a pound of flesh!

i picked up this movie just on a whim. i had never heard about it before nor had anyone recommended it to me. the very brief story-line on the cover jacket got my attention and i decided to check it out.

and i was glad i did!

if you analyze the film you will find many loop-holes. you would also probably be uncomfortable about some of the moral aspects of the film.

but i would very strongly recommend this movie for all film-lovers. its not a classic or oscar material. but what i liked about the film, apart from the good acting by will smith and rosario dawson, is how the movie keeps you guessing till the very end. and the best part is that you already have an inkling of what is unfolding, but you are still hoping it turns out differently. and that is disturbing. and that is what makes this a very interesting film.

seven pounds is a 2008 film directed by gabriele muccino (who also directed 'in pursuit of happyness'). the film is all about an individual who is reaching out to seven complete strangers and trying to change their lives drastically. and you keep wondering about the motive behind his seemingly bizarre actions. you can clearly see that he is punishing himself very severely and the story slowly unfolds to give you an idea of what's happening. the film has many loose ends which all tie up pretty nicely in the end.

go out and rent the dvd tonight. you will thank me for it! :)

films galore!

its been an orgy of films over the weekend... and i'm going around with a smile that would make you think that i've had a heavy sunday lunch or something! (btw, i did have a heavy sunday lunch too! :P )

i watched an old 2001 film serendipity'... nothing exceptional... fairly predictable, but nice... in a soft, mellow, feel-good kind of way, if you know what i mean...
the film revolves around two people (john cusack and kate beckinsale) who accidentally meet while shopping and click off very well... but they part ways without him knowing her full name... and she says that if they are meant to be together then life will bring them together! the movie after that is about how life finally brings them together, obviously! :)

i like the word serendipity which means 'a fortunate accident' and it actually has a very interesting history! you can read all about it here.

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i then watched 'ninja assassin' late saturday night... this is a must-watch for action aficionados... the action sequences are choreographed and executed ... but if blood, gore and chopped-up body parts are not your cup of tea then i would strongly advise you to keep away... you could end up losing your dinner in a very unpleasant way! :)

the film is produced by the wachowski brothers of the matrix fame, directed by james mc teigue (v for vendetta) and the lead role is played by rain (a korean pop star actually! :) )...

the film gives you the impression that the action sequences were put together first and then they interspersed some kind of a story-line into it! :P

like i said, watch it purely for the poetry in action, the subtlety in the violence and the calming numbness of the blood and gore!

(i never knew that the human body could spew out so much blood and with such ferocity!)

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and last night, the big boss and i decided to pick up a rental movie... and we both liked the brief description on the jacket of 'state of play' which is a 2009 american political thriller... its quite a power-packed film with russell crowe, ben affleck and rachel mc adams...

its actually a film adaptation of a 6-part 2003 british tv series by the same name... the film is directed by kevin macdonald (last king of scotland)...

the movie is tight, and moves at a fairly rapid pace and keeps you hooked on till the end of the 2 hour length of the film...
the script is very impressive with twists till the end, corporate conspiracies, some racy dialogs and humor...

the cinematography and the background score maintains the tension all through the film... and the actors deliver a punch with their performance... russell crowe as an old-fashioned journalist is a pleasure to watch in this film...

a must-see for everyone who likes a good film with drama and mystery!

rascals!

this might be slightly late in the day for many of you, but for those of you who haven't watched the movie 'kaminey' here're some words of advice :

GET OFF YOUR BACKSIDE AND GO WATCH IT!!!

this was my first vishal bharadwaj (vb) film (yeah, sacrilege, i know!!!) and it is not considered as his best film by far... infact a friend who's a vb fan sayd that this film was very 'main-stream commercial' as compared to his earlier films... but i still enjoyed it thoroughly!

i'm not going to bore you with another review here... there are so many reviews out there already...
but i'd like to share some kaminey and vb trivia here with you...

- the song 'dhan te tan' was actually not made for this movie... it was used by vb in a tv serial in the 90s...

- there was apparently much choreography planned for the song dhan ten tan... they just went out there and moved to the music and some of that was captured (i find this hard to believe though)

- vb himself has sung the title track 'kaminey' and his wife rekha bharadwaj (she has sung the catchy 'gendhe ka phool' song in delhi6) is one of the singers of the song 'raat ke dhai baje'

- vb has directed, composed music, written the screenplay and sung for the film... its unhealthy! so much talent concentrated in one person! :P

- he bought the script for $4000 from a nairobi-based writer who he mentored in a scrip-writing workshop in uganda

- this is the debut film for amol gupte who plays the role of one of the key villains - bhope bhau. amol gupte wrote the screen play for the award-winning taare zameen par.

