Boy,what a rip snorter!Gary Oldman gives the performance of his chequered career in this crackerjack film about Football hooliganism.Bex(Oldman) is the leader of a gang of Soccer fans who beat each others' brains to pulp to get a "buzz" in their lives.
This is far more than simply a film about football violence.The reasons for a family man of a perfectly decent Cockney household to indulge in violence may be hard to fathom for a person not used to the Football culture in England but Oldman's performance is such that even a person not familiar with the football culture will be glued to the screen.The naked fury,the raw need to beat up people to quell the emptiness inside,the obsession with violence....they are all there. He sets the screen on fire.The fighting scenes may not be exactly realistic but it hardly matters.
This is a little known beauty.If only he had acted in the "Fight Club"!
And suffice to say,it was worth the wait.Of all the Espionage films of the peiod,this one is right up there with the very best ever made.William Holden is just perfect as Eric Erickson,the Swedish Oilman(Sweden was neutral during the Second World War) who was blackmailed by the British Intelligence to locate ideal locations for Allied attacks on Germany.Initially,he does it with grim acceptance of his fate but as he becomes further involved and as he comes face face with the Nazi atrocities,he doesn't find it morally difficult to wrestle with his conscience of involving his fellow friends and jeoparduising Sweden's neutrality in the War.Lilli Palmer is just brilliant as a fellow "Traitor" and a German contact who is aware of the worthy cause for which they are fighting and suddenly gets cold feet because she hadn't bargained for innocent lives to be lost due to the information she passed on to the Allies.Holden is forced to act as pro Nazi for obvious reasons and as his friends and family leave him,one man(a Jew) stands by him even though Holden had to openly disparage him.
The film has many beautiful scenes and the Cinematography is excellent as all the scenes have been taken from authentic locations.Plus the fact that this is a true story adds to the film's quality.At no juncture is the quality compromised and the Director (George Seaton) has to be feted for an outstanding effort.A stunner.
Layer Cake(2004)
Director: Matthew Vaughn( Lock Stock - Producer)
Cast: Daniel Craig, Sienna Miller, Michael Gambon.
This is a very interesting movie, when I say interesting I leave it to the audience to determine what is interesting for them.
Interesting for me is that it is a British Film and people talk, laugh and blow sarcasm. No this is nowhere near Lock Stock.. or Snatch but it is British and unabashedly so.
Daniel Craig is a 'businessman' and his business is 'heroin'. So it is obvious to get carried away thinking that it is a stoner movie like trainspotting, no it aint. This is the movie about the middlemen, a regular next door professional who has a desk job to cover up his 'business'.
The dialogs are crisp and biting. The plot is a little convulsed but is not confusing. Daniel Craig is brilliant as the 'businessman' and later as a small time mafia boss. Sienna Miller is as hot as an oven and makes up for the glamour and nothing more.
What makes this movie really good is that the movie doesn't get over until the very last second. There are so many twists and turns which makes it thoroughly enjoyable.
Watch it for the British, watch for the plot and even more so watch it for Daniel Craig.
After a bit of a break from watching films,I managed to squeeze in enough time to revisit this classic film by Ingmar Bergman and looking back,this was one the first foreign films that I had seen and also whetted my appetite for stimulating Cinema.
Many Cinephiles like Bergman and his work but a few find his films too slow for their liking.Bergman's films are interspersed with symbolism and if one looks close enough,the experience is rewarding.
This was the film which made Max Von Sydow famous as an actor of rare calibre and depth.He is a disillusioned Knight who returns from the Crusades in the 14th Century with his Squire(Gunnar Bjornstrand) in tow and encounters an apocalyptic scenario inspired from the book of Genesis.He statrts playing Chess with Death and throughout the film,there is a distinct feel of "resignation to fate" in the air and the inevitability of Death as Sydow searches valiantly,spiritedly and sometimes even cheerfully,to find the meaning of life.There are too many memorable scenes to recount but the ending is particularly stunning.
This is an amazingly skillful film filled with allegories and symbolism and Bergman emerged as one of the great Modern day Directors with this classic.
Burn After Reading(2008)
Cast: John Malkovich, George Clooney, Frances McDormand, Brad Pitt, Tilda Swinton
The tagline of the movie goes: Intelligence is relative. This does enough justice to the movie. If you relate it to earlier Coen brothers movies like The Big Lebowski, this is a dud. Period.
The movie has been lauded and criticized for its adult humor. Though I agree on the part that everyone in the movie sleeping with everyone else is adulterous, I don't find it funny.
This is a movie about insanely idiotic people. You can have just two emotions towards them - one you find them funny, the other you hate them outright. I agree that it was humurous at times, but with such a stellar cast, I think the Coen brothers could have done so much more.
But one should appreciate the cast of characters. Everyone fits their role perfectly. John Malkovich being the sane person(everything is relative). Brad Pitt just blows you over portraying an absolutely clueless idiot while Frances McDormand gets onto you pretty quick, but thats what her role intended to do. George Clooney does his part nicely and so does the cold Tilda Swinton.
But coming to the movie itself - it is more like Seinfeld - it is a movie about nothing. Yeah it is funny at times but nowhere near The Big Lebowski(everything was relative right?).
As the CIA officer says in the climax - Clusterf*ed. That says it all.
Watchable once.
Director: Danny Boyle(Trainspotting)
Cast: Dev Patel, Irrfan Khan, Frieda Pinto, Anil Kapoor.
With so much hype surrounding it, I went in for SdM with high expectations. I was not exactly happy.
The movie starts out showing the protagonist(Patel) being interrogated at a police chawl in Mumbai. We are then rocked back and forth into his life.
Starting from Dharavi, where the film is brilliantly shot, with all the hardships of the slum dwellers captured without any qualms or restrain.
The ugly Mumbai riots make an appearance and traces our Sd's journey from there to the hot seat of KBC. He is arrested, charged with cheating the whole game. The interrogation and the flashbacks are cleverly interwined. How each of his past experiences helped him answer all the questions given to him is beautifully told.
The film has its drawbacks too, take for instance when the host wants to humiliate the Sd on a national television - sounds a bit - umm Bolly-ish. And the climax was a typical feel-good bollywood movie.
But watch it for the Sd, all three actors representing the Sd have done a wonderful job. So have seasoned actors like Irrfan Khan.
A.R.Rahman's music is not really captivating, compared to his other works like Kannathil Muthamittal, this looks run-of-the-mill type.
Overall, this is a good movie, but definitely could have been better but for the bollywood influence at some places.
Movies - Something that has been an intergral part of our life.
Right from time when I went for my first movie - A Rajnikanth film at Devi Talkies, a run down theater in Trichy, I have been hooked on to the big screen.
Balcony, Samosas, First Day First Shows, Diwali, Pongal,New Year releases, Cone Ice Cream, Popcorn,Black Ticket, Whistle are some of the keywords that we look back and relate to. Be it sending out 'feelers' to friends for that elusive ticket on the opening weekend for a blockbuster at Sathyam Cinemas or Devi Complex or looking up the Friday Review supplement of The Hindu to figure out movie listings or just deciding to meet up with friends over a movie at the newly opened Inox at Citi Center, all us movie buffs must have experienced some of these at some point of time.
As we grew up, the domain grew, starting out with blockbuster Hollywood flicks, then on to some real serious and original films to classics.
When all movies are watched based on the reviews of our trusted circle of friends, why not a blog to share the same with everyone. So here you will find all kinds of movies, from the insane to the incredible, from anime to noirs, from slapstick to satirical.
Welcome aboard.