APOCALYPSE NOW (1979)

Directed by: Francis Ford Coppola

Starring: Martin Sheen

Marlon Brando

Robert Duvall

Laurence Fishburne

Dennis Hopper

Harrison Ford

Movie is set during the Vietnam War. Story is about two US army officers Capt. Willard (Martin sheen) and Colonel Kurtz (Marlon Brando). Capt. Willard is given a special mission to assassin Col. Kurtz. Martin Sheen is given mission by intelligence officers to journey through the Nung River into the Cambodia and find col. Kurtz who according to them has gone out of control and commanding his own troops in the jungle. They also tells him that he was once top ranking officer and considered future General.

The movie starts with a scene of Jungle and a song in the background called “this is the end” with series of explosions in the jungle and then shows face close up of Martin sheen who is not feeling good with civilian life and drinks extensively. This is the kind of start which impressed me and which I found quit unique than the other war movies. Movie I felt engaging despite of its slow pace because of Coppola’s way of narration of story, like how Sheen’s character keep on understanding the character of Brando from documents given to him,One after one posts which he visits and how he lost his crew members one by one on his way to hunt Kurtz, And finally the view around the Kurtz’s outpost,The scene in which Sheen meets Brando.

Movie is a unique experience for war movie lovers because this is not usual war movie where bombing and firing happens on two fronts and scenes where soldiers loose their life and others show extreme emotions on the loss of fellow soldiers. NO, but this one has something different to offer. After watching one will find why this movie is considered a CLASSIC.

Definitely WORTH experiencing.

The Brothers Bloom(2008)

I know Hollywood has churned out many con movies. Still this movie has something in it for you to like. For starters, you have a cast like Adrian Brody, Mark Ruffalo & Rachel Weisz. The director, Rian Johnson, tries to set up the plot nicely. Opening of the movie shows how the two brothers entered the world of con wherein Mark Ruffalo is the one who strategizes everything and Adrian Brody just playing the part as decided by his brother. Though Mark Ruffalo enjoys his every encounter, Adrian Brody is full of guilt. Everytime he tries to leave, Mark somehow pulls him back to the trade and they pull off a great con. Eventually they try to fool a wealthy girl Rachel and somehow things get murkier. A great climax to the story stating "there is nothing like an unwritten life, just a badly written one." I've been mesmerized by the performances of Mark in Shutter Island and this one. He is so subtle that you just love it. Adrian Brody proved his mettle in The Pianist (won an oscar) so as to firm the claim that he is a performer of the greatest quality. Nathan Johnson's score compliments the movie well.

For me, a movie's score holds a lot of importance so readers please excuse me if you find me mentioning the same in each of my posts.

I find this movie to be an outright entertainer which vindicates, "a perfect con is one where at the end, everyone involved gets the thing he wanted."

The Usual Suspects(1995)

Boy, this is good. Its real good. Will make you scratch your heads but if you are with the movie throughout, you'll know its of great quality. 5 criminals woven together for crimes that few can pull off. Greed of money keeps them together. Till one incident happens where a boat is burned with with huge amount of dope and cash on it. Kevin Spacey is caught for the crime and he weaves a great tale of deception to escape the clutches of policemen. Throughout the movie, the director Bryan Singer manages to capture your full attention. John Ottman's score couldn't have been better. Equal credit needs to be given to the writer, the editor and other technical crew members who managed to carve out a perfect thriller full of ambiguity where the suspense opens up beautifully in the end.

A must watch for classic cinema lovers as this is the movie that made Kevin Spacey a star.

GOOD MORNING, VIETNAM (1987) starring:Robin Williams

Directed By: Berry Levinson

Starring: Robin Williams

               Forest Whitaker

GOOD MORNING, VIETNAM is a comedy-drama film Starring ROBIN WILLIAMS as Adrian Cronauer. Film starts with the arrival of Robin Williams in Vietnam as he was appointed the new DISK JOCKEY at AFRS-armed forces radio services in South Vietnam during 1965.

Cronauer is like live-wire, full of energy. Very soon he becomes hugely popular among the American troops. He has great sense of humor and his style makes him instant star in radio space, which his immediate bosses don’t like. They don’t even find him funny but Cronauer is unstoppable, he speaks whatever he thinks fit. Soon in Vietnam he makes friends and also see the dark and dirty side of war and how people of Vietnam gets to suffer because of the war.

As the story goes ahead we get to see different shades in the character of Robin Williams. Especially after the scene when a bomb blast happens at a restaurant where he used to have fun with friends. And when he gets to know a very dear friend of him is actually a terrorist. Williams makes excellent mark in the movie not only with his humor but with his emotions.

I had decided to watch this movie because I am big fan of Williams and I am glad that I watched this not only because Williams was brilliant but also the story is good and the way story is woven makes it a joyful ride.

