Movie Review : NON STOP (2014, English, Liam Neeson)

Rather frivolous and hackneyed it seemed as the action drama unfolded 40k feet over the MSL.  Liam Neeson with his “I’ve lost everything in the world” look tries to rev up things of what I thought ok, now there will be something good I will get to watch, but alas the ending was too trivial for the palate.  I give this movie full marks because the Hero, is not the one who lands the plane and saves lives...else, there will be like....the control tower howling terse and tense directions, “Do you see the switch that is next to the...turn it on, get to 8000 ft level and ....” and so on for a Hero who would have  flown many a smaller thingy.  Unfortunately, the build up to the movie where the Hero observes co-passengers with earnest intent, giving a feeling that ah here  is a thinker and he will use these observations to solve the mystery...but alas..nothing of this is played back later and the film degenerates into some engaging action with the end giving a feeling more of a shrug than a “Oh wow” or a gasp.  Watch it if there is nothing better to do with an pre-notion of 2 out of 5 rating and you will finally settle at 3 by 5.

On a side note: (This has got nothing to do with NON STOP). I am glad that Liam Neeson had only one Wife and One daughter.  TAKEN 1 was getting his daughter back....TAKEN 2 was getting his Wifey and daughter back...One more in his family and we would have been TAKEN again for the third time :-).

Race Gurram [Telugu, 2014, Allu A, Shruti H]

Laugh Laugh Song Laugh Cry Laugh Laugh song Twist Dishum Dishum Laugh Song Twist Dishum Song Laugh Cry Twist Dishum Song Laugh Laugh Laugh Song Dishum Twist Laugh THE END

That is how the movie went, a perfect masala entertainer with liberal doses of clean comedy that did not appear for once as a put on or on a parallel track....and no this was not Brahmi type comedy..but nicely interwoven into the plot with some of the main characters providing the comic relief. A couple of nice songs.  Was not too impressed with the choreography bit, but the lavish sets keep you involved.  The theme appeared a bit new and natural...was not abrupt especially the transformation part.  Brahmi I felt was wasted, for once I guess his magic did not work.  Allu holds your attention signs of coming of age, Prakash Raj was brilliant as usual,  Shruti H ofcourse provides the glam quotient, the villain appeared to be a mish mash of lots of villain characters across several movies...nothing original here.   Just as you start wondering that the hero could have killed the villain or vice versa but why did he leave him...you are provided with an honest answer..and several such answers....Overall, a good decent entertainer, can go with kids and your family. A 3.5/5.

Movie Review - Rio 2 (April 2014)

Foot tapping music, Colourful screen, Good 3D animation, some good dialogue exchanges, not too much of violence (to scare lil children) but a run of the mill story summarizes Rio 2.  Do not expect too much out of this sequel, but a feeling of pleasantness, a happy childs' face and probably an urge to get up and dance at times.  If you have seen EPIC (read my review...elsewhere on this site), there is not too much that you would see differentiating the caricaturisation and. the look n feel.  All in all a good dekho with the kids this summer and a 3 on 5 from me....

Review: 300 Rise of an Empire [2014] English

No. This was neither a sequel nor a prequel to 300 but what I could term as a Sidequel ie the events happen around the same time of Leonidas and his men's heroics against Xerxes, the one with an embellished attire. What 300 missed to present, was covered in The Rise, viz., how the mighty and fearful Xerxes came into being and what made him and his Commander"ess" seek seething revenge against the Greeks.  This part has been exquisitely interwoven into the main stream story of The Rise.  Action, blood and gore right from the word go with some terrific hard beat pulsating background score and stunning visuals with a rare blend of light effects sums up The Rise.  Unforgettable was the 3D effect when Xerxes walks out to address his people, unforgettable are most of the scenes that were shot on the seas.  Dialogues were good too..the one that I remember "Better we show them, we chose to die on our feet, rather than live on our knees".  I found The Rise better than the 300 for its music, for its action and for its script.  Save some aberrations of bringing in colloquial English into the film, for example, a couple of words that end with "k" and a by now ubiquitous sentimental "son" wanting to fight with "dad" with only one of them surviving, the movie is worth a dekho.  If blood, gore, cut heads and a stereophonic acoustic of "kresh " that you get to hear when Steel cuts through flesh or "liquid droops" read "blood droops" is not your cuppa....you could give this a miss for sure...But if you are upto it, then you could well make your way into the theaters.  Ofcourse, the best place in town Screen 4 @Prazads, Hyderabad for its Dolby Atmos effects.  I would classify this second to probably "Gladiator" for its screenplay and edge of the seat theatrics and would safely give it a 4 on 5.  

