First of all apologies for not posting a couple of write-ups I had promised from last week. While Chronicle was definitely a very impressive superhero/coming-of-age tale, Marina, the other film I saw left such an underwhelming impression on me that I couldn’t get myself to write about both. And you can add this week’s Dhoni to that list as well. The latter was seriously painful to sit through and I may just do a write-up for that reason alone but I can’t bring myself to it. However, the actual topic of this post is worth all I am going to write about it and more: Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.

When the first trailers of TTSS came out, I knew this was a film that was not to be missed. And the primary motive for that was the cast: Oldman, Firth, Hinds, Hurt, Hardy, Strong, and Cumberbatch just to name a few; basically British acting royalty. And that was reason enough to catch the film. However, I have one of those idiosyncrasies wherein I hate to watch a film adaptation of a book which is easily available and worth reading for the depth it offers. And therefore I went out and bought my first John Le Carré novel, and I can now assure you that it won’t be my last.

From knowledge I had gathered from the Internet, I knew that a Le Carré novel was a very difficult beast to adapt as a film and after reading TTSS I realized it was no mean feat. I am normally a pretty fast reader but this was one of the few books where I had to really take my time and take in every word in order to not miss the little details. As the mystery unfolds to the main players in the book, so it also does to the readers and this laborious pace was something new to someone like me who had grown up more on kinetic and visceral thrills. The conclusion was also satisfying because it included no misdirection or sudden twists, just pure logic. It was satisfying in a way I had not known before. I knew the film had a lot to live up to but reviewers assured me that it had been masterfully crafted, and I saw no reason to delay watching the film after completion of the book.

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is the kind of film you either adore or hate in the same amounts. There is little or no middle ground to be found. And in case you hadn’t guessed by now, I belong to the former category of people that adores TTSS and thinks it to be one of their favorite films of the year. What makes the film so good? I am going to try to do a piece-by-piece analysis of what I felt when watching the film and make minor comparisons with the book as well.

As the film opens, Control (John Hurt) sends Jim Prideaux (Mark Strong) on a secret mission to Budapest which goes horribly wrong. Jim takes a bullet to the back and Control is discharged along with his second-in-command George Smiley (Gary Oldman). A few months later, Oliver Lacon (Simon McBurney), under-secretary to the minister, is informed by Ricki Tarr (Tom Hardy) who is a Circus lamplighter working under Peter Guillam (Benedict Cumberbatch) that there is a Russian mole of two decades standing within the Circus ranks. Any one of the current top four could be the rotten apple: Percy Alleline (Toby Jones) who has taken over from Control; Bill Haydon (Colin Firth) who is essentially second-in-command; Roy Bland (Ciaran Hinds); or Toby Esterhase (David Denick). Lacon and Guillam look to the legendary Smiley again for help in uncovering the mole. Smiley sets to work in researching nearly two years’ worth of documents, interviewing everybody from a past he wishes to forget, and delving deeper into a path he realizes Control had already treaded before.

The one thing I can assure you is that it fully deserves its nomination for the Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar. TTSS is the quintessential definition of a novel that is literally unadaptable. The amount of exposition and attention to detail Le Carré provides couldn’t possibly be captured in a two-hour film but, to their huge credit, Bridget O’Connor and Peter Straughan achieve the impossible. As someone who had read the book in advance, I felt that they had stripped the book clean and taken in only the essentials, leaving out the parts which are better served in the written format. The result is a lean and mean screenplay that squeezes in just enough exposition in order to not leave neophytes confused while providing enough little nods to the source material to satisfy people like me. Those uninitiated in the proceedings will still have to concentrate and focus their entire attention on the screen because a solitary missed dialogue can really leave you scratching your heads.

Direction, composition, and cinematography are essential for a film like this one. I have not yet seen Tomas Alfredson’s Let The Right One In though I am assured it is a quality piece of filmmaking. Having now watched TTSS, I have no reason to doubt otherwise. In adapting the Le Carré novel, he has chosen to follow the author’s vision to a T and employed a deliberate filmmaking style that relies a lot on slow, meandering conversations and long takes, and that is the primary reason why the film may not be enjoyed by everyone. In a sense, the end product feels almost as if it was shot entirely in slow-motion. There is nothing inherently wrong with that but I can see how it could turn some people really off. Nicely complementing the director’s style is the cinematography by Hoyte Van Hoytema which has a washed-out, diluted look giving it an almost noir-like feel. It is fully deserving of the Oscar nomination it didn’t get.

I cannot begin to highlight just how good Gary Oldman is as Smiley. If I have to make a comparison, this is a role as difficult to nail as Marlon Brando’s Vito Corleone in The Godfather, and Oldman nails it alright. Smiley is a world-weary spy if ever there was one. He has had a rough few months with Control’s death and the departure of his wife Ann and is now asked to root out the mole after being informed that Control was intent on doing the same. Oldman captures Smiley’s laconic style of choosing words carefully and delivering each sentence with long-pauses in-between perfectly. Another attribute of Smiley that would be impossible to capture is his mental capacity. If Oldman cannot show Smiley as a sagacious spy with wits to outwit the best Russian agent, then the film fails. But this is another characteristic that Oldman has brought out in splendid fashion proving himself to be a great on-screen thinker. Oldman is fully deserving of the Oscar nomination and, right now, my heart is willing him to win the big prize for his entire career’s work.

As for the rest of the cast, barring the eighth Harry Potter film and Margin Call, this is the best ensemble assembled from 2011. Colin Firth sheds his good-boy image from last year’s Oscar winning role and slips under the skin of Bill Haydon. Tom Hardy is perfectly cast as the hot-headed Tarr. Svetlana Khodchenkova’s turn as the Russian spy Irina is brilliant. She is on-screen only for a few moments, in comparison to the book where she had more reading time, but leaves a mark that is enough for the viewers to care for her fate. If there was any doubt about the quality of the actors, they can be dispelled here and now. Everybody is perfect in their roles and there isn’t a weak link to be found anywhere.

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is a relentlessly pulsating film. As the climax approached and the mole was set to be unveiled I had butterflies in my tummy of the kind that only the best thrillers can offer. That I had already read the book and knew the outcome and still anticipated the scene is the highest praise I can offer to the film. That it hasn’t been nominated for a Best Picture Oscar highlights just how pointless the Academy Awards have become. If you are one of those people who haven’t seen this film, I urge you to do it right away. If you are someone who has seen the film but not read the novel, I suggest you do it because, as good as the film is, the depth of Le Carré’s writing cannot be captured within two hours. However, whether you read the novel or watch the film, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is an experience that is not to be missed even if you are remotely interested in the genre.

