Captain Phillips #MB2013

Would I call this a review? Not really. I am not going to say what I liked or did not. I enjoyed the movie and the thoughts being fresh in my head, I thought this is something I want to put down.

Captain Phillips 

When I started watching the movie, I just knew that there was a ship which was hijacked ( had read it in the papers too) and the captain was eventually saved by the US Marines. This movie was based on the Captain's experience and also to show the adept, great work the US Marines did. These where the thoughts I started off with, and boy was I in for a surprise.

As the movie pans out, all I was thinking was what would the kind of fear these men must be facing. When you think of pirates, you think destruction, heartless and out to kill. That is the image I believe has been portrayed by far too many Hollywood movies. Here too there is shouting, and 'incite fear in them' attitude and a belief that being the only gun wielding folks, gives them every right to succeed in their plan. I can imagine the nature of talks, or rather pep talks given by the 'elders' to motivate the youngsters, some as young at 16/17, to join and show their mettle.

These pirates, the young blood, each trying to prove their worth, have conflicting views on what should be done, but we see how a trained specialist can break them down. Break into their hierarchy and make them start fending for themselves. How some are not conditioned well enough to give up their lives completely in view of their cause.

In the last half hour of the movie, one sees the fear and helplessness which engulfs a person, when faced with tragedy in your face. How hope starts to wade out of your self, even the strongest people out there do finally start breaking down. .

Death is something many claim they are not afraid of, but what about those last minute things which you would want to tell your family, things which you did not get a chance to ever voice?

What if you are plucked off the surface of this earth without your mental consent? This is what we see and how such a situation has a grown man gasping and shocked, beyond anything he has ever experienced ever.

One movie I would recommend to watch for everyone.
Rating: 5/5

A kind of marathon #MB2013

The past 10 odd days, B has been travelling and I have been quite a bit on my own once T is off to bed. I sit about, read, do some crochet and then maybe watch a movie. It does feel lovely to be sitting with some crochet in hand and watch a movie. It is something I believe I did last when I was sitting at home while I was expecting. I watched movies, worked a bit and did lots of new born crochet then. But, now I make a indoor pair of socks for T which would be great during travel and just plod around inside the house, mainly during the morning hours at Bangalore. I shall soon post a photo of the socks once I am done with it. I might even be able to get T to model for me!

So, back to movies, which is what I had intended to write about in this post. So many movies have been watched and individual reviews are too much of a hassle. I shall just put down a few lines on what my thoughts were about each.

Keith (2008)

This was an interesting movie about high school and how an odd boy changes the path set out for the straight A girl. I would call it cheesy for sure, but the story revolves around more on the emotional aspect rather than the high school kids. This worked for me, but it was very predictable and in a way felt a little kiddish. Maybe just me!

Rating: 3/5






Blow (2001)

 This was a movie which I thought of watching solely based on the cast. Jhonny Depp and Penelope Cruz. I knew I would be watching some offbeat movie, but personally I enjoy the stuff.

This is a story about a small town boy making it big in the drug mafia by bringing in Cocaine from Mexico directly, selling it and finally trying to get out of it with not much success. It is based on a real life story of George Jung. The movie proceeds in a narrative mode, with not too many great dialogues, but the story pans out well...giving a peek into how things move in the underworld. Its not great cinema, but I enjoy such offbeat titles.

Rating: 3.5/5


Layer Cake (2004)

I am sure you know why I did end up watching this movie... Daniel Craig! I am not a huge actor crazy person, but I do have some people I like to watch on screen and I end up looking out for movies by these folks. They can be old titles, or new. Like, I love to watch Sean Connery old old movies. Absolutely love them... very little technology, but great cinema.

So, this movie didn't quite cut the mark for me. It again involves the drug mafia and their ruthlessness. It has quite a few twists and turns, but the whole movie lacked good dialogues, and this ended up me just trying hard to finish it rather than enjoy it.

Rating: 2.5/5


Hunger Games (2012)

 Oh well, when the second part was released was when I decided I shall watch this one. And why? I am not a sci-fi person, but still I thought I should as some folks from work were planning to go for the movie, and I needed to know what it was all about. I had read about it, and I knew this was not the Star Trek or X- Men kind of Sci - fi. So, there was still some hope that I shall be able to enjoy this one.

I was completely happy with this selection and thoroughly enjoyed the movie. It had the right amount of story, fantasy, emotions and all. Now I wait to drag someone to watch the second part with.

Rating: 4.5/5

And, that draws the end of my movie marathon which has been ongoing for the past week. I enjoy this alone time and like the less household duties too, but yes, I do want someone to talk to about my day and spend some time with relaxing, instead of being all by myself.

So, I await B's return tonight!

