zoran009

JTHJ, was one of the worst YRF film with SRK.
I won't count Katrina as she was a show piece to pull the crowds;( she was abysmal;( story a big bad cocktail ;( stale;(
The two others, I did not see! So no comments.
I can't wait your take in Mandoola lol
Re others , I personally liked Zero Dark 30 over Argo( overrated and heck of slow).whether either should have wine Oscar? No comments

flixtime

Hi zoran, I'm just a little unclear...are you waiting for my post on Bhardwaj's movie...if so, I already posted on it...my post prior to the JAB TAK HAI JAAN post. Or perhaps you were conveying that you were surprised I liked Bhardwaj's movie.

I found MATRU KI BIJLEE KA MANDOLA rather impressive...I'm sort of hit or miss when it comes to quirky/whimsical stuff but I liked it...maybe it felt a little like something that might come out from Eastern Europe in the form of a political satire/farce type movie.

Yeah, the two female leads in JAK TAK HAI JAAN - besides showing off their legs in short skirts/shorts - did little else of note. I don't think much of Katrina Kaif as an actress...she just comes across the same in every role...kind of Katrina Kaif being Katrina Kaif. She's pretty for sure, yet I don't find her appealing...in terms of any sex appeal. Man, I still can't believe how incredibly idiotic JAB TAK HAI JAAN was.

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Talaash (2012 - Hindi) - Atmospheric and moody...and dull. Taking everything into consideration...it is a "good" movie...but from an entertainment value perspective it grades out lesser than good. As was the case with KAHAANI...TALAASH from a production standpoint is certainly of International quality. I'll be vague to avoid spoilers. Primarily the film is a mystery...but it was slow to develop and had too many overlong dialogue scenes...in general the 140-minute runtime needed to be trimmed by twenty minutes at least. I also thought the songs were an added speed bump and one or two at least should have been eliminated. In addition to the mystery aspect, there is a domestic track focusing on the investigating cop and his wife. Now, what hurt the experience for me is that there are two disparate elements at work in this film. For this to have worked, the pace needed to be much quicker and the story needed to be more immersive. But it wasn't. This type of story needed to be brisk about its business in order to stay ahead of the viewer. Since I found it slow and dull and unengaging, I was thinking ahead of the movie and I was fixating on the reason for the two disparate aspects to the story. And then I figured it out...far too early in the proceedings...and then I disengaged from the movie...if you figure out the mystery too early on in this type of film then it doesn't succeed. I wasn't that captured either by Aamir Khan's performance...it came across as...rigid. Also, I would have preferred a more girlish actress in place of Kareena Kapoor. Rani Mukherjee did a nice job as the wife...and there was some good supporting work...though I didn't buy into how they handled Nawazuddin Siddiqui's character in the second half of the film...in general I thought the second half had a couple of nitpick type believability issues...not to mention overexplaining everything at the end...and the climax not having as much emotional weight in terms of the case being investigated as it should have (the story needed to be tweaked to give it more of a tug-at-the-heart-strings pull). I can see some viewers who don't catch on to things too early being more impressed by this effort...but for me, this was just not close to being in the same league as KAHAANI.


Probably time for some Tamil/Telugu viewings...Ram Charan's latest NAAYAK perhaps to kick things off.

nitin77

agree it was not as good as Kahaani but it had the mood and atmosphere right and I was quite intrigued by the side characters (particularly Siddiqui's). Pacing and scripting could have been better but I liked this one.

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Naayak (2013 - Telugu) - Not much to say really...it's a Telugu movie...fight scene, dance scene, family/"comedy" scene, "romance" scene...rinse and repeat...oh yeah, forgot, intermission twist with most of second half dedicated to flashback storytelling. Unsurprisingly there isn't anything of note on the positive side of the ledger. Thankfully there isn't anything of note on the negative side either...for Telugu movies that is a good thing...not being annoying/dumb is a plus...it probably helps that I hadn't watched a Telugu film in a while...so my patience level was rather high. So, yeah, NAAYAK was a tolerable 160-minutes. Generally speaking, the song/dance in Telugu movies is bloody awful as compared to Hindi and Tamil cinema...so too NAAYAK isn't of interest in that regard...the standard Caucasian women are whores song, item number...the item girl being of the grade D variety, lame romantic ballads in International locales, etc. One point that caught my attention...one of the female leads - Amala Paul - totally looks like she could be the younger sister of Deepika Padukone...I had seen Amala Paul before, notably in the recommended Tamil film MYNAA, but I hadn't picked up on the resemblance.

nitin77

saw Shanghai finally, liked it, not a patch on Costa-Gavras's Z but to be fair this is its own beast and apart from one scene in the bathroom, it doesnt really remind you of Z.