I have an immense amount of respect for directors who give us dramas. Unlike any other, this is the genre that demands filmmakers to be at their skillful best. Essentially what they are presenting us is a window into the world of these characters they’ve written through which we view them for about two hours before getting back to our lives. And within that time they are in the unenviable position of getting us to believe in the world they depict, care for their characters, and understand their emotions. If they overstep their limits, we call the film manipulative and write it off. If they err on the side of caution in writing their characters, we say we were never emotionally attached to them in the first place to care for what the film presents. Sure there are good, if not great, films that fall into both those categories – flawed classics to use the cliché – but they never stay with us as long as those that nail it to perfection. And perfection is a rarity for a drama more so than other genres.

But when you get that perfect film, there’s little left to do but stand up and applaud. That is essentially what I’m trying to do now. Asghar Farhadi’s critically acclaimed A Separation is the best film of any language that I’ve seen from the past year; and that includes last week’s The Descendants which can now proudly display its silver medal aloft. The word masterpiece is being thrown about a lot these days but I have no second thoughts in saying that if there is one film that deserves that tag it is A Separation.

The premise is really simple. Simin (Liela Hatami) feels her child cannot be brought up in Iran and wants to take her to a foreign land. Her husband Nader (Peyman Moaadi) cannot come along since he has to care for his father who is stricken with Alzheimer’s. This leads them to a family court which says that this is a minor problem for which divorce can’t be granted. Though they still love each other, it leads to a separation as Simin leaves for her mother’s while their 11-year old daughter Termeh (Sarina Farhadi, the director’s daughter) chooses to stay with her father. Nader gets Razieh (Sareh Bayat), with her daughter to tag along, to watch over his father for the foreseeable future. One day Nader comes home to find his father has suffered a seizure and some money missing from his room while Razieh is nowhere to be found. Once she comes back, he is furious with her and asks her to leave at once.

It is only later that Simin informs Nader that Razieh has had a miscarriage and that she and her hot-headed husband Houjat (Shahab Hosseini) are pinning the blame on the force with which Nader pushed her out of the apartment. They file an official complaint and Nader is left to defend his innocence in court. Simin just wants to guarantee Termeh’s well-being irrespective of how the situation pans out. Meanwhile Termeh is caught in an uphill battle as she just wants to see her parents back together.

Earlier I said that dramas are essentially a window into the world of the characters the filmmaker has written. And that is literally how it feels when watching A Separation. There isn’t one aspect of this film that isn’t authentic, honest, and from Farhadi’s heart. We end up hating nobody or siding with nobody. We listen to each character’s justification about the predicament they find themselves in and we nod our heads as we understand where he/she is coming from. As a result, the only person who ends up suffering is Termeh. She’s mature enough to make decisions on her own and understand the seriousness of the situation but not enough to realize how it is tearing her parents apart. There is a quite brilliant scene towards the end which I thought was arguably the film’s best: The eyes of Termeh and Somayeh, Houjat and Razieh’s 6-year old daughter, meet and their expressions say it all. Even as their parents are battling it out to see who is right, their lives are being ruined and nobody seems to care.

A Separation also serves as a look at how big a role religion plays in the Middle-East and how it affects everything from their culture, law, to how they live their day-to-day lives. Early on Razieh has to consult an elder to request whether it would be fine for her to perform certain duties for Nader’s father. They also consider taking an oath on the Quran and lying one of the highest forms of sin. As someone who has lived in that region for a considerable amount of time, this particularly resonated with what I’ve observed in my own stay there. Be that as it may, this isn’t what the film is concerned with. It primarily functions as a character drama. That it ends up demonstrating the culture of the region is an added bonus for the viewers.

As is a given in any powerful human drama, the actors are an important piece of the puzzle. Because of my limited exposure to Iranian cinema, they remained anonymous for the most part, and that is always an added bonus. We always visualize only the characters without the added burden of a star. There isn’t a single performance that stands head and shoulders above others because each of them does their job perfectly. These actors aren’t really acting as much as living their roles. If I have to give a nod to someone it will be to young Sarina Farhadi who shares brilliant chemistry with both her screen mother and father and demonstrates remarkable maturity in her performance. But really I cannot highlight one performance separately in this film, it is the combined effort of all the actors that makes this film what it is.

There is also an element of mystery in the way the film unfolds and this is probably the only area where Farhadi has to rely on a cinematic technique of withholding information to keep the audience involved. Beyond that, this is just, to use the oldest cliché of them all, pure cinema. A Separation isn’t concerned with how we feel at the end which is purposefully left open-ended for us to ponder over what we’ve just witnessed. (I felt a clean ending would’ve ruined the film.) It is the kind of film that defies explanation. When you try to illustrate to someone why films like this are the reason you got interested in cinema in the first place, you cannot. There is no way you can make someone understand what makes A Separation a masterpiece. It simply is one.

With Sideways, Alexander Payne may have been rewarded with a justly deserved Academy Award for screen-writing but even that film was just a sign of things to come. With The Descendants, Payne easily outdoes his work in the former film in every imaginable way. Sideways, as good as it was, still had minor problems and there were a few scenes towards the end where I felt he certainly went overboard. No such complaints can be made against this film which is just the perfect display of human emotions delivered in Payne’s typical humorous fashion. That helps keep the overall tone of the film light for us to enjoy and appreciate what is easily the best of the 2011 offerings I’ve seen so far.

Payne’s biggest strength as a writer and director is his ability to populate his stories with fully developed three-dimensional characters. This was true especially of his last two films – About Schmidt and Sideways – where he perfected the combination of comedy and drama effectively. This trait is the defining aspect of The Descendants. Whereas both the earlier films had their faults in the way certain characters had been written, every character in this film has been defined with uncommon depth that they never seem like movie characters. This is the kind of film which I adore but rarely get to see anymore.

At the center of it all is Matthew King (George Clooney) whose wife Elizabeth has gone into a coma as a result of a boating accident. A lawyer and workaholic, Matt has never fulfilled his duties either as a husband or a father to his daughters: 17-year old Alexandra (Shailene Woodley) whose constant misbehaviours have resulted in her being moved from school to school and 10-year old Scottie (Amara Miller) who is growing up quicker than Matt can handle. In addition to suddenly being asked to be responsible for his daughters, he is also in the midst of a discussion with his cousins as to whether a huge family property under his trusteeship should be sold which would result in a considerable amount of wealth or held under their trust for the time being. His entire world comes to a halt when Alex informs him that her mother had been cheating on him with real-estate dealer Brian Speer (Matthew Lillard) who himself is happily married with a wife (Judy Greer) and two sons of his own.

