Thursday, June 26, 2008

The Unbelievable Hulk!

So I did see 'The Incredible Hulk' yesterday as planned and the title is apt - it is absolutely incredible and not in a good way - the proportion is all wrong, the pace is too slow and generally the ending with Stark in it prompting the thought of a triquel or whatever the hell you call it is just unbelievable!
I was most amazed at the lack of constant proportion in the movie - in some scenes,the Hulk is shown as massive dwarfing buildings and in other scenes, he is shown as only 1.3 times taller than the average human which makes him roughly the same size as a basket ball player in the NBA.
Unlike in Iron Man, I cannot complain about the lack of action in this movie - there was more than enough fun chase scenes through the very pretty slums in Brazil, there was violent face off in the middle of New York and the villains is really excessively ugly - I am not looking forward to evolution if the human species is going to look like that in the coming millenia!
Actually coming to think of it, a movie combining the thought and wit of Iron Man with the mindless action of the Hulk coz there is obviously no brain behind it just might be the best bet after all!

In the Hulk, another point that escaped me was the inability of the green monster to communicate - I mean he was/is a cellular biologist for crying out loud - he finds it impossible to string together a few words - he was able to string together DNA easy enough to change himself! and if I were the Hulk and Liv Tyler had to literally whimper 'Bruce' one more time and that too unintelligibly, I would possibly forget that deep within, there is a source of love and strangle the living daylights out of her!!! I find these actresses so wasted in action films - Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts - she has enough acting credit to her name not to need to be seen in a non challenging role like this - unless she was a fan in which case it's completely excusable! I'm not sure what Liv Tyler's acting credits are but it seems to me that love interests in comic book movies can be done by aspiring actresses rather than these known names. though Jennifer Connelly did the previous Hulk after being seen in a Beautiful Mind - go figure!

I suppose seeing the movie in a preview theatre that seats 30 people altogether may not have helped my experience which would have been vastly improved by watching in complete comfort in a red lounge! Let me clarify though - not a bad film, worth a watch but not to the standard I was expecting espescially from an Edward Norton!

Monday, June 23, 2008

I got Smart in Brugges

So After very many moons, I saw 2 movies this weekend - one being the extremely funny 'Get Smart' starring the extremely gorgeous Anne Hathaway and the extremely comic Steve Carrell [ I read this review about how Steve Carrell makes every character human and it's true from the office to the Ewan Almighty] and the second being 'In Bruges ' with Brendan Gleeson, Colin Farrell and the extremely hot Ralph Fiennes [tho have to say in this film, not hot just old!!]. Was really happy with both movies, but 'Get Smart' cracked P up way more than me and for once I agreed with the boy that wikipedia could possibly help with 'In Bruges'!! I had seen 'Sex and the city' a couple of weeks earlier and I had found that experience a bit lacking coz tho I had seen it with a whole bunch of girls, they possibly weren't like my close girl friends so there was no giggling about the film or the similarity to our lives or lack thereof espescially in the range of clothes and shoes - Men surprisingly weren't that fabulous though I did see some similarities between Mr. Big and the boy! I have a whole list of movies planned for this week since I seem to have missed the good ones recently - excessively annoyed since Indy seems to have disappeared from theatres! Anyway, the movie list for this week is:
  • The Incredible Hulk - Wednesday hopefully
  • Persepolis - looking at Thursday
  • Made of Honor - Saturday for sure
  • the Nanny Diaries - optional - have a feeling one can see this on TV + have not read the book as yet so hate watching movie first, classic example of the Devil wears Prada, I could not use my own imagination for anything!!

and this is not even taking into account the Bollywood releases which are due - really looking forward to Jaane Tu ya Jaane Na which has the fabulous song ' Hey Aditee!!'

Also this weekend, met up with adoptive parents from A and went for a birthday dinner too!Yay! I bes productive after ages!

Monday, June 16, 2008

Another one bites the dust!

Just back from yet another wedding - this one in the distant hills of Uttarakhand, Dehradun! I have realised though that I do the most travelling for my closest friend's weddings! For R, I took 11 hour flights, travelled a day and a half each way to be present at the wedding and in her adopted hometown for a mere 6 days. In this case too, mega travelling involved - taking trains after centuries and here too skipped the bachelorette or in this case, the most fun party with the overflowing alcohol!
I had been having doubts about this wedding and the reasons behind it - thinking that parental pressure and easy options were the motivating factors. However, seeing the 2 in action after a long time, all apprehension has disappeared - I don't know about the chemistry or the grand passion but they are each other's best friends and I believe that is most necessary to make the marriage a surefire success!
So we started on a tuesday evening after working the whole day - caught the 8.30 flight to Delhi, which surprisingly took off on time, caught a cab to a friend's house where 4 of us were congregation to catch the early morning train to D'dun. However, with one's flight delayed and the other's bus breaking down, we weren't all in till around 3 a.m leaving precious little sleep till 6 when we had to catch the train. Once we boarded the train and reached the destination, we needed baths asap having had the brilliant idea of not changing the night before and staying in tuesday's clothes for 24 hours+!! After what seemed like the annual bath, off to the parlour we went where I died of boredom during the blow out of my hair!! then to the cocktail where we slimily kept sending the boys to the bar to get us the booze! The next day we took a drive to see a bit of the place where I really learnt the meaning of small town - the town is 15 mins across with one main road and not much to do! then dressed for the wedding where my ex-flatmate looked gorgeous and talked all through the ceremony including making faces at every oath of which she did not approve! In between the 2 ceremonies, we sneaked off to do a little celebrating of our own which included looking through photies of the wonderful times we had as students in Pune which resulted in nostalgia for the days gone by and regret for the thought that we would never be as young or as carefree again! After the event, we proceeded to 'KaalRaatri' where the bride's sisters/friends keep the groom away from the bride whole night till the bidaai the next day.
Post this last occurence, B and me proceeded to Mussoorie where we rejected hotels, were rejected from hotels, finally found literally a flea bag motel and then proceeded to drown our sorrows through retail therapy! The next day was spent sight seeing, being awestruck by the beautiful valleys and the perennial mist/fog, the fantastic view from Lal Tibba the highest peak of the ' Queen of the Hills' and we discovered this quaint hotel which is actually a residence converted to a hotel with wonderful food and such lovely character! we met the charming owners and wondered how their grandparents were smart enough to buy property and tons of it! and might I add, his grand father and mine had the same profession - law!!
The last day saw tons of travel again - the previous routine reversed - the train followed by a flight both of which were delayed which means I reached home rather late and cranky!
I was a little cribby about the distance travelled but I am feeling rather refreshed and all in all I think the joy I got from seeing D peaceful and calm in her choice of lifemate was worth all the effort - after all that's what marriage is about - a lifetime committment to someone else's happiness!