We the Write stuff.: reviews

Showing posts with label reviews. Show all posts

Invictus: A Review

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Ello All

This'll be a short one again.

Invictus, for those who haven't been waiting anxiously, is the story of how Nelson Mandela asked the South African National Rugby team, the Springboks to win the 1995 Rugby World Cup.

Morgan Freeman plays Nelson Mandela. Matt Damon plays the team Captain Francois Pienaar and to round it all up, Clint Eastwood has directed it.

As you can imagine, it's hard to conceive of anything going wrong with the movie.

Fact of the matter is, not a whole lot goes right.

It's a tremendous story and the dedication to facts in set design and screenplay is phenomenal. Even the actors (In fact they are Rugby players themselves) playing Rugby legends Chester Williams and Jonah Lumu are thoroughly genuine.

But for some reason something like 90% of the films actors are either local actors or just locals. While that certainly seems like a good authentic idea, honestly, it killed the movie for me. True the accents were real and true it's a novel approach, but there was no charm, no feel and therefore just flat delivery. Fact of the matter is, while it's interesting to try 'real', on camera it just came off as even more 'fake.' A bad fake.

Even the proper actors, failed to impress me. Matt Damon, possibly trying to be a closer rendition of Pienaar was not a typical film 'team captain'. He was downplayed and quite refreshing. I must admit though, I only think he's not been roundly slated for the role because it's a true story. In terms of film roles, it's certainly not his best.

Morgan Freeman was, as he always is quite superb in delivery and charm. The problem for him, if he is hoping for an Oscar, is that I don't think the lines he was required to say were nearly good enough, even if he did say them so well. Although that's a similar problem Forest Whitaker had and well, he managed just fine.

It comes down to this. Excellent story. But the screenplay just let it down so often. Eastwood's direction did so much to help but the lines were hammy, the story didn't have anything surprising about it (Except of course for Good Luck Bocke, which was just awesome- even if it weren't true!) there was never anything to keep you going and in the end it all seemed like a hagiographic attempt at glorifying Mandela. Yes he is deserving and yes he is awesome but for God's sake get a room. Also, the end slow motion montages seemed like they just ran out of footage. And there were several small shots and camera angles which seemed so out of the blue the film lost rhythm.

Speaking of which, may I just say Kyle Eastwood is one of my favorite new music writers. If there is one thing that makes this whole movie worth it, it is the sound track. And I'll save you the trouble, he IS Clint Eastwood's son.

In a final analysis, watch it. It's a great story. But don't expect anything huge. It's not the greatest film.

So far 2010- I'm a bit disappointed.

Sherlock Holmes: A Review

Sunday, January 10, 2010

Ello All,
This won't be a very long post. The film scarcely deserves a decent length review.
Don't get me wrong- it's not that the film was bad or anything. It just wasn't very good either.
I read a review some weeks ago and I decided to pay no heed to it. I am a Guy Ritchie loyalist and I will not lose faith.
And it is hard to blame the guy solely. There is some EXCELLENT action in the film and he's got some killer slow motion sequences as always but beyond that there's very little he could have done.
If I had to blame anything it'd be the script. The plot line is nice and all but better suited to a 42 minute show on TV.
The acting as well is good but there's rarely anything worth remembering. Robert Downey Jr and Jude Law have phenomenal chemistry but, end of the day, you could have put any two actors and their British accents instead and it'd be hard to tell the difference.
The only actor who comes out with any real merit for me was Mark Strong.
Generally, it was just an underwhelming experience and I do believe the script was just never worth the cast or director. Yes it's a fresh take on Holmes and indeed it is funny at times but I did not come out with anything but a shrug.
His deductions are very good and him and Watson are an excellent team and yes he's quite a character with some brilliant inventions/ observations but none of that leads to anything bigger. It's just a whole lot of foreplay.
A special mention must go the awesome score, and the awesome closing credits sequence.
This movie was meant to herald in 2010's list of bad ass releases.
I hate Madonna.

Avatar: A Review

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Ello All,

This post is a bit overdue but after watching it for a second time today, I realised James Cameron's Avatar did not deserve to go un-reviewed any longer.

For months now Tejas has been banging on about the movie and it's revolutionary technology and how it had the potential to change the landscape of film making. Personally, I was sceptical. Mostly because watching films like Ninja Assassin made me think that there was little left to revolutionise in modern cinematography and motion capturing. Specially not something worth a 12 year wait.

And then I saw it.

We don't usually swear on this blog but $#%&.

You know how Roald Dahl can take the simplest of stories and enchant them with wit and irony? Well, James Cameron's done the same damn thing only he's used unbelievable CGI and an overwhelming attention to detail.

The story line is simple and some could even say cliche. But no film, that has ever used any of the plot elements here before, be it aliens, romance, action, nature or the future, has ever told a story as beautifully as Cameron's team has done here.

The twin analogies of 'making' war for profit and the destruction of our ecosystem are put across in, till now, the most effective way I've ever seen. The idea behind "Tsahelu" a physical bond through energy (in the film through fat nerves coming out of your pony tail) to the planet and world that one lives in is possibly my favorite idea for the next few years.

But it's the attention to detail that makes this movie so immense. The tools and materials used by the "Na'vi" tribe, the language they came up with, the almost infinite inhabitants and elements in that incredible forest (The glowing had me gaping...) the little things about the aliens, such as the fact that all their animals have six legs (I suspect that has something to do with lower gravity...) and the fact that the real aliens have three fingers while the Avatars have four, all come together and make this film so incredibly HUGE I don't feel even slightly bad saying it's one of the defining movies of this decade.

In terms of acting I must say Sam Worthington doesn't make me cringe anymore. In fact he was quite freaking awesome in his 'Avatar'. The stand out performance for me though was that of Zoe Saldana who has quite swiftly become one of my favorite actresses. I suggest we all look out for her. From the looks of it she's one of the few raw, ballsy actors out there.

For now, go and have yourself a thorougly fulfilling 3-D experience. And a Happy New Year!

Ps. Long time no post. Apologies but you know how it is- you're trying to get into a big new course so you start arbitrarily checking people for hypertension and revolutionise Indian Radio. Good times.