Takes a little while to get going and the social activist in this who gets killed lacks the screen presence that was probably necessary to make the first half more engaging but the second half is very strong IMHO. In fact this is probably the opposite of most hindi movies, ok first half but very good second half.

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While nothing approaches KAHAANI for me as the best Indian film of 2012, I could relate to someone ranking SHANGHAI as high as number two for the year. Off the top of my head I'd probably slot it in my top five as of right now...and by that my list would be a hybrid of best/favorite so while SHANGHAI would score high as "best", something like CHAKRAVYUH or EEGA would score more for "favorite" aka entertainment value. ISHAQZAADE would be the other on that list.



As mentioned, I'm planning to do some catching up on some Tamil cinema...most notably Director Bala's PARADESI, Mani Ratnam's KADAL, the Tamil version of DAVID (before also viewing the Hindi version because it contains an extra character), ALEX PANDIAN, the high-profile VISHWAROOPAM, AADHI BHAGAVAN, MANKATHA, THREE (which launched a short-term craze over one of its songs), the superhero film MUGAMOODI, etc.

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Kadal (2013 - Tamil) - The latest from renowned Tamil/Hindi director Mani Ratnam sees him back exclusively in the Tamil arena after spending the last number of years either embedded in Hindi cinema (GURU) or having a foot in both the Tamil/Hindi camps with dual entries such as AYITHA EZHUTHU/YUVA and RAAVANAN/RAAVAN.

Would I tag KADAL as "recommended"? Yes, I would...most certainly. Is KADAL a "good" film? Perhaps not quite. So, yeah, I guess this requires some explaining.

Two's company, three's a crowd...
KADAL is a curious beast...a hybrid. It's an arthouse movie. It's a Christian-themed religious movie. It's a commercial thriller and boy meets girl romance. In that sense, there just might be too much going on for KADAL to make a significant "imprint". Mani Ratnam would have been better off opting for either arthouse/Christian-theme or mass market/Christian-theme.

A little something for everyone, yet not enough for anyone to be fully satisfied...
To carry on further with KADAL's coming up short in terms of leaving a lasting imprint. There is a strong arthouse vibe that carries through the first half and more of KADAL, yet arthouse viewers will be disappointed by the masala track the film jumps to for the final thirty minutes plus (150-minute total runtime). Relatedly, mass market folks will have disconnected with this movie rather early in the runtime. The boy/girl romance is there but centered upon primarily in the mid-portion of the second half. The movie does feature lovely music from A.R. Rahman...yet even that might not work for some...in the sense that arthouse viewers might prefer a trimming away of say a romantic ballad.

While there does seem to be a sense of familiarity in play with KADAL with Mani Ratnam perhaps glancing back and revisiting his filmography to date, I'd be curious to learn more of Ratnam's own take on this latest entry. Tracing back from his previous effort, the Naxalite-centered RAAVANAN/RAAVAN and through to his earlier works, Mani Ratnam has always been a focused socio-political filmmaker. In that regard, I'm wondering about his selection of Christianity in KADAL. Is it as simple as spreading his wings to cover an under-explored arena? As a result of the rapid growth of Christianity in India, is Mani Ratnam simply offering a cinematic embrace or acceptance? It seems you can't make a movie of any substance in India without some overly sensitive special interest group or another taking offense (not much better is the overly PC United States that won't let me watch an episode of the TV-show HANNIBAL)...thus here too Ratnam actually found himself in some hot water with Christian groups in India.

