Tagged: movies

Constantine …

Constantine
Image by forteller.ipernity.com via Flickr

… is perhaps the worst movie I’ve seen after coming to the US (or definitely, the worst movie experience!) Here’s why:

Alright, for starters this was a free screening for UCSD students. Passes were being distributed at the UCSD box offices. We had already picked up 4 passes and since the pass said “reach early” and “seating on a FCFS basis” we reached at 6:30 for the 7 pm show, only to find that the line had already become so long that it spilled out of Mandeville onto Gilman Drive!!! :-O

Ok, so these people are just as crazy about freebies as anyone else. But it was just the beginning. Sometime between 20 min and half an hour, we realized that the passes were no good—since the passes were actually passes for getting “red tickets” that would actually get you admission into the movie. And some guy came down shouting that they had sold out of all red tickets.

Great, just great. While Mac and Anish waited in the line, Kiran and I went up to scout things out. And while we were scouting, Mac and Anish got lucky with some blokes who were just handing out their red tickets—so they promptly got out of line and came up front looking for us. Meanwhile (ok, too many whiles I know) Kiran and I had managed to “squeeze” our way into the front little knowing that our passes were no good.

Mac and Anish soon joined us and gave the bad news. Dejected, we were just about to drop out of the line where I sighted a guy who was giving back 2 red tickets to one of the organizers—just our luck! I seized upon the guy without wasting a second and coaxed him into handing over the tickets to us. So far so good! We were so happy that luck was on our side this evening.

Ah well, that didn’t last long though. First we were made to go through an airport grade security check—and all laptops, cameras and even walkmen were confiscated :-O It took excruciatingly long to fill up the auditorium and the movie started almost 2 hours behind schedule. After the movie was over, it took another 30 min to retrieve our electronics and get out of that place.

But of course, if it was not for these exciting events, I wouldn’t have had anything to write about, for the movie itself was just plain pathetic. I could hardly grasp the story, let alone the big picture. Acting was mediocre, special affects wasted, not even enough skin show to hold us back. What are they counting on to pull this movie through???

Movie spree


Have been on a movie watching spree for the past week. Let me see if I can recall all the movies I saw:

* The village
* Kyun! Ho gaya na?
* Mr. Smith goes to Washington
* Rear Window
* AVP
* The Manchurian Candidate

And there are one two more I’m sure I don’t remember. Phew! The best of the lot was I guess “Mr. Smith goes to Washington”. Rear Window was nice, but not as good as its hyped. “The Village” was interesting, but Manoj Night Shyamlan is losing his touch, seems like he’s deliberately trying to “insert” a twist in each of his movies now. AVP was, well, lets just say it was. The Manchurian Candidate was definitely very interesting, but I want to see the original before making a comment. As for Kyun…., I don’t know why Indian audience waste their time on such movies — no plot, no drama, no action, no acting — perhaps the only good thing about the movie is its music. Sheesh!

Wasted weekend


Another wasted weekend. Well, not *really* wasted in the sense that I did exactly whats supposed to be done on a typical weekend — nothing! Nothing academically productive, that is. I hung out with friends, caught up a bunch of movies, and just chilled out. Not too bad, I’d say, but I just feel that kind of dissatisfaction if at the end of the day I haven’t done something which I think is not just “timepass”. I guess this blog entry is a part of that effort, since it *does* take some amount of “thinking” for writing the blog :)

It was Manish’s birthday today. We bashed him up good last night. Some of his american friends had come over and they were playing poker, and when the clock struck 12 as is customary we picked up Manish for his GPL (*not* the GNU GPL please). Himanshu planted few, but really really solid kicks, while Suchit just went crazy .. I guess he has something for spanking and asses!! I vent my share of wrath as well, as Manish’s friends watched shocked and dazed.. they were so totally out of words, it was actually funny!

I called the weekend wasted because we had a nightout last night and I absolutely hate nightouts. Why? well because the next day gets completely screwed up — you get up like 2 in the afternoon and you spend rest of the day figuring out who the hell you are and what the hell is happening with your life.. I find it depressing and disorienting. Nevertheless, last night was fun and infact the day didn’t turn out to be that bad either.

We saw the classic comedy “Gol Maal” first, and then at around 5 in the morning we started watching “The Day After Tomorrow”, but that was just about okay… the story was ordinary, the acting was below average and the plot was hardly gripping. The only nice thing was probably the affects and nature sequences. In the afternoon I got hold of Himanshu and made a trip to the Indian store to refill our supplies of Indian stuff. The Indian stores here suck so bad, they don’t have any other hair oil except Parachute and Dabar Anwla!

