The Good

1. David Cook

Sue me for being an American Idol geek, but I am and the hell if I’m the slightest bit shy about being one. (More about why I prefer American Idol to Indian Idol some other time btw)

For those not in the know, this year the winner of American idol was David Cook. Thankfully after 2 years of choosing complete deadbeat, non deserving, no voiced, candy poppers as the winners, someone who actually sings well came out on top.

The perfect rock ballad voice. Surely, American Idol finally realized they needed a rocker that could bring in the cash flows that Daughtry did.

David Cook’s ‘Must listen to’ list:

Billie Jean - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_aiawC-9aM

You will always be my baby - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWy0XhN9ss0

Music of the Night - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BIp0vCQxIU8

Here’s hoping that the idiots at AI don’t force him to come up with a pop album!

2. Brooke White

I once had a wine. The Sula Late Harvest Chenin Blanc. Seriously, the best wine I have ever tasted. It was the right amount of sweet, the right amount of pompous and if the wine had an opinion I’d bet it would have a pretty optimistic outlook on life. Did I mention, that it was a magical shade of gold? The perfect sparkle when held up to the sun. Truly, the most cheerful wine I’ve ever tasted.

And that was the first thing I thought of when I heard Brooke White’s voice on American Idol. Check her performances on Youtube. ‘You’ve got a friend’(, ‘You must love me’ and her duet of ‘Teach your children well’ with Graham Nash.

Teach your children well - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJXLuKZCz1g
You must love me - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63ExHy94Xss
You’ve got a friend - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUaOLTQRoEo

3. Be Kind Rewind

First off, I’m nowhere near being jack Blacks biggest fan. Not even close. Maybe it was his over the top antics. I’ve always preferred a subtle Ben Stiller comedy (The only exception to the rule being Jim Carrey). Suffice to say, I was surprisingly impressed with Be Kind Rewind.

Funnily though, the newspapers weren’t too impressed with the movie. It had an average rating of 2 on 5 stars on almost all newspapers I could get a hold off. And considering I was very impressed with the trailer, I felt like yet another victim of trailers. Ah well, another movie to skip! If not for the persistence of a certain bunch of friends I never would have landed up at Be Kind Rewind.

What I got was a nice warm movie, not over the top toilet humour filled. Good performances by all. Amazing ideation/imagination/direction by Michael Gondry. I love the way the movies were remade!!

And though I must add, I’ve seen a hundred plotlines about struggles and how the lead characters manage to come out on top. This though managed to capture a certain fuzziness which remained through to the end of the movie.

Whether I’ll regret sacrificing Chronicles of Narnia I’ll never know but ah well, I got a good movie never the less!

The Bad

1. Darjeeling Limited

What it’s not:

It’s not a love story. It’s not a comedy. It’s not action. It’s not sci-fi. It’s not a movie that would spark even the slightest of synapses in your head. It’s not arty enough for me to be pompous and talk about the higher meanings of life. It doesn’t even have a female lead in the movie!

What it is:

It is an utter waste of time. It is a very bad description of India (The temple of a thousand bulls? One of the most religious places in India, it seems. Hey, if the foreigners said so, it must be true!) It is a movie made purely to milk curious and stupid foreigners cash with an outside view of the mystic India. It is a movie popularizing the nonsensical use of cough syrups, and other such items to get a high. (What, they never heard of beer?). It does promote the use of slow motion in the hope that we’ve never heard of slow motion and maybe we’ll be fascinated by it and consider it a ‘moment’. Yeah right, Wes Anderson.

Why I enjoyed it:

Hey at least me and my friends got a nice movie to poke fun at in the theater! Frankly, the first movie I was told to be quiet at by people seated next to me!

And it’s a great debating topic for me and one of my friends who loved the movie.

(Btw, it also has a nice folk soundtrack. But one plus point can’t save a whole movie)

Points to be noted:

1. Never assume anymore that a movie is a comedy because it has a comedian in it. Damn Owen Wilson.

2. Wes Anderson – Please watch Garden State. Tons of memorable moments and none of them involve slow motion or cows, carts, rickshaws or Indians with surprisingly American accents.

3. Get real, you arty types!