Gattaca (1997)

Director Andrew Niccol's Gattaca, in my humble opinion, is  the peak of the motion picture art form. All aspects of the production serve the story spectacularly.

Vincent (Ethan Hawke) is one of rare naturally born children, who is condemned to die in young age with 99% percent probability. Vincent wants nothing more than to be an astronaut, so he buys himself a different life as Jerome (Jude Law), who has been crippled in an accident. From here begins Vincent's deception game to reach the stars.
Basically the plot deals with the issues of human spirit: what Vincent can achieve despite of his condition. Can he be better than the perfect people? Can he deceive everyone? Also there are lots of issues between the perfect and their humane flaws and how Vincent as flawed contrast with them.

Gattaca represents a rare genre of intellectual sci-fi movies that contains minimal amount of action and none of larger than life stuff (usual weapons and monsters kind)  This kind of  genre is heavily relied on the actors and settings. Settings for Gattaca are originally adapted where the future children are not conceived naturally, but through genetic engineering. This has brought up new kind of racism: perfect versus flawed

Watching Ethan Hawke's role as Vincent evade the relentless pursuit of the authorities while trying to be on the Titan mission, romancing Irene (Uma Thurman), and micro-managing his samples from Jerome (Jude Law in a very impressive supporting turn) made for some the most riveting viewing ever.

The best part for me regarding the movie is the greed and passion Hawke carries to be successful on his mission despite the disabilities on his side......At that point of time it doesn't matter wether he gets caught or not but his passion really stole my heart giving an insight into the hard work he really does although is not very legal though...

Do watch the movie for great screenplay,stunning cars,and great sets and decoration and Uma Thurman delivering a great performance in one of the most glamorous role of  her career accompanied by excellent acting of two leads well played by Eathan Hawke and Jude Law. The retro-style art direction, script, acting, music, and lighting all brought to life, much too chillingly, a cold and soulless world where the content of your genes counted for everything while the content of your character counted for nothing.

My Rating  - 9/10

When Harry Met Sally (1989)

Director : Rob Reiner

Starcast : Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan
Highlight : Went on to be a Trend Setter among Romantic Comedies

"When Harry Met Sally..." is one of those rare, one in a million motion pictures that becomes a cultural icon. It's been needlessly ripped off, and endlessly spoofed since its release in 1989.
There have been romantic comedies that don't quite appeal to me, but When Harry Met Sally is just wonderful. It is for me everything a romantic comedy should be, funny, witty and charming. The screenplay from Nora Ephron got nominated for an Oscar, and so it should have done. There were times when I laughed out loud (I'll have what she's having), and other times when I was like "that's really sweet". The direction is wonderfully astute and detailed, as is often the case with Rob Reiner ( Director of The Bucket List and A Few Good Men). It’s a wonderful romantic comedy about a man and a woman who struggles to keep their relationship afloat after the threat of sex endangers it. Two perfectly cast stars benefit from a sharp script that deeply explores friendship, romance, and the differences between men and women.

The New York locations are really beautiful, and the soundtrack is awesome. The lovely story argues the question of whether men and women can ever have a friendship without sex, and there are so many funny and charming scenes, particularly the fake-orgasm set piece. And of course the acting is outstanding. Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan(at her prettiest I think, though she was stunning in Sleepless in Seattle as well) are perfect together, while Carrie Fisher and Bruno Kirby give a real sense of edge to their supporting performances.
Overall, a delightful romantic comedy. Highly Recommended!!
My Rating - 9/10

The Cider House Rules (1999)

Director: Lasse Hallstrom (Director of What’s Eating Gilbert Grape)

Star cast: Tobey Maguire (Spider man fame) , Charlize Theron (Hancock, Italian job) , Michael Caine

 

Highlight: Nominated for 7 Academy Awards including Best Picture; Won Academy Awards for Best Adapted Screenplay (John Irving) and Best Supporting Actor (Michael Caine)

Based on John Irving’s novel “The Cider House Rules”

