Zombieland - A land i would rather live than this one.

Imagine a world where you shoot flesh eating zombie's with a shotgun; a 12 year old girl takes you hostage in the most simple way and a hot and smart girl happens to be a non-zombie and your Hummer front seat co-passenger with the sexiest voice; i would like a ticket to Zombieland.

10 rules to follow(i mean break) before anyone watches the movie (Spoilers alert)

Rule #1 - Pregnant women and weird guys; safe to carry a brown bag and be ready to throw up from the word go till you see the end titles.

Rule #2 - Do not try to be brave and laugh all through the movie; there are few pretty good frights. The genre order goes like this Horror,Comedy,Horror,Comedy......

Rule #3 - Stay at least 2 rows away from high school over excited girls who shriek before even the scare comes. Especially the ones who shriek right into your ears.

Rule #9 - Never cheat and do show fear with full confidence by either keeping quiet or by gently shaking in your own seat.

Rule #10 - Use the restroom. Nobody wants to hear a fart, shriek and laugh at the same time.

By following the above rules you ensure a safe and joyful ride through the movie for everyone. Be ready to pay respect to Bill, Woody, Jesse, Abigail and Emma. Awesome firt class horror flick!

Rashomon - Is this guy Kurosawa the God?

For a long time i could not sit down and watch a movie. All the moving, cooking ,talking and traveling was pulling away my time like the bee sucking the nectar out from a flower. I was drained and badly needed a breath of fresh air which actually means a good movie without any company. I decided to do it and visited the public library and picked up some old classics. One of them happened to be Rashomon. Talk about movies and the word Kurosawa is an adjective that flies around quite a bit. In what is come to be known as Kurosawa's best films Rashomon is his first to international acclaim which won him the Golden Lion at Venice Film Festival.

Rashomon is a 1950 period movie that talks about human ingenuity. The movie encompasses the philosophy of honor, lust, greed, piousness, bravery etc.. The movie beautifully shows the characters changing their stance for what they have been judged too. The movie is as relevant today as it was 6 decades ago. Kurosawa is know to use weather a part of his films and in this movie he uses rain. The rain makes a virtual blanket to the three men discussing the trial. The woods is a perfect setting for a bandit, a samurai and his wife to confront each other. It gives the film the mystery and also brings out the true emotions out from the characters.

The trial scene with the testimony is a creative way to talk to the audience. With the interrogator out of the picture we see the characters talking to the camera and answering questions. The final scene where the man who finds the murdered body confronts the guy who listens to him is where we find out the human nature to lie, steal and survive.

The movie was definitely a breath of fresh air to me. I would be soon watching his other classics like Ran, Seven Samurai, Throne of blood etc.. Kurosawa is one of the greatest directors and a gift to the world of art.

Michael Jackson....force that now lingers!

MJ was more than just a star to me, he was my gateway to the world. If i ask myself the question; what does an African-American singer with crazy dance steps and high pitched voice meant to a small boy in the streets of a city suburb from Southern India, the answer would be the world of passion. When the whole world around me was Tamil, Hindi conversations, Sanskrit slokas, Kollywood movie romance, smell of Jasmine and drainage; MJ was the magic that put me in a different universe where everything was modern and ultra-cool. His songs and dance made me different from others. Listening to him and singing among the members of my family made me unique. Purchasing his cassettes or his posters made me feel special. If that was all that he could achieve then he was my boyhood hero.

It was the Spring of 1996 and exams were fast approaching. I and my friend Joseph had very little time to prepare for the exams. We never had trouble scoring good but as a child to a English speaking middle class family struggling to make a mark in the society, that was not enough. Scoring 90 and ranking 4th was not an option that was given to me. But the child in me was always free and my mom always let me dream big. I had informed my parents that i would be spending my weekend at Joseph's place studying for the exams. Well, we had other plans too. Joseph was talking about this new single that he had heard in the radio by MJ which he really liked and i wanted to listen to it very badly. Both of us had settled down with the textbooks and a radio on either side. The radio station, which was at that time the only station that played English songs was airing and the RJ was speaking non-stop. We waited with baited breath for the song and when the RJ mentioned Michael Jackson i let out a howl and almost fell off the bed. The song was "They dont really care about us". That was the kind of excitement that MJ brought in our life.

