The Woman in Black

Looking for an eerie movie, which will haunt you at night? Then this movie is worth some of your time.

The plot goes as, there is a lady who appears in a black veil. Whenever there is a sighting of this lady, there have been deaths, deaths of children.

So, Radcliffe is a widower. He is a father of a son. Does he even look the age of such a character? Anyhow, he has been sent to a remote place to settle the estate of a deceased lady. He faces a lot of opposition from the villagers but finally reaches the house. The house is on an island, an island in high tide and connected to the town during low tide. The house is haunted by the spirit of the owner of the house, the woman in black. She is avenging the death of her son.

The plot is not really great though, and not even Radcliffe's trial at playing the role of a grown up. But what makes the movie worth watching is the direction, cinematography and sound effects. It does give you some shrieks, increased heart beat rate and visions that will haunt you for a few moments at least.

The movie starts of very slow and picks up towards the end. And by picks up what I mean is it gives you some shrieks and goose bump moments.

So watch it, only if you like these kind of thrills. Else, avoid!

The artist

It is a must watch, not because it won the oscar, but because it is worth your appreciation.
A silent movie, when sound is all we hear. Effects and three dimensional and the theatre experience essentially cashes on the sound.
Silent movies were there back then when you and me were not born yet. But I believe that was the true test of an artist. Expressing yourself without words and voice. One's expressions speak tons and acting in that, a tough job.

So, the movie is about an actor, George Valentin who is very famous and well known. He acts in silent movies. He meets a girl, Peppy Miller who aspires to be an actress one day. He helps her out initially granting her an entrance in the film industry. She moves on from being one of the dancers to small roles to supporting roles to being an actress. All this while George Valentin has been moving out of the industry as he is against making a movie with sound, speech.
Peppy pulls one successful movie after another while George loses one friend after another and is then left no option but to sell all that he owns to buy drinks and food.

But more then the story, I think you would concentrate on the performances delivered by both the actors. Superbly splendid and effortless. The movie has the complete feel of a silent movie, black and white, no noise, what has to be conveyed by words is printed on the screen on a black backdrop (Reminds me of Charlie Chaplin). Ohh and the puppy is adorable. His expressions and emotions are also so well enacted, and I'm sure anyone who watches the movie is bound to fall in love with that dog!

The end is highly dramatic and thus ends the movie on a high note.

This one is a definite must watch, not as much for the story but for the creativity and performances!

The Holiday

Its a romantic mushy-mushy story. So if you don't like such movies, I'd bet you skip the movie and the review.

So, the story is about four people. Kate is in love with one of her bosses and is very confused about their relationship. She can see that he does not acknowledge her in public but keeps telling herself that it is ok. The whole bubble of hope breaks when he announces his engagement to another girl, his real girlfriend.
Cameron on the other hand, catches her boyfriend cheating on her. She ends the relationship but isn't a bit remorseful. A successful "movie tralier" maker, she wants to go on a vacation to beat the stress and spend some time with herself. While surfing to find a nice holiday home, she chances upon Kate's antique house far away from NY. Kate's home is available for "home exchange" and thus Kate ends up for her vacation in NY, at Cameron's house and vice versa.

Kate here meets Jack, who is in a relationship with a budding actress. His girl rarely notices him and acknowledges him. He starts spending time with Kate and they start getting to know each other. They finally realise that the ones they are brooding over are not worth their time.
Cameron on the other hand meets Jude (Kate's brother) and instantly falls in love with him. Later she realises that he is a widower and has two kids, two beautiful girls. She tries to keep herself objective stating that NY and her career are very far from his place and their relationship will never work out.
At the end however, love triumphs and both the couples live a happy life together!

The performances nice. The atmosphere created by the characters and screenplay was not as great as could have been. But, its a romantic movie for those days when you are feeling low or missing your loved ones!