The Sane Lunatic

After roughly two hours of special effects, crazy action sequences and badass fighting music with a few heavy lines every now and then, I was pretty much thinking just one thing: I should have brushed up on my Assassin's Creed game story history. While there is an apprehension towards movies based on successful video game franchises, with good reason, Assassin's Creed attempts to leap clear of the usual traps but doesn't quite make it. We get an all-star cast, that truly deserved a deeper script, has some intense moments usually followed by long moments of CGI and bloodless battles. The plot in this one revolves around Callum Lynch (Michael Fassbender) who is a direct descendant of Master Assassin Aguilar, who was the last known protector of an ancient artefact known as the Apple of Eden, over 500 years ago. Callum is shown to be receiving the death penalty for the crime of murder, but he his saved from his sorry demise by a CEO of a mysterious company, Alan R...

We try so hard. Everyone for different reasons, sure, but we all try so so hard. Try hard for what? To be better? To be bigger? To be smarter? To be faster? To be richer? To be more something something. To be the best at something something. And that's fine. You know, for a lot of people, that is the motivator. That gives them the satisfaction. That drives them, to be the best at something, or be more something at something than a lot of other people. But the key line there, is that it gives them satisfaction. And if we throw aside the smiley and colourful imagery associated with being happy, we can say satisfaction and happiness are pretty darn similar. For many, the definition of happiness is defined by what we were told. By what we grew up thinking to be the goal that would give us happiness. And then we believe in it and that is also okay. We try our hardest, and some of us even achieve it. And by then, for many of the few who make it, a lot of time has passed. And for fe...

This post has been a tad overdue, I know, and I've just been caught up in work and sleeping, but now it's here, and I hope you enjoy reading it. Since the last ep, I have spent less time exploring places to eat and more at the nearby cinema, and at work too. While doing so, I found myself to be spending more time outdoors after nightfall, and in a city that likes to have its landmarks well lit, it's a fun thing to do. There was a full moon just over a week ago and I spent a good amount of time by the sea wall, looking up at it. Thinking I had had a pretty good day, I returned to my bed at the room, wherein I encountered my roommates heading out for some sort of excursion. Upon inquiry, it turns out they were going for a lil bike ride, as in, cycle ride. And then they asked me if I'd like to join them. About 2 mins later we were all waiting outside this cycle shop that rents out cycles even late at night, like we were, close to midnight. His collection wasn...

I've said it before, and I'll say it again. I. Don't. Like. SUVs. In. The. City. I don't! And then there's all these dabba cars, or 'compact sedan', which is basically a hatchback with what looks like a botched-up cosmetic job on its arse! I'm talking about the ugly sights like the Maruti Swift Dzire, the Hyundai Xcent, the Volkswagen Ameo, the Honda Amaze, the Ford Figo Aspire, and the sort! Yes, I know its because of the taxation policy for cars that are road taxes less than 4m long, so carmakers aim to offer a three-box car for less money, but please fucking don't!! If I can't afford a proper saloon car, so be it. I'll go for a premium hatchback or something, as should everyone else! The reason I'm saying this now is because I was looking at upcoming cars and there's reports about a 'Chevy Beat Essentia' and a 'Tata Kite 5' which are of similar build. As if there weren't enough depressingly ugly cars on t...

  Director Damien Chazelle returns to the scene with 'La La Land', a big-screen musical for the first time in a long time. While the bollywood audience may not find it as strange that crowds of people suddenly burst into song and dance, it is something that hasn't been seen in mainstream Hollywood for some time now. And I am happy to see it again, very happy. The film is based in contemporary Los Angeles but everything else about it is rooted in the past, the heart, the soul and the characters. Our two central persons : Sebastian (played by the gorgeous Ryan Gosling) is a jazz pianist, smooth but a cranky purist about what he listens to, plays and where he plays it; and Mia (the uber-cute Emma Stone), an aspiring actress and playwright smitten by the magic of movies, who works as a barista on the WB lot while rushing between auditions. It has the predictability of the romance that buds between the two characters as they sing and dance through different stages of fal...

