Books and Movies Reviews

(Movie) The Gold Rush directed by Charlie Chaplin

2012-02-11T15:48:00.001+05:30

So, this was the movie that Chaplin wanted to be remembered for the most

Your own jury can be out on that one but one thing is for sure, along with his other great classics like “The Kid” or “City Lights”, “Gold Rush” would rank as one of the all time classics – a feast that can be enjoyed not matter what your age or what your mood for that matter.

Its a measure of Chaplin’s genius that he could sustain his audience through a full length silent feature movie, a length which many modern movies struggle to fill with any meaning, with all the tech wizardy in hand.

Much like “The Kid”, which came earlier, Chaplin is able to combine comedy, pathos, a keen sense of human nature and a social non-judgmental commentary and a sense of irreverent frivolity. Many people today mistaken Chaplin with slapstick or physical comedy, which is a tragedy of ignorance. Almost none of his works are of the kind that would make you laugh without making you think, however subtly. And that is where the power of something like “Gold Rush” comes into focus.

The Tramp is now in the middle of the infamous Gold rush in Alaska of the late 19th century. And as ever, he is bumbling along alone, with his trademark top hat, ill fitting coat and stick, all in the wilderness of Alaska. He is the lone prospector trying his luck in the advertised El Dorado, with only a map drawn with just north south arrows.

On the way to struggle to fame, he meets quite a few characters along the way – the thug, the prospector who finds the mountain of Gold and then loses it, the ladies man Jack, and the woman who he falls in love with – Georgia, a dancing girl in one of the prospecting towns.

With his inimitable charm and bumbling confidence, the Tramp does what he does best – makes you laugh and cry, sometimes at the same time. Between fighting a bear, almost getting eaten after being mistaken as a chicken and escaping from a see-sawing house on an cliff edge, the Tramp is the dreamer who falls madly in love with Georgia, who only finds him a useful foolishness. Some of the most indelible imagery of “Gold Rush” is of the Tramp being a misfit even among misfits. The image of him facing the dance hall, back towards us, with people dancing gaily around him, while he just watches with us seeing his face is one of the most enduring image.

And of course who can forget the simply hilarious dance of the rolls – one of the most famous scenes of all times. A scene that combines a comic timing, comic expressions, a virtuoso skill at the pantomime of dance using rolls, all happening at the backdrop of it taking place in a dream where the tramp is imagining a happy place with a reality quite different. If one scene can define the whole movie, it would have to be this one

What finally happens is something that you have to find for yourself as telling the ending is spoiling the fun. But unlike many of his earlier movies, I found the ending to be a bit equivocal.

The beauty of “Gold Rush” and probably why Chaplin wanted to be remembered for this is that this movie works so well on different levels. It depends on what how the viewer wants to take it. On the surface is a classic Tramp caper with his inimitable style. Dig a bit deeper and you catch glimpses of social satire – on human greed, on human frailty, on vanity, on capriciousness, of pride and of love based on material and physical aspects. And the ending with the kiss, with the Tramp acting the imperious millionaire, is an ending you can take in more ways than one.

Easy to see why the Tramp is such a loved character, even after almost a 100 years after he came on the screen and also easy to see why “Gold Rush” would remain one of the most well-loved of Chaplin’s movie.

The roll dance

Roll Dance Gold rush

(Movie) Inshallah Kashmir directed by Ashvin Kumar

2012-01-31T19:35:00.001+05:30

Banned in India by the ever faithful Big Brother of a censor board, the director took the unprecedented step of releasing this online (apparently there is no law against releasing something online…yet). Ashvin actually opened it up for download for one day – on 26th January, the Republic Day. That’s quite a symbolic gesture!!

And once you see this you know why…

Which is why you need to see it

It has been the practice of all governments to try and dictate what we must see and hear and there us always an effort by all governments to make the public buy into their version of current and historical events.

And there has been an increasing virulence of intolerance by self-appointed patriots whose sense of injustice bleed too easily. Look at what happened to Symbiosis university’s Kashmir seminar “Voices of Kashmir”, which was cancelled due to the ‘fatwa’ by the right wing fringe.

And Kashmir is one topic which will always invoke strong reactions. And this is one topic which will always see an effort to give the ‘official’ version of the story

In Kashmir, Ashvin Kumar has taken different interviews from a wide variety of people to give a very different perspective of Kashmir, different from what the self-censored mainstream media would not give.

Through the interview, Ashvin talks gives a feel of the history of Kashmir and why so many things that we see today has roots in events that happened long time ago, even as long ago as Akbar. But more recently due to the allegedly rigged elections in 1990. During the whole length, all the topics, deemed too controversial for our sensitive ears are brought into the open – rigged elections, army and police brutality, excesses on civilians, mainstream indifference, the Kashmiri Pandit exodus

The people interviewed include ex-militants, current militants, former Kashmir administrator Wajahat Habibullah, Nobel nominated activist Parveena Ahangar (who has struggled for two decades to raise attention to thousands of missing people, or as she calls it ‘enforced disappearances’), Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, a Hindu Pandit couple who were kidnapped by militants

Perhaps the most controversial interview was that of women of village of Kunan Poshpura, who were raped by the Indian army personnel on 23rd February 1991.

It is almost taboo in India to talk about excesses by the Indian Security forces, as if they are somehow fundamentally different from armies in rest of the world. In a situation of warfare where you have absolute control over life and death decisions, its a power that corrupts easily. So to expect the Indian army to somehow be made of supermen of morals is to believe a whole hypocrisy.

There were no holy cows who were spared. Its not only the army and the Indian government who are brought to the dissecting tables, the people on the other side – the militants are brought here too.

Ashvin tries to show that there are no good guys or bad guys. There are only situations and there is only human nature. People, be they the idealistic youth who took to militancy or the common soldier, act according to the prism they are shown. The militants see the Indians as invaders who use guns to silence Kashmir. The soldiers see the militants as an extension of Pakistan, the enemy who is an enemy because they always have been.

Importantly, what ‘Inshallah Kashmir’ catches brilliantly are the ordinary people who are caught in the middle. The women searching for 20 years for their missing children, husbands and brothers, who are all most certainly dead. The women who were raped just because they were vulnerable enough. The aspiring young cartoonist who was made to feel a terrorist in his country’s capital just because he was Kashmiri, the budding cricketer who lost a leg just because he was caught in a demonstration, the militant who was disillusioned with both sides of the conflict, the kidnapped couple who helped their captors escape because they understood that the army could not…

Inshallah Kashmir shows that that we are far from making any solutions in Kashmir. Instead of winning over people, we are subjecting a new generation of Kashmiris to only one image of India – that of a rifle and Army boots. How can we make it better from that?

The documentary has a very raw feel to it – almost as if the director wanted to maintain the immediacy of the videos taken. It is almost as if its something that you could have taken. Its one the main reasons you get drawn to ‘Inshallah Kashmir’. It puts you behind the camera and brings you into the lives of the people that the censor board didn't want you to see…

It is important that you see this. Its good to have your beliefs challenged.

Catch the whole documentary here…

Technorati Tags: Kashmir,Inshallah Kashmir,India,controversy,indian army,army,militancy,ashvin kumar,documentary

(Movie) Nine Lives directed by Rodrigo Garcia

2012-01-29T09:47:00.001+05:30

While seeing this and while trying to put a word to the beauty of what was unfolding, I was reminded of the way some photographs seem to capture some things perfectly and while you watch, you seem to find hidden layers of meaning in the same photo – in the trees, in the eyes, in the mouth and so on.

If I have to describe this movie, this is how it seems – a series of beautifully and thoughtfully shot photographs with meanings in every frame. It is a movie made with lots of care, for its characters, for the situation and for the ‘baggage’ (as the Glenn Close says) that we all carry around

Directed by Rodrigo Garcia, son of Gabriel Garcia Marquez, ‘Nine Lives’ is a series of nine snapshots revolving around nine women and the situation they deal with. There is no beginning and there is no end. Perhaps it can best be described as windows into the lives of the characters, a small chance to see a small part of their lives.

Stephen Hawking mentioned a few days back that he feels that women are the biggest mystery of the universe. ‘Nine Lives’ show also how varied each woman can be. Through situations of helpless anger, hopelessness, adultery, pain, sacrifice, yearning, fear we are offered glimpses of the strength, vulnerability and resilience of nine women.

Each of the nine stories are independent of each other but the characters from one story sometimes show up in others – just like life.

Much like O Henry stories, each of the nine are a richly textured world of its own, with its own set of rules and past. Because there is no ‘end’, you end up wondering what may happen next. And because the director does not give you closure, you can only wonder about the answers – just like life.

The stories start as if in the middle of the telling and as you watch you piece together of where the characters have come from and by the time the climax appears, you get a fair idea of the life of the character and even though there is no ‘end’, you still feel a sense of incomplete completeness, to use an oxymoron.

There has been a spate of movies like these recently, trying to weave stories with separate incidents. However what sets ‘Nine Lives’ apart are two things -the sheer weight of the acting talents and the power of the storytelling.

The cast includes Glen Close, Robin Wright Penn, Amanda Seyfried, Elpida Carillo, Ian McShane, Jason Isaacs, Aidan Quinn, Holly Hunter, William Fichtner, Joe Manegna. Almost to a T, all of them have given powerhouse performances. Perhaps because the time to make a presence was so limited, it seems that each of the actor has found some inner reserve to bring out that extra spark.

Many of the performances require speaking with the body rather than with words and that is where this movie left its impact on me. The scene at the shopping mall aisle, the climax scene in the funeral home, the cutting short of the adultery and the last breathtaking scene of Glenn Close all without a single word said more or less makes this one a must watch.

Watch this not for passing the time because ‘Nine Lives’ will suck you in by the time the second story ends. Watch this if you like feeling being a part of a well told story, watch this if you like thinking for some more time after the credits roll.

Some of these stories will stay with you for quite some time

Technorati Tags: Nine lives,women,rodrigo garcia,movie,review,short movie,snapshots,situations,glenn close,robin wright

Buying Kindle in India – the Long and Short

2011-10-29T08:38:00.000+05:30

Taking a break from reviews, I wanted to put in a post about buying Kindle from India. This blog is about books and Kindle is one of the best things that has happened to books in recent times.

For me, Kindle is the best thing that happened since the Gutenberg press. If you need some convincing, see my 10 points why you need a Kindle.

If you are one of those whose idea of a relaxed afternoon is curling up and immersing yourself in a story, the idea of a device that allows you to have books at touch of a button is tempting indeed. And unless you are a Luddite who is hell-bent on only reading books in print, you would have contemplated buying a Kindle at one time or the other.

So what has stopped you? It maybe one of the below

· Unavailability of all models to be shipped to India

· Shipping charges

· Doubts of full working of Kindle functionalities in India like whispernet

This article is about how I bought a Kindle Touch sitting in India and how I have been enjoying some of the best reading experience I have ever had. I will also try to dispel doubts on what works and what does not when you buy a Kindle in India

First of all, let me put this in writing – You can get any Kindle variety in India. All depends on the amount of money you want to spend and the time you are willing to wait to get your hand on the Kindle

Lets look at all the things that you need to look at when you are deciding to buy a Kindle in India

First off - Functionalities

For those of you wondering what you will get when you buy and use Kindle in India, first off, the below is a list of all services that Kindle can give you:

· Whispersync

Synchronizes your bookmarks, last page read and annotations across devices

· Free eBooks

There are literally tons of free eBooks out there on Amazon. And many are new books as well, promoted by the authors to gain an audience

· Touch buying

You can literally find a book in 60 seconds and start reading (if you have wifi on)

· Lending library

Amazon has a Amazon Prime membership, you can, as an owner of Kindle, choose from thousands of books and borrow for free including New York Times bestsellers. And no due dates!!!

· Cloud backup

Your library (the ones that you buy from Kindle that is) is backed up securely on Amazon servers. So never lose a book again!!

· Warranty – 1 year warranty

So here is the good news – You get all the services if you buy in India!!!

So it does not matter where you buy it from. As soon as you connect to Amazon, you get the full roster of services!!

Read on about buying the Kindle in India

Which Kindle?

There are currently 5 varieties of Kindle available from Amazon. First lets take a look at which Kindle makes you salivate the most.

My personal favourite is Kindle Touch – it is at the sweet spot between price, convenience and cool!!

The main thing – Buying your Kindle

So what are the ways in which you can buy?

There are two options really – Amazon international shipment or sites like EBay India

Buying from Amazon –

To start off with, lets see what Amazon site gives as options for international shipment.

There are four Kindle items that Amazon ships internationally

· Basic Kindle - $109 (6” screen, Wifi, Non Keyboard)

· Kindle Keyboard - $139 (6” screen, Wifi, Keyboard) – currently showing out of stock

· Kindle Keyboard 3G - $ 189 (6” screen, Wifi, 3G, Keyboard)

· Kindle DX - $ 379 (9.7” screen, Wifi, 3G, Keyboard)

Main misses: Kindle Touch and Kindle Fire family

My personal take – only the basic Kindle from the above makes sense to me. Keyboard is seldom used unless you are a hardcore PhD student in English. The 6” screen is enough and is the perfect size. This is the size of a normal page of a book. You can easily read and what is more important, carry it around easily.

Also everyone has wifi in their house now. So why pay extra for a 3G chip? 3G in any case is patchy and unless you have uncontrollable urges to download books in the middle of roads, 3G is pretty much useless. In case you don’t have a just buy a wifi router and convert your broadband into a wifi network. It doesn’t cost much. You can check out routers from here if you want.

So how much do you pay to get that Kindle into your house?

This is what you pay (assuming you are buying the Basic Kindle)

· Listed price - $109

· Shipping and handling: $ 11.98

· Import fees deposit: $ 28.21

Total payment to be made: $ 149.19

In INR – Rs 7500 (approx, with exchange rate of 50.4)

And how long does it take: 8- 16 business days (usually they ship within 10 days)

So in about a couple of weeks, after paying Rs 7500, the kindle comes up at your doorstep.

Buying from eBay India

Now there are various sites out there which will claim to get you your Kindle. Not taking any names, if I have to put my money on a site for international shipments, that would be eBay India. Peace of mind is guaranteed.

So, what are the options for Kindle that eBay gives:

· Basic Kindle – Rs 6500 (6” screen, Wifi, Non Keyboard)

· Kindle Keyboard – Rs 7990 (6” screen, Wifi, Keyboard)

· Kindle Touch – Rs 8499 (6” screen, Wifi, Non Keyboard)

· Kindle Keyboard 3G– Rs 10,900 (6” screen, Wifi, 3G, Keyboard)

· Kindle Touch 3G – Rs 12,200 (6” screen, Wifi, 3G, Non Keyboard)

· Kindle Fire – Rs 15,900 (7” screen, Wifi, Non Keyboard)

Comparing apples to apples – eBay India is a clear winner. You save a cool 1000/- if you buy the basic Kindle from eBay

I bought a Kindle touch, because well, I wanted a touchscreen (personal preference as I feel it makes the reading a tad easier) and Kindle Touch, you can buy only from eBay

This is the merchant that I bought from - http://stores.ebay.in/isalesservice

My experience

I bought my Kindle from eBay India and I got the Kindle touch within flat 3 days with full Kindle packing. It took me no time to connect to Amazon.com and register. It was a very satisfying experience and continues to be so far

The Final verdict – Where should you it from?

Well, it almost seems like a no-brainer as eBay India comes out on top on all the following parameters –

· Price – you save 1000/-

· Variety – Kindle touch and Fire. Amazon does not ship them

· Time to your home – there is a saving of atleast 5 days between eBay and Amazon

So do you go blindly for eBay?

Well, you can as I am yet to have a negative experience of eBay. And since you get the full functionalities whether you buy from eBay India or Amazon, might as well save that money.

The only reason you might want to buy from Amazon is if you want to be 100% of the purchase and are willing to pay extra to get it from the source. Amazon has an amazing delivery mechanism and I have never heard a negative comment on their service.

Boils down to your personal preference, in the end…

So what are you waiting for?

Buy now from eBay India

Buy now from Amazon international

I hope that this small article comes in use to you. Do let me know your experience in buying Kindle from India

Technorati Tags: Kindle,india,buying kindle in india,kindle in india,ebay,amazon,kindle india

(Movie) The American directed by Anton Corbijn

2011-01-30T01:16:00.001+05:30

If you just happen to read the promotional summary of this movie which reads “An assassin hides out in Italy for one last assignment.”, and look at the poster, you would be forgiven for thinking that this is a Jason Bourne or a Neeson “Taken” type of swashbuckling movie…

If you sit down to watch this with an intent to lose your blues in an orgy of fast moving punches and adrenaline pumping chases, you would be sorely disappointed. And that is only because this is a case of bad marketing…

Because this is probably one of the best movies that I have ever seen. And it becomes one not due to any breakthrough theme or espousing some philosophy that multiple views to get the aha moment.

