Review
-
This weekend, I watched my first Kannada movie in a long time. For someone who has spent the better part of the last decade living in Bangalore and is something of a movie buff, this seems like a curious gap in the resume. Then again, I’ve managed to live here for so long without learning…
-
… that I didn’t put in or expand upon in my review, but deserve a post of their own. Spoilers beware! First, a little crib. Could’ve done with fewer references to the number 10. Dude, we get it, okay? The scene where Dev enters the hut where Ragini was kept, lets himself linger over the…
-
Okay, so I watched Raavanan last night. Finally. When I look back on it today, what stays in mind are disconnected flashes of memory, each more picturesque than the last, but no common thread running through them. If you ask me what happens when I might fob you off with an RTFE (E for Epic,…
-
So you’ve just settled into your favourite chair with a Terry Pratchett novel — one that you’ve read five times already but just can’t help revisiting every so often. Just as you’re building into your first chuckle of the evening, the doorbell rings. It’s your neighbour. The guy’s just moved in, but is the I-wanna-make-friends-with-everyone…
-
Beware! Here be spoilers! Ignore, if you can for a few moments, the fact that Rajneeti borrows liberally from the Mahabharata and The Godfather. Ignore also the minor irritation brought on by the fact that the promos are all about Katrina Kaif doing a Sonia Gandhi, something that isn’t anywhere as significant in the grand…
-
During the many fight sequences in Singam, a common move employed by the hero is to leap up several feet and almost pounce on the hapless goon in question. While doing that, he brings his fist down with considerable force (Mass of fist * 9.8m/sec^2 * Aggro factor) on said goon, thereby reducing the latter…
-
Ever had a meal where you had so much to eat that the flavours just piled up on your tongue, one on top of the other, so you couldn’t really recall what the heck it was that you ate? The cinematic equivalent of that experience is called Iron Man 2. Let’s see: You’ve got Tony…
-
There is a moment in Bandslam when the hero Will Burton (played with appropriate geekiness by Galean Connell) is being consoled by his mother (played with appropriate kookiness by Lisa Kudrow). She begins to explain why she got married to his dad, and we’re thinking, okay, we know how these conversations go. Until Will interrupts…
-
There is a moment somewhere around the halfway point in Vinnai Thaandi Varuvaaya that encapsulates both its strengths and weaknesses. It involves the two major characters — Karthik and Jessie — in an intimate conversation. The conversation involves the sort of truth-telling that characterizes much of Gautam Vasudev Menon’s writing. When his characters fall in…
-
An old professor of mine, well known for his generosity in handing out F grades, suddenly turned lenient as he progressed towards retirement. When asked why, he said, “When I used to regard my students as my children, I was tough on them. Now they seem like my grandchildren, so I find myself pampering them.”…
24 frames per second 