Movie Review: FURY (2014)

Movie: Fury

Cast:  Brad Pitt, Shia LaBeouf, Logan Lerman

Director: David Ayer

Review: As an eternal fan of Brad Pitt and War movies, I had to see this movie.

So there I was sitting in a dark theater to witness the saga of bravery and courage of five men, destined to work together to complete the mission assigned to them. The story takes you to midst of war-torn Germany where Allies have gained ground and are pushing back Germans to win and end the war.

There a warhorse army sergeant nick-named Wardaddy commands a Sherman tank and his five-man crew on a deadly mission behind enemy lines. Out-numbered, out-gunned, and with a soldier who was a typist, Wardaddy, his men and their tank named FURY, which had become their home,  face overwhelming odds in their heroic attempts to survive another day to kill the enemy.

The flow of the story is quite smooth and there rarely is a dull moment. The cinematography, look and feel of this movie is similar to other Hollywood war classics. From the scene where Wardaddy cries quietly for dead soldiers after putting a brave face in front of others to the one where he pushes the young typist to shoot an enemy soldier to the one where he treats enemy women fairly, director David Ayer has been quite successful in depicting the horrors of the war and how such a bloody, senseless and prolonged conflict can negatively affect the psyche of the soldiers and civilians alike.

The movie draws to an end with Brad Pitt as Wardaddy emerging as a leader who leads by example and decides to face one of the deadliest platoons of Nazi Army (Not detailing much to save you from Spoilers).

This is one of the brilliant war movies I have seen and Brad Pitt, although has played much demanding roles, has performed in this role brilliantly. Also Shia LeBeouf , Logan Lerman and other cast members have performed in their roles brilliantly.

An inspirational and courageous story of men who shout “Best Job I’ve ever had.” when they see a swarm of enemy men approaching, filled with brilliant performances by Brad Pitt and other cast members, FURY is a great watch indeed.

Excellence Meter-- 3.5/5- A good watch.

Cheers..

Digvijay Anand :)

PS: You can like me and follow me on Google+ by clicking buttons just below my Pic on top left or mail me at digvijay005@gmail.com. You can find me on Facebook(digvijay005@gmail.com) and Twitter (@Digvijay05) also. Do share, in comments, how you like my review. 

Anatomy of a Good Speech.

A new blog entry.  A new avenue for me to share with you. I have been busy and have not been able to share my life here, but before the year ends, I want something to share with you.

This time I am not writing a review but taking liberty to share with you my experience. I have been part of Toastmasters since last 5 years and have learned important and invaluable lessons in  how to create an engaging speech.

So when a month back I was about to leave my previous organization, one of Club Executive Committee member came to me and requested to share my experience with a lot of newly joined members in writing a good speech.

Always eager to help, I agreed readily.

The result was a wonderfully engaging session in CSC Hyderabad Toastmasters titled “Anatomy of a Good Speech”.

I am sharing the videos of this session today with you. This session can help a Toastmaster or anyone alike who wants to write a good speech.

This time I want you to be Critical of me and this session and provide me feedback as to how I can improve and what else would you like to know in such session.

Click on the links below to see the whole session. Hope this will be helpful.

Introduction

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6

Cheers..!!

Digvijay Anand :)

Reviewed: Seven Secrets of Vishnu

Title:  Seven Secrets of Vishnu

Author: Devdutt Pattanaik

We always thing Mythology is nothing but stories for entertainment or to serve a divine purpose. Usually we take all these stories and anecdotes as a proof that divine exists and we should bow our head to the supreme God.

I am not going to go ahead and debate these beliefs, rather would like to draw attention to this wonderful book which elegantly shows how these stories, which we are hearing since childhood, are much more than what we understand. It clearly demonstrates how these stories have so many metamorphic messages and actually try to add to our wisdom.

These stories doesn't tell us what is right or wrong, rather everything is divine and part of the world around us. These are not meant to preach any religion but serve as a guide for an individual's behaviour in day to day life.

Seven secrets of Vishnu chronicles the seven Avatars/ Incarnations of Lord Vishnu on earth. It explains why a particular incarnation preceded other. It draws the attention of the reader to the anthropological and metaphysical meanings hidden in such stories. Each chapter entertains you while imparting timeless wisdom.

In a nutshell, the Seven secrets of Vishnu teaches us the lessons of how and why to balance everything in life, how and why to open our minds and life to let other people, other ideologies in and how and why to discard any old customs and rules in the new context.

This is one of the brilliant reads. I'll strongly believe that after reading this with an open mind any individual will benefit by gaining the wisdom that Devdutt Pattanaik has brought out for us.

Please don't think it is a "HINDU" book and tries to preach "HINDU" religion. The wisdom in this and Devdutt Pattanaik's other books is more than what our religions can teach us.

Closing of with few lines from this and other Devdutt Pattanaik's books, which have become my life mantra.

 "Within infinite myths, lies eternal Truth.

Who sees it all,

Varuna has a thousand eyes,

Indra , a hundred,

You and me ,only two."

Excellence Meter—  5 / 5 – Excellent Read

Cheers...

Digvijay Anand :)

PS: You can like me and follow me on Google+ by clicking buttons just below my Pic on top left or mail me at digvijay005@gmail.com. You can find me on Facebook(digvijay005@gmail.com) and Twitter (@Digvijay05) also. Do share, in comments, how you like my review. 

Reviewed--"The Secret Letters of the Monk Who Sold His Ferrari" by Robin Sharma

Title:  The Secret Letters of the Monk Who Sold His Ferrari

Author: Robin Sharma

Aah…my sweet writing space… I've missed you. It’s been long I wrote about something. Well there are many reasons, but mainly didn't find something to write about. We all get sucked down by the whirlpool of problems in our lives, so did I.

Well, during this period I came across a beautiful book called “The Secret Letters of the Monk Who Sold his Ferrari” by Robin Sharma.  This is supposed to be a sequel to widely acclaimed “The Monk Who Sold his Ferrari”. I haven’t read the latter and was skeptical in reading the former one also as I used to think these are preachy kind of books.

But as it was lying on my table, I thought let’s give it a chance.  So I started reading it and was straight away thrown into the story of a man who has a conflicted life much like each one of us. He is unsatisfied by both his personal and professional life.  He is struggling to make amends and trying to collect the pieces of his life, which is falling apart.

Luckily, the monk who sold his Ferrari in first part turns out to be his distant cousin. The monk calls the man and asks him to help him collect some objects called “Talismans” from around the world from various people. In spite of being reluctant, he is cajoled to carry out the journey by his mother and the monk.  

The rest of the book is the journey describing his thoughts and experiences, the secret and magic behind the “Talismans” and very simple and profound lessons he learns on his way.

The beauty of this book lies in the fact that it is very concise and clear. Running for only about 150-160 pages, the book manages to teach us very simple lessons in a very easy way. There are no deep metaphysical analyses or any out of the world lessons. Just plain simple day to day philosophies, which can help live an enriched life.

All in all a Very good book.

Excellence Meter—3.5 / 5 – Very  Good Read.

Cheers...

Digvijay Anand :)

PS: You can like me and follow me on Google+ by clicking buttons just below my Pic on top left or mail me at digvijay005@gmail.com. You can find me on Facebook(digvijay005@gmail.com) and Twitter (@Digvijay05) also. Do share, in comments, how you like my review.