Mamma Mia - Here we go again 2018 (Movie)

Mamma Mia - Here we go again 2018 (Movie).

Fortunately we are a family who loves Music, song and dance big time and almost all of us are a huge huge fan of Meryl Streep (btw who isn't?). After loving "Mamma Mia" big time, it was quite a surprise to see a sequel coming. Also, we had no idea what it was all about as we do not read reviews of especially those movies that we look forward to :). Shockingly we saw it in an empty hall on a Sunday evening with hardly 15 people around, but those fifteen people were actually awesome fans just like us. The mommy sitting right besides me almost knew all the songs by-heart and was evening singing them along too :) with foot tapping music and songs (ABBA) that was bound to happen. I love those songs and have almost got all of them in my personal collection but do not remember them anymore the way these people did.

Story is nothing much but a flashback of Donna's (Meryl Streep's) life, how she gets the three boy friends and ends up in the place running her own restaurant till the end of her life. Unfortunately we expected her back in the movie but were heart-broken to see that she wasn't there at all. Although the three daddies take the cake in this one big time with their younger avatars doing perfect justice to the characters. The movie was a joyride of a little less then 2 hours and ending was simply superb. The surprise and the end credits are actually too good. No doubt now that we will be expecting a third outing may be in next couple of years :). If you love musicals, dance and drama - you've to watch this one, do not expect it to be as fantastic as "Mamma Mia" and it just works like a charm.

Hichki (Movie)

Hichki (Movie).

There comes a movie in months which makes me regret not watching it on big screen and this one turned out to be one such exception. What a brilliant brilliant movie and what amazing heart-breaking performance by Rani Mukherji, I must say. Kudos to the makers to touch the subject in such an amazing way, unfortunately I had no idea before this movie of something called "Tourette syndrome". I always presumed that Rani will overdo it hence stayed away and I have no idea how the movie did on box office. Last night watched it with the whole family and each one of us loved it big time. The protagonist's fight, struggle, survival and ultimate win was so amazing, it choked me up couple of times so badly that it is hard to explain. By the end of the movie, I was actually praying that no one looks at me so I could control my emotions and stop my tears from rolling down. Loved the way story enfolds and a teacher makes such a huge impact on one student who fights to become one herself, even after suffering from the dreaded disease which leaves no stone upturned in her life to stop her from achieving her goal. How she struggles and wins in the end and does so much for the down-trodden kids of the same school where she was guided by the teacher is the rest of the story.

Casting is so superb that almost each one of the actor made a huge impact on us. Nothing is over done, no villains, just the situations. Superb. Hats off to the makers, we need more movies like these to make the society understand and accept everyone with their flaws. If you haven't seen it, you've got to watch this big time and if you have already seen it, do tell me how you liked it. I will not be surprised if Rani Mukherji picks up the National Award for best actor next year.

Mission Impossible: Fallout (Movie)

Mission Impossible: Fallout. 

My wife is (read was) a huge huge Tom Cruise fan :) so as soon as this movie released, I thought I will give her a surprise by booking the tickets without her info, have a good time, eat out and make a day with her. But... the money that I spent on the tickets (100/- a piece) it wasn't worth half of it (may be around 40/- worth actually). And she now has sworn that Tom Cruise has aged and she is definitely not watching any more action movies. Now, how sad is that. My plan of hijacking her from her office on a weekday totally derailed by Mr. Ethan Hunt :(.

Actually the whole movie looks like one big sleep walk for Mr. Ethan Hunt, who has I guess done to death the scene of disarming a nuclear weapon at the last second. How many times one can watch the same old stuff, same old formula, same crap year on year again and again. The first half is so lackluster with almost nothing to offer that I guess my wife actually dozed off. Second half is when all the action takes place but again that all has "been there done that" earlier feel to it. The whole Siachen / Nubra Valley thing and why it was being done was such a laugh out loud moment for me. I mean if the bad guys actually blasted a weapon I really wonder why an IMF agent will come to our rescue?? But that Wifey twist was a proper apne "Abbas Mastan" waala twist. I will still maintain that the first Mission Impossible movie was fantastic and second one that Chimera thingy too was brilliant, after that I have no idea what they did in last two parts and this one too is a effort in vain in keeping Mr. Cruise any younger. I hope they stop these franchisee right here with this movie and do not come out with any more in future.

I will rate it a sad 2/5. One for the Bike chase and chopper scene and one for his colleagues comic timing as they were actually "figuring it out" to how to make it more entertaining. If you haven't seen it yet, worry not, its not worth it and you are for sure missing out nothing great. And if you have seen it, do let me know if it worked for you.

A Feast for Crows - George RR Martin (Book)

A Feast for Crows - George RR Martin.

Fifth (Technically fourth) book of the series and I am not only shocked but also pleasantly surprised that Mr. Martin hasn't run out of steam yet. After reading some 4000 odd pages of story so far, I am getting (cheerful) haunting dreams of George RR Martin locked inside a room made of white paper with so many pages hanging randomly on the walls that the actual paint isn't visible anymore. What is he doing? Furiously writing something on loads of papers as we are yet to get two more books of the series from him, giving it all a superb ending (I guess we all hope that he is actually writing as we speak). The last epic that I read was "Lord of the Rings" and one of the characters that I totally loved in that was the best buddy "Samwise Gamgee" and now in this series, I am again falling in love gradually with another Sam (Samwell Tarly). How kool is that :) and guess what, this Samwell is a huge book reader, who I believe is on the verge of solving a big puzzle for the entire realm, all thanks to the books that he is reading in the story :). I mean, of-course that shows how much Mr. Martin himself loves the books.

