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.

The Oscars for 2010

An interesting choice of movies this year. "The Social Network," "The King's Speech," and "True Grit" lead the race. Can "The Fighter" and "The Winter's Bone" make a surprise win. "Black Swan" is a bit gloomy but Natalie Portman end up all smiles with a Best Actress trophy. Or will "The Kids are all Right" throw a big surprise?

David Fincher is my bet for Best Director. Though Christopher Nolan deserved a nomination for Inception.

Christian Bale is not likely to win an Oscar for his crack-devouring Boxing Trainer role in "The Fighter". Geoffrey Rush as the language and speech therapist deserves the Best Supporting Actor award. Colin Firth is also likely to win the Best Actor award for "The King's Speech".

India's connection A.R. Rahman is highly unlikely to win an award for his song for 127 hours. Let us wait and watch.

The Week in Review

Well so many things happened in the past 1 week. I embarked on a quick trip to Nagpur to participate in the house-warming ceremony of my sister's new flat. The trip was really fascinating and it will be a separate long and juicy post. Met some really beautiful people:) on the trip! Then again those friends are just people who are forgoten who just provide conversations on the train to battle a boring journey.

India won the one-day series in New Zealand a record after 40 odd years. Sehwag broke the psyche of the New Zealand attack with his heroics but India lost the last one-dayer. Elsewhere West Indies won a test-series against England 1-0.

Political equations keep changing with Patnaik in Orissa flummoxing everybody. The third-front being launched by Deve Gowda and Co.

The IPL seems to be doomed and it still does not have a schedule approved by the state governments.

Work seems to be going on. One more colleague quit. Best of luck to you:)

Horoscopes are flying through couriers to all parts of the country and responses are being awaited. Saw a lot of movies on Saturday and Sunday-Dev D, Vennila Kabbadi Kuzhu, Delhi 6, Colours (Malayalam and absolute rot). Detailed reviews will appear soon. VKK was really touching but the director seems to be from the Bala school of film-making and spoiled the end by killing the hero.

At the Oscars

So the Oscars have been announced and what a show by Hugh Jackman! A special mention for his wit, charm and dancing skills.

Slumdog Millionaire won 8 awards including best picture and best director. The big hit was A.R. Rahman who won two awards.

Resul Pookutty won for best sound-mixing and Simon Beaufoy won an Oscar for best adapted screenplay.

A summary of the list of nominees and winners is provided below:


Best Motion Picture
Slumdog Millionaire: Winner
The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button
Frost/Nixon
The Reader
Milk


Best Director
Danny Boyle – Slumdog Millionaire: Winner
Stephen Daldry – The Reader
David Fincher – The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button
Ron Howard – Frost/Nixon
Gus Van Sant – Milk


Best Performance by an Actor
Richard Jenkins - The Visitor
Frank Langella – Frost/Nixon
Sean Penn – Milk: Winner
Brad Pitt – The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button
Mickey Rourke – The Wrestler


Best Performance by an Actress
Anne Hathaway - Rachel Getting Married
Angelina Jolie - Changeling
Melissa Leo - Frozen River
Meryl Streep - Doubt
Kate Winslet - The Reader: Winner


Best Performance by an Actress In A Supporting Role
Amy Adams – Doubt
Penélope Cruz – Vicky Cristina Barcelona: Winner
Viola Davis – Doubt
Marisa Tomei – The Wrestler
Taraji P. Henson - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Best Performance by an Actor In A Supporting Role
Josh Brolin - Milk
Robert Downey Jr. – Tropic Thunder
Michael Shannon - Revolutionary Road
Philip Seymour Hoffman – Doubt
Heath Ledger – The Dark Knight: Winner


Best Foreign Language Film
The Baader Meinhof Complex (Germany)
The Class (France)
Departures (Japan): Winner
Revanche (Austria)
Waltz With Bashir (Israel)


Best Animated Feature Film Of The Year
Bolt
Kung Fu Panda
Wall-E: Winner


Original Screenplay
Frozen River - Courtney Hunt
Happy-Go-Lucky - Mike Leigh
In Bruges - Martin McDonagh
Milk - Dustin Lance Black: Winner
Wall-E - Andrew Stanton


