Movies

Random Notes #171

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** Correctly predicted 4 of 5 major Oscar awards this year. Not too bad, or as Sudeep put it, Oscars were just too predictable. Just too point out a small thing. The Social Network, while being a really good movie, is not an Oscar material. And I personally think its a little hyped. Eisenberg and Garfield were really good though.

** As I think more about it Black Swan grows more on me. The entire movie revolves around Natalie Portman, and she carries it off really well. Leon, V for Vendetta, and Black Swan all feature her starting off really unsure of herself, and discovering herself with the help of someone else.

** Watched The Inside Job finally, and I feel that it is one hard hitting documentary. It makes no bones about pointing fingers and pointing them at big and important people and institutions. Good job!

** Also, there was a discussion on the BITS alum mailing list over The Inside Job, Rajat Gupta, and the financial meltdown and the role the Wall Street played in the crisis. Though some really good points were made, I really did not see anyone come out in support of the financial industry. Maybe its just not fashionable. Though I am myself not a huge fan of the industry and its bonus system, I would still like to point out a few things. The financial industry still remains the place to be in for people who want to be close to the action and make shit loads of money. Someone said they don’t make anything, but I do believe that a number of products they create are really innovative and require as much technical inputs as say designing a search algorithm. And as for greed, its the same across industries. The pharmaceutical industry is no stranger to not such smart decision making. J&J (they have a case study in BSchool on them and they ethos) has had more recalls than probably the entire industry together, and that is almost in the last year or so. I guess the BP fiasco is still fresh in people’s memory. Intel, and its anti-competitive practices are well known, and so are the mistakes made with user data by Facebook. The energy industry, the mineral industry, the diamond industry, the automobile industry. You name it, and they have made some very stupid mistakes. People praise successful people and deride ones who aren’t. I am pretty sure that most of us would have given anything (and most would still do) to work for Dick Fuld, and now we wouldn’t touch him with a 10 feet pole. Hindsight, as the say, is always 20/20. To make the call in real time, while the shit is happening, is what it is about. May be one day we will stop the shit before it hits the fan.

** The post number is England’s score for the match today, and as the Gods would have it, yet again, SA have… well, choked!

Oscars 2011

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The ones that I have watched, rating, and some comments.

  1. Black Swan – (8/10) – Natalie Portman deserves the Best Actress Oscar for this one. Awesome performance! Mila Kunis was good too. Also, Darren Aronofsky should get the Best Director.
  2. The Fighter – (8/10) – Christian Bale so deserves the Best Supporting Actor for this one. Mark Whalberg is good too.
  3. Inception – (9/10) – Wow! Nolan and DiCaprio weave magic. But won’t win. Too nerdy for its own good!
  4. The Kids Are Alright – (7.5/10) – Good watch. The dude looks and acts like Abhay Deol 😛
  5. The King’s Speech – (8.5/10) – Brilliant!! Colin Firth is in line for the Best Actor.
  6. Toy Story 3 – (9/10) – One of the best trilogies, ever! Did you eyes not become moist towards the end?
  7. True Grit (7/10) – Good watch, not Oscar material though. Hailee Steinfeld is good and might bag the Best Supporting Actress.

My choice for Best Movie so far would be Inception or Toy Story 3. But Inception is old, and Toy Story 3, well, animated, so they won’t get it. Black Swan would be my bet so far.

The ones I haven’t watched, but should over the weekend.

  1. 127 Hours
  2. The Social Network
  3. Winter’s Bone.

Sports writing

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American History X remains one of my all time favorites. And there is a line in the movie which I really love.

Derek says it’s always good to end a paper with a quote. He says someone else has already said it best. So if you can’t top it, steal from them and go out strong.

Dileep is one of the best sports writer of our times (and you guys might want to look up Aakash Chopra as well), and he has followed this rather good piece of advice to the hilt in this tribute to Murali.

Neville Cardus once said of Learie Constantine: “When Constantine plays the whole man plays, not just the professional cricketer part of him. There is nothing in the world for him when he bats, save a ball to be hit — and a boundary to be hit over. When he bowls, the world is three wickets, there to be sent spinning gloriously. Cricket, indeed, is Constantine’s element; to say that he plays cricket, or takes part in it, is to say that a fish goes swimming. Constantine is cricket, West Indian cricket…”

For nearly two decades, Murali was Sri Lanka’s Constantine, the prime factor in his nation wresting respect from a grudging world. There are a few more one-day scalps to claim and Twenty20 batsmen to embarrass. But for now he can put his feet up and contemplate a job that no one could have done better. Top of the world on the field, and a different class off it. Truly one of a kind.

Go read this piece on Murali. And to Murali: You Sir, will be missed!

Rajneeti: The Review

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The Good:

  1. The pace – the movie moves quickly and doesn’t feel dragged except for parts of the second half. Having said that some scenes could be removed and others extended for more impact.
  2. Nana Patekar – wish he had some more meaty scenes!! Btw, same goes for Naseeruddin Shah – would have loved to see him as the Shakuni to Nana’s Krishna.
  3. No songs – no unnecessary song and dance sequences! Love that. But the background score could have been strengthened.
  4. Never thought I would say this in my life, but, Arjun Rampal. He looks good in his role as Sonny Corleone.

The Bad:

  1. Copying from the Godfather – Ranbir may be good, but he ain’t no Al Pacino (broken jaw, reluctant mobster, don’t insult my intelligence, etc) or Marlon Brando (the legendary peacemaking scene). Pacino’s character had a lot of conscience even though it turned rouge. In Rajneeti, Ranbir goes from the PhD student to a conniving politician without and guilt whatsoever. Not convincing. Other attempts are bad too – death of Arjun Rampal, etc.
  2. Attempts at imitating Mahabhrata – The Ajay Devgn (what the hell is this crap about numerology) angle is useless and only ends up in a pathetic scene with the use of word “Jyest” (sanskrit for eldest). WTF. Who uses the word anyway??
  3. Manoj Bajpai – you are better than this dude!

The Ugly:

  1. All the women characters in the movie. Under-developed. Horribly played. And total doormats. Katrina’s imitation of Sonia Gandhi for moments is good though.

The Trance

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Lifts stay on the floor you leave them on. There are no queues at Goyal, More, or Cafeteria. The long vacation has taken its toll, and I don’t think there are more than hundred odd people on campus. The entire campus feels as empty as my Outlook Calendar at the moment 🙂

Past few days have been spent in a kind of manner not known since April 2009. Its been one huge weekend, and promises to go on till tomorrow, when I travel to Delhi for some project related stuff.

The exams got over on Friday, and ever since I have lazed like crazy. Friday night was pizza and movie night. We ended up watching the crappy “Wanted” and the Stallone comedy “Oscar” which wasn’t too great either but fun nonetheless.

The movie watching spree has since become addictive in nature, and we have been doing it every night after that. Loads of movies have been watched on the big screen including “Apocalypse Now“, “LOTR – The trilogy“, “What Happens in Vegas“, and “No Country for Old Men“.

Also watched “Wake Up Sid” @Talkie Town, which btw is not a bad theater for 50 bucks!! Its an ok movie, a def one time watch. Konkona is good as usual, and Ranbir Kapoor is also good. “Iktara” is a brilliant, soulful number – wish I could get the sufi version of it.

Now waiting for getting done with the next couple of days, and then heading to Delhi and meeting people. Bansal, TK, Bharathi, Gogo, and all the people from my team 🙂

Here I come people!!