Cinema Cinema

Movie: Dark City Language: English Genre: Fantasy / Mystery / Sci-Fi / Thriller Director: Alex Proyas Year: 1998 Watched on: 23 April 2006 Rating: ***1/2 (3.5/5) Review: Dark City is an interesting as well as engrossing Sci-fi movie. A guy wakes up in a hotel room with out memories and finds his name is John Murdoch who is accused of murdering six prostitutes. While trying to figure out his past, he figures out the things in the city are not the way they seem; a strange race is controlling the lives of people in the city, sun never raises and he possesses a strange ability to change his physical surroundings. Great camerawork, brilliant sets and style of narration make this film quite engrossing. Overall it is a good science fiction.

Movie: Paradise Now Language: Arabic Genre: Crime / Drama Director: Hany Abu-Assad Year: 2005 Watched on: 22 April 2006 Rating: **** (4/5) Review: “Paradise Now” is a brilliant, thought provoking and dispassionate film by Palestinian director Hany Abu-Assad. Said (Kais Nashef) and Khaled (Ali Suliman) are two childhood friends and garage mechanics living with their families in the West bank area which is under Israeli occupation. They get chosen to be the martyrs who would blow themselves up after infiltrating to Israel. As the two nominated Palestinian terrorists with bomb packs strapped around their belly try to go about their tasks, doubts, internal conflicts and personal trauma surfaces. This Oscar nominated and Golden Globe award winning film is a superb thriller which depicts human side of the terrorists and gives viewers an unbiased view of the situation. This gripping movie is well shot and has some great performances.

Movie: Infernal Affairs (Mou gaan dou) Language: Cantonese Genre: Crime / Drama / Thriller Director: Wai Keung Lau and Siu Fai Mak Year: 2003 Watched on: 20 April 2006 Rating: **** (4/5) Review: This one is an intense and gripping thriller from Hong Kong with a very interesting storyline. Surprisingly this is a great movie from Hong Kong, that neither has martial arts nor too much of fireworks. Drug lord and Crime Boss Sam (Eric Tsang) plants a mole in the Police force and at the same time Police places an undercover cop among gangsters. Both the moles climb up the ladders in their respective fields and become key members as they secretly go accomplishing their respective missions. After an intense and disastrous encounter with each other, both the parties i.e. Police and Gangsters come to know of existence of a mole in their respective forces. Inspector Lau (Andy Lau), the mole in police and the Yan (Tony Leung Chiu Wai), the undercover cop are on hot pursuit of each other. Both are ...

Movie: Taxi 2 Language: French Genre: Comedy / Action Director: Gérard Krawczyk Year: 2000 Watched on: 19 April 2006 Rating: ** (2/5) Review: This is a sequel of the French movie Taxi. The Japanese ambassador visits the city of Marseilles to inspect the anti-mafia skills of the local police. While the display is on, a team owing allegiance to a Japanese Yakuza kidnaps the ambassador along with a French lady cop Petra. Fellow cop Emilien who has fallen for Petra takes assistance of dare-devil and wizard Taxi driver Daniel’s help to secure the release. One can afford to skip this flick which has too much of nonsensical stunts and chases, dumb cops and silly characters. Though a cult of movie goers might find it entreating, it barely managed to bring couple of chuckles for me.

Movie: Rang De Basanti Language: Hindi Genre: Comedy / Drama / History / Romance Director: Rakesh Omprakash Mehra Year: 2006 Watched on: 16 April 2006 Rating: *** (3/5) Review: Rang De Basanti by Rakesh Omprakash Mehra is a film made with sincere and noble intention of injecting the current generation of India with a dose of patriotism and respect towards people who sacrificed their lives for the freedom of their country. Sue (Alice Patten) inspired by the entries in her grandfather's (a police officer during colonial rule) aspires to make a film on revolutionaries like Chandrashekar Azad, Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and their associates. Due to lack of funds, she lands up in Delhi University looking for volunteer actors for her docudrama. There she happens to acquaint with a group of friends lost in their own careless and carefree world. With DJ (Aamir Khan), Sukhi (Sharman Joshi), Karan (Siddharth), Aslam (Kunal Kapoor), Sonia (Soha Ali Khan) and their enemy Laxman Pandey (Atul Kulkarn...

