Wrapping it Up: June

It has been quite an eventful month. I completed a year of blogging U, Me and Films this month. Once again, I will say Thank You to everyone who commented on the post that day, or tweeted me or re-tweeted me. It really was overwhelming and definitely is one of the reasons that has helped me keep writing. I also put up '1001 Movies' page this month, as I promised few months ago. If anyone is interested, you can see it on the top bar. However, let us get right into what did I see over month of June.

JUNE

The Double Life of Veronique(1991): I am not really sure if it is Kieslowski or Irene Jacob but there is something transcendental about Jacob's face, about expressions on her face that keeps me staring at her face ardently. Kudos to Kieslowski to bring it on screen as a complete package with gripping story and palpable emotions. It surely was a great start of month.

Jo Jeeta Wahi Sikandar(1991)(Re-Watch):This has a lot of nostalgic value. One of the movies that I loved as a kid, even before all this movie geekery started. It hasn't aged too well and feels too formulaic now but sometimes you have to listen to your heart and not your brain. 

Modern Times(1936)(Re-Watch): I was almost sure that I have seen this as a kid but I could only remember this in parts. It all came back to me while watching but I am happy that I saw it once more as you can almost never get it wrong with Chaplin.

Jules and Jim(1962): To tell you the truth, in the first 15 minutes I felt like Trauffaut was being a little too intellectual, on the verge of being pretentious. With the entry of Catherine, however it warmed up to me in the middle part until the end. But again in last 15-20 minutes, Catherine's behaviour had me pretty much turned off. There is a lot to like about this movie, in direction, story and technical aspects of it but if you do not care about the way it ends, especially being such a dramatic end, I don't think bodes well overall.

Police Academy(1984): I have no freaking idea why did I see it ? To tell you the truth, for some reason I always thought this was Jackie Chan movie and I usually love most of them, if nothing else for some great action. This was nothing like it, not even 'so bad it's good' way, just plain BAD.

Notorious(1946)(Re-Watch): Because it is my favorite Hitchcock and one of my all-time favorites and because of this.

Fallen Angels(1995): I haven't seen any other Kar Wai Wong since In The Mood for Love(2000) which I loved. So, I jumped on it when I saw it available on Netflix. But, this was a little too weird for me, especially the part with the mute guy even though all the usual Kar Wai Wong stuff like beautiful cinematography and very distinct background score was all there.

Belle De Jour(1967): Another Bunuel after The Discreet Charm of Bourgeoisie(1972) and That Obscure Object of Desire(1977). It wasn't as good as Discreet Charm but God, Catherine Denueve was amazing. I will probably never understand the whole surrealism thing, even this idea of housewife spending her weekday afternoons as a prostitute because she is bored didn't go down easily but it was so bizarre and I mean it in a good way.

Much Ado About Nothing(1993): This movie has caught me in dichotomy. On one hand, I actually enjoyed it quite a bit and thought Emma Thompson and Kenneth Branagh were really good in respective parts and I liked twists in the end too. While on the other hand, couple of things irritated me to no end like that language - I know that probably was authentic Old English but did they really have to use it? Also, I am no Shakespearean expert but who in this freaking world thought of Keanu Reeves and Denzel Washington as Brothers ??

Election(1999): My third Alexander Payne after The Descendants(2011) and About Schmidt(2002) and this surely was best so far and this is coming from someone who loved The Descendants(2011). Check out my review here.

Breathless(1960): Let me first start with saying that I quite liked it, especially lengthy conversations between Michel and Patricia. But there were few things that did bother me like that jump Cutting which may have been revolutionary then but it bothered me. And first 10-15 minutes of it - too much randomness. But, it settled down really well with Jean Seberg's entry. In the end, this will probably a movie that I understand and appreciate the importance of but do not get the appeal of.

2 Days in Paris(2007): It is completely inappropriate, way over-sexed and even racist at times, ohh and sexist too. But it was Hilarious !! Adam Goldberg was perfect for this kind of role and Julie Delpy seems to be getting hang of it after Before Sunrise/Sunset. I think I am now ready for 2 Days in New York(2012).

Iron Man(2008): And this is not a Re-Watch. I had never seen this before and I have seen Iron Man 2(2010) in theater. My room-mate wanted to watch all the Avenger movies after watching it since he has seen none of them. I sill haven't seen any of hulk movies yet, but otherwise probably the best of the lot yet.

L'Avventura(1960): Continuing my 'Foreign movies made in 60s from 1001 movies list', I ventured from French New Wave into Italian existentialism with Antonioni. For some reason, I could connect with this a lot more than any of the French movies I saw this month. It seemed much more plausible, much more natural, controlled.

