The Sane Lunatic

I like watching movies and I like listening to certain kinds of songs. Sometimes I watch musicals but unlike most of Bollywood, I'm happy to enjoy the two separately most of the time. This is different though. It's a movie about songs, some of the most iconic songs of the 20th Century and the men behind them. One man in particular, who possessed prodigious talent and lived a life worth debate - Freddie Mercury from Queen. This biopic gives a brief insight into the story of Farrokh Bulsara, ie, Freddie Mercury. Born in Tanzania to a Parsi family that then fled to the suburbs of England, Freddie is brought to life by the splendid performance of Rami Malek. Following the man's passion for music, his distinguished dressing sense and how Queen came to be as a band. While some may argue that this part of the story was treated with too much brevity, I find it the perfect directorial choice to keep the film entertaining and not make it into a BBC special documentary. From ...

Oh, look. It's another superhero movie. Which one is it this time? Marvel or DC? What? What d'you mean neither? Sony? I thought they're working on Spiderman flicks with Marvel Studios only. It's not Spiderman but it's kind of related? Would you just temme already, this is quite a tiresome questioning you know? (Gets shown trailer for Venom). Ohhhhh. This should be goood (rubs hands gleefully). Venom. Possibly the most badass anti-hero character in my memory from the Spiderverse. Tom Hardy. One of the best badass actors of this generation. Add it up and what you should have is an epic comic-book live-action movie. But there's this big, big problem and it's got to do with legal ownership of characters and their fictional universes. Venom is an alien symbiote life-form with a back story rooted deep in the Spiderverse and involves Spidey himself. But with the third-gen reboot of the friendly neighbourhood Spiderman being driven by the Marvel Comic Univer...

Sequels and prequels have a tendency to disappoint, even more so in the case of horror movies. Yet, this particular movie had the burden of some high expectations given how impressive the previous instalments had been - The Nun. 'The Nun' is the prequel to the highly acclaimed horror movie series called 'The Conjuring'. The first Conjuring movie was definitely a surprise in how it deployed the element of jump scares and is definitely on my list of top scary films, but the second one left me wanting for a deeper storyline. A demon called Valak is the source of all misery in these films and appears in the form of a nun with yellow eyes and terrifying features. This prequel dives into the story of the demon and its history in the 'Conjuring' series. We follow the journey of a priest and a nun-to-be around the events dated to have taken place in 1952 in post-war Romanian backwoods. That sets it up nicely for a gothic feel with a massive Christian abbey that ...

Alessandro Zanardi, better known as Alex Zanardi, is an Italian racing driver, born 23rd October 1966. He is a two-time CART champion, ex-F1 driver, sports car racer and Olympic gold medalist. His racing career isn't one of the most successful ones but he is one of the most inspirational racers out there today. He is also a double-amputee above the knee. This is his story as I know it from various sources. Alex began racing karts at the age of 13, building his kart from the wheels of a dustbin and pipes from his father's work. By 1988, he joined the Italian F3 series and in the following year, he took two pole positions and three podium finishes. In 1991, he partook in the Formula 3000 series, won his debut race and two others to finish second in the championship. This strong performance got him a seat in F1 with three starts for Jordan that same year. However, he remained a test and guest driver for a bunch of F1 teams over the 1992 season before getting contracted by ...

It's been a looong time since I shared some of the Sane Loon life here. The last time I opened up, things were looking pretty grim in my opinion. And three months later, not a whole lot has changed in the areas of life that I've been struggling in but a lot of other stuff has happened since then. Near the end of May, I went on a short road trip with family to a secluded coffee plantation resort in Himachal Pradesh in the newly acquired family car. It was a good drive and for the most part, it was a welcome break from the noisy bustle of the city existence. But the trip didn't end so well as I was way beyond my limit in terms of putting up with family in a small, confined space with no breaks. As such, it was weighing heavily on my mind and my attention span. Knowing that, I should have cleared my mind before I got behind the wheel to do my share of the drive back, but I didn't and through a case of poor judgment and unfortunate circumstances, found myself between ...

It has been a long time ladies and gents but the Sane Loon is back with a movie review and we're getting back into this with an all-new blockbuster action movie. Tom Cruise is back with the Mission Impossible franchise for the sixth instalment and it's up to him and his crew to stop a global disaster. Again. 'Mission: Impossible - Fallout' brings Ethan Hunt & the IMF back to the fray of saving the world from those looking to bring about mass destruction to overthrow the current world order. In the previous instalment, he and his team took down the 'Sentinel', an anti-establishment organization that wanted to wreak nuclear attacks around the world irrespective of nation, religion or race. This time the nuke threat is back and after Hunt lost the radioactive materials in order to save his teammate Luther (Ving Rhames), it's on him to track them down again and put a stop to the nefarious plans of the terrorist individuals known as the Apostles. Jere...

World Cup time. Once in four years, every footballing nation reaches a fever pitch from expectations and excitement to see their country's best players compete in the FIFA World Cup finals. The top 32 nations from across the world representing every continent except Antartica play for the biggest trophy in the game over the course of a month. It's a big deal for every player and every nation involved and this year Russia was playing host. The polar opposite climate from the previous World Cup held in Brazil, but one that would benefit most players who play in Europe for different leagues and are more used to the chill than to the heat. This is also the stage for individual players to become legends, to rise up when a loss would mean elimination, to be recognized as the World's best in their time. At each World Cup there are certain players who are the world's best on a club level and have won the prestigious Ballon d'Or but for whatever reason, they underperfor...