Batman Begins - English - 2005

A good commercial film from Christopher Nolan.

Sarvam - Tamil - 2009

I am not able to believe this is a film from the director of Arindhum Ariyamalum.

Gloss and Glitz alone doesnt make a good film.

I felt Arya was pathetic in this movie, when compared to what he was in AA.

Caramel - Lebanon - 2007

Caramel is a film that comes from a woman director Nadine Labaki, which tells the story of 5 women in lebanon.

The director seems to have taken a leaf out of Tamil directors because she herself stars in a pivotal role in this movie.

The movie is very aesthetically shot not surprising considering its made by a woman director, not to mention the fact that she herself is very good looking.

Persepolis - France - 2007

Persepolis is an animated film about politics. Though the film has been made in france, the story is set in Iran.

The story is about the lives of common people in Iran during the shahs rule and the revolution after that.

A good watch.

A short story about love - Poland - 1988

Wow. This film is one of those films with simplicity as its main strength. I

This is the first film I saw of Krzysztof Kieslowski ( I am not sure how to spell that ?) with the colors trilogy pending ..

A must watch for cinema lovers.

Happenstance - French - 2000

The french take on chaos theory or how a simple event sets off a chain of events. The screenplay is marvellous with the way the directory intertwines the lives of many people who come and go in this movie. Better than Dasavathaaram in that respect.

If you had happened to watch Amelie and liked Audrey Tatou,you might like this as this film has her as the main protagonist.

Benhur - English - 1959

Ben hur is a historic film which tells the story of 2 friends set in Jerusalem when jesus is just rising to popularity. Though jesus is shown a couple of times, the face of jesus is never shown in the movie.

The movie itself is about 2 friends benhur and messalah, the former a jew and the latter a roman. When both these kids grow up to be men, their priorities change and benhur and his family are put to prison by Messalah. How Benhur takes the revenge forms the rest of the story.

A good watch.

Parent Trap - 1998 - English

I believe The parent trap movie starring lindsay lohan as a kid is a remake of a older version. because there is a tamil movie with exactly the same theme.

2 twins whose parents have separated on birth meet at a young age and recognise themselves as twins and they are having the same parents.

They decide to switch places and how they reunite their separated parents is the story.

Transformers - 2007 - English

The idea for this film was developed from the toys manufactured in the same name.

Good to watch for the amazing animatronics on display.

Jumper - 2008 - English

I think there are many movies about Time travel. but not about "flying to a different place at the speed of thought", a skill attributed mostly to tamil sitthars.

And jumper is about that skill. What happens when a human being has the skill to travel at the speed of thought , just by thinking is the premise of this movie, with all the good vs evil thrown in ...

Ok to watch...

The Return - 2003- Russia

This might be the first russian film that I have seen.

Even though this is one of the movies chezhian had discussed in his ulaga-cinema part 1, I saw the movie without much of expectations.

This film stands out for its breathtaking visuals and rarely seen on cinema place, northern russia. Where humans are scarce.

For most of the movie the film centres on its 3 protagonists, 1 father and his 2 sons, and noone else. The rest of the film is filled with vast landscapes of russia.

Wow. Miles and Miles without any human being in sight...

Must watch...

The IMDB link is The Return

Pasanga - Tamil - 2009

Pasanga :



Pasanga though from a debut director and starring entirely newcomers would not have had a chance of getting enough exposure in the Tamil filmdom of yore.

But times have changed and when tamil filmdom is frenetically reinventing itself, a film like Pasanga gets a decent exposure all because of its producer.

The producer of this film is none other than the talk of recent times M.Sasikumar whose Subramaniyapuram made many heads turn all over.

Pasanga belongs to the rare genre of "childrens films", in which the last good film Anjali came before 15 years. :-) The story because its all about children is not

earth shattering. What happens when a convent educated kid joins a government school in rural tamilnadu and faces the already established kids is the oneline premise.

But the treatment of the story makes all the difference and thats where the director of this film shows his presence. What I liked much about this movie was the gorgeous cinematography of PremKumar and the BGM score of James vasanthan. How I wish filmmakers from other parts of the world came to know of the talent in Cinematography and music available in Tamil nadu.