Everyone suffers loss. For some the loss comes as a bigger tragedy than most others. How we as individuals cope with life after loss, differs, but we share the same three abstractions of life : death, time and love. That's what 'Collateral Beauty' tries to explore and explain. Tries to. Will Smith plays Howard, an ad exec whose six-year-old daughter died due to a rare ailment, and he hasn't been able to pull his life together in the last couple of years. His friends and partners have tried to reach through to him but to no avail, and now their company could go under. They have a way to save it, but it's a deal that needs Howard's signature, and if they can't get him to even talk to them about it, they will have to wrest away his controlling stake by proving that he is unfit to make those decisions. Some friends eh?  Of course, the friends have their own battles and sense of loss they are fighting too. But it still makes it hard to fully get be...

This movie is a lesson on how to put together a filler story to cover the gaps in the main story. I don't even know what to call this non-canon story given the already confusing chronological order of the planned nine-part series. Let's just simplify and explain that 'Rogue One: A Star Wars Story' tells the tale of events that take place between Episode III: Phantom Menace and Episode IV: A New Hope. Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones) is the daughter of Imperial scientist Galen Erso (Mads Mikkelsen), one of the main brains behind the Empire's greatest weapons. We are introduced to Galen working as a farmer when Imperial Director Krennic (Ben Mendelsohn) arrives to collect him to resume work on the Death Star. In this face-off, Krennic shoots Galen's wife while little Jyn sees the whole incident before escaping to her hiding spot. From thereon, Jyn plays the pivotal role in the events that unfold, after she gets rescued by Rebel Alliance forces from an Imperial...

So...it's been a while. And a lot has been going on. In terms of things that piss me off, and a lot of other people as well. In the country where I currently dwell, and in the world at large.   There is the humanitarian crisis that the people of Aleppo are currently facing, what with the rebels and the army and the Russians hashing it out. They're actually sending out 'final' goodbyes through tweets and short videos on social media. I say 'final' because I hope a lot of them do survive to live another day, but still, many probably won't. And these are just those with access to smartphones and internet. In a war-zone that people know of thanks to media. One of the many places where such crisis' are probably as frequent as the rain in Bengaluru. *sigh* Then there is the mainstream news of the cabinet appointments being made by President-elect of the United States of America, Donald Trump. I have no understanding of the details of how their politic...

When I saw that email in my inbox at around 8:30 PM, almost a month ago, I actually shot out of my chair and jumped around my room. The office I had applied to had said yes. I'm definitely not one to be defined by my job, but when its a company you really want to work with, doing what you want, and would like to keep doing, I'd say its a moment worthy of that reaction. There was one, small, catch. I had to change cities. To my regular readers, this may not seem like a problem considering how I had come back to Delhi after a 10-month stint in Bengaluru, but I would like to add that I was being hosted by my relatives, which meant I never really had to deal with any of the grown up stuff. I was basically living with family and all was taken care of. But for this job, I was going to have to move to Mumbai and this time, I don't have those advantages. Sure, I do have a family friend and a cousin staying here, but in a city where living space comes at a ridiculous premium, the...

Hello folks! As we're coming to the end of 2016, a year that...hasn't been the most pleasant one of the last few, and that sentiment resonates across the globe, I hope you all are doing okay. I have a couple of updates for you all, starting with the fact that the Loon has now relocated to the city of Mumbai, to pursue a career opportunity that I have been rather fond of, for a long time. Now, there's a lot to get used to when you shift to a new city, particularly if you're a Delhi man moving to Mumbai where the difference in lifestyle comes as quite a shock. Even more so, as this is the first time that the Loon will be living in an accommodation that is not his own, or to himself, and has to be shared with multiple people, so many rants can be expected. Though I suppose the posts of woe of that experience will be a series of its own, and that's the second update. An obvious change would be how the frequency of posts from the Loon goes down whenever new employ...

When the movie starts and I heard the all too familiar tune from the Harry Potter movies when the big WB logo comes on screen, my heart began to flutter, an excitement similar to the little me when I sat down to see the Potter movies. I will say this before I share my review, if you are a fond fan of the world that has been part of our childhoods, the one woven by J.K. Rowlings, you should definitely give this film a watch. The plot of 'Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them' begins with our lead character, Mr Newt Scamander ( Eddie Redmayne) arriving in New York, a city where the wizarding world was working hard to stay hidden from the Muggle world, or the No-maj folk as they refer to them here, while some protest that the strong should not have to live in hiding. Set in 1926, Mr Scamander has just completed his global expedition to find, research and document an array of the most magical and fantastic creatures, to expand his peers' understanding of them and eve...

