Archive for July 2009
Must Watch! – List 03
Hi friends here are my next set of recommendations for movies you can’t afford to miss. For all recomendations under ‘Must Watch!’ segment click here.
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Citizen Kane (1941) Some called him a hero. Others called him a heel… This movie is a drama directed by Orson Welles. The film traces the life and career of Charles Foster Kane, a man whose career in the publishing world is born of idealistic social service, but gradually evolves into a ruthless pursuit of power. Narrated principally through flashbacks, the story is revealed through the research of a newspaper reporter seeking to solve the mystery of the newspaper magnate’s dying word: “Rosebud”. Citizen Kane is often cited as being one of the most innovative works in the history of film making. The American Film Institute placed it at number one in its list of the 100 greatest U.S. movies of all time in 1997 and again in the revised list of 2007. In a recent poll of film critics and directors conducted by the British Film Institute, Citizen Kane was ranked the number one best film of all time by both groups. Kedu’s Rating: 8.5/10 |
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The Godfather Part II (1974)
This movie is a crime thriller directed by Francis Ford Coppola from a script co-written with Mario Puzo. The film is both a sequel and a prequel to movie ‘The Godfather’. The film stars Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Robert Duvall, Diane Keaton, John Cazale, Talia Shire, Michael V. Gazzo and Lee Strasberg. I would also like to recommend that you read the book ‘The Godfather’ by Mario Puzo first as the movie ‘The Godfather’ misses on lot of details. This movie continues the story of the Corleone family following the events of the first film while also depicting the rise to power of the young Vito Corleone in the New York City. The movie shows the life long struggle of Don Michael Corleone controlling is father’s vast empire which is continuously slipping out of his hands. This is best movie of ‘The Godfather’ trilogy. The movie pushes the extreme power play depicted in first movie to the next level. The movie is 3 hr 20 mins long but the time just flies by. Kedu’s Rating: 8.0/10 |
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The Usual Suspects (1994) In a world where nothing is what it seems you’ve got to look beyond… This movie is mystery thriller written by Christopher McQuarrie and directed by Bryan Singer. The film tells the story of Roger “Verbal” Kint (Kevin Spacey), a small-time con man who is the subject of a police interrogation. He tells his interrogator, U.S. Customs Agent David Kujan (Chazz Palminteri), a convoluted story about events leading to a massacre and massive fire that have just taken place on a ship docked at the Port of Los Angeles in San Pedro Bay. Using flashback and narration, Verbal’s story becomes increasingly complex as he tries to explain why he and his partners-in-crime were on the boat. The best and most genius parts of the movie are the subtleties. Be careful not to stop concentrating on the movie as the remaining running time of the movie will be spent trying to figure out how what you missed has lead to what you are now watching. After you see the ending, the truth hits you like a ton of bricks. Kedu’s Rating: 8.5/10 |
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Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) You can erase someone from your mind. Getting them out of your heart is another story. This movie is a drama directed by Michel Gondry. The film uses elements of science fiction and neo-surrealism to explore the nature of memory and romantic love. It centers around the life of Joel (Jim Carrey) a shy, mild mannered man who is heart broken after splitting from his feisty, impulsive girlfriend, Clementine (Kate Winslet). A short while after their split, he meets her again while she is working at a library and he is stunned to discover that she doesn’t recognize him. He later finds out that the reason for this is that Clementine has had her memory of Joel wiped out completely. Dr Howard Mierwick (Tom Wilkinson) has performed an operation on her brain after Clementine visited his clinic to forget Joel. So, in an act of self-gratification, Joel decides to undergo the procedure himself, erasing every argument, every embarrassment, every thought he has had involving Clementine. But as the procedure goes on, Joel begins to realize that beyond the quarrels and the less flattering incidents there were beautiful memories that he never wants to forget. So he does the unthinkable. Joel attempts to outrun the erasers through a dizzying chase through his mind. It is a beautiful original love story. Kedu’s Rating: 8.5/10 |
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Wall-E (2008) An adventure beyond the Ordinar-E This movie is an animated science fiction film produced by Pixar Animation Studios and directed by Andrew Stanton. It follows the story of a robot named Wall-E who is designed to clean up a waste-covered Earth far in the future and is not fit for human habitation. He eventually falls in love with another robot named EVE, and follows her into outer space on an adventure that changes the destiny of both his kind and humanity. It is everything we’ve come to expect from Pixar and more – colorful, vibrant, imaginative, exciting, beautiful, and most importantly a film with interesting, involving characters. The creators have done a brilliant job in putting the human emotions into the animated characters with such details. Wall-E is a very adorable and lovable character. It is definitely one of the best animated movies. My salute to guys at Pixar for bring to us one brilliant movie after another. Kedu’s Rating: 8.5/10 |
Calvin & Hobbes – 02
More of my favorite C&H strips. For all posts on Calvin and Hobbes click here.
