Posts by Rammesh
Tora Tora Tora (1970) – A Classic
Dir: Richard Fleisher. Kinji Fukasaku. Toshio Masuda Cast: Martin Balsam. Jason Robards. Multiple Stars. (All clickable links are in red) When 9/11 happened, many, including US President George Bush Junior, said that it was Pearl Harbor of the 21st century. The comparison may only have been for the devastating surprise attack on December 7, 1941.…
Read MoreKillers of the Flower Moon (2023) – Superb drama
Dir: Martin Scorsese Cast: Robert de Niro. Leonardo di Caprio. Lily Gladstone. Nothing needs to be said about Martin Scorsese’s track record. In the guise of thrillers, period dramas or crime sagas, Scorsese always held a mirror to American society and, at times, presented the “zeitgeist” of that era. Almost all his films still…
Read MoreReptile (2023) – Slow burn predictable
Dir: Grant Singer Cast: Benicio del Toro. Alicia Silverstone. Justin Timberlake. Eric Bogosian. The Netflix algorithm keeps pushing films at you based on your “past viewing history”. As if it almost had a mind of its own (AI, anyone?). I have willingly ignored some movies, and others rouse my curiosity to check whether my…
Read MoreThe Iron Curtain (1946) – Cold War’s absorbing beginning
Dir: William Wellman Screenplay – Milton Krims – based on Igor Gouzenko’s story Cast: Dana Andrews. Gene Tierney Popular legends about spies -outside the Bond-MI-Bourne domain-are usually of a dedicated man, deep inside the enemy/ target country’s system, quietly collecting information for one’s own country. But sometimes, the simple soldier or the unimportant file…
Read MoreKhufiya (2023) – Slow, refreshing and engaging
Music and Director: Vishal Bhardwaj Screenplay – Vishal Bhardwaj, Rohan Narula – based on Amar Bhushan’s story Cast: Tabu, Ali Fazal, Wamiqa Gabbi, Azmeri Haque Badhon, Navnindra Behl, Ashish Vidyarthi (All links are in Blue) Using a mole, Heena Rehman, code-named Octopus (Azmeri Haque Badhon), an Indian operation to “neutralise” the Bangladeshi “Jihadi” defence…
Read MoreNotorious (1946) – A romantic spy story.
Dir: Alfred Hitchcock Writer: Ben Hecht Cast: Cary Grant. Ingrid Bergman. Claude Rains. Alfred Hitchcock was often referred to as the Master of Suspense. He was a supreme Auteur, the man whose personal stamp on the human condition was visible in every frame, scene and dialogue in his works. Every frame in his films…
Read MoreDev Anand – Forever an Icon
Today Dev Anand’s centenary celebrations have been kicked off across India. Fans across India, including me, are going wild. The festivities include screening four restored films: CID, Jewel Thief, Guide, and Johny Mera Naam. These four films span 20 years of cinematic life, creating generations of fans. Always considered a style icon, it is perhaps…
Read MoreThe Battle of Britain – 1969 – Accurate and entertaining
Director: Guy Hamilton Producer: Harry Saltzman Script: James Kennaway. Wilfred Greatorex A common legend among the British is the trope of a “small bunch of British men against the might of the ugly bad …….. ” . In the blanks, you can insert Africans (Zulu and Khartoum), Pathans and Indians (Gunga Din, The Bengal Lancers),…
Read MoreSeventeen Moments of Spring (1973) – Excellent
Story : Yulian (Julian) Semyonov Direction : Tatyana Lioznova Cast : Vyacheslav Tikhonov, Most of us are used to spy stories where Western Heroes set out to slay the evil Soviet Empire and save the Western Way of life. The Spy fiction genre has its rules in that the Western characters are usually the…
Read MoreAll the Old Knives (1994) – Slow Burn but Riveting
Dir: Janus Metz Cast: Chris Pine. Thandiwe Newton. Jonathan Pryce. Laurence Fishburne Story and Script: Olen Steinhauer It is said that the end of the Cold War also ended spy fiction as a genre, be it in print or on film. The post-1991 “unipolar” world soon proved to be a fallacy. As…
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