SilasRam

Knight And Day - Small Doses Of Fun!

2010-07-07T16:50:00.000-07:00

You have seen the trailers. It’s supposed to be a brainless action summer romance movie and it was exactly just that! I walked in to the movie to see a Mr & Mrs. Smith-esque Cruise-Cameron product. I was totally surprised to find sweet chemistry between the protagonists, great laughs here and there, and some intentional cheesy action sequences. Basically it was a fun ride and a harmless entertainer. And I completely fell in love with Diaz again! Cruise – the man has charisma! He may be trying very hard to patch up his public persona - here he carries the whole weight on his shoulders with great success. If there is something called “Spontaneously Brilliant Spy With Innocence”, he brought that smoothly to the screen lol.

Needless to mention, James Mangold seemed to have joined the Danny Boyle club by making every single movie in a different genre (Heavy, Cop Land, Girl, Interrupted, Kate & Leopold, Identity, Walk the Line, 3:10 to Yuma, Knight & Day) and making all of them completely watchable.

The Last Airbender - Why?!

2010-07-07T16:35:00.000-07:00

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There is no point in beating the dead horse, in this case a dull flick. But just want to say, it was terribly painful experience to see a great story falling apart from the first frame of the movie. Probably I was way too much in to the original series. Being aware of the archetype of each character in the series, I was expecting magic all the way. I was gleaming with all my teeth at the glimpse of bending types and Star Wars kind of scrolling text in prologue. It was great to see Katara’s narration throughout the movie even though it was totally patchy.

Then ……Aang appeared – didn’t work! Here’s Sokka – nope! Here’s Zuko – Nay! Aasif Mandvi as Admiral Zhao cannot be a bad guy; we love him in The Daily Show! How can he pull villainy with the same voice and tone? And Fire Lord Ozai just walks in to the movie. Excuse me, isn’t he supposed to be the ultimate bad-ass and needs to be sitting on the fire?! My friend leaned over and whispered – “just imagine this guy in book 3 fighting with Aang..” I don’t want to derail this movie completely, Nicola Peltz as Katara and Dev Patel as Prince Zuko were passable. Shaun Toub as Iroh is really good, but I kept on thinking that this character needs to be fat and drink tea all the time. And when he goes fire blazing in the end, it would have been a surprise! Summer Bishil as Azula was trying to give us a vicious smile and I slapped myself in the forehead. – Sequel? – No, please no!

The characters were not established in any point of time. Things just move on and on, leaving us confused relentlessly?! Since I was well aware of the mythology, I was at least able to quickly switch my gears to follow the jumpy screenplay. Imagine people with no knowledge whatsoever – what would they get out of this movie?! If the movie had better pacing, cheesy expositions, active people, heavy music, I would have walked out satisfied. My expectation was rock bottom after seeing 6% rating in tomatoes. Still it managed to pull me down. This is supposed to be a fun family friendly action movie. And it was a dull confusing mess! Let’s close this book, as well as Night’s.

My Rant On Raavanan!

2010-06-25T16:37:00.000-07:00

Every single Mani Rathnam movie has been a classic! I didn’t connect too much with Guru, but I have friends who love that film to the core. Having said that, Raavanan felt like the perfect recipe for a masterpiece. With Mani helming another story based on an epic and Vikram playing lead role, what could go wrong?

Well, before jumping in to the evil side of the film, let’s concentrate on what actually worked! First and foremost, the character who walks in and steals the show is, Priyamani as Vennila. The flashback sequence was so awesome, it singlehandedly rose the state of the film. The second best aspect of the film is camera/visual effects. Mani’s movies continue to acquire finesse visually. This movie is no exception. The forest sequences play with different shades of dark blue, green and grey – it’s simply scintillating. I’m not sure which camera was used to shoot this film. But it feels like the digital camera, the grains were evident in one of the camp sequences with Prithivi and the cop team. Santhosh Sivan and Manikandan have basically charged this movie with absolutely realistic incarceration of exquisite and dark nature – which also feeds metaphorical resemblance to beauty and the beast plot. Prabhu was apt in his role. ARR’s songs were terrifically brilliant. But background score was so over the top and definitely had reminiscence of Sivaji for some reason.

Ok! It begins now - I’m still trying to digest the fact that I have seen a mediocre Mani film. It seems totally unacceptable as a Mani fan to have encountered this unrealistic, illogical movie. Somewhere, something has gone totally eerie. The movie goes up and down in terms of catching your attention. For few secs, it takes and keeps you in a high place and suddenly there is a huge snag. You lose everything! Narration was very uneven. I have started to believe what Amitabh tweeted may be true - the editing might have screwed it up. The characters seem like acting way too erratic for a film from a quality movie maker.

Veera (Vikram) – Why is he making funny sounds?! Why is he acting like a lunatic?! In every freaking scene, Vikram builds and kills his legacy. Whilst watching the film, you get the feeling – “OMG this guy is the best artist ever!” then at the end of it, he does the “buk buk buk dun dun dan danaka”. WTF. Someone told me that he carries 10 diverse facets in his mind, they juggle him up and finally he blurts from one of the heads. Brilliant idea on paper - Very bad execution! I swear no one could get those sequences. That’s why he shines in the flashback sequence – because there is no frikin’ “buk buk”.

Dev (Prithivi) – Again – Great actor, inconsistent role! Why is he so mad at Veera? You might say that his wife just got abducted by Veera. But he seemed to be more obsessed with Veera than Ragini. That becomes more evident in the end. Dev is supposed to Ram but had shades of evil to it. I liked that in this character.

Ragini (Aishwarya Rai) – She has literally given the body, heart and soul for this film. There are no two ways about it. But the character falters heavily in the end. It leaves us confused whether she is really in love with Veera or Dev.

Don’t even try to get me started on Karthik as Hanuman! I couldn’t believe, I was watching a Mani’s film at that time.

Why does the screenplay have to be true to Ramayan? It could be just inspired from an epic like Thalapathi. Whenever the movie hits key moments, where you know that it was a direct rip-off of Ramayan and there were no thoughts whatsoever to make it a subtle affair, it took me off the movie. It felt completely ridiculous! Example - Karthik on the tree talking to Ragini, Dev suspecting the loyalty of Ragini etc etc.

The sequence where Ragini falls from the tree to the river and Veera watching the vulnerability of this woman against the nature - should have sealed the deal for the film. The concept of beauty and the beast is so appealing, it should have worked. I think this movie is a huge misfire. I’m still trying to understand the actual vision behind this film. It should have worked but it doesn’t. I hate myself for being so mad at this film. But I cannot expect anything lesser than a good film from Mani Rathnam. At least that's the way, I have grown with his films.

I would love to see a Director’s cut for this film. I’m still hoping that this movie is meant to be classic with those missing pieces of the puzzle. OMG! Undo this film for me.

Lost Season 6: Thoughts On The Series & Finale!

2010-05-30T14:13:00.000-07:00

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Spoilers all over the place!

Lost finale aired last week, May 23 2010 with lots of expectations and fans dying to get an ultimate closure. I managed to watch the finale @ abc.com and was pondering the events unfolded in the last chapter. The finale is basically of 2 episodes length and ran around 100+ minutes. I sat with my fingers crossed expecting to see a quick subtle reveal answering all the questions/mysteries planted for the past 6 years. I kind of had less expectations based out of mixed reviews and in 6.15 episode - “Across the sea” felt like the series had jumped the shark little bit by revealing arabian-nights-esque fantasy elements. With such least expectations, I was fairly satisfied with the finale that its all over and I felt a closure on almost all the characters. But…….

What happened to the brilliantly crafted awesome show ever? What happened to the masterpiece of character study? The ending talked about saving the light, Jacob, Smoke Monster Dude and a crazy mom?! Is this the reason for the war between others and Dharma people? Danger to pregnant women? T.I.M.E T.R.A.V.E.L? – the link between these events and the ultimate core reason behind all this, was very weak.

I may hate season 6 and feel the pain for the finale – because I have to, I’m a damn Lost fan! Thinking back and keeping Season 6 outside the legacy, the first 5 seasons enticed us with the best television ever made in the history of prime time TV. The mindblowing character study, spider-web connectivity between the characters in the flashbackwards, jump on time to flashforward and some extraordinary acting kept the show intact. And that’s what made the show! I was glad to see all the characters in the flash sideways (i.e; after-life) and having a happy reunion. It was emotional, moved me to tears and felt really bad that I would not be able to see these characters anymore. The final scene at the church was highly confusing and unbelievable, but I was giving up myself to go with the flow and be happy for a sweet reunion; though completely didn’t make any reason to have a reunion. It was paced well and forced on us. I took what I got and left with pain.

Amidst of “protecting the light”, Sawyer talks about Jacob, “its like he doesn’t say anything about anything!”. And Hurley throws the line “its kinda true, dude! He is worser than Yoda.” I totally broke in to laughter and that’s what I felt about the whole finale. But in my case, the writers are the Yoda!

Beyond all this, LOST is still best television series ever made! There are no two ways about it.

Connecticut | My Earth Hour | 8:30PM EST

2010-03-27T13:41:00.000-07:00

Connecticut | My Earth Hour

I am more eco-friendly in a way that I generally like dark and live most of the time with my lights off or with low lights. But I counter that with lots of movie watching, listening to music and podcasts. so tonight, I am gonna sleep through the whole earth hour :D

Tell 'Em Steve Dave! - SModcast.com

2010-03-27T13:08:00.000-07:00

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Tell 'Em Steve Dave! - SModcast.com

I have been a huge fan of Kevin Smith's SMODCAST and their new spin-off show, Tell 'Em Steve-Dave is one of the funniest podcasts at this moment. We have heard Byran Johnson and Walt Flanagan before in several SMODCASTs, and their stories are always interesting and freaking funny. This new podcast deserves lots of fans and they are gonna get there soon. You gotta check this one out!

You can also follow Bryan and Walt @bryandwalt.

The Last Airbender: Super Cool Domestic & Japanese Trailers

2010-03-27T12:33:00.000-07:00

Image via Wikipedia

Two new trailers for “The Last Airbender” were released last week and it's rocking my fanboy genes to ecstasy. These trailers features unseen footage of different elemental bendings and tons of action. From what we have seen so far, it looks like the series is going to be dark and gloomy, compared to the animation series. After watching these new bad-ass trailers, I'm already sold out for this movie. I'm going to forget about Night and the race-bending issues, and move on with the movie in our hands.

Domestic Trailer

First time ever, we get to see …

1.Katara doing water-bending. It looks very graceful and beauteous as we have seen in the original series. And water-bending visuals are mindbogglingly realistic.

2.Zuko doing fire-bending. This is freaking fierce. I'm loving Dev Patel as the bad dude here.

3.Aang'staff getting transformed to a glider. Awesome!

4.And we get to hear Aang's voice - saying “I don’t deserve their praise”. I have seen lots of sites complaining about the voice acting comparing to original series. I think it doesn't matter that much. Yeah it feels uncanny, with every other voice acting sounding close to the series (especially Iroh sounds exactly like in the series.)

A glimpse of battle between Katara and Zuko looks marvelous. I can watch Aang sliding under the arm in slomo, 1000 times. I will never get bored of it.

Again whether do we have an awesome movie in the way? Not sure yet. But whatever we have seen looks goddamn promising and it has raised my expectations immensely. For that, you have to give it up to trailer. The tone, the music, the subtle eeriness, the slow buildup and entry of Aang – a freaking great job by the trailer editing team!

Japanese Trailer

Avatar: The Last Airbender is completely based out of the Asian culture and that's what makes it unique. And this Japanese version of the trailer stamps the deal by making it look like one badass martial arts flick. Japanese voice-over adds the depth to tone of the movie. Now, I really want to watch this movie in Japanese to get a different outlook.

We also get to see some new visuals.

1.A fire-bender using campfire as the source and bending it over water tribe. This might be Zuko attacking water-tribe while searching for Aang, which was in the 1st or 2nd episode of Book 1. This looks freaking cool!

2.I also noticed Aang's air-bending looking smooth with his landing and swirling his staff, making fire-benders fly away in seconds.

Of all the teasers and trailers, I think this Japansese one is more badass, authentic and closer to the series.

Night's Roundtable

Two weeks back, Paramount organized a round table discussion with bunch of fansites and established movie websites. The discussion seemed to have raised lot of hope for the movie seeing Night's commitment to the franchise and understanding of the characters.

