This is the movie setting for an 1957 classic "An affair to remember" A cruise, a casanova, a charming heroine. Both are already engaged but they are embarking on this journey alone. Sounds a lot familiar to the hindi movie "Mann". And a google search proved the fact too..Meanwhile I came across this term "bollycat" used to denote this usual practice of shameless plagiarism by bollywood. The urban dictionary defines it as: "An Indian Bollywood movies that has either been directly copied from a Hollywood movie or is heavily inspired by one."
Is there a corresponding term for music copying too?
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Movie: Crazy heart
IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1263670/
Plot: A faded country music musician is forced to reassess his dysfunctional life during a doomed romance that also inspires him
Review: A musical that stuck a perfect chord with my heart. First half was really good, second half was a total drag and the climax was a bit predictable. Jeff bridges rocks! No wonder he is winning all the prestigious best actor awards across the world. The soundtrack which is obviously country music is A.W.E.S.O.M.E!
Overall rating : 3.5/5..only because the second half was kinda lengthy.
Plot: A faded country music musician is forced to reassess his dysfunctional life during a doomed romance that also inspires him
Review: A musical that stuck a perfect chord with my heart. First half was really good, second half was a total drag and the climax was a bit predictable. Jeff bridges rocks! No wonder he is winning all the prestigious best actor awards across the world. The soundtrack which is obviously country music is A.W.E.S.O.M.E!
Overall rating : 3.5/5..only because the second half was kinda lengthy.
Monday, February 15, 2010
Movie/Documentary reviews!
1. Barbarians at the Gate
IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0106356/
Plot: The president of a major tobacco company decides to buy the company himself, but a bidding war ensues as other companies make their own offers.
Review: A good movie/documentary about the various market forces that come into picture whenever a company buyout happens. Loved it!
Direction : 5/5 ..does not get boring even for a single minute.
Screenplay: 5/5
Music: NA
Acting: 5/5
Visual effects: NA
Editing: 5/5
2. Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room
IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1016268/
Plot: A documentary about the Enron corporation, its faulty and corrupt business practices, and how they led to its fall.
Review: A great documentary! 5/5 again on all aspects :)
3. Wallstreet
IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094291/
Plot: A young and impatient stockbroker is willing to do anything to get to the top, including trading on illegal inside information taken through a ruthless and greedy corporate raider whom takes the youth under his wing
Review: A good blend of common and illegal practices followed in stock market along with the movie-like masala stuff.
Direction : 4/5 ..a bit long!
Screenplay: 4/5...some dialogues sound plain preachy.
Music: NA
Acting: 4/5..again no extra-ordinary performances..everybody just fits in.
Visual effects: NA
Editing: 4/5..a bit of drag towards the end.
Overall : 4/5
IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0106356/
Plot: The president of a major tobacco company decides to buy the company himself, but a bidding war ensues as other companies make their own offers.
Review: A good movie/documentary about the various market forces that come into picture whenever a company buyout happens. Loved it!
Direction : 5/5 ..does not get boring even for a single minute.
Screenplay: 5/5
Music: NA
Acting: 5/5
Visual effects: NA
Editing: 5/5
2. Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room
IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1016268/
Plot: A documentary about the Enron corporation, its faulty and corrupt business practices, and how they led to its fall.
Review: A great documentary! 5/5 again on all aspects :)
3. Wallstreet
IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094291/
Plot: A young and impatient stockbroker is willing to do anything to get to the top, including trading on illegal inside information taken through a ruthless and greedy corporate raider whom takes the youth under his wing
Review: A good blend of common and illegal practices followed in stock market along with the movie-like masala stuff.
Direction : 4/5 ..a bit long!
Screenplay: 4/5...some dialogues sound plain preachy.
Music: NA
Acting: 4/5..again no extra-ordinary performances..everybody just fits in.
Visual effects: NA
Editing: 4/5..a bit of drag towards the end.
Overall : 4/5
Arsene knows?
In the recent Arsenal vs Liverpool match last week; Arsene Wenger, the manager of Arsenal handed out a 3 page document to the media summing up his philosophy of the sport. Instead, he could have spent that time looking at the past few matches Arsenal have lost. And within 3 minutes, he would have realized why they are 6 points apart from the current league leaders Chelsea. After the long term injury to Van Persie in early October, they don't have a striker! And you don't win football matches without a quality striker who can hold the ball up in opponent's box. It has been painful to watch all the beautiful passing football break into pieces whenever the ball reached near the opponent's box. Arsenal continued to find it difficult to score goals in the next 3 months. But Mr. Wenger continues to be adamant on his "promoting young kids" philosophy and refused to buy a good striker in the January transfer window. And Manchester united and Chelsea took full advantage of it. Both the teams defeated Arsenal in February leaving a big dent in Arsenal's silverware mission this year. Baring a miracle, Arsenal look for another year without any trophies, which will make it 6 years in a row. Stop living in the glory of the past....Wake up Mr. Wenger!
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Dream job!
IMHO, the only job that seems to fit this term is being a member of Indian cricket team selection committee. Why? For the following reasons:
1. You are not expected to disclose the thought procedure behind any selection decision. So you can drop an icon like Rahul Dravid from the team even when he was your second best batsman in the last series (Champions trophy) and you easily get away with it! That kind of non-accountability seems to good to be true right?
