Sometimes when a movie ends, I find myself feeling inexplicably elated or deeply moved. It could be 'Il Postino' or 'The Matrix'...'The Transformers' or 'North by Northwest'...From Con Air to some really obscure ones like The Dead man or Night on Earth...I am not sure what I really feel, but for a few minutes (sometimes days, like in the case of Cinema Paradiso) I feel elated.  Some movies speak directly to me, and I connect with those movies at a very personal level...so much so that a simple scene in 'Socha Na tha' or 'Andaz Apna Apna' or 'The English Patient' can become a part of my "living experience". I can fall in love with a movie for any reason, it could be the story, acting, direction, dialogue or simply a reflection of what I am going through in my life. I don't care what its rated and how the so called critics have "reviewed" it. Do you really care what rating the critics gave to 'Dumb and dumber'? - I consider it to be a masterpiece! I am not sure what it is - but I know a good movie when I see one...because I feel elated or deeply moved.

Here are some that I love, and would recommend to people I care about.

End of an affair - Begins with: "This is a diary of hate". What a movie! What a script! What acting! And most importantly What a love story? 

Apocalypse Now - Willard: Saigon... shit; I'm still only in Saigon... Every time I think I'm gonna wake up back in the jungle. I'd wake up and there'd be nothing. I hardly said a word to my wife, until I said "yes" to a divorce. When I was here, I wanted to be there; when I was there, all I could think of was getting back into the jungle. I'm here a week now... waiting for a mission... getting softer. Every minute I stay in this room, I get weaker, and every minute Charlie squats in the bush, he gets stronger. Each time I looked around the walls moved in a little tighter. 

Kurtz: I've seen horrors... horrors that you've seen. But you have no right to call me a murderer. You have a right to kill me. You have a right to do that... but you have no right to judge me. It's impossible for words to describe what is necessary to those who do not know what horror means. Horror. Horror has a face... and you must make a friend of horror. Horror and moral terror are your friends. If they are not then they are enemies to be feared. They are truly enemies. I remember when I was with Special Forces. Seems a thousand centuries ago. We went into a camp to inoculate the children. We left the camp after we had inoculated the children for Polio, and this old man came running after us and he was crying. He couldn't see. We went back there and they had come and hacked off every inoculated arm. There they were in a pile. A pile of little arms. And I remember... I... I... I cried. I wept like some grandmother. I wanted to tear my teeth out. I didn't know what I wanted to do. And I want to remember it. I never want to forget it. I never want to forget. And then I realized... like I was shot... like I was shot with a diamond... a diamond bullet right through my forehead. And I thought: My God...the genius of that. The genius. The will to do that. Perfect, genuine, complete, crystalline, pure. And then I realized they were stronger than we. Because they could stand that these were not monsters. These were men... trained cadres. These men who fought with their hearts, who had families, who had children, who were filled with love... but they had the strength... the strength... to do that. If I had ten divisions of those men our troubles here would be over very quickly. You have to have men who are moral... and at the same time who are able to utilize their primordial instincts to kill without feeling... without passion... without judgment... without judgment. Because it's judgment that defeats us. 

Kilgore: Smell that? You smell that? Napalm, son. Nothing else in the world smells like that. I love the smell of napalm in the morning. You know, one time we had a hill bombed, for 12 hours. When it was all over, I walked up. We didn't find one of 'em, not one stinkin' dink body. The smell, you know that gasoline smell, the whole hill. Smelled like victory. Someday this war's gonna end... 

Photo Journalist: The heads. You're looking at the heads. Sometimes he goes too far. He's the first one to admit it.

Nuovo Cinema Paradiso - Movies rarely come this good. I love every scene, every line of the movie and every note of the soundtrack. 

There is a story that Alfredo tells in the movie. Let me tell it to you -

Once upon a time, there was an ordinary soldier who saw the king's daughter go by one day and thought that she was the most beautiful woman in the world. He immediately fell in love with her. But what could a poor soldier do when it came to the daughter of the king? Well, finally, one day, he managed to meet her, and told her that he could no longer live without her. The princess was so impressed by his strong feelings that she said to the soldier: "If you can wait 100 days and 100 nights under my balcony, then at the end of it, I shall be yours." Damn! The soldier immediately went there and waited one day. And two days. And ten. And then twenty. And every evening, the princess looked out of her window, but he never moved. During rain, during wind, during snow, he was always there. The bird shat on his head, and the bees stung him, but he didn't budge. After ninety nights, he had become all dried up, all white, and the tears streamed from his eyes. He couldn't hold them back. He no longer had the strength to sleep. All that time, the princess watched him. And on the 99th night, the soldier stood up, took his chair, and went away... In one more night, the princess would have been his. But she also could not possibly have kept her promise. And it would have been terrible. He would have died. This way, however, at least for 99 days, he was living under the illusion that she was there, waiting for him.

If you have ever experienced true love in your life, then you will love this movie!

Life is beautiful - Just see it. It taught me many things about life and love. Perhaps most importantly, it tells you how one must "walk" towards his death. Roberto Benigni has made the saddest comedy ever.  

Il Postino (The postman) - I learned to love poetry after watching this movie. I learned to say "Beatrice Russo", but still can't say it the way Mario Ruoppolo can. It taught me about love, poetry and friendship. What a movie!!

Shawshank Redemption - "Andy Dufresne - who crawled through a river of shit and came out clean on the other side." Epic movie!!

Pulp Fiction - Rather than describing the movie, let me transcribe some scenes - just to reminisce.

Scene 1 - 

Jules: The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the iniquities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he, who in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of darkness, for he is truly his brother's keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who would attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know my name is the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon thee.

