The review post

Its been a few long, tiring weeks at work, so much so that I am struggling to finish off the book I am reading. This also means that there have been fewer movies watched between my last review post and this.

The wife has asked me to blog about other things, but I cannot resist a few reviews.

Before we move on, I seem to have caused distress from some of my posts earlier. If you are one who has felt offended by what I have been writing, then I guess you will just have to live with it :)

Here come the movies

Where the wild things are

This is a movie about a lonely kid, who runs away from home and seemingly lands up on a fantasy island, where there are wild creatures whom he befriends and who make him their 'king'.
Each creature really is a person that the kid knows in real life and the creature takes their characteristic.
So what we have is a kid building a world from the figment of his imagination. Not a bad idea, its from a book after all. However the kid they have cast in the main role is psychotic. So I intensely disliked him, which meant that I did not think too highly of the movie either.
It could have been that I was drawing parallels with the brilliant Pan's Labyrinth(Which has a very similar plot).
Watchable, if you don't hate the kid, like I did. But please watch Pan's Labyrinth instead, its definitely a much better movie.

Fantastic Mr. Fox

A fantastic stop animation movie, with George Clooney as the thieving Mr. Fox who has mended his ways to lead a quiet family life, or has he ? :)
Brilliant soundtrack and some really fun characters, as Mr. Fox decides to raid the farms of 3 dangerous farmers, who in turn decide they want vengeance!
Please watch.

Half Past Dead

What do you get when you mix Steven Seagal with a movie with a tagline that goes 'The good, the bad and the deadly' ?
A crappy 'action' movie that generally makes no sense.
That's all I have to say about this movie. Don't judge me for watching this movie. It was coming on TV at the same time as I was looking at the TV screen.

Manhattan Murder Mystery

A superb Wooddy Allen movie, about a couple who seem to be undergoing a mid-life crisis, thanks to a routine life and boredom, just as they are drifting apart, they encounter what seems to be a murder of a neighbour and off they go to solve the mystery, this is set in Manhattan and hence the title.
Very well made movie and Diane Keaton and Woody Allen get together with their weirdly wonderful chemistry.

Date Night

Very similar to Manhattan Murder Mystery in terms of the plot. A couple leading a content but boring life, decide that they need to get some excitement back into their life by going out on date to a posh new restaurant in the city. Having taken somebody else's seating reservations, they get into trouble with the mob and bad cops, who mistake them to be a couple on the run, who have stolen some mobsters flash drive.
Steve Carell does a good job as usual in this mildly entertaining fare which is great Saturday afternoon/evening watch.

Shattered

A man and his wife have an accident, the man loses his memory, but things do not seem to be what they are as he struggles to get back to his old life. A web of deception and deceit (I love this phrase) seem to cover his new life.
I must mention this movie for one scene which most of us would inadvertently have watched time and again.
Which is the accident. This clip of a car breaking through a wall on a dark winding road and crashing into the hillside with glass shattering, was used by most Hindi mystery/detective serials of the late 90's!

Taken

Brilliant fast paced action movie about an ex-spy rescuing his daughter who has been kidnapped in Europe by sex-slave traders.
Awesome action sequences and Liam Neeson make this movie a must watch!

Wanted


Pathetic and Unwanted.

How to train your dragon

Easily the best animated movie in a long long time! Dragons are the most hated creatures in Berk, village of viking warriors, where the kids are trained to fight and kill dragons. Hiccup the main protagonist is a contradiction of sorts to his father who is the village leader. However Hiccup does manage to trap the most fearsome dragon of all 'Night Fury', but ends up befriending the dragon, to soon realise that these beasts are misunderstood by humans.
Wathing it in 3-D was a great experience in itself. Fantastic animation and pretty good story line makes this one of my favourite animation movie.
"This is Berk. It snows nine months out of the year, and hails the other three. What little food grows here is tough and tasteless. The people that grow here, even more so. The only upsides are the pets. While other places have ponies, or parrots... we have dragons. "
- Hiccup

The other man

Liam Neeson plays a quiet unassuming family man, who is tortured by a conversation he had with his wife before she left, where she tells him that if she fell in love with another man she would just go away. He soon discovers pictures of his wife's lover (Antonio Banderas) on her laptop and the rest of the movie is about finding out who the man is. Both Liam Neeson and Antonio Banderas have likeable characters and it is a decent movie with a nice little twist in the end :)

The great Indian MRF blimp

Oh GOD! I had never ever seen a blimp in my life! That too one from MRF...oooh wow.

