RAZZMATZ » Drama

FUNNY PEOPLE movie review

sonny — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 13:53:07 +0000

FUNNY PEOPLE was a waste of my time. It’s utterly depressing and has absolutely no direction. www.razzmatz.com

It’s the story of a popular stand-up comedian (Adam Sandler) who has a near-death experience… and what he does with a second chance in life. The answer I got from the movie: NOTHING.

Don’t watch it…..don’t waste your money…it’ll be better spent if you go for a stand-up comedy show in your city!!

The movie is extremely depressing and dull and boring. Also starring…Seth Rogen and Leslie Mann.

My rating: 2 stars for some funny moments in the movie (Rated: R Running time: 2 hours, 16 mins.)

Genre: Comedy, Drama

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THE TAKING OF PELHAM 123 movie review

sonny — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 05:11:31 +0000

Really nice movie. Action. Thrills. Strong characters. Good story. My recommendation is to go see it if you have not. John Travolta and Denzel Washington have give stellar performances in this movie.

As you probably already know, this is a remake of the 1974 thriller with the same name. They have basically updated the story to suit the times. Ryder (John Travolta) hijacks a train on the Lexington Avenue line and holds 17 passengers hostage demanding ransom from a lowly employee of the transit authority, Walter Garber (Denzel Washington), who is himself embroiled in a intra-departmental inquiry on bribery charges. Thus starts a tense mental tussle between the two distinctly different opponents through the train’s communication system!

Beautiful portrayal by John Travolta, Denzel Washington and in a small way by James Gandolfini who acts as the Mayor of New York and a supposed replacement of Rudy Guiliani in the post 9-11 city.

My Rating:

Rating: ★★★★☆

(Rated: R Running time: 1 hour 44 mins)

Genre: Action, Thriller, Suspense

NIGHT AT THE MUSUEM: BATTLE OF THE SMITHSONIAN movie review

sonny — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 21:01:38 +0000

Really nice animation and amazing characters from the past but that’s where the “good” things I say about this movie stops. I felt it had a lot of repetitions from the prequel and was also very long and drawn out. Though, it’s much better than some of the movies that have been released lately. The kids are sure to have a good time!!

Larry Daley (Ben Stiller) is back to being a Musuem guard giving us all this cock-and-bull about how he is a successful businessman now and all that. Almost seemed like the “As Seen on TV” commercials. There a host of new characters that come alive including Ameilia Earhart (Amy Adams) who even falls in love with him!

The old gang is back too…..Theodore Rosevelt (Robin Williams), Jedediah (Owen Wilson), and Octavius (Steve Coogan). Adding to the line up are Rodin’s “Thinking Man”, Al Capone and Darth Vader. Also there are the usual dinosaurs, birds, animals and insects that come alive too. It left me wondering how the hell do all of them go back in their respective places and be inanimate again? But again, this is a fictional movie that just is there to make you feel good about spending your hard-earned money to make Hollywood rich!!

My rating:

Rating: ★★½☆☆

(Rated: PG, Running time: 1 hr. 45 mins.)

Genre: Fantasy Action Drama Comedy

ANGELS & DEMONS movie review

sonny — Mon, 18 May 2009 01:40:00 +0000

At the outset of this review itself I’d like to tell you to go see the movie so that some of you impatient people can just close this review and do better things with their time. Good Movie. It’s a thriller that is worth your time to either watch it at your local theater or on your DVD when it comes out.

It’s a prequel to Da Vinci Code but lacks the controversy and punch that the Da Vinci Code carried with it. It almost seemed like Dan Brown was trying to appease the Roman Catholic Church in this movie. Well, maybe he needed to, after the Da Vinci Code created a havoc in the christian world.

Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks) is back as the Harvard Symbologist that the church calls in to find out if the dreaded Illuminati–an age-old enemy of the church that believed in science rather than god and went underground when the church decided to fight back–is indeed back in play and out for revenge! It’s an exciting movie that takes you through the Roman Catholic Church and all it’s intricate (and possibly archaic) rules and proceedings. The movie starts with the death of the Pope and the proceedings to elect a successor. Unfortunately, there is only one problem: All four possible successors have been kidnapped and each of them will be publicly executed every hour. Adding to this problem is the theft of “anti-matter” or “God Particle” (this is not entirely fiction as Europe is gearing to see if they can isolate this particle from matter…google it!!) from a laboratory in Europe that can destroy a whole Vatican unless Robert Langdon gets to the bottom of this mystery. Aiding him, is a scientist, Vittoria Vetra (Ayelet Zurer), who knows how to control the “anti- matter” and look sexy at the same time. Ewan McGregor & Stellan Skarsgaard are also part of the stellar cast and have exhibited excellent acting as expected from them. Ron Howard directs.

All in all, a good movie to watch for people who want the movie to move not-stop towards a thrilling end!! Go see it.

My Rating:

Rating: ★★★½☆

(Rated: PG-13 running time: 2 hours 20 mins)

Genre: Thriller, Action

THE LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT movie review

sonny — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 15:59:41 +0000

The movie is really good even though it’s a remake of a 1972 movie by the same name. Moves pretty fast. Has loads of scary thrills, murder, blood and gore. And, a feel-good overall revenge storyline that would have you saying, “This is what should happen in real life to bad guys!.” Hope I’ve not spoiled it for those of you who are puritans and want to experience the whole movie by yourself (but then, why would you even read a movie review? eh?)

A teenage girl, Mary, (Sara Paxton) and her parents (Tony Goldwyn & Monica Potter) go on vacation to their secluded house in the hills where she finds herself in serious trouble when she finds herself (and her friend) in the clutches of a murderous gang on the run. After leaving one girl dead and the other half-dead, the gang finds refuge in her parents house not realizing what is in store for them once they discover their secret. What follows is murder and mayhem!

Beautifully carried story…very realistically portrayed from all angles though this may not be how normal human beings would react in real life.

My Rating:

Rating: ★★★½☆

(Rated: R – Rape, Extreme Violence, Nudity)

Genre: Thriller

DEFIANCE movie review

sonny — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 06:57:00 +0000

Defiance is another classic that shows the suffering of the Jewish people in eastern Europe under the Germans in 1941 and how three brothers rescue over 1000 people by living in a forest for over 2-3 years, surviving under difficult conditions and under severe odds to come out winning. An amazing movie.

Daniel Craig has shown that he is more than just a Bond. All the cast has acted very well and have delivered a stellar Performance. I loved it. Fairly good action scenes, fighting, shooting. Great show of determination of the people to survive.

This movie definitely deserves your attention whether it be on the big screen or DVD. Go see it.

My rating:

Rating: ★★★★☆

(Rated: R, Running time: 2 hours, 16 mins)

Genre: Action, War, Real-life drama

MARLEY & ME movie review

sonny — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 06:22:19 +0000

I’ve no idea what people saw in this movie. It was pretty boring and though there were a few laughs, we had already seen all those in the previews. There is absolutely no life in this movie, yet hordes of people went to watch it and made it a lot of money. I guess that’s how life is.

Owen Wilson and Jennifer Aniston are there to just give the movie some modicum of decency but otherwise it’s all one big sob story.

I’m not sure whether to tell you to go see the movie or not. At least guys please don’t go to this one, you’re going to fall asleep. The kids might love it because they are so non-judgemental and who doesn’t love a mutt?

My rating:

Rating: ★★☆☆☆

(Rated: PG, Running time: 2 hours)

Genre: Drama?

VALKYRIE movie review

sonny — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 16:46:52 +0000

From what I hear, Valkyrie is one movie that MGM/UA is looking to be thier way out of their supposedly $3.7 billion debt and a $75 million budget in making the movie–the most expensive movie venture MGM has taken up in recent times…all on its own. Sorry guys…I think you’re tough out of luck this time. Even the star value of Tom Cruise is not going to save this movie.

My review in no way plays down the role of Colonel Claus Von Stauffenberg (played by Tom Cruise), the valiant German military man that tried to bring down Adolf Hitler but as a movie, it was a disaster. I was falling asleep in the movie and it sucked BIG-TIME!!

Colonel Stauffenberg in the core of the resistance movement to assasinate Adolf Hitler. Known popularly as Operation Valkyrie, they plot to kill Adolf Hitler but as we all know already, they fail. The movie has absolutely no “edge of the seat” feeling…the plot is weak…the story was too bland…the drama factor was missing!! It’s an UTTER FAILURE. There is no point you wasting your money on this one…even on DVD. Just ignore it ever existed.