So, at the point of me starting this piece, I'm watching the polls coming in for the US 2016 elections and it seems fairly evident that Donald Trump will be the next president. And by this point, he is. Yeah. Fuck! Now, the google search for the definition of "Democracy" says, 'a system of government by the whole population or all the eligible members of a state, typically through elected representatives'. And what the 'majority' elect, is what everybody else has to agree to as well. Now, by mathematical understanding, if 100 is representative of everyone possible, 51 constitutes a majority. But does that mean that if the remaining 49 don't agree, is it still a fair system? Let's put some approx population numbers to put it into perspective, focussing on USA. If the total population in a country that is eligible to vote stands at 200 million. 110 million people vote one way, which is something that the remaining 90 million are not in favor of ...

Visually orgasmic and well cast, this highly anticipated movie of the Marvel is a treat to watch. Like it says, "Forget everything you think you know". Rich, egomaniac, brilliant neurosurgeon Doctor Stephen Strange ( Benedict Cumberbatch) has his life turned upside down after a car accident robs him of the ability to use his hands due to extensive nerve damage. When traditional medicine fails him, he starts exploring outwards in search for healing, and hope. Following up on a case of miraculous recovery of a man suffering from paralysis, he is led to seek an ancient enclave somewhere in Nepal. He is saved from muggers by Mordo ( Chiwetel Ejiofor) who takes him to see the supreme guru known only as the Ancient One ( Tilda Swinton).  Swinton does an excellent job of playing the role of Strange's mentor in the magic arts, a teacher of Zen with a touch of life's cruelty. Her screen presence really adds to the superhero origin story of Strange. Mordo and Wong ...

National Geographic has just released the film "Before The Flood" that tackles the subject of climate change, its effects, its causes, the options to deal with it and the obstacles in the way of the solutions to the problem. Directed by Fisher Stevens, it stars Leonardo DiCaprio, a U.N. Messenger of Peace, on his personal journey over the last three years as he interviews and interacts with individuals from different sections of society in both developing and developed countries, like USA, China, India, Indonesia and more. DiCaprio talks about the main causes of Global Warming, its noticeable effects, the gravity of the situation and what the future could be for the human race. The people he interviews, locals, scientists and World leaders, offer their own unique and pragmatic views on what needs to be done, starting now, to prevent the predicted catastrophic changes to our lives on this planet. This is a review of that documentary, and my views on the matter are best sa...

Many people would be aware of the connection between colors and the emotions they evoke. Sometimes the connections get established in traditions, while many are experienced throughout the different phases of our lives. In this post, I would like to share my thoughts and feelings about the color white. From the little bit of physics, I did understand and remember, all the other colors in our visual spectrum originate from white, making it the source of all colors, thus its relation to the concept of neutrality and fairness. If you were to Google about the color white, most results will speak of how it is a dominantly positive color, often associated with purity, rebirth, starting afresh, cleanliness, safety and so on. While I agree that I too often associate the color white with those emotions and concepts, I am somewhat surprised not to find a piece that covers all the generic bases of emotions that I associate with white. I find white to be a color, that while being positive, d...

They say that if you keep trying and keep thinking about it, you believe in it hard enough, and then it can become a reality. But what if what it was something that you never really wanted for yourself? What if someday you suddenly find yourself questioning when exactly was it that you decided to do what it is you're doing and you just can't remember when did you ever say "This is what I want to do"? Odds are you were trying to figure things out for yourself like everyone does, and you found something that seemed closest to your interests at that point in time and you thought "Yeah, okay. I'll do that." And that's the kicker, the gap between "I want to do that" and "I'll do that", and how so many people go through their entire lives in denial of the gap's existence. Others realise it but have found a way to be happy with it and enjoy the good things in life. But the moment of realisation, when the illusions shatter an...