Ever since I managed to get through kindergarten, I have been tortured by these questions day in and day out - What is this MRF? What do they do? How many brand ambassadors do they have? What is this pace academy they have founded? Who will be the first one to get the blimp to India? Does MRF really stand for Madras Rubber Factory? Why is MRF so great?

Now, thanks to the IPL, all the questions I have ever had about MRF have been answered and many more have been pre-empted.
The commentators are like an endless ocean of knowledge when it comes to factoids about the blimp. They can tell you who owns MRF, how many times that person eats curd rice in a day, what brand of dhoti he wears etc etc

Other than the annoying bits where they show the ongoing match every now and then, the IPL and the MRF blimp is a joy to watch.

The charming Laxman Sivaramakrishnan, seems to love the MRF blimp so much that I suspect that once the IPL gets over, he is going to take the blimp home and introduce it to his parents. Danny Morrison also seems to suddenly get excited when they show the blimp, but then Danny Morrison has the ability to get excited even if they show Mukesh Ambani on screen, so one cannot read much into his display of emotions.

Anyway here is Siva taking his blimp for a walk on a pristine caribbean beach.

I leave you with the very eloquent -

What you gon' do with all that junk?
All that junk inside your trunk?
I'ma get, get, get, get, you drunk,
Get you love drunk off my blimp
My blimp, my blimp, my blimp, my blimp, my blimp,
My blimp, my blimp, my blimp, my lovely little blimp (Check it out)

Ads people play...

Gone are those days when there would be brand new ad's on showcase only during the world cup. I still remember the Coca-cola ad during the 1996 World Cup, the kids playing cricket surrounded by red chillies left out to dry and by the Taj. That was one ad that got me craving to go play cricket.

There is almost no ad now that makes me want to buy anything.

Now with the IPL season there is a PL everywhere. There are cricket centric ads all around! HBO Premier League, Pix Premier League, the pathetic set of 'AX effect on the cricket field' ads, Oongli cricket, the irritating "Vidya Calling" ad with Sehwag and Gambhir which plays right in the middle of an over. So on and on.

The next set of ads are about summer and AC's and refrigerators. They basically tell us that the entire family is sitting around the product and living their lives around it or, if the ad has Ajay devgan and Kajol in it, then treating the product like their own family member, because oh its made their boring aimless lives so much better.Bah.

Even the zoozoo ads are an overkill. Not to mention Ranbir Kapoor in a sleeveless fake leather jacket taking on Sanjay Dutt - who looks as if he has been dressed in discarded motorcycle parts - for a bottle of Pepsi.

The number of different cell phone brands in the market have given rise to the a larger number of crappy ads. siiigh.

Gimme better ads!


p.s: Thanks to Rajiv for helping me find the link to the Coke ad

Rain and nostalgia

The second most favourite topic of the season is the weather in Bangalore. So when I grab lunch and happen to sit at a table with someone I don't know too well, then invariably the conversation starts with the heat in the city.

The city was in for a pleasant surprise last week, when it rained some.

Any Banglorean knows that when the mercury rises above a certain level leading to discomfiture, then it rains, and cools the temperatures and tempers down. However, this has not been the case for quite some time now.

I was getting back home in an Auto and it began to drizzle without much warning.

With the smell of earth in first rains, came a wave of nostalgia. Of a city that Bangalore used to be. Of walking back from school after a game of cricket in the rain. Of watching the rain outside the window while studying for my 12th standard exams. Of drinking the strongest filter coffee ever, in a restaurant called Pushpavan right opposite Urvashi Theatre. Of being obssessed with Wodehouse and Conan Doyle. Of the inevitable candle lit dinners thanks to the power cut's.

As the cool breeze blew, into my face, I was transported for a while into Bangalore of the 1990's. Unfortunately the only thing constant from then and now is the power cut.

But one thing is certain, the rain does make everything a little nicer, especially memories :)

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.

More reviews I say...

Wow, I looked at the movies I have watched between my last review post and this one, and I realise it is a long long list, almost as long as MNIK. But enough of beating up MNIK, let me get on with the other movies...

