End of 2012: 10 Favourite Female Performances of 2012

Continuing with my lists to wrap 2012 up, I give you third and the last post looking at some of my favourite performances from 2012 by Actresses in leading or supporting role. I know many of us, including me, do believe that 2012 was a great year for cinema. But I also believe that it was even a better year for the actresses. We had so many amazing performances throughout this year that limiting this list to 10 was considerably difficult task than my previous list of Actors. The fact that only one of the two Oscar winners made the list and that too as an honourable mention should be an indication enough of it. 

Starting the list off with honourable mentions who very well could have made the list but missed:  Jennifer Lawrence in Silver Linings Playbook, Kareena Kapoor in Talaash, Juno Temple in Killer Joe, Quvenzhane Wallis in Beasts of the Southern Wild and Helen Hunt in The Sessions.

Off to the main list, which is once again listed in an alphabetical order as I did in the last list since I find it so much easier this way to focus on things that matter, like their acting.

Amy Adams in The Master: I LOVE Amy Adams. Best way to get me excited about a movie is to cast her in it. Now you know what to expect next, right? If I remember correctly, Disney's Enchanted(2007) was the first time I saw an actress named Amy Adams. She has certainly come a long way since then, even by becoming my favourite contemporary actress. I have not only seen every movie she did since then, I have plowed my way through most of her filmography before it as well. Even if we try to find, I don't think we will find someone who can go from Enchanted to The Master or from Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day(2008) to The Fighter(2010) or Junebug(2005), one of earlier roles to Doubt(2008) or... I can go on, but I guess you get my point. If you are wondering, the reason I am not talking about her role in The Master specifically is because I've said it time and again - off course, she was amazing. How can she not be?

Vidya Balan in Kahaani: Over the last few years, Vidya Balan has successfully established herself as the go-to actress for more woman-centric, serious and challenging roles. Starting off with Parineeta in 2005, she has tackled wide variety of roles in her career so far. The reason this becomes a significant achievement is even now, majority of actresses in Hindi industry are essentially caught playing the role of love-interest. Even Kahaani as a movie deserves special mention as movies with strong female lead with almost no male actor in much significant role is almost never heard of in Indian scenario. The fact that they not only made such a movie but did it well and got Balan for it who skillfully handles all the ups and downs of this character is just a cherry on top.

Jessica Chastain in Zero Dark Thirty: 'Miss 2011' had a kinda quiet 2012. Off course by her 2011 standards, almost anything would be quiet but even by normal standards, 2012 wouldn't be called great. Off course, that was until she started making waves with Kathryn Bigelow directed Zero Dark Thirty which got many rave reviews for her performance. Even though I would say I quite loved ZDT, I have had my problems with it. And so did I with Maya as well but I guess that comes with the trade. Despite my reservation with the character, there is no denying that this was a praiseworthy performance. Determination and perseverance of the character really reflects through her performance. Maybe the die-hard Homeland(2011) fanatic in me has something to do with it because her character here is very similar to Carrie but I really admire them both despite their flaws.

Marion Cotillard in Rust and Bone: In many ways, this was my real introduction to Marion Cotillard. Not that I had not seen any of her movies before but most of what I had seen includes her in the supporting cast. Midnight in Paris(2011) was probably the biggest role of her I had seen prior. So this was my first powerful Marion Cotillard performance and she did prove herself worthy of all the praises. Rust and Bone not so much, I found it hard to really connect to Mathias Schoenaerts' Alain until the last 15 minutes, which did give him some gravity but not much. Cotillard, on the other hand, was really amazing. Her independent fierce nature before her accident, her defeated, lost demeanour after loosing her legs but her slow transformation back into the world with the help of Alain is projected very ably by Cotillard. I honestly think if they focused more on her, Rust and Bone would have been a better movie.

Rosemarie DeWitt in Your Sister's Sister: If you know me, if you have been following this blog for some time, you would probably know that this role has been my soft spot this whole award season. I even did a post making case for her.The thing about Your Sister's Sister is Emily Blunt was the only person related to this movie that I can say I had any previous knowledge of. I had only seen DeWitt in Rachel Getting Married(2008), Mark Duplass and Lynn Ramsey pretty much nowhere. So, you can say I did not have much expectations of it and it really surprised me but Rosemarie DeWitt has to be the most pleasant surprise of them all. She was smart, funny, extremely subtle and very genuine in her role letting her eyes and her expressions doing most of the talking. She was so natural, so comfortable in her role that she had me completely won over by the end of it.

