Wrapping it Up: April

Another month, another wrap-up post full of this month's viewings.This was a tumultuous month! Due to various personal reasons and also bit due to lack of inspiration, whole month almost went silent and then I had to rush to put 2 posts on consecutive days. I can not promise how regular next month can be either because there are many things still in the balance but here is to hoping it would be a bit more regular. On to the movies of this month...

April

The Godfather(1972)(Re-watch): The Godfather is one of my absolute favourites. It has always been and it will always be. But if I tell you I have only seen it once in its entirety, would you believe that? Because that's true. I have actually read Puzo's book twice but this was only second time I saw film. I mean, it is so prevalent in pop culture that it never felt like it. I have seen bits and pieces of it over and over but whole three hours of it in one sitting - just twice now and that Diane Keaton's face in that last shot will always, always make it worth it.

Gangs of Wasseypur: Part 1(2012)(Re-watch): I had seen first part back in 2012 itself but for some reason I never went to second one from that. And since they were originally planned to release as single 5-hour long film, it was imperative for me to give this another look before diving into second part. I know I will be watching it many times over, if only to watch Manoj Bajpayee imitating washing clothes, so I am certainly not complaining. And songs! Their lyrics, their feel, their style. Everyone who decided they shouldbe done this way and everyone who executed that plan to perfection is sheer Genius!

Gangs of Wasseypur: Part 2(2012): I have not felt as strongly for any Hindi film in at least 5 years as much as I did for Wasseypur. There is absolutely nothing I will like to see changed because these films are so well put together that changing anything might mean changing the whole product. And I don't know if it can get any superior. I mean, seriously, how can you do better than "Nervousao Nahi Mora" or whichever the hell songs Yashpal Sharma was on screen for. Accept it, nobody can! 

30 For 30: The Price of Gold(2014): If you ask my mother, she will tell you that I can watch any sport; however boring it might be. There is certain level of truth in it because I can but figure skating isn't one of them. I have seen bunch of sports documentaries but all of them have been about sport that I at least know some basics of. Figure skating isn't one of them too. But then, I also haven't seen a documentary about an event so pervasive that a President of any nation references it in his speech. That makes in unique in every aspect!

Chungking Express(1994): Maybe I had my expectations set little too high after In the Mood for Love(2000) but a couple of expeditions I have takes after that to Wong Kar Wai land have been rather disappointing to me. I was glad to see something that I liked. More than one simultaneous stories that are somehow connected to each other seems to be his style, at least early in his career and he uses it here as well though they are not really simultaneous. They are both interesting and executed really well. So, no complaints from me!

Jagte Raho(1956): One of the forgotten masterpieces of Hindi cinema. I remember I first came to know about this movie in one of the lists somewhere and I have been looking for this movie ever since. I never heard anyone else talking about this movie ever and it became evident that not many people know about this movie when I actually started looking for it. I have no idea why. It really is one of the gems of Indian cinema and I intend to dedicate my next 'Bollywood Essentials' to it.






Wings(1927): Even after getting through 70 Oscar winners, films before '40s have mostly eluded me. Sure, they are difficult to get hold of than most recent ones and that is a major factor why I have seen only 2 films before 1938. But many of them have also lost their place in public consciousness. Most of these films get into conversation only when you talk about Oscar winners. You respect movie like Wings even more if you consider that. It still holds its ground even after being very first Oscar winner.

American Graffiti(1973): Blind spot of this month. I have heard many people say "I wish George Lucas would go to make movies like he did before Star Wars". I am sure most of them would say differently if he did not put a bullet into his foot with Star Wars prequels but I was interested in checking out validity of above statement. I certainly liked it way more than I usually like movies like that but it is rather ironic that news of Star Wars 7 casting came same day I published my post. Whatever tiny smudge of soft spot formed inside of me for Lucas, vanished with reminder of existence of Star Wars 7.
    

The Secret World of Arrietty(2011): I have been a Ghibli fan for a long time now and as any real fan would, I have seen most of their films. I have seen every film Hayao Miyazaki ever directed except The Wind Rises(2014) which hasn't released here yet and I am not sure if it ever will but there are a few with him not at the helm that have escaped me. I managed to check one off here. It's a well-known story of The Borrowers but one that fits perfectly in Ghibli canon and is done with enough charm to make it worth your time. 

