I consider watching a show or even a movie akin to having something to eat, on some days you like something fancy and exotic, while on other days you can do with even a vada pao. Similar is the task of watching a fiction show or movie or even reading a book. Sometimes you like something intellectual and challenging, while just the next moment you want something light and easy to understand. So a few days ago when someone recommended a Pakistani show to me I thought it would be as bad as the Indian shows of today and was in no mood.
But then I saw a few minutes of episode 1 and something connected with me and hooked me (maybe the fact that it is a P G Wodehousian world had something to do with it).
Today, almost 30 episodes later I'm sorry that the show has ended.
The story is very simple - A guy and a girl (1st cousins staying in the same home) are about to get married but they kind of hate each other. So to break the impending marriage they create doubts, suspicions and hatred amongst their parents so that the parents themselves break off the marriage. And they do achieve this, unfortunately, by now they have fallen in love and want to get married but the parents hate each other and there is no way that marriage is going to happen. Adding to the confusion is number of colorful, comic characters that make the show come alive. The result is engaging and hilarious. Highly recommended for the unique story, punjabi dialogues, and madcap characters. I'm sure people on both sides of the border will love this.
The most disgusting and one of the scariest films seen by me.
When I say disgusting I mean there are shots of a body being cut open and body parts being taken out so this one is certainly not for the squeamish or the pukish. I found myself looking away more times than I would care to accept. And this is what makes the scary parts more frightening than usual because you know that there is a chopped up body somewhere nearby which is going to come alive and scare the
living daylights out of you. The performances are top-notch, the story is unique, but the climax could have been better. You kind of know what's going to happen. Reminds me a bit of 1408 which too was a unique horror film both about people trapped in terrifying places with no way out and the mind playing frightening games. What's real and what's not, difficult to judge.
This started off with a bang, right from the first page it zipped along at a brisk pace... But then around 20% into the novel, it started to lose momentum when the long descriptions started and the situations began repeating themselves. The protagonist takes more time to understand his predicament than the reader. I found myself saying, don't you understand where you are, and what's happening you simple, weak man? Frankly, the lead character was a bit of a sap, there are earthshattering events happening, different options, can lead to different outcomes. There is danger to many, maybe even to humanity itself, but the poor protagonist only wants to go to his home to his lovely wife and his kid. Boo hoo. In spite of everything, the only thing at stake here for him is his family life! Boo hoo. And then the story starts to go into bizarre territory as if the writer didn't know how to drag it along, he too had no idea what was happening. Remember Inception? The story had left the reader behind, and it didn't make sense at all. Quite frankly it was highly stupid if it didn't seem so highly scientific and intelligent. This is something that Hollywood does very well, it makes even the stupid seem intelligent by throwing a lot of science at you, and we the poor reader and audience feel, ohh boy, that scientific, then it's bound to be so clever that I can't understand it, so let me just accept it as a fact. But then they do go overboard, leaving logical readers like me way, way behind. And in the end I didn't really care about it. Yawn. Well begun is half done, but that's just about it, it's just half done. Yet, it is an interesting read because of the concept and the broad storyline. Could have been much, much better. DARK MATTER
Don’t get fooled by the title, it’s not actually about a perfect day. Quiet far from it. You could say it is about a typical day in a hellish but totally real world. A world that we may have heard about, read and ignored but have never seen. A Perfect Day shows this world to you in all its brutal, frightening glory. This is a moving, real story about aid workers and their typical day as they go about helping the common people who have been ruined by war. The plot, in short, is this (I can bet my hat you haven't seen or heard anything like this before) - a human dead body has fallen in a fresh water well that's the only drinking water source for miles around. The aid workers have to get the body out so that the locals can get some water to drink, but to get the body out they need rope, and there is no rope around, so the aid workers go around looking for a long rope in the war ravaged land! How's that for a plot! This is an absolutely stunning film to watch. Visually spectacular, bizarre, quirky and some of the bravest on screen characters. Truly, these aid workers are more gutsy that even the soldiers, as they have nothing to fight back with! They don't have guns or grenades, and I wondered why are they doing this? Why are they there instead of being in their comfortable homes watching a movie like me? Why? Why? But that's how humans are. Some people sit in front of a laptop and recommend films to watch, while some other go out there and save lives while putting themselves in danger. How's that for a career choice! Crazy guys, no? This movie shows a world that seems more fantasy than real and and it has some of the best actors of today together - Benicio Del Toro and Tim Robbins Watch this unique film if you want to watch an almost perfect film. Frightening and moving and exciting and humorous and suspenseful and inspiring... go ahead, watch it and make your day perfect. A Perfect Day
