Self explanatory title - a movie about the Bees.
Barry, the bee, a new graduate to work in the honey factory is about to make the most important decision in his life - the job of the lifetime. He realises if he becomes the stirrer or the whatever in the honey factory, his life is just that. He feels unsure and takes a trip to the outside world with the pollinators.
He comes really close to being dead, but Vanessa saves him and he feels obligated to thank her. In this, they develop a great friendship. Eventually, she takes him shopping and he is shocked to find bottles and bottles of honey with fake people and their names on it. He is enraged and vows to get to the bottom. He discovers bees are bred in captivity and their honey taken from them.
He engages in a lawsuit with Vanessa's help and the world is amazed to see a talking bee, and eventually wins the case. No more honey stealing!
But over time, Vanessa's florist business goes down. The world looks like a dump, without plants and the bees seem to have nothing to do. Barry realises it is all his fault, but he finds an idea to get it all back. Vanessa and Barry attend the flower show and steal away a truck full of flowers and bring it on the plane. On the way back, when Barry tries to talk to the pilots, they become pilot-less and Barry's hive friends help him land the plane and the pollen is thrown around again and in a few days time, the balance is restored.
Again, one of the cute movies with focus on animals and insects and their life. It almost makes me think about how delicately nature is balanced over little things that all of us are supposed to do and this, the earth functions in a perfect balance. In the name of respect and equal rights to all, if we keep challenging routines, things do get a little crazy and off balance. Definitely worth a watch.
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
Tuesday, December 25, 2007
namnaadu
Starring Sharath Kumar and Nayanthara, the movie is about an orphan journalist, who takes revenge on society's evils.
Sharath and Nayanthara are colleagues working with a newspaper organization. Sharath is (annoyingly) bright, gets on Nayanthara's nerves, but treats the editor as his own father. The newspaper publishes revolutionary items that bring about social awakening. They discover that one of the cool drinks company is being set on a site that already has water problems and how the government is receiving bribes to let the factory be set up. This is published and as a result, the editor and his daughter are killed. Yet, Sharath takes over the responsibility and runs the press. His colleagues are attacked and finally he is 'legally' arrested.
After escaping from a plot where the police try to kill him, he returns to take revenge. He disguises himself and gets a job at the same factory and starts collecting evidence against the owner. Eventually, the truth is brought about after lots of muscle flexing and hard to believe hero saviour timings,etc.
One of those sappy patriotic movies that you can figure out the plot and ending even before the movie has headed halfway and then forgotten within the first half hour after the ending. This was probably one of the political movies of Sharath and it was drenched with it. Like I said, Sharath was trying to be very youthful, to the point of annoying, cause he didn't look youthful at all - more like an adult with midlife crisis throwing tantrums and attracting attention. Nayanthara was nothing more than a doll. Even Vadivelu's humour was void of its usual punch. Definitely good to skip this.
Sharath and Nayanthara are colleagues working with a newspaper organization. Sharath is (annoyingly) bright, gets on Nayanthara's nerves, but treats the editor as his own father. The newspaper publishes revolutionary items that bring about social awakening. They discover that one of the cool drinks company is being set on a site that already has water problems and how the government is receiving bribes to let the factory be set up. This is published and as a result, the editor and his daughter are killed. Yet, Sharath takes over the responsibility and runs the press. His colleagues are attacked and finally he is 'legally' arrested.
After escaping from a plot where the police try to kill him, he returns to take revenge. He disguises himself and gets a job at the same factory and starts collecting evidence against the owner. Eventually, the truth is brought about after lots of muscle flexing and hard to believe hero saviour timings,etc.
One of those sappy patriotic movies that you can figure out the plot and ending even before the movie has headed halfway and then forgotten within the first half hour after the ending. This was probably one of the political movies of Sharath and it was drenched with it. Like I said, Sharath was trying to be very youthful, to the point of annoying, cause he didn't look youthful at all - more like an adult with midlife crisis throwing tantrums and attracting attention. Nayanthara was nothing more than a doll. Even Vadivelu's humour was void of its usual punch. Definitely good to skip this.
Saturday, December 22, 2007
panam padaithavan
Starring MGR, Sowcar and K.R.Vijaya, the movie is about how ladies should not be.
MGR is an awesome athlete and he is taken to Calcutta as part of a sports meet and wins again. He helps a drunkard to his home and falls in love with his daughter, Vijaya. He also meets a rich man and his daughter, Sowcar, who takes an instant liking towards him. When visiting Sowcar's house, MGR discovers Vijaya works in the same household. Sowcar is a rich man's daughter, who goes to horse races, clubbing and parties, and MGR is averted by her behaviour yet keeps her company for courtesy sake. Meanwhile, his brother, Nagesh and Sowcar's sister fall in love.
Both the parents decide to become relations and propose marriage, but MGR refuses to marry Sowcar, since he is not at all fond of her. When MGR's parents propose only Nagesh's marriage to the younger one, their father refuses. A love struck Nagesh becomes worse and worse in health, finally forcing MGR to marry Sowcar for the benefit of all.
Even though Vijaya allows him to pursue the marriage, she attempts suicide and MGR rushes to her side, even though Sowcar is against it and this creates a rift in their marriage. In return for her husband's thoughtlessness, she plans to leave the house at the same time of night for a male friend, Manohar. Even though MGR discourages, she still insists. After meeting Manohar, she starts getting uncomfortable and tries to return, but he stops her and tries to take advantage of her. A typical Kollywood entry of the hero rescuing his wife, MGR jumps in and fights for her, but in the end, Sowcar is killed by his gun. The movie ends with Vijaya and MGR marrying one another.
One of my favourite songs, kann pona pokkilae, is from this movie and is filled with rich learning in simple lyrics. An OK movie, with typical hero worship elements and actions to set the right path for the viewers. Although we claim that movies show much bad things today, it is hard to sit through a movie where the hero does nothing but good - it is almost unbelievable. Any practical human these days, is bound to hurt someone and do something evil, else survival is hard. Moreover for those, who know what is right and wrong and know that movies are not life, the altruist is a useless character, as he doesn't exist. But for the masses who watch this movie mindlessly, might have been attracted to his goodness and done good themselves - a grey area indeed!
MGR is an awesome athlete and he is taken to Calcutta as part of a sports meet and wins again. He helps a drunkard to his home and falls in love with his daughter, Vijaya. He also meets a rich man and his daughter, Sowcar, who takes an instant liking towards him. When visiting Sowcar's house, MGR discovers Vijaya works in the same household. Sowcar is a rich man's daughter, who goes to horse races, clubbing and parties, and MGR is averted by her behaviour yet keeps her company for courtesy sake. Meanwhile, his brother, Nagesh and Sowcar's sister fall in love.
Both the parents decide to become relations and propose marriage, but MGR refuses to marry Sowcar, since he is not at all fond of her. When MGR's parents propose only Nagesh's marriage to the younger one, their father refuses. A love struck Nagesh becomes worse and worse in health, finally forcing MGR to marry Sowcar for the benefit of all.
Even though Vijaya allows him to pursue the marriage, she attempts suicide and MGR rushes to her side, even though Sowcar is against it and this creates a rift in their marriage. In return for her husband's thoughtlessness, she plans to leave the house at the same time of night for a male friend, Manohar. Even though MGR discourages, she still insists. After meeting Manohar, she starts getting uncomfortable and tries to return, but he stops her and tries to take advantage of her. A typical Kollywood entry of the hero rescuing his wife, MGR jumps in and fights for her, but in the end, Sowcar is killed by his gun. The movie ends with Vijaya and MGR marrying one another.
One of my favourite songs, kann pona pokkilae, is from this movie and is filled with rich learning in simple lyrics. An OK movie, with typical hero worship elements and actions to set the right path for the viewers. Although we claim that movies show much bad things today, it is hard to sit through a movie where the hero does nothing but good - it is almost unbelievable. Any practical human these days, is bound to hurt someone and do something evil, else survival is hard. Moreover for those, who know what is right and wrong and know that movies are not life, the altruist is a useless character, as he doesn't exist. But for the masses who watch this movie mindlessly, might have been attracted to his goodness and done good themselves - a grey area indeed!
The Golden Compass
This was a very abstract themed movie with lots of special effects. It might take a few watches before the story is captured.
Lyra lives a parallel universe where the souls of humans live in their accompanying animals called the demons. She plays a lot with the street children and is lives at free will. There are Gobblers at loose, who are responsible for the disappearance of many children.
Lord Asriel, her uncle comes by to the college, she lives by. She saves him from a killing attempt by the Magesterium - which is the local organization controlling everyone to impose their ideas on the people. Asriel is about to propose the existence of Dust and parallel universe, which is a theory the Magesterium wants to discourage. But Asriel manages to get the funds and leaves.
After his departure, Marisa comes to the college and takes Lyra as her assistant for a trip to the north. Before leaving, Lyra is given an alethiometer (which is the last ever, since Magesterium doesn't want anyone to use it) by a member of the college. Although she is unable to use it, she takes it with her. When Marisa delays their trip, Lyra finds out that Marisa is part of the Gobblers and begins defiance. She runs away from them and just before getting caught, she is caught by the Gyptians who are on the lookout for their lost children. She travels with them over sea and meets the Serafina, queen of the witch clan.
When they stop by at a port, Lyra befriends an aeronaut Lee, who tells her to get the help of a polar bear in exile, Iorek. The bear has strong armour, which was trickingly taken away from him. Lyra finds the armour using her alethiometer and Iorek agrees to help her. Now she heads to Billy, with the instrument's help and finds him disoriented. During the stay, the tribe gets attacked by Samoyeds, Lyra is captured and taken to Ragnar, king of the polar armoured bears. Lyra tricks Ragnar into fighting with Iorek. Iorek wins the fight. Iorek carries Lyra to the research centre, but gets separated from her. Pretending she is lost, she walks into the centre and alerts Roger to prepare everyone to escape. She gets caught eavesdropping on the scientists' conversation to separate the demon from the child to stop dust from affecting the children. Just as the scientists are about to separate her demon, Marisa walks in and stops the whole thing. Marisa confesses that Lyra is her daughter and Lord Asriel, her father. Lyra also finds out that her father is further north and people have been sent to kill him. Lyra injures Marisa temporarily and escapes. She destroys the machinery leading to explosions and brings the children out of the centre. A battle follows, where the children are saved and the good side wins. Lyra then continues journey to the north to save her father.
An interesting movie with lots of special effects. The best was probably Dakota Richards' (Lyra's) defiance. Although in the beginning the acting was to be appreciated, after a while, she just seemed like a brat, but that's what the character needed to do good. I found the story pretty abstract, but apparently it was a good film for those who had read the book and thus, knew what the story was going to be about.
Lyra lives a parallel universe where the souls of humans live in their accompanying animals called the demons. She plays a lot with the street children and is lives at free will. There are Gobblers at loose, who are responsible for the disappearance of many children.
Lord Asriel, her uncle comes by to the college, she lives by. She saves him from a killing attempt by the Magesterium - which is the local organization controlling everyone to impose their ideas on the people. Asriel is about to propose the existence of Dust and parallel universe, which is a theory the Magesterium wants to discourage. But Asriel manages to get the funds and leaves.
After his departure, Marisa comes to the college and takes Lyra as her assistant for a trip to the north. Before leaving, Lyra is given an alethiometer (which is the last ever, since Magesterium doesn't want anyone to use it) by a member of the college. Although she is unable to use it, she takes it with her. When Marisa delays their trip, Lyra finds out that Marisa is part of the Gobblers and begins defiance. She runs away from them and just before getting caught, she is caught by the Gyptians who are on the lookout for their lost children. She travels with them over sea and meets the Serafina, queen of the witch clan.
When they stop by at a port, Lyra befriends an aeronaut Lee, who tells her to get the help of a polar bear in exile, Iorek. The bear has strong armour, which was trickingly taken away from him. Lyra finds the armour using her alethiometer and Iorek agrees to help her. Now she heads to Billy, with the instrument's help and finds him disoriented. During the stay, the tribe gets attacked by Samoyeds, Lyra is captured and taken to Ragnar, king of the polar armoured bears. Lyra tricks Ragnar into fighting with Iorek. Iorek wins the fight. Iorek carries Lyra to the research centre, but gets separated from her. Pretending she is lost, she walks into the centre and alerts Roger to prepare everyone to escape. She gets caught eavesdropping on the scientists' conversation to separate the demon from the child to stop dust from affecting the children. Just as the scientists are about to separate her demon, Marisa walks in and stops the whole thing. Marisa confesses that Lyra is her daughter and Lord Asriel, her father. Lyra also finds out that her father is further north and people have been sent to kill him. Lyra injures Marisa temporarily and escapes. She destroys the machinery leading to explosions and brings the children out of the centre. A battle follows, where the children are saved and the good side wins. Lyra then continues journey to the north to save her father.
An interesting movie with lots of special effects. The best was probably Dakota Richards' (Lyra's) defiance. Although in the beginning the acting was to be appreciated, after a while, she just seemed like a brat, but that's what the character needed to do good. I found the story pretty abstract, but apparently it was a good film for those who had read the book and thus, knew what the story was going to be about.
Enchanted
Mixing animation and real characters, the movie is about a bunch of fairy tale characters traveling through time to a modern American city.
Giselle lives in Andulasia - the perfect fairy tale world, where love blooms by sharing heart songs and animals and birds talk to each other. On one such day, when she is singing around about her true love, she gets caught by a troll and rescued by Prince Edward. They fall in love and are about to marry, when his stepmother Queen Narissa, tricks Giselle to fall into a bottomless pit throwing her in the way of Robert in New York City. Robert is a divorce lawyer, living with his 6-year old daughter and is soon to be married to Nancy. He takes Giselle to their apartment for his daughter. The next morning, Giselle calls all kinds of animals and pests to their house to clean up their house. Unknown to Andulasia's customs, Robert tries to shoo everything away and in the process trips together with Giselle, right when Nancy steps into the house. Thinking the worst, Nancy leaves. Robert takes Giselle to take her back to where she came from. At work, his colleagues aren't able to find the place she came from. And she starts messing around with Robert's divorce clients. Losing his patience, he asks her to leave, but realises she is too innocent to make it by herself and ends up taking a walk along with her.
Right after Giselle, Edward follows her through, followed by Nathaniel, who is the Queen's henchman and also her pet - Pip - a squirrel. All of them are searching for Giselle. Nathan finds her first, while she is walking with Robert and offers her a poisoned apple, but she escapes from eating it, with a huge musical. She reconciles Nancy and Robert with a flower bouquet and tickets to a ball.
Nathan tries to poison her again, when Robert takes her on a date, but fails again. The Queen gets agitated and joins them at New York. Giselle and Robert realise they are falling in love. The next morning, Edward manages to find her. Edward agrees to a date with Giselle, on her request. Both the couples meet at the ball, when the Queen tries to offer Giselle the poisoned apple and succeeds. Seeing her dead, Edward tries to give her the true loves kiss before midnight, but fails and prompts Robert to give her one. It works and the Queen turns herself into a dragon and vows to kill Giselle, but Robert intervenes and gets seized by her. In the end, the Queen dies, Robert and Giselle unite, while Edward and Nancy return to Andulasia with Pip. Nathan remains behind becoming a famous personality writing his book.
An OK movie, but very predictable story line. The music was good and worth listening to and Dempsey was worth watching :P. Also part of the cast were Amy Adams, James Marsden (Cyclops from X-Men), Susan Sarandon and Timothy Spall (Peter Pettigrew from Harry Potter 3 and 4).
Giselle lives in Andulasia - the perfect fairy tale world, where love blooms by sharing heart songs and animals and birds talk to each other. On one such day, when she is singing around about her true love, she gets caught by a troll and rescued by Prince Edward. They fall in love and are about to marry, when his stepmother Queen Narissa, tricks Giselle to fall into a bottomless pit throwing her in the way of Robert in New York City. Robert is a divorce lawyer, living with his 6-year old daughter and is soon to be married to Nancy. He takes Giselle to their apartment for his daughter. The next morning, Giselle calls all kinds of animals and pests to their house to clean up their house. Unknown to Andulasia's customs, Robert tries to shoo everything away and in the process trips together with Giselle, right when Nancy steps into the house. Thinking the worst, Nancy leaves. Robert takes Giselle to take her back to where she came from. At work, his colleagues aren't able to find the place she came from. And she starts messing around with Robert's divorce clients. Losing his patience, he asks her to leave, but realises she is too innocent to make it by herself and ends up taking a walk along with her.
Right after Giselle, Edward follows her through, followed by Nathaniel, who is the Queen's henchman and also her pet - Pip - a squirrel. All of them are searching for Giselle. Nathan finds her first, while she is walking with Robert and offers her a poisoned apple, but she escapes from eating it, with a huge musical. She reconciles Nancy and Robert with a flower bouquet and tickets to a ball.
Nathan tries to poison her again, when Robert takes her on a date, but fails again. The Queen gets agitated and joins them at New York. Giselle and Robert realise they are falling in love. The next morning, Edward manages to find her. Edward agrees to a date with Giselle, on her request. Both the couples meet at the ball, when the Queen tries to offer Giselle the poisoned apple and succeeds. Seeing her dead, Edward tries to give her the true loves kiss before midnight, but fails and prompts Robert to give her one. It works and the Queen turns herself into a dragon and vows to kill Giselle, but Robert intervenes and gets seized by her. In the end, the Queen dies, Robert and Giselle unite, while Edward and Nancy return to Andulasia with Pip. Nathan remains behind becoming a famous personality writing his book.
An OK movie, but very predictable story line. The music was good and worth listening to and Dempsey was worth watching :P. Also part of the cast were Amy Adams, James Marsden (Cyclops from X-Men), Susan Sarandon and Timothy Spall (Peter Pettigrew from Harry Potter 3 and 4).
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
These Three Remain
The final of the trilogy by Pamela Aidan, this book traces Darcy between the time he sees Elizabeth at Hunsford to the final engagement.
He sees Elizabeth at his aunt's house at Rosings and is attracted again, much against his reason and mind. However, unknown to him, fans of Pride and Prejudice know that Elizabeth is gaining more and more reasons to hate him. Her civility seems to mistaken as affection by Darcy, until the first time he proposes. She is shocked, but he is even more shocked, dejected and angered. Until he finishes the letter and hands it in to her, he finds no peace.
After this Darcy leaves for Pemberly. Terribly disturbed by Elizabeth's refusal, he does odd things, such as accepting and going to Lady Sylvania's party, where he is held responsible for her mother's death. But his friend, Brougham rescues him. Although Darcy had thought Brougham to be a silly man, he ends being a government spy and also a man, who sees much in Georgiana. At the nearby tavern, he confesses everything that happened to him. And the next day, with a hangover, he realises his arrogant behaviour and vows to change himself the way Elizabeth would have liked, even though she is lost to him.
