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?
Another month, another wrap-up post full of this month's viewings. Again I have clocked 21 movies in a month. Third time this year. I am feeling like I am unconsciously doing it on purpose. I am not really, I try to watch them whenever I can but I guess, I've eased into this routine now. If you remember, I promised to watch movies from 1001 movies list only this month. Scroll down to see how did I do?
April
Do Bigha Zamin(1953)(Hindi): One of the most iconic films by certainly the most iconic Hindi film director of all time and the oldest Bollywood Essential I have written about. After finally watching this movie from start to end for the first time, I feel like calling it Father India - most of melodrama in it or at least first half of Mother India(1957). More about it here.
Four Lions(2010): I remember hearing a lot about it the year it was released. It even made the '1001 Movies' list that year but I guess it lost the steam pretty quick and was left out the very next year. I don't know what the exact reactions were that year but I imagine it must have offended a lot of people. There is a lot of material that is indeed extremely offensive but what can I say, I loved it!! It's ridiculous but is extremely well played, hilarious and more often than not very to the point. It's like I feel bad for laughing on these jokes but can't help myself laughing.
Three Kings(1999): After writing a movie blog for nearly two years now, you would expect I'll be able to say why I like certain movie, right? I am sorry but you are wrong. I am still kind of confused as to why I like this movie. Like I said here, there are so many things in this movie that ideally should not work or do not work in many other cases but somehow despite them all, I still think I like this movie. I did my best to try and explain in the post above.
Mulholland Drive(2001): Naomi Watts could easily go into one of my favourite performances of all time. She was absolutely fantastic in it. As for the film; for someone who has pretty much hated everything made by David Lynch, or everything I have seen that he made, this was quite a surprise. It took me some time to really understand it properly but even if I didn't, I would have agreed that it is a good film. It is an intelligently made mystery film which makes you think and even that is enough for me to like it.
Dear Zachery(2008): I had heard a lot about this documentary, especially how emotionally drenched it is. I wasn't a wreck after watching it; thankfully, I was able to hold my own but otherwise, every word I heard was true. It is shocking, terrifying sequence of events that nobody should have to go through but extremely laudable effort to help a child know his father that he'll never see. If not for the way it ends, I can not think of a better present for any kid.
Kes(1969): I never had very high opinion of The 400 Blows(1959) and I realize that these two films aren't exactly same but I think what they are trying to do is very much similar. Kes succeeded in doing everything that the former didn't to me. Basically I cared for Billy, who was played brilliantly by David Bradley, from very early in the movie. His teachers, his family and friends were terrible to him but I guess, that was a part of his allure. His eagle and all the shots featuring him were glorious but it was that ending that really killed me.
Blow-Up(1966): My first introduction to Blow-up was through the Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron(1983) tribute to the event that gives this movie its name. I loved that it seamlessly shifts its focus a couple of times with Vanessa Redgrave's entry and exit. While I thought that segment of the movie was really interesting and intriguing, there were many things in the movie I struggled to comprehend like I didn't understand what did the side story of painter and his wife was for? Overall, I like it but it is still a little all over the place.
Sideways(2004): This month's Blind Spot. With the help of his last two films that I saw, Alexander Payne is becoming one of the directors I really look forward to. This movie came very highly recommended from multiple sources and I have been meaning to check it out for a long time. As I said in this post, I like this movie. It is not Payne's best work but it is good enough to spend couple of hours on it. I just wish I didn't go into with so sky-high expectations that despite liking it, I feel disappointed by it.
The Wedding Banquet(1993): Ang Lee's second film, even before he made Sense and Sensibility(1995), which was kind of his introduction to the western world. When I put it on, only reason I did it was because it is in the '1001 Movies' list and was expiring on Netflix at the end of this month. By the end, I was really glad I did. It is nothing extraordinary but very honest, heartfelt as well as fun story. I really enjoyed the first half and even in the second half when things turn quite serious, it managed to surprise me with its heart. I really am glad I saw it.
Dr. No(1962): First ever Bond film and also one of the better Bond films I have seen. Given that what I have seen is mostly Brosnan onwards Bond, it probably wouldn't matter much but still, it's a good film. It has a good villain, Ursula Andress and Bond has decent mission which incidentally comes with something like script. Only thing it lacked was his gadgets and little less action but if you look at Goldfinger below, that turned out to be blessing in disguise.
Thirst(2009): I have seen a bunch of Korean movies and almost every single one of them contains crazy amounts of blood and gore. I had to get it out before saying that this is the craziest Korean movie I have seen so far to give you the idea of how crazy it really is. Chan-Wook Park's vampire drama is probably second only in craziness and the amount of blood and violence we see on screen to another one of Park's own movies - Oldboy(2003). Ok-bin Kim's Tae-Ju, however could easily be my favourite performance in Korean film.
