A still camera welcomes you with the names of the cast and crew arranging itself across the screen. Michael Haneke's slick psychological drama grips you from that very calm beginning. Georges (Daniel Auteuil) and Anne (Juliette Binoche) lead an innocuous life with their teenage son. Boring tapes of someone watching them start to show up on their doorstep and the idyllic layers of their lives start to peel.
A love story between a slightly disturbed ex-con and a woman suffering from cerebral palsy. Unwanted by their families they find solace in each other. Some brilliant acting from both the leads but a very gut wrenching movie to watch.
Sometimes when you break up one feels like an island floating on the ocean. Lucia (Paz Vega) finds herself on such an island. Strangely she finds that she is not alone. A cleverly intertwined story with much erotica and a hint of magic realism.
A bunch of Algerian soldiers sign up to fight for the French in what turns out to be the Alliance's last push to win the war. Motivated by De Gaulle, a better life and winning liberty, they are put straight into warzone. 
Tres brilliant = Bill Murray as an eccentric Steve Zissou, as only Bill Murray can do it. A very stylish comedy about a oceangographer who goes in search for the mythical killer Jaguar Shark that killed his closest buddy. His team consists of various characters that one would expect Steve Zissou put together: a likely illegitimate son, a preganant reporter, a Sardar cameraman, a nutcase German right-hand man, a part ex-wife, a guitar strumming brazilian henchman and ofcourse, weed smoking Steve Zissou amongst others. Enjoyed it, but as I figured not necessarily everyone's cup of tea. So Beware. Good soundtrack as well. 
A horrible comic take on an older woman who falls in love with a younger man (by 14 years) and who talks of her dilemma to her shrink who happens to be the young man's mother. Despite Uma Thurman and Meryl Streep, this is one hell of a shit flick. 
Very much along the lines of this post. Adrien Brody is a low-level criminal who has bedded some 200 women, before a young scholar is infatuated by him. He cant seem to shake her off, and she takes after him. Pam Grier appears in a bit role as the cop who busts them both. A low-level film.
In the aftermath of Diana's death (one of the most ridiculously followed events, esp. considering that Mother Teresa died a few days later), its the moment of truth for the English Royalty to deal with the overwhelming show of emotion from the people of UK. A young PM takes it upon himself to force the Queen from moving away from protocol and do something different. Helen Mirren puts a 1 number credible performance, but the Oscar should have gone to this other british 1 number actress - Judy Dench. 
Rafael is the perfect salesman who works in ladies section of mall. He can sell anything and the women can't keep their hands off him. To top it off he is about to get the job of his dreams. So life is sweet until Alfredo from the men's section gets in the way of his dream job and Lourdes, the ugliest woman in the store decides to help him. Funny in parts but when put together it turned out to be not that amusing.
What is this with the leading ladies wanting to play characters that fall for a young boy. But this ones interesting - Nicole Kidman sees her dead husband in a 10-yr old boy; destroying her impending marriage and mental state. Is the boy really Sean her ex-husband? Or is it just her willing? 
My grandmother used to tell me that if it rained when the sun was shining, a fox's wedding was happening somewhere. This is the first of Kurosawa's vignette of dreams. Martin Scorsese shows up in one as Vincent Van Gogh. Then there were angels, demons and slowly I too entered my dreamland.
The final installment of Chan-wook Park's revenge trilogy. The best of the three in my book. Geum-ja (Yeong-ae Lee) is sent to prison for the murder of a 5 year old boy. Her return incarnation as an angel of vengeance is exceedingly disturbing and morbid but deadly.
A woman rushing to reunite with her husband. A boy waiting to turn a page in his book of education. A man running away from murder and love lost. Another running towards love gained. Naseeruddin Shah tries his hand at making a film with multiple stories lines tied together by a fragile thread. The thread in this case is a journey to the USA. Brilliant acting from Paresh Rawal, Irfan Khan, Ratna Pathak and Boman Irani. Naseeruddin Shah deftly manipulates the four threads like a master puppeteer until the last twenty minutes where they get tangled and everything comes crashing down.
