We are Marshall

"Jack Lengyel: For those of you who may not know, this is the final resting place for six members of the 1970 Thundering Herd. The plane crash that took their lives was so severe, so absolute, that their bodies were unable to be identified. So they were buried here. Together. Six players. Six teammates. Six Sons of Marshall. This is our past, gentlemen. This is where we have been. This is how we got here. This is who we are. Today, I want to talk about our opponent this afternoon. They're bigger, faster, stronger, more experienced and on paper, they're just better. And they know it too. But I want to tell you something that they don't know. They don't know your heart. I do. I've seen it. You have shown it to me. You have shown this coaching staff, your teammates. You have shown yourselves just exactly who you are in here.
[Thumps his chest]
Jack Lengyel: When you take that field today, you've got to lay that heart on the line, men. From the souls of your feet, with every ounce of blood you've got in your body, lay it on the line until the final whistle blows. And if you do that, if you do that, we cannot lose. We may be behind on the scoreboard at the end of the game but if you play like that we cannot be defeated. Now we came here today to remember six young men and sixty-nine others who will not be on the field with you today, but they will be watching. You can bet your ass that they'll be gritting their teeth with every snap of that football. You understand me? How you play today, from this moment on is how you will be remembered. This is your opportunity to rise from these ashes and grab glory. We are...
Young Thundering Herd: Marshall!
Jack Lengyel: We are.
Young Thundering Herd: Marshall!
Jack Lengyel: We are!
Young Thundering Herd: Marshall!
Jack Lengyel: The funerals end today!"

I picked these lines from IMDB when i saw the movie...since these lines are absolutely true. Just imagine a football (american) team completely wiped out in 1970 - 75 lives were lost with most of the playing team, the coaches, the supporting staff not surviving the crash - and then trying to completely start again from scratch and in the process not just try to compete but also to try and heal the wounds of everyone concerned, most of them the families and friends of the people who lost their lives. Try to imagine it all and then realise the magnitude of it all.

This movie might not have been that great if just seen from the point of view of plain cinema. But when you understand that the template that real life weaves is sometimes far greater than any that an artificial film can show, you are humbled by the knowledge that what you are seeing on the big screen is just a manifestation of what must have been Marshall in 1970. The manifestation is just a glimpse of the pain, but it is enough for someone to understand the magnitude of it all and bow his head in respect and praise for the courage shown.

The film captures all the emotions quite well and all the actors play their role convincingly. A special mention for Matthew Fox (Red Dawson) who i thought was briliant. Even Matthew McConaughey was very good as the Head Coach Jack Lengyel.

The best part of this movie comes in the last 15 minutes which includes the match with Xaviers and the above mentioned dialogues. It also includes a brilliant montage and some really emotional scenes at the end of the game. Finally it includes a nice snapshot of how the main characters have done after the film timelines get over. Nicely Done!

I love the last line of the movie when Annie says - "From the Ashes we rose....We are Marshall"

Please click for the official online memorial of the Marshall Tragedy

The Runaway Bride - "...And when I ride off into the sunset, I want my own horse"

I don't think this is the greatest romantic comedy ever made but i do know this. It tugs at heartstrings....and i simply adore the last 5 minutes of the film. In fact no one should miss the part when the end credits start to roll...it is really hilarious.

Anyways Richard Gere and Julia Roberts (My all time Favourite actress) make a fine pair and this actually looks like a Pretty Woman part 2 in reality. The chemistry is there and even a really weak script make this a very enjoyable watch. The rest of the ensemble cast manages well and some of the jokes/ pun cast are really good.

The one thing i really love about this movie is one dialogue that Maggie says to Ike at the end. Damn good line - and something i hope to use in person ;-)...The way she says it is so...so beautiful....

"Look, I guarantee there'll be tough times. I guarantee that at some point, one or both of us is gonna want to get out of this thing. But I also guarantee that if I don't ask you to be mine, I'll regret it for the rest of my life, because I know, in my heart, you're the only one for me"

Overall a nice weekend watch with your sweetheart!

3 pieces of dialogue from 'The Holiday'

I am a sucker for romantic comedies and love super lines from such movies. Here are a few gems from one such movie that i watched today and absolutely fell in love with. Why do i like it....well i can identify with some of them ;-)

