sherlock-14 Reviews

Jai Bhim Comrade (2011)

The best film-maker from India since Ray, Ismail Merchant and Shekhar Kapur

[26 April 2013]

I have seen all of Mr. Patwardhan's documentaries. They should be essential viewing for anyone who wants to look beyond 'the official story' put forward by the media and the Indian government i.e.the rich and powerful.

Jai Bhim confronts the dirty reality of the caste system something India hides from the rest of the world. Indians are quick to point out racism against them in other countries when they are guilty of the worst kind of racism and discrimination -violent, brutal and degrading and all this comes down from their 'sacred' but completely sexist,racist Hindu texts.

The King's Speech (2010)

The worst film to ever win Best picture at the Oscars

[1/10 · 23 January 2012]

i dunno why people like this film. i felt it was terribly written, awfully acted, hammy as hell, horribly shot - those unmotivated use of wide angled lenses and horrible framing. awful, boring film. just a talky stage play and not a very exciting one at that. one of firth's weakest performances. see him in 'fever pitch'. they just didn't create the 30's convincingly. i guess the weinstein muscle can win anything an Oscar nowadays. how they sold this lemon to the entire academy is mystifying. David fincher and 'the social network' were robbed, that was actually a film and not a verbose play posing as a film. i can't remember one visual device in the entire film that was interesting.

Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (1995)

terrible

[1/10 · 20 June 2008]

the film's attitude towards the British or foreigners of any kind is downright racist and sick. Indian filmmakers like Indian society think the world especially the white world is full of vice and corrupt while they are pure in some way--a ridiculous notion ...as usual the female character has no mind of her own...and cannot make any decisions and is only "allowed" to follow her heart after the patriarch allows her to. a woman doing anything in an Indian film is always an act of benevolence. she just follows whatever the men tell her..whether it is her moronic lover played by Shahrukh who suggests they shouldn't elope to preserve some sort of Indianness. "i may be born in Britain but i am not marred by this Britishness" ..lines like this are racist and such propaganda has no place in the world. if "birth of a nation" is racist then DDLJ is doubly so. the worst thing is that this film spawned a series of "india is great, the world is *beep* films" like Pardes and Karan Johars regressive films. Shahrukhs early girlfriends are all foreign before he meets the pure Kajol..obviously because he just wanted to sleep with them and thats fine according to the film...those foreign women were sluts anyway..thats what the film seems to say. this pathetic notion of womanhood where a woman must not express herself in anyway unless aided by a man is the greatest sickness at the core of Indian society and its filmmakers feed and fuel it further. women have no ambitions except to get a man.

The Departed (2006)

sexual inadequacy

[9/10 · 19 August 2007]

the theme of sexual inadequacy which is explored in departed is very interesting - Matt Damon and Vera farmiga have one scene early on where she asks him " you wanna talk about last night... its OK guys tend to make a big deal about it' " they don't say it explicitly but when she meets Leo later she says the relationship with her boyfriend is having ups and downs. later on in the porn theatre Damon seems uncomfortable with the movie ( someone on screen at that point has an enormous erection -we hear it don't see it) and through the film also he keeps trying to act macho and sexual..when Alec Baldwin talks about weddings in the golf scene and says " weddings make the world realize you aren't gay and that your **ck is working ..." Damon responds " yeah no problem . its working overtime" ... which is obviously crap coz we get no suggestion that he and Vera farmiga have an active sexual life. this is also interesting coz we only see her sleeping with Leo. also makes the scene where jack Nicholson attacks him with the strap on dildo interesting coz thats what Damon's struggling to get -- an erection. also when Vera farmiga is asking him to talk about it she has a very erect banana in her hand...... i know I'm reading a lot here but why else would she be holding a banana.... also in the immediate next scene she and Leo are talking about "guys using their weapons "

Little Terrorist (2004)

pathetic

[3/10 · 23 April 2005]

overrated, poorly written, badly acted. did the academy even watch this? i guess not. the political content guaranteed it an Oscar nomination -- indo -pak border -- a little boy , terrorism. anything with the word "terrorist" gets attention in

this post 9-11 world. its like holocaust movies that are guaranteed an Oscar nomination irrespective of their merits.

and please cinematography does not mean shooting landscapes which are pretty in the first place. you have to be a rotten shooter to screw up making the desert pretty. at least this didn't win the Oscar. they got that right at least. would have been a travesty.

Nowhere in Africa (2001)

Not bad but been there before-many times

[3/10 · 24 November 2003]

Out of Africa meets The English patient meets Days of Heaven.

Decent enough film but every scene was reminiscent of another film. The heroine bears an uncanny physical resemblance to Kristin Scott Thomas in The English Patient and her character was similar too . A married woman who doesnt want to be in Africa and ends up having an affair and in this case ends up loving the country and helping the natives. (ditto with Meryl streep in Out Of Africa.) The white hunter who stops by on the farm from time to time was the Robert Redford character from Out Of africa only not as good looking. The whole identity, nationhood subplot was straight out of The English Patient and the locust scene was an inferior version of the Days Of Heaven sequence right from the buildup (where each of the characters starts noticing the locusts on household objects) to the end. Except in Days Of Heaven the locusts win.

And of course this film won an Oscar- any film with even an obscure reference to Nazis or the Holocaust will always win an Oscar!! Or at least be nominated. Think about it. The Pianist is a wonderful film but it didnt win 3 Oscars because of that-it won cause it was about the Holocaust. Films like Music Box, Sophie's Choice,(Meryl Streep even won for her unexceptional performance in this turgid film) Life is Beautiful..the list is endless.

I'm always fascinated by the fact that truly brilliant foreign films like Red,Blue, Chungking Express,In the Mood for love, The Son's Room never even get nominated. Hollywood only nominates and rewards foreign films that remind them of films made in Hollywood. That's all there is to it--the life affirming but fake Amelie, the overdramatic and pointless No Man's Land...etc etc etc.

A Civil Action (1998)

Pleasantly Surprised

[8/10 · 9 May 2001]

I wasnt expecting the movie to be good but it was.In fact it was really good.Terrific acting from Travolta and Duvall (in particular).I cant believe James Coburn won the Oscar for Affliction over Duvall and Ed Harris(The Truman Show).Great support from Kathleen Quinlan and James Gandolfini and my favourite William H macy who is always terrific.

Steven Zaillian 's screenplay and direction was great.

The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999)

One of the best films of 1999

[10/10 · 15 April 2001]

This has to be one of the creepiest films I have ever seen.The brilliant thing about Tom Ripley is that he appears so normal-he is lonely,quiet,intelligent, but yet he is capable of such violence.And that is what makes this movie terrific-Minghella provides no justification for Tom's actions-he is not a stereotypical psychotic.Blanchett was terrific and so lovely.Jude Law was great.

Great film,deserved some Oscars and Matt Damon's version of "My Funny Valentine"has to be the best version of the song.I Loved the English Patient and I certainly love Ripley and i think Minghella is a stunning filmmaker.

How something as ordinary as American Beauty (which i thought was shallow and pretentious) can win anything shocks me.the only thing good about Beauty was Spacey and the excellent music score of Thomas Newman who got ignored again...

Of course ripley requires the viewer to think ,so be warned!!!!!

Fever Pitch (1997)

Terrific

[23 April 2000]

There are several Paul's in this world-I feel Im one of them and so for me this film is a landmark achievement.The film helps us understand people like Paul and some us really identify with him.Of course he's lucky Arsenal did win.Many of us are still waiting for our teams to win.Colin Firth is terrific as is Ruth Gemmel.