I went to the MGM/UA “official” sites and I am surprised to see critics like Pete Hammond, Anne Thompson, Kyle Osbourne, Gregory Ellwood, Scott Mantz, Doug Meehan and Jeffrey Lyons saying good things about the movie. Did they actually SEE the movie for god’s sake? Or are these critics being wooed by the studios to say good things?

One critic said, “If you think you know the ending, you are in for a big surprise.” WHAT???? We KNOW Hitler survived and Claus Von Stauffenberg was executed!!!! Another one says, “This is why you go to the movies.” To sleep? Yet another one says, “One of the year’s best surprises…” Yes….that’s for sure…a surprise FLOP!

For God’s sake…..don’t do movie reviews for the sake of it…so many people DEPEND on your reviews to go see a movie. You guys are complete disappointment to the public that look up to you. I am a nobody but I thought I wanted to be like you guys…I’ve changed my mind!!

Bryan Singer is the Director but I can’t blame him…he could do very little without a good script. His Usual Suspects and X-Men is the talk of legends!

My rating:

Rating: ★★☆☆☆

(Rated: PG-13, Running time: 2 hours)

Genre: Historical Thriller, True story

SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE movie review

sonny — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 20:38:53 +0000

When I first saw the name “Slumdog Millionaire” I thought it was some kind of Rap movie and ignored it until I heard the buzz even before the movie was released, and without the slightest hint of what the movie was all about, I rushed to the theatre to watch it on Christmas day. Believe me, people…this is one of the best movie I have seen all year!

It is a fantastic concept…a little hard to believe in real-life situations…but a great way to narrate a story. Director Danny Boyle has done a fantastic job in directing this movie and FOX Searchlight pictures and Warner Bros are distributing. A.R. Rehman provides the score!

Jamal Malik (Dev Patel as the Adult Jamal and Ayush Khedekar as the youngest Jamal), a poor and illiterate slum-dweller (“slumdog”) is a contestant on the hit Indian version of “Who wants to be a Millionaire?” TV show in Mumbai and to everyone’s surprise answers almost all the questions on the show leading to him being arrested on the charges of cheating on the show. Under severe interrogation by the police it is revealed that he knows all the answers through his harsh and terrible growing experiences in his life.

It’s an amazing portrayal of the harsh side of Mumbai that many people are not aware. Experiences that will shock and amaze you. The show and Jamal’s life have been so closely knit together that it is just a pleasure to see his entire life unravel in front of your eyes, from his early years in the slum to the religious riots that destroy his family and the love of his life that he longs to be with. An amazing performance by ALL the actors including Dev Patel, Madhur Mittal (as Jamal’s older brother Salim), Frieda Pinto (as Jamal’s love interest), Anil Kapoor (as the host of the show) and Irfan Khan (as the interrogating police officer.)

Go and Watch it whichever way you prefer it….Big Screen, DVD, VHS (ha ha….who has those any more?), Download (don’t pirate it please….pay for it!!)

My Rating: 4.5 stars (Rated: R, Running time: 2 hours)

Genre: Drama

MAX PAYNE movie review

sonny — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 02:19:39 +0000

Max Payne (not to be confused with Max Pain) moves at a fast pace and is a movie that is made for Mark Wahlberg. I saw him in M. Night Shymalan’s movie a few months ago and realized that he was a bad choice for slow movies. Here at last he dazzles. He plays a troubled cop on a crazed hunt for his wife’s killer who stops at nothing to get to the bottom of it. Unfortunately for Max Payne this is not a simple battle of guns and bullets but a lot of it depends on the supernatural nature of the enemy and the games people’s minds play on them. Can he traverse the gap and figure it out for himself? Can he trust his own colleagues and friends? Find out what happens in this explosive action drama that literally blows you away. Helping Max is a deadly femme fatale gangster lady (Mila Kunis) with a machine gun who is trying to avenge her own sister as they find their common enemy is not just one person but a whole conglomerate injecting its venom into the people of the world.

Our rating:

Rating: ★★★★½

Genre: Action, Drama