lucis

h2g2 trailer

Get your towels ready. The first teaser for the Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy is now online!

Waiting eagerly for 2005!

Dont Panic.

Bourne Supremacy

The movie turned out to be a bit of a disappointment. But then maybe I was expecting a bit too much after reading the phenomenal reviews at imdb (it was rated at 8.1 till recently). If you liked the first installment, Bourne Identity, you'll probably like this one. I didnt like the first mainly because it was so different from the book. I havent read the second book, but I doubt it is anything like the movie. Carlos is not even mentioned in either movies, while he plays a central role in the first book atleast.

The ordinary story is not the only bad thing about this movie. I hated the camera work. Some people seem to think that unsteady camera motion makes a movie "cool". I dont know about that, but done wrongly it does induce head aches and extreme frustration! The car chases were downright awful. The movie even made a beautiful place like Goa look ugly and uninviting.

The movie does have some decent background music and acting. As usual I think I have made the movie look much wrose than it probably really is. I personally dont like such spy + action + conspiracy + james-bond-esque movies anymore, and I may not be the best judge on this. My recommendation would be to watch it if you liked the first, otherwise avoid.

Galaxy Quest

I watched Galaxy Quest without knowing what to expect. All I knew was that it is somehow related to Star Trek. Having missed the whole Star Trek phase by half a generation, I was unsure if I would like it much or not. But this turned out to be one of the better movies I've seen for a while.

The movie is a downright hilarious parody on Star Trek. I thought it was quite similar to h2g2 in the sense that they are both space related parodies. The plot itself is quite interesting in itself, full of puns and jokes, and to top it all has some pretty decent acting.

Highly recommended to anyone even remotely interested in sci-fi.

There is no "quantum flux". There's no "auxiliary". THERE'S NO GODDAMNED SHIP. You got it?

This is great. Usually it's just cardboard walls in a garage.

Jason, we are actors, not astronauts.

Which way, Alexander?
This way... Wait, nah... That way.
You were holding it upside down!

I'm not even supposed to be here. I'm just "Crewman Number Six." I'm expendable. I'm the guy in the episode who dies to prove how serious the situation is. I've gotta get outta here.

Enemy is matching velocity.
The enemy is matching velocity.
We heard it the first time.
Gosh, I'm doing it. I'm repeating the darn computer.

You know, that is really getting annoying.
Look, I have one job on this lousy ship. Its stupid, but I'm going to do it! OKAY?
Sure, no problem.

Did you guys ever WATCH the show?

Hey guys, there's a red-thingy moving toward the green-thingy.
What?
Red-thingy moving toward the green-thingy. I think we're the green-thingy.

What is this thing? I mean, it serves no useful purpose for there to be a bunch of chompy, crushy things in the middle of a hallway. No, I mean we shouldn't have to do this, it makes no logical sense, why is it here? Well forget it, I'm not doing it, this episode was badly written.

Whoever wrote this episode should DIE.

Hey guys, I just wanted you to know that, the reactors won't take it; the ship is breaking apart and all that... Just FYI.

Never give up, never surrender.

Fahrenheit 9/11

Starring none other than the president himself, Fahrenheit 9/11 is the most talked about and controversial movie of the year. The movie essentially tries to educate the general American public about things that the rest of the world always knew. Some scenes, particularly the ones involving the suffering of people in Iraq should have a lasting impact. George Bush is reduced to little more than a joker, surrounded by the most evil group of advisors. I was really amazed at the deafening applause the movie received as the credits rolled by (Only LOTR even came close in this respect).

Let me try to play devil's advocate for a minute. Moore has very intelligently shown select scenes and clippings to make his case. While the movie seems utterly convincing, one has to wonder about the stuff that got left out of it. After interviewing a hundred people, it is always possible to find a handful who say what you want, and the way you want it. Some clever editing and voice overs, and you can make a viewer believe anything you want. It should not be forgotten that this is only one side of the story, and no matter how convincing it seems, it should not be misunderstood for the truth. Partial knowledge is more dangerous than no knowledge. A skilled director should be able to make a movie of this kind for almost any and every political leader.

