Source Code

When I read the synopsis of Source Code, the following movies came to my mind:

1. The Matrix

2. Inception

3. Paycheck

It seemed intellectually stimulating and was a must watch. Hence time, distance and sleep were fought to catch this flick.
The start as expected is confusing and the audience is as lost as Capt. Cotler Stevens (Jake Gyllenhaal) in the initial minutes. In some time Dr. Rutledge: the father of the program tries to explain the Source Code program using words like metaphysics, time-reassignment (not time travel), quantum brain dynamics, etc. (check out wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electromagnetic_theories_of_consciousness). He gives a window of eight minutes to Stevens to transfer his consciousness to a traveller on a train that hosted an explosion earlier that day. Stevens discovers that though his body is just fine in the Source Code, in reality he has lost track of time and his memory and body is failing.

Before being sent in, Stevens is repeatedly reminded that he can only obtain information from the source code and there is little that he can do to change the reality. With several attempts, the objective is attained and the movie seems to wind up with the traditional ‘save the world’ theme. However, the real discussion starts after that: it’s up to you how you interpret the last 15 minutes. (Warning: a li'l teaser coming up)
Capt. Cotler Stevens manages to convince Capt. Goodwin to allow him to go into the source code one last time. Wait let’s document it first.
The body (of Stevens) is in the incubation centre in a comatose state while his mind or conscious is now in the Source Code.

Now he manages to change the series of events in the Source Code altering the consequences. As his time is about to be up, he sends a text to Goodwin describing how he managed to change the happenings in this world. As the eight minutes are up, Goodwin pulls out the plug from Steven’s life support system in the real world. Surprisingly, Stevens continues to exist in the source code in the body of the teacher. It’s the time to put your grey cells to use. One aspect is accepted: This is a parallel universe where proceedings are independent of the one of the original one. The debatable point is that the SMS received by Coleen in the new reality (the Coleen of the Source Code) interprets it perfectly. The concern arises when the semi-dead self of Stevens appears as she reads the text and is convinced that the Source Code works.. Are there two conscious states of Stevens existing in this alternate reality tangent? Or the conscious of the comatose Steven’s will come up only when Source Code is initiated in this Source Code world (think nested loops)?
Moreover, can someone please explain whatever happened to the teacher? He seems to be a goner in both ways. In the world 1, he is already dead. In the world 2 (inside Source Code of world 1) Stevens’ conscious has taken over his body.. What happened??

I’d enjoy discussions on this as much as I had enjoyed it with Inception..

Iron Man 2: I'm as confused as Mr. Stark

Let's start with the background first. I was movie starved, had heard great reviews from creatures overseas (read Vikram) and I had taken great pains to get a moderately priced ticket from Bangalore's movie goers' funds' embezzlement organization (the multiplex mafia). So the expectations were high..

And then the fall. Mr. Stark: the eccentric too cool guy, a mocking session with a senator, a drunk Iron man, the 'why is Col. Rhodes Iron Man's best friend??': and you lose count of the disappointing moments.

None of the bad guys manage to pose a credible threat. The Russian Ivan may be forgiven on some grounds at least: with a superb performance and some great effects with the electrified horse-whip.

The other bad guy: Mr. Hammer the competitor behaves way too silly to be taken seriously at any point of time. His main job is to be thrashed by everyone, be it some gorgeous reporter, the leading ladies and of course by Downey Jr. In spite of all his antics, he fails to make you smile with stupid comics and an irritating staccato.

Now the main problem: Downey Jr. I found him to be too jumpy to play the sober Holmes in his previous outing but the movie was a big hit anyway. Now that he’s been asked specifically to play the eccentric billionaire, he's gone overboard. Act way too cool, too fast, too erratic: It's a bit too much!

To summarize it, you go expecting an eccentric suave guy with a peculiar sense of humor of the likes of Bruce Wayne of Batman/Dark Knight. What you get here is a lot of jumpy creatures similar to the Transformers series..

