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Showing posts from November, 2017

Movies Which are Insignificant in Year 2017: A Case in Point, David O' Russell's Three Kings (1999)

I was watching David O' Russell's Three Kings yesterday and after the first hour which was accentuated with brilliant comic timing from it's many characters, I thought the film opted out for a 'preachy' rout which was undoubtedly a right one but too easy to predict. My point is that after Katherine Bigelow's The Hurt Locker, everyone got the real point of a worthless war and the true meaning of films such as 'Three Kings' got lost in translation. It doesn't really matter now whether it was Saddam who was bad or Bush Sr. Or Jr. They all did some things right and some things terribly wrong. But at the end, only poor people died and more suffered. All in all, films like Three Kings lost its context in year 2017.

My 'Guilty Pleasure' Film of the Week: Blood and Wine (1996)

A few days ago, one of our fellow contributors posted a question about our likeness for a 'guilty pleasure' movie and favorite selections. I didn't comment on that thread but mine would have been most probably 'Harry Potter films'. But then, we have all got our list of favorite actors, actresses and their combinations. I have a favorite pair of my own and that's Jack Nicholson and Michael Caine, two of the most decorated Academy Actors of last five decades. I just love seeing Jack in action and as far as Sir Caine's abilities are concerned, I haven't watched a lot of his films but whatever I have seen of him, it has endeared him to me. So when I came across a film where this dream pair was cast and then too in an A-List capacity, I jumped onto it. Film's name was 'Blood and Wine' and it also starred a young Jennifer Lopez and Steven Dorff. My dream pair cooks up a great conspiracy and since it was a bad plan with bad payoffs, it inevitably f

Mike Leigh's 'Naked' (1993): A Masterclass in Film Directing and Acting

The Harry Potter Film most endeared to me is 'The Prisoner of Azkaban' and I grew fond of it because of it's two headlining Villainous​ (aka anti-Hero) characters: Professor Lupin and Sirius Black. I have watched it four times if I correctly remember the count. And just like the film and these two characters, I also grew fond and respectful of acting prowess of Gary Oldman and David Thewlis. I had Googled them then and came to know that Gary Oldman had already became an acting giant by then and his primary motivation for doing that film was money. Since then, he has become an eternal favorite to me. But, but I was simultaneously taken aback by Professor Lupin's acts in the film and David's performance and his powerful voice which was as magnificent as his fellow compatriot, the Mighty Alan Rickman's (Severus Snape), were just too good to ignore. Till then, his most high profile and Breakthrough role was that of a motormouth Manchester homeless person in Mike