What I loved about The Descendants was that there were characters that would’ve turned into caricatures at the hands of many other directors. Take Alex’s best friend Sid (Nick Krausse) for example who initially seems to be there only for lightening up the mood, this is the kind of character who many would’ve used solely for comic relief. However, Payne is able to provide a real sensitive side to his character as he acts as a moral support to Alex and her father at times. The same goes for Shailene Woodley’s Alexandra. Too often, I get turned off by the over-the-top portrayals of teenagers in these kinds of films. In contrast, Alex was a living, breathing 17-year old who is devoted to her father and cares for her sister. She also loves her mother but is unable to forgive her infractions. Even characters like Matt’s cousin Hugh and Julie Speer, the other spouse, have been written with such a depth that I haven’t seen in many similar films.

George Clooney deserves the Academy Award for his work in this film. There was a time when I thought it would be impossible for Clooney to shed his innate charisma and charm. He is an actor who can turn it on and light up the screen in an instant. However, here fully devoid of all those defining attributes, he brings Matt King to life. Like Jack Nicholson in About Schmidt, we never see the star, only the character and credit goes to both the director and the actor for that. The real surprise package of the film was Shailene Woodley whose performance simply left me stunned. Whatever the challenge posed to her by the script and the director, she matched it step for step. It also needs to be said that the beautiful relationship between Matt and Alex depicted in the film was possible because of the chemistry between Clooney and Woodley.

Amara Miller’s Scottie is largely in the background but the young actress nails the one critical scene where the news that her mother is never going to wake up is broken to her. Judy Greer is terrific in the few moments she is on-screen. Robert Forster, playing Elizabeth’s gruff dad who doesn’t think much of Matt, is equally good while others like Nick Krausse, Matthew Lillard, and Beau Bridges prove once again that Payne gets the best out of his actors.

Cinematography and Music are the other two strengths of the film. I was already impressed with Phedon Papamichael’s brilliant lenswork in The Ides of March and he captures Hawaii in its entire natural splendor in this film. The Descendants is a film that I feel will grow on me with multiple viewings. It currently sits on top of my personal 10 from 2011 with just a few films from December still in my backlog. If you ask me right now, I would say I want it win in the Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay categories for the Oscars.

When the news first came out that 3 Idiots was going to be remade with Shankar at the helm and starring arguably the most mainstream actor working in Tamil cinema today, I was as apprehensive as anyone could be. 3 Idiots was a great entertainer striking almost all the right notes while also conveying a pertinent message and anchored by a typical Aamir Khan performance with support from the entire cast. It was most certainly a memorable film that had a charm all its own which I thought was difficult to capture in any remake, let alone one from the above combination of people who are more or less known for their masala prowess. In time as news, pictures, and videos of the film started getting leaked, my apprehensions started dying away slowly.

Once I got over the initial shock of the news of a Shankar directed remake – a first for the director – I realized he was one of the best people to be helming the 3 Idiots remake. The original, for all its charm, was not exactly what one would call a subtle film. A lot of its comedy was of the low-brow variety and the film relied on more overt direction rather than subtlety. That sentence could be used to describe Shankar’s direction as well. And Shankar, for all his skills, has chosen to make a carbon copy of 3 Idiots instead of playing around with the story. If it weren’t for the extravagant song sequences, it would actually be difficult for any viewer to identify this as a film directed by the man known for Sivaji or Enthiran. Nanban is a faithful remake of 3 Idiots and with the exception of the language little has been changed or lost in the transformation.

As Nanban opens, Venkat (Srikanth) and Sevarkodi Senthil (Jiiva) get news that their long lost friend Panjavan “Pari” Pariventhan (Vijay) has been found. They drop whatever it is they are doing and go to meet Srivatsan (Sathyan), one of their classmates from college, who reminds them of an old bet and tells them he can take them to Pari. On the journey, Venkat begins reliving memories from their college days. Pari enters their lives on the opening day of college and turns it upside down. Pari earns the friendship of Venkat and Senthil with his happy-go-lucky attitude towards life, the ire of college principal Virumandi “Virus” Sandhanam (Sathyaraj) with his rebellious nature showing a staunch disregard for the rules of the college and the entire system, the enmity of Srivatsan because of their opposing attitudes towards life, and the love of Virus’ daughter Ria (Ileana) with his good nature, wit, and intelligence.

With the exception of some scenes of sentimentality in Senthil’s life, Nanban plays out like a comedy. Scenes like the opening day of college where Pari teaches a lesson to the seniors, the trio’s visit to Senthil and Venkat’s houses and the subsequent visit to a marriage, and especially Srivatsan’s speech on Teacher’s Day are filled with laughs. Like 3 Idiots, most of the laughs are straightforward – especially the latter speech – but nonetheless they do have the audience in splits. On the other hand, Pari’s monologues against our system and how we have our students chase scores rather than learning something new have more than a ring of truth when transformed to the Chennai milieu since we have the largest concentration of engineering colleges in the country which promote exactly such attitudes. Nanban isn’t going to change the system any more than 3 Idiots did but it is certainly heartening to see a mainstream film touching on such points.

I don’t consider myself a Vijay detractor but I have to admit that I haven’t had much time for any of his films from Pokkiri to Sura. Having said that, he finally seems to have realized the error his methods as his role in a soft romance like Kaavalan last year proved. Despite another tryst with masala – albeit a better one – in Velayutham, Nanban reiterates this swift change in his career direction. Any comparison with a naturally gifted actor like Aamir Khan is an exercise in futility, so there’s no point in that. The good news is that Vijay seems to be channeling himself from the days of Thulladha Manamum Thullum, Priyamanavale, and Kaadhalukku Mariyaadhai. He doesn’t cop out by imitating Aamir – except in a few places – and downplays the role as required. Nanban is without a doubt his strongest performance since Ghilli. He hits all the right notes to make Pari an equally memorable character like Rancho was in the original. He also nails those critical emotional scenes and they end up having the same impact as 3 Idiots. Fans of the actor old enough to remember the aforementioned earlier movies can take heart from this performance and from the fact that he has a couple of biggies lined up with directors like Murugadoss and Goutham Menon.