The Big Chill(1983): I am not exactly sure how to rate this film. I mean, I really like the camaraderie amongst those friends and there were several instances that I could relate to but at the same time there were as many instances that I felt like they are going too far or being little too pretentious. I am sure anyone who has seen this movie knows what I am talking about and maybe this is cultural and I might feel differently about it in few years but there was one instance in particular which I felt like was dealt with too lightly.

Captain America: The First Avenger(2011): To get ready for new Captain America, which I still haven't seen BTW but for that, I had to clear my backlog first. I am not sure why people call it one of the best. For me, it was a typical Superhero film - a decent, fun film but nothing beyond that. Hayley Atwell was good, even Chris Evans was not bad but I am getting tired of Hugo Weaving as a menacing villain and story was rather stupid. Plus, I have always had a bit of problem with Captain America. I am sorry but he is kind of lame superhero.

Tropic Thunder(2008): I understand that comedy is a very subjective genre but so many people sang praises of this film to me that I was quite excited to check it out. As I sat there watching it, in first couple of minutes I realized this is going to be a tough task as, except for Robert Downey Jr., I don't really care for anyone in the cast. I even downright hate likes of Jake Black. Withing 15 minutes, I knew even getting through this would be a task and by the end, my overall apathy of everyone else prevailed over RDJ and unrecognizable Tom Cruise.
 

Mr. Hulot's Holiday(1953): I have never seen a Tati film before and if you ask me in one line, it was supremely disappointing. Basically, It is like a series of various unrelated gags done at or around the same place put together and I had problem with everything about it. First of all, I didn't find most of the gags funny but that can be subjective, so I won't put too much wait on it. Second, if it is presented as one film, shouldn't there be some theme, some common element to connect various incidents together? Third, was it a silent film? was it a talkie or both or neither? Fourth, well... you get my point.

An American in Paris(1951): 71st of Best Picture winners I have seen and one of the worst so far. It was a colossal waste of my time. They had about 13 minutes of story that can actually amount to something and then MGM hired Gene Kelly and couple of other people who can sing and dance and stuffed it till it bloated to 113 minutes. Every single song or dance, including An American in Paris ballet, were completely, utterly and absolutely useless as they meant zip in terms of story. It was a torture of level in A Clockwork Orange(1971). I even struggled to keep my eyes open.

300: Rise of an Empire(2014): I have seen many bad films and I am sure I will many more this year as well but any 2014 film will have a very stiff competition from this film to beat as the worst film of the year. To tell you the truth, I knew exactly what I was walking into. As campy and ridiculous as first 300(2006) was, I still like it for great dialogues, amazing action and its graphic novel feel. Everything that made first one cool, mind you, I am not saying good, makes this one insufferable. I swear, anyone who sat through these two hours without fending strong urge to bolt out deserves some kind of medal.

Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song(1971): I know I am way out of my element saying anything about this film; I was way out of it just by watching it because I do not have any yardstick to measure this film as anything other than just a film. This might be a cultural phenomena, a cultural revolution even but that doesn't conceal the fact that this is a terrible film in every aspect. Maybe I am looking at it as just a film and that's biggest problem here but there was not a moment in this film that made me think "What the FXXX am I watching?"

Total Count: 16. 14 First Time Watches and 2 Re-watch .

2014 YTD Count

Total Count: 69. 62 First Time Watches and 7 Re-watches.

It certainly was a turbulent month. Last month, I said that my last month might be the best I have had in a long time in terms of quality of films I saw. I am following it with probably one of the worst. It certainly is very peculiar, if nothing else. I don't think I have had a month before where I had at least one film under each star rating. Under some circumstances that might mean something to celebrate but here it means 1/3 of films I saw in entire month were below average and I think I am pretty generous when it comes to calling a movie average.

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

And the Oscar Goes to...