Cinematography : 10/10

Background Score : 10/10

Cheers

Mostly Martha - 2001

Mostly Martha, I believe is a feminist movie which is called as heroine-oriented films in india. The protaganist is Martha, a chef and her experiences when the daughter of her sister comes to live with her is the story.

For some reason, I am reminded of Cheenikum when I saw this movie.

Mamma Mia - 2008

Mamma Mia is a musical.

When even tamil films have done with the type of films where anyone and everyone sings every 5 minutes for decades, this is an english film which resembles a tamil film from the 50s. A song every 5 minutes.

The fact the music is good is a different matter altogether, which is why this movie has become famous. The music was good, the locations were good, the actors were good and dont even ask what is the story ...

In Bruges

In Bruges is one of the awesome film that I have seen in recent times.

In my view what made the filma awesome are the screen play, the background score, and the witty dialogue.

Someone must have liked the city of Bruges, in which the story of this film is set very much which comes across in the film.

Sunset Boulevard - English - 1950

Sunset boulevard is a tragic tale of a Cinema Super star who has faded into oblivion.

IMDB rates it 8.7. Must have been very successful when it got released.


cheers

Postmen in the Mountains - China - 1999

Postmen in the mountains is a good addition to the films documenting the father son relationship.

This film is set in Interior china and is a good watch for its locales.

Though its not sentimental and wont make you cry, it has its fine moments.


Cheers

Roman Holiday - English - 1953

My Mom was able to understand and appreciate this film and liked it very much.


cheers

Monty Python and the Holy Grail - 1975 - USA

If you are not familiar with the story of King arthur and his Knights of the round table, you can skip this movie.

This movie is a satire on the legend of King Arthur, Holy grail, his Knights of round table.


cheers

The Lost Weekend - 1945 - USA

The Lost weekend is a 1945 film about an alcholic writer. His attempts to turn away from alcholism and his close ones' attempts to cure him
is the story of this film.

Anyone having a habit and trying to kick it off (which makes everyone in the world) will be able to relate to this film.

Lost Weekend in Wikipedia

cheers

The Goonies - English - 1985

If you want to go back to your pre-teen days and wish to have times like what you had after reading Famous five, Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew,

The goonies is a nice bet.

The Goonies is a adventure film featuring kids about finding a lost treasure of a pirate hidden in a cliff.

This film was produced by Steven Spielberg, and I believe you cant go wrong with Spielberg.

Zorba The Greek - English - 1964

This movie was suggested by my friend Subbaraman here.

Zorba the greek is the story of a care-free and happy-go-lucky individual played by Anthony quinn.

This movie is set in the island of crete and some scenes were similar to the ones in the recent Italian film, Malena, which was also
set in Create.

Hrishikesh Mukherjees Anand starring Rajesh Khanna also had a overtly optimistic individual as the main character.

Though I liked Anthony quinns acting I did not like the ending and was not convinced of it.


Cheers

The Bands Visit - Israel - 2007

A Bands visit was the first oscar nominee from Israel for the year 2007. Israel later sent another movie instead.

The story is simple. An egyptian orchestra band arrives at Israel to perform. but they go to a different place due to
misunderstandings in communication and they are forced to stay the night at the wrong place. what each member experiences during
that single night of stay has been well told.

I liked the film a lot.

Before the Rains - India - 2007

Santosh Sivans Only for the festival film, "Before the rains" is a deliciously shot movie in kerala.

I havent seen any other movie which has captured the landscape of Kerala so beautifully.

Can be seen for the good visuals.

Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi - India - 2003

I heard about this film only when Mohsen Makhmalbaf came to chennai and said that he wanted the DVD of this movie.

Hmmm. Must have been a good movie.

A good watch.


cheers

The Green Mile - English - 1999

The Green Mile is a fantastic film about an ordinary human with extraordianry powers.

A human who can take the evil things in men and release it back to nature.


A Must watch.



cheers

The counterfeiters - 2007 - Austria

The counterfeiters is a 2007 film that won the best foreign language film awards in oscar for that year.

Its a WW2 movie and tells the story of a group of talented jews who are used by the germans for the war.

The Germans try to illegally print the British pound and American dollar and they use the jewish fraudster for this purpose.

