Slumdog millionaire

This is the perfect epitome of how to make a movie (Makers of those dumb Indian flicks:Take a cue from this one) : Good direction,Awesome music,Excellent casting,Great storyline,Simply superb-overall

The movie really needs no introduction because it has been the talk of the world,ever since its release(and probably I'm the one who's running a li'l late to review it)!

If you haven't heard the story,already ,then this is it:The film is a romantic melodrama that follows the mysterious case of an Indian street orphan,Jamal Malik(Dev Patel), who wins the grand prize on "Who Wants to be A Millionaire" in order to reconnect with his lost love, Latika (Freida Pinto) - but was it all blind luck, or was he cheating?

The laudable contrivance in the movie is the nature of the very last question and what happens when it's asked, but by then the movie had me in its grasp and the ploy totally worked.

As for the movie's sound track,this is what I've got to say:

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I'm speechless (literally)- A.R.Rahman rocks !! No stopping him! There's this particular track-Dreams on fire (the song isn't played in the movie ) - the sound track's played  every time Jamal and Latika happen to bump into each other and my oh my - Its the best music I've come across so far in 2009.When I hear this track I literally go someplace else and zap back to reality only after hearing it for atleast 5 times straight! :)

Above : One of my favourite scenes from the movie.

(I'm not a pro when it comes to reviewing...and this one definitely deserves more praise than what I've given!!! Hope it bags the Oscar)If you haven't watched it yet-"you have wasted half your lifetime"-Go to the movies!!!

5 stars and a biggggggggggggg thumbs up from my lounger !!!

the pursuit of happyness

This is a realistic portraiture of the life of an ordinary person,struggling to meet both ends meet.Why wouldn't it be realistic - its based on the true story about a man named Christopher Gardner who wasted his life's savings in some crap medical tool that he finds hard to sell..Welcome to the story where : Bad things happen to good people ,over and over again - Christopher Gardner(Will Smith) is the man - stuck in every plausible sitch : wife leaving him,business failing,non-paying job, son to be taken care of,no shelter,debts..But Chris is determined to make it ! And how he does is beautifully depicted.Its is not even slightly boring..conversely it keeps you hooked to know what is gonna happen next!Eventually Gardner's dreams are fulfilled beyond his wildest expectations, and he becomes a multimillionaire - but the journey from the street to the boardroom took 10 years.The man in the final scene that walks by is actually Chris Gardner.

If you thought the 'y' in happyness is human glitch,you are mistaken.Watch the movie and understand:)

Yea..and one more thing.. The title defence is awesome - why is it called pursuit of happyness ?Chris' thinking pattern reveals some philosphy of life :why is it called pursuing happiness,because we can never get it??and only pursue??? Watch this awesome movie!

 4 stars from mylounger :)

Four Christmases

This is something I watched on Christmas eve(xactly one month after its release).Not the kinda movie you can watch as a family(nothing like the Grinch / Santa Clause / the like..)...Still I liked the core message of the movie : Christmas is a time to be with the family
Plot revolves around reese and vaugh who are the living together kinda family and the movie is the events happening on one day - Christmas, and how they learn about each other and their families and how their 3 year relationship takes a turn !
Four Christmases - worth 3 stars from my lounger !
You can watch the trailer here
Merry Christmas to all of you !!

The Butterfly Effect

The Butterfly Effect(nice title huh?) is one super cool,never seen before,heard before kinda movie.. Its about this guy who has this supernatural syndrome(who wouldn't call it supernatural if you could re-write your destiny) which makes him to go back and forth in time and take the different crossings on the road of life.(Reminds me of one South Indian movie 12B,in which Shyam takes 2 crossings in his life..but thats just a movie portraying his life if he had chosen option1 and his life as in option 2) But in this story the guy having this memory problem (that causes him black outs) tries to rewrite his fate by going back to childhood and doing a particular something ;) differently each time.This trial and error algorithm goes on and on.. and what happens in the end is really dramatic !

Its definitely one of a kind thriller and deserves a 4star thumbs up from my lounger !

Mama Mia

Lemme keep this one really short.. Mama Mia starring Meryl Streep wasn't exactly as great as i had thought it'd turn out....(Maybe this is because I'm watching too many movies these hols..sorry"study" hols) Similar to the movie in my previous post (wherein a guy has 3 gals as the love of his life),this one is kinda the same only with genders switched... WHOAAAAaa Whoa WHoaaa!.. it only strikes me now... Both these movies are EXACTLY the same !Yea.. Hell!! This one is about a girl trying to find who her dad is,at least before she gets married.... She reads her mom's diary and lists the plausible candidates and send them invites hoping she'd find which one of them is her dada!

