odadune
Star of the item number
not around much due to stuff in my personal life.
Posts: 1,494
Favorite actor: Currently a certain Kumar, but I like most of them
Favorite actress: whoever's in films I'm interested in this week
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Post by odadune on Feb 9, 2014 3:33:50 GMT
The Hobbit Part 2: The sort-of romantic triangle between Fili, Tauriel, and Legolas was not as lame as expected, and I really liked Luke Evans's take on Bard, although his physical resemblance to Orlando Bloom is even more distracting than when they costarred in The Three Musketeers With Airships. Laketown in general was cool, and Mirkwood was pretty well done. I didn't mind the action scenes in the first Hobbit film but they really went on way too long in this one. Smaug proved to be an uneasy combination of middling-good voice work (Cumberbatch did better in his other role as the Necromancer's voice, IMO), the world's most boring dragon design, and some really amazing animation drawing on the creepiest aspects of bat, lizard and snake movements. Good value for money, glad I saw it at the theater. Wish they'd retained more of Beorn's sense of humor from the book. Hope the third one manages to be a little more Bilbo-centric.
Catching Fire: I liked this a lot better than the first Hunger Games, mostly because it backburnered the romance in favor of the broader intrigues and politics, which meant more awesome character actors. The late Philip Seymour Hoffman did not do a lot for me as the gamemaster, I'm sorry to say, but Donald Sutherland was in fine form, and Woody Harrelson was absolutely born to play this particular mentor character. That guy who was the second romantic lead in Snow White and the Huntsman and the mermaid-loving preacher in POTC4 has really grown a lot as an actor; his take on Finn made the kids playing Peeta and Gale look like zombies by comparison.
Pacific Rim: it's a good anglicization of the kind of anime that comes off as a soap opera for teen-aged boys with monsters and giant robots thrown in. Its production design and action scenes are excellent, but the relentlessly awful actors playing Raleigh and Mako pretty much destroyed any chance of me caring about the character drama. Idris "We are cancelling the apocalypse" Elba pretty much carried the non-action scenes on his broad shoulders, with a little help from the weasels playing the scientists, and the bulldog. Ron Perlman, whom I usually enjoy, seemed to be rehearsing a standup routine. It's been getting more feminist brownie points than I think it deserves; it's nice that the film doesn't make a big deal about the implied romance angle, or the women serving as mecha pilots, and it's also nice (especially compared to PR's main sources of inspiration) that the women dress like professionals and Mako's personal issues are basically a somewhat more severe version of what her male counterpart is going through, rather than being totally unique, but it doesn't add up to much overall.
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Post by Dil Bert on Feb 9, 2014 4:15:57 GMT
Saw two great films about family: The Royal Tenenbaums - Liked it a lot better than Fantastic Mr Fox and Moonrise Kingdom, which were nice. Saving Face - NYT review " Juggling Her Chinese Clan, Gay Lover, Pregnant Mom" A stellar performance from Michelle Krusiec and a good one from Joan Chen make this movie. |
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Xas
Guest appearance
Posts: 185 
Favorite actor: Kunal Kapoor, Ranbir, Prabhudheva
Favorite actress: Madhuri, Rani, Vidya, Huma Qureshi, Divya Dutta, Nutan, Asha Parekh, Helen, Mumtaz
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Post by Xas on Feb 9, 2014 5:43:33 GMT
The Adjustment Bureau. I'm sort of 1/2 and 1/2 on it. There was stuff I really liked (the whole special fx doors thing, and the romance - I thought Matt and Emily were both very sweet and believable together, at least in the beginning), and things I really didn't (hats, angels, Terence Stamp, the ending).
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odadune
Star of the item number
not around much due to stuff in my personal life.
Posts: 1,494
Favorite actor: Currently a certain Kumar, but I like most of them
Favorite actress: whoever's in films I'm interested in this week
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Post by odadune on Feb 17, 2014 15:50:45 GMT
Frozen-this cgi-animated Disney film was charming; had something of the thematic content and intense emotions of a Bollywood "estranged siblings" drama, only applied to the Disney princess formula. The trolls' song was one musical number too many, and they didn't set up the villain all that well IMO, but it was fun, and it had some valid thoughts about the nature of "true love" (both familial and romantic) vs infatuation. It is also very very very very pretty, even for Disney.
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odadune
Star of the item number
not around much due to stuff in my personal life.