Shankar’s casting choices go a long way in recapturing the spirit of the original. Of the primary three, Jiiva’s is the role that required a strong actor and he has already proven his strengths as one. So it should come as no surprise for people to hear that he performs his role better than Sharman Joshi did in the original. Going in the one I had the most doubts over was Srikanth but he has also delivered in spades. He shines especially towards the end in the scene where he opens up to have a talk with his father. The chemistry between Vijay, Jiiva, and Srikanth is also a big part of what makes the film fun to watch.

The biggest disappointment comes from the senior most member of the cast. Sathyaraj is someone who I consider to be one of my all-time favorite actors and he has a unique style that is all his own. That he chooses to channel Boman Irani’s over-the-top idiosyncrasies is the biggest letdown in the acting department. He certainly delivers a credible performance and shows his strengths when required to emote towards the end. But that should come as no surprise given he is an actor of tremendous skill. The role was ripe for him to deliver his unique touch but maybe it was the director’s decision to not change anything in the remake. Sathyan who has a tendency to overact at times tones it down while Ileana is all about eye-candy.

After the debacle that was 7aum Arivu, Harris Jayaraj redeems himself with a very strong soundtrack aided by the picturization which definitely has Shankar’s trademark touches. Asku Laska… is the best of the lot and has already become a huge hit with its melodious tune and lyrics from multiple languages. The picturization on Vijay and Ileana starts off in subdued manner before picking up with the final backdrop of a painted train reminding us what Shankar is all about. All Is Well… takes the punch line from the original and wraps it in an instantly hummable tune with some great lyrics to match. Irukaanaa… feels like one of those traditional recycled Harris tunes which he provides in every soundtrack but has actually grown on me after the film. How much of that has to do with the picturization set against the backdrop of another extravagant Shankar set (though this one reminded me of the set used in the Vaaji Vaaji… song from Sivaji) focusing on Ileana’s famous size-zero figure with choreography from Farah Khan channeling Shakira’s Hips Don’t Lie, I cannot say. En Frienda Pola… is another strong tune singing Pari’s praises while the pathos filled Nalla Nanban… serves its purpose in the film.

Every other technical aspect from Manoj Paramahamsa’s cinematography which shines in the scenes in Ooty and Dhanushkoti to Anthony’s editing comes together in a perfect manner as one would expect from a Shankar film. In fact, there are very little negatives that one could say about Nanban. The kind of low-brow comedy and overt sentimentality featured in this film may not be everyone’s cup of tea but that is hardly a knock on the film. The truth is that Nanban is a film that can be enjoyed by most anyone and would make for a perfect outing for the festive season.

P.S: If it ever came to a situation where I had to choose between 3 Idiots and Nanban, I would go for the latter solely because of it being in my mother tongue. In reality, you could watch either and be equally entertained.

There has certainly been no dearth of masala directors over the past decade, most of whom have come and gone for the most part. For a while it looked like Dharani was going to be the best of the lot but that hope quickly fizzled out after just three great masala movies. Hari has always made his presence felt but he also has been growing staler by the day with movies straight out of the masala cookbook in the last couple of years. In contrast, I’ve always considered Lingusamy to be one of my favorite masala directors. The only black marks on his quite impressive resume have been Ji and Bheema and you could forgive him those hero-centric films trying to get its stars back on the right lane. He has given my two favorite masala films in Run and Sandakozhi while Paiyaa was also a pretty decent flick if not right up there with the first two. Vettai is more akin to the latter than the former blockbusters. It doesn’t find Lingusamy at his finest and the dialogues don’t have the same sparkle, but it is definitely a watchable entertainer with comedy, action, and sentiments in the right amount. That is not something that can be said of a lot of the masala films over the past year or so.

After the loss of his police father, Thirumurthy (Madhavan) is forced to take up the mantle of keeping up the name of having a cop in the family by his younger brother Gurumurthy (Arya), especially since the former is the nicer guy of the two and the latter is a loafer of the sort we are all accustomed to. After training, Thiru is assigned as sub-inspector of the Thoothukudi police station, a city where Annachi (Ashutosh Rana) and Maari (Muthukumar) run the roost. Thiru is a scaredy-cat and isn’t able to handle the lawlessness in the town and calls on his brother for help. Meanwhile sisters Vasanthi (Sameera Reddy) and Jayanthi (Amala Paul) are looking for the perfect groom for the former. After a few vocal scuffles on the street with Guru, Vasanthi is married to Thiru while Guru and Jayanthi also develop feelings for each other.

If the story reminds you of a number of similar movies from the past, don’t be surprised. While the film that came to my mind first and foremost was the Bhagyaraj starrer Avasara Police 100 where he played dual roles of a scaredy-cat cop and his fearless brother who takes his place, Vettai draws its inspiration from the Masala Cookbook 101. Guru takes Thiru’s place in all the missions while the latter returns with the kidnapped girl, the smuggled goods and so on to grab the glory. Despite their familiarity, these scenes are fun to watch and Lingusamy plays his hand perfectly by offering both comedy and action in the right amount. Sequences like the one where the bad guys kidnap Guru in order to hold Thiru for ransom are filled with laughs that are enough to bring the roof down.

The main reason why the aforementioned portions prove to be as effective is because of the perfect chemistry shared between Madhavan and Arya. Madhavan is at his best by underplaying the part of the scared brother. He has a naturally innocent face and such a role suits him to a T. He should also be congratulated for taking on such a role which has him playing the foil to Arya who gets to go to town on all the bad guys. Arya himself plays a role not too different from the one in Boss Engira Bhaskaran with the only difference being he is given a chance to flex his muscles a lot. He has been growing stronger with each film and is at a point in his career where he has a real screen presence about him and the audience can take him seriously as an action star. Both heroes – though Madhavan isn’t a Tamil “star” anymore with his trysts in Bollywood – need to be appreciated for agreeing for such a multi-starrer and Tamil cinema fans can take heart from the fact that Pongal has two genuine multi-starrers with hope for more in the future.

Sameera Reddy plays the role of a fiery town girl which doesn’t suit her as much as the educated girl in Vaaranam Aayiram did. With a face decked up with lots of make-up, she isn’t able to pull off a sari as well as Amala Paul does. She isn’t helped by Chinmayee’s voice-over which sounds like someone is on steroids. Amala Paul is gorgeous to look at but doesn’t really have much else to do. However, the scenes within the family with Sameera scolding at Arya and the latter flirting with Amala do make way for a lot of laughs with special marks going to the manner in which Arya and Amala Paul end up getting married.