It is that time of the year again!! First of all, I should get one too for my commitment to this damn show because I woke up at 5AM to watch it. With last night's Oscar, this is time to officially wrap-up 2013 and look forward to everything else. As I said in the previous Warp-up post, February was quite a busy month for me. It largely kept me away from this blog as well. So I was absent from all the predictions and other games prior to the Oscars. But after skipping on so called mandatory post on those predictions, I am not skipping the second mandatory post. As always, I am only concentrating on the categories that I have some knowledge of. I can't even differentiate Sound Mixing from Sound Editing. So I will keep my expert opinion on that category to myself. So, only top 8, animated and foreign film. Here is the list the winners and my brief thoughts on these categories.

Best Picture: 12 Years a Slave

It was going to be a two-horse race between 12 Years a Slave and Gravity and that tug of war went on till the last minute. Some people tried to introduce American Hustle into the picture but I didn't even want to think of that as a possibility. There were equal number of people leaning either way. And even I often thought of going the other way many times but for no other reason than it was winning all its precursors, I stayed in 12 Years camp and I am glad to see it being rewarded here.

 

Best Director: Alfosnso Cuaron for Gravity

Cuaron had this in bag for a long time. He had won almost every award there was before for him to win. Only thing that could have gotten in his way would have been 12 Years a Slave taking home the big one and people might want to go with McQueen in this one as well. But he never really threatened Cuaron. Of the two films, I like 12 Years better but it has got nothing on Cuaron. He, Bullock and Lubezki made Gravity a spectacle that it is and deserve every applause get for it. Period.

Best Actress in Lead Role: Cate Blanchett for Blue Jasmine

When I wrote about Oscar nominations, I said that I am really happy to see Amy Adams getting nominated in this category but I am not even sure why because Blanchett had her name carved on it since then. She took an early lead, kept the momentum going and as good as all the other nominees were when she crossed that end line, no one else was even in eye sight. Some thought her name being dragged into Woody Allen fiasco might hurt her chances but apparently it didn't.

Best Actor In Lead Role: Matthew McConaughey for Dallas Buyers Club

Once again a movie that I wasn't the biggest fan of but McConaughey's performance certainly was worthy. And we all know that this was not only for his performance in any one movie. This was for McConnaisance that I really hope continues in 2014 as well. After all, he is doing a Christopher Nolan film next year. DiCaprio loosing might have broken many hearts but if precursors were any indication, it was McConaughey's award to lose.

Best Actress in Supporting Role: Lupita Nyong'o for 12 Years a Slave.

I feel really bad that I am happier for Lawrence loosing than Nyong'o winning but I cannot take anything away from that girl. Not only was that an incredible performance for any seasoned actress, let alone for someone facing the camera for the first time in their life, it was even better, genuine and heartfelt acceptance speech. And to Lawrence's credit, she looked genuinely happy and appreciative for her fellow nominee.

Best Actor In Supporting Role: Jared Leto for Dallas Buyers Club

I was surprisingly uninterested in this award. I don't have anything against any of the nominees in particular. I even quite like some of them - Barkhad Abdi for instance but I didn't have a favourite here either. Maybe it was the fact that I was rather indifferent to most of these performances or maybe it was the fact that it was rather obvious that Leto was going to win. At least, they had it done with the very first thing in ceremony.

Original Screenplay: Spike Jonze for Her

I had my doubts about Her from start. From what I do in real life, I had a hunch that my thoughts would be its a rather farfetched story. Forget about coming out with that impression, I did not even think so while watching the film and long time after watching this. And Jonze did that. Joaquin Pheonix, Scarlett Johansson and Amy Adams as well but mostly Spike Jonze. Obviously, he was favourite to win here but that doesn't make it any less deserving, does it?

Adapted Screenplay: John Ridley for 12 Years a Slave

This was my favourite category in all the Oscars. All 5 nominated scripts were actually great and really deserved to be there. So anyone of them winning would have been a good choice by me. But by the same logic that gave Argo it's win last year(If it is to win Best Film, it has to win at least one of the other major awards. All the other possible contenders were locks for someone else. So it has to win here.), 12 Years was a frontrunner this year.

Animated Feature: Chris Buck, Jennifer Lee and for Frozen

If anyone ever thought there was even remote chance of any other film winning this award, you really should not be predicting Oscars. I haven't seen two of the nominees(and I really wish I had seen The Wind Rises, if nothing else for Miyazaki) but what probably made this decision much, much easier for me was that other two I had seen were quite terrible. I mean, I am not the biggest fan of Frozen but in comparison to The Croods and Despicable Me 2, it was a masterpiece.

