Well, not much to say here except that it was done well. Left all the stories open for the viewer's interpretation.
One thing to notice is that although you can make out where every story stands in the end, overall the movie lacks one coherent message, unlike Life in a Metro. Remember that one?. For instance, the Dhobi Ghaat piece is more closely wired to Munna and not others, so???...but again one may not have been forthcoming from the director/script. It is usual not to have one when making a collage of inter-connected stories.
I thought the guerrilla technique worked well and that's how a normal person views the world..but again, the movie is not made for the Rikhsawalas and Bihari types with the use of all that English throughout the movie. Hence its artsy and targets a niche market, which is OK.
Should have been a DVD movie for me but since Aamir bhai doesn't show up that often, it warrants spending 10$.
My grade: B+
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Monday, January 24, 2011
Foodie Review: Chinese Mirch
Had been seeing a lot of check-ins in to this place for a while now. We were coming back from IKEA so decided to finally "check-in".
Firstly, feel sorry for the franchisee because if there is such thing as Restaurants 101, one of the top 5 items would be "Have enough parking". Without that the place loses clientele which otherwise would enter...like families with kids and oldies…get my drift? I was pissed to find myself walking on the road from the rear parking lot around the walk-way which should have been cleaned of the snow…of course in ridiculous temperature.
Anywhooo…
The place was not as clean as we’d hoped. Decor is presentable and does carry a more Chinese accent to it.
I ordered a masala thumbs up (something of a nostalgic guilty pleasure for me) and it was indeed good!
For appetizer’s sake…the veg Manchow soups were OK. I am not a soup-crazy person so I will leave it at that.
Now, for the main course we ordered a mix of veg and non-veg items to get a feel of the most common Indian-continental items.
Crispy Szechuan Lamb: well done and crispy indeed.
American Chopsuey: Of course you can never find one standard version of it, but I would say they gave their best shot. The noodles could have been a bit crispier.
Chilli Garlic Noodles: Their version of lo-mein; sure with a twist. Not the greatest preparation I would say since it missed the kick of garlic and softness of the noodles I would expect to be prominent in the dish.
Chilli Chicken: A must for an Indian-continental menu, but by far the biggest disappointment of the evening. I don't know what it was to be honest. It was missing its barbeque-ish color that I KNOW this dish must have. And the gravy/source absolutely brought back no taste memories.
So overall an absolute no-brainer for me: a non-repeatable average eatery. A place which you can pop by while you are in the neighborhood and really don't have patience to look for other better options.
My grade: C
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Firstly, feel sorry for the franchisee because if there is such thing as Restaurants 101, one of the top 5 items would be "Have enough parking". Without that the place loses clientele which otherwise would enter...like families with kids and oldies…get my drift? I was pissed to find myself walking on the road from the rear parking lot around the walk-way which should have been cleaned of the snow…of course in ridiculous temperature.
Anywhooo…
The place was not as clean as we’d hoped. Decor is presentable and does carry a more Chinese accent to it.
I ordered a masala thumbs up (something of a nostalgic guilty pleasure for me) and it was indeed good!
For appetizer’s sake…the veg Manchow soups were OK. I am not a soup-crazy person so I will leave it at that.
Now, for the main course we ordered a mix of veg and non-veg items to get a feel of the most common Indian-continental items.
Crispy Szechuan Lamb: well done and crispy indeed.
American Chopsuey: Of course you can never find one standard version of it, but I would say they gave their best shot. The noodles could have been a bit crispier.
Chilli Garlic Noodles: Their version of lo-mein; sure with a twist. Not the greatest preparation I would say since it missed the kick of garlic and softness of the noodles I would expect to be prominent in the dish.
Chilli Chicken: A must for an Indian-continental menu, but by far the biggest disappointment of the evening. I don't know what it was to be honest. It was missing its barbeque-ish color that I KNOW this dish must have. And the gravy/source absolutely brought back no taste memories.
So overall an absolute no-brainer for me: a non-repeatable average eatery. A place which you can pop by while you are in the neighborhood and really don't have patience to look for other better options.
