Do you know that I watched Memento just to get the pattern of Christopher Nolan before I go watch this movie ? Yes I did.. I had already seen 'The Prestige' (I liked it a lot.. without even knowing who the director was at that time and recently even narrated the story to someone.. whom?....hmmm.. I forgot.. signs of aging..) and 'The Dark Knight' (well in this I felt a tad sad that my fav Heath Leadger was the villain..but he did it with elan...)
Now coming back to this Movie..You might have seen too my hyped up versions of review for this movie. You might even want to read the wikipedia before you go and watch it ;). Someone once said to me 'Dont go with anyone else's review...see it for urself to know if you would really like it'. That is true... So listen to others , but don't form any opinions on how it would be and watch it in big screen (the magnanimity of some scenes are better when watched in big screen), its worth the money :)
The story is simple. What would happen if some one can plant an idea in your dream and make you believe it to be real ? For someone to plant an idea in you (means your mind), it need not be a dream isn't.. You can take an inspiration from anyone on this planet, and get an idea from anyone for that matter and try to believe in it and may be even develop on it. Then what is special about an idea in a dream? The visuals. In dream you can live that idea. You can see how it would look like or how it would matter to you if you had that idea developed. An idea is like a negative of a film. Unless you develop it to a photo you wouldn't really know how it came out. Something like that....In dreams, the whole world is your playground. You can even create a whole new world of your known.
So this guy Cobb is an expert extractor of dreams and he is given an special assignment, which would redeem him from his own guilt and go back home. This special assignment is Inception of an Idea in a person (who is an heir to an empire of its own sorts blah blah....you didn't think I would tell you the whole story here, did u?? ). Now this person has his own problems with his dreams, why ? because he has a web of his own memories entangled in his dreams which always interferes with the ones he tries to extract or even the ones he wants to plant , causing him more problems. I know I didn't make any sense here for people who didn't see the movie yet. But once you do, you might understand or so I hope :)
Okay what is this memory interfering with the dreams ? Dreams allow you to do anything you want to. So if you have some memories of someone or someplace it is possible that you might want to use that in your dream and recreate or even make what was there already in a better way and try to relive the memories you love. Is that possible ? Hell yes !! Have you not felt it ? Every one must have had such a dream in life at least once. Generally we never dream of anything without any memories interfering with it. But in this movie Cobb tells Ariadne that one should never include memories in the dream(s). Why ? because if you do, you wouldn't know the difference between a dream and a reality. How very true !!!
I am not sure if you have felt it, but at times when I am too tired of getting up from my sleep in the early mornings, I dream of already having got up, brushed my teeth, had my cup of tea and reading a newspaper and even had my bath :) and suddenly something like an alarm or door knock or anything of that sort will jolt me up and I would wake up with a strong headache and a uncanny feeling of confusion on what to believe ? If I had just taken bath , why am I in bed again ? I would have to sit for a few mins and bring myself to believe that all that was just a dream :). You see this is precisely why you should never use your memory of your house or your surroundings in your dream..You just confused...and after a while , just as they say in the movie, you dream to go back to your reality and wake up to your dream (..the dialogue also says 'who are you to question it otherwise ?' )
There is one more dialogue where they say that you would never know when your dream started... Have you ever thought of that ?? Have you ever felt that you know where your dream exactly started ??? I bet you wouldn't. What a detailed observation and such a very very simple thing !! I was so impressed with so many dialogues in this movie... You always find yourself in the middle of a dream, never at its beginning. There are also times when you would wake up in the middle of a dream and still want it to continue in your subconsciousness. I bet you would have done this lot of times when you have good dreams :) or ever thrillers where you want to know what would happen or if you feel that it would end up bad ,you would want to change the course of it ? Well I have done that many a times. If you can change its course, does it mean that you were dreaming or you were awake enough to direct it ? Confusions and intriguing questions aren't they ? This movie does make you think about all these for sure..
I know I haven't said much about the movie as usual, but I shouldn't be doing that. You should watch it for yourself. The movie 2012 had much CGI work but didn't get it right. I could feel that the images were all fake...it wasn't convincing..but here in this movie some of the scenes are oh-so-magnanimous in terms of its visuals that it just takes your breadth away..and I mean it literally. Ariadne's incredulous architectures in her dreams :) When she gets to know that she can do anything in her dream..she just decides to fold the city road !! whoa!!! Incredible man!!! I think I will just keep going on and on...
