Birdman

I decided to catch the movie 'Birdman' over the weekend as I was very curious to see why it won the best movie. Throughout the movie I kept on thinking where is this movie going.It had very powerful dialogues,witty dialogues,very powerful acting,strong cast,it has its share of humor,amazing camera work-the sweeping single shots just blew me away,then the last 10 mins totally threw me off.The ending was open to so much interpretation that I realized maybe that was what made the academy deem it a oscar worthy movie. But it is a very thought provoking movie,There are lot of powerful dialogues but for me in the entire movie there is this heated exchange between Michael keaton and emma stone which stuck with me,the idea of trying to be relevant in life! Its deep and makes so much sense to me about life. Riggan: Listen to me. I'm trying to do something important. Sam: This is not important. Riggan: It's important to me! Alright? Maybe not to you, or your cynical friends whose only ambition is to go viral. But to me... To me... this is - God. This is my career, this is my chance to do some work that actually means something. Sam: Means something to who? You had a career before the third comic book movie, before people began to forget who was inside the bird costume. You're doing a play based on a book that was written 60 years ago, for a thousand rich old white people whose only real concern is gonna be where they go to have their cake and coffee when it's over. And let's face it, Dad, it's not for the sake of art. It's because you want to feel relevant again. Well, there's a whole world out there where people fight to be relevant every day. And you act like it doesn't even exist! Things are happening in a place that you willfully ignore, a place that has already forgotten you. I mean, who are you? You hate bloggers. You make fun of Twitter. You don't even have a Facebook page. You're the one who doesn't exist. You're doing this because you're scared to death, like the rest of us, that you don't matter. And you know what? You're right. You don't. It's not important. You're not important. Get used to it.

Paranormal activity

I have heard it's healthy to be scared once in a while,to realize that ur body still does respond to fear.if u have not gone through this exercise in a long time please go and watch this movie.it's a beauty in film making.I felt a strange terror creeping over me while watching the movie.I could feel myself sqirming in my seat everytime it turned night in the movie.there is nothing horrific or gory in the movie,but the simplicity with which it's made and the way the story has been told makes u feel uneasy.it's very easy to forget that it's just a movie and not a real life drama while watching the movie.I could feel the entire theatre go through these emotions,gasping,screaming,holding their breath,waiting in anticipation.the emotion is all gone once u come out of the movie hall but hey that's why u go to movies, to teleport u to a different world where u feel and see things not possible in this dreary mundane day to day life of ours. If u like the emotion of fear watch the movie.:)

Watch out men!!

Saw the 'Watchmen' in IMAX yesterday after the plunge, Storyline is a bit complex,but visually stunning.Hoping to read the book.

I am not an Animal, I am a human being!

I happened to see 'The elephant man' directed by David lynch, Basically a 1981 movie. I picked up the movie just out of curiousity(which i always am),the name intrigued me and also the fact that it had recieved 8 academy nominations including best picture and i had heard a lot about David lynch,so I wanted to try it and I was pleasantly surprised. The movie is completely shot in black and white and freddie francis has done an amazing job as a cinematographer!

I dont know how do you place this film,I kept seeing the movie in two perspectives,one from the perspective of the victim -its poignant and moving from the perspective of the crippled elephant man and another from the perspective of the society towards him - you cannot help looking at the different facets of society towards this crippled disfigured person.

The movie left me in a state which i really cannot explain right now.
What makes me all the more overwhelmed is ,it was based on a true story of a person called Joseph merrick. I have multiple threads of thoughts going on in my mind right now, the doctor community, the selfish money minded community,the philanthropic community,the ridiculous things called 'life' 'chance' 'fate', the concept called 'humane'....

Watch it if you can ...Needs a different bent of mind to watch it ..

Book reading - Night of the generals - Hans Hellmut Kirst
Watching on TV- Rowing - Olympics

Vive le Joker!

I have become a huge huge fan of Joker after watching the new batman flick. Hats off to Christopher nolan for brilliant script and direction.Heath ledger,I dont have any words for how he has portrayed his character.I think Bob kane would have been proud to see such a fantastic portrayal of his character.

The Joker character just hooks you by the collar and lifts you and you just cant be awed by his villainy and insidiousness.His philosophy is stunning.Dialogues are fantastic ..here are a few

Batman: [Whilst the Joker is holding Rachel out of a window] Let her go.
The Joker: Oh, very poor choice of words. [Lets her fall]

The Joker: [standing in front of a burning pile of money] This town deserves a better class of criminal, and I'm gonna give it to 'em. Tell your men they work for me now, this is my city.
Mob boss: They won't work for a freak.
The Joker: [Imitating the mob boss's accent] Freak? [Pulling out a small knife] Why don't we cut you up into little pieces and feed you to your pooches, hmm?[Joker's thugs pulls away the mob boss] And then we'll see how loyal a hungry dog really is!



Joker: It's simple, we uh- kill the Batman.
[Men in the room laugh, once again.]
Salvatore Maroni: If it's so simple, why haven't you done it already?
Joker: One thing I've learned is if you're good at something, never do it for free.

I'm not a monster. I'm just ahead of the curve.

Do I look like I have a plan? I don't have a plan. The mob has plans, the cops have plans. You know what I am, Harvey? I'm a dog chasing cars. I wouldn't know what to do if I caught one. I just do things. I'm not a schemer.


Its been really quite a while since i have gotten so excited after seeing a character portrayal,the last was the performance of Javier bardem as 'Anton Chigurh' in 'no country for old men'.

