Movie Reviews - Can you really trust them?

Talking about Movie Reviews on a Blog that has become mostly a review portal is kind of ridiculous, especially considering my take on a movie may not be the same as the rest of the planet. But what the heck, let's give this a shot.

There was also the time when I used to purposely stay away from reviews of movies I wanted to watch, for fear that it would sway my opinion one way or the other. What did that do? Make me waste a lot of time at movies that were painful to get through.

Up until a year ago, I used to go completely by the reviews of a certain few movie critics & Rotten tomatoes. But as I've started to watch more movies, my tastes seem to have evolved & I find myself unable to trust any of the reviews, Good or Bad.

I'll agree that more often than not when a  movie is really bad, the tomato-meter is not way off. And for that matter when a movie is actually really good, like "The King's Speech" or "Inception" there are very few people who get it wrong. But it's the movies that fall between the 3.5 to 4.5 star categories that are the problem.

So here I am, disappointed with the reviews that I've trusted off late, too-good to be true, or really off the mark on a fantastic movie.

When I decide to watch a Hollywood movie, I don't shop around for reviews, I go straight to Rotten Tomatoes. Why? Well, it's the way they get their ratings. It's a average of what all the critics think of a movie. When you put a whole bunch of opinions into a hat you should get a reasonable estimation of the movie right? Wrong!

When I realized that  the best example of this I guess is the last 2 movies I saw, Source Code and Thor had really good ratings on RT. 86% and 78% at the time when I saw the movie. Those are really good ratings for movies. You would go in expecting the movie to expecting something really cool. Both the movies were average at best (keep in mind movies like The King's Speech, The Fighter & Inception have ratings in the 90 to 95% range).

And then there's the other side of the story, going by the review of one single person. At one point in time, I liked Rajeev Masand's reviews they seemed to match mine and I skipped a lot of bad movies thanks to him. But then over time I guess tastes changed & I find that his reviews don't really match mine in any way (of course other than the really bad ones). This situation is way worse than RT. Going by one person's opinion of a movie (esp. when you are not sure if your taste in movies is the same) is not the best way to do it.

Did I just say that? You can't trust one person's opinion of a movie? Damn, am alienating my target audience.
Oh Well, not like I had a huge target audience anyway. If you do decide to come back & you find that you can trust my reviews, there are new movies coming out every week. You should see something or the other new on this blog.

In the meantime, I continue to look for a Movie Critic with my tastes. One that can give me a "Useful" opinion on new movies.

Rahul.

What makes Us So Special?

Really general question. What I am trying to ask is,

"What makes us Human?"

We feel. That's what makes s human. And I don't mean the 5 senses. I mean, something more. Something only we can feel. Emotion.

"It's What makes us Human?"

Emotion is something you feel every moment of your life. You feel, Happy, Sad, Content, Haughty, Humble, Angry, Upset, Numb, In Love.. Emotion is such a strong feeling.

I would go so far as to say the only reason we do things in life is to feel the good emotions and keep away the bad. Think about it, when you feel angry or sad, won't you do anything for that feeling to go away.

When you are in love, won't you do anything to make sure it lasts forever. Because it brings you indescribable happiness.

As a species, I feel we all live life to experience our emotions.

You walk down a road one day and just look around you. The number of emotions you will see will be so numerous, I'm sure you ill catch yourself wondering when was the last time you felt that particular emotion.

If you are wondering how you can find so many emotions, It's easy! Look into their eyes. All the answers to what someone is feeling or thinking is right there. You will never know what they are thinking, but you can get an idea of how they are feeling.

Live your life. Experience all your emotions. Good or Bad, Happy or Sad, They all make you who you are!

Rahul..

Inspiration and Living your life.

Just a few hours ago, I was thinking, it has been such a long time since I have written something inspirational, or something that actually meant anything. We I don't think I am going to do that today. But what I am doing is putting up this video. There is this lecturer in Carnegie Melon University called Randy Pausch. He has been diagnosed with cancer and is terminally ill. But despite that, hiis outlook on life and the way he carries himself is really mind blowing. The below video is a 70 something minute lecture that he gave at his university. It's not a technical lecture, rather it's a lecture about life. I found it really interesting and inspirational.