It does this by having a screenplay that almost makes it a visual O Henry short story - a taut storyline that leaves more questions than answers, by a character sketch that is as profound as it is multi- dimensional and yes having a background score that almost gives a dark poetic feel…It had the same feel as Uzak (Distant) does in most part…

At the centre of this extraordinary movie is perhaps one of the most (till yet) under-rated actor of our generation – George Clooney. Watch this movie, Up in the Air, Syriana, Michael Clayton, Oceans series, One fine day and the sheer extraordinary range of Clooney comes through. And this movie is given its quality by his sheer presence.

Clooney is Jack, an ageing assassin, looking for a way out, another life. A man of few words, almost of Spartan laconism and never betraying emotion, at times he seems like a cold calculating machine who shows no remorse (especially when you get past the first 5 mins). However as we move along, we realize that its just a job for him and its the same as when we do something over and over again, we end up doing it highly efficiently and without thinking. And as we see, he is not without his demons either. Or a conscience…

Where Clooney shines through as Jack is that he gives one of his best performances without so much as a handful of dialogues. Its all in his eyes and his slight changes of expression and postures. Its when you see a performance like this that you realize we as humans respond much more to body language and visual signs rather than to spoken words. As you watch this movie, you begin to feel extraordinarily close to Jack and you begin to understand him and how he is feeling and all without hearing anything much from him!! Its only then that you appreciate the depth of this performance.

A performance that for me reaches its opus at the end. The mingled expression of anger, frustration, pain, regret, helplessness, determination in one single moment is a performance that few actors can manage – past or present. The whole movie, for me, was given the perfect ending in the last five minutes.

Violante Placido (As Clara) also plays a superb supporting cast as the quintessential prostitute with the golden heart (a role as old as modern cinema and yet never seems to touch the heart!). The transformation of the relationship and the growing maturity of the relationship between Jack and Clara is another of the highlight of the movie (as is the relationship between Jack and Father Benedetto)

This is a movie that should be watched for the depth of the performances and for its perfect screenplay (the ending of the movie is something that i found better than the book’s on which its based - A Very Private Gentleman by Martin Booth). And yes watch it especially for Clooney who gives his most subtle, understated and yet powerful performance till now (after Syriana)…

Oh and yes there action sequences – short, brutal and yes silent!!

This is a movie that stays…

One more thing…there are just about tonnes of people who either have no clue about what the movie was about or did not watch it through, or both – sample this review for instance :)

del.icio.us Tags: The american,A Very Private Gentleman,Martin Booth,george clooney,italy,assassin,
movie,review,protik,basu,protik basu

(Book) Timeline by Michael Crichton

2011-01-12T00:10:00.001+05:30

This was a book recommended to me by Wikipedia when I was reading up on string theory which naturally referred itself to parallel universes and hence to time travel. This and ‘Man in high castle’ by Philip K Dick, both of which I immediately lapped up on my Infibeam Pi.

This is a typical Crichton novel – an interesting scientific possibility with a decent amount of research, a band of adventurers, an evil but high-tech corporation and a great story which as always is a page turner.

And most importantly, for me – a science fiction and history buff, a story that combines both. And like every story that combines them, this story too packs quite a punch.

So just immerse yourself into a world where it has become possible to travel into the past, which as Crichton reminds us, is not too much into the remote future anyway. A team of archaeologists in modern France excavating a site which saw action during the Hundred Years war (between France and England in the 14th century) are drawn into a larger game plan of the company sponsoring their study, when they find their professor’s glasses and a note spelling ‘Help’ while excavating a site that had not seen light in the last 600 years.

So begins an adventure that sees the group tumbling into 14th century France, into a world which all their scholarship could not prepared them for. And the period is one of the most volatile times in the region’s history – an invasion is taking place and with medieval casual brutality around every corner, the story soon takes a scorching pace. And then comes a very unexpected twist – they may not be the only 20th century people out there!!!

A great read for a rainy day when you want to be entertained and thrilled. Don't expect too much depth or great characterization, that's not what the book is for. The book is for entertainment, pure and simple, with a very interesting plot.

And yes, the movie they made out of this is terrible. Give it a miss, read the book instead…

del.icio.us Tags: Michael Crichton,timeline,book review,france,england,history,science fiction,time travel,thriller,parallel universe

(Book) The Running Man written by Stephen King (as Richard Bachman)

2011-01-09T19:15:00.001+05:30

I still cringe when people talk of Stephen King as a novelist exclusively of the horror or paranormal genre. It would seem that all the information deluge (or maybe because of the deluge) on the net is insufficient to wipe out the image carved out by popular media. This book is one which will not at all fit the stereotype. Set in a dystopian future (in 2025), this book owes its debt to Orwell rather than to Bela Lugosi…

I was lucky to start off on King by reading the novella – four seasons. There, in those four very different stories, you realize that above all, King is a master storyteller. And that is something that is common in all the books he has written. In fact I have liked his non-horror books more…

Ben Richards, the protagonist, is the classic quiet brooding angry man forced to play the part of the unwilling rebel in a world gone bad. And a world gone to extreme reality television. The proles in 1984 were kept in a state of zombification by lottery and sex magazines. Here the citizens are kept in a state of permanent television frenzy, with reality television becoming a permanent fabric of existence. The Games federation (which organizes the TV shows) is an unelected quasi-government.

And the reality games have become actually that – a perverted terrifying reality. The greatest crowd puller over the centuries has been a public execution. The Games federation has just used this mob mentality and has come up with the “Running Man”, a game where men are hunted and killed- the longer the men stay alive, the more money they earn. And they have no shortage of takers. People are willing to put themselves on the show to earn money to feed their starving families, as Ben does.

Ben goes through the qualification process and finally proceeds to be selected for their star show, the ‘Running Man’, his often caustic comments and observations illuminating his world for us. He then has to find a way to stay alive and keep earning money for his wife and a sick daughter and somehow beat the system at the same time. Through his eyes, we begin to understand the world, its real nature and how it came to be as it is.

Like all King novels, this is a scorching page turner. And like all his novels, the characters come out well, especially Ben’s and all the people he meets along the way.

Though I would have liked a slightly less melodramatic ending, the book comes out very well in being both a great story and in setting out a bleak vision for a world that may very well be coming true in many shades today. This latter aspect, its relevant topicality, is what makes this book so interesting.

Looking at the world today, when big corporates have learnt that they need to control media and especially television for control (and control means money), when reality television seems to be getting weirder and weirder, a ‘Running Man’ may not be far off…after all, a man getting killed in public is something that we have learnt to enjoy for many centuries. Its only a question of bringing the beast out!!!

P.S- they made a movie out of this, with the same name, which leaves out the best elements of the book; made it into a typical mindless action flick. Avoid!!

del.icio.us Tags: running man,stephen king,dystopia,america,movie,book review,review,ben richards,reality television,television

(Movie) Silent Night directed by Rodney Gibbons

2010-12-17T02:39:00.001+05:30

This movie, for me, is like “Dogpound shuffle”, a gem almost completely unknown generally. A movie that I saw on TV on a delightful channel called Hallmark (which stopped being aired long time back) way back in middle school and a movie that I craved seeing ever since. Internet finally came to my rescue and I was finally able to get it on my hard drive…

There is a certain appeal about movies that play out in a room or a house and dont use outside locales (the best case in point being “The Man from Earth”). That is because you have to rely on intelligent and taut scripting and need to have completely fleshed out characters to hold attention. You more or less rely completely on conversation to make the story.

Right from the first frame, you realize that this is going to be a dramatic movie. The scene of Elisabeth Vincken (Linda Hamilton) trudging on the snowy wastes of a forest tugging along her son Fritz Vincken (the narrator), the landscape littered with wrecked tanks and dead soldiers, makes you take notice…

It is 1944 and Elisabeth Vincken is a German mother with a young son who goes upto the family log cabin in the forest, which you realize is the theatre of the Battle of the Bulge, ostensibly to get to a safer place. But she has a deeper reason, which is revealed later…

The drama starts when their cabin is invaded first by three American soldiers, one of whom is seriously injured, followed soon after by three Germans. Events take such a turn (which it would be a spoiler to reveal!) that Elisabeth comes into a position where she is able to broker a temporary truce between the two parties so that they leave their weapons outside. It is naturally an absurd position to be in, in the middle of World War II and the soldiers are naturally incredulous at the situation but as it happens, it is something that they decide to abide by…for the moment…and they settle down to celebrate a very unusual Christmas

This is when the movie really comes into its own. The characters are so life-like that you begin to understand the personalities of each within a few minutes. The situations are realistic and makes the story move along at a clip. Mutual suspicion (after all you are supposed to be killing each other!!!) slowly starts turning into curiosity and later even grudging warmth.

The basic attraction about the movie cannot be understood unless the movie is watched since its all in the dialogues and the reactions of the different characters thrown together in this unusual situation. The atmosphere is always laden with taut tension (with the threat of things getting out of hand any time) and nervous camaraderie as everyone, over the course of the night, begins to understand a little bit of the other.

The whole story is about something very basic about human nature – we are as easy to be at each others throat as to be sitting around a table eating together, a paradox. And this simple fact is beautifully captured. At the end, after a dramatic ending, you wonder whether thats not the best way to defuse all wars – make them all sit around a table for dinner!! And yes, I loved the ending – completely went with what you would have expected from each of the characters.

By the way, if you were wondering at the outlandish situation (as i did), you would be pleasantly surprised to know that it is in fact a completely true story!!! This is one of those “happens only during wars” kind of story…and the fact that it is true makes it all the more compelling.

This is one gem of a movie that is difficult to find but it is one that is for keeps. Somehow my movie library seems complete with this…

del.icio.us Tags: world war,world war II,silent night,Linda Hamilton,true story,war,unusual,german,americanm soldier,battle of the bulge

(Book) Fatherland written by Robert Harris

2010-11-03T02:12:00.001+05:30

I had read Harris’ Pompeii before and had found the setting fascinating. So the first thing that drew me to Fatherland was the setting – an alternate history world where the Nazis had won the war. And pretty soon, you realize that in Xavier March, you have a hero in SS uniform who stumbles upon one of humanity’s greatest kept secret, a secret always suspected but one so horrible that its almost impossible to believe!!!

If the setting is fascinating, so is the pace of the story. As March gets deeper and deeper into a conspiracy that is the very foundation of the Third Reich, you get a glimpse of the world that would have been if the Wehrmacht had not been stopped at the gates of Stalingrad. A world where Albert Speer got to design Germany the way he wanted to, a world where Third Reich seems all set to fulfil the prophesy of Hitler of being a “Thousand year Reich”, a world where Europe is under the rule of the swastika and the eagle, where Churchill and the queen live in exile, a world where Goering dies of natural causes and Heydrich still lives and Stalin fights an endless guerrilla war on the edges of what was once the Soviet Empire. A world where Jews have disappeared and Slavs work as maids and gardeners.

Its 1964 and its a Cold War and its between Germany and USA and the president of USA, a Kennedy is on a detente visit to the Reich. The reclusive Fuhrer’s birthday is about a week away. A body is fished out one early morning and Xavier March is called in to investigate. So starts a story that ends up much bigger that anyone could have imagined. March, a member of the SS, who is not exactly the ideal National Socialist is a man who needs an excuse to turn rebel and this is a chance he gets as the story unfolds.

This is a story which is in many ways similar to Orwell’s 1984, in that the state has become like Big Brother, except the level of technological surveillance has not not quite peaked yet (and unlike the terrifying spirit breaking world of 1984, the Third Reich simply kills you). March is similar to Winston Smith, with an undercurrent of rebellion and like Smith, March is lonely and desperate to seek even a glimpse of an alternate world.

What Harris does splendidly is that he creates an alternative world that is completely believable (Germany was close to getting an atom bomb at one time and them getting it is the turning point in this history). The way Hitler’s Germany permeated social life is shown here as it was – a society where children were taught that their loyalty lay first with the state and not with their parents.

And I loved the portrayal of March – like Andrei Taganov in “We the Living”, he is a tragic hero who may have once believed but slowly and irrevocably becomes disillusioned and in case of March, actively commits subversion against the state.

And I loved the ending – thank God it did not have a clichéd Hollywood ending, would have spoilt the whole feel of the book…

This is one book that may not have the power of 1984 but its not meant to be a social commentary. This is a book that is supposed to thrill you and set you to turn your pages. This the book does fantastically. You get to love the story, you get close to March and if you have even a passing interest in history, you would love the setting. Cheering for one of the SS is not something you can do everyday!!!

del.icio.us Tags: Fatherland,Robert Harris,Xavier March,science fiction,alternate history,Nazi,germany,book,book review,review

10 reasons why Kindle makes sense

2010-09-28T08:40:00.000+05:30

So here is a list of 10 reasons why buying a Kindle makes perfect sense

1. Investment – an investment you can recover in a couple of months
2. Annotations – take notes and copy favourite lines as you read
3. Great offers and bargains
4. Get those difficult to find books
5. Carry anywhere. Read for long
6. Never lose a book that you buy
7. Great third party applications for getting your books in kindle
8. Show off
9. Read on PC from where you left off on Kindle
10. Browse the net

(Movie) Chevolution directed by Luis Lopez, Trisha Ziff

2010-09-26T21:41:00.001+05:30

It is the story of the power of a single image

Everyone has seen the image. Some may have wondered who he is, some of us know but everyone has been struck by it – the image of a man wispily bearded, hair flowing like a mane, looking intensely, penetratingly over the shoulder of the photographer as if into infinity.

Arguably the most reproduced image in the world, the image has adorned everything from the ubiquitous T-shirts, coffee mugs, key chains, vodka bottles, swatch watches, protest marches. It can be found painted on the walls of ghettos of Miami, in the guerrilla headquarters of the Zapatistas in Mexico, in the insurrection in Palestine and Philippines and as a tattoo on the arm of Maradona. It can be equally found as a backdrop of a swish bar in Bangalore to a free clinic in most rural Bolivia.

No other image in the history of images has been used so widely in so many, often contradictory, settings. No image has been able to evoke the sense of empathy among such a diverse group of people cutting across geography and time as has this image. No other image has spontaneously come up whenever there has been a conflict – from Sarajevo to Iraq.

This is the story of this image. This is also the story of the power of an image, of an icon – in sustaining a myth and in propagating it. Images tell a thousand tales but few image can tell both the story of universal rebellion and defiance and sell socks and vodka at the same time. That is why this is a story that needs to be told.

The first part deals with the man Che Guevara and a short history of the man – from his motorcycle journey to the Cuban revolution, then bringing in the history of the man who took the iconic image, an image that he labelled later as Guerrillero Heroico (Heroic Guerrilla) – Alberto Korda. We the context in which the photograph was taken – a mere two frame shot that Korda took during a memorial service for victims of the La Coubre explosion, when Che stepped forward for a few seconds before disappearing from view. The power of the image struck Korda but it was not widely circulated until the student riots of 1968 in Paris, when the image suddenly exploded and became a symbol for the passions of an entire generation.

The story moves on to how various parallel developments, not always connected to each other led to the image going viral at the right moment – Fidel and Korda’s refusal to copyright the image in the name of free expression, the invention of new imaging and copying techniques, the dawning of the age of larger than life celebrity (Elvis, Dylan, Beatles etc), rebellion fervour in university campus around the world (Vietnam war was reaching its climax) and finally the murder of Che in Bolivia, martyring him, at a time when he was arguably the most famous revolutionary in a world where visual media was beginning to flex its muscles.

All of the conditions come together to make the image an almost independent entity from the man. With the result that down the decades people starting consuming the image unaware of who the man is and what he stood for. But what is fascinating is how the core idea and ideals of the image and indeed of Che himself survived the commercial appropriation. While Che’s image adorns bikinis in Brazil, it is still held aloft when injustice is protested anywhere in the world.

The film-makers have made a very slick and coherent narrative of the journey of the image. The pace never lets up and it has managed to bring together many different viewpoints in one single storyline. We hear the history of the man and move on to the image and then on to how that image began to mean everything rebellious even after being appropriated. We hear from the people directly responsible for making the image go viral and from those who consume the image – from people who denounce him as a murderer and wonder what is there to emulate to those who say that they are not believers but if they have to believe, they would believe in god Che. Along the way we are given a grasp of why Che is still so fascinating and mesmerising to us, fifty years after his death (he is worshipped as a saint in Vallegrande, where he was killed).

