Nameless: March 2011

Posted by unnati at 10:07 PM on Thursday, March 31, 2011

MONA LISA SMILE

DIRECTOR :

MIKE NEWELL

WRITTEN BY:

MARK ROSENTHAL

LAWRENCE KONNER

CAST:

JULIA ROBERTS - KATHERINE WATSON

JULIA STILES - JOAN BRANDWYN

KIRSTEN DUNST - BETTY WARREN

JULIET STEVENSON - AMANDA ARMSTRONG

MAGGIE GYLLENHAAL - GISSELLE LEVY

DOMINIC WEST - BILL DUNBAR

A young teacherarrives at an old conservative institution and incurs the suspicions of parents and authorities alike by inspiring students to break out of their conformity and look at the world in new ways. The teacher then leaves, but not before transforming the students' lives and winning their hearts. Yep, stripped down to its essential elements, 'Mona Lisa Smile' is a remake of 'Dead Poets' Society', only the teacher is a woman, art historian Katherine Watson (Julia Roberts), the institution is Wellesley College for girls, and the time is the mid-1950s. There may be a female President (Marian Seldes) instead of a male headmaster, but she still utters the same old predictable lines about the main character's 'teaching methods' being 'a little unorthodox'. The subplot of a son clashing with his rigid, domineering father may have been replaced in 'Mona Lisa Smile' with a story involving a daughter, Betty Warren (Kirsten Dunst), in conflict with her dominating mother (Donna Mitchell), but in either case the parents insist that their own mistakes be repeated by their children, with miserable consequences. There is even, in 'Mona Lisa Smile', a students' secret society, the 'Adam's Ribs', to match the 'Dead Poets'. This is all somewhat ironic in a film whose central message is the dangers of slavishly imitating one's predecessors, whether in life or in art.
What is new about 'Mona Lisa Smile' is its feminism – albeit a kind of feminism-lite, written and directed by men, and launched at the decidedly easy target of the 1950s American establishment. As Katherine Watson is seen colliding with those around her, the stuffiness of her opponents' now outmoded values load the dice so much in her favour that few viewers today could disagree with her perspective, ensuring that this is a film more likely to please crowds than provoke thought. There is a certain pleasure to be had in laughing at the dated absurdity of etiquette classes and home-making advertisments, but this has little to reveal about our lives today. So while 'Mona Lisa Smile' offers an interesting glimpse into the history of women's liberation, and reveals that things now taken entirely for granted were once hard-fought battlegrounds, it has little to contribute to contemporary feminist debate, and wins viewers over not by active argument, but by appeals to a complacent sense of superiority over past values. There are a few moments late in the film where it is suggested that Watson's saintly character may have flaws of its own (inflexibility, intolerance and self-righteousness), but these are half-hearted at best, and drowned out almost entirely by the celebratory ending.
'Mona Lisa Smile' is a well-crafted piece of period cinema, although given the many lectures which Watson delivers on the need to break with tradition and find new modes of expression, it is rather surprising that the film itself has been directed in such a conventional style. What saves it from oblivion is its uniformly oustanding performances – but no matter how much anyone enjoys seeing this film, I defy them to remember it a month afterwards.

Elizabeth: A perfect replica of the Elizabethan Age

Posted by akshi at 9:45 PM

Elizabeth is a 1998 historical biopic film directed by Shekhar Kapur of Bandit Queen-fame. The film is a biopic of Queen Elizabeth on course of the accession and early years of her reign. The film won several awards including the Academy Awards in 1999 for Best Makeup. The film stars Australian actress Cate Blanchett playing the role of Queen Elizabeth I which got her nominated for the Academy Award for the Best Actress in 1999.

The film opens with a public execution of three ‘heretics’ who have been burnt on a pyre for denying the authority of the Catholic Church. But they are not the only one who has been dealt severely with. After the death of Henry VIII, there has been a bitter war between the two sects since the fervent Catholic daughter of the late Tudor king, Mary ( Kathy Burke) has ascended to the throne. Mary is childless and fears that her half Protestant sister Elizabeth (Cate Blanchett) is hatching a conspiracy with some trusted advisors and parliamentarians to dethrone the Queen. Elizabeth is arrested for treason and is waiting for death, but destiny has something else in store for her. Mary succumbs to cancer and Elizabeth is proclaimed the reigning Queen of England.

But the path is never easy. Elizabeth not only has to counter external aggression from archrival France and Spain, but also from within the court. The nobles led by Norfolk (Christopher Eccleston) are secretly conspiring to dethrone the Majesty and is aided by several ambitious nobles and ambassadors. However, Francis Walsingham (Geoffrey Rush) a former exile returns to his motherland and not only helps the Queen suppress the revolt but also establishes her as the supreme ruling authority in England.

Talking about the film, the director has been successful in creating the ambience of the Tudor age in the best possible way. Everything right from the costumes, dialogues and the sets have been designed while keeping the England of 1554 in mind. Cate Blanchett has truly lived up to the expectations of the role which was expected by the audience.

Rating: ***

- Akshi Gupta

NO ONE CAN KILL JESSICA

Posted by rajni at 1:52 PM

CAST

VIDYA BALAN : ACTOR

RANI MUKHERJEE : ACTOR

RAJ KUMAR GUPTA : DIRECTOR

AMIT TRIVEDI : MUSIC DIRECTOR

RONNIE SCREWWALLA : PRODUCER

poster by rajni thakural

No one can killed jessica movie review

Starting with Vidya balan and Rani mukherjee. Basically this movie is based on the famous Jessica Lal murder case and the directors have really worked well by keeping the identity of the girl playing Jessica under wraps. New comer Myra karn is the new comer who has played the tittle role . The script is presented in a fine form with the mix fiction in it. The film focuses on the dirty side of politics and powerful games that are played in a society The director has done complete justice to the spirit of the story giving live. The daring performance of both the womens is portrayed in a fantastic manner. Gupta needs to be appreciated for chosing a daring subject to bring it on the screen.The film has been picturized in location that are really apt to the true incidence and the artists who played the roles really jelled into the original characters.

