Paper and rolls

Juno

2008-03-16T22:21:00.001-07:00

Higly recommended. I simbly looooved this movie. Define 'cool kid'; and I would say Juno. Ellen Page is her pretty cute self. The movie is about this 16 year old who is sexually active and has sex with her geek friend. She gets pregnant and decides to drop the idea of an abortion.

As one might think, this is not one of those serious movies with a social angle on the stigma attached of raising a child out of wedlock. Infact it is a simple, cool movie...very beautifully handled.

The few dialogues that come to mind :

When Juno tells folks she is pregnant with Paul B's baby, the father tells the mother" I want to strangle that boy" to which Juno's step mom says "You know that was not his idea".....
"Dad can't two people be in love and live together forever"....to which the Dad replies"Junebug love the person who loves you for who you are......it is all about loving someone when (s)he is angry, irritated, happy, sad, joyous, fun, beautiful, ugly, young, old....and yes it is definitely possible for two people to love and live together but it does require a whole lot of effort from both sides"
"My dad read up a lot on the Greeks and so decided to name me Juno - apparently the beautiful but mean wife of Zeus"
This one is between Juno and the couple she identifies as the ideal, loving couple to whom she would like to give away her kid for adoption. In her second trimester - when the adopted parents ask her "how sure are you that you want to give away this baby - 80%, 90%???". Juno retorts "104%!!! infact if I could give you this baby right now I would...just that it would look like a sea monkey"..... :)

It very well deserved the 4 stars!

Michael Clayton

2008-02-27T20:49:00.000-08:00

From the makers of Ocean's 11 comes Michael Clayton. George Clooney completely fits into his role of a "fixer". And as he says, "Truth can be adjusted". I couldn't agree more with that.

Tony Gilroy(story writer and director), Soderbergh (producer) have done a great job yet again. The movie is gripping. Bits of the movie bring back memories of Erin Brockovich and although the latter focussed on the human side of the story, this one focussed more on the thrilling expose.

It's quite an irony that although Michael Clayton (played by George Clooney) is an answer to all problems faced by Keener,Bach & Ledeen (the law firm he works for); his personal life is a complete mess - with a divorce, a bar venture that did not take off, compulsive card playing (gambling). All this goes to show that just because one can fix others problems with such ease, it does not mean ones life is clean.

George Clooney looks his sophisticated best in his "oh so Clooney" black and white attire. After Syriana (which I deliberately avoided), I loved this one.

Manorama - six feet under

2007-09-26T02:08:00.000-07:00

A great job for a debutante director. Why we went to watch it - well two reasons, one is because it has been shot in Rajasthan which we fell in love with ever since our trip there in 2004; and the second because it had a reasonably good star cast.
Abhay Deol- the key protagonist, I have always thought, is a good actor. He almost acts effortlessly and seems to enjoy what he is doing. With costars like Gul Panag, Vinay Pathak, Sarika, Raima Sen; am sure 'making the movie' was a breeze and fun too.
The title is the name of the book authored by Satyaveer Randhawa (Abhay Deol) - a debutante writer who just about manages to sell 20 copies of it.
The thriller is centred around Satyaveer and his book. The fun element in the movie primarily is when Vinay Pathak - an inspector in rural Lakhot (RJ), has some interesting conversations with his "jijey" (brother inlaw, Satyaveer).
A dialog comes to mind : "jab miyan bura mile, tho aurat rothi rehti hai, aur jab acha miyan miley tho usko rulatee rehti hai....isiliye jijey maine shaadi nahin ki" Wondering if there is an element of truth in this statement :)))
It's a thriller, a murder mystery which moves at it's own pace without much chaos as might find in a typical hindi murder movie. There is no theme music which is nail biting. The movie keeps one engrossed with no boring moment.
Watch it if you can.

Ratatouille - Rat-a-too-eee

2007-08-29T04:42:00.000-07:00

No! I did not read comments about the movie before I actually went to watch it. It just seemed like a technically well-made movie and the concept of a rat wanting to be a chef simply thrilled me.

What I learnt from the movie :
1.Ratatouille is the name of a peasant dish and not a land where rats live!
2.Don't dwell on the past if you want to get ahead (you may be a rat, but if you aspire for bigger things - well go get them)
3.August Gusteau says "Anyone can cook :)"......and so ....why not Pari!
4.Oaky nutty taste when combined with a tangy one can mean 'yum'
5.An illicit affair with a chef can land your little one a restaurant ;)

Although the movie is an animation, Paris still looked beautiful.....

