After 10 years, we have at last found the worthy successor to The Matrix. The film is a rare breed of Hollywood film - a film that has escaped Hollywoodification, the imposed set of rules which make big star/big budget movies to cater to lowest common denominator. So whenever a successful foreign genre film is being remade in Hollywood, the hardcore fans roll their eyes - we have seen countless examples of imported directors trading their mojo for bigger budgets/fatter paychecks - watering down the film to ‘Fantastic Four’ levels.

Russian Director Timur Bekmambetov, is an exception - he has delivered ‘Wanted’ just like how an adrenaline pumping action movie is supposed to be. I didn’t believe it was a direct English film made by an American Studio - I was 100% sure that it was a East European dubbed film, until Angelina Jolie & Morgan Freeman appeared and I saw traces of Chicago.

As far as comic book films go - this film dwarfs ‘The Dark Knight’ in every way. The ‘Dark Knight’ for me was a been there/done that kinda movie - it was a good, but laborious to watch - almost like reading a textbook for tomorrows exam. ‘Wanted’ was F-U-N. I wouldn’t mind sitting thro another hour to see what Timur Bekmambetov can dish out.

The script has this rare magnetic quality which is usually lacking in action genre - you don’t know where it is taking you or who will win in the end - Victory is not a foregone conclusion here unlike superhero movies. Just like Matrix, you almost bend round the corner to see whats next.

It looks like a fairly simple revenge saga. ‘A’ kills ‘B’ - ‘B’s son trains and go after ‘A’. Oldest theme on earth, after love story. But visual presentation, explosive action, excellent acting, gorgeous set design and finally Matrix defiying stunt sequences - makes this movie absolutely fresh. Which made me scramble to the library to see if they carry the director’s older Russian language movies. Being based on existing material - it does move into some childish, almost laughable, fable about textiles and hidden messages - but the rest of the film makes up for such indiscretions.

Produced by ‘Legally Blond’s producer Marc Platt - whose deal with Universal Studio was "Give him money, give him his fav crew, give him his preferred FX studio… and leave him alone". Only Spielbergs and M.Nights of this world get that kinda freedom - not an unknown russian director doing his first english film. After seeing the finished product Universal was so pleased with the result that it changed the release date to make it go head-to-head with Summer Blockbusters.

But be warned, you should leave your physic’s hat at home - this movie ‘bends’ physics and makes a mockery out of Newtons Law. All the more fun!

5/5

Update [1 July 08]: As predicted everywhere Nikon did announce the D700.

DP Review has the full details and hands on preview here.

Highlights:

• Full Frame Sensor (FX)
• Uses same chip used in Nikon’s flagship model Nikon D3 ($5,000)!
• 5fps speed with 52 point AF Sensor.
• MSRP $2,999 (I suspect $2,799 streetprice) (D300 is $1699)  [Adorama taking preorders already!]
• Available this month

And in typical Nikon fashion (the reason Nikon Rocks!) - it released firmware to update older D300 to include some of D700s new features! Which company does that? Not Apple, Not Canon - infact they delibrately LOCK features to protect their productline (Microsoft surpisingly released firmware to update Zune1 to some features of Zune2).

Now that I know what Nikon has up its FX sleeve, I am gonna update my trust old Nikon D70 at last. It has given me 4 good years, and served really well. I am moving not to D700, but to D300 - at $1600ish its a bargain. I can put the $1000 saved into some good wideangle glass.

June 18: After many many busted rumors of D90, D10… this one seems legit. Leaked pictures from a print factory was out in the wild today - Nikon forums are buzzing with anticipation. 

Whats not to like? A dream combo - D300 internals in a full frame (FX) format…. I have one hand in my wallet already - this is what we have been waiting for!   Please be under $2k!! 2k 2k 2k! (chinese websites have it pegged at $2995, ken rockwell has it at $3299)

Actor/Director Sydney Pollack dies of cancer at 73.  He is one of the rare director-slash-actor who excelled in both fields. ‘Micheal Clayton’ & ‘Eyes Wide Shut’ shows his acting skills, while ‘Tootsie’ (1982) and  ‘They Shoot Horses, don’t they’ (1969) shows his finesse behind the camera.

A counter mockumercial.

A fantastic film from a first time director Scott Burns (who wrote the screenplay for Bourne Ultimatum). Its a taut thriller peppered with funny poignant moments and some great acting / great writing - a winning combination.

