Street dancers Diversity won this year’s Britain’s Got Talent. IMO, they deserved to win after that scintillating dance act in the finals. 48-year old Hairy Angel Susan Boyle for the finals sang “I Dreamed A Dream”, same song which made her an instant star after the first round. Initially ridiculed for her appearance and later for Everything-is-planned ploy which also included the planned shock reaction of audiences and judges alike, she decided to quit the show mid-way. However, she stayed on and came second in the third season of Britain’s Got Talent. I loved her singing but I guess she was hyped way too much. That apart, she has got impressive voice.

My personal favorites Shaheen Jafargholi and Stavros Flatley did enter final but could not reach the final three. In particular twelve year old Shaheen was an absolute delight to hear. Like Susan, he too chose the song he sang in the first round; Michael Jackson’s “Who’s Loving You” and boy was he good? He was enormously attention-grabbing. Greek Irish father-son duo of Stavros Flatley completely entertained with their uncanny dance manner.

Other findings which I enjoyed were: 10-year old Natalie Okri and 11-year old Aidan Davis. Natalie rocked with Jamelia’s Superstar song and Aidan wowed everyone with his delightful dance.

Thanks to talent.itv.com and live commentary by Sujoy on his blog, I was able to watch all these great acts on internet. There were many more amazing performances; I have listed only my favorites.

In my last post, many people asked me the source of those movies. Pirated? Downloaded? Well, nopes. I do not download them from net. I am way too impatient for that. And forget finding those movies in your local dvd library. I am member of DVD rental sites Seventymm and Bigflix. And that’s where I get the movies from. This doesn’t work out cheaper but ultimately I it’s worth it. I had been member of 70mm for over two years now. I am not too demanding, in the sense I do not look out for latest blockbusters or famous ones. I look out for movies which are hard to get otherwise and which we hardly get to hear of. There are so many movies being made all over the world and we get to hear of just 15-20%. Where else could I have seen Iranian/Korean/Mandarin/French/German/Persian/Spanish/Japanese et al language movies? In the name of foreign language films, all that gets released in India are the blockbusters of Hollywood, half of which I found absolute crap. Yes, I am talking of Superman/Spiderman, ye-man, wo-man, Harry Potter and many such. They might be having huge followings but I do not like such movies. Of late, the scene has changed and we do get to see some lesser known good ones releasing in India too, ‘The Revolutionary Road’ for example. Yet, the scene is pathetic when it comes to the release of Non-English movies in India.

Am I happy with them? I have heard from few friends from north that 70mm service sucks. Well, I haven’t found any reasons whatsoever so far to discontinue my membership. And definition of suck varies from one to another. My look-outs are usually the Non-English foreign language films and 70mm comes with a good collection of them. For English, I am trying to watch as many old classics as possible. I am going by the decade and I am still on 50s/60s/70s. I half-way through watching the movies of Marlon Brando, Gregory Peck, Cary Grant, Montgomery Clift, Paul Newman, Audrey Hepburn, Elizabeth Taylor et al. I do not see any other way to watch their movies as I yet cannot afford to buy DVDs of all these movies.

Serviceability too is an important factor, and my experience says these providers have improved a lot in last couple of years. Initially I did face few hiccups but I was patient. Bigflix I joined recently because I wasn’t getting few movies on 70mm. Though, 70mm remains my primary provider. Cinema Paradiso is another DVD rental site, but I haven’t checked out them. My queue in the former 2 is more than 100+ which will take some time to get exhausted. However, Cinema Paradiso is another good one if words of few of my friends are anything to go by.

I do not go by the fact which site provides maximum number of titles. What is the point if you have more number of titles but what you want to see is not there? These are web based, you can check out the kind of movies you wish to watch and decide whether you want to take the membership or not. Makes sense?

Btw, did I tell how Bangalore is progressing backwards? The deadline for pubs/clubs to remain open is 11.30 PM, killing the nightlife. And, not many know that dancing here in pubs/clubs is banned. This wasn't enough that the show timings of the movies have been revised and the last show of the day will be screened at 8 PM. Can anyone beat that? The last show here till now started by 10 PM and in order to reduce the crime (words of Shankar Bidari, Bangalore Police Commissioner), they have decided to end the show at the most by 11 PM for which the show must be at 8. Now, is that rational? I do not even wish to get into the pros and cons of this as I feel there are many people (working ones usually) who would prefer to go for late night show after day’s work. And if not just that, there could be hazaar other reasons. And why any reasons? Do not we have any say in anything? Ending up show 2 hours early than usual will reduce crime. Mashallah.