Also have you felt about when you really get up from your dream ? You need a jolt, a jolt can be in the form of your death, a fall, an external stimulant like a music or a door knock or an alarm. You wouldn't wake up otherwise from your dream without any of this!! Have you noticed that ? These are some things which we would encounter but never bother to think twice and people like Nolan use it for a movie!!! ennatha solradhu..
Now to actors and actresses... perfect choice of people. I am really happy to see Dicaprio (even though I think this wasn't his best.. I somehow like him more in Shutter Island.. doesn't mean he didn't do well.. I felt he did it better in the other one..that is all) grow so much as an actor. He looks like he is very much at ease doing these. Joseph Gordon Lewitt , the last I saw him was in '500 days of summer' and he is oh-so-different in this...all grown up :). My surprise package was the fraudster guy Tom Hardy.. I like his wit , man! I was wondering where did I see him recently ?? on Googling I found that this was the guy in RockNRolla hmm.. he was cool in that too... :) No wonder I liked him in this. Ken Watanabe , Ellen Page, Cillian Murphy, Marion Cotillard have all done their part very well. Kutty roles for Pete Postlethwaite & Michael Caines.
Brilliant photography, Art direction and Direction. Dialogues were also too good. This movie falls in the same genre as Memento (nothing like The Prestige or The Dark Knight). You have to concentrate to really understand the 'layers'. A simple idea (about a dream) planted in Nolan's mind has taken the shape of this extraordinary and visually appealing movie. A very very brilliant effort. And definitely a must watch. The end is as usual a big question mark , but I guess only for those who wants to get confused about it. I strictly want to go with the fact that Cobb is in a Limbo..I wouldn't accept anything else. :) There...I gave you a spoiler ;)
Happy Watching!!!
Saturday, July 31, 2010
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Chowringhee - A mini World called Shahjahan
Getting up late on a Saturday morning especially in Bangalore at this time, when Mother Nature wants you to relax you by cozying yourself with thick blankets to handle the chillness in the air[even the windows and doors are closed you feel the chills] and then having your hot cup of tea twice before your brunch and treating yourself to reading or rather completing a novel which enthralls you with the lives of so many people written in such a way that when you are done with it, you feel as if you have known these people for so long and suddenly when you close that book, you miss them so much!!! (I know it was too long a sentence..but I guess it is the effect of the book on me ;) )
I wanted to do so many things during this Saturday and I ended up completing this novel which I have been reading very slowly for the past 1 month now. This again doesn't feel like a translated-from-Bengali novel. Thanks to Arunava Sinha again. Nothing less than a original English novel. It has also been made to a movie Chowringhee bye Pinaki Bhushan Mukherjee....It has all the ingredients for a classic mass entertainer movie as well as a drama. It can be treated either way :).
Having Maestro Illayaraja's oldies playing in the background and indulging yourself in a novel which tells you more than one story is indeed a Saturday treat. This 400 page novel brings you the lives of Sata Bose, Karabi Guha, Connie, Marco polo, Nata hari, Byron , Sujatha and various others as seen and lived with Sankar (either in real life or in his imagination). Each story is unique in its own way and somehow the narration is so gripping that you become a part of it. You feel the pain that the characters go through, even as you feel the tiredness after standing in the counter welcoming the guests. Again without going through the story, any sane person living in any such hotel and having to see all that was seen in Shahjahan would definitely not have high hopes in life :) ... or does it apply only to people working in hotels ??? it is the same everywhere isn't.. We just don't see it.. in hotels and in other such places where you are bound to interact with so many people...u just cant shut your eyes and ears, so much as you even want to. Pathetic situation ain't?
Coming back to some of the favorite lines that captured my attention (which I read today.. otherwise in the whole novel Sata Bose actually gets most of the good lines ...)
This is one where Mr Sohrabji explains to Sankar about the cocktail party :D (its like a mini haiku)
"There are four chapters to a cocktail party.
In the first hour, its breaking the ice;
in the second, beginning to feel nice,
in the third, tongues become loose;
in the fourth, the senses feel the booze."
This one is when Sankar finds out Bose-da's feelings for Sujata-di.
"I found an explanation in Victor Hugo: 'The first symptom of love in a young man is timidity; in a girl it is boldness. The two sexes have a tendency to approach and each assumes the quality of the other.'"