No side is taken by the makers and the narrative is politically neutral (not an easy feat when dealing with Che). The focus is on the image and the threads that come and go from it…

It has got a great cast (including film-stars!!), perfect editing, fascinating footage, great music and most of all it has a great theme as subject. We gain a better understanding of ourselves and the society around us, our need for heroes and how a powerful image like this fulfils all our needs. We get a better understanding of the power of image. And not the least, we understand Che a little better, to his relevance, as an icon, as an ideal in a world he would have felt intensely uncomfortable in…

I was shocked to see the rating on Imdb, one of the rare times that the site has got it completely wrong. I wonder if people actually saw this before rating it. Or maybe it was only the Cuban-Americans of Florida who voted!!!

del.icio.us Tags: che guevara,chetak,cuba,society,imagery,visual,media,photo,korda,chevolution,communit,market

(Movie) Shoeshine directed by Vittorio De Sica

2010-09-14T23:50:00.001+05:30

This is one movie that I have been wanting to see for a long time. I had seen “Bicycle Thieves” before by Sica, which is one of the rare movies that haunt you even by the mere mention of the name…And one thing that I realized after seeing these two movies by Sica is that he gives the killer blow right at the end – the silent walk by the father and the son in “Bicycle Thieves” and in this case Pasquale’s shattered cries as the horse, the hope, trots away, almost in despair…

Sica has a special touch with children and this movie really brings it out…

The heart of this story is, I believe, about innocence and how fragile it is. Its post-war Italy, a society trying to find new meaning. Children, as is always the case, become the hidden victims. Giuseppe and Pasquale, are two gamins in our story, who are shoeshiners and fast friends. Their only ambition in life is to own a horse that they love, for which they saved for some time. They get involved in a crime without realizing it, but which enables them to buy the horse. Their dream is short-lived though, as they are soon caught and thrown into juvenile prison.

And so starts their slow dehumanization. They valiantly attempt to keep up their humour and their strands of friendship together but a system which bothers only with incarceration and not with justice just does not allow that.

In an almost Dickensian atmosphere, children are treated as adult criminals, which then makes them into one and in an ironical self-serving judgement, the authorities turn around and say - “I told you so”

It has its own elements of dark humour and there is a faint underlying theme of absurdity in the cinematography as if the story is telling you how absurd the world is that makes children end up in prison and how absurd it is that we are able to rationalize it somehow.

The end of this story is both visceral and darkly poetic at the same time and as I said, is a hallmark of Sica’s movies. And it is an end that would haunt the viewer for a long time.

You become so close to the two boys and to some other inmates of the prison especially Raffaele that in the end you almost feel like crying at the utter waste of it all…

This is one classic that you miss at your own peril. This is a movie to cherish and pass on. No review is enough until you actually see it…

I cant wait to see the rest of Sica’s movies – “Umberto D” and “Children are watching us”, next on list…

del.icio.us Tags: Shoeshine,vittorio De sica,neo-realism,Italy

(Movie) Dogpound Shuffle directed by Jeffrey Bloom

2010-08-28T13:18:00.001+05:30

Before writing a review of the movie, a little note on how damn difficult it is to find it!!!

I first saw this movie when I was somewhere around class IX or even earlier. Like so many gems, it was coming at an odd time – late afternoon or so and I just chanced to see it after it had already begun. I remember being mesmerized by the simple yet touching story about a man and his quest to free his dog. I found out the name later (from one of those TV guides that I used to pore over). I think I saw it once more but I am not sure…

The movie stayed with me for all these years as one of those childhood movies that you saw but which you want to see again. The internet age came and the download speed slowly increased so now we are now able to download videos effortlessly where we could download images painfully ten years ago.

This movie however remained elusive even after extensive searching. There were other hard to find movies that I eventually pounced upon – like “Silent Night”, “The Scarlet and the Black” etc but this one was tough. Real tough…

So I get into these fits of energy when a notion seizes me and I keep searching for whatever catches my fancy like a maniac. The “Dogpound Shuffle” mania kept hitting me every second year. And this time I was ready to buy from Amazon if necessary.

But wonder of wonders!!! Amazon has only a VHS tape of the movie (obviously used!!). I mean, VHS? After having reeled a bit from this sort of a letdown from the god of online shopping, I searched like a maniac for any torrent that might even give me 1Kbps speed!!!

And just when I had almost given up, I found it!!! Where? In a DVD lending website based in India – 70mm!!! I had to kick myself more than a dozen times before I could actually believe that a movie that the awesome power of Internet and Amazon combined was not able to deliver was lying nonchalantly in a DVD lending library that is just a phone call away!! Irony of modern technology, no less!!! Anyway, so thats how I got this movie…Phew!!!

So about the movie. I watched it after almost 12 years and it still retained the magic that I had felt then. The story of an old tap dancer who teams up with a failed prizefighter who plays harmonica to raise money to free his dog from the Dogpound is a story that O Henry could have been proud of.

It has all the qualities of an excellent short story – You get fleeting glimpses into the lives of the characters but all the story is told in action, in the dialogues and the story is one which is lived in present. And like the best of stories, this is about relationships between people – in this case between people who start off being together to survive, in order to gain something from the other and end up forming a kinship that is difficult to put a name to.

It has a old literature feel that gives it a certain feeling of old romance – of two drifters finding friendship and purpose in and from each other, in a story that is beautiful and touching in its message of friendship. This is a movie that gives off a warm snug feeling and leaves you wet-eyed and laughing at the same time…

Its quite a wonder to me how this movie is not at all popular as it should be – a sentiment echoed, as I found, on Amazon and Imdb.com. This is a movie for all ages and for the whole family…

Well, I dont really care about others but I do know this – this is one movie I am making multiple copies of. This is a movie that is rare in every sense of the world…

I wish I could tell you to go and see it…Unless you get it from 70mm, good luck to you in the whole wide world!!!

del.icio.us Tags: Dogpound shuffle,dog,harmonica,tap dance,drifter,classics

(Movie) Watchmen directed by Zack Snyder

2010-08-28T13:05:00.001+05:30

The problem with some books (more specifically graphic novel, in this case) is that they are literally untranslatable into movie form. Especially when the story is highly complex and interwoven with multiple characters with a storyline that needs to go back and forth in time to make sense.

The problem doubles when the storyline contains “Superheroes”. Then the movie has to take form of the typical action superhero format (Batman, Spiderman etc) or become watered down in its effort to appeal both to the graphic novel fan and to the mass audience. An example of the latter is V for Vendetta, which was a highly sanitized teenager version of the original novel, which more or less killed its appeal for those who cherish the original.

The plot, simply put (very simply!!) is this. Watchmen is about an alternate/parallel world similar to ours but different in many others. In this world, US has won the Vietnam war but only because they had the help of the Watchmen (their predecessors, the Minutemen helped win WWII), a group of vigilantes who don't have special powers like typical superheroes (except one) but they still dress up as ones and help out with ‘saving the world’. They become unpopular however and are disbanded. The story starts with one of them getting murdered by an unknown assailant. One of the Watchmen (Rorschach), who has refused to leave the ‘field’ decides to investigate…so the story and the movie begins…

Watchmen is as much a complex novel as V for Vendetta, if not more. The film-maker chose a simpler route to avoid the fate of V. They simply copied the frames of the movie from the original. When I say copied, I literally mean a xerox. While watching the movie, I had a weird feeling that I was seeing the novel move in fast motion. Even the dialogues were the same. Which in a way killed it for me – I loved the original and seeing the same thing in front of me without any adaptation or original thought of any sort made the movie feel like a sham, made it feel like a rip-off. What made it worse that they still had to water it down significantly in order to make it comprehensible in the 3 odd hours it played (it was a long movie) – for example, the pirate sub-story was gone…

Then I stepped back a bit. I realized that the novel cannot be made into a movie and be pleasing to someone who loves the original. But for those who are not so close to the original or have not read it, it was more than above average. It has a great storyline, has fascinating characters, great camera and animation work and yes, superb music. I mean, when they played “Sounds of Silence” by Simon & Garfunkel during the funeral of the Comedian, the movie took on a surreal air. And the opening song by Dylan as the movie is introduced fits the mood perfectly.

And yet, no matter what, you cannot relate to the characters, like you did in the original. Everyone remains just about distant…

So, if watchmen is something you haven't read, this movie is worth a watch, if only as a primer for the read. And if you have read the original, give this one a skip…

del.icio.us Tags: Watchmen,graphic novel,movie review

(Book) Carrie written by Stephen King

2010-08-27T14:23:00.001+05:30

Just for my own record, this is the first book I finished on my e-book reader (the Infibeam Pi)!!!

“Four Seasons” was the first book by King that I read and contrary to what people around me have been telling me about the author’s genre, the first thing that had struck me about King was that he was one of the finest storyteller I have read and all of his stories were not of the macabre. It did not matter whether he wrote about paranormal or macabre activities, spine chilling stories or whether he was talking about the art of writing, there is a magnetism about his writing that simply hooks you.

I mean few people I knew then knew that Shawshank Redemption was actually written by Stephen King and for once the movie version did justice to the written material.

Carrie is a typical King novel. A typical sleepy American suburb is unknowingly home to a terror that would be unleashed on them soon. Carrie has the TK gene or in other words she is telekinetic and she is also the butt of every joke in school – a dangerous concoction just waiting to explode.

But like every King story, its not a simple horror story. There are stories within stories and there are lots you can identify with – that make the stories almost believable. And as always it draws you in before giving the KO.

However when it comes to authors who are prolific and who have penned numerous stories, there is a tendency to rank novels. So having read a dozen King novels, where would I put this one? Somewhere in the middle. Though it is neither epical like “The Stand” nor immersive as “Hearts in Atlantis”, it is still a harrowing and tragic tale of a girl who is forced to turn into a monster.

The imagery, as always, can be frighteningly vivid and the words as always are gripping. And you get it, yet again, why film-makers just love Stephen King. He has already done all the work for them!!!

del.icio.us Tags: horror,stephen king,book review,carrie

(Book) A Case of Exploding Mangoes written by Mohammed Hanif

2010-07-17T00:31:00.001+05:30

The subcontinent’s answer to Catch 22!!! and Slaughter House V!!

This book is one of the best dark political comic thriller that I have read in a long time..this is bitingly satirical and at times cuts you like a knife while making you split on the other side with laughter.

And for anyone who knows Pakistan’s troubled political landscape even passingly, this book is a realization that the best way to express themselves is by humour – the savagely comical variety. The truth which would be depressing in a factual format suddenly becomes something that can be laughed at and laughed with. You understand the anguish much better when you have shed a few tears of laughter…

The book is based loosely around the assassination of General Zia-ul-Haq, who died with almost his full military brass and the American ambassador in a plane crash in 1988.

But the story becomes a sort of “Murder on Orient Express”, with everyone trying to do the killing – the generals, trade unions and our hero and narrator, Under Officer Ali Shigri, who seeks revenge for the death of his father, a decorated officer but who is ultimately haunted by his actions.

The book is dark and funny at the same time. The events happening are dark but the narrative and the characterisation makes it humorous. There is intense lampooning of General Zia and other military top brass, which cuts them down to size and makes you almost feel sorry for them at-times. In fact Zia comes across as a dangerously deluded avuncular character who has got worms in his ass, who is browbeaten by his wife and uses the Koran as a daily horoscope.

That the author makes the country almost devoid of civilian in the narrative is deliberate. It heightens the sense that the military are living in their own lie. And the occasional glimpses of the people only results in them abusing the ‘uniforms’, much to the soldiers’ amazement, who thought they were idolized…

The book alternates, in its chapters, between Ali and Zia, with our narrator stumbling from one hole to another (sometimes, quite literally), meeting quite interesting characters on the way especially the ‘Secretary General of the All Pakistan Sweepers Union’. Zia, on the other hand moves from one paranoia to another, convinced that someone is out to kill him (he was not wrong of course!!). The two characters converge in the closing part of the book, when Zia is killed in more ways than one!!!

What makes this book stand out is that the material it deals with is dark yet the author manages to bring out the laugh out of you almost every page. You feel like a phantom floating above a comic opera. And that is the best vantage point from which to see the panorama. At times what Zia and Co is doing almost seems unreal, but then you realize that we have been fed too many boring news reels!!! And seeing them bumbling around makes you almost closer to them and produces better laughs!!!

And boy, is this book racy. I finished it in one sitting and its 364 pages long! It just keeps you on the edge, not only with the humour but also because you can see the plot thickening!!! And yes, the political satire is mature, which makes it even more enjoyable!!!

One of the best reads of the year for me definitely, if not one of the best of all times!!!

del.icio.us Tags: pakistan,satire,a case of exploding mangoes,assassination,comedy,politics

(Book) Empire Of The Moghul - Brothers At War written by Alex Rutherford

2010-07-16T21:07:00.001+05:30

This book is the second in the Great Moghul series. The Mughal empire falls into the hand of Humayun after Babur’s untimely death just after he had conquered Hindustan from the Lodhis.

Though a fearless warrior, Humayun is a dreamer of sorts, preferring to watch the stars instead of court activities. He finds himself thrust with a legacy that he feels he needed more time to get adjusted to. Babur’s death had left the fledgling empire vulnerable with enemies closing from all sides. But as the new emperor soon finds out, its the enemy within that is much more lethal.

Babur had left the whole of the new empire in the hands of his eldest and favourite son. This left a lot of hearts broken, but the one who is most affected is Kamran, his half brother who is only a few months younger. Askar and Hindal were to follow Kamran’s lead, though Hindal, the youngest, was always a reluctant conspirator.

So begins this book, which, as is readily apparent, is much well written than its predecessor, Raiders from the North – about Babur. The action is more gripping and seems less like a tract of historical text. The characters have much more flesh. Of course some of the old characters from the previous book make an appearance – especially Khanzada, the pillar for Humayun in the most difficult of times.

And as you progress, you realize that the old cliché – truth is stranger than fiction is well, so true. The story of intrigues, love affairs, battles, betrayals, the incredible turning around of fates and an end that any fiction writer would have been proud to have come up with. The book is so packed with so many twists and turns that you literally have to keep reminding yourself that this is in fact historical fact (of course with liberties taken from a writers point of view).

Humayun’s dreamlike character, his addiction to opium (encouraged by the scheming mother of Kamran), his haywire schemes of running his court according to the stars, the titanic clashes with Sher Shah Suri, Humayun’s miraculous escapes, his fleeing across half of northern subcontinent seeking refuge (at one time reduced to a handful of men in rags pursued by armies), his reversal of fortune, the constant betrayals by his brothers, the constant battles when one battle has been won, his love of the women in his life – especially Hamida (the mother of Akbar).

All these read almost like a potboiler. I mean, for it being a novel based on history, I found myself on the edge of my seat many times as the book was polished off in a couple of readings.

For me, as with the first book, the appeal is in knowing more about the Mughals in a way that Wikipedia can never teach me – learning while being entertained. It is strange how little we really know of our history. As we witness the early Mughals struggling to reserve a vision that Babur had nurtured, we almost see modern India in the making as one of the greatest empires in modern world begins to take foothold. You get to know more about other characters – like Sher Shah, who are dismissed in a couple of sentences in most school books.

Importantly, it brings into focus a Mughal who is so often overlooked in history with almost everyone else hogging the limelight, even though it was him who actually set a firm foundation in India for the Mughals. Humayun was emperor in actuality for a very short time and died almost in a bizarre tragedy when he tripped and fell down stairs after he had secured his kingdom after long gruelling years. We see a man who in more peaceful times would have become more of a poet rather than a king. His acts of benevolence especially in forgiving his brothers again and again is a feature that is almost impossible to imagine in his times when kings eliminated rivals at the first chance. Humayun comes as irritable personality possessing all faults but more than compensating for them with his more generous qualities.

All in all, a gripping and enjoyable read. And hopefully the writing would keep on improving with the next one – on Akbar. Cant wait for that one…

del.icio.us Tags: humayun,india,mughal,moghul,timurid,empire of the moghul,alex rutherford,book review,review,akbar

(Book) Bandits written by Eric Hobsbawm

2010-06-28T00:09:00.001+05:30

This was a book that i wanted to read for a very long time but this is one book that is not easily available. I finally was able to get hold of a copy from the online site “Friends of Books”.

Hobsbawm literally pioneered the study of bandits as a social phenomenon. Bandits as a popular form of resistance. Bandits was first published in 1969 and the field has expanded greatly since then, with many theories (some complementary and some opposing) coming forth on the subject.

This book, however, remains a seminal one. And for that reason, this book is simply must read for anyone who is interested in this fascinating topic.

The book starts by explaining who and what a social bandit is. The earliest form of banditry is the example of the mythical Robin Hood (who in all probability did not exist as a single individual). The late examples include bandits like Salvatore Giuliano (whom Puzo immortalized in international popular culture in “The Sicialian”) and bandit turned revolutionaries like Pancho Villa.

Hobsbawn prepares the basis of the definition of bandits by describing the political, social and economic reasons for the rise of bandits and why they still exist in some forms even to this day. He goes on to describe some forms of banditry that persisted for a long time in some countries (like Haiduks in the Balkans).

He describes the environment under which they flourished and gives explanations for the reasons why some bandits are eulogized and become legends, even in their own lifetime and why some other bandits are not (and the latter are not a part of his description of social bandits). He explains why the social bandit enjoyed extensive support in the rural and marginal areas even when they may not have actually lived upto the Robin Hood principle of robbing the rich to give to the poor.