You can check out the snippets of the discussion in UGO.com linked below. Glad to know Momo is in the movie version :) The video version of the roundtable would be soon released. But going through the snippet, I think we are in for lots of fun with the movie version.

http://www.ugo.com/movies/m-night-shyamalan-the-last-airbender-and-blueberry-muffins

Get your fanboyism on and geek out with the new clips. Wait for twinkle-toes has never been so much fun!

Avatar - The Last Airbender: Series Vs The Movie

2010-03-09T20:55:00.000-08:00

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I got in to Avatar – The Last Airbender, only because it showed up as one of the recommendations in my Netflix queue. I have consciously avoided this series for a long time, thinking its just for kids. With nothing else to do, I watched first episode from Book 1, two weeks back and my mouth was wide open in surprise. Wow! Kids these days are very lucky for having a series filled with fantasy elements based out of different Asian cultures. Needless to say about the visuals which is an absolute fantastic mash-up of anime and regular cartoons. Folks who have seen other anime classics derived from classic manga will have an appreciation to this series as well. I went ape shit about the series and saw all three books (seasons) back to back. The finale was worth it. Also you gotta understand, this series is targeted for kids (Y7) and it carries only subtle violence, elements of teen romance and some goofy comedy – in most scenarios they succeed with the mix. After finishing the series, I was pretty sure the movie version will easily rock, because ….....

1.IT'S A ROAD MOVIE – lead characters keep traveling from one town to another, one nation to another having lots of fun along the way. I have a huge love for road movies and I think, if you mix it with any genre (sub-genre?!), it will work just perfectly. Be it Lord Of The Rings or Motorcycle Diaries or even Wendy & Lucy – it is fairly easy to keep the characters afloat and interesting.

2.IT'S A MARTIAL ARTS MOVIE– the series relies heavily on action set pieces and choreography derived from Chinese Martial Arts. Each bending technique is blended with actual fighting styles. So the movie can easily be filled with cool action sequences. And we see that in the trailer as well.

3.IT'S HARRY POTTER – the 3 characters in the series (Aang, Katara and Sokka) can be compared to 3 lead characters in Harry Potter. You can also run multiple parallels between the two series. So how is it a good thing? Kids are gonna love it and it's good for box-office.

4.STRONG SUPPORTING CHARACTERS – I could only compare this aspect to LOTR. The secondary characters in the film have almost the same level of importance to the protagonist. A very sarcastic & goofy Sokka, blind girl with trigger-happy earthbending -Toph,witty tea-loving fire bender Iroh and one of the best gray characters ever conceived, Zuko. All these characters have a strong back stories and brilliant emotional arcs to carry the movie for a smooth ride.

5.GOOD VS EVIL – take all major franchises – Star Wars, LOTR, Harry Potter and even Matrix/Transformers (just the first ones!). Good Vs Evil always works. We all know, no matter what, good triumphs in the end. But the journey is always watchable.

Having loved the series too much, I'm worried about the movie now. They have already f**ked up the casting! Shyamalan is returning to direction after Happening. Beyond all this mess, I have a small light of hope, the movie might still work. Because Avatar series as a mythology is mind-blowingly awesome.

But I gotta give it up to the trailer. It looks spectacular with cool martial arts, a strong voice over and visuals seems to have translated well to movie format. Water Kingdom looks awesome in live-action. Aang's tattoos, the Avatar transformation and the bending sequences – everything seems to be carried over from the animation series directly. It's all good! I even spotted Appa (flying bison) for a moment there and Momo (flying lemur) seems to be missing. Will this version work? We gotta wait and see. But I'm excited!

Trailers' Lookout: Legend of the Guardians

2010-03-08T21:07:00.000-08:00

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Zack Snyder (Director of Dawn Of The Dead, 300 and Watchmen) is surfacing in to animation territory and also first time to the family friendly zone (not rated R) with the new movie, "Legend of the Guardians". This movie is based out of children book series, Guardians Of Ga'Hoole.

Snyder is known for his visual brilliance and this movie is no exception. The trailer throws in myriad blends of colors and beautifully rendered owls. It also features “Kings and Queens” by 30 Seconds to Mars. which syncs absolutely with the visuals (remember Watchmen trailer with Smashing Pumpkins?).

Plot synopsis in IMDB goes "Soren, a young barn owl, is kidnapped by owls of St. Aggie's, ostensibly an orphanage, where owlets are brainwashed into becoming soldiers. He and his new friends escape to the island of Ga'Hoole, to assist its noble, wise owls who fight the army being created by the wicked rulers of St. Aggie's." With Sam Neill, Hugo Weaving, Emilie de Ravin, Jim Sturgess, Geoffrey Rush, Helen Mirren, and Abbie Cornish lending their voice talents, the movie is believed to have dark intense undertones which would suit Synder's pedigree of work.

A Quick Lookback At Oscars 2010

2010-03-08T16:45:00.000-08:00

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

The most expected night of the year so far, was finally over. This year, Oscars had a huge viewer-ship in the past 5 years. It's all good right? Well, I was not even interested that much in Oscars this year, because I was sure Avatar is going to sweep away almost everything and I was pretty sure that I will be disappointed. But it was back to back surprises with the final moment of glory crowned to Kathryn Bigelow and The Hurt Locker. At that moment, I realized Academy redeemed itself from the populist titles in the nominees, pulling teen favorites as presenters and whatever changes made to increase the audience strength. I almost went "this is frikin awesome!". And I also realized Avatar was no way closer to The Hurt Locker in the final race. I bet, either Basterds, Precious or Up In The Air were more closer to the Locker.

Well the show was kinda boring. I liked the Steve Martin and Baldwin's Paranormal Activity skit. Rest of the skits, presentations just flew by with no impact whatsoever. It was painful to see Farrah Fawcett left out of In Memoriam.

The true moment of the show was, Barbara Streisand looking at Bigelow and announcing "The time has come." and I kinda liked Bigelow's speech, though she was trembling in surprise. That was nice!

And finally we can say, it was The Hurt Locker's night and the small movie made its way all the way to glory, finishing the underdog story with pure simplicity.

Aayirthil Oruvan - First Reactions

2010-01-15T12:37:00.000-08:00

Aayirthil Oruvan (One in a thousand, 2010 Tamil movie) is probably THE best quality product that came out of Tamil Filmdom. I was chilled through my bones walking out of the movie hall. This film is "A" certified and Selvaraghavan has gone all out to make this epic. Mindblowing is such an understatement! Alright I need to digest everything in this film before making a formal post. I have to throw in a spoiler here, but I think everyone needs to know this before watching the film. This film doesnt end in this installment, it closes out much like LOTR: Fellowship of the Ring. And one more thing, teasers and trailers doesnt show anything about the actual movie. And........ this is not for the baby hearts! This film is as raw as Mel Gibson's Apocalypto. OMG, I'm literally speechless right now.

2009: Year Of Movies - My List

2009-12-28T19:28:00.000-08:00

What a great year for movies and what a bleak watch I had. Sincere apologies for not posting much in this blog! As I had mentioned before, work & personal life is pulling me in different directions and I have no time for movies. But anyways, what has become a regular tradition in Silasram, I am going to post the best movies of 2009 from what I have watched so far. This list is NOT gonna include all the gems that came out later in the year, which means almost all the best of this year. Let’s jump right in……

Star Trek – probably the most entertaining sci-fi flick ever?! Not exactly, but close. J.J.Abrams rejuvenated the legendary series for the new generation of Trekkies. Let’s be honest, it was like Star Wars. That’s why it worked and there is nothing wrong with it. It brought all the nerdy Star Trek elements to a big budget sci-fi extravaganza and voila, we had a winner – both critically and financially. Chris Pine and Zachary Pinto got in to the skins of Captain Kirk and Spock. While we wonder about the closeness of the plot to Star Wars sequels and how the space-time continuum went berserk in the last moments, the movie was still entertaining and pure fun. Knowing the flaws, the second viewing was more satisfying (Yes I watched this in theater twice). Can’t wait to grab a copy of DVD and definitely can’t wait for the sequels. BTW I loved the lens flares. Glad to have the Trek back on track!

Inglorious Basterds (Quentin Tarantino) – Any film which was in the development for more than 2 years always raises eyebrows. QT was playing with his fans about Basterds for years and it was about time. I had very low expectations for this movie, especially after Death Proof. Though I adore Death Proof for its Grind House flavor, it was far away from the smart scripted world of Tarantino. Basterds was announced, developed and completed in a swift phase for Cannes ‘09. But, early buzz from Cannes was not tremendous either. In the movie halls, it was a whole different experience. Basterds was a sweet surprise and it directly went in to QT’s masterpieces with just few minutes in to the movie. This rough, bloody, messy and historically incorrect version of WWII, as told by Tarantino, is what one can call as “f&*(ing brilliant!”. A nod to Spaghetti Westerns and WWII epics, this movie crosses all boundaries. Never have I seen audience kept on applauding for violence on screen and never in a movie, the final payoff was extremely rewarding. Basterds is an instant classic. The one to own and the one which will stand for multiple viewings. QT is back, baby!

The Hangover (Todd Phillips) – Old School being the Classic it is, Hangover should be considered as an achievement. Every freaking frame in this movie is pure comedy gold and it does supersede Old School in few places. With end to end LOL moments, Zach Galifianakis entered the big league with this one. Like Old School, this one is gonna stay with us for a long time. “There is a jungle cat in the bathroom…..” still is side-splitting.

Hurt Locker (Kathryn Bigelow) – Pure edge-of-the-seat thriller about a bomb defusing squad of American Soldiers in Iraq. Kathryn Bigelow reaches her pinnacle with this one. A raw display of physical and psychological casualties of the war with crucial action set pieces, this movie stays away from the politics of the Iraq War. Almost present in all the top ten lists of 2009, it has already swept most of the critics’ top honors. A solid movie of 2009. Now all it needs is an Oscar to seal the deal!

Paranormal Activity (Oren Peli) - A small tiny film which can scare the bejesus out of ya! In a way, it could be the scariest movie ever, provided you watch it alone in the movie halls. I still get the flashes of the movie often, it literally f&*(ed me up for a while.

District 9 (Neill Blomkamp) – Ah! What can I say about this one. An instant sci-fi epic. Heavily borrowing from Alien Nation, it goes beyond our expectations. With an exceptional performance from Sharlto Copley, the movie touches the issues of discrimination from the eyes of Aliens. An alternate reality which is as compelling as the real life, it is bound to put you in awe and make you cry. With a less than average budget of 30 million $s, D9 looks spectacular and feels like a 100+ mil movie. Neill Blomkamp enters the game with an immediate touchdown. Masterpiece? it is!

Watchmen (Zack Synder) – This may raise few eyebrows. But we cannot forget the fact that what has been achieved is still significant. With a complex, convoluted and non-linear literature as the Alan Moore’s graphic novel, this is the finest version feasible. We all know, this movie cannot be better than the book. Watchmen is one of the must-read books of all time as per the TIME magazine and generally regarded as "unfilmable". With such a heavy baggage already in the shoulders, I think Zack definitely pulled this off successfully. I dig this movie completely.

Drag Me To Hell (Sam Raimi) – Second next to Star Trek on the most fun I had at movies this year. Glad to see Sam Raimi back to his forte. Cheesy jump scares and B-movie feel, revamped horror comedy with a kick-ass ending.

Public Enemies (Michael Mann)– With names like Michael Mann, Johnny Depp, Christian Bale and story of John Dillinger, this film is bound to be a quality work. It received better than average reviews but I did enjoy this film on par with “Heat”. That’s why this is on my list. You can check my love for this crime saga here.

(500) Days of Summer (Marc Webb) - if any of you is wondering about the ill-fate of romantic comedies qualitatively, we had some sign of relief with Summer. A sweet little flick about a guy moving away from a girl. It is finely tailored drama with great pepped up performances from Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Zooey Deschanel. A must-watch for everyone!

As you can see, I have missed a huge frame of big guns. Starting from the obvious Avatar, Lovely Bones, Education, Up in the air, Fantastic Mr.Fox, Where the wild things are, Precious, The Road, Serious Man, The Brothers Bloom, Moon, Tetro, Whatever Works, In The Loop. Antichrist, The Box, Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans etc. The list is massive! I will post my comments as soon as I check them out next year. But for now, this is my list.

Hoping to type in more posts while I’m in my vacation. Happy Holidays, folks! :)

Enlighten Up! - Yoga For Dummies

2009-10-03T21:45:00.000-07:00

It’s high time, I started posting something rather than helping my lazy bum thrive forever.