I am really glad the movie got made though. It does present some hard and unfortunate truths. If what is shown is even close to the truth, it goes a long way to reaffirm that corruption goes to the very top - even in the most developed nation in the world. The movie is very aptly ended with a quote from 1984. We are closer to the book's description of the extreme socialist/communist world today than ever before. And ironically, it is worst in the country that is considered as the most anti-socialist.

In accordance with the principles of double-think it does not matter if the war is not real. For when it is, victory is not possible. The war is not meant to be won, but it is meant to be continuous. A hierarchical society is only possible on the basis of poverty and ignorance, this new version is the past and no different past can ever have existed. In principle the war effort is always planned to keep society on the brink of starvation. the war is waged by the ruling group against its own subjects and its object is not the victory over either Eurasia or east Asia but to keep the very structure of society intact. - George Orwell

The X Files 2?

Came across this recently. It is still mostly speculation and rumors. See the discussion forum threads for more information including interviews etc. I really hope this gets made...

We predict the future. The best way to predict the future is to invent it.

We never gave up, and we never will. In the end, if that's all they can say about us, it'll do.

Hindi movie update

Recently watched two pretty decent and off beat hindi movies, 3 Deewarein and Waisa Bhi Hota Hai - II.

3 Deewarein was the better of the two. Extremely good acting, pretty decent story line, a twist in the end, a somewhat open ending, no songs! The story is somewhat similar to Shawshank Redemption, and some subplots are copied almost verbatim. The problem with the movie was the ending. It was interesting, but lacked the punch. The climax came and went by without having much of an impact. A more talented director could have handled the story much better. The movie basically seems to loose steam towards the end, and the knockout punch really falls flat on the face.

I was expecting Waisa Bhi Hota Hai - II to be much better than it turned out to be. The acting was below average, the direction pretty ordinary, the music nothing great, and the story really pretty hollow. Well, maybe I am being a little too harsh here. It was not all that bad, but came nowhere close to what it really wanted to be. In the credits, the director has thanked Tarantino, and Coen brothers for inspiration. He has really tried to make it Tarantino-style, but in that respect has failed miserably. The that makes Tarantino's movies so good are the subtle jokes and great cinematography - both of which were extremely poor in this movie. Well, atleast the intention was there, even if the execution was nothing great!

Had these movies been in English, I might have given them extremely poor ratings (specially to Waisa Bhi...). But this is something very new and interesting for Hindi movies, and the fact that they are different from the typical Shah-Rukh-Khan crap is what makes them worth mentioning. I would love to see more experimentation in Hindi movies, and this is a great start!

Read on for spoilers...

One thing I really liked about 3 Deewarein was the open ending. Did Ishaan (Naseeruddin Shah) really kill all those people, or was it just a story he came up with to save his skin? Both are extremely plausible, and I think this ambiguity could perhaps have been exagerated a little to make a better ending.

Troy

The movie actually turned out to be much better than expected. Nice grand battle scenes (LOTR was much better in this respect though), decent acting, huge and realistic sets, etc. The battle scene between Achilles and Hector in particular, was simply amazing! Easily one of the best one-on-one battles I've seen.

Couple of negative points, it was a little too long, and several changes were made from Homer's The Iliad. Still pretty darn good and worth a watch.

No son of Troy will ever submit to a foreign ruler! Then every son of Troy shall die.

I've fought many wars in my time. Some I've fought for land, some for power, some for glory. I suppose fighting for love makes more sense than all the rest.

Be careful King of Kings. First you need the victory.

Before my time is done I will look down upon your corpse and smile.

Kill Bill 2

Just returned from the movie. It is about as different from Vol. 1 as possible. Very little action, no ruthless decapitation, no blood fountains. In its place we get true Tarantino style dialogue, long closeups, amazing acting, and lots of fun!

In true Tarantino fashion, the story keeps jumping between different time periods. Among other things, we get to see how the Bride trained in kung-fu, why Bill wants her killed, and how Elle lost her eye. The movie gets a little bit of a drag at times. It does require some patience to watch (somewhat like Reservoir Dogs). But on the whole, it is quite enjoyable.

