Review: The Bucket List.

Director: Rob Reiner

Release date: 11th January 2008.

Genre: Drama/Comedy/ Adventure

Punch line: Live Life King Size.

Cast :Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman

Synopsis:

Two terminally ill men escape from a cancer ward and head off on a road trip with a wish list of to-dos before they die. The story is quite predictable, but I still enjoyed it. It is a great movie about friendship - how two men become great friends in a short span and help each other out throughout the time they are together. It moves along at a smooth pace and I never got jaded, so the writer gets credit for that. The acting was top notch as Nicholson and Freeman draw forth the right emotion in the audience on dot. The emotional parts are done just right, but the funny scenes are the best. I laughed throughout the movie. Movie delivers a message perfectly. A message about how you should live your life to the fullest, how your family is important, and how you should be happy in life

I would recommend it to anyone that is looking for a feel-good movie.

Writer’s rating: * * * *

Other facts

Rating: Parental Guidance-13

Sound Mix: Dolby Digital / DTS/ SDDS (Sony Dynamic Digital Sound)

Production: Storyline Entertainment.

Umpiring bloopers: Is this a great Australian dodge?

The Sydney Test between India and Australia will go down in history for more than one reason and umpteen wrong decisions. More than the players, it was the umpires who influenced the result of the match.. A series of dubious decisions have gone against India .

List of Umpiring goof-ups

On-field umpires Steve Bucknor and Mark Benson have got it wrong more than ten times and most of them were ruled against India . Andrew Symonds, centurion in the first innings, got at least three lives, one inferred by the TV umpire. Symonds himself admitted of being out at the score of 30. This could very well make and break careers. Had this been turned against India ’s favor. It would have been a great boost to Ishant sharma’s career. Skipper Ricky Ponting got two lives. Similarly, in the second innings Michael Hussey got thick edge of RP Singh before Dhoni caught it but Mr. Bucknor thought otherwise. Of course, these are some of the instances of Australian innings.

Umpiring was equally horrendous during India 's batting. Wasim Jaffer was given out in the first innings off a no ball. In the second innings, Steve Bucknor lifted his index finger even when the ball caught behind was deflected of Rahul Dravid's pad. Mark Benson, decided not to lag behind and asked Ganguly to leave as Michael Clarke caught him off Lee's delivery in slips. The TV replays showed Clarke didn't collect the ball neatly. Even if one ignored this, nobody could overlook Clarke's follow-through. He didn't complete the catch as the ball touched the ground when Clarke fell and rolled.

Other incidences such as Harbhajan singh’s ban was also under the scanner. He was penalized for something which he wasn’t committed to. Clark was still waiting for umpire’s decision in spite of a thick edge which carried to the slip fielder .Ricky appealing for a catch which was clearly grounded. Definitely disconcerting the spirit of the game. Clark ’s statement saying that Umpiring is a replica of some great character and were off some great quality. ICC not considering directive of Indian team against Brad Hogg for using abusive language Indian audience facing racial stir in the grand stand were not measured. But Indian audience was detained for racial abuse in Mumbai’s ODI last season .These clearly shows ICC is biased.

It seemed Team India is up against two teams, Australia and the Umpires. Had umpiring been upto the mark, the Border-Gavaskar series might have been levelled in Sydney .

Bucknor's erroneous outing in India 's last tour Down Under in 2003-04, fetched him zero from Sourav Ganguly in captain's report. It seems Bucknor is determined to sustain his score and his decisions have not only influenced the match but his fellow umpires.

It's time BCCI took substantial action against poor umpiring.