Reviews by Happy Vader

You know why I downloaded this film? No, not because it was No. 2. Because every other list I opened contained Amelie as their favourite character. What made the character so damn special, so favourite that everyone is adding it? Well, I decided to download it once and for all and while sitting down to watch the film, I got a distinct feeling that I was going to regret it but... you know what? I ended up loving it. Next time when you open my list on favourite movie characters, you're bound to find Amelie Poulain.

But what exactly makes her so likable under a rather impressive performance? Showing only limited expressions is something closely associated with silent movies but it can work in the movies of the now if done correctly and Amelie is one example. a fixed, determined stare one second and a tantalizing smile to the screen the other. Like I said, I enjoyed Audrey Tautou's performance and her big eyes, big smile and short haircut really did the trick. A new bubblegum icon is born in her. I also liked her eccentric, somewhat autistic?, likes and interests and many reflect my own. All in all, the character is very fun to watch and even if you may not agree with her, you will find yourself agreeing with some of her unusual antics, shall we say!

Overall, the mood of the film is brilliant. The way it shows the locations of Paris as bridges between shots reminded me of a move seen in Tokyo Story, released more than 40 years before. The music is great, the moments are enchanting in some places, the supporting characters are quite-likable and the cinematography is excellent. It really puts you side by side by the actors or whatever is in focus. So overall, the film is fast, funny and occasionally shocking with a fun character in the lead.

Must watch? of course... Will be blown away? Hard to say but I'm leaning towards YES!

9.5/10

Slow, deliberate pace and heavy realism is what makes Yasujiro Ozu's film, Tokyo Story, a timeless classic. Mind you, this film is not filled with well-known Oscar-nominated/winners all in one place nor does it have characters that look more plastic, wax-models and less humans. They look human just like you or I. They look realistic, they talk realistic, their expressions are realistic and the whole damn film is realistic. See, Tokyo Story has two of the best things I like. From a well-known actor/actress, you know what to expect but from someone who you absolutely have no idea about... they tend to surprise you in several ways. I think this is how a performance should be in a realistic film like this: the emotions, facial expressions and whatnot were accurate and 10/10 spot-on. It was clear they were really into it, not doing it for the sake of giving a first-class performance. Speaking of which, I really enjoyed Chishu Ryu as Shukishi Hirayama and Setsuko Hara as Noriko Hirayama and everyone else gave decent performances too but I really liked the above two.

Also, it has the Tatami-mat shot, the director's trademark. The camera is stationed in one place and, for a lengthy period of time, never moves. I really liked it as I had never seen it in other movies (I may have, but I don't really remember)

Download / snatch / steal this film and be blown by the absolute realism behind it. It may make you think your own position and it may make you cry. If you're tired of seeing characters which resemble wax-models, then this is film to watch and treasure!

9.6/10

All the doubts I had of Studio Ghibli and Hayao Miyazaki were washed away after watching this master-of-a-classic My Neighbour Totoro. Such a loving, warm and friendly cartoon this is. The music is tantalizing and the animation is simply gorgeous. Breathtaking. Riveting. Absolutely brilliant from the start to the finish. This film has no life or death scenes or crying moments, although some may want you to reach for a Kleenex. But remember, this is not a weepy movie neither its an action one. It's all about life and what comes with it. I absolutely, positively LOVED this film and I'm keeping an eye out for more Mr. Miyazaki's works as now I'm fully confident I will enjoy the others as much as I did this one.

The reason why I instantly clicked with the main two characters, Satsuki and her little sister Mei, is because they reflect / mirror my two little sisters, ages 13 & 8. I positively loved their characteristics and the loving chemistry both shared with each other. Had this been an American film, the elder might have slapped the younger. Had this been Indian, vice versa. I'm still looking for cartoons who portray siblings, especially girls, in a more positive and likable light. Out of the two, I really liked Mei because of her determination, stubbornness and, to some extend, heroism + I liked her original Japanese V.O (Chika Sakamoto) and her English V.O (Elle Fanning) wasn't bad at all. The way she constantly follows her elder sister around, often doing what she's doing, and often falling while running reflects, like I said, my youngest sister who does 10/10 the same.

Then we have two of the most lovable, huggable critters in cartoon history: Totoro and the Catbus. Both are simple in imagination & design, yet rich in what they deliver. With their surreal smile and dominating screen presence, there is no wonder why they are one of the greatest. However, the character of Catbus might be a little misleading to some minors and what exactly I mean by that, even I have no idea but I just got a feeling, that's all.

