Monday, May 30, 2011

Two Line Reviews - #243

Movie: Catch Me If You Can (2002)

Plot: Financial misfortunes and parents' divorce make a confused teenager carve himself a path of felony,fraudulence and impersonation. When his cheque forgeries cross limits, the FBI is after him. He gives his FBI agent a tough time outwitting him on every occassion but finally the agent gets the better of him and gives him an opportunity to earn some solace for his misdeeds

Highlights:
  • Leonardo DiCaprio plays the major role - and as a forger and a flirt master, the guy is at his best providing moments to enjoy.
  • As the dutiful FBI agent who gets pissed off with his culprit's ways Tom Hanks plays a super foil and shows his class time and again.
  • Spielberg, as usual, is out with a different plot and succeeds (not spectacularly though) in giving a comical chase story aided well by John Williams' jazz chase sound tracks.
Lowlights:
Some scenes are serious but the depiction of the police is very comical and that's inconsistent.

A Different & Enjoyable ride! But, I expected more from a film that boasts of Spielberg,Hanks,DiCaprio.

Two Line Reviews - #242

Movie: Cinderella Man (2005)

Plot: A promising boxer James.J.Braddock is among the thousands hit by the Great Economic depression of the 30s and to make ends meet, plays petty matches and takes up wager work thereby deepening his financial crisis. Opportunity knocks his door after 4 years and he makes a highly inspiring comeback that gives hope for a financially stuttering New Jersey populace.


Highlights:
  • This one joins the Rocky 1,2,3,4 league for its wonderful making and the stress on the financial angle shown makes it different from the Stallone series.
  • Russell Crowe lives the role of a pugilist and he is damn convincing with his antics on the ring; Off it, his scenes with his wife and manager (both being his unshakably supportive pillars and wonderful characterisations at that!) are emotionally touching and brilliant.
  • The way he fights on and off the ring for his family/his kids makes the character a true inspiration. The truely believable boxing matches show the quality of the stunt co-ordinators' efforts.
Highly Inspiring stuff; Take a bow,Russell Crowe.

Sunday, May 29, 2011

Two Line Reviews - #241

Movie: A Good Year (2006)


Plot: A busily rich London bureaucrat gets back to the French Vineyard where he spent his childhood with his long-forgotten Uncle to take care of the sale of the place due to his Uncle's death. The 'grand' memories of the place pleasantly haunt him and so does a petite French damselle. He rues on the years he ignored writing back to his Uncle and decides that is the place where he needs to be.
Highlights:
  • This Ridley Scott film (a probable inspiration to the thamizh flick Jeyamkondaan) is a piece of poetry; I didn't know what genre it was set in and what I saw surprised me. Memories are always special and so is this film on the same.
  • Russell Crowe plays his role to perfection; He does comedy exceedingly well and acting comes naturally to him.
  • The others in the cast are apt and the old man Uncle with his occasional words of wisdom earns 'respect'
  • The music is brilliant and so is the quiet comedy that flows through the run of the film
An unheralded gem - As good as the priceless vineyard shown in it!

Two Line Reviews - #240

Movie: 21 (2008)

Plot: A brainy MIT graduate fulfils his childhood dream of getting an admission at Harvard Med School but what stands between him and his seat is money (or) a 'lifetime' experience. He is noted by his professor who has his league of students turned card counters and gets trained on Blackjack for a calculated plundering off of casinos. When he gets more money, he gets over ambitious and that's when trouble pops its head out!

Highlights:
  • The film is racy and takes some unpredictable interesting turns at times; Kevin Spacey and his crew of looters do a fine job
  • The angle of the nerdish friends of the hero and their strained times with him are depicted nicely
  • The climactic twist is enjoyably good
Lowlights:
The jealous guy in the group, the make-up act - are stereotypes

An 'OK' Timepass ride

Book Look - #18

THE DAY OF THE JACKAL by Frederick Forsyth

Plot: 6 attempts of an agency within France, adversely against the policies and the rule of the french President, to kill him flop and that's when they hire a professional assassin code-named The Jackal. The meticulous planner leaves no stone unturned in his bid to kill the President and in his way stands a determined French detective who keeps tracing all the marvelous moves of The Jackal. The death of the president, to be or not to be, is what makes the grand finale .

