LESTER BURNHAM

American Beauty.... a dramedy set in a suburb somewhere in middle america......directed by kate winslet's hubby (Sam Mendes) is a thought provoking movie.....when i first saw this movie i saw it from the middle( the plastic bag sequence).even after repeated viewings i am still in awe.the narration is given by lester ( kevin spacey is simply wonderful to watch).his wife is played by annette bening (carol) who is described by lester as gold digging female...this is not a typical family like the sugary brady bunch...they have their own problems which they slowly discover...


lester's character is rebellious,angry,frustrated,sarcastic,funny.....the colour red has been used effectively by the legendary cinematographer ( Conrad Hall : the man behind Butch cassidy and the sundance kid and cool hand luke).red depicts beauty,blood,the colour of their main door,roses....the other characters are col frank fitts played by chris cooper.even though he is a strict discplinarian dad in my opinion he is suffering from his own demons besides being a hypocrite.thora birch plays jane ( mamma mia she was smokin hot :-) ....newcomer wes bentley played the psychotic looking newcomer ricky fitts who is obssessed with jane.classic rock being my favourite is used effectively especially American woman by Guess who , all along the watchtower by bob dylan and the Seeker by the WHO...these 3 songs speak about lesters state of mind...the climax is simply poignant and something to ponder over.i am reminded of Martin luther king jr's quote "our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that really matter.the movie was released in 1999,,,,had tough competition from fight club,boys dont cry but went on to win 5 oscars....the opening sequence is inspired from sunset boulevard (1950) where the character speaks from beyond the grave..


i can watch this movie over and over again ....no one is a loser....we all are good at something....imagine if the role had been done by chevy chase...disastrous consequences....we should never take life too seriously "its just a couch!!!!!!!!! "..mena suvari (angela)....who was going thru a lot of insecurity but projected a different image to the world...whatever people say this is a movie mendes will never match period.the movie also deals with loneliness,lust..a highly recommended movie for all to analyze..but my favourite scene is when lester punches the air in excitement after quitting his job....it is better to do something in which we get satisfaction than doing the same mundane things over and over again

Finally thomas newman (give this GENIUS A ROUND OF APPLAUSE)....SIMPLY MINDBLOWING SUBTLE MUSIC SCORE FOR THE AGES...."BEAUTY LIES IN THE EYES OF THE BEHOLDER "

ANDY AND RED

The Shawshank Redemption......oh!!!!the tragedy of losing out to a movie like Forrest Gump...released in 1994 and nominated for 7 academy awards it ended up not winning one award also!!!!It is based on a novel by the horror guru Stephen King called " Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption" published in 1982..In my personal opinion the shawshank redemption is the greatest film of the 1990's .....the story is about a banker who is convicted of murder and trials and tribulations he goes thru in prison.

The movie deals with friendship,hope,fear,integrity,survival,spirituality,morality,justice system et al. Tim robbins (Andy Dufresne)plays the accused banker: robbins gives us a sublime performance: who meets Red (Morgan Freeman in a understated brilliant performance)....the narration by red thru out the movie is the highlight of this masterpiece....whilst in prison he meets homosexuals,makes a friend for eternity,and also ends up dishing out sweet revenge for the pain and torture he suffered for almost 20 years..Thomas newman won his first academy award nomination(which he should have won!!!!!!) for his beautiful score.The climax is the most satisfying one i ever seen in my life...it is filled with tranqulity,happiness when red meets andy on an island...another favourite scene is when andy escapes from prison...ploughs his ways thru the sewage ...it indicates freedom from suppression when he raises his arms towards the sky...


i always felt i have been trapped just like andy i wish i could express my feelings like he did in that particular scene.........the usage of a classical song of Mozart depicts sooo much even though a single word is not spoken....that is the power of music!!!!!!the film may be long for some people's taste but Frank darabont has done the right thing in doing so...

PROJECT MAYHEM

Fight Club.....when it was initially released in 1999 it was a box office failure but today it is recognised as a cult film...the film is a black comedy which deals with multiple themes like....consumerism...anarchy....impact of pop culture on the sub conscious of the intellectual..attack against a set way of life et al....after the release of this film many underground fight clubs came into focus...the narrator/central protaganist is unnamed thru out the movie....the movie is taken from the 1996 novel by Chuck Palahnuik....

