Back from Jaipur...Short reviews of Hancock and JTYJN

I was gone for two days only, but did so much in those that it seems I was gone for a while.

Anyway...I got chance to watch two movies consecutively for two days. One of my choice...and one of someone else's. One was good enough and one sucked.

It was turn of Hancock first, and it didnt disappoint.

What I liked about it was that it didnt have any boring moments at all. It kicks off with an action sequence, with some humor added in, and never goes in slow mode after that. Its packed with action sequences, funny scenes and some twists.

Will smith is the usual Will-funny and charming, which is in no way a bad thing. Charlize adds sexiness and also is the twist in herself (OK I know I might have spoiled a bit here).

Spolier ahead

A common complain that I heard was that the movie didnt explain why Hancock and Mary were made that way, that they will die if they be with each other. My take on it is this that its a fiction. For every fiction, there is an envelope, which is fictional. In that envelope, in that universe, you must state reason of everything. For example, in Hancock, the director must explain why Hancock got hurt. But the boundaries of that fiction envelope, need not be explained. Otherwise it wont be fiction. So in my opinion, they dont need to explain why they were made that way. Thats the boundary of fiction of Hancok.

Spoiler end here.

In the end, it has to be said that Hancock is in no way an inspirational, ground-breaking, jaw-dropping or masterpiece. But what it is, is a solid popcorn summer flick, to be watched with a lite-head, fun mood. It is entertaining.

Now coming to Jaane tu ya jaane na. I might sound like I dont like Bollywood movies at all, and bash every Bollywood movie in sight. But what the case truly is, is this that there are so few praise worthy Bollywood movies that writing or talking about most of them would sound like bashing.

Actually, movies like Swades, Rang de basanti and 1971 are some of my all time favorites.

Concerning movie of the occassion, the first thing I would like to say about JTYJN is that its a movie of regular bollywood cliches, stock characters, a bland plot and a super-recycled screenplay. 

Consider the story. A boy and girl are best friends, cant live without each other for a moment. But they dont realize that they are in love, they think they are just best friends. The movie is story how they realize that they actually love each other. Sounds familiar? Well...you have seen it a thousand times already.

Then there are stock characters. The brother of lead female character is a cocky and irritating guy, always insults lead male character, who is poor (oh I see I didnt mention that. Well...the guess you just made is correct...the heroine is reach). But come the end...and he is revealed to be actually a nice guy....and was actually so because of negligience from his own family.

Then there is mother of Hero, a know all one. She knows exactly when her son is thinking what, and feeling what and is upto what. 

Another one is girlfriend of hero. She comes to realize that the boy she loves, actually loves his best friend and she, you guessed it right again, sacrifices her love for the better.

A well-built, seemingly perfect guy is another of those. He is a womanizer of sorts, which establishes the fact right from his entry that he is not the one for our lovely female lead. He is evil, and we know it. We also know that at some point, he will show his ugly face, and our poor innocent heroine will come to know this.

Friend circle of leads. They have one guy, who always is in weeping mode (replacing the regular innocent, stupid and lovable friend of other movies), a funny Gujrati guy who will do some comedy, a girl who knows exactly whats going on in minds and hearts of other people in her group and a match for the stupid guy, an innocent and cute girl.

And finally, a funny and tough duo. Two brothers who travel on horses everywhere, are happy go lucky. They play pivotal role, in the end, for the success of Hero's quest for stopping his real love, who is....yes....leaving the country and right now is in Airport. Thats totally another deal that he could have called her right away. But then how the hell a regular Bollywood cliche, a chase of love to the airport would have been possible?

There are many othre stock characters and cliches in the movie, but writing about them would be wasting space and time. The bottom line is, it is just like regular garbage Bollywood has produced over the decades. Watch it just for a minute anywhere in between its story and you would be able to tell what has happened and what will happen.

List of movies I watched in Between-

Hancock- 9/10.

Jaane tu ya Jaane na- 3/10.

The other Boleyn girl- 9/10.

The 40 year old virgin- 9/10.

The station agent- 10/10.

The notebook- 8/10.

Run fatboy run- 8/10.

