jasjit_us Reviews

Reacher (2022– )

Perhaps the best sction-thriller shows on TV

[9/10 · 6 February 2022]

There are plenty of action-thriller shows on T. V. I have watched most of them. Reacher series is clearly better than most. In fact it is better than most action-thriller movies.

It has plenty of action, thrills, romance and mystery, The season faithfully captures the first book of the Jack Reacher series by Lee Child.

Andaz Apna Apna (1994)

One of the best movies ever

[10/10 · 13 September 2018]

Andaz Apna Apna in my opinion ranks among the top 5 comedy movies of all languages that I have ever watched. The jokes comes hard and fast and they never stop. Aamir and Salman are in top form and no one overshadows the other.

The characters, every one of them performs so well, that it all gels together.

However, this madcap movie mayhem may go over the heads of non-Hindi viewers, a cultural grounding of India and Hindi, is just as important to appreciate it as in sense of understanding comedy.

It is no different from me wondering why so many western English movies get some so high ratings but make little sense. Examples are the superhero movies. But I respect their ratings, because I understands my limitations to appreciate them.

To illustrate my point- ANDAZ APNA APNA IS STILL EVERY BIT AS FUNNY AS IT WAS 20 YEARS AGO. BUT NOT IF YOU TRANSLATE THE DIALOGUES, THOUGH THE TRANSLATIONS ARE FUNNY IN THEIR OWN WAY. HERE ARE SOME OF THE FILM'S BEST MOMENTS, KILLED BY ENGLISH. Andaz Apna Apna is still every bit as funny as it was 20 years ago. But not if you translate the dialogues, though the translations are funny in their own way. Here are some of the film's best moments, killed by English. Haila, Juhi Chawla: Goodness, Juhi Chawla

Kud kud ke chalega, kud kud ke chalega: It will jump jump and go, jump jump and go.

Aise lag raha hai jaise bandar ke sar pe tarbooz: He looks like a monkey with a watermelon on his head.

Galti se mistake ho gaya: By error a mistake happened.

Aap bare woh ho. Kya? Woh. Kya? Woh na. Oh, woh. Woh toh main hoon: You very like that. What? Like that. What? Like that only. Oh like that. That I am like.

Yeh Vasco da Gama ki gun hai. Kiske mama ki gun?: This is Vasco da Gama's gun. Whose uncle's gun?

Unkey ek ek sawaal, hamare do do jawaab. Sawaal ek, jawaab do: He had one one question, we had two two answers. Question one, answers two.

Khandaani chor hoon main, khandaani: I am a dynastic thief, dynastic.

Bread ka badshah or omelette ka raja - Bajaj! Hamara Bajaj: Emperor of bread and king of omelettes, Bajaj. Our Bajaj.

Gogoji aapka ghagra: Gogo sir, your skirt.

Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961)

Average Fare

[4/10 · 25 September 2005]

I was very impressed by Audrey Hepburn's Oscar winning performance in Roman Holiday so I was really looking forward to this movie Breakfast at Tiffany's.

What do I have to report after seeing it? I have to say that it is a mixed bag. Let me explain.

First the positives: Firstly, I have not yet seen a movie in which Audrey was so stylish. If you are into fashion and style that alone is good enough for seeing this movie. Audrey loses some of the innocence and freshness from her Roman Holiday days but gains in sex appeal and glamour. Her wardrobe in this movie is quite stunning. Even the décor of her apartment looks good.

Secondly, she has a fairly good chemistry with Peppard and the fact that the two are in the same age bracket helps in that regard.

Thirdly, Audrey Hepburn's acting in this movie is superb, she got an Oscar nomination for it.

Fourthly, Moon River the song that Holly (Audrey) sings is great and the tune itself is haunting.

The negatives: The story gets off to a fine start, Audrey plays the part of an escort (a call girl but it the early 60's so that is not what she is called in the movie), Peppard plays the role of a struggling writer who is kept by a rich older woman as her companion.

Now in this movie Holly (Audrey) is the kind of woman who is terrified of relationships, so much so that she does not even name her cat. Her only aim in life is to snare some rich man so when she starts falling in love with Peppard's character she does not know how to react.

