Reviews

True story of a Mark O'Brien(John Hawkes) with an iron lung, confined to a stretcher, who, with the help of a sex surrogate and a priest slakes his pleasure of having sex.

He's a devout catholic who thinks his present condition is the act of God. He seeks the help of a priest, Father Brendan(William H. Macy) who listens to him patiently and counsels him and exhorts him as to go ahead with whatever that he judged was right.

I have mixed feelings about the movie. I'm flummoxed as to whether feel sorry for his disability or laugh at the inherent theme of him trying to achieve his sexual desires, a quest he entertains us with his jokes.

I was not really sure I could distinguish a prostitute, a woman who performs sex for money, and a sex surrogate, who helps people meet their pleasures, more of a service-oriented-awareness-providing profession (?). I have a better understanding of the differences.

Helen Hunt was rightly nominated for her performance as a sex surrogate, Cheryl, who has a private life and family of her own, a woman who makes the disabled man feel the warmth of love. John Hawkes and Ben Lewin have been snubbed a Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role and Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen Oscars respectively.

When Tom Hooper won the Best Achievement in Directing Oscar two years back for "The King's Speech", a friend said, "Someday he'll pay the price for grabbing the statuette that belonged to David Fincher". Well, his words came true. Tom Hooper was snubbed by the academy for directing one of the greatest Musicals, a genre seldom preferred by movie-goers and studio heads alike, in the present day.

There have been umpteen adaptations of this fine piece of Literature and the makers of this version of "Les Miserables", with all the script revisions and enhancements, have produced a movie that deserves an applause.

The wonderful Production Design takes us back to the early years of a post-revolution-19th century France.

Jean Valjean, played by Hugh Jackman, is incarcerated for stealing bread to feed his sister's daughter. He's out on parole. Offer shelter to a desperate man and he'll make you regret. Jean resorts to stealing silver articles from the church that offered him shelter and after being pardoned by the priest for his crime, he breaks his parole. Javert, played by Russell Crowe, pursues an absconding Jean Valjean.

Eight years pass on, Jean, now a Mayor, owns a factory. Fantine, played by Anne Hathaway, is a pretty woman in the factory, is fired by the factory foreman. In desperation to care for and protect her daughter Cosette, she unwillingly turns to prostitution. Jean is touched and moved by Fantine's miserable plight and promises a dying Fantine that he'd take good care of her daughter, Cosette.

After the Mayor confesses his true identity, Javert doesn't give up his quest for finding and bringing Jean back to justice. Jean, along with Cosette, is on the run.

Nine years later, people are again infuriated by the ever-widening economic divide between the autocrats and the general populace, giving birth to another revolution. Cosette(Amanda Seyfried), now a beautiful woman, falls in love with Marius(Eddie Redmayne). Javert locates Jean and Jean takes Cosette away.

Jean learns of his adopted daughter's love interest and goes back to find Marius, a man at the vanguard of the revolution. The rebels are crushed by the police force. Jean saves Marius' life and brings him back to Cosette and leaves. Cosette and Marius get married and Jean passes away.

It is a well-known fact that the Best performance by an actor in a Leading Role statuette has the inscription "Daniel Day-Lewis" on it, but it has been Hugh Jackman's best performance yet. Anne Hathaway, Sacha Baron Cohen and Helena Bonham Carter have been really impressive and Russell Crowe's performance, I think, deserved a nod from the Academy.

If it wasn't for Dustin Hoffman's speech when Sir Larry was awarded the Cecil B. DeMille Award, I wouldn't have watched this film. Dustin extols the works of Larry Olivier and how he, despite the physical suffering, gave one of his best performances in decades, with utmost dedication.

The wonderful screenplay filled with several twists adds to the suspense in this political thriller. At a certain point, I was unsure of what I was watching- a compilation of too many short stories with subplots- but at a later point, they all started to converge and then emerged the perfect, realistic ending to the movie.

