I am not going to rank this movie, write the story or any of the conventional methods I have followed for other movies because this one is special - It is SUPERMAN!
The hero of all heroes, the man of steel, with a heart of gold, good looking and a great Krypton being, men want to be him and women would love to have him...In other words a fantasy icon of all realized through the media called cinema.
We went to the theater almost an hour before the show and we still got to sit at the second row only. It was sad but we were still excited that it was IMAX with 20 minutes of the movie in 3D! yay! And one thing is for sure that many of us will return to watch the movie in a decent seat next time. But inspite of the neck craning and moving head from corner to corner of the screen the movie was worth it. I still wonder if the 3D effects would have been better had we been slightly higher up.
It is kiddish, very similar to a Rajni or Vijaykanth movie...Hero protects all, is there at the nick of the moment, hears everyone's cry for help, loves his girlfriend immensely and better still CAN FLY...What more do you want other than to see a handsome hunk in blue and red fly over the skyline of Metropolis and into the universe...When he zooms close to you all you can think of is how handsome Brandon Routh really is...Clean shaven, blue eyes, perfect skin, tight clothes...Oops now I am making him sound gay (not that there is anything wrong with it) and that was not my intention...
The heroine, Lois Lane, of course was okay...But surely the two did have some good chemistry in the movie. I loved James Marsden in Notebook and only liked him better in this movie. In fact Kal Penn (Harold and Kumar go to White Castle) also makes appearance as one of Lux Luthor (Kevin Spacey's) sidekicks who has no dialogues...And need I say anything about Mr. Spacey's acting talents...
The movie is a fantastic watch...For a few moments it transports you to another world...And makes you really hope that there is Superman waiting outside the theater...It was very touching when a little kid sitting behind us screamed "Yay, Superman!" when he appeared on the screen...It made us realize that we were also clapping and cheering just like the kid but trying to act slightly matured!!! If this was a Desi theater then I would have made my friends whistle (because I don't know how to) and scream! I loved the movie...
Everyone did make comparisons of Brandon to Chris Reeve...It was omnipresent and to an extent spooky but only difference is that Brandon I assume has real muscles and no padding. But both of them aroused the same excitement among the viewers. Watch Superman and feel like a kid all over again!
Friday, June 30, 2006
Wednesday, June 28, 2006
Paarijatham (2006) - Tamil Movie Review
Ranking: 4/5
Cast: Prithviraj, Saranya, Seetha, Prakash Rai, Roja, Sarath Babu
Director: Bagyaraj
Music: Tharan
One Line Review: Worth watching it!
Fresh 80's touch. That does sound contradictory, but for a film industry which does has forgotten the beautiful language of film making this movie is fresh and yes it has the feel of the movies that were made in the 80's and early 90's. The cast could have been Suhasini and Mohan for all you cared...
Again a very simple story. Seetha moves to a big house across from the small house where Sarath Babu and his daughter Saranya lived. Saranya becomes Seetha's housekeeper while she waits for her husband and son to join her. During the brief period Seetha starts to like Saranya a lot and slowly develops the idea of marrying her son to Saranya.
Saranya narrates a story she was writing to get published to Seetha. It the story about how two people fall in love in the process of an arranged marriage but are unable to unite to the end...Seetha imagines this story in her mind with he images of Prithiviraj (Seetha's and Prakash Rai's son) and Saranya as the bride and groom of the story. Thus Seetha is now convinced that she was going to have Saranya marry her son and also tells her family about her decision. Although she does not give name or photo to her husband or son.
Seetha ofcourse dies in an unfortunate accident and her family is trying to locate the girl she had chosen for her son. A lot of people mislead them leading both father and son not to trust anyone. Finally Prakash Rai decides to marry his son to a friend's daughter and lie that she was the chosen girl...
Enter Bagyaraj...Confusion mounts and the rest of the movie discusses about the effort Bagyaraj puts into unite Saranya and Prithviraj.
The story is a simple but beautiful. The director should have cut short the last 30 minutes of the movie. It was crisp for three quarters of the movie...But still it was a welcome change from the violence and gore of the present day hits like Pattiyal and Pudupettai.