Film starts with an accident at a stealth nuclear plant in USSR. It starts very slow as we don’t know what to expect or where it goes. So first 25mins is meandering. Instead of dealing with the widespread calamity (think Chernobyl) of the nuclear plan situation, it deals with one man’s problems with it (Similar to M.Night’s Signs - where a worldwide alien infestation becomes one single person’s problem). His journey takes him to Moscow where he mets a street-smart crook, who has a similar Damocles sword hanging over his head. This is where the movie picks pace, as they both try to figure out a mutually beneficial outcome.

All principle characters are deep and well itched out - no cardboard characters here. Even tho it was a low budget film, it was gorgeously shot in East Europe with very authentic production design. The film crew passed themselves off as BBC TV crew to gain access to sensitive nuclear facilities in Russia! - I hope it doesn’t give similar ideas to Al Jazeera TV crew

Unfortunately, the movie did have a very short shelf life - it never made it to US theaters (no major stars) but it did debut in HBO as "PU-239".

4/5

White collar bandits from JPMorgan Chase staged a broad daylight heist at Bear Stearns. They got away with an estimated $33 billion dollar portfolio (only $2 Billion is exposed to sub-prime, rest $31 billion Prime/ Alt-A/ commercial safe investments) and dropping a measly $236 million for it in the tip jar, on their way out. Just the Bear Stearns NY office tower alone is worth $1.2 billion! Today, JPM wasted no time in moving their bankers into their newly acquired prime New York tower.

Remember, this is a 10 day timeline!!

They offered $2 for a share which was selling for $170 last year (+ Feds offered a $30 billion guarantee). Even if deal goes bad for JPM, thats just $236 million, lunch money for the behemoth bank. And just for records, Bear Stearns posted a profit of $2 billion for 2006.

For a firm which survived the Great Depression of 1929, the timeline of the collapse was stunning. It took just 2-3 days, and everything was over in a flash.

- Last Monday (March 10, 2008), rumors started flying about Bear Stearns’s investor nervousness about its liquidity.
- Tuesday, their CEO appeared on CNBC to dispel the rumors, and assured that the company is worth $80/share.

Then Jim Cramer (Mad Money TV) pumped up the stock and said " “No! No! No! Don’t move your money from Bear. Thats just silly, just silly!”" (when the stock was at $62)

…. from there it took just 2-3 days for it to drop to $2 a share. The firm suffered from what is called "Bank Run" - a term that will a chill down a bankers spine (assuming they have one)  - where all creditors and depositors demand their money bank at the same time.

And guess what Bear Stearns’ Chairman was doing while his Rome was burning?  You won’t believe this. Incredible!

Its a movie I could have easily missed - it has classic ingredients for cinematic ‘art-film’ repulsion. The DVD cover has a child star in a south Indian dance pose, from which we can easily construct the story… "a poor girl from a disadvantaged background (lower cast and/or no father 6 sisters) follows her dream…taking dance classes (against xyz odds) to win in a national dance contest (or becomes celebrity dancer) … like one of those crossover films pushing classical arts for international awards.

This one won many awards too. For 2007, it was nominated for ‘Best First Feature’ - I got the DVD in mail - with a polite note for my vote. I usually get turned off by pushy marketing (like FoxSearchLight’s Juno) - I reluctantly popped in the DVD…..

The title character, Vanaja (Mamata Bhukya) was brilliant - she carried the movie on her tiny shoulders. Vanaja’s eyes ’sparkle’, she carries this bright aura around her - an aura of arrogance, brilliance & naughiness…. a complex little character, sometimes difficult to understand - but always interesting.

The movie is miles away from any typical garish Telugu film you’ve ever seen - this will shock your system if you thought ‘Hyderabad Blues’ was your typical indie movie. As you marvel at its raw portrayal of daily rural life, you just wonder if the village people knew if there is a camera around or if it  was shot candid camera style. Everyone not only played the part - but also looked their part. Its a casting miracle.

Vanaja is a film about caste/social barriers, adolescent sexual explorations/manipulations, and portrayal of the strong emotional bond between parent/child. There are some scenes which you never expect to see in an Indian movie (but which may regularly happen in real life) - particularly when a teenage adolescent actress is involved. But Vanaja will surprise you, again and again.

