10 movies I am looking forward to in 2014

2014 is off and kicking now and even though I still have a lot of back log to clear, which I intend to spend most of January and February on, it is time to look forward to what 2014 might have in store for us in terms of cinema. I was planning on posting this earlier last week but I was under the weather almost whole last week. Now that I am back to the normal world once again and people are still in Golden Globe mode, lets get this ball quickly rolling.

Magic in the Moonlight: I am sure everyone is saying only one thing about this movie - looking at Woody Allen's recent track record, this is going to be a dud. I even agree with it but you can always hope, right? ore for the sake of Emma Stone than Allen really. Not that she needs a hit desperately but she is someone I think has a good sense of both comedy and drama. So she should work. 

Veronica Mars: Everyone remembers the legendary kickstarter project that, well, kick-started this production, right? I have seen every episode of this series and I liked snappy, intelligent,  wise-cracking detective of Kristen Bell. But I had my doubts about the whole thing from start, especially regarding how are they going to cope for all the years that passed. The trailer that just dropped took care of that. So, yeah, I look forward to meeting Veronica again.

The Grand Budapest Hotel: If there is any other director with more distinct style than Wes Anderson, I do not know about it. In truth, he is not even close to being one of favourite directors and he probably never will be and his style doesn't always work for me. But look how pretty! I wish I could offer you more substantial argument in it's defense but that's all I got. I want to see it because his films look pretty. I can do that, right?

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes: Because first one was so awesome. They have made a few changes but I think Matt Reeves doesn't look like a bad option to help this project and Gary Oldman is always a welcome addition. No James Franco though. We will just have to assume he didn't survive that plague I guess.

Into the Woods: Initially I wasn't stoked for it or anything but as I found out more and more, it got me interested. First it is to have Meryl Streep and Emily Blunt in it, secondly they'll be singing. Third was that crazy picture of Streep as witch. Last straw was when I went to the IMDb page and saw Anna Kendrick among the cast. Yup, her singing sold this movie to me. I know this could very well be disaster but I am willing to give it a chance for her .

Transcendence: I know it is directed by Wally Pfiser. I know it has amazing cast of Rebecca Hall, Morgan Freeman, Cilian Murphy, Paul Bettany and Kate Mara. I know the trailer looks good and definitely has me interested in what it brings to the table. But to tell you the truth, what I really want to see this film for is to see Johnny Depp playing a regular guy. I mean, I've almost forgotten that he is a normal human.

Gone Girl: Next four films on this list are there for one and only one reason - the Directors. Everything else is secondary. I have seen every film all these directors have directed so far and I have no intention of breaking that streak. I am not over the moon for it's casting but it has David Fincher who certainly knows what he is doing and an interesting storyline to look forward to. And it has New Batman!!(I probably shouldn't have mentioned that. Sorry!)

Noah: Reason here is Darren Arofonsky. Once again, it has an amazing ensemble capable of taking any story to another level. Arofonsky has the capability to handle the scale of this project and from the first looks of it, it certainly looks like something worth waiting for. And it has Jennifer Connelly in it. It feels like she fell off the grid after... Blood Diamond(2006)? So it's nice to see her getting back into the game.

Inherent Vice: Paul Thomas Anderson! I really won't need to know anything more but I have been doing some reading and this story looks really interesting. Obviously, knowing PTA, he will write his own screenplay which gets me even more excited to see how he puts it on paper. The whole setting of 1970s, California, Drugs, none of it is new to him but makes for prospects of interesting film I will be waiting eagerly for this year.

Interstellar: It's "Directed by Christopher Nolan" right? Whatever else would you need?

Of the 10 movies I chose last year, I have only seen two so far. One of which is in my top 5 while other one might end in bottom 5. 2 more have been shifted to 2014 and I could have chosen them again for this list but what's the point, right? 4 are generating major awards buzz and I intend to watch one of them tomorrow. I have no idea what happened to the rest 2. So did I choose wisely? Only time can tell.

