Monday 29 June 2015

Inside Out!!






It is a 3D animated comedy-drama directed by Pete Docter and produced by Pixar Animation Studios.  It features a young girl Riley Anderson (Kaitlyn Dias) and her five emotions - Joy (Amy Poehler), Anger (Lewis Black), Disgust (Mindy Kaling), Fear (Bill Hader) and Sadness (Phyllis Smith)- who guide her through the various stages of her life.  The whole movie runs in the mind of Riley as every emotion plays its part, when its turn comes, with a keyboard in front of it.

Riley is from Minnesota and when she was born the five different emotions took birth with her in her brain- Joy, Anger, Disgust, Fear and Sadness.  All the five live in the conscious mind, which is also the Headquarters.  They play a big role in creating memories for Riley, be it good, bad or ugly.  In the process of creating memories the most important memories get collected and become 'core memories'.  They help Riley to create five different 'islands'; the family island, friendship island, so on and so forth.  The most important part is played by Joy, as she tries her best and creates the Happy core memories; the golden balls.

When Riley turns eleven her father gets a new job in San Francisco and the family relocates.  In the process Joy becomes very concerned as Sadness becomes more prevalent.  Every act that Joy did to keep Riley happy, Sadness just undid it by doing just the opposite.  Sadness even went to the extent of making Riley cry in front of her classmates, which was to become one of Riley's sad core memory (the blue ball).  Joy tries to stop the blue ball from entering the core memory storage case but accidentally knocks off all the other Golden Balls from the storage case and shuts down all the islands.  Just as she tries to put them all back in order, she, Sadness and all the core memory balls get sucked through the memory tube, to the long-term storage of Riley.

Now its the journey back to the headquarters for Joy, Sadness and the Core Memory Balls, as without them... Riley will be doomed...  
The movie has been designed, created and animated so well that you get glued to the seat till the credits end.  It starts with a wonderful song with a story line of a volcano falling in love with another one.  Firstly, the concept that emotions also talk like humans is absolutely thrilling and secondly its animated... Icing on the cake.

Don't Miss It...

Cheers!!

Friday 19 June 2015

Top 10 Hollywood Romantic Movies of the '90s!!

This list gives you the top 10 Hollywood Romantic Movies of the '90s.  They are some of the finest and I am sure all of you have seen it...

10. Sabrina (1995)


It is a remake of 1954 film with Julia Ormond, Harrison Ford and Greg Kinnear featured as Sabrina, Linus and David Larrabee.  It is an entertaining story of a girl, Sabrina, who is the daughter of the chauffeur of the Larrabee family.  

She falls in love with David, especially his style and charm; but is not noticed, till she remodels herself as a smart and beautiful Paris-return dame.  This is where Linus comes into the picture and it becomes a perfect triangle. 

Classic movies remade have always done quite well.  Ormond and Ford have done a great job of being Hepburn and Bogart of 1995.



9. A Walk in the Clouds (1995)

An American soldier, Paul Sutton, returns from war with dreams of settling down with his wife, but sees her in a tangent world.  He gets disturbed when he realizes that most of his letters, sent to her, were not even opened.  He still wants his marriage to succeed and leaves for Sacramento to sell chocolates as wanted by his wife.  

On the way he meets a beautiful, but needy Mexican-American woman, Victoria Aragon.  Her family is traditional and owns a vineyard in Napa Valley.  She worries, as she is pregnant without a husband.  

Its about how a soldier helps a stranger and fights again, but this time for the Love he's always yearned for.  Keanu Reeves plays the soldier and the Italian Aitana Sánchez-Gijón is the Mexican-American dame.


8. Sleepless in Seattle (1993)

 Jonah Baldwin (Ross Malinger), an 8 year old boy misses his mother  as she died 18 months ago.  But he feels more for his father, Sam  (Tom Hanks), who has still not got over his wife's death.  Hence, on  Christmas Eve, Jonah calls a radio station and forces his father to  speak.  He is identified as "Sleepless in Seattle".  He, eventually,  opens up, and speaks about how his wife was, how he felt for her,  and how much he loved her.  

 It so happens that in Baltimore, Annie  Reed (Meg Ryan), is listening  to the same programme and it brings tears to her eyes.  Though she  is engaged to Walter (Bill Pullman), she desires to meet Sam and is one of the thousands who write letters to him.  

Its a very good fairy-tale, so whether they meet or not is anybody's guess.  The craziest part in this movie is when Annie and Sam stare at each other in Seattle, but Annie assumes that Sam has a girlfriend and hence there is no conversation between them.  Well, its a beautiful and interesting romantic fairy-tale.


7. Pretty Woman (1990)


Pretty Woman is where Julia Roberts is featured as Vivian, a hooker and Richard Gere in Edward, a multi-billionaire who sees everything from the business angle.  One evening while driving on the streets of Hollywood, he stops in front of Vivian and asks her help for directions.  She drives him all the way to the hotel and stays with him for the night.  

He offers her a job of being an escort, but treats her like a princess and she in turn teaches him a few lessons of life.  And yes, no doubt they fall in love.  Roberts did a fantastic job and no doubt it paid off and is an absolute entertainer.


6. Bed of Roses (1996)

 Lewis Farrell (Christian Slater) is a down to earth man who enjoys  life in its simplest form.  He finds happiness by just seeing others  smile.  Hence he prefers to be a florist and deliver flowers.  On  the contrary Lisa Walker (Mary Stuart Masterson) is a go-getter  investment banker with a tragic past.

