The Matrix

This film revolutionised the way I had previously thought about my existence, spirituality and religion. I have never been the same again. Thus this is the film that changed my life forever and transformed me for all times to come -- the key turning point in my life.

Like for many others as well, it was on my second viewing that I really got the gist of the film.

I went to see the film 7 times when it was showing on cinemas in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and even then it was not enough.

I also distinctly remember one of my friends, who is an air steward, who visited me that time and when he had to choose between two films to see at the cinema as he had to fly off again, he choose to see the lame Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace which put me to sleep.

The Matrix is revolutionary epic science fiction fantasy with revolutionary visual effects which won it 4 Oscars including for visual effects, beating Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace which must have really pissed off George Lucas (I actually feel sympathy for him after his own revolutionary amazing digital animation work which but somehow never raises his film to level of art).

Time Magazine chose The Matrix as its best film of 1999 though the Oscar for Best Film that year went to American Beauty.

Although Keanu Reeves cannot act, once again he shows that he just being there in an action movie is enough!

Directed by the Wachoski brothers who made the highly acclaimed Bound -- with a lesbian twist.

REVIEW BY HILATH

The Matrix on IMDB.com

The Iron Giant

Based on Ted Hughes' book The Iron Man, The Iron Giant is the unusual story of an alien steel-eating giant robot who literally has no business being on earth and thus has no place in the hearts of the planet's inhabitants, except for a small town boy who discovers him, with whom he develops an unlikely yet devoted friendship.

The movie tragically underscores one of the greatest human truths -- that we seek to destroy that which we do not understand and in the process unwittingly destroys the humanity that is inside us.

Funny, sad and touching at times, with characters you cannot help but fall in love with, if I am ever required to choose my all-time best animated feature film, this will be it. Not surprising because it comes from Brad Bird, that great director who made some of the greatest animated films ever like The Incredibles and Ratatouille both of which won the Best Animated Feature Film Oscars in their respective years.

REVIEW BY HILATH

The Iron Giant on IMDB.com

The Thin Red Line

The 1998 film is auteur Terence Malick's first film in two decades (his earlier film being 1978's Days of Heaven) and it was like a nightmarish psychedelic dream sequence, much like the director's latest film The New World starring Colin Ferrell and Christian Bale based on the true version of the Pocahontas story.

The Thin Red Line tries to show us how soldiers from all walks of life are affected psychologically during longs periods of war.

Great cinematography, heart-stopping action and suspense and great sound effects make this film a really cinematic experience.

Malick's devotion to re-creating the atmosphere and a deliberate slow pace to really involve us and make us come close to what the soldiers are truly feeling during those long horrifying war years make this a rewarding masterpiece.

Malick remains one of my favorite directors ever.

REVIEW BY HILATH

The Thin Red Line on IMDB.com

Titanic

In a less cynical world, James Cameron's romantic epic would need no defences, yet its extraordinary popularity doomed it to underrated status.

A rare and unique cinematic experience, Titanic remains a haunting spectacle of young and selfless love, the kind we all dream about but seldom get in life, made timeless by technological doom.

Winner of 11 Oscar awards including Best Film and the world's highest grossing movie of all time at 1.86 billion US dollars in Box Office ticket sales.

REVIEW BY HILATH

Titanic on IMDB.com

The English Patient

"The heart knows no boundaries. In memory, love lives forever." Tragic, but true. A theme I have always been obsessed with for my whole life. Words cannot describe the sorrowful rendition of this haunting theme in one of the best love stories ever told on the big screen.

Winner of 9 Oscar awards including Best Film and based on the Booker Prize winning book by Sri Lankan-Canadian-Netherlands author Michael Ondaatje, author of Atonement, the film of which was nominated last year for the Best Film Oscar.

REVIEW BY HILATH

The English Patient on IMDB.com

Mission Impossible

Brian de Palma who directed that masterfully crafted movie The Untouchables does it again here.

The cast, the cinematography, the score and above all how the complex plot unravels with the film's pace all combine for another masterpiece of movie-making.

And Tom Cruise is so watchable.

If only action films were this stylish and this good.