Naturally with a strong first half full of comedy and action, the film loses a lot of steam in the second half. The truth behind Thiru’s handy work becomes known to the bad guys and it has some serious consequences. One segment in particular right in the early part of the second half is a bit too over-the-top for its own good. It is intended for sentiments but actually finds the audience laughing at the screen. However, barring that one misstep, the rest of the second half is satisfying even if hurtling towards a completely predictable conclusion.

Vettai is arguably Yuvan’s weakest soundtrack for a Lingusamy film and that is doubly disappointing considering that songs played a huge part in Paiyaa’s success. Despite the manufactured hype for Pappappa… through the Kolaveriesque music video, the actual song, though hum worthy, isn’t anything to write home about. It also doesn’t help that the rest of the soundtrack is pretty pedestrian and the picturization is equally underwhelming. Nirav Shah is his usual dependable self behind the camera with his work in the action sequences indoors being particularly noteworthy; it has to be noted that the first action sequence is a direct lift from the one in the shipping yard in Batman Begins.

Vettai is definitely a massive improvement considering the quality of the masala films we’ve been getting recently. The film’s biggest letdown is that, barring a Maddy dialogue regarding his famous closing the shutters stunt in Run and a few punchy ones towards the end, the writing isn’t of the quality you usually expect from Lingusamy; that and the fact that the villains’ shouting does get tiresome as we proceed through the film. It also doesn’t help that the good guys join in the screaming match too. While these negatives do detract from the viewing experience, Lingusamy has managed to mix the necessary masala ingredients in the right amounts to deliver a package that is certainly worth a watch for the festive season.

My feeling for this most mundane activity of my life wasn’t always so bad. I don’t remember when I had my first shave but I am sure that my beard was pretty much non-existent at the time. Still, the joy of those first few shaves where I felt the whiskers of hair being cut by my blade was great. It was one of those existential feelings in my life that reasserted the notion that I had finally joined the big boys; become a man, so to speak. During those periods, the only aim was also to make sure I shaved enough to get a beard going, for the same reasons as above. Somewhere along the way though, once I had a decent growth of facial hair, the joy started subsiding. Once I started working and had to shave two times a week out of necessity, it was entirely gone, replaced by a frustration each time I looked at my face and realized it was time to wield my Gillette.

In my daily blog-check a couple of months back, I came across these delightful pieces written by a friend over at Gamespot. Needless to say, I was intrigued. I am someone who finds the idea of any new experience exhilarating. This quality of mine when added with the thought of shaving actually becoming an interesting part of my life was enough to win me over. I went out to the local supermarket, which surprisingly had them in stock, and bought a Lord razor. It was nothing special; just a three piece with handle, blade and covering made inEgypt. I figured that would be enough for my foray into the world of single blade razor shaving.

My first experience in shaving with a single blade razor was nothing short of a fiasco. In a rush to get hands-on experience, I overlooked doing the necessary research on what constitutes good practice which is something I always do. I thought arming me with the razor was enough and went on to use the usual general-purpose Gillette shaving foam for the face. The resulting shave was harrowing. At the end of it, my face was covered with numerous razor burns, not to mention a few cuts here and there.

Because it was so disastrous compared to what I’d read, I realized I must’ve done something drastically wrong. I went back on the Internet to read up more about the ABCD of single blade razor shaving. Thanks to numerous websites on the subject, I understood the importance of having the necessary equipment before even venturing into single blade razor shaving. The fruits of the research are displayed in the below image for everyone to see.

Besides the aforementioned Lord razor, on display are the Gillette shaving gel, Gillette entry level brush, and Fa after-shave lotion. Experienced single-blade users will know that these constitute the lowest tier of products for single-blade shaving; they’re all entry level items for beginners. The brush has since been replaced with another entry-level from Kent who are experts in this field and I’ve also updated to an Old-Spice after-shave. Since this is essentially supposed to be my gateway into the world of single blade shaving, I decided to use the blade that came with the Lord razor. It was decent enough; not too dangerous like a feather blade, not too below-par that the shave is underwhelming. As I grow more comfortable and perfect my technique, I am planning to try out the assortment of options as far as blades are concerned, since they are the core component of the shaving experience.

I’ve been shaving with the above equipment for the better part of two months and quite frankly it has been a great experience. No more do I need to press the entire weight of my hand on my readymade blade to make sure it catches every bit of the whiskers on my face. No more do I need to put up with a red face after each shave where it feels like my face is burning. No more do I need to actually think of shaving as a chore.

That last statement is quite ironic considering the fact that single-blade shaving does eat up more of my time when compared to shaving with a disposable blade. I usually have to wet my face with warm water and let the whiskers get smooth enough to be cut. I have to prep my brush in warm water for a couple of minutes and then use it to lather my face for a couple more before I can even wield my blade. Finally, the actual act of shaving is one of precision rather than the hack and slash it was before. The entire process feels like art to me.

This is something I would recommend to every one of my fellow men out there. In my case, I usually shave the previous night, so time is not a constraint for me. But even if it was, I would consider the extra five minutes worth the effort for the quality of shave that single blade shaving offers. Not only is the resulting shave the smoothest you could have without visiting the nearest barber shop, it is also devoid of razor burns, cheek redness, cuts and the assorted pains… once you’ve perfected the technique, of course. Take the plunge. It’s worth it!

After a few months where I was highly active, I’ve had quite a long gap for the past month or so. In case any of you have been wondering, it is because I’ve had to shift back from Dubai to Chennai. I’ve been largely busy taking care of all the necessary activities. But now that I am back home and fully settled properly, I hope to get back to the same sort of rhythm I was in before my brief hiatus. It’s not like there’s a dearth of things to write about, is it?

As for what the new year has in store, I hope to kick away a lot of my bad habits this year. For starters, my primary resolution will be to stop wasting time and start doing everything else; that includes watching more movies, playing more games, reading more books, listening to more music and writing more about all of the above. Essentially, doing more of everything I love. I already have a lot of pending film reviews I need to write and then there’s the little job of getting back to the Great Movies series that I originally wrote about in the middle of 2011. I’ve seen a lot film since I wrote that but none that falls into the Great Films category. That is something that should get my writing juices flowing. I don’t think I’ll be able to do a Best of 2011 write up until at least March though. I’ve got a lot to do before I can even get to that point. But I will be sure to do that once I fell I’ve got all my bases covered.