One, Two, Three(1961): Billy Wilder's follow-up to the brilliant The Apartment(1960), which he all won a bunch of Oscars for and incidentally which can also be argued as his last great film. Considering it is a Wilder film, it felt a little too loud in acting and in dialogue delivery but Wilder's words are as sharp as ever, as funny and as effective as well. He wins it all with his script but I still think it could have been much better, if they dialed it down a bit in their dialogues.
Waiting for Superman(2010): I often find it very hard to comment on or rate documentaries that talk about social issues or on broader level, are about changing the system. Another one of my pet peeves is finding a fault in system, without giving a solution. Even though this documentary avoided these pit-falls, criticizing such a vast system based on a small sample set. Does the system needs improvements? Sure. Can they be implemented on that vast level? has to be the question to be answered.
Fight Club(1999)(Re-watch): After watching it a couple of years ago for the first time, I was kind of surprised by my reaction. Given a reputation of this movie, I really wasn't expecting that I'll hate it and yet I did. This month, when I decided to do Fincher's profile, I wanted to see it again before putting it on the paper and getting all the shot about it. I did and even though it worked much better this time around, I am still not in love with it. I don't even think it is one of Fincher's best.
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button(2008)(Re-watch): Another one I wanted to watch again before saying anything in this post because I remember watching it about 4 years ago and never since then. Like Fight Club, I did not hate it the first time but wasn't much into it either. Second time confirmed my reaction. I like the topic, I even like his aging process from technical point of view but it is too long and even slower for its length.
The Kid with a Bike(2012): From point of view of cinema as an art, I appreciate this movie, even like it. From personal standpoint, there are some things that I like in this film but I hated that kid within the first five minutes. So much that I was completely indifferent to whatever happens to him in the end. Even though it makes me a bad person, it did not move me because I usually have a problem appreciating any film where I really don't care about the protagonist.
Natanki Saala(2013)(Hindi): I haven't watched a single English movie released this year yet but this is my third Hindi movie of 2013 and surprisingly none of them are really trash. Yeah, they aren't gems either but at the start of the year, we don't expect many quality films, do we? For me, this movie had more vices than virtues. Virtues include lead actor and his rapport with supporting one. Everything else could have been better.
Goldfinger(1964): I think I can understand why this is considered as one of the best Bond films. It has a great villain with equally good sidekick, Bond girls are great with Pussy Galore being one of the best, his gadgets(is it the first movie that Aston Martin makes appearance in?) and Bond's adventure actually is intense. However watching it now, it really shows it's age. Even more so for for an action movie as action sequences feel really dated now. You can see punches are nowhere close to the person and he still drops dead.
In the Loop(2009): Another movie that was in '1001 Movies' list for one year and was taken out immediately. But since I am including such movies as well, it was on my list and after loving Four Lions, I thought this would be a good choice as well. Unfortunately, I was wrong since most of the humour really did not work for me. A lot of characters were really stupid, annoying and very unnatural. When it comes to comedy, I've learned that there is nothing right or wrong. Some things work for you and some just don't and this one really didn't.
Godzilla(1998): You know a Rolland Emmerich movie when you see it, right? Well, unless you are watching Anonymous(2012). Knowing what to expect from his movies, in a typical Emmerich fashion, I think Godzilla more or less delivers. It is a fun movie that you should enjoy or rather you can harmlessly enjoy. If you start talking about weak script and uninspired, cheesy and illogical turns story takes, you are looking at the wrong place. Well, he didn't exactly claim to be Chris Nolan, did he?
Dead Man(1995): Oh God! My very first Jim Jarmusch film turned out to be quite an ordeal to even get through. By now, I am sure we are all used to see Johnny Depp in all strange roles but I am really not used to see him as the most sane person surrounding all the other crazy ones that did not make a lick of sense and it wasn't just the way characters were portrayed that didn't appeal to me. The problem was absolutely nothing, nothing made any sense to me.
Total Count: 21. 19 First
Time Watches and 2 Re-watch .
2013 YTD Count
Total Count: 85. 79
First Time Watches and 6 Re-watches.
So till about 20th of the month, I kept my promise of watching movies from the list only. Even my re-watches were on the list, haha. Then, as it invariably happens and as I forecasted in the last post, Netflix came in way by announcing to retire more than half a dozen movies from my queue off their instant service. Now there is a reason they are in my queue and that is I want to watch them at some point of time. So if they are about to retire, I can't just abandon them all. That'll be so cruel(?). So I had to abandon my plans and get them done by the end of month. So, 13 from the list this month isn't that bad and I hope to continue it going into the next month. However I do have one more urgent thing I need to take care of. I still haven't seen a single 2013 Hollywood movie. I HAVE to fix this this month. Looking at you, Iron Man 3(2013).
