" Stanley Ka Dabba "

Year: 2011
Directed by: Amole Gupte
Verdict: 7/10




The story of Stanley may seem usual if not predictable about the life of a mere child living in India.
From the beginning, the film draws our attention in a classroom full of naughty and noisy kids.
A teacher who loves her job and always made them smile and laugh at their mischievousness or
Another, who's often too strict with a stern face, uninterested in his students and monotonous and
yet another teacher, who never appreciates his students, shuns a poor kid because he
doesn't have a tiffin box, he doesn't care about anything except his stomach, eats his students' lunch, to the point of
expelling a kid from school... talk about gluttony.



The school was run by a catholic and the students were well-off, they all seem to be except for this particular kid.



Stanley -
who was the main character of the film seems to be leading a jovial and youthful life,
but as always, what's seen on the outside was a camouflage of lies and pretensions.
Inside, he's a troubled kid who's confused, lost, exploited and sometimes bullied.
But despite all this, Stanley never give up, with a good heart and a dream of his own.
He strives for a better life and education.



A bit of sublimity and humour in the film.
It has beautiful script and a story that's thought provoking in the end.
I assure you, the last ten minutes can be life altering.
The soundtrack is a sore though, I like some of the soulful sound, but others were a bit too loud for my taste.
This film, clearly shows the harsh reality of life in India, the struggle to alleviate poverty,
esp. the youth where they're mostly exploited and used by adults for their own selfish reasons.
In the eyes of an innocent child, all they ever wanted was to play and be happy.
But the cruelty in his surroundings changes all that and as he gets older,
the once youthful, charming kid isn't the same anymore.



click here for more photos!

and watch the trailer here:

" LOL "

Verdict: 7/10
Year: 2008
Directed by: Lisa Azuelos




LOL means laughing at loud, ( which i guess everybody knows what it means already)
is the name of this feel good film that stars veteran Sophie Marceau and other young casts.



It talks about the coming of age of sometimes confused and rebellious teenagers.
Mostly, it centers on a mother and daughter relationship, played by Sophie Marceau and her
teenage daughter played by Christa Theret.



A perfect example would be the american series Gilmore Girls, except this is a french flick.
they share their woes and laughters together, in hidsight, they're more like sisters and best pals,
but like in every perfect story, they're bound to be misundertandings and lies that could hurt the relationship.
How are they going to overcome all that?



I recommend this film Not because this is award winning, merely because after watching it,
it doesn't grow heavy on you, in short, everybody can relate to this kind of genre
without exagerrating it.
In fact, I've already watched it twice. ^0^
I just browsed allocine and I think there's going to be a remake of it = Miley cyrus and Demi moore.
I don't know about this US remake but a Demi and Miley tandem?! i guess we'll see.
I like the ost music also.

Sophie M, as always was good in this film, she's a bit older now,
funny because it reminds me of the young version of La Boum 1 and 2,
but still a great actor and she did not exaggerated her role.
Christa Theret was your typical teenager growing up and falling in and out of love.
She played it well too along with the other young actors as well.
you can see the vivacity of their youth as they struggle in overcoming love, life and everything.

" Le Petit Nicolas "

verdict: 9/10
year: 2009
directed by: Laurent Tirad
D'apres de roman de: Sempe-Goscinny
Starring : Maxime Godart, Valérie Lemercier, Kad Merad, Sandrine Kiberlain...




Teaser:

The famous one liner question- { What do you want to be when you grow up ? }




Nicolas is your typical boy, growing up and enjoying the time of his life.
He has parents who adore him, he goes to school, play with friends... yes, his life seems all too perfect.



But one day, overhearing his parents in a hush hush conversation, he was led to believe that her mother's pregnant
and soon, he was about to have a little brother.

Suddenly, strange imaginations crossed his mind, thinking he might be abandoned in a lost forest and eaten alive by
wild animals...
No, this can't be happening, he has to do something to changed their minds, he has to think fast before things get out
of hand... before it's too late.