My grade: C
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Monday, January 17, 2011
The Cineholic : The King's Speech
Went to see the movie on a hunch actually. Our main target was True Grit, but I felt the whole 19th century wild-wild-west vengeance spiel might be too much for Garima to digest.The movie is splendid. I have always admired Colin Firth. The role was much tougher than the one he played in 'A Single Man', i.e. that of a gay man loosing the love of his life. I can image playing a real person has to be much tougher and according to me, it IS the penultimate black-belt of cinematic maturity as an actor. Of course he may have played a real person before, but the performance that gets kudos and shines is what everyone remembers, rest is all what lead up to that big performance.
Of course, as my habit is, I hit the Wikipedia to know more about King George V1. Not much about his personality but rather what he went through. Wonder how Colin got his material to identify with the character. Must have been books and biographies. The message I took away from the movie is that no matter how important you become in life, the most impossible insecurities and weaknesses that manifest in you since the early childhood, when not tackled at the right time will define you and your character. And it becomes almost THE major task in life to get rid of them, by any means necessary. But nothing will help except using up every last shred/drop of your will power. Yes, will power; something that this so called king had a very hard time gathering up in the movie and perhaps in his life, a theme that was beautifully conveyed.
My Grade - A+
Next on the list Dhobi Ghaat and Black Swan.
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Of course, as my habit is, I hit the Wikipedia to know more about King George V1. Not much about his personality but rather what he went through. Wonder how Colin got his material to identify with the character. Must have been books and biographies. The message I took away from the movie is that no matter how important you become in life, the most impossible insecurities and weaknesses that manifest in you since the early childhood, when not tackled at the right time will define you and your character. And it becomes almost THE major task in life to get rid of them, by any means necessary. But nothing will help except using up every last shred/drop of your will power. Yes, will power; something that this so called king had a very hard time gathering up in the movie and perhaps in his life, a theme that was beautifully conveyed.
My Grade - A+
Next on the list Dhobi Ghaat and Black Swan.
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Saturday, January 8, 2011
The Cineholic: The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest
Well, just watched the 3rd cut of the Millennium Saga..The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest.
Brilliantly done! The first "...with Dragon Tattoo" kind of stayed with me as it set the precedence of the saga. Soon after that I got to watch 2nd part "The Girl who played with fire"...and it was even better as it goes into the past of the girl. But this final version is so well done. Its got suspense, justice served cold and hot, in the courtroom and outside of it, some great characters and a great storyline overall. Editing is brilliant as there are no gaps or abrupt turns in the story. You can predict where this is going to go but the devil is in the details and it plays out well.
Kind of reminds me Bourne trilogy..each part built up to the next one, except the mentality on the viewer's part since you need more concentration to watch Lisbeth Salander as compared to Jason Bourne as the former hardly has 30 minutes of dialogues in all 3 parts combined but a lot of body language. I will have to watch Noomi Rapace's career now and see if she lives up to the performances.
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Brilliantly done! The first "...with Dragon Tattoo" kind of stayed with me as it set the precedence of the saga. Soon after that I got to watch 2nd part "The Girl who played with fire"...and it was even better as it goes into the past of the girl. But this final version is so well done. Its got suspense, justice served cold and hot, in the courtroom and outside of it, some great characters and a great storyline overall. Editing is brilliant as there are no gaps or abrupt turns in the story. You can predict where this is going to go but the devil is in the details and it plays out well.
Kind of reminds me Bourne trilogy..each part built up to the next one, except the mentality on the viewer's part since you need more concentration to watch Lisbeth Salander as compared to Jason Bourne as the former hardly has 30 minutes of dialogues in all 3 parts combined but a lot of body language. I will have to watch Noomi Rapace's career now and see if she lives up to the performances.
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The Cineholic : EXAM
Just saw EXAM on Netflix. Its sort of a last step of a long interview process involving 8 people, all taking place in one room but under a mind bending scenario. And all that suspense comes down to a small aptitude ability. How crazy is that!.. Reminds me of what my Math teacher used to say..."hold 2 fingers out and focus out on them..you will see 4. Hence, concentrate at the solution and not the problem"...go figure!...
An "A-" rating from me. Here is the official site...enjoy
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