Gandhi, my father

2007-08-08T04:35:00.000-07:00

Directed by the playwright Feroze Abbas Khan, executive producer - the famous Anil Kapoor. With a star cast like Akshay Khanna, Shefali Shah, Darshan Jariwala ... it was expected to be an intense and well made movie.
Gandhi - like most of us who have read him in school history books is The Father of the Nation. The movie focuses on his inability to be a good father to his children. How ironic....a father to the Nation but not to ones own children.
The movie is intense with some brilliant acting by the experienced and reputed stars.

At the end of the movie I was pretty much in a dilemma wondering...

whether Gandhi was instrumental in ruining Hiralal's (his eldest son's life) life or was it destiny.
would it have helped if The Mahatma had sent Hiralal to England to become a barrister
was Hiralal smart enough to have become a good barrister given that despite repeated attempts he did not even clear his matriculate exams. So what if he was not able to complete it at a young and had to reattempt when he was much older...I don't think age makes it so difficult to get back to school.
was Gandhi right in making his son the sacrificial lamb for his Satyagraha movement
would things have really been different if he had educated his son much earlier

The movie left me wondering whether seeing, hearing, reading is always believing???? Part truth can be more disastrous than the complete one.

Yes, may be the Mahatma always stood by his principles of righteousness, but at what cost?! Was he not being selfish by using his son to meet his ends.

I will always continue to wonder......

Crazy or Simply o.o.m.m

2007-06-17T23:56:00.000-07:00

No sooner was I convinced to watch this master piece "Sivaji : The boss", I knew I must be completely "o.o.m.m" (out of my mind!). I think this happens with age :)
Or, maybe I should just give myself that benefit of doubt :) I agreed only because I had refused to watch the last few movies that Pari had identified as completely watchable and entertaining - Pirates.... I thought it too absurd for me, Ta ra rum pum seemed like an endless melodrama, Dharm - too stark, Jhoom barabar....one of the typical Yash Chopra concocted mush. After having bravely refused to be game for any of these,I relented to watching Sivaji - "it would be a complete entertainer" I was told by Pari. I thought I needed that "some mindless entertainment". Next time remind me to not take him seriously!!!
The saving grace ....

Very mellow crowd - other than the intial round of applause and whistles...no catcalls or dialogue baazi. I can now vouch that the multiplex audience is indeed sober :)
Took me exactly 5 mins to hit the bed given that the movie was showing at Imax -a stones throw away fm home
Saucy Ms Saran...hmm shouldnt be long before she is in one of our Bolly flicks
I actually understood what was happening! (although I donot quite understand Tamil)

What just did not go down well....

Long unending drama (3 and a half hours or was it four??! I stopped counting after the first 2 )
Loud!!! I mean literally - the sound was much over decibels that could be tolerated by a normal human aural mechanism.....I might have been a dolphin in my last birth or may be even a fly (I managed to get away without going deaf)
Incredulous!!!..........Credibility....hey what does that mean? not quite synonymous with a Rajni flick. Sorry!
And yes...completely O.T.T (over the top) sets and stylised stunts.....I guess all this comes as a part and parcel of a Rajni movie....which I should have prepared myself for well in the beginning.

Next time someone asks me to tag along for any such movie, please remind me to just go back and check history with my reliable sources, and not get talked into this mess.

Paris Je t'aime

2007-05-16T21:33:00.000-07:00

Paris - I love you - when translated.