2012: The Review

Friday, November 13, 2009

Ello All,
So yes it happened. It came and I saw it and MAN!
What an excellent, excellent film. For several reasons and before I get into them I must say- it most certainly was not perfect. A lot of the times it was melodramatic, a lot of the times it was unrealistic, and for the most part, the family's story that leads the entire plot is far fetched to say the least.
Possibly a hundred close calls, near misses, 'aaaaaaaAAAAAAH! Phew' moments and other such wonderful things a script can give us. The more cynical would possibly use it as a reason to beat the film up though I must say, while it did grate on me a bit, it certainly kept the film thrilling THROUGHOUT, something not many films can accomplish. I can only think of one moment when my eyes weren't on the screen and my heart wasn't racing. At the same time, especially considering the kind of cameras they've used, I expected a bit more reality in the script (ironically a criticism levied against the lead character's book.)
Now for the good parts-
The Graphics were excellent. The solar flares, the tidal waves, the disintegrating crust of the earth and even the exposed core, were all STUNNING and quite an experience. There were a couple of places where I felt the green screen was a bit too evident, but overall, the mammoth task the filmmakers accomplished certainly deserves the capital G in graphics!
The acting was perfect for this kind of a film. More significantly though, the casting was just about spotless. Oliver Platt, Woody Harrelson and John Cusack stood out and all played their parts so very naturally and so non stereotypically, there wasn't a single place I wanted to cringe. Even the fringe characters (barring the Indian SATNAM who to be fair did decently enough, it's just that for Indians it's quite blatant how rough his accent and mannerisms were) were superb in their bits, though casting Amanda Peet for her role was ingenius. It was a mature, well restrained performance and certainly one worth lauding.
The direction too was near flawless, though as I mentioned earlier, there's extensive creative license.
Finally, and for me, the reason this movie has outdone past apocalyptic films, the script. I did not expect to come out of this movie, so in awe of the thoroughly detailed writing for this movie. First of all, science wise, it seemed pretty flawless to me, though I'm sure there are gaffs, the film's ending is perhaps the most well thought of doomsday solution I've ever come across.
Second of all, some of the dialogues are just inspired, especially towards the end. The plot elements, like Woody Harrelson's blog, John Cusack's book and the comedic lines are PERFECT. While the brief comedy could easily have been trite and gotten by, the writers have made sure it's pushed the plot forward in terms of revealing important character facets and plot elements. Also, the intrinsic details like how the Cistine Chapel cracks (check out which painting it is, even if the symbolism isn't clear, it looks quite freaking cool) add so much depth to the movie it sucks you right in.
Third of all, the writers have broken so many typically apocalytpic moments, the Statue of Liberty gaff, the 'I'll have a dramatic pause now and it's all good' was broken a couple of times (though abused a few times too) and most importantly for me- NO PUNCH LINES!
It could have been the director, the actors or the script writers themselves who slipped in these little things, frankly I don't give a crap.
This is easily the biggest film of the year and rightly so, though as I've mentioned, it isn't going to change your life, only give you one hell of an experience.
Let me just say one last thing:
Do not make the mistake of missing this one on the big screen- YOU'VE BEEN WARNED!

Michael Jackson's This Is It: A Review

Friday, October 30, 2009

Ello All,

When it happened, we let Tejas express how we felt about the death of a true great.

Due to some miscommunication between us, I ended up watching This is it before him, and so, quite humbly, I'll go through with the review for it.

The film, as most of you will know, is a filmed record of what was happening behind the scenes of "One last curtain call" as Michael put it himself.

Unfortunately, as you will also know, a few days before the final dress rehearsals, The King of Pop, passed away- thus making the whole shabang only what would have been the greatest concert he ever put together. And compared to some of the things he's put on stage, that's one hell of a show we're talking about.

The film starts with some testimonials from the supporting dance troupe, about how honoured they are to be dancing alongside their hero. The testimonials continue throughout the film and we see, essentially how awesome his crew, his band and his dancers all thought he was, or at the time, 'is.'

Essentially it's a collection of videos showing the rehearsals and creative process of Jackson and Ortega (The director, and his choreographer). I won't describe or point out what stood out as stunning to me, in too much detail. I will say, however, the preparation, the planning and the way all the performances come together is thrilling. The music, the dancing, the stage set up, the background videos, all merge to form one hugely inspiring, moving and simply stunning performance after the other.

What struck me most though, and I think will strike you most as well, is not only how Michael treats the whole thing, but how everyone treats Michael.

There are many times when the band continues on cue, or the dancers continue as choreographed, and MJ stops them to make them do it the way he thinks it ought to be. What's incredible about this, is not his eye and ear for detail, but the way he feels so instinctively, when to let things 'simmer' and when to let things 'pop'. I've always felt, that one of his greatest stage moves was his mastery of the stance. Of holding, pausing or abruptly halting the whole thing to grip you with expectation. To let the audience cheer and scream and hope for the imminent powerful BURST back into groove.

The powerful dancing, the 'oomph' choreography, the music would all mean nothing, if it weren't given to us viewers with the expert timing and precision that MJ commands. It's like the right full stop in the middle. Of a sentence.

A command, further elucidated by the fact that MJ asks for what he does, not in technical terms, but ALWAYS in metaphor. "Play with love." "No. Do it like you're dragging yourself out of bed." (A fact Ishaan, my roommate and a bassist in several bands, found very very irritating, saying that it was very childish and very annoying when people expect other people to technically respond to emotive commands. He did agree though, after seeing MJ do his thing in a rehearsal of Billie Jean, that it was the smallest price to pay to be a part of something that awesome happening.)

And that's the amazing thing. How very much like a child MJ seems throughout. Not in being exuberant, but in being reserved to the point of seeming shy. His polite requests always come off, more as encouraging someone to do better, rather than discouraging them from doing worse- if that makes sense at all.

Even the stage technicians and choreographers- always polite, always patient, as if they were dealing with a 4 year old. Careful not to push him too much, at the same time making sure they don't misunderstand him and incite a tantrum. A tantrum, which incredibly, never seemed to come, as one would perhaps expect from a 'genius' like Jackson.

What we end up getting with this film, is a real sense of HOW he functioned and what motivated him to do what he does. At times it feels a bit corny but his innate fragility makes you wonder why you'd ever doubt it at all.

When I came out of this movie, I felt the need to MOVE! To groove and to express like I'd die doing it. To PANG and BOOM, the way most of the performances do. To stand tall, chest out and yell as loud and clear as I freaking can.

The thing about Michael Jackson is not that he could dance well and sing nice notes. It's not that he wrote beautiful songs and made excellent concerts- it's that above all else, he FELT it, man. He felt every time he pumped his crotch, he FELT every time he clenched his fist and sang out loud, he FELT every time he looked at the audience and said 'I love you and God Bless you.'

To love what you're doing, to feel in your gut, everything that you convey, if there is one thing I have learnt from Michael Jackson- This is it.

Rest in peace, dear Michael. For never growing up, for never losing heart and for ALWAYS loving, rest in peace.

Street Thief: A Review...sort of

Saturday, October 24, 2009

Ello All

A few months ago I saw a movie called 'Smokin' Aces'. I loved it. I rate it as one of the best action films I have ever seen. As soon as it was done, I did my usual web analysis of it and like several films before- it partly ruined the film for me. Everyone hated it. Everyone mocked it and just about no one agreed with me.

Tonight I have watched a film called Street Thief. The movie is shot documentary style and is probably one of the best documentaries you'll see. Problem is it's not a freaking documentary.

