Russian films

Nai-Hoi Yau (screenplay)

I prefer some of Johnny To’s other movies such as Running Out Of Time andespecially A Hero Never Dies which is much more violent and also verystylistic with many very nice shootings with bloodsquibs.I can also recommend some of the movies produced by Johnny To; the excitingthriller The Intruder, the odd masterpiece The Odd Ones Die and theextremely violent and well written The Longest Nite.

Where A Good Man Goes is not very violent, but it has some sudden bursts ofviolence. It is more of a romantic drama about the relationship between anewly released ex-convict and an attractive widow hotelowner.If you are a little more mature movie lover who doesn’t expect to see aheroic bloodshed gun ballet movie (there is no gun action here) but want tosee a well directed well played drama, but still have the stomach too seesome violence, some ugly beatings, then I think you will enjoy thismovie.

The pacing is not high, but there are enough going on all the time to keepmature viewers entertained.The ex-convict Michael is played by Ching Wan Lau and he is one toughbastard and here he is good as always. Ruby Wong is attractive but alsobelievable in her role as the hotel owner, she has a certain dignity withher.Lam Suet is also very good as the nasty policeman who wants to catchMichael.

Where A Good Man Goes is also interesting because the character Michael,although believable, is hard to understand. His point of view is that welive in a dog eat dog world and you better be mean because there are somanymean people out there that otherwise will take advantage of you. This ishisphilosophy and he lives like he preaches, he treats everybody bad includingthe widow hotel owner. It is interesting to watch the relationship betweenthem develop despite the way he is treating her. Michael is a moremultidimensional character than is common in Hollywood movies, To is notafraid to make him complicated, to show us his bad sides as well as hisgoodqualities.

Rating: 7 / 10. Recommended for mature people only.

2) Wow, I thought I rambled, but Lau Ching wan takes it to another level!His character is so complex, and there's so many things that I pick upon in his performance when I rewatch this movie. I didn't really knowhow to fit these thoughts into my review, so I thought I would justpoint it out right away. That quote in the title of the review isclassic rambling from Lau Ching Wan's character. I don't know how Ididn't get annoyed of his character, but Lau Ching Wan just gives sucha great performance. I kept wanting to hear what he had to say, becausethe more he rambles on, the more violent he gets with his words. Greatstuff.

Lau Ching Wan stars as a gangster who just got out of jail, and rightaway he gets into a fight. After his brawl he decides to stay at areally cheap inn run by a poor widow played by Ruby Wong. They slowlybegin a relationship, and I found it well done and touching. Lau ChingWan's character is over the top with how rude he is, but he does agreat job at it. I really found myself liking his character, eventhough his character is supposed to be almost completely unlikeable.One scene I liked was when Lau Ching Wan literally forces the owner ofthe inn and her son to go out and have a day of fun with him. It isquite an odd scene. So they go out for the day, and do all types of funthings. For instance Lau Ching Wan shows them what part of a wall hepainted while he was in prison. But seriously, there are a lot of goodthings about this movie. There's one hilarious scene where Lau throws abig fit screaming at the inn owner that his room has been taken. Hecouldn't have been a bigger baby. She doesn't say a word, politelyshows him to his room, and when the door opens, the drunken Lau ChingWan figures out after a few seconds that he must have been in the wrongroom before. Such a great scene. There's some more scenes like that,and that's the main reason the movie is worth watching. Plus you havethose great small touches that Johnnie To is known for. Like when theinn owner is cleaning Lau's room, she sees a big pile of money in hisdrawer, and she shuts the drawer right away. Good scene with goodcharacter development for both actors. But then what Johnnie To does isexpand on it. About 4 days pass, and she is cleaning his room, and onceagain sees his drawer open, but this time that big pile of money isnothing but a few bills. Like I said, it's just a small touch.

While this movie isn't that exciting, and it's anything but original, Iloved the directing job, the acting, dialogue, the short action scenes,and I found myself laughing outloud at least a few times. Lau Ching Wan+ Johnnie To. How can you go wrong with that? You can't. And you alsohave Lam Suet giving a great performance. This is back when he actuallygot good roles. Nowadays it seems like he just gets really small rolesor cameos in Johnnie To movies. Don't expect a great thriller orsomething really exciting, just an enjoyable movie.

