Monthly Archives: January 2017

Tamil Tuesday: Aval Oru Thodharkadai Shows Why a Woman Turns Cold

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Second week that I am managing a Tamil Tuesday!  And an actual good film this time, another R. Balachander.  If I were still watching movies in a wild and unplanned manner, I would be zipping through all his films on youtube and probably getting super confused as to what happened in which.  But with my new alliterative schedule theory, I have to hold off.  Or else zip through and then schedule all my posts out for the next several Tuesdays.  We’ll see what I end up doing.

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Hindi Film 101: Rekha! The Queen of Embracing the Narrative the Press Gave

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Oh, this is gonna be a fun one!  And I am sure it will only be able to scratch the surface, so please add on nifty details in the comments.  And I should also acknowledge, it is almost entirely taken from This Book.  If you like this post, Buy It!  And if you disagree with this post, Blame It! (not really, I’m the one who bought the book and chose which parts to believe and repeat)

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Monday Malayalam: Oru Muthassi Gadha, Wait The Heroine is YOUNGER THAN MY MOTHER?????

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Second week for this, going okay so far!  Having a schedule to stick to is really driving me to watch movies.  That was the initial purpose of the To-Do List, but then it just got so big I couldn’t deal with it.  But needing to have a new Malayalam film watched and reviewed every Monday is good for me.  Oh, and this movie in particular I have been wanting to watch since last Onam (at my local theater, we got Oozham instead).

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Raees Full Summary Part 2, through the first song and Introducing Mahira Khan!

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That statement is less impressive than it sounds, because I am counting a song and a “song” that comes right next to it.  But I’m going to try to move even further past that as well, we’ll see how I do. (part 1 here)

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Sunday Silly Speculative Post: How Raees SHOULD Have Ended (Spoilers!)

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I am still struggling with how Raees ended.  Although, Fida’s comment this morning suggesting it was Raees choice to end that way helped a lot.  But, I don’t know, I think I still would have preferred a different ending.  Not because it was sad (which it was!), but because it was not in synch with the rest of the film and the character and the situation.  So, for a fun Sunday post, I am going to re-write it the way it SHOULD have been written!

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Raees SPOILER Review: Is This How it Was Supposed to End?

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So, I saw Raees for the second time last night!  Some things were better on this watch, and some things were worse.  But, knowing how it ends, I was able to pay more attention to various hints and clues that were dropped along the way, and I think I have a better sense of how the whole thing was built piece by piece.  So I can do my “real” spoiler review, instead of just a mini one.

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Urgent American Reader Call to Action

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Sorry sorry!  Another America only post!  But this is directly related to the topic of this blog, Jeff Sessions is up for Attorney General, he would haaaaaaaaaaaaaate that we all watch and love films featuring brown-skinned people and religious minorities (well, minorities in America), most of which are produced by an extremely obviously gay man.

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Hindi Film 101 One-Off: a Brief History of the Crime Film

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It’s awkward ending a Hindi Film 101 series on a Tuesday!  So for this Thursday I’m going to do a quick one-off, not the history of a star or a star family, but of a genre.  Just in time to appreciate the newest iteration on the crime film in Raees! (all the Hindi Film 101 posts are visible here)

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Raees Mini-SPOILER Review: A Place For Us All to Debate Guyliner

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I’m tired, it’s late, but I also really want to start talking about Raees with you guys!  And I want to do it in a place where we won’t spoil it for those poor people who haven’t been able to see it yet.  And thus, a mini-review!  I still get to write and put up a better review sometime tomorrow, but this is just something to hold you over until then.

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Watch Hum Saath Saath Hain With Me! Sunday Feb. 5 1am GMT

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Oooo, that headline sounds so fancy!  “GMT” and all that!  To make it simpler, 2/5/2017 1am Greenwich Mean time is 7pm 2/4/2017 Chicago time (where I am).  It is 2pm Sydney time (I think), and various other times all over Australia (Australia is weird!  13 TIME ZONES!!!!!).  And 10am in Japan.  And 6:30am India time (sorry Indian readers!).

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Wednesday Watching Post: What Are You Watching and Thinking and Wondering About the Day Raees Releases?

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This is our weekly discussion area.  You can come back here for the next 7 days, tell me about what you just watched, and what you thought, and what you are thinking of watching next, and anything else.  If I have something interesting to contribute in response, I will!  Otherwise, I hope another commentator sees it and responds better than I could. (I will always respond, of course, but sometimes it might just be “wow, sounds great!”)

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Tuesday Tamil: Thai Veedu, Another Rajnikanth Masala Picture! But With Real Emotion that Shows Up in the Last Half Hour

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Again, I am going to try to have some kind of posting schedule so my readers can know what to look for when, and I can keep on a regular varied diet of films.  And so for Tuesday, a Tamil film (or Telugu, they are both alliterative)!  As I continue to go through the oldest Rajnikanth films available from Netflix!  This one apparently was an all time hit, and I can see way, because it is fun!  Just big silly fun!  Until right at the end when real emotion suddenly rears its head.

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Happy Raees Week! Deewar, the Ultimate Smuggler and Criminal and Anti-Hero and Let’s Just Say Film-Film

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I’m just going to say it, Deewar is the best written film in the history of Hindi cinema.  It deserves an epic detailed perfect discussion.  That is not this post.  This post is a very superficial and not detailed discussion as it relates to the upcoming release of Raees.

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Post for Americans Only: Follow Up To Women’s March

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Ugh, that feels so exclusionary!  It’s just because it is a political action post, and unfortunately if you can’t vote in American elections, this won’t be that useful for you.  Also, sorry that it’s not really Indian film related, I will return to regularly schedule blog programming on my next post.

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Monday Malayalam: Annmariya Kalippilannu, Kerala Does Dangal Better

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Okay, I’m going to try something.  Before, I would get a big DVD order or have a slow week at work, and post a ton of blog posts from Kerala or Tamil Nadu or whatever all at once.  And then hit a point of being busy at work and running out of DVDs or whatever and post no reviews at all for a while.  But that’s not good, this start and stop.  So, now that the big Hindi release season is about to end, I am going to try to stick to a schedule, Monday Malayalam, Tuesday Tamil or Telugu.  And then Hindi or whatever other random thing I am watching (Zindagi Gulzar Hai?) the rest of the week.   Continue reading →

Last Raees Song! Mika Singh Appears

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The final (probably) Raees song has just been released.  And it is the Mika Singh song that is apparently required in every hit film now (Mika or Yo Yo or Badshah).  Tough and a little Bhangra mixed with hip-hop sounding.  Less hip-hop in this case, more 80s style.

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