Nikhil Gupte's Nikhil Gupte's Favorites (23)





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Created Dec 16, 2010 02:23AM PST • Updated Jan 12, 2012 12:07AM PST

These are a few of my favourite movies.

Average

  • Great
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  • 49 Points
Title Released Trust Weighted Summary ▲ Viewable
2nd The Remains of t...
1993 None Yet 0 Points
Added Dec 16, 2010 02:23AM PST • Updated Dec 16, 2010 02:36AM PST
19th Munich
2005 None Yet 0 Points
Added Aug 24, 2011 01:45AM PST • Updated Jan 12, 2012 12:06AM PST
20th Mr. Holland's Opus
1995 None Yet 0 Points
Added Sep 28, 2011 12:33AM PST • Updated Jan 12, 2012 12:06AM PST
9th About a Boy
2002 Good 5 Points

An endearing comedic piece about a single man who decides to pretend to be a father in order to meet women at single parent support groups. Hugh Grant plays Will, a man who is convinced his life is better "as an island" than having any meaningful attachment. He really has no job, living off the success of his father who wrote an obnoxious Christmas jingle. His days consist of dating beautiful women, and watching TV. And he clearly has no interest in becoming a father, until he realizes the potential benefit form being perceived as a lonely single dad.

Eventually, he becomes friends w…

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Added Feb 10, 2011 05:59AM PST • Updated Jan 12, 2012 12:05AM PST
12th My Cousin Vinny
1992 Good 66 Points

My Cousin Vinny is best thought of today as Marisa Tomei's breakthrough. Perfectly paired with a then peaking Joe Pesci, the 30-something Tomei won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for a comedy. Damn.

The movie itself is a genial send-up of stereotypes, Italian-American mostly. Delivered with good cheer and consummate performances by Tomei and Pesci, it makes for a very enjoyable time-killer.

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Added May 22, 2011 01:29AM PST • Updated Jan 12, 2012 12:05AM PST
13th Borat: Cultural ...
2006 Good 66 Points

A comedic classic of dubious progeny, uncertain impact, and consistent low blows.

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Added May 31, 2011 12:36PM PST • Updated Jan 12, 2012 12:05AM PST
3rd Platoon
1986 Very Good 7 Points

Brutally violent and engaging, Platoon takes the Vietnam War and centres it around a battle between two men for a new recruit's soul, utilising setting, a wide range of acting skill and narrative to present war from an ordinary man's viewpoint.

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Added Dec 16, 2010 02:23AM PST • Updated Dec 16, 2010 02:36AM PST
6th Crash
2004 Very Good 66 Points

High quality, reasonably engrossing production that seeks to annoy, and succeeds.

Full Review »
Added Dec 16, 2010 02:23AM PST • Updated Dec 16, 2010 02:36AM PST
10th Spy Game
2001 Very Good 17 Points

A really fun espionage thriller featuring two acting greats: Redford and Pitt. Pitt gets cuffed by the Chinese and the CIA pulls in his old mentor, the just-about-to-retire Robert Redford to help sort things out. As you’d expect, this turns into a one last hurrah for Redford – full of heroic and irreverent measures to try to free his long time buddy. The movie tells the ensuing story, but focuses most of its attention on how the elder recruited and trained his protege. Spy Game is unique among many films of this genre in that it focuses not just on the action and adventure out on the li…

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Added Feb 10, 2011 05:59AM PST • Updated Jan 12, 2012 12:05AM PST
22nd Snatch
2000 Very Good 78 Points

Idiotic criminals chasing a HUGE diamond make amusing mayhem in one of Guy Ritchie's now classic London thug-fests. There's not a sympathetic character in the whole movie. Well the Gypsies are somewhat sympathetic, especially Brad Pitt's comically incomprehensible mama's boy.

Ritchie – the British Tarantino – revels in London lowlife. There's plenty of it on display here, plus some juicy New York characters thrown in for good measure.

The movie achieves a hard won comic brilliance by the beginning of the third reel.

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Added Jan 25, 2013 12:37PM PST • Updated Jan 25, 2013 12:37PM PST
4th The Graduate
1967 Great 9 Points

The Graduate, unlike most of the films trumpeted through the ages, is one that lived up to the promise and surpassed it; this quirky and altogether morose comedy/drama is certainly a film that succeeds in aiming to eviscerate adult expectations of young people as well as give the young the idea of rebellion. A must-see relic of the dawn of New Hollywood.

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Added Dec 16, 2010 02:23AM PST • Updated Dec 16, 2010 02:36AM PST
14th Groundhog Day
1993 Great 19 Points

What would you do if you kept re-living the same day over and over again? This funny Bill Murray cult favorite answers the question in a way that is both hilarious at times and thought provoking at others. Bill's character Phil, with his sarcastic wit starts with mischevious intent to take advantage of the situation. As time goes on, the movie both cranks up the gaffes and gets more serious, with Phil looking inward and using his 'power' to create real changes. If you like comedy, but are bored with the same old formulas – this movie will be a pleasant surprise.

Full Review »
Added Jun 08, 2011 10:24PM PST • Updated Jan 12, 2012 12:05AM PST
15th Almost Famous
2000 Great 66 Points

Backstage Pass To Rock & Roll Valhalla. Rock and roll voyeur trip. Great performances, including then new star Kate Hudson. Funny, witty script.

Cameron Crowe is a monster talent, and apparently has been one since he started writing for Rolling Stone as a mere pup of 15. This lovingly personal reflection, thinly veiled though it may be, is flat out terrific. For anyone who loves rock and roll, or came of age in the 70s, or enjoys watching a love triangle, this is a great, great movie.