BLADE RUNNER (1982) HARRISON FORD

Directed by: Ridley Scott

STARRING: HARRISON FORD

                      SEAN YOUNG

Blade runner directed by Ridley Scott is a science fiction action flick. It has 2019 in the backdrop of the story surrounded in LA. It starts with written narration regarding the REPLICANTS- genetically engineered robots which were very much same as humans (quite indistinguishable from humans)- the use of replicants is banned on earth but few of the replicants called NEXUS-6 created by Tyrell corp. have returned to earth. The replicants who denies the ban are haunted down to death by a special squad called Blade Runner.

Things start getting worse when this replicants attack humans and acts fugitive. Later it came to know that these replicants have a life span of 4 yours which they want to increase and for these they need to meet their creator. Harrison ford an old Blade Runner is given task to haunt them down.

Movie has a dark tone. Even the sun can not be seen completely in that time on the earth. The atmosphere is rainy most of the time. It has setup bit differently that those Star Wars movies where things looks cool and high tech, here it looks like humanity has lost the touch and darkness prevails everywhere.

This movie is worth watching because it is the pioneer movie for the all sci-fi mocies of coming age like terminator and lot more. It is a cult classic because of its different looks and narration. The movie is bit slow in the pace but that doesn’t matter. It was before the time movie, were concepts like Artificial intelligence are used. 

I recommend to watch this who likes sci-fi movies.

(HERE IS A PROMO OF THE MOVIE)

INCEPTION : REVIEW ( TWO THUMBS UP FOR NOLAN)

DIRECTED AND WRITTEN BY: Christopher Nolan

STARRING: Leonardo DeCaprio
                     Ken Watanabe
                     Marion Cotillard
                     Ellen Page
                     Joseph Gordan-Levitt
                     Tom Hardy
                     Cillian Murphy
                     Tom Berenger
                     Michael Caine

INCEPTION directed by Christopher Nolan is a movie that needs continuous attention of the viewer and not only attention it also gives a viewer challenge to catch the pace of the movie. He has delivered a product which has both attentive storyline and excellent narration with utmost cleverness. He has entertained the viewer and let the viewer web the idea of the happenings in the mind.

Dom Cobb (DeCaprio) is skilled to extract information from a person’s subconscious mind in the state of dream. He creates the imaginary world in the person’s dream with resemblance to reality so that the target caught not get to know that if he is in a dream or reality. This skill has put Cobb in great danger and made him fugitive of his country. But he gets a chance where after completing the last mission he can get back to his country with free from all the charges. But the task is not so simple and has great amount of risks and complications with it. He is accompanied by others in this act as his team members and where there is danger there must be enemies.

Initial part of the movie tries to explain how Cobb and his team do the whole extraction from mind, how the process happens. Mid of the first half to the end, more attention is given to the last task to be done. They explain what and how the dream within the dream stuff works and what may occur if things go wrong and this makes the whole thing tricky.

The imaginary world of dream is a visual treat and the way Nolan has created the world according to the different character’s thinking deserves special mention and applause.

The viewer takes time to catch up the whole stuff as the narration goes on and things gets interesting.

Storyline as said earlier-mind blowing. Characterization and narration is top notch. Performance wise DeCaprio leads the cast and all have done excellent job.

All in all a movie which can become classic. And shows that still good stories are written and executed also very well. Surely recommended but not to all the viewers.

(Bring your brain with you when you watch the movie)

RATING: 8.75 OUT OF 10.  

KNIGHT and DAY (a nightmare for Cruise and Diaz) -- REVIEW

STARRING: TOM CRUISE as Roy Miller

                     CAMERON DIAZ as June Havens

Knight and Day starts with tom cruise(an FBI agent) waiting for his flight to take-off. On the airport he meets Cameron Diaz who is on the same flight. Tom was escaping from FBI with a Battery which is kind of only one and very useful. He smartly uses Diaz’s luggage to carry that battery on the flight. Real stuff starts after the flight takes off with so much fight and bit of light comedy (which we have seen so many times in ‘spy movies’). The FBI , the Mafia are all behind him for that battery but he is the hero and he knows every thing right from the how to land a plane, to swim big rivers, to fight with enemy without getting wounded even once, he knows every thing without any gadget(except one I-phone). And at the end after so much running, chasing and fight FBI got to know that he was actually saving the Battery from Bad Guys. All well ends well.

What was director or producer thinking before making the movie? They might have thought that what ever the story could be Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz will save the movie. But sorry this time it’s not like that, movie falls flat on the storyline. There is nothing new in this and both lead actors are wasted on this storyline. Both leading actors gave their 100% but it didn’t work this time.

The movie had few stunts and few comic scenes, apart from this nothing special. The producers may recover the cost but the movie is not worth the money spent.

For me it’s strictly average.

RATING: 4.75 OUT OF 10