The prestige

Yet another non linear and not so cryptic flick(consider Memento) by chris nolan. This movie shows the darker side of friendship where two magicians fall into rivalry. As any other film based on magic and illusions, this flick has got a lot of twists till the last minute which makes it highly gripping.Its more of a fine trick performed by Nolan..

The Spiderwick Chronicles

Saw this in an Imax, was a great experience for me. Specially because I get really nervous even for kid's thrillers... Ring was the last thriller I saw, didn't leave a good feeling at all and since then, I maintained some distance from thrillers. My mind goes on to create and see those visuals in and around everything for quite some time. Its haunting. And all the ill-logic of these movies wants you to think and obsess and solve them...

Anyways I braved to go and see Spiderwick and it is good. It's good for the mix of good and bad portrayed in a balance, fairies and the goblins, both look really striking and good in contrast. Makes me want to come back home and visualize these out-of-the-natural beings and forms. What kind of an imagination do each of us have to draw to life creatures we not seen? We humans are pretty smart to give form to God close to our own image... proclaiming our superiority. I would add for caution in lot of cases though not all.

Like someone long time back asked me, how would Martians(if they existed) look? Will we even recognize them as living? would we classify them as plants or animals? I think building the nomenclature and classification so that it scales to the unknown is a great problem... ohhhh wait... where am I going? to information architecture? Back to Spiderwick, its always amazing to imagine and give form to the unknown.

À la folie... pas du tout

One more good example of non-linear story telling. A story told in 2 perspectives. Each half makes you hate and love the 2 characters. And then from the peak there is a reversal these emotions as you begin to see the other side. Audrey Tautuo's great acting makes it possible to believe in such strong contradictions. The story starts to fall in place with the start of the second half, but the imagination isn't over till the end. Thoughts can never be ruled, not by others, and not even by our own selves!

iL Postino

This felt so much like Cinema Paradiso... the simile and metaphor discussion scene and the scene with poem on sea are my favorites... the conversations are great through out. I became an instant fan of Neruda... read somewhere from his work... "Love is short, forgetting is so long." such formations of simple words to express complex fuzzy feelings that every mortal feels but cant get the right words to express... sure resonate... and we instantly see the poet reading our heart...
Neruda apart, these movies really make you want to instantly take a U turn and do-it now... like Motorcycle Diaries make you want to go on your life's trip, Il Postino makes you want to express beyond the regular logic of words...

Motorcycle Diaries

Shame on me I didnt see this movie before... been lazy. Its an awesome movie that shows how two people go on a trip, and one allow the experiences to inspire him while the other remains numb. Felt that life in general gives us so many opportunities to become heroes but we just choose to be numb...
And Gustavo's music is awesome through out...

Next

Another one like Momento.
and yah another one like The Illusionist.
But only half good either ways... a hybrid of very not so linear story on the time line and lots of magic... techniques.
But who cares I enjoyed it.

Dead Poets Society

I loved watching this movie, speaks about education to make free thinkers.
Loved Robin Williams acting like in "Good Will Hunting" as an inspiring teacher, but this movie is older... and Ethan Hawke like in "Gattaca", someone trying to Jump off the cliff... Gattaca is another of my fav, will write about it when I see it 17th time

Hotaru no Haka ( A grave of the fireflies)

A movie about how people fought the war of survival at home, while men fought in the war. "You have lost the war if you die."

Again its a beautiful movie on affection between brother and sister... I miss my sis so much when I see these kind of movies... Another one that highlights this relationship is "Children of Heaven", my favorite. The small girl, Setsuko acted brilliantly as the lil sister.
Watching this movie, one would never feel like wasting a morsel of food... hunger and the fight to survive sometimes kills the spirit even of best of us.

All I felt watching this movie was, war wasn't worth it, there should be no boundaries, politics, taxes... all that matters is hunger, survival and life. Why bother about concepts beyond... that server as amusements and to write horrid histories as wars and battles... of men's arrogance?

A very Long Engangement

Amelie was extra bright and colorful... and this one has a sepia tone as it tells the story of the search and black and white as it tells the story of the war... both equally stunning in their visuals.
Oh I dont want to talk about fundas on visuals and blah... I simply loved the movie :) Hope is something wonderful that can keep our spirit going, and I love the small "if" conditions we impose as a check it realistic...