The Cider house Rules is an engrossing and heartfelt drama that will have you crying and at the same time making you feel so good about life, and yourself. Tobey Maguire plays Homer Wells an orphan nobody wants. Homer has spent most of his life in an orphanage, under the care of the kind but strict Dr. Larch. Homer learns everything about brig a doctor form Larch, and Larch one day hopes that Homer will take over for him when he's gone, but Homer has other plans he doesn't want to stay in the orphanage he wants to go see the world experience new things, and his dreams of seeing a world outside the orphanage come true when he meets a man and his girlfriend looking to abort her pregnancy. Homer takes a leap of faith and asks to come along with them, and that's when one man’s journey begins to see the world for what it is. The cider house rules will have you wanting to see it again as soon as it's over, it's an inspiring movie that shows you if you even stay away from your old way of life you will always have a place to come home to.

Tobey Maguire was perfectly casted for this movie, they couldn't have found someone more suitable for the job than him. Michael Caine, brilliant as always, won't disappoint either. The always very beautiful Charlize Theron is very lovable and sweet. Maybe less famous is Paul Rudd (maybe you saw him as Phoebe's boyfriend in "Friends"), but he's always very enjoyable; a fine actor!

You can do whatever you like in life; there are no rules at the point of action. The kicker is that you must accept two downstream effects: You must not only accept the foreseen consequences of your actions, but you must equally accept the unforeseen consequences.

My Rating - 8/10

Serendipity(2001)

A nice little romantic comedy starring two charismatic leads. It is in fact the chemistry between stars John Cusack and Kate Beckinsale that makes this film as watchable as it is. They are great in this and that allows you to ignore some silly plot developments.

John Cusack is irresistible as Jonathan in this divine romance farce. The following cast is phenomenal. One of the good movies in romantic genre, Serendipity will inspire the viewer to believe in destiny. Jonathan (John Cusack) and Sara (Kate Beckinsale) meet in Bloomingdales when they both want to purchase the same pair of gloves. The attraction is instant and they spend a romantic evening cavorting around New York City together. At the end of the evening John wants to see her again, but Sara decides that if it is fate that they should be together, they will find each other again. She drives away in a cab and he never sees her again. Well, almost never.

Years go by and both of them are about to be married, but each still has this nagging feeling that the other was his/her one true love. Of course fate conspires to bring them back together (after about a dozen near misses) as they each simultaneously undertake one last attempt to find one another just before they get married to someone else.

The fate angle is plowed mercilessly, almost to the point of nausea, but the skits are funny and the chemistry between Cusack and Beckinsale is enchanting. Cusack is an expert at playing the tortured and neurotic lover, but here he is more haunted and forlorn than dysfunctional.

Kate Beckinsale rocketed from obscurity to prominence with her performance in `Pearl Harbor' and proves to be a wonderful romantic lead in this film. The film also benefits from outstanding comedic support from Jeremy Piven as Jonathan's best friend and devoted Sara sleuth. Piven's zany comedy proves to be the perfect complement to Cusack's wry despondency. Eugene Levy is a scream as the eccentric Bloomingdales salesman, who blackmails Jonathan into buying half the store to give him information from Sara's charge account.

Serendipity is a lovely light-hearted comedy which will be enjoyed by everyone, especially if you're into romantic comedies. The good thing with the movie is, it's not that predictable like many other movies out there. Okay, fine we all know that at the end of the movie, Sara and Jonathan will get together, but the way they do is quite different then you may expect. The movie has loads of little twists and turns all the way, which makes the movie good and it keeps you interested almost all the way through.

My Rating  –  7/10

Notting Hill (1999)

It was a pleasant, simple and mostly implausible romantic comedy about a famous fictional actress and the man that loves her. A romantic comedy starring Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts is not normally my sort of thing but sometimes, a good girlie film such as "Notting Hill" can be just what the doctor ordered.

"Notting Hill" is one of those movies for people who appreciate the particular British sense of humor. British humor is a full plate, let's face it. This movie, when it comes to humor, romance and simplicity, is at the same  level  of  "Four Weddings and a Funeral" and "Bridget Jones Diary", which makes it a good alternative to these movies. Although it contains some vocabulary of discussable taste, it isn't profane at all and doesn't contain dirty humor which makes this a much more intelligent movie.