Facebook and Blogging took backseat, thanks to work. Phone calls and SMSes reduced but Books and Movies never lost their priority. Surprisingly, the number of movies I watched in last one month is almost double of what I watched in 2 months before that. And same goes for the books. I finished 4 books and started the 5th one 4 days back. IPL too was something which kept me away from the world. My favorites since the first edition of IPL (Delhi Daredevils) lost in semi-final, so I wasn't actually rooting for any particular team in finals. No, I am not amongst those who decide their favs based on the place they belong to or feel closer to. Bangalore played good cricket (in the later half of IPL-2) but they were(are) never in my top 3 list. However, I appreciate their game and the rise from nowhere to runner-ups and same goes for Deccans for showing the best of cricket and clinching the IPL-2 trophy.

Anyways, here goes short reviews of the movies I saw in last one month.

World Cinema: (English title in bracket)

Kurdish/Persian:

Niwemang (Half Moon) - *** - Mamo, a musician after seven months of hard labor to get approval to perform in Iraqi Kurdistan leaves for the final concert of his life along with his sons (9 or 10 they were). Along the way, he picks up a female singer Hesho. As women are not allowed to sing in public, they all get in to trouble with the police. Niwemang (Half-Moon), a girl who is a huge fan of Mamo suddenly appears out of nowhere and helps them in reaching the concert place on time.

Portuguese:

Cidade de Deus (City of God) - ****1/2 - If you run you're dead...if you stay, you're dead again. Period. That’s the tag line of the movie. It sums up the movie. One of the finest movies based on Mafia/Crime/Thriller, Cidade de Deus tells the story of a boy (Rocket from his point of view) as he gets entangled in the drugs, crime, and an ultimate rush to get away from it. A true story based in 60s and 70s of Brazil is a real cinema that would leave you with a lump in your throat.

German:

Gegen die Wand (Head-On) - ***1/2 – Part German and part Turkish movie Gegen die Wand is a romantic drama. Cahit is not so happy with his life and after getting drunk at a club, rams his car purportedly into the wall. He survives but has a support around neck. At the hospital he sees a girl (Sibel) staring at her. As soon as he walks out, the girl approaches him and asks him to marry her. He is shocked at the proposal. Sibel explains her reasoning and they get married. Quite strange eh? Watch the movie to realize how amazingly psychedelic it gets. Directed by celebrated director Fatih Akin, Head-On or Gegen die Wand is a fresh story.

Im Juli (In July) - ****1/2 – After Gegen die Wand I wanted to watch other movies of Fatih Akin and got hold of Im Juli. The story is spanned across the first 8 days of the month of July.

Daniel is a school teacher in Hamburg. He is not planning to go out of city for summer vacation. Juli (a vendor) has crush on him but she is too shy to tell him that. She finds a way out. She sells him a ring with a Sun on it. She tells him that he soon will meet a girl who will carry a sun too and that girl will understand him the most. Daniel sees a girl (Melek) wearing a t-shirt with sun imprinted on it. He befriends her. Melek, its soon revealed is from Turkey and is heading to Istanbul to meet her boyfriend. Juli sees them both and is dejected and decides to leave city for vacation. Coincidentally Daniel who by now has decided to follow Melek to the Istanbul gives her a ride when he sees Juli at the road which goes out of city. A marvelous and unexpected journey filled with unusual circumstances begin and things go out of hand. They get separated only to meet at Istanbul by when Daniel has already met Melek and in a surprising way her boyfriend before meeting her. It is a lovely story and was released in 2000. The emphasis on year is because after watching this, I have no doubts that Imtiaz Ali was totally inspired by it to make his ‘Jab We Met’. I was of a mind that JWM was an original story but I do not think so now. Our makers, mashallah.

Vals Im Bashir (Waltz with Bashir) - **** - Nominated this year for Oscars in the Best Foreign Film category, Vals Im Bashir is the first animated movie to achieve that honor. Ari, a director once is reminded by his friend about the Lebanon War they both were part of. Ari has long forgotten the war and do not have a single memory of that war. He is not suffering from Amnesia, he knows. Yet, there is no memory of that war. He starts looking for friends who were with him then and gives a picture to what he is told. The movie is a poignant drain. An absolute moving film.

