After a very long gap, am posting something sensible here today. Since writing about the sixth sense which, unfortunately I couldn’t conclude as yet, a lot of things happened in my life which literally turned my world upside down. But that’s not for a post. People concerned, know about it. They will deal with it. And once things are all back up straight, I’ll write the concluding part of my “trilogy” on the sixth sense. Because, it wouldn’t make any sense to me otherwise.
So let’s see what else I can post about. Well, I’ll start off with a movie I just watched. Blood Diamond. A drama, an adventure and a thriller… starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Connelly, Djimon Hounsou, Michael Sheen, Arnold Vosloo etc. and directed by Edward Zwick.
The plot: Set against the backdrop of the chaos and civil war that enveloped 1990s Sierra Leone, Blood Diamond is the story of Danny Archer (DiCaprio), an ex-mercenary from Zimbabwe, and Solomon Vandy (Hounsou), a Mende fisherman. Both men are African, but their histories and their circumstances are as different as any can be until their fates become joined in a common quest to recover a rare pink diamond.
While in prison for smuggling, Archer learns that Solomon, who was taken away from his family and forced to work in the diamond fields, has found and hidden the extraordinary rough stone. With the help of Maddy Bowen (Connelly), an American journalist whose idealism is tempered by a deepening connection with Archer, the two men embark on a trek through rebel territory, a journey that could save Solomon’s family and give Archer the second chance he thought he would never have.
This is the second movie of 2006 that starred DiCaprio and man, did he have a great year! The Departed, where he worked yet again with Martin Scorsese, was a wonderful movie. And Blood Diamond was beautiful. It’s director Edward Zwick whose earlier movies include The Last Samurai (2003) and Legends Of The Fall (1994) has a way with touching your hearts. There is a light romance that buds in between all this, but it sure adds to the feel of the movie than being just a boy-meets-girl thing.
A lot of movies have been made with the misery of people in Africa as the subject. And many has raked in the big moolah! I sometimes wonder if any of that actually goes to the welfare of the people who really suffer out there in Africa. Every time something valuable was found in Africa, the people there had suffered. Ivory, gold, oil, diamonds. People who it really belonged to, were tortured and looted by the rest of the world, directly or indirectly. The native war-lords traded the diamonds and other valuables for arms and ammunition.
Through out the movie you get to see the horrible state of things, and the cheap price life has. How the rebels make sure the people don’t go to vote, how they take away little boys and turn them into one of them. How the innocent kids become one of the child soldiers and go around slaughtering people. Archer and Solomon meets an old man in a village where the R.U.F (Revolutionary United Front) just passed by leaving almost everyone dead, and he tells them: “Hope they don’t find oil here, or we have a real problem.” Am not sure if that was meant to be humorous or…???
What a horrible fate for such a beautiful land. So much bloodshed! Like they say, the soil is red from all the blood that was shed fighting for that land. Archer says “Sometimes I wonder if God would ever forgive us for all the things we do to each other. But then I look around and realize God left this place a long time ago.”
But then, like Archer says, TIA. This Is Africa! And I would say we sure were fortunate not to have been born there.
The same old adventure story maybe, but exceptionally well made, this is a movie worth watching and certainly one for the collection. And it has a wonderful score by James Newton Howard. You could listen to it here. I just love it!
Watch the movie. Tell me what thoughts go through your mind when you do. And one request. Nothing is worth the blood of innocent lives. Let’s never encourage conflict diamonds. The blood diamonds!
September 25, 2006
5 Comments
Nelly Furtado – All Good Things (Come To An End)
Honestly what will become of me
don’t like reality
It’s way too clear to me
But really life is daily
We are what we don’t see
Missed everything daydreaming
[Chorus]
Flames to dust
Lovers to friends
Why do all good things come to an end
Flames to dust
Lovers to friends
Why do all good things come to an end
come to an end come to an
Why do all good things come to end?
come to an end come to an
Why do all good things come to an end?