He confesses the happenings to Georgiana. While he thinks his relationship is over, he is much surprised to see her again, while riding back from London, ahead of Bingley and company. He tries his best to be warm towards her and finds the same reciprocated. He also likes her uncle and aunt Gardiner, who seem to much sensible. He introduces his sister to them and the ladies take instant liking towards each other.
Just as the relationship is building, Elizabeth receives news about Lydia's elopement with Wickham. This was probably the best description and fill-in of how Darcy could have accomplished what he did to find where Wickham and Lydia were. Then with the promise to keep his indulgence in the affair a secret, the two are married.
Shortly, Bingley decides to return to Netherfield and after he and Jane are engaged, he seeks Bingley's pardon in interfering in his affairs, but is forgiven. Meanwhile, Lady Catherine hears of rumours about Darcy and Elizabeth's marriage and arrives at Longbourne to clear the way. But Elizabeth's stubbornness is disapproved of by her and she hastes to let her nephew know of what had happened. Along with annoyance, Darcy is ecstatic to find the ray of hope and hastens to propose to Elizabeth, only to be accepted heartily.
This was probably the best version of the two fan fictions I had read about Darcy's point of view. Although the wait was long and the second book, a complete deviation from Pride and Prejudice, the gap was sufficiently built to provide enjoyment. Definitely worth a read.
He sees Elizabeth at his aunt's house at Rosings and is attracted again, much against his reason and mind. However, unknown to him, fans of Pride and Prejudice know that Elizabeth is gaining more and more reasons to hate him. Her civility seems to mistaken as affection by Darcy, until the first time he proposes. She is shocked, but he is even more shocked, dejected and angered. Until he finishes the letter and hands it in to her, he finds no peace.
After this Darcy leaves for Pemberly. Terribly disturbed by Elizabeth's refusal, he does odd things, such as accepting and going to Lady Sylvania's party, where he is held responsible for her mother's death. But his friend, Brougham rescues him. Although Darcy had thought Brougham to be a silly man, he ends being a government spy and also a man, who sees much in Georgiana. At the nearby tavern, he confesses everything that happened to him. And the next day, with a hangover, he realises his arrogant behaviour and vows to change himself the way Elizabeth would have liked, even though she is lost to him.
He confesses the happenings to Georgiana. While he thinks his relationship is over, he is much surprised to see her again, while riding back from London, ahead of Bingley and company. He tries his best to be warm towards her and finds the same reciprocated. He also likes her uncle and aunt Gardiner, who seem to much sensible. He introduces his sister to them and the ladies take instant liking towards each other.
Just as the relationship is building, Elizabeth receives news about Lydia's elopement with Wickham. This was probably the best description and fill-in of how Darcy could have accomplished what he did to find where Wickham and Lydia were. Then with the promise to keep his indulgence in the affair a secret, the two are married.
Shortly, Bingley decides to return to Netherfield and after he and Jane are engaged, he seeks Bingley's pardon in interfering in his affairs, but is forgiven. Meanwhile, Lady Catherine hears of rumours about Darcy and Elizabeth's marriage and arrives at Longbourne to clear the way. But Elizabeth's stubbornness is disapproved of by her and she hastes to let her nephew know of what had happened. Along with annoyance, Darcy is ecstatic to find the ray of hope and hastens to propose to Elizabeth, only to be accepted heartily.
This was probably the best version of the two fan fictions I had read about Darcy's point of view. Although the wait was long and the second book, a complete deviation from Pride and Prejudice, the gap was sufficiently built to provide enjoyment. Definitely worth a read.
Sunday, September 2, 2007
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
Written by Mark Haddon, the book is designed as the diary entries of an autistic boy, living with a single parent. He starts writing the entries after a curious incident happens in the neighbourhood - where his neighbour's dog is killed and he is held as suspect because the neighbour saw him peering over the dead body of her pet.
Even though he is brought away by his father, he harps on trying to find out who the killer. The diary goes on to show things that happened in his life and how he reacts to certain things and what he views and thinks of things.
Read the book to find out who the killer of the dog and how come his father is single. It was very interesting viewpoint of how autism affects individuals and what happens in their minds. The author works with autistic individuals and has brought out a good flavour of what actually would have happened in the life of an autistic individual. Definitely a good read. Thanks to ST for recommending it to me...
Even though he is brought away by his father, he harps on trying to find out who the killer. The diary goes on to show things that happened in his life and how he reacts to certain things and what he views and thinks of things.
Read the book to find out who the killer of the dog and how come his father is single. It was very interesting viewpoint of how autism affects individuals and what happens in their minds. The author works with autistic individuals and has brought out a good flavour of what actually would have happened in the life of an autistic individual. Definitely a good read. Thanks to ST for recommending it to me...
Gangs of New York
I wanted to watch this movie amidst much hype since Leonardo DiCaprio and Cameron Diaz were much appreciated for their role in this movie, but it was nothing but violent bloodshed all along.
new York was apparently split between the immigrants and the natives. The natives were mostly immigrants who had arrived earlier than the immigrants, who were mainly composed of Britishers, who left their homeland, because of the bad economy. With an explicit fight, a priest representing the immigrants fought with the Butcher, representing the natives and the Butcher won. Butcher becomes the reigning power in the area. Nothing happens without him. The priest's son is taken to an orphanage.
Priest's son, Leo, returns after many years and with some hard work becomes the right hand for the Butcher. He keeps looking for the right opportunity to strike him down. He finds love in Cameron. But his friend, who was in love with Cameron feels betrayed and exposes Leo's truth to the Butcher. Butcher nearly kills him, but leaves him almost breathing. Cameron takes care of him where his father used to live before. After recovery and loss of lives on both sides, Leo finally kills Butcher during a military fire haze.
The story was just killing over killing. Unbelievable to know that people just killed each other for fun. Of course, this is still happening, but the disregard for human life is so disgusting that after a while, this movie was so annoying to watch in itself. In one of the scenes, a candidate on the immigrant's side almost welcomes the Butcher to talk with him over tea, only to be killed by him. WHY? Why would any sane man, let down him guard and turn his back to a man who is known to kill his victims, especially if he is displeased with you in the election. I thought that was the stupidest candidate ever. In short, an interesting and attractive title, an attractive cast, but too much violence to behold. Worth a pass.
new York was apparently split between the immigrants and the natives. The natives were mostly immigrants who had arrived earlier than the immigrants, who were mainly composed of Britishers, who left their homeland, because of the bad economy. With an explicit fight, a priest representing the immigrants fought with the Butcher, representing the natives and the Butcher won. Butcher becomes the reigning power in the area. Nothing happens without him. The priest's son is taken to an orphanage.
Priest's son, Leo, returns after many years and with some hard work becomes the right hand for the Butcher. He keeps looking for the right opportunity to strike him down. He finds love in Cameron. But his friend, who was in love with Cameron feels betrayed and exposes Leo's truth to the Butcher. Butcher nearly kills him, but leaves him almost breathing. Cameron takes care of him where his father used to live before. After recovery and loss of lives on both sides, Leo finally kills Butcher during a military fire haze.
The story was just killing over killing. Unbelievable to know that people just killed each other for fun. Of course, this is still happening, but the disregard for human life is so disgusting that after a while, this movie was so annoying to watch in itself. In one of the scenes, a candidate on the immigrant's side almost welcomes the Butcher to talk with him over tea, only to be killed by him. WHY? Why would any sane man, let down him guard and turn his back to a man who is known to kill his victims, especially if he is displeased with you in the election. I thought that was the stupidest candidate ever. In short, an interesting and attractive title, an attractive cast, but too much violence to behold. Worth a pass.
Sivapathigaaram
With Vishal, a new face for heroine and Raghuvaran as the main set of characters, the movie is about the faulty system of Indian voting.
Raghuvaran returns to his village with his daughter, with the intention of publishing village tunes and songs, that are passed along the generations by word of mouth. Vishal comes to the village as his research assistant. However, they seem to be having something secretive to talk about from time to time.
Election time is nearing, but all the candidates seem to be murdered one after another, until there are no more candidates left and the ones alive are withdrawing the nominations. An Arjun-look-a-like cop is involved in the investigation of the murders and tracks down the professor and the student.
Flashback shows Vishal to be an A student in college and Raghuvaran, his professor. Instead of the usual theoretical studies, Raghu brings a practical aspect to his project. As the election was nearing, the students are encouraged to publish pre-election likes. As the publication outlined, the election is diverted. The ex-ruling party is enraged and as a revenge carries out a mass murder at Vishal's school. Vishal is vengeful, but Raghu calms him down to take a stronger revenge.
The movie was a typical Vishal movie with big punch dialogues for a hero who looks like a college lad, supposed to be studying, instead of bashing up big guys. Interesting message about having criteria for politicians, who are interested to govern the nation, but could have packaged better. The heroine had almost nothing to do. Raghuvaran is definitely looking punier and older and seems like he is going to snap a bone if he moves too much. An OK story, but I could have taken a raincheck.
Raghuvaran returns to his village with his daughter, with the intention of publishing village tunes and songs, that are passed along the generations by word of mouth. Vishal comes to the village as his research assistant. However, they seem to be having something secretive to talk about from time to time.
Election time is nearing, but all the candidates seem to be murdered one after another, until there are no more candidates left and the ones alive are withdrawing the nominations. An Arjun-look-a-like cop is involved in the investigation of the murders and tracks down the professor and the student.
Flashback shows Vishal to be an A student in college and Raghuvaran, his professor. Instead of the usual theoretical studies, Raghu brings a practical aspect to his project. As the election was nearing, the students are encouraged to publish pre-election likes. As the publication outlined, the election is diverted. The ex-ruling party is enraged and as a revenge carries out a mass murder at Vishal's school. Vishal is vengeful, but Raghu calms him down to take a stronger revenge.
The movie was a typical Vishal movie with big punch dialogues for a hero who looks like a college lad, supposed to be studying, instead of bashing up big guys. Interesting message about having criteria for politicians, who are interested to govern the nation, but could have packaged better. The heroine had almost nothing to do. Raghuvaran is definitely looking punier and older and seems like he is going to snap a bone if he moves too much. An OK story, but I could have taken a raincheck.
Happy Feet
Here's the story of Mumble, the penguin that can't sing. When still an egg, Mumble's father, Memphis, drops him for a short while and because of that Mumble can't sing. As he grows, his parents worry that Mumble will never find his soulmate, as soulmates are chosen on the basis of their Heartsong. Growing up, he has only his parents and his friend, Gloria, to turn to. After a series of mishaps one day, he is brought to a new colony where three Amigos befriend him.
When Mumble returns, it is mating season, and he succeeds in attracting Gloria and starts tap dancing with the rest of the penguins following him. However, the group's elders frown upon it and see the lack of fish to be a punishment for dancing and banish Mumble.
Mumble is determined to get to the root of the problem. He follows a huge fishing vessel and is finally sent to a zoo, where her tries to communicate, after a long period of inactivity, by tap dancing. He catches their attention and he is let to go back to his colony. When he reaches his colony, all of the other penguins start dancing together and the humans transmit this surprise and everyone come together to discuss what this could mean. Finally the humans decide never to fish in the area and the penguins are left free to their food.
A very cute story - of course with Jackman as one of the voices singing, little doubt could be present on whether the characters would be attractive! Although the story was flowing well, I just couldn't see the connection between penguin tap dance and leave my colony food theory. But other than that, an interesting story in comparison to many of the boring ones that get released out there.
When Mumble returns, it is mating season, and he succeeds in attracting Gloria and starts tap dancing with the rest of the penguins following him. However, the group's elders frown upon it and see the lack of fish to be a punishment for dancing and banish Mumble.
Mumble is determined to get to the root of the problem. He follows a huge fishing vessel and is finally sent to a zoo, where her tries to communicate, after a long period of inactivity, by tap dancing. He catches their attention and he is let to go back to his colony. When he reaches his colony, all of the other penguins start dancing together and the humans transmit this surprise and everyone come together to discuss what this could mean. Finally the humans decide never to fish in the area and the penguins are left free to their food.
A very cute story - of course with Jackman as one of the voices singing, little doubt could be present on whether the characters would be attractive! Although the story was flowing well, I just couldn't see the connection between penguin tap dance and leave my colony food theory. But other than that, an interesting story in comparison to many of the boring ones that get released out there.
Friday, August 31, 2007
Kate and Leopold
Starring Meg Ryan and my hunk Hugh Jackman, the story is about timeless romance (literally!).
Stuart is a science geek who has found the gap in time and is able to go back centuries and one such gap takes him to the time of Leopold (man who invented the elevator). Leopold, is a stifled young man, who wants to pursue science but is forced by his uncle to marry richly. He sees Stuart and follows him, while Stuart makes his way back to the current. Leopold wakes up all confused next day. Stuart gets hospitalized as he gets hurt in the elevator shaft.
Meanwhile, Kate, Stuart's ex and upstairs neighbour, drops by to pick up her stylus. Leopold is intrigued by her and also befriends Kate's brother, who is an actor. Kate is working hard for a promotion and Leopold ruins it. But she forgives him after an apology and they romantically get involved.
Kate introduces him for an ad, but he is repelled by the taste of the product and says so to Kate. And she gives him a reply that he would have heard from his uncle. Both are hurt.
Stuart recovers and returns to send Leopold back to his time, but also discovers that Kate had been at Leopold's party and urges her to return back in time. Whether she takes up a promotion and follows her love is the climax of the story.
I could watch it for a number of time for Jackman, however, any movie that makes satire of how life runs is worth watching. My favourite was probably when Leo takes Stuart's dog for a walk and confronts the cop. Definitely worth the watch.
Stuart is a science geek who has found the gap in time and is able to go back centuries and one such gap takes him to the time of Leopold (man who invented the elevator). Leopold, is a stifled young man, who wants to pursue science but is forced by his uncle to marry richly. He sees Stuart and follows him, while Stuart makes his way back to the current. Leopold wakes up all confused next day. Stuart gets hospitalized as he gets hurt in the elevator shaft.
Meanwhile, Kate, Stuart's ex and upstairs neighbour, drops by to pick up her stylus. Leopold is intrigued by her and also befriends Kate's brother, who is an actor. Kate is working hard for a promotion and Leopold ruins it. But she forgives him after an apology and they romantically get involved.
Kate introduces him for an ad, but he is repelled by the taste of the product and says so to Kate. And she gives him a reply that he would have heard from his uncle. Both are hurt.
Stuart recovers and returns to send Leopold back to his time, but also discovers that Kate had been at Leopold's party and urges her to return back in time. Whether she takes up a promotion and follows her love is the climax of the story.
I could watch it for a number of time for Jackman, however, any movie that makes satire of how life runs is worth watching. My favourite was probably when Leo takes Stuart's dog for a walk and confronts the cop. Definitely worth the watch.
Becoming Jane
Becoming Jane is a movie based on Jane Austen's biography.
Jane is a tomboyish girl, interested in becoming an author, but coming from a poor family, there is constantly the need to look out for rich husbands. her mother never fails to do that for her. Her cousin's friend, Tom Lefroy, annoys her and everytime she tries to outsmart him. The friction turns into attraction. But Jane hears that Lefroy is engaged to another rich woman. In anger, she agrees to marry the rich shy bachelor. Lefroy convinces Jane to elope with him and Jane agrees and everything goes as per plan. However, halfway down the trip, Jane comes to know of Lefroy's huge family and monetary concerns and she returns home. She apologises to the man she was engaged to.
The movie moves to many years later. Jane is unmarried, but a successful author. She sees Lefroy and discovers that he has named his daughter Jane.
It was a mix of all of Austenian novels - Pride and Prejudice, Persuasions, etc. It was a terrible drag and definitely good to skip it. It also seems like there was no factual base to the story either. There was lack of chemistry between the characters. Probably, few of the characters to look out for were Jane male cousin and his wife (who was Jane's companion), as well as her mother, but other than that, there wasn't much to look out for.
Jane is a tomboyish girl, interested in becoming an author, but coming from a poor family, there is constantly the need to look out for rich husbands. her mother never fails to do that for her. Her cousin's friend, Tom Lefroy, annoys her and everytime she tries to outsmart him. The friction turns into attraction. But Jane hears that Lefroy is engaged to another rich woman. In anger, she agrees to marry the rich shy bachelor. Lefroy convinces Jane to elope with him and Jane agrees and everything goes as per plan. However, halfway down the trip, Jane comes to know of Lefroy's huge family and monetary concerns and she returns home. She apologises to the man she was engaged to.
The movie moves to many years later. Jane is unmarried, but a successful author. She sees Lefroy and discovers that he has named his daughter Jane.
It was a mix of all of Austenian novels - Pride and Prejudice, Persuasions, etc. It was a terrible drag and definitely good to skip it. It also seems like there was no factual base to the story either. There was lack of chemistry between the characters. Probably, few of the characters to look out for were Jane male cousin and his wife (who was Jane's companion), as well as her mother, but other than that, there wasn't much to look out for.
Open Range
The movie is about free-range cattlemen travelling around the American areas. They stop by a town to stock up on supplies and incur the wrath of the local powerful baron, who hates free rangers. He makes their life difficult hurting them and trying to kill them. However, the free rangers come out victorious. The local people also help them along. One of the families is a doctor and her sister, whom the free rangers think to be his wife, but once the misunderstanding is cleared, he expresses his love to her. After a major clash between the free rangers and the local baron, the free rangers won over and peace reigns in the town again.
An OK movie. Although for most of the movie, I was a little clueless about what was happening, maybe cause the accent was funny. Interesting set of characters and acting - worth a watch - however, it would be better to have a version with subtitles in English.
An OK movie. Although for most of the movie, I was a little clueless about what was happening, maybe cause the accent was funny. Interesting set of characters and acting - worth a watch - however, it would be better to have a version with subtitles in English.
How to lose a guy in 10 days
Kate Hudson and Matthew McConaughey star in this romantic comedy.
Both Kate and Matt work in different magazines. Kate, to write an interesting column, takes up the challenge of "how to lose a guy in 10 days" and eyes Matt as the 'guy'. Similarly, Matt takes up the challenge of making a woman fall in love with him as part of a challenge and Kate is his target. Over the course of the movie, Kate does everything possible to drive Matt crazy and Matt accommodates her along. But along the way, it seems they are falling in love with each other. On the last day, they both discover that a whole ruse was part of a challenge both ways. They are disappointed. But Matt discovers he still loves her and follows her to gets her back.
The movie was a hilarious display of the chemistry between men and women in the dating field. Worth a watch.