Sir Laurence plays a former Nazi who made a good fortune during the holocaust by ferrying wealthy Jews to safety, in return for gold. He keeps his brother in-charge of the diamonds in a bank's safe and with the accidental death of his brother, many men are after the bounty and this forces the exiled Szell to step in the scene. He tries to terminate Doc, who too knows about the diamonds but Doc escapes and when they fail to strike a deal, he brutally murders Doc and tortures Babe, who is clueless as to what was happening.

Babe, deeply mired in controversy and bereaved, is hunted by Szell's men. Babe resists, overcomes them and reaches Szell and offers Szell a fine way of keeping his diamonds- by swallowing as many as he can.

The death of Szell concludes one of the best thrillers of the 70s.

Mark Boal and Kathryn Bigelow, with "The Hurt Locker", gave birth to the genre Semi-Fictional-Historic-Thriller. ". "The Hurt Locker" was movie-making at its thrilling best. They have followed it up with "Zero Dark Thirty".

It is really shocking to get to know that Kathryn Bigelow was snubbed a nomination in the Best Director category by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science, a nomination that I am quite sure would have fetched an Oscar.

Mark Boal's brilliant screenplay takes us through the events from the eventful day of 9/11 to the day the most wanted man on Earth was terminated.

Jessica Chastain was nominated last year in the Best Actress in a Supporting Role Category for the movie "The Help". She plays Maya, a CIA official who spends all her professional life in finding Osama Bin Laden. She is smart, focused and most of all, obsessed with finding Osama Bin Laden and leaves no stone unturned. She follows every lead out of a million leads from all over the world discreetly and narrows it down to his courier man, a man she takes 7 years to locate and confirm, by interrogating detainees all over the world.

She is scoffed at by her all-male superiors and survives an assassination attempt by terrorists in Pakistan. She finally locates the house, a house believed to be offering succour to the Osama Bin Laden and after several months of inactivity, Maya is infuriated by the dilatory approach to terminate Bin Laden. They finally get a green light to terminate him. The SEALs team finishes the job without much difficulty.

Jessica Chastain's performance as a recluse, snubbed by her superiors, but carries on her quest with a stiff upper lip, deserves an Oscar.

The best in the Best Picture category this year.

If you totally hate this movie and want archive footage of all the events that lead to the termination of Osama Bin Laden, kindly watch a documentary.

Winner, Best Foreign Language Film, 2002.

"I've never seen anything like it", says a Bosnian Officer. That is quite a concise summary of the movie. The archive footage, the brilliant script that balances humor with the fanatic attitude of soldiers and the tense and unpredictable ending, all make this movie a must-watch.

Serbia has declared a war on Bosnia. Serbians are well-armed while Bosnia defends itself with armed civilians and police force. Cities are razed. Men are killed in the battle. Serbians call it "Ethical Cleansing".

A Bosnian relief squad set out to the enemy lines in the night and wait for the fog to lift up. Dawn arrives and by the time they are awake from their slumber, they are ambushed by the Serbian army. However, two soldiers survive. One is assumed to be dead by the other. The other survivor, Ciki, shot in the chest, rests at a makeshift house. Two men from the Serbian army are sent to check the field and Ciki kills one of them and injures the other.

The man from the Serbian army, Nino and Ciki have different perspectives of war and have verbal duels over the causes and atrocities of war. They make sure the other survivor, resting on a bouncing landmine, is given due medical aid. They chat up with each other but very soon get back to their fanatic-selves and try to kill each other.

UNPROFOR steps in the scene to help them but due to orders they pull back and wait for further orders. Media intervention and live coverage of the situation revs up the rescue operation. Ciki and Nino kill each other and the movie ends with Cera still lying on the undefusable mine.

Oprah Winfrey loved the movie. Well, anyone who has watched it will say the exact same thing. It is such a brilliant piece of writing, one of the very few child narratives made, a low-budget masterpiece that mixes childhood fantasies with the real world. The movie also has the best set of soundtracks in recent times.

