some of the reasons to look forward for 2012

Underworld:Awakening releasing on 20^th January is a movie that I am really looking forward to. After three extra-ordinary movies in the series, this is the fourth installment and has a good plot keeping it in par with the strong story lines of the earlier movies.

Also it would be fun to watch Nicholas Cage reprising his role of Ghost Rider in Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance releasing on 17^th February, which is going to be directed by Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor, who havegiven some breath taking films.

No one can forget Titanic, now there’s a chance to relieve that epic once again, Titanic would be releasing back again this time as Titanic 3D on 6^th April. It’s not a remake, but a 3D form of the earlier movie.

TheAvengers releasing on 4^th May is definitely one of the most awaited movies in 2012. It would feature superheroes like Iron Man, Thor, Hulk, and Captain America along with some other characters from the Marvel Universe.

The Amazing Spider-Man releasing on 3^rd June would be reboot of the Spiderman film series. No one  can forget Sam Raimi’s wonderful adaptations of Spiderman and this time the movie has to bigger and better than the earlier ones.

No doubt that The Dark Knight Rises releasing on  20^th June is the most awaited movie of the 2012. It would be the final movie in ChristopherNolan’s Batman Trilogy and has more expectations since the phenomenal success of it’s earlier movie The Dark Knight.

The Expendables 2 releasing on 17^th August brings some hard pack action by Sylvester Stallone and others in the film like it’s earlier film.

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey releasing on 14^th December, brings back the magic of Peter Jackson. It would a prequel to his Lords of the ring trilogy.

Life of Pi releasing on 21^st December is again of the movies you would never want to miss.

Django Unchained releasing on 25^th December, being directed by Quentin Tarantino itself makes it one strong reason to watch it.

2012 is also the year for some of very own Hindi movies to blossom out. Out of them some are :

Heroine, one of the most awaited films to be directed by Madhur Bhandarkar.

Joker, a fantasy film to be directed by Shirish Kunder,

Rowdy Rathore which would be starring Akshay Kumar, directed by Prabhu Deva,

Once Upon A Time In Mumbai 2, the sequel to one of the best movies of 2010.

Talaash, directed by Reema Kagti. This cop movie would star Aamir Khan.

Ek Tha Tiger by Kabir Khan known for his earlier brilliant works(Kabul Express and New York). the movie would star Salman Khan.

Well these are just some of the drops in the ocean of cinema, lets see what more the year 2012 has stored in for us.

And if we are fortunate enough to survive, I mean if the world would not be destroyed by the end of 2012 then we can be lucky to see the movies to come in  2013, some of which are :

A Good Day to Die Hard, fifth movie in the Die Hard film series.

Iron Man 3, third in the Iron man series

Man of Steel, which would restart the Superman series in fresh form.

Thor 2, a sequel to it’s 2011 film.

TheHobbit: There and Back Again, another of Peter Jackson magical journey

Spellbound : Who Are You?

Wishing to live the life of someone else is not a different thing for us. People do like to imagine themselves in the place of someone else.

To feel what does it be to live the life of your favorite actor, singer, etc is fun.
Even though it feels good and funny to think that way, you know for sure you'll remain yourself.

If you are an over weighted person and you look up to some well built person you know, you would love to fancy either being that person or having that kind of physique to yourself. But your mind would know it's not you nor that physique is yours. Nothing will change, except for a small smile will appear on your face  for having such stupid thoughts. There can be many more such examples where you would like to keep yourselves in others shoes.

But what if, one day you'd completely be one different person?
What if your mind would cease to believe that you are not yourself but someone else?
Now that would create problems.
Such is the movie Spellbound. Directed by the great master of suspense Alfred Hitchcock. It was released in 1945.

Dr. Constance Petersen (Ingrid Bergman) is a psychoanalyst at Green Manors, a mental hospital in Vermont. She is bit disappointed when she learns that the  director of her hospital, Dr. Murchison (Leo G. Carroll) is being forced into retirement and a new director is coming. A very young doctor Dr. Anthony Edwardes (Gregory Peck) enters in as Dr. Murchison's replacement.

Things blossom out between the two young doctors. But they don't get easy when

Dr. Petersen notices Dr. Edwardes to be ill. He has some psychological illness. Any set of parallel lines on a white surface scare him. He shows symptoms of being mentally ill in spite of being a doctor himself.