Brothers Bloom

A story about a trio (the brothers Bloom and a chinese chick), who go around conning people, one of their victims include Rachel Weisz who plays a super rich, talented but bored and lonely young lady, who wants some excitement in life. Decent watch, but Adrien Brody would not have been in my cast as a conman, maybe they got him for cheap.


The Golden Compass
Average. Yes, its a Philip Pullman book adaptation, yes its uber cool to watch a polar bear fight in an armour, and its super to have Nicole Kidman in a negative role. But, the movie still does not make an impression.

Outsourced

Decent movie, but the lead heroine reminded me of a frog. She was pretty in her own way though.

21 grams
Very average Sean Penn movie about a guy who gets a heart transplant and falls in love with the donor's widow. Un necessarily made complex by mixing up scenes ala Memento, but this one fails miserably. 21 grams, is how much an average heart weighs.

Sherlock Holmes

What-e-beauty! Guy Ritchie and Robert Downey Jr. take a bow. A fantastic take on my favourite detective :) The ending was a little anti-climatic for me, but over all I loved it!

The Machinist

Fantastic movie! The atmosphere that the director whips up is amazing. Its almost like you are in the character's head and you can see and feel what a weird world he lives in. Add to it a dollop of suspense and we have a weirdly wonderful movie :)

Forgetting Sarah Marshall

Its got the enigmatic looking (to my eyes) Mila Kunis (Who you may also recognise from 'Family Guy' - where she voices Meg), the very funny Russel Brand and the guy who I only recognise as 'Marshal' from the 'How I met your mother' series.

The guy I recognise as 'Marshal', drops his towel 10 mins into the movie, for an unxpected dose of full frontal nudity, and that sets the tone for this movie about a music composer who is ditched by his girlfriend (Sarah Marshall), and runs away to Hawaii alone to forget it all, only to run into his ex-girlfriend and her rockstar new boy friend (Russel Brand). There are funny parts to the movie but then its spoilt with some unncessarily explicit 'comedy'. Average.

I am legend
Will Smith, his dog and some vampire like dudes/dudettes, not a bad movie. Some of the sequences were really good. In fact as I write this, I think I quite liked the movie.


Stranger than fiction

Fantastic premise, the narrator narrates, and the main character can hear her! So out he goes on a mission to find out who is narrating every part of his life. On the way he finds love in the form of ugly (to my eyes) Maggie Gyllenhaal. He must stop the narrator from ending his story with his death etc etc

Nice idea for a movie and quite well made. I liked it in a way, except that this one contained all the women I hate, such as Emma 'annoyingly boring' Thompson, Maggie 'ugly' Gyllenhaal and Queen 'loud' Latifah

Original Sin
Angelina Jolie sizzles in this thriller whose twists and turns you can see a mile away. But watchable.

Hollywoodland
Ayyoo very very boring movie, supposedly about the death of some Superman of television or something. Boring only.

Duplicity

Okay, now I am going to say something controversial. I think Clive Owen sucks! He is extremely dumb in his choice of movies.
Given his looks and decentish acting skills, he should have been the Sean Connery of our times, but he delivers one pathetic movie after another. 'Shoot em up', 'The International', 'Duplicity', as far as I am concerned he made even 'Inside man' boring.

He and Julia 'can't act' Roberts, dole up a 'romantic' thriller about two corporate spies who try to double cross their companies or something or the other. The script is extremely complex (since it goes back and forth in time) and full of loop holes, in fact I suspect Abbas Mustan of 'Race' famemay have ghost written it.

Go watch it and tell me if you agree.


Lars and the real girl

Ryan Gosling's character buys one of those dolls, falls in love with it and takes it around almost the entire length of the movie acting like she is a real person. The entire town plays along with him. Once the novelty of the character falling in love with a doll wears off, this becomes a long and boring movie. Ryan Gosling is a fantastic actor but don't bother watching this.

Hurt Locker

Fantastic movie, despite being given an almost documentary like treatment, this movie loses none of its thrill. You shew your nails every time a bomb is found and has to be taken care of, you follow a bomb squad in Iraq as they work on the edge of death day in and day out.

Brilliant, this one is a must watch.