After that we drove out to Cardiff by the sea and Solana beach.. the weather was fantastic and the drive was really fun. That reminds me… I was to have done reading the DMV driver’s handbook over the weekend. So much for plans… wonder when I’ll finally take that damned test!

Much needed break


After the paper deadline monday night, I took a much needed break yesterday. Not that I completely wiled away my time, but I relaxed a hell lot. Woke up late in the morning, then went for a haircut in the lazy summer afteroon. Came back and caught up with my reading (The hunt for Red October, Tom Clancy).

{{ http://www.cinedrome.ch/lakshya/images/LakshyaPH.jpg?200×150|Lakshya}}
Then had a wonderful afternoon nap. And to top it off, we saw Lakshya last night. The movie was pretty good actually. I loved the background score and all the cinematography, but I wished I had a larger screen and a better print. Although the movie lost and gained momentum at several places in the movie, so it lost much of the effect that it could potentially have haved. The screenplay was flawed at several places, but I think overall the movie was done nicely.

Of course, DCH’s reputation and Hrithik/Preity paired up have provided enough push to soar this movie through the box office. Asim and PSD are planning to come over for the 4th July weekend, so we’re planning to go to Sea World and even camp out for one night somewhere. So I’m also trying to chalk out those plans.

Dev


{{ http://www.cinemamontreal.com/images/posters/6385-dev.jpg|Dev}}

Joint Commisioner of Police (JCP) Dev Pratap Singh (Amitabh Bachhan) is a man who lives by the Constitution. To him, religion, relations, values — everything is second to the law. His close friend, ACP Tejinder Khosla (Om Puri), on the other hand, has a more leftist philosophy. He believes that the only solution to India’s problems is exterminating the villains, whoever they might be.

The movie revolves around Hindu Muslim communal riots. Dev and Tej are both scarred by the tragic shooting attack on them by Muslim extremists, which takes away the life of Dev’s only son, Armaan. Dev and his wife Bharti (Rati Agnihotri) after much deliberation make the decision that they would not deal with this incident personally, with hatred against all Mulims. Instead, they would treat it with love and compassion. Tej, on the other hand, is resolved to take revenge, blood for blood way.

In the meanwhile, the movie shows young LLB graduate Farhaan (Fardeen Khan) and his girl-friend Aliya (Karina Kapoor). Farhaan’s father is a Gandhi ideologist, but Farhaan does not feel them justified. Latif is a Muslim extremist who is one of the leaders of the Muslim communities. He instigates the Muslims to lead a rally against the supposed atrocities by the police on Mulims. In this rally, thing get a little out of hand and JCP Dev order his troops to open fire, in which Farhaan’s abba passes away.

Furious, Farhaan wants to take revenge. Latif gives him training in arms, and at an appropriate time Farhaan attacks Dev and Bharti as they are returning from a dinner at Tej’s. Fortunately, Dev and Bharti survive. After this incident, Latif wants Farhaan out of the way so he plans a bomb explosion near a Hindu temple which will kill Farhaan as well. The bomb explodes all right, but Farhaan survives, realizing the truth about Latif.

Meanwhile riots break out, and Aliya’s family and friends are killed. She herself is assaulted by some vandals, but its not clear what happens to her. Dev and Bharti help Farhaan and Aliya out. During the riots, the Chief Minister’s (Amrish Puri) cheif aid Mangal Rao leads the Hindu faction, and Tej orders Dev to **not** take any action while people are being burnt alive. This series of events leads to tension between Dev and Tej, while Farhaan confesses and decides to become a witness against Latif and Mangal Rao.

In the finale, Dev is murdered by Tej, who later commits suicide himself. Farhaan becomes a lawyer to carry on the crusade.

On the whole, some may like the movie, and some may not. But every one is going to find the movie bold in some aspect. Then there are of course the very real kissing scenes between Farhaan and Aliya — that the characters are Muslim might upset some people.

Nevertheless, I liked the movie. It was honest for one thing. And I like movies which try to show the realities of politics and the police force in India. Somehow I’ve always been really afraid of the police, for no particular reason at all. These movies help me to think of the brighter side. I’ll talk about the police force in India and their perception in the public in some other post.