Movie Review: Apocalypto

Cast: Rudy Youngblood, Dalia Hernanandez

Direction: Mel Gibson

A pure directorial extravagance, Apocalypto is based on the premise that civilizations destroy themselves from within first. The film apparently uses Mayan’s as protagonists (well, the movie is a foreign language with subtitles, most people would not know the history), but is fraught with inconsistencies throughout. The Spaniards arrived much later than the Mayans and the culture depicted is apparently close to the Aztecs.

The plot is simple. A village is ransacked and after extensive plunder, those who are alive are taken captives. Men to be offered as sacrifice and women to be sold as slaves. Jaguar Paw is a young hunter of the tribe. He helps his family escape and promises them he will return. How he fulfills his destiny marks the rest of the film.

Yes, the movie is gory and brutal for most part. From the time the animal is hunted in the first few moments to when the high priest pulls out the heart from a living man and then chops off his head. You have a pit full of dead bodies, the people responding to orgy of violence, a pregnancy under water and random killings and acts of violence. But, the premise still remains. When Paw finally says “ We go to the jungle, for a new beginning”, that's all that remains. The beginning of destructions of civilizations is always from within. Civilizations, which have been inward looking and decadent or tending to cannibalize nature, have been exterminated through history. Probably the violence is just for cinematic (and directorial- Passion of the Christ was pretty gory too J ) reasons, but the spirit of Paw stands out.

Paw is a man who is consumed by fear of the unknown. His father exhorts him to free himself, but that only happens towards the end. “ I am not afraid”, that is probably the most difficult thing for people to say. His destiny is revealed through a prophecy which gets fulfilled. Cinematic? Sure, let us have some more of that.

Spectacular photograph and special effects make the film exceptionally realistic and hence gut wrenching. Mass of bodies, the execution, the baby’s movement in the stomach, the snake, the Jaguar. The last chase is superb and the movie is a must watch at least for that. Gibson’s direction holds the pace.

Rating: 7.5/10

ICC Cricket World Cup 2007

This world cup, even though being held in the 'poor' conditions of West Indies will prove to be quite intriguing. I say 'poor' because cricket has taken a back seat in the West Indies and so have the fortunes of their team. They have notoriously slow pitches and small stadiums which might make most of the matches an eye sore to watch, but probably that is what will make this world cup so close. Lets hope the management of the world cup get things right.

First, the issue of the associate teams. Of course they need to play more, only if they have a league in the host nation. No point making a a team of rag-tag 35+ players compete against the top teams. Put the money in developing leagues and send top managers/coaches from ICC to these nations to see if things can be worked out. If not the current top cricket nations are enough to sustain the game for some time. Cricket will face its moment of truth some time, unless every one converts to the 20-20 format, the game takes too long to hold viewer's attention in our today's fast paced life.

After that gyaan series: A look at the teams in may order of fav:

1) Australia: Everything will rest upon how much Symonds requires. In spite of the sometimes machine like execution of Ponting and Hussey, they need the spark of Symonds in all departments and to give that 'edge' to themselves. Unless something drastic happens, they will remain the favourites.
Watchlist: Hussey, Clarke, Gilchrist, Johnson

2) West Indies: Lara's last dance. That's all there is to it. The man is a leader, taking pressure, giving responsibility and fighting through. The bowling has improved quite a bit and they know the conditions the best. If only they could stop committing hara-kiri under pressure. But leaving out Runako Morton i think was a mistake. Again, i guess they are banking on the 'gayle' force
Watchlist: Lara, Bravo, Gayle, Samuels

3) Sri Lanka: They have been transformed into a brilliantly tenacious bunch under Mahela. With Murali and Vaas on the the slow wickets, their bowling could stifle any opposition. Batting remains their weakest link and is more often than not determined by one individual making a huge contribution. If the batting clicks, try stopping them
Watchlist: Murali, Vaas, Sangakarra, Lasith

4) South Africa: Oh c'mon, they start every tournament as favourites but then do nothing. Again Smith is a no nonsense leader and would be willing to get the maximum from his players. Pollock, both bowling and batting could well hold the key. Unless rain appears, this could well be their year
Watchlist: Kemp, Boucher, Pollock, Kallis

5) India: 1 billion people rooting for them seems only to make the pressure come on. They should not have any significant problems till they face the Aussies somewhere. The Aussies expose their psychological frailties each time and it takes a long time for us to recover. The form of Irfan Pathan would remain a concern, even though he would probably be chucked once they realize "it don't swing in WI" :). Batting would hold the key.
Watchlist: Sreesanth, Tendulkar, Harbhajan, Dhoni

