This is a movie review post (in order of my preference:twisted:). But before that, a bit of good news. I’ll be upgrading my site from 30 MB to 100MB. While we are at it, we might as well move to the new Wordpress 1.5 version, which some very useful features like “Manage More Than Your Blog”, which would be immediately useful.
Another important news, lest I miss, is the dropping of the Amendments to the Indian Patents Act, 1970 . I’m sure all right minded Indian software professionals heaved a collective sigh of relief, as this is not just a victory for Free Software movement, but addresses a basic right of expression. Incidentally Europe is passing a similar law :shock:and hopefully they’ll follow the path demonstrated by India.
Now lets dive into the movies:
Closer, shot in London, is a movie adaptation of a brilliant play by Patrick Marber. The star studded cast and an equally stellar director Mike Nichols (of “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” fame) easily made it to my must-see list for this spring.
Closer is a brilliant, modern drama on complex relations. Each of the actors - Natalie, Jude Law and Clive have portrayed the characters with precision acting. Notice that, I have intentionally left out Julia Roberts who, I feel, could have done better. At some point in the movie you would hate all these characters, perhaps with the exception of Natalie. Natalie is definitely one who stands out in the ensemble. She is sensual and vulnerable at the same time.
Though very slickly shot, the movie offers no absolution or conclusion. It remains a vivid commentary on human relationships. The brilliant visual story telling style by jumping time spans effortlessly, shows the mark of a seasoned director. Highly Recommended
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
To be honest, I was put off by the title, thinking that it is another boring Hollywood ship story. I couldn’t be more far from the truth. Based off a Disneyland Themepark ride, ‘Pirates…’ is a thorough entertainer transporting you instantly to the wild and adventurous world of the pirates.
This is one movie, which will make you stand up and notice one brilliant actor whom we have often ignored - I mean, Johnny Depp. Immortalising the quirky, swaying, yet always-at-his-wits anti-hero “Jack Sparrow”, Depp has proven yet again that he is one of the most versatile actors in the industry. Sprinkled with witty one-liners and dazzling with visual effects, you cannot afford to miss this joyride. Highly Recommended.
When I landed in London (i.e. Christmas time), I always kept wondering aloud - what’s the big deal about Incredibles? I mean I can understand it being sold in every store as one product or the other, but entire Streets with humungous cartoony cutouts?
Well, now after seeing the movie I must say, guys…. Pixar has done it again. Before I tell you why this is my all time favourite Pixar movie, a little bit of background. Pixar is one of the rare movie houses with 100% success rate in hollywood. All its previous six movies were pure animations (no live actors except voice-overs of course). It is the first movie in Pixar by an outsider - Brad Bird from Warner Bros. who joined Pixar causing minor shakeups. As they do in every movie, ‘Incredibles’ has created new benchmarks in computer animation. An incredible amount of path breaking wizardry in algorithmns and simulations have gone into every frame. Clearly this is one of Pixar’s greatest strengths.
The story revolves around Incredible family with superhero parents and superhero kids as well. Despite this, Incredibles is a typical American family that I’m sure that everyone can relate to. This makes it very beliveable and immersing yourself in the story, letting you forget the fact that the characters are (sic) computer generated. Though the movie is long (longest Pixar movie ever), it rushes at a maddening pace in a cartoon like fashion. This one is likely to be one of those favourites that you won’t mind seeing again and again. Highly recommended.
(To be continued…..)