Later he ties up the bandit phenomenon with revolutionary and independence movements in the countries and he explains the various relationships that bandits had with the nationalist movements. He brings in the role of women and their relationship to the bandits.

As I said it is a fascinating topic and it is an interesting book. But I was expecting and hoping for much more. From a purely academic point of view, the book is excellent since it brings forth its theories well. But from a reading point of view, it falls short of expectations.

To be an enjoyable read, you need more description of the bandits. You get the theory but you dont get to know the bandits. You dont quite get the smell of the world that they lived in. You dont get many examples for the different theories that are given to you. You cant quite relate to the bandits and you feel an itching want to do so. The author whets your appetite that much.

Another point is that the book is almost exclusively devoted to European or South American bandits. Eastern ones (from India or China) get only passing reference.

To be fair, the author concedes as such in the introduction. The author explains that he intends to give this book as a primer and the reader must read other books to get more meat.

So, read this book as a window to a world that is not easily accessible. But be ready to trawl the internet to delve deeper.

del.icio.us Tags: bandits,Eric Hobsbawm,history,brigand,theory,social bandit

(Series) Curb your enthusiasm conceived by Larry David

2010-06-27T19:34:00.001+05:30

This is one of the most successful American comedy series so it is a bit of a surprise that it is so little known in India.

This is all about the most cynical social misanthrope that you cant help but fall in love with!!! Larry David, creator of Seinfeld, plays himself, albeit in a highly exaggerated form. He plays a semi-fictionalized self, living as a semi-retired writer who has made a lot of money after the uber-successful Seinfeld series. A lot of other characters play themselves – Ted Danson, Richard Lewis, Mary Steenburg notably. A lot of delightful guest appearances happen throughout the seven seasons (there is another one to come out in 2011) – people like Mel Brooks, John McEnroe, Martin Scorsese, Ben Stiller, Shaquille O'Neal, David Schwimmer, Lucy Lawless and the Seinfeld cast play themselves in sometimes more than one episode…

The show in mainly centred around the relationship that Larry shares with the people around him – his wife, his friends, his manager, his friends and a lot of people that he meets daily – waiters, drycleaners, drivers and so on. He is a misanthrope with highly eccentric ideas and theories especially about social conventions and suffers from a foot in the mouth syndrome. But he is eventually good at heart and frequently goes out of his way to help his friends and other people around him, though he still manages to put off the people who he is helping.

The main feature of Larry’s characters is that he is absolutely socially incorrect. He would say and do things that people would not because, well, we have been taught not to do so. Larry is always getting into troubles for this reason, frequently being thrown out of people’s houses and having to try and try and make up with people who are upset with his improper frankness.

He would almost always say what he has in mind even if it is completely out of context (which is very usual) or offensive (from mild to extreme). He is constantly getting into one warped situation or another. His manager, the incorrigible adulterer Jeff Green (played by Jeff Garlin) is almost always a partner in all the troubles – either as a direct participant or as an advisor or a confidante. In almost all the serials, Larry gets a tongue lashing from Jeff’s foul mouthed wife Susie (played by Sussie Essman).

At the end of each serial, Larry ends up with more trouble than he started out with. At the end of each serial, you wonder how people tolerate him at all. And at the end of each serial, you wonder why his frequently embarrassed wife, Cheryl (played by Cheryl Hines) doesn't leave him (she does in a season, but comes back eventually).

And at the end of each serial, you end up laughing and grinning away like crazy – at Larry’s antics, his theories, the embarrassing situations he gets into and the way things always seem to go wrong for him. And it takes just one serial for you to get comfortable with the characters and it is soon that you become addicted to the series. You just want to see what other troubles he can get himself into…

This is one comedy series that you can keep for a long time and which you can watch anytime. There is no irritating canned laughter and that's the way I like my comedies. I want to hear my laughter. And I was constantly hearing it throughout the seasons…

I was almost heartbroken when I got through with the seasons. Life seemed a little less joyful but hey I can always watch them as re-runs. After all they are all on hard drive!!!

del.icio.us Tags: Comedy,curb your enthusiasm,Larry David,seinfeld,american series,series,comic,humour

(Movie) Hitchhikers guide to the Galaxy (all 5 books) written by Douglas Adams

2010-06-25T00:10:00.001+05:30

The thing with cult-classics which you have not read or seen is that you many times you feel let down by the end of it, having driven your expectations sky high before you started off. Something similar happened with me with Star wars after I finally decided to see all the six movies in one go (the first three were enjoyable, the last three were a let down)…it has something to do, I think, with the fact that many of the cult classics became such at a certain time and place and with the decades passing and with changing technology and sensibilities, things that might have seemed extraordinary become pedestrian or archaic…

So, it was with some trepidation that I started off with this hugely successful series - a series that started with a radio show, grew into a trilogy and then five books, spawned comic books, movies and two types of towels!!!

After having finished all the five, all i can say is that I don't remember having laughed so much except for “Three men on a boat” and “Yes Minister” series…and I have never read such veritable nonsense that strangely seems to make sense. Even though I knew that Adams had improvised while writing, which led to some contradictions, the storyline is solid enough to be a immensely rollicking ride. You have to suspend your belief of course and after the first few pages when the earth is destroyed, it is not really difficult to do so!!!!

What pops out of the pages are not something alien as such but things you can almost relate to but they happen in such bizarre combinations that they cant help but bring a grin to your face. The combinations of such absurdities are just too numerous to recount but one thing for sure is that out of almost every page would come out something that can only be the product of a feverishly creative imagination taken notches higher by a haze of cannabis!!!

I think that the cake for the most unintentionally comical character in literature has to go to Arthur Dent!! if the best humour is created by contrasts, Dent’s perennially flummoxed character has to be one of the best examples. From the moment he is rescued by Ford Prefect by the use of a towel and had a fish stuffed in his ear, Dent goes unboldly where no man has ever gone before!!! Along with Ford, Zaphod, Marvin the depressed robot and Trillian, a fascinating and unlikely group is formed to trawl the universe. They are helped along with the encyclopaedically unreliable ‘Hitchhikers guide to the Galaxy’.

The incidents and the stories and the sub stories are just too numerous to recount but something that I found fascinating was that in the total of 1000 odd pages that make up the five books, the humour never flags and you never lose interest, inspite of the absolute nonsense that seems to be going in the pages. Strangely for all that nonsense, you never once feel alienated from it or feel that its been too much. 1000 pages of utterly fascinating nonsense – that's quality writing!!!

How can you forget the question of meaning of life, the actual rulers of earth, the real message of dolphins, Gods last message, the origin of cricket and the reason why the rest of the universe hates earth, the real ancestors of earthlings and so on…if you want the answers to all these, turn the pages. You wont be disappointed with the answers though you might be a little more than surprised

If I have to pick the best out of the five, it would be difficult to do so, since each one has a character of its own. The first one is the most fascinating, probably because its the first of the series and you get almost a culture shock when you read it. The last one is pretty dark at the end…

For someone who goes through life without reading these, it would be a huge loss. These books redefine a genre of their own and the humour is right there among the top in world literature…

The review has to go on for atleast two dozen pages if the books have to be described properly in all their humorous glory. Better still to read them…

del.icio.us Tags: Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy,science fiction,Douglas Adams,humour,comic,ironic,satire,review

(Movie) Rajneeti directed by Prakash Jha

2010-06-24T12:51:00.001+05:30

Ok, this is a review that I had been wanting to write ever since I saw it three weeks back. In that time, I saw, much to my surprise, that it was becoming a grosser…I wonder why…

But first of all my impression. It is plainly apparent that Jha is a big fan of the Godfather series and that he has borrowed heavily from the movie (he admitted as such – he used the word ‘inspired’ not borrowed though). In the mixture, he also put in themes from Mahabharata.

For someone who has literally grown up on the cult classics like the Godfather (both the movie and the book – both masterpieces in their own right), ‘Rajneeti’ proved to be a sort of a farcical déjà vu.

Scenes have been lifted unapologetically from the movies – the hospital scene, the horse head scene , the killing of the traitor in the car, the shooting of the don, the car bomb scene which effectively combined the Sonny shooting scene and the death of Pacino’s pregnant wife, the transformation of the reluctant youngest son to the ruthless don…though none of them came close to the drama of the original

It was really too much. He should have just labelled the movie – ‘Rajneeti – Godfather scenes included’ or something. I don't quite fathom how someone like Jha could stoop so low to become akin to Anu Malik of direction. Either he thinks that the Indian audience wont care that the movie that they are seeing is a rip off (in which he seems to be dead right) or that the majority have not seen the original or both…unfortunately, he seems to be right…

The question to be asked is – could one relate to it? A police inspector slapping the member of the one of the most powerful political families in India?A gang-war happening within a political party which ends up decimating everyone? I mean really, what works in the environment of Mafia ridden New York of 1940s transplanted into the Indian political environment seems absurd. You don't kill powerful opponents in the middle of the road – its not Corleone vs. Tattaglias. I mean imagine Sushma Swaraj and Uma Bharti going out on physical decimation wars. Police inspectors don't slap heirs to the political thrones, as they might have done to heirs to mafia families on the decline.

And I don't see the similarity to Congress that everyone kept talking about. True, every effort was made to make Kaif look like Sonia Gandhi (the wave especially and the accented Hindi coming naturally) and her husband was assassinated but that's that…Just pre-launch hype.

The end result? I just remember multiple scenes of Mahindra Scorpios screaming their sirens coming into identical looking mansions and people with a put on air of mystery and menace streaming in. This scene must have looked admirable enough for the director to have repeated it atleast three dozen times. I also remember lot of individual scenes which seemed to have been stitched together just because they looked good in godfather (and made perfect sense there though sadly, not here). I was almost cringing as waves of déjà vu washed over me.

And as I said, in the sad admixture, Jha puts in elements of Mahabharata – of Draupadi and Karn (or Karan). Again, the scenes seemed forced. Put in because it suited somebody’s fancy and not because it had to make sense.

The acting was terrible except to some extent from Ranbeer, though the transformation was not convincing as in the case of Pacino. Patekar looked the part maybe because these are the roles he usually does – so outside the comfort zone for him. Kaif was wooden and Manoj Bajpai was excruciatingly over the top. Devgan did not have the meat in the role to make an impact. And I didnt quite figure out why they put Naseerudin Shah in the credits…He had barely five minutes and his contribution consisted solely of siring an illegitimate child.

The plot made no sense. One thread did not follow the other. Truthfully, if it was a series, would have made more sense. Three odd hours was too short for all that was shown to be given meat. By the time, the movie winded to a halt after some senseless twists and turns, I was so weary and nauseated, I wanted to take a stiff drink.

And then it turns out that it was a hit!!! I think that the reason would be that we don't have a mature political genre for the movies. The last movie in that genre was the excellent and sophisticated “Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi”. The genre and the look and feel of the movie is different from the usual stable. Plus we are political without knowing it and it seemed like a movie that would mix politics and intrigue – a deadly combination!!! Plus for someone who hasnt devoured Godfather, some of the scenes would look very interesting and arresting…More film makers should look at this genre and more of the “Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi” please. “Rajneeti” would not be more than attractive junk for more mature audiences…

So Jha wins on the back of the inexperience of the movie going public…alls fair in politics and movie making it seems…

del.icio.us Tags: Rajneeti,review,india,politics,godfather,godfather inspiration,hindi,bollywood,movie,prakash jha,ranbeer kapoor,katrina kaif

(Movie) ‘The Russians Are Coming the Russians Are Coming’ directed by Norman Jewison

2010-06-21T01:02:00.001+05:30

This is a movie that you will not hear of easily and after watching it, you would wonder why…

This is about as good a political comic satire as you would get. True, the acting is woody and over the top at times but the storyline is funny and the over the top action seems appropriate for the mood of the movie.

A Russian sub runs aground off the coast of America, on a small New England island town, when the commander of the sub tries to get a closer look of his ‘enemy land’. Not wanting to create an international incident, a nine man contingent is sent to the island in order to secure a motorboat to help draw out the sub.

And that is when the fun starts…in spite of the best efforts (may I say comical) of the Russians to make themselves blend in, suddenly the island is in the throes of an irrepressible rumour – The Russians have invaded!!!

The movie panders to stereotypes, both of Russian and American, in order to bring out the humour but it works quite well. As is quite obvious, the story is about how rumour feeds off itself and how panic spreads by the mere repetition of the rumour. The sight of the hapless and bewildered Russians trying to make sense of it all in face of them being branded as the steamrolling invading force is incredibly funny. The American gung-ho style of meeting the invader head on becomes funny when they actually start to search all over the island for the enemy who were supposedly all over the place…

There is obviously a message in the movie, if you care to look for it – as to how stereotyping and propaganda creates caricatures of people whom who we consider as enemy. But the message is so obvious that you sit back and enjoy the comical satire and you wonder how the poor Russian are ever going to get out of this one!!!

Alan Arkin is the best character in the movie – the over-confident second in command who feels his English is top notch (the scene where he teaches emergency words to his colleagues is simply hilarious). He is the translator and the coolest brain in the sub.

I think that the thing to be considered is that when the movie was released, in 1966, the cold war was at its absolute peak, the time when Dylan was singing “Let me die in my footsteps” (about the government generated scare of Russian annihilation). This movie is about how senseless all the propaganda is and that, to me, is a brave statement to make. And the best way to make a statement like that is by humour.

That, this movie does brilliantly…

del.icio.us Tags: movie,review,the russians are coming the russians are coming,satire,war satire,humour,political

(Movie) Raat Gayi Baat Gayi directed by Saurabh Shukla

2010-06-09T19:06:00.001+05:30

Well, this is another from the stable of the team that gave us movies like “Dasvidaniya” and “Mityha”. And you like this one for the same reasons you liked the others – its quirky, has a story told differently and it has actors that look good together. It has a very urban setting and deals with people who look and act real. The songs are different and blend in nicely with the movie unlike other commercial movies where the songs are a movie in themselves. And yes Neha Dhupia looks hot, with or without the backless dress!!!

The story is about a party and how Rajat Kapoor just cant seem to remember whether he did it with Neha Dhupia, a girl whose name is fake and whose phone number he might just be able to remember. He wakes up in the morning with a terrible hangover to find his wife behaving very strangely. So starts the day in which the mystery is unravelled. Of course that is not the only thing that seems to have happened at the party. And Rajat Kapoor’s relationship is not the only one to become somehow rocky after the party.

What I liked about the story is how the story seems so utterly real. The problems, the reactions, the fears of the people involved all seem like things that you would mimic in a similar situation. The three couples are different but yet have something very similar. The movie does well to bring the nuances of the relationships out…

The characterization is not very deep but is not necessary for the movie. You get to know enough about everyone to bring out the flesh and blood in the characters and to make you relate to them.

A special mention about the humour. Its understated and very natural, like a normal conversation you would have with your friends…

By the time you end with the movie, I realized how much I enjoyed it. Its not in the parts of the movie or any particular scene that makes it but the whole sum of it, together…

Hoping that this team brings out more and more movies. They are such a welcome break from the normal Bollywood costly junk…

del.icio.us Tags: raat gayi baat gayi,hindi,movie,movie review

(Movie) Gran Torino directed by Clint Eastwood

2010-05-16T23:51:00.001+05:30

You really have to wonder where these movies come from. Who would have thought that the cult western hero, the ‘Dirty Harry’, would turn out to be one of the most exciting directors who could churn out one masterpiece after another…

Gran Torino is supposed to be the last film that he would star in himself. So while you are watching it, take a good eyeful of the legend as he delivers a flawless performance…

Like his other movies, this movie too has its share of unlikely heroes. Heroes who are not heroes because they can shoot from the hip, but heroes because they rise a notch above the normal humdrum when needed…

Eastwood plays Walt Kowalski, a widowed Korean war veteran who is bitter about almost everything – especially his family, clergy, his neighbours…and is also a cynical racist…

But life, as in all Eastwood’s movies, makes sure that nothing remains the same and no one remains how they seem to be…

Pretty soon, his life changes as the next-door girl befriends him, whose brother had previously tried to steal Walt’s ‘Gran Torino’ as part of a gang initiation. He also slowly develops a fond relationship with the brother…

But life is never perfect, especially when everything seems to be going so well…The gang which had tried to initiate the brother, with its ego bruised now, begins to wreck the lives of Walt’s new found friends…

And how does Walt, the erstwhile legend of the wild west, counter this gang? You would be surprised. And that is where you are witness to the genius that is Eastwood…

In time, the climax would probably become of the most memorable scenes in the history of cinema…you realize that you have been holding your breath as Walt stands before the gang till the climax…

One thing about the movie that would not strike the viewer before seeing it and having heard the story is the humour. Walter has the dry cynical humour that you can absolutely associate with him. His grrr is absolutely outstanding. There is humour in so many of the scenes but they never jar with the theme or the core of the movie. This humour is surely one of the things that makes this movie stand-out. It brings flesh and character to Walt. In fact, without the humour, the character would seem phoney…

And a review of this movie cannot finish without reviewing the way Eastwood looks in the movie. The wizened, cynical, gritty, tough guy who can take on street gangs but has private demons – this character was tailor made for Eastwood. He is a man whom you would turn for advice and surprisingly for his age, for brute strength. He has the look of a guy who has been toughened by what he has experienced in life and who battles his memories in private…and this look and his guttural voice is what carries the whole movie on its shoulder…the movie is made with one man in mind…

Watch this movie for well, everything…from the dialogues, the plot, the characters, the ending and yes, especially Eastwood…

A movie that would stay with you for a long time…and so will the song at the end of the movie…

And you would wonder…Slumdog won the Oscar over this???

del.icio.us Tags: gran torino,clint eastwood,america,cartoon,gang,Hmong,gun,violence

(Movie) Dear Wendy directed by Thomas Vinterberg

2010-05-16T20:43:00.001+05:30

Well, this is one of the quirkiest movie I have seen in a long time…Even after watching it, you are still now sure what to make of it. So much so, you cant even decide whether it was a damn bad movie or it was a damn brilliant movie!!!