We moved on in our life and my music interest expanded. But i always return to those songs that defined my boyhood. Remember the way songs make you nostalgic. Whenever i listen to 'Beat it', 'Dangerous' or 'Black or White' i just travel back to those exciting, serene days when i would do my math with my stereo blaring those songs. Everyone in my family always wondered aloud that how could i do math if the music was blaring. Those times i used to tell them that it was the only way i could keep out other noise and concentrate, but i never realized that it would leave an impression on me.

Well the death of MJ as a person was inevitable and i am though sad not devastated. But this just made me realize how music and art can change someone's life forever. How you never loose touch of your roots and how someone completely unknown, thousands of miles away can affect you and how fresh and exciting a young boy's mind is.

Coppola on his career and Tetro

This is what is called conversation with the GOD!!

LA/San Diego Trip

Videos from our trip to Universal Studio and Sea World.

Star Trek - New frontier; magic of J.J.Abrams

I could not wait in my office to get out on Friday evening. I had just been reading reviews of the Star Trek movie and it was sending me across the galaxy. Just like the other movies that released in the last quarter of 2008 this movie climbed the IMDB top 250 charts and was sitting at #228 even before its release. I rushed home and headed straight to the theaters.

Fade-in

The movie begins with the story of how the earlier USS Enterprise is destroyed by the Romulun villain Nero(Eric Bana) and Captain (Faran Tahir) is murdered. This also shows how young Jim Kirk is born and his dad perishes along with the ship to save others. This is followed by the young Spock(Zachary Quinto) who has human and Vulcan blood getting accepted in the Academy of science but refusing it to join the Star Fleet. Later Jim Kirk(Chris Pine) is caught by Captain Pike(Bruce Greenwood) brawling with some bullies and rescued and advised to join the Star Fleet. Refusing to do so that time Kirk later goes to the shuttle for new recruits and challenges to finish it in 3 years. Here is where he meets Dr.Bones(Karl Urban) and makes friend with him.

An interesting scene is when we find out that Kirk breaks the record and passes the test designed by Spock which is basically impassable. The later scenes are pretty quick and a little unrealizable as new future age policies are thrown around and somehow Bones manages to get Kirk into USS Enterprise. Kirk realizes that the rescue mission that they are bound for is going to turn out to be a fight and warns Captain Pike. Spock is unrelentingly against Kirk's idea and puts logic into everything. He later agrees and the ship moves into Warp speed and reaches the Vulcan planet.

They face the Romulun ship and their transponders are deactivated and Captain Pike is invited to a conversation with Nero. Though he is advised by others to avoid going into the enemy ship he has a plan and takes Kirk, Sulu and another crew member to bail onto the drilling stem and deactivate it. The plan goes into action and here we see a lot of hand-to-hand action and Kirk and Sulu manage to deactivate the drilling stem but Nero manages to put the Red Matter into Vulcan which is about to create a black hole. Spock realizing his home is being destroyed beams onto his home and tries to rescue the leaders including his Parents. While beaming out he loses his Mother(Winona Ryder) and is devastated.

With Captain Pike captured by Nero, Spock becomes the Captain and there is an argument between Spock and Kirk about whether to regroup with the other ships or chase the Romulun ship heading towards Earth. Kirk is taken away and bailed out onto an ice planet Delta Vega. He regains consciousness and treks to a nearby control center. Here is the best part of the movie when he is chased by local savage creatures and ends up being rescued by Spock Prime.

This part of the story is the twist and we come to know that Spock in the future fails to save the Romulun planet from a supernova by creating a black hole using the Red Matter and Nero is angered by this and sends him here to witness his revenge against the Federation. Spock prime takes Kirk to the nearby control center to meet Montogomery (Simon Pegg) who created the transporter. They beam themselves into USS Enterprise leaving behind Spock prime. Kirk then manages to emotionalize Spock and makes him resign as Captain. Kirk becomes the Captain and they set course to follow Nero. They catch up with him and the final fight happens with Spock and Kirk beaming into Nero's ship and Spock hijacking the ship with the Red Matter and Kirk rescuing Captain Pike. Spock puts the ship with Red Matter into collision course with Nero's ship and at the right moment the three are beamed into USS Enterprise. They offer to save Nero but he refuses and the black hole is created but only to find that USS Enterprise is also being sucked in. At the last moment Montomery creates a blast and they escape.