This movie, for me, was a roller-coaster ride of endless moments of WTFs and WTHs and lots of cringing. Director Tate Taylor's movie adaptation of Paula Hawkin's bestseller may not be agreeable to the fans of the novel, but as someone who has not read it, Charlotte Bruus Christensen's intriguing style of cinematography has done a really good job of making it entertaining. Emily Blunt does a splendid job of being 'The Girl on the Train', Rachel Watson, with her hollow eyes and crusty lips, constantly inebriated but still maintaining an air of mystery and intrigue. Rachel rides the Hudson Line into New York City, averting her gaze as it passes the home that was once hers, where her ex-husband Tom (Justin Theroux) lives with his new wife Anna (Rebecca Ferguson) and their child. Instead, she becomes fixated with the exhibitive occupants of a house just a few doors down, who seem to be staging passionate acts of love for her viewing pleasure (scenes that you won...

If you have read the novel by Dan Brown, of which this film is an adaptation, do NOT watch this movie, it is not worth the ticket price. While the novel itself may not have been well-received amongst the readers, fans of Dan Brown included, Ron Howard has not been able to give this story any saving face with technical story-telling that lacked finesse. Tom Hanks once again bears the role of Professor Robert Langdon as he dashes around Europe, solving half-baked puzzles to try and stop a threat that is posed to cull humanity itself. A deranged biotech billionaire by the name of Bertrand Zorbist (Ben Foster) is obsessed with what is debated to be the end of humanity that will be brought upon by overpopulation. He plans to save humanity from that fate by thinning the herd with a new kind of plague to usher in a new era for humans like he claims The Black Death did. He believes he must exterminate half of humanity to save the rest of it, or let all of it die in the next 100...

The gift of being different seems to be the primary theme of the movies I've watched of late. 'The Accountant' touches on a similar origin story but in a very different way. Ben Affleck in his current hot-bod plays Christian Wolff, a socially awkward accountant who is a mathematical genius and an exceptionally talented man. His autism works for his benefit in developing his skills as a martial artist and a sharp-shooter. The character is well developed, with plenty of flashbacks to his father, played by Robert C. Treveiler, an army man whose work makes him shift from base-to-base around the world. After Chris' mother leaves them, he, his younger brother and their father truly assume the role of a bad-ass family. Their father believes that Chris' autism does not need a safe environment for him to learn how to deal with the outside world, as there are no safe environments in real life. Throughout, the younger brother plays the role of loyalist, being with famil...

Of the many things this story tries to be, the best is that it is another Tim Burton classic-to-be. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children is based on the best-selling novel penned by Ransom Riggs, and is quite the gripping watch. While Miss Peregrine, brilliantly played by Eva Green, may be the title character, we follow the story of a young boy named Jake ( Asa Butterfield), living the life of an ordinary but out-of-place teenager in Florida with parents who are protective, but not ones to give time. In classic Burton fashion, the film starts on a dark note and continues that way with the occasional bit of humor. After a gruesome turn of events that leads to the death of his beloved Grandfather who's dying words were a cryptic message of clues, Jake heads to Wales to find the children's home that he heard the stories of while growing up. Stories of a place where the headmistress could transmogrify into a bird, a girl lighter than air who wore lead boots so t...

I absolutely do NOT like the new SUV cars in general. I hate the way they look, the way they feel to drive and most of all, I hate it that soo many people like them and find them practical. While I do understand that if you're the type of person who often enough likes to take their car off-road for some adventurous driving experiences or if driving off-road is simply part of your routine, then the SUV is the car for you. Or maybe you are often in need to travel with more than 5 adults in the car, or maybe you need a car that can protect you from the likely event of being rammed into by another car, even then it suits your needs.  But if you don't plan to do any of those things, then your SUV simply says, "fuck you commoner" as you literally sit on your high throne in a car that allows you to fill the boot with bags and bags of more shit you don't need but would like to have. More and more of these city driving fucks have gone for these styles of vehicles a...

Here we have it folks, another remake of an old classic, which in itself was a remake and reinterpretation of an even older, classic movie.The new edition of 'The Magnificent Seven', directed by Antoine Fuqua, follows the line similar to that of the 1960 film which was directed by John Sturges and had an even more impressive star cast, including Yul Brynner, James Coburn and Steve McQueen. Denzel Washington plays bounty hunter and avenger, Sam Chisolm who is approached by two residents of an old west town called Rose Creek. Their town had been seized by greedy industrialist, Bartholomew Bogue ( played by Peter Sarsgaard), and they were desperate to find someone to liberate them. Taken in by their resolve and the pay offered, Sam agrees to take up the job and sets about recruiting some of the best guns in the West. He comes across hustler and fast-talking quick-shooter Josh Faraday (Chris Pratt) who he believes has his heart in the right place and would make a valuable ...