Review - Pompeii (English) 2014

A quick Trailer watch or a look at a few posters would surely set you thinking of the "Mother of All" action movies viz., Gladiator and if Pompeii, a new historical-kitsch disaster movie, was Gladiator 2 with some flower pottish Mt Vesuvius volcano thrown in as a masala element.  So it was Gladiator (2D) vs Pompeii (3D).  Even with several scenes lifted straight from the Original, Pompeii was a big big let down.  Poorly shot, with some very predictable twists (?) or the lack of them, cheesy dialogues, crass acting, terrible screenplay, the hero and the herione never die or will to the last minute despite the fiery explosion of Mt. Vesuvius spewing cauldrons of fire all around but save on them and of course the villain (there has to be a one on one last scene fight, No) sums up Pompeii.  Visual effects $^%&**$$ (my favourite expletives)  MY FOOT, were much much to be desired.  The problem I guess was comparing Pompeii with the benchmark that Russel Crowe, the amazing star cast and the story laid out by Gladiator. As is the universal law, every sequel of a movie is much less impressive than the previous one, Pompeii lives up to the expectation of a Gladiator IV or even V. You would do well by giving this a miss for sure....

Review : Movie 1 Nenuokkadine – meaning (1 - I am Alone) – Telugu 2014 Starring Mahesh Babu, Heroine: Idontknowhoo.

1 Nenuokkadine – meaning (1 - I am Alone) – Telugu Movie 2014 Starring Mahesh Babu, Heroine: Idontknowhoo.   So to give company to our Lone-Alone Hero Super Star Mahesh Babu, two other stars viz, Sharan and “yours truly” joined to run alongside him in one of the innumerable races that he indulges in throughout the close to 3 hours flick.  (See picture attached). There have been a good number of reviews already on FB and other media…but as is customary, I am offering mine.

Our Hero suffers from delusion and its complexities.  “What is” and “What is not” is something that he grapples with as the audience is transported into a make believe world of a psycho-thriller.  Plot seemingly inherited from the likes of the Bourne Series with twists to suit the Indian/Telugu mindset, the movie takes one through some real serious stuff.  It is bold, it is experimental and plotted differently.   However, the movie suffers from one chase too many…a 10 min chase on the seas, and multiple 10 min chases on roads, bikes, cars as also on foot.  It also suffers from one song too many.  Formulaic as it may seem ie 3 song and dance sequences before the interval and 3 post, it could well have done with one absorbed into the Titles in the beginning and another towards the Credits end so as to retain the seriousness of the subject or the pace.  Songs are forgettable and the background score…nothing much to write home about.   Thankfully, no Comedy track.  Our hero, true to his nature does not smile keeping the backdrop in mind…no Brahmanandam..(can you believe it !!!!).  

Now, we would be stunned by the “Wowness” if the goody chasing the baddies are shown in a Bond movie, but this kind of “Ahaaness” or “Wowness” escapes us in this movie despite the engagement being of an excellent quality.  Reason, I thought was the un-realism. Our Indian Heros do not die, they cannot be killed by Machine Guns and  high impact car crashes cannot hurt them..…they are capable of “Rat – tat- tatting” multiple rounds of blazing shooting from a teeny weeny pistol all amidst 10 other baddies shooting at our Subject in a concentrated mode using the most sophisticated weapons.  I guess, if this bit is addressed, our guys can churn out good palatable realistic movies matching Hollywood. 

There is one particular scene, where, a fellow shoots from a floor below onto a higher floor (at a possibly 60 deg angle) with the subject standing so far away that a straight line trajectory would miss him by miles.  However,  the bullet, with a mind of its own, as if it were a Guided missile homes in on its target.  A case for our Daya and CID to solve…Will be curious how our CID would tell umpteen times…”Goli yehin se chali hogi..iska matlab…” while stating the obvious but would never be able to get to the bottom of it and would perhaps attribute the death to the use of a supernatural futuristic weapon and solve the case.

I also did not like one of the best macho stars around in Tollywood being addressed as “Doodoo”.  It kind of took away the image…Not sure if he was being addressed in a “Teluguised version of “Dude”.

It actually depends on how you look at it..through one colored glass, the movie appears to be good and through some other it fares as “Passable”.   My son said…”Dad..it was not a pleasant movie” while my wifey remarked.. “I did not see my favorite hero Smile..”  I would give it a 3 out of 5. 