Saranya has performed really well for a debut. She is very natural and does not do any extra annoying histrionics. Her father has chosen a nice story for introducing his daughter...Albeit she might have to shed some baby fat. Prithviraj was handsome as a villain in the movie Kana Kanden...Clean shaven and well dressed. Somehow in this movie he comes across as being very sloppy with an unshaven face and bad dressing. He also does a little overaction in the part where he is a character in Saranya's story. Age and time have taken a toll on Bagyaraj...He looks old and his voice is all the more irritating. I guess he should stick to writing and directing henceforth.
On the whole the movie is worth watching with the whole family including grandparents. A healthy entertainer and is very fresh! So do watch it if you do not mind watching a slightly slow paced movie with loads of romance, emotions and sentiments!
Cast: Prithviraj, Saranya, Seetha, Prakash Rai, Roja, Sarath Babu
Director: Bagyaraj
Music: Tharan
One Line Review: Worth watching it!
Fresh 80's touch. That does sound contradictory, but for a film industry which does has forgotten the beautiful language of film making this movie is fresh and yes it has the feel of the movies that were made in the 80's and early 90's. The cast could have been Suhasini and Mohan for all you cared...
Again a very simple story. Seetha moves to a big house across from the small house where Sarath Babu and his daughter Saranya lived. Saranya becomes Seetha's housekeeper while she waits for her husband and son to join her. During the brief period Seetha starts to like Saranya a lot and slowly develops the idea of marrying her son to Saranya.
Saranya narrates a story she was writing to get published to Seetha. It the story about how two people fall in love in the process of an arranged marriage but are unable to unite to the end...Seetha imagines this story in her mind with he images of Prithiviraj (Seetha's and Prakash Rai's son) and Saranya as the bride and groom of the story. Thus Seetha is now convinced that she was going to have Saranya marry her son and also tells her family about her decision. Although she does not give name or photo to her husband or son.
Seetha ofcourse dies in an unfortunate accident and her family is trying to locate the girl she had chosen for her son. A lot of people mislead them leading both father and son not to trust anyone. Finally Prakash Rai decides to marry his son to a friend's daughter and lie that she was the chosen girl...
Enter Bagyaraj...Confusion mounts and the rest of the movie discusses about the effort Bagyaraj puts into unite Saranya and Prithviraj.
The story is a simple but beautiful. The director should have cut short the last 30 minutes of the movie. It was crisp for three quarters of the movie...But still it was a welcome change from the violence and gore of the present day hits like Pattiyal and Pudupettai.
Saranya has performed really well for a debut. She is very natural and does not do any extra annoying histrionics. Her father has chosen a nice story for introducing his daughter...Albeit she might have to shed some baby fat. Prithviraj was handsome as a villain in the movie Kana Kanden...Clean shaven and well dressed. Somehow in this movie he comes across as being very sloppy with an unshaven face and bad dressing. He also does a little overaction in the part where he is a character in Saranya's story. Age and time have taken a toll on Bagyaraj...He looks old and his voice is all the more irritating. I guess he should stick to writing and directing henceforth.
On the whole the movie is worth watching with the whole family including grandparents. A healthy entertainer and is very fresh! So do watch it if you do not mind watching a slightly slow paced movie with loads of romance, emotions and sentiments!
Tuesday, June 27, 2006
Style (2006) - Telugu Movie Review
Ranking: 2/5
Cast: Raghava Lawrence, Prabhu Deva, Charmee, Raja, Kamilini Mukherjee
Director: Raghava Lawrence
Music: Mani Sharma
The story is simple...Prabhu Deva is a dancer who wins a very big competition. He gives strong competition to the brother of a big villain. The villain initiates an accident and Prabhu looses his legs. Prabhu has a sister, Kamilini who takes care of him.
In the meantime Lawrence is a dancer who works in a dance school as cleaner with his friends. He is very skilled but cannot afford formal dance education. His icon is Prabhu Deva and models his dancing in the same style.
Charmee and Raja are students in the same school where Lawrence works. This is really a useless and side story. Charmee and Raja are in love with each other but do not tell it out explicitly...So Charmee uses Lawrence as a bait to make Raja jealous. The ploy works and Raja proposes to Charmee. But poor Lawrence unaware of Charmee's plot falls in love with her and is heartbroken.
