November 27, 2007

Laaga Chunari Mein Daag - Journey of a Woman, by Pradeep Sarker


A fascinating blend of musical, melodrama and feminist fairy tale, “Laaga Chunari Mein Daag” shows Bollywood’s moral universe in transition. The film follows the fortunes of Badki and Chutki , sisters from a genteel Benares family with money problems and predatory relatives. When Badki leaves to find work in Bombay, “Laaga” really takes off. There, Badki — with no diploma and no skills — becomes Natasha: a high-priced prostitute. The movie isn’t coy about this. “I’ve fallen from grace,” she says. “I can never come back.” Chutki’s story is lighter. M.B.A. in hand, she joins her sister in the city, where she gets a job in advertising. Her first task is to sell Lux soap to the modern Indian woman. And who is that creature? As her boss (and future husband) discovers, Chutki herself — bright, spunky, self-assured — fits the bill. Fallen women are a Bollywood staple. But Chutki won’t allow her sister to be shunned. Instead of keeping the stain a dark secret, Chutki insists on honesty and that the family reintegrate Badki.
Intimate Stranger, by Allan Holzman

A struggling bar singer takes a job as a phone-sex operator in order to make ends meet. One night she gets a call from a man who tricks her into listening while he murders a prostitute. Then he tells her that he's going to kill her next. She goes to the police, but the detectives don't believe her. However, an ambitious uniformed cop does believe her, and together they try to track down the killer before he kills anyone else--including her.

November 19, 2007

Elizabeth: The golden Age, by Shekhar Kapur

Growing keenly aware of the changing religious and political tides of late 16th century Europe, Queen Elizabeth finds her rule openly challenged by the Spanish King Philip II -- with his powerful army and sea-dominating armada -- determined to restore England to Catholicism. Preparing to go to war to defend her empire, Elizabeth struggles to balance ancient royal duties with an unexpected vulnerability in her love for Sir Walter Raleigh. But he remains forbidden for a queen who has sworn body and soul to her country. Unable and unwilling to pursue her love, Elizabeth encourages her favorite lady-in-waiting, Bess, to befriend Raleigh to keep him near. But this strategy forces Elizabeth to observe their growing intimacy. As she charts her course abroad, her trusted advisor, Sir Francis Walsingham, continues his masterful puppetry of Elizabeth's court at home -- and her campaign to solidify absolute power. Through an intricate spy network, Walsingham uncovers an assassination plot that could topple the throne. But as he unmasks traitors that may include Elizabeth's own cousin Mary Stuart, he unknowingly sets England up for destruction.
She Came to Stay, by Simone de Beauvoir

Set in Paris on the eve of World War II and sizzling with love, anger, and revenge, She Came to Stay explores the changes wrought in the soul of a woman and a city soon to fall. Although Françoise considers her relationship with Pierre an open one, she falls prey to jealousy when the gamine Xavière catches his attention. The moody young woman from the countryside pries her way between Françoise and Pierre, playing up to each one and deviously pulling them apart, until the only way out of the triangle is destruction.
Alien (1979), by Ridley Scott

When commercial towing vehicle Nostromo, heading back to Earth, intercepts an SoS signal from a nearby planet, the crew are under obligation to investigate. After a bad landing on the planet, some crew members leave the ship to explore the area. At the same time as they discover a hive colony of some unknown creature, the ship's computer deciphers the message to be a warning, not a call for help. When one of the eggs is disturbed, the crew do not know the danger they are in until it is too late.
Wrong Turn 2: Dead End, by Joe Lynch

Dale Murphy is hosting and producing his own reality T.V show called "The Ultimate Survivalist: The Apocalypse", with six contestants led by Nina Papas, who'll be thrown together for six days in a simulated post-apocalyptic wasteland, and the winner will walk away with $100,000. Located in a remote part of West Virginia, the contestants discover that what they are really fighting for is their survival - against a family of hideously deformed inbred cannibals who plan to ruthlessly butcher them all... Who will survive?
The Butterfly Effect, by Eric Bress

