Movie review - My say

William K. Zinsser is the author of this wonderful book called On Writing Well. It's a practical guide to writers - of all sorts, not just the journalists. The book was recommended to me by the former dean of the Asian College of Journalism.
I found the book useful in that it gave me some good advice on how to write well.
In the arts section of the book, Mr Zinsser makes the point that movie reviewers should reflect in their writing what audiences can expect from a movie. Film critics are the audiences' representative, he says.
Though I agree and have enthusiastically implemented many tips from Mr Zinsser, I beg to differ with him over this.
Here is what I think: I have no clue what audiences are likely to feel while watching a movie or after it. I only know what I liked and disliked and why. If I say that in clear English then I feel I have done my job. I never bring the audience into the equation. In fact, I don't even care much about them.

As a journalist

An article in The Times of India attacks bloggers saying that they are writing murders on the web.
"Bloggers claim in their hifalutin tones that they want to give a voice to the voiceless and replace the newspapers with their journalism. It sounds good, but look at the way they are doing this. Their vision is apocalyptic and their language is acidic. It's good fun, but this is no journalism. Learning and mastering good journalism is tough. You learn it in libraries, on flooded streets, in front of a rioting mob, in the middle of crossfire between a militia and a military, in war trenches, in the corridors of power and in the hamlets of deprivation."
Here is the entire thing. And the delicious reply from India Uncut.

And then, there is something from the NYT Public Editor's blog that might interest you. Compare this with what happens at The Hindu here.

V for Vendetta

Two new movies coming up soon in Chennai may be worth watching. Monster House from Robert Zemeckis and Steven Spielberg and V for Vendatta, which an ardent comic book fan told me is no good. But still I gotta check these two movies out. V is especially interesting because of its political content.

Something, Something, which I saw yesterday, is reviewed here.

Stalin rocks Chennai

According to this report, Stalin, a Telugu film, is No 1 in Chennai. Oh wow! What will happen next? I am waiting for the day a movie like Downfall is at number 1. Then at least, our guys will start making good movies. The surprise hit seems to Em Mahan. Nasser apparently is superb. Have to see this one.