Without Borders (Short Poem)

I cannot see a better time to showcase this poem I had posted before and urge all to remove religion and borders as a reason to torture innocent people. 

Borders!

What are they but lines in our own minds?

Lines we draw to keep away one another!

To insult, degrade and torture the weak,

To believe we on the other side of the border,

Are more powerful, are richer and happier!

But borders just divide us, make us weak.

They just don’t make sense anymore.

Let’s open our minds, and our borders,

To let in the ones who need to escape.

~Inspired by the movie ‘The Whistleblower’. The movie shows the darkness and post-war impact on the weakest – the women and girls who are trafficked as sex slaves and prostitutes. And the worst part being it’s the people we are supposed to trust who get involved in the trade. 

Unbreakable (2000) – Review

Before all of the Superhero mania started with the studios falling over each other to make billions of dollars, there was Unbreakable. Around the time when M. Night Shyamalan had released Sixth Sense and was basking in the glory of a profoundly innovative thriller.

He had an idea of a superhero which was different from that of Stan Lee’s. This superhero was a common man, not even aware of his super powers. And that is how Unbreakable became the most uncommon superhero movie ever.

Unbreakable tells the story of David Dunn (Bruce Willis) who is living a less than extraordinary life as a security guard and becomes the only survivor of a train wreck that killed everyone else except him. It also tells the story of Elijah Price (Samuel L. Jackson) who in some ways is the complete opposite of David Dunn – he has a condition where his bones are so brittle that they break at the slightest pressure – he is teased by kids and they call him Mr. Glass.

Unbreakable tells the less than extraordinary story of how these two characters meet and how the theory Mr. Glass about Dunn being an unbreakable man is finally accepted by Dunn himself, in turn fueling the birth of the unlikely superhero. But Unbreakable is more than an extraordinary story in terms of how it is told. M. Night Shyamalan brings the same slow burn and character definitions he gave us with Sixth Sense and the movie moves along at a slow pace. But it has so much going for it – in terms of the characters, their arcs, their chemistry and supporting characters.

Both Willis and Jackson play their parts really well. They really are a great pair to watch on screen. Jackson could have been more of a geek, I didn’t really see him as an art dealer but that was ok. It fit. The direction is good and Shyamalan does a great job setting up something that could have become an original superhero franchise (Not Marvel or DC) but alas, it didn’t.

When the movie came out, people either hated it or loved it. The haters called it farfetched and slow. The people who loved it saw the movie for what it was – an insanely original superhero character and movie.

I am one of them those lovers of the movie – it was great. Not as much as Sixth Sense but still great. I think people should try and watch it again.

Lesser known fact: Shyamalan had apparently come up with 2 other movies with the character of Dunn but never fleshed them out. But obviously, he has thought of other characters in this universe. Like Kevin who has 24 personalities living in him, a super-villain who is about to be born in a few years after Dunn accepts his destiny of being a superhero. What a way to connect it. And that is what is shown in Split, Shymalan’s latest comeback movie.

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Writers (Short Poem)

Writers are forgetful,

but they remember everything.

They forget appointments and anniversaries,

but remember what you wore, how you smelled that day.

 

They remember every story you’ve ever told them, like ever

but forget what you’ve just said.

They don’t remember to water the plants or take out the trash,

but they don’t forget what makes you laugh.

 

Writers are forgetful because they are busy remembering the important things.

–Inspired from a forward I received.

Split (2017) – Review

Hello, my lovely friends, this is my review of a 2017 movie, so yay, I am excited.

Now I am a fan of M. Night Shyamalan, not just because of his Indian roots but because he is a great storyteller. Well, he did lose his mojo for a few years but he came back solid with The Visit in 2015 and he is back in better form now with Split. The Visit was a smaller film, I guess he didn’t really want to advertise much considering how people just have been ripping his movies to bits, but I will talk about The Visit in a different review.

I was pleased with Split. Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) or Multiple Personality Disorder (MPD) or Split Personality Disorder (SPD) as a theme is not new but M. Night has used it in a unique way. There are three distinctive parts to this movie – One is James McAvoy (Kevin/23 others) who has the disease, Betty Buckley (Dr. Fletcher) who is treating McAvoy and the three girls, one of whom is Anya Taylor-Joy (Casey).

McAvoy has 23 different identities of which about 8-9 are shown. Dr. Fletcher who has been treating Kevin (the original) knows about the abused childhood and why these personalities have come forward. She also believes that people with DID can physically transform and that is the main premise of this movie. The beast, a powerful personality, the 24th is about to be unleashed to destroy those who are impure, the ones who have had a rather comfortable life. And that is where the three abducted girls come in.

The girls are kept in the house till the beast can devour them to usher in the new era of the broken, the abused. Joy is the smartest of them all and manages to make several breaks but in the end, faces the beast. Does she succeed in breaking free? Well, you will just have to watch the movie for that.

There is also a clever twist in the end for which M. Night became famous for – this is not as great as the Sixth Sense, but I still felt it was a cleverly knit one.

McAvoy has done a terrific job in showing us different characters – his expressions, body language and attitude for each is extremely distinct and there is no confusion whatsoever which personality is in control. Hedwig, the nine-year-old is delightful and extremely funny while Dennis and Patricia, the more aggressive and violent ones are almost hateful. The beast is almost a physical transformation. He is really a very underrated actor.

Anya-Taylor Joy does the emotional heavy lifting and she is great too. The movie shows her troubled childhood as well in the background and it is a great way to weave that in. Dr. Fletcher was very effective too in my opinion.

