Prime Time Viewing

We got the Amazon Prime Free Trial and watched two movies. The first one was the Ponniyin Selvan Part 1 which I was so apprehensive about and the other one was No Time To Die, Daniel Craig’s last movie as James Bond.

Ponniyin Selvan Part 1

Translating a 5 book story into two movies is no small feat. Especially when it is historical fiction with loads of characters spanning two or three generations and loads and loads of plot twists. I knew that Vikram would do justice as Aadhitha Karikalan and he has. He made it look easy, maybe because he has done similar roles in the past with shades of grey. He does get a mention because he is one of my favourite actors 🙂 Jeyam Ravi as Ponniyin Selvan has done a decent job, which surprised me as I have seen him mostly in romance movies. Karthi is apt for Vandhiyathevan oozing trouble and charm and so is Jayaram as Aazhvaarkadiyaan. I don’t know why in my mind, Aazhvaarkadiyaan was someone shorter and fatter as described by Kalki but Jayaram fits too. Aishwarya Rai Bachhan as Nandhini and Trisha as Kundhavai has got the meaty role as the whole story revolves around them and with the surprise about Nandhini at the end of Part 1, we know Aishwarya landed a hefty one. They have all done their jobs very well. The songs are already popular and are good. But, I am not sure I want to hear so many of them while watching the movie. I wonder if there were fewer songs would there have been time for a bit more of the background story in its place? Mr M found the movie alright and interesting without knowing anything about the story (not for a lack of trying, mind).

Now to the story part. I am not entirely sure if I liked how the story is cut from many places and stitched in other places to get the essence in place. It works and they have done a good job but as a person who loves the books more than their movie adaptations, I think I preferred the elaborate thinking process that is involved in such a complicated drama. What was going on in Karikalan’s mind when he decided not to heed Nandini when she begged for the Pandya King’s life? What was the reason for Kundhavai’s move to bring back PS home? I also missed the romance between Vandhiyathevan and Kundhavai which in the book is very subtle, humourous, and cute. Vanathi’s role is reduced to a couple of scenes, sadly. It is hard to switch your inner critic while watching the movie especially when you love the book so much! I really really tried very hard but in the end, I decided to see it as another good movie and not bother to look at it as a translation of the book into its screen version. That is the only way I will be able to convince myself to watch Part 2 now. There is no pleasing some people I tell you 😀 Mr M thought I was being very harsh and I was or rather I am, but it is what it is. Over time I might forget it and be happy with my book. When I read it again though, I wouldn’t mind having Karthi take over as my Vandhiyanathan and Vikram as my Karikalan but I will replace others with my own representation.

No Time To Die

Daniel Craig’s last movie as Bond not necessarily 007. Now that was interesting. Here is a woman as 007. What does that mean for the next movie? Will there be one? Will be a Bond movie anymore given how this one ends? It was slightly bittersweet. I might have missed a lot of clues that they have used throughout the movie as a homage to Bond (like the song at the end, the one-liner that Bond says about having all the time etc.) if not for Mr M who remembers those old ones. This post is more about what I felt when I watched the movie rather than about the movie. While watching it, I realized how much the Bond movie changed when Daniel Craig became Bond. I got introduced to Bond movies when Pierce Brosnan was Bond and he is like our Rajnikanth, all style and full-on Hollywood masala and such, which called to me and I absolutely loved him as Bond. Over the past couple of years, I have watched the rest of the Bond movie and have got to notice each one’s style (I think Pierce Brosnan imitates Roger Moore a lot). But Daniel Craig’s style is unique and so is his Bond. They have more depth to them, more emotional, and have some continuity in their stories (not all, but some). There is still those small pieces of Bond charisma and the blowing up of places when they so please but beyond that there is something more human. May be it is the passage of time, the change in culture, the emphasis on diversity, equality etc. Honestly, I wasn’t too happy with Daniel Craig in his first Bond movie because I was having withdrawal symptoms from Pierce Brosnan, but as an actor I have come to appreciate him in Bond. It’s not an easy role to fill with so much expectations already set by his predecessors. I think if I ignore the fact that his movies are Bond movies I will enjoy them and with this one I thought I kind of miss the silliness of the story line, the blowing up of stuff, the fancy gadgets and Bond just taking those for granted, the mindless way Bond shrugs off the dust after the whole place is demolished and not just that he emerges without a single scrap on his self etc. It is like reading a romance novel because I know how it ends, I know that there will be a set formula and I don’t have to invest my brain power to think too much and I need that in between my intense murder mysteries and thrillers, which render me sleepless most of the times. I do miss the old Bond formula. But the ending was somewhat unexpected (I have managed to not read about it so far) and that left me with “what are they gonna do now? what were they thinking? why then were there so many news articles about a new bond?” etc. etc. Can’t wait to know more about what’s gonna come next.

Now that I have got my free trial, Amazon Prime has started bombarding me that I am missing out by not listening to their music, not watching their recommended shows etc. etc. I hate that part. Can you not just leave me alone. I will watch what I want to watch, when I want to watch it. If I got Amazon Prime only to watch two movies, that is my perogative isn’t it? Every single commerce site is now doing that. I just wish there is a way to turn them off (unless I unsubscribe which most of the times don’t really work) . If there is an option to turn off recommendations, kindly let me know. I will also have a nose around their website.

