The movie starts with the usual escape bid of Alice, which turns out to be her clone. She's now a sophisticated human weapon with high-psychological abilities and can control things with her mind. A little bit of supernaturalism, huh ...?? Anyways, the story doesn't make much progress this time. All you get is - Alice destroys Umbrella Corps' American facility and is on her way to the headquarters [next movie], along with lots n lots of her clones. She now knows that her blood is the cure to virus spread. 4th movie seems highly promising.

Things to watch out for in this 3rd installment is the awesome action sequences. The best one is when the convoy of survivors reaches Vegas. Can't describe it in words. Just edge of the seat, breath-taking action. Mila gave a great performance. All those maneuvers and free form fights reminded me of Prince of Persia game. Specially the Twin blade throat cut is Wow. Check some snapshots below.






[ Click photo to Enlarge in new window ]

And oh, the cinematography is just beautiful. Some great camera work and visual effects and every frame of the movie just comes alive. Never knew it'd look so good even when the world is a barren land. :p Go watch this movie - theater or get yourself a DVD.


Ahh. Welcome. Another comedy crapper of Akshay Kumar. He's now so adapt to these roles that he almost sleep walks through out the movie. He's became repeatative. Still, he manages to make us laugh. But, how many are having hearty laugh and how many are laughing just for the heck of it, is doubtful. I mean, some people in the theater were laughing their heart out even on lousy jokes. Akshay is like the new king of comedy for the masses and not laughing to his jokes is like dis-respecting the king. So, laugh anyway. Secondly, people don't want to be disappointed by a Akshay Kumar movie. So, they console themselves by enjoying every possible 'funny' scene. Thus, Akshay is now a safe bet for any producer. Public will make sure that his movie is not a flop by saying 'Wah Wah' even if they didn't really like it.

That said, let me tell you that Welcome is not a bad movie either. It's good for time-pass. And if you're watching it second time, it's gotta be for Katrina Kaif. She's hot like hell and more pretty than ever. There's not even a single frame where she's anything less than an angel. Anyways, the movie. It's again copy of some Hollywood movie, [Forgot the name]; just as all Nadiadwala movies are these days. It's full of forced comedy, with just a few exceptions. Whilst the 'stirring in hand' road accident scene was 'forced', the 'crematorium' scene was really funny. All that confusion surrounding the dead body was really situational comedy that makes me laugh. Climax was again very cliche' with all the chaos. I just hate that 'life in balance on edge of cliff' formula. Firoz Khan is totally wasted here. Nana gave a few nice performances. Don't have high expectations. Go watch this movie just to relax.


And, some off-topic [non-review] observations here. We watched Welcome in Rex theater. It's a blot on the face of Brigade Road. Even my little home town cinema hall was better than this. Still, Rex makes a huge profit every week; thanks to it's location and seat-availability. Situated at the prime location of Brigade road, the heart of the IT city, and surrounded by so many MultiNational retail-chain marts - Nike, McDonald, CafeCoffee Day, Pizza corner, Barista, Planet M and many many more. The biggest crowd puller of the entire city. If anyone wants to see a movie, the nearest option is Rex. Though Inox [@ Garuda mall] is not very far, tickets for current show is rarely available there. Thus, Rex is doing a brisk business, even-though it lacks in service quality.
Moral of the story : It doesn't matter who you are or how u are. What matters is - where you are. :)

And oh, I went to Rex almost after a year. Last time, I was there on my B'day with some friends - watching Dhoom 2. That was one of the most happy day of my life. While watching 'Welcome', I was remembering that dear friend who got separated by time and distance. Some memories - die hard.


Anyway, one more movie that I watched just today is - Saawariya. This movie was among the most eagerly awaited movie of the year; but when it released this Diwali - all the critics just ripped it apart. I didn't get a chance to watch it a until now. And, am I again angry on those headless silly critics? :@ This movie isn't half that crappy as it is made out to be. In fact, in some sequences, it touches the heart. Specially the climax. Every one can identify with this, remember their 1st broken heart. Maybe all the sets look artificial n stuff, but still the movie doesn't deserve the bad treatment it got. I atleast loved this movie. What do you have to say? Cast your opinion in the poll alongside or leave a comment.

