Review: Don't Be Afraid Of The Dark (2011)

I was waiting to see this movie ever since I read its pre-release review on a friend's blog. I did like its trailer immensely but I can't really say the same about the movie.

Don't Be Afraid Of The Dark is an American horror film starring Guy Pearce (Alex), Katie Holmes (Kim) and Bailee Madison (Sally). It is the remake of the 1973 horror film by the same name.  I did like Guy Pearce and Katie Holmes' performance but the little girl (Bailee Madison) who played the role of Guy Pearce's daughter in the movie was a bit irritating contrary to the positive reviews she has been receiving for her role.

The movie revolves around an architect (Alex) and his girlfriend (Kim) who is an interior designer. The couple are renovating an old mansion hoping to make a name for themselves with their remarkable work. Although Alex is an extremely ambitious and slightly selfish father who is a bit harsh on his disturbed daughter time and again. However, after Sally has been abandoned by her own mother Alex brings her with himself to the old mansion where he is working only to witness more deterioration in his daughter's behavior. Kim tries hard to befriend Sally but the little girl is not keen on knowing his father's girlfriend.

The mansion was owned by an artist and biologist Emerson Blackwood who went missing shortly after his eight year old son went missing. The housekeepers knew of strange happenings in the past and they sealed the basement for many generations till Sally discovered it and told her father about it. 

Sally being an inquisitive child hears voices from a hidden based with a fireplace who ask her to open the sealed based and become her friend. She discovers there are weird gnome like creatures. After frequent disturbing series of events (the house's keeper being badly injured, Kim's clothes torn apart into pieces and Sally's mentioning of strange creatures in the house) Kim decided to do some research on the history of the mansion and its owner. It was then that she saw that Blackwood himself made many paintings of small creatures and he mentioned that they want the the teeth and bones of children. 

While Alex was only interested in reviving his career, Kim was worried about his daughter more. This was how Sally started trusting Kim and they became closer with time. 

Anyhow, I feel the movie was a bit long. Although, they did not leave any detail in leaving the viewer confused about anything. The idea of gnomes and creatures who want to kill children and other people to get hold of teeth does sound absurd. Frankly speaking I found nothing scary in the entire movie. In fact, it was only sad to see that Kim ended up becoming the creature herself in the end while trying to save Sally. 

I wouldn't really consider it a good watch except when you don't have anything else to do. For people who like anything that falls in the so called horror-scary genre may watch it. However, lately I've watched too many bad horror movies that make no sense at all so in comparison this one still is better in that area.

Remembering Nawab of Pataudi

Nawab of Pataudi - Mansur Ali Khan passed away on 22nd September, 2011 at the age of 70. I have only heard and seen some of his photos earlier mostly because I have been a Bollywood follower and Saif Ali Khan happens to be his son while Sharmila Tagore his wife. I knew very little about his cricket days as such since it was a long time ago.

So, today as I was going through this photos and the condolence messages I thought we should dedicate a post  to this handsome and classy man. I gotta admit the man totally impressed me. God does not make such men anymore it seems :)

We remember awesome people in a good way...so enjoy these lovely photos taken in his life.

Rest In Peace!

Real Impressive Work by Overload: Neray Aaah (2011)

Well I'd be honest, today I watched this song just by chance while flipping through the channels but the music was so awesome I couldn't move ahead. I watched it further and the video was just ... unusual.

I didn't know what I was watching ... I became all engrossed in the video and why the hell everybody looked so damn corrupt. And the man without no legs was intense. I must say, I found the song unforgettable whatever the reason was.

Although, I do know about Overload as a band and have seen Farhad Humayun's performances too but this was different. It got my attention.

So, anyway I youtubed the song and watched it again and again. And I totally love it now. I read more about the video and found it kind of deep and interesting as they are showing about life and how one chooses the corrupt path and forgets all about the goodness of life preferring to be influenced by everything wrong around oneself.

This is so true, a lot of people choose the wrong path even though it slowly poisons them from within. I really liked Ammar Belal and Amina Haq here too but everybody else were just perfect too in whatever they were doing.

Deep lyrics, great video, awesome music and brilliant vocals. Now this is some real impressive work!

Justice Delivered In The Sialkot Tragedy Case

Honestly speaking I was not expecting justice or a verdict to be passed in this case anytime sooner than 10 years at least. Last night, however, I was positively shocked to read a news flash update that after a year Munghees and Muneeb Butt (the brothers who were brutally murdered by a mob in Sialkot in broad day light in the presence of police officials) have been given justice.

The Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) Gujranwala passed on its verdict and I feel it is a good one. It sentenced seven people to death, six to life imprisonment and three year terms to all the police officials involved in the incident. Of course, appeals will be filed as a follow up but the fact that the court delivered this sentence at all is a sigh of relief.

Children Of The Corn Genesis (2011)

Last night I was unfortunate enough to watch a so called horror flick "Children Of The Corn Genesis" and I am convinced that they have stopped making good horror movies a long time ago. Ok without being biased the first half of the movie was fine but then it really lost all sense as it moved further.

This one too was based on the famous book by Stephen King - Children Of The Corn. However, unlike the real story it was a total waste of time. At least that's what I felt.

However, just in case anybody still has nothing better to do they can watch it (though that's not my recommendation) or if you've already rented or bought the DVD then have a look at it. 

The story starts with a couple who are stranded in the middle of a desert as their car broke down. The young couple try to find some help in this strange place where they meet a weird preacher with a slutty Ukrainian wife. Now the preacher was so reluctant to help the couple to even use his phone but the moment he found out the girl was pregnant he allowed them to spend the night at his place and leave with the delivery man in the morning. Btw the delivery man was quite irritating too.

Though the preacher gave the couple strict instructions to not wander around and go to any place where they are not invited, the girl was irritating enough to peek here and there outside. Such stuff totally gets onto my nerves. She discovered there was a kid locked up in a shed by the couple. Also, she felt the preacher and his wife was part of some cult. Now, when they feel they are at the wrong place some unknown force doesn't allow them to leave. Thus, they were pretty much stuck there.

Talking about the actors, I found the husband from the younger couple cute while they could have opted for a prettier girl to play his wife's role. She was too healthy and didn't even act that well. The preacher was weird enough for his character and so was his Ukrainian wife who wore nothing underneath her white maxi.

It made no sense to me whatever happened after that. The end is so bizarre. You gotta bang your head in the wall as it was too damn senseless. It's a shame they waste so much time making such movies.