Payback:
Class-act. Really enjoy watching movies like these which have a really cool way of picturising the stylish-revenge story a la Kill Bill or the wild-westerns or the good old Hong Kong movies.
Pather Panchali:
Saw maybe 3/4ths of the movie but due to some player-malfunction could not see it completely. But liked the way the movie was shot. Guess, Satyajit Ray was class-personified in the way he shot the father-mother-grandmother-girl child-boy child.. kind of takes you through the memory lane, his characters seem to be very real.
Choker Bali:
The story was originally written by Tagore. Surprisingly there were not any of those Victorian-inhibitions expressed. The story also reminded me of Kalki's 'alaiosai' which again was set in pre-independent era (during quit india movement, while Tagore's 'Choker Bali' was set during early 1900's I guess i.e coinciding with the partition of Bengal). Both these stories will give you a glimpse of orthodoxy-class and their culture and their ideas about independent-India.
BluffMaster:
This movie was stylishly taken. Really liked the theme-music which comes in the background everytime Abishek walks into Priyanka Chopra.
Munich:
Steven Spielberg movie. One will get stuck with the thought whether the Israeli ordinary citizens recruited for
assasinating Palestenians were right or wrong in whatever they did. I think this took the charm away from the movie. It might be extremely tough in taking the 'who is right or who is wrong' call in crisis like these, but I think decision has to be taken at some point of time. Guess, the director could have tried to pull-off something bold rather than sticking to 'indecision' part. Another movie which also had slightly boring ending was 'Kingdom of Heaven', in a somewhat similar way.
Transporter 2:
Not as exciting as 'Transporter'. Amber Valletta was a stunner!
Capote:
Was expecting some sudden turn-of-events in ths movie when it reached the climax-phase i.e some twist in the tale and the convict is not exactly the killer but someone else.. or something along those lines... but sadly not much drama in this movie. The movie wasnt the 'biograph' nor was it a 'close-up on the crime' that happened on one night in Kansas. So, the movie seemed to have been lost as to 'what it was all about'.. i.e neither a drama nor a biographic one.
Syriana:
This movie was fantastic all the way. The story telling had a tinge of 'Traffic', which made it appear classy.
The movie talks about how America's brutal capitalistic expansionism is harming not just the rest of the world but even themselves. Capitalism is an extremely risky proposition, unless nice folks are there in the top. Thus, over-dependence on the system is dependent on individuals(leaders).
Clooney-Soderberg partnership again has produced a super-movie.
Sunday, April 23, 2006
Sunday, April 02, 2006
Movies by April Fools Day
Love Story:
Kind of liked this movie. It was a really clean movie and the theme music was good.
Remember hearing one Landmark final quiz question based on this theme music, guess this theme must have been picked
from some Bach's symphony.
The Hitchhiker's guide to Galaxy:
This movie appeared to be more like a TV serial or talk-show that they show on TV.
The comedy part in this movie was a bit stale.
Though the last 15 minutes of this movie was good.
I think I will try to read this book, which I feel will be more interesting than this movie-adaptation.
Grapes of Wrath:
Really good movie, based on Steinback novel.
Quite sad how rural poor or the rural unemployed gets manipulated by all for their own ends.
The rural poor have nothing to do except for moving to prosperous regions. And the minute they migrate, they join the nobodies of this world. They are paid lowest wages because they dont have another job. If the law or the employer uses his muscle they just have to be spectators against this injustice, if they talk-back they are silenced.
The parting-off conversation between the mom and the rebel son was interesting, the son wants to change the exploitation of the poor folks and mom wants him to stay with her, but realises that he also cant stay with her, because he s a bit of an idealist himself so he would be off-place here with her where she and her other family members just crawl before the mighty since they dont have a job.
Memoirs of Geisha:
Not a good movie, wonder where the hype came from.
The lead characters didnt look like Japanese i.e Zhang Zhiyi and Michelle Yeoh. Though Zhang Zhiyi looked brilliant without make-up. Rob Marshall was quite pathetic in Hollywoodising many of the components in this movie. The bright colours all around seemed to be too artificial. For similar reasons I found 'The Last Samurai' movie too nauseating, there is hardly any realism in any of the sequences. The role of Michelle Yeoh seems to be similar to the role of Rekha in the movie 'Kamasutra'.
Akiro Kurasawa movie 'Drunken Angel' was top-class Japanese movie, guess one cant see a better Japanese movie than that..
Kind of liked this movie. It was a really clean movie and the theme music was good.
Remember hearing one Landmark final quiz question based on this theme music, guess this theme must have been picked
from some Bach's symphony.
The Hitchhiker's guide to Galaxy:
This movie appeared to be more like a TV serial or talk-show that they show on TV.
The comedy part in this movie was a bit stale.
Though the last 15 minutes of this movie was good.
I think I will try to read this book, which I feel will be more interesting than this movie-adaptation.
Grapes of Wrath:
Really good movie, based on Steinback novel.
Quite sad how rural poor or the rural unemployed gets manipulated by all for their own ends.
The rural poor have nothing to do except for moving to prosperous regions. And the minute they migrate, they join the nobodies of this world. They are paid lowest wages because they dont have another job. If the law or the employer uses his muscle they just have to be spectators against this injustice, if they talk-back they are silenced.
The parting-off conversation between the mom and the rebel son was interesting, the son wants to change the exploitation of the poor folks and mom wants him to stay with her, but realises that he also cant stay with her, because he s a bit of an idealist himself so he would be off-place here with her where she and her other family members just crawl before the mighty since they dont have a job.
Memoirs of Geisha:
Not a good movie, wonder where the hype came from.
The lead characters didnt look like Japanese i.e Zhang Zhiyi and Michelle Yeoh. Though Zhang Zhiyi looked brilliant without make-up. Rob Marshall was quite pathetic in Hollywoodising many of the components in this movie. The bright colours all around seemed to be too artificial. For similar reasons I found 'The Last Samurai' movie too nauseating, there is hardly any realism in any of the sequences. The role of Michelle Yeoh seems to be similar to the role of Rekha in the movie 'Kamasutra'.