Every character, including our heroine, has flaws along with their good sides. Every character has an ulterior motive - which pushes the story forward. Many times we are unsure of the Heroine’s moral compass, but she works it to her advantage by pushing the story forward with those bearings. Thats the most I can say without giving the plot away.

Now to the negatives (particularly in the second half) - sometimes the characters’ behavior is unrealistic, and their motivation unclear. Plus it certainly doesn’t help when the screenplay glosses over crucial factors and fails to bridge some scene gaps. Also the classical arts conservation stood out a little - taking the focus away from the crux of the movie.

The movie was shot on a super16 on a minuscule budget ($20K?). It is slowly making rounds in Art Film circles for the last 2 years. It may come out on DVD this quarter. Kudos to director Rajnesh Domanpalli, and the entire indie crew, for putting together a gem unspoilt by Tollywood excesses. And yes, he gets my vote

Worth watching just for the performance of Mamata (who learnt Kuchipudi + acting just for the movie)

4.5/5

Nikon announced a new consumer SLR, the 10 megapixel D60 - replacing the Nikon D40x. Nothing new here except a few differentiators:

• First Nikon to support WiFi enabled SD cards. (Eye-Fi)
• It has 2 CCD dust busters.

Its expected to be around $850ish with a new VR (Vibration Reduction) 18-55 Lens. My search for a full frame under <$2,000 DSLR continues…..

Nikon USA - D60 Specs

Aamir Khan must have a guts of steel to have made such a risky film for his debut as a director. Taare Zameen Par, a film about Children, but NOT a children’s film (from his blog). The subject matter is borderline documentary, but almost well woven into a film. Why almost? Read on…

In the first half is fantastic. The director’s attention to detail is amazing, be it interaction between characters (the way kid defies mom, dares his teacher, cajoles his bro, gets taunted by seniors/bullies) or the way the characters interact with their environment (kid swings away in iron gate, splashes every poodle, vandalizes neighbor’s potted plants) or the everyday scenes (punishment for shoe polish) - it faithfully recreates many of kids nightmares (signed leave letter, announcing marks in front of classmates, late school bus horn, nasty bus conductor, moms obsession with hygiene) and almost everything we (at least I) have done during our school days. Here a brat is shown unapologetically as a brat. No excuses. He is just a disobedient, lazy kid - almost like any one of us who got a rank from (25-50) in our class.

The second half is distinctively different - from natural it turns filmi. The Editor, Deepa Bhatia, should be send to Editor’s boarding school - she singlehandedly destroyed most of charm earned during first half and turned the climax into a bubblegum. By the end the movie drags on, adds unnecessary scenes (the kid is late to the Art Mela - why?!, and why make such a big hungama about his disappearance), unnecessary characters (Aamir’s lady friend, the old judge lady), filmi turnaround (zero->hero).  Looking back, they should have shaved off a good 30-45 mins off the movie, would have ended up with a crisp sharp movie, while still delivering their message. The music from ever dependable Shakar Ehasaan Roy is just ok, they could have done a lot better.

Despite the second half deficiencies, the movie does many things right - staring with fabulous performances (the kid, the father), a non condescending approach, world class animation (for an Indian film), true emotions, it even  manages to extract a tear or two and has many well done/clap-worthy scenes.

Aamir has effectively elevated himself from the rest of the Bollywood crowd with this film (which totally begs the question, with all his infinite wisdom, how did he agree to remake of the horrendous Tamil film - Ghajini)

Definitely worth a dekho… its a movie made with a lot of Dhill and Dil…

4/5

Tim ‘Creepy‘ Burton (Edward Scissorhands, Nightmare before Christmas, Sleepy Hollow) is all set to direct one of the most cherished children’s classic ‘Alice in Wonderland’. Its supposed to be a live action + animation film….or it may even be a 3D film.

Given his whimsical track record - it will be interesting version to watch - hope its not as sugary as the Disney’s animated version… and not to dark as his ‘Corpse Bride’ or as bizarre/creepy as Jan Svankmajer’s ‘Alice‘

Filming begins in 2008.

Martin Scorsese’s short based on a lost Hitchcock project ‘The Key to Reserva’

More info about the project here

Got a preview invitation for Juno from Fox Searchlight, and saw it in a packed theater last week.