Ann Dowd in Compliance: I spent half of Compliance screaming 'Really?', 'Are you really going to do that?' or 'How can you be so stupid?' at the screen to Dowd's Sandy. The other half was spent in utter disbelief of her stupidity. But when I calmed down a bit after the movie and thought objectively about the movie and performances in it, I have to say that Compliance would not have been half as good as it was without performance of this gullible manager of fast food chain restaurant from Ann Dowd and then she just hits it out of the park in that last scene of her interview. Her submissiveness, willingness to comply to the apparent authority figure was the biggest selling point of the movie and from my reactions, I have to say they more than succeeded in it. Giving the credit where it's due - Ann Dowd, you have successfully gotten under my skin.

Anne Hathaway in The Dark Knight Rises: I know I said only one Oscar winner made my list and that was in honourable mentions. Even though Hathaway is second winner this year, she didn't win it for this role right? Now, I haven't seen Michelle Pfeiffer's Cat-woman in Batman Returns(1992). I have seen a lot of people praising her and maybe they are right, maybe she is really great, maybe she is even better than Hathaway in this role. But from the day this casting news was made public, almost everyone dismissed Hathaway. 'She will never hold a candle to Pfeiffer', 'Nolan should leave Cat-woman alone' they said. I'll admit that was mainly because 'In Nolan we Trust', a fan-boy motto and even though I do not have anything against her, I ain't exactly a Hathaway fan either but still I thought this was highly unfair. If I had one expectation from Rises, it was for Hathaway to kick some major ass. And Boy, did she deliver? Even beyond my wildest expectation.

Emmanuelle Riva in Amour: Of all the nominees for Best Actress this year, Riva was my choice. I am not exactly saying that she was the best of the lot but more like, I wanted her to win regardless of whether she was better than others or not. It was more emotional than logical though she was indeed really great. Amour was my 'movie of the year' as well and none of he other four movies made it to my top 15, so I guess that was the catalyst. This movie is all about the slow deterioration of her health after her stroke up until her eventual death and her relationship with her husband. Amour is painstakingly real, maybe even a little too real and Riva's portrayal of every stage of her deterioration gets a lot of credit for that. However, at the same time she also provides some of the rare lighter moments of the movie like running her husband over with her new wheelchair. What Riva does with moments like these was one of the very important reasons for making it my favourite movie of the year.

Sridevi in English Vinglish: To those unaware of who Sridevi is, she was one of the most popular actresses in the Hindi film industry in '80s and '90s however she hasn't really worked much since then. So in a way, this also marks her return to her glory days though I have no idea if it is for just this one film or she is thinking seriously about it but either ways, this is quite a return. I've always had issues with her voice and the manner in which she speaks which was really distracting. It didn't magically vanish in English Vinglish but by making her housewife considered insignificant by her own family director Gauri Shinde managed to use it to her advantage. To Sridevi's credit, she brings out the vulnerabilities of her character beautifully which makes her overall journey even more remarkable. Her sweet mannerisms make us like her character and genuinely care for her, quite an achievement for someone who would very easily annoy me.

Rachel Weisz in The Deep Blue Sea: When I saw The Deep Blue Sea, I did not know that this is a remake. After watching this, I checked out the older 1955 movie. When I saw Vivien Leigh played the part that Weisz plays, of Hester in original, I smiled to myself. Knowing what I know about Leigh, it made me a little sad but I thought Vivien Leigh would have been perfect for this role. Hester's love is self-destructing. I don't mean to get too philosophical but after something like the underground train station scene in this movie, I feel like nobody should love anyone so much that it hurts if you aren't loved as much in return. Cinematography and more importantly background score of this movie deserve good part of credit for it but every time you see Weisz on screen, there is so much yearning, there is so much pining, it wrenches your heart. My heart sinks a little even thinking of her now.

And with this, I am done with you 2012!! So what did you think of them? Are they really as worthy as I think? Did I miss someone?  Please let me know in the comments.

