Lesser Known Movies you must watch - 14

Predestination

Cast: Ethan Hawke, Sarah Snook

The 14th movie that we are proposing is a science fiction based on a concept called predestination paradox. Although this movie has lot of views on IMDB (more than 2 lakhs), we still feel that movie has not been appreciated to an extent to which it should have been in actual.

Now, if you are aware of the concept you would be able to predict the movie either at the very beginning or somewhere in the middle, but if you are not aware of the concept, we would suggest you to watch this movie first and then read about the concept as it will give you sense of appreciation for the writers and actors as they have done complete justice to the same. The best part of the movie is its pace i.e. 95 minutes which means there won’t be even a single scene or moment where you would feel it was not required at all.

The movie begins from between with an agent trying to disarm a bomb by putting it in a case which explodes and burns his face. He tries to catch hold of his time traveling case which lies far away from him and with the help of someone (important person) grasp it and travel to his own time in a hospital. Agent undergoes face reconstruction in an hospital and its revealed that he was trying to stop a “Fizzle Bomber” attack in New-York in the year 1975. After reconstruction of his face and a new identity, the agent is given final tasks post which his device will be decommissioned and he will retire from his role.

The agent has moved to the year 1970 in New York and is working as a bar-tender where he encounters one of the customers and starts a conversation with him. It is revealed that the customer writes articles named “True Confessions” under the name ‘Unmarried Mother”. He tells his own story that he grew up as a women named “Jane” in 1945 and excelled in studies. She wanted to join a program called “Space Corp” for a secret organization which lead candidates travel to space as Astronaut if they clear all the tests. She did well in test but was expelled due to a fight with another candidate and some physical tests which told that she had a medical condition (not revealed).

She takes up a normal life trying to fit in and eventually meet a man somewhere in 1963 and fell in love with him. They had a fling but the man leaves her discloses that they are part of a Temporal Agency and would like to recruit her now but eventually broke the contract when they discover that Jane is pregnant. During the delivery, doctors had to perform a C-Section on Jane but they discover that Jane is actually an intersex having both Male and Female reproductive organs and due to the delivery her female organs are destroyed and now she has to undergo few more surgeries to become John, the man in the bar.

The agent impressed with John’s story offers to take him back in time to take revenge with the man who destroyed her life. Now comes the series of excellent screenplay moments which would reveal who these characters are and what is their true purpose. What is the true purpose of the agent and why does he want to help John? Will John agree to go back in time with Agent to take revenge or not is for you to see it and get amazed your self.

SM Movie Geeks

Lesser Known Movies you must watch - 13

ZATHURA: Space Adventure

          Cast: Josh Hutcherson, Dax Shepard, Kirsten Stewart, Tim Robbins

The 13th movie that we are going for is a sci fi space adventure film which can be called as a sequel to Jumanji (90’s classic) where two brother Walter and Danny play a board game and gets transported to outer space along with their sister and the only way to return is to finish the game. Now, you would probably think, what could be different from the 90’s Jumanji , so our answer would be that first of all this movie is directed by Jon Favreau (Iron Man , Jungle Book) who is a very good director in terms of using the visual effects to its best. And being a fantasy movie, this movie will surely be loved by little Kids as it will directly connect to them.

This movie begins with 2 brothers who don’t get along with each other are living in their home with their older sister in charge. Their father has gone away for work. The younger brother Danny discovers a board game which is based on space theme named “Zathura”. The rules are simple where the player must reach the final space on the board. Danny convinces his elder brother Walter to play the game with him which is when the adventure begins.

As soon as Danny plays his turn and get his card which says Meteor Shower, they realize that the game has actually turned into reality and there house is actually floating in the space. Danny being afraid doesn’t want to play this game anymore but Walter concludes the only way to return everything to normal is to finish the game. This is where Danny and Walter cards brings them face to face with a robot, too close to Sun-Like Planet, attacks by Aliens, and an Astronaut stuck in space coming to their rescue.

Full of ups and downs for the next 30-40 mins, where the boys would accuse each other of cheating, getting ejected into space, Astronaut telling them his story of how he and his brother have played this game and how he got stuck in the same forever due to one wrong wish that he made. Also, Lisa, their sister, realizing that they are really in an altered reality and then coming to the boys’ rescue helping them to finish the game. Obviously, the big climax scene / reveal of who actually that Astronaut was, we would see a strong relationship getting established between the siblings. Whether the siblings are able to complete the game or not is for you to see.

We will recommend this movie for it sheer elegance as Jon Favreau has tried not to use the CGI but the actual robots, aliens. There are very minimal green screens used in the movie which would make you aww in the end wondering how much effort the special effects team has put in the movie.

