Despicable Me 2 (2013)

• 
  Runtime:98 minutes

• Directors: Pierre Coffin, Chris Renaud

• Country:USA

• Actors:
  Gru (voice)

  Steve Carell
  Floyd (voice)

  Ken Jeong
  Lucy Wilde (voice)

  Kristen Wiig
  Dr. Nefario (voice)

  Russell Brand
  Margo (voice)

  Miranda Cosgrove
  Antonio (voice)

  Moises Arias
  Eduardo (voice)

  Benjamin Bratt
  Silas (voice)

  Steve Coogan
  Agnes (voice) (as Elsie Fisher)

  Elsie Kate Fisher
  Edith (voice)

  Dana Gaier

• Language:English

• Genres:Animation, Comedy, Family

• Writers:
  Ken Daurio

   
  Cinco Paul

   

• Producers:
  Janet Healy

  producer  
  Christopher Meledandri

  producer  

• Quotes:
  [Agent Lucy sends Gru, completly soaked and covered with sea creatures, out of the car trunk of her spy car; from trailer]
  Gru: [completly soaked; weakly] Pins and needles!
  
  
  
  [from trailer]
  Agnes: Are you really gonna save the world?
  Gru: That's right, baby! Gru's back in the game with cool cars... gadgets... and weapons!
  
  
  
  [from trailer]
  Gru: Good night, Edith.
  [gives Edith a good night kiss]
  Gru: Good night, Margo.
  [gives Margo a goodnight kiss, but returns]
  Gru: Whoa, whoa, hold your horses. Who are you texting?
  Margo: My friend Avery.
  Gru: Avery!
  [confused]
  Gru: Huh? Avery? Is that a girl's name or a boy's name?
  Margo: Does it matter?
  Gru: No. No, it doesn't matter unless it's a boy!
  
  

• Composers:Heitor Pereira Pharrell Williams 

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Now You See Me Movie Review

Ratings:3/5  Review By:  Renuka Vyavahare Site:Times of India

The film has a novel and promising premise. The gang's cat and mouse game with the FBI, their display of magic tricks, fluid stunt scenes and Mark Ruffalo's banter with co-cop Melanie Laurent keep you engaged. The film works as a crime-thriller. However, it's unconvincing when it comes to dissecting the magic. As the film progresses, the antics of the law-defying 'famous four' start defying logic as well. The scattered plot runs out of steam eventually. The film goes into a different tangent altogether in order to be unpredictable, leaving you more perplexed than pleased. The filmmaker sends out a similar message to the audience - don't dig into every aspect of the 'tricks' and you will be entertained.

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Ratings:2/5  Review By:  Raja Sen Site:Rediff

Things begin with an admittedly impressive ‘first act’ with a genuinely preposterous explanation behind it, but there’s enough pace to be taken in by it all, to luxuriate in the buildup. But then there’s a car chase. A big and elaborate generic action-movie chase which disrupts the narrative entirely, and it never quite gets back on track. This is when you realise that despite the actors making things look clever and cheeky, they’re all just making the most of one-note characters being hustled through a rather juvenile plot. Believe me, I get the idea of forgettable-popcorn-fun, but this film’s gradual and abrupt descent into predictable cliche is most saddening. It could have been so good. It could have been something that justified that cast. It could have been, well, magic.

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Ratings:2/5  Review By:  Neha Pinto Site:Bookmyshow

The first half of the film is mysterious and mysterious in a bad way; because you can’t seem to understand the purpose of action. The second half does get interesting, but that is only because the audience is too intrigued to know what exactly is happening in the film. At certain points the film does grip you, because who doesn’t love a good magic trick? At certain levels the film seems too good to be true. The end of the film makes it even worse. There’s always something that you take back after watching a film, after watching Now You See Me all the audience can take back is disappointment. The film takes cue from the famous saying, "If you can’t convince them, confuse them." Verdict: As Morgan Freeman promises in the trailer, it’s true, "The more you think you see, the easier it’ll be to fool you."

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After Earth Movie Review

Ratings:1.5/5  Review By:  Rajeev Masand Site:CNN IBN (IBNLive)

Clearly intended as a vanity project to showcase his 14-year-old son Jaden's action-hero skills, 'After Earth', conceived and produced by Will Smith, is part-sci-fi, part cautionary tale, yet always a snooze-fest. It doesn't help that director M Night Shyamalan, far out of his comfort zone of twisty thrillers, sucks the film dry of any potential for humor, and delivers what is probably Will Smith's only film in which he never cracks a smile.Although it's only 100 minutes long, 'After Earth' feels unending and uninspired, and while it's not as godawful as Shyamalan's 'The Last Airbender', it's a far, far cry from his earlier, original films. I'm going with one-and-a-half out of five for 'After Earth'. Prepare to be bored out of your mind.

