[Movie] Saving Mr Banks

Cast: Emma Thompson, Tom Hanks, Paul Giamatti, Jason Schwartzmann, B.J. Novak, Colin Farrell, Bradley Whitford, Ruth Wilson

Direction: John Lee Hancock

Inspired by true events, this movie is almost like a behind the scenes look into how Walt Disney (Tom Hanks) managed to  convince the author P.L. Travers [Played by Emma Thompson] to visit USA and convert her book Mary Poppins into a feature film. 

The Trailer:

In short, the movie "supercalifragilisticexpialidocious"... haha.. I've always wanted to use that word in a sentence and here is my chance! I watched Mary Poppins movie as a little girl with a bunch of cousins and we ran around singing the songs from it "Spoonful of sugar" and "supercalifragilisticexpialidocious"... And so to watch a movie that shows how the movie got made was quite an exciting moment. 

Was at a friend's house and she showed a bunch of DVDs she had bought recently, and this is what both of  us picked. And what a right choice that was. The 2hours went by so fast, we went through several emotions through the movie- happy, excited, appaled, sentimental and finally a big fat grin on our face as the credits rolled by.   

The movie begins with Pamela Travers deciding to fly to America to meet with Walt Disney who hopes to convince her that they should convert her book into a movie [which is also a pomise he made his daughters]. But Pamela is not an easy woman to work with as you discover during the movie.  She has an opinion about everything, and quite the stiff upper lip as well. When people address her Pamela, she corrects them [every single time] that she is to be called "Mrs Travers". 

There is another story that runs in parallel, Pamela's childhood years set in 1901 in the Australian outback...She dotes on her father [Colin Farell] who loses his job in the Bank and decides to move to another town [moves his family on foot bags children and all]. But over years, he loses all his jobs and takes to drinking eventually succumbing. It is her mom [Ruth Wilson] who brings the children up single handedly. All that she went through as a child, the times spent with her dad gives us a sneak peek into her life and why she is the way she is. Infact, as the movie wears on, you discover the Mary Poppins story is her very own story.  

It is brilliant watching the scenes where Walt Disney tries to work his charm  on her, her small interactions with her driver and the way she finally melts.  

This is a movie that is good for people across ages, that will leave you feeling all warm and fuzzy by the end of it. 

Overall Rating- 5/5

[Movie] August: Osage County

There is a man sitting in a dark room saying “Life is very long,” and that it is taken from T.S. Eliot, which is why now when we say it ,we need to add the name after the phrase. that is Beverly [Sam Shepard] talking to the new girl he has hired to help around the house when his wife Violet [Meryl Streep] stumbles into the room mumbling something. The dialogue he says is almost like he is describing his life, for after this one scene he disappears from the house and from this world as well. 

Once their 3 daughters come to know of their dad's disappearance, they all come home to Osage Plains in north Oklahoma, and so does their Aunt Margo [Mattie Fae Aiken] with her husband Charlie[Chris Cooper]. Soon, they find Beverly's body, and this is where the actual movie begins.  

The 1st to come home is Ivy (Julianne Nicholson), a freckled girl who is still single, lives close by and who surprises her mom with her recently straightened hair. Even though she stayed back and took care of her parents, the other siblings dont really show any gratitude nor have they pitched in so far.  

Barbara (Julia Roberts) said to be her father’s favorite by Violet more than once comes with  her husband, Bill (Ewan McGregor) and her teenage daughter, Jean (Abigail Breslin). She is going through a struggling phase in her marriage, is seperated from Bill and is all set to take over her mom's life and control the same. 

And then there is the vivacious Karen (Juliette Lewis) who lives in Florida and is currently in town with her latest catch, her fiance Steve (Dermot Mulroney), who zooms in on his red Ferrari and has told her they are headed to Belize for their honeymoon right after the wedding on New Year's eve.. Even though Steve is nearly 50, he has his eyes on the young Jean who keeps brushing him off.

Once Beverly's funeral is over, all gather at home minus Little Charlie [ Violet's nephew played by Sherlock famed Benedict Cumberbatch]. There is constant bickering, fighting, arguments, words getting flung on each other during the meal till Violet makes an entry. Little Charles misses the  funeral because he forgets to set the alarm and comes home little later. He is constantly getting a earful from his mom about what a loser he is, but his dad keeps defending him and knows he is a good kid. The scene where he takes Ivy, plays a song for her on the piano is quite a moving scene.. 