Both of the above are about stuff that is intoxicating isn't. There are quite a few others but these two stood out of the rest in what I read today :D
When I read Ponniyin Selvan for the first time (It was almost more than 10 yrs ago), I believed that the characters kundhavai, nandhini, vandhiyathevan, karikalan, etc are all real. Some were indeed taken from history, but the story indeed was a fiction. But it will make you feel close to reality because of the events and also due to the writing. Some novels keep emphasizing that it is a work of fiction, because there might be some events or characters which can never be real (or so you wanna believe it that way ;) ) , but this one Chowringhee like Ponniyin Selvan is more realistic. Yes you can see people like Karabi, Sata bose, Rosie, Jimmy near you. Realistic Characters and realistic stories.
Just like life, this one too has an sad ending (with respect to the novel). May be it was just a beginning for something better...but still at that instant, my heart fell when I read the letter from Bose-da.
Literature is too good. If someone has to quote from so many other great authors how much learned must he be ? What else can I say.... times have changed... people come and go..but hotels like Shahjahan still continue to exist..
Must read novel. All credits to Mr Arunava Sinha for translating this wonderful and captive novel.
I wanted to do so many things during this Saturday and I ended up completing this novel which I have been reading very slowly for the past 1 month now. This again doesn't feel like a translated-from-Bengali novel. Thanks to Arunava Sinha again. Nothing less than a original English novel. It has also been made to a movie Chowringhee bye Pinaki Bhushan Mukherjee....It has all the ingredients for a classic mass entertainer movie as well as a drama. It can be treated either way :).
Having Maestro Illayaraja's oldies playing in the background and indulging yourself in a novel which tells you more than one story is indeed a Saturday treat. This 400 page novel brings you the lives of Sata Bose, Karabi Guha, Connie, Marco polo, Nata hari, Byron , Sujatha and various others as seen and lived with Sankar (either in real life or in his imagination). Each story is unique in its own way and somehow the narration is so gripping that you become a part of it. You feel the pain that the characters go through, even as you feel the tiredness after standing in the counter welcoming the guests. Again without going through the story, any sane person living in any such hotel and having to see all that was seen in Shahjahan would definitely not have high hopes in life :) ... or does it apply only to people working in hotels ??? it is the same everywhere isn't.. We just don't see it.. in hotels and in other such places where you are bound to interact with so many people...u just cant shut your eyes and ears, so much as you even want to. Pathetic situation ain't?
Coming back to some of the favorite lines that captured my attention (which I read today.. otherwise in the whole novel Sata Bose actually gets most of the good lines ...)
This is one where Mr Sohrabji explains to Sankar about the cocktail party :D (its like a mini haiku)
"There are four chapters to a cocktail party.
In the first hour, its breaking the ice;
in the second, beginning to feel nice,
in the third, tongues become loose;
in the fourth, the senses feel the booze."
This one is when Sankar finds out Bose-da's feelings for Sujata-di.
"I found an explanation in Victor Hugo: 'The first symptom of love in a young man is timidity; in a girl it is boldness. The two sexes have a tendency to approach and each assumes the quality of the other.'"
Both of the above are about stuff that is intoxicating isn't. There are quite a few others but these two stood out of the rest in what I read today :D
When I read Ponniyin Selvan for the first time (It was almost more than 10 yrs ago), I believed that the characters kundhavai, nandhini, vandhiyathevan, karikalan, etc are all real. Some were indeed taken from history, but the story indeed was a fiction. But it will make you feel close to reality because of the events and also due to the writing. Some novels keep emphasizing that it is a work of fiction, because there might be some events or characters which can never be real (or so you wanna believe it that way ;) ) , but this one Chowringhee like Ponniyin Selvan is more realistic. Yes you can see people like Karabi, Sata bose, Rosie, Jimmy near you. Realistic Characters and realistic stories.
Just like life, this one too has an sad ending (with respect to the novel). May be it was just a beginning for something better...but still at that instant, my heart fell when I read the letter from Bose-da.
Literature is too good. If someone has to quote from so many other great authors how much learned must he be ? What else can I say.... times have changed... people come and go..but hotels like Shahjahan still continue to exist..
Must read novel. All credits to Mr Arunava Sinha for translating this wonderful and captive novel.