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Ratings:2.5/5  Review By:  Gavin Rasquinha Site:Times of India

Will Smith is known to do films with a bang - grand movies of sweeping scale where he is the focal point of attention. Not so in this one. Here, he takes the back seat and hands Jaden the baton. The film's plot bears an uncanny resemblance to a video-game where the player has to go the distance from point 'A' to 'B' (100 km, in this case) in 'X' amount of time. There are menacing moments and the editing is taut but this stays in cliche territory; it's nothing you haven't seen before. The film suffers from a lack of ambition. After Earth aims for interstellar overdrive but barely manages to take off.

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Ratings:1/5  Review By:  Anupama Chopra Site:Star World ( Hindustan Times)'

In my book, the worst crime a director can commit is boredom. I say: annoy me, gross me out, frighten me – evoke some reaction. But boring the audience is unforgiveable and that’s exactly what M. Night Shyamalan does in After Earth, a comatose science fiction drama about a father and son. But you can’t make a myth out of a morose cartoon. I’m going with one star for After Earth. The filmmaker who gave us The Sixth Sense is now a distant memory. I hope someday, he resurfaces again.

Ratings:3/5  Review By:  Malvika Rao Site:Bookmyshow

‘After Earth’ is no classic, it is not even at par with some of great stuff its predecessors have achieved in the same genre. But it’s got a genuine feeling about it, conviction, although lacking. After Earth, however, seems like the kind of film that would have been better off as a book. A book that allows it to explore each character and allows depth that the screenplay did not. I would love to know the past and future of this story, it’s got the idea but it lacks the execution and depth.Verdict: Watch it for what it could have been – a young soldier’s journey to discovery against all odds.

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Ratings:--  Review By:  AP Site:NDTV

The disappointingly generic film, which strands a father and son (Will and Jaden Smith) on Earth a thousand years after a planet-wide evacuation, will leave genre audiences pining for the more Terra-centric conceits of Oblivion, not to mention countless other future-set films that find novelty in making familiar surroundings threatening. After Earth's missteps in conception and execution are more akin to the head-scratching choices that kept The Happening from fulfilling its doomsday-flick potential.

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Fast and Furious 6 Movie Review

Anupama Chopra didn't review Fast and Furious this week
Ratings:3/5  Review By:  Rajeev Masand  Site:CNN IBN (IBNLive)

Like a well-oiled engine, the Fast & Furious series can be counted on to deliver what it promises on the box: gleaming cars, thrilling chases, and buff stars who look like they’ve stepped out of the pages of a fitness magazine. The new installment, Fast & Furious 6 is just as dumb as the previous films, and its action scenes so furiously edited that it’s hard to tell who’s doing what, and to whom. But, as we’ve come to learn, that’s the charm of these movies…the stunts are outrageous, and the plot basic enough for an eight-year-old to enjoy.I’m going with three out of five for Fast & Furious 6. It’s loud and noisy, and a lot of fun even if it doesn’t make much sense.

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Ratings:3/5  Review By:  Bryan Durham Site:Times of India

Clocking in at over two hours, the film is filled with all the high-octane speed chases and close combat scenes we've come to expect from the franchise. And while it doesn't disappoint in the outrageously and shamelessly fun bang-em-cars, road rage and the cheesy humour departments, it does drag by taking "detours" and self-discovery trip subplots that could easily have been done without. The girl-on-girl fight scenes are actually more kick-ass than the ones with the guys. That being said, this one's purely for fans of the franchise and action junkies alike.

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Ratings:2/5  Review By:  Raja Sen Site:Rediff

The Fast And The Furious 6 isn’t about niggling details like plot and character as long as the stunts can be amped up -- and this time they reach a level so ludicrous that the film ends up like an animated film. Without heart but with a whole lot of sparkle, and even more volume. Physics? How dare you, sir?There’s lunacy. And there’s energy. And while this is an utterly stupid film that seems almost proud of being unmemorable, it mostly amuses. Oh, and Gina Carano is awesome.

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Ratings:3/5  Review By:  Tushar Joshi Site:DNA

There is a proportionality between the size of Vin Diesel's biceps and the number of car chases in Fast & Furious 6. As the films gets older, the characters get bulkier and the story line thinner. Fans of the series who loved the repertoire between the characters about engine specs and rev speed, might be disappointed as majority of the story focuses on family ties and Dom's revived loved life. The second half puts the adrenaline rush in third gear and takes the story line beyond the rubber burns and skid marks. Lin focuses on the emotional bonds between the characters making them more than just steroid studs. But there are moments when you feel that how many more explosions and chases do you have to sit through? Also, you sense a bit of haste and hurry as Lin tries to wrap up the climax which has a giant airplane in the centre piece.

