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 ...

Godland ( Vanskabte Land,   Volaða land,   Icelandic, Danish; 2022) Written & Directed: Hlynur Pálmason The colonial masters must have thought they were doing the natives a favour by coming to their country and 'civilising' them. The religious people of the colonising race thought bringing religion to their shores would 'save' the natives from the eternal damnation of hellfire as well as earn them a few brownie points in the eyes of God. Actually, the primary aim of the invaders was to get manpower. Europe had awoken from a great slumber. They had improved their weapons and were on a rampage. They had devised a way to mass-produce agricultural produce. For that, they needed manpower, and slavery was found to be a convenient way. After all, the African leaders would bend over backwards to capture their kind and enemies from opposing villages for this trade. When people from the West heard of the abysmal conditions in which slaves lived and worked, a boycott of slave-...

A lady, visibly struggling with her gravid tummy, was heard conversing with a fellow attendee at a maternity clinic. Excerpts from her conversing, which were anything but discrete, were soon made known to others. She was complaining about how she still had to go to school carrying a pair of twins in utero with just less than one month from her due date. This year alone, five teachers had gone on maternity leave, leaving a large vacuum for others to fill up.  It does not help that her school had 80% of the teachers as ladies and that recently, maternity leaves had been extended from 60 days a few years previously to 98 days now.  "I am just wasting my time teaching children who are not interested in learning, anyway," she was lamenting.  Thanks, Mr Khoo! I remember when a teacher motivated me to push my boundaries beyond my imagination, reaching for the unthinkable. I was just an average student trying to sponge whatever little knowledge my teachers were trying to imp...

And Justice for All (1979) Director: Norman Jewison During one of those festivities gatherings, we managed to pin down one of our old schoolmates. That was quite an achievement, for he was and still is a senior partner in one of KL's outstanding law firms. We created a hypothetical situation. What if he, as a lawyer, either gets a client who admits his crime at the onset or, along the course of the trial, would he still continue to defend his client? In so many words, with mentions of the right to proper legal representation and duty to the client, our layman's minds understood that he would still continue defending his client. His task was to ensure that his client was free of his charge. Of course, he would not purposely make his opponent win, knowing pretty well that his client committed the offence. Nowhere in the conversation was justice and seeking the truth uttered. Justice is what the court determines, and the truth is what is argued out.  This must have been what the S...

Killers of the Flower Moon (2023) Director: Martin Scorsese Based on David Grann's book (2017) Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI The narration is always the same. Again and again, history has repeatedly shown the same narration. The local population would live in harmony, in sync with their environment. The rambunctious mavericks from outside, with both eyes fixed on the wealth, would trickle in, peddle their snake oil elixirs and promise the moons and the stars. They would bulldoze their thinking into the local populace. The host would be cordial enough to accommodate the newcomers' wisdom, too. Once the shields are lowered, when the host treats the visitors as equals and gives them due recognition, they would zap.  The bottom line is all about wealth, money and control.  The Native Indians were nicely tugged into the New World, as 'discovered' by Europeans. The areas around Missouri and Kansas were occupied by a group that later be...

Paper in Money Out (2023) Authors: Sree Iyer, Jagdish Shetty This book is supposed to be a work of fiction, but what we read here is probably what every Indian podcaster with the right leanings, worth his salt, is reporting on his channel.   It is a potpourri of dirty politics, dirty dealing and equally obnoxious under-table dealings laced with blackmail, thuggery, double-crossing and bribery. Perhaps I should add treason to the list as leaders, who were entrusted to protect the assets of the country, are seen making wheeling and dealings with the enemies. Money is a natural lubricant for any transaction, friend and foe alike.   One familiar with the twirls and twists of Indian politics will see a canny resemblance of characters to the who’s who in the present-day politicians and prime movers of Indian politics.   Offhand, I think I see the likes of Subramaniam Swami, P Chithambaram and son, Sonia Gandhi, Narinder Modi and possibly many leaders of the South. Listeners of ...