This serious drama also comes with a solid soundtrack "dilli dilli" which has won hearts of audience.

Mohammad Zeeshan Ayub : the main accused, is very good

Myra as jessica is very natural

Rajesh sharma as investigation officer is excellent

Satyadeep misra as rani's boss gives a fine account of himself

Shireesh sharma as a politician father is perfect

TANU WEDS MANU

Posted by prerna at 12:32 PM

Posted by Prerna Panwar, March 30, 2011

Manoj Sharma known as Manu (R. Madhavan), a delhi boy was engaged this Kanpur girl Tanuja Trivedi or known as Tanu (Kangana Ranaut). But the engagement was soon called off as tanu was already in love with some other guy and forced manu to call of the engagement. Manu meets Tanu once again at a friend's wedding where they came close . While madhvan secretly admire and love Tanu, she reveals of her plans to run with her boyfriend Raja (Jimmy Sheirgill) and get married to him. Though manu was heartbroken, he plays the selfless role by tryin to talk to tanu’s father and arranging for their marriage for duo. The rest as they say is history.

The film is a love story about today's young generation and their senseless love, the dialogues in the movie makes the thinking of the youth more clear and evident. It is a love triangle story which reminds us of SRK’s kuch kuch hota hai, the second half of the story has the Jab We Met sequence, where Kareena Kapoor’s rebellious and outgoing character Geet is as similar to Kangana Ranaut's.

The story is predictable but still makes the interest of the viewer in the story, Kangana's nonconformist character, who smokes, drinks and abuses, doesn't work, the days when love triangles were about who will win the girl are gone and a new trend have started where the winner is preset and the plot moves how he will win the girl.

The movie is a onetime watch. It is a comedy romantic genre where u will be entertained with the comedy and will enjoy watching the simple love story.

3 idiots

Posted by Pranav Kapur at 1:03 PM on Saturday, March 12, 2011

3 Idiots is the perfect end to an exciting year for India: the year when the aam aadmi voted in progress, liberalism, secularism and turned his back to corruption, communalism, regionalism. The three idiots, Rancchoddas Shyamaldas Chanchad (Aamir Khan), Raju Rastogi (Sharman Joshi) and Farhan Qureshi (R Madhavan), are perfect archetypes of the new age Indian who is essentially a non-conformist, questioning outmoded givens, choosing to live life on his own terms and chartering new roads that consciously skirt the rat race. Of course, they begin on the beaten track -- due to societal/parental pressure -- but refuse to become cogs in the wheel. Naturally, they end up as the Frostian hero (Robert Frost's Road Not Taken) who made all the difference to his life, and the world, by taking the road less travelled by.

The film begins with the entry of our threesome in the city's elite engineering college. It takes the first tryst with the mandatory ragging sessions which enunciate who the leader of the gang is going to be: new entrant Baba Rancchoddas, as his friends fondly call him. Rancho not only leads his friends through the maze of India's competitive, high-pressure, rote-heavy, illogical and almost cruel education system, he tutors them on several life mantras too. Like, running after excellence, not success; questioning not blindly accepting givens; inventing and experimenting in lieu of copying and cramming; and essentially following your heart's calling if you truly want to make a difference.

So, you have the threesome embroiled, time and again, in a confrontation with authority, as represented through the domineering figure of Viru Sahastrabuddhe (Boman Irani), the unsmiling Principal who venerates the cuckoo because the bird's life begins with murder. Kill the competition, because there is only one place at the top, believes the Princi. Poor, mistaken Princi! Doesn't he know that competition is effete, model students like Chatur (Omi) end up as duhs in real life and non-conformists (Rancho and Rocket Singh Inc), who care tuppence about being on top, could end up as eventual winners. More importantly, they could be high not only in IQ (intelligence quotient) but in EQ (emotional quotient) too, never losing their humaneness and social networking skills.

The high point of the film is the fact that director Rajkumar Hirani says so much, and more, without losing his sense of humour and the sheer lightness of being. The film is a laugh riot, despite being high on fundas. Certain sequences almost have you rolling in the aisle, like the ragging sequence, Omi's chamatkar/balatkar speech, the threesome's wedding crasher sequence, their mournful meal with Raju's mournful mum and Rancho's sundry demos to prove how Kareena has chosen the wrong guy for herself. Add to this, the strong emotional core of the film that makes gentle tugs, now and then, at your guts, and you have an almost perfect score. Hirani carries forward his simplistic `humanism alone works' philosophy of the Lage Raho Munnabhai series in 3 Idiots too, making it a warm and vivacious signature tune to 2009. The second half of the film does falter in parts, specially the child birth sequence, but it doesn't take long for the film to jump back on track.

Amongst the performances, Aamir Khan is stupendous as the rule-breaker Rancho. But the rest of the cast doesn't remain in the shadows. Both Sharman and Madhavan manage to carve their independent characters as lovable rebels too. Even Kareena shines out, despite the minuscule length of her role. A special mention for Boman Irani who is impeccable as `Virus', the vile Principal and newcomer Omi who perfectly slips into the stereotype of the best, albeit bakwas student. Shantanu Moitra's music score, which may have sounded pheeka in the audio version, comes alive on screen with lyricist Swanand Kirkire giving India its clarion call for 2010: Aal Izz Well. Rush for it.