Randy Pausch's Last Lecture. How to live your life. To achieve your childhood dreams :


This was quite a lecture. I also went to the Alice website and read up on it. Of course for me today, Alice would not be a useful tool. But definitely a few years ago when I was learning Java and all the various programming languages it would have been a wonderful tool. I guess it would want you to start coding.

Today after working in a production environment for over 2 and a half years I look at project development in a very different light compared to when I started down this road. I used to think, Coding was a nightmare. Never did have the confidence that I could do something like that. I thought, you'd need to know all there is in the language and you need to be a technical genius and just rattle out code as fast as you could. As time as has gone by I have realized more the value of analysis and the understanding the needs of the application. It more a matter of thinking logically than about coding. I don't have an exceptionally vast skill set, but it has developed to a reasonable extent over the passing time. I guess work experience does change the perspective a bit. I never really thought about this until I wrote it down today. But it does feel good.

Kudos to Alice and their creators and a heartfelt thank you to Dr. Pausch for the lecture. It was worth listening to, was great.

Why watch movies?

Why do we watch movies? Why do we spend 2 hours watching fiction?

Different people have different reasons... Well most just like to spend a few hours lost in a fictional world marveling in the wonders of story telling.

There are those of us who enjoy seeing things blown up or watching movies about wars or maybe just mindless killing.

But honestly, which are the movies that really touch your heart. They are the movies about Human interaction, movies about relationships, Good or bad, the way the relationships are portrayed are what capture our imagination.

I love watching movies about the human spirit, or movies about relationships, I admit that movies about love capture my imagination more than others because I find them easier to relate to... But a movie good when I pulls you in and makes you feel a part of the story or makes it easy for you to find your story in the movie.

There are so many times when I watch a movie where there are scenes that I think were so wonderful, seems just like me and my girl. But that's just me..

I still enjoy a movie that makes you laugh from start to finish, those movies are meant to forget your troubles for a few hours and just be lost in the moment.

But movies and the stories they convey are more than just entertainment at times, they can be quite therapeutic if they make you laugh, cry or remember your emotions for a few hours they make you whole again in this hard nosed corporate world.

Well that's my opinion anyway..

PS. If you are wondering.. Yes, I wrote this blog just after watching a movie...

Rahul...

Keep 'em Close.

Ever wondered how important friends are? How they impact our lives? What our lives would be without them in it.


I guess we all know the importance of those precious few. Those friends whom we never lose touch with no matter where we go.


What about the rest. The ones you have had a good time with or a short friendship with at some point in your life.. Most of us don't really bother to keep in touch with them too much.

I was really taken aback by my attitude in this regard when one of my friends. He and I have been friends from longer than I can remember, but as time went on our lives took different paths and we lost touch. It did not really matter to me if I knew where he was or how he was doing. But then one day we met for Lunch and I felt,

"Well it's not right, to take any friendship lightly or brush it aside. No matter how close or how far you are, No matter how well or how little you know each other. A friend is a friend is a friend. Even if you don't make an effort to keep in touch, don't push your friends away".


I guess Orkut helps a lot a us in this regard. Helps me atleast say the occasional Hi to a friend I have not met in a while. Or catch up with a close friend I have not had the chance to talk to.. Or to just reminisce with friends I met just a day earlier.


The point is, no matter how.

Friends are important. Keep them close. If nothing else, they can bring a smile to your face.

Rahul...

Not Really A Blog - Just 2 Points of View.

Well my friend just put up a blog. Made sense in a way. And well provoked me to comment.
Comment is long enough for a blog, but I don't want to take the credit away from his blog. So Just the link to the Blog.

http://viswajithandharry.blogspot.com/2007/10/dollar-bug.html

Interesting thoughts Vishwa..

Rahul......

"As we forgive those who trespass against us."

This line is from a prayer that many of us might have said every day for years. (I did for 14 years)
It's a line where we ask God to forgive our sins the way we forgive the sins of others.

Have you ever thought about what it means. What it is to hold a grudge? How it is to will someone ill.
Would we ever be able to live with ourselves if what we wish comes true?

I don't think there is a single person in this world who is evil. There are different points of view. There might be a few people who might do harm to another but they are another story. I am talking about the anyone who is mentally well and has no murderous instincts. This blog is about Love, Hate, Being a good person. I started with a line from that Prayer as i felt it was an apt way to convey a message.