I don't know how she does it - Movie Review

Being a SATC fan, and also a Sara Jessica Parker fan, well not for her acting per say. I just liked her portrayal of Carrie Bradshaw, and seem to watch her movies. Lets say most of her movies are what a good chick flick is for me. Its never too heavy and still has some story line better than the Euro trip kinds. Being at home, and a recent mom, just wanted a peek into the other side... as I do plan on starting to work, maybe not soon, but will. And what I did see was not a pretty picture. I think its super difficult after seeing this movie.

She is a working mother, good at her work, enjoys her work and is trying her best to get the whole work done. Her husband is a very understanding man, but is also working and is hence quite busy with himself and has little time for the kids too. How the kids are affected by the nanny's continuous presence and how the yearn for their mom to be with them. They see more of their dad than their mom, and the elder daughter (6) makes it very evident that she dislikes her mom's work as it keeps her away from home. The plot moves onto a great project which comes her way, and makes life even more difficult for her. At the end of it all, she just decides to quit her job and stop as it was just driving her family crazy, but she ends up just prioritizing and saying 'NO' to the boss when required.

I thought it was quite dramatic how she decided to quit her job as how many of us would actually do that. If it is a job you have worked so hard to keep, work hard on and then you just walk out? Well, maybe you can if it is driving your life crazy. There is nothing phenomenally great in this movie, but its a decent week night movie.

Movie Review - Company Men

Cast: Ben Affleck, Tommy lee Jones and so on as the poster on the left says.

Plot: Set during the massive downsizing and outplacement ongoing at a firm in US. How each employee is bothered by the management decision and how they cope with their job loss. The fear associated with job loss, and the loss of face. How they are forced to cut down on expenses, take up any job and so on. Family changes and how the economy gives them nothing to look forward to. What one feels on being let go, how you cope with it, how you try to hide it and what comes of it at end.  

A good week day evening watch. 

Vist here for more

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Movie Review: Just Go with It

Starring: Adam Sandler, Jennifer Aniston

IMDB Page

A very light movie which is good when you would just like to spend the evening at home, with some take-away chinese. 

He's a doc, and she the assistant. He has his affairs and she is a single mom to two wonderful kids. He wants her to pose as his ex-wife who is a tad crazy. And in return she gets to do a lot of shopping with his credit cards. The plot takes a twist when he has to take the kids to meet his new love interest, and they all concur a plan to go to Hawaii. 

There is a clear mix up of feelings, but the kids have done a beautiful show, which makes one ooh and aah. So I will not spoil the plot for you…. but just tell you that this is a decent watch, and not a boring one! 

Movie Review - The Code aka Thick as Thieves

The Code is a movie which I have seen many times.. in fact twice when it came on Star Movies. Its a wonderful watch, a robbery based plot… and with an amazing cast. 

Morgan Freeman and Antonio Banderas is a combination which is what makes this even more worthwhile. Morgan Freeman is a veteran thief and he wants to pull a major heist and he decides to make Antonio Banderas as his partner. There is also an angle of Antonio Banderas falling for woman, and that woman being Morgan Freeman's daughter! 

What I do like about this movie, in spite of it having just a 5.9 rating on IMDB, is that maybe I am a great fan of both the lead actors and their simple acting style makes it a simple easy watch. The plot is not wonderful, but it is a great movie to spend a week night watching :)

Catch it if you have not .. its a good one.

Black Swan - Movie Review

After a very long time, I have seen a great movie which has totally hit me hard. Black Swan is a very artistic depiction of how you can play games with a weak mind, especially if your overall confidence level is low. 


The story is of a ballerina, who lives with her mother, and is pushed by her mom ( a former ballerina) to achieve the best. But, she does not seem to have the confidence as she has always lived a sheltered life, and this does not prevent her from doing something very out of character, as she very badly wants to play the lead in the opening season performance. The piece is called Swan lake, where there is a beautiful girl trapped as a white swan, and the spell will be broken only when a prince falls in love with her. There is the black swan which depicts evil, which seduces the prince and makes him fall in love with it, resulting in the white swan being betrayed and killing herself. The director of the piece strongly believes that she completely embodies the white swan, but he is not confident of her capability to portray the black swan convincingly. Through the story we see how the white and black swan personalities are seen on Natalie Portman, as she herself seems to transform from the white to the black swan.


Lovely music, dance and the undercurrent of the mind playing games makes it an engrossing watch.

Love and Other Drugs - Movie Review

Cast: Anne Hathaway and Jake Gyllenhaal


Something which I came across by sheer chance through IMDB, but a good watch. The plot is about a persistent sales person who is attracted to a young woman with Parkinson's disease. He is not aware of the disease alot, and does not take it too seriously, but with time when some symtoms start to show up, he starts questioning himself whether he is upto such a relationship, and will it stand in the way of his huge career plans. She on the other hand, is completely mean and believes in having no relationships, as she understands her condition and does not want any pity and consideration from anyone, even if the person does it out of love and not pity. 


