Short-films of note

So here are a few short films that I recommend, mind you they are not necessarily in my all time list of best short-films, however they are ones that I have watched more recently and have left an impression.

So in no particular order...

1. Asai (Wishes) - Language: Tamil



Why should I watch it? Its wonderfully directed and is bitter-sweet. Brilliant. Easily the best in this list.

2. Get Out - Language: French



Why should I watch it? For the animation and the twist in the end. You would never expect it coming!

3. Do I - Language: English

do I? from Vikram Ahuja on Vimeo.

Why should I watch it? A great thriller. Vikram Ahuja, a friend of mine made this movie in a very limited time with a very tight budget. Hearing him talk through the script and then getting to see the final version was awesome! you can read more about this here

4. Blank Spaces - Language: English



Why should I watch it? A feel good movie. I loved the way its made and the idea!

5. Six Shooter - Language: English



Why should I watch it? Its directed by Martin McDonagh and stars Brendon Gleeson. reason enough. If names don't ring a bell then you haven't watched 'In Bruges' yet and you should watch that one first!
warning: this is not an easy watch and is quite eccentric, though I liked it quite a bit. The Irish accent and everything :)

Loads of movies on the list...

Its just been too long since I last wrote a review post and there have been so many movies during that period that now it would be just too difficult to write out a review. If you are super interested in any of the ones I have categorised below, then I may just write a specific review on demand :)

MOVIES THAT BLEW MY MIND - It would be a crime to miss these

• The Godfather
• Che Part 1
• Master and Commander: Far side of the world (easily one that I would slot in my all time favourites)
• The Kings Speech
• Cashback (There is just something about this movie that I can't place.)
  
• Scott Pilgrim Versus the World
• Following

GREAT MOVIES - You have to watch them

• Wild Target (Loooove Emily Blunt and Bill Nighy in this one)
  
• Walk the line
• Social Network
• Adventureland
• Almost Famous
• Little Manhattan
• An affair to remember
• The Boondock Saints
• The Extraordinary Adventures of Adèle Blanc-Sec
• Four Rooms
• Heist
• Bitter Moon
• Thirteen - Disturbing, but highly recommended
• Where the money is
• The town
• A beautiful Mind
• Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
• Zombieland
• X-Men: First Class
• The Fall
• Limitless
• Unkown
• Rounders
• Cemetery Junction
• Kung Fu Panda 2
• Moon
• Source Code
• The Exam (Just about made it here, for an interesting plot)

AVERAGE MOVIES - WON'T MISS MUCH IF YOU DON'T WATCH 'EM

• Rope (What! you're calling an Alfred Hitchcock movie "average"? Yes.)
• Perfume- Story of a murderer
• Scent of a woman
• Machete
• RED
• Perriers Bounty
• Book of Eli
• The Matador
• Nick and Norah's infinite playlist
• FAQ about time travel
• London Boulevard
• Chloe
• Rango
• Pirates of the Caribbean: On stranger tides
• Middlemen
• The Eagle
• Thor

MOVIES THAT SUCKED MORE THAN A BLACK-HOLE - If you are in a mood for some self-inflicted punishment

• Crank - High Voltage
• Interview with a vampire
• Dear John
• The killer inside me
• Fraility
• The Ninth gate
• Swimming pool (The French one...)
• The Adjustment Bureau
• Sweet November
• Love and other drugs
• Harry Potter and the deathly hallows -2
• The hangover II
• Men who stare at goats
• Donnie Darko
• The Alphabet Killer

Oh and if you're reading this on Facebook.. I just import my posts from my blog at http://apoorvgawde.blogspot.com/

What I've been reading...

Well, settling into a new apartment means living for a few days without some companions such as internet and the television. I write this blog with some borrowed wi-fi from a neighbour. The connection is not generally good from our room, but standing near the kitchen window allows some browsing. Today, however, the wi-fi network seems to be working from the room and hence the post.
Anyway, the lack of internet has allowed me to catch up on some reading. I used to be a voracious reader back in school and college, running at the rate of sometimes a book a day during vacations.

I still remember being re-introduced to Wodehouse in college and reading the books all over again. Picking up a book in the morning and getting done by evening, when the fragrance of incense used to fill up the house. I still associate that particular fragrance with the World of Wodehouse. Have no clue what the brand of incense stick was and the day I find it, will be a happy one.

So I've been reading. I left a Kingsley Amis book halfway, to pick up a collection of short stories, edited by Neil Gaiman and Al Sarrantonio, its imaginatively named "Stories". Decentish collection of stories and I got through that one quite quickly.
Followed it up with 'Demon Lover' by Lawrence Sanders, I was piqued by the name and thought it was good to catch-up on some sleazy reading, turned out that the story is a drama about a Hollywood movie studio and its supervisor (the protagonist), set in 1927, right at the cusp of sound being introduced in movies. Not a bad read though.
I just finshed a very interesting book called 'Don't ask any old bloke for directions' by P.G. Tenzing. This one's about an IAS officer, leaving his job and heading out on a road trip alone, around India. Its an easy read and not too heavy. The chap writes about people he met on the trip and his experience in general. Highly recommended.

