[chevelle]

Adjustment Bureau (2011)

Now this is something new. A whole new genre of fiction with romance. Quite intriguing.

Its about an impromptu romance between a politician and a ballet dancer which is supposedly controlled by a bureau. Sounds cool and interesting, isn't it? It indeed is.

Story - Romantic, Intriguing, thoughtful, great concept
Acting - subtle, believable, natural, good chemistry, great ballet moves by Emily. Good to see Matt in a different role.
Cinematography - Excellent. NY at its best
Dialogs - does the job. some are real good.
Support cast - again excellent.
Action - not the bham-bham-thank-you-ma'am kind. feels old school, running around.
BGM - Pretty good.

4/5

[RavenAvi]

Apocalypse Now - One of the most powerful war films ever made, this one will sweep you off your feet. Based in Vietnam, it is about one man who has been completely consumed by the ill-fated war and has barricaded himself and turned into a God, and another man who has his own inner conflicts and doubts while he is sent after him. The film conveys one of the strongest statements about the after-effects of a war on the psyche of a battle-weary soldier, and how!

Marlon Brando towers over the cast with his fantastic Colonel Kurtz, while Martin Sheen fights his own demons in his self-deterioration in a remarkably strong performance as Capt. Willard. The supporting cast is equally strong - Robert Duvall, Dennis Hopper, Scott Glenn, a very young Laurence Fishburne & Harrison Ford, among others.

The "Redux" version adds another 50 minutes of interesting addendum to an already long film, but it grips you so tight from beginning to finish that you never quite notice the clock. Mesmerising, bizarre, dark, satirical, haunting - it's tough to find all the proper adjectives for Coppola's triumphing masterpiece, but ultimately you can vouch for one thing with steely conviction - this is THE Citizen Kane of war films. Be warned though, this is not an easy film to watch.

"I love the smell of napalm in the morning." Indeed!

* * * * ½

[shamik.bose]

Originally Posted by Technocrat

Watched Schindler's List

Attachment 563512

This is a Master Piece by Steven Spielberg, the movie is gripping & touches your heart at various places. The movie depicts the atrocities faced by Polish Jews at the hands of German SS Officers at Krakow. The story is about a Nazi Businessman who starts with identifying a good business opportunity during the War but soon starts feeling the pain of the Prisoners(Jews) & tries his best to save as many as he can. Towards the end of the war, he spends his entire fortune to ensure saving over 1000 Jews from certain death.

Liam Neeson, Ralph Fiennes & Ben Kingsley played their roles brilliantly.

I wonder why I didn't see this movie before. The only thing I missed was that not much info was given about Oscar Schindler in the post war era. I believe that was done to avoid dilution of his main achievement, but they could have shown it in Text like they did at other places.

5/5



What a coincidence, I saw the movie over this weekend too

That would be Oskar, thanks to the way Germans spell.

Watched these two movies

The Next Three Days:
*ing Russell Crowe, Elizabeth Banks

It's a story about how a guy's wife is charged wrongly of her boss' murder. The guy in question is just an average Joe and learns various tips from the internet, such as how to break into a car using a tennis ball. Using all the information thus gathered, he makes plans to break his wife out of prison and flee the country

The cons:
1. Too long to be very tight
2. Too many characters, few of whom could have been done without

The pros:
1. Russell Crowe, as usual, is brilliant.
2. The basic premise of the movie is very strong

3.5/5

In Bruges:
*ing Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson

This story is about two hit-men, one senior and another a newbie. They are sent to Bruges, in Belgium, to cool off. The senior then receives instructions from the boss to kill the apprentice, as he had accidentally killed a child, along with the intended victim.

The cons:
1. Predictable storyline
2. Flimsy premise

The pros:
1. Lovely cinematography of Bruges
2. Colin Farrell's performance

2.5/5

[abhinav.s]

Watched the following movies:

Gran Torino

Very good acting by Clint Eastwood. Though its slow to begin with, it warms up gradually and you are fully engrossed in the story. A very hard hitting climax and class acting and direction by CE.

4/5

Million Dollar Baby

After Gran Torino, i had high expectations of this one. This one begins with a good pace with some dull slow moments in between but slows down considerably towards the end. Good watch nonetheless and again very good acting by all the main protagonists (Clint Eastwood, Morgan Freeman, Hilary Swank).

3.5/5

[Abhay]

^You should also watch Invictus (if you haven't already) to complete a hat-trick of Eastwood films! :-)

The Constant Gardener A movie about how big pharmaceutical companies are using poor Africans as guinea pigs and their nexus with politicians (who else)
Great acting (as is his wont) by Ralph Fiennes and Rachel Weisz. Very impressive cinematography and music/score as well.
3.5/5

[mayankk]

Anybody seen "tank girl"?
no plot so to speak.
post doomsday movie, based on the comic.
hilarious!

PS: i know this maybe off-topic.
but i need to know.
Does anybody have a problem watching a film post reading the book?
or not being able to read the book after watching the film?
specifically for the godfather?
10 years, and i havent been able to sit through the movie once!