The movie is much like Nine Lives - a compilation of short tales, each directed by a renowned director. Each story lasts for not more than 6-7 minutes and is complete in itself.
All have a common theme - Love. A universal emotion, it appeals to all - ages, class, races....alike.
The most ridiculous of the tales struck to me of : Elijah Wood and his lady love, a tale of "love at first bite". No! I am not referring to the icecream cone brand by Hindustan Lever. It shows love between 2 vampires. Eeeks! definitely did not appeal to my senses.
The more touching ones were that of a couple which is about to break up their marriage when the husband realises that his wife is terminally ill and so prefers to keep his affairs to himself and love her until her very end.
Gurinder Chhada's Quaise de la Seine, was very grounded and struck a chord with the young. I couldn't get over the dialogue when a young French boy "Francoise" shows interest in a young muslim girl and is told by his friends "beware....don't even think of touching her, Osama will blow your ass out" :) Also the dialogue when she refers to her hijab and says "I wear it not because of any compulsions, but because it gives me a sense of identity and belonging".
Natalie Portman, her usual self, portrays the fickle, young at heart and rebellious young woman when she falls in love with the blind boy, and almost misleads him into believing that she has fallen out of love with him.....when actually she is only practicing her dialogue delivery on him.
Juliette Binoche can easily be missed in her role as a mother to a boy who is no more. She constantly broods over him. However at the end she is shown to meet the dead boy (in heavens, I guess) and feels like he is still very much a part of her life.
Nick Nolte stars in a tale which is quite misleading. Although a baby sitter, the conversation between him and his client causes one to believe that they are having an affair, while it is only a professional discussion they are having.
One of the other more touching ones is the one with Catalino Sandino (of Maria- full of grace, fame), who is shown as the mother of a little baby whom she leaves in a creche, so she can then travel a few hours across the city to babysit one of her client's baby....to earn a living.
It strikes as quite a contradiction, that one lets some one baby sit ones baby while babysitting someone elses!!!
All in all, its a good movie. Keeps one enthralled through it since a story is over even before you have realised it. While most stories are in French with English subtitles, there are a few (mostly after the interval) which are English with French subtitles. A couple of hours well spent!!

In Pursuit of Happ"y"ness

2007-03-21T00:51:00.000-07:00

Is it truly a pursuit. Nope! I would think it is a state of mind. There are people who have all the luxuries and comforts in the world but are still not happy. I often wonder whether Chris Gardner slept well after 1986(when he started his very own stock broking firm) ,2003 (when he sold 10% of it for a multi billion dollar deal) or before that (when he ran pillar to post from doctor to doctor trying to sell the bone density measuring equipment).
My guess is as good as yours.
If you haven't yet figured out what the movie is all about let me quickly sum it up - Chris Gardner - a salesman, selling medical equipment for his living, has a wife who works two shifts to make ends meet, has a little one about five years of age who spends time at day care while mommy and daddy are busy earning their "daily bread". Yes I mean it when I say daily bread. As times toughen up, wife leaves him, landlord asks him to look for some other place to call home. He's left homeless...but well, nevertheless not "hopeless".
He decides to take up a course at an investment broking firm which hones his already existing skills as a salesman; but only in the more high profile financial sector. Lady luck finally shines on him.....he qualifies for a job at the investment broking firm. And lo! we have a positive twist to the tale.
The story ends, with Chris and his little one Christopher walking along the streets (after Chris has landed a well paying job)...and the conversation that ensues -
Little Christopher : Knock knock
Chris : who's it?
Little Christopher : She'll be coming
Chris : She'll be coming, who ?
Little Christopher : She'll be coming round the mountains when she comes.....

Little Christopher : Knock knock
Chris : who's it?
Little Christopher : Nobody
Chris : Nobody, who?
Silence ensues :)

Looking for happiness ?
Look within :)

Blood diamond

2007-02-07T07:15:00.000-08:00

Did you ever wonder how many people were killed, mutilated, left homeless to get you those precious diamonds - the girls best friends?! Frankly nor did I. But now that I do, I am unlikely to pick one in a long time.

The movie closes in on the diamond trade which is used to generate monies to fund the civil wars in South Africa. Young children too are involved in this trade, the last count was 2,00,000.
Inspite of following the Kimberly process of certification of diamonds, which identify the conflict diamonds from the others, there continues to be a steady flow of these into the markets.

Leo Caprio, a whiteman who is brought up here in this wild continent is drawn to this diamond trade for the monies and thrills involved. Jennifer Connelly plays the role of a journalist, who later in the movie is shown as Leo's love interest. The movie centres around this one character who manages to make a small difference in this big bad world - and that for you my friends is Leo!

The most moving dialogues in the film are the one where one of the homeless old black men exclaims to Caprio after a raid by one of the gangs, bodies strewn around, devastation struck - "look what they are doing for diamonds. Thank God we don't have oil". And the other moving moment was when Caprio in an inebriated state tells journalist/ interest Jennifer Connelly - "God must be mad at us for being so ruthless towards each other. Infact I would think God has left this continent long ago".

Definitely worth watching. An excellent movie which captures the filth behind the solitaires!