The movie begins with a little girl, a lover of animals, listening to the cacophony in her backyard. The girl narrates about her everyday life, the ambiance of the island she is an inhabitant of- Bathtub and the celebrations and ever-joyous mood of the fellow inhabitants and how her dying father, Wink helped her to be brave, independent and a 'man', strong in spirit and not just in body.

She is told about the ancient beasts that were frozen in the polar region and the melting of the ice caps would result in not only the submergence of her island but will also set the beasts amok. As the storm arrives, many people flee the island but Hushpuppy, her dad and a few other tenacious inhabitants decide to stay back. They survive the storm and with no external support, begin the reconstruction. They build a floating house, cultivate plants, and rear livestock- food enough for survival until the water percolates.

Rescue team evacuate the people and put them in a refugee camp. Wink's condition worsens and he, with the help of the other folk from Bathtub flee the refugee camp, back to their island. The movie ends with Wink's death and Hushpuppy, though bereaved, is as grown up and mature as a woman, in thoughts and actions.

Ben Zeitlin and Quvenzhané Wallis have a bright career ahead. I hope the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences recognizes this wonderful movie that stands on par with the colorful,high-budget "Pan's Labyrinth".

Nominated, Best Picture, 1956.

No other movie has ever shown the plight of troubled teenagers than "Rebel without a Cause". The petty fights, the bullying, revenge, the desire to do something unprecedented so as to be noticed in the crowd, the precociousness, the gradually dwindling bond with family members- all these are the facets one faces when a transition from an innocent adolescent to a late-teenager is made.

Jim Stark doesn't share a very good relationship with his cantankerous mother and is more attached to his father, who supports him and deals with his mother's tantrums calmly. The quarrels between his mother and father make him feel insecure and he vents his pent up emotions by indulging in activities like breaking the parking lights or bashing his fellow students in the school. He gets into a fight with a gang in his new school and is challenged to a Drag race, to prove that he is a "chicken". The race ends with the death of the challenger and the other members of the gang hunt Jim. Jim falls in love with Judy and together they care for the troubled and insecure Plato. The movie ends with the tragic death of Plato.

A 24-year old Dean matched the standards of method-acting set by Marlon Brando, and with this performance he justifies the legendary status conferred on him.

The movie may not be one of Hitchcock's best but it's a good thriller, combined with a touch of Hitchcock's direction, and a lovely original song, 'Que Sara'.

Hitchcock's frequent collaborator James Stewart plays the lead role in this movie. An American family, the McKennas, are on a holiday in Morocco. They befriend a man, whose actions cause suspicion and when he's killed, his true identity is revealed. They get themselves deeply mired in an assassination plot, with their son held hostage by the perpetrators until their task is done. They travel to London, the place where the assassination of a statesman is to take place, the place where their son is held captive, and try to locate and rescue their son. After several futile attempts, mainly due to the ambiguity of the address, they not only rescue their son but also avert the assassination.

Hitchcock has, like always, brilliantly made a familiar plot and storyline an edge-of-the-seat thriller. Bernard Herman's loud and powerful background score adds to the impending suspense in the theater, during the assassination that goes awry.

1939 was probably the best year for cinephiles of all generations. From the world of film critics to frequent movie-goers to people whose favorite pastime is watching movies, it's a memorable year with Victor Fleming's colorful romantic epic set during the Civil War, "Gone with the Wind", and the movie that made fantasies realities, "Wizard of Oz"; William Wyler's "Wuthering heights"; Frank Capra's "Mr.Smith Goes to Washington"; Billy Wilder's "Ninotchka"; and many more releases.

John Ford bolstered his stature as one of the most revered directors with this film that gave birth to a new genre in movie-making. The movie may be too slow and boring to those accustomed to the colorful spaghetti western flicks where a gunslinging man with no identity maintains balance in the town he visits. The movie was probably one of the first few movies with on-the-move action sequences that has one bunch of people firing at the other and vice-versa, on a stagecoach that is far behind its destination.

Ford's "Stagecoach" has a group of travelers from different walks of life, disparate in every sense, but think better of each other as they travel through the "no man's land", the West.

