Search This Blog

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Chungking Express


This is one movie which will leave a smile on your face. I bought this movie not because for the director Kar Wai Wong because I didnt know much about him. I bought this movie after I watched "In the mood for love" by the same director which I bought accidentaly. When checking out "In the mood for love" in imdb I came across ChungKing express and went ahead and bought it.

Since I didnt read through the story I was expecting some kind of surreal movie with which I might find difficult to associate. But I was in for a pleasent surprise. The movie has a very simple plot which I was able to appreciate.

I was not very happy with the movie In the mood for love but still it was a good movie with a nice soundtrack. In ChungKing the director takes a humoristic approach and it is very light and interesting.

The movie has two love stories and the second one is longer than the first one. The first one is about love between a lonely cop who was dumped by his girlfriend and a ruthless drug dealer. Only negative about this part is it ends abruptly.


The second one is also about love between a lonely cop who was dumped by his girlfriend and a waitress. This story is a bit more interesting than the first one. Especially the actors Tony Leung and Faye Wong were excellent. We dont see the lead actors conveying the love as any other movie but it is shown in a different way. The ending will leave you with a smile on your face.

In imdb I could see some set of people didnt like the movie because there was absolutely no plot or anything in it. But thats what makes in interesting. The situations is what makes this movie more interesting.

If you like soft romance then go ahead and get a copy.

Sunday, May 23, 2010

Random Movies


Last week I got the opportunity to watch some movies which we categorise as non commercial in Lumiere TV. These movies had featured sometime in the past in the Cannes Festival.

It started with an Italian movie The Sons Room. There's a family of four. The father, mother and their son and daughter. The son dies in a freak accident and the family has to live through the thoughts of him. How they cope up with it was brought very beautifully. They come to know that their son had a girl friend and she helps them to overcome the grief.

The next movie was an English movie Garage made in Ireland. The movie was categorised as urban alienation. The movie is about a guy who works in a local Garage and struggles mingle with the society. The society makes fun of him though he is harmless. Finally he finds a friend in a teenager but the society again thinks wrong of him and he is made to take a very sad decision. The movie has some very beautiful and haunting locations.

The last movie was a movie made in Iraq called Kilometer Zero. I didnt watch the full movie but from what I saw it was again well made. Its about the conflict between Arabs and the Kurds. Its a road movie and has some fantastic desert cinematography.

All the above movies were slow paced, beautifully filmed and very engaging plots. Though the movies are set in totaly different cultures we can easily relate to the characters.

Sunday, May 16, 2010

நிகழ்வுகள்

எவ்வளவு பேர் இதை கவனித்திருப்பீர்கள் என்பது தெரியவில்லை ஒரு வேளை நான் குறிப்பிட போகும் மக்களில் ஒருவராக நீங்களே இருக்கலாம். தெருவோரங்களிலோ அல்லது சில நகரத்தை விட்டு சற்று தள்ளி இருக்கும் இடங்களிலோ இருக்கும் சிறு உணவகங்களை கவனித்துப் பாருங்கள். நான் குறிப்பிடும் உணவகங்களில் உட்கார்ந்து சாப்பிட இடம் இருக்காது. கையில் வைத்துக் கொண்டே தான் சாப்பிட வேண்டும். சில இடங்களில் நீல நிற பிளாஸ்டிக் ஸ்டூல் போட்டிருப்பார்கள்.

இதை போன்ற உணவகங்களை அதிகம் உபயோகிப்பவர்கள் வெளியூர்களில் இருந்து சென்னைக்கு வருபவர்களே. அதிலும் அதிகம் இளைஞர்களையே காண முடியும். இதில் ஆட்டோ டிரைவர்களும் டாக்ஸி டிரைவர்களும் அடக்கம்.