During all of this, I started off on 'Bone' a brilliant graphic novel series by Jeff Smith. Please please read this one.

Now I have a choice of reading, ' The Banker' by Dick Francis (who writes thrillers set in the world of horse racing) or 'An April Shroud' by Reginald Hill (whose police detective duo of 'Dalziel and Pascoe' come second only to inspector Morse) or 'Whit' by Iain Banks.

I think I am going to go with continuing to read the currently ignored Kingsley Amis' 'You can't do both'.

Early adopters get to shout: 'The emperor's not wearing clothes!'

I love early adopters! They help save my time and energy. Google+ has arrived with the same fake 'invitation' business that makes you feel like you are amongst the privileged few to have access to some path-breaking technology. We think of ourselves as 'visionaries' and 'early adopters'. Just a more marketing friendly name for Guinea Pigs. This seemingly irrational behaviour of standing in long queues to buy a product that will not only halve in price in a couple of months, but also have significantly fewer defects (à la iphone), apparently has a reasons.
Studies show that people do this because of what it conveys about them to others. Not sure why studies were required to figure this out, but there you have it.
But again, I am not complaining too much, since these people saved me from the likes of Google Wave. I am just quietly smiling :P
The one place I am an early adopter in, are the movies. I love to watch most movies before somebody else spoils it for me with a review. But there are some movies where I do wait for a review.
Other than this, I am happy for someone else to see the proverbial emperor in the nude and tell me about it, so that I can give the spectacle a miss.

First movie in Delhi and a review of 'Zindagi na milegi dobara'

We headed out to Movietime in Westgate mall, in the Rajouri Garden area. Quite easily accessible via the Delhi Metro.
Now, the first thing you will notice in malls in Delhi are kids bouncing about on bungee trampolines. Most kids are expressionless during the whole experience. I am guessing this is because it must be a weekly routine for them. Parents take them to the mall and then trampoline time for 10-15 minutes. Must happen every Saturday/Sunday, experimenting with gravity must only be so much exciting.

Any which ways, the mall we did reach and due to it being super crowded the harried looking attendants let us into the hall with us just showing the sms we'd received when we booked tickets online.

So here's what I thought about the movie...

Firstly some sweeping generalisations and gyan:
Our parents' generation was one where the middle class folks had one aim: a good job and a simple, happy family life. So most movies were about bad people trying to take this simple life away from the protagonists.
Our generation seems to have more disposable income at hand and almost all of us want to break the shackles of our seemingly boring lives and get rid of the daily monotony, by traveling the world (a lot of which we have seen and read about from a mouse's length away via the internet).
'Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara' is aimed at just that. Three friends enter a pact. They will do a trip where each one will choose an adventure sport -which will be revealed to the other two only at the last possible minute- and they will have to partake in the adventures that follow.
Kabir(Abhay Deol) proposes to his girlfriend (Kalki), leading to the trip materialising, in the form of a bachelor party trip to Spain. Imran(Farhan Akhtar) a seemingly happy go lucky chap "with sad eyes" and the Workaholic, serious, running behind money, London based financial broker, Arjun (Hrithik Roshan) complete the triad.

Most road movies have a script where the protagonist have some challenge to face and end with the protagonists getting to know more about themselves than they knew before. This one follows the same rules and does quite a good job of it.

Farhan Akhtar gets most of the good lines, Abhay Deol underplays his role and Hrithik fits right into the character of a serious guy who wants to make as much money as possible before he retires at 40.

Kalki has a bit part really and is average. Katrina adds a bit of freshness to the film, but then this film is not about romance and love. There is a bit of that too, but this is a film about travel and broadening your horizons. So if you love to travel, then this is a movie for you.

Will you identify with the characters à la 'Dil chahata hai?' possibly not, for the whole set-up does not seem very real.
Will you enjoy the movie? Yes you will. But be aware that there are some parts where the movie just drags along at a slow pace.

But overall, this is a movie worth the watch, who knows you may just head out for the trip that you've been postponing all this while :)

Delhi-Gurgaon: Week 1

This is how I am set-up. I live in the Southern(South-Western?) edge of Delhi and I work in the Northern Edge of Gurgaon.
I am beginning to suspect I have a challenge on my hands in terms of conquering this city. My conquest of most cities begins with long walks and usage of the public transport.
Gurgaon does not have any public transport worth mentioning and the current weather means that long walks are close to impossible.
Delhi does seem to have decent amount of Public Transport, and I have the weekend to try most of it out. What little I have seen of Delhi is very impressive in the daytime and a little dark and depressing at nights (Though I confess I have only been in one of the not so 'happening' areas of Delhi).
I feel like the long days (there is light till almost 7:30pm) are wasted since one can't do much when the sun is up, unless it involves an activity in a heavily air-conditioned area.

