Jan 28, 2011

Bucket List


The Bucket List is a 2007 comedy-drama film written by, directed by Rob Reiner and starring Jack Nicholson, Morgan Freeman, Sean Hayes, Beverly Todd, and Rob Morrow. The story follows two terminally ill men (Nicholson and Freeman) on a road trip with a wish list of things to do before they "kick the bucket."

Blue-collar mechanic Carter Chambers (Freeman) and billionaire hospital magnate Edward Cole (Nicholson) meet for the first time in the hospital after both have been diagnosed with cancer. They become friends as they undergo their respective treatments. Carter is a gifted amateur historian and family man who had wanted to become a history professor, but in his youth had been "broke, black, and with a baby on the way" and thus never rose above his job at the McCreath body shop. Cole is a corporate tycoon, eccentric loner, four times divorced, who enjoys nothing more than tormenting his personal valet/servant, Matthew, whom he calls Thomas (Hayes). He quickly befriends Carter, making Matthew serve Carter as well as him and ordering his doctor (Morrow) to familiarize himself with Carter's health.

Both are diagnosed with a year or less to live. Carter begins writing a "bucket list," or things to do before "he kicks the bucket." After hearing he has less than a year to live, Carter wads it up and tosses it on the floor. Matthew comes in the next morning and picks it up with other things that are on the floor. Cole finds it among the items and reads it. Cole pushes Carter (by suggesting he add things like seeing the world, sky diving, "fun things," etc.), and promises to finance the trip. Despite the protests of his wife, Virginia (Todd), Carter eagerly agrees.

The pair then begin an around-the-world vacation, embarking on race car driving, sky diving, climbing the Pyramids, and going on lion safari in Africa. Along the way they discuss faith and family, and learn from each other that Carter has long been feeling less in love with his wife and Cole is deeply hurt by his estrangement with his only daughter, who disowned him after he sent some people to "take care" of her abusive husband.

In Hong Kong, Cole hires a prostitute (Rowena King) for Carter , who has never had sex with any other woman than his wife, but Carter declines, finding that the love he had for his wife is still strong. He asks to return home, and in gratitude for helping him, he tries to reunite Cole with his daughter. Cole lacks the courage to face her, however. He angrily storms off and Carter returns home to his wife, children, and grandchildren.

The family reunion is short lived. In the preparation for a romantic interlude with his wife, Carter suffers a seizure and is rushed to the hospital. The cancer has spread to his brain. Cole, who is now in complete remission, visits him there, and they share a few moments together where Carter reveals the origin of the "world's most rare coffee" (Kopi Luwak), along with the factors that contribute to its unique aroma and taste. They share a good laugh and Carter crosses off "laugh till I cry" and insists Cole finish the list without him. Carter then goes into surgery, but the procedure is unsuccessful and he dies on the table.

Cole delivers a eulogy at his funeral, explaining that he and Carter had been complete strangers mere months before his death, but that the last three month's of Carter's life were the best three months of his (Cole's life). He then crosses "help a complete stranger for a common good" off the list. This list item was one that Carter added. Cole says Carter had helped him (Cole), a complete stranger, with Carter knowing it before he (Cole) did. We see Edward finally attempt to reconcile with his daughter. Much to his surprise and joy, she not only accepts him back into her life, but she also introduces him to the granddaughter he never knew he had and he crosses "kiss the most beautiful girl in the world" off the list.

Cole goes on to live to 81 years of age. When he finally passes away, he has his ashes, which were placed inside a Chock full o'Nuts coffee can, placed alongside Carter's, also in the same type of can, on the top of Mount Everest, which Carter (who has been narrating the film) mentions that Cole would have liked, as it was against the law. Matthew does this and as he does so he crosses off the last item on the Bucket List (witness something truly majestic) and places it with them and closes the small black box and reburies it in the snow. This closing makes it unclear whether Carter's ashes initially arrived during a trip made by Cole, or through Cole's behest.

The "Bucket List"
Witness something truly majestic
Help a complete stranger for a common good
Laugh till I cry
Drive a Shelby Mustang
Kiss the most beautiful girl in the world
Get a tattoo
Skydiving
Visit Stonehenge
Spend a week at Louvre
See Rome!
Dinner @ La Cherie D'or
See the pyramids
Get back in touch (previously "Hunt the big cat")
Hong Kong
Victoria Falls
Serengeti
Ride the great wall of China

This movie really made me cry...Applause to all the cast and the creators of this movie.

Ballistic: Ecks vs.Sever

Two former government agents square off as they search for the most deadly new weapon on Earth in this white-knuckle thriller. Sever (Lucy Liu) was once a top agent with the Defense Intelligence Agency, but she quit when her son was killed in a bungled raid organized by Gant (Gregg Henry), and has sworn to take vengeance against him and his colleagues. When Sever learns that Gant and his team are in possession of a remarkable new weapon -- a microscopic device injected into the victim's bloodstream which is benign until triggered, then kills immediately without leaving a trace -- she is determined to get her hands on it, whatever the cost. However, Gant has turned rogue, and FBI agent Julio Martin (Miguel Sandoval) has been ordered to find him and recover his new weapon. Martin needs the best man he can find for the job, and calls upon Jeremiah Ecks (Antonio Banderas), a former FBI tracker, to do the job. Ecks quit the Bureau when his wife was killed, but Martin informs Ecks that his spouse is actually alive and in hiding, and if he can bring in Gant, she will be returned to him. But Ecks has to face the most formidable adversary of his life in Sever, a master of mayhem bent on revenge. Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever was the first English-language feature from Thai filmmaker Wych Kaosayananda (aka Kaos), whose first feature Fah was a box-office blockbuster in his homeland.