The year is 1940 and the flame of independence has slowly started burning. It is at this moment Adoor Gopalakrishnan trains his lens on Kaliyappan (Oduvil Unnikrishnan), the hangman of Travancore. Racked by the guilt of hanging an innocent man he tries to dull his conscience with arrack. Adoor has excelled yet again, opening a stark but realistic window into the life of one of the lost characters of India's past.
Failan (Cecilia Cheung) comes to South Korea in search of her last remaining relatives. There she runs into a gangster who unwittingly ends up helping her. A very simple movie. So simple that saying anything more would be revealing too much. Just take my word and watch it.
This is one of those thats about - for every reaction there was an action. A dark comedy thats about 5 unrelated stories that come together when the clock strikes 11:14 pm. As the story develops, the thread between the stories becomes clearer. Definitely amusing and a good ensemble cast. Though in the same mould as Memento, the movie ends and you ask yourself 'WTF?'
I really should not comment on this film. The DVD version that I received from Netflix was not the Cirterion Collection version. It was poorly made and the subtitles were horrendous. To top it off I think the DVD started from the middle of the film. So I missed out on most of the plot and the conversations. But from what I saw it seems to be a very promising Kurosawa film with Mifune playing the lead. So folks if you are going to watch this flick make sure you get the Criterion Collection version.
Fine performance from Danny De Vito, as a rogue takeover guru. His latest target is a doomed working-class company run by Gregory Peck, who has a beautiful daughter, who also happens to be the working-class company's lawyer and also the object of De Vito's lust. Its a tough game, but he sticks to his guns and goes for it in his inimitable manner.
A fictious story of a young Scotsman who grabs the opportunity to become part of the what appears to be the greatest revolution in the African continent - by accepting to become the personal doctor to the evil Idi Amin. The rest of the movie shows what a big fuckup that was and how he tries to extricate himself from the mess - much of which is his own shit. Based on a novel of the same name, the lead character of the young scotsman is based on the true story of a British soldier who actively partnered the dictator in the various crimes. Forest Whitaker is impressive, but I find it a bit hard to believe that he should swoop all 45 awards in the season. But then such is life. 
The film is set in Santiago, Chile around the time of the coup of 1973. This brittle and violent political backdrop is show through the eyes of Gonzalo (Matias Quer), a young boy belonging to the upper echelon of Chilean society, studying in a Catholic school. He forms a tenuous friendship with Pedro (Ariel Mateluna) who comes from slums of Santiago. The movie is about their friendship and how the socio-political struggle stretches it very thin.
The sequel to Underworld continues to prove that there is something about a hot woman in tights kicking butt. A very slick action flick chronicling the saga of vampires vs werewolves.
From director Ye Lou of Suzhou River, comes this latest one which was banned in his homeland China. For references to the student democracy movement in '89 and lots of explicit sex. However, the movie has been released in island Red Dot with the tag line 'Uncut version of the film banned in China'. So political reporter K Kuppuswamy promptly called and we decided to watch it. 
Adapted from a play, this ones about an alcoholic English prof who unwittingly becomes a victim of unrequited love, as a working-class hairdresser lady turns up in his room to learn English. As Julie Winters character aspires to transform her life with the education, the cynical alcoholic is increasingly attracted to the spontaniety of her working-class background. 
Steven Spielberg's take on the witch hunt for the parties involved in the killing of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics. The film keeps you engaged but I found the choice of actors to be very poor. Daniel Craig does not make for a very convincing Jew. Spielberg also pay scant attention to the planning that goes behind each assassination, making it feel as if it was a fly by night job. I expected more from this film.
Part one of Chan-Wook Park's revenge trilogy. Ryu is a deaf and dumb factory worker who loves his sister dearly. His sister is sick and in need of a kidney transplant. Ryu in pursuit of getting her a kidney ends up getting ripped off by a group of illegal organ dealers. So Ryu and his girlfriend come with a plan to raise money for the operation by kidnapping the factory owner's daughter. From then on, Chan-Wook Park takes you down the road to despair. When you think you have reached the end of the road, he flies you into another zone of desperation.