Now a days  i spent most of my time watching movies, it is as if i have become addicted to movies like drugs(i have never used drugs though). I just can't help myself tuning into the Star Movies or HBO on a daily basis. Sometimes i am stuck with some old movie which i had watched a dozen times , on rare occasions i have some newbies which catches my attention. When the Idiot box starts getting bored.... i move to new horizons like- checking the imdb out, follow the future releases, using wikipedia to dig out interesting movie trivias. And when that gets boring luckily someone hands in a worth enough movie to watch -- Thank god someone invented the pendrives!
                                         And yes i have again gone out of the topic i was trying to emphasize(sigh). Through this post i am trying to create a list of my favorite 10 movies which made me laugh, think, provoke,inspire and shed tears(not all at the same time..Dat's impossible). So here is my TOP 10 movies.

#10 Primal Fear

Tagline : "Sooner or later a man who wears two faces forgets which one is real"
IMDB rating :7.2/10

Trivia  : Edward Norton's Debut.. He played the role of Aaron which was turned down by Leonardo Di caprio.. Over 2100 people took part in the audition for the role of Aaron..Matt Damon was one among those 2100 who never got selected

My favorite Quotes :
Janet: Do you know what I would do if someone did that to me? I would kill him, I wouldn't hesitate. I would stab him 78 times. I would chop off his fingers, slash his throat open, carve numbers in his chest, gouge out his eyes, I swear to God!... But that's me.



Marty:  Why gamble with money when you can gamble with people's lives? That was a joke. All right, I'll tell you. I believe in the notion that people are innocent until proven guilty. I believe in that notion because I choose to believe in the basic goodness of people. I choose to believe that not all crimes are committed by bad people. And I try to understand that some very, very good people do some very bad things.



                               This 1996 thriller starring Richard Gere and  Edward Norton  is one of the first movies to have gone into the realm of multiple personality disorder. Edward Norton plays the role of an altar boy who is accused of murdering a priest. Richard Gere plays the role of  an over confident attorney who is ready to take up the task of convincing the court that Edward is innocent . For me the most heartening thing about this movie is the performance of Edward Norton, the transformations he makes in the movie is pure celluloidal magic. The movie also has one of the best twists i have ever seen. This movie is remembered for the superb acting of Edward and the incredible twist at the end.


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#9 The Bourne Ultimatum

                                                 
Tagline: This summer Jason Bourne comes home

IMDB rating :8.2/10

My favorite quotes:
Jason Bourne: Get some rest Pam, you look tired.

Jason Bourne: Where are you now?
Noah Vosen: I'm sitting in my office.
Jason Bourne: I doubt that.
Noah Vosen: Why do you doubt that?
Jason Bourne: Because, if you were sitting in your office, we'd be having this conversation face-to-face. 


This is without a doubt my favorite trilogy of all time(yes i am counting in matrix , lotr etc). As the poster reads out "the best action picture in decades"-- this movie certainly is the right pick if you are fed up of watching James Bond and other secret agents keeps escaping from the most unimaginable situations without a scratch posing a beaming smile. This movie which is the last of the bourne series gives us insight into who Jason Bourne really is and why he has been the most wanted man on the run all this while. The 3 movies are interconnected to each other like in a spider's web and provides the platform for excellent cinematic viewing. This movie showcases the best performance of Matt Damon and is a must view for his fans. The movie has a fantastic score which builts up the pace of the movie, it has the raw action , the different camera angles -- everything which lights up the day for a cine goer.


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#8  Terminator 2: Judgement Day



Tagline : It's nothing personal ; This time there are two.

IMDB rating :8.5/10
Trivia : The date of the fictional Judgment Day - 29 August 1997 - is the anniversary of the Soviet Union's first detonation of an atomic bomb in 1949

The Story is supposed to be taking place within a span of two days.

My favorite quotes:

Sarah Connor: [narrating] 3 billion human lives ended on August 29th, 1997. The survivors of the nuclear fire called the war Judgment Day. They lived only to face a new nightmare: the war against the machines. The computer which controlled the machines, Skynet, sent two Terminators back through time. Their mission: to destroy the leader of the human resistance, John Connor, my son. The first Terminator was programmed to strike at me in the year 1984, before John was born. It failed. The second was set to strike at John himself when he was still a child. As before, the resistance was able to send a lone warrior, a protector for John. It was just a question of which one of them would reach him first.

[One-armed and battered after confronting the T-1000]
The Terminator: I need a vacation. 

The Terminator: Why do you cry?
John Connor: You mean people?
The Terminator: Yes.
John Connor: I dont' know. We just cry. You know, when it hurts.
The Terminator: Pain causes it?
John Connor: No, it's when there's nothing wrong with you, but you hurt anyway. You get it?
The Terminator: No.

The Terminator: Come with me if you want to live!


The Terminator: Stay here, I'll be back.

The Terminator: Hasta la vista, baby.