Posts: 1,494
Favorite actor: Currently a certain Kumar, but I like most of them
Favorite actress: whoever's in films I'm interested in this week
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Post by odadune on Mar 3, 2014 18:10:19 GMT
Monsters University: I didn't particularly like "Mike" the little green guy in the original (mostly because of his voice actor-Miracle Max is about as much Billy Crystal as I can handle), and was not thrilled to find that he was the main POV character in this prequel, and that Sully, whom I had liked in the original, was a stereotypical Jerk Jock in large parts of this. The supporting characters (especially the Oozma Kappa fraternity and the antagonists played by Nathan Fillion and Helen Mirren) were good and the production design was nice. Aside from that, this is basically a mildly amusing Monsters Inc take on the live action "college hijinks" comedies that Disney used to do in the 60s/70s/80s.
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Xas
Guest appearance
Posts: 185
Favorite actor: Kunal Kapoor, Ranbir, Prabhudheva
Favorite actress: Madhuri, Rani, Vidya, Huma Qureshi, Divya Dutta, Nutan, Asha Parekh, Helen, Mumtaz
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Post by Xas on Mar 27, 2014 22:58:17 GMT
Much Ado About Nothing, the Joss Whedon version. This is going to sound snooty, but I tend to be pretty leery about American versions of Shakespeare. Modernised versions, even more so. I'm usually sat there with one eyebrow raised before the opening credits have even started. But this really was a brilliant adaptation. I didn't recognise anyone in it, apart from the big police detective guy, but everyone's timing and delivery were superb. Benedick especially, totally won me over from the get go. I was a bit puzzled at the start as to why it was filmed in black and white, as the cinematography didn't really take advantage of it, but then I sort of figured out it was so that you didn't get distracted from the dialogue. Very very recommended indeed. 
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Post by MrB on Mar 28, 2014 8:25:18 GMT
I had the same initial take as Xas on Much Ado About Nothing. We are big Castle fans in the B household, so watched it to see how Nathan Fillion would handle a different role. It took me a while to get over my Shakespeare preconceptions, and to get used to the collection of very similar stereotypically Hollywood types playing the key roles, but then it became very enjoyable. I second Xas' recommendation (especially if you like Castle). |
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odadune
Star of the item number
not around much due to stuff in my personal life.
Posts: 1,494
Favorite actor: Currently a certain Kumar, but I like most of them
Favorite actress: whoever's in films I'm interested in this week
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Post by odadune on May 22, 2014 21:38:35 GMT
Hatari: the non-Bollyviewers wanted to watch this recently, so I showed them my dvd. I used to love this movie as a kid, and just about anything involving the animals or the rather cool female characters is still awesome; but it is both horribly politically incorrect and fairly well-intentioned for its era with a desire to be somewhat authentic (set in Kenya, which has a significant Indian community, part of the climax takes place in "Singh's General Store", where the clientele wears either saris or turbans/beards/nehru jackets). Current films, take note: many of you will be just as outdated one day, and you won't have Henry Mancini and the cute baby elephants going for you.
Captain America The Winter Soldier: went with low expectations, was pleasantly surprised. It's much more successful at being a political/spy thriller with slightly futuristic gadgets than the recent James Bond movies, and it's funny and generally well-acted, although neither Chris Evans or his character are cut out for the amount of speechifying they are given, and the climactic fight between the two title characters is annoying.
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Post by Dil Bert on Jun 1, 2014 15:19:34 GMT
Odd Thomas (available on Netflix streaming): A film about a man who can see dead people who then acts to right wrongs/prevent future tragedies. There is also a very strong love story which runs through the film. Kind of a B+ movie rather than a full-blown Hollywood production; I recommend it if you are OK with horror/supernatural elements and want to see Indian-film amounts of romance in an American film.
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Post by elizabennet on Jun 2, 2014 12:27:01 GMT
X-Men: Days of Future Past - I enjoyed it a lot. The cast was so so good. Not a weak link among them (fave actor James McAvoy and Jennifer Lawrence)
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odadune
Star of the item number
not around much due to stuff in my personal life.