I do hope is it as simple as exploring something new under the sun. A cynic might consider KADAL an attempt to pander to the Christian-based Western world...for awards and acclaim...but I don't think that is the case. Plus Matnam's approach to the religious-theme in KADAL is too old-time Hollywood, too simplistic, too antiquated...it is John Wayne's ANGEL AND THE BADMAN. As such, the film likely lacks for sophistication...contemporary arthouse fare calls for something more descended from Robert Bresson perhaps...maybe something such as Andrey Zvyagintsev's THE BANISHMENT (by the way, I did watch Zvyagintsev's most recent ELENA a while back and quite liked it...it isn't THE BANISHMENT or THE RETURN...but it's still unquestionably good).

Anyway, I hope I offered some sense of what KADAL is about. It is a very interesting effort. There is a lot to like and it is entertaining. At the same time, as mentioned, it fails to "imprint". All said and done, there is an absence of weightiness. The old-fashioned handling of the religious theme also has its consequences...primarily a sense of predictability in the outcome...thus the film - when considering recent Tamil artsy/commercial fare - can't measure up to some of the darker or outcome-in-doubt entries such as 2004's KAADHAL, 2010's MYNAA, etc.

And still, KADAL is certainly in the running for a spot on my 2013 Best of Indian Cinema list...a little lower in the 6-10 range but it'll likely be there. Even if only based on it being "interesting/engaging/entertaining/ambitious", I preferred KADAL over the other recent Mani Ratnam films I mentioned earlier.

I'm halfway tempted to go on more about KADAL with regard to story, performances, and such...but it'd be more superficial commentary...and I've been longwinded enough for the moment.

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David (2013 - Tamil) - Following on my viewing of KADAL, watching this one too now makes me feel like it's bible studies week at the movies for me. This month has been rough going as far as movie watching so I guess I'm not surprised to close the month on a down note...and DAVID is most definitely that. The movie is basically about two separate characters named David...there is zero connection between the two...so it is basically two (overlong) short films cut together. One track of the film follows actor Vikram and his moral crisis over what to do after finding himself in love with his best friend's fiancee. This section of the movie was a near complete failure. The main issue being that Vikram's David is a total drunken loser...and yes the alcohol warning message from the censor board is on-screen a lot during this section. There is some good music during this half of the movie and there is some charm in scenes containing the deaf and mute fiancee (played by the lovely Isha Sharvani from LUCK BY CHANCE)...but other than that I found this section alternatingly annoying and boring.

The other portion with actor Jiiva fares better...though even it is dull and unengaging until around the 48-minute mark in the runtime (so the movie alternating between the two Davids until that point was pretty bad). Jiiva's David is a struggling guitarist and son of the local priest. This section - at the 48-minute mark - perks up after his father is targeted by a high level politician. After an incident, Jiiva's David begins to consider a path towards avenging the wrongdoing to his father. Actually, this storyline has some potential in terms of developing it as a standalone film...the spread of Christianity in India and persecution from right wing Hindu politicians. So for the latter half of the film, the movie is a decent viewing...at least in the scenes where it switches over to Jiiva's David.

This is one of those movies that opens by showing scenes (for each David) that come at the climax of the movie...I thought that utilizing that technique here also hurt the movie as it removed a certain level of interest that might've been there otherwise. As was the case with KADAL, the Christianity vibe here also lessens the interest level because you can sort of anticipate how the two Davids will deal with their respective moral challenges. The total runtime was only 118-minutes and it felt long and slow. The director was Bejoy Nambiar and this movie was his follow-up entry to his debut film SHAITAN from a couple of years ago...SHAITAN was far superior. Bejoy Nambiar also directed the Hindi version which has a slightly altered cast and more notably adds a third David character...I had been planning to watch that version as well, but given how unimpressive the Tamil version was...perhaps subjecting myself to the Hindi version would be rather senseless. DAVID rates comfortably as thumbs down.