The Terminator: I know now why you cry. But it's something I can never do.


John Connor: Jesus, you were gonna kill that guy.
The Terminator: Of course; I'm a terminator.

  What can i say about this movie? A movie which made me a fan of James Cameroon, a movie which made Arnold a household name. A movie which broke all the barriers of language and culture and reached the masses. Few people can pull it off like James cameroon can. And it was the first english movie i ever saw( when i was 10 years old). Arguably one of the best movies ever created. Kick yourself if you haven't seen it.

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 #7 Sixth Sense

Tagline: "I see dead people"

IMDB rating : 8.2/10

Trivia : Director Shyamalan plays a cameo of a doctor in this movie

My favorite quotes:

Malcolm Crowe: [to Anna sleeping in a chair] Anna?
Anna Crowe: [in her sleep] I miss you.
Malcolm Crowe: I miss you too.
Anna Crowe: Why, Malcolm?
Malcolm Crowe: What, what is it?
Anna Crowe: Why did you leave me?
Malcolm Crowe: I didn't leave you.
[the ring Anna is holding falls out of her hand to the floor, and Malcolm suddenly remembers everything]


Cole Sear: I see dead people.
Malcolm Crowe: In your dreams?
[Cole shakes his head no]
Malcolm Crowe: While you're awake?
[Cole nods]
Malcolm Crowe: Dead people like, in graves? In coffins?
Cole Sear: Walking around like regular people. They don't see each other. They only see what they want to see. They don't know they're dead.
Malcolm Crowe: How often do you see them?
Cole Sear: All the time. They're everywhere


This movie by M.Night Shyamalan starring Bruce Willis(Malcolm) is well renowned for the tragic suspense it unfolds at the end. It speaks the story of a kid(cole) who is troubled by the ghosts that pops into him every now and then. Bruce Willis plays the role of a doctor who tries to bring calmness to the life of the kid. It was the debut of Shyamalan and this movie earned him many titles like "Modern Hitchkoch". It is a wonderfully crafted movie with a climax that creates a sustaining pain in your heart. It is a gem among the contempory thrillers. If you missed this movie , you might have missed the best suspense ever exhibited in celluloid.


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#6 Troy(2004)


Tagline : For honor, For Victory ,For love, For destiny , For Passion , For Troy

IMDB rating : 7.0/10

Trivia :
Brad Pitt and Eric Bana did not use stunt doubles for their epic duel. They also made a gentlemen's agreement that they would each pay the other for every accidental hit they made. The agreed-upon amounts were $50 for each light blow and $100 for each hard blow. Pitt ended up paying $750 to Bana, who didn't owe Pitt anything.

Achilles shouts Hector's name nine times when he is waiting at the gates of Troy.

One of the hurricanes that tore through the set during filming was during the night and it wiped out Brad Pitt's house. Pitt did wake up at about 4 in the morning but since he was so tired from the night before, he slept through the hurricane

My favorite quotes:

Menelaus: Prince? What prince? What son of a king would accept a man's hospitality, eat his food, drink his wine, embrace him in friendship, and then steal his wife in the middle of the night?
Paris: The sun was shining when your wife left you

Hector: You want me to look upon your army and tremble? Well I see them. I see 50,000 men brought here to fight for one man's greed.

Agamemnon: Peace is for the women, and the weak. Empires are forged by war.

Priam: [to Achilles] I knew your father. He died well before his time. But he was fortunate enough to not have lived long enough to see his son fall.

Hector: [about his baby son] I want to see him grow tall. I want to see all the girls chasing after him.

Priam: I've fought many wars in my time. Some I've fought for land, some for power, some for glory. I suppose fighting for love makes more sense than all the rest.

Hector: All my life I've lived by a code and the code is simple: honor the gods, love your woman and defend your country. Troy is mother to us all. Fight for her!

Hector: I've seen this moment in my dreams. I'll make a pact with you. With the gods as our witnesses, let us pledge that the winner will allow the loser all the proper funeral rituals.
Achilles: There are no pacts between lions and men.
[stabs spear into ground, and takes off helmet, throwing it to the side]
Achilles: Now you know who you're fighting.
Hector: [takes off helmet and throws it aside] I thought it was you I was fighting yesterday. And I wish it had been, but I gave the dead boy the honor he deserved.
Achilles: You gave him the honor of your sword. You won't have eyes tonight; you won't have ears or a tongue. You will wander the underworld blind, deaf, and dumb, and all the dead will know: This is Hector. The fool who thought he killed Achilles.


Achilles: Go home, prince. Drink some wine, make love to your wife. Tomorrow, we'll have our war.
Hector: You speak of war as if it's a game. But how many wives wait at Troy's gates for husbands they'll never see again?
Achilles: Perhaps your brother can comfort them. I hear he's good at charming other men's wives.

