R-view 140: Linha de Passe

Brazilian. From the guy who made Motorcycle Diaries. Don't know if it was deliberately made that way, it gets boring in parts, but hits you with a weird sense of belonging in a second. Wonderful performances. It's the kind of movie that begins and ends without much hype.

R-view 140: The Beat That My Heart Skipped

French. Remade from the Harvey Kietel flick 'Fingers'. Neat drama, disturbing violence, intense relationships, innocent ambitions. Life is loud, at times one beat at a time.

R-view 140: Charley Varrick

Robbery-gone-wrong-man-on-run flick. Got to know another face from the glory years of American thrillers, Walter Matthau. Fast action thriller. Read somewhere that the lead part was written for Clint Eastwood. Now that would have been a sight!

R-view 140: When You're Strange

Documentary. Strange indeed. Couldn't stop or even pause in between. Mr. Mojo Risin is tat addictive. Lotta original Doors footage.

R-view 140: Naan Mahaan Alla

Karthi sure is a treat for da eye. Without the usual tamil-hero attitude. Violent, lotta gore. Left me uneasy by the end. Climax battle reminded of Puthiya Mugham. Worth a watch for sure. Sincerely the detailing made me feel sick & scared! There's something abt the gore and violence of Tamil movies, its like, they are the best! Gore-wise. Saying all this, this is no depressing movie. Suseendran hits it right with NMA after his impressive debut Vennila Kabadi Kuzhu. Neat scripting, dialogues, jokes, cinematography and where in the world do these guys find these  evil looking villains!

R-view 140: The Karate Kid

OK now tat kid is Jaden Smith! Tatz all I needed to knw. Slick and stylish. Jackie underplaying, nice. Suits him. Hoo-hah!

R-view 140: Leaves of Grass

A neat, nice, little movie. Reminds me why I like Edward Norton so much. A bit of unexpected violence. Like.

R-view 140: Get Carter

Brit violence. Gangster. Michael Caine shud have tried his hand as James Bond in the saga sometime. Revenge in noir.

R-view 140: Breakfast at Tiffany's

Classic Hollywood. Reminded of Broadway musicals. The timing is wot I awed at. Audrey Hepburn, I love. :)

R-view 140: Kebab Connection

German. Fatih Akin scripted. Total fun movie. Brilliant in parts. OST stands out. Anno Saul*****

R-view 140: The Expendables

Rambo takes his friends to anthr one of those high body count KA-BOOM movies. Bloody action. Jason Statham*****. A sequel or trilogy to be expected! Old school action. Predictable yet thrilling. Stallone looks fit.

R-view 140: Prozac Nation

Donno, I juz love such depressing movies. Christina Ricci***** Strong language.

R-view 140: Raajneeti

My first Prakash Jha film. Im impressed since the idea of 'Plagiarism=Inspiration' has been executed well, Mahabharatha, Godfather. Some scenes (hospital) strongly 'inspired' frm Leader, the telugu movie?

R-view 140: Point Blank

Been on a John Boorman run since Deliverance. Wow. Action, style, flashbacks. Crime Noir. Reminded of 'The Getaway' by Peckinpah.

R-view : Soul Kitchen

My favorite director (yes there is a long list of them, my favorites) Mr. Fatih Akin at his first out and out comedy. And guess what, it's a winner! With his favorites in the cast including Birol Unel, the gentleman from his much acclaimed Head-On (which made me fall head-on to his fan base), Akin is back 2 years since his last feature. This time he has with him a small story featuring two brothers Zinos, a small time cook and Illias, a small time crook, and their life surrounding a run-down local restaurant called Soul Kitchen. 

The movie moves through small incidents and  a handful of weird characters who set the scene for the laugh riot. The best part of the movie other than the rib tickling scenarios is the music. Mind-blowing is the word. After the wonderful OST of Head-On and the traditional music from Crossing the Bride, one can easily guess what Fatih Akin is capable of when it comes to syncing the scenarios to music. There is hardly a scene without music in the movie, all precisely set to match the mood. Kudos to whoever has compiled the OST. Don't expect the brilliance of usual Akin movies in Soul Kitchen, this is a fun ride, a controlled one, with that feel-good tag splashed all over it.