i have now decided to catch up on all the vb movies that i have missed - maqbool, omkara, blue umbrella and makdee. the big boss shudders at the thought! :)

space: the final frontier

"Space: The final frontier
These are the voyages of the Starship, Enterprise
Its 5 year mission
To explore strange new worlds
To seek out new life and new civilizations
To boldly go where no man has gone before"

so many of us have such nostalgic memories when you hear these lines... of the eagerly awaited star trek series on sunday morning on television (on the solitary doordarshan channel in those days)...

i have never watched a single star trek movie after the tv series... i couldn't even bring myself to watch the new series which did not have william shatner as capt. kirk and leonard nimoy as spock... (i remember all the girls in school in those days being completely smitten by capt. kirk... yeah yeah, i know i studied in an all-boys school and you are wondering how i know this about the girls... well, i am not telling!)

but i finally decided to watch the latest star trek movie which is a chronicle of the early days of capt. kirk and his fellow uss enterprise crew members...

all of us trudged off for the sunday morning show... the big boss and the kids... the kids actually enjoyed themselves... and i don't mean just the popcorn and the fizzy drink... they actually enjoyed the film... though the younger one (daughter) did get a little frightened during some of the scenes... it was their first sci-fi film on the big screen...

i simply loved the movie... even if you have never watched star trek you will really enjoy this film... and if you are even a fringe fan of start trek and don't consider yourself a trekkie you would still be comiting an unforgiveable sin if you do not watch this film!

the movie has leonard nimoy playing the old spock (i am not telling you anything more) and he still can make you smirk with his logical dialogs delivered with a punch...

but for me, just like for another die-hard fan i chatted with earlier today, the most 'goose-bumpy' and emotional moment in the film was during the end credits where leonard nimoy says 'space: the final frontier....'

ah! that was the bestest moment in the film for me... but you have to watch it understand what i am saying...

i will sign off by borrowing spock's customary farewell line (accompanied by the vulcan hand salute of course) - "live long and prosper!"

shivaji resurrected!

a movie has to be really good to inspire me to write about it on my blog on the same day! (i watched delhi 6 a few weeks back and didn't write about it at all... well you know what that says about that movie! :) )

but this is about a completely different movie... its about this marathi film called 'mee shivaji raje bhosale boltoy' which has been making waves ever since it was released... in fact it is touted as the largest grosser for a marathi film ever!

this film could also be the comeback vehicle for actor-director mahesh manjrekar whose cousin brother santosh manjrekar has directed this film.

though the film is in marathi, most of you will be able to understand if you can understand hindi... though the film is about the 'marathi manoos' rediscovering his lost pride, a person of any other community also will be able to connect with the theme of the film...

the film is very slickly produced, just like a nig-budget mainstream hindi bollywood film... the casting is excellent, the dialogues are forceful and the pace doesn't ease up at all...

the film is about a middle-class bank clerk, dinkar bhosale, who is making ends meet... he is constantly ridiculed and pressurised and insulted by his office colleagues, family members, and many others in his day-to-day life... a strange twist in the story brings him face-to-face with the resurrected maratha warrior king, shivaji maharaj at his pratapgarh fort... (this does remind of you munnabhai m.b.b.s. but this film is very different)

after this he becomes a hero of sorts and resolves many issues related to the education system, police, politicians, builders, film industry, etc. some of these resolutions are fairly cliched but the overall charm of the film is not lost...

i must've watched a marathi film after more than 20 years! and i have been trying to watch this film for the last 2 weeks and for over 5-6 times my plans changed... i was convinced this film was jinxed :)
boy, am i glad i persisted and finally watched it earlier tonight...

if you are a maharashtrian, its a shame if you haven't wacthed this film yet!
if you are not, but are living in maharashtra (or were living in the past) then you must definitely watch this film...
and if you are not living in maharashtra and you do not understand marathi, then you should hire a dvd with sub-titles and watch this film...

you will thank me after watching it!

slumdog made millions!

and i'm not talking about the character in the story of the film 'slumdog millionaire' but the people who made the film including the producer, director, actors and the rest of the gang!

i saw the movie last night, a late show as usual! along with the golden square gang.

this morning my friend (who was part of the gang last night) called to check my take on the film... so here it is.

i loved the movie... liked the gritty edge the film has through till the end... (i would score it a 6.5 on 10)

