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Reviews
The Hundred-Foot Journey (2014)
Breaking down barriers, positive over negative.
I hope this film wins an Oscar or two; it's the best I've seen during 2014. The stunning beauty of French countryside & villages is so well shown. Every actor & actress delivered so convincingly; I was already convinced of Om Puri's acting excellence, but how perfect can casting be.....Helen Mirren took me mentally back to France......and she is not even French! A truly gifted actress who communicated sorrow, snobbery, arrogance and then eventually compassion and understanding. That is what made this such a great film: it was not "good guys against bad", but failings in us all that can be overcome through exposure to other cultures and people.
It is refreshing to watch a film where the lead guy (played by Manish Dayal) is not busy blowing "bad-guys"'s brains out, but simply trying to achieve something constructive for himself and make peace with others. Some real laugh-out-loud moments - I am still grinning at "beaf- bubblegum"!
Bring the family too - its PG!
Ship of Theseus (2012)
long. very long. why did I sit this one out?
The basic idea (exploring the immorality in some organ transplants) is great; thanks for delivering a movie on this subject. But this movie was about 70% longer than it needed to be. We got to the end of it ....but only just.
I think the cinematography was good and so was the unpretentious acting, but the director was trying too hard to impress. Several scenes could be been dropped and most of the remaining scenes were longer than needed; for example the monks walking through the wind-farm, was that necessary, or if so, why was it so painstakingly long?
To its credit, compared to 99% of the mindless tosh that Bollywood churns out, I would far rather watch this again 10 times over than watch 10 different "regular" Bollywood films...as would my Indian wife!
Essex Boys (2000)
The Ultimate Turn-Off From Attraction To The Underworld
When my son is a few years older I will show him this brilliant, disturbing yet compelling film about drugs dealers because I can't think of a better way of seeing how evil that underworld is. You don't need to be from the scary regions of Essex (I am!) to relate to or understand the environment this film depicts. This brilliantly directed film simply shows the absence of moral compass that some people have, and how attractive the "easy money" is to some people on the periphery.....but once sucked in, the exit routes are limited and not so glossy! It makes me glad to have left Essex as early as I could. The "story" researcher, Bernard O'Mahoney did a very thorough job - check his website. The director & crew never gave in to temptation to use "tricks of the trade" - just unpretentious, good writing, filming, acting and editing. But here is the really scary thing: the story continues in reality, and not just in Essex, so it's worth being aware of what goes on - and this film will do just that for the viewer.
2 Days in New York (2012)
We gave up after 12 minutes
Its obsessed with sex, its crass, neurotic and just not credible. The characters are contrived, and my wife and I wished we gave up earlier than minute number 12. I'm sure there must be some New York families like this, but hopefully not too many, because this is a poor fabrication of a pathetic scenario that left if not caring what is going to happen next. We have lived in France - and never met anybody as bizarre as the characters here. The credibility of the customs scene is around zero- I've never known anybody that stupid. The wanna-be Woody Allen directing left Woody Allen looking good - and I don't like Woody Allen. We soon found something else better to do with our lives than waste it on this film.
The Lady (2011)
If you only watch one film this year, ensure its "The Lady"
Whilst the film-making was not the best ever, it was MORE than good enough to convey to the viewer the awe-inspiring bravery, decency and humanity of Aung San Suu Kyi, her family and many supporters who suffered so much - including death.
It was a heavy, profound watch.... if you don't tear-up at at least a couple of points on this one, you are made of steel!
I disagree with another reviewer that the portrayal of the evil military mis-ruler was overdone and bordering on ridicule. I live in S.E. Asia, and i have observed those in uniforms and in possession of power, believe me it was spot-on. And lets face it, they were absolutely evil.
The parallels with Richard Attenborough's "Gandhi" are definitely apparent, and the biggest surprise is how good Michelle Yeo is in the role! Enjoy.
The Great Debaters (2007)
In my top 10 movies ever.
