Saawariya (2007) Review

Saawariya (transl.'My love') is a 2007 Indian Hindi-language romance film produced and directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali, based on Fyodor Dostoevsky's 1848 short story "White Nights", Co-produced by Sony Pictures Entertainment and released on 9 November 2007 it is the first Bollywood film to receive a North American release by a Hollywood studio, Additionally, it is one of the first Bollywood films to be released on Blu-ray Disc.

This film would also mark the last film appearance of Zohra Sehgal before her death on 10 July 2014.

The film marks the debut of both the lead actors; Ranbir Kapoor son of actors Rishi Kapoor and Neetu Singh, and Sonam Kapoor, daughter of actor Anil Kapoor.

Saawariya was released during Diwali festival alongside clash competition with Om Shanti Om.

The story is narrated by Gulab (Rani Mukherjee), a prostitute who frequents RK Bar, the town's most luxurious club. The bar's lead singer, Raj (Ranbir Kapoor), whom she affectionately calls "Saawariya" ("beloved"), is a free-spirited and kindhearted man.

Despite knowing what Gulab does, Raj is friendly to her, and unlike other men, is kind to the other prostitutes, trying to brighten their sad lives. When he tells Gulab that he needs a job and somewhere to stay, she tells him that there is only one woman who'll give him a place to stay: Lillian (Zohra Sehgal) – but she allows only those she likes.

The Jungle Book (2016) Review

The Jungle Book is a 2016 American dream experience movie coordinated and delivered by Jon Favreau, composed by Justin Marks and created by Walt Disney Pictures. In view of Rudyard Kipling's eponymous aggregate works and motivated by Walt Disney's 1967 vivified film of a similar name,

The Jungle Book is a true to life/CGI film that recounts the tale of Mowgli, a stranded human kid who, guided by his creature gatekeepers, sets out on an excursion of self-disclosure while sidestepping the compromising Shere Khan.

The film presents Neel Sethi as Mowgli, alongside voice and movement catch exhibitions from Bill Murray, Ben Kingsley, Idris Elba, Lupita Nyong'o, Scarlett Johansson, Giancarlo Esposito, and Christopher Walken.

Favreau, Marks, and maker Brigham Taylor built up the film's story as a harmony between Disney's enlivened transformation and Kipling's unique works, obtaining components from both into the film. Head photography started in 2014, with shooting occurring completely in Los Angeles. The film required broad utilization of PC created symbolism to depict the creatures and settings.

The Jungle Book was delivered in the United States in Disney Digital 3D, RealD 3D, IMAX 3D, D-Box, and premium enormous arrangements, on April 15, 2016.

It turned into a basic and business achievement, earning over $966 million around the world, making it the fifth-most elevated netting film of 2016. The movie got acclaim for its special visualizations, vocal exhibitions, bearing, melodic score, and its steadfastness to the soul of the first energized film and the Kipling epic.

It won honors for accomplishments in special visualizations at the 89th Academy Awards, 22nd Critics' Choice Awards and 70th British Academy Film Awards.

A continuation is being developed, with Favreau and Marks set to return as chief/maker and essayist, separately.

Jack Reacher (2012) Review

Jack Reacher is a 2012 American action thriller film written and directed by Christopher McQuarrie, based on Lee Child's 2005 novel One Shot.

The film stars Tom Cruise as the title character, with Rosamund Pike, David Oyelowo, Richard Jenkins, Jai Courtney, Werner Herzog, and Robert Duvall also starring. The film entered production in October 2011, and was completed in January 2012. It was filmed entirely on location in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

It received mixed reviews but was successful at the box office.

The film was released in North America on December 21, 2012. The musical score was composed by Joe Kraemer, performed by the Hollywood Studio Symphony and recorded at the Sony Scoring Stage in Culver City, California. Cruise performed all of his own driving stunts during the film's car chase sequence.

Cruise reprised his role in the 2016 sequel, Jack Reacher: Never Go Back, based on the 2013 novel Never Go Back.

The Tree of Life (2011) Review

The Tree of Life is a 2011 American experimental epic drama film written and directed by Terrence Malick and featuring a cast of Brad Pitt, Sean Penn, Hunter McCracken, Laramie Eppler, Jessica Chastain, and Tye Sheridan in his debut feature film role.