You are drawn into the world of the Dandies, a teenager group in a a small town that seems to consist of a single block (in a mock replica of a old western towns) who create a secret society in which the romance of the guns blossom. They are self-proclaimed losers who find secret strength from carrying guns (most of which are old-fashioned including a 19th century gun and a gun used in Al Alamein). They create a code where the guns are supposed to carried but not used (except in their hideout). And they all dress up in old fashioned clothes like flowing coats and top hats (hence the name Dandies)…

And Wendy – that's the name of the gun that started it all. The group names every gun in either masculine or feminine. And Wendy is the gun that the group leader owns and to which he devotes the narrative…

The plot seems silly but look a little longer, it seems intriguing…Sometimes it seems like some graphic novel turned movie. There is a sense of timelessness. There is also a sense of lack of purpose and yet a sense of urgency and importance.

When the killing starts, it almost seems surreal…and the part was the best of all…how it all turns macabre and unreal at the same time. You seem unnaturally glued to the scenes as they unfold…

This is a movie that everyone wont like…You got to stay with it without being ‘wierded’ out by it and then even after persistence, it wont make too much sense…don't worry…just soak in the story and you would feel that you have seen something quite different!!!

del.icio.us Tags: dear wendy,guns,america,teenager,gang,group

(Movie) Igby Goes Down directed by Burr Steers

2010-05-16T12:09:00.001+05:30

If ever you wanted to see Holden Caufield on the screen, this movie is it…

Some purists feel horrified at the fact that someone has taken the classic and turned into a modern story. I, however, feel that art must renew itself periodically, otherwise it atrophies. Especially when the portrayal is as beautiful and sensitive as this one…

Igby (Keiran Culkin) inhabits a world where he sees hypocrisy and duplicity everywhere. He is close to his father who now lives in a mental asylum and he hates everything else…Its a world that is coming of age but is already repelled by what he sees is the result of coming of age…

The story follows Igby as he stumbles from one relation to another, all the while keeping his humour and sarcasm up while he is getting scarred…and his sarcasm really makes you go splits most of the times!!!

The movie is populated by memorable characters, from his elder brother Ollie (Ryan Phillippe), a manipulative smooth talker, Mimi (Susan Sarandon), their mother who is a complex book all by herself, Rachel (Amanda Peet), the vulnerable mistress of his godfather D.H. Banes (Jeff Goldblum), who in turn is the classical alpha-male and Sookie Sapperstein (Claire Danes), the hippie love interest, who in a fit of conformity betrays Igby.

The acting by Culkin, however, to me, is nothing short of a masterpiece. It is his character and his acting that holds the fibre of the story together. He is someone who is sensitive and highly vulnerable but who hides it all behind a mask of sarcasm and callousness. The times when his vulnerability comes forth makes for some of the most memorable moments in the movie. His leave-taking was one of the most poignant parts of the movie, especially the scene with his father…

A quirky, sensitive movie about people who are branded outsiders, by themselves and by others. As I said, Holden Caulfield in modern day New York…

Watch this and you would take away memorable characters, great acting and a wonderful bittersweet feeling…

del.icio.us Tags: Igby goes down,Kieran Culkin,Holden Caufield,catcher in the rye,rebel,teenager,coming of age,New york

(Movie) Seven Pounds directed by Gabriel Muccino

2010-05-10T09:36:00.001+05:30

This movie had come highly recommended from a friend, who told me that this was a movie that would affect me for days…

Sadly, by the middle of the movie, I was stifling yawns.

Its one of the movies that aims only for the heart while trying its hardest to bypass the mind. It puts forward scenes which would try to make you feel bittersweet and make you realize the pain and the anguish and the sacrifice of the characters.

I found it all pretty phoney…

A man looking for redemption becomes a self-styled messiah and a judge of ‘good vs. bad people’, searching for people whom he can help by either giving up his house or giving his organs. Specious and self-serving charity, if you ask me.

Not only do I have a problem with the character deciding to commit suicide and upping the melodrama instead of trying to redeem himself by living his rest of his life in doing what he wants to do, I also have a problem of him acting God – in deciding whom should be saved and who should be not. Will Smith as Moses…

I mean why should he get involved with someone whom he can help only by dying himself is beyond me. She falls in love with him and he does too. And then he dies so she may live. Why? So that he is remembered? Selfish wont you say? Phoney script and completely opposite to the character portrayal that is sought to be brought out.

If he really wanted to help, why cant he do so anonymously? What is it except selfishness and a vague sense of megalomania?

The only reason you can see this movie is due to acting of Smith, which is muted and introverted while still powerful. Its not his fault really that the script itself is faulty. Rosario Dawson also packs a powerhouse role. The rest are fringe characters anyway. Woody Harrelson is wasted…

In the end, its only a weepy tearjerker aiming for those who want an empty headed cry on a gloomy Sunday. Bah!

del.icio.us Tags: seven pounds,Rosario Dawson,Will smith,sentimental,melodrama,sacrifice,movie review

(Movie) The Illusionist directed by Neil Burger

2010-05-09T19:44:00.001+05:30

Take the acting genius of Edward Norton, Paul Giamatti and the beauty of Jessica Biel and a villain played by Rufus Sewell, put it in turn of the century Vienna, throw in some great cinematography and make it a story of mystery, intrigue and love and yes lots and lots of magic and what do you have?

A sublime watching experience, that's what you get…

Eisenheim (Norton), son of a cabinetmaker leaves home to go around the world after his budding romance with Duchess Teschen (Biel) is thwarted, but not after he meets a travelling magician with whom he is fascinated.

He comes back many years later and he performs magic which seems almost paranormal in nature. He performs magic that no-one has ever seen before and rapidly becomes the talk of the town, attracting the attention of the crown prince Leopold (Rufus Sewell) who is at this time engaged to Teschen (planned marriage for political reasons).

Eisenheim and Teschen meet on a show and embark on an affair but this time they plan to disappear properly. They weave a plan that has magic and mystery in huge dollops. The crown prince is the way though…

The acting is superb all around. Giamatti is superb in his role as the chief inspector in the pay of the crown prince and yet someone who has a conscience and a thirst for knowledge of magic. He is also the narrator of the movie and the person who finally unravels the whole mystery. Norton is simply sublime in his role as the enigmatic and the intense magician. The variety of roles he can do is simply breathtaking…

The cinematography and the music score deserve a special mention. Since the movie is a period piece, the ambience both visual and auditory is vital. This movie has a wonderful synthesis of both.

Its a complete immersive experience – both from the visual point of view and from the story point of view. The performances at the show are very gripping and very intense, especially the ones at the latter part, which border on necromancy.

This is a movie that can be seen again and again and which will be enjoyed everytime…

By the way, you will see some similarity with the movie “Prestige”, since both are period pieces and have elements of mystery…but both are different and both classics in their own right…

del.icio.us Tags: the illusionist,magical,vienna,edward Norton,paul giamatti,magic,mystery,magician,jessica biel,Rufus Sewell

(Book) The Gods Themselves written by Isaac Asimov

2010-05-09T14:24:00.001+05:30

This is a multiple award winning novel by Asimov which deals with the the concept of parallel universe. That theme and the title was what attracted me to this. The title comes from a quotation by Friedrich Schiller (1759–1805): "Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens." ("Against stupidity the gods themselves contend in vain.")

Its a story of how para-men (as earth began to call people from parallel universe) contacted men in order to construct an electron pump, a source of endless energy which is such an obvious boon that detractors are ostracised and any discussion on the possible side-effects are bowdlerized. As with other Asimov stories, this deals with the human nature and how technology affects us all…

The story moves in three parts with the middle part dealing with the para-universe and its inhabitants. This middle part is a feat in itself with Asimov constructing a whole other universe populated with beings we can barely relate to in the beginning. The first and third part deal with the known universe, the last part taking place on moon…

Compared to other Asimov stories, this one left me a little cold, especially the last part, which seemed a little contrived and hurried. The ‘solution’ to the problem did not seem as elegant as it is in his other stories. And the middle part was not exciting, though interesting. The pace that is there in his other stories seemed missing. The characters are also forgettable, which is something that is constant in his other books…

Having said that, the theme is engaging and the writing is very Asimov…enough reason for a read…

del.icio.us Tags: asimov,parallel universe,science fiction

(Book) Shakespeare written by Bill Bryson

2010-05-09T13:11:00.001+05:30

Bill Bryson is the official Mr Know-it-all. And here he comes up with a book on Shakespeare, a man who generates as much controversy about himself as he does praise for his work…

Now, a book that tries to bring the Bard forward as a historical figure would suffer from a serious problem – the book cant be more than a few pages long!!! There is almost no authentic historical records of the man, save for a few fragmentary information – court records and such…

What the book does well is in bringing both humour and historical background to the theme. Bryson has a catchy style of writing and that helps the subject along as there is not much material to put flesh on the characters of the era.

We are introduced to the world that Shakespeare inhabited – a world of growing English imperialism, the golden age of Elizabeth and the golden age of English theatre but a world where life expectancy hovered around the mid-thirties, where plague was the scrouge that was all too common and the world in general was a place where you would sooner die of starvation than of any wars, which were all too frequent as well…

As Bryson notes wryly, the greatest achievement of Shakespeare was not that he wrote his plays but that he survived at all!!!

Great men are as much a product of their talents as much as they are of their times, usually even more so…Shakespeare born a hundred years earlier or later would have in all probability died an unknown death – previously due to lack of any avenues to show his talents, later due to the closure of all theatres owing a wave of fundamentalism (Puritanism). Shakespeare was indeed lucky…

In more ways than one, as we see. Many of the works of his contemporaries are now lost, men who were considered at par or greater in talent than Shakespeare in his time. His work was preserved by the diligent efforts of two men to whom history owes profound thanks.

We are taken on a tour of Shakespeares life, from his childhood to adulthood to his death. The problem is that much of its conjecture and not hard facts. Record keeping was a science that developed after the Bard’s days. We dont know how he really looked like (there are conflicting portraits), we dont know how he spent his days, what his likes and dislikes were, whom he really married, what his relationships were, his influence in his works, his views on the things around him – nothing to put a shape to him. We dont really even know in what orders his plays were written!!! We do know however that Shakespeare and his friends were terrific plagiarists!!!

With all that handicaps, its a wonder that Bryson is able to hold our attention for so long. Except for a brief part of the book, near the end part where the book drags under the weight of excessive details, the book is interesting. You get a feel of the world that produced the ‘Hamlet’ and ‘Julius Caesar’ and you get an idea what kind of a man Shakespeare might have been…

‘Romeo and Juliet’ was dismissed as too melodramatic in its time by some critics. History is kind to those whose work survive!!! Bryson also devotes time to talk about some of the fanatical researchers, thanks to whom we know what little we know of the Bard.

As for the controversies, Bryson is a believer and hence a defender of the faith. So dont expect an objective argument. That comes at the very end of the book and is not the central theme, so Bryson is obviously confident that the man existed in all his glory.

So, if you are not looking to get the meat of the controversy, and just looking to have a good tale told to you, a tale that reads like a historical mystery, then go for this book.

Its an enjoyable read…Bryson scores again!!!

del.icio.us Tags: Shakespeare,Bill Bryson,historical,biography,information

(Movie) Fateless (Sorstalanság) directed by Lajos Koltai

2010-05-09T12:11:00.001+05:30

A Holocaust movie based on the semi-autobiographical novel of the same title by the Nobel Prize-winner Imre Kertész, who wrote the screenplay…

Before I started this, I felt that I have had enough of Holocaust movies . For anyone who has been fed on Hollywood fare for a long time, a natural impulse is to compare any concentration camp movie to Schlinder’s List, which, as I have realized in time to be melodramatic and a one-sided portrayal (Hollywood would make us feel that only Jews died in the camps). The overdoing of the topic has unfortunately given license to Israelites to claim the mantle of victims – so that they can do to Palestinians what Hitler did to them.

But a few minutes into the movie, you realize that it is different. It has a quietness to it, almost an indifference to it, as if you are watching it from a distance. There are no gunshots, hectic action or any bravado. It populated by people who don't really know what's going to happen next, who feel that nothing terrible can really happen, believing in their own luck and following the herd – something that is all too human and completely real. The father is called for labour camp and is given a farewell dinner. No one can really fathom where he is going, beyond a vague notion of dread.

This is a movie that is almost a quiet reflection of how people behave during times of unimaginable horror – survival by any means for those who are caught in hell and denial by those on the outside.

For me, the most beautiful part of the movie is the last quarter, when our protagonist comes back to his homeland, a home that has changed and not only due to the bombed out buildings. The movie before this is about how different people try to survive – some by ruthlessly practical, some by having a dream (like walking on the streets he has left behind), some by turning to religion and some by compromising. Morality and ethics, construct of a peaceful society ceases to exist in the face of extermination at any moment. In the midst, flashes of humanity sometimes sparks, if only for a few moments…

The last part brings to mind the last part of “All quiet on the western front”. A person who has suffered something that is beyond understanding, realizes that outsiders can be curious, be in denial or be sympathetic, all without ever understanding. The outsider expects explanations in normal day-to-day terms, which the insider is incapable and ultimately unwilling to provide.

György realizes that he has to come to terms with it himself and has to try to find a ‘future’, as he is advised by all those who keep saying that its ‘all over now’. Everyone wants him (and by reflection themselves) to forget what has happened and look ahead. The fate of the victims and survivors…

What you take away from this movie is the feeling that there is no point in pointing fingers at those who ran the camps. We are betrayed as much by our own people (the camp overseers, the policemen who rounded up the Jews were all compatriots) as much by the invader. The greatest criminal is the art of forgetting that is perfected once the crisis is over.

The film is shot in beautiful chrome and has some stunning camera-work. There are not as much words spoken as emotions generated by the lights and shadows. You realize that sometimes words are truly insufficient to make the mind grasp – we are left with only visuals that can penetrate.

A narrative that is a commentary on how we grapple with something we don't understand and which we are then unwilling to remember, unless we mythologize and glorify.

The drowned and the saved sometimes share similar fates…

del.icio.us Tags: Holocaust,Hungary,based on a book,Fateless,Jews,concentration camp

(Movie) The Fall (2008) directed by Tarsem Singh

2010-04-26T00:18:00.001+05:30

I had to write 2008 with the name of the movie because there are five movies of that name, starting from the 60’s…

The first thing that strikes you about the movie is the imagery and the colours used…even if you watch the movie on mute, you would enjoy the breathtaking play of colours and the incredible scenery – the film has been shot at some of the most visually appealing locations in the world. Each shot of the movie literally drips richness in colour…

The story? Its a story that is as much magical as it is real. Roy Walker is a stuntman nursing more than a physical hurt (which has seemingly left him paralyzed) and his only aim in life is to find a way to kill himself. Enter Alexandria, a young girl with a broken arm (from a fall, hence the name), who is one of the most endearing child artiste that I have seen. Roy starts to tell her a story, a story that becomes magical, with the tale incorporating people around them as superheroes and villains.

We gradually realize that Roy has another motive for telling the tales – he wants her to get pills which he can use to kill himself. Accidents and deaths occur…But amidst all this, the story goes on…in the end, the story begins to reflect the real life emotions of the teller – love, betrayals, bravery…

There is nothing more that I can write more on the movie by way of the story. Its woven so beautifully with images and sounds that unless you are watching it, no words in black and white would make sense. The story and with it the movie makes sense when you are watching it. If its not a complete experience, its nothing…

This is a movie that can be seen as much as for the sheer artistry of the camera as for the wonderful story – a story that is at the end about surviving and triumphing against despair and the sheer power of tales. And watch it for Catinca Untaru who plays Alexandra.

