Munich, Man on Fire

Recently i watched a couple of Hollywood movies during the weekend. They were "Munich" by Steven Spielberg and ,"Man on Fire". The latter was a old movie but i got a chance to watch it. I watched "Munich" in a nearby theatre. I was very much interested in historic events and i was aware of the Munich incident in 1972 through internet. So i was eagerly waiting for the movie to be released. It was a great piece of work by Spielberg. Australian born Eric Bana was terrific. I never knew that it was him who acted in "Hulk". I liked his acting in "Troy" as the brother of the prince of Troy who was the main cause of the Greek invasion of troy. But here in Munich he's shown his class of acting as Avner, an Israeli Mossad Agent leading the team in hunting down the Palestinian "Black September" members responsible for the Munich Massacre. Eric Bana has led the cast with a awesome performance of a man tormented in the beliefs he was raised upon and what he believes after the experience he went through. Thogh it was a very long film i really liked it.

The other movie which i saw was the 2004 film "Man on Fire" which too had wonderful performances by Denzel Washington and Dakota Fanning. Its all about an ex-CIA agent/assassin John Creasy played by Denzel Washington employed as a body-guard of a nine-year old Pita Ramos daughter of a Mexican industrialist. The film has been shot in Mexico City where frequent kidnappings (like 24 abductions in 6 days) make people worry and hire body-guards for their kids. Slowly Creasy becomes very much attached to the kid and all of a sudden she's kidnapped. Being wounded badly Creasy recovers and kills everyone involved and benefitted in the kidnapping. Certainly its one of the finest movies I have seen for quite some time. The acting by both Denzel and Dakota are just fabulous.

Happy New Year

First of all a very Happy New Year to everyone.

I made use of the Christmas and New Year holidays and watched some (almost all) of the movies which I missed!! In a span of ten days I watched Thotti Jaya, Aaru, Kanda Naal Mudhal, Thavamai Thavamirundhu, Sandakozhi and some Hindi, English movies.

I saw Thotti Jaya in Cincinnati along with my sister and brother-in-law. It was a quite decent film but I expected something more from Simbhu after watching his Manmathan. I really loved the music and songs. The story is yet another old wine in new bottle. Gopika was gorgeous. My favorite song Uyire En Uyire was fascinating.

I didn’t like Aaru. It was utter waste. I don’t know why actors like Surya do such films.

Kanda Naal Mudhal was really catchy. Performances of both Prasanna and Laila were simply superb. This role would be a landmark in Laila’s career. A perfect comeback for Laila. Prasanna gets another role that suits his strength. He has continued his good performances in Azhagiya Theeyae and Kasthoori Maan in Kanda Naal Mudhal too. Both Lakshmi and Revathy were not acting naturally. All the songs were nice. Kudos to Priya for her directorial debut.

Thavamai Thavamirundhu…. It really touched everyone’s hearts. I don’t know, Cherans last three films disturbed me a lot. His Pandavar Bhoomi reminded me of my childhood days when we used to spend our holidays with all our relatives together. The song “Avaravar Vaazhkkaiyil Aayiram Aayiram Maatrangal” just took me years back. Autograph rewinded me to my past memories. This film took back every individual to their childhood days which can never be forgotten. And now “Thavamai Thavamirundhu”. When Rajkiran takes his sons to school on his cycle, I could see my dad taking me to school on his cycle years ago. Thavamai Thavamirundhu brings about the best in family values, which again most of us will be able to relate to.

The film Sandakozhi, I would say is Run II. All the same. It is yet another action movie with Vishal and Meera Jasmine as lead pair. Meera Jasmine’s acting was awesome in this movie especially the scene in which she asks hero Vishal for matchbox. She has come up with an excellent performance that captures every nuances of the character.

In my next blog I’ll try to give you my views on some of the English movies which I watched recently.

Freezing Rain...

I woke up this morning and realized it was raining. Since i was in regular touch with the weather forecast i knew it would rain in the morning. I started to my office at 7:45AM. Since it was raining i ran to get into my car to avoid getting wet. When i was nearing my office i saw all the trees were white and then i realized it must be snow. But it wasn't. It was freezing rain. It was ice everywhere. The water froze after the rain and it was like going through the crystal showroom Swarovski at the Ispahani centre at Chennai. It was really a great sight to watch coming out of the office during the lunch break.

Kotla triumph...

Watched a wonderful cricket test match after a long time. It was really tiresome to watch the match all the night from here at Atlanta and then run to office the next day without a decent sleep. Nowadays it has become very cold here around 1 degree celsius (33F) which is pretty low when compared to other northern and north-eastern parts of US. Last time i watched a test match was against Pakistan at Bangalore just before i left for USA which we eventually lost. Indians after having fared poorly in the rain affected Chennai test, came back to win the test comfortably. Tendulkar after a long wait reached his record breaking 35th ton in test cricket surpassing Sunny. But it was Irfan Pathan who made the magic as a makeshift opener with his brilliant 93 against the attack of Muralidharan and Vaas. Had a chance to watch Murali's doosra and Kumble's flippers. Kotla is always a lucky ground for Kumble. I do remember his match-winning 10-79 against Pakistan. Felt sorry for India's most successful captain Saurav's exclusion from the Indian team after faring pretty good with a decent 39 and 40 at the Kotla.

Jubilations..

Indo-Pak hockey match always a thriller,
Ultimate winner has instinct of killer
Match started with successive penalty corners,
India unlucky not to lead the champ former
Both teams missed chances they got,
WorldHockey leaders they were, forgot
In fundamentals, Europeans are best,
In this tournament, Asians under test
Pakistan came up with two beautiful goals,
India was looking for some serious fouls
Gem of a goal by opportunist Tushar,
Turning point of the match, desire of altar
Penalty corner awarded in favour of India,
Mighty Sandeep had a very clear idea
Scored the second goal with a stiff grounder,
Another PC and this proved India victor
Audience roared, everyone celebrated,
Thunderous applause and stadium erupted
Indian always cherish this great moment so much,
Beating Pakistan is always a difficult crunch.

This was the poem written by Indian hockey poet Prem Shanker Shukla on account of India's victory over arch rivals Pakistan at the Champions Trophy 2005, Chennai.

Uyire..En Uyire...

Recently i came across a song "uyire en uyire" from the film "Thotti Jeya" which i never saw. In fact i never liked simbu's acting. But i changed up my mind when i watched "manmathan". I didn't get a chance to watch this "Thotti Jeya". I've added it to my list of movies to be watched. But this song impressed me a lot. After hearing a number of times i started humming this song whenever i drive to office. The lyrics were really simply superb and the voice. I recognized two voices, those of Anuradha Sriram and Bombay Jeyashree. Can easily make out the voice of Anuradha sriram. This must be her first time in a slow melody. Bombay Jeyashree's voice was mesmerizing.