Achilles: [to his men] Myrmidons! My brothers of the sword! I would rather fight beside you than any army of thousands! Let no man forget how menacing we are, we are lions! Do you know what's waiting beyond that beach? Immortality! Take it! It's yours!


Odysseus: This war will never be forgotten, nor will the heroes who fight in it.

Thetis: If you stay in Larissa, you will find peace. You will find a wonderful woman, and you will have sons and daughters, who will have children. And they'll all love you and remember your name. But when your children are dead, and their children after them, your name will be forgotten... If you go to Troy, glory will be yours. They will write stories about your victories in thousands of years! And the world will remember your name. But if you go to Troy, you will never come back... for your glory walks hand-in-hand with your doom. And I shall never see you again. 


Achilles: I'll tell you a secret. Something they don't teach you in your temple. The Gods envy us. They envy us because we're mortal, because any moment might be our last. Everything is more beautiful because we're doomed. You will never be lovelier than you are now. We will never be here again.

                            I have seen this movie more than a dozen times and each time i find something intriguing about this movies. It is a magnum opus epic movie which centres around the trojan war.  It is one of the most celebrated stories in greek mythologies which highlights the eternal war hero Achilles(Brad Pitt) and the brave prince of  troy - Hector(Eric bana). Brad pitt and Eric bana delivers ground breaking performances in the movie, the fight sequence between the duo in the movie has attained a cult status already. Every dialogue that forms the part of the movie could be noted down and is worth keeping for the rest of your life. It is a movie which takes us away from the cinema halls into the time of homer and makes us believe that we are indeed being part of that moment in history.


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#5 Gladiator (2000)


Tagline: "What we do in life echoes in eternity"

IMDB rating :8.3/10

Trivia :
Over the course of the gladiatorial scenes, Russell Crowe broke bones in his foot and his hip, and injured both bicep tendons

Russell Crowe was continually unhappy with the screenplay, rewriting much of it to suit his own ends. He would frequently walk off the set if he didn't get his way. The famous line "In this life or the next, I will have my vengeance" he initially refused to say, telling writer William Nicholson "Your lines are garbage but I'm the greatest actor in the world and I can make even garbage sound good".





That's not Russell Crowe's hand you see in the iconic shot of Maximus's hand brushing the stalks of wheat, but that of Crowe's double, Stuart Clark


My Favorite quotes:

[Maximus looks at images of his wife and son]
Juba: Can they hear you?
Maximus: Who?
Juba: Your family. In the afterlife.
Maximus: Oh yes.
Juba: What do you say to them?
Maximus: To my son - I tell him I will see him again soon. To keep his heels down while riding his horse. To my wife... that is not your business.

Commodus: You wrote to me once, listing the four chief virtues: Wisdom, justice, fortitude and temperance. As I read the list, I knew I had none of them. But I have other virtues, father. Ambition. That can be a virtue when it drives us to excel. Resourcefulness, courage, perhaps not on the battlefield, but... there are many forms of courage. Devotion, to my family and to you. But none of my virtues were on your list. Even then it was as if you didn't want me for your son.

Commodus: The general who became a slave. The slave who became a gladiator. The gladiator who defied an emperor. Striking story! But now, the people want to know how the story ends. Only a famous death will do. And what could be more glorious than to challenge the Emperor himself in the great arena?
Maximus: You would fight me?
Commodus: Why not? Do you think I am afraid?
Maximus: I think you've been afraid all your life.



Maximus: I knew a man once who said, "Death smiles at us all. All a man can do is smile back."
Commodus: I wonder, did your friend smile at his own death?
Maximus: You must know. He was your father.
Commodus: You loved my father, I know. But so did I. That makes us brothers, doesn't it? Smile for me now, brother.
[stabs him]


Commodus: Your fame is well deserved, Spaniard. I don't think there's ever been a gladiator to match you. As for this young man, he insists you are Hector reborn. Or was it Hercules? Why doesn't the hero reveal himself and tell us all your real name? You do have a name.
Maximus: My name is Gladiator.


Commodus: How dare you show your back to me! Slave, you will remove your helmet and tell me your name.
Maximus: [removes helmet and turns around to face Commodus] My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius, commander of the Armies of the North, General of the Felix Legions, loyal servant to the true emperor, Marcus Aurelius. Father to a murdered son, husband to a murdered wife. And I will have my vengeance, in this life or the next.
[Commodus trembles in disbelief]




This is one of those movies which overwhelms  you completely with its punch dialogues,excellent background score, strong emotions and unparallel action sequences. To be frank there is not even a single moment which i could call boring in this movie. Russel Crowe perfroms exceedingly well as maximus and Ridley Scott takes film direction to another pedestal. It is a movie which you can watch over and over again. The iconic speech Maximus delivers when asked about his identiy is one of the most famous movie quotes ever and it goes to show how much of respect and love movie buffs have for this film. A wonderful creation that will stand the test of time.
 
(to be continued)