I can promise you this – you wont come away unfeeling from this movie. You just cant ignore it…

del.icio.us Tags: magical,story,fantasy,imagery,accident,suicide,fall,the fall,2008

(Movie) Ran directed by Akira Kurosawa

2010-04-25T16:15:00.001+05:30

One is usually very careful when writing a review of a movie that you have heard of for years and which is generally considered a masterpiece. You are already prejudiced by what has been written and spoken of before by people who have supposed superiority on these matters…

I however, have tried to see this as objectively as possible, trying to drive out of my mind that it is a Kurosawa film i am seeing. Its not easy but i try anyway…

Its a film that is inspired by King Lear – in this case the story of the fall of a fearsome but ageing warlord (Hidetora Ichimonji) who gives up power and divides it among his sons. However he soon finds himself an outcast and at the receiving end of the ambitions of his two sons (he banishes the third, Saburo, when he opposes the plan of division). Humiliation and indignity follows…

He soon finds himself alone, defeated in treachery, his bodyguard killed and is himself not killed because he is considered insane. Beset by horrors of the ghosts of his past actions, the fearsome warlord at the start of the movie becomes a helpless senile invalid, who regains his sanity at times only to fear the unseen ghosts around him and relapsing into the gibbering safety of insanity.

However the third son comes back to claim his father and take him back, thereby triggering a war of intrigue, which in the end results in the complete destruction of the Ichimonji family.

But what is a Kurosawa film if not constantly grey in its outlook. There are no black and white characters. The cruel becomes victims of cruelty, the betrayer is betrayed, the victim of yesterday mimics the oppressor. There is no moral absolute.

“Who is to be pitied?” is something that you wonder by the time the movie ends…the ones who are being carried to the pyre, the one who is left alone and helpless on the fort top or the one is who executed after her revenge is complete…and then you realize the answer is in the movie itself – this is the just the way it is or as the jester says - “Man is born to cry…when he has cried enough, he dies”…

There are some wonderfully complex characters – Lady Kaede, Kyoami and Hidetora himself, who gave flesh to the story, the theme of which is as old as ambition itself.

And what is a Kurosawa samurai film without the action? The film dwells on the increasing power of firearms, which in turn heralded the end of face to face combat and which foreshadowed the end of the Samurai as the master of the field. As the climax showed, it doesn't matter who you are, as a peasant with a gun can kill you from afar. War, itself, as a force that destroys everything is something that is shown again and again – in action, in words and in parables…and the action sequences are incredible even by today’s computerized cinematic standards…

del.icio.us Tags: kurosawa,samurai,classics,japan,japanese,king lear,family,revenge

(Movie) Ladykillers directed Ethan and Joel Coen

2010-04-24T01:09:00.001+05:30

Except for a few unnecessary gags, this is one hell of an enjoyable comic movie. I understand that people compare it to the original and don't like it as much for the same reason.

But hell, I have only seen this one and would then, fortunately, be able to judge it personally on its own merits…

The star of the show is undoubtedly Tom Hanks. He literally carries the whole movie on his shoulders. Playing a dandy professor with an overdeveloped sense of the literature (especially of Poe), Hanks (as Prof Dorr) is actually the head of a criminal crew who aim to rob a casino in a sleepy town in Mississippi. And the whole crew is uniformly and wonderfully eccentric especially Gawain(Marlon Wayans).

The gang is pitted against the landlady of the house from which the tunnel is to be dug (where Dorr has taken up tenancy as a cover),a pious black elderly widow (who is fat in the nice stereotypical black landlady way!!). A band of criminals against her…nice contest, wont you agree?!!!

The ups and downs of the gang through a series of mishaps makes this one seriously funny movie. There wont be any gags pulled nor any special action sequences. It would be just in words and facial expressions that you would get you giggling…and yes, watch out for Hanks. It was one of his best performances I have seen, in a role that seems to be cut out for him. He is verbose, speaks in a eighteenth century tongue, is a wonderful orator and is also equally ruthless. Excellent combination!!!

Of course, beware – this is not a thorough light-hearted comedy. If you don't like darkness in your comedy, you may not enjoy it that much (and if you like it, you would enjoy this). I mean, this is not Mr Bean or Friends. This movie would fall into a dark-comedy-thriller genre if there is such a genre. It actually feels like a movie made in another era. Maybe because its a remake of the 1955 original. That feel only adds to the appeal that of this movie…

Though a few gags could have been done away with, this is a movie that you can watch many more times than once…if for no other reason, for the sight of Hanks' (or Dorr's) quotes and oratory especially his rendering of Poe’s “To Helen”…

del.icio.us Tags: ladykillers,tom hanks,comedy,dark comedy,crime thriller,crime,remake

(Book) The Ascent of Money written by Niall Ferguson

2010-04-20T12:18:00.001+05:30

The first thing that flashed through my mind as I started reading this was – this book has got extraordinary timing. Coming on the heels of one of the most severe market contraction seen since the Great Depression, this book aims to clear the air with a very interesting history lesson.

At a time when people are flummoxed by CDOs, swaps and other exotic financial products that seem to be beyond most of our understanding (which is why it hurt even more!!!), this book provides a background to how it all began – in other words, the evolution of the bank, the bond market, the equity and finally to the present system of high finance. From Mesopotamia to the republic nation states of Italy to present day Chimerica.

Evolution and innovation in finance has paved the way for the extraordinary abundance of goods we see around us and indeed without the advance in finance, civilization would not have progressed the way it has. That is the core message of the book.

We are taken on an adventure trip in history and see how important events that shaped the world as it is today were influenced by changes in financial fortunes – among others, from the French revolution, to the American civil war, Dutch East Indies, East India company, Waterloo, America’s rise and the Great War (WWI).

Its a fascinating view since seldom do we consider finance to be an important factors in political developments of the past, preferring to look at cause and effect of events. We realize how finance (and financiers) act as a powerful background force and which we seldom get to appreciate as finance is considered by laymen to be esoteric at best and not a relevant force as worst.

This book aims both to give a historical understanding of how ancient Mesopotamia is linked through millennia with the sub-prime crisis of the present century and to help us appreciate the central role that finance plays in our lives – paradoxically as with its rising importance in our lives, its understanding has stagnated among the public, with finance considered the domain of whiz kids.

As I said, the book is timely – a reminder that we disregard the understanding of finance at our own peril.

But other than the message that the book aims to send out – this is a rollicking ride. Written with clarity and with the layman in mind, the book is fast paced, almost like a thriller, with events of past unfolding like picture flip-book, with the events shown in a different light than the usual history lessons. Of course, there are numerous other events that could have been covered but in order to remain focussed, the book takes care of some pivotal events.

I cannot imagine a more accessible book on finance in the market right now.

I cannot find a better way to end this review than by quoting the last words of the book itself -

“It is not the fault of the mirror if it reflects our blemishes as clearly as our beauty”

Finance, like the nuclear energy, depends on the wielder – a sub-prime crisis and the ability to buy your dream home are the two sides of the same balance sheet…

del.icio.us Tags: money,finance,niall ferguson,history,evolution of finance,bond,equity,bank,sub-prime,ascent of money

(Movie) Anti-trust directed by Peter Howitt

2010-04-20T02:12:00.001+05:30

The movie started well.

Ryan Phillips (Milo) is a software programmer who along with his very geeky friends dream of doing something on their own – being young and idealistic, they believe in everything open-source and a belief that knowledge is for all humankind and should of course be free

All that changes when Milo is given a personal offer by a CEO of a company which for all practical reasons is Microsoft by another name. Tim Robbins as Gary Winston not only looks eerily like Bill Gates but also walks and talks like him and pretty much espouses the similar principles. Milo sees dollar signs all over the sky and chooses the practical route to life.

This is about 15 mins of the movie…

As I said, the movie started well. Which is about 15 mins…

The next hour and a half or so of the movie descends into an almost half-baked thriller, when Milo realizes that Gary has a secret side to him, which includes stealing data by acting as eye in the sky and even acting as a mafia boss in ordering executions. Finally Milo wins the battle by making a video (which by the way was really terrible) and making it public and making Gary’s most expensive investment open-source.

The movie’s foundation is different – being technical, so the hero is more of the brainy hero rather than the brawny hero. But at the end of it, the movie makes a complete hash of it. The plot, the premise, the strategies, the final coup all seem semi-finished. The story seems to grip and then slips away the very next instant….

And the thinly veiled attack on Microsoft and its market policies makes it worse because it seems at times like the mouthpiece of the open-source movement, which, in my opinion is given a disservice by the makers of this movie…

A movie that can be seen if you have absolutely nothing else to do…

del.icio.us Tags: Anti-trust,microsoft,technical,movie review,ryan Phillips,Tim Robbins,software,open-source

(Movie) Modern Times directed by Charlie Chaplin

2010-04-19T12:08:00.001+05:30

There are some movies that you can enjoy immensely as a child and then realize how much more there is to enjoy in the same movie, years down the line…

Perhaps that is why movies of Chaplin are ageless. You laugh and cry with him as a child and as a ‘grown up’, but as the latter, you realize the true genius of the man.

Art without commentary on things around it is worse than useless, a mere trinket, soon forgotten. This movie proves that the medium can provide entertainment and make a profound political statement as well, while never becoming preachy or descending into propaganda.

And the best way to make a statement, especially a political one, is to make it through a satire. And this is what this movie does brilliantly…

The very first scene gives a clear indication of what is to follow – a herd of sheep morphs into people coming out of a factory while the voice over narrates the joy of pursuit of happiness via modern capitalism.

Chaplin is a worker in a factory, a place where literally everything is controlled and the worker is no better than another cog. The boss is a like Big Brother, appearing on TV screens (even in the bathroom) and commanding the work to be speeded up (all the while himself doing nothing except work on jigsaw puzzles). There are many memorable scenes in the factory sequences – that of Chaplin trying to keep up with his work of screwing nuts, being force-fed by a feeding machine which is supposed to increase productivity (by cutting down on lunchtimes) and of course of Chaplin having a nervous breakdown.

This was made at the time of the Great Depression and Chaplin proves his genius by weaving into the story all the tensions, the helplessness, the dehumanisations that the common man went through in trying to maintain his dignity. Right from trade-unions to robbers trying not to starve, to street-smart yet vulnerable gamins trying to get by, Chaplin brings in every aspect of society at that time – all the while, never losing his comic touch. He pairs up with an doughty orphaned gamine girl (Paulette Goddard) – making a team of two, a team that is determined to survive at all costs.

Amidst all the gloom of the times, the two are refreshing in their innocence and their unwillingness to let go of their small dreams. The scene where the two dream of a home together is hilarious as it is touching.

The film ends with them walking towards the horizon, not giving in to failure. The last lines of the movie pretty much sums it all up -

Gamine: What's the use of trying?
Chaplin: Buck up - never say die. We'll get along.

As simple as that…

When it ends, you realize that you have laughed with abandon at the all of the crazy scenes (the waiter scene, Chaplin’s nonsense song, the roller skating scene among many many others) and have also been touched profoundly.

It is a movie that makes as much sense today as it did seventy years ago. Except the superficial looks, nothing much has changed really…

A movie not to be missed. Chaplin and film-making at its absolute best…

del.icio.us Tags: Charlie Chaplin,Chaplin,classics,comedy,satire,politics,humour,capitalism

Raiders from the North written by Alex Rutherford

2010-04-16T10:50:00.001+05:30

There is a shortage of good historical novels about Indian history. All that we usually get are history books, which though well written, can never get you into the skin of the character, cant let you see their own world with your eyes.

For all those reasons, this is a welcome book, being first of a quintet about the greatest of the Mughal emperors. The Mughal empire was one of the greatest of the world and should be rightly the pride of India. However, whether due to political reasons or due to ignorance (I suspect both and one feeding the other), few of us have any intimate knowledge about the empire during which time India was truly a superpower and one of the richest in the world.

This first book is about Babur, who overcame extraordinary odds to lay the foundation for Mughals. Starting from the time when he is thrust into kingship at the age of 13 for the small kingdom of Ferghana, near Samarkand, we follow his journey as he see-saws between victory and defeat, gaining everything and losing it the next moment. We see his growing maturity as a leader of men and his instincts as a survivor.

We see the founder of the Mughal empire fighting for his existence as a guerrilla leader, fighting for scraps of good luck thrown at him, having to sacrifice his sister to an enemy so that he can live to fight another day. We see how he never lets go of a dream – to be worthy of being a descendant of Timur and Genghis Khan and how he finally accomplishes it. You follow him as he crosses the Hindukush and into Kabul from where he dreams of Hindustan. You are witness to the First battle of Panipat and witness to Babur being crowned the emperor in Delhi.

The book is written in a linear, chronological narrative and is written simply, with one event following another. Though that made it easier to read (too easily, perhaps – the book finishing within a couple of hours), I found it to be somewhat short of drama. The twists and turns came as simply as the normal events. At the end of it, you feel that you just about missed knowing Babur, having gotten tantalisingly close. You don't really get to be a part of his life, just a third person hovering around the battle, without being able to smell the blood and sweat. This is much unlike the “Book of Saladin” written by Tariq Ali, where you almost feel the pain of Saladin (one of my favourite characters from history)

Another shortcoming is that the book seemed shallow when you consider that Babur was an exceedingly complex man – destroyer of temples and yet secular, calling a jihad and yet contemptuous of mullahs. There are mentions of this complexity in the narrative (like destroying of temples to draw in Rana Sanga) but they come in short bursts and don't really mesh with the character as such. So, character development is a bit of a problem. Babur seemed two-dimensional most of the times, floating like a leaf in the wind of fate.

So, even though the book is a commendable achievement if only for bringing focus on the neglected Mughals, for me, it falls short of being a great read, both from a historical point of view and from a immersive read point of view.

That said, I am still going to buy the next book of the series – if for nothing else, to know a little bit more about the empire that shaped much of our cultural (and architectural) psyche.

del.icio.us Tags: babur,india,novel,historical,afganistan,hindustan,mughal,mogul,timur,samarkhand

(Book) The Eyre affair written by Jasper Fforde

2010-03-25T19:06:00.001+05:30

I could find only one word to describe this book – rollicking. Its one hell of a ride as you read the book. You need to suspend belief and historical knowledge to really enjoy this immersive world where there are literary detectives, thieves who steal characters right from novels, cops who travel through time and the Crimean war is still on, with ‘The Charge of the Light Brigade’ playing a major role in the narrative and a world where mobs owing allegiance to different literary characters fight it out with guns blazing

When you look back after you have finished with the novel, you realize that it’s a mish-mash of many genres – fantasy, satire, science fiction, detective, crime, romance and some elements that you cannot quite define, a mish-mash that surprisingly works brilliantly.

You are entertained right from the start, right from when the unbelievable world becomes accessible from the very first page. Its got dollops of humour, crisp dialogues and even crisper action and not for one minute do you get bored. Revelations about this strange but entertaining world come every chapter, keeping you literally turning the pages asking for more. What's more – the core of the story, which is the detective part is based on a solid structure.

And keeping you company all along the way is the quirky, eccentric, lovable Tuesday Next, who as the blurb informs you is without equal, fear or boyfriend!!! She is the literary detective who can swing a mean gun as well when needed. It is her adventure story and she stumbles from one into the next with amazing regularity and each more entertaining than the next, as she unravels and solves a crime that threatens to engulf the world.

Saying more would spoil the fun…just go ahead and read the book. As for me, I am going to hunt for the other Tuesday Next books…

del.icio.us Tags: eyre affair,Jasper Fforde,fantasy,science fiction,satire

(Movie) Zero day directed by Ben Coccio

2010-03-22T02:07:00.001+05:30

Very similar to ‘Elephant’ in the manner of shooting the movie – in this case with the help of handheld cameras, Zero day is an eerie take on the Columbine High school massacre. The resemblance is made closer by the fact that the two gunmen even look similar to the original student-gunmen – Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris

When you read about the manner in which Dylan and Eric planned the attack – making video documentaries about their firearms, practicing shooting, making a farewell video etc, you find that this movie is faithful in its reproduction of the events. And it can be frightening in its detailing and in the complete dispassion of the two boys towards their actions.

Of course, movies made on this tragedy try to understand what the ‘reasons’ might have been, the reasons which compel two otherwise ‘fortunate’ students to undertake a cold-blooded massacre. Various reasons have been thrown up – from bully culture and social alienation to violent video games and music.

Where this movie stands out is clear portrayal of ‘no reason’. Andre and Cal (the Eric and Dylan of this movie) point out quite clearly that they just have to do it – to wake people up and to make a point against society, a society that they hate, a society that they would force to take notice of them.

A hate, that you realize, which has gone so deep that it has ceased to factor as a reason. All that is left is a blind lashing out at the world around them – a world they find to be unsuitable for them and which they have the ability to blow up – with easily available firearms.

The videos capture this dichotomous world that Andre and Cal live in. Part of apparently happy family which take them out on picnics and give them gifts on birthdays and enough freedom to do what they want. Yet, right under everyone's noses seethes this anger which after its explosion seems almost inexplicable.