REVIEW BY HILATH

Mission Impossible on IMDB.com

White Squall

Maybe it is because I come from a sea-faring nation, this movie really identifies with my soul and character--and my obsession with that concept of man's relations with nature.

Director Ridley Scott's obsession with landscapes--I am happy it's the sea this time--combined with a cast of young guys like us, haunting score, heart-stopping climax, based on a true tragic story, touched a chord deep in my heart.

REVIEW BY HILATH

White Squall on IMDB.com

While You Were Sleeping

A sweet, romantic and feel-good movie where once again everything has the right combination. Sandra Bullock is sensational. Music is touching. Locations really homely. And great cast, especially Peter Gallagher and Bill Pullman's family members.

REVIEW BY HILATH

While You Were Sleeping on IMDB.com

Speed

Speed brings out the true meaning of what we term action movies.

From start to finish, it's action, action, action.

This is the only movie that kept me on the edge of my seat, that kept me in suspense for the full duration of the movie.

Surprisingly, it was the only movie where I was really concerned about how it will end.

Speed is truly my favorite action movie of all time.

And it's another of those masterfully crafted movies where everything--cinematography, score and editing--is just right.

REVIEW BY HILATH

Speed on IMDB.com

The Piano

Haunting, tragic story about a strong, spirited woman who will get what she wants no matter how disadvantaged she is, no matter how hopeless it is.

Oscar-winner Holly Hunter has acted in this one movie more with her eyes than any other actress has ever acted with their whole body in their whole career. My best female acting of all time.

Breathtaking cinematography, haunting score, slick editing and superb direction by Jane Campion makes this a masterpiece and one of my favorite films of all time.

REVIEW BY HILATH

The Piano on IMDB.com

Jurassic Park

Another artfully crafted movie where every ingredient is the right mix. Cinematography, cast (Sam Neil, Richard Attenborough, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum), their interaction, suspense, action, even light-hearted comedy, score, film editing and direction all combine to make a superb and thoroughly entertaining movie experience by Steven Spielberg.

REVIEW BY HILATH

Jurassic Park on IMDB.com

The Last of the Mohicans

Masterfully crafted, edited, with attention to landscapes, Oscar-winning sound, slick film editing and great direction by Michael Mann makes this another cinematic masterpiece.

REVIEW BY HILATH

The Last of the Mohicans on IMDB.com

Beauty and the Beast

The animation, especially the characters are superb and involving. The art direction is visually stunning especially that ballroom.

But it is great direction, film editing, and the score that brings out the scenes and the characters' interaction that makes this animated movie a bittersweet masterpiece of a movie.

Moreover, it is so sweeping and epic in scale as to be compared to a Broadway musical and was the first ever animated feature film to be nominated for a Best Picture Oscar. (The Best Animated Feature Film category at the Oscars were created much later).

REVIEW BY HILATH

Beauty and the Beast on IMDB.com

The Little Mermaid

The animation may be poor compared to what we see today but great characters, their interaction, songs, music, and the way the story unveiled really delivered and lived up to our childhood expectations of what we want to see in a fantasy like The Little Mermaid.

A sad, touching yet lively manifestation of the Hans Christian Anderson story--with a twist, and consequently a happy ending.

REVIEW BY HILATH

The Little Mermaid on IMDB.com

A.I.: Artificial Intelligence

Like James Cameron's Titanic or Spielberg's Schindler's List, Spielberg's thought-provoking film about an intelligent robot-child's quest to become a "real" boy is unprecedented in cinematic style and hence unlike any movie I ever saw before.

The chills and the effect the film had in reaching down to the very depths of my emotional being is testimony to the unique pole that this film deserves to stand on.

Whatever controversies the film stirred, it is the juxtaposition of optimism and pessimism, and of hope and doom, and the engaging pace and unexpected twists in the plot that bring about this unique effect on me.

Haley Joel Osment's performance as David, the robot who seeks to become a real boy in Pinocchio-esque story-telling, is one of the best I've ever seen literally on celluloid.

REVIEW BY HILATH

A.I.: Artificial Intelligence on IMDB.com

Shrek

Not since Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid and The Iron Giant has an animated movie given me such a sweet "feel good" feeling as did Shrek.

