Funniest Movie Review :-)

You'll have more fun watching paint dry :(

Can there be a more scathing user review for a movie which is supposed to be a laughter riot!

By the way, thie review is for the movie 'The Interview' on IMDB. Yes, the same movie which led to hacking of Sony data.

Here are some backgrounders -
Sony: Hack so bad, our computers still don't work

Sony blames NORK The Interview cyber strike for delayed Q3 report

And then these -

New evidence Sony hack was ‘inside’ job, not North Korea
The Sony hacking evidence points to North Korea, but it may not be enough. There’s just enough doubt to let Kim Jong-un off the hook

X-Men: Days of Future Past #ReadMore

X-Men franchise is an interesting franchise. Frankly, I won't remember much about any sequels of the original X-Men which was released in 2000. On the other hand, the original movie was very entertaining, opening me to a whole new world of the movies based on characters and stories from Marvel Comics.

Apart from the X-Men series, there also has been a special focus on Wolverine, with two movies making it to the big screen - X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009) and Wolverine (2013). All these movies, X-Men series and Wolverine, are criss-cross of stories and move back and forth in time.

Latest story of the mutants is X-Men: Days of Future Past. The movie has a raked in a whopping $261 Million global box-office opening.

Though I am not much impressed by the movie, it did pique my interest in the characters, stories and comics about the mutants. Here are some articles from around the web which I found while reading more about the X-Men -

READING LIST: ESSENTIAL X-MEN STORIES TO READ AFTER SEEING "DAYS OF FUTURE PAST

If you are like me, you will definitely want to know more about the mutants, their adventures, and what transpires before and after 'Days of Future Past' happens. Here is a great reading list for you!

X-Men: Days of Future Past Review

Though the title of the post says review, these are actually rants of a hard-core X-Men comics fan about gaps between original stories and the movie, and about the instances of stupidity (!).

Though, I am not so keen a comic-reader, one thing we too spotted while watching the moview was this -

Thought X-Men was good, probably 7/10 but Prof X dies in the 3rd one and now he's just back in it, no explanation
— Matt Ridout (@mridout196) May 26, 2014

Simon Kinberg Explains How the Ending of X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST Affects other X-MEN Movies

Simone Kinberg is the writer-producer of the movie. The title says it all. Go, read.

Here is another interesting article -
True origins of X-Men: How a second-tier comic inspired a legion of misfits and changed Hollywood

This is a great read on RollingStone.com You should read it too!

If you are interested in (being!) mutants like this lady is -

Watched x-men...and I hate the fact that I will never get to be a mutant. I'd be such a good mutant. I've never been so sure of anything.
— LZ (@LZLIANNAZ) May 26, 2014

- then you should not worry at all! Watch this video to get your own claws!!

Update:
If you need to read one article about X-Men, read this -

Ranked: All The ‘X-Men’ Movie Mutant Characters From Worst To Best

Big Rock Candy Mountains!

Some songs make a place for themselves in your heart forever. This song - ‘Big Rock Candy Mountains’ is one of such gem of a song. I heard it first in Coen Brothers’ ‘O Brother! Where Art Thou?’.

The song instantly captivated me. First was the music. I came to know that this particular music genre is called Bluegrass Music. According to Wikipedia,

“In bluegrass, as in jazz, each instrument takes a turn playing the melody and improvising around it, while the others revert to backing; this is in contrast to old-time music, in which all instruments play the melody together or one instrument carries the lead throughout while the others provide accompaniment."

The music seems so simple to ears and is also earthly.

Second reason is its lyrics…song is about an utopian place called ‘Big Rock Candy Mountains’ – I thought earlier that this place is an utopia for a thief! Read these lines -

In the Big Rock Candy Mountains the jails are made of tin
And you can walk right out again as soon as you are in
There ain't no short handled shovels, no axes saws or picks
I'm a goin to stay where you sleep all day
Where they hung the jerk that invented work

Aren’t these so funny! But as I read more, I came to know that this was actually a song which was used during Great Depression in USA to mobilise countryside folks for road-works! Many of these people were ones whose life did not follow the law always – so these lines.

