tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-52296312011-04-21T20:42:43.387-07:00Movies WatchedShort reviews of movies watchedShankarnoreply@blogger.comBlogger1961100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5229631.post-1117325898228193852005-05-28T17:18:00.000-07:002005-05-28T17:18:18.233-07:00Star Wars: Episode III -- Revenge of the Sith (28 May 2005) I am not, and should not be, ashamed to admit that Episode III was by far the best of the six movies. Even Empire Strikes Back could not have come close to the nuanced Revenge of the Sith. They said the dialogue was bad, the script weak, the performances inane. I think "they" were simply being too snotty. Most movies require some Shankarnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5229631.post-1117324167344720702005-05-28T16:49:00.000-07:002005-05-28T16:49:27.350-07:00Bunty Aur Babli (27 May 2005) In an interview a long time ago, Amitabh Bachchan was asked what he would have ended up as had he not become an actor -- he wasted no time in replying "Allahabad mein doodh bech raha hota". As good an actor as he has been in all his roles as the angry young man, the tall and lanky romantic hero or the greying sage, none of them would have made anywhere near the Shankarnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5229631.post-1117325993846664182005-05-28T16:14:00.000-07:002005-05-28T17:20:49.633-07:00The Captain's Paradise (20 May 2005)Sir Alec Guinness in an Ealing-style comedy in the 50's when all things British had the Midas' touch. Needless to say, the movie was effortlessly elegant and pointedly comical. Alec Guinness seems to have figured out the perfect marriage by marrying a domesticated woman that he keeps at Gibraltar, romancing a sensuous mistress at North Africa and keeping a Shankarnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5229631.post-1117318508812352272005-05-28T15:14:00.000-07:002005-05-28T15:15:08.816-07:00The Verdict (20 May 2005) I had this urge to watch a string of legal thrillers, and I started off with The Verdict. Starring Paul Newman, James Mason and Jack Warner, The Verdict tells the story of a washed-up shyster lawyer who suddenly finds a conscience within him to pursue criminal charges for an egregious case of medical malpractice instead of settling out of court. The movie shows him Shankarnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5229631.post-1116543400025563552005-05-19T15:56:00.000-07:002005-05-19T15:56:40.030-07:00Three Days of the Condor (12 May 2005) Sydney Pollack's movie based on James Grady's novel "Six Days of the Condor" is a fantastic espionage thriller made in the Cold War days but surprisingly is without a reference to the time. Not wanting to give any more away, I shall instead focus on the technical aspects of the movie. The scenes of a cold New York '70s winter with the city in all its Shankarnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5229631.post-1116542598746723922005-05-19T15:43:00.000-07:002005-05-19T15:43:18.750-07:00Three Kings (6 May 2005) When David O. Russell's "I ? Huckabees" came out, many were distinctly unimpressed by it even in spite of its very quirky episodical premise. Some compared it with Russell's earlier "Three Kings" and confessed to being thrown off the loop. I now see what they probably meant. I have not seen Huckabees, but Three Kings came very close to making a good impression on me. Shankarnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5229631.post-1116541766389549832005-05-19T15:29:00.000-07:002005-05-19T15:29:26.393-07:00Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter and Spring There is much too obvious symbolism and purportedly deep and hard-to-elicit mystical reality in this movie. The movie in some sense is an homage to Buddhism and draws deeply from Buddhist teachings and philosophy. The weather cycle is easily seen to be a metaphor for the different phases in the protagonist's character -- from a child guilty of cruelty to aShankarnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5229631.post-1116541000934404592005-05-19T15:16:00.000-07:002005-05-19T15:16:40.940-07:00A Shot in the Dark Peter Sellers. Pink Panther. And to a lesser extent, Blake Edwards. As much as "The Life and Death of Peter Sellers" might attempt to convince you that Peter Sellers positively loathed acting in Blake Edwards whimsical slapsticks, you are never completely in agreement. That may be because of Sellers' genius at foppery or Edwards' total mastery of the slapstick. A Shot in the Shankarnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5229631.post-1116540649350588942005-05-19T15:10:00.000-07:002005-05-19T15:10:49.356-07:00Stray Dog Although Kurosawa can be repetitive in his themes and motions, he remains one of my favourite directors simply because of how much groundwork he laid that was built upon by scores and scores of movie-makers after him. One recurring theme in each of his movies is the following pith that I shall remember before I watch another: "All of Japan is a philosopher". Every character in his Shankarnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5229631.post-1116540056123499972005-05-19T15:00:00.000-07:002005-05-19T15:00:56.130-07:00The Perfect Murder (16 April 2005) This was a delightful, albeit little-known, movie about a "murder" in upscale Bombay and how almost everything else including a diamond-smuggling racket, a rape, a women's protest march and a Swedish police officer has something to do with it. The movie is based on H R F Keating's Inspector Ghote novel. Playing Inspector Ghote is Naseeruddin Shah who is Shankarnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5229631.post-1114247242527603412005-04-23T01:54:00.000-07:002005-04-23T02:07:22.526-07:00Boogie Nights I felt ambivalent after watching Magnolia. It pulled at different directions and I could not conclusively determine what the movie's mojo was if at all it had any. It was just a rambling, desultory look into the dysfunctional lives of a few oddball characters who shared a common thread. There was frequently a reference to child abuse but it was merely a tiny whisper. It helps to Shankarnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5229631.post-1114246430833235182005-04-23T01:53:00.000-07:002005-04-23T01:53:50.833-07:00Kung-Fu Hustle (14 April 2005) Kung-Fu Hustle is so much of an improvement over Shaolin Soccer that I wonder if Stephen Chow did not feel guilty about his first venture. Maybe the intent was there with Shaolin Soccer, but Kung-Fu Hustle is easily the definitive spoof homage to the kung-fu movies and their imitations in Hollywood. The story is brilliantly held together by the principal