That’s it. Rant and opinion sharing time over 😉 It feels nice to let it all out rather than just whinging about it to all the time to Mr M. I missed writing about my whinging and sharing my unwanted and unwarranted opinions. I hope this year I will be able to do it at regular intervals.

WftPoftA

When we went to the Odeon Cinemas, the self-service Ticketing machine shows the above as the movie title and it took a while for me to figure it out.  I was worried if the movie, War for the Planet of the Apes, was already out of that cinema given that it wasn’t even a week since it was released. Seriously, can’t they just have it as Planet of the Apes – 3 in case the title was too long?

Mr M hadn’t watched any of the prequels so I had to fill in him on the happenings of the previous movies even before we went in. But I needn’t have bothered because they give you a brief two line synopsis along with the name of the movies. That was clever. And from there the story starts. There is never a dull moment. Humour relief is brought by one new introduction, who introduces himself as the ‘bad monkey’. It is like the life comes a full circle in this movie. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I ain’t going too much into the story because it might spoil it for you. The Colonel’s story line is such that you find yourself thinking if he is right as does Caesar.  Titbits that include the current situation like ‘the wall’ finds its way into the movie which is also very clever. You know that it will have its own cliche moments. But that is acceptable. That is what this movie was all about. But it does have its own twists and turns.

Mr M also enjoyed the movie even though he thought it a little weird (having seen the old Planet of the Apes movies) but at least it kept him awake and indulged and that is a big plus 😉

All in all, a very enjoyable and a technically very well done movie. Andy Serkis has done a brilliant job. I sincerely hope that they stop the sequel or prequel to this saga here and now. Do not want to corrupt a nice series and dilute the strength of the story and its characters.

WPC: The Road Taken

During our trip to Ireland last year, we found this small sign tucked near the corner of the road. We were on our way to Glendalough. It was a very small road where we had to turn and we were slightly confused about it. So we parked to check our maps when I spotted this sign. We had a good laugh and decided to take this photograph on our way back. I never thought that I would be in Hollywood during my trip to Ireland and all thanks to this small road taken.

Coat of Arms

I am little late for SoCS but I was out and about yesterday and came back home late to watch a movie ‘Five Card Stud (1968)’, which was amazing and we enjoyed every minute of it. If you are a fan of Western Classics, you should see this. Robert Mitchum reminded me of Amjad Khan (a Bollywood actor). And by the end of it, I was exhausted to even try and login to WordPress. But better late than never 😉

I did post once about the various pubs in and around London I had seen with the word ‘Arms’ in it. My husband who has been here for close to 25 years wasn’t sure if that was a thing when I asked about him last May. Now I have got him looking for those pubs with the word ‘Arms’ in it to add it to our ‘list’ (totally imaginary 😉 ) We do get excited when we see one more. The characteristics of such pubs are a) they are at the junction of two roads (except for one, which I don’t remember the name now) b) they have a coat of arms symbol displayed, each of them unique c) they all have some lord’s names associated with them or at least that is what I think if those regency novels are to go by. It could be place names too (e.g. Devonshire, Oxford, Hawley, Harwood etc)

Whatever might be the history behind it, I find it a very amusing thing to look out for 🙂

---

Post for this week’s Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt.

Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday and Just Jot It January is: “coat.” Use it any way you’d like. Have fun!

SoCS Badge by John Holton@ The Sound of One Hand Typing

Fantastic Beasts

The first movie my husband took me to, the next day I arrived in London was ‘Fantastic Beasts and Where to find them‘. Both of us are huge Harry Potter fans (I am glad to say that he joined the Wizarding World quite recently…better late than never..and oh! he is a Ravenclaw by the way) and we were glad that we were able to see this movie together instead of Skyping about how the movie was.

I am not entirely happy about all the extensions to the Harry Potter and the Wizarding World after the series ended. I am sure I am only the minority in this. I would never take up the Fantastic Beasts book series and read them. Thankfully, neither does my husband. We both have decided that henceforth we will just watch the movies and be done with it. It is quite hard to give up on them as of yet. We did, however, watch the Order of Phoenix the other day and enjoyed it immensely.

Coming back to the movie. It was not a disappointment, but it wasn’t a great success either.  Eddie Redmayne might do more loud talking instead of mumbling. I could hardly understand what he was trying to say. I think Collin Ferrell and Ezra Miller did much better jobs in this movie than the rest. And (Spoiler Alert) I so did not expect Johnny Depp as Gellert Grindelwald in the end. That was a “gasp” moment for me. I read a news article about his involvement in the project, but I thought it was only in the upcoming movies. But the best of the lot was Dan Fogler as Kowalski (Incidentally I liked the same named character in Penguins of Madagascar too and it’s a cute name too) He was amazing and very funny. He was the one who kept it all together and real for us. I would give a 3/5 for this movie. I might sound an old person who doesn’t want to get away from the original series, but that is OK. The more it goes on and on, the more it gets thinned out and there wouldn’t be any personal relationship with the characters at the end. For me, that is more important with a series. I love that personal connection, even if it is fictional. Don’t know if it makes any sense…but that is how it is.