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Memento - JigSaw Game using Memories, Shutter Island- Mind Trapped
Memento:
Memento means reminder of past events. We also have a Memento Java Behavioral Design Pattern which is used in various applications e.g. MS Word where we have the undo , redo operations . The undo redo can also be implemented using a Command Pattern..but the behavior resembles Memento. I am anyways not discussing the techy stuff.. just it cropped up in my mind...thats all. So what does the movie "Memento" focus on ? Exactly what the word means...i.e. this guy who is not able to store any new memories after his wife's death, makes use of a pattern in his life to store the information he wants to know to avenge his wife's killer. Pattern involves a list of tatoos, photos, information cards.. etc etc..
The movie begins with 'the end'. :) yeah...it does.. This guy shoots a person whom he finally thinks of as his wife's killer. What unravels after that, is the series of past events interrelated with the current ones which tells you the whole story of this guy Leonard...
The movie is like a Jigsaw puzzle , which means it is very very tricky to edit (not even shoot.. you can shoot the scenes in any order..but editing it and making it in such a way as to not confuse the viewer and also to bring out the details of the story ... whew!!!! I am not sure how many times the editor had to watch the scenes to make it fit in the jigsaw puzzle so as to not contort the final image.. have you every played a JigSaw Puzzle game ? unless you put the pieces in a particular order you will get confused.. it is a nice game for the brain.. try it out as a stress buster sometime).. Coming back to the movie.. This movie is really a master piece.. no doubt. I know I am watching this movie very late , but better late than never. It did cost me my sleep yday night..but it was damn worth every second of it..... the movie actually travels in the reverse direction with each scene telling how things happened for the previously shown scene... and then comes back to present time and then again the next scene shows how the previously shown scene happened... கொழப்புதோ? well you have to watch the movie man!!! its amazing... Above all what dumbfounded me was that it ain't confusing... that makes it for a master piece..
There are a few quotes which I really loved.
I dont remember now the place where he says it (may be a coffee shop or something) but he says to Teddy..."Memory can change the shape of a room; it can change the color of a car. And memories can be distorted. They're just an interpretation, they're not a record, and they're irrelevant if you have the facts." How very true :) This line is proven in a Paint Ad.. I am not sure of which paint it was (Asian Paints or Nippon Paints or whatever...) where தாத்தா ஒண்ணு சொல்வாரு அப்புறம் பாட்டி அதையே சரியா சொல்வாங்க. அந்த தாத்தாவுக்கு முக்கியமா கலர் மறந்துடும் அவரு அதை வேற கலரா ஞாபகம் வச்சிருபாறு something like that.. It is highly possible to alter your memory to store a scene in a way you want it to be remembered....Have you tried something like that ? :) Its tricky and risky..but interesting..
and this one in the place where he meets Natalie,
"Just because there are things I don't remember doesn't make my actions meaningless. The world doesn't just disappear when you close your eyes, does it?" . When you read the last sentence (the world ...... aren't you reminded of a tamizh proverb ? பூனை கண்ணை மூடினால் உலகம் இருண்டிடாது ) and various others..
A word about the ending.... you can never expect that.. that is where I really liked Christopher Nolan :) I was like "Oh My God!!! whats this!!!" You have to watch this movie with all your concentration.. any single scene you miss, you might miss something in the puzzle... You will keep wondering why !!!... For e.g. There is this scene where Natalie is dumping garbage in the bin and she sees a car driving up near her. She addresses the guy in the car without even looking at the person driving, as Jimmy and speaks as if she is speaking to Jimmy.. and then when she realizes that it isnt him..she apologizes and walks away... I was wondering why she would do something like that, is it because she knew someone who had the same kind of car ? ... well I am not going to tell you why she did that...but it comes almost at the end of the movie..
It is these small small knots that are unfastened and the small links that are placed all over the movie that makes it one of the best. I guess I can keep saying more.. but I am sure I will reveal all the important stuff if I do that.. so am going to stop here for now..
This is a definite must watch movie for everyone .. but mind you.. it plays tricks on your mind..So beware :) [Dont tell me later that I didnt tell you..]
Shutter Island:
Why do I have to watch both these movies within a short span of time ? Yday night I saw Memento and just now I completed Shutter Island.. and phew!!! I might go insane anytime now, unless I relax !!! too much of mind games :)
Right from the word Go, Shutter Island gets creepy and as and when the story progresses, it gets creepier... I am updating the same post to add a few words about this movie too.. I didnt want to add the number of posts to my blog ;)
Leonardo Dicaprio has aged well since his Titanic days... and Mark Ruffalo and Ben Kingsley were awesome and scary !!! It is a psychological thriller and it really gives you the chills (not only due to the story) ...but since the place of action is an island, you have water everywhere..and people are either soaked because of getting wet due to rains, storms or just trying to swim to the light house ;). God!! what is with these people and rain and water... its already cold out here in Bangalore and this adds more chillness and makes me more shivering..