The film chronicles the origins and meaning of life by way of a middle-aged man's childhood memories of his family living in 1950s Texas, interspersed with imagery of the origins of the known universe and the inception of life on Earth.

After several years in development and missing its planned 2009 and 2010 release dates, The Tree of Life premiered in competition at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival, where it was awarded the Palme d'Or. It ranked number one on review aggregator Metacritic's "Top Ten List of 2011", and made more critics' year-end lists for 2011 than any other film.

It appeared in the 2012 Sight & Sound critics' poll of the world's top 250 films as well as BBC's poll of the greatest American films, one of the few 21st-century works to be included in either. The film was also later named the seventh-greatest film since 2000 in a BBC poll of 177 critics.

In December 2019, The Tree of Life topped The Associated Press' list of the best films of the 2010s. The Tree of Life received three Oscar nominations: Best Picture, Best Director and Best Cinematography.

The Fountain (2006) Review

The Fountain is a 2006 American epic romantic drama film written and directed by Darren Aronofsky and starring Hugh Jackman and Rachel Weisz. Blending elements of fantasy, history, spirituality, and science fiction, the film consists of three storylines involving immortality and the resulting loves lost, and one man's pursuit of avoiding this fate in this life or beyond it.

Jackman and Weisz play sets of characters bonded by love across time and space: a conquistador and his ill-fated queen, a modern-day scientist and his cancer-stricken wife, and a traveler immersed in a universal journey alongside aspects of his lost love.

The storylines—interwoven with use of match cuts and recurring visual motifs—reflect the themes and interplay of love and mortality.

Aronofsky originally planned to direct The Fountain on a $70 million budget with Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett in the lead roles, but Pitt's withdrawal and cost overruns led Warner Bros. to shut down his production.

The director rewrote the script to be sparser, and was able to resurrect the film with a $35 million budget with Jackman and Weisz in the lead roles. Production mainly took place on a sound stage in Montreal, Quebec, and the director used macro photography to create key visual effects for The Fountain at a low cost.

The Intern (2015) Review

The Intern is a 2015 American comedy film directed, written and produced by Nancy Meyers. The film stars Robert De Niro, Anne Hathaway, and Rene Russo, with supporting performances from Anders Holm, Andrew Rannells, Adam DeVine, and Zack Pearlman.

The plot follows a 70-year-old widower who becomes a senior intern at an online fashion website. The film was released on September 25, 2015, by Warner Bros., received mixed reviews from critics and grossed $194 million worldwide.

Seventy-year-old widower Ben Whittaker (DeNiro), a retired executive from DEX One, applies to a senior citizen intern program, after retirement has become too boring for him. He applies to About The Fit, a fast-growing e-commerce fashion startup in Brooklyn.

Founder and CEO Jules Ostin (Hathaway) had previously agreed to a community outreach program where seniors would intern at the firm. Ben impresses everyone and is one of four hired.

Ben is assigned to work with Jules, who is somewhat skeptical at first. Initially frozen out by her, Ben slowly wins over co-workers with his congeniality and gets into Jules's good graces. Ben heads to work one day extra early to organize a messy desk that Jules had complained about previously. After work, Ben notices Jules's chauffeur drinking, convinces the driver to leave and drives Jules home himself, a role he retains in days to come.

New York (2009) Review

New York is a 2009 Indian action thriller film directed by Kabir Khan, produced by Aditya Chopra under the banner Yash Raj Films, and screenplay by Sandeep Srivastava. Visual effects are by Visual Computing Labs, Tata Elxsi Ltd.

It stars John Abraham, Katrina Kaif, Neil Nitin Mukesh, Irrfan Khan & Nawazuddin Siddiqui. New York begins in 1999 and ends in 2008, and tells the story of 3 students studying at the fictional New York State University whose lives are changed by the September 11 attacks and its aftermath.

It received universal critical acclaim, particularly for Kaif and Nitin Mukesh's performances, which earned them nominations for Best Actress and Best Supporting Actor respectively at the 55th Filmfare Awards. The film was declared a super-hit at the box office, grossing Rs. 65 crores, which sums to Rs. 114 crores at present day.

