Recent Cinema i watched...

You know, cinema is, in some context, a way of learning, & improvising upon the art of living. It can enhance & impoverish you of your personal beliefs, emotions, & concepts, several times in swift movements. It has to capability to change, or atleast impact, the world (owing to the large foolish viewership of course).

Note: forget all that shit written above. basically i'm trying to endorse a better picture of myself, cause i've been watching a lot of them lately.

The Man from Earth (IMDB Ratings: 8.1/10)
Genre: Drama/Sci-fi
Personal Reviews: don't go by the ratings. i now hate these one-room kinda movies. an overdose of history & cooked up imagined sci-fi. if you are hell bent to roast your brain on a grill, i won't drag you back.

Children of Men (IMDB Ratings: 8.1/10)
Genre: Action/Sci-fi
Personal Reviews: This movie generated in me a deep respect for Clive Owen. Concept is somewhat weird. I mean you'd not really expect a sci-fi to portray absolute impotency of human race with just 1 pregnant woman left. Still, the flick displays enigmatic portrayal of human emotions. To me - This is infact the first movie tagged as sci-fi which doesn't seem to be like one.

Dil Bole Hadippa (IMDB Ratings: 4.7/10)
Genre: Bullshit bollywood/Cricket
Personal Reviews: Just to clarify (before you start nagging me), i went ahead with this one after the recommendations from my better half :) So, if it's bollywood, it's bullshit. But, there is some tolerable comedy to look at. Dispensable songs. Watch at your risk (& better skip the last funda speech on under-privileged women in entirety)
PS: did you know IMDB rates even bollywood ?

Man on Fire (IMDB Ratings: 7.7/10)
Genre: Drama/Action
Personal Reviews: Woof. Startling bearded look, & a hell lot of atttiude. "What are you gonna do?- What I do best. I'm gonna kill 'em. Anyone that was involved. Anybody who profited from it. Anybody who opens their eyes at me." I love this man. Denzel Washington is a third god to me (trailing Morgan freeman & Al Pacino). Nice action is an decent backdrop. Not "the best", but a pretty decent one.

Inside Man (IMDB Ratings: 7.7/10)
Genre: Crime/Drama
Personal Reviews: Good lord. the movie starts with "chal chaiyyan chaiyaan" being played in the backdrop of a rolling Chevrolet, & ends with the same. I'm not sure if they stole it or pursued rights (i was literally confused if the song is actually being played in the movie). Clive Owen is a cool negative shade, & Denzel Washington as a modest cop. An age old concept in a well cooked up hostage scenario. Nothing new to display really.

Kaminey (IMDB Ratings: 7.9/10)
Genre: Bullshit bollywood/Comedy
Personal Reviews: Well, another one at a dozen behests of my gal. I gave in eventually. Comedy is enjoyable, whenever it appears. & I'll never ever forget "apna haath jagannath" written on the toilet door (where the hell does Vishal Bhardwaj gets all this stuff leaked out from !!)

District 9 (IMDB Ratings: 8.4/10)
Genre: Sci-fi/Action
Personal Reviews: I assumed the alien era was long gone. & suddenly this bull shit movie rocks the charts. the film opened at $37million in US & stayed #1 on the charts for quite a while. I don't give a damn, to be true. Nevertheless, the central character is laudable. His plight is extremely well displayed. Damn those foolish looking prawn aliens.


PS: the recurrent occurrence of "man/men" in the movie titles in the list above is merely coincidental (i'm myself amazed)
PPS: i didn't lie above the feminine influence above. I was emotionally compelled to heed for bollywood flicks :)
PPPS: i prefer watching them online, saves time & bandwidth. & i recommend this site for hollywood, & this site for bollywood flicks.

Oscars '09 !!

i ain't a movie buff, but the Oscar fever generates a craze 4 watchin those big-business, award-winning flicks. After all, they've been critically acclaimed, praised the world over, must-watch things. This craze like engulfed us back in the final yr of graduation, & it continues. One should form an opinion about sumthin, gud or bad, rather than just play balls-balls It's like Sachin thrashed New-Zealand & someone asks you "did u see that !!", & u utter a somber "no". You gotta buy some tongues 4 urself dude.