After watching the film, I was stunned. It's slick and edgy and thoroughly real, in a very very raw way. I won't say it changed how I feel about the subject matter (Film makers follow a 'professional' burglar as he stakes out, plans and steals from several different places.) I won't say it's made some huge impact on my life, but the film really is quite amazing. It's thrilling, it's entertaining, and contains one of the best scores I've heard in a while.

The end of the film makes you doubt how real, or actually just 'how' the entire film amounts to what it does.

The weird part is the widespread debate about whether or not the film is real. I'd just like to clarify, to anyone else who was as confused as me, that the film itself is NOT real. The director plays the main 'subject', the 'director' in the film is played by an actor and the only other character of note is also played by an actor.

Clearly then, the film is not real. It IS entertaining, it IS gripping, and it IS a superb new way of showing burglars and the truth about professional robbery (let's just say, George Clooney may have misled us a teensy bit.) but the fact of the matter is, no matter how great a film is and no matter how many truths it can convey, if you're pretending to be a documentary, to the point that you do not mention your actual cast in the end credits, and you depict timelines and factual indicators throughout your film, then you're just a big fat steaming stinking Blair Witch ripping liar.

I love documentaries and I love fiction. Michael Moore does documentaries to seem as entertaining as fiction. The other way around just feels scummy. (To be fair, to many people, Michael Moore is just plain scummy for his own little lies.) Frankly, I believe that if these guys, had a superior script and better actors, we would have possibly one of the best fiction films of 2006.

Instead, and this is not to put down the exceptional performance of Malik Bader as the lead character, or in fact Ken Seng's exceptional cinematography, we have a film which entertains and excites, only to let you down hard and leave you with a very sour after taste.

While this post may have moved you a long way towards disliking the film even before you've seen it, I strongly recommend you watch the film and BELIEVE it for the 1 and a half hours it plays. It really is excellent viewing, just don't fall for it the way the Bader Brothers would like you to.

Till later, Gators.

Let the Wild Rumpus Start.

Friday, October 2, 2009

I have suddenly realized, that before going off to do my Masters in Children's Literature, I should actually KNOW something about Children's Literature. This epiphany led to the discovery, reading, understanding of Maurice Sendak's 1963 classic picturebook, "Where The Wild Things Are" which on the 16th of October 2009, will make its appearance as a full-length feature film.

I must admit, I couldn’t stand the book when I first read it some months ago. I prodded it in disgust and told Harry loudly, "I can't believe THIS is considered one of the greatest examples of children's literature in the world" and he agreed with me, just as loudly.

Then we read it again, and again, and again, and before we knew it, I was saying "That's a beautiful idea", and Harry was saying "That’s one of the most beautiful lines I’ve ever read", and somehow, without us knowing, we had fallen in love with the book - with the way Sendak wrote, with the way Sendak drew his Wild Things, with everything Max and his imagination represented.

The story is of a naughty little boy called Max, who is sent to bed without his dinner, because as his mother says, he is a wild thing. An angry Max, stuck in his room with only his anger to keep him company, imagines a forest, a vast ocean, and he finally reaches "The Wild Things" who "roared their terrible roars and gnashed their terrible teeth and rolled their terrible eyes and showed their terrible claws" Obviously, Max tames these wild things, and they make him "King of all Wild Things" Max then leads his wild things into a wild rumpus, and they all revel in glorious rumpus-like revels, until Max's anger begins to fade, and loneliness sets in. From far far away, he smells his dinner, and realises that while rumpus-ing with wild things is fun, a place with dinner and "where someone loved him most of all" was the place he wanted to be. And so, he says goodbye to the wild things, and returns home. Where his dinner is waiting for him..."and it was still hot"

It's a story a 6 year old as well as an adult can relate to. How many us, when angry and unable to express that angry, fall back on fantasy and think of what we would do if we ruled the world, before we calm down and return the real world? All of us. Giving rein to anger through imagination is something we have done as children, and continue to do today.

While I have my misgivings about a children's picturebook being transformed into a feature film (especially a book comprising of 10 sentences) there are a few reasons this is a must-watch film
1) The trailer is most beautiful, and when I watched it in the theatre three months ago, I could hear people around me sniffling (in a good "Oh what a beautiful movie, must want to watch" kind of way) and I was a little goosepimply myself.
2) The movie is a product of the combined efforts of the director and Sendak, who spent around a decade perfecting it.
3) The most important reason of all: Its a Spike Jonze film, of Being John Malkovich and Adaptation fame. Jonze was handpicked by Sendak to bring his 10-sentence masterpiece to celluloid, and Sendak after seeing the completed cut said "I’ve never seen a movie that looked or felt like this. And it’s [Spike Jonze's] personal ‘this.’ And he’s not afraid of himself. He’s a real artist that lets it come through in the work. So he’s touched me. He’s touched me very much"

So while Im fortunate enough to have the wild things in my bookshelf (and in the most furious of my imaginings), I will on the 16th of October, "sail off through night and day and in and out of weeks and almost a year to where the wild things are"

Music Review: Paolo Nutini's Sunny Side Up

Friday, July 24, 2009

Ello All
This review is brought to you from a bus heading to Pune (It’s a We The Conference of drunken ramblings thing…very hush hush) and my net has just enough juice to post this.
The bright side is I didn’t want to do this post loaded with research the way we usually do. I want it to be just my experience listening to and loving this album. I’d just like to make clear that this album will probably not achieve much commercially but anyone who loves Paolo enough to hear it out is going to have themselves a few very cheerful days.
Kyra dropped this off with me with a disclaimer: ‘It’s no These Streets, but it’s great’ I suppose it’s true, but let me just say, for whatever reason I did not have such love for These Streets as I do for this one.
Every album leaves a sort of a movie in your mind. This album’s movie, for me, is a whole lot of chilling in rooms made of wood, sitting by a small pond in a damp patch of grass and smoking a cigarette. Only to run back into a bigger room made of wood where you sit around in old clothes laughing your guts out and following your every whim. Oh and every actor has a strong Scotch accent.
I’ve always envied artistes for whom lyrics and melodies are just natural translations of shit that’s happened, and every note that he strums or crones feels like he’s effortlessly just singing out loud. ‘People want to speed it up, but I just want ta slow it down’
These may not be some of the greatest love songs ever, but man, Terry Brogen (his girlfriend) is one of the luckiest women alive. The love, the passion the freaking heart that this guy throws into his songs are so incredibly moving they don’t make you want to cry, they make your chest swell because you want to lift a glass up to him and sing right along.
The music is simple, and kind of old, lots of upstrums, trumpets and rumble drums. Perfect for someone enjoying the hell out of life who needs a platform to just spurt out the awesomeness of it all.
Every time I hear this album I want to be in Scotland chilling with Paolo, watching him Romba with ‘his baby’ while he coos and caws excitedly! Then I realize, I kind of freaking am. Right from the album art (Which I must point out Kyra has expertly deciphered. Let’s hope she offers a detailed decryption for us all) the overriding feeling of this album is a warm, cosy welcome to a whole bunch of stories and a pint with them all.
A big hug to Paolo Nutini, if ever he reads this, Thanks for showing us how to live life with the Sunny Side up.
It would seem unprofessional, but for a more coherent analysis of the album, do check out John Hurst's site.