Still I'll have to ask you to go and see the movie. It is a visual treat. The fight sequences: the bad guy cutting race cars, Rolls Ryce n all and of course: 'Highway to Hell' concluding the film. Worth a watch.

My name is Karan Johar and I am not always pathetic..

Fear grips me, the walls seem to crush me am I am writhing in pain. All this when I see the name 'Karan Johar' on the screen. The otherwise melodious tone of 'Dharma productions' seems to be ghastly as all the dreadful memories of stuff in Kabhi Alvida..(sorry Dash, but it still happens to be the most pathetic movie I've seen), Kal Ho na.. etc resurface. Besides all the apprehensions, here I was- watching 'My Name is Khan' with my family.

In spite of my inhibitions, the movie turned out to be pretty good. A great watch; doesn't matter if you are a SRK fan or not. The central theme of the movie remains humanity, love, forgiveness, autism and Shah Rukh Khan. Needless to say, it does not waver from this path, and of all the SRK factor remains the prime. And yes, he lives up to it. We all have noticed that disability with the protagonist has become a major selling point amongst the Khans (remember Taare Zameen Par, Ghajini, Tere naam, Kal ho na Ho etc?). Yet I have to point out that SRK has played the autistic adult really well. Might I add that the junior avatar of SRK is even better!

The theme is noble and the only improvement that could have been would be editing of parts where they went overboard while proving a point. You know what I'm talking about: the too good good, righteousness prevails, blah blah. For example, we didn't need the firangs singing 'Saare jahaan se achcha' in English (neither did we want firangs to sing Jana gana man in K3G). And though the idea made an effect on the audience, the director decided to take it further and bring in Mr. Obama to make sure his message was accepted by creatures with no brains at all. Wait a second, 'firang' reminds me: Why do we always need to go to the US?? Trust me, there are plenty of similar issues in India that can be brought up with movies.

Now this is what I call Johar-ism. I used to call it Johar-panti but since he proved to be not so chaat this time, I'll settle for the more polished form- Johar-ism.

AweFome flick!!

A big thanks to Vishal Bharadwaj for giving the Indian population a chance to use their own brains for a change. His abnegation from explaining all facts explicitly: is a mark of respect for the audience. You are expected to put the pieces together on your own and figure out what's happening- especially the gang wars and the drug deal-gone sour in the first half.

This does come with the charm of the 70's. There's lot of masala and the dhan te nan tune will never leave you once you have seen this flick. The corrupt police personnel, gang wars remind you of old thrillers like Don, Shaan, etc. Remember those times? There was actually thrill in the classic mysteries. Kaminey treads in that path while bringing alive the street life of Mumbai. The dizzy hand-held camera coupled with 70's tunes create spectacular scenes. When talking about masala; It has everything- twins, runaway couple, gangsters, corrupt cops, wily politicians and some sense as well. The last Bollywood flick starring sense I can remember is Luck by Chance & Delhi-6.

Saif uncle's Love AajKal, Dostana etc. fail to convince you on the lifestyle and success of the characters. The usual story is: First of all, conveniently take all characters abroad, then give them a super hep vague profession-immensely successful architect, immensely successful designer, immensely successful banker, immensely successful businessmen (yes- immensely successful Indians is a must). All the 'trivial' problems of life like earning a livelihood, limited vacation are taken care of automatically and the entire focus is on more 'important' stuff like relationships, love, traveling a zillion miles with friends, beating up baddies (doesn't everyone do this everyday?), etc.

The movie discussed here portrays characters that do not seem larger than life or out of their ecosystems. The gullible cash starved- NGO worker Guddu lives in a run down hostel room with a shared bath. The 'Jai Maharashtra' politician (Amol Gupte) lives in the narrow Mumbai lanes and convinces you on his background and poor know-how. Somehow, the director has ensured that the characters seem real and the audience can connect with them easily.