Water

2006-11-19T06:38:00.000-08:00

Albeit the controversies that hogged it and the media attention that it received, Deepa Mehta has still managed to come up with a winner. A touching movie dating back to 1938, the focus - Widow remarriage. It looks closely at the atrocities that the society inflicted on the widows. The little 7 yr old widow, the older Seema Biswas and Lisa Ray have each done justice to their roles.
The little girl, 7 yr old "Chuhiya" (fondly "little mouse) is married off at a young age, when she just attains puberty, to an older man, who is shown as passing away shortly. The parents then take her off to a Widows home (quite like an Old Age home), and she is left among other widows (age ranging from ~20s to late 80s). The castigation that follows is worse than death; a lonely life of self denial. The story turns around when Gandhi gets out of prison and is shown propagating "The Harijan Concept". Narayan (played byJohn Abraham), a nationalist, staunch believer of the Gandhian and Raja Mohan Roy philosophies, decides to marry a widow but is unable to since she commits suicide. Soon after the death of this young widow, Seema Biswas (shown as a more mature, compassionate older widow) decides to send Chuhiya off with Narayan to join the Gandhians.....just ensuring that she is safe from the evil clutches of the society which looks down at the widows with disdain.
When little Chuhiya enters the Widows home, her question about "where the male widows live" moves all.
A well made movie!

Casino Royale

2006-11-17T01:52:00.000-08:00

After Sean Connery, George Lazenby , Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan; Daniel Craig comes across as yet another avatar of Bond. With every era the series seems to be belong to a different genre. While Sean Connery had what it takes to portray 007, I did not think much of the others until Pierce came along. He had none of the crass, roughened approach that is so characteristic of the earlier Bonds. He was the suave gentleman or Remington Steele who made every woman's heart skip a beat. Daniel Craig is definitely a toughened soul, but adds very little to the "lady's man" label that 007 usually portrays.

I read a little while ago that the director Martin Campbell had a plan of showing Madame M as a lesbian (keeping with the times?!), but Mr. Craig was dead against it, could be because of the bond that James shared with Madame M. Also given that this is the first book by Ian Flemming, it may not have gone down too well with the audience.

Casino Royale is based in MonteNegro and has millions of dollars exchanging hands. Bond's first mission is to ensure that the banker does not win the million dollar prize money and use it to fund terrorism. The movie has Bond falling in love and seen treating women as "meaningful pursuits" rather than "disposable pleasures".

The movie is the usual Bond fare, with predictable Madame M, no Q (did Ian Fleming not have this character in his first book, I wonder!).

It took me a while to get used to new Mr.Bond, James Bond :)

The Departed

2006-11-05T23:39:00.000-08:00

It's been rated "outstanding" by some reviewers. I would give it a "very good"
The title of the movie says it all "The Departed". For the sake of some fun...let me tell you that everyone dies at the end ;)
A multistarrer with Jack Nicholson as Francis Costello - The Goon, Matt Damon (a cop who is attached to the Costello gang), Leo (d Caprio) (as the police informer who has found place in the Costello Gang), Sr.Sheen and Mark Wahlberg as the only 2 top cops who know that the police dept has planted Leo- the police informer in the Costello gang to seek out clues and evidence to catch Francis Costello red-handed! Alec Baldwin is seen throwing his "weight around", very literally, as the top cop! favouring Matt Damon as his blue eyed boy. The movie is inspired from Hongkong movie which supposedly has a little less blood shed.

The good part is that it kept me completely engrossed. My heart reached out to Leo :)

Hotel Rwanda

2006-10-10T05:23:00.000-07:00

An insightful and touching movie about the civil strife in South Africa. The war between the Tutsis and Huttus. The key protagonist is the manager of Hotel Rwanda (who belongs to the Huttu sect), his wife (who belongs to the Tutsi sect) and their 3 children. The whole town is in a blaze, while the Manager provides refuge to the refugees, largely Tutsis since the news outbreak that the Tutsi rebels have killed the Huttu President who was trying to bring about peace between the 2 sects. At Hotel Rwanda, life is not easy, with no intervention from the Americas or Europe to bring about peace in the state. Instead there is a small batch of UN peace keepers who is working hard to prevent any more casualities.
This one is definitely worth a deko, since it takes a close look at corruption & inequalities withint the black state indifference on part of the White world who consider the South Africans a class below the negres!
A case in point to prove how internal differences donot allow the underdeveloped countries to progress.

Loves me, loves me not

2006-09-26T22:39:00.000-07:00

I would think Audrey Tautou loves hallucinating, first in Amelie and then here! They sure did not spend much money making this movie. The first half is simply an edited version of the second. The story is about this young woman, Audrey Tautou, a budding artist by profession,who is completely in love with this cardiologist. He happens to be the neighbour of the home that she is working as a concierge. However time and again she is let down by this cardio doc. Why ? Watch it. If you thought Amelie and Run lola run were good movies, then you may just like this one.
And yes, watch it only if you dont mind "reading" a movie. It's a french movie with english subtitles.

