Spectre 2015 - James Bond

Review: Spectre 2015 - James Bond was it? The question all critics ranting against watching the movie seem to be asking. To me this was a mish mash of all the previous Bond flicks. A villain wanting to do something really bad and Mr Bond the savior uses some cars, a copter, a plane etc. not too many gadgets, goes over to some amazingly great cross country/continent locales, rather beautifully shot to save the day. While, the story appears cliched and sometimes predictable, the movie comes out as more rounded, grounded and thoughtful. A tad slow for a true Bond fan, it offers a bit of sentiment, a touch of reality and great pulsating background score. Craig comes across as a credible Bond unlike a put on act like that of Pierce Brosnon. And oh yes, there were some talk of censors being too harsh on the kiss kiss scenes. Censoring these lip locks did not damage much and thought that kids can watch as well. Will put this as a "Please watch" rather than a "must watch" item with an expectation of 3 out of 5. I am more inclined for a 4 out of 5 though.

Comic Relief

Comic Relief: Two words that go together. Really. Always.  What brought me to pen down these thoughts was the prompt that appeared next when I typed “Comic” on my Android while responding to a hilarious forward from a dear friend.  And here is how I relate the two words:

A random annual health check routine got me and my spouse visiting a Corporate Hospital Diagnostic Center recently.  Lined up along with us were some seemingly sick patients, tension writ large on their faces awaiting their turn to be pricked by the needle or be subjected to a 2D Echo or to go under the Scanner not knowing what the ensuing results would forebode.  The lit up muted TV screens were throwing up some not so welcome “Breaking News” adding to the gloom that surrounded the Center.  Just then, a hospital help came through armed with the ubiquitous device that is generally called the “Remote” and flipped through a few channels and stopped the moment he saw Brahmanandam (for those who do not know him:  Brahmi as popularly known is a comedian par excellence in Telugu Cinema) on the screen. The scenes being enacted were from the movie “King”, the music scene where Nags confronts Brahmi and engages him to tune up a song for his fan association.   And lo behold, all eyes in the room turned on to the telly.  Tension writ faces broke into smiles forgetting their burden of worries.  Each one would go into the diagnostic room with a smile and would return as quickly as one could and turn his/her gaze back to the telly and smile even more.  Comic relief, it was is and will remain… I conclude….

Movie Review – San Andreas (2015) – English

Movie Review – San Andreas (2015) – English

Ok ! Here’s how the movie came into being I guess.   Some random guy with tons of money employed a writer to script a “Disaster” movie.  And this “adherence to standards” kind of a writer went about penning down or rather creating the plot and sequences.  Alrighty, for now let you and I create the story through an evolutionary “Fill in the blanks technique”.

1.              ______________ Disaster­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­___________city______________happy ending
2.              ______ disaster earthquake ______seismic zone_____California, San Fransciso, bridge collapse_________happy pending (Logic – 9 out of 10 disaster movies happen in California and the iconic bridge will have to collapse and the Hoover dam as well  you see).  Ok first the Hoover dam and then the Golden Gate bridge in that order.
3.             __________trapped family _____ disaster quake seismic zone,  California....lot of buildings will collapse.....happy ending
4.       Add several doses of emotion.  Ofcourse all disaster movies will have an estranged family.  Wife wants divorce and is seeing some other guy...husband the hero (we all need to sympathize with this poor fella), and add a son or a daughter.  If daughter then the daughter will love the Dad soooo much...but she will have a boy friend and the father does not like his cho chweet daughter to be with the boyfriend until there comes a force fit scene where the boy friends fights through challenges, doesn’t care about his life and saves the daughter.  And lo behold, the father suddenly acknowledges the boyfriends presence.  Usually in disaster movies the family will have a daughter and not a son. 
5.       Estranged trapped family with husband (the “paapam” guy), his wife who is wanting to settle with someone else, the daughter who is travelling (she has to be in a different city when disaster strikes) suddenly are struck with a disastrous earthquake.  Meanwhile, there is another nerdy professorial researcher  (in California Tech) who models quakes with a bunch of students.  He is feeling very happy first because his models are predicting the right things...but hold on a bit..there is “Oh My God”..this can’t be happening..”oMG” there is a mother of all quakes that is going to hit.  And the first quake hits.....happy ending.
6.       Estranged trapped.........the earth will split only after the heroine crosses the road or the earth will split just by the side of where the heroine is running...and after sometime the earth will shatter on the path the heroine is running ahead of her and she will have no where to go.  Aha, here comes the hero, he jumps, swims, crawls, uses his muscle to move mountains and gets his wife out of the situation...happy ending