Action packed movie.

Jan 27, 2011

Havoc


Havoc is an American film which stars Anne Hathaway, Bijou Phillips, Shiri Appleby, Freddy Rodriguez, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Michael Biehn and Laura San Giacomo. The movies evolves in the life of two teenage girls,Allison( Hathaway) and Emily (Phillips) who were exposed to hip-hop culture which later on inspires them both to imitate a gangster lifestyle. To amuse herself she adopts a faux gangster personality with her friends, and during a drug buy-gone-sour one night, she becomes enamored with the real thing. That's it in a nutshell, though the story is more about how alienated Allison is in the real world, and how her gangsta persona is really just a sad put-on. Ultimately, a romance with gang leader Hector (Freddy Rodriguez, unrecognizable from his clean-cut Six Feet Under days) feels forced and wholly unrealistic, and it quickly grinds the film to a sudden ending.

Written by Stephen Gaghan, the film has more in common with his lesser works like Abandon than it does with his vaunted Traffic. And while the press has focused on what a departure this is for Hathaway, less has been said of its director: Oscar-winning documentarian Barbara Kopple (Harlan County, U.S.A., American Dream, Wild Man Blues), who creates her first and only narrative feature film here, after 30 years in the business. While Kopple's done similar work for TV shows like Oz, I was stunned to see how adept she was with what amounts to an undeveloped script and a difficult story.

Genre: Drama

Synopsis: 'Havoc' is a searing vision of teen culture as it clashes with the real world of urban Latino gangsters. Compelling and comic, contemporary and tragic, this music-driven tale follows two beautiful girls on their journey from the safety of their suburban homes into the dangerous underworld of East L.A., where they learn that even innocent actions have consequences.



Jan 5, 2011

Love Story

A must read and must watched movie.

Probably one of the best love stories ever told, Love Story is one romantic novel that is sure to move you. Love means never having to say you’re sorry. Erich Wolf Segal has done a brilliant job in portraying two characters with which an entire generation could identify themselves. He has balanced the competition between father and son and the love of husband and wife. Opposites in nearly every way, two people immediately attract, share a love that defies everything … yet will end too soon. This story is sure to linger in your heart now and forever. Given here is a short summary of the novel “Love Story”

Plot
Love Story revolves around the lives of two young college lads, whose love for each other was immortal. Oliver Barrett, heir to the Barrett fortune and legacy and Jennifer Cavilleri, daughter of a poor baker who does not own a huge bank account but has lots of love. Oliver was expected to follow in his father's huge footsteps, while Jennifer, a music major, was to go on and study in Paris. But when they meet, the sparks flow, and we get involved with them as their love grows deep and strong.

Oliver turns his back on his family and fortune to marry Jenny. Jenny gives up her dreams of Paris and being a musician. They are happy with each other in their lives and the stable flow of income that is enough to sustain them. But life can be cruel and Jenny is diagnosed with leukemia. With just a few days to live, the novel speaks about the emotional pain they both go through. The novel portrays that love has no language but feelings. “Love Story” moves the compassion of love in you.

My First Wedding

Nick (Kenny Doughty) is fixing the inside of a confessional, in a Church and suddenly hears a woman confessing to him. His attempts to tell her he is just a carpenter fails, especially when he finds Vanessa (Rachael Leigh Cook) to be a very attractive young woman and he falls for her. He takes on the role of a priest, attentively listens to her, and determines to gain her confidence and wins her for himself even if she tells him she is getting married in three days. They appear to be on different wave lengths: she thinks that he is helping her to curb her sensual feelings, actually he is doing everything to make her succumb to his own urges.

The story centers on three unbelievably witless characters in unlikely situations that bring about exaggerated effects. Leigh Cook as Vanessa, Doughty as Nick and Paul Hopkins as Andre, the boyfriend/fiance of Vanessa, lack the capacity to enliven their roles; most of the time they seem to be looking at or reading from the prompter. Thus the rare comic moments misfire. Nick and Vanessa's characters are not pleasant to watch. Neither are they funny.

Nick is a character who succeeds in convincing Vanessa that he is a priest willing to listen to and guide her, even to the extent of having after-hours counseling sessions with her. Vanessa is willingly led; her trust in him is absolute, so much so that he is invited to her wedding rehearsal and to marry her and Andre when the assigned priest celebrant gets sick. Before the last happens, Nick manages to get the bride-to-be in a "bed session" with him. Nick is shown as one capable of convincing everyone, throughout the film that he is a priest in his black soutane, except his parish priest who comes in at the end of the story. He appears with no sense of wrong doing, no regret for all the lies and deceptions he has committed. Vanessa appears to be too much of a simpleton to be real. She is not a Catholic, yet she decides to go to confession in a Catholic Church to a Catholic priest. She says her Andre is a Catholic and believes in being chaste before marriage. But she's finding difficulty in controlling herself. Andre happens to be shown having a tryst with Nick's sister, despite what Vanessa thinks. Nick dupes him into believing that he (Nick) is devil-possessed and he (Andre) must watch over him (Nick) all night long. Andre does not suspect anything and keeps watch over Nick who is actually preventing the bride and groom to-be from being together. He does not show regret when he loses Vanessa.

After Sex


An all star cast movie released on 2007. The story is about an edgy relationship comedy that uses sex as a background to examine intimacy and vulnerability. It's a humorous, yet honest look at the complexity of modern day relationships told through nine separate couples. Through witty dialogue and compromising situations, the film takes us from the beginning of a relationship to the aftermath of one, and examines every stage in between while somehow finding humor within the drama, heartache and confusion of it all. What is learned about human emotions and vulnerability is enlightening and entertainingly sexy and fun.