Pan's Labyrinth- 8/10.

Nim's island- 8/10.

 

Created another new blog

I recently created another new, a sister, blog-

http://beforeiforgot.blogspot.com

There is nothing much interesting there for anyone else. It is just a collecion of memories, which I will be adding continously. I will try to add as many as I can, and as old as I remember.

In other news, I will be going Jaipur for a few days tomorrow. So blog entries might not remain regular. 

South Park- Extremely offensive but funny nonetheless

Being offended is completely subjective, varying with everything involved. So something which is offensive for me, might not be for someone else. But in South park, they leave little possibility of not being offensive. It satirizes every sensitive topic. Be it homosexuality, religion, terrorism or racism. 

I have just started watching it, so as of now, I am not offended by anything. But considering the scope and number of episodes, it is highly possible that eventually, it will become offfensive to me.

But before becoming offensive, what it has already become is funny. The animation might seem strange and blocky and the low production values might turn off you for a while but hang in for a while and you will be drawn into the world of four foul-speaking kids. Somtimes the language is blatatntly and outrageously slapstick, by which I mean outrageous and slapstick both at the same time. S**t, f**k, a*s and any other imaginable word of this kind are common. I am not really sure if these are used as to be offensive, cute, strange or plain funny. But what I am sure of is that they do add a lot to charcters. They wont be what they are if they dont use these.

My favorite, so far, is Eric cartman. He is at odds with the group most of the times and also is the most cunning, selfish and fat. His voice is most funny (voiced by series co-creator Tery parker) and his way of tackling situations is no less.

Somehow, almost all other major characters are equally funny for me. Not only three remaigning main characters (Kyle, Stan and Kenny), but every other character. Be it Officer Barbarady, Chef or Mr.Harrison. But I hate Mayor McDaniels, cant stand her character. 

I have only started to watch it, so in no way I am in a position to write a review of it. But one thing that I can still recommend is that if you like to laugh and dont mind crude language, it wont disappoint. 

Reshu is now Ex-Miss Jaipur...One year term over

It was great, it was fun, it was huge and above all....it was cool. 

As I had reported in this entry, Reshu became Miss Jaipur about one year ago. But as is the case with all the place holders, she had to pass on it to some new girl. So she did. She is now ex miss Jaipur and someone else has become new one, for one year obviously.

Off topic, I have watched these movies after Have dreams-will travel, Gone baby gone and Assassination of Jesse James (about whom I wrote here)-

The Spiderwick chronicles- 9/10

Penelope- 7/10

American Dreamz- 9/10

Sleepwalking- 7/10 

21- 8/10 

Hotel Rwanda- 10/10 

Stardust- 9/10 

The Golden Compass- 8/10 

Ratatouille- 9/10

The Life Before Her Eyes- 6/10 

The Happening- 10/10

Mere Baap Pahle Aap- 6/10 

For the whole list of my ratings to all the movies I have ever watched, go here. 

Save Darfur- lend your hand

From the past five years, a time in which most of us lived happily and enjoyed what luxuries life has bestowed us, 4oooooo people died in Darfur, Sudan. When we were busy eating in McDonalds, they didnt have anything to eat. When we were travelling around the world, they were running to save their lives. Probably we all have seen such things in movies, but its time to realize that such things do happen in our world.

Come, let us unite to save Darfur. What can a mere person do? You ask. You are not alone. People worldwide are joining hands to save those lives who wont exist if we dont do anything. Thousands more will be orphaned, millions will be thrown out of their homes. You dont have to do mighty difficult tasks, start with whatever you want. Join the movement, sign petitions, write on your blogs and sites, donate if you can and tell more people about it. Let us pray that Darfur conflict will end soon and we will be able to wash those tears away.

Join the movement here. As a human, do your part, save lives. If we havent learned to help those who are in need, we taint the word Human. Africans have suffered more than what seems possible and even remotely bearable. They are harassed, killed, diseased, starved and suppressed for centuries, for ages. We could have been born in there. We are fortunate that we didn't, but in a world where news travels faster than thoughts and one can watch the world with a click, it will be severe crime to ignore their suffering, cries, pain and tears.