Review of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child -- Book

 Sometimes costs are made to be borne

 
I must say procuring this book was an adventure in itself. I had pre-ordered this book and they did not deliver as promised. But I still managed to grab it on the same day as it was released -- 31st July 2016. A day I and several Harry Potter fans were waiting for anxiously. I was both excited and nervous. Excited because I was reading a new Harry Potter, after such a long time, and nervous because I was worried it wouldn't meet my expectations.

The book is a play based on a story by J.K Rowling and John Tiffany, written by Jack Thorne. It is a complete script with only dialogues and very few description of the characters or the surroundings. If you (like me) haven't seen the play or will not be able to watch it in the near future, then you have to heavily rely on your previous readings to get the feel of the environment.

Most parts of the book made me feel nostalgic and emotional, especially when I read about Harry, who is now the Head of Magical Law Enforcement, facing struggles at work and with his son, Albus. Hermoine is the Minister of Magic and Ron runs Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes. Harry's wife Ginny writes the sports section of the Daily Prophet. McGonagall is now the Headmistress at Hogwarts. The book starts off where Deathly hallows left, and takes you through a very familiar world. Harry and Albus do not see eye to eye and Draco and his son Scorpius are also not on good terms, especially after his mother Astoria passes away.

Albus is worried he will be sorted into Slytherin at the start of his school year and his fears are soon realized. He becomes friends with Scorpius, who is rumored to be the son of Voldemort. They fail to make other friends and mainly stay within themselves, much to the chagrin of Harry. Both are considered the outcasts and Albus especially turns into this brooding teenager who has daddy issues. Scorpius is the comic relief and in no way the side kick, and he has a bit of Hermoine in him. Albus is more like his dad adventurous, loyal and a bit reckless. Albus develops a crush on Delphi, who is Cedric's cousin. Yes that poor Cedric Diggory, who lost his life during the Triwizard Tournament (Goblet of fire). Most of the story revolves around Cedric.

While the boys are facing their own problems, Harry is facing his own demons. His scar starts to hurt again and he starts dreaming again of Voldemort calling to him. This sent chills down my spine. Lets see- Voldemort, Umbridge and Bellatrix would come in my top three most hated villains of all time, and the name calling was a bit too much (Harrrryyy Potterrrr). Like always no one believes him when he says that Voldemort is back(is he really?), just like they did not believe him the first time.

All I can say is that while reading the book I was nervous and excited for all the adventures and it made me feel like a kid again, this time with Albus and Scorpius not with Harry, Hermoine and Ron. Overall I was satisfied, it did not make me hate Harry or any of his friends(phew!) or any of the writers.

A must read for all Harry Potter fans, I am sure you will not be disappointed. Many of your questions will be answered. Is Scorpius really Voldemort's child? Did Voldemort have a child? and most of all Who is this mysterious Delphi?

The main moral of this book and all Harry Potter books is only one - Cherish your friends and their friendship and remain loyal to them.

Mischief Managed

(SPOILER ahead - highlight to read)
Every important character of the Potterverse  makes a cameo appearance in the book. Some we love (Snape - Yayyy and Cedric) and some we hate(Umbridge - Ughhh). There were some time tested formulas used, like writing on the blanket for the future Harry to read. I felt this book bought us to a complete circle and gave us closure, the story began in Godric's Hollow and ended it there. Harry watching as Voldemort attacks his parents and his helplessness would bring a tear to anybody's eye.

Review of X-Men: Apocalypse -- Movie

Some believe that the first mutant was born thousands of years ago. He was some kind of god, and he's going to rise again.

Long long time ago, there was the very first mutant, En Sabah Nur aka Apocalypse (Poe is that you?), who is betrayed by his followers and buried alive. But not before one of his horsemen die protecting him. So you of course DO NOT want to wake this guy up right? But then what's the use of superheroes if they do not have a super villain to fight. And this super villain is awesome!! The friendly mutants have to fight the not so friendly mutants. We know that Apocalypse has been alive for a very long time and every time he rises he recruits 4 horsemen (Holy cow!) So how does he manage to remain alive you say? Well he kind of transports himself to another mutant's body and then take on their powers as well (Boo Yah!) This time he recruits Storm (No storm Noo...I thought you were one of the good guys...sniff), Magneto (who has a love hate relationship with Prof X), Psylocke and Angel (mutant birdie).

Enough about the villains, lets come to our heroes. I still cant come to terms with Prof X (James McAvoy...sigh) having so much hair, but sadly its gone in the end (Ouch). I thought that he had same problems like us, a receding hairline. But nooo, he has mutant problems, major mutant problems.