This film is your quintessential Little Rascals remake.
It has a good story, the dialogues are quirky, funny without trying too hard,
great casts and charming setting.



Watching it gives you another point of view when it comes to dealing with kids and understanding them.



My favorite character aside from Nicolas, (who's the narrator and protagonist of the story) is a student name
Clotaire, who plays a lazy, no brainer kid, his expressions is a scene so hard to miss and of course,
the comedian Valerie Lemercier, who never fails to let us laugh till we drop.

Sherlock Holmes

Year: 2009
Verdict: 4/10
Directed by: Guy Ritchie













The hype of this movie and the buzz that has got everyone talking made me curious to see the film when it came out.
Sadly, It was disappointing to watch it right from the start.
The first ten minutes was already a big "yawn" for me.
Not to mention the accent of this peculiar Sherlock played by Robert Downey Jr.
Does he have to try so hard to sound like an english? why can;t he be just as he is.
I would've understand the whole thing better bec. he's swallowing his sentences the whole time.
To begin with, I don;t know what the story's leading,
I think the director has got a slight issue on that part.
It gives you raw images of this scenario and then, jumping into another scene without finishing the other one...
Sherlock in this story seems to be a demented, queer person when really he's not.
He tries to be almost funny even when he's not.
The director distracts you with special effects, slow-mo, breathtaking scenes, they were worth the wait and then, when he goes back into story telling, it's dull again.

Unfortunately, It wasn't the movie i was expecting.

I'm not a fan of Guy ritchie (ex-of Madonna).
Apart from his flop movie which he directed Swept Away,
I think he's better off as an Mtv director than doing a film esp. that of an "era" kind of thing.
It might've been better if he were doing this modern action fight film or a mobster mafia war.

But I like it, when he does close-up scenes with the actors, he knows how to pick the right angle.
The good choice of the OST- soundtrack goes well with the film which sounds upbeat, unique and catchy.
The setting was very much put into detail and the costumes were also well thought of.
If it hadn't been for Jude Law who portrayed as Dr. Watson, who i understand better in his dialogues, I would have neglect the film.

(Pictures from allocine)

"Some Like It Hot"

Year: 1959
Verdict: 9/10
Directed by: Billy Wilder

With an all star cast and a brilliant director behind, this is one classic film you wouldn't want to miss.
Despite Marilyn Monroe's notorious "bad" girl image, it think her role in this film matches her alluring sex appeal and flirtatious actions.
This brings back nostalgic b&w films that we don't often see nowadays...quality films.

The story is about two musicians in Chicago, struggling to make ends meet, they have no future and were somewhat lousy bass players.
Chicago in those times were known for their Mafia history and one night, while playing at this low-key jazz bar, an encounter between the bad guys and the police brought down a fiasco that didn't end well.
They ended up in a parking lot, hiding from the police and chaos, they thought they were already safe but too late to realize that they saw an actual murder between the mafia and his men(who betrayed the boss) and shot him to death.
Caught by the bad guys, they tried to escape but thought that the only solution for them not to get caught was to join a female orchestra band, headed by a certain Mr. Beanstalk, who was hilarious. But because they are men, the only way for them to be accepted was to dressed up and pretend they were ladies.
Enter, Marilyn monroe who's the lead singer, ravishingly beautiful but has a specific taste when it comes to men, she's attracted to bad boys with lots of money.
Particularly, someone like a millionaire who owns a yacht.
From there, the story goes further as Tony curtis immediately fell for her, but can't express his love because she's a "he" and he's technically in hiding and out of work.
Meanwhile, Jack lemmon, he was also trying so hard 'not' to be attracted to all the ladies, controling his man-urge, his performance in this movies was so funny.
He was paired up with an old retired fellow, who's instantly had a crush on 'her' the moment he walked in the hotel, but the twist is that, this old fellow's a millionaire, who owns a yacht, who bought expensive gifts to jack all along thinking that Jack lemmon's a lady.

The twists and the ending of this story may seem predictable but still well-thought of and really funny without trying too hard.