actors inShankarnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5229631.post-1113293729181233972005-04-12T01:15:00.000-07:002005-04-12T01:15:29.183-07:00Brother (11 April 2005) As part of the International Week, the Caltech Russian Club screened Brat (Brother). The movie tells the story of an ingenuous young man who comes to St. Petersburg after a mysterious stint at the army. He is innocent in the ways of the world and is the hearty sort of chap -- a perfect ambassador for Russia. For all his camaraderie and easy-going charm he is nonetheless Shankarnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5229631.post-1113292559048284122005-04-12T00:55:00.000-07:002005-04-12T00:55:59.050-07:00Shaolin Soccer (April 6 2005) With the upcoming Kung-Fu Hustle, I figured I should precondition myself with Stephen Chow's earlier work -- Shaolin Soccer. When it was released, I remember there was a big brouhaha about the visual wizardry and the innovative gimmickry to blend kung-fu with soccer. Sadly, it was all the praise it got that stuck in my head and I paid no heed to some of the gentle Shankarnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5229631.post-1113291449995623782005-04-12T00:37:00.000-07:002005-04-12T00:37:29.996-07:00Sin City (April 3 2005) There was a time when comic books were in the realm of innocence -- when Spiderman and all the other superheroes where in bright contrasting colours of red and blue and you knew that the good stayed good while the evil became worse. Then, something happened in between; a glitch in the programming perhaps or maybe it was I that had grown darker and more cynical. The comicShankarnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5229631.post-1113289333295737042005-04-12T00:01:00.000-07:002005-04-12T00:02:13.296-07:00Prisoner of Second Avenue Jack Lemmon and Anne Bancroft star in this fantastic adaptation from a Neil Simon play about a middle-aged couple struggling and griping about their Manhattan survival. Jack Lemmon plays an acerbic veteran New Yorker who has lived all his life there but nonetheless finds something to snipe about every passing moment and yet is the proverbial lemming to its vast sea of Shankarnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5229631.post-1113287942773936902005-04-11T23:38:00.000-07:002005-04-11T23:39:02.773-07:00Bright Young Things (22 March 2005) Bright Young Things is based on Evelyn Waugh's novel about early twentieth century London where following the first war life in the upper circles of society had returned to its normal state of exuberance -- there were drunken orgies, mindless and vulgar displays of opulence and ostentation and an entire nation swept up in the mad pursuit of the pleasures and Shankarnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5229631.post-1112429363775345262005-04-02T00:08:00.000-08:002005-04-02T00:12:14.723-08:00The Story of the Weeping Camel (22 March 2005)In an almost forgotten land far to the north of China is a tribe and a family in it that rears camels. It is the time of the year when the mothers start to calve. One of them has given birth to a calf but is refusing to lactate it. This forms the core of this movie as it relates the story of the camel and the simple lives of these people who live in Shankarnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5229631.post-1111110980016452522005-03-17T17:59:00.003-08:002005-03-17T18:03:31.793-08:00Barry LyndonMuch as it may displease most and, perhaps even worse, discount myself I have not been a great fan of Stanley Kubrick. I have to admit that his genius as a director has always escaped me -- I can never forgive him for the scene of the apes in 2001: A Space Odyssey, and I attribute my appreciation for Dr. Strangelove only to a brilliantly written screenplay (Peter George and Stanley Shankarnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5229631.post-1111111196224866842005-03-17T17:59:00.002-08:002005-03-17T17:59:56.226-08:00Gunner Palace (15 March 2005) Perhaps this year's most anticipated war documentary, Gunner Palace is the first of its kind -- and there shall be many to follow in its wake -- to tell the story of the U.S. soldiers in Iraq through them. Through the movie, we see a group of soldiers who make Uday Hussein's "pleasure-dome" their living quarters and playfully rechristen it Gunner Palace. The palaceShankarnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5229631.post-1111111177650164222005-03-17T17:59:00.001-08:002005-03-17T17:59:37.653-08:00Rounders In the tradition of "cool" movies like Ocean's Eleven, Nine Queens and The Sting, Rounders is yet another shining addition. I could have foretold that merely by seeing who is cast in it -- Matt Damon, Edward Norton, John Torturro, John Malkovich, Martin Landau and Famke Janssen. Matt Damon plays a talented poker player struggling to give it up to pay attention to his girlfriend and lawShankarnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5229631.post-1111111159588162302005-03-17T17:59:00.000-08:002005-03-17T17:59:19.590-08:00American Splendor Before Sideways, Paul Giamatti shone in American Splendor. Both as Harvey Pekar and Miles Raymond, he plays the role of the introverted, intellectual social ingenue to flawless perfection. American Splendor excels as a movie not only by virtue of his and Hope Davis' brilliant essays but also on account of Harvey Pekar and Joyce Brabner themselves -- the former's suicidal and Shankarnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5229631.post-1111111139590127982005-03-17T17:58:00.002-08:002005-03-17T17:58:59.593-08:00Ray Ever since Ray Charles passed away last year, the media and tinseltown have been agog with his reminiscences. Taylor Hackford's biopic spares no effort in sketching all the dark shades to his persona and Jamie Foxx lives and breathes the man himself.Shankarnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5229631.post-1111111119700865602005-03-17T17:58:00.001-08:002005-03-17T17:58:39.750-08:00Marooned in Iraq Bahman Ghobadi's latest movie, Turtles Can Fly is being raved about and spoken of in glowing terms. Marooned in Iraq was an earlier exploration into detailing the lives of the Kurdish and their oppression by the hands of Saddam Hussein. The plot involves a much-esteemed singer going in search of his former wife across the bloodlines of his land ravaged and pillaged by a brutalShankarnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5229631.post-1111111100404681722005-03-17T17:58:00.000-08:002005-03-17T17:58:20.406-08:00Nobody Knows (24 February 2005) This was one of the most powerful movies I have seen. It tells the tale of a mother who abandons her