RandomTrivia - Find the Variables

The movie "A" was primarily set in the city "B".
The climax of the movie was shot in the city "C".
Earlier a band "D" had written a song "E" as a tribute to city "B".
But the makers of the movie "A" played the song "E" when the protagonist visits the city "C".
Tragic misinterpretation of the song :-)

You can hear one character quoting Gertrude Stein's "'F' is my country, but 'C' is my hometown"

Find the variables.

Find the Variables - RandomTrivia

This quiz has two parts.

part one:
Movie Trivia:

'A' is the director of the Spanish movie 'B'.
'C' played a lead role in the movie 'B'.
'C' at some point in her career was dating 'D'.
'D' is a major Hollywood star and was simply spell-bound by the Spanish movie 'B'.
'D' earlier was directed by 'E' in a movie 'F'.
'D' never known as a great-actor was nominated for 'Best Actor' award for the movie 'F', thanks to 'E'.
'D' and 'E' decided to co-produce the movie 'G'
'G' is primarily a scene-by-scene remake of the movie 'B'.
Since 'D' was dating 'C', he chose 'C' for the same role that she played in 'B'.

Find the variables.

part two:
Cricket Trivia:

Find the variables:

When 'A' toured India as part of a test-match tour. 'A' lost the test series.
'A' in the only test match they won during that tour, was particularly annihilated by an Indian batsman 'B' who earlier had a really rough patch.
'B' totally destroyed 'F' who was making a debut during that series.
'F' inspite of being on the receiving end for most part of the match came out laughing by taking lots of wickets.
When India visited A(country name) as part of the bilateral series, Indian team was in the receiving end.
But still couple of inspiring batting performances by Indians really amazed this commentator 'C'
'C' followed the entire series i.e in India and in A closely and was amazed by B's favourite stroke 'D'.
'C' used another name 'E' to refer to the stroke 'D'.
Of course, B is not India's only exponent of the stroke 'D'.

Find the variables

Flip-flop

Act 1: In the cricket-field

Balaji always wanted to spend time playing cricket with his apartment friends on the road. Balaji is fielding near what is supposed to be the boundary line and is anxiously hoping to contribute something for his team by taking couple of wickets or score a massive six, but those are out-of-his-zone thanks to the skill-level. So, being a safe fielder, he is hoping to pull of some reasonable saves or catches if at all the ball comes near him.

Balaji could hear someone shouting for him and turns around in one of those "don't disturb me now.. not now" looks and finds his grand-mother calling him.
Balaji dismisses her in one of those polite gestures, but on repeated calls he tells his buddies "sorry guys, i have to go.. my grand-mother is calling for me" and leaves politely ignoring any adverse reaction from his cricket-mates.

Act 2: In the house

Balaji enters the house and before he even thinks of shouting at his grand-mother on disturbing him on what was a key match of his life.
His grand-mother in an amazingly pleasant tone pleads to her favourite grand-son "Please get this wheat grounded from the mill shop close-by".
Balaji knew he is one sucker for such pleads and knows he could never ever say 'no way' to such pleads, atleast not to his grand-mother.

Act 3: On the road

Balaji walked fast towards the 'mill shop' to get the wheat grounded and at times did those quick jog followed by the fast walks when he wanted catch his breath.

Act 4: The machine

On receipt of the wheat content, the shop-keeper got his apparatus ready i.e he turned-on the heavy noise-making motor and slowly started turning the gears of the mill-machine. It's tough to appreciate the science behind how such a massive machine works, but it doesn't take much long for anyone to appreciate the noise which comes out of this gigantic apparatus.
Balaji liked this machine, not for the science behind it, but for the noise it makes. The noise will scare most of the mortals but not Balaji, he will stand close to this machine and will sit on the stool close to that.
Now, having got used to the high-decibel level from this machine, he will use his index fingers to close his ears.
Any person would perceive this act as being scared of the noise, but what Balaji will do is just use his fingers to close his ears and then open it subsequently.
And this open-close goes on and on until the shop-keeper asks him to pay-up for 'grinding the wheat'.

Act 5: On return

When Balaji enters the apartment, he finds a small crowd before his apartment-block, but ignores the crowd and slowly he finds his way back home.
When Balaji is about to enter his house, he could only hear cries which grew much higher when the folks in the house saw him.
Balaji had seen most of these folks in one of those marriage-functions but never at his house.
Balaji finds his father over a huge ice-block which was surrounded by saw-dust, in sleeping posture with his head seeing the ceiling and his foot-toes tied together and cotton stuck on the nose and ear. Balaji is a trifle too amused and could hardly understand why all this fuss. He could hear his grandma crying 'Raju.. Raju.. ' repeatedly. Balaji could not locate his grandma, but walked towards her den.

Act 6: In the kitchen

His Grand-mother's den had way too many people than the den can hold. As long as Balaji can remember, it has always been his grandma's domain.
The moment his grandma set her eyes on Balaji, her cry seemed to have hit a crescendo. Though she held him close to her like never before, but still only one name seemed to come out of her mouth 'Raju .. Raju.. '.

Act 7: The chant

Balaji had to change his dress i.e from his shirt-trouser to just dhoti.
And had to sit before the homam (or sacred fire) and the priests started chanting mantra (or the sacred lines chanted before a dead person is carried to the graveyard), even though the cries grew louder and louder.
Balaji sat still and used his index fingers to open and close his ears.