At the end we find Kirk being honored and relieving Captain Pike as captain of USS Enterprise. Spock meets Spock Prime. Spock prime advises him to sometimes leave logic alone and do what he feels. Spock offers as the Officer First in Command to Kirk and
their friendship is formed.

Fade-out

The best movie of 2009 till now. It has the necessary ingredients of Comedy, Action, Romance and Special effects to make it a blockbuster. Actors like Anton Yelchin (Chekov), Simon Pegg (Montomery), John Cho (Sulu) provide good entertainement. Chris Pine's cool potrayal of Kirk is defintely a breather. As all Science Fiction it had the disadvantage of impressing the crowd but it was a surprise when the audience started clapping at the end of the movie. A real crowd pleaser and definite revival of Star Trek craze.

My Favorite site!!

http://deals2buy.com/

Deals2buy.com provides ultimate access to the best deals on the internet in one place. Bravo

Frost/Nixon - Langella/Howard

I watched the Frost/Nixon movie directed by the much loved Ron Howard who gave us exciting dramas like the Apollo 13 and Beautiful Mind. Midway through the movie i felt so much captivated by the performance of Frank Langella that it left me wondering why had not anybody given such a brilliant actor a chance to prove his prowess earlier. With his deep voice and mesmerizing charisma, he dominates the movie even when he is put down on his knees. Gives us a very new perspective on Richard Nixon and proves the point that President of the US had a quality. A very good contender for the Oscar best movie category, it already has bagged Golden Globe and SAG nominations. More than the movie Frank Langella is the top choice for best actor. Supporting actors like Michael Sheen, Sam Rockwell have done their part very well. Overall the movie is extremely good.

Dark Knight - Close call!!

With the Motion Picture Academy deciding to reverse the decision on the eligibility of the Music Score of Dark Knight, it is back in the line to bag the maximum awards. I believe the music score is one of the greatest and deserves an Oscar. Hans Zimmer with already an Oscar and James Newton Howard composing the best in the recent few years have done a great job. Way to go fellas!! See you at the red carpet. 

P.S. For those wondering what happened, the score was rejected for being named with more than 4 composers.

Top Ten Action Movies of all time!

Here is my list of ten hard action movies. I have left out movies which have super heroes, is a science fiction or is a thriller. The movies are pure action and stunts.

1. Die Hard

2. Bourne Ultimatum

3. Kill Bill series

4. Rambo

5. Gladiator

6. Lethal Weapon

7. Enter the Dragon

8. Brave Heart

9. Lord of the Rings

10. Rocky

It was pretty easy to make the list because i had already filtered the rest based on other genres. I believe Die Hard is the best action movie.

Comic strip!!

My first comic strip creation. Characters have no name. It is just me and my roommate.

Michael Crichton (October 23, 1942 – November 4, 2008) - The greatest!

It was a warm sunny afternoon in the streets of Nanganallur, a well developed temple suburb of Chennai city. I was scooting down college road with the shops lined on either side of me. As i passed by the savories shop i slowed down a bit wondering if i should stop for a bite. But something told me to keep going and i reached my public lending library. It was a shop around the corner and i ran inside to the Crichton section while i threw my old books near the librarian. I had just finished reading "The Terminal Man" and i was excited to read the next book of his. A few years ago i had watched Jurassic Park and had read the book later that year. Michael Crichton had changed my reading material forever and i got out of the boyish adventure novels like Hardy Boys, The 3 investigators and started reading thriller novels. With the next novel of his in my hand and with a few Archies, which i always used as buffer material in case i ran out of mainstream novels, i ran to the friendly librarian and back home. I passed the savories shop yet again but not even turning to look at it because i had the greatest treasure in my hand. Michael Crichton is one of the greatest and will be remembered for ages to come.

A strive to become IMDB regular voter!!

As we all know that IMDB is the foremost source of info about movies and the film crew. And the IMDB ratings are top notch and give us a pretty good view of a movie. But to become a regular voter or somebody whose rating is considered by IMDB for the movie to get into the top 250 he/she has to have voted for at least 1300 movies. And my aim is to become one of them. I have voted around 460 movies and still looking for old movies that i could have watched but have not voted. Here is a link to the list of movies and also TV shows.

http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=38522895

Please inform me of any movie that needs to be voted.