What are you looking forward to in 2014 people?  

Wrapping it up: November

Another month, another wrap-up post full of this month's viewings. I started a new job this month and at one point it threatened to derail my monthly viewings. To some extent even succeeded in it, even forced me to stay 2 and 1/2 weeks away from this blog. But then, there were weekends! You will see that this is the month that I am shifting gears to get into 2013 mode, the one I hope to remain in for most of the next few months. We will see how that goes but this is how this month went!

November

The Dark Knight(2008)(Re-watch): Every time I watch it, it brings back the memories of first time I watched it. This time I watched it for n-th time and still I like it as much as I did the first time; only difference is I didn't understand everything that went down then, now I know all the dialogues by heart. I am still in awe of neck-breaking speed of this film but I had never seen anything so relentless, something that would have me grasping for breath then. This was one of the first films of Chris Nolan I saw and one of the films that had a lot of influence in making me a cinephile I am today.

Before Midnight(2013): The trilogy is finally complete. I remember being not convinced about it when they announced they are going ahead with this but I am glad to be proven wrong. There is so much to talk about here. I LOVED Delpy's Bimbo and all I could think of during that dinner conversation, which by far was the best scene I have seen this year, was how many cameras did he have on? It is phenomenal. I know a lot of people didn't want to see the most romanticized couple fighting and tearing each other down to pieces. I am not sure if I was either but I guess, C'est la vie. I kind of like the fact that they went there.  

Stories We Tell(2013): I have known about this movie for more than a year now but I still can not believe Polley made such a movie. Not only the subject matter is so different, so personal, the way she treats this whole thing is amazingly professional. I love the fact that despite being such an integral part of this movie, time and again she sort of steps into the filmmaker's shoes and let everyone else take the stage. The kind of reactions she's been able to get out of everyone from her family is simply astonishing. More here.

McCabe and Mrs. Miller(1971): After watching The Long Goodbye(1973), Altman has become third director that I am making a deliberate effort to see more of. First two being Ang Lee and Akira Kurosawa. I am not sure how deep I will go in his filmography but these are still early days - this is only the 4th film I have seen. Julie Christy continues to amaze me by the incredible diversity of her roles and so did Beatty in his sort of dumb, spineless character. But one thing I'll never forget is the way Altman orchestrated that entire final sequence. All that snow and multiple things happening at the same time; the way he shot it was mesmerizing!

Quiz Show(1994): I am not exactly sure but this might be the first non-Coen brother film that I have seen John Turturo in or at least first one I worth remembering(Looking at you, Transformers(2007)). It might have been a big scandal in the '50s but I think now we kind of expect everything to be fixed. It might just be the cynic in me and I don't want to take anything away from the film because I thought it was really good but everything is run like a business now a days. Nobody wants to leave anything to chance. Look at Hollywood!

The Bling Ring(2013): I think I like this film a lot more than the overall consensus. I like that it shows the materialistic nature of lives of those involved. I like the way it pokes fun at the celebrity culture that is so much prevalent now and shows the dirty side of it despite all the glitz and glamour surrounding it and who else to show it than one of Hollywood's own royalties? Lack of depth to it was main complaint about it but given the shallowness of those involved, it does justice to them. The ending is once again a bit jarring but I can live with that.

Gravity(2013): I know I am extremely late to the party but I am glad that at least I got to see it in the theater. Everyone who said that this is as close to being in space as we can get is absolutely right. Lubezki's work is absolute genius, something we have never seen before. Even in the acting department it's uniformly solid. But, unfortunately, even those who said script has issues are right as well and some of them, I am thinking of certain someone's death in particular, are pretty egregious. I'll never call it a bad film, in fact I think it has a good chance of making into my top 10 of the year, but more I think about these issues, little less I like the film.