Zero day does not do a psychological study of the possible causes but only mention them vaguely in passing. What it does do is show the outward signs – the double lives, the casualness about which Cal and Andre talk about deaths (including their own), the megalomaniac craving of their taking part in an earth shattering event, the rationalizations.

What you, the viewer is left with at the end is a sense of the utter alienation of the two, who despite all the dangers they represent, seem lost and vulnerable. You dont get the reason why (but then you are not supposed to) but you do understand why Manson, in his interview to Michael Moore (in ‘Bowling for Columbine’) said, when asked what he would ask the two gunmen, replied “"I wouldn't say a single word to them. I would listen to what they have to say, which is what no one did."

This is a movie that makes you think and leaves you with no answer but only with a sense of how lives are wasted simply because we choose not to look or wake up in time. Cal and Andre seem to tell us just that by their actions.

del.icio.us Tags: Massacre,columbine high school massacre,Zero day,killing,shooting,hand held,guns,gun culture

(Movie) Wag the Dog directed by Barry Levinson

2010-01-24T21:33:00.001+05:30

A delightful movie about spin doctors and how they can be shaping our reality right as we breathe. And it is so funny and mind boggling that you fear that its true!!!For isn't truth stranger than movies?

This movie is a cult-classic. And you soon see why…

The first lines of this movie sets the tone for what you realize is going to be quite a different movie - Why does a dog wag its tail? Because a dog is smarter than its tail. What if the tail is smarter than the dog? It would be the tail wagging the dog!!!

The American president’s re-election campaign has run into serious trouble with a sexual misconduct allegation that is just about to burst the dam. So what would you do? You would call the spin doctors of course. And what would they do? Obviously create a world-shaking crisis that would over-shadow everything else and induce a panic-stricken population to rally behind its hero president (if you create it, you can defuse it – especially if its a fake event)

And the man behind the creation of the event – Robert De Niro. Who better to portray a man who is amoralistic and who does his spin doctoring as an everyday job. But since this is a truly magnificent event, who would he employ? Hollywood of course!!! in the shape of Dustin Hoffman. Its a world of people untroubled by the ethical dilemma of any sorts – the only worry is of logistics. Truth and justice are words that would be met with quizzical stares by people here – people who run our world of policies and information.

So a war is manufactured and sleeper cells in news agencies are activated and modern information democracy does what it does best – create a blinkered dictatorship of news.

Problems arise and are solved and with each solution, you begin to gain more insight into how the world might really be working!!!

Its funny but not hilarious. Its funny in a very terrifying sort of way, a combination of words that can be understood only when you are through watching the movie. And the feeling only grows towards the end…

But there are these moments when you realize that the movie makers are really telling a stark truth couched in a satire. You see shades of the American administration strategies over the years (The Bush years especially are pre-empted by this movie). And then something that was the coup-de-tat for me – the two spinners (De Niro and Hoffman) talking about arranging the Nobel Peace Prize for the President. I did a literal double take. Well, Obama’s advisors sure see the movies!!!!

A movie like few other. A movie that needs to be seen to be believed.

One thing is for sure. You will not be unaffected by this one.

del.icio.us Tags: Wag the Dog,Robert De Niro,Dustin Hoffman,America,conspiracy theory,information,news manufacture

(Book) The lost symbol written by Dan Brown

2010-01-24T20:37:00.001+05:30

If a writer reaches his apogee with a book that creates unimaginable fame for him, he or she is perhaps compelled to forever write in the same vein, in the same style unless he is bold or iconoclastic enough to change direction. Some like Rowling can manage it, both because she was writing a series and also because she had the courage to finish off something that has already made her the modern Enid Blyton (and much more than that).

However for some like Dan Brown, who ploughed magnificently into the need for people to believe in mysteries and controversies with his ‘Da Vinci code’, the end of the road may have already been a few years back. Telling the same story by a different name may seem an easy way to continue sales but the lack of freshness may well trigger the literary equivalent of diminishing marginal utility. Which is something I felt strongly with his latest book “The Last symbol”

After you finish the book, you realize that the author still has a very potent touch when it comes to marrying action on the pages with deep mysteries and conspiracies that the characters are trying to solve before the time runs out. Which is what made Da Vinci code so engrossingly addictive. This book too is a furious page turner right from the first page.

But we soon run into problems. You get a powerful sense of Déjà-vu. The same sense of Langdon rushing headlong into a conspiracy that only he can decipher before everything goes awry. There is an intelligent good looking woman neck deep into everything who he has to accompany and occasionally save, (you wonder what happened to the other two!!!). There is a powerful secret organization (in this case the Freemasons) whose secret is about to be unveiled for the better or worse. And there are clues strewn around (in this case in Washington DC) that Langdon has to put together, while being on the run from, well, virtually everyone!!! and there is the villain, some twisted, misunderstood, self mutilating outcaste who believes in miracles – rings a bell anyone?

But Washington is not Paris and the secret of the Freemasons does not exactly set your pulses racing as a secret about Jesus might. And a story twice told loses it zing. You feel you are watching a cover version of a book after some time. You know that something is going to be revealed at the end and its going to end happily. And well, it does…and though a good amount of research has gone into the book but the symbology jigsaw puzzle is not that exciting anymore as it was in Da Vinci.

Another problem is that I found the book to be exceedingly preachy. You begin to feel that you are being told to believe than make up your own mind. The vision of noble founding fathers of America building the nation in the image of a utopian society, seeing themselves as helping humans attain god-like status by spreading knowledge begins to really jar on on you after a while. I mean hey, they kept slaves in the backyard and committed a few merry genocides on the way. If they were really following Masonic principles (Atom bomb dropping, Harry Truman was a mason, no less), the world would have had a few hours of quiet sleep today. The preaching becomes screechingly preachy towards the end when the characters talk of universal consciousness and Bible being a repository of deep knowledge (instead of being a political book). You almost feel you are in some New Age healing centre where you pay a small fortune to sit in groups to chant (and go back to the punishing work grind the next day!!)…

A book to read if you have nothing else to do and if you are immune to preachy writing that stops making too much real sense after a while. If you enjoyed Da Vinci code, give this a miss. It would be too painful to see an author trying to make money by piggybank on his fame by churning out a Xerox copy…

del.icio.us Tags: Dan Brown,The lost symbol,conspiracy theory,fiction

(Movie) Heat directed by Michael Mann

2010-01-16T10:56:00.001+05:30

The definitive robber-cop/crime thriller movie. I had heard a lot about it but only managed to watch it yesterday. And boy did it blow me away!!!

The first thing that you drool over is right in the first few seconds when the casting comes up – Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Val Kilmer, Jon Voight, Ashley Judd, Tom Sizemore and more. That itself was a warning signal that I better wake up to what follows…

Then of course you realize that Al Pacino and Robert De Niro are squared off against each other, the former being a career cop who hunts down career criminals like Niro. Then sets the thermometer even higher and if the name of the movie had to have a second meaning, it would have been the epic battle between two of the most stylish and talented actors in Hollywood.

The thing about this movie is that it never once goes down the road of cliched scenes or dialogues that other gangster movie go down so easily. There are no stereotypes. You understand and reach out to both sides – the cop whose life is unravelling and the robber who goes against his instincts to fall in love. The dialogues are taut and one piece of conversation between Pacino and Niro in the restaurant would surely rate as one of the most intensive conversations in the movies – it was so poetic and full of imagery. This conversation, more than anything epitomised the movie.

The characterization is complex, the characters are multi-faceted and you constantly see new sides to every person. That makes this movie highly engrossing and makes you a part of each moment.

And one thing you realize while watching this movie is that reason why we are fascinated by movies populated by these kind of characters. They, the cops and the robbers, live amongst us but all we can ever do is cower when the firefight rages on. We may look upon them with awe and fear but its so difficult to get a glimpse into their lives (other than the idea that it must be exotic and dangerous), difficult for us to see them as normal people with different temperaments (as Niro and Pacino remarked, they cant do any other thing). We watch, fascinated, because we could never really understand them, even if told and shown. This, I believe, is the movie’s main triumph. Without stereotyping, without cliches, it told, amidst everything, a very human story.

And what would an action movie be without the action? This movie could boast of one of the best action sequences (the bank robbery), with machine guns slugging it out in the middle of a street and all you hear is the ferocious rat-a-tat and the screams and the guttural commands. Rivetting!!!

So, anyway you look at it, this movie is perfect…the actors, the acting, the script, the dialogue and the dialogue delivery, the action, the suspense, the complex characters, the story behind the men and women. This is a movie that you can watch many times and find something new everytime. Just became one of my all-time favourites…

del.icio.us Tags: Heat,Al Pacino,Robert De Niro,Action,movie review,thriller,cops,robbers,Los angeles

(Movie) Capricorn one directed by Peter Hyams

2010-01-13T22:53:00.001+05:30

Its truly a surprise that this is not more well known. Its one of the most exciting movie that I have seen – thought-provoking, good storyline, good narrative, great scenes, some superb action sequences. It might have been made in 1977 but what it portrays is even more relevant today than it was then.

The movie is about a mission to Mars sent by NASA, except that the crew does not actually go very far from the surface of the earth. In fact they are put in a movie-studio in a military base – as actors. And the whole Mars landing is faked. The reason for the plot and how its carried is captured well. However, a chink in the planning shows up in the form of a suspicious employee and he chances to be friends with an incorrigible reporter. Thus begins an investigation which the powerful ‘they’ try to thwart by any means necessary. A chain reaction starts which quickly becomes life-threatening.

The movie quickly moves into action mode near the last quarter when it becomes a horror story for the three astronauts. The flight and the chase (and capture) scenes are truly well done considering the cinematography technology available at that time. The story is well paced with the best bit saved for the last half hour. The story itself is taut and moves quickly.

Though compared to modern standards, it looks a bit unpolished but that is only when we compare it technologically. In terms of a story which is relevant and in terms of the kernel of truth that it puts out in the form of a fictional story, its bang in the league of ‘Wag the Dog’. Both in term of the bold concept as in the tautness of the script where you will find dark humour and grimness in equal measure.

The basic premise is this – Can a government pull of a huge hoax like this? The answer is in the movie itself – Yes. With the technology available even then and with a few clever manipulation by movie technicians, even the Moon landing could have been faked!!! In fact I found the reference to this movie from the Fox documentary on the fake moon landing theory. I must say, I was a believer after I saw the documentary. This movie just made it seem much more plausible.

A keeper for sure. And a movie that really ought to be much more well known.

del.icio.us Tags: Fake moon landing,Capricorn one,Hoax,conspiracy theory,action,movie review,Mars landing

(Movie) The Great Raid directed by John Dahl

2010-01-11T22:49:00.001+05:30

If all you like is great action visuals, watch only the last 45 minutes of this movie or go watch Saving Private Ryan. If you like a complete movie which concentrates on historical accuracy and goes caringly into depth of an issue that is viewed differently by different affected parties; If you don't mind sub-plots that gives a holistic understanding of the situation and if you like to understand the build-up to a mission, you will enjoy this movie immensely…

Other than the fact that movie is well-balanced and does not hurry you to the final firefight, what I liked best about the movie was the accuracy and the highlighting of the contribution made by an often overlooked part of the war – local resistance. The war would not have been won if not for the local intelligence provided by the resistance militia. With the overt focus of Hollywood on D-day landing (it provides for great visuals), most people would think that wars are won by heavily loaded landing parties (US would have been winning in Iraq that way isn't it?). Of course, this movie is all true and painstaking detailing has been done to replicate this, right down to the last bit of strategy.

Also, this is a theatre of war (The Pacific) that has received little attention from movie makers over the years. Only recently has the Soviet theatre started to receive attention (possibly because they had done the western theatre to death and needed newer visuals). The Philippines, Indonesia etc are places where the fiercest battles were fought, yet few directors have ventured there…

This is about the ‘Raid at Cabanatuan’, a mission to save POWs captured by the Japanese. As the war was drawing to close, the Japanese gave a directive to kill the POWs. After this practise became known, this mission was conceived. The Americans were helped in planning and execution of the mission by the Filipino guerrillas.

The film rotates between the Americans, the POWs, Margaret Utinsky (a nurse who helped the resistance), the urban resistance and the guerrillas. Care is taken to ensure that that each side’s viewpoint, motivation and courage is shown. This part is what I respect immensely about the movie. No one side completely dominated the movie. More emphasis was not laid on the Americans. Everyone was taken on as an equal partner, something that an overwhelming majority of movies of this genre tend to do. Sure, this makes this a little longer than usual but who said that good things always had to come in small packages…

The final mission is executed with great care and this makes for one of the best action sequences in a long time. You understand the strategy completely and you are a part of the nerve-wracking moments when the knife-edge strategy is on the point of collapse. Its a great visual treat to watch how the coordinated action on three fronts led to one of the biggest POW rescues in history…The final actual footage is a nice add-on.

Overall, a movie that gives you complete satisfaction – on the characterization front, on the action front, on the story and accuracy part.

Great watch!!!

del.icio.us Tags: The great Raid,Raid at Canabatuan,POW,world war II,Japanese,Phillipines,rescue,action,movie review

(Movie) Romulus, My Father directed by Richard Roxburgh

2010-01-11T22:39:00.001+05:30

This is one of the movies, in the middle of which, you realize, the book on which this is based has to be great. But the movie itself seems to be a little disjointed and lacks the punch to make a big impact.

Everything about this movie just seems to be on the cusp of being great, except they invariably seem to miss the mark somehow. You wait for the punch. It never comes. The acting is good but not great. The story told has its powerful moments but you somehow feel that something has been missed, some thread not connected…

This movie is an adaptation of the book “Romulus, My Father” written by Australian philosopher Raimond Gaita, about his father and his attempts to raise his son (Raimond) agaisnt all adversity – including a increasingly unstable wife, betrayals, economic ruin and mental illness. In the midst of all this, Raimond is exposed to varied experiences and grows up much beyond his years, experiences including caring for a half-sister who is eventually abandoned, watching his mother become a stranger, caring for himself when he becomes all alone.

It is a touching story of survival and of the human spirit conquering all obstacles. Except, as I said, before, you feel that something vital has been lost in translation. Even the great acting by Kodi Smit-McPhee (who plays the child Raimond) and good performances by Eric Bana and Marton Csokas are not enough to lift the movie. You just don't seem to connect emotionally, though at many times, you get close to it…that's the whole problem with the movie. You want to like it, but it you just about cant…

One thing for sure, it has whet my appetite to read the book. Should be a good read…

del.icio.us Tags: movie biography,movie review,Romulus my father,Raimond Gaita,australia,australian movie,book adaptation

(Movie) Avatar directed by James Cameron

2009-12-28T18:00:00.001+05:30

Probably the most hyped movie of the first decade of this century. A film that boasted of elements that were deemed to be game-changers, be it the technology used or the story told.

Question is how did it pan out in actual experience? The opinion about the movie can be neatly divided into two parts – about the technology and about the story

The technology is truly path breaking. Seeing it in 3D makes for an unforgettable experience. Cameron has built an immersive alien world that you feel an intimate part of, a few minutes into the movie. Its as if the greatest creation of science fiction writers, which has hitherto been in the mind only, has been rendered in full colour detail on screen. And this is a movie that has been made keeping 3D in mind. And when the action begins, you feel the thudding of the ground, feel overhead the scream of the giant birds as they dive bomb into you. Movies after Avatar would have work and their dollar cut out to surpass the standard set. The bar for now seems pretty steep.

About the story. The core of the story is pretty standard. The underdog fighting an impersonal military juggernaut. The ‘noble savage’, close to the soil, fighting wanton capitalists who only see the wealth under the ground and completely oblivious to the unity of spirit and energy that forms a life-system of these ‘savages’. Numerous stories, by science fiction or other fiction/non-fiction authors have been written on the same theme. Good over bad, nature over machines – Thoreau would have approved. It has themes that even half-baked activists of every hue would relate to – be it anti-militarists, environmentalists, anti-technologists, anti-imperialists, naturalists and many more

So, no, the story is nothing exciting. There are no stirring speeches either a la Braveheart (the one speech fell pretty flat!!) and the action sequence though brilliant was a tad short for the all the build-up prior to it. And the story or characterization was pretty shallow. You don't really get to ‘know’ the characters, though considering the epic scale of the movie, that would have been really asking too much.

But the saving grace (and which was a big one) was that this simple theme and story was candy-wrapped in the most gorgeous setting you would have ever seen on screen and that itself almost stops you from looking closely at the shallowness of the story.

So is it for keeps? For me, not really. Without the 3D gogs, I would not want to watch it – the scenery would be too flat. And once the novelty wears off, the story or the acting would not be something I would find enjoyment in.

del.icio.us Tags: Avatar,review,science-fiction

(Movie) Mr Magorium's Wonder Emporium directed by Zach Helm

2009-12-28T00:48:00.001+05:30

I wonder why a children’s story or a movie is loaded with so many negative connotations for adults – in terms of watchability. Label a movie “Children’s movie” and an 'Adult’ would rather watch a more ‘adult’ movie, even if its is absolutely mindless - American Pie and its ilk which are somehow labelled ‘teen’ movies.

