Be Cool

‘Be Cool’ is supposed to be a comedy movie, is actually the sequel of ‘Get Shorty’. Movie makes us laugh at only few instances and was also not totally unfunny. It’s a nonsense movie which makes no sense really. Boring at many places, musical at some places and funny at rare places. Mama says ‘In the kingdom of all blinds, a one eyed man is the king’. Of all ‘blind’ characters in the movie Raji was the king. Sin LaSalle was also an interesting character, an educated MBA mob. Raji and his gay bodyguard (The Rock) were amusing in most of their appearances. Travolta and Thurman’s dance sequence reminded me of wonderful ‘Pulp Fiction’, just reminded!!! These two were dancing in ‘Pulp Fiction’ also. Overall a lazy, rhythmless and predictable comedy, not much to be talked about.


My Rating:5/10
Entertainment Value: 60%

The Usual Suspects

An astonishing storyline, a great script and complete awe at finale!!! What else can be expected from a thriller? There are plenty of twist and turns in the movie to keep viewers on the edge of the seat. As said in the movie “The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist”; the whole movie can be summed up in above sentence. The name ‘Keyser Soze’ is not just a name, it’s Devil in itself. The name won’t leave you at least couple of days after watching the movie. The convoluted story line pops up something new every moment. On the other side such a convoluted plot keeps on puzzling and bothering you and that is what we want from a suspense thriller. The crippled criminal role which won Kevin Spacey an Oscar award was well deserved. The story most definitely is a non feel good type, but the end amazes everyone. Verbal’s stories and his narration of them were superb and after the finale scene, the two other best sequences of the movie were the narration of Keyser Soze’s story and penultimate scene of the movie where Cop finds the clues from the coffee mug and the white board and other objects. Just as an FYI, I’ve been to Skokie, IL. :-)

The only thing I can complain about is slow pace of movie at few instances. Overall, it’s a slick thriller with astonishing finish.

Rating:6.9 /10
Entertainment value:70%

Chariots of Fire

My Rating:7
Entertainment Value:67%

The Deer Hunter

The Deer Hunter

This movie won best picture academy award in year 1978. Must be a movie good enough to grab Oscar best picture and four other academy awards , but somehow this motion picture didn’t do much for me to appreciate it. Robert De Nero is one of the world’s finest actors, without a doubt and his performance in the movie was marvelous. This is the story of three friends (coworkers) belonging to same ethnicity and three phase of their lives and lives of their friends and relatives and aptly the movie can also be broken down to these three phases. First phase of the movie depicts relationship between these friends before Vietnam War , the second phase shows how their lives change by Vietnam War and concluding phase is the post war era , when we are told that war has changed almost everything in their lives as well as the life of their families have also been transformed.

The movie is an extremely long durational affair with run of over three hours. First hour or so has been just wasted. Movie has been dragged a lot. Story and sequences are very perplexing and forces to do all ‘reading between the lines’ stuff. One shot bullet game is the high point of the movie. Some of the sequences are really out of line which just adds more complexities to the puzzling script of the film. Robert De Nero and the character of Mike played by him eventually emerge out as the only winners in the movie. Although after the war all three friends are change in one or the other sense; Mike has been changed emotionally, Steve Physically and Nick psychologically.

Borrow some patience from your friends and relatives before watching this movie; your own will not be sufficient. Also buy family pack of Butter Popcorn, if you are into having popcorns while watching lengthy movies.

My Rating:5.5
Entertainment Value:50%

The Shawshank Redemption

The Shawshank Redemption

This movie definitely finds a position in top ten movies of all times, at least for me, for sure. It made me unaware all the time that, I am watching a film. I assimilated all of it. Running time nears two and an half hours, but story never looses any grip. Absolutely absorbing and inspirational!!! The story illustrates the power of hope and friendship. The acting performances are also very good. Tim Robbins’s low-key approach to playing Andy is perfect and Morgan Freeman is as wonderful as always.

