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	<title>Blogs by Rahul R Verma &#187; Entertainment</title>
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	<link>http://blog.rahulverma.net</link>
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		<title>P.S. I Love You</title>
		<link>http://blog.rahulverma.net/2008/11/10/ps-i-love-you/</link>
		<comments>http://blog.rahulverma.net/2008/11/10/ps-i-love-you/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 11 Nov 2008 05:47:22 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Rahul R Verma</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Entertainment]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Life]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Love]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Reviews]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[movie review]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[P. S. I Love You]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.rahulverma.net/2008/11/10/ps-i-love-you/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[If you don’t like movies with somewhat unbelievable premises justified by a dashing leading man, hilarious supporting characters, and tear-jerking moments that will make you cry , than stay away from P.S. I Love You. For all of you saps out there, prepare for a film that’s so surprisingly endearing, you’ll start wondering why you [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://blog.rahulverma.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/ps-i-love-you-film-movie.jpg" rel="lightbox"><img style="border-top-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px" src="http://blog.rahulverma.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/ps-i-love-you-film-movie-thumb.jpg" border="0" alt="ps_i_love_you_film_movie" width="434" height="530" /></a></p>
<p>If you don’t like movies with somewhat unbelievable premises justified by a dashing leading man, hilarious supporting characters, and tear-jerking moments that will make you cry , than stay away from <em>P.S. I Love You</em>. For all of you saps out there, prepare for a film that’s so surprisingly endearing, you’ll start wondering why you can’t have a husband who will love you enough to die young and then send you letters posthumously.</p>
<p>Based on the best-selling novel by Cecilia Ahern, <em>P.S. I Love You</em> is an uplifting ballad about love and loss. The film opens with Holly Kennedy (Hilary Swank) and her goofy Irish husband Gerry (Gerard Butler) fighting over a</p>
<p><span id="more-200"></span></p>
<p>seemingly innocuous comment Gerry made to Holly’s mother. Just when the couple realizes how much they need one another, the film cuts ahead several months to Gerry’s funeral, where Holly is absolutely devastated. Fortunately, during his battle with a brain tumor, Gerry composed a series of letters to be delivered to Holly after his death, each encouraging her to live her life, each ending with the phrase “P.S. I Love You.” As the letters pile up, Holly struggles with memories of her past as her two best friends Denise (Lisa Kudrow) and Sharon (Gina Gershon), and the shamelessly blunt bartender Daniel (Harry Connick Jr.), all struggle to get her to start anew.<br />
<em>P.S. I Love You</em> is one of those painful films that makes you cry right off the bat, then lifts you up with some choice comedy (courtesy of Lisa Kudrow) only to slap you in the face with a heart-breaking flashback. But despite the extremely depressing subject matter, the film still emanates an aura of hope, which keeps it from sinking into <em>Lifetime: Movie of the Week</em> territory. Ultimately, the film serves to prove that annoying adage you hear after every break-up, “‘Tis better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all.”</p>
<p><object classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" width="480" height="381" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0"><param name="src" value="http://www.dailymotion.com/swf/k401YnFI5CwA5YlnDM&amp;colors=background:7B65E6;glow:A1A7F0;&amp;related=0&amp;canvas=medium" /><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="480" height="381" src="http://www.dailymotion.com/swf/k401YnFI5CwA5YlnDM&amp;colors=background:7B65E6;glow:A1A7F0;&amp;related=0&amp;canvas=medium"></embed></object><br />
<strong><a href="http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x317x2_ps-i-love-you-trailer_news">P.S. I Love You &#8211; Trailer</a></strong></p>
<p>What’s most impressive about <em>P.S. I Love You</em> is that the actors managed to feel like real people, despite the script&#8217;s gimmicky premise. Borrowing some delivery tactics from her days as Phoebe Buffet, Lisa Kudrow will have single women everywhere exploding in laughter as she searches for a man who is single, straight, employed and knows how to kiss. Meanwhile, Gina Gershon shines as the more grounded best friend and Kathy Bates gives her standard powerful performance as Holly’s frosty mother. The true standout of the film though is Gerard Butler, which is pretty impressive considering he dies within the first ten minutes. Not only is he a gorgeous man with an accent who sings (try to compete with that boys), but he also has this amazing chemistry on screen that makes you crave him more and more after every scene.</p>
<p>Even though the depressing plotline is right up her alley, Hilary Swank makes a real departure from her typical Oscar winners here, drawing from her <em>90210</em> days as the waitress who won Steve’s heart and then lost it to bad ratings. Swank does best in scenes where she’s responding to her cast mates, but has trouble embracing the leading romantic female role. Meanwhile, Harry Connick Jr. does well enough with his brutal honesty but somehow doesn’t manage to make Daniel seem endearing enough to forgive his quirks. The biggest casting misstep is with singer Nellie McKay as Holly’s younger sister Ciara. Though it’s only a bit part, McKay is just too offbeat for the generally down-to-earth tone of the film and is painful to watch.<br />
<em>P.S. I Love You</em> isn’t going to break the chick-flick barrier but it packs a powerful two hours into a concept that on face value seems pretty cliché and corny. P.S. don’t forget to check out the phenomenal soundtrack featuring the heart-wrenching song “Love you till the end” that will keep you in your state of blissful depression for days after seeing the film.</p>
<pre><code>[audio:love you till the end.mp3]</code></pre>
<p><strong><em>I absolutely LOVED this movie. I went to see it alone and honestly I thought it was amazing. It made me realize that life is short&#8230;when you are so in love that you can&#8217;t imagine your life without the other person&#8230;. you must live each day to it&#8217;s fullest. Leave the petty stuff alone and enjoy every moment you have with the one God has blessed you with. I laughed, I cried, I felt like falling in love all over again&#8230;corny, but true .. but I don&#8217;t think that you should feel bad for leaving an honest review&#8230;everyone sees things differently.</em></strong></p>
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		<item>
		<title>Becoz I never take a risk while drinking!!!</title>
		<link>http://blog.rahulverma.net/2008/11/04/becoz-i-never-take-a-risk-while-drinking/</link>
		<comments>http://blog.rahulverma.net/2008/11/04/becoz-i-never-take-a-risk-while-drinking/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 04 Nov 2008 06:27:35 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Rahul R Verma</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Entertainment]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Fun]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Happiness]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Persons]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Becoz I never take a risk while drinking]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[funny]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[safe drinking]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.rahulverma.net/2008/11/04/becoz-i-never-take-a-risk-while-drinking/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Hic… Peg After Peg&#8230; Peg After Peg&#8230;&#8230;!! Peg After Peg&#8230; Peg After Peg&#8230;&#8230;!! You know, I never take risk while drinking. When I come from office in the evening, wife is cooking I can hear the noise of utensils in the kitchen . I stealthily enter the house Take out the bottle from my black [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><strong>Hic…<br />
Peg After Peg&#8230; Peg After Peg&#8230;&#8230;!!<br />
Peg After Peg&#8230; Peg After Peg&#8230;&#8230;!!</strong></p>