End of 2012: 15 Favourite Films

Over the past 4 months, I have been trying to finish the wishlist of 2012 movies as much as possible. To this day, I have seen 75 movies released in the last year. However, with Oscars over, it is time to wrap-up the 2012 once and for all. To start off, I give you the list of 15 Favourite movies of the year. It will be followed by favourite Performances lists, Male and Female, which will leave me free to pursue all the rest of the movies that I have kept aside in last few months. 

2012 was a strong year for movies. I am not saying this only because I saw more movies this year(71) than last year(47). But also because how I rated them. Throughout the year, I kept the list of movies I saw in this calender year on Letterboxd and according to that list, I have 28 movie rated 4 and higher and 52  rated 3 and half or higher. That is really good year !! You can see the whole list here but for now, let us get to this list.

15) The Dark Knight Rises: Part of me still thinks that I decided to do 'Top 15' list so that I could include Rises. I could've done standard Top 10 or Top 20 but I decided to go with 15. I don't know why, all I do know is I can't help being a Christopher Nolan fan-boy. Is it a perfect movie? I am afraid, no. It is not even my favourite of the trilogy but I think this was a very fitting finale of one of the best trilogies. You can talk about all the plot holes in the movie and say it is illogical that Bruce Wayne just kinda walks from his prison suddenly to Gotham city but it DID NOT bother me, at all. So, there you go!!

14) Oslo, August 31: About six months ago, this little Norwegian movie was nowhere on my radar. First I heard about this, I even dismissed this for being just another addiction movie. We have seen enough of them in last few years. Fast forward to now and almost everyone I know who has seen this movie is ready to vouch for it and I am not the one to object. Despite being 'just another addiction movie', it is not exactly that because of the two things - brutal honesty of its script and the excellent execution of it by Anders Danielsen Lie, who will make another appearance in next list, in the leading role.

13) Compliance: Almost everyone who has seen this movie has come out saying its good that what we see in this movie has actually happened because otherwise it is impossible to believe that people can be that stupid. I understand the irony of statement but I have to agree. Almost throughout the movie, I did not believe it for a second that this can actually happen. Imagine my surprise when I realized that not only every word of it is true but it has also happened, over and over.

12) Holy Motors: One of the most controversial, or should I say divisive movies of the year and incidentally not the only one in this list. Reactions for this movie have been all over the place. Denis Lavant and his multiple, outrageous personifications have been the make or break condition for this movie. To me, there was more than enough heart in it to just discard it as a gimmick. I was fascinated by his roles which more than once fooled me, thinking the role he is playing is his real life. Probably my favourite performance of the year.

11) The Perks of being a Wallflower: Perks is one of the movies that I wasn't much excited about until I heard everyone rave about it. They did build up my expectations but now I was running a risk of something being over-hyped. Thirty minutes into the movie, I was sure of it as it really didn't do much for me. I don't remember if there was one point where that changed or it just grew on me minute by minute, but something did happen and it just worked. I was completely taken by the end of it, I was involved in it, I started to care about the characters. I wish I had some better explanation but it just worked.

10) Django Unchained: For the first time, I felt like I know when people talk about Tarantino and his indulgence. But, guess what? I did not give a damn. Its Tarantino. If he does anything, I mean anything, off course, we will all be there, right? So if he won't, who will? And besides, I really enjoyed it a lot. I enjoyed the story which Tarantino seamlessly takes through multiple genres, loved the characters, loved the actors playing them even more. Foxx, DiCaprio and many others in whatever small role they had did a great job. Samuel Jackson kicked some serious ass but Waltz was a real highlight for me and naturally, I was happy to see him get rewarded at Oscars. 

9) Once Upon a Time in Anatolia: One of the most beautiful looking movies I have seen. Before this movie, I never thought that even a barren piece of desert can look so beautiful. Add the subtle humour and social commentary of this movie to it and we have something really different, something that we rarely see. Little over 100 minutes of this movie feature a hunt for a body. As far as that hunt is concerned, this movie progresses at a snail's pace where rarely anything happens but despite that, there were so many interesting things going on with these people involved in it that this became the most fascinating hunt I have seen in long time. It would have been much higher in here if it sustained after they find the body.

