RIFLE RANGE BOY

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023) Director: James Mangold I t is nostalgia that drew us, who were lucky enough to be blown away by the very first offering of the Indiana Jones franchise, i.e., before it was a trilogy and is now in its fifth instalment. Intriguingly, the same actor appears in all five films over 42 years.  It is not fun seeing an 80-year-old man swashbuckling and manoeuvring his way through the busy streets, dodging baddies and bullets. As we know the story's outcome, where the crooks will lose, and the truth will prevail, there is nothing more to look forward to. The idea of a Time Machine dating back to the time of Archimedes is refreshing, though. The backstory behind the 'Dial of Destiny' is more fascinating than how Indy and his side kicks, as always, outwink his nemesis. This time around, part of an ancient find piqued the interest of remnant Nazis, now, in 1969, is in NASA. While the whole of the USA is rejoicing in the return of its first ...

Glass (2019) Director: M. Night Shyamalan Is having superpower abilities real, or is it merely a construct of our creative mind? We have grown up looking at comics and movies, yearning to be invincible people who could fly like a plane and jump buildings in a single bound. We longed secretly to have that single superpower, not to change the world, but to be better than the most intelligent guy in class; or the tallest, the strongest, the funniest, pick your pick. In the annals of time, somehow, we lost interest in all this sorcery. The journey of life straddled us thus far. We look back at our lives and are happy with what we see. We cannot fathom how the heck we managed to achieve all of these. Given a chance to do it all again, we are sure we would not have made it. The hard knocks that life had to offer pushed us to achieve the impossible. Perhaps they awoke the sleeping superbeing within us to fight our inner demons to come out tops.  Sometimes we marvel at our achievements and...

Old Boy (Korean; 2003) Director: Park Chan-wook It looks like we are walking around like hypnotised beings, doing what is taught to us. We were coached to hold specific values close to our hearts because that seems the only correct way to live our lives. Again and again, we are drilled with these ideas to give a sacrosanct feel to it. In a way, we are all zombies walking around doing things expected of us. The funny thing is that nobody knows what is expected from our existence. We are told that, unlike other creations, humans are given that unique sense called consciousness that puts us apart from animals. Hence, there is a need to follow specific rules. Living life by preset man-made rules must be difficult. Failure to conform carries a baggage load of guilt, and the results may not be most welcoming. Anger toward one's own self may cause malady of the mind. Anger towards others will invoke the very primitive primal desires that we kept suppressed as we become more 'civilised...

Before Trilogy Before Sunrise (1995) Before Sunset (2004) Before Midnight (2013) Director: Richard Linklater This must surely be a very ambitious project. In a way, it is real-life experimentation. It tells about how life treats two individuals over a span of 18 years. It shows how two 23-year-olds look all doe-eyed at life and again at 32 and 41. At each time, we get an idea of how they see life is ahead. They embrace it with so much zest, thinking that they know why their elders get it all wrong. They thought they had discovered the secret why so many from the generation before were so miserable and vowed never to repeat their mistakes. They could see as plain as day what and where they went wrong. They knew they would never prey to these situational demands. Jesse, an American student, met Celine, a French lass, aboard a Eurail train heading to Paris. Striking a conversation, they clicked as they shared similar values. They made an unscheduled stop at Vienna and spent the whole even...

In the Mood for Love (Cantonese; 2000) Director: Wong Kar-wai This film must surely be a fruit of a labour of love. It is such a joyful experience to watch as the viewers are cradled back to a Shanghainese community's claustrophobic surroundings in 1962 Hong Kong. It is a story of a close-knit group tenant, specifically of two couples, in an apartment building. Two spouses who are often left alone by their busy working partners end up developing feelings for each other. The busy partners in real fact are embroiled in an affair, between themselves. The scorned spouses discover a common interest, create a platonic relationship but soon realise it is romantic. They resist the temptations to be as low as their partners, despite the circumstances of time and the lure of their biological attractions. The theme of this story segues nicely into a discussion I had with my friends recently. What is this thing about marriage? Is it a mere a public declaration of a property much like when Vasc...