Headphones and a Tub of popcorn...

And you're ready for movie marathon ;)

Hehe.. I watched three more movies, and reviews are right here...

The first I saw was Cindrella Man, don't let the name fool you! It is a fairytale of sorts, but not the kind the name suggests it is! It is about the life of James J. Braddock, an American boxer, which by the way is real. It is set in the Great Depression era between the years 1929-1935 when the boxer was all but out of the ring, after a spate of injuries and consequent losses, with his licence being revoked. He started doing some manual labour and jobs, but those were hard to come by owing to the recession and he had difficulty making ends meet. However his manager tried to do all he could for him, by getting him fights, convincing the federation each time!

The story goes on about how he wins the public sentiments; and the sports journos who criticised him once, nicknamed him the Cindrella Man, because from his story of grit and pure determination to fight against the odds, a lot of people took inspiration to fight the Depression.

The boxing action shown is really nice, and although it warns of some boxing 'violence' I think it is very watchable and people who enjoy seeing wrestling and boxing are going to simply love it! Russel Crowe as James was I feel effective and played the role to perfection. Renee Zellweger, who plays the wife who's always scared for her husband's life because of his profession, has done a good job too... All in all, if you think you're gonna like the boxing action, get hold of it! :)

The second one was Yes Man. (Now, if you're wondering why it has to be 'Man' all the time,

I am wondering the same :P ) Anyway, this is a movie about a guy who's pretty depressed after divorce with his wife, and started putting himself in a cocoon. He ignores friends, watching DVDs alone, works at the bank and leads a boring life. Oh btw Jim Carrey plays this guy Carl. One day an old colleague of his suggests he attend a seminar called Yes! Very reluctantly and because he has nothing else to do on Friday night, he goes.

There he meets a philosopher Terrence who professes that you should say Yes! to everything in life. And when questioned, he says that saying No would cause bad things to happen. Carl takes this advice too seriously and says Yes! to everything, as a result, his life does improve a great deal as he ends up doing crazy night outs, learning Korean, getting promoted and meeting a nice young vivacious lady. But then, it also gets him in some tight situations. Ultimately, the lesson he learns is that it is not about never saying No! it is about saying Yes! to life...

I could connect with the plot of this one, because I have read The Secret,and call me a fool if you will, but I actually do believe in the concept, though I don't end up practicing it too often... :-s It's about being positive, and simply repeating the positive, even if it's just in your thoughts because positive attracts positive. Ok, I know science people are going to disagree on that one, but you'll have to think philosphy guys!

I am not a huge fan of philosophy and from the depths of my heart, I hate those pravachan people as I call them, but this one sounds realistic. The Secret is by Rhonda Bryne and there's a movie based on it too. I have the movie, yet to see it though! And there was a new book Beyond the Secret, which I purchased on a recent visit to Crossword, but haven't started yet. The book is by a different author, but largely on the same concept, a guide to using The Secret as she calls it! Anyway, you can watch this movie, if you need some motivation in life. Everybody goes through bad patches at some or the other time, and these would probably help.

The third I saw is The Silence of the Lambs.OK, this can be grotesque. DO NOT watch without

knowing what you're going to see... This one starts with Jodie Foster as Clarice Starling who is training to be a part of the Behavioural Sciences Unit of the police, being pulled out and given an assignment to study the case of Dr. Hannibal Lecter, who is a brilliant psychiatrist but a cannibal. He is kept in a special cell without any contact with the outside world. A spate of serial killings by someone who calls themselves Buffalo Bill forces the police to seek help from Hannibal, and hence Clarice is

engaged. Buffalo Bill after killing his victims, who are all girls, peels away parts of their skin, which baffles the Behavioural Science Dept. because they can't figure out the reason.

Clarice talks to Hannibal, and manages to get some help from him, in return for the story of her own life, which she was advised against, but has to do it, to gain his help. In return, Hannibal does help her out, using his knowledge of psychiatry, but he escapes. Clarice is able to track down Buffalo Bill who had kidnapped a Senator's daughter, and discovers that he is actually an unsettled mind who believes himself to be a woman and hence is trying to make a stitched suit, using the skin of these women. He wants to cross dress using this suit.

This movie can be disturbing on several levels, though honestly, I was better prepared as compared to Butterfly Effect so was able to concentrate on the psychology part of it! It has a lot of, well, scenes which could unnerve some people, so watch it only if they don't bother you. Apart from that, for those interested in psychiatry, oh you're gonna love it if you like to study the human mind, which can be manipulative and vulnerable and twisted!

Be-spectacled?

I have been thinking about this... aiwehi, just some incidents and then some thoughts popped up, and I felt I should put the question to you all...