8) The Sessions: I never thought I would like this movie as much as I did and for that I have to give credit to John Hawkes' brilliant performance, Helen Hunt's frankness and honesty in her role and most importantly, to Ben Lewis' writing and direction to give the maturity and lightheartedness to the whole movie that is basically about losing virginity and involves so much of nudity. Helen Hunt played major part in doing that but it was John Hawkes' movie from the start and he does wonders under the limitations of his role - Mark O'Brien, a man in an iron lung. I won't complain much but I would have loved to see him getting that nomination he deserved.

7) English Vinglish: 2012 was a great year for Indian cinema as well. At least, at the end of the year I have 5 movies that I can say I genuinely liked, something I had to stretch for in 2011 and 2010. So, the Indian in me is immensely happy that I found a Hindi movie worthy of making into a Top 10. A movie that made it to TIFF is also the one that marks return of Sridevi, one of the most sought after actresses of 80s and early 90s. Director Gauri Shinde's first directorial attempt is pure bliss, a perfect movie even in its imperfect moments such as Shashi's speech at the end. For an Indian living abroad, even though none as humiliating, I have gone through few similar incidents myself and Shinde captures them rather beautifully.

6) Cloud Atlas: If you go back to the excerpt I wrote when I saw it back in November in that month's wrap-up post, I said that one thing I appreciate most about Cloud Atlas is for a movie with such a scope, it had lot of heart. From the moment we all saw its first trailer, I am sure we all knew that this movie had a gigantic scope - Six stories, hordes of characters, story lines spanning multiple centuries, even millenniums and three directors. That was never a surprise, I knew that I will have to watch it multiple times to really get it. All I wanted was for it to engage me enough to warrant those re-watches. What made Cloud Atlas appear in this list is not only that it succeeded in engaging me, it surprised me with its heart.

5) The Master: Just after getting out of the theater after watching The Master, I was trying to gauge what my final reaction to it is. I still haven't finished. There is lot to like - amazing cinematography, beautiful score, some great scenes - their first processing, The Amy Adams scene or Hoffman's explosion both times he is questioned and three performances, powerful and subtle or may be not at all subtle, either way. But I could not stop thinking about it. Every time I thought I am reaching a verdict, I would think of something else and process would start again.but I never stopped thinking and no movie has done that to me in a long time. Result: No. 5 on my end-of-year list.

4) Intouchables: A Quadriplegic man hires a young man from projects to be his caretaker. What would you think this movie can be about? War between two different worlds, two classes, races the men come from? Not really. How we can get help from most unlikely sources and change our lives forever? Most Certainly. But from all this, would you expect such a movie to be humorous? Most memorable thing about Intouchables was the amount of comedy in it without loosing the seriousness of the topic. There were multiple moments in the film where I found it hard to contain my laughter. How this film wasn't nominated this year for Foreign Oscar is absolutely beyond me.

3) Argo: This year's big winner with Best Film and Best original screenplay. It made a lot of headlines over the whole award season with winning almost everywhere and as it started winning, people flipped all over it. Apparently then, it wasn't good enough for many people as soon as it made Awards splash. For me, it always was, since the day I saw it. I am currently reading Sidney Lumet's amazing book - Making Movies, in which he says that a good movie is usually bigger than the sum of all its parts. Argo was one such movie for me. There is no one department that stands out but as a whole, I loved that product. Apparently, the fact that I had no idea about the actual event it is based on helped immensely but then again, it is not as much about the end result as about the arches of all the characters. 

2) The Imposter: Another movie I am glad is a true story since I would've never believed it to be true. It is too nifty for its own good. So slick that from the first minute of it I never believed it is true, even though I knew it is. The way Bourdin looks, his accent and even the way he behaves wasn't helping his cause. When Nick's sister comes in and takes him for her brother, I could not think of why would she? except, maybe as he himself says later, because they Want to believe it. But what elevated The Imposter to this rank in the list is the last half hour of it, after Bourdin's true identity is revealed and story of what really happened to Nicholas starts to unfold. Also, bone-chilling calmness with which Bourdin tells the whole story. There is not a hint of remorse on his face anywhere. He is rather enjoying this sick, psychopathic play and for the life of me, I can't fathom the fact that such a person even has a life.