<div class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 421px"><a href="http://blog.rahulverma.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/drunk.jpg" rel="lightbox"><img style="border: 0pt none;" title="I dont take Risks" src="http://blog.rahulverma.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/drunk-thumb.jpg" border="0" alt="drunk" width="411" height="267" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">I dont take Risks</p></div>
<p>You know, I never take risk while drinking.</p>
<p>When I come from office in the evening, wife is cooking I can hear the noise of utensils in the kitchen .</p>
<p>I stealthily enter the house<br />
Take out the bottle from my black cupboard<br />
Shivaji Maharaj is looking at me from the photo frame<br />
But still no one is aware of it<br />
Becoz I never take a risk &#8230;&#8230;</p>
<p><span id="more-195"></span></p>
<p>I take out the glass from the rack above the old sink<br />
Quickly enjoy one peg<br />
Wash the glass and again keep it on the rack<br />
Of course I also keep the bottle inside my cupboard<br />
Shivaji Maharaj is giving a smile</p>
<p>I peep into the kitchen<br />
Wife is cutting potatoes<br />
No one is aware of what I did<br />
Becoz I never take a risk</p>
<p><em><strong>Me: Any news on chopra&#8217;s daughter&#8217;s marriage </strong></em></p>
<p><em><strong>Wife: Nope, she doesn&#8217;t seem to be that lucky. Still they are looking<br />
out for her</strong></em></p>
<p>I again come out; there is a small noise of the black cupboard<br />
But I don&#8217;t make any sound while taking out the bottle<br />
I take out the glass from the old rack above sink<br />
Quickly enjoy one peg<br />
Wash the bottle and keep it in the sink<br />
Also keep the Black Glass in the cupboard<br />
But still no one is aware of what I did<br />
Becoz I never take a risk</p>
<p><em><strong>Me: But still I think chopra&#8217;s daughter&#8217;s age is not that much </strong></em></p>
<p><em><strong>Wife: What are you saying? She is 28 yrs old&#8230; like an aged horse </strong></em></p>
<p><em><strong>Me: (I forgot her age is 28) Oh Oh&#8230;</strong></em></p>
<p>I again take out potatoes out from my black cupboard<br />
But the cupboard&#8217;s place has automatically changed<br />
I take out the bottle from the rack and quickly enjoy one peg in the sink<br />
Shivaji Maharaj laughs loudly</p>
<p>I keep the rack in the potatoes &amp; wash Shivaji Maharaj&#8217;s photo &amp;<br />
keepit in the black cupboard<br />
Wife is keeping the sink on the stove<br />
But still no one is aware of what I did<br />
Becoz I never take a risk</p>
<p><em><strong>Me: (getting angry) you call Mr. chopra a horse? If you say that<br />
again, I will cut your tongue&#8230;! </strong></em></p>
<p><em><strong>Wife: Don&#8217;t just blabber something, go out and sit quietly&#8230;</strong></em></p>
<p>I take out the bottle from the potatoes<br />
Go in the black cupboard and enjoy a peg<br />
Wash the sink and keep it over the rack<br />
Wife is giving a smile<br />
Shivaji Maharaj is still cooking<br />
But still no one is aware of what I did<br />
Becoz I never take a risk</p>
<p><em><strong>Me: (laughing) So chopra is marrying a horse!! </strong></em></p>
<p><em><strong>Wife: Hey go and sprinkle some water on your face&#8230;</strong></em></p>
<p>I again go to the kitchen, and quietly sit on the rack<br />
Stove is also on the rack<br />
There is a small noise of bottles from the room outside<br />
I peep and see that wife is enjoying a peg in the sink<br />
But none of the horses are aware of what I did<br />
Becoz Shivaji Maharaj never takes a risk<br />
chopra is still cooking</p>
<p>And I am looking at my wife from the photo and laughing</p>
<p>Becoz I never take what???</p>
<p>CHEERS&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;.!!!!!</p>
<p><em> </em></p>
<p><em>Hope you guys understood the above story. LOL.<br />
PS2: I am not married.. still available.. : Rahul</em></p>
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		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Lot Of Google Logos</title>
		<link>http://blog.rahulverma.net/2008/08/14/big-number-google-logos/</link>
		<comments>http://blog.rahulverma.net/2008/08/14/big-number-google-logos/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 14 Aug 2008 12:56:36 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Rahul R Verma</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Entertainment]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Fun]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Persons]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[all google logos]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[google]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[google holiday logos]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[google logos from 1998 to 2008]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[google search engine]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[holiday logos]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[logo]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[trademark google]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.rahulverma.net/?p=159</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[&#160; Below gallery contains a huge number of Google logos. Enjoy The logos are property and trademark of Google and given here just for information and knowledge. addthis_url = 'http%3A%2F%2Fblog.rahulverma.net%2F2008%2F08%2F14%2Fbig-number-google-logos%2F'; addthis_title = 'Lot+Of+Google+Logos'; addthis_pub = '';]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Below gallery contains a huge number of Google logos. Enjoy</p>
<p>The logos are property and trademark of Google and given here just for information and knowledge.</p>
<p><code>
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</code></p>
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		<title>FIVE MINUTE MANAGEMENT COURSE</title>
		<link>http://blog.rahulverma.net/2008/08/14/five-minute-management-course/</link>
		<comments>http://blog.rahulverma.net/2008/08/14/five-minute-management-course/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 14 Aug 2008 12:11:03 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Rahul R Verma</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Entertainment]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Forwarded Emails]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Fun]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Persons]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[5 minute management course]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[bird]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[farmer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[FIVE MINUTE MANAGEMENT COURSE]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[how to save your job]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[management lessons]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Not everyone who shits on you is your enemy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[shit]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[turkey]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.rahulverma.net/?p=158</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[&#160; &#160; Readers Discretion Required. Do not read if you feel this as offending. Lesson 1 A man is getting into the shower just as his wife is finishing up her shower, when the doorbell rings. The wife quickly wraps herself in a towel and runs downstairs. When she opens the door, there stands Bob, [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><strong><b></b></strong>&nbsp;
<p align="center"><img height="456" src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/174/428308836_05c9b5eeff_o.jpg" width="397"> </p>
<p>&nbsp;
<p>Readers Discretion Required. Do not read if you feel this as offending.
<p><strong><b>Lesson 1</b></strong>
<p><b></b>
<p>A man is getting into the shower just as his wife is finishing up her shower, when the doorbell rings.
<p>The wife quickly wraps herself in a towel and runs downstairs.
<p>When she opens the door, there stands Bob, the next-door neighbour.
<p>Before she says a word, Bob says, &#8216;I&#8217;ll give you $800 to drop that towel.&#8217;
<p>After thinking for a moment, the woman drops her towel and stands naked in front of Bob, after a few seconds, Bob hands her $800 and leaves.
<p>The woman wraps back up in the towel and goes back upstairs.
<p>When she gets to the bathroom, her husband asks, &#8216;Who was that?&#8217;
<p>&#8216;It was Bob the next door neighbour,&#8217; she replies.
