1408 - My All Time Favorites #3

My all time favorite horror/psychological thriller movie. I usually like this genre of movies, even the bloody gory ones like Quentin Tarantino’s “Hostel” or the “Saw” pentalogy (btw, Saw VI is coming up later this year, Yay!!).

But 1408 is undoubtedly the best. There is not a single scene that shows any real zombie or spooky creatures or screaming mutants. It is entirely psychological; people who enter into this room get delusional and start hallucinating.

Samuel Jackson does a splendid job of laying the ground work for a great dare devil ride – that is the rest of the movie. I personally could easily relate myself with John Cusack’s character. Everything that is shown in the movie would neatly fall in place.

The reaction of a character to a given situation – the way they talk and the way they respond is what makes a good script stand outside from the rest, and this is one such movie where the script was perfectly written.

One of the best photography in movies of this type, it does not get too dark nor too bright; just the right amount of light that sets the mood of the movie throughout.

My Favorite Movie Quotes - Mr.Deeds

The one thing I enjoy the most by watching a movie is the dialogs in it. Some of them are so funny or too powerful that you can never forget it. So I decided to start a string where I would post some of the most memorable quotes which I enjoyed.

To start with a really really funny one –



“The hideousness of that foot would haunt my dreams forever”
– Emilio Lopez (John Turturro) from the movie Mr.Deeds referring to the “wickedly” frostbitten right foot of Longfellow Deeds (Adam Sandler)

Absolutely hilarious! I had the movie paused, laughed, and rewound it again and again laughing at this scene.

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

Philadelphia - My All Time Favorites #1

I got so bored watching some of the more recently released movies that I thought it is not even worth mentioning them in my space here. So I decided to start a new string listing my All Time Favorite movies - the ones that I would watch whenever, wherever and any number of times.

Philadelphia - It is the kind of movie that discusses a touchy subject but in the most decent, yet powerful manner. I don’t think anyone else could have performed the role better than Tom Hanks. This is the movie which made me a big fan of Denzel Washington. 

Excellent screenplay - especially the transformation of Denzel that makes him look at the objective fact that a law has been broken despite all his personal opinions about homosexuals.

The movie is actually built on him - an average man, who cannot and does not, want to see or know, how gay people happen to be what they are. The very thought of such men makes him feel sick – but he goes on to take a homosexual as a client. A homosexual who has intercepted the deadly dreaded disease – AIDS.

Great dialogs as it deals with a big bunch of smart ass lawyers – but Denzel outsmarts them all. There are some really nice moments for Denzel – the scene where he hands the summons, the court scene where he counter attacks about the lesions – he proves it that he is ‘The’ man.

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.