Sin City (2005)

Sin City is an inimitable movie; some group will like it while some will simply hate it.This movie is based on Frank Miller's Graphical Novel of the similar name.The movie covers three stories knotted together to give the feeling of completeness. There are three major stories 'The Hard Goodbye','The Big Fat Kill' & 'The Yellow Bastard'

The Hard Goodbye : This part focuses on the retribution of man for the untimely murder of his one night lover.

The Big Fat Kill : Portrays the war between a group of Prostitutes trying to hold their city from Corrupt Police, Mercenaries & the Mob.

The Yellow Bastard : Focuses on the old Police Officer who tries to protect a young woman from being raped and murdered by a psychopathic sadistic killer from an influential political family.Sin City provides a huge cast starring Jessica Alba, Clive Owen, Bruce Willis, Michael Clarke Duncan, Rosario Dawson, Elijah Wood & many more. What makes this movie so unique is that it is made in High quality Black & White with some colorization on certain portion of the scene giving it a polished look. This new approach has really made this movie very special; though the movie consists of enough blood & gore, the presentation has made it some what lighter.

This movie carries with itself a likable story, if you like movies based on graphical novel, then you can give it a shot.

My Rating : 8/10

Mission Impossible (1996)

Thinking of Cruise will always make us recall two of his most commercial hits; Top Gun & Mission Impossible. It's unlikely for someone to have missed any of these. 

Mission Impossible in short can be described as a sleek & gritty espionage thriller. The plot is straightforward; here the protagonist goes into to a mission to expose a mole deep within CIA, who has framed him for the murder of his team in one of the mission which was shoddily compromised. Though there had been some minor plot holes this movie was still highly enjoyable.

Tom Cruise has immortalized the character of 'Ethan Hunt' in the entire IM series. If there is any thing which I have to complain about, it's the development of the characters. Personally I feel most of the casts used where one dimensional, whether this was a deliberate attempt I can never tell. In a way I feel some good amount of potential in character development was lost.

Score was one more strong point of the movie and the Mission Impossible Theme by Danny Elfman was simply mesmerizing.

In short in spite of some minor short falls, this movie did provide some amazing action sequence and had been successful in delivering plenty of high notes to keep you at the edge of the seat.

My Rating : 6/10

Full Metal Jacket (1987)

Another masterwork from Legend Stanley Kubrick.

Till date some of the accomplished Movies on Vietnam War includes:
Platoon
Apocalypse Now
Full Metal Jacket

This is not the first time I have seen this movie and will also not be my last one.... :)

Full Metal Jacket is hard hitting with intense dialogue. I think Kubrick was well versed with what he was planning to do at the time of making this movie. There is hardly any place where I can point out flaws.

For those who have not yet seen (which I doubt...) this movie takes us to the time of on going Vietnam War. We are introduced to a company of rookies who joins the boot camp (USMC) Parris Island, South Carolina. Soon we are introduced to the unforgettable drill instructor Gunnery Sergeant Hartman brilliantly performed by Ronald Lee Ermey. First half of the movie deals with the dehumanizing process. On the way we are introduced to some the central characters. To me the most memorable character will be Pvt. Pyle. I think Vincent D'Onofrio had immortalized this character just like Heath had done for Joker in The Dark Knight. Matthew Modine as Pvt. Joker was also very impressive.
Second half of the movie deals with the experience of these characters' Tet Offensive during 1968. We are not given a clear cut ending to this movie and I guess Kubrick left that part to the viewer's imagination.

This movie definitely falls under the category, which never ages. As far as I know this was the only War movie Stanley had ever directed. In my opinion, if some more action was included in the second half it would have been fine just like 'Platoon' still I would not complain, its still a great Movie. We do get some taste of some of the Classic Rock Songs which includes two of my favorites Johnny Wright's "Hello Vietnam" & Rolling Stones' "Paint It, Black".

Closing note will be, if any one is really interested to watch a movie with intense acting along with rich narrative script then FMJ delivers as it promises, without any degree of doubt. This is certainly thought provoking movie.

My Rating : 8.5/10