Recommendations For Atharva
Notes/Personal Interpretations included.
They are short versions of the originals so as to not give much away. I'm bit sassy/cocky in these notes since some of them go back as early as 2017(Age=14).
Initial List consisted 70+ titles.
Can be watched in order of the list.
They are short versions of the originals so as to not give much away. I'm bit sassy/cocky in these notes since some of them go back as early as 2017(Age=14).
Initial List consisted 70+ titles.
Can be watched in order of the list.
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35 titles
- DirectorDamien ChazelleStarsMiles TellerJ.K. SimmonsMelissa BenoistA promising young drummer enrolls at a cut-throat music conservatory where his dreams of greatness are mentored by an instructor who will stop at nothing to realize a student's potential.Whiplash follows Andrew (Miles Teller) who's a drummer on his path to achieving greatness. Andrew's path is met with Fletcher (J. K. Simmons), a teacher at the music school where Andrew is studying music.
The use of yellow is very apt and well done.
The music is jaw-dropping in this film. Miles Teller and J. K. Simmons are perfect in this role.
Writer-Director Damien Chazelle's sophomore feature film attempt is an intense ride. It's full of stressful scenes and it has probably one of the best final acts in film history.
This one gets a 5/5 because it's the very first indie film that I saw consciously and went, 'this exists?'. It opened doors to the type of films I didn't know of at all (I was watching Harry Potter and Superhero movies before this).
96/100 - DirectorRon FrickeStarsPatrick DisantoA collection of expertly photographed scenes of human life and religion.99/100
- DirectorAlejandro G. IñárrituStarsMichael KeatonZach GalifianakisEdward NortonA washed-up superhero actor attempts to revive his fading career by writing, directing, and starring in a Broadway production.Alejandro G. Iñárritu moves away from his style of hyperlinked cinema and creates a one-shot beauty.
Birdman follows a film star who has lost his fame over time and his post-fame insecurity about being a good artist is bugging him so much that he goes and writes/directs a Broadway play in hopes reviving his career. Michael Keaton is the most suitable person for this role and he delivers.
Some people might call it an Oscar bait film due to its premise and the one-shot cinematography and they are true. Ida (2013) should've won best cinematography but the Academy is filled with foolish people.
All that is not to say that this is a bad film.
It's a fun and humorous ride with great acting throughout.
91/100 - DirectorQuentin TarantinoStarsHarvey KeitelTim RothMichael MadsenWhen a simple jewelry heist goes horribly wrong, the surviving criminals begin to suspect that one of them is a police informant.Quentin Tarantino was a new voice when this came out and everyone went bonkers after watching this. He nails the violence and dialogue (which he's great at).
It's a riveting and entertaining watch.
One of the most exciting debuts.
92/100 - DirectorAri FolmanStarsAri FolmanRon Ben-YishaiRonny DayagAn Israeli film director interviews fellow veterans of the 1982 invasion of Lebanon to reconstruct his own memories of his term of service in that conflict.Waltz with Bashir follows a former Israeli Army Veteran (who also turns out to be the director..... whaaat?) interviewing other soldiers who were in the 1982 Lebanon War, on PTSD, the horrors of the war, the chaos, the wails of innocent people, and ummm....some pretty messed up dreams they keep having. This is very much an anti war film and they don't make them anymore (at least, not as good as this.)
Animation and music is top notch and it elevates things to a whole another level. Those dream sequences, they are unnerving; the WALTZ scene and that final montage will stay with me for a long long time.
97/100 - DirectorFrank CapraStarsJames StewartDonna ReedLionel BarrymoreAn angel is sent from Heaven to help a desperately frustrated businessman by showing him what life would have been like if he had never existed.Frank Capra and James Stewart- A match made in heaven. For most parts, it's pretty depressing but it still qualifies as a feel-good movie; I don't know how.
For the people going through an existential crisis, just fucking pay for therapy.... and probably watch this.
Also, a good Christmas movie. I don't celebrate it but who cares!