The Wedding Date

2006-09-26T22:23:00.000-07:00

A typical M&B tale. Debra Messing separates with her longtime boyfriend, well HE brings about the break-up. She still does not know why. Her sister played by Amy Adams, is getting married shortly and Debra needs to be there at the wedding as her brides maid. To prevent people from not feeling bad for her (break-up) she decides to hire a boyfriend, none other than Dermot Mulroney (who has previously been seen in My best friend's wedding and Must Love Dogs). Everyone in the family just loves him (the hunk that he is!), and what happens next is anybody's guess.
Watch it when you feel Mills & Boonish :)

Derailed

2006-09-15T23:14:00.000-07:00

I would give this one a 4 on 5. A movie with a great twist !
The story begins with a young girl suffering from type 1 diabetes, on kidney dialysis, and her folks working hard to make sure they can afford the treatment the kid deserves. The father, Clive Owen, who plays Charles Schine, a commercial executive working with an advertising firm gets involved with Lucinda Harris, played by Jennifer Aniston, who works at a Financial org. She too is married to a stock broker, and has a kid.. The story takes an ugly turn when the two get blackmailed as they don't divulge their affair to their respective spouse. What happens next ? Although I am tempted to tell, it would really leave the movie insipid.
Watch it and let me know if you agree.

Open Water

2006-09-15T22:52:00.000-07:00

Directed by Chris Kentis the gripping thriller Open Water, is based on a true story. Susan (Blanchard Ryan) and Daniel (Daniel Travis) are a married couple, so busy that they dont get time for vacations, easily. When they finally manage some holidays together they end up on an island vacation, since at such short notice no other holiday is doable. They board a vessel called the Reef Explorer with a group of other scuba divers, traveling 15 miles out to sea. Since they are certified to dive in open waters, the couple breaks off from the group to go exploring. The Reef Explorer accidentally leaves without a proper head count, leaving them stranded in shark-infested waters. Kentis and producer wife Laura Lau did all the filming themselves in the actual ocean without extraneous special effects, while the actors wore special steel-mesh under their wetsuits in the scenes where actual sharks were involved. Open Water was shown at the Sundance Film Festival in 2004 as part of the American Spectrum competition.
....do they survive ? While the husband gets attacked by the sharks, and finally gives in, the wife continues to stay adrift till she selects her end "submerge (in the waters) or submit(to the sharks)". She chooses to let go and submerge.

Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna

2006-09-01T00:57:00.000-07:00

Poor Karan (Johar) received a lot of flak from his loyal audience. How could someone who has always made movies about family values, being together...etc, actually propagate any ema (extra-marital affair)
I beg to differ. Infact this, I thought, was one of his better movies, which called a spade a spade. A maturely handled ema. His mistake - how could he bring out in the open, a well practiced social taboo in the country. Is he nuts?!

The 2 most touching and unforgettable moments in the movie were, one, the old aging, winning horse, of Bollywood cinema lying helplessly on this death bed while delivering the dialogue "Mohabbat aur mauth, yeh dono hi bin bulaye mehmaan hain". Those soulful eyes convey every bit of emotion followed by "tum ussey chod do, kyonki tum ussey pyar nahin karti, aur tum ussey kisi aur ke pyar se door kar rahe ho"......how true!

The other, was when the betraying pair tell their respective spouse of their love interest. Their mates handle it in the most mature manner....no family drama or commotion (a la balaji telefilms). They accept it and move on. They are not shown as "demi Gods!"....nor are they shown as emotional wrecks.

A well told tale which says - "Live a relationship.....don't just survive it"

Calvin and Hobbes

2006-08-30T03:08:00.001-07:00

My favourite cartoon strip - Calvin & Hobbes

The first comic strip by Bill Watterson was picked by Universal Press Syndicate in 1985. Bill was earlier a political cartoonist and also designed ads for a weekly shopper. He developed comic strips working after hours and on weekends. Calvin and Hobbes ran in over 2400 newspapers. The last strip was written in 1995, after which they have only been republished.
Interestingly Calvin never turns old (he has always been 6!), his parents have no names. Bill named Calvin after the 16th century Protestant theologian and Hobbes was named after the 17th century philosopher who once observed "life is nasty, brutish and short"
The only 2 kids in this strip in addition to Calvin (ofcourse), are Susie (the woman brigade) and Moe (the bully)
In 1995 Watterson drew one final cartoon and let a boy and his tiger take off downhill on their snow sled and slide into comics history.

