Reviews
Gunda (1998)
Mithun da at His best
Mithun Da is considered God in India and this movie epitomizes this feeling to the hilt. To say he is God is an understatement. Even God has to rethink if He has to break the laws He Himself set for the world. There is nothing he cannot do. There is no girl he cannot capture with his heroics. There is no villain he cannot destroy. So Mr. God if You need advise on how to run the world, all You need to do is call Mithun Da and remind Him to make the rules he made in "Gunda". Gundon ka Gunda, Khuda ka Khuda, the one and only Mithun Da.
This movie is a prime example of Mithun Da classics. It contains everything. Dialogues, sex, romance, songs, etc etc. You name it you have it. What it does not contain is a modicum of respect. But hey, when you want Mithun Da who wants respect? It is the last thing on your mind...
Watch Loha, watch Ganga bani Shola or Basanti Tange Wali. Watch anything that has Mithun Da. And trust me you will not be disappointed. You would be dragged out of throes of depression and you are guaranteed peaceful and pleasant life. You are reminded that the Super Goodness exists in the world. And that there is a Savior who would come to your rescue when you are in need. Next time you are in problem, yell at the top of your voice: Mithun Da and your problems are solved.....
7th Heaven (1996)
I bet you eating a pound of sugar at one go does not taste as saccharine sweet as this show!!!
A few years ago, I came across this show while randomly flipping channels. It was where Simon was begging and praying for a dog (an obvious rerun)! The episode looked cute and I followed a few with interest. Then I for a host of reasons, I did not watch it for a long, long time. Couple of years ago, I ran into the show once again and O MY GOD!! It was awful!! People are just tooooooooooooo sweeeeeeeeeeet!!! And acting, awful!! Every expression shown by actors, every dialog delivered sounds so damned artificial!! This sub-par acting looked OK when the kids were cute and, in every sense of the word, innocent.
I still watch the show once in a while. And I switch the channel when it gets toooo sweeet. It gives you a vicarious pleasure in seeing such a bad show!! As one of the comments point out, it is like the truck crash you have to see!
12 Angry Men (1957)
How can anyone give it less than 9?????
This movie deserves a perfect ten out of ten and has every chance to be in the list of all-time classics. It deserves the eighteenth rank it got in IMDb's best movies list. To summarize the plot: it is about twelve jurors on a murder trial. Eleven out of twelve think the defendant is guilty of murdering his father and one of them thinks, "Element of Doubt" still remains. The movie is about the character study of all the twelve people in that room trying to sift through all the evidence. The twelve men jury represent a cornucopia of Americans: the bigots, the prejudiced, the cool and calculated, the timid and the self-aggrandizing gloaters. It shows how some people get carried away by some outward appearances. At the end of the movie, we do not know if the defendant is actually guilty or not. We just know that there exists an element of doubt in the evidence provided. It shows how a careful evaluation reveals there could be something beyond what is obvious. As an academic researcher, I have been taught that most of the times, the most obvious solution could be wrong and this movie bears testimony to this fact. I think every jury member should be recommended this movie before he/she decides on the verdict.
Scandal (1989)
A scandalous movie on a well-known Scandal
This is an excellent movie on the political scandal that hit UK in 1960s. No wonder so many British actors rejected to act in this movie. The central character in this story is about this beautiful girl (Bridget Fonda) and her relation with several prominent British politicians of her time along with a Russian diplomat. It shows the underlying facts and ironies of British political system. While watching the movie one is spell-bound from beginning to the end. This movie is about people and their relations with other people. The scene where Bridget Fonda is running from one man to the other (fresh out of swimming pool) sums up the movie in fact. No, I am not talking of glamor associated with Fonda running around. The scene expresses the sense of the movie in a nutshell. It is a story of a woman who is trying to find her place in the world, about a man who can manipulate people to achieve his end, about a scandalous politician, in fact about so many colorful people that it is impossible to specify here. Please watch the movie if you ever get a chance. If you like intrigue, drama, corruption and beautiful women, not to mention political scandals, then it is the movie for you. This is the perfect movie for late night over the weekends! I have decided to give it nine stars, but it could easily have been ten....
Seukaendeul - Joseon namnyeo sangyeoljisa (2003)
As brilliant as it can get
This is a fantastic movie, well worth your time. It was fast paced and seldom boring. Much better than the original French version or the English (Dangerous Liaisons) version. Korea was amazingly portrayed. All the props were just gorgeous. Women were beautiful and sensuous. All the scenes (including the few sex scenes it has) were very tastefully done... Great movie to watch... There seem to be several spin offs for the original French version (don't remember the name)like Cruel intentions and what not. But this is by far the best adaptation of the original. This movie has something for everyone. Drama, Romance, Intrigue, Sex (no much action though)!!!
Néa (1976)
Ann Zacharias is cute!!
A very good movie for a bored time. The story is centered around an adolescent girl (Sybill) who writes a very amazing and best selling erotic fiction with the help of her publisher. The book is titled Nea and the writer remains anonymous because she is not yet eighteen. She also ends up falling in love with her publisher, who instead falls for Sybill's elder sister. Rest of the plot centers around Sybill plotting revenge...
It is a well made movie and highlights quite a few issues very nicely. For example, parental relations and sibling relations are handled very sensitively. Over that, Ann is very cute and she fits the role of the obsessed adolescent perfectly. I would recommend this movie to anyone who is bored and want some fun.
Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle (2004)
Dare to Laugh
Wow! What a movie! Amazing. It made me laugh right from the beginning till the end. To summarize, the movie is all about two guys, an Indian premed student and a Korean investment banker, who head out at night to get some burgers from White Castle. Along with the burgers (which they manage only at the end), they end up involving themselves into varieties of adventures including escaping from cops and encountering a cheetah! These adventures point out to a certain amount of ugly racial tensions that exist in this country. It is also a slap on face for all those people who harbor grudge against people on racial grounds. Humor is in all ranges, from grossest punctuated with sexual innuendos to very subtle and fine (Harold's co-workers treating him like a nobody at the beginning), which you might manage to catch if you pay attention. There is a decent amount of nudity in the movie, but the movie would have been great despite them. I thoroughly enjoyed the movie and I have no problem in rating it a perfect ten out of ten. Take your friends (not family!!)and you will not be disappointed!!!!
Come te nessuno mai (1999)
How does it feel to be an adolescent!!!
This movie is funny and most of the humor is very very subtle. It is all about being a perfect adolescent (spelling!!). The movie is real in the sense that the characters are exist very much in the real world. You could easily associate your self and your friends with at least one of the characters in the movie. It is about a teen undergoing a whole gamut of emotions in the matters of dealing with parents, siblings, friends and especially issues concerning love. The movie also shows, very blatantly in fact, how parents are very uncomfortable when their kids behave like they did when they were young. It has issues like unrequited love and adolescent infatuations. Most of the humor comes from how a girl and a guy interpret a same scenario in entirely different terms...
Días contados (1994)
Love or life! Take your pick!!!
I read a few comments by other movies and rented it to watch it. It turned out to be a decent one. May be I missed a lot of stuff because of translation from Spanish.. Perhaps a "Lost in Translation" case. Any way it is about a terrorist who falls in love with a prostitute and the prostitute who falls in love with him, thus jeopardizing the entire mission!! The ending is a bit too melodramatic and almost expected the moment you come across the main plot... Lot of naked scenes, but then they are only semi erotic... Actually it is funny too if you can catch some subtle dark humor. (I am referring to the prostitute telling that she never lets any one have normal intercourse with her... she only allows people to see her naked...). I give it 6 out of 10.