1) Amour: Second year in a row where Foreign film tops my end of the year list, and another movie that as much as I love, I am in no hurry to go back to. Last year it was Incendies(2011); this year it is Amour, Michael Haneke's Palm d'Or winner. Haneke's depiction of an old couple in the last few days in wife's life has been called slow death, it has also been denied being called even a movie. I completely understand every criticism against it, I also see where that comes from. I imagine myself in that same position, especially given the reaction to Haneke's other movies, had I not been through what I have in my own world. I just think I understood what he was going for and it touched me somewhere deep down. It is extremely well acted, Emmanuelle Riva was my pick of this year's Best Actress nominees and technically perfect. Haneke's movies almost always have been provocative, at least in a way they evoke emotional response from the viewer. However, one thing I liked about Amour is he kinda takes a step back in here from delivering the final fatal blow that Haneke mercilessly does in his other films. I guess, that might have been the ONE thing that did the trick for me.

Next up will be my favourite Male performances of the year. Please let me know what do you think of this list in the comments.

Wrapping it Up: November

Lets get to the business right away. Once again, Reminder. Movies are clubbed as per my ratings out of 5 stars.

November

 

Jaane Bhi do Yaaron(1983)(Hindi)(Re-watch): Not only it is one of the best ensemble casts in the Hindi film industry, it is one of the monumental films in the history of Indian cinema. Period. And I really don't think any Indian will argue with that. It is that great, I am telling you. After all, there is a reason why we included it Ryan's Bollywood Syllabus. More Here.

English Vinglish (2012)(Hindi): You have no idea how much joy this gives me to rate a new release, sort of mainstream Hindi movie so high, especially if you know my constant complaint about the quality of Indian movies in past few years. This year has been quite different though. So, English Vinglish. You know why I think it is so good? Because it is imperfect, it is realistic. Even in the end when Sridevi speaks, she speaks in broken English. It isn't a glossed over version of reality that we are used to and it is so good to see on screen without any embellishments.

The Lady Vanishes(1938):  For some reason that I always thought that Hitchcock's used his famous MacGuffin plot only in Psycho(1960) but it turns out, it's just the most famous one because here it is - in one of early movies, still in British phase. In reality, there is nothing different about this than any other Hitchcock movie. It is a very typical mystery movie than Hitchcock did so often but in typical Hitchcock way, it still leaves with its impression on you.

Compliance(2012): Real problem with movies like this one which tend to evoke strong emotional response from the viewer is it becomes very difficult to judge it objectively. Whatever happens in this movie is absolutely incomprehensible from outside and I really do not get why not just say NO. But still, it was an incredible experience, very well acted and directed and even though subject matter implies typical viewer response, executing it perfectly as it is done here, also counts for a lot. I still can not believe that this really happened, to an extent they show in a movie.

Funny Games(1997): Yes, I felt like punishing myself. Severe one at that, with Compliance just the day before. Again, it makes it so real that it is really difficult to sit back and objectively rate the positives and negatives of it. Unlike Compliance however, I did not have a problem believing that something like this can happen. No one in the world deserves that I am sure, but maybe because it was such a bat-shit crazy that I can probably believe that something like this can happen.

The Deep Blue Sea(2012): That's one for Rachel Weisz. In the 1955 original, Vivien Leigh played the lead and I have to say, I imagine she would be really great in such role. Strong, passionate but so vulnerable. Rachel Weisz was so great in this role that now, I really want to see what Vivien Leigh did with her part. It did remind me a lot of In the Mood For Love(2000) and even though it won't match it, aspiring to be as good is enough for me. 

Arbitrage(2012): The other day, I was watching The Actors roundtable on The Hollywood Reporter and Richard Gere was there talking about his role. He said that some of his friends hated him for playing that character because he is scumbag but still they wanted him to come out good of all and I remember feeling something very similar. As for his acting, he was a revelation actually specially after Chicago, which I saw couple days earlier, where his character was probably main reason why I didn't care much about that movie.

Brave(2012): I hardly remember a movie that I enjoyed so much. I know it is not without its flaws and some of them may be even big but it's an animated movie and I enjoyed it so much. I loved all their Scottish accents, her father and three little brothers, loved Merida's relationship with her mother and the way they captured small things so right and in the end, that look on Merida's face when she puts that tapestry on her mother as the Sun comes up. Just killed it.

