nitin77

toddly,

Generally speaking, all Thai dvds/BDs Ive seen of hindi films are of bad quality, anamoprhic or otherwise. So I would stay clear of that one really (also I thought you got the Big Home Video BD??).

As for cinema vs tv, I think its safe to say that right now you can find brilliant examples of both, you just have to look for them (ie all the advertising doesnt necessarily go to the right ones). There's much tv to try out, Deadwood, Carnivale, Breaking Bad, Mad Men, Sopranos etc. There's even more films to try out.

PS : flixtime, you might want to go the link in my sig and check out the tv shows section. I'm sure you will disagree with plenty of my ratings but it might give you a good idea of what to try next maybe.

toddly6666

yeah, you are right, i have the BD, but i'm just curious if it's anamorphic or not. I wouldn't have bought it if so. If anamorphic, I would have just recommended it to the non-blu-ray folk!

flixtime

nitin, I'm definitely interested in stuff like BREAKING BAD, DEXTER, BURN NOTICE, MONK...and also I will give it a go with DEADWOOD. I just have a bad feeling about the SOPRANOS for some reason...and I know MAD MEN is getting high praise, but again it's not really grabbing my interest as of right now. Anyway, I tend to wait for the complete boxsets for these newer shows so I have a long wait I suppose for BREAKING BAD, DEXTER, BURN NOTICE, etc.,...I'm starting ASHES TO ASHES next week, and maybe if I can get DEADWOOD during some sale this coming holiday season I'll slot that next.



toddly, I'm actual have some hope for his upcoming ACTION REPLAYY with Aishwarya Rai...at least in the sense that I've being enjoying all these retro Bollywood films of late...so I'll likely enjoy the visuals, clothes, music, etc.

And what will you do....later this year Akshay Kumar is the lead in the new Farah Khan movie TEES MAAR KHAN...so you've got a director I seem to recall you being a fan of, and then Akshay Kumar.


And some youtube goodness...I mentioned when talking about DABANGG that there were two songs that made me want to dance in the aisles...so here are the youtube clips (no fears...neither one features me dancing in the aisles - though, when the DVD comes out - I might shake what my mama gave me in the comfort of my own family room...and in the interests of public decency, no way in heck is that going on youtube).

So following is the link to the title song - DABANGG:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rI7lgI6jbEU

And the youtube link to the item number - MUNNI:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKp13yRNOkk

toddly6666

Flixtime,
I would just be screwed if all the Bollywood actors died and the only one left is Askay Kumar. I just cant watch him - maybe I could if he was under the direction of Scorsese or Tarentino. But as long as he continues his usual shtick, ill never be able to watch him.

flixtime

I don't think you'll ever have to worry about that sort of thing...even if everyone croaks, there's always someone - son, daugther, nephew, niece, grandkid, cousin, in-law, etc. - on-hand in these film families ready to be the next Bollywood star. And on that note of nepotism in film...

Watched a few Telugu movies a little while back:

KOMARAM PULI (2010) - high-profile, big-budget...not worth the bother...an interesting prologue and a decent fight scene against a few guys wearing V For Vendetta masks but otherwise it isn't worthy of anyone's time. Actor Manoj Bajpai of SATYA fame plays the main villain.

VARUDU (2010) - slow-to-start and heavy-handed opening forty minutes where they just keep telling what a nice, old-fashioned, traditional young man lead actor ALLU Arjun is because he wants an arranged marriage. Once you slog through that though it gets quite decent actually. Some very nice visuals. Charismatic ALLU Arjun and the heroine actually kiss which is sort of an eye-opener especially for a Telugu film. Tamil actor Arya (from the terrific NAAN KADAVUL) excels as the villain of the film! There's a solid climactic duel between ALLU Arjun and Arya...which I can only find on youtube in very poor quality...so I won't link it. Sidenote: please no more basketball scenes in Indian movies...they are awful...see DHOOM 2.

JOSH (2009) - notable for one reason only...the acting debut of Telugu star Nagarjuna's son Naga Chaitanya. I thought Naga Chaitanya came up short in comparison to the recent debut of Telugu star Chiranjeevi's kid Ram Charan. I'll be watching Naga Chaitanya's second movie - YE MAAYA CHESAVE - in the coming weeks so maybe he improves in that one. What else...actor J.D. Chakravarthi of SATYA fame plays the main villain. Sidenote: again, please no more basketball scenes in Indian movies...or at least hire someone as a technical consultant.