But all is not lost, the weather will soon change, and hopefully I will get my car here soon enough, removing my current dependency on any other modes of transport and opening up more avenues to explore.
Also, the office is just fantastic! There seems to be scope for getting it to just the same energy levels that the Bangalore office had when it was newish, There is some way to go though.

Of course the icing on the cake is that there are a whole lot of weekend getaways to experience. Soon Soon.

Top 5 music moments in films by Quentin Tarantino

As far as I am concerned, the sound track of a Quentin Tarantino movie is always its best part, here are my favourite moments of music, in ascending order of awesomeness.

5. Never can tell - Chuck Berry
Movie: Pulp Fiction



Scene: Wallace order's his henchman Vicent Vega (John Travolta) to take his (Wallace's) wife (Uma Thurman) out to dinner.

4. Woohoo - 5.6.7.8's (Japanese Girl Band)
Movie: Kill Bill Vol.1


note: The video is a montage, could not find the original

Scene: The bride comes to confront the crazy 88 (and Gogo) and the girl band is playing at the restaurant. What better music than some Japanese teen pop song to precede a carnage.

3. A little bitty tear - Burl Ives
Movie: True Romance


Did not find the video from the movie, so you will have to do with the song :)

Scene: Dennis Hopper finishes work for the day (he works as a security guard) and heads home with his dog, this song plays out in his car (maybe on the radio). Brilliant. I loved the movie mostly because of its sound track.


2. Hold tight- Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich
Movie: Death Proof



Scene: The crash scene. The girls are in a car and have asked the radio jockey to play this song, the song plays, the crescendo builds up while the stuntman drives his car head on into theirs. Just the perfect song.

1. Two Hearts - Chris Isaak
Movie: True Romance



Scene: This plays during the closing credits of the movie. Its awesome!

Review - Shor in the city

This started as a Facebook status update, but then I realised that I had so much to write about it that it might as well be a post on my much ignored blog.
So here goes - The promising trailers followed by some strong recommendations from friends, meant that 'Shor in the city' had to be watched.

The movie has 3 parallel story-lines whose characters briefly interact across story-lines. There is Tushar, Nikhil Dwivedi and Pitobash Tripathy who are generally engaged in activities that just lie on the other side of the law. The newly married Tushar has a printing press that makes illegal copies of books and sells them on traffic signals.
Then, there is Senthil Ram Moorthy who has just come back from the US and is in the process of setting up a small business in India until he starts getting harassed by the local mafia. Preeti Desai plays his love interest.
Finally there is Sandeep Kishan, a budding cricketer, who has 2 problems - trying to get selected into the Mumbai team, but needing money to grease the palms of some unsavoury selectors to do so and to win the hand of his girlfriend (played by Girija Oak) whose parents are pressurizing her into an arranged marriage.

The movie promises a lot and delivers some. Firstly, the movie fails due to some horrible casting - Tushaar 'Wooden' Kapoor cannot express, Senthil 'Oily' Ram moorthy is an idiot and Preeti 'Plastic' Desai needs only 3 scenes to let us know that she sucks.
Secondly, the editing is bad. Directors Raj-Krishna better look up some Chris Nolan movies to learn how to tell 3 parallel stories and knit them together.
The pacing is slow, despite having a decent plot, the movie seems to take ages to move forward and I for one never got the underlying philosophy of the movie (if there was one).

However, the movie does have its plus points -
Some characters are brilliant: Radhika Apte (playing Tushar's newly wed wife), Pitobash Tripathy (plays Tushar's friend) and the menacing local mafia who harass Senthil ram moorthy. The music is great (especially 'Saibo').
Dialogues are well written and most importantly the movie makes a decent attempt to follow in the footsteps of some brilliant new age Hindi cinema (Ishqiya, Peepli live, LSD, Dev D, Manorama six feet under, Ek chalis ki last local).

So the movie is definitely watchable, but don't go in expecting a lot.

The response

I received a sms which I will find very hard to forget, it read:

"Superman ud raha hai
Batman dushmano se lad raha hai
Spiderman diwaron pe chad raha hai
aur doberman sms padh raha hai"

Now, the dilemma was around how to respond to such wonderfully expressed sentiments. I could respond with another joke ("an old woman died in her childhood" types), but I always feel obliged to be appreciative of the sms sender's humour (or his makers in this case).

