My Cousin Vinny

I watched this movie for the first time last week on TBS. And I have watched it on almost everytime it was played again. I dont know how I never came across this classic movie earlier. It is a brilliant comedy and Joe Pesci is fantastic and so is the ENTIRE cast. Seriously - its extremely rare to find a movie in which EVERY single character big or small, performing this well.

Just watch this scene, notice the judge, the members of jury, the witnesses, the defendants as the defense counsellor spews his opening statement. Hilarious!!!

After Joe Pesci, if I was asked to pick the next best funniest character in the movie, I would blindly choose the Judge played by Fred Gwynne. Every single line of his dialog, however simple it may be, he delivers it in such an enjoyable manner. Just watch him deliver this simple line - "Counsellor... your statement sir."

I enjoy movies with courtroom scenes. Most of the movies I have in this blog would be mainly because of that. BUT a movie where the courtroom itself is made the stage for all the humor - WOW! The movie is every bit as intelligent as funny it is.

Skyline

This movie is in most peoples bottom of the list 2010 movies not without reason. It shamelessly begs, borrows AND steals from almost every alien movie made so far. Even the music lacks originality. Just like most of the others, I watched it ONLY to see the CGI and that is All that I got. So I cant complain about that. But I had lowered my expectations, thats why.

Kids who do not care about the script or the story or the class and just want to watch some gleaming graphics and some gruesome alien fighting would probably watch this movie.

Too many technically incorrect g;itches and potholes in the script. And totally uninteresting story telling. This movie really sucks bigtime. In the climax they showed some signs of continuing this into a sequel! If that is true it is only the height of audacity!

Religulous

It is a documentary movie all right, but it did not bore me with some glum topic like Global Warming or some alleged conspiracy. It talks about God, Religion, Faith and Government - about the tacit idiocy of the politicians who govern the country in the name of God.

Bill Maher mercilessly ridicules almost every major religion – pointing out the incoherent beliefs that form as a base for most decisions made by people. He questions a vast bunch of such people about things that they deeply believe in and asks them questions which, an ordinary person like me would think twice or thrice and would finally decide not to ask.


His sarcasm would have certainly hurt a lot of people. It is like some of the arguments I have with my Mom, where she would simply stand up and leave, calling my all my opinions as blasphemy.

There are so many things in every religion that have not been proven – things which I am sure can never be proved, ever. I personally believe that history is nothing but a story being told. Story told by humans - of what they saw, heard or believed. We can see in our day to day life how different incidents are told in many different ways, how rumors and gossips spread. Given this fact, how can anyone be positively sure that every thing given in the religious books happened the same exact way? I would like to quote a line from the movie – The Man from Earth – “The truth is very very simple”.

After all, these religious books were written by humans. I have witnessed so many people who tend to exaggerate and over glorify a simple incident, probably to gain attention or maybe to make themselves feel special or important. This is normal human tendency.

Most of these works, which spans across centuries and contain many incidents which cannot be reasoned with logic, could have been such things. It is totally the freedom of an individual to believe whatever he/she wants. But when the magnitude of such beliefs decides the way the government functions, that’s a problem.



If you are a fair-minded person, open to discuss your faith or absence of it, without any prejudice, you would enjoy this movie.

Last Chance Harvey

A really pleasant romantic movie. When almost everything and everyone you knew lets you down, even when you are old, even when you feel guilty of your past – still you can fight and win any challenge that life has to offer. Hoffman plays a man who had abandoned his family for his profession but never reached the heights he anticipated in it either.

He is in the verge of losing his job, his ex-wife and his daughter are really not so proud of him. His daughter wants her step dad to give her on her wedding. Hoffman has reached the rock bottom of his life, and looks completely belittled. But he learns to adapt and work on it and is pulled into the life of a woman whom he met at the airport.

Dustin Hoffman really carries the movie all by himself. That being said, the rest of the cast have done a very decent job too. A smooth script sprinkled with some naturally funny dialogs, colorful photography and mild music, this is the kind of movie which, at the end, leaves you with a big smile and your heart filled with a lot of pleasantness.

