Top 5 Hollywood movies- 2013

NOTE: This is a list which includes only the movies I have watched. So, I may have missed many movies which are better than the movies in the list.

5. The Great Gatsby

This name may surprise many as The Great Gatsby was definitely not among the best sought out movies of the year. But I was impressed by it’s grandeur and sensitiveness of the story. I still can’t understand why didn’t Leo bag an Oscar yet.

4. The Conjuring

If you have seen this movie, you will know why it is mentioned in the list. Horror movies are difficult to make mainly because of the saturation in the field of story. Bringing a new kind of story and screenplay into action, The Conjuring is definitely most terrific horror film in many years.

3.  The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

To direct an epic movie is one thing, but to make a epic series of movies is another thing. The Lord Of the Rings series is one of the best on screen adaptions of a book. The amount of detailing Peter Jackson puts into his movies is incredible. And once again he did strike with Hobbit 2.

2. Captain Phillips

Talk about one man show and he’s always there. Though he had done outstanding performances in movies like Terminal, Da vinci Code, Cloud Atlas etc., he really hasn’t been up to mark after Cast Away almost 13 years ago.  And he is back with a bang in Captain Phillips. Outstanding performance, outstanding story and wonderful direction.

1. Gravity

DON’T LET GO. Hollywood, please don’t let go of Alfonso Cuarón. With such a thin story line, the magic he has done on screen in Gravity left all of us speechless. I always wondered how a space trip would be like. Thanks to this film, I don’t have to wonder anymore. Hats off to the team. And not to forget, impeccable performance from Sandra Bullock .

There are many more excellent movies which deserve a mention whether I have watched them or not, like Monsters University, The Hunger Games, Despicable Me 2, Star Trek 2, Prisoners, World War Z, 12 Years a slave etc.

Top 5 Hindi albums- 2013

It is a very difficult list to make because from about 150 movies, it’s very difficult to choose five because of the quality of music that Bollywood produces.  Here’s the list of top 5 albums (again, my opinion) and no reasons provided because music has no reason to be loved.

5. Ye Jawaani Hai Deewani

4. Nautanki Saala

3.  Lootera

2.  Raanjhanaa

1. Aashiqui 2

Top 5 Bollywood movies- 2013

I am a movie maniac and I generally like to see movies in a detailed way, understanding its deeper meaning. Hindi cinema has a name for its commercial inclination towards Hollywood and plagiarism as much as eve its name “Bollywood” is a direct copy. But over the past few years, we have experienced some great and original film making, sometimes even better than Hollywood movies within its budgetary limits. This is a list of top 5 Bollywood movies I’ve watched this year.  This list may be completely different from the list of someone else, but it purely is a reflection of my taste and opinion.

 

5. The Lunch box:

A movie which is deals with the delicate relationships of life and portrays the wonderfully managed “Dabbawala” system for the first time on screen. It is embraced by all and in almost everyone’s opinion is worthy to be the Oscar nomination for the year. Most of you might be wondering why this isn’t in the number 1 position. That is  because despite its finesse,  I think it could have been a lot better than what it is.

 

4.  Ranjhanaa

Over the past few years, Hindi cinema has almost been saturated in the genre love and when I say love, I mean only love, not love/crime or love/social or any other combos. But this one movie changed it all. Raanjhanaa  is a perfect balance of entertainment, innovation and emotions which made it a great love story.

3.  Vishwaroop

Kamal is undoubtedly one of the best actors Indian cinema has ever produced. But with Vishwaroop, he proved that he is utterly creative and can defy all the odds to make one gem of a movie fighting all the controversies.

 

2. Madras Cafe

A movie based on the true happenings in ex-prime minister Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination and that too in a completely non-commercialized way, was either a dream or a box office failure until Madras Cafe hit the screens. Shoojit Sircar who made a successful experiment with his first movie, “Vicky Donor” took it to a next level with his second one. It is definitely a master piece.

 

1. Bhag Milkha Bhag

Farhan is known to be a multi-talented guy. He has been successful as a director, singer and also as an actor. But in this movie, he just raised the bars very high with his dedication. He didn’t accept any advertising contracts for two years so that his new look wouldn’t be revealed. By the end of the shooting, he was left with as less as 5% of his body fat which is a very difficult body condition to be in. If his dedication is one pillar of the movie, the direction is another. Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra is a director well known for his master piece Rang de Basanti. To explain his direction in one phrase, he brought Milkha back to life.

 

There are other movies like Ship of Thesus, Ram Leela, Shahid etc. which deserve a mention.

“When it is obv…

“When it is obvious that the goals cannot be reached, don’t adjust the goals, adjust the action steps.”
~Confucius

The first thing we tend to do if we face even a slight discomfort or discontinuity in a process is to abort it, thus compromising its main purpose. An advice is made related to this by Confucius that one should adjust the process itself but shouldn’t change their goals.

“Go to Heaven f…

“Go to Heaven for the climate, Hell for the company.”
~Mark Twain

Nothing to explain. It’s just funny.

Truth is, I’ll …

Truth is, I’ll never know all there is to know about you just as you will never know all there is to know about me. Humans are by nature too complicated to be understood fully. So, we can choose either to approach our fellow human beings with suspicion or to approach them with an open mind, a dash of optimism and a great deal of candor.

~Tom Hanks

Well, after that lengthy and candid quotation by one of the finest actors in the world, I haven’t got much to add. Positiveness is a very difficult character to come by these days. However difficult it may be to adopt this quality, it’s equally crucial because we have very less time to live our lives. We haven’t even got time to find out everything about a single person, let alone the secrets of the vast universe and we got to modify our approach according to it.

“The only thing…

“The only thing that interferes with my learning is my education.”
~Albert Einstein

Deep words from one of the greatest minds of all time. One should understand the subtle difference between learning and education. Especially, our new gen colleges focus more on amplifying the performance of the students rather than concentrating on the learning process. Educational institutes should help the students spend more time on subjects they love to read rather than subjects they have to read.

“People are afr…

“People are afraid of what they don’t understand.”

~Jonathan Kent (Man of Steel)

“Man of Steel” may have been a disaster in the view of critics and truly it was nothing more than a commercial film. But some of the dialogues were so deep and so thoughtful that it makes a very deep impact on the viewers.

It’s quite easy to be yourself and flaunt your character. But people don’t always welcome it. If they don’t understand something, they’ll outcast you and your thoughts. You will be nothing more than a mad man to them. If you don’t care for what people think, then better wear a mask of what they would like to see.

“Todo lo que pu…

“Todo lo que puede ser imaginado es real.”

All that can be imagined is real.

~PABLO PICASSO

Amazing words by one of the most influential painters of all time, Pablo Picasso. Everyone has the power of imagination. When you think of something, it means that it is real. However bizarre it may be, it exists. It may not have be in the form of matter, but occupied place in your world of imagination and who are we to decide which world is real and which one’s just a projection. Ultimately, your imagination is real!

“Christmas is n…

“Christmas is not a time nor a season, but a state of mind. To cherish peace and goodwill, to be plenteous in mercy, is to have the real spirit of Christmas.”

~Calvin Coolidge

People ask why do everyone celebrate Christmas with such merriness? Is it about a man who was idolized and considered as the “son of god”. Well, I don’t believe god, leave alone son of god. But I too feel elated at this time of the year and the reason is not complicated. I see this as the occasion as the symbol of hope. It is about the reassurance of togetherness every person on the planet earth give themselves once a year by celebrating it together. This is Christmas!