The Manchurian Candidate

Again, i found this movie while i was wandering around IMDB looking for some good movies. As Denzel Washington is one of my fav actors, well, actually he would easily top that list. So, i was looking for a Denzel Washington movie, which i came across this one...............and you know what was the plus point to this one. It also has Meryl Streep in the cast. Now, i think this is the only Denzal - Meryl movie made. Though, can't confirm it.

Talking about the movie, The Manchurian Candidate is a remake of a 1962 classic, named the same. Looking at the star cast of the movie, i was talking to myself that i have to watch this movie. So, got down to the local video library to get one.....and saw it this weekend.

Cast

I don't think you have anything to say, if you see Denzel Washington and Meryl Streep in the cast. My expectations from the movie raised to another level, just by looking at the star cast it had. Another good performer in the star cast was Liev Schreiber, who is very convincing in his character as "Raymond Shaw".


About The Movie


The movie starts in middle of Gulf War......where a small troop of soldiers is cornered by the enemy. Cut-to a few years later, Denzel(Major Marco) is praising Liev(Raymond) of his bravery and how he saved lives of other member of their team. Raymond Shaw receives the Medal of Honor for his bravery, the highest a soldier can get. But somewhere in the unconscious mind of Major Ben Marco, there is a dream that on that night......nothing like that happened. That, Raymond Shaw was not the person who saved them. 

One day, Ben Marco meets a man who was with him on that night. The guy also tells the Ben Marco about the strange dreams he has been having. Major Marco is amazed cause whatever the guy tells is the same as he used to see in his dreams. Now, he starts investigating about the whole issue. Raymond Shaw, son of Senetor Eleanor Shaw(Meryl Streep), is standing in the presidential Election. Major Marco tries to get in touch with Raymond but whenever is does, he couldn't convince Raymond about his dreams. While searching for evidence, Marco comes across a dark truth which leaves him in a shock. There is a Manchurian Trust, which was responsible of all this. They have hypnotized Raymond Shaw and since the gulf was night, have been manipulating his mind, something similar to what they did to him and his team member too.

He finds out that Manchurian group people are trying to put a person, on the president's seat, who is like a robot of their own.

How does Major Marco comes around this whole mess? Does Raymond Shaw know what he is doing? What is this whole Manchurain Trust?

Good Things

You can count every bodies performance as a big plus point to the movie. Movie has a good storyline and also has some thrill to it.

Bad Points

Not so convincing Screenplay and Direction. The movie also feels incomplete cause at the end, you still have more questions....which are left unanswered.
Movies pace is slow too. Think there were a few moments which could have been deleted especially because it's a long movie.....more than 2 hours.


At the end, though it's a good movie, however i won't recommend it to people who like watching comedies and fun movies, there is nothing in this movie for you people.

6/10

Julie and Julia - Writer to Reader

One Oscar Nomination - Meryl Streep (Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role)
 Julie and Julia is a blogger's dream. Julie who has lost everything till now but not her loving and encouraging and SAINT husband. Julie started as a writer, which is also her dream to be a big big writer with lots of money, but now she is working as a call center executive. So, encouraged by her husband, she starts blogging. At start, she goes through the same, what to write when she finds her passion of cooking. She goes through her favorite book "Mastering The Art Of French Cooking". She picks it up and decides to cook and blog about the 524 recipe. She wants to complete this thing as she thinks she hasn't completed anything which she started.

On the other hand, the movie also shows, in parallel, the life of Julia Child's. Julia child, who is forced to move to Paris, France when her husband was transferred to France. She goes through a lot of different activities or hobbies so that she can remain occupied but nothing works out. So, she starts cooking and learning French Cooking. She meets different people who liked her cooking. She also finds friends or colleauges and inspiration to write a book so that Americans can also learn french cooking. So after 8 years of stuggle and wait she finally publishes the best seller's of all time cook books.

The movie boasts of Meryl Steep "the best actress" for me atleast. No need to say that you should look for Meryl Streep, cause she stands out from the other cast. Amy adams has done a brilliant work to keep up with Meryl Streep though both of them aren't sharing screen space.

Watch this movie and you'll be a fan of Meryl Streep, if in case you were not till now.

Precious -- My Precious

Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire (6 Oscar Nominations)

Ok, i haven't read the book but the day i saw the promo of this movie on youtube, i was stuck hard by the content. The promos were very much descriptive of what you can expect from the movie but they didn't reveal much about how good the actors will be in the movie.

Easily this movie can be categorized as the movie where everybody in the cast was trying to outperform each other like all scenes were Monique and Gabourey Sidibe were on screen, you can't pick your favorite among them. No wonder both of them got nominations for their excellent performances. Not to forget Paula Patton and Mariah Carey, it was just their bad that Monique and Gabourey Sidibe who stole the whole show but still both of them very good. The whole cast did a commendable job.

About the movie, this story shows the dark story, which seems to be so true, of an Black American Girl. The movie open with Precious is pregnant with her second child and hasn't even completed her school. Precious is 16 and pregnant second time, already a mother. It's a really sad story. Precious also facing home violence with her mother beating and cursing her for everything little thing getting wrong. Her mother blames her for everything gone wrong in her life. Precious is expelled from the school and offered a course in alternative school. The movie is about how Precious fights to live a normal life.

Best things about the movie......watch out for all scenes between precious and her mother especially the one where Monique, the mother explains why she never stood against her husband who was physically and sexually harassing her own girl child.

Go Watch this movie.
My prediction.....though Gabourey Sidibe faces tough competition with Sandra Bullock and Meryl Streep competing in the same category of Best Female actor Oscar but Monique is sure shot to win Oscar for the Best Supporting Actor Female.


Watch out for the coming posts about more Oscar Nominated movies.