Much Ado About Nothing(2013): I have also seen the Branagh-Thompson 1993 version a year ago. While I loved it otherwise, I had two problems with it - language felt laborious and off course, Keanu Reeves and Denzel Washington were little ridiculous half-brothers. Like, duh! For some reason, this time around I had fun with that same language. Off course, it looked absolutely delightful in black and white. Amy Acker was stunning, dare I say even better than Thompson. Everyone else fit perfectly in their parts as well and Nathan Filion! Always nice to see familiar faces pop up.

West Side Story(1961): 65th Best Picture Winner knocked off the list. I didn't know much about it except it was about two gangs fighting against each other and involved a love story. Maybe it was just an opening sequence or maybe it just took some time to settle but I did not get into it right away; though by the end it certainly lured me in. It was charming, delightful and by the end even heart-wrenching. Maybe I did know it being a Romeo and Juliet adaptation but I forgot all about it until Anita delivers a message. I think the best compliment I can give it is knowing that did not make it any less sad.

Bombay Talkies(2013)(Hindi): Anthology film released earlier this year to celebrate 100 years on Indian cinema. It brought 4 contemporary directors together, each directing about 30 minute short about the way cinema influences our day-to-day lives. I LOVED one of the shorts, another one was really good as well. Didn't really cared for the third and fourth was actually good; I just didn't think it had much to do with what these films were supposed to do. I am hoping to write a regular post on it so you'll have to wait to find out which is which.

World War Z(2013): You might sense a little bit of theme here with a bunch films I saw this month that I had no initial interest in watching but I did because of strong word of mouth. First of all, I was really surprised how quickly it jumps into the whole shitstorm. Within first two minutes, zombie apocalypse has already begun and it keeps on going deeper and deeper. And it might the CGI but those zombies were running super-fast. Even though it was a little down-beat, I also admire the fact that it didn't end with the traditional ending.

This is the End(2013): I kind of do not believe I am saying this myself but I actually liked this film a lot more than I thought I would. Off course, I had zero expectations from it since I have no particular interest in anyone of those involved. I only saw it because I needed something lighter to see and this popped up in my mind. Surprisingly I found it quite hilarious despite all its stupidities! What I liked about it is it knows how ridiculous this whole thing is and never makes any attempt to hide it.

Madras Cafe(2013)(Hindi): I don't know why people did not like this film much. It's not great by any stretch of imagination and there were various departments of it that I would have liked to be more polished. It certainly could have been better but it worked well enough for me, maybe because I usually like political thrillers. The only real problem I have with the film is it starts off with the protagonist feeling he could have saved former PM and after watching it, I really have no idea what else he could have done.

Man of Steel(2013): Because of the involvement of two of my favourite people - Amy Adams and Christopher Nolan - I knew it was only a matter of when will I see it; never will I? For those two, I wanted to like it but unfortunately, I have to agree with the two most frequent complaints about it. One, it is too grim and I kind of don't see the reason for it. Second, it is far too long. Snyder really should have cut solid half hour of it, majority of it could have been from the final battle. 

Pacific Rim(2013): Despite hearing some pretty good comments about it, I did not have a lot of expectations about this film. From the trailers, it looked like more or less like a Michael Bay film. It was certainly more than that but I had few problems with it. I will admit that it was very entertaining, technically brilliant, no complaints there but I think there was not much in it besides that. There was nothing new about story, very predictable, it had all the typical characters you can ask for in such kind of movie, nothing special about acting. A Standard popcorn action entertainer. More here.

War of the Worlds(2005): Don't you feel like there is a little too much of happenstances going around in it? I mean, tripod keeps hitting just about 2 feet behind him in the entire sequence in its first appearance. They close the door just second after fire leaps in their room. I know it happens in every single film but wasn't this a little too much? Because the same thing kept on repeating over and over for whole two hours. How can any person be so damn lucky? And, yes!! I can recognize Morgan Freemon's voice.

