When I did finally watch "Million Dollar Baby" I was pleasantly surprised, not only did it entertain but also delivered a moving story which I had never expected.
The story focuses on the relationship between two friends: a mentor and a student, father and daughter figures who long for the restoration of family relationships they valued. We see the highest form of love develop between these two friends – a love that isn’t cheapened with stereotypical Hollywood romance, but that illustrates loyalty, devotion and respect. The reason being is that "Million Dollar Baby" is a beautifully crafted story not only about boxing but about a boxer, the trainer as well as his life long friend and the relationships that form between the three of them. What it also shows is that Clint Eastwood knows how to work a movie for maximum impact and when you finish watching "Million Dollar Baby" it leaves you needing a moment to reflect on what you've watched. At 31 years of age, Maggie Fitzgerald (Hilary Swank) knows that to reach her dream of becoming a professional boxer is going to take hard work. But undeterred she approaches Frankie Dunn (Clint Eastwood) in the hope that he will take her under his wing and train her like he does with his male boxers. Unfortunately for Maggie, Frankie has an old school mentality and not only doesn't believe girls should box but that at 31 she is too old. His only friend is Scrap (MORGAN FREEMAN) an ex-boxer who looks after Frankie’s gym with his help she manages to convince Frankie. Finally won over by Maggie’s determination, Frankie agrees to take her on. Probably the biggest reason why "Million Dollar Baby" works so well is the performances from its three main stars. Clint Eastwood and Morgan Freeman are on top of their game. Hilary Swank also puts in a faultless performance as Maggie and the Oscar she won for the Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role was fully justified. What tops all of this off is the brilliant behind the scenes work from the minimal musical score, the wonderful lighting which gives "Million Dollar Baby" a moodiness and also the camera work which is mostly comes to the boxing. It won 4 oscars. 1.Best Motion Picture of the Year 2.Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role 3.Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role 4.Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role. So in short "Million Dollar Baby" is an emotional journey which will touch your heart.
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Good Will Hunting is an ordinary story told well,intelligently written,strongly directed, and nicely acted.
I thought this was a very positive film. This was a story full of meaning and reality, love and healing. It won 2 oscars for best supporting role and for best writing. A brilliant mathematician with low self-esteem and low expectations of himself learns a little more about life. Robin Williams was at his finest playing psychologist Sean Maguire, who counsels the troubled genius Will Hunting, played by Matt Damon. Damon and Williams draw strength from each others company, through sharing stories, thoughts and opinions during their counselling sessions. Affleck played Chuckie, Damon's best friend. His performance and accent were convincing and added depth to the character. Minnie Driver was excellent as Damon's love interest, portraying a real person and being able to express emotions masterfully. The acting is very well done, the characters are believable, the story holds your interest for the duration of the film. The overall story line is one of a man facing the consequences of his abusive past and seeking meaning in life. For those of us who come from abusive backgrounds, this film will come as a powerful, yet healing and promising form of therapy. Overall, this movie was mildly entertaining, thought provoking and a joy to watch. Particularly because of Robin Williams and the performance of his career. Mohabbatein(2000):"Describes the clash of love and values and proves that love is the strongest thing in this world more powerful than fear or anything else by which we can overcome anything."
Mohabbatein, a musical romantic drama film (released in 2000) directed by Aditya Chopra, is a story of forbidden love, unappreciated lovers and the traditions that bind us. This is a beautiful film set on large and wonderful sets,great music and wonderful costumes and cinematography. Seeing two talented actors like Amitah Bachan and Shahrukh work side by side was mind blowing. It is romantic-musical made for family audiences it had music by Jatin-Lalit who had composed individual theme music for all the four couples and lyrics by Anand Bakshi. Three young men arrive at a train station during a night and strike an instant friendship. They are all going to join a famous Indian private school, 'Gurukul'. Mohabbatein is set in the school of Gurukul, where Narayan Shankar runs his school through fear. He teaches his students how to become great and successful men, bringing discipline into their lives. Apparently the students are picked from universities all over the country to study at Gurukul and the headmaster has high expectations of them. The headmaster has instituted a strict anti-romance policy. He says that students who become romantically involved will be expelled. The students soon meet Raj Aryan Malhotra (Shahrukh Khan). With flowers and a violin in his hand, Raj wants to join Gurukul as a music teacher. After some reluctance, Narayan Shankar allows Raj to join the institute. Raj teaches music, spreads the message of love amongst the 3 men, and encourages them to follow their hearts and fall in love. Raj tells the 3 students of a man who loved a woman named Megha (Aishwariya Rai) who was forbidden to love him due to her father,Narayan Shankar. Due to this, she committed suicide by jumping off her bedroom balcony. Nevertheless, Raj continues to love her. The audience gets a glimpse of Megha, who lives in Raj's imagination and speaks to him when he is alone. As the boys fall in love, the relationship between the headmaster and the music teacher begins to become strained. Much to the chagrin of the headmaster, Raj begins to implement many changes. He begins hosting parties, inviting girls from the nearby girls hostel, celebrating festivals and encouraging students to break the strict rules. In the second part of the film, it is revealed that Raj was once also a student in Gurukul, and the girl he fell in love with was none other than the headmaster's daughter, Megha. When Narayan found out he banned them from seeing each other, expelled the boy without seeing him, and distanced himself from his daughter. She became upset and ultimately committed suicide by throwing herself out the window. This tragic experience inspired Raj to spread love throughout Gurukul, and one day reach out to Narayan Shankar and show him to magic of love and affection. When Narayan Shankar realizes that Raj is the same boy who was in love with his daughter, he pulls all steps to remove him from the institute. Raj continues to help the 3 boys and their lovers to meet against school rules and the story turns into war between Raj Aryan and Narayan Shankar. After many events and songs, eventually, Narayan Shankar realises that love and change are indeed important parts of life and softens. Gurukul is transformed forever into a singing, dancing and loving school. Writer-director Aditya Chopra has handled the confrontation sequences between the two stars with aplomb. The two stars have been given equal footage and importance, both get to deliver punch packed dialogues and both look the characters they portray. Among the three love pairs, it is Uday Chopra who stands out with an effective performance. He is confident while facing the two giants. Jimmy Shergill is quite good, though his role. Jugal Hansraj is awkward, though he tries his best to make an impression. The movie was one of the biggest hit in Bollywood and won some awards too. After all, it was a perfect entertainer "paisa wasool" movie. Dasvidaniya is a movie, which reminds us the beauty of simplicity.