Top Ten Sci-Fi films

Well, i am a movie buff but i was brought up learning science and i love it. Put them together and what you get is pure entertainment with lot of wit. So here is my list of top ten sci-fi films that i have watched.

1. The Matrix
2. Jurassic Park
3. Star Wars Chapter IV, V & VI- A new hope, Empire strikes back & Return of the Jedi
4. Minority Report
5. Alien
6. Terminator 2: Judgment Day
7. 2001: A Space Odyssey
8. V for Vendatta
9. Donnie Darko
10. The Prestige

Interesting Facts; our grand old film maestro Satyajit Ray had written a script to be called The Alien back then in 1967. It was an adaptation from a Bangla science fiction book by Bankubabur Bandhu. The earliest sci-fi movie from India was a Tamil-American co-production called "Kaadu" (The Jungle) in 1952.

Top Ten actors of all time

Well, i had previously posted my top ten movies. Here is my list of top ten actors. This is purely based on my likings and not on any ratings. But believe me, for me to like an actor he has to be good. There is no order and i like them all in their own way.

1. Tom Hanks
2. Leonardo DiCaprio
3. Jeff Goldblum
4. Robert DeNiro
5. Jack Nicholson
6. Al Pacino
7. Dustin Hoffman
8. Denzel Washington
9. Russel Crowe
10. Morgan Freeman

Phew, that was tough to choose. There are so many others who i wanted to put in this list like Brad Pitt, Tim Robbins, Matt Damon, Sean Penn, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Sir Anthony Hopkins, Greg Kinnear, John Cusack, Nicolas Cage, Bruce Willis, Mel Gibbson etc. but if it is top ten then it is TOP TEN.

Snatch- Worth the watch!!

I had been postponing to watch this British film not knowing its cast and the director for a long time. Finally when i watched it it took the breath away from me. Directed by Guy Ritchie the cast includes Brad Pitt, Jason Statham, Stephen Graham and a lot others. The movie has a good storyline and does not loose speed at any point of time. Comedies are subtle and are efficiently delivered by the actors. As usual Pitt takes the role of a invincible man with lot of muscle and brain. He does well in the Irish accent and gives us a lot of exciting moments in the film. Statham plays a normal guy's role and does a good job too. I specially liked the African American trio who provided a lot of funny moments. Though the film has no great message nor tells us any great story it has been well directed and well presented and deserves the #161 place in IMDB top 250.

Ratings

Direction: 8/10
Acting : 8/10
Background Score: 7/10
Overall: 7.7/10

Top Ten movies of all time

Here is a list of ten movies which have made an impression on me. There are a lot more that are amazing but i believe these 10 are the best and i would watch them any number of times and at any time.

1. The Shawshank Redemption
2. A Beautiful Mind.
3. One flew over the cuckoo's nest.
4. The Dark Knight
5. Apocalypse Now
6. Schindler's List
7. Jurassic park
8. The Matrix
9. The Lives of others(Leben der Anderen, Das)
10. Fight Club

Miracle at St. Anna - In for a surprise

Miracle at St.Anna is directed by Spike Lee, the director of the big movies like Malcolm X and Inside Man. Based on the novel by James McBride the movie gave a lot of hope and expectations to the audience and also to me. I decide to watch the movie in a theater and was prepared for the 2 Hr and 40 minutes of WWII story. What came in was a surprise to me. Comparing to other WWII movies that i have watched like Saving Private Ryan, Windtalkers etc. this stood no competition. But i sat along for the mystery to be unfolded that they had promised. The cast was all new and the African American team were entertaining but i do not believe that they had the same accent back then in 1944 as they have now. I distantly felt that Snoop Dog and 50 Cent were rapping the dialogs in the back. The story dragged a lot in the middle and i would not give a "thumbs up" for direction either. I did watch Inside Man a few years ago but do not remember it well and hence could not gauge the Director's style. I felt that the background score was kind of ripped away from the movie and i heard it separately in my head.

Ratings

Direction : 5/10
Acting : 6/10
Background Score :4/10
Overall :5/10