Archive for the ‘Movies’

  • Lake Tahoe : Acceptance brings the tranquility, understanding and energy to go ahead in the life
    This is a compelling film showing the reactions of the people, after an event has taken place in their life. When a person dies then tales come from the reactions of the people who are left behind to live with the memories of the deceased person as they were perhaps too dependent on the deceased person and now they have to learn how to handle the life on their own. Sometimes...
    by Rk at November 16th, 2009 at 06:11 pm
  • Delicatessen – How to Tell a Story through Sound
    Note: This post contains some spoilers! It’s been years now since cinephiles have been fighting over the endless debate as to whether the visuals are more important than the sounds in a film. I was one of those who favored the visuals and argued my case by merely citing the existence of silent films. I had watched films with great sound design like Apocalypse Now,...
    by ArSENik at November 12th, 2009 at 11:11 pm
  • DVD Watch: Aagey Se Right: The Most Underrated Gem of the Year
    I picked the DVD from the counter where so many more were lying around. I asked my usual questions to the store owner, “Is this the original copy?”, “Pukka”, “Copy to nahi hai”. This is not because I am a pukka usoolwalah and wouldn’t watch pirated DVDs, it’s just that I have been burned in the past when my experience was completely destroyed because of...
    by A. Singh at November 11th, 2009 at 12:11 pm
  • Meenaxi- with reverence
    Koi mile ki bichade, yahan kisko kya padi hai Sab log chal rahe hain, duniya yahin khadi hai   Khamoshiyon se kahiye chalkar zara pukaarein Khwabon ke jangalon se aayin hain kya bahaarein   Neendon ka yeh zamaana bas aur do ghadi hai Sab log chal rahein hain duniya yahin khadi hai   Aankhon mein khushboo ke manzar wahin khilenge Lagta hai chalte chalte khud se wahin...
    by Jyoti Rayaprol at November 8th, 2009 at 03:11 pm
  • Y2K, The Decade that was… Part 1
    The last year, 2010 of this decade is about to take flight. And while we all at PFC and numerous other sites, blogs and boards dedicated towards the passion for cinema, are talking, discussing, trashing, uplifting, ditching, or fucking up movies and movie professionals and anything related to cinema, very few have had the chance to take a pause, a breather and look at...
    by oz at November 6th, 2009 at 12:11 pm
  • Jackie Brown-Of Tarantino and Blaxploitation
    One  of  the  numerous  slam  bang  movies,  i  saw  as  a kid  during  the  late  70’s  in  India  was  Black Belt Jones.  It  had Jim  Kelly,  one  of  the  main  characters  in  the  70’s   martial  arts  flick,  Enter  the  Dragon,  that  had made  Bruce Lee  an  icon  of   sorts,   especially  during  the ...
    by Ratnakar Sadasyula at November 3rd, 2009 at 08:11 am
  • Hollywood Masala
    warning : post contains profanities, rated language and graphical material, discretion is advised (”—-with a wicked smile —–” ) The 80’s were a great time not just in Bollywood but Hollywood as well, the amount of education(not just Philmi but practical as well) being dished out to the unsuspecting public was phenomenal, while in India...
    by Vineet at November 2nd, 2009 at 12:11 pm
  • A Cinematic Exploration of the Evolution of Film Noir – Se7en
    Film noir has been around for a long time now, with its very dark roots in German Expressionism, since the Black and White days of cinematic infancy. As Darwin said, every life form must evolve. I believe this postulate can be extended to film genres as well. So, how has film noir evolved? The answer lies in watching Morgan Freeman and Brad Pitt pursue a serial killer,...
    by ArSENik at October 30th, 2009 at 07:10 am
  • This Is It : It never happened but it did
    The film unravels in its ultra-slick avatar, much of what one would have seen in the concert had it happened. And witnessing it with all the helpings of technology for once it makes sense to have the film out and jam the funk out of the cacophony much of what is media and anti-MJ lobby generated noises about things which would be anything but just to the music he gave...
    by Tushar at October 29th, 2009 at 03:10 am
  • Don’t Blame the Censors, Blame the Greedy Filmmaker!