Do you know what exactly can be said of this story line... the statement of Leonard in Memento.... Memories can be distorted....and how!! well.. you gotta see this for yourself.. There were some moments when I was really wondering if I should see whatz going on or should I just hear what they speak.... I cannot write anything more..because any single information I give will give away the story itself.. So just one word.. Watch It!!! and watch it @ night , preferably alone... :)
Memento means reminder of past events. We also have a Memento Java Behavioral Design Pattern which is used in various applications e.g. MS Word where we have the undo , redo operations . The undo redo can also be implemented using a Command Pattern..but the behavior resembles Memento. I am anyways not discussing the techy stuff.. just it cropped up in my mind...thats all. So what does the movie "Memento" focus on ? Exactly what the word means...i.e. this guy who is not able to store any new memories after his wife's death, makes use of a pattern in his life to store the information he wants to know to avenge his wife's killer. Pattern involves a list of tatoos, photos, information cards.. etc etc..
The movie begins with 'the end'. :) yeah...it does.. This guy shoots a person whom he finally thinks of as his wife's killer. What unravels after that, is the series of past events interrelated with the current ones which tells you the whole story of this guy Leonard...
The movie is like a Jigsaw puzzle , which means it is very very tricky to edit (not even shoot.. you can shoot the scenes in any order..but editing it and making it in such a way as to not confuse the viewer and also to bring out the details of the story ... whew!!!! I am not sure how many times the editor had to watch the scenes to make it fit in the jigsaw puzzle so as to not contort the final image.. have you every played a JigSaw Puzzle game ? unless you put the pieces in a particular order you will get confused.. it is a nice game for the brain.. try it out as a stress buster sometime).. Coming back to the movie.. This movie is really a master piece.. no doubt. I know I am watching this movie very late , but better late than never. It did cost me my sleep yday night..but it was damn worth every second of it..... the movie actually travels in the reverse direction with each scene telling how things happened for the previously shown scene... and then comes back to present time and then again the next scene shows how the previously shown scene happened... கொழப்புதோ? well you have to watch the movie man!!! its amazing... Above all what dumbfounded me was that it ain't confusing... that makes it for a master piece..
There are a few quotes which I really loved.
I dont remember now the place where he says it (may be a coffee shop or something) but he says to Teddy..."Memory can change the shape of a room; it can change the color of a car. And memories can be distorted. They're just an interpretation, they're not a record, and they're irrelevant if you have the facts." How very true :) This line is proven in a Paint Ad.. I am not sure of which paint it was (Asian Paints or Nippon Paints or whatever...) where தாத்தா ஒண்ணு சொல்வாரு அப்புறம் பாட்டி அதையே சரியா சொல்வாங்க. அந்த தாத்தாவுக்கு முக்கியமா கலர் மறந்துடும் அவரு அதை வேற கலரா ஞாபகம் வச்சிருபாறு something like that.. It is highly possible to alter your memory to store a scene in a way you want it to be remembered....Have you tried something like that ? :) Its tricky and risky..but interesting..
and this one in the place where he meets Natalie,
"Just because there are things I don't remember doesn't make my actions meaningless. The world doesn't just disappear when you close your eyes, does it?" . When you read the last sentence (the world ...... aren't you reminded of a tamizh proverb ? பூனை கண்ணை மூடினால் உலகம் இருண்டிடாது ) and various others..
A word about the ending.... you can never expect that.. that is where I really liked Christopher Nolan :) I was like "Oh My God!!! whats this!!!" You have to watch this movie with all your concentration.. any single scene you miss, you might miss something in the puzzle... You will keep wondering why !!!... For e.g. There is this scene where Natalie is dumping garbage in the bin and she sees a car driving up near her. She addresses the guy in the car without even looking at the person driving, as Jimmy and speaks as if she is speaking to Jimmy.. and then when she realizes that it isnt him..she apologizes and walks away... I was wondering why she would do something like that, is it because she knew someone who had the same kind of car ? ... well I am not going to tell you why she did that...but it comes almost at the end of the movie..