In the meantime using Kamilini's idea Prabhu trains Lawrence to fight against the villain's brother in the dance competition. Lawrence trains hard and also gets people to sponsor him. Seeing him dance makes his competitor unsure of himself so he complains to his villain brother again who promptly kidnaps them.
The dance competition is on its way but these dancers are in the custody of the villain...So yes...Our very own Nagarjuna comes in to help them out. How? I don't know...These bloodied dancers make their appearance at the very last minute and make it to the finals. They win the competition and of course Chiru comes to give away their awards and talks highly about them...Yup that is the story...
Wonder why our directors cannot get more creative than this? The acting is okay, story is boring, dance moves are repetitive, I really do not know why people invest and waste time and money on such crappy stories.
It is okay to watch if you have nothing better to do and it is certainly good for watching it with family.
Cast: Raghava Lawrence, Prabhu Deva, Charmee, Raja, Kamilini Mukherjee
Director: Raghava Lawrence
Music: Mani Sharma
The story is simple...Prabhu Deva is a dancer who wins a very big competition. He gives strong competition to the brother of a big villain. The villain initiates an accident and Prabhu looses his legs. Prabhu has a sister, Kamilini who takes care of him.
In the meantime Lawrence is a dancer who works in a dance school as cleaner with his friends. He is very skilled but cannot afford formal dance education. His icon is Prabhu Deva and models his dancing in the same style.
Charmee and Raja are students in the same school where Lawrence works. This is really a useless and side story. Charmee and Raja are in love with each other but do not tell it out explicitly...So Charmee uses Lawrence as a bait to make Raja jealous. The ploy works and Raja proposes to Charmee. But poor Lawrence unaware of Charmee's plot falls in love with her and is heartbroken.
In the meantime using Kamilini's idea Prabhu trains Lawrence to fight against the villain's brother in the dance competition. Lawrence trains hard and also gets people to sponsor him. Seeing him dance makes his competitor unsure of himself so he complains to his villain brother again who promptly kidnaps them.
The dance competition is on its way but these dancers are in the custody of the villain...So yes...Our very own Nagarjuna comes in to help them out. How? I don't know...These bloodied dancers make their appearance at the very last minute and make it to the finals. They win the competition and of course Chiru comes to give away their awards and talks highly about them...Yup that is the story...
Wonder why our directors cannot get more creative than this? The acting is okay, story is boring, dance moves are repetitive, I really do not know why people invest and waste time and money on such crappy stories.
It is okay to watch if you have nothing better to do and it is certainly good for watching it with family.
Monday, June 26, 2006
Strings - Concert at Irving Center for Performing Arts
I love going to concerts but unfortunately the last one I went for was in Chennai (Junoon in 2000). If y'all remember Junoon was the band that had a popular hit from the song Sayoni and hailed from Pakisthan...So do Strings...A very popular Pakisthani band but I did not realize their popularity until I saw the Paki guys go crazy about them.
So anyhoo, the concert was scheduled to start at 8.00pm and did so promptly at 9.20pm...What were we expecting being there on time for a desi event? Seriously! I have been to three such shows so far and none have started on time. Very annoying and irritating especially since we were made to stand outside till about 9.00pm, almost an hour before we were allowed to enter the hall.
The show started with a very amateur fashion show, of course with some wardrobe malfunction which gave everyone something to laugh about. Unfortunately for the models they got booed out by the angry audience. Later a teenage smartass girl tried to fill in before Strings showed up and she just irritated the already irate audience all the more and got booed out of the stage too. Finally they came in around 9.20pm...just the guitarits (Shakir on bass and Aadil on lead) and the drummer and started the show. They were followed by the entry of Bilal Maqsood and Faisal Kapadia and the show was on for real now!
Faisal got the show going from the start. He had very memorable introductions to all their songs and also sang amazingly well. Faisal did all the talking and Bilal stuck to playing guitar and singing. Faisal has amazing stage presence and got the crowd into the mood of a rock show. A lot of them were on the feet and dancing in front of the stage. Somehow for a few seconds I felt that Pakisthani's know how to enjoy more than Indians, because both the Desi shows I have been to had Desi's all staying put...