I'm not going to reiterate that message now. Maybe I will later, for now, let's get to the point.

All of us at sometime or the other in our lives would have been hurt by someone. Instinctually we wish that something bad happens to that person. It's something that comes to all of us at that instant. But how far can that hate go? And whom does that hate hurt more?

I can state for a fact if will hurt you more internally than it would ever hurt the person you are hating!

There are occasions where that person does it knowingly to payback something you did or maybe did not do.Or there might be times it might be a provocation. The worst and the most common of all is when we are hurt by someone we love. Someone we care about. We are hurt to such an extent that the pain, the anger and the hate boil up and hurt us more..

So what do we do? Hate back? Hurt Back? I don't think that's the way to go! Well I'm not going to be all spiritual and say Turn the other cheek. It's an option, but in the short term you can try and fix the problem, or you can walk away from the pain.

But as the anger subsides and only the pain remains, try the magic cure.. Try and forgive. It will give you more happiness to forgive and forget the pain than to hold it up inside. Think of the good times and smile. Maybe your relationship with that person may mend, maybe it will never be the same again. Either way, you will be a better person for it. It may take time for this forgiveness to happen, but when it does you feel better.

I have in my own life tried what i am writing here today. And I can say it works.

Be a good person. Don't wish anyone harm. Life's too short for all that. Just be the best you can be, to yourself, your family, your wife, your girlfriend, your best friend, your neighbor, your ex, who ever.. Anyone you encounter. Give them a smile, It might brighten up their day, but it will certainly work wonders on yours.

Rahul......

A Thought

Whatever you do in life... Give it your Best Shot...

To give it you best shot, you should really want to..

Love what you do and it will turn out well..

And....

You will love doing it.


Just a thought...

(This applies to anything you do I guess.. Not just your Job.)


Rahul

A Personal Congratulations to Rahul's Blah

Well Almost 2 Years old

Next month it will be.

I started Blogging on 2nd September 2005.

My Previous blog was supposed to contain this congratulatory message to Me.

Considering my 50th Blog has been a long time coming.

I have started and scrapped a lot of blogs over the last few weeks and months, I guess it was writers block or maybe it was just being lazy and/or tired.

Anyway congrats on your GOLDEN JUBILEE.




Rahul

Blogging. What it means and Why we do it.

Hmm..

Wiki Defines A Blog as :

A blog (a portmanteau of web log) is a website where entries are written in chronological order and commonly displayed in reverse chronological order. "Blog" can also be used as a verb, meaning to maintain or add content to a blog.


Strange topic to talk about on a blog. I notice a lot of my friends have blogs of their own. Well I guess for each of us it is either a passing fancy to have a blog or just talk to your friends or maybe the unknown world.. For some it might be a way to vent and to express all our thought and feelings somewhere where there is a kind of free abandon. Nothing controlling what we do or say other than those who read the very blogs we write. I assume if a blog gets too graphic or hurts somebody's sentiments a lot it might get flagged and eventually pulled of the air.

But, I guess from most of the blogs I read I find that it is a personal journal or our lives, our thoughts and our inner most feelings. It is not about saving the world, but it is more about healing ourselves. Most are written as if we are talking to our friends and a majority are in first person.

When you know the person well, or if you consider them your friend, then reading their blogs, good or bad makes you feel something for them, but there are situations which my own blog has shown, where a total stranger reads the blog and gets touched by what they have read. It might light up your day or lead you to a situation where you sit down to think or in my case blog.

It has been a while since I have blogged. Well that is mostly since I have been busy with work and there has not been a topic that has really caught my eye or I felt like writing about.

Today when this abstract idea popped into my head I just felt like sitting down to write a blog. It some how makes you happy to share your thoughts with apparent total strangers or the closest of friends or relatives.

I guess that is why people blog. So that what they feel get read. It might get read by atmost one person, but that really does not matter, because we feel happy when we realize that our thoughts are shared with the world.

PS :

What makes people all the more happy is when we see comments on what we write. It's confirmation that you had that patience to read what we wrote.

Rahul...

What makes You laugh, Makes me Cry.

Have you ever thought about how often it is that we laugh in the face of another person's agony.

Why is it that we find another person's owes hilarious?

Are We such a hurtful, such a scornful species that we take pleasure in another's pain?