Elvis rocks

Listening to "Can't help falling in love" by Elvis Presley is fantastic.
The initial polite drum rhythm for the first 8 seconds of Elvis's song reminds me of the starting beats in 'piyu bhole' song from the movie 'parineeta'.
Guess, Shantanu Moitra replaced the drum beats with piano tune. Of course, inspired stuff I guess ;-)
Though the transformation from pallavi to anupallavi is kind of rotten with some carol kind of harmony. Though the voices were brilliant i.e Sonu Nigam and in particular Shreya Ghoshal with her silly smiles inserted all through the song.

Feels blessed to hear such songs.

words & music by george weiss - hugo peretti - luigi creatore

Wise men say only fools rush in
But I cant help falling in love with you
Shall I stay
Would it be a sin
If I cant help falling in love with you

Like a river flows surely to the sea
Darling so it goes
Some things are meant to be
Take my hand, take my whole life too
For I cant help falling in love with you

Like a river flows surely to the sea
Darling so it goes
Some things are meant to be
Take my hand, take my whole life too
For I cant help falling in love with you
For I cant help falling in love with you

Jaws

Act 1:
title: Varun realises he has a tummy

Wakes up as always and then gets ready for office .. and during the shirt tucking ceremony identifies that if he tucks his shirt his tummy pouch is quite obvious. So, refuses to tuck in and then leaves for the office preferring informals to formals.

Arun: It's a Monday and you are coming like this..
Varun: You don't have this tummy, so you can't understand my problem... (and taps his tummy)

(the shot is done indoor and then when Varun and Arun leave with their laptop bags, the shot is preferably done from the terrace..i.e from a higher location)

Act 2:
title: In a huddle-room

(the shot is done in some huddle room where Krishna, Arun and Varun when Dileep enters the room)
Dileep: So, how are we planning to handle the CUSTOM pll packaging. Seems like yesterday's pack had overwritten the customizations introduced in the previous pack. Buggers, please change your MD120 in such a way that old code is not deleted from the code unit.

(Dileep spots Varun in casuals)
Dileep: Dude of the nation, this is Monday and you have come in casuals..
Okay guys, get the pack ready in another hour for client-release.

(And shouts on the phone, ) Sunil bugger, wait for me, I am coming for the smoke..

Act 3:
title: Wakes up early for gymming

(The alarm rings with LedZep's "Kashmir" ringtone and Varun wakes up with all the energy at 6 am... gets ready)...
(V starts his rather slow jog on the street, but seeing a dog he just starts to walk )
(V reaches office and does the climb to 9th floor via stairs and breathes heavily when he reaches the gym, taps his tummy and starts cycle-pedaling ... )

Act 4:
title: And the story continues everyday

(V runs on the running machine and the fm radio in the gym room gives him company.. , along the pressing his tummy to check if it has reduced..)

Act 5:
title: V reaches home after one of those usual runs but now looking a lot slimmer and of course tired

Arun: What's wrong with you? Why are you over-doing your exercises... hang on.. i think your face has gone out of shape..
(Varun gets all worked up when he hears the 'face deformity part' .. and goes infront of the mirror and can't figure out anything)

Varun: Moron.. what do you mean ? Guess, it's looking all okay
Arun: No, your left-jaw is much longer than the right-one.. never noticed this earlier in you.. guess, it has to be related to some wrong exercise technique.. anyway, got some work, bye da..

(Varun just gapes at the mirror)

Act 6:
title: Jaws up-close

(In the gym, he goes infront of the mirror, now he knows the tummy is not his concern which is now in controlled shape, but the jaw is not.. and just wonders why it is like that.. )
Varun: Damn.. Arun...

Act 7:
title: In the bay

(Varun is working infront of his laptop in his bay and that's when Deepika starts up a conversation )
Deepika: So, any plans for the weekend ... ?
(holds his chin in 'rodin's thinking man' posture and replies..
Varun: Nothing much, though planning to play tennis..
(Deepika leaves in disgust.. )

Act 8:
title: Stares

(Varun reading newspaper in the reception and a girl passes by who just stares at Varun, Varun is not sure if it is the jaw that the girl just stared.. so just holds his chin.. )

Act 9:
title: V gets an email forward from Neemit in his gmail id, with subject as 'Deepika Padukone ***Careful'..

(Varun opens the mail and scrolls through the clips, but he stops scrolling and gets real close to the laptop to check one photo.. - Bach's "air on the g string" in the background)
Varun: Ah, the jaws and smiles..
(Varun notices that Deepika's left-jaw is also longer than her right.. and realises it's the same for all )

Holy Smoke

Here in Dublin, when men and women stand outside a pub, for a smoke and pint, that too when it is too cold out in the open. You wonder what's wrong with these people! But since 'no smoking' is religiously followed in all pubs, pub makes an amazing place for non-smokers who don't have to take the smoke when inside the pub.
But, what happens when the non-smokers have to pass through the platform :-(
More worrying factor is that the smokers do not realise that they are puffing the smoke directly on pedestrians who are using the platform :-(

Wonder why in India the rules are straight opposite i.e people are mostly banned from smoking outside in the open(public), but allowed inside enclosures :-(

