The Dark Knight movie review

Starring : Christian Bale,Heath Ledger
Directed by: Christopher Nolan

---Spoilers included-------

In one sentence simply brilliant, best movie of the year. Coming to the story, after emergence of Batman has forced all of Gotham's mafia to meet during the day and stay off the streets at night so as to not fall victim to Batman's courage. This has led to the emergence of a new villain to take the streets: one who calls himself the Joker. The Joker tries to strike a deal with the mafia and he promises that he can kill Batman. Now we will see Batman vs. Joker on the big screen. So many plot twists & turns aided by brilliant action with superb one liner dialogs mesmerize the audience. The story was just so flawlessly crafted & The direction is fabulous. Nolan has given his finest performance ever. Heath Ledger's acting is a huge highlight of this movie & it is hype the worth. He puts on the best acting performance I've seen in years. The visuals were good.

Strictly not for kids

Hellboy II (The Golden Army) movie review

Starring: Ron Perlman, Selma Blair etc
Directed by:Guillermo del Toro

---Spoilers included-------
Honestly, after lot of letdowns (The happening/Indy4/Funny games) I am quiet doubtful of this movie. But it matched my expectations the visuals were fantastic and I loved the creativity that was put into the creature/troll designs/costumes. Action/fight scenes were all nicely done. Coming to story in the mythical world, led by Prince Nuada, has begun a rebellion against the human race. There are three parts to a crown, one held by Nuada, one by his father, and one by his sister, Princess Nuala, which can open the doors to, and command the ancient golden army. Nuala does not want for Nuada to have control of the army, and sets off away from her home. She then runs into Hellboy teams and they must team up against Nuada and the rebellious creatures the stop them from unlocking the golden army. Story is just ok overall. The quality/originality of the script suffered compared to the first original film. The acting is solid. Ron Perlman, as always, good & body language was awesome & dialogs were good. If you enjoyed the Hellboy I then you will enjoy this one too. Another huge hit for the Hellboy franchise and Kudos to Del Toro.

Following are many absolutely gorgeous scenes.

•After Hellboy kills that octopus-type creature & little meadow appears. This scene alone the worth the ticket price.
•Very interesting creature that pulls the metal thing out of Hellboy. Simply brilliant. Lot of thought went in to troll creation.
•Troll market scene, "tooth" fairies attack etc.

Minor odd scene:

•Youth Hellboy looked very odd. Total misfit.

June 08 movies

The Happening: From my favorite director & it was a disappointment.
Diary of a Country Priest Simply a classic. Period.
Drunken Master (1978) Good martial arts movie if you got your expectations right.
Tokyo Olympiad (1965) Stunning documentary about1964 Summer Olympics.

May 08 movies

Master of the Flying Guillotine { a must for all Kung Fu movie fans}
King of Beggars {Stephen Chow's first movies. Funny but not solid}
Inside Man(2ed Time){Spike Lee's solid heist flick.}
Trade{Another excellent movie on human trafficking}
Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull {Barely pass.}

New additions to my DVD collection

Weeds season one from bn.com

April 08 movies

Charulata{Another classic by Ray}
Knocked Up{All hyde. Just decent enough}
Crash by Cronenberg{Not for everyone, too twisted}
Samurai Fiction{Superb homage to old flicks}
Unforgiven{One of Clint's finest movie + dark insights in to a killing machine}
Too busy with work load. I will add more content later

Last weekend movies

Niagara: {7.5/10} Good thriller. Monroe is too good.
He Loves Me... He Loves Me Not: {8/10} Good movie with solid performances.

Myths and Logic of Shaolin Kung Fu:{7.5/10}
A must documentary for every martial arts fan. Simply brilliant.

Last weekend movies

Rush Hour 3 (2007) [6/10]Routine & predictable movie.

Trade (2007) [7.5/10] Similar to Traffic, a powerful movie mainly focuses on sex trafficking.

The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters [8/10]

Brilliant documentary about two arch enemies to prove their supremacy in "Donkey Kong" game.

