25 Romantic movies from Hollywood

I personally think the Koreans make the most touching romantic movies. Most of them are a must watch for anyone who loves Love. But romance in Hollywood movies seems to have been replaced by car chases and special effects. Still a good love story from Hollywood will always work with the audience. I consider the following twenty five Hollywood movies to be the ‘most romantic’ I have seen. The list is in no particular order of preference…

When Harry Met Sally - Starring: Billy Crystal, Meg Ryan.

You've Got Mail - Starring: Tom Hanks, Meg Ryan.

Moulin Rouge - Starring: Nicole Kidman, Ewan McGregor.

Dirty Dancing - Starring: Jennifer Grey, Patrick Swayze.

Love Actually - Starring: Hugh Grant, Bill Nighy, Gregor Fisher.

Somewhere in Time - Starring: Christopher Reeve, Jane Seymour.

An Affair To Remember- Starring: Cary Grant, Deborah Kerr.

Serendipity - Starring: John Cusack, Kate Beckinsale.

City of Angels - Starring: Nicolas Cage, Meg Ryan.

Love & Basketball - Starring: Sanaa Lathan, Omar Epps.

Romeo & Juliet - Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Claire Danes.

An Officer and a Gentleman - Starring: Richard Gere, Debra Winger.

Gone With The Wind - Starring: Clark Gable, Vivien Leigh.

Love Story - Starring: Ali MacGraw, Ryan O'Neal.

Sleepless in Seattle - Starring: Tom Hanks, Meg Ryan.

A Walk To Remember - Starring: Shane West, Mandy Moore.

Pretty Woman - Starring: Richard Gere, Julia Roberts.

Ghost - Starring: Patrick Swayze, Demi Moore.

Titanic - Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet.

The Notebook - Starring: Tim Ivey, Gena Rowlands.

Meet Joe Black – Starring : Brad Pitt, Claire Forlani.

My Big Fat Greek Wedding – Starring : John Corbett, Nia Vardalos.

A Walk in the Clouds – Starring : Keanu Reeves, Aitana Sanchez-Gijon.

The Run Away Bride – Starring : Julia Roberts, Richard Gere.

Sweet Home Alabama – Starring : Reese Witherspoon, Josh Lucas, Patrick Dempsey.

Have I missed any films worth mentioning?

Faisle nahi unke natije galat hote hai

RGV is amongst the finest storytellers Bollywood has produced, no two opinions on that but I guess there has been an overkill of underworld films from RGV himself, everyone’s seen that and done with.

While going to Contract, if one expects some serious insight into the nexus between Mumbai underworld and the terror network then RGV’s underworld-meets-terrorism flick is a major disappointment! At the best the film is a vendetta tale and how much more can you experiment with a genre that's beaten to death? Its time RGV should stop making any more films on the underworld.

Satya or for that matter Company, came at a time when the underworld subject wasn’t much explored in bollywood and RGV’s realistic, hard-hitting and at times shocking treatment of the subject caught the attention of the audience, and since then we have seen lots of movies based on underworld and now almost there is no part of the underworld, which is not cinematized.

RGV’s earlier films on underworld were comprehensive when it came to story, character sketches and how things played out, but the riveting and realistic effect of RGV’s earlier underworld films is conspicuously missing and the prime problem with Contract is that it's too superficial!

RGV, who seemed to have got his rhythm back to some extent with Sarkar Raj, fails to go above mediocrity with Contract. I don’t understand why RGV still keeps treading on the beaten track and comes up with yet another forgettable film!

In his blog RGV has said that he just wants to make “thousands of films” - and I am sure films like Contract will definitely help him achieve that quickly.

Its time RGV takes a cue from one of the lines from Contract where the hero says, “Faisle nahi unke natije galat hote hai” (It’s not decisions, but their outcome that goes wrong).

P.S: With ‘Phoonk’ RGV returns to yet another of his favourite genre of filmmaking, lets hope he doesn’t fumble again.

Top 10 Asian Films - Action

It's always nice when someone you respect shares your opinion. So I was pleased to read Samuel L Jackson's list of his Top 10 Classic Asian Films. Jackson, of course, knows a thing or two about action flicks for sure. In fact, he co-starred with Geena Davis, in one of my favorite Hollywood action film - The Long Kiss Goodnight.

Here's Samuel L Jackson's complete list:

1. Oldboy (South Korea, 2003)
2. Audition (Japan, 1999)
3. City on Fire (Hong Kong, 1987)
4. Infernal Affairs 1, 2, & 3 (Hong Kong, 2002, 2003, 2003)
5. Ong-Bak: The Thai Warrior (Thailand, 2003)
6. Azumi (Japan, 2003)
7. Family (Japan, 2007)
8. Duelist (South Korea, 2005)
9. Hard Boiled (Hong Kong, 1992)
10. Hero (China, 2002)

Apart from Family (the only film on his list that I haven't seen) I have to say that Samuel Jackson has come up with quite a respectable top 10, or perhaps that should be top 12 if you count Infernal Affairs as three films.

I'm not that into making top ten lists myself, but if I did, I'd include many of Jackson's picks, though most certainly not Duelist, which I liked but not as much. Plus, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon would have to be at the top of my list.