Traveling I only stop at exits
Wondering if I’ll stay
Young and restless
Living this way I stress less
I want to pull away when the dream dies
The pain sets in and I don’t cry
I only feel gravity and I wonder why
Flames to dust
Lovers to friends
Why do all good things come to an end
Flames to dust
Lovers to friends
Why do all good things come to an end
come to an end come to an
Why do all good things come to end?
come to an end come to an
Why do all good things come to an end?
Well the dogs were whistling a new tune
Barking at the new moon
Hoping it would come soon so that they could
Dogs were whistling a new tune
Barking at the new moon
Hoping it would come soon so that they could
Die die die die die
Flames to dust
Lovers to friends
Why do all good things come to an end
Flames to dust
Lovers to friends
Why do all good things come to an end
come to an end come to an
Why do all good things come to end?
come to an end come to an
Why do all good things come to an end?
Well the dogs were barking at a new moon
Whistling a new tune
Hoping it would come soon
And the sun was wondering if it should stay away for a day til the feeling went away
And the sky was falling on the clouds were dropping and
the rain forgot how to bring salvation
the dogs were barking at the new moon
Whistling a new tune
Hoping it would come soon so that they could die.
Really! Why do all good things come to an end???
This year so far, quite a few good movies have come out, which is quite refreshing. I was so bugged watching the same old mindless actions and movies heavily loaded with SFX just for the heck of it. Being an animation and SFX enthusiast, I shouldn’t be saying that, but then, I hate movies badly made or movies with bad SFX. And I never enjoy movies with flying cars and ships, tall ultra modern structures and high-tech robots as cab drivers and stuff – the stories set in 2500AD or whenever. I have never watched any of the Star Wars movies. Every time I say that, my friends look at me like am crazy. A movie buff, a guy who loves animations and SFX, and never seen the ultimate out of this world movie, Star Wars?
Nope. I haven’t. And that’s kind of the reason why I haven’t seen it too. Out of this world. Somehow, I don’t enjoy them. Star Wars, Fifth Element, Total Recall, Minority Report and many more I guess. The few I liked are The Matrix (especially the first part) and Terminator (maybe coz it’s set in our times, though the machines come from 2035) trilogy. A movie like Mask of Zorro, which hardly had any CG works and one like Pirates of the Caribbean, which used CG skills so seamlessly that the movie still had the classic feel to it, is always so welcome in my heart.
Ok, let me get to the movies I saw recently.
First it’s Rang De Basanti, which is targeted at the young generation. It’s a film about awakening; about standing up for ones beliefs.
A young English filmmaker comes to India to make a film on the Indian revolution
aries Bhagat Singh, Chandrashekhar Azad and their contemporaries and their fight for freedom from the British rule. But due to lack of funds, she decides to recruit students from Delhi University to act in her documentary. She thus meets and befriends a group of youngsters. These youngsters could be anyone of us today and their lives mirror the kind of lives the youth of today lead – namely a self centered and materialistic existence where ideas like patriotism and making a change are strictly the stuff history books are made of. As the story moves on, it turns out that more than just telling the world about the efforts of the young revolutionaries and the enormity of their contribution to the freedom movement in India, Sue’s documentary makes these youngsters stop and stare at themselves for being the actual descendants of these great men and never recognizing and celebrating their courage and spirit. The tag line, A Generation Awakens is so aptly chosen for this movie. It’s a highly inspiring and very thought provoking movie. But I certainly wouldn’t agree that it’s the best. A lot of flaws did exist. Many veteran actors were cast just for namesake and that was a total waste of talent. But it was a wholesome entertainer, with some great music (the song Roo-ba-roo is beautiful) and good performances by the young actors.