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Enlighten Up! – Directed by Kate Churchill, this cracking little documentary is about the journey to understand the ultimate destination of Yoga. Her subject: New York journalist, Nick Rosen. Kate & Nick travel from NYC to Hawaii and finally to the motherland of Yogis, India to find a logical, rational and most importantly plausible answer to the spiritual realization element of Yoga.

I would assume that the target audience for this documentary is basically people like me, who have no freaking clue about Yoga. I do get the most confused look on my face while looking at the postures (the asanas). What are they doing?! Let me tell you something. I was sitting with 100+ people in REAL ART WAYS and everyone had the same look. Nick felt like, he is one among of us. You are automatically tuned to this guy’s frequency. Within 10 minutes in to the film, we are already engaged to his journey.

The film plays between light & high moments. Humor is unavoidable in this premise. We do laugh with Nick and get back to skeptical mode. Is yoga just an exercise for both mind and body? Is there any spiritual connection to this practice? This is a very simple concept for a documentary which expects all the meat to come out of the conception itself. In this case, the journey! Throughout the film, Kate, Nick and us, the audience waits for the moment - the ultimate payoff of this journey! I’m not going to spoil the ending yet. But the journey is worth watching. It’s hilarious, satiric and emotional all the way.

I don’t want to use swooping phrases like “masterpiece” or “must-see” but I would consider this as a nice little study on yoga. It doesn’t promise much but delivers something heavy in the end.

Spoiler Alert from here .........

After the show, I happened to have a long chat with one of my friends. She read the movie in a totally different way. So I would consider the ending very subjective. In my perspective, I felt, the ending was very strong and absolutely emotional. Yoga is basically soul searching and finding thyself. I don’t remember the Yogi’s name but the one who gives a charming speech in the end – he basically sets this journey’s payoff. It goes something like – a human reaches the pinnacle of self realization and existence, while performing an activity beyond the physical and mental capabilities. This can be reached by anything you love – Swimming, Hiking, Rock Climbing, Racing and ……. Yoga as well! That’s the supreme enlightenment from this movie.

Tryin To Get Back!

2009-09-20T20:00:00.000-07:00

Apologies to SilasRam readers! I haven't been able to update my blog as frequently as I used to do. Work has surrounded and mobbed me completely. Let me try to get back on track!

But I did watch lots and lots of movies and TV. And NetFlix has been giving me cerebral/indie/foreign movies as well. So it's all good :)

RIP Bodhi!

2009-09-14T17:58:00.000-07:00

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Another legend passed away! Patrick Swayze died at 57 after fighting pancreatic cancer for the past 2 years. This is unexpected and didn't expect that I would be impacted so much. I'm not a huge fan of his movies. I have absolutely loved Point Break - one of the best action flicks of all time and have been wanting to see Road House for a long time. Felt OK with Ghost and not interested in Dirty Dancing. But Swayze has always been the man's man and ultimate dude for me. Whatever movies I have seen of him, he had always been the ultimate class act. I have been following news stories about him since he had been diagnosed with cancer. Can't believe he is no more.

Rest In Peace. My heart goes out to his family and the fans! He would live in us as Bodhi forever. It's a very sad day!

WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE - LET THE WILD RUMPUS START!!

2009-08-07T15:24:00.000-07:00

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I'm almost in tears of joy after seeing this trailer. I'm sensing a classic which is gonna bring out the child in everyone of us. This is spectacular and mind blowing already. I'm telling you right now, I can't wait! I'm having a moment here.

Here is the new trailer for WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE based out of the book by Maurice Sendak and directed by Spike Jonze (Being John Malkovich, Adaptation)

Public Enemies – Nails Down Into The History

2009-07-10T23:03:00.000-07:00

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Set in 1933, Great Depression era, Public Enemies chronicles the epic story of the bank robbing criminals, John Dillinger, his gang and attempts by the FBI to bring them down. Staring Johnny Depp as John Dillinger, Christian Bale as FBI agent Melvin Purvis and Marion Cotillard as Dillinger’s girlfriend Billie Frechette. Screenplay by Ronan Bennett, Ann Biderman, Michael Mann. Directed by Michael Mann.

If you want to see an exemplary Mann film like Heat, this is the one. I would even keep this in the same level as Heat. Yes, it’s that good. Though, I completely enjoyed Collateral and Miami Heat, this one stands apart as one of the best Mann’s films till date. Once again, Mann handles the Cop Vs Criminal drama with an elegant technique. I just realized how many parallels can be run between Public Enemies and Heat. Nevertheless, Public Enemies is a much deeper character study of John Dillinger, the man he was. The most likable factor of Mann handling this character is, there are no expositions. Though Dillinger keeps talking to his girlfriend about his nature, his philosophies and his love, you understand this man from his actions. Mann tunes the audience in synchronization with Dillinger and we enjoy every exploit, he stages. When Dillinger asks Billie, “Want to take this ride with me?” we say “Yes!” to ourselves, because we are in with him. Christian Bale’s Melvin Purvis on the other hand stays a little distant, as it was intended to. We do feel this man but don’t want him to get anywhere near Dillinger. Two suave men in opposite sides of the coin. Both of them, fine in what they do and losing men on this journey. I don’t have to spoil this movie, but you know what happens in the end. You do walk out of the movie hall with a heavy heart and that’s movie magic!

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I can’t close out this post without talking about the cinematography. Mann, being the only director who uses Digital Camera in all his movies, has finally brought the complete beauty of this technology. The realism is unmatchable and it takes us back to the era. Substantially sharp, bit grainy and appealing slickness contributes to the élan of this film. Cinematography is an intrinsic part of the movie. The first 15 mins, I was just looking at the stunning visuals. Then I totally forgot about it and was taken away by the world of Dillinger. The noteworthy achievement is, the movie rose above this cinematography.

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A film like this needs the best of the performances, in most restrained approach possible. Depp, Bale and Cotillard get the job done with perfection. Johnny Depp is undeniably Dillinger and he owned every one of us in the movie hall. He had the same damn smile – to Billie, it was the most adorable smile and to the cops, it was most vicious smirk ever. After the Pirates’ movies, I was too worried about the “Actor” Depp. Oh yeah, he is back and he is back with a freaking great portrayal of the #1 public enemy.

Christian Bale plays it suave and subtle. You know this guy is a badass and you feel it throughout his presence, but you never see it explicitly. Bale reaches his pinnacle with his delicate glares, intense stares and sharp eyes. There are moments in which you know, he is totally broken inside; but all we see is the man standing taller and stronger. It’s so amazing how Bale managed to live this character.

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Marion Cotillard continues to engross us with her quality performances. The moments between her character and Dillinger bestow the flawless illustration of magnificence in having a rough man and a slender beauty together. Marion delivers the love in Dillinger’s life much bigger than all he had ever achieved.

I can almost say that Public Enemies is the best film, I have seen all year. The closest one is Star Trek. Public Enemies is a must watch. It’s a gangster epic presented in Mann’s panache. When the credits started rolling, I was damn sure that this is going to be timeless!

The Hurt Locker - War Is A Drug.

2009-07-08T16:14:00.000-07:00

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The Hurt Locker – Critics have embraced it and branded it as the best intense-action-thriller-war epic in a long time. Directed by Katherine Bigelow of Point Break and Near Dark fame, starring a sweet cast - Jeremy Renner (new ABC show Unusuals, Guy Pearce (Memento) and Evangeline Lilly (Lost). It is currently carrying 95% in RottenTomatoes. So I guess, this is a must watch. Heard this one revolves around the US bomb squad in Middle-east. Movie seems to have stayed away from any sort of political agenda, but concentrates on the intense battle the military squad goes through, in detonating the explosives. To be honest, I can’t wait to see this movie. I have heard only good things and everyone has recommended this vastly.

Check out the recent one sheet (above) and the opening sequence of the movie (below).

Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen – Benchmarking Non-stop Action!

2009-07-06T16:24:00.000-07:00

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I have to speak my mind as I did for Wolverine. This summer, I have loved all these huge action flicks, even after realizing all the flaws in them. Critics have panned this movie heavily and it carries 19% approval rating in Tomatoes. I find this totally absurd because they loved the first one immensely. So what went wrong?! It’s the sky high expectations. We weren’t waiting for sequel to “Batman Begins” and this is no freaking Dark Knight. It’s Transformers. One line story, hot girls, cheesy lines and lots of mind-numbing, earth shattering CGI robots. That is all, we should have expected! Atleast that’s what I wanted to see.

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Having spent 13$, I felt its all worth it. I got what I wanted! But I understand the problem with this flick! It is huge; it is so huge, it never let the audience to sync in. There is no time to wait for the Autobots and Decepticons to show up. They land on the screen even before the humans show their faces. The first action set piece features one of the biggest Decepticons that we have ever seen – the Demolishor. I was awestruck and confused at the same time: 1- are we in the last act already?! 2- It looked uber freaking cool! 3- I knew that the Robots were battling each other, but who’s hitting who – the same freaking Transformers One syndrome. My brain auto tuned for something bigger! This movie is huge in all f***ing levels! This should have been the 8th movie in the series. It definitely ODed with a heavy splash of Robotism.

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But…… Hey, I am for it! It was basically some 5 line story which died amidst all the action. The humans looked like clowns, hindering the flow of the movie. The Shia-Megan’s love life and Sam Witwicky’s college dreams – huge load of crap! I couldn’t have waited more for the first act to get over. But, when the cool and creepy Decepticons started appearing in different forms, the movie went in to full gear mode. F**k the humans! Transformers is all about robots – whether you love them or hate them, it doesn’t matter. They all can appear and break things apart in the most coolest way possible.

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The architect behind this massive 200m$ monster of a movie, Michael Bay, is essentially the DNA of summer Hollywood action movies. Say whatever you want, this guy has redefined non-stop action to a brand new level. I agree, its mind numbing, illogical and super dumb – but didn’t you see, how f***ing cool, it was! OMG, I wouldn’t mind spending another 13$ to see it again! There is no one in this world who knows how to blow things up and make it look so freaking cool. I can’t wait to see the making of this movie, as I thoroughly enjoyed the making of the first one.

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As far as the hot girls are concerned, Isabel Lucas is so much hotter than Megan Fox; so you get the level of satisfaction in that aspect. Autobots & Decepticons - It is a maze of machines and all you hear is the metal rattling noise for 150mins. One huge action set piece after another, things flying all over and heavy dose of CGI. I need some air to breathe – it was too metallic to handle! Go for it but remember ………… it’s Summer, it’s Transformers and it’s Michael Bay!

Basterds, I Can't Wait For Ya!

2009-06-22T15:51:00.000-07:00

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I CAN'T WAIT! I CAN'T WAIT! I CAN'T WAIT! I CAN'T WAIT! I CAN'T WAIT! I CAN'T WAIT! I CAN'T WAIT! I CAN'T WAIT! I CAN'T WAIT! I CAN'T WAIT! I CAN'T WAIT! I CAN'T WAIT! I CAN'T WAIT! I CAN'T WAIT! I CAN'T WAIT! I CAN'T WAIT! I CAN'T WAIT! I CAN'T WAIT! I CAN'T WAIT!

A phenomenal poster (above) and an amazing trailer (below)! I just can't wait..... releasing only on August 21st.

Trailers' Lookout: 2012 - It's Going Down!

2009-06-21T20:24:00.000-07:00

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Last week, web world got all hyped with the new trailer for Roland Emmerich’s Sci-Fi/Disaster epic 2012. You could really see traces of his previous movies in this teaser - Independence Day, Godzilla, The Day After Tomorrow and 10,000 BC. It looks like a CGI extravaganza. It completely leaves you in shock as world goes down on 2012 doomsday, based on Mayan beliefs. Trailer looks all Hollywood-ized with huge significant structures falling down and extraordinary explosions. Wish this trailer had the apocalyptic terror factor like Transformers or Cloverfield; it would have worked much better! This is interesting but I don’t have high hopes yet. As someone tweeted, I'm gonna punch someone’s face, if one of the lead characters in the movie saves the world LOL. Anyway, check out the trailer.

SHUTTER ISLAND: FIRST LOOK

2009-06-11T17:30:00.000-07:00

Martin Scorsese. Leonardo DiCaprio. Ben Kingsley. Mark Ruffalo. Emily Mortimer. Michelle Williams. Jackie Earle Haley. Dennis Lehane.

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It's no Departed. But watch it and get ready for it! Releasing on October 2, 2009.

A glowing green 9 poster for Nine: Brilliant!