What would you say if I told you that a time will come when you can buy a zombie! You can keep him/her in your home with your family and your little ones and make the zombie the servant/slave who does everything you want. No more paying through the nose to get your house cleaned and other daily chores. Everything done by your own zombie butler/servant/slave! Whatsmore, it won't eat you in return too! Now how's that for an idea. After watching this I wish this zombie world was true. Sigh. Well that's what Fido is all about. It's also about emotional bonding between the domesticated zombie (Fido) and his masters, specially the kid who loves Fido more than just a pet. This film is set in an alternate, maybe even a better world where an innovative company called Zomcon provides zombie collars along with remote controls that can be used to control your own zombie, thus rendering them useful as household workers. Rest and Relax, your zombie will do everything for you. This is an entirely unseen world, and quite frankly an amazing set-up. The movie is emotional, funny and very different from any other film I've seen. There are no parallels to this one.
And yesterday I saw the grossly overrated and quite boring Train To Busan and I almost fell asleep at the sheer stupidity of the movie and the emotional manipulation that the Korean movie has managed to accomplish. It's setting was interesting, a zombie outbreak across the land while some people are trapped on a running train. But then the story was so full of cliches and typical characters that it became an irritating film for me. Now compare the writing of Train To Busan with this unknown zombie flick and you will see how different they are in terms of idea, execution, twists and turns and novelty. So here's my verdict, if you liked Train To Busan then watch this one. It's way, way better. In comparison to other zombie films it's way, way out there, It's the next level of writing. Quite like another zombie romance film Warm Bodies. Fido and Warm Bodies are the next level of zombie entertainment. They push the writing further, are more imaginative, more fantastic, yet more believable and emotional. Wicked, Witty, Wild, Wacky, Wonderful and Wabulous! Unfortunately, it's big budget rehashes like Train To Busan that rake in the moolah. Quite frankly I too wish I had a zombie of my own to do all this tedious writing for me, or atleast be able to proof read what I write, because proof reading is the worst part of writing, and I'm sure any zombie could do it with a bit of training (if one were to watch me proof reading, I do resemble a zombie, grunts, groans, gnashes, drool, glazed eyes, stiff body!). But it's movies like Fido that make me come alive again, become half resembling a human being and make me continue to write and more importantly proof read. Fido
Joe Dirt is a janitor in a radio station, he has a weird hairdo, he wears weird clothes, and has the weirdest backstory ever. He is a total nut job. And weirdly funny yet likeable. An RJ spots him, working in the radio station, finds him hilarious and puts him on air to make fun of him and get some life in this show. But Joe isn't the kind of guy who minds being made fun of. In fact, he's someone who doesn't probably even know what's meant to be an insult and what's not. He's cool with whatever happens and doesn't take life too seriously. He generates his own happiness, doesn't need happiness or complements from others to feel good about himself. He creates fun, excitement, satisfaction, mirth out of thin air. Where others would have been down and out, depressed, lonely, sad, suicidal, he chugs along like an unstoppable fun machine. Reminds one of Don Quixote, doesn't he? What a guy this Joe Dirt is! So, back to the story, Joe Dirt comes live on the radio and makes the listeners and the show come alive! With thousands of people listening to him, the RJ makes a fool of him, insulting him, ridiculing him, but Joe being Joe isn't embarrassed at all. He doesn't mind anything and starts to talk about his own life telling it as it happened. It's stupid, sad, dirty and downright funny. Joe enjoys talking about himself and people start to enjoy listening to him. Slowly people who were laughing at him begin to laugh with him. There is loss and defeat and ridicule and embarrassment and yet, there is life and there is mirth. It's quite inspiring if you look at it. People are hooked, they are entertained, they laugh, they cry and Joe Dirt becomes a sensation of sorts (reminds me of Karl Pilkington). The basic backstory is that Joe Dirt is looking for his parents whom he lost in Grand Canyon, and he is travelling through his life looking for them. And his search takes him from one hilarious adventure to another. This is basically a road film, where one will find short stories with a beginning, middle and end all combining to make a much larger story. Each story has something special, and is quite unexpected. The one with Christopher Walken reminds me of A History Of Violence. So as these smaller stories unfold and connect with the bigger story, people start to cheer for the poor loser, and he becomes a hero of sorts. This is funny, entertaining and fast paced. David Spade is incomparable as Joe Dirt. No one could have done this better.