Well, in a word, it was just OK. I'm baffled what all this big talk is about? It's just another run of the mill movie; a typical bollywood sob story; how a man fights for his family, a living and makes it big one day. What's so great about it? The same story's been told several times earlier. You can anyway choose to watch this movie for the rare look of WS. U know, not the usual six pack dude look U get of him in his other movies. He's just a normal struggling guy next door, with a vulnerable face and some sort of desperation. You'll identify with him, but would wish that U aren't in his position; but when he gives some witty answer or succeeds in the final frames, U'd see yourself in him. I specifically liked the scenes where he gets his job confirmed and says - "This part of my life - is called - happyness".

Next movie - Rumor has it. I had never heard anything about this movie. Took it's DVD just 'coz it had Jennifer Aniston staring at me from it's cover. :p I had earlier bought the entire Friends series DVD just 'coz of her. Actually, I started watching Friends 'coz of her, but then gradually started liking everything about the sitcom. Anyway, sadly I didn't come across many movies of her. There are just a very few, I guess. So, didn't want to miss this one.

Well, this one also was just OKies. Unusual story about a girl trying to find her real identity who evidently ends up sleeping with the man, whom she suspects to be her real father, who had earlier slept with her mother and grand mother as well, thus continuing 'family tradition'. Creeepy, huh? Apart from this, there's nothing special to talk about. Even Aniston disappointed me. She didn't look good enough in this one. Now I'm not sure whether I'd like to watch 'Break Up' just 'coz of her. Even Mark Ruffalo gave better performance than her.

Bhool Bhulaiyaa. Aaah. One of the most talked about movie of this year, one that gave the no.1 chartbuster song. Being a Priyadarshan - Akshay Kumar movie, I too had big expectations from this movie. Vidya Balan was an added Ooomph attraction. After finishing the movie, I was like - "Am I destined to watch only OKies movies this week ...??" There's nothing good about this movie, except for maybe the 'HareRam' song which is played at the end, when credit titles roll. What were they trying to make? Comedy, horror, suspence or psycho thriller? It all got jumbled up and at the end, You are left wondering what was this about? Thankfully, there wasn't a running chaos scene for climax, as is usual in a Priyan movie. Think of Hera Pheri, Hulchul, Hungama, Bhagam Bhag, Dhol [can't recall the name of rest of his movies] - climax of every movie had this chaotic scene where every single actor of the movie is chasing someone or is being chased, creating one hell of a chaos. Thanfully, I didn't have to bear that in Bhool Bhulaiya.

Performance wise, Vidya Balan is good. Shiney is over-rated as always. Akshay is now getting boring with constantly doing the same gags. Rajpal Yadav and Paresh Rawal are totally wasted. The best thing about this movie was perhaps - Amisha Patel. She looked really stunning even in normal day to day clothes. One scene where I almost died out laughing was when Akshay draps the saree of Paresh's wife as Dhoti and then is talking to Amisha while Paresh's wife is reacting to what he said, thinking that he's hitting on her.

Yesterday I watched 'I Am Legend' at PVR. I actually had a lot of movie options to choose from - Hitman, Beowulf, Superbad, Dus Kahaniya. But I picked this one 'coz of Will Smith. The movie poster was impressive. A lone man and his dog, with a runies of a city and a broken bridge in the background - that was appealing to me. The catch-line "The only surviver is not alone" was just passe. Anyways, this movie was a total disaster, not even OKies. It was just carrying forward the Resident Evil crap, minus smokin Mila J. Those roaring zombies gave me a splitting headache. Some comments flying at the end of the movie - "That Dog Samantha acted well" , "Legend, my a**. This must be called "I am Jhand [crap]".

Next movie - Speed. Not the Keanu Reaves movie, but the Bollywood one, just to kill time. The name is used just to confuse you. It's a poor blatant copy of 'Cellular', just as 'Qayamat' was of The Rock, typical Baweja thing to do. A miserably disgusting movie. If you're anyway opting for it to watch Tanushree or Amrita or Sophia sizzling on screen, you're gonna be disappointed again. They are virtually non-existant here.