It is these small small knots that are unfastened and the small links that are placed all over the movie that makes it one of the best. I guess I can keep saying more.. but I am sure I will reveal all the important stuff if I do that.. so am going to stop here for now..
This is a definite must watch movie for everyone .. but mind you.. it plays tricks on your mind..So beware :) [Dont tell me later that I didnt tell you..]
Shutter Island:
Why do I have to watch both these movies within a short span of time ? Yday night I saw Memento and just now I completed Shutter Island.. and phew!!! I might go insane anytime now, unless I relax !!! too much of mind games :)
Right from the word Go, Shutter Island gets creepy and as and when the story progresses, it gets creepier... I am updating the same post to add a few words about this movie too.. I didnt want to add the number of posts to my blog ;)
Leonardo Dicaprio has aged well since his Titanic days... and Mark Ruffalo and Ben Kingsley were awesome and scary !!! It is a psychological thriller and it really gives you the chills (not only due to the story) ...but since the place of action is an island, you have water everywhere..and people are either soaked because of getting wet due to rains, storms or just trying to swim to the light house ;). God!! what is with these people and rain and water... its already cold out here in Bangalore and this adds more chillness and makes me more shivering..
Do you know what exactly can be said of this story line... the statement of Leonard in Memento.... Memories can be distorted....and how!! well.. you gotta see this for yourself.. There were some moments when I was really wondering if I should see whatz going on or should I just hear what they speak.... I cannot write anything more..because any single information I give will give away the story itself.. So just one word.. Watch It!!! and watch it @ night , preferably alone... :)
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Few movie reviews : Kites, The Karate Kid, Eclipse
Kites - Didnt soar beyond Troposphere
A one line story ( poor boy conning rich girl to make quick bucks ends up falling for her brother's mexican fiance (who in turn wants to make quick bucks by marrying a rich guy) and they elope and find love) except that the twisht here is this poor boy had already married the mexican fiance because she wanted a green card and he wanted money from her. Since this twisht can be added only if the story takes place in Las Vegas (well it could have been any damn American city..but to showcase a rich Dad..they wanted a Casino and no other place is fit enough other than Las Vegas.. so...) narayanaa.... indha kosu tholla thaanga mudiyala..
Indha simple storyku.. oru mexican (have to admit that she is very beautiful aanaa... namma ooru saayal adikudhu..), oru Las Vegas, oru Hrithik thevaiye illai.. endha kuppanum suppiyum indha kadhaila nadichiruka mudiyum. Why spend crores and waste everyone's time.. I can forgive all these if I had got to see more of Hrithik's dance... Just one dance.. can you imagine.. ore oru dance dhaan indha padathula Hrithik aadaaraaru.. enna kodumai sir idhu... Avaruku nalla varadhe andha dance dhaan.. adha poyi kaataamaa.. He must have thought.. that its high time he started learning to act seriously..but guess what.. his Dancing is much (read 100 times) better than his Acting.. And the worse part.. everyone dies at the end.... Oh my God.. Who was sadist among the crew , I am not sure.. Thank God it didnt click.. it would have shown the movie taste of our people in bad light...
Best part.. Got to hear beautiful Spanish from a beautiful Mexican :).. It was so pleasant to hear Barbara speak it.. All other biggies totally wasted.. especially Kangana and Kabir. They must have thought that just because they got hold of a foreigner, they have the liberty to include enough of 'englishized/americanized' romantic scenes in the story..dude..this is nothing new... even our GM included these in our Tamil movie(s)... you dont need a foreigner for that..
One thing is for sure.. Hrithik is one person who can make it to Hollywood from our Bollywood lot.... and that too just because of his looks and accent.. He can do very good Action movies and that is the only genre that suits him very well (Check out Dhoom2.. he was cool in that.. forget the story in that too..and in Jodhaa Akhbar he was OK.. not bad..) ..and he can include a little bit of romance in it as well.. But a full serious movie.. nah!!!