<p>&#8216;Great,&#8217; the husband says, &#8216;did he say anything about the $800 he owes me?&#8217;
<p><strong><b>Moral of the story</b></strong><b><br /></b>If you share critical information pertaining to credit and risk with your shareholders in time, you may be in a position to prevent avoidable exposure.</p>
<p><span id="more-158"></span><br />
<hr align="left" width="100%" size="1">
<p><strong><b>Lesson 2</b></strong>
<p><b></b>
<p>A priest offered a Nun a lift.
<p>She got in and crossed her legs, forcing her gown to reveal a leg.
<p>The priest nearly had an accident.
<p>After controlling the car, he stealthily slid his hand up her leg.
<p>The nun said, &#8216;Father, remember Psalm 129?&#8217;
<p>The priest removed his hand. But, changing gears, he let his hand slide up her leg again.
<p>The nun once again said, &#8216;Father, remember Psalm 129?&#8217;
<p>The priest apologized &#8216;Sorry sister but the flesh is weak.&#8217;
<p>Arriving at the convent, the nun sighed heavily and went on her way.
<p>On his arrival at the church, the priest rushed to look up Psalm 129. It said, &#8216;Go forth and seek, further up, you will find glory.&#8217;
<p><strong><b>Moral of the story</b></strong><br />If you are not well informed in your job, you might miss a great opportunity.<br />
<hr align="left" width="100%" size="1">
<p><strong><b>Lesson 3</b></strong>
<p>A sales rep, an administration clerk, and the manager are walking to lunch when they find an antique oil lamp.
<p>They rub it and a Genie comes out.
<p>The Genie says, &#8216;I&#8217;ll give each of you just one wish.&#8217;
<p>&#8216;Me first! Me first!&#8217; says the admin clerk. &#8216;I want to be in the Bahamas , driving a speedboat, without a care in the world.&#8217;
<p>Puff! She&#8217;s gone.
<p>&#8216;Me next! Me next!&#8217; says the sales rep. &#8216;I want to be in Hawaii , relaxing on the beach with my personal masseuse, an endless supply of Pina Coladas and the love of my life.&#8217;
<p>Puff! He&#8217;s gone.
<p>&#8216;OK, you&#8217;re up,&#8217; the Genie says to the manager.<br />The manager says, &#8216;I want those two back in the office after lunch.&#8217;
<p><strong><b>Moral of the story</b></strong><br />Always let your boss have the first say.<br />
<hr align="left" width="100%" size="1">
<p><strong><b>Lesson 4</b></strong>
<p><b></b>
<p>An eagle was sitting on a tree resting, doing nothing.
<p>A small rabbit saw the eagle and asked him, &#8216;Can I also sit like you and do nothing?&#8217;
<p>The eagle answered: &#8216;Sure, why not.&#8217;
<p>So, the rabbit sat on the ground below the eagle and rested. All of a sudden, a fox appeared, jumped on the rabbit and ate it.
<p><strong><b>Moral of the story</b></strong><br />To be sitting and doing nothing, you must be sitting very, very high up.<br />
<hr align="left" width="100%" size="1">
<p><strong><b>Lesson 5</b></strong>
<p><b></b>
<p>A turkey was chatting with a bull.
<p>&#8216;I would love to be able to get to the top of that tree&#8217; sighed the turkey, &#8216;but I haven&#8217;t got the energy.&#8217;
<p>&#8216;Well, why don&#8217;t you nibble on some of my droppings?&#8217; replied the bull. They&#8217;re packed with nutrients.&#8217;
<p>The turkey pecked at a lump of dung, and found it actually gave him enough strength to reach the lowest branch of the tree.
<p>The next day, after eating some more dung, he reached the second branch..
<p>Finally after a fourth night, the turkey was proudly perched at the top of the tree.
<p>He was promptly spotted by a farmer, who shot him out of the tree.
<p><strong><b>Moral of the story</b></strong><br />Bull Shit might get you to the top, but it won&#8217;t keep you there.<br />
<hr align="left" width="100%" size="1">
<p><strong><b>Lesson 6</b></strong>
<p><b></b>
<p>A little bird was flying south for the winter. It was so cold the bird froze and fell to the ground into a large field.
<p>While he was lying there, a cow came by and dropped some dung on him.
<p>As the frozen bird lay there in the pile of cow dung, he began to realize how warm he was.
<p>The dung was actually thawing him out!
<p>He lay there all warm and happy, and soon began to sing for joy.
<p>A passing cat heard the bird singing and came to investigate.
<p>Following the sound, the cat discovered the bird under the pile of cow dung, and promptly dug him out and ate him.
<p><strong><b>Morals of the story</b></strong><b><br /></b>(1) Not everyone who shits on you is your enemy.
<p>(2) Not everyone who gets you out of shit is your friend.
<p>(3) And when you&#8217;re in deep shit, it&#8217;s best to keep your mouth shut!
<p>THUS ENDS THE FIVE MINUTE MANAGEMENT COURSE</p>
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		<title>Rajinikant&#8217;s Castrol Advertisement : Animated. ROFL</title>
		<link>http://blog.rahulverma.net/2008/08/06/rajinikants-castrol-advertisement-animated-rofl/</link>
		<comments>http://blog.rahulverma.net/2008/08/06/rajinikants-castrol-advertisement-animated-rofl/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 06 Aug 2008 14:09:38 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Rahul R Verma</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Entertainment]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Flash]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Forwarded Emails]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[advertisement]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[animated]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[castrol]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[castrol 1]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[castrol one]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[funny video]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Rajini]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[rajinikath video]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.rahulverma.net/?p=141</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[&#160; Watch this hilarious creative advertisement for Castrol starring animated RajiniKanth at his best. Jujubi!!!! &#160; Cheers! addthis_url = 'http%3A%2F%2Fblog.rahulverma.net%2F2008%2F08%2F06%2Frajinikants-castrol-advertisement-animated-rofl%2F'; addthis_title = 'Rajinikant%26%238217%3Bs+Castrol+Advertisement+%3A+Animated.+ROFL'; addthis_pub = '';]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Watch this hilarious creative advertisement for Castrol starring animated RajiniKanth at his best.</p>
<h2>Jujubi!!!!</h2>
</p>
<p>
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<div id="6b6267a4-8fc7-4a48-8af2-8503ccd3ec4f" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; display: inline;">
<div><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TG38tUdFms0" target="_new"><img src="http://blog.rahulverma.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/video7a3283e4951a.jpg" galleryimg="no" onload="var downlevelDiv = document.getElementById('6b6267a4-8fc7-4a48-8af2-8503ccd3ec4f'); downlevelDiv.innerHTML = &quot;&lt;div&gt;&lt;object width=\&quot;477\&quot; height=\&quot;398\&quot;&gt;&lt;param name=\&quot;movie\&quot; value=\&quot;http://www.youtube.com/v/TG38tUdFms0\&quot;&gt;&lt;\/param&gt;&lt;param name=\&quot;wmode\&quot; value=\&quot;transparent\&quot;&gt;&lt;\/param&gt;&lt;embed src=\&quot;http://www.youtube.com/v/TG38tUdFms0\&quot; type=\&quot;application/x-shockwave-flash\&quot; wmode=\&quot;transparent\&quot; width=\&quot;477\&quot; height=\&quot;398\&quot;&gt;&lt;\/embed&gt;&lt;\/object&gt;&lt;\/div&gt;&quot;;" alt=""></a></div>
</div>
</div>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Cheers!</p>
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		<title>Movie Review : &#8216;The Dark Knight&#8217;</title>
		<link>http://blog.rahulverma.net/2008/07/26/movie-review-the-dark-knight/</link>
		<comments>http://blog.rahulverma.net/2008/07/26/movie-review-the-dark-knight/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 25 Jul 2008 22:00:24 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Rahul R Verma</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Entertainment]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Fun]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Reviews]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Batman]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Christian Bale]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Google Videos]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[HD trailer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Joker]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[movie review]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Oscar]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[The Dark Knight]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[trailer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Youtube]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.rahulverma.net/?p=139</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[&#160; Sensational, grandly sinister and not for the kids, &#8220;The Dark Knight&#8221; elevates pulp to a very high level. Heath Ledger&#8217;s Joker takes it higher still, and the 28-year-old actor&#8217;s death earlier this year of an accidental overdose lends the film an air of a funeral and a rollicking, out-of-control wake mixed together. In &#8220;The [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Sensational, grandly sinister and not for the kids, &#8220;The Dark Knight&#8221; elevates pulp to a very high level. Heath Ledger&#8217;s Joker takes it higher still, and the 28-year-old actor&#8217;s death earlier this year of an accidental overdose lends the film an air of a funeral and a rollicking, out-of-control wake mixed together. In &#8220;The Dark Knight,&#8221; Ledger makes all other comic book screen villains look like Baby Huey. Like Shakespeare&#8217;s Iago or Richard III, like Anthony Hopkins&#8217; Hannibal Lecter or Javier Bardem&#8217;s implacable murderer in &#8220;No Country For Old Men,&#8221; this is no Method maniac, asking or telling anyone about his character&#8217;s motivation. At one point Ledger throws up his hands and says, agitatedly, that it&#8217;s a waste of time looking for a rationale behind the Joker&#8217;s smeary psycho-harlequin makeup.
