Films Seen in 2011: Top Ten

1. A Serious Man [2009]

2. The King's Speech [2010]

3. Black Swan [2010]

4. Blue Valentine [2010]

5. The Savages [2007]

6. Kick-Ass [2010]

7. Dhobi Ghat (Mumbai Diaries) [2011]

8. That Girl in Yellow Boots [2011]

9. Aami Aadu (Sound of Love) [2011]

10. G**du (Loser) [2010]

The selection and ranking has been based on personal preference

taking into account the 200+ films viewed - be it on the big screen or on video.

Pics courtesy: Google Images

[The year in brackets indicates the year of release and/or making]

Love and Distrust

I decided to watch 'Love and Distrust' without knowing anything about the movie.

I was simply drawn to it because of the stellar cast: Robert Pattinson, James Franco, Sam Worthington, Amy Adams, Robert Downey, Jr......... who wouldn't be impressed?

It's only on playing the video that I did realize it was a compilation of short films and the names featured on the cover were actually part of not one but diverse short films - the common thread having been captured aptly in the title itself.

As always, in any such compilation, all the film segments cannot claim to be of the same standard.

They differ from each other in tone, treatment and effect..... but, on the whole, it is an interesting package.

Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol

M:I-4 i.e. Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol is yet another film which delivers exactly what it promises. I have unabashedly been a fan of the franchise from the very first movie in the series that has Tom Cruise, my childhood idol, essaying the role of secret agent Ethan Hunt.

In the first film, Cruise's character was framed for the deaths of his espionage team. It had him fleeing from government assassins, and breaking into the most impenetrable vault of the C.I.A.

Thereafter, he even has to cling to the roof of a speeding train in the climax, and race like a burning fuse until he discovers a shocking truth. In the second film, he has a beautiful partner in Thandie Newton to stop a renegade agent from releasing a new kind of terror. But, it is in the third film, that he faces his deadliest adversary - a sadistic weapons dealer, and he is cornered when his wife is threatened to be eliminated. MI:4 picks up from there and packs up the regular action which the fans of the series love, and Tom Cruise proves that he can still pull punches as one of the most bankable stars of Hollywood.

This time the members of the cast include - apart from Cruise - Jeremy Renner, Simon Pegg, Paula Patton, Tom Wilkinson, Michael Nyqvist, Vladimir Mashkov, Léa Seydoux, Josh Holloway, and our very own Anil Kapoor.

In memoriam: Love you, Dad

Last month, my dad passed away.
It is never easy for a son to write about his dead who is no more.
Yet, my dad fills my life with his presence, though it is no longer a bodily presence. He resides within. He makes himself ever-present by helping me hold a mirror to my own self.

Those who have known my dad

have perhaps known him as the most affable gentleman,

someone gentle, and easygoing,

one who warmed up affectionately to

all and sundry, and had his own special way of showing

them that he cared, empathized and connected with them

with his gentility, and kindness.

On a lighter note, he couldn't have been more different than Peter Reading, the accomplished British poet who also passed away on the seventeenth of last month.

For my readers, I won't prolong this In Memoriam piece, as I am not one who believes that personal grief can be blatantly shared, please forgive my inability.

I would just like to sum up with this verse,

can't acknowledge the poet as he/remains unknown to me,

the feeling is universal, hence sharing here.......

"When we lose someone we love

We learn to trust somehow

That a new life in a brighter place

Is just beginning now....

A place of grace, and peace, and joy,

Beyond all time and sorrow,

Where loving hearts who part today

Will meet again tomorrow."