3)

Visually, "Where A Good Man Goes" lacks the first-reel close-ups needed toconnect each character with the audience. The film lacks the in-your-faceclose-ups needed to create a feeling of edgy intensity this director appearsto be striving for.

From a distance, the viewer follows a buzz of activity. Unfortunately, mostevery line of English subtitling flashes on and off within the blink of aneye — even when there is no dialog before or after. It is as if thesubtitler was given a 500 second time limit for displaying subtitles but has1800 lines of dialog. With these flashes of text, the viewer is able toperceive that something white has appeared when an actor speaks, but no onehas no chance to begin reading it.

More than 10 years after the world class Wu/Yun-Fat Hong Kong masterpieces,the China’s new province is still struggling to maintain any level ofconsistency.

Satyajit Ray (screenplay)

2) Feluda, The Bengali Sherlock Holmes comes alive on screen again in this highly entertaining film. Based on the book and characters written by Ray himself he did a great job in creating a good follow up to the highly successful and intriguing ‘Sonar Kella The Golden fort ‘. Just like in the previous movie this one also contains a bunch of colorful characters played by the Crme de la crme of Bengali cinema most notably Mr. Utpal Dutta who plays a shady businessman involved in smuggling antiquities. This one is about a theft of a very valuable antique gold statue. So in comes Feluda accompanied by his faithful Topshe and the very hilarious Jatayu (Santosh Dutta at his comic best) and he is asked to investigate the theft by the owner and if possible retrieve the invaluable statue. The entire movie is set in the holy city of Varanasi and we get to witness a lot of the religious ceremonies associated with Hinduism and how the crime has intertwined itself with it. A lot of suspense and some very funny segments(especially the one with Jatayu and the knife thrower) make this movie totally worth the watch. It may not be a Sonar Kella but it definitely is in a class of its own. I recommend this film very highly. You will not be disappointed.

Vijay Anand (screenplay)

2)
Notorious gangster and smuggler, Heeralal, is arrested by Bombay Police and held in a cell. In the cell adjoining him, he meets with another gangster by the name of Johny. Heeralal decides to confide in Johny and asks him to meet his contact, a woman by the name of Rekha, who has some diamonds that have been smuggled in to India. Johny escapes from prison, meets with Rekha and a man named Moti, successfully manages to elude the police, bring the diamonds to India, and then subsequently to Kathmandu in neighboring Nepal. By this time Johny and Rekha have fallen in love with each other. Johny finds out that Rekha’s dad, Rai Sahab Bhupinder Singh, is missing, and may still be alive. When Heera finally gets out of jail, he meets with Moti and informs him that Johny really is a CBI Officer. Moti and Heera accordingly approach their Chief, Bhupinder Singh, to let him know that their operations may have been compromised. The question remain, is Rekha’s dad the head of this gang? Who exactly is Johny – is a smuggler or a Police Officer?

Two brothers,Sohan and Mohan, both studying in the same school, haveentered the school boxing competition. When the final comes it the twobrothers find out that they are fighting each other. Sohan is declaredwinner but the match is continued at home and the mother tells themthat they should wait for their father. Mohan, the elder, beingimpatient, goes to see his father – a police officer. Instead hewitnesses a smuggler by the name of Heera murdering his father. He thentries to catch him by chasing him and lends up hiding in his car.

Years pass by and Sohan becomes an Police inspector and wanting tocatch smugglers, he lands himself in a cell with the man who hadmurdered his father, Heera and introduces himself as "Johnny." He laterescapes and meets up with a contact that he had been informed about byHeera – a female by the name of Rekha.

The movie stars the ever green Dev Anand, Hema Malini, Pran, Premnath,Ifteqar and I.S. Johar. The story is good but more than that is thedirection by the late Vijay Anand. But the acting by all and especiallythe comic side by the late I.S. Johar, is absolutely brilliant. Thesongs to listen out for are "O Mere Raja," "Baabul Pyaare," "NafratKarne Waaloh" and "Parbhal Keliye" – they are most memorable as is themusic by Kalyanji – Anandji.

I recently saw this movie after a very long time and was in tears as itbrought back floods of memories and especially especially childhoodones. This is a movie that is worth watching.