All in all, My Neighbour Totoro is undoubtedly one of the most lovable film ever made with a surprisingly simple plot and a host of likable characters. Also, the emotions seen in this film is rare compared to others. The realism is so high that you won't be able to believe you're watching a cartoon. A positively brilliant cartoon, suitable for all ages and size, and deserves to be watched!!

10/10

Quite possibly one of the most darkest, surreal and disturbing movie of modern times, Nightwatch also happens to be the greatest Russian movie I've seen so far. Come to think of it, it's the only Russian film I've seen so far but something tells me I will be checking out more Russian flicks soon. As seeing how brilliant the movie was, I kinda regret it because it's based on a book, although loosely and it was only after finishing the movie twice I got to know this and frankly speaking, I don't like watching movies before reading the books as it always obscures my views. Now I will read the book exactly how I saw the movie but I think I'll manage. Anyway, this is a positively brilliant film and deserves to be called a masterpiece but too bad this is the only film I like (so far) by Timur Bekmambetov and its a shame really as seeing how promising he looked back then.

Onto the movie: the best part is the cinematography. It's one of the best and it also has the dreaded-layer atmosphere (just a term I coined up), a.k.a the heavy layer, meaning that you feel "heavy" while watching a movie and you expect anything, in the scary sense, to happen at anytime possible. It's also not visually colourful nor visually dull. Its somewhere in-between but manages to be both at given scenes. Also, I haven't said anything about the acting performances, so here goes: Konstantin Khabenskiy as Anton Gorodetsky and Galina Tyunina as Olga and, to some extend, Dmitriy Martynov as Yegor.

All in all, Nightwatch is a superb film, not too fast paced and excellently told!

8.5/10

In the animation field, Pixar, Disney & Dreamworks all triggered their success after their very first film itself. This can also be said of Blue Sky Studios. Unfortunately, this was the only film I liked by this studio but I did also enjoy Robots and, to some extend, the Ice Age sequel. The animation is very gorgeous and the storyline, simple as it may seem, is very touching and moralistic. Expert viewers may notice several similarities between this and Monsters, Inc. and/or The Lion King.

Opening off with arguably one of the best cartoon characters, Scrat, we are quickly thrown into the real storyline and from there, I think this line would be appropriate, the laughs just snowballs. With a rather impressive voice-over (check out Ray Romano, Jon Leguizamo & Goran Visnjic) and excellent pop-culture references (seriously, the part where Pinky gives a Vulcan salute to the spaceship), Ice Age is here to stay for a long time and very well could be the Three Musketeers of our generation. Like I said above, it's also very touchy and it gives you no reason to dislike the film. All in all, this film is fun to watch and is very easy to swallow and if you're a fan of simple settings, great dialogues and close friendships, then this film is not to be missed!

8.3/10

The title, not referring to a cruel or sadistic person, but rather the birthmark of Jamie (the protagonist) around his eye which is shaped like a heart and when he makes a Faustian deal with Papa B., the Devil, his birthmark vanishes, or at least that's what he thinks. Finding this film was a case of serendipity. I got lost on YouTube and I eventually landed on this trailer because of the menacing thumbnail. I downloaded it on the spot and woah! I liked it.

First of all, this is a British horror film and British horror, apart from American & Australian, has never failed to make a big, or at least good, impression on me. I liked the quite-dark tone of this film and Jamie Morgan is probably the most realistic and human character I've seen in a horror movie. I liked Jim Sturgess's performance and pretty much held the film on his shoulders. He is definitely an actor to keep an eye out for and in the supporting, everyone gave decent performances, most especially by Eddie Marsan as The Weapons Man and Joseph Mawke as Papa B. and also Timothy Spall as George Morgan, Jamie's father, in a brief screentime.

The horror tone, like I said, was good but somewhere along the way it loses it touch but gets it back again by the time it ends. Speaking of which, the ending is very Sixth Sense like where the viewer and the protagonist is left surprised to the point of being cheated. All in all, Heartless is a must watch because it has a distinct emotional and a human feel to it which you've probably never seen in any other horror films of the late. Heartless is also quite unique and one should watch it in order to experience that and believe me, you will love it!