Gods Must Be Crazy II(1989): Last month I saw first part of this movie and it was probably the most hilarious movie I have seen - I said that I never laughed so long and so hard in my whole life. I went into second part with little less expectations. It wasn't LOL kind of movie that the first one was but it was still very innocent, genuine and still good for few laughs.

The Audrey Hepburn Story(2000): Even though every single person that knew Audrey Hepburn was as enamored, as devoted by her charm as I am is little hard thing to digest but that's what this film tells me. However personally that is not the biggest success of this movie. It is the fact that despite my devotion, I have actually never written anything about her is soon to change. I really don't have much to say about this movie as I kept imagining real Audrey Hepburn at that place and once she is there, there is almost nothing I think is wrong with it.

Last Year at Marienbad(1961): I had no idea what was I watching for 90 minutes. It seemed to be getting somewhere by the end, but my brain was completely turned off by then to process anything. It just felt too tedious and laborious to reach from where it started. It might be my own loss that I could not keep my attention as I could not connect the dots in the end, but even that incessant background music was annoying the hell out of me by then. I don't want to call it a bad movie though - it was stunning visually, even the idea and execution was very unique but maybe next time I will have little more patience to understand it.

Doctor Zhivago(1965): I first heard of Doctor Zhivago and Boris Pasternak in an article about how he was harassed by the soviet government. I have been meaning to read/watch this ever since. It also spent quite a bit of time in my queue only because of its 199 minuted of running time. But, I am really glad to have finally seen it. I am still sure that if I read the book, it will affect me much more deeply but even movie touched me somewhere deep down.

Judgement at Nuremberg(1961): I usually don't but DVDs without watching a movie first but I have been looking for this for a long time and one day while I was waiting for The Hunger Games(2012) to start, I found it lying in one of the discount bins at one store. I am really glad that I bought it then because even though it was lying around for few months, I am sure that this will be in my top 100 list very high whenever I decide to revise that list. However, I will refrain from saying much further as it is difficult to say anything without getting into the politics of it for which I don't think this is right place.

Crazy, Stupid, Love(2011): I was little skeptical about it since I usually can not stand Steve Carell, especially when he is being himself. But I really like all the three other leads and I had heard lot of praise for it. So, I gave it a go and it is just what name suggests Crazy, Stupid and Fun and lot of it, even Steve Carell was so much better, not at all like him.

Arsenic and Old Lace(1944): I am little confused as to how to describe this. I didn't think it was a terrible movie but for some reason, I was infuriated by the end of it. You know Cary Grant in it in the end, I was feeling just like him - I wanted to charge up the stairs, scream at the top of my lungs, hit people, break things and I swear I am not like that usually. I guess it was little too much slap-sticky for me to take but then again, I really don't think it was a terrible movie.

Driving Miss Daisy(1989): Morgan Freeman and Jessica Tandy were both solid and it was absolutely pleasant otherwise. I had couple of small issues with it like in the end when she starts to deteriorate, it felt like it happens out of nowhere and I had no idea of any timeline. But, still worth watching for two leading performances.

Videodrome(1983): I usually don't say this foe any movie, but I HATED this movie passionately. There wasn't a single thing I liked in this movie, all around boring and pathetic. I wasn't scared, I wasn't least bit intrigued, I was only appalled and disgusted. It did become a little better in second half of it but once there comes a point where I stop watching a movie and start finding out flaws in it, and after that it is really difficult to get me back into it.

Broadway Danny Rose(1984): Another movie that warmed up a bit in second half whereas first half was stupid and very predictable. Woody Allen was being himself once again and there are very few occasions I can bare him alone for one and half hours and this wasn't one of them. Mia Farrow was saving grace here, very different from what little I have seen of her. I don't mean to sound acerbic as in the end I wasn't really disappointed because of second half but I am not really singing praises of it either.

Can on a Hot Tin Roof(1958): Tennessee Williams certainly knew how to make portray dysfunctional families in his provocative plays. It still isn't Virginia Woolf(1966) or even Long Day's Journey into Night(1962) but Elizabeth Taylor, Paul Newman and Burl Ives just kill it. Dialogues certainly got to be the best aspect of this play but you know what, turn it off completely and I still can look at Elizabeth Taylor and Paul Newman all day long.

Pineapple Express(2008): It is got to be one of the most completely ridiculous, no-brainer and just outright stupid stoner comedies - Seth Rogen and Company doing what they can do best. Most of the times it just disgusted me but it really was so bad that it was good. Half the time I had no idea if I was laughing because I thought it was funny or because it was just plain bad and I had enough of it but I seem to have enjoyed it.