children leaving the ten-year old son to look after his two sisters and brother. The movie moves at a slow, almost halting pace and yet every still is filled with raw power and great force. And as it nears its climax, one is left shocked and chilled to the bone Shankarnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5229631.post-1111111084282088352005-03-17T17:57:00.002-08:002005-03-17T17:58:04.283-08:00Suspicion Alfred Hitchcock's Suspicion stars Cary Grant and the spectacular Joan Fontaine whose performance in Rebecca the previous year as the demure, overawed wife was charming. While she was only nominated for Rebecca, she won for her role in this movie. In Suspicion, she etches her reprisal in Rebecca with even more clarity as a newly-wed who grows in fear and doubt about her husband's Shankarnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5229631.post-1111111065926500612005-03-17T17:57:00.001-08:002005-03-17T17:57:45.926-08:00Battle of Algiers Battle of Algiers tells in excruciating and minute detail of the insurgent struggle for independence from French occupation. There are chilling similarities between the Algerian story and what is being observed now in Iraq and that alone heightened its value considerably. Jean Martin's performance as the ruthless and cold-blooded Col. Mathieu in particular was singularly Shankarnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5229631.post-1111111046347464112005-03-17T17:57:00.000-08:002005-03-17T17:57:26.353-08:00Maria Full of Grace (14 February 2005) Catalina Sandino Mareno was nominated for her performance in the lead role in this movie. She plays a stubborn Colombian young adult who is pregnant and needs some money to support herself. She becomes a "mule" and carries narcotics by ingesting it in gelatin pellets. The movie reflects on the horrors attending many such "mules" as they weigh the perils Shankarnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5229631.post-1111110947035565502005-03-17T17:56:00.002-08:002005-03-17T18:02:39.936-08:00Sideways (15 January 2005)What a great way to open the year! Sideways was one of the funniest movies I have seen and it ranked up there with The Incredibles easily as two of the best movies I have seen ever. With the movie, I have also discovered my favourite film critic -- Joe Morgenstern of the Wall Street Journal. Every one of his recommendations have been on the ball, and every one he Shankarnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5229631.post-1111111023207954942005-03-17T17:56:00.001-08:002005-03-17T17:57:03.270-08:00Collateral (13 February 2005) Jamie Foxx was nominated for his performance in this movie in a supporting role to Tom Cruise. Directed by Michael Mann, the movie centres on a taxi driver who is unwittingly used as an accessory to the killing spree of a calculating contract killer. As a contemplative assassin, Tom Cruise gives a very satisfying performance. Jamie Foxx, while quite engaging, was Shankarnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5229631.post-1111111003788341992005-03-17T17:56:00.000-08:002005-03-17T17:56:43.790-08:00Black (4 February 2005) I looked forward to Black with a lot of expectations. The teasers and the previews were particularly compelling, the storyline quite powerful and the cinematography looked surreal. Add to this Amitabh Bachchan's endless raving about this being his toughest and finest performance and I was absolutely determined to watch it the day it released. Maybe it was the weight of Shankarnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5229631.post-1111110918769336212005-03-17T17:55:00.000-08:002005-03-17T17:55:18.773-08:00School of Rock This was a great treat to watch and credit goes to Jack Black for a wonderful performance, Mike White for a great script and Richard Linklater for a brilliant directorial effort. With this movie and High Fidelity, Jack Black has ensured for himself the perfect typecast status of the sneering, contemptuous yet immensely lovable rock afficionado. His zest to invoke hilarity in Shankarnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5229631.post-1111110811415619462005-03-17T17:53:00.000-08:002005-03-17T17:53:31.416-08:00Flavors This was a largely rudderless movie with some funny moments now and then. Reef Karim and Pooja Kumar as the lead pair were a treat to watch and Bharati Achrekar and Anjan Srivastav reprising in a way their famous roles of Mr. and Mrs. Wagle were a class apart but the rest of the cast was third-rate and criminally bad.Shankarnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5229631.post-1103614620175347122004-12-20T23:37:00.000-08:002004-12-20T23:37:00.176-08:00 Swades (18 December 2004)
Having burned my fingers long ago by watching Shah Rukh Khan in Kal Ho Na Ho, I was wary of another Shah Rukh Khan movie. Also, I was not excessively fond of Lagaan as others were and there was no special fascination to follow Gowariker's repertoire. What drew me to watching the movie however was the plot -- that of an Indian native living and working in the Shankarnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5229631.post-1103614585579459092004-12-20T23:36:00.000-08:002004-12-20T23:36:25.580-08:00 House of Flying Daggers (15 December 2004)
This was advertised as a sequel, albeit a weaker one, to Hero. The movie was significantly worse than that. The theme was nowhere as captivating as Hero's. The movie got lost in a conflict between the desire to make a potent, message-driven film and the necessity to pepper it with dishevelled Chinese amourette. The only appealing aspect of the Shankarnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5229631.post-1103614560582571252004-12-20T23:35:00.000-08:002004-12-20T23:36:00.583-08:00 Virumandi (15 December 2004)
Kamalahasan's Virumandi was intended to be a strong message against capital punishment. It starts out very promisingly on this regard with a documentary-maker who interviews prisoners on death row to examine their views and sensibilities on having to face death. The death penalty theme is interwoven with a story of a clash of two village zamindars who end Shankarnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5229631.post-1103505602434843022004-12-19T17:23:00.000-08:002004-12-19T17:20:34.400-08:00 Ocean's Twelve (10 December 2004)
After the crest comes a trough. Ocean's Twelve was a must-go-to after having watched the snazzy previews and after Ocean's Eleven. I guess for that matter, any movie starring George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Don Cheadle, Matt Damon, Elliott Gould, Bernie Mac and Andy Garcia all together is a must-go-to. The movie did have some funny lines once in a while but for theShankarnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5229631.post-1103505586774308592004-12-19T17:19:00.001-08:002004-12-19T17:19:46.773-08:00 The Life and Death of Peter Sellers (10 December 2004)