I'm sure we must have all been bullied by someone or the other at one time or another in our lives. Aliens and ghosts may not be real, but bullies certainly are! Bullies don't necessarily have to be big and strong. They can be superiors or bosses at work, they can be those who hold powerful positions, they can even be small, delicate women. In short, anyone can be a bully as long as that person has some power over a weaker another. Joe Somebody is a film about an average Joe who stands up against a bully. He is just your average Joe, nothing special about him, nothing that stands out and screams look at me, I'm important. Even his actions are purely ordinary, he's a good father, a good husband, a good colleague, a good boss, what he's certainly not good at is being a tough guy... and this film is all about him becoming one and standing up for himself against the one who's powerful and mean enough to ridicule and humiliate him. Here's the brief synopsis - Joe Scheffer (Tim Allen) is punched and humiliated by the office bully Mark in front of his
daughter and this forces Joe to seek revenge and redemption. He challenges the bully to a rematch and meanwhile decides to become tough by taking martial arts lessons. As news spreads of skirmish with the bully, Joe suddenly finds himself becoming a hero of sorts and gaining a promotion and growing in popularity. Now as the world looks up at him he's determined to show everyone that he's somebody and not a nobody. This is a good family movie, a light-hearted comedy, about a meek, submissive man, there's a strong cast here including Jim Belushi as the martial art's instructor and an out-of-work action star. The climax is one with a serious message, may not be what one hopes for, still this is worth a watch for its unique story. It was a flop when it was released, but it's not so in my book. Joe Somebody
Retired Colonel Shamsher Singh’s only daughter Sonia is about to get married to a rich playboy and a Casanova who is known as the bad boy of town. Drugs, drunken driving, affairs, he has had his share of it all.
The Colonel is desperate to stop the marriage and his friend-cum-Secretary suggests something called Stockholm syndrome where a hostage befriends the nice kidnapper.
Two young souls, in the beautiful environs of the mountains, alone in a secluded cottage. The man, a perfect gentleman. And the girl suffering from infatuation with the biggest idiot in the world. Soon she will surely realize the folly of her ways and will not be able to resist the charms of the man who has abducted her. And moreover, the kidnapping will be a fake one. So no one but the daughter will know she has been ‘kidnapped’! If anyone asks he will tell them that she has gone on a vacation somewhere!
So Aryan, who is the Colonel's Godson is contacted. Aryan works for the Colonel in his company called the TraWell group (life is a journey, travel well!). He is a boot camp Instructor and is trained in disciplining wayward youngsters. Once he is explained everything he too agrees to ‘fake’ kidnap Sonia as he is indebted to Colonel and will do anything for him. Also, Sonia and Aryan are childhood friends so she may not be as scared of him because she knew him well once. After all, it is a fake kidnapping, how bad can get!
But as Aryan is carrying out this fake kidnapping someone witnesses it and mistakes it for real. Soon cops arrive at the shocked Colonel’s place and set up their tracking equipment to wait for the kidnapper’s call. The government goes a step head and announces a reward for the saviour of the kidnapped girl and all hell breaks loose as a countrywide manhunt begins. The goons of the city also jump in wanting to re-kidnap the girl and get her ransom for themselves.