So, how was your month? Did you see anything interesting? What do you think of the movies I saw? Any favorites?
One of the best directors of his generation, David Fincher, is probably also the darkest, grittiest mainstream director with such a huge box office success and equally big fan following. Starting off his career working on many, many commercials, he subsequently moved on to the music videos and then on to films. I should be the last person to say anything about the music industry since I really don't know much and besides, I don't think I have actually seen any of the songs he directed but I will definitely say one thing - he has worked with some pretty big names. Over the last little over 20 years of his career as a film director, Fincher has directed 9 feature films, which I intend to talk about in this post and it should be safe to say that quite a few of them have been widely influential, defining movies of that era. If ever there was a 'Hall of Fame' of Hollywood, along with the likes of Christopher Nolan and Paul Thomas Anderson who also should have many, many more years of their career ahead of them for our sakes, David Fincher would be one name destined to be in it. With the Alien 3 that I saw last week, Fincher became the 5th director that I have seen all the movies of for this series. Let me get to his movies.
Alien 3(1992): Alien 3 was the last Fincher film I saw and at some level, I have to
attribute this to couple of things. One, I haven't seen Alien(1979) or
Aliens(1986) in almost two years now. Though I don't have any major complaints about
either of the two, they just didn't blow me away like at least one of the
two did, to many others. So I wasn't particularly interested in the third one and second
reason; even big fans of the first two consider third to be an inferior film. Now
if you are thinking I am going to say something redeeming about it, you are
wrong. I am not but, well, I didn't Not like it either. The biggest compliment
I can give is, I could easily get through it and the biggest complaint I
have is I could just get through it. It was just an exercise in mediocrity
throughout. It kept me interested but at multiple points, there was a
possibility of elevating it to another level and every time, Fincher just lets
it pass by. Looking at the rest of his career now, I couldn't help but wonder if
Fincher is really to blame here? Or was there someone, something else behind the
curtain, pulling the strings of then almost unknown guy, working on his
first ever film? And then I read about Fincher walking out, even disowning it as
His movie and multiple other problems during the production, and it all made
sense. Grade: C
Se7en(1995):
The fact that Fincher is not to blame for the debacle of Alien 3 becomes much
more apparent after you have seen Se7en. It's almost impossible to imagine that the same guy can go from Alien 3, which has to be the unanimous choice as the
worst film of his career, to Se7en, which I think should be a strong contender and a personal choice for the
best film of his career, in just about three years; four is you consider a year
studio was editing Alien 3. I saw this movie for the first time about six years ago, without knowing anything about David Fincher. Back then, main draw-in factor for this movie was the way Seven was written and Morgan Freeman. When I sat back down about a year ago, I only remembered being a lot of blood and gore in it and off course, who the murderer was but there were a lot of unconnected dots. Still Fincher's darkest and creepiest film of his career with gruesome make-up and painstaking attention to the on-screen detail worked just as much the second time around as it did the first time and this time, it was easy to see how influential it has been on the genre over the years. Next time I watch it again, it will be for Kevin Spacey. Grade: A+
The Game(1997): I have a kind of romantic reaction to The Game which, if truth be told, makes it a little difficult to judge this movie objectively. This is the movie that made me fall in love with the city of San Francisco. Even now when I think back about it, first thing I think about is not the ending or the thrill of watching your whole life getting out of your hands in front of your eyes. It is how beautiful San Francisco looks in pretty much whole movie but particularly, Michael Douglas running behind Sean Penn on those steps in the night. When I first watched it I remember thinking 'how amazing will it be to live in such a city?' during that scene. But that's not the only thing that works here. I love the way he builds the suspense of their game, the way relationship between two brothers is developed, the way their characters are built up until the big reveal. And with the kind of ending it goes for, that's the make-or-break point of whole movie. If that ending works for you, you will love this film. If it doesn't, there is very real chance you might hate this movie as well. For me, it works exactly as it's supposed to. Grade: A
Fight Club(1999): I am kind of scared to say this because I am pretty sure all hell will break loose when I say this but I don't really love Fight Club. I have watched it a couple of times. I gave it another chance a couple of days ago, before writing this and while I admit that it worked much better this time around than the first time I saw it, I still can't say that I love it. First time, I pretty much hated the final twist. Again, even that worked a lot better this time around. Judging by this, you can keep a faint hope that it will keep on getting better and better with every re-watch (which, by my track record, is once in a year or so) but I really doubt it really will climb any further than this. For now, I will accept that it is better than I used to think it is but it's still not what people will want me to say. There is a lot of craziness in it starting from the basic storyline and characters to editing and style, even in the soundtrack which makes it one of the defining films of the decade. Most of which I like and I completely understand cult-classic status it has attained over the last decade but at some point it just gets too out of hand. Grade: B+
Panic Room(2002): I don't much like the sound of it but I think Panic Room had the
misfortune of being directed by Fincher. Don't get me wrong, I like this movie.
