The Usual Suspects

IMDB RANKING: TOP #21

RATING BY AUTHOR:4.5/5

Not seen ‘The Usual Suspects’ yet? Then don’t waste any time reading this! Rent it, buy it, borrow it, I don’t mind, but watch it before you bother reading any further.

One of the main reasons that ‘The Usual Suspects’ leaves such a long-lasting impression on the viewer is that it takes advantage of the gullibility of the audience. For the first 100 minutes we are delivered an intriguing and complex story to which there seems no easy answer. When the final piece of the puzzle seems to be in place the entire film is turned on its head. This final revelation initially leaves you speechless and then shortly after the audience realises that they have fallen for a brilliantly inspired trick. The second great trick that this film plays on its audience is making us think that by watching it again we’ll be able to understand slightly better what was really going on. The truth is that the more you try to make sense of it, the more confusing it becomes. It’s probably best not to try to look for any concrete answers and just accept that we fell for the filmmaker’s tricks. The success of the film is mainly thanks to the sense of satisfaction the audience is left with at the end of the film. I think that people love the idea of a story when you’re not sure who you can really trust, along with the realisation that the film’s most shady characters are the filmmakers themselves.

The Usual Suspects is more than just a film with a clever ending. It revealed an awful lot about film audiences and showed us that their expectations can be used against them. It is also a film about story telling and the importance of myth. While most mysteries try to shock you too often with twists and even more twists, it turns out to be overkill.

‘The Usual Suspects’ is one of the most innovative and memorable crime thrillers of the nineties

Accepted

Accepted is one of the best teenage comedies I have seen in a long time. It has an original script, talented cast and it delivers an hour and a half of pure unadulterated fun.

It tells the story of a high school graduate Bartleby “B” Gains (Justin Long) who is not accepted in any of the colleges he applied to, so to avoid his parents’ disappointment he creates a fictional collage. In the attempt to fool his parents completely he creates a fake website and turns an old psychiatric hospital into a college. Everything goes smoothly until a lot of other “accepted” students turn up on his doorstep. Now he and his friend have to figure that collage thing out not only for themselves but for the others too.

Justin Long as a lead man is absolutely brilliant, his character is as natural as he can be and the supporting acts are outstanding- Jonah Hill as Sherman Schrader, Columbus Short as Hands, Maria Thayer as Rory, Adam Herschman as Glen and Lewis Black as Uncle Ben.

The humour is fresh and simple and most importantly funny, right from the start to after the credits .The plot develops so easy that by the time you stop laughing at the last joke you start giggling at next other. Along with all the fun the movie brings a very common subject to our attention i.e. the college education. If usually the students in the movie are united against the education department, in this case they are united by the mutual desire to go to college and learn.

Yet the movie doesn’t brand all other colleges as wrong, it just shows that there is another way…And may be sometimes the children know better what they need than their parents.

This movie is an unmissable little story about the great opportunities in life wrapped up in the best format possible.Take a couple hours and see this film, they will not be wasted..

Little Manhattan

It’s simple, it’s cute, it’s unpretentious, and it’s pretty much blood-free. It tells a sweet story about innocence and romance of two kids in the big New York city…It reminds you of the time when you were a kid and got butterflies in your stomach,by just looking at the opposite sex( not even imagining stuff…lol).

In Manhattan, Gabe (Josh Hutcherson)10 3/4, finds his first love when he meets his former kindergarten mate, Rosemary (Charlie Ray) 11, in his karate classes. Confused with his new feelings and with the divorce process of his beloved parents, Leslie (Cynthia Nixon) and Adam (Bradley Whitford), he experiences the delightful unknown sensation of being in love for the first time.

In a world of romantic comedies that with each passing year exponentially dumb down their stories, feature increasingly mediocre acting, and finish with cheesy, predictable endings,this is new,pure and refreshing.

I’d recommend this movie to anyone and I disagree with people labeling it as a date movie, or a movie targeted for young girls. There isn’t a specific gender or age group that would or would not appreciate this movie; instead this movie will hit close to home for anyone who’s ever felt the joy and pain of being in love.

