Juno

A time pass movie on a serious theme taken apparently in a humorous manner but I couldnt see the humor anywhere. Did not feel worth it to have seen this movie...

Rating: Average

North by Northwest

A nice gripping movie by Alfred Hitchcock where an innocent man gets caught in the underworld.

Rating: Good

No Country for Old Men

It was gripping to an extent and then suddenly it loosed out completely. The missing threads never seemed to be woven. It became a Bollywood kind of movie. For a lay man like me, several questions remain unanswered. Perhaps its all there implicitly but it does not stand out. And I dont like movies which do not answer all my questions.

Rating: Average

Confessions of a shopaholic

Very nice movie. Hilarious at times, but rather extreme other times. Nevertheless, watchable. A must-see for shopaholics!

De Dana Dan

A Priyadarshan movie. Which means, lots of twists and turns and confusions and misunderstandings! Rather too much, one feels and it gets so complicated that the direction and storytelling gets too much to handle at some points, but watchable.

Dial M for Murder

This was our 'First Show' on 5th. A captivating black and white Alfred Hitchcock movie of a murder of a wife planned by a husband. A good watch.

Superhero Movie

This was our matinee show on 5th. It is a spoof on Spiderman movie. Extremely hilarious. A must see!

The Killing Fields

A true story that happened to 2 reporters from 1973 to 1979 in Cambodia when they were caught in combat and how they managed to escape. Its mind-chilling at times, very much resembling The Rabbit-Proof fence and Hotel Rwanda.

Ready

A Telugu movie. Extremely hilarious. Very good story line. But pathetic fight scenes. And of course, 'keep-your-brains-out' kind of movie. Light hearted and wholesome entertainer.

Bhagyada Lakshmi Baramma

I guess this was the second time I was seeing this movie but I had forgotten the story line except that Rajkumar over-acted. Watched it this time with friends and commented on each scene and laughed it out. Ridiculous direction and threadbare storyline but 'keep your brains out and watch' movie. Kinda funny if you can laugh it out...

Bhoothayyana Maga Ayyu

A nice Kannada movie about life in a village with one rich miser loan shark against all other villagers, with number of twists and turns.

12 Angry Men

Simply beautiful! The whole movie takes place within a room and it is just discussion amongst 12 men who get angry due to one reason or the other such as weather, ball game, offspring, etc. Excellent direction, story and very simple yet beautiful!

Children of Men

Well, I aint the type to like futuristic movies - movies based in the year 2050, 2027, etc. Usually because it involves some sci-fi. This one didnt have much sci-fi but was based on a theme which was too difficult to believe (18 yr old person being youngest person on Earth) nevertheless a very good imagination considering so many miscarriages happening these days. As always, I will not reveal the story here. But the thing I liked about this movie very much was the technicalities of movie-making. Story is one thing but technicality is another thing altogether. Its very rare to get a good story with brilliant technicality. In this movie, there is 1 scene which lasts for 4 minutes and 1 more for 5.5 minutes. And its not just a scene where 2 people are talking. Both are high-charged scenes where there more than 100 people acting at any point of time, people are falling, crying, laughing, bemoaning, shouting, fighting, shooting their guns, throwing stones, blood is pouring out, dying, a car is rolling down in fire blocking the road, blood spurts onto the camera, the hero and heroine show a magical act of throwing ball from one mouth to the other without the use of hands, cops are involved, etc. Its just mind blowing how a scene like that can be shot in one long stretch, like real-time, without the director saying 'Cut'!! Also, there was this scene of a baby being born. This scene is out of the world. They actually showed the baby coming out of the mother's body!! Along with the umbilical cord and everything! I mean, there is a limit to showing reality!! All in all, its worth watching for the technicalities more than the story, which at times seem dubious.

Children of Heaven

Wow! An excellent, must-see Persian movie by Majid Majidi which is wholly based on a brother and sister's desire for a pair of a new shoes after the sister's shoes get lost accidentally.

Raise The Red Lantern [Da hong deng long gao gao gua]

A poignant Chinese movie about 1920 Chinese custom. Very touching and heart-rending. Simple, subtle but powerful.

Princess Mononoke

Well, I guess not my kind of movie. Sci-fi is something which I try to stay away from always. But this was animated sci-fi! Still, did not like it so much.

The Stepford Wives

A humorous, scary, sci-fi kinda movie with a unique concept. Watchable once.

Snow cake and Truly, Madly, Deeply

Snow cake is a nice movie. Excellent acting by all parties involved, catchy story line, and just like life, just another happening in this river of life...