Akiro Kurasawa movie 'Drunken Angel' was top-class Japanese movie, guess one cant see a better Japanese movie than that..
Origin of 'Charlie' (nickname for Viet Cong soldiers)
Got interested in the trivia related to the origin of the word 'Charlie' that was used to refer to Viet Cong soldiers after coming across an article about 'Apolcalypse Now' and the similarlity between Kurtz and Pol Pot.
Check the url about Viet Cong
and NATO phonetic alphabets to understand the origin of this word 'Charlie'.
Check the url about Viet Cong
and NATO phonetic alphabets to understand the origin of this word 'Charlie'.
Thursday, March 30, 2006
Movies by Ugadi
Mathrubhoomi - A nation without woman
Quite a shocking-futuristic movie.
Explores the option of polyandry in Indian hindu rural society because bride is hard-to-find for elgible bachelors, which is already plagued with its caste-conflicts.
Latesh Chaudhari as the bride looked real good in this movie, kind of resembles Neha Dhupia.
A fish called Wanda:
Good-racy fun movie.
Jamie Lee Curtis was looking good in this movie.
The American vs Brit fight featuring Ken Kline made up superb viewing.
Ken Kline stole most of the comedy parts in this movie.
Brit-accent also made up entertaining listening all through the movie.
Being Cyrus:
Good movie.
The plot is an oft-repeated one and extremely simple one, but this movie had loads of style with its chic-makeover, one can compare this movie with the presentation style of Rang De Basanti. And the movie had super actors and the dialogue, the background score and the narration by the protagonist all made the movie a pleasure to see. Saif Ali Khan, Boman Irani and Simone Singh had interesting roles-to-play in this movie, though its out-and-out a director's movie.
One worry is that I did not understand much of the Parsi-language(guess Gujarati) that was spoken during some phases in this movie.
Quite a shocking-futuristic movie.
Explores the option of polyandry in Indian hindu rural society because bride is hard-to-find for elgible bachelors, which is already plagued with its caste-conflicts.
Latesh Chaudhari as the bride looked real good in this movie, kind of resembles Neha Dhupia.
A fish called Wanda:
Good-racy fun movie.
Jamie Lee Curtis was looking good in this movie.
The American vs Brit fight featuring Ken Kline made up superb viewing.
Ken Kline stole most of the comedy parts in this movie.
Brit-accent also made up entertaining listening all through the movie.
Being Cyrus:
Good movie.
The plot is an oft-repeated one and extremely simple one, but this movie had loads of style with its chic-makeover, one can compare this movie with the presentation style of Rang De Basanti. And the movie had super actors and the dialogue, the background score and the narration by the protagonist all made the movie a pleasure to see. Saif Ali Khan, Boman Irani and Simone Singh had interesting roles-to-play in this movie, though its out-and-out a director's movie.
One worry is that I did not understand much of the Parsi-language(guess Gujarati) that was spoken during some phases in this movie.
Monday, March 27, 2006
Movies by weekend
Monty Python - The Life of Brian and The Holy Grail:
Saw both these movies back-to-back. Guess, both the movies had a fairly decent share of humour(political).
But, these two movies still fall-short of most other parodies or spoofs.
Guess, Adam Sandler or Leslie Nielson or Rowan Atkinson will always be the god of all spoofs or parodies.
Hazaron Khwaishon Aisi:
Good movie.
Concepts like 'naxalism' or 'emergency or police-raj' or 'absolute corruption' are handled in this movie. It takes you down the memory lane.. i.e into days where Indian democracy really fought against evils-within.
I feel naxalism wasnt deftly handled, one reason could be due the large-number of key-characters in this movie. Quite difficult to manage a movie which has many protagonists, since the story always shifts from one key character to another. No director could ever do justice to plots which has many characters. Sudhir Mishra though has tried his best to pull off a coup.
Had Siddharth been the protagonist or Vikram been the protagonist then things would have made spectacular viewing, but here both of them happen to be key characters and thus no justice is done to the ideology(or lack of) to both these characters.
The female-lead Chitrangada Singh was beautiful in this movie.
Taxi Driver:
Good movie.
The work-fatigue that was showcased in this movie by Robert De Niro as an over-worked taxi-driver was kind of similar to another Scorecese movie 'Bringing out the dead' in which Nicholas Cage also goes through similar motions, in which Cage suffers with overworked syndrome as an ambulance driver.
Brokeback Mountain:
Seems to have been a very difficult movie to pull-off on gay relationships.
La Mala Education:
Another movie which involves gay-relationships, the origins of this can be traced to catholic school.
This is a Pedro Almodovar movie.
Yes Minister - Benji episode:
Classic Brit-comedy.
Enjoyed seeing this small episode which makes fun of bureaucrats and how they manipulate politicians
Saw both these movies back-to-back. Guess, both the movies had a fairly decent share of humour(political).
But, these two movies still fall-short of most other parodies or spoofs.
Guess, Adam Sandler or Leslie Nielson or Rowan Atkinson will always be the god of all spoofs or parodies.
Hazaron Khwaishon Aisi:
Good movie.
Concepts like 'naxalism' or 'emergency or police-raj' or 'absolute corruption' are handled in this movie. It takes you down the memory lane.. i.e into days where Indian democracy really fought against evils-within.
I feel naxalism wasnt deftly handled, one reason could be due the large-number of key-characters in this movie. Quite difficult to manage a movie which has many protagonists, since the story always shifts from one key character to another. No director could ever do justice to plots which has many characters. Sudhir Mishra though has tried his best to pull off a coup.
Had Siddharth been the protagonist or Vikram been the protagonist then things would have made spectacular viewing, but here both of them happen to be key characters and thus no justice is done to the ideology(or lack of) to both these characters.
The female-lead Chitrangada Singh was beautiful in this movie.
