Reviews – Page 48

Bug the bug

My rating of Bug (2006): A (Outstanding)
Cast: Ashley Judd, Michael Shannon, Lynn Collins, Harry Connick Jr
Directed by: William Friedkin
Studio: Lionsgate Films

Two years ago I had done a sponsored post for the pre-release publicity of the movie Bug. I finally got to watch this movie on Star Movies a few days ago. Lionsgate Films is one of my favourite studios for it releases quirky but noteworthy movies which other studios give a pass; their movies do end up winning Oscars too.

Bug is simply mind-blowing. I knew I should expect something great when the director is the same guy who directed The Exorcist [my rating – A- (almost perfect)] and William Friedkin doesn’t disappoint. At this point, I must stop and say “caveat emptor” – for most people will simply hate this movie. The Yahoo! Movies detail page for Bug shows the startling divide in opinion; with critics giving it an overall of B (good), and general users giving it a D (dreadful). Such disparity is rare. In most cases, critics will give something in the range of C and users will give in the range of B. This is a movie which truly polarises the audience towards extremes. The same story is repeated on Rotten Tomatoes. Bug is very much arthouse-cinema-ish.

What seems to have happened is that William Friedkin came up with a masterpiece which Lionsgate was sure would never be a box office success. (I agree with that assessment too.) Lionsgate execs then seem to have decided to market this as some sort of campy horror flick – the kind which has Jennifer Love-Hewitt running around screaming in tight shorts. At least, that’s what the movie poster / trailer seems to imply.

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Watch the un-truest summing up Bug‘s storyline in its official trailer

Perish the thought of the prospect of watching a flick where you can switch off your brain and watch rivers of blood flowing (despite what the trailer tells you), although this definitely is a movie so slow-paced that you’ll keep looking at your watch every few minutes. If you went in without this prior knowledge, you’ll keep expecting the cheesy music to start any moment. It never does.

But that is precisely what sets this so-called ‘thriller’ apart. There is much character development. The story is set within a short timeline, but within that you really get drawn into the character’s perspective of the world around them. The whole movie mostly revolves around Ashley Judd and Michael Shannon’s performance in a single motel room (I know there are perverts in the audience who’ll interpret this in the ‘wrong’ way); without the crutch of exotic locations the movie truly has to depend on the acting prowess of its cast. And the cast doesn’t disappoint.

Bug documents the descent of a guy and his (new) fiancé down the road of madness, eventually leading to ritual suicide…or are they really mad? Are the ‘bugs’ (which are never actually visible on-screen as the characters describe them as ‘small aphids) real or the figment of a delusional paranoid? Is the ‘government agency doctor’ a psychiatrist who’s trying to a get an escaped patient back to hospital…or is he associated with military secret service, doing research in biological weapons?

The movie, for most part, is quite idyllic. Trust me, unless someone recommended this to you, you would probably not stick around till the end. It’s the final act in the last 30 minutes of the movie which makes you admit “Yes, this movie is great; yes, all that character development was worthwhile”. The feel of the finale is quite like that of some macabre opera piece. Michael Shannon gives a really intense and impressive performance. Ashley Judd acts as the perfect foil to the ‘delusional’ Shannon towards the beginning of the movie, but by the end of the movie she is so madly in love that she’s ready to, say, set herself on fire (which she does).

A better title for the movie would probably be Snail, to signify the pace of the movie. Seems as if the screenplay was written for a play and not a movie. Well, technically, this movie is adapted from a Broadway / West End play after all. In case you’re looking for a unique movie experience, I will definitely recommend this movie. If, however, you prefer mainstream movies then give this a miss.

A quick word about another Lionsgate movie I watched recently – Captivity starring Elisha Cuthbert (she’s the only ‘well-known’ actor in the movie), directed by Roland Joffe. I’d give it a B. Critics panned this one, but isn’t half as bad. Not really anything new; still, if you liked the Saw / Hostel series of movies you’ll probably like this one too.