French:

Les Quatre Cents Coups (400 Blows) - **** - Spoilt boy Antoine is a trouble maker and pain in ass for his parents and school teachers. Majorly misunderstood boy soon gets into minor crimes in the neighborhood. He spreads his wings of trivial crimes to the city (Paris). Paris is captured magnificently through the eyes of Antoine in this passionate drama.

Spanish:

Amores Perros (Love’s a Bitch) - ****1/2 – Three stories. Interconnected through a ghastly car accident. Motorcycle star Gael Garcia is in love with his brother’s wife and persuades her to run away with him. He gets his pet dog in a dog-fighting competition to make money so that he can run away with his beloved. A middle aged publisher abandons his family for the love of Spanish Supermodel. The model gets injured in the car accident which is caused by Gael Garcia. A homeless-moneyless ex-teacher who has a junk cart carrying stray dogs is the witness of this accident. There is much more to all this than said. I was absolutely overwhelmed with the great direction and brilliant performances by all.

Korean:

Bin-Jip (3-Iron) - ***1/2 – The protagonist has a peculiar way of living. He looks out for the houses which are empty (probably on vacation et al) and gets into the house secretly to live till the family is back. While staying, he takes care of the house like his own, washing clothes etc. Once, he gets into house absolutely unaware of the fact that the abused and assaulted wife is still there. He goes on living and she secretly watches him. Once he realizes that their life changes. The movie has minimal dialogues and is majorly conveyed through actions and emotions.

Hollywood:

Judgment at Nuremberg - **** - 3 years after World War – II, an American Court puts 4 Nazi Judges on trial for ill-doings during the Hitler’s regime. Burt Lancaster and Montgomery Clift come once again after ‘From Here To Eternity’ in this highly powerful movie. Clift has a cameo; however he goes onto win Nominations for the Best Supporting Actor at Oscars that year. The best part of the movie was the Actor Maximilian Schell (Won Best Actor-Oscar). A movie loaded with dominant performances and emotion.

In Bruges - *** - Nominated for the Best Motion Picture (Comedy or Musical) at Golden Globes, In Bruges is a story of two hit men (Colin and Brendan) hired by Ralph to go to Bruges. Colin has a disturbing past of killing a young boy. The story thereafter follows their time spent in Bruges. Colin who got nominated for Best Actor at GG and ultimately won has moved from his eye-candy image and grown as an actor a la Di Caprio.

Vicky Cristina Barcelona - **1/2 - Woody Allen, The Moghul of sex-inclined movies comes with another tale of sexually-driven story of two female friends (Scarlett and Rebecca) who are on tour to Spain and their encounter with artiste couple (Penelope and Javier). Javier propositions Scarlett-Rebecca to accompany him for weekend to a distant city. Rebecca hesitates but Scarlett is totally smitten by him. They both eventually accompany and the trip and the return thereafter change everyone’s life including Javier’s wife Penelope.

Dot the I - ***1/2 - Another Gael Garcia’s movie. Natalia is engaged to James and on her Hen’s night (similar to Bachelor’s party), she is asked to participate in a tradition wherein she has to kiss a complete stranger. She kisses Gael who is sitting at the same restaurant. Soon, they fall in love and what ensues thereafter is an absolute treat for people who like thrillers with a pinch of drama and romance added.

Milk - **** - Everyone knows about Milk. Oscar winning movie about America’s first openly gay activist Harvey Milk (played by Sean Penn who got Best Actor Oscar for this role) who gets elected to California office and his fight for gay rights is an intense and emotional film. The film captures Milk’s life from the day he turned 40 till the time he was killed by his colleague Dan White, who was a conservative.

All The King’s Men - ***1/2 – Sean Penn plays smart and cunning Willie Stark, elected governor who is up against the riches and upper classes. When upper classes (including an influential judge) get together to impeach him, he gets one of his subordinates, Jude Law (who is related to judge but rebelled to support Willie) to trace the life of the judge. Things get ugly during the course and it ends with a dreadful finale.

