Movie Review: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1

Watched the movie on the first day of its release!! 😀

The Story :- Dumbledore is dead and Harry Potter is the Chosen One…one who will defeat Voldemort. As he leaves Privet Drive forever, he knows his life’s aim now. Harry, Ron and Hermione have decided not to go back to Hogwarts this year. Their secret mission is to find all the remaining Horcruxes and to destroy them which will eventually destroy Voldemort. The first losses Harry has to suffer on this arduous journey are the deaths of Hedwig and Auror Mad Eye Moody. The first part of the finale of Harry Potter vs Voldemort is about this journey and discovery of  not only Horcruxes but also of themselves; not only facing dangers like never before but facing their innermost fears and insecurities and overcoming them.

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The 81st Academy Awards and Oscar Trivia

I love watching Oscar awards more than any Filmfare or Star Screen or xyz awards and luckily I have been able to watch it every year except when I was in hostel during my B.E. This year, I got up as early as 6.15 am today to watch 81st Academy Awards live on Star Movies from 6.30 am. This was possible only because today is holiday due to Mahashivaratri. I can catch up on my sleep later. 🙂

The host Hugh Jackman’s performance was awesome!! And the new style of presentation like calling previous winners of the actor categories to announce the new winner was good. The performance before Best Song was wonderful too. But the Academy Awards of 1999 hosted by Whoopi Goldberg was the most enjoyable of all the ones I have seen. Hugh didn’t try comedy one liners and digs at people. Instead he gave a wonderful musical performance with Beyonce.

Movie Review: Luck By Chance

The Hindi film industry is estimated to be worth 2 billion USD. Its a huge industry starting from the spot boys, the crew to the stars. Its the dreamland of many strugglers who come to Mumbai with hope in their hearts to become to be the next Amitabh Bachchan. But the industry just the like the movies it produces has every element in it… happiness, love, deception , superstition, religion, friendship, emotion , drama, jealousy and sadness. The movie LUCK BY CHANCE is the portrayal of the inside story of the Hindi film industry.

Movie Reviews

Movie review in exam time?? Well as some of old readers may be knowing that I am a huge fan of animation movies and I don’t miss watching a single one, no matter what. Moreover all work and no play makes Reema a dull blogger. 🙂

Madagascar 2 Escape to Africa, the much awaited sequel to the successful animation movie Madagascar released today in India. The movie starts with the story behind an African Lion (Alex) being an entertainer at the New York Central Park Zoo. The story is somewhat similar to the Lion King, the similarities being father of the cub being the leader of the pride and a rival lion wanting to be the leader of the pride. After the flashback, the movie comes back to the present time where Alex and his friends Marty the Zebra, Melman the Giraffe and Gloria the Hippo are having the time of their lives at Madagascar.

A Classic Revisited

I had the movie “My Fair Lady” on my to-watch list since a long time. At last I got around to watch it. The movie released in 1964 starred Rex Harrison as Prof. Henry Higgins who is an expert in languages and phonetics but arrogant and misogynistic by nature. He takes up a wager with an acquaintance Colonel Pickering to transform an uncouth and dirty Cockney flower girl Eliza Dolittle (Audrey Hepburn) into a sophisticated lady with proper English accent and manners. This is how Eliza utters “disgusting and depressing noise” in Prof.Higgins words instead of English. Lyrics of the song - Why Can’t the English? lyrics

My First Stage Show

Being the faculty in charge of EETA, I’d organised Jhoom – 2008 along with students. Then the students wanted to conduct the yearly branch function of Electrical and Electronics department before the half year session ended. Last year I’d suggested the name Spark 2007 for the function. This year the students came up with Resonanzzz 2008. So I along with my colleagues and students organized the function on 4th Oct 2008. The function consisted of songs, dances (solo and group), drama, some interactive games, dandiya in open space and dinner for around 400 people. Our Head of Department had insisted on having some programs from the faculty side. So for the first time in history of our college, faculty participated in a branch function and showed their talents.

Jhoom 2008 – A Video Feature

I recently became the faculty in charge of the departmental student body i.e. EETA – Electrical and Electronics Technocrats Association. It is basically of the students, by the students, and for the students. Some students are made office bearers by voting and hold the post of President, VP, Secretary, Jt.Sec, Treasurer and so on. The body’s objective is to organize different extra curricular events in an academic session. A teacher is made in charge for supervision and management of finance. So the first event organized by me and my team of EETA members was Jhoom 2008 – an inter branch group dance competition on 27th Sept. Sadly only 5 teams participated but it was quite successful without any major obstacles. As the budget was low for this sort of event we didn’t hire a professional videographer. I didn’t have my digital camera then. So the videos I share with you here were taken by a student on his handicam. Also he shot only the first round of the competition. There were 5 judges. 1st round was retro or folk round and 2nd was free style. Out of 5 teams, only 3 were to make it to the second round. In second round there was a first prize and a runner up prize. Who won? That you will be guessing in your comments and I’ll verify your guesses. 😀 Here are the videos (Let them load fully one after one and then enjoy!!) :-

The Dissection of Drona

If you want to read a spoiler-free proper movie review then go here. If you want to read my special opinions and their expressions on this movie then stay!! Hope springs eternal in the human heart. Even after reading Smita’s post, being the avid fantasy lover that I am, I watched Drona with a hope that likes and dislikes are relative and I may like it. But I was proved wrong and how!