Pan's Labyrinth

So many contrasting themes... civil war and magic, the sadist and the innocent... woven beautifully together. But I don't know some of the scenes were too gruesome for the movie to be a child's fantasy ... that makes the whole movie kind of adult fairy tale movie... ;) the captains acting is too realistic... I almost hate him completly by now... I love the lullaby thats hummed... visual wise nothing very out of the blue, same creppy creatures.... whats best is the way the story is stiched very nicely the civil war and the child's fairy tale imagination... Memoir of a Geisha has a combination of art and war... but the topics arent as apart as in this movie and also the continuous intersection of these too varied themes is really tough... rather dealing with one after the other...

I am Sam

Its a verrrrrrrrry sentimental and touching movies... made me cry a lot, I also could easily cry a lot, coz I was watching it alone... Really helps one understand what is it about being a parent. Movie wise Sean Penn's acting is great, you believe he is actually a person of 7yrs old's intelligence and curse every adult in the movie who is trying to talk stupid about law to him ... the dialogs are great at many places... that you want to keep them under " " and save as notes for life.

Mosquitoes, Rain, The Sentinel and Khosla ka/i Ghosla

They went on and on... all through the night, thats how it goes on, when u have no power, loads of mosquitoes, rain, 2 average movies.... but a bunch of enthusiastic lot who want to be up all night and just want some silly boring back drop to actually indulge in the fun of their own company...
by the way we were watching (7 of us) the movie on a laptop... some 15ish inch thingy

Khane-ye doust kodjast? or Where is the friend's house?

A movie that takes you back to your kindergarten, where things you dont care much about now scare us like they are life threatening problems. The fact is everytime I look back at life I find most things silly, I look down upon then as grownup... even yesterday's monstrous troubles seem petty... seems there is so much we are learning from life... And i think this happens as long as you are young at heart, vulnerable, ready to learn and ready to accept the fact that there is so much more, so we first learn a bit from that and can beam up and smile at our yesterday's silliness.

But actually this movie isnt much about what I was rattling away...
Its a beautiful depiction of the fears, fighting and peace in the mind of the child... with a 100% belief, clarity... I think as we grow up we get experience but miss out on simplicity...

I love the country life and very naturalistic background sound that preserves the truth of real life... I was so reminded of my several village study trips to a small village in Gujarat called Otha ji Na Chapra, the narrow lanes and how everybody knows everyone, in one scene as the boy is running through the narrows lanes, there comes a calf blocking the narrow path... thats so real... small villages but partitioned in several parts... direction given as "the blue door", the house next to dead tree... and the old men always sitting in the verandas to chat up... one must really stay and observe the kind of interactions in village to be able to capture them in such realistic manner...

just one more random thought... the small boy was running sooo... much, gr8 stamina i must say... shame on me, got to pull up and exercise... i pant after just climbing up to 3rd floor :(

and if you like this movie... you must also see "Children of Heaven", yet another movie on the beautiful perception of life that children hold...

The Namesake

Tabu's acting is really good, I read the book so can never feel the movie has done a good job...
good capture of kolkata, been there last dec... its like a city caught up in the time of british raj.
Tried hard not to cry....... as i was sitting next to a stranger... but as Ashok passes away i cudnt control.... thinking of... wont talk abt that here.

Must see to understand how life feels when u cant feel the roots, and when everyone hopes to fly to greener pastures... whats happiness or good future really? the clean roads? cool gadgets? great mind-labs?... everybody has their own answers i believe.

La Finestra de fronte

I adore the sound track and specially the one as the titles roll down...
had a very similar feel like Rouge of Krystofsky's tri-color triology

.... a story of young woman tied up to the not so right guy, old man with lots of memories and a young man.... and yah... spying into neighbor's life...

The cakes and pastries shown are awesome visuals...

600.... saw 300 twice

its awesome visuals, and great fighting spirit... must see before u go for an exam or a jury...
and ya the editing and music was really cool... zack synder was ad film maker... and the movie was actually gripping through every moment :)

one great quote, in 2 words, "remember us"

was like a 2 hr gripping trailer... each and every shot is cool...

no way an expert... but just me rattling away to glory

from now on, I will write abt the huge volume of movies i am consuming these days....

and yah... may have spoilers... so dont curse me after u read them...