Inspite of being really heavy on dialogue, the movie does have some really amazing action moments. There is this sequence where Beatrix (the bride) is being burried alive. Her coffin is first hammered shut, then lowered into the grave, and covered with earth. For the better part of this sequence, the screen goes completely blank, and we can hear her struggling, and mud filling the grave. This must rank among the best sequences in cinematic history, imo. This alone makes the movie worth watching. Absolutely brilliant use of sound and video.

Very often when I am watching the sequel of a great movie, I end up trying to its spots weak points while watching it. This happened a lot in LOTR 2 and 3, which made me not like the movie as much as the first. This did not happen with KB2 though. Instead of trying to find loopholes, I found myself really enjoying every minute of Tarantino's magic!

I am finding it hard to decide which is better - Vol. 1 or 2. I really liked the camera work, the use of color, the brilliang Anime sequence, and even the intense action in the first. I loved the dialogues and the subtle humor in the second. I wonder why Tarantino decided to split the movie the way he did. Would it have been better a better balance of dialogue and action in both movies
instead? I dont know...

For the moment, I think I will prefer Vol. 1 over Vol. 2 - just for its anime sequence, if nothing else. But that might change when I watch Vol. 2 a second time though. I hope that a special director's cut DVD is released that mixes the two movies in just the right way. If it is rightly done, we will have one of the best movies ever made!

I wanted to include some really cool quotes from the movie, but couldnt find a good source. Most are instant classics, and should be appearing at imdb, and other places pretty soon.

Click below for SPOILER

Interesting observation: The bride kills just one person (Bill) in Vol. 2 (as opposed to millions in the first volume).

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

If you've ever had a dream in which you're painfully aware of having lost something, or someone, but you have no idea what or who has slipped away from you -- a dream in which an absence is a presence, a cookie-cutter-shaped hole moving like a ghost in the space around you -- you'll understand "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" intuitively. You may also find it devastating. - Salon review

Imagine it were possible to have a bad memory erased from your mind. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind discusses some of the serious philosophical questions associated with memory erasure. It also tells an old and beaten-to-death story in a very new, different and compelling fashion.

Joel Barish discovers that his long time girlfriend no longer even recognises him. It turns out that she underwent a surgery at Lacuna Inc. to have all memories of him erased. Simply to take revenge, Joel decides to undergo the same surgery himself! Most of the movie takes place inside his head. We see his memories as they get erased one by one. Somewhere along the line, Joel feels that he no longer wants to go on with the surgery, but there is little he can do about it...

In the dream sequences that Joel has while his memory is being erased, events happen in reverse chronological order (similar to Memento). At other places, particularly in the begining and the end, the order of occurance is left somewhat vague on purpose (see spoiler below for my interpretation). The acting is exceptionally good, music is nice, direction great, screenplay awesome. What more can you ask for in a movie? Well, an intelligent audience to appreciate all this!

As with other Charlie Kaufman movies like Being John Malkovich and Adaptation, it felt like something was wrong in the movie. I dont quite know what it was. I think its the fact that these movies are actually quite disturbing, but are told in a manner that covers up for that. So you end up neither too happy, nor at complete ease. The movies suggest deeper philosophical issues, under a thin veil of humor. But this is not all. There is something else that makes his style very original and unnerving - which is really great! All the three movies are strongly recommended.

How happy is the blameless Vestal's lot! The world forgetting, by the world forgot: Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind! Each prayer accepted, and each wish resign'd. - Alexander Pope

Click below for some theories about the ending (MAJOR SPOILERS inside)

SPOILER - You've been warned!

Joel and his girlfriend end up getting back together in the end, even though they have lost all previous memories. Maybe the erasure is not perfect...

But what is more interesting is this. The original script goes way beyond and suggests that this is a cycle that keeps repeating! They keep erasing their memories over and over again for about 30 years! The ending in the movie kind of suggests this, but it is kept intentionally vague.

There is a theory which states that if ever anyone discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable.

There is another theory which states that this has already happened. - Douglas Adams

There are many other subtelties being discussed at the imdb boards for the movie. Things like why Mary "hates" Patrick, and other bits of useless trivia...

