Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!

Brilliant! Cant believe Abhay Deol is even remotely related to the Sunnys or
Bobbys! This chap can act, and how!! Must watch.

Transthriller

Transsiberian is a thriller that works on dialogues, mysterious circumstances against a dull backdrop. A couple taking a train from Beijing to Moscow, gets involved in a whodunit plot with Russian police, drug mules, and themselves.

These days I feel that most climaxes are 'oh-we-gotta-stop' build ups, this one is close. But the thrill component stays on till the closing credits. Also watch out for some interesting quotes, political or otherwise. Though storyline isnt extraordinary, movie *is* different, and a must watch.

In Bruges

Two assassins are asked to lay low after an assignment, and they are sent to Bruges - a cold, dull medieval place in Belgium(?). Each has his own reasons to like or dislike the place, but they just have to wait for their boss to call them to know what next.

We get to know them as they push their life through, as they reflect on their past deeds and the movie heads to a violent climax. Introduction of morality towards the end and setting up for climax felt a little odd, but overall, brilliantly written script. In Bruges, though, is not for the faint-hearted ones.

District B13

You thought the opening, super fast free running action sequence of Casino Royale was cool? You thought Jackie Chan does it with more finesse? Apparently you haven't watched B13. It is a French movie with almost non-stop action (not thoughtless - it is no Shoot 'em Up, I mean). The stunts are not free running, but Parkour. Wikipedia says that free running was derived out of Parkour.

Plot : In near future Paris, bad elements become so difficult to manage that govt makes a separate walled district for affected areas called B13. B13 has no schools, cops, no control. When someone in B13 steals a nuclear bomb, a cop has to be sent in to diffuse the bomb. You need a guide (David Belle, founder of Parkour! as Leito) to know B13. So these odd guys team up reluctantly. Sounds like a typical Bollywood pot boiler setup, but the fun is in the execution. Most pulse racing 90 minutes of your life, guaranteed. Watch it if you liked Transporter, Taxi (French), Smoking Aces, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang or Lucky Number Slevin.

BTW, Akshay's Thumbs Up ad and Saif's Royal Stag ad uses free running sequences, so does Madonna's music video Hung Up.

The Savages

I am now a complete fan of Philip Hoffman. The smirk is still there, but Capote has done to him what Leaving Las Vegas did to Nicolas Cage. Only, the real good thing is that he is sticking to the new ground and not going aimless like Cage.

The Savages is his latest 5 star performance. Uncommon topic for a US mainstream movie. Very relevant -- Grown up kids living far in cities going through mid life crisis of their own. And not knowing what to do with lonely aged sick parent. The movie is about a brother and a sister trying to find a new home for their aging father who has no place to go. Excellent cast, brilliant screenplay, an outstanding movie.

Pakistan and Freedom

Times carried another article on how new-age, modern, successful women of Pakistan interpret freedom:

• Being free is about making bold choice - personal and professional (Nabila, celebrity image maker)
• Freedom is about making the right decision (Umera Ahmed, writer)
• True independence is not brought about by diminishing each other, it is found by celebrating each other (Sonya Battla, fashion designer)
• The challenge is to translate reality - that's freedom (Mehreen Jabbar, film director)

God, Religion, Faith or Whatever

This is perhaps the first time I found something interesting to read in the Sunday Times Life edition. As usual the story pinned on celebrities to sell the idea, but the idea itself was nice. It was about finding one's faith in life. Some good lines/ quotes: "The focus of praying has now shifted from being religious to coping with life situations successfully." Or, "Seekers are no longer happy with blind faith; They need practices that help them understand life". And ending with one of my favorite adverb: "What you give is what you get". Some points to ponder.

Living with Modernism

I am looking to buy this rocker. Sells on eBay for $249. Is it possible to locate one in India? Anything molded, and what people call, old, is what I am looking for. I hope to get them cheap as well.

Saving the world

At work, no one bets on world peace. Let me explain. You may want to do the right thing, though at times it is not possible. So as Kafka said, we all want to start with what is right, not what's possible. The PM or Director will then say, "Let's not aim for world peace...", or "In a perfect world, yes. But..." So who else is trying to save the world? Apartment Therapy. Their tagline says it all -- saving the world, one room at a time.

Washing Machine

If you are disillusioned with your life/ work, dont aim to be a manager. After each day (or worse, week) looking back on what you *did*, managers tend to draw a blank. Meeting a deadline is a task. It will come and go, to come back again. Another regular task is to resolve issues (read fights). Someone or the other has a problem with another. Or someone had a bad day. Manager's job: Listen; Resolve; Repeat. Much like a detergent. And tumble around.

Involved vs Committed

If you havent heard of it already: On your breakfast table, having egg and milk make chicken and cow involved in your meal, but when you have ham as well, sure, the chicken is still involved, but the pig is committed. Managers were always the seagulls, now they are chicken as well. No need to guess who the pigs are, right?

Oscar Rejects

Of the three movies I watched over weekend, two, I am told, failed to reach the Foreign Language category at the Oscars.

One, The Band's Visit, failed to get nomination because more than 50% of the dialogues were in English! I found that rule silly - how else will Egyptians talk to Israelis? It is a simple story of how a police band from Egypt, invited to play in an Arab cultural porgramme in Israel gets stuck in a wrong town for a night. Brilliant direction, considering the bleak situation with a bleak desert background. It should have got an entry. Well, Oscar isn't everything, right?

Second one is Akin's 'The Edge of Heaven'. Interwoven stories of Turkish immigrants in Germany, and some German folks in Turkey all of them are connected by some thread. Sounds like Babel? Not so overdrawn, this was a bit smaller. The movie revolves around 3 families, and mainly about parent-child relations. The characters were beautifully developed, and the most interesting aspect of engaging audience in the story was the chapter titling. It plainly said, A's death or B's death. And in the chapter, we get introduced to A or B, and since we know their fate, the entire sequence becomes a little edgy. B-e-a-u-t-i-f-u-l. The third chapter is the title of the movie, were the parents/ children realise that ultimately the bond transcends across languages, or cultures, or fate!

Dont miss either of them.

Ah, the third, another not to miss movie, is a new French thriller, Tell No One. Finally, a good thriller with an original story. Will write later about that. Check the link for details. Or may be, just catch it up. The more one reads about a thriller, less intriguing it becomes, right?

The Counterfeiters

Die Fälscher or The Counterfeiters won the best foreign film at the Oscars, so decided to take a look. It is a WW2 movie about how Germans took the help of some counterfeiters to print money to fund the war, and how a few of their deeds influenced the war and its ending (How overwhelming!). But for this unknown/ unheard story, or link to history, probably there is nothing here that has not been said before. That doesnt take away anything from this well directed, well written, well acted, movie. If you like indies, this is definitely worth a watch.

Blogger’s Block

(Phrase): Delay in working on one's blog for a long period and closing the login window every time. Usually occurs to someone who is neither a blogger, not a block. See also, Hello World.

Darabont + King = Magic?

Absolutely! How can one forget Shawshank Redumption (an all time favorite)? Or Green Mile. But not this time. This stuff has been done so many times that The Mist is disappointing. If made in 70's, it would have rocked. Ending is brutally shocking, but was very deliberate. There was no "pressing" reason to do that. It didnt feel like cornered and end of the road scenario. It still is shocking, but in a stupid way.

What I really liked about the movie is the elaboration into the mob characteristics. The only place where I felt it was a Darabont movie. The spiritual lady acted so very well that it got irritating when she came on the screen. Should add her (along with Garner in Juno) into the missed the Oscar nominations list.