Willing the Mind to Exercise everyday

Willing the Mind to Exercise everyday

This blog is not about expounding on the virtues of exercising every day, but more about how to get yourselves to do it !!!  These ofcourse are my personal thoughts that kind of worked for me.  At the cost of me being a plagiarist, you might get a feeling:  Oh yes, I read about these tips in some book…..but probably never ever put them to practice.   Here goes:

1.       The Positive Imaging technique:  Those who have gone on a morning walk or to the gym for a few days would for sure have felt good through the day.  An experience of a spring in your step  or a smile on your face or the feel of feeling good would have followed suit.  Albeit the pain for the first few days, your legs would have gotten used and would have worked like a well oiled machine in the following days.  Positive imaging is all about imagining yourself for the rest of the day and how good you felt the previous day post exercising.   This imagination more often than not helps to shrug of the early morning inertia and prevent one from hitting the snooze button…

2.       It is all in the mind – Trick it:  Perhaps the toughest part of the regimen or before the daily regimen is getting out of bed from your happy happy snuggle snuggle position.  It is probably those few seconds when you trick your mind into submission of not getting back into bed and the think of positive imaging…Keep your alarm clock not by your bedside but a distance away..which will force you to get up drag your feet to the clock.  By this time you would have lost part of your sleep, by this time you would have tricked your mind into positive imaging, by this time you probably  thought ..”ah well, now that I have gotten up, I would not be able to get a proper sleep and will toss around which will be of no use…the best that I could possibly do is to go breath in some fresh air and might as well feel good for the rest of the day !!!”

3.       Applying Positive Pressure: Talk to your friends, talk to your spouse, talk to your colleagues…tell them that you have started to exercise, tell them that you have started walking or practicing yoga or going to a gym, tell them that you have started walking for a 1km to start with and that you will gradually increase to 3 km in 10 days time.  Your friends, colleagues may ask you on your progress.  This kind of puts you under a self-initiated pressure to do well.  You might start talking about what good the exercising is doing for you and might possibly motivate others to join as well.  You kind of get into a position of no return since you have spoken about the “Goodness” that you will keep your word, today and tomorrow and the day after and ….

4.       Gyan from the CEO of TCS:  Perhaps, the best that has happened to me was an evening party Tete-e-tete with N. Chandra who is an avid Marathonist.  I popped a question, “Sir, How do you find time, given the position you are in to peacefully exercise and that too daily”.  The reply was simple and profound.  He placed his hands on my shoulder and said “My dear Sir, What do you do as soon as you get up”.  I blurted “Well, brush”. He asked “And then”…  I replied “make myself coffee or tea”.  He “And then”.  I said “Reach out to the newspaper”.  He “And then”…I was kind of flustered by then and was wondering where this was going…And the question and answer kept happening for the next 3 minutes or so.  And then he asked “Do you ever forget to brush your teeth or drink your coffee or bathe or ….” He was kind of checklisting my every morning’s routine and then popped “What if you enter a 20 min exercise routine into this checklist?  Can you do that?  Probably, hit bed 30 mins earlier every night so that you do not miss out on your 7 hour sleep, perhaps, hit the “OFF” button on your TV 30 mins early?  Can you do that?”  And he continued “Can you make this a habit just as naturally as you brush your teeth?  Can you sketch this part into your daily routine?  Trust me, if you do this for a month, it will become a habit that you will never ever miss.  And ofcourse, if you do this exactly at the same time of the day, this will become a habit all the more easily”.   I pondered thereafter for the rest of the evening “If, the CEO of a $ 10 Bn enterprise is saying this and is practicing what he is preaching ever so lucidly and in such simple manner, can I not do it ???”.

5.       Choose the Company and the Place:  Having like minded people as company when you exercise helps.  More often than not, you kind of ease off the daily drill after a few days, if you go it alone.  Exercising with a  group is always fun,  each motivating the other.  See what interests you the best and start off with that whether Yoga (there maybe a group under a coach in your friendly neighborhood) or walking or swimming or the gym…You choose…

The bottom line to start off is “Willing your mind to do it”.  This is the key.  Will it and you shall be a happy healthy you….

Caution:  You should check with your Doctor before you get into the exercise routine.  This is an absolute must.

Trust this blog though lengthy is of use to you and you will “WILL YOUR MIND TO EXERCISE EVERY DAY.” 

Prasanna Meher Nori

15^th June 2013