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Vishwaroopam (2013 - Tamil) - And the slump extends into May...yup, it is negative rating scale time again...as was the case with JAB TAK HAI JAAN, we again have a dumb movie from someone - actor/director/writer Kamal Hassan - with so much money and film experience that...I don't know...it is difficult to wrap my head around how they turn out such garbage. This movie falls in the terrorist vs. secret agent genre. I'd guess that about two-thirds of the movie's 149-minute runtime takes place in the New York metro area, with the remaining third - the flashback section - being set in Pakistan/Afghanistan. The opening third or so of the movie is rather awful...the opening twenty minutes plus is a particular challenge to sit through. Basically, the entire runtime in the New York section is just plain bad on so many levels...there is some truly awful acting and it is just stupid as far as the story goes. The most palatable section is perhaps for about a half hour of the flashback portion just prior to the intermission (which occurs past the halfway point of the runtime). They do revisit the flashback portion at times during the second half...and again this section is tolerable. Though I did find the jumping back and forth in the second half to be an awkard construction of the screenplay. The last acts of the film in New York aren't too far removed on the idiocy scale from the standard set in JAB TAK HAI JAAN. My venom is justified as setting aside any comparison of VISHWAROOPAM to other world cinema, it is still a lousy movie when measured solely in the arena of Tamil cinema. So if you want some R.A.W. agent action go for something more commited to the idea like AGENT VINOD (as problematic as that film was), or for some terrorist-themed entries go for the Hindi films such as NEW YORK or KURBAAN. I realize other's opinions should be respected, but...well, for instance, let's talk baseball, one might put forth in their opinion that the Houston Astros or Miami Marlins were going to win the World Series this year...but...having that opinion would mark you as a complete idiot...likewise goes for anyone who'd recommend VISHWAROOPAM.



With that out of the way...I'm wondering about...my continued longwindedness I suppose - whether it be this thread or my participation in the Asian thread - looking at the view counts, interest level seems to have dipped low enough that...well......the journey and the pleasure of such fine company has been my good fortune.

zoran009

Re Kamal Hasan I had heard so much about Dashavatarum, and boy o boy. How much disappointed I was. It was too cheesy , too mediocre and even lower to his calibre.
Last decent movie I saw him in was Hey Ram, unfortunately, did not see entire Abhay due to repeated bad DEI DVDs;(
I think he is done, he can't even live up to Rajni of Robot lol( masala) and all computer!

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Yeah, I didn't like DASAVATHARAM either and I've done my best to delete it from my memory...but if forced to watch one again, then DASAVATHARAM would be my viewing choice....it being the lesser of two evils. VISHWAROOPAM...well, there were periods of the flashback sections that contained interesting material for sure...but the rest of the movie was awful. It was dumb and senseless. I don't see the point in Kamal Hassan playing his character as "swishy" during the early portions based in the U.S. The actress who played his wife and the actor who played her boss were pretty bad. We've had discussions in this forum before about the bad non-Asian actors, or more precisely tourists, that they sometimes use in Asian films. At least for films shot in Asia there might be some excuse, but a lot of this film was shot in the U.S....so what was the excuse for the really bad performances in some of the non-Indian roles...it was a big-budget movie, couldn't they have found some better performers...a lot to choose from here in the U.S. Relatedly, Kamal Hassan did a terrible job in directing the actors...and in general his work here as a director was amateurish and unsophisticated. And worst of all, they didn't even wrap up this nonsense in one film, but instead left it open and to be continued in VISHWAROOPAM 2...seemingly coming later this year.

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Aadhi Bhagavan (2013 - Tamil) - This is the fourth directorial effort from Ameer Sultan; I've seen the previous two PARUTHI VEERAN and RAAM and seem to recall having a positive (yup, it's been know to happen...haha) opinion with regard to both. AADHI BHAGAVAN...well, broadly speaking, I suppose I'd place it in a category with films like DON (and all its remakes and regional variants). I enjoyed the movie...it likely isn't to the level set in his two earlier films I've watched...but this latest was average, watchable, quite reasonably entertaining. The most amusing part for me was the performance of lead actor Jeyam Ravi (who I'd seen before as the lead in PERAANMAI). As to be expected from my mention of DON, he has a dual role here. In one of the roles his character is "swishy"...rather amusingly so...in that sense he certainly outclassed Kamal Hassan's "swishy" turn in VISHWAPOOPAM. There's also a quite decent rap song...significantly better - at least to my ears - than the usual rap efforts in Indian movies...the song isn't particularly inspired or anything, but the Tamil/Canadian rapper - Tha Prophecy - turns in quite a reasonable facsimile as far as rap music goes...not that I really know anything about rap music or music in general. AADHI BHAGAVAN should prove satisfying to those with a loose DON-type craving.