2009-06-10T15:43:00.000-07:00

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I'm excited about this movie. Produced by Tim Burton and created by Shane Acker who won loads of awards for the animated short "9".Now he is gonna bring us the big screen version of the same. The world of "9" looks absolutely dark and green. It's visually appealing and the clips are completely engaging. Check out the new clip "Under Attack" below and today, we are presented with the new poster for the movie. Spectacular, ain't it! 9 releases on 09/09/09. See what they have done there :)

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im surfing all the f$$king time.....

2009-06-05T12:05:00.000-07:00

got the data plan. im blogging on the go. people expect more posts now on. ha ha ha lol

David Carradine: No More!

2009-06-05T06:35:00.000-07:00

This is crazy. David Carradine of Kung Fu and Kill Bill fame had been found dead in a Bangkok hotel. Though the cause of death looks absolutely weird, the Man had his moments and his canon of work is undeniably legendary. I remember reading his book on making of Kill Bill - "THE KILL BILL DIARY". More than his casual writing skills, I was truly impressed by how much of a true personality, he was. May he rest in peace!

Drag Me to Hell: Horror Is Fun!

2009-06-04T15:25:00.000-07:00

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If you are one of those who are not excited about this flick yet, then you should get freaking energized and you better see it immediately. Drag Me to Hell – Brings Sam Raimi (Evil Dead, Spider man franchises) back to his horror genre roots after 22 years. Has he succeeded? Hell yeah! Better than ever.

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To set the expectations straight, it’s NOT the scariest horror movie ever made. So please don’t expect a creepy, bloodcurdling horror movie. But it’s the most enjoyable and funny horror-thrill-ride ever! You gotta see this in the movie halls. Audience were jumping in the seats out of fear and then laughing at themselves. One teen girl screamed out loud in a scary sequence and the whole crowd went laughing out loud. The experience was unbelievably awesome! There was never a single boring moment in this flick! Half backed CGI and B horror movie feel makes it more adorable. Alison Lohman is the girl of the moment! Poor thing, how many times does she have to lose strands of hair and eat lot of devil’s green goo?! But when she starts kicking the devil’s ass, its horror gold all the way!

The movie is carrying 93% positive rating in Rotten Tomatoes and it has already become one of the most loved and well reviewed movies of this year.

If you are a huge fan of Evil Dead series like me, then you would embrace this one to your favorite collections. Sam Raimi is back and horror has never been this much fun!

The Basterds

2009-05-11T16:39:00.000-07:00

I'm lovin' everything about this one!

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Trailers' Lookout: Terminator Salvation - 4 Min Trailer

2009-05-11T16:33:00.000-07:00

Now, this is the SALVATION! OMG! Frikin' F***in' Awesome..........

"Star Trek" - A Much Deserved Box-Office Win!

2009-05-11T16:12:00.000-07:00

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Alright! The resurrection of Trek universe is complete! Thanks to JJ, Trekkies can get their world back and newbies can jump right into the franchise. Star Trek made 79.2M$ (including the thursday night special show numbers) and lead the box-office as expected. I still have to catch this one, but I can't wait.

Wolverine took a big 68% drop (85M$ to 27M$), I guess bad word-of-mouth is hitting this hard! I'm in the minority in liking this movie for what it was. Well, I have to profile this as "guilty pleasure".

Next week, we are getting "Angels and Demons". I'm pinning my hopes pretty low for this one. I dont wanna be disappointed, as it happened with Da Vinci. Let's see..........

05/06 - Star Trek Holds 100% Fresh Rating In Rotten Tomatoes

2009-05-06T09:59:00.000-07:00

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Star Trek is the best reviewed movie of 2009 so far! It is currently holding 100% fresh rating in Rotten Tomatoes. Impressive, isn't it?! I have loved everything J.J.Abrams has created. He is going to be one of those creative directors who churns out blockbusters as well. This is great!

I'm not a trekkie. So I can wait one more week for the ticket prices to go down. I can't afford for 15$ every week lol. Wolverine may not be the perfect start for everyone, but here you go people ........ Star Trek has officially made this summer brighter!

Trailers' Lookout: Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

2009-05-03T20:20:00.000-07:00

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Lots and lots of explosions!

Trailers' Lookout: District 9

2009-05-03T19:57:00.000-07:00

This one came with Wolverine. Produced by Peter Jackson (Lord of the Rings Trilogy) and directed by Neill Blomkamp, District 9 is one heck of a intriguing trailer. Walking in the horror zone with documentary style film-making like 28 Weeks Later and Cloverfield, this movie is based on a short film "Alive in Joburg" by Neil Blomkamp himself. The film is about aliens landing in Africa and locked down in a district, starts working for Humans as slaves. Bizarre, right?! Yeah, the internet bees are already buzzing.

Viral Marketing is already in place ........... check out the movie site and a blog run by a Non-Human (Alien) below.

http://www.d-9.com/

http://mnuspreadslies.com/

If you are in interested, check out the short film "Alive in Joburg" below.

Weekend $s: Wolverine Rakes In 87M$

2009-05-03T19:35:00.000-07:00

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That’s what 6 claws and one angry dude can do to the summer box-office! X-Men Origins: Wolverine accumulated 87M$ over the weekend. With 150M$ budget, Fox will easily recover the production + promotion costs and end up with profits in next 2 weeks, considering it will bring in huge moolah from overseas market. But bad word of mouth might hurt a little bit!

Having said that, I know I loved the movie compared to most of the masses and critics. I still stand with my opinion. Wolverine was able to entertain me completely because I walked in to the hall with the only expectation to watch a B – Action Movie. And this movie provided absolutely more than what I expected. Most of us agree that this is not a bad one, but not a great one either! It had the potential to be the greatest. It might have missed the mark but it definitely served its purpose. So I have embraced it. More than that, I truly enjoyed this flick as a solid summer movie. So no regrets here…….

INGLORIOUS BASTERDS: Now This Looks More Like It!

2009-05-03T10:15:00.000-07:00

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X-Men Origins: Wolverine – It’s All Good! Thank Hollywood For Summer!

2009-05-01T21:21:00.000-07:00

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First thing first! The movie is good…….OK ………and it’s almost there. With 38% in Rotten Tomatoes, I was expecting a horrible watch. But surprise, surprise………. sweet surprises! The movie does what it is best at! We don’t have Bryan Singer anymore in the X-Men franchise, so we are not gonna get the gems like X-Men and X2. Remember X3?! Well, this is golden compared to that. The movie absolutely catches the heart and soul of Wolverine comics; and it is closer to the Marvel animated movies.

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Taylor Kitsch as Gambit

I loved the starting credits featuring Wolverine and Sabretooth fighting all the major wars in the history. Nicely done! I liked the medium paced first act; it helped the viewers to dwell some time into the characters. The locales were stunning and solid job from the DP as well. Action sequences were kick-ass, as expected and some of them were f***ing hair-raising. There were few cheesy action set pieces, but it sailed with the movie. I was going “hell yeah!” in at least two moments. Wolverine – sent chills through the spine when he tore down the lab with his shiny brand new Admantium claws for the first time. Sabretooth – vicious, villainous and bloody hungry. DeadPool literally stole the show with his one liners. Gambit was apt!

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Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool

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Liev Schreiber as Sabretooth

For all the right intents and purposes, three characters saved the movie! 1. Wolverine – Hugh Jackman, 2. Sabretooth – Liev Schreiber, 3. Deadpool - Ryan Reynolds. Apparently this is an origin story for all these characters. Though most of the time is devoted to Wolverine, Sabretooth & Deadpool get their fair chance of action and they absolutely stole the show.

I don’t agree with 38% in RT. I think, this movie deserves a better rating. In the end, it tied the story back to X-Men and the easter eggs in the end credits were mint.

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STAY TILL THE END OF THE CREDITS – Director Gavin Hood has got some eggs for ya!

Overall –

As a normal movie-goer – it's just OK.

As a fan of X-Men universe, life feels reallllllllllllly good, Bub!

And here's the sweet helicopter chase scene for ya!

Wolverine: 36% in Tomatoes?

2009-05-01T10:05:00.000-07:00

X-Men Origins: Wolverine is carrying around "36% rotten" rating in Rotten Tomatoes with 129 reviews and Metacritic has given 42% with 25 Reviews. Looking bad! I'm gonna leave my brains out for tonight's show. Hopefully it has loads of mindless action to cover it up!

Just got tickets for Wolverine! Summer blockbusters starts this weekend.........HURRAY!

2009-04-29T13:57:00.000-07:00

X-Men Origins: Wolverine

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Wolverine: Latest Promo

2009-04-23T17:52:00.000-07:00

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I tried Blogger’s Post On The Go feature…and could not figure out how to embed images and videos!!!!!!!!

Alright! This is the best trailer out of all the promos and teasers which we saw for X-Men Origins: Wolverine. I can’t wait to see this movie; looks absolutely exciting! Check it out.

NO WORDS TO EXPLAIN THIS! CHECK IT OUT.........

2009-04-13T19:04:00.000-07:00

Susan Boyle in Britain's Got Talent!

Susan Boyle Sings on Britain's Got Talent 2009 Episode 1 @ Yahoo! Video

ABC's Castle: Crime And Comedy

2009-04-12T15:21:00.000-07:00

ABC’s new crime thriller Castle premiered on Monday, March 9th 2009. I started watching the series for Nathan Fillion and the promos were extremely funny. Yes, it’s a crime thriller but it does serve the chilling thrills with some flavor of comedy as well. Credit goes to Nathan Fillion. Obviously we all love him from the TV Series “Firefly” and the movie “Serenity’. But many must have caught him in the movies like “Slither”, “Waitress” and the internet movie “Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog”. He has irresistible charm and fantastic sense of humor. His comedy timing is priceless. We need more of this guy! But for now, we have Castle.

In this series, Nathan Fillion pairs up with Stana Katic to investigate the gruesome murders. Set in NYC, Nathan Fillion plays a celebrity author “Richard Castle” who gets hooked up in to a murder case, since the killer recreates Castle’s crime scenes from the novels in each murder. Stana Katic plays NYPD homicide detective “Kate Beckett” who has to crack the case with Castle and at the same time, deal with the man-child in Castle. The series is extremely refreshing as it mixes right amount of suspense, thrills and comedy. With just 5 episodes old, you can easily catch with this new ABC’s drama. Check out a clip from the series!

Unnaipol Oruvan: The Beginning Is The End Is The Beginning

2009-04-11T07:43:00.000-07:00

I hate to do this. Well, you all know the 2008 bollywood movie “A Wednesday!”. If you don’t, then you have to check it out. Because I heard some fan-f***ing-tastic reviews from my friends and it ended up in most of the critics’ top 10 list of 2008. I haven’t seen it yet and I will find some time to do that. Now, the movie is being remade in tamil (Unnaipol Oruvan) and telugu (Eenadu) with Mohanlal & Venkatesh is the respective versions.

The teaser came out this week. Beyond the star cast, the story, the visuals and everything, I was taken back by the soundtrack. It is some sort of mixed version of “Smashing Pumpkins – The beginning is the end is the beginning” which we all know was used in the first teaser of Watchmen. And Watchmen had the best trailer in 2008. I was seriously disappointed by the fact that this is being used in “Unnaipol Oruvan” just like that. And then in the credits, the music director name said “Shruti Hassan”. !?! I think, I have to give up complaining and stop comparing things!

This is for your comparison. Figure it out!

Wolverine: Claws Of Adamantium, Bub!

2009-04-10T15:32:00.000-07:00

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X-Men Origins: Wolverine releasing on May 1, has gone through a lot of roughness like the Wolverine character in the Marvel world. Early rumors about the movie turned out to be awful, followed by reshoots and it was the victim of piracy as well. A working copy of the movie surfaced the net last week and it was chaos all over. Putting all this behind, with a positive note, the promotion of the movie is being continued all around the world.

Let’s talk this through. We all loved the first 2 X-Men movies. And the recent HULK Vs Wolverine animation movie was f***ing incredible. It was the best of Hulk Vs series. And we all know that Hugh Jackman is born in this world to be the Wolverine. There’s no f***ing denying that! From whatever clips and teasers that we’ve seen so far, the movie looks absolutely kick ass. All we need to do now is, sit back and wait for May 1st to hit, rather than watching a WIP copy. I would love to see Wolverine with all the fans roaring and cheering, when Wolverine says “Bub!” and tears every moving thing with his claws of adamantium. And we have got Gambit, Deadpool……all in to the game! I know, we can’t wait for this flick! But hey this is gonna be one great kick-ass movie watching experience! Wait for it!

Check this footage from BBC about the special promotion for this movie and few new clips as well. I wanna say it again; the clips look kick-ass!

