Summer movie review

1. UP:

Another great Pixar movie. Really liked the movie. The movie was released in the US months ago. But i waited until i can watch it on theatre. Didnt want to watch in my laptop. I dont understand why all Pixar movies are released late in Singapore. Anyways, the movie is not as good as Wall E or Finding Nemo. For pixar standards, not so great. But definitely 8 out of 10.

I liked the first 10 minutes of the movie. Without a single dialogue, that part was good. I also liked the speaking dog idea.

One more thing, there is no point in watching the movie in 3d. Wasted 5 bucks there.

2. GI JOE:

Please dont watch the movie. It is really bad. I hated every part of it. But that could be because i am not a great GI Joe fan. My friends and colleagues were surprised to learn that. They kept repeatedly asking if i have never played with a GI Joe action figure, when i was a kid. To be honest, nope. I have never played with a GI Joe. When i was a kid, i had so many toy cars around me and i always made up a story of how a convoy of cars go before and after my car. (Remember Basha movie?)

Anyways, the movie was a mixture of Iron man, spiderman, Superman, Terminator, Transformers, and even Star wars. But the car chase scene in Paris was good.

3. The Hangover:

It is a really surprise movie. I was once watching the preview of this movie in golden village few months back. And said to a friend sitting next to me, that this movie is going to be a big flop. I mean, we have seen loads of movies like this. And that too, the trailer was not so fantastic. But the movie was good. Really funny.

4. Harry potter:

The movie was really good. The special effects was also good. I like harry potter movies. But I dont read the book. There is a problem in reading harry potter books now. I shall give an example to explain why. It was before the 5th movie was released. I wanted to read the book before watching the movie. So i decided to go to a store nearby and bought the book. (I was in Chennai then). I started reading the book and i didnt understand anything. Then I said to myself, i will start reading from the first book, so that i shall understand what is being said in the 5th book. So wat did i do? I bought the first two books. I start reading the Philosepher's stone and it is damn boring. All i see are Daniel Radcliffe and Emma watson. Really difficult to picturize the book and it is quite bouring too. I mean, i have seen the movie. So you see my dilemma? The information shown in the movie is too minimal. So for people like me, we gotta wait until the next movie is being released.

5. Ice Age 3:

Was pure fun. Loved the movie. Wish i had seen it in 3D. Would have been amazing.

Looking forward to - District 9(directed by Peter Jackson), Still walking (a very different plot), Jennifers body(no reason, but Megan Fox)

Book Review: Three cups of Tea

This is a very inspiring book. Everyone should read it.

I really liked the book. It is a real life story of how Greg Mortenson, transformed the lives of so many thousand people in Pakistan. It is really amazing to read how much trouble the guy has endured to build a school in Pakistan and how he has built so many schools and enlightened so many lives after that incident. Mind you, he has spent more than a decade in a country, that is on top of the "Dangerous places on Earth" list and a country, where people like him (Americans) are generally disliked.

We all know, people are generally scared of Muslims in the western world. In their eyes, all muslims are terrorists. Recently the Bollywood star, Shah Rukh Khan was detained in the Newark airport, just because his last name was Khan. But it plainly is a very normal name in the muslim world. Pretty much 60% of all muslims i know have some sort of Khan in their name.

Along with Greg's troubles and pains in building schools in Pakistan, the book also touches few important events, like the 911. Greg Mortenson was actually there in Pakistan during the incident. And as he recalls in the book, one villager came running by and said to him in urdu, "I am really sorry. Some one has bombed a village named New York. You should leave Pakistan immediately" Imagine how much trouble Greg should have had to raise money for his foundation, after the 911 attacks.

I personally feel, American government can give few millions to him rather than giving billions to the Pakistani government. It will be spent more wisely.

As argued in the book, proper education alone will eradicate terrorism. Education about the world and education about Islam itself is necessary in that part of the world. The main reason for all this trouble is that few people completely mis-interpret Islam and use the strong belief that Muslims have in their religion for selfish needs.

I recall a recent article I read in New York times. Americans use the Drone missiles to just bomb the hell out of every inch of Swat valley in Pakistan and that is not going to control terrorism. It might eradicate few important terrorists. But normal citizens of Pakistan are angry. This anger itself will give rise to new Al-qaedas and LeTs. As Amartya Sen once said, the only way to develop a country is to educate the girls. Read the book and you will certainly agree with him.

Few useful links:

1. http://www.threecupsoftea.com/

2. http://www.gregmortenson.com/

3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greg_Mortenson

4. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_Asia_Institute

5. http://twitter.com/gregmortenson

6. http://gregmortenson.blogspot.com/