PAUL – REVIEW

Bored with my X-Mas vacation , surfing down the internet , reading about December 21, 2012 ,prophecies, UFO encounters and related random stuff , I came across this  movie. The poster amused me so I decided to give this movie a shot.

Coming to the movie, Graeme (Simon Pegg) and Clive (Nick Frost) are 2 comic book geeks. After attending the Comic-Con Convention they plan to  visit other places of extraterrestrial importance. During their ride a car races them and wrecks up right in front of them. When they stop to investigate the crash they meet Paul (voiced by Seth Rogen) an alien who has escaped from Area 51 and is in desperate need of help. The geeks decide to help him. Paul is not the typical alien as portrayed in typical science fiction movies. He is lazy, rude,weed smoking,outright , frank casual alien. He does have supernatural powers, he gave Steven Spielberg the ideas for”ET”,”Close encounters of the third kind” and  ”Indiana Jones” and hates the fact that his face has been used as a cover image for aliens in general.He had been chest of knowledge to the government , now that all information has been extracted , the Govt wishes to surgically remove paul’s brain and harness his supernatural abilities. With the help of an insider at area 51 , paul sends an SOS to his home planet and is on the run.

The whole story revolves around the crazy events which occurs when Paul is trying to reach to the location to reach his rescue team. There are several movie connections like Close Encounters of the third kind , Indiana Jones , Titanic , Men in Black and star wars attributed at appropriate places  . On the whole , it was a light and fun movie to watch.

I am not a sci-fi geek , but I definitely am a sci-fi fan.

I give this one 8/10 

MISSION IMPOSSIBLE : GHOST PROTOCOL – REVIEW

Well , this was going to be my first IMAX experience , I was more excited about that than the actual movie. When I entered the hall I was shocked , for the first time I have seen a movie show in the US sold out ! After some careful search me and my friends had to settle down at the second row from the screen. The screen was huge ! we had to swing our necks like in tennis match whenever there was a conversation. The sound effects were awesome.

There was a 7 minute preview of the Dark Knight Rises , I have to say this was the best part of my time in the hall! After watching those 7 mins my craving to watch the entire movie increased exponentially along with the irritation for waiting Christopher Nolan has always exceeded my expectations , I hope he is not disappointing.

Coming to Mission Impossible : Ghost Protocol , the movie starts with Ethan Hunt ( Tom Cruise) being broken out of prison. There is the usual hacking of security systems and security cameras. After the attack on the ‘Kremlin,’ which houses Russia’s secret archives, the US president initiates the ghost protocol and disowned IMF .  The main plot  is to track down Russian nuclear warhead codes and stop Hendrics and his team from firing off war heads to the US .

The movie is jam-packed with action ! After a certain point , the movie defy’s logic and the story goes astray . The mission takes our heroes from Budapest , Moscow , Dubai and Mumbai ( and Andhra Pradesh too ). There are many errors in the movie apart from questionable tech. One of the worst in my opinion was confusion between Mumbai and Hyderabad ( possibly) , the plot says that the satellite is operated from a station in Mumbai , but the station shown ( Sun Network ) clearly has Telugu writings over all doors suggesting it was in Hyderabad . The war head diffusing part during the climax was very lame .

I wasn’t quite satisfied with the movie , its OK for the action if you forget logic and story flow.

On scale of 10, I give it

6/10 (scores mainly for the IMAX experience )

SHERLOCK HOLMES : A GAME OF SHADOWS – REVIEW

Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson are back ! Dr. Watson is to get married and this idea doesn’t seem to fit well for Sherlock Holmes. The idea of losing his brother (though not by blood) and friend to a woman is not digestible. Holmes pulls Watson in for one final adventure before he starts his life in purgatory ( gets married ). Tracking a series of bomb blasts and following Irene Adler ( the only woman to outwit Holmes ) , Holmes and Watson (unfortunately , cutting his honeymoon) are in  for a wild ride to save Europe and the world from a possible world war.

So , much for introduction. Now, getting to the movie, ( forgive me there are a few spoilers ) it is fast , very fast . Missing out on a few mins may make one feel bit unconnected from the flow of the plot. Guy Ritchie is at his best . Robert Downey Jr, just blends in his character from  mannerisms to expressions all are awesome. one of my favorite scenes in the movie is when he describes horses – “They are dangerous on both ends and crafty in the middle. Why would I want anything with a mind of its own bobbing between my legs?”