Both Kate and Matt work in different magazines. Kate, to write an interesting column, takes up the challenge of "how to lose a guy in 10 days" and eyes Matt as the 'guy'. Similarly, Matt takes up the challenge of making a woman fall in love with him as part of a challenge and Kate is his target. Over the course of the movie, Kate does everything possible to drive Matt crazy and Matt accommodates her along. But along the way, it seems they are falling in love with each other. On the last day, they both discover that a whole ruse was part of a challenge both ways. They are disappointed. But Matt discovers he still loves her and follows her to gets her back.
The movie was a hilarious display of the chemistry between men and women in the dating field. Worth a watch.
Bruce Almighty
Jim Carrey, Jennifer Aniston and Morgan Freeman star in this hilarious comedy about a common man given Godly powers.
Jim is the average American aiming to become the best anchorman in his news channel. But life never goes right for him. He is so tired of everything. One day a pager persistently asks him to call. When he does, he is called for an interview. When he reaches the spot, it is an oddly empty building, with the same person for cleaner and boss. After an interesting conversation, Jim realises he had Godly powers and he starts using them.
With the powers, he does many things that he always wanted to do. Things seem to be going in a good way, until a twist of things makes Jim lose his girlfriend and then get into an accident. Eventually, he realises what he had and things come back to normal.
Hilarious movie, especially the scene where Jim makes his anchor colleague stutter. It even appeared in the gag reel of the movie. Definitely worth the watch.
Jim is the average American aiming to become the best anchorman in his news channel. But life never goes right for him. He is so tired of everything. One day a pager persistently asks him to call. When he does, he is called for an interview. When he reaches the spot, it is an oddly empty building, with the same person for cleaner and boss. After an interesting conversation, Jim realises he had Godly powers and he starts using them.
With the powers, he does many things that he always wanted to do. Things seem to be going in a good way, until a twist of things makes Jim lose his girlfriend and then get into an accident. Eventually, he realises what he had and things come back to normal.
Hilarious movie, especially the scene where Jim makes his anchor colleague stutter. It even appeared in the gag reel of the movie. Definitely worth the watch.
Unfaithful
Starring Diane Lane and Richard Gere as the protagonists, the movie is about a wife who is attracted to a younger man and regrets it.
Lane and Gere are married with a son. The life seems happy and normal, until one day, in the storm, Lane meets a svelte younger book collector, who attracts her. Against her reason, she goes to his apartment and feels scintillated in his presence. She returns again and they become intimate. Gere starts noticing the gap in their marriage. Gere's friends sees Lane and her lover in public places. They hint it to him. With a detective, Gere finds out the truth. Meanwhile, things go awry between Lane and her lover. Right after they seemingly patch up, Gere enters the lover's apartment and in the heat of the moment kills him. Then, he cleans up with the mess and returns to his life normally.
As part of the investigation, detectives investigate the couple, but find nothing. However, Lane understands that something must've happened between her husband and her lover. She is very regretful and the movie ends with the family driving away in the night.
With the infidelity theme and the skin content in the movie, the storyline was an attraction to many movie makers in the Indian industry to bring in masses to the theatre and money in their coffers. A typical adult book storyline made into a movie. A good watch for the acting of the characters.
Lane and Gere are married with a son. The life seems happy and normal, until one day, in the storm, Lane meets a svelte younger book collector, who attracts her. Against her reason, she goes to his apartment and feels scintillated in his presence. She returns again and they become intimate. Gere starts noticing the gap in their marriage. Gere's friends sees Lane and her lover in public places. They hint it to him. With a detective, Gere finds out the truth. Meanwhile, things go awry between Lane and her lover. Right after they seemingly patch up, Gere enters the lover's apartment and in the heat of the moment kills him. Then, he cleans up with the mess and returns to his life normally.
As part of the investigation, detectives investigate the couple, but find nothing. However, Lane understands that something must've happened between her husband and her lover. She is very regretful and the movie ends with the family driving away in the night.
With the infidelity theme and the skin content in the movie, the storyline was an attraction to many movie makers in the Indian industry to bring in masses to the theatre and money in their coffers. A typical adult book storyline made into a movie. A good watch for the acting of the characters.
Sunday, August 26, 2007
The Bourne Identity
Matt Damon is the star of this trilogy thriller, which revolves around Jason Bourne.
A man is unconscious and is rescued at sea by a fisherman's boat. When he regains health, he has no clue of who he is. Only clue he has is a laser with an account number, which is stitched into his body. When he goes to the bank, he finds many passports with his picture and many names. He is utterly confused, but assumes he must be the man in the first passport - Jason Bourne. Meanwhile, the police are following him following orders from CIA headquarters, with a failed assassination attempt on an African dictator, to eradicate any traces of that operation. To get away from them, Jason convinces Marie, a student to help him escape to his French address.
At the apartment, he searches for clues and redials the last call he made - it was one of his aliases, who was killed a couple weeks ago in a car crash. Right then, someone blasts through the window and attacks him. When Jason subdues him, he jumps out to suicide. They find out 'wanted' posters for both Jason and Marie. The African dictator is killed.
They drive off to Marie's stepbrother's house. The next morning, things become suspicious and Jason figures out someone must be there. Jason finds out some truth about himself and sends Marie away with money for her own safety. He decides to meet his contact with the Treadstone project. When he meets him, he remembers what had happened to him. He escapes the other agents, who were trying to catch him. Meanwhile, the focus is shifted to a new project - Blackbriar - and Treadstone is closed down.
Definitely an interesting movie to watch. For some part of the movie, I was as lost as Bourne was, but things were really fast paced and quick. The action sequence and the theme was very interesting. Personally, I'm not a great fan of Matt Damon, but he carried out his role as Bourne very well, perhaps because of his natural 'lost' look.
A man is unconscious and is rescued at sea by a fisherman's boat. When he regains health, he has no clue of who he is. Only clue he has is a laser with an account number, which is stitched into his body. When he goes to the bank, he finds many passports with his picture and many names. He is utterly confused, but assumes he must be the man in the first passport - Jason Bourne. Meanwhile, the police are following him following orders from CIA headquarters, with a failed assassination attempt on an African dictator, to eradicate any traces of that operation. To get away from them, Jason convinces Marie, a student to help him escape to his French address.
At the apartment, he searches for clues and redials the last call he made - it was one of his aliases, who was killed a couple weeks ago in a car crash. Right then, someone blasts through the window and attacks him. When Jason subdues him, he jumps out to suicide. They find out 'wanted' posters for both Jason and Marie. The African dictator is killed.
They drive off to Marie's stepbrother's house. The next morning, things become suspicious and Jason figures out someone must be there. Jason finds out some truth about himself and sends Marie away with money for her own safety. He decides to meet his contact with the Treadstone project. When he meets him, he remembers what had happened to him. He escapes the other agents, who were trying to catch him. Meanwhile, the focus is shifted to a new project - Blackbriar - and Treadstone is closed down.
Definitely an interesting movie to watch. For some part of the movie, I was as lost as Bourne was, but things were really fast paced and quick. The action sequence and the theme was very interesting. Personally, I'm not a great fan of Matt Damon, but he carried out his role as Bourne very well, perhaps because of his natural 'lost' look.
Friday, August 24, 2007
Derailed
James Siegel is the author of this thriller novel set in the United States. The story was made into a motion picture with Clive Owen and Jennifer Aniston in it. Similarly, it was made in Bollywood and Kollywood too.
The story is of Charles Schine, a married man with a diabetic teenage daughter. His marriage is not going well because of the stress of the daughter's sickness. On his way to work, he forgets to pay the train fare and is on the verge of being thrown out. An attractive woman pays the fare for him - Lucinda Harris. Their acquaintance grows into friendship and then into something more.
They decide to stay at a hotel and just before they decide to make the move, a man breaks into their room - hurts and burgles them and rapes Lucinda. Charles feels responsible for Lucinda's state. Now the thief starts threatening Charles for money and Charles coughs it up. Then the threats become more frequent.
Charles career wasn't going too well either. He uses the help of one of his co-workers, Winston, who is an ex-convict and a murderer to get rid of the thief. Their ploy is almost uncovered by cops and Winston is murdered. Charles works in cleaning up the crime scene.
Charles' wife is now concerned and his house is also visited by detectives. He confesses everything to his wife. Just before confessing to the detectives, he looks out for Lucinda. This is when he discovers that Lucinda is part of the whole gang that repeats the whole cycle with many people - hunting for eager husbands, making them fall in love, go to the same hotel, time it perfectly so that the thief comes in to burgle and create a rape scene, while hurting the guy, and finally top it off with continuous monetary threats. He is furious. Now, he plans on avenging them.
So he waits at the same hotel waiting for them to come back. D-day comes and he barges into the room right after the thief enters, exposing their colours to their new victim. In the scuffle, Charles kills everyone in the room. Mysteriously, the hotel blows up too. In the news, his name appears as one of the dead.
His family is devastated, but he secretly calls his wife to let her know what had happened. It stays a secret for a while until Charles establishes his new identity. He decides to go to a new town and using one of the fake driving licenses he obtained from his ex-convict friend, he manages to get other documents. He manages to get a job as a teacher. A few months later, he brings his family with him and they live happily until the thief rudely enters their life again.
As part of volunteering, Charles volunteers at the local prison and finds out that the thief is still alive and he tracked them down using the special kind of medicine that Charles' daughter needed for her treatments. Charles visits him in his cell and finishes him off.
I had actually seen the Kollywood version of this book before reading it - pachchai kili muthucharam - which was an interesting movie, typical of the gory and violence the director was famous for. The book was much more racier than the movie version, although the movie was better adapted for the South Indian audience it was made for. The book was better catered for the thriller that North American readers enjoyed. Although the story had a few loopholes and was soggy in some parts, the overall was a good package and a worthwhile read.
The story is of Charles Schine, a married man with a diabetic teenage daughter. His marriage is not going well because of the stress of the daughter's sickness. On his way to work, he forgets to pay the train fare and is on the verge of being thrown out. An attractive woman pays the fare for him - Lucinda Harris. Their acquaintance grows into friendship and then into something more.
They decide to stay at a hotel and just before they decide to make the move, a man breaks into their room - hurts and burgles them and rapes Lucinda. Charles feels responsible for Lucinda's state. Now the thief starts threatening Charles for money and Charles coughs it up. Then the threats become more frequent.
Charles career wasn't going too well either. He uses the help of one of his co-workers, Winston, who is an ex-convict and a murderer to get rid of the thief. Their ploy is almost uncovered by cops and Winston is murdered. Charles works in cleaning up the crime scene.
Charles' wife is now concerned and his house is also visited by detectives. He confesses everything to his wife. Just before confessing to the detectives, he looks out for Lucinda. This is when he discovers that Lucinda is part of the whole gang that repeats the whole cycle with many people - hunting for eager husbands, making them fall in love, go to the same hotel, time it perfectly so that the thief comes in to burgle and create a rape scene, while hurting the guy, and finally top it off with continuous monetary threats. He is furious. Now, he plans on avenging them.
So he waits at the same hotel waiting for them to come back. D-day comes and he barges into the room right after the thief enters, exposing their colours to their new victim. In the scuffle, Charles kills everyone in the room. Mysteriously, the hotel blows up too. In the news, his name appears as one of the dead.
His family is devastated, but he secretly calls his wife to let her know what had happened. It stays a secret for a while until Charles establishes his new identity. He decides to go to a new town and using one of the fake driving licenses he obtained from his ex-convict friend, he manages to get other documents. He manages to get a job as a teacher. A few months later, he brings his family with him and they live happily until the thief rudely enters their life again.
As part of volunteering, Charles volunteers at the local prison and finds out that the thief is still alive and he tracked them down using the special kind of medicine that Charles' daughter needed for her treatments. Charles visits him in his cell and finishes him off.
I had actually seen the Kollywood version of this book before reading it - pachchai kili muthucharam - which was an interesting movie, typical of the gory and violence the director was famous for. The book was much more racier than the movie version, although the movie was better adapted for the South Indian audience it was made for. The book was better catered for the thriller that North American readers enjoyed. Although the story had a few loopholes and was soggy in some parts, the overall was a good package and a worthwhile read.
Bloodletting and Miraculous Cures
Written by Vincent Lam, this book is the events that shape the lives of 4 people - from their high school to their doctor life - Chen, Fitz, Ming and Sri.
Chen and Fitz are romantically involved after being friends. But they break up and Ming and Chen end up marrying. Ming, Chen and Sri are classmates. While Chen and Fitz were in high school, they studied together, got involved and Chen made it to university, while Fitz didn't. Things start widening between them, until they break up.
While at school, Lam explores the troubles of medical students through Ming, Chen and Sri, with dissection, group labs, exams, writeups, relationships. After growing up, he explores the impact of SARS, on call doctors and the stress of being a doctor.
The book was a very good and interesting read. Certainly, it wasn't something expected and it was a new viewpoint and way of looking at the lives of the doctors. Although there is not one set storyline, other than the main synopsis above, it contains many little snippets and events that make up the book. Definitely worth a read.
Chen and Fitz are romantically involved after being friends. But they break up and Ming and Chen end up marrying. Ming, Chen and Sri are classmates. While Chen and Fitz were in high school, they studied together, got involved and Chen made it to university, while Fitz didn't. Things start widening between them, until they break up.
While at school, Lam explores the troubles of medical students through Ming, Chen and Sri, with dissection, group labs, exams, writeups, relationships. After growing up, he explores the impact of SARS, on call doctors and the stress of being a doctor.
The book was a very good and interesting read. Certainly, it wasn't something expected and it was a new viewpoint and way of looking at the lives of the doctors. Although there is not one set storyline, other than the main synopsis above, it contains many little snippets and events that make up the book. Definitely worth a read.
The Invasion
Starring Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig, the movie is based on a novel by Jack Finney.
An alien lifeform clings to the space shuttle and when it crashes onto earth, all those who touch it get infected. This infects people during their REM cycle during sleep and makes them devoid of human emotions. One of the first people to get affected is Nicole's ex, who is an official in White House. The 'pod people' go on infecting other people.
Nicole, a psychiatrist, starts sensing something is amiss and teams up with her doctor friend, Daniel to uncover the reason. With a biologist's help, they figure out the lifeform and also figure out that some people are immune to it, because they have had scarlet fever. Nicole's son is also immune as he had scarlet fever when he was a child. Nicole is infected by her ex, but struggles to stay awake and running away from 'pod people'. At the end of it, using Nicole's son's blood, they make a cure to the disease that is spread over the city. Since the disease attaches itself to the brain cells, the people infected just wake up from a 'dream' and never know what has happened.
An interesting story since I have never seen Body Snatchers, which was the initial inspiration for the movie. However the movie didn't make much as a blockbuster.
Personally, I enjoy Nicole's work and the kid acting as her son, was really cute. The on-screen chemistry of Daniel and Nicole was good. On the whole, the movie was enjoyable.
An alien lifeform clings to the space shuttle and when it crashes onto earth, all those who touch it get infected. This infects people during their REM cycle during sleep and makes them devoid of human emotions. One of the first people to get affected is Nicole's ex, who is an official in White House. The 'pod people' go on infecting other people.
Nicole, a psychiatrist, starts sensing something is amiss and teams up with her doctor friend, Daniel to uncover the reason. With a biologist's help, they figure out the lifeform and also figure out that some people are immune to it, because they have had scarlet fever. Nicole's son is also immune as he had scarlet fever when he was a child. Nicole is infected by her ex, but struggles to stay awake and running away from 'pod people'. At the end of it, using Nicole's son's blood, they make a cure to the disease that is spread over the city. Since the disease attaches itself to the brain cells, the people infected just wake up from a 'dream' and never know what has happened.
An interesting story since I have never seen Body Snatchers, which was the initial inspiration for the movie. However the movie didn't make much as a blockbuster.
Personally, I enjoy Nicole's work and the kid acting as her son, was really cute. The on-screen chemistry of Daniel and Nicole was good. On the whole, the movie was enjoyable.
The Simpsons Movie
Here was the small screen animated hero coming to big screen. Although I'm not a Simpsons' fan myself (in fact, I think it is the dumbest thing ever, but that's just my opinion), I went to watch this craziness because I had to wait for another show to begin, but this definitely not worth the 8 bucks I paid, except for one, maybe, two things which I'll mention later.
So begins the Simpsons with Green Day running a campaign to save the environment in Springfield which fails miserably and the group dies in the lake. Lisa and her friend decide to spread the message around about safety and things start to get implemented and working. Meanwhile, Homer gets a pig and stores its excretion in a silo in the backyard. Marge asks him to dispose of it safely but Homer pays no attention and dumps it in the lake, which becomes polluted and starts mutating things that fall into it. While Homer is busy with the pig, Bart looks for a better parental figure - his neighbour and feels dejected about his own father. When the EDA finds the status of the lake, it seals Springfield in a glass dome. The townspeople are shocked and angry, and when they find out the silo, they burn down Simpsons' house and also try to attack them. But the family escapes through a sinkhole and moves to Alaska. On the TV, they see the ad for a new theme park right where Springfield was. Marge wants to save the town, but Homer refuses to help the town that tried to kill him. Marge and the children leave him and head back, only to have him join them later. EDA plans to destroy Springfield with a bomb, but Homer and Bart unite on a motorcycle and save Springfield.
Even though I'm not a fan myself, I did notice other people were laughing harder at the beginning of the movie and then it started to lower and disappear, so it wasn't a rolling comedy, but there were 2 bits that made it totally worth it - the spider pig sequence and the part where Marge leaves Homer - I never could understand why a woman would want to or continue to live with a man like that! A barely entertaining movie for non-Simpsons fans. Simpsons' fans - you would watch it either way :)..
So begins the Simpsons with Green Day running a campaign to save the environment in Springfield which fails miserably and the group dies in the lake. Lisa and her friend decide to spread the message around about safety and things start to get implemented and working. Meanwhile, Homer gets a pig and stores its excretion in a silo in the backyard. Marge asks him to dispose of it safely but Homer pays no attention and dumps it in the lake, which becomes polluted and starts mutating things that fall into it. While Homer is busy with the pig, Bart looks for a better parental figure - his neighbour and feels dejected about his own father. When the EDA finds the status of the lake, it seals Springfield in a glass dome. The townspeople are shocked and angry, and when they find out the silo, they burn down Simpsons' house and also try to attack them. But the family escapes through a sinkhole and moves to Alaska. On the TV, they see the ad for a new theme park right where Springfield was. Marge wants to save the town, but Homer refuses to help the town that tried to kill him. Marge and the children leave him and head back, only to have him join them later. EDA plans to destroy Springfield with a bomb, but Homer and Bart unite on a motorcycle and save Springfield.