Quote 1: I've found almost everything ever written about love to be true. Shakespeare said "Journeys end in lovers meeting." What an extraordinary thought. Personally, I have not experienced anything remotely close to that, but I am more than willing to believe Shakespeare had. I suppose I think about love more than anyone really should. I am constantly amazed by its sheer power to alter and define our lives. It was Shakespeare who also said "love is blind". Now that is something I know to be true. For some quite inexplicably, love fades; for others love is simply lost. But then of course love can also be found, even if just for the night. And then, there's another kind of love: the cruelest kind. The one that almost kills its victims. Its called unrequited love. Of that I am an expert. Most love stories are about people who fall in love with each other. But what about the rest of us? What about our stories, those of us who fall in love alone? We are the victims of the one sided affair. We are the cursed of the loved ones. We are the unloved ones, the walking wounded. The handicapped without the advantage of a great parking space! Yes, you are looking at one such individual. And I have willingly loved that man for over three miserable years! The absolute worst years of my life! The worst Christmas', the worst Birthday's, New Years Eve's brought in by tears and valium. These years that I have been in love have been the darkest days of my life. All because I've been cursed by being in love with a man who does not and will not love me back. Oh god, just the sight of him! Heart pounding! Throat thickening! Absolutely can't swallow! All the usual symptoms.

Quote 2: I understand feeling as small and as insignificant as humanly possible. And how it can actually ache in places you didn't know you had inside you. And it doesn't matter how many new haircuts you get, or gyms you join, or how many glasses of chardonnay you drink with your girlfriends... you still go to bed every night going over every detail and wonder what you did wrong or how you could have misunderstood. And how in the hell for that brief moment you could think that you were that happy. And sometimes you can even convince yourself that he'll see the light and show up at your door. And after all that, however long all that may be, you'll go somewhere new. And you'll meet people who make you feel worthwhile again. And little pieces of your soul will finally come back. And all that fuzzy stuff, those years of your life that you wasted, that will eventually begin to fade.

Quote 3: I have another scenario for you - I'm in love with you. I apologize for the blunt delivery, but as problematic as this fact may be, I'm in love... with YOU. I'm not feeling this because you're leaving, and not because it feels good to feel this way... which, by the way, it does, or did before you went off like that. I can't figure out the mathematics of this, I just know I love you. I can't believe how many times I'm saying it! And I never thought I'd feel this way again, so that's pretty phenomenal. And I realize that I come as a package deal: 3 for the price of 1. I know my package, perhaps in the light of day, isn't all that wonderful, but I finally know what I want and that, in itself, is a miracle. And what I want is YOU.

Greatest Movies - My Pick!

There are some great movies that i have seen in these 25+ years and trust me, i have seen quite a few. Some of them were quite brilliant, some not so much but over the years i have found that my basket of movies tend to be split in generally three baskets;

1. Average and Bad movies - whatever the language,
2. Great Movies that do not appeal to me, &
3. Movies that have really made me cry/ wonder/ gasp/ shout/ laugh/ feel intense happiness

I have also realized that most of these films in the 3rd category are those that deal predominantly with Fantasies - Magic & Wizardry, Surrealism, Extreme Romance, Resurrection of thy self. There might be a few exceptions but that is because the movies would have blown me away with the sheer magic of the acting.

I Present this list of top 25 movies and will also like to present a listing of top movies within each genre as i know it. One factor that i have kept in mind is that multiple parts have been clubbed as one movie preferably.

Top 25:

1. Forrest Gump
2. Vita e bella, la (Life is Beautiful)
3. Shawshank Redemption
4. Godfather Series
   
5. Lord of the Rings Series
   
6. Wall - E
7. Before Sunrise/ Before Sunset
   
8. Jaane Bhi do Yaaron (Forget about it, friends)
   
9. Kannathil Muthamital (Kiss on the cheek)
10. Rocky Series
    
11. Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge (Yup i am Mad ;-) )
    
12. Requiem for a Dream
13. Saving Private Ryan
14. Usual Suspects
15. Raat (Night)
16. Laberinto del fauno, El (Pan's Labyrinth)
    
17. The Terminal
18. Gandhi
19. Gladiator
20. Braveheart
21. Dumb & Dumber
22. The Dark Night
23. When Harry met Sally
24. Wall Street
25. The Exorcist

Genre Wise:

• Romance - Before Sunrise/ Before Sunset & DDLJ
• Fantasy - Lord of the Rings & Pan's Labyrinth
  
• Action - Matrix & Rocky
  
• Historical - Gladiator & Braveheart
  
• Comedy - Dumb & Dumber & Jaane Bhi do Yaaron
  
• Animation - Wall e & The Lion King
  
• Resurrection - Forrest Gump & Shawshank Redemption
  
• Drama - Godfather & The Pianist
  
• War - Saving Private Ryan & Full Metal Jacket
  
• Horror - Raat & Exorcist
• Business - Wall Street & Barbarians at the Gate
• Superheroes - The Dark Knight & The Iron Man
• Western - Once upon a time in the West & The good, The Bad and the Ugly
• Musical - Sound of Music & Singing in the Rain
• Biography - Gandhi & The Pusuit of Happyness
• Sci fi - Star Wars & Back to the Future
• Sport - Rocky & Remember the Titans
• Thriller - Psycho & The Usual Suspects

These are the movies that i will be writing more about in this blog. These are the movies which have really shaped my viewing standards. Some of them might not be liked by many folks but thats understandable. According to me movies are the world that we escape to when we are tired of the 'outside' world. And hence a lot of external attributes define & refine our tastes. Everyone has the right to create his/ her own world.....