The fascinating character Andy, who never fails to astound us with his courage and wise, was perfectly carved by the storywriter. Andy's final surprise, a stunner, though, is his best, and it is enough to encourage even old Red to face the real world. Story gives a fair sized dose of prison brutality. Andy’s presence enriches and uplifts Shawshank’s jail, but we rarely get much reason to think that he’ll be getting out soon. Andy’s convict friends are interesting and likeable, if crude. They give the film great depth. There are usual sadistic bad folks also who go along with the inhumanity. Every time the movie made me feel that it is all depressing , Andy does something which assures that this fellow is about to find a method to survive . When the climax starts to unfold, we realize that this masterpiece is very inspiring and still we don’t feel manipulated.

There were a lot of scenes in the movie that need a mention. The most prominent being Andy’s escape. Others include new guy Tommy’s revelation about murders for which Andy was accused of. , his eventual killing by Warden and his men , Red keeping the promise he made to Andy in the jail , the very last scene of the movie , Red’s last parole hearing and Brook’s suicide scene. These scenes display the power behind the story of ‘Shawshank Redemption’. It is a story of hope and triumph, a tribute to Man's ability to overcome all the obstacles and odds. This remarkably hopeful story keeps us enraptured. Movie is a testament of overcoming odds and providing a hope to hope. Shawshank redemption is a bonafide classic.

My Rating: 9/10
Entertainment Value: 93%

A Fish Called Wanda

My Rating: 6.6/10.0
Entertainment Value: 77%

Driving Miss Daisy

A snail paced movie with brilliant acting performance by Morgan Freeman. There is a not piece in the movie which makes this movie a classic. The biggest question on my mind after watching the movie is , How could a movie like this win the best picture academy award ? The film is just about nothing. The movie can't be categorised as either comedy or drama. The movie just tried to touch problem of racism on surface. The last scene where Hoke is feeding Thanksgiving pie to Miss Daisy somewhat touches heart , but overall the movie was not that good or something to be talked about.

My Rating: 5.3
Entertainment value: 40%

Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom

The Temple of the Doom

Sequels are always to be compared with their prequels; and in this case ‘The Raiders of The Lost Ark’ was far better a movie than this. Being an Indian my involvement in this movie as an adventure loving viewer was more than that in the ‘The Raiders...’. Most part of the story was based in India. I had to watch this movie at any cost because of multiple reasons. One being I loved its prequel and the most important one; to understand as to why one the lady co-worker in my US office always asks me and my Indian co-workers questions like ‘Do you guys eat monkey brains for dessert? , Is Elephant considered a sacred animal for Indians? , Do you cook soups with eye balls floating in them? , What’s your religion? Are you a Christian? , Do you guys use telephone in India? Etc.”

I still remember that when the big boss at my US office was planning to book tickets for his visit to Indian office, she (lady co-worker in first paragraph) was saying this to him “Tim, Don’t eat anything there, these guys eat chilled monkey brains. I saw it in Indiana Jones movie. Don’t even go there? ” Listening to this remark of Janice, I felt amused a bit but for the most part, this remark was hurting. I was thinking, Are some of the Americans still so ignorant and closed minded or they just try to make fun of so called third world countries? Oops!!! My review here has started to sound more political than filmy. Okay …so time to come back to the track

Movie starts very promisingly with bar fight in Shanghai. Ending sequences were also very entertaining and zealous but movie has been laggard in the mid portions. There were many dialogues in Hindi and I understood all of them. Chinese kid ‘Short Round’ was refreshing. Not to forget, the movie has got some amazing sequences, like the collapsing bridge scene towards the end and the cart ride in mine. Movie had some quiet moments also unlike ‘Raiders of the lost ark’. Mola Ram’s act of taking out heart from living person must have been something very fresh and innovative at the time when this movie was made in the year 1984. I must say one of the most famous and effective villain of Indian film industry Amrish Puri played his role brilliantly in this movie. Roshan Seth was looking like Jawahar Lala Nehru, don’t know why? But that’s a fact and singer Willie Spot was beautiful and enchanting.

Overall a good movie, built around true spirit of adventure but not as good as its prequel but Harrison Ford and Dr. Indiana Jones ; both were as good as they were in Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Interesting information about the movie: I must mention one interesting fact about this movie. Mark told me that this movie was very gross and violent but not so much that is could be rated ‘R and hence was rated PG. So parents demanded a new rating for movies like this and hence PG-13 rating was born. Red Dawn was the first motion picture released with the PG-13 rating, which had been created after difficulty rating Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984) (Flamingo Kid, The (1984) was the first film to be *given* a PG-13 rating, but sat on the shelves for five months before being released).