Norah Jones

I knew she was a bit short, but when she came on stage in a lazy sweatshirt and jeans, you might wonder if she is just out of school. The concert was to start at 19 00 hours and I made a foolish mistake of taking that 1900 hours seriously. I was there in the hall 18 55 hours and I knew something was wrong when the entire hall was empty except for maybe 20 odd people (max) sitting in their chairs. I got curious and enquired if the concert is at 1900 and I was told by the usher in a polite tone that the concert will start around 9 or 9 30 pm and there will be another cover artist who will perform from 8 pm to 9 pm.
The chair was small uneasy when I wondered how am I going to kill time for another couple of hours, but things coasted when I took out my mp3 player and started listening to the usual dosage of LedZep. The flipside of the ticket had lots of instructions and one of them included come early and the organizers reserve the right to reject admission for latecomers. Damn, I took those words a bit too seriously and I was there on time like a school kid. Another instruction was 'do not carry any cameras and audience will not be admitted with objectionable materials'. I decided not to take my camera. Guess what, once Norah came on stage cameras of different models came out of people's hands and lots of lightning like flashes came in :-(
Quite disappointing, but was glad there was no other disappointments.
When the concert started at 8 pm, Norah sang some duets (those typical country/jazz/school rhythms) along with the cover singer and disappeared soon leaving the male cover singer to sing for another 30-45 minutes. I think Norah might have reached the venue just then and without reaching the make-up room she would have appeared on stage (so that she is not too late :-) ) and later get out of stage via backdoor for a makeup and reappear for the actual concert later around 9 pm.
And she came, this time she looked like a doll with the bright red gown. She was interacting constantly with the audience and it was more like Wimbledon-style i.e someone from the backbench gets her attention after the backbencher shouts 'norah, i love you.. ' or '..you are beautiful..' and she replies 'yeah.. i know..' with giggles all around.
She started with her hit 'Come away with me.. ' song and I was glad since it was one of those very few songs that I know which belonged to Norah. I guess she has an amazing fondess to country music style singing or maybe school rhythms, somehow songs of these genre kept coming after the initial song. I thought she was losing the audience with these slow songs, then came the interval. After the break, she starts performing funnier tracks and used drums a lot more effectively. Once the drums tempo came-in, the crowd started clapping and the concert became more livelier than ever.
The lighting was spectacular i.e not much fanfare but yet so lively. Norah comes across more of a country singer rather than a jazz singer at times. I guess the best part of the show was when she announced 'that this is the last song of the day' and performed 'sunshine .. sunshine.. ' and she and her entire troupe kind of performed a bow and she was on her way out. But, most of the audience did not move, I guess most of the audience knew the trick that she will always be back to perform one or two songs extra after she threatens to leave by claiming that this is the last song. And she came in again with the entire band and performed two more songs.
Some trivia on Norah, she was born to Pandit Ravi Shankar and Sue Jones(a NY musician). Her birth name is Geethali.Ravi Shankar and Sue got divorced early in her life. Her relationship with her father is stormy. Her father had played in Woodstock 1969 music festival and performed alongside 'the beatles' in 60s. I guess the genius in Norah was always there with this kind of background.

Rain

While browsing through tv channels I hit upon this song and I kind of knew this song has got something really kicking

Crowded House - 'Take the weather with you'

Their style appears to be similar to duran duran i.e strong rhythmic sound all through the movie typical of 80s music style. The lyrics appeared to be very simple too, though the video could have been much more interesting. Nevertheless, the steady beat and the genuineness of the song makes it so easy to relate to.

When people cringe about the dark clouds all around and the lousy rain spoiling all their weekend or weekday plans of going out, you feel sorry for them. Read some article a while back that suicides rates are much higher in western europe cause of its lousy grey rainy weather. The importance some give to weather forecast really beats you. One person on a TV interview replies 'It always rains here', when asked 'why she wants to leave England'. Thought these are heights anyway.
No wonder, this Crowded House song 'Take the weather with you' adores the blue sky.

Remember one exciting episode on NGC a while back, which tracked back as to how 'Cherrapunji' got the title as the wettest place on earth. Seems like one Scotsman was put on government duty to Cherrapunji more like a punishment posting by the English somewhere in 19th century. And the Scotsman got tired of the frequent rains in Cherrapunji, which was worse than Scotland where it rains 250 days of the year. In Cherrapunji, the rain is ferocious though and this Scotsman thought of committing suicide, but later to hit back on the boredom he started doing experiments on the rain water and came to the conclusion that 'Cherrapunji' is the wettest place on earth.

Leaving the trivia on Cherrapunji aside, I think rain clouds are a beauty to gaze at, thanks to the speed at which rain-clouds move around. And it is so beautiful when the rain does not pour down but just trickles and also when there is only rainclouds over you, but no rain. Those are the days, which I used to adore so much. Also, the exciting part when the school closes down expecting heavy rain, but by providence there is no rain and you play cricket all day.

Can remember a dialogue in 'Taxi Driver', where Robert DeNiro wishes that it rains in NY, so that all the dirt/sins are washed away from a sinned city like NY. Remember another interesting sequence related to rains in the movie 'City of Joy', Om Puri a hand-rickshaw guy charges more from the greedy Sethjis who take a ride in his rickshaw during monsoon time.

The best part about rain is that it gives a fresh start to various life-forms in the land. In particular, it is a delight to see how fluorescent green a grass gets during rainy days or just after rainy days.