    The Indian Censor Board has come a long way, a far cry from the group of butchers that it was in the 90s. While an idealist argument can be made that censorship has no place in a true democracy, a regulatory body is necessary in all cinema to make the audience aware of the nature of a film’s content, especially in India where movies are often a family experience. The...
    by Vijay at October 27th, 2009 at 08:10 pm
  • Cinematographers to look out for : the South Edition
    Cinematographers to look out for : the South Edition – Making things come alive on screen Never have I interviewed a Cinematographer nor have seen any interviews closely, what I can relate with them is the scene of the movie, more closely the impact he makes without the background music. A master who gives nature a different meaning and makes us believe that there...
    by Sridhar Mayur at October 22nd, 2009 at 12:10 pm
  • Paranormal Activity – Goes way deep than some goosebumps on surface
    Being fearful comes naturally to us. We need not be conditioned for it. However, bravery, courage and other virtues seek example. Fear stands on its own. Tall, unfettered bonded to our psyche naturally.  All great horror movies revel in the fact that ‘it is not about what you show, but what you not show’. They exploit the human imagination and spur it on...
    by Tanul Thakur at October 21st, 2009 at 10:10 pm
  • Blue Velvet-Nightmare on Lynch Street
    Scripted  style   lettering,  super imposed  over  a  backdrop  of  undulating  blue  velvet  cloth,  to  tune  of   Angelo  Badalamenti’s stringed  score,  sensual,   haunting,  a  throwback  to  the  early  Hollywood  movies  of   the  50’s.    And  then  the  blue  velvet  cloth  dissolving  into  clear  blue ...
    by Ratnakar Sadasyula at October 19th, 2009 at 08:10 am
  • The Aviator- Hughes, Marty and Leo
    Howard Hughes Making  a biopic  is  even  at  the  best  of  times   a  tight  rope  walk.  An author   has  the  full liberty  to   delve into  every  aspect  of  the  character,  explore  the  historical  background,  or  go into  the  minute  details  of  his  quirks. A  movie maker  on  the  other  hand  has  to  narrate...
    by Ratnakar Sadasyula at October 8th, 2009 at 06:10 am
  • In which Arundhati gives it those ones – a tale of Annie
    Arjun : A woman’s place is in the kitchen Radha: A woman’s place is on top God give us our daily Johar’s Not KJo , I refer to the cheap spirit Johar’s XXX rum, popular amongst us during college. Daily expense on this was not met by our monthly allowances. As a solution, some of us resorted to tutoring diploma and IETE students. I, however, found revenue avenues...
    by Ram V at October 5th, 2009 at 12:10 pm
  • #$%* you, Vishal and Shekhar
    Early morning. Maybe 7 A.M or thereabouts. White seagulls across the grey skies that melt into the grey sea. A continuum all around of grey tones, dark and dank. In the middle of the crowded city, a place of absolute, total, terrifying aloneness. The bus stop at Haji Ali, across the road from the famous mosque. A strip of land leading into the sea and instead of into nothingness,...
    by Nikhil. V at October 2nd, 2009 at 06:10 am
  • Disco Dancer-Prabhu Leela ki Jai Ho
    There  are  movies,  then  there  are  movies of  “Prabhuji” and  then  there is   Disco Dancer. If  i ever had  to pick one movie  of   Mithun  Da,  that  signified  his  transition  from  a  mere  actor  to the  cult  godly  ”Prabhu Jee”  status,  it has  to be this. Disco  Dancer  was  released  in  December...
    by Ratnakar Sadasyula at September 30th, 2009 at 07:09 am
  • Aladin: A wish came true!
    Love is in the air... [Disclaimer: A personal kinda filmi & slightly longer post] Just back from Vada-pao-dabeli-rashtra, happy as if I found my Genie, sleep-deprived yet dreamy-eyed, lethargic yet waiting to conquer new horizons & blah blah blah. Well, things are going great & the stage is set. For me to enter films? For me to quit advertising? For me to...
    by Magik at September 29th, 2009 at 09:09 am
  • Let The Right One in is delicate poetry
    “Let the Right one in” is one of those rare movies which leave such an indelible impression on you that it doesn’t let you move on. It doesn’t leave you long after you have watched the movie. Some rare cinema achieve having an altogether different medium of expression. The silences and the stills, the languor of movement and lack of speech. True...
    by Subhasish Chakraborty at September 24th, 2009 at 01:09 pm
  • Slice of Life, Honest Scenes from Hindi Cinema
    I am bad with titles for my posts. Didn’t know what to call this one, a post about individual scenes in films, scenes that stayed with me long after the excitement over the film subsided, scenes that were never talked about either because the film was so good that it was full of higher impact scenes that were much copied or spoofed or the film was so bad that nobody...