The Iglesian Influence!

Thursday, July 23, 2009

A few days ago I was in Landmark buying a gift for one of my friends, and just like all music stores they had a CD playing. I could almost instantly recognize it as an Enrique Iglesias song, and as I continued shopping, I vaguely hummed along with the melody. I got home and realized I couldn't get the song out of my head! It was there all the time, the lyrics moving me, the melody slowly lifting and subsiding in my mind! What was this song? And more importantly, why was it buzzing around in my mind?
Because thats what he does.

As any musically inclined/blogger would do, I researched! First off I went and I got the name of the song. I sat wondering for a long time, though the answer seemed almost simple enough, is that like everyone knows already, I am a major pop-fan. I sing pop, write pop, and I enjoy it. But why was someone like Enrique Iglesias, who I've liked in general but was mostly whatever about, affecting me like something viral?
Enrique's Dad is Julio Iglesias, one of the most successful and best selling artists of all time, selling over 300 albums, and man has he released a lot of albums! Barring that, when you see the man, you can clearly make-out that he has the class of the yesteryear, that seems lacking today or that has been made hybrid by people like Michael Bublè or Alicia Keys. He can definitely sing well; one of my dad's friends who is a huge fan of his once said "Ahh that Julio Iglesias; he could make love to a woman just by his voice". So that settles that.
I asked myself, really, what does Enrique have going for him? He can sing alright I guess, his voice is nothing spectacular. Neither are his performances. He had his father's shadow to crawl out of (to which I might add he has done an admirable job) and well, he had Ricky Martin to deal with. What he does have is that he is goodlooking, and that could very well account for the much adoration from his female fandom. But its still not that.
I went back to the store looking for that one song*, and I realized that they were playing it off his greatest hits album. I was a little wowed. While I knew that he had released a greatest hits album sometime ago, it just struck me that this guy had still been around for so long and has done so much work he could produce a greatest hits collection. The other funny thing was that when I turned the CD around to look at the songs on it, I realized I knew every single one. So this post if not anything else, is to celebrate the achievement of Enrique and his trusty songwriters, cause man if you can produce catchy-song after the next for 10 years, your doing a pretty kickass job.
And let's face it, everyone really digs the songs, right?

God, I am such a sucker for pop.

*The song was 'Maybe' from his 2001 album 'Escape'.

A Month of Action

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Ello all
It's been exactly 10 days since any of us posted last and I think you'd agree, that's ten days too many. I could say it was a religious thing, I could say we were introspective and hence mute and I could even say we were all struck by a 9 day terminal illness which was cured by a batch of happy cookies. I could all say, 'quit whining and read on for the next damn post!'
SO last month, this summer's action movies all descended on India over the course of four very very hardcore weeks. I had the pleasure of watching all of them and instead of doing reviews for each I felt, the four films in question deserved nothing more than a comparative analysis.
Which means- ANOTHER LIST! Woohoo!
4. Wolverine:
All of last summer played a video game called Ultimate Alliance. At every level, witout fail, the stand out beat down character was Wolverine. Catchphrases, cool moments and an amazing array of powers. We were freaking psyched. Most of you know how that turned out.
The action was lame, the storyline was lamer, the delivery of catchphrases worse. The acting was ordinary at best and the only thing that really surprised me about the movie was that it wasn't directed by McG. Shameful waste of a character. Shameful waste of our time.
2/10 (For the two minutes of Ryan Reynolds)
3. Terminator: Salvation
As soon as this movie was done, and indeed for a good few hours after it, I hated it. Barely any plotline, barely any notable acting, and loopholes all over the place. But since then, I've started thinking about it, and perhaps it's the fact that I have Wolverine for reference, but you know what? Terminator was a pretty bad ass movie. Screw the plotline and screw the loopholes. I haven't seen action like that since the Matrix trilogy (Remember the third one and you'll see where I'm coming from). Ruthless, non stop, create-and-destroy-the-elaborate-set-leaving-a-mess action. Punching someone's heart out, robot bikes coming out of robot shins- that is freaking sweet. In fact given a choice, I'd do it all over again.
7/10
2. Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen
This one just barely pips Terminator and that's only because any kid with a TV in the 90s grew up loving and admiring Optimus Prime and to see him become as hardcore ass whopping as he was in this movie was a total freaking treat. I think the best description (only) for this movie would be as a Hindi Movie. Michael Bay probably won't be allowed any more sequels but that's alright. He was upto his usual sweeping shots-acoustic strumming-emotional send off self. The non fight scenes were long and dreary and after a while really quite irritating. Megan Fox is officially the first Hollywood Item girl. All she needed was a dance troupe and we'd have the greatest ever Hindi Movie.
Shia LeBouf was decent enough and the mum was pretty funny, but the two nigga-bots stole the show. There was a line from them which really summed up this movie experience for me:
-"Ah MAN! That Hurt!"
-"It's supposed to! it's an Ass Whooping!"
7/10 (If I was single perhaps Megan Fox could've earned two more points.)
1. Star Trek
I've been petrified to review this one. I wanted to, but man. Suffice it to say, for the uninitiated, JJ Abrams has a new sign outside his office- 'THE MAN'.
A watertight plotline, flawless casting, super duper send me to Pluter special effects, and more than anything else one of the most perfect scripts I've ever noticed. By far the movie of the year so far (And we've even had freaking Hangover).
If I go any further with this review it'll turn into a puff peice so I won't. Let me just say this- when I have kids, I will proudly, even smugly tell them, that I was there when JJ Abrams gave the world Star Trek.
9/10 (1 point of for ending. Not the ending, just the movie ever ending. Like the end of an Ice Cream cone- Yea yea enjoy what you had but I WANT FREAKING MORE!!)

So a month of very 80s very hard hitting action. And the best part is, GI Joe isn't out yet!
I just got goosebumps.

Dum dum Duh duh dum!

In Bollywood's defence...

