Sunday, June 19, 2011

Shopping, Blood, Cinema and Marriage

It has been a while since I wrote something on the blog. Lot of events have taken place, a short visit by sister and my nephew, shopping for them till late into the night a mid-night drive to reach home at 2 AM, taking my mother to Express Avenue and Citi Centre - my mother's absolute surprise at seeing obscenely-priced shirts and sarees, lots of stuff.

In between, I had time to fall seriously ill with the doctor not able to diagnose my condition properly. I spat blood for a couple of days and ended up with complete bed-rest for four days effectively ruining a weekend and taking sick-leave for two days. By God's grace I am better now and back to work albeit still weak.

A huge good news is my classmate from college Ashwin getting engaged in Bengaluru! As I propheised on his blog earlier this year my friend is hitched and will be getting married early next year. Congrats Ashwin :)

Being ill and lying down in bed gave me time to see some movies.

Bodyguard - Kevin Costner and Whitney Houston in a romantic movie with some good songs thrown in - timepass stuff.

Unknown - Liam Neeson ages like fine wine and after the phenomenal success of "Taken" last year returns as a professor facing memory-loss in Berlin. Great stuff with an interesting twist. Good car-chase sequences shot in Berlin's busy streets.

Urumi - Prithviraj's maiden production venture is an absolute mess of history, but is good fun with special appearance songs by Tabu who continues to entice another generation of movie-goers. Prithvi and Prabhudeva play friends who plan to kill Vasco da Gama. Amole Gupte as Thampuran and Jagadhi as the effeminate minister excel in their roles. Genelia as warrior princess Ayesha does a good job too.

404 - A medical college hostel - a room which witnessed a suicide, ragging by seniors, spirits and ghosts, a professor who researches on the paranormal, a student who is haunted by the spirit. Good movie, no gimmicks, script-driven and great performances. Worth a watch!

Last Tango in Paris - Sick and nauseating, porn disguised as art-house cinema - Marlon Brando whom movie-lovers can only view as the Godfather reduced to a middle-aged sex-maniac of sorts. Hated the movie for its nudity and titillation!

KO - Jeeva gets a hit. K.V. Anand packages stunning visuals, well-shot songs, fight sequences to give a blockbuster, but personally I felt the movie was just average. Ajmal gets a good role as the idealistic young politician who is the real villain.

Limitless - What would you do if you got a magic-pill that would let you use the full capacity of your brain? Bradley Cooper and Robert de Niro in a decent comedy. Nothing exceptional! Wish Bradley Cooper gets to play a homicidal villain of sorts in his upcoming movies. He has the dramatic potential and is not experimenting enough with his roles all stuck in a comic-rut.

Rango - A fascinating revisionist Western in animated form with Johnny Depp voicing Rango a chameleon who saves a desert town from the unscrupulous Mayor who diverts the town's water supply. Great fun!

Animals United - Animation not on par with Pixar and co. but a good story-line about man's uncontrollable greed for developing forests into tourist resorts and how animals unite and reclaim their land and water.

The Lincoln Lawyer - Nothing great Matthew Mc Connaughey plays the wise-cracking lawyer who defends a murder-accused. Is the accused guilty? Watch the movie for answers. Run-of-the mill movie nothing great.

3 comments:

Aswin Kini said...

Dei, you never told me you fell sick. Hope you went to the doctor. Are you fine now? Take care of your health buddy. Thanks for the wishes. Hope that you find the love of your life soon. Take care.

mahesh said...

Thanks Ashwin - I am better now.

Karen Xavier said...

Take care Mahesh... glad that you are better now. Coming to the movies, You are right bout Liam Neeson, he does get better with age... I like him a whole lot, all the lines on his face add character, makes him look even more handsome. Movie was good, unexpected twist. Limitless was a disappointment, watched it cause of Bradley Cooper... but it wasn't that great. That's all I've seen from the list you mentioned...

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