D-20 Screw that Earlier Post!

For those who might have had a big smile on their faces reading the earlier post, here is a post that is going to spoil all that. What I realised in my 10 day self-imposed exile from the blogosphere is that, you just can't live without your blog. It is an extension of my personality, my thought process, it reflects what I am and what I want to be, and I cannot kill the urge to blog for long, it is an opium for the soul...

Having said that, I have been reading many blogs for the past ten days, and I liked quite a few of them; I liked their style, not just the writing style of the authors but also the blog layouts. I sensed that my blog has had the same look and feel for the past six months or so, and so I thought, let's change things a little. I can't do much till my exams are over, but still I'll try.

For starters, the blog will have a new label, Movies I Watched. I am crazy about Hollywood movies and everyone who knows me a bit knows this. I believe I have a good taste for movies, and hardly anyone I know, apart from my sister possibly, shares the same tastes. I feel others too should watch the kind of movies I like to watch, and I am going to write about them, to spread awareness about these movies.

The latest movie I happened to watch was, The Magnificent Seven, directed by John Sturges. I really wanted to watch this flick 'coz it has been said that the '70s Bollywood blockbuster 'Sholay' was 'inspired' by this movie, which in turn is based on Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai. As for the movie, it was a complete entertainer from the word go.

Don't you dare mistake this one for a John Wayne spaghetti western. The movie takes you back to the days when the west was still wild and guns did most of the talking. Yul Brynner and Steve McQueen are brilliant in their parts as hired gunslingers who accept a job to protect Mexican villagers from across the border from the raids of the evil, but sly Calvera and his thugs. The sequences in the movie have been beautifully captured in Cinemascope and you could pick up quite a few neat tricks yourself after watching this. The movie has many underlying themes of loyalty, friendship, honour and courage thrown in to add to the main theme of victory of good over the bad. It has the occasional western in-your-face punch-lines that keep you grinning for a long time. Superb action sequences, and a tight, gripping narration keeps you on the seat, 'coz you do not want to miss a thing.

The movie makes for an essential DVD rental and if you are a collector, you gotta have this with you. Few performances I have seen come close to that of Yul Brynner's in this movie. Even Steve McQueen, no small an actor himself, resigns to Brynner's shadow. Highly recommended for edge of the saddle excitement.

My rating: * * * *

I have a great film lined up to watch, The Accused(1988). Jodie Foster(she is one of my favourites!) and Kelly McGills (the Top Gun babe) gave riveting performances in this highly under-rated masterpiece. I want to catch it as soon as I can.

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