Caramel

A wonderful movie.

A short story on love, romance, culture, infidelity, sexuality and more…

Nadine Labaki is excellent as the protagonist and the director of this critically acclaimed Lebanese movie.

Source: Yalibnan.com

Hancock - review

Atta boy! What a movie. I’m telling you, if you read any review that has a spoiler, may the reviewer be condemned to watch a Rakhi sawant reality show for eternity. Do not, do not, do NOT, commit the mistake of getting to know any spoiler about this movie.

This Hancock may not be a governor-elect of a state, but he is American and is unconventional, if not a revolutionary. The beauty of the movie is how WELL they packaged the trailers not to give away a major twist in the movie. It’s a humorous drama, a little action and some science fiction. I would say, I liked it better than Iron man. Definitely.

If u get a chance, GO WATCH IT.

4/5 or more. This baby, is the only spoiler for the movie.

Dasavatharam review - Am I a Critic?

There’s one thing about this blog (and its wonderful writer), that’s related to movies. I’m NOT a film critic.

I’m a filmaholic, a movie buff, a greedy viewer, a film enthusiast, a hyper active person when it comes to movies. But I only have some very vague ideas about actual film making, I know there are about 36 departments involved when you make a film, so to review a film and talk about cinematography, screenplay of which I have a very vague idea of, is ridiculous. I know what musical score means and I know what a director is supposed to do, so I can talk about them. And a few other stuff that my readers will understand, so here it goes, my uncritical review of Dasavatharam (by request )

Kamal Hasan, who is about 54 years old in real life, does a bloody good job in 10 different roles of the movie. The opening sequence (depicting the 12th Century conflict between Shaivism and Vaishnavism schools of thought within Hinduism) is rich in detail without being too overwhelming. Much has been said about the CGI and animation techniques used, and though they have been good among the Indian movies I have so far seen, it is still evident that they are CGI generated. The movement of the boats in the water and certain scenes haven’t been cleverly manipulated to make them look real. And when we boast about it being one of the costliest movies in Indian cinema, we could do a better job.

**Spoiler warning****************

Kamal Hasan’s roles;

12th Century Vaishnavite priest
Bio-Scientist in the current age
ex-CIA assassination agent
Indian government intelligence officer (crime related)
Old Hindu woman in a priest’s family
Christian Dalit leader
Tall Muslim guy
Japanese martial arts expert
President of the United states (!)
Sikh Pop-singer

–

Undoubtedly, Kamal Hasan in the role of the Indian intelligence officer is the one you will love. His comic timing is good without being crass or overtly silly. He has an authoritative personality over his subordinates and behaves unreasonably around people, just like our typical government babus. Fletcher in the role of an assassin definitely lives up to the character with some good stunts and a proper matching voice and accent. George Bush is subtly funny without being too out of place, the old woman’s role is funny too if you can relate to seeing women like that in your life time. The leader of the downtrodden carries an ethical and a moral message and is a pretty serious character. The naive Muslim guy’s role is sometimes for comic relief and for some emotional quotient. The Sikh Pop singer’s role is primarily for one song sequence but somewhat blends into the story too.

The main character as the bio scientist without any special make up is the one moving the story forward, with other characters, teaming up with him, trying to kill him, putting him in danger, making his life harder, all while cracking us up. It’s more of a comedy than a thriller, but falls just short of the mark of being called an excellent movie.

Kamal proves what he is capable of, his body language changes for almost every role he plays, his make up is good mostly, sometimes it’s a little unconvincing. I’m reminded of Brendan Fraser’s ‘Be Dazzled’ starring Fraser and Liz Hurley with the makeup of some of the characters. Two songs are good (rayaini matram and the one with Mallika Sherawat, who by the way is actually HOT). Asin has some role to play, the typical heroine role of being naive and stupid who’s IQ is always the minimum possible, like that of any other female character in most Indian movies. She uses her blind faith in religion to justify her childish actions, Mallika Sherawat performs a somewhat unconvincing role in speaking Telugu, but has some effortless style.

There are good things about the movie - Kamal Hasan, not once or twice but 10 times, then some humor and a reasonably good story line, I’m not sure if you would want to watch it if you aren’t really a fan of Kamal Hasan. It’s definitely clean and has no vulgarity you would find in most movies today, Mallika does add a sensuous touch in some scenes. There are bad things too - pieces of story with nothing interesting going on to capture the audience attention. People unsure of speaking Telugu by still trying it and some average CGI stuff, but the good definitely over weighs the bad, moreover, I cannot think of one good Telugu movie in the theatres worth watching that has come out in the past few months.

The SPIRIT by Frank Miller.

My city.
I can’t deny her.
My city screams, she’s my mother, she’s my lover.
And I’m her spirit!

Releasing Christmas 2008.

The man from earth - Movie review

A movie shot in a small room in its entirety - more importantly gripping the imagination and senses of the user without any special effects, CGI or graphics is a moviemaker’s dream come true, and to top it all, it’s Sci-Fi. ‘The man from earth’ is a movie, that one should really really watch.

There are certain stories that seem insanely absurd but can prove to be very convincing, and the climax is nothing short of a shock.

Song from the Man from Earth,\”Forever\”

Source: manfromearth.com

You can watch it online on Netflix or check it out at your local movie store.