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Pairon Talle (2010 - Hindi) - This film played the festival circuit under the title SOUL OF SAND...prior to its release in India in 2011. PAIRON TALLE is a low-budget, indie revolving around a lowly watchman (and his wife) and their acting as caretakers for a decrepit mining business...problem is that their boss isn't the nicest guy around. This film was really nicely done...thorougly engaging and well-handled especially during the first two-thirds of the 98-minute runtime. I thought the director - Sidharth Srinivasan - sort of lost his grip on things in the final half hour...especially for about twenty minutes prior to the climax. A couple of times the acting slipped and thus the scenes might have benefitted from having another go at them. Also, a handful of plot developments required better execution in terms of directing...how the story unfolds was fine, but the execution needed some work. The film is an interesting fusion...the director states it himself when he mentions it being a social realism type entry early on and a genre picture later on...that is certainly accurate...it's a little arthouse, a little indie, and too a nice suspense genre picture. The best comparison I can offer is to say that PAIRON TALLE would fit in comfortably with the downbeat, low-budget, indie cinema coming out of South Korea these past few years. Despite the issues I've mentioned, I quite enjoyed PAIRON TALLE...as a viewer I was continually engaged from open to close...and I'd be well receptive to the idea of watching it again someday. I watched the Indian DVD release...the film is also available on R1 DVD.

nitin77

Kai Po Che - I thought this was pretty decent, well acted and well shot with very suitable songs/music, some of the plotting/scripting is a bit lazy but the characters are well written. Also gets bonus points from me for being one of the rare hindi movies to attempt to have a crack at the influence of cricket on aspects of daily life in India.

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nitin, with regard to your mention of cricket, there is a small peak at that in PAIRON TALLE. There is a brief scene early on where the watchman is getting a shave and scalp massage...it is inexpensive enough but I was sort of wondering why this guy with not much money was spending it on a shave/scalp massage...at first I thought that "heck, everyone is entitled to some small indulgence...if it makes them happy"...he is listening to cricket on the barber's radio while getting the shave and scalp massage...and later there is again a scene where the watchman is having some drinks at a friend's place and the watchman asks the buddy if the buddy would turn on the radio so that the watchman could listen to the cricket match. So seeing this later scene gave me greater insight into the earlier scene...it maybe wasn't so much about the shave/scalp massage but he was paying for that service so that he could listen to the cricket match (the watchman did not otherwise have any access to TV/radio).




Paradesi (2013 - Tamil) - This is the sixth directorial effort from director Bala (I'm a big fan of his NAAN KADAVUL). This takes a look at indentured servitude on a tea plantation in 1939 India. To my great disappointment, this is Bala's poorest film...I thought it was a complete swing-and-miss. It starts off with some powerful opening text explaining how villagers in time of drought and famine ended up leaving their villages to go and work as near slaves at British Raj tea plantations. But instead of a powerful ROOTS-like tale, Bala completely fumbles this starting at the script level...it was a poor vision for what sort of movie this should have been. First off, they spending perhaps the opening thirty-five minutes (of the short 118-minute runtime) focusing on village life and specifically one male lead character. The choice to make this character slow-witted was a big mistake...it served no purpose except to take away from the main subject matter. This opening section was just way too long...beside being conceptually weak. The movie was flat all the way to the intermission at around the fifty-one minute mark where the villagers head off to work at the tea plantation. Even the build-up to the intermission was poorly done as they never really show us the feeling of drought and famine...there are some overlong scenes set to song and the lyrics of the song relate a lot of things that should have been shown to us in the movie and not conveyed by lyrics in a song. I had hope the movie would pick up once it moved to the scenic tea plantation. But then it becomes both a bad exploitation movie and a heavy-handed, woe-is-me melodrama. As to the exploitation part, it comes primarily from the cartoonishly evil, lecherous British owner of the plantation. And here again the non-Indian "actors" aka tourists are just terrible in this movie. And I know labeling a movie about slavery as "woe-is-me" seems curious but...I don't know...instead of being moved by this story...it...what does Eli Wallach say in THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN..."if God didn't want them sheared, he shouldn't have made them sheep"...so, yeah, a film about slavery is a failure if that is the feeling it gives me. The second half too does have some unnecessarily long songs...though the music and lyrics are fine...they relate feelings/emotions/tone that should have been handled directly in the film and not via song. And in a final misguided decision, director Bala includes a song and dance number with about twenty minutes to go...and it is bizarre...focusing on a newly introduced Indian doctor and his British aka white wife and their preaching Christianity to the plantation workers...the scene is actually quite good...but not for this movie....the movie is serious in tone, yet this song felt like something out of a Monty Python movie...maybe earlier in the film it would have worked...but it completely fails in terms of tone and coming as it does right before the climax. And one more technical criticism...the audio for this film should have been recorded in sync sound. I realize that the majority of Indian films are post-dubbed, but sometimes...especially for this type of material, it really hurts the experience. I didn't care for the performances...but giving it some thought...perhaps the performances were fine...but they came across as bad do to the audio being post-dubbed...as an example for crying scenes...because of the post-dubbing the acting came across as artificial...it was probably okay...but the post-dubbing gave it a fake quality that robbed the scenes of their intended emotion. Until this film, I've believed that director Bala has a filmography to be proud of...and he deserves credit for choosing a powerful subject in PARADESI...but it was a complete failure across the board and I am greatly disappointed by Bala's poor handling of this movie...two thumbs down on PARADESI.



