What's Wrong With The Movie Critics? What Exactly Is Their Problem?

Have you ever watched a movie that you thought cannot be possibly adjudged as even 'average' by a normal moviegoer, that it is perhaps one of the better movies of its genre, or that it is one of the best works of the director, only to find out that the movie is bashed big time by the critics! All the film industries are full of such examples. A little digging revealed that movies like 'Milk' or 'The Curious Case of Benjamin Button' were not so liked by the masses, but were loved by the critics. On the other hand, we all loved Inception, or even Home Alone, but critics have had just too many reservations about the likability of these movies. (Home Alone has a rating of 47% on Rotten Tomatoes, meaning that only 47% of the people found it fresh, or loved it!)


IMDB and RottenTomatoes are full of such movies. Critics loved Dr. Strangelove, or Rear Window, and even Life of Brian. But after watching these movies, we were forced to think- "there are better movies out there which deserved a better imdb rating".  On the other side, critics hated Hook, Equilibrium and even The Godfather III, and we hated them for it!

Critics have often been ridiculed and thrashed as irrelevant, over-smart, and arrogant. Their reviews are often termed as less of scholarly criticism, and more of tabloid journalism to fool the ignorant! But their side of the story is often unheard, which also directly leads us to the answer to our moot question "Why do critics love some, and hate other movies?". Its because they've seen a lot, and know TOO MUCH about movies!

Lets take an example of a doctor. When we meet a person, who seems like at the pink of his health, we seem to ignore probably his occasional coughing, or even his regular hair fall. But its not the same with the doctors. They'll probably catch all these (occasional) problems the moment they notice it, and can relate each one to another (Eg. hair fall because of stress, coughing because you probably had something cold yesterday). But we, while meeting the same person will say "Wow! You sure are looking fitter and smarter!"

That's the problem with movie critics. They know just too much about the movies. And not all of them are fun to analyze! The critics look for good plotting, story-telling, acting, scripting etc. This is where there is a disconnect between an average moviegoer and the critics. Both of them should be seen as two school of thoughts, and complimenting each other.

Critics also tend to over-analyze the movies. To the extent that it's really difficult for them to rate a movie as brilliant. Jeff Stibel, CEO of Dun & Bradstreet, put this point succinctly in an article on analysis-paralysis:

"Decisions are destroyed by over-analysis... The more information you pile on, the less likely you are to make educated guesses. But educated guesses spring from wisdom: all of your past experiences, knowledge and knowhow, coupled with the most recent information and analysis. In other words, wisdom comes from your gut." 


True, such analysis-es help critics distinguish between 'good' and 'enjoyable'. While the latter do not always earn accolades from the critics, the former is recognized and is rated higher by the critics. But this is where the critics find themselves getting disassociated with the masses. And no wonder the masses hate them for it.

In a way i feel sorry for critics. They miss out on the fun of grabbing a popcorn bucket, a medium Pepsi and sitting back and enjoying a film. Sadly, what they look for is weak plotting, outdated story-telling or mediocre performances. And end up ruining their movie-watching experiences!

Some events!

After much deliberation, I've finally shifted to the hostel. It feels great! For the final three months of college/college hostel/academic life. Feels good have much more time for everything (everything = useless stuff). Spending time watching HIMYM, playing FIFA, roaming around the campus, reading random stuff and socializing.!! Feels greaT!!

BTW, Akshu cleared PCC. In her first attempt. She seems so happy and overjoyed. And it feels good that her hard word did not go in vain. Though she was slightly sad that the result was not on expected lines, but thats how she is - slightly pessimistic!! :D 

3 Things I Learnt From The Movie "Life is Beautiful"

Just completed watching the movie 'Life is Beautiful' for the umpteenth time. This is one movie which i can perhaps be never be bored while watching. Everything from acting to background score to plot is perfect! Here i'd like to pen down 3 wonderful things i learnt from this movie:

1) Well at the end of the day, impossible is actually nothing.
Guido (Roberto Benigni) is an almost useless chap who falls in love with Dora who comes from a wealthy and non-Jewish family. Still, he never gives up. And finally ends up stealing her away from her engagement. He manages to hide the truth from his son that the whole plot is not a game but actually the site of Nazi death camp. Yes, this is a work of fiction. But there are zillions of similar instances in real life available.
All it takes is a never ending commitment. Impossible is actually nothing!

2) You should NEVER lose your sense of humour.
Guido cracks jokes when the breaks of his car failed, when he was in concentration camp holding tonnes of steel, in front of the whole class, in front of the commander of the camp and in almost every other scene. What more, he even makes the whole concentration camp seem like a game to his son. And manages to convince him beyond doubt. He manages to marry the girl he loves, manages to entertain his son even in worst circumstances and give some good laughs to the fellow mates, all because he manages to crack jokes even in the worst circumstances. This is what life is all about. Never losing one's sense of humour. I sincerely believe that however bad a situation may be, there can be a joke for it :D

3) In the end, its only about how many hearts you sincerely touched.
Guido, through the whole movie entertains everyone, sincerely. He is one person who proves that he can do anything for his wife's happiness, and son's entertainment. Towards the end, he pays the price by getting killed. But not before being permanently embedded in the hearts of his wife, son, that doctor he meets at the restaurant, his friend, his relatives, his fellow mates in the camp etc. In the end, what matters is how you improved the lives of the people around you, how you made them feel.