Now You See Me(2013): I will freely admit that I wasn't one of those who easily guessed what was happening in it and could see he ending from afar but the reason wasn't because I was watching too closely. It was because I was tuned out of it way earlier than that. It was one of the 10 films I said I was most excited for at the start of the year and it could be the one I am most disappointed by of those 10. It looked something like The Prestige(2006) but extremely superficial script and sub-par acting killed it for me. 

Barry Lyndon(1975): Blind Spot entry for this month. I usually do not write about the movies I don't like. There is already a lot of negativity on the internet, I don't need to contribute my bit to it. The most I will do is here, in this post. When I decided to participate in the blind spot series at the start of this year, one of my concerns was this - what if I didn't like a film and have to write about it? For the first 10 months I somehow managed to avoid falling in that trap. However that streak has been broken. More here. 

Total Count: 18. 17 First Time Watches and 1 Re-watches .

2013 YTD Count

Total Count: 236. 216 First Time Watches and 20 Re-watches.

I started documenting my movie watching with these wrap up posts in February 2012. Since I have been doing this, this month is slowest of them but only by a couple of films. This is so for number of reasons I stated in the last wrap up post and I have every reason to believe this month wouldn't be much different. It wouldn't be one of the slowest though; if I plan properly I might be able to get to the usual pace of about 21 films. It all depends on how much time do I get on weekends!

When it comes to watching new releases, I was never the one to go to theater every week to catch them but I had a decent start to the year this time but my move back to India kind of messed up with my pace in the last 3 months or so. At he start of this month, I was at completely unacceptable 23 films for the year. I am hoping to reach at least somewhere around last year's tally of 70 films before doing the best of the year lists in early March. For that, I have to start early and play a little catch up with 2013 now. With clocking dozen 2013 films this month, I am hoping it will get me there eventually.

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

Profile of a Director: Paul Thomas Anderson

There are two things that bring us to this post. First of all, Wes Anderson's profile that I did last month. That was the first profile where I saw every movie in his filmography and wrote about it. After that, I was thinking about which director to cover next, which brings us to the second thing. That would be release of P.T. Anderson's The Master(2012) which reminded me that I still had not seen Boogie Nights(1997) by then. I had all the time in the world to see it before but I guess, I needed to set this target for myself - watching all the movies PTA did to do another profile, Wes Anderson style. Over the next month, I got hold of all the PTA movies that I had not seen(that would be 3 including Boogie Nights) which brings us to this post right here, right now. I really don't think that there are many people in the industry who have as much knowledge of the craft as much as Paul Thomas Anderson and that's even more remarkable if you take his age into account. Born and brought up on '70s cinema; which in my opinion was probably the best decade for American Cinema; he not only seeped everything he possibly can from the likes of Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, Francis Ford Coppola and most notably for him, Robert Altman but more remarkably even developed his own distinctive style. There must be something in the water in '70s since, for better or for worse, almost every director from that school has his own distinctive style. Think Quentin Tarantino or Wes Anderson. Let us get right into the filmography of Paul Thomas Anderson.

The Dirk Diggler Story(1988)(short): This is where it all started. First short that PTA made set up the base for what he will make a full-length feature out of 10 years later and call it, Boogie Nights(1997). If you are a fan of movie(and who isn't), you can have a look at it here. As the name suggests and if you have seen the movie, you would know that this is the story of Life and Works of Dirk Diggler trying to make his mark on the porn industry. To tell you the truth, by no means it is anywhere close to Boogie Nights. Most actors working in it are really bad and look and act like actual porn stars(for all I know, they might actually be). But there is a good possibility that if we did not have this, there may not be any Boogie Nights and for that; it needs to be seen. Grade: B+