Now this brings me to another set of choices, which always confuse me:

LOL/ROFL - It apparently seems to suggest that I am doubling over with laughter, when in reality I am just typing 3 letters with a poker face. So it feels a little patronizing

VERSUS

Haha - everybody likes a good onomatopoeia, give that one knows what it is (no, it is not a medical procedure). But how many haha's ?
'haha', seems short, almost sounds like a sarcastic laugh, but 'hahaha', seems like a laugh that starts promisingly but ends suddenly, again indicating sarcasm. hahahaha, or anything longer makes me feel like I am beginning to sounds like an idiot.


For the life of me, I haven't yet cracked yet what the apt response needs to be - I normally tend to alternate between the two responses, but wish there was a better way of expressing mirth via sms.

The complexity of ordering food

If I come to think of it, ordering food in a restaurant always involves some complex maneuver's. Firstly you need to tackle the group you are with - At times everyone wants to order, shouting out orders and interspersing it with conversations with each other. This always gets me annoyed. Then there are times when no-one wants to order and everyone goes "Anything's okay".
Over that I am always suspicious of the guy taking the order, I am always certain that he's never got it down correctly! So I am restless until the food arrives.
But in all this, the most complex food order has to be ordering for 'Lime Soda'. Unless people on the table have known each other for year's, ordering lime soda is tough.
Here is how the order goes:
Someone - One 'Lime Soda- sweet' please
someone else - one more 'Lime soda - salt' please
me - 'Lime soda -sweet and salt', please
another person - yeah sweet for me too
last person - lime soda
bah!
Ordering lime soda is always messy

Some cricket...

When in school and college, we had all the time in the world to play cricket, the biggest issue used to be -
1. Risk of losing the cricket ball or damaging the bat as we would rarely afford to keep buying a bat or a tennis/cricket ball.
2. Lugging the cricket bat on a crowded bus all the way to the ground and back.

Nowadays, we can buy an entire cricket kit without worrying about cost and the kit sits in the car which forms our modern transport, but, the biggest issue is finding time to play cricket :)

However, today we did manage to find some time. The same gang from school/college gathered together (well, at least 4 of us did) at about 7:30 am, however we realised there was just no place to be found to play cricket. Most grounds were occupied by school kids for Republic Day (which was quite cool).
It took us close to 2 hours to find a place where we could play. This place turned out to be 7 kms away from our planned ground.
For Raj this ground was 40kms away from his home, for Dilip and Naveen it was about 25kms away!

Anyway, we finally did get to play cricket and just like we have been promising each other since school, we said "Guys, we should continue playing cricket and playing it a little more regularly "

While we may not find the time to get together to play cricket as regularly as we used to, its good to see that we are still willing to travel long distances and take a few hardships to play a game of cricket . Just like the old times :D

Three from the road

Okay, so in last class we learnt how to cross the road. In this class we shall learn what to watch out for when driving.

1. The airplane landing gear

Modus Operandi:

This is frequently observed in non-geared two wheelers. At the first sign of traffic, the rider (most probably a saree clad lady), will put out both legs from the scooter in mid-air in anticipation of stopping; Just like the aircraft landing gear that comes out right before landing.
But this person will rarely stop and most probably will continue cruising down the middle of the road with their legs out and at the slowest possible speed that will still allow forward movement.

Why they are bad:
The more hilarious they look the more dangerous they are. Just like circus clowns brrrrr.

How to overcome them:
Overtake them from a careful distance at the first opportunity. Unless you want to loiter behind them clicking pictures to show your friends

2. The case of the invisible bus-stop

Sounds like a story from the memoirs of Sherlock Holmes eh?

Modus Operandi:
A bus-stops is supposedly meant to be a pre-determined location by the side of a road which will allow passengers to alight and hop onto buses conveniently, while allowing other traffic to pass by smoothly. Well or so the grand plan was. Only, someone forgot to tell the bus drivers this.
Resulting in chaos every time you happen to trail behind a bus. The bus at times decides to stop right in the middle of the road without any warning, most of the times parallel to the bus stand, but some way away from it, thereby stalling all traffic and if you are driving for the first time, it will give you an opportunity to crash into the bus.

That is not all, it may happen that a convoy of buses have stopped by the road and one of them suddenly decides to pull out of the convoy - again without any warning - at an akward angle.

Why they are bad:
The bus, by design, is a large vehicle. Due to this property that it possesses, any trailing vehicle has no means to see what lies ahead of the bus. Therefore your driving solely depends on staring at the tail lights of the bus. Any sudden moves by the bus can cause havoc!

How to overcome them:
Memorise the bustops on your regularly taken routes, the bus stopping pattern must become a part of your muscle memory.
Once this is the case, then you can use the bus stopping pattern to your advantage. laugh at the stalled traffic as you whizz by!

3. Maruti Ritz

Alright time for what may seem to some like a sweeping generalisation, but rest assured it isn't.

