Movie Junction

Manish Acharya may not be in the same league as New Wave Bollywood directors like Austosh Gawrisker (“Lagaan,” “Swades”), Farhan Akhtar (“Dil Chata Hai”), or Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra (“Rang De Basanti”), but he is a damn good emerging talent. After seeing his debut directorial effort in “Loins of Punjab Presents,” I can at least say he didn’t waste his limited resources in creating an underwhelming flick. Having worked in the IT field in the early part of his career, Manish made a career shift when he decided to be a filmmaker. To acquire formal education, Manish persued an M.F.A. program in film studies. While undergoing the M.F.A. program, he created a set of shot films (included in the second disc) as part of his course work that shows his immense talent in capturing the emotional content of his characters. Of course, it was only a mater of time before he would return behind-the-camera to direct his first feature film. The story is straightforward and simple. “Loins of Punjab” is a b...

I have to admit, I had never heard of the famous American graphic designer, Milton Glaser. However, after watching his work in the documentary “Milton Glaser: To Inform & Delight,” I was pleasantly surprised to learn that he was responsible for creating a number of iconic images that I recognized right away. He designed the famous logo, “I ♥ NY,” that eventually became a cultural-connecting symbol for tourists as well as locals. Of course, the symbol found its way onto a countless number of T-shirts, coffee mugs, key chains, and other items. The “I ♥ NY” symbol not only attracted tourists with its omnipresence in magazines and marketing campaigns, but back in the mid 70’s, it brought a new life to New York City (NYC). The power of the symbol led people to believe that NYC was the embodiment of a new cultural phenomenon, and it was seen as a representative of changing contemporary social attitudes in the U.S. Having said this, Glaser also created the famous, “Bob Dylan” poster, w...

Over the years, the direct-to-video model has usually been used for lousy, B-movie flicks that studios deem not good enough for theaters. However, once in a while there comes a superior movie that raises a valid question as to why it was released directly for home video consumption. “Peacock” (2009) is one such exceptional movie that I stumbled across for review at DVDTOWN. “Peacock” is a directorial debut for Michael Lander, and stars big names like Susan Sarandon, Ellen Page (“Juno”), Bill Pullman, and Cillian Murphy (“Sunshine,” “The Wind That Shakes the Barely”). Furthermore, it is baffling to note that even with the backing of a veteran producer, Barry Mendel, who also produced popular flicks like “The Sixth Sense,” “Unbreakable, ” and “Munich,” “Peacock” was never released in theaters. Now, through Lionsgate, this fascinating movie is made available on DVD. John Skillpa (Cillian Murphy) is a reserved bank clerk, who lives in a remote town called Peacock in Nebraska. He lives...

Manish Acharya may not be in the same league as New Wave Bollywood directors like Austosh Gawrisker (“Lagaan,” “Swades”), Farhan Akhtar (“Dil Chata Hai”), or Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra (“Rang De Basanti”), but he is a damn good emerging talent. After seeing his debut directorial effort in “Loins of Punjab Presents,” I can at least say he didn’t waste his limited resources in creating an underwhelming flick. Having worked in the IT field in the early part of his career, Manish made a career shift when he decided to be a filmmaker. To acquire formal education, Manish persued an M.F.A. program in film studies. While undergoing the M.F.A. program, he created a set of shot films (included in the second disc) as part of his course work that shows his immense talent in capturing the emotional content of his characters. Of course, it was only a mater of time before he would return behind-the-camera to direct his first feature film. The story is straightforward and simple. “Loins of Punjab” i...

Directed by John Polson (“Swimfan,” “Hide and Seek”), “Tenderness” was released in January, 2009, starring big-name actors like Russell Crowe and Laura Dern, but unfortunately the movie never got any attention from audiences or critics. Based on the book by Robert Cormier, “Tenderness” is a tale of a young killer whose life becomes inexorably intertwined with that of a young girl and a detective. After having served a three-year sentence for murdering both his parents, Eric Poole (Jon Foster) is released from a juvenile detention center. A semiretired detective, Cristofuoro (Russell Crowe), who arrested him earlier for the gruesome murders, firmly believes that Eric will commit another heinous crime. Meanwhile, Eric meets a runaway teenage girl, Lori (Sophie Straub), and they embark on a road trip together. Cristofuoro’s obsession with Eric leads him to upstate New York, where he (with the help of local policemen) closely follows Eric to a remote region. Later, Lori becomes incre...

I have to admit, I wasn’t aware that William Friedkin directed “Jade” (1995) until I received the Blu-ray edition of this movie. Friedkin, after creating classics like “The French Connection” (1971) and “The Exorcist” (1973), had become something of a forgotten soul in the industry. With each effort, Friedkin’s movies rapidly degraded in quality. It does not come as a surprise that prerelease reviews for “Jade” were overwhelmingly negative, with many critics predicting it dead on arrival. Ensuing reviews did not help, and as a result “Jade” failed miserably at the box-office. Perhaps the movie got burned down under the weight of its expectations, since many critics anticipated it as a return of William Friedkin. After watching “Jade” for the review here at DVDTOWN, I can at least confess that the movie was mildly entertaining, although it is nowhere close to Friekdin’s best efforts. “Jade” follows the familiar formula of Friedkin’s earlier cop movies, such as “The French Connecti...

In the world of photography, Henri Cartier-Bresson needs no introduction. His simplistic photos of people and places continue to fascinate audiences worldwide. Using minimal equipments and postproduction techniques, Cartier-Bresson’s style, so far, is unmatched by any photographer. It mattered little whether he was roaming through the streets of Paris, Mexico, Brussels, or the Independence movement in India, Cartier-Bresson always captured life as-it-happened. As a matter of practice, he would patiently wait with his camera to capture a moment, no matter how long it took for him take his shot, with emphasis on the composition. With an astute eye to frame his shots, Henri’s photographs have become iconic images that represent timeless snapshots of various cultures, events, places, and people. For instance, his famous shot of a person jumping in the water was taken while he waited in a nearby alley. In another example, in the streets of Brussels (1938), he photographed a close-up of...