Gran Torino

Its been a long time since I felt like writing about a movie I saw. Gran Torino, directed and produced by the man, more famously known as 'The Man With No Name' than Clint Eastwood. At first I saw this movie's commercial in Star Movies. Once while surfing the net I saw that imdb had rated this movie 8.4. I thought I will give it a shot and downloaded the movie without even reading the synopsis.

I like Clint Eastwood and his movie. 'The Man With No Name' trilogy was of course the best. But there is no point in watching any of his movies without watching the trilogy. Cause those movies set a benchmark for his characterization. Once I made a mistake of watching one of his movies before watching the trilogy and I didn't like the movie at all. But then after watching the trilogy I saw the same movie again and only then I realized the specialty of that movie. Gran Torino is no different. If you had watched the trilogy and loved it, you will like this movie.

Clint Eastwood is no longer a young cowboy. But he is the only actor in this world who can portray an Action Hero even at an age of 78. Even at an age of 78 'Get off my lawn' sounds really dangerous and 'I blow a hole in your face and sleep like a baby' sounds like he is a person who means each and every word that comes out of his mouth. Even though the movie is slow, as it gets to the climax, it gets as thrilling as the trilogy.

Overall I would rate this movie 9/10, mostly for Clint's acting and for reminding me the great climaxes of the Man With No Name trilogy.

Matrix Mystery

Well, those who had watched the matrix movie know for a fact that the movie itself was full of mysteries. But this is one of the greatest mysteries of the movie I had ever come across. Have a look at the date in Thomas Anderson's (Neo) passport.

Movies I Love!

Nearly the first 18 yrs of my life I scarcely watched movies. But the last 5 yrs I watched so many movies. Some I liked, some I didn't, some I hated, some I loved and some I couldn't take my mind of. I never watch movies based on genre. I think I like movies of almost every genre. What I really expect in movies are logics and plots. I hate movies where one can guess the ending before the climax.

There are several movies I like but when it comes of logic and plots, the most favorites would be 'Matrix', 'Back to the future' and 'Pirates of the Caribbeans'. Not only that their logics are good but their plots are wide. Especially in Matrix and Pirates, every single word a character speaks has a meaning.

But I want to talk about three special movies that I love the most. These are the movies that I can watch all my life repeatedly and still watch them as if I'm watching for the first time. Two of them were directed by Christopher Nolan, his latest two.

My third favorite is 'The Prestige', directed by Nolan and the cast are Hugh Jackman, Christian Bale, Scarlett Johnson. This is a movie with a huge plot, different time lines and one of the best suspense thrillers ever. Usually the suspense is at the climax but this movie is full of suspense right from the first act. I have no words to say how brilliant the story line is. I never liked Christian Bale but after watching this, he is one of my favorites.

My second favorite would be, 'The Dark Knight' again by Nolan with Bale and Ledger as the lead. This movie has a cold opening, that is it starts without any title. This is the only superhero movie I ever liked. The director was very clear in what he wanted his hero to be. First time ever logics were used in a superhero movies (there are some flaws but better than no logic at all). He didn't show Batman as the hero who saves everyone, or as the hero who does everything right. That was the main reason I liked this movie. Ledger's acting and Zimmer's music together create such a tension throughout the movie which can't be explained by words. I have seen this movie about 6 times and I will keep watching it. No Doubt!

The most favorite movie of my life would be, 'Rang De Basanti'. All I can say about this movie is that I have seen it 20 times and if someone talk to me about this movie, I would want to watch it again. I seriously have no words to say anything about this movie, this would always be my all-time favorite.

District 9

District 9 has been nominated as one of the contenders for Best Movie Award at the 82nd Academy Awards. I'd be much surprised if this movie doesn't win. I know many would say that Avatar would win, but I personally think District 9 is way better than Avatar. A low budget movie which was not even considered to run a month, ended up in Oscar nominations. The reason is the concept is absolutely original. This was one movie that reminded me of none other while watching it.

The plot goes like this. An alien space-ship came to Earth around 20 years back. It doesn't have enough fuel to get back to its planet. The aliens have made a settlement in Johannesburg, South Africa. The Government has allocated an area for the aliens called, "District 9", which soon was converted into an alien slum. Well, this is the first 10 mins of the movie. I rather not say anything else about the movie coz it will end up in spoilers. Watch the movie and you will surely love it.

I personally feel it is 'The Best Movie of the Decade' (apart from Lord Of The Rings). And I would rate it 9.8/10. A Must Watch!

Eeram

Eeram is the latest movie produced by Director Shankar. The movie was okay (I was expecting a murder mystery). But there was one thing I couldn't believe when I saw or rather i should say, when I heard. The composer of Eeram was Thaman and he did a fairly good job. But I was totally frustrated when I heard a particular sound track which was a perfect copy of 'Stranger', from 'Dark Knight' (Yes, Kavin. The same track which sounds like the train, which you posted in your blog). 

You may think its a very common thing, copying BGM from Hollywood. Even I was used to all these but not this time. Its not because I love Hans Zimmer or because I was amazed by the masterpiece of 'Stranger', but because of the complexity of the music. This annoying sound famously composed to hype to tension behind Heath Ledger's Joker was no ordinary music. 

That simple sound took Zimmer more than a week to record. Recorded with Cello and Guitar and few other instruments, removing certain frequencies which create the noise, modulating few other frequencies - this was no ordinary feat by Zimmer. And its totally disappointing to hear a local composer copying it with absolutely no pain at all. 

The video below will give you an idea of how much of hard work Zimmer went through to record the track (6:27).

The Prestige - A Review

I came across this movie a few months ago and I was kind of obsessed with it for a week or two. This is a movie of a different kind. Directed by Christopher Nolan (of “The Dark Knight” fame), this movie revolves around the life of two magicians. Robert Angier (Hugh Jackman) and Alfred Borden (Christian Bale) were assistants to a magician along with Julia McCullough (Piper Perabo), who is Angier’s wife. During one of the shows, Julia is accidentally drowned while performing a trick. Angier blames Borden for the death of his wife as Borden had tied a new knot on Julia’s hands leading to her death. This creates hatred between the two.

Christian Bale and Hugh Jackman

Angier and Borden start their own shows individually with Cutter (Michael Caine) being Angier’s engineer and Olivia (Scarlett Johansson) as his assistant, while Borden works with Fallon, his engineer. Both Angier and Borden set out to destroy each others career. Borden brings out a new trick called, “The Transported Man”, where he throws a ball and go through a door and instantly comes out of the other door to catch the ball. Angier is obsessed on finding out how he plays the trick. But later he creates a similar act, gaining more audiences on his side.

The story follows the two magicians' lives, their tricks, sacrifices and their obsession to find out each others secrets. The story taking place on late 18^th century also collides with the lives of the scientists Nikola Tesla and Thomas Edison.

Scarlett Johansson and Hugh Jackman

Both Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale played their roles to perfection. Joan Bergin’s costumes were attractive. Scarlett Johansson was very pretty in her 18^th century attire. The movie is full of secrets and suspense right from scene one and at the end of every scene, a secret or a suspense is revealed. Watch out for the climax!

This movie would keep you on the edge till the end and its a 'Must Watch movie'.

My ratings:

Overall - 9.7/10

Screenplay - 9.5/10

Editing - 9.9/10

Costume - 9.8/10