An inebriated Doc Boone fetched Thomas Mitchell a well-deserved Academy award.

A wonderful classic from a great director.

A very few actors get a breakthrough in their first few movies. A majority of them struggle their way into limelight by doing any role and every role they are offered. Only those who stand the test of time emerge acquire legendary status. Dustin Hoffman belongs to that elite category.

He couldn't deny the fact that Michael Dorsy was Dustin Hoffman himself- the way he had to struggle as an actor, how directors despised his imperiousness. In short, he felt it was a semi-fictional autobiography.

Michael Dorsy is a universally rejected actor. Directors despise his improvisation and often end up in heated altercations. He offers tips to fellow aspiring actors on the Do's and Don'ts of acting from his personal experiences. Being unemployed and penniless, he decides to disguise himself as a woman to get a part in a soap opera. Beautifully dressed as a woman, he doesn't shed the man in him and his life as a well-mannered woman who speaks for the rights of women, Dorothy Michaels makes him (or her) the symbol of an ideal woman across America. She is offered a bounty for her role and her fan base explodes. He tries to balance his love for a fellow actress with his on-screen persona and reveals his true-self to the television world one fine day.

Whether it's the brilliant script or Sydney Pollack's equally-brilliant direction that made this one of the greatest comedies ever made, is a ridiculous question if one is ignorant of one of the greatest performances of all-time, a performance an actor of Dustin's stature with the filmography- Midnight Cowboy, The Graduate, Kramer vs Kramer, Marathon Man, and Lenny- would deny without a second thought.

The movie and Dustin were unfortunately victims of 'Oscar-snubs'.

A 10/10.

"Lincoln" is not a movie for those who don't have an ear for grandiloquence. It is not a movie for those who expect it to be an action-packed Biography. It is not a movie for those who aren't fond of parables. Then what is it? It's a melange of method-acting at its best, ultra-natural ambiance of a war-torn nation and a brilliant script that throws light on the personal and tactical life of the most revered and pragmatic President in the history of the United States.

It's the fourth year of civil war. The Union clearly has an edge over the Confederates. Lincoln has been re-elected as the President. He wants the thirteen amendment, which proclaims emancipation, be passed by the House. Every single white man in the country opposes the amendment for it might nullify the bigotry for the colored folk, but still support the amendment for their respect in Lincoln. Lincoln wants the amendment to be passed before the war gets over and against the advice of his very loyal subordinates; he sets a deadline for the amendment to be passed.

The movie then takes you through the devious tactics of Lincoln; how he painstakingly ensures that he doesn't have any 'traitors' on his side ;how he, as a bereaved father, opposes his elder son's wish to enlist; how he ensured the amendment received bipartisan support . A man with a gift of gab, Stevens serves as Lincoln's right-hand man in the house and has worked for the abolition of slavery throughout his life, for personal reasons as well. Lincoln's men ensure they gather the support required for the amendment to be passed and succeed. Later on, Lincoln is assassinated, though the assassination is not shown in the movie.

Daniel Day-Lewis, barring his uncanny resemblance to Lincoln, has given life to the most respected in American history and it's a performance that is worthy of nothing less than an Academy award. Tommy Lee Jones and all the other Lincoln's men played their respective parts brilliantly, and Sally Field was a tad melodramatic. It may not be Spielberg's best, but it is one movie that has several powerful performances by one of the Hollywood's finest.

A documentary that is equivalent to the motion pictures like Schindler's List and Hotel Rwanda, by its presentation of the inhuman massacre, the war and the fanaticism arising from the war.

It was a bold, yet brilliant attempt by Ari Folman, to make a documentary of a war he was a part of, but has forgotten with passing years, just like everyone else. He, with the help of his friends, who too were enlisted for the attack on Lebanon, were in their late teens and were consumed by the zeal to kill at will. None of them remember the exact details of the war, but they help Ari complete the jigsaw puzzle of the war by recollecting their personal experiences.