Honey, It’s going to be alright, Honey, I will get our daughter back.  Honey, are you ok, Honey..Honey...Honey.  Suddenly, there will be lots of dialogues starting and ending with Honey, i will be right back, I love you some more honey honey honey.

Finally, after some 75% of the junta dies, the bridge collapses, the hero, heroine and daughter are ok..they are together and there is honey all around.

Easy isn’t it.  Scripting a disaster movie??.  Good, now get the SFX fellow, ask him to create some tall and very tall buildings, get them to crash and lo you have a movie.

The SFX were good, but as you would have guessed by now the banality,  (or the lack of originality) in the story I will go for a 2 * rating for this one.

Movie Review: Mission Impossible 5

Movie Review: Mission Impossible 5 - Rouge Nation: I went, I saw and I liked. Liked "why because" I understood every dialogue and the entire plot. Unlike MI 1 and others, the masks were lesser and I exactly knew who was doing what. Liked because, the stunts were good....aeroplane stunt covered check, car stunt covered check, bike stunt covered check..they missed a train stunt and a boat stunt though. I liked the background score and I lovvveddd Rebecca Ferguson (eye candy stuff she was). The plot kind of love hate story between the US intelligence and the British. Ofcourse the guy has to be from the US and the girl (Rebecca, if you will) from the Great Britain....a bit of "Don" I need the disc that has the names of....and a rogue villain who will destroy the globe. All said, I still liked MI5. Watch it in a good theatre. A definite 4 out of 5 if you like some James Bondish action..

Movie Review: Baahubali 2015 Telugu

Movie Review: Baahubali - Much has been written about this movie (and I will hence resort to brevity). It was good. The Cinematography and the scale unparalleled in Indian Cinema. Some of the stunt sequences were breathtaking. Well not too much of gravity defying stunts thankfully..I felt that the cast could have been better. For an epic movie like this, the lead actor should have a thunderous voice, should have good expressions, passion for example. Prabhas was a minus on these counts. Just having a great built is not the only qualification. Ramyakrishna definitely stood out..Rana looked good but yet to see more of him. Saw this movie in Dolby Atmos and the background score was very good. For those you have not yet watched, please do. A 3.5/5.

Trains

Easily one of my favourite pass times. A sleeper class journey gazing out of the window, feeling the wind hit the face, ears absorb the thundering rhythm, while the eyes take in visuals, the nose smells the dieseled smoke and the mind furiously calculates the speed counting the time elapsed between poles. And ofcourse the counting of the compartments.. I will never age when it comes to trains.....

Picture credit: Sruti Meher Nori

Movie Review Kick 2 (2015)

Movie Review: Kick II (Telugu) - Aug 2015
Expect the expected. It was a Ravi Teja flick. Lots of energy, lots of noise, lots of shouting, lots of fights, lots of melodrama and lots of comedy. But kind of disappointing, I must say. Ravi says he lives and wants to live in "Comfort" but add an "un" to that word and that was how I felt. Comedy went awry at times even though there was Brahmi. The drama was a bit hard to digest. The shouts a bit unbearable. Could have done with some lesser fights. A bit of Rowdy Rathore, a bit of Sholay, a bit of "the savior" will come to rid us from the Thakur...Tending towards 3 out of 5 but not there I should say.
The photo was shot before we entered the hall...we thought of taking another facing the poster and kicking it post coming out smile emoticon

