சில திரைப்படங்கள்

About some movies I happened to watch when I had been to USA recently....

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Avatar -I hadn't heard much about this movie then (December); so when my children insisted that we go & watch that movie in a nearby theater, I was getting ready for yet another 'nice sleep' in the theater. Most of the Harry Potter series movies turned out to be like 'sleeping tablets' for me -especially in theaters!

James Cameron's latest movie was not a disappointment though. The story of human beings invading an alien land and fighting with the local aliens (Na'vi) to bring to earth an unique material, it uses graphics more than what one could imagine. Yet, the success of film lies in its dealing with the basic human emotions -love. greed, 'changing-side' etc.(The same strategy JC applied in titanic?) As the hero, one of the human-Na'vi hybrids going to the alien land to destroy the Na'vis falls in love with a Na'vi girl (Neitiri -sounds like an Indian name?) the story takes a twist....

Heard that this movie has collected an all-time-high (surpassing Titanic which had been the topper for the past 12 years) of more than USD2 billion (which, if given away to the whole population of India, would get each & every Indian US$ 2 or Rs.100!!). Try watching this movie without thinking about its commercial success, amazing dollar figures (and also the nine academy award nominations)... Good luck!

On a lazy day when I turned on the TV I saw Jack Nickelson 60+ romancing a young girl. Soon I figured out the storyline paralelled our K.Balachandar's "Apoorva raahangkaL", for, the yooung girl's mom 50+ was dating a young doctor! As the story goes, JN breaks up with the young girl, and instead chooses to date the young girl's mom! ( அப்பாடா!) The old couple get into some problems as JN continued to flirt with other girls (and gives such 'athi mEthaavi' explanations as "I just do not know how to be a boy-friend. And that's not a small thing... Here I am, at 63, realising what love means..."), and at the end they unite. Fortunately, in "Apoorva raahangkaL", 'thalaivan thiruchchaanuur' showed up at the end and with him came a 'normal' ending!

I avoid watching movies in portable TVs when in flight; I prefer sleeping (or trying to sleep) to focusing on the tiny screen. Being a 13-hr non-stop flight, I took brief a look at the screen that was showing a movie, even as none of the actors/actresses were known to me. The story ("Love Happens") of a man who finds it difficult to come back to normalcy and to recover from the guilt feelings after the car he drives meets with an accident in which his wife gets killed. I watched it till the end.