This was the coup de grace of the day -- the major movie event for which I might have been willing to tolerate ten films as cheesy as Road to Perdition. As all movies that cause a stir even before they are shown, this movie had generated tremendous excitement about it. Peter Sellers was one of the most enigmatic and complicated Shankarnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5229631.post-1103505563633910762004-12-19T17:19:00.000-08:002004-12-19T17:19:23.633-08:00 Shattered Glass (10 December 2004)
This was a brilliant movie and not just because it followed Road to Perdition in my movie marathon. It tells the gripping true story of a promising college intern at The New Republic pulling one sensational story fabrication heist after another and how it took the courage and integrity of one inexperienced editor to haul him. It made me realise how Shankarnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5229631.post-1103505511785131272004-12-19T17:18:00.000-08:002004-12-19T17:19:07.070-08:00 Road to Perdition (10 December 2004)
Sam Mendes' Road to Perdition flattered to deceive. All that camerawork, rich sound and luscious Midwest photography amounted to nothing because of the plot. It was so hopelessly predictable that I was at times annoyed with myself for staying on with it. This movie also had many blessings from all the standard sources I learn of movies from and so it was Shankarnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5229631.post-1103505439782286822004-12-19T17:17:00.000-08:002004-12-19T17:17:19.783-08:00Autograph (8 December 2004)
This Tamil movie came with big recommendations and consequently was only almost impressive. It tells the nostalgic story of a young advertising company executive as he visits the places he spent his youth in to invite some old acquaintances to his marriage. And some of these acquaintances also include past flames. The movie is segmented as such and tells how he Shankarnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5229631.post-1103505412679059892004-12-19T17:16:00.000-08:002004-12-19T17:16:52.680-08:00 Shwaas (4 December 2004)
Winner of the national award for best film, Shwaas has also been chosen as India's official entry to the Oscars this year. It tells the story of a villager who takes his grandson to the city to get the latter's eyes checked for some niggling ailment but is distraught to learn that he suffers from an atypical cancer of the eye. He is confronted with the only option Shankarnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5229631.post-1101432851145032392004-11-25T17:33:00.001-08:002004-11-25T17:34:11.146-08:00Waisa Bhi Hota Hai Part II (24 November 2004)
Waisa Bhi Hota Hai Part II revels in its unconventionality and sports it prominently in its title, in the credits in the slickly made DVD cover and about everywhere else. The movie is a self-professed goulash of the atypical genre featuring Go!, Swingers, Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction and Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. The movie stars Shankarnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5229631.post-1101432823594893212004-11-25T17:33:00.000-08:002004-11-25T17:33:43.596-08:00 Touching the Void
Touching the Void is a gripping and mind-numbing docudrama that tells in chilling detail the real-life episode of two climbers coming down Siula Grande in Peru as one falls down breaking his leg, subsequently slips into a crevasse, is left for dead by his partner and subsequently manages to crawl out of the crevasse and survive against all odds. The movie is made all Shankarnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5229631.post-1101432792510686992004-11-25T17:32:00.000-08:002004-11-25T17:33:12.510-08:00 The Incredibles (19/21 November 2004)
Of late, my movie-watching has slowed to an astonishing two or three a month. Consequently, a movie must really earn it to make it into my must-watch-now list. The measure of how good The Incredibles really is then can be gauged from the fact that I watched the movie twice in a cinema hall in the space of two days and it was the first movie that IShankarnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5229631.post-1098426444771925152004-10-21T23:27:00.000-07:002004-10-21T23:27:24.770-07:00 Team America: World Police (16 October 2004)
What defines a good political satire? It is a piece that takes uniform shots across the bows of all political parties, it should mock and belittle the government. There should be a bent of anti-establishment malaise cleverly tinged with humour and finally but perhaps most importantly it should try to laugh at all of us that create such politicalShankarnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5229631.post-1098425294899113802004-10-21T23:08:00.000-07:002004-10-21T23:08:14.900-07:00 Chokher Bali (25 September 2004)
I personally went to see this movie in spite of Aishwarya Rai in it hoping that Tagore's plot would redeem her presence. Unfortunately, she managed to outdo herself and was a constant jarring reminder to the histrionic limitations of women popularly deemed attractive. The story revolves around an enigmatic young widow with a rather complex persona. At firstShankarnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5229631.post-1098424974877901602004-10-21T23:02:00.000-07:002004-10-21T23:02:54.876-07:00 Fog of War
This won the Academy Award for Best Documentary this year. It was claimed that the AMPAS wished to make known its stand against the war by awarding this movie the award and not surprisingly, Errol Morris the movie's director and prominent Democrat voiced his opinions when given the stage. Sadly, all this controversy distracts from the movie which is really not so much about the Shankarnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5229631.post-1096143302647335622004-09-25T13:14:00.000-07:002004-09-25T13:18:07.723-07:00Bill Maher: Victory Begins at Home (10 September 2004)
For those of us devoid of cable television at home, the DVD route is the only option to catch and experience the wonderful world of HBO programming. I particularly like the emphasis HBO puts on stand-up performances. Bill Maher's Victory Begins at Home is another shining example of insightful political commentary in a post-Walter Lippmann Shankarnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5229631.post-1096142244315297542004-09-25T12:56:00.000-07:002004-09-25T13:15:40.783-07:00Dirty, Pretty Things (28 August 2004)