[abhinav.s]

Originally Posted by Abhay

^You should also watch Invictus (if you haven't already) to complete a hat-trick of Eastwood films! :-)

Next in line!! And owing to the reviews here, should be a good watch!

Originally Posted by mayankk

Does anybody have a problem watching a film post reading the book?

Yes i do. I could not see the godfather movie though i enjoyed reading the book. Felt the same for Bourne Identity though i watched the complete movie

[Swanand Inamdar]

Same here. Almost every movie made from a novel has been a let down.
The Da Vinci Code was the biggest let down. So was Angels and Demons.
Ironically, Godfather was the only movie that I liked. Probably because of Marlon Brando .

[Gooney]

Originally Posted by mayankk

Does anybody have a problem watching a film post reading the book?
or not being able to read the book after watching the film?
specifically for the godfather?
10 years, and i havent been able to sit through the movie once!

I do not have a problem per se, but yes, once you read the book, the movie fails to capture your imagination. I watched the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy about the time it was released (~2005) and then recently started reading the book. Half way through I downloaded the movie and watched it again. I havent touched the book since.

IMO, the Lord of the Rings series are among the few movies that have really done justice to the books given the length and details of the books. I can hardly wait for 'The Hobbit.'

Another good book-movie combo that I can recall is Pappilion.

[carboy]

Originally Posted by mayankk

Does anybody have a problem watching a film post reading the book?
or not being able to read the book after watching the film?
specifically for the godfather?
10 years, and i havent been able to sit through the movie once!

I had read the Godfather book atleast 4 or 5 times before I saw the movie. I have now seen the movie atleast 4-5 times. I love it every time - Part 1 & Part 2.

I have seen a lot of movies based on John Grisham's books. I liked the movies but not so much as the books. Even the movies which were made well, didn't impress I knew the book - but somehow this didn't affect my watching of Godfather.

[shamik.bose]

Just had to post this review of "The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas"

Hadn't even heard about this movie till two nights back, when a friend happened to mention it when I was talking about Schindler's List. Happened to watch it just now, and by God, does it touch a chord! Fantastic performances by each and every member of the cast, specially the child actors who played the lead roles of Bruno, the son of a German Commander sent to overlook a concentration camp, and Schmuel, the son of an inmate at the camp. The last scene is bound to get you misty-eyed, no matter how tough you might be. Brilliant movie.

5/5.

EDIT: Sorry I forgot to mention the director. Full marks to him for parallelizing the affluence of the commander's family and the conditions in the "work camp". There isn't one explicit portrayal of violence, but it underlies the entire movie.

[mayankk]

Originally Posted by shamik.bose

Just had to post this review of "The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas"

Hadn't even heard about this movie till two nights back, when a friend happened to mention it when I was talking about Schindler's List. Happened to watch it just now, and by God, does it touch a chord! Fantastic performances by each and every member of the cast, specially the child actors who played the lead roles of Bruno, the son of a German Commander sent to overlook a concentration camp, and Schmuel, the son of an inmate at the camp. The last scene is bound to get you misty-eyed, no matter how tough you might be. Brilliant movie.

5/5.

yup, saw it some time back.
its a different spin on the holocaust, but the ending leaves you slightly shocked, even when you know whats coming.
agree with 5/5

[archat68]

+1
It's an excellent watch.
I'll also give it 5/5

Originally Posted by shamik.bose

Just had to post this review of "The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas"

Hadn't even heard about this movie till two nights back, when a friend happened to mention it when I was talking about Schindler's List. Happened to watch it just now, and by God, does it touch a chord! Fantastic performances by each and every member of the cast, specially the child actors who played the lead roles of Bruno, the son of a German Commander sent to overlook a concentration camp, and Schmuel, the son of an inmate at the camp. The last scene is bound to get you misty-eyed, no matter how tough you might be. Brilliant movie.

5/5.

EDIT: Sorry I forgot to mention the director. Full marks to him for parallelizing the affluence of the commander's family and the conditions in the "work camp". There isn't one explicit portrayal of violence, but it underlies the entire movie.

[Technocrat]

Watched Proof of Life



The story is about a kidnapped Dam engineer who works for an oil company. The rebels had kidnapped him for ransom & then mistook him to be working for the oil pipeline.

Russel Crowe is renowned Negotiator who comes in initially but is moved out as the Engineer's company had no insurance for Kidnapping. After a dialog with the engineer's wife (Meg Ryan) He changes his mind & returns back to help.

Overall an average movie worth watching only for Russel Crowe, Meg Ryan had very little to do besides she looks old now.

2.5/5

[mobike008]

Watched "The Matador" starring Pierce Brosnan and Greg Kinnear

PB is a hit man and Greg is a salesman who meet in Mexico. Both are opposites in character. While PB has an atrocious behaviour syndrome and Greg is meek in nature. Some moments between them was nice...

This movie shows the unlikely friendship between the two with some twists and turns

Movie is quite long, more than little boring and is nothing special.

Watch it if you like PB, as he acted quite well as a hitman who is losing "it"

1.5/5

Next in Line : " Run" starring Patrick Demsey and Kelly Preston.I am told its a nice action thriller.