Like most moviegoers, I was humored by the poking fun at Disney's favorite fairy tales and the talkative donkey (excellently voiced by Eddie Murphy), but it was the moving love story, combined with the almost-human expressions of the characters (including the wonderfully "acted" Shrek character who was voiced as humanly as possible by Mike Myers), and the right combination of other characters, animation, film's pace, editing and the rock soundtrack, which made Shrek one of the most enjoyable movies in a long long time.

REVIEW BY HILATH

Shrek on IMDB.com

Black Hawk Down

It is unfair to compare this movie with Saving Private Ryan, Steven Spielberg's enduring classic which deserves to stand on a pole of its own.

Ridley Scott deserves credit for enacting a movie that is both a cinematic adrenaline rush and an enduring epic drama where human emotions run deep, where the nobility of the human spirit is once again laid bare in dire circumstances.

Film editing, cinematography, and Hans Zimmer's haunting score all make up to give one hell of a cinematic time that is sure to last on the viewer's mind far far longer than its somewhat short two-hour running time.

Shot in nightmarish tones and hues, the film is like one hell of a lucid dream sequence which makes it one of my all-time favorite films.

REVIEW BY HILATH

Black Hawk Down on IMDB.com

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

The cinematography, art direction, sound, sound editing, Howard Shore's moving score, and of course the sheer scale of The Fellowship of the Ring cinematically elevates the film to heights which make it look even more epic and larger than Titanic.

And the fact that the film moves like visual poetry makes it almost like one huge musical that dwarfs its sequels The Two Towers and The Return of the King. Hence, I can watch it over and over again even now.

REVIEW BY HILATH

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring on IMDB.com

The Mummy Returns

The Mummy Returns, the sequel to The Mummy, qualifies to the best standards that I can expect from a fantasy; mummies, pygmies, and that lovely sight of the floating dirigible just made my day! Director Stephen Sommers seems to have finally reached the pinnacle of directing what with the furious pace, slick editing, and non-stop action that quite almost matched with that of Speed.

REVIEW BY HILATH

The Mummy Returns on IMDB.com

Captain Corelli's Mandolin

Forbidden love, cultures at odds, dying traditions, betrayal, treachery, and a host of other numerous themes that haunt my soul make this film one of the most moving films I've seen.

Penelope Cruz's strong performance, a haunting score, an engaging slow pace, and the lovely cinematography by John Toll (who earlier won Oscars for his cinematographic work on Braveheart and Legends of the Fall) make this film one of the most enduring movies of 2001.

REVIEW BY HILATH

Captain Corelli's Mandolin on IMDB.com

Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within

Whatever faults lay with the animation of the characters in failing to make them look realistically human, it more than made up from the wonderful art direction which made this film to have one of the most haunting atmospheres in any film I have ever seen.

I loved the pace of the film, the sound effects, and the way the film was carried.

And like that moment when Jack and Rose "flew" on the bow of the Titanic, the scene where Aki and her Ben-Affleck-like ex-lover, floating in zero gravity, kissed near the window of the spaceship with the dark sky and glittering stars in the background to a soft haunting music is one of the most enduring romantic moments I have ever seen on the big screen.

The film's mood of impending doom juxtaposed with hope stirs the kind of fantastic emotions that only a movie of this nature can offer.

REVIEW BY HILATH

Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within on IMDB.com

Crazy/beautiful

One of the best love stories ever. A realistic look at the gulf between cultures and how it overshadows human love and relationships. A haunting movie that creates genuine feelings and emotes sincere concern for the two young leads as they fight the world--and themselves--to be together at whatever cost.