World's fastest Indian

Anthony Hopkins as Burt Monroe once again kicks ass in this story inspired by a true incident. The 'Indian' referred to is a motor cycle. The mission is to break the land speed record.
What makes this movie a great watch, is the road trip Burt Monroe takes from New Zealand to the US of A, with his old, home tweaked bike in tow, to try and break the land speed record.

Do not miss this one!


Roger Dodger
An average movie. The story follows a smooth talking dude who has been dumped by his lover who is also his boss. Enter his 16 year old nephew, who wants to spend an evening with his uncle and learn how to charm women.
Its an okayish movie. But not really one I would recommend.


Sunshine

Last evening we came back at 1:30am and decided we wanted more out of a Friday evening and hence sat down to watch 'Sunshine', this Ralph Fiennes epic about a family, follows Ralp Fiennes in 3 characters - The Grandfather - A Judge, the father - an Olympic fencing champion and the Son - The narrator and a police inspector who has watched his father being beaten and tortured to death in a Nazi labour camp and now wants his revenge against the fascists.

This movie is as much about the family as it is about Hungary all the way from 1890's to the 1950's. We finished watching this at 4:30 am, but found the movie very engrossing.

I admire Ralph Fiennes and that maybe one reason for me having liked this movie, but this one is highly recommended.


Whew! What a long post this has been.

Review - My name is Khan

My name is Khan a.k.a My name is Khan and I am not a terrorist a.k.a My name is Khan and I am not selling Reebok shoes and so on and so forth.

So children its time for our lessons again, what did we learn from My name is Khan?

Learning #1: Kajol screech freeze tiger blood - old Jungle saying

Learning #2: Now we know without a doubt, what the 'epiglottis' is, where it is situated and what it does. Of course Achmed the dead terrorist taught us this trick a lot better! (I looove Jeff Dunham)

Learning #3: Rizwan Khan and his son have same shoe size.

Learning #4: Obama has undergone plastic surgery and looks completely different now. Maybe it was the Nobel peace prize.

Learning #5: Rizwan Khan with Asperger's has better dance moves than Sanjay Dutt in Daud. (if you don't believe me ask Rohini Sharma or Chaman)

Sanjay Dutt, shows his dance moves and more.


Learning #6: Karan Johar is an idiot

Learning #7: Kajol screech freeze tiger blood - old Jungle saying. Oh, did I already mention that? Sorry I am a little disoriented, my ears are still ringing from all the screeching.



Ok, however there were some bits that I liked about the movie, these were :

1. Sonya Jehan,
2. The cinematography and the fresh locations.

I would like to say, My name is Gawde and I am not very particular about my second name being pronounced from the epiglottis.

My top 5 Sitcom characters

1. Barney Stinson - How I met your mother

His awesomeness is unparalleled !

2. Keshav Kulkarni - Shriman Shrimati

Tuesday used to be my favourite day, thanks to this show!

3. Stewie Griffin - Family Guy

Here is Stewie doing the robot dance.

4. Edmund Blackadder - Blackadder

Rowan Atkinson as the devious Blackadder. Hilarious

5. Crayon Shin-chan - Shinchan

Cult classic Japanese anime.

Population

There is too much population I say. Too much!

Yesterday, we had tickets to Avtaar for the 6 pm show, we reached the road where the theatre is located at about 5:55pm, from then on it was one long wait in a queue to get parking.

By the time we got to park the car, it was 6:45 pm! 45 minutes for a distance of about 200 metres. This was , mind you, at fame lido, a multiplex with quite a bit of parking space (but all taken!).

Today, we got up early and went off to play badminton. But when we reached we saw that the two courts were full of people. Each of them (with the exception of the gang from my office), was fat (in a pot-bellied way), sweating and weirdly middle aged.

They were playing quite well mind you, but even I may get to that level of expertise soon, if only they give us some space and time on the court.

We left in frustration, because I did not see the point of having to wait 1 hour to play for 15 minutes that too with some pot bellied dude heaving and panting on the other side of the court.

But my point is, we are bursting at the seams (much like the badminton playing uncles). Too much population.

Avtaar

When I was 11 years old and I walked into a theatre to watch the Jurassic Park, I had no clue then that movie making was about to be taken to a new level. I still remember catching my breath when the first Brontosaurus comes live on the screen.