Alright, enough of crappy and OKies movies. Now couple of nice movies that I watched. 'Devil wears Prada' and 'Thank you for smoking'. Devil wears prada is a great time pass. Meryl Streep playing Miranda is just mind blowing. She's playing this 'Editor in chief' of fashion magazine Runway and looks every bit of it. She can give every mid-age lady and even some fresh faces a run for their money. She makes you hate her and reminds you of your boss. Great work. Anne Hathaway, playing the rookie Andrea gets into the character like a second skin. Even with her Donald duck looks, she looks impressive. And even Emily [played by Emily Blunt] leaves a mark with her nagging and oh, she's hot. ;) Even during her 'incubus of viral plague' scenes, she looks cute with her red nose tip. :$

Watched 'Thank you for smoking' fresh off the bed this morning. I had thought that this one is some documentary on ill effects of smoking. But thankfully, it was a great comedy [ dark comedy, perhaps ]. You'll never get bored watching it. If nothing else, it'd atleast teach you a lesson or two in communication skills. Nick Naylor is just one hell of a lobbyist. The way he plays with word and makes a wrong seem right, it's just spell-bounding. You wish you could do that. His final words in the movie - "Michael Jordan plays ball, Charles Manson kills people. I talk. Everyone has a talent". Ata Boy. Surprise package of this movie was Katie Holmes. Tom Cruise is a lucky man. :D

The best scene of the movie is the one after Neal Daniels' car is bombed ifo the bank in Tangier. It's a who's chasing whom setup - where the hunter becomes the hunted. CIA assassin Desh is given the task of killing Daniel, Nicky Parsons misguides him for a minute and her cover is blown, Desh assigned additional task of taking down Nicky & Bourne. After finishing off Daniel - Desh finds Nicky and is on her tail; meanwhile Bourne is on his tail. All this time, the police is chasing Bourne. This chase scene is much better and thrilling than any car chase scene in any spy movie. Nicky - sensing the trouble makes a run - dropping his cell components piece by piece on road - thus leaving her trail for Bourne to pick up. But the assassin is fast gaining up on her and she's cornered in an alley. Every fraction of second - I was praying "Nicky, please don't die. :# Bourne - get to her FAST. Get off - you jerk assassin" :@ . These scene is just so gripping. Weak hearts might just faint here.

Speaking of Nicky Parsons - played by Julia Stiles. She's just an eye-candy here. Though she lacks any expressions on face and needs some serious classes of acting - you never get bored of her. You never get enough of her and keep asking for more. She hardly moves her lips as if they are sewed together. Still they look so much irresistibly kissable. Through out the movie - she carries the same expression on her face - which is dampener to the movie but is a treat to the viewer. That round face, highlighted by flowing long hairs adoring her cheeks and curling n floating just above her shoulder, tiny sparks of fear in her twinkling eyes, gentle shaking voice - it all gives her a damsel in distress image. You just feel like reaching out, taking her in your arms and reassuring that everything will be alright. :$

One disappointment from this movie was the character of Pam Landy. She was the HERO of the movie last time around [ in Bourne Supremacy ]. But in this installment - she's reduced to a mere protesting figure - out of action. So, the few scenes where she outruns the boss - Noah - it just peps me up. Like the first scene where she zero's in on Neal Daniels. And the climax scene where she's caught by Noah with his confidential documents. But she's already faxed them and the tables are turned. "You'd better get yourself a good lawyer". Nerves of steel. Way to go, woman.

Movie ends with a desert. Ever since Nicky was sent off in hiding, I've been wondering whether I'll see more of her in this movie...!!! And sure I did. She was back at the climax but just for a few seconds - smiling at the news that Bourne's body has not been found in the river. She's cut her hairs short. So, I was kinda disappointed. Nonetheless, happy to see her one final time.

Press is calling this one the final of the series. But I guess it isn't. There's already 2 more books of this series - Bourne Legacy and Bourne Betrayal, last one released in India recently. So, there are surely gonna be future installments of the movie. Looking forward to them eagerly. For the time being, am reading Bourne Legacy, my first Bourne series read. Baffled to know that his wife Marie, shown killed in Goa, India in the 2nd movie - is still alive in the 4th book. But doesn't really matter to me. This movie series doesn't fail where most other 'novel made into movie' fails. Go watch it. Don't wait for the DVD to come out.
 
