The Waitress (2007)

A beautiful movie with carefully interwoven emotions which won’t be really visible if you watch it as any other normal visual saga.
The movie is based upon the life of a lady (Jenna) who works as a waitress at a local pie-baking restaurant. She is portrayed a very calm person, who has wonderful attitude towards life, always ready to help her friends and most importantly, passionate towards her job – making pies. She has a very dominating husband (Earl), and somehow she is drifting through her married life without any really interest or pleasure. At work, she has two fellow waitresses (Becky & Dawn) and a special customer, an old man (the old Joe), to whom no one else is ready to serve, except her. Apart from these characters, there is an obstetrician (Dr Pomatter) around whom the whole story revolves. The movie is an elegant picturisation of the various turns Jenna’s life takes. For each situation in her life, she is shown baking an imaginary pie, and giving them unusual names. For e.g. - I Hate My Husband Pie... You take bittersweet chocolate and don't sweeten it. You make it into a pudding and drown it in caramel. Also, time to time she writes a letter to her unborn baby, discussing all that is going on in her mind. These two means used by the director to unveil Jenna’s emotions and thoughts, give a special touch to the movie. She struggles through her work, a parallel affair with the doctor & an un-accommodating husband, to finally find her blessed with a beautiful daughter, when she decided to break free from all shackles and start afresh.
The movie is a beautiful portrayal of womanhood, true friendship & the vulnerability of an emotionally shattered soul. The soundtrack is fabulous, particularly the pie-song, which she sings to her baby.

Baby don't you cry, gonna make a pie, gonna make a pie with a heart in the middle. Baby don't be blue, gonna make for you, gonna make a pie with a heart in the middle. Gonna make a pie from heaven above, gonna be filled with strawberry love. Baby don't you cry, gonna make a pie, and hold you forever in the middle of my heart. (I am still searching for this OST)
Hear the complete song here

Some memorable dialogues from the movie:-
Becky: If you haven’t noticed, my right boob is way up here in Maine and my left boob is danglin' down here in Florida.
++++++++++
Old Joe: Are you with child?
Jenna: Shush!
Old Joe: I saw that look on a woman's face before. Her name was Annette. I made sweet sweet love to her all through the summer of 1948, and she had that look on her face all through the fall. ++++++++++
Jenna: Dear Baby, I hope someday somebody wants to hold you for 20 minutes straight and that's all they do. They don't pull away. They don't look at your face. They don't try to kiss you. All they do is wrap you up in their arms without an ounce of selfishness in it.

My Rating: $$$$
Director: Adrienne Shelly
Cast:-
Keri Russel – Jenna
Nathan Fillion – Dr Pomatter
Jeremy Sisto – Earl
Genre: Comedy/Romance

Your Rating

Groundhog Day (1993)

I saw this movie last week and I was completely stumped by the strong message it gave through it seemingly simple and straight story line.

The movie starts with Bill Murray, the lead actor, who is portraying a journalist, start for a nearby city to cover an even called “Groundhog day”. He is accompanied by a producer (the lead actress) and a cameraman. He reaches the place and covers the event and then plans to return the very next day. Next morning when he wakes up he realizes that everything is the same, same program on the radio, exactly the same people he meets on his way out and then he realizes it’s the same day as yesterday … it’s the “Groundhogs day” again. He find the producer waiting for him at the same place to cover the festival. He meets the same people again and they say exactly the same things again.

Then the movie show this cycle being repeated all over … day by day .. daily. Everyday he finds himself living the same day again … the “Groundhog day”. No matter what he does during the day, no matter where he ends up at night, in the morning he is again at his bed, waking up to the same radio program and to the same day. He tries everything, commits crimes and ends up in jail, has sex with total strangers, kills himself, but again the next day he finds himself waking up to the “Groundhog day”.
Then finally he decides to make something good out of all this. He starts learning different things, starts helping different people, because he already knows what wrong is going to happen with whom. Also, he tries to win over the producer, whom he loves secretly. Everyday he learns something new about her and then repeats the things she likes the next day.

Most of the people don’t understand the sense of it when the movie ends. We just tend to think, “Ok, so what next? Where did all this end? OK, he came back to a new day finally, but what after that?”. We usually fail to get the real message. The movie portrays the life of most of us. The way we are stuck in the same dead schedule, day after day. They way we are living the same day again and again. The way we have lost value for the small things around us and the way we have got so busy with things which really don’t matter.

All in all, a gem of a movie. I will really recommend everyone to see this.