DARK KNIGHT

Its 3:20 AM now. I am just coming from watching the 12 AM 'Dark knight' movie. We could not get any other tickets.Its running house full in America which is unheard of! All i can say is 'Its a mind blowing movie' . If you are a batman fan you will just be taken away. All i can say is when i saw the movie I felt so happy and sad at the same moment to think such a fantabulous actor as heath ledger is no longer there,like someone said he will probably go down in movie history as another James Dean,though i dont think James dean acting came even very close to this guys. I just couldnt contain my excitement all through out the movie.His joker character just digs into you.He might win an oscar like all the people are right now claiming and even if he does posthumously i think its way far off justified. Its a fantastic story line,fantastic effects.

I think i will be the joker tonight in my dreams. Who wants to be batman!!! He he he ha ha ah aha ha ...slurp ...

Charlton Heston dies.

Well ,i heard the news that Charlton heston was dead a couple of days later after he died.I kinda liked him as an actor especially his Ben hur and ten commandments.I remember a high school trivia from the quizzes i used to attend- the question was connect Cecil Demille- moses and michelangelo.It seems Cecil Demille chose Charlton heston for the role of moses in ten commandments after the moses statue of michelangelo.Heston's nose which was broken, had a very similar shape to the nose of moses of michelangelo,that is why he was chosen.To think fate can intervene like this
!!

Dr Who??

Well I had never heard of the movie.It was supposedly a new Animation flick with a name which nobody could remember,everyone remembered just a Dr and a 'who' and the story line seemed wierd with some elephant helping a small world in a speck in a flower. When Mahesh suggested this movie he went something like " why dont we go to this new animation movie ..its called 'Dr ..something ..something WHO',i cant remember,its about an elephant helping a world in a small speck of flower" .Crikes!!nobody would ever go to a movie described thus,that too adults and to an animated movie!(no offense to you mahesh,but you couldn't have described the movie better and nobody can remember the movie name if they haven't seen it ,for the movie name makes no sense if you havent seen it). Everyone declined,forget everyone even Bhargav who normally likes animated movies very politely declined saying 'I am not interested in seeing a cartoon today'. :)

Since i am a sucker for new kinds of movies and like animated movies and normally see movies which nobody wants to see and more over i looked it up on the web and rotten tomatoes had favourable reviews i decided to give it a try.I forgot that Australian GP was at 11.30 PM and committed to Mahesh for the 10.30 PM show and then later suddenly remembered and kept cursing myself for having forgotten it,the very thought that i was missing the F1 opener for some unheard of movie was frustrating.But i had made a commitment i decided to stick to it and go.

To cut it short,I thoroughly enjoyed the movie.I like animated movies because of its creativity,its very difficult to make commercial animated movies because it has to appeal to both the adults and the youngsters,the films have to be mature enough to keep an adult engrossed and at the same time funny and fascinating and not too complicated to a youngster.So i always find it fascinating to see how movie makers keep this balance to make it a commercial hit.
Coming back to the movie,it has an extremely creative story line,kudos to whoever thought of it - i think it has some philosophical undertones(probably its only me as i am much into philosophising:) ) and a very funny elephant and some quality humour(all relative to different age groups) and the graphics are very soothing to the eye and congruous.After seeing the movie the name makes perfect sense.Probably its an advertising gimmick to keep such an undecipherable name,but real creativity in the way the movie name has been kept.

I recommend this movie to all animation movie fans ,I think its a wonderfully made film .

Its called 'Dr.Sesss - Horton hears a WHO' :)I didn't think twice to remember the name!! :)

Thanks Mahesh,for suggesting the movie.After seeing the movie I didn't repent that I missed F1 ,though i watched it from mid way on after coming back home!

Addendum:I did some research on the movie,its based on the book by the same name 'Horton hears a who' by Theodor Seuss the famous children story book writer known for 'how the grinch stole christmas'.

10000 BC

Well Basically I didn't find the movie good.The storyline was hackneyed and the special effects weren't dramatic and very much less time has been given to each special effects scene.Probably i had too much expectations looking at the trailers and i have only myself to blame to leave the movie disappointed.

One dialogue which caught me in the movie.

"Men draw a circle around themselves and vow to protect and care for all who fall within it. For some men, that circle includes their "woman" and children. For others, their extended family. For great men it includes many, many people. A man must decide who falls in his circle of influence."

Movie recommendation - 'No country for old men'

'No country for old men' - I was just curious why it won the best film at the oscars,since i didn't get any takers for this movie I decided to go alone.I still dont know why it won the best film ,going by oscars history they have done a complete rope-a-dope. But let me tell you ,from a film making perspective its a master piece.From the first till the end its gripping.I just loved the character of the evil antagonist (he is a psychopathic murderer philosopher -weird combination huh :) but thats how i see him)and the way the movie has been made.There is hardly any or no music in the back ground,the way each shot has been shot just adds to the overall effect.If you love film making as an Art i would definitely recommend you to this.Also it has an unusual ending,I am still trying to figure out the ending. The plot is very simple and straight forward but the movie wins over for the way it has been made.
Javier bardem is a revelation to me in acting.He has done his role so chillingly well,no doubt he deserved an oscar for best supporting role hands down!!His role will go untainted in the pages of well known hollywood villians.

It has some really crisp camera angles and shots which builds up tension and a sense of thrill.

Still i dont know why it deserved a best film oscar - for it does not fall in any of the categories of the so called oscar best film norms.I thought they would have normally ignored such movies giving it best screenplay or cinematography awards.

For me its a fantastically made film .Something like a hitchcockian movie,he had really learned the Art of making movies and gripping his audiences, this dwells on parallel rails to that.