Even though I'm not a fan myself, I did notice other people were laughing harder at the beginning of the movie and then it started to lower and disappear, so it wasn't a rolling comedy, but there were 2 bits that made it totally worth it - the spider pig sequence and the part where Marge leaves Homer - I never could understand why a woman would want to or continue to live with a man like that! A barely entertaining movie for non-Simpsons fans. Simpsons' fans - you would watch it either way :)..
Sunday, August 12, 2007
mahakavi kalidas
Featuring nadigar thilakam Sivaji Ganesan, Sowkar Janaki, Vijaya and others, the movie is about the life of the great poet Kalidas.
Kalidas is born Rama and is very innocent, bordering imbecility. He is often a burden to his parents, but nevertheless they raise.
Sowcar is the princess of a country, who vows to marry only a man who can win her in intelligence. Many came to try their hand, however, if they are defeated (which all did), they are subject to shameful punishments, which was given by her father, the king. One such defeated poet vowed revenge. He found Rama and executed the plan so well that the princess was married to Rama.
After marriage when she finds out the truth, she is devastated and prays fervently to Kali, who answers her prayers and Rama becomes Kalidas (servant of Kali). With the new found genius, he realises that Sowcar is in the position of his teacher as she gave him the knowledge and leaves her to spread the word of Kali.
Sowcar is heartbroken and prays to the goddess again, who gives her a courtesan rebirth to be together with Kalidas. While Kalidas is performing at the king's court, he falls in love with the re-born Sowcar, while Sowcar's companion, Vijaya, is in love with Kalidas. Sowcar and Kalidas marry, while Vijaya is left jealous.
Since the queen is a great patron of arts, Kalidas spends much time with her for his muse. This angers Sowcar and a fight resumes between the couple. At the same time, people spread rumours about the non-existent relationship between the poet and the queen. Kalidas leaves the country to save the lady's reputation, which puts the king in sickbed. However, he finds a way to get him back and promises to pay whomsoever gets the challenge.
Sowcar hunts out to find her husband and just misses him, while Vijaya finds Kalidas in time to get the answer to the challenge and kills him. When she takes back the answer to the king, he knows something is amiss and finds the dead body of his poet. So ends the life of the poet.
One of my favourite stories by Kalidas is that of Shakuntala. Story was a bit of a drag and most of the things in the story was magical and unbelievable but a good break from the usual stories, although I felt that they could have picked a better person to do Sowcar's character.
Kalidas is born Rama and is very innocent, bordering imbecility. He is often a burden to his parents, but nevertheless they raise.
Sowcar is the princess of a country, who vows to marry only a man who can win her in intelligence. Many came to try their hand, however, if they are defeated (which all did), they are subject to shameful punishments, which was given by her father, the king. One such defeated poet vowed revenge. He found Rama and executed the plan so well that the princess was married to Rama.
After marriage when she finds out the truth, she is devastated and prays fervently to Kali, who answers her prayers and Rama becomes Kalidas (servant of Kali). With the new found genius, he realises that Sowcar is in the position of his teacher as she gave him the knowledge and leaves her to spread the word of Kali.
Sowcar is heartbroken and prays to the goddess again, who gives her a courtesan rebirth to be together with Kalidas. While Kalidas is performing at the king's court, he falls in love with the re-born Sowcar, while Sowcar's companion, Vijaya, is in love with Kalidas. Sowcar and Kalidas marry, while Vijaya is left jealous.
Since the queen is a great patron of arts, Kalidas spends much time with her for his muse. This angers Sowcar and a fight resumes between the couple. At the same time, people spread rumours about the non-existent relationship between the poet and the queen. Kalidas leaves the country to save the lady's reputation, which puts the king in sickbed. However, he finds a way to get him back and promises to pay whomsoever gets the challenge.
Sowcar hunts out to find her husband and just misses him, while Vijaya finds Kalidas in time to get the answer to the challenge and kills him. When she takes back the answer to the king, he knows something is amiss and finds the dead body of his poet. So ends the life of the poet.
One of my favourite stories by Kalidas is that of Shakuntala. Story was a bit of a drag and most of the things in the story was magical and unbelievable but a good break from the usual stories, although I felt that they could have picked a better person to do Sowcar's character.
The varieties of scientific experience: a personal view of search for God
Carl Sagan is the author of this book which strives to explain science and religion with the help of each other - a common topic of debate. But for the last few years, people have been taking sides and throwing off the other half, which makes their experience incomplete in whichever side they choose - such is the argument of the author. He explains many examples and instances of how there is a supernatural power that must have arranged things the way they were to lead to the things the way they are. For example some chemical reactions must have happened to make sure that the atmosphere was 75% Nitrogen, 21% Oxygen and so on and he claims that there is someone who did that. One of the arguments that he spoke of was the possibility of extraterrestrial beings, who might be much more advanced than us. So advanced that we still haven't been able to detect them but they probably know that we exist. It was an interesting argument. He goes on further to give more examples of why he believes in what he believes. An interesting book to read on, but could possibly become a bit of a drag towards the second half of the book.
Wednesday, August 8, 2007
paratta azhagu sundaram
Starring Dhanush and Meera Jasmine, the story revolves around the love between a mother and son.
Dhanush lives with his parents in the village. One day, his friend comes from the city and shows him pretty things. While Dhanush is spending time with his friend, his father dies. To help his mother he leaves for the city without telling him. As soon as he arrives in the city, he is cheated, but Nazar helps him along. Dhanush is the witness to a murder attempt, but is left alone.
After a few weeks, he manages to get his mother bangles as a gift. As he is just about to leave, he walks around with the bangles in his hand and tea (for the same thugs who did the murder attempt) in the other. The thugs aggravate him by calling his mother names. Dhanush is enraged and finishes the leader of the team off. Seeing his power, the guy he saves from the murder attempt tries to buy him in, but Dhanush stays aloof. Overtime, Nazar makes him understand that it is important for him to stay violent to stay alive and see his mother.
Meanwhile his mother comes to the city and starts searching. She meets Meera and Meera tries to help her along. Now we see lots of cliches with the mother and son walking and going to the same place but missing each other by a fraction of a second. Eventually, Dhanush's mother sees the friend who came to the village, who asks her to stay outside a temple, where Dhanush had told him, he always visited. But right on the day when she waits, Dhanush doesn't come because he hides for protection. His mother dies the next day. As her body is being carried to the cemetery, thinking it is some orphan's death, he pays all his respects. As he just finishes the duties, his friend comes by to tell that that was his mother. Dhanush is devastated and starts dancing with his imagination.
The constant dancing with his mother was a little annoying. As was the cliche of missing each other by inches. Village people know matters in everyone's house all over the village. They tend to be observant - of course they fall for sweet talk, but they usually are shown to be people who constantly look around. Especially a few scenes where the mother and son were in line of sight and they didn't see each other because their backs were turned and stuff like that - was an overkill. Dhanush is believable as an innocent village guy, but not as a hooligan. And really. that parattai of his seems like a huge burden on his head that he should probably cut off! Meera hardly had any role to play. The comedian in the movie was tolerable, but he uses too much of a street language, which is annoying at times. A not-so-great movie.
Dhanush lives with his parents in the village. One day, his friend comes from the city and shows him pretty things. While Dhanush is spending time with his friend, his father dies. To help his mother he leaves for the city without telling him. As soon as he arrives in the city, he is cheated, but Nazar helps him along. Dhanush is the witness to a murder attempt, but is left alone.
After a few weeks, he manages to get his mother bangles as a gift. As he is just about to leave, he walks around with the bangles in his hand and tea (for the same thugs who did the murder attempt) in the other. The thugs aggravate him by calling his mother names. Dhanush is enraged and finishes the leader of the team off. Seeing his power, the guy he saves from the murder attempt tries to buy him in, but Dhanush stays aloof. Overtime, Nazar makes him understand that it is important for him to stay violent to stay alive and see his mother.
Meanwhile his mother comes to the city and starts searching. She meets Meera and Meera tries to help her along. Now we see lots of cliches with the mother and son walking and going to the same place but missing each other by a fraction of a second. Eventually, Dhanush's mother sees the friend who came to the village, who asks her to stay outside a temple, where Dhanush had told him, he always visited. But right on the day when she waits, Dhanush doesn't come because he hides for protection. His mother dies the next day. As her body is being carried to the cemetery, thinking it is some orphan's death, he pays all his respects. As he just finishes the duties, his friend comes by to tell that that was his mother. Dhanush is devastated and starts dancing with his imagination.
The constant dancing with his mother was a little annoying. As was the cliche of missing each other by inches. Village people know matters in everyone's house all over the village. They tend to be observant - of course they fall for sweet talk, but they usually are shown to be people who constantly look around. Especially a few scenes where the mother and son were in line of sight and they didn't see each other because their backs were turned and stuff like that - was an overkill. Dhanush is believable as an innocent village guy, but not as a hooligan. And really. that parattai of his seems like a huge burden on his head that he should probably cut off! Meera hardly had any role to play. The comedian in the movie was tolerable, but he uses too much of a street language, which is annoying at times. A not-so-great movie.
yezhuthaatha sattam
With big names like Sivaji Ganesan, Jaishankar, M.N.Nambiar, Prabhu, Urvasi, Nalini and Sharath Babu, I had high expectations of what the movie was going to be like, but sorry to disappoint before the review is finished that it was a burst bubble.
Sivaji, Jaishankar and Nambiar are childhood buddies. Jaishankar is an honest judge. Nambiar is in the police force, while Sivaji is a fish businessman. Even with the status divide, they live harmoniously. Srividhya is married to Jaishankar and Sivaji treats her like his own sister buying her flowers everyday. Prabhu is Jaishankar's son, but for some reason is estranged and lives with Sivaji. Prabhu and Sharath, Sivaji's son, were medical college classmates. Sharath graduated as a doctor, but Prabhu hangs around Sivaji's market all the time. Prabhu and Urvasi fall in love, while Sharath and Nalini, Nambiar's daughter get engaged. The story was strewn all over without much cohesiveness, but here is my shot at it.
Jaishankar is involved with a big criminal, Manohar's case, but pronounces verdict against the big shot and earns his enmity. As a revenge against the doctor, Sharath Babu, who gave the evidence, Manohar kills the senior doctor and blames it on Sharath. He runs away to his father, who then takes him to Jaishankar and requests him to help him. But the honest judge refuses. The trial proceeds and Sharath is sent to jail. Sivaji feels alienated to Jaishankar. Meanwhile, a troublemaker from the fish market tries to rape Urvasi. As a revenge, Prabhu tries to get him, but overnight, Thengai Srinivasan, Urvasi's dad kills him in a rage. But blame falls on Prabhu as all of the people saw Prabhu really angry. Now both the boys meet in jail and they escape.
Meanwhile, a new police officer, Rajesh, comes to the locality and starts hunting down Manohar's actions. He discovers Nambiar and Manohar are friends. He discovers the true murderer of the troublemaker. However, in the last scene, Sivaji commits a murder and Jaishankar pronounces death as the verdict. And the friends die together.
Big names but not very good storyline. Even though the performances might have been commendable, there is nothing in the movie to recommend it. Movie to skip.
Sivaji, Jaishankar and Nambiar are childhood buddies. Jaishankar is an honest judge. Nambiar is in the police force, while Sivaji is a fish businessman. Even with the status divide, they live harmoniously. Srividhya is married to Jaishankar and Sivaji treats her like his own sister buying her flowers everyday. Prabhu is Jaishankar's son, but for some reason is estranged and lives with Sivaji. Prabhu and Sharath, Sivaji's son, were medical college classmates. Sharath graduated as a doctor, but Prabhu hangs around Sivaji's market all the time. Prabhu and Urvasi fall in love, while Sharath and Nalini, Nambiar's daughter get engaged. The story was strewn all over without much cohesiveness, but here is my shot at it.
Jaishankar is involved with a big criminal, Manohar's case, but pronounces verdict against the big shot and earns his enmity. As a revenge against the doctor, Sharath Babu, who gave the evidence, Manohar kills the senior doctor and blames it on Sharath. He runs away to his father, who then takes him to Jaishankar and requests him to help him. But the honest judge refuses. The trial proceeds and Sharath is sent to jail. Sivaji feels alienated to Jaishankar. Meanwhile, a troublemaker from the fish market tries to rape Urvasi. As a revenge, Prabhu tries to get him, but overnight, Thengai Srinivasan, Urvasi's dad kills him in a rage. But blame falls on Prabhu as all of the people saw Prabhu really angry. Now both the boys meet in jail and they escape.
Meanwhile, a new police officer, Rajesh, comes to the locality and starts hunting down Manohar's actions. He discovers Nambiar and Manohar are friends. He discovers the true murderer of the troublemaker. However, in the last scene, Sivaji commits a murder and Jaishankar pronounces death as the verdict. And the friends die together.
Big names but not very good storyline. Even though the performances might have been commendable, there is nothing in the movie to recommend it. Movie to skip.
Indran Chandran
With Padmashree Kamalahassan in a double role, Vijayshanthi, Charan Raj, Srividhya and other Telugu-like cast, the movie is about a corrupt minister and a poor man struggling to prove his innocence.
Minister Kamalahassan is married to Srividhya, who is disabled, with 3 kids, yet he is a womanizer and he has a trusty secretary, Charan Raj and another woman. He schemes and eats up public funds. Vijayshanthi is a reporter who is bent on exposing true colours of the Minister. Through her, Minister is able to find out that Charan Raj and the woman are actually husband and wife and somehow, they have taken all of his embezzled funds. When he confronts them, he is killed. Charan Raj now plots to make up a death story for the Minister, but along the way, he finds a young Kamalahassan trying to escape from a mental asylum. With the power of money, Charanraj gets the young Kamalahassan to act as the minister.
After some rugged times between Kamalahassan and journalist Vijayashanthi, they fall in love. Now they try to expose Charanraj for the rest of the movie.
Nothing extraordinary in the movie to look forward to. It is a usual story. Probably the only performance worth watching was that of the minister Kamalahassan with the fake teeth and funny walk. An OK movie.
Minister Kamalahassan is married to Srividhya, who is disabled, with 3 kids, yet he is a womanizer and he has a trusty secretary, Charan Raj and another woman. He schemes and eats up public funds. Vijayshanthi is a reporter who is bent on exposing true colours of the Minister. Through her, Minister is able to find out that Charan Raj and the woman are actually husband and wife and somehow, they have taken all of his embezzled funds. When he confronts them, he is killed. Charan Raj now plots to make up a death story for the Minister, but along the way, he finds a young Kamalahassan trying to escape from a mental asylum. With the power of money, Charanraj gets the young Kamalahassan to act as the minister.
After some rugged times between Kamalahassan and journalist Vijayashanthi, they fall in love. Now they try to expose Charanraj for the rest of the movie.
Nothing extraordinary in the movie to look forward to. It is a usual story. Probably the only performance worth watching was that of the minister Kamalahassan with the fake teeth and funny walk. An OK movie.
The Mahabharata
Adapted to an easily readable and understandable format by R.K.Narayan, the Mahabharata is a grand Indian epic, out of which, one of Hinduism most religious texts, the Bhagavad Gita came about.
The story is basically about the rivalry between two families - Pandavas and Kauravas, who are first cousins by their fathers - Pandu and Dhrithrashtra, respectively. Pandavas are 5 brothers, while Kauravas were a 100, yet in the end Pandavas won the epic battle, that forms the climax of this literary piece - this is to denote the ever victorious truth over evil, no matter how powerful or daunting the evil might seem.
Even though the actual story is much much longer, R.K.Narayan has done a great job in condensing the needed information into a cohesive format. I particularly enjoyed the teachings and the occurrence of karma in the story. Often in real life, we feel very dejected when only bad things happen to us, even though we do good. And only good things happen to those who do bad - just because they are smarter and have different morals and convictions. Yet, the story seemed to show that someone would always guide us through.
A good quick read for those who want to have an insight into this mythological epic in an easy format.
The story is basically about the rivalry between two families - Pandavas and Kauravas, who are first cousins by their fathers - Pandu and Dhrithrashtra, respectively. Pandavas are 5 brothers, while Kauravas were a 100, yet in the end Pandavas won the epic battle, that forms the climax of this literary piece - this is to denote the ever victorious truth over evil, no matter how powerful or daunting the evil might seem.
Even though the actual story is much much longer, R.K.Narayan has done a great job in condensing the needed information into a cohesive format. I particularly enjoyed the teachings and the occurrence of karma in the story. Often in real life, we feel very dejected when only bad things happen to us, even though we do good. And only good things happen to those who do bad - just because they are smarter and have different morals and convictions. Yet, the story seemed to show that someone would always guide us through.
A good quick read for those who want to have an insight into this mythological epic in an easy format.
Thursday, August 2, 2007
The Prestige
Written by Christopher Priest, this is the novel that the movie 'The Prestige' was based on, although I found the bookish version much more logical and interesting.
The book starts with the introduction of an adopted boy, who can be traced back to have the last name of Borden. He works as a reporter and loves his foster parents. However a strange diary (presumably of one of his relatives) and a weird news interview appointment leads him to meet a lady, who seems to be knowing much more about him than himself. She had the last name of Angier.
Here begins the diary entries of Alfred Borden - the son of a carpenter, who had so much interest in magic that he ends up being one of the best, just by self practice and interest. Often in the diary he is questioning himself and answering himself - a strange way of writing a diary. He begins his rivalry with Angier by spoiling one of his illusions. And there begins their bloodthirsty war. Eventually, he regrets his doing, but he feels angry when Angier strikes back and he repeats the favour and so on. He becomes very famous with his illusion of the Transported Man, where he leaves the stage in one cabinet and reappears from another, without any time elapse. Eventually he marries and then he even gets a mistress. With the mistress, he misleads Angier. He hears that Angier has come up with his version of the Transported Man - In a Flash. Knowing his own secret, Borden is determined to find Angier's truth - which he doesn't find out but unwittingly spoils Angier's trick and he is haunted for the rest of his life, until he dies.
Then begins the diary entries of Robert Angier - also a fanatic of magic but came from a rich background. He starts living in the city by himself and meets an actress who was to be his only love and wife for a long time. They begin with stage shows and then for financial reasons move onto to speaking with the dead. Here is where Borden makes his first strike against Angier. Remembering to avenge the happening, Angier never forgives Borden. Eventually he is puzzled by Borden's version of the transported man. Here is when he falls to the fancies of his assistant, Olivia Svenson. He leaves his wife and now his need for secret becomes an obsession and Olivia volunteers to find it for him. But over this game, he loses her to Borden. He is enraged, but he uses the clue that Olivia left to meet a scientist in the U.S. Amazingly enough, science helps him with what he needed. He manages to return home, get his family back and do successful performances. He always hints at having done something very bad at the end of every performance. However on one such performance, Borden interrupts his performance and things go bad - there are almost 2 of him, but there is only one of him.