<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m a dog chasing cars,&#8221; he says. &#8220;I wouldn&#8217;t know what to do with one of them if I caught it.&#8221;
<p>Director and co-writer Christopher Nolan, who fashioned the screenplay with his brother, Jonathan, has created the most ambitious and sleekly beautiful of all the superhero screen outings. A handful of others—&#8221; Superman II&#8221; and &#8221; Spider-Man 2&#8243; come to mind—may have fewer loose ends and a more exhilarating spirit. They&#8217;re certainly shorter; this one is 152 minutes. But &#8220;The Dark Knight,&#8221; which improves upon the solemn authority Nolan and Christian Bale&#8217;s Bruce Wayne brought to &#8221; Batman Begins,&#8221; has an atmospheric shimmer all its own. Its unsung hero is cinematographer Wally Pfister, who makes every interior and exterior a thing of burnished, menacing beauty. Shot largely in Chicago at night, greatly aided by production designer Nathan Crowley, this is the most nocturnally insinuating entertainment since Michael Mann&#8217;s &#8220;Collateral.&#8221; </p>
<p><span id="more-139"></span><br />
<h2>No heartland paradise</h2>
<p>Sampling every flat Midwestern dialect he no doubt heard while shooting in Chicago, Ledger gives the Joker the deceptively bland vowel sounds of heartland America. But Gotham City is no heartland paradise. It teeters on the verge of bloody anarchy, and its most outré citizen licks his chops, literally, as if he can&#8217;t get the taste of blood out of his mouth
<p>While billionaire playboy Wayne continues his clean-up campaign Gotham City finds a new symbol of righteous hope, district attorney Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart). He has it all: a fervent desire to clean up a dirty town, plus the love and devotion of Wayne&#8217;s ex, the assistant D.A. and one of a small handful of Gothamites who know Batman&#8217;s true identity. She&#8217;s played by Maggie Gyllenhaal, stepping in for (and improving on) Katie Holmes. Gyllenhaal&#8217;s curled-at-the-corners smile matches up perfectly with Bale&#8217;s.
<p>The D.A. teams up with Batman and the weary honest cop Jim Gordon ( Gary Oldman in a mustache that says &#8220;trust me&#8221;) to combat organized crime, though Batman&#8217;s vigilantism has inspired all sorts of copycat, low-rent imitators. Then, just when the film needs a good jolt, Dent undergoes a radical physical and psychological transformation and becomes, literally, two-faced.
<p>&nbsp;
<div><embed src="http://www.dailymotion.com/swf/k3SS9XJJoOynmuE8bQ&amp;related=1" width="520" height="411" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></div>
<p>Trailer No. 1</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<div><embed src="http://www.dailymotion.com/swf/k5kUZRlKYkev7dqF1M&amp;related=1" width="520" height="242" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></div>
<div>Trailer 2 </div>
<h2>Villain isn&#8217;t squandered</h2>
<p>The transformation comes at a narrative cost. The film&#8217;s focus is thrown slightly out of whack, and it&#8217;s too bad his coin-flipping gambit is so like that of &#8220;No Country&#8217;s&#8221; Anton Chigurh. Not everything in &#8220;The Dark Knight&#8221; works: Some of the more painful flourishes—a grenade plopped in a bank manager&#8217;s mouth, the terrorization of Gordon&#8217;s children—are too much. Yet so much of &#8220;The Dark Knight&#8221; works on different levels simultaneously. It&#8217;s a brooding crime saga with some spectacular action sequences. My favorite pits Bale&#8217;s Batman and his &#8220;Bat-Pod,&#8221; the world&#8217;s deadliest, most awesome motorcycle, against Ledger&#8217;s Joker in an 18-wheeler. The setting is Chicago&#8217;s LaSalle Street canyon, and what I love about the scene—aside from its eerie, 3 a.m. vibe—is Nolan&#8217;s reliance on good old-fashioned stunt work. &#8220;The Dark Knight&#8221; offers plenty of digital effects, but they never take over.
<p>Nineteen years ago Jack Nicholson&#8217;s Joker won a lot of the credit for the popularity of director Tim Burton&#8217;s &#8220;Batman.&#8221; In contrast to that stylish but uneven picture, one of the splendid things about &#8220;The Dark Knight&#8221; is its refusal to squander its villain. This is a true ensemble piece, and you can&#8217;t say that of most $180 million franchise products. Ledger&#8217;s scenes are few, carefully considered, often startlingly brutal (one scene, over in an eye-blink, involves a disappearing pencil trick and a man&#8217;s skull) and freakishly effective.
<p>Six sequences constituting about 20 minutes of footage were shot using IMAX cameras, including the opening bank heist and a fabulous swoop across the Hong Kong skyline. (The narrative takes a detour for a matter of extraditing an Asian businessman back to Gotham and to justice.) There&#8217;s a sweep and spaciousness to the imagery here, and even a simple chase sequence such as the one staged along Lower Wacker Drive feels freshly considered. The violence, however rough, is largely free of the lingering, jokey sadism prevalent in so many comic-book and graphic novel-derived films. Nolan paints an inky portrait of a city falling apart, and in a movie rife with two-faced masquerading freaks, the Joker is merely the least conflicted of the bunch. Ledger&#8217;s work is improbably droll, impossibly creepy, meticulously detailed. See for yourself.