Dirty, Pretty Things is a searing and candid look into two interconnected problems many countries face but are embarrassed to discuss openly -- illegal immigration and organ trade. In a bustling London suburb, the movie's two protagonists -- a Nigerian doctor on the run from his country driving cabs through the day and moonlighting as a receptionist in a Shankarnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5229631.post-1093389357750219612004-08-24T16:15:00.004-07:002004-08-24T16:15:57.750-07:00 Hearts and Minds (23 August 2004)
And this is why God envisioned the documentary. This movie would rank as the best historical documentary I have ever seen. It is a searing collection of personal reminiscences, disturbing imagery and simply the most perfect form of objective journalism and movie-making. Documenting interviews with people ranging from the great policymakers at the time Shankarnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5229631.post-1093389344055655862004-08-24T16:15:00.003-07:002004-08-24T16:15:44.056-07:00 Les Invasiones Barbares (22 August 2004)
The Academy Award winner this year for Best Foreign Film, this French-Canadian movie tells the tale of a university professor in Montréal lying on his deathbed as his family and friends regroup with him to share his last days. A hackneyed theme you could say, and I would agree. This seems to be the formula nowadays for writing books and making Shankarnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5229631.post-1093389332006893542004-08-24T16:15:00.002-07:002004-08-24T16:15:32.006-07:00 The Bourne Supremacy (20 August 2004)
Perhaps I have outgrown the espionage genre but this movie came off as rather flat and pointless. Of course, as an obligatory disclaimer I should mention that I have not read any of the Bourne series by Ludlum but there were a lot of stereotypes the movie could have very well done without. For starters, we should lose the pouty, thickly Irish accented Shankarnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5229631.post-1093389320330274742004-08-24T16:15:00.001-07:002004-08-24T16:15:20.330-07:00 Ayitha Ezhuthu (28 July 2004)
This was a much sleeker version of "Yuva" rendered in Tamil. With the exception of Madhavan who looked out of sorts playing a Madras hoodlum, the performances were much better in the Tamil version not to mention Sujatha's dialogue which in retrospect sounded so bland in Hindi.Shankarnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5229631.post-1093389308310642252004-08-24T16:15:00.000-07:002004-08-24T16:15:08.310-07:00Raghu Romeo
Rajat Kapoor's brilliant little indie venture was a treat to watch. The movie is co-produced by NFDC and a dozen other overnight entrepreneurs who responded to the director's call over the net and chipped in with contributions somewhat akin to the manner Living in Oblivion was made. Raghu Romeo is a hilarious send-up of the crass television soap operas that dominate afternoon Shankarnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5229631.post-1093389296521860662004-08-24T16:14:00.004-07:002004-08-24T16:14:56.520-07:00 Pride and Prejudice
Ever since I finished reading the novel which was not a week ago, I was anxious to see the televised version. This one was made in 1995 and starred Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle. I am happy to say that it exceeded my wildest expectations and other than imagining Mr. Darcy to be less handsomer than Colin Firth is and Elizabeth slightly thinner than Jennifer Ehle is, it isShankarnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5229631.post-1093389284078702902004-08-24T16:14:00.003-07:002004-08-24T16:14:44.076-07:00Spider-Man 2 (2 July 2004)
As a regular movie, Spider-Man 2 is bunkum. As a comic-book movie, it imitates the comic-book perfectly but fails to justify its raison d'etre -- the comic-book would have done admirably better. As a sequel, it is incomplete, flatter than its predecessor. As a vehicle for Kirsten Dunst, the franchise needs to throw her overboard. The only justifiable reason for her Shankarnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5229631.post-1093389271315812452004-08-24T16:14:00.002-07:002004-08-24T16:14:31.316-07:00 The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1 July 2004)
This movie came with glowing recommendations and incessant allusions to the possibility that Quentin Tarantino based his naming of characters after colours in Reservoir Dogs on this movie. I was even willing to condone the movie as a classic B-grade suspense thriller replete with stereotypical one-liners on women, the Japanese and Shankarnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5229631.post-1093389259765990232004-08-24T16:14:00.001-07:002004-08-24T16:14:19.766-07:00Dev (27 June 2004)
When a director of Govind Nihalani's repute and an actor of Amitabh Bachchan's stature come together to make a movie about the Gujarat riots, one has the right to feel at ease and overanxious to applaud their venture. Unfortunately, Dev succumbs to an overdose of brutal imagery, badly miscast characters and a vague, confused resolution. But the biggest gripe I have with theShankarnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5229631.post-1093389248129352982004-08-24T16:14:00.000-07:002004-08-24T16:14:08.130-07:00 Lakshya (26 June 2004)
One of the best Hindi movies I have seen in recent times. Granted that the storyline was a bit hackneyed, the cinematography, action sequences and the ensemble acting performance elevate the movie much beyond the paltry norms of regular Hindi cinema. The movie is delicately assertive without being excessively jingoistic or hot-blooded, unrushed without being dull Shankarnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5229631.post-1093389235793068002004-08-24T16:13:00.003-07:002004-08-24T16:13:55.793-07:00 The Pink Panther
This has got to be one of the greatest slapstick comedies of all time. With Peter Sellers, David Niven as starcast and delicious spots in Italy and France as shooting locales no movie can go wrong. Coming back to Peter Sellers, The Pink Panther captures Peter Sellers at his self-deprecating, Chaplinesque best even though he portrayed far better such characters in moviesShankarnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5229631.post-1093389221075756532004-08-24T16:13:00.002-07:002004-08-24T16:13:41.076-07:00 Mystic River