Adapted Screenplay
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - Eric Roth
Doubt -John Patrick Shanley
Frost/Nixon - Peter Morgan
Slumdog Millionaire - Simon Beaufoy : Winner
The Reader - David Hare


Best Animated Short Film
La Maison en Petits Cubes: Winner
Lavatory - Lovestory
Oktapodi
Presto
This Way Up


Best Art Director
Changeling - James J. Murakami
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - Donald Graham Burt: Winner
The Dark Knight
The Duchess - Michael Carlin
Revolutionary Road - Kristi Zea


Best Costume Design
Australia - Catherine Martin
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - Jacqueline West
The Duchess - Michael O'Connor: Winner
Milk - Danny Glicker
Revolutionary Road - Albert Wolsky


Best Makeup
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - Greg Cannom: Winner
The Dark Knight - John Caglione, Jr. and Conor O'Sullivan
Hellboy II: The Golden Army - Mike Elizalde and Thom Floutz


Best Cinematography
Changeling - Tom Stern
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - Claudio Miranda
The Dark Knight - Wally Pfister
The Reader - Chris Menges and Roger Deakins
Slumdog Millionaire - Anthony Dod Mantle: Winner


Best Film Editing
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button- Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall
The Dark Knight - Mike Hill and Dan Hanley
Frost/Nixon - Wally Pfister
Milk - Elliot Graham
Slumdog Millionaire - Chris Dickens: Winner


Best Live Action Short Film
Auf der Strecke (On the Line)
Manon on the Asphalt
New Boy: Winner
The Pig
Spielzeugland (Toyland)


Best Original Score
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - Alexandre Desplat
Defiance - James Newton Howard
Milk - Danny Elfman
Slumdog Millionaire - AR Rahman: Winner
Wall-E - Thomas Newman


Best Original Song
Down to Earth - Wall-E - Music by Peter Gabriel, Thomas Newman; Lyric by Peter Gabriel
Jai Ho - Slumdog Millionaire - Music by AR Rahman; Lyric by Gulzar : Winner
O Saya - Slumdog Millionaire - Music and Lyric by AR Rahman, Maya Arulpragasam


Best Documentary Feature
The Betrayal (Nerakhoon): Winner
Encounters at the End of the World
The Garden
Man on Wire
Trouble the Water


Best Documentary Short
The Conscience of Nhem En
The Final Inch
Smile Pinki: Winner
The Witness


Best Visual Effects
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - Eric Barba, Steve Preeg, Burt Dalton, Craig Barron: Winner
The Dark Knight - Nick Davis, Chris Corbould, Tim Webber, Paul Franklin
Iron Man - John Nelson, Ben Snow, Dan Sudick, Shane Mahan



Best Sound Editing
The Dark Knight - Richard King: Winner
Iron Man - Frank Eulner, Christopher Boyes
Slumdog Millionaire - Glenn Freemantle, Tom Sayers
Wall-E - Ben Burtt, Matthew Wood
Wanted - Wylie Stateman


Best Sound Mixing
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - David Parker, Michael Semanick, Ren Klyce, Mark Weingarten
The Dark Knight - Lora Hirschberg, Gary Rizzo and Ed Novick
Slumdog Millionaire - Ian Tapp, Richard Pryke, Resul Pookutty: Winner
Wall-E - Tom Myers, Michael Semanick, Ben Burtt
Wanted - Chris Jenkins, Frank A. Montaño, Petr Forejt

The big surprises were Slumdog winning best picture and Mickey Rourke being pipped to the post by Sean Penn.

Heath Ledger's Oscar was assured and he became the second artiste to win an Oscar posthumously.

Kate Winslet has done a much better role in The Revolutionary Road but somehow this outing with "The Reader" finally got her a long-belated Best Actress Award.

Nagesh-A Legend-Emperor of Comedy-No More

Nagesh is no more! I stopped looking at the news and started typing this post. At the moment I am at a loss of words to describe the immense joy and happiness he used to bring to viewers and the feeling of intense. Shivaji, MGR, Kaml, and Rajni are superstars but one man who defied all their stardom and acted with all of them leaving his own special charm-Nagesh.

