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arvind-ramaiya
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Reviews
Living on One Dollar (2013)
Literally, living on one dollar
A documentary about living on one dollar but more so about how tough life is in Guatemala. The risk taken to shoot this motion picture, was amazing. To risk your health, to shoot a documentary was outstanding. So too was the heart of the documentary, which is about poverty and financial hardship. I only gave it 9 stars because it could have been 90 minutes long, instead of being just under an hour. Although, Day 56 and a minute a day was also something new and refreshing. Inspirational work guys, well done.
Simran (2017)
Good acting but zero for plot based on true story
While the movie sounded great in the plot, the script had little action and with no male hero, the plot centered around the heroine. Even if it is really based on a true story, it did not inspire me to go watch such movies in future. We watched it at night and the last show. Some good acting in pieces but overall I gave it a 5 out of 10 only because there was a bit of Vegas in it.
Ae Dil Hai Mushkil (2016)
Good actors and music compensate for lack of story.
Star cast. Great music. Melo dramatic ending. Last 30 minutes I was thinking about walking out however we watched another K-Jo movie.
Ranbir's character and personality matched well throughout the movie. Anushka did a fantastic job in the first half, but the story was so bad in second half that I am not sure she could have anything different. I can do Fawad Khan's role, its so small. Aishwarya Rai and SRK are guest appearances and Ash plays a role that has been done so many times in Hollywood movies. If you're a fan of Hollywood, you'd expect more from Bollywood.
Contrary to some of the other reviews I have read, I thought the first half was good time pass, a little bit of light comedy, I laughed a fair bit with Ranbir and Anushka's on screen chemistry quite good. But after an hour of light laughter, it was like when will Aishwarya come on screen.
New trend noticed,all characters meet other and straight away hit the nightclubs. I have been to a few nightclubs in my time, but I wonder how come Bollywood is so unrealistic in their portrayal of relationships even today.
Dialogues were quite well crafted. The problem with this movie was it had no start, no middle and no end. It started off as a love story, became a drab and ended on a sour note.
Only watch it if you want to tell the world you saw a movie on Diwali. I have my generous with my scoring because of the acting, the story deserves a 0.
The songs, lyrics, beats throughout the movie are beautiful. Music itself could get an 8.
Vanilla Sky (2001)
Abstraction of a lucid dream
I tend to give the movies i like a high rating. This one was brilliant not from an acting perspective, but the concept of a lucid dream as an abstraction between dreams and reality. Who knows in the 21st century itself the lucid dream could become a reality for citizens of Earth. The movie is all about love, the hunger for power and how most people are living in a virtual reality. Very few know the difference between the real world and the illusion that exists.The movie can be described as an arty but if you don't subscribe to usual Hollywood clichés, then this one would stretch your imagination.
I especially like the part of car crash, I thought the actors did a really good role because there was not much substance in it, she did not win any awards for it though. The lead actor was good too, this movie if I am not wrong is an adaptation of a Spanish movie.
The ending was brilliant.
Life of Pi (2012)
Religion vs Philosophy vs Spirtuality
I watched Life of PI with 8 friends in Sydney Australia about two years ago. When we got out of the movie hall all of them seemed to be puzzled that the movie did not make sense. Being a fan of Hindu philosophy and the Matrix movies, I got the plot completely. Yes there were numerous animal references to the food chain and how eventually one day it won't exist but it clearly sends out a message that it is better to be more spiritual and less religious. I don't like the reference to 33 million gods as there are only two or three real gods if one was to dwell into the texts of Hinduism. The story of survival between the Tiger and Pi is touching and shows the instinct needed for survival when it really counts. I don't understand the need to contrast religions. I still give an 8 out of 10 for the concept is refreshing.
The Big Bang Theory (2007)
What I like TBBT and what I don't like about TBBT
I think the concept is new and refreshing compared to the Friends copied Seinfeld, or Seinfeld copied Friends quarrels. This is innovative behavioral science that can be shown to young kids as it does not contain any explicit material unlike other shows. Sheldon's character is really funny and his jokes make me laugh for hours together. However, as funny as Seasons 1-5 were, I think they don't have a story for the show going forward and neuroscience/behavior of experimental physicists is going to last only a few more seasons. Not entirely sure how the show is going to end.
But compared to two and half men or two broke girls, this show has the comedy to make people laugh and numerous references to movies, TV shows most of which I love to watch.
My favorite moment is the arrangement of carbon atoms, protons and neutrons in the pit and Leonard trying to get Sheldon out.
My second favorite moment (I had to write this) is the episode where the parking space is disputed between Sheldon and Leonard.
Lost (2004)
LOST ending and beginning any connections
The problem with LOST is not so much the ending, its the connection between the beginning of the show and the end. Season 1 started with a plane crash, Season 6 ended with all survivors which means the crash did not really happen. The show was about leadership, pursuing a common goal and survival. It probably is based on Darwin's theory of evolution and survival. Season 1 and 2 were a cracker, so much suspense, so many questions and then Season 3,4 too not only got me hooked but also got me asking questions about the hatch, the island, the dharma initiative, the characters, their names and their purpose. By the time Season 5 came out with Faraday and his experiments, I was already thinking of possible endings for the show. When 2010 saw Season 6 released, I was most disappointed as the show did not have any meaning in the context of the 5 previous seasons that saw sideways flashbacks, character past lives, time travel, and references to leadership, philosophy and God. I would much rather have had Season 6 remove a few more characters and perhaps Season 7 give us more clues as to what might have happened. Nevertheless, the concept of action, Karma and rebirth are illustrated well within the show and I gave it 8.5 stars out of 10. It would have got a 10 out of 10 for Seasons 1-4, Season 5 probably got a 9 too. That means that the ending only got a 2 out of 10 from me. Hope there are more TV shows like LOST from ABC.
