This is a review of arguably the greatest Western ever made, Sergio Leone's The Good, The Bad and The Ugly starring Clint Eastwood, Eli Wallach and Lee Van Cleef.
Story of The Good, The Bad and The Ugly
Tuco is determined to murder Blondie by forcing him to walk through the sun
scorched desert without food and water in order to repay him for blatantly stealing his bounty. But he is interrupted by the arrival of a wagon which had been attacked and contained only one survivor, Bill Carson, also on the cusp of death. But before he dies he promises to tell Tuco the location of a buried fortune in exchange for a drink. However, as fate would have it Tuco only manages to learn the name of the cemetery and Blondie the name of the grave. So now they must keep each other alive in order to make their fortunes.
However, an infamous hit man called Angel Eyes has been eyeing Bill Carson's treasure for quite sometime and he comes to know that Blondie and Tuco, between themselves, knows its location.
Set against a gory civil war the stage is set for the unfolding of a classic treasure-hunt Western--often imitated but never replicated.
Review of The Good, The Bad and The Ugly
Before embarking on this epic movie watch I was warned a quite a few people that this movie was not meant for today's teenagers and I might find it quite slow and even boring. Well, at the end of its 3 odd hours long reel time I
desperately yearned for it go on for just a bit longer! It really is that good!!
However, except for the story, which is delicious twisted in comparison to most other Westerns, I can hardly figure out what is so charming about this movie, making it, quite deservingly, one of the most iconic movies to have come out of Hollywood in the last five decades.
To start with, I didn't care much for the famous title track. Then, apart from Tuco (The Ugly) the other two main characters are kind of stereotypical and their acting slightly wooden and sometimes over dramatic. The fight scenes are also so obviously staged that they are almost comical (though their are a few intense ones as well). Even the dialog contain too many lame jokes and
unintelligent metaphors to rate much merit.
However, director Sergio Leone has somehow managed to gel all these negetives together and utilized the charisma of Clint Eastwood and the excellent camera work to showcase such a fluid narrative that it will truly captivate you and hold you in thrall for its entirety.
Defiance is a World War movie based on true events during the Nazi occupation of Belarus, starring Daniel Craig and directed by Edward Zwick
Story of Defiance
After seeing their parents murdered by the Nazis, Jewish brothers Tuvia (Daniel Craig), Zus and Asael Bielski have no other alternative to hide out in the forests which they know like the back of their hands.But soon more and more Jews,
men, women and children, start to join them from all over the region and not all of them are as tough as the Bielskis. And soon it becomes obvious that they can no longer lead a nomadic experience as they had planned and decides to create a more permanent settlement right in the middle of the forest. But for supplies they must carry out raids and steal from the richer, government favored farmers, irking the Nazis. They also forge a dubious alliance with the Russian army though in effect it is little more than a neutral stand.
This is the story of their determination to live a free life in an occupied country and how they breathed hope amongst the oppressed and enjoyed a self sufficient existence against tremendous odds.
Review of Defiance
Defiance is a rather unique war movie in the sense that it is not an espionage
thriller or movie looking to earn the pity of the audience. Rather it is a movie about fighting back when your back against the wall and tries to woo the audience through displaying sheer valor. I liked this quite refreshing approach to depict another side of the battle--the sliver lining if you will--which brings out the very best in men and creates everyday heroes.
The story telling is exquisite and the acting is also tolerable (even Craig lets his poker face slip from time to time!).
I really enjoyed Defiance because it has a positive vibe about it and can really lift you up. I am only a bit surprised that if it really is an adaptation of real life events then why this fantastic story has remained buried for over half a century.
The Game is a thriller starring Michael Douglas and Sean Penn and directed by David Fincher, dealing with the complex relationship between an immensely successful financier with his possibly charlatan but very dear younger brother.
Story of The Game
What do you get for the man who has... everything?
When his younger brother Conrad (Sean Penn) gifts Nicholas Van Orton an invite
to be entertained by very unusual firm called Consumer Recreation Services for his 48th birthday (CRS) little does he know that he is in for an adventure of a lifetime--an adventure he could well do without. It becomes apparent that the "entertainment" provided by CRS is of a very dubious nature involving a large variety of most inappropriate practical jokes including break-ins, simulating accidents and even gunfights so that it soon turns to torment and a matter of life and death. With an unknown woman, Christine for company Nicholas sets out to find the truth before it drives him out of his mind. After being betrayed at every turn by just about everyone he ever trusted he is ready for a final showdown on the roof of a skyscraper. But his mind is so blurred that does he even know the difference between what is real and what appears to be real?
Review of The Game
The Game is a real gem of an original (and I am not using the word lightly)
character driven thriller that just borders on the psychological thriller genre. This movie is not about slick dialogues and dashing men and women in smart and sexy colthes respectively. It is a mix of smooth editing, exceptional directing and apt background scores that helps to maintain the dark atmosphere of The Game and manages to keep you on the edges of your seats, not mention reeling from twist after twist after twist--and everyone of them strikingly original.
But what is really great (or lame depending on what type of a movie watcher you are) is the ending which is so bizarre that it will warrant another viewing just to see if you can pick up the clues this time around.
