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Reviews
The Yellow Handkerchief (2008)
pretentious mess.
The apparent news from the in people in the industry was that no distributer wanted to buy this movie. Despite a respectable cast, The Yellow Handkerchief has sat on the shelf for nearly three years. The director, Udayan Prasad, is something of an unknown quantity (he does not have any "A list" films on his resume), and no major distributor was willing to take a chance on such a listless, dialogue-intensive motion picture. The Samuel Goldwyn Company paid a minimal amount for the rights, viewing this as a low-risk, high-reward endeavor. They will no doubt heavily promote Kristen Stewart's involvement, hoping to bilk Twilight fans into seeing this movie. There's little enough to appeal to them in The Yellow Handkerchief and almost nothing for anyone else.
Barry Lyndon (1975)
Kubrick's foray into history is worth a watch even to this day.
Barry Lyndon is one of the most gorgeous looking films ever. It has been said that Kubrick used lenses that were under authoritative use only by NASA! Stanley Kubrick was already considered a master filmmaker when he made Barry lyndon and this film only enhanced his reputation. Barry Lyndon is about an outsider who marries into aristocrat and fakes his life. Ably played by Ryan O Neill Barry lyndon is characteristic of Kubrick from the slow takes to the pans and zooms and of course the cinematography- few films have utilized candles as well as this one. If you haven't seen this movie you should.
All the President's Men (1976)
One of the best political films ever made.
Redford and Hoffman are excellent in this real life take on the watergate scandal which resulted in the axing of President Richard Nixon. Adapted from a book by the chief perpetrators that brought down the presidency, Journalists Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, this film is so good you'd think it was a documentary. Stylishly shot by Alan J Pakula it has a documentarist vibe and feel (probably the filmstock) and the actors are all excellent- as they were back in the day. Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman are really good as the two-investigative journalist's hell bent on finding the truth and everyone from Jason Robards and Hal Holbrook lend in finely tuned performances to give a lot of deft to the film. If you like political thrillers, then All the President's Men is a must watch.
Elysium (2013)
Great sci-fi followup to District 9.
Neill Bloomkamp's Elysium is a good science fiction film which has a lot of social commentary themes going on like his previous endeavor District 9. In this instance it is a look at the economic injustices that he decides to play out. The film is set on a space station orbiting Earth and our lead, played by Matt Damon lands there to save his own life. He realizes the difference between the rich who inhabit the ship and the not so well off and decides to fight the injustice. The film looks stunning and Bloomkamp's visual style can easily be distinguished. Matt Damon is adept in playing a mercenary and Jodie Foster is especially delicious playing against type.
Terminator Genisys (2015)
(Avoid being Terminated by this horrible sequel)
A mediocre effort which shouldn't be mentioned in the same breadth as the first two films Genisys is hampered by a predictable plot and mediocre performances. You know the film is bad when a CGI implanted 10 second cameo of Arnie gets more attention and praise than the entire film.
Spectre (2015)
(Good one-time watch)
Not the worst Bond by a long shot but clearly not as good as some of the recent ones like Casino Royale and Quantum Of Solace. Daniel Craig has totally made himself at home in the franchise.