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The Notebook

Okay so I've been on a rom-com movie watching spree lately. I have these mood swings in which I can't stand to watch anything non-fictional. I love watching happy endings and feeling all mushy-mushy. So I had this movie and hadn't seen it till now. I read up some reviews on IMDB and it sounded like my kind of a movie. The movie transcends through time and is told in a very beautiful fashion. About the lives of two lovers who meet when they were 17-18 and talks about how their lives span out. Allie Hamilton, beautifully essayed by Rachel McAdams, is the only daughter of a millionaire who comes to the town of Seabrook to spend her summer break. Noah, played by Ryan Gosling, is a worker at the local log factory. He happens to see Allie at the carnival night and finds himself immediately attracted to her. He pursues her and finally wins her over by getting her to agree on going out with him. He shows her what it is to be really free, to do things because you want to do the...

The King and I

I'd had this movie for many months and for some reason it never seemed like the right time to watch it. Today, after having a lazy day... It seemed like the right time to watch a musical. What a beautiful movie! I'm kind of disappointed that it was over so soon. For those who haven't seen it, here's what it is all about. The movie is based on the book by Margaret Landon, Anna and the King of Siam which was later turned into a successful Broadway musical which ran for some 4000+ shows and a movie, which is The King and I. There have been many versions of this movie and I saw the 1956 one with Deborrah Kerr and Yul Brynner. The movie opens with the arrival of an englishwoman Anna Leonowens (Deborrah Kerr) and her son Louis to the land of Siam, now Thailand in the city of Bangkok. She has been appointed by the king to tutor the royal children in a scientific and secular education in which the tutors before her had failed. She's shown to be a beautiful, strong woman...

World Cup 2011 - Our World Cup! :)

Yes Cricket is a religion in India, and every citizen is a devout follower. Somehow you just can't get away from it. There's no place to run to. Yes maybe you can follow other sports too, but you can't get the cricket out of an Indian. Me included. I wasn't following cricket for the past some years, except some IPL matches here and there. This world cup thanks to our office I managed to follow some matches because the enthusiasm of a hundred odd colleagues is just hard to ignore! :) I came to Hong Kong the day we played against Pakistan and I had to leave I think when half the innings was over. I came to the airport and was having my dinner while I could hear people shouting in bits and bursts! I kept asking the waiter the score, and since the airport was practically empty, after serving the few people in the restaurant, he'd run to the screen and then come back to tell us the score. And then suddenly there was this huge cheer, and I knew we'd won the semis. ...

Invictus

Yes I'm one of those people who hadn't seen this movie up until today! My roommate gave me the movie to watch just today... and I saw it! What a movie! I've always loved movies which take the base of sports to convey something more than just sportsman spirit... Like one of my all time favorites is Remember the Titans. Another favorite is The Miracle. This movie brought to light so many things that I wasn't aware about before... It made me go back to Wiki and read up on Nelson Mandela, on the Apartheid, on the struggles, the massacres and the growth of that nation. They've gone through so much in the last two decades, it's amazing! Morgan Freeman has won my respect and admiration all over again. He's such a perfect actor for almost all roles. But in today's movie he was the best. He fit the bill. He was inspirational. The time when Matt Damon walks into the prison at Robben Island, it was so moving to see the kind of circumstances in which he spent 18...

Waltz with Bashir

Today thanks a friend of mine I watched this beautiful animated movie Waltz with Bashir and what an amazingly well made movie. It's set in the times of the Lebanon Civil War and the Sabra and Shatila massacre . Directed by Ari Folman it's actually his true story. The characters in the movie are real people with whom Ari fought in the war. It talks about the post trauma disorder in a way because of the kind of memories that have been left on the characters in Ari's life. Depicted with animations which are more like comic strips and the use of dark colors, the mood of the film is very dark. It starts with one friend who comes to Ari talking about the nightmares he's been having and how they're related to the kind of things he'd done while being out at war. That sets the ball rolling in Ari's head where he's trying to piece together his role in the massacre, because although he has images of that, he does not recall anything to do with that day. He then t...

Charmed

I must've been in school, maybe 13-14 years old, when I first saw an episode of Charmed. I used to follow it regularly always trying to avoid missing any show. The show was about three sisters, who are actually witches in the modern world and must learn the witchcraft in order to protect innocents by fighting off demons and other evil magical creatures. I think I must've followed the series for about a year and then lost track of it. I kept trying to hunt for it, but to no avail. Until I came to Hyderabad! Why, you might ask? Well because I discovered SurfTheChannel.com thanks to my friend at work, Anaisha. :) And voila! There it was 170 episodes with links to either Megavideo / Tudou to watch them. It took me nearly 7 months to finish these episodes mind you. :) Haha! But I did see them all. Though as the seasons went by there were fewer links available and a lot of times they just didn't stream. I'm planning to buy the complete DVD series, but I think I'll hold o...

Dhobi Ghaat

For the first time I had not read about this movie before going to see it, had not searched for it on google, no research on IMDB, nothing. I was as blank, as a canvas. And what a painting the movie left on me when it was over, literally and otherwise. Bombay, my city, my home, has never looked so intense and so deep before. There was the chaos that I've grown up with, but there was this depth that I have failed to appreciate and to recognize. Maybe one of the most beautiful things that has been said about this movie is said by its producer, and actor, Aamir Khan, "The movie is like an artistic painting on celluloid" And that's it. That is how beautiful this movie is. If you're someone who appreciates photography, who loves the play of colors, the confluence of ideas and poetry, this movie will touch you. It's almost like an art film yet not. It's a very different genre of film, and it got under my skin. I'll attempt to be less vague about it and give...