Naval Flight officer,Lieutenant Chris Burnett (Owen Wilson) and Pilot Lieutenant Jeremy Stackhouse (Gabriel Macht), in an attemptto get a better view on the survey of Bosniaare shot down over the enemy territory. The local Serb army commander, General Miroslav Lokar (Olek Krupa),is executing a secret campaign and hence orders the naval flight to be shot down. The officers make attempts to establish contact with the carrier group but unfortunately, they are tracked down and Stackhouse is executed after interrogation. Brunett, who is a silent observer of the execution, screams and hence kick starts the trail to trace him.
Finally, he is able to establish contact with his commanding officer Admiral Leslie Reigart (Gene Hackman) who instructs him to a demilitarized place, so that his rescue mission can be accomplished successfully. With a lot of struggle and efforts Burnett finds himself declared dead on national television by the Bosnian Army. The declaration drops the whole rescue plan and he goes all the way back to the place where they were shot down.
Burnett activates the signal, starting the rescue mission again. Finally he gets rescued by the American helicopters. The movie ends with Lokar being tried, Reigart retiring from the navy and Burnett deciding to continue serving the Navy.
Director: Anthony Minghella Cast: Ralph Fiennes, Juliette Binoche, Willem Dafoe
The English Patient is a romantic drama film that was based on the novel written by Michael Ondaatje. Directed by Anthony Minghella, the 162 minutes film won as many as nine Academy Awards and was released on November 15, 1996. This movie has a star cast that includes Ralph Fieness, Juliette Binoche, Willem Dafoe, Kristin Scott Thomas, Naveen Andrews and Colin Firth. The story revolves around the time before and during the World War II. The English Patient is all about love, misunderstanding, healing and fate. The story is narrated with a series of flashbacks unfolding one after the other, and is explained by unwinding the movie into two phases. The story is about a critically injured Englishman who is treated at an abandoned Italian monastery. Since the patient doesn’t give away any information about his identity he is referred by all as The English Patient. The patient actually happens to be a geographer who is involved in mapping the entire desert of Sahara. After several relentless moments, he reveals how his affair with a married women, had brought him to the state that he was in right now. The script is very well laid with a whole bunch of amazing performances done by the cast. It definitely is a must watch if you wish to know what the events that follow the nerve gripping script. Watch it!
Director: Roman Polanski Cast: Adrien Brody, Thomas Kretschmann, Frank Finlay
The Pianist is a biographical film that is an adaptation of the autobiography Pianist written by Jewish-Polish musician Wladyslaw Szpilman. The film is a co-production between Polish, French, German and British film companies. Directed by Roman Polanski, the 150 minutes was released on 6 March, 2003 in the United Kingdom. Wladyslaw Szpilman, a famous Polish Jewish pianist works for a radio and sees his whole world collapse with the outbreak of World War II. Meanwhile, United Kingdom and France have declared war on Nazi Germany because of which his family rejoices believing the war will end quickly. When the German Army enters Warsaw, the Jewish population deteriorates and starts facing huger, persecution and humiliation. One day, the Nazis go to the apartment of Szpilmans and bring the family on the road to shoot them to death. In the last minute, Szpilman is saved by Jewish Ghetto Police and joins in the Jewish uprising against Germans and gets almost caught. Later, Szpilsman goes into hiding and after a year goes into a second hiding since a neighbor discovered him. In the second hiding place, he stays in a room with a piano and nearly dies of jaundice and malnutrition. It is here that he learns to play the piano! The movie was received with much critical acclaim and bagged many BAFTA awards and Academy Awards for its story and fantastic acting by all their stars.
Director: Gregory Hoblit Cast: Bruce Willis, Colin Farrell, Terrence Howard
Hart’s War, is a film that was brought to life by a team of successful film makers. Directed by Gregory Hoblit,the film was produced by MGM. Based on John Katzenbach’s novel, the film is about a POW from World War. The star cast includes Bruce Willis, Colin Farrell, Terrence Howard and Marcel Iureş to name a few. Hart’s War made its way to theatres on the 15th of February, 2002. The story basically is set in a war camp of Nazis. Lt. Tommy Hart, played by Farrell happens to be fresher who completed his degree as a law student Harvard. He is given the responsibility to defend an African-American accused of murder in a camp trial, by the Colonel William McNamara played by Bruce Willis. The performance by the actors in the movie, definitely deserve appreciation. The war scenes are not extra-ordinary as such, but it’s been decently shot! The film is really well scripted which is the biggest advantage that keeps the movie in good phase. However the only issue being the fact that there are too many subplots in the movie that make it drag a bit here and there. Overall, the movie is good enough that’s worth a watch!