Taxi Driver:
Good movie.
The work-fatigue that was showcased in this movie by Robert De Niro as an over-worked taxi-driver was kind of similar to another Scorecese movie 'Bringing out the dead' in which Nicholas Cage also goes through similar motions, in which Cage suffers with overworked syndrome as an ambulance driver.
Brokeback Mountain:
Seems to have been a very difficult movie to pull-off on gay relationships.
La Mala Education:
Another movie which involves gay-relationships, the origins of this can be traced to catholic school.
This is a Pedro Almodovar movie.
Yes Minister - Benji episode:
Classic Brit-comedy.
Enjoyed seeing this small episode which makes fun of bureaucrats and how they manipulate politicians
Friday, March 24, 2006
Petronas Advertisements
Petronas advertisements seems to be quite good. Some are funny, but most of them seem to be values-oriented.
Got Marooned
Liked Maroon's song 'She will be loved...'.
Check out the lyrics here
I feel the singing style of Maroon's leadsinger seems to be kind of similar to Coldplay's leadsinger Chris Martin. Some of Chris Martin's songs has this swooning ability thanks to its mushy-factor. Also, Darren Hayes is another singer who also has this falsetto-factor.
Check out the lyrics here
I feel the singing style of Maroon's leadsinger seems to be kind of similar to Coldplay's leadsinger Chris Martin. Some of Chris Martin's songs has this swooning ability thanks to its mushy-factor. Also, Darren Hayes is another singer who also has this falsetto-factor.
Thursday, March 23, 2006
Sweet Home Alabama
While listening to 'Sweet Home Alabama' by Lynyrd Skynyrd, first thing that came across my mind was 'Forrest Gump'. Really cant find words to appreciate the super song-picks in that movie. Dont think there will be ever be another movie like Forrest Gump.
Soon, while listening to the same song for the 4th or 5th time, the 'Forrest Gump' part of the flash-memory evaded from me and I was wondering how come Governor Wallace's name is coming in this song. So started googling for this song's lyrics, but could not figure out much info behind the context of this song.
So tried wiki for the 'Sweet Home Alabama', got a good education of American history yet again.
Soon, while listening to the same song for the 4th or 5th time, the 'Forrest Gump' part of the flash-memory evaded from me and I was wondering how come Governor Wallace's name is coming in this song. So started googling for this song's lyrics, but could not figure out much info behind the context of this song.
So tried wiki for the 'Sweet Home Alabama', got a good education of American history yet again.
Saturday, March 18, 2006
Movies by weekend
The Shining:
This movie is certainly not a Kubrick classic, but more like a Stephen King-one.
The movie had its share of usual pregnant silences which is quite a cliche in most horror movies. The best part of the movie was the trolley shots following the kid riding the tiny cycle.
Found a small technical defect in this movie. When the movie starts with Jack Nicholson driving his car into this hotel-resort in the middle of nowhere, one gets to see some amazing landscapes, forests and valleys, but sadly one also gets to see the shadow of the helicopter from which the aerial shot is taken. Surprisingly this appeared in a Kubrick movie, but I am told this shadow-defect can be seen only in the DVD and not in other prints.
Locks, Stocks and Smoking Barrels:
Guy Ritchie movies are simply awesome. The Brit way of speaking English makes good hearing. And the plot looked more like a Crazy Mohan-style, which made it really entertaining. The movie had a good mix of good-old revenge plot alongwith comedy-sequences.
Crash:
Movie had dark-shades all-around, but in the end brought in the usual feel-good tempo. I think this feel-good factor might have helped this movie clinch the Oscar. The movie was brilliant in the way so many different characters were shown , their stories, kind of reminded me of the movie 'The Traffic' another spectacularly shot movie!
This movie is certainly not a Kubrick classic, but more like a Stephen King-one.
The movie had its share of usual pregnant silences which is quite a cliche in most horror movies. The best part of the movie was the trolley shots following the kid riding the tiny cycle.
Found a small technical defect in this movie. When the movie starts with Jack Nicholson driving his car into this hotel-resort in the middle of nowhere, one gets to see some amazing landscapes, forests and valleys, but sadly one also gets to see the shadow of the helicopter from which the aerial shot is taken. Surprisingly this appeared in a Kubrick movie, but I am told this shadow-defect can be seen only in the DVD and not in other prints.
Locks, Stocks and Smoking Barrels:
Guy Ritchie movies are simply awesome. The Brit way of speaking English makes good hearing. And the plot looked more like a Crazy Mohan-style, which made it really entertaining. The movie had a good mix of good-old revenge plot alongwith comedy-sequences.
Crash:
Movie had dark-shades all-around, but in the end brought in the usual feel-good tempo. I think this feel-good factor might have helped this movie clinch the Oscar. The movie was brilliant in the way so many different characters were shown , their stories, kind of reminded me of the movie 'The Traffic' another spectacularly shot movie!
Wednesday, March 01, 2006
Funny Clip - Call Center
This is a short clip titled Call Center. It runs for just 12 minutes, but it is packaged real good!
Monday, February 27, 2006
Guess, it's all in the mind
Lately came across a theory called 'Johari Window. Take a look into that article, it sounds interesting. I could not add anything much beyond that observation. According to this technique, it allows a person to open up and be brave to accept one's vulnerabilities and tell the same to others. Also, it also requests one to be open to suggestions coming from strangers.
Following Johari technique is requesting a person to walk naked on the road. Guess, for someone who has got so much used to fancy clothes or even simple basic clothes, the very idea of walking naked will put one-off from this!
Following Johari technique is requesting a person to walk naked on the road. Guess, for someone who has got so much used to fancy clothes or even simple basic clothes, the very idea of walking naked will put one-off from this!