<p>&nbsp;
<p><em>MPAA rating: PG-13 (for intense sequences of violence and some menace). </em>
<p><em>Running time: 2:32 </em>
<p><em>Opening: 12:01 a.m. Friday. </em>
<p><em>Starring: Christian Bale (Bruce Wayne/Batman); Christian Bale(The Joker); Aaron Eckhart (Harvey Dent); Maggie Gyllenhaal (Rachel Dawes); Gary Oldman (Lt. Jim Gordon); Michael Caine (Alfred); Christian Bale (Lucius Fox). </em>
<p><em>Directed by: Christopher Nolan; screenplay by Christopher Nolan and Jonathan Nolan; photographed by Wally Pfister; production design by Nathan Crowley; edited by Lee Smith; music by James Newton Howard and Hans Zimmer; produced by Charles Roven, Emma Thomas and Christopher Nolan. A Warner Bros. Pictures release.</em></p>
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		<title>&quot;The Forbidden Kingdom&quot;</title>
		<link>http://blog.rahulverma.net/2008/06/12/the-forbidden-kingdom/</link>
		<comments>http://blog.rahulverma.net/2008/06/12/the-forbidden-kingdom/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 12 Jun 2008 08:50:39 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Rahul R Verma</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Entertainment]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Reviews]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Arts & Entertainment]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Jackie Chan]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Jet Li]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[The Forbidden Kingdom]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.rahulverma.net/?p=114</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[&#160; Review for the other movie which I watched today in office. Still I have 2 more hours to stay in office. I am planning to watch another one. Maybe I could post a review for that too. Cheers! &#160; Jackie Chan and Jet Li join forces on-screen for the first time in this lavish [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Review for the other movie which I watched today in office. Still I have 2 more hours to stay in office. I am planning to watch another one. Maybe I could post a review for that too. Cheers!</p>
<p>
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<div><a href="http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4451971676667301779" target="_new"><img src="http://blog.rahulverma.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/video60d85b30a653.jpg" galleryimg="no" onload="var downlevelDiv = document.getElementById('882b674e-56eb-4094-8314-b4f730a1b261'); downlevelDiv.innerHTML = &quot;&lt;div&gt;&lt;embed style=\&quot;width:509px; height:415px;\&quot; id=\&quot;VideoPlayback\&quot; type=\&quot;application/x-shockwave-flash\&quot; src=\&quot;http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docId=-4451971676667301779&amp;hl=en\&quot; flashvars=\&quot;\&quot;&gt; &lt;\/embed&gt;&lt;\/div&gt;&quot;;" alt=""></a></div>
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<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><em>Jackie Chan and Jet Li join forces on-screen for the first time in this lavish action movie.</em></p>
<p><em></em>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Jackie Chan has said for more than 10 years that he&#8217;s wanted to work with his friend Jet Li, but plenty of fans probably figured they&#8217;d have long white beards &#8212; or long white hair &#8212; before the two action stars finally got together. With &#8220;<a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0865556/">The Forbidden Kingdom</a>,&#8221; it&#8217;s finally happened. In this adventure-fantasy &#8212; and love letter to the conventions of martial-arts movies &#8212; Chan and Li each have dual roles: Chan plays an elderly Bostonian shopkeeper and a &#8220;drunken master&#8221; for whom wine is an elixir of strength. Li plays a monk well-versed in the martial arts and, even more magnificently, appears as the wiry, mischievous Monkey King, a mythical Chinese figure with the ability to transform himself into 72 different animals or objects. The bad news about &#8220;The Forbidden Kingdom&#8221; is that the picture built around these two stars &#8212; it&#8217;s directed by Rob Minkoff, who made the wonderful &#8220;Stuart Little&#8221; movies, as well as &#8220;The Lion King&#8221; &#8212; <strong>isn&#8217;t</strong> quite worthy of their skill and charm, and the plot is far more convoluted than it needs to be. The good news is that the picture is so good-natured, it&#8217;s easy enough to disregard many of its flaws. &#8220;The Forbidden Kingdom&#8221; is lavish in its approach &#8212; it attempts some rather extravagant battle scenes &#8212; yet it still seems modest in its goals: It&#8217;s more interested in being a Saturday-afternoon entertainment than a blockbuster. </p>
<p><span id="more-114"></span></p>
<p>Jason Tripitikas (Michael Angarano) is a shy Boston teenager who adores martial-arts movies, renting them from a sleepy little store in Chinatown run by the elderly firecracker Old Hop (Chan). In the backroom of Hop&#8217;s dusty store, Jason finds an antique bowstaff; a mystical turn of events sends him back in time &#8212; and to China &#8212; to return the staff to its rightful owner. His allies in this dangerous mission are two men he meets in his travels there: Lu Yan (Chan), who&#8217;s constantly swigging from his jug of wine, and the Silent Monk (Li), a serene figure in flowing white robes who is also a skilled fighter. Jason also meets a beautiful young warrior maiden named Sparrow (Liu Yifei), whose mission, it turns out, dovetails with his own: Both of them must fight the Jade Warlord (Collin Chou) and Ni Chang (Li Bingbing), a fierce, ambitious beauty whose streaming white tresses are part of her weaponry. By vanquishing them both, Jason will be able to free the long-imprisoned Monkey King (Li).
<p>Confused yet? You will be. The story, written by John Fusco, is a mishmash of Chinese legend, literature, films and TV shows that barely holds together. The Monkey King is a figure in the Ming Dynasty novel &#8220;<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Journey_to_the_West">Journey to the West</a>,&#8221; and his exploits have been dramatized in everything from opera to TV shows. &#8220;The Forbidden Kingdom&#8221; also includes references to numerous Hong Kong action classics, among them Ronnie Yu&#8217;s magnificent 1993 &#8220;<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bride_with_White_Hair">The Bride with White Hair</a>&#8221; (which was itself based on a 1950s novel).
<p>But the befuddling plot doesn&#8217;t keep &#8220;The Forbidden Kingdom&#8221; from being an enjoyable spectacle. The picture&#8217;s attempts at humor don&#8217;t quite work: The banter between Li and Chan could use some more polishing from the director, partly because while Li and Chan speak English reasonably well, their hesitancy prevents their timing from being as crisp as it needs to be. Their martial-arts skills aside, though, both Li and Chan have already proved to be marvelous actors: Chan&#8217;s comic charms won&#8217;t wear out even after his body has slowed down, and Li, in pictures like &#8220;Jet Li&#8217;s Fearless&#8221; and &#8220;Unleashed,&#8221; is such a magnetic, sensitive presence that he doesn&#8217;t even need to fight to hold our attention.
