jack977

The cast is excellent, and while the script could've been tighter and more even (especially in regards to the past), Night Train to Lisbon is still very good arthouse fun.

A realistic and intimate study of the human psyche, Forgetting the Girl tends to stumble or even underwhelm occasionally, but those are minor inconsiderations in an otherwise terrific debut.

A realistic & deft study of a variety of real life human characters, skillfully acted out by the talented cast and masterfully directed by the legendary Polanksi.

Bruce Dern's masterful performance, the excellent music and the simple yet extremely layered storyline with the complex themes it deals with makes Nebraska the most glorious feather yet in Alexander Payne's hat.

Despite the fact that it's characters and storyline are carefully derived from Pixar classics (not necessarily a bad thing), Lego is an extremely entertaining film with an infectiously playful attitude suitable for all ages (especially adults).

Dark, brooding and surreal; Aronofsky's epic is beautifully shot and ambitiously conceived. Most importantly it gives Biblical lore a healthy dose of human realism - not a bad thing at all.

For swimming against the Bollywood tide, Queen earns full marks. But purely in terms of a cinematic experience, Queen meanders, cliches, stereotypes and keeps repeating itself - again, the excellent cast and great attention to detail help.

It's unspecial story aside, Dedh Ishqiya is one of the rare black-comedy/thriller that simply refuses to bend to Bollywood norm and full marks for that! The movie is indulgent in quite a few places, but the brilliant acting, excellent dialogues and handsome execution make this an out-and-out winner you shouldn't miss!

Even better than its already impressive predecessor, Days of Future Past is definitely Singer in top form - whether its the deft handling of the ensemble cast, sleek visuals or inherently humane story. Definitely the most fun I've had at the movies in a long, long time.

An extremely humane tale of pure survival, The Pianist is undoubtedly one of Polanski's finest works - realistic, unflinching and never resorting to even the slightest melodrama.

Casual viewers might struggle to look past the love story and the crash, but James Cameron's painstakingly realized dream is a marvel of the extents the director pushed not just the technology (which he undoubtedly did) at the time but also the conviction of his vision.

Christopher Nolan's foray into independent blockbuster territory is a complex, definitely ambitious and more importantly a thought provoking film that might leave you scratching your head at the end but rest assured is a very satisfying metaphysical experience. A standing testimony to why the thinking man's Hollywood blockbuster isn't dead, not as long as we have a Nolan and a Cameron.

Perhaps one of the more underrated films of Scorsese, The Aviator is an exhilarating look at the aviation pioneer with DiCaprio filling in his shoes with never seen before intensity and some grand set design.

Arguably better than its predecessor, Part II brilliantly juxtaposes the rise of the father with the fall of the son and is one of the finest showcases of cinema's great character studies, not to mention Carmine Coppola's haunting score.

Cold, calculative and distant; The Godfather's deliberate pacing, restrained acting and unemotional cinematography make it much more than a great gangster-crime drama - It's a fascinating study of the human psyche. Perhaps, the only dramatic aspect in this movie, at least in the conventional sense is Nino Rota's haunting score.

A gut wrenchingly beautiful masterpiece about the horrors of the holocaust, Schindler's List is Steven Spielberg at his finest and most emotional (rightfully so).

Del Toro's vision is as grand and elaborate as ever, as the Jaegars and Kaijus indulge in guilty techno-porn. Alas, Beacham's story is painfully routine (with a few flashes of interesting here and there) but then again, we do get to see Idris Elba bellow "today we are canceling the apocalypse!".

One of the greatest films of all time, Cinema Paradiso (taken to new heights with Ennio Morricone's beautiful soundtrack) is as much a film about nostalgia as it is about the sheer love of the cinema.

Perhaps the greatness of Tokyo Story lies in the fact that it never judges its characters or their actions. It merely observes, almost making voyeurs of us, the viewers.

Richly dark and beautifully hallucinatory, Apocalypse Now like the greatest war movies picks no side, but rightfully informs us of the horrors of war on an primordially human level.

Beautiful, surreal and thought provoking. The Thin Red Line is inarguably one of the finest war movies ever made and succeeds in answering some of the primal questions about the need for war and our conspicuous disconnection from nature.

Like its predecessor, Catching Fire is a refreshingly original and thought provoking blockbuster (a welcome break from those endless superhero movies we just can't seem to be getting enough of). Jennifer Lawrence dazzles once again as Katniss. The handheld camera effect is thankfully restrained this time, but the usually excellent Hoffman delivers a surprisingly underwhelming performance and the script while mostly air tight does succumb to the occasional loophole.

Pitch perfect performances, the leisurely pacing and more importantly the striking commentary on mental health institutions make One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest a timeless classic, that hasn't aged in 40 years and probably never will.

Like its predecessor, Toy Story 2 is filled with great depth and genuine heart showing us the potential of big budget animation as something that's truly for all ages and the ages.

Consistently brilliant, Toy Story is beautifully animated but more importantly is more thoughtful and heartfelt then most dramas. It definitely raises and sets the bar for modern day animation.

Good acting, interesting production design, commendable themes and a racy screenplay makes Hunger Games the big budget fantasy precedent for this decade. The one and only thing that mars this otherwise engagingly well made blockbuster is its cinematography with its unnecessary and excessive use of the shaky/handheld cam effect which more than anything robs the fine production design of its value.

A high concept film realized on screen in a rather underwhelming manner, Adjustment Bureau suffers from the occasional clunky dialogue and noticeable tonal inconsistencies. It however benefits from the strong chemistry between Damon and Blunt, and Phillip K. **** original and inventive story.

Nolan's vision is unmistakable, but the ride to that destination is riddled with questionable subplots, underwhelming editing, punch-less action sequences and Bane's 'cleared' voice.

The Hobbit is a dazzling film, with almost every other frame gleaming with extravagant special effects. But its deliberately tedious pacing makes it little more than a curtain raiser for the future films in the franchise to follow.

Its greatness lies in the fact that it raises many questions, but never answers any of them. The best dialogues in the film come in the form of silence - the sheer volumes they speak. 2001 is not meant to be understood. It's meant to be felt.

Sorkin's brilliant screenplay, Fincher's masterful direction and Reznor-Ross' edgy composition make TSN an undeniable pleasure to watch and also reveal the dirty secrets behind the century's biggest phenomenon.

The movie promises to answer some of the most quintessential questions of our existence, but never gets anywhere close. Instead it quickly jumps genre and evolves into an "Alien" for the 21st century (though the old one is still as good and hasn't lost its sheen with time). It's however redeemed by its sweeping visual grandeur and spot-on performances by Rapace and Fassbender.