I just can't recommend this film enough. We watched it with our 10 year old son in order that he can understand the evil of racism, the strength of human spirit in some people, the power of resilience and self-belief but also the need to focus and work hard to achieve great things.
Denzil Washington is, in my opinion, one of the top 10 actors Hollywood has produced - but he is equally good as a director. Everything about this movie was pure perfection - from casting to acting to lighting.
It motivated me to read up about Melvin B. Tolson (the educator, columnist, and politician whom this film was covering), and his truly impressive in his wisdom and determination. From what I read, I got the impression that this film remains quite true to reality, which of course makes it even more impressive.
The Social Network (2010)
Amazing story, not very well directed
The real story was well worth telling, its truly one of theft, betrayal, greed, ego and consequential money, loneliness and emptiness. This film shows Mark Zuckerberg (mr Facebook) to be the low-life that he is, and for that, the film is definitely worth a watch - it becomes increasingly addictive. My wife and my just found the boring background music too high in volume and we spent most of the time having to read subtitles to be able to follow the dialog. We are not deaf, we have never had this problem with other films, so why does the director (David Fincher) spoil the viewer-experience with such an unnecessary inconvenience? We got the impression that David Fincher is a Spike Lee wannabe, and this spoiled what could have been a far better film. That said, the acting was good enough to make it well worth two hours of your time.
The Insider (1999)
Inspirational, profound, captivating movie-making at its best
My theory is that there is an 80% chance that if a movie is truly great, its based on a true story. "The Insider" further confirms that theory. You have to see it! I am not sure who should take most of the credit in a situation when everything falls into place so perfectly: the producer? the director? the Director of Photography, Dante Spinotti? ..... in the end, everyone of them can say, hand on heart, "I delivered something truly great".
I wish i could honestly say i have the courage that the lead (in real life), Jeffery Wigand has. I read later in Time Magazine that he said: "I make a difference. I feel good at the end of the day." I am glad that's how he feels despite the stress on the family that he experienced. To move from a $300k job to a $30k job is huge, but if takes you on the road to genuine peace, its worth it. Russell Crowe, who plays Wigand brilliantly permits the viewer to empathize with somebody moving from relative normality to being on the wrong side of a major corp.'s lawyers - and all the pressures that entails.
As for the second of the two lead characters, Lowell Bergman, this guy, in real life, is the embodiment of traditional journalistic integrity, tenaciousness....., and as such, I can't imagine anybody doing a better job of portraying that role than Al Pacino. Enjoy!
Signs (2002)
the most stupid, boring film i have ever seen
For me, the question is, why could somebody who produced a film as good as 6th Sense, then produce something so incredibly bad and void of logic as SIGNS? Is he short of a few dollars? he must be desperate - same applies for Meg Gibson. Sad. I really wish i had used IMDb first to read these comments and saved myself two hours of boredom. Just to give you a sample of why this film is the stupidist i have ever seen:
1. Baby monitors can pick them up but military radar cant!!! 2. Water dissolves them (was that from the wizard of oz?)!!! 3. Mel Gibson plays an ex-priest who looses faith on the death of his wife but regains it when aliens leave for no clear reason except perhaps they suddenly realized planet earth has a fair bit of water and that's their downfall !!! come on, i could not smoke anything strong enough to get me to write cr"p like that 4..... the list just goes on and on
The Ugly Truth (2009)
Starts off crass and never lifts itself out of the lowest levels
Katherine Heigl is capable of good acting, but it'a wasted on a film that seems to be targeted at 12 year-olds whose humour stays around the masturbation and such themes level. It really, really is not in the same league as "When Harry met Sally" as another commenter suggests; that film had some class - this has none.
What's particularly sad about this film is that the basic theme of "what men really want is tits and arse, anything else is a denial of the truth" theory is portrayed as being THE ABSOLUTE TRUTH. Well, it is for a certain proportion of the population - but the whole world is not trailer-trash - thankfully! We walked out after 45 minutes wondering why we did not have the wisdom to do so earlier.