Evan Treborn grows up in a small town with his single working mom and his friends. He suffers from memory blackouts where he suddenly finds himself somewhere else, confused. Evans' friends and mom hardly believe him, thinking he makes it up just to get out of trouble; something bad always seems to happen during these blackouts. As Evan grows up he has less of these blackouts until he seems to have recovered. Since the age of seven he has written a diary of his blackout moments so he can remember what happens. One day at college he starts to read one of his old diaries, and suddenly a flashback hits him like a brick!
The Gods Must Be Crazy II, by Jamie Uys

Xixo is back again. This time, his children accidentally stow away on a fast-moving poachers' truck, unable to get off, and Xixo sets out to rescue them. Along the way, he encounters a couple of soldiers trying to capture each other and a pilot and passenger of a small plane, who are each having a few problems of their own.
The Gods Must Be Crazy, by Jamie Uys

A Sho in the Kalahari desert encounters technology for the first time--in the shape of a Coke bottle. He takes it back to his people, and they use it for many tasks. The people start to fight over it, so he decides to return it to the God--where he thinks it came from. Meanwhile, we are introduced to a school teacher assigned to a small village, a despotic revolutionary, and a clumsy biologist.

November 09, 2007

Death Proof, by Quentin Tarantino

Originally released as a second-billed movie part of Grindhouse, Death Proof, a throwback to the 1970s exploitation road-chase movies, features Kurt Russell as Stuntman Mike, a former Hollywood stunt race car driver who targets and kills women with his "death-proof" stunt car. In Act I, Mike surfaces in Austin, Texas to target a group of women whom he knows; Jungle Julia (Sydney Poitier) an outgoing, dope-smoking, radio DJ/fashion model meeting her old school friends for a night on the town whom are sentimental model Arlene (Vanessa Ferlita), and local bad-girl Shanna (Jordan Ladd), as well as bar-nut hippie Pam (Rose McGowen) who tries to make Mike notice her, unaware of his sociopath and misogynist tendencies. In Act II, Stuntman Mike surfaces in Tennessee where he randomly picks another another group of women to stalk all of whom work in the motion picture business; Abernathy (Rosario Dawson) is a make-up girl and stand-in wanting a chance of pace in her life. Lee (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) is a naive B-movie actress. Kim (Traci Whoms) is a tough-minded stunt woman always wanting action. And Zoe (Zoe Bell) is a fellow stunt woman from New Zealand visiting her friends. However, the second set of girls proves more though to get, and because of a combination of bad luck and Stuntman Mike's carelessness, the girls decide to turn the tables on their tormentor for revenge of their own.

Quote from movie: "kinda cute, kinda hot, kinda sexy, hysterically funny, but not funny-looking guy who you could fuck"
Failure to Launch, by Tom Dey

At 35, Tripp has an interesting job, a hip car, a passion for sailing, and a great house - trouble is, he lives with his parents. They want him out, so they hire Paula, an "interventionist," who has a formula in these cases: chance encounter, get him to ask her out, involve him in a trauma, meet his friends and get their nod, delay sex, have him teach her something, then launch him. It's worked up to now, but this gets complicated when Tripp thinks she's getting too serious and one of his pals is attracted to Paula's deadpan, semi-alcoholic roommate, who's plagued by a mockingbird. Too many secrets may scrub the launch, and what if Paula really likes him? Who can intervene then?
The Family Stone, by Thomas Bezucha

The prodigal son Everett Stone brings his conservative and bigot fiancée Meredith Morton (Sarah Jessica Parker) to spend Christmas holidays with his very closed family. Meredith is coldly and hostilely welcomed by the family Stone, and feeling completely uncomfortable, she decides to call her sister Julie to stay with her. Along Christmas, revelations and new feelings are disclosed.