My Rating: 6.7/10
Entertainment Value: 68%

PSYCHO

Amazing stuff!!! This is out an out gripping hair-raising, bloodcurdling and spine-chilling suspense movie. Throughout the whole movie, you can not predict what’s going to happen next. The famous ‘shower scene’ leaves its impression to the bottom of the heart. The music was terrifying and raises adrenaline at all important scenes. This movie actually defines a classical model for all suspense/horror movies. Movie is totally exciting. Starting from the cop chasing Marion on road, almost every sequence later leaves us curios and wanting more. The thirst for the revelation is not quenched until brilliant explanation by psychiatrist about the dual personality of psycho is displayed.

When the private detective Arbagost enters the movie, very first glimpse of him reminded me that I have seen him in one of other landmark films also, but was not able to recognize at that point of time. After doing some search and research on the internet, I was able to find out that he has played that impressive Juror#1 role in landmark movie “Twelve Angry Men”. It’s one of my favorites.

Back to Psycho, the suspense, thrill and horror mount to a terrifying climax where the mysterious killer is revealed. Anthony Perkins as Psycho Norman Bates puts up immaculate performance and his ‘mother’ was the legendry character which no one can ever forget. I am not sure if many will agree with me but, the killing scene of the detective stunned and terrified me more than the famous shower scene. The background music adds to the theme of psycho. The scene where the mother sitting on the chair turns her head towards Marion’s sister was good enough to preclude me to turn the lights off before sleeping. And just to let you know, I believe the best way to enjoy each and every second of the movie, is to watch it the way I watched it. Let the movie start at 1:00 AM and put your headphones on, so that you should not even miss a murmur.

I have read at many places that "Psycho's" famous/infamous shower scene instantly entered the collective consciousness as one of the most nightmarish moments in movie history and there are many who still get a chill every time they step into a hotel shower. See this is the power of psycho. Psycho is a harrowing trip to find the real killer of Marion, who may or may not be Norman or his mother. An extremely binding flick, "Psycho" is the ultimate chill-fest. It’s a masterpiece.

My Rating: 7.95/10
Entertainment Value: 91%

Malena

There were two stories in this Italian (subtitled in English) movie. One was about a teenage boy Renato’s journey into manhood and the other of the most beautiful and sexiest lady of a small town in Italy during World War II. Whenever and wherever Malena walks she literally turned every head in town towards her. Once her husband is killed in the war, every man intensifies his desire to be with Malena.

Renato, the school going kid, infatuates about Malena and daydreams of their life together. Sometimes they are actors in movies. Some of these imaginative sequences are so funny it's hard to stop laughing. Other dreams of his are much more sexual in nature. But nothing very vulgar or obscene or out of line comes up. Instead, the movie is filmed with an honest sensuality, and it never overplays its hand when it comes to the erotic parts. Some of the teenager problems and their solutions have been filmed grossly but in certainly amusing way. Malena's trial for alleged promiscuity was not only put in , to create laughs for viewers but the fee which Malena paid to his lawyer for winning her case made a lot of difference in her life.

Malena had to turn into a prostitute for earning a living and then finally when the war is over she is beaten up by town’s women for snatching their men’s away from them. The scene where all these town women are kicking, abusing, cursing, dragging and beating and forcefully shortening her blonde hairs and what not !!!,was brilliantly filmed and was one of the most powerful scene in the movie. When the town starts to turn against her, Renato wants badly to be her protector. His age and his inability to summon up the courage to speak to her, however, limit his ability to come to her rescue.

Just before the climax return of Malena’s husband finally gives a chance to Renato to prove his goodwill and protective feelings for Malena and he does so by helping Malena’s husband in finding her, by throwing an anonymous letter to him explaining about Malena’s situation. Finally Malena returns to the same town with her husband and it definitely required lot of courage to be in those people after what this town did to her.

