Chloe (2009): A Review

These days, you would find a plethora of movies that start with an interesting premise and run out of juice midway. Atom Egoyan's Chloe, a remake of a French erotic thriller Nathalie,  is an addition to that list.

In the movie, David(Liam Neeson) and Catherine(Juliane Moore) are a middle aged couple who have found a perfect balance between their professional and personal life. When David fails to turn up for his surprise birthday party, Catherine goes through his messages and starts suspecting him of cheating. His flirting with the waitress the following day, further adds to her suspicion. She decides to keep a tab on him and hires an escort named Chloe(Amanda Seyfried). Chloe has to meet David in a restaurant, start a conversation with him and report back to Catherine on the developments. Chloe updates her with the stories of their meetings that are leading to a sexual relationship. Her stories start arousing Catherine and she finds herself gradually getting attracted to Chloe, leading to some complex situations.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (2010) : A Review

The story of Deathly Hallows Part 1 continues from where it left off from Half Blood Prince. Dark Lord and his associates have taken over the ministry and began tormenting and prosecuting the Muggles in the Wizarding community. After Dumbledore's death, Harry, Hermione and Ron are on their own and have to find the Horcruxes while on the run and destroy them to bring down the Dark Lord.

The Harry Potter series has come down a long way from the heavily toddlerized Philosopher's Stone. The boys have become men and the girls have turned into nice women. I must say that this is the most complete movie in the series. Unlike the others, the movie doesn't take a hurried approach and gives ample time for the story to unfold. This had been possible only due to the division of the story into a 2 part movie. I wish the same approach was taken for some of the other movies in the series. The story though drags a bit where Harry and Hermione continue their search in the absence of Ron, but this attributes to the same dragging sequence in the book. The Part 1 concludes well and doesn't look like an incomplete movie. Kudos to director David Yates and the screenplay writer Steve Kloves for this.

Chiriakhana (1967) : A Review

Byomkesh Bakshi is a popular, fictional private detective from Bengali literature and was created by Sharadindu Bandyopadhyay inspired from Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes. Having only seen his Apu trilogy prior to this, Satyajit Ray for me has always been an auteur who gave utmost importance to realism while the movies of that era were mostly melodrama with heavily theatrical acting. Therefore, it aroused my curiosity of how Ray would have treated a story that didn't belong to his sensibilities (or so I thought as I didn't know about Feluda then).

Chiriakhana (which means Zoo in Bengali/Hindi) begins with Byomkesh and his friend cum trusted associate Ajit awaiting for their next case when it finally knocks their door. The client, Mr.Sen who is a retired judge, runs a reformist colony (named Chiriakhana) which houses some of the ex-convicts who were sentenced by him. He seeks Byomkesh's services to investigate a song that he overhears someone humming in the colony. Byomkesh figures it out to be a song from an abandoned film whose actress cum singer is accused of a murder and has been absconding ever since. One day Mr.Sen suspects something and requests Byomkesh to visit his colony urgently when someone murders him while he is still on the call. Byomkesh now has to investigate his client's murder and also link the mystery of the song with the murder.

POSTER POURRI : Polish Movie Posters

I stumbled upon this unique art form of film posters from Poland. Apparently the poster art started in Poland sometime in the late 19th century and evolved over the years to its current form. It is characterized by its peculiar use of colors and its abstract and surreal nature. Poster art is not just limited to film posters but extends to business advertisements, theater, politics and other arenas as well. Here I have put up some samples posters comparing the Polish posters[on the left] with the Hollywood ones[on the right]. Though I like them both, Polish ones look more artistic and hence demand more respect.

Apocalypse Now

    

Jaws

    

Platoon

     

Roman Holiday

    

Rosemary's Baby

    

Star Wars

    

Sunset Blvd.

    

Vertigo

    

Resources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polish_School_of_Posters
http://www.cinemaposter.com/ [Contains a huge collection of poster art for purchase]

Adam's Rib (1949) : A Review

I have just finished watching Adam's Rib and am still smiling while writing this review. This is a charming, romantic, comedy about the battle of sexes fought mainly by the two protagonists, played to perfection by Ms. Katherine Hepburn and Mr. Spencer Tracy.

Adam's Rib, directed by George Cukor, starts with a house-wife following her husband to the mistress' place and fires shots at him in anger. The husband survives and the wife is charged with an attempted murder. Adam(Tracy) and Amanda(Hepburn) are a happy lawyer couple who till now have managed to keep their profession out of their personal lives. Adam, a public prosecutor, gets the case to prosecute the wife while Amanda takes it up to defend the wife. Their arguments in the courtroom by day, gradually mounts tension in their domestic lives in the evening.