* This offer is only for single Pretty gals. ;)

There's Shilpa Shetty who sacrifices her career to take care of her family post marriage, lives through a breaking marriage, can't accept Shiney as she's a 'PatiBrata Nari'. Towards the climax - she continues to live with KayKay when he returns even though earlier he had deserted her on learning about Shiney. Now com'on - don't say that "That's the real strength of Women. Forgiveness". I see it as weakness. The husband has an extra-marital affair for years, asks for forgiveness when caught, but can't accept her wife straying for a few weeks, deserts her and lives with his muse. But when he returns - dejected - she accepts him. Wow. Why can't she just return him the treatment he bestowed upon her a few days ago, slap him hard across the face and move on? NO. She's an Indian PatiBrata nari. What image does this portray? Men can indulge in adultery anytime they please and get away with it while it's forbidden fruit for women.

If WCD is pleased with my views so far, they are gonna hate me for my next observation. Kangana Ranaut. Sorry to say, but she doesn't generate tiniest sympathy in my heart. Her character was meant to be treated the way she is. 1st of all, she engages an already married man - that too her boss - obviously for professional gains. It's clear as they had agreed at the start that "There won't be any emotional attachments in this relationship". That said, she can't claim that she was in love with him. Their first confrontation scene [after which Kangana attempts suicide] has got some harsh reactions from female viewers, most of them wanting to slap KayKay's character. But I beg to differ. I somehow support KayKay's reaction at that instant, though I loath his actions throughout the movie. He's surely a creep and deserves curses flying his way. But Kangana's character is bigger monster than his. What he said at that moment brings out darker side of Kangana than his. What the hell was she asking him to do? Break his marriage and live with her? KayKay rightfully rejected such possibilities as they didn't set out for that. Then there was this issue of who's using whome? For a moment forget that U have to support your 'sisterhood' and analyze that situation. She wasn't fooled into this. They both were just sharing a physical relationship with no attachments as agreed. If she felt she was being used, why the hell did she consent to it? And, if that's "Use" - then Kangana was using him as much as he was. Moreover, she was enjoying business class flight, perks, out of term promotions et al professional gains. More "Use". So, really - who was using whome?

And plz don't repeat her dialouge "I wouldn't have attempted suicide if money was everything". What...!! What's she trying to say? That she loves him? Baaah. Listen to what one of my site visitors [a gal at that] has got to say about such steps -

gals don't attempt suicide [slice their wrist et al] for the guy..they do it for themselves..
when the guy walks away....the moral of the gal goes down.. the suicide attempt and all has to do with coping with their lost self esteem ..their ego.. they loose their personal worth when they don't manage to get what they want. and then the desperation is not exactly to win back the guy..but to win back the lost self esteem.. u see, it is not abt the guy.. usually girls never like such guys.... its all to do with pleasing their own ego.. girls actually don't care abt such guys.. they just look at it as an opportunity to judge their worth with the opposite sex..

Read more of it here.

Huh. Now that the bitter truth is out, what have u got to say to that? I know most gals won't agree to this but deep down inside, they know this is true. I welcome reader views on this. Lemme know what's your point of view on this. Do drop your comments.

This was is the best thing that I ever bought from my own money. [ My PC was bought by dad ]. This handset has lots lots more than the last one - almost everything that I wanted. A good enough cam, Walkman player and FM, a 512 MB card that ensures that I never run out of space for more music. The extra stereo speakers bundled with it are just mind-blasting with its high bass. And even FM can be played in speaker mode. And I'm not talking about the handset speaker. Any speaker can be plugged into it's headphone port. Hence, when I go back home at the end of working day, I just connect my PC speakers to it and turn on the radio - which feels as if I'm having a WorldSpace radio in my room. The earphone, or earplug as it is called, is the best I've come across till now. It fits perfectly in my ears. Not like those wide disc headed earphones that keep pushing the boundaries and keeps falling out. And ofCourse, the look of w810i is just WOW. It turned out to be a good buy for my 12.7 grands.

But then, it's not flawless either. The default handset speaker is not that good. When I play the Walkman through the default speakers, the sound output is just Okayish, not good enough for a music enthusiast. I have to use the earplugs or the extra speakers for the THUMP. So much for it's "the Thump is HERE" claim.