BAANAM (2009) - notable for the acting debut of NARA Rohit...nephew of a major bigshot Telugu politician. I found him a little stiff and bland as a first-time performer. A decent righteous cop movie, memorable for the fact that the runtime was only an hour and forty-eight minutes or so. I probably should have written more about it when it was still fresh in my mind.

flixtime

Peepli Live has been selected as India's submission to the Oscars.

flixtime

Forgot to mention in my previous post...also watched the Malayalam film KEERTHI CHAKRA (2006). The movie was the directorial debut of Major Ravi (MISSION 90 DAYS (2007))...yes, he was an actual major in the military. The movie was standard fare with regard to showing the Indian military in conflict versus terrorists in Kashmir. However, it was more lined up as a tribute to the sacrifice of these soldiers, and as such was entirely more successful than the godawful LINE OF CONTROL. Plus, it was nice to see a different spin in that it focused on South Indian soldiers for once...Bollywood/Hindi films seem to entirely dismiss the existence of the southern half of India. The movie is slated for a Hindi-language remake starring Suniel Shetty which I presume would eliminate one of the key points of interest aka the focus on India's soldiers from the south. Mohanlal was the lead in this Malayalam version and the character also appeared in a sequel KURUKSHETRA (2008)...which I have not yet watched...this version of KURUKSHETRA is not related to the well-known Sanjay Dutt film (which I seem to recall enjoying). And Mohanlal is slated to appear a third time as the character in a future project from Director Major Ravi...a based-on-a-true story plane hijacking tale - KANDAHAR. This will be a high-profile project as Amitabh Bachchan is also attached to star in the movie.


And, I do plan to catch up with a few Tamil films a couple of weeks from now...along with the Hindi RED ALERT (2009) starring Suniel Shetty...what's with all the Naxalite movies recently - RAAVAN, BAANAM, RED ALERT - to name a few off the top of my head.

flixtime

For those considering a trip out tonight to catch ENDHIRAN...well, I'd strongly advise against it. I'll check in a little later tonight with more thoughts on the matter.

flixtime

Endhiran: The Robot (2010)
Watched the Hindi version, and found it thoroughly lacking despite going in with only modest expectations. Director Shankar turns away from his best - socially conscious pop cinema - such as ANNIYAN, MUDHALVAN, INDIAN, SIVAJI, etc., and delivers a hollow, meaningless, big-budget (wasting) bore. I found the pre-intermission ninety minutes to be entirely unengaging, and I started to sense disappointment (and that I was in for a long afternoon) from the opening scene. There wasn't really much to annoy (as I find with some of the Indian movies I tend to dislike), but at the same time there was nothing that registered a positive with me either. I thought the film lacked for story and thus interest...just stalker romance between Aishwarya Rai and the robot version of Rajnikanth (he plays dual roles, the other being the inventor of the robot), and comedy. On the topic of performances I thought Aishwarya Rai was really quite poor, and shared zero chemistry with actor Rajnikanth. Rajnikanth I found rather non-existent...he does play dual roles but there really isn't much depth or range to his performance, especially as the inventor...one-note and wooden. None of the supporting players were of any significance in picking up the slack, and the villain - generally a rather reliable and consistent part in South Indian cinema - was rather bland and underwritten. The film lacked for character development and/or interesting character arcs. The song and dance was a letdown (I liked every song/dance in DABANGG better than the songs here). Given the huge budget, I really expected the film to be much greater in scope, grandeur, and superficial spectacle but it really wasn't there at all. Early in the post-intermission half I did find one oddball segment interesting...at least as a test run if they ever do some sort of Indian Pixar film...it was a bit with some talking CGI mosquitos...again, kind of a curious little scene that doesn't fit but at least it generated some interest. Also in the second half was a song set in some old ruins in the Andes Mountains that was pleasing because of the nice looking South American location. I suppose the main point of praise would be a perhaps 10-12 segment of the action climax that made for interesting spectacle and offered some of the grandeur that had been entirely lacking until then. It was an interesting segment both creatively and technically. Unfortunately, such as I found with Korea's THE GOOD, THE BAD, THE WEIRD, that's all it was a little bit of a show reel (the kind you can simply catch on youtube instead of watching the whole movie)...as I just didn't care at all about the characters and the story was just too empty. I wasn't a fan of either Shankar's previous SIVAJI or the other recent high-profile Tamil film Kamal Hassan's DASAVATHARAM, yet they both contained significantly more interesting material - and would rate higher in my book -than anything in ENDHIRAN. It's very disheartening to see Director Shankar go from such praiseworthy and well-intentioned cinema such as ANNIYAN, MUDHALVAN, etc. to something as vacant as ENDHIRAN. I even found the sci-fi-ish slant to something like the Tamil film E from a few years ago to be more interesting than the sci-fi aspect of ENDHIRAN. Despite not being enamored with works such as SIVAJI or DASAVATHARAM, I'd rather watch those two films ten times over before even considering the thought of watching ENDHIRAN again. I haven't really commented on the special effects, CGI, etc. because I'm not overly concerned with those aspects...if I care about the story and characters I can easily overlook subpar work in CGI and special effects (not saying that the work here is subpar, it is a mixed bag but generally quite passable...certainly more good than bad). On the international stage, ENDHIRAN is a waste. If you want robot tales just stick with A.I., ROBOCOP, BICENTENNIAL MAN, I ROBOT, TRANSFORMERS, etc., and even outside the U.S. something like HINOKIO from Japan or, even though it technically isn't a robot, something like the magnificently rich AIR DOLL (also from Japan). At least these movies stirred me in some way. ENDHIRAN's attempt at relating a tale of a robot coming to grip with its developing human feelings failed to generate interest or even simple excitement for me, it lacked for any sort of depth, meaning, or substance, and it couldn't even deliver the basics of mass appeal Indian melodrama to touch my emotions on even the most simple of levels. ENDHIRAN was a flat and very bland three-hour endurance test to sit through.

nitin77

flixtime,

Deadwood comes to blu ray in December, I'd expect some older dvd sets available for cheap around that time. I know mine will be up for sale in Aus.

flixtime

Appreciate the heads-up nitin...I'll keep a close eye on DEADWOOD to see if any deals turn up.


