2009: The Movies

I've been known to watch a lot of movies. In theaters and on DVD. But in 2009 I watched a significantly less number of movies on the big screen as compared to previous years. Difficult to pinpoint exact causes - Overall there just weren't too many movies which caught my interest and well I'm sure being married had something to do with it also.

I've listed down all the hollywood movies I watched in the theaters -

1 Pink Panther 2
2 Star Trek
3 Angels & Demons
4 Terminator Salvation
5 Up
6 The Hangover
7 The taking of Pelham 123
8 Transformers: Revenge of the fallen
9 The Hurt Locker
10 Public Enemies
11 Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
12 GI Joe: Rise of Cobra
13 District 9
14 Inglorious Basterds
15 Law Abiding Citizen
16 Up in the Air
17 Avatar
18 Sherlock Holmes

We've attempted to watch the major releases; Avatar, Hurt Locker, Inglorious, Up & Hangover make up the best of the year. Harry Potter narrowly misses out the top 5.

List of Bollywood/Indian movies watched in a theater (in US/India)

1 Luck by Chance
2 Delhi 6
3 Abhiyum naanum
4 Naan Kadavul
5 99
6 Kaminey
7 Kurbaan
8 Josh
9 Unnaipol Uravan
10 Kandhaswamy
11 Ayan
12 3 Idiots

Kaminey, Kurbaan & 3 Idiots round up a pretty good year for Bollywood which is currently riding a high in terms of quality.

List of Movies watched in the comfort of my home -

1 Dev D
2 I love you man
3 Gulaal
4 Barah Aana
5 13B
6 8*10 Tasveer
7 Aa Dekhen Zara
8 Stoneman Murders
9 State of Play
10 The Merry Gentlemen
11 Little Zizou
12 The Brothers Bloom
13 Away we go
14 Moon
15 Cheri
16 New York
17 Love Aaj Kal
18 Whats your Rashee

So we're looking at a total of 30 movies watched at the cinemas. Out of the 100s of movies released in the world in 2009 we watched a grand total of 48..which seems remarkably less.

Some of the movies which we missed out and hope to catch on DVD soon -

1 In the Loop
2 500 Days of Summer
3 The Fantastic Mr.Fox
4 Me & Orson Welles
5 Everybody's Fine
6 Crazy Heart
7 An Education
8 The Men who stare at goats
9 Ajab Prem ki Ghazab Kahani
10 The Messenger
11 The Road
12 Rocket Singh: Salesman of the year

2010 Oscars - The beginning of the end

The 2010 Oscars was possibly the worst show I've witnessed since I began watching the annual event in 1994.

The jokes were dull, the presentation sluggish and the winners themselves were predictable and boring. And truly a shame for this was a historic year at the Oscars with the first female director to win the top prize. But that will probably be the only memory to take away from this otherwise drab ceremony which is surely losing its relevance on the world stage.

And pray how could Avatar lose out as best picture of the year. Both the people and critics have spoken out loud. It is THE BIGGEST MOVIE OF ALL TIME. It has set new benchmarks in terms of visual style and technology. And it was infinitely better than titanic which raked up all those awards a dozen years ago.

And isn't it sad that the Academy goofed up and forgot to mention Farah Fawcett as part of the In Memoriam segment. Unlucky to have died on the same day as the King of Pop Michael Jackson, and thus provided poor coverage by the news media. And now Oscar forget to pay tribute. Eh. Overall just a bad show.

Although it seemed that they cut down on a lot of the bells & whistles, yet the whole show stretched past the 3.5 hour mark. The ass-kissing testimonies to best Actor nominees were just plain embarrasing and had me squirming in my couch, spare a thought for those nominees who had to sit through it with cameras pointed straight at them..

And why was George Clooney acting all sour and Mr.Grumpy. Guy needs to really take himself less seriously. I think he really isn't laid back as he makes out to be on the reel screen.

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