Coraline, With An Unusual Theme For An Animation Movie, But Just Brilliant!

I often rely on my blogger friend Nebular's movie review blog, CineMarvellous, to decide on what movies to watch. That's how I got to know of Coraline.

Coraline was greatly different from all other animation films I've seen. The plot and the sequencing were mostly different. Coraline Jones, a little girl, moves in to a new house with her parents. She is very inquisitive, and finds her parents rather strict, boring, restricting. One day, a kid in the neighborhood brings her a rag doll, which, much to her surprise, looks remarkably like her. Coraline later on discovers a tiny, locked door in side the house. When her mother opens the door for her, Coraline is disappointed to see only brick wall behind it. But some time after, she learns that a the door indeed leads some where, under special circumstances, some where she gets to do or have anything that might be impossible with her parents. Little does she know that this newly discovered, too-good-to-be-true place is nothing she ever bargained for...........

The movie is brilliant in the way it slowly builds up tension, with the anticipation that something sinister is about to happen. The sequencing and some absolutely brilliant music enhances that effect. I have never seen any other movie using music for that purpose as effectively as Caroline. The dialogs,voices,graphics are all of great quality. I highly recommend this film to you all movie lovers.
See the review on  CineMarvellous

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• 3 reviews of Coraline (rateitall.com)

I'm Not Scared, A great Movie Experiance!

I'm grateful to Nebular for posting a very good review of this film here on Cninemarvelous because that's how I came to know this movie. I went straight for a trailer in you tube  after reading his review. All looked very promising. When I finally watched the movie I was so glad that I did. Io Non Ho Paura, a.k.a. I'm not scared was a masterpiece. 



In this gripping Italian movie is a plot that takes your fullest attention through out. It cats a group of kids living quite happily in a breath taking countryside of Italy, playing about carefree like birds. One day they ride on to an abandoned building. One of  the kids, a boy, Fillipo, accidentally discovers a big hole dug on the ground and covered from above.   He takes a peek in to it gets a nasty shock when he sees  a child imprisoned inside.  


Fillipo slowly builds a rapport with this locked-up stranger, and tries to figure out who he is, why he is kept there, and by whom, not quite realizing how what reveals it self to him would affect him and what it would demand of him.

This plot is so strong and full of suspense, keeps you wondering what would happen next, and the end is as appealing as the beginning. And you get see one of the best acting performance of a child ever. The selection of the locations couldn't have been better. And the director has used some symbolic,   subtle things to express ideas that  a hundred words wouldn't. Io Non Ho Paura is a very good example as to how have thriller effects suspense in a  movie  with out using blood curdling action sequences. 

Signs

I refer my favorite weekly science mag Vidusara in search of good sci-fi , movies to watch, and that's how I got to know of Signs. The review on the mag was impressive enough to persuade me to see the movie. The movie was really good in many aspects.

Lets start with the plot. Graham Hess (Mel Gibson)  lives in a large corn farm with his son and daughter. He had been a priest, but after the death of his wife in a terrible accident, he no more has faith in god. His son suffers from asthma, and his daughter is hydrophobic. his younger brother Merrill (Joaquin Phoenix) has come to live with them after the tragedy, leaving his baseball career behind. One morning, they are all shock to see a massive crop circles in the corn field. They first think it to be a hoax by a neighbor, but what follows the incident along the next few days  make them think otherwise. Strange figures appearing and disappearing at the farm in the dark, their dogs acting weird, other crop circles and UFO s appearing all over the world, and some other happenings that I wouldn't rather tell you so as not to spoil things for you, convince them of a possible alien invasion.   The plot flows on with how they face what comes for them in the end.

What I liked ,most about Signs is the suspense and thriller effect it generates. Sound effects, lighting,camera angles, pace, and the feeling of anticipation have been used to cause an optimum effect on the audience, and above them all is the brilliant acting performance of all key characters.     

Signs is more of a thriller/suspense movie, discusses deeply about man's faith, under the cover of a plot involving an alien invasion.   So why don't you have a go at it too?        

Hot Fuzz, time to roar with laughter

I really did have such a wonderful time watching this movie, laughing so hard that my ribs nearly cracked.  I would say Hot Fuzz is a film in which crime,suspense,action all so finely wrapped in humor.


Okay, time to take a peek in to the plot. Nicholas Angel (  Simon Pegg ) is a police officer of the  Metropolitan Police Service of London. Hardly anything but the duty matters to him. His overly devotion to duty makes his fellow officers look bad, and he gets transfered to  a small station in  Gloucestershire. Though dignified as he is Angel is determined to do his best in the apparently crime-free neighborhood. Unfortunately, the entire staff of his new station is an ignorant and lazy lot.   
Things get a new twist when a few of the villagers die in most odd accidents. Angel is convinced that they were all murdered,but to his dismay all the stations staff including the inspector is convinced they were all accidents. However, Angel is determined to find the truth............
Well, the beauty of the movie is the way this plot has been turned in to a comedy. In my opinion, all rest of the cast do a better job acting than Pegg who plays Angel, but his is a pretty good performance too. Watch the movie and see whether you could agree with me.

SHOOTER, great acting, great action

A problem I have with most Hollywood action/thriler movies is that their stunts are far too exagerating and unrealistic. Among the few exceptions are movies such as Saving Private Ryon, Cliff Hanger, and Shooter is a bit close to that league. It also las a good plot.

Retired Gunnery Seargent Bob Lee Swagger(Mark Wahlberg ) of US Marine Scouts, one of the very best snipers of the world, lives a solitary life in his mountain home. But tat's a about to change. A sertain Colonal Issac Johnson( Danny Glover) visits Swagger and and asks for his help to track down an unknown sniper who is rumoured to try to assaninate the President of US soon. As his patriatism gives in, Swagger reluctantly accepts. Then Swagger visits the three places where the president is scheduled
visit, and with careful observation,picks Pheladelphia as the most likely place to be chosen any sniper wanting to assasinate the president.

On the day of the President's presence in Pheladelphia, Swagger keeps watch for the mysterious sniper, together with a local polieman. What's happens is quite beyond what Swagger has been expecting. The Ethiopean archbishop, participating the sane event with the Presivent, is who gets assasinated, and, at the same time, the policeman shoots Swagger too. Though injured, Swagger escapes.

Swagger is suspected fot the assasination.The plot flows with Swagger's desperate attemts to untwist the truth behind this set up and prove his innosance.

Mark Wahlberg does absolute justice to his role in this movie, and I must say all the rest of the cast perform really well too.






Directed by Antoine Fuqua
Produced by Lorenzo di Bonaventura
Written by Stephen Hunter (novel)
Jonathan Lemkin (screenplay)
Starring Mark Wahlberg
Danny Glover
Ned Beatty
Michael Peña
Tate Donovan
Kate Mara
Rade Šerbedžija
Mike Dopud
Levon Helm
Music by Mark Mancina
Cinematography Peter Menzies
Editing by Conrad Buff
Eric Sears
Distributed by Paramount Pictures
Release date(s) March 23, 2007
Running time 125 minutes
Country United States
Language English