Saturday, February 25, 2006
Movies by weekend
Fun with Dick and Jane:
Movie was fiercely ordinary. Not the typical Jim Carey comedy, but some sequences were good. Including one sequence where Jim Carey gets irritated with the way his lawn was bereaved of green grass and is dirt-brown. He resorts to stealing of grass from his neighbours and then plants the stolen grass in his barren lawn, after completing this planting he goes to sleep. And the next morning when Tea Leoni wakes up, she sees Jim Carey's soil-browned hand-print on her shirt.
Brother Bear:
Ordinary animation fare. Typical feel-good kind, seems like an overkill with most animation movies totally turning out to be out and out feel-good kind.
For a Few Dollars More:
The villain role in this movie reminded me of mannerism of Gabbar Singh in 'Sholay'. Guess, this movie has to be the inspiration for 'Sholay'. Really enjoyed this movie, classical western movie! The simple background music, the long stares, the eerie silence once-in-a-while, the gun-battle, the macho-style and most importantly the barren land all have created a perfect setting for this movie.
Fiddler of the Roof:
Movie is made out of a west side story on the same name. The Soviet-Russian and Jewish context kept me watching the movie. Poignant tale!
Apocalypse Now:
Thought the movie was out-of-place i.e the ending part. The movie had some really super sequences like the helicopter bombing and napalm spray. Having seen other Vietnam movies, I feel nothing comes close to 'Full Metal Jacket' and the way Kubrick tells how ordinary people hope to do something extra-ordinary in their lifetime and when faced with such extra-ordinary circumstances how they wilt under pressure. Kubrick is a master in that!
Francis Ford Coppola pulled off a casting coup. Though I felt both Sheen and Marlon Brando were not so suited for their respective roles! The idea that you have to really rout out the enemy completely, inorder to avoid further conflicts sounds logical, though sounds terribly absurd! Remember my friend Bugjhi, telling something along similar lines in one of our usual marathon chats. For someone to tell something like this, they have to either horribly stupid or a unbelievably intelligent! And the worst part is I could not judge whether it is stupid or intelligent.
The HitchHiker's Guide to Galaxy:
Got to see this BBC serial(first part), yet to read the novel though. Will try to see the remaining five parts...
The Incredibles:
Enjoyable one, with some quick action.
On the Waterfront:
Movie seemed to have been released in a time when USA was fast-moving to identify themselves as a capitalistic country and went cynical about socialism or communism. The movie's feel-good ending doesnt seem to fit-in well.
The leftists, socialists (equivalent of Democrats in USA) are slowly on the rise everywhere in the industrialized world thanks to their non-rising economies of late.
Eshwar might sure will have a point or two on this.
Drunker Angel:
Classy Akiro Kurasawa movie. The shot of sewage simply epitomises the movie. Seems to be in the same mould as 'the Bicycle Thief' which also tries to indicate to us that big-cities are not kind to all its citizens.
Stand by Me:
Another classy movie. Movie had a few interesting sequences including the last line the protagonist types on his computer telling us that he did not have a true friend lately and the last time he had a good friend was when he was 12 and poses the same question to us. Another sequence in which the boy-protagonist tells the story about a fat-kid who got his revenge! This movie is based on a Stephen King novel.
Dr. Zhivago:
This movie looked more like an epic just like David Lean's 'Passage to India'. Not really a fan of such epic movies, which kept going-on-and-on without an end in-sight. This movie also has the usual long shots, wide landscapes, stillness that is there in most of David Lean's movies.
Chronicles of Narnia:
This movie looked like a poor-cousin of Lord of the Rings, not just the story, but even the visuals. Guess, the budget must have been on shoe-string.
Hanuman:
This movie was a total bore. Though, the songs that appeared in this movie were good.
Movie was fiercely ordinary. Not the typical Jim Carey comedy, but some sequences were good. Including one sequence where Jim Carey gets irritated with the way his lawn was bereaved of green grass and is dirt-brown. He resorts to stealing of grass from his neighbours and then plants the stolen grass in his barren lawn, after completing this planting he goes to sleep. And the next morning when Tea Leoni wakes up, she sees Jim Carey's soil-browned hand-print on her shirt.
Brother Bear:
Ordinary animation fare. Typical feel-good kind, seems like an overkill with most animation movies totally turning out to be out and out feel-good kind.
For a Few Dollars More:
The villain role in this movie reminded me of mannerism of Gabbar Singh in 'Sholay'. Guess, this movie has to be the inspiration for 'Sholay'. Really enjoyed this movie, classical western movie! The simple background music, the long stares, the eerie silence once-in-a-while, the gun-battle, the macho-style and most importantly the barren land all have created a perfect setting for this movie.
Fiddler of the Roof:
Movie is made out of a west side story on the same name. The Soviet-Russian and Jewish context kept me watching the movie. Poignant tale!
Apocalypse Now:
Thought the movie was out-of-place i.e the ending part. The movie had some really super sequences like the helicopter bombing and napalm spray. Having seen other Vietnam movies, I feel nothing comes close to 'Full Metal Jacket' and the way Kubrick tells how ordinary people hope to do something extra-ordinary in their lifetime and when faced with such extra-ordinary circumstances how they wilt under pressure. Kubrick is a master in that!
Francis Ford Coppola pulled off a casting coup. Though I felt both Sheen and Marlon Brando were not so suited for their respective roles! The idea that you have to really rout out the enemy completely, inorder to avoid further conflicts sounds logical, though sounds terribly absurd! Remember my friend Bugjhi, telling something along similar lines in one of our usual marathon chats. For someone to tell something like this, they have to either horribly stupid or a unbelievably intelligent! And the worst part is I could not judge whether it is stupid or intelligent.
The HitchHiker's Guide to Galaxy:
Got to see this BBC serial(first part), yet to read the novel though. Will try to see the remaining five parts...
The Incredibles:
Enjoyable one, with some quick action.
On the Waterfront:
Movie seemed to have been released in a time when USA was fast-moving to identify themselves as a capitalistic country and went cynical about socialism or communism. The movie's feel-good ending doesnt seem to fit-in well.