IMDB
My Rating - $$$$
Director - Harold Ramis
Cast:-
Phil Connors - Bill Murray
Rita - Andie MacDowell
Larry - Chris Elliott?
Genre - Comedy

Your Rating

About a Boy (2002)

The only reason I saw this movie was that I found the name somewhat intriguing. It was lying there in my hard disk for quite some time now & each time I saw it, I decided to see it sometime later. Yesterday I finally thought of giving it a go & I tell you, I don’t regret my decision. The movie starts with two parallel stories running independent of each other. One is about a man (Will) who does nothing. He is living his life in seclusion and believes that “every man is an island”. He believes in living alone and devotes all his time entirely on himself. The reason behind his doing nothing is a very popular song written by his dad, the royalties of which give him enough moolah to live a comfortable life. He has divided his time into “units” and allocates some units to all the daily chores of his. Like one unit for breakfast, one for bathing, two for watching TV, etc. The other story is about a little boy (Marcus) who lives with his mother. This boy finds himself constantly bullied by other children at school and finds everything going against him. His mother is constantly depressed and has lost all interest towards life.

Starting with a parallel depiction of the two lives, the movie brings both the characters together when Will, who suddenly discovers that it’s much more fun & hassle free to date divorced women, finds himself at SPAT (Single Parents A Together), where Marcus has arrived with his mother’s friends. Will goes for an outing with the lady and Marcus accompanies them. This is where they come to know each other. While dropping Marcus on the way back to his home, Will finds out that Marcus’ mother has attempted suicide. After this incident Marcus realizes that her mother is too lonely once he leaves home & he needs some backup. So he tries fixing Will and his mother, which eventually doesn’t work, but in the process he develops good friendship with Will. The movie then revolves around how Will helps Marcus develop a high self esteem and how the mother-son relation becomes stronger and happier.

The movie along with a decent story line has some very good performance given by Hugh Grant (Will) and Nicholas Hoult (Marcus). Their performances are very spontaneous and never during the entire 120 odd minutes do they give u a chance to yawn. It’s a mixture of comedy and drama and a saga worth watching. And as I always do with the movies I watch, I learnt some lessons from this one too. It teaches you to be yourself no matter what other people think. To be happy in your happiness and of those whom you love. It inspires you to help others who are in need and to live a life directed outwards, towards the happiness of others.

Imdb

My Rating: $$$
Cast: Hugh Grant, Nicholas Hoult, Toni Collete, Rachel Weisz
Directed by: Chris & Paul Weitz
Genre: Drama/Comedy

Your Rating

The Pursuit of HappYness (2006)

There are very few movies that make me think, that really create a spark of inspiration in my mind. "The pursuit of happYness" is surely one such movie. I got this movie from a friend, who in turn downloaded it from the net. The first time i heard about this one was only when i read the movie's name in his hard-disc. Before that i never heard the name or the story-line or the cast. The name of the movie sounded interesting to me, which was the only reason i decided to choose it among the 10 other movies i was having with me. But surely, it was a wise choice i made. The story revolves around a central character "Chris Gardner", played by Will Smith. The movie shows Chris as a salesman for a company which manufactures a "Bone densitometer". Chris is always seen moving around a with a big machine in his hand, going to various doctors and clinics, try selling his machine. As for Chris' family, he has a wife and a child. a wide, who is always dissatisfied with his work and a child whom he loves the most. The family works hard to earn a living and is shown struggling in the race of life. One day on his way to a clinic Chris stops to admire a beautiful car. He immediately asks the owner "Sir, what do u do to own such a masterpiece?". The man smiles and replies "I'm a stock broker". That day Chris decided that he too is going to enter the business. He enters the office and enquires about the formalities of applying for a job at that place. He is told that the company takes 20 people for a probation period of 3 months, without any salary, and then one among those twenty is confirmed for the job. Chris goes back to his wife to discuss the matter, who instead of being supportive criticizes his decision and eventually leaves him. So now, Chris is left with his son, a meager amount of money and after a two months, when he's not able to pay the rent, a public dormitory to spend the night at. The movie moves ahead showcasing the struggle of Chris against all the adversities and how he manages to complete the internship and eventually bag the job. The sequences and scenes depicted are very touching at times. The movies looses it's charm at times and goes on the slower side, but it is really enjoyable on the whole. The Director is successful in harnessing the emotions of his viewers and has gone on the old beaten path of a failure turned success. You can draw parallels between the movie and a similar Bollywood saga "Akele hum Akele Tum" but the two are quite different in many respects too. Unlike a typical bollywood ending, Chris' wife doesn't come back to him in the end, once he gets the job and becomes rich. I'd really recommend you to watch this movie if you are a Will Smith fan. You can see him in a completely different shade. A different aged look, a mature role and a very touching performance.

Imdb
My Rating : $$$$
Cast: Will Smith, Thandie Newton, Jaden Christopher Smith, Dan Castellaneta, Zuhair Haddad
Directed by: Gabriele Muccino
Produced by: David Alper, Teddy Zee, Mark Clayman


Your Rating

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003)

Bloody ... Brutal ... Barbaric
I don't think any words are enough to express in entirety, the fear the movie induces in you. The director has taken absolute care to make sure that enough blood is spilled during the whole horror drama to make the viewer feel as if he himself is drenched in it. Violence and fear being the central idea, the movie to an extent, succeeds in its attempt to horrify it's audience. Many a times i was able to distinctly feel the chill running down my spine.

