| There are two big-budget epics, each starring a member of what used to be Hollywood's most high-profile celebrity couple until a couple of years ago: Tom Cruise in The Last Samurai and Nicole Kidman in Cold Mountain. |
| Kidman has been getting all the plaudits for her performances and choice of roles in recent times, but for our money Samurai is unquestionably the superior film. |
| Sure, it does serve up some pat homilies about Oriental mysticism and has a weak ending; but for most of its running length this film, about a disillusioned American soldier's encounter with "the Samurai way of life" in 19th-century Japan, is powerful and moving. |
| Cruise, who's probably reconciled by now to the fact that he'll never be a great actor, contents himself with being a cog in the wheel rather than the Big Hollywood Star. |
| Cold Mountain, on the other hand, should move you right out of your seats, and out of the hall. This film is a case study of everything that can go wrong with a big-budget studio movie. |
| Miramax's laboured attempt to make a Gone With the Wind for the 2000s is beautifully shot but lacks rhythm and coherence. |
| The huge cast includes pointless appearances by respected actors like Donald Sutherland, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Natalie Portman; here, they all seem to be vying for "worst Southern accent" dishonours. And we haven't yet been able to fathom why Jude Law got a best actor nomination at the Oscars. Avoid. |
| Rush in with your kids, for easily the best entertainer in town "" School of Rock. Every one of you who at some point of time tried strumming the guitar, or just let your hair down to the anthems of rock legends, will enjoy this . |
| Jack Black's energy while delivering, 'ten-minute long guitar solos' or wisecracks such as "you're the cat's pyjamas, you're the bee's knees...", heralds the arrival of another talent powerhouse from Hollywood. |
| Must see for students and principals alike, if not for some serious lessons on how to bring irreverence and fun into boring syllabi, but for sheer timepass and rock nostalgia. |
| Rock nostalgia is what most ardent music afficionados probably live by nowadays, with MTV thrashing your senses with more genres than musical abilities and melodies, and radio stations sticking to 'desi jhatkas' . And MTV Indian Grooves and Room 5 "" Music and You [CDs Rs 350, tape Rs 135] are just two examples of playing it to the gallery. |
| The former is a pot pourri of grooves, set to the frenzy of a dholak. And the latter with the retro sound coupled with ingredients from schools of music ranging from Kraftwerk to classic soul, is an interesting mix and will probably be heard more often in Ibiza and Berlin than saada Dilli. |
| One good thing, about the depleting state of music company revenues, is the additions that are packed in a Rs 399 CD. Coldplay Live 2003, for instance has a bonus VCD of the concert at Sydney's Hordern Pavillion. |
| The show begins with "Politik," which is also the track that opens the A Rush of Blood to the Head album. While strobe lights shoot back and forth across the stage to generate the stage equivalent of flashpoint explosions, the true prowess of stage lighting reveals its colours as the band gets to their big single "Yellow," by bathing the group in glowing yellow light. |
| The same can be said for the blood-red illumination of "God Put a Smile upon Your Face." But as memorable as these electric light assistances are, they also point out what colourless performers the members of Coldplay truly are. |
| But that's what Coldplay essentially are "" a band whose tunes and lyrics matter more than pyrotechniques, haircuts and stage presence. Don't expect The Who or Floyd "" just put on the CD, sit back and let your own visual interpretations set up the musical evening. |
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