The leftists, socialists (equivalent of Democrats in USA) are slowly on the rise everywhere in the industrialized world thanks to their non-rising economies of late.
Eshwar might sure will have a point or two on this.
Drunker Angel:
Classy Akiro Kurasawa movie. The shot of sewage simply epitomises the movie. Seems to be in the same mould as 'the Bicycle Thief' which also tries to indicate to us that big-cities are not kind to all its citizens.
Stand by Me:
Another classy movie. Movie had a few interesting sequences including the last line the protagonist types on his computer telling us that he did not have a true friend lately and the last time he had a good friend was when he was 12 and poses the same question to us. Another sequence in which the boy-protagonist tells the story about a fat-kid who got his revenge! This movie is based on a Stephen King novel.
Dr. Zhivago:
This movie looked more like an epic just like David Lean's 'Passage to India'. Not really a fan of such epic movies, which kept going-on-and-on without an end in-sight. This movie also has the usual long shots, wide landscapes, stillness that is there in most of David Lean's movies.
Chronicles of Narnia:
This movie looked like a poor-cousin of Lord of the Rings, not just the story, but even the visuals. Guess, the budget must have been on shoe-string.
Hanuman:
This movie was a total bore. Though, the songs that appeared in this movie were good.
Tuesday, February 14, 2006
Jack Black simply rocks
Lately heard the song 'This is the greatest and best song in the world... Tribute' by Jack Black( Tenacious D ). Thanks to my generous cousin!
The respect I have for Jack Black is growing since the time I saw the movie 'Orange County'... and then.... 'School of Rock'.....and then 'King Kong'... and lately this song 'This is the greatest song.... '. Fellow has to be multi-talented to do something of this kind. Also, heard another comedy actor's song lately i.e Jim Carey's 'Somebody to love'. Think this song was part of the soundtrack for the movie 'Ace Ventura'.
Everytime I listen to Jack Black song, I feel he is referring to Led Zeppelin's 'Stairway to Heaven' as 'the greatest song in the world....'!
The respect I have for Jack Black is growing since the time I saw the movie 'Orange County'... and then.... 'School of Rock'.....and then 'King Kong'... and lately this song 'This is the greatest song.... '. Fellow has to be multi-talented to do something of this kind. Also, heard another comedy actor's song lately i.e Jim Carey's 'Somebody to love'. Think this song was part of the soundtrack for the movie 'Ace Ventura'.
Everytime I listen to Jack Black song, I feel he is referring to Led Zeppelin's 'Stairway to Heaven' as 'the greatest song in the world....'!
Sunday, February 05, 2006
Movies by weekend
Flight Plan:
Fast paced masala movie. Jodie Foster looked a bit too old and haggard.
Rainman:
'Yeah.. Yeah...' and Who's on First were great fun to hear.
Dustin Hoffman really stole the thunder all the way.
In phases, the characterisation of Dustin Hoffman and Tom Cruise reminded me of Kamal and Madhavan in the movie 'Anbe Sivam'.
Lots of sequences in this movie including the casino sequences were an absolute delight to see.
Secretary:
This movie starred the beautiful Maggie Gyllenhaal. The story was kind of drab.
A Killer Within:
The movie was a bit too predictable, looked more like a B-Grade movie!
Rang De Basanti:
This movie was stylishly made, just like Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra's earlier movie 'Aks'. And this movie was also lucky to have had a good starcast. This movie's ending looked more like a Shankar-style ending with all the public supporting the heroes' actions. The movie had a slightly overweight Madhavan and slightly cool Sidharth. Sidharth was lucky to have got this role. Aamir was a bit too old for this role. The time spent on comedy throughout the entire first half was kind of cliched. Rahman's songs were below part except for one or two songs. Rahman's punjabi, arabian tunes looked like plagiarised ones.
How to Steal a Million:
This movie was good fun to watch with Audrey Hepburn stealing the show rightaway with her innocence. Audrey must have been a role model for actors like Saroja Devi.
Goodbye Lenin:
Saw this German movie without English sub-titles. So, the dialogues didnt make much sense to me. The movie shows the impact Communism had on East Germany and how East Germany quickly adopted capitalism in their land. Movie was slightly in the slower side.
Fast paced masala movie. Jodie Foster looked a bit too old and haggard.
Rainman:
'Yeah.. Yeah...' and Who's on First were great fun to hear.
Dustin Hoffman really stole the thunder all the way.
In phases, the characterisation of Dustin Hoffman and Tom Cruise reminded me of Kamal and Madhavan in the movie 'Anbe Sivam'.
Lots of sequences in this movie including the casino sequences were an absolute delight to see.
Secretary:
This movie starred the beautiful Maggie Gyllenhaal. The story was kind of drab.
A Killer Within:
The movie was a bit too predictable, looked more like a B-Grade movie!
Rang De Basanti:
This movie was stylishly made, just like Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra's earlier movie 'Aks'. And this movie was also lucky to have had a good starcast. This movie's ending looked more like a Shankar-style ending with all the public supporting the heroes' actions. The movie had a slightly overweight Madhavan and slightly cool Sidharth. Sidharth was lucky to have got this role. Aamir was a bit too old for this role. The time spent on comedy throughout the entire first half was kind of cliched. Rahman's songs were below part except for one or two songs. Rahman's punjabi, arabian tunes looked like plagiarised ones.
How to Steal a Million:
This movie was good fun to watch with Audrey Hepburn stealing the show rightaway with her innocence. Audrey must have been a role model for actors like Saroja Devi.
Goodbye Lenin:
Saw this German movie without English sub-titles. So, the dialogues didnt make much sense to me. The movie shows the impact Communism had on East Germany and how East Germany quickly adopted capitalism in their land. Movie was slightly in the slower side.
Thursday, January 26, 2006
T M Krishna @ IIMB
Thanks to a friend @ IIMB, went to Carnatic kutcheri after long time.
Went to the venue a few minutes ahead of TM Krishna's kutcheri, so got the chance to see Mishra brothers in action(of course not for long).