8.0/10

An ensemble cast, a great storyline, great cinematography and (somewhat) cheesy dialogues is what makes this film (English: Sometimes Happiness, Sometimes Sorrow) one of the very few great movies ever to come out of Bollywood. Seriously, this is one of the only 7-8 Bollywood movies I will recommend you watching (with subtitles of course)... Even though he had played the same role many times before, Shah Rukh Khan actually looked quite fresh and new here. I mean, I never understood the whole King Khan business (I think Aamir is more deserving of that title) and the reason why I mentioned that because many consider this to be his greatest role and the film that made him King Khan in the first place. Anyway, from the modern Indian cinema, this stands out as arguably one of the greatest in almost all fields: the acting (especially by Hrithik Roshan) is superb and they share flawless chemistry, the theme is very inspiring and the greatest I've seen in it's field and overall, the watch-factor is great.

9.0/10

This is true Indian cinema at it's most finest. Khandahar (English: Ruins), directed by Mrinal Sen is a classic example of a true Bollywood experience. It combines the best qualities in one film: Minimal setting, short-but-to-the-point dialogues and no songs but rather a very beautiful score in the background. The story is also very simple, intriguing and top of all, gives a new meaning to realism in movies.

Naseerudin Shah is undoubtedly and undeniably the King of Bollywood and he masterfully plays Subhash, an unassuming photographer, in this movie. In the supporting we have Shabana Azmi, an equally classic performance. You see, Bollywood's main strength is drama and they can deliver plenty of it without screwing anything up. The realism, like I said, is realistic to the point that one might think that they are watching a documentary or a reality TV show but even then, a that might seem staged in front of this movie. Go ahead, try to find this with subtitles and you will be amazed by the force behind it.

9.2/10

RoboCop is one of the seminal movie of the 80's. Following the wake of The Terminator, this Paul Verhoeven directed movie mixes the very two things the former did: Permy hairstyles and extreme anesthetization of violence that would fulfill even the most wildest, wettest dreams of Tarantino. RoboCop has deeper themes in it than any other action movie released around it's time. This film is filled with realistic corruption, how the rich looks upon his underlings and the race to become the best and better than anyone.

We follow in the footsteps, or robot-steps, of the deep voiced Peter Weller as the titular character as he struggles along to fight justice and at the same time, know more about himself when he was known as Murphy. Mr. Weller draws such a distinct line between man & machine that it's totally incomparable to other 'machine' movies, especially The Terminator and well, others! In the supporting we have Ronny Cox (Duelling Banjos, anyone?) playing a very memorable villain. The performances by everyone was fine but it really was Ronny Cox who stole the show. Granted that this is the only good installment and the sequels were not worth it, especially the 3rd part.

So, if you're a fan of Paul Verhoeven (seriously, The Hollow Man and Total Recall were good), you will enjoy but more than that, you will enjoy the powerness and it may appear quite heartbreaking to you, especially the ending!

8.9/10

This, I won't lie, was one of the very few films I'd promised myself I would never watch (reasons not telling) but I broke it by reading a few reviews. Remember kids: Don't judge a book by it's cover and never, EVER judge a movie by it's review. I'm not saying it was a disappointment, although it does kinda tread somewhere around that line, but it wasn't exactly a great movie either. I guess I never really did like much of Edgar Wright's works (bar Hot Fuzz, which definitely was funny)... Scott Pilgrim is one of the more recent movies which is based on a graphic novel / comic I've never read, so my views may be a little different. It was quite innovative, I'm giving it that, but also it was quite shallow and dull in places, especially the parts concerning Scott's first outing with Ramona, the whole scene concerning Todd Ingram (although the Battle of the Bass was quite good) and especially the part concerning Lucas Lee which was just a pretty good moment and Chris Evans gave a pretty good performance. Other than that, the cinematography was unique (reminded me a little of Fight Club) and the whole comic-book outlook was also good but the characters were not well-defined, at least to me. The only great performance was by Kieren Culkin as Wallace Wells and somewhat decent by Michael Cera as the titular character... I guess I'm not too much exposed to him to call him a good actor so I will just leave at that.

Anyhow, I saw Kick-Ass yesterday, a film almost on the same vein, and I have to say I liked that one better although I really enjoyed the cinematography on this one. My final verdict: A film solely for comic book fans and/or fans of Michael Sera but as for others, they may find it dull in places!

6.0/10