In the United States in 2008, the FBI arrest Omar Aijaz (Neil Nitin Mukesh), a young Muslim man originally from Delhi, after finding guns in the trunk of a taxi cab he owned. Omar is then taken into custody and interrogated by FBI Agent Roshan (Irrfan Khan), also a Muslim man originally from South Asia who has been living in the United States for twenty years.

Omar then discovers that he was set up by the FBI to force him to spy on a former college friend, Sameer Sheikh (John Abraham), whom he has not seen in seven years and who the FBI believes is a terrorist. In the process, Omar discovers that Sam has married Maya (Katrina Kaif), a mutual friend whom Omar had a crush on in university and finds out that Sameer and Maya have a young son, Danyal (Aidan Wagner).

Little Manhattan (2005) Review

Little Manhattan is a 2005 American romantic comedy film directed by Mark Levin and written by Jennifer Flackett, starring Josh Hutcherson and Charlie Ray. It is set in Manhattan, and follows a ten-year-old boy as he experiences his first love.

Gabe, an adventurous young boy, lives in Manhattan with his parents who are on the verge of divorcing. Gabe spends most of his free time exploring the city on his scooter. His daily exploits are followed and encouraged by the friendly concierge at his building.

Gabe encounters Rosemary, an 11-year-old classmate whom he's known since kindergarten, in a self-defense class. After being partnered with her for sparring, he suddenly notices her as a girl, not another face.

To Gabe's elation, they begin spending time together and he is completely enamored with not only her, but her life. Rosemary lives with her loving upper-class parents on the edge of Central Park.

One day, Gabe takes Rosemary on a tour through Central Park, and another day they venture across the city for fun and try to inspect an apartment for rent, worrying Gabe's nervous parents. Rosemary's parents take them to hear a jazz pianist at The Carlyle, where the young twosome finally hold hands.

After the show, Rosemary's parents tell them to say goodnight and her parents go to get milk. After they walk off, Gabe and Rosemary begin talking, and he interrupts her by kissing her.

The Love Guru (2008) Review

The Love Guru is a 2008 American romantic comedy film directed by Marco Schnabel in his directorial debut, written and produced by Mike Myers, and starring Myers, Jessica Alba, Justin Timberlake, Romany Malco, Meagan Good, Verne Troyer, John Oliver, Omid Djalili, and Ben Kingsley.

The film was also Myers and Timberlake's second collaboration after Shrek the Third (2007). The film was a financial flop and was universally panned by critics.

The Guru Pitka (Mike Myers) is tasked with revitalizing the hockey team, the Toronto Maple Leafs. The team has been plagued with losses and their star player suffers a marital tragedy that throws him off his game. In order for Guru Pitka to become the next Deepak Chopra, he must help the team actualize their potential to win the Stanley Cup.

Guru Pitka is the self proclaimed "number-two Guru in the world", after Deepak Chopra. A flashback shows that Pitka was an orphan, taught by Guru Tugginmypudha. When the twelve year old Pitka announces he wants to become a Guru so that girls will love him, Tugginmypudha puts a chastity belt on him until he can learn that loving himself is more important than being loved by others.

Pitka's dream is to become the number-one Guru and appear on The Oprah Winfrey Show. He lives a charmed life with thousands of followers, including the celebrities Jessica Simpson, Val Kilmer and Mariska Hargitay. His teachings, which involve simplistic acronyms and plays on words, are displayed in PowerPoint slide shows.

