Sabrina (1954)

Intro : Reaching for the Moon

There is a reason why they should be calling certain movies as classics. Even after more than half a century since the movie was made it is still a fresh movie to watch. Reviewing a classic is tougher when compared to a review of a newly made flick.

A Romantic comedy which sometimes tickles your laughing bone, keeps you in suspense for some time and makes you share the confusion of Audrey Hepburn for the rest of the movie and that will sum up the movie Sabrina for you.

The story is about a girl who has a dream and pursues her dream only to find out that she has been chasing the wrong dream. But it’s a different story that she end’s up choosing a nightmare by falling for Sir Humphrey Bogart, who could have easily played her papa in the movie.
The story is about Cinderella aka Sabrina, who is the chauffer’s daughter, falling for the heir of the largest estate and business family of long island. And after so many twists and turns and ensuing confusions she identifies the true love of her life, which of course is not the original guy who she was in love with.

Except for Mr. Bogart, who is a miscast for the character of Linus Larabee, every other actor has lent life to the movie. Audrey Hepburn, playing Sabrina has made justice for the role with her dreamy looks and love sick gestures. Whether be it William Holden playing David Larabee or John Williams playing Thomas Fairchild (Sabrina’s father) the characters will stay in the mind forever.

But Billy should have cast the lead character of Linus Larabee more carefully, when Humphrey Bogart tries to act as Love sick, it makes the viewer go sick. He looks much older in this particular flick.

One more thing which is noteworthy of Sabrina is the background score, which aptly depicts the situation. I am currently downloading the soundtrack of Sabrina.

A Classic, a must watch and an awesome movie and that is Sabrina.

Review Summary
One Liner: All is fair in Love and War
What should I do: A Must Watch classic, no harm in watching it again.
My Score: 7.5 / 10.

Avatar

Intro : Everything is backwards now, like the movie is the true world, and we are in a state of dream.
















The Review

There only exists a thin line between science and movies and sci-fi movies have time and again proved to be one step ahead of science in their imagination. Avatar, is a classic example where a movie has taken a long jump from conventional and conservative scientific wisdom and proves to be a farfetched dream of a “Man who thought he could Fly”.


Avatar, in Hindu Mythology means an incarnation of god, who comes down to earth to sustain justice when evils spurts its head. Had there been a mythology in Pandora, it will be Avatar where Jack Sully plays god in bringing justice onto Pandora. Now guess all the Pandorian’s will be reading out Avatar as the bedtime fairy tale for kids and it would have become an epic in Pandora.


But coming down to earth, I cannot stop but compare some of the earlier movies of Jimmy and what was the differentiating factor in them. The differentiating factor in Titanic was not the technology that was made use to bring back the unfortunate ship to life, but the focus on the love between Jack and Rose, even while a bigger event (The sinking of Titanic of course), was taking place in the background.


For a viewer this presented a unique way of storytelling which focused on a much smaller element while a bigger element was taking place in the background. A viewer would have concentrated more on what will happen to Jack and Rose rather than concentrating on what is gonna happen to Titanic.
Of course, the technology enhanced the story telling aspect…


Coming to Terminator, it brought science to a different forefront, again detailing possibilities within impossibilities and telling the story from the point of view of a kid and his robot. Terminator did not succeed because of technology used; it was a success, thanks to the concept of time travelling and circular references which was during that time unknown to the movie world. Jimmy succeeded in selling the concept enhanced by cutting edge technology.
But Avatar, which is a technological marvel in every aspect and an example of exemplified imagination at a pandorian level, fails to evoke that magic which was created in Terminator or Titanic. Technically a flawless movie and the amount of money that has gone in the making ends up being a simple tale of “good triumphing over evil” in the end and a “all that’s well end’s well” ending. Only difference is it is not earth but happens in Pandora…


And once again, Pandora is the brainchild of Cameroon and anything can happen over there that is beyond the physical, chemical, biological and pathological limits of mankind. On one side while I have to bow to the creativity that has gone into creating Pandora, the other side it seems to be farfetched even for a sci-fi fan. > Whether be it the Rhino look alikes coming to the rescue at the end or the animals that have to be connected through the ponytail, or Eywa as a biological marvel, or the way the avatars are created, or even the existence of Pandora or unobtainium, all these seems to be the wild end of imagination without any limits. >. It seems that there is no iota of reality in the movie but the entire movie looks like a dream where anything can happen without any limitations…


Even though it is a technological marvel, an outstanding movie of all times and the extraordinary amount of creativity gone into it, Cameroon fails to bring in a difference in storytelling with avatar.



Review Summary
One Liner: Techies delight. A dream extravaganza… a normal storyline
What should I do: Don’t miss this movie, a must watch.
My Score: 6.5 / 10.

Avatar creates history

Before starting to review Avatar, here is how the movie has created history, Excerpts from an article from Business Today.

Top Grossing Movies worldwide

1. Avatar - $1859 Million
2. Titanic - $1843 Million
3. The Lord of the Rings : The Return of the King - $ 1119 M
4. Pirates of the Carribean - $ 1066 M
5. The Dark Knight - $ 1002 M
6. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's stone - $ 975 M
7. Pirates of the Carribean: At World's end - $ 961 M
8. Harry Potter and the Order of the phoenix - $ 938 M
9. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince - $ 934 M
10. The Lord of the Rings : The Two Towers - $ 925 M

Top Grossing movies worldwide (After adjusting for Inflation) - The real picture

1. Gone with the wind (1939)
2. Star Wars (1977)
3. The Sound of Music (1965)
4. ET : Extra Terrestrial (1982)
5. The Ten Commandments (1956)
6. Titanic (1997)
7. Jaws (1975)
8. Doctor Zhivago (1965)
9. The Exorcist (1973)
10. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)

Wannabe-Movie-Critic

Out of all the professions, the one that interests me the most is that of a movie critic. First, you get to watch movies for a living, second, you get to criticize a work of art which would have taken millions of dollars and thousands of person hours to make and third, i simply love doing it...

So goes the intro... now lets get started