Archives For Films

Though I did knocked the trailer out because I thought Rani might have been a little “too chunky” to pull off the chasing and fighting [1], her frame actually makes much more sense. I’ve never met in real life a come-hither-you sexy of a female (or male) cop, as many of them just look like the police that are played by extras, instead of them sexy male or female leads on Hollywood movies.

Plus, Rani does look like a total badass, so what’s not to like?

And seeing that she’s promoting self-defense classes and all, why not just lump black-belt Rina Takeda in here. ‘Coz, duh! Rina Takeda would not only take Rani (or Madhuri or Priyanka) out, she would also take down SRK, probably Salman and maybe Akshay Kumar… though I may have read he knows martial arts or something? Maybe he was just a fan of Hong Kong martial arts movies…

There’s an interview with Yu Aoi on (I guess, Japanese?) Woman Mangazine, where she mentions that she’s celebrating 15 years of work… so here’s a snapshot from some issue of ku:nel Magazine of Yu Aoi just chilling eating plain yogurt.

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Random enough? LOL, in the interview she talks about what she’s learned from other more experienced actors, like they’re not people of expressions, but people of labor. Then later explains how that played into her “training camp” experience for the shooting of Haru wo Seotte, which was shot at over 2500m above sea level in the snowy mountains.

You can read the whole interview here.

In the meantime, lets take a look at some oldies of Yu’s career, because~~~ WHY NOT? Some good old fashioned All About Lily Chou Chou screencaps via buta-neko.net, and some rare Oha GARU screencap via this blog.

High-Kick Girl! was a really really poorly-edited movie with a very weak script, but Rina Takeda makes a lasting impression because, well… in their words: “No wires. No stuntmen. Literally really kicking. Seriously… I get kicked.” is their selling point.

If Scarlet Johansson gets to be an action star. Why shouldn’t Rina Takeda get to do it? Please, Luc Besson and Donnie Yen and Jackie Chan. Take notice!

SO.MUCH.POTENTIAL.RIGHT.THERE.

Karate Girl was already an improvement. Imagine the possibilities with a strong director, first class action choreography and a proper project surrounding the girl.

The other day I caught a rerun of Moulin Rouge! on tv, and this is the first time I’ve lived it — I not only sing out loud, but recite as well as cry during the whole show… so, yeah~ I LIVE IT — since I started watching Indian films. The only thing that would make that movie better is to have had Urmila in there for the Chamma Chamma [clip] sample.

You can’t really get any more Indian -near masala levels- than this, and of course my mind had to have a Battle of the Courtesans between Satine, The Sparkling Diamond and Chandramukhi. It’s a visual battle between Baz Lurhman and Sanjay Leela Bhansali, a flawless duel between Nicole Kidman and Madhuri Dixit, and a fight for the dramatic between Moulin Rouge! and Devdas.

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On one side, you got the courtesan manipulated to stay that falls in love with the mistaken penniless writer, until she finds out the evil duke will kill her loved one- oh, and she’s dying of tuberculosis. On the other, the courtesan lives in a mysteriously super posh and luxurious whorehouse, and is the most sought after until she falls in love with the rich lawyer who’s suffering of a broken heart and likes to get drunk to forget his sorrows… that is, of course, until he dies of liver failure after a long period of continuous intoxication.

Jesus, Chandramukhi. Forget, Devdas, and elope with Christian.

It’s been a few years since I did a “what I like about” post [1][2], and considering that it’s been one full year since I officially started watching Indian films, I thought it’d be great to look back to see What I Like About Bollywood– pardon me, Indian Films.

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Continue Reading…

This is the first time in my movie-counting life that I’ve seen over 50 movies by the middle of the year. As a general number, I picked 48 a year, to make sure I -at least- watched one film a week for my end of the year list.

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There’s a LOT of bad and meh movies so far, but there’s also a decent Top10. Not unbelievable, but decent. It’s a working one that would do for a Dec.31 or Jan.01 publishing date. LOL

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Tabu made a Telugu movie released in 2008 called Idhi Sangathi (sometimes romanized Idee Sangati or other variations without the ‘h’), which has been nearly impossible to locate even though Telugu movies are usually on YouTube (though sometimes dubbed in Hindi). In the case of this one, they haven’t even uploaded a single clip of any of the songs nor a trailer (in YouTube).

Continue Reading…

… or maybe I’m just projecting too much, but I thought 2013 had a lot of Father/Son-Daughter relationship movies. Even when it wasn’t literally a blood-relation, like in the more clear case between Idris Elba and Rinko Kikuchi (et Ashida Mana) in Pacific Rim, or the more blurred relationship between Jiao Xu with Mr. Go in Mr. Go.

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I cried in a couple of these ones, but I won’t tell you which. LOL

From left to right, top to bottom: Koreeda’s Like Father, Like Son; Miracle in Cell No. 7; Metro Manila; Pacific Rim; Saving Mr. Banks; Silent Witness; About Time; Police Story 2013; Instructions Not Included; and Mr. Go.

… or commonly known as the “Haider Trailer”

It looks awesome.

Kaminey is still on hold, and still haven’t checked my Maqbool DVD. And I hope I get to re-read Hamlet… but if I don’t get the time, I’ll settle for the short animated series. LOL

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Partly translated in English~ but fully in Español at Cinencuentro.