Some randomness...I watched FLIGHT with Denzel Washington and liked it...especially the early section...the later alcoholic stuff was more standard fare. I had been doing a good job of blowing through assorted TV seasons but a while back it reached the point of burn-out...a feeling of sameness started to sink in...probably doesn't help that'd it'd be near impossible for any show to match the thrill of watching entries such as THE SHIELD, THE WIRE, BREAKING BAD, etc. I did mention in the Asian thread about maybe doing a Cuba Gooding Jr. DTV-fest...so I've actually gone ahead with that and expanded on it too to include other DTV actors/wrestlers-turned-actors/rappers-turned-actors/etc...I'm having a decent enough time with it so far...they are basically mental relaxation viewing...so that is what I've substituted in place of TV series viewing...yeah, I know, I will burn out on the DTV stuff soon too..but I've got my mind wired for it now, so I'm doing okay.

nitin77

flixtime,

yeah I am kind of surprised that more movies dont work it in given its effect is like basbeall/local NFL is to the US. There have been overt cricket movies but I was meaning more along the lines where the movie isnt about cricket, but its influence is worked into the story or characters.

As for tv, I had a great time with the UK crime tv show Luther, not sure if I mentioned that before, same goes for the comedy show Louie. Seen either of those? I want to get the second season of the UK show The Hour on blu ray but the damn price wont drop.

flixtime

nitin, I believe you (and I think too it was DVDTalker sleepyhead) both mentioned LUTHER to me. I seem to recall mentioning somewhere that - based on watching Series 1 - the show didn't do a whole lot for me. I liked that Alice character. But otherwise I recall having a number of issues with Series 1. I wouldn't have much issue with giving it another go and trying Series 2...but at the same time I don't feel it calling to me either. I'll keep it in mind about LOUIE...at the same time I'm not real big on comedy shows...not that I've sampled any really, just that it isn't an area of interest at this current time. Generally, I'm not a funny guy...though I do like Abbott and Costello, and 1950's to 1970's American sitcoms aka I LOVE LUCY, etc. I've given consideration to THE HOUR...the UK DVD complete set is inexpensive right now...but the fact they axed the show has cooled my interest, plus again I find myself with a strong sense of burn-out in terms of watching more TV shows. As always though, I do appreciate your thoughtful recommendations. And, nitin, I just want to say, well, thanks for riding shotgun for me in this thread for as long as you have...I've enjoyed your company.

Getting back to TV stuff, I actually even have BOARDWALK EMPIRE Seasons 1 and 2 on-hand, but I just can't drum up the enthusiasm to watch them...plus after not liking the second season of GAME OF THRONES...maybe I need a break away from the HBO style. For whatever reason, TV show fatigue landed on me like a ton of bricks. As mentioned, I am going through a bunch of DTV stuff and I'm having a surprisingly good time with that.