Ring a bell? Who can forget the quintessential MI6 secret agent and estrogen magnet, the one and only James bond? Agent 007 belongs to that elite class of fictional characters whose fame has eclipsed that of his creator (Ian Fleming) and all other mortal beings responsible for his immortality
When middle aged New Yorker Meg Altman (Jodie Foster) gets a divorce from his filthy rich husband she makes sure that she and her daughter (Kristen Stewart) gets the biggest possible
share of her husband's fortune and this includes a multistory, unfairly spacious house in the middle of the city. The house, previously owned by another multi millionaire has a very special feature. It has a state-of-the-art safe room called the panic room which is impossible to break into and is a perfect shelter in case of a break in.
And when there is a break in on the very first night of their stay in their new home Meg Altman and her tomboy daughter finds themselves holed up in the panic room which three burglars in the house. As Meg had not had time to take up security seriously, the burglers should have had an easy time but the only problem is they are looking for over $20 million stashed away in the panic room by its previous owner. One of the burglars is Burnham (Forrest Whitaker), the man who actually built the panic room and he knows the only way they can get in is by tricking Meg into opening the door from the inside. Meg also has a serious problem, her daughter is diabetic and her blood sugar level is falling at an alarming rate
Over the years I have become a really big fan of Marin Scorsese thrillers and just couldn't wait to dig into his 1991 remake of Cape Fear starring Robert De Niro amongst others. And as always he does not disappoint.
This November master innovator Stephen Spielberg saw his long time dream of creating a full length Tin Tin come to fruition and also proved that the newly proposed Performance Capture technology is a commercially viable option for animators.
From the makers of Shrek and Kung Fu Panda comes another anime franchise which is here to stay. Even as the sun has quite possibly set on the once mesmerizing Shrek series, one of the ogre's side kicks, the dashing and endearing Puss in Boots is here to take over center stage.
The Dirty Picture featuring an all-star cast of Vidya Balan, Nasseeruddin Shah, Emran Hasmi and Tushar Kapoor had been making a lot of noise even months before its release and was perhaps the most talked about film since Shah Rukh Khan's Ra-One released in late October and here's a low down on this movie based on the sex starved South Indian film industry of the miserable 80s.
I don't know what it is about James Bond movies but I never tire of his charms, witty one liners, almost comic violence, the amazing and exotic locations and of course the legendary Bond Girls and GoldenEye delivers beautifully on all thse fronts and is one of my favorite James Bond movies and definitely Pierce Brosnan's best outing as the iconic British Secret Agent 007. Xenia Onattop is also one of my favorite Bond girls (and perhaps the sexiest Bond villain) as Famke Janssen beautifully combines the power of Grace Jones (A View to a Kill) and the sex appeal of Ursula Andress (Dr. No) to personify an orgasmic killing machine!
Further, the plot for once is quite believable and not unnecessarily convoluted and there are quite a few decent enough twists to make the story go along rather nicely. Overall Golden Eye, if not an adrenaline pumping thriller, should at least serve as a decent stress buster movie.
And there they are Again!!!! (I just reloaded the page after comment posting. the automatic stuff).It is located in between your site logo (photo) and the body.
Kubrick and his crew, in spite of all this, are on the top of their game in this. Eyes Wide Shut might be remembered simply as a display of elegant direction, always excellent cinematography, a haunting musical score and mouth watering production design.
Totally agree!! At times EWS Gave me the goosebumps
Ok. I stand corrected. I am totally uninterested in space movies (seen no star trek or star wars movie) and so was skeptical. Thanks for the input.
But reading through the comments on that page one in particular caught my attention
I think its notable how comparatively poorly Star Trek has sold - it has the second most films but is pretty solidly back in the pack. Compared to the other space sci-fi franchise, Star Wars, it has double the number of films but a third the earnings.
Did I mention Google once displayed top-less girls (with strategically placed limbs) on a G-rated article over at hubpages? Google has monopoly in the industry and is taking unfair advantage!
On an average I earn $1.50 a month from Filmenator.com And I have started wondering if that is the price of freedom of expression.
Appreciate your spirit Bryn!
Yes. But the main point is that they are CONVERGING towards similar conclusion. And look way too much alike in recent years.
Can you actually give me some figures to show that Star Trek is richer than Transformers franchise? IMDB kind of suggests otherwise. But may be I am misinterpreting the data
I think your last quote is possibly incomplete.
What I mentioned is still pretty common but still not quite as common as that (eg. Spiderman and Batman movies)
You are right that just about all sci-fi movies turn earth into an Armageddon but it is still a similarity between the two.
And lastly, like I said, this is just a conjecture. And I respect your decision to reject it. No hard feelings. Cheers.
Wow! U r really observant!
Yes I did. I actually rechecked Adsense TOS and found that absolutely NO nudity is allowed by Adesense under any pretext whatsoever. So, why take a chance, right?
I have also deleted a sex scene screen shot in my review of Pan Nalin's Samsara.
Hope you don't mind?
Btw, I seem to recall that ur Caligula post had quite a bit of breast nudity. Ne issues with that?
scorched desert without food and water in order to repay him for blatantly stealing his bounty. But he is interrupted by the arrival of a wagon which had been attacked and contained only one survivor, Bill Carson, also on the cusp of death. But before he dies he promises to tell Tuco the location of a buried fortune in exchange for a drink. However, as fate would have it Tuco only manages to learn the name of the cemetery and Blondie the name of the grave. So now they must keep each other alive in order to make their fortunes. 
desperately yearned for it go on for just a bit longer! It really is that good!!
unintelligent metaphors to rate much merit.
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