And talking of The Dark Knight Rises...

Who is not talking about it already?  But it can't stop me. Just a couple of videos/links of trailer in this post. Two days away from the release hype is at peak. I think perfect picture of hype can be seen at the youtube page with this trailer no.3. Top comment by 11:22 pm New York time on 18 july- 'So close man so close'

Below is link to a light-hearted trailer of this heavy film:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxEYNuDLqqg&feature=youtu.be&a

What do they say?

While we are discussing the influence of social media on film reviews, I would like to share this article I found on the CNN entertainment website: Are social media killing film criticism? The link to article: bit.ly/oiMfzf 

The article has insightful interviews, perspectives, emotions and drama. It has suggestions for people seeking and writing reviews. It has comments from the horses' mouth (yeah sometimes there are multiple horses.) newspaper editors, editor-in -chief of rotten tomatoes, film critics, people from marketing and advertising industry, Time magazine's writers and of course bloggers. 

A sneak peek into the article which opens with the words - 'Everybody's a critic.'

Sean P. Means, the Salt Lake Tribune's movie critic, has kept a list of all the movie critics who have lost their jobs or been reassigned since 2006. Those professionals serve a function, he says.

"My initial point was every time a paper loses the movie critic job ... they lose a voice, and they lose a voice that's unique to that paper,"

And there are some positive and motivating comments like: "I'm feeling good these days. ... I know good movies are valued everywhere, and good writing," he (Chicago Sun- Times film critic) wrote, singling out several bloggers and contributors.

You can find how Roger Ebert reviews and writes on his website http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/

'I was most surprised to learn...people get paid to review films'

Before we get on with reviews of films by myself and Salil, I want to talk about 'reviews' in general. I was most surprised to learn when I was in my teens that people are paid to review films! They get free tickets, they see them, write about them and get paid. And mostly, if you are in newspaper you will get believed too. Wow! Imagine the fun. So as I grew I could see their role only increasing; even directors and producers care about reviewers (better known as critiques).
Then came social media and gave power to everyone of us. Power in good and bad hands. There is an e-uproar for movies as they release. Many of us write reviews and many become part of little voices, shouts and screams in the form of facebook likes and tweets.
I will try to put down links to some credible sources and some interesting stories.

 One that I can think of on the top off my head is that a critic gave bad review to the upcoming batman sequel- The Dark Knight Rises, on Rotten Tomatoes, result: fans threatened him to the extent that Times website posted this article- 'Critic Faces Death Threats over Bad Dark Knight Rises Review'

Dark knight save the poor guy!

Of course Salil is blessed with supernatural powers of film reviewing.

What is filmy judge ?
Filmy judge is a result of a couple of decades of film watching by me, Sakaar Puri, and oldest of my friends. One of them in particular, Salil Chowdhary is going to be a major content source for this site. When it comes to visual entertainment, specifically television and films, we get religious about it. As much as we like to watch films, we like to share them and talk about them. There have been situations when we would talk and fight over our reviews for hours. And then on other days we would almost force each other to watch the good stuff; we would only be little far from saying "You are not a complete man if you haven't seen this movie." Our critical dissection of films and videos is never less meticulous than a producer reviewing the first cut. As a result of which I suggested Salil to start a blog few years ago, which he never did. I never did it myself because I wasn't sure if I wanted to start one. Virtual presence never seemed like an ambitious idea. I thought "blogs suck", perhaps even till this date, as I write this. But I am giving it a shot, inspired by^ the thought that Salil will keep this show running.

So, here it is for you my friend, a blog where you can express, with me, your anger on bad films and love for the good ones. Lets rip them!


The plan...
This blog will not only share our* stories but also present our opinions to any wanderer who happens to stumble upon this site. If you are here, you are welcome!
Salil and I have very decisive nature on reviews and are almost arrogant and potentially biased while at it.
So, your conformation with our reviews would be only co-incidental and disagreement only expected. Just a disclaimer.
Talking of disclaimers, there is another- This  blog will live until we keep each other motivated. God bless America. (its just a saying, if you know 'God bless us')


*this 'our'  extends to our other very close and dedicated filmy friends who might wish to contribute, but of course with the approval of the hardest judges of all time.
^  also because writing  blog is a requirement for a course at college. (never mind!)