Even before the movie started, Fox put off the audience by pushy/blatant marketing - Free T-Shirt is one thing (thanks!:), but they also gave a postcard which read like a SPAM we receive in our inboxes daily. "Win a XYZ prize!!!" sign-up for ‘Junoverse’ website, post reviews, blogs, videoblogs, invite friends,  design poster, Tshirt etc etc etc… for each activity u receive points (bleh) and see the movie many many times…. each time you get…. gasp…. more points! It seems they naturally assumed everyone will like this movie and make it a hit cult classic (like L.M.Sunshine) - thats in-your-face marketing. It would have been great if they gave it *after* the movie ended.

Coming back to the movie, it stars an oversmart irritating character Juno, who gets knocked-up and how she goes about dealing with it, is the story. Sort of like Knocked Up, sans all the wonderful characters and devoid of its humor . As a bonus, Juno has a major side-story arc of adoption, which goes nowhere except as planned.

The story, by itself, is a straight linear narration without any surprises - She plans to give away her kid, and she does - Thats it. The filmmakers had few chances to make the story much more interesting, but they chose to stick to the main thread, thereby making the payoff much boring for us. Two such instances:

- When the prospective adopting parent, Vanessa, who is childless and really really yearning for a child - is seen holding a kids hand in the mall while Juno accidentally sees her - I was intrigued by this sudden development - if Vanessa already has a child, why is she SO keen on adopting Juno’s kid. What kind of sinister plot is this going to be - how is Juno going to save her baby from schizophrenic Vanessa. But the filmmakers used that scene to show how much Vanessa loves kids. Yawn.

- When the adopting parent, Marc is dancing with Juno in his dark room where they were about to have a tender moment… he whispers to her that he is leaving Vanessa - join that with the next scene where Juno confesses to her dad that she has found her perfect lover - I thot ‘hmm… interesting… Marc is leaving Vanessa, and Juno is in love with him’ - K.Balachandar would have been so proud - but no, it went where it was supposed to go - Marc left Vanessa and disappeared from the movie, and Juno found her perfect lover in her old nerdy boyfriend (who reminded me of Napoleon Dynamite)

Acting-wise, Jennifer Garner as Vanessa was great - she appeared overacting, but that can be contributed for her overzealous desire to be a mother. The brat Juno McGaf was played by a great actress, Ellen Page, who earlier played an annoying, irritating teenager in Hard Candy - which was wonderful as the subject demanded it - she walked into this movie with the same annoying smart-cracking character, which didn’t suit the tone of this movie.

Junoooooo!!

Movie opens December 2007

2/5

Report: Many U.S. Parents Outsourcing Child Care Overseas

I wonder if these parents realize the mental trauma the child has to go thro during the 3 day transit? Its sad to see the country slowly draining its moral values and replacing it with dollars & pennies saved.

Sad sad day!

At last - the Eye-Fi, which was announced last year, is now shipping for just $100 for a decent capacity of 2GB. Unfortunately, my Nikon D70 takes only a CompactFlash, or else I would have placed the first order for Eye-Fi

What is Eye-Fi?
Its a SD card which wirelessly uploads the pictures you take with any camera to websites like Flickr (or even online printing services). And as a bonus, it also send a cc: of the picture to your computer/laptop for backup.

Truly a technical evolution!. If only they crammed a GPS unit inside that card… maybe next year, G-Fi !

eBay forgets its own auction fundamentals and gets burnt. Seller agrees eBay overpaid…. a LOTT!

I wonder if they used their own "Buyer Protection Plan" for $9.99 ..hmmm. Maybe they can file a complain using these steps.

Release Notes:

RAM UPGRADE v1.0, 2007:

Delivered on: September 06 2007

Accomplishments/Deliverables
  • The Project was delivered on-time and on-schedule.
  • Lightweight Client (7.4lbs/21in)
  • Strict compliance to StyleSheets.

Release Notes and Bugs:
  • Downloads random stuff at random intervals. (check for compiler errors)
  • 99.99% all-night uptime guaranteed.
  • If Scheduled Uploads fails, see above.
  • Incompatible extensions (socks/caps) can cause problems.
  • Upgraded UI from old legacy version (more cuter)
  • Disabling an EventRequest can cause uncontrollable ActiveX shrieks.
  • Will soon be reprogrammed in Hindi, Telugu, Tamil and English.
  • Side effects include- parental OutofMemory Errors and cache leak.