Now, regular readers would know that I like to go to watch movies, as regularly as possible. Over the years, I have frequented many different cinemas and different kinds of people coming to watch different kinds of movies. But I do have one major problem almost every time and its people making noises in the middle of the film!! There's all kinds of noises and disruptive sounds that people make at the movies. When people react to certain scenes in the film, in the form of gasps, laughs, groans, even the cheers when an epic character makes his or her entrance in the story, I don't mind as much. But what really bothers me is when people are continuously talking or muttering in the middle of the film. Sometimes it's a bunch of shameless punks with no sense of civil politeness or courtesy or even a shred of dignity. These bunch of aggravating scum can be hard to silence, as logic is unfathomable to their barely functioning brains. Then there are the annoying-narrators. Thes...

Allow me to start by saying that I really really recommend that you watch this movie. You really should. Well, now that we've got that out of the way, let me share a little about this extremely well-made thriller. Ritesh Shah (dialogue and screenplay writer) & Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury (director) should take a bow for creating a movie that has dealt with a topic often avoided or mishandled by other movies. Real life is never simple or straightforward. It is extremely complicated, and the potential for things to go wrong is always high. That is precisely what happens when three young ladies decide to hang out with some boys them meet at a rock concert. Now, I might point out that I will refrain from referring to the female characters as "modern" women, just because they live an independent and free lifestyle, because, in my view, that is the current normal, so they are just three women, Minal (Tapsee Mannu),  Falak (Kirthi Kulhari) and Andrea (Andrea Tariang) liv...

As I stood atop that giant rock, taking in the magnificent view before me, I knew I wouldn't feel like this again in a long time. At an unearthly hour for a Sunday morning, us 9 riders, in 3 cars, headed out towards the ride destination, Ramanagara. It is also known as the 'Silk City' and is home to some of the oldest granite outcrops that were immortalized in the iconic Bollywood film, 'Sholay', and other great films too. I didn't know any of that until after the ride when I asked: "Where are we?". As we reached our rendezvous point, a farm owned by a relative of one of the riders, I got glimpses of the natural beauty that awaited me on this ride. By the time we started the ride, the sun was up and the day was just perfect for a splendid ride through the lovely roads through Ramanagara. Sunny enough to make the sky and the grass and everything else look amazing in their colors, and cool enough to not tire us out too much. This route was...

The last day in Goa started off very lazily, with me staying in bed till 11, after which I ordered the usual breakfast and got ready for the day. I continued my practice of making sure that I went out for lunch to a local eaterie. But when I left the hotel that afternoon, it was drizzling, which did not dissuade me. It simply reduced the radius I could cover, and luckily I found a small food joint just as the rain kicked up. The place was not promising in terms of quality, and it delivered on the low expectations it projected. I ordered some chilly fry calamari that was more chewy than the standard eraser. I barely got through half of it, before I gave up and decided to fill up on french fries. The walk back was luckily rain-free, and very pleasant. Once at the hotel, I whittled away the time till the evening, which was when I headed to the beach for one last visit. I was lucky to watch the sun set halfway before being hidden behind the clouds. It was a remarkable sight, making up...

Now, I know that this installment has come rather late, but you will see why. Let's pick up from day 2 in Goa. The first priority on my mind was to try and find a way to rent a car to drive around in, but I couldn't get through to those guys on the phone in the morning. This is after I went out for a quick trip to the beach early in the morning and a nice western breakfast in the room (3 egg omelette, toast, sausage, hash browns and fresh fruit; it was goood). I remembered the name of the nearest car point from one of my conversations with the car rental guys the day before, and it was the city nearest my hotel, called Madagaon. There were only 2 options, rent a scooty (heck no!) or take the cab outside the hotel. I went with my only option, and they know they are your only option, so they overcharge like crazy. I paid INR 600 for just 9 KM! Anyway, so I arrive in the town market, slightly pissed off, but looking forward to exploring the area and maybe find something int...