01-Jan-1986
07-Jan-1986
08-Jan-1986
24-Jan-1986
30-Jan-1986
02-Feb-1986
04-Feb-1986
22-Feb-1986
26-Feb-1986
15-Mar-1986
Image Source http://www.marcellosendos.ch
Must Watch! – List 02
Hi fellas! Continuing with the ‘Must Watch!’ segment on the blog here are next set of recommendations from me for movies you cannot miss. For all recomendations under ‘Must Watch!’ segment click here.
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Forrest Gump (1994) The world will never be the same once you’ve seen it through the eyes of Forrest Gump. This movie is a comedy-drama based on the 1986 novel of the same name by Winston Groom. The film, directed by Robert Zemeckis, stars Tom Hanks, Robin Wright Penn, Gary Sinise, Mykelti Williamson, and Sally Field. The film tells the story of Forrest Gump’s epic journey through life meeting historical figures, influencing popular culture, and experiencing first-hand historic events of the late 20th century while being largely unaware of their significance, due to his borderline mental retardation. It shows the beauty of life through innocence and honesty. It is an inspiring movie. Kedu’s Rating: 8.5/10 |
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Before Sunrise (1995) Can the greatest romance of your life last only one night? This movie is a drama film directed by Richard Linklater and written by Linklater and Kim Krizan. The film follows Jesse (Ethan Hawke), a young American, and Céline (Julie Delpy), a young French woman, who meet on a train and disembark in Vienna, where they spend the night walking around the city and getting to know one another. The plot of the movie is very simple and it has just two main characters who discuss their perspectives on love and life. You immediately connect with the two characters and start feeling you are the third person moving along with them listening to their conversation. It is a nice romantic movie. Kedu’s Rating: 8.5/10 |
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Memento (2000) Some memories are best forgotten. This movie is a psychological thriller film written and directed by Christopher Nolan, adapted from his brother Jonathan’s short story “Memento Mori”. It stars Guy Pearce as Leonard Shelby, a former insurance fraud investigator searching for the man he believes raped and killed his wife during a burglary. Leonard suffers from anterograde amnesia, which he contracted from severe head trauma during the attack on his wife. This renders his brain unable to store new memories. To cope with his condition, he maintains a system of notes, photographs, and tattoos to record information about himself and others, including his wife’s killer. He is aided in his investigation by Teddy (Joe Pantoliano) and Natalie (Carrie-Anne Moss), neither of whom he can trust. The movie uses asynchronous style of story telling, in which all the scenes are not in chronological order. So you might have to slightly use your brains to understand it. It is definitely one of the best psychological thrillers. Hindi movie Ghajini was a bad bollywoodized copy of it. Kedu’s Rating: 9.0/10 |
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Into the wild (2007) Your great adventure on Alaska. This movie is a film based on the 1996 non-fiction book of the same name by Jon Krakauer about the adventures of Christopher McCandless. It was directed by Sean Penn, who also wrote the screenplay, and stars Emile Hirsch, Jena Malone, Marcia Gay Harden, Vince Vaughn, Kristen Stewart, William Hurt and Catherine Keener. The movie recounts the life of Christopher McCandless, a real-life student-athlete at Emory University, as told by his sympathetic sister. It takes you through a spellbinding adventure experience of McCandless to Alaska. It has been highly acclaimed critically. Kedu’s Rating: 8.5/10 |
