I’m not a targeted viewer for the Hunger Games movie. Yet I decided to watch it on the opening weekend and it was as expected, not very interesting. Having read a couple of similar game-of-death books and even watched a very comparable movie back in the day, to me, hunger games is a missed opportunity. It is very obvious that the producers decided to reduce a violent hungry movie into a PG 13 to laugh their way to the bank and it seems like ‘the odds are ever in their favor’. In that process they killed the possibility to make it into a spine-chilling thriller.

Here is how the screenwriter’s palette looked like – a dystopian post-apocalyptic world, an emotional family sub-plot, worker class revolution, gothic political rulers, game-of-death, a forest where every inch is monitored through video cameras and ofcouse designed-on-demand AutoCAD wild animals. The movie’s payback does not match the build-up to it. Mel Gibson would have aced through a story like this, just like how he managed to pull-off an apocalypto.

I was actually bought into the movie during the first 20 minutes and then as they delayed and delayed the start of the game, it seemed to me like they were going in for a kill but what do I know, just read the first line of the post again.

Fanboy version of Rahman’s Hosanna mixed with the dance sequence from the bubbly 500 days of Summer.

I always believed it was the things you don’t choose that makes you who you are. Your city, your neighborhood, your family. People here take pride in these things, like it was something they’d accomplished. The bodies around their souls, the cities wrapped around those.

I wanted to quote this from Gone Baby Gone, when I read this post from Krish. BTW, GBG was a well written directorial debut from Ben Affleck. Yes, Ben Affleck as in Bennifer(Ben+Jennifer Lopez).

What is life without stories and toys and pixars and 3 dimensions and and and ofcourse buzzing light years!

Jeffrey Jacob Abrams aka JJ Abrams, the creator of Lost is the guest editor for this month’s Wired magazine and he has a cover story, The magic of mystery which is neat. I see the cover story as a continuation of the TED talk that he presented two years ago.

Lost is probably one of the best sitcoms every made by the humans(!). I totally dig it. Yes, its indeed better than Seinfeld, Friends or MASH. Lost is made up of mysterical connections between the people of plane and show up on the right time. His quest for the mystery continues that even in his debut movie, Mission Impossible 3, he didn’t really reveal the contents of Rabbit Foot(wasn’t that the whole point of the movie). This serving of MI is probably the best of all the 3 versions.

The good thing is that Hollywood is taking the mysteries of Abrams seriously and he is remaking Star Trek movie. Don’t think we will have a surprise of Leonard_Nimoy playing Spock.

P.S: Star Trek releases on 05/07 and if you are planning, wait for an IMAX release. It’s already getting rave reviews from advance screenings.

1) Why do blogs start resembling mainstream media as they become popular ? So is blogging a reason to beat the bureaucracy, get big and become a part of it ?

2) Blogs written by non-sub-intellectuals still discuss Indian politics, explain ?

3) Hollywood has bad acting but not so easily spotted like Kolly/Bolly/Tollywood. Kollywood has bad acting in every single movie. Recent example, Naan Kadavul. What makes the difference ?

Best Original Score – Motion Picture

The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button
Composed by Alexandre Desplat

Changeling
Composed by Clint Eastwood

Defiance
Composed by James Newton Howard

Slumdog Millionaire
Composed by A. R. Rahman

Frost/Nixon
Composed by Hans Zimmer

I only hope he gets it. Way to go, buddy !!

BTW, waiting to watch Frost/Nixon.

Andrew Stanton and Pixar just whizzed past every other animation house in Hollywood. Not only they made a blockbuster, they also made a heartfelt classic like E.T.

For the Hollywood, which has exhausted all romatic scripts of the world, here is the new age robot romance. One can be sure that Wall-E is going walk away with a bunch of Oscars.

With enough nods to Kubrick’s Space Odyssey and other such sci-fi films, Wall-E is a film to enjoyed in the big screen. If the first 30 poetic minutes aren’t interesting for you, do wait for the action filled second-half. And don’t miss to recognize the touch of Moondrampirai/Sadma at the fag-end.

Wall-E looked like he was built from Lego bricks. And Eve was simply looking like an iEgg. Kudos to the amazing soundtrack. A snippet from Thus Spake Zarathustra keeps repeating as a tribute to Space Odyssey.

And did they tell you, this is not some kids movie that Pixar usually creates. This is probably the best romantic movie of the year. So do flock the theatres with your BF/GF.

Here’s the hypebyte – This is the second best Pixar film after Finding Nemo. Or may be the first. You tell me.

What a combo, Pixar and Robots. Be there to watch it.

Meanwhile, the only reviewer of hollywood with a common-man’s point of view, Peter Travers, gives a glowing review for Angelina’s Wanted. Tickets wanted.

The whole world loves the movie. I don’t. I thought that it didn’t even come close the Transformers script. Adding to it the Rajinikanth-ish scenes when Ironman saves the villager from getting shot by terrorists.

I get it now. It was probably the theatre and sound effects. And I want to watch it again to like it. I will try, honestly.