Was the jews able to successfully produce counterfeit pounds and dollars and whether they escape alive is the story.

A good movie.

The counterfeiters

The Counterfeiters

Where Eagles Dare - English - 1968

Where Eagles dare is a War film set amidst world war 2.

A good war movie.

Cheers

Poi Solla Porom - Tamil - 2008

Poi solla Porom is the remake of Khosla ka Ghosla and this is the second remake from the director Vijay, the first one being Krieedom.

Poi solla porom was advertised as an out and out comedy film, but I didnot find anything comic in it.

the movie is clearly targeted at the multiplex crowd bcos it had no fights, no senti etc... And for a change, Karthik appears as a person wanting to go to America instead of being the America Return :-)

If you would like to see a movie about the hardships faced during construction of a house , you can just watch "veedu" from Balu Mahendra

Ok ... can be skipped.

cheers

Saroja - Tamil - 2008

With the release of Saroja, Venkat Prabhu proves that the success of Chennai-600028 was not a fluke.

I havent seen many movies from the road movie genre in Tamil and saroja I believe would fall into the genre of road movies.

Saroja is a slickly made film and the best element of the film is its comedy, music and the camera work.

Worth seeing.


Cheer

Gabbeh - Iran - 1996

Gabbeh - Iran - 1996



Gabbeh in IMDB

Gabbeh means "rug" or "carpet" in persian.

Iran or persia is well known for the rugs it produces and this film tells one such story about a rug.

An elderly couple wash a carpet and out comes a young girl, like genie. She then tells that she is the girl depicted in the rug and she
had weaved that rug. The rest of the film is the story of her.

Can be seen for the colors and Mohsen makhmalbaf.

V For Vendetta - English - 2005

This movie had screenplay by the Wachowski brothers, the ones who created the Matrix trilogy.

Apart from that, the movie is a story of how in the england of future, an experiment on humans goes wrong and how the totalitarian

government is brought to an end.

The Kite Runner - English - 2007

You will be able to relate to the movie ONLY if you have read the novel earlier.
Hence make sure that you read the book before you see the movie.

The movie doesnt bring anything new but after reading the book I was so fascinated by the book that I was compelled to see the movie.

Kungfu Panda - English - 2008

A good animation movie with a nice story.

Heard that this movie created a furore in china because the chinese have a soft corner for their national animal panda and
they would never try to make a movie with a Panda as a sloppy, lazy, fat character.

Spiderwick Chronicles - English - 2008

A good timepass Fantasy Movie.

Lives of Others - Germany - 2006

Lives of Others - German - 2006




I got to know about "Lives of Others" because Satyam theatres in Chennai screened it.
This film portrays the state of political affairs in Germany when it was under communist rule.
the Govt was so powerful that it listened to important peoples phone conversations to track their activities and to check whether
they were involved in anti-govt activities. Creative persons were the most hit by this. And this film portrays the story of
one such creative couple.

A good watch ..

Lives Of Others

IMDB has a rating of 8.5 for this movie, which means it has got very good reviews.

Lives of Others in IMDB

Treasure of Sierra Madre - 1948

The Treasure of the Sierra Madre - 1948



This film is a black and White Adventure story about Gold hunters in Mexico.

A pair of Americans without money and better life decide to try their luck and go on gold digging in the mountains of mexico.


The film tells the story of how they go with treasure search and whether they find their treasure or not and how mans nature changes so easily.


IMDB link : Treasure of Sierra Madre

A slow one but OK.

City of Gods - Brazil

City of Gods

City of Gods is One of the best movies that I have seen till now. And it also figures in the Time list of 100 movies.

City of Gods is the name of a slum in Rio De Janeiro. The film tells the story of the slum and its teens and their violent lawless ways.

A must see.

The IMDB link for the movie is here.

City Of Gods

Shadows of Time - Schatten der Zeit - 2004

I am not sure how I got to know of this movie but I had this and when I saw it I was simply mesmerised by its production values.

The film is a love story of how 2 poor children who become friends in adverse situation go on to grow up and how their lives turn out.

The one thing that I remember from the film is its astounding cinematography.

Not to be missed for its technical values.

Shadows Of Time