12 Angry Men - My All Time Favorites #2

A timeless classic - the kind of movie which has a powerful message. Sidney Lumet's debut movie. Probably Henry Fonda and Lee J Cobb's greatest performances. Almost the entire film takes place in the juror room. 12 ordinary people coming from different backgrounds having different interests need to decide on the fate of a teenage boy from the slum, accused of murdering his abusive father.

All of the jury members feel the same disregard towards the boy as the lawyers who defended him did. All but one, Henry Fonda who reminds the others that they are deciding the fate of a young man who is just a step away from capital punishment. Even if there was a speck of reasonable doubt available, it should be given in favor of the boy.

He slowly gains the support of a few other members and the case is actually trialed in the jury room. Witnesses and their sanctity is discussed in detail, despite the displeasure of a few. One of them has other important things like a baseball game to attend to. Another one is prejudiced inside out. Lee J Cobb plays a father who is hurting over the betrayal of his son and feels the same against the boy now in trial.

The movie never really proves the innocence of the kid. But only proves that there is enough room for doubt. It proves that the members of the jury have their own personal likes and dislikes that made them take their decision on the case. 

With some great intelligent dialogs the movie moves at a really good pace and in a very involving manner. The greatest thing about the screenplay is it would try to cover everything that would come up in your mind. A real classic and a great movie

District B13

A colleague of mine lent me this DVD and said anyone would love it. I had never heard of this movie before but sure was curious enough to see what was so great in this movie.

It was an extremely fast, power-packed action entertainer. Absolutely no
wasting of your time.

Takes you right into the few moments of the life of the characters.
Nice screenplay that quickly tells you about the heroes (again filled
with kick-a$$ action).

Nice chase sequences, sprinkled with some humor in a fast moving action
flick.

The music was apt and surprisingly mild at some places (which made it
sound really good) Overall, I enjoyed the full 80 minutes of it. As
mentioned by another user, do not expect a deep suspenseful plot. Just
watch the movie whiz past you.

I thanked my new friend for introducing me to this movie.

Dimples - Awful Movie. Keep away

Awful. Truly Bad! 

It would be a crime to recommend this one. Got fooled by the name and some stupid reviews. 

Absolutely no twist, exceptionally poor acting. LAME LAME LAME!

Nothing seems to be fine - music is bad, voices sound distant. Story just makes you impatient. I was really hoping to see something big towards the climax, but there wasn't any at all. 

Apparently I was happy to see the credits roll as I could not have tolerated the boredom any further.

Keep away from this movie!

Righteous Kill - Great Movie - Enjoyable

Enjoyed every minute of the movie. Al Pacino and Robert De Niro are simply great together. Nice story telling, though the twist was quite predictable for regular movie watchers. 

But still, very well handled with some good dialog and excellent narration. Excellent performances from both the veterans. De Niro is just superb when he has his emotional outbursts.


Everyone seems to have done their job perfectly in this movie and even when you know what is coming towards the end, you would want to see how it is told.

Has everything - action, sex and some cold blooded bent cop action.

Burn After Reading

One real funny and enjoyable movie. Great star cast and it is lovely to see them all in these odd situations. Life just goes from bad to worse to ALL the characters  in the movie and they are sll so intricately connected, and as aptly mentioned in the movie itself everything spins into a cluster fuck.

The movie has a lot of murders, a lot of bad language and a lot of odd situations where people can get into. It is nice to see Brad Pitt and George Clooney show some great comical skills. If you can see a murder scene but still realize the cause and consequences of the murder, you sure would find this movie funny.

It is an adult movie by all means, almost everyone sleeping with one another, but it is so well handled that it is really entertaining and makes you think a lot as you watch. The script full of interconnected characters, and some good dialog keeps the movie alive till the end.

I am sure a lot of people would dismiss this movie as plot-less, but I tell you this is one real intelligent movie and the Coen brothers stand up to their reputation!

9 on 10!