Must see movies of 2010

The list will be updated as the year progresses.

 

1. Inception

2. The Ghost Writer

3. Mother

4. Shutter Island

The Last Emperor: Criterion Collection

I had the privilege to purchase a copy of " The Last Emperor" recently. Since I wanted the fully extended televised version which is forty minutes more than the theatrical version I had to buy the criterion DVD not Blu Ray.

The movie chronicles the life of Emperor Pu Yi who was supposedly the last emperor of China and the last occupant of the Forbidden kingdom. After seeing the movie I could feel what the emperor went through. A child who is made to believe that he is the supreme power and ruler of people gets dethroned right when he reaches adulthood. Must be hard for him and so he decides to befriend Japan so he can be an Emperor of the Manchus though he later realizes that he is just a puppet ruler.

Pros: Great acting by unknown asian actors
Haunting musical score
Bernado Bartolucci's vision and approach to the movie
Excellent Cinematography and shot inside the forbidden kingdom

Cons: The movie tends to drag a bit for a bit after Pu Yi is ousted from the forbidden kingdom but then picks up again towards the end.




If you are not familiar with my movie rating system. Here we go!!
My rating system:
High five --- two thumbs up
Low five--- 1 thumbs up
Down Low--- 1 thumbs down
Lowly low---- 2 thumbs down


Summary:
My rating of the movie : High Five!!

Cherry Blossom festival of Washington DC

Though a long time resident of DC i had never paid a visit to the cherry blossoms festival that takes place around March every year. I decided to make this year an exception :).
Supposedly United states of America got these trees in exchange for the bombs at Nagasaki and Hiroshima. The festival lasts for two weeks and I decided to show up there for the official cherry blossom parade which is a long-standing Washington tradition featuring marching bands, floats, balloons, and other family entertainment. The festival is marked by the peak bloom period of the flowers. I can go ahead and talk about the trees but you can probably learn more from wikipedia. My mom used to tell me that if you see thousand people a day you can get rid of that particular day's sins committed by you. Though lost in translation from Tamil to English watching a lot of people at the same place indeed gives one a bit of happiness and change in atmosphere from day to day lives.

Though the walking up and down the streets of DC took a toll on my legs i decided to brave it and go visit a state park in Virginia 20 miles from DC called the Mason Neck state park. I liked it much better than the Cherry Blossoms since it was totally quiet and once i got on a trail and was in the middle of the woods all i could hear was the sounds of nature. I would recommend anyone to spend sometime in the woods once a week to get off from the hustle and bustle of the cities and to get some fresh air. It is truly relaxing and rejuvenating and a much recommended weekend activity. The Mason Neck woods are situated in Lorton. The park boasts several hundred acres of hardwood forests consisting of oaks, holly, hickory and other species of trees. In addition, several wetland areas are also found in Mason Neck.The park is famous for the presence of migratory birds most notable among which is the bald eagle which i had the privilege of seeing flying over my head.

Before leaving i want to let you come up with your own reasoning for the way the branches are placed over the tree in the picture here. I remember the story of Salem witches and something to do with trees and branches.
Until next time adieu!

Louise Bourgeois the spider lady

I had the opportunity to attend a screening of a documentary on Ms.Louise Bourgeois the infamous french artist and sculptor at the hirshhorn museum in Washington DC(http://hirshhorn.si.edu/).

Within a few minutes into the short i felt moments of dejavu as i had seen similar traits of absurdness and quirky replies in the interview of David Lynch. I am no artist and the extremely long documentary lasting a little more than an hour was a bit too much for me to enjoy. The hirshorn museum itself has some excellent pieces of art. Lasting on my mind is the huge oil canvas of Andy Warhol's face. I was accompanied by an artist who gave me valuable hints on how to enjoy the museum though she could never explain some of the absurd questions that i posed. Like why some of the pieces were hanging from the roof with a hook and piece of wire. Even someone like me could see that the small hook at the tip of the art totally ruined its beauty.
The best possible reasoning we deduced was that its the only feasible way to display exhibits which had a irregular bottom for it to sit comfortably. :)



I had the privilege to pose in a picture with one of the famous giant spider outside hirshhorn designed by none other than the spider lady.

The Fall

I have always wanted to express my opinion on this movie ever since I had seen it. So i decided to make my first official blog entry about the movie " The Fall" by Tarsem Singh. Tarsem who had impressed me earlier with his directorial debut "The Cell" appparently has gone to great lengths and trouble to make this movie. The movie which would remind anyone of all the movies like Pan's Labyrinth where they interwine reality with fantasy. The movie has been shot in more than 40 locations across the world i believe with no use of digital tricks to bring out the best in visual splendor.
My movie guru ebert gave the movie 4 stars right away and i could see why. The movie is seen through the actions of a little girl who spends time with a movie stuntman both injured and in hospital. The story unfolds as the injured stuntman lays out tales of fantasy to the girl to get her to do small favors including stealing a bottle of painkillers. The movie is visually stunning and i saw it in the theate and would recommend watching it on a big screen tv atleast.

As my first movie review i would like to start my own rating system:
High five --- two thumbs up
Low five--- 1 thumbs up
Down Low--- 1 thumbs down
Lowly low---- 2 thumbs down

All in all hence this movie scores a "High Five". Please check for more movie reviews and stuff about Cryptography and other issues in my blog.