While the main plot deals with Ari Folman retracing his memory and the horror of battle every one of his fellow recruits had to endure, a sub, yet pivotal plot includes the inhuman massacre of Palestinian civilians. The assassination of the elected President triggers the massacre among his zealous acolytes and the Israeli forces, of which the filmmaker was a part of, are unaware of the genocide conducted by the Christian Phalangists.

The documentary is animated except for the last few minutes of running time, that shows the archive footage of women crying in the midst of a razed refugee camp with dead bodies piled up all over the place.

A 10/10, without the slightest hesitation.

One of the first, and perhaps one of the best musical comedies to be made, Marx Brothers take us from Milan to New York by a ship that should have drowned with their tricks and feats.

While 'Duck Soup' and 'Horse Feathers' are best remembered for the wordplay and slapstick, 'A Night at the Opera' is a Romantic-Musical-Comedy that also makes it one of the greatest comedies of all time.

There are quite a good number of typical and never-seen-before feats of Marx Brothers that makes us wonder how such a thing was not just beyond ones imagination but also within ones implementation of the unimaginable, seven decades back.

I doff my non-existent, imaginary hat to salute the masters of slapstick.

'Thank You for Smoking' is to tobacco what 'Sideways' is to wine and 'Casino' is to the casinos of Las Vegas.

The movie is about the life of a lobbyist, Nick Naylor, spokesperson for a major tobacco firm, whose gift of gab and ability to shut the fellow debaters on national television draws admirers from the industry but at the same time increases the number of concerned citizens, who campaign for the ban of tobacco in all forms, by a manifold.

Nick, a divorcée with a teenage son, tries his best to not influence his son to take up what he campaigns for- tobacco, and rather lets him choose what is best for himself.

We get to see the functioning of the tobacco industry, how deals are made, how dissidents are bought off with money, how the company disowns its employees when a plan goes awry and how trying to save one's job puts one's life at jeopardy.

The movie does not necessarily edify the viewers but it does provide what we seek-entertainment.

Winner, Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay, 2005.

An aspiring yet "universally rejected" writer, Miles and his actor friend, Jack make a week-long trip to the vineyards in California. Miles is a connoisseur of wine who plays the role of a travel guide, an analyzer and instructor on how to sniff,stir and sip wine.

The movie, like the novel, is the best guide to all the aficionados out there and it makes you feel thoroughly entertained with timely jokes, disastrous binges and flings, and a very realistic and not a cinematic ending.

Another year, another Oscar snub. Paul Gimatti's emotional performance failed to impress the Academy but it's a performance that portrays the hard times endured by a man with a failed marriage and a failed career in a rather comical tone.

In the times where a teenagers' love story is the preferred storyline for writers and producers looking to rake in huge amounts of money alike, Haneke has written and directed a film that shows love lasts till the death bed.

For those of us who are familiar with Jean-Louis through 'The Conformist' and 'Z', we are aware of his versatility as an actor.

Michael Haneke follows up his pre-World War I film 'The White Ribbon', best remembered for its wonderful art direction and cinematography in black-and-white with this wonderful film that shows the existence of love and care even at the autumn of ones life.

The movie begins with the fire brigade barging into the house of a dead woman and we see the final days of her life, from the time she suffers a second stroke forcing her to be confined to the care of her ever-loving and ever-caring husband who helps her with her daily chores with the same love, that his daughter remarks, has seen over the years. He keeps his wife, whose condition deteriorates with each passing day , with stories from his childhood and even sings and reads for her.

The movie is filled with many scenes that establish a connection between your heart and brain- the scene in which he helps his wife get onto an armchair is poignant and sympathetic and is one among several other scenes that really touch and move audience of all kind.

Hats off to Haneke.

Talk about the genre Political Thriller, a genre that only a few directors and writers embark upon for the unpredictable criticism it might receive. Most political thrillers are biographies or are based on events from the past. Polanski's 'The Ghost Writer' is a one-of-the-kind fictional political thriller that rejuvenates the dormant genre.

