Archives For Films

That is all, Toni~

muriels-wedding-abba-dancing-queen

Since I’ve met you and moved to Sydney… I haven’t listened to one ABBA song. It’s because now my life’s as good as an ABBA song. It’s as good as Dancing Queen.

I think… in contrast to last year, I might be liking Dum Laga Ke Haisha much better than movies like 2 States or Queen. It’s modern like those two dealing with issues, it’s got as strong acting (though Queen had the disadvantage of foreign acting, which always tends to be the weakest link anywhere in the world), but it’s much fresher in style with its honest 90s Bollywood throwback. And thank you gods that there was no bumping electro-dance disco song.

It’ll need to simmer, but it looks good for YRF at the moment.

Oooh, it’s been a while since I’ve been taken by a poster :) Anybody know who was in charge of the design?

nirbaak-poster-sushmita-sen-bengali

It’s only a couple of days more, and the movie will finally open [1], but here’s the Rene Liu song that’s promoting the film full of feels~

Buongiorno, Principessa! Stanotte t’ho sognata tutta la notte, andavamo al cinema, e avevi quel tailleur rosa che ti piace tanto, non penso che a te principessa, penso sempre a te!

-I just realized… the English quote is so weirdly translated.

Buongiorno, Principessa!

Oh, I’m so looking forward to Isabella Leong’s comeback.

isabella-leong-murmur-of-hearts

Oh, Happy Chinese New Year! Let’s start my (supposedly) bad-luck Goat Year with the now-mandatory Letterboxd list of my film collection~

amys-film-collection-letterboxd

I have a really weird history with films– born in the late 80s, you’d think I would’ve grown watching loads of 90s kids stuff, but I actually grew up with a lot of Silly Symphonies (which were released in the 30s) and loads of Disney 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s stuff, plus a lot of more grown up 80s movies. Poltergeist, The Thing, The Fly and The Stuff were particularly scary stuff (and I’m pretty sure I was scared of yogurt or white stuff at some point).

I don’t ever remember buying any original VHS tape, except for the rare birthday gift of a Disney’s Sing-Along Songs chapter or that X-Men tape I have. My first DVDs buys were Coyote Ugly, She’s All That and Loser — you can’t blame me. I was a 15-year-old girl. The collection grew bigger, and possibly exploded during my years abroad. I’m nearing my 500th movie.

I just posted my 350th review, Jigarthanda [also in Español], which happens to be my 30th (sorta) Indian film review. So~ commemorating! Here’s a list of my first 30 Indian film reviews. You can actually see how my journey [1][2][3][4][5] has shaped up from DDLJ, KKHH and K3G YRF, SRK (and Kajol, though I posted her reviews later on) and Karan Johar-centric to Bhansali, Rani, Vidya, Madhuri, alternative Hindi cinema to regional stuff.

my-30-indian-film-reviews

Here we go (in order of posting date):

  1. Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge [tmb en Español]
  2. Kuch Kuch Hota Hai
  3. Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham
  4. Chennai Express [tmb en Español]
  5. Black
  6. Khamoshi: The Musical
  7. Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam
  8. Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani
  9. Kahaani
  10. U Me Aur Hum
  11. Bombay Talkies [tmb en Español]
  12. Hey Ram
  13. Fanaa
    But honestly~ these photo recaps are best [Part 1][Part 2]
  14. Hasee Toh Phasee
  15. Gulaab Gang
  16. Moondram Pirai/Sadma
  17. Shaadi Ke Side Effects
  18. Aiyyaa
  19. Dedh Ishqiya [tmb en Español]
  20. Siddharth
  21. Goynar Baksho [tmb en Español]
  22. CityLights
  23. Kadal
  24. Bangalore Days [tmb en Español]
  25. The Hundred-Foot Journey [tmb en Español]
    (I know, I know. Not strictly Indian but was produced by Reliance~)
  26. Mardaani [tmb en Español]
  27. Lucia [tmb en Español]
  28. Happy New Year [tmb en Español]
  29. Haider [tmb en Español]
  30. Jigarthanda

And if you want to keep track of my reviewed Indian films, go here: English, Español.

Except for the mandatory appreciation for Boyhood (the Patricia Arquette show) and Whiplash, which had me contorting from all the conflictive feelings, I’m feeling rather lukewarm with this year’s award season as you can see from my 2014 Films Ranked compared to my Academy Award Watchlist.

oscars-2014-2015-nominations-watchlist

Hot pink is watched, light blue on to-watched queue, highlighted in green haven’t been found yet. My excuse for lack of documentaries and shorts is because of access. I find them extra difficult to get. Also, any respectable award show needs the presence of Haider. LOL And I could do a LOT LESS from Clint Eastwood. I’m not even one of those complaining for lack of women behind/in front of the camera, the nominees are just so damn BLAH! except for the few couple of surprises- some spice with Marion Cotillard (even though I don’t feel strongly about the movie), Ida and Mr. Turner in cinematography… and The Tale of Princess Kaguya.

Farah Khan’s and Shahrukh Khan’s latest Happy New Year [Español] just hit the market officially with VOD… or as they’re calling it DTF (Direct to Fans), which is less technical and much more personal. It’s also way cheaper than regular VOD too, which usually charges $5USD per one-time stream or 4-5-day rental. You basically get to download the movie for that price. I’m just supposing it’s subtitled (being aimed at all markets except India and China), but I could be supposing erroneously [1].

happy-new-year-vod-dtf

No cons, just pros really. It would have been much cooler and much more trailblazing if this had happened on opening week (or the week later), but it’s something. I’m just hoping UTV (EROSNOW had its one moment with the pretty horrible Lekar Hum Deewana Dil) gets their shit together with the distribution of films like Haider and PK, really because those two are my bias at the moment. Imagine if more European and other big Asian movies did the same. Isn’t THAT what they want? Piece of the Hollywood pie? You need to indoctrinate people first, get them on the habit of watching you. Hollywood’s been doing this to us for the past 70 years.

Here’s the link.