Migrated to a Self hosted site

The only thing that remains constant is the change itself. Times have changed. I have now migrated to a self hosted WP site. Please continue to follow me on http://vineetkumar.me

The movie review section is: http://vineetkumar.me/movie

Looking forward to meet you there ...

The Amazing Spiderman

Watched The Amazing Spiderman today morning.

It was amazing. Despite that it was a reboot, I thoroughly enjoyed it. There were various aspects which made this movie less dramatic but more closer to reality. I got to know a lot about Spiderman then the previous franchise ever told. Since the movie covered some aspects of the Peter Parker's parents, it felt more involving. From the childhood to how he managed to become Spiderman, the character development seemed phenomenal. But the role of Irrfan Khan totally looked like it was for namesake.

Whoever saying it contains less action is disillusioned, or maybe skipped some scenes while buying popcorn or something I think the action was justified. Granted not a lot of action sequences were done in broad day light like it did in the former trilogy, but that played a little role in making the movie a little dark and grim.

One of the things that I missed in this version of the Spiderman was the quote, "With great power, comes great responsibility". But I totally loved the humorous side of Peter Parker. The appearance of Stan Lee was also funny! And Gwen Stacy (played by Emma Stone) was a welcome change. She was cute!

Also, I would like to say that it's better not to compare it with the original Spiderman. Both have their places. Personally I won't be able to tell which of them is better until the end of the trilogy (if it's done). But the after credit scenes guaranteed a sequel that seems worth waiting for.

Totally worth the watch for me. Might also go for a second time, with a friend. Rating: 4/5.

Prometheus (2012)

Plot (from IMDb): "A team of explorers discover a clue to the origins of mankind on Earth, leading them on a journey to the darkest corners of the universe. There, they must fight a terrifying battle to save the future of the human race."

Let me begin by saying that I haven't watched the original movies of the Alien franchise, to which Prometheus is being regarded as the prequel too. So I didn't have any expectations or pre notions about the movie. But I was aware of the basic plot of the previous movies, which involved gruesome ways of their attacks.

The genre of the movie says, it's an Action, Sci-fi and Horror. Sadly to me, it seemed to fit in neither of the three perfectly.

The movie begins slowly. Too slowly. And it's not a complaint. I have seen good movies with slow start. But this one just keeps on dragging.

There was no character development so to speak. Except that of Noomi Rapace (Elizabeth Shaw, in movie) and maybe of Michael Fassbender (David, in movie).

I didn't felt the story either. And I won't say screenplay was any good either.

Speaking of horror, there was maybe just a couple of time where I was spooked but overall, saying Prometheus a horror movie will be injustice. And that is coming from someone who is not a fan of horror movies just because they scare the sh!t out of me.

The built up which is developed in the first half of the movie just doesn't justify the climax. Almost everyone who will watch the movie will agree that the climax could have been a lot better. The way it ended it looked like I was watching the first episode of a series.

Something which is good and which was apparent from the trailer was the cinematography. It was good. But again not something we haven't seen before.

Maybe these kinds of movies are just not my type. Maybe the ones who like "Alien" and its sequels may relate something to it... but for me, Prometheus was one movie I could have easily skipped if I haven't got the chance to get the premiere passes.

Rating: 2.5/5

Mobile Internet : First Hand Experience of Me and My Dad

I am sitting on my berth in a compartment of a train which is scheduled to take me to my village. In my hands is my smartphone which have become the best companion of my life. And with me is my dad who is traveling along with me and who is familiar with the power of the little gadget I was holding in my hand.

Suddenly my gaze took me outside the window to the crowd on the station. Almost everyone could be seen with a phone in their hands. Some talking, some looking at the little screens while other busy passing time tapping their phones in the waiting area.

It was then when it struck me something. There used to be a time when people used to buy phones to talk and talk, and just talk. Phones were practically no other purpose. And they used to pay large amount of money just for that. Well, life have changed today. Changed to an extent that it's nothing short of a miracle. Today talking is just one of the thing we can do with our smartphones. Today we have the kind of power that one could never imagine just a decade ago. Thanks to smartphones, we now have the power of Internet in our pockets, palms or wherever it could be carried.

I am a geek. One of it’s definition goes something like this, “A knowledgeable and obsessive computer enthusiast”. Well, I am not sure about the knowledgeable part but I sure am an enthusiast. I like to make the most of the power which the world of Internet has vested in us. But that means I am as good as I am near an Internet enabled computer. That's where the power of Smartphone truly comes into play, and the “fun” really starts to kick in.

It’s just been a few months until I migrated from a basic “just-talk” phone to a smartphone, and since then I have never looked back. My smart phone coupled with Internet on-the-go have provided me the possibilities that was previously unheard of!

