The Hurt Locker - A Must watch

I first heard about this tiny movie called The Hurt Locker at the Golden Globes when James Cameron, while picking up his award for best director, doffed his cap at Kathryn Bigelow indicating that he thought she would win the coveted award (for those interested in trivia, Kathryn Bigelow was once briefly married to James Cameron in the late 80s - early 90s). Met up with a friend for lunch the following week and he raved about The Hurt Locker and lent us the DVD. I didn't know what to expect because I am not a huge fan of war movies and wasn't quite sure if I would like it that much. But boy was I surprised.

For the majority of us who've never had to fight in wars and stare death in the face, this movie is a hard-hitting look into the life of soldiers in Iraq. Amidst the chaos of war, how do these guys continue to function without snapping? How does a soldier retain his grip on sanity and switch back into normalcy as a husband and father when he goes home? The cast led by Jeremy Renner (SFC William James), does a phenomenal job of portraying the hardships of being out at war - it's a hard thing to do without going overboard. If this were a Bollywood movie, I can only cringe when I imagine how over the top it would have been. But luckily for us, it isn't. Anthony Mackie and Brian Geraghty portray Sgt. Sanborn and soldier Owen Eldridge remarkably well - the movie opens with the loss of their Sgt when he tries to diffuse a bomb. This leads to the addition of William James to their team. It turns out that he is a bit of a loose cannon prone to doing things his way. How do they tackle the enemy on enemy lands - how do they get up and go out there without knowing if they will come back at the end of the day - that forms the gist of the movie.

This movie made my heart go out to these anonymous soldiers who fight a war - many of them barely old enough to drink and yet old enough to go to battle. For those of you looking for a glossy feel-good movie, this is definitely not it but I highly recommend it, if nothing else, then just to empathize with the thousands of soldiers who have given up their lives and for the soldiers who are still out there fighting everyday. Another thing that struck me about the movie was the desolate look of Iraq - civilians who die in accidental or malicious cross-fire - when will they limp back to normalcy?

Golden (Globes) Night in Hollywood - Part Two

I am glad that they are airing the show live for us Californians finally! I never figured out why they would start the show at 8 pm for us and make us stay up late - so NBC, thank you for this one.

Some of the highlights of the show:

Ricky Gervais's funny monologue - taking potshots at his good friend Steve Carell, at Hollywood (looking at all the great work done by... plastic surgeons), NBC (let's get on with it before NBC replaces me with Jay Leno), Angelina Jolie etc. He did a decent job in all his bits through the presentation.

Nicole Kidman presented the first award for Best Supporting Actress that went to Monique from Precious (am yet to watch the flick but I heard it's amazing yet depressing). While on the subject, am not sure why Nicole Kidman chose not to wear a bra/pasties or something - wearing that gorgeous outfit, one would imagine that there would be attention to detail on the stylist's part at least. Toni Collette looking gorgeous in a shimmering outfit accepted Best Actress in TV Comedy. John Lithgow accepted an award too. Do not like Felicity Huffman's outfit. Jane Krakowski 9looking fabulous) and Neil Patrick Harris presented the Best Actor in Drama award to Michael C Hall who recently revealed that he is battling cancer. Best Actress in TV Drama went to my favourite Julianna Margulies for one of my favourite new shows The Good Wife. Loved her outfit too - the asymmetric neckline rocked.

Cher and Christina Aguilera looking suitably funky presented the award for best song which went to the song from Crazy Heart - I was bummed that I See You from Avatar did not win - Leona Lewis did a good job and I just loved the song itself. Best Original Score went to Up. They keep showing Kate Winslet in the audience and she looks very pretty. Amy Adams looked charming, and with Josh Brolin, presented the award to Grey Gardens for Best Mini-Series or TV Movie. Drew Barrymore was there with Justin Long so it looks like their on-off relationship is on again. Colin Farrell presented the Best Actress Comedy award to Meryl Streep and Sam Worthington, looking dapper as usual, along with Zoe Saldana, presented awards to Drew Barrymore, Kevin Bacon. Jennifer Aniston was a presenter and looked fab. She was more confident this time around as a presenter, as compared to the last time she did that - methinks it's because a certain Mr. and Mrs. Smith were not present at the awards show. Alec Baldwin won in his category (again) but he always does a fabulous job no matter what his role.