Anyway, so Faisal asks how many of you are Indians and then how many of you are Pakis...From all the noise he could hear he understood that there were few Indians in the auditorium. Since we were located about eight rows away from the stage and in his line of vision he picked our seats to point out when he said, "These songs are dedicated to the Indians in the auditorium." He sang wonderful songs from Dil Chahtha Hai to yeh dosthi hum nahin...It was a medley for about five minutes and it was really fun and yes we did feel very special.
During the aforementioned medley he also tried to do some Indo-Pak integration...He sang the song Jaanu Meri Jaan...and made all the Pakis say, "Mein tera tu mera jaane saara Hindusthan," and the Indians say, "Mein tera tu mera jaane saara Pakisthan." Also he followed it by the Yeh dosthi song...Which was great. For a moment it felt like the lines between India and Pakisthan ceased to exist...(Pardon any mistakes in my lyrics for the abovementioned song).
And then it was back, bolder than ever when a Pakisthani dude started waving the Paki flag and Strings sang a couple of solely Paki favorite songs...I did not mind that...it felt wierd and suddenly out of place, but I am sure Indians would have done the same given a chance. So I did not feel that terrible as an afterthought.
On the whole the concert was energetic, the songs were great, and Faisal Kapadia and Bilal Maqsood were amazing on stage. We had fun, our throats were sore after the show which means we enjoyed the show...
After the show we got to meet The Strings backstage and took photographs and autographs from them. It was awesome and they were very humble and nice. I am going to attach a few of them to this blog if blogger allows me to do so...
One last confession...All my Strings knowledge was brought to me by my dearest friend Sameer who is a singer himself and is inspired by Strings like crazy. Everytime we have a chill out night, we sit in The Den and Sammy sings many wonderful songs among which Strings features very often. Until Saturday night I have never heard a Strings song sung by Strings themselves...Isn't that funny?
You can see my head turned around and Bilal's face but Faisal is hidden by my friend
Faisal with water bottle in his hand and Bilal with the guitar
You can see Bilal to the extreme right but Bilal is hidden by my friend's face above me.
I love going to concerts but unfortunately the last one I went for was in Chennai (Junoon in 2000). If y'all remember Junoon was the band that had a popular hit from the song Sayoni and hailed from Pakisthan...So do Strings...A very popular Pakisthani band but I did not realize their popularity until I saw the Paki guys go crazy about them.
So anyhoo, the concert was scheduled to start at 8.00pm and did so promptly at 9.20pm...What were we expecting being there on time for a desi event? Seriously! I have been to three such shows so far and none have started on time. Very annoying and irritating especially since we were made to stand outside till about 9.00pm, almost an hour before we were allowed to enter the hall.
The show started with a very amateur fashion show, of course with some wardrobe malfunction which gave everyone something to laugh about. Unfortunately for the models they got booed out by the angry audience. Later a teenage smartass girl tried to fill in before Strings showed up and she just irritated the already irate audience all the more and got booed out of the stage too. Finally they came in around 9.20pm...just the guitarits (Shakir on bass and Aadil on lead) and the drummer and started the show. They were followed by the entry of Bilal Maqsood and Faisal Kapadia and the show was on for real now!
Faisal got the show going from the start. He had very memorable introductions to all their songs and also sang amazingly well. Faisal did all the talking and Bilal stuck to playing guitar and singing. Faisal has amazing stage presence and got the crowd into the mood of a rock show. A lot of them were on the feet and dancing in front of the stage. Somehow for a few seconds I felt that Pakisthani's know how to enjoy more than Indians, because both the Desi shows I have been to had Desi's all staying put...
Anyway, so Faisal asks how many of you are Indians and then how many of you are Pakis...From all the noise he could hear he understood that there were few Indians in the auditorium. Since we were located about eight rows away from the stage and in his line of vision he picked our seats to point out when he said, "These songs are dedicated to the Indians in the auditorium." He sang wonderful songs from Dil Chahtha Hai to yeh dosthi hum nahin...It was a medley for about five minutes and it was really fun and yes we did feel very special.
During the aforementioned medley he also tried to do some Indo-Pak integration...He sang the song Jaanu Meri Jaan...and made all the Pakis say, "Mein tera tu mera jaane saara Hindusthan," and the Indians say, "Mein tera tu mera jaane saara Pakisthan." Also he followed it by the Yeh dosthi song...Which was great. For a moment it felt like the lines between India and Pakisthan ceased to exist...(Pardon any mistakes in my lyrics for the abovementioned song).