The Animals - House of the Rising Sun

Truly remarkable song. When I saw the Scorcese movie 'Casino', I could pleasantly remember the amazing song which was running in the background when bodies got piled up after being brutally slaughtered near Las Vegas in the movie's climax. The song had a distinct "western" tinge (those typical Ennio Morricone or Clint Eastwood kind).

Video here

The song has a mesmerizing effect when you listen to it.

Where is my leg space?

Flying business class for 10+ hours is tough, the kind of frustration which creeps in knows no bounds at all. The problem with such flights is that you know there are lots of people who are flying with you are trying to be nice to one another and worst the flight attendants are also too helpful. Now, who is going to take the burnt of the bad leg space or hardly any breathing space available or arm place etc., - ah. Yes, it is you and you start grinding the teeth and hope the 10+ hours will end quick. Worst if in the name of flight entertainment, one gets to see sub-standard movies then god help us all!

Zindagi ne Zindagi

Classy song this from the movie 'The Train'. Probably the voice made all the difference, for a moment thought it was Atif Aslam, but it appears that the singer is Mithun. I thought maybe I need to read the lyrics, but the moment I start reading the lyrics I feel I am no longer bothered about deceiphering the meaning/my interpretation of the song, which will immediately make me lose interest over the song. So stopped reading the lyrics and started listening to the song.

Kind of reminds of a Ruskin Bond story 'The train stops at Shamli' in which the protagonist wanted to propose to a beautiful vendor at the railway station. The protagonist finds her beautiful but always worried to go ahead to her and propose to her fearing failure or worst fearing the future. The theme sounds so real !

Hi There

If words can lose any purpose, here it is when you hear a stranger telling you 'Hi There' or 'Are you okay?' or 'You alright?' or 'How are you doing?'. In India, when you hear these words from a stranger the first thing you ask yourself is 'is this person alright?' or 'what is his problem?' cause these greetings sounds so phoney.The problem in such greetings is that they hardly get to the next stage of any intimacy or even to start a simple conversation. Thus, 'Hi There!' sounds terribly absurd cause the person who greeted you is not keen to get on a conversation with you. 'Hi There' is more like a fence or shield i.e now that I told you 'Hi There', you either greet him/her back and then buzz off is probably the likely meaning.Anyway, I guess it takes great courage to still say 'Hi there' to a total stranger, cause there is always the chance of being ignored or worst insulted.

Mistake - whose stake is it anyway ?

There are so many times we volunteer to point out a mistake of someone's of course! And this seems so easy to pass the buck/blame, though it feels like doomsday when you are at the receiving end.

If a person 'A' blames another person 'B', does it make 'A' a hero ?
Hmm.. Listening to A's, 'I told you then,... ' or 'I wish you had done this way .... ' or 'You should have asked my help .. ' is probably one of the most nauseating experiences for 'B'.

I think if B commits an error/mistake 'E' and 'A' is able to point the mistake 'E', then 'A' by default becomes a stake-holder in this mistake 'E'. Thus, the moment 'A' identifies the problem he is also part and parcel of the problem and there is no way 'A' can play the holy ghost by lecturing that 'this could have been done that way'.

Movies by Weekends

HotFuzz:

One of those British comedies similar to 'Borat' which kind of fails to understand whether it is going to be an out-and-out spoof movie or an original comedy movie :-( The final product is more of a parody which is just ordinary :-(

Insomnia:

Saw this Al Pacino, Robbie Williams, Hillary Swank what appeared to be a total waste of the talent. Maybe the plot was too weak, though the part on how Al Pacino loses sleep cause of the sun-which-never-sets in Alaska was well thought out!

Notorious:

This Alfred Hitchcock movie was fun to watch, typical story but nothing really special about it though.

Bheja Fry:

Somehow the story does not suit the Indian context, so never really liked this movie.

Hideous Kinky:

The storyline is fascinating i.e how Kate looks all around Morocco for finding herself, but always misses the part that she can never find herself in Morocco cause there is nothing to find. Life just moves on, cause there is no 'destination'.

Stranger than fiction:

Too good a movie. The stars really lift the story and the plot speaks volumes for itself.Must see!

Oceans 13:

Fun movie to watch. Though the screen looks too over-crowded with so many actors (thirteen is too many, cause of that many hardly get a screen presence at all)

Goal and Goal II:

Typical feel-good movies, some of the shots are breathtaking i.e roping in so many football stars and getting some beautiful clips on screen.

The good shepherd:

Decent movie. De Niro's debut into direction. One dialogue between Joe Pesci and Matt Damon was really the pick of the flick in which Matt Damon tells Joe Pesci that his(cuban immigrants views) or Italian-Amerian views or Irish views etc., do not matter in this country(USA), but only views like his(English Protestant) matters cause they are the true patriots. Joe Pesci's role was a good cameo.

Birds:

Really good movie this. Only Hitchcock can scare the viewers with even harmless innocent animals like sea gulls or with other birds. Seagulls seems to have earned enormous respect from me !

A Good year:

Drab movie this, surprising how Russel Crowe picked this role :-(

A Simple Plan:

Creepy movie this, not sure I enjoyed it anyway

Rogue Trader:

The story of Nick Leesing, somehow it appeared to be more of a documentary rather than a movie, not enjoyable of course!

Airplane:

Typical Leslie Nielson movie, enjoyable !