Sofia Loren got a standing ovation from everyone and her royal fabulousness presented the award for best Foreign Language film to White Ribbon. Zachary Levi (who I saw in this movie called All about Ray and loved by the way; I also like him in Chuck) and Amy Poehler (love love love Parks & Recreation) presented the Best Dramatic Series to Mad Men. Taylor Lautner (ever poised and confident) introduced 500 Days of Summer (another movie on my To Watch list). Choloe Sevigny (did not understand her dress choice by the way - it made her look like a frilly pillow case or something) nabbed Best Supporting Actress in a TV series, Halle Berry looking super fit and fab presented the Best Actor in a Supporting role in movie award. It was good to see Robert DeNiro and Leonardo DiCaprio reminisce as they honoured Martin Scorsese (as I was looking him up I discovered that he shares my birthday - fancy that!!). He got a standing ovation, deservedly so. He graciously shared his award with all his collaborators on all his movies.

I was very happy to see James Cameron win Best Director Motion Picture for Avatar - he completely deserved it. He acknowledged the director of The Hurt Locker (this movie is slowly gaining ground - another one on my To Watch in the near future list). Glee took home honours for Best TV Series - Comedy/Musical. It was a treat to see the cast of Hangover present their movie and it also won top honours for Best Motion Picture - Comedy. If you haven't watched it already, please please watch it - it's FUN. The Governator introduced Avatar - pronounced Aavadaar - he also took potshots at NBC. Sandra Bullock won for The Blind Side. Robert Downey won for Sherlock Holmes - his acceptance speech proved that he's as crazy as ever :). Avatar won Best Picture. And that's how the first awards of the year concluded.

Golden (Globes) Night in Hollywood - Part One

Sunday evening 4 pm:
Grocery shopping for the week - check
Spot of cooking for the week - check
Golden Globes Red Carpet - here I come. I am writing this blog as I watch the red carpet and the show. This first post is dedicated to the red carpet. Part Deux will be more about the show itself - Ricky Gervais as the host - am certain it will be fun. Enjoy!

E Channel had Giuliana Rancic and Ryan Seacrest working the red carpet and interviewing celebrities as they came in. They are veterans now at chatting up the stars and did a good job as expected. Billy Bush on the other hand was blundering his way through the red carpet on NBC - I swear that the guy sometimes does not know what to say. Natalie Morales did a decent job and tried to hold fort.

Some of the standouts on the red carpet for me: the lovely Emily Blunt looking like a vision in pink, Courtney Cox for once looking good - she usually takes risks on the red carpet and has never managed to pull it off except for tonight in my opinion, Kate Hudson and Kristen Bell looking pretty in white, Lisa Edelstein from House was gorgeous in silver. Sandra Bullock was in a fetching colour. The cast of Glee looked very well put together - I hope they do well. Julia Roberts, Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson took potshots at NBC regarding the late night fiasco going on currently. Jennifer Garner looked pretty but alarmingly thin to me. Regarding the guys I really have nothing to say unless someone comes in wearing a garbage bag - the guys do well if they have a suit or a tux on.

Now for the "What were they thinking" - Tina Fey - love the gal but hated her outfit. She needs to sit down the stylist for a serious chat. Mariah Carey - never know what he is thinking but she had her globes out for the night (could not let that opportunity to take a shot pass). I think she would have looked better if she covered them up. I was not a fan of Sofia Vergara's outfit - I think the bow thing was not working for me. Heather Graham's outfit would have looked better if she had gone with an outfit with a symmetrical length but that girl will look good in anything. Absolutely did NOT like Patrcia Arquette's outfit but luckily the gal had a smashing accessory in the form of her handsome husband, Thomas Jane, on her arm. I had no idea what Quentin Tarantino had on.

So those were some of my likes and dislikes - let me know what you thought. Click here to check out some of the red carpet arrivals.