The simplest little thing. A guy gets up in the morning from bed and is walking to the loo and he slips and falls, it would evoke a rip roaring laugh from most people.

It seems to be at the very essence of human life.


If a person you really don't like or a competitor has a hard time somewhere in your heart you feel happy.
Why would anyone take pleasure from another's pain, well that's our nature I guess...

Well this is a blog with a thought to ponder over. Do you Laugh when someone else crys?

Do you find other people laughing when you cry?

Think about it.

Rahul..

Anger Management

Well this article is not exactly about anger management. It's about Anger Utilization.

Anger, a human feeling. One of the most primal feelings on Earth. We all get angry. That's natural. But how long it takes for us to get angry, what we do with our anger. Do we use it, misuse it. How long we hold it in. This is all different.

Some of us Burst like lava bursting out of a volcano and some of us simmer and simmer and hold it in.

But the power of anger, such a lethal force. If that bountiful energy that gets generated is tapped. Imagine the things that can get done or undone, depending on the way it is used.

Take for example, you get fed up with a nagging boss. You could get so frustrated that you could destroy half the work that you have done or you could get so keyed up to show him who's the man, that you could sit through and power on and give him what he wants way before time.

People burst like balloons filled with water and wet everyone around them. They seem to be happiest when exploding on someone. Then there are those that keep it all within and seem to implode. These people are dangerous. The day they blow, you'd better be a mile away. Be nowhere close by.

This is Anger Utilization. A short blah on the characteristics of Anger.


Rahul

Lunch Time

The universally accepted effects of Dal and rice or Sambar rice or Bisibella bath have been very well documented.

These meals when taken in reasonable proportions have the effect of putting an insomniac to sleep. They are much better than any conventional drug available in the market.

If you do a survey of productivity of an individual before and after this lunch you will most definitely see a nose drive.

But anyone would endorse this statement too.. "Sleepy, so what? Ghar Ka Khanna! You Rock!!" Zzzzzzz.zzzzzzzzz..........z....

Chill Out People....

Rahul

The Sky........ The View......... The Rays....

THE PICTURE WAS TAKEN AS WE WERE GOING FOR A WALK. I think it looks beautiful. Almost like the rays of God breaking through the clouds and Shining through.....

So how Important is English?

English. The language we all speak everyday. The language I am writing this in now. How important is this language. What would you do if you did not know English? Well I guess you would not be reading my blog for starters.

Anyway the idea of this post is to talk about the various different types of English. I mean we all speak the same language right. How come we don't understand each other at times? Of course I am not talking about what I am writing here, it's more about spoken English. Why does it sound so different.

English is second nature to most of us. So when you speak to a person from another country, but still speaking the same language it feels very different when you strain to understand what they are saying. Is it an inadequacy in our understanding or is it just that English is not one language but many, Indian, Asian, American, Australian, European, and the English English. Maybe we all speak similar languages, not the same. It has the same script but sounds different. But it serves the same purpose. We can communicate.

Well we have to agree that it is the only language that most of the world can understand. That's how important this language is.

P.S : Rambled on a bit in this post. It's a bit incoherent. Well just felt like writing. It happens I guess.

Rahul

Why Blog???

Why? Why do we blog?

Why do we write something and post it online?

Do we know who reads it?

Are we expecting someone in particular to read it?

How many of our blogs get read by people other than our friends and our near and dear?

Are we expecting to make a change? Make people think?

Why? Why do we put our thoughts online????


Well I Blog... On and off I Blog... I write... I write because I love to write... It is a wonderful outlet for me.. It is my way of expressing myself.. This blog does not give me the freedom to write... I have always had that... It allows me to share my thoughts and experiences with the world... Even if it might just be a handful of my friends...

So many of us blog about our lives.. The way it is going and where we would like it to go, then there a those among us who write about the happenings in the world..And like most of us.. Just whatever comes into their head....

My Blog is not my Online Diary... It is not A Propaganda Portal... It is just a place where I come to Heal...

Blogging .... Healing.......

Makes no Sense right?

Well Blogging... Somehow makes me feel great... Even if I am not writing about anything significant... I am writing from my heart.. That is how it heals me.. Makes me feel Happy.. Makes me think...

I know some of the people who read it...