Movie Review - Everest 2015

Movie Review - Everest (2015) - This is not a regular "Vertical Limit" Human vs Human but more of Human vs Mountain kind of a movie. Not really a documentary but a Movie-mentary if you will. Stunning cinematography, exquisite capture of the mountain ranges are the highlights. You feel how tiny you are in perspective. There is not much of a story though. Slow to start getting the characters in place and then rushing the adrenaline pushing part quickly. Certainly, Everest leaves you with questions on "Why at all does one take on challenges in life, knowing very well the risks it offers". There are some answers to this when the characters reason it out. But then again not too convincingly. Watching Everest on the big screen/IMAX helps magnify Everests' majesty. You will certainly have the vicarious feeling of being there, feeling dizzy, breathless and climbing by yourselves. It certainly is a substitute for the real journey...A 3.5/5.

The newspaper Boys

The News paper boys: Did you know how every morning the paper boy delivers your choice of your newspaper at exactly the same time and rarely does he err in pushing the wrong paper through your door? Did you know how the distribution works? Yes? maybe? No?
I have been witness to the events that happen from 4:30 am and let me pick the Punjagutta, Hyderabad distribution centre. Vans deliver newspapers post printing to a few very small shops in the small lane adjacent to the HDFC bank. These shops operate only until 7 am. The heads of each end newspaper distribution unit (atleast 20 such units) purchase these news papers exactly as they know how many will get consumed @ 99% accuracy levels. They get their bundles to the nearest open space (see picture attached) and the boys then get to work. They insert pamphlets at a dizzy pace and each of the boys know the exact sequence of whose house first which paper to be delivered and whose next and so on. The stacking takes place in that exact sequence. So I asked, how do you remember the sequence Pat came the reply "We just know".
Whilst, the stacking happens, a mobile chai wala makes rounds offering "shots" of chai to these boys. And then there some folks who cannot wait to read the news and they come directly pay and pick up their paper. The head boy keeps shouting to his boys to quicken the pace and get the stack ready while another kid yawns the morning away..
Go through the place by 7 am and you will not even notice traces of the flurried activity that was enacted an hour earlier.
It definitely is a treat to watch this morning industry...Easily will qualify as a 6 sigma activity much a la the dabba wallas of Mumbai..

Movie review: oohalu gusagusalade 2015

Happiness and a good sense of light heartedness (?) (not sure if that is an appropriate expression): The feeling that you get when you watch a happy ending where the hero and the heroine are in love but are not able to express due to ego clashes or are either too shy or keep thinking will I lose her/him in case I propose or just for the heck of it but finally unite through some twists and turns. Watched "Oohalu Gusagusalade" for the second time. Simple romance with a dash of embedded comedy, excellent expressions and taking to the edge the line of "I love you" but not really saying it out..a beautiful heroine (excellent choice of colourful sarees, elegance personified) and a smart hero, no villains and hence no fights, soulful music, an earthly plot. Some other movies that fall in similar genre that I liked Godavari, Uyalla Jampala, Anand, 7G Brindavan Colony, Ye maaya Chesave, Ashta Chamma, Gundajari Gallantainde......

