Amodini's Book Reviews

Book Reviews and Recommendations

Archive for the 'hollywood' Category

“The Help” movie

Kathryn Stockett’s best-seller “The Help” is being made into a movie. It will be in theatres this August. It was such a lovely book,that I look forward to the film – hopefully it will be as good or better. Here’s a first look :

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500 days of summer

Yes, the movie isn’t all that, but oh, this song ! Joseph Gordon-Levitt, a young non-practicing architect in love with the girl of his dreams dancing to this classic Hall & Oates number, on what looks like a wonderful summer’s day – here’s the song : [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2seAJsrtIbQ?fs=1]

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Review : The girl with the dragon tattoo

“The girl with the dragon tattoo” has been high on the best-seller lists, and I am not quite sure why. The book was written by Stieg Larsson, a Swedish journalist. Larsson died in 2004. The book was published in 2005, and in English, is a translation of the original. The 2 pronged premise is intriguing […]

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Rachel getting married

Rachel getting married is about Kym, Rachel’s sister, and her complicated relationship with her family. It’s about mental baggage; the stuff we carry around in our heads. Kym’s elder sister Rachel is getting married, and Kym is a recovering drug addict, out from her rehab center for a few days to attend the wedding. It […]

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I am Legend

If there must be a last man on earth, I cannot imagine it being anyone else other than Will Smith. He plays one in this film, and does it beautifully. I say this because the story is a bit unusual, in the sense that mostly there is only one actor in the scene (save of […]

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Little Miss Sunshine

This is not your average “feel-good” film. It includes, among it’s cast an unsuccessful father (Greg Kinnear) who’s selling the “how to succeed” mantra, a depressive uncle (Steve Carell) who’s tried to commit suicide, a grandfather (Alan Arkin) who’s into drugs and foul language, and a self-willed-mute brother (Paul Dano) who hates everyone and is, […]

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Live free or die hard (Die hard 4.0)

I thoroughly enjoyed “Live free or die hard”. Almost as much or more than I have enjoyed the past 3 “Die Hard” films. It’s a bonafide entertainer, and these kind of bombastic entertainers have been slow to come this year. John McClane is back , older, wiser, we presume, but still the same dry wit, […]

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Pan’s Labyrinth

Pan’s Labyrinth mixes two vastly different story-lines to create one beautiful film. On one hand, we have the story of Ofelia, a young girl of about 9-10, who when faced with unpleasant reality, takes refuge in a mystical world of fauns and fairies, and on the other we have the story of the Spanish rebels […]

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Spiderman 3

In which Spidey gets an attitude. A bad one. Well, not really. I mean, Spiderman is a good, humble, kind-hearted sort of guy. So, how can he go bad ? In this film, via a mutant life form, crashing into earth on a small meteorite. The parasitic life form crawls off the meteorite and crawls […]

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Blood Diamond

Leonardo di Caprio gives me the hives. And not in a good way. Apparently I was the only one who didn’t L-O-V-E “Titanic”, and I am quite unable to see his “boyish” charm (or so I have been told). Although the charm still eludes me, I did like “Blood Diamond”, and Leo in it. He […]

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