Especially One person.. Sometimes they are for Her.... Sometimes they are for my Passion..

My Passion For Writing....

Sometimes it's just for One Person... ME..


I BLOG FOR ME!!
That's Why I BLOG!!!!


So anyone else who Blogs or Writes or Does something they are passionate about... Why do you do it?

Welcome 2007

JUST A THOUGHT


Ideas and Ideals are nothing without the Will and Desire to make them Real and the Hard work to take them to Fruition...

Rahul ...

The Poor and I... And maybe You.. (You Decide)

So I was going to work the other day, Was just like any other day. On my way to work and was stuck at a signal with the sun blazing down, when a couple of little kids came up to my bike. On was selling vehicle wipes and the other was begging. I was planning to pick a cloth for my bike anyway, so I decided to buy it from that little kid. Once I did that girl came up to me and started begging, pleading saying how hungry she was, but as usual the way most of us normally shoo them away I did too, she gave me a hurt and angry look but I didn't give it a second thought, the signal changed and I was on my way, I have not seen her since. But that got me thinking. Why is it that we are all so cynical when it comes to beggars on our roads, especially the children and the old. Why do we always think that the money is anyway going to some guy who has put them on the roads. We've also got to realize what would happen to them if we didn't help. Because one way or the other, they are begging to save their lives. There is in every religion and in each of our faiths the duty to help those less fortunate than us. But how many of us actually do it?? This little incident got me thinking of the way I've been and the way I've let others influence my thoughts in such things. I have been so fortunate to be born into a well off family that I have never had to feel such abject poverty and am sure anyone who is reading this has not faced it either. We may not be millionaires, but to those people on the roads we may as well be.

A couple of days later was at a coffee shop and when I left, there was a similar scene in front of me again. And again at first, I did not even react. But then this thought popped into my head and I turned to my friend who was next to me and asked her to give the lady some money.

The Point is this, If ever you feel that you can help someone so desperate and somewhere in your heart something tells you to do it. Please do it. I hope I will they next time my heart twitches even the slightest for someone so poor.

Rahul....

Condolances

I'd like to salute the Mumbai spirit for recovering so soon from
the Terror Attack yesterday
but, please spare a thought for those who lost their lives not only in Mumbai but also in Srinagar.

Most of us seem to have an attitude which seems to say that terrorist attacks happen everyday in Srinagar so why bother. Come on, it's also a part of India.. I do concede that the attack was more severe in Mumbai.. Put please let us not push the other attack to the background..

We all have hectic lives and all we do is say Tich.. Tich.. and move on with life.. Take a moment and just think of those who lost their lives today...

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A Bump and A Ditch

Can you picture this scene...

You are driving down a straight road and all of a sudden out of nowhere there is a bump on the road that tosses you up a foot in the air, or you are having a pleasant drive and all of a sudden your vehicle goes into a pothole.

If you know this feeling you live somewhere in India... Read on if you don't and you may figure out how it its to ride a bike or drive a car in this country... I'm not even talking about the extreme cases like Bangalore... I'm talking about my home town of Chennai...

It's 8.30 am , and as usual I'm all set for my expedition to work.. A bag on my back, iPod in my ears, Access card in my pocket and 17 km of travel ahead of me.. It is actually such a pleasant ride if there isn't much traffic(Which hardly ever happens)... Riding down this road at around 60kmph, usually not an issue, suddenly I find a traffic jam... And would you believe it, all because, some one from some municipal agency dug up the road and left a ditch right across it. All because of this little ditch.. there is a traffic jam that ruins your day.. Even better is the Poonamalle High Road.. It's a brilliant road, considering it's a National Highway that happens to run through the city it better be, some genius engineer thought that a rubber tar mixture that they use abroad would work in India, all it has resulted in is a roller coaster ride that you can leave your footprints in if you stay there too long, Seriously, ask any Chennaite and you will get one reply, We have fantastic roads, but, they are full of bumps or potholes..

Ever wondered for a second, if our roads with no further change in the size or the quality of the tar was deviod of potholes and bumps how much relief there would be in the traffic situation of the city...

A Bump and A Ditch.. Two small miscreants who can bring the entire working community in the city to a standstill...

:-D..... I've vented my steam and now I expect everyone who reads this blog to do the same in the comments or atleast in your own blogs........


Rahul..