Incidentally, after changing some parts of the songs, it was also made into a popular children song. E.g. ‘cigarette trees’ in original song became ‘peppermint trees’ for children.

When I read the version for children, I was shocked to see that one nursery rhyme in Marathi, written by a famous poet bears a striking resemblance with this children version of ‘Big Rock Candy Mountains’. In Marathi the song is about a ‘Chocolate Bunglow’ and every Marathi child knows this song.

Let's say that's a good inspiration to have.

----

On Youtube.

Read more @ Bluegrass Music here.

Read @ ‘Big Rock Candy Mountain’ on Wikipedia here.

Lyrics of the song here.

Lyrics of children version here.

Dark Knight – 4 Reasons Why It Rocks

Above: 3 reasons why Dark Knight is awesome movie

A day before yesterday, I went to watch the much hyped superhero flick – Dark Knight. It had already generated enough curiosity for being the last completed movie by Heath Ledger. I also liked Christian Bale after ‘Batman Begins’ and ‘3:10 to Yuma’. He is an actor with a lot of substance and in future he is sure to portray some memorable characters.

Just before the intermission in the movie-theatre, I thought the movie is over! And, I was still very happy to have watched a good movie!! But it did not stop there…it went on entertaining me till I came out of theatre as a hard-core Dark Knight fan. No wonder that Dark knight is currently No. 1 in IMDB’s Top 250 movies.

Here are some things which I liked about this movie -

1. Heath Ledger:

I was surprised to see how well he has portrayed the Joker. Heath Ledger is very successful in that he conveyed the right tones of Jokers’ personality. He was not supposed to be a Joker actually, he had to be a psychopath and it’s what Heath appears in the movie. Especially watch the scene when he claps in the cell on news of Gordon’s promotion – that was really terrifying.

Most of those who have watched Jack Nicholson as Joker will agree with me that Heath is better than jack in role of Joker.

It is very sad that he took exit exactly when he has shown so much promise.

2. Aaron Eckhart

Aaron Eckhart was the real surprise package of this movie. The role of firebrand public prosecutor came to Eckhart not as a first choice. The director sought out Matt Demon and several others for this role before Eckhart was considered. But whatever happens, happens for the best. Aaron Eckhart’s Harvey Dent overshadows even Batman in many parts of the movie. Harvey Dent is supposed to be the White Night in Gotham – but due to tragic death of Rachael, he is transformated into Two-face. And this is the best part of Eckhart’s portrayal.

3. Good acting by almost everybody

This movie is one of those rare ones, where everybody of the cast gives 100%. During movie, you never feel that any of the casts is out of place or situation. Special mentions are Caine, Freeman and the man who played Gordon.

Off course Bale is always there.

4. Christopher Nolan

After a movie, how many characters do generally linger in your mind? Only a few in most of the movies. In case of Dark Knight, everybody lingers. Right from the prisoner in orange prison clothes who throws away the dynamite switch, to the Joker’s man whom Harvey tries to kill by doing a toss of coin. Credit of this character development must go to Nolan.

What I liked most about Nolan is that he has brought so much depth in Batman movies – both Batman Begins and Dark Knight. Superheroes are not search and rescue operatives like most of the flicks showcase them. Nolan focussed on the moral dilemmas in mind of the superhero instead. And he succeeds in that. Hats off to him for giving us this movie!

Now, Social Movies!

Why One Minute Movies will matter?

• Democratic flavor: Everybody can't be Martin Scorcesse or Peter Jackson. But everybody can make a 1-Minute statement. And cameras are dozen a dime now in cellphones, which everybody has.
• It's simple: Just click and shoot.
• It's quick: Just click, shoot and save.
  
• It's economic: Camera, as an add-on in a cellphone, is free. Unless you sign up Brad Pit for your movie, it will cost nothing.

I wonder how greatly this matters for media and mobile industries...