PS – This blog post’s title is dedicated to the memory of a now-extinct blog.

Originally posted at Youthpad.

Book review – Yogesh Chabria’s ‘Cash The Crash’

Pluggd.in is a blog covering developments in the Indian startup / entrepreneurship scene. Recently, I won an autographed copy of the book Cash The Crash by Yogesh Chabria (pluggd.in’s review of the book) in a Twitter contest organized by pluggd.in. Took some time to receive my prize because the author was off travelling (Iran, I heard) but it eventually arrived via courier. Disclaimer – This is NOT a sponsored post.

Happionaire’s Cash The Crash is published by TV18 (CNBC, CNN-IBN, in.com…ring a bell?) under its book publishing brand Bestsellers18. I’m sure that if this group ever went into the porn business they’ll name that particular venture Above18.

Yogesh Chabria is an author who, when not writing books or touring Iran, works for Indian stock market watch site Moneycontrol.com. He wrote a book earlier titled Invest the Happionaire Way explaining the basics of how the stock market, share trading et al works. Basically…he’s a Michael Douglas from Wall Street kind of advisor.

"Greed, for lack of a better word, is good"

Cash The Crash aims to explain why the global economy was on the brink of collapse last year, and why this opportunity is a good thing for people in general and for those looking to invest in stock markets in particular. Now, if you’re thinking there’s some of ‘GET RICH QUICK…EARN MILLENS OF DOLLAHS’ kind of thing going on here, perish the thought. The book quite sensibly states that that’s not what it’s objective is; the objective is to explain and make people a bit more financially literate and aware. This is quite specifically meant for a beginner.

I’d already read about why so many banks collapsed last year – in general news media and places like Chirag Jain’s blog. Even when discussing this period, the mood is upbeat throughout. At no point will the book make you feel depressed. Later chapters move on to explaining the importance of keep a good look on your finances and some basics about stock markets work. By basic I mean very basic. (Though, there’s an appendix at the end of the book explaining financial terms succinctly which is quite informative and concise.) This is not a textbook. It’s a book you could gift to your grandmother and expect even her to understand what’s written. This is all theoretical of course since I don’t have a grandmother whom I could test this on, but I expect she would.

What makes this book stand out that is that even a layman would be able to understand how it is explained. The book generously uses examples and explains events / terms using conversations instead of paragraphs of text. This is the book’s biggest strength and weakness. If you aren’t well clued in to the world of finance then it you will find this style of explanation easy to understand. On the other hand, adopting this style also results in the book becoming a bit lengthier, but I’m sure the targeted buyers of the book won’t mind. Also, the conversation are also quite obviously made up. Not saying the conversations didn’t happen, they probably did, but you can make out that the exact dialogue used is written specifically for the book preserving the essence of the conversation that the author would have had with the people mentioned.

What's the need to print this on glossy paper? — What's to show coins at the bottom of EACH page?

Purely talking about the technical aspect, there are a few things which could have made the book a more comfortable read. All pages are printed on glossy paper. Cash the Crash is one book which didn’t really need colour printing – or pictures of coins at the bottom. So, Bestsellers18, why torture your readers into squinting because of the all the glare caused by the glossy paper? This isn’t a coffee table book either – no major photos, diagrams, charts to illustrate. Printing on normal paper – and releasing a paperback instead of hardback – you have made the process of reading easier. I hope Network18 guys listen to feedback. Also would have made the book a lot cheaper (MRP for this edition is Rs 499).

The book also lists itself in the ‘Coming Soon’ section publishers attach at the end of the book. Did you mean…recursion?

Overall, I’d say that if you’re not a finance pro, then you should read this book. It’s optimistic, everything is easily in a conversational way, and doesn’t scare off a beginner with jargon. If only the publishers had made sensible decisions about the printing process and pricing it would be sweeter deal when buying the book.