A forgotten way of life, where we were relaxed, and enjoyed the life; rather than running after the things to acquire materialistic pleasure. Great job Director, crew and last but not least Vinay Pathak. I seriously feel the movie to be strong contender for National award for terribly good performance overall. Meet Amar Koul (Vinay Pathak) is a typical nice guy living in Mumbai, India. He has never smoked, gotten drunk, or been with a woman. He is a very organized person and makes a to-do list every morning, things like shopping for grocery, toiletries, battery for his mother's hearing aid, etc. He works hard as accounts manager at a pharmaceutical company in Mumbai and lives with his mother. One fine day he goes to a doctor's appointment where is informed of the disease that afflicts him. Amar is completely devastated and does not know what to do. He comes to terms with the disease and realizes that he has less than few months to live. Here comes his other form - a vision of what he would like to be - and then he makes one list of things that he would like to do before he dies. That is what he sets out to do, starting with buying a brand new car, going abroad, meeting with the love of his life to whom he could never express it, etc. Life takes him through several peaks and troughs and finally he achieves all the ten things in his list. In my opinion this should have been a super hit movie but I guess Indian audiences are not mature enough to watch a serious drama flick such as Dasvidaniya. The performances by Vinay Pathak, and Rajat Kapoor, are stellar. Neha Dhupia plays Neha Banot the childhood love of Amar. I would definitely recommend this movie to anyone and everyone who like a serious emotional drama about how to lead life while suffering from Cancer. It is an inspirational movie. Watch it, it is free on youtube and you will not regret it. Bend It Like Beckham(2002):"Fun,energetic and altogether wonderful,so much more than you expect."7/26/2016 Bend It Like Beckham is a mostly charming comedy about an Indian girl named Jesminder who lives in England and wants to play football (soccer) against her parents' wishes.
It's a Girl Power movie. It seems to touch on almost every aspect of teen girl life, is multicultural, has fairly good music. It also features a love triangle, teenage rebellion and coming of age, comic misunderstandings, and happy ending as anyone could wish. Where those movies celebrated family relationships, Bend It Like Beckham is much more a celebration of individuality and pursuing one’s dreams in spite of family opposition. Yet the film’s mantra that parents don’t always know what’s best for you, that you have to live your own life, etc. Although it’s not a Bollywood film, like many Indian films Bend It throws in a traditional wedding with lots of color and activity, though director Chadha lacks the visual poetry. Jesminder Bhamra (Parminder K. Nagra) lives in London with her traditional parents. Her father (Anupam Kher) and mother (Shaheen Khan) are thrilled to have their eldest daughter Pinky (Archie Panjabi) marrying a nice Indian boy. Jess isn't interested in things like that; she's more concerned with soccer and fantasizing playing next to her idol David Beckham. Her parents are not fond of this hobby, but as long as it does not interfere with her future, they grudgingly go along with it. Then events set up a path for Jess that will interfere with her parents' idea of their daughter's future. Jess is recruited by Jules (Keira Knightley) for a non-professional league. The coach Joe (Jonathan Rhys-Meyers) is impressed with Jess' skills and agrees with Jules that she would be an asset to the team. Her parents find out and do not approve. Her mother attempts to replace the love for sports with a knowledge of cooking, but it only fuels Jess' desire to escape the fate her parents have in store for her. She begins to sneak out, feigning employment to play. There's a great sense of fun in the cultural collision between Indian and British lifestyle. Director Gurinder Chadha does an excellent job of showing the conflict between tradition and the modern times. “Bend it like Beckham” is satisfying and all the while entertaining to watch from start to finish, it’s a coming of age tale about characters driven by a goal, and you can’t help but smiling. |