The background is set against the economic slowdown phase of the US when jobs were slashed and people were rendered unemployed. The movie starts with a butchery where a woman is slaughtering animals. Suddenly she starts moaning with pain and gives birth to a baby boy. The boy is freakingly weird in appearance and has a disfigured face. This boy is later picked up from the garbage bin by a poor lady. The movie progresses with the aeging of the boy shown as a short visual sequence. On the other hand a pair of couples is shown heading towards a Military base when they meet a sheriff on the highway. This man who is actually a murderer of the original sheriff, takes the three of them hostage in his house while the fourth girl is left behind.

The rest of the story revolves around how this girl enters the house only to see all her friends butchered one by one. One horrible seen which i distinctly remember is when she enters the slaughter house and finds her boyfriend nailed to a slab. She hides beneath that slab as she hears Leatherface (the main charachter) entering the basement. From the slit of the slab she can see the monster with a huge chainsaw in his hand. Then she watches her boyfriend's body cut into half and the skin of his face ripped off, only for Leatherface to have a new mask for his own face. She tries her best to save her friends but all in vain. Finally she decides to flee but in a utterly predictable "Bollywood" style, she finds Leatherface sitting at the back of the car. The movie ends with the villain drilling the chainsaw right through the car's seat and the chest of the girl.

Movie is well directed and achieves its aim to an extent - creating a feeling of fear and horror. Certainly not for the weak hearted. Watch the movie at night in a dark room to absorb it the way it is intended to be taken.

Imdb
My Rating : $$

Director: Jonathan Liebesman
Writer(s): David J. Schow, Sheldon Turner
Cast: Jordana Brewster, Andrew Bryniarski, R. Lee Ermey, Taylor Handley, Matthew Bomer, Diora Baird, Heather Kafka, Marietta Marich, Terrence Evans

Release Date: October 4 2006
Official Site: TexasChainsawMovie.com
Distributor: New Line Cinema
Genre: Horror, Thriller
Your Rating

School For Scoundrels (2006)

If you are fed up with the lazy gear your life has got into, if you are tired of all the failures coming your way, if you like to smile but all you can do is frown, then this is a tailor made movie - specially for you. The movie revolves around a central character Roger (Jon Heder) who is so beaten by life that he doesn't find anything going his way. He sucks at his job, gets bullied by strangers, faints while talking to the girl he likes, gets dumped by a small boy whom he teaches swimming at the "Big Brother" teaching class and has lost all the confidence in himself. Then one day his friend at 'Big Brother" suggests him to contact some Dr P. This Dr P runs a small school for people like Roger, to make them stand on their feet and face life.

Our guy somehow manages to join the class and finds himself among 15 other people like him. People who have lost all confidence in life, in themselves and are pretty sure they are not worth anything. This class has a teacher, Dr P & his monstrous assistant "Lesher". Dr P teaches his students how live life on one's own terms. He gives all the golden rules to his students and constantly monitors their progress. After a phase of initial hesitation, Roger starts learning, but to Dr.P's amazement he advances too soon, too fast. Roger finally succeeds to date the girl he likes and find a new zest in life. But when everything seems to get on track, he is shocked to discover that his very own mentor, Dr.P is hitting at the girl he loves. Confused and amazed, he is told by his friends, that Dr P usually does this to people who threaten his authority, to people to become too smart for him or to put in the simplest of words, to people who have a potential to be another Dr.P. Such people are ruined and decimated by Dr P so that he can always be the unbeatable.

The movie progresses with Roger taking Dr. P in a head-on confrontation, questioning his authority and pledging to get his girl back. The movie has numerous twists and turns with both sides (Roger & Dr P) having the ball in their courts at different times. Finally our hero succeeds in winning his girl and exposing Dr P. The movie ends with Dr P meeting Roger in personal and awarding him the 'first ever Diploma' from the 'School for Scoundrels'. Dr P also requests Roger to some at the school some time and deliver a guest lecture. But our guy replies in superbly framed quote 'Those who can, do. Those who cant,teach'.

The movie gives lots of lessons to its viewers. It is superbly directed with lots of hidden messages. If someone has a sharp eye to comprehend what's hidden, he can really enjoy the drama. It sends a message to take life head-on, to be bold and assertive, to fight for one's rights and to live with a high held head. I thoroughly enjoyed the movie and i bet that anyone who has a passion to live will enjoy it the same way.



Imdb
My Rating: $$$
Directed by:Todd Phillips
Cast: Billy Bob Thornton, Jon Heder, Jacinda Barrett, Michael Clarke Duncan, Horatio Sanz
Genre : Comedy


Your Rating