Larry Crowne - Movie

 2011. Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts.

A nice breezy feel good romantic comedy about a divorced retail store clerk who gets fired because he has no college education and his English Professor at the college he joins. Add in a friendly neighbour, some fun loving students who help him redefine his life in a scooter gang, an old navy link who runs a restaurant, and you  can see that the movie leaves you warm and fuzzy. Just what the doctor ordered on a cold, rainy day.

Julia Roberts is brilliant. Tom Hanks his usual self.

Loved it.

 

Happy Go Lucky - Movie

 2008. British.

Set in London, it is about Poppy, a happy go lucky school teacher played by Sally Hawkins. You have to see it to believe how happy go lucky Poppy is. Nothing seems to dim her happy attitude to life - her being 30, unmarried, not in a relationship, rude strangers, her bike being stolen (her only regret being that she did not get to say bye to the bike), her judgmental sister, a crazy driving instructor who falls in love with her in his crazy manner and so on. Poppy goes about being happy, adding a smile to the world, and somehow considers it is her mission or a gift given her disposition. Got to see a bit of London thanks to this film.

The judgments her driving instructor Scoot makes about her - her attitude, her smiling, her clothes, her shoes, lead him to think that she is interested in him and he begins stalking her. When confronted he denies it and lies outright to her. Poppy can see how she can be misunderstood by people but continues to be herself. In fact the poster of the film shows her on the back of man - her brother-in-law, who develops a back ache because she jumped on to him from behind. Obviously he is not as upset about it as his judgmental wife is! 

Eminently watchable 

Capernaum - Movie

 2018. Lebanese.

The story is about a 12 year old boy Zain who is in jail for stabbing a man who married his 13 year old sister who dies in pregnancy complications. Zain sues his parents for having him, for having been born. Through Zain's short life we see the struggles of those who live in the slums of Beirut, refugees who come from Africa with no papers and who are at the mercy of the law. Zain runs away after having failed to protect his sister from marriage and finds a young Ethiopian woman who has a small child out of wedlock, living on forged papers. The best parts of the movie are about Zain taking care of the one year old baby while the mother goes out to work. It's a hard look at life. 

Zain is brilliant. The film is directed by Nadine Lebaki and has won much critical acclaim, including a 15 minute standing ovation at Cannes!

    

Nocturnal Animals - Movie

 2016. Disturbing.

A writer sends his newly written manuscript to his ex-wife who left him to marry a rich and unfaithful husband. She reads the disturbing novel about a man who is stopped on the road while driving with his wife and daughter by three hoodlums. The hoodlums rape and kill his wife and daughter and try to kill him as well but he escapes. He returns after an year and with the help of a cop who is dying of cancer kills them all, and dies in the process. In real world, the ex-wife plans a meeting with him but he does not show up. The novel seems eerily similar to his life because he loses his daughter (aborted), wife, and himself.

Disturbing is all I can say. Mike Shannon as the cop is very convincing.

 

Belly Dancing - Gouri Dange

 Gouri is one of those free spirits doing many things and living life like she wants to on her own terms (I think, from what I have known of her). She writes brilliantly, edits, conducts workshops, counsels, cooks and does many other things with far greater passion than most people do. And she does it all with ease.

I've read her fiction which is brilliant, her parenting books which have sound, practical advice, her book on her dog and now her book about food - Belly Dancing is A Romp Through the World of Food. And so it is.

It's not your regular cook book thought she throws in a few recipes here and there. Its mostly a collection of articles she wrote over the years for various publications. Its a 250 page book which takes you on a culinary journey from traditional food to fusion food, Irani cafes to Fexting affairs, the rise of cook books and chefs in India, people she met like the Azmi's house, what to do with food stuff that did not come out exactly right and so on.There's a story about how she was making some dish that needed lots of milk for her kojagiri purnima and the milk went bad or something and she called the dairy and the owner landed up with fresh milk at her doorstep and saved the day. There are stories about the new equipment overtaking the kitchen. She mulls over the jhoota business and how chefs sometimes eat off the ladle and put it back, praises poori bhaji, jackfruit yams, vada pav, missal and so on. She dwells on how no one can make a chicken sandwich simply like they do in Marzorin (one other place I find that type of sandwich is at Secunderabad Club) and all we get now are heavy duty club sandwiches.  

Get the drift. Its all about her experiences with food and since she is well researched it all reads so good. I learned many things, got an insight into many cultures, people, sellers, cooks, consumers and so on. As with all her books this is just her and her spirit talking - light, breezy, stuffed with delicious content, witty and immensely readable. Well done Gouri.

King Richard - Movie

 2021. Produced by Will Smith among others, it had six nominations and won the Oscar for Will Smith as best actor. It's the story of a 'man with a plan' - Richard Williams who decides that his two daughters Venus and Serena will be tennis stars after he finds that a tennis pro made 40k in one tournament. As a security guard he was making 50k so he figured that's the way to go. Richard sticks to his plan stubbornly, meeting people, coaching his kids, laying down ground rules like staying humble, not slacking off on effort, pushing hard, keeping education important, not getting satisfied or greedy and most importantly to have fun while doing it - and thanks to his and his wife's and step daughters help and assistance they end up making the plan come true.

Cannot have a better example for what happen when one plans properly and executes the plan on priority basis. Smith is brilliant. The movie is riveting and does not let up for a moment. If you want to make your kids into champions - watch the movie and learn.

Malice - Movie

 1993. 

The life of a happily married (but broke) college teacher (Bill Pullman) and his wife (Nicole Kidman) gets thrown into a turmoil when an old school friend of his, a doctor (Alec Baldwin), comes into their life. What happens after the good doctor enters their lives is a tale of intrigue, passion, betrayal and malice.

However I must submit that despite being entertaining I find it difficult to believe the complex route the two lovers take to make the money - they could have found easier ways. Too many holes in the plot.

But like I said, entertaining, so forget about that.