Highlights:
  • The book split into three 'Anatomy' parts is aptly named. The three parts literally dissect and show all that there is to assassinate a big shot.
  • The 1 st part, about the Jackal and his plans to the minute details is riveting to say the least
  • The 2nd part, about the commisaire's tracing of his killer suspect gives an idea of the intelligence that deals with big scale crimes
  • The 3rd part, in comparison with the first two, is a tad low on what it offers but it paves the way for a thrilling finish!

Saturday, May 28, 2011

Two Line Reviews - #239

Movie: 21 Grams (2003)

Plot: A single event - an accident - connects three people and alters each one's pattern of life and in the process, some serious questions on context based human judgments are posed effortlessly! Watch it to know more because what it explains is inexplicable through words alone.


Highlights:
  • Films with the south american flavour have something unique in them and it took me the climax scene to realise this one could be from the brilliant maker of Amores Perros and Babel. The film's jigsaw style makes the watch a super experience.
  • Apart from that the film's storyline is only ordinarily - but the fact that 'what is right and what is wrong depends on the 'when' factor' is emphasised wonderfully well
  • Performances of Sean Penn, Del Toro and Naomi Watts are admirable and so is the mellifluous musical score of maestro Gustava Santaolalla.
Carries much more weight than what the title suggests!

Two Line Reviews - #238

Movie: Source Code (2011)

Plot: Without his own knowledge, a dead soldier's brain is coded (?) into that of a passenger in a train that had been bombed to find out who bombed it and how serious the bombing issue is for the city of Chicago. When the first attempt fails, he is sent on the mission again...and again and again.


Highlights:
  • Not exactly unfamiliar territory for a hollywood sci-fi film but this one was slightly different from quite a number of other such films probably because of the director's idea of bringing in less action into it.
  • Jake Gyllenhaal is aptly cast, for, his show of confusion is convincing
  • The final anti-climax was interesting!
Lowlights:
The iterations were a few too many bogging down the interest factor.

Sci-fi halwah; Interesting nevertheless!

Sunday, May 22, 2011

Two Line Reviews - #237

Movie: An American Crime (2007)


Plot: The parents make a two month caretaking arrangement for their two daughters and unfortunately the caretaking family devoid of any male support is stressed to the core that everybody in it becomes a psycho and they inflict their cruelty on one of the visiting girls by locking her in the basement and their degrees of cruelty only increase as days pass by. This one is based on a cold true story!

Highlights:
  • The fact that the film is based on a true event makes one feel disturbed on watching it. The way things are shown isn't crude but the seriousness of whatever had happened hasn't been missed in the filming.
  • Ellen Page , with her unfortunate sorry-faced performance , earns the sympathy of the viewer.
  • The psycho family's characters have all been aptly cast; I felt angry looking at them - Not sure if it was because of what they do to the girl or of just having a look at their faces!
A cold disturbing true tale; Shows how cruel humans can get!

Two Line Reviews - #236

Movie: The Verdict (1982)


Plot: A lawyer whose career is on the wane chooses a medical mishap case to resurrect his career and fame thereby taking on the big head doctors who happen to be defended by some of the strong founder members of the hospital. He goes to the extent of refusing a handsome amount offered as a settlement and attempts the case on court!

Highlights:
  • Sidney Lumet has been known for some of the other famous films but this one is no inferior. It's right up there; the calmness so visible in his films is present in this one too.
  • Paul Newman is mighty impressive in his role as the out-of-touch lawyer who desperately seeks justice. His subtle reactions are the highlights of his style of action.
  • The way the defense attorney trains his cadre to a case and such scenes are new and interesting.
A compelling watch of a case on trial/

Two Line Reviews - #235

Movie: Mirrors (2008)


Plot: A suspended policeman assumes the role of a night-watchman in a building that underwent a massive fire accident 5 years ago. During his night visits, he finds weird and unbelievable activities in the mirrors in the dilapidated building; Later, he gets to know that the former watchmen were all obsessed with the mirrors there and committed suicide. To save himself and his family, he tries to find answers to the question that the mirrors often ask - "Where is Esseker?"

Highlights:
  • The film's first scene and the creative title card makes one sit up and it is quite an interesting ride, though not astonishing.
  • The hero Sutherland, a Bruce Willis look-alike, delivers a solid performance. The girl who plays his wife shows the frills in the climax.
  • The Esseker part of the suspense was held up which was good.
Lowlights:
After 30 mins or so, the events seem held up and not till the vital clue does the film pick up pace.

Watchable, but doesn't offer so much thrills

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

A tribute to the ultimate comedian!