Foreign Language: Paolo Sorrentino for The Great Beauty(Italy)

Well, to many people that wasn't a surprise at all. But like I did with Best Picture winner, I chose my horse early and kept it till the end even when a lot of people started predicting this The Great Beauty to be the ultimate winner. I am not complaining about it since I have not seen it since but I certainly would have been much happier if The Hunt had won.

So, as expected, Gravity pretty much swept all the technical awards and went home with 7 Oscars. 12 Years won the big ones and I do not have numbers at hand but I am pretty sure you would have to go way back to see a Best Picture winner with just 3 Oscars. I remember something on similar lines last year. Overall, they were pretty predictable. Most unpredictable thing that happened over the whole night was Ellen DeGeneres ordering pizza. So...yeah, exactly! American Hustle went home empty handed(Mean I know but YAAY!!) and so did Wolf. But you know who has more Oscars than 6 of the Best Picture nominees, combined? The Great Gatsby! Make whatever you can of this.

I will see you next with my End of 2013 lists starting with my favourite female performances.

Wrapping it Up: February 2014

Another month, another wrap-up post full of this month's viewings. This 25th Edition of Wrapping it Up is a historic event for one more reason. At the start of this year, I said that I expect my monthly viewing to go down a bit this year and I will be OK with that. Last month, I was somehow able to keep up with the usual pace of 20. However this month proved my suspicions true. With only 15 movies, this is slowest movie-watching month I have had since I started recording this stuff two years ago. Given the fact how hectic normal life and day job was in first three weeks of this month(You may have noticed, no posts at all this month till Blind Spot couple of days ago), I fully expected it and am actually surprised I even got to 15.

But that's enough of it. Let's talk movies!

February

Miller's Crossing(1990): Call me stupid, call me naive but I never thought any film would give No Country for Old Men(2007) run for it's money as my favourite Coen Brother's film. I've liked many of their other films but none as much to contemplate it dethroning NCFOM. Knowing Coen's, I should've known better. Interesting thing is, multiple instances where this one reminded me of No Country, whether it was because of the similarity in settings, in story-lines, in looks or in mood, is probably the principle reason why I think I liked it as much as I did.

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire(2013): I personally don't think second book was better than first one but film does a good job of not deliberating on stuff that bogs down the book i.e. everything leading up to the capitol. It might be the new director who got rid of all the shaky cam or actors getting a little more grip of their characters or might be the source material which is just more suitable for given format or combination of all three but end result certainly was better than first one. It almost has me excited for last one.

Nebraska(2013): I have seen all of Payne's films except the very first one he did and I at least like them all. Nebraska was no exception. It was the surprise winner on the day of nominations but it has emerged as my favourite of those 9 now. Payne did not write this for a change but he is master of digging deeper into characters that are imperfect, vulnerable and even pathetic seem very likable, very real. He does it here as well and as every other of his films, that is it's biggest win.

August: Osage County(2013): I think I would have liked it even more if it wasn't that bitter or if there was at least one sane person in the whole family that you can relate to but then that would probably be like missing the whole point of film. Maybe their father was such person and maybe that is exactly why he left. Not to say that I did not like it. I like it way more than I expected, mainly thanks to all the performances but it's such a bleak story that you want to run as far away from them as possible. 

Hot Fuzz(2007): I Love first part of Cornetto trilogy, Shaun of the Dead(2004), and was really interested in the last one The World's End(2013). The only problem was I had never got around seeing second one. I knew they are not super connected or anything but it just didn't feel right. So one fine Sunday, I sat myself down and checked them both out. This one may not be as good as first but sure is a hell lot of weird fun. Something tells me I will be retuning to it many times.

The Game(1997)(Re-watch): I always forget how much I like this film and then fell in love with it all over again when I see it. I am making it sound like I have seen it a dozen time or something. It's actually only my third time but I only saw this for the first time last year and then again when I actually moved to Sunnyvale, CA. This film has a rare distinction of making me love a city I have never been to. And when I did, I made it a point to go to that street where Sean Penn runs away from Douglas after he finds all those CRS keys in his car.