Clerks II: One Ring To Rule Them All

2009-04-10T15:01:00.000-07:00

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I told ya! I’m becoming one huge freaking fan of Kevin Smith as days passes by. Yesterday my pal and I watched Clerks II (2006). We were laughing our asses off. What an f***ing fantastic movie! Kevin’s direction style of articulating the story through dialogues and characters is so gratifying compared to all sorts of visual sagas. Especially Jay and Silent Bob – is there anyone else funnier than this duo?

Clerks II was crazy. There is a moment in the movie where three characters battle out on which trilogy is THE best. Is the Jedis (Star Wars) or the Rings (LOTR)? Check this one out! Watch out for the language. But believe me, you will ROTFL throughout the clip. Hail, Kevin Smith!

Clerks 2 Lord of the Rings lol

Where The Wild Things Are - Sweet Trailer

2009-04-09T09:51:00.000-07:00

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From helmer Spike Jonze (Adaptation, Being John Malkovich) comes the live action version of one the best classic children's picture book of all time, "Where The Wild Things Are". The buzz is already on throughout the web. The trailer embraces the story that is being told from the heart and looks absolutely phenomenal. I love the posters as well. A must see teaser! Check it out.

2009: The Year Of Star Trek

2009-04-08T23:40:00.000-07:00

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This is how you f***ing treat your fans! Give them the best freaking surprises of what they love! I'm no way closer to a Trekkie, but I can feel the enjoyment and tears of all the Star Trek fans who were invited for a special screening of "Wrath of Khan" in Austin, TX. With just few mins in to the movie, the tape burnt out. Technical problems?! Orci, Kurtzman and Lindelof appeared on the stage to handle the situation. They suddenly brought in the SPOCK - Leonard Nimoy and .......... he blessed the roaring fans with the preview of J.J.Abrams Star Trek. Wow! Ain't that f***ing awesome?! And the response was great! Trekkies loved the movie and they are holding it closer to their soul! It's a new beginning for Star Trek. And seeing this clip, puts me in to tears. Trekkies had an early christmas this year!

Eminem - "We Made You"

2009-04-08T23:22:00.000-07:00

Eminem - New Music - More Music Videos

Time flies! Last october, I did jumped up and down for the return of Eminem! And he is truly back as we got the first video of the single "We Made You" from Em's new album "Relapse" on Tuesday 04/07. This video marks the return of Slim Shady as he slams a whole bunch of celebrities once again. It's a little bit different kind of beat and rap style compared to "Real Slim Shady", "Without Me" and "Just lose it'". It's funny and it works! The downside is, the song doesn't catch up with us and makes us addicted like the previous ones. But hey, I'm more than glad that Em is back to his game. I can't wait for the release of his new album 'Relapse'. Alright, check out the new single "We made you!".

I'm frikin' sick!

2009-04-08T23:13:00.000-07:00

Yeah! I'm sick. I dunno whether it's the weather or the cold beer every weekend. Fever & cold. Doc said it might be bronchitis. Good/bad for me,I was working from home. With the time I saved from not commuting to and back from office, I had time to check out some Kevin Smith flicks. I have watched Clerks & Zack/Miri before. This is the first time, I watched "Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back" and Dogma. Suddenly I'm a huge Kevin Smith fan. I will try to post some short and sweet comments about Kevin Smith's movies. And I just woke up @ 2:18AM to say that I will catch up with the movies' stuff soon. And to my all my folks out there, sorry for not answering your calls, I will call you all pretty soon.

Luv,
Me.

New Face Of Tamil Cinema

2009-04-01T04:49:00.000-07:00

Whatever we may curse, crib and cry about all the meaningless masala-action flicks in Tamil, we have to understand that we have to get over it. Masala-action movies are the new face of Indian Cinema. Just take stats of the net revenue of Tamil industry from the past 5 years and see the biggest contributing genre. You know the answer very well! It's the masala flicks! The industry is surviving based on these movies. Every hero wants to do a movie and create a “mass’ following to survive in this industry. The survival of the fittest! Heroes are trying to get into six pack mode and acclaimed directors like Gautam Menon & Bala are trying to get into the masala-action genre in their new movies. They are reaching out to the mass heroes with their scripts. Vaaranam Ayiram and Naan Kadavul are good examples of how the ‘mass’ audience feels about ‘meaningful quality’ flicks.

Bollywood has already made the crossover and it has managed to take this phenomenon to Oscars as well. If you look closer, Slumdog Millionaire is almost closer to a Bollywood movie. Bollywood has managed to create an aura about Hindi films everywhere and f**k yeah, we have an oscar now. Rahman used to select scripts for his movies. You must seen a change with his latest selection of movies. Example, Ghajini, all recent tamil flicks etc. Speaking of Ghajini, yup, even Aamir did an end to end masala-action movie which had a south Indian flavor throughout. The face of Tamil Cinema has already changed. I think there are few people like me who still have faith in “meaningful quality movies”. But ………. I think we are not going back in that direction. Masala flicks are gonna stay forever. The past 4 years have truly changed the face of tamil cinema. I think we should all be proud of this phenomenon, rather than hating it completely.

Check out this interesting link and find some solid examples of how the acclaimed artists, directors, musicians are trying to cope up with this change for the past 4 years.

www.tamilvaasam.com/20090331/face_of_movies_104.html

TAKEN - Wicked Posters

2009-03-23T23:30:00.000-07:00

TAKEN - Liam Neeson is back with a bang! Kidnap story with solid action sequences. Nothing big, nothing great..... But we do have Liam Neeson and he kicks baddies' asses all over the movie. What else do we need?!

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Did you see the official posters for “Taken”? They look absolutely dark, cool, bond-esque and makes me yell, “f*** yeah!” The one filled with “I DON’T KNOW WHO YOU ARE. BUT IF YOU DON’T LET MY DAUGHTER GO, I WILL FIND YOU…… I WILL KILL YOU” is THE BEST of all. That’s a 1000000% badass poster and that’s the whole freaking plot of the movie. I just love it! Check it out!

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President Obama in "Tonight Show with Jay Leno"

2009-03-21T08:41:00.000-07:00

If you haven't seen this yet, then you must do it now! March 19th, 2009 - President Obama appeared on "Tonight Show with Jay Leno". First time in the history, a sitting president appeared on a late-night talk show. He used the medium effectively to bring awareness about his economic policies to American people. He was candid, funny and smooth! Sir, you rock!

Check it out!

Nandan Nilakeni in "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart"

2009-03-21T08:11:00.000-07:00

It was very interesting to see an Indian entrepreneur in an American talk show. Nandan Nilakeni, Co-Chairman and Co founder of Infosys Technologies Ltd appeared in "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" to promote his book "Imagining India: The idea of a renewed nation". Nilakeni stayed cool throughout the show and answered all the questions in a polite and diplomatic way. He spoke about strengths of current Indian youth and it was not just about IT world. And obviously our man, Jon Stewart carried the show with his puns and quick wits. A very interesting interview. Check it out!

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart

M - Th 11p / 10c

Nandan Nilekani

comedycentral.com

Daily Show Full Episodes

Important Things w/ Demetri Martin

Political Humor

Terminator Salvation: John Connor Vs Skynet War Is Frikin’ Gorgeous

2009-03-07T12:44:00.000-08:00

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This new trailer for Terminator Salvation walks in the same lines of what Watchmen did with gloomy visuals and hard-hitting music. This one looks absolutely spectacular and basically this is geek boys’ ultimate fantasy of seeing the John Connor’ war against the Skynet. This promises a fresh and much darker look at the Terminator series. We get to see the new army of Terminators and lots of f***ing cool machines which slides, jumps, smashes, shoots and blasts every frikin’ moving thing on the planet. The visuals are mind blowing and I can’t wait for this one. TS hits theaters in May.

Public Enemies: The Mann Effect

2009-03-07T10:28:00.000-08:00

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Micheal Mann's Public Enemies trailer is out and this could easily be the most expected movie of the year! Micheal Mann in collaboration with Johnny Depp and Christian Bale?! .......... this looks frikin' hot! The trailer promises a winner all the way.............PE hits theaters in July.

"the most delayed oscar round-up"

2009-03-04T18:43:00.000-08:00

Apologies for the most delayed Oscar round-up. Work and life are not in the proper path now. I’m trying to keep up with the blog, but suddenly there is no time in the world for me. Again, apologies for the delay!

Well, this was the most important Oscars for many of us! Especially an Indian story won big, Resul Pookutty won for Sound Design and ARR took over 2 major music categories. They brought home the long awaited Oscars! It was very sweet. We were jumping and hi-fiving; cannot be more satisfied that Rahman deserved this for a long time. I regret too much that I wasn’t a college student during the rock era of 80s and early 90s; at the same time, I am so glad to see the evolution of Indian music through Rahman. You could really see the difference in pre-rahman and post-rahman era. He changed the way that we listen and love music! He deserved it and we bow down to all the pride, he brings to us! Jai ho!

Film - Now let’s get to the impartial look at the winners. I was with my friend about the best movies of 2008. I saw a lot of them and especially in January 2009, I was able to catch up with the ones that I missed. When the discussion went to “the best movie of 2008”, I thought for a while and the one which was clearly set in my mind was not Slumdog. It was unquestionably Woody Allen’s “Vicky Cristina Barcelona”. I have never seen any movies of Woody’s before VCB. It was a brand new experience for me. The film just transcended me to a different place and I was immediately interested with the strange bunch of people. The detached narration, lovely Spanish music and amazing performances from Penelope Cruz, Rebecca Hall just made the movie 100% authentic and affable.

The best movie of 2007 was indeed “No Country for Old Men” and it did take home the Oscar. I was happy for what Slumdog has achieved and Danny Boyle is one of the best directors. Slumdog Millionaire was a fantastic movie and I loved it completely. But it does feel more of a bollywood-ish film and I wasn’t able to appreciate some of the elements which everyone else does. Again don’t get me wrong. I must have seen Slumdog about 4-5 times and I will buy a copy of DVD as well. It was one of my favorite movies ever. I’M HAPPY FOR SLUMDOG but personally I loved “Vicky Cristina Barcelona” better. That’s all I’m saying. But out of the other 5 nominees, it’s SLUMDOG hands down. Alright, there you go….. I poured it out. I feel better now. Phew.

Actor - This category confused me all along! I just can’t get enough of Mickey Rourke performance in Wrestler but at the same time, Sean Penn just disappeared in his role as Harvey Milk. Personally I wanted Mickey to win (especially after an awesome spirit awards speech) and I felt so wrong because Sean Penn indeed gave THE BEST PERFORMANCE of the year. So when Sean Penn won, I felt bad for Mickey and absolutely enthralled for Sean Penn. And boy! He gave the best winning speech of 2009 Oscars. That was unbelievable!

Mickey's Spirit Awards Speech

Actress- Hurray! Kate Winslet finally got the most deserved Oscar. Now we have to wait for Leo to get there.

Director - I wanted this to end with Danny Boyle and it did. Most deserving with the absolutely fascinating body of work!

The biggest let down was THE DARK KNIGHT not taking home the technical awards. I was disappointed. But, hey! Let’s wait for the next batman movie. The day of Comic Book movies winning awards is not far away.

Supporting Actor- The most deserving of all was Mr.Heath Ledger himself who won posthumous oscar (Best Supporting Actor) for his thrilling performance as Joker in THE DARK KNIGHT. Heath, we missed you! Rest in peace!

Supporting Actress- Penelope Cruz won in Best Supporting Actress category for Vicky Cristina Barcelona, well deserved.

Wolverine did a fantastic job in hosting the show. It was a totally new format and it went through fast. Rahman took over the stage with Jai Ho and it was all happy ending for Slumdog. Very glad to see the celebrations, all over India for Slumdog! At the same time, I could not tolerate the confused ones who don’t understand the true soul of the movie and questioning why India is celebrating for Slumdog! It was a huge moment for all of us and I leave you with ARR’s performance in “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno”.

Bala’s Naan Kadavul - Mindblowing Masterpiece Is An Understatement

2009-03-02T07:10:00.000-08:00

I better get this out of my system. I don’t want to dwell too much in to it.

Bala’s Naan Kadavul is in the end zone where scenes and dialogues play in metaphorical signification. Either you need to have prior knowledge about the Hindu sect, “Aghori”. Or if you can at least comprehend the Aghori lifestyle, then you will understand this film. Otherwise you would be ending the movie with “What the heck was that?!” In a parallel track, Bala had brought the dark world of beggars and the business which runs behind it. Bala should have sat with the beggars/homeless for hours to understand their psyche and the pain. This is one damn brave snapshot of the society that we live in!