2) This is a great film. Perhaps Vijay Anand's best. Of course, Guide is aterrific film too but Johny Mera Naam is something special. It's wayway ahead of it's time. It's thrilling, emotional, funny, cool andaction packed. And it's got great music, stupendous performances and azing from the very first frame when the titles drip red.

Johny defies synopsis. IT's a convoluted and totally incredible storyand yet it's seamless, pacy and a ton of fun.

I've seen it over a dozen times on screen. Till a few years back,in thepre multiplex, pre cable times, we used to have matinée shows of oldfilms at reduced rates.

I wish one could see it no screen today. But it's equally enjoyable onTV too. Johny Mera Naam and Deewaar (Yash Chopra's) are two of the bestscreenplays of the Hindi mainstream cinema.

3) This is a simple, lost brothers who finally unite, formula movie, but whatmakes it watchable are some great movie moments. I don’t think many peopleknow who Padma Khanna is(poor man’s Mumtaz) but her sexy dance will blowyouaway. Trust me it is unique and has never been done before or since. Andthen there is that beautiful song – "Babul Pyaree" – every daughter’smemorable song. One of the most heart pulling song ever pictured. Anotherfavorite song of mine is the bhakti song – "Govind Bolo Hari gopal bolo".

There are other memorable movie moments like when Dev Anand says that hehasbeen following the daughter so that she would lead him to her father onlytorealize that the daughter was also trying desperately to reach her father.

If you like Dev Anand and Pran’s incredible voice plus some good actingthismovie is a must see. Trust me, you will rewind the tape to watch PadmaKhanna. Little known fact: Dara Singh’s brother has a small role in thismovie.

4) -aa very good film.The cast was brilliant so was the direction. One ofthe best film Vijay Anand directed. The movie stars Dev Anand, Pran,Hema, Prem Nath, Padma khanna,etc. Dev Anand is brilliant, so is Pran.It's a great story and lovely music. Hema Malini looks gorgeous and herdresses r great. Padma has a small role but she have done great job.Her dance number with Prem Nath is brilliant also. Prem Nath as usual agreat villain. I saw this film long time ago when I was a kid but eventoday I see it still enjoy the film. It has a great suspense, action,comedy and romance. The music that you can never forget. But as far astrimurti films concerns, I think Dewaar was better but this film wasnot bad at all. The scenes from this film has been copied in manylatest films but this was the best film of original. I give it 9.3 /10

Pawan Kalyan (story)

Loosing his mother in his very early life, and disgracement from fathermakes johnny to come out of the house, to leave on his own. He is aMartialArts coach.One fine day meets his love mate and marries her, having life smooth forsome time, one bad day finds his wife suffering form ACUTE LUKEMIA (BloodCancer) and it shocks him.Treatment of the disease required more money which he needs to adjusthimself, for that he jumps into the kick boxing ring (do or die), theonlysource he manage at that position. If he wins the ring both will survive,ifhe loses both die.In this crucial situation we enter into the climax of the movie withmind-boggling fight scenes composed by HonKong fight masters. Sham Palav’s photography is highlight of themovie.

2) Pros: > Perfect comical timing and style. > Very Good camera work. >Stunts/ Fights are awesome. > Songs are superb to listen. > The wayhero changes his physic for the movie is trend setting for Teluguindustry. > Looks at least 5 years younger than his previous movie(Khushi). > Minimal makeup , trendy clothing. > On set voice recording.

Cons: > A very heavy subject for Telugu crowd. > Ppl didn't digest alead character's loss. very much addicted to happy endings for 6decades. > Movie has all individual aspects trend setting butcollectively the soul was missing. > On set voice recording is notnecessary always!!!…must use technology , but also sometimes its goodto play old book.

3) though this movie was a disaster at Box office, the making style of themovie was Awesome… i have never seen a movie which was so intensivelymade. cinematography was outstanding. Hero’s action was so natural. theframework is so good that it keeps on coming to my mind often.. thedrawbacks of the movie according to me were: bad Recording, Lousyscript & concentrated more on style than substance. but for me, when isaw the film i was spell bound by the style. i give full marks tostyle(at least). this is one of my favorite movies along with Nayagan,life is beautiful, Casablanca, Behind enemy lines, brave heart, andother Indian movies