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The Dark Knight (2008) Why So Serious? This movie is a superhero film directed and co-written by Christopher Nolan. Based on the DC Comics character Batman, the film is part of Nolan’s Batman film series and a sequel to 2005’s Batman Begins. Christian Bale reprises the lead role. The film follows Bruce Wayne/Batman (Bale), District Attorney Harvey Dent/Two-Face (Aaron Eckhart), Assistant D.A. Rachel Dawes (Maggie Gyllenhaal), and Police Commissioner James Gordon (Gary Oldman) and their struggles and journey in combating the new rising threat of a criminal who goes by the name of the “Joker” (Heath Ledger). This is the best superhero movie ever made. It has amazing effects, great performances and is a gripping thriller. Even if you are not a Batman (or a superhero movie) fan you must watch it to see the madness of Joker. Kedu’s Rating: 9.0/10 |
Riding In Disco Lights
Warning: These stunts are done by professionals. Do not try this on road without prior training :0)
‘Dancing in disco lights’ something very common, ‘singing in disco lights’ again very common, ‘drinking in disco lights’ common again. You must have experienced or seen or atleast heard about these events but I doubt if you have ever heard about riding bike in disco lights. Well friends I have been privileged to have a first hand experience of this over past few days, thanks to heavy rainfall in Goa and my spectacles which do not have wipers.
The collection of rain drops on my glasses creates the required medium to have this experience. When the light dispersion happens through these drops it creates an awesome impression of disco lights in front of your eyes. From then on the bike riding experience becomes unbelievable. The yellow and white light coming from vehicles moving in opposite direction to yours and the red back light from the vehicles moving in the same direction as your creates a great combinations. For your benefit the drivers and riders moving opposite to you do not miss to give you the best experience by going full beam. To improve on this effect trying putting on the helmet visor!
Government here has been very concerned about saving power and has taken a great step of cutting electricity to most of the street lights on the national and state highway. So the darkness on the roads creates the most suitable surrounding environment. Plus the potholes, speed breaks and slippery mud patches helps you with the required moves to enjoy the ride. And if you are lucky the strong winds too come to your help to experience the glide on the bike under disco lights.
Well all I can say is all this has made the boring ride back to home from office an adventure. Only concern is that statistics are not very supportive of trial and error riding on the road.
Roger Federer Creates History.
History was created today at Wimbledon men’s final. Roger Federer crossed Pete Sampras’s record with his 15th grand slam win in an epic match. Roger defeated Andy Roddick 5-7, 7-6, 7-6, 6-3, 16-14. Andy played magnificently to hold Roger back from breaking the record but Roger was destined to win today. The match went for over four hours.
I felt Andy was the better player on the court today. Roger was not able to break his server until the last point. He won the second and third set on tie-breaker. Andy played confidently through out the match controlling the game. It was a bit unfortunate for him to lose the second set tie break after leading 6-2 in it.
It couldn’t have been tougher at the final for Roger who had a pretty easy tournament at Wimbledon this year. Of course he was playing for the record and had lot of pressure and was not playing his best game. But then he held his nerves till the end and came out victorious. He now has all the statistics on his side to prove that he is the greatest tennis player in the world ever. Recently he won French Open, a title he had long been waiting for to complete his career grand slam. He is only the sixth person in the history to have achieved this record. After this win he now also reclaims his number 1 position in ATP tennis men’s ranking. He still has lot more years of tennis to come and definitely can reach new highs.
It was also great to see Pete Sampras come back to the All England Club to watch Roger break his record of highest number grand slam wins. Pete has won at Wimbledon a record seven times (1993-95 and 1997-2000).
It was an awesome day of tennis. Great match bravely fought by both the players. I now look forward towards 2009 US Open, hoping to see Rafael Nadal back in action. He was definitely missed at Wimbledon this year.
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