There was a period when no Tamil movie would be made without Nagesh. Clean comedy, natural slapstick and buffoonery. He formed a great on-screen pair with Manorama. The two gave many memorable hits together.

An unforgettable role was of Dharmi in Thiruvalayadal. Other hits were given by him as a solo hero in "Server Sundaram" and "Ethir Neechal."

A longer post is on its way soon.

At the moment al I can say is-"Continue to delight angels in heaven."

SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE-Movie Review




Danny Boyle who made the intense yet enjoyable "Trainspotting" has taken the basic plot of Vikas Swarup's novel "Q and A" and added lots of characters, masala, the proverbial presentation of India as a land of poverty and roped in the services of A.R. Rahman to provide the music score, to make a movie that is breaking records and winning awards.

Honestly it is nothing monumental. It is a good movie. We all love movies that are about the triumph of the human spirit and have happy endings.

Two kids Jamal and Salim witness the Mumbai riots, there mother being killed, caught in a network of goons who run an organized syndicate of child-beggars. How the kids escape, go on a trip across India, (Taj Mahal and Agra), return to Mumbai. The story has twists and plots but beyond Jamal winning a quiz show and becoming a millionaire it is his quest for the girl he loves-Lathika(played by Frieda Pinto)that draws more interest. Dev Patel as Jamal does a good job. Anil Kapoor as the quizmaster is nice. Irrfan Khan and Surabh Shukla in brief roles as policemen do justice.

It is the chap who plays Jamal's brother the boy-who-became-a-gangster whom I liked. The kids who portray the role of slum kids are real slum kids. The child jumping into a pile of human faeces to get an autograph of his matinee idol is gross but conveys the message of the madness that cinema is!

The movie is much better than what is on fare from Bolywood-Ghajini, CC2C, RNBJ and the other stuff. So do watch it. I am eagerly awaiting Anurag Kashyap's "Dev-D." He is one chap who is really willing to experiment and radical in thought and belief. Watch "Black Friday" and "NO Smoking" to understand. I hope Abhay Deol does a good job, as the Law of Averages is against him.

Let us see.

The next reviews will be of-"Revolutionary Road" and "Rock n' Rolla."

Bye folks!

NJAN KADAVUL MUSIC REVIEW

A friend sent me the songs of this movie and after listening to them I am thoroughly lost in thought. Bala has always been a director who has given meaningful cinema and the songs in his movies have always been chart-toppers-be it Sethu, Nanda, or Pithamagan.

This album is definitely not going to sell like hot cakes. The reasons being it does not have foot-tapping disco-themed songs, songs with hip-hop rap and ridiculously written songs that sound more foreign than Tamil, electronically reengineered melodies picturised in Europe, item-song with lewd lyrics during which the camera focusses on the assets of the heroine/item-girl.

All said and done I definitely am going to buy the original music CD because the album is one of its kind. A movie which has a dark theme about crime blending with spirituality cannot definitely have melodious extravagances. This album has six songs all with a bhajan-type feel.

Three songs continue to play in mind. Om Siva Om is a proper hymn. Oru Kaatril Alai reminds one of Kannadasan's philosophical songs of a bygone era. Pichaipaathiram is a plea for alms which is most likely to be picturised on Pooja who plays the role of a beggar.

Music is by Ilayaraja, songs have been sung by Madhu Balakrishnan, Sadhana Sargam, Vijay Prakash,Ilayaraja and others. Lyrics are by Vaali.

Thanks to Dr. Vijay for providing information. The lyrics for Pichaipaathiram have been written by Ilayaraja.

Look at his comment for further information.

Thanks Doc!

Cinemascope-Looking at the movies of 2008

The initial list-"The Top Movies of 2008" had some of the movies that I liked. Once I finished writing that post realized there were lots of other movies that I enjoyed and totally forgot about:

Mithya:

Rajat Kapoor's movie with Ranvir Shourie, Nasiruddin Shah, Vinay Pathak and Neha Dhupia a story of double identities, amnesia, dons, intrigue, unrequited love and death. The part that I enjoyed most was Ranvir's Hamlet soliloquy in Hindi.

