Quick Notes on Movies Viewed
The last few days have been good. Infact very good. There have been quite a few movies that I’ve loved and some that were uhuh could have been better…
My filters for seeing a movie were “Does the title sound exciting?”, “What’s it about?” etc. etc… but recent movies like Pan’s Labyrinth, Babel, 13 Tzameti and even Children of Men are making me learn more about my selection process. It’s a pathetic way to decide what movie I should see. Of course in the past, I’ve been screwed by picking up movies that I thought would be good but weren’t.
Children of Men, is one of the finest movies I’ve seen ever. And the best part of why I connected with this one, was - even though this movie is set in the future - there was absolutely no feeling of being alienated which many futuristic movies do… that plastic, cold feeling.
Children of Men has some moving performances, a great direction (Alfonso Cuarón) and a good message. The chase sequences, the gun fighting on the streets and specially the scene where Clive Owen in the end is stepping down the war torn building as terrorists and the army make way for him to walk past them… that is one moving sequence which brings out the message so loud, clear and with a slap on our faces.
You may or may not (rare) enjoy Children of Men. But it would be a crime to skip this one.
Alejandro González Iñárritu delivers and how! Amores perros was watched recently when movies on same storytelling lines had been seen already and 21 Grams was too depressing for me. But with Babel, it hits the bulls eye.
All three parallel tracks are strong, gritty and keep you locked in to your seats. But Rinko Kikuchi as the mute and deaf Japanese girl will bring tears to your eyes. How wonderfully she portrays the character giving it the right balance of innocence and lust… it’s a must watch, besides the other strong performances and the tight story line that carries you through.
Most of us have watched Chaplin when we were kids. But as grown ups and being movie fanatics, it’s vital and important to watch him again and now the understanding over why he was a genius will be transparently clear.
But it’s important to watch his silent movies (I feel his talkies isn’t in the same league as his silent ones)
In the circus, the first thing that crosses your mind, is what Chaplin did to create laughs, the subtlety, the indepth understanding of human nature brought out in those blink and you miss moments and so much more… they all are used 79 years later, today in movies… not a bit has changed except movies have colors, special effects and sound.
And that is the mark of a true genius. He was doing all that when movies were still in it’s infancy… that which is done today by actors over the world in the name of comedy.
A visit to The Circus, reaffirms this fact.
Another of those true life unsolved murder mysteries with a biggie start cast. Story revolves around investigating the supposed suicide of actor George Reeves who played Superman on Television. Not great but isn’t bad that bad either.
Brian De Palma directs this one. And it isn’t one of his average ones… way below that… but still it’s a De Palma and quite a few scenes show his distinct stamp.
This one really begins well but then the director starts taking the “Guy Ritchie” label all too seriously and loses it even before the movie reaches midway… Sad because this could have been another Lock Stock… or Snatch.
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apologies in advance but i think
hollywoodland is not a brian de palma film…
i cant wait to see the flick
its on my netflix queue…
heard ben affleck is brilliant… is he?
he is presenting oscars on sunday
cheers - manan singh katohora
loved babel - i hope it wins best picture - come sunday…
cheers - manan singh katohora
My bad… its Paul Bernbaum… the Brian De Palma one I was thinking about is the Black Dahlia.
need to revisit chaplin.. haven’t seen some of his stuff since childhood.. funny i was just watching a clip of “the gold rush” a couple of weeks ago.. thanks for jogging my memory boss.. adding it to my q..
My list of the best films of last year.
CHILDREN of MEN was the best film of last year.
OZ can we have a topic of the best ten movies of 2006?
Mine would be
1) CHILDREN OF MEN
BORAT
2) LITTLE CHILDREN, The Life of Others
3) HALF NELSON
4) Little Miss SUNSHINE
5) STEEL CITY,
6) MAN PUSH CART
7) OLDJOY
9) BUBBLE, The Road to Guantanamo
10) FOUR EYED MONSTER, The SECRET LIFE OF WORDS
I’m yet to see VOLVER, PAN’s LABRYNTH, Letters From IWO JIMA, INLAND EMPIRE.
I also enjoyed LAST KING OF SCOTLAND, SHORTBUS, THE QUEEN, Quincea
If there is a list of top ten movies here are mine
I’m not rating them as 1-10 but these are the best that i think
1) The Prestige
Munich
2) The Pursuit of Happines.
3) The Departed
4) Worlds Fastest Indian
5) Duma
6) Little Miss Sunshine
7) Casino Royale
9) Eight Below
10)The Proposition
I havent seen Children of Men or anyothers that u guys have mentioned, I feel followings were also good Invincible,scanner darkly,superman Returns and the illusionist
Varun
I forgot about PROPOSITION. It was amazing. Difinitely in my top 10. NICK CAVES should make more movies.
PRESTIGE was pretty good too.
MUNICH is a 2005 film. SO is DUMA.
