Thursday, February 25, 2010

[REC]


Year: 2007
Genre
: Horror/Mystery/Handycam
Language: Spanish
Runtime
: 1 hour 15 minutes

Intense, gripping, tense, chilling, adrenaline pumping and a spine tingling experience. What makes this film even more effective are the believable acting & the shaky camera work. The last 15 minutes of the film are ought to make your heart pop out


Rating: 4/5

Links
:

imdb
flixster
twitch

Trailer:

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

MARIA FULL OF GRACE


Year: 2004
Genre: Drama/Crime
Language: Spanish
Runtime: 1 hour 41 minutes

Rebellious, realistic, shocking, original, and absorbing. A very natural and deeply moving performance by Catalina Sandino Moreno as Maria. A very sincere & mature effort by director Joshua Marston who made a debut with this film. A must watch film.

Rating: 4/5

Links:

imdb
metacritic
flixster
newline

Trailer:

Monday, February 15, 2010

MOON


Year: 2009
Genre: Sci-Fi/Horror/Mystery
Language: English
Runtime: 1 hour 37 minutes

A cool little indie sci-fi/thriller that'll keep you on the edge of your seats. Very impressive acting by Sam Rockwell who is the only prime character in the film. Director "Duncan Jones" presents an old school sci-fi inspired plot in a really efficacious way. The beautifully haunting score by Clint Mansell just elevates the mysterious atmosphere of the film.

Rating: 3.5/5

Links:

imdb
metacritic
flixster
official website

Trailer:

NEW YORK, I LOVE YOU


Year: 2009
Genre: Romance/Drama/Short Stories
Language: English
Runtime: 1 hour 43 minutes

An anthology of short romantic stories that doesn't get too emotional, dramatic, or complex. A straightforward, pleasant, and a nice breezy entertainer.

Rating: 3.5/5
for segments directed by Shekar Kapur, Faith Akin, Yvan Attal, Joshua Marston, and Natalie Portman.

Links:

imdb
metacritic
flixster
official website

Trailer:

Sunday, February 14, 2010

GUMMO


Year: 1997
Genre: Drama
Language: English
Runtime: 1 hour 29 minutes

An uneven collage of the (fucked up) lives of different people in a tornado-hit town. Alienated, disturbing, abstract, twisted, and bizarre. I sincerely thank Harmony Korine for this film.

Rating: 3/5

Links:

imdb
flixster
rotten tomatoes
pic

Trailer:

Thursday, February 11, 2010

TOKYO!


Year: 2008
Genre: Drama/Triptych/Short Stories
Language: Japanese
Runtime: 1 hour 52 minutes

Splendid, surreal, and a nice cocktail of 3 completely different stories.

INTERIOR DESIGN:
4/5 for Detachment, Screenplay, Acting, Camera work, and Surrealism.


MERDE: 2.5/5 for Explosions, Riot, Pointlessness, and the overdone gibberish dialogues which make it a somewhat irriating watch.

SHAKING TOKYO
: 4/5 for Lonliness, Love, and "Touch-skin".


Average Rating
: 3.5/5

Links:
imdb
metacritic
official website

Trailer:

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

THE SECRET IN THEIR EYES


Year: 2009
Genre: Crime/Romance/Mystery
Language: Spanish
Runtime: 2 hours 7 minutes

An enthralling tale of crime & mystery with a good blend of romance, passion, and witty dialogues. Awesome cinematography(especially in the soccer stadium sequence and the aftermath). Brilliant screenplay, direction, and cast.

Rating: 4/5

Links:

imdb
flixster
variety
twitch
official website

Trailer:

Monday, February 8, 2010

LOVE EXPOSURE


Year: 2008
Genre: Romance/Drama/Action/Comedy
Language: Japanese
Runtime: 3 hours 57 minutes

"Shocking" 237 minutes of bible, perversity, raunchy humor, pure madness, and "extreme" love. An unusual date movie I would say. Kudos to the director Sion Sono and the brilliant cast.

Rating: 4/5

Links:

imdb
flixster
twitch

Trailer:

Saturday, February 6, 2010

HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH


Year: 2001
Genre
: Musical/Drama
Language: English/German
Runtime: 1 hour 35 minutes

The film is like a surreal poetry with eccentric visuals. Trippy animation and art direction. A very unique and unusual rock odyssey.

Rating
: 3.5/5

Links:
imdb
metacritic
flixster
official website

Trailer
:

Friday, February 5, 2010

ELEPHANT


Year: 2003
Genre: Crime/Drama/College
Language: English
Runtime: 1 hour 21 minutes

Sometimes even less is more: A simple story told in a very effective way. The revelation of each character and how they are loosely connected to each other is brilliantly executed. Awesome direction, cinematography, and editing. A very chilling film.