‘Strange as it may seem, Comedy is the most difficult of all genres of action’ is one of the most popular beaten-to-death statements in the cinema world. When we zero in on to Tamil Cinema, a lot of comedians from the past and the present would probably agree with this statement. But, if an inference has to be drawn going by the body language of the comedian performing the act, there would be one person who would prove the hypothesis wrong. He is Koundamani! 

The spontaneity with which he does his comedy on screen makes one feel that he is a natural at it, extremely gifted and also that comedy is not difficult at all to be portrayed on screen. For proof, watch this particular comedy from a film where he, as a barber, wins in a lottery and goes about kicking stuff in the verandah of his house shouting “I am fifteen lakhs owner”; “A/c yo A/c” etc. That one scene is ample proof of the unbelievable ease with which he performs his style of comedy.

The comedians in Tamil cinema could well be fitted in three eras.

The veterans from the past N.S.Krishnan (of whom I haven’t seen much), Chandrababu (who was our own version of Chaplin) & Nagesh (a genius who again had traces of Chaplin in him) ruled the scene from 1940s to 1970s. People like Suruli Rajan gave them company.

The modern day comedians Vivek and Vadivelu entered in the 90s and attained their peaks in the early 2000s. The one who is creating the waves now is Santhanam who debuted in mid 2000.

But what about the two-and a half decades in between? That was the era when Koundamani ruled the roost. The specialty of him is the fact that he doesn’t follow a template like Vivek or Vadivelu do. Of course there would be naysayers to this claim stating that he beats Senthil and that’s his method of doing comedy – I can clearly say that those are people who haven’t watched much of Kounder’s antics. There are a lot more unnoticed aspects to his method of comedy. He keeps doing something with his hands, legs, dances across which are all admirable to the core which would not have missed the eyes of his hardcore fans. The jerks and turns he gives after breaking the door to save Senthil from committing suicide in a famous comedy scene is an example to the case in point.

He has been the best when it comes to performing solo or elevating the humour quotient in super hero films with his omnipresence with the hero in almost all scenes. He has single-handedly ensured the success of many films he had acted in the 90s. That too makes him special. His combination with Sathyaraj is the most special of them all !(Nadigan, Brahmma, Maaman Magal, Malabar Police and so many other films). One can keep watching those riotous comedy scenes again and again and still laugh till it aches! Numerous passing remarks of his stay evergreen but I am sure no one would have scripted them for him; Such one-liners would have come spontaneously from him on the sets. An example to this being the scene from Mannan where he chases Rajni from a marriage hall and sits on a shop keeper’s chair to have some rest; When the fellow asks him to get up, Koundamani would touch the wig in his hands and say ‘Oh, andha vela paakaravanaa nee’ which doesn’t mean anything at all but still is incredibly funny! Maybe I am one of the few who would have admired such inane one-liners; May be not! His other associations with Rajni, Kamal, Sarath Kumar, Vijay, Ajith have all been terrific – Not even a single film would have lacked in comedy. Another highlighting speciality of his is the ability to silently take sarcastic digs at super heroes in their own films even as he acts with them. That is something I haven’t seen from any other comedian! Contrary to his electrifying presence on screen, he maintains an unbelievably low profile off screen and of what I have heard of him, he is humble, benevolent and that again is a special aspect of his.

Comedians and their methods generally have a peak period. A careful look would show us that his kind of comedy has no expiry like those of Vivek/Vadivelu. Now, their styles are in the wane but the trend of Koundamani is what has been aped , altered and successfully dished out by Santhanam and that is now a raging hit. Koundamani’s era might have ended. But his legacy lives on! Forever, a Kounder fan! I would love to see him on screen once again. Thalaivaa, listening?

Sunday, May 15, 2011

Two Line Reviews - #234

Movie:  Mystic River (2003)


Plot: When three kids play in a lane, fate shows its ugly face on one of the kids when he gets abducted by 2 paedophiles. The kid escapes from them but not from his trauma. After years, their lives confluence under bizarre circumstances - the daughter of one of the kids in the story is murdered, another kid is a suspect and the third kid is the cop investigating the case!

Highlights:
  • This again is an admirable piece of work by Clint Eastwood. He is one gem of a film maker! The story & screenplay writers deserve their share of applause too.
  • Sean Penn is the show-stealer with his brilliant performance; Tim Robbins isn't far behind in his role of a timid, traumatised character & the cop men Kevin Bacon & Fishburne act adequately.
  • The suspense cover & the twists take this film at quite an intensity aided by a subtle background score - again by master Clint E!
A Savourable, artistic tale of Crime Investigation & Fate!

Two Line Reviews - #233

Movie: Saboteur (1942)


Plot: In a case of mistaken identity, a Los Angeles aircraft base worker gets caught for sabotaging a plant explosion which also kills his close friend. He breaks free from the Police's watch and with the help of the nephew of an Old blind man he meets, he tries to find the original saboteur , the group behind the actions and their big time plans.

Highlights:
  • Needless to say, Hitchcock shows his class at delivering a suspenseful chase story with all the ingredients required for such a film.
  • The actor who plays the lead role is a perfect fit and the way he and his 'model' companion deliver their dialogues rapid fast yet clear is awesome.
  • The entire villain unit and the saboteur in particular are aptly cast. So are the blind man & the circus troupe members.
  • In North by Northwest it was Mt.Rushmore & here it is the Statue of Liberty where a gripping climax is set.
Engrossing fare - Typical Hitchcock style!

Two Line Reviews - #232

Movie: It Happened One Night (1934)


Plot: A distraught daughter elopes from her wealthy father to join her rich lover in New York. On her way in a bus ride, she meets a newspaperman who agrees to get her safely to NY on a condition that he would get the best possible scoop on her affair. When the searches of father and son-in-law go in vain those two settle for the marriage but love blossoms between these two on road and then there's the anticlimactic fun!

Highlights:
  • When it comes to lively & exciting dialogue-oriented films Frank Capra seems to be 'the' man & here, in one of his early films, he comes up with a neatly woven love trip.
  • The lead pair - Gable and Colbert are immaculate with their spontaneity in humour and that makes the viewing special.
  • The film's other big plus is its dialogue - There's loads of it but crisp & funny.
  • The climax 'walk down the aisle' in this film probably set the trend for many other bride-runs-away climaxes.
A 'Happening' film set on the road!

Saturday, May 14, 2011

Book Look - #17

WISH YOU WELL by David Baldacci

Plot: A 12 year old girl and her 7 year old kid brother lose their father in a tragic car accident which also sends their mother to a coma. They move from their buzzling New York city life to a life in mountains with their great granny who lives and farms there literally with no external dependence for their food,power and the likes. The children slowly get acclimatised to that life to such an extent that they, with their wellwishing lawyer, fight against a company that wishes to buy their land for commercial purposes. Between all this are gripping characters filling the kids' experiences in the hinterland.

Highlights:
  • David Baldacci moves away from his conventional suspense themes and comes out with a splendid feel-good work that he attributes to his own family's life in the Virginia country land.
  • The picturesque descriptions of the mountains, the farms and the adventures of the kids with their good old friend 'Diamond' are vivid and would make one want to have such a life!
  • The resilience of granny 'Louisia' and her namesake sister girl and the innocence of Oz, her kid brother are highly adorable.
  • The other prime characters - Lawyer Cotton Longbottom & Eugene - come to the party in the intense climax courtroom sequence.
An unconventional blinder from Baldacci!

Friday, May 13, 2011

Two Line Reviews - #231

Movie: The Tenant (1976)


Plot: An office going bachelor rents an economically affordable apartment in Paris. He learns that the apartment's previous tenant had committed suicide and with the strict and rude ways of his neighbours, he gets obsessed with the suicide and thinks the neighbours had driven the earlier inmate to suicide.

Highlights:
  • Roman Polanski's method of handling such peculiar loner subjects are thoroughly absorbing and here again with eerie visuals and in-house filming he rules.
  • His acting skills come to the party as he plays the protagonist's role in an amazingly casual way. The gorgeous Isabelle Adiani gives him good company.
  • The camerawork is excellent and so are the film's dialogues - the example being the one on how the head differentiates itself from the rest of the body.
Lowlights:
Some amount of confusion caused is deliberate and have no answers too.

Good one but Not exactly in the league of its prequels - Repulsion & Rosemary's Baby!

Sunday, May 8, 2011

Two Line Reviews - #230

Movie: Glory (1989)

Plot: During the American civil war of the 1860s, a young war captain assumes the role of leading a coloured regiment. The nigger regiment, initally treated shabbily and considered only for manual labour by the other regiment-heads, gets inspired by its honest captain Robert Gould Shaw & ends up leading the attack of an unconquerable enemy fort. The white regiments are made to eat their own words and follow the blacks.