Read this post on resurrection of One Minute Movies on ajit balakrishnan’s Blog -

"In a move that may have marked the start of a new era, the legendary former Disney CEO Michael Eisner unveiled plans to produce 80 episodes of a serial called “Prom Queen.” This by itself may not have caused a stir except that each episode will be just 90 seconds. “Prom Queen” is a serialized mystery and will begin on April 2nd and roll out over 80 days. It has been billed as 'a blend of love, gossip and betrayal”. The series will run on the studio’s own site Vuguru.com, on a show site promqueen.tv, on Youtube the popular video sharing site, on Veoh a file sharing site and arrangements are being made to distribute it on wireless and handheld video devices. Ads will run before and after episodes. Eisner also announced this week the formation of a studio, Vuguru, that will acquire and develop short videos for the web.

User created One Minute videos have been around ever since the dramatic drop in price of video cameras. But what makes the Eisner move different is that he plans to have his 1-minute videos “professionally produced”, using top Hollywood talent.

What this will do to the movie industry that has marching towards ever larger production budgets and ever lengthier durations and ever plusher multiplexes is too complicated"

Watch some great 1-Minute Movies here and here.

Big Brother - Shilpa Shetty Wins Finally

After so much of racial slurs and all that, Shilpa Shetty has won Channel4's reality show Big Brother. Shilpa is 'not-so-successful' Bollywood actress with a 'hot-like-bomb' body.

It seems that with a win in much hyped and controversial Big Brother, her career will get an international dimenssion.

There is a saying in Sanskrit which goes like - sit on donkey, tear your clothes...do whatever you want to be famous. Because life comes only once! This is the real mantra today.

Read about Shilpa Shetty on Channel4 itself.

Bollywood Rules...!

Here is the list of top Movies of 2006 by average user votes. 'Lage raho Munnabhai' - a light comedy flick tops the list. The 8.8 infront of '...Munnabhai' contains 1 vote of myself :)

Bollywood rules!

Mel Gibson's Apocalypto Trailer

[Youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KP2Fp7vJD4E]

Casino Royale Review * * * * *

This Bond is cool. Really cool. James Bond on his first mission after upgraded to a license to kill. James Bond becomes Agent 007. In his first mission Bond has to choke the funding channel to world of terrorism by winning poker(!), and defeating a blood-weeping man Schiffr in it. He is accompanied by Eva Green, an acountant in Treasury. Bond plays poker, swallows and digests poison, makes love with Eva Green, endures brutal torture and emerges as One Of The Best Bond ever. Yes he is simply better than metrosexual Pierce Brosnan. Raw, agile, brute & witty. That's the 007 we want.

Credit here goes to Daniel Craig and the script. Devoid of gadgets, the Bond here relies more on his brute force and agility to break necks (yeah! he really breaks them in the movie), more humane (heroically humane) persona of bond. The original story of Casino Royale is changed here to fit into the terrorised world order of today. This seems more an artificial unfit. But the presentation and daniel Craig sail through it all.

21st Bond movie and 6th Bond are different from predecesors on at least three counts...

1. Bond is blond here. Yes blue eyed sexy blond.


2. The Bond's female is not so glamourous and polished (remember Ursulla Andress!). She is more feminine 7 doesn't holds a gun in whole movie. Instead sits below shower - terrified and shocked - after seeing kiilings and death bodies.


3. Here is real comedy which proves my point no. (2) -- Ursulla Andress & Halle Berry emerge out of water like godess venus...sexy and seductress...! In Casino Royale, who emerges out of water is not Eve Green, but instead - Daniel Craig!

'Departed'

I have always loved espionage and spy movies. I may be the only person who actually is saddened by the demise of cold war era (at least the cold war era on screen). Cold war provided raw material to some the best espionage literature and movies. Some of the movies in this genre that I really like are - 'Enemy of the state', 'Ronin', 'Bourne Identity', 'Bourne Supremacy' etc.

Now I here that Martin Scorcesse has thrown away one more masterpiece in 'Departed' with an impressive cast of Jack Nicolson, de Caprio and Mat Damon.

Now waiting eagerly for this Friday, when 'Departed' will be released in India.