6) Pakistan: Well errr.. they are Pakistan. They can win any game any day. Inzy and Md Younus can score at will. Their bowling is their biggest weakling but in case of slow pitches Afridi and Malik could come into their own. It is always dangerous to write off Pakistan for any tournament, but this time there might be no surprises from them.
Wathclist: Inzy, Younis, Md Yousuf, Afridi

7) New Zealand: They got beaten by Bangladesh, well well they better wake up. All their recent victories have come on either wickets that offer swing or batting beauties. How they stack up on the WI pitches remains to be seen. My feeling is that they wont do too well, unless the man Vettori creates a web. Form of Fleming would hold a key.
Watchlist: Oram, Vettori, Bond, Taylor

8) England: Maybe unfairly at the bottom of the list, but someones got to be there and England could have the pleasure. Possibly a dark horse if things click as in VB Australia, they are basically an unorganized one day team. Having finally got some sort of combination going, their batting would be key. On their day Flintoff and Pieterson could finish matches, but well they have not till now. This might be their chance.
Watchlist: Plunkett, Pieterson, Flintoff, Collingwood.

Daily Ideas: March 07, 2007

Only useless ideas today

http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/content/mar2007/id20070307_226227.htm?campaign_id=rss_daily

motion sensitive mobiles… way to go gaming

http://techdirt.com/articles/20070305/000337.shtml

hehehe… amazing :D

http://blog.wired.com/business/2007/03/google_10k_clif.html

if everything is googled (not searched) , google will lose brand name :D

Daily Ideas: March 06 2007

http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/mar2007/gb20070305_633578.htm?campaign_id=rss_topStories

spending on a new domain ..is it worth it?

http://news.com.com/2010-11392_3-6164565.html?part=rss&tag=2547-1_3-0-20&subj=news

cleantech is not a bubble

http://blogs.business2.com/business2blog/2007/02/presenting_the_.html

the next net 25, 2007 edition..where will the web go?

Daily Ideas: 5th March 2007

http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/mar2007/gb20070302_745284_page_2.htm

explanation for interlinking of global markets

http://blog.fastcompany.com/archives/2007/03/02/will_reuters_call_it_mymoney.html?partner=rss

ooh la la.. web 2.0 for the finance guys?

http://www.rediff.com/money/2007/mar/05spec.htm

the mozilla story-unusual management

Daily ideas-2nd March 2007

http://www.economist.com/displayStory.cfm?story_id=8724592&fsrc=RSS

fundaes on investing based on climate change. silly story, but worthy idea

http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/112/next-world-class.html?partner=rss

infonomia... idea consultancy based on network of individuals

Movie Review: Nishabd

Cast: Amitabh, Jiah Khan, Revathi, Naser

Direction: RGV

A non-factory production from the factory after a long time, RGV experiments away form his pet underworld theme this time and the result though spectacular at times, meanders without any possible conclusions.

The plot is simple, a sixty year old falls for the 18 yr old friend of his daughter. The passion of youth rekindles the ‘young’ heart in the old man and brings out all his dormant aspects, to make him want to sing, to make him laugh to make him want to live a few more days. He takes the responsibility, the fall and the asks the girls to leave, while the memory of her would linger in his now empty life, she took what was there before and after she came into his life….

You think, nice…given the sultry Jiah, God Amitabh and a good supporting cast the quality of the movie must be a no-brainer right? Unfortunately, we are wrong. What we have instead is the dull imagination of a director who is trying to get his old charm back. This is far away from Rangeela or Satya (or the directors famous telugu movies), though some indications of his genius shine across. Vijay (Amitabh) taking the right amount of time to say he loves his wife (and the no complaints marriage), jiah saying ‘I love your dad’ and ‘protect your husband’ and above all ‘what are looking through the lens ….there is no color and no life in what you are looking at’, Amitabh willing to give Jiah up because he is not good enough for her……not good enough for a 2 hr movie. Well the colors are brilliantly chosen by Roy (award for him?)

What the movie needs was a little bit more imagination, maybe the perspective from the girl’s side? There is no depth in the love, the camera work (even though spectacular to say the least) leaves no doubts regarding the ever present sexual tension (contrary to interviews …that’s a joke) and pathetic dialogues above all. The dialogues in the final analysis kill the movie, sounding like a b-grade flick. Sometimes you think its actually soft porn. Any ways someone get me a date with Jiah- she looks ravishing and acts surprisingly well. The character is totally hers to enact and she does well. The edgy, damn care attitude would be perfect, but c’mon man…she is half naked all the time (and gets vulgar postures sometimes…that from me is quite something---immature handling simply put.) Amitabh is exceptional in a difficult role. The supporting cast ..for once supports, including Arya as the daughter who finds her dad falling for her friend. A little bit more thought perhaps, and it would have been one hell of a movie.

Rating: 6/10 …if not for anything for the camera work and the songs not being in the movie is a big disappointment.