I will start off with the movies I recently watched, that I liked [that means there is going to be rant at the end - imaginary Ed] -
1. 3 Deewarein - The only hindi movie that I watched in the recent times, that I really liked and had absolutely no shades of any other Hollywood movies. It is a beautifully narrated story of three prisoners sentenced to death (Nagesh Kukunoor, Naseeruddin Shah and Jackie Shroff), a battered wife/documentary film maker trying to get their story (Juhi Chawla) and the common thread that unites them, that they have no idea about. There are no songs in the movie, no laugh-out-loud scenes - just chuckle-inducing mild humor - and no fights in the climax with a twist ending. I highly recommend the movie - it had held my attention throughout with not a single moment of boredom.
2. Darna Mana Hai - A pretty good movie for hindi standards, but then you come to expect that from Varma Productions. A novel idea - 7 friends trapped in a jungle trying to tell each other scary stories to pass time. The stories are pretty nice and Roald Dahl-esque (not the kiddie ones, the other stories). Again, no songs in the movie and the tension is pretty good and the ending is kinda neat too, leaving enough threads hanging to justify a sequel. My only gripe is the way each of the narrated stories ended - some of them were carried beyond what should have been the punchline, which is as if the director doesn’t think his audience are clever enough to “get” the ending unless he drives the point home - this is especially evident in the Aftab’s story and Raghuvir Yadav’s story. Vivek Oberoi’s story was the best.
3. Two Girls and a Guy - I curse Netflix for giving this DVD an interesting enough blurb that I wanted to watch it. What a waste of time! Carla (Heather Graham) and Lou, find out that they are waiting outside an apartment complex trying to surprise their boyfriend flying in that day, who happens to be the same guy, Blake (Robert Downey Jr.) - a lying, two-timing, loathsome freak. The rest of the movie is set in Blake’s apartment, where the girls get drunk, try to get Blake to answer why he was cheating on them, have sex with him and talk some more (though not in that order). The only reason I watched the movie to completion was to make sure there wasn’t a point to the movie that I was missing.
I was right - there was no point to the movie. The dialogue was stilted and fake - in parts it looked as if the actors were told to talk and the camera started filming them, since I can’t believe someone was paid to write that crap. Robert Downey acted pretty good and was the only saving grace of the movie, while the other two are so unconvincing, they might as well be talking at each other instead to them. All in all, a really weird movie.
Posted by shanti at August 13, 2003 9:38 AMTrackBack URL for this entry:
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I haven’t watched a movie in months except for the umpteeth screening of Get Shorty. Ever since we got Zee TV and Sony in our house, my mom and wife have been glued to the television in the evenings watching their pointless soap operas.
The sad thing is that I’ve been snared into watching too. Sure you hate them in the beginning, but they grow on you until you realize your hooked. It’s the closest thing to addiction I suppose.
:mad:
Posted by: Niraj at August 13, 2003 11:55 AM
LOL, Niraj - we didn’t get that at our home - just the regular channels, since my husband and I are hardly home enough to watch anything.
We only watch a couple of sitcoms, “Survivor” and the NBA on TV - that’s all :)
Posted by: Shanti at August 13, 2003 12:23 PM
My Netflix recommendations:
1. Bread and Tulips [Italian with English subtitles]
2. Il Postino [Italian with English subtitles]
3. Big Deal on Madonna Street [Italian with Eng subtitles]
4. Waiting for Guffman [Hollywood]
More later…
Posted by: Quizman at August 13, 2003 1:05 PM
You should watch this german movie called “The Experiment” (available on DVD - Das Experiment). Very lord-of-the-fliesish, a group of 16 people are divided into groups in a simulated prison environment, as part of a psychological experiment. Of course, the fun starts when things go horribly wrong….
In case you are interested in watchin another heather graham masterpiece, checkout “Killing me softly”. Wooden dialogue delivery, laughably contrived situations (hero & heroine wait at a zebra crossing and press the “walk” button, their hands brush — and within five minutes they are sweatin it out in bed!!!! — wish things were that simple :) ).
Ralph Fiennes acts as an expressionless-zombie who climbs mountains for a living (even the broom closet in the movie had more life than him). The only passably good part is the sex — a whole lot of it, esp. of the kinky s&m variety.
—Ashok
Posted by: Ashok at August 14, 2003 3:45 AM
Quizman, thanks for the recs - I will check them out.
Ashok, that movie is already in my rental queue - it sounded really interesting. As for Heather Graham classics, ;) I think I have had enough :)
Posted by: Shanti at August 14, 2003 7:01 AM
Yesterday I saw Kshana Kshanam. I had seen this long time back dubbed in Hindi (titled Hairaan). Yesterday I saw the Telugu version with English subtitles. I am still impressed with the way that film was made, Sridevi and Paresh Rawal were awesome. And also couple of great songs.
Posted by: JK at August 15, 2003 1:11 PM
JK - one of the best parts of the movie is Paresh Rawal’s dialogues, which are obviously lost in translation. I admire Ramgopal Verma and Mani Ratnam in the diversity of the movies they have created.
“Kaun” for instance is such a cool movie and interesting too, with just three characters.
Posted by: Shanti at August 15, 2003 1:19 PM