'Avtaar' has had a similar effect on me. James Cameroon takes us on a wonderful trip to 'Pandora', which is so exotic and beautiful that one completely forgets to make a connection that the plot is a parallel of sorts to that of 'District 9', has bits of 'Matrix' and influences from quite a few other movies.

However, I do not complain. This is a movie that will take movie making to a completely new level.

Mr. Cameroon, I thank you for the visual treat that is 'Avtaar'.

Quite a few of you asked me to review and I know you were expecting a scathing, sarcastic review from me.
Well, that is not to be.
Maybe there will be one if I make the mistake of watching a Salman Khan movie again. :)

2010 is here baby!

2010 seems to be the sought after year by many. I guess its something to do with the completeness of the number involved. Who doesn't like rounded figures eh ?

For years now, people have planned loads of things for 2010. The term 'Vision 2010' seems to have caught the fancy of many a corporate board and they have gone on to make great plans for the coming 2010.

Anyway its here already!

It will be interesting to see what excuses people come up with for not having executed these plans :D . That was the cynic in me.

Now for the optimist.

2009, like the past 27 years I have witnessed on this planet, was full of awesomeness. It was filled with loads of travel, good books, lovely movies and lots of laughter.

I am quite sure that the coming year will also bring with it the unknowns make life such a thrilling ride.

Life follows a normal distribution (some good , some bad, but mostly average), I am going to try and make the averages into the 'goods' and the 'goods' into the 'greats'! and that, is my new year's resolution.

I leave you all with a wish (which also conveniently doubles up as a curse) -

"MAY WE ALL LIVE IN INTERESTING TIMES".

Movies

Well, I seem to be blogging only about movie reviews, so much so that the title of the post will soon become redundant and I will not have to find new ways of saying "Here is a post about the movies I have watched" because every other post will be just that.

But I do have an excuse, for this non-imaginative post this time, which is:

I have been on a plane(s) flying over 32000 kms this month (Four 10 hour flights in 6 weekends), which means all I have done is

1. Get on the plane
2. Watch movies
3. Get off the plane
4. Go to work
5. Get on the plane
6. Watch movies
7. Get off the plane

This above sequence repeated twice :(

Anyway enough of that. Here are the movies.

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

This movie holds the record for being the one and only Johnny Depp movie that I have disliked. Enough said.


The Informers

I know you have never heard of this one, and its a good thing if that is so. If you want to change that look up this movie here
I had no clue what this movie was about when I began to watch it, and after I was done watching it, I still have no clue.
It seems to be about this bunch of people from LA who sleep around with each other and one of them gets aids. That's it. movie over.

Pathetic.


Hot Fuzz



This was brilliant. Simon Pegg does a super job. The humour is awesome and I loved this movie. A breath of fresh air after watching a string of bad movies.


Naked Kitchen


(don't worry even I can't read Korean)

I was in a mood to experiment and switched to the World Movies section and stumbled upon this Korean movie. This is movie about a chef, his wife and a young chap who comes along to help the chef set-up his restaurant which ends up in a love triangle.
Though the movie started off quite nicely, it ended up in a tangled mess which was sad to see. So much scope and so little done.

Running Turtle

Another Korean movie, this one I absolutely loved.

A super plot: A cop who does not earn much, is cheated out of his illegally earned money by a criminal on the run. Time for vendetta, only the criminal is more than a match for our cop and outwits him most times. Cop loses his job and now its personal. He has to catch the criminal and get back his lost job and face.

This movie is 2 parts comedy, 1 part action, 1 part thriller and highly recommended!

500 days of summer



"This is not a love story, this is a story about love" proclaims the tagline, and so it is.

This movie follows the love and the life of the Tom and Summer, 500 days of it, in no chronological order.

It is a good watch, but it did not wow me.

Adam

Another romantic movie, this one I liked a lot for some reason. The story line follows a young man who seems strange at first in the way he behaves with the lovely new girl in his apartment complex who seems to be very interested in him. But this is soon explained. The guy has Asperger's Syndrome.

But don't worry, this is not a movie about the condition, its a sweet simple movie about love and loss.

Watch it.