Short Term 12(2013): I had heard a lot about this film, especially about performances, and I will have to agree with that. Brie Larson, who got attention for her role, is certainly deserving of all the praise but so is almost everyone in the cast. Another standout for me was Kaitlyn Dever as Jayden. I am not completely sure how I feel about Grace going out of her way to Jayden's house and doing what she does but apart from that, I was completely into it till end. 

Enough Said(2013): Like most others, I obviously saw this for Gandolfini. He certainly was really good and so was Julia Louie-Dryfuss. They had good chemistry together and it came off very naturally. It also was about two middle aged people getting in a relationship, something that you don't see often in movies and Holofcener certainly needs to be credited for that. I probably would've liked it more though if it didn't cast Catherine Keener who looked completely uninterested or if it didn't feel repetitive in the middle.

How Green was My Valley(1941): 67th Oscar winner and this month's Blind spot was yet another success. I did not expect it to, certainly not as much as it did and initially it did look like I might be right. For me, it falls into Ordinary People(1980) category(or it might be more apt to say other way around) as films that get bad reputation because of the films they won over but if we keep the comparison aside and look at them objectively, they are actually good films by themselves.

The World's End(2013): I already told you that I was quite excited about checking this one out. Pegg and Frost were obviously back but with additions like Martin Freeman and Paddy Considine, cast looked good, premise was completely up Wright and Pegg's alley and I was having quite a bit of fun with it. But then it went too far. I like the idea of introducing the aliens and they have done great job making fun of such things in previous two but they went little too extreme for my taste. I think I will be ok with watching it just once.

Mississippi Burning(1988): I had heard a lot about this film even before watching it and was intrigued as well as dreaded it. I agree that most of the black folks in this film are nothing more than set pieces but I don't think they could've been any more given the structure of story. Now you can find faults in structure, which I might as well agree, since it is in the end 'white men to the rescue' story. There were many good things to admire in this film but in the end, that structure even left me with a bad test in mouth.

Iron Man 3(2013)(re-watch): I have no idea why I saw this again. Not like I loved it the first time but I was just sitting in front of TV and it was on. That's it! Now that I think of it, this might be the only film I have seen twice in he year of it's release. Certainly only one since I started blogging and although there are others, I am pretty sure that number is not in double digits. It might be shocking for many but I have very few re-watches. So this happens very rarely!

Philomena(2013): With this one, I have not only seen all the films nominated for best film Oscar for second year in a row but this might be the first time I have seen every single film nominated for top 8. Once again a film driven by one leading performance which was actually really good. As for the film, it was good but I didn't find it great. It was very sweet and nice but that's it. One thing I was very happy about though was Coogan kept himself in check. I can't stand that man for too long.

Saving Mr. Banks(2013): I can only wish I liked the film as a whole as much as I liked Emma Thompson. I think the problem here was my aversion to source material, Mary Poppins(1964). P.L. Travers was a total bitch to everyone at Disney and we were supposed to feel sorry for them. However none of that worked for me in the film. So, for me, they deserved to be treated the way she was treating them. So I was left with almost no character to root for, even those from her past .

About Time(2013): Sometimes you want to watch something that won't have you pick your brain at all. Since there is so much I really want to see, I rarely do that. I always feel my time is better invested in something with better returns but this one was a good watch for the mood I was in at that time because it is sweet and innocuous but falls apart completely the moment you go into logic. I can't call it a good film by any standards but I don't regret watching it either. I only wanted an easy-going film and I got exactly that. 

Total Count: 15. 13 First Time Watches and 2 Re-watch .

2014 YTD Count

Total Count: 35. 32 First Time Watches and 3 Re-watches.

Saving Mr. Banks will be my last official 2013 film. I certainly wish I had better reaction to the last film of last year but I have had enough of it now. With 70 films in the bag, month of March or better part of it will be dedicated to wrapping up 2013. Next time I will talk them will obviously be Oscar nominations but after that I will get into my lists of favourite male and female performances followed by Films. Given my schedule, I expect them to be done by mid-March which shall leave me free to watch everything else. As much as I loved 2013 as a year in films, it is kind of liberating to have much more choice. See you on the other side of the Oscars! 

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