The tagline of the movie says-”Nothing’s as big as your first love”.Its true.After watching it,i fell in love with my first love,AGAIN.

Up In The Air

Genre(s): Comedy  |  Drama

Written by: Jason Reitman
Sheldon Turner

Directed by: Jason Reitman

Release Date:
Theatrical: December 4, 2009

Running Time: 109 minutes, Color

Starring George Clooney, Vera Farmiga, Anna Kendrick, Jason Bateman, Tamala Jones, and Chris Lowell

Ryan Bingham is a corporate downsizing expert whose cherished life on the road is threatened just as he is on the cusp of reaching ten million frequent flyer miles and after he’s met the frequent-traveler woman of his dreams. (Paramount Pictures).

The beauty of Up i the air is that it’s all those things at once. Adapted from Walter Kirn’s 2001 novel, it’s a rare and sparkling gem of a movie, directed by Jason Reitman (Juno) with the polish of a master.

Ryan Bingham (George Clooney), the film’s debonair hero, is a new kind of no-sweat corporate executioner. Each day, he walks into a different office somewhere in the United States — Wichita, Detroit, St. Louis — and gets a list of employees who are about to be downsized. One by one, he sits opposite each of them, bringing them the bad news that their bosses are too weaselly to deliver personally. The victims are mostly hardworking middle managers who’ve been let go because of the economy. None of them ”deserves” to be fired, and so their reactions — terror, confusion, rage, despair — are notably intense, even as Ryan reassures them that opportunities await, that this is a beginning not an ending, and blah blah blah. (He’s also a part-time motivational speaker, pepping up the very sorts of people he fires.)

I certainly Believe that Up In The Air as a movie and George Clooney as an actor deserve an Oscar for this one.

city of god

IMDB RANKING:TOP#17

RATING BY AUTHOR:4/5

CITY OF GOD seems to have a lot of praise over the internet, and with good reason too. It simply is,  in my opinion, one of the best contemporary films ever made.

Based on true events and characters who live in the overlooked and poverty stricken slums in the shadows of Rio de Janiero, where life expectancy doesn’t reach the 30′s and drug dealers are kings.

The tale of the City of God, is told by Rocket, a young man who struggles to make something of his life, other than to wind up another victim of drugs or gang wars.

Not only are the characters in City of God absolutely fascinating, and also very endearing, but also convincingly acted by groups of young and unknown actors. The stories are well-told, and at times, funny, and at others, brutally shocking.

In a sense, there is a bit of a Brazillian “Pulp Fiction” or “Goodfellas”, but with its own unique flavour to it…
The City of God is a marvel, and a highly recommended film to watch, but not recommended for the over-sensitive or easily distressed.

500 days of summer

IMDB RANKING:TOP#234

RATING BY AUTHOR:3.5/5

First thing,  Summer in the title is a girl, played by the marvelous Zooey Deschanel. The story jumps back and forth within the 500 days of time that Tom (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is involved with Summer. With the help of a counter and a background that changes with the “season” of the relationship, it’s delightful, and never confusing, to watch a romance unfold and unravel from this perspective.

Tom works as a writer for a greeting card company where Summer is hired as the new assistant to his boss. It’s not exactly love at first sight, although the two are attracted to each other initially because both are fans of The Smiths.

Tom is ready to fall head over heels ..in fact, he does. But Summer tells him over and over that she doesn’t really believe in love. She doesn’t want to be someone’s girlfriend, or “someone’s anything,” as she puts it.

Do they end up together??

The movie is surely worth a watch to know the new side of love sculptured cleverly. This is about 500 times smarter than the average romance.

The movie will make you realize just how truly formulaic most romantic comedies have become.