Clint Eastwood should stick to Westerns. The AMPAS should decide to honour all its debts of gratitude and obligations within every calendar year (that way, the rest of us might have been spared the disappointment of seeing a rather insipid and clichéd performance of Sean Penn and wonder at his winning the award). Marcia Gay Harden should be banned from making any more movies Shankarnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5229631.post-1093389209906645622004-08-24T16:13:00.001-07:002004-08-24T16:13:29.906-07:00 Clerks (13 June 2004)
I am at a loss to understand what made this movie such a cult sensation. The stylised witticisms and supposedly pointed observations in highfaluting language coming from regular everyday clerks is rather unnatural. In as much as this was an independent movie, surely the casting should have merited better attention. Kevin Smith tries rather flatly to infuse too much Shankarnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5229631.post-1093389197930772452004-08-24T16:13:00.000-07:002004-08-24T16:13:17.930-07:00 The Last Supper
This is a darkly funny movie about a bunch of liberal-minded graduate students on a "vigilante" conservatives-killing spree. At the beginning, the movie took broad swipes at the pro-choice, gun-wielding, white supremacist factions but as the bodycount steps up, the students themselves fall prey to their hollow notions. The real star of the show is Ron Perlman whose cool, Shankarnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5229631.post-1093389183188018012004-08-24T16:12:00.004-07:002004-08-24T16:13:03.186-07:00 Yuva (12 June 2004)
As a Mani Ratnam movie, Yuva came somewhat as a disappointment and this was in spite of having resolved not to carry with myself any form of baggage in the form of the indifferent reviews the movie had received before I myself went to watch it. With the exception of the first part which centred around Abhishek Bachchan and Rani Mukherjee, the story lacked force and Shankarnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5229631.post-1093389171494665072004-08-24T16:12:00.003-07:002004-08-24T16:12:51.493-07:00Pornstar: The Legend of Ron Jeremy
Ron Jeremy has been hailed as the biggest porn star and yet he is uncommonly fat, loves to eat and has a big paunch. This documentary was intended as a biopic as well as an insight into the porn industry and the accompanying social stigma. A lot of assumed myths are shattered about the men and women in this field.Shankarnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5229631.post-1093389160019017832004-08-24T16:12:00.002-07:002004-08-24T16:12:40.020-07:00 Diner
Barry Levinson's first movie in a series of movies based in Baltimore, Diner is a brilliant, heartwarming and funny movie about a group of friends who reunite on the occasion of the wedding of one amongst them. The movie projects the changes in lifestyle and circumstances the men who knew each other as boys have to reconcile with and how they stick up for one another. The movie also Shankarnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5229631.post-1093389145524947272004-08-24T16:12:00.001-07:002004-08-24T16:12:25.526-07:00Hum Tum (5 June 2004)
A Hindi version of When Harry Met Sally, this movie is redeemed by performances from Saif Ali Khan and Rani Mukherjee. As an actor, Saif Ali Khan has turned from his insipid performances in earlier movies like Hameshaa to spectacular accomplishments in Dil Chahta Hai, Ek Hasina Thi and now Hum Tum.Shankarnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5229631.post-1093389133928895892004-08-24T16:12:00.000-07:002004-08-24T16:12:13.926-07:00 Living in Oblivion
This movie was as independently made as they come. Apparently some of the money was put forward by a couple of actors in the movie. The movie is somewhat self-referential which is something that I am not quite enamoured of but the one-liners and Buscemi's and Keener's performance more than compensated for my bias. A good watch.Shankarnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5229631.post-1093389123031374092004-08-24T16:11:00.004-07:002004-08-24T16:12:03.030-07:00 War of the Shaolin Temple
Following the Kill Bill series, I was inspired to watch a few martial arts movies fully aware that the production values were going to be abysmal. Sadly, I was not prepared for the War of the Shaolin Temple. Although the fights were at times enchanting, it was hard to focus on one single combat between two fighters seeing as scores of others were in simultaneous Shankarnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5229631.post-1093389110016647602004-08-24T16:11:00.003-07:002004-08-24T16:11:50.016-07:00 Being There
Peter Sellers revels in this sedate movie about a gardener called Chance and how he ends up walking on water. There is gentle satire mixed with grandmotherly wisdom in how Chance's unhurried reflections on gardening and the simpler pleasures of life has such an effect from everybody from the President of the United States to a butler.Shankarnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5229631.post-1093389099823240792004-08-24T16:11:00.002-07:002004-08-24T16:11:39.823-07:00 Il Bidone
No more Fellini for me. Or if I must watch them, I shall on 2x with the subtitles. The last time, I watched a Fellini I felt bilious and betrayed. It was La Dolce Vita and its self-indulgence simply turned me off. This movie is more about greed and treachery untempered by the hapless world around its characters. Ever so often, one of them comes close to a moral purgation but then Shankarnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5229631.post-1093389088358637662004-08-24T16:11:00.001-07:002004-08-24T16:11:28.356-07:00 Stand By Me
I wish more of Stephen King's non-horror novellas were made into movies and that he continues to write many more in this genre. His other non-horror novella was "Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption" of whose translation to Hollywood one hardly need make a mention. Stand By Me is based on Stephen King's Body and is a fascinating, heartwarming story of four boys in a little townShankarnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5229631.post-1093389072834869462004-08-24T16:11:00.000-07:002004-08-24T16:11:12.833-07:00 Mera Saaya (31 May 2004)
This was an unexpectedly good movie that strayed very little to Bollywood humdrum like the compulsory "comic" interludes which fell flat and the clichéd conservatism with regard to the model code of conduct for a Hindu woman who is married. The movie was made by Raj Khosla, one of Guru Dutt's close associates and the one who made C.I.D. His interview about Guru Shankarnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5229631.post-1093389057019418152004-08-24T16:10:00.004-07:002004-08-24T16:10:57.020-07:00 See How They Run