No Country for Old Men movie review

Starring: Josh Brolin, Tommy Lee Jones, Javier Bardem
Directed by: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen

---Spoilers included-------

Another interesting movie from my favorite director(s').
Movie begin with 'narrator', a sheriff, Ed Tom Bell, played by Tommy Lee Jones, talk about a past incident in which he send young man to chair. In the following scenes, Llewellyn Moss, played by Josh Brolin, is out hunting when he comes on the grim remains of drug deal gone completely gone wrong & full of dead bodies. Later he discovers suitcase of money. He runs away with the cash. Now we will see unstoppable hitman Anton Chigurh, played Javier Bardem, after Moss for the money. Later sheriff enter in to the crime scenes. There three men are very clever in what they do. Like Coen brother’s earlier movie FARGO, we will see many twists, lot of violence etc. Script is very interesting till the end. Movie finally ends with retired sheriff narrating a dream. Javier Bardem is magnificent as relentless hitman. The cinematography, acting, directing, editing, all top notch & no wonder it is OSCAR winner.

The Road Home Movie review

Directed by: Zhang Yimou

---Spoilers included-------
As the plot begin, after many years, Yusheng Luo (Sun Honglei) has just returned to his hometown, the small, remote mountain village in Northern China. He narrates the story & his childhood & about parents etc. The snowy landscape of the present is filmed in stark black and white. After coming home he learns that his father has died in another town, so his mother insists that, following
the old ancient tradition, they carry the body back to village on foot rather than by car or tractor. While he was making preparation Luo explains his parents unique love story & how his father and mother first met. This part is shot in vibrant beautiful colors, which perfectly capture the rich yellows and gold of an autumn forest. In other sense we see positive happy & hope part in vibrant colors & the current sad part in black and white. Film has beautiful cinematography and heartfelt acting. This film is lovely and empty & script is predictable. Things move very slowly yet beauty and striking visuals engages the viewer. Casual moviegoers should skip this one & Strictly for art movies buffs.

Last weekend movies

The Road Home (8.5/10)
The Wooden Man's Bride (8/10)
Very beautiful dramas. Casual moviegoers should skip these movies. Strictly for art house fans.

No Country for Old Men (9.5/10)
Simply Fantastic! I will write review soon.

My take on Five Deadly Venoms movie

Directed By :Cheh Chang

---Spoilers included-------
Another interesting B grade Kung fu movie from Shaw Brother's studio. Movie start with an old teacher explaining his young student that the members of the infamous "poison gang" were once pupils of his. The five members dont know to each other, which are known only by the style of kung fu they practice (lizard, snake, toad, scorpion and centipede). Later we come to know that two of the five know each other and are friends. Teacher clearly instructs his young student about their skill set & asks him to hunt down all the members so they can no longer harm innocent people & also advices his always pair another member in order to defect the other. Rest of the plot revolves around young student efforts in finding & hunting down the poison gang. Plot wise it is no brainier & script is predictable & dubbing is horrible & DVD quality is poor. Straight VCD conversion to DVD. Despite with its limitations, movie is pure fun to watch & must for a kung fu fans. The fight scenes are very cool and well choreographed & you will see lots of young & energetic performances. This is what I expect in a kung fu movie.

RAISE THE RED LANTERN movie review

Directed by: Zhang Yimou
---Spoilers included-------
RAISE THE RED LANTERN is another interesting drama from china. Set in 1920's China, the story is about Songlian, a 19 year old university student who decides to marry a rich old man after the death of her father & step mom’s repeated requests & she becomes fourth wife of a rich man. The first wife and eldest is more like a mom to the others, the second wife is quiet and reserved & third wife is a singler { cunning, spoiled and openly displays her dislike for the others.} Being fourth wife she must learn the customs and rules of the master. The wives which all live in separate houses must compete for the affections and privileges of the master in accordance with his customs. Each night a lantern is lit in favor of whom the master will be with. Shortly afterwards all the lanterns of that wife's home and courtyard are also lit and the privileges begin. Although they are wives, we feels like they are prisoners. Plot centers around this new forth wife & her life & finally film ends with surprising climax. A beautiful film with stunning cinematography. The film is subtitled in English & run more than two hours. Casual moviegoers should skip this one & Strictly for art movies buffs.

