Topic: Dave's DVD/Blu-ray Reviews

[dfmorgan]

Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi

Year: 2008
Director: Aditya Chopra
Cast: Shahrukh Khan, Anushka Sharma, Vinay Pathak
Overview: You might have a love story to tell?

Maybe not! How can an ordinary man have a breathtaking, goose flesh igniting, awe inspiring love story of all things to tell?

But guess what - love does not differentiate between the ordinary and exceptional, the uninteresting and interesting, the unattractive and attractive. Because love knows no distinction. It can happen to anyone and once it does it engulfs us into it completely and gives us those miraculous experiences that only love can yield.

This is what happened to Surinder Sahni (Shahrukh Khan) - a simple, clean hearted, honest man working for Punjab Power, leading a humdrum life, when he meets his total opposite and finds love in the flamboyant, fun-loving, vivacious - Taani (Anushka Sharma) for whom the whole world is her canvas and she paints her own life with the colours of rainbow all until unforseen circumstances changes it all and brings them together.

What follows is a journey filled with laughter, tears, joy, pain, music, dance and a lot of love.
A journey that makes us believe that there is an extraordinary love story in every ordinary jodi.

Watched: 24th. Dec 2010
My Thoughts: Oh my what do I say? I watched this initially with some trepidation, wondering if this was going to be a Bollywood remake of Shall We Dance?, which itself was a remake of the Japanese film Shall We Dansu?. As Shall We Dansu? is a film I really enjoyed I was a little concerned but my fears were quickly put aside as this film tells a completely different story. This is a gorgeous romance with a healthy dash of comedy. A couple are brought together by tragedy but the tragic events leave the wife, Taani (Anushka Sharma),  having no love for her new  husband, Surinder Sahni (Shahrukh Khan), who does love his wife but will not declare it. The film follows them and their choices. We see Taani attending dance classes and Surinder adopting an alter-ego, Raj, to try to see what the dance classes offer. At the end Taani is in a fix over Surinder and Raj and has to make a choice.

Shahrukh Khan plays both the geekish Surinder and his alter-ego the fun-loving Raj and plays both of them superbly to evoke the mood of the moment and the switch in action.

My Rating: A gorgeous romantic comedy 4

[Tom]

I'm glad you enjoyed it

[dfmorgan]

Chloe

Year: 2009
Director: Atom Egoyan
Cast: Julianne Moore, Liam Neeson, Amanda Seyfried
Overview: Catherine (Julianne Moore: Boogie Nights), a successful doctor, suspects her handsome music professor husband David (Liam Neeson: Taken, Clash of the Titans) is cheating on her. To lay her suspicions and fears to rest, she hires an irresistible young woman, Chloe (Amanda Seyfried: Mamma Mia!), to test David's fidelity. Chloe's torrid tales of her encounters with David lead Catherine on a journey of sexual and sensual re-discovery. But by opening the door to temptation, she puts her family in great danger...

Watched: 25th. Dec 2010
My Thoughts: An erotic thriller. I guessed the first twist, but that may have been from comments here, but failed to spot the second. Apparently this is a remake of the French film Nathalie... which I have in my collection, in fact I'm sure I have watched it but cannot remember any details. I'll have to sort it out and (re)watch that to see how they compare.

My Rating: A pretty good film so 3

[Critter]

This movie did my head in. I guessed none of the twists and each one left me like this- 

[dfmorgan]

This movie did my head in. I guessed none of the twists and each one left me like this- 

Yes I think it may have been something you said that gave the first twist away to me, but nonetheless it was still quite enjoyable and still caught me out.

[dfmorgan]

I'm glad you enjoyed it

Yes Tom I did and thanks for all the recommendations.

 

[Critter]

This movie did my head in. I guessed none of the twists and each one left me like this- 

Yes I think it may have been something you said that gave the first twist away to me, but nonetheless it was still quite enjoyable and still caught me out.

Sorry about that. 
I don't even remember there being two twists, I only remember one major one at the end. I'll be more careful with my words next time.

[dfmorgan]

Sorry about that. 
I don't even remember there being two twists, I only remember one major one at the end. I'll be more careful with my words next time.

No problemo. It wasn't a major twist per se and wasn't the major one at the end

(click to show/hide)

It was just the lesbian action which whilst obvious was slightly unexpected

[Critter]

Oh okay.
Haha oh those scenes, talk about awkward. I wouldn't want to watch that one with my Mum. 

The part that got me was

(click to show/hide)

How Chloe faked all those stories about what she did with the husband. They were so detailed and the whole time I really thought she was actually seeing the husband. What a little liar! That twist is why I liked the film, I love it when I really don't see storylines coming and I can't predict them. I wasn't to keen on the ending though, it just felt very abrupt and strange to me to just suddenly kill off her character like that.