Movies by weekend

The Namesake:

Ordinary movie. What could have been a ripper of a movie was sadly lost.
I have serious doubts on any biopic(running through years/decades) being flawless!
What a star cast for this movie - Kal Penn, Tabu, Irfan - but sadly the director loses them all with some rather pathetic plots all around. I have not read the book by Jhumpa Lahiri, but will try my hand on that soon.
Hopefully, the book is much better than this movie.
I really wish Mira Nair could have done a better job when Kal loses Irfan and then decides to shave his head.
There is something so innocent about Kal Penn's role, which the director manages to lose. Irfan's story and Tabu's story also could have been developed better. I think you cant have too many plots all around and still manage to pull off a coup. Only very few movies like Steven Soderberg or Alejandro González Iñárritu or Paul Thomas Anderson (Magnolia) or Darren Aronofsky(Requiem for a Dream) can pull it off.

8 1/2:

Federico Fellini movie was simply puzzling all the way. Some of the imagery reminded me of David Lynch style of film-making with dreams allowing the audience never to really understand where the story is really running.

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang:

Bad movie. I only wished I had given a skip watching this movie !

Barbarians at the Gate:

Not sure, if I enjoyed this movie. It was more like a drama and the movie just coasted along thanks to interesting dialogues. But this movie is certainly nowhere near Wall Street's class.

Eating lunch infront of the computer !

I hate to eat lunch in office cafeteria alone and would gladly skip lunch if I don't have company. But it was a rude shock for me to find some on site colleagues having their lunch (sandwich) in front of the computer @ work. Damn, thought how unsocial this :-( and was wondering what is wrong with these guys! But, I guess these guys really take their 8 hours at work too seriously, while we in India have an idea of extending this 8 hours to an extra hour or two, since we think it is important to socialize with colleagues/friends at work during lunch or tea time or chatting online with a friend or chatting with a friend on sports/current affairs. Lunch for an hour is certainly a luxury for on site colleagues but not for offshore workers here. Socializing helps in a way to beat the drudgery that one hits at work.

When relationships does not mean a thing!

Have you ever sit with your relatives or friends who you consider close, but still afraid to utter a word cause you think that might really hurt them or you are afraid they might consider this offending. Hmm.. , it's a real tragedy this predicament. I only wish I don't have to face a situation like this. Guess, the ideal situation is for people to be more open and talk it over honestly with sincerity.

Movies by weekends

The Big Lebowski:

Nice comedy.
Jeff Bridges coming across as 'dude' and his friends were major fun to watch.
The political sub-context though was a bit tough to understand, why censure George Bush?

Fearless:

Classic Jet Li action flick.

Mindhunters:

Ordinary plot :-(
Definitely not worth the watch

Asterix and the Vikings:

Not sure whether I enjoyed this animation flick.
Ordinary one.

Just my luck:

Chick-flick featuring Lindsay Lohan.
Ordinary movie all the way !

The Queen:

Fantastic movie.
The way the story unfolds is really outstanding.
The way the chemistry between Tony Blair and the queen builds is picturized in a fantastic way.
Philip, Cherie and Charles characters were also nicely pictured.

The last king of Scotland:

Another fantastic movie. I think the James McAvoy deserved the Oscar and not Forest Whitaker, wonder how come he got
nominated in the first case :-(
The historical background made this movie a delight i.e the 'eviction of Asians' and 'Raid on Entebbe'.

Pan's Labryinth:

Another fantastic movie which has a historical background, this time Spanish civil war.
Maribel Verdu had a superb role.
This movie was certainly mesmerizing and eats your brain all the way.

Dead or Alive:

hmm.. I wish I had not seen this movie :-(

Heat:

When De Niro and Al Pacino act in a movie - what else does one need - it's a true delight !
Movie was really fantastic. Probably the best sequence is when Pacino has dinner with De Niro !
Movie had superb casting too.

Thank you for Smoking:

Liked this movie. It was so dark, so insensitive but still was so real.

The ladykillers:

Decent watch this Tom Hanks movie.
Probably too many gospels all around and the slowness are the spoilers.

Traffic Signal:

Though the movie is a bit ordinary.
But one really has to admire the conviction of Madhur Bandarkar in experimenting with movies such as this with a
novel backdrop.

Clueless:

When I first saw this movie a few years back I got so bored with the cliches that I switched off my TV.
But ever since I read 'reelfanatic's review on 'Clueless' I was keen to give this movie another chance and now I guess
I think I am happy I saw this movie again. The movie appeared to be lot fun if you could patiently watch through all
the antics of Alicia Silverstone..

Casino:

What a movie! Guess, this probably has to be the best Scorcese movie ever!
De Niro and Joe Pesci combination was a treat to watch.

Saving Silverman:

Good comedy movie this.
Wished Jack Black had a bigger role in this flick. Though have to admit Jack Black parts were great fun to watch.
Amanda Peet's role was also good fun to watch.

Letters from Iwo Jima:

Not sure whether this movie deserved all the nominations that it got in Oscars.
Think it s an ordinary flick from Clint Eastwood.

Lucky Number Slevin:

Good masala all around and time just flies when you watch this movie.