Aamir Khan who almost passes well as a college student even in his 40s yet again after DCH, plays DJ who passed out five years back but still wants to be a part of the University because he doesn’t think there’s much out there in the real world to look forward to; Siddharth of Boys fame plays Karan, a cold and silent character, the son of an industrialist played by Anupam Kher; Kunal Kapoor, quite a looker, plays Aslam, a middle class Muslim boy who is a poet, philosopher and guide to his friends; Sharman Joshi plays Sukhi, the group’s baby, innocent, vulnerable and with a weakness for only one thing – girls; Atul Kulkarni is Laxman Pandey, the fundamentalist in the group, and the only one who still believes that politics can make the world a better place and Soha Ali Khan plays Sonia – the sole girl in the group, engaged to Ajay, the dashing airforce pilot, payed by Madhavan. Overall, a good movie. Enjoyable. And it carries a message, which is just great considering the amount of junk our movie industry churns out every year.
Another movie I enjoyed is the John Abraham – Nana Patekar starrer Taxi 9211, the story line for which is “inspired” by the Samuel L Jackson – Ben Affleck thriller Changing Lanes (2002). It’s said that director Luthria has only taken inspiration from the film and not copied it blatantly. I did find some scenes to be carbon copies however. Anyways, the casting is great and direction and the performance by the actors are excellent. This is the first movie I liked John Abraham’s acting in. And Nana Patekar, even though in his usual short tempered role, was great ‘coz in this he wasn’t the person who gives long speeches and hard hitting dialogues. He was just a short tempered taxi driver who lies to his wife that he’s an insurance agent. John is an irresponsible rich business man. An accident involving the two builds the whole story. And the two stubborn men try destroying each other’s lives but end up destroying their own. Well, almost. It’s been done pretty well, and the chemistry between the two actors did the movie real good. And this movie has a pretty good message too. I enjoyed it more than Rang De Basanti, to be frank.
A movie that’s making news now is Being Cyrus, an English movie from India. I watched it on video, but the copy was too bad to even understand the dialogues well, let alone enjoy it. But from the li’l I did see and understand, I could tell you it’s a very well made movie with a dark storyline and great performances by the entire cast. Just a handful of them but doing a great job. It’s more like watching a play in a theatre.
The only English movie I watched recently and liked is, Crash. I wanted to watch Brokeback Mountain, but I missed it at the cinema. Will watch it for sure on DVD even though I hate gays ;o) Anyways, Crash is movie about rasicm in all its complexities. Here’s the synopsis of the movie.
A Brentwood housewife and her DA husband. A Persian store owner. Two police detectives who are also lovers. A black television director and his wife. A Mexican locksmith. Two car-jackers. A rookie cop. A middle-aged Korean couple…
They all live in Los Angeles. And in the next 36 hours, they will all collide…
I won’t try to explain the storyline or what exactly it is about, ‘coz I think it’s a movie you gotta watch and feel it. It’s a film that challenges audiences to question their own prejudices.
A few lines from the movie that I really loved :
“Live your life at the point of impact.”
“Moving at the speed of life, we are bound to collide with each other.”
“You think you know who you are. You have no idea.”
A movie well done. Do watch it.
Just wanted to share this here.
Somebody mailed me this link sometime back and ever since I have been addicted to it. Whoever created it, which I guess is a guy named Dan from whose site it comes, must really hate George and this I say is the best way anybody who hates the guy can take their frustrations out.
Check it out.
http://www.planetdan.net/pics/misc/georgie.htm
Just drag the guy around and drop him and do whatever you want.
I warn you though. It’s quite scary how much you start enjoying this “torture game” 
February 2, 2006
6 Comments
Manfred the Mammoth, Diego the Saber-toothed Tiger and Sid the sloth were the weirdest herd I ever came across. Their adventure entertained millions around the world in 2002. If you’re wondering what am talking about, well, am talking about the animated movie Ice Age. This funny and enthralling movie, set 20,000 years ago, during the titular Paleolithic era, is one of the animated movies I enjoyed a lot.
