Book Review: Digital Fortress: Dan Brown

Rating : 3.5/5

Pros: Pacy, uses some level of brain power, better than watching a sitcom
Cons: Author struggles to keep the suspense going and adds unecessary long winded sentences and chapters to the movel.Its OK to write a "under 100 pages" novel.

Good for a restroom read.

Movie review: Brother Bear

After a long time I watched a decent animation movie...matches up to best of the lot- ICe age, Lion king (though the music in this one is not as great) and has lots of gyan and lessons for young and old alike...Wonder why i never heard of this before...

Rating : 4.5/5

Must must watch for disney and animation fans..

Book Reviews

1.Sundays at tiffany's:

Rating: 3/5

Good for: Its fast pace, some descriptions of NYC and a easy flowing plot.

Bad for: imagination, restricted descriptions, overkill in visualisations, and as usual making the career woman an evil character without a heart.You almost feel as if the author decided suddenly to recast the characters he had written up and inverted them to let go of biases and gender stereotypes.

Can be avoided unless desperate for something brainless to read.

2. Breaking Dawn:

Rating: 4.5/5

I think i developed this superhuman power to increasingly tolerate the vampire series..it was like being punished --the first time is the toughest..so was twilight..but i got so addicted to the plot that i wanted to know what happens to the hapless dame featured in the earlier books...and yeah to the complicated love triangle she is in...
The good part about this book is the solutions it gives- pretty extreme ones to the problems the writer created in the lives of its main characters, but yeah it makes u feel almost relieved that there is much less morbidity, and much more sunshine in this book than in the earlier versions..less creepy, more emotional and feel good...

Pink Panther 2

Ok ...lols...dunno why they gave it such low rating in USA today...Me, I like fine brainless comedy and Steve Martin is just too good to give up on. Aish Rai is another disappointing story altogether..but yeah the movie is good timepass....and Nicole...is a superb actress. There is something warm and familiar about the whole movie..and yeah PP 1 was much better in casting and storylines but the Vatican scene in this one totally takes the cake...

Rating: 4.9/5

Inertia..

ok i have this massive inertia problem..yeah i know they say inertia is directly proportional to mass etc etc ..which is why its true for me..but the funny bit is that i really have extreme inertia..case in point:

1. i cant seem to drag myself to the shower.Once i do manage- like once a week types, i cant seem to be able to get out of the relaxing environ...

2. i cant seem to get up from bed...or once up i cant seem to go back either...same applies for chores...cant seem to start them, cant seem to stop doing them once i start...

3. Ditto for eating, drinking, partying, walking...blah blah..got the flavour? Any explanation wud do...

The Hectic Week..

Movies: 

1. Slumdog Millionaire: (4.7/5)

Books:

1. Catcher in the Rye: JD Salinger (4/5)

2. New Moon: Stephanie Meyer (4/5)

Watch this space for detailed reviews..

Movie Review: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

I watched this movie solely coz Brad Pitt stars in it. I ended up enjoying it for everything else too. The LOR Cate B doesn't disappoint.The make up artist should win an oscar for this one as hubby and I both agree. The storyline is quaintly victorian- reminds you of the birtish classics more than american contemporary.

The only bothersome part was the long duration (2hrs 45 min) and the prolongation of some of the stages of Benjamin's life. The lady who has played Brad's foster mom is a super actress. I must look her up in wiki- and yes her arm heart touches u in this winter's cold. I think she is the best character drawn in the movie.

Though the movie is very well directed , casted and played, yet it doesnt touch your heartstrings too much...maybe coz we indians expect the film to be super melodramatic and full of emotional dialogues to make us cry.The exception was the scene at the end almost when Cate is holding baby Benjamin in her arms ..thats the most poignant part of the movie.You half expect the kid to start growing up again after the clock has been restored..

Ok, this review has revealed the plot too much i guess! But I would still recommend this to my fellow movie watchers.

Rating: 4.7/5

Fish Market

Ok, so you like eating fish?

How about the freshest fish in whole of New England? How about a blackened Red Snapper with extra veggies? This is after the shrimp cocktail the menu has, two glasses of fresh lemonade (make that two half glasses- the guy removed half of the lemonade when i said i didnt need the ice-- very cheap for such an expensive place). Oh we ate something else too-- yeah crab cakes.

All in all, i spent 10% of my paycheck on the food and the crappy lemonade.

This is the Mitchell macchi bazaar in dowtown stamford.

Movie Review: Chandini Chowk to China

For those of my fellow sufferers who have seen this movie, I admit I should have read a few reviews...

For those who haven't and are reading this- grab this lifeline before you sink 3 hours of your life in watching this piece of drama which the promoters released post consuming a truckload of opiods. 

For those who know Chinese, I empathise- it must have been doubly painful for you folks. I apologise on behalf of the hindi film industry.

And for those who have anything to do with the making, promotion and release of the movie- remember there is God....

Another week....

Oh yeah firstly, wish all you folks a very Happy New year 2009.

So well lets start with the reviews:

Movies:

1. Over the Hedge: One from my favourite category- animation movies.. great story, great animation and total fun to watch, though hubby thought otherwise. Could have gone deeper to become a lion king though. But I liked the simple and nice touching story...

Rating: 4.5/5

2. There is something about Mary:

Oh well, old movie, watched it so many times...its still watchable in parts..like in between cooking. Really like the unbelievable character Mary is...

Books:

Well didnt have time to dig into too many books, but yeah accomplished finishing one:

Twilight:

Stephanie Meyer

Rating: 2.5/5

Ok I really dont understand how this became a best seller, but i guess if u survive the slow first half of the book, you are in for a treat..just because it took me as much time to finish the first half as all of Rowling's books put together! Some nice editing and better vocab could have made this book and the mythology beneath it pretty captivating. Anyways, I shall definitely read he sequels to see if she gets any better!