The Passion of the Christ

I knew that I just had to watch The Passion of Christ the moment I learnt that it was in Latin. In fact, Mel Gibsion had initially wanted to release it without any english subtitles! I find non-english movies made for an english speaking audience really appealing. The very fact that they are not in the native language of the viewer makes them non-mainstream, thus better (imo).

The movie is about the last 12 hours of Christ's life. It shows Christ being captured, tried, convicted, tortured, tortured and tortured a lot more before he is finally crucified. It is one of the grimmest and most horrifying movies I've ever seen. It is hard to imagine such a thing ever really happened.

Think about the war scenes in "Saving Private Ryan" and imagine all that and much worse happening to a single person. And the movie shows it all in great detail. There are times when I had to close my eyes and remind myself that it was just a movie. I think this is one of the best compliments a movie can get. You could literally hear a pin drop as the movie ended and the credits rolled on the screen!

What I did not like was the lack of character development. Very little is shown about the other characters in the movie. I'm not Catholic, and have never read the Bible. This made understanding some parts even harder. But then that is partly my mistake.

One thing to remember while watching this is this is only one interpretation of all the evidence available of the crucifixion. The movie shows the Sanhedrin, a governing senate composed of the leading Jewish priests and Pharisees, to be the real conspirators of his death. Personally I find it hard to believe that the Roman procurator Pontius Pilate was as innocent as he is shown. And this is what the controversy is all about.

Definitely a must watch. Be it for religious reasons, or just watching a great movie.

Ek Hasina Thi

Got to watch a couple of hindi movies after a long time recently. One was Munna Bhai MBBS - it was a torture to watch this one. I wonder why so many people recommended this trash to me! Horrible, horrible acting. Stupid, inconsequential and unoriginal story. Awful music. Nothing original. Perfect example of how to get everything wrong in a movie! What is surprising is that so many people liked it so much! Well, it was better than most hindi movies, I guess; but nowhere close to being enjoyable.

The other was Ek Hasina Thi. I kind of liked this movie. The end was disappointing, but the movie was great overall. The story was again not original, but was rather well presented. Nice music too! Also, I thought the acting was above par (yea, Saif Ali Khan can do some good stuff!). Definitely good for a hindi movie.

And best of all, a major part of the movie was shot in New Delhi. Got to see a glimpse of delhi after a long time! And the icing on the cake were shots totalling about 5 minutes around PVR Anupam (a movie theater) in Saket [see picture above]. I lived about two blocks away from Anupam for more than 10 years, and used to hang out there qutie often! I have also used one of the ATMs shown in the movie a few times! Delhi is not shown in movies that often, and this was just great!

The Butterfly Effect

I went in for this movie with no expectations at all. I came out pleasantly surprised, and somewhat satisfied.

The movie is about the decisions we make in life, and how one small decision can change the lives of everyone around us almost completely! In this, it is somewhat similar to Lola Rennt. But there is a subtle difference. Lola Rennt actually showed that some things are completely outside our control. For example, depending on whether a dog barks at you while you are going down the stairs or not, you’ll either live or die at the end of the day! Butterfly Effect, on the other hand is all about the effect of small conscious decisions and actions that we make all the time. It is kind of the same thing, but looking it from the opposite direction.

[MILD SPOILER ALERT]

So the story is about this guy who had these blackouts every now and then when he was a kid. Every now and then he just has no memory about what happened during short periods of time. Then when he grows up he finds a way of not only rediscovering this memory, but is also able to change what he did during these periods! So he can basically go back in time, change the way he behaved, and when he comes back he is a different person at a different place! Interesting idea.

While I was writing that, it occured to me that he actually goes back and changes ALL the blackout occurences. So could it be that the blackouts occur because he came back to change them!? Could this be something to do with parallel universes, and the blackouts are corridors to another universe or something? And could these new corridors be created at random where he wishes? I think the movie suddenly became more interesting than I first thought!

The movie reminds me of Donnie Darko. Both had this thing about time travel/parallel universes etc. But sadly Butterfly Effect is not even in the same league as Donnie Darko. The acting was awful all around! I kind of liked the way the story was presented, specially the way the blackouts were handled. Direction and editing were fairly good. But the acting spoils the movie…

Another thing I did not like was the ending. There would have been about a million better ways to end the movie. In fact, if they just ended the movie about 10 minutes earlier than they did, it would have been just awesome! Perhaps just after he talks to the doc and we get an alternate explaination for everything. Ending it right there would have left a big open question, which is something I like in movies. There could have been other cool endings as well.