Skyfall(2012): I am not too big on bond but I am loving this gritty, serious Bond so far. Casino Royale(2006) is my favorite Bond movie from what I have seen but this one looks just as incredible. Incredible performances from Javier Bardem and Judy Dench which I am pretty sure will make it worth a repeat watch and I will reserve my judgement as to which one is better until then. But in the meantime, let me join everyone singing praises of Roger Deakins. He deserves every bit of it.

Clueless(1995): I said above that I hardly enjoyed any movie as much as I enjoyed Brave and then I saw this. Alicia Silverstone was on fire here. I mean she was kinda stupid but gloriously, awesomely stupid. I LOVED everything she did, her dialogues, her big incomprehensible words. Everything. There were quite a few amazing dialogues in it("I thought they declared piece in Middle East") but "Why? Do I look like I know what I am talking about ?" really takes the cake. Oh and I did not recognize Brittany Murphy At All.

A Royal Affair(2012): Only my second foreign film in a theater, first being The Intouchables(2012). As it turns out, both are garnering a lot of buzz with a prospective nominations and even as favourites to win. Though personally I prefer The Intouchables over this one a little, I really wouldn't mind either of them winning. Either way, that would be the first time I would have seen Foreign Film winner before it won. More Here.

Cloud Atlas(2012): Going in, I knew that I will have to watch it again to really get it but I guess, all I wanted to was re-watching it not because I have to but because I want to. Now I am sure that I will happily re-watch it many many more times. I would have loved it for its audacity alone as Sheer scope of this movie is mind boggling but what made it work for me was despite it, it didn't feel oblique. As a matter of fact, there was a lot of heart in it.

Raising Arizona(1987): Someone once told me that if you want to get into Coen Brother's filmography, Raising Arizona should be kept almost at the end. I understand why now but it is such a crime to keep someone away from such a gem? I understand that the majority of this movie is stupid but it is gloriously stupid. I mean I have never seen anything like this. I seriously didn't ever recognize half of the actors. Holly Hunter, John Goodman and even Nicolas Cage. God, they look so different !! I totally didn't recognize them.

Hard Eight(1996): PTA's first feature length film. As I said in this post, this is his weakest film in my opinion but given that it's PTA, that still means this is pretty good, especially in the acting department with the likes of Phillip Baker Hall, John C. Reilly and Samuel L. Jackson. Importance of this film to me is things like tight storyline, great acting ensemble, use of lights and camera feature so prominently even in his first movie.

Punch-Drunk Love(2002): And with this I can check P.T. Anderson off. After Christopher Nolan and Wes Anderson, now I have seen every single movie he has done as well. I don't know if anyone else ever felt this, but to me this movie felt much more like Wes Anderson than PTA, even his music. Maybe, it's just me.

Sound of My Voice(2012): To tell you the truth, there is a lot that I liked in this movie including Brit Marling. I liked most of the characters, I liked how they developed their story, I liked all the proceedings in their cult meetings - it really made me believe them as a cult and I loved their ending. But I had a couple of problems, both of them very basic to the story which I just couldn't shake off and that is why it looses some points despite all the praise. More here.

Killer Joe(2012): It was brutal, it was relentless and it was extremely well acted. Matthew McConaughey was unbelievably remarkable in it, even more so in by now infamous chicken-leg scene. His reaction there is almost impossible to put in words and Juno Temple deserves special mention as well. But there was something in that whole setting that I really can not point out was little off for me and that end just didn't make much sense to me.

Headhunters(2011): It was so great to see Nicolaj Coster-Waldau in this film. I don't know how big of a star he is in Scandinavia but he kills it in Game of Thrones every time and I don't think he has a notable part in any English movie as yet. Movie as a whole was actually great but it looked a little too well planned to me, especially in the given circumstances.

The Wrong Man(1956): Another movie where Hitchcock played a lot with his camera and I love that and as far as I know, this is the only true story Hitchcock did. In the end however, this true story nature was my biggest problem. I understand that he just depicted what happened in real life but the way case ends, sub-story with his wife and how that ends - none of this really makes it worthy on-screen story. Sad and unfortunate but not interesting.