The story line is simple. The unlikely team encounters a dying human mother who relinquishes her chirpy toddler to the care of these creatures. Hoping against all odds to return the little guy to his migrating tribe, the members of the herd need to establish trust among them, which apparently is not an easy task in a harsh world of predators, prey, and pushy glaciers. How they become a team is kind of similar to how the lonely ogre and the irritating donkey became a team in the “greatest fairy tale never told”, Shrek. Manny is annoyed with Sid, and after he saves Sid’s life from a pair of (prehistoric) rhinos, he just can’t seem to get rid of him!! Diego joins a little later, trying to steal the human kid from the pair and take it to his own pack.
The movie is real funny and the show stealers are Sid and Scrat (a saber-toothed squirrel? He’s kind of half-squirrel half-rat, and hence the name, I guess) especially Scrat even with the short appearances he makes now and then. The pun in the dialogues is hilarious. Overall, a great, wholesome entertainer. Am eagerly awaiting it’s sequel, Ice Age 2: The Meltdown, which is to come out this summer.
Few days back I watched Madagascar, yet another animated movie, this time from the makers of Shrek and Shark Tale. Yes, am an animated movie enthusiast too… heehee. Well, basically, am an animator, you know. Anyways, if Ice Age showed the “humane” side of the animals (or maybe it’s the “animale” side), Madagascar in a way deals with the inhumane side of humans. Maybe not directly, but it sure does, I feel.
So, what’s the plot? It’s about 4 animals, best of friends. Alex the lion (voiced by Ben Stiller) is living large on steak and applause at New York’s Central Park Zoo. The same goes for Gloria the hippo (Jada Pinkett Smith) and Melman the hypochondriac giraffe (David Schwimmer, who is annoyingly whiny. Well, that’s the character). The only complaints come from Marty the zebra (Chris Rock) who always dreams of the wild, the world beyond the fences of the zoo. A bunch of penguins successfully break out of the zoo in the hopes of reaching Antarctica. This prompts the zebra to realize that he could visit his wild roots and he breaks out of the zoo on his 10th birthday. His three friends break out as well in the hopes of returning him to the zoo. Things go wrong. The escape bid is seen by us simple-minded humans as a sign that the animals desire to return to their natural habitat and soon the bunch of “don’t-know-what’s-wilderness” wild animals are boxed and shipped by animal rights people, to be released… where else… in the wild. But a series of unfortunate events ends with them getting thrown overboard, into the sea, in the boxes. And that’s how the animals hit tropical Madagascar, ruled by King Julien XIII, a lemur (hilariously voiced by Sacha Baron Cohen). And then the trouble starts. The king enlists the “New York Giants” to scare off the predatory Foosa. But Alex, his own lion instincts aroused by starving and missing his fav steaks, digs his teeth into Marty’s butt. He’ll take his steak where he can get it.
The movie wasn’t up to my expectations, as someone made me expect a little more than it delivered. Like one of the reviews online says,
Less like Shrek, meaning hilarious and heartfelt, and more like Shark Tale, meaning manic and exhausting, Madagascar will keep kids distracted without transporting them to wonderland. Unlike recent age-crossing animated goodies, Madagascar is juvenile and deeply generic.
Now, for a moment, just think of what the animals that we keep in the zoo could actually be wishing for. Most of them never know what their real home is like, what their life actually should be like. If they ever get to go to the wild, would they survive? Tarzan grew up in the jungles, and when he finally came to civilization, he was in trouble. But he had Jane with him. What would animals do if they had to go from civilization to the jungles, which ironically is their real home? They should have been born free, free and wild. It’s sad, I feel. The first time I thought about that is when I watched Born Free a very very long time ago.
Anyways, Madagascar the movie, is an enjoyable one and has it’s share of laughs to offer too. Cohen as King Julien – the lemur, steals the show from the entire cast whenever his character is on screen. For me, the best part of the movie was the song “I like to move it, move it”, featuring Julien. God, that was hil-LLarious, and I guess even the team at DreamWorks loved it. It’s featured in the movie, and again during the end titles. And a special music video comes as a bonus with the movie too.
It’s worth it.