So the basic story outline is that the gods after churning the ocean hid the amrit (nectar of immortality) on Earth (read:India) and assigned its protection to a human. This protection would be carried on by his heir and so forth. Now we have Aditya (Abhishek Bachchan) the last heir of this family who is oblivious of his heritage. But as he attains the right age and when he meets Riz Raizada (Kay Kay Menon), a Asur (demon) in human form; he realizes his true identity and the story begins to unfold.

Movie Review – Saas, Bahu aur Sensex

The opening credits and the song are different from the usual movies and portrays “India Shining” since Independence in every field- education, communication, space, White Revolution, transport, business, malls, real estate. There is even a footage of Mrs.Indira Gandhi asking Indian astronauts “Ooper se Bharat kaisa dikhta hai aapko?” and the astronauts reply “Saare jahan se achha”. I think the translation will not do justice to the dialogue. I don’t know why but the footage filled my heart with pride momentarily. The movie being a Warner Bros. production also fills the heart with hope and expectation of a good movie. Here is a trailer:-

Confessions of a TV addict – Part 2

Continued from Part 1…

Part 1 was mostly about Doordarshan and cartoon shows. So now coming to non-Indian serials….the top slot is taken by F.R.I.E.N.D.S…what else!!!! I have watched runs and re-runs and re-re-runs so many times that even my Mom knows which episodes I have already watched and recognizes all the characters. But still they make me laugh as if I’m watching for 1st time. And I miss having such a group of real friends. Here some of the best moments from the show.

Bad Worse Worst

Bloggers have been raving about the movie Rock On!! and in my blogosphere I have read like 5 review posts of the same movie. So I’ve nothing new to add to it. Just the usual wonderful! must watch! Ooohs and aaaaahs! Blahs and blehs! But I have a reputation to live upto. Hence here is a post comprising of movies seen by me over last 2-3 weeks except Rock On!!. Also its a comprehensive list of MUST AVOID movies.

# C Kkompany :- A crime reporter in love with a don’s sister, a retired old man being mistreated by his son and a man prone to violence out of frustration regarding his short height are friends who form a mafia gang to extort money from the old man’s son but one thing leads to another and so the story unfolds. The comedy consisting of spoof on KBC starring Karan Johar, ridiculing Balaji Telefilms and Ekta Kapoor serials [Ckkompany is her production] and a don who loves watching such soaps somehow bring out an occasional laugh or two but isn’t that hilarious. Acting of different actors (Anupam Kher, Rajpal Yadav, Mithun Chakraborty, Tusshar Kapoor and Raima Sen) varies from fine to bad. One or two songs are fine else as usual in Bollywood movies, if its been long since last dance number suddenly another pops up, totally out of place. There is an item number by Celina Jaitley. Story is just ok and the movie is not too long, that being the only plus point except the little laugh it managed to elicit from the audience. BAD!

Movie Reviews Bonanza

I’d made the most of this weekend watching 4 movies, three in theater and one at home. Here are my reviews.

# 1 Ugly and Pagli :- An attempt at a comic & romantic love story of a slavish loser geek and a girl who is quite different – she boozes, snores weirdly and slaps at the drop of a hat. But the comedy isn’t consistent in the movie and fails to match up with post-Pyar Ke Side Effects expectations. The second half is rather boring. It was good to see Ranvir Shorey as a solo lead actor. He seemed to have potential to stay in Bollywood. Mallika Sherawat is fine until she cries. She really fails in that. Songs were fine but seemed unnecessary..typical Bollywood style..you know “its been quite a while since dialogues are going on now lets insert a song & dance number”. Overall enjoyable with good company [maybe better with gf/bf!!] and one time watchable.

My Take on Sex and The City

WARNING :- Its a chick flick and I seriously doubt whether men would like it. Those who do..well…their girlfriends/wives are lucky to have such men. 🙂 Also this post isn’t a review. Its my pondering about the movie and friendship. So skip if you want.

I feel those who have seen the series “Sex and The City” on television or atleast have the general idea about the characters & story and liked it are bound to enjoy the movie. But for those who have not, its like watching “Harry Potter-13 years after” without having seen from Sorcerer Stone to Deathly Hallows. One may enjoy the special effects but still miss being really hit by the movie (in a positive way).

As for me, I watched the episodes whenever I could and in many of them I liked the way in which the workings of a female mind were quite accurately depicted and some questions regarding love & relationships were raised which I’d asked myself at some point in my life. Also it made me glad that we live in a society free from such stressful and demanding dating scene. Thats one good point of a not so liberal society..saves its people from lot of mental stress.