I still have mixed feelings about the ending. The whole movie was unpredictable and the main plot mysterious, but the way the Polanski's lead actor debriefs the mystery leaves us all spellbound. It's not one of those Mystery flicks where you connect the dots and find where the pattern emanates from or terminates at. It has parallel plots that the lead character so painstakingly considers and eliminates before finally arriving at a conclusion. Polanski has made sure his plot is as unpredictable and new as it can be.

A well-made thriller from the man who left us in the midst of the mystery in 'Chinatown' and took us through the horrors of holocaust in 'The Pianist'. Welcome back, Polanski.

The running time of the movie is roughly half to that of the TV series. It's running time demands many key subplots be cut short. Yet, the wonderful editing and screenplay make this is a must-watch espionage movie.

The screenplay of the movie, I felt, was written on the assumption that the movie-goers would have watched the TV series as well. Many key sentences that should have been spoken are simply shown as perceived and understood by the other characters, which might be a little difficult for those who have neither watched the TV series nor read the book.

Alberto Iglesias' soothing reboot of the soundtrack from the TV series is one of the facets that I liked in the movie.

Gary Oldman hasn't outperformed Alec Guinness' performance as the cagey George Smiley but I'm sure no other actor in the present day would have come close to Gary Oldman's portrayal of Smiley, a performance that fetched him a long-awaited Academy award nomination.

A movie that deserves the rave reviews that it received.

The movie is a divergent from the usual Animated films that create countries, creatures and characters that are otherwise not existent. A major part of the movie-the narrator's past- is shown in black and white, while the present world of the author is colorful and I loved the way the movie transits from a colorful Paris airport to the early years of the narrator.

The movie is about a girl who grows up in a revolutionary Iran and refuses to comply with the existent rules and the ever-changing rules that are brought about by every new regime. Marjane is a curious, cute little girl who hails from a family of revolutionists, and belonged to the majority of the population that wished to see the fall of the Westernized empire of the Shah. Marjane idolizes her uncle Anouch, who was an ardent communist and loved her as much as he'd have loved his own daughter. She grows up to be a music lover, a fan of Iron Maiden, Michael Jackson, when anything and everything Western was considered a sacrilege. She leaves the country for education and when she returns, everything changes around. She quits complaining about the system and picks a laugh or two with her each daringly funny attempt to avoid the bearded, gun-wielding soldiers.

The movie wonderfully portrays the plight of Iranian women, how they had to battle a system they couldn't comply with, yet exercise their liberty at will.

It's a brilliant and an unprecedented artistic attempt to bring the horrors of war in animated form. I wish the movie was nominated in the Best Foreign Language Film category too, an award that it deserves.

Rob Reiner's 'Stand by Me' is regarded as the best children's tale ever made as a motion picture, without taking into consideration the animated films that have been coming out for more than five decades with improved technologies with each passing year.

Wes Anderson has revived the dreams of most troubled teenagers through this beautiful motion picture for which he penned the script too.

The movie is set in the backdrop of a colorful, verdant island in '65 in America. A parallel plot, which deals with the most intense storm that swept the island in its history, links the main plot that shows us the happenings of the days preceding the storm.

Two troubled teenagers who meet at a play, like each other the first time they lay eyes on each other. They become pen pals and bond over regular letters. The boy despises his foster parents as much as the girl despises her blood parents. They set out in the woods and the boy, being a scout(or "a former khaki scout" as he calls it) camp in the woods. They are pursued by the fellow scouts and local police and are finally captured the next day.

Their capture doesn't deter their relationship. The fellow scouts who previously didn't approve of the boy, make up their minds and help the boy and the girl get off the island. They even get married with the help of one of the scout's cousin. The storm arrives and everyone's caught in the midst of the storm. And what follows is an unpredictable, yet apt ending for this movie that reminds us all how things were bright and beautiful when 'innocence' existed.

I really loved the camera work, the editing and the euphonious background score. The humor is immanent and the plot may not leave you with rib tickling jokes, but will leave you smiling nonetheless.