And then it was back, bolder than ever when a Pakisthani dude started waving the Paki flag and Strings sang a couple of solely Paki favorite songs...I did not mind that...it felt wierd and suddenly out of place, but I am sure Indians would have done the same given a chance. So I did not feel that terrible as an afterthought.
On the whole the concert was energetic, the songs were great, and Faisal Kapadia and Bilal Maqsood were amazing on stage. We had fun, our throats were sore after the show which means we enjoyed the show...
After the show we got to meet The Strings backstage and took photographs and autographs from them. It was awesome and they were very humble and nice. I am going to attach a few of them to this blog if blogger allows me to do so...
One last confession...All my Strings knowledge was brought to me by my dearest friend Sameer who is a singer himself and is inspired by Strings like crazy. Everytime we have a chill out night, we sit in The Den and Sammy sings many wonderful songs among which Strings features very often. Until Saturday night I have never heard a Strings song sung by Strings themselves...Isn't that funny?
You can see my head turned around and Bilal's face but Faisal is hidden by my friend
Faisal with water bottle in his hand and Bilal with the guitar
You can see Bilal to the extreme right but Bilal is hidden by my friend's face above me.
Weekend Plans
We have a small group of friends in Dallas and we always seem to keep our weekends extremely busy and this weekend was no exception. It started on Friday evening when me and a friend met up at a mall, did some shopping and then went to meet with two other friends, got ready and headed to Clay Pit where we had dinner and then danced away to Desi songs till about 2.30 in the morning. Yes, we were all exhausted but what kept us going was this dude on the dance floor who danced all alone with full enthu and seemed happy doing so...So two of my friends kept immitating this dude's dance steps and we were laughing our guts out!
Next day, me and a friend who has a love for exploring decided to go to Downtown Dallas. Later, we managed to convince three others to join us. We went to the Kennedy museum, got a little sad, and then walked the downtown as usual looking for a mom-pop cofee shop...everything was closed other than restaurants...so we had coke and icecream at a small store and drove back to get ready for the Strings concert...about which you will read in a separate blog...
When we went to sleep after the concert and dinner at IHOP it was 2.30 in the morning again. All the screaming and yelling made all of us sore and tired...We slept till 2.00pm the next noon...When I woke up I was hurting everywhere...I think the age does catch up on you...and lazied the whole of yesterday...Saw the bloody Netherlands Vs Portugal game and then cooked food and ate an amazing dinner before heading back home around 11.30...and as usual we saw a stupid drunken driver who was driving on three lanes...annoying...
And when the weekend came to a close we are all looking forward for the week to recuperate our energy...plus we do have the four day weekend coming up and plans are starting to hatch!
We have a small group of friends in Dallas and we always seem to keep our weekends extremely busy and this weekend was no exception. It started on Friday evening when me and a friend met up at a mall, did some shopping and then went to meet with two other friends, got ready and headed to Clay Pit where we had dinner and then danced away to Desi songs till about 2.30 in the morning. Yes, we were all exhausted but what kept us going was this dude on the dance floor who danced all alone with full enthu and seemed happy doing so...So two of my friends kept immitating this dude's dance steps and we were laughing our guts out!
Next day, me and a friend who has a love for exploring decided to go to Downtown Dallas. Later, we managed to convince three others to join us. We went to the Kennedy museum, got a little sad, and then walked the downtown as usual looking for a mom-pop cofee shop...everything was closed other than restaurants...so we had coke and icecream at a small store and drove back to get ready for the Strings concert...about which you will read in a separate blog...
When we went to sleep after the concert and dinner at IHOP it was 2.30 in the morning again. All the screaming and yelling made all of us sore and tired...We slept till 2.00pm the next noon...When I woke up I was hurting everywhere...I think the age does catch up on you...and lazied the whole of yesterday...Saw the bloody Netherlands Vs Portugal game and then cooked food and ate an amazing dinner before heading back home around 11.30...and as usual we saw a stupid drunken driver who was driving on three lanes...annoying...
And when the weekend came to a close we are all looking forward for the week to recuperate our energy...plus we do have the four day weekend coming up and plans are starting to hatch!
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