy and reality with the regular back and forth keeps the story alive and going. It does, however, get a little tedious and dragged towards the end when you feel you have had enough of dreaming and want a bit of sane reality. The movie is as heavy as a thousand elephants and don't be surprised if you have a wonderful headache with too much information brimming your brain. The movie would not appeal to everyone due to its intense nature but a sure-shot watch for the fanatic. Leonardo as always, ensures quality performance that remains consistent to his style throughout. Worth every little penny that you have in your pocket.

Thumbs up: Fabulous plot, plot execution and performances

Thumbs down: Gets a bit too heavy to tolerate towards the end.

Rating: 8.8/10

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Glengarry Glenn Ross (1992)

Genre: Crime/Mystery/Drama

Starring: Al Pacino, Jack Lemmon, Ed Harris, Alan Arkin, Kevin Spacey, Jonathan Pryce

Four real-estate salesman working  for Mitch and Murray are constantly complaining about the bad leads that they get from the head office. Their boss, John Williamson (Spacey) expects them to perform even if the leads are weak, something which the salesman cannot seem to do. An arrogant officer from the head office comes down and shows them the premium leads aka the Glengarry Leads. If they are able to close the normal leads, its only then that they get the Glengarry leads. Veteran real-estate salesman Shelley Levene (Lemmon) tries to bribe John into giving him the leads and in return offers to share his commission. Meanwhile, Ricky Roma (Pacino) is closing a deal with a potential customer James Lingk (Pryce) at a bar and sees himself winning the Cadillac that the company is offering to the best salesman. Dave Ross (Harris) is trying to convince George (Arkin) that they should break into office and steal the leads and sell them to a rival company, although they both are not very serious about doing it. The theft did take place, but the question is, who did it and why? The movie doesn't really have the entire crime and mystery link. Most of the dialogues are small talk that don't add up to the movie story but add a lot of character. The movie focuses on the hardships that salesman face and how tough it gets for them to make ends meet. Performances are fabulous but a more over-whelming climax would have been preferable.

Thumbs up: Performances

Thumbs down: Could have a better climax

Rating: 7.5/10

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Disturbia (2007)

Genre: Drama/Thriller/Mystery/Romance

Starring: Shia LaBeouf, Sarah Roemer, Carrie-Anne Moss, David Morse, Aaron Yoo

A teenage boy, Kale (LaBeouf) goes under house arrest for assaulting his Spanish professor. With nothing very productive to do, he starts spying on his neighbours from his bedroom window. His spying activities start to become very interesting when he spends most of his time ogling at his hot new neighbour Ashley (Roemer). He also learns that a couple of kids in the neighbourhood are secretly watching porn and that his neighbour, Mr. Turner (Morse) might be hiding something in his garage that he is not supposed to. Kale and Ashley become good friends and he shows her Mr. Turner and his suspicious movements. Along with Kale's best friend Ronnie (Yoo), the three of them start digging deeper to find out if there indeed is something to hide or not. The saddest part about the entire movie was the constant shift of focus from being a murder mystery to a teenage romance. For a mystery movie too, there aren't any kind of twists or constant new developments along with little focus on the investigation of the mystery. The movie does do a decent job in giving you thrills and chills, but that's about it.

Thumbs up: Decent thriller with a good story

Thumbs down: Bad plot execution and doesn't live up to being a murder mystery

Rating: 6.4/10

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Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)

Genre: Drama/Romance/Science-fiction/Mystery

Starring: Jim Carrey, Kate Winslet, Elijah Wood, Mark Ruffalo, Kirsten Dunst, Tom Wilkinson

Joel (Carrey) is a man who is upset with life. One fine day he decides to break free from his regular routine and goes to a completely unknown location. He meets Clementine (Winslet) a girl wearing a shocking orange sweatshirt with electric blue hair. Somehow they both think they know each other and become the best of friends right from the very beginning. Just when Joel thought his life got any better, he was in for a rude shock. Dr. Howard (Wilkinson) is a man who erases memories for people so there life becomes better. Memories that are unpleasant or if your finding it very hard to get over your ex-partner, Dr. Howard can help you out. Clementine Kruczynski has erased Joel Barish from her memory. This is one of those movies where one would enjoy the most if you stop reading reviews. The first half of the movie is a big huge mess with things just happening left, right and centre which would make you wonder why you are watching the movie at all. The reason why many people don't like the movie is because realisation hits them late. The level to which someone would appreciate such a piece of art is determined by his/her timely understanding of the plot  Trust me, once you do, the movie seems like bliss; never-ending and utterly enjoyable bliss. Jim Carrey for a change is not the stupid psycho that is so used to being and for once has proven that he too could carry off such a sober role with perfection. Kate Winslet too looks much too young for her age and along with Carrey, are able to put on one of the most amazing performances. Watch with your girlfriend / boyfriend / husband / wife snuggled up really close to you.

Thumbs up: Fabulous plot and stupendous acting

Thumbs down: A difficult to understand first half

Rating: 8.5/10

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12 Angry Men (1957)

Genre: Drama/Mystery

Starring: Martin Balsam, John Fiedler, Lee J. Cobb, E. G. Marshall, Jack Klugman, Edward Binns, Jack Warden, Henry Fonda, Joseph Sweeney, Ed Begley, George Voskovec, Robert Webber

A young 18-year-old boy has been convicted of murdering his father. He is being tried in court and the jury needs to take the final decision if he should be acquitted or served a death sentence. In order to send him to the chair, the law states that the decision of the jury should be unanimous and if even one juror has a reasonable doubt in his mind, the accused cannot be convicted. The 12 jurors are locked inside a room and given all the time they need to arrive at a conclusion. For 11 jurors the death sentence is but obvious, however, for Juror #8 (Fonda) there is a reasonable doubt in his mind and until that is cleared, a unanimous decision cannot be taken. Within the first 10 minutes when you grab the the essence of the plot, you know your in for a big treat. Many a times when a movie narrates a story, things don't happen in the exact same manner as reflected in the movie in our lives. Here, things were made extremely simple and effort was taken on focusing on the most minor points even if it has no relevance to the larger picture. One can actually imagine a jury taking a decision in this fashion and if it weren't as old, it can actually pass of a as hidden camera footage within a jury room. The kind of movie that needs your attention and understanding and one that would leave you overwhelmed right till the end.

Thumbs up: Simple cover, amazing content

Thumbs down: Zilch

Rating: 8.9/10

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