Highlights:
  • The film's cause is highly noble and if it's a true story, the man Robert Shaw was a supreme hero and this one, with its wonderful screenplay, is an apt tribute to the man.
  • Mathew Broderick who plays Robert Shaw is brilliant in his role & Denzel Washington plays his role of the lamenting Nigger to perfection. Morgan Freeman is his usual self.
  • The war action scenes are terrific and highly usurping.
  • The costumes, music and camerawork are illustrative of the efforts that have gone in crafting this work.
'Glory' - So aptly named; A glorious film indeed!

Two Line Reviews - #229

Movie: On the Waterfront (1954)

Plot: A shoreman is killed by the men who monopolise work at a harbour for not bending to their ways. One of the union leader's own men slowly sympathises with the dead man's sister thanks to the realisation of how wasteful his career had been ruined by them. When he serves witness on court against the murder, he's in so much trouble but wins his way through the ordeal.

Highlights:
  • Marlon Brando is at his best. What an actor!! His spontaneity in action is bewildering and he sees off his role as the boxer turned bum with aplomb.
  • The film inspires thanks to some nicely etched characters - the truth-seeking sister of the murdered, the church father & Brando's himself.
  • The golden warrior side story & dialogues are pulsating too.
  • Lee.J.Cobb plays the role of the ill-tempered Union leader goon to perfection.
 A must-watch for Brando's acting lessons!

Saturday, May 7, 2011

Book Look - #16

THE MOSCOW VECTOR by Robert Ludlum & Patrick Larkin

Plot: The Russian President wants to get back the lost USSR empire & for this, he corroborates with a supposedly dead East German Scientist and a Soviet Millionaire in developing a terrible bio-weapon to kill the high ranked military & high profile officers of various nations. USAs 'Covert-one' team aims at identifying the vector of this mysterious killer weapon & end up finding a lot more than that.

Highlights:
  • Robert Ludlum's characters have been conceived superbly & this complete fictional work is as racy as an action film.
  • The parallel tracks that the narration covers are all interesting & the bio-weapon concept is ingenious indeed.
  • The acts of Col. Jon Smith, Fiona, Wulf Renke & Randi are the major highlights in this work of descriptive , powerful & controversial anti-Russian action.

Friday, May 6, 2011

Two Line Reviews - #228

Movie: Amistad (Multiple Languages, 1997)

Plot: Illegally transferred slaves in the boat 'La Amistad' surge to kill their masters but unfortunately land in American shores where they are convicted as legal slaves of Spanish interests. A willful attorney tries the case in favour of the captured slaves - wins it in 2 lower courts but the American-Spanish political games take the case to the highest of courts where the case gets decided.

Highlights:
  • Steven Spielberg always keeps showing his name up to the question of 'Who is the biggest of them all?' & here again proves his mettle by deftly handling an absolutely intense sensitive subject.
  • The roles that walk away with top honours are those of the African Cinque, the relentless attorney played by McConaughey & the ex president Hopkins' cameo!
  • The core team members of Spielberg - cameraman,editor & music director are at their best again with John Williams providing some touching background tracks.
  • There are appreciable scenes aplenty - The differing idealogies of the so-defined 'sophisticated' Americans & 'backward' Africans are expressed with tactful sarcasm in their varied definitions of terms like 'Almost';'Chief' etc.
Another jewel on Spielberg's Crown!

Two Line Reviews - #227

Movie: Engeyum Kaadhal (Thamizh, 2011)
Plot: A wealthy businessman has the norm of holidaying for a month every year. Flirting and partying are OK but Love isn't a nice word in his books. In one of his holiday sojourn, an Indian girl he meets in France falls in love with him and when she finds she isn't important to him, she weaves a tale to make him possessive of her and finally wins him over.

Highlights:
  • The film is like an evening breeze; Savourable as long as one stays at the beach and no more. The mix of fun with a happy romance is quite new to Thamizh films and to that extent, Prabhudeva's efforts are laudable.
  • 'Jayam' Ravi's is an easy role to play and he does it quite well. A meaty role is offered to the meaty 'meeta' Hansika Motwani and she grabs it to do well.
  • The USP of the film are its 6 months old songs! - Be it the experimental Rap-violin fusion Bathing at Cannes or the classical Nenjil nenjil or the other run-of-the-mill scintillating tunes of Harris - All of them have been picturised marvelously; Nangai & Thee Illai are especial screams!
  • Nirav Shah's work behind the lens and the locations make the Visuals look spectacular.
  • The small roles played by Prabhudeva & Prakashraj - nice try!
Lowlights:
  • Some of the cliches such as the derogatory fat lady, fat boy comedies are irritants.
  • Lack of concrete substance makes the post-interval transformations look unbelievable. 
Little or no wine; But, served in a glossy new bottle!