Lawless(2012): I am at a complete loss of words here. I have absolutely no idea how I feel about this movie. It wasn't bad but it was mostly 'meh'. In every aspect of this movie, I don't think there was anything that I really didn't like or felt disappointed about - except maybe there was a lot of wasted potential - but there isn't anything particular I liked about it either. It was just 'meh'.

Salaam Bombay(1988):  This movie reminded me too much of Babel(2006) because if we are looking artistically, both these movies are great. They are very realistic, hard-hitting and have no half measures about it. But after watching Babel, I really wanted just to kill myself. I mean, I am not saying that every movie MUST have happy ending but give me some hope, at least that light at the end of the tunnel or not make me wanna die. Is that too much to ask?

Barfi!(2012)(Hindi): India's official submission to Oscars this year. Most promising thing about it was superb performances from the three leads. Ranbir Kapoor has been on a binge lately and he continues to deliver here too and Ileana D'Cruz in her Hindi debut is stunningly gorgeous and so subtle. But by Priyanka Chopra was by far the best of them. If not for the last 30-40 minutes of cry-fest and all the copying from 10 different movies, I easily would have rated it way higher.

 





OMG Oh My God(2012)(Hindi): Looking at the premise of this movie, I had a pretty bad feeling that it is going to be a disaster. My only hope was that Paresh Rawal was in it who has also worked in original play. It definitely wasn't a disaster I thought it will be and to its credit raised a lot of valid points throughout and I was even ready to buy into Akshay Kumar's role. However, I would have loved it a lot more if it didn't go so much over the top every so often.

Chicago(2002): Now that I have seen it, I can say that I have seen all the Best Picture Winners in my Lifetime. All the musical parts in it were actually quite great but I got bored with all the drama in it. All three female characters were pretty good but I had issues with both the notable male characters. Richard Gere was the main culprit who took the drama too overboard for me and John C. Reilly, I had no idea why was he even in the movie? That was an utterly laughable, complete caricature of a character.

Our Hospitality(1923): It started off with hitting all the right notes. In the first 15-20 minutes itself, there were more than one occasion where I laughed out loud. However, it didn't keep my interest for it's complete length. I still don't have any complaint against Buster Keaton but after a little while, most of the gags became too silly, too slapstick-y if that's the word. I don't know. Maybe The General(1926) set the standards a little too high for me.

Giant(1951): It is generally described as an epic, sprawling tale of Texas rancher and his family. I mean yes, it was epic in terms of scale of a movie and even sprawling but unfortunately, that's it !! It did not do anything to me emotionally. Even Elizabeth Taylor couldn't save this movie for me. James Dean was only highlight of the movie but it was too long and lackluster for anyone to save it.

Alice(1990): So, first of all, Mia Farrow is replacement for Woody Allen's usual character in this one right? Lady Allen, can we call her? because she basically even talks like him. I have had my problems with his character, but I was OK with this but then the absurdities started. I really didn't understand what was with that Dr. Wang character? Why was he making her disappear? Where did Alec Baldwin come from? and love potion? really? What is this, Harry Potter?

Lockout(2012): At the ens of the year, people usually list worst 10 movies of the year. I take pride in the fact that I have avoided all them successfully. This year, that may not be the case because I have seen Lockout. I absolutely, positively and completely believe that you CAN NOT find 10 movies terrible than Lockout. It is way over-ambitious but incredibly stupid and worse than that takes itself too seriously. It was an overacting fest. I am telling you, every single penny spent on it is utter waste. It still gets two stars for Guy Pierce, who had few good lines and some good setting which it's story wasted completely BTW.

Total Count:28. 27 First Time Watches and 1 Re-watches .

2012 YTD Count

Total Count: 301. 283 First Time Watches and 18 Re-watches.

So if you noticed, I crossed 300 mark this month. One goal achieved! Next is 300 First Time Watches, which if I continue at this rate, should be achievable. But no promises since this is not a Homework. If I get there, we will see. However, as I continue clearing up backlog of 2012 movies, this next month looks like is gonna be fun. We will get all the nominations for various guilds and globes as well. Award season has officially started with Indie Spirit awards this season but I did not pay much attention to it basically because I am not sure what works and what doesn't according to their definition. It's weird. But I will probably do something on SAG and Globe noms, probably together like last year since they are being announced a day apart. And then get ready for the Oscars. There are still so many more movies to watch.

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