Another comment with regard to Director Shankar...and something I find rather off-putting in his recent work aka both ENDHIRAN and SIVAJI. There's a scene in ENDHIRAN where Aishwarya Rai - after a spat with boyfriend Rajnikanth - becomes jokingly flirtatious with a village fisherman-type. The fisherman fellow is of course thrilled and to paraphrase says something like "I'm so lucky that a dark-skinned and ugly guy like me has a chance with the lovely Aishwarya Rai-character". And I have vague recollection too of SIVAJI where there was a scene early in that movie in which Rajnikanth is distressed by the romantic intentions of two "dark and ugly-type" sisters. As I gather, and very broadly speaking, there is sort of this Indian stereotype of dark Dravidian South Indian in comparison to lighter Aryan North Indian. Now, a significant portion of Tamil audiences would likely be closer in skin tone (right?) to what Shankar relates as "dark" and thus the seemingly related "ugly". Even if I'm offbase in that assumption, isn't it rather offensive to many in the audience when Shankar includes those sort of scenes. Maybe it's just me and I'm not getting what he is going for but I don't receive it with the comical tone it seems intended to have. Anyway, to my eyes, it seems rather ill-advised and seems to send a rather bad message.

nitin77

flixtime,

that sort of perception (fair skin is better, dark skin is inferior) is cemented in indian culture. It's like the western obsession with tanning but taken to a whole new level.

zombeaner

I liked it, but I saw it in Tamil with a Tamil audience, so I probably had a very different experience.

InnocentBlood

i thought that the *real* star of ENDHIRAN was Legacy Effects. You could see that the bulk of the budget went into the big fight climax scene.

zombeaner

I cannot discount the Superstar, but I agree 100% about that climax, it is amazing. I mentioned it as such in my review, with the same conclusion about the effects budget.

zombeaner

Is this a remake of the Hindi film? The Romeo + Juliet story?

flixtime

zombeaner, "no" the Telugu JOSH is not a take on the Hindi Shahrukh Khan movie from some time back. The Telugu movie is more a message movie about college life...and I don't recall the romantic track to the story being that significant to the movie.

flixtime

ANIMAL KINGDOM has just been released on Australian DVD and Blu-ray.

toddly6666

Telugu's Jaganmohini starring chubby bombshell Namitha is out on DVD soon!

This movie looks pretty damn funny, check out the trailer!

http://www.bhavanidvd.com/product_in...oducts_id=4728

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Those Telugu Indians love those muffin tops!

So is this Namitha considered the Megan Fox of Telugu India? lol

flixtime

I'm going to make a trip to the theater either today or this weekend to catch KHELEIN HUM JEE JAAN SEY. It's the latest movie from Director Ashutosh Gowariker (LAGAAN, JODHAA AKBAR, SWADES). This one stars Jr. Bachchan and is a based-on-a-true-story tale of an uprising by young Indian revolutionaries against the British in 1930's India - specifically a raid of a British armory. This new movie is actually the first of two films based on this incident - the Chittagong Uprising - the other, simply titled CHITTAGONG, will star Manoj Bajpai and is slated for release in 2011.

Gowariker's film released today. Here is a trailer at youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BP8wKmLRrXU

toddly6666

Now that looks like a good movie from India!

I hope the English actors in this aren't too amateurish and distracting though. It looks like another case of "let's just throw in some English tourists into the movie because it's cheap."

flixtime

It looks like I'll be catching it today, so I certainly hope it is good. While I'm not expecting LAGAAN or even THE LEGEND OF BHAGAT SINGH, it'd be nice if this one turns out significantly better than MANGAL PANDEY.

I don't have any high expectations with regard to the non-Indian performances, in other words I'm anticipating par-for-the-course or the equal of what we got in the three films mentioned above...at least that is better than tourist-from-the-airport "acting".

I do wonder if Jr. Bachchan is right for this type of role. I like him better when he is just being himself in nice-guy, contemporary roles...I don't know if he has it in him to do a quality job with this role...he just seems a little bland.

zombeaner

I'm watching Simha on youtube, and so far it is pretty fun!

flixtime

For anyone considering going out to catch KHELEIN HUM JEE JAAN SEY, I'd strongly advise against it...it was not a good film at all. I'll pop back in later today and expand on that statement.

zombeaner

That's a shame, Jodhaa Akbar and Swades were both pretty damned good movies. The only Indian movies I'm aware of that I'm looking forward to for 2010 are Ranga the Donga and Tees Maar Khan