Network (1976)

This movie was engrossing from the start. An old news reporter plans to commit a suicide on national tv in front of millions of viewers, because he was fired and had nothing going for himself other than the job! I was hoping it was not another hero hiralal! :) Far from it actually - it was more like a Madhur Bhandarkar film in many ways* - it had a STRONG female lead and mocked the commercialization of news.

Faye Dunaway won the best actress academy award for this one, and I think she completely deserved it. Peter Finch won the Best Actor award, and was the first one to receive a posthumous award for an acting category, and he so deserved it too. I think any film in which the lead actors bag an academy award is completely worth a watch! (ok, the only other example I can think of is As good as it gets).

No spoilers for this movie, because I liked it as a whole :)

* Qsn to all those Madhur Bhandarkar haters - how come you liked Network huh?

Groundhog Day

This is an old one, but I managed to watch it only recently.
Its a hilarious movie - mushy and cute, but am guessing mush-hating guys could like it too.
What I dont understand is - how come this movie doesnt have a Bollywood copy? It has ample scope for mirch masala.
If like me, you have missed this one all these years, please go ahead and check it out.

[Spoiler ahead]
I loved the scene where Bill Murray tells Andie Mc'Dowell that he is 'A god', not 'THE god', and goes on to explain it.

Yeh mera India

It's an Indianized version of Crash. There are so many stories running in parallel (similar to Mumbai meri jaan), but somehow the movie seemed complete, with no questions left unanswered. Some characters seemed exaggerated - like those of Perizaad Zorabian or Milind Gunaji or Rajat Kapoor; but on the other hand character's of Anupam Kher, Seema Biswas and Sarika seemed so real.
I don't know what message the movie tried to convey, but I liked the fact that everything ended on a happy note.

[Spoiler alert]
The court scene involving Anupam Kher was really moving. Sometimes you wish the judicial system works more subjectively than objectively..
I also liked Seema Biswas's character - practical, yet infectiously optimistic. :)

Up

The name is short and sweet and so is the movie. It's a gzip of a normal persons life - a person who appears to be simple, laid back, but who is adventurous at heart. Yeah, there are MANY implementation related questions I have about his adventure, but well, who cares how he does it when it looks like so much fun!
Like all Pixar movies, the movie makes you laugh, cry and happy.

[Spoiler alert]
I loved Kevin (the bird) and Doug (the talking doggie). Just looking at those 2 characters made me smile :)

District 9

Definitely a unique alien-theme film. Most of the 'alien' movies portray them as all-powerful, scheming beings. But this one is different. The aliens of District 9 are more 'human' in that sense. The movie touches upon various themes like apartheid (infact the name District 9 is inspired by District 6) and xenophobia.
Interesting film, but extremely gory!
[Spoiler ahead]
What I liked most was how 'human' Christopher was - he loved his kid, loved his friend, hated the humans for conducting medical experiments on his fellow-prawns, but at the same time felt sympathetic towards Wikus :)
I bet he came back for Wikus after 3 years..

Kaminey!!!

Its quite frustrating when you look forward to a movie, and don't get to watch it for months after its release (in this case due to the Swine flu scare). Not only do you not get to watch it, you also get to read reviews, which you try and skip.. But how do you escape status messages and tweets?? Well, finally the problem is solved - and I have watched the film! :)
Firstly, let me mention that I have a soft spot for actors with long hair, and I thoroughly enjoy fast paced films, and I loved Lock Stock.. So how could I not like Kaminey? So at the risk of angering all the Omkara and Maqbool lovers out there, I liked this film almost as much as Omkara, and better than Maqbool. There I said it..
Ofcourse, there are some minor flaws (eg. Charlie sings 'koudi kkoudi paisa paisa, paise ka khel' flawlessly, and Sweety speaks Marathi more like a convent-school-chi-mulgi than a marathi mulgi), but well, they are few, and possibly too well spaced out for me to take notice..

Rachael getting married

This is my favourite of all the 2008 Oscar nominated films.
Favourite for 4 reasons -
1. Bill Irwin (Rachel's dad)
2. Jonathan Demme (The director, of the Silence of the lambs fame)
3. Anne Hathaway (NOT Rachel, but her younger sister Kym) and
4. Rosamarie DeWitt (Rachel, who in real life is the grand-daughter of James Braddock, the Cinderella Man)
in that order.

The reason I have picked the above pic is becoz it has 3 of the 4 ppl I mentioned :)

I dont remember crying so much during any film since Masoom (which btw always makes me cry).

If you like hat-ke movies, and dont mind emotional dramas, do give this one a try..

[Spoiler ahead]
I simply LOVED the character of Bill Irwin - a father who knows his younger daughter is completely messed up, has lost a son, but is thrilled to get together with his family for his elder daughter's wedding! I loved the dishwasher scene, and the way it ended.
Loved the confrontation between Kym and her mom about who is responsible for her brother's death, and also loved almost all of Rachel's dialogues with Kym.
Heck, to put simply, just loved the movie overall!
[/Spoiler ends]