சரி இதில் என்ன விசேஷம் என்பவர்களுக்கு இதோ விஷயத்திற்கு வந்துவிட்டேன். அங்கே சாப்பிடுகிறவர்களை உற்று கவனித்தால் அவர்கள் எல்லார் முகத்திலும் ஒரு ஏக்கம் இருப்பதை காண முடியும். அந்த இட்லியை வாங்கி சாம்பாரில் முக்கி உண்ணும் பொழுது அவர்கள் அந்த உணவகத்தாரை ஒரு தாயை போல பார்ப்பதை காண முடியும். அது மட்டுமில்லை பல இடங்களில் இப்படி கடை நடத்துபவர்கள் தம்பதியினராகவே இருப்பார்கள். கணவர் இட்லி அவித்துக் கொண்டிருக்க மனைவி வருபவர்களுக்கு உணவு பரிமாறிக் கொண்டிருப்பார். அவர்கள் பரிமாறுவதிலும் ஹோட்டல்களில் பார்க்க முடியாத ஒரு நேசத்தை காணமுடியும். உண்பவர்களும் உரிமையோடு எக்ஸ்ட்ரா சாம்பார் மற்றும் சட்டினி கேட்பார்கள்.

தினமும் அங்கே செல்பவர்களோடு ஒரு புது மனிதன் சேர்ந்து விட்டால் அந்த புதியவன் முன்பு கடைக்காரனிடம் அதிக அன்பு பாராட்டி "இந்த கடைக்காரர்கள் எனக்கு நன்கு தெரிந்தவர்கள்" என்பதை போல வெட்டி பந்தா வேறு.

இந்த கடைகளில் பிரதானமாக கிடைக்கும் ஐட்டங்கள் இட்லி, தோசை, சாம்பார், சட்டினி, பூரி கிழங்கு.

பக்கத்தலேயே ஒரு நீல நிற பக்கெட்டில் கை கழுவ நீர் இருக்கும்.

Saturday, May 08, 2010

Avatar

Finally made it to the 3D version of Avatar. It was possible because Satyam is still running the movie and the movie still gets booked fully.

The movie had many moments where we feel like we have gone to a known place like Sigourney Weaver, the huge robots, the alien concept. Lot of Camerons trademarks are present in the movie.

The story is more of fantasy than science fiction. Certain scenes reminded me of Harry Potter. Though the story doesnt impress us very much the movie compensates in the visual department. The visuals are spectacular. Never before someone has used the visuals so effectively. Though we can understand how much CGI work must have gone into the final product there was not a single scene where I could actually say that what I was seeing was CGI. This is the main success factor of the movie.

75% of the time we see only strange looking creatures but it doesnt bore us. Yes sometimes I was reminded of the movies King Kong and Jurassic Park as all these three movies has got a lot to do with dense forests.

As the last scene in Titanic there are moments in Avatar as well which will touch our heart.

On the negative many scenes are not believable but it is the story of a super hero in the end who saves Pandora from Aliens. The same audience who would have rooted for the defeat of the Aliens in the movie Aliens will be praying for the Aliens to win this time around. Cameron has successfuly brought out the feeling from us.

Tuesday, May 04, 2010

Horror

After a long time saw two movies and both were very satisfactory.

Drag me to hell from Sam Raimi took me back to standard horror fare which has been missing for quite sometime in mainstream cinema. Exorcist the begining was the last such movie I saw under such genre.
The movie starts off in Jet Speed and doesnt slow down. The ending is something is easily guessable otherwise the movie is a roller coaster ride with making your heart skip some beats.

Hostel though this movie is not actually a horror movie it falls under the category of torture killing genre.

I was infact afraid of watching this movie after reading the reviews. Though I m ok with watching Texas chainsaw massacre kind of movies I dont think I will be able to view scenes where people are tortured as it was described in the reviews.

The movie starts off slowly with lot of skin show thrown in. The torture scenes doesnt take much screen time and thankfuly the director leaves lot of things to our imagination. Still there are scenes where you might try to close your eyes.

The ending gives you 100% satisfaction atleast it did to me.

A Simple Plan and Just Mercy