Now this is a problem. By doing this, Director Bala has somehow isolated the major junta who has no clue about Aghori sadhus or has no interest in knowing about the beggar’s world. In my terms, Bala has taken that creative step forward. This is an auteur’s vision and Bala has almost used zero plot devices to tell this story. This is almost a documentary of Aghoris and Beggars. This film has got no entertainment value or usual gimmicks attached to it. “Naan Kadavul” is so authentic, it feels like “Sethu”, ‘Nanda”, “Pithamagan” are basically masala flicks.

I have to admit that Bala is one of my favorite directors of Tamil Cinema. And I have loved all his movies. The best part of Bala is his understanding of the characters which he paints on the screen. He dwells in to the characters and projects the same to the actors. The depth that he reaches with his characters is absolutely shocking. “Naan Kadavul” is basically the pinnacle of character study. It goes beyond anybody’s vision or expectations, and that my friends ………. is an f***ing astounding achievement.

Bala creates careers. He conceives actors. He is that guy. Looking at Arya, it almost feels like Vikram and Surya had a summer picnic with Bala. 3 frikin’ years! I bet, any other actor would have lost it in the first year. This is beyond any regular human’s capabilities. Arya has portrayed the character of Rudran (An Aghori) to perfection. All along, we have been known to the good acting only through histrionics. But here, you never realize, not even for a microsecond, that there is an actor behind this sadhu. That’s the victory for Arya. More than portraying the character, he has completely adapted the Aghori lifestyle. It’s unbelievable that the guy from “Theepidike” song did this. Fan-f***ing-tastic!

Hold on! I’m not done with performances yet. Pooja plays the character of a blind-beggar girl who gets tossed in the hands of mafia gangs. Pooja has given one of the riveting performances of this year. Especially in the final act, she goes one step above Arya and wins the race.

I repeat this again. It’s unbelievable that the duo from “Oram Po” (No offense to that one, I loved it btw) has achieved such fantabulous performances. That’s why, working with legends feels like graduating from university. This is the true meaning of cinema!

Music is apt! Maestro has provided what the film wants. The background score is chilling and haunting. “Pitchai Paathiram” proves that Illaiyaraja has still got the magic! That song and visuals take us to another world. All the mantras and vedic chants just uplifts the authenticity of the film. Cinematography by Arthur Wilson is another milestone. The camera just rolls into water, mud, fire and chaos.

Having said all that, did I really like the movie? To be honest, watching this movie was almost a challenge to me. It was testing my capabilities to handle haunting and depression in movies. It was like being hit in the head with a hammer! A f***ing riveting and one of the most difficult movie watching experiences of my life! I wanted to walk out, every now and then. But I’m glad I sat through it. I was down after watching this movie and it gives you that feel of dejection. To be more honest, sitting through “Old Boy” was easier than this. But I wouldn’t recommend this to my friends and family! They cannot handle this…………

If you just have a glimpse of the following link, you would know how much this film portrays reality.

http://www.heyokamagazine.com/heyoka_magazine.21.alchemyofenlightenment.htm

This is one zone where people generally stay away from! Bala had the guts and balls to get this film made. Especially in the world of meaningless masala entertainers, Naan Kadavul shines like a gem. This is one absolute true form of film making and how films should be – portraying life!

Bala has found his haven and we, fans can bask in his glory!

Here's your Tarantino Fix ......INGLORIOUS BASTERDS!

2009-02-15T08:29:00.000-08:00

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First proper trailer for Quentin Tarantino’s world war II epic, “Inglorious Basterds” is out now. The trailer shows Lieutenant Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt) putting a team together in German-occupied France to conquer the Nazis. The dialogues are snappy and Tarantino-ish, as expected. When Brad Pitt closes his oration with “each and every man under my command owes me 100 Nazi scalps...and I want my scalps.", I can’t help myself from shouting out loud, “hell yeah!”. The trailer also proclaims, "You haven't seen war until you've seen it through the eyes of Quentin Tarantino" – I’m not sure about that, but this is going to be one heck of an experience. The movie looks like a sphagetti western set in WWII and it promises lot of violence and gore (Eli Roth about to hit a Nazi with a baseball ball………OMG!). Here’s is the Tarantino’s fix, we have been waiting for a long time. The movie is set to release on Aug 22nd 2009.

Game Is On And Transformers 2 Is Kicking Major A#$

2009-02-01T15:11:00.000-08:00

It's super bowl sunday, people........ hell yeah! I'm crazily pumped up to see Larry Fitzgerald's game today........And we have been blessed with some sweet teasers. The super bowl spot of Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen looks so f***ing awesome and now, I can't wait for this one. Bots kicking major a$@es. Check it out.

Have a great super bowl!

R.I.P Nageshji!

2009-01-31T09:43:00.000-08:00

A dark day for Tamil cinema! One of the greatest actors ever of tamil movie history has passed away. Comedy genius, absolutely versatile. He will live in our hearts forever! R.I.P Nageshji!

Låt den rätte komma in - Beautiful Vampire Movie Ever!

2009-01-29T17:21:00.000-08:00

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“Låt den rätte komma in” or “Let the Right One In” is a 2008 swedish film directed Tomas Alfredson. I could not say anything about this movie which would make you want to watch this one. Seriously…… this is the film’s synopsis from IMDB.

“Oscar, an overlooked and bullied boy, finds love and revenge through Eli, a beautiful but peculiar girl who turns out to be a vampire.”

I see you go, WTF?! F***ing nutcase movie, right?! But it’s not. It’s an amazing cinematic genius when most crucial elements of a genre movie work perfectly and uplifts audience to another world. Låt…… does exactly that in a horror universe. It’ is a heart warming love story capsuled in a horror flick. It puts you in a weird spot of sympathizing for a 12 yr old girl who lives by drinking warm fresh blood from humans. It’s freaking unbelievable. I don’t want to ruin the experience of anyone by explaining too much about it. It’s slow paced movie which would jolt and creep the freaking shit out of you in few moments. At the same time, the love story between the human boy and the vampire girl is absolutely sweet in every level. It’s unquestionably weird. And that makes this one a winner!

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I love movies which mashes up genres and bring a new feel to it. Låt …… is probably the only horror movie which would stay with you, even after the movie ends. And probably the only horror which would make you say, “awww that’s sweet!”. F***ing awesome! Highly recommended.

IN FLAMES: Cloud Connected

2009-01-26T15:24:00.000-08:00

Sweet Swedish death metal for ya!

In Flames - Cloud Connected.

Gran Torino: Yet Another Homer From Clint Eastwood

2009-01-25T08:23:00.001-08:00

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I feel a sense of satisfaction as I start typing this post. I wanted to like this movie for Clint Eastwood. I loved the trailer and was all pumped to see Eastwood as the angry man again. I didn’t exactly get what I wanted. But I couldn’t have seen a better movie recently. This is sensitive film making, true from the heart – small, sweet and satisfying.

Gran Torino – Directed, produced and acted in the lead role is the legend himself. This is the story of a grumpy old man Walt Kowalski who is basically a racist and alcoholic; hates everything around him. He gets annoyed from every little thing happening in his world. He ends up in a Hmong neighborhood and crosses roads with the local gangsters. He saves a kid and becomes the hero within few days. People start respecting him and he sorta becomes like role model to a Hmong kid, Tao. Gangsters take revenge by bashing Tao’s family and Walt will have his final revenge.

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The movie has hardcore edge-of-the-seat moments at least for the first 50 minutes. The encounters of Walt and the mob were f***ing hot. I loved every moment when Walt takes his gun out of his jacket. The second half of the movie concentrates on Walt’s relationship with the kid, Thao. The new dramatic style of filmmaking Clint acquired in 2003’s Mystic River is still clearly visible here. It’s a sweet journey with a brave old man during his last days of his life. I can’t think anyone better than Clint doing this role. Every time he grinds his teeth, it’s so adorable and extremely funny. Despite of being a strong drama, the funny moments works amazingly well. Again this is no bang-bang gunslinger action movie. I was expecting little bit of that; rather I was taken away with a heart-moving drama.

Gran Torino fits in to Clint's canon of work as a phenomenal masterpiece. This is Clint Eastwood at his best. Best Direction. Best Acting. Best Everything. Don’t miss this. One of the year’s best movies.

Day After Oscar Noms - Pain & Consolations

2009-01-23T15:41:00.000-08:00

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Well..........I still got some rant left. I'm going through the nominations' list again and again, trying to figure out why I'm not satisfied enough. In one end, I am extremely happy for Slumdog and ARR-M.I.A are gonna perform during the ceremony. In other end, I could not keep myself from uttering WTFs.

Biggest Disappointments

Where is THE DARK KNIGHT in major categories?
What happened to Boss' Wrestler Soundtrack?
No Clint Eastwood nom for Gran Torino?!
Missing love for "The Wrestler" and "Revolutionary Road"
"Waltz with Bashir" not in Animated Picture category?

Yay Nods!

Heath Ledger in Supporting Actor - that truly put a smile on my face.
Love for Slumdog - Danny, ARR, MIA
Penelope Cruz - Vicky Cristina Barcelona - Sweet!
THE CLASS
Micheal Shannon in Revolutionary Road
Sean Penn - Milk and Mickey Rourke - Wrestler
Marisa Tomei - Wrestler
Recognizing Kate Winslet finally

Snubbing TDK has truly put me off! I'm inconsolable.................

Oscar Noms: ARR 3 Nods, Dark Knight Snubbed

2009-01-22T22:39:00.000-08:00

Alright, I can't be happy enough to see Rahman getting recognized with 3 Oscar nods. Thats f***ing awesome in every level! Both Jai Ho and O Saya are in OST category. Also it's extra awesome that I see names like Gulzar and Maya Arulpragasam along with ARR. That's absolutely incredible!

As expected, Slumdog carries 10 nominations including the Best Picture category. Fingers crossed for Danny Boyle!

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - 13 Noms. I'm not that pumped up for this. Don't get me wrong, I loved the movie completely. But from start to end, it felt like they wanted to make an epic and tried a lot for it. The movie was Forest Gump-ish and it was alright!

Nod for Sean Penn and Mickey Rourke as expected. Heath Ledger - a sure lock for supporting actor!

Things looking good for Kate Winslet finally.......... It's just amazing that Leo and Kate have turned into amazing "actors" now. I loved Kate Winslet in "The Little Children" which came out in 2006. 2008 - she had a golden run with Revolutionary Road and The Reader. Now she has got a nod for "The Reader".

But.........

Where is THE DARK KNIGHT in Best Picture category? Isn't TDK the biggest cinematic achievement of last year? It is a comic book movie but it's the best one ever made. It deserves a nod..........But the sweet part is, TDK rules in almost all technical categories. Total noms for TDK:8.

Dustin Hoffman on Jimmy Kimmel

2009-01-22T21:04:00.000-08:00

One of my fav men of all time....... He is hilarious, graceful and an amazing gentleman! Dustin Hoffman - He rocked the house recently in ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live. Check it out! This is absolutely funny..........

Will ARR Win Golden Globes? ...... YES, HE DID!

2009-01-11T16:49:00.000-08:00

Will our man A.R.Rahman bring Golden Globes glory tonight?

Fingers crossed..........

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Yes he did...........yeaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh hugs, kisses and high fives!

People, bow down to the Mozart of INDIA! He deserves every bit of it............... from Roja to Slumdog ........... thanks for all the magic, you have created in our lives. We love you!

It's time for party people............................ :)

Villu ......... Hmmmmmmm yawn!

2009-01-10T22:49:00.000-08:00

Mix of 1000 flicks from different languages. Too many baddies. No logic in crucial scenes. Too much of logic in pointless scenes. Completely ludicrous flashback. Horrendous sentiments. Solid entertainment if you start mocking the movie from Scene 1. 80's storyline, 90s action sequences and nothing belongs to this 21st century.

Vijay is a complete package ----- he can deliver dialogues properly, he dances well, his comic histrionics are also good. But he continues to waste his skills in these sorta movies.

Music is really good. Song picturization and choreography were OK. Vadivelu made us to chuckle little bit here and there. Once again, Nayanthara saved the movie with her amazing hotness ;) (Isn’t she the best looking tamil actress ever?!)

Rest of the movie, we were basically ............... lol............ lmao .......... Noooooo ............ sh*ttttttt........... preposterous........... and finally WTF?! Thank you!

Happy Pongal, everyone :)

Hi Malini..........

