Just can't be Missed by Movie-lovers!!!

Okay so here I am back with another movie which changed my whole perception about movies ( previously it was that traditional belief of watching movies for mere entertainment) The Hunger Games is a wildly popular new movie set in a dystopian future where an all-powerful, high-tech centralized government rules over "districts" of impoverished populations barely surviving in third-world conditions. The film, based on the book of the same name by Suzanne Collins, is not made for mere entertainment but it is important to understand because it depicts the very future that the global elite are trying to create. In fact, much of what is shown in The Hunger Games has already begun.

Every year in the ruins of what was once North America, the evil Capitol of the nation of Panem forces each of its twelve districts to send a teenage boy and girl to compete in the Hunger Games. A twisted punishment for a past uprising and an ongoing government intimidation tactic, The Hunger Games are a nationally televised event in which "Tributes" must fight with one another until one survivor remains. Pitted against highly-trained Tributes who have prepared for these Games their entire lives, Katniss is forced to rely upon her sharp instincts as well as the mentorship of drunken former victor Haymitch Abernathy. If she's ever to return home to District 12, Katniss must make impossible choices in the arena that weigh survival against humanity and life against love

While watching the Hunger Games, it was difficult to for me to believe that it is actually coming true in America but then I read about these recent armed raids on Rawesome Foods in California. There, armed government thugs confiscated and destroyed $50,000 worth of food and poured gallons of raw milk down the drain even while a food bank that could have used all that food was right next door. The Hunger Games is coming true in America today

 The acting in this film is superb. The key female character in the film is played by Jennifer Lawrence who delivers a convincing, heart-warming performance. She demonstrates both strength and vulnerability with astounding authenticity
Woody Harrelson also delivers a convincing performance, but that's not surprising given his reputation and experience as a performance professional.
Screenplay is surprisingly outstanding, i have heard about a lot of people saying that movies aren’t as convincing as the books they are based on but this film is outstanding considering that this film is based on a novel. Something else that amazed me in this movie is the costumes and the sound.

Verdict: Can’t be missed!!!!

Fascinated by this one man called Alfred Hitchcock!

I had heard a lot about this fellow called Alfred Hitchcock during my ‘Understanding Cinema’ lectures in college. So I picked out this movie named Psycho (forced by my keen interest in the subject psychology from my junior college days) .Psycho is a 1960 American suspense/horror film directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starring Anthony Perkins, Vera Miles, John Gavin, and Janet Leigh. The screenplay by Joseph Stefanois based on the 1959 novel of the same name by Robert Bloch. The novel was loosely inspired by the crimes of Wisconsin murderer and grave robber Ed Gein, who lived just 40 miles from Bloch.

As i googled about this man what i found was that in 1960, Alfred Hitchcock was already famous as the screen's master of suspense (and perhaps the best-known film director in the world) when he released Psycho and forever changed the shape and tone of the screen thriller. The acknowledged master of the thriller genre he virtually invented, Alfred Hitchcock was also a brilliant technician who deftly blended sex, suspense and humour.

The plot goes like this. Phoenix office worker Marion Crane is fed up with the way life has treated her. She has to meet her lover Sam in lunch breaks and they cannot get married because Sam has to give most of his money away in alimony. One Friday Marion is trusted to bank $40,000 by her employer. Seeing the opportunity to take the money and start a new life, Marion leaves town and heads towards Sam's California store. Tired after the long drive and caught in a storm, she gets off the main highway and pulls into The Bates Motel. The motel is managed by a quiet young man called Norman who seems to be dominated by his mother. The Master's most notorious film is still terrifying after all these years, as larcenous Leigh picks the wrong place to spend a night: The Bates Motel (12 cabins, 12 vacancies and 12 showers), run by a peculiar young man and his crotchety old "mother."

What amazed me was Hitchcock's murders set-pieces are so potent, they can galvanize (and frighten) even a viewer who's seen them before! With its casual depiction of sex outside marriage, fleeting nudity, bursts of shocking violence, killing off a major character less than halfway through the movie, and focus on the psychological subtext of the murderer's personality, as well as the geometric imagery of Saul Bass's credit sequence and the percussive strings of Bernard Herrmann's score.

Some amazing and funny facts i read about this movie and sir Hitchcock:

Hitchcock bought the rights to the novel anonymously from Robert Bloch for just $9,000. He then bought up as many copies of the novel as he could to keep the ending a secret.

The blood in the shower scene is actually chocolate sauce.

The shot of Janet Leigh flushing the toilet is believed to be the first such shot in American cinema history.

The MPAA refused to pass this film because they claimed to be able to see Janet Leigh's nipple during the shower scene. Hitchcock didn't edit it out, but merely sent it back, (correctly, it seems) assuming that they either wouldn't bother to watch it, or miss it the second time.

Hitchcock insisted that audiences should only be allowed to see the film from the start so as not to ruin the surprise. This was unheard of back then as people were used to just coming in at any point during a movie.

After the film's release Hitchcock received an angry letter from the father of a girl who refused to have a bath after seeing Diabolique and now refused to shower after seeing Psycho. Hitch sent a note back simply saying "Send her to the dry cleaners".

So if you happen to watch this movie make sure you don’t refuse to shower the next day!!!!(have borrowed some more Hitchcock movies)


Read more about this great man:

http://hitchcock.tv/

Hallucinatory movie i watched!

The same day after watching ‘Hachiko’ I decided to watch this movie called ‘Limitless’. I was absolutely unaware of the story or the plot of this movie. I just randomly picked out this movie out of the 4 given by a friend (loosely knowing that the lead was Bradley Cooper).