I think you should redo this. I can see u love movies about animals.
= Half of the movies you guys have mentioned are still stuck in my netflix queue… yeah Duma was an amazing journey… about Volver, honestly me and Om were drinking some Japanese Sake after which we went to see the movie… 30 minutes later we were out… one needs a real different mood to watch Volver… and quite frankly I’m not enjoying Almodovar as much as the world raves about him.
Heard nice things about Man Push cart and prestige.
World’s fastest Indian is such sweet story. Your heart goes out to Hopkins.
Almodovar rocks!
Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown.
KIKA
All About My Mother
Talk to Her
OZ watch these movies by him.
Even BAD EDUCATION is a good film.
Will watch VOLVER soon. I heard its a great film. Has to be.
I just finished FALLEN ANGELS by my fav director WON KAR WAI. Its always fun to watch his films. They have a different rhythm of their own. 2046 is one of the most beautiful films i have seen on screen. I’m going to watch THE INHERITENCE by Per Fly. Its a Danish Film.
Tommorow morning i’ll watch the Israeli film TIME OF FAVOR.
All from Santa Monica Public Library. Has anyone been to their new main branch? Its awesome. I think libraries are the best thing about America. I watch half my movies from the libraries.
OMG Mainak..i just got 2046…didnt know much about the movie..but read the back of the dvd in blockbuster..though it didnt sound very interesting..i still rented it..will watch it soon…
Mainak yaar munich was released on 25 th dec of 2005 I thought it was ok to consider it as 06 but duma and world’s fastest indian were best ones. Man Hopkins is the king, I liked 8 below to the reason i have it in my top 10 list isbeacause of production antarctica is tough place to shoot a movie and its always hard to make movies with children and animals it needs a great deal of patience and attention.
OM you have to watch IN MOOD FOR LOVE. 2046 is kind of a sequel to it. Its gorgeous. These 2 movies should be watched again on mushrooms.
I saw INHERITANCE last night. Man it blows. Those europeans have got it right with the Digital thing. LONG LIVE DOGMA!
I advice everyone to rent that movie. Anybody Abbas Kiarostami fan? I just started his films now. Watched CLOSE-UP. Its amazing.
cheers
Wow mainak….yaar tum mujhe daraa rahe ho…i havent even heard about them all..what a shame i am missing so much of quality cinema…Mainak can you do us all favor boss?
List us all the movies that you think are worth watch…and keep adding to it…will help many like me…
I think we should have a section where we add names of movies we see everyday with a few lines about the film. FEW LINES…not a review.
Some of us watch more then a movie per day. I think it will be very helpful for all of us. As its hard for people to notice everyone’s comments.
Like Only those who come to this article will get to know some new movies. Why not have a section of that?
OZ I think you should do that for sure. We can talk about it if you want.
Anyone seen this Turkish German film HEAD ON?
Its fuckin awesome. Its available in LA Public Library.
I think we should add each other on Netflix.
http://www.netflix.com/BeMyFriend/PpSGMexVkGjbQtQCR8nn
Thats me on netflix. you can see my queue & check out the films i have seen before.
cHEERS
I agree with Mainak..We shud create a seperate section for this. Oz bhai how about making a sticky post?
very nice list mainak…watched most of those films and really liked many of them.. but i’ve never heard of KIKA… hmm anyway will be watching Volver soon too…heard some good things about it
Baarish….
KIKA is really funny. It has a really absurd & hilarious rape scene. I fell out of my couch laughing…. just that scene is worth the money.
Saw Babel recenlty. Liked it. gr8 perfrmnces. But m still trying to figure out all those sexual under/over tones. what was the point ? to shock u more ? from the masturbation scene to the old lady’s love angle n few more thrown in between.
maybe sometime there is no point… we are just observing people. Not everything has have a point towards a climatic third act.
Syd Field is not the only way to make films. Thank god for that.
Hey Mainak - accepted the netflix invite - thanks! For whatever it’s worth, Netflix thinks we have a 62% similarity(?!?!). You’re probably the only person I know that’s watched “Kika”. Hilarious! If you thought that “rape” scene was funny, check out Almodovar’s “What have I done to deserve this” & “Dark Habits” - packed with inappropriate laughs.
mainak,
abbas kirostamis ‘the wind will carry us’ is a must watch.realistic and poetic…as if made by bergman and bresson…actually more bresson..
if u like it, u may like ‘crimson gold’ by jafar panahi which is my fav.and ofcourse everybody knows majidi majidi.
‘The celebration’ is one of the best among dogme movies…
u can never forget this one.check this out if u like dogme films.’dogville’ a piece of shit..though.
Zahur I saw that….
I saw FALLEN ANGELS last week.
Bad Education is not bad either. Chungking Express I saw ages back.
Taxydriver thanks a ton for ur recomendations. Have u seen INHERITENCE? Its awesome.