District 9


Let me confess, I am not a big fan of science fiction (as you may have guessed from my post about StarTrek). This movie however, is something else. It shatters all my notions about sci-fi movies by being so different.
Yes there is a space ship and yes aliens have landed on Earth. But hold on. America is nowhere mentioned, the crash landing is in Johannesburg, and the aliens the lives of inter-galactic refugees.

There is racism (a reference to the Apartheid) and though they have been living here for years in slum-like conditions and they are about to be evicted to the outskirts, away from humans to live like outcasts.
The man who is responsible for evicting them, soon starts mutating into one of them in a freak accident and soon starts to see things from their point of view (literally).

This is a movie where the aliens are the protagonists and the humans the evil antagonists. You root for the aliens to win.

must must must must watch!

50 dead men walking


Super movie about the IRA and conflict in Ireland, based on a true story of a double agent who infiltrated the IRA and helped save 50 lives (hence the title), only to lose his.

Nicely made.

Aliens in the attic

A movie for children about an Alien invasion by pint sized aliens wrecking havoc in the attic of a holiday home.


The Great Buck Howard


John Malkovich is the Great Buck Howard, Toms Hanks' son, yes his SON. plays the law school grad who would rather be a Magicians assistant.

This is a bitter sweet story about a Magician who is past his "Great" days and is left travelling the country to perform in lesser known towns, but is still hoping to make a comeback.

Quite an enjoyable movie but a little bit depressing.



City Island

This is supposedly a comedy about a family living in 'city island'. But this movie is so warped that I think its a tragedy that it is referred to as a comedy.

I have no clue what Andy Garcia was doing in this disaster.


State of play

A journalist (Russel Crowe) finds his friend (A successful US Senator, played by Ben Affleck) implicated in a scandal, the so called suicide of his aide who was also his lover.

But things are not what they seem like and Crowe and rookie journalist (Rachel McAdams) begin to investigate the web of lies and deceit that lies behind the death of the Congress mans mistress.

A decent thriller, that I enjoyed watching


Revolutionary Road

Leonardo Dicaprio and Kate Winslet star in this pathetic excuse for a movie. This one is real bad.

The only thing I found interestig was, how perfectly the melancholy of living in the US is depicted here. Brrr reminds me of the 9 weeks that I had to live in USA.

Project 'Whal-e' :P

One more door to be painted, this time on the inside of the bathroom door

Phase1: Decide how we want the door to look...

It's the bathroom, hence one should have something that goes with the mood, and what better than a whale frolicking in the bathtub ? :P

So, we have penciled in the Whale (Whal-E) and its bath-tub equipped with a bar of soap :)

Phase2: The paint job

Colouring this in should be simpler than the 'peeping girl' drawing on the outside of the door, I mean how multi-coloured can a whale get eh?

So its blue for the whale and white for the bathtub and maybe a bit of pink for the soap

We have started off and here is the first shot (we are letting the paint dry before continuing on)



Watch this space for updates :)

More movies :)

Well I have watched loads of movies between my last big review and now. I shall try and recall them all, but am sure to miss quite a few. Here goes

UP

Well easily one of the best animation movies in a looooong time :)

we watched this on a whim, when late into the evening, someone said hey lets go watch a movie and given a choice between 'Wanted' and 'Up' I chose to buy tickets for UP.

Brilliantly made, with a story line that is touching and funny at the same time.

MUST WATCH!

Inglourious Basterds

Well, I loved a couple of characters (The brilliant Christoph Waltz as Col. Hans Landa) and loads of awesome scenes that only Tarantino can churn up, but the shoddy editing and some very very bad casting decisions (read the extremely idiotic Eli Roth as 'Bear Jew' and Diane Kruger as some actress) made this movie an average experience for me.

Caramel



A lovely Lebanese movie that will be enjoyed more by the fairer sex since they can relate to it better, I could go on to call it a Lebanese chick-flick, and am not ashamed to admit that I quite liked it too.
A simple story line, wonderful direction and a good cast gives us an interesting insight into a slice of Lebanese life :)

note: The shapely lady in the poster is the the main character as well as the director of the movie


Cellular

A good taut thriller written to be the exact opposite of 'Phonebooth' (The protagonist in Cellular has to keep running to save an abducted family who is in serious danger of getting wiped out.)

Well made. A good movie to watch on a lazy Saturday afternoon.