The film takes place in 1983, where we are introduced to Scott Summers, and way to take care of a high school bully, good on you Scott. His brother Alex brings him to Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, where in a very dramatic (boy meets girl) sequence Scott meets Jean (love at first sight?...nah Scott has his eyes bandaged). By the way 1983 was the year that Return of the Jedi was released. When Scott, Jean, Jubilee and Nightcrawler bunk school and visit a mall (lets go to the mall...Today...arghhhh HIMYM hangover!), they watch star wars and Jean says the third movie is always the worst (Teee hee hee)

Comic relief comes in the form of Nightcrawler and Quicksilver (My Maaannnnn!!). Quicksilver's sequences of saving everyone (and some goldfish!) from a crumbling X mansion and kicking Apocalypses' ass are EPIC! And Prof X stalking Moira MacTaggert! (a CIA agent he met and fell in love with in the X-men: First Class). So Facebook did not exist then, yet he stalks her via Cerebro. Also Apocalypse might be an old dude but he sure knows how to hack Cerebro. Raven, Jean and Storm are the bad-ass girls of this movie, who have their own butt kicking moments(Ohh Yeahhh). And Jean turning into the Phoenix (Girl power!) And a brief (but Oh-my-freakin-awesome) cameo by the man himself Wolverine (Hugh Jackman...droool). Scott says "Hope its the last we see of this guy"(Yeah right Scott...Dream on)

You have to watch the movie if you are a X-Men fan. Because the story line is clean and the background stories are perfectly coordinated. You should watch it for Magneto and Quicksilver(who is much better than Peter Maximoff in the Avengers). You can even watch it if you have never seen any of the X-Men movies, but if you have you will understand the subtle hints throughout. Also watch it for Prof X who gets his legs back for a small time. Why is quicksilver so keen on finding Magneto? Why did a good working class guy (who actually saved a guy from being killed) turn into Magneto? Does the guy on the roof finally kiss the girl (Ewwwww)? Do the X-Men save the world once again? Watch it and find out.

Also please wait for the end of credits scene, it tells us who might be the villain in the next Wolverine movie (MUHAHAHA).

Raven: Forget everything you think you know, you're not students anymore! You're X-Men!

Review of Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation -- Movie

Your mission if you choose to accept it will be to read this post till the end.

Yes, Ethan Hunt is back,and knowing him his entrance in anything short of amazing,in the very beginning of the movie we see him clinging onto an airplane which is in the air!! This sets the tone for the movie, warning the viewers that nothing is impossible for Ethan Hunt (or for Tom Cruise for that matter as he performs most of the stunts himself).

He gets kidnapped later on by an international criminal consortium, known as the "Syndicate". There while he is tied and getting beaten up by someone known as the "bone doctor", the name sends a chill down my spine, he sees a beautiful mysterious woman. This woman who seems to love her shoes, I mean who doesn't, ends up aiding his escape. How does Ethan always end up finding beautiful women? I mean come on its not like he has an active social life or goes to parties and stuff to meet women.

He previously witnesses the killing of a IMF aid by a man. He makes sketches of this man and the woman and starts hunting them. The man being the leader of the Syndicate. Meanwhile the CIA director is not happy with the IMF and wants it disbanded. He succeeds, and the members of the IMF start working with the CIA. And they start a manhunt to find Ethan. Uff the Americans and their CIAs and IMFs and FBIs and what nots.

Benji, who is extremely bored working behind a desk at the CI, gets a mail saying he has won a free ticket to the performance of opera Turandot by Vienna State Opera. Once reaching there he comes to know that it was Ethan who had sent him the tickets. He wants Benji to find the man with glasses (identified as Solomon Lane) in the crowd. The chancellor of Austria also attends the Opera, which by now you can guess is not a coincidence. Hunt sees that not one, not two, but three shooters are targeting the Chancellor, to assassinate him. One of them being the girl (known as Ilsa, I thought it was Elsa, but no its "Ilsa". Frozen inspired?). I still did NOT get how she managed to wear a dress, stilettos and climb a ladder and run over the roof. While the whole Opera is on lock down Hunt and Ilsa escape via a rope. And Benji escapes, well I am not sure how but he has a car which picks them up. Now why dint Hunt take Benjis way out. Maybe he just likes doing impossible things, true to his nature.