La Notte(1961): It's little too early to comment properly on it as I saw it less 2 hours ago and there is a lot to contemplate. Most important thing I need to think about is what makes it a part of trilogy with L'avventura(1960) and L'eclisse(1962) which I haven't seen yet, as there aren't many common elements that jump out, maybe except theme of alienation and longing. But if there was one thing that I admired about it, it was it didn't seem to be in any hurry to reach to any conclusion and despite that kept me interested in it all the time. All the three leads gave beautifully restrained performances, even Antonini's direction was stand-out.

Total Count:27. 24 First Time Watches and 3 Re-watches.

2012 YTD Count

Total Count:154. 146 First Time Watches and 8 Re-watches.

Usual division of this month comes out to be 12 classics and 15 new. 8 Foreign, 18 English and 1 Hindi. Considering how hectic this month was personally, especially first 15 days, I am actually surprised that I saw more movies this month than last two and it has been very peculiar too in a sense that I finally saw many movies that have been in my watchlist for a long time. Some of them turned out to be better than I expected(The Double Life of Veronique(1991) and Judgement at Nuremberg(1961)) whereas others left me tad disappointed(Last Year at Marienbad(1961) and Breathless(1960)) but that's always part of trade. 

I was actually planning to see quite a few of 60s foreign movies this month but I ended up watching only 6. I am going to continue it in the next month as I have got hold of quite a few by now and if Netflix didn't expire 5 movies off my queue by 1st July, I would have seen them this month itself. It also brought my foreign movie numbers down as I wanted to compensate for 3 foreign movies last month but it wasn't to be. I am also going to try and watch few 2012 movies this month as I have seen only like 4 till now and half of the year is already gone. Hopefully, there will be couple of trips to theater as well, one is already booked(The Dark Knight Rises(2012) off course) and second one looks pretty set too(The Amazing Spider-Man(2012)).

So, how was your month ? Did you see anything interesting ? What do you think of the movies I saw ? Any favorites ?

Movies that Indian Film Industry ruined for me

Taking a cue from Nikhat on her post a week ago about the movies she doesn't get appeal of and Alex's infamous post few months ago, I am in the mood for controversy as well. Both these lists are much bigger and better than what I am attempting but what I am actually attempting is a kinda specialized angel than all-encompassing nature of the two lists above. However, let me tell you a small story first. 

I am sure almost everyone knows that Hindi film industry is usually referred to as 'Bollywood' in Popular culture. But I am not sure lot of people know why? It is kind of derogatory term coming from short version of Bombay's Hollywood. Bombay or Mumbai as it is known now is where most of the Hindi film industry is located and term was coined because of the belief that all Hindi movies are copied from Hollywood movies. Now, Bollywood does have it's fair share of movies which are derived from Hollywood and with the presence of 'Bhatt Camp' it is obviously impossible to reject this as outrageous but still calling all the films are copied is stretching truth a little bit too much. However, this term is used so left, right and center that I don't think anyone feels that sting anymore, including me. After all, second most viewed post on this blog is titled 'Bollywood 101'. I sometimes find myself wondering if that is good thing or bad ? I might be drifting from the point a little. The point is, before I became a movie junkie that I am now, I have been watching Indian movies all my life and watching them has made me appreciate few truly amazing Hollywood movies a little less than I think they deserve, for various reasons. Let me be very clear and admit that by no means, any film in the list below is a bad movie. On the flip side, some of them are truly phenomenal. But they all have something common in them - Indian film Industry has ruined them for me. And they are,

Casino(1995): If I am being honest, this is not doing of Indian movies alone. Scorsese himself has played his part in it as well. I saw this after a lot of Scorsese movies, Goodfellas(1990), Taxi Driver(1976), Raging Bull(1980), The Departed(2006) and I loved them all. So, going into Casino with this baggage, I did not think it handled it well. In many ways it is very much similar to Goodfellas which I love - same actors, similar characters, similar environment and also similar source material from the same writer. Now I know I probably should not but with so much resemblance I can't help compare it with Goodfellas and then starts to droop for all the reasons Andy Buckle stated here. But, actually whether I think it is a good movie or not isn't point of focus in this post. What matters is how did Indian film Industry contribute towards it. So, there have been many Indian movies that follow the similar path - rise and fall of certain outsider in the Underworld - made in 70's and 80's. Though all of them had certain qualities of their own that they bring to the table, I think the central theme has been a little overused in Indian movies. And I don't really think that Casino adds any new dimensions to the whole scenario to warrant a special place for himself.

