How to keep busy on a loooooong flight OR more movie reviews than you could possibly read

The India trip was great... it goes without saying I think. Family,food,fun... heh I'm a poet now.

But the flight... ah, there's the rub; about a day in cramped seats, alone, yet surrounded by people, NO INTERNET! What's a girl to do? Salman Rushdie proved disappointing. 'THe Enchantress of Florence" was utterly disillusioning. All that lyrical, delicate wordplay that I loved in "Midnight's Children" or even in "The Moor's Last Sigh" (was never a big fan of "The Satanic Verses" personally), gone, gone, replaced by strict prose and a plot that made no sense whatsoever!

So it was to the idiot box for me. I love Lufthansa for having seatback monitors. No better timepass. I started with "Charlie Wilson's War" figuring that if I was going to watch anything halfway serious, it had better be at the beginning, when I still had the patience for it. I needn't have worried. It was absolutely gripping! Julia Roberts was brilliant- isn't she always?(though I wasn't too into her blonde hairstyle). And Tom Hanks was excellent. Bravo, bravo!

Then I watched "The Golden Compass". I loved the books (by Phillip Pullman), and I thought the 'controversy' about the Church etc. was way overblown. And the thing was, the movie was actually good! They stuck to the plot, the actors were decent... the special effects were not bad... why is it that when something like Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings ot Narnia is made into a move, the plot is turned inside out and everybody rushes to see it, but when they actually stick to the plot, its a great big flop. Anyway, I don't expect to see the next two in the series being made into movies.

Then it was the Spiderwick chronicles... not bad... waay too many plot holes... basic kid's stuff though.

And voila, three movies and a book to get me from Phildelphia to Chennai through Frankfurt.

I watched 'Indiana Jones' in Chennai, at Sathyam (which seems to be the only theatre that anyone goes to anymore... Oh wait, there's the new one at City Center... Movie wasn't bad... loved the food though. I really miss the interval when I'm watching movies in the US. There's nothing like taking a break in the middle, grabbing a puff and a coke or iced cofee and popcorn, there's the sheer variety of things to eat! Americans are so business like even about watching a movie... one shot and its all done.

Then there was the flight back. The advantage of flying in the middle of the night is that you're really, really sleepy and even wailing infants can't put you off sleeping. I did manage "The Other Boelyn Girl" though. I'm just glad I never bothered with the book.

The last movie I say- "Definitely, Maybe"... you know what... I'd have actually liked to watch that one in the theatre! It actually had plot! And an ending that wasn't completly saccharine, some halfway decent acting.... not bad at all.

Finally, watched "The Dark Knight" last Saturday. That movie is intense! I loved the way it explores the darkness in people, pushes them beyond civilization, makes heroes of villains and villains of heroes. Heath Ledger was brilliant... but so was Aaron Ekhart and Christian Bale and Morgan Feeman and Micheal Caine... and I liked Maggie Gyllenhall too(better than Katie Holmes actually).

Last of all.. "Kismat Konnection". Shocker! The movie has a plot (sort of). Two and a half hours? Waaay too much. Should have been an hour shorter- at least. Loved- Vidya Balan's clothes.