Well, the great news is that the director initially had a different ending for the movie. It was changed to make it more suitable for a mass release, and the original ending is going to be included as an extra on the DVD. Here is a quote from the director:

That was one of the problems over the years—the ending. Everybody thought it was amazing, but they didn’t know a mass audiences would take it. But we got the opportunity and thank God for DVDs, because the theatrical ending is great and thematically, our [original] ending and that one are the same — it’s just how we go about it. It’s crazy, and it’ll blow your minds.
- Mackye Gruber

I cant wait to get my hands on the DVD. A better ending might change this movie from a good one to something that is truly great!

Edit: Interesting paradox in the movie (possible SPOILER). This is kind of like the Grandfather Paradox. Let us assume that the theory that the protagonist can actually go back to any point in time he choses, and that would it would result in a blackout for that period. Now, for going back in time, and even discovering how to do that he would have needed his old journals. But the journals started only because he was having those blackouts! So, which came first: the blackouts resulting in the journals, or the journals resulting in time travel and blackouts? Or is this theory itself flawed. Maybe the story really is quite simple and linear : he has blackouts, and then he uses them to change the past (he can go back only for the periods he had blackouts)? I think this is quite interesting, and the movie goes deeper than it appears. I’ll post more if I come up with any other ideas about this…

New Kill Bill 2 teaser

A new teaser for Kill Bill volume 2 was shown on TV a couple of days back. It is available online here now. Its just a minute long teaser, not the complete trailer.

Two more short (like 10-20 seconds) teasers are available on the Japanese Kill Bill website. I really liked the one titled "Trailer-1". It is amazing what can be achieved in such a short clip!

Also, according to many on the imdb forum for the movie, the release date has been bumped back by two months to April 16 (it was supposed to be Feb 20 earlier). Really looking forward to this one...

April Job Paycheck

Three movies I saw over the past month but didnt find the time to write about here. Two were OK to bad, and one was surprisingly good.

Edward Norton is what made me watch The Italian Job. Surprisingly bad acting all around. Poor direction. OK, but overused story. Some nice photography was the only saving grace. Disappointed.

Philip K. Dick prompted me to watch Paycheck. An excellent example of a great story thrown away by extremely poor acting and some very ordinary direction. The action scenes were fine but could be much improved. Had some pretty good scifi fundas though. The whole idea of erasing memory seems quite intriguing. The movie makes a great case for Open Source, and against Intelectual Property and patents. Note to self: Check out some books by Philip Dick.

Peter Hedges' directorial debut Pieces of April was unexpectedly good though. Unlike the first two, this is a small budget, inde movie with no big stars. Though the story is not all that great, good acting, music, and direction transform it into a great movie. It is a perfect example of making a good movie by getting the basics right. I particularly liked the background music. Unfortunately the much touted iTunes Music Store knows nothing about it...

The Boondock Saints

Bang! Amid laughter and confusion the gun goes off. There is blood and tiny bits of what was once a very unlucky cat all over the place. The next thing we hear:

Is it dead?

Excessively violent and brutal at times, hilarious at others. The Boondock Saints is a relatively unknown movie. It has a large cult following though. The first and only (so far) movie by writer/director Troy Duffy is satire or black humor, or a religious story. Its really hard to tell which - and thats the beauty!

It is about two brothers who take it upon themselves to rid the world of all sinners. They are the new-age Saints. There are allusions to divine intervention and religious overtones. But there are things that simply make no sense - even the cops start helping them instead of preventing mass killings. Maybe it is a satire on itself?

The dialogues are amazing. Perhaps in the same class as Tarantino's Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs. The acting is great. Specially Willem Dafoe in the crime investigation scenes. Direction was good. Non-linear story telling, again kind of like Pulp Fiction. Amazing music. Great action scenes.