Some pics for you:

Beautiful People

For the longest period, at least since I can remember, Indian television did not have too many chat shows - and by chat shows I mean, a one-on-one with a celebrity where everything is unscripted and "real". I remember we had Phool Khile hain Gulshan Gulshan with Tabassum as the hostess and I was maybe 10-12 years old then but I was a fan of the show. In more recent times, we had Simi Garewal's Rendezvous which was another big hit and for a while the only show out there. Of late however, we have been subjected to chat shows on every channel and it suddenly seems like everyone is a chat show host. Of the myriad shows out there, I particularly loved watching Vir Sanghvi's Star Talk and Karan Johar's Koffee with Karan (2 hosts with completely different styles by the way, but both completely entertaining). It's been a while since I saw a chat show of similar calibre - I did enjoy Sajid Khan's Sajid Superstars and Farah Khan's Tere Mere Beech mein and continue to watch On the Couch with Koel when time permits but I recently discovered CNBC's Beautiful People with Anuradha Sengupta and it has fulfilled the need for my weekly dose of celebrity pop culture- at least for the present.

Anuradha Sengupta does a great job as the host and interviewer. This far, I have watched the episodes (links added for your convenience) where she interviewed Rajkumar Hirani, Shobhaa De, Amitabh and Kareena Kapoor and I must say that I like her style (and her subjects too - it was an absolute delight to see Sanjana Kapoor on tv after a long long time). She does not mince words - be it in relation to addressing the interviewee's latest controversy as she did with Raju Hirani or in confronting them with their propensity to only go after "soft" targets as she did with Shobhaa De (on a side note, Shobhaa De by the way looks completely weird - I have a feeling she got herself one Botox injection too many and her forehead appears to be rendered immobile - for her sake I hope she does not go the Dolly Parton/Priscilla Presley way), Anuradha Sengupta does her job thoroughly. She asks the questions most viewers would want to ask, she does not shy away from pushing her subjects to reveal more than they would originally want to reveal and does a good job with her research. I for one, am excited to have discovered this show and will continue to explore and watch all the episodes out there.

For the folks out there who are like me and enjoy a good tete-a-tete with interesting conversation, this will be a fun watch. Watch it on CNBC in India or online at www.youtube.com.

Avatar - A Review

On a blustery cold evening, the hubby and I decided to watch Avatar with my cousin and her fiance in Rhode Island. I was not very enthused about the idea because I had heard mixed reviews though some aspects of the movie were really hyped up and it has generally been my experience that the more the hype the more the disappointment plus the weather was such that you would want to sit indoors - so I just went along with the plan because the others were keen on it. Boy was I happy I did! Move over Robert Pattinson, hello Sam Worthington.

But first, the plot of the movie - simple story with some romance and action blended in. The flick is set in the planet Pandora, inhabited by the Na'vi. They have this rare mineral/metal aptly called 'Unobtanium'. A big Corporation run by humans is after this Unobtanium and will stop at nothing to get it. As a ploy to infiltrate the Na'vi, they have designed these 9-feet tall beings with human DNA blended in to look and act like the Na'vi. These beings called Avatars are controlled by the human mind and take on the 'driver's' personality. The movie starts with Jake Sully, a paraplegic ex-marine who is offered his dead twin brother's spot to go to the planet Pandora and operate one of the Avatar's that can only be driven by him since he shares his twin brother's DNA. Thus begins the adventure. Jake Sully finds himself on the planet and befriends Neytiri, the daughter of the tribal chief after she saves his life in the forest. The Na'vi decide to teach Jake their way of life. As he is educated in the Na'vi way of life, he begins to start to empathize and identify with them rather than with the humans that want to destroy and take over the planet.

The story is simple and uncomplicated - the special effects out of this world (pun unintended) and mind-blowing. I would highly recommend that this movie be watched in 3D - if its an IMAX 3D combination, even better. Pandora has been painstakingly designed and developed by James Cameron and crew with great attention to detail - what with the plantation, the animals, the Na'vi characteristics (apparently they even developed a language for this movie), the mountains etc. James Cameron has revolutionized film-making for the ages and I read that he literally had to build tools and equipment to enable him to shoot this movie to match his vision. Here is a link to a youtube video that talks a bit more about the making of Avatar.