2009-01-05T18:21:00.000-08:00

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I have been thinking whether I should post this or not. It's been ridiculous. I have been listening to the song from Vaaranam Ayiram - "Mundhinam Parthene" for a while. To be more accurate, it's been from the day, I watched the movie. I could not get it out of my head. "Hi Malini......I'm Krishnan" Crisp monologue by Surya walks us into the song, following by soothing soulful singing by Naresh Iyer and Prashanthini. I was about to jump and to say "hey, Harris did it again!" But, when I youtubed the video, all I could see is the list of the other english songs which served as "inspirations". This happens every freaking time and I hate it! Thats why I have been thinking whether to post this or not.

Anyway, I decided to post it since I have enjoyed it more than I expected and I'm still lost in the magic of the song for weeks. This song is a quintessential melody honored by Naresh Iyer's soothing vocals. With blues guitar and soft bass forming the rhythm, well written lyrics gives a very nostalgic feel to the whole thing. You must have heard this one already, probably have become an addict like myself or you are going to listen to this for the first time. Dont care about the inspirations. Just listen and love the song!

Looking Back At 2008 Movies: English

2009-01-02T15:34:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year to all SilasRam readers! 2008 was a pretty beautiful and perfect year for me. Work was ruthlessly hectic and it seriously held me back in posting blogs on time. But I managed to publish 145 posts in 2008. Kudos to me ;) Now I’m not able to watch as many films as I used to watch. I have missed some important ones. But ........ hey, I have to concentrate on the thing which puts food on the table, right?! So I will stop my rant right here.

The point is, the best films of 2008 which I have listed down below is not the definitive list, as I am yet to watch some key films of the year. Overall, it’s been up and down. My taste of films has become seriously narrow now. I don’t wanna waste my time on junk films. So I stay as far away as possible from those. I believe, my list reflects the same. So …… here you go……

Best Action

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QoS ruled in terms of action. It fell short as a Bond movie but the action sequences were f***ing incredible. Once again, Daniel Craig is the best bond ever!

Wanted served its purpose. Solid entertainment! James McAvoy proved himself as an action guy and Jolie’s hotness broke the thermometers.

Rambo – this is basically here for Sly and my love for Rambo films. Rambo killing 3.04 villains per minute? Yeah, I’m game. It was a blood bath and it was AWESOME! It might be the weakest of all Rambo films but I’m so glad to see Stallone back in action.

Best Comedy

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Step Brothers
Tropic Thunder
Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay
Pineapple Express
Role Models
Zack and Miri Make a Porno

I love this list. Looks like, I laughed a lot in 2008. R rated comedies reached a new height in 2008. Some broke the norms and there were lots of nudity (female and male as well .... lol). Out of this, Step Brothers is THE funniest of all. Will Farrell and John C Reilly- when they work together, it’s always the comedy gold. Tropic Thunder is basically worth seeing for Downey and Cruise. Rest will bring a chuckle on your face.

Best Entertainers

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Cloverfield
Iron Man
The Bank Job

Solid entertainers! There were some logical glitches and over-the-top clichéd moments, but it was worth the ticket price.

Best Kids' Movie

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Kung Fu Panda
The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian

I know, Wall-E should be here. But I haven’t seen Wall-E yet. So I’m going with the Panda for the winner. Narnia is for my sister. I heard good things about Spiderwick Chronicles too.

Most Disappointing Movies

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Funny Games – They should have stopped with the original.
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull – this is the year, I truly realized how great Indie trilogy was. Then this came out and ………. It’s sad, but I agree with South Park.
Righteous Kill – C’mon! Al Pacino and De Niro?! Why? Please let’s move on.
The Happening – My heart goes to Night. But this movie was appalling!

Best Romantic Comedy

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Definitely, Maybe

I cannot handle cheesiness anymore. So I am always careful in selecting movies from this genre. This year, this is the only movie I saw and loved it!

Best Movies - Masterpieces/Outstanding Films

Oh, I am having tears of joy in my eyes! When you see movies like this, you get a feeling that films are a form of art and only few people in this world know how to paint it. It’s hard for me pick the best one from this list. But I’m gonna do it anyway.

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THE DARK KNIGHT – Boxoffice and Critic’s sweetheart! What an achievement! Everything fell in right place. This is THE best of 2008 - it feels like an epic thinking about this film. Outstanding performances, excellent technical work and mind blowing direction. It broke all the records; it cracked the top spot in IMDB top 250. It can’t get better than this.

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Slumdog Millionaire – Critics just took this to their hearts! It’s the front runner in the Oscar race now. Racy and colorful presentation of real dark India. An absolutely amazing fantasy told in a realistic way. It’s an entertainer, thriller, a fantasy, a musical and a beautiful love story. Danny Boyle is the man!

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Gran Torino – Directed and acted by Clint Eastwood. Period. After all these years, it’s so heart warming to see Clint proving that he is still the best. One of those movies which leaves a lump in the throat. Again, one of the year’s best performances in a lead role. A must see!

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Milk – If Sean Penn is doing a role, he just sinks into it. He becomes the soul and skin of the personality. That’s Sean Penn! His portrayal as Harvey Milk is absolutely engrossing. What a performance! You have to see this to believe it.

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The Wrestler – this is the one of the year’s greatest performances. Mickey Rourke as “The Wrestler” is one of the greatest comebacks for any actor. Giving a performance like this, after all these years is truly magical. Rourke portrays the role of wrestler – Randy “The Ram” Robinson who is in the end of his career and his life! The film not only makes you realize the physical pain the wrestlers but also the inner woes, they carry around. That’s the victory of this film! After “Requiem for a Dream” and "The Fountain", Darren Aronofsky continues his critical success.

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In Bruges – the first movie which promised me some hope in 2008. A very good movie proving Colin Farrell is still a solid actor. Ralph Fiennes was f***ing brilliant in this one. Beautiful Bruges and dark characters. One of the must-sees of 2008.

That was 2008's THE BEST! It was perfect mix of everything. I think, we can boast with our grandkids that we lived in the era in which “The Dark Knight” was released lol.

Movies I Can’t Wait To See

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Appaloosa
Burn After Reading
Changeling
Charlie Bartlett
Che
Defiance
Frost/Nixon
Good
Happy-Go-Lucky
Quarantine
Revolutionary Road
Son of Rambow
Synecdoche, New York
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Reader
Valkyrie
Vicky Cristina Barcelona
W.
WALL-E

I have to catch up with these ones. Awards season is kicking in and there is a big list of unfinished/pending posts from my end (My 'The Dark Knight' post is actually 8 pages long, I have to edit the post). Hopefully I will post more than I did in 2008.

Thanks to those who were reading my posts occasionally/regularly! I am surprised by the number of hits, this blog had in 2008. Thanks again and have a great 2009!

Slumdog Fever: Rahman Making Us Proud!

2008-12-28T19:09:00.000-08:00

I can't contain myself after going through all the interviews from the Slumdog Millionaire's team and especially Rahman. Hollywood Reporter had a Oscar round table with the front runners of the Original Soundtrack/Score category and our man was there among other renowned composers. This is a great moment, at least I feel so. Here are few quotes from the articles I went through today. Check it out. I will post whenever I see something interesting.

“I think if it's a good film, it's like a beautiful girl, whatever you put on her, it’s just complementary. A good film demands its own score and if you are a musician, your conscience will never allow you to do something mediocre for a good film."

http://in.reuters.com/article/bollywoodNews/idINIndia-37167920081223

When (a director) likes something, I ask, "Why did you like it?"

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3i728e28adf80ba3aae5c37a6bd621de8e?pn=1

Ghajini – Aamir & Asin Show

2008-12-26T19:27:00.000-08:00

Settle down, People! The movie has been made and let’s go through it. I’m standing over the wall, looking at both the sides and trying to make a jump. But I could not decide myself. It’s safe to say “you can watch the movie once!”. Well, that’s not the one you were expecting, isn’t it? There are so many reasons why you should see this movie. And there are so many reasons why you shouldn’t. That’s the whole problem about the movie.

I have seen Memento (loved it!). I have seen the tamil version (hated it!). Fortunately I don’t remember anything from the tamil version. Murgadoss’ Ghajini is no way near to Memento and in an odd way; it’s not the same movie. The story is different, kinda completely different. So let’s keep Memento out of the picture.

Tamil version of Ghajni was 50% good and 50% awful. The villains and the climax ruined it. Hindi Ghajini is 50% good and 50% OK. That’s the difference between the two movies.

To hit it straight, the movie was working out so well as a solid entertainer till the climax and the climax turned out to be just OK. So when the movie ended, I was little bit let down. It’s something like the Quantum of Solace syndrome. No, it’s exactly the QoS syndrome. It should have ended with the bang but the final punch was missing by a mile.

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If you want to know what Ghajini has done to Aamir’s lineup of spectacular movies, then we should have a talk here. It’s no way near to Aamir’s last 5-8 movies, post Lagaan. Unfortunately this movie doesn’t match his skills. Fortunately, because of his presence the movie elevates its status from a normal masala movie to a well-made action entertainer.

That was almost a rant. But don’t get me wrong. The movie carries good entertainment values and keeps you in the seat completely. The movie is kinda adorable, almost 75% of it and then it hits a moment from where you know what’s gonna happen next. So it happens and it ends.

4 reasons why Ghajini is watchable.

Aamir – He does it again with his pure obsession with perfectionism. He is kinda crazy in the way he has built his body. I have to say it. The movie would have fallen flat without that f***ing awesomely sculpt body. It improves the darkness and ruggedness of the whole movie. When he bounces off the baddies, you feel he could do it with that body. When the shot-term memory loss hits him and he realizes the past, literally an animal jumps out of Aamir. I wanted to see 15 minutes of him exploding and wrenching his muscles like a physcho. I got more than that. I’m totally satisfied.

Did you watch the workout videos of Aamir? He is crazy. I had lot of Rocky moments watching this. Check it out.

Asin – She knows the craft and she does the role better than she did it in tamil. Asin creates a big impact and leaves a mark. And she did it with Aamir next to her. That’s not an easy task. Without her, believe me, this movie is nothing.

A.R.Rahman – songs are sweet and mint. Guzarish and Kaise Mujhe flows throughout the movie. Bekha is peppy. Soundtrack was apt. Overall, it’s not something huge and it fits the movie perfectly. Definitely a huge USP to the movie.

Murugadoss & DOP– the only reason, I’m mentioning the director is, he didn’t ruin the movie this time with a lousy climax. The climax is predictable but it works OK. It’s not bad. Guzarish and Bekha – beautiful and colorful. DOP does a nice job with it.

Having said that, walking out of the movie, you would feel one of these.

Bad & sad. You didn’t expect Aamir would do this kinda movie.
OK. You enjoyed it but not a great one.
Good movie. Better than all the other crap.
Awesome. Best masala action entertainer in a long time.

This movie, good or bad, is going to increase the mass appeal of Aamir for sure. This belongs to the angry man genre which has been missing in Hindi for a long time. This is a slicker, raw and violent version of that. The masses would embrace it.

Standing over the wall, I lie between “OK. You enjoyed it but not a great one” and “Good. Better than all the other crap”. So I will wait for the next one. If you look at Aamir's action entertainers, as my roomie pointed out accurately, Ghulam is still the best!

Happy Holidays, Friends!

2008-12-26T17:44:00.000-08:00

Did I miss wishing you, Guys? I hope you all had a great christmas. Well, holidays aren't over yet.

Eat a lot......

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Drink a lot .......

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Close down 2008 with a happy smile on your face

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Happy Holidays...... Cheers!

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Kanye's 808s & Heartbreak

2008-12-26T16:46:00.000-08:00

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I remember sending a message to my friend after listening to Kanye West's new album completely ..... "Dude, Kanye's new album kinda sucks!". Alright ........ now I take it back. Anyone who loves Kanye's songs would understand why I said that. His new album "808's & Heartbreak" has none of his usual style or flow. This is new. Kanye has tried to break new grounds by expressing his personal grief and pain by singing using auto-tune technology. I was totally taken back by this. It took awhile to get myself back to hearing it again. The second time, I listened it without any expectations. First "Heartless", then "Love lockdown" and I went "hey this is mint......". Yup, I love this album now. It's not the usual Kanye but as far as the music is concerned, this is truly amazing. Give it a listen..........

Kanye West - Heartless (New Video) SubtitlesLyrics
by ShanouMusik13

Kanye West - Love Lockdown
by kanyewestofficial

Am I Just Flooding My Blog With Posts Related to A.R.Rahman and M.I.A?! I don't mind ;)

2008-12-26T16:31:00.001-08:00

Flying Paper Planes - Remix Version from Slumdog Millionaire

The Soundtrack Of Slumdog Millionaire!

