King Kong movie review

The movie kinda sucks. Sorry, I know every other review says its the greatest movie ever made. The truth is the movie is looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong. I like long movies (i watched the uncut version of hum apke hain kaun atleast 50 times). However, there is a difference between a movie being long because there is a genuine storyline, and a movie being long because the director is totally obsessed with the cinematic world that he has created and cannot distance himself enough from the movie to spare his audiences. King Kong falls into the latter category.

Over 60 minutes into the movie, theres still no monkey. Thats actually good for the movie, because the first hour is well taken. Depression era New York is captured brilliantly, and Naomi Watts luminously fills the screen (she is stunningly beautiful). A whole load of chills and thrills later, the monkey finally makes his grand entry.

And then the movie begins running in an endless loop - Angry monkey, yells at everyone, thumps his chest. Angry monkey kills people (not with his hands but pushes them off bridges into ravines and other heights). Angry monkey eats bamboo and looks like a sad hermit (not easy to sympathize with him though). Angry monkey plays with pretty blond girl and glances soulfully at her. Repeat cycle.

I waited eagerly to watch the movie for two big scenes - the final one where King kong climbs the empire state building and wrestles helicopters, and the one where king kong battles dinosaurs. Both scenes have been brilliantly taken, and remind you that no amount of dvds or ondemand movies can ever replace the big screen. And then, both the scenes never end. They go on and on and on and on .......

The final verdict - do watch the movie in the theater for sure. Only thing, before leaving, meditate for a few minutes, chant the word patience to yourself 20 times, take your friends along and sit in a secluded corner of the theater so that you can chat with them and play games on your cell phone to tide you through the boring scenes.

Peter Jackson - have you ever seen a person with the job title Editor?

The simple life?

2005 is drawing to a close, and I cannot believe how time flies. We live in such a different world today. Even seven or eight years back, none of us could have imagined the speed with which technology would evolve. What seemed like magic even 10 years back is reality now, to a point where we take it for granted.

Example? When I was a little kid, I always dreamed of a magic machine - You could feed any question into it, and it would give you the answer instantaneously and I could magically learn about everything in the world. There would be no mysteries anymore. It didnt take long for the "magic" machine to evolve. Its simply a computer with a browser in which you type www.google.com. If there is any topic in the world, chances are some person in some corner of the planet has already thought about it and also posted something online, and google fetches it for you. Simple huh? Its no longer magical, and if google takes more than a second to return search results, I am already pounding my fists with frustration.

Which brings me to my next subject - Frustration. Agony. Aggravation. With all these big advances and changes, are we really happier? Consider advances in the field of medicine and packaging technology. There are atleast a 100 medicines easily available for different combinations of cold-cough-headache. Packaging technology has evolved to create safe medicine bottles that children cannot accidentally open. The result? Tylenol has desgined a cough medicine bottle soooo safe, even adults cannot open it. I spent an agonizing 30 minutes a few nights back desperately trying to figure out the childproof bottle cap with no success.

There are hundreds of cable tv channels. Comcast also has a super cool on-demand promotion where you can watch hundreds of movies with the click of a button, with rewind and fastforward features available. So did I have a fun weekend watching TV? No. I couldnt decide on a single program to watch, and I turned off the TV and blogged instead.

I bought a GPS to make sure I did not get lost during my road trip. Did it keep me safe and happy? Safe yes. Happy? Well, I did not really look out of the car window because I was too busy trying to fiddle with the instructions and make the darned thing work.

I stood in line to pay for 100 hours of dial up internet access at the VSNL office six years back, and I used to patiently wait all night to download one mp3 file. Today, if the transfer rate on my highspeed internet connection is anything lesser than a zillion megabytes per second, I lose patience and call customer service.

I read atleast five women's magazines december issues. Every single magazine was filled with tips on how to beat "holiday stress". For weeks, my coworkers asked me anxiously if I had prepared for the holidays (like an exam?).

Where are we heading in this super fast world? Are our lives really better? Or is it time to rexamine the truth in the phrase "the simple life"?

In praise of routine

I probably sound crazy saying this, but I love the daily grind, what others may call "mundane" routine. For me, it goes like this everyday
- get dressed
- battle traffic to work listening to Ramarajan hits
- make a big pot of coffee
- spend the whole morning tapping away at my comp (God knows what i do!)
- eat a toasted cheese and pickles sandwich from subway for lunch
- make some smartass comments in afternoon meetings
- strategically look very busy from 5:00 to 5:45
- drive back home listening to Fanaa in full volume
- Watch 2 episodes of Friends and 2 episodes of Sex and the city
- Eat maggi noodles and ketchup
- Watch the jay leno show and fall asleep

When the holidays start, i really feel lost. I guess its because work is really the only thing I have in this country thousands of miles away from home. When the work week starts, the five days of the week just fly and its friday before i know it. On a holiday, i can only wake up so late, and there are only so many loads of laundry that need to be done. Even if i make the most elaborate lunch, its all done by 12:00. After an afternoon nap and a cup of tea at 4:00, the entire evening suddenly looms ahead in front of me. What do I do?

Orlando - without the Disney Universal visit

I have already completed the Disney - Universal rounds. So I did'nt exactly jump for joy when we had to include Orlando in our Florida trip itinerary (we wanted to do an east-coast to west-coast road trip in Florida, and hence the mandatory central florida halt).