The story moves fast, the dialogues are funny, its not too serious, in spite of dealing with a non curable disease. In short, a good watch for a friday night stay with ordered in pizza. :) Thats how I did it ;)

The Affair of the Necklace

The Affair of the Necklace is a movie which caught my attention on HBO and I did finally get down to watching it. The background was very interesting... Paris, foremost and also toppped with history. I tend to like these old time set movies, and this one seemed perfect in that respect. 


What IMDB has to say about this movie is, a woman's fight to acquire her family home and the path she follows to achieve it. This is also said to be the moment in history which resulted in the eventual break down of the French monarchy. 


Hillary Swank in a completely different role as the movie I do associate her the most with is Kill Bill as I am sure with many, and seeing her here as a Countess ... all demure, sophisticated ... in fact these kind of roles shows the true nature of acting, the capability to be a NInja assasin and a countess.


PS: Wedded life is wonderful , loving it and I wish this honeymoon period lasts forever! But, I also know that is not going to be the case.


I also managaed to give an interview for my blog ( thats sounds all high and mighty.. but it aint... its just a small interview which you can have a look at here)

Revolutionary Road - Movie

The movie gave me the creeps!

Why is it so important to do things as per what is expected of us? Why can not it be more to what we wish? Isn't life too short to be living it not through your mind? Isn't life just once to live as you please?

All these questions came to my mind when I was watching this movie, and I felt so sorry for someone being stubbed to wanting to have exactly what everyone wishes to do, but is too scared to be doing. So many despise their jobs, but who does anything about it? It is very difficult to take a step towards your goal with a path undefined. It is that very mysterious nature of these goals I believe, which draws us to them.

What I saw in this movie was the perfect portrayal of the conventional role plays which are assigned to a man and woman in a house. A slight suggestion of a role reversal is seen as 'unrealistic' or 'childish' or 'immature' .

Another detail which came out to me was how the woman was still alive, her dreams breathing with her zest for life. She did not lose herself in her role plays and she tries her best to set a path before her to move her dreams forward. And the sad part, how her dreams are given no importance and of they are, it is a farce. Her dreams have been thought of, to accomodate so many blocks into a perfect square, but all a waste.

When you see what you want, but you are refused the right to live it the way you dream of, then what do you do? What options do you have?

Coyote Ugly

Yesterday I happened to catch Coyote Ugly on the TV. It is one of my all time favourite movies, and it has an appeal which has not died down for me in a good 7 years.

The story is about a small town Jersey girl who come to the Big Bad Apple with hopes of becoming a songwriter, something which her mom wanted to do, but never went about pursuing. The story moves on to show her struggle for getting her songs to be heard, and then gradually towards the more basic deal of earning to pay her monthly rent. In the process she starts to tend to the bar at Coyote Ugly, a bar.

Coyote Ugly is a bar run by women, and a hot bar! Women dancing on the bar, bar tending with extreme agility and above all the blaring music and the relaxed fun atmosphere. Each woman at this bar has a story and they all work at Coyote Ugly to move towards their dream.

I can not explain more about this movie, but the music and underlying feeling of all the characters make the movie thoroughly enjoyable. Its about leaving home, hoping to achieve what you set out to and pushing your way through all that comes your way.

In case you have not seen it, do not miss it.

Movies

I had previously read Kite Runner and written a review about it too. Now, I thought many had told me that the movie is also well made and hence should not be missed. I decided that since friends were out of town this weekend, I might as well catch up on the movies that I intended to. So I decided on Darjeeling Limited and Kite Runner .

Darjeeling Limited is a story of three brothers, their fights, likes, dislikes, and above all their search for their mother; a look at India through foreign eyes. This has been done before too, but maybe the difference in direction makes this movie a decent watch. There is nothing much to expect from this though apart from the usual shocks that they face on seeing the rural and semi-rural India and the lifestyle of many different sections of society.

I started watching Kite Runner, and I realized that for one, many scenes were cut in the movie. You might say that is expected with any movie, which is being made from a 300 page book. Somehow I felt those small incidents made one realize the true nature of the two boys since childhood. In the movie, I felt that Amir was not shown to be jealous to a great deal, and the incidents which were shown did not illicit the expected emotion/understanding in me either. Hassan is also said to have the deformity on his lips, and that is somehow not visible/evident (to me, maybe). All in all, maybe for those who have read the book, and how it has been detailed in the book, will not stand to like the movie.