 They meet, fall in love and have relationship complications.  The  complications are more to do with their past and hence  acceptance  of the fact that 'someone could really love you'  becomes an issue.

 The movie is fairly emotional and sentimental but has a lovely end to it.


5. Before Sunrise (1995)

In the movie Jesse (Ethan Hawke) is on his way to Vienna in a train, from where he would take a flight to his homeland the US.  In the same train he happens to meet a woman Celina (Julie Delpy), who is going to Paris.  They sit across in the lounge and have some snacks.  This is when they share some good conversation and where he convinces her to get off at Vienna, as he wanted to have company.

The movie is a Trilogy; Before Sunset and Before Midnight were released in the years 2004 ans 2013 respectively.  The whole movie is filled with tiny instances that are in general sliced off in most of the movies.  But that is what makes it so special.  The conversations are so natural and effortless that you could actually place yourself in the shoes of one of the actors and have a chat with the other.  It is filled with romantic dialogues and memorable scenes.  If you are a sucker for romantic movies, you've definitely seen this.


4. Ghost (1990)


Ghost is a story where Sam (Patrick Swayze) gets killed by a mugger and he gets stuck between Heaven and Earth as a Ghost; a person with an unfinished job.  He tries meeting and communicating to his girlfriend Molly (Demi Moore), but in vain.  He meets Oda Mae Brown (Whoopi Goldberg) who could hear him and with her help, he tries to find his killer.

This movie states that love is all you need in your life.  Whether you are dead or alive, you will reach your destination if you have Love by your side.


3. French Kiss (1995)

 Kate (Meg Ryan) plays a woman whose fiancé, Charlie (Timothy  Hutton) has left her for a french damsel.  She decides to get him  back and is helped by Luc Teyssier (Kevin Kline), who teaches her  the tricks of the trade.  Luc is a french thief and had robbed a  necklace, which when sold could get his life back on track.

 Ryan's job in this movie was sensational and Kline with his french  accent, made us feel that he was one of the natives.





2. Titanic (1997)

 To show a tragedy with a romantic angle is quite a task and Titanic  has been one of the best to succeed.  No other than Kate Winslet  and Leonardo DiCaprio could have done the roles of Rose and Jack  respectively.  

 Rose is engaged to be married to Cal Hockley (Billy Zane) without  her consent.  She tries to commit suicide when Jack saves her and  the love story begins.  Cal is the typical unforgivable villain who,  even when the ship is drowning, goes in search of the two lovers to  shoot them.

 This is one movie that has romance written all over it. 


1. Notting Hill (1999)

 William Thacker (Hugh Grant) is the owner of a travel  bookstore in Notting Hill, London.  This is where Anna Scott  (Julia Roberts), a well known American film star comes to  purchase a book. Their meeting is followed by an  accident.  William offers to help her in changing her clothes as he  stayed just a few yards away, "in a non-prostitute sense".  She agrees and while leaving the house, she kisses him and  that's where the story begins.  

 It has humour, love, and William was really very confused  as to what to do and what not to; it suited the character.  According to me it should take the 1st place as it is quite Surreal... but nice ;) 

Cheers!!

Thursday 4 June 2015

The Sabrinas We Have Seen!!


The Original Sabrina was released in the year 1954 in which The Fairest Lady of All, Audrey Hepburn was casted as Sabrina Fairchild.  With her were Humphrey Bogart and William Holden as Linus Larrabee and David Larrabee respectively.  It was produced and directed by Billy Wilder.  The movie was based on a 1953 play, 'Sabrina Fair' by Samuel A. Taylor.

The Plot:
Sabrina is the daughter of Thomas Fairchild (John Williams), the chauffeur of Larrabee family.  She had an eye for David Larrabee's way of life, his style, his charm; some would call it love and some, an infatuation.  David was nothing but a playboy, a no commitment man, who never notices her.  This leaves Sabrina in utter disappointment and she goes to Paris to attend a culinary school.

She returns as a changed and sophisticated woman and initially even David fails to recognize her.  But Linus, his elder workaholic brother, greets her the minute he sees her.  Linus worries for David as David's marriage with Elizabeth Tyson (Martha Hyer) will land the family a huge business deal, and if now he falls for the new Sabrina... it might change everything.  Linus succeeds in distracting Sabrina from David but falls in love with her in the process.  He never accepts the fact till it strikes him that Sabrina was leaving for Paris for good.  David marries Elizabeth and Linus rushes to the ship that was to leave for Paris... Sabrina and Linus meet and leave for Paris together.

One of the beautiful scenes is when Sabrina sings La Vie en Rose, a French song by Edith Piaf.


This movie was remade by Sydney Pollack in the year 1995 with Julia Ormond as Sabrina, Harrison Ford as Linus and Greg Kinnear as David.  The story was just the same except the ships were replaced with chartered planes.



In Bollywood in India, another copy was made by Naresh Malhotra and Yash Chopra, in the year 1994, which was named Yeh Dillagi.  The story was just the same with Kajol, Akshay Kumar and Saif Ali Khan playing the roles of Sabrina, Linus and David respectively.  The only difference in this one was, David gives away his love (Sabrina) to Linus, and meets another girl when the movie ends.

Whichever Sabrina it may be, the story will always remind me of Audrey Hepburn... She is, was and always be an amazing actress...

Cheers!!