Dirty Harry:

Not sure why this movie appears to have a cult-following :-(
Very ordinary flick

The Last Temptation of Christ:

This movie was too good an attempt.
Mel Gibson's movie "the passion of christ" really fades away when one compares his movie to Scorcese's.
What a shame really a person like Mel Gibson who has directed really phoney movies like 'the passion of christ'
and 'braveheart' was awarded an Oscar for best direction :-(
This movie had a few technical faults like camera shadows, bad lighting and shadows due to those lightings during
many parts in this movie.

Chasing Amy:

Good movie. The dialogues were crisp and quick and the movie was short which would help one to enjoy the movie!

Hannibal:

Thought this movie was very good.
Though one would wish Jodie Foster could have acted in this sequel!

Black Friday:

Very good movie.
Anurag Kashyap is certain to go places.
Inspite of many sub-plots all around, the movie sequence was coherent.

Mozhi:

Okay kind of movie, but I think my mother liked this movie.

Curious George:

Dont think I enjoyed this movie.

Nacho Libre:

Jack Black movie sadly failed to live up to his usual standards :-(

Hercules:

Another animation flick, which is really ordinary.

Ferris Bueller's Day Off:

Out of the world movie.
This was a total entertainer.

The tragedy of MacBeth:

Did not really enjoy watching this movie. I did not like 'The Pianist' either.
Maybe Roman Polanski movies a bit hyped.

Fistful of Dollars:

May not be the best western movie, but still a decent watch thanks to the climax.
Though I feel that bullet proof was a bit silly, but still the high-pitch music will really get you behind the lead actor.

From Hell:

I think I am a sucker to conspiracies.
Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell certainly have to be the god of conspiracies.
This movie will certainly grow on you if you are willing to ignore some gory brutal scenes.

All the Kings Men:

Was totally lost while watching this movie. Thought this entire super starcast is wasted in a rather ordinary movie.
Later via imdb, got to know that this happens to be a take on the life of Huey Long.

Apocalypto:

This movie was a ordinary, though the saving grace was the 'action chase sequences' in the climax.

Frankenstein:

Wished I had skipped this movies :-(

The road to Perdition:

Thought this movie was brilliant. Tom Hanks ' underplayed performance is a delight to watch.
Sam Mendes is brilliant.

The Dreamers:

Bernardo Bertolucci's movie is a master-piece for sure.
Probably a movie fan's delight.

Idiocracy:

Ordinary movie. could have been a laugh riot but somehow lost its way.

A History of Violence:

Movie based on a graphic novel, ordinary movie though.

All Quiet on the Western Front:

Decent watch this movie. Though it was black all the way.

Dog Day Afternoon:

The movie was ordinary, though it was fun at times.

Rat Race:

Surprised that the maker of 'Naked Gun' series made this movie :-(

Falling Down:

Ordinary movie.

300:

Was expecting this movie to be similar to 'the 300 spartans' but the moment movie started was certain that this is a take on a graphic novel. The movie was slick and was reminded of Robert Rodriguez's 'Sin City'(also authored by Frank Miller) i.e the flying robes, the bright eyes, the night shots.

8 1-2:

The title refers to the total number of films Fellini had previously directed: six films plus three collaborations (one of them, Boccaccio '70, counted as half a film as it was a short segment), making this production number 8½.[citation needed] Its working title was La Bella Confusione (The Beautiful Confusion). (picked from wiki).
Enjoyed the parts when flash-backs come-and-go unannounced and when director's imagination runs wild when real scenes are running. But was disappointed to see the movie running on and on, wished the movie had a more interesting climax :-(

Good Night and Good Luck:

Superb movie!
Set in 1950's this story of 'typical' New York left-leaning Democrats taking the fight against McCarthyism.

Movies by weekends

Borat:

Somehow, could not really appreciate this movie.
The movie was comical in parts but otherwise it was a major bore.

The Day of the Jackal:

Almost everything about this movie was good.
No unwanted zoom or rowing camera work, no unwanted dialogues, no blaring music, clean story and typical European kind of stylish cinema made this movie a treat to watch.

Corporate:

Madhur Bandarkar's style is slick and is good. Fellow is trying something out of the box.
Though this movie was a bit ordinary, maybe the movie was a bit too long.

Duck Soup:

Movie was an ordinary slapstick comedy, but for a movie made in 1934 it is good.

Pride and Prejudice:

Classy Jane Austen novel adapted into a movie.
I have become a fan of Jane Austen movies(novels adapted into) ever since I saw Sense and Sensibility and now with Pride and Prejudice maybe the all-Brit star cast and the Brit-accent tilts my opinion towards these movies.

Alwar and Pokkiri:

Alwar is definitely forgettable. Ajith really needs some acting lessons.
Pokkiri is a take of 'the departed'.
The hero-orientation in tamil movies and the punch dialogues has added lots of slick-content to tamil cinema, but also kills the content part.

Old School:

Good fun movie, more of teenage american comedy genre.

If Only:

The movie appeared to be a drab and hopelessly romantic.

Blue Velvet:

David Lynch movie.
Surprisingly less confusing story for a Lynch movie.

Waist Deep:

Decent masala movie. Fast action packed thriller.
Listening to Ebonics or Brit accent is major fun.

The Last Kiss:

Started as a good movie, but somehow lost its way after a while and never really got back on track.
Hopelessly romantic and a bit of a drab.

Requiem for a Dream:

What a movie !
Totally mind-blowing.
I have seen couple of drug-addiction related movies, but this is certainly the best.
The best scenes must include how the old lady tries to diet and refuses to eat food inspite of all the demons she is facing.