Until then, here’s some of the new stuff that I’ve been doing for the past few weeks and you can expect to read about in the near future. (Oh, and the side bar which updates my activities will also start getting update once I get back to my routine life in the next few days.)

After all the hype surrounding the Diwali releases, it is fair to say that the end-product was underwhelming. 7aum Arivu was entertaining but most definitely not worthy of the pre-release hype while Velayudham made no bones about what it was, an old-fashioned entertainer that at least proved to be better than Vijay’s recent fiascos. With the lull in Kollywood after that, trust Selvaraghavan to give us a quality piece of cinema because Mayakkam Enna is exactly that. Easily one of the best films of the year, it not only functions as a great character study but also highlights something that is sorely lacking in Tamil cinema right now – that thing called director’s vision. Selvaraghavan is one of the few who has always strived for that but rarely has he delivered on that vision in as resounding a fashion as he does with this film, which is the most coherent since his stunning feature debut.

Mayakkam Enna, by the words of the central character himself, traverses the story of Karthik Swaminathan (Dhanush). Having lost his parents very young, he and his sister have been brought up by his friend Sunder (Sunder Ramu) and his father, the traditional cool dad in any youth drama. Their gang is rounded up by Ramya (Soni Barring) and Shankar (Mathivanan), both of whom have grown up together with them under the same roof.  Karthik is a brilliant but largely unknown photographer looking for that one big break that will change his luck. The complications begin when Sunder introduces his girlfriend Yamini (Richa Gangopadhyay). They spar at first but, in a classic tale of opposites attract, fall intensely in love with each other but are unable to proclaim their feelings because of Sunder.

The entire first half is built upon this premise and while, on paper, it doesn’t sound like much, the happenings on-screen are much more attention worthy. Karthik’s struggles to strike it big and his betrayal at the hands of Discovery photographer Mathesh (Ravi Prakash) are heart-wrenching and it is easy to get on his side as everything goes against him. Meanwhile, the budding untold romance between him and Yamini is beautifully depicted in typical Selva fashion. Both Yamini and Karthik are in a tight spot because of Sunder but are unable to overlook the magnetic attraction between them. Selva, as usual, doesn’t believe in words and a lot of the scenes featuring the pair have no dialogue whatsoever. Still, the looks they give each other is enough to convince us of the strong feelings that are developing underneath the ostensible dislike they show for each other. The half ends with them finally conveying their feelings in one of the film’s many beautifully picturized scenes.

After a light-hearted half like that, the film takes a turn for the serious as is usual for Selvaraghavan. Sunder’s father gets Karthik and Yamini married and, for a while, everything is happy in their world. However, tragedy strikes as Karthik sees Mathesh achieve glory after glory for one of his pictures and isn’t able to swallow the fact that it is he who should’ve been in that position. His world spirals out of control and he slowly starts losing his mind. The rest of the film follows Karthik’s road to self-discovery aided by his strong, caring wife.

Arguably the biggest problem in all of Selva’s films thus far has been the tonal inconsistency. Though this was prevalent in both 7G Rainbow Colony and Pudhupettai, it was never much of an issue until Aayirathil Oruvan. The latter was the perfect case of a film of two halves, both serving as polar opposites of each other. The first was a light-hearted adventure while the second served more like a display of the director’s artistic vision. As a result mainstream audiences were left scratching their heads at the sudden shift in tone while sensible viewers were unable to overlook the film’s inconsistent writing despite a strong latter half. Mayakkam Enna has the same issue but the shift isn’t as jarring as it was in AO. Here also, the film moves from a light, breezy and youthful film in the first half to a full blown character drama in the second. However, the strength of the primary characters, much-improved screenplay and writing from Selvaraghavan, and superior acting make sure the progression feels more natural than it has in any of the director’s previous films.

Another thing that struck me about Mayakkam Enna is how proud it would’ve made Kamal Haasan. In fact, be it the psychotic overtones that have always been present or the overt sexuality or the strength of the female characters, it is hard to ignore Kamal’s influence in Selva’s works. All of the aforementioned are critical to this film as well but they have been meshed together in way that I thought wasn’t possible with Selva. Yamini is easily the best female character he has written. Her love and devotion to her husband even as he’s out of control is easy to understand; Karthik maybe slowly losing his sanity but it isn’t hard to fathom why given what he’s been through. Yamini believes her husband isn’t completely beyond the point of redemption and she makes every effort to make sure that is the case. Largely thanks to the strength of her character and the accompanying writing, it makes it easy for us viewers to believe that Karthik will make it. And though he keeps providing reasons to go against him, the fact that we are on his side is why the film is such an enthralling experience.

If I have to say something against the film, it would be that it veers on melodrama territory at certain points in the second half. Two sequences, in particular, have no right being in the film. Both feature acts of violence and, artistically speaking, it is easy to say that Karthik’s state of mind is pretty clear to the audience by this point that they are largely unnecessary. In addition to that, it is also hard to see the characters on the receiving end forgiving him for the act. Although these aren’t enough to drastically bring down the quality of the film, they definitely take some of the shine off what should’ve been knocking on the doors of being a masterpiece.

Just when you thought Dhanush had reached his peak with the National award winning performance in Aadukalam, he delivers another outstanding one that tops the former. This is arguably his best turn as he brings every facet of Karthik to life and carries the movie on his shoulders. The light-hearted fighting with Richa is something that has always come naturally to him, so it is no surprise that he is effective in the first half. But it is in the second half that he really shines. We feel the pain in his eyes as he walks away dejected after realizing that he has been betrayed by his idol. And his acting as he brings Karthik’s out-of-control character to life is nothing short of magnetic; it is hard to take your eyes off him each time he is on-screen. Suffice to say that he is the most natural actor working in Kollywood right now.

Richa’s mature performance belies the fact that this is her debut in Tamil. She is mostly expected to share flirtatious looks with Dhanush in the first half. However, she really comes into her own in the second half and is able to go toe-to-toe with Dhanush in the scenes they share together which is definitely not an easy task. She especially shines in one pivotal scene where I felt she was exceptional. Deepa Venkat’s voice stands her in good stead throughout. The supporting cast is full of unknowns who all fit their roles, but, make no mistake, this is Dhanush and Richa’s film from start to finish.