North by Northwest(1959):  Let me start by saying that even in my books, it is a classic and will forever remain a classic. I have utmost respect for the legacy of this movie and I feel even more sad for Eva Marie Saint as she did two iconic movies in her career and they both end up in this list(wait for the next movie before you start hating me!!). But even then I will be lying to myself if I say that I felt anything special while watching it. What North by Northwest is most known for is paving a path for many action thrillers to follow over so many years and I respect it for that. An Indian film called Madhumati(1957) did similar feat for Indian horror movies and I have always respected that accomplishment. But, I have been fed whole lot of Indian movies to really appreciate whole lot more than that. Almost all the other aspects of North by Northwest, feel like I have been watching it all the time in Indian movies. Wrong man movie - there is Jewel Thief(1967), spy movie - there is Aankhen(1968), Wrong Man action Thriller - there is Teesri Manzil and let me tell you that they are as iconic as North by Northwest in Indian Cinema. Even all the action in this movie especially makes me think of Indian movies in 60s and 70s. So, sorry Hitch !! I was introduced just a tad late to your plausible masterpiece. 

On the Waterfront(1954): Believe me, when I say there is no one more sad than me to include this classic in this list. But there is a reason for that too. Well, There is an Indian movie called Ghulam(1998). I actually loved this movie a lot. It has a good story - a little different from usual rom-coms you see so much in Bollywood, pretty nice leading pair and one of my favorite shots. I must have seen this right when it was still out in theaters, so close to 13 years ago. And then I saw On the Waterfront(1954) just last year. A girl once came to the Library desk I used to work and signed it out. While signing out it to her, I realized this might be something I can be interested in and checked out later and gave it a try. It's a winner of 8 Oscars, Elia Kazan, Marlon Brando. Not much can go wrong. So, as I am watching it, I kept on feeling like I have seen it somewhere - maybe I have actually seen it before, just don't remember it. But at the scene where Terry and Charlie have their talk, it all came back to me. It all felt so familiar because Ghulam is based on it. And then after that, I spend my whole time cursing Vikram Bhatt - director of Ghulam because they are so much similar. Maybe, I knew that all along but because I saw Ghulam for more than a decade before, it didn't come to me before watching On the Waterfront(1954). I genuinely used to like it, but now I can not get over the fact that it is so much based on On the Waterfront(1954) out of my head. Not only that he ruined Ghulam for me, I have never been able to appreciate On the Waterfront as much as I should. I know it is all in my mind, but I will never be able to forgive Vikram Bhatt for this.

Primal Fear(1996): Remember the movie that made Edward Norton household name in the very first movie he made and even got himself nominated for the Oscars ? Remember that brilliant twist in the end, which must have made most of you flip in your seats ? Well, will you believe me if I say that I was hoping that twist wasn't there ? I know, I am asking that the moment, which for lot of us made that film, to be not there. But, again, there is another Indian movie called Deewangee which follows the same path. Now, while watching Primal Fear, within an hour into the movie I had realized this and I probably knew it all along. So, here it is not the case that this realization ruined this film for me. But, since almost all the twists are pretty much same in both, I knew exactly how this story is going to go ahead and how is it going to end ? And it did follow exact same path. Now, I am not taking any credit away from Primal Fear because, William Diehl in his novel and Steven Shagan and Ann Biderman in their screenplay, built up really gripping suspense. But since I saw Deewangi first, that moment of epiphany which makes the whole thing work, never occurred to me.

So, what do you think ? Do you think I am being harsh on any of them ? Should I be able to see past them and still appreciate them for just what they are ?

Awards Season is Coming up

2011 is almost gone. Just 1 more month to go and then award frenzy will start to heat up. Not that it hasn't already started. But it will reach high pitch by then. With Oscar nominations to be announced on 24th of January, predictions, anticipations and expectations will run high. Though I intend to take a piece of that as well, it is still early for me to do it now, since I still have to get around to see a lot of movies which are being tagged as Oscar-worthy (Moneyball(2011), Shame(2011) and The Descendents(2011)) and we are still waiting for release of the likes of The Girl with Dragon Tattoo(2011) and The Artist(2011). Maybe, I can catch up on few of them in near future and then I will jump in as well.