the story is about the narrator who is suffering from insomnia and goes thru life on a cruise control mode....he meets marla who he discovers is attending support groups for no reasons whatsoever...singer Meatloaf looks really intimidating even if its a small role...the narrator is infact fed up of his dead end job.....along the way he meets a guy named tyler durden who calls himself a soap salesman...their first physical exchange is grippingly shot....tyler tells the narrator that he is into fight clubs where candidates are chosen after thorough evaluation by tyler himself......the fight clubs themselves have rules which have to be followed and cannot be broken on any account...the fight clubs gather steam and develops into a phenomenon,,which gradually leads to pandemonium where property is vandalised,people are assaulted....at the same time tyler has a torrid affair with marla....after watching this movie the dialogues will remain etched in our minds like" If you wake up at a different time in a different place, could you wake up as a different person? ,"It's only after we've lost everything that we're free to do anything ","You're not your job. You're not how much money you have in the bank. You're not the car you drive. You're not the contents of your wallet. You're not your fucking khakis. You're the all-singing, all-dancing crap of the world ". the movie begins and ends with same scene,,i first saw this movie in college latenight around 1 a.m or so..acting is simply fantastic..

fincher outshines the work he did for se7en...brad pitt and edward norton share excellent chemistry...the twist in the plot will simply blow u away,especially when the narrator realises the truth about tyler...even though there are scenes of gore the movie is not that violent in my opinion...the fights are simply out of this world..right up there with raging bull...especially when edward bashes up a member mercilessly...the movie is disturbing in certain aspects..i especially loved when the hooligans go out of control and the drama that ensues...even helena bonham carter looks really alluring to the eyes :-)....this is one club everyone should visit atleast thru the medium of cinema :-)

TRAVIS BICKLE

Taxi driver...the magic combo of de niro/schrader/scorsese....released in 1976...the movie talks about urban alienation...loneliness felt by travis bickle ( robert de niro in one of the most chilling and tour de force performances on screen,academy rejected this performance for some unknown actor or whatever :( a taxi driver...who drives cabs in NYC at late nights picking up people from different stratas of society like hoodlums,pimps,poilticians,hookers,blue collar workers,regular joe's......

travis is simply fed up by the scum of the city that he daily witnesses...he wants a real rain to come and wash off all the filth the city has to offer....He becomes fixated on a PYT Betsy (cybill sheperd looking stunning as usual)...from a distance and wants her very badly...and starts becoming possessive of her...he eventually gets the courage to ask her on a date but it turns disastrous as he takes her to a porno movie...when he meets the following day (its my favourite scene in the movie)...he asks her why dont you answer my calls??the burning anger and rejection by someone he loved is evident in de niro's eyes.He later meets a 13 yr old prostitute (jodie foster) and is adamant about rescuing her from the clutches of her pimp owner(harvey keitel)....the climax is not only controversial but something to ponder about,he guns down harvey and his cronies in a bloodbath of an encounter......the movie has been inspired from the john wayne classic the searchers (1956)....where the protagonist is determined to save the female character from all evils of society but in a more contemporary setting.....after travis fails in his attempt to assasinate a local politician palantine he grows a mohawk acquires weaponry..the training that he undergoes at the shooting gallery indicates the mayhem he wats to unfold on the society...even the noise made by the gun is powerful even now... the haunting score is by benard hermann (the genius behind psycho,cape fear,verigo,north by northwest)...camerawork (michael chapman)...of course the most famous dialogue ever (you talkin' to me?)....rendered by travis in front of a mirror....taxi driver is not only scorsese's gratest accomplishment(it lost to a nonsensical film rocky for best picture and best director!!!!!!!)taxi driver went on to win the Palm d'or at the Cannes film festival....the movie was also a driving factor for the attempted assasination of ronald reagan in 1981....john hickley jr. claimed he was obssessed with foster's character in the movie.....

Taxi driver is a violent masterpiece...the movie released at a time when the world was going thru a turmoil especially in the u.s when the vietnam war and watergate scandal had just ended...one of my favourite character actors peter boyle :-) has a small but effective cameo in the movie...each time i watch the new recut trailer of taxi driver i am literally stunned by the genius of scorsese....

THE FAMILY

The first time i read the Godfather novel i was not much impressed, i got bored and went to sleep???!!! the second time i read it i was simply blown away!!!!! written in 1969 the novel by the famous novelist Mario Puzo has achieved legendary status. Director Francis Ford Coppola was a well known face in Hollywood but was yet to get a deserved break...well the godfather movie changed his life forever...the main story revolves around the highs and lows of an American – Italian Mafia family headed by Don Vito Corleone ( Marlon Brando making a comeback nailed it bang on!!!!) and his 3 sons ...Santino (James Caan as the violent, eldest impatient brother)....Fredo (John Cazale as the weak middle sibling) and Michael ( Al Pacino in a career defining role that is still remembered even today.)

the story begins in 1945 with the return of Micheal for his younger sister's wedding Connie (Talia shire who played Rocky's long suffering wife)...what happens is that the don refuses to get involved in the trade of narcotics ( a common term nowadays)...and along the way makes a truckload of enemies. people who have read the novel will reveal that many story threads have been eliminated from the novel while writing the godfather screenplay including Johnny Fontaine's broken up marriage...this movie clocks 3 hours.....but is worth every penny....many memorable scenes flash before my mind when i recall this movie....the dead horse's head on the bed sheets....michael inflicting revenge on all enemies towards the climax....coppola does a masterstroke by juxtaposing the massacres with the baptism....on the acting front Brando and Pacino register the maximum impression with able support from others as well.