Let’s start with the most fundamental aspect of the existence of human, “Communication”. My phone provides me emails right where I need them. My friends can be in touch with me wherever I go and whatever I do. The other day, mom sent me to take some vegetables. I being not so fond of cooking, got confused between the some items. All I had to do was to take a snapshot of them and email them to my mom's email. She immediately recommended me which of the two options to take, and I was happy as a guy ever be when his phone helps him to buy veggies!
With a feature known as instant photo upload, every snaps that I ever take is backed up securely to the cloud using Internet and which makes sure none of them ever get lost.

With this Internet service called, “Foursquare”, discovering new places have never been more fun. I can tag a place and write my review about it. When one of my friend goes to the same place, he can see my review and can know in advance about what I liked about the place! This is awesome!
What’s best about Internet is that physical boundaries doesn't matter! I can talk to someone from different city just like I can from my friends overseas! And when I let my dad video conference with my brother in England he can't resist that smile which makes me feel proud of the power I hold because of Internet.

Suddenly, a sizzling sound brought me back to the train compartment. I observed a kid who was playing Angry birds on his father's iPad. That reminded me of the most fundamental aspect of mobile devices, “Entertainment”.

What makes Internet on my phone most exciting is the amount of entertainment that it provides. I can listen to my favorite music streaming live from Shoutcast. I can record, edit and upload how my little cousin learns to walk and share directly with my friends all through my mobile! Instantly I receive comments from all of my relatives who are amazed by the improvement of my little cousin because they are also always within my reach from the palm of their hands.

Nothing can beat the sheer excitement which I get from online games. Competing with friends across the globe was never possible without the Internet. And my smartphone just makes it accessible from wherever I am. I don't have to wait to get to the theater before watching a movie. I can schedule my plans right on my phone while I am traveling! This makes entertainment so much fun, that sometimes I feel blessed for having my phone with me!

My mom would agree that I maybe have got the worst memory of the lot. I forget so many things. Like the items of the list which I have to shop for. I tend to forget about the assignment that I had to complete for my college. But I rarely forget things now. Reason? My smart phone. The best companion for people today is their smart phone. It’s with them all 24 hours of the day and every day of the month. And my smartphone is too smart to let me forget anything! All I have to do is to set a reminder. And it automatically synchronize the reminders with my online account. So when my phone is lying somewhere else I get a notification on my PC about the task which is too important to let go by. And hence I rarely forget anything!
(Keeping aside writing this article, since I forgot to add a reminder for it :P)

Anyway, back in the train my dad was lost in their own thoughts. I asked him to share what he was thinking. And he shared with me the little story which happened just one day before.

I was with my dad at my home. And we had to urgently book a couple of tickets to our village. But thanks to the power cuts we had no way to do it! Time was running out. Seats were filling up. It was then when something hit me and I flipped my phone out of the pocket. Fired the mobile browser and quickly booked the tickets for me any my dad. But all was not good.Tickets were in waiting!
Today morning I helped my parents pack the luggage and headed to the station. My dad was worried about whether we would get the seats. But I was trying to make him feel good since I was constantly keeping a tab on the status. And just about few minutes until we had to reach the station, I told him the good news. Tickets got confirmed. He smiled and together we went to board the train without any worries.

“Well dad”, I said to him “You already know how can I go on and on about the fun that I always seem to have from my little phone. But I think we should just enjoy the ride for now”. He nodded with affirmation, and with this train started to hit steam. Slowly and slowly train began to pick up pace.

Watching the face of my dad once again reminded me of how he always becomes amazed by the amount of power that Internet gives me. Cause in his time nothing of this magnitude was even remotely possible. I remember the first time I showed him our house from satellite picture. He was elated! And I told him we can trace entire world from the screen in front of him. We can never get lost because of GPS. And we don’t have to unroll heaps of maps just to find a particular place! All we now have to do it to click a button and just “search” for it! And “zap” within a few seconds we can get any information right under our thumbs.

Mobile Internet is a rebirth for me and my dad. And exploring it together with my dad is the biggest fun of my life!

As the train was picking up pace I exclaimed to my dad once again... “Here dad,” pointing to my phone, “We can see which station will come next before even we reach there as well as I can tell approximately 'when' we would reach there, and what is the best thing of that place... ...”

My dad took the phone from me and kept it inside his pockets. He told me, “Just be quiet son. Somethings are better to explore watching outside the window...”

This time I had no choice but to agree!! 





This blog was primarily written for the contest on IndiBlogger named, "Internet is Fun". My Entry: http://www.indiblogger.in/indipost.php?post=140876. For information on how Vodafone can provide the best ingredients for Fun through Internet visit, www.vodafone.in/fun.