The International

Clive Owens and Naomi Watts star in this 'thriller' of err international proportions. Except for one good gun fight sequence, this movie - about a bank that is buying huge amounts of Chinese made weapons to supply them to encourage conflict in third world countries so that their debt increases - is boring.
Either that or banks dealing with weapons don't interest me.
If people tell you that this is a good movie, I can assure you that more times than not they just want to show-off that their understanding of international finance and politics is what made the movie interesting to them. But let me tell you that this is a BORING movie, avoid it, unless of course you have had too much excitement in your life and are looking for some boredom.

Bore yaaaawn boooore. I am sure by now you get the point.

The boat that rocked

From the makers of 'Four wedding and a funeral', 'Notting Hill' and 'Love Actually' (all movies that I loved!) comes 'The boat that rocked'.

The year is 1966, BBC plays only 45 minutes of music in a day. Rock n roll is considered to be a bad influence and obviously is craved for by the majority of the British population.
So here come the Pirate radio stations that broadcast music 24 hours a day 365 days a year from ships stationed in the North Sea!

This story - based on a string of real life events - is about one such radio station(headed by the awesome Bill Nighy) airing banned music from aboard 'Radio Rock', and its DJ's. It is also a coming of age story of a young chap who is sent by his mother to mend his ways (or so he thinks) to the worst place one can be to mend their ways - Radio Rock!

This is a movie about music, purely about music and a little bit of love and a little bit of friendship.

Quite nicely made, I liked it, but I shall not recommend it to you unless you loooove music and a little bit of experimental movie making :)

The Mummy - Tomb of the Dragon Emperor

I think next the makers will come up with 'The Mummy - Tomb of the Drag queen' or 'The Mummy - how to make your girlfriend a mummy' ahem, anyway here is the review...

After a superbly made 'The Mummy', which started off the whole series, it is sad to see this franchise going down so quickly and so badly.

This pathetically made excuse for a movie was watched by me due to lack of anything better to watch on tv.

Prof. Rick Donnel's son, Alex is now a grown up lad, in fact he is now older than his dad or at least looks like it, has a girlfriend who is immortal and be-friends a group of Yeti's.

No kidding! There is one scene where surrounded by the evil villain's soldiers, she runs up a mountain side and calls 'yeti yeti' and lo behold they come running to beat the soldiers up!

Jet Li is the Chinese mummy/emperor who has little or nothing to do, except get his ass kicked when Brendon Fraser tells him 'Enough of your magic and tricks, fight like a man!'

Pathetic and disgusting.


Six Shooter


I have been a huuuge fan of Martin Mcdonagh ever since I watched the awesome 'In Bruges'.

This 27 minute short film is typical Martin Mcdonagh.

This dark dark comedy (if you can call it that) is about a train ride that has a group of passengers who have all had a death in the family.

There is Brendon Gleeson who has had his wife die that very morning, there is this couple whose baby had a cot death the previous day and then there is this weird and almost psychopathic young guy who cannot stop talking, who has his mother who died the previous day!

Apart from anecdotes about exploding cows, ugly babies and shouting at sheep this movie showcases how different people deal with death.

Well made but only for those of you who appreciate dark humour (I obviously liked it :P).

Craaazzzyy

Well, nothing's changed. Well one thing has ! I have got crazier.

Here is some crazy stuff done more recently.

1. Gate crashed a wedding, so that we could all go to the loo. Ended up taking some pictures with the guests :D

2. Fainted at the dentist's clinic, when she told me what exactly she was going to do to my poor tooth.

3. Watched 'Main aur Mrs Khanna'.

Gangtok ahoy

Here is a low down on our Sikkim trip!

To get to Sikkim the first thing you need to do is get to either New Jaipalguri (NJP) or Baghdogra, since this is the nearest rail and airport to Sikkim

The quickest and the most expensive way - Bangalore to Kolkata to Bagdoghra by flight and Bagdoghra to Gangtok by Helicopter.

How we got there: Bangalore to Kolkata by flight 2.5 hrs, Kolkata to NJP by Darjeeling Express 8 hrs.

Having reached NJP quite early in the morning, we took a shared taxi ride to Baghdogra which is about 10-12kms away, our plan was to take the helicopter to Gangtok (2200 rs per person, flying time 40 mins), but at the airport we soon realised that the 5 seater helicopter was already booked.