Movie reviews

2006-08-29T06:47:00.000-07:00

Special thanks to www.clixflix.com

For those ignorant of this wonderful site, it is an online library of movies. They offer various membership plans. To get membership to this library, simply visit the site, and all else is self explanatory.
In this life and times, when one is not necessarily living in the heart of the city, it does help to have access to some goodies read dvds. Clixflix allows one to simply pay a nominal fee and register oneself after which one can decide which movies one wants to view and they deliver it to ones doorstep.

This service is readily available in Mumbai, while I am not quite sure of other cities in the country. But shortly our friends are going to face tough competition from 70 mm, a company based out of Bangalore. So all those headed to Bangalore or already there, dont lose heart......70mm is coming to your doorstep!!!

Having said that, let me quickly recount a few movies that I have managed to catch in the recent past.

The Passenger *ing Jack Nicholson - an ultra slow movie about a reporter who lands in a civil war striken area and takes the place of a dead goon.

Moral of the story - its better to be happy with what you are, rather than get into a dead man's shoes!

Under the Tuscan Sun *ing Diane Lane - a romantic fare. Not the typical "and they lived happily ever after...." kind of movie.
Shot in the beautiful Tuscany (a lovely little town in Italy) . Tuscany now figures in my holiday list. The movie is about a lady - an author and critic, who gets divorced from her husband, owing to his infedility. Finds herself holidaying in Tuscany, buys herself a house - falls in love all over again (this time with a groovy Italian), to only realise that the man of her dreams has already tied a knot with someone else. Just before the climax completely disillusions you, in walks another hunk (a co author) ........so all's well that ends well

The other movies will be reviewed in the subsequent posts.

More movie reviews.....
TransAmerica *ing Felicity Huffman, who won an Oscar for her(his) role in the movie.
The movie is about Stanley, who prefers to be known as Bree (Sabrina), and has a mental disorder which makes him always want to be a woman. He behaves like one, dresses like one and is soon to undergo a sex change operation. A day before the operation he receives a call from the juvenile delinquent's cell, stating that a young boy; of 18 who claims to be his son is in the cell and awaiting bail / help from his family. Now Stanley choses to ignore this and carry on with the operation, but his therapist does not allow him to do so. She asks him to first sort out his life and only then take a step like that.
The movie, deals with the emotions and sentiments of Stanley, his reaction to his new found son and his dilemma about having to undergo a sex change operation.
It is a gripping story, and worth a watch.

Yours, Mine and Ours *Rene Russo and Dennis Quaid (ex husband of one of my fav stars Meg Ryan)
Just like the name suggests, it is about 2 single parents (who have lost their spouses) who decide to get married. And what do they have ------18 kids, 10 here and 8 there!!!! Complete chaos, while Dennis Quaid plays a disciplined Commander in the navy, Rene Russo is the frivolous, eccentric fashion designer.....and both have brought up their children "their way". It is indeed a fun movie to watch the 18 + pig + dog etc...etc....learn to live together.
For those of you who also watch hindi movies, it is quite much on the lines of Khatta Mitha *ing Ashok Kumar and Pearl Padamsee. Just that the family in Khatta mitha is much smaller :)

Wedding Crashers * Nicole Owens and Vince Vaugh (Mr. Aniston)
Eeyuck! what men won't do to sleep with women!!!

It's about these close friends played by Nicole and Vince, who crash weddings, to only befriend pretty young women and get them into bed.
Not quite my kind of movie. But well then, I am the 80s type!!!

Samsaara
This one I would definitely recommend. Directed by Pan Nalin, shot completely in the hilly and immensely beautiful terrain of Ladakh. The key protagonists are however Korean.
It's 'The Buddha' retold. The story questions whether Siddhartha indeed had to leave his wife and son to attain Nirvana.
The story line is quite simplistic. It is about a buddhist monk, who has been in the monastry since the age of 5. He decides that to renounce anything he needs to first experience it. He leaves the monastry and goes back to mainstream living, experiencing all materialistic pleasures. At the end however, after he has married and had a son, he decides to give it all up and go back to the monastry. But well, unlike Yashodhara (the wife of Siddhartha - The Buddha', will Pema - the wife of Tashi, the monk let go that easily ????
Watch it and decide.