Movie Review: Kerintha Telugu 2015

Kerintha - 2015 Telugu: One song was all it took to pique my otherwise dormant interest in this film. The trailer playing since the past few days on the Telly aroused expectations of yet another "light hearted" (please see my post of Oct 4th) evening. 15 minutes into the movie brought me to a great realization. Not all "feel fresh, nice color tone" kind of movies are good, not all happy happy college friends stories are good, one good song does not make the movie good and so on. Far from being light hearted, I cursed the story writer..not an iota of thought towards realism. Ofcourse, movies are not supposed to be real but good movies are those that are adept at being close to the make-belief. Some snippets of how idiotic the writer and the movie maker can get:
Flash back - A tiny forgettable fellow, can't really see the road once in the car seat dons an oversized coat, sports expensive gogs, projected as an achiever in the Corporate world, starts narrating in an extremely irritable tone his college reminiscences. 2 years ago, the screen reads...Start of the academic year, 3 guys and 3 girls with completely uncommon interests become thickest of friends. How?? I am still wondering.
Just a few Un-realisms:
1) Where the hell is a University where students graduate in just an year??
2) An overprotective well educated mother believes that her son is studying MCA whereas the guy is actually attending MA Music. The overprotective mom, herself an academician maintains a overly strict regimen on her son so much so that she taunts him on why he returned 15 mins late from college. Will such moms not go to the college to enquire how her son is doing or check mark sheets??
3)Wow, the college does not have classes nor lecturers in any of the frames. There are just a bunch of college going lads and girls shouting.."Hey", "hi" and that's all??
4)One of the sophisticated girl falls in love rather inexplicably with a village bumpkin whose aim is life is to patao girls in a cosmopolitan city. This guy can't even speak properly, terribly irritating getting on nerves character, has not one good thing to write home about and yet, this sophisticated girl is lovey dovey on him.
I sometimes wonder, how stupid do people get to put their money on making such movies, where does the little iota of common sense get hidden during these times. What is it that they are teaching the younger generation through this medium. #%#&#^@$%$^&&**#$% (My famous expletives - not being translated here for obvious reasons)
I am giving a one star for this movie. The lone star is for the song remember. It goes Mila Mila Mila....

The incredible “Red Bus” luxury Express journey

Cock a doodle dooo…the morning in Shirdi dawned as the 2 of us quickly showered, got our “special” darshan pass ready, checked out of the hotel and strode towards the temple. The plan was to 1) pay our obeisance, 2) have a quick bite comprising vada pav, usal pav, 3) down 2 or maybe 3 special masala chais (given my unending love for this brown water thingy), 4) shop for the yummm dudh peda, 5) walk through the by lanes and the small market chaos towards the main road, 6) thumb lift for one of the umpteen Pune bound Volvo busses and 7) reach Meherabad, Ahmadnagar some 95 kms away.
The going was good and we completed the 5th milestone post a little more than a heavy breakfast. The watch claimed the time to be 10:12. Great, I reckoned pretty smug that the going was being perfected to the plan. The sun was up. We were directed to walk down the road to ST (State Transport) bus stand where Volvo busses would pick up travelers. 10:20 the watch showed. Soon it was 10:30 and then 10:47. The sun was beating down on us now while we saw a couple of Maharashtra red busses emerge from the ST stand and go past blowing soft sand into our faces. A few coughs later, we realized about the missing Volvos. Throats parched, we decided to take the next best alternative. We trudged into Maharashtra State bus stand, while one of the busses was just about reversing out of the platform. Phirrrrrrrrrr Phiirrrrrrrr was the shrill noise that fell on our ears. “Kutehe” (Where) shouted the man in Khakis, removing the whistle from his mouth. Nagar, I shouted back over the din. A loud thunk on the bus, stopped it, and we were ushered in. The bus appeared full with many men wearing the whitest of the white shirts and trousers, a cap adorning their heads. The ladies in their cottony dark shades were busy conversing while settling down. A few strange quizzical looks welcomed us. Perhaps, thinking, what this neatly dressed folks are doing in a bus like that !!. Luckily for us there were seats, the last row it was while we sat down on the not so leathery seats, the coconut straws peeking out of the torn seats pinching through the trousers a bit. An Express luxury service the writing on the bus proclaimed that I noticed while clambering on. Alright, I thought, so much for the luxury…let me experience the “Expressness” of the services.
Soon enough, the rattling started. The windows went rattle, rattle, rattle. I was sure that the bus was keeping its “Express” reputation intact and presumed that we were doing 90 kms an hour only to realize a few slower vehicles go past us. I realized that the incessant rattling of the windows added to the notional “speedy” feeling. The flow of air was good, the whiff from the sugarcane fields felt divine. My keen observations into the environs I was in was broken when the conductor came over thrusting his hands shouting “Teeekets”. A 100 Rupee note is what I gave him said “Doan paije, Nagar” recollecting some of my chaste Marathi. “Ankhin Shambhar kada” I was asked with a rather scornful dismissive look. I gave him another 100 and waited. 2 teekets, he thrust into my waiting hands and left. I was expecting some change back, but a quick look into the Marathi numbers on the ticket, left me aghast. Rs. 98 one way !!! My jaw dropped. When did tickets become so expensive, I thought. Highway robbery, I say !!!. I quickly came to and realized how cut off I was from the current times.
80 mins into the journey, we covered a paltry 51 kms distance, when the bus pulled into Rahuri bus station. A glee broke onto our faces. Kheeras, Bhel, parle biskeets, water botttals, time pass moong phallis greeted us. The greedy us bought one of each. A few of the passengers de-boarded while a few walked in. I noticed a burly looking lady walk right upto where I was sitting and said sternly..”Tikde Sarka” (move over) and before I adjusted myself, she plonked herself on my reasonably thin frame. I wailed and let out a soft cry…cursing under my breath while my wifey couldn’t control letting out a grin.
A good peek into a different world it was. We felt pretty good at the end of it, experiencing something different from routine. I still carry the memories of this trip 2 years later. A subtly romantic one I must say…..

