Wrapping it up: August

Another month, another wrap-up post full of this month's viewings. For the first ever, neither have I written a Blind Spot entry for this month yet nor did I publish this post on last day of respective month after keeping that tradition for more than two and half years. But more on that later. Let me get to films I saw last month first...

August

L'enfant(2005): This month's Blind Spot. I was under impression that this would be my first Dardennes film. It was one of the reasons I added it to this year's list. I realised it later that I have seen The Kid with a Bike(2011) which is a Dardennes' film as well. First thing I realised after watching this is this film can be a check list for Dardennes. Hand held camera - check, lower class characters struggling to make ends meet - check, father-son relationship - check, no score - check. Made me even more excited for Two Days, One Night(2014).



The Immigrant(2014): It feels like we have been waiting for this film for like forever. In most cases, it would mean this film is doomed in one way or the other. You can say that for this film as well since it did not get much of a theater run and went to VOD pretty soon. I don't know numbers but distribution wise I don't think this is a good sign. At least, it wasn't doomed quality wise. It has a stellar cast and they have deliver stellar performances. You can say it's too serious but given the subject matter, I don't see any other way.

Ida(2014): For past few months, I haven't watched many foreign films. For some reason, I don't feel like watching them anymore. I am already in 2014 mode in the middle of the year, which I usually get into somewhere around end. I seriously hope this is just a passing phase because turning my back on so many great films would be an absolute shame. I am hoping films like this will help me get back on that horse. And better the quality of these films, more they help. Ida was a great help. Best thing about it was the quietness with which it presents even the most dramatic moments of film.

Un Coeur en Hiver(1992): Quick show of hands. How many people here know any such film exists. I don't care if you haven't seen it; raise your hand even if you know this film exists. If not for Josh, even I wouldn't. But it is one of those lesser known gems that I am so happy to have seen it. There are so many great films this one reminded me of but most of all - In the Mood for Love(2000) because of suppressed sexuality of leads, unforgettable music in the film and exquisite looking Emmanuelle Beart.

Dead Poets Society(1989): After the shitty news we all got this month, this was mandatory! Robin Williams was probably 1st Hollywood star I knew by name. Jumanji(1995) was one of my childhood favourites and I used to watch it over and over. This was one of his legendary roles I had not seen and I had to correct this. To tell you the truth, there is no reason why this film should work? It's sappy to the core. But it does! Perfectly. And given that everyone loves it, it is not just an emotional response to recent tragedy.

Edge of Tomorrow(2014): Now this is my kind of blockbuster! Lot of people loved a lot of different blockbusters released this summer. I was cold on most of them but this was totally my type of film. This was Groundhog Day(1993) with human existence at stake and I think they pulled it off very nicely. But I hate the fact that I need a film to remind me that Emily Blunt is a great, versatile actress. I really hope with Into the Woods(2014) later this year, she gets recognition she has been deserving off for years.

Mildred Pierce(1945): I can't be sure but I don't think I have seen a movie in which I've hated almost every single character like I did in this one. Don't get me wrong - I completely understand that's exactly what director was going for and I like it as a film, especially Joan Crawford, but first thing I will remember about this film in future will be I hated everyone in this film, not that I liked Crawford's performance. To be fair, I didn't actually hate Mildred but she definitely frustrated me.

Queen(2014)(Hindi): Bollywood is going through a female empowerment phase this year. I mean, there are many female centric films released this year and they are even doing quite well at box office. Queen released early this year was probably the first of this year's lot. Kangana Ranaut, lead of this film who is really good in it, is going through a reincarnation of her career and this role has helped her a lot. I liked the concept and most of its execution. If not for Amsterdam leg, which I thought dragged a lot and was very cliché; I would rate it even higher.

X-Men: Days of Future Past(2014): So I spend whole summer watching films people praise and rolling my eyes over how did they like this? And then I see two blockbusters in a month I like. I still won't call it a great film or anything but it delivered on everything I would expect from summer blockbuster. It is possible that since I have seen almost all X-Men movies before, I was into it but I didn't have any major problem with it. Plus, it has a great cast of new and old which certainly helps elevate it a notch up.

