Movie Shoovie

Well, the latest from the movie theatre is that I went to watch a night show last Sunday with a group of friends and had to get out within the first 5 minutes, because I fell super ill. It was not the movie, it was the err... "food" I had before the movie.

But anyway here are some movies that I did manage to watch -

The 40 year old virgin

I have long avoided/missed/ignored this one but finally decided to watch it. It was as one would expect it to be. Comic in some parts and boringly American in others. Watchable because Steve Carell does a good job :)

Up in the air

This one stars George Clooney and his backpack. Its about a guy who specialises in traveling to different parts of the country, laying off people on behalf of their employers and in getting laid with a random woman he meets.
His aim is to be able to live without any emotional baggage and to earn a million flying miles.

He achieves the latter but fails to do much about the former. Decent, but overrated.

Agora

Extremely slow paced and depressing movie about the advent of Christianity in Roman Egypt, and the seemingly correlated decline of freedom of speech/thought and the destruction of the great library of Alexandria.
This one is a biopic of Hypatia, one of the greatest female philosophers of all time, or so the movie leads us to believe.

Here is what wiki thinks of her. Rachel Weiz plays Hypatia and does a fabulous job!

Hypatia is a woman who is oblivious to all advances made at her by admiring men and the religious politics being played around her. Her only interest lies in deciphering ,why the planets move in such an odd manner, could it be that the Earth is after all not the centre around which everything revolves?

This is again a movie that is watchable, but only if you are in a certain frame of mind to take the death and destruction.

Space Jam

Staring Bugs Bunny, the rest of the Looney Tunes gang and a lost looking Magic Jordan. Okay as a kids movie. But I was not too impressed.

Shoot the piano player

Picked this one up because the cover looked good and the movie summary sounded interesting. But it turned out to be a highly overrated, weird black and white 1960's French movie.
Something about a Piano player in a small bar who has a troubled past, and gets into deeper trouble when his brother lands up at the bar chased by a couple of goons.

Supposedly a thriller, but it was quite weird for my liking.

Hero

So here is this not so nice guy, played by Dustin Hoffman who reluctantly saves 54 people, including an award winning telivision journalist (Geena Davis), from a plane crash. But the credit and a million dollars go to a homeless Vietnam war veteran, played by Andy Garcia thanks to a case of mistaken identity.

Now, the homeless guy is a gem of a person who believes about giving back to society, but is guilt ridden about having lied to get the money. Our hero is trying to save himself from going into jail and spend time with his son.

I quite liked this movie, it is a sweet well made movie with the message that there is a hero in everyone of us.

That's all folks!

At the match

If we had any doubts about whether watching a match at the stadium was "Worth it", they were all dispelled the moment we set foot in 'Stand B' of the Chinnaswamy stadium for the IPL match between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Kings XI Punjab.

I confess that a few things worked to our benefit, such as:

1. Watching the match with a large gang of friends - after all, who else would let you - and eventually join you - lead a chant that goes "Bangalore, Bangalore, Bangalore" ? :P

2. The team we supported (RCB) thulped the opposition (Kings XI Punjab) - They chased down a massive 203 against all odds.

3. Watching Sreesanth getting walloped - the clown was as entertaining as ever. As the RCB innings began, and the batsman was taking guard, this idiot was behind the batsman taking strike, measuring his run up for the next over. Of course as soon as he got ball in his hands, it flew all around the park.

4. There were a handful of Punjab team supporters, who were jumping about and dancing in that weird Bhangra style that these people dance in, for the entire duration of the Punjab innings, but they disappeared from the stadium after watching the first dozen sixers of the RCB innings.

At this point I must tell you how disappointed I am with the Punjabi dance style that they demonstrated for 105 minutes of the Punjab innings.

When Yuvraj singh pulled out his hanky to blow his nose, they would stand on the chairs and start the weird dance.
When Bisla, hit a mistimed pull that got him a single, they would get onto the chairs and do the same dance.
When someone said "Daler Mehendi", they got up onto the chairs and did the same routine.

Basically every 30 seconds same dance steps, each group of fans, same dance step.

Bah!

Anyway. Match worth every rupee. Go watch.

'Road Movie'

Abhay Deol is back! I have enjoyed each and every movie of his, and was waiting for this movie with bated breath for months.

Finally it was released yesterday, and with 3 other hardcore Abhay Deol fans (Including Amu ofcourse), I went to watch it.

I should begin by saying that the movie is a joint effort of Dev Benegal and Abhay Deol.
By 'joint effort', I mean they must've been smoking a joint of something really weird, all through the making of this one :P

Okay, enough cheesy one liners, back to the movie.

The movie like most other road movies, has the protagonist - in this case Abhay Deol - embark on a journey, that leaves him wiser in the end.

The hero has the opportunity to inherit his dad's medium sized, hair oil business. Not surprisingly, seemingly sick of it all, he decides to help an acquaintance deliver his old, beaten up looking truck, to a museum in a place called 'Samundarabad'.

Thus begins the road trip from Jaisalmer to Samundarabad, all the way across the desert.

The hero meets 3 main characters along the way, each having their own goals:

A boy who he meets at a small dhaba - He just wants to leave the Dhaba job and go to the next town

A mechanic (Satish Kaushik) who helps him repair the truck - he wants to visit a mela that supposedly happens in the middle of the desert

A Rajasthani village belle (the Heroine) - who is roaming about in search of water.

The boy has all the good lines, next is Satish Kaushik. Abhay Deol himself is somehow relegated to the sidelines in this one and the girl is forgettable.

Add to the mix, a bad cop (who forces the group to discover that the truck they are delivering is actually a mobile movie 'theatre'), a gang of water dacoits led by Yashpal Sharma (They rob and hoard water and sell it to the villagers), and you have 'Road Movie'.

The visuals are stunning, the camera captures the desert beautifully. The kid has a fantastic role with some wonderful dialogues, but that's about it.

The search for water seems to be the primary motif in the movie.

The movie itself is monotonous and painfully slow. There is very little background score, which makes the movie more painful to watch. The plot moves along lethargically, just like a weary traveler in the desert.

The lack of music is a crime.

This movie had immense potential, but unfortunately all of it remains untapped.