Eclipse - was 'total' dud
God... just for the sake of liking the book what all I have to do.. The Eclipse book (the third part in the Twilight Series) was a slow moving and lightly boring one except for the excitement that gets created when Victoria comes to the picture...But the movie was worse than the book.. Cant they get some decent screenplay writer for these books.. Even a dumb story can be told in an interesting way if the screenplay is racy (e.g. Singam and Gilli etc). How to make a damn slow and sulky movie with a slow and boring story line .. watch Eclipse.. I seriously dont know what to say beyond this. neither Edward nor Jacob nor Bella was convincing or even remotely pleasant or entertaining.. I guess I will stop seeing the next one totally.. I hate to see when a series which I have liked is so badly translated on screen.. Please dont watch it, if you havent even liked the book. If you have liked the book for the sake of getting the story , even then dont watch it.. its not worth it..
The Karate Kid - old wine , new bottle , cute Jade
Man!! I am a fan of Jade Smith now... I am no fan of his Dad though... but this kid will defintely go a long way :). I had liked him a lot in "In Pursuit of Happyness" and here it was a shock for me to see him grown so tall.. How old must he be ? and he was so comfortable like elders doing those romantic scenes (must have come from his father I guess) [which I feel wasnt necessary for his age ..] and even he looked too skinny and kutty for his age and beating up the stronger guys (like Dhanush ;) ) was little unrealistic. But I know that for a fact that the skinny and bony kids hit more fatally than the plumpy ones..their bones really causes too much pain.. Jackie was cool as his mentor.. no unnecessary masala gimmicks of his in this movie... a very serious role (I guess this is the first movie of his where I have seen him a little too serious .. I liked it.. it was fresh). Do kids really have grudges like these in schools ? I pray that they dont.. it becomes very difficult managing them at that age. A usual Kung Fu, Karate Chinese movie.. (like watching Kung Fu Panda with real life characters). Nothing special about the story..But the new face of Jade Smith made it bearable and enjoyable even.
A one line story ( poor boy conning rich girl to make quick bucks ends up falling for her brother's mexican fiance (who in turn wants to make quick bucks by marrying a rich guy) and they elope and find love) except that the twisht here is this poor boy had already married the mexican fiance because she wanted a green card and he wanted money from her. Since this twisht can be added only if the story takes place in Las Vegas (well it could have been any damn American city..but to showcase a rich Dad..they wanted a Casino and no other place is fit enough other than Las Vegas.. so...) narayanaa.... indha kosu tholla thaanga mudiyala..
Indha simple storyku.. oru mexican (have to admit that she is very beautiful aanaa... namma ooru saayal adikudhu..), oru Las Vegas, oru Hrithik thevaiye illai.. endha kuppanum suppiyum indha kadhaila nadichiruka mudiyum. Why spend crores and waste everyone's time.. I can forgive all these if I had got to see more of Hrithik's dance... Just one dance.. can you imagine.. ore oru dance dhaan indha padathula Hrithik aadaaraaru.. enna kodumai sir idhu... Avaruku nalla varadhe andha dance dhaan.. adha poyi kaataamaa.. He must have thought.. that its high time he started learning to act seriously..but guess what.. his Dancing is much (read 100 times) better than his Acting.. And the worse part.. everyone dies at the end.... Oh my God.. Who was sadist among the crew , I am not sure.. Thank God it didnt click.. it would have shown the movie taste of our people in bad light...
Best part.. Got to hear beautiful Spanish from a beautiful Mexican :).. It was so pleasant to hear Barbara speak it.. All other biggies totally wasted.. especially Kangana and Kabir. They must have thought that just because they got hold of a foreigner, they have the liberty to include enough of 'englishized/americanized' romantic scenes in the story..dude..this is nothing new... even our GM included these in our Tamil movie(s)... you dont need a foreigner for that..
One thing is for sure.. Hrithik is one person who can make it to Hollywood from our Bollywood lot.... and that too just because of his looks and accent.. He can do very good Action movies and that is the only genre that suits him very well (Check out Dhoom2.. he was cool in that.. forget the story in that too..and in Jodhaa Akhbar he was OK.. not bad..) ..and he can include a little bit of romance in it as well.. But a full serious movie.. nah!!!
Eclipse - was 'total' dud
God... just for the sake of liking the book what all I have to do.. The Eclipse book (the third part in the Twilight Series) was a slow moving and lightly boring one except for the excitement that gets created when Victoria comes to the picture...But the movie was worse than the book.. Cant they get some decent screenplay writer for these books.. Even a dumb story can be told in an interesting way if the screenplay is racy (e.g. Singam and Gilli etc). How to make a damn slow and sulky movie with a slow and boring story line .. watch Eclipse.. I seriously dont know what to say beyond this. neither Edward nor Jacob nor Bella was convincing or even remotely pleasant or entertaining.. I guess I will stop seeing the next one totally.. I hate to see when a series which I have liked is so badly translated on screen.. Please dont watch it, if you havent even liked the book. If you have liked the book for the sake of getting the story , even then dont watch it.. its not worth it..