Movie: Son of the Bride(Hijo de la novia, El) Language: Spanish (Argentina) Genre: Comedy / Drama Director: Juan José Campanella Year: 2001 Watched on: 09 April 2006 Rating: *** (3/5) Review: Son of a Bride by Argentine director Juan José Campanella is a family drama with a bit of humor. Rafael Belvedere (Ricardo Darín) is a 40 something restaurateur in Buenos Aires and his life is in a terrible mess. He is running a restaurant with great difficulty that he inherited from his father, he is in financial trouble, he is divorced and not able to carry out his duties towards his daughter, he doesn’t visit his aging mother suffering from Alzheimer’s disease and he can not commit himself to his girlfriend. Rafael suffers a mild heart attack and gets hospitalized and there he takes a hard look at his life. With help of childhood friend Juan Carlos (Eduardo Blanco) he resurrects himself out of the mess. Performances are good and some scenes are moving otherwise there is nothing exceptional a...

Movie: Amélie(Fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain, Le) Language: French Genre: Comedy / Drama / Romance Director: Jean-Pierre Jeunet Year: 2001 Watched on: 09 April 2006 Rating: **** (4/5) Review: Amélie is a gem of a movie directed brilliantly by Jean-Pierre Jeunet. I first watched it in a film festival and fell in love with it immediately. Despite watching it in parts on TV recently, I decided to watch it again and I swear I was not bored even for a minute. Amélie (Audrey Tautou) is a lonely, shy and innocent girl in Paris. She works in a cafe and loves to indulge in small pleasures like skipping pebbles on water, burying her hands in grain, day dreaming etc. One fine day in her apartment she accidentally finds a small box full of toys and photographs probably hidden by some old occupant. Amélie decides to find the owner and return the box back She also decides if the owner is moved by her gesture, she will continue to be a good Samaritan else its too bad. Seeing the owner of the b...

Movie: Oldboy Language: Korean Genre: Action / Drama / Mystery / Thriller Director: Chan-wook Park Year: 2003 Watched on: 08 April 2006 Rating: **** (4/5) Review: Oldboy is the second movie of the famed "revenge" trilogy by Chan-wook Park. This is a visually stylish ultra violent movie is in the same genre of Tarantino's Pulp Fiction. After a round of heavy drinking and a trip to police station on the day of his daughter's birthday Oh De-Su (Choi Min-shik) on his way back home disappears mysteriously. He finds himself kidnapped and held prisoner in a cell by some strangers for reasons not known to him. One fine day after being held captive for 15 years, Oh De-Su is released with clothes money and a mobile phone along with the charge of murdering his wife. As he sets out to find his captor and take revenge Oh De-Su meets a Japanese chef Mi-do (Hye-jeong Kang). He soon finds his captor has released him only to subject him to more torture. The story takes lots of twists...

Movie: Apocalypse Now Redux Language: English / French / Vietnamese / Khmer Genre: Action / Adventure / Drama / War Director: Francis Ford Coppola Year: 1979 Watched on: 23 January 2006 Rating: **** (4/5) Review: Master of Cinema Francis Ford Coppola has produced and directed this movie considered as one of the greatest movie ever made on Vietnam War. The movie starts off in Saigon at the height of Vietnam War where the troubled and burnt out US Captain Benjamin L. Willard (Martin Sheen) is summoned for a mission. The mission is to eliminate the command of a renegade and insane former Colonel in US Army Walter E. Kurtz (Marlon Brando) who has installed himself as god among Cambodian tribal groups and is working against the interests of US Government by staging attacks. Willard with a handful crew sails up the Nung River on a Navy patrol boat and discovers his target is one of the most decorated and smartest officers of United States Army. The journey to reach Kurtz’s world is a though...

Movie: To Live And Die In L.A. Language: English Genre: Crime / Thriller / Drama / Action Director: William Friedkin Year: 1985 Watched on: 22 January 2006 Rating: **1/2 (2.5/5) Review: William Friedkin who made famous Hollywood flicks like "French Connection" and "Exorcist" directs this stylish film with a heavy 80ish feel. This is a story of a LA cop Richard Chance (William L. Petersen) who is on a hot pursuit of counterfeit kingpin Rick Masters (Willem Dafoe) who has killed his partner Jim Hart (Michael Greene) just few days before his retirement. Chance decides to go all out to bust Masters even if it means risking his and others lives. Movie is a mixture of a very ordinary and clichéd storyline and some twists and turns. Acting is mediocre. Characterization is just about ok. Cinematography and music are a plus so is the lengthy and well choreographed car chasing scene. Somehow it appeared to me as all style and no substance kind of movie.

