Day 49, 31 Movies so far

Disclaimer: We've been travelling for the past 3 weeks, so my schedule has been thrown completely out of whack. In the interest of time and my fingers, I'm going to cover the next couple of films as briefly as possible. The blog will be back to steam post this entry.

The Proposal

Surprised the hell out of me. I didn't expect to enjoy this at all, but did - at least till the final act where it gets reduced to horrible cliches and a completely implausible finale. Still, the going is good till then, and it features great comedic timing from Bullock and Reynolds.

Das Experiment

I loved this film. It follows an experiment where everyday Joe's are put into a prison setting, with half of them playing the guards, and the other half, the prisoners. Needless to say, things go horribly wrong, when the players begin to take their roles a little too seriously. This film pulls no punches & is creepy in the max. Its greatest strength (I think) is that, it doesn't take the easy way out and use a dumb plot point to ratchet up the tension. Instead, the film slow boils at an even pace, with every escalation played out subtly, till the end when the drama becomes almost unbearable. A fantastic film, with fantastic performances.

Hearts of Darkness

I've wanted to watch this for years, and am thrilled, that I finally got the chance to do so. A docu, following the making of Apocalypse Now, the film is intimate and harrowing all at once. If you thought that film was filled with drama, wait till you watch his documentary. For the casual viewer, its filled with cool trivia, but on a much deeper level, it acts as a chronicle of Coppola's descent to madness while making the movie. Sample this: During the making of the film, Martin Sheen suffered a heart attack, and Coppola (in his own words), screamed "He ain't dead till I say he's dead". They didn't even have a finished script and Copolla drew nth minute inspiration from a local cattle sacrifice, to figure out the end to his film.

This is a must watch. For fans of the film, this documentary is a testament to the blood and sweat that went into creating the masterpiece. If you haven't seen Apocalypse Now (why!?!?), its the ultimate reality show.

Waltz with Bashir

Waltz with Bashir is pure poetry. Nothing I can say will justify how great, a film I think it is. So I won't. Please watch this. It will change the way you see documentaries, or animated films for that matter.

My Sassy Girl

I'm convinced that there was an interesting film in here somewhere. It just wasn't for me. The film is built a burgeoning love story, which in turn is built around more and more ridiculous plot turns. Unfortunately, he final 'twist', intended to explain the prior going ons is so vapid and weak, that the rest of the film just falls flat. Like I said, not for me, and not for most others, I'd think.

Hitman

Its ironic that a game that burdens its player with realism and thoughtful game play would turn out to be such an exaggerated, brainless piece of crap. In short - I loved the game, HATED the movie. Avoid this like the plague.

REC

REC's a good movie and it has enough scares to keep you on the edge of your seat. But for me, having seen a bunch of similar movies before (Blair Witch, Cloverfield etc.), I thought it didn't bring anything new. If you're going to tread familiar ground, you owe it to the viewer to show us something we haven't seen before. This film didn't do it. So, a good horror movie, but I've seen better. Manuela Velasco's performance is really good though.

3 Men and a Little Lady

In my defense, we were in Hong Kong, I couldn't sleep and there was nothing else on. This movie is just plain terrible. OTT performances, a pretentious script and corny cliches. I looked it up and the film was made by Emile Ardolino who also directed Dirty Dancing. Figures.

Evil

Evil is great! (Sorry couldn't resist) Seriously, I loved this film. It follows the lives of boys in a boarding school, and the politics of bullying and power play between the seniors & juniors there. Its really gripping stuff, and like the bullies featured in it, the movie rarely takes its foot off your throat. But beyond being a great thriller, the movie also has several themes in the undercurrent. The hero, Erik Ponti doesn't just fight off the bullies. He rebels against hateful politics, and a society that demands conformity without question. If only, we all had his strength and tenacity.

The Talented Mr. Ripley

This is amongst my top 10 of all time. It is the Hitchcockian film of our time. It gets everything right - a fantastic, nail biter of a plot, great performances (Matt Damon has never been better) , beautiful cinematography, elegant editing and an awesome soundtrack. This is a film whose beauty, is only contrasted by the complicated, layered and twisted Ripley. There's a little bit of him in all of us and that's what makes him so scary. Its too bad Anthony Minghella isn't around anymore. It would have been awesome to see his take on a possible sequel, rather than the follow up trash that's been making its way to a discount DVD bin near you.