Director: Fatih Akin

Cast: Adam Bousdoukos, Birol Unel, Moritz Bleibtreu

Favorite quote: 'Life is what happens to you while you are busy making other plans.'

R-view 140: The Ghost Writer

Reminded of Polanski's own 'The 9th Gate', the mystery. Political thriller. Final twist was quite guessable. Right? Frankly I didn't get all that CIA stuff till I looked up at Wikipedia.

R-view 140: The Man Who Copied

Brazilian. Inspired Currency, the Malayalam movie. Rom-com-thriller. Lots of surprises. Neat animation in places.

R-view 140: Saved!

Neat movie, predictable plot. Satirical. Very very christian!

R-view : The Bridges Of Madison County

Some years back I was watching  Mystic River and I noticed 'Clint Eastwood' credited as the director. I went WTF, isn't that the guy from the wild west movies, the gun-toting, horse-riding machismo? What is he doing directing a drama? By the time I finished the movie I was awestruck with the wonders he was capable of doing as a director, a very good one at it. 

The same sensation followed with Million Dollar Baby, Flags of Our Fathers and Gran Torino. And this time I started watching the movie, a drama about a house wife and her secret affair, without much expectations even though I never knew Meryl Streep could look so pretty. There was a couple of scenes where my mouse pointer almost made it to the seek bar to fast-forward but soon I got so hooked to the movie that as it ended and the titles ran up, I went awestruck again with that sensation again, just like how it felt some years back. This time it felt good. Real good. One of the best romantic dramas ever.

Director: Clint Eastwood

Cast: Meryl Streep, Clint Eastwood, Annie Corley

Favorite quote: 'Love won't obey our expectations, it's mystery is pure and absolute.'

R-view 140: Pump Up The Volume

What it's all worth. What it's all about. Are you that li'l voice? Take the air. Talk hard. Must-watch for teenagers. In the genre of Breakfast Club.

R-view 140: Baaria

My favorite director's latest. Italian movies can always relate to Malayalam movies in terms of the emotions. We always overplay. Love.

R-view 140: Socha Na Tha

And I kept wondering who the director was after having missed the beginning titles. Imtiaz Ali!!! No wonders. Nice li'l movie with the usual unpredictability of other Imtiaz Ali movies on romance. Abhay Deol as usual takes the role to a very convincing level, but  it is to be noted that this was his debut movie. Born actor ? (Im a fanboy so ignore any exaggerations on Mr. Dev D.)

R-view 140: Oru Naal Varum

Sreenivasan steals the show. Mohanlal, in his forgettable performance. Dark humour in parts. Samira Reddy? Really??

R-view 140: Kick-Ass

Sincere to its core. We need superheroes. Extremely violent. Nicholas Cage is neat, not with the star-studded appearence at all. Bad.Ass.Kicker!

R-view 140: The Brothers Bloom

My fav genre following Heist; CON GAME! Loved the details, the chapter graphics, the twists. A 'nice con movie'?

R-view 140: Malarvadi Arts Club

A nice feel-good movie. Cliched in parts but its all fine, being the directorial debut of a versatile talent. Lotta new (promising) faces. Shades of Rock On in parts. Super-cool BGM. Bad lyrics. Slick cinematography. Funny.

R-view 140: Shutter Island

Twisted in every sense. DiCaprio in one of the best roles of his career/life. Not exactly a Scorsese masterpiece. Worth it.

R-view 140: Inception

In.cep.tion (n) - The beginning of something, such as an undertaking; a commencement. There couldn't have been a better title for this experience. Mind blowing. U won't dream the same again. Period. Yes it's a dream. I lost my totem. Applied Awesomeness! I can go on and on and on. Told ya I lost my totem.