While I won't make this a spoiler by giving you some of the story, I have to mention about the Bengali brothers. The maniacal shooter trio seem to be straight out of Counter strike. One particular part even makes you feel like you are in a role play shooting game. The role played by the youngest is spectacular and hats off to Chandan Sanyal for bringing this character alive. The funky hair-do ensures that you will not be seeing his face ever; I had to google to find out about this guy..

@All- Muft fee thif movie..

*For those who like this movie and enjoy reading- Shantaram is a must read.

Animation times return with: Ice Age 3

Running back from school, finishing up home work and studies, build the 'well earned entertainment feel' to finally switch on the TV and watch your favorite cartoon.. Yay!!

Sounds like the normal life of a 10 year old?? The shocking fact here is that I refer to the 17 year old me- a couple of years back. Besides a few movies, only animated series interested me even at that age. Swat cats, Ninja Robots, Dexter's lab and Johny Quest ruled over me. I knew that my mother's ever smiling face often belied her concerns. I got the feeling at times that she feared that my brain development had stalled much earlier. Ya ya, I hear you guys: I know some of you still believe that I still qualify as a case of an impaired brain but anyways, I won't mess with you mere mortals for now. With my dedication and seriousness with cartoons, I can't blame my parents for their line of thoughts.

But as time went, poor me drifted further and further away from this colorful world. I did enjoy watching Incredibles, Shark Tale and Monsters Inc. but that was about it. This year, I had only 'Monsters vs. Aliens' to my credit but boy, I really liked the President of US swinging to Deep Purple's 'Smoke on the Water'.

Cynical murdering maniacs and sci-fi stories excite me more than a [simple story+ humor]- which is the case with all animated movies these days. Possibly beacause of the variety of crowd they have to cater to. Hence I was pretty neutral about Ice Age-3 and never took the initiative to watch it on the big screen. Thanks to enthusiasm of my friends at work: Arun & Varun- a plan finally came up. Uncertainty loomed till the last moment. A nail biting finish to completing our respective tasks; me building my new binary and shooting it off to the developers' nemesis (read testing team); we raced towards the Innovative Multiplex: Arun, Rajath, Varun n me.

Ok have a hearty laugh: it was a bit weird with four guys in a office-ish attire scouting for the best seats amongst small kids and families. We did get the best seat (or so we thought) before the movie started.

When I see the female mammoth in the first scene I realize I haven't seen Ice Age 2!! Anyways simple story goes on with friendship, adventure and light humor being the main point amongst the mammoth, sabretooth and the Sloth. (Sorry no names, I just remember that the sloth was called Sid). Another reason why I fail to remember the main characters is the new character that comes in and asks the others to take a back seat.

Ladies and gentlemen, put your hands together for: Captain Buck...

This dude can easily belt Jack Sparrow and is surely the 'baap' of the penguins of Madagascar (Skipper and King Julien included). His face can contort more than Jim Carrey, his antics and attitude beat Johny Depp and he makes the jungle his playground in a manner that would put Brandon Frasier to shame.

What animal?? Um.. I think this rough sea talking fearless buccaneer is a weasel. Nice way of adding a sarcastic touch :) His only aim in life is to battle his longtime nemesis: Rudy. That he lovingly calls him Rudy should not make you undermine the monstrosity of this enemy. Rudy is actually the biggest T-Rex of the region creating havoc throughout.

As I said the story is pretty simple with the ending part with the birth of 'Peaches' reminds me of some horrifying Hindi movies. But in all, quite an experience.. Hats off Buck!! Your hunger for adventure and your epic battles surely impressed me mate.

Salvation of the terminator series

Yes, this one has managed to save the Terminator series. Terminator: Rise of the machines can be called a criminal act for obliterating the class created by the predecessors.

T-2 was one of the first English movies I got my hands on. I remember those primitive times when we got a VHS of this movie from someone abroad and saw it on the VCR. It is true that it was a quantum leap with my previous sci-fi viewing limited to the TV series Street Hawk. I can never forget the impact T-2 had on me. God bless Star movies for helping me revise it periodically as I grew up. Even today I consider it as one of the most brilliant movies of all times and will be glued if I catch it on TV.

