----Spoilers included-------
Starring: Nicolas Cage, Hope Davis, Michael Caine
I am working on compiling my top 10 movies for year 2005.
Still I have to watch few important foreign movies.
Right now following are top lists
1) Crash
2) Capote
3) Cinderella Man
4) Brokeback Mountain
5) A history of violence
6) Broken flowers
7) V for Vendetta
8) Munich
9) Batman Begins
10) King Kong
Honorable Mentions:
Walk the Line
Brick Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
Grizzly Man
Hwal aka The Bow by Ki-duk Kim
Before going in to the details, this movie is a must for Clerks 1 fans. Now coming to the plot, movie start out in a bang i.e. fire in convenience store trashes everything. After a year, this movie captures a day’s life of our old friends Randal and Dante, who are in their mid 30s, working for a fast food place Mooby's. As usual Jay and Silent bob are just standing outside, selling same old stuff, listening & dancing to music, just like they used to. However this is the last day for Dante’s life in NJ & plans to leave with his bride. Randal thinks he need's to give some special kind of sendoff party & he plans a donkey show. Plot is good and a series of funny, bizarre and uncalled incidents makes Dante’s have to make chose i.e. his boss and bride. Jokes on What is the Lord of the Rings are about? star wars? Why teenagers can't have sex etc bring's lot of laughs. Often you will feel overdoes of foul language. As I mentioned, if you enjoyed part1 or over dose of foul language, then you will enjoy the second one too. Casts amazing chemistry & very good background scores, abrupt plot shifts & great jokes a brings lot of laughs. My rating 8/10.
Theme of the movie: Time can't change a thing.
One day I saw a film forum discussing Garden state is as good as old classic The Graduate. So this movie is in my watch list for quiet sometime. Brief plot is a socially detached man ,Zach Braff,( written & acted & directed this movie), comes home to New Jersey for the first time in nine years to attend his mother funeral and he spends most of his time hanging out with old high school friends. The group of friends, centered on his best friend turned grave digger and inventor turned millionaire. He accidentally meets a girl, Natalie Portman’s & slowly fells in love with girl. Rest of story on his transformation. Braff and Portman have great on screen chemistry and both put up great performances. Overall it is a good movie with its excellent cinematography & brilliant background score & songs. Camera angles were very cool, well planned and executed, visually attractive. Don’t watch with high expectation. You will get disappointed.
Still I have to watch many 2006 movies.
At this moment, following are my top 10 movies for year 2006.
1) The lives of others
2) Pans Labyrinth
3) Babel
4) Blood Diamond
5) Little Miss Sunshine
6) Letters from Iwo Jima
7) Inside Man
8) Half Nelson
9) Prestige
10) The Departed
I enjoyed Michael Haneke earlier movie The Piano Teacher. This is the reason, I brought CACHE DVD. Brief plot is Georges (Daniel Auteuil) and Anne (Juliette Binoche) are being watched and filmed as the movie opens. Georges feels he knows exactly who it is which is why he is reluctant to call a private investigator & while Anne in complete shock & surprise. Georges tells his childhood stories in pieces to his wife as movie progresses. When Georges was a small boy his parents adopt an Algerian boy whose parents were killed. Georges was very jealous of Majid and by a few mean tricks managed to get him sent away. After few video tapes Georges visits Majid in a poor flat in contrast to his wealthy life style & threatens him. In a sub plot you will see Anne son’s strange & suspicious behavior i.e. he suspects mom having an affair with her publisher. Film abruptly ends with five minutes long shot on a collage campus entrance doors {as viewer will focus on George's son talking to Majid’s son) Film ending leads to a lot of discussion. After movie, I watched director’s thoughts on the movie. Basically what he want to convey with this kind of movie. In summary it is about, with guilt, how a man lives his rest of life. In terms of acting, Juliette did very job. Rest all OK. As I said, movie ending leads to lot of discussion and viewers have to figure out who sent the tapes etc. If you looking for some verity movie, not a typical Hollywood formula movie, Cache is one of them.