1. it is a well-made masala film... a love story well-told
2. a good story well adapted into a film (in fact one of my school friends said it was better than the book. and that's something!)
3. the brit accent seemed jarring
4. the actors were all pretty good especially irfan khan and anil kapoor were very good. i thought dev patel gawked a bit too much! :)
5. i also agree that we take many aspects of the poverty (child beggar-workers, child prostitution, slums, filth, etc.) for granted and it doesn't shock our sensibilities as much as it would most of the rest of the world... including other asian countries.
6. i am sure the film made on vikas swarup's next book 'the six suspects' will also be good... its finally about the story and how well it is told
7. but at the end of the day i am not sure this is oscar material, the nominations notwithstanding. its possible that inspite of so many nominations it doesn't win any oscars. and then maybe it will... maybe for technical aspects.
8. but if it does win the oscars for best film, then it proves that the film impressed the western critic and sensibility... india being presented to the westerner through a westerner's eye! in all its grit, grime, gore and glory!
9. but i also believe there are many new-age bollywood films which present a story as well, if not better (wednesday, tzp, etc.)

finally, there is one line in the film which comes to my mind... the actor says that 'today india is at the centre of the world'.... i would add to say that 'mumbai is today the centre of the world'!

my friend felt that the movie wednesday was far better... i agree with him... it had better cinematic values... a story very well told, gripping, and slick... and most importantly, it presented mumbai in a far better light! (manish, murli and i are planning to watch trainspotting soon!)

p.s. for film trivia buffs and those who saw the film, did you'll notice the director's signature style in the frames in the last dance sequence on vt station? (hint : check the time displayed on the large digital clocks on the platforms!)

i need some solace!

yeah, i need some solace!

why, you ask?

when you go for a bond flick, after sacrificing precious sleep, you expect to be entertained... you expect to get introduced to freaky gizmos and gadgets... you expect edge-of-the-seat action... you expect technical brilliance... you expect class and pizzazz and more... (and the women of course!)

and the least you expect is a classy opening credit sequence...

don't you all agree?

and the last thing you expect is a sentimental bond! and i just can't picture bond holding on to a dying man and feeling senti and all...

if you look at 'quantum of solace' in isolation i guess you would rate it as a decent action flick... like international khiladi or something!
but this flick did not have any iota of the class that one has come to expect of bond films! as one of the friends in the group said after the 90 minutes dragged itself to an end - 'i mean, how difficult can it be to make a good bond film? just put in some funky gadgets, some exciting stunts, some great chase scenes, some mind-blowing ladies, some torrid scenes, and some excuse of a plot! i can't believe they couldn't manage something as simple that!'

well the excuse of a plot was definitely there. no doubt about it! but the rest of the formula was forgotten completely!

i guess the producers and the director forgot one cardinal rule of sequels - if it ain't broke, you don't need to fix it!

so if you haven't seen the quantum of solace yet, i would advice you to wait for it to be shown on hbo or star movies! especially if you are a bond fan!

mamma mia!

just got back from the movie 'mamma mia! the movie'....

you can't help but get the feeling that you've just watched a slickly made bollywood production... except that it was dubbed in english! :P
bollywood's arrived in hollywood!

there's drama & melodrama, romance, music, songs, dances and a wedding! no i am not talking about 'hum aapke hai kaun'! :P

the movie, mamma mia and not hahk, is a 'stage-to-movie' adaptation of the 1999 west-end musical by the same name. the plot revolves around a bride-to-be (amanda seyfried) who's living with her single mother (meryl streep) on a greek island. she wants her father to attend her wedding. she finds her mother's diary and finds out that there are 3 possible candidates who could be her father!

she invites all 3 of them for the wedding using her mother's name hoping to identify her real father immediately... but she can't... and then the rest of the movie is all about a lot of songs and dances and the story unfolding! the plot is weak and limps along between the songs...

most of the songs used are from the successful pop group 'abba'! these include the popular ones like mamma mia, dancing queen, i have a cream, money money money, chiquitita, etc.

the cast includes pierce brosnan (of james bond fame), colin firth, stellan skarsgard, amanda seyfried and others... all the actors have played their roles quite well and have even lip synched very realistically! :P
but the show-stealer is most definitely meryl streep! even at this age (she's close to 60!) she packs so much energy and life into the role... she runs around, prances about and dances with abandon like a 20s-something-year old! in once scene she actually jumps up on the bed and manages a split (i am talking about a leg-split as done by dancers)...
she carrys almost the entire film on her shoulders!

so go for the movie only if you are an abba fan! its a must-see for you...

for the rest of you, its not a bad movie... worth watching even if you are a bollywood movies fan... you will identify with it! :P
and its definitely better than most of the bollywood movies currently playing!

p.s. did anyone guess who's the real father? i don't think even the script writer knows! :P

wednesday!

thanks to a good friend, who's a movie buff like i, i watched 'a wednesday' on wednesday!

and boy, was it a good film!

this is one of those movies which made a relatively quiet entry and has only gathered momentum over the past few weeks! and i think many people are watching because of sheer 'word of mouth' publicity and it is slowly acquiring something of a cult status already!