Don't Look Now(1973): This film bleeped on my radar since Talaash(2012). I would have called it one of the best horror films, since even though it did not genuinely scare me, it did create create a great environment and constantly kept me at the edge of my seat wondering what is going to happen next, if only I understood that ending. I am still not sure what really happen there - it just dropped suddenly, out of no where. But Julie Christie - I have only seen 4 or 5 of her performances but I love every single one of them. That's really something!

Veronica Mars(2014): I knew this wouldn't be 'One of the best of the year' type films but I quite liked series despite some of its flaws. So this was one of my most anticipated of the year films. I wouldn't say I am very disappointed because my expectations were in check from start but it still could have been better. My main problem was everyone looked rusty including Kristen Bell and Rob Thomas. Case involved was definitely best part about it but there were too many distractions from it which worked in series format but never really paid off here.

Suddenly, Last Summer(1959): I am very surprised that it took so long for me to know there is a movie featuring both Katherine Hepburn and Liz Taylor together. But as soon as I knew about it, I didn't waste any more time getting my hands on it. As much as I was excited to see two of the best actresses together, best thing I can say about this film is I am still trying to wrap my head around it. I literally have no idea what to make of this film, especially of that ending despite really great acting by both Taylor, Hepburn as well as Montgomery Clift.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier(2014): I feel like this movie is a complete fanboy material. I constantly felt like watching a typical high budget South Indian masala movie which needs, sorry, demands unequivocal suspension of any disbelief. Only good thing about it is because of high production value, it makes even the most ridiculous thing look damn good. Call it my chronic disability but I have never been able to enjoy that sort of thing. That is exactly why I can never watch those south Indian films, neither can I get into any Salman Khan movie. This was no better.

Happy Christmas(2014): I watched this film primarily for Anna Kendrick and while she isn't bad in it, my primary takeaway from it would be Joe Swanberg's son. If you have seen this film, you'd know how amazing that kid is. However, reason why I would rate it so low is screenplay. It never went anywhere. I don't feel like any of the characters went through any transformation or we learnt anything different about them that we didn't know in first 5 minutes of it. It just starts and ends without giving us pretty much anything. 

Draft Day(2014): I watch American football. I understand the game but even then I will not say that I understand process of their draft and that fascinates me. So this movie was quite interesting to me; you can even say I was target audience for it. But extremely predictable and over sentimental nature of it made it an opportunity lost. You always, always know where this is going to go and what any character going to do long before anyone in this film actually makes any decision. That makes it a boring watch after a while.

Total Count: 15. 15 First Time Watches and 0 Re-watch .

2014 YTD Count

Total Count: 132. 124 First Time Watches and 8 Re-watches.

So the reason I was only able to watch 15 films this month and couldn't do Blind Spot post and this post in time is new job I started today. Because of that, I spent my last month at old job doing KTs and transferring all other responsibilities. Plus, juggling all pre-joining requirements at this job turned out much more taxing than I thought it would. So, blogging took back step, though I do hope to have my blind spot entry up by this weekend. I have already seen the film.

Now good thing about this job is it will pay me hell lot more than previous one used to and, since I wouldn't be job searching anymore, would allow me to devote my free time to do things that I want to do - like watch more films. :). Bad thing is it will take almost 12 hours of my day straight up. Even worse is the fact that about 2 and half of those will be spent traveling. I need to find productive ways to utilize that time or else I am not going to get anything done! Lets see how this goes.

