Stand By Me (1986)

"The biggest one in four counties"

"This is my age! I'm in the prime of my youth, and I'll only be young once!"

Stand By Me, based on the novella, 'The Body' by Stephen King, is what we can call a classic in true sense of the word. It is directed by Rob Reiner who was just at the beginning of his glorious directing career having directed 'This is Spinal Tap' a couple of years ago, and later went on to create some pretty great movies like 'When Harry Met Sally', 'The Princess Bride', 'A Few Good Men' , 'The Bucket List' just to name a few.

The movie is about four friends of age 12 in a small sleepy looking town called Castle Rock of late 1950s Oregon. The teens named Chris, Teddy, Vern and Gordie set out on a weekend journey to find the body of a dead kid which will probably shoot them to fame. Now if I told you that is the whole story of the movie, you might say that it is bound to be boring. But this film breathes through its characters, and if this movie is still considered a great one it's because of the strong lead performances by the actors playing the teens. The narration is done by an adult Gordie reminiscing his childhood days. The voice over narration seems a bit over the top and sometimes describes 'a bit too much' of what's happening on screen, which seemed to be the only bad in an otherwise good movie.

The four characters are introduced right at the start, but are really fleshed out as the movie progresses. Each of the scenes which might seem like a bunch of children just shouting profanities at each other, is a study in their pre-teenage character. A sequence where each of the character stands guard while the others sleep, really brings out their differences, while highlighting their characters. They are in their children-to-teen transition phase, and it shows through their dialogues, thanks to a great script by Raynold Gideon and Bruce A. Evans. They 'smoke cigarettes after meals' feeling older like men but have long talks over 'Is Goofy a dog?', like little kids. They pick on one another at every chance and think it's really cool 'to find new and disgusting ways to degrade a friend's mother'. They talk about things that one finds interesting 'until you discover girls'.

Gordie is a budding storyteller and feels neglected by his parents who are trying to overcome the untimely death of his older brother. Chris, played superbly by River Phoenix, which is my favourite character, is the misunderstood kid of the neighborhood. The conversations among Gordie and Chris are the highest points of the movie. Vern is the fat kid who always gets picked up and is the subject of most of the jokes. Teddy, the 'four-eyed-wacko' has a 'loony' army man as a father who nearly killed him on many occasions, but he still idolizes him and aspires to be like his father one day. And then there is Ace Miller (Keifer Sutherland) , a bully , who with his stupid friends crosses path with the quartet, making their lives difficult on the way.

Watch this, for you may find a glimpse of your own childhood in it. But it's not just about recounting your childhood. You might feel connected to a character, incident, or a dialogue. Also watch it for the music, brilliantly chosen radio-hits from the era of 1950s, a perfect selection for the movie. Even the title is taken from the hit by B. E. King. I had been putting this one away for a long time, make sure you don't do the same.

My Rating: 9/10

Easy A (2010)

"The accelerated velocity of terminal inexactitude."

I had the chance to watch 'Easy A' this fine morning as an escape from the lot of serious stuff that I was watching lately. So I just decided to watch this seemingly lowbrow teen chick flick.

The movie is about a lie that is taken too far. Olive (Emma Stone) is a smart and intellectual high school girl that is practically invisible to most of the guys/gals around her except for one friend of her Rhiannon (Aly Michalka). Trying to escape a lousy weekend with her friends' parents, she lies that she has a date for the weekend and will spend time with her. Just extending the lie to get Rhiannon off her back she 'confesses' that she lost her 'V-Card'. This seemingly harmless restroom conversation is overheard by Marianne (played emphatically by Amanda Bynes) who is the rebel-without-a-cause School Christian Crusade Leader and has a knack of shoving her views down everybody else's throats. The lie travels throughout the school gaining the propotions of the adulterous affair in Nathaniel Hawthrone's 'A Scarlet Letter', which incidentally, Olive is being taught at the school. But as the rumour gets her more and more attention, she starts to churn the rumor mill herself which seems pretty easy in the Text/Twitter/Facebook age to gain more popularity. No, I haven't spoiled your movie, if that's what you are thinking, its just what happens in about first 20 minutes. The rest you can figure out by yourself, by watching it.

The writer Bert V. Royal creates a smart, outspoken Olive, which is never over the top, thanks to a great performance by Stone. Throughout the course of its 92 minutes, this remains the story of Olive. while watching Olive play her witty dialogues , I often remembered Juno. But whereas Juno had the certificate of being witty throughout, this one fails on some very rare occasions. But nevertheless Royal has given some funny lines to almost all the characters, that if not having you ROFL, will at least make you LOL. Also the credit goes to Stanley Tucci and Patricia Clarkson, playing Olivia's father Dill and Rosemary. Some of the most funny scenes of the movie are when Dill and Rosemary 'discuss' that there is a boy in their girl's room, or when they are trying to guess a profanity starting with the letter T.

While spreading some laughs it also touches upon the teen anxiety of trying to blend in, be it a homosexual, overweight or outcast. the movie also pays homage to the 80s comedies of John Hughes and also does a justice to the same by bringing a gush of fresh air to the genre. Overall the movie is not a landmark in terms of the teen comedy but it has some really funny moments and snappy dialogues. Go watch it if you are bored by the serious stuff or disgusted by what passes nowadays as teen comedy (like the endless sequels of American Pie).

