Category: Moving Media

  • The Film Journey Continues with Freemind

    I broke MindMeister a while back. Around early March actually, so I went back to FreeMind. It doesn’t look as slick, and you gotta install it… but the interface works in the most straightforward of ways. And their PNG export works really good.

    Since March, there’s been a bunch of changes in the list, Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra got his own hub after a watch of Delhi 6 — which is the change that broke MindMeister. Mani Ratman also got his own hub, and a watch of Fire sprung a Deepa Meetha hub.

    I’ve watched a bunch of Sridevi movies, but not a big fan of the movies themselves except for Sadma / Moondram Pirai. Also added random single titles, catching up with films as varied as Udaan (which sprung a Vikramaditya Motwane hub), Stalin, Highway, and Student of the Year (Alia Bhatt is YUCK in there), and single film additions for Aamir Khan, Shahrukh, Juhi, Madhuri, Rekha, Shabana Azmi, Seema Biswas and Tabu.

    According to IMDb, it’s nearly 200 movies already.

    indian-film-journey-apr2014

    I also bought a bunch of Indian movies. The first batch arrived yesterday with Rani Mukherji (2 titles), Vidya Balan (1), Tabu (2), Mani Ratman (1) and Sanjay Leela Bhansali (1) titles. I still wish and hope for SLB Bluray releases for everything pres-Saawariya.

  • Manisha Koirala’s Women in India Plea in Lajja

    Lajja has got to have to longest and best emotionally-biting monologue in pseudo parallel-would-be-commercial film in the history of Indian cinema. Pseudo parallel because subtlety isn’t exactly the film’s strongest point; it’s got some over the top drama, comedic moments, big stars, musical numbers [1], chopping of the limbs, and a super evil baddie that gets a la chancla [1] payback. Plus, a big BIG social message.

    Are you kidding me? I love it. This is my second time watching, and I moaned, denounced, clapped, sang, shouted at the screen, called people names, and cheered.

    I was so into Manisha Koirala’s ‘shame on you‘ monologue, I tried to make an image sequence of it. It’s impossible. It’s so long, but here’s part of it. Considering, the not so recent events in Delhi and Mumbai, Lajja is more relevant now than ever. It freaking needs a re-release, and more freaking women need to get off their bums and watch it.

    manisha-koirala-lajja-quote

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  • Rani and Preity for Girly Friendships

    I’m really really sad that the synopsis for Har Dil Jo Pyaar Karega sounds boring, and it’s got two girls vying over Salman’s affection, because you got the cutest smiles in early 2000s Bollywood and they didn’t make a girly friendship movie.

    I NEED girly friendship movies that aren’t necessarily about boys, and Japan is disappointing me lately. I admit it, though, the video for Piya Piya O Piya is pretty cringe-worthy for the first three minutes of the clip, but if you make it, you’ll find the dorkiest and cutest Rani and Preity having silly pajama parties.

    Last time I had this much girly fun was with Sunny [1], and that was nearly 3 years ago!

  • We need a Joan Crawford Revival

    Ok, I admit I’ve been getting a bit crazed over Madhuri and Juhi over the past couple of days, and I was reading a double interview they both did for the promotion of Gulaab Gang, with the whole talk on female-centric films et all. I just thought: Joan Crawford.

    We need a Joan Crawford revival, yo!

    joan-crawford-john-webster-torch-song

    Since Madhuri wouldn’t mind doing a musical, I propose a re-imagining of Torch Song for her. Coz, duh! Just switch the Broadway musical star to Bollywood, and you got yourself a Madhuri vehicle right there. You only need to avoid the blackface scene (lol!), develop better the relationship with Michael Wilding’s character, and add a demanding choreography a la boastful excess Bollywood style. I’ll need to re-watch it to figure out the whats and hows.

    How about Autumn Leaves and Queen Bee as alternative?

    Or a re-imagining of What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? with Juhi as Baby Jane! LOL! I LOVE IT! Now that I’ve seen her doing the evil smirk politician, I wanna see her in a Bette Davis grotesque role. That’ll really stretch her acting. I dunno how the rat scene will fly in India, though.

  • Bitter at Times or Sweet as Honey for Yuva

    A lot of people don’t seem to like Abhishek Bachchan. I don’t particularly find him attractive, but I do think he can act a lot more easily, than- let’s say Hrithik Roshan, who -I think- is SUPER hot. But maybe my opinion on the both of them is biased considering the first Abhishek film I saw was Yuva, and Hrithik got stuck with K3G. Also, I haven’t seen that many Hrithik movies, but at least he was good in Guuzarish.

    Obviously, I have more fun with a Shahrukh Khan/Rani pairing, but if I didn’t have to count Bunty Aur Babli (Ok, and maybe KANK), I’d put the Abhishek/Rani pairing ahead of Aamir/Rani. Rani has loads of chemistry with Shahrukh and Abhishek… especially in Yuva. They’re loving each other one moment, and exploding into serious argument the next. And the resolution to their conflict is pure serious drama, I love it.

    The track Kabhi Neem Neem is pure A.R Rahman crack. According to the online dictionary, ‘neem‘ refers to a tree whose bitter bark is used as tonic.

    Have I told you my iTunes library is now filled with Bollywood soundtracks?

  • 10th Imaginary Fandom Anniversary

    On March 20th, 2004, I watched Good Bye, Lenin! Though my rekindling didn’t happen until last year, I feel it’s somewhat an important day. Plus, I had my Vancouver ticket, so why not? I didn’t prepare anything special, though I was thinking of re-watching the movie. Turns out I’m kinda movie-busy until the end of the month, so I doubt I can re-watch anything.

    But I went image web-hunting :)

    good-bye-lenin-khamatova-003

  • I See You There, Mitsuko!

    I might consider writing my thoughts on the movie, but hey! Look at Kou Shibasaki wanting to break through in those frames. For a moment there I thought she might actually kill someone.

    shibasaki-kou-ronin-47-001

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  • BiBi Bounces Back

    BiBi did a rendition of Mavis Fan & 100%’s Who Gives a Damn What Song Is On (管他什麼音樂) [MV] in a mash-up with ABBA’s Thank You for the Music that everyone loved landing her in the #2 position behind GEM.

    Frankly, I wasn’t completely feeling her version of the Mavis Fan song, because- DUH! Mavis Fan sings it best. It’s an attitude, nothing about the voice. But I’m sick and tired of people complaining about BiBi- when I love her arrangement to highlight her voice, they say it’s boring. When she delivers this type of performance, they say she can’t sing. Worse yet! They complain her voice is nasal. WTF, BiBi’s voice is the complete opposite of nasal, people generally confuse it with a male’s voice!

    Get a grip and take a chill pill.

  • Just like a puppy: Rena Nounen

    People were commenting that her eyes sparkle… and they kinda do! And she’s got the cutest dorkiest smile/laugh ever. I dunno if I’m ever going to be able to see her outside her Ama-chan role.

    But how can she be resisted?

    rena-nounen-amachan-towel-001

    Source

  • Yu Aoi for Haru wo Seotte in the Mountains

    New movie alert with Kenichi Matsuyama and Etsushi Toyokawa. Sakura Ando also supposedly appears in the film.

    This is what ‘being obsessed’ with someone for a few years means, right? Noticing and nitpicking the little details normal people don’t pick up. I’m always eager to hear of new Yu Aoi movies and projects, even if I’m not as enthusiastic as before. I do get a kick whenever I see her act and she does her best smile making my day.

    During my second watch, eager to watch that smile again, I noticed something…
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