Left Luggage - ***1/2 – There have been umpteen movies based on Holocaust. Left Luggage is one of them. It tells the story of a holocaust survivor who had hidden the suitcases during WW-II and after the war is over he starts looking for his suitcases (luggage). His daughter Chaya is a party time baby-sitter-cum-nanny at a Jewish family. The head of the family is a conservative Jewish while Chaya is a free-spirited and liberal Jewish. Chaya is well accepted by the other family members (wife and 4 children) especially the youngest boy. The boy cannot speak though he is four years old. Chaya often takes him to the park near the lake and teaches him to speak. Everybody’s life turns upside down one fine morning. A heart-touching drama.

Platoon - **** - The infamous NAM war has been the favorites of many American directors. Platoon, the first in trilogy (followed by Born on the Fourth of July and Heaven & Earth) covering the Vietnam War by JFK director Oliver Stone is not just about men fighting the war. It is an emotional portrayal of a young recruit (Charlie Sheen) who is caught between the fight with enemies and the fight within his regiment.

Henry and June - *** - A true story. Acclaimed authors Henry Miller and Anais Nin had more than just mutual admiration for each other. June (Uma Thurman) who was married to Henry and supposedly had same-sex relation with Anais was an inspiration to both Henry and Anais. Henry and June literally lived off Anais and her husband Hugo’s money when in Paris. Anais gets into sexual relation with Henry while he is working on his novel (Tropic of Cancer; title suggested by Anais). Anais is intimated by June and shares a moment or two of intimacy with her.

Movies of Audrey Hepburn:

When it comes to Audrey, the only word that comes to my mind is enchanting. She is an absolute delight to watch. The first movie of hers that I saw was Breakfast at Tiffany’s and I was blown. Roman Holiday confirmed my confidence in her and I realized there can never be anyone like Audrey. That was last year. I wasn’t able to get hold of her other movies as my search continued. And this month I got to see three of her finest works.

Wait Until Dark - ***1/2 has her playing a blind girl who is left alone at apartment by her husband who has some work to attend to. Three men take advantage of the situation and enter the apartment in search of a doll who they believe her husband has hidden. Only these three men know that the doll has heroine stuffed inside it which her husband was given at the airport by a young woman who wanted to avoid giving it to one of these men present then at the airport. Woman puts it in Audrey’s husband’s hand and vanishes amongst the crowd. A crime thriller well directed.

Charade - ***1/2 – A startling chemistry between legends Cary Grant and Audrey in Charade will be remembered for ever. Audrey while in Paris discovers that her husband (never shown) is killed and has left a fortune which is missing. Many men enter her life suddenly to lay claim to the missing cash, including Cary Grant. She trusts only Cary but later finds out even he is fake and is behind the cash. The movie is full with some very interesting and witty dialogues between Cary and Audrey.

My Fair Lady - ***** - The best of the lot (these 3). Professor Henry Higgins (Rex Harrison) is an upper class snob, who thinks that he can make a flower girl (Audrey) who is crude, tom-boyish and unrefined into a proper lady and can pass her as one from roal family with hew teachings on phonetics, language and mannerisms. The musical has many fine moments. This is how a musical should be made I feel. Watch it for a totally different pleasure.

I knew it and many like me knew it too that Taare Zameen Par was too feeble an entry for Oscars like Paheli (miserable), Eklavya (hopeless), RDB (many like that already made; we made it late), Devdas (Hazam nahi hua) in last few years. TZP was too long like Lagaan and very foreseeable like Lagaan; yet Lagaan was prevailing but TZP from beginning was no match to Majidi’s The Song of Sparrows (Iranian), Takita’s Departures (Japanese), Ari Folman’s Waltz with Bashir (Hebrew; Israel) and Garrone’s Gomorra (Italian); these which I have seen amongst the 67 entries and surprisingly Majidi’s movie is out of the nine selected so far for the third round and unsurprisingly Aamir’s TZP too doesn’t feature in top nine. Majidi who made 1998’s Best Foreign Language Film Children of Heaven about which I have talked in my earlier post might be disappointed as his was one of the best entries amongst the 67 this year for 81st Academy Awards.

I am not sad for Aamir, I am not. His was not enough to be recognized globally as a good cinema so it did not make. Fair enough. I am sad for Majidi though.