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Ratings:2.5/5  Review By:  Khalid Mohammed Site:Deccan Chronicle

It’s time to fasten the seat belts, gulp at the screeches and slam-biff-kapows, and pray hard that all the guys and gals out there in Fast and Furious 6, survive yet another edition of hell on wheels. Despite the cornball storyline and that extreme sense of deja phew, this addition to the 12-year-old franchise, still has you fixated – a guilty pleasure, perhaps, of watching a galaxy of high-end car brands –a Dodge Challenger, Nisaans and Aston Martins – vrooom right before your eyes for a length of 130 minutes.Overlong that, especially for an actioner on speed. The upside is that you do get your ticket money’s worth.

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Ratings:3/5  Review By:  Malvika Rao Site:Bookmyshow

Those who have followed the series will enjoy the comfort and camaraderie that the ensemble cast share. But for first timers, even though the relationships from the previous films are not explained, the humor makes up for it. Apart from fast cars & action, the hand to hand combat moves away from the beefy bald men to the tough ladies. The emphasis on family, loyalty and friendship are endearing and familiar for fans of the series and double up as good leverage to alienate the scheming bad guys with no scruples against the good guys.Verdict: An explosive evolution of the F and F series. Includes all the ingredients that make the film go “Boom”.

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Ratings:--  Review By:  Neil Genzlinger Site:New York Times ( NDTV)

That provides just enough plot to propel the movie from car chase to car chase. These flashy smashies and a climactic sequence, in which the good guys try to prevent Shaw from taking off in an airliner by tethering their cars to it, make the movie a satisfying thrill ride, at least on a par with the earlier installments. A nice twist near the end is well disguised, and a coda hints at what’s to come in Part 7.

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The Great Gatsby Movie Review

The Great Gatsby Movie Review

Ratings:2/5  Review By:  Raja Sen Site:Rediff

The genuinely exasperating thing is, however, that this film indeed tries doggedly hard to capture the spirit of the book. Not just the vulgar excesses of Gatsby’s frequently flaunted wealth but also its sadness, its yearning. And while the visual circusry propels the first half of the movie to at least the level of an impressively exploding firework, the flourishes mostly dry up in the second half as Luhrmann tries to tell the story of a man and a woman with ill-judged restraint. The romance, told the way it is, comes across more infantile than fabulous.What he might not have approved of, though, is the way Luhrmann appropriates and trivialises those exquisite, immortal last lines from the novel. Just so his film can look at itself in the mirror and preen some more.

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Ratings:3.5/5  Review By:  Anupama Chopra Site:Star World

The Great Gatsby is basically Karan Johar meets Sanjay Leela Bhansali on an estimated 127 million dollar budget. Luhrmann’s vision is unapologetically over-the-top. He revels in artifice and big emotion, in frenzy and extravagance. If you like subtlety in your cinema, then this is not the film for you. For me, there was a lot to enjoy here.The Great Gatsby is too long and too loud but it is old-fashioned entertainment. Purists and minimalists would do well to stay away. I’m going with three and a half stars and recommending that you partake in this gargantuan fantasy.

Ratings:3.5/5  Review By:  Srijana Mitra Das  Site:TimesOfIndia (TOI)

Right up, Baz Luhrmann's The Great Gatsby (TGG) is Hollywood's Devdas. Luhrmann's take on F. Scott Fitzgerald's classic novel is a beautiful bash - that lasts too long. On the upside, the music's super and the 3D - decorating dinners to orgies, advertisements gliding silkily along a taxi - stunning. His Gatsby is greedily gorgeous and occasionally sags, luxuriating in a 3D-theatric too many. Still, it showcases Fitzgerald's drama with flair - a society dancing on a knife's edge, where everyone drank and romanced too much, but you also heard an odd, wistful sigh - maar daala. Note: You may not like this movie if you don't like 3D-heavy literary adaptations.

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Ratings:2.5/5  Review By:  Tushar Joshi Site:DNA

If it wasn't a motion picture, then The Great Gatsby would have been a wonderful music video. There are two ways to enjoy Gatsby - one is by checking out the cool soundtrack and realising how amazingly it blends with a period so long ago ('1920'), and the second is to marvel at the sets and costumes. The film is a beginners guide to every wannabe art and costume designer. There are so many OTT moments that you will end up losing count.His much-talked-about project based on a literary classic is all dazzle but lacks soul. The length and pace of the second half make watching the film a tedious experience. Yes, it is stylish and there is colour and shimmer in every frame, but as the end credits roll all that you remember are Jay-Z and Lana Del Rey's melodic verses. And that doesn't bode too well for the film's reputation.