What a great start, one would expect the story to race ahead but it exactly here that things come to a grinding stop. It is obvious in the first twenty minutes of the movie that they would fall in love but the next hour or so of the movie does nothing to build on that. It is only in the last ten minutes of the movie that things come to a head.

I think one of the reasons why her first movie Roman Holiday held the viewer's interest throughout it's length despite it's rather flimsy storyline was the character development that her and Gregory Peck's character go through.

In that movie Audrey character (Princess Ann) goes from an immature princess, to a drunk, to a wide-eyed ingénue to woman in love to regal stateswoman. In Breakfast at Tiffany's however Audrey's character is basically the same the entire length of the movie and there is nothing else happening with Peppard's character also to get the movie into fast track. The story chugs along slowly till the end comes. The ending I must say is pretty romantic, but the overall impression that the movie leaves is that Breakfast at Tiffany is average fare nowhere in the same class as Roman Holiday or My Fair Lady.

I would also like to say that Mickey Rooney's depiction of a Japanese man is extremely insensitive. It was the early 60's so maybe society was not so understanding then, but what leaves me sad is that even now there are some people who think that the depiction is funny. I am reminded of the Bruce Lee movie, Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story in which the martial arts legend spends a romantic night out with his American wife and they end up seeing Breakfast at Tiffany's. At the end of the movie Bruce Lee is hurt and angry that Hollywood still did not treat Asian people with respect. Poor Bruce Lee, he should have known that some things never change. In this world bigotry is never out of fashion.

It would be fair to point out that Mickey Rooney's role is pretty minor so if you can shut your eyes to it this movie still has a lot to offer.

Roman Holiday (1953)

What a movie

[10/10 · 18 September 2005]

Roman holiday is the most incredible movie I have ever seen. I came across this movie quite by chance. I like suspense movies and I watched Charade starring Audrey and Cary Grant. Audrey's acting in that movie impressed me so I decided to watch Roman holiday too. Too be very frank I was not really looking forward to watching this movie. Like most people of this generation I dislike black and white movies.

Man was I wrong. I have never seen a movie, which had so much romance, comedy and emotional drama. It would be fair to say that magic was created in this movie. The plot I guess everyone knows, a young princes tired of her regulated life runs away and hooks up with a reporter (Gregory Peck) for a day of fun in Rome. The reporter lies to her that he is a businessman and she lies to him about her true identity. They both have fun visiting Rome's historic places. But the reporter has a hidden agenda. He wants to write a story on the princess's escapades in Rome and enlists the help of his photographer friend (Albert). Things work according to plan for the reporter until he finds that he is really starting to fall in love with the princess.

The story line may appear to be simple but take my word for it that Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn create magic and the movie will take a hold over you like nothing else you have ever seen. This is Audrey's best movie and the only movie she got an Oscar for and she was never so charming, innocent and beautiful as she is in this movie.

One of the reviewers has suggested that Cary Grant would have been ideal for the role that Gregory Peck plays. I only have to say this to the devotees of Cary Grant that he would never have worked as a romantic lead in this movie. He was 50 years old at the time this movie was made and the sight of him cavorting around with a girl half his age would have removed from the movie it's romantic element. It would have become perhaps a slightly funnier movie but without the heart wrenching almost magical hold it now has. Also it is my humble opinion after seeing Charade that Cary Grant is too suave to play the role of a struggling reporter convincingly.

History has already spoken; this movie is regarded as one of the all time greats, why would we want to change something, which is already perfect. Gregory Peck is ideal for the role of the reporter, he is incredibly handsome in the movie, a kind of man a young girl could fall in love with even after being with him only for a few hours. In this movie, Gregory Peck acts his heart out, especially at the end and he has a wonderfully chemistry with Audrey, which is the reason this movie still seems so fresh and charming even after 50 years.

This is one of those rare movies that works across cultural and national borders. I was surprised to learn that according to a poll in Japan even after so many years Roman Holiday still is the number one foreign movie of all time.

This movie is simply the best.