R-view 140: Micmacs

Jean-Pierre Jeunet never fails to amaze with all those wonderful details and finesse. Tautou is missin but thrz Pinon! :) 5/5

R-view 140: The Great Indian Butterfly

Wanna-be arty in parts but worth a watch. Good cast. Slow. Nice narrative. In pursuit of happiness. Hmm.

R-view 140: I Hate Luv Storys

I (really really) hate (bollywood) love storys now! Waited for something interesting thru-out the movie. But &$%#! Worst Rom-Com-Drama of the decade. Wasted talents and t-shirts! First time in years I felt like running out  of the theater!

R-view 140: Tetro

Coppola in B/W. True art. The dream American Zoetrope had of creating masterpieces. Striking cinematography. Vincent Gallo*****

R-view 140: Raavanan

Vikram, Priyamani, Ash, Prabhu***** Prithviraj cud have been better. Dsnt seem like a worthy opponent to the magnanimous Raavana. Boring in parts. Watch it for Vikram, the music, the richness, the details and the Apocalypse Now inspired sets.

R-view 140: Ice Storm

Growing up, living together, the sex and the lies.

R-view 140: I Love You Phillip Morris

Gay has never been this good! Jim Carrey*****

R-view 140: Hearts of Darkness

A Filmmaker's Apocalypse ~ How Coppola made his dream come true. And created it. Apocalypse. Now. Forever. Wow.

R-view 140: Well Done Abba

WELL! Such a sweet movie. Boman Irani*****. Truly the 'poor-man's cinema' of our times. Satirical. Shantanu Moitra*****

R-view 140: Ye Maaya Chesave

Ofcourse VTV was better. Naga Chaithaya; juz as shitty as his debut. The girl lookd gud n the happy ending sure works!

R-view 140: Road, Movie

Exotic exotic exotic. Every lil frame is lush. Road trip without a purpose? Shud watch for the cinematography alone! Woah.

R-view 140: Angadi Theru

Heartbreaking love story in the genre of Kadhal and Kalloori. Loved Magesh & Anjali. Shot beautifully. Must watch. *****

R-view 140: Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair

A 4 hr fan edit with all the gore & extended scenes. Must-watch for all true fans. Wunderbar Tarantino!

R-view 140: Valkyrie

Intriguing plot. Post Inglourious Basterds, Im a fan of these third reich movies. Tom Cruise is slick. Bryan Singer***** again!

R-view 140: Tamil Padam

ROTFWLAGFBARTKFWAROTFWLT Yes. Funny like HELL! All kudos to Amudhan. A new genre is born in Tamil cinema. 3.5/5

R-view 140: Mummy & Me

Mummy & Me watched 'Mummy & Me'. Message movie? Go write a book! Urvasi was a treat. Funny in parts.

R-view 140: Kites

Bollywood gone Bonnie and Clyde in Mexico. Hrithik is a treat for the eyes! Cheesy dialogues. Luvd the climax shootout! Entertainer.

R-view 140: PokkiriRaja

I loved one dialogue sequence in the movie. That is it! Its good to imitate tamil trends. But why not the gud ones? Watchable.

R-view 140: Sura

Parkour - check. 'Bone crumbling' SFX - check. Punch dialogue - check. Stylish songs n' moves - check. Reminded of Bhagavathy. As usual.

R-view 140: The Purple Rose of Cairo

How wud I review it... It's cinema. Magic of cinema in its narrative. A lil gem. Woody Allen, I bow.

R-view 140: Piravi

I haven't seen this a difficult movie in my life. Emotionally. Period.  Speechless. Masterpiece.

R-view 140: Love Sex aur Dhoka

Love ends with the spooky camera POV as in the Blair Witch Project. Sex ends in pure dhoka and Dhoka ends in feel-good! Dragging along the lengthy shots, realistic like hell, inter-woven plots, amazing cast. And Digital, works big time. Trippy LSD