<p><strong>That said, the fight sequences involving Chan and Li in &#8220;The Forbidden Kingdom&#8221; &#8212; which were choreographed by the great Woo-ping Yuen, the man behind the action in the &#8220;Matrix&#8221; and &#8220;Kill Bill&#8221; movies &#8212; are thrilling to watch. As they challenge each other, there&#8217;s more joy than aggression in their graceful contrapuntal kicking, their swift, responsive jabs. When Chan and Li match wits, each celebrates the other&#8217;s presence. This isn&#8217;t just a martial-arts display; it&#8217;s generosity and camaraderie in motion.</strong>
<p>Good one. Worth a watch without spending money on tickets to the multiplex.</p>
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		<title>&quot;88 Minutes&quot;</title>
		<link>http://blog.rahulverma.net/2008/06/12/88-minutes/</link>
		<comments>http://blog.rahulverma.net/2008/06/12/88-minutes/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 12 Jun 2008 08:38:03 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Rahul R Verma</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Entertainment]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Reviews]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[88 minutes]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Al Pacino]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Alicia Witt]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Amy Brenneman]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[Benjamin McKenzie]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Deborah Kara Unger]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Leelee Sobieski]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Movie Reviews]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Movies]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Neal McDonough]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[trailer]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.rahulverma.net/?p=111</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[&#160; Still Dozing in office as not much work today. Downloaded few movies today.. one being 88 minutes and the other being &#8220;The Forbidden Kingdom&#8221;. Some review for the movie&#8230; In this post review for &#8220;88 minutes&#8221;. &#160; &#160; Al Pacino tries hard to make this squirrelly thriller worth your time. Above is the Movie [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Still Dozing in office as not much work today. Downloaded few movies today.. one being 88 minutes and the other being &#8220;The Forbidden Kingdom&#8221;. Some review for the movie&#8230; In this post review for &#8220;88 minutes&#8221;.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
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<div><a href="http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2841610804812631582" target="_new"><img src="http://blog.rahulverma.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/video10e01957c2851.jpg" galleryimg="no" onload="var downlevelDiv = document.getElementById('9bf27103-66c2-4ee0-8476-f7ce9f325991'); downlevelDiv.innerHTML = &quot;&lt;div&gt;&lt;embed style=\&quot;width:512px; height:417px;\&quot; id=\&quot;VideoPlayback\&quot; type=\&quot;application/x-shockwave-flash\&quot; src=\&quot;http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docId=-2841610804812631582&amp;hl=en\&quot; flashvars=\&quot;\&quot;&gt; &lt;\/embed&gt;&lt;\/div&gt;&quot;;" alt=""></a></div>
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<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><em>Al Pacino tries hard to make this squirrelly thriller worth your time. Above is the Movie trailer</em>
<p>Director: Jon Avnet<br />Screenwriter: Gary Scott Thompson<br />Starring: Al Pacino, Alicia Witt, Leelee Sobieski, Amy Brenneman, Deborah Kara Unger, Benjamin McKenzie, Neal McDonough
<p>The only reason to see an Al Pacino movie these days is Al Pacino. And maybe that&#8217;s not even a good enough reason. In Jon Avnet&#8217;s listless, squirrelly and ultimately nonsensical thriller &#8220;88 Minutes&#8221; Pacino plays Jack Gramm, a star forensic psychiatrist and professor responsible for sending a man whom he believes to be a serial killer, John Forster (Neal McDonough), to the electric chair. On the day the sicko is scheduled to die, Gramm receives a mysterious call on his cellphone: He has 88 minutes to live. But trust me, it feels more like around 236.</p>
<p><span id="more-111"></span></p>
<p>Did I mention that even though the serial killer is supposedly in jail, a rash of murders, done exactly in his style, comes to light on the very day Gramm receives the mysterious call? So who, exactly, is trying to kill Gramm? Could it be one of his forensic-psychiatry students, such as the feisty, brainy west Texan Kim (Alicia Witt, a capable actress stuck in a dumb role)? Or Mike (Benjamin McKenzie, of &#8220;The OC&#8221;), the arrogant, know-it-all med student? Or bright, sweet Lauren (Leelee Sobieski), with her trustworthy milkmaid face? And what about the dean of the university where Gramm teaches, Carol (Deborah Kara Unger), who slouches through the movie with her hair in a harried-looking updo, wearing a coat that looks like a bathrobe?
<p>At one time or another, Gramm eyes each of these figures with suspicion, and so does the camera: It never met a red herring it didn&#8217;t like. As if that weren&#8217;t enough, Gramm also has secrets, most notably a mystery involving his younger sister&#8217;s death. There&#8217;s always something going on in &#8220;88 Minutes&#8221; &#8212; a cellphone ringing at just the right moment, a character interrupting to say, &#8220;Jack, I got ahold of so-and-so, and there&#8217;s a problem,&#8221; a comely young student stripping down to a filmy camisole for no particularly good reason (except the obvious one). The picture opens with an unpleasant capture-and-torture sequence involving &#8212; get this &#8212; two beautiful young Asian-American sisters. Twins, no less.
<p> Avnet lays all this stuff out before us with a straight face &#8212; the picture is humorless and witless. The barrage of allegedly important details is supposed to keep us intrigued, but it barely keeps us occupied. By the time we find out who the killer really is, we&#8217;ve entertained so many possibilities that one culprit is as good as another: Avnet and screenwriter Gary Scott Thompson (who wrote the B-movie joyride &#8220;The Fast and the Furious&#8221;) try to stuff so much suspense into the corners that nothing in the movie has any weight or consequence.
<p>Pacino, at least, takes it all in stride. He&#8217;ll listen to some other character&#8217;s inane dialogue and respond with an appropriately arched eyebrow or comically pop-eyed skepticism. And even when he&#8217;s stuck with lousy dialogue &#8212; in particular, a speech where he has to describe that painful family tragedy &#8212; he takes the care needed to deliver it as if it matters. Pacino has gotten past the point where we have to assess every additional wrinkle or gray hair to decide whether or not he&#8217;s aging well &#8212; he&#8217;s reached the age where he looks no-age, and it&#8217;s a good place to be. He wanders through &#8220;88 Minutes&#8221; in a baggy suit that looks slept-in, but he&#8217;s the only thing in it that&#8217;s remotely awake.  </p>
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		<title>Movie Review: &quot;Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull&quot;</title>
		<link>http://blog.rahulverma.net/2008/06/06/movie-review-indiana-jones-and-the-kingdom-of-the-crystal-skull/</link>
		<comments>http://blog.rahulverma.net/2008/06/06/movie-review-indiana-jones-and-the-kingdom-of-the-crystal-skull/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 06 Jun 2008 03:48:41 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Rahul R Verma</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Entertainment]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[George Lucas]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull]]></category>
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		<description><![CDATA[&#160; Paramount Pictures Harrison Ford in &#8220;Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.&#8221; &#160; &#8220;Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull&#8221; Steven Spielberg&#8217;s beloved adventure series has built its own Temple of Hype &#8212; but the latest installment manages to surprise and delight. &#160; A few months back, just before the [...]]]></description>
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<p><a href="http://blog.rahulverma.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/story.jpg" rel="lightbox"><img style="border-right: 0px; border-top: 0px; border-left: 0px; border-bottom: 0px" height="285" alt="story" src="http://blog.rahulverma.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/story-thumb.jpg" width="497" border="0"></a> </p>
<p>Paramount Pictures</p>
<p><em>Harrison Ford in &#8220;Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.&#8221;</em></p>
<p><em></em>&nbsp;</p>
<h3>&#8220;Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull&#8221; </h3>
<p>Steven Spielberg&#8217;s beloved adventure series has built its own Temple of Hype &#8212; but the latest installment manages to surprise and delight.