If you ever see a Maruti Ritz in front of you, then be aware that you are in for a torrid 5-10 minutes. God forbid you should have one in front of you on a highway, then you can happily shift to 2nd gear and enjoy the scenery.
The car itself looks like it has recently acquainted its rear with a truck's front, and this could be a reason for its weird behaviour.

For those of you who own and drive a Ritz and who at this moment may have certaing negative feelings creeping in your mind about me, I have just one thing to say: Get a new car and go get a driving instructor!

Tagged: 11 of my favourite romantic songs

Okay Amu has tagged me and I need to come with a list of 11 of my favourite romantic songs.

1. Choo kar mere mann ko - Yaarana (Kishore Kumar)
Why:
Tu jo kahe jeeva bhar,
tere liye main gaaun
geet tere bolo par
likhta chala jaa un

2. Pal pal dil ke paas -Blackmail (Kishore Kumar)
Why:
har raat khwabon mein
tera aachal leheraye
har raat yaadon ki
baarat le aaye

3. Phoolon ke rang se - Prem Pujari (Kishore Kumar)
Why:
Saason ki sargam, dhadkan ki veena
Sapno ki gitanjali tu
Mann ki gali mein, meheke jo har dam
aisi juhi ki kali tu...

4. Dooba Dooba - Silk Route, Mohit Chauhan
Why:
Koyi jaane na, pehchane na
Yeh hua kaise
Tum aagaye, khwabon mein aise

5. Chandan sa badan - Sarawasti Chandra (Mukesh)
Why:
ye kaam kamaan bhawe teree
palako ke kinaare kajaraare
maathepar sindooree suraj
hothhon pe dahakate angaare
saayaa bhee jo teraa pad jaaye
aabaad ho dil kaa wiraanaa

6. Sab ka katega - Bodhi Tree :P
Why:
Teri yaadon mein kal ki raina bitayi thhi
Meri aankhon mein phir se aas bhar aayi thhi
Shaakhon se phool toote, raahon mein jiske
Dil dooba, numm hua pyaar mein uske...

7. Sabse peeche hum khade - Mohit Chauhan
Why:
zamane ki baaton mein uljho na
hai yeh aasan jaan na
khud se agar tum jo puccho
hain hum tumhare ki nahi

8. Aap par arz hai - Lucky Ali
Why:
Aap par arz hai,
laakhon karodo arabo salaam
Aap na hote toh yeh dil
Jaane kisko deta salaam

9. Bade acche lagte hai - Balika Badhu (Amit Kumar)
Why:
Tum in sabko, chhod ke kaise
kal, subaha jaaogi
mere saath, inhe bhi toh tum
yaad bahut aaogi

10. Chal chale - Woh Lamhe (James)
Why:
Na jaha bheed ho, na jahan bhar ke log
na sheher mein basey, laahkon logon ka shor
chand lamhe tu inse mujhe duur kar
chal chale apne ghar, humsafar

11. Humsafar - Mohit Chauhan
Why:
Sur se saji, geeton si teri yaad
Tum bin sanam, bhaaye na koyi baat
Kaise kaho, akele chalun aaj
Aao sanam, Soone hai dil ke saaz


Feel free to pick this tag :)

Entertainment in 2010

So here are the top movies of 2010 in no particular order other than the one in which I recall them:

How to train your dragon - For its interesting plot and great animation!

Inception - For its originality

Kick-Ass - For its awesomeness

Band Baaja Baraat - For its fresh look at the Indian Wedding Business

Ishqiya - For bringing Guy Ritchie like movie making to Hindi Cinema

Peepli Live - For its satire

Social Network - For its being well made.

The A-team - For its action with humour (Expedables sucked big time btw)

Machete - For its over the top action

Dabanng - For its over the top action and for getting the real Salman Khan back

LSD- For being scary and funny in parts

Megamind- For its funny script

Wild Target - For Bill Nighy

Avataar - For taking movie making to the next level

More Movies

Leap Year

Romance about an Irish myth about a girl being able to propose to a boy during a leap year, so off goes the heroine to propose to the boy she loves, only to fall head over heels in love with a charming Irish inn keeper.

Average watch.

A Prophet

Brilliant French movie about life in the prison, that grows on you. An illiterate young guy, who also happens to be the protagonist is jailed and has a tough time, until he helps murder a rival. The most powerful gang in the jail begins to tolerate him, little knowing that he will turn out to be the smartest gangster the jail has seen. This movie follows the rise (or fall) of the protagonist, from a confused crook to a big time gangster.
Some brilliant cinematic moments. Fantastic movie!

The Wolfman

Great actors but disappointing movie. Benico del Toro and Anthony Hopkins star in this Victorian era thriller about a village haunted by a werewolf. There are a few thrills and chills, but overall makes for a tepid fare.
Give it a miss.

