Winged Creatures (2008)

Director: Rowan Woods
Cast: Dakota Fanning, Forest Whitaker, Kate Beckinsale, Jeanne Tripplehorn

Yes, I mean an incident can take you away from your comfort zone, and that too if it’s the loss of a beloved one, or like in this case a brutal killing spree…But how it manifests on the different victims, is something which is what the film tries to explore…How much so ever the plot could have been intriguing, somewhere down the lane, the movie looses its focus. A bit vague, maybe sometimes. I felt the same kind of disconnect in Ang Lee’s The Ice Storm too. But the other ones like The Squid and the Whale and American Beauty and Little Children about dysfunctional families, never felt vague or out of context.

A great cast otherwise for a film which could have been taken to a completely different level and experience.

And now Ladies and Gentleman (2001)

Director: Claude Lelouch
Cast: Jeremy Irons, Patricia Kaas



Follow your dreams and your instincts, and if you are ok if the director and screenplay following the same, the movie will appeal to you at multiple levels….The other movie I remember from the same director is Roman De Gare. Jeremy Irons resembled so much like Daniel Day Lewis in a taller frame…

I was a Swiss Banker

I would say I have never seen before a magical and tale full of fantasy which happens in a sub urban neighborhood, underwater and in the wilderness and country side. So you can very well imagine the backdrop for the plot development, and the leaps the screenplay would take. I feel if there was so much of the conventions being challenged, it could have been a very fertile ground for more expression and higher impact.

District 9

Director – Neill Blomkamp

Academy Awards Nominations - Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Visual Effects, and Best Editing


It’s a directorial debut from Neill.

The first alien movie, I probably sat through and watched till the end. Usually I am not at all in for gory, slimy Alien creature and movies based on them. Non Human forms, with slime and extensions, antennas, were a big put off for me. Well then, I sat through the some part of Species being telecasted on TV and then District 9. I was more interested to see what did it have for which it deserved an Academy nomination for the Best Adapted Screenplay and also the Best Picture.

Since my background with what expect from an alien movie was limited, it still managed to unfound a lot of perceived notions about alien movies and also that some of the trends still continue when it comes to science fiction from the days of Metropolis…

The movie concludes in a very rather very abruptly leaving enough room for thought and speculation..

Hurt Locker

Director – Kathryn Bigelow

Cast – Jeremy Renner, Ralph Fiennes

When you hear Hurt Locker, War is a Drug, you expect a war movie, you think about Thin Red Line, No Man’s Land, Enemy at the Gates and so on….Some amount of predictability, some biases and some pre conceived notions…

Well then Hurt Locker from the time it rolls, just breaks the conventions, well that’s what it did to me. Enter Jeremy, defy the conventions even more. The documentary like plot development sans melodrama does no longer hinder you from getting involved every bit on what’s happening. You can feel the heat and the palpable tension every minute.

All you could end up would be asking for more, well then, they said in the beginning, war is a drug…what did you expect?

Pour Elle (Anything for her)

Pour Elle (Anything for her)

Director – Fred Cavaye
Cast – Diane Kruger, Vincent Lindon

A perfectly normal life for a regular couple turns upside down, when Diane Kruger is framed for murder of her supervisor. Though absolutely innocent, her imprisonment scars their lives forever.

Towards the end it gets, gripping. Well for me, since I was watching with subtitles and the timing of the subtitle and the dialog were not in synch, the subtitles appeared before the actual scene. So I would know that this is what the actors are going to say for a scene I have not yet seen. And when you are watching the scene, you have to co-relate, yes, this is what I had heard earlier.

Crazy Heart

Director – Scott Cooper (remember him from Austin Powers)
Cast – Jeff Bridges, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Colin Farrell


When Jeff Bridges walks into the frame, you know, well this is going to be an out and out country movie, not that I mind one bit. Definitely you can see he is aging, definitely you can see hi still has his way with women. When he does a performance you realize why is Bad Blake so good. I mean the guitar, the song, the lyrics, all that is needed to transport you from wherever you are.

The movie has a flow, it has a melody, it has a rhythm. If you can pick it up, and go along, you would have a wonderful time together.

Maggie, I kind of despised her when I saw her in Dark Knight. I felt she was a complete misfit to the otherwise brilliant star cast in Dark Knight. But I felt the role she played in Crazy Heart came to her naturally, she did an awesome job and brought so much of depth to her character. She got an Academy nomination for her role.

Jeff undoubtedly steals the show, hands down….He deserved the Academy.