Regarding the cast and crew, the casting is spot on. Every one of the actors has been cast perfectly in their role. Sigourney Weaver does an able job as Dr. Augustine, the Research head of the project. She initially clashes with Jake but eventually becomes his biggest supporter. Zoe Saldana is an actress to watch out for. I have liked her since her Center Stage days. She does a great job as Neytiri. The chemistry she and Sam Worthington share is palpable. Again, initially she is not a fan of Jake Sully but eventually she falls in love with him. She has portrayed her character's disbelief at the betrayal when she finds out that Jake Sully is actually an infiltrator, with sensitivity and emotion. Now to comment on Sam Worthington - he is an actor who has been pulled from relative obscurity (he starred in a few Australian movies) and catapulted to world fame. He has the right attitude and defiance needed to pull off Jake Sully. You can feel his confusion as he starts to identify more with the Na'vi way of life and comes to stand as one with them. I loved the movie and the inherent message to stop the plunder of Mother Nature. The effects as I mentioned before are quite awesome. They have captured the mannerisms of the actors into the Avatar bodies to the T. All in all, my recommendation is 2 thumbs up - but watch in 3D.

All Izz Well

Yes - I watched 3 idiots this weekend but before I begin, a very very happy new year to you all. My wish for all of us for 2010 is optimism and joy for the new decade that is upon us.

Now onto the movie - 3 idiots is a Hindi movie that used to come about very rarely but I am happy to say that it is not as unusual an occurrence any more. The movie is based loosely on the book 5 point Someone by Chetan Bhagat (I've added it to my request list at the library - am waiting eagerly to read the book).

The movie starts with 2 friends looking for their third pal, with whom they have lost touch since their graduation from Engineering college. Via flashbacks, the story of their friendship and days in Engineering College ICE (supposedly modeled after IIT) is told. Their long-lost friend Ranchordas Shyamaldas Chanchad (played remarkably by Aamir Khan) has an alag point of view which is evident from the moment he walks into the hostel and befriends his 2 roommates. He is not afraid to take on the system and question age-old teaching traditions which earns him the ire of their principal played by Boman Irani. The movie moves forward effortlessly with their comic capers and antics of their fellow students (especially Chatur played by Omi Vaidya - the darling of their principal affectionately dubbed Virus). After their journey to reach Rancho, they are shocked to find out that Rancho is not who he said he was. They then decide to continue their journey to discover the truth about their friend. Along the way they manage to stop Rancho's girlfriend Priya's (played by Kareena Kapoor) wedding in the nick of time. She also joins the quest for Rancho. Will they find Rancho? Will Priya and Rancho have their happy ending? To find out, you will have to watch 3 Idiots.

The movie kept my engaged throughout and the pace did not slack anywhere. However, I take issue with the whole storyline related to Priya's sister delivering her baby with the aid of Rancho and his friends. That to me was a little far-fetched. Our movies have a problem with staying away from melodrama. That said however, the movie is thoroughly enjoyable - I loved the ending. Everyone has done full justice to their roles. Madhavan and Sharman Joshi who play the 2 buddies have done a good job. Boman Irani is really good playing a caricature of a college principal, staying completely true to his atrocious character. Kareena Kapoor does a good job in her brief role as Priya. Her song and dance routine with Aamir Khan is an enjoyable throwback to Hindi cinema of the 60s and 70s. Aamir Khan is simply awesome. Other than some of his earlier movies where he was a newcomer trying to establish a foothold, he is yet to make a wrong choice in recent times. He is fabulous from start to finish. As a director Rajkumar Hirani has done an excellent job. He is another director who is yet to fumble - his track record as director so far has been unblemished what with this movie following the Munnabhai movies. Vidhu Vinod Chopra must be laughing his way to the bank.

A must watch for Bollywood enthusiasts.