Slumdog Millionaire has left me speechless. It’s a mind-boggling movie for which I hope Boyle, Beaufoy, Mantle and our own ARR win Oscars on 22nd Feb. I am yet fostering the aftereffects of watching a mind fucking movie which is Slumdog Millionaire currently for me. I feel like crying.

With all due respect to makers of Lagaan; I feel Jamal’s last question worth 2 Million Rupees overshadows Bhuvan’s last ball six. (A Premise to my review later; COPYRIGHTED)

Excerpts from review which I hope to write soon:

I wish Slumdog Millionaire had never ended. I felt 120 minutes passed too soon; I hoped for it to run forever. I never felt so elated even when Bhuvan in Lagaan hit the last ball six in the climax. I still remember the whole theater just erupted with a feat (one experiences when one achieves something akin himself) when Bhuvan hit that six. I found myself hugging a complete stranger standing on left to me that morning in theater. That was 2001…. 2009; Slumdog Millionaire; almost similar climax (penultimate?) but more euphoria than what Aamir & Co provided me with then.

P.S. Slumdog Millionaire is extremely different to Lagaan. The reference was only to the climax.

‘We want work’, ‘We are widows’, and ‘We are not political’. Few burqa clad women chant this and display it on placard while taking out a rebellion on the Taliban ruled streets of Afghanistan one day. A young boy Espandi (Arif Herati) is shown smoldering away the curses and asking for a dollar from the firang journalist who is filming this procession. A woman, name not known (Khwaja Nader) accompanied by her daughter, name not known (Marina Golbahari) are on their way to hospital where the mother works as nurse. Suddenly Taliban strikes and procession goes violent. Woman, her daughter and Espandi take protection in a house. The girl unhurriedly peeps through the door ajar. Her misty eyes see the brutalities of Taliban and tears roll down her cheek.

Soon the mother-daughter duo get to know that they are rendered penniless as the Taliban has closed down the hospital. At home in night whilst cooking the meal mother breaks down and longs for a man in family who could support them as her husband and brother had died in Russian war. She then blights looking at her daughter, ’wish I had boy’. The third female in the family, the grandmother is arranging the young girl’s hair into neat braid and narrates a bed time story to her as how passing under ‘Rainbow’ can make boy a girl and girl a boy. Granny suggests the mother to cut the girl’s hair, make her don her father’s clothes so that she can be passed as a boy and can earn a living outside. The girl objects but this is the last resort left to the destitute family.

Upon being disposed to work in a tea shop, the ordeal starts for the girl. She is continually terrified at the thought that her secret will be out any moment and walks to work and back home in constant fear. The words spoken are less but those scenes are well shot as the fear shown on the face of girl is to feel sorry for. She emotes marvelously through her eyes. Espandi, the boy who had seen her before recognizes her in an instant but settles to keep it a secret in exchange of few dimes.

The tribulation for her is never ending, what with few doubting eyes following her once till her home and furthermore when the owner of tea shop takes her to a mosque full of men to pray. But the vital one is when she along with all the boys is taken confined by Taliban to religious school so that young boys can be trained for the war. There amidst all boys she tries hard to behave like a boy but in vain and is soon being called a nymph by all including the Mullah who teaches them the ablutions to be performed by male to conquer the wet dreams apart from Koran. Her feminine looks and behavior could not be hidden and all boys start teasing her. Espandi comes to her rescue when few ask her to drop her Pyajama so that they can be sure she indeed is a boy. Espandi chases the other boys away and when few ask for her name christens her ‘Osama’.

Espandi comes to her rescue other times too but even he could not do much when her true identity is revealed in one of the most disturbing scenes I have ever seen. Espandi sees her and cries helplessly whilst she is chased by all in the confined walls of school. She is taken captive and is sent for a trial.

Without disclosing what happens next, the film definitely doesn’t end on a happy note. It is a dark cinema where each frame of it can melt any heart. The protagonist Osama (Marina) and all other characters are real and picked from the streets of Kabul. Marina herself was a beggar when director spotted her and took her in his film (Source Wikipedia).

When I chanced upon this movie by sheer luck (no one had recommended me; my DVDs rental-wala told me to take it as many were hiring this from him), I had no idea that this movie was hugely acclaimed and had won many awards. I also had no clue that the actors were picked from real life. After watching the movie and doing some random search on web I saw it again and felt the same heaviness in the heart which I had experienced before. We all know how a particular scene or a sequence can bring a lump in the throat but what would you call a movie where you have bulge and the lump throughout. I would call it a masterpiece.