Slumdog Millionaire
IMDB Ratings - 8.6/10

Well well well. Anticipated. Applauded. Celebrated. Awarded. 8 Oscars is sumthin 2 b cherished really. i can't really take the glimmer away from the movie by simply sayin i didn't like it. i'm not a politician or an acknowledged man to make my statement appeal for any logical reason. i choose not to criticize.

i'm sad though at the fact that we Indians are so fucking mad that we let the world mock at us, in lieu of some prizes. now Anil Kapoor yells for those Oscars they grabbed - makes sense. Our mad nation celebrating the Oscars THEY grabbed - sounds really foolish.
For some godforsaken reason, anything that makes fun of our country hits the charts globally (another example - The White Tiger - it wasn't so mesmerizing after all)
Furthermore, we all know the movie wasn't really a commercial success atleast in the Indian market.

Now that the track Jai Ho (i don't find it worth listening to) grabbed an Oscar for the Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures Original Song. Great !! Good music by Rehman !! so great that it could make to the top 20 of the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart only after Pussy Cat Dolls (god i hate the name) made a little tweak (News) so that i can't bear it for more than 5 seconds now. Try it if you want to mp3

Now my mother called me up while i was still sleepin & she was thumping with joy when she narrated how the news channels announced Oscars count for that movie - endlessly increasing. i told her patiently "aap please ye movie mat dekhna, bohot gaaliyan hain".

Okay, Apology. Enough of Slumdog. i just can't contain myself when it comes 2 this movie.

Changeling
IMDB Ratings - 8.1/10

Based on a true story. & the true story itself must have been so mesmerizing that the movie turned out 2 b a gud thriller in all. A balanced narration of the role by Jolie though, but the only constituents were Drama & purported depiction of emotions. Nothing really useful.

The Reader
IMDB Ratings - 7.8/10

Interesting. Kate did really deserve that black metallic lady she was bestowed with. Subtle is the word. Love is the theme. Ignorance & crime walks past by, making this flick a really good bet. I went to a book-store recently and the novel really seems 2 b enjoying gud part of the success it's curtain counterpart made. What an apt title !!

Milk
IMDB Ratings - 8.0/10

To b truthful, i couldn't get done with the movie. i left it half way through i tried hard, but couldn't pull it through. u may tag me contemporary if u want 2. i'm not against Gays or Lesbians for that matter. It was a splendid reality on part of that man, & on part of American evolution into a great nation. It was indeed worth the praise. But it's just that these kinda movies are simply unbearable. Utter slow, guys kissin each other passionately, political speeches. i couldn't. i'm sorry !!

The Dark Knight
IMDB Ratings - 9.0/10

that one needs no praise. it's unimaginable how a movie can be so great a success as to attract largest mass of all times on the first day of it's release. people were crazy over this 1. the special effect ought to be exemplary. Heath Ledger was fabulous. i've known people who opted for this movie 4-5 times.
But for the fact that i haven't seen it, neither do i plan to see it just not my kind of genre.

Revolutionary Road
IMDB Ratings - 7.8/10

that was an epic drama. there was some scintillating real life content into it. i do not intend to say that it was inspired by a true story. it's just that it was so natural, & so close no normal realistic situations that i loved it for some strange reason. the titanic pair looked good, & the plot was well built in. good narration. good acting. A little short on content though. & the Paris thing was so adorable. we all dream sumthin of that kind i guess.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
IMDB Ratings - 8.2/10

i finished this one just 15 minutes before i started writing this blog. & i'm still under a hang of it. Benjamin !! It was indeed a curious case. Man o man. Splendid. 3 Oscars (Slumdog really left no room for others). if a director is somehow adamant on making an off-the-road movie, that's exactly how it's gotta be done. if u gotta see a pure drama, that's what it's gotta b like. high on emotional content, vis-a-vis an excellent portrayal of the character by Brad Pitt. i still gotta think. & outta all the movies i've seen this year, this would be the one i'd be gladly willing to give another watch. there's more to life than a simple romance, action, special effects, or a thriller cinema.

That was Oscars. That will be all for the night.
(but i still can't get rid of Anil Kapoor's face jumping & yelling while the Winners were being announced . That would be a nightmare that'll definitely haunt me till the next Oscars)