Mechanic Resurrection (2019) Review

Mechanic: Resurrection is a 2016 American-French action thriller film directed by Dennis Gansel and written by Philip Shelby and Tony Mosher, with a story by Shelby and Brian Pittman. It is the sequel to the 2011 film The Mechanic, which was a remake of the 1972 film of the same name. The film stars Jason Statham, Tommy Lee Jones, Jessica Alba and Michelle Yeoh.
Mechanic: Resurrection premiered in Hollywood on August 22, 2016 and was theatrically released in the United States on August 26, 2016. It received negative reviews and grossed $125 million worldwide.
Since faking his own death (at the end of the previous film), Arthur Bishop has been living quietly in Rio de Janeiro under the name Santos.
He is approached by a courier, Renee Tran, who knows his true identity and explains that her employer wishes Bishop to kill three targets and stage their deaths as accidents. Bishop escapes, eluding her and her mercenaries and fleeing to Thailand.
He takes shelter at the resort island beach house of his friend, Mei, and learns that Tran is working for Riah Crain.
Some time later, a bruised woman, Gina Thornton, approaches Mei for first aid before returning to a boat anchored nearby. Mei sees her being beaten by a man aboard the boat and alerts Bishop.
Together, they rescue Thornton, but in the scuffle, the man's head hits a bollard and he dies. Bishop searches, unsuccessfully, for evidence of the man's identity, then sets the boat ablaze. While Mei tends to Thornton's injuries, Bishop finds that Thornton is also connected to Crain, and concludes that Crain anticipated Bishop would become romantic with her: Crain would then kidnap her to make Bishop take the assassination jobs.
On being charged with his theory, Thornton reveals that Crain had threatened the children's shelter in Cambodia that she runs unless she participated.
Over the next few days, Bishop gets to know Thornton better and they fall in love. As expected, however, Crain's mercenaries arrive and abduct them.

Boyhood (2014) Review

Boyhood is an American coming-of-age drama film written and directed by Richard Linklater, and starring Patricia Arquette, Ellar Coltrane, Lorelei Linklater, and Ethan Hawke. Filmed from 2001 to 2013, Boyhood depicts the childhood and adolescence of Mason Evans Jr. (Coltrane) from ages six to eighteen as he grows up in Texas with divorced parents (Arquette and Hawke). Richard Linklater's daughter Lorelei plays Mason's sister, Samantha.

Production began in 2001 and finished in 2013, with Linklater's goal to make a film about growing up. The project began without a completed script, with only basic plot points and the ending written initially.

Linklater developed the script throughout production, writing the next year's portion of the film after rewatching the previous year's footage. He incorporated changes he saw in each actor into the script, while also allowing all major actors to participate in the writing process by incorporating their life experiences into their characters' stories.

Boyhood premiered at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival and was released theatrically on July 11, 2014. The film competed in the main competition section of the 64th Berlin International Film Festival, where Linklater won the Silver Bear for Best Director.

It received universal acclaim from critics, with praise for its performances, Linklater's screenplay and direction, and ambition. It has been featured in several listings as one of the greatest films ever made.

It was also nominated for five Golden Globe Awards, winning Best Motion Picture – Drama, Best Director, and Best Supporting Actress for Arquette; five BAFTA awards, winning for Best Director and Best Film; and six Academy Awards, winning Best Supporting Actress for Arquette.

The International (2009) Review

The International is a 2009 action thriller film directed by Tom Tykwer and written by Eric Warren Singer. Starring Clive Owen and Naomi Watts, the film follows an Interpol agent and an American district attorney who jointly investigate corruption within the IBBC, a fictional merchant bank based in Luxembourg.

It serves organized crime and corrupt governments as a banker and as an arms broker. The bank's ruthless managers assassinate potential threats including their own employees.

Inspired by the Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI) scandal of the 1980s, the film raises concerns about how global finance affects international politics across the world. Production began in Berlin in September 2008, including the construction of a life-size replica of New York's Guggenheim Museum for the film's central shootout scene.

The film opened the 59th Berlin International Film Festival on 5 February 2009. The Rotten Tomatoes critical consensus praised the action sequences and locations but criticized the plot.

The A-Team (2010) Review

The A-Team is a 2010 American action thriller film based on the 1980s television series of the same name created by Frank Lupo and Stephen J. Cannell. Directed by Joe Carnahan and written by Carnahan, Brian Bloom, and Skip Woods, the film stars Liam Neeson, Bradley Cooper, Quinton Jackson, Sharlto Copley, Jessica Biel, Patrick Wilson and Yul Vazquez.

The film tells the story of a Special Forces team who, imprisoned for a crime they did not commit, escapes and sets out to clear their names.

The film was produced by Cannell, Ridley Scott, and Tony Scott. The film was theatrically released on June 11, 2010 by 20th Century Fox.

The film had been in development since the mid-1990s having gone through a number of writers and story ideas and being put on hold a number of times. It received mixed reviews from critics and made $177 million.