Pandorum

I am not a big fan of the sci-fi genre, but I watched this movie for one reason - Ben Foster and I was not disappointed. One of the actors whom I rate very high, thanks to "3:10 to Yuma", Ben Foster lives up to expectations.
Mankind has decided to send out a ship just as earth is about to be destroyes, and the ships crew wakes us from hibernation many years after Earth is destroyed. However they soon realise that most of the crew is missing and that the ship has been taken over by a race of mutant cannibalistic "humans" trying to hunt the remaining crew. A good fast paced action thriller with a twist at the end. I liked it quite a bit :)

An Education

Young school girl from a middle class, boring English family falls in love with a wealthy playboy and gets an education she wont forget. Well made. But nothing to write home about.


Many more movie to still be reviewed, I am lagging way behind :(

12 Angry men
Wild Target
Walk the line
Rope
Crank - High Voltage
Interview with a vampire
Perfume- Story of a murderer
Scent of a woman
Dear John
Social Network
The killer inside me
Adventureland
Cemetery Junction
Machete
Almost Famous

Naming the TV serials

Very rarely do I watch TV nowadays, except when there is a match on that I want to watch. Though I must confess that a very average series called "Lie to me" has caught my attention and I have watched a few episodes on TV last week (10pm Starworld , if you were wondering). Also the one episode of 'Modern family' seemed quite funny (11pm, Starworld, if your curiosity was piqued).

But what caught my attention was an advertisement I saw for a TV series on Sony, called
"TERA MUJHSE HAI...pehle ka nata koi" and the voice over says it in the same way, A loud and confident- "Tera mujhse hai" followed by 'pehle ka nata koi' in a meek voice as if she were ashamed to admit it.

The dearth of creativity when it comes to naming TV series strikes me. So much so that they have taken up old Hindi songs and that too ones that don't really fit!

I fear that soon they will have exhausted all the movie songs till the 80's and then move to songs from the more recent one's. So don't be taken aback if you see a serial named
"SEXY SEXY SEXY...mujhe log boley".

This leads me to wonder if there is an occupation that I have discovered here - "Chief namer of serials" or something along those lines.

Movies to tick off my list

I love lists. I keep a notebook at work and make lists of to-do items and when I am done I neatly highlight them with a...err highlighter.

The list of movies watched though has been long growing and here is my chance to catch up on the list...

Inception
Enough has been written about this movie and I loved it too. No, it did not have the same impact that 'The Matrix' had on me. But nevertheless it is a fantastic movie. Just complex enough for people to talk about it and but not so complex as to not being entertaining.
As far as Christopher Nolan movies go I would not rate it as his best work, I am hoping the best is yet to come :)

The man from earth

This movie is what science fiction should be :D Fantastic and mind blowing. I loved every bit of the movie including the ending. There are no special effects here, nor are there aliens, time travel or spacecrafts. There are a group of people talking in a room and that's it.
Take my word for it, this is a brilliant movie, I would rate it amongst the best in genre. Do not miss it.

Insomnia

This beauty of this movie is in the atmosphere it builds. Much like Nolan's previous work - Memento, this movie puts you in the head of the protagonist played by Al PAcino.

Two homicide detectives from the big city land up in a small town in Alaska to solve the murder of a teen. The sun never sets in the town and leaves Al pacino sleepless, nevertheless he almost does get hold of the murderer but ends up accidentally shooting his own partner during a stake out, but blames the killing on the murderer they were chasing.
The murder has witnessed the crime and now blackmails the detective who ridden with guilt can get no sleep whatsoever in a town where it doesn't get dark for months.

With a brilliant supporting cast of Hilary Swank and Robin Williams, this is a Chris Nolan master class.
It is, mind you, a remake of a norwegian movie, but that takes nothing away from the genius that is Chris Nolan.

Despicable Me

I had been waiting for ages for this one and when I did watch it, I was not disappointed at all. The 'hero' of the movie is a super villain Gru, whose life long dream is to steal the moon.
But for this he needs the super shrink ray that is guarded by his arch-rival and seems unobtainable until Gru realises that his rival has a weakness for cookies, sold by 3 little girls from the orphanage. Gru adopts the 3 girls in order to get to the ray gun, but realises there is more to life than just the moon.
The best part of the movie are the minions who help Gru with all his 'nefarious' activities, adding a lot of hilarity to the proceedings.
Immensely watchable.

Layer Cake

I am not a big fan of Daniel Craig as I think he is the sole reason for destroying the entire James Bond series.
But here he does a decentish job as a rich and suave cocaine dealer who gets into trouble on the eve of his retirement, as his boss gives him a couple of difficult assignments.
Given that this movie is from the same producers who gave us 'Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels' and 'Snatch', one would rather expect what follows.
This movie does not disappoint and even the ending is a little unexpected.