REVIEW BY HILATH

Crazy/beautiful on IMDB.com

Comments on The 81st Academy Awards Nominations

[Originally posted at Nuances]

Kudos to the Academy for Recognising "Slumdog Millionaire" for the cinematic gem that it is;

Promotional art for Slumdog Millionaire

In particular, the nominations for;

Danny Boyle - Achievement in directing,

Anthony Dod Mantle - Achievement in cinematography,

A.R. Rahman - Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original score)

and

A.R. Rahman (Music) & Gulzar (Lyric) - Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song)

Kudos ALSO for recognising the cinematic vision of David Fincher and Co. for "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button";

Promotional art for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

In particular, the nominations for;

David Fincher - Achievement in directing,

Eric Roth and Robin Swicord - Adapted screenplay

and

Brad Pitt - Performance by an actor in a leading role

And for "The Dark Knight" there were categories that, try as they might, the Academy could NOT have gotten away with had they ignored them;

Promotional art for The Dark Knight

In particular, the nominations for;

Wally Pfister - Achievement in cinematography (if only for making IMAX cool again)

and

Heath Ledger - Performance by an actor in a supporting role (if only for making Jack Nicholson's performance merely a memory and defining the true cinematic Joker)

However...

All the nominations combined do NOT make up for that fact that Christopher Nolan SHOULDhave been nominated for the cinematic marvel (no irony intended) that is "The Dark Knight"!

Christopher Nolan - overcame the bat nipples but not the Academy!

Nominations for The Dark Knight should have included (at the least);

Christopher Nolan - Achievement in directing

and

Jonathan Nolan, Christopher Nolan and David S. Goyer - Adapted screenplay

Heck I'd even say that a nomination was even due for;

Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard - Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original score)

I am truly torn... Fincher and Co., along with Boyle and Co., are masters at what they do...

BUT the Academy should quit whatever the heck they're smoking and ALSO recognise that Nolan is the MAIN reason why The Dark Knight was nominated for all the technical awards...

Too late now...

Note to the members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences: You tried to look like you tried... BUT you failed... miserably!

We WON'T be won over by a sympathy nomination, for Nolan, in the years to follow for a none comic book related nomination - at least I won't!

Unless it's a really good film... which knowing Nolan it probably will be... DAMN!

"Slumdog Millionaire" now at Athena Cinema in Male'

The award-winning "Slumdog Millionaire", my best film of 2008, a film which has been gathering many trophies during this awards season, is now at Athena Cinema in Male' every night at 9:00pm.
The film will run upto and on Thursday night. It's an unmissable movie, very inspiring and moving.
I will soon write my own review of it for this blog. Stay tuned.

"Slumdog Millionaire" could only have been made by a westerner

Slumdog spat ... Danny Boyle and Amitabh Bachchan.

Danny Boyle's Bafta-nominated crowd-pleaser shows how blind Bollywood producers are to the reality of India:

After its rapturous reception in Britain and America, knives are being sharpened for Slumdog Millionaire. "Vile," is how Alice Miles described the movie in The Times. "Slumdog Millionaire is poverty porn" that invites the viewer to enjoy the miseries it depicts, she adds.

Even that old iconic Bollywood blusterer, Amitabh Bachchan, has thrown his empty-headed two rupees' worth into the mix. "If Slumdog Millionaire projects India as a third-world, dirty, underbelly developing nation and causes pain and disgust among nationalists and patriots, let it be known that a murky underbelly exists and thrives even in the most developed nations," he bellowed. "It's just that the Slumdog Millionaire idea, authored by an Indian and conceived and cinematically put together by a westerner, gets creative global recognition," he added.

Bachchan is no doubt riled, as many other Bollwood no-talents will be, about the fact that the best film to be made about India in recent times has been made by a white man, Danny Boyle. Just as Spike Lee got hissy with Quentin Tarantino after he proved he could make hipper films about black people than Lee could (Lee ostentatiously criticised Tarantino's use of the word "nigger" while littering his own films with the same language), so many Indians will be upset about a westerner having a better understanding of their country than they do. Bachchan gave one of the worst English-language performances in cinematic history with his embarrassingly stupid portrayal of an ageing thespian in The Last Lear. Having failed miserably at cultivating a western audience, it must hurt him to be so monumentally upstaged by white folk on his home turf.

The bitter truth is, Slumdog Millionaire could only have been made by westerners. The talent exists in India for such movies: much of it, like the brilliant actor Irrfan Khan, contributed to this film. But Bollywood producers, fixated with making flimsy films about the lives of the middle class, will never throw their weight behind such projects. Like Bachchan, they are too blind to what India really is to deal with it. Poor Indians, like those in Slumdog, do not constitute India's "murky underbelly" as Bachchan moronically describes them. They, in fact, are the nation. Over 80% of Indians live on less than $2.50 (£1.70) a day; 40% on less than $1.25. A third of the world's poorest people are Indian, as are 40% of all malnourished children. In Mumbai alone, 2.6 million children live on the street or in slums, and 400,000 work in prostitution. But these people are absent from mainstream Bollywood cinema.