Thursday, July 9, 2009

Ello All,
I just read a post by our very dear friend Anish . He watched New York and, very clearly did not like it. He's never been a Bollywood fan and you know what, it's hard to blame him. But, there's a trend I've found, usually in Indians living abroad (who have to sort of shoulder any labels attached to Bollywood and indeed ANYTHING Indian) wherein it's not that they don't like Bollywood but it's almost like it's offensive to them. Before I go any further I want to establish that to Anish and any other haters of Bollywood, I completely respect your opinions and am not in any way judging your arguments.
The trend I just mentioned, is the analysis of Hindi movies, with the expectations of English movies.
Here's the deal. We got the camera at the same time, if not before the likes of America. But we got it in very different situations. America was in the middle of a cultural boom (which is natural when you're making one from scratch) and we were in a sort of cultural rape, as I like to call it.
Satyajit Ray was just as boring and intense as say, Citizen Kane. Some of our actors and actresses were just as stunning and moving as some of theirs. But the movement was never on the same track. Not to say that either track was better, just that they were parallel and never intertwining.
Cut to today, while our drama flick of the month is New York, America's undoubtedly got a whole bunch of equally dramatic films coming out. For me, as a movie goer, sure, New York probably won't be without disclaimer, but the point is, as I've said time and time again, I AM NOT THE TARGET AUDIENCE.
The quote when you scroll down and look left will certainly seem hypocritical now, but the truth is, it's taken me almost two and half years of living in this country (and significantly- this city, Mumbai) for me to finally appreciate the intricate difference between film making in the Indian subcontinent and film making abroad.
In Tunisia, there is a film maker who makes films with his buddies and has his entire town in splits. Think Sweding but with slightly more original scripts. India's kind of like that. Our threshold for 'anything on film' has certainly decreased over the years but ultimately, our culture of watching films is nothing like the culture of watching English films.
You watch something like Star Trek for the story, the references, the ideas, the metaphors and the acting.
We watch Singh is Kinng for the dialogues, for the plot twists and the songs.
For God's sake we refuse to watch movies that are anything less than 2 hours long. Why? 'Because, dude, if I'm going to pay hundred rupees, atleast two hours ka film should be there na?'
There's a reason Indians get upset when people mock Indian movies. It's not for any reason. It's because if you insult an Indian film you're insulting our entire culture. You're insulting the way we laugh and eat a meal with our hands. You're insulting the way we'll watch serials with loud 'DHA DHA DHUMS!' just so that while we're getting food ready for the family, we don't miss too much because it's in slow motion anyway.
If Anish says New York is crap, I'll almost certainly agree when I DO see it. I'll concede that there is an air of stagnation in the industry. I'll concede that the way films are made here is often despicable. And I'll even concede that all you need is a pair of giant knockers (male or female) to earn in the industry.
But you cannot judge an Indian film with a normal eye. You HAVE to empathise and you HAVE to see it as though you're an Indian yourself. The same way we'll excuse random camera shifts and random cinematics in an uber deep french movie, we have to excuse the seemingly 'lesser' cinematics in our movies because, as I said earlier, they aren't made for us.
Basically, any Indian growing up with an international outlook is either completely isolated in that there's rarely any movies targetting us.
OR.
We're essentially smarter than everyone else because we can love ANYTHING.
The second option appeals to me a bit more. What about you?

Love & Paper Beds.

Sunday, July 5, 2009

Restlessness can either be good or bad. In my case, its bad because I dont seem to be finding an appropriate outlet for my restlessness - apart from getting cranky. In one of my fits of restlessness and excessive web wanderlust, I stumbled on this site: Learning to Love You More. It's one of those rare websites that encourages you to do silly things that you'd never really think of and makes it meaningful. The most mundane of things, like making a bed or braiding your hair can become art, as long as you really feel it.

I laughed when I first found the website. It seemed unecessarily cheesy and I didnt see how doing any of the stupid "assignments" on the list could help you love you more. Then, stunned to see how many thousands of people had actually completed and posted their completed assignments, I figured, what the hell. I have nothing better to do anyway. I closed my eyes and picked a number from 1 - 70, and picked my lucky number, 16. Assignment #16, to my utter dismay, turned out to be " Make a paper replica of your bed" Of all the writing assignments the site has, I had to pick an arty crafty thing, that Harry could do full justice to, while I'd land up with a mess and many papercuts.

In the end, I figured that getting out of my comfort zone could only be a good thing, and if I messed up, well, no-one would ever have to know. So I made my paper bed. I made a mess, and I got paper cuts, but while I was making it, in my room, with the music blaring, I felt some of the restlessness fade. For the first time since I officially graduated, I felt content and happy, with my little bits of paper constructing a silly little paper bed. "Like a recipe, meditation practice, or familiar song, the prescriptive nature of these assignments is intended to guide people towards their own experience" The sentence just seemed like a bunch of flowery mush, when I first read it on the site. Now, it makes perfect sense.

Sometimes you just need to use your hands and create. Sometimes its good to just forget about work and study and all things sane, and do something you wouldnt ordinarily do. For some moments or hours, stop thinking about everything you think about. And you might just remember what you were like before you were consumed with work, money, rent, exams, scholarships, roomates, lovers, recession or even traffic and a lack of parking spaces. You'll forget about being broke, being tired, being unemployed, being homeless, being cranky, being lonely, or just being plain pissed off.

Instead you'll reread a favourite book from 5th grade, write the phone calls you wish you could have, make the phone call someone else wished they could have, take a photograph of strangers holding hands, braid someone's hair, grow a garden in an unexpected spot, cover the song "Dont dream its over" , or draw a constellation on someone's freckles.

Do the assignments. Do all, do one, do some. It'll be nice to remember what life and love felt like before life took over.

Ps - Yes, I know that is a terrible paper bed, but what do you expect from a pack of cards and wrapping paper?

Guitar Firsts

Sunday, June 21, 2009

I teach guitar in my spare time, and in that time I learn along with my students. More than music, I learn what my students think of music, and what they hope to achieve by learning it. Some want to learn cause its 'cool', and its great to impress girls with (And I strongly agree, it is). Some learn cause they want to be 'rockers' and want to be in a band. Also the music they want to learn as well is quite varied. One of my students wants to learn all the latest stuff being played on the radio and television, so that whenever he does play for people, he knows its all updated stuff; while some want to learn songs they haven't even heard before, but know that they are popular numbers, just so they're 'with it'. Whatever songs they do want to learn, it all means I've got to be on my toes constantly learning all the new stuff too. But there are some songs that all new guitarists must learn as their 'first full song' so that in the beginning when people ask, they know how to play at least one song decently. I have compiled a list of songs that are usually 'Guitar Firsts' or just generally known by all guitarists who love modern music.

1.Nothing Else Matters by Metallica - I start with this because honestly, who doesn't? The seemingly simple song begins just by playing the the E, G,B,e- and I think everyone felt a sense of accomplishment after plucking those strings over and over again. It was really fun to ask people to play the bit after that, and see the lost expression on their faces (myself included).

2. Smoke on the Water by Deep Purple - By smoke on the water you all know I really just mean JHAN JHAN JHAN! JHAN JHAN JHAAANAN! Noone, it seems, even wanted to know past that. Knowing how to play arguably the worlds most recognizable riff for real, cemented your reputation as a rockstar in a way that even guitar hero could not.

3. Zombie by The Cranberries - I have to admit I learnt how to play this song before I even heard it! But this has become a staple song for budding bands to jam to.

4. Boulevard of Broken Dreams by Greenday - Another one for the current youth (ages 11-14). Greenday already having multiple generations of listeners can add the youngest one as another feather to their furry cap.

