30 July - The Darjeeling Limited

This quirky, aesthetically pleasing ride is really a one worth taking. Director Wes Anderson has done a tremendous job of bring out the natural flow in characters in the movie and packs extraordinary amount of incident and observation. The characters feel real with an amazing backdrop of India which has been portrayed so exotically to the movie-goer's eyes. The relationship among the three brothers has been made to look wholly as kind, comic, random, happy, sad and a lot of emotions. I particularly liked it where Jason Schwartzman's character says to his brothers by the fire in the middle of the desert "I wonder if the three of us could have been friends in real life." The movie twists wry humor alternating with pathos as the brothers go about the spiritual trip to find their destination. I felt the highlight of the movie was the way India and Indian life have been portrayed in this droll film. Though the movie may not ring a bell with many but i think the film was definitely my cup of tea. And what more being an Indian myself i felt the movie to be extremely charming.

28 July - Happy Feet

In a land where each emperor penguin proclaims his love for the female through the heartsong there is this penguin Mumble who cannot sing but amazes the others with his foot-tapping, "hippity- hoppity"ways which is disliked by the elders of his community. Though the story is simple and the songs really good and go with the tap of the feet but it did conceal an inner meaning and emotion and does bring out environmental concerns caused due to extensive activity by humans. This will go down as one of my favourite animation movies along with Toy Story, Incredibles, Ice Age and Corpse Bride. Actually the good thing about animation movies is that even if the story line can be the usual that we have alredy come across but in there is always a new way of presenting it which can be fun sometimes and it does not take out the sheen of the story. Watch the movie as it contains some foot-tapping and flipper-flapping numbers and moreover it teaches that every person and creature does have a unique talent within him. Highly Recommended

28 July - Harper's Island

Today i just completed the first season of Harper's Island and i must say that the show has been kind of fresh and i seemed to have enjoyed it. Although i know that CBS had planned for only one season i do hope that CBS rethinks on continuing the show and the creators do make a second one. The Characters and the story have been well thought of and the most intriguing part is that just in whichever episode u think a particular someone is the killer that person gets knocked so the show always keeps you guessing. What i most liked about the show was that the killing scenes were not gruesome and full of blood unlike the usual sociopath movies where the person goes around hacking anyone he sees. It's not some of the usual nonsense and has it's share of twists and turns to find yourself wishing for more. Kudos to the writers for venturing into such territory and bringing out an enjoyable show although i didn't quite follow Henry Dunn's motive at the end for what appeared to be a haphazard ending. A great series to watch just for the heck of it.

27 July - Luck

A hurriedly told story relying heavily on style. The characters are so misplaced that you do not feel any emotion even where the story requires u strike the emotional chord. I don't understand yet the situations which force the characters to take up such daredevil(yet idiotic) stunts such that to play with their lives, be it Imran Khan who needs money for his passport, Mithun for saving his wife's life or the Chak De girl who wants to buy a Lexus. And is it about the over hyped Shruti Hassan. With such a family lineage i think this is the dumbest debut ever. Her story is told so hurriedly that u cannot say where it strikes u. Her only part being is to avoid Ravi Kissen and allure Imran Khan with whom she sure lacks the chemistry to make a good on-screen jodi. The movie is such that u can make out in which stunt which character is to die(obviously the foreigners, the cast being always the best at everything). The only good things being Shruti Hassan's screen presence which did add some glamour and some gritty dialogues by Sanjay Dutt and Ravi Kissen. What's even more irritating about the the movie is the million ways in which it tries to define Luck and always punctuating a sentence with Good Luck!. It's like it almost exceeds every dictionary in this aspect. Also the action sequences which are supposed to be adrenaline pumping come out near thanda and a big thumbs-down to the shark sequences where the sharks themselves look to be misplaced along with the characters who try to fight them. I give it 3.2 out of 5. Watch it just for pure entertainment and some momentary chills and show-stealers

26 July - Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

I had eagerly waited for this sequel as i was a great fan of the transformers series both the cartoons and the 2007 movie and i was in for a surprise. It was a really big disappointment for me and totally what i hadn't expected. Sure the action sequences were good but to me it felt like a Indiana Jones search in the deserts with the only difference being that it was with robots. Well the good thing to add was that the fight sequences were really good coz i the first they were shown haphazardly but in this they looked real but they only made it worse by making the robots look like pure humans. There are some scenes where this is proved as one where u can see Bumblebee crying when Shia LaBeouf tells him to stay when he goes to college. Then there is a hot girl in college with whom he wants to hook up and no prizes for guessing it to be a Decepticon. In one instance it really blows your head where they even give a Decepticon a PENIS and balls. For all movie fans it just same lame plot and laclustre performances and i don't think Michael Bay has even made a good movie since Armageddon. Though The effects and fight sequences are greak but at some point it starts to look unnecessary and out of order. And also i didn't basically understand what was Mikaela's(Megan Fox) role in the movie other than adding the oomph! facor. Overall, I give Revenge of the Fallen a 4.5 out of 10 but it doesn't affect it as it's still booming upwards on the cash register. It's just all effects and no fun whatsoever.