Pulp Fiction(1994)
Written & directed by Quentin Tarantino
Pulp Fiction tells three mini stories on following characters:Vincent Vega (John Travolta) and Jules (Samuel L. Jackson);Vincent and Mia (Uma Thurman);Butch (Bruce Willis) and Marsellus Wallace (Ving Rhames). Plot: Jules and Vincent are two hit men who are out to retrieve a suitcase stolen from their employer Wallace. Also Wallace asks Vincent to take his wife Mia out a few days. Butch is an old boxer who is paid by Wallace to lose his next fight. But Butch has his own plans. The lives of these seemingly unrelated people are clubbed together comprising of a series of funny, bizarre and uncalled for incidents. Dialogs drives the whole plot. Most of characters end with redemption at the end. Nowadays Pulp Fiction looks like a cool film for many but a decade back, it is one of the best movie in 90’s for it's a masterpiece of dialog writing, sound, and entertainment and best performances from John John Travolta And
Samuel L. Jackson and Uma Thurman and Bruce.
The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
Brief plot of the movie is young banker was sent to prison for the murder of his cheating wife & her lover. While there in the prison, he slowly build friendship with another long term convict Morgoan Free Man. With Morgan’s help, he slowly settles down the prison system & understands & analyzes how it works. He also wins the prison head & other prison employees respect & trust by offering free tax returns & other investing banking advice etc. Whatever he does he always thinks for his freedom & getting out the prison. Whether he escapes the prison or not the rest of the story. A dramatic tale of a man efforts to get his freedom & perfect action from Freeman & Robbins and smart one liners dialogs (For ex: Get busy living, or get busy dying. ) & intelligent screenplay & direction by Frank Darabont engages the viewer for whole movie. A must see movie. I watched this movie after Frank ‘s The Green Mile. Shawshank is a good & pleasant surprise.
One more movie in to honorable list.
Dead Man(1995)
Dead man is another good movie from true independent director Jim Jarmusch. Brief plot is about a timid, highly civilized clerk William Black (Johnny depp) is heading to the west to take up a carrier in the Wild West. After endless long journey, when he finally reaches, he discovers that his job was filled already. Feeling rejected, he ends up with a prostitute for the night. But he was interrupted in the mid-night by prostitute finance & he kills her & wounds William. During the struggle, William kills the finance who is happens to be the town head’s son. Knowing the sons death, head hires bunch of wild guys to finish the William. After the shootout, without treating his injuries, runs away from the scene in to the wild west where he meets with an Indian named Nobody & continues his journey until his ending. It is another low cost black & white movie shot in mid 90’s on purpose. You will amazing black & white cinematography and simple and yet effective background guitar score by Neil young and Jarmush’s style of story telling stick’s its own lasting impression in the audience mind. Story was little convoluted & bit lengthily but a true classic and utterly poetic in nature. There are few movies which I like more after repeated viewing. This is one of them for me.
Philadelphia(1993)
May be this is my first & last Hollywood movie on AIDS disease. Brief plot is a lawyer was fired from his firm after his discovery of his Aids on his competence reasons. Rest of the story about his law suit etc. An heartfelt drama & Tom Hanks & Denzel Washington performance mesmerizes everyone.
RESERVOIR DOGS(1994)
It is QT is debut movie & brief plot tells the story of the bloody aftermath of a diamond heist gone totally wrong. In flashback, story was told in shuffled cards with different time slots, we will see bunch of criminals were brought by leader & trained & none of the criminals knows each other & all are identified with colors. (No one knows the real names etc.) You will see only before planning & after math of heist & you will not see any Diamond heist. Dripping with quotable dialogs & superb performance from all the male cast rocks the movie. QT choice of words builds meaningful characters no matter whatever they talks. If I have to rank the best scenes in 90’s movies, the coffee shop scene, in which all the cast assembles at the coffee shop before heist, discusses everything like Madonna’s as Virgin to pinks refusal to tipping the waitress, ranks the top 10. Superb debut and the best individual talent come out of 90’s movies.
The Silence of the Lambs- 9.5/10
Masterpiece of filmmaking from the 90's. Creepy, Chilling and effective.
First Thriller with so much horror movie to won many Oscars.
I used to think what happened to Jodie after 1976's Taxi driver
She did very good job in this movie. Perfection from Anthony Hopkins.
Blood Work – 7.5/10
Except predictable ending, movie completely engages you for 75% of the time.
Watch without any expectation & you will enjoy a good thriller.