5. The Mission Impossible Theme - The only non-band song on my list (unless your counting limp bizkit's awesome version). I remember how my friend Anish would pluck this away to glory back in the day, to my other friends horrible sounding lead guitar, while I would thrash my out of tune drum kit, creating musical chaos much to our satisfaction. Ah, good times.

6. Hotel California by The Eagles - I had to add this to the list even though it is a slightly harder song to play, but only because every basic guitarist after learning most of his/her barre chords would learn to play this song. If you are a guitarist and you do not know how to play this, all I can say is shame on you, man. If you have recently learnt it, all I can say is "Brother/Sister, you have arrived".

Well those were the most deserving in my opinion, if anyone knows any real no-brainers feel free to add to this list. Other notable mentions were Californication by RHCP, Kryptonite by 3 Doors Down and the lesser played 7 Nation Army by The White Stripes. For me personally the first song/riff/cool-thing-to-impress-people-with I learnt was the second part of Fade to Black by Metallica.

Anyway, there you go, thats all.

P.S.- Reviewing my post, I realize that saying JHAN JHAN in your mind while reading, sounds nothing like Smoke on the Water. Also I'm extremely thrilled with the colours I just added.

Movie Review: X-Men Origins: Wolverine

Friday, June 19, 2009

Wolverine releases in India today, and I was lucky enough to see a preview show last night. First off let me say that, Empire Magazine posted a blog about how Movie Studios need to ignore the fans, and man, I couldn't agree more. What I saw was a contrived, compressed and overall insipid film. It follows Wolverine's entire journey from Weapon X on Alkali Lake (Remember X2?) right up till a little before X-Men (2000) and involves the strained relationship with his brother Victor Creed (Sabretooth) and Team X.

The movie in my opinion was as straightforward as they possibly could have had it. No Alpha-Flight or Japan or anything; or perhaps for later sequels. The opening sequence showing a young James Howlett's father being killed by Victor Creed's drunken dad was altogether lame and I felt like laughing when his tiny little bone claws popped out and screamed into the night. Post that is a pretty decent montage that showed all the wars that Logan and Victor had fought in including the American Civil War, WWII and Vietnam.

Both are recruited by Team X which includes John Wraith (Kestrel), Wade Wilson(Deadpool) and David North(Maverick) to name a few and is headed by William Stryker. What follows is simple: Wolverine leaves cause he can't handle the baggage, then Revenge, Revenge again and Plot twist and Finale. This all interspersed with Revenge dialogue and action.

The Wolverine potrayed in this movie by Hugh Jackman, is undoubtedly cool, but let's just get it straight- This is not the same Wolverine from the comics. In the comics he's short, twistedly funny (at times) and is really, the best at what he does (They screwed this line in the movie). Liev Schrieber is the most humane Sabretooth yet. The action is extremely Rajnikant style especially in all scenes with Maverick/Agent Zero in them. But screw all that; I just really wanted to see Deadpool, and boy is he awesome- for the 2 minutes he's on screen. I couldn't believe they didn't give screen time to one of the most awesome characters from Marvel in recent times. I have been a fan of Ryan Reynolds since Smokin' Aces where he infact, is most badass, and continues that run in this film, which is why I'm pissed that they failed to exploit the awesomeness of his character and himself.

Gambit, again, was cool but wasted. He felt a little lost and seemed to be doing his own thing in the movie.

Basically, to sum it up, it really was a whatever movie, and felt too forced, cramming in scene after scene. The SFX, I'm suprised, were extraordinarily bad in some parts and the post-credit sequence I heard was an equally half-assed attempt, to save a dead character for future bucks-making.

I was really looking forward to this and it was thoroughly dissapointing. Here's to the Deadpool Spin-off.

Movie Review: Push

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Ello all

I've never really been a fan of Heroes. The show always seemed to grate on me, and while yes, they EVENTUALLY seem to reach an interesting plot twist, I've always felt, it was a movie idea stretched over too much time. Entourage for example, is slick, it's funny, it's interesting, and yet there's no random soap opera type close ups with strange sounds in the background.

So today, as I sat down to watch Push, Paul Mcguigan's Cyberpunk 2009 release, I was kind of hoping, the film would validate my idea that some TV shows only exist because the movie deals probably fell through.

The story is that there's a whole bunch of government 'divisions' which deal solely with people with 'powers.' The difference is, the people with powers aren't called mutants or super heroes or whatever. Instead they're referred to by the powers they have. Considering there's only a handful of these powers, the names are essentially slang for what they do- so people with telekynetic abilities are movers, etc etc etc. The main protagonists are these American kids in Hong Kong, who refreshingly enough, SUCK at using their powers and are happy to admit it. Anyway, they have the power to stop and destroy the whole 'divisions' thing if they work together, and considering there are people who can make you believe lies and erase your memories, they have a pretty hard time doing it. Oh and then, there's the people who can read your intentions and predict the future. Tough spot.

The story line is pretty run of the mill. (Which is saying something really, because there was a time when super heroes and powers were pretty alien to film, but then that's a whole other blog.) The reason I labelled it Cyber punk, was because the director's primary focus in the movie has been on the characters rather than the abilities. In fact, there's plenty of super natural quirks and snippets throughout the film which aren't explained because it's just a waste of screen time explaining. He can make a peice of paper look like money? Yea sure whatever.

Interestingly enough, they only used green screens to make the scenes with traffic and even the scenes with effects are few and far between. In fact, most of the movie was shot with hidden cameras, so there's a very gritty, shaky feel to the whole movie, which is perhaps it's best feature. Honestly, I don't care much for McGuigan's work. Wicker Park and Lucky Number Slevin were very very ordinary films. Slevin in fact, would have been totally shit, if not for the fact that the film had Bruce Willis in it. In this movie though, he's really accomplished something very cool.

The two lead performances are amazing. Chris Evans has slowly become one of my favorite actors, and I suddenly wish he wasn't Johnny Storm, because there's plenty of other heroes he'd totally ace.

However, for me the most compelling performance was from Dakota Fanning. So much so, that this post was originally going to be a 'Rise and Rise of' take on her career. Honestly, I'm amazed that someone who got tossed into the limelight so young, has stayed true to the art form and still turned out to be, what appears to be a pretty level headed person.

She's not the cute blonde little girl with excess maturity in this one...oh no wait- she is. But there's something very different about this performance of hers. (Perhaps playing your own age DOES make sense sometimes.) She's grown into a 14 year old who believe it or not, CAN still act, and will, from the looks of it, go on to wow audiences for many many years to come.

Overall, I would recommend the movie to anyone who's into the genre, but beyond that, it's pretty 'Meh...' If we did the whole stars thing here I'd say 2/5 -maybe 3/5 if I was in a better mood. It's got it's moments and the guerilla shooting is cool and all, but when you pick a super natural theme, you must deliver super naturally.

Ps. It should be noted that Djimon Hounsou is in the film and while he is totally-undeniably-ultra-badass, it was by far his most under whelming performance. He does say 'Fuck Patriotism' though. Got to love that...

