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Planet of the Apes (2001)
Breathtaking & Hugely Entertaining
DO NOT believe reviews deeming Tim Burton's vision of Planet Of The Apes as shallow. The film is breathtaking in splendor in the spirit of an epic such as Lord of The Rings. It is also hugely entertaining in terms of plot, script, balanced story structure and cinematography. A possible reason why the average gun loving movie goer (brainwashed by a war mongering mainstream not-so-thought-out point of view) would not appreciate Tim Burton's vision is the Director's anti-war sentiment that carries a subtle under-tone of acceptance throughout the film. The movie is great-looking. Rick Baker's makeup is convincing even in the extreme closeups, and his apes sparkle with personality and presence. The sets and locations give us a proper sense of alien awe. Tim Burton made a film that's respectful to the original, and respectable in itself. Easily a 8/10.
The Hours (2002)
WARNING: This movie will make you FEEL!
Three different women, a novelist, a publisher and a reader, each living a lie, each putting someone else's life first.
"The Hours" portrays serenity, courage and wisdom; and goes further to question whether a human being has the right to choose death, the right to love what you have (or not to).
Daldry has given "The Hours" a universal appeal by not deciding that question for us. It is up to the viewer to decide that and like all great films "The Hours" allows each viewer to decide differently, based upon their own perception and experience.
Who do you live your life for?
Laura Brown (Moore) on why she abandoned her children: "What does it mean to regret when you have no choice? It's what you can bear. It was death and I chose life."
Virginia Woolf (Kidman) explaining why she's chosen to take her own life: "To look life in the face, always to look life in the face and to know it for what it is, at last to know it, to love it for what it is and then to put it away ... always the years between us, always the years, always the love, always the hours."
In "The Hours", Daldry has directed a classic as conflicting as life itself, with mesmeric performances from Streep, Kidman and Moore and beautiful music by Philip Glass.
Tehzeeb (2003)
Tehzeeb - her name was her destiny.
The following review of "Tehzeeb" (beautifully written) is not by me & appears on the following url: http://www.indiatraveltimes.com/cinema/tehzeeb_2.html
Khalid Mohamed's new film Tehzeeb draws its title from the name of the central character played by Urmila Matondkar. Tehzeeb is the daughter of Anwar Jamal and Rukhsana Jamal. Their other daughter, Nazneen or Nazo, is mentally challenged.
Tehzeeb is a film drawn upon a clash of characters. The Jamal couple met as lovers and married against the wishes of their parents. Anwar came from a rich family, but was a failure as a businessman. In contrast, Rukhsana was a star singer who was totally preoccupied with her career. Her soaring success and fame created a chasm between husband and wife and neither side strived hard enough to stop it from widening. The two daughters also got very little out of this strained relationship of their parents.
Tehzeeb was too young at the time of her father's death, but she grew up with the belief that her mother had shot him. This belief defined her attitude and behavior towards her mother. Starting with this state of mind to a reconciliation between them and the moments of happiness that follow is a story reminding all of us of our own relationship problems within and outside the family.
Tehzeeb has a theme with a potential of being developed into a classic family drama. Khalid, however, has no such objective in mind. In our film industry, compromises for the sake of a good box-office is the rule and Khalid is no exception. Khalid says: The story of Tehzeeb has emerged as much from conversations and interviews with friends and psychoanalysts, as from a continuing self-probe about one's imagined relationship with a mother whom I cannot remember. She passed away in an air crash when I was two.
Said to be beautiful and larger than life, the absence of a mother's memory caused me to wonder how I would have reacted to her persona. What if she had become a successful public personality? Would I have ever been overawed by her? Or would I have challenged her about her responsibilities to the home and the hearth?
He explains his dilemma in tense words: Towards this aim, initially I believed an acknowledged remake of Ingmar Bergman's 'Autumn Sonata' would be in order ... While working in the idiom of popular cinema, I had to reach my reality of what could or what would have been vis-a-vis a son's relationship with his mother.
"Idiom of popular cinema" is the overriding factor. Six songs and almost as many dance numbers have been incorporated, some of them seem to be uncalled for, others are attuned to the theme or the situation. Even the cultural milieu of a modern Muslim family gets polluted in the process. One has to shed conservatism before settling down to an enjoyable evening. But the film does set you thinking.
All the three female actresses in the main roles, Shabana Azmi, Urmila and Diya Mirza, have emerged as very intense performers. Diana Hayden, doing New York publisher Sheena Roy's role, and Namrata Shirodkar's Aloka Karnik, the upcoming singer, are merely cameos. Arjun Rampal as Salim Mirza, the writer of pulp fiction who is Urmila's husband, has a very interesting and somewhat complex role.