Truly, Madly, Deeply is avoidable. It gets real boring and consists of ghosts having fun and kinda makes the whole thing repugnant.

Whats your Rashee?

Didn't seem much of a movie which tells about the characteristics of rashee (planetary position). A time pass movie with not much stuff in it. Avoidable.

Norma Rae

An average movie although true story of a lady who won through stiff management to form a union in the Textile Industry.

Ocean's Thirteen

Finally saw this movie. Way back in 2007 when this movie was released, our project team had gone to the theatre, full of expectation, only to notice that the date booked was the previous day! Lost about 3 grand that night!
Nice movie, but 13 is too high a number and until we see the grand heist, each person's activities dont make sense. So, the first hour is full of multiple things happening and you cant make head and tail of it. A movie which you will have to see from the beginning again once you complete it, to appreciate the happenings of the first hour...

The Sting

What a movie! A 1980s movie based on a 1935 setting. Really rocks the audience! One of the greatest con movie ever...

13 Tzameti

Hmm, gripping but the end....A french movie.

21

Wow what a movie! Although I did not understand the technical intricacies of blackjack, felt it was one real good movie - especially considering that it was (inspired by) a true story!

Annie Hall

A different kind of movie with unique direction but hardly any stuff in it. Watchable once for time pass.

Heist

Twists and turns and twists and turns amidst burglary. Again, although very well scripted, kind of dubious to see an aiplane sitting on the runway apparently stalled without any help coming by. But a good movie and plot overall.

The Spanish Prisoner

One more con movie. But felt this had some loop holes in direction and story. Still, a nice gripping movie.

House of Games

Brilliant! Con after con after con in plain and simple scenes. Shows how easily Man can get fooled.

Billu (Barber)

A nice story but it resembles Krishna-Sudhama story. SRK just sings and dances with bollywood actresses and overacts in the last 10 minutes. Timepass.

Kaminey

This is a nice Hindi movie with plots intertwined amongst multiple gangs which makes it almost humorous. Almost resembled District B13. Very nice direction and doesnt bore.

City Lights & Mr Bean's Holiday

Felt like watching Pushpak Vimana! Two movies that hardly had any conversation and yet had humor in them. Nice movies to watch. Rowan Atkinson is amazing and Charlie Chaplin also was equally good.

Wordplay and Girl, Interrupted

Wordplay is a documentary on crossword puzzles and how people solve NY Times crossword puzzle. Its also about how the puzzle is designed and created with themes. It kind of touched a chord in me as I was once an expert in crossword puzzles and somewhere down the line I lost touch.

Girl, Interrupted is a nice movie of loony folks. Acted very well by all and I liked it better than One flew over the cuckoo's nest. A movie worth watching.

Little Miss Sunshine, The Italian, Bigger, Faster, Stronger

Little Miss Sunshine
Its different. But it doesnt seem worth it...

The Italian
Its nice but its boring...

Bigger, Faster, Stronger
Its an eye-opener but its lengthy...

Harold and Kumar go to White Castle

A comedy movie about one night when two Asians head to a burger store and all the adventure that they undergo during the night. It also shows American racialism against colored folks. But a very jovial movie.

Salaam Bombay

The movie goes from sad to sadder to saddest. It showcases Mumbai at its very worst, with all the red-light areas, drugs, corrupt cops, pimps, etc. Extremely depressing to see the state of affairs that are prevalent.

The pursuit of happyness

Mind blogging. Its extremely touching. Emotionally charged. Just shows what the outcome of hard-work is.

Happy Feet, Gone Baby Gone

Happy Feet
Animation movie about marine fishing. Did not captivate me so much.

Gone Baby Gone
Movie by the same author of Mystic River. Noticeably, the movie is on very similar lines to MR. Very gripping and packed with enough twists in the tale.

88 Minutes

A nice thriller movie. Good direction and good acting by Al Pacino.

Honey, Daddy Day Care, White Chicks

Honey
- A nice movie about hip-hop dance choreography.

Daddy Day Care
- A wholesome entertainer about guys doing day care.

White Chicks
- Its actually about 2 black guys actings as 2 white chicks. One can imagine the entertainment!

The lives of others, District B13, Dazed and Confused

The lives of others
- German movie about how a secret police betrays his organisation for the life of another person. Truly remarkable.

District B13
- French movie. Lots of action and amazing twists and turns. Wholesome entertainer.

Dazed and Confused
- Typical americal teenage one day in college life. Funny!

The Color of Paradise

Wow! What a movie! Truly touching...