Director:Michael Mann Cast:Daniel Day-Lewis, Russell Means, Madeline Stowe, Eric Schweig
The story of the Last of the Mohicans is set in the backdrop of colonial America where British & French troops are fighting pitched battles against one another with the help from various indigenous war parties. Romance starts to happen between an independent man who was raised as a Mohican & a British colonel’s daughter. This affair between the two of them complicates matter since this Mohican man pursues his own agenda despite facing opposition from both the sides. From beginning to the end Last of the Mohicans is packed with some strong performances. Daniel Day-Lewis shines in the character of Hawkeye, a bear-chested native man. Madeline Stowe looks very attractive in the role of Hawkeye’s girlfriend & pulls off the role with great precision. The story is simple but epic. A tribal man falling in love with a upper class British commander’s daughter is always an attractive proposition for common movie goers. The cinematography of the film has been done with great finesse by Dante Spinotti. Coupled with some really enchanting musical score the movie is a treat to watch. The battle scenes have also been shot excellently well. But it no way means that Last of the Mohicans is without any flaw. The first 20 minutes of the movie is a little confusing. The photography surrounding the waterfall does not appear to be very convincing. But overall Last of the Mohicans is a memorable movie.
Director:Sylvester Stallone Cast:Sylvester Stallone, Julie Benz, Matthew Marsden
Rambo or Rambo IV
Rambo is actually Rambo IV. It was released on January 25, 2008. The first movie in the series was named First Blood and thus the confusion continues regarding the name in countries which considered the first movie as Rambo. The movie is dedicated to Richard Crenna who died in 2003. He played John’s mentor and father figure Colonel Sam Trautman in the earlier versions. Sylvester Stallone as John Rambo the Vietnam War veteran has adopted Thailand as his home. He plies a boat for tourists on the Salween River near Burma. His other occupation is that of capturing snakes and selling them. He becomes a reluctant rescuer when a missionary Michael Burnett (Paul Schulze) convinces John to ferry them to Burma to supply aid for the Karen tribespeople. Forced to Kill In his attempt to save Sarah Miller (Julie Benz) from being raped and assaulted he has to kill three pirates on a gunboat. The missionaries instead of thanking him reprimand him for indulging in killing. Rambo tries to stay out of the fray but eventually is sucked into Burma and has to take on the Burmese army in order to save some missionaries and hostages. This mission leads him to kill a record number of people using a jeep mounted .50 calibre machine gun. The tally is 236 dead. Stallone justified the extreme violence by saying that he wanted the movie to bring attention to the plight of the Burmese people under the Military Junta. The movie with a budget of 50 million dollars made triple that on the box office. The movie was directed by Sylvester Stallone and the music was by Jerry Goldsmith and Brian Tyler.
Director: Roland Emmerich Cast: Mel Gibson, Heath Ledger, Joely Richardson, Jason Isaacs, Chris Cooper
Its 18th century in America and after fighting in the French and Indian wars, Benjamin Martin (Mel Gibson) has had enough of the savagery and now leads a simple farmer’s life rearing his seven children. And it is against his wishes when his eldest son Gabriel (Heath Ledger) enlists for the American Revolution in fighting the British led the Green Dragoon cavalry. But when his house is burned down and his second son killed by the enemies led by the ruthless Colonel Tavington (Jason Isaacs), Benjamin is forced to pick up his weapons again. He builds up his own army consisting of an assortment of slaves, farmers, peasants and even a minister, all of whom are largely untrained in any kind of warfare and uses guerilla tactics to push back the Green Dragoons. The war though takes a huge personal toll on Benjamin and his family but they fight till the end for their country’s honour. The movie came in close scrutiny for its depiction of history and was severely criticised by the British Press. The film also drew flak for the cold-blooded characterization of the antagonist and also poor acting in parts. But what must definitely be lauded is the director Roland Emmerich’s minute attention to costumes, locations and language to authentically bring alive the period drama. On the whole, the movie received good reviews for being a wholesome watch and was a commercial success too.
Director: Sam Mendes Cast: Jake Gyllenhaal, Scot McDonald, Lucas Black, Jamie Foxx, Chris Cooper, Evan Jones.
Antony Swofford, a kid from Sacramento, enlists in the marines. In the marines he makes it through as a sniper. When the first Gulf War breaks out he goes to Saudi Arabia to participate in Operation Desert Shield. He spends a rather tough time in Saudi Arabia through boredom, heat, worrying about his girl friend finding someone else, nearly killing a comrade, demotion, latrine cleaning, faulty gas masks etc. The desert shield is over in just five days but not before seeing the charred bodies, destroyed families, burnt out oilfields. Jarhead as a film seems to be lacking in expressing emotions overtly. It does not have a scene which truly portrays the horror or thrill of a war throughout the movie. But what it does perfectly is takes us back in time & shows us the period when western dominance (read American) throughout the world reached its peak. It was the time when the Berlin Wall had collapsed & the Warsaw pact countries were on the brink of being erased from the world map. But where it disappoints is that it fails to capture the true mood that prevailed during the war. It seems the last scene of the film is nothing but a naked display of human brutality with burnt human bodies lying everywhere. Overall Jarhead is a movie worthy of your time but it seems to have failed in capturing the true mood that prevailed during that period somehow.
Director: John Moore