The Opposite of Valentine's Day

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

I was going to blog about something else today, but last night I had dream about my ex-girlfriend. She usually seems to pop inside them now and then. We got back together, and I was the happiest I have ever been in a long time, until I woke up. So for the rest of the morning I sat wallowing in whatever it is I am wallowing in, and in typical fashion I further forced myself into more of that tasteful sorrow, by listening to all the heart-rending songs that I could find. Today I am part a large group of people that seem to have many names some including ‘losers’, ‘the pathetics’ etc.

But I say no! Mostly because I don’t want to be named those things, but I think it is time we celebrate those people! I want to celebrate Romeo and Juliet, I want to celebrate Peter Parker and Gwen Stacy, I want to celebrate the doomed lovers, or all the failures. Today should be the opposite of Valentine’s Day (It only shouldn’t because it’s my friend’s birthday and she would hate that). Why did it go wrong? No one knows. But we tried. We should be together, but we aren’t. That is the sentiment. Sorry guys.

There are so many people out there just looking for something. Yes it sounds cliché, but it just shows that people want it so bad and that it’s repeated so often that it has become a cliché. I write all these things and it’s hard, but I hope someone out there can relate, so I feel a little better.

So once again I find myself aimless in the middle of a post, on what I hope comes off as a professional blog. Why do I do these things?

Might as well make a list! Here are 5 songs I’m listening to right now.

Lovefool – The Cardigans. You know how people say ‘the singer is speaking to me’? Yeah, well how about that?
Hanging By A Moment (Acoustic) – Lifehouse. I love this version way better.
Slow Dancing In A Burning Room - John Mayer.
Colours – Amos Lee. I think this guy is really under-appreciated.
This Never Happened Before – Paul McCartney.

Yup. That’s all.

Selling Stories, Not Just Clothes

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

The time has come. To think not of cabbages and kings, but of what the future brings. Now that I am "officially" a graduate, my sole reason for procrastination has faded. In a little over a month’s time, I will be armed with transcripts, resumes and recommendations – all that anyone needs to make themselves official in the big bad world of employment and you know…reality. Which brings me to J. Peterman.

Stealing a quote from You’ve Got Mail, J. Peterman "is a lone reed standing tall, waving boldly in the corrupt sands of commerce." In a world that has become scarily cookie-cutter, this famous catalog company don’t sell just products, they sell stories.

For example, when selling a shirt, as opposed to just giving the size, color and price (ie Banana Republic, Gap etc), J.Peterman chooses to describe it like this: Thos. Jefferson disliked stuffy people, stuffy houses, stuffy societies. So he changed a few things. Law. Gardening. Government. Architecture. Of the thousand castles, mansions, chateaux you can walk through today, only Monticello, only Jefferson’s own mansion, makes you feel so comfortable you want to live in it. I think you will feel the same about his 18th-century shirt. Classic. Simple. Livable.

You see? Its not just a shirt, it’s a story. You wear a story everytime you put the shirt on. And honestly, who wouldn’t want that?

Most people remember Jacopo "J" Peterman, from Seinfeld (Elaine’s boss?) In fact, Seinfeld helped make the catalog company a household name. Seinfeld and J. Peterman forged such a strong bond, that when the company faced bankruptcy, takeovers etc, the actor who played J. Peterman in the show (John O' Hurley) helped the original John Peterman bring his beautiful company back to life. Apart from being a major investor in the company, O' Hurley sits proudly on the Peterman Board.

J. Peterman gives life to the most mundane of things. Pants, shirts, bags, stuff for the house. Everything. The descriptions make you laugh, or smile or feel. You feel like you KNOW, and know intimately the product you’ve never felt between your fingers. Also, to enhance the personal tale-telling atmosphere, there are no photographs in the catalogue – only handmade illustrations. Thus, no-one in their right mind would ever consider this to be just a catalog. Its art, through and through. And yes, in my current post-graduation phase I would give up my right…ear or leg or something to work for them. After all, theres nothing *official* about them.

My personal J. Peterman favourites:
1. Vintage Tshirt
2. Linen Safari Dress
3. Thinking Pants (yes, seriously! They invented "thinking" pants!)
4. Seersucker Shirt
5. Knockabout Dress (teehee)
6. Authentic Baseball sleeves

Oh and also check out their new website : Peterman’s Eye. It is most awesomess.

An AR Rahman Weekend

Monday, June 1, 2009

Theres a lot we can say about AR Rahman. Most of the comments are usually about his wonderful talent of making excellent soulful and melodious music or about how simple and unassuming he appears to be. Yesterday was the first of the 'Jai Ho' world tour, which was in my hometown of Pune which I did attend, but I'll get to that later. I first want to recap what I did this weekend in regard to the maestro, so I can read about the hectic-ism and feel happy.

Working for a radio can be very rewarding and eventful, and when I received news that my colleague Surya and I would be interviewing AR, I couldn't believe it for a second. It was Friday and we were both shaking with delight considering the fact we would be meeting a legend with the awesomeness level of 10^kickass. In the end it was too good to be true, because he cancelled on us and pretty much everyone, but someone did say he would be holding a 'press conference' the next day. In all this excitement, we also kind of swindled the accounts guys into paying for our tickets to the show; that was really sweet. The programming heads also decided to have an AR Rahman Weekend Special which meant playing only his songs for the next two days. So recording, producing and editing the promos seem to take most of the time after that with numerous distractions in the middle. We finished the 'day' at 4:30 in the morning with the radio going live again at 6. Some people would say "Wow, you did it with two hours to spare!" I say "Balls to that."

Tired, sleepy, hungry and altogether mentally screwed, I had to set the alarm for 11 to get to the Rahman conference. Suddenly I found myself on Surya's bike on my way to Baner, which is damn bloody far from home. It was held in a cafe in the lobby of the hotel he was staying at, the Courtyard Marriot, and the place was packed with countless journos all waiting for snaps and soundbytes.

The tension was building. One of the world's greats would soon be in our presence. Suddenly, news arrives that he has entered the lift! He is slowly descending to the level of us poor mortals...and then! He arrives! He is really short! Oh. Everyone is insane. Some suits are introducing him and talking about his exploits and accolades. And thats all. He cuts a piano shaped cake, says precisely "Thank you, thank you very much" and leaves. So much for the 'press conference'.

I was so thoroughly under-whelmed. Then we had free food.

Cut to the next day. The concert itself started on time-ish, with 'Mausam & Escape' kicking off the show in most bad-ass style. The shitty part was that the concert wasn't arranged like a rock show, with the standing tickets in front and seated at the back; in fact it was quite the opposite. As a result when the most jhatak songs were going on Surya kept having the urge to stand and dance much to the frustration of the people seated behind us. The deal was that ARR is not really a performer; he's an amazing musician to say the least but most of the times he was on stage and not playing an instrument, it seemed like he felt of out place. Apart from that the show was really good, with amazing visual backdrops bringing back fond memories of Redial Entertainment. The highlights were the sufi songs (Khwaja and Arziyan), ARR playing grand piano-acoustic versions accompanying the vocals of Hariharan and Roop Kumar Rathod, and finally 'Rehna Tu' from Delhi-6 which was the song I was waiting to hear personally. Lowlights were just the missing numbers from Swades, Lagaan and Taal. Also the song 'Jai Ho' was quite insipid.

