HOT FUZZ

Oh k finally time for me to review some movie. Well i choose to review the movie HOT FUZZ. I was interested in watching this movie because of the rating it received in IMDB and RottenTomatoes.
IMDB gives it a whopping 8.1/10 and rottentomatoes again a surprising
89%. HOT FUZZ is the right example of WHAT HAPPENS WHEN U GIVE A THRILLER MOVIE SCRIPT TO A COMEDY DIRECTOR...Well the movie is about a person named Nicholas Angel. He is the best police officer in London city. His arrests are 400% higher than any average cop in London city. He receives multiple awards for his contribution to the London Police. He is so good in his job that his seniors promote him and post him to a village called Sandford. Thats beacuse they feel at this rate he will oveshadow everyone in his office. Thats not so similar to a software company isnt it. Well then Angel goes to Sandford, and does what he does the best ARREST. During this he makes good friends with Danny Butterman, who is the son of the local police Frank Butterman. I forgot to mention Danny is also a Constable with the Sandford Police. Every thing seems to be going fine until we see some really gory chain of murders(not like the movie SAW or HOSTEL,but gory for a comedy movie). Angel sets off to solve the mystery of these murders. Finally when he does solve the mystery some names comes up which you would not have imagined at all. What happens next, well please rent the DVD and watch the ending.
What i liked in the movie?? The story if u see could easily make a modern day horror/thriller, but the director chose to make it a comedy movie. The hero oh yes Simon Pegg (Nicholas Angel) is good, he acts very serious throughout the movie, but you will laugh the very first time you see him. Nick Frost (Danny Butterman), i have no idea why but i liked him in the movie. The final action scene, its comedy to the max, you can watch the whole movie for this action scene alone. Overall definitely worth a watch. My rating 7/10.

Had a tough time understanding the accent (Its a British Movie incase you didnt know), so decided to watch the movie with subtitles ON. Could you believe watching an English movie with English subtitles, but thats how their accent is cant help. Anyways enough reading the review go and watch the movie.

Om Shanti Om

I get tongue-tied every time someone asks me about OSO..I can't say its bad(Cos,its not and I did enjoy a huge part of it,here and there..) and I can't say its good(As it has nothing a good movie should have,scientifically speaking..).My heart says its an OK movie,but my head screeaaamss..."Nooooo"

Everybody knows that SRK(I am planning to speak in abbreviations..) is a megalomaniac..He thinks he can pull off anything and he usually does..well..almost every time..And Farah Khan..I don't know what kind of a maniac she is..But,she has some problem..Agreed she is a wonderful choreographer and all..But,who the hell told her that she can direct!!???..Didn't she watch her own movie 'Main Hoon Na'?? It was a movie made for Cartoon Network,by Cartoon Network..OSO is no different..It has the masala,colours,costumes of 70's and present day cinema put in a washing machine that went haywire..

The movie is about re-incarnation..which is actually a suspense in the movie..But,these days,everyone knows the story of OSO..including the triplets Farah is expecting soon..There is Om(Om Prakash Makhija),an extra in the 70's film scene,who dreams of being a Super Star and also winning the hand of the Super Star,'Dreamy Girl',Shanti..Now,Om kind of succeeds in the latter scenario,floors the girly, and even spends a fun evening with her..Unfortunately,a series of unfortunate events lead to the death of both Shanti and Om..I am not telling you the rest of the story..If you really want to know what happens next,try wikipedia..

What i am pissed about is the way the director treats the audience..very much similar to the way Om Kapoor treats his directors..The audience is considered to be a bunch of giggly,brainless chickens who will laugh for anything that SRK does and for mindless celebrity imitations..There were times when i felt like pulling my hair out when Kiron Kher(Om Prakash Makhija's crazy mom) started her melodrama(which she thinks is damn funny) and when she donned her old-look-makeup..Really,she looked like she was living with spiders in spider-webs for a long long time..Somebody has to stop this kind of make up tricks in Bollywood..

Also,when Om Kapoor turns 30,he suddenly starts remembering things!!..and that too at an unimaginable pace..some medical miracle,it is..And when,Shanti goes missing,no police tried to find her whereabouts,find out who she was last seen with and all that....Really Farah,we deserve more!!

And who can forget "Dard e Disco'??..Absolute pain in the eyes..SRK looks like a victim who has 2 aliens living inside him..saaadd..

Yet,there are a few things I did enjoy in OSO(primary reasons why i cant say the movie is bad)
1)The songs:Absolutely hummable...
2)The 31 stars dhamaka:Real bomb,it is..Half the movie crowd came to see this..Nice marketing strategy..
3)Shreyas Talpade:I feel sorry for you man!..Get back to Nagesh Kukunoor kind of movies..
4)SRK:I cant believe i am saying this...But,yes in some scenes,he is simply irreplaceable
5)The re-incarnation of the 70s:very very refreshing..
6)Arjun Rampal:Not his acting skills..God bless!!..But,he looks red hottt!!..he can still go back to modelling..
7)Deepika Padukone:She looks simply gorgeous(boys,you agree with me at least now)..But,acting..I dunno..There wasn't much for her to do..But,ya,she needs to put on more clothes..She was terribly dressed in the second half..

And thus,the verdict is out..Go Ahead,watch OSO..but don't think about it afterwards..You may get a NO SHANTI...