With the current situation, Angier's descendant recollects her version of the story and her obsession to find the truth. Apparently, Borden's son (with the small boy, who is now adopted) visited her home (when she was young). After some serious arguments, her father takes the guests to see the apparatus that Angier had used for his stage show, In a Flash. Somehow, nothing happens to Borden's son, but in an accident, he leaves the small boy behind and at the end, the boy is killed. The young girl is shocked, but she is just as shocked to find him alive today. They, then leave for the Angier family vault where all the bodies were stored after they were dead. And there, they find something they almost expected.
The book was definitely a much better read than the movie, although I have to say that since I had watched the movie, it made understanding the book a little easier. There were some parts, that could have been better explained in the book and also, I kept imagining Hugh Jackman as Angier and Christian Bale as Borden - which is the drawback of watching a movie before reading the book.
The book starts with the introduction of an adopted boy, who can be traced back to have the last name of Borden. He works as a reporter and loves his foster parents. However a strange diary (presumably of one of his relatives) and a weird news interview appointment leads him to meet a lady, who seems to be knowing much more about him than himself. She had the last name of Angier.
Here begins the diary entries of Alfred Borden - the son of a carpenter, who had so much interest in magic that he ends up being one of the best, just by self practice and interest. Often in the diary he is questioning himself and answering himself - a strange way of writing a diary. He begins his rivalry with Angier by spoiling one of his illusions. And there begins their bloodthirsty war. Eventually, he regrets his doing, but he feels angry when Angier strikes back and he repeats the favour and so on. He becomes very famous with his illusion of the Transported Man, where he leaves the stage in one cabinet and reappears from another, without any time elapse. Eventually he marries and then he even gets a mistress. With the mistress, he misleads Angier. He hears that Angier has come up with his version of the Transported Man - In a Flash. Knowing his own secret, Borden is determined to find Angier's truth - which he doesn't find out but unwittingly spoils Angier's trick and he is haunted for the rest of his life, until he dies.
Then begins the diary entries of Robert Angier - also a fanatic of magic but came from a rich background. He starts living in the city by himself and meets an actress who was to be his only love and wife for a long time. They begin with stage shows and then for financial reasons move onto to speaking with the dead. Here is where Borden makes his first strike against Angier. Remembering to avenge the happening, Angier never forgives Borden. Eventually he is puzzled by Borden's version of the transported man. Here is when he falls to the fancies of his assistant, Olivia Svenson. He leaves his wife and now his need for secret becomes an obsession and Olivia volunteers to find it for him. But over this game, he loses her to Borden. He is enraged, but he uses the clue that Olivia left to meet a scientist in the U.S. Amazingly enough, science helps him with what he needed. He manages to return home, get his family back and do successful performances. He always hints at having done something very bad at the end of every performance. However on one such performance, Borden interrupts his performance and things go bad - there are almost 2 of him, but there is only one of him.
With the current situation, Angier's descendant recollects her version of the story and her obsession to find the truth. Apparently, Borden's son (with the small boy, who is now adopted) visited her home (when she was young). After some serious arguments, her father takes the guests to see the apparatus that Angier had used for his stage show, In a Flash. Somehow, nothing happens to Borden's son, but in an accident, he leaves the small boy behind and at the end, the boy is killed. The young girl is shocked, but she is just as shocked to find him alive today. They, then leave for the Angier family vault where all the bodies were stored after they were dead. And there, they find something they almost expected.
The book was definitely a much better read than the movie, although I have to say that since I had watched the movie, it made understanding the book a little easier. There were some parts, that could have been better explained in the book and also, I kept imagining Hugh Jackman as Angier and Christian Bale as Borden - which is the drawback of watching a movie before reading the book.
Chennai Kaadhal
Starring Bharath and Genelia D'Souza, Chennai Kadhal is a new version of the usual masala theme used in Indian cinemas for years. A disappointment that a starlet like Bharath gave this movie, but nevertheless, here goes my review.
Bharath is a problematic boy, sorting to violence as an answer for all his troubles. He brings much unhappiness to his parents. He sees the girl of his dreams, Genelia, and continually keeps running into her. Eventually, after some lies and good deeds, they start dating. Genelia, who doesn't know the truth about Bharath, meets Bharath's father and in a surprise meeting, gets to know the truth. Even though there is a lover's strife, things get patched up.
Genelia is actually the daughter of a local thug, Radha Ravi. She is utterly disgusted by her father's behaviour and leaves the house to fend for herself. Her father catches her with Bharath and drags her back home, fixing her marriage with his buddy's brother.
Bharath plans an escape and they leave for Mumbai, where he lives in his friend's boss' (also a local thug) home. This is the same thug whose brother was fixed for Genelia in marriage. When the thug gets to know about the truth, he chases them down - beats up Bharath and takes away Genelia. Thinking he is dead, they continue with the plans. Bharath is, on the other hand, resurrecting and he returns to get Genelia back. The rest of the movie goes about showing how he does it and by history, we know that he would.
An OK movie. But for watchers who are looking for performance-based work, this is a let down. Genelia is petite and sweet in her dresses and girls looking for dress ideas might have something to watch for. The comedy in the beginning of the movie and the way that Bharath's friends fooled Radha Ravi in the end were interesting to watch. But other than that, the movie was the same filling with a different shell.
Bharath is a problematic boy, sorting to violence as an answer for all his troubles. He brings much unhappiness to his parents. He sees the girl of his dreams, Genelia, and continually keeps running into her. Eventually, after some lies and good deeds, they start dating. Genelia, who doesn't know the truth about Bharath, meets Bharath's father and in a surprise meeting, gets to know the truth. Even though there is a lover's strife, things get patched up.
Genelia is actually the daughter of a local thug, Radha Ravi. She is utterly disgusted by her father's behaviour and leaves the house to fend for herself. Her father catches her with Bharath and drags her back home, fixing her marriage with his buddy's brother.
Bharath plans an escape and they leave for Mumbai, where he lives in his friend's boss' (also a local thug) home. This is the same thug whose brother was fixed for Genelia in marriage. When the thug gets to know about the truth, he chases them down - beats up Bharath and takes away Genelia. Thinking he is dead, they continue with the plans. Bharath is, on the other hand, resurrecting and he returns to get Genelia back. The rest of the movie goes about showing how he does it and by history, we know that he would.
An OK movie. But for watchers who are looking for performance-based work, this is a let down. Genelia is petite and sweet in her dresses and girls looking for dress ideas might have something to watch for. The comedy in the beginning of the movie and the way that Bharath's friends fooled Radha Ravi in the end were interesting to watch. But other than that, the movie was the same filling with a different shell.
Saturday, July 28, 2007
Epic Movie
This was probably a collection of a satire of all movies that have been popular recently.
The movie opens with a blond woman trying to investigate code all over the museum similar to the DaVinci Code, finally finding a ticket for an epic adventure in the chocolate vending machine.
Next comes a black woman travelling on the plane, when snakes attack on the plane and a look alike of Samuel L. Jackson, throws her off the plane onto Paris Hilton and she finds the ticket to the epic adventure in Hilton's purse.
Third of the lot, is Kal Penn in a Mexican orphanage, refusing to eat the substandard food in the institution and has to put up with a Nacho Libre cook and kid, until he is thrown out of the window and finds a ticket to an epic adventure.
Lastly, a mutant high school kid, with the mutant power of constantly being a chicken, who is always bullied at school by likes of Wolverine, Storm, Mystique and so on, finds a ticket in one of the lockers that he is banged into.
All the four, meet outside Charlie's chocolate factory, where they find out that human parts is the secret ingredient in their chocolate products. Event though, they try to escape, they are captured and locked. When they are walking around, the blond girl finds a cupboard full of things and ends up entering it (after all the things fall out). It turns out to be the entrance to Gnarnia, where she finds warning messages from a half goat half man inhabitant - who speaks of the White Bitch Queen and her evil ways.
Meanwhile, Kal Penn enters Gnarnia and meets the Queen and promises her to bring the rest of the crew, in exchange to be her king. But he soon discovers her true colours and is held captive. Here he meets Captain Jack Swallow and a song about the pirates follows. Snow Bitch tells Kal Penn about her plans to destroy the world with some yellow biochemical substance, that would create earthquakes and bad things as such.
The remaining 2 also enter Gnarnia and together with a half lion, half man king, whom they had to bribe, they manage to save Kal Penn. Together they discover, they were a family predicted to rule the kingdom and kill White Bitch.
They go over to train to Hogwarts with an old Harry Potter, an overgrown Ron Weasley and a pregnant and smoking Hermoine Granger.
With soldiers, they attack the Snow Bitch and her soldiers. But bit by bit, three of the 4 are injured. Finally, the white guy finds a remote control (Click) to stop everything that he wants and manages to save himself, heal the other three and destroy the rest of White Bitch's soldiers. Now the four of them rule Gnarnia as a family for years, until they find the wardrobe they took them to Gnarnia and they return in the youth that they had left in.
It was excessively bland and elongated story, which tried to make jest of the things it showed, but succeeded and got nowhere. Definitely a good idea to skip.
The movie opens with a blond woman trying to investigate code all over the museum similar to the DaVinci Code, finally finding a ticket for an epic adventure in the chocolate vending machine.
Next comes a black woman travelling on the plane, when snakes attack on the plane and a look alike of Samuel L. Jackson, throws her off the plane onto Paris Hilton and she finds the ticket to the epic adventure in Hilton's purse.
Third of the lot, is Kal Penn in a Mexican orphanage, refusing to eat the substandard food in the institution and has to put up with a Nacho Libre cook and kid, until he is thrown out of the window and finds a ticket to an epic adventure.
Lastly, a mutant high school kid, with the mutant power of constantly being a chicken, who is always bullied at school by likes of Wolverine, Storm, Mystique and so on, finds a ticket in one of the lockers that he is banged into.
All the four, meet outside Charlie's chocolate factory, where they find out that human parts is the secret ingredient in their chocolate products. Event though, they try to escape, they are captured and locked. When they are walking around, the blond girl finds a cupboard full of things and ends up entering it (after all the things fall out). It turns out to be the entrance to Gnarnia, where she finds warning messages from a half goat half man inhabitant - who speaks of the White Bitch Queen and her evil ways.
Meanwhile, Kal Penn enters Gnarnia and meets the Queen and promises her to bring the rest of the crew, in exchange to be her king. But he soon discovers her true colours and is held captive. Here he meets Captain Jack Swallow and a song about the pirates follows. Snow Bitch tells Kal Penn about her plans to destroy the world with some yellow biochemical substance, that would create earthquakes and bad things as such.
The remaining 2 also enter Gnarnia and together with a half lion, half man king, whom they had to bribe, they manage to save Kal Penn. Together they discover, they were a family predicted to rule the kingdom and kill White Bitch.
They go over to train to Hogwarts with an old Harry Potter, an overgrown Ron Weasley and a pregnant and smoking Hermoine Granger.
With soldiers, they attack the Snow Bitch and her soldiers. But bit by bit, three of the 4 are injured. Finally, the white guy finds a remote control (Click) to stop everything that he wants and manages to save himself, heal the other three and destroy the rest of White Bitch's soldiers. Now the four of them rule Gnarnia as a family for years, until they find the wardrobe they took them to Gnarnia and they return in the youth that they had left in.
It was excessively bland and elongated story, which tried to make jest of the things it showed, but succeeded and got nowhere. Definitely a good idea to skip.
attahaasam
With double action from Ajith, with Pooja, Sujatha and Ramesh Kanna, the movie is about a family that was split due to circumstances and things that happened with the children in the family.
Ajith1 lives with his mother Sujatha, running a driving school. He is a calm and peaceful mummy's boy. He is in love with his neighbour's daughter, Pooja. To retrieve a car back from one of his employees, he leaves for Thirunelveli. Surprisingly everyone seems to know and respect him, which he thinks is because of the different dress that he was wearing that day. He returns home.
Meanwhile Ajith2, a thug who makes his living by threatening and killing others is shocked to find out that people had mistaken Ajith1 for him. He then reels to his childhood story about hw he had seen his father die and how his mother sold him away. He starts creating ruckus between the other 2 local thugs. Amidst this, he calls Ajith1 to Thirunelveli.
Ajith2 crisscrosses the roles and attire with Ajith1. Ajith2 returns to Sujatha's home and everyone is annoyed and angered by things that he does. Sujatha feels that her son has changed a lot and is worried. Somewhere along this time, the true past of the family is revealed. Sujatha and her husband, Nizhalgal Ravi lived happily, until Ravi decided to betray his boss, who was a thug. Unable to bear the betrayal, the boss kills Ravi and is seen by little Ajith2. To prevent the trauma and make sure he lives, Sujatha sends him off with a childless couple. But along the way, Ajith2 jumps out of the car and makes his way to Thirunelveli, living as an orphan to-date.
Meanwhile, Ajith1 is put in a quandary between the Thirunelveli local thugs, but he manages o escape from them and cheat them everytime. Finally, he reaches his actual home. This is the same time, when Ajith2 is told about the actual circumstances of his childhood. He is repentant. Together the Ajith's bash up the bad guys and everything ends happy.
An enirely cheesy flick - which was extremely noisy. For some reason, a thuggish demeanour doesn't suit Ajith - who has much of a calm appearance. There wasn't much work for the other people in the cast - perhaps for Ramesh Kanna and Sujatha. The guy who came as Ravi's boss and the white dress clad villain from Thirunelveli probably stole the show along with Ramesh Kanna. A tolerable flick for Ajith's fans, but can be skipped for others.
Ajith1 lives with his mother Sujatha, running a driving school. He is a calm and peaceful mummy's boy. He is in love with his neighbour's daughter, Pooja. To retrieve a car back from one of his employees, he leaves for Thirunelveli. Surprisingly everyone seems to know and respect him, which he thinks is because of the different dress that he was wearing that day. He returns home.
Meanwhile Ajith2, a thug who makes his living by threatening and killing others is shocked to find out that people had mistaken Ajith1 for him. He then reels to his childhood story about hw he had seen his father die and how his mother sold him away. He starts creating ruckus between the other 2 local thugs. Amidst this, he calls Ajith1 to Thirunelveli.
Ajith2 crisscrosses the roles and attire with Ajith1. Ajith2 returns to Sujatha's home and everyone is annoyed and angered by things that he does. Sujatha feels that her son has changed a lot and is worried. Somewhere along this time, the true past of the family is revealed. Sujatha and her husband, Nizhalgal Ravi lived happily, until Ravi decided to betray his boss, who was a thug. Unable to bear the betrayal, the boss kills Ravi and is seen by little Ajith2. To prevent the trauma and make sure he lives, Sujatha sends him off with a childless couple. But along the way, Ajith2 jumps out of the car and makes his way to Thirunelveli, living as an orphan to-date.
Meanwhile, Ajith1 is put in a quandary between the Thirunelveli local thugs, but he manages o escape from them and cheat them everytime. Finally, he reaches his actual home. This is the same time, when Ajith2 is told about the actual circumstances of his childhood. He is repentant. Together the Ajith's bash up the bad guys and everything ends happy.
An enirely cheesy flick - which was extremely noisy. For some reason, a thuggish demeanour doesn't suit Ajith - who has much of a calm appearance. There wasn't much work for the other people in the cast - perhaps for Ramesh Kanna and Sujatha. The guy who came as Ravi's boss and the white dress clad villain from Thirunelveli probably stole the show along with Ramesh Kanna. A tolerable flick for Ajith's fans, but can be skipped for others.
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
This was probably this decade's most awaited ending book of the series. J.K.Rowling has permanently carved her name in the world of magical fantasy and fiction. Harry Potter is just as alive to all of us, as he lives through the books.
Being the last book of the series, Rowling promised a racy, non-stop action and surprise ending and she gave it. A well deserved close to the book. Although there were spoilers, true Potter fans would not have been hindered by that. The spoilers lead to a little disappointment, but what are a couple lines of plot leaks versus 600-page exciting roller coaster ride.
Harry is finally about to turn 17 - the year that the protective charm of his mother breaks. Now, he truly needs protection from other wizards, which the Order of the Phoenix is more than happy to give. Although he stays in safety, the task that Dumbledore had entrusted him, makes him leave his warm home.
Along with his most trusted friends, Ron and Hermione, he sets out into the world. They face many trials and even have a close brush with Lord Voldemort himself, but along with all the horrid experiences, they also had enlightening and discoveries, that brought them closer to what Dumbledore had asked them to do.
Many times Harry wants to give up, he is sad about the losses he went through, he is careful not to shed more blood, but he is unable to refuse the help. And finally, he comes face to face with the Dark Lord. Here, I have to stop as it would be gross injustice if I were to give away what happened. Definitely, a book more than worth reading.
Being the last book of the series, Rowling promised a racy, non-stop action and surprise ending and she gave it. A well deserved close to the book. Although there were spoilers, true Potter fans would not have been hindered by that. The spoilers lead to a little disappointment, but what are a couple lines of plot leaks versus 600-page exciting roller coaster ride.
Harry is finally about to turn 17 - the year that the protective charm of his mother breaks. Now, he truly needs protection from other wizards, which the Order of the Phoenix is more than happy to give. Although he stays in safety, the task that Dumbledore had entrusted him, makes him leave his warm home.
Along with his most trusted friends, Ron and Hermione, he sets out into the world. They face many trials and even have a close brush with Lord Voldemort himself, but along with all the horrid experiences, they also had enlightening and discoveries, that brought them closer to what Dumbledore had asked them to do.
Many times Harry wants to give up, he is sad about the losses he went through, he is careful not to shed more blood, but he is unable to refuse the help. And finally, he comes face to face with the Dark Lord. Here, I have to stop as it would be gross injustice if I were to give away what happened. Definitely, a book more than worth reading.
Sunday, July 22, 2007
stuart little
Apart from Charlotte's Web, this is another cute story from E.B. White about a little mouse living with humans.
Stuart lives with his family and is more than glad about. He also lives with another pet - a cat. Then, a beautiful bird enters his life. Stuart and the bird become inseparable.
But the cat has evil plans for her. When the bird hears of the warning, she flies away from the house. Stuart is most heartbroken and leaves the comfort of his home in search of his love. Along the way, he becomes a fun substitute teacher, he tries to woo a girl, who is surprisingly also as tall as he is, but his plans go awry.
After all his trials, he still continues on his journey to track his love anyway.
A sweet and easy read. The book was recommended to me by a fellow workmate, when I mentioned the movie Ratatouille to him. I don't know if the story was cuter or the illustrations in the book were cuter. Of course, if the story hadn't been there, there wouldn't have been any illustrations. Anyway, a cute and quick read.