If you are a ABBA fan,you'll enjoy the movie for sure..as its tightly packed with most of ABBA's superhit tracks..! Sounds like the 'boring tamil film' type huh ?? trust me..Its quite tolerable. :) What happens on the day of her wedding is quite surprising... Guess who got married???? yea.. you guessed right! Mom it was.. and little baby girl goes globe-trotting with her boyfriend ,calling off the wedding for no reason!!!!

3 stars to it from my lounger!!

Freedom Writers

Freedom Writers is a 2007 American film starring Hilary Swank, Scott Glenn and many others.. It is based on the book The Freedom Writers Diary by teacher Erin Gruwell who wrote the story based on Woodrow Wilson Classical High School in Long Beach, California.
The film follows the true life story of Erin Gruwell, a English teacher at Long Beach who, when faced with the onerous task of managing a class waiting to be ripped apart by inter-racial hatred, is “foolish” enough to believe she can bond them, forge them as one and make them seek their true potential.For me, the movie is great because of the dialogues, closing remarks to conversations and the telling spaces. To prove my point, I would like you to watch for the kid who reads out from his diary at the “Toast for Change” occasion(near the end of the movie). His words moved me. They sure do. Unless you’ve lived with your eyes closed, there is a fair chance you’ve seen kids like that too.
I learnt a lot from this movie:
things like... How rude discrimination is...
The american gangstas..
And..That there is more to Life than worrying about oneself.
Overall, Its a movie with a purpose !!!! (well fulfilled too.. )
4 stars and a thumbs up from my lounger !!!

P.S. I Love You

Here comes the "Very" special post I was talking about ......! This is The ultimate romantic movie...!!
By far,the best of the best ,I've ever seen!! - P.S. I Love you !!!
You can watch the movie trailer HERE
This flick will forever be embedded in my grey cells !! REASON: ...Hmm.. There are more than one reasons..!Not many movies can accomplish in 2 hours what it did:
#1 Make you cry
#2 Make you laugh
#3 Make you soooo wanna travel to Ireland!!!
#4 Make you appreciate the things you've got
#5 Make you cognizant of your friends
#6 Make you wanna watch anything with Gerard Butler on it
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#n Make you wanna watch it over and over again!!!!!!!!
Five minutes into the movie I was hooked. I loved it !!!

At the start of the movie, Holly (Hilary Swank) and Gerry Kennedy (Gerard Butler) are married and they are having a marital spat, which, trust me, is hilarious.In the next scene, we find that he has died. Holly is so struck with sorrow,that she is unable to function but soon letters start arriving--from Gerry. ????!!!???
Spoiler ALERT !!!!
/*** ************* Do NOT read this part If you wanna watch the movie
Nobody knows Holly better than Gerry. So it's a good thing he planned ahead. Before he died, Gerry wrote Holly a series of letters that will guide her, not only through her grief, but in rediscovering herself.
*************************************************************************/
The chemistry between Holly and Gerry is electric. Swank gracefully showcases Holly's transition from the whiny but loving working wife to the lonely widow.That woman really can act..!!! I guarantee you that you will tear up during several scenes,if not Moved to the core (awww !)
Butler is terrific as the charming, lively and funny Gerry but his grasp of the Irish accent is disastrous,but will make you fall in love with him!! Lisa Kudrow (Phoebe of F.R.I.E.N.D.S) provides comic relief.This has got an interesting ensemble cast!!
Many consider this a girl's movie...() No way.. If love was something that only gals fell into..!
The movie shows the English country side and Ireland in its stately splendour and in all its glory!!!... Considering that I, already am a gr8tttt fan of the English country side...that is one good excuse I came back again n again to watch it.. Simply Splendidddddd!!!
I really liked this part of the movie: where Holly stands @ the exact place where Gerry stood thinking about her(as he mentions in the letter) after he first met her...Those were the frames I loved the mostt....!