Earlier I had been to T M Krishna's homepage and so got interested in seeing him concert. Actually, never listened to him earlier via tapes/mp3. So went there to the OAT venue with interest.
Both me and TM Krishna were introduced to a major hitch in 'microphone'.
The microphone system was off-the-mark and so the concert started maybe 30 minutes late from the scheduled time. But that was not all, soon TM Krishna and his co-artists started complaining about the microphone system. According to them, there seems to be some humming sound which kept coming up, when he was singing. TM Krishna's and his co-artists' irritation was for all to see. After the initial song 'Vatapi Ganapathim..', TM Krishna said 'I cant continue like this' and said it is difficult for him to sing. He soon requested all the audience to come front near the dias and said he will sing without microphone.
Thought it was a wonderful decision by TM Krishna, cause I was also sensing that the sound system was quite dismal. There seems to be too much of feedback(same as the ones we hear in old-style rock concerts), resonance and sometimes strange 'dub ... dub...'. I think there were too many microphones close to each other and that probably might be the reason. The microphone-man came close to Krishna and asked Krishna what the problem was. TM Krishna slightly rudely responded, 'I am not the technical person here, you should be telling me 'what the problem is!''. That made up a rather sorry viewing, imagine losing your cool infront of your fans. That was not the end for this rather sorry episode, soon the compere requested TM Krishna with folded hands to continue singing with the existing sound system. Thought maybe this compere need not have embarassed TM Krishna by requesting this. Poor man TM Krishna must have felt terribly sorry for no fault of his and went to on to sing with the rather stupid system. It was more like a Led Zeppelin/Pink Floyd concert, with feedback thrown in now-and-then :-( ( of course unintentionally by the artist)
For a moment, I was wondering how is this microphone supposed to be that important and soon thought about those Pink floyd's rock-concert videos. Pink Floyd was one of the techno-savy bands of their time and they were good musicians alongwith good sound engineers. They trusted no third party sound system or equipment, so they always carried their our gadgets for whatever concert they went whether it is in UK or outside UK.
Concert was okay, considering all the sound-hitches. Was expecting him to sing some Bharathiyar song or maybe any Tamil song, guess, he did not sing any tamil song.
Went to the venue a few minutes ahead of TM Krishna's kutcheri, so got the chance to see Mishra brothers in action(of course not for long).
Earlier I had been to T M Krishna's homepage and so got interested in seeing him concert. Actually, never listened to him earlier via tapes/mp3. So went there to the OAT venue with interest.
Both me and TM Krishna were introduced to a major hitch in 'microphone'.
The microphone system was off-the-mark and so the concert started maybe 30 minutes late from the scheduled time. But that was not all, soon TM Krishna and his co-artists started complaining about the microphone system. According to them, there seems to be some humming sound which kept coming up, when he was singing. TM Krishna's and his co-artists' irritation was for all to see. After the initial song 'Vatapi Ganapathim..', TM Krishna said 'I cant continue like this' and said it is difficult for him to sing. He soon requested all the audience to come front near the dias and said he will sing without microphone.
Thought it was a wonderful decision by TM Krishna, cause I was also sensing that the sound system was quite dismal. There seems to be too much of feedback(same as the ones we hear in old-style rock concerts), resonance and sometimes strange 'dub ... dub...'. I think there were too many microphones close to each other and that probably might be the reason. The microphone-man came close to Krishna and asked Krishna what the problem was. TM Krishna slightly rudely responded, 'I am not the technical person here, you should be telling me 'what the problem is!''. That made up a rather sorry viewing, imagine losing your cool infront of your fans. That was not the end for this rather sorry episode, soon the compere requested TM Krishna with folded hands to continue singing with the existing sound system. Thought maybe this compere need not have embarassed TM Krishna by requesting this. Poor man TM Krishna must have felt terribly sorry for no fault of his and went to on to sing with the rather stupid system. It was more like a Led Zeppelin/Pink Floyd concert, with feedback thrown in now-and-then :-( ( of course unintentionally by the artist)
For a moment, I was wondering how is this microphone supposed to be that important and soon thought about those Pink floyd's rock-concert videos. Pink Floyd was one of the techno-savy bands of their time and they were good musicians alongwith good sound engineers. They trusted no third party sound system or equipment, so they always carried their our gadgets for whatever concert they went whether it is in UK or outside UK.
Concert was okay, considering all the sound-hitches. Was expecting him to sing some Bharathiyar song or maybe any Tamil song, guess, he did not sing any tamil song.
Wednesday, January 25, 2006
Ripper of a Ranji Final
Guess, all of us are waiting to witness a ripper of a Ranji final between Bengal and Uttar Pradesh.
Bengal has a few India-rejects like Deep DasGupta, S S Paul(fairly decent line-and-length bowler in NZ-style), LakshmiRatan Shukla and Rohan Gavaskar. Of course, without Ganguly this team looks out-of-colour, but still they have experienced campaigners in their team which will help their tital-cause.
Uttar Pradesh has a bunch of prospects like Suresh Raina, Kaif, Piyush Chawla and JP Yadav(not exactly a India-prospect considering his age and his baldline ;-) ). They have an old workhorse in Ashish Winston Zaidi.
UP will start as the favourites thanks to their astounding win over the perennial favourites Mumbai! UP also has some amazing talent in Raina and Piyush, hopefully these guys get a good break into the Indian team, with Greg Chappel keen to push-in youngsters into Indian team!
Bengal has a few India-rejects like Deep DasGupta, S S Paul(fairly decent line-and-length bowler in NZ-style), LakshmiRatan Shukla and Rohan Gavaskar. Of course, without Ganguly this team looks out-of-colour, but still they have experienced campaigners in their team which will help their tital-cause.
Uttar Pradesh has a bunch of prospects like Suresh Raina, Kaif, Piyush Chawla and JP Yadav(not exactly a India-prospect considering his age and his baldline ;-) ). They have an old workhorse in Ashish Winston Zaidi.