Meanwhile Aryan and the kidnapped Sonia make their way to the beautiful hills in the Himalayas little knowing that the world knows about the kidnapping. As hordes of saviours, cops and goons hunt the couple, the fake kidnapper Aryan slowly starts to become Sonia’s protector and the couple start to fall in love.
Stolen hearts is a fun, romantic, chaotic, madcap story with tons of chaos, tons of characters and tons of confusion.
The title is a bit misleading. Sex Drive is a pun. It is a tiny bit about the sex drive of youngsters, but it's more about a drive that these youngsters with sex drive take to get some sex, and the loony adventures that happen on the way. People who are looking for some raunchy sex, well, move along folks, this isn't for you (although their is nudity and sex in this one). In short, it is a road movie about a group of youngsters who eventually come of age after the journey of their lives. Remember SuperBad? This sex drive is quirky, outrageous, over the top, with ridiculous situations in which crazy characters are thrown and the overall result is absurd and hilarious. It's also a bit about emotions, friendship and romance, if you like that sort of thing. The plot? This is broadly it - a goofy, virgin meets a girl on the net with whom he pretends to be a stud, exaggerates his physical qualities a lot and impressing her pants off. So she invites him to drive to her town that's some distance away to have sex with her, The virgin plans with his best friend and takes him alone. For the ride, he steals his older bully brother's beloved car and travels out of town to get some tail. But soon, like many other road movies, they have trouble with their car and they meet an Amish guy and things start to happen thick and fast. Remember Harold and Kumar go to White Castle, Road Trip, Euro Trip? Well this is somewhat like those, It too has many funny guys making brief cameos as crazy characters leading to sheer absurdity. If you are in the mood for some light hearted brainless fun, go for this Sex Drive. Sex Drive
This is a highly innovative, imaginative and inventive low budget horror, suspense, thriller, mystery, comedy movie from the 80s.
I remember watching it a long time back and it has stayed with me since. Some days ago I found it on youtube and decided to try it out again. And I must say, it still worked.
Even in today's time the film has a very different take on the horror genre. And it's highly imaginative! The most unique thing about this is that it is about a house which has doors and passages that lead you into a different past, time and world, where there are flying monsters, creepy crawlies, and horrors from one's past.
At one point you open the door and you see a closet on the other side, moments later you open the same door and it leads see right into the Vietnam jungle! Another door leads you to the very edge of a cliff with the roaring sea and large, jagged rocks below, while the very next moment it opens into another room. The sharp tools in the house come alive at night, along with the dead animals hung on the walls. One second you are talking to your beautiful wife, and the next moment she is an ugly monster with a creepy voice (but I guess that's true with many real wives as well, so not much of an imagination there).
William Katt plays Roger Cobb and is a renowned novelist trying to write his new novel about his terrible experiences in the Vietnam war. His son has vanished mysteriously and this has been one of the reasons why he is living separately from his wife. He's still haunted by the past - the Vietnam war and his missing son.
The movie begins when Roger's aunt commits suicide and leaves him the house where his son had mysteriously vanished.
Roger moves into his creepy aunt's house to finish his novel and maybe get closure about his missing son. In short flashbacks we find out that he lived in the house once along with the aunt, his wife, and son. Roger still believes that his son is alive and his disappearance hes something to do with this mysterious house.
Soon he discovers that the House is a portal between the real world and his past.
As Roger starts to battle the house he is continuously interrupted by nosy and pretty neighbor Tanya, and not so pretty but equally nose neighbor Harold.
All these elements combine to give an old school horror film that still works in today's big budget CGI lead time.
So if you are in the mood for some time travel, and something different, check this House down below. You will find the link to the full film here.