An Extraordinary Man who influenced millions and one (Me!)

Belgium…Brussels it was “to be precise” my destination.  When I told my mom that I will be off to Belgium for a week, she had a “Now where in the world is it”..kind of expression and immediately connected it to glass and recounted memories of how her ancestral home had windows made of Belgian glass whereas I mapped it to Georges Remi aka Herge and his inimitable characters, the best amongst them the “Thousands of Blue Blistering barnacles, pithecanthropus, Ectoplasms, Zapotecs…” fella, the most adorable, cutie, cutie, occasionally drunk fox terrier and the lovable Belgian reporter..Ring a bell??  Tintin, Snowy and Captain Haddock of course.

So I stole a couple of hours from my work and rode a 38 kms journey from Brussels Nord station into the heart of the Herge Museum.  Being overwhelmed would be an understatement, by what I learned of the man behind the characters and the comic.  Born in 1907 in what those days would have been a nondescript village outside Brussels, with humble middle class beginnings, he rose to put a cheer on millions across the world.  From his universe of this small place and his little exposure, he dreamed of characters, of situations, of plots to pen down and draw some of the most diverse and unique images that one felt that they were living the stories.  I got to know that he created the comic twins Thompson and Thomson based on his own relatives.  His father and his brother.  The term “To be precise” was used by his uncle and this found way into his books.

Let me not get into the technicalities of his works, but what struck me most was his imagination into the future.  Would you believe that “Destination Moon” and “Explorers on the Moon” were published 2 decades before Neil Armstrong stepped on the moon!!  You will notice that the space ships built and the equipment donned by Tintin and others were almost close to the actual used in 1969!!!  Wow, I thought.  Come the 2nd World War, Herge was pushed into exile, fearing an arrest by the Gestapo.  He and his small company ran out of ink, but yet, he put the pencil to use and sketched.  And this is where his greatness comes to light.  While Belgium and the world was reeling under the German onslaught, the concentration camps, he took a different route of providing comic relief by casting Tintin as an explorer rather than an adventurer.  He took the readers into China, into Egypt created several other characters diverting thoughts from the tragic events that were being faced.  Yes, I learnt several other aspects of this man and his thoughts.  The net is a good provider of such information, I am sure.

For me, this was a dream trip.  A trip back into my childhood.  Images of me all of 10 years, dodging some sparse traffic making my way to the dinghy comic book rental store, on the Station Road, besides the Madras Café in Baroda every Saturday to pick up the next one and the next and the one after that came fore.  Those were the days of Tintin, those were the days of the Asterix and Obelix of Commando, those were the days of Hardy Boys (Frank and Joe), and Alfred Hitchcocks’ Three Investigators.  I am sure you will connect with evidence posted in the form of pictures taken at the Museum.  The broad grin on my face gives it up.  The usual reticent me, spent, 10 minutes speaking to the lady at the Museum relic shop, taking her through my journey with Tintin.  Oh another diehard fan she thought a bit amused and bewildered.  Did I bring something back?  Yes, Snowy it was and a couple of folders.  I am planning to carry these folders to official meetings J………