Salvation restores the glory and brings the story back on track again. I had witnessed a lot of hue and cry on the net claiming that the story was trash, no dialogues, but I knew I can't live without seeing this movie. I agree with the critics on most of it- There are more of nods, signs than dialogues. They could have done without some of the Terminator clichés. I mean- lava, freezing robots, "I'll be back"- it's not that you HAVE to use these signatures be part of the 'Terminator' series. You are insulting the original every time you do this. Despite all the negative remarks, I found the story very interesting. Considering the mess they had made with T-3, this is the best way they could have taken it further. Though certain questions are still left unanswered and there is room for a sequel. Honestly, I feel that I need to see the entire series again as my tiny miny brain is still unclear about the past and future interactions and to understand fully as to why all emphasis is given to the 'future' of the human race.

John Connor is substance. Not some kiddo or a lost stupid dude (offense meant to Rise of machines).

My friend- Bugga commented that this movie should've come ages ago. When you think about it, you'll find that so very true. Terminator is what created the cult- Human vs. Machine concept. The first two installments create a world on the screen that not many can think of even today.

However, in between a new phenomenon came and took this idea forward. It was called 'The Matrix'. It stole the following that was rightfully Terminator's. Don't give me those glares. I- just like all of you am an ardent fan of the Matrix but facts are facts. The saboteur called Terminator 3- ROM was not of any help at this time. Terminator built up the idea of the machines ruling humans but failed to capitalize it further in the late 90's.

To sum it up, the story is decent and there are some bugging clichés and illogical twists. But what makes this movie a superb package are the action sequences and the graphics. CG guys- hats off.. It starts right from the beginning with John Connor in the cockpit of the crashing helicopter. Makes you wonder what amount of work went into that.

All the action with Marcus Wright (Sam Worthington) is remarkable. Worthington has done a superb job and you'll come to question if Christian Bale as John Connor is actually the lead. I am glad that he has proven that big movies can survive without a Jupiter sized star cast.

Lastly, what turned out to be a big thing in winning my respect was the music. It's been almost 20 years! Still the Terminator theme makes me jump out of my seat and in an esoteric manner pushes up my adrenaline levels. Somehow, it brings the words- future, war, purpose and karma to my mind. All it has is a few beats. You could count the number of instruments used for composition on the fingers of your hand. But still; nothing beats it!

If you want to see this movie, I urge you to strictly stick to the theater. Let the effects blow you away.

The Illuminati returns

After watching Da-Vinci, there were little expectations from Angels & Demons. As for Da-Vinci, it clearly failed to strike a chord. The book was a masterpiece but somehow the movie makers failed to do justice to it. So I went for Angels & Demons just because I got tickets really cheap and wanted to casually revise my favorite Dan Brown book. Eventually, it did exceed my expectations.

I was awed by the effects. They have done a pretty good job mystifying the churches of Rome. The scenes shot for archives of Vatican city as well as St. Peter's square are spectacular. Car freaks will love the Alfa Romeos and Dacias zipping around Rome to save the Preferati. The path to illumination coupled with the pursuit for the Preferati adds to the thrill and keeps you on the edge throughout.

Did it modify the story? No denying that- it did. But I will confidently say that most of the modified pieces shaped Dan Brown's masterpiece even better. To site instances: They have done away with the Swiss plane that flies at 5 mach speed. Then the chopper scene at the end is a lot more dignified. I was expecting Tom Hanks to cling on to the chopper and fall from mind boggling heights; surviving it all. Thankfully none of it happened and the Carmelengo had to fly alone. The length of the movie was quite something thanks to the extended time taken for the mystery to unfold.

Movie vs. Book?? I am always biased when it comes to books so no comments there. But I can assure you that I enjoyed every bit of the movie..