We reached Orlando late wednesday afternoon. After a massive all you can eat all-veggie lunch buffet at the Orlando Woodlands (great dosas, mediocre sambar), we couldnt muster up the energy for a theme park visit (by the way, to get to the "world's happiest place", does it just take a plane ticket, and an admission fee?).

If you reach the airport and go straight to Kissimee (where Disney is) and then drive to Universal in Orlando, its hard to get a taste of the real Orlando - a tranquil vibrant city. We drove to Lake Eola, which is right in the heart of downtown Orlando. Late in the evening, the one mile trail around the lake was filled with joggers and shoppers, along with geese, cranes, pelicans, and duck/geese families (the babies were the cutest!). There were little ponds around the lake, and a huge lighted fountain in the middle. It was the perfect evening getaway - a simple walk, fresh air and baby geese without a $50 admission fee.

Travel notes:
Parking was not hard to find (I was there after 6:00 pm). There is a Panera bread across from the lake. Grab a breakfast or lunch to go and enjoy it by the lake. Even though Orlando is located in Florida, do NOT let anyone kid you into thinking its warm and sunny all through the year. Winter in Orlando is fairly chilly, especially with the wind. You will need a light pair of gloves and a warm jacket. Woodlands and Khasiyat are your indian all-vegetarian choices.

I'm back

After three hectic weeks (moving house, travelling, and travelling again), I'm finally back home and back to blogging. Man, I love home. Home sweet sweet dearest home!

Kasthuriman Movie Review

I almost lost hope in Thamizh cinema (after watching Sivakasi and Maja), and then I saw Kasthuriman. I love Thamizh cinema all over again now! The movie is not perfect, but the film makers have made a commendable effort at good cinema.

Meera Jasmine and Prasanna are at loggerheads for a while, and then ofcourse become friends and fall in love. Meera initially appears to be a frivolous rich kid, but actually has a gazillion problems of her own. She and her mom live with her sister and her abusive husband. The sis's husband also wants to marry Meera, who tries to play the juggling act between warding off his advances, while keeping her sister's family peace intact.

Meera Jasmine is portrayed as the new pudhumai penn - She works as a day nurse, caring for elderly people and supports her sister's family, pays her way through college, and also pays for her boyfriend's IAS education and his dad's hospital bills. I was really impressed with this. Remember the days when the hero will tell the heroine "you sit at home, naa mootai thookiyavadhu unna kaapatharen"? Even today, 99% of Thamizh movies portray young women merely as brides-in-waiting, sitting at home while their annas and appas keep pushing themselves further into debt as they find a nalla mapillai. Things have changed so much in society these days - women are independent and confident, and many good men are no longer insecure and egoistic. Finally, a thamizh movie has mirrored this. Way to go!

Lohith Das (the director) has done a good job in keeping the pace of the movie entertaining, without the need for any "glamour" songs or audience pleasing stunts. Prasanna is dignified and sincere. Meera Jasmine's performance is very good - she portrays strength and vulnerability equally convincingly.

The one thing that I found extremely disturbing was Vinodhini's (Meera's sister) willingness to continue to live with her husband - she knows he is abusive, and she knows he is after her sister. She still wants to live with him? I just did not get this. She is not even financially dependent on her husband, as her sister is supporting the family. Kallaanaalum kanavan i agree, but, Kanavan pondati thalaila kalla thooki potta? appo kooda pullaanalum purushan?

The movie's climax disappoints. Throughout the movie, Meera Jasmine is strong and fearless. However, when her brother in law is beating her sister, she just meekly cries and feebly tugs at his sleeve saying "please dont do this". Her actions after this scene also did not make much sense. I have a question, but if i write that here, i will be giving away the movie ending.

So, go ahead, watch the movie. Support good thamizh cinema!

Someone is watching over me

I had one of those days, when everything almost goes wrong, but somehow miraculously doesnt.

It started this morning - typical december day in Chicago. It was snowing and I wanted to start my car ahead of time. So I ran out, no coat or gloves on, quickly started my car, and then ran back to my apartment, only to realize I'd forgotten my keys. I had not locked my apartment, so I was ok on that front, but, just to get into my apartment building, I need another key, which I did not have. I stood there in the cold, desperately trying the buzzer for ALL the other 10 apartments in my building. Not a single neighbour buzzed me in. Just when I was getting ready to start howling my eyes out, one of the residents of another building stepped out. I ran up to her, and asked her to help me out. I didnt think she could, as our buildings are not connected, but she had a super bright idea - she wanted to try her key. And it worked!!!! So thats miracle number 1 for me.

They do a pretty good job of cleaning the main roads when it snows. But the side roads are always a mess. I made a right turn into this little side road to get into my office parking lot. Turns are always dicey when it snows, and this road was a complete mess. My wheels started skidding, and my car started snaking right to left across the road. Miracle number 2 happened. There was absolutely nobody else on that road. Neither behind me nor on the opposite side, and my car finally steadied itself.

I went out for lunch. I was going pretty slow, but the van driver to my right suddenly decided he needed to get on the left turn lane. Without checking his lanes, without looking who was to his side, he just jammed his brakes, and cut straight across two lanes to get to the left turn lane. I managed to brake in time, and my car (bless it) came to a complete stop, just a few inches clear of that %^$$##'s rear. I really thought i was going to crash, and i didnt. Miracle number three.

I ofcourse spent the rest of my day wondering about "thalais" and "thalapaas" as the famous saving goes. I guess all my mom's prayers for me do work really!