Full Review »
Added Jun 17, 2011 01:30AM PST • Updated Jan 12, 2012 12:05AM PST
21st Tinker Tailor So...
2011 Great 83 Points

The best spy movie ever isn't everyone's cup of tea. Why? Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy unspools its complex story in non-linear fashion via a swirl of supporting characters declaiming with extreme British reserve. Many people thus find the movie nigh on impossible to follow and deadly solemn to boot.

However, for those who enjoy a good puzzle, outstanding acting and brilliant filmmaking that pays off countless clues, TTSS is indeed the best spy movie ever. The hunt for a Soviet mole atop early 1970s British intelligence informs a story full of quiet cunning and deep intrigue.

A st…

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Added May 12, 2012 11:41PM PST • Updated May 12, 2012 11:41PM PST
23rd District 9
2009 Great 102 Points

Brilliantly conceived and executed, albeit ultimately annoying, this alien allegory of apartheid is a must see for sci-fi, action, and sociology buffs. Any movie "Presented by Peter Jackson" deserves to be seen, this one exceeding the usual sword and sorcerer shtick due to its clever play on the brutality of "apartheid":http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apartheid.

Both master and subjugated races – er, species – get brutalized: the latter as forced ghetto dwellers, the former as instruments of immoral force. Black and white humans – OTOH – are one united master species in Neill Blomkamp's b…

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Added Jan 15, 2014 02:49AM PST • Updated Jan 15, 2014 02:49AM PST
5th Saving Private Ryan
1998 Really Great 37 Points

Do war movies get any better than this? Puts you right there, in all the graphic realism that comes with war. But not just any war movie, this story spins a great tale that follows Hanks and his crew looking for and saving Ryan (Pitt). If you like war movies, this is a must-see.

Full Review »
Added Dec 16, 2010 02:23AM PST • Updated Dec 16, 2010 02:36AM PST
1st Little Miss Suns...
2006 Perfect 71 Points

A contemporary classic: bracing, funny and ultimately heartwarming. Little Miss Sunshine mines the modern American family – in all its dysfunctional glory – for more than enough laughs to lighten a harshly judgmental movie. The result is something lovable, real and durable, not unlike most families.

This effects-free movie creates movie magic by combining a first-rate ensemble cast with first time writer Michael Arndt's Academy Award winning screenplay.

Full Review »
Added Dec 16, 2010 02:36AM PST • Updated Dec 16, 2010 02:36AM PST
7th The Wire
2002 Perfect 14 Points

It just cannot get better than this. Ever.

Full Review »
Added Dec 16, 2010 02:23AM PST • Updated Dec 16, 2010 02:36AM PST
8th The English Patient
1996 Perfect 1 Points
Full Review »
Added Feb 10, 2011 05:57AM PST • Updated Jan 12, 2012 12:05AM PST
11th Fight Club
1999 Perfect 107 Points

Let's talk about Fight Club. A contemporary classic, David Fincher's surreal masterpiece makes killer use of several cinematic power tools: sophisticated CGI and film processing, faux sophisticated alienation, throbbing music, Brad Pitt. You gotta give this nihilistic triumph grudging credit. It's as entertaining and intriguing a race to rock bottom as has ever been committed to celluloid. That's saying something given Hollywood's obsession with artistic self-destruction.

The movie demands to be seen twice. Don't worry. The brilliant story's even more fun the second time.

As f…

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Added Feb 10, 2011 05:59AM PST • Updated Jan 12, 2012 12:05AM PST
16th Charlie Wilson's...
2007 Perfect 106 Points

Charlie Wilson's War is great American comedy, successful on many levels: belly-laugh funny, serious as a crutch, magnificently produced, charismatically performed. How could it not be? A feel good story about an oh-so-likable Texas Congressman taking it to the Evil Empire when no one else would, Tom Hanks as good as he's ever been, Philip Seymour Hoffman in his most belly laugh funny role yet, and the estimable Mike Nichols directing a script from West Wing major domo Aaron Sorkin: this rich set of ingredients combines with a stylish and assured turn by Julia Roberts to create a movi…

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Added Aug 12, 2011 12:06PM PST • Updated Jan 12, 2012 12:05AM PST
17th American Beauty
1999 Perfect 9 Points

Well deserving of it's countless amounts of praise and the best picture Oscar that came with it, American Beauty is, in my opinion, one of the definitive films of the 1990's and a perfect, if not terrifyingly authentic, portrayal of American suburbia.

Kevin Spacey stars as Lester Burnham. Lester has a problem. He's dead. This is no spoiler, this is revealed in the opening narration by Lester, himself. Lester is going through a midlife crisis. His daughter (Thora Birch) hates him to the point that she's embarrassed to call him "Dad", he loathes his wife (Annette Bening) with a scorching …

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Added Aug 12, 2011 12:09PM PST • Updated Jan 12, 2012 12:05AM PST
18th Unforgiven
1992 Perfect 73 Points

Just as Goodfellas is the ne plus ultra of mob movies, Unforgiven is the apotheosis of Westerns. In classic Western form the movie endorses the ethos of the lone righteous man doing what needs done, while at the same time baldly debunking the glorification of gunfighters in the Wild West. Top Dog Western star Clint Eastwood commands the center of the movie on screen and behind the camera, painting Unforgiven as an elegy for his career in Westerns and for the genre itself.

Full Review »
Added Aug 12, 2011 12:10PM PST • Updated Jan 12, 2012 12:05AM PST

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Aug 13, 2011 1:35AM
Wick

Unforgiven Excellent addition.

May 22, 2011 3:03AM
Wick

Good to see.