This movie still tops my all time favorite list, beating movies like The Dark Knight, The Godfather series and Shawshank Redemption. Primarily because it had a class and an aura of its own. A sense of genuinity attached to every scene. And a climax which gives you a sense of victory, but not before tears rolling down your eyes. :)

   

Lier Lier!!

Watching this new tv series "Lie To Me", with Tim Roth as the protagonist. Its amazing.. He catches the culprits by just talking to them. By their facial expressions when they are asked various questions. The acting is brilliant. But the best thing about the show is the plot of every episode. The ending is largely unpredictable, sometimes due to new characters and twists right before the culprit is caught.

One episode did disturb me a little. It was regarding surrogacy. And what was disturbing was that they chose Indian women as surrogate mothers. The show based in US, which can show any country to demonstrate the ills of surrogate motherhood, did not choose Indians randomly. This proves that what we see, hear, read about Indian women as cheap child carriers is very true and real. And this is known to Indians and foreigners alike.

Anyways, will be watching the last episode of first season now. The last but one was amazing, when even Lightman (Roth) was shown to be erring, only to come back double strong in the latter half. Will probably download the later seasons of the show. Love it!

So What's Your Coolness Quotient?

Maybe you are the "cool" generation If coolness means a capacity to stay calm and use your head in the service of ends passionately believed in, then it has my admiration.
Kingman Brewster, Jr. (A 20th Century Dude)


The above-mentioned statement exemplifies the image of a 20th century cool person. He was someone who cared little about the worldly things, someone who always appeared to be confident, someone who loved to be liked and liked to be loved, who had goals and almost always achieved them. .


Now, it's 2010. And the cool dudes of today are so much different than the cool dudes of the last century. It's not just what they are- its how they talk, how they walk, their interests, their hobbies et al. Today's cool dudes are more about presentability than personality. More about sound of their voice rather than the contents of their speech. So who is today's cool dude? And what is today's coolness quotient?


From a kind perusal of some of today's hunks, it can be said that the coolness quotient of today's dudes is directly proportional to:


1) Length of the hair
2) Curliness of their hair
3) Closeness of their jeans to their ass (or how less it's covering their ass!)
4) Number of intellectual sounding words they use (per minute!)
5) Number of highly popular, but hardly meaningful words they use ("whack", "yo", "bro", "sup" and "*uck" et all)


The definition and description of coolness has changed gradually over the decades. What people considered cool then, is so uncool now. Take this conversation from The Simpsons:


Homer: So, I realized that being with my family is more important
than being cool.
Bart: Dad, what you just said was powerfully uncool.
Homer: You know what the song says: "It's hip to be square".
Lisa: That song is so lame.
Homer: So lame that it's... cool?
Bart+Lisa: No.
Marge: Am I cool, kids?
Bart+Lisa: No.
Marge: Good. I'm glad. And that's what makes me cool, not caring,
right?
Bart+Lisa: No.
Marge: Well, how the hell do you be cool? I feel like we've tried
everything here.
Homer: Wait, Marge. Maybe if you're truly cool, you don't need to
be told you're cool.
Bart: Well, sure you do.
Lisa: How else would you know?

Ages ago, a cool person was someone who had lot of friends, who was attractive, intelligent, witty, and had a projection of self-confidence. He did not just appear confident but was actually a one-man-army. Now, this one man always needs an army with him! He had muscles of steel and a heart of gold. Now, muscles are rotten and the heart and lungs are fed tobacco and nicotine dozen times a day!


Now, coolness is doing what your parents never wanted you to. Having a killer pickup line (preferably with >10 letters). Having a cool nickname, which has no relation to the person you are, the person you want to be, or even the English language! Going to a coffee shop and NOT asking about the contents of coffee, composition, amount of caffeine. . Its about ordering the coolest sounding coffee! Its about not listening to anybody! Or not letting them know that you did listen to them! Otherwise that'll be so uncool!


Be Cool. There are so many cool sounding jobs, cool sounding people out there. So many cool places. Being cool is entering a whole new world. A world with a new language, where there are so many intellectual sounding, looking, walking people (though not necessarily intellectual people). Cool world will be a perfect cure for global warming!

Advancement from easy to complicated!

My second post of the day. Perhaps boredom and lack of work in the office is taking its toll on me and here i am penning down something that has been bothering me for quite a long time.

When i was a kid (12-16 years), i equally loved watching tv and playing cricket or chess.. and loved even more spending time with siblings and cousins.. i might be exaggerating, but i can't remember a moment when i gave preference to watching tv over being with family.. well, this was atleast 6 years ago!!


The world has changed a lot in the past few years.. Internet, playstation, cellphone etc have made people "advanced".. why call-up a friend or go to his room when we can chat with them, why meet up with them when we have skype at our disposal.. worse, why even think about them when we can do a whole lot of things online.. play games, facebooking, orkutting and what not. i realized it before much damage was done, and i still laugh looking at people who haven't yet given it a thought!

I was surprised to find that a close friend of mine was not on orkut or facebook till about an year ago.. "Sad" i thought, before i noticed she had so many "real" friends. She spent time with her friends when i was in my room facebooking and chatting with mine.. she gave her friends "real" gifts when i passed "drinks" over facebook to mine.. though she has joined such websites now but she still knows her preferences, something i've tried to learn from her!

The young ones are worse off.. they spend so much time online that they dont even have time for the second biggest time waster- TV, let alone playing outdoor games and spending time with the family. . every good news is updated on facebook before even telling their parents, party pics are uploaded even before showing it to siblings!

It seems the world is advancing ahead.. from real to virtual, from easy to complicated! I hope people understand before it is a tad too late!