The Matrix Revolutions (2003)
My take on the matrix trilogy
Here's my take on the matrix trilogy I have been trying to write this up for 12 years ever since I saw reloaded and revolutions, but its taken this long to figure out what really the matrix is. The director imagined a world with artificial intelligence. The machine world is not dated, so we have no idea if this is likely to be in the 21st century or 25th century. No one knows. They then wanted to create a movie based on their knowledge of the Vedas and created a set of characters based on Greek mythology and Hindu philosophy. The main theme of this movie is Humans Vs. Machines. They imagined that one day machines would be at a distinct advantage and that humans would be struggling to protect their planet. They also included numerous references to religion. Their idea in my opinion came from watching world war movies. They knew that world war 3 would not be nuclear, so in their imagination they created Sentinels. I have absolutely no idea how they thought of a human as a computer program and virtual reality. Ingenious, no doubt. They created the story well from Matrix v1. In v1, it was just about action and dodging bullets – no one would have understood anything but Hollywood fans would have wanted to watch v2. I think the brothers knew V2 and V3 had planned them before V1. Conceptually, the movie is about philosophy and psychology. The main theme is love. But why do they include references to religion (no Hinduism), was it deliberate to get the inquisitive audience. Were they trying to reach an audience who can think at a higher plane or was it just that they wanted to confuse everything and make a movie about love. There are numerous references to Zion, the holy land between Israel and Palestine. Did the brothers forget that the origin of life is from the Ocean. There are also many quotes from the bible, and many references to Buddhism. In my opinion, Buddha was a genius – Buddha re created what was already present in Vedas and started his own religion. The highway chases, martial arts and fighting aside the brothers did not imagine anyone to reverse engineer the script to find out the idea behind the matrix. I don't think the brothers wanted anyone to go read the Ramayana or the Mahabaratha, and in my opinion both these texts are fiction and just like the brothers wrote the matrix story, some other genius wrote the story behind these texts. Yes there is proof of a holy land in Sri Lanka but can you show me proof of flying monkeys or there is proof that a war happened at Kurukshetra but can you show me proof of Krishna and estimate the size of the armies. 5 brothers with a common wife against 100 evil brothers seems like a made up story to me. The director of the matrix movie expected his audience to be enthralled by the machine world vs. Humans war. Not by the infinite references to Greek mythology where the character names are derived or the Hindu philosophy of the one. Also the one has a guru in Hinduism, so this is clearly portrayed in the movie. I do not believe that the director of the matrix has read the texts fully – they just wanted to create a futuristic movie and mix up various subjects mostly mythology, psychology. They also wanted people to become more philosophical after watching the movie, a noble goal for Hollywood producers.
The Matrix Reloaded (2003)
My take on the matrix trilogy
Here's my take on the matrix trilogy I have been trying to write this up for 12 years ever since I saw reloaded and revolutions, but its taken this long to figure out what really the matrix is. The director imagined a world with artificial intelligence. The machine world is not dated, so we have no idea if this is likely to be in the 21st century or 25th century. No one knows. They then wanted to create a movie based on their knowledge of the Vedas and created a set of characters based on Greek mythology and Hindu philosophy. The main theme of this movie is Humans Vs. Machines. They imagined that one day machines would be at a distinct advantage and that humans would be struggling to protect their planet. They also included numerous references to religion. Their idea in my opinion came from watching world war movies. They knew that world war 3 would not be nuclear, so in their imagination they created Sentinels. I have absolutely no idea how they thought of a human as a computer program and virtual reality. Ingenious, no doubt. They created the story well from Matrix v1. In v1, it was just about action and dodging bullets – no one would have understood anything but Hollywood fans would have wanted to watch v2. I think the brothers knew V2 and V3 had planned them before V1. Conceptually, the movie is about philosophy and psychology. The main theme is love. But why do they include references to religion (no Hinduism), was it deliberate to get the inquisitive audience. Were they trying to reach an audience who can think at a higher plane or was it just that they wanted to confuse everything and make a movie about love. There are numerous references to Zion, the holy land between Israel and Palestine. Did the brothers forget that the origin of life is from the Ocean. There are also many quotes from the bible, and many references to Buddhism. In my opinion, Buddha was a genius – Buddha re created what was already present in Vedas and started his own religion. The highway chases, martial arts and fighting aside the brothers did not imagine anyone to reverse engineer the script to find out the idea behind the matrix. I don't think the brothers wanted anyone to go read the Ramayana or the Mahabaratha, and in my opinion both these texts are fiction and just like the brothers wrote the matrix story, some other genius wrote the story behind these texts. Yes there is proof of a holy land in Sri Lanka but can you show me proof of flying monkeys or there is proof that a war happened at Kurukshetra but can you show me proof of Krishna and estimate the size of the armies. 5 brothers with a common wife against 100 evil brothers seems like a made up story to me. The director of the matrix movie expected his audience to be enthralled by the machine world vs. Humans war. Not by the infinite references to Greek mythology where the character names are derived or the Hindu philosophy of the one. Also the one has a guru in Hinduism, so this is clearly portrayed in the movie. I do not believe that the director of the matrix has read the Hindu texts fully – they just wanted to create a futuristic movie and mix up various subjects mostly mythology, psychology. They also wanted people to become more philosophical after watching the movie, a noble goal for Hollywood producers.