The characters here are interesting and humorous, without being great (in fact they deliver an ordinary performance especially Julia Roberts). The supporting characters, on the other hand, have more depth than I expected. Unfortunately, it's not their story. Nevertheless, the actor who portrays Spike is who makes this movie so hilarious. Spike is so goofy, so silly and so humorous - congratulations to the actor (Rhys Ifans) who played him, 'cause he did a perfect job for this kind of role.

I really didn't like the overuse of pop music in the film, especially the overblown music used to bookend the film. It felt a little tacked on or inorganic to the soul of the film and almost seems to try to "sell" the scene as emotionally related to the piece of selected music.

In terms of romantic comedy, this film basically gets the touchstones right. There are quirky, but fleshed out supporting characters. Silly scenarios are quite good. It's cute enough to be smile-making funny, albeit nothing laugh-out-loud.  It's likable.

My Rating - 7/10

Before Sunset

I think most people will find this movie more intersting than Before Sunset (the prequel) because 

the characters are "more mature" in this movie. It plays out in real time as the characters spend one afternoon together in Paris.

It has been nine years since events of  Before Sunrise happened. Now Jesse has written a novel named “This Time” accounting the happenings of his time with Celine as per the prequel of the movie. To promote his sales in Europe, Jesse on his last stop at Paris happens to met Celine,  though this time it was not accidental and Jesse has to leave Before Sunset  to catch his flight back home.  Jesse is now married and has become a writer. Celine is there with boyfriend  of hers ,who is a photojournalist. CONVERSATION continuing from the last movie has gone a level or two ahead and maturity is pretty much visible

First it appears that both leads are leading a pretty happy life. In fact it is not. It becomes clear in the course of their talk that both are dissatisfied to varying degrees with their lives. Jesse reveals that he only stays with his wife out of love for his son. Celine says that she does not see her boyfriend very much because of his comittment towards his work.

A meaningful personal talk at wonderful locations of Paris and great shots of steadicam followed by awesome Screenplay says enough in itself.
Life is unpredictable. If Jesse and Celine exchanged some contact information with each other, the story would be different. But there were not so many "ifs" in life. You must grasp the opportunity or regretting is unavoidable. The themes in their conversation have a universality to them, and the connection between the characters makes the viewer forget that there is a clash of cultures, for she is French while he is American. The film manages to isolate bits and pieces of what it is that truly connects two strangers - soul mates in a once or twice opportunity in a lifetime. Personally to me,Before Sunset is better than its prequel because the characters Hawke and Delpy wrote the dialogue themselves inspired from their respective personal lives & conveys message of many unsaid things regarding LIFE in a pretty convincing way.

My Rating -10/10

Before Sunrise

                       The reason why I like this movie and recommend is that it highlights the basic and the most important part of the relationship that according to me is everlasting and forever,  is to be in a comfortable position and being able to carry out CONVERSATION  to a person next to you and express yourself in an effortless manner………………..
       While traveling by train through Europe, the American Jesse Wallace (Ethan Hawke) and the French Celine (Julie Delpy) meet each other and decide to spend the evening together in Austria and go to their respective destinations as they don't have enough time after all. Jesse and Celine shared some great conversation, and deep eye contact with a great magnetic explosion with each other .On the next morning, Jesse returns to United States of America, and Celine to Paris. Its so wonderful to see in the movie that a guy and gal of early twenties being Conversing and sharing their views with each other and ultimately confessing their attraction towards each other .
        Ethan and Julie  will warm your very heart and soul and make you think deeply into your past relationships and how you really wish you had followed your hearts strings with a guy or gal you deep down loved and lost track of over the years. The dialogues are realistic enough & I still loved the line that HAWKE used to convince  JULIE  to spend the day with him in Vienna .If you haven't  seen the film it is worthwhile just to hear this line and to discover what is the basic art of making any sensible romantic movie .

            My Rating – 9/10