Stuart lives with his family and is more than glad about. He also lives with another pet - a cat. Then, a beautiful bird enters his life. Stuart and the bird become inseparable.
But the cat has evil plans for her. When the bird hears of the warning, she flies away from the house. Stuart is most heartbroken and leaves the comfort of his home in search of his love. Along the way, he becomes a fun substitute teacher, he tries to woo a girl, who is surprisingly also as tall as he is, but his plans go awry.
After all his trials, he still continues on his journey to track his love anyway.
A sweet and easy read. The book was recommended to me by a fellow workmate, when I mentioned the movie Ratatouille to him. I don't know if the story was cuter or the illustrations in the book were cuter. Of course, if the story hadn't been there, there wouldn't have been any illustrations. Anyway, a cute and quick read.
manikanda
With Arjun and Jyothika in the lead, the film is about a tried theme of caste clashes and rivalry between two families over their beliefs.
Arjun's family lives in Bombay. Jyothika arrives in Bombay from a village in Tamilnadu to seek a religious lady, whom Jyothika believes would be able to bring peace to her violent village. After some clashes between the lead pair, love begins to show itself.
Chandrashekhar is Arjun's father. When he sights Pasupathy in Bombay city, he is intrigued and tries to find out why he is there, but they are only able to meet at Pasupathy's deathbed. Pasupathy insists on killing Jyothika before he breathes his last.
Jyothika returns to her village. Her father Aashish Vidyarthi urges her to invite Arjun to their village after seeing his photo in her bag. But when he arrives, there are thugs trying to kill him left right and centre. After tackling them, Arjun meets his father, also in the village. Now the story goes to flashback.
Arjun's real father, Manikanda was a good man, against caste differences, while Aashish's father, P.Vasu was an extremist. There was a constant tug of war between them. In the final battle, Vasu kills Manikanda and Manikanda manages to kill him in his injured state. Chandrashekhar had been protecting Arjun against those people and now Arjun decides to take matters in his own hands. He fights off the bad guys and all ends happily.
An OK story, although the Uma and Arjun pair was very good, and the older Arjun looked very good in his get-up. Although we frequently see other action heroes, I think Arjun is the only one who is truly an action king, with agility and the do-gooder looks. Worth a watch.
Arjun's family lives in Bombay. Jyothika arrives in Bombay from a village in Tamilnadu to seek a religious lady, whom Jyothika believes would be able to bring peace to her violent village. After some clashes between the lead pair, love begins to show itself.
Chandrashekhar is Arjun's father. When he sights Pasupathy in Bombay city, he is intrigued and tries to find out why he is there, but they are only able to meet at Pasupathy's deathbed. Pasupathy insists on killing Jyothika before he breathes his last.
Jyothika returns to her village. Her father Aashish Vidyarthi urges her to invite Arjun to their village after seeing his photo in her bag. But when he arrives, there are thugs trying to kill him left right and centre. After tackling them, Arjun meets his father, also in the village. Now the story goes to flashback.
Arjun's real father, Manikanda was a good man, against caste differences, while Aashish's father, P.Vasu was an extremist. There was a constant tug of war between them. In the final battle, Vasu kills Manikanda and Manikanda manages to kill him in his injured state. Chandrashekhar had been protecting Arjun against those people and now Arjun decides to take matters in his own hands. He fights off the bad guys and all ends happily.
An OK story, although the Uma and Arjun pair was very good, and the older Arjun looked very good in his get-up. Although we frequently see other action heroes, I think Arjun is the only one who is truly an action king, with agility and the do-gooder looks. Worth a watch.
paramasivan
Ultimate star Ajith Kumar, Laila and Prakashraj come together in this movie about eradicating terrorism.
Ajith is a death sentence prisoner. Prakashraj tries to use him to kill the terrorists, who were responsible for many civilian deaths using bombs. Everything goes according to the plan.
Ajith's flashback is that he was part of a happy family. But because some policemen were corrupt, unlike his father, he lost both his father and sister, due to their caprice. In revenge, he killed the policemen and was thus, serving his death sentence.
While helping out Prakashraj, he promises to marry Laila, who is part of the family that rents house from Prakashraj. To make sure he does so, he runs away from Prakashraj, when he finds out Prakashraj is going to kill him. Apparently, Prakashraj had promised his senior that death sentence prisoners had to be killed to answer his superiors. But in the end, Prakashraj lets him go.
Somewhere along the story, Jairam is also tagged along as a CBI officer, who finds the mixup of Ajith's death with some random guy's ashes. But all ends well.
An interesting story. However Prakashraj could have been given a stronger role to play for his calibre and Ajith could have acted easier in some parts. An OK movie to watch.
Ajith is a death sentence prisoner. Prakashraj tries to use him to kill the terrorists, who were responsible for many civilian deaths using bombs. Everything goes according to the plan.
Ajith's flashback is that he was part of a happy family. But because some policemen were corrupt, unlike his father, he lost both his father and sister, due to their caprice. In revenge, he killed the policemen and was thus, serving his death sentence.
While helping out Prakashraj, he promises to marry Laila, who is part of the family that rents house from Prakashraj. To make sure he does so, he runs away from Prakashraj, when he finds out Prakashraj is going to kill him. Apparently, Prakashraj had promised his senior that death sentence prisoners had to be killed to answer his superiors. But in the end, Prakashraj lets him go.
Somewhere along the story, Jairam is also tagged along as a CBI officer, who finds the mixup of Ajith's death with some random guy's ashes. But all ends well.
An interesting story. However Prakashraj could have been given a stronger role to play for his calibre and Ajith could have acted easier in some parts. An OK movie to watch.
Friday, July 20, 2007
chellamae
Introducing Vishal, the movie also stars Reema Sen, Bharath and others.
Reema has been a sister-like figure to Bharath since his baby days, because he became motherless at a very young age. They have also been neighbours.
Bharath's father is a big industrialist, whose home is raided by IT (income tax) office. He almost manages to cheat them, but Vishal - one of the IT officers - sees through his ploy and defames him. In the process, he almost brings Reema to shame, but Bharath protects her and gives up his dad.
Vishal falls in love with Reema and after some minor misunderstandings, get married. During the marriage, Bharath is constantly displaying antagonistic behaviour, that is noticed by nobody. After marriage, the couple move to Goa and surprisingly, Bharath ends up their next door neighbour in a few days time. The couple are really happy and during one of the Vishal's business trips, he meets with an accident, but is unharmed.
However, Bharath uses this news to his advantage and kidnaps Reema away to his dad's bungalow. Vishal is devastated, as Bharath stages it as an elopement. But bit by bit he finds out the truth and the potential culprit. He hunts Bharath down and him finally finding Reema forms the rest of the story.
A good movie to watch after a long time. I have become Vishal's fan for the time being. It was hard t say it was his first movie. God performance by Reema too, although her lip syncing wasn't the best and some of the emotions was excessive in the background voice compared to her acting. Bharath, as usual has performed well. Only minus in the movie was probably, the excessive skin show and mature subject matter - which would be a little uncomfortable to watch with elders in the family. But definitely, the movie is worth the watch.
Reema has been a sister-like figure to Bharath since his baby days, because he became motherless at a very young age. They have also been neighbours.
Bharath's father is a big industrialist, whose home is raided by IT (income tax) office. He almost manages to cheat them, but Vishal - one of the IT officers - sees through his ploy and defames him. In the process, he almost brings Reema to shame, but Bharath protects her and gives up his dad.
Vishal falls in love with Reema and after some minor misunderstandings, get married. During the marriage, Bharath is constantly displaying antagonistic behaviour, that is noticed by nobody. After marriage, the couple move to Goa and surprisingly, Bharath ends up their next door neighbour in a few days time. The couple are really happy and during one of the Vishal's business trips, he meets with an accident, but is unharmed.
However, Bharath uses this news to his advantage and kidnaps Reema away to his dad's bungalow. Vishal is devastated, as Bharath stages it as an elopement. But bit by bit he finds out the truth and the potential culprit. He hunts Bharath down and him finally finding Reema forms the rest of the story.
A good movie to watch after a long time. I have become Vishal's fan for the time being. It was hard t say it was his first movie. God performance by Reema too, although her lip syncing wasn't the best and some of the emotions was excessive in the background voice compared to her acting. Bharath, as usual has performed well. Only minus in the movie was probably, the excessive skin show and mature subject matter - which would be a little uncomfortable to watch with elders in the family. But definitely, the movie is worth the watch.
aathi
Starring Vijay and Trisha in the lead with a while bunch of supporting cast, the movie is about the revenge of a family against the one who destroyed it.
The movie begins with heroine and her uncle killing a policeman along the beach. After the killing, the movie explores the innocence and cuteness of the heroine - blah blah blah.. Somehow, she holds a vengeance for some guy who seemed to have given her a disturbing past. Then our very energetic and do-gooder hero enters. Vijay wants to study in Chennai and his entire family comes along.
In Chennai, the hero and heroine meet at college, since they noticed each other's weird actions of eating icecream in the rain (*sigh* these things still haven't left since M.G.R.'s naalai namathae.. That was good, this is unbearable). Overtime, viewers are exposed to similar thoughts of both the hero and heroine.
The villain is a very evil man, who seems to be used to getting his way with everything. Trisha's family plans to get him during one of the fights and misses. When they try again, the targeted is killed without knowing who did it. Of course it is Vijay's doing. During one such killing, Vijay is seen by an auto driver and also seen by his family.
Now flashback appears to be that both Trisha and Vijay are from the same family. Vijay's father and Trisha's uncle, Prakashraj was a policeman who punished the villain's brother for having destroyed an innocent family for monetary gains. In turn, the villain destroys everyone in the family. Surprisingly, Vijay and Trisha, along with an uncle, Nazar, escape from the scene unknown to each other.
While doing rite for their death anniversary, Vijay finds out that Trisha is related to him, but doesn't tell as he is worried about her future. But with his face to face challenge to the villain, the villain ends up kidnapping Trisha for questioning. While Vijay has a change of mind to tell the truth, he witnesses his uncle being killed too.
The rest of the movie was how he finishes them off.
Funny thing was that Vijay didn't recognize Nazar the first time, while rescuing Trisha. Only recognizes him the second time. Does he have selective memory that works at selective times? Anyway, this family thing trick needs to be bettered a little. I can understand a 10-year old remembering the face of a killer or a murderer - something too traumatic, but the fact that all of them used to be in the rain eating icecream and things like that is a little overkill. And really if they were to do that every time, they would definitely get pneumonia, especially for the monsoon weather in Chennai. An OK movie. I really liked the villain - good looking, except for the odd lens and acted well. Otherwise, worth a skip..
The movie begins with heroine and her uncle killing a policeman along the beach. After the killing, the movie explores the innocence and cuteness of the heroine - blah blah blah.. Somehow, she holds a vengeance for some guy who seemed to have given her a disturbing past. Then our very energetic and do-gooder hero enters. Vijay wants to study in Chennai and his entire family comes along.
In Chennai, the hero and heroine meet at college, since they noticed each other's weird actions of eating icecream in the rain (*sigh* these things still haven't left since M.G.R.'s naalai namathae.. That was good, this is unbearable). Overtime, viewers are exposed to similar thoughts of both the hero and heroine.
The villain is a very evil man, who seems to be used to getting his way with everything. Trisha's family plans to get him during one of the fights and misses. When they try again, the targeted is killed without knowing who did it. Of course it is Vijay's doing. During one such killing, Vijay is seen by an auto driver and also seen by his family.
Now flashback appears to be that both Trisha and Vijay are from the same family. Vijay's father and Trisha's uncle, Prakashraj was a policeman who punished the villain's brother for having destroyed an innocent family for monetary gains. In turn, the villain destroys everyone in the family. Surprisingly, Vijay and Trisha, along with an uncle, Nazar, escape from the scene unknown to each other.
While doing rite for their death anniversary, Vijay finds out that Trisha is related to him, but doesn't tell as he is worried about her future. But with his face to face challenge to the villain, the villain ends up kidnapping Trisha for questioning. While Vijay has a change of mind to tell the truth, he witnesses his uncle being killed too.
The rest of the movie was how he finishes them off.
Funny thing was that Vijay didn't recognize Nazar the first time, while rescuing Trisha. Only recognizes him the second time. Does he have selective memory that works at selective times? Anyway, this family thing trick needs to be bettered a little. I can understand a 10-year old remembering the face of a killer or a murderer - something too traumatic, but the fact that all of them used to be in the rain eating icecream and things like that is a little overkill. And really if they were to do that every time, they would definitely get pneumonia, especially for the monsoon weather in Chennai. An OK movie. I really liked the villain - good looking, except for the odd lens and acted well. Otherwise, worth a skip..
Do androids dream of electric sheep?
Written by Philip Dick, the novel is a science fiction about the time when androids, robots with human intelligence rule over the planet.
Lots of bounty hunters are now hired, with the sole aim of removing androids from the planet. The only difference between the humans and the androids is the presence of empathy in humans and androids lacking it. So begins the novel with a bounty hunter who is on the lookout for androids. He encounters a very gutsy female android, who tricks him into believing that she was unaware of herself being an android and he leaves her alone.
Meanwhile, he gets to other androids and along the way, gets a shock when he is taken to a police station, where nothing he knew exists and finds out it is another trick of the androids. By and by, some information about androids start coming about - how earth was made into a unlivable planet and because of that people started migrating to Mars. How androids were created to help out humans and how eventually they started taking over, but humans have now started to kill them again.
At the same time, another human - a chickenhead - a human with relatively low levels of IQ - is introduced as someone living outside the normal human civilization. Here is where some other androids take shelter.
After some interesting interactions between the female android, the bounty hunter and the chickenhead, the story ends with the androids being killed and bounty hunter going about his normal life.
The story seemed slightly inconclusive - but nevertheless, it was interesting to read this different kind of viewpoint about how the future could possible become. It was suggested to me by a co-worker, who is more interested in sci-fi novels than others. So although I was apprehensive of how it would turn out, it was a good read with the right elements of empathy and human touch.
Lots of bounty hunters are now hired, with the sole aim of removing androids from the planet. The only difference between the humans and the androids is the presence of empathy in humans and androids lacking it. So begins the novel with a bounty hunter who is on the lookout for androids. He encounters a very gutsy female android, who tricks him into believing that she was unaware of herself being an android and he leaves her alone.
Meanwhile, he gets to other androids and along the way, gets a shock when he is taken to a police station, where nothing he knew exists and finds out it is another trick of the androids. By and by, some information about androids start coming about - how earth was made into a unlivable planet and because of that people started migrating to Mars. How androids were created to help out humans and how eventually they started taking over, but humans have now started to kill them again.
At the same time, another human - a chickenhead - a human with relatively low levels of IQ - is introduced as someone living outside the normal human civilization. Here is where some other androids take shelter.
After some interesting interactions between the female android, the bounty hunter and the chickenhead, the story ends with the androids being killed and bounty hunter going about his normal life.
The story seemed slightly inconclusive - but nevertheless, it was interesting to read this different kind of viewpoint about how the future could possible become. It was suggested to me by a co-worker, who is more interested in sci-fi novels than others. So although I was apprehensive of how it would turn out, it was a good read with the right elements of empathy and human touch.
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
From Hell
With partnership of writer Alan Moore and artist Eddie Campbell, this graphic novel forms the basis of the movie From Hell.
The story in the graphic novel is a little different and more sexual and violent. So a royalty meets a shop girl, falls in love and fathers a daughter. They are then torn apart. At the orders of the Queen, the royal physician undertakes upon himself to 'clean' up the mess. So begin the string of murders.
Abberline is an honest cop, who doesn't want to come back to Whitechapel but doesn't have a choice. He isn't able to find out anything about the murderer, only feels more and more dejected at being stuck at the place.
During the inquiry, he befriends a prostitute whom he helps, but gets cheated in return.
A physician is most honoured at meeting the royal physician, but is insulted in return and to take revenge, he poses to be a psychic and claims that he can see the murders to the police. He leads them to the royal physician's house and crazily enough the royal physician accepts the blame.
Both Abberline and the 'psychic' physician are silenced for life. And the story ends with the both of them discussing about their lives.
This novel was probably more gruesome than the version shown in the movie. Atleast, the movie stopped with a fewer murders. In the novel, there was a whole explanation about Masonic theories and The Great Architect, which was a compulsive drag and a craziness to ths royal physician, who was mad even before the 'cleaning' task was given to him. In the final scene, he actually roasts the heart of the victim, before he blows away the ashes into the air - absolutely sickening. So be prepared for some severe violence and disturbing thoughts before you pick this 592 pages of graphic novel.
The story in the graphic novel is a little different and more sexual and violent. So a royalty meets a shop girl, falls in love and fathers a daughter. They are then torn apart. At the orders of the Queen, the royal physician undertakes upon himself to 'clean' up the mess. So begin the string of murders.
Abberline is an honest cop, who doesn't want to come back to Whitechapel but doesn't have a choice. He isn't able to find out anything about the murderer, only feels more and more dejected at being stuck at the place.
During the inquiry, he befriends a prostitute whom he helps, but gets cheated in return.
A physician is most honoured at meeting the royal physician, but is insulted in return and to take revenge, he poses to be a psychic and claims that he can see the murders to the police. He leads them to the royal physician's house and crazily enough the royal physician accepts the blame.
Both Abberline and the 'psychic' physician are silenced for life. And the story ends with the both of them discussing about their lives.
This novel was probably more gruesome than the version shown in the movie. Atleast, the movie stopped with a fewer murders. In the novel, there was a whole explanation about Masonic theories and The Great Architect, which was a compulsive drag and a craziness to ths royal physician, who was mad even before the 'cleaning' task was given to him. In the final scene, he actually roasts the heart of the victim, before he blows away the ashes into the air - absolutely sickening. So be prepared for some severe violence and disturbing thoughts before you pick this 592 pages of graphic novel.
Birth Order and You
Written by the Richardson's (Ron and Lois), the book was an introduction to development of our behaviour based on our birth order and gender. The book explored the oldests, the middle ones, the youngests, twins and only children.
Not just the birth order, but also the gender matters, with the type of society the children are born in. Not necessarily, the personalities follow the book, but there are situations when things do not follow the order and severe events, such as death, divorce, disagreements and adoption could potentially change personalities.