Strictly a movie not supposed to be watched with family but nonetheless it entertains all the time. I have seen such a nice foreign movie after long time. The last good one I saw was ‘Run Lola Run’

My Rating : 6.7/10.0
Entertainment Value: 80%

PULP FICTION

Pulp Fiction

‘Pulp Fiction’ is truly thrilling, refreshing, amusing and energizing motion picture in its entirety. Samuel L. Jackson came up with superb acting performance and his biblical speech shown at least more than a couple of times, was mind blowing. This ‘not so simple’ tale of many characters interlinked to each other in some way or other, has its own eccentric twists and turns. Each and every character is pretty interesting and I liked Jackson’s ‘Jule’ character the most. The story about ancestral watch of Bruce Willis was interesting. In one of the scenes, nothing was happening but kid Buch’s uncle is telling him the story of the Buch’s ancestral watch and the narration is so gripping that you can’t even move.

The whole incident about how Buch ultimately makes himself ‘cool’ with the millionaire gangster starting from, him going back to his apartment for searching his father’s watch till him finally returning back to rescue the gangster from crazy torturers, was a piece of art except for the fact that the disgusting acts of those couple of torture freaks appeared bit sadistic to me. The method used by Buch’s father to keep the watch safe from German’s, narrated in the uncle’s story was quite interesting and funny. Mr. Wolf displayed an amazing authoritative personality. Uma Thurman’s drug overdose and then Travolta giving her morphine shot to rescue her life was picturised superbly. The standout performance in the movie is by Samuel L. Jackson as a killer hit man who experiences a change of heart; it's a risky concept, but Jackson manages to make the character at once funny, scary and deeply moving. . Jackson is blessed with some of Pulp Fiction's most glorious monologues and he delivers them with all his fire.

A whole lot can be written about each and every character, performances and incidents in this gripping thriller as they were so powerfully impressive. Climax of the movie is as crisp as its opening. Movie’s end will leave us thrilled, wanting more of ‘Pulp Fiction’. The whole ‘fiction’ was such a delight to watch. All I can say is ‘Pulp Fiction’ is a must watch for thriller lovers.

My Rating: 7.5 / 10.0
Entertainment Value: 86%

The Untouchables

My Rating:7/10
Entertainment Value:87.87%

The French Connection

The French Connection

A slick cop movie, based on true story with short tight run. The famous car chase scene was too good considering the fact that the movie was shot in the old time year 1971. Gene Hackman with help of Roy 'Jaws' Schieder busts a drug ring headed by a bearded Frenchman. Movie was picturised realistically. It never bores and runs quite a gripping race. Gene Hackman made me feel the anger burst inside Popeye Doyle. Director has tried to capture life on the street and he often used footage of people on the street and locations. Most of the film is made up of characters simply watching and following each other. The first couple of scenes in the movie are contrastingly amazing, one in France and the other in US. Overall, a fast pace, intense, gripping raw thriller not to be missed.

My Rating:6.79/10.0
Entertainment Value:76.66%

Cheaper By The Dozen

My Rating:6.5/10.0
Entertainment Value:69%

Magnolia

Magnolia

What an intricate creation? The movie is extremely long, runs over 3 hours. One of the most complex stories, I have ever seen! Acting performances were immaculate and Tom Cruise was phenomenal as a sex guru. The way this movie starts, makes many promises to viewers and most definitely movie doesn’t disappoint. Going thru twists and turns and interrelation between all characters, I felt puzzled at many instances. It has quite a few dragging lengthy sequences but still you will never come to know that you have actually watched this movie for more than three hours and its over. All different story lines going on at same time eventually tie into one another. The scene with frogs falling from the sky just before the climax justifies how different and puzzling this movie is. Definitely director has tried to give some preaching with the movie that deeds done in the past never leaves a person.

The language used in the movie is outrageously profane but in sync with the script. I will have to watch this movie once again to truly understand as to how the Title ‘Magnolia’ was related to the movie; at least I couldn’t understand the correlation. I am just guessing that all vibrant different colors of human spirit i.e. different characters were being compared with different petals of the flower. You won't like every character, but you will find every character extremely interesting. I've rarely ever seen such deep character portraits in a major motion picture. If you are looking for something different, radical and out of box, this is the movie for you.