Eastern Promises:

London, the mob, Russian gangsters, lots of F words, punches and fights, couple of gross scenes and the final fight in the buff. Viggo Mortensen does a great job in David Cronenberg's violent gangster story.

Kannum Kannum:

A beautiful love story where sacrifice gains a new meaning. Prasanna in a great role. Beautiful cinematography no vulgar comedy or item-songs. A simple story told aesthetically. A pity that the movie was not a big hit.

Raman Thediya Seethai and Pirivvom Sandhippom:

With Cheran in both movies, the first one as an actor and the second one as both actor and doctor both movies were good family entertainers. The first one was the search of a man for a wife the second the problems faced by a city-bred woman coming to terms with a large joint family after marriage. Pasupathy excels as a blind radio jockey in Raman Thediya Seethai.

Alibaba:

Directed by a debutante and starring director Vishnuvardhan's brother Krishna, this is a really taut thriller. Just think you are a good for nothing thief who lives with his brother and father(also thieves). One day to your surprise you find that there are close to 40 lakhs in your bank account and with every passing day your bank balance keeps increasing. Then the fun starts young girls been raped and killed, a senior police officer being killed, the plot keeps thickening and just when you think that the climax is here, there is another twist. "Saroja" was OK with its thumping music track and Tom and Jerryish antics, but Alibaba really scores on the surprise factor.

Welcome to Sajjanpur:

When India's most acclaimed and respected director returns after a long gap and returns with a Malgudish comedy you are excited. This movie is a brilliant satire of the life and times of modern northern India the casteism, rogue politics, and development problems, Good performances by all and Shreyas Talpade keeps excelling with each movie. A must watch.

Taken:

I saw this on DVD. This stars Liam Neeson as an ex-CIA agent who works as a security guy along with his friends. He is separated from his wife but is close to his daughter. when his daughter goes on a pleasure trip to Paris and gets kidnapped. He returns to his super spy ways and tracks down his daughter's kidnappers who run an international prostitition and trafficking ring. Powerful performance by Neeson and good action sequences. Watch this movie when it hits the Indian theatres.

In Bruges:

Two assassins on a sight-seeing trip. A boss who is angry and wants to kill them. A midget who is an actor, a young woman who is a con. Great cinematography and background music. Directed by Martin McDonagh the movie stars Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson, and Ralph Fiennes in one of the finest black comedies in recent times.

The Top Movies of 2008

Wall-E
The Dark Knight
Anjaathe
Subramaniapuram
Taare Zamin Par
Rock On
Thirakadha
Verude oru Bharya

Wall-E-The beautiful presentation of a romance between robots. There is also the representation of the future where our planet is reduced to a gigantic dumpyard.

The Dark Knight-Brilliant performances by Heath Ledger as the sadistic psycopathic killer and Christian Bale as Batman.

Anjaathe-Good script, powerful characterisation, awesome acting by Naren Prasanna, and Ajmal, brilliant background score. A great entertainer.

Subramaniapuram-New director, new team, James Vasantham's melodious music, Kangal Irundal-the melody of the year, Swathi-best new face of 2008, good acting by Jai and Sasi(also the director). The movie had a huge overdose of violence but the presentation was impeccable with the 80's era recreated in detail.

Taare Zameen Par-Brilliant in every department. The kid Darsheel steals the show. A fantastic subject and Aamir gives a mellowed performance as an art teacher. Inspiring soudtrack by Shankar, Eshan and Loy.

Rock On-Farhan Akthar's debut in front of the camera, convincing singing by the lead artistes themselves and Arjun Rampal in a role that showcased his true potential. Peppy songs and the last rock show performance is the highlight of the movie.

Thirakadha-Ranjit strikes back as a great director with this tale based on the Kamal-Srividya relationship. Superb performances by Prithviraj, Priya Mani, and Anil Menon.

Verude oru Bharya-Jayaram's comeback hit that outdid everyone's expectations. The tale of a middle class family were the husband shies away from his responsibilities. A great performance by Navya Nair that might win her an award.

Sorry as I did not include Dashavatharam, Twenty:20 and many other blockbusters. At the end of the day it is not about box-office collections it is about matter and substance.