It doesn't take long for  Dr. Petersen to find that this Dr. Edwardes is an imposter and the actual Dr. Edwardes is dead. When confronted and searched it turns out that this imposter's initials are J.B.

J.B suffers from a massive amnesia and a guilt complex which makes his mind push the guilt of killing Dr. Edwardes and makes him to take the doctor's place.


But Dr. Petersen believes that he is innocent and has not killed anybody. She loves him truly. Dr. Petersen escapes with him when the hospital authorities find out about J.B and are about to turn him to the police.

The movie continues further with Dr. Petersen solving the murder mystery of the real Dr. Edwardes and decoding the strange dreams and phobia of parallel lines faced by J.B.
 
What is his real name? Also if J.B has not killed Dr. Edwardes, then who is the killer?

What trauma in the childhood made J.B to have such a guilt complex? How do all things including J.B's mental condition get better, the escape from police, taking shelter in an old mentor's house of Dr. Petersen and how his input is significant forms the rest of the movie.

I felt good when I had seen the movie but I felt much better today when I wrote about it. It's a kind of must watch movie if thrillers and suspense are your genres.

moon : staying alone with yourself

How long can you stay alone?

I am sure you can stay long, but if I start my question again and add some more words to it then your answer might change.

How long can you stay alone in your house?

How long can you stay alone in your building without a single person in it?

How long can you stay in your colony without anyone?
.
.
. . . . These questions can go on and on till the time you’ll get bored and close my blog without reading it further, so let me cut the chase and come to a straight point.

Can you stay alone on a planet or the moon?
Can you stay alone on the moon, all by yourself?

The answer would be difficult to come to an unanimous verdict but people can answer what ever they want.
Some might think this as an escape to all their problems and worries on earth and would readily live on moon for sometime.
Some would say it’s a bad idea and they won’t be able to part away from their loved ones for such a long time.
Some would merely find it stupid and discard the question.

But there was a man who took this decision, Sam Bell. He was contracted to work on moon for three years by Lunar Industries .
Sam Bell worked alone on the lunar base with an artificial assistant named ‘Gerty’ 

Sam’s job was to oversee the automated harvesters which extracted helium-3 from the lunar regolith. He periodically sent full canisters to Earth, where the helium-3 was used to generate much-needed clean fusion energy.

Due to some Chronic communications satellite problems, Sam couldn't contact on earth directly, he had to depend on sending and receiving recorded messages as the only means of communication.

When Sam’s contract was to be finished in about two week’s time, a strange thing happened. Sam began to hallucinate, he started seeing a teenage girl on the station.

One day while retrieving a canister, he saw a figure standing on the surface of the moon. This distracted him and made him fall, crashing the rover into the harvester. This resulted in the harvester losing air and Sam finding it difficult to breath. Sam had hurriedly put on his helmet before losing consciousness.

Sam awakened in the base infirmary, asked GERTY if he remembers the accident which put him there. A series of incidents and events occurred which turned Sam suspicious and he start looking out for answers by himself.

Sam managed to sabotage a gas pipe in the base to convince GERTY to allow him outside to check for "micro-meteoroid damage". In this way he got out of the station and went to the accident site. When he reached to the damaged harvester, he was shocked to see himself lying in the harvester.

Sam wondered who was lying there, when he was already saved from that accident. He took that injured and almost dead Sam lying in the harvester to the base, where Gerty saved the injured Sam and identified them both as Sam Bell.

The two Sams then struggled to come to grips with each others existence, each believing the other to be a clone. And also questions arise about Sam Bell’s real identity, his contract and his existence

Directed by then debutant director Duncan Jones, who would later go on to direct Source Code. Moon was written by Jones himself and Nathan Parker, this film was the best of its kind.
Sam Rockwell gave an quite impressive performance, while playing Sam Bell.
It currently holds a 90% "Fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 173 reviews, and holds an 8.0 rating on IMDb, ranking in the 'Top Rated "Sci-Fi" Titles'.

the most complete fighter : Yuri Boyka

I had picked up a liking for boxing at an early age, when even my accidental and unintentional punches made people cry and bleed. To say the truth I enjoyed that a lot. By the time I reached my teens, I had broken enough bones of many people to surpass the number of bones in my own body.

Looking at me then, anyone would have predicted my future and some were even sure of it. Everyone used to say that to my parents.