UP will start as the favourites thanks to their astounding win over the perennial favourites Mumbai! UP also has some amazing talent in Raina and Piyush, hopefully these guys get a good break into the Indian team, with Greg Chappel keen to push-in youngsters into Indian team!
Sunday, January 22, 2006
Movies by Pongal-weekend
Mr. and Mrs. Smith:
Ordinary movie. Angelina Jolie was the saving grace for this movie. 'Jolie' in French means 'Beauty'.
Winner - Vadivelu Rocks:
Thought Vadivelu kind of tries to act/speak like Vijaykanth i.e the slow way of delivering dialogues ungalalam partha enakku pavama irukku.... and vendam... enakku kovam varanthu...
But all these dialogues suited Vadivelu and from then-on Vadivelu has successfully adopted this style in his other movies as well.
Memento:
Memento had an interesting way of telling the story i.e end-to-beginning. But the story is cryptic, leaving questions like 'who is the murderer of Guy Pearce's wife'. Guess, Memento's claim to fame is that it happened to be the inspiration of Surya's character in the movie 'Ghajani'.
Kung Fu Hustle:
At last got to see the complete movie 'Kung Fu Hustle ', but this time in Chinese itself without no English sub-titles. The climax of this movie was a good spoof on how Neo(Keanu Reeves) went to sky far-up-above and then listens to some divine signs and then fights back his opponents in 'The Matrix Revolutions'. Guess, the best part about all the Chinese movies and Western movies is that they have a superb way of 'hero getting revenge over his enemies'.
American Pie - Band Camp:
Ordinary movie. The movie was below par for the genre of American teen comedy.
Bicycle Thief:
Vittorio De Sica's 'Bicycle Thief' was extra-ordinary.
The best part in this movie was the last five minutes of the movie, when the protagonist tries to steal a bicyle after getting disillusioned about the prospect of finding back his lost bicyle. The decision of the protagonist to steal a bicyle in the end made our protagonist more human and vulnerable to mistakes. And it was really disappointing to see him get caught by police/public in this act.
Another sequence which made good viewing is when the protogonist after joining his job, thinks that he has a secure future and tries to advise his wife to start believing in themselves rather than spend money in religious activities.
But, when he loses his bicycle, he himself pays his money to the soothsayer.
Guess, this movie inspired Satyajit Ray to enter film industry and make movies.
Hoping to see Satyajit Ray movies soon!
15 Park Avenue:
This Aparna Sen movie was lucky to have so many good actors. Best of the lot has to be Shabana Azmi.
The ending of the movie was more of a puzzle, but nevertheless this is a novel attempt in Indian movies.
S J Surya and his antics:
During this Pongal, whichever channel one sees whether it is Raj or Vijay or Pothigai or Sun or K or Jaya, it s all the same face which greets us 'Happy Pongal' - S J Surya. S J Surya's interviews were great fun. In one interview, he said all his movies has a 'message' and went on to explaining what is the message in all the movies he has directed.
Ordinary movie. Angelina Jolie was the saving grace for this movie. 'Jolie' in French means 'Beauty'.
Winner - Vadivelu Rocks:
Thought Vadivelu kind of tries to act/speak like Vijaykanth i.e the slow way of delivering dialogues ungalalam partha enakku pavama irukku.... and vendam... enakku kovam varanthu...
But all these dialogues suited Vadivelu and from then-on Vadivelu has successfully adopted this style in his other movies as well.
Memento:
Memento had an interesting way of telling the story i.e end-to-beginning. But the story is cryptic, leaving questions like 'who is the murderer of Guy Pearce's wife'. Guess, Memento's claim to fame is that it happened to be the inspiration of Surya's character in the movie 'Ghajani'.
Kung Fu Hustle:
At last got to see the complete movie 'Kung Fu Hustle ', but this time in Chinese itself without no English sub-titles. The climax of this movie was a good spoof on how Neo(Keanu Reeves) went to sky far-up-above and then listens to some divine signs and then fights back his opponents in 'The Matrix Revolutions'. Guess, the best part about all the Chinese movies and Western movies is that they have a superb way of 'hero getting revenge over his enemies'.
American Pie - Band Camp:
Ordinary movie. The movie was below par for the genre of American teen comedy.
Bicycle Thief:
Vittorio De Sica's 'Bicycle Thief' was extra-ordinary.
The best part in this movie was the last five minutes of the movie, when the protagonist tries to steal a bicyle after getting disillusioned about the prospect of finding back his lost bicyle. The decision of the protagonist to steal a bicyle in the end made our protagonist more human and vulnerable to mistakes. And it was really disappointing to see him get caught by police/public in this act.
Another sequence which made good viewing is when the protogonist after joining his job, thinks that he has a secure future and tries to advise his wife to start believing in themselves rather than spend money in religious activities.
But, when he loses his bicycle, he himself pays his money to the soothsayer.
Guess, this movie inspired Satyajit Ray to enter film industry and make movies.
Hoping to see Satyajit Ray movies soon!
15 Park Avenue:
This Aparna Sen movie was lucky to have so many good actors. Best of the lot has to be Shabana Azmi.
The ending of the movie was more of a puzzle, but nevertheless this is a novel attempt in Indian movies.
S J Surya and his antics:
During this Pongal, whichever channel one sees whether it is Raj or Vijay or Pothigai or Sun or K or Jaya, it s all the same face which greets us 'Happy Pongal' - S J Surya. S J Surya's interviews were great fun. In one interview, he said all his movies has a 'message' and went on to explaining what is the message in all the movies he has directed.
Friday, January 20, 2006
Mumbai Knocked Off
Atlast, Mumbai is close to being knocked-off from this year's Ranji trophy. I think Mumbai is close to Australia in getting the distinction of being the 'team-to-beat'.