The essential things that stood out to me everytime I finished a chapter were the following - everyone needs attention and love, especially if they are children. Be prepared to give a lot of your time to them, especially if they are young (6 years or less, for some, older) because that's when the majority of the personality develops and if you don't give them what they want then, they would miss it for the rest of their life. Don't always think a kid is bad or rebellious - they are obviously finding something in the other company that you are not offering (and that's not drugs or any craziness). During teenage, it is normal for kids to rebel because they are finding their place in the society. Instead of being a parent then, try being a friend. There are different ways of saying things, parents - find the nicer way. They learn more from seeing you than listening to you. Be sure that you are practising what you are preaching. And lastly, treat all children equally, without imposing your bias or labels on them.
Definitely a good read for someone looking to understand deeper about human relationships and thought process.
Not just the birth order, but also the gender matters, with the type of society the children are born in. Not necessarily, the personalities follow the book, but there are situations when things do not follow the order and severe events, such as death, divorce, disagreements and adoption could potentially change personalities.
The essential things that stood out to me everytime I finished a chapter were the following - everyone needs attention and love, especially if they are children. Be prepared to give a lot of your time to them, especially if they are young (6 years or less, for some, older) because that's when the majority of the personality develops and if you don't give them what they want then, they would miss it for the rest of their life. Don't always think a kid is bad or rebellious - they are obviously finding something in the other company that you are not offering (and that's not drugs or any craziness). During teenage, it is normal for kids to rebel because they are finding their place in the society. Instead of being a parent then, try being a friend. There are different ways of saying things, parents - find the nicer way. They learn more from seeing you than listening to you. Be sure that you are practising what you are preaching. And lastly, treat all children equally, without imposing your bias or labels on them.
Definitely a good read for someone looking to understand deeper about human relationships and thought process.
thalaimagan
Starring Sharathkumar, Nayanthara, Vadivelu and some North Indian actors, the story is about the strength of a man with a pen - a reporter.
The beginning of the movie is filled with ruckus created by Sharathkumar on the other people in a press, yet he is held dear by the editor. It contains lots of pointless teasing between Nayanthara and Vadivelu and Sharathkumar - which build up an annoyance.
The villain is the female policewoman and the corrupt politician - who are now affected by Sharathkumar's article. They try their utmost to destroy the newspaper. The editor and his daughter are brutally killed. Now Sharathkumar takes it as his aim to destroy the bad guys. As he is running it, the police bring wrong charges against him and take him away. Along the way, the policewoman cheats and kills Sharathkumar in a blast. And clearly, Sharathkumar escapes. He lives obscurely in some part of Kerala - time for him to show some of his beef and six-pack. Then he returns.
He leaves for the village where the politician has opened an illegal factory and pretends to be a handicap working there. He stays there most of the time and leaves for the city time and again trying to get evidence about the bad guys. The rest of the movie is just him fulfilling that role.
Probably a tolerable movie for die-hard Sharathkumar fan, but for those with non-bias artistic taste, you can skip this movie for something better.
The beginning of the movie is filled with ruckus created by Sharathkumar on the other people in a press, yet he is held dear by the editor. It contains lots of pointless teasing between Nayanthara and Vadivelu and Sharathkumar - which build up an annoyance.
The villain is the female policewoman and the corrupt politician - who are now affected by Sharathkumar's article. They try their utmost to destroy the newspaper. The editor and his daughter are brutally killed. Now Sharathkumar takes it as his aim to destroy the bad guys. As he is running it, the police bring wrong charges against him and take him away. Along the way, the policewoman cheats and kills Sharathkumar in a blast. And clearly, Sharathkumar escapes. He lives obscurely in some part of Kerala - time for him to show some of his beef and six-pack. Then he returns.
He leaves for the village where the politician has opened an illegal factory and pretends to be a handicap working there. He stays there most of the time and leaves for the city time and again trying to get evidence about the bad guys. The rest of the movie is just him fulfilling that role.
Probably a tolerable movie for die-hard Sharathkumar fan, but for those with non-bias artistic taste, you can skip this movie for something better.
Transformers
Made into a movie from the comic strip, this movie was a surprising entertainer for me.
A bunch of automobiles seem to have a mind of their own and they seem to go through some type of transformation to become Autobots - a superior form of robots. Amidst this, a boy, who is considered to be a loser, is introduced. He is trying to sell some of his grandfather's antique things and also trying to get a girl he has an eye on in class. Finally he manages to catch hold of a car from a junkyard that seems to be cool and even gets the girl in his car.
Eventually, the boy finds out something is weird about his car and even witnesses his car's transformation into an autobot. He then experiences some crazy things like a driver less car chasing him and his car takes him to escape.
Meanwhile on a state level, a military base in Middle East was attacked badly, with few survivors by a strange machine. With the systems tracked by an unknown code, the White House is thrown into an upheaval. But a rookie programmer manages to detect some things that the White House is able to leverage on.
The boy, by then is introduced to the autobots, and they are after his grandfather's glasses, which contains the co-ordinates to a powerful source of energy from their dead planet. After an interesting set of events, the autobots gets what they want and leave to save the planet.
After this it is just defeating the bad autobots and saving the planet.
Although the idea and dialogues were pretty cheesy, this was probably one of the good sci-fi comic based action movies that I have ever watched. Perhaps because I walked in without any expectations. The special effects were totally cool and awesome to look at. Definitely worth a watch.
A bunch of automobiles seem to have a mind of their own and they seem to go through some type of transformation to become Autobots - a superior form of robots. Amidst this, a boy, who is considered to be a loser, is introduced. He is trying to sell some of his grandfather's antique things and also trying to get a girl he has an eye on in class. Finally he manages to catch hold of a car from a junkyard that seems to be cool and even gets the girl in his car.
Eventually, the boy finds out something is weird about his car and even witnesses his car's transformation into an autobot. He then experiences some crazy things like a driver less car chasing him and his car takes him to escape.
Meanwhile on a state level, a military base in Middle East was attacked badly, with few survivors by a strange machine. With the systems tracked by an unknown code, the White House is thrown into an upheaval. But a rookie programmer manages to detect some things that the White House is able to leverage on.
The boy, by then is introduced to the autobots, and they are after his grandfather's glasses, which contains the co-ordinates to a powerful source of energy from their dead planet. After an interesting set of events, the autobots gets what they want and leave to save the planet.
After this it is just defeating the bad autobots and saving the planet.
Although the idea and dialogues were pretty cheesy, this was probably one of the good sci-fi comic based action movies that I have ever watched. Perhaps because I walked in without any expectations. The special effects were totally cool and awesome to look at. Definitely worth a watch.
Harry Potter: The Order of the Phoenix
After a week's wait, I finally caught the flick in 3D.
Fifth one of the seven books, this must have been one of the toughest book to condense as this was the thickest of them all so far.
Voldemort is starting to seep into Harry's consciousness and Harry is able to see things that Voldemort can. Ministry of Magic is annoyed with the hype that Harry has created, with the support of Dumbledore about Voldemort's return. To keep an eye, it has appointed the ever-umm'ing Dolores Umbridge, who totally underplays the severity of the risky situation, but rules with an iron fist.
Beyond her, Harry and his friends form a secret group to practise defensive magic. Finally, Voldemort 'invites' Harry to the lair with Sirius. When the group of students reach the Ministry, they are in for a shock, but the Order of the Phoenix comes to the rescue, but Harry potter loses Sirius in the battle. Amidst shock, he goes through another round of torture with Voldemort ricketing his body, but finally, Harry comes to consciousness and is thankful for everything he has.
Although much was taken out to shorten the movie, it seemed pretty flowing and wasn't in bits and pieces. But I wonder when the final book is out, if the pieces that the movie makers have removed actually come into play, how would they incorporate it. There seems to be a huge chunk of people, who seem to be dependent on the movie for their share of Harry Potter. Apart from the fact that they miss an entirely different world in the books, they also have chunky stories and not as much fun. But considering the story, I wouldn't really mind even if the movie was for a longer time. Definitely not a movie to miss.
Fifth one of the seven books, this must have been one of the toughest book to condense as this was the thickest of them all so far.
Voldemort is starting to seep into Harry's consciousness and Harry is able to see things that Voldemort can. Ministry of Magic is annoyed with the hype that Harry has created, with the support of Dumbledore about Voldemort's return. To keep an eye, it has appointed the ever-umm'ing Dolores Umbridge, who totally underplays the severity of the risky situation, but rules with an iron fist.
Beyond her, Harry and his friends form a secret group to practise defensive magic. Finally, Voldemort 'invites' Harry to the lair with Sirius. When the group of students reach the Ministry, they are in for a shock, but the Order of the Phoenix comes to the rescue, but Harry potter loses Sirius in the battle. Amidst shock, he goes through another round of torture with Voldemort ricketing his body, but finally, Harry comes to consciousness and is thankful for everything he has.
Although much was taken out to shorten the movie, it seemed pretty flowing and wasn't in bits and pieces. But I wonder when the final book is out, if the pieces that the movie makers have removed actually come into play, how would they incorporate it. There seems to be a huge chunk of people, who seem to be dependent on the movie for their share of Harry Potter. Apart from the fact that they miss an entirely different world in the books, they also have chunky stories and not as much fun. But considering the story, I wouldn't really mind even if the movie was for a longer time. Definitely not a movie to miss.
thamirabarani
Starring Vishal and newcomer Banu, thamirabarani is a racy flick set in a village.
Vishal's family - Prabhu, Rohini and Manorama are ahppy family. However, Vishal is extremely short tempered and resorts to violence frequently.
In business, Prabhu and Nazar's family - Nadhiya, Vijaykumar are always at loggerheads. Vishal warns them many times and even tricks Nadhiya many times.
He gets into an accident with a girl, new to the area and gets attracted to her. But he finds out that she is the daughter of Nadhiya. He decides to take revenge and end up finding out she is in love with him. With a twist of events, he ends up being printed on the paper derogatorily with her.
As a revenge, Nazar's men hurt Prabhu. Seeing him hurt, Vishal leaves to cut up Nazar, but accidently cuts off Nazar's younger brother's hand, who is actually a nice guy. Vishal is remorseful and surrenders, but when he is released, he realises that his enemies are actually his family and now tries very hard to get everyone together, which he does at the end of the movie.
Even though it is kind of annoying to see this thoughtless bloodshed that has been running for centuries in our country's villages, this was a well paced movie with the appropriate amount of cheesiness. I don't know if visual touchups were done for the people in the movie, but all of them looked very good, especially Prabhu and Nadhiya, looked different. Banu was tolerable, although she looked much better with no makeup (scenes where she is crying) than with makeup.
A movie worth a watch.
Vishal's family - Prabhu, Rohini and Manorama are ahppy family. However, Vishal is extremely short tempered and resorts to violence frequently.
In business, Prabhu and Nazar's family - Nadhiya, Vijaykumar are always at loggerheads. Vishal warns them many times and even tricks Nadhiya many times.
He gets into an accident with a girl, new to the area and gets attracted to her. But he finds out that she is the daughter of Nadhiya. He decides to take revenge and end up finding out she is in love with him. With a twist of events, he ends up being printed on the paper derogatorily with her.
As a revenge, Nazar's men hurt Prabhu. Seeing him hurt, Vishal leaves to cut up Nazar, but accidently cuts off Nazar's younger brother's hand, who is actually a nice guy. Vishal is remorseful and surrenders, but when he is released, he realises that his enemies are actually his family and now tries very hard to get everyone together, which he does at the end of the movie.
Even though it is kind of annoying to see this thoughtless bloodshed that has been running for centuries in our country's villages, this was a well paced movie with the appropriate amount of cheesiness. I don't know if visual touchups were done for the people in the movie, but all of them looked very good, especially Prabhu and Nadhiya, looked different. Banu was tolerable, although she looked much better with no makeup (scenes where she is crying) than with makeup.
A movie worth a watch.
Sunday, July 8, 2007
Irish Thoroughbred
Written by Nora Roberts, the story is about an Irish orphan who comes to stay with her uncle living in America and has a brush with her uncle's handsome employer.
Adelia Cunnane lost her parents in an accident and since then, lived with her strict aunt on a farm in Ireland. After her aunt died, the farm was too much to maintain, so she decides to come and live with her uncle in America.
When she arrives in America, she is amazed and dazed by the fast paced lifestyle and the number of people. Luckily for her, her uncle works in a stable of a rich employer, enjoying a good relationship with him. She manages to get a job. The first night, unable to sleep, she goes to the stable, only to have a rough introduction to her employer - Travis Grant. They strike a secret deal to keep her if he is satisfied with her work, in spite of the tumultuous introduction they had.
Over time, she finds Travis excessively overpowering and constantly startling her. And then she finds him irresistible and feels butterflies in her stomach. After some passionate encounters, she thinks he holds some feelings for her.
She has a brush with his ex-girlfriend and gets mixed feelings. After a major horse race that all of them went to, her uncle Padrick gets a heart attack. To save him, Travis says that he is going to marry Adelia. Adelia thinks it's a cheap trick buts agrees to a false marriage.
They get married and gets a lot of things from Travis, but she feels inadequate as Travis doesn't treat her like a wife. Finally, after a thunderstorm, things change and she feels happy. But just that morning, she overhears a conversation that ruins all the happiness. She leaves the house, but Travis catches her and explains the mixup. And they live happily ever after.
If you have read heavy books for a long time, and need an easy read with some cheesy romance, this is the book for you. I was actually in two minds about whether to write a review on this book. An OK read, but don't expect any improvement of knowledge or experience.
Adelia Cunnane lost her parents in an accident and since then, lived with her strict aunt on a farm in Ireland. After her aunt died, the farm was too much to maintain, so she decides to come and live with her uncle in America.
When she arrives in America, she is amazed and dazed by the fast paced lifestyle and the number of people. Luckily for her, her uncle works in a stable of a rich employer, enjoying a good relationship with him. She manages to get a job. The first night, unable to sleep, she goes to the stable, only to have a rough introduction to her employer - Travis Grant. They strike a secret deal to keep her if he is satisfied with her work, in spite of the tumultuous introduction they had.
Over time, she finds Travis excessively overpowering and constantly startling her. And then she finds him irresistible and feels butterflies in her stomach. After some passionate encounters, she thinks he holds some feelings for her.
She has a brush with his ex-girlfriend and gets mixed feelings. After a major horse race that all of them went to, her uncle Padrick gets a heart attack. To save him, Travis says that he is going to marry Adelia. Adelia thinks it's a cheap trick buts agrees to a false marriage.
They get married and gets a lot of things from Travis, but she feels inadequate as Travis doesn't treat her like a wife. Finally, after a thunderstorm, things change and she feels happy. But just that morning, she overhears a conversation that ruins all the happiness. She leaves the house, but Travis catches her and explains the mixup. And they live happily ever after.
If you have read heavy books for a long time, and need an easy read with some cheesy romance, this is the book for you. I was actually in two minds about whether to write a review on this book. An OK read, but don't expect any improvement of knowledge or experience.
Papillon
Written by Henry Charriere, the book outlines a man's quest and obsession. Papillon is wrongly sentenced for a crime he has never done and he is taken to prison. Even though I can't recount every bit of the experience and story in the book, I can probably mention some paragraphs that just made me squirm in my seat.
My first one was how Papillon hid his money while in the prison - inside a baton inserted at the end of his digestive canal.
Next how he found worm and centipedes in his wet cell crawling all over the place.
Then how he scalded the prison warden with hot water and the warden's sweater was stuck to his face, as he tried to remove it.
Then how he faced the quicksand when trying to escape and his experience of just seeing two horrified eyes of his companion as he was being suck into the quicksand.
Then how he saw people being burnt under the charcoal, while he was waiting to help his friend's brother escape with him.
The strange culture of the Indians where an elder sister lets her younger sister become her husband's wife because the elder feels that he is tired of her.
The craziness of the lonely confinement where prisoners are not allowed to talk to anybody, but just left in a dark cell with one small window where the food comes in from.
In short, the book wasn't pleasant but it shows the part of the world that is not pretty. If you want a rude awakening to see the world out of the dainty 4 walls, here is a classic book. The book also showed how feverish Papillon was for freedom and persisting in breaking out wherever he was. An interesting book, definitely worth a read.
My first one was how Papillon hid his money while in the prison - inside a baton inserted at the end of his digestive canal.
Next how he found worm and centipedes in his wet cell crawling all over the place.
Then how he scalded the prison warden with hot water and the warden's sweater was stuck to his face, as he tried to remove it.
Then how he faced the quicksand when trying to escape and his experience of just seeing two horrified eyes of his companion as he was being suck into the quicksand.
Then how he saw people being burnt under the charcoal, while he was waiting to help his friend's brother escape with him.
The strange culture of the Indians where an elder sister lets her younger sister become her husband's wife because the elder feels that he is tired of her.
The craziness of the lonely confinement where prisoners are not allowed to talk to anybody, but just left in a dark cell with one small window where the food comes in from.
In short, the book wasn't pleasant but it shows the part of the world that is not pretty. If you want a rude awakening to see the world out of the dainty 4 walls, here is a classic book. The book also showed how feverish Papillon was for freedom and persisting in breaking out wherever he was. An interesting book, definitely worth a read.
Ratatouille
'Anyone can cook' is the motto that underlines this movie and that 'anyone' in this movie is a rat - the being that could lead a restaurant to close.
Remy is a rat with refined senses, living in a rat colony that feeds off garbage. He sees cook Gusteau on TV in the kitchen (one of the forbidden places for a rat to go to). His want to cook gets larger and larger. He starts reading Gusteau's book secretly. But one of the adventures to the kitchen goes horribly wrong and he is separated from his family, only left with his prized book.
Lead by Gusteau's imagination, he finds out he is in Paris, right under Gusteau's restaurant. After some craziness, his passion calls out. He sets a soup right. He is discovered by the garbage boy.
Meanwhile, the chef thinks the garbage boy was the one cooking the soup and admonishes him. Before they could stop, the soup is served to a critic and receives great reviews. Chef is surprised and challenges the boy to remake the soup. The rat is spotted and the garbage is given the responsibility to dispose of it.
Just before he throws the rat away, he has a heart to heart talk to the rat. And come to a deal.
Now Linguini (garbage boy) is lead by the little chef (Remy) for all the creations. He becomes famed and known.
Overtime the truth comes out that Linguini is actually Gusteau's son - a secret the chef was keeping secret. The chef is kicked out and Linguini basks in fame. But in the fame, he loses his head and tiff gets bigger and bigger, until the time comes for all the cooks to know the truth. They leave him in disappointment.
Now, Remy and his rat colony complete the cooking, while the most severe of the critics awaits the service. Remy suggests the making of Ratatouille, a peasant dish with some modifications. And that strikes the chord in the critic, who is surprised to see the chef and gives raving reviews.
But a health inspector sees the rats in the kitchen and closes down the restaurant. But the crew - Remy, Linguini and his sweetheart, Collette start their dreams successfully elsewhere.