If anyone wants to do a "bad for the soul" double-feature try watching THE WHISTLEBLOWER (2010) and IN THE LAND OF BLOOD AND HONEY (2011) on back-to-back nights...they are disturbing films to watch. Setting aside the troubling subject matter, THE WHISTLEBLOWER as a film was mid-grade. I was quite impressed though by Angelina Jolie's IN THE LAND OF BLOOD AND HONEY...a better-than-good film for sure...don't be put off by the foolishly low user rating at IMDb. While it doesn't really bring anything new to the war atrocities/Holocaust film genre, it is a solid genre entry. Angelina Jolie did a really nice job with it. But, yeah, these two films are the polar opposite of light, feel-good entertainment.

nitin77

yeah I know what you mean, I try to keep a good mix of tv and cinema viewing and even within that division, I try to keep a mix of comedy and drama etc available in each format.

Boardwalk Empire season 1 is pretty good though not without its issues, havent seen s2 yet. FWIW, I thought Luther Season 2 was better than 1, I quite liked 1 but agree it had many many flaws.

Havent seen GoT s2 myself but I really really liked s1. Next up in my tv queue is Huff s2 which finally hit dvd 5 years or so after s1. After that maybe the final season of BSG and Mad Men s5.

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Baadshah (2013 - Telugu) - NTR Jr. and I have something in common...we both have similar hairstyles...and least based on the hairdo he sports for more than half this movie...the important exception being that my hair looks like that only when my barber is just half-way finished with my cut. That was an attempt at pH balancing so this doesn't come out too acidic. Even my negative rating scale isn't enough for this one. I like NTR Jr. but even he wasn't his usual watchable self in this movie. I don't know how they spent the mega-budget but it certainly doesn't appear on-screen. Of the NTR Jr. flicks I've seen, this was the worst.

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Some comments with regard to recent Telugu movies:

SEETHAMMA VAKITLO SIRIMALLE CHETTU (2013) - a big hit at the box-office and a rare teaming of two Telugu A-listers as co-leads...didn't really think much of the movie, though I certainly appreciated it for offering something outside of the normal "hero" type movies. Curiously, if you turn off the English subtitles, you might mistake this tale of two brothers as a gay romance...so, yeah, I didn't vibe with the performances from Mahesh Babu and Venkatesh...their scenes together were off...kind of came across as them going all goo-goo-eyed for each other.

SHADOW (2013) - again with "Victory" Venkatesh but not well-received...guess what that means...I actually found it rather enjoyable as far as these "hero" movies go...I don't mean that in the sense that normal people can watch the movie...but for the mixed up few that have some tolerance for Telugu cinema, well I thought it was quite okay. Don't get me wrong...it is the same old same old but at least most of it clicked...and unlike BAADSHAH there was an attempt at proper storytelling. The heroine played by Tapsee Pannu was refreshingly non-annoying and I do have to admit she left me feeling rather frisky. Usually the song and dance in Telugu movies is awful, but here I actually found it enjoyable across the board...again it is average but average is a big improvement over negative rating scale awfulness.

SWAMY RA RA (2013) - in the opening text, the director cites Quentin Tarantino (among others) as a major influence. This was another big hit at the Telugu box office. The story follows a pickpocket and his mates after they lift an antique idol from a criminal type...of course there is an odd assortment of other characters including a female romantic lead and assorted bad guy types...this is all light caper type fare. Actually, the director should have tipped his hat to Johnnie To because, if memory serves me right, there are some direct lifts from To's pickpocketing film SPARROW and even one bit from EXILED. So that is the type of movie this is...everything borrowed from better films but that also makes this quite watchable by Telugu standards...aka even normal folks should be able to survive a viewing. I thought the film fell flat in the second half...just poor directorial choices...for instance one chase scene is done in slo-mo with a nice but slower-type song when the director should have opted for a far more upbeat and energetic chase with faster music...that general sense of holding back the pace is a problem throughout the second half. The music was quite decent also...though even the style of the title song felt very familiar...perhaps influenced by some recent Hindi film. Actually, this movie felt much more like a Hindi movie than a Telugu movie...and that would be a good thing. I wouldn't be surprised to see SWAMY RA RA get picked up for a Bollywood remake with someone like Imran Khan in the lead.

