Run for your wife

Run for your wife is a 1983 adult comedy play by Ray Cooney which claims to be the longest running play in the world. It has been adapted by Behroopiya Entertainers for the Indian audience. When it played at Epicentre, we booked the tickets. Despite the clichéd story, I went to watch it because of good reviews online.

The story is about a cab driver who has two wives and juggles two households. In today's times, a cab driver in Delhi being able to do that is in itself a big surprise. I mean, here we are trying to manage one household with double income. On top of it, one of the wives is a high class lady living in South Delhi. Umm, okay, REALLY? 

That is not even the worst part about the play. It has women wearing loads of make up and everyone talking in Punjabi accents. Cringe. 
We left within 20 minutes. 

WORST PLAY EVER. 

The Artist

I try and travel by Air India while going to my destination (and Indigo while returning because I like to reach home without delays) because they still have the TV screens on their flights. Most of the times, I pick something I have never seen before. I don't know what attracted me about the The Artist but I started playing it while travelling to Kolkata.

It is a silent movie, without dialogues, though it has background music. It may seem strange and boring but this is one of the best movies I have seen and brimming with creativity. 

One on One 2

We watched this play 2 weeks back when Anu Menon tweeted about it. What would I do without twitter? This is part 2 of One on One and has 8 sketches/monologues. Basically, each sketch has only 1 person performing.

Bigger, Stronger, Faster

I didn't know what steroids do and I didn't care. I am never taking them. But this documentary directed by Christopher Bell is very interesting. As someone who is interested in fitness and reads quite a bit about it, this documentary was an eye opener about a lot of things.

Mission Impossible Rogue Nation

I have a simple rule of thumb- I avoid movies where I can predict what is going to happen. And that is why I don't watch action movies. We watched Mission Impossible because KC's friend was staying with us and expressed an interest in watching it. He is a fan and has seen all the parts while I haven't even bothered to watch the first part itself. 

I also fell asleep once I realized there is no sex and Tom Cruise does not strip. I always thought the action was just foreplay for something better coming up. Apparently, that isn't how action movies work. Or maybe am confusing action with porn. 

The Gift

I read good reviews online and we watched this flick on Friday night. I knew the movie was a thriller of some kind but didn't know if it was a ghost movie or not. 

The flick stars Jason Bateman, Rebecca Hall and Joel Edgerton. It has been written, produced and directed by Edgerton. 

The scariest part about the movie were the bunch of girls in the theater who would scream in anticipation of the action that never really happens. 
This is supposed to be a psychological thriller- whatever that means. 

Monster

I watched "Monster" eons back and was moved by everyone else. After watching all the documentaries on Aileen Wuornos (read the review here and here) and knowing atleast half the truth, I am dismayed.

The movie has been written and directed by Patty Jenkins. It stars Christina Ricci as Selby Wall and Charlize Theron as Aileen Wuornos. 

Aileen Wuornos: The Selling of a Serial Killer

This is part 1 to the documentary- Life and Death of a Serial killer. Check out review here.

Aileen Wuronos, also called the first female serial killer of USA, killed seven men in one year. She had help from her lesbian partner Tyria, who was never prosecuted because she helped the cops get a confession from Aileen. 

Aileen: Life and Death of a serial killer

I watched this documentary on Netflix. It is about Aileen Wuornos- the first female serial killer to be given capital punishment. Have you seen the movie Monster? Remember Charlize Theron? That character is based on Aileen. This is the 2nd documentary made my Nick Broomfield (I haven't seen the first) on Aileen. 

Nick is called as a witness after his first documentary where he shows Aileen's lawyer being high when consulting with her. The documentary covers the time till she is given a lethal injection and dies for her crimes.

Iti Mrinalinin

I watched this flick on google play over the weekend. The movie has been directed by Aparna Sen and she has written it along with Ranjan Ghosh. 
I am Aparna's fan and have watched 36 Chowringhee Lane (one of my favourite movies), Mr and Mrs Iyer, 15 Park Avenue and The Japanese Wife. 

Iti Mrinalini is a Hindi movie also but I watched the orginal one in Bengali with English subtitles. 