Edge of Darkness

Edge of darkness, as the name suggests is a dark movie, with revenge being its main theme. Mel Gibson, plays a cop who sees his daughter killed on his doorstep. He thinks that one of his enemies accidentally shot his daughter when trying to kill him, but soon realises that this is not the case, as he uncovers a few things that he did not know about his daughter which made her some enemies in high-places.
Mel Gibson in true Mel Gibson style wants revenge and revenge he does get.

A fast paced movie, that pulls punches at every twist and turn. Mel Gibson excels in the role.
Reminded me of another brilliant revenge flick of his, called 'Payback', which has been one of my most favourite movies.
A good watch, but not a feel-good watch.
Harry Brown

Another revenge flick, but this time with a difference. Micheal Caine plays a tired, retired ex special forces man, who day in and day out sees the senseless violence meted out my young gangs in his neighbourhood, but turns a blind eye to it. After his wife dies, the only thing left for Micheal CAine is his friend with who he plays chess in the local pub.
However when the gang of youth ruthlessly murder the old man, Micheal Caine has had enough and now wants revenge.
Brilliant movie, especially when it makes you wait and wait for Micheal CAaine to get angry You just want him to get out and kick ass and that he does!
Be warned that this is again not a feel good movie, but a fantastic one!

Blue Powder

The only good thing about this movie is Jessica Biel and the amount of Jessica Biel on display. You see, she plays a stripper.
Even the awesome Jessica biel is reduced to nothingness in this senseless movie about 4 strangers. The story aimlessly tries to get a common thread between the strangers, but fails miserably
I hated it.

A history of violence

Viggo Mortensen is as impressive as always. He plays a simple family man running a cafe in a small peaceful town.
But his world is shattered when he becomes the local hero after killing two psychotic criminals trying to rob him. He soon gets into the limelight and gets noticed by some underworld elements who seem to know him from the past.
Awesome movie that starts slow, but soon breaks into a super duper action flick as we see a mild family guy turn into a menacing individual.
Liked it a lot.

The Vampire's assistant

Any movie that has Salma Hayek with a beard can be safely deemed as a weird movie and this one is no different.
The movie starts off promisingly, as a a couple of teenage boys, go visit a freak show in town, only for one of them to be turned into a vampire.
But there the coolness ends and the movie gets quite boring and drab. Don't really watch this one unless you want to Salma Hayek with facial hair. brrrrr

Leap Year
A Prophet
The Wolfman
Pandorum
An Education
12 Angry men
Wild Target
Walk the line
Rope
Crank - High Voltage
Interview with a vampire
Perfume- Story of a murderer

Saturday :)

There were plans of a road trip to Hogenekal today, but we canceled due to the rains last night. But that leaves me with a nice and lazy Saturday.

I have already achieved waking up at noon on Saturday and today I want to - discover some new Jack Johnson songs, watch "12 angry men", go to Blossoms and buy an Iain Banks book, figure out the song that is in my head for the past 2 days, but that I have been unable to find out so far :(

Some movies pending a review...

Shutter Island

Brilliantly made movie! Though one can see the twist coming from a mile away. The cinematography and the direction make this movie a great watch. Oh and if you are lucky enough to not see the twist coming, then I suspect it will be a shocker!

The Escapist

I got this movie thinking of it as an out and out action movie, because I did not read the summary. It turned out to be a prison break drama/thriller. Nevertheless, I liked it quite a bit. The ending is a little unexpected and it adds the icing.
Very watchable.

Give em hell Malone

Now I picked this movie because again judging from the cover it seemed like a modern film noir and I looooove film noir (Watch 'brick' its brilliant). It turned out to be absolutely horrible. What were they thinking? Thomas Jane is an idiot.

Green Zone

I thought it was okay. I guess it may have to do with a bad quality print or it may just be that I do not like war/political "thrillers". It was a bore.
Now this is not too difficult to guess. Look at the poster that I flicked from some website and the unimaginativeness of it all -If such a word exists- should be evident.

Shutter

Oh I like Korean movies, In that... a horror flick that came highly recommended was a must watch.
Boy is a pro photographer, one day when driving back from a party, boy and girl hit a girl and weird things begin to happen.
It will not disappoint you. A decent horror movie throughout with a super duper ending. Watch watch. But make sure you watch the original, not some crap Hollywood remake.

KickAss

What-e-movie. It starts off almost like a teen movie. A young nerdy guy dresses up as a superhero and tries to kick butt, we think we know where this is going and suddenly the movie gets to be full of blood, gore and violence.
The characters are all caricatures but the violence is seriously gory. Fantastic movie!

Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus

Super psychedellic movie. Well known as Heath Ledger's last film.
Doctor Parnassus has a traveling road show, with a mirror that can lead into an imaginary world. The doctor however had struck a deal with the devil and the devil is here to reclaim his part of the deal, i.e the doc's young daughter.
Jude law and more importantly Johnny Depp fill in for Heath Ledger. I liked the movie but beware that it is a little weird.