Apart from that, I loved EVERY ONE of his letters,especially the ending 1:
Dear Holly, I don't have much time. I don't mean literally, I mean you're out buying ice cream and you'll be home soon. But I have a feeling this is the last letter, because there is only one thing left to tell you. It isn't to go down memory lane or make you buy a lamp, you can take care of yourself without any help from me. It's to tell you how much you move me, how you changed me. You made me a man, by loving me Holly. And for that, I am eternally grateful... literally. If you can promise me anything, promise me that whenever you're sad, or unsure, or you lose complete faith, that you'll try to see yourself through my eyes. Thank you for the honor of being my wife. I'm a man with no regrets. How lucky am I. You made my life, Holly. But I'm just one chapter in yours. There'll be more. I promise. So here it comes, the big one. Don't be afraid to fall in love again. Watch out for that signal, when life as you know it ends. P.S. I will always love you
and also the one addressed to Big Mama where he says: "You're going to heaven for being my babe's best friend" The expression is too good !!
I can go on and on about this movie...Cos its #1 on my list of "anytime"flicks. Lemme give my fingers some rest and stop here and Let the movie speak for itself !! Download Link
Worth Every Penny! (n more)
5 stars (if not 500 stars) and the biggest thumbs up from my lounger!
P.S. : Do NOT miss this massively awesome movie!!

Never Been Kissed

I've been meaning to watch the movie Never Been Kissed for a long while, especially since a friend of mine kept telling me its a really good movie... So the time had come.. This was yesterday's Late night flick that I watched.
I won't embrace this as a romantic comedy as I found very little funny frames in the movie..
The plot is very simple.. just a normal high school drama sorta thing.
Josie Geller (Drew Barrymore) is a copy editor in Chicago Sun time.. she is assigned to work undercover in a highschool as part of her project ..unfortunately she has a bad history of being a geek @ highschool (Geekism cannot be camouflaged :P - personal opinion )and thus how she makes it @ school is the major part of the story..She discovers herself again..
The central romance between Josie and Sam (Euro-heartthrob Michael Vartan), her literature teacher, may strike an uneasy chord with older audiences...

The ending sequels in the movie keeps you eagerly waiting for whats gonna happen..Will she be kissed ??? Will she be not??? Easy question huh?!! Josie does experience her first kiss, and first true taste of love after rexploring life as a teenager and her life growing up. Even with success and money, the simple desires in life do not fade. The shots @ the stadium r the ones I liked !
Things I learnt (rather discovered) from the movie :
Michael Vartan, sure is cute :P

Overall , its a good watch when you're looking for some drama that moves fast..
3 stars from my lounger !!

Music of the Heart

Wondering what the very first review post on this blog is gonna be about??? Movie it is...!!
This is one of the movies that will always be a part of my greycells ,as a movie that has made so much impact on me !!! Its a really dramatic movie - the kind that brings one or two lachrymal secretions without your knowledge. outta mere bliss!
Lemme just get this straight - This is a Superb movie about how a school teacher (Meryl Streep), Roberta Guaspari, also a single mother attempts to rebuild her devastated life by bringing the violin into the lives of children in the New York City public school.Being a substitute teacher @ first she moves up the ladder with a combo of toughness and skill and never-say-die attitude ,inspiring the kids, their skeptical parents (in a world of racial discrimination - One of the moms discourages her child by sayin 'violin is a whiteman's instrument.y learn it?' :( )
The violin program slowly develops and attracts crowd.I like the violin classes frames of the movie second best.(yea .. I do have a habit of admiring movies Frame by Frame :) )
In the middle of the film, we jump ahead ten years to find that the violin program Roberta and Janet(friend of her potential lover) started in the beginning has been a success and Roberta is now teaching students at three different schools and over a thousand students have successfully passed through her and went on to become better violin players.

Suddenly , Roberta is informed that the budgets for music are cut and that the violin program could very well discontinue the next sem.Deciding that she isn't going down without a fight, Roberta rallies parents, teachers and media together in order to prepare for a concert to raise money to save the program so that kids in Harlem can still continue learning the violin, despite whether or not the board of education thinks it's an important skill to master or not. Through a multitude of different connections and sheer luck, Roberta not only gains several accomplished violinists to play alongside the students during the concert, but she also manages to nail the ultimate setting for this concert: Carnegie Hall for the FiddleFest ( the event name)
If you were wondering what the first best frame on this movie - The frames related to the fiddlefest are the ones that I had most fun !!! Loved it ..the old students making their entry and Roberta's smiles everything merges in gracefully ... The music in the movie is Awesome with a 'A' (especially the 'happy days' track) !! This 1999 movie is the movie with the max no of songs.(reminds me of Tamil cinema :D)It has received many awards too.. 5 if i remember right.

Music of the Heart is the fictional equivalent of the inspiring documentary Small Wonders.
See this film, fall in love with it, and possibly make a donation to the Save The Music Foundation...you'll feel very satisfied afterwards.
btw, This movie has influenced my Lifetime goals...(<--clik on this and read on..) It has inspired me to learn the violin.. :) 5 stars and a thumbs up from my lounger !!!!