16 Blocks:

Decent watch. Out and out masala movie.
Though all the while I hoped someone will shoot Eddie Bunker who kept on talking nonsense in spite of Bruce Willis instructions asking him to stop talking.

Dazed and Confused:

Looking at the star cast I was really surprised to see so many good actors featured in this movie, though I could not identify many of them in this movie.
Thought this movie was a bit ordinary.
Surprised to find 'cricket bat' used for hitting juniors in this movie.

About Shmidt:

Did not like this movie, thought there was hardly a plot in place in this movie.
Movie was also a bit too slow.

25th Hour

Spike Lee movie.
Thought this movie was just ordinary.
Worst could not understand the rationale of reminding us the WTC debris.

Find me guilty:

This movie does not have much of action though it is about Italian Mafia in New York.
Decent watch though.

Derailed:

Nice thriller. Clive Owen is a fantastic actor. Shame he missed out James Bond's role.

Manhattan Murder Mysteries:

A classic Woody Allen movie.
Fun to watch.

Man on Fire:

This movie is an ordinary one where Denzel Washington does a Terminator.
Radha Mitchell sadly has a pretty much of a nothing role in this movie.

Amorros Perreros:

Master-piece of a movie by Alejandro González Iñárritu.

Little Miss Sunshine:

Too good a movie.
Like American Beauty, the idea behind this movie is also about American dysfunctional family but this one is so much fun to watch and falls more into the feel good genre.

Crank:

Damn fast action packed movie.
Worth a watch and time really flies while watching this movie.

Paths of Glory:

Classic movie. This movie made a fantastic watch.
The men humming in the background before the war and long shots in the trench reappered in Kubrick's future classics like 'Dr. Strangelove .. ' and 'The Shining'.
Michael Douglas ' walking style and dialogue delivery is so similar to his father Kirk.

Unforgiven:

This movie appeared to be an ordinary western movie by Clint Eastwood.

The Prestige:

Too good a movie. The Edison-Tesla conflict really made this movie more interesting.

Defensive cricket :-(

Whether it is 10 for 2 or whether it is 200 for 2, when Sachin and Dravid are in the crease one thing is certain to happen i.e game becomes drab when they both compete who scores lesser runs or who leaves more balls to the wicket-keeper. It is such a miracle how these guys have done this time-and-again i.e to kill the spirit of the game.

1999 India in Australia - First Test in Adelaide - the infamous test in which Sachin got out lbw to a McGrath bouncer(which sadly did not bounce). When Laxman got out after a quick 35 runs in which he was freely pulling/cutting/driving McGrath and other Aussie fast-bowlers (Laxman was kind of hinting to us all on what he is going to do in the next tests(he scored 167* in Sydney then) and in all the future matches against Australia), Sachin and Dravid started their patnership. The next hour or two probably saw the worst defensive batting one can ever see in international-matches when Sachin and Dravid were competing each other as to who is a better leaver of the ball. Once Aussies knew these guys are playing a drab innings they nailed us and India never lifted its head all through the series including the one-dayers. Imagine what other batsman in the dressing room will infer if Sachin gets to play such a pathetic knock in a pitch like that of Adelaide(which historically is kind of similar to India pitches i.e conducive for batting)!

Both these guys did it again in the recent series in South Africa when they needlessly went for another hugely irritating defensive tactic while setting a total for SA for the 4th innings. SA attacked and India kind of went kneeling from then on. What a shame, at one end we had Kumble/Sreeshanth/Zaheer struggling very hard playing attacking cricket high-priests of Indian cricket Sachin and Dravid spoiled the party.

Sachin did something similar in 1998 test against Pakistan in Chennai too i.e when he and Nayan Mongia played atrocious defensive cricket against bowlers of the calibre of Nadeem Khan(who is like a Mr.Nobody in international cricket) or Shahid Afridi. Though a good thing about that test is when, Sachin suddenly let loose and went on to play a memorable attacking shorts of Saqlain, though sadly we lost that test by a whisker.

Sachin has this rather irritating habit of looking at the pitch when he gets out to a ball which did not bounce as much as he had anticipated, and my god you have to see the commentators reaction when Sachin does this glare on the pitch immediately one gets to hear some mumbling by Gavaskar/Shastri(and other Sachin-crony commentators) as to pitch not conducive for test cricket and all that blah. The worst part is the kind of signals Sachin sends to other players in the dressing room who are bound to get psyched with all this and will stop playing attacking cricket.

But it s such a surprise how Sachin ups his game from nowhere for World Cup series alone. One has to look his World Cup average to realise how much of a big-match series this player is. Hopefully he does some justice to that reputation this world cup.

Movies by weekends - Directors copy themselves !

Me, You and Dupree:

Ordinary watch this movie. Did not expect such a drab of a movie.
There is hardly any comedy worth and worst part Michael Douglas too has a bad role.

The Departed:

Too good a movie. Mark Wahlberg character was total fun right from the start.
The starcast of this movie made this movie an enjoyable one.
I am reminded of Kamal Hassan's 'Kurudhi Punal' while watching the undercover agent plot, but this one was more fun to watch thanks to those all those f words, b words, s words and the chiding comments by Mark Wahlberg made this movie a really entertaining one.
But I trust this movie will find it hard to break into the Oscars, cause this movie is not really all that feel-good.
Surprising, how Scorcese left his NY backdrop for Boston.
Yet to see 'Infernal affairs' though, would love to see that.