Director Siddiq Barmark can be without doubt termed a genius as it takes humongous guts and effort to make immature or call it amateur actors enact the psyche of people from a war-trodden places. The editing is top class and could not get better. The poor and tattered neighborhood is captured in a basic way and as the film is shot in real locations gives it an intact look. Screenplay at times looks cut to short as per expectation but you soon realize it is intentional.

The film not for once looks off track or displays any irrational angle to it in its 80-odd minutes of running. Few scenes that need special mention here are:

When the girl after her hair being chopped off plants one of the braids in the mud-pot and waters it in the night in hope it never ceases to grow.

Women are singing and dancing as there is a marriage in the neighborhood but soon Taliban barges in upon hearing the clatter. Women speedily assemble and start crying pretending there is mourning and not a celebration. Pheew. What a pity.

The first time when the girl steps out of her house as boy and walks the street, she is scared stiff and alarmed at every step. You can experience her misfortune.

Famous musician, philosopher and physician Albert Schweitzer said this, “Reverence for Life affords me my fundamental principle of morality, namely, that good consists in maintaining, assisting, and enhancing life and that to destroy, harm, or to hinder life is evil.”

However people of Afghanistan and of other war-torn countries do not have any such fundamental principle or in my opinion are not even aware that ‘to-live’ is their fundamental right. These countries in Middle East face varied problems of either terrorism or of dominion or both but when it comes to women, they all stand alike. Women in these countries are nothing but an object of lust, fruit-bearer and not even that if they do not have a man in their lives.

How a woman supposed to earn a living if she cannot step out without a male companion related by blood and she doesn’t have any male left in family after losing them to war or terrorism?

P.S. And you probably thought this might have got to do with Osama Bin Laden. Sigh!!!

From Hollywood:

Rain Man: (1988)

Protagonists: Tom Cruise and Dustin Hoffman. Tom Cruise is self-centered man dealing with automobiles and is at loggerheads with his father. When his father dies, he gets just a car in will whereas 3 Million Dollars goes to some guy called Raymond. Tom gets into this matter only to realize that this Raymond (Dustin Hoffman) is his own brother. Raymond is autistic who lives in his own world and has no idea what money means? Tom is not willing to let go 3 Million Dollars to some autistic person (so what if the guy is his brother) and kidnaps him. They start a road trip and the rest of the movie is how Tom has change of heart. This Oscar winner (4 in total) movie is a light watch. Watch it on a lazy afternoon.

Rating – 4

From Here To Eternity: (1953)

Protagonists: Montgomery Clift, Frank Sinatra, Burt Lancaster, Donna Reed and Deborah Kerr. Director of movies like ‘The Day Of The Jackal’ and ‘Julia’, Fred Zinnemann who has personally won many Oscars hit the maximum with FHTE (8 Oscars). The movie is about Army man ‘Prewitt’ who is been transferred to Hawaii. An ex-boxing champion refuses to Box anymore (citing the reason he injured his friend badly in eye when last he boxed). However, his Captain makes no stone unturned in convincing him and in turns makes his life living hell. Meanwhile, Sergeant Warden is seeing Captain’s lonely wife and Prewitt’s friend Maggio (Frank Sinatra) gets into trouble with another sergeant. The movie has some interesting dialogues and cinematography.

Rating – 4

The Seven Year Itch: (1955)

Protagonists: Marilyn Monroe and Tom Ewell. Tom after sending his wife and son for vacation gets into conversing/flirting with his upstairs neighbor Marilyn. He is a professional proof reader and is currently reading a book which talks of ‘The Seven Year Itch’ (that most married men get into extra-marital affair after seven years of marriage). He is highly imaginative and sometimes over imagines things. It’s funny and it’s refreshing. Watch out for famous skirt raising sequence of Marilyn’s.

Rating – 3

From Bollywood:

Love Story 2050: (2008)

Protagonists: Harman Baweja and Priyanka Chopra. My brain was r@ped brutally. The movie is utter trash since ‘Hindustan Ki Kasam’ in late 90s. There were many that came and went but HKK stood its ground. Watch it if you want to have the best laugh. And now shaking the ground firmly held till now by HKK is LS 2050. I have nothing to say about the movie. Please do not watch.