if you have not yet watched it, you must! you will enjoy every minute of the film, take my word for it! (there was only logical loop-hole i found in the film... and if you have watched the film already then i'd like to know if you spotted it too? write in with your answers and i'll reveal the flaw in a couple of days! :) )


the best part of the film is the powerful message delivered by two equally powerful and towering actors (naseeruddin shah and anupam kher). nothing preachy, just a simple message delivered with a punch.

the story line is kept taut throughout the film... there are a few surprises thrown in and some questions left unanswered...
the complete package is almost perfect, the music enhances the mood of the film (no songs in the 120 minute film), the cinematography keeps you engrossed without going overboard!

the characters are very well etched, and all the actors deliver... the dialogs are very well written and there are a few humorous moments as well!

all in a all, this is film-making at its best! a total 'paisa vasool' film... go and watch it... you can then thank me later by writing in :)

p.s. check out more details at http://www.awednesdaythefilm.com/... though the site didn't load when i tried! :(

got rocked!

the 'big boss' is very particular about her quota of sleep. nothing comes in between her and her quota. not even a discussion that i want to have after a sinful dinner about life-and-death issues like the extra 2 inches that i seem to be putting on at the wrong parts of my anatomy!

so if she's sacrificing her sleep and doesn't grumble about missing her sleep for some nonsensical get-together or movie or something, then you can be rest assured that the reason she sacrificed must have been really worth it!

we watched 'rock on' last saturday! very late show... the movie ended at 1 am! we both loved it thoroughly! she actually said that this movie was definitely worth losing sleep for!!!

the movie has a 'dil chahta hai' feel to it! the best part of the movie for me was the music! the actors were perfect for the roles they portrayed, the story was simple and stayed true to the theme, there was a very gritty and natural feel to the entire film, nothing was over-the-top... very highly recommended if you have not already seen it!

i got a late sms the same night after the movie from an ex-colleague who also must have just seen the movie... let me reproduce the sms here as a short review of the film :
"Hey friends, do watch ROCK ON... its a superb flick! Its a sensitive movie with music as a metaphor for life... with delightful little nuggets of humor & realistic dialogues. The movie is refreshingly witty! The music is great, true to a raw band type. Farhan Akhtar, Arjun Rampal & Luke Kenny have done a great job but my personal favourite is Purab Kohli. I loved the end of the movie as well! Take aways -
1. Pursue your passion, no matter what because the happiness & satisfaction you get is beyond measure.
2. Never let a small misunderstanding injure a great friendship... good friends are forever!
3. Life mein compromise karna padta hai!
4. The journey is more important than the destination.

ROCK ON completely ROCKS... Go enjoy the MAGIK!"

yeah i know, quite a long sms!
but it hit the nail on the head and it saves me the effort of reinventing the wheel and writing a review! :P

lessons from a panda

the big boss has 'asked' me to post this... and i post it, no questions asked, obviously! i mean, i am crazy and all that, but i love life. my life being the most loved one, of course!

the guruprasad family watched the kung-fu panda a few weekends ago! mr. guruprasad junior was treated to the movie separately... the rest of the family promptly went and saw it the day after that! (the excuse the seniors used was that ms. guruprasad junior could not obviously be deprived of this movie! :P )

(the murky truth lies in the fact that the parents would go to any lengths to watch such animated movies! in fact the big boss liked it so much that she was keen i post this piece here about the movie... so now you know who to thank!)

well here's the verdict to anybody out there who's still not watched this movie - WATCH IT NOW!!!

and it doesn't matter if you are single, married, divorced, separated, with/ without kids, celibate, etc. or if you fall into any other category! this movie (one of the few non-pixar ones) which ranks right up there with the best animated films! (my list includes finding nemo, the incredibles, monsters inc, the lion king, shrek, aladdin, jungle book, the little mermaid, etc.)

the story is fun for kids, and carries a bag of laughs and a few good hard-hitting messages for us boring oldies as well. its all about a 'fat' panda (do they come in any other size?) who wants to be a kung-fu warrior. and then becomes one in the end, despite all the 'heavy' odds, without any 'secret recipe' for success.

its a fairly simple straight-forward story which is presented very well. the action sequences are a delight to watch. (frankly i didn't pay much attention to the fact that the voice-overs were done by some heavy-weights including dustin hoffman, angelina jolie and suchlike.)

my only advice is that it wouldn't be a good idea to watch this movie before going to the local stamp duty & registration office... whatever inspiration you gained from the movie would be effectively sucked out of you there! but then that's the gory stuff for another post later :)

p.s. read this great review cum career advice post - http://youthcurry.blogspot.com/2008/07/kung-fu-style-career-advice.html

p.p.s. i also happened to watch the latest sequel in 'the mummy' series - the tomb of the dragon emperor. my only comment is that i hope the mummies are well and truly buried this time and are not resurrected any further!