Showing posts with label Movies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Movies. Show all posts

Tuesday, August 16, 2005

Weekend Alas!!

From complete joblessness to a maximum workload, the shift happened smoothly, silently and extremely swiftly, inflicting a killer blow on all my plans, time and everything else.

So Friday was indeed very welcome, with prospects of an AZAADI night at Inflation, an indian disc. But ofcourse it took quite a while before i realised that my plans had been changed. Some issues that cropped up in our testing kept us at work till 2 AM on Saturday.
Things were just as good on Saturday, with me ending up in a theatre in the evening watching "Mangal Pandey".

The movie by no stretch of imagination seemed like a product of 15 years of research and 2 years of production. Aamir khan's splendid acting albeit the movie had little or nothing to offer. It was good in patches, but definitely did not deliver as expected. I probably raised the bar a bit too high. AR Rehman has done a good job as usual, but the songs were mostly unnecessary in the context of the movie and definitely got their timing wrong. So all in all, yet another movie where the less said the better.

Things showed no signs of improvement on Sunday, with me spending a good portion of my time in the office.

On the bright side, we did manage to get ourselves tickets for the AR Rehman show in Rod Laver Arena in September.

Tuesday, July 05, 2005

Eureka!!!

This could be the reason why normally creative people produce movies like "War of the Worlds". (Im still on the copyright issue!! .. read the blog below)

Ages after movies like "Alien", "Predator" and "Independance Day", all that we get from one of the most Creative Directors in Hollywood is a rehash of the same thing.

The movie had nothing new to offer. Nothing exceptional in terms of thought or technology. Its just another "Alien" movie after all.

Its probably one of the reason why we have so much trash thrown at us and also probably why this trash is consumed silently.

I happened to see quite a few movies released recently that i wouldnt want to waste anymore time writing about, than i already have watching them.

If you are reading this, maybe you should ask yourself, is it because everything else is protected and not available for public consumption and you have nothing better to read.

Sunday, June 26, 2005

19th June --> Madagascar to Anniyan...

After another Saturday at work, Madagascar seemed to be just about the right way to relax. A nice light hearted animation flick.
But Madagascar does not come anywhere close to Shrek or Ice Age or some of the other animation flicks. But with a walk down Chapel Street on a Saturday night, the trip to Jam Factory was well worth it for more than one reason. The Director has got himself a few animals from a New York zoo and has no clue what to do with them. It was funny and witty in bits and pieces.

Sunday, was the day for ‘Anniyan’.

Much awaited by many, Anniyan was released in Australia just a day after its release in India (Or probably on the same day). Many cinemas in Melbourne ran special shows over the weekend.

The Chinatown Cinema on Bourke had a show at 4pm on Sunday, which we caught up with. Arriving there at around 3:30, we were absolutely amazed at seeing a mini Madras on Bourke Street. Mama’s, Mami’s, Thatha’s and paati’s seemed to have sprouted out of thin air. The air was buzzing with Tamil and all of a sudden we felt at home. Yet it was different.

The movie was expected to be a ‘superhit’ with Vikram in the lead role and Vivek being himself as usual and Harris Jayaraj providing the music.

The show began to a packed audience amidst whistles and howls. We were transported straight back to India.

To say it did not live up to the hype created around it, would be an apt way to sum it up. The music by Harris Jeyaraj, whilst being enjoyable, did not leave any lasting impression. In short, I don’t think I remember a single song in the movie. It just left you with a faint suspicion that Rehman would have done a better job any day.

Like any other B/Kollywood flick, it seems to have been targeted at the masses. But this one strives to convey a message or rather inspire them. The Director seems unsure of whether to stick to the message in the movie or to give the masses what they want. On the one hand he attempts at conveying a message and on the other he provides you with the usual masala and songs at unwanted places. Well, I would advise you to leave your brains behind if you intend to go watch this flick.
This movie has its share of laughs though, with Vivek not missing a single opportunity to entertain. The scene with Vikram singing ‘Manasa Sancharare’ in the train to woo his girl was just too good. It almost had me rolling on the floor laughing…

That brings another weekend to an end. Well almost, there’s still Aus vs Eng and the F1 to catch up with before hitting the office tomorrow.
Aussies are in for a thrashing from England. Tottering at 63/4, after a humiliating defeat at the hands of the Bangladeshis, its looking like a double whammy for them.