I have a kind of Love-Hate relationship with Oscars. (Well, who doesn't really?) I do not necessarily agree with many of the decisions. In some cases, their decisions are downright shameful - Slumdog Millionaire(2008) winning 8 Oscars?? No  Nomination for Christopher Nolan for Inception(2010)?? and these are just recent examples. Even though you attribute the vastness of the whole process and everything, and take into account that some mistakes are bound to happen, Academy has never made it easy to like them. With the kind of Prestige associated with the Oscars, only focus of it should be to celebrate the best of Cinema. Period. No Prejudices, No favoritism. Sadly, we do not live in the perfect world. How else can you explain the likes of Hitchcock, Sidney Lumet and Stanley Kubrick never winning anything ? I would expect Hitchcock to win for Vertigo(1958) or Notorious(1946) - two movies he wasn't even nominated for. But again, we do not live in the perfect world.

If you asked me few years ago. Oscars used to be my single point of reference. This movie was not nominated for Oscar, maybe it is not that good. That movie had so many nominations, it must be good. And another one won so many Oscars, it has to be the Best Movie Made Ever. Over the years, I have learned to judge Better. More movies I see, more exposure I have to the cinematic world, I can see the folly of my assumptions. Not that Oscar winners are all bad, I just have learned that there is a lot to it beyond them. They are just another awards like many others and they are to be taken as seriously an any other. And there are so many of them. We have Golden Globes, We have BAFTA Awards and then we have Actors, Directors, Writers, Producers Guild, so on and so forth. There are enough to keep us busy for first few months of 2012.

However, even then no one can deny the aura around Oscars. Even if I have grown out of using them as reference, I still am fascinated by them. Especially with all the stars attached to it, the Red Carpet, actual ceremony and all the anticipation behind it, even often only to bitch about it afterwards, never fells to allure me into that world. You can say that the Selection process is seriously flawed or Academy voters have no taste at all and many more things, but still it definitely is one thing almost everyone is looking forward to. And in that case, I am no different from everyone. If not anything else, at least I get to see what everyone else is thinking about my favorite movies of the Year. So, I will play along as well. Let's get it started !!

Do You Follow Me?

On my Laptop table, below my mouse, I have a notebook on which at any time you will always find few lists. Right now, I have lists of Classics, Hitchcock and Ingmar Bergman movies. Have you ever followed someone? I don’t mean following someone physically. I meant following an actor or actress or director? In my case, this remains single most prolific source of adding films into my various queues and these lists on that notebook help me do just that

It all started with Julia Roberts after watching Pretty Woman(1990) and My Best Friend’s Wedding(1997) and she still remains to be one of my favorite actresses. Since then I have done this for many actresses like Amy Adams after Doubt(2008)(I have watched all of her last 10 films except Moonlight Serenade(2009)), Rachel McAdams after State of Play(2009), Audrey Hepburn after Roman Holiday(1953)(I am simply in awe of her beauty. Give me a film with Audrey Hepburn and I will watch it regardless of everything else) and I have been doing the same recently with Ingrid Bergman after Casablanca(1942) and Notorious(1946). Audrey Tautou has been on my radar since Amelie(2001) and Priceless(2006). It has been a slow progress about it since I find it little difficult to get hold of her films with subtitles. Netflix is turning out to be good source on this front lately.

Funny thing is sometimes you don’t follow someone intentionally but then one day you realize that is exactly what you were doing. It happened in case of Christopher Nolan, though having just 10 films (I am not sure JUST is a proper word here if you know these 10 films. So don’t take it too literally) under his resume helped a lot. But it struck me the most for Sidney Lumet. After his recent death, I read a lot about him and how great a director he was. Since I didn’t know much about him, I once checked him out on IMDb just out of curiosity. I was amazed that I have seen like 8 of his films and I didn’t even know it’s Him. I mean I don’t know how did I not know that he directed 12 Angry Men(1957), Dog Day Afternoon(1975), Network(1976) and The Verdict(1982) and many more? I was just naïve I guess.

However, if you want to really start following someone now, it really makes much more sense to follow a Director than performer. As many critics say and I agree that an actor or an actress is much more prone to do a bad movie than director. My experience with Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, Billy Wilder suggests the same (I hope to add Alfred Hitchcock and Ingmar Bergman to this list pretty soon). Also, even without knowing it, you are also following an actor or actress as well. Like, if you are going after Scorsese, you are also watching a lot of De Niro films and DiCaprio recently or you are getting a lot of Jack Lemmon if you have seen Billy Wilder a lot.

You probably have noticed that I have never followed an actor. In my defense, I will again say that I did not do this intentionally. And as I said earlier, I was getting enough of Tom Hanks and Robert De Niro and Leonardo DiCaprio through their directors. However, I promise to undo this very soon by making my own list for Humphrey Bogart and Jimmy Stewart as soon as I have something in my pocket for Hitchcocks and Bergmans.