Tag: musical/choreography

  • Adelina Sotnikova Still Deserved Gold~

    ESPN has been re-broadcasting the best bits of the Sochi Olympics, and in true Winter Olympics nature, la creme de la creme of winter sports is usually women’s skating. It’s hard to pin-point what the most popular event at the Summer Olympics is (is it football? volleyball?), but the women who skate are the queens of the gala.

    This year, there was a rather nasty controversy between eventual Gold-medalist Adelina Sotnikova (back then only 17) and eventual Silver-medalist and retiring Kim Yuna. The name-calling online got ugly and tiring, proving once again that -as a general rule- fans can suck so much. I can imagine what a cesspool YouTube commenting would be like if it didn’t require Gmail account linkups.

    As far as the skating goes, I was dazzled when Kim Yuna won Gold at the Vancouver Olympics, where she skate for her life with such delicacy and grace. In Sochi, though, as much as she could have been pitch perfect in technique (we all do admit skating looks effortlessly when she does it), I was a bit bored. Then again, I’m just a fan who’s never picked up a pair of ice-skates in her life. I’ve never seen a frozen lake or ever stepped on an ice rink before. I’m just mostly disappointed of her fans.

    Sotnikova’s choreography, however, surprised me the first time I saw it, and still manages to thrill me to no end. During my second time watching, I thought I might have been influenced by the ESPN Latino commentator who was pretty darn excited with her program, so I decided to look it up-

    Still gives me the chills.

  • Happy New Year Goes VOD or DTF!

    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.

  • Top50 Songs of 2014

    I’m the crazy lady of Best Of lists~ so here’s another one.

    amys-top50-songs-of-2014

    Do your thing~

    But if you’re lazy, I’ve set up (almost) complete playlists on Xiami and YouTube.

  • Madhuri Dixit @ Stree Shakti Puraskar 2014

    I stumbled across this performance that Madhuri Dixit did for the Stree Shakti Award, thinking it’s been the most refreshing performance I’ve seen her do lately — with the added bonus of the Gulaab Gang title song as the cherry on top — when I realize that the whole event is to honor women with exceptional achievements. Ohhhhh, so that’s why the performance was a bit out of the box. I love it.

    About a week or two ago, my friend and I got to watch Beta… and though it did change our (enjoyment) perspective of Dhak Dhak Karne Laga (Ouch!), it had my friend saying the following quote for the ages… “I love it when Madhuri holds a sword,” xD

    I think I will eventually have to watch Koyla then.

  • Experiment Awards: Best of 2013

    I’m terrible with timing, aren’t I?

    I’m always dissatisfied with my end of the year lists, but I supposed a WHOLE year of catching up is good enough for me to have a proper idea of what I like, right? I managed to squeeze in 227 movies, the rest is history. I hope you like it, that you don’t hate on me for not including some of your faves, that you celebrate that we loved some of others, and that you love me for introducing you to one title you missed.

    experiment-awards-2013

    Do your thing.

  • Filhaal: That’s Not Subtext at All~

    filhaal-sushmita-sen-tabu-010

    I remember I was watching Filhaal… and thinking to myself that I obviously didn’t have any amazing great female friendships -despite my support for female friendships on film- because I didn’t know anyone that I would mother a baby for nor be comfortable enough to ask to mother one for me. When Sushmita Sen’s character tells Tabu’s that she’ll mother her baby, I was saying “oh, girl~ you’re just asking for trouble.” xD However, through all the complications in their relationship and interaction, I kept saying “I gotta admit, that’s pretty gay.” LOL

    Though Wikipedia or IMDb don’t list it as a connection, according to this (sometimes grasping-at-straws) list of 100 Queer Films of India [Part 1][Part 2][Part 3][Part 4] calls it a -sorta- adaptation of Chutney Popcorn, except Filhaal… takes (or tries to take) the gayness out of it. It’s like Pre-Code films all over again, but I gotta admit- kinda fun. Plus, Tabu looks really REALLY good on the Le Chalen Doliyon [clip] number, which also features pretty flashy cinematography even if it doesn’t reach Meenaxi levels.

    And despite not warming to Sushmita Sen over Main Hoon Na or Biwi No. 1 (come on, you can’t expect me to fall for that, right?), I did enjoy her chemistry with Tabu here enough to watch her episode on Comedy Nights with Kapil and actually get to like her.

    Looking at these captures, you’d think Tabu just fathered this child, LOL and they’re all playing Hebe Tien’s Love! [MV]:

    I love you
    You love her
    She loves her
    She loves him

    [1]

  • The Tabu Filmography in Just Music

    In honor of the release of Haider today/tomorrow and me not being able to watch it until it hits the DVD/Bluray shelves… or EROSNOW (or someone else) decides to VOD it early or *cough*… I had been curating a YouTube playlist of all the music sequences -choreographed or not- (and item songs or special apperances) in Tabu’s filmography, which has resulted in a list of over 83 clips (est: 6 hours) from Tabu’s participation not only in Hindi films, but also Telugu, Tamil… and the random Malayalam clip that I was able to find.

    The list has time to expand with rarer to find clips, I suppose, including (at least) one or two more clips for Idee Sanghati, as well as other regional movies that aren’t on YouTube. There are also clips that are included in their dubbed version (with the original title and the language they’re on), because the original audio isn’t available… as well as repeated clips in better resolutions than their “official” uploads.

  • El Peñón de las Ánimas vs. Ram-Leela – FIGHT!

    It’s another double feature!

    La Doña has been in the mood for fighting this week [1], and this time she’s taking Deepika Padukone- or I suppose El Peñon de las Animas (The Rock of Souls) is taking Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Ram-Leela, where both balas and golis are exchanged nonchalantly, and music is spared in between two families that have been warring for generations.

    penon-de-las-animas-ram-leela

    Though Maria Felix is playing much more of a señorita role on this one (than usual), and this western musical (that’s what all rancheras are, right?) gets some pretty nifty cinematography and sassy moments and lyrics, there’s one thing that Ram-Leela has~~~ and that is Supriya Pathak.

    ram-leela-supriya-pathak

    Are! Mashallah, mashallah~

  • HOCC’s Infatuation is even better translated~

    UMPH!

    All credits to Tea Mint.
    (more…)

  • Rani Fake Criterion Collection

    Since I got my computer back (and found a set of hindi fonts too), I’ve been playing around with a basic Rani Mukerji Fake Criterion collection. I decided to skip Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna, but include Aiyyaa. I actually like the movie a lot more than I initially did. Plus, it’s not a supporting role, so it beat out roles in Yuva, Bombay Talkies, Veer-Zaara, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai or Talaash.

    Fake Criterion Collection: Rani Mukerji - Aiyyaa Fake Criterion Collection: Rani Mukerji - Black

    Fake Criterion Collection: Rani Mukerji - Laaga Chunari Mein Daag Fake Criterion Collection: Rani Mukerji - Paheli

    Serious dramas lend themselves out for cooler Criterion covers, though I must admit that I liked the disorder in the Aiyyaa cover. And I have to apologize for the Laaga Chunari Mein Daag, I just couldn’t think of any particular symbol from the movie… but at least I got to test out that new (tricky) hindi font.

    I think I might do a Sanjay Leela Bhansali set.