Boredom

Second part of previous post..... d) Spotlight - Watched it yesterday and I wouldn't be surprised if it bags the top honors. It reminded me of an era when Hollywood was used to churn out thought-provoking movies in tonnes. A crafty, stylish and surprisingly moving film about a much publicized child sexual abuse case involving 297 priests of Boston Archdiocese that was covered by a team of investigative journalists of Boston Globe who goes by the name of 'Spotlight', it has got a powerful cast at its core and all the other ingredients at the right place to win the Oscars. Very strongly recommended. e) Mad Max:The Fury Road - An out and out action film that is based in a dystopian world and has Charlize Theron and Tom Hardy as our action heroine and hero. Very surprisingly, it has managed to touch the right chords with both audience and critics who have bestowed 'universal acclaim' status upon it. I absolutely loved it but knowing that Academy has rarely awarded...

There is a ritual that's I am following almost religiously for the last four years and that's watching all the Best Film Nominees of Academy Awards or Oscars before Academy awards anyone of them with the tag on the biggest annual night of Hollywood. So far, I have been to able to catch up with 8 of final 9 nominees and there were definitely some feature films whom I handpicked up from various critics' site and were extremely close to make the final cut themselves. So let's start with their synopsis one by one and I shall let you know about my pick at the last of this post: a) The Revenant - The most powerful nominee and probably the most completed film of past year that could finally enable Leo to bag his long, coveted Oscars. He has eaten a bison-liver for God's sake all raw and bloody for this film and though it's become quite a notorious moment of the film, it could finally fetch an Oscars best actor trophy for him. Also for second year in succession, A. G...

'Second Spring' is the debut work of Ms. Sandhya Jane and when it arrived along side a consignment of 7 books to me for review, I was undoubtedly most hyped about it. Its cover page was illustrated with maple leaves and skyscrapers and wrapped in plastic giving it a look must suitable for all those Dickensian and Russian classics of yesteryear which we love to go over and over again. I wanted to read it first and certainly the most but something inside me stopped me from doing that. It could have been its serious look or width and with 288 pages, it was certainly a time-consuming work, and so I decided to go over with all the lighter (presumably) titles first. I finished them one by one and then I got stuck with it. First 20 pages, disappointing. Second, 20 pages, still at the same place. 50 pages done, no progress. 100, oh, come on!! 120-odd, two lovers of this book; Mr. Rohan Rana, all too charming and guy-next-door from a conservative family of Rajasthan and 32 years old an...

Creed marks the seventh silver screen coming of Sylvester Stallone's beloved movie character, Rocky Balboa and he isn't slowing down. Creed by all accounts has breathed a new life into a nearly fledgling franchise and appears to be most classically made after the very first film into franchise, Rocky (1976). This film again proves a theory that even an out-and-out commercial flick can become a work of art if it is helmed by a competent and thinking director. Ryan Coogler put some brain and a lot of heart in this money-churning machine and came out with a fine product that was third only to Rocky'76 and Rocky 3. It's a film that needs to be seen for his moving performances for we all know where sporting drama lead their audiences to with their all-too-familiar plots and yet you shall find yourselves contented. Rocky'76 was the brainchild of a great brain and that brain belonged to Sylvester. He wrote it and film went onto become the one of the rarest of sporting d...

I am a Coldplay fan for quite a long time, in fact this is the only contemporary music band whose music and lyrics makes sense to me. So when I heard that Coldplay has released a single about India by the name 'Hymn of the Weekend', I was ecstatic. It was long overdue and when it happened, it appeared as a dream finally came true. No wonder, song became a hit worldwide but then it also sparked controversy. Reason, 'cultural appropriation of India'. We shall get back to it in a short while. Just after two weeks, the much maligned (in India for one of its executive didn't recognize Sachin 'The God's' luggage) British Airways released an ad film depicting India in all of its glory. It shows an old Indian lady travelling in Business Class of BA and her getting emotionally attached with one of the air hostesses happened to be British. Indians loved it, so did I. I actually had tears in my eyes ready to soak my cheeks. The ad ends with a line: BA, loving Ind...

If I say that Daniel Bryan was one of the most accomplished and popular wrestling superstar of modern times, that wouldn't be saying too much. Daniel Bryan today announced his retirement from active wresting on Monday Night Raw after giving his absolute all on various wrestling circuits for last 16 years. He was an absolute mat wrestler who would give five star matches day in and day out and that was the reason why he was so over with crowd. A seasoned wrestling fan likes cavalry as much as gimmick and that's why he loves both 'The Rock' and 'Kurt Angle'. Daniel Bryan was a fighter, wrestling not only his style but personal demons too and it was all too fitting that he ended his career with WWE, the very best in professional wrestling industry. He worked his body off, using it like machine, in various wrestling circuits all over the world like Japan, Europe, Canada shedding both tears and bloods and put up spectacular matches worthy of inducing awe. All of this ...

I am experiencing all the firsts in last couple of weeks. It's getting better with each book. The 'it' here demonstrates the 'pure joy of readership' and SOAR really stood for its true definition. First book that kept me hooked till its 3/4th part and there is nothing wrong with the last 1/4th either but believe me, readers of this age are so smart and knowledgeable that they get to know very well in advance where a particular book is leading them too. I am glad I ended up in a happier place. So where do I start? Let me elaborate some more on the 'predictability' quotient of a book. As I said in last para, readers get to know everything in advance going into just 30-40 pages and proceed only if they get something interesting to cling onto. Here in SOAR, there are multitudes of factor that will keep you engrossed. Top class vocabulary, negligible grammatical mistakes (yes, those have become quite a spectacular feature of modern Indian books; so fewer, the b...