Nostalgia revisited

So while I was planning my trip and trying to organize it myself by depending on the online booking feature of Indian Railways, which I kind of felt would definitely have something for internet users planning their schedule. I googled for Indian railways, and found www.indianrail.gov.in , for sure not a familiar site. But after an eternity(actually 3 solid minutes) when the page finally loaded (advertisements first, matter next). I clicked on online reservations and it took me to an external site, which was a tad faster (2 minutes) and I wanted to get started with registering myself as a user, but something clicked and it wasn’t my mouse, it was the name of the website.

www.IRCTC.co.in, it sure was familiar, YES. LOTSA JUNK MAIL in my oooooooooold inbox. I logged in to my old mailbox and flushed out a registered username and password from 2002. That’s right, I remember seeing the irctc website on news and clever me created a username and password in the November of 2002. I always knew I was ahead of my time , finally started making a purchase, from what I saw earlier today, purchases can be made only during specific hrs according to IST( I wonder why?), that translates to nightish-owly hours for me. Perfect. Indian railways helps five billion passengers annually, so I”m guessing there are thousands of users trying to get thru its meagre bandwidth somehow, buying tickets or checking status or checking timings.

Finally payment time and I could see a lot of unfamiliar options. Citi PG cards, Bank of Baroda, Bank of Maharashtra (they serve North and South Indians!!!, Thackeray saab, don’t u know it yet? Go break windows of a poor taxi driver around you). And finally, one familiar option, AMERICAN EXPRESS. Funny, it’s the most unpopular card with every business here in US (some costlier surcharge issue to the merchant). And it worked. Perfect.

Funny things about the site itself though. Slow. Station codes are slow to find on the pop-up. Can you believe it? Chennai is MAS, Bhimavaram town is BVRT, Kakinada town is CCT and Secunderabad is SC. The codes are NOT uniform! I wish I could write a site review, but an expert has already done it. Amit Agarwal, otherwise known as India’s best tech blogger has it here. And he sums it up in this statement:

” Pop-ups, frames, blinking text, tables with big borders, scrolling text - which are a big no-no in modern web design - can all be located on the Railways homepage. ” 2005

Of course, some changes have since been made.

Like most of you, I Love train journeys. Maybe, I’ve mentioned it more than often, but I was pleasantly surprised to get a Christmas gift a few months back (2007). A toy from Shanth. Thomas and friends and two attached bogies which chugs like a train and runs on a AA battery. For a few days, kodsi and Chandra were desperate to test its Horse Power (maybe micro HP?) Results, well might be available soon.

Jab we met

Kareena kapoor can actually, ACTUALLY act.

Finally, after years. I’m so happy, now. And what a movie. Not a story unheard of, for sure. But simple and beautiful.

I know, I know, it’s kinda late to talk about this movie. Still, Kareena CAN act.  I’m really surprised.

Movie review - Sweeney Todd

Courtesy: sweeneytoddmovie.com

Gothic is as Gothic does. Bloody hell.

What a disappointment. Oh, Mr. Tim Burton, if all you had to do was to promote cannibalism in your movie you could have as well put it up as a sequel to the Hannibal Lecter series.

**SPOILER WARNING

Pity, such beautiful photography and screenplay and excellent background score all for a movie worth puking in the theatre. How many normal people in the viewer’s seat can digest seeing hundreds of unsuspecting residents in London deliciously chomping meat pies filled with human meat. Did it have to be so explicit and cruel? How wonderful the beginning was with the hue and the sepia tone, depicting the beauty of London well even in shady untidy areas with open gutters. For all it’s digitally mastered artistic effects, the plain cannibalism you show so artistically is horrifying. Johnny Depp, SachaBaron Cohen (Borat), and the other characters borrowed from the Harry Porter movies (lady prisoner of Azkaban, Prof. Snapes and Peter Pettigrew) a talented star cast showcased well musically but for the gross and raw violence. The Nightmare before Christmas was boring enough, just believing every movie of Tim Burton’s to be equivalent to The Corpse Bride is worthy of a punishment like Sweeney Todd.

No more Tim Burton from now on, not until it’s a pure action movie like the Batman series or a cartoon movie with good reviews from critics and users alike. Even then I’m not too sure if I can still be a fan of Tim Burton anymore.

Sorry Mr. Burton, but goodbye.

Rating: 1/5 (for the excellent music and photography)

Knight Rider movie

Remember this?

Come Feb 17th 2008, a full fledged 2 hr movie being produced by NBC

Press release video - Click here

And the model used in the movie is a Ford Mustang while the one used in the TV series was a 1982 Pontiac (from wikipedia).

Aishwarya’s Birthday. SO?

34 reasons why you should not celebrate Aishwarya Rai’s Birthday

1. It’s not going to feed you
2. It’s not going to improve your financial situation either
3. If you have a bunch of friends celebrating it, then it’s time you changed your friend’s circle.
4. She is extremely famous and married. So if you had any dreams, forget it.
5. 34 year old women are - 34 years old. If you are a teenager or a young guy, it’s high time you touch ground and look for a girl around you.
6. She’s not the most beatiful woman in the world - accept it. You can never know who the most beautiful woman is anyway. The one who is - gave birth to you. Celebrate her birthday instead.
7. She has enough money to celebrate her birthday in whatever way she chooses, she doesn’t need any financial, emotional or physical help. Wishes are good enough, from your heart. No need to prove anything.
8. Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Kerala were formed on this day. It’s also the world vegan day. - They are far more important than Aishwarya Rai.
9. She’s a terrible actress (personal opinion, unwilling to change in the near future)
10. If you still want to celebrate it go ahead, if you are looking for 24 more reasons - you need help. Contact a doctor immediately.

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I’ve nothing against Ash, just that the concept of ‘fans’ is pathetic and even though Ash’s fand are in a way better than telugu flimdom’s hero’s fans. I take this as an opportunity to express my frustration against fans of celebrities in general……