My Rating: 7/10

The Shawshank Redemption

FEAR CAN HOLD YOU PRISONER, HOPE CAN SET YOU FREE.



According to me, there can not be a better movie to start the proceedings of this blog. The shawshank redemption is a truly delightful fable of hope, friendship, resilience, institutionalization and prison life. So let me take you to the beautiful ride of this movie.

INTRO

The Shawshank redemption is the movie adaptation of Stephen King's novel - Rita Hayworth and Shawshank redemption. It is directed by Frank Darabont who has also directed and scripted many other critically acclaimed movies. The film stars Tim Robbins as Andy Dufresne and Morgan Freeman as Ellis Boyd "Red" Redding. It came out in 1994 along with pulp fiction and Forrest gump. Though, it was not a box office hit but gradually it was accepted as one of the greatest movie ever made.

The Shawshank Redemption is undoubtedly a great classic. It engages you slowly and then delights you at end. The beauty of the movie lies in it being slow. Every scene, every character just fits into it amazingly. Acting by every character in the movie is amazing. The narration by Morgan freeman throughout the movie holds the viewer.

STORY (NO SPOILERS)

The movie mainly revolves around the life of Andy and Red. Andy, slowly adapts himself to prison life, makes friends with fellow prisoners and also a good relationship with Warden Norton. Andy is a character obsessed with hope and believes in keeping his mind occupied. On the other hand Red is a sort of character who has accepted his life in prison and takes hope as a negative influence. The events in the movie somehow lead to a change in his mindset of Red and at last he hopes for something in life.

THEME OF THE MOVIE

As I earlier mentioned, this is one the best movie I’ve ever seen. The main theme of movie is HOPE. This movie truly inspires you. Under any circumstances you must not give up, must keep trying, because there is always a hope. But this entire time you should not loose your calm. It’s similar to behaving like a duck, keeping calm outside but vigorous paddling inside. The movie clearly shows that if you have virtues like resilience, intelligence, determination, you are bound to succeed. Nothing can stop you. Movie also shows the value of a true friend. The bond of true friendship is hard to found but once found, you must not let it go.

Apart from these, movie depicts prison life really well. Prisoners do get institutionalized after spending long times in prison. They feel prison more comfortable inside then in outer, independent, world because they won’t have to make any decisions, when they are inside the prison.

SOME THOUGHT PROVOKING DIALOGUES

Well, the dialogues in the movie are just brilliant. It was a tough job to select a few of them but i had to select the best. So here they are - The best ones.

Red: "Get Busy Living, or Get Busy dying.. Thats goddamn right."

Andy: "Remember red, Hope is a good thing, may be the best and no good thing ever dies..I'll be hoping that this letter find you and finds you well."

Red: "I find I'm so excited, I can barely sit still or hold a thought in my head. I think it's the excitement only a free man can feel, a free man at the start of a long journey whose conclusion is uncertain. I hope to cross the border. I hope to see my friend. I hope the pacific is as blue as it has been in my dreams. I HOPE"

Andy: "Yeah. The funny thing is - on the outside, I was an honest man, straight as an arrow. I had to come to prison to be a crook."

Red: "Some birds are not meant to be caged... Their feathers are just too bright.. and when they fly away..the part of you which knows, it was a sin to lock them up rejoice..yet the place you live, is much more drab and empty after they are gone.."

Red: "That kid's long gone. This old man is all that's left. I gotta live with that. 'Rehabilitated?' That's just a bullshit word. So you go on and stamp your forms, Sonny, and stop wasting my time. Because to tell you the truth, I don't give a shit."

Red: "These walls are funny. First you hate 'em, then you get used to 'em. Enough time passes, you get so you depend on them. That's institutionalized."

Red: "In prison, a man will do anything to keep his mind occupied."

Andy: "There are places in this world that aren't made out of stone, and that there's something inside that they can't get to ,and that they can't touch. It's yours. ....Hope."

Red: "When they put you in that cell... and those bars slam home... that's when you know it's for real. A whole life blown away in the blink of an eye. Nothing left but all the time in the world to think about it."

Red: "Andy Dufresne - Who crawled through a river of shit and came out clean on the other side."

Brooks: "The world went and got itself in a big damn hurry."

Warden: "I believe in two things: discipline and the Bible. Here you'll receive both. Put your trust in the Lord; your ass belongs to me. Welcome to Shawshank."

Red: "... and for the briefest of moments -- every last man at Shawshank felt free."

Warden: "The man disappeared like a fart in the wind !"

Red: "Prison life consists of routine, and then more routine."

Warden & Andy: "Salvation lies within"

Red: "Geology is the study of pressure and time. That's all it takes, really. Pressure and time. That, and a big god-damned poster"

Red: "Somethings are best left unsaid."

SYNOPSIS

In the end, i will just repeat that TSR is one of the best movie ever made. It has got fantastic blend of everything. Dialogues, acting, story, direction... everything about this movie rockzzz... I've seen it countless number of times and it still countinues to delight me.... I just love this movie.

Imdb Ranking: 9.2/10 (2nd rank in top 250).
My Ranking: 10/10

PS:- Do yourself a favour - Watch this movie.