My Rating: 7.4 /10
Entertainment Value: 78%

Raging Bull

Raging Bull

This is a poignant tale of a middle weight boxing champion Jake LaMotta with superb acting performances from Robert De Nero and Joe Pesci. I appreciated this duo in ‘Goodfellas’ also. But here they were even better than there performances in ‘Goodfellas’. This black and white biography of Jake LaMotta really impresses; makes us hate LaMotta whenever he turns into a violent wacko to his own family and makes us love him whenever he nearly kills his opponents in the boxing ring. Robert De Nero was successful in making me visualize the rage, the anger and sear inside the boxer Jack LaMotta, the middle weight World Champion. The movie takes us to the journey of LaMotta’s life ; How boxer Jake LaMotta watched his career and marriage crumble under the weight of his violent temper and deep-rooted skeptical instincts. I love movies based on real life stories and Raging Bull is one of the best movies ever made on real life stories. Once La Motta gets on top, he blows it and repents. At last the Bull is penned and deserted by all. Somehow , while watching this movie , I was getting inclined to compare it with recently watched 'Cinderella Man'. Bottom line, a must watch movie for all acting appreciators.

My Rating : 7/10
Entertainment Value: 75%

Napoleon Dynamite

I was thinking before watching the movie that this will be a crispy funny movie like Monty Python. I'd say movie was just OK. The pace of the movie was very slow. Only last scene of the movie when Napoleon unleashes his secret dance talent and everyone gives him a big round of applause was touching. Some sequences were funny like the How Pedro shaves off his hairs. Kip and Uncle Rico were funny too. But overall just an average movie.

My Rating: 4.5/10
Entertainment Value: 60%

The Master of the Disguise

What to say about this movie? This is a short movie less then 80 minutes, with no story and with rare laughs. Movie doesn’t bore much but it can be said that it was actually wretchedly unfunny for the most part. Pistachios’ Turtle guy dress up was insane. Impersonating Al Pacino in "Scarface" was disgusting. In one of the scene Carvey also becomes an Indian snake charmer from Bombay near Calcutta in India India India. Today I came to know that Bombay is near Calcutta. Flatulence jokes were ridiculous. All the moves of the hero were cliché predictable. Cameos by Jessica Simpson and Michael Johnson were refreshing. There were other such celebrity cameos also, whom I didn’t recognize. “It's so crazy it might work" was Pistachios’ often repeated punch line, but this movie was neither crazy nor did it work for me. I only liked all the “Who’s your Daddy?” scenes.

My rating 3.4/10.
Entertainment Value : 77%

Monty Python and The Holy Grail

What a movie? Wow… Believe me, this is one the best comedy movie, I have ever seen. Seemed like a low budget picture, but laughs are guaranteed for the viewers.

King Arthur mimes riding on a real horse by having his servant clap together two coconut shells to make the galloping sounds of a horse. Title, names and credits were presented innovatively. All characters were introduced in a hilarious way and their roles were clearly defined to kill viewers by laughing death. The comparison of a witch with a duck, the killer bunny with funky teeth, Black beast of Aarghh and the three headed Knight; all were crazy. One of the Knights was being tempted among a group of nymphomaniacs; Group of French guard throwing cows from the top of the fort, the “NI” knights; the guard who doesn't hiccup but tries to get the simplest of orders straight, a gatekeeper who has three questions to ask that must be answered before crossing over the deadly bridge; all these sequences were just superbly comic.Sudden death of animator because of heart attack was mirthful.

The three question gatekeeper was especially uproarious. His questions made me laugh till it actually hurt. The climax of the movie is a little let down but still fun part is intact Entire troop of king Arthur is put in the Police van for murder of a noted historian. In the middle portions of it, the movie drags a little bit. Absurd situations and arising misconceptions in almost every scene were delightful. It has definitely hit my funny bone. Bottom-line, an outrageous comedy with sidesplitting script. It’s a must watch for all comedy lovers.

My Rating: 7.5/10.0

Entertainment Value : 82%

Duel

My Rating: 1/10
Entertainment Value: 19%

Goodfellas

My Rating:8.59/10.00
Entertainment Value:88.88%

Indiana Jones and The Raiders of the Lost Ark

My Rating:7.35/10.00
Entertainment Value:84%