    by A. Singh at September 14th, 2009 at 02:09 pm
  • Chan-wook Park’s Tales of Morality
    Revenge is a desire that everyone has but no one can realize. So says CwP and then goes on to make three movies based on the premise that revenge intended is always of the nastily violent kind. The trilogy wasn’t intended but after the overindulgence of the second installment Park deliberately chose to close with one more subdued but effectual in asking after revenge...
    by Arthi V at September 13th, 2009 at 12:09 pm
  • Autism and the horse
    I received this letter as a member of the Landmark Theatres Film Club. It is a letter from the director of the movie, The Horse Boy (2009). A film about how parents cope with their autistic child with the help of a horse. Dear Film Club Member, I want to take you into a different world. A world where the borders between perception, reality and the spirit world blur....
    by Jateen at September 12th, 2009 at 10:09 am
  • Brian De Palma-Only the paranoid survive.
    “Mulder, are you suggesting that we somehow create our own quirky focal points of paranoia, as a result of the lack of things that are worth fearing in our day-to-day lives? That we’re not whole as beings without something to worry about, something to keep our eye on?” “That’s my point exactly, Scully. What if, in a society characterized...
    by Ratnakar Sadasyula at September 10th, 2009 at 05:09 am
  • 090909 – Final Call for Sanity
    We had such potential… such promise… We have come a long long way indeed. Through all these weeks, realizing a dream I had for long. Actually a few of them. Tim Burton’s cinema. The Ever Enchanting World of B films, classic horror, Goth-Drama, Not-your-average-Animation, the work that goes behind a film that gets it’s inspiration from all these...
    by Tushar at September 8th, 2009 at 10:09 pm
  • Route “9″ to Sleepy Hollow
    It is not hard to feel like an outsider. I think we have all felt like that at one time or another.- Alan Cumming An outsider’s point of view is always handy.-Pat Oliphant Strip  away  the  Gothic  universe,  the  dark  undercurrents,  the  twisted up  characters,  the  nightmarish  visions,  at  the  core of  it, Burton  celebrates  the  outsider....
    by Ratnakar Sadasyula at September 8th, 2009 at 01:09 am
  • “9″: The Women as the Warrior
    Growing  up  one of  my  favorite  stories  in  Indian  mythology,  was  that  of   Durga,  the  fierce  warrior  form of   the  Divine Mother or  Devi.   As   per  legend,  when  the  demon  king  Mahishasur,  was  wreaking  havoc  on  the  3  worlds,  the  Gods  went  to  the  Trinity( Brahma,  Vishnu,  Shiva) seeking  help....
    by Ratnakar Sadasyula at September 4th, 2009 at 04:09 pm
  • Count down “2″ “9″
    Bela Lugosi as Dracula I  was conscious of the presence of the Count, and of his being as if lapped in a storm of fury… the blue eyes transformed with fury, the white teeth champing with rage, and the fair cheeks blazing red with passion. But the Count! Never did I imagine such wrath and fury, even to the demons of the pit. His eyes were positively blazing. The...
    by Ratnakar Sadasyula at September 3rd, 2009 at 07:09 am
  • 9: The End is Near, if You Can Make It
    We are almost close to the hour of the apocalypse. 9 awaits us on the destined day and moment. It is the countdown to a film, and it is a celebration too. TIM BURTON and his craft, sometimes derided, other times hailed as a genre in itself. I have been thinking about so many things related to his films, they give you so much more to cherish, to recount, to go over for...
    by Tushar at September 3rd, 2009 at 04:09 am
  • Taxi Driver : An odd scene in the diary of Travis Bickle
    Somebody occupies the omnipresent’s role in a film and this unknown/unseen shows the film to the audience. This “somebody” uses the camera to show a tale. Even if there is a complete darkness on screen this darkness comes via camera to the audience. This somebody could be director whose presence, though invisible, is present in all the frames of a film....
    by Rk at September 2nd, 2009 at 03:09 pm
  • 1 in a 9 “Stitch Punks”
    In  a  not  too  distant  future,  where  humanity  has  been  decimated, by  the  very  same  war  machines  they had  devised. Just  before  his  death, a  wise  scientist  creates  9   rag  dolls,  and  transfers  his own soul into  them  using  his  invention.   And  the  new kid  on the  block “9″   seeks  out  the...
    by Ratnakar Sadasyula at September 2nd, 2009 at 04:09 am