Archives For Films

Ten Years of Tekkonkinkreet

I can’t believe it’s been ten years since~ To celebrate, Studio 4C is publishing a Tekkonkinkreet Artbook. 100 copies (which are already gone) signed by director Michael Arias. Another 292 copies that will come with a hand-drawn slip in between the book. Both priced at Y2980 JPY (at around $26 USD at current exchange rate). The shipping to South America is more expensive than that xD

Anyway~ for those interested; here’s the LINK.

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Kuro, when the sky turns black why do I feel so blue?

*update*

Also in 日本語！

tekkonkinkreet-sky-black-so-blue-jp

クロ、空の色が黒くなってくるとさ、なんだかシロは悲しい気持ちになるの、どして？

Posted on February 24, 2016 In Books, English, Films, Graphics, Japanese, Sharing , , , , , , , , ,
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Anna May Wong: You cannot kill me. You cannot kill China.

February 19, 2016 — Leave a comment

anna-may-wong-china-quote-lady-from-chungking

You cannot kill me. You cannot kill China. Not even a million deaths could crush the soul of China, for the soul of China is eternal. When I die, a million will take my place, and nothing can stop them, neither hunger nor torture nor the firing squad.

We shall live on until the enemy is driven back over scorched land and the armies of decency and liberty are on the march. China’s destiny is victory. It will live because human freedom will not perish. Out of the ashes of ruin and old hatreds, the force of peace will prevail until the world is again sane and beautiful.

This quote is taken from Robert L. McLaughlin and Sally E. Parry’s We’ll Always Have the Movies: American Cinema during World War II because the audio of Lady from Chungking isn’t very clear.

I don’t know what they’re waiting for to make an Anna May Wong biopic with Tang Wei, and Joan Chen as director.

In Celebrity, DVD/BR, English, Films, Screencaps, Sharing, Torrents & Digital Streams , , , , ,
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My Life in Movies

February 5, 2016 — Leave a comment

Will also keep this updated.

*Updated every February 5th.

Customary MUBI list.

In Chinese, English, Films, French, Fun, Japanese, Korean, Misc., Screencaps, Sharing, Spanish, Stills, Swedish , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
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The Fitoor of Begun Hazrat

*dies*

It really kills me that this movie is opening a few days after my birthday, and I can’t watch it. WHY DO YOU GUYS DO THIS TO ME?

Sidenote: The Fitoor promotions have brought some interesting interview bits with Tabu- like she wants to be part of Golmaal 4 (I haven’t seen Golmaal, but that’s a Rohit Shetty movie, so… xD), she’s fishing for a comedy, she likes David Dhawan’s type of comedies (which are so 90s comedy style type of not my thing), and wants to do a movie with Govinda… who, if I recall correctly, actually doesn’t like many of the 90s comedy movies he did xD

Comedy is such a particular genre, so difficult to please people.

My type of comedy, I’ve found out, is in the realm of Roxana Avalos, Rosalind Russell, and Sandra Ng. I laugh quite a bit with Hong Kong/Chinese comedies.

Posted on February 4, 2016 In Celebrity, Clips, English, Films, Sharing , , , , , ,
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In case you didn’t know Fitoor is coming~

Though Fitoor might get trapped by remaking Alfonso Cuaron’s version of Great Expectations… I’m still looking forward to Tabu as Begum. I’m also looking forward to see Haminasto (aka. also romanized as Haminastu) [YouTube] because it’s my favorite track in the whole soundtrack, even though I’ve been butchering some of the other songs out loud late at night. xD I like the song so much that I ended up looking for Zeb Bangash, found Pakistani duo Zeb and Haniya, discovered Coke Studio [1][2][3][4][5 non-Zeb related], and downloaded the compilations on iTunes [S2][S6].

It messed up my language library because there’s so much Punjabi, Urdu and Pashtu, and Turkish… I don’t know which is which xD

ANWYAY~ OCD frustrations aside~

Fitoor promotions are at full throttle~ and it includes the release of this micro clips of dialog, which I don’t understand at all… but Tabu’s just saying “Firdaus, Firdaus, Firdaus” gives me the chills.

More: Duur, Qubool.

Posted on January 30, 2016 In Celebrity, Clips, English, Films, Misc., Sharing , , , , , , , , ,
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McDull: Me & My Mum: I love you with my intestines

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An ode to all single mothers working multiple jobs.
An ode to Mrs. McDull.

Even when the whole world doesn’t trust you, I trust you. Even when the whole world doesn’t love you, I love you. I love you with my intestines. I trust you from head to toe.

“What else can I say, I love my mom.”

Posted on January 26, 2016 In Chinese, DVD/BR, English, Films, Fun, Jobs, Screencaps, Sharing , , , , , ,
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My 2015 Letterboxd Year in Review

I know… Letterboxd is trying to get me to pay~~~

Though I’m still kinda mad that they reset my movie-view count a few couple of hours before midnight, I do kinda appreciate their stats~

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Being the obsessive compulsive person that I am, I was kinda disappointed that I didn’t reach my 1000hrs of movie-watching, but was also glad because it turns out I’ve spent like 11% of my year watching movies. That’s like more than a whole month during a year. I’m so glad I’ve taken up exercise while watching movies xD

According to this, my bias Zhao Wei was my Most Watched Actor –though I’m missing actual numbers, I think I saw 8 films with her (including cameos) — and about 6 Anurag Kashyap movies (without the ones he’s produced). That doesn’t match the 23 movies I watched of Tabu in 2014 (LOL), and the 13 movies prior to that.

But overall, these skin-deep newsletter shows a good reflection of my movie-watching~ a little bit Chinese, a little bit Indian, a little bit European, a little bit of animation, and some Taiwanese melancholic rom-com.

Posted on January 19, 2016 In English, Films, Screencaps, Sharing , , , , , , , , , ,
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I’m Ready for Yeh Fitoor~

You probably know I’m excited for Abhishek Kapoor’s Fitoor, of course, mainly because of Tabu xD but also because of the whole tortured emo broken-heart soul of the story. Plus, it’s Amit Trivedi’s music. I was (and usually always am) less excited about the leads… even less with Katrina “I can’ts but I tries” Kaif. Like- I don’t even know why I sat down to watch Phantom, because that’s hilarious.

But I’m always surprise to hear people saying that Katrina sucks at dancing… because I’ve never seen that. I think the first time I saw her was in YRF’s Jab Tak Hai Jaan, and — okay, I was mostly in love with Saans [clip] because that’s a damn good sexy song. LOL — but I don’t remember her sucking in the Ishq Shava [clip] number at all. In fact, I remember I actually said she wasn’t a bad dancer.

And I know everyone EVERYONE loves to hate and hates to love Sheila Ki Jawani [clip], but it appears on so many movies I’ve come to accept its catchy qualities despite movie and content. And even then when it appears people say she’s not a good dancer, she dances alright.My Kaif knowledge ain’t extensive, but even in Dhoom 3 [Kamli][Dhoom Machale Dhoom], she does totally fine. I can’t picture her at all doing Indian dance, but she totally nails modern and contemporary.

They looked pretty good doing this. Who choreographed it?

Posted on January 14, 2016 In Celebrity, Clips, English, Films, Misc., Music, Music Videos, Sharing , , , , , , ,
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PepsiCo Bring Happiness Home 2016: The Monkey King Family

Pepsi is prepping for the upcoming year of the Monkey in the Lunar calendar and Chinese horoscope with a commercial on the legendary Monkey King full of nostalgia and tradition. The recount of the generational Monkey King is a bit choppy, but it gets to its point.

Continue Reading…

Posted on January 12, 2016 In Chinese, Commercials, English, Films, Sharing, Short Films, Television , , , , , ,
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Indian Cinema of 2015

December 29, 2015 — 2 Comments

I already published my list of 2015 Best Films, now I’m just segregating all the content from each other. I even have my Top10 Films Directed by Women.

The journey, you guys, the journey is two-and-a-half years old [1][2][3][4][5] already and counting. I’m no longer tracking what I’m watching because it got way too complicated. And though the number of Indian films I get to watch is minuscule to the actual output; at 38 films this year (of 203), it’s the most I’ve seen in a year. It’s almost one movie a week (!!) and it almost reaches my mark of 46 (of 274) of last year. And it totally surpasses my 33 mark in 2013 when I started it all.

*Note: Though 113 films (over 55% of the list) is English-based, not all of them are Hollywood movies. The number also considers UK, Canadian, Irish and Australian productions and some other mix-and-match co-productions.

Of course, I’m way more comfortable navigating mainstream Hindi cinema than I am Tamil or other industries. But Anupama Chopra has just released her video of the Best and Worst of Hindi Cinema in 2015, so I got inspired to have my own segregated list. xD

The Best of Indian Cinema 2015

  1. Dil Dhadakne Do (dir. Zoya Akhtar)
  2. Talvar (dir. Meghna Gulzar)
  3. Piku (dir. Shoojit Sircar)
  4. Masaan (dir. Neeraj Ghaywan)
  5. Dum Laga Ke Haisha (dir. Sharat Katariya)
  6. NH10 (dir. Navdeep Singh)
  7. Margarita, with a Straw (dir. Shonali Bose)
  8. Bajrangi Bhaijaan (dir. Kabir Khan)
  9. Baahubali: The Beginning (dir. S.S. Rajamouli)
  10. Angry Indian Goddesses (dir. Pan Nalin)

The Worst of Indian Cinema 2015

  1. Dirty Politics (dir. K.C. Bokadia)
  2. Badlapur (dir. Sriram Raghavan)
  3. Phantom (dir. Kabir Khan)
  4. Katti Batti (dir. Nikhil Advani)
  5. Hawaizaada (dir. Vibhu Puri)

Haha, Kabir Khan in both lists xD

Still Pending~

  • Aligarh
  • Ayal Njanalla
  • Bajirao Mastani
  • Charlie (dir. Martin Prakkat)
  • Dilwale
  • Dhanak
  • Kothanodi
  • Main Aur Charles
  • Orange Mittai
  • Premam
  • Shaandaar
  • Tamasha
  • Thani Oruvan
  • Thoongaa Vanam
  • Umrika
  • Zubaan

 

In Clips, DVD/BR, English, Films, Fun, Jobs, Misc., Sharing , , , , , , ,
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