During the dinner, Violet talks about how Beverly had meant to change the will to leave all the money to her but dint get around to it. After a whole host of screaming and swearing, the day wears on and at night, Ivy tells her sisters of her love for Little charles. The next morning Barbara discovers from her aunt that Little Charles is infact their half brother and not a cousin. She tries to get Ivy to break it off with him, but only ends up with her driving away from the house. That is when the girls discover their mom knew of their dads affair with their aunt. Violet repeats  “Nobody slips anything by me,” often and she is right. She has such a sharp tongue, that we are left wincing everytime she lashes out. Infact, when  she reveals others’ secrets, we cringe because we know she is deliberately stepping over the line to make the point that she is a know-it-all.

It is a movie that is well made, but then it reminded me of all the soap operas I have seen on TV, incl the likes of Brothers & sisters, where it is all about over the top drama. 

August: Osage County is a movie about a family, a dysfunctional one at that, one very similar to what we see around us. I just wished it had been crisper...  

Overall rate: 3/5 

[Movie] Goli Soda

There is this movie group I am a part of which gives me my dose of which movies to watch and which to skip. There are instances where we end up discussing a director or an actor for days to end. And that is where I heard of this new tamil movie that had released last week - Goli Soda. What a name,right? I wondered what it could be about. And again I relied on the group to throw some light. All that I read was rave reviews about the kids who had acted in the movie and the director who had taken on such a subject and executed it brilliantly. 

A friend said "it stars the same 4 boys who acted in Pasanga".. I met her reply with blank stare because I hadn't watched the movie. And thus was born an impromptu plan to watch the movie. We booked tickets at PVR and were at there on time. 

The movie opens at Koyembedu Market with a bunch of kids running around unloading trucks and catching up on some sleep at odd hours. They get paid by a lady they call "aachi" and sit in the terrace looking at the girls who walk by to school. They have fantasies of romancing girls, talk about dates and make big plans. They go by their daily routine, but the only thing that plagues them is the lack of "identity". They don't have a family, no education, no home and all they do is work in the market. The lady asks them what their future plans are and if they plan to keep doing what they do and be nobody? This is what triggers them off and that is where Goli soda takes off as well. 

Aachi (Sujatha Sivakumar) takes them to meet Naidu (Madhusudhan), the president of the Market Association, a man who is respected, but above that is feared.  He generously allows them the use of one of his shops at the market, which the boys convert to a small restaurant "Aachi mess" ubt then comes trouble in the form of Mayilu [Naidu's brother in law/ main man] who frequents the shop, starts drinking & smoking and goes all out one night by bringing in a woman there.  That is when the retaliation begins, the fights, the harassment, the chaos and then the climax of this movie.  

The four boys - Kishore, Sree Raam, Pandi and Murugesh, and the 2 girls  are the heroes of this movie!! Right down to the climax, the movie had us glued and wondering what is going to happen next..  It shows that strong dialogues or big lavish sets are not what makes a movie powerful, good dialogues and neat execution works magic!! 

The only drawback of the movie are the scenes with Powersta/Sam anderson and the background score... Wish the former had been done away with and the latter had been better...!! 

Kudos to Vijay Milton for taking on this subject and being true to the plot till the end..

Overall Rating- 4/5 

[movie] Jilla & Veeram

It was something I had not done in ages, I was watching movies on the day of their release, and this was courtesy a friend who had an extra ticket and had sweetly remembered me! 

I watched Jilla 1st in Sathyam, Vijay's dad and few others from the movie where also in the theater [ya ya I saw them while I was waiting for my friend]. The movie is about a father and his adopted son, starts off like Sarkar where the duo rule the town going on to take on resemblances to Saami and then somewhere loses the entire plot to get twisted and knotted. To top it off, there were not one or two but nearly 5 songs within the 1st hour that had me cringing. 

Even though Vijay's movies are quite similar in their genre, the masala, almost like your Jackie Chan movies which you can watch , this was slightly unbearable. I could not sit through the 3+ hours. By the time Interval sign came on, I was ready to run out screaming "what is wrong with movie makers" , but then had to endure the remaining 2nd half with my head bursting with questions and hanging on to the small thread of hope that there might be some redemption somewhere.!! Nope, none...

Phew! I had survived that ordeal... yes literally come out not having killed anyone.

 It was now time for the next movie of the season- Veeram, starring Thala Ajith. I had seen his earlier release Aarambham amidst milk abhishekam and what not, so was quite wary!