Like most cult movies, the think that failed this movie is the same thing that makes it so good. The fact that you never really understand if all this is a joke/satire, or is it a serious story? Most people would be uncomfortable with all the killing in the name of God, and not enough was done to make it stand out as humor (unlike something like Dogma). In my opinion, this is what made the movie special.

A sequel, Boondock II: All Saints Day is planned. Should be interesting!

veritas - truth
aequitas - equality or justice

- We're a little like 7-11, we're not always doing business, but we're always open.
- Are you telling me it was one guy with six guns and he was a senior citizen?
- Symmmmmmmmmmbolism, I believe the word you want is symmmbolism.

21 grams

In 1907 Dr. MacDougall conducted experiments to verify that the weight of the human soul is 21 grams (21.3 grams, or three-fourths of an ounce to be exact). This was done by placing terminally ill patients on a death bed, and carefully measuring the change in weight of the body at the exact momentwhen they actually died.

Thankfully, This is not his story.

Alejandro González Iñárritu’s gained international fame with his mexican movie Amores perros (Love’s a Bitch). 21 grams is his first english movie. The story revolves around three central characters, and is about death, revenge, love and guilt.

Perhaps the most striking feature of the movie is the way it plays with time. The story is told in a completely non-linear fashion. Each scene is from a different time in the story. This basically takes what older movies like Memento, and Pulp Fiction have done to a new extreme. These non-linear segments are very cleverly ordered in the movie so that they contrast and complement each other extremely well. In fact there have been rumors that this ordering is not completely artistic or random, and there is a mathematical pattern behind it. I cant wait for the DVD to watch the movie again to try and figure out the pattern. Extremely brilliant!

The other thing is the scarcity of background music. The theme music is extremely good, and is used very well. I dont know if adding more music would have made it better or worse. I think the long silent gaps worked for this movie.

The video is slightly grainy/blurred. This adds to the overal effect the director wanted. Nothing new though. Many movies do this.

Acting is absolutely phenomenal. All three lead actors (Sean Penn, Naomi Watts, and Del Toro) are oscar nomination worthy at least. But we all know how unlikely that is with movies like this. Who cares about the Oscars anyways!

The story itself is quite dark and heavy. But it is not that great on its own. The beauty about the movie is how a simple, straightforward and dark story is told in a very new and different way. This is what I loved the most about this movie. It just goes to prove how a brilliant director and a good cast can transform a decent story to an amazing movie.

The movie is not perfect though. Some scenes stretch for too long. Sure, they add to the overal effect that the movie creates. But I think the movie would have been more powerful had it been about 10-15 minutes shorter. Also, the ending is not the best. In fact, it is somewhat of a let down. This is what prevents this from displacing Requiem for a Dream from my number 1 spot.

Return of the King

Saw The Return of the King today. There were three special midnight shows. I went for the one at 12:05am. It was absolutely crazy. People had been standing in queues to get in for hours. We reached around 10:30, and were very lucky to get half decent seats. First off, the previews before the movie were absolutely terrible. I dont even remember the names of the movies (well, other than Harry Potter)!

Okay, so how was it? Well, it was amazing. Clearly one of the best movies of the year. It was probably the second time that I really clapped when the movie was over (the first was Kill Bill). But it could have been better. Sadly, yes. It was not perfect. More on that later.

First the good stuff. Acting and direction was best of the three volumes. Peter Jackson did a great job in keeping the story moving at a consistent pace. The book told the story in a very different order, which I dont think would have worked for a movie quite as well. Juggling efficiently between various threads of the story, Jackson manages to make a movie that never loses the audience.

There is lots of CG in the movie - most of which is great. The battle scenes are unbelievable. The Path of Dead, Minas Tirith, Shelob, Minas Morgul, etc. all look exactly like I had imagined them when reading the book.

Quite a lot was not included in the movie. Very little of Mordor was shown - which I thought was bad. Very little was shown of Faramir, which was okay. And finally the ending was greatly reduced - no scouring of the Shire. This worked okay in my opinion. Thankfully not much was changed from the book (unlike The Two Towers).