Its nice to watch a tiny man like Ethan Hunt fighting with huge men and not get intimidated. He also almost dies while in water, gets tossed around in car and then gets up and joins a high speed bike chase, and all this without a scratch. One of the scenes of him driving a car over steps reminded me of my cab driver, wow now everyday I will feel like an IMF agent.

Overall the movie was good with a few mistakes here and there. Totally acceptable. I am quite forgiving you know. Seeing Ethan, Benji, Luther and Brandt working together again was a treat. Though I would have liked to see more of Renner.

A must watch for all MI fans. You should not miss this one. This comes in at second in my list of MI movies.

This post will self destruct in 5 seconds.

Nah no I am Just kidding with y'all.

But there is a spoiler ahead please stop reading if you havnt watched the movie yet, or else please continue.


I hope there a sequel to this movie, with Alec Baldwin joining the IMF team, as we see in the end of the movie. The star cast will be treat to watch together.

Review of Tomorrowland -- Movie

There are two wolves- one is evil and one is good. The two are fighting. Which one wins?

The one you feed

Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and girls, welcome to tomorrow land. A land where dreamers go and invent some new and very interesting things. Frank Walker is a young boy who goes to the 1964 New York World Fair to showcase the jet pack he has created (which by the way "technically flies"), so that he can win the 50 dollar prize money.

He is turned away but not before a young girl, Athena, hands him a pin. He follows her and a few others and is transported to a new world, a fantastic world, with technology from the future.

Now coming back to the present, a teenage girl named Casey, breaks into a NASA base station,which is up for demolition, and fries all the cranes. The next day her dad, who is a NASA engineer, tells her that new cranes would be coming in soon and demolition will take place as scheduled. When she goes again that night to break in she gets caught and is jailed.

She makes bail, and in her personal effects she finds a pin. When she touches it she is transported to the world we had seen before. It doesnt last long and she tries to find more about the place, and if she can go there for real.

From there she ends up meeting Athena, and finally Frank, who isn't so young anymore. A gang of robots follow them and try to kill them. They escape, and a man, a robot and a teenage girl make their way back to Tomorrow land. Who were those robots? Why did Athena give Casey the pin? And whats all this talk about an apocalypse? How is Casey connected to all of this?

The first half is quite long, but the story picks up after the intermission. Also the editing is a little rough. Raffey Cassidy who plays Athena is absolutely wonderful. The plastic smile on the robot's face gives you the jitters. There is also a small cameo by Keegan-Michael Key, which to his true nature will make you laugh.

You get this a wonderful overwhelming feeling when you watch the movie. Its visually spectacular and the story line fantastic. The sequence with the "The Eiffel Tower" and the rocket launch, just one word or rather sentiment, WOW.

One of the realizations you get while watching this movie is that we need more people asking questions and dreaming and have an active imagination. And that's what Disney is about. Imagination.

RIP Justice

There is a higher court than courts of justice and that is the court of conscience. It super cedes all other courts.

~Mahatma Gandhi

Aruna Shanbaug has just died after fighting a long battle, 42 years long. She wasn't the only one who died.. justice too is dead. Without a battle. Not even a fight.

I am not writing about Aruna or nirbhaya or anyone in particular. I am writing about each and every one of you. All of us humans who are considered the most civilized.

So what do we do when we read about a murder or a rape case in the newspaper.  Gossip about it. Write a Facebook status about it. Hope it gets likes and shares. Or even tweet. The damn audacity we have to do that.

And yes we do that, why? Because we know somewhere inside that justice is dead. Heroes don't get a happy ending. Happy endings are reserved for the villains.  Fairy tales, movies..all point us to the wrong direction that justice prevails in the end. Fairy tales, the ones we read in our childhood. Every fairy tale has a hero and a villain. The fight between good and evil continues till the end and finally the hero is able to save everyone from the villain and they all live happily ever after. There is no such phrase as happily ever after for Aruna or nirbhaya or the hundreds or thousands of others.

We all know its true, but we have to survive so we suppress this thought and continue living our lives the way it is. We don't want to bring about a change. The justice system or the society has failed us. But who constitute of this? We do. We forget that we as an entire population are much stronger. We together can bring change to the justice system or society as a whole. We not I. But are "We" willing?  

I know you are saying "Whats the use?". You would have said and heard this phrase many times in your lives.

Exactly..what am I even doing writing this.

Whats the use.

RIPJustice.

Lets just say a silent prayer to all future victims, and I hope not, someone who might be very close to you.

Throughout history, it has been the inaction of those who could have acted; the indifference of those who should have known better; the silence of the voice of justice when it mattered most; that has made it possible for evil to triumph.

~Haile Selassie