Thursday, May 5, 2011

Two Line Reviews - #226

Movie: High Noon (1952)

Plot: A town Marshall Sheriff is in trouble when a criminal he convicted 5 years back is about to arrive back in town after serving his term. The criminal and three of his underpins want to get the Marshall killed as soon as the criminal sets foot in town. The Marshall asks the town populace to volunteer for the town's cause but no one comes out to - Not even his newly wed bride. Finally the stage gets set for an 1 vs 4 battle.

Highlights:
  • The span of the film's happenings is just about the same as the film's running duration and that makes it special. The screenplay helps the cause by maintaining a tense tempo.
  • The Ballad that gets played and its background music version are terrific compositions.
  • The role of Gary Cooper as the Marshall earns respect; Grace Kelly is all grace and so is the Mexican lady.
  • The dialogues are crisp and there are some very intense scenes - the bar, church room & hotel sequences.
Highly intense & it's a classic!

Two Line Reviews - #225

Movie: Cool Hand Luke (1967)


Plot: A pretty cool petty thief gets caught for stealing municipal property and gets to serve a term in a penitentiary. With the 'nothing' that he has and a sheer cool attitude, he makes life better for the rest of his inmates and tries escaping from the place time and again only to get caught.

Highlights:
  • This one is a different film in the sense that it tries to show the lighter side of men in jail. To mix fun with emotions is quite difficult and the makers pull that off with ease.
  • Paul Newman as the 'Cool' Luke is brilliant. He's definitely one of the legendary actors Hollywood has produced. 
  • The boxing, tarring, egg-eating sequences are especially delightful.
  • The music is pleasant, the visuals are nice and the dialogues are perfect.
Lowlights:
Luke's attempted escapades are unbelievable though.

An extraordinarily ordinary film.

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Two Line Reviews - #224

Movie: Vaanam (Thamizh, 2011)

Plot: There is a slum-dwelling Raja, a prostitute Saroja, a village lady who are in bad need of 'Money' for various reasons. There is a Muslim jodi on pursuit of a lost brother & there is a rock band travelling from Bangalore to Chennai for a concert. Characters in these parallel tracks face problems simultaneously and converge at a place in the climax - for absurd reasons!

Highlights:
  • The comedy scenes involving Simbu, Santhanam & Ganesh are the sole relief in this otherwise dud of a film.
  • The performances of Saranya, her father-in-law thaatha & Prakashraj were notably good - they are the saving graces. Especially, the old man showing vulnerability instantly earns the sympathy.
  • Some very few scenes towards the end of the first half - very few.
Lowlights:
  • Converging tracks on the lines of Amores Perros, Babel alright. But there is no proper connection between the tracks. All so-called connections are deliberate and silly. That makes it a boring watch.
  • The utterly terrible positioning of songs - all songs infact. (Never seen two songs played back to back in any film!)
  • Simbu's love track completely lacks seriousness & so when he tells his lover that his love was true, it was such a silly thing to watch. There are so many such scenes in the film.
  • The uninspiring background music , editing , poor graphics & side-screen techniques add salt to the wound.
  • The final climax involving so called terrorists with back-packs & deepavali thupaakkis perfectly symbolise the amateurity of the whole film - Messages and all get delivered after the climax absurdities are shown!
This film's a torture!

Sunday, May 1, 2011

Two Line Reviews - #223

Movie: The Manchurian Candidate (1962)


Plot: An US Sergeant korean war hero returns to his motherland & soon after that, members in his patrol unit get similar dreams on him having killed two of their men. But the respect they have for him make the dream look all the more unrealistic and when the Major of the patrol prepares himself to find the truth, a huge suspense gets revealed.

Highlights:
  • This film has an unusual story that keeps one interested from the start. The screenplay complements that and makes it a superb classic.
  • The roles of Sgt. Raymond Shaw, his mother and Major Ben are captivating.
  • The 5 second climax is an absolute stunner!
An Unusual & very interesting film!