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>A few months back, just before the release of Chak De India,&#8221; I happened to be standing near a poster for the movie at PVR Bangalore. A young man, who looked to be in his 20s, walked up and, after spending a few seconds surveying the image of hockey playing girls in their quaint get-ups &#8212; like hockey players from another world &#8212; said to his girlfriend, a little wistfully, &#8220;I don&#8217;t know why, but I want to see this.&#8221;</p>
<p><span id="more-97"></span></p>
<p>The idea of being drawn to a movie and not knowing why is practically lost in the contemporary moviegoing experience, at least when it comes to mainstream Hollywood pictures. We&#8217;re so conditioned to feel excitement over the new Spider-Man movie, the new Batman movie, the new Judd Apatow-produced movie, that the idea of walking up to an interesting-looking poster in a multiplex and thinking, &#8220;Now <i>this</i> might be something,&#8221; is almost unthinkable.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s completely unthinkable in the case of &#8220;Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull,&#8221; the fourth installment in Steven Spielberg&#8217;s rabidly beloved adventure series, which has been building its own Temple of Hype for several years now. But the strange thing about Spielberg&#8217;s latest is that, for me at least, it miraculously pulled off the effect of feeling like a surprise: The picture both fulfilled some vague, unexpressed hopes I didn&#8217;t know I had and also left me with the sense that I&#8217;d just seen something I wasn&#8217;t quite prepared for &#8212; the kind of contradiction that great showmanship can bridge. In a movie climate that seeks to promise bigger, bolder thrills, &#8220;Crystal Skull&#8221; daringly offers less, in the sense that it gives us action sequences that rely on visual logic rather than lots of fast cutting; its computer-generated effects are used with relative judiciousness; and it features human faces that actually look human &#8212; in other words, they belong to people who have aged, visibly, with the rest of us. &#8220;Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull,&#8221; made by a man who&#8217;s amassed a great deal of money exploring the dreams and fears of childhood, and featuring a one-time action hero who&#8217;s now in his 60s, is an adventure about the inevitability of adulthood &#8212; but if you put that on a poster, almost nobody would come.</p>
<p>The &#8220;Indiana Jones&#8221; pictures, based on characters and stories created by George Lucas, were inspired by &#8217;30s movie serials that were old-fashioned even by the time of Spielberg&#8217;s &#8217;50s boyhood, and the party line on the series is that it stems from Spielberg&#8217;s unflagging obsession with lost childhood &#8212; <i>anyone&#8217;s</i> lost childhood. But even if &#8220;Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull,&#8221; like its predecessors &#8212; the most recent of which was &#8220;Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade,&#8221; released 19 years ago &#8212; harks back to a past that Spielberg didn&#8217;t live firsthand, the nostalgia it&#8217;s selling isn&#8217;t the smug, self-satisfied sort, but a more melancholy variety: Now that we live in the future, there&#8217;s nothing to look forward to &#8212; even rocket ships have become passé. Why not resurrect a hero who spends his time delving into the earth for ancient &#8212; and, in this case, otherworldly &#8212; artifacts? For Spielberg, the only way to get back to the future is by digging into the past.
<p>&#8220;Crystal Skull&#8221; is set in 1957, 19 years after the close of the last installment in the series, and Indiana Jones &#8212; just like Harrison Ford, the actor who plays him &#8212; is 60-ish and vaguely creaky. Indy&#8217;s old enemies the Nazis, so reliably evil they&#8217;d become as comfortable as house slippers, have been effectively vanquished. But there are new enemies waiting to take their place, specifically a team of Soviet operatives led by a ball-buster in a Buster Brown haircut: Her name is Irina Spalko (Cate Blanchett, in a marvelously purring, stylized performance) and she&#8217;s keenly interested in a crateful of contents that the U.S. government has been keeping under top-secret wraps in a Nevada warehouse. Whatever&#8217;s in this crate &#8212; I won&#8217;t tell you what it is &#8212; is linked to the <i>other,</i> more important thing Irina and her countrymen are seeking, which happens to be the special crystal skull of the movie&#8217;s title. Never mind that the thing, when we finally see it, looks like a coffee-table gewgaw stuffed with aluminum foil; it holds the secrets of the universe &#8212; what Cold War hussy worth her weight in rubles could resist that?
<p><img height="1" width="1">
<p><img height="1" src="http://speed.pointroll.com/PointRoll/Media/banners/trans.gif?PRAd=1078329&amp;PRplcmt=597752" width="1" border="0">Irina and her henchman collar Indy and his sidekick, Mac (Ray Winstone, in a sadly underdeveloped role), to help them find the mysterious wooden box they&#8217;re after, which is just one of many similar containers stacked floor to ceiling in that Nevada warehouse. They finally get what they want, leaving behind a mess of debris and smashed crates &#8212; one of which, in the movie&#8217;s slyest visual joke, contains the Ark of the Covenant, the precious MacGuffin of the first movie, a gleaming gold treasure that&#8217;s been cast aside as if it were yesterday&#8217;s news, because, after all, it is.
<p>After his escape from the Russians, Indy returns to his home, and his teaching post, in a leafy New England town, but there&#8217;s trouble there too: Because of Indy&#8217;s knowledge of the thingie-in-the-crate, the FBI has insisted on ransacking his files and forcing him out of his job. If he&#8217;s an American hero, he&#8217;s also one who can&#8217;t trust his own country: As the dean of the college, Indy&#8217;s close friend Charles Stanforth (Jim Broadbent), laments, &#8220;You have reason to question your friends these days.&#8221;
<p>Just as Indy is about to leave town, he&#8217;s accosted by a greaser kid who glides into the picture on a motorcycle, à la Marlon Brando in &#8220;The Wild One&#8221; &#8212; which makes no sense unless you accept that the cell walls of &#8220;Crystal Skull&#8221; are permeable, allowing the shadows of characters to wander from one movie to the next. The kid&#8217;s name is Mutt (Shia LaBeouf), and he needs Indy&#8217;s help in locating a man he considers a father figure (who turns out to be John Hurt in a rough cloth serape, but let&#8217;s not get ahead of ourselves). That fellow also happens to be one of Indy&#8217;s former colleagues, and so Indy agrees to help Mutt in his quest. The rest of &#8220;Crystal Skull&#8221; involves a trek to Peru in search of &#8212; what else? &#8212; a long-lost kingdom, as well as Indy&#8217;s reunion with his old flame Marion (Karen Allen), from &#8220;Raiders of the Lost Ark.&#8221; And Irina continues to slink through the picture like a leopard goddess.