However, it was overall a really good standard of performances from a man you can't help but admire. He is one of the few seemingly incorruptible figures of India, whom people can look up to and feel proud of. I realized how versatile he was, creating beautiful music in such a variety of genres, that I felt satisfied. I felt that the whole weekend seemed worth it.

P.S. Sorry about the lame photo, I was compelled! Its me buying the tickets to show. For those who care.

HRM

Friday, May 29, 2009

I have been living a different kind of life from last week onwards. I recently joined a radio station in Pune to do an internship, and it has overwhelmed me to say the least. Late nights, Page 3 type parties and a whole lot of experimentation with alcohol. But the main issue I have been facing is that after all these late nights, everyone still has to come back to work the next morning and continue as if nothing has happened. Now don't get me wrong I love my job, and it has been a complete revelation for me to understand how radio stations operate, but lets face it- its damn freaking hard to come to work and just work, when your hungover. I hope everyone doesn't think that I've become a thriving alcoholic, thats really not the case but rarely when I do indulge and I'll admit to it becoming a little more often than I initially thought it would be, its hard to get through the next morning.

I remember changing into my clothes, taking a shower and then catching a rick to work, all the while listening to music on my shuffle. As I kept changing song after song, it would keep going through KT Tunstall (nothing against her, I love her to death and beyond) Joss Stone, and John Mayer, who were all relatively mellow and subdued artists and with a bad headache I kept thinking "Man, where the f*ck is the heavy shit?!' I realized I didn't have much of what would and should be an integral part of any drinker's life: Hangover Remedial Music. (Note: how awesome is that its also Human Resources Management?)

That first morning was hard to get through. I needed the music to accesorize and accentuate. I needed to drown the headache is something loud. Now to each his own and HRM can be different for every individual, but for me I realized I had to go back to a band I had not listened to in a long time. They would proceed to become a part of my every morning since and are so damn awesome that its nothing less than a shame that they broke up.

"In with the early dawn / Moving right along / I couldn't buy an eye of sleep
And in the aching night / Under satellite / I was not recieved
With the stolen parts / A telephone in my heart / Someone get me a priest

To put my mind to bed / This ringing in my head

Is this a cure is or is this a disease?

Nail in my hand / From my creator
You gave me life now, Show me how to live!"

- Show Me How to Live, Audioslave

I swear for me personally, there has never been a band more fitting for my state of mind than Audioslave. The perfect combination of screaming screaching vocals by Chris Cornell mixed with the bass-heavy riffs of Tom Morello, to the endless pounding of drums crashing away. I grit my teeth and and bury myself in the sounds of pure hard rock. That's all.

And so the morning becomes bearable.

P.S. Deccan Won, Man U lost, Baichung Won(!)...how sweet it is...and wait for it...Watchmen released in Pune TODAY. Still gonna see it again.

21st Century Broken down...

Thursday, May 28, 2009

Ello All
Before I get into this I must confess I've never done a music album review before.
When I showed up at my Grandparents and discovered WiFi I couldn't resist the urge to download and review the two hottest albums of the year. First one being Eminem's Relapse (it's coming along...) and the second being Green Day's 21st Century Breakdown.
Now if you read and believe most of the reviews out there, you'd probably imagine this is the defining album of the decade.
Honestly, I don't know about that. Radiohead have had a couple of albums and so many other really awesome albums have popped up as well so it's very hard to say. What I will say though, is that this is definitely one of the best albums of the last FEW decades.
Now for those of you who are expecting a typically punk rock approach to the album you're going to be disappointed. Not only is this the highest production value of any Green Day work, it's also the furthest they've ever gone from their punk roots.
Now before we have a needless debate let me elucidate that when I say Punk I mean type of music, not type of attitude. The fact is, with the lyrics and melodies these three have busted out, the album is likely to have a greater impact politically than almost any other punk album.
The songs this time are anthemic. As in bust-a-gut-rock-the-shit-out-of-wembley, arena rock. It is hard, it is edgy, and in the case of 21 guns and Last night on Earth, very moving.
The title track is the closest the band'll get to a Bohemian Rhapsody in terms of form and while it is a bit too preachy for my taste there's no denying it's awesome. Along with it, Christian Inferno and Viva La Gloria are the kind of songs you'd kill to see live. But without any doubt, for me atleast, the intensity and energy of this album can be summed up in East Jesus Nowhere (Ironically, it's the first time I even noticed Dernt on the album...hint hint).
Lyrically, Billy Joe's at his 'fuck authority' best and despite slight hypocrisies the band have most certainly drawn a line in the sand in terms of where they stand on what.
The fun mockery of American Idiot is 5 years gone and with this album they've replaced it with a gritty, far more serious attitude not too different from U2. Let's just hope that like U2 this doesn't signal any decline.
It's preachy at times and that does grind a bit, but for the most part I have to admit this is easily one of the best albums I've ever heard. Not only does it have a purpose, some of the tracks are just fucking awesome.
Recommended:
East Jesus Nowhere
21 Guns
21st Century Breakdown
Overall: 9/10

Search

"Sometimes you just need to use your hands and create. Sometimes its good to just forget about work and study and all things sane, and do something you wouldnt ordinarily do. For some moments or hours, stop thinking about everything you think about. And you might just remember what you were like before you were consumed with work, money, rent, exams, scholarships, roomates, lovers, recession or even traffic and a lack of parking spaces. You'll forget about being broke, being tired, being unemployed, being homeless, being cranky, being lonely, or just being plain pissed off."

- (The Precise) Kyra Mathews on "learning to love you more".

We the Write stuff.

Who the...?

Invictus: A Review

Sherlock Holmes: A Review

Avatar: A Review

2012: The Review

Michael Jackson's This Is It: A Review

Street Thief: A Review...sort of

Let the Wild Rumpus Start.

Music Review: Paolo Nutini's Sunny Side Up

The Iglesian Influence!

A Month of Action

In Bollywood's defence...

Love & Paper Beds.

Guitar Firsts

Movie Review: X-Men Origins: Wolverine

Movie Review: Push

The Opposite of Valentine's Day

Selling Stories, Not Just Clothes

An AR Rahman Weekend

HRM

21st Century Broken down...

The All of us.

Search

What the...?

the recent-ish Posts.

All the.

More the.

The All of us.

More Blogs the.

Where the?

Please Read the Write Stuff.

Who the...?

The All of us.

Search

What the...?

the recent-ish Posts.

All the.

More the.

The All of us.

More Blogs the.

Subscribe the!

Where the?

Please Read the Write Stuff.