Posts: 1,494
Favorite actor: Currently a certain Kumar, but I like most of them
Favorite actress: whoever's in films I'm interested in this week
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Post by odadune on Jun 28, 2014 4:18:11 GMT
Saving Mr. Banks. I can't talk about this movie without going on a rant about how thoroughly miscast Tom Hanks was as Walt Disney, how thoroughly loathsome Emma Thompson's PL Travers was, how much more loathsome the real thing was (three words: alleged child abuser), what a pair of gutless morons Travers's parents were in the film, how much I despise the particular anti-American snobbery of the type and class of Brit that Travers aspired to be, how much I despise the filmmakers for suggesting it was cute or excusable by her daddy issues, how little the "saving Mr. Banks" concept has to do with the actual books (which I have read, unlike the morons who wrote this film). The only emotional content in this film comes from the Sherman Brothers' songs (fifty odd years old at this point) and some Victorian bosh about spoiled, angelic looking little girls and their drunken dads, the only actually funny parts come from the Sherman Brothers' antics and the good-natured chauffeur played by Paul Giamatti. The production values are nice, and the More Casual Fan (the Disney nut, and also the 1960s nut) remarked to me that if you turned the sound off you would have rather a good documentary/reenactment thingie about the fashion, architecture and cars of the early 1960s. Might be worth watching if you go in for that kind of thing or are a fan of the cast and are vaguely familiar with Mary Poppins the movie without knowing too much about how it was made. For me, who saw the movie as a kid, read the books, knows something but not a ton about the making of the film, considers Tom Hanks overrated and Emma Thompson to be an amusing, talented woman with a really annoying personality cult attached to her, it was infuriating.
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Post by jabimetbollywood on Jun 28, 2014 18:33:17 GMT
^Thanks for that, Odadune! I haven't seen the movie, but all I'll heard is rave reviews and whenever that happens I love hearing the opposite opinion. Not sure what that says about me... I do like Emma Thompson. I hadn't been aware of being part of an annoying personality cult, but I'm pretty oblivious that way.  |
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Post by jabimetbollywood on Jun 28, 2014 18:41:25 GMT
Gravity-- What can I say? It effects were amazing and the movie was fascinating to watch. Very well done. But... I find post-success smug George Clooney so annoying. And I like Sandra Bullock fine in general but her speaking voice is not her strongest suit, so I found some of the sequences where you just hear her gasp and fearfully half-yell to be very ineffective and distracting to the overall effect of the movie. I wish they had cast someone else. And pet peeve-- Bullock's character's name is Ryan, which Clooney's character comments on and she replies, "My dad wanted a boy." Because, you see, the only way a mere female could become a successful scientist is if she spent her life trying to be a boy because of daddy issues. 
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odadune
Star of the item number
not around much due to stuff in my personal life.
Posts: 1,494
Favorite actor: Currently a certain Kumar, but I like most of them
Favorite actress: whoever's in films I'm interested in this week
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Post by odadune on Jun 28, 2014 22:05:42 GMT
^Thanks for that, Odadune! I haven't seen the movie, but all I'll heard is rave reviews and whenever that happens I love hearing the opposite opinion. Not sure what that says about me... I do like Emma Thompson. I hadn't been aware of being part of an annoying personality cult, but I'm pretty oblivious that way. I like her too, just a little tired of the "Zomg role model smartest woman in cinema can do no wrong blah blah blah" chatter that seems to surround her in the media - I don't know if you ever stumbled across me grumbling about Colin Firth's fanbase on the old Bollywhat forums, but I feel similarly here. She gives a pretty realistic and convincing performance in SMB, but she's portraying a really annoying brand of crazy person-one of the people I watched it with said she reminded them of their least favorite coworker-so,I didn't find it a lot of fun to watch. I liked Gravity a lot, dragged the non-Bollyviewers to see it in IMAX 3D and it was totally worth it. I don't like Clooney much but I thought that smug, cocky quality he has worked fairly well for that kind of over the hill astronaut from the generation who were mostly ex-military test pilots and skirt-chasing male chauvinists. I agree with you that Bullock hyperventilating got old, but IIRC they needed A-listers in order to get funding and she was one of the few high-profile actresses willing to take on a role where her face was covered for a fair chunk of the movie, so I give her props for doing something different. |
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Post by jabimetbollywood on Jun 30, 2014 4:22:47 GMT
they needed A-listers in order to get funding and she was one of the few high-profile actresses willing to take on a role where her face was covered for a fair chunk of the movie, so I give her props for doing something different. That is a good point. And it is a really good movie! I shouldn't be cranky about the casting, but I would have liked a different pair of actors so much better. (Emma Thompson? j/k!  ) |
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Since Sept. 6, 2022, Chiloka has not been reachable. (