The Lives Of Others

Language : German
Year Of Release : 2006
Director : Florian Henckel Von Donnersmarck
Notable Awards : Oscar Award(Best Foreign Language Film),European Film Award(Best Film,Best Screenplay)

Before you start watching this movie,you need to get certain facts of history right.The movie is set in early 1980's in the oppressive , socialist state of East Berlin, the capital of East Germany under the Soviet rule.The rest of Germany is under the capitalist rule of America,France and England,thus making West Germany more prosperous,less suppressive leading to mass defection from the Eastern side of the country.The East German governance bans any such defection and shifts the onus to the Stasi(the secret police of East Germany) which in turn creates a society built on deception,faithlessness and paranoia.The movie begins as the story of a couple and a Stasi officer spying on them day and night and as it progresses, the wall between them starts breaking slowly, with his life and future getting entwined with theirs...

The Stasi officer,Hauptmann Gerd Wiesler(Ulirch Muhe) comes across as a staunch supporter of the socialist regime in East Germany with innate interrogation skills and cold , no-nonsense demeanour.Though he is not loud about his ambitions,it is very clear from the beginning that he strongly looks forward to a challenging and rewarding career ,not compromising his self-respect and beliefs at the same time.He is well known for his skills as an unforgiving and never failing interrogator who uses subtly cruel and brilliant techniques to pull out the truth from the detained.The first scene where he questions a man who has helped his friend defect,by not letting him sleep, till the victim cries and blurts out the truth out of desperation, shows Wiesler's dedication and brilliance.(In a later scene,he says,"An innocent man will get enraged at this injustice,but the guilty will know that he is there for a reason and will become quiet and then cry")

On the other side is Georg Dreyman(Sebastian Koch) , a successful playwright,emotional and vulnerable(His biggest fear is the fear of being alone..).He lives a perfect life on the outside with a soaring career,beautiful girlfriend and being equally popular in the Ministry and among his counterparts..But inside,he is burning with guilt ( as he watches his close friend and colleague,Jerska,spiral into hopelessness and finally commit suicide due to depression after being banned by the Ministry of State Security and hence deprived of doing what he is meant to do..directing..) and self-doubt ( when he realises that his steady girlfriend and confidante ,Christa-Maria Sieland(Martina Gedeck) , is actually not as faithful as she seems to be..).He lives an empty life,very aware of it and hating it every second.His helplessness slowly transforms into vengeance and decides to do his part,however little it is,to take this regime down..

Christa-Maria Sieland (Martina Gedeck) is full of contradictions...She is beautiful and talented,yet diffident about her acting skills..She loves her boyfriend fiercely,yet betrays him for saving herself..She is loyal to her love,yet sleeps with a Minister for saving her career...Her biggest strength and biggest weakness is her boyfriend-Dreyman..She is sleepwalking through life,totally aware that her career can bomb any day if she does not cater to the whims of her lecherous admirers in the ministry and that she can lose Dreyman any time and that there is nothing she can do to stop this...

It is at this point in the life of the inwardly secretive couple that it collides with that of the Stasi Officer,Wiesler..Wielser is asked to spy on the the couple by his classmate and boss,Lt.Anton(Ulrich Tukur),who has set his eyes on a top position in the ministry if this operation comes through successfully..This is actually triggered by a Minister,Bruno Hempf,who ogles at Christa Maria openly..

Wiesler, a hard task master that he is,starts the operation immediately,by bugging the apartment of Dreyman with microphones installed at every possible place, so that he does not miss even a whisper..and sets up his temporary make-shift office at the top of the apartment with all his equipments,complete with a typewriter and recorder..He spies on the couple fiercely,using all his senses,not giving up at any point..Now on,the movie spirals into a gripping thriller with Wiesler trying to save Dreyman's life and relationship..

The movie makes you think,cry and wonder ..all at the same time..Though the movie has a very strong and tightly bound script,had it not been for the performances,it would not have moved me so much...The Late Ulrich Muhe will leave a void in the International movie scene..His restrained, but in depth portrayal of the emotionless Stasi officer who knowingly sacrifices his dreams for total strangers is a benchmark performance..Also commendable are the roles essayed by Sebastian Koch and Martina Gedek as the helpless couple who are caught in a web of faithlessness and fear of being blacklisted...

I cannot,but wonder at the brilliance of the director who has made his debut (actually!!!) with such a no-nonsense film and also walked home with an Oscar.I recommend this movie to all movie lovers as it celebrates love for humanity and teaches us the importance of faith and trust..The message is loud and clear here..No matter what,Humanity will prevail...The wall will come down one day...

What this means..

So whats new in this??...Absolutely nothing...No new gossip that you have not heard of..No scoop about the dating scene or the ditching scene or the mud-slinging scene..
Just plain,honest reviews about films that fascinate us...It could be a blockbuster Hollywood favourite or a feel good Bollywood flick or a psychothrilling Tamil movie or a rat-paced Malayalam movie or an unheard-of Bengali weepy or a political German/Polish/French film or a simple Iranian movie or an Oscar/Globe nominated Italian/Spanish/Mexican flick...any movie that has something to contribute...any movie that made us sit through the 120 minutes and later on made us think about it the whole night that we sometimes get visions of those intense scenes in dreams and then made us search for it in Wiki for more info and ultimately made us feel that we are one of those characters so much that we start acting like one(OK!!..thats an extreme case.. :) )
Every week we ( a group of software professionals ( who,surprisingly enjoy our job and love watching and talking good movies)) will review a new movie...Comments will be thoroughly read through and replied to (mostly)