98/100 - DirectorAlex GarlandStarsAlicia VikanderDomhnall GleesonOscar IsaacA young programmer is selected to participate in a ground-breaking experiment in synthetic intelligence by evaluating the human qualities of a highly advanced humanoid A.I.Alex Garland's directorial debut is an alarming sci-fi mystery masterpiece about AI which has some great twists. Ex Machina won an Oscar for Visual Effects and deservedly so.
The casting is on point. Alicia Vikander gives her best performance maybe.
It has a good production value. The house is unbelievable.
It's like a 2h 'Black Mirror' Episode but way more detailed and way way better.
91/100 - DirectorMakoto ShinkaiStarsMiyu IrinoKana HanazawaFumi HiranoOn a rainy morning in Tokyo, 15-year-old Takao, an aspiring shoemaker, decides to skip class to sketch designs in a beautiful garden. This is where he meets Yukari, a beautiful yet mysterious woman. They strike an unlikely friendship.This is probably the most stunning animation out there.
Makoto Shinkai is a master of hand-drawn animation. The Garden of Words barely clears the feature film bar with a 46m runtime.
46m is a short period but the emotions in this are not half-assed which is probably tough to imagine..... until you see it for yourself.
94/100 - DirectorStanley KubrickStarsKirk DouglasRalph MeekerAdolphe MenjouAfter a failed attack on a German position, a general orders three soldiers, chosen at random, court-martialed for cowardice and their commanding officer must defend them.An anti-war film with a commentary on the casualties and the senselessness of wars. It showcases the loss of humanity in a world of power hungry and war-driven people.
Kubrick made this at the age of 28. Should we all just stop trying whatever we are trying to do?
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99/100
P.S. Kirk Douglas is awesome as always. - DirectorSam MendesStarsKevin SpaceyAnnette BeningThora BirchA sexually frustrated suburban father has a mid-life crisis after becoming infatuated with his daughter's best friend.Sam Mendes started here.
90/100 - DirectorGus Van SantStarsElias McConnellAlex FrostEric DeulenSeveral ordinary high school students go through their daily routine as two others prepare for something more malevolent.Gus Van Sant is not the most consistent director but he proves his skill in this.
Shot on Arricam LT and Arrican ST, Elephant looks exquisite in 4:3.
I know it didn't deserve the Palme D'or at Cannes but nonetheless, it's Gus Van Sant's magnum opus.
91/100 - DirectorSidney LumetStarsHenry FondaLee J. CobbMartin BalsamThe jury in a New York City murder trial is frustrated by a single member whose skeptical caution forces them to more carefully consider the evidence before jumping to a hasty verdict.12 Angry Men is great.
98/100 - DirectorBrad BirdJan PinkavaStarsBrad GarrettLou RomanoPatton OswaltA rat who can cook makes an unusual alliance with a young kitchen worker at a famous Paris restaurant.Pixar's best movie.
93/100 - DirectorMilos FormanStarsJan VostrcilJosef SebánekJosef ValnohaA volunteer fire department throws a party for their former boss with the whole town invited, but nothing goes as planned.A triumph in the Czech New Wave which also caused a lot of controversy at the time of its release. Director Milos Forman could've gone to jail for 10 years if things had taken a different path.
The film is an allegorical representation of the Czechoslovak Communist Government which didn't go well with a lot of people but the film managed to reach a large audience and it was also sent to the Oscars.
98/100 - DirectorIngmar BergmanStarsMax von SydowGunnar BjörnstrandBengt EkerotA knight returning to Sweden after the Crusades seeks answers about life, death, and the existence of God as he plays chess against the Grim Reaper during the Black Plague.My introduction to Ingmar Bergman. What intrigued me the most was the plot. As a chess fanatic, I threw myself at this film only to find out that there were more important things on the horizon and chess was a medium to go through them.
Winner of the Special Jury Prize at Cannes Film Festival in 1957, The Seventh Seal was Ingmar Bergman's first collaboration with actor Max von Sydow.
This is not shot by Sven Nykvist (possibly the best cinematographer ever) but Gunnar Fischer fulfils his task with unmatched skill.