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Shakti aka Shakthi (2012 - Kannada) - You know all those South Indian hero-type movies...well, if you've ever wanted to see one with a husky, middle-aged woman in the lead "hero" role, then this is for you. This was actually rather palatable...for what it was. Being a Kannada movie, the production values fall well short of Tamil and Telugu movies of this type. As opposed to most movies of this type, this one had very little music and pretty much nothing in terms of dance...but given how awful, for example Telugu song-and-dance is, I suppose that could be considered a plus for SHAKTI...though I was rather hoping to see our lead heroine dance at least a little bit...even if it was in only one song/dance number.....for what it is worth, there isn't a romantic angle either. So yeah, the story and such is entirely cookie-cutter, but the approach of having a female lead dispensing the beatdowns offers interest.

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Prema Katha Chitram (2013 - Telugu) - A smaller-budgeted film that was well-received and became a hit at the box-office...this is a comedy/romance/horror/mystery fusion...superficially in the same ballpark perhaps as something like the Malayalam classic MANICHITHRATHAZHU (1993) and its numerous assorted remakes (including the Hindi version BHOOL BHULAIYAA). Again, this Telugu entry is a much smaller effort. I appreciated that PREMA KATHA CHITRAM was something different from the Telugu norm...other than that however, the movie has nothing much to offer. There was an opportunity here to offer some commentary on the senselessness of youth suicide and maybe too make some form of cathartic statement with regard to all the rape cases making the headlines in India recently...perhaps the former - youth suicide - was somewhat effective...maybe. Aside: for someone planning on committing suicide, the male lead sure did have a full wardrobe of clothing on hand. Anyway, the comedy, romance, horror, and mystery aspects weren't successful...maybe the mystery was okay enough but not the others. At a runtime of 124-minutes, the movie was too long and while the music was decent enough, there was just too much of it. PREMA KATHA CHITRAM has actually been picked up for both Tamil and Hindi remakes...from a business perspective I suppose I can see why...because it was a hit movie...but otherwise I just don't see the appeal.

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Mumbai Police (2013 - Malayalam) - well-received cop mystery-thriller...haha...you know what that means...it didn't do much for me. Kind of tough to comment on this movie as it is spoiler sensitive...so I'll be brief. A cop is about to disclose the name of a killer when the cop loses his memory...so he has to go back and research things all over again to once again find the killer...included in this are flashback scenes which show the relationship between the cop and the person whose death is being investigated. Broadly speaking, I don't think the mystery aspect was especially refreshing...though the final answer is somewhat uniquely Indian perhaps (the term "overreaction" might come to mind for Western viewers). The movie was too long...no song and dance...the pacing over the 145-minute runtime was a bit of a slog...monotonous...a lot about the movie felt "stiff"...as if they were restrained by trying to emulate other films in terms of tone and style. I didn't think much of Prithviraj's performance as the investigating cop. The technical/production values were superior to the usual Malayalam fare. In general MUMBAI POLICE felt like a mystery-thriller that might have been made in the U.S. back in the early-to-mid 90s. All things considered, I'd say that MUMBAI POLICE isn't deserving of much interest.

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Harud (2010 - Hindi) - Although it played the festival circuit back in 2010, this took until last year to receive a release in India. Basically, it is an arthouse-type entry...a portrait of life in the troubled Indian border-region of Kashmir...the protagonist being a young man who finds himself entirely adrift in his life. The movie is a commendable effort, but is just too muted in tone while not really offering enough in content to make the 100-minute runtime more compelling. It really is only for devoted arthouse viewers. For me too, it just comes too late in the game...I didn't really feel it offered much fresh that I hadn't seen in numerous other Kashmir-centered films these past many years...LAMHAA, YAHAAN, TAHAAN, SIKANDAR, etc., etc. For Western viewers without some understanding of the conflict in Kashmir, HARUD would be a tough place to start...again it is more a visually-driven portrait of life...a show not tell approach to relating life in Kashmir. Technically, there is some nice cinematography and such, and of course it helps that Kashmir offers great natural beauty as well. The DVD offers a brief behind the scenes with the filmmakers...it was interesting to learn of the challenges they faced in shooting the film...I certainly respect the effort they put forth to make the movie. That being said, judging it away from all that, HARUD is just kind of okay at best.