This stars Alec Baldwin and Kim Basinger who keep on getting married and then separated again and again and again and again. Hence the title. The first time they get married is not by choice, they are forced to get married by a bad ass gangster, but after that they are squarely to blame. Alec Baldwin (Charley) is rich and is engaged to the daughter of the owner of movie studio. Just before marriage he and his pals go to Las Vegas for his bachelor party. At a bar they come across a gorgeous singer named Vicky (Kim Basinger) and Charley is stunned. He can't keep his eyes off her, and he wants to one last hurrah before he bites the dust! Charley sends his friends away and goes after Vicky and one thing leads to another and they end up jumping into bed where they are caught by gangster Bugsy Siegel and now it comes out that the doll Vicky is his moll. Of course, this is where the gangster Siegel is supposed to chop Charley into a hundred pieces and feed him to the hogs, but no, he has a more innovative punishment. He forces rich boy Charley to marry Vicky! The next day Charley heads back home thinking it was quite a wild night but no harm done. But Siegel has gone a step ahead and announced to the whole world that Charley and Vicky are married. And thus begins the downfall of Charley as his engagement goes for a toss and he and Vicky get divorced and married again and again. They can't stay away from each other and so get married, and then they realize they can't stay together so grow apart. This movie was a flop for some reason, but I remember watching and enjoying it a lot. And well, the story is so different, definitely worth checking out I say. Unfortunately I couldn't find a trailer for this movie on the net, so here's a clip.
Titus is the name of the show and the lead character and it was created by its star, Christopher Titus, and is based on Titus' stand-up comedy act which in turn was based on his real family. In the show, Titus owns a custom car shop and hangs out with his dumb step-brother Dave. The two seem 'normal' when compared to their loony real father. This psycho father is the most unique character in this series who smokes, drinks, abuses, cheats and gets married multiple times. Moreover, he pulls nasty, mean pranks on his two sons to prevent them from becoming what he calls 'wussies'. He wants to toughen then up by making life miserable for them. He was married and divorced five times, with all of his ex-wives cleaning him out every time. So Titus has a lot of mothers and a father who is equal to a lot of crazy fathers. The more normal characters are the beautiful girlfriend who has a dysfunctional family of her own but pretends that everything is normal, and a nice goody-goody pansy friend called Tommy who seems to be gay, but is not. And Titus' real mother is deranged schizophrenic woman... So much for the family. The show has plots that deal with the serious problems in life like alcoholism, suicide, child molestation, murder and many other and laughs at each of them. Inspite of all the serious issues, it's still a very funny show. In fact a few episodes were censored, banned and never telecast, so problematic they seemed to moral authorities at the network. Luckily all the episodes are on youtube to be watched. Warning, this is no Friends or Everybody Loves Raymond, or like any other sitcom (maybe a bit like Arrested Development?). Titus
Simply put, this is a love story between a human and a zombie. This
is an absolutely new take on the zombie genre. A brave attempt at looking at
the done to death genre in a new way, and it works brilliantly.
All love stories have to have conflict, the conflict could
just be internal, within the couple, means the couple keep on meeting or are
stuck together, keep on fighting, hating each other, but finally confess their
love in the end.
And then there are the other kind of love stories, the older ones, where the opposition is from the family, or society or anyone other than
the couple. It’s not about how the couple fall in love, it’s more about how
they come together in the end. They fall in love instantly, but something
bigger than them keeps them apart till the end.
Warm bodies works on both levels, there is internal and external conflict. As a human and a zombie slowly
fall in love, and as three different external sources try to keep them apart. The
humans, the zombies and the bonies.
But all said and done, this is still a romantic film at
heart, with thriller and comic elements throughout. Really entertaining.
And the message here is simple, it’s love that makes us come alive, because as zombies start to fall in love they start to become more human like. Love is the cure for zombieitis as the dead start to come back to life! On me, love doesn't have any effect, instead a good movie accompanied by a few pegs will work wonders. But normal rules don't apply to me, I'm a writer after all.