The are some really funny scenes between Holmes  and Watson (almost Gay ) , for instance  introducing their next step in the case as ” Their honeymoon in Paris” ( this is after pushing Mrs.Watson off the train to a lake and blowing off half the train, when whole train journey was meant for newly married couple to reach their actual honeymoon spot ). There is also scene where Holmes and Watson prance around ball dancing . . Enough of spoilers . Guy Ritchie employs his trademark high-speed photography in action scenes . To be honest the action scenes though looked grand , but I felt it was superfluous.

This is one of those movie’s which will engross  the viewer for its entire play time . The portrayal of Sherlock’s thinking is awesome (though it is not as detailed as in the first part ). The antagonist, Professor James Moriarty - played by Jared Harris , is a complex character . Jared Harris’s performance though captivating  lacked coldness and there were a very few expressions on his face.

On the whole the movie is a must watch ! The climax is the best of all .

The End ?

Watch the movie you’ll know if it is.

On scale of 10, I give it ,

8/10.

FOO FIGHTERS – WASTING LIGHT – REVIEW

‘ Wasting Light , ‘  is the seventh studio album of Foo Fighters. Though I started listening to this band just about at the start of this year , I love them every single bit . Their music is heavy, raw and crazy  in most cases, but then there are some delicate acoustic pieces too . The band’s lead Dave Grohl, in my opinion is a true rock star as  he can scream where he has to and be melodious when he wants to (this is apart from being godly on drums and decent with an acoustic guitar ) . Other than  this album I have tried ” Echoes silence patience and grace” and “Foo Fighters – Greatest Hits.” On comparing them , I feel that their new album is seriously heavy . \m/  with heavy use of distortion. In most songs the rhythm section is raw, rough and adrenaline charging. The lyrics of few songs especially “Walk” is motivating.

The Track Listing

• Bridge Burning  -  The opening track is kick ass ! awesome intro riff !
• Rope –   Nice intro riff  , having traditional punk elements
• Dear Rosemary – This one is something different . Its crazy and groovy.
• White Limo – another typical song with heavy rhythm section. I felt the song was overcooked with distortion. I didn’t really like it
• Arlandria – the intro riff is weird, the song is average ( but still not too bad)
• These days – finally an acoustic intro riff ! love this song , good situation song when one someone is looking back to ones past ( opinions may vary , but this is mine ).
• Back & Forth – average song, but it didn’t  quite excite me .
• A matter of time – another average song , better than the previous one though , some really good lines .
• Miss the misery – The intro for a second reminded me Jimmy page’s Embryo 1 – which he plays in “It might get loud”, average song.
• I should have known – a slow piece with some Blues flavor
• Walk – The best track of the album ! loved the lyrics . This song is in line with “Everlong” and “my hero”

Surprisingly, I didn’t really like this album initially. But , its sort of catching up slowly with time , in matter of a week i must have listened to the entire album at least 4 times , other than individual track plays.

on a scale of 5 , I would rate this album

3.5/5

Foo Fighters FTW !

There and back again !

Well the title of this post is my reply, to all those people who thought I would leave my blog in dust and cobwebs  (and yes I am a J.R.R. Tolkien fan ).

Well apart from excuse fueled procrastination, the only other reason for my absence was that I really did have a very busy year .

2011 ! ah what a year , let me recall the events and milestones achieved

• After 20 years , finally my sister got a victim whom she could bug for the rest of her life (I do miss her a lot though )
• I learnt my fair share of Spanish in matter of 2 months ( Enough to kill the language )
• Got my VISA , packed my bags and landed in Tempe, Arizona on July 26 , to start my stint at ASU.
• I thought Chennai is warm , no place can beat it as far as heat is concerned . That thought vaporized after I set foot in Tempe, the baking HOT welcome shocked me.
• In the next few weeks, The validity of the quote “There is no place like home. ” was etched hard in my mind.
• I was made to realize the ground realities of Grad life both on and off campus .
• After some rather risky experimenting the price for mother’s cooking was finally found to be PRICELESS.
• And now at the end of a semester , I have learnt  that , “Coffee is the fuel , Procrastination is the devil , exams are a duel and professors are Evil ! “

I am not making any promises or planning any resolutions , I will try to make sure that my absence wont be this long in the future .

I am planning to make some changes in my blog , let me see how far things will shape up .