After a long break

Last 2 years have been quite a journey in my life and somehow, I failed to make time for this blog and even for movies.

I did see a few good movies over this time with the latest being "The Separation".

Hope to continue documenting the movies I watch in this blog.

Up in the Air

Yesterday, i saw the movie, "Up in the Air".
It is quite an amazing movie. No wonder, Roger Ebert has given 4 stars.


It made me thinking. (as if i wasn't before ;))
Here is a guy who loves his job, has a personal goal (ok.for some, it might be a stupid goal) and is content with the way life goes.
Suddenly everything changes...is it a realization about what he's missing?!
How can one say that he's missing something? who sets the definition?

Initially, this movie makes one think that people are alone and happy because they prefer it that way. At the end, it makes one think that it's not the case. People are alone because there is no alternative!

And i also wonder whether he really made the generous contribution of miles?!

In any case, a movie worth watching.

Into The Wild

typed on July 4th,2008 :)
---------------------------
this is not a complete review of the movie...but just a few thoughts after watching the movie...

Well, what a movie!
It's been quite sometime since i saw a movie which was gripping on every scene and made me go thru complete rollercoaster of emotions...
But, out of all that, one thing that mainly stands out is, having a child is a great responsibility...any humanbeing's way of thinking is really influenced by his childhood...he might be greatly intelligent, artistic and everything...but still the way one handles or goes thru life or takes life is dependent on one's childhood...

And really anybody can take only their parents for granted...there is nobody else in the world including spouse who can be taken for granted. Parents are a different species i think, but the problem is we never appreciate this fact fully.
Guess, whatever we achieve in life, whether we like it or not, we always need to care for the parents concerns....because when we are gone, they are the ones who'll be left with the last worries...The scene when his father just sits in the middle of the road was quite moving. One forgets the fact that parents were one of the main reasons for the individual to leave the society.

Another important point in the movie is, when one realizes that one wants to live life, fear enters into mind...when one is careless, nothing in the world stops them as one feels no bindings, no responsibilities and any risk is worth taking.

This is exactly the reason why he feels scared to cross the river...because by then he has realized that he wants to go back and live life.

How strange...Only when we realize that we need to live life, we stop living the life...

Another thought was maybe there is no such thing as complete perfection in this world... Everything is tainted..everything needs a balance in life...

Emile Hirsch acting was good. It's a well directed movie which never stops amazing one over the complete duration... But, one thing i felt was, maybe the length could've been reduced a bit over the end.

Check out here for a few of my favourite quotes/conversations from the movie...

American Gangster - There are two sides to the American dream.

I liked this movie for Frank Lucas's shrewdness...i like it for his guts to go all the way to Thailand to procure dope, to use Military plane for the transportation, to take on Italians and other gangs, all with full collaboration,to consider the dope selling from a pure business perspective.
It was really sad to see that a chinchilla fur coat and hat brought him into the police radar. No wonder he burns it later!

At the same, Detective Richie Roberts is simply amazing. It really takes quite a steel of strength to turn over a million and go on with your job, when the whole department is corrupted.
Interestingly, Frank Lucas becomes the first client for Richie Roberts as defense attorney.

My most fav quote from the movie:

"Success. It's got enemies. You can be successful and have enemies or you can be unsuccessful and have friends."
"Listen to me, the loudest one in the room is the weakest one in the room."
"Judges, lawyers, cops, politicians. They stop bringing dope into this country, about a hundred thousand people are gonna be out of a job."
"The most important thing in business is honesty, integrity, hardwork... family... never forgetting where we came from."

Regarding the cast, Denzel washington seems to be a perfect fit for an uptight mafia don role and Russell crowe fits perfectly as the ruffled honest cop.

Michael Clayton

Posting here after a long time...saw quite a few movies though.
it's been quite time since i wanted to watch this movie. Mainly because of George Clooney.

A good movie, quite an interesting subject. But i am not able to appreciate so much from an oscar nominated movie perspective.
George Clooney was ok...he was much better in Syriana.

Also from a feministic perspective, got a doubt as why the "uNorth" executive was portrayed as such a vulnerable female character!! But happy to know that Tilda Swinton received oscar for her performance.

Dream Girls

This is an ok movie... somehow i wasn't able to understand why it won any oscar award...
ok..to some extent the female lead actress, Jennifer Hudson, has acted well...but i didn't find it to be oscar worthy...

When compared to this musical, my favourite "Chicago" is really an amazing movie... it's a class apart from this... (maybe my comparison is incorrect...but still :))

Here is the imdb review..

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0443489/

Pather Panchali, Aparajito

It's been quite sometime since i posted a blog post...
guess, i was a bit lazy...hope to overcome the same :)

Got a chance to watch quite a few movies...
one movie that stands out is "Pather Panchali"

I really understood why this movie is considered one of the best movies...
It's a very poetic movie... Even the main story line is about the struggle of a family, it comprises of a 4 main characters as per my opinion....
First comes the Old Aunt... then the Girl... then the Mother and atlast the Apu...

Each of these characters have been depicted so true to their form.

I was left with a very sad heart at the end of the movie... Any person who has gone thru a bit of sadness in life will be able to perfectly correlate this movie a lot than others...



Infact when compared to "Pather Panchali", the next movie "Aparajito" is not so great... maybe because the number of main characters is just two and not many instances are depicted to strengthen the characters.
I like the mother who goes through the trauma living alone and being unable to communicate perfectly with her son.

Yet to watch the third movie in this Trilogy, "The World of Apu"

In the mood for love

i had watched the movie, "The Days of being wild" by Wong-Kar-Wai...
frankly i neither understood the movie nor was impressed...

but took this movie over the weekend and i am happy that i watched this movie.
this is one of the best romantic movies (in it's own unique way) i've watched. ofcourse, according to me :)

there are no lengthy dialogues... infact there is no single moment of expression of love in words.

still was able to understand the feelings that flow between them. i liked the scene where they rehearse about asking their spouses about the affair...
and the best one was when he says about his singapore trip, she cries and then he asks her whether she'll come if there is an extra ticket.

i am not sure why she hesitates and never goes with him to singapore... she should've gone.

also it's really sad that he misses meeting her on his visit to hongkok...

the direction is very good...also the usage of colors (i donot know what this is called) and the scenes...it's a very light, slow paced movie...

Ebert's review - http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20010216/REVIEWS/102160303/1023