SM Movie Geeks

Lesser Known Movies you must watch - 12

Dial M for Murder (Alfred Hitchcock classic)

Cast: Ray Millard, Grace Kelly (beauty queen of 50’s era), Robert Cummings and John Williams

The 12th movie we are going to talk about is one of the may classics that Alfred Hitchcock has directed which even though was a decent hit and is among IMDB top 250 movies but has not been recognized the way other Hitchcock classics have been like Psycho or Vertigo or Rear Window but this movie is equally good and those who have already watched this may rate it over all the other highly rated Hitchcock movies.

It’s a Crime Mystery film set in 50’s America about Tony (Ray Miller) who realizes that his wife Margot (Grace Kelly) is having an affair with writer Mark (Robert Cummings) and decides for a revenge against her by plotting her murder and ensuring he gets all of her money.

Tony invites a small time criminal Swann (Anthony Johnson) to his apartment who has been his old acquaintance and blackmails him into murdering Margot. Tony offers to pay him an handsome money if he agrees and if he doesn’t he will turn him into a police as Margot’s blackmailer by handing them the letter which he retrieved from her handbag six months bag which now has finger prints of Swann. He reluctantly agrees in killing him and Tony tells him a perfect plot where he will take Mark to a party which would leave Margot Alone at home and will hide the key to the house outside the front door just under the staircase. Swann will sneak into the house and hide behind the curtains and Tony will phone her from the party at a specific time and at the very moment when she answers the phone Swann must kill her, open the French door, create a scene which would look like burglary gone wrong and exit through the front door hiding the key at the exact same place.

Based on this perfect plan, all the things goes well the very next night and as soon as Tony calls Margot from the party but when Swann strangles her with scarf she manages to catch hold of scissors and kills him accidentally. She pleads for help from Tony who immediately comes back and calls the police. Realizing his plan has failed Tony plots a new plan by placing the latchkey from Swann’s pocket into Margot handbag, plants Mark letter on Swann and destroying his Scarf to entrap her in killing.

Now has the plot perfectly worked against Margot? If yes, will she be pleaded guilty on having an affair with an unknown man and in-turn killing him which would result in her being sentenced to death? If yes, will Mark be able to help her realizing something is fishy in the story of Tony as he immediately left the party. Seems Tony’s backup spontaneous plan is too good not to be true but this is Alfred Hitchcock guys, the master of all thriller movies. We would recommend this 105 minutes roller coaster ride as our next lesser known movie.

SM Movie Geeks

Lesser Known Movies you must watch - 11

The Man Who Knew Infinity

Cast: Dev Patel, Jeremy Irons, Toby Jones

The 11th movie that we are recommending is a biopic about the world greatest Indian mathematician of all times Srinivas Ramanujan. This movie is about Ramanujan story during world war 1 where he gets admitted to Cambridge university and his theories become widely famous with the help of professor G.H.Hardy (Jeremy Irons).

Born in Madras to a very poor family Ramanujan a child genius gets noticed with his exceptional mathematical skills in solving accounting tasks very easily. His employees sees him as someone with extraordinary skills and encourage him to create his own writings on common mathematical problems. All those writings are sent across professors in different universities , one of them is received by G.H. Hardy in Cambridge who decides to bring Ramanujan to UK.

Ramanujan ,a married man at that time decides to pursue on the offer of Hardy and goes to Cambridge even though it requires him to be living separately from his wife for a long period. Living in UK is not easy as he faces lot of Racial preconceptions , the food not to his liking and many other discomforts. Even Hardy become concerned as Ramanujan’ s lacking ability to provide proofs and lacking effective communication leads him to face many challenges. But his trust towards Ramanujan helps him to publish a Major Journal.

This is where Ramanujan finds out that he is suffering from tuberculosis and his condition and health and abilities starts deteriorating. Hardy continuously sees promise in his abilities but is unaware of his personal difficulties including health, loneliness and other issues. His health continuously worsens but his mathematically discoveries and research increases. Hardy after seeing his efforts proposes Ramanujan to be inducted in the fellowship program of Cambridge University. University politics initially didn’t allow him to get what he wanted for Ramanujan but eventually with the effort from his fellow members in the faculty, he eventually is able to get him accepted as a Fellow of the Trinity College (A rare scenario in which Indian getting accepted in Fellowship). Ramanujan decides to go back to be with his family as his health continuously declines and lives with his family during his last days.

This movie even though didn’t become quite famous but needs to be appreciated for its mere acting by Jeremy irons and Dev Patel who was entirely into the Ramanujan’ s character. The supporting cast has been equally good and well placed where required. The movie art directions is brilliant creating the world War 1 environment and the dressing and makeup has been top class. Ramanujan’ s story needs to be heard as he was a rare talent , a genius who came and conquered and then returned to the almighty (Restored).

SM Movie Geeks