A very good movie. A different story and my favourite bits were when they showed parts of Paris. It looked awfully real. Perhaps it was real footage with some animation essence added to it, but the movie is definitely worth a watch.
Remy is a rat with refined senses, living in a rat colony that feeds off garbage. He sees cook Gusteau on TV in the kitchen (one of the forbidden places for a rat to go to). His want to cook gets larger and larger. He starts reading Gusteau's book secretly. But one of the adventures to the kitchen goes horribly wrong and he is separated from his family, only left with his prized book.
Lead by Gusteau's imagination, he finds out he is in Paris, right under Gusteau's restaurant. After some craziness, his passion calls out. He sets a soup right. He is discovered by the garbage boy.
Meanwhile, the chef thinks the garbage boy was the one cooking the soup and admonishes him. Before they could stop, the soup is served to a critic and receives great reviews. Chef is surprised and challenges the boy to remake the soup. The rat is spotted and the garbage is given the responsibility to dispose of it.
Just before he throws the rat away, he has a heart to heart talk to the rat. And come to a deal.
Now Linguini (garbage boy) is lead by the little chef (Remy) for all the creations. He becomes famed and known.
Overtime the truth comes out that Linguini is actually Gusteau's son - a secret the chef was keeping secret. The chef is kicked out and Linguini basks in fame. But in the fame, he loses his head and tiff gets bigger and bigger, until the time comes for all the cooks to know the truth. They leave him in disappointment.
Now, Remy and his rat colony complete the cooking, while the most severe of the critics awaits the service. Remy suggests the making of Ratatouille, a peasant dish with some modifications. And that strikes the chord in the critic, who is surprised to see the chef and gives raving reviews.
But a health inspector sees the rats in the kitchen and closes down the restaurant. But the crew - Remy, Linguini and his sweetheart, Collette start their dreams successfully elsewhere.
A very good movie. A different story and my favourite bits were when they showed parts of Paris. It looked awfully real. Perhaps it was real footage with some animation essence added to it, but the movie is definitely worth a watch.
Ocean's 13
The crew comes together again, with Al Pacino, for the 2nd sequel of Ocean's Eleven.
Reuben is afflicted by myocardial infarction with Willy Bank cheating him off his money. To take revenge, the rest of them come together to being Bank down. Although they manage to plan around everything, they are stumped by the top level security called Greco, that finds fraudsters by their biological reactions. And even that, they decide to bring down with the huge drilling machine that sends wave similar to that of an earthquake.
The rest of the movie goes in showing the planning and actual actions taken to bring down the casino on the opening night. There is also introduction of Andy Garcia - owner of Bellagio and the Night Fox. Although it makes you suspect that something is happening, it is not very clear, until the connection is shown almost close to the end.
An interesting movie, yet again. This sequel was better than Ocean's Twelve, still not as good as Eleven. The funniest part was probably when the Danny and Rusty were sniffling, while watching Oprah. And I really pitied the inspector who came for rating the hotel. he got into quite a fix.
There were some unbelievable parts to the movie. Why would be Bank be so careless to leave a seismograph from an unknown person, without checking what it has, when he has a top security stuff running downstairs? Shouldn't the dice and stuff that came in be checking for something funny when it comes in? Why would the inspector continue to stay in that hotel when he found out it is so unhygienic? Inspectors are supposed to check the hotels but not at the expense of their health! That huge machine - how did they get it down there without any official seeing it? If indeed the casino was in such a earthquake prone zone, wouldn't Bank have invested some money to get the place checked before he built the hotel?
Nevertheless, the movie is definitely worth it for Ocean's Eleven fans and others.
Reuben is afflicted by myocardial infarction with Willy Bank cheating him off his money. To take revenge, the rest of them come together to being Bank down. Although they manage to plan around everything, they are stumped by the top level security called Greco, that finds fraudsters by their biological reactions. And even that, they decide to bring down with the huge drilling machine that sends wave similar to that of an earthquake.
The rest of the movie goes in showing the planning and actual actions taken to bring down the casino on the opening night. There is also introduction of Andy Garcia - owner of Bellagio and the Night Fox. Although it makes you suspect that something is happening, it is not very clear, until the connection is shown almost close to the end.
An interesting movie, yet again. This sequel was better than Ocean's Twelve, still not as good as Eleven. The funniest part was probably when the Danny and Rusty were sniffling, while watching Oprah. And I really pitied the inspector who came for rating the hotel. he got into quite a fix.
There were some unbelievable parts to the movie. Why would be Bank be so careless to leave a seismograph from an unknown person, without checking what it has, when he has a top security stuff running downstairs? Shouldn't the dice and stuff that came in be checking for something funny when it comes in? Why would the inspector continue to stay in that hotel when he found out it is so unhygienic? Inspectors are supposed to check the hotels but not at the expense of their health! That huge machine - how did they get it down there without any official seeing it? If indeed the casino was in such a earthquake prone zone, wouldn't Bank have invested some money to get the place checked before he built the hotel?
Nevertheless, the movie is definitely worth it for Ocean's Eleven fans and others.
The Pride of Baghdad
I forget the authors and illustrators of this book, but the story is of a group of lions that escape from the zoo in the area of attack and the troubles that they go through until they are finally shot by the soldiers.
The story was an interesting viewpoint and the graphics were beautifully drawn and conceived. Any story can only be understood if the characters have been anthropomorphized, especially if the story is about animals. We tend to put human tendencies to non-human things and make them think like us - which is interesting but I don't know how much true that is. Do animals truly think like us? That's another topic of discussion, but as far as this book goes, it was interesting to see what happens. Worth a read.
The story was an interesting viewpoint and the graphics were beautifully drawn and conceived. Any story can only be understood if the characters have been anthropomorphized, especially if the story is about animals. We tend to put human tendencies to non-human things and make them think like us - which is interesting but I don't know how much true that is. Do animals truly think like us? That's another topic of discussion, but as far as this book goes, it was interesting to see what happens. Worth a read.
Tuesday, July 3, 2007
From Hell
Johnny Depp acts as Inspector Abberline in this story about Jack the Ripper, a serial killer of prostitutes in England.
A series of murders of mainly prostitutes startles London. Inspector Abberline, who has solved many murders in his hallucinations is appointed for this case too. Bit by bit, he unravels the mystery, but often is held back by his superior.
He gets help from a friend of the murdered woman about the murders. He also becomes romantically involved with her. He manages to trace the murders to one of the top shots of London and his Masonic affiliations. He also finds out the reason why the top shot might be involved in the murders.
His superior tries to stop him by taking him off the inquiry, yet Abberline persists and finds out more information. The night that the last murder is to take place, Abberline goes to the top shot's place and challenges him, but gets knowcked out. By the Abberline gets to the scene, the last woman, his lover is also gruesomely killed.
But Abberline notices something that everyone else overlooked and is relieved to find that his lover is safe, but he does not pursue her as he knows a change in his plans would divert the royal police attention. He dies in the last scene.
Definitely not a movie for kids or people who get disturbed by certain scenes easily. Lots of gruesome thoughts and scenes! Especially the last scene of murder was horrific. Even though the actions weren't explicitly shown, it was nasty enough when imagining. Interesting movie, but be prepared..
The Life of Pi
Written by Yann Martel, the book is about a boy who is shipwrecked at sea for 227 days until he finally lands in Mexico.
The book begins in Pondicherry, India, where Pi (Piscine Mollitor Patel) spent his childhood in exploring animals kept by his father at the zoo and religion. Due to disturbances in the country, they decide to leave for Canada for a new life, but faces an accident at sea, when Pi loses all family and is left on a boat with a hyena, zebra and a lion called Richard Parker. Hyena kills the zebra and lion kills hyena and finally it is Pi and Richard Parker left. Pi resorts to living at the sea with the fishing and other emergency supplies that are stored in the boat to stay away from Richard Parker and escape being eaten by him. He also uses tricks that he learnt working at the zoo to survive.
Along the journey, he lands in a carnivorous island, sleeps with a whole bunch of animals, gets blinded for time, gets his eyesight, starts getting hallucinations and finally reaches Mexico. From there he is brought for questioning. And he faces a whole other turmoil with distrusting officials.
From time to time, there is reference to the current life that Pi is leading with his family.
And most of the discussion in the book seemed interesting way of looking at things. I particularly liked the part where he discusses whether animals truly love the wild or do they love the cage? An interesting read.
The book begins in Pondicherry, India, where Pi (Piscine Mollitor Patel) spent his childhood in exploring animals kept by his father at the zoo and religion. Due to disturbances in the country, they decide to leave for Canada for a new life, but faces an accident at sea, when Pi loses all family and is left on a boat with a hyena, zebra and a lion called Richard Parker. Hyena kills the zebra and lion kills hyena and finally it is Pi and Richard Parker left. Pi resorts to living at the sea with the fishing and other emergency supplies that are stored in the boat to stay away from Richard Parker and escape being eaten by him. He also uses tricks that he learnt working at the zoo to survive.
Along the journey, he lands in a carnivorous island, sleeps with a whole bunch of animals, gets blinded for time, gets his eyesight, starts getting hallucinations and finally reaches Mexico. From there he is brought for questioning. And he faces a whole other turmoil with distrusting officials.
From time to time, there is reference to the current life that Pi is leading with his family.
And most of the discussion in the book seemed interesting way of looking at things. I particularly liked the part where he discusses whether animals truly love the wild or do they love the cage? An interesting read.
Pirates of the Caribbean
The first of the series, Pirates of the Caribbean was a super hit among all ages and countries. Starring Johnny Depp, Keira Knightley and Orlando Bloom, along with the others, the movie is about pirates.
Elizabeth Swann, a girl fascinated by pirates, finds a boy, Will Turner, with a pirate medallion rescued on her father's sea voyage. The East India Company is rounding up and destroying many ships.
8 years later..
James Norrington is promoted among the British Royal Navy. At his ceremony, he proposes to Swann, but she falls unconscious into the water, with her medallion sending strange vibrations. Jack Sparrow arrives at Port Royal. He rescues Elizabeth but is captured. He sees Elizabeth's medallion and meets Will Turner before the capture.
The Black Pearl lays siege on Port Royal. Elizabeth invokes parlay at her capture and meets Hector Barbossa, the captain of the ship. In exchange for the medallion, she asks for ceasing of attack on Port Royal. With her lie as having a last name of Turner, she is kept prisoner by Barbossa. Eventually, it is shown that the people on the ship are cursed and she is the answer to the breaking of the curse.
To save Elizabeth, Will teams up with Jack and leave with a British ship to Tortuga, get a crew and start sailing. Will gets to know that Jack was the former captain of Black Pearl. Barbossa marooned him when an Aztec treasure chest was found. The pirates then find and spend the treasure, but they find out it is cursed by 'Bootstrap Bill' Turner, for what the crew did to Jack. Now they need his blood, but since they drowned him, Will is their hope for breaking the curse.
Barbossa, meanwhile tries to break the curse with Elizabeth, but doesn't succeed.
Will gets some trusting issues - he knocks out Jack and rescues Elizabeth, but the Black Pearl catches up. Will reveals the truth about himself in exchange for leaving the crew and Elizabeth unharmed. Lacking in specifics, Barbossa leaves Jack and Elizabeth in the same island that he was marooned before.
Elizabeth burns off the entire stock of rum on the island, catches the attention of the British ship with Captain Norrington. She agrees to accept Norrington's proposal, if he rescues Will. Jack and Norrington to fulfil the plan. After some interesting twists and turns, the crew is captured.
The lovers unite and Jack Sparrow is the captain again of the Black Pearl.
An awesome story. I was a little apprehensive of watching the movie as the hygiene quotient seemed to be really low. And the movie was liked by all - which is a rare sign - mostly to say that people were liking the movie because others were liking - a type of hype! But it really was entertaining and marvellous job done by Johnny Depp. This is part of his streak of doing unique characters. But he has certainly brought Jack Sparrow to life. The animations when Jack and Barbossa fight under the curse is a hilarious treat to watch. Definitely a movie not to miss.
Elizabeth Swann, a girl fascinated by pirates, finds a boy, Will Turner, with a pirate medallion rescued on her father's sea voyage. The East India Company is rounding up and destroying many ships.
8 years later..
James Norrington is promoted among the British Royal Navy. At his ceremony, he proposes to Swann, but she falls unconscious into the water, with her medallion sending strange vibrations. Jack Sparrow arrives at Port Royal. He rescues Elizabeth but is captured. He sees Elizabeth's medallion and meets Will Turner before the capture.
The Black Pearl lays siege on Port Royal. Elizabeth invokes parlay at her capture and meets Hector Barbossa, the captain of the ship. In exchange for the medallion, she asks for ceasing of attack on Port Royal. With her lie as having a last name of Turner, she is kept prisoner by Barbossa. Eventually, it is shown that the people on the ship are cursed and she is the answer to the breaking of the curse.
To save Elizabeth, Will teams up with Jack and leave with a British ship to Tortuga, get a crew and start sailing. Will gets to know that Jack was the former captain of Black Pearl. Barbossa marooned him when an Aztec treasure chest was found. The pirates then find and spend the treasure, but they find out it is cursed by 'Bootstrap Bill' Turner, for what the crew did to Jack. Now they need his blood, but since they drowned him, Will is their hope for breaking the curse.
Barbossa, meanwhile tries to break the curse with Elizabeth, but doesn't succeed.
Will gets some trusting issues - he knocks out Jack and rescues Elizabeth, but the Black Pearl catches up. Will reveals the truth about himself in exchange for leaving the crew and Elizabeth unharmed. Lacking in specifics, Barbossa leaves Jack and Elizabeth in the same island that he was marooned before.
Elizabeth burns off the entire stock of rum on the island, catches the attention of the British ship with Captain Norrington. She agrees to accept Norrington's proposal, if he rescues Will. Jack and Norrington to fulfil the plan. After some interesting twists and turns, the crew is captured.
The lovers unite and Jack Sparrow is the captain again of the Black Pearl.
An awesome story. I was a little apprehensive of watching the movie as the hygiene quotient seemed to be really low. And the movie was liked by all - which is a rare sign - mostly to say that people were liking the movie because others were liking - a type of hype! But it really was entertaining and marvellous job done by Johnny Depp. This is part of his streak of doing unique characters. But he has certainly brought Jack Sparrow to life. The animations when Jack and Barbossa fight under the curse is a hilarious treat to watch. Definitely a movie not to miss.
Monday, June 25, 2007
Finding Neverland
Starring Johnny Depp and Kate Winslet in the leading roles, the movie about the man who created Neverland.
James Barrie works with a theatre manager who runs his plays and invests in him, even though James knows that his plays suck. A meeting at the park with a few boys changes James' destiny.
Now he spends all the time he can with them, shaping their lives and dreams. Among the 5 boys, the most enigmatic one seems to be Peter, who seems to be keeping his distance from him, yet just as the boy is about to warm up to James, Sylvia, their mother, starts showing signs of illness and things seem to be replaying and repeating for Peter, who is tired of his 'childhood'.
Using his inspiration from the family, James starts his story with Peter Pan, Tinker Bell, Captainn Hook and Neverland. When his play is to be played in the theatre, Sylvia falls very ill and is unable to make it, but her lads do. They enjoy and appreciate it. Finally, James brings the play home for Sylvia to see. Although Sylvia dies at the end, James Barrie becomes the guardian for the boys.
A thoroughly entertaining movie, even the ending was very sad. A commendable performance by Freddie Highmore, who was apparently recommended by Johnny Depp to the director, following their movie together in Chocolate Factory. The movie was very naturally played and down to earth. Definitely worth a watch.
James Barrie works with a theatre manager who runs his plays and invests in him, even though James knows that his plays suck. A meeting at the park with a few boys changes James' destiny.
Now he spends all the time he can with them, shaping their lives and dreams. Among the 5 boys, the most enigmatic one seems to be Peter, who seems to be keeping his distance from him, yet just as the boy is about to warm up to James, Sylvia, their mother, starts showing signs of illness and things seem to be replaying and repeating for Peter, who is tired of his 'childhood'.
Using his inspiration from the family, James starts his story with Peter Pan, Tinker Bell, Captainn Hook and Neverland. When his play is to be played in the theatre, Sylvia falls very ill and is unable to make it, but her lads do. They enjoy and appreciate it. Finally, James brings the play home for Sylvia to see. Although Sylvia dies at the end, James Barrie becomes the guardian for the boys.
A thoroughly entertaining movie, even the ending was very sad. A commendable performance by Freddie Highmore, who was apparently recommended by Johnny Depp to the director, following their movie together in Chocolate Factory. The movie was very naturally played and down to earth. Definitely worth a watch.
Friday, June 22, 2007
Pachaikili muthucharam
Directed by Gautham Menon, music by Harris Jayaraj and leading actors - Sharath Kumar, Jyothika, Andrea and Milind Soman, the movie is an adaptation of the novel entitled 'Derailed'.
Sharath and Andrea are married with a child, who becomes a diabetic. With a child to constantly take care of, Andrea feels responsible and the couple start drifting apart slowly. Sharath meets Jyothika in the train he takes to work daily - they start an acquaintance that leads to a possible illicit relationship.
But just when it is about to happen, a thief, Milind, enters their room - robs him, rapes her and continues to threaten both their lives. Sharath feels responsible and pays off everything that Milind demands. When he has exhausted all resources that he had saved for his son's operation, he decides to tell the truth to his wife. His wife leaves him, when she finds out that he was with another woman.
In the meantime, Sharath takes care of their son and also tries to find out more about Milind. Here is the climax of the movie. After this point, it is him working against the evil forces and trying to regain what he had lost.
A good movie to watch. It is a typical Gautham Menon movie - with loads of violence and his version of very 'realistic' love scenes - that could potentially make you squirm if you sitting with your parents, but they are alright to watch with a bunch of friends.
Sharath and Andrea are married with a child, who becomes a diabetic. With a child to constantly take care of, Andrea feels responsible and the couple start drifting apart slowly. Sharath meets Jyothika in the train he takes to work daily - they start an acquaintance that leads to a possible illicit relationship.
But just when it is about to happen, a thief, Milind, enters their room - robs him, rapes her and continues to threaten both their lives. Sharath feels responsible and pays off everything that Milind demands. When he has exhausted all resources that he had saved for his son's operation, he decides to tell the truth to his wife. His wife leaves him, when she finds out that he was with another woman.
In the meantime, Sharath takes care of their son and also tries to find out more about Milind. Here is the climax of the movie. After this point, it is him working against the evil forces and trying to regain what he had lost.
A good movie to watch. It is a typical Gautham Menon movie - with loads of violence and his version of very 'realistic' love scenes - that could potentially make you squirm if you sitting with your parents, but they are alright to watch with a bunch of friends.
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