<p>Some have already proclaimed &#8220;Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull&#8221; a tired sequel; what&#8217;s more remarkable to me is how unjaded it is. It&#8217;s the most tender, warm-spirited and entertaining picture Spielberg has made in years, and I say that as someone who&#8217;s regularly rejected the whatever-it-is that Spielberg is often trying to sell: There are Spielberg pictures that I love (&#8220;E.T.,&#8221; &#8220;Jaws,&#8221; &#8220;Schindler&#8217;s List&#8221;) and others I despise, like his delusional work of sci-fi craftsmanship &#8220;War of the Worlds,&#8221; which I consider one of the ugliest, most mean-spirited pictures of the decade. Spielberg is an extraordinary craftsman, but he&#8217;s not a great thinker, and when he tries to stuff big ideas into his movies &#8212; as in &#8220;A.I. Artificial Intelligence&#8221; or &#8220;Munich&#8221; &#8212; his point of view is never quite clear, maybe because he doesn&#8217;t really <i>know</i> what he thinks. His ideas tend to be blurted out in signposts along the lines of &#8220;War is hell&#8221; and &#8220;Revenge gets you nowhere.&#8221; He knows, cannily, how to make movies work as you&#8217;re watching them; but I&#8217;ve found that many of Spielberg&#8217;s movies disintegrate in my mind not long afterward. They may be built to last, and still, they break down.
<p>But at his best, Spielberg is certainly capable of tapping, to almost unnerving degree, collective moods and fears and longings, both emotional and cultural. I don&#8217;t think of Spielberg as any sort of savior of contemporary cinema: He is, after all, an executive producer of the &#8220;Transformer&#8221; movies. But &#8220;Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull&#8221; &#8212; its smart script is by David Koepp, and it was shot in muted, suedelike tones by Janusz Kaminski &#8212; is so beautifully made, and so full of inventive, delightful touches, that it feels like a manifesto, as if Spielberg were taking a stand against the crap we&#8217;re so often forced to sit through. At one point, Mutt and Irina engage in a sword fight atop parallel moving trucks &#8212; this isn&#8217;t a new idea, but Spielberg makes it look fresh and vital.
<p>LaBeouf is appealing enough in &#8220;Crystal Skull&#8221;; he sensibly keeps his performance as low-key as possible, which you need to do when you&#8217;re acting with Harrison Ford. Ford has never been a particularly expressive actor, though he has often managed to give sturdy and nicely understated performances in spite of it. Now, more than ever, he has the face of a tiki god &#8212; yet he seems more expressive rather than less, particularly in his first scene with Allen. When he sees her, his face shows what can only be described as pure delight, and it&#8217;s little wonder: Allen, an actress of a certain age who isn&#8217;t afraid to look like a real person, is radiant here. Her performance is like joy let out of a box.
<p>&#8220;Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull&#8221; also contains one of the most grimly funny sequences I&#8217;ve seen in years. Indy has just escaped from the Russians, and he heads, with obvious relief, toward a small town, the kind of place where freshly washed sheets and towels, stretched out on clotheslines, flap in the breeze like friendly flags. He dashes into one house, looking for help, and finds a family parked in front of the TV set. (The show is &#8220;Howdy Doody,&#8221; with its sinister-cheerful theme music.) Only this isn&#8217;t a real family &#8212; its people are made out of plaster, like department-store dummies. Indy realizes he&#8217;s stumbled into a fake town that&#8217;s been set up by the government for a nuclear test, and he scrambles into the family refrigerator (comfortingly, the legend on its door reads &#8220;lead lined&#8221;), hunkering down for the inevitable blast.
<p>That refrigerator keeps Indy safe from radiation. But is he safe from his own country? Spielberg floats the question without ever attempting to answer it. He doesn&#8217;t have to. The sequence suggests that even Spielberg knows the limits of nostalgia: Here, he literally explodes our collective fantasies about American family life in the &#8217;50s. Indiana Jones is a hero precisely because he&#8217;s so skeptical of the perceived comforts of that life: He&#8217;d much rather travel the world, maybe alone or perhaps with a partner or two, digging up secrets. &#8220;Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull&#8221; is a mainstream family blockbuster about the allure of the solitary, unconfined life. That&#8217;s not a contradiction in terms. That&#8217;s showmanship.
<p>if you dont want to view the movie in the cinemas, try looking for it at the given URL.</p>
<p><a title="http://www.rapidfind.org/upload/index.php" href="http://www.rapidfind.org/upload/index.php">http://www.rapidfind.org/upload/index.php</a></p>
<p>You might find a download for the movie. I do not suggest it and it is up to you to decide if you want to download it or not.</p>
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		<title>&#8216;Sarkar Raj&#8217; to hit theatres today</title>
		<link>http://blog.rahulverma.net/2008/06/06/sarkar-raj-to-hit-theatres-today/</link>
		<comments>http://blog.rahulverma.net/2008/06/06/sarkar-raj-to-hit-theatres-today/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 06 Jun 2008 03:13:32 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Rahul R Verma</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Entertainment]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Abhishek]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Aishwarya Rai-Bachchan]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Amitabh]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Bachchan]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Rai]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ram Gopal Varma]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sarkar Raj]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[&#160; &#160; Ram Gopal Verma&#8217;s &#8220;Sarkar Raj&#8221;, which brings together Bollywood&#8217;s first family in a movie for the first time, will hit theatres across the country on Friday. &#8220;Sarkar Raj&#8221;, a sequel to the hit &#8220;Sarkar&#8221;, marks Amitabh&#8217;s first venture with Ram Gopal Verma after their box office disaster &#8220;Aag&#8221;. The movie, seen by many [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><a href="http://blog.rahulverma.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/sarkar-raj-poster.jpg" rel="lightbox"><img style="border-right: 0px; border-top: 0px; border-left: 0px; border-bottom: 0px" height="513" alt="sarkar_raj_poster" src="http://blog.rahulverma.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/sarkar-raj-poster-thumb.jpg" width="356" border="0"></a> </p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Ram Gopal Verma&#8217;s &#8220;Sarkar Raj&#8221;, which brings together Bollywood&#8217;s first family in a movie for the first time, will hit theatres across the country on Friday.
<p>&#8220;Sarkar Raj&#8221;, a sequel to the hit &#8220;Sarkar&#8221;, marks Amitabh&#8217;s first venture with Ram Gopal Verma after their box office disaster &#8220;Aag&#8221;.
<p>The movie, seen by many as being inspired by the life of Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray, also features Abhishek and Aishwarya Rai together for the first time post marriage. </p>
<p><span id="more-94"></span></p>
<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s been an extraordinary experience working with Ram Gopal Verma yet again. I have the privilege of working with the family as well,&#8221; the senior Bachchan said here ahead of the release of the movie.
<p>He made it a point to emphasise that the personal bonding between the family members never overshadowed the characters of the film.
<p>&#8220;When we play a character in front of camera, we play our roles with efficiency which is desired of us by the director,&#8221; claimed Bachchan who along with his son Abhishek acted in the film&#8217;s previous version &#8220;Sarkar&#8221; that won critical acclaim.
<p>Similar to Ramu&#8217;s previous films, &#8220;Sarkar Raj&#8221; deals with the use of muscle and gun power in politics.
<p>Asked about the meaning of power in his real life, the the 65-year-old Bollywood superstar said it has a different meaning in different perspective.</p>
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