Terms and conditions may apply

Last night I was looking for something interesting to watch- nothing dark though and I came across this documentary on Netflix. 
Wow!!! This is going to sound very ironical- this documentary is about our right to privacy and am the least private person on this planet. Or am I? 

This piece has been directed by Cullen Hoback who was crazy enough to go to Mark Zuckerberg's house, film him, pretend to turn off the camera and then film him- just like he does to all of us. 

Chasing Beauty

I watched this documentary on Netflix the other day. It is about the modelling industry in USA but mirrors the one in any country. 

Directed by Brent Huff and written by Brent and Pete Sepenuk, it interviews beauty pageant winner Kelly Anderson, make up artist Jo Baker, actress Dawn Ann Billings etc etc. 

The Vatican Tapes

I watched this movie last night with my colleague. Don't ask me why we watched this one. It was the only one playing at a decent hour- after work but not too late. 
The movie stars Olivia Taylor Dudley, Dougray Scott, John Patrick Amedori and Michael Pena. 

Girl Model

I watched this documentary yesterday on Netflix. It shows the modelling industry where underage models from underdeveloped nations are sent to the developing nations with dreams of big bucks.
The documentary has been directed by David Redmon and Ashley Sabin and stars Ashley Arbaugh, Rachel Blais, Tigran Khachatrian and Nadya Vall.

Minions

It has been a weekend filled with terrible movies. Wait, does that mean KC is my lucky charm when it comes to movies? Damn it. This is not good news. 
KC and his friend R are minion fans... so much so that they keep spamming me on fb with the minion stickers. While I don't even remember them from Despicable Me. We wanted to watch this movie but there has not been enough time. I watched it on Friday evening alone. 

The True Cost

This is a documentary I watched on Netflix. Directed and written by Andrew Morgan, it is about the fashion industry. It talks about below:

• The terrible working conditions of factory workers in countries like Bangladesh and Cambodia where the wages are 10$ per month
• The wastage generated while making clothes 
• The impact on land due to fertilizers and by growing BT cotton
• The impact on the environment by the clothes which are thrown away or given away to charity. There is no way to dispose them because we buy clothes more frequently these days generating more wastage

Carnage

The movie is based on the French play "Le Dieu du carnage" or "God of Carnage" by Yasmina Reza. I watched this flick for the 2nd time and enjoyed it as much as the first time. In fact, it is one of my favourite movies. I like dark comedies... the darker the better. Why don't Indian directors make such movies? I watched this flick because I wanted to compare the play with it. Review of play here.

It stars Jodie Foster, Kate Winslet, Christoph Waltz and John C Reilly and has been directed by Roman Polanski. It was shot in Paris because Roman was on the run from the USA because he had raped a 13 year old girl. 

Cyber Bully

I watched this movie on Netflix. I had planned to deactivate the account but I think am going to continue. 

The world we grew up in is very different from the one the current generation has to deal with. I started using the Internet when I was 17 years of age. Speaking to strangers in chat rooms was my initiation into the World Wide Web. It was an innocent time and I mostly met decent human beings online. My first experience of bullying was on my blog- I have written a post about it. But apart from that, the Internet was a better place than real life. We are different people on the Internet- either nicer or meaner. But different. It is easier to say what you think behind the cloak of anonymity. My entire life is on my blog for people to see but I can delete it anytime I want. And there is no guarantee what am saying is the truth. 

The God of Carnage

I watched the movie "Carnage" long back and it is one of the funniest flicks I have seen. When I saw the ad for the play "The Gods of Carnage" based on the same story, I promptly booked the tickets. 

The play is about 2 couples. Their boys get into a fight and one boy hits the other with a stick requiring a visit to the doctor. The couples meet to amicably resolve the issue. What starts off amicably ends with all of them fighting among themselves- first the couples fight, then the men fight with the women and vice versa, then the two women, then the two men... basically, they end up fighting in all permutations and combinations. 

Travelling Pants 2.0

This blog now has reviews of comedy shows, plays and documentaries for the simple reason that the former two rarely have reviews online. 

My colleague wanted to watch a stand up comedy show last week even though she spends most of her time at Bangalore which has a much, much better comedy scene compared to NCR. As luck would have it, she was here on Thursday and we headed to Manhattan.