Documentaries

There was a time when documentaries were factual and boring. With the advent of Discovery, National Geographic and others they have become more and more interesting and entertaining. On the other hand their neutrality, factual correctness and objectivity have suffered. Lots of them now have a pre-conceived agenda rather than exploring both sides of an issue. Nevertheless, I find myself seeing more documentaries than ever. I have listed down a few I have watched and hope others might find them interesting as well. Generally, I like independent productions but some of my favorite ones have been produced by BBC Horizon series. I have attempted to rate them as well as put indicator on objectivity. I know many are turned off by Documentaries that are totally nonobjective.

+/- Objectivity (+ being more objective)

My top 3

The Trap: What Happened to Our Dream of Freedom - 5.0 +

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Trap_(television_documentary_series)

The Ascent of Money: The Financial History of the World - 5.0 ++

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ascent_of_Money

Human, All Too Human: Nietzsche 4.5 ++

Society

Rageh inside Iran - 4.0 ++

The Ascent of Money (http://www.pbs.org/wnet/ascentofmoney/) - 5.0 ++

Human, All Too Human - Nietzsche - 4.5 ++

The world according to Monsanto - 4.5 +

It felt like a kiss - 3.5 -

The Century of self (4 part series) - 5.0 +

Religion

The Story of God - 3.5 -

The God Delusion - 3.5 +

Religulous - 3.5 --

Politics

Fahrenheit 9/11 - 4.5 -

Occupation 101 - 3.5 --

Freedom to Facism - 3.5 --

Power of Nightmares(3 part series) - 4.0 +

Health

Sicko - 4.0 -

Super Size me - 3.5 -

Magic Weed - History Of Marijuana - 3.5 +

Ecstasy Rising - 4.0 +

Science & Environment

Journey To The Edge Of The Universe - 3.5 +

A Brief History of Time - Stephen Hawkin’s ideas about the Universe - 4.0 +

The Elegant Universe - 4.5 ++

How Does Your Memory Work - 4.0 +

Uncertainty Principle - 4.0 +

An Inconvenient Truth - 3.5 +

History

Auschwitz: The Nazis & The Final Solution - 3.5 +

Tryst with destiny (Fall of the British Empire) - 4.0 +

Updated Oct 21 2010

Foreign language films

I guess the word "Foreign" depends on what your native tongue is. For me its Hindi though I watch far more English i.e. Hollywood movies. However, of late I have starting seen more Hindi i.e. Bollywood movies as well as films in many different languages. I compiled a list of some (other than Hindi and English) I have watched with rating on 5 point scale hoping that like me it provides those who are bored with traditional blockbusters an oppurtunity to enjoy something different. I know I am missing some good Chinese and japanese movies but i'll include them soon. Here is the list -

French

Paris je T'aime (Paris, I love you) - 4.0

Belle de jour - 4.0

Delicatessen - 3.5

Manon des source - 3.0

Il y a longtemps que Je T'aime (I loved you so long) - 4.0

Quand j'étais chanteu (When I was a singer) - 3.5

Auberge espagnole, L (The Spanish Apartment) - 4.0

Trzy kolory: Bialy (Three colors: White) - 3.5

Baxter - 4.5

Le fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain - 5.0

Le scaphandre et le papillon (The diving Bell and the butterfly) - 4.5

Nikita - 4.0

Leon - 3.0

Der Name der Rose (The name of the rose) - 3.5

Irreversible - 3.5

A girl cut in two - 3.0

Three colors: Red - 3.5

Une Hirondelle a fait le Printemps (The Girl from Paris) - 3.0

Le Placard (The closet) - 4.0

Les rivières pourpres (Crimson rivers) - 4.5

Masculin-Feminin-4.5

Italian

Il Postino (The postman) - 5.0

La vita è bella (life is beautiful) - 5.0

Polish

Short film about Love - 4.5

Danish

Pistoleros - 3.5

German

Jerichow - 4.0

Das Leben der Anderen - The Lives of others - 3.5

Die Fälscher - The Counterfeiters - 3.5

Spanish

The Spanish Woman - 3.5

Motorcycle Diaries - 4.5

Amores Perros - 4.5

La misma Muna - 4.0

Fermat's room - 4.5

Hable con ella- 4.0

Serbian

No Mans land - 5.0

Portugese

Cidade de Deus- 4.5

Arabic

Bikur Ha-Tizmoret (The Band's visit) - 3.5

Persian

Offside - 3.5

The Song of sparrows - 4.0

Cantonese

Blood brothers - 3.0

*updated Oct 21 2010

Movie Recommendations

I have seen some interesting movies of late so I thought I would put togather a post.  I have also put a score on a 5.0 scale. I hope to follow this post with a post on Book recommendations as I have read some interesting books of late and I know that atleast a couple of people follow my book reding list.

Hollywood

Couple of movies that I found funny and entertaining were 'How to lose friends and alienate people' (3.5) and 'Madagascar:Escape to Africa'(4.0), though the latter was not as good as the first part. I also caught up on a couple of crafty Christopher Nolan movies, 'Following'(4.0) and 'Insomnia'(4.0).  'Following' was Nolan's first movie that he wrote, directed and produced on a budget of just $6000. Amazing story teller this fellow.