However as i have said it earlier, this is my real world......Hope you Enjoy it!!

Khushi - My Top Pick for the Razzies

How can people make such movies...such utter s***...and how can distributors showcase such movies. Simple economics please, how do people make money...

Now the reason for my rant. Let me explain the basic premise of the movie...It's about a Navel, Kareena's navel, a bare (very sexy!) stomach and the navel there which because of a gust of wind is seen by her 'kinda' boyfriend - they look more like asexual mental cases, primates anyone?? - Fardeen Khan and then the proverbial 'hell breaks loose'...on everyone, more so the audience which by this time is tearing its head - cause no hair is left anyways. Kareena from then onwards starts fighting with Fardeen for 'very obviously' looking at the navel. This continues for 60% of the movie and our supposedly virile Hero is made to feel ashamed of his behaviour.

The rest of the movie is an interplay on extremely regressive themes on women studying beyond a point and having been bethroted even when they did not know about the guy - you see the movie needs action scenes with the hero finally using his pent up sexual frustration in bashing up the poor villanous sod and finally claiming his queen -and heroes doing something for their own country.

Coming to the most hilarious part of the movie, the narration is done by Amitabh Bachhan. Without saying anything about this really great icon of Indian Cinema, lets just focus on the dialogues at the very end narrated by the great man...which mention something about Khushi (Kareena) and Karan (Fardeen) getting married and having kids every year for 12 years...13 kids in all. Question is why 13? (still part of the narration)...Answer is: you see one year they had twins!!

The worst movie...ever!!

Straight - Why Vinay, Why?

Vinay Pathak, you either deserve better or you need to be butchered if you actually knew that this was going to be the final product. This movie is that bad...full stop!!

Now let me be honest here. I should have had an inkling when the ticket counter guy asked me if i was bringing along any 18 year old...unfortunately to my utter embarrassment, there were a couple of 50 year olds who were accompanying me...yup...My Parents (Wry Smile). They wanted to see a funny movie!

Now whats more funny is that this movie is about a 3o something virgin and his sexual - or lack of it - escapades and you can very well imagine my plight...it is definitely not a joke...

Coming to the movie, it is an extremely jittery ride and you tend to groan aloud when Vinay is fumbling around to understand whether he is gay or not. Take for example a scene where he dreams of a guy sleeping in his bed because a guy accidently or otherwise kissed him on the lips...and has a "morning shower" - Try to imagine the scene in your head...it just feels icky. Now why would the director - Parvati Gopalan in this case - try to have scenes like that is something beyond explanation.

Coming to the acting, Vinay Pathak comes across as an earnest character but this movie is too cheap for him. Same goes for Gul Panag, though i must say her dressing is hideous (what with the snake like bindis and kohl...ughhh). The other actors like Anuj Chaudhary, Siddharth Makkar, Ketki & Rasik Dave are quite good but what lets them all down is the amaterurish script. Hope they get better roles in the future.

Anyways, if you intend on watching a really funny - and mindless - comedy dealing with homosexuality, watch Dostana instead...atleast it will make you laugh!

Sorry Bhai - Watch it for Sharman Joshi, Boman Irani and Shabana Azmi

What a considerable waste of talent!!

Chitrangada Singh who enthralled us in Hazaron Khwaishein Aisi delivers such a dud that i was left wondering if it was really the same actress. Sure she looks stunning...infact extremely gorgeous..but thats it. The nuances that needed to be brought out by Aaliyah as the tormented bride to be is simply missing...and its disheartening. Same goes for Sanjay Suri. He looks like he is bored throughout the movie. Where is the Sanjay of My Brother Nikhil and Jhankar Beats and Pinjar and numerous other similar stellar performances.

The premise of the movie is as the name suggests - Brother falls in love with the elder brother's wife to be and the story begins. The movie is actually very funny and will kepp you in splits at most times. The music is ho hum while the direction is taut.

What lifts the film is its story - lighthearted but meaningful, and just the very very good performance of Sharman Joshi. He makes his Siddharth's character look older, mature and likeable while at the same time retains his youthful boyishness. Add to that the spice provided by Shabana and Boman - brilliant as a loving and very natural husband & wife pair - and you have a movie which is eminently watchable but which could have been so much more if only the leading protagonists had put in just a bit more effort...

Watch it for Sharman....