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As the tagline states: inspired by the true story of the greatest breach in US history. Seemed interesting at the outset, but all that we get is an insipid spy movie. A fairly impotent script that tells the story, but with less than half the intensity of the documentary that I had seen on the subject. 
Suppose this is one of the many new movies centred around 9/11 that I have been reading about. Adam Sandler (who looks like he can play Bob Dylan in a biographical movie sometime in the future) runs into an old classmate played by Don Cheadle. But Sandlers all messed up, and Don Cheadle attempts to help the fellow out - realising he has issues of his own to deal with. Part funny, part serious it ends up flat. But do not miss the bluesy jam session between the two, hidden under 'special features'.
Olivia (Jennifer Aniston) is the poor single one in this group of affluent friends. Each one has issues in their lives and relationships. But it Olivia who is viewed as the messed up one. As the film unravels the women do too...
October 21st, 2007
During the Cultural Revolution, Mao banned all films and operas and replaced it with Yang Ban Xi. A constrained opera with a strong political agenda of extolling Mao and communism, featuring peasants overthrowing land lords and ballerinas twirling around with rifles. This documentary looks at these revolutionary operas through the eyes of its actors, directors, composers and fans. Overlaid with the chilling voice of Mao's wife, Jian Qing who heralded the movement, the film brings to light the art form that once dominated China. Though it provides interesting tidbits of history it fails to engage the viewer.
Similar to this in concept, The Machinist (originally known as El Maquinista - produced by a Spanish company, the movie was shot entirely outside Barcelona, though its set in some west coast American city) is a thriller where the protagonist struggles to understand whats going around him. Christian Bale plays Trevor Reznik, a young machinist who hasnt slept for over a year and resembles a skeleton. Christian Bale lost around 30 kg to prepare for the role (and to think that he played Batman in his next movie). 
The lack of sleep drives him to make mistakes at work, and everyone around stops trusting him. And vice-versa. Before he realises, hes driven into severe state of paraonia. The only way out is to get his sleep back, and he therefore has to unravel this mystery. Tightly made movie and Bale impresses big time.Rating: * * *
The Proposition is a fascinating watch; good old-styled western movie about revenge and dealing with the natives. However, its set in the great, barren Australian outback. Guy Pearce is part of a splinter group of outlaw brothers who is caught but needs to hunt down his brother, to save another. 
One can notice the impact of 'Fight Club' and 'The Sixth Sense' has had on modern day movie writers & directors by the slew of movies about alter egos and the ones with the dramatic twist in the tale thats been staring at the viewer. But not all of them manage to carry that kind of effect - simply because the comparison to its inspiration proves excessively burdensome. 
A story of divorce and its aftermath set in New York. Bernard Berkman (Jeff Daniels) is an unmitigated asshole writer on the decline. His wife Joan (Laura Linney) who has issues of her own decides to finally leave him. The splinters of their separation hit their two teenage sons with unnerving accuracy. The boys (Owen Kline, Jesse Eisenberg) struggle to grapple with their shattered world. They act out but their cries are muted when compared to the parents. Brilliant performance all round that leave you wondering if they were acting or if a hidden camera was lurking in a disintegrated household.
Tracy (Cate Blanchett) an recovering heroin addict is slowly getting her life back together. She struggles to get a bank loan to start a new business. All seems good but her past comes crowding back in. One by one the characters from her yesterdays, file back into her life sucking her back to a place she does not want to be.
Old friends Mun-ho (Ji-tae Yu) and Hyeon-gon (Tae-woo Kim) meet after many year. They reminisce about old times and slowly the conversation drifts to their flame from the past, Seon-hwa (Hyeon-a Seong). Alcohol reignites dying embers and they set out to look her up even though they know fire only burns. Director Sang-soo Hong is someone worth keeping an eye on.
A must watch for any aspiring script writer on how not to write shit. Complete fucking waste of time.
Tsosti is South African slang for thug. That's exactly what the protagonist in the film is until he is saddled with a baby after a brutal robbery. Holding the baby awakens compassion and a need to nurture in the hardened criminal. But his means of expressing them still remain feral.
An interesting movie about an event that haunts a retired professor and his family. Credible performance from Anupham Kher in the lead, but Urmila was very dramatic and kind of destroyed what the movie could have achieved. But a good watch nevertheless. 
Marcos (Marcos Hernández), a driver for a Mexican General confesses the hideous crime he committed to his boss's voluptuous daughter who moonlights as a prostitute. A very sexually explicit film about remorse and redemption where the actors manage to convey agony and ecstasy with the same expression. The film leaves you scratching your head with this sole thought ringing in your brains... WTF!!!
Documentary about the road to the NBA through the eyes of Sebastian Telfair, a Coney island native who grew up to be a legend on the courts of New York. The film barely scratches the surface of the cut throat world of making it big in professional basketball. In fact the most interesting bit of the movie was the sequence in Greece where Telfair's brother plays professionally.
An ode to Paris and the love that it creates, I suppose. Some 20 different directors come together with a variety of international stars, to shoot 18 chapters of romance in Paris. Some of them are amusing/interesting - some others are bizzare especially Christopher Doyle's piece in Chinatown. I realise I am not a big fan of these joined up movies - it appears to be nothing more than some pointless kind of a creative need to "do something together". Worth a watch though.
A young boy looking for his father finds an unexpected accomplice in a grouchy spinster stranger, who has lost touch with all humanity. They come together under tragic circumstances at the Central Station, where the lady is a professional bitch of a letter writer. In their journey across the country, the inevitable happens - the lady warms up to the boy and vice-versa. The movie is funny and captures the beautiful barren parts of Brazil. The city of Rio also reminds one so much of Bombay. Solid.
Friendship between men are usually simple and uncomplicated. Each giving and taking what the other has to offer. The same goes for the unusual friendship formed on a road trip across the Brazilian countryside between Johann (Peter Ketnath) and Ranulpho (João Miguel). Johann has fled his German motherland to get away from a war he does not want to fight. Now he wanders around Brazil in a truck selling the "magic" drug called aspirin. Ranulpho hitch hikes with him on the road that he hopes will end in Rio. The film like their friendship is simple but yet fulfilling.
Set in a small Spanish town in the 1940s centers around young Ana (Ana Torrent) who is fascinated by Frankenstein after watching the 1930 classic by James Whale. The gullible girl is fooled by her sister Isabel (Isabel Tellería) into believing that he lives in an abandoned shed in a field. Their story is paralleled by estranged relationship between their parents. The father, a beekeeper, lives in world of his bees. Their mother pines for a love long lost. All in all a very allegorical film who's allegory was lost on me.
Laura (Fanny Valette) lives with her orthodox Jewish family in a small suburban apartment in Paris. Her love for philosophy finds her at odds with her religious older sister Mathilde (Elsa Zylberstein) who's marriage is being torn at the seams as she strains to keep on the path to Torah. And then Djamel enters Laura's life and awakens the desire she seeks to keep dormant. At the end of the film you wonder if religion and the laws its foists on its followers is even worth it...