Technically, Mayakkam Enna is flawless. Given that Karthik’s profession is photography, it allows cinematographer Ramji to serve up some breathtaking visuals and he doesn’t disappoint. But it is in those dramatic sequences that his work and the rapport he shares with the director truly shine. They don’t just shoot scenes, they compose them. The way the camera lingers on the faces of Dhanush and Richa for each scene allowing the audience to grasp in every emotion in their faces is truly magnificent. Ramji also plays with the lighting in many of the indoor scenes which makes the close-ups even more impressive. Simply put, no film from 2011 has offered this degree of visual splendor.

With this film, G.V. Prakash Kumar has finally outdone Yuvan’s work for Selvaraghavan. All the songs work more like numbers from musicals wherein they have been used as substitutes for dialogues. When listening to the album, the lyrics already made it pretty clear, but Selvaraghavan’s innovative picturization really amplifies this point. Voda Voda… with its graphical flourishes and animated characters serves to bring out Karthik’s state of mind while the group-dance type picturization of Kadhal En Kadhal… makes it more interesting than the lyrics might’ve suggested on the first listen. Naan Sonnadhum Mazhavandhucha… is the only traditional duet in the film serving as perfect backdrop for the couple’s honeymoon, but Pirai Thedum… is the real highlight. The lyrics by Dhanush nicely complement the picturization as Yamini cares for Karthik and the song truly brings out the tender love between them. The background score is perfect with the Mayakkam Enna theme making its presence duly felt during the romantic interludes.

Few directors in Tamil cinema are willing to take chances like this anymore. Selvaraghavan once again shows the rewards that can be reaped if you take the leap of faith. Mayakkam Enna is an emotionally enriching experience that forces you to think about it a lot. And the more you think about it, the more thought you put into the film, the more it will reward you and the more you will realize just how brilliant every individual aspect of the film is. I would be very surprised if any film from 2011 knocks this one from the top of my personal year-end list.

The Five People You Meet Heaven is one of those books I’d been meaning to read for an eternity. I first came upon it when browsing Balaji’s blog a long time ago and was intrigued by the synopsis. I even rented it once but never was able to complete it. Determined to fix the oversight, I picked it up a few weeks ago and breezed through it. Beautifully written, it is filled with heartfelt emotions and paced perfectly. Essentially, it is one of the best books I’ve read in a long time and will most probably find a place for itself in my all-time favorites list.

The Five People You Meet Heaven tells the story of Joe, a maintenance worker at Ruby Pier amusement park. As the book opens, we are introduced to him as he goes about his daily routines with little knowledge that he is into his last few hours on Earth. Mitch Albom demonstrates his originality in these sequences itself as he slowly keeps the clock ticking with each of the actions Joe completes. Following his death in a fateful accident, Joe finds himself in heaven and learns that he is to meet five people whose lives he has had a profound impact on. As they explain just how it is they are connected, Joe is taught valuable lessons about his existence.

When I first read the synopsis, my thought process was fairly predictable. I expected the five people to be comprised of the usual collection of friends, parents, spouse, or any number of other relationships that we form in life. Turns out I couldn’t have made a dumber guess. The actual five people are an eclectic, unpredictable lot. I was able to accidentally guess only one person from the list and that too only because it was fairly obvious. At face value, some of them feel like random individuals, but as they explain their unique relationship with Joe and teach him their lesson, we understand why they were chosen.

These meeting and lesson chapters are bookended by chapters charting Joe’s progress through life. While the key events in his life have suitably larger chapters devoted to them, Mitch Albom’s singularity lies in the manner in which he presents the slices of Joe’s everyday life. Instead of going with the usual, mundane style, Albom uses Joe’s birthdays to serve as a first-hand look at his life and the relationships he forms and breaks along the way. Be it adolescence where it brings out his father’s disciplinarian and gruff attitude in contrast to his mother’s warm, caring nature or mid-twenties where he is lost in the midst of the Vietnam War or middle-age where he shares a beautiful partnership with his wife or the debility of old-age where he is lost in his loneliness, Albom’s skills as a writer come to the fore in these chapters. He is able to provide an unbelievable amount to depth to not only Joe but also each of the people he meets along the way.

Besides the strength of the characters and writing, The Five People You Meet Heaven is also exquisitely paced. Though they themselves are rather unique, the lessons taught by the first two people are more straightforward and don’t have a large impact on the readers. Albom ups the ante with the third and fourth persons who provide more meaningful lessons to Joe; and as readers, we also understand certain important aspects of life from them. But he saves the best for the last. Since no accidental guessing is possible, the actual identity of the fifth person comes as quite a revelation. Right from the beginning of the final chapter, I was more or less in a shell-shocked state. It was only after the book ended did I come out of my daze.

Albom’s writing throughout the book is brilliant, and by the time we reach the climax, it feels like we’ve lived Joe’s entire life for him and there is a certain level of attachment that forms between us and the protagonist. As a result of this, the book’s final lesson and the way it eventually ends offer a catharsis that few books can match.

The Five People You Meet Heaven is one of those rare books that cannot be pigeonholed into any genre. Though Joe’s story is rather unique, the final message is something that everybody can learn from: Every life, no matter how small or large it may be, matters! Because of that and the way it is delivered, Albom’s book, like Joe’s life, will have a deep, profound impact on all of its readers.

I did not want to buy it. I swear to God that I really didn’t! It wasn’t supposed to happen this way. Not when I haven’t even given a test run of the online portion of Battlefield 3. Not when I am just now halfway through Deus Ex: Human Revolution. Not when I also have a number of older games like Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood rounding up my backlog. Not when Batman: Arkham City for the PC isn’t even out yet. Still, I couldn’t resist a look at the reviews on Thursday, could I? Kevin Van Ord from Gamespot, somebody I trust when it comes to PC games, gave it a 9.0, and the synopsis was that most of its predecessor’s issues were fixed. Brad Shoemaker from Giantbomb gave it a full 5 out of 5 and said he couldn’t wait to get back into the game. And that was it! All it took were a couple more reviews and I was sold hook, line, and sinker. (P.S.: If you get the impression that I am an easy target in these scenarios, you would be absolutely spot-on.) Eventually, I ended up preloading The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim on Steam and going to bed on Thursday night knowing it will be ready the next morning.