Movie: The Conversation Language: English Genre: Crime / Thriller / Drama / Mystery Director: Francis Ford Coppola Year: 1974 Watched on: 08 January 2006 Rating: **** (4/5) Review: This highly rated movie by director Francis Ford Coppola was made in between his two greatest works The Godfather and The Godfather: Part II. Coppola has also written script of this movie that tells a story of a surveillance expert Harry Caul (Gene Hackman). Harry is hired by a boss of a big organization to spy on two of his employees. A man and woman seemingly in love. Harry smartly records their conversation and prepares tapes but the conversation starts slowly consuming his life. Harry haunted by the fact that his activities earlier had resulted in three murders, this time breaks his professional ethics and gets in to thick of the action to prevent an impending murder(s) but with devastating results. This is a slow paced suspense thriller that will surprise one in the end. This is the movie when Coppola ...

Movie: The Vanishing (Spoorloos) Language: French/Dutch Genre: Mystery / Thriller / Drama Director: George Sluizer Year: 1988 Watched on: 07 January 2006 Rating: **** (4/5) Review: Spoorloos by George Sluizer is a psychological thriller based on the novel “The Golden Egg” by writer Tim Krabbé. Rex Hoffmann (Gene Bervoets) and Saskia (Saskia Wagter), a couple in love travel to France for a vacation from Amsterdam. On their way at a gas station, Saskia gets into a café to buy drinks and disappears mysteriously without any trace. Even after three years of her mysterious disappearance, Rex spares no effort to trace her. Raymond Lemorne (Bernard-Pierre Donnadieu) a normal looking professor in chemistry is the abductor who while abducting believed that he had to commit an evil deed to balance the act of kindness he demonstrated by saving a life of a drowning child. He approaches the abduction with utmost sincerity even practicing several times before the real act. Raymond amused by the curi...

Movie: Sleuth Language: English Genre: Mystery / Thriller Director: Joseph L. Mankiewicz Year: 1972 Watched on: 06 January 2006 Rating: **** (4/5) Review: Sleuth is the cinematic adaptation of popular and award winning play from Anthony Shaffer by the same name. This more than two hour movie by director Joseph L. Mankiewicz actually just has two actors. Andrew Wyke (Laurence Oliver) an eccentric but a wealthy writer invites his estranged wife’s paramour Milo Tindel (Michael Caine), a Hair Dresser by professor in her absence for a talk. During the course of the conversation, Andrew lures Milo into a money making scheme that benefits both. Andrew suggests Milo to steal jewels from his house and make money from it and he in turn will claim money insured against the jewelry. The suggestion appears reasonable to Milo but is it? The story takes interesting twists and turns into a battle of wits while thrilling the audience throughout. Screenplay by Anthony Shaffer is mind-blowing and directo...

Movie: The Apartment Language: English Genre: Comedy / Romance Director: Billy Wilder Year: 1960 Watched on: 31 December 2005 Rating: **** (4/5) Review: Apartment is a real "golden oldie". This crisp and delightful romantic comedy directed by Billy Wilder is A1 entertainer. CC Baxter a.k.a Buddy boy (Jack Lemmon) is an upwardly mobile executive of an insurance firm who lends his apartment to his superiors for their romantic trysts to be in their good books. Baxter ends up doing an uncomfortable tightrope walk of pleasing everyone to go up the ladder. Baxter has a soft spot for the lift girl in his office Fran Kubelik (Shirley MacLaine). Things get sad for Baxter when he discovers that the mistress of his boss Mr. Sheldrake (Fred MacMurray) and his flame are one and the same. Things get even worse when Baxter is pushed to tight corner by an attempted suicide by Fran Kubelik at his apartment. Jack Lemmon is absolutely brilliant and so is Fred MacMurray. Performances, screenpl...

