WANTED - updated

Instant review :

WOW !!!

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Now that the movie hangover is gone, more words!
Went to the movie without knowing anything about it. Originally was going to watch the PIXAR movie. Then a last minute change and watched "Wanted". The cousins had already read the reviews of the european release and told me that it was a "good action movie". Knowing nothing else about the movie was actually a plus.

It was a really well made movie. I am tempted to draw parallels with Dasavatharam, but will refrain from doing so.

Assuming that :

Bullets can curve,
Weavers figured out Boolean algebra and boolean representation of the english alphabet a thousand years ago,
the heart can go 400 beats/second (apparently hummingbirds go 1200 and a humans can go 220!)
James McAvoy can be cast as an accountant turned assasin
Angelina can still rock ...

well wait, that last one was not an assumption!, the movie is total entertainment! Keeps you on the edge of your seat, especially after Angelina shows up. The plot, twists given the assumptions are not bad.

There was a certain unique style of displaying everything in this movie (Unique along the lines of Matrix, Sin City, Amelie, etc.) and it was self consistant within the framework of the movie. The director did not violate his own rules, something I always appreciate in a movie. Let me explain. If you are making a movie about flying pigs, and a certain pig is doing sorties, it is within the framework of the movie, because there is a baseline assumption that pigs fly!

This movie has some amazing fight sequences, chases, special effects, and style, and style and more style!

All said and done, came out thinking

a. worth the ticket price
b. If this is an indicator of the summer movies this year, will be watching a lot of good movies.

WallE, Get Smart, Hancock are already on the growing list!

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Dus Kahaniyaan

Saw this Hindi movie recently.

It was different.

Ten short stories, told one after the other.

All of them engrossing. I still have some of the characters in my head.

It was amazing to watch the stories start, unfold and end every 10-15 minutes or so.

The titles for the movie were also amazing. One of the most memorable title sequences I have seen in recent times (Guru comes to mind!)

Loved it!

10 short stories are way better than one long masala!

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A quote - in context

The lonliest person is not one who loses all his near and dear ones, it is one who has lost his own mind!

- in the movie "Maine Gandhi Kho Nahin Maara".

I just wish that I do not have to live after I have lost my mind.

Well there was more to that post than that quote.

I have been sick since wednesday night. I made the mistake of going to work on thursday and my condition just went from bad to worse. So much that I could not keep my eyes open on Friday morning. Just drank some theraflu packets and stayed in bed for most of friday, saturday and today!

Feel a lot better. As fate would have it, the wife and me thought I should get some distraction and we look in the mail and what do we have?

"Maine Gandhi Kho Nahin Maara" which came via Blockbuster Online. Started watching it and became downright depressed. You do not want to watch a movie about Alzheimers disease when you are drugged with Theraflu. Your mind plays tricks on the tricks it can possibly play! and that is scary.

I do not know anyone personally who has been affected by this disease or who has someone they know go through this disease. I really feel for them.

All that said, it is back to one last big bout of sleep before the Monday morning blues kick in...

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Shah Rukh Magic

Watched Chak De India over the weekend. I came out all teary eyed. I would have gone and watched it anyways being an SRK fan, and sooner if it werent for the hectic trip to the east coast.

It is the only movie which I have watched to this date where I have come out and said "I would watch this again!". I still cannot get the visuals out of my head or the Maula Mere song that still keeps running in the background.

It is a movie to be watched on the big screen. A very realistic sports movie with a message on todays reality when it comes to :

1. how women are treated
2. how sports are treated
3. how sportswomen are treated
4. how religion gets into sports
5. how the general public reacts to sporting events

There are multiple messages that come out in this movie, but they are all told in a very subtle sublime way, without pushing the message across forcefully or melodramatically.

On a side note, if you want to get back memories of being cooped up in a small common room in a dormitory with 100 other students to watch world cup cricket or soccer and you are holding on to go to the restroom.. drink a large coke while watching Chak De India. Makes the movie watching more interesting towards the climax!

SRK rocks!

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:) :) :) :) :) and then some...

The local movie distributors for Sivaji finally decided to drop the ticket price to 11 bucks (close enough to the normal 10$) and I had instantly booked two tickets. The added bonus was watching the movie with Balaji, who managed to recreate the original first show ambience for me!

Now this post is not a movie review. I do not think I qualify as a reviewer. Also, I am not sure if a review by default has to be unbiased. I am a Rajni fan (but not a fanatic. I strictly turn off the fan in the attic when I watch Rajni movies) and I am very biased!

In retrospect, my wow (sabatham) to watch the movie only after ticket prices dropped to the regular levels was stupid. I should have just gone three weeks ago, just to take in the audience factor. What the hell was I thinking ? I slept on the pavement at Chestnut and 38th(?)in Philadelphia 15 years ago, outside a ticketmaster window, when there was a foot of snow on the ground, just to get Pink Floyd tickets for a third show that was added last minute. The first two shows had sold out in 8 minutes with people buying tickets over the phone, and did I forget to mention that I was 15th or 16th in line and the queue of people in the pavement was more than 100 ? Stupid, stupid stupid me!

Still, the San Jose crowd doesnt fail to disappoint. Half an hour before opening time, there was a line of around 200 people. The non-desi onlookers were giving the line the amused look. They have probably not seen a desi line that long in downtown san Jose at 7:30 in the evening. We did get nice seats and there was no dearth of whistles and catcalls once the movie started. If the audience was slow to react to some stylish manouvers by Thalaivar, there was always the BB's in the audience who would start the whisling! More than once I pinched myself, just to check if I had died and gone to Rajni heaven.

Rajni cannot top this performance when it comes to style. He has simply outdone himself. The only question a Rajni fan can ask after coming out of the movie is, what next?

If you go to a Shiva temple, you are supposed to sit down for a second before you come out. It has almost become customary for people who write Sivaji reviews or movie experiences to say at least one thing that bothered them during the movie.

The one and only thing that bothered me during the entire 3 hours ?

Well, picture the height of style, the height of glamour, the most amazing set design, art direction and the music starts for a song.. and then the voice and pronunciation just kills it for you! Aaaaaaagggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhh.. Simply stated in BHU lingo from two decades ago, it was KLPD! You guys probably know exactly what I am talking about!

In spite of that, the movie was worth every penny. I am not talking about my 11 bucks here. I am talking about the millions of dollars spent in making this movie!

Rajni rocks !!

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