This is a dazzling movie, regardless of the season…,no doubt it made it to top #250 movies list on imdb.com

Karthik Calling Karthik

Producer : Farhan Akhtar, Ritesh Sidhwani
Director : Vijay Lalwani
Star Cast : Deepika Padukone, Farhan Akhtar, Ram Kapoor, Vivaan Bhathena, Shefali Chhaya,Vipin Sharma,Yatin Karyekar
Lyricist : Javed Akhtar
Story / Writer : Vijay Lalwani
Music Director : Shankar Mahadevan, Ehsaan Noorani, Loy Mendonca
Singers : Shankar Mahadevan, Loy Mendonca, Clinton Cerejo, Kailash Kher, K K, Suraj Jagan,Caralisa Monteiro
Language : Hindi
Release Date : February 26, 2010

Click through for review:
Rating : 2.5/5

At one point in Karthik Calling Karthik, Karthik’s boss tells him: You are one strange fellow. That is the understatement of the year.

Karthik, played by Farhan Akhtar, is more than strange. We are told that he is a topper from IIM but when we first meet Karthik, he is a singularly oppressed worker drone in a construction company.

His boss and colleagues treat him like dirt. He is in love with a colleague, Shonali played by Deepika Padukone. He has written her exactly 1317 emails but never had the courage to send even one so in four years, she barely notices him.

And then, one night, Karthik gets a call from himself. Another Karthik says he is taking over the reins of loser Karthik’s life. Before you know it, the loser has turned into a suited-booted winner, who even manages to get girl. But the good times are too good to last. The phone calls soon turn ominous and Karthik’s world unravels.

Debutant writer-director Vijay Lalwani creates some seriously creepy moments here. He successfully transforms an ordinary telephone into a malevolent instrument. I also enjoyed the romance between Karthik and Shonali, who is far more daring and feisty than him. Deepika Padukone finally seems to be thawing in front of a camera.

But sadly Karthik Calling Karthik works neither as a romance nor as a thriller. The drawn-out love track only stalls the suspense as do the unnecessary songs, especially in the second half.

KARTHIK CALLING KARTHIK isn’t a bad film but it isn’t very good either.

The Blind Side

“The Blind Side” depicts the remarkable true story of Michael Oher, a homeless African-American youngster from a broken home, taken in by the Touhys, a well-to-do white family who help him fulfill his potential. At the same time, Oher’s presence in the Touhys’ lives leads them to some insightful self-discoveries of their own. Living in his new environment, the teen faces a completely different set of challenges to overcome. As a football player and student, Oher works hard and, with the help of his coaches and adopted family, becomes an All-American offensive left tackle. –© Warner Bros.

Rated: PG-13

Genre: Drama

Box Office: $247,071,052

Starring: Sandra Bullock, Tim McGraw, Kathy Bates, Quinton Aaron

Director: john Lee Hancock

Studio: Warner Bros.

Avatar

Hi, have you seen James Cameron’s alien saga, Avatar? Going by the box office (plus $ 1.30 billion), looks like half the world has already seen it.

Avatar will remain close to my heart also because it borrows from Indian mythology of Ramayan and Vishnu Puraan. The Avatars have close resemblance to Vishnu and his re-incarnations, the nine foot tall natives of Pandora and their almost religious co-existence with their surroundings. What makes it even more interesting is that the Na’vi people make no effort to do that, instead, that IS the way they have always been.

In the movie the character of Dr Grace (remarkably played by Sigourney Weaver) says: “The tree roots are like neural synapses… it’s a global network to which they can upload and download.” Being able to connect with your environment — animals and plants and even rocks and stones… SUBCONCIOUSLY.

After the movie got over, I lost sleep that night and in the nights to come, and like me I am sure many others did. This makes AVATAR more than just a movie; it has become a part of the collective sub-conscience of the world.

I am embarrassed about being a human being, about my race. The greed of people in the name of progress has made us destroy our planet! Very much like the corporation destroys Pandora in the movie.

Just because some of us believe ourselves to be more technically and scientifically advanced than the others (the whole NOTION about developed, developing & not developed countries) but is that really true? The West and now the fast developing economies like India and China think that they are a ‘more advanced race’ just because they are able to create wealth by virtually sucking the life out of Earth and its natural resources and destroying its balance? I have serious doubts about that.

Thank you James Cameroon, for reminding us once again.