A second viewing is due.
100/100 - DirectorSpike JonzeStarsJoaquin PhoenixAmy AdamsScarlett JohanssonIn a near future, a lonely writer develops an unlikely relationship with an operating system designed to meet his every need.Spike Jonze's Her is a character study of a man who's lacking intimacy in life soon after separating from his lover.
Many speculate that this is a response to his ex-wife Sofia Coppola's Lost in Translation (2003).
Those movies are 10 years apart and very thematically different yet watching them both feels like something you aren't supposed to watch.
Joaquin Phoenix got robbed of an Oscar nod.
92/100 - 19641h 35mPG8.4 (519K)97MetascoreDirectorStanley KubrickStarsPeter SellersGeorge C. ScottSterling HaydenAn unhinged American general orders a bombing attack on the Soviet Union, triggering a path to nuclear holocaust that a war room full of politicians and generals frantically tries to stop.Stanley Kubrick's satire on war is a dark comedy filled with 'wait what?' moments which are followed by 'oh, I get it.. that was funny'.
Kubrick proves his versatility with different genres. Peter Sellers is a genius.
100/100
Fun Fact: Oliver Stone showed this film to Putin.
:p - DirectorSidney LumetStarsFaye DunawayWilliam HoldenPeter FinchA television network cynically exploits a deranged former anchor's ravings and revelations about the news media for its own profit, but finds that his message may be difficult to control.This is how Arnab Goswami was made, lol.
What an amazing film. All the Oscars it grabbed are totally justified.
97/100 - DirectorWes AndersonStarsOwen WilsonAdrien BrodyJason SchwartzmanA year after their father's funeral, three brothers travel across India by train in an attempt to bond with each other.Honestly, this film is the most inferior in this list but it is included primarily because it was shot in India. It also is the most beautiful film that was shot in India in the past 2 decades, which is both a compliment to Wes Anderson and a shameful fact for Indian Cinema.
Wes Anderson's style fits just as good as it does in all his other films. The story is okay.
:D - DirectorSteve McQueenStarsMichael FassbenderCarey MulliganJames Badge DaleA sex addict's carefully cultivated private life falls apart after his sister arrives for an indefinite stay.Steve McQueen's sophomore project Shame is a character study of a sex addict who has been living alone in New York City for a while but he's suddenly visited by his sister and then, shit goes down.
The sex addict Brandon played by Michael Fassbender is as he thinks, well-off without a family or a lover but is constantly drawn towards sex. Brandon has a tough time finding intimacy in his life with people and uses sex as a getaway. Michael Fassbender's performance is heartbreaking and very bold. Carey Mulligan who plays the sister is also just as good.
Shot on 35mm film by cinematographer Sean Bobbit who also collaborated with McQueen on his debut film Hunger (2008), 'Shame' is astounding in its looks and manages to capture the realism of the everyday life in an exemplary manner. The music by Harry Scott adds more weight to the film. McQueen is able to capture themes of sadness, guilt and addiction.
Third act is amazing, and the ending might be a bit polarizing but it worked for me.
97/100 - DirectorTerrence MalickStarsMartin SheenSissy SpacekWarren OatesAn impressionable teenage girl from a dead-end town, and her older greaser boyfriend, embark on a killing spree in the South Dakota Badlands.Terrence Mallick is one of the few directors who doesn't disappoint when it comes to visuals. It's almost to the point that any other way would've been wrong: where he puts the camera, how he moves it, why the use of natural lighting.
Weirdly comic and dark at times, Badlands is a strangely satirical take on the glorification of violence through the lens of the violators.
Breathtaking landscapes are throughout this film and they only get better as we move up in Mallick's filmography.
93/100
The 'burning house' scene is audacious. - DirectorWes AndersonStarsGeorge ClooneyMeryl StreepBill MurrayAn urbane fox cannot resist returning to his farm raiding ways and then must help his community survive the farmers' retaliation.A stop motion animated adaptation of Roald Dahl's novel of the same name. Sweet, tender, hilarious, beautiful: all these words are embodied very well.