This movie is about 5 brothers, yes, you read it right- Ajith being the eldest of the lot and there are 2 others who get a bit if screen time but the remaining 2 are there for what reason I wondered... Tamanna was much better when compared to Kajal Agarwal of Jilla. This movie also reminded me of the earlier Anandam featuring Mammotty as the eldest of 5 brothers [dont ask me why, I just remembered that movie]. It is about Ajith believing marriage will break their bond, but reality is that each brother apart from him have a lover on the side. So, they work hard at getting Ajith to fall in love so they can all get together with their partners. 

Now what was amazing between the 2 movies is that some scenes are exactly the same, lot of actors are there in both the movies and both are 3+ hours longgggggggggggggggggg... Only plus for Veeram is that it is much better entertainer and has fewer songs when compared to Jilla.. I cant help it if Vijay fans are offended or out to get me, but heck, this is my blog and I write what I feel! :D

Go watch either of these at your own risk, dont say I dint warn you!! :D

Chennai International Film Fest

So, the CIFF this year was a super duper hit. Why? How? Cos i managed to attend, and not just attend a few, but saw 14 movies. Yes, you read it right. I had made up my mind to not only register, but to make it a point to attend as many as possible this year since last year was a bit of a wash out.

Oh, and the cherry on this cake is that I got featured in an article in the New Indian Express as well.. Check it out-

Link to the article

Shopping made fun through Cashkaro.com

There are many of who enjoy shopping, spending hours in the stores or in the mall exploring all the shelves and products before they decide. But over the last few years, we have seen a  changing trend. No, people havent stopped shopping, just where they shop has changed. Am not talking about change in brand loyalties or looking at different stores. Am talking about the new trend of online shopping. There are so many websites, infact some might be cropping up as I type this.

In this too there are different category of shoppers. The kind who go to a store, check out the product, do their research and then go buy the product online, and then there are those who scrounge the various websites and pick from the ones that offer the best deals and prices. 

This goes across books, gadgets, clothes, jewellery and just about everything you can dream off. It really does not matter if it is a low value or high value product, as long the brand is a known one and site seems reliable people will attack... And in this era of changing trends, there came a new site, one that promised to be different.. And this is where my story begins, 

About a month or so ago is when I 1st heard about Cashkaro.com. And then, after a flurry of messages and mails, I was checking the site out, simply out of curiousity. It is a site that has partnered with several ecommerce sites and offers cash back to the clients. All you do is create an account with Cashkaro.com or take the easy way out, connecting via your Facebook account and off you go shopping away.

You not only enjoy discounts, but also get cashback on most purchases [very few have clauses on purchase].  It is like leaving a child in a toy store, you dont know where to look or what to click.. :D 

Initially, I wasnt very aware of the offers and went ahead to make a purchase on Flipkart, only to later realise there was no cash back. But then heck, buying a book is something I enjoy and would never regret. Some time passed by, and the GOSF was happening. This is when I was back on Cashkaro.com, except this time I spent nearly an hour reading through their policies, how it worked, what it was all about and then went ahead did a purchase on Tradus. I ordered for footwear. 

I spotted the details of cashback offer under Tradus, and then had to click on the link there which told me the cashback would happen within 72hours, straight into my account. What is cool is that all the cashbacks we receive can then be transferred to our bank account as well.. as CASH. How cool is that?

To know more about them or the latest offers, follow them on twitter- @Cashkarocom

Alright, enough chatting, am off to check out some of the other deals they have!! And what are you staring at, go check out the coupons and deals already!! 

Happy Holidays!  

{music} Agam - Classical & Rock meet

Oct 5th was the date

Karamaj arangam was the venue

What was happening? AGAM was coming to perform for a charity cause!

We were excited

I was going to be attending a concert after ages, the last one being Bryan Adams in Blore!! 

Agam is a Bangalore-based band who are into Contemporary Carnatic with a dash of rock blended into their performances. Formed in the year 2003, the band is made up of 

• Harish Sivaramakrishnan (MAIN vocals & violin), 
• Ganesh Ram Nagarajan (drums & vocals), 
• Swamy Seetharaman (keyboards, also the lyricist), 
• Praveen Kumar (lead guitar),
• Vignesh Lakshminarayanan (bass guitar & vocals), 
• Sivakumar Nagarajan (ethnic percussions), 
• Jagadish Natarajan (rhythm guitar). The only change in the band has been that Jagadish’s replaced Suraj Satheesh as the rhythm guitarist last year.

The very 1st time I heard these guys was on Coke studio and then came Madras Market performance. Subsequently I did listen to quite a few of their pieces thanks to YouTube and then went ahead and purchased their album - The Inner Self awakens.. From thereon, there has been no turning back! Infact, I also fell in love with their version of Aromale and Dil se re as well.. 