The Curse of the Jade Scorpion:

Fun movie. Woody Allen calls the shots all along. Helen Hunt looked a bit old in the golden blonde hair style.

Cars:

Decent watch this movie. The history part of Route 66 and Inter-State made this movie more interesting.
The way Hollywood brings in a little bit of history/social consciousness/political activism into the movies and making the plot relate to that is pure genius. Range De Basanti tried something similar and it was a brave attempt.

My Super Ex-girlfriend, Step Up, Miami Vice, Step Up:

Watching the above list of movies in-flight, helped me doze off.
Definitely not worth the view.

Tightrope:

Ordinary Clint Eastwood movie, not much of a plot to follow.

Crimes and Misdemanours:

Good movie. Woody Allen parts are fun to watch.
The 'luck' part in this movie plot seems to have been reused in another Woody Allen movie 'Matchpoint'.
One gets the feeling that it is kind of impossible for any directory to copy himself.

Manhattan:

Good movie. Fun to watch all of Woody Allen antics again.
Best part of the movie is when Woody Allen runs towards his former girl-friend in a sudden moment of realisation and tells her about his love for her - that part was so Hollywoodish, but the ending was certainly not. It is truly remarkable how Woody Allen movies end.

Small Time Crooks:

Fun movie again. Woody Allen carries the movie all the way.

Teen Deewarein:

Thought the movie was slowly taking the 'Shawshank Redemption' route with all the slow shots on jail-life and the plan to escape, but the movie took a rather tame turn in the end. Decent watch.

Babel:

Fantastic movie. The way different stories are shot in different geographies and the way all the stories bind together made the movie an enjoyable one. Think this movie has the potential to win a few Oscars. Great actors and great story.
Kind of in the same mould as 'Traffic' or 'Crash' or 'Syriana', but still a lot different.

Wonder Boys:

Decent watch this movie. Both Frances McDormand and Katie Holmes were a treat to watch.

Happy Feet:

Not really a good entertainer. Ordinary view this movie.

First Daughter;

Bad movie. Surprised that Forest Whitaker directed this movie, did not know him much as a director.
Bad chick-flick (is this a deadwood?) :-(

Everyone Says I love you:

Good movie this one. Funny musical. Woody Allen parts again is great fun to watch.
When you watch a Woody Allen movie, one gets to see all characters in the same Woody shade.
Old or young or poor or rich or male or female - you can see a little bit of Woody in all the characters.

The Purple rose of Cairo:

Fantastic movie. Mia Farrow was a treat to watch.
It s truly a ripper of a fantasy story.
The best part is the ending of this movie.
The end seems to be so real to all the magical reality that one got to see all through the movie.

Magnolia:

Good movie. The story is so complex that there is no way out while watching this movie. You are glued to the movie from minute one and you have to go all the way till the movie ended, the director gets the credit for making a movie like this. The toad rain was another unexpected part of the movie. Another movie which totally caught me was 'butterfly effect', movies like these kind of grips you to find out what the ending is ...

Ask the Dust, Bandidas:

Mexican sub-plot in Hollywood is pretty irritating at times cause of all the type-casting that have gone through in all the movies that have been made till now. Salma Hayek or Penelope Cruz probably were too naive to get type-cast like that. The credit for making good Mexican sub-plot in movies must go to Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino, these guys romanticised the Mexican sub-plots in their movies.

After the Sunset:

Decent flick this one. Certainly not as classy as 'The Thomas Crown Affair', but still pacey movie.
Enjoyed this dialogue,
the FBI guy says, "Just because you're English doesn't mean you need to hide your emotions."
Pierce Brosnan replies, "I'm Irish. We let people know how we feel."
And then says, "Now fuck off."

Frida:

Good movie. Probably a once in a lifetime role for Salma Hayek.
Very complex story as any biopics are always are.
Still, this is a superb attempt.

Colour of the night:

Bad plot, not worth the watch.

Get Over It:

Small role for Colin Hanks, who I thought is a good actor after seeing his 'Orange County'.
This is an ordinary movie, and Colin Hanks comes across as a bad actor who can never challenge Sean William Scott of American Pie fame in potraying a happy-go-lucky dude of American teen comedy movies.

Chasing Papi:
What a bad movie - chick-flick again.
The Mexican type-cast really sucks.

Guru:

ManiRatnam movie. One would get a feeling of deja vu while watching this movie.
Hardly anything original, probably re-ascertains the fact that directors end up copying their own old movies/ideas.
Abhishek certainly has played his part well, probably once in a lifetime role for him this.
The final sequence when Abhishek gives a lecture to the court, appeared to be totally senseless and totally stupid.
Thought ManiRatnam maybe tried a lift-off of 'The Aviator' in this sequence, but it comes across as a really poor attempt.ManiRatnam has shot this movie mostly in Mysore and one cannot miss out lots of landscapes or backgrounds which he had earlier used for his other movies like 'thalapathi'. I wish ManiRatnam can try something novel in his next attempt rather than copying ideas from his own earlier movies.

The Kid:

Decent watch this movie. Entertaining in parts, particularly the fat-chubby kid and the way he expresses himself to Bruce Willis.