Movie: Intimacy Language: English Genre: Drama Director: Patrice Chéreau Year: 2001 Watched on: 30 December 2005 Rating: ***1/2 (3.5/5) Review: Intimacy is a strange story of Jay (Mark Rylance), a failed musician, a divorcee, father of two kids and a bartender. Every Wednesday a woman comes to his house and they have passionate sex without any tenderness or friendship. They don't talk much and they do not even try to know each other's names. Jay discovers that the woman gives him the pleasure which he had not sought and she is so selfless that she doesn’t demand to be given the same or some pleasure. Slowly Jay is intrigued by this woman and starts to spy on her. He learns her name is Claire (Kerry Fox), who is a stage artist married to a taxi Andy (Timothy Spall), a taxi driver and mother of a boy. Their strange relationship heads towards a breakup as Claire discovers that Jay knows her identity. Patrice Chéreau weaves a very complex but a subtle story about human behavior, ...

Movie: Midnight Cowboy Language: English Genre: Drama Director: John Schlesinger Year: 1969 Watched on: 29 December 2005 Rating: **** (4/5) Review: Some movies are timeless (E.g. Bicycle Thief) and Midnight Cowboy is one among them. This movie is a more than thirty-five year old but it appears so contemporary that one can easily establish a connection with the story and characters. Don't get fooled by the title, this is not a western where gun totting cowboys on their neighing wild horses shoot at drop of a hat but a realistic as well as a tragic story of great bonding between two losers and is situated mostly in the very urban New York. This film was nominated for seven Academy awards (1970) and won three Academy awards (Best Picture, Best Director and Best Screenplay), the first X-rated film to do so. Joe Buck (John Voight), a Texan dish washer bids adieu to his small home town as well as his job to pursue the dream of making big bucks by becoming a hustler in New York. Naïve ...

Movie: I Love Huckabees Language: English Genre: Comedy Director: David O. Russell Year: 2004 Watched on: 24 December 2005 Reviews: Chandrakanth: **** (4/5) I Heart (Love) Huckabees is an amazing comedy full of witty dialogs, unique visuals, great characterization and brilliant performances. Albert Markovski (Jason Schwartzman), an environmental activist and a poet hires a detective couple Bernard and Vivian (Dustin Hoffman and Lily Tomlin) to help him out understand a coincidence and the very existence. The detectives’ unorthodox way of doing things includes spying on their subject to understand his psyche. As the movie as well as detectives make some progress we get to meet the Brad Stand (Jude Law) a Sales Manager at Huckabees and his model girlfriend Dawn (Naomi Watts). Brad, a smooth operator manipulates to depose Albert from directorship of the environmental group and get some protected land for Huckabees. Albert gets to meet fellow client Tommy, a fireman with a strong concern ...

Movie: Scarlet Diva Language: French/Italian/English Genre: Drama Director: Asia Argento Year: 2000 Watched on: 24 December 2005 Reviews: Chandrakanth: **** (4/5) Asia Argento’s semi-autobiographical movie tells a disastrous tale of a budding Italian actress Anna Batista (potrayed by Asia Argento herself) who is mired in loneliness, drugs, predating friends and acquaintances. This film doesn’t have much of a story but is an energetic expression of pain and sadness suffered by the main protagonist. The movie is shot quite well to go with the gloomy mood of the film and the script too helps the cause. Asia Argento’s style of direction is very stark and realistic and some scenes are very disturbing. Overall it is a good movie but it is not for everyone.

Movie: The Hound of the Baskervilles Language: English Genre: Crime/ Mystery / Horror Director: Terence Fisher Year: 1959 Watched on: 22 December 2005 Reviews: Chandrakanth: ***1/2 (3.5/5) This one is a vintage Sherlock Holmes stuff. Peter Cushing dons role of the ultimate detective Sherlock Holmes and André Morell plays his sidekick Dr. Watson who go on a mission to unravel mysterious curse thrown upon the Baskerville family. Though the movie has its rough edges, it turns out to be a thoroughly enjoyable fare. Good performances and tight direction are the highlights of the movie. Though Cushing has done a good job, I find it difficult to accept anyone other than the great Jermy Brett as Sherlock Holmes.

Movie: Appartement, L' Language: French Genre: Drama / Mystery / Romance Director: Gilles Mimouni Year: 1996 Watched on: 17 December 2005 Reviews: Chandrakanth: **** (4/5)