Last weekend movies

Twilight Samurai:(9/10) Masterful work of art. Simply Fantastic!
Raise the Red Lantern: (9/10) Very beautiful drama. Casual moviegoers should skip this one. Strictly for for art house fans.

Last weekend movies

Petit lieutenant, Le : Realistic cop movie (7.5/10)
The Memory of a Killer : Belgium movie with Hollywood shadows. Ok to view once.
Five Deadly Venoms : Good kung fu movie & A must for every martial arts buff.

Ghostbusters Movie Review

Starring: Bill Murray, Sigourney Weaver etc.
Directed by: Ivan Reitman

---Spoilers included-------
Another fun movie from my favorite actor Bill Murray. Coming to movie, plot centers mainly in three parapsychologists. They are clever & womanizer Peter Venkman, played by Bill Murray, always over excited engineer Raymond Stantz, played by Dan Ayckroyd, and the intellectual Egon Spengler, played by Harold Ramis. There three people study & investigate supernatural subjects in New York University. One fine day they were fire from campus for their wasteful research & they decides to starts a business,Ghostbusters, to investigate & eliminating supernatural stuff. From this point onward we will see these there people armed with some kind of lasers, they call as proton packs, their battle with ghosts & quiet perfect ending showdown at a top of ancient apartment building. Young Bill Murray was awesome in his role as Venkman & you will find superb characterizations, not in depth though, for a comedy film. Not only main three lead cast, support cast (many, but notable one is Sigourney Weaver) did amazing job. Pure fun to watch.

Last weekend movies

Ghostbusters: definitely one of the funniest films seen in recent times. Bill Murray was awesome. More later.

Brokeback Mountain: After lots of hesitation, finally watched this movie. Superb acting, masterful cinematography, superb dialogs, intense emotions engages the viewer. Definitely one of the best works from Ang Lee.

Completed Rome Season II volume. One of the best stuff from HBO/BBC.

Hellboy movie review

Starring: Ron Perlman, Selma Blair

Directed by: Guillermo del Toro

---Spoilers included-------

This is another movie based on famous comics like Spiderman, Hulk. The plot in the movie is good & interesting & convoluted at times. The story begins in 1944, near the end of World War II, with the Nazis attempting to open a channel between earth and a hell where seven evil deities have been lying in wait for just such an opportunity to come in and take over the world. Nazis attempt was thwarted but one youngboy manages to come to Earth & that young boy was adopted by an American expert & names him Hellboy. This young baby becomes a superhero who can do battle with all the supernatural creatures. Movie makers were very clear in making some of these movies characters believable in both his physical and psychological. By adding complex personality (i.e. ego, loyalty, good sense of humor and a good heart.) they made Hellboy character very interesting. Perlman makes an awesome Hellboy & Hellboy's "father" role(Albert Einstein shades) also very good. Ret of cast also did fine job. All-in-all this is a solid movie. As I said in my earlier posts this my second film of Del Toro after Pan's Labyrinth & seems be Del Toro was already proven that he can direct a fantasy in an interesting way. Seems be his earlier works are sound foundations for his latest flawless Pan's Labyrinth. I will watch his earlier movies in particular Blade II.

The Story of the Weeping Camel movie review

Directed by: Byambasuren Davaa, Luigi Falorni

---Spoilers included-------

An excellent documentary about camel and goat herders & a weeping camel in the desolate and beautiful Gobi Desert in Mongolia. Basically plot revolve around a young mother camel who refuses to nurse her baby after very difficult delivery. After so many attempts finally camel owners send their two children to the city (nearly 50 kilometers in desert) in order to get a violinist to convince the camel through music. In the rest of the movie we will see those two boys journey & mother Camel feeds the young or not. Well written & direction was charming & priceless. In particular this movie takes to totally different & real world & their simple daily life. I did enjoy it very much since I spent my early life in very rural areas. A must watch. A++++++

Note: Available in netflix online

Last weekend movies

The Story of the Weeping Camel: An excellent documentary about camel and goat herders & a weeping camel in the desolate and beautiful Gobi Desert in Mongolia.

Hellboy: This my second film of Del Toro after Pan's Labyrinth. Very fun movie with cool characters & solid action & Good story. Very good comic book adaptation.

Rome Season-1 first two DVDs.