To begin with the famous Italian spaghetti director Sergio Leone was the first choice to direct the movie...even Robert Redford was to play micheal's role....imagine!!!!!!!! the godfather in my opinion is the greatest adaptation of a novel on screen...countless films have copied,imitated The Godfather including Analyze This (1999) ,Sarkar ( 2005) , Nayakan ( 1987) ,the Freshman ( 1990) but none have been able to match the original, the definitive mafia “gangster” movie. Another fact is that it was on Brando' s insistence that the actor brought a new dimension to the don's role especially the famous scratchy voice...the movie was criticized for the portrayal of Italians as gangsters for life...also how can i forget the famous score by Nina Rota......EXQUISITE..Suits the script to a T.the movie dwells on the American Dream many immigrants thought of achieving while entering the U.S .It also depicts the responsibilities a family expects its own children to undertake when they grow older . The film also boasts of memorable one liners like “"I'm gonna make him an offer he can't refuse" , “be close to your friends but be closer to your enemies”...beautiful cinematography shot in Sicily...grand cast...brilliant direction...superlative performances makes THE GODFATHER an EPIC!!!!!!!

SHATTERED DREAMS

Oh my god!!!!! this movie will give you nightmares for a life time , make you squirm every time you see it...adapted from a novel of the same name published in 1978 by Hubert Selby Jr. Consists of 4 main characters deals with drug abuse....it shows what happens when usage of drugs goes spiraling out of control...

The first 5 odd minutes are slow....but then it takes off like a rollercoaster ride...Harry (Jared Leto) , Marion ( Jennifer Connelly looking smoking hot hubba hubba), Tyrone ( Marlon Wayans) and Sarah ( Ellen Burstyn)... are the main characters. Harry and Marion are in a relationship while Tyrone is their close acquaintance and Sarah is Harry’s mom....while Harry, Marion and Tyrone are addicted to heroin, cocaine, Sarah is addicted to weight loss pills. Camera work and editing are something that has to be seen to be believed...in his second outing after Pi...Darren aronofsky employs shock techniques, the rolling, lighting et al...drugs consumed at break neck speed by the youngsters...but the star of the show is hands down Sarah ( ellen burstyn who played the little girl's mother in the original shocker The Exorcist: her transformation is brutal to say the least....another big blunder was when the academy insulted burstyn by giving the Oscar to Julia for erin brockovich (it was good but come on !!!!) the movie also shows the urge that people have in losing weight and the attack of the tele shopping networks....but the most powerful scene in my opinion is when harry reveals his arm to tyrone whilst in a vehicle.....

the final moments of the movie are psychotic, nightmarish, disturbing all of which is set to the haunting music of Clint Mansell's exemplary moody score...another notable scene is when Tyrone remembers the innocence of his childhood days spent in the loving arms of his mother...

the movie also talks about loneliness, self – delusion, the desperation that people will amount to get whatever they desire..another touching moment is when the director shows us what would have happened if either harry or sarah had not been consumed by drugs...they would enabled sarah's dream of going live on the television. This is what movie making should be all about....cut throat and honest!!!The final look by Ellen Burstyn after the shock treatment says it all...

RICK AND ILSA

Beloved by audiences and critics all over the world especially Sanjay Dutt and Katrina Kaif......even after 65 years of release it is still popular...it is much better than the over hyped and boring Citizen Kane.....Released on January 23rd 1943 the movie was about the decision one man had to take....love or virtue.....the movie was adapted from the play titled “Everybody comes to Ricks”....which is a cafe run by a cynical ex patriot Rick Blaine( Humphrey Bogart in perhaps the most memorable movie role of all time ) who comes across his former lover Ilsa( a luminous looking Ingrid Bergman) and her resistance leader husband Victor( Paul Henreid in an understated performance)....

often called as an accidental masterpiece...the script kept changing on a daily basis.....in my opinion IT IS/WAS/EVER THE GREATEST FILM THAT CAN NEVER CAN BE MATCHED FOR ETERNITY....the greatest script ever, the greatest supporting cast of all time ,the greatest screen couple, the greatest opening sequence, the greatest climax , the most romantic film, the most memorable one liners ( here's lookin' at you kid , of all the gin joints in all the towns and places in the world she walks into mine, we will always have Paris).....the color version pales in comparison to the beautiful black and white version.....perhaps the biggest blunders the academy ever committed till now and for eternity is by giving Casablanca only 3 academy awards ,rejecting bogie,bergman,max steiner,claude rains in their respective categories.

the movie is nostalgic,patriotic,funny,romantic...not many people know but former American president Ronald Reagan was considered for the part of Rick Blaine!!!!!!!may this movie continue to enthrall audiences for generations to come...