'He is maniac, you better control him',

'This bloody animal should be caged',

'Sorry to say but your son has no other place than a prison'

Well to say, all their predictions were true. I became inmate number 915, charged of first degree murder. I wasn't sad because I ended up in jail but rather pissed off because of my back which broke during the time I was running and trying to resist arrest.

My back did break, but my interest in boxing stayed. I used to follow the championships seriously, so I knew very well about the life of fighters. George 'Iceman' Chambers who was once the world champion had been arrested and brought in our prison.

But he was not the only champion we had. We had our very own Yuri Boyka, a man hard to define. A man or rather to call him an animal more violent then me, more violent then anybody else. Boyka considered himself as the most complete fighter. He strongly believed that he had been gifted this art of fighting from God and so it was his duty to prove himself worthy of something. He was best. There was no competition for Boyka. 

But there can't be two kings in the same kingdom  and our prison was no exception. There was immediate bad blood between Boyka and Chambers. It was then we realised Chambers was not guilty, he had been framed in order to bring him at Boyka's den. The jail authorities and Gaga, the match organiser had done it to earn a fortune by the bets on the fight between Boyka and Chambers.

Chambers initially reluctant but later on his own agreed to fight when Gaga ensured him his freedom if he won. Soon the fight started with the crowd almost getting mad to see two best fighters in the world. But after few rounds Chambers lost his senses and couldn't concentrate, hence he lost his fight and freedom to the great Boyka.

It was not long before the rumours of Chambers being drugged during the fight arised. And hence it was evident that the intoxications due to that drugs made Chambers lose the match. It was a foul play of the jail authorities. Both Chambers and Boyka were pissed off after learning the truth and decided a rematch.

The fighters started to train hard again. that was when Chambers received an unlikely help from Crot, an old prisoner who was once in the army.

The day of fight arrived making everyone forget everything else and see the two tigers preying on each other.

The fight was tough but gave a great shock in the end, Chambers won the match breaking Boyka's leg. I was almost on the verge of an heart attack after watching it.

Chambers got his freedom and the false accusations against him were removed.

Boyka was almost forgotten and neglected after that. He spent many years living low quietly. It was then one fine day he encountered Gaga, when he got an inspiration to fight again, and represent his jail in the international competition. 

We didn't know much about what happened at that competition but our champion never returned since then. Only his great stories of how he fought with just one good leg and won came back.

 

This post is dedicated to the Undisputed film series. About 90% of this post is from the 2nd movie in the series. First movie deals with George Chambers's earlier jail trip and the 3rd movie shows Boyka fighting in the international competition and his escape from the life of prison.
The character of Yuri Boyka was played by Scott Adkins who stole the entire show with his extra-ordinary fighting style.

North By Northwest : When You Are Not 'You'

Just imagine one fine day, somebody kidnaps you and keeps calling you by a different name and doesn't accept that you are you. You make clear to him your name, profession and everything you can do at that time which would include showing your id cards or anything else. But what if they still don't believe and keep referring you to be that someone else and even turn out violent.

Sure that would piss you off, but what would bother you even more is that who is this person, by whom they are referring me? If you are a movie buff you might draw some conclusions that you have a look alike or even more that someone has put on your face mask.

Such is the movie North By Northwest by the great master of suspense Alfred Hitchcock. It was released in 1959 and the screenplay was written by Ernest Lehman.

North by Northwest starts with Roger Thornhill, a twice-divorced Madison Avenue advertising executive who is mistaken for a spy named "George Kaplan" by the henchmen of a Vandamm, a foreign spy. Roger tries hard to convince them that he is not Kaplan but they just don’t listen. Finally after finding Kaplan non co-operating they make him drunk by force and try to kill him by leaving in a car which is to fall from a cliff into the sea.

Roger survives the accident and runs away in the car only to be caught by police who don’t believe his story of getting kidnapped and being attacked due to mistaken identity. Even his mother doesn’t believe him and thinks that it’s the influence of alcohol that made him come up with such a story.

The next day Roger, his mother and some detectives visit the house where he was kidnapped earlier but to his surprise the interiors and placement of things in the house don’t match up with Roger’s description. The police discard the case, and blame Roger. But still Roger tries to find this man George Kaplan on his own but he is not successful. Then Roger goes to meet the owner of the house where he was kidnapped at the United Nations, since the latter is a United Nations diplomat.