2008-12-26T13:38:00.000-08:00

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I wanted to write (type?!) about Slumdog for a long time. Ever since I came to know about Danny Boyle doing an Indian story. First of all, I’m a huge follower of Boyle’s body of work (Trainspotting, Shallow Grave, 28 Days Later, 28 Weeks Later, Sunshine…….. Slumdog Millionaire). One thing I will always keep forgetting about Boyle’s movies is, they all have huge entertainment value and it always leaves you with a satisfaction of a solid quality work. It happened every time and from Sunshine, I kinda became a huge fan of Boyle’s work. I’m yet to watch Shallow Grave and Millions. I am waiting to get the copy of those DVDs.

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Jumping back to Slumdog Millionaire, it is unbelievable for what it has achieved so far. Rave reviews started slowly and suddenly it is in the top of almost every critics' choices. It has been predicted solidly as one of the nominees for Best Picture in Oscars. I would wait for an Indian movie to win an Oscar. But I would be glad to see an Indian story walking with the Oscar glory. Obviously, I’m biased but I’m more biased for Mr.Boyle than anything. I would be enthralled if he takes away the Academy Award.

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Danny Boyle. Indian Story. Rave Reviews. The awesomeness doesn’t stop there. We have our legend A.R.Rahman donning as the composer for Slumdog in collaboration with M.I.A (my recent fav from “flying paper planes”). Take a deep breathe! The soundtrack is f***ing incredible. Heart thumping drum beats, the embracing ARR humming, M.I.A killer rapping, grandeur symphony and massive soul-levitating soundtracks. Amazing work from ARR and M.I.A. But the credit definitely belongs to Danny Boyle to bring this out of ARR and we know, ARR comes with the best when he is with the ace directors. ARR is going places for sure but this is going to be huge.

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I saw Slumdog yesterday, still carrying around the moments in my head. Some of the scenes, the music just lifts the movie to the next level. It’s just unbelievable. “O Saya” and JaiHo are f***ing phenomenal with the impact it leaves in the movie. M.I.A’s own “Flying Paper Planes” is another solid track which syncs with the movie. “O Saya” pulls and sinks us into the slums of Mumbai. Brilliance all over the place. Critics are all in favor for Slumdog’s “O Saya” to get nominated for Best OST in Oscars. More than ARR taking away the Oscar, I’m f***ing excited to see ARR and MIA performing at the Oscars ceremony (if everything goes right!). Like every other ARR fan, I would reach the salvation on that day.

Now sink and live the magic of ARR and MIA in “O Saya”………..

O Saya – full song here…….. just increase the bass and get lost in the drum beats!

And M.I.A’s “flying paper planes” has worked twice in the same year (Pineapple Express and Slumdog)

Oye! It's friday......

2008-12-20T09:07:00.001-08:00

I liked all of Farhan Akthar's movies as the director. I loved his Rock On. Now this guy is really rocking all over. His promo for new talk show "Oye! It's Friday!" is absolutely hilarious. Check it out!

Remember Ghajini?!

2008-12-20T08:04:00.000-08:00

Obviously the above pic is for the viewing pleasure of the ladies ;) 8 pack?!.......phew GOK how this is possible. BTW I just saw the recent trailer of Ghajini and I'm all into it now. The movie looks slick, music is awesome, Aamir looks creepy and oh my, Asin is glistening. Right now, I just wanna forget the Memento and Tamil Ghajini; and see this movie like a brand new one. As all the other bloggers and movie nerds are rambling; yes, it looks like breathe of fresh air to see an real action movie in Hindi after long time. After all, I shouldn't be more skeptical about Mr.Murugadoss' directorial capabilities. Dude has definitely done a nice job here. Again .......Asin is glistening ;)

Finally here is an Indian movie site (www.rememberghajini.com) which looks innovative and brilliant. Check it out. It looks dark and creepy as the movie should be......... and there are two more sites hidden inside. All the links are below. Check it out people!

http://www.rememberghajini.com/

http://www.findghajini.com/find.php

http://www.wallofsuspects.com/

Thanks To Jon And John ....... The Daily Show Is THE BEST ever!

2008-12-02T16:35:00.000-08:00

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Mumbai Tragedy

Barack Obama Interview
John McCain Interview

Sarah Palin Video
Funny Election Video

Vaaranam Aayiram - A Sweet Love Letter To Dad!

2008-11-30T09:16:00.000-08:00

It’s just too annoying when someone doesn’t get a movie told from the heart. It get’s beyond frustrating when no one gets the movie at all. From day 1 of the release, I have been hearing bad reviews about Vaaranam Ayiram from my friends. They were saying they were not able to sit through the movie. I kept asking the same question to everyone, “Are you serious? Did Gautam Menon went wrong this time?”. I was not clear and I was not ready to accept. This is here in US. Back in India, the movie was getting average reviews and my mom was saying that the TV channels are reporting that the movie is good.

Finally I got to watch VA yesterday. At the end of the movie, I was in tears. How much I enjoyed the movie is beyond the movie itself. There were almost thousand’s of moments in the movie which I could relate to and you know what happens to such kind of movies – it becomes your personal favorite. So Vaaranam Ayiram became one of my all-time personal favorites and I would be keeping it close to my heart. Now, I’m trying to understand my friends’ reactions to the movie. I don’t get it but I think they were let-down by realistic, documentary style of film-making. One ridiculous scene, I cannot comprehend is Surya getting the VISA by explaining his love in the US consulate. That is totally horrendous. Other than that the movie is logically tied and well put-together.

I like structured screenplays. This movie is exceptional in putting together sections of the movie in different decades and tying all of them together in one story line. It’s somehow Forrest Gump kind of movie but I found this one is more closer to the heart. I loved the shades, colors and mood of the movie set by cameraman Rathinavelu. Music is phenomenal; apart from the sweet soft slow melodies which flow throughout the movie, the background score syncs with movie precisely.

Direction: Personally I feel Gautam did it again and even, moved a step ahead with his story telling. I’m sure most will disagree with this. But I think he has given one of the finest movies of his career. This is a story of a normal south indian guy becoming an Army Major because of his father. It’s the narration of Surya which tells the story here. He realizes that every step in his life - his father has regulated him and put him in the right path. He is not who he is, without his father. He discovers himself through his father. I believe that’s true in everyone’s life. There is no action, masala or dramatization in this kind of movie. It exudes realism, it exudes love and it exudes life. It shows a normal south Indian family in 70s/80s and 90s. The set pieces were perfect showing the vintage India from a family’s perspective. Right from Hindi songs to Ilayaraja’s songs to hair styles to moustaches to dresses to vehicles to everything – just perfect. Also I loved the subtleness of conversations within the family. It’s so beautiful and I was almost in tears in most of the moments. I just want to say thanks to Gautam for recreating life in VA. And believe me; it’s not an easy task to make a movie like this.

Performances – everyone does their job perfectly. Surya is incomparable to his peers. He keeps adding more feathers to his crown and he keeps getting better. I wouldn’t say that this is his best performance. But definitely a matured one and again Kudos to Gautham for maintaining the subtleness in his acting; it has created wonders in almost all the scenes. The pitch difference between father and son Surya’s voice levels were perfect. Surya’s six-pack and his Major look gave a new perspective to the role, rather being used as another element for action sequences. Next to Surya, Simran has done an amazing job as Surya’s mom. I loved the old Simran –protective of her children, worried about his husband, not overreacting to tense situations and maintaining calmness in the family. A matured and realistic performance. Sameera Reddy and Divya were apt and have lived in their respective sweet bubbly roles.

Vaaram Ayiram is an excellent movie. This is a love letter from Gautham to his father! He could have made a senti-soaked movie out of this. But he managed to recreate life and maintained the subtleness. Again, the movie is filled with moments which I could relate myself. I believe everyone will have their own moments in this movie. Gautam has succeeded in what he wanted to create. Kudos to him and it’s a huge walk away from his usual style of films. He is trying to prove himself in different genres and he has hit the bull’s-eye in all his attempts.

So there you go – VA is awesome. Next to Saawariya, VA has become one of my personal favorites which were hated by everyone and I loved it completely.

http://movies.sulekha.com/tamil/varanam-aayiram/trailers/default.htm

Light a candle!

2008-11-29T07:12:00.000-08:00

Light a candle in remembrance of the victims who lost their lives in Mumbai Attacks.

Chinese Democracy is here.........

2008-11-22T22:14:00.000-08:00

It has arrived and conquered! I have the brand new, slick and shining audio CD sitting next to me. 14 new classics have been imported into my iTunes and I'm living the 17-year old effort. Is it worth it? Yes, it is...... if you love GNR for what they are.

Guns N Roses: Chinese Democracy Is Finally Out: And I'm In Tears....... :)

2008-11-22T05:54:00.000-08:00

I'm almost in tears of joy now! I have waited 8 years to hear this, feel this and live this moment. And many of them around the world have waited for 17 years for this day. Ladies and Gentlemen, Guns N' Roses - Chinese Democracy is finally out tomorrow (Nov-23-2008). Yes, yes.......yes!

I was 5 years old when "Appetite for Destruction" was released and I had no fucking clue about GNR till I hit my college days. By that time, GNR band was split and they weren't in the music scene. Like every other GNR fan, I was craving for more GNR until I came to know that a new album "Chinese Democracy" is allegedly in works. And I was waiting for all these years. With hopes totally flushed out, I never thought I would see this day in my life. Holy f***ing shit! This is happening now.

Yes, People! GNR is f***ing back like a phoenix rising from the flames of hardcore rock. It's a brand new band with Axl Rose still growling his lungs out as the lead vocals. We will miss Slash and other band members! But lets hold ourselves and welcome the new band members because the new album f***ing rocks.

Yes, the track list, album art........ everything's available in GNR's MySpace page. Enjoy - live the moment (http://www.myspace.com/gunsnroses).

This is a moment in Rock n Roll history! I'm witnessing this moment ......... tomorrow, I will wear my GNR t-shirt with pride and goto Best Buy to grab my copy of Chinese Democracy. Yes, this is happening ...... Holy shit! 14 hours 37mins and 38 secs to go..........

And have a look into this nut-blaming video. I'm not sure whether this is the official video. But it looks f***ing awesome. Check it out. http://www.gunsnroses.us/chinesedemocracy/

I'm losing my freaking mind and running in to overwhelming joy of tears.

GNR is f***ing back!

Star Trek: The Wait Is Over

2008-11-17T21:33:00.000-08:00

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I was blessed with the first trailer for Star Trek with the movie Quantum Of Solace. My first reactions: Holy shit! That looks f***ing cool. I'm not a trekkie by any means. I have seen few episodes here and there with my Uncle and there is no doubt about the legacy of Star Trek which has lasted for decades. James T Kirk is one of the classic characters and William Shatner lived the character for years. It's different to see Chris Pine in the Kirk's shoes. But I guess it's breathe of fresh air. The series needs revamping and re-envisioning. Director J.J.Abrams has done what needs to be done and it shows in the screen. The trailer looks f***ing awesome and it's gonna be absolute extravaganza. I'm becoming more and more a fan of J.J.Abrams products.

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Having said that, Trekkies will definitely have something else to say about the trailer. Not everyone is gonna be happy about the new movie and its brand new cast. But this reboot is gonna bring more fans and visibility to the franchise for sure. Lets wait and see, how far Abrams has worked his magic on this one.

Did you see Simon Pegg? Did you see Eric Bana? - Oh! I'm so excited ............... check out the trailer below.

Quantum Of Solace: Action Aplenty

2008-11-16T15:03:00.000-08:00

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I think, this is gonna be real short. I saw "Quantum Of Solace" yesterday and came out of the movie hall, totally confused. Did I really enjoy the movie? Yes, I did! But I was not satisfied. The movie starts and ends with lots of kick-ass action sequences and it covers all the Bond-esque features throughout the movie. But it's not Casino Royale. I was not engrossed and pulled into this movie. It was good but lands far behind the benchmark set for Bond films by Casino Royale. Daniel Craig takes the Bond to the next level but it's the script which slows him down a little bit. If you compare all the other Bond films, this is extremely good. But if you compare to Casino Royale, I feel it's just good. It serves as a nice action movie but the espionage is missing. Did I say that there were lots of Jason Bourne hangovers in QOS?! And whats with the title track? Chris Cornell's "you know my name" was awesome, here Alicia Keys & Jack White's "Another Way To Die" was very average. Bring back Martin Campbell to helm the next one please!

A must watch but keep your expectations low...........here's a sweet action bite for you!