2. You pick a back-up wicketkeeper for a test match. The poor fellow (WP Saha) becomes a thorn in the eyes of the full country for using his batsman gloves only and is dropped for the next test match. He did not even get a chance to put his wicket-keeping gloves on! Instead, you draft in another wicket-keeper(Dinesh Karthik) in the squad who was just dropped in favor of WP Saha before the first test match!
3. You can drop a fast bowler(Abhimanyu Mithun) without even giving him a chance to play coz a senior fast bowler(Sreesanth) is fit again! Even worse, none of them get into the playing 11 because the team management wants to play Ishant sharma, a bowler who has been out of form for almost an year.
So basically, you get to play dice with the future generation of Indian cricket, along with the perks of fame, free travel etc. Now isn't that a dream job?
1. You are not expected to disclose the thought procedure behind any selection decision. So you can drop an icon like Rahul Dravid from the team even when he was your second best batsman in the last series (Champions trophy) and you easily get away with it! That kind of non-accountability seems to good to be true right?
2. You pick a back-up wicketkeeper for a test match. The poor fellow (WP Saha) becomes a thorn in the eyes of the full country for using his batsman gloves only and is dropped for the next test match. He did not even get a chance to put his wicket-keeping gloves on! Instead, you draft in another wicket-keeper(Dinesh Karthik) in the squad who was just dropped in favor of WP Saha before the first test match!
3. You can drop a fast bowler(Abhimanyu Mithun) without even giving him a chance to play coz a senior fast bowler(Sreesanth) is fit again! Even worse, none of them get into the playing 11 because the team management wants to play Ishant sharma, a bowler who has been out of form for almost an year.
So basically, you get to play dice with the future generation of Indian cricket, along with the perks of fame, free travel etc. Now isn't that a dream job?
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
The science of fast bowling!
During a test match commentary, Michael Holding said that you must be able to bowl any batting side out for less than 350 runs on any test wicket.A statement which did not seem to hold true on the subcontinent pitches. Even if Michael Holding along with the legendary quartet of fast bowlers of the greatest West Indies generation were bowling on subcontinent pitches....Until yesterday!
On a fine Monday morning at my hometown; Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel and Wayne Parnell put on a display of fast bowling which left the cricketing world in awe. The pitch was placid. The fact that SA scored 550 odd runs in their first innings is a testimony. But SA had the trio of fast bowlers who could bowl at 140+ kph consistently. And 140 kph is 140 kph whether it's Perth or Nagpur. If you hit the right areas and swing the ball at that pace, even the best batsmen are bound to struggle. The pace along with the conventional swing with the new ball took care of the first half of India's batting line-up. And before the batsmen could figure out where their off-stump was, Dale Steyn got the reverse swing going with the old ball. Steyn's fire melted the cool team india within no time.
SA went on to win the test match. And between me and Mr. Holding, Mr. Holding had the last laugh!
On a fine Monday morning at my hometown; Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel and Wayne Parnell put on a display of fast bowling which left the cricketing world in awe. The pitch was placid. The fact that SA scored 550 odd runs in their first innings is a testimony. But SA had the trio of fast bowlers who could bowl at 140+ kph consistently. And 140 kph is 140 kph whether it's Perth or Nagpur. If you hit the right areas and swing the ball at that pace, even the best batsmen are bound to struggle. The pace along with the conventional swing with the new ball took care of the first half of India's batting line-up. And before the batsmen could figure out where their off-stump was, Dale Steyn got the reverse swing going with the old ball. Steyn's fire melted the cool team india within no time.
SA went on to win the test match. And between me and Mr. Holding, Mr. Holding had the last laugh!
Monday, February 8, 2010
Hello world again!
Finally! Here I am with my new blog! This event continued to be postponed primarily because of laziness and partly because of the desire to find a "cool" name for it. Finally I settled on this name for 2 reasons:
1. Since I could not think of anything cool, I decided to go with the coolest name my parents could come up approximately 27 years back :P
2. Having been working on a product which enhances searchability of swf files for couple of months now, I now realize the importance of my blog coming up within top 10 sites when my name is searched on google next time! [I know that me only will search for that query string :P]
Why a new blog? A valid question considering the scarcity of posts on my old one. As the title suggests, this one will be more chaotic! This will mostly contain my expert comments (gulp) on the events that happen in my small world comprising of movies, music, sports, and internet browsing. Also, this blog will be more frequently updated than the previous one (I hope :P).
As they say, the journey of 1000 miles starts with a single step. So let me start it of with a single post. And now.....I am off to sleep! :P
1. Since I could not think of anything cool, I decided to go with the coolest name my parents could come up approximately 27 years back :P
2. Having been working on a product which enhances searchability of swf files for couple of months now, I now realize the importance of my blog coming up within top 10 sites when my name is searched on google next time! [I know that me only will search for that query string :P]
Why a new blog? A valid question considering the scarcity of posts on my old one. As the title suggests, this one will be more chaotic! This will mostly contain my expert comments (gulp) on the events that happen in my small world comprising of movies, music, sports, and internet browsing. Also, this blog will be more frequently updated than the previous one (I hope :P).
As they say, the journey of 1000 miles starts with a single step. So let me start it of with a single post. And now.....I am off to sleep! :P
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