Cigarettes and Coffee(1993)(short): Another short that is worth your time that PTA did before getting into feature films. For a 24-minute short, it is remarkable to see how many storylines PTA handles in it and it is really exciting to see him slowly merge these seemingly different arcs into each other. A story that revolves around $20 bill and multiple characters that come in possession of the note, we soon realize that even though none of the characters know each other despite being in the same diner, only thing that they have in common with each other is that note. Featuring much better known actors like Phillip Baker Hall who also worked with him in couple of his next movies and Miguel Ferrer, this probably is the first example of great storytelling that PTA has become known for. Grade: A

Hard Eight(1996) aka Sydney: So, this is probably where it all really started. PTA's first full-length feature. It may not be a good idea to start with this but it is probably the weakest of his whole filmography. But then again, it isn't saying much considering I am a PTA Fan-boy through and through which should be clear once you see the ratings below. Basically it is a story of Sydney who is a professional gambler. One day, he meets John sitting outside some cafe somewhere in the vicinity of Reno. He buys him a coffee, lends him 50 bucks and also teaches him how to make the most of them. John - who has no money, no one and nowhere to go - follows Sydney from them on and becomes a small-time and moderately successful gambler. He even finds love in Clementine, part-time waitress, part-time hooker. But something Clementine does threatens to destroy their world. It is completely de-stylized, neither slows down at any point nor speeds up - completely monotonous in pacing and I do not mean any of this necessarily as a complaint. However, some of his characteristics are pretty evident from the very first film - excellent performances all round, simple but tight and interesting story and his photography. If you have seen it, the conversation between John and Sydney might remind you of the conversation in Cigarettes and Coffee but comparison stops there.  Grade: B+

Boogie Nights(1997): This is as good as it gets and no, I am not talking about 1997, Helen Hunt - Jack Nicholson movie. This is as fine a movie you will get to see. I saw this movie very recently and promptly kicked myself for not having seen it early. It is a story of young man, who somehow gets drawn into the world of porn films after one of the directors finds him and thinks that he has a great potential in him. After some initial hesitancy, he follows him and that road takes him to the top very quickly but his ego takes him to the rock bottom equally fast and brings him right where he started it. As I already said above that PTA's first short was the test ride for this ultimate roller coaster of a ride that still makes everyone wonder, how did he do something as amazing as this at such a tender age?, including myself. For a movie about the porn industry, Boogie Nights maintains it's balance wonderfully well that it does not become a porn movie itself but at the same time never looses it's grip on the subject. Maintaining that balance would be a very delicate affair and it's very easy to fall off either way but PTA thrives on it. Another thing that I have to mention here about it is performances. First of all, there are so many wonderful performances in it that I will be here all day. So, I am not even going to bother listing them. Just Everyone, every single one that appears on screen, even for a second. But more importantly, they are all playing actors, bad actors and everyone does a great job of portraying bad actors. I do not know much about it but I presume making a great job of playing bad actor should be pretty damn hard. Grade: A+

Magnolia(1999): Back in the day when I first saw this movie, this movie was my prime example of 'Something that I never thought I would Like and ended up Loving'. I remember watching a little bit of Magnolia and turning it off, not because it was boring but because it felt too heavy to me then. For next six months or so, I kept its same impression and always opted for something else over it. The fact that it is almost 3 hours in length wasn't helping much either. One 'fine' day, I finally bit the bullet, sat in front of the TV and saw it but more importantly, instantly Loved It !! It is really difficult to summarize Magnolia because it is Cigarettes and Coffee's multiple inter-wining story lines concept at its grandest - PTA at his personal best. For the first watch, something which is easily one of the ultimate "WTF!!" moments in cinematic history (Do I even need to tell you what I am talking about ?)was probably the biggest highlight even though it took me some time to know the biblical reference and hence the actual meaning of that scene. Once again in typical Robert Altman style, there is a whole cast full of people with wonderful performances but the first time around Tom Cruize and Melora Walters took the cake for me. When I say that it has a cast full of wonderful performances, I really mean it because I have done its re-runs looking at just a couple of performances every time - Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Juliana Moore once, then William H. Macy and John C. Reilly and so on. I still haven't run out of them after multiple watches. Grade: A