Butterfly on a wheel aka Shattered

We are introduced to a happy family, Mother(Maria Bello), Father(Gerard Butler) and child. Things all go wrong when the parents are car-jacked and held hostage by a psychotic guy(Pierce Brosnan, in what seems like an uncharacteristic role), whose motives are not very clear.
The movie has its share of thrills and spills, but has too many twists and turns in the ending, to make it all seem very unbelievable. Abbas-Mastan may as well remake this movie.

The A-Team

Based on a TV series this out an out action movie is awesome! I loved all the characters (I am a huge fan of Liam Neeson) and there was a plot albeit a little convoluted. I have not followed the TV series too much, but if the movie is anything to go by, the TV series must've been awesome!
Must watch!

The Expendables

The Expendables pales in comparison to the awesomeness that is the A-team. Its like an ode to yesteryear action heroes. The Line-up has a tired looking Sylvester Stallone, a menacing Dolph Lundgren, The boring Jet li and Jason Statham. The only scene that had some element of awesomeness was the one featuring Jason Statham kicking ass on a basket ball court all 'Transporter' style.
Arnold Schwarzenegger and Bruce Willis show their faces for 2 minutes and Mickey Rourke keeps painting and Tattooing Sly. (I think we see a little too much of Mr. Rourke nowadays after "The Wrestler").
The villains have Steve Austin and the movie has almost zero plot. Annoyed with this movie.

Other movies that will come up in the next review post:
Inception
The man from earth
Insomnia
Despicable Me
Layer Cake
Edge of Darkness
Harry Brown
Blue Powder
A history of violence

Road Crossing for dummies

So I have started driving a lot more regularly than I used to, and other than the auto's/two wheelers that try and squeeze into every nook and cranny available on the road, the other feature of Bangalore roads are the people crossing them.

I have managed to identify a few popular techniques of road crossing.

1. The Test match opening batsman


People who follow this technique of road crossing are super cautious and have a "great temperament".
Just like Sunny Gavaskar, who would wait for ages for a bad delivery off which he could score a single, these people will wait for almost ever, before they feel it is safe to scurry across the road.
They are especially irritating when you want to cross the road and they are "the lead" . They never make use of those promising gaps in traffic!

note: "The lead" - in road crossing jargon means to be the one closest to the approaching traffic. Though this person may change frequently, especially if you are standing in the middle of chickpet or K.R.market. The lead is responsible for crossing the road first, the rest just follow cue.

2. The "Kaho na pyar hai" dance step.

Now this a step that has been popular on Indian roads for ages . Much before Hrithik displayed it in the title song of the hit movie Kaho na pyar hai.

The step comprises of 2 movements: one step forward and one step backward, alternate this with flailing arms and you will have mastered this technique.
This is the best technique for people with commitment issues- step into the traffic and suddenly go back onto the pavement, repeat step till you finally want to commit to getting to the other side of the road.
If you are driving, you need to be able to ascertain when the person will come forward and when he/she will go back. You will be able to identify this technique only with experience of driving on Indian roads.

This step is demonstrated by Hrithik in this video watch closely from 1:21 to 1:25 of the video

3. The Matrix

This technique is fast gaining popularity thanks to the incessant flow of traffic. To master this technique - think Neo stopping bullets in the Matrix.



This is the simplest of techniques. Do not look left or right, put out your hand at the approaching traffic and walk across the road. The traffic will stop and give you way.
Note - you will have to have an expression of disdain and 'I don't give a damn' on your face. The traffic will NOT stop if you look like a cornered rabbit.

This can only be executed if you are super confident of the driving abilities of all the other Bangaloreans and have calculated the probabilities of brake failure on an average day.

As with all things 'Matrix', I cannot tell you more about what the technique is. You have to see it for yourself.

4. Flash

This technique is as old as the dinosaurs. Look left and right. If you notice the tiniest of gaps in the flow of traffic, put your head down and run at top speed across the road. Keep eyes closed till you think you have reached the other side.

5. Equated Installments

This just like the EMI concept, this is based on the divide and conquer principle. Don't wait for the traffic flow to dry out. Just cross the road a few feet at a time.
If its a 30 feet wide road, cross 10 feet first, thus making yourself an island as the traffic goes past you. Wait for the remaining traffic to slow down or take pity on you and then cross the remaining section.
This requires good agility as there arise a need to be able to duck out of the way of a speeding motorbike that is overtaking a slow moving bus from the wrong side and trying to occupy the same space of the road that you are standing on (or were standing on a fraction of a second before you ducked out of its way).

6. The parasites

Now this is the recommended technique for beginners and amateurs. Just stand on the pavement looking busy staring at the sky or at something across the road. Wait for an expert to arrive at the scene (This will be the person who will immediately take "the lead"). The expert will use one or more of the above mentioned techniques and you can just tag along.

See you on the other side of the road!