The Avengers

Plot: (from IMDb)
Nick Fury of S.H.I.E.L.D. brings together a team of super humans to form The Avengers to help save the Earth from Loki and his army.

My experience:
“The Avenger” as I expected was an amazing ride into the awesomeness that the best of Hollywood can offer.

The moment I saw the trailer of Avenger I knew it was going to be a unique experience. Fortunately I got a chance to catch its premiere in PVR Plaza today. Not many movies are built up on the foundations of movies from about 9 years into the past. And not many movies do it as successfully as The Avenger did.

Movie starts quite slow and begins from where it left in Captain America. But it soon gain pace once our heroes are introduced. And from then on, it only gets better.

My biggest concern from the movie was how will the screen time be divided in all those super heroes. But the movie uses it for the advantage and tells us an incredible story.

There are many references in the Avengers that alludes to movies which were a stepping stone to it. So the knowledge of all the characters will of course help to understand some of the subtle humor in the movie. Most of the humor was, as you could have expected, from Tony Stark aka the Iron Man. And many other are from the Hulk. And the rest was because of the cultural differences between the characters and was a bit foreseeable.

Visual effects was as expected mind numbing. Hulk showed a greater range of emotions due to the motion capture tech been implemented I presume first time in Hulk series. And we see Iron Man new ways to “Suit Up”! Speaking of Suit up.. we also have a character which was nice to have: Cobie Smulders (or Robin Scherbatsky) from “How I met your mother”! One sequence which send the shivers down the spine was when all the superheroes were shown one after another in once coherence fighting against the army of Loki. It was Epic! (and this is not a spoiler).

And one thing more. My 3D experience was not good. The active shutter glasses kinda felt like it absorbed all the colors from the movie. So I watched most of the movies without 3D and it was quite good. AFAIK, this movie was not meant to be 3D, and was converted later into one. So I felt it kinda ruined the movie for me.

I think it goes without saying that The Avengers is a must watch for all Marvel fans and anyone who have an appetite for a little super heroes!

As for me, I am going to watch it again and this time in 2D since I feel it deserves a rewatch!

30+ Hollywood Movies to look forward to in 2011

(Read the original article at Techrepublic.)

Last year has been an awesome thrill ride into the world of unknown and visits to the places, not even conceivable by human mind before. The Lovely Bones, took us in the life after death; Alice in wonderful took us to the aftermath of the original; Prince of Persia, took the game to reality; Inception took us on a ride inside dreams and the sequel of Tron, abducted us inside the digital world. While the past year did all that without even a slightest of hesitation, this year, 2011, the excitement is only going to rise.


Following is a list of 30 movies which any self-respected geek must make sure to watch at any cost in the year 2011, along with its storyline and the time of release.
Note: Some descriptions are from IMDB, and release dates can be tentative. 

So buckle up and enjoy the ride.....




1. Sanctum (4 Feb) [ Action | Adventure | Drama ]
From James Cameron comes another movie, that it bound to get all the attention it needs. This time, Cameron is going under water, and exploring maybe the only place left to explore on earth. While Sanctum was inspired from a real story, of survival of a crew of divers, from the underwater caves, James had informed, that it is purely a fiction. Sanctum is going to be 3D, a trend which has become popular with the success of Avatar in 3D.
[Trailer]

2012 - The End - Or Just the Beginning

Image via Wikipedia

12th December 2012:
"Water came rushing in from all sides of the island and submerged the complete city in one sweep. Huge rocks were falling from the skies and blasting like Atom bombs all over the mountains. Rocks started to melt like wax does in the coal and houses began to vaporize in seconds.
The minute longs earthquakes were shattering the landscapes, and buildings were collapsing like when a tower of cards crash when even one card is pushed from its base. Bridges were collapsing, trucks blasting and there was havoc everywhere!"


Just the words above can generate chills in the spine. Now imagine watching the destruction on 30 by 70 feet screen size and dolby digital surround sound. Oh, it has GOT TO BE one of the most Amazing Experience ever. And it was. So much so, that I had to watch it two times to get it through.

The apocalypse of 2012 is based on the myth (or perhaps the truth) of Mayan calender's predicting the end of human civilization to be on the 12th day of 12th Month of the year 2012. Nobody can prove the authenticity of the prediction (unless and otherwise they use a Time machine, of course!), but they can at least create a thrill ride of the events, in a circumstance that it might go true.

Story is the (now) stereotypical, "peoples trying to save themselves from destruction of the earth", type of movies, but its hell of a thrill ride. It was the most anticipated movie for me, when I had watched its trailer, months ago. Many people have criticized 2012 for the lack of its imaginative plot, but I dont think you need more! With the Earth coming to an end, who cares about the story; the people would wonder more, if anybody could survive the apocalyptic date.