[image courtesy: google]

Ok, now that you know who Agam is, let us get back to the concert.. On Saturday, friends came over picked me up around 6pm and we reached the venue at 6.10 pm. The place looked pretty deserted, we had a small doubt if the concert was indeed happening that particular evening. There were no banners, no posters, nothing. It was complete silence. I was back in Kamaraj Arangam after nearly 15yrs!! 

Walked into the hall, collected our tickets and waited around for the hall to open. In the background, we could hear the band doing sound checks and last minute practice. We were happy listening to them from the distance. And then, around 6.30, the doors opened and we found seats, making sure the cameras were not in our path. 

[Image courtesy: youtube]

Soon people started filing in, but it wasn't as much as we expected. We were quite upset and sad to see the hall sparsely full, but then we decided to focus on the band and enjoy the music. The show started around 7.45 and it was absolutely mind blowing.

The instruments came to life and then Harish started singing, and that was it...What a voice he had and then for another song he also played the violin... Let us not forget the amazing guys on guitar and drums and the piano. We were lost to the world. We enjoyed every piece, every second of the evening. We were happily singing away, clapping and grooving to the beats..  

[Image Courtesy: www.thehindu.com ]

The band took a break from their songs and belted out Aromale which got the crowd going, and then came Dil Se which was again a big hit with the crowd. They also sang a new composition and few that is found on their soundcloud stream. 

As they say, all good things come to an end.. The show went on till about 9.30 when they closed with Rudra... We dint want the night to end.. Sigh!  Wait, we were not done! After the performances were done and most of the crowd left, we made a beeline for the stage, spoke to all the band members and heard about their upcoming shows, their work life and much more................... 

If you love these guys, and want to watch them live, make sure to mark Oct 18th in your calendar and be there at Havana, Raintree... And follow them on facebook to know more!! 

You can learn more about them from

Wikipedia

Website

Facebook 

Youtube

Event page for 18th Oct

[Movie] Neelakasham Pachakadal Chuvanna Bhoomi

Last weekend I watched yet another Malayalam movie, this time a movie with a long title, but one that had a beautiful meaning. It was Neelakasham Pachakadal Chuvanna Bhoomi [English: Blue Skies, Green Waters, Red Earth]

Directed and co-produced by Sameer Thahir

Cast: Dulquer Salmaan, Sunny Wayne, Surja Bala Hijam,Ena Saha, Dhritiman Chatterjee,Joy Mathew,Pearle Maaney, Paloma Monappa and Avantika to name a few. But the main stars are Dulquer and Sunny 

Over the past few months, I must have seen close to 10 Malayalam movies and I have discovered they are quite good. Especially since I began understanding the language, I looked forward to watching more of these flicks. Sunday morning 10am show at PVR was what was on the agenda. I reached the theater around 9.45, grabbed a sandwich & cold coffee at CCD and got ready to watch the movie. 

The story is losely based on 2 college guys who head out on a road trip on their bikes. Destination: unkown. Along the journey, Kasi [Dulquer] decides to head over to Nagaland in search of the girl of his dreams, and Sunny joins him on the mission. At every stage, they meet interesting people, come across challenges, are helped by random strangers, leave with lessons learnt from people of small villages, and there is a spark every now and then with the girl in the town they camp in. There is quite a bit of drama, a tinge of humour and a lot of life's valuable lessons in this movie. It basically goes to show that everybody we meet has something to teach us. All we need is an open mind to absorb these points.. 

The one thing that captured my heart in this movie was the cinematography by Gireesh Gangadharan. SImply outstanding. Even though the movie feels long, he kept me glued in with the sights and sounds captured so beautifully. I have never seen our country look so gorgeous and it left me wanting to travel and explore all these places. From the beaches of Puri, to the hills of the North East, the wide highway in the middle of nowhere flanked by red mountains, the visual were breath taking to say the least.  How can i forget the scene where a group of riders help them and take them with the group to Puri. Oh what a sight. Men on bikes- heart stopping !! :D 

The songs and background score was lovely. It blended perfectly with the rhythm of the movie. The songs that stood out were Doore Doore and Thaazhvaaram. The Manipuri actress is so delicate, while Gauri from the small village near Calcutta comes across strong willed, and the surfer chick in Puri the caring one.  But the one who stole the show has to be Dulquer-  He moves between the various roles with ease and grace, be it the playful college kid, the SFI activist protesting against commercialization  the son , the uncle who dotes on his niece and above all, the confused youngster  in search of his goal... 

Overall rating: 4.75/5 [had it been half hour shorter, would have been crisper]