In my rush of blood after watching Journeys with George and The War Room, I saw another political documentary, See How They Run but it did not compare with the former two on any scale, not the least being the scale of the elections. The documentary follows the 2000 Mayoral elections in San Francisco with Willie Brown seeking re-election and vying against some listless Shankarnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5229631.post-1093389044726747202004-08-24T16:10:00.003-07:002004-08-24T16:10:44.726-07:00 Conspiracy (30 May 2004)
This is a movie that was made for TV, albeit the HBO. A brilliant recreation of the Wannsee Conference where a group of influential bureaucrats and military men alike met and debated, nay were forced into a consensus on General Heydrich's proposal to "evacuate" the Jews using a novel method involving gas chambers. From the recreation, the most anybody got to withShankarnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5229631.post-1093389034402564102004-08-24T16:10:00.002-07:002004-08-24T16:10:34.403-07:00 The Triplets of Belleville (29 May 2004)
A unique and mostly funny animation feature. The movie was nominated for the Oscar but had to contend with Finding Nemo. So I am guessing exactly one member of the AMPAS must have voted for it. But what a movie! Some at IMDb compared it with Shrek. I would say this movie is as far away from Shrek as Shrek itself was from what was then mainstream Shankarnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5229631.post-1093389023759584312004-08-24T16:10:00.001-07:002004-08-24T16:10:23.760-07:00 The Householder
The Householder is one of Ivory-Merchant's earlier productions. The movie is based on Ruth Prawer Jhabvala's novel by the same name. It is a humorous look into the life of a newly married college professor who finds it hard initially to love his wife and his own new set of increased responsibilities. And by the time, he manages to realise this his mother enters the scene and Shankarnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5229631.post-1093389012799038902004-08-24T16:10:00.000-07:002004-08-24T16:10:12.800-07:00 Ying Xiong (Hero, 28 May 2004)
Overruling my prejudice and contempt for Chinese movies, I decided to watch this movie which was being screened as part of a weeklong celebration organised by Caltech's Asian Pacific Student Union. The movie was screened at the Beckman Institute Auditorium and the big screen there was one of several factors that worked in favour of watching the movie. On theShankarnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5229631.post-1093389001321411222004-08-24T16:09:00.005-07:002004-08-24T16:10:01.323-07:00 Spoorloos (21 May 2004)
Spoorloos, or The Vanishing, is a one-of-a-kind psychological thriller. A man and his girlfriend are holidaying in France, when his girlfriend mysteriously vanishes. The man is distraught but is determined to look for her. Three years on, he is still haunted by her and is not able to come to terms with his life without her. He wants to know what became of her and Shankarnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5229631.post-1093388989695833692004-08-24T16:09:00.004-07:002004-08-24T16:09:49.696-07:00 Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (15 May 2004)
My first Charlie Kaufman movie was Being John Malkovich which I could not bring myself to like in spite of John Cusack and Catherine Keener. It probably had more to do with my revulsion for John Malkovich himself however erudite and suave he may be, for I loved Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. The movie is a brilliant exploration of Shankarnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5229631.post-1093388976921201412004-08-24T16:09:00.003-07:002004-08-24T16:09:36.920-07:00 The Candidate
One could be forgiven for thinking this was a documentary. But no! Michael Ritchie's The Candidate won the Academy award for best original screenplay in 1973 which goes to show one of two things -- either the Academy is overwhelmingly Democrat-leaning or the members were playing Russian roulette, neither of which is in much doubt. It was not my intention to pan the movie Shankarnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5229631.post-1093388966271920522004-08-24T16:09:00.002-07:002004-08-24T16:09:26.270-07:00 Hoosiers
This movie must be watched purely from the point of view that it was the pioneer of the underdog-beats-favourites sports movie genre. And it was based on or inspired from a true story. If only the romance angle had been done away with, it would have been perfect. Nonetheless, Gene Hackman delivers a fluent performance as the determined, know-all coach and his role is alone worthShankarnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5229631.post-1093388955724891012004-08-24T16:09:00.001-07:002004-08-24T16:09:15.723-07:00 Le Cercle Rouge
One could say that Jean-Pierre Melville's Le Cercle Rouge is a dispassionate, steadily moving crime drama about an ex-convict, a fugitive convict and a troubled ex-cop. But the movie has many more pivotal characters, like the Commissaire who delivers the motif of the movie when he says "Nobody is innocent, Mr. Mattei" (in French of course) and then disappears and Mr. Shankarnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5229631.post-1093388944415914822004-08-24T16:09:00.000-07:002004-08-24T16:09:04.416-07:00 Go
This comes from the director of Swingers and sure enough, does not fail to satisfy. It was billed as a black comedy but I thought there were more shades of regular comedy to it than irony or trenchant wit. Desmond Askew as Simon and Timothy Oliphaunt as Todd Gaines are hilarious while Katie Holmes is noticeably cute, though she has only a secondary role to play.Shankarnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5229631.post-1093388933447922532004-08-24T16:08:00.004-07:002004-08-24T16:08:53.446-07:00 Best In Show (5 May 2004)
Christopher Guest's "mockumentary" is bitingly (pun unintended) funny. It is a trenchant send-up of the world of dog shows and the people obsessed with them. For its part though, some of the dogs were indeed extremely royal to look at -- the American Husky and the bloodhound for instance while some were positively loathsome -- the standard poodle, the shih-tzu Shankarnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5229631.post-1093388921793880212004-08-24T16:08:00.003-07:002004-08-24T16:08:41.793-07:00 Ferris Bueller's Day Off
This is one flippantly suave movie, with a good performance from Matthew Broderick. Of course, it was uncut in parts but made for good entertainment on the whole. Oooh.. that Ferrari!Shankarnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5229631.post-1093388911338152192004-08-24T16:08:00.002-07:002004-08-24T16:08:31.336-07:00 Jerry Seinfeld: I'm Telling You For the Last Time (29 April 2004)