Why should somebody buying arguably the most anticipated game of the year surprise you? For starters, I’ve sunk just about 60 hours into Oblivion, which is drastically small for such an expansive game, and most of it is in creating multiple new characters to begin the game anew. I only ever closed two oblivion gates in my multiple play-throughs and that was with an Orc who was the only character I actually spent any time with. As for Fallout 3, I’ve scarcely played enough to even venture into its main story. That is not to say that I got turned off from both of them. In fact, I enjoyed what little I played of Fallout 3 and though I wasn’t as enamored with Oblivion as I normally am with fantasy RPGs, it was still a fun game. Be that as it may, the primary reason why I never did immerse myself fully into those games was because they gave me severe bouts of motion sickness. I couldn’t complete even a half hour sitting with them without feeling like my head was doing flip-flops. In buying into the Skyrim hype and purchasing it, I was more hoping and praying that Bethesda had worked out a way to make the Creation Engine better than Gamebryo was for players like me.

I still haven’t figured out what exactly it was that Bethesda did with Skyrim. Maybe they reduced the amount of weapon bob and screen shaking which were exaggerated – at least, to me – in Oblivion and Fallout 3; maybe it is because I’m playing this using my Wireless X360 Controller on my PC which is attached to an HDTV sitting a few feet away from the screen; maybe it is because my stupid brain has finally realized that playing Bethesda games does not mean that I am getting poisoned thus sending signals which require me to throw-up; I have no idea what it is, but, after playing Skyrim for 5 hours non-stop on Saturday, I felt relieved more than anything else. I could sit and get lost in this world for hours on end without fearing any repercussions to my sanity. That, more than anything else, is why I have been having a blast with Skyrim.

Now that the formalities and useless subjects have been disposed of, we can get to why I really like Skyrim. Primarily, that has a lot to do with the new interface. I know many PC gamers are getting enraged because it looks and feels like it was designed for consoles, and while that is true, that is exactly what is making me love the game. Nearly everything feels more streamlined when compared to Oblivion. And since I never play as an Archer in RPGs – I have more of an in-your-face melee style – I don’t miss using the KB/Mouse as much as I might’ve with other games. The keys have been perfectly mapped out and using the shoulder buttons for either hand just feels intuitive. The only complaint I have is the favorites system. Though it does give you everything you want within the touch of a button, the Up key on the D-Pad, it still feels a round-about way when you have to open a menu, switch to whatever you want and return back to the game, and during combat, when your brain is trying to process the adrenaline rush, this feels especially wonky. In contrast, the system in Oblivion, wherein you could map 8 different favorites to the 8 D-Pad keys, felt intuitive and easy to use. If I have to say something negative, that would be it right now.

The other key difference is that Bethesda finally seem to have realized that the vastness of the world they envision is only good if the plot is engaging and there are some interesting characters in it. When it comes to RPGs, I have always been the kind of person who likes to be shepherded through the initial portions before being left to my own wares and this can only ever happen if the primary quest is interesting enough to hold your attention. In Oblivion, right from the moment Sir Patrick Stewart’s Uriel Septim started speaking, I felt absolutely bored with the game. The main story was yawn-worthy and closing Oblivion gates felt like a chore most of the time. The lack of an interesting primary story may be the single greatest reason why I got completely turned off Oblivion.

Compare that with Skyrim where I felt involved right from the first moment. Whether it was the dragon attack which happens in the opening sequences or the interesting subtexts like the battle between the Imperials and the Stormcloaks and the suppression of religion, it just feels like I am part of a living, breathing world. As you may know by now, you play as someone called Dragonborn and the manner in which the game announces your roots was simply exhilarating. It is one of those highlight moments I was talking about which was absent in Oblivion. It is one that immediately makes you feel like a hero and be wanted within the Skyrim world.

In many ways, I would go as far as to say that Bethesda finally seem to have realized why Bioware’s games are so immersive from a story-perspective. Imagine for a moment if you will, the depth and breadth of Bethesda’s gameplay and world combined with the plot/characters/writing of Bioware. That, in essence, is how Skyrim has felt to me in these first half dozen to 8 hours I have sunk into the game. It is too soon to say whether Skyrim is going to be challenging Dragon Age/Mass Effect for sheer depth of plot, but it is much, much better than Oblivion. Having a story you feel compelled to play through to its natural conclusion together with subtexts, sidequests, and characters that are equally intriguing makes for a much more immersive experience. As a result of that, I feel like I am enjoying even the most mundane tasks like Smithing or Enchanting or Potion-Making, while the bigger tasks are simply a pleasure to undertake.

Another thing in which Skyrim was a first for me as far as RPGs were concerned was that I was finally able to nail a gorgeous looking female character in-game. I cannot tell you how much I’ve been annoyed with the tools of both Mass Effect and Dragon Age in this regard. I’ve literally spent more than a dozen hours creating girls and playing through the first hour of both games before being disappointed with the look of the character and starting over from scratch. With the exception of Dragon Age 1 (and I really didn’t like the girl I created in this one), I’ve played all other Bioware games pretty much as male characters. Bethesda’s character creation toolset is really something else altogether, and I was able to create myself a beautiful, brunette Nord. And, yes, I don’t feel ashamed in saying that I was really satisfied with my creation; it gave me that sense of achievement.

Not surprisingly, graphics and music are exemplary as was to be expected from Bethesda. On my high-end PC with an i5 and the second-best single GPU card on the market (Nvidia GTX 570), with all the settings set at maximum, Skyrim is easily the best-looking RPG I’ve played. Sure, I’ve faced a few glitches here and there, but nothing that took me out of the otherwise breathtaking experience.

Overall, I am absolutely having a blast playing this game. Within the first few hours itself, I’d cleared a few dungeons here and there, joined a guild, slain a dragon and realized my true identity as Dragonborn, got into a fist-fight with a stranger over another woman (non-romantically, of course), and had my butt handed to me by an ice troll in the mountains. The last of those is something that has apparently happened to everybody else as well and feels like a deterrent by the developers to tell me to level up before returning to this portion – especially since all it took was one swipe from the badass to bring down my level 5 Warrior. That is where I am at right now and I have barely explored 0% of the multitude of options that are available to me.

After being disappointed at my own inability to play Oblivion and Fallout 3 to completion, I feel great that I am able to enjoy Skyrim to its fullest extent without having to take a break every half hour. It is still too soon to say whether Skyrim will be GOTY for me, but it is certainly making a solid case for itself right now.

P.S.: Once I delve into the game more, I will do a write-up on the leveling system which feels much more refined. Not only that, I also plan to do more write-ups as I play through the game. This might serve as an online diary of my Skyrim experiences with my primary character.