A few people I know (girls) have recently undergone laser surgeries, in order to get rid of the necessity to wear specs... and some of them have admitted that shaadi had a role to play in it... I mean, yeah a lot of people would want to get rid of specs coz well, it's kind of a burden or they wanna look good and feel that putting on specs spoils their 'beauty' or looks or whatever... but somewhere I felt that, that old Indian mindset still lives... particularly in the ladki dekhne types scenario. :-?

And now, I can't decide if specs really 'repel' guys, or is it just a mindset... I mean on a personal level, as far as I can recall, I haven't yet seen a couple where the girl had specs, and the guy didn't... (or maybe I just walk around with my eyes closed) and on the other hand, well, specs is such a non-entity when you're talking about the whole being together thing... :-s

My aunts refused to put on specs for years, just because of this stupid stereotype and now the situation is that they just can't see, esp long distance without specs. I thought we lived in an age where people had enough sense to realise that specs have got nothing to do with being geeky... or looking studious or making you feel like you don't look good :-B

A lot of people also go in for lenses as a substitute for specs...

Now there are 2 reasons to do all this... one is that you don't like to wear specs, or you feel you don't look good with specs... which is not a crime... but! if you're doing it just coz someone else doesn't want you to wear them... well, that may not be a crime either, but it is definitely an unhealthy stereotype... :|

Sounds weird no, in this age? But I had to recheck too... after I noticed too many people putting on specs only when necessary, like attending lectures or visiting a movie theater, in the latter particularly, the specs go on the nose only when lights are dimmed and are removed before lights are fully on... I mean, What The Heck! What are you so scared of? :-O Normally, doctors advise constant use of specs so that your eyes do not get strained...

*sigh!* I don't know what to conclude of it... I was kinda hoping someone could shed some light on it... :-/

Btw, I have specs, and I love wearing them, as of now, there's no way I'm going in for any surgery or lenses either... too much jhamela with lenses...

P.S. Thank you Amrita and Mads for your views... >:D<

A sweet, traumatic affair

Yesterday I decided to quit being lazy and watching some of the pending movies I had in my hard drive (did I tell you I bought a 1TB external hard drive B-) ), even though my room looks like a jungle of wires, after the entire set-up, it's probably worth it... :-w

And so... the first movie I chose was, America's Sweethearts, a very sweet movie, essentially kinda chick flick... The story revolves around actors (i.e. they play actors in the movie) Gwen and Eddie, who were once together and the audience simply loves the couple, and the media loves blowing their togetherness out of proportion, and together, they both achieve new career heights... and then they break up and Gwen has another Spanish guy in her life, and Eddie can't get over Gwen and goes to some guru for help... but a production company, which had made a movie with both of them, wants them back together for some time and the tactics they use is what the movie is all about, and there's a twist at the end btw ;)

All in all, a feel-good, nicely made movie, a lovely light watch... :)

BUT, the second movie I chose, well I am not going to even try to conceal the plot, and I wish I had known it before seeing it... :-s

The second one I chose was The Butterfly Effect, yaar name se it seems so cute, and I was in a nice lovely mood esp after seeing the first movie... BUT it is nothing what it sounds like... it is one goddamn disturbing movie, esp at 2am!

The opening scores should've been indications of what was gonna come... it said the flutter of the wings of a butterfly could cause a typhoon across half the world... of course,I didn't really get it then... incidentally, I found out Butterfly Effect is actually a kinda well defined effect, courtesy Google of course!

The story starts with a young kid, about seven years old, who has periodic blackouts, wherein he just can't remember what he did in those durations, he has a single mother, and his father is deemed crazy and kept in a psychiatric hospital. There are numerous situations in the movie, where he simply can't remember what happened! His mom takes him to a psychiatrist, who asks him to keep a daily journal but is also unable to figure out the problem... and ultimately his mom decides to move from there...

Cut to when he's a grown up kid, and a psychology student, and pretty normal, no blackouts... and then one day when he picks up his old journals, he finds that every instance that he ever had a blackout, he was able to go back to exactly that location and situation, and change what happened over there... makes a lot of sense on some levels, for instance I got reminded of the time-turners in Harry Potter and what Dumbledore says about not interfering with Time coz it could leave the most sanest, insane...

But what is disturbing about the movie was, well, every second scene was either in the psychiatric hospital, or someone killing someone else, or a girl whom the boy liked, ending up as a prostitute, or someone else going crazy or ending up in jail... whoa! I am not scared of movies normally, but this one actually surprised me, coz I didn't think any movie had the potential to disturb me to this extent... :-ss

I actually found myself sleepless, and thoughts kept wandering to gross memories of my own... and those from the movie too... brr... I just wish I had a warning before seeing it...

But on the whole, well, if you once leave aside this, I suppose the movie does make a bit of sense... though I would recommend it only when you can handle it.... :-w