This hilarious one-hour routine comes additionally with a great prelude where Seinfeld's material is given a decent burial and is mourned by, amongst others, Paul Reiser, Jay Leno, George Carlin and Garry Shandling. It has the usual punchlines about relationships, men and women, Superman and Chinese food. There is also a Shankarnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5229631.post-1093388899044721622004-08-24T16:08:00.001-07:002004-08-24T16:08:19.043-07:00 Breaking Away
I suspect that "Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar" was loosely inspired on this movie. Other than the movie itself, what is most alluring is its soundtrack which features a delightful medley of popular Italian operas and concert pieces like the Barber of Seville, Marriage of Figaro and so on.Shankarnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5229631.post-1093388887929697142004-08-24T16:08:00.000-07:002004-08-24T16:08:07.930-07:00 Diggstown
James Woods and Louis Gossett Jr. star in this reasonably entertaining movie about a ten-men knockout challenge. There is nothing extraordinary about the movie other than that the performances are decent and it was funny in most parts.Shankarnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5229631.post-1093388877480054102004-08-24T16:07:00.004-07:002004-08-24T16:07:57.480-07:00Kill Bill, Vol. 2 (16 April 2004)
The consensus is that Vol. 2 is better than Vol. 1 in that there was more character development. I might have felt the same thing but, somehow I liked to think of Kill Bill as a salute to the seventies, the B-grade movies and the martial arts movies of that era. In that regard, Vol. 2 did not have nearly the same kick as Vol. 1 did. So, I shall say this: Vol.Shankarnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5229631.post-1093388863121010802004-08-24T16:07:00.003-07:002004-08-24T16:07:43.120-07:00 Swingers
A hilarious movie about nothing. There are obvious parallels to Seinfeld and in fact the movie plays out like an extended two-hour session of Seinfeld where the lead characters talk about their break-ups, Las Vegas, the LA gun story, swing dancing and money. Very smart dialogue and a sensational performance by Vince Vaughn who has shades of Kramer in his role.Shankarnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5229631.post-1093388851844596402004-08-24T16:07:00.002-07:002004-08-24T16:07:31.846-07:00 Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne (13 April 2004)
This is a delightfully hilarious movie. Satyajit Ray's ideals of minimalism and simplicity are conveyed quite effectively in this feature but what makes it such a treat to watch is the enchantingly rustic music composed by Ray himself and the splendid performances Tapen Chatterjee and Rabi Ghosh render as the principal characters, the latter in Shankarnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5229631.post-1093388837409174962004-08-24T16:07:00.001-07:002004-08-24T16:07:17.410-07:00 The Man from Laramie (7 April 2004)
It started off with the hackneyed and corny anthem about the Man from Laramie sung in unison as the credits rolled. In fact, uptil the first half-hour I had no idea that this was more than just a Western and assumed that James Stewart could not surely have made all good movies. But, was I wrong. This movie has an intricate plot and was surprisingly Shankarnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5229631.post-1093388825348064442004-08-24T16:07:00.000-07:002004-08-24T16:07:05.346-07:00 The Ladykillers (31 March 2004)
This is the original 1955 Ealing Studios comedy starring Alec Guinness and Peter Sellers and needless to say, the much better version and I say this in spite of not having seen the newer version and in spite (or perhaps on account) of the Coen brothers. Classic British trenchant satire with awesome performances from Alec Guinness, Peter Sellers and of courseShankarnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5229631.post-1093388814457511562004-08-24T16:06:00.003-07:002004-08-24T16:06:54.456-07:00 Trois Couleurs: Bleu (Three Colours: Blue, 27 March 2004)
The first thing that struck me about this movie was the profusion of blue. There is blue in the little glass chandelier, in the clear night waters of the swimming pool and a blue in Juliette Binoche's eyes. I was hardly aware that this movie and the two that followed it were such sensations and having seen Bleu, I can see why. This Shankarnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5229631.post-1093388801513635632004-08-24T16:06:00.002-07:002004-08-24T16:06:41.513-07:00 Babí Léto (Autumn Spring, 23 March 2004)
This is a delightful Czech movie about old age and death. While the protagonist, who is seventy-five, mocks death and is oblivious of it as he stages his pranks to buy mansions and curtsies to young women his wife is overwrought by her approaching end and strives continuously to prepare for it. She distributes her husband's pension into money for Shankarnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5229631.post-1093388788920211752004-08-24T16:06:00.001-07:002004-08-24T16:06:28.920-07:00 All the President's Men
An intensely entertaining political thriller, All the President's Men captures in near-accurate detail most of the events leading to the greatest journalistic achievement in United States history -- the uncovering of the Watergate scandal. While all the suspense is owed entirely to actual occurrings, the movie deserves applause for its unflinching devotion to Shankarnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5229631.post-1093388776314834162004-08-24T16:06:00.000-07:002004-08-24T16:06:16.313-07:00 Barton Fink
Coen brothers' Barton Fink is a perplexing movie. Sure, it won the Cannes Grand Prize but then the French have always mistaken vacuity and abstractness for art. I believe that the sole enterprise of making a movie is to convey a point articulately. No film director deserves to make a movie if he fails in that simple premise. It does not matter how deep or shallow the thesis of Shankarnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5229631.post-1093388761541794872004-08-24T16:05:00.004-07:002004-08-24T16:06:01.540-07:00 Melvin Goes to Dinner
This is a brilliantly refreshing movie that comes across more like a one-act play, which indeed it is seeing as it is based on a play called "The Phyro-giants" written by Michael Blieden who plays Melvin in the movie as well. The principal characters meet up quite "unexpectedly" at a dinner and end up expounding on and enquiring about sex, life, religion, Shankarnoreply@blogger.com0