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

20 Favourite 'New To Me' films of 2012

2012 was the best year as far as blogging is concerned for me. Well, the fact that this was the ONLY full year of blogging I have had thus far made it very easy. But, Still it was pretty incredible year. First full year of blogging, documenting and cataloging the movies I have seen throughout the year and my brief thoughts on them and off course, other bloggers that have already done similar lists made me want to do this list. So, this is the list of 20 movies that I liked the most out of 305 movies that I saw in the calender year of 2012 for the first time. In all likelihood, as and when I update my Top 100, most of them will make it into that list, if they already aren't. Most interesting part of making this list was sifting through all the movies I have seen and realizing that it has been less than a year since I have seen, City Lights(1931) or The Game(1997). For a strange reason, I feel like I have loved these movies for a long, long time. And yes, I have left all the 2012 releases out of the list since at some point of time, most likely mid-February, I will eventually do the list of my favourite 2012 movies. So, they will have there time in limelight. It's time for some older movies to shine. Lets get to it then.

Honourable Mentions: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof(1958), The Lost Weekend(1945), Away From Her(2006), All About Eve(1950), Cache(2006), Brokeback Mountain(2004).

20. Black Narcissus(1947): After watching The Red Shoes(1948) last year, which really impressed me and introduced me to the duo of Powell and Pressburger, Black Narcissus took it a step further. I am arguably a little partial towards it because of the Indian settings and using them well but then I look at that last scene and it feels like it deserves it. It really does.

 

19. Paths of Glory(1957): Let me start with the usual. Not a big Kubrick Fan but that's what makes Paths of Glory special that despite not belonging to the Kubrick camp, I loved it. It is Kubrick at its usual acerbic best. He still uses the platform to criticize but it is little restrained and is for the right cause which makes it exploratory and not exploitative. 

18. The Birds(1963): I live less than 100 miles from Bodega Bay and the fact that this happens on that location made me scare for my life. Not Really, just joking but this is true that I was more scared while watching this movie than most of the so called scary/horror movies I have seen. Over the time, this has even made into my favourite Hitchcock's as well.

17. Life of Brian(1979): After being long overdue, I finally caught up with Monty Pythons last year. This year, I caught up with Life of Brian. It sure still is one of the funniest movies of all time but I have been amazed by its power to infuse a discussion and to prove my point I will point you to the only thing that is even better than this film is this interview.

 

16. The Discreet Charm of Bourgeoisie(1972): Bunuel's movies are a challenge. However the fact that this is not the only Bunuel in the list should certify to the fact that I like this challenge. Walking into this movie, almost without knowing anything about it makes it an even bigger challenge and I think I almost gave it up but I realized what's happening at the last image. It all suddenly made a lot more sense then. I have rarely had such 180 turns based on 1 still.

15. A Separation(2011): Last year at around this time everyone was getting excited about this movie. As usual, I arrived little late but this movie hit me equally hard, just like everyone else. I flat out deny to draw any conclusions from this about Iranian policies but what I really do admire is earnestness and honesty of the script and in the performances. It is also really hard to believe that there is absolutely no sappy melodrama in it.

14. The General(1926): I can say that one of the highlights of my self movie education this year will be my introduction to Buster Keaton. What I appreciate the most about this movie is that it is not just a collection of some gags but there is a real story to it. I still belong to the Camp Chaplin but if Buster Keaton can make anything as funny and fluent as The General, the other side has got a damn strong case too.

13. The Double Life of Veronique(1991): After his Three Colours Trilogy last year, this was the next logical step for Kieslowski for me and personally, this was even better than anything in the trilogy. Even in the trilogy, Red was my favourite and there is one big reason for that - Irene Jacob. There is something in her face or the way Kieslowski presents her that keeps me fixated on her, almost hypnotized.

12. Viridiana(1961): As I said, there are more than one Bunuel on the list. Cynicism of this movie astounds me. There really isn't much worse that you can do to defame any regime. Spanish authorities promptly banned this movie right after they saw the final cut. I wouldn't have been surprised if they tried to kill it completely and we never would have known that such a film once existed. But it takes real courage to make such movie and do it so well.