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Ratings:3/5  Review By:  Neha Pinto Site:Bookmyshow

The film retains a lot of the amoral energy of Lurhmann’s Romeo + Juliet. With The Great Gatsby, he plays story teller to the hilt. Although the novel from where the film is adapted, (F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic) was set in the 1920’s Luhrmann makes the film speak to the 21st century. And he does this by incorporating contemporary music which gives the film a familiar feel. The film does have an ending that’ll suck you into nothingness. However this doesn’t make it any less of a masterpiece, but only elevates it to higher levels of greatness.Verdict: The Great Gatsby is a spectacular film that pays a great homage to emptiness.

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Reluctant Fundamentalist Movie Review

Reluctant Fundamentalist Movie Review

Ratings:3/5  Review By:  Karan Anshuman  Site:Mumbai Mirror

Even though it has been well over a decade, The Reluctant Fundamentalist still has relevance. It says things the west needs to hear. I hope they do, I hope they get it. On this count, as a thought, Mira Nair could not have chosen a better subject. I suspect the subject chose her, really. But perhaps it is too subtle for this intention and will be far better understood in South Asia. Unfortunately, we already know all of this.

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Ratings:3/5  Review By:  Anupama Chopra Site:Star World

The Reluctant Fundamentalist is ambitious and uneven. Mira embellishes Changez’s story with a memorable soundtrack. But what doesn’t work as well is the flabby love story with a grossly miscast Kate Hudson and the tacked-on framing device of a thriller, which simply isn’t taut enough to be effective. I’m going with three stars for A Reluctant Fundamentalist. I recommend that you make time for the film. It moved me and I think it will move you too.

Ratings:3.5/5  Review By:  Renuka Vyavahare Site:Times of India

The beauty of the film lies in the depiction of its protagonist's unspoken words, suppressed emotions and unwavering beliefs. The incredibly talented Riz Ahmed enables the film to deconstruct the meaning of 'fundamentalism', which forms the core of the story. What leaves you in awe of the adapted screenplay is its brilliantly drawn parallels between Changez's personal, political and social situation. You feel his pain, vulnerability, denial, inner turmoil and psychological conflict. The film keeps you thoroughly engaged, even in parts where the pace drops a bit. While the film is more of a thriller, it doesn't cease to be a human drama, thanks to sublime supporting performances.Note: You may not like the film if films on religion and social reality are not your cup of tea.

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Ratings:3/5  Review By:  Shubhra Gupta Site:Indian Express

The films that have come out post-9/11 have been many and various, but Changez's conflicted individual at the centre of the narrative feels both vital and important. The film could have done with more finesse in the way it begins and ends, but there are enough subtle shifts in the main act to keep me with it. After Monsoon Wedding and The Namesake, The Reluctant Fundamentalist is Nair's most engaging work.

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Ratings:3.5/5  Review By:  Vaihayasi Pande Daniel Site:Rediff

But while you may ponder over the particular prism that Mira Nair chooses to look at these issues, you cannot doubt that The Reluctant Fundamentalist is a powerful, gripping/bold film, well worth a watch in the theatre. You may not agree with the film’s message but the message is worth knowing. There are plenty of touches in the film that warm you totally. For a desi, the most enriching moment of the film is when Khan, as an idealistic Lahore University professor, takes on the challenge of teaching a class full of youngsters of the importance of striving for the Pakistani Dream.

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Ratings:3/5  Review By:  Tushar Joshi Site:DNA

Despite the serious tone of the film, its length and the sketchy characters mar the end result from being anything but ordinary. The Reluctant Fundamentalist feels like a package delivered a little too late in the day. Not only have other film makers explored every possible angle and milked out all the possible conspiracy theories surrounding the incident, but the US versus the Muslim world debate seems too forced and rehashed. Fortunately that doesn't stop the cast from delivering the goods.Eventually, The Reluctant Fundamentalist ends up being yet another 9/11 inspired tale with all the expected ingredients, but we wish the film maker had engaged and challenged us a lot more like her previous efforts.

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Ratings:3/5  Review By:  Mohar Basu Site:Koimoi

What’s Good: The film preserves the mood of Mohsin Hamid’s book well. What’s Bad: A jerky screenplay ruptures the film’s flow multiple times all through.Watch or Not?: Mira Nair’s repertoire glistening with gems like Namesake and Monsoon Wedding is enough to evoke interest. However, The Reluctant Fundamentalist is not even close to being among her best works. With issues left unexplored and characters abandoned abruptly, the film is a desirable watch only for the landmark performance of Riz Ahmed and the grace with which he builds his character.

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