From start to finish, "Limitless" is Bradley Cooper's movie. The "Hangover" dude seems to shape-change before our eyes as he morphs from chinless slacker to colorful con artist to perfectly sculpted Ken doll. But it's this actor's total commitment to whatever role he's playing that gives him a leg up from pretty-boy-with-great-abs to real movie-star status. Limitless is a 2011 thriller film directed by Neil Burger and starring Bradley Cooper, Abbie Cornish, and Robert De Niro. It is based on the 2001 novel The Dark Fields by Alan Glynn with the screenplay by Leslie Dixon.  It is a head-trip movie about pharmaceutically enhanced intelligence in the Age of Information to make you larger, wisdom-wise.

The plot goes at follows. , Eddie Morra (Cooper) can't come up with even the first word of his promised novel about the "plight of the individual in the 21st century." For this soul, reality is thick and dim; like most of us, he's mostly unaware of the ocean of data in which he blindly swims, and sinks. Then his ex-brother-in-law (Johnny Whitworth) pops up to offer him a pill that will make him large. After dropping NZT-48(the pill), everything in Eddie's brain fires at once. The whole world lights up. Words literally drop out of his brains as he whips out 40 brilliant pages.

One thing that urged me to keep watching this movie is the hallucinatory visual effects .Anyone that trips on speed should appreciate the movie's attempts to faster and hotter reality. (Significantly, when Eddie flashes back into memory) And then Eddie goes into NZT-48 overdrive, the dark side of drugging comes alive. Eddie scores a bagful from his Ex-brother-in-law, after the guy's been brutally murdered. Soon he borrows money from a Russian gangster and starts doing wonders in stock market, which brings him to the attention of Carl Van Loon (Robert De Niro) a corporate mogul poised for a global merger that will make him king of the world.

I won’t be telling you more because i want you to go and watch this movie. No disputing that "logic and proportion have fallen sloppy dead" in "Limitless." So don't expect this jiggy little head-trip movie about pharmaceutically enhanced intelligence in the Age of Information to make you larger, wisdom-wise. But Neil Burger ("The Illusionist") deploys this genre mishmash with all the aplomb of a director on speed, while Bradley Cooper puts pedal to the metal in a performance that fast-forwards from schlub to über-Gordon Gekko to Bruce Lee action hero to Teflon politico. Yes, you wish "Limitless" was smarter and sharper about its tantalizing premise (drawn from Alan Glynn's 2001 novel "The Dark Fields"), but be happy that this week's offering of cinematic soma isn't "The Adjustment Bureau" all over again. "Limitless" delivers some pleasurable punch -- and rarely makes you feel small.

Movie that made me cry!

Summer and boredom are interrelated for me. From last 18 years I have been either sleeping or eating during summers. But this year is different. Suddenly I discovered this weird (weird only for me and my parents who do not understand the advantages of watching movies all day) and amazing
(for my friends who are great movie buffs) pastime this summer. And after watching some 3 movies in 2 days (that’s my capacity for now) I thought of creating this blog (media student- can’t think beyond sharing their ideas and thoughts). So here I start with the movie I saw recently on afternoon when I had no option left but to watch a movie.

Hachiko: A Dog’s Story- This is the heart-warming story about the close, unique bond between a master and his dog, highlighting the loyalty and faithfulness of the animal. I am not a keen animal lover and more precisely not at all a dog lover but this movie is responsible to urge me to watch more and more movies. Like in the first line I describe it as a heart-warming story, I am not just using that adjective to make my post look sophisticated but this movie will actually make you cry even if you aren’t a dog lover.

To summarize the plot I would say, a college professor Parker Wilson (Richard Gere) finds the dog at a train station. Hachi is an Akita dog from Japan, characterized by its delicate features and milk-colored fur.

The sudden appearance of the cute, homeless animal does not immediately impress Parker’s wife, Cate Wilson (played by Joan Allen) who wants to get rid of it. But the bond that gradually builds between Parker and Hachi eventually melts her heart, and she allows it to stay.

Parker’s best friend Ken (Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa), who is of Japanese descent, tells Parker some wise words: “It is not you who found the dog, but the dog found you.”

Parker and Hachi build an unbreakable friendship. Parker plays with the dog and teaches it how to catch a ball. And Hachi accompanies the professor every day on his way to the train station, and then returns to the station in the afternoons to greet Parker on his way home.

One day the professor passes away in class, and does not come back to the station. But Hachi continues to wait for him. Parker’s daughter, who lives out of town eventually, goes to collect the dog to take it home, but afterwards Hachi faithfully returns to the station to wait for the professor.

The story of Hachi soon becomes the talk of the town. During its daily visits to the station Hachi touches the hearts of many people who work or live in the area. The dog teaches the local people about love, compassion, devotion and loyalty.

This film is an American adaptation of a true Japanese story about a loyal dog named Hachiko, and is also a remake of the 1987 Japanese film Hachiko Monogatari.

The real star of this movie is Hachi and I love how the director showed scenes from the dog’s point of view. What amazes me is the dog’s emotion in the whole movie. Richard Gere wasn’t too bad himself here; just being his classic self while the others made an adequate supporting cast. . I believe that a movie is hit if it captures the viewer’s heart or if the viewer connects with it. Hachiko did that to me.

This one’s a really nice, heart-warming film that shows us the value of family loyalty and life-long friendship. Everyone can learn something from Hachi.

Verdict: I did cry and for a moment thought of getting a pet dog for myself but.....forget it. If you haven’t watched this film yet please go watch it. Dog-lovers might want to prepare some tissues when watching this.