This is probably the most stable film that Wes Anderson has made where he has a good script (well, the book did help them a lot) and his style is appropriate. Noam Baumbach's collaboration in the writing really shows. The voice cast is great.
This is Wes Anderson's second best film after Rushmore (1998).
90/100 - DirectorAkira KurosawaStarsToshirô MifuneMachiko KyôMasayuki MoriThe rape of a bride and the murder of her samurai husband are recalled from the perspectives of a bandit, the bride, the samurai's ghost and a woodcutter.'It's human to lie. Most of the time we can't even be honest with ourselves.'
Rashomon was so influential that there is a thing called 'The Rashomon Effect' now and it is apparently the reason why the academy decided to create the foreign film category.
A story full of unreliable narrators who are trying to save themselves from punishment.
Is humanity dead? Are we so lost that we'll lie and deceive people for our personal gains? Is there no end to our sins?
The questions still remain. A timeless masterpiece from one of the masters of cinema.
100/100 - DirectorKenneth LonerganStarsCasey AffleckMichelle WilliamsKyle ChandlerA depressed uncle is asked to take care of his teenage nephew after the boy's father dies.A realistic take on how a broken people deal with grief and remorse. All the performances feel real.
Beautifully shot and edited in the best way possible. A flashback montage in the film is emotionally exhausting.
96/100 - DirectorStanley KubrickStarsKeir DulleaGary LockwoodWilliam SylvesterAfter uncovering a mysterious artifact buried beneath the Lunar surface, a spacecraft is sent to Jupiter to find its origins: a spacecraft manned by two men and the supercomputer HAL 9000.Best Sci-fi film ever made. Period.
100/100 - DirectorMartin ScorseseStarsWillem DafoeHarvey KeitelBarbara HersheyThe life of Jesus Christ, his journey through life as he faces the struggles all humans do, and his final temptation on the cross.Martin Scorsese's most controversial and troubled production. To be frank, he could've been the next Pasolini.
The Last Temptation is one of the most ballsy movie I've ever seen. I don't know if it's blasphemous but seriously, Christian conservatives need to chill the fuck out. This is just an interpretation of the life of Jesus.
98/100
I'm not saying all Catholics hated it; They did burn the theatre though. - DirectorPaul SchraderStarsEthan HawkeAmanda SeyfriedCedric The EntertainerA minister of a small congregation in upstate New York grapples with mounting despair brought on by tragedy, worldly concerns and a tormented past.Religion is tough topic to talk about in films without coming off as offensive or corny. But First Reformed manages to do that.
It is one of the most appropriate films today because of the commentary it does on God, Religion, Forgiveness, Solidarity, Terrorism/Martyrdom, Love.
Digitally shot. 4:3 aspect ratio.
Paul Schrader is pretty old now and he's come full circle with First Reformed. He started off as a critic/film lover and rose to fame as the writer of Taxi Driver (1976). First Reformed is almost a reimagining of Taxi Driver but more appropriate for today.
His inspirations for this project were Bergman's Winter Light (1963) and Bresson's Diary of a Country Priest (1951); he shows his appreciation for them in his book 'Transcendental Style in Film: Ozu, Bresson, Dreyer'.
96/100 - DirectorGeorge LucasStarsRichard DreyfussRon HowardPaul Le MatA group of teenagers in California's central valley spend one final night after their 1962 high school graduation cruising the strip with their buddies before they pursue their varying goals.I have seen a lot of teen films/shows but nothing hits so close to home as this does. The closest teen film I can think of is The Breakfast Club (1985) which is a masterpiece in its own rights.
It embraces the rebellion, the madness, even the dryness of a teenager, through multiple characters. It uses soundtrack as a perfect alibi (I didn't have those songs in my playlist but now, I do.) and moves ahead of the stereotype that all teenagers are just... horny.
Make a hundred 'American Pie' movies, this one is untouchable.
And no to the argument that teenage films today are good. {https://youtu.be/b9acm2uRzbs}
This would 2 decades later be followed by Richard Linklater's Dazed and Confused (1993).