Bachchan's blinkered comments prove how hopelessly blind he and most of Bollywood are to the reality of India and how wholly incapable they are of making films that can address it. Instead, they produce worthless trash like Jaane Tu, Rock On!! and Love Story 2050, full of affluent young Indians desperately, and mostly idiotically, trying to look cool and modern.

Slumdog Millionaire is based on the novel, Q&A, by Vikas Swarup. I know Vikas – an Indian diplomat, he loves his country as much as anyone and did it the service of telling its truth with great warmth and humanity. And Danny Boyle's film continues in precisely the same vein. His innovative brilliance, fresh perspective and foreign money was vital. As an outsider, he saw the truth that middle-class Indians are too often inured to: that countless people exist in conditions close to hell yet maintain a breath-taking exuberance, dignity and decency. These people embody the tremendous spirit and strength of India and its civilisation. They deserve the attention of its film-makers. I have no doubt that Slumdog Millionaire will encourage many more honest films to be produced in India. But they should be ashamed that it took a white man to show India how to do it.

This article has been reproduced from The Guardian, UK. It can be found at the link:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/filmblog/2009/jan/15/danny-boyle-shows

Alejandro González Iñárritu is a genius!

[Originally posted at Nuances on Wednesday, January 14, 2009]

Alejandro González Iñárritu behind the lens

He's proven himself a master storyteller with the likes of Amores perros (2000), Powder Keg[part of the BMW Films - The Hire] (2001) and 21 Grams (2003).

The man is an artist - an auteur in the truest sense of the word.

Promotional art for Babel

I know I'm a tad late to the party BUT I have to say this. I need to say it;

In Babel (2006) Iñárritu gives us an almost lyrical story born of a masterful script (Guillermo Arriaga) supported by sublime music (Gustavo Santaolalla) and emotive cinematography(Rodrigo Prieto) - to say nothing of the subdued, exceptional, performances by a brilliant cast.

True to his style, there are still the consistent, more-bitter-than-sweet, seemingly-unrelated-at-first interconnecting, storylines... but truer still, is the manner in which he presents this - an exquisite masterpiece.

If you are a fan of any of Iñárritu's previous efforts, or of film in general, and you've still not seen this - you're in for a treat when you do...

John Abraham voted Asia's sexiest man alive...really?

by Hilath Rasheed

I have nothing against Bollywood star John Abraham being voted as Asia's sexiest man alive. I guess beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder.
But upon closer scrutiny of the news article (read the original article here from SantaBanta.com), so many questions have arisen in my mind. I tried finding out more details of this weekly magazine called "Eastern Eye" without success so I am raising my objections based on the SantaBanta.com article.
The Eastern Eye is described as a leading "British Asian" weekly and the judges of the 'top ten' men were said to be "Brianna Ragel, editor of Asian Woman Magazine, Che Kurrien, editor of GQ India and the former editor of FHM India, Farhad Dadyburjor."
"The top ten sexiest male includes, John Abraham, Hrithik Roshan, Shah Rukh Khan, Ali Zafar, Upen Patel, Ranbir Kapoor, Saif Ali Khan, Imran Khan (actor), Jay Sean and boxer Amir Khan."
This list looks more like an "Indian" list than an assortment of Asian handsomeness.
One of my friends on Facebook was right to comment, not derogatorily, why doesn't Bangladeshis ever make such a list?
Yeah, why not?
There are so many countries to choose from Asia and this Eastern Eye despite being a "British Asian" weekly chose judges with so many India links "GQ India", "FHM India", and apparently extremely India-centric ones at that if their 'top ten' choices speak for itself.
This India-centric attitude is not uncommon among some high profile Indians as well. Bollywood star Madhuri Dixit once sparked protests in Kathmandu after she commented during a visit that "I thought that Nepal was once part of India."
And during my own travels to India, I have come across many Indians who ask me where I am from and when I reply that I am from Maldives, they tend to say something to the effect that Maldives is some islands under Indian dominion!
Apparently, everything revolves around India, and perhaps we may need some sort of consciousness-raising to change this view just like we needed modern scientific evidence to change the ancient view that the Sun and the Universe itself revolved around the Earth! Obviously, our human-centric-ness and ego-centric-ness may be proving to be contributing to our xenophobia, and the perception of "others" as being "foreign" -- with "us" only the ones who matter, who are the only thing beautiful in our eyes.
Of course, one can always hide behind the claim that beauty is subjective, and therefore, it lies in the eyes of the beholder. But it's sad when one's vision, appreciation and taste are limited to only one's favored ethnicity or races, not the rest of the humanity at large. Where did our humanity go?