So we had to hire a taxi to take us to Gangtok. 3 hour ride.

Things to be aware of when travelling to Sikkim

1. Make sure you have a hotel pre-booked (or at least expecting you)

A quick search on the net will tell you that Sonam Delek is the hotel with the best view in Gangtok, and that is absolutely correct, priced at 2200 per night the deluxe rooms are comfortable, clean and have a loveliest of views from the balcony. We stayed here




2. Make sure you have at least 5 days in Sikkim

Traveling around Sikkim is tiring, because the roads are all ghat roads, hence even small distances like 120kms take about 5-6 hrs of travel. Make sure you have sufficient rest before and after each excursion out of Gangtok.

3. If you suffer from motion sickness carry the necessary medicine along

I suffer from motion sickness, so we did carry along my medicine, but surprisingly despite all the travel on topsy-turvy roads I did not fall ill. whew!



4. Carry a Photo ID and passport size pictures

This is necessary to get a permit when going to places close to the Chinese border eg. Yumthang, Zero Point, Nathula Pass

5. Get acclimatised to the altitude before traveling further

Stay in Gangtok for a day at least, make sure you get used to the altitude and the thinner air.

6. Visit the tourist information centre

Its on M.G. Marg the main market area in Gangtok, they will not help you book travel, but they will definitely help you plan your travel.

What we did ?

1. Gangtok sight-seeing

The first day we spent in and around Gangtok. Hired a taxi (1800rs), to take us around. The popular trip is what is called a 10point tour, but we thought it a waste of time, so we picked and chose what we wanted to see. Rumtek Monastery, Limdung Monasatery, A couple of water falls and the very impressive views from Ganesh Tok and Hanuman Tok !









2. Yumthang Valley & Zero Point

Yumthang is an overnight stay kind of trip . Hire a taxi, leave early in the morning, the drive itself takes 6 hours but on the way there are stops at all the super waterfalls and for lunch!

Reach a lovely village called Lachung by dusk, overnight stay and the next morning head out to Yumthang, for a little more money (1600rs in our case) the driver will take you to zero point which is roads end! :) and not to be missed!


Zero Point

Yumthang valley's claim to fame is that it is covered in flowers in spring, but when we went it was just a beautiful view.


Yumthang Valley

You will reach Gangtok by 7pm.

note: Book this trip as soon as you reach Gangtok, with a travel agent.

3. Nathula Pass, Tsongo Lake, Baba Harbhajan Mandir

This is a nice day trip. nathula takes about 3 hrs from Gangtok, though it is just 50 kms away. The best point about Nathula is that you get to meet (see), the Chinese soldiers, who are a barb wire away. You can see them posing for snaps with some tourists, or having a word with our Indian soldiers.


en-route to Nathula


An Indian and a Chinese soldier at the border


Baba Harbhajan Mandir is the next stop, this is a nice especially because of the myth and the legend surrounding the young sikh soldier in whose memory the temple is built. Read more about him here


Harbhajan Mandir

On the way down is Tsongo lake, this 1 kilometre wide lake completely freezes over in the winter, but was a pretty sight when we visited it. If you so wish you can get an overpriced yak ride around the lake.


Tsongo Lake

note: Book this trip as soon as you reach Gangtok, with a travel agent.


Overall, this trip proved to be an expensive but nevertheless a very memorable one! We brought away, some lovely pictures, souveneirs and some very special memories of the mountains:)

10 things I learnt from 'Inglourious Basterds'

#1 - Speling.

#2 - If you are shot in the leg, you can still attend a movie premier, the very next day! oh remember to limp a little.

#3 - The much feared Nazi killer, the 'Bear Jew' looks more like a high school bully and has the acting talents of a wooden plank.

#4 - If you are a world renowned director, you can afford to do a super bad job of editing and nobody will notice

#5 - Hitler was really a comedian who provided some good laughs

#6 - If you are planning to take off your uniform, then Brad Pitt will tattoo your forehead

#7 - Chistopher Waltz (aka Col. Hans Landa) ROCKS!

#8 - The father of a new born baby always has a sub-machine gun handy, just in case.

#9 - Germans looooove '20 questions'

#10 - A few great individual scenes stiched badly together do not make a good movie, no matter what everybody thinks.