After reading so much from him, I must say that it doesn't shock me or surprise me anymore when one of my favorite character (or say characters) gets no mention for 200 and at times 300 pages into another book. And this book is no exception when he actually skips half a dozen of the characters altogether :(. Frustrated as I may be, angry as I may be, curse as much as I could, page after bloody page, chapter after bloody chapter, he simply refuses to give me what I want. On top of that, just when I thought he will start summing up the things, he gives me another load(s) of character introductions :) I mean how can he do that? But he does that in style as it all relates so well with the story in the past and lets the reader know the reason behind so many conspiracies going on at a breakneck speed. Chapter after chapter my eyes are searching for a hint or a clue as to what happened to those characters which should get so much importance and he just keeps their re-entry delayed (so much to my own guilty pleasure), the longer he stretches I guess the better it all comes out in the end (but end is way too far as of now). I am totally intrigued by his style, my mind is boiling with so many questions and I want answers but all I get from another book is more queries and no respite in sight.

I am sure you wont believe me when I tell you that this was a 850+ page book still had an abrupt ending. As I read the last page, I actually had to shuffle back and forth to really tell myself that it had ended :) and he has written a beautiful para (no apology to the reader) that he just chopped off the remaining half into another book (thank god for little mercies) which I already have with me :).

As the title suggests "A Feast for Crows", he unashamedly has killed so many of my favorite characters from the seven kingdoms and the bloody Game of Throne has gone to such an extent that there is no looking back. What all these heirs of the so called kingdoms are doing to get the Iron Throne in the end is beyond me to explain. Shocking and amazing in equal measure is the imagination of Mr. Martin but it makes up for such a terrific read that I am totally hooked and have got no time to pick up any other stuff till I am done with the last part which is lying right besides my laptop and I am about to grab it and jump to my reading chair :). And I will be joining you guys who've been waiting for the upcoming books for how long? four years or was that five at the last count?

And for those people who told me that "A Storm of Swords" was the best of the series, I would like to say "Sorry Boss". The things just got better in this one and actually are headed for a terrific turn of events (I guess). I am so much craving to talk, meet and discuss with someone who has read them all :) but will hold off my horses till I read the next 1100+ pages of the next "A Dance with Dragons" which gives me so much hope of getting back my favorite Daenerys and Jon Snow back in game big time. Plus my new found love Jamie should get his due from the Author. And so I expect for Ser Barristan and the Hound too, the Dog can't die just like that and if he does, his brother should come back and take the action forward. Where are the "Others" why are they taking so long to come and why no attention to Stannis :(. What happened to Bran and Rickon? where is Hodor? And the Wolf pack? And the biggest question is that why is winter taking so long in coming :) whereas I can already feel the chill by just picking up the next.

If you have read this series, do you really think there is any other book series which comes any closer to this one? I am sure none other can be any better than this one for sure. If you do, I would love to know about it and will get it ASAP. This one is undoubtedly my favorite now onward, surpassing Harry Potter and Lord of Rings both by a very handsome margin.

The Fallen - David Baldacci (Book)

The Fallen - David Baldacci.

One of my colleague is a huge David Baldacci fan and soon as she came to know of my book reading obsession, she told me not to buy the latest Baldacci as she was going to get it anyways. Unfortunately neither I knew that she read books nor who this Mr. Baldacci was so I was totally blank but a book coming to me free of cost is always a big huge welcome with a wide grin on my face :), so there goes my first Baldacci book. Now the book in question is the latest from his "Amos Decker" (the FBI agent) series but was a pretty average read. The moment I came to know that it was a thriller with serial killer on lose, a treasure hunt in parallel, sleepy god forsaken town on the verge of a collapse, I wasn't expecting an Agatha Christie suspense and twist or Conan Doyle finesse but at-least a good dose of something Sydney Sheldon types but this guy came nowhere close to none. In future I would rather read a Sheldon again, instead of going anywhere close to a Baldacci book when I am looking for some fun reads. Having said that, I would really request the Baldacci fans (if we have any) to tell me one of their favorite book that I can read and give another chance to him and myself as I don't want to judge him by just one book. If that too doesn't makes me too much happy as I always want to be with the books, then I will give up on him and move on to find some other entertaining writers who are above average.

The story as I said takes place in the sleepy town of "Baronville" (Pennsylvania) when a FBI agent Amos Decker witnesses some suspicious activity in a nearby home to his colleague's sister's house in the neighborhood. Initially they were off duty and on vacation but what they actually end up doing is, uncover the truth behind the four murders which had taken place in the town a while ago, followed up by two more murders in the neighboring house of Ex FBI agents (and a couple of more shocks on the way). The whole thing just gets better when the town's bankrupt millionaire becomes a suspect on whose family's name the town is named and they indeed owned a majority of happening activities back in the good days. The entire town blames the "Barons" for its sad state and there is a rumor going around town in hush hush that their may be a fortune hidden somewhere in Baron Estate by the first Baron. Drugs is another big issue which keeps the interest of reader hooked up and keeps making the things go forward. Now with that kind of plot and story, I expected something cracking but it just turns out to be a pretty average read. Although the book was 400+ pages but still I end up finishing it in flat three days. The one thing that I totally loved about the book was that the story actually had a little heart and the FBI agent Decker was totally believable (read Lovable). With his own dark past and family's story pulling him down plus his colleague's little niece who dotes on him was the high point of the whole book. As it did choke me up at least three times and that I totally loved. Also, another thing that I will praise Mr. Baldacci big time is that he refrains from any kind of love angle between the colleagues that I so much expected and it actually made me happy in the end to not to have it in this story as that would have made it another run of the mill book.

Have you read "The Fallen", did you like it? Which as per you is the best David Baldacci novel, an individual book or may be a part of any of the series he has written. Do let me know so I can read it and make a final opinion about his works.