The writing was strong in most parts, it could have been better but still great. The other two girls could have been used better and I am not sure why there had to be 23 personalities. It could have been 13, that is a more sinister number.

The background was extremely good I thought – there was silence where it was required and appropriate music for a situation. M. Night Shymalan, thank you for coming back stronger than ever.

Guys, go watch this one. You will have fun.

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Let’s not Give Him the Power (Poem)

As the new day begins,

We wait in silence,

To see what he will do next,

How he will make a fool of himself,

And pull the world down.

 

Let us not give him the power,

To pull people down,

To bully the weak,

To treat others like dirt,

And spread his filth.

 

Let us stand together,

Against such negativity.

Let us stand united,

And march ahead,

For a better world!

 

 

 

Share the Burden, Lighten the Load

A Broth of Blogs

Share the load

Rashi and Asha were sisters but they were also the best of friends. Though Rashi was two years older, they had done everything together – eat, play, go to school, fetch water for the house, cook, clean and take care of their Ma and Baba. Their parents had wanted boys who could take over farming from Baba but destiny had other plans. Ma had complications during Asha’s birth and couldn’t conceive again. Baba and Ma had regular fights after the two girls were born and Baba beat her from time to time for not giving him sons. He would get drunk, lament over his fate and in his rage and frustration, bring havoc. The girls couldn’t understand why their father was so angry. But they accepted it and went on with their lives till Rashi hit puberty.

Ma and Baba would now have to spend money for…

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The Vatican Tapes (2015) – Review

The Vatican Tapes follows the fall and rise of Angela Holmes (Olivia Taylor Dudley) – as a human and as the Anti-Christ respectively. But one doesn’t realize what is happening until the end. The movie is confused in itself – is it a possession story, is it a story on the rise of Anti-Christ or is it about the church and their involvement in all of this. Or rather is it a found footage film. This confusion is quite apparent in the first five minutes itself.

The story is illogical, most of it does not make any sense. The case is quite strong and they try to salvage the irrationality with their skills, but they fail miserably. One respite is that it does move along swiftly, to a point of the climax. But the climax itself is so dead, that you are like ‘Whattt? Did I just spend 100 minutes watching this?’.

So I am not going to spend too many words describing how bad it was. It is filled with cliches, bad effects, and a confused narrative.

I think the only good thing about the movie were its actors. Angela as the lead was probably the savior of the movie – her change of expression is rather spooky and she does a good job keeping some interest in the movie. Michael Pena and Dougray Scott do a decent job too.

All in all, don’t waste your time folks unless you are a horror junkie and you have nothing better to do.

Deadpool (2016) – Review

I always have liked Ryan Reynolds! From his early days of Blade Trinity, Amityville Horror and Definitely, Maybe, there is something very charming about him. Like Chris Pratt. And Deadpool was no different! This movie was completely his show – and he owned it like a BOSS.

Another origins story of Marvel, Wade Wilson is a fowl-mouthed, fast talking mercenary with a morbid/wicked sense of humor. His life is all set when he meets Vanessa, his soulmate. But life deals him a shit hand and he has some sort of cancer which is going to take away his life. Enter Agent Smith lookalike, a shady outfit and a rogue experiment to turn him into a mutant – and viola! He is a superhero with super abilities to heal. But guess what, he is not The Beauty now, but The Beast in the looks department (personally, I don’t think his face was that bad, they could have made it worse).

The story follows him around when he tries to catch the bad guy who did this to him but the way the story is told is hilarious. Deadpool is not a serious superhero movie – it is not even a superhero movie with some laughs in it like other Marvel movies – it is just a movie which doesn’t take itself too seriously. And that’s where it wins, big time. The script/dialogues are just too cool.

Ryan Reynolds shines as Deadpool. Period. All other characters support him really well to basically form what this movie is about – Deadpool and how he came to be. The action sequences are hilarious too – the sets great and sound effects gel well with the lighthearted tone of the movie.

Tim Miller, the director is relatively unknown to me but boy, did he do a fab job of making this one. Again, one of those movies I dismissed at first glance like The Guardians but my suggestion to all – if you haven’t seen this one, watch it. And watch the uncensored one, my people in countries with a sad censor board for movies!

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Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) – Review

I saw Guardians of the Galaxy for the first time only a few weeks back. I tried watching it once but just wasn’t into it. But after many people told me how great it and considering the sequel is coming out soon, I ventured out and saw it. It is nothing short of an amazing movie. Again, I am amazed to see how these origin films from the Marvel universe seem to come together most of the time.

It has impressive set pieces and enough action to last you a lifetime. But the best part is that it has an emotional core and you actually get to care about each and every single character.

Chris Pratt (Quill) is an unlikely hero, much like Hans Solo – with the right amount of being rogue and having his priorities right. It is in outer space and has alien warlords and monsters and their struggles and wins. I think Vin Diesel as Groot and Bradley Cooper as Rocket are just awesome together. Their chemistry just with their voices shines.

I was reminded of many old movies I loved as a kid – The fifth element, Star Wars and Star Trek. The only part I didn’t care about was the storyline – but I guess end of the galaxy is a common theme across all these movies. The effects are good, background score is fun and costumes look good. Direction overall is great, all the chemistry between the characters comes through well.

Anywhoo, rent/buy watch this if you haven’t, it is a fun ride. You will laugh and two hours will just go by.