This is a sweet film. At first glance it seems like a comedy, but it's really not. It's starts with a marriage and ends with a funeral. The plot is quite unique. During the marriage celebrations of the protagonist (Justin Long) the best man gets drunk and behaves in a most obnoxious manner embarrassing the groom and his bride. The best man seems like a nutcase as he continues his drunken shenanigans in his hotel room long after the marriage party is over. And then, all of a sudden he dies! I was like WTF did just happen? How can he suddenly die? He was the life of the film so far! Well, anyway, he does die, and then Justin Long and his understanding bride, who were just going to head out to their honeymoon have to cancel their plans. They reluctantly decide to go to the best man's home town and organize a funeral instead of honeymooning and get in touch with his family. The problem is they know nothing about the best man. No idea about his background, family, history. In fact Justin realizes he didn't know anything about his best friend! And as they travel to where the best friend lived they start to discover a lot about the best man who went down. And a lot about love and life. This is a movie about discovering a man's real worth after the person is gone. It's an emotional movie with positive vibes, not depressing at all. Yes, it's about a death and a funeral but deep down it's also about celebrating the life of a loved one who has left us. This is really an unknown movie with depth. Best Man Down
Written and Directed by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, this is a film about coming of age of three youngsters in an old fashioned laid back town called Cemetery Junction.
The three friends spend their days hanging out, drinking, chasing girls and just doing nothing at all. One of them wants to escape starts to want to escape from the place and explore the outside world. But his friends are happy with life and don't think too much about what will happen. In short, they lack ambition. But as they grow up and a girl comes in between they are forced to grow up and make choices at they realize they can't be young and carefree forever. Life has to change, they have to become adults and move on. In a way, this a slice of life story, something that everyone has experienced or will experience once in a lifetime. It reminded me of a time when I just watched films and didn't have to think, analyze about them too much. But then I too grew up. Sigh.
Considering the Ricky Gervais is more of a funny guy I was
expecting a pure comedy but this one had depth in it. A lot of depth and wasn't really a comedy at all but more about coming to terms with growing up.
In terms of genre this was a bit similar to Superbad, frankly Superbad had much more going for it, but this wasn't bad either.
Watch it if you want to watch a realistic story about growing up sprinkled with a few funny moments.
I have seen a lot of movies, good, bad and ugly. And when I say a lot, I mean a lot. Imagine watching one movie, sometimes even two or three each day. Most of them are forgettable, meaning even a few days later I don't remember much of what I saw and they pass into movie heaven never to be heard of or seen again.
But then there are certain movies that stick with me all along. I never forget them, for various reason. It could be the actor, the location, the setting, the action, or anything else that makes it unforgettable.
And then you come across a movie which ticks all the right boxes, and most importantly it leaves an impression because of its story/writing. This kind of a movie is the very best as for me writing is supreme, it is numero uno. No star or director can save a movie if the writing sucks.
If I were to make a list of such films (which I am doing right now via this blog), this is frankly the best of the rest! As far as the story and the script goes, this stands apart in originality, mystery, suspense, action, thrill (I rate it as highly as Back To The Future and a tad better than The Butterfly Effect! That's how good it is!).
This is loaded! And it blew me away.
The story is set in two separate timelines - 1999 and 1969. We intercut between the two and meet the two lead characters, in 1999 it's NYPD detective John Sullivan (Caviezel) who stays in the same home as his fireman father Frank (Quaid) who stayed there thirty years ago.
John find his father's old radio and begins to tinker with it and because of some mumbo jumbo the old radio starts to connect to its old (when it was new) self! Meaning it starts to transmit conversation between two men in two timelines (1999 and 1969) who are talking via the same radio to each other! Meaning using that radio the cop son (John, the cop) starts to talk to his own fireman father (Frank in 1969) one night before the father is going to die in a fire related incident.
Realizing that it's his father he is talking to John warns his father not to do such and such thingy (of course, the son knows how his father died and tries to change events).
The connection gets cut and father and son separate once again. The next time the son logs in he finds out that his father is still alive and has not perished in the fire as he was supposed to.
But this one event has changed history because of this small change they have put themselves in danger as a psycho killer will be targeting both in their two different timelines (not to mention their wife/mother has been killed and what not!). So father and son join hands via the radio to stop the brutal killer targeting them and become a family once again.
Well it may sound confusing and a bit far-fetched but it's really not, inspite of the twisted storyline the it's easily understood and exciting and edge-of-the-seat, nailbiting stuff.
If you haven't seen it, watch this one. No, no, don't thank me, I'm just doing my good deed of the day. But if you do want to help then do check out my writing How I Murdered Myself.