Punch-Drunk Love(2002): Apparently, PTA is big fan on Adam Sandler and his type of comedy. So, he did a movie for him, in his style that will suit Adam Sandler as well. So he did this story of Barry Egan who has seven sisters and the way they treat him or almost abuse him, has had some psychological impacts like it has kept him away from everyone or unpredictable in a way he will react to any situation. However, he finally finds a girl that he likes and who even finds him interesting. But one call he made one day to a phone-sex line threatens to ruin all that. Ohh and I forgot to mention that there is a harmonium and lots of pudding in it as well. Some of the highlights of it were Adam Sandler which surprised me as well but he was really good in it, Emily Watson - Brilliant and it is weird but somehow I noticed her cloths a lot and most importantly, Tracking shots and lots of them. It was a fun movie and I liked it a lot and I do not mean it as a criticism against Punch-Drunk Love but it's such an odd-man-out in PTA's filmography. I actually wanted to check if they got the right Anderson since it is much more Wes Anderson than P.T. Anderson. You see, Barry Egan and his seven sisters, whole plot with Phillip Seymour Hoffman will fit perfectly well in Wes Andersonian world and even more importantly, music used in this. I have never seen anyone else use anything like that. Only real difference was any of the characters or everything around them is that they aren't that stylised maybe and hence feel like they belong to this world. To me, most of Wes Anderson films look like they belong in a completely different world. Grade: B+

So now, I can talk about Couch(2003) but Adam Sandler himself doesn't talk in it and now-a-days we have trailers longer than this or Blossoms and Blood(2003) which is just a collection of alternate takes or deleted material from Punch-Drunk Love which when put together, surprisingly makes a lot more sense than it should. And then there is also Mattress Man Commercial, commercial for a shop Phillip Seymour Hoffman's character runs in Punch-Drunk Love, which is actually quite funny. I like the way he falls off but I'll rather get to the next one.

There Will Be Blood(2007): I think this will be the shortest paragraph I have written for any movie. This is as close to perfection as any movie can ever get. In Every. Single. Aspect. This is my second favorite movie of all time and Daniel Day-Lewis' portrayal of Daniel Plainview is 'THE Best Individual Performance I have Ever seen' and the bowling alley scene is probably THE Scene as well. So, this is where I run out to the street and start screaming "PTA Is God !! PTA Is God !!". Grade: A++(if there is any other Grade higher than that, I would give that too)

The Master(2012): After There Will Be Blood and all the gushing over it, it was imperative that wherever PTA goes, I will be there. Naturally, as soon as I knew that there is going to be a PTA movie in 2012, it went right into my most anticipated movies of the year along with Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Rises(2012), another director I obsessively geek over. Strange comparison eh? Wait till I tell you how much similar I think both their career paths are? They might be going in very different directions but I feel like they are following a very similar paths. I can even go as far as to say that PTA is Martin Scorsese to Nolan's Spielberg. Too far? OK. I will stop. So, The Master. Another movie with great cast. I am almost certain that all the three leads will have an academy nominations. Screenplay, Director and Movie nominations seem likely as well. If you ask me, watch the first 'processing' scene. Enough. Great work with Camera, stunning cinematography, haunting score. But as I said in my review previously, decisive factor here is the story. As you must have already seen; if you can connect with story in some way, people will call it a great cinematic achievement. If you don't, you might think of it as boat load of crap and even though I belong to the first group myself, I completely understand those in the other. Funny thing is until The Master, I never realized that PTA's movies can be as divisive. Now that I think back, I realize that every movie he did can be and to an extent, has been. Grade: A-

Previous Profiles:
Wes Anderson
Billy Wilder
Christopher Nolan

Sidney Lumet
Martin Scorsese

Woody Allen