Sometimes, Mumbai has been awfully lucky to have Sachin Tendulkar during the quarters/semis/finals, who might have missed all the other matches and then play some blinder of a knock during these stages and massacre lesser grade bowlers! Tamil Nadu, a strong Ranji team lately, has been in the receiving end thanks to Sachin's flying visit knocks. This time, Mumbai is struggling against a talented Uttar Pradesh(UP) thanks to no Sachin or Wasim Jaffer. The desperation was there for all to see when Karsan Ghavri, Manager of Mumbai Ranji team requested board to release Wasim Jaffer from India duties if he is not in the playing eleven for playing for Mumbai during their crucial semis match agains UP, inspite of their home advantage.
UP seems to have some talented bowlers. One of them is Piyush Chawla, a leg-spinner. Piyush has been highly rated by lots of current and former India players including Anil Kumble. Hope Piyush makes an impact in international-circuit ones Kumble retires.
The other semis might also be an interesting affair thanks to no-superstars syndrome. There is no Pathan or Zaheer Khan or Sourov Ganguly. So, things are bound to be competitive.
One good pattern that I have noticed in most of the Ranji games is that, there seems to be lots of result-oriented matches for a Four-Day match. And home teams are keen to make sporting wickets(read bowling ones). Only if, India prepares bowling wickets for international matches....
Sometimes, Mumbai has been awfully lucky to have Sachin Tendulkar during the quarters/semis/finals, who might have missed all the other matches and then play some blinder of a knock during these stages and massacre lesser grade bowlers! Tamil Nadu, a strong Ranji team lately, has been in the receiving end thanks to Sachin's flying visit knocks. This time, Mumbai is struggling against a talented Uttar Pradesh(UP) thanks to no Sachin or Wasim Jaffer. The desperation was there for all to see when Karsan Ghavri, Manager of Mumbai Ranji team requested board to release Wasim Jaffer from India duties if he is not in the playing eleven for playing for Mumbai during their crucial semis match agains UP, inspite of their home advantage.
UP seems to have some talented bowlers. One of them is Piyush Chawla, a leg-spinner. Piyush has been highly rated by lots of current and former India players including Anil Kumble. Hope Piyush makes an impact in international-circuit ones Kumble retires.
The other semis might also be an interesting affair thanks to no-superstars syndrome. There is no Pathan or Zaheer Khan or Sourov Ganguly. So, things are bound to be competitive.
One good pattern that I have noticed in most of the Ranji games is that, there seems to be lots of result-oriented matches for a Four-Day match. And home teams are keen to make sporting wickets(read bowling ones). Only if, India prepares bowling wickets for international matches....
The 8 things tag
I have been tagged by AFJ. The rules of the game are:
1. The tagged victim has to come up with 8 different points of their perfect lover.
2. Need to mention the sex of the target.
3. Tag 8 victims to join this game & leave a comment on their comments saying they’ve been tagged.
4. If tagged the 2nd time, there’s no need to post again.
My woman should:
1. Be bold
2. Be careless about her behaviour in public(instinctive)
3. Must talk-the-talk
4. Must have interest in sports/fitness
5. Must not be overtly obsessed with cooking
6. Must be enthusiastic about music/movies
7. Be independent
8. Be rational
I really had to think(extremely difficult job) for long for this. Passing across the baton to:
1. Ashok
2. Prasie
Trust Prasie will have lot to contribute :) !
The remaining six places are wild-cards open for visitors. Please feel free to take it.
1. The tagged victim has to come up with 8 different points of their perfect lover.
2. Need to mention the sex of the target.
3. Tag 8 victims to join this game & leave a comment on their comments saying they’ve been tagged.
4. If tagged the 2nd time, there’s no need to post again.
My woman should:
1. Be bold
2. Be careless about her behaviour in public(instinctive)
3. Must talk-the-talk
4. Must have interest in sports/fitness
5. Must not be overtly obsessed with cooking
6. Must be enthusiastic about music/movies
7. Be independent
8. Be rational
I really had to think(extremely difficult job) for long for this. Passing across the baton to:
1. Ashok
2. Prasie
Trust Prasie will have lot to contribute :) !
The remaining six places are wild-cards open for visitors. Please feel free to take it.
Tuesday, January 10, 2006
Jack Black Rocks!
King Kong:
The starting 60 minutes of this Peter Jackson movie was superb thanks to Jack Black! But soon, Peter Jackson because of his 'LOTR' hangover started scripting a few wild action-sequences(gory ones) and that really took the spotlight away from what could have been a superb movie. These giant creatures and its gory activities and sometimes its really humane activities is over-exploited and Peter Jackson would have done a far better job had he made 'King Kong' off-the-screen and tried to continue to build the aura about King Kong(just like how Manoj Night Shyamalan or Hitchcock will do).
School of Rock:
This movie was good thanks to Jack Black again!
Jack Black comes across as a below-par guy just like Adam Sandler and rocks the movie. He was exceptional in a similar role like this in the movie 'Orange County' as well. The way he picked up the monitor of the class as 'manager' and african-american kid as 'security' was fun to watch!
Freaky Friday:
Movie was okay, but of course some predictable humour. Ordinary fare!
The starting 60 minutes of this Peter Jackson movie was superb thanks to Jack Black! But soon, Peter Jackson because of his 'LOTR' hangover started scripting a few wild action-sequences(gory ones) and that really took the spotlight away from what could have been a superb movie. These giant creatures and its gory activities and sometimes its really humane activities is over-exploited and Peter Jackson would have done a far better job had he made 'King Kong' off-the-screen and tried to continue to build the aura about King Kong(just like how Manoj Night Shyamalan or Hitchcock will do).
School of Rock:
This movie was good thanks to Jack Black again!
Jack Black comes across as a below-par guy just like Adam Sandler and rocks the movie. He was exceptional in a similar role like this in the movie 'Orange County' as well. The way he picked up the monitor of the class as 'manager' and african-american kid as 'security' was fun to watch!
Freaky Friday:
Movie was okay, but of course some predictable humour. Ordinary fare!
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