11. Who’s afraid of Virginia Woolf(1966): In the past year, quite a few of my fellow bloggers turned in their lists of various favourite performance. Truth be told, I won't be able to do such a list. I only know that my favourite male performance is Daniel Day-Lewis in There Will be Blood(2007) and its female counterpart would be Elizabeth Taylor in this movie. I swear to god that I never imagined in my wildest dream that anything like this was ever possible.

10. The Game(1997): It feels a little weird that it has been less than a year since I saw The Game for the first time. It feels like it has been quite a while because it is the movie that made me fall in love with the city of San Francisco. Off course, it does have a great concept executed exquisitely which keeps your adrenaline pumping and which doesn't fail you in the end, once the secret is revealed. 

9. Shame(2011): Just like A Separation(2011), Shame never made into my Top 10 in 2011 just because I wasn't able to catch up with it anywhere close to the end of last year. I got to it almost 6 months into 2012 but once again, just like A Separation, realized that it indeed is that damn good. Carrey Mulligan and Michael Fassbender's performances, only topped by very harsh and honest representation of an addiction.

8. Judgement at Nuremberg(1961): It was more than two years ago that I heard such movie existed. I spent almost one year trying to find a copy of this movie until I finally found it by complete off chance. I spent some more time before watching it even after owning a copy of it but when I did watch, I understood why people recommend it so highly. Since the day I have seen it, I haven't been able to shake off Burt Lancaster's monologue in the court.

7. Metropolis(1927): Thanks to Netflix, I saw the most complete version of it and I am thankful I did because I had no idea about the existence of multiple versions when I saw it. I am sure that many agree with me when I say that what amazes me the most about it is the vision of this movie. In my opinion, making this movie in 1927 was an exceptional feat. However, making it in such a way that it remains relevant even after so many years is nothing short of miracle.

6. Boogie Nights(1997): I had heard a lot of good things bout this movie and I found most of them to be true when I actually checked it out. It has the amazing opening tracking shot that introduces almost the whole cast in a single shot, it also has one of the most incredible ensemble cast assembled where every one delivers. However, what I find interesting about it is these are great actors playing bad actors on screen and doing a great job at that.  

5. Pather Panchali(1955): Satyajit Ray is probably the most well-known Indian director in the world and his Apu Trilogy is his most well-known work. I was really glad when I got a chance to watch them this year because of a friend. Like lot of others, I really think this is one of the Best Trilogies in the history of cinema but out of the three, Pather Panchali made a greater impression on me because of the way it celebrates the small joys of life. It made me nostalgic.

4. Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans(1927): If it wasn't for that ending, I would have killed everybody related to that movie. It should be a crime that they get us to care so much for the characters in such a little time and then send us home as a blabbering mess that I would have been, if not for that ending. But they did the right thing and so I am doing it too by including it in this list. Seriously, one of the most iconic silent movies.

3. Dr. Strangelove(1964): Did I say that I am traditionally not a Kubrick fan? And then sound like a hypocrite putting two movies on this list? Well, that's an occupational hazard I guess. But this was the perfect place, perfect scenario for all the criticism, cynicism that Kubrick's movies are full of; up to the brim. There are very few films that take a dead serious issue, turn it into a broad comedy and do in successfully. It also has one of the most iconic dialogues ever.

2. The Seventh Seal(1957): 1957 was an amazing year. There are so many movies made around the world in that year which are still considered as some of the best works of art. However, even if we only look at Ingmar Bergman, he made The Seventh Seal and Wild Strawberries. Two of my favourites and I love that they are really deep but at the same time so accessible. For a movie that is primarily about death, I was surprised by how much of hope there is in it

            

1. City Lights(1931): I have been watching Chaplin since I was kid. That's why I was really surprised when I realized that it has been less than a year since I saw City Lights. It seems like I have known him much longer. His Tramp has an uncanny ability of making you laugh so hard that it would make your stomach hurt but then do something so innocent, so pure, so beautiful that a single drop of tear would drop out of your eyes and you wouldn't even know it. Watch the last scene of this movie if you need any proof.