Hot Shots! Part Deux

Not all that great, not all that bad. Timepass, as they say. Sends up Rambo, Casablanca and Saddam Hussein. 

A History of Violence

Brilliant film about a small town regular joe who isn't. Great screenplay, direction and fantastic performances by everyone. William Hurt's cameo is superb. An absolute must-watch. 

Herbie Fuly Loaded

Honestly, there was nothing else to do on the flight. 

Time's top 100 books

Time magazine has put up their top 100 books here. I've read only 24 of them, not good. On the silver lining side, there's a lot of good reading to look forward to.

On the beach again

The beach at Galveston. Very cool place, really. 

At the beach

At Galveston beach, just before lunch. Dil Chahta Hai? 

Nasa again

In front of one of the propulsion engines. 

Nasa

The rockets are just mock-ups, but the shuttle thing on top is the real thing. Or so they say. 

i-Haul

Bought a few movies at $2 a shot: The Pianist, Peyton Place and Charade. I also bought A Touch of Evil for $11. Muahahahaha.

Here we go again

Yet another painstaking journey. Yet another stop-over at the Chennai airport. This time round, they have free wi-fi though.

The Frankfurt airport looms ahead, grim and foreboding. Thankfully, I'll have just a couple of hours before my connecting flight to Houston.

Ammo packed: Jonathan Stroud's Ptolemy's Gate and Terry Pratchett's Going Postal. Should keep me alive till I reach Houston, hopefully.

Runway

Run away. As fast as you can. 

Sleepy Hollow

Things come to a head when the Headless Horseman is brought back from the dead. All because one person wanted to get ahead in life. Heady brew, but leaves you with a headache.

Alright, I'll stop. 

Tech talk

Item One: We will do a quick sanitation test and then release for acceptance testing. Lovely. I know we need to remove all the bugs we find, but doing a sanitation test really takes it to the next level.

Item Two: I could not get Manoj's approval. He has gone native. I see Manoj with paint on his face, wearing leaves for a dress and dancing to a tom-tom beat. He is obviously in no shape to approve anything, he's well and truly gone native.

Item Three: Please do the needful. My personal favourite. I get to pretty much do what I want, there's no one more needful than I.

Chocolate

Chocolate is a riot. The movie, I mean. An exercise in how not to remake good Hollywood movies. Also an exercise in how not to slip in scenes from other good Hollywood movies.

Picture this. You have Anil Kapoor and Sushma Reddy walk in to a bookstore. Sushma picks up a book and starts reading from the end. Kapoor asks her why. She goes, "Oh, if I die then I will know how the book turned out". Ha ha ha. Very original.

Stepping out of the store, Anil asks Sushma about her new boyfriend. She says his name is Balakrishnan. Anil says "No, no. That doesn't fit. Balakrishnan can do accounts, he can be the family doctor, but he cannot be your boyfriend". That marks the end of the When Harry Met Sally clips.

Here's another: Anil goes to the vamp Tanushree Dutta's house. He spots old newspaper cuttings of himself and comments on it. She says she needs to change her dress. He eyes her through a semi-opaque glass screen, as she slips into the tiniest of mini-skirts. They go to his office, where she crosses her legs. Anil's eyes pop out. No, she doesn't do a complete Sharon Stone, but the film maker would have us believe she could.

The ending makes you wonder whether the director really understood what The Usual Suspects was all about. Murtuza Arzai my gluteus maximus.

Chocolate

Har har har. An outrageously stupid remake of The Usual Suspects, with a couple of scenes from When Harry Met Sally and Basic Instinct thrown in. It's not even mildly interesting, nor remotely intelligent. 

Nerariyan CBI

Ayyo. This is not a movie, this a long advertisement for four products - AVT Tea, Tiger Biscuits, Kalyan Jewellers and Tata Indicom. Mammootty makes tea ("Very good tea. Very strong"), eats biscuits (the Tiger logo leaps out at you from an advertisement on the road when he's driving), checks out a jewellery store ("This is genuine 916 brand gold") and interrogates a sales person at a mobile store ("I am a TruePaid customer").

As for the suspense: bah! Think of the one person who could not have done the murder and there you go. Oh, sorry for the spoiler.

Kaazhcha

I liked this movie - not so much for the story of a Gujarati boy who winds up in Kerala after the earthquake, but for the marginals, the details that Blessy includes in the movie while moving from scene to scene. The dialogue between characters, the scenes from everyday Kuttanad and the wry humour made for some very pleasant viewing. Mammootty has done a fantastic job after a very long while; his State award is well and truly deserved this time.

Don't miss this one. 

Yavanika

No:1 masterpiece in Malayalam movie, as the promo suggests. It's one of KG George's better works, anyway. Gopi is absolutely brilliant as Ayyappan, the womanizing tabala player. Mammootty isn't half bad either, not to mention the excellent support cast of Thilakan, Asokan, Srinivasan, Jagathy, et al. Worth watching twice, at a minimum. 

Superman The Movie

You will believe a man can cry. No, seriously. You will either keel over laughing or cry helplessly, watching what you had believed to be an awesome movie with great special effects - from what you remember. Hopelessly dated, this is oh-so-avoidable. The 'Can you read my mind' number is especially cringe-worthy. 

Identity

Obviously inspired by Christie's And Then There Were None, this is a half-hearted attempt. Features one of the most stupid endings I've ever watched. Tip: don't try predicting the identity of the killer. It's not worth it. 

Birth

Very cool and very smart movie that doesn't leave too many loose ends. Nicole Kidman is good, Lauren Bacall is acerbic and Anne Heche has a very interesting cameo. Worth a watch, yeah. 

Waqt

Run of the mill family drama. Amitabh again, Akshay again. A few funny scenes initially, but a big yawn later on. Watched this on an inter-continental flight - there was no escape. 

My Wife's Murder

The problem with these offbeat, made-for-multiplex movies is that most people assume they are good. Made for the elite and not for the general public, you know. Has to be good, right?

No. 

Sarkar

Surprisingly good. Just don't compare it with The Godfather, no matter what the critics say. For once, I thought Abhishek was watchable. 

Mr. and Mrs. Smith

Oh, if Jolie's lips had been a tad smaller, the course of movie history would have been changed.

Or something. 

The 40-Year-Old Virgin

No, it's not like what you think. Yes, it's got its share of puns and innuendoes, but it does make you laugh. I walked in expecting a 2005 version of something from the Carry On series, but was pleasantly surprised. Definitely worth a watch. 

Wedding Crashers

Gah. Just proves the adage that one can never go broke underestimating the taste of the American movie going public. The sentimental second half is quite pathetic, really. 

Iqbal

Iqbal is the movie of the year. It's got more intelligence, charm and joi de vivre than all the other recent Bollywood releases put together. A feel-good movie about the underdog who rises to cricketing fame, this is a must watch. Easily Kukunoor's best. 

Shrek 2

The monster hit of 2004, this has a lot more digs at mainstream Hollywood than the previous one. But then, the first Shrek had a strong story, which this lacks. Sure, the gags are good and it's always fun to spot the dozens of movie-references, but that alone does not a good movie make. Mike Myers and Eddie Murphy are excellent, as always.