Okay, now stuff I didnt like all that much. My first problem was with CG! Some scenes did not quite live up to the rest of the movie. Though most battle scenes were phenomenal, there were a few that appeared out of place. I clearly remember one scene where a wall of Minas Tirith fell like Lego bricks when hit with a catapult. It looked so artificial. I wonder how it made it to the final cut.

My other issue was with scale. At certain places the book gives an impression of a much bigger scale. The ents for example. In the book it appeared the entire forest was moving towards Isengard. The movie had a few lean trees that were impairing it. Then in the end from what I remember there were many other elves that left with Gandalf etc. The movie had just 3-4 elves, Frodo and Bilbo on the boat. This looked wrong to me. When Minas Tirith is shown for the first time, the camera could have had a more free motion. It seemed too restricted. They had no shots from the top that would show the whole city. They could have done much better to give a feeling of "wow, thats huge!".

One of the reasons behind this is that it is so hard to transform from a book to a movie. A book can give you so much background information about a place or a character. Specially Tolkein spent pages explaining small stuff like the history of a place, the reason it was built, or the complete history of a character. Such things greatly enhance the picture a reader forms in his mind. This is much harder to do in a movie.

The movie makes Sam the hero towards the end. He is shown to be the more intelligent and smarter than Frodo. Again I dont remember having this feeling when I read the book. Maybe it is just that Sean Astin (Sam) is a better actor than Elijah Wood (Frodo).

I am getting really critical here. There were scenes that I felt were not perfect. Any other movie and I would be okay with it. But J R R Tolkein was a perfectionist, and for each of the LOTR movies I expected nothing less than the same perfection. In this regard I think Fellowship of the Ring was the best. ROTK was better in most other respects.

And now the worst thing about the movie... This is the last one. No more Lord of the Rings action next year. Oh well...

Certainty of death. Small chance of success. What are we waiting for? - Gimli

If I cannot carry the Ring, then I will carry you! - Sam

Edit: It turns out that one of the teasers at the begining of the movie was of the movie I, Robot. The preview was like a commercial for a "fully automated domestic assistant", with no indication of the movie name anywhere. This should be an interesting movie.

Jungle Book

This brings back old memories...

Buzzy yawns: Hey, Flaps, what we gonna do?
Flaps: I don't know. What you wanna do?
Ziggy: I got it! Let's flap over to the east side of the jungle! They've always got a bit of action, a bit of a swinging scene. All right?
Buzzy: Ah, come off it! Things are right dead all over.
Ziggy: You mean you wish they were!
[they laugh]
Dizzy: Very funny.
Buzzy: Okay, so what we gonna do?
Flaps: I don't know, what you wanna do?
Buzzy: Look, Flaps, first I say, "what we gonna do?" and then you say, "what you wanna do?", they I say, "what we gonna do?", you say "what you wanna do?", "what you gonna do", "what you wanna" - let's do something!
Flaps: Okay. What you wanna do?
Buzzy: Oh, blimey, there you go again. The same once again!
Ziggy: I've got it! This time, I've really got it.
Buzzy: So you got it. So what we gonna do?

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Scarface

This is a long movie. And thats not all that it has in common with Hindi movies. At times I almost felt like it was an Amitabh Bachan movie. There are quite a few that have a similar storyline. Small guy wants to be big; takes the wrong route; kills his boss (not before his boss tries to kill him first though); becomes extremely rich; gets caught redhanded by the cops; and eventually gets killed in a gang war - not before he takes everyone around him down with him.

Al Pacino is great. I dont think anyone else could have played his role. Sadly (as expected) no Oscar nomination. The movie is too intense for the Oscars! Too much drugs and too many people being killed. Also, the movie has an unconventional ending. Everyone looses everything. They are either all dead, or left in a terrible position that they'd rather be dead!

I would put this movie in the same category as Heat, and as I said, a bunch of Amitabh movies. They are great while you watch them, but they dont make you think all that much once you are done watching them. If you do bad things, bad things will happen to you. There is nothing new in that. Nonetheless, it isnt easy to make such movies, and Scarface is an excellent example of how to get things right.

I really liked it! The acting was awesome. The music is great. The ending was sad and dark - which is good! The only problem is that I've seen too many movies with a similar story. Maybe if I'd seen this in 1983...