Rating: 3.5/5

Links:

imdb
metacritic
flixster

Trailer:

THE DOUBLE LIFE OF VERONIQUE


Year: 1991
Genre: Drama/Fantasy
Language: French/Polish
Runtime: 1 hour 38 minutes

Visually stunning, heavenly, and poetic. Loved the green-yellow filter used in the film. I couldn't believe it was a film made in the early 90s. Brilliant acting by Irène Jacob as Weronika / Véronique. Hauntingly beautiful score by Zbigniew Preisner. Loved it.

Rating: 4/5

Links:

imdb
flixster
criterion
dvdbeaver

A scene from the film - Les Marionettes by Zbigniew Preisner:

Thursday, February 4, 2010

PARANORMAL ACTIVITY


Year: 2009
Genre: Horror/Handycam
Language: English
Runtime: 1 hour 39 minutes

A little disappointing. With so much hype surrounding this movie, I was expecting to get scared to death! Still the movie freaked me out in certain scenes. Overall, the atmosphere of the movie is creepy & tense, that made me feel uneasy, but still it failed to give me a real heart attack!
P.S. Do not miss the original ending!

Rating: 3/5
f
or something different with a handycam & zero C.G.I.


Links:

imdb

metacritic
flixster
official website

Trailer:

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

PAANCH


Year: Unreleased
Genre: Crime/Thriller
Language: Hindi
Runtime: 2 hour 39 minutes

Kay Kay Menon as Luke is so fuckin' brilliantly crazy in this film! The rest of the cast is awesome too(except for Tejaswini Kolhapure who is below par). A very hard hitting film indeed! For a film that was made around 10 or 12 years back, dealing with such a great subject is really refreshing to see.

Rating: 3.5/5

Links:
imdb
passion for cinema

"Mai Khuda" from Paanch:

ENCOUNTERS AT THE END OF THE WORLD


Year: 2007
Genre: Documentary/Environment
Language: English
Runtime: 1 hour 39 minutes

It's such a beautiful documentary about the life in Antarctica. The best thing is it is not another documentary about cute penguins and seals. The underwater sequences are stunning and filled with pure bliss. The film is a pure visual treat & very dreamy.

Rating: 4/5

Links:
imdb
metacritic
official website

Trailer:

BAISE-MOI a.k.a FUCK/RAPE ME


Year: 2000
Genre: Thriller/Experimental Porn
Language: French
Runtime: 1 hour 17 minutes

This film is more of a porn flick mixed with violence and some cheesy acting. Hmm, it's not that bad actually.
Just think of it as an unconventional porn flick and you may sit through it.

Rating: 2/5

Links:

imdb
metacritic
flixster
official website

Trailer:


THE CHASER


Year: 2008
Genre: Crime/Thriller
Language: Korean
Runtime: 2 hour 3 minutes

This flick has a suspenseful atmosphere throughout. A very engaging thriller & the minimal background score gave me the chills! Tremendous effort by a debutant director.

Rating: 4/5

Links:

imdb
flixster
official website

Trailer:

I STAND ALONE


Year: 1998
Genre: Crime/Obscure/Drama
Language: French
Runtime: 1 hour 33 minutes

Mind-fuckery of a lonely butcher! Brilliant camera work & direction. The last 20 minutes of the film will drive you crazy. Definitely one of the best climaxes I've ever seen in a film.

Rating: 3.5/5

Links:

imdb
plume-noire

Trailer:

ANTICHRIST


Year: 2009
Genre: Horror/Experimental/Drama
Language: English
Runtime: 1 hour 48 minutes

It is visually splendid. I just wish the runtime was a little shorter. I was hoping for much more intense psychological fuck ups. Still, it's a good & a simple flick in my opinion that hides under the "artistic/experimental" cloak.

Rating: 3/5

Links:

imdb
metacritic
official website

Trailer:



Tuesday, February 2, 2010

JULIEN DONKEY-BOY


Year: 1999
Genre: Experimental/Drama
Language: English
Runtime: 1 hour 34 minutes

Crazy & trippy visuals. Loved the entire cast especially Werner Herzog & Ewen Bremner as "Julien" who is brilliant. A very disoriented film watching experience.

Rating: 3.5/5

Links:
imdb
metacritic

Trailer:




DER BAADER MEINHOF KOMPLEX


Year: 2008
Genre: Action/Biography
Language: German
Runtime: 2 hours 30 minutes

Pluses: Fantastic cast & direction. The movie has a slick & urban feel to it. Awesome movie!

Minuses if any: Lack of character development(may be because I didn't know anything about the RAF prior to watching this film), but that's alright.

Rating: 4/5

Links:
imdb
metacritic
official website

Trailer: