Category: Films

  • 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.

  • McDull: Me & My Mum: I love you with my intestines

    mcdull-me-and-my-mum

    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.”

  • 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~

    letterboxd-2015-review

    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.

  • 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?

  • 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.

    (more…)

  • Indian Cinema of 2015

    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

     

  • Khamatova + Mironov Dance for The Puppet Syndrome

    I ran into this clip of what seems a rehearsal of Yevgeny Mironov and Chulpan Khamatova dancing for the sequences of The Puppet Syndrome. If you do get a chance, do check it out.

  • Khamatova on Gazeta.ru for The Puppet Syndrome Promotion

    sindrom-petrushki-2015-khamatova

    And all of a sudden~ Elena Khazanova’s The Puppet Syndrome (Синдром Петрушки) was released. A couple of months ago when the trailer was released, I didn’t even have a solid release date, but alas~

    They’ve also just released the trailer for Aleksandr Proshkin’s Garden of Eden (Райские Кущи), but while they’re promoting The Puppet Syndrome, Khamatova gave an interview for Gazeta.ru about the film, women on Russian film, as well as being a film actress… and talked briefly about playing a teenage boy in Aleksei German Jr.’s Under Electric Clouds.

    Apparently, they really did build a Chulpan Khamatova real-life-sized doll, full-body plaster cast, straws in her nostrils and the whole thing.

    I can’t wait to watch that~~~

    On Pixar’s Inside Out Russian movie pitch~ “Let’s make this big beautiful expensive animated film… about emotions in the mind of a little girl!- This is ridiculous.” Even in the European/Hollywood environment, it seems like a crazy idea.

    Interesting bits about that line alone~ the Russian title of Inside Out, Головоломки (Holovolomky) — means “game puzzle.” and an animated film is called a мультфильм (mul’tfil’m).

    And if she had been given the chance to play Furiosa (or Milla Jovovich’s role in Resident Evil), she bluntly said no. LOL

    You can read the whole interview on the Gazeta.ru website.

  • Konkona Sen Sharma for Nayantara’s Necklace

    I’m enjoying all these liquor short films [1] that are coming up. I don’t even drink. This time around Indian actresses Konkona Sen Sharma and Tillotama Shome are two neighbor friends despite their seemingly different personalities for a short sponsored by Seagram’s Royal Stag.

    Directed by Jaydeep Sarkar, the short seems to come as… sort of a clash with the image of a whisky brand. But I’ll take it.

    The struggle of concealing one’s self.

    Really hard-hitting ending.

  • Yu Aoi for Daigo Matsui’s Azumi Haruko wa Yukuefumei

    7 years — SEVEN FREAKING YEARS! — after starring on Yuki Tanada’s One Million Yen Girl, Yu Aoi is finally going to star in a new movie as a lead. The lucky production? An live-action adaptation of Yamauchi Mariko’s (山内 マリコ) book AZUMI HARUKO wa Yukuefumei (アズミ・ハルコは行方不明), which translates to Azumi Haruko Is Missing, which will be directed (and most likely adapted) by Daigo Matsui (松居大悟).

    yu-aoi-azumi-haruko-film-announcement

    My Japanese is going to the gutter. lol

    BUT! The internet (meaning me) is all excited about it! Actually, I see a lot of tweets on it, but I’m too lazy to read or google-translate them, so I will just pretend we’re all excited about this.

    YesAsia has an “English title,” and lists it as Lonely Girl Has Gone.

    I don’t know what the book is about, if you do- tell me. Other essential info? Apparently it started shooting in mid-September, and it’s set for a 2016 release.

    Sources: Natalie, Yahoo JP. Big version of this photo on Eiga.