Pineapple Express

Another good comedy from the Judd Apatow line.  Definitely worth a watch if you like stoner comedies.  As with most comedies, they screw up the ending by stretching it out unnecessarily.  Oh wait, it must have been the 'extended' edition on the blu-ray.  Was that some kind of punishment for not going to the theater?  

I don't know why some comedy movies decide towards the end that they suddenly want to become action movies, e.g. Blue Streak.  The first Bad Boys is the only one that pulled off that transition well.  But I digress.

Seth Rogen and James Franco are hilarious together.   As with any other Apatow story, there's some genuinely funny stuff thrown together with the usual dose of potty/poop humor.

Danny McBride as 'Red' (first from left) was brilliant.  I saw this guy in another horrible movie called 'The Heartbreak kid' and he was only good thing in it.

If you are renting it, make sure you don't choose 'extended version' on the disc.

Man on Wire

I had heard about the documentary 'Man on Wire' before I watched it win the Oscar.  I hadn't seen any of the documentaries nominated this year, but it beat a Werner Herzog movie to the award and that was enough to pique my interest.

Thanks to Netflix streaming, I was able to watch it yesterday.  I was 10 minutes into the movie when I realized that I was on the edge of my seat watching a non-fiction, documentary film.  As a young man in the 70's Philippe Petit pulled off a stunt where he walked on a wire between the tops of the tallest buildings at the time, the twin towers of the WTC.

The documentary shows how he and his motley crew of friends and other interested parties helped him plan and achieve his dream.  For me the most fascinating part of the movie was when Philippe explains his helplessness when he waits for the twin towers to be built so he can realize his dream.  The movie combines footage from Philippe's young years practising wirewalking along with staged scenes explaining how they got all the equipment and manpower needed to the top floors of both buildings to give us a fascinating account of the events.

If you are into documentaries, this is a must-watch.  

Ghajini and Delhi-6. The difference?

I watched Ghajini in Hindi yesterday. I still think the movie dies along with the death of Asin's character, but the new climax was definitely easier to sit through compared to the hero vs twin villains fight sequence from the original.

I guess that's the difference between having an actor like Aamir who has no problems asking questions that might make the writer/director uncomfortable and an Abhishek, whose performance has more or less been in proportion to the quality of the direction. His stature as a big star helps too, no doubt. The newer climax is more plausible within the realms of the indian cinema's hallowed tradition of hero vs villain deathmatch endings.


If a regular 'masala' entertainer could benefit from him presence, it's no surprise that his decision to take over directorial duties for Taare Zameen Par worked wonders for that movie. 

You want to know what happens when an actor doesn't question and lets the director's stupid ideas take fruition? Watch Delhi 6. OMG!! What a painful movie to sit through! I can't believe this came from the same team that gave us 'Rang De Basanti'. But wait. That one had a certain Aamir Khan in it. D6 is poorly written to begin with. The melodramatic acting was unbearable at places. Surprisingly the BGM by ARR was uninspiring. If a dud like Yuvraaj can get the sort of attention it did from ARR, I wonder what went wrong with D6.  Ghajini's background score had a few new pieces too.  Perhaps the awards season took its toll on ARR after all....