Well, in my humble opinion, something egregiously horrible happens when the transition happens from the children genre to the teenage one and which continues to the ‘adult’ section. I would rather that the teens stick to the children movies until they have better sense to choose their movies.

Anyway about this movie..

This is a wonderful movie about some of the things we conveniently forget – faith, magic, hope, grace and love. Its about what we consider to be a part of childhood childishness and try to forget; but which we crave for in secret, secret even from us. Most of all, it teaches us about death and how it is a part of living and something you can even look forward to.

Natalie Portman, a musical prodigy whose initial promise has not translated to adult success, handles the emporium which is basically a magical-magic shop. Its owner is Dustin Hoffman, a mysterious grandfatherly figure who is more than two and half centuries old. He makes magical toys for children who adore his shop (They don't consider it to be a toy shop at all). He is endearingly eccentric and childishly wise (an oxymoron that the viewer of the movie would understand)

Well, he decides to ‘leave’ one day and wants to leave the shop to Portman. The story of the movie unfolds as she tries to find within herself what she wants to do – with the shop, with her life. Playing a major role in all this is Eric, a ten year something boy who is determined to save the shop.

The story is rendered in quiet humour and gentle charm. You know it would be a happy ending but you still wait for it – wait for the magic to happen. And it has one of the best parting dialogues I have heard.

Mr. Edward Agrium: [to Molly, about dying] When King Lear dies in Act V, do you know what Shakespeare has written? He's written "He dies." That's all, nothing more. No fanfare, no metaphor, no brilliant final words. The culmination of the most influential work of dramatic literature is "He dies." It takes Shakespeare, a genius, to come up with "He dies." And yet every time I read those two words, I find myself overwhelmed with euphoria. And I know it's only natural to be sad, but not because of the words "He dies." but because of the life we saw prior to the words.
[pause, walks over to Molly]
Mr. Edward Agrium: I've lived all five of my acts, Mahoney, and I am not asking you to be happy that I must go. I'm only asking that you turn the page, continue reading... and let the next story begin. And if anyone asks what became of me, you relate my life in all its wonder, and end it with a simple and modest "He died."

A movie that everyone would enjoy – it might be a common story and you instinctively know the ending but you enjoy the way it is told and the acting supports the story brilliantly. And yes, though the movie needs to be labelled something for marketing purposes, this is as much as a ‘normal’ movie as any. Its more meaningful than most of the blockbusters out there (maybe ‘grownup’ movie are the ones which can spend a percentage of GDP on them)

del.icio.us Tags: Mr Magorium's wonder emporium,Dustin Hoffman,Natalie Portman,review

(Movie) Sliding doors directed by Peter Howitt

2009-12-23T00:22:00.001+05:30

A love story of karmic proportion so to say!! Has traces of the butterfly effect in the narrative – which is that one tiny change can make someone’s life go in quite different directions, in this case the sliding doors of the metro train, hence the name.

In this movie however, both the strands coincide at the end and all is well. This is a feel good movie that hilarious and might I say, cute!!! And since this is a Brit movie, might I say that the movie warms the cockles of the heart!!!

Helen Quilley’s (Gwyneth Paltrow) love life takes a dramatic turn or a slow spiral depending on whether she misses the train, which then depends on whether she meets James Hammerton (John Hannah), which then decides whether she finds out about her cheating boyfriend Gerry (John Lynch). So we have the two stories running parallel to each other without coinciding (until at the very end) and we can enjoy watching the progress of the two until they converge.

It is funny, humorous, romantic and a nice take on the quirks that fate can play on us. It is light watching and good for when you are in the mood for some laughs and some happiness. The best thing if of course the fact that it never becomes cliched and has no cheesy dialogues. John Hannah is simply superb in his role and you can watch the movie just for him…

Watch it with your family or someone who you love. You’ll take away good cheer and laughs from it…

del.icio.us Tags: Sliding doors,review,humour,romantic,British

(Documentary) Conspiracy Theory – Did we land on moon? directed by John Moffet

2009-12-22T20:09:00.001+05:30

One of the most enduring conspiracy theory that just refuses to go away..and after you watch this documentary and after you follow that up with an internet trawl, its easy to know why.

The unbelievers (calling them conspiracy theorists would be tainting them unnecessarily – especially when they could be very well true!!!) come up with come damning points. The believers refute these points hotly and the unbelievers counter-point. Its an intense back and forth that rivets you.

This documentary which was shown in 2001 on Fox Networks, is however biased towards the unbelievers, a fact that you realize when you look up the issue on the internet. A documentary which is biased has a serious flaw. Having conceded that point, it does build up a convincing case for side that believes that the moon landing took place in a studio on earth. The evidence is many sided (scientific, visual, sudden and strange deaths) and they all just make you stop and think.

When one has read about set-ups that governments have manufactured around the world, many documented (and many naturally undocumented, which then become conspiracy theories) which leads me to believe, at any rate, that a hoax like this can be carried out if a powerful government is hell-bent on it. “Wag the Dog” and “Capricorn One” are just two movies which show how easily it can be done. Knowing all this and knowing that US Government needed to take a huge psychological leap forward to beat the Soviets (and also to distract from the Vietnam War), we suddenly have both the motives and the means and the capabilities (if a superpower cant pull this off, who can?)

It makes for a compelling story. And when you look at the internet forums and look at the other side of the argument, I realized that even with all the refutations made by the other side, some questions were not answered satisfactorily. Why didnt the Soviets do it? They were far ahead in terms of technology. Why are none of the astronauts allowed to live a public life? Sudden inexplicable deaths of a large number of astronauts in the period of the moon landing. When you think of these and other things, you realize that there is truly no smoke without fire. Somebody is not telling the whole truth.

Which is why I too believe in being an unbeliever. However I am open to a clear refutation. But then that's the beauty of conspiracy theories – they refuse to go away. They tend to excite our imagination, our sense of mystery and that is something we like to have. I guess, if they prove that we actually landed on moon, I would be a pretty disappointed believer!!!

del.icio.us Tags: conspiracy theory,moon landing,fake moon landing,fake,moon,USA,conspiracy,documentary

(Movie) Taken directed by Pierre Morel

2009-12-13T15:04:00.001+05:30

I don't remember enjoying a thriller so much in a long long time!!! I would even go as far to compare it to the Bourne series – for the sheer excitement and for the taut script which keeps you on the edge all the time without ever becoming unrealistic. But you don't enjoy the movie unless you like the protagonist. And here was Liam Neeson, an actor whom I would not normally perceive to the the swashbuckling agent..but here he plays the role of a coldly efficient ‘former Preventer’ flawlessly and with a grimness and feeling that goes perfectly with his character.

As a father trying to locate his kidnapped daughter before its too late, Neeson has the right mixture of calmness and efficiency and occasional despair which complement the times when he has to actually get his hands dirty. And I would not have believed it until I saw it – Neeson looks damn impressive when he fights, as good as when Damon fought as Jason Bourne.

The good thing was that the foundation – the script, was rock solid. The story had the right amount of suspense, mystery and action. And its not all fight, fight, fight all the time even when Neeson is the midst of an all out war. You clearly follow the logic by which he locates the kidnappers – starting from nothing except some scratches of conversation. The movie is a treat not only because of the action but more importantly because the script makes it very real. You enjoy being a part of it.

del.icio.us Tags: Taken,prostitution,movie review,Liam Neeson,action,thriller

(Movie) March of the penguins directed and co-written by Luc Jacquet

2009-12-11T12:10:00.001+05:30

Incredible and breathtaking are two words that escape you quite soon as you start watching this documentary which has a narrative like a movie script. At the core of the script is a very human story of love, perseverance and sacrifice and yes tragedy and triumph in equal measure. The words “Human spirit” has been used so often that it is easy to forget that the the same spirit of dogged determination to survive is present in all species – from the lowly ant to mammoth whale. It is just that we have the faculty of diverse language to express it more often and very self-consciously. For the ‘dumb animals’, the ‘spirit’ is just a way of life.

Of course, what makes this movie extremely watchable is due to the fact that it has penguins in its main starring role. Who hasnt found these gentlemanly birds cute?!!! When they waddle across the wide expanse of Antarctica, swaying from side to side, they look exactly like portly Victorian gentlemen complete with a coat, who have had a little too much of the drink!!! Put a hat on them and from a distance they would look like a procession of 19th century gentlemen brought accidentally by some time machine.

That and the fact that they almost look and act like humans at times (which is us human’s primary fault of course – in our infinite ego, we like what looks like us). When they find their mates, they almost look like a couple in extreme love, standing with their heads close together, caressing each other with their beaks.

The story focuses on the whole process of the march of the penguins to the breeding ground, to the role that each mate plays in the survival of the egg and then the chick, to the dangers and the tragedies that lurk at every corner, to the final triumph of the chicks finally surviving to add to the tribe. What is implicit in the story is that nothing comes for free and the ultimately without cooperation, nothing is possible. The penguins, in fact, has a very egalitarian approach to the process (born out of necessity, no doubt), which is very endearing.

The movie is one of a love story. What makes it magnificent is the fact that it has exquisite scenic photography, great moments captured on camera and above all, it only makes the penguins look, well, very cute!!!

A great watch…

del.icio.us Tags: march of the penguins,documentary

(Book) Robot series written by Isaac Asimov

2009-12-10T23:08:00.001+05:30

Having finished the foundation series a year back, which I enjoyed thoroughly, reading the robot series was a natural and almost inevitable consequence for me. After all, the series are connected – in fact more connected than the empire series which I plan to read next.

And having finished the four books (Caves of Steel, Naked Sun, Robots of the Dawn, Robots and Empire) at top speed, I can say that enjoyed them thoroughly as well. It was already a familiar world for me by the time I had finished the first book and I was already looking forward to Elijah Bailey and Daneel in the subsequent books

What I have loved about Asimov is his style of writing. Simple language but which has within it a whole world of deep thinking. The worlds he creates simply comes to life without an effort. And these are not the worlds of the Hobbits, which can only be fantasy, even to the most credulous and willing-to-believe of readers. I am reading his autobiography - “I.Asimov” and I can understand how this style of writing is only second nature to him.

The books provide a neat connect to the Foundation series and its fascinating to think that something of this science fiction may come true in a century or so. After all, Asimov created his worlds from the world he saw around him.

Of course, Asimov is entertaining science fiction with its nice mixture of science, wit and a great story line. However, to the reader who has read Philip K Dick or Heinlein, Asimov’s series (but not his short stories) may lack some deep insight (though explanations are given) into the socio-political nature of the future worlds or even of the psychological nature of the people living in those worlds. Ambiguity a la “Do androids dream of electric sheep?” is missing. Those allegations might be true except for the fact that Asimov never meant his stories to be very deep, only stimulating – both to the intellect and to the imagination. If Asimov had included moral debate in his series, the whole robot-empire-foundation series would have covered a whole shelf of a library. What he lacks in depth (deliberately, I may repeat), he makes up with his sheer prolificacy and his sweeping vision.

In any case, reading Asimov has been deeply satisfying so far and I don't intend to stop anytime soon!!!

del.icio.us Tags: Asimov,robot,robot series,foundation,science fiction

(Movie) Strangers on a train directed by Alfred Hitchcock

2009-12-03T00:50:00.001+05:30

Well, even if you didnt know that this film was directed by the master storyteller (I didnt), you would realize very soon that a genius is behind the camera. Even after so many years, after so much technical sophistications and so many scriptwriters trying their hand at the mystery-thriller genre, there is something so appealing about these stories that hooks you and keeps you literally at the edge of your seat.

The plot gets you into the rollercoaster right away. A plan for murder with an ingenious scheme, spoken in passing, becomes a horrifying reality soon and the other man is now expected to fulfil the ‘bargain’. A cat and mouse game ensues with some truly adrenalin pumping moments and twists and turns – especially near the end. Speaking more about the movie will only serve to spoil it for the viewer. Seeing this movie is the only way to enjoy it…

I can only say if you want to be thrilled and entertained and given a treat of truly great storytelling, this movie cannot be given a miss…

del.icio.us Tags: Alfred hitchcock,Hitchcock,mystery,thriller,movie review,classics

(Movie) Waltz with Bashir directed by Ari Folman

2009-12-02T21:18:00.001+05:30

How do you show war – with all its lunacy, its waste, its human cost both for the victors and the survivors? You can try to be visceral and make a heroic story of it – like “Saving Private Ryan”, but that leaves you feeling a bit hollow, as if the complete tale has not been told. You can try to juxtapose grim action and dark poetic – like “Thin Red Line”, which leaves a deep impression but its too real and too visible. The best visual masterpiece that combines everything that can be said is to my mind “Apocalypse Now”.

But once you see “Waltz with Bashir”, you realize the handicaps and the restrictions that a purely human actor oriented war movie puts on the creative narrative. War is a hazy thing when it passes – for both sides and both make up memories to explain the events. War is too traumatic for objective storytelling. Those scarred by it would take refuge in their minds and colour the events so that they can move on.

This is why you need a medium of storytelling that allows you to be fluid and can give dimensions to a story that a camera focussed on a human being can’t.

“Waltz with Bashir” is the director Ari Folman’s attempt to come to terms with his own past, to exorcise his own ghosts. He served in the IDF (Israeli Defence Forces) during the 1982 Lebanon War which saw the horrific massacres at Sabra and Shatila refugee camps. The story begins with Ari’s colleague complaining to him about a recurring nightmare that he has which has to do with his experience in the war. To his surprise, Ari cant remember anything about his own experience. Its as if its completely been erased from his memory.

So begins his quest for finding the truth – what really happened. And piece by piece he begins to unravel the facts until finally he comes face to face with the horrific realization of what his recurring vision means. Its a journey that lets the viewer go along with Ari as he goes around the world to dig inside his own mind. It never lets you get ahead, with the result that you find out at the same time as Ari…

I started this post by talking about the dynamism of the medium. I don't think story would have the same impact if it had human actors and shot on camera. It would have seemed too real. The magic of this movie is that it could move seamlessly between visions and reality thus giving a surreal feel to the story. The violence and the madness depicted in animation gives a deceptive look of lesser intensity until the scene explodes with savage intensity. Seeing an animated scene that has its roots in reality can be quite disconcerting, hence the magic. The scene where the soldier dances a mad waltz to the tune of his gun firing in front of the fresco of Bashir could not have been replicated so effectively by a human actor. It would have seemed too fantastic. Here it fit the pattern. The last devastating truth, the wails has the danger of being clichéd in a normal cinema. Here they tear at you…

The final minutes of actual footage of the massacre gives a jolt to the viewer. It was the best ending that could have been given to the movie. In the end, reality does matter. And the people actually died, whether we show with human actors or whether on the computer.

I liked the honesty of the movie. Some people have called it simplistic and even propagandist in its politics. The first part is true, to the extent that it did not look into the politics and confined itself to the human cost. It is after all, a man’s search for meaning. As for the latter accusation, perhaps they didnt hear the reference to the SS in the movie. Its good to see an Israeli movie referring to Israeli action akin to that of an SS. The candour is refreshing.

There are many reasons to watch this movie – for its brilliant storytelling, for the innovative medium, for its exquisite imagery and for a great journey into the mind of those who get stuck in war. But maybe you would want to watch it for the what it tries to tell…

del.icio.us Tags: waltz with bashir,Israel,war,lebanon,1982,lebanon war,IDF,animated,animation,movie review

(Movie) Zodiac directed by David Fincher

2009-12-01T00:28:00.001+05:30

After seeing the movie, I realized how few good detective movies I have come across lately. By that genre I don't mean the movies which seem to have some world-conspiracy behind them or the ones which seem to have some shadow of Watergate type of scam going on. I mean the real clue-searching, detective work type of movie. I realized how much I missed these kind of stories after watching this one…

There was no swashbuckling unnecessary action, no constant on the edge tension (It compensated with being a well paced thriller). That's what made it great. It made the movie real. What it did have was a grittiness, a story that was all too real and a justice system that was that as well – too real. Its quiet, grim and dark.And because the movie was based on a true story, that made it all the more absorbing. The one man’s (Jake Gyllenhaal) fanatical quest for justice, even though the murderer had not affected him personally, out of a small initial curiosity that becomes a full fledged obsession that threatened to consume his family and himself is something that would captivate you throughout the movie.

If you enjoy a good detective story – how a structure can be built from hypothesis and how it can fall like a house of cards on a simple missed logic; the frustration of trying to unearth something that everyone has given up on (the case dragged on for decades); the quiet doggedness that a determined man has to have in order to unearth a mystery; how pieces of a jigsaw fit together, you would enjoy every minute of this. The movie lets you get into the mind of an investigator, in all its starkness – minus the glorification. That's a rare movie that lets you do that…

del.icio.us Tags: Zodiac,mystery,true story,movie review,Jake Gylenhaal,murder