(A good companion piece, I guess)
'Where were you in '62?'
97/100 - DirectorAndrei TarkovskyStarsAlisa FreyndlikhAleksandr KaydanovskiyAnatoliy SolonitsynA guide leads two men through an area known as the Zone to find a room that grants wishes.You watch the movie and then, you go back and see the year it was released in and then, you realize just how 'ahead of time' Tarkovsky was.
100/100 - DirectorIngmar BergmanStarsBibi AnderssonLiv UllmannMargaretha KrookA nurse is put in charge of a mute actress and finds that their personae are melding together.Ingmar Bergman's best film. I have 6 different interpretations of this and I am confused in all of those so, I am not even gonna try.
This is just too overwhelming. I quit.
100/100 - DirectorLuca GuadagninoStarsTimothée ChalametArmie HammerMichael StuhlbargIn 1980s Italy, romance blossoms between a seventeen-year-old student and the older man hired as his father's research assistant.An adaptation of André Aciman's book. This might be James Ivory's swan song.
80s' Sicily is astonishing. The soundtrack by Sufjan Stevens is so fitting, it brings to the film what a hundred scenes couldn't have.
Luca Guadagnino captures sensuality in a rather impressive way. Sure, he's no Wong Kar Wai but he's doing what he knows best.
95/100 - DirectorAlfred HitchcockStarsJames StewartGrace KellyWendell CoreyA wheelchair-bound photographer spies on his neighbors from his Greenwich Village courtyard apartment window and, despite the skepticism of his fashion-model girlfriend, becomes convinced one of them has committed murder.One of my friends defined it as 'nothing happens' in a bad way but he still stuck around till the end of the movie and another one said the same thing but in a good way.
Alfred Hitchcock is a genius when it comes to suspense but what he's also great at is alluring his audience to a length that even if nothing happens, they still want to stick around and see what's what.
James Stewart is one of the best actors ever and he sits and does his acting. Grace Kelly is as always amazing and seductive.
This along with Rope (One shot)(1946) and Dial M for Murder( 1954) are Hitchcock's single location marvels.
99/100 - DirectorPawel PawlikowskiStarsAgata KuleszaAgata TrzebuchowskaDawid OgrodnikA novice nun about to take her vows uncovers a family secret dating back to the German occupation.Polish Filmmaker Pawel Pawlikowski puts forward a very eerie story of a Jewish nun who finds out about a past that was lost for her.
The framing of this film is masterful. The longer image of 1.37:1 is used to great lengths.
Themes of loss, desires, loneliness are explored almost perfectly.
94/100 - DirectorDavid LoweryStarsCasey AffleckRooney MaraMcColm Cephas Jr.In this singular exploration of legacy, love, loss, and the enormity of existence, a recently deceased, white-sheeted ghost returns to his suburban home to try to reconnect with his bereft wife.Be PATIENT. You'll love this if you are patient.
This film wants people to hate it. Only the people who were patient and attentive till the end, will love it.
99/100
A second viewing might make it a 100. - DirectorAkira KurosawaStarsTatsuya NakadaiAkira TeraoJinpachi NezuIn Medieval Japan, an elderly warlord retires, handing over his empire to his three sons. However, he vastly underestimates how the new-found power will corrupt them and cause them to turn on each other...and him.Adapted from William Shakespeare's King Lear, this is one of Kurosawa's few colored films and damn, is it good.
'Ran' means 'chaos' and chaos entails between a family over power or the lack of it. Kurosawa also uses winds to convey fear, destruction and anger.
The blood in this film is just stunning. I know that sounds like something cannibals would say but watching it, everyone thinks the same,....maybe.
Apparently, Kurosawa was losing his eyesight during the production and so, his storyboards were used to capture his direction.
Much like Stalker (1982), the IMDB trivia of this film could be a film in itself.
Came across a 4K restoration but wasn't able to watch it on a 4K screen (there are worse things that can happen) and it looks gorgeous.
100/100