Karan Johar "rab"-ing Shah Rukh Khan the wrong way again?

The best reaction to "Rab Ne Banayi Jodi"'s opening came from film's director Aditya Chopra and leading man Shah Rukh Khan's best friend Karan Johar in New York:

"Rab... will prove once and for all that the Adi-Shah Rukh jodi is godsent."

Don't 'Rab' that combo the wrong way. Read full story from SantaBanta.com

"See what your friends have done"

Just because "Firaaq", my film, deals with how Muslims 'also' get affected by violence, the terrorists are supposed to be my friends! Today a common young Muslim man around town is probably the most vulnerable. I got many messages from my Muslim friends who feel the need to condemn it more than anyone else, who feel the need to prove their national allegiance in every possible way. They are begging to be not clubbed with the terrorists, a fear not unfounded. Read full story from Haveeru Daily

Taare Zameen Par Review - Sensitive yet powerful!

REVIEW by Island Chic
Originally posted on Island Chic's blog

Just like the Hindi movie Chak De India I posted about recently, Amir Khan’s Taare Zameen Par was not the mainstream Bollywood movie that leaves you just with the warm fuzzy feeling after the movie. It gives you more! I watched Taare Zameen Par last night and cried myself to dehydration! It was by far one of the most sensitive, enlightening and silently powerful movies I’ve ever seen. My tears weren’t caused by just what I saw in the movie. It was also the sentiments the movie brought with it. Having seen the sufferings of children in many parts of the world especially during my travels in India, this movie really struck a chord deep within. It reminded me of how ignorant we are of the way our actions may compromise the destiny of innocent beings, who may have no control whatsoever over the things that define them.

Taare Zameen Par was not merely entertaining but also enlightening. It was a sensitive story brought live to the audience brilliantly. After it has won several awards in India, Taare Zameen Par has now been selected as India's entry for the Oscar 2009 in the best foreign film category.

Taare Zameen Par is produced and directed by Amir Khan and he also acts in the movie though the main focus of the story is on an eight year old dyslexic kid. Here’s a short version of the story as recited in Taare Zameen Par’s official website.

“Ishaan Awasthi [Darsheel Safary] is an eight-year-old whose world is filled with wonders that no one else seems to appreciate; colors, fish, dogs and kites are just not important in the world of adults, who are much more interested in things like homework, marks and neatness. And Ishaan just cannot seem to get anything right in class.

When he gets into far more trouble than his parents can handle, he is packed off to a boarding school to 'be disciplined'. Things are no different at his new school and Ishaan has to contend with the added trauma of separation from his family.

One day a new art teacher bursts onto the scene, Ram Shankar Nikumbh [Aamir Khan], who infects the students with joy and optimism. He breaks all the rules of 'how things are done' by asking them to think, dream and imagine, and all the children respond with enthusiasm, all except Ishaan.

Nikumbh soon realizes that Ishaan is very unhappy and he sets out to discover why. With time, patience and care, he ultimately helps Ishaan find himself.”

Taare Zameen Par forces us to understand a child's mind and gives us a strong message not to compromise the unique and untapped talent of each child in our pursuit of academic excellence and what we think is better for the child.

It is definitely a must watch which will make you re-think the way you look at life and what it expects of you… and well done Amir Khan for the enlightenment you brought to many!