Scene 2 -

Jules: Hey kids! How you boys doin'? 

Jules: Hey, keep chillin'. You know who we are? We're associates of your business partner Marsellus Wallace. You do remember your business partner don't you? Let me take a wild guess here. You're Brett, right? 

Brett: Yeah. 

Jules: I thought so. You remember your business partner Marsellus Wallace, don't you, Brett? 

Brett: Yeah, yeah, I remember him. 

Jules: Good. Looks like me an Vincent caught you boys at breakfast. Sorry about that. Whatcha havin'? 

Brett: Hamburgers. 

Jules: Hamburgers! The cornerstone of any nutritious breakfast. What kind of hamburgers? 

Brett: Ch-cheeseburgers. 

Jules: No, no no, where'd you get 'em? McDonalds? Wendy's? Jack in the Box? Where? 

Brett: Big Kahuna Burger. 

Jules: Big Kahuna Burger. That's that Hawaiian burger joint. I hear they got some tasty burgers. I ain't never had one myself. How are they? 

Brett: They're good. 

Jules: Mind if I try one of yours? This is yours here, right? 

Jules: Mmm-mmmm. That is a tasty burger. Vincent, ever have a Big Kahuna Burger? 

Jules: Wanna bite? They're real tasty. 

Vincent: Ain't hungry. 

Jules: Well, if you like burgers give 'em a try sometime. I can't usually get 'em myself because my girlfriend's a vegitarian which pretty much makes me a vegetarian. But I do love the taste of a good burger. Mm-mm-mm. You know what they call a Quarter Pounder with cheese in France? 

Brett: No. 

Jules: Tell 'em, Vincent. 

Vincent: A Royale with cheese. 

Jules: A Royale with cheese! You know why they call it that? 

Brett: Because of the metric system? 

Jules: Check out the big brain on Brett! You're a smart motherfucker. That's right. The metric system. What's in this? 

Brett: Sprite. 

Jules: Sprite, good. You mind if I have some of your tasty beverage to wash this down?

Jules: Ah, hit the spot. 

Scene 3 - 

Jules: Mmmm! Goddamn, Jimmie! This is some serious gourmet shit! Usually, me and Vince would be happy with some freeze-dried Taster's Choice right, but he springs this serious GOURMET shit on us! What flavor is this?

Jimmie: I don't need you to tell me how fucking good my coffee is, okay? I'm the one who buys it. I know how good it is. When Bonnie goes shopping she buys SHIT. I buy the gourmet expensive stuff because when I drink it I want to taste it. But you know what's on my mind right now? It AIN'T the coffee in my kitchen, it's the dead nigger in my garage. 

Good Will Hunting - "Why shouldn't I work for the N.S.A.? That's a tough one, but I'll take a shot. Say I'm working at N.S.A. Somebody puts a code on my desk, something nobody else can break. Maybe I take a shot at it and maybe I break it. And I'm real happy with myself, 'cause I did my job well. But maybe that code was the location of some rebel army in North Africa or the Middle East. Once they have that location, they bomb the village where the rebels were hiding and fifteen hundred people I never met, never had no problem with, get killed. Now the politicians are sayin', "Oh, send in the Marines to secure the area" 'cause they don't give a shit. It won't be their kid over there, gettin' shot. Just like it wasn't them when their number got called, 'cause they were pullin' a tour in the National Guard. It'll be some kid from Southie takin' shrapnel in the ass. And he comes back to find that the plant he used to work at got exported to the country he just got back from. And the guy who put the shrapnel in his ass got his old job, 'cause he'll work for fifteen cents a day and no bathroom breaks. Meanwhile, he realizes the only reason he was over there in the first place was so we could install a government that would sell us oil at a good price. And, of course, the oil companies used the skirmish over there to scare up domestic oil prices. A cute little ancillary benefit for them, but it ain't helping my buddy at two-fifty a gallon. And they're takin' their sweet time bringin' the oil back, of course, and maybe even took the liberty of hiring an alcoholic skipper who likes to drink martinis and fuckin' play slalom with the icebergs, and it ain't too long 'til he hits one, spills the oil and kills all the sea life in the North Atlantic. So now my buddy's out of work and he can't afford to drive, so he's got to walk to the fuckin' job interviews, which sucks 'cause the shrapnel in his ass is givin' him chronic hemorrhoids. And meanwhile he's starvin', 'cause every time he tries to get a bite to eat, the only blue plate special they're servin' is North Atlantic scrod with Quaker State. So what did I think? I'm holdin' out for somethin' better. I figure fuck it, while I'm at it why not just shoot my buddy, take his job, give it to his sworn enemy, hike up gas prices, bomb a village, club a baby seal, hit the hash pipe and join the National Guard? I could be elected president."

The Dark Knight - "The night is darkest just before the dawn. And I promise you, the dawn is coming." Saw it 4 times. The ONLY movie I have seen 4 times in a theater. Thanks to Christopher Nolan for resurrecting my favourite super hero. I have been a fan of Micheal Keaton Batman movies (Directed by Tim Burton), so the Dark Knight was a real treat. My only regret in life now is not watching it in IMAX! - Why so serious?

The Joker: Well, you look nervous. Is it the scars? You want to know how I got 'em? 

The Joker: So I had a wife, beautiful, like you, who tells me I worry too much. Who tells me I ought to smile more. Who gambles and gets in deep with the sharks... Look at me! One day, they carve her face. And we have no money for surgeries. She can't take it. I just want to see her smile again, hm? I just want her to know that I don't care about the scars. So... I stick a razor in my mouth and do this...to myself. And you know what? She can't stand the sight of me! She leaves. Now I see the funny side. Now I'm always smiling!