I like the perpetual tension in it, the menace three villains possess and the feeling of
constant anticipation of what this mother-daughter duo is going to do next paired with some good performances, including
pre-Twilight Kristen Stewart. I also don't say this because he himself agrees that this is a footnote movie, something which is not terribly important because this is like Tarantino saying Death Proof(2007) has to be the worst movie of his career. Sure, Your career! That itself is setting the bar too high. The reason I say it had the misfortune is because
in comparison to Fincher's other works and this comparison is unavoidable when you have the same person at the helm, it always seems to take a back seat it really doesn't
deserve to be in. This could easily be the best film of some another director with less stellar body of work. Grade: B
Zodiac(2007): After taking a 5 year break, I have no idea why, Fincher returned with another movie with a classic look of '70s San Francisco. However, there is nothing romantic about it now. This time he focused on case of Zodiac killer which many consider to be the most perplexing case of unsolved crimes in modern history and he handles it with such a diligence that Robert Downey Jr. will be more than willing to attest for. Zodiac is long, it's little slow in patches and it's painstakingly detailed but it is a thrilling journey that keeps you into it from start to end. Fincher already had some experience in handling serial killer subjects with Se7en but in comparison, he puts much more time and effort into letting us into the psyche of the characters, their motivations behind their actions like running behind this killer which everyone seems to have given up on than actual murders. Only thing that works against it is the ending. I know it is no fault of Fincher that these murders were unsolved, he is just showing the story as it is but I just can't get over the fact that they never find the true identity of one of the most notorious serial killer.
Grade: A-
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button(2008): Next movie he did was his third collaboration with Brad Pitt
with this story of unusual person growing backwards. It made quite a
splash that year with 13 Oscar nominations, eventually winning 3. Once
again, there are many things to like in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. In acting department, it is handled ably by the likes of Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett, Tilda Swinton and most
notably Taraji Henson. It is good technically as well, especially
make-up showing Benjamin's growth backwards and art direction, creating
pretty much whole 20th century around. There are many moments that might
touch you emotionally but this is where is starts to loose me. First of
all, it is way too long and even slower for its length. For every
moment that connects with me e.g. whole sequence with Tilda Swinton or his birthday postcards for his daughter,
there is one more that I just doesn't work e.g. when he starts to walk
for the first time. Moments like this quite often take me out of this movie.
This was another movie I made sure to watch again before I say anything
here and once again, I would stand true to my original judgement. Grade: B+
The Social Network(2010): When it comes to being a cinephile, I am a late bloomer. I watched a lot of movie before but I started taking it seriously about four years ago. So even though I had seen Se7en before and heard a lot about Benjamin Button couple of years earlier during the Oscar race, in many ways Fincher's most drama-centered or least mystery-oriented movie, The Social Network was my introduction to Fincher and even Aaron Sorkin. This probably was the first movie I walked into knowing who David Fincher was and it was his movie and I loved everything about this movie. Fincher's superb direction, his portrayal of social networking that has become so much prevalent these days, Sorkin's gripping story and even more importantly his fast, snappy dialogues that grab you from the very first scene (For the record, that is as good a starting as you can hope for), all the actors even in the smaller roles that if I start naming, I can fill pages and pages with. Just Everything!! Inception(2010) is my favourite movie but I never saw it as an Oscar winning movie, that was The Social Network. The fact that it didn't, or more specifically David Fincher didn't win is something I don't think I will get over. Grade: A+
The Girl with the Dragon tattoo(2011): After doing two movies which relied much more drama, Fincher sort of went back to his roots, thrillers, with his next one. I went into this movie having read the book and seen the original Swedish movie. Even though I belong to the 'Original is better than Hollywood remake' category, that is not to say that I didn't like Fincher's take on it. I just like the Swedish version better. To me Rooney Mara's Lisbeth comes off more as icy cold, detached character whereas Noomi Rapace looked tough but vulnerable which is an important distinction, especially considering the next two installments of the book trilogy. Once again, I will admit that Rooney Mara probably was the best thing in the movie. She just wasn't what my impression of the character was. Bringing Daniel Craig in as Mikael is one of the areas this remakes scores over original and another huge improvement would be the soundtracks. Fincher does know his music well. Grade: B+
Woody Allen
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. 
