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Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy - A brilliantly stylish adaptation of the classic John Le Carre Brit Spy Thriller.
Its a bit of a slow burn but absolutely artistic in every way, right down to the use of the correct level of grainy filters to ensure that incomparable late '60's, early '70's feel.
And the music - to die for. Especially the last signature track La Mer - so powerfully evocative of a radio playing softly in some seedy, down-at-heel cafe in the older bits of Paris, maybe somewhere near Montmartre, with yet a sort of faded elegance about it. You can almost see the blue Gauloise smoke curling lazily up in the air and you can almost taste the Pastis when that song plays...
Equally conjures up visions of the seedier old quarter of Marseilles where you can almost smell La Mer....

To cut a long story short, it is a 'must see' for all Cold War Spy Thriller fans.

Watched " Premium Rush" last evening starring the awesome Joseph Gordon Levitt

Story is about a delivery guy in NYC who rides a bicycle with no brakes as it gives him the thrills. He has to delivery a package and hurdles that he comes across while delivering the same.

Movie is filmed over a period of just 4 hours and the action is super gripping with some breathtaking bicycle chase scenes in a beautifully picturized New York City. It also features some reverse chornological scenes to explain the story which was really nice and a google map type route explanation for undertanding the distance covered by the bicyclist

The villain is a NYC cop who is after that package for his own nefarious reasons and he acted the best in the movie. Even overshadowed Levitt. He drove his Mazda really well and looked the perfect demented character that he played.

While riding the bicycle through every tiny gaps and evading speeding vehicles, there are a few times its shown Levitt thinking of alternate routes to squeeze through and its consequences had he taken ( its like how exactly our minds works before taking a last minute decision to overtake, brake or squeeze through etc.) which was brilliantly picturized

Levitt looked lean and mean and like a perfect bicyclist. However, the guy who's physique you will be impressed with will be the black fellow courier bicyclist ( Wole Parks). His physique is seem to be beileved. Ripped through and through.

Only reason for you to watch this movie is the awesome filming of bicycle chase sequences through NYC. It will blow your mind

3.5/5

Honestly i wasn't expecting much from the movie. I hadn't even watched the trailers. But the movie completely blew my mind. Awesome chase sequences and gives a nice street level view of some New York Streets.
Well-made movie.

I would give it a 4/5 :)

P.S- few 'roads' in NYC looked like the roads in Bangalore, because they were patched and looked uneven :uncontrol

Also watched the following movies over the weekend:

Looper - 4/5
Good performances from the actors. And the way the movie makes you think is just too good.


Argo - 4.5/5
Based on a real-life CIA-Canadian secret operation to exfil six fugitive American diplomatic personnel out of revolutionary Iran.

Man what a movie!! Kudos to Ben Affleck for directing this movie.
It had my attention all through the movie.
The last 30 minutes were edge-of-the seat.
Loved it.

Watched it on 30-9-2012.. I found the The movie is all about "Project Alice","Project Alice's Gun" and Zombies. Movie has completely lost the original story line and is all about killing all the Zombies however, whenever and wherever possible :deadhorse... (2/5)

On a different note, Bourn Legacy (2.5/5)was also a kind of disappointing but Expandable 2 (3/5)was kind of okey with a few very nice set of dialogues reminiscing the flicks from '80 and their class dialogues. (This is excluding Arnold Schwarzenegger wearing a hula Shirt and behaving Terminator transformed to Mr. Bean :Shockked:)

A must watch for 2012 is Act of Valor (5/5)

An unprecedented blend of real-life heroism and original filmmaking, Act of Valor stars a group of active-duty Navy SEALs in a powerful story of contemporary global anti-terrorism. (taken from IMDB)

Watched two movies this weekend

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Fantastic movie which starts on a slow pace but quickly turns gripping. There are two parallel tracks, one of the girl & another of Daniel Craig's character & how they merge to solve a case DC is given. Loved the movie but found the end to drag a little

4/5

Double Jeopardy

The movie is about a wife(Ashley Judd) who is wrongly convicted of killing her husband while they are out sailing on a boat. The lady friend who is supposed to be taking of AJ's son stops visiting & answering call after initials days. What follows is a series of mysteries that start to unfold including the probability that her husband is alive & this was all a setup. Interesting storyline, good performances & a good watch.

This is 1999 movie, i am surprised this was never copied in Bollywood, the story seemed perfect for a copy :D, let me know if it was indeed made in Bollywood :p

3.5/5

If you liked this, try the fugitive too.
Broadly the same, and as well done.

I read the book last weekend. Will finish the second part "The Girl Who Played with Fire" tonight. Then the third and last part of the Millenium trilogy.

Will watch the movie after that :)

Yeah had seen that one long ago. Btw looks like Tommy Lee Jones has quite a few movies where he is chasing fugitives :) Another one that comes to my mind is US Marshals (also a sequel to the Fugitive)

I am wondering if I should watch the Swedish version as well, Netflix has all 3 with their extended versions available for viewing online :)

Ek Haseena Thi is supposed to be a remake of it, however I doubt Urmila could match to Ashley Judd's performance, nor could they find a guy to replace Jones!


Honestly speaking I found the book(s) far better than the English or the Swedish version of the movies.

Bollywood ke haath bahut lambe hote hai. Do you think they'd let this one pass? Check out the 2004 flick "Ek Haseena Thi" starring Saif Ali and Urmila Matondkar. Pretty slick adaptation. I, in fact, quite liked it.

Watched "Get the Gringo" starring Mel Gibson yesterday. I liked it. Old Mel does a Jason Statham and pulls it off! A bit far fetched in some parts, but a thoroughly entertaining movie that keeps your butt glued to the couch till its done.

Ouch! Urmila is definitely a better actress than Ashley Judd. And Tommy Lee Jones, this is not one of his better movies. He is very good in Fugitive or even Under siege where he plays the villain.

Hmm well "Ek Haseena thi" was brilliant & frankly I see very few similarities also its no where a straight away copy like it was done with movies like "Sleeping with the Enemy" etc

Well That's almost always the case isnt it? I am not much into reading Novels so I watch the movies :)

Looks like one of those umpteen Mexican Mafia/drug lord "Where is My Money?" kind of film :p

Argo - a very well made film with minimal flaws or open loops based on a side story of the Iran hostage crisis. Ben Affleck's directorial ventures have all been very well received, and this one is no exception.
If you are a fan of thriller narratives, this is a must watch. This is not an action thriller so don't expect any gung ho action.
4.5/5

Watched 11:14, a sort of dark comedy, based on what happens around 11:14 PM in a small town. It is one of those comedies which can be watched many times.

Rating: 4/5

PS: Rachael Leigh Cook plays the role of a damn hot chic

Watched Skyfall. Its an awesome movie. The action sequences are balanced very well with emotion and drama. Daniel Craig is superb. Absolutely liked his expressions and emotionless face!

My rating 4/5