The Last King of Scotland

Pretty nice movie. Not sure if its a true story or not. But story is seen from the eyes of his personal physician. Its about Ugandan dictator Ibu Amin who apparently has murdered thousands of people. Forrest Whitaker's acting is amazing. He instills fear even without saying a word.

Thank you for smoking

Wow. If ever you want to learn how to speak, this is the movie to see. The film portrays Nick Naylor as a lobbyist who fights successfully for smoking amidst great campaigns against tobacco companies although he does feel cigarettes are injurious to health. He shows how you can survive in this world as long as you know how to talk. A must see.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Wow. What a movie. Extremely poignant. Beautiful direction. The narration of Daisy's accident in particular is simply magnificent although it is a very popular style employed by many known authors. The movie reminded me of similar movies like Forrest Gump, The English Patient, The End of the Affair, The Truman Show, etc where the whole life span is shown. Brad Pitt has acted very well.

Mere Baap Pehle Aap

A movie by Priyadarshan is generally nice and enjoyable. This one is not so great but watchable. Quite a different theme handled well and rather humorously although there are times when one gets bored...

Ugly Aur Pagli

Disgusting. Avoid it.

Nuovo Cinema Paradiso

Inspired by a blog. So, really had high expectations. But felt the movie was just mediocre. I checked with others about this movie too. Some have liked it and some not. So, its 50-50...

Bommarillu

A Telugu movie which was recommended to me although I do not understand the language. A wholesome entertainment and awesome direction. There is not a moment of 'bore' or 'sadness' even if you do not understand the language. The heroine's character is extremely well accomplished, ditto the hero's. The dance sequences are superb, as are the songs. Some dubious twists in the tale, like the dad asking the fiance's girl friend (not the fiancess) to stay in the house of the fiance for 7 days. But otherwise, an excellent movie which does exactly what movies are meant to do - entertain!

Soul Man

A nice story with a comical touch. Its about a white boy who poses as a black to receive scholarship to study in Harvard. Rated at 4.7 on imdb. I would rate it as 'Good'.

License to Wed

A nice movie. Its about how a couple have to live their entire life together once, with all that comes with marital life - well, not all - in just 3 weeks, before they actually wed. Very humorous and very true.

Slumdog Millionaire

Wow. What a movie! There are some who dont like this movie and some who do, and i definitely belong to the latter. Amazing direction, amazing picturization and good story line. There are some things in this world which makes a good movie on its own. A 3 hr Cricket match is one. A 1 hr show of 'Who Wants to be a millionaire?' is another. Lagaan used the former as its main theme and SM uses latter as its main theme. Add a parallel story, touch of tragedy and dose of romance and it shall become as good a movie as any...

Mayura

Saw it for the nth time. An amazing movie of the yesteryears, showcasing the history of Pallavas and Kadambas, of war and peace, of heroes and villains, of literary excellence, of romance, of bravery and extreme bravery. Its the Kannada version of Gladiator. Except that it is semi-true. A film not to be missed.

Soorappa

Vishnuvardhan starrer Kannada movie. Too many goods and too many bads happen in this movie. All goods by Vishnuvardhan but all bads by those who admire him and are against him. Nice movie but not a great one.

Race

Twists and turns. Whole movie goes on with so much of twists and turns that you rather start expecting the unexpected - like characters coming back from the dead and heroes becoming villains and villains becoming heroes. Rather too much, but then, yeah - doesnt bore the audience. Nice songs. Watchable once. Cinematography capturing the beauty of South Africa is commendable.

Pirates of the Caribbean: Part 3 - At World's End

Same ugly characters continued in this sequel too. Story became even more complicated with dead men living and living men dying. Completely lost track of the storyline. Fantasy, fantasy and more fantasy. Like the scene in which ship overturns but goes down the sea to surface again! Did not like this film one bit.

Pirates of the Caribbean: Part 2 - Dead Man's Chest

Captain Jack Sparrow's character is mesmerising but I aint the kind to like the ugly characters portrayed. Part 1 wasnt all that bad with ugly characters. Also, the story wasnt very clear. Liked only the scene in the island when the chase happens. Didnt understand the ending either. Scene of Sparrow entering the dragon was absolutely disgusting.

Ghajini

Why would anyone want a movie named after a villain? With the villain being really bad? And the villain dying in the end? And whats with the short term memory loss? It was not even needed. The movie is simply a 'boy loses girl and takes revenge on villain' theme. Overacting by the heroine. True short term memory loss is depicted in the movie Memento. And by the way, there is far too much violence than what is necessary. Well, anyways, watchable once...