[dfmorgan]

The part that got me was

(click to show/hide)

How Chloe faked all those stories about what she did with the husband. They were so detailed and the whole time I really thought she was actually seeing the husband. What a little liar! That twist is why I liked the film, I love it when I really don't see storylines coming and I can't predict them. I wasn't to keen on the ending though, it just felt very abrupt and strange to me to just suddenly kill off her character like that.

Yes that was a very different twist and I never saw it coming. In the extras there are a couple of alternate endings but they in fact are the same ending but with different voice-overs.

[Critter]

Oh really? I never saw them. That seems to be an interesting take on different ending.

[dfmorgan]

The Sword With No Name

Year: 2009
Director: Kim Yong-Gyun
Cast: Cho Seung-Woo, Soo-Ae, Cheon Ho-Jin
Overview: A young woman of noble birth embarks on a dangerous cross-country journey, where she encounters an infamous bounty-hunter. Honour-bound, he becomes her protector and against all the odds they fall in love. A few years later, to fulfill a sacred promise, she must enter the royal court and ascend to the throne as Empress, leaving her love behind. However, when aggressive Japanese forces gather against her nation, the bounty hunter will once again stand by her side as a devoted bodyguard.

As the conflict escalates to all-out war, her irrepressible leadership will sustain her people and give them the hope of victory. Tragically, as her reputation spreads, she will become a target for assassination, but one man's courage will make all the difference...

Watched: 30th. Dec 2010
My Thoughts: I have to say I was pleasantly surprised by this film. At its heart it is a romance with some action rather than action with some romance. The action is partly based on real events and takes place in Korea of the mid 1800's when nations from the West, here in the guise of France and Russia, and the East, in the guise of Japan, were trying hard to get into Korea and influence its people. A bounty hunter, Mu-Myeong (Cho Seung-Woo), meets a young woman, Ja-Yeong (Soo-Ae), and their lives become intertwined. Ja-Yeong becomes the Queen of Korea whilst he joins the palace guard to be near her. There are many political machinations as Ja-Yeong and her husband, the King Gojong (Kim Young-Min), try to broker deals which her father-in-law Daewonkun (Cheon Ho-Jin) is against. Eventually this leads to major conflicts and its final tragic ending.

My Rating: An absorbing 4- -

[Tom]

Thanks for the review, Dave. Looks like I have to put it on my wishlist

[dfmorgan]

Mars Attacks!

Year: 1996
Director: Tim Burton
Cast: Jack Nicholson, Glenn Close, Annette Bening
Overview: AWAKE, EARTHLINGS! It’s later than you think.
Don’t miss this hilarious frenzy as Tim Burton directs – and Mars Attacks!

SEE! Stars that shine across the galaxy. Jack Nicholson (in a dual role), Glenn Close, Annette Bening, Pierce Brosnan, Danny DeVito and a dozen more! SHRIEK! At mean, green invaders armed with insta-fry ray guns, endowed with slimy, humongous brains – and enlivened with state-of-the-art special effects. GASP! As the U.S. Legislature is overwhelmed. (Don’t fear, we have 2 out of 3 branches of the government working for us.) THRILL! As Earth fights back with an unexpected weapon. Take that, Martians!


Watched: 1st. Jan 2011
My Thoughts: Ack. Ask. Ack. A nice fun film to start the New Year, pity that Warner chose to release it as a vanilla with zero extras.

My Rating: An enjoyable 3

[dfmorgan]

Nathalie

Year: 2003
Director: Anne Fontaine
Cast: Fanny Ardant, Emmanuelle Béart, Gérard Depardieu
Overview: From the director of Mulholland Drive and The Pianist comes Nathalie, a seductive tale of sexual intrigue and manipulation, starring Emmanuelle Béart, Academy Award nominee Gérard Depardieu and acclaimed actress Fanny Ardant.

Tormented by the suspicion of her husband's adultery, Catherine, a bourgeois Parisian businesswoman, seeks the help of a beautiful but mysterious call-girl, Nathalie, to uncover the truth once and for all.  As she hears the intimate details of her husband's meetings with Nathalie, Catherine also begins to learn more about herself and her own desires.  However as she loses her control over Nathalie's actions she begins to question who is deceiving whom.

Nathalie is a stylish and provocative drama set against the backdrop of the world's most seductive city, which looks at the nature of relationships, and the subtle line that separates love from desire.

Watched: 1st. Jan 2011
My Thoughts: I decided to watch this after viewing Chloe the US remake of this film. The premise is the same with a professional woman employing a call-girl to try and trap her husband, whom she thinks is having affairs. The family dynamics though are different and the ending an anti-climax compared to the US version.

My Rating: A mildly enjoyable 3