I have to use the earplugs or the extra speakers for the THUMP. So much for it's "the Thump is HERE" claim.

Speaking of sound, the output from earpiece when you're on a call is also not satisfactory. I have to strain my ears to listen to what the person on the other side is saying. Hell is when you're in a noisy environ, say on road. Again, earplug is the option. It even has a few deficiencies as compared to LG 2630. For instance, to read next or previous msg in inbox, I have to go back to inbox and select next / prev msg and then 'View', whereas in LG handset, I can do the same from the msg window itself. i.e, when reading a msg, I could simply press 'right' button to read the next msg. And, with 810i, I can only set different ring-tones for different person, but not different msg tones, which was conveniently possible with LG 2630.

Well, those are the few highs and lows with the w810i. And if U ask me, whether I'm satisfied with w810i, I'll say YES. Even with its small few drawbacks, it's a good gadget to posses. I am no longer bored at the bus-stop, thnx to the FM and I can capture anything I like with the cam and share it real time. Like this news of BlackBerry. I just shot it with my w810i, uploaded it on my server and am now writing 'bout it. Feels like live reporting. And oh, about this BlackBerry. Don't look for a user review of it here 'coz I haven't used it yet. And it's not mine forever. :( It is given to me to check the process of mail forwarding from Lotus Notes to mobile email client. So, it's with me for couple of weeks. After that, it's Hasta La Vista. So, till then, let's rock with it. Meanwhile, lemme know which mobile handset do U think is the best. Cast your opinion below or leave a comment.

What makes one violate another humans space is yet another mystery but all I can say it leaves quite a distaste for life. Perverts can be found in all aspects of life and we often tend to ignore. Some of us stand up to them but it has not made a tremendous difference so far.

In such a hostile society and bad times, it feels nice to c a forum like 'Blank Noice' taking stance for the cause of women and humanity as a whole. It is addressing various issues involved in countering this menace. And, on top of everything, it's not any other usual "Women's right activists" group who look down upon every man as hounds. They know the good n the bad, the victims n the abusers. They r not just helping victims recover, they r encouraging everyone to fight back and bring an end to it. And who r 'they'? 'THEY' are not just the moderators of the site 'Blank Noise' but every single person who comes forward to support the cause, guy or gal. No gender war is raging here. 'Aam Janta' is fighting the filthy mud-bloods to make the world a better place to live.

Do give this a visit. You can get involved in this cause in your city, be part of the campaign, share ideas & experiences and many many more ways. I've been going through it relentlessly for the past 6 - 7 hrs. I feel so much shocked n shaken by all the stories. Two observations there that are worth a great deal of thought are -

Varsha says - I always ask myself, why do we have to go through this? Its not possible that so many men could be sexually deprived. Subconsciously, men are fighting for the place that they consider theirs. When they see women on streets, they feel that public place is rightfully theirs and they all are trying to intimidate us. it sounds dramatic, but i think its true."
Amit ken says - If you are a guy and reading this, please keep in mind that your behavior towards women which you consider ‘normal’ or ‘fun’, like whistling, winking, singing, touching or trying to be friends is something which harasses them to a great deal. If you need a proof go ask your sister, mother, wife or girl friend, they go through this harassment every single day.

Some other moving n encouraging experiences that I came across are -

Cheekay	Lonely Crusader	Jyothi Iyer
Suvi Dogra	Swar	Keshav
AG	Melanie	Reema Banerjee
Red	Cee Kay	Ashish Gorde

More experience stories can be read at Blank Noise - Action Hero

Warning : Some of the above experience description might seem offending to some people. Reader maturity is expected.

One quick tip (from some writer in 'Action Hero', can't recall her name) for protecting yourself on streets -
On several occasions when walking down lonely roads in the day or at dusk, there have been two and four wheelers with men at the wheel who have stopped their vehicles and waited for me to catch up. At times like this, I make an exaggerated gesture of opening my purse, taking out pen and paper and then very deliberately writing down the registration number of the parked vehicle. The moment the owner realizes what I am up to, he revs up his engine and is off like a shot! I owe this method of "tackling" to my spouse who gave me this brilliant idea. I have shared it with many.

To wrap it all up, all I'd like to say is - Don't keep mum and bear it lying down. It's high time that we fight back. Take a stance.