One of Vandamm’s henchmen kills the diplomat there and Roger is framed for his murder. Roger runs away from there and then the mystery begins.

The movie progresses ahead with Roger running as a fugitive, a strange lady he meets on train, the search of real George Kaplan and also the actual intentions of Vandamm.

Alfred Hitchcock convinces the audience that even after more than 50 years, he still remains to be the master of suspense and thrillers.

A Clockwork Orange : Cure By Changing

Just switch on the T.V and watch any news. All you can see is about the crime and wrong things happening. Very few are the news of some development or good projects taking place. Did you ever thought what is the root of all bad things?

A person and his ideas, yes they are the root cause of all the things happening.

Then one question arises in my mind that whether a person be changed to make him fit for society?

Yes, this question comes in my mind many times but I never gave a thought to it until I saw Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange a few months back. It was one of the best works of Kubrick.

The film is a satire on lifestyle and crime in not so far dystopian future.
A Clockwork Orange was based on a novel of the same name by Anthony Burgess.

The story revolves around a young guy Alex Delarge, who is the main character. He is portrayed as a sociopath who robs, rapes, and ultimately murders for his own amusement. Alex is the leader of the gang ‘Droogs’ which consists of his three friends Pete, Georgie, and Dim.

All goes fine until one day during an usual robbery, his friend frames him for the murder which happens at the spur of the moment and runs away leaving Alex injured and to be caught. Alex gets caught and is sent to prison. We can see the change in him as he changes his nature and behaves well in jail.

All this goes on till the government comes up with a new technique for reforming criminals ‘The Ludovico Technique’, for which Alex volunteers. As a part of this technique he is given some drugs, strapped to a chair and made to watch violent movies with the doctors on his side, propping his eyes.

After two weeks of this Ludovico Technique, the Minister puts up a demonstration to show that Alex has been cured. He is shown to be attacked and insulted by a man, but Alex does not respond back because he cannot get angry now. Alex almost falls ill after seeing a topless woman who had been brought in front of him.

These acts convince everyone that the Ludovico Technique is successful and Alex is set free to go. After that the film continues with how Alex lives after coming back from prison, his encounter with old friend-turned-foes and an old man who has a grudge against him for raping his wife, who was very traumatized after the incident that she died and also the government actions to save themselves from the accusations from people who are against this technique for they believe in ‘there's no morality without choice’

Now coming back to the point, do we really need these kinds of measures to improve our society or is it just ok to be in films. Well, looking at the crime rate and the psychology of these criminals it shows the need for such treatment.

That brings me to the end with the question still clinging in my mind, so if a person cannot really be changed then is it right to just change the person??

i opened the door by saumya nair

It has been a really long time since I have written anything worth posting. Hope so I start writing something good and come back to blogging soon.
This post, a short story is  from my friend SAUMYA NAIR.

I OPENED THE DOOR

            I opened the door and saw no one there! Did someone really knock the door or was it just a feeling? I was eager to know who knocked the door, if the person responsible existed.  I placed my foot outside the door, though I was warned not to do so by my parents. I walked into the garden.

       
The garden seemed to be beautiful even in the dark. I didn’t want to disturb the atmosphere here but I was forced to do so. I took a glance at my house to see how it actually looks in the absence of daylight! My house seemed to be haunted. All this scared me a little. Hence I decided to move forward. The silence was lost as I walked over some dried leaves. I felt as though some one was following me as I could hear sounds made by footsteps. I was curious and at the same time scared. I turned back and screamed. I walked closer and closer to see who was standing by the tree only to see that it was a kite entangling on the lowermost branch of the tree.

       Without a second thought, I ran into the house. I was shocked to see the lights gone. Oh no! I myself had switched them off before leaving the house. How could I do such a stupid thing? I could feel the switchboard as I stretched my hand over the wall. I switched on the lights. I ran over to the sofa. I opened the book I was reading to the page where I had stopped. As I was reading I could feel my hair all over the body stand up. I turned the book to the cover only to see that I was reading a book entitled ‘Goosebumps’. Was it right to read such a book at such a time? Obviously not. 

       I closed the book. I ran over to my bed and shut my eyes tight .In the morn when I got up I saw the book on the table. But last time I had kept it on the sofa. Does this mean that whatever happened last night was just a dream? But it was possible that someone kept the book on the table. What do you think?