I saw a couple of interesting movies on relationships with 'Revolutionary road'(4.5) talking about very real issues and rather depressing state of social structure. However 'Vicky Cristina barcelona'(4.0) which I never thought I'd see has a totally different take on possibilities which I found very interesting and entertaining. 

'A good year'(3.5) featuring rusell crowe raises interesting questions on work life balance that would be very relevant for a graduating MBA. My favorite however was 'Choke'(4.5) based on a Chuck Palahnuik novel. Though the story deviated from the book it is thought provoking and revolts against existing social norms.

Indian

I was pleasantly suprised by some excellent Indian productions. While 'Slumdog millionaire'(4.0) has been making headlines, I found 'Aamir'(5.0) to the best movie I have seen recently. It is about a muslim middle class guy trapped by a terrorist to execute a fatal planning have to make some real life choices. Excellent acting and direction. 'A Wednesday'(4.0) is another terrorism related plot which is quite interesting. 'Khosla ka Ghonsla' was another very entertaining movie with interesting storyline about getting even with a real-estate baron.

European

I have also been trying to catch up on artistic European movies. My favorite has to be 'Il Postino'(5.0), A story about a ordinary postman who is influences by his contact with a poet and a communist. 

'Delicatessen'(3.5) is a pretty weird artsy and entertaining movie about a household that has fallen to cannibalism to sustain themselves during the world war. Its a different take on what would be a depressing setting. 'Manon des source'(3.0) a suposedly great french classic form the 60s didn't out to be that impressive. However'Belle de jour' (4.0) turned out to be a great movie very much ahead of its times. If you like Paris you will definetly enjoy 'Paris je T'aime'(4.0). Finally if you can watch slow and sad movies you will be moved by 'Il y a longtemps que Je T'aime'(I loved you so long) (4.5). A story about a mother released from jail on charges of killing her son and trying to get back into society. The acting in this movie is very impressive.

I hope you get to see some of these and I really enjoyed most of them. 

Movies I watch

Ratings: 5.0 Excellent 4.0 Good 3.0 Average 2.0 Bad 1.0 Avoid

Recent

Michael Clayton - 4.0
Darjeeling limited - 4.0
Eastern promises - 4.0
There will be blood - 3.5
Assisnation of Jesse James - 4.0
Dan in real life - 3.5
Friends with money - 3.0
Gone Baby Gone - 4.5
National treasure 2 - 3.5
Charlie Wilson's War - 3.0
Great Debaters - 3.5
High School High - 3.5
Into the wild - 5.0
The notebook - 4.0
Trainspotting - 4.0
Requim for a dream - 4.0
Harry Potter andChamber of secrets - 2.5
Harry Potter and Sorcerer's stone - 2.5
3:10 to yuma - 4.0
Rescue Dawn - 3.0
American Gangster - 3.5
Transformers - 2.5
I now propunce you checuk and larry - 3.0
Superbad - 4.5
Knocked up - 3.5
Science of sleep - 4.0
I am legend - 3.5
Blades of Glory - 3.5
In the Land of women - 3.0
The Lives of Others - 3.5
Flying Scotsman - 3.5
Bheja Fry (Hindi) - 3.5
Madagascar - 4.5
Yuva (Hindi) - 3.0
Shootout at Lokhandwalla(Hindi) - 2.0
Ronin - 3.5
The Sentinel - 3.5
Number 23 - 3.0
Malice - 3.0
The English Patient - 3.5
Thank you for smoking - 4.0
Butterfly effect II - 3.5
Memento - 5.0
Pan's labyrinth - 3.5
Ocean's 13 - 3.0
The Machinist - 3.5
Equilibrium - 3.5
Surf's up - 3.0
Shrek the third - 3.0
Shooter - 2.5
Sunshine - 3.5
The Pursuit of happyness - 4.0
The Last King of Scotland - 4.0
The Good Shepherd 3.5
The Prestige - 5.0
The Departed - 4.0
Blood Diamond - 4.0
Crash - 4.0
Factotum - 3.5
Smokin' Aces - 1.0
Borat - 2.0
Black Dahlia - 3.5
Usual Suspects - 4.5
The Station Agent - 3.5

Favorites
The shawShank redemption - 4.0
The good, the Bad and the Ugly - 4.0
Schindler's list - 4.0
The matrix - 5.0
American Beauty - 4.0
Apocalypse Now - 4.0
Auberge espagnole, L' (The Spanish Apartment) - 4.0
Seven - 4.0
Forrest Gump - 4.5
Terminator 2 - judgement day - 4.0
Life is Beautiful - 5.0
Braveheart - 4.0
Fargo - 4.0
V for Vendetta - 4.5
Gladiator - 4.0
Butch cassidy and the Sudance Kid - 4.0
Casino - 4.0
Pirates of the carribean - 4.0
Final destination - 4.0
Butterfly effect - 4.0
Jurrasic Park - 4.0
Aliens - 4.0
Braveheart - 4.0
The Truman Show - 4.5
Platoon - 4.0
Ice age - 4.5
Ice Age II - 4.0
Shrek - 4.0
The godfather - 4.0
The Untouchables - 4.0

Others
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind - 3.5
The Pianist - 3.5
L A confidential - 3.5
Blow 3.5
Catch me if you can - 3.5
The incredibles - 3.5
Silence of the lambs - 3.5
Quand j'étais chanteur (When I was a singer) - 3.5