Rating – ZERO

My Predictions:

3 Hindi movies are releasing tomorrow simultaneously.

Mission Istanbul – Flop to Average

Money Hai Toh Honey Hai – Flop, no doubt about that

Ugly Aur Pagli – A sleeper hit.

A Quickie is a Quickie is a Quickie.

Last ten days and I watched some of the best movies. Here's some Quickie Recommendations in Movies you should definitely watch: My list is in order of my recommendations (from highly recommended to somewhat highly recommended, there is nothing in this list which is least recommended).

From Hollywood:

1)Breakfast at Tiffany's: (1961)
Protagonists: Audrey Hepburn and George Peppard. Based on the novel of same name written by Truman Capote (Oh, he is so good), the movie also was written by him (Oh, he is so good). Audrey as Holly Golightly is now my all time fav character (amongst actresses) on screen. The story revolves around her and her histrionics in this 1961 Drama movie which won an Oscar for Audrey (undoubtedly) and another for the beautiful song 'Moon River'.
Rating – 5 Stars

2)How Green was My Valley: (1941)
Protagonists: Roddy McDowall and Maureen O'Hara. Based on the novel of same name written by Richard Llewellyn, the movie is about the Morgan family: the story narrated by Huw Morgan, youngest of all amongst six brothers and one sister. Huw is the black sheep of the family (possessing academic inclination in the family of miners). However, he too becomes a miner like them and narrates this story when he is leaving the city he grew up in.
Rating – 4 Stars

3)JFK: (1991)
Protagonists: Kevin Costner, Gary Oldman and Tommy Lee Jones. This controversial movie directed by Oliver Stone is not about JF Kennedy but the follow-up to the murder of President. Kevin Costner as Jim Garrison re-opens the JFK’s assassination case, trying to prove that The President was not killed by Lee Oswald but was a victim of conspiracy plotted by the secret services, FBI, CIA, Vice-President and a Businessman Clay Shaw.
Rating – 31/2 Stars

4)A Streetcar named Desire: (1951)
Protagonists: Marlon Brando and Vivien Leigh. Blanche (Vivien) takes refuge at her sister’s place. Her brother-in-law Stanley (Marlon) labels her as a melodramatic and tortures her (both mentally and eventually physically) in hope that she speaks the truth about her past. The major highlight of this flick is the dialogues.
Rating – 31/2 Stars

From Across the Globe:

5)The Lives of Others: German (2006)
Protagonists: Ulrich Muhe, Ulrich Tukur, Sebastian Koch and Martina Gedeck. Winner of Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, movie is of time when Germany was divided into East and West. Before the fall of Berlin Wall, East Germany secret police Stasi bugged the homes of all those whom they suspected are with the west part of Germany. And in this film, famous playwright and his actress lover became the victim. How this political drama and thriller unfolds is something to watch out for. A superb storyline with an awesome climax makes this film a classic in times to come.
Rating – 5 Stars

6)Lust, Caution: Chinese (2007)
Protagonists: Tony Wai and Wei Tang. Remember Ang Lee, famous director of Crouching Tiger and Brokeback Mountain. Ang comes with a spying thriller set during World War-II. A young woman (Wei) befriends a political figure (Tony) on behest of her revolutionary friends. The movie has multi-layer themes running parallel to the plot of assassinating the political figure. There is love, lust, sex, romance, drama, and suspense. This can be related closely to our own RDB including the climax where the revolutionaries die but unlike RDB, here they fail in their attempt to kill the politician and are shot and thrown from the cliff. A gut-wrenching film.
Rating – 4 Stars

7)Caramel: Lebanese (2007)
Protagonists: Nadine Labaki (also, the director of this film). Layale (Nadine) runs a beauty parlor and is supposedly seeing a very much married, a high profile figure. The story revolves around her and four other women (3 of them work with her) and one who visits their parlor. The basic plot is that of romantic comedy. All ladies are going to love this as they would be able to relate to the parlor talks. They share their married life, sex life, mid-life crisis and in turn support each other. All men would love seeing this film where each one of the girl is more gorgeous than the other. A light-hearted film which will make you realize the importance of being content with less.
Rating – 31/2 Stars

Please do share your opinion, If you have seen any of these?