Friday, November 22, 2002

In the Bedroom (2001) - Brilliant. Dir by Todd Field. Very real characters, great performances, superb direction and some outstanding cinematic moments, all together make it a great movie. The end seems a little stretched and a little lame for such a well-told movie otherwise, but it still makes a point. Tom Wilkinson (I) is excellent. Others include Sissy Spacek, Nick Stahl and Marisa Tomei. Plot (imdb): A New England couple's college-aged son dates an older woman with two small children and an unwelcome ex-husband. Then something terrible occurs in this wrenching, emotional drama.

DVD. 130 mins. 8.5/10. imdb
A Walk to Remember (2002) - a movie to forget. If there's one hollywood movie, which can be said to be the most close in several ways to a typical Hindi fare, it would be this. But that's not the reason why one should forget about this. It's just that it is a bad movie. I even forgot why I decided to rent this.

DVD. 101 min. 5/10. imdb

Saturday, November 09, 2002

Se7en (1995) - Morgan Freeman, Brad Pitt. Dir by David Fincher. A disturbing tale of a serial killer. Mostly predictable. Raises high hopes, but not always lives up to them. Good performances. Good pace.

DVD. 127 mins. Rated R for grisly afterviews of horrific and bizarre killings, and for strong language. 7/10. imdb

Riding in Cars with Boys (2001) - A wonderful movie about small things. Drew Barrymore surprises with a great performance. Dir by Penny Marshall. Based on a book of true story, it had screenplay with some very good lines by Morgan Ward. Plot Outline: A single mother, with dreams of becoming a writer, has a son at the age of 15 in 1968, and goes through a failed marriage with the drug-addicted father.

HBO. 132 mins. 8/10. imdb

East is East (1999) - One of the better movies on the expatriate South Asian community in UK. Funny, honest and not pretending to be great. Om Puri is good (nothing great), Linda Bassett is better as his wife. Dir by Damien O'Donnell. Okay time pass.

DVD. 96 mins. R-L2V2S0. 6/10.

The Man Who Wasn't There (2001) - An experimental black and white movie written and directed by Coen Brothers. Plot Outline: A laconic, chain-smoking barber blackmails his wife's boss and lover for money to invest in dry cleaning, but his plan goes terribly wrong. Very good performance by Billy Bob Thornton. Nothing great to offer otherwise.

DVD. B/W. 116 mins. 6/10. imdb

Fifteen Minutes (2001) - Slick thriller with touches of sarcasm on American media and culture in general. The movie contains many subliminal messages. Good entertainment too. Robert De Niro, Edward Burns (I). Dir by John Herzfeld. Plot Outline: A homicide detective and a fire marshall must stop a pair of murderers who commit videotaped crimes to become media darlings.

DVD. 120 mins. R-L2V2S1. 7.5/10. imdb