The Karate Kid - old wine , new bottle , cute Jade
Man!! I am a fan of Jade Smith now... I am no fan of his Dad though... but this kid will defintely go a long way :). I had liked him a lot in "In Pursuit of Happyness" and here it was a shock for me to see him grown so tall.. How old must he be ? and he was so comfortable like elders doing those romantic scenes (must have come from his father I guess) [which I feel wasnt necessary for his age ..] and even he looked too skinny and kutty for his age and beating up the stronger guys (like Dhanush ;) ) was little unrealistic. But I know that for a fact that the skinny and bony kids hit more fatally than the plumpy ones..their bones really causes too much pain.. Jackie was cool as his mentor.. no unnecessary masala gimmicks of his in this movie... a very serious role (I guess this is the first movie of his where I have seen him a little too serious .. I liked it.. it was fresh). Do kids really have grudges like these in schools ? I pray that they dont.. it becomes very difficult managing them at that age. A usual Kung Fu, Karate Chinese movie.. (like watching Kung Fu Panda with real life characters). Nothing special about the story..But the new face of Jade Smith made it bearable and enjoyable even.
Monday, July 5, 2010
Blame the Rain
"There's not much going on today
I'm really bored, it's getting late
What happened to my Saturday? (Saturday...)
mondays coming the day I hate.." - from the song "He Wasn't" by Avril Lavigne
This was what I was exactly thinking yday (Sunday)...and today it is no different. Since we have the total bandh observed in Bangalore (as if it is going to help in any way other than spoiling a day's food for the daily wagers) we were asked to work from home....and so today feels like a Sunday to me...and I seriously dont feel like working at all. Man!! I have so much to complete on the work front..and all I did today morning was to watch a good romantic movie "Playing by the Heart".... (If you like good romantic drama..you have to watch this.. mind you..it is a drama and not a romantic comedy...it does break your heart in places and heals it too at the end... a very positive film though) and cooked my lunch and now I am supposed to start my work and I feel so so sleepy...
Hey wait.. I know why.. its the weather..ah!! it is raining outside.. there is this chillness that makes you feel all drowsy and lazy... yeah ...gotcha... Rain is the culprit....(appa.. i have some one to put the blame on..other than myself..)...Should it really rain like this on a Monday when we are supposed to start our work for the week head on !!! I now know for sure that today is not my day of work.. and I am not going to write a single line of code which would really matter..
So in order to make things better...let me go and get my chips packet, chocolate wafers and make myself a hot cuppa tea and I have a book to read or see if there is any good movie going on and may be when the rain stops or if I really feel better by evening, I can start my work else we always have another day.. What say :)
Ciao
I'm really bored, it's getting late
What happened to my Saturday? (Saturday...)
mondays coming the day I hate.." - from the song "He Wasn't" by Avril Lavigne
This was what I was exactly thinking yday (Sunday)...and today it is no different. Since we have the total bandh observed in Bangalore (as if it is going to help in any way other than spoiling a day's food for the daily wagers) we were asked to work from home....and so today feels like a Sunday to me...and I seriously dont feel like working at all. Man!! I have so much to complete on the work front..and all I did today morning was to watch a good romantic movie "Playing by the Heart".... (If you like good romantic drama..you have to watch this.. mind you..it is a drama and not a romantic comedy...it does break your heart in places and heals it too at the end... a very positive film though) and cooked my lunch and now I am supposed to start my work and I feel so so sleepy...
Hey wait.. I know why.. its the weather..ah!! it is raining outside.. there is this chillness that makes you feel all drowsy and lazy... yeah ...gotcha... Rain is the culprit....(appa.. i have some one to put the blame on..other than myself..)...Should it really rain like this on a Monday when we are supposed to start our work for the week head on !!! I now know for sure that today is not my day of work.. and I am not going to write a single line of code which would really matter..
So in order to make things better...let me go and get my chips packet, chocolate wafers and make myself a hot cuppa tea and I have a book to read or see if there is any good movie going on and may be when the rain stops or if I really feel better by evening, I can start my work else we always have another day.. What say :)
Ciao
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