Ironically, I must agree it's not a children's tale.

What makes this movie stand apart from the modern day thrillers- the story that leaves us bemused for more than an hour from the commencing of the movie, Hitchcock's direction and the wonderful camera work that by all means bolsters his way of presenting a story and not just telling a story, or is it a great actor who never caught up with age and exemplified a gentleman as a man in a tuxedo? I'd say, all of it.

Just as you think the movie is headed in no particular direction, Hitchcock steers the swerving vehicle first towards North by train and then Northwest by flight.

Anyone who has watched the film cannot simply remain silent about the fact that they witnessed the best typography ever, a work from the master of it, Saul Bass. And like every other Hitchcock's films, Bernard's soundtracks adds to the suspense in the story.

This movie has to be one of the greatest Biographies made in the recent times.

The movie is about an expedition to validate the research findings of a Norwegian scientist, Thor. His research findings are declared to be drivel and in order to prove his research true, he is advised to make a voyage on a balsa raft for 5000 miles, from Peru to Polynesia. He is accompanied by 5 others- 4 friends and a refrigerator salesman with a failed marriage he befriends in New York. The men receive sponsorship in the form of stock essential for survival in the 100-day voyage from the Peruvian government and get a good financial sponsorship from America. They build a balsa raft, just the way it must have been 1500 years back, and against all odds set out on the voyage.

Their journey begins with a memorable farewell from the locals and the rest of the movie takes you through the adventures of the men in the sea and how they endured rough weather and multiple shark attacks to reach their destination.

The wonderful camera work and soundtracks make the breathtaking quest a voyage of epic proportions. Though it is a Norwegian movie, many vital points in the plot are spoken in English as required by the story, which makes it easier for the viewers.

I had many questions in mind when I watched this film, the first among them being, "Why was this movie made?" and a few more questions followed- "Didn't Mike Nichols read the script and suggest any revisions?" and "Couldn't it be a little more funnier, may be not as much as the book but funny nonetheless?".

Adapted from Joseph Heller's one-of-the-kind satire novel, the movie failed to live up to the hype and humor the book created. Mike Nichols, fresh from winning an Academy Award for 'The Graduate' somehow lost his brilliant directing skills to a poorly written screenplay. Yes, there were jokes and funny moments, where you'd guffaw no matter what, but those moments were too few as compared to those in the book.

MASH, the book, by any standards, couldn't match Joseph Heller's novel. But when it comes to Motion Picture and presenting it, Mike Nichols lost it to Robert Altman's MASH.

And no one else would have made a better Yossarian than Alan Arkin. Jon Voight and Balsam were impressive too.

Tragedies happen everyday, everywhere. Not many people dare to venture into making a movie that begins with tragedy and has one tragedy after another, and a tragic ending to a poignant tale. Clint Eastwood, with some brilliant performances by Tim Robbins and Sean Penn, has created a movie that leaves an impact on you.

It's not a movie that has breathtaking car chases nor does it boast of CGI. It's a ubiquitous tale of a daughter seeking a life free from her parents, a father who buries his dreadful criminal past with the love for his family and three friends who share a dream that all of them wish never happened.

It's a movie that makes you think while you watch.

A brilliantly written,directed and presented movie.

It's been more than fifty years since James Bond made his first appearance on the silver screen. Sean Connery's baritone and charisma added life to Ian Fleming's fictional character.

The movie may not provide the thrills and action a present day audience demands but the movie is a landmark in the way murders and mysteries are solved not just with bullets and biceps, but with brains. The movie doesn't boast of an exemplary plot, but it somehow manages to make the viewers feel satisfied from watching a detective classic, a genre that has The Maltese Falcon at the forefront.

The movie is made in color, which further adds to its technical achievements.

Perhaps David Lean's Lawrence of Arabia is still one of the greatest movies made in color, a movie that established Peter O'Toole as an actor. But any movie buff would know the year Bond made his first appearance.