Well, Rangoon is definitely the top pick for the weekend. But it was a terrible terrible weekend, so that is not saying much. The only big hit per screen was the one with inflated ticket prices (more on that later).
Yay, Rani’s back!!!! I can’t decide if all these 90s actresses coming back is because the 90s really did have the best batch, or because the industry has finally started to accept women over 35 as more than just mothers. Probably a combo of the two.
I went to see a Malayalam movie in the theaters again! Actually, I saw two, and was completely unproductive otherwise all Saturday. It was a great weekend. And next Monday, you get to see a review of the other movie!
Does that heading look like a typo or is it clear? I meant that it is the Monday Morning Questions Post, the week after Rangoon came out and disappointed us utterly. And since it is Monday, it is time for my questions post where we can talk about anything and everything film related.
I think Shakespeare’s tragedies have been pretty well covered by Indian film, don’t you? And this week we get yet another version of MacBeth. But what about his comedies? Besides Dil Bole Hadippa, have we had any in the past few years? Datablue asked me a question about it on Monday’s post, and that got me thinking. More Shakespeare comedies, I say! Possibly following the lines I lay out below.
This was not a good movie. And, to save you all from it, I am going to provide a summary here that you can read instead of sitting through the whole 3 hour mess like I had to. It is my gift to humanity! And if, for some reason, you feel the need to actually see it, you can always read my No Spoilers review instead.
Happy Birthday Shahid! To celebrate, 22 reasons I love you, one for every year you were old when you got your big launch.
This movie looks sooooooooo pretty. And perfect. And it kind of reminds you in a vague way of an actual good film. But, at the center of it, there’s nothing. It’s just wax, no heart.
Welcome to Friday! A very silly post this week, to balance the romantic post last week. But I am also going to try for gender parity, so that should be an interesting challenge.
Is it crazy that I am equally excited for both these movies? Badrinath should be very very proud if I am putting it up there with Bahubaali 2!
Yesterday I did an in depth post on the whole behind the scenes process of making Guide and who all the personalities involved where and what their background was and so on and so on (not including the Murder and Sex Cult part of the Anand brothers’ story, because those hadn’t happened yet). I wanted to say aaaaaaaaaaaaaallllllllllllllllll of that before I got into discussing the actual film. Which is what I will do now, only I will be referring back to stuff from the other post, so read this first!
New song video from Phillauri, and first trailer for that Swara Bhaskar movie! Both of them add on some new angles to their films.
I’m still in the middle of my Chopra family series, I’ll be back to it next week for the family feud in the second generation and the joining with the Mukherjee family. But right now, I wanted to make sure we all knew the “real” story behind Kangana Ranaut’s character in Rangoon before we go see the film.
I got a little alert from youtube that one of my fanvid people had just posted a new video, which drove me down a rabbit hole of looking at all the new videos posted by all my youtube people, and some new folks as well.
As you know, if you read my blog regularly, I went on a trip recently. And I decided the perfect time to finally watch Guide was on my smartphone on the flight. And it was perfect! I had no other options, so I couldn’t put it off any longer. And I was able to watch it with intense focus, since I was holding the screen right up at the end of my nose. And this was a film that really really really deserved close watching! And close analysis, which is why I am starting with a post that just gives background before I even talk about the film itself.
Happy Wednesday! Half way through the work week! Time to talk about what all we have been doing this week, what we have watched and read and thought about.
Another Allu Arjun film! Am I remembering right that his hair changes frequently? Unlike most male stars, where the hair and the whole look is kind of part of their brand? If so, I think he should keep changing, because this look is not the best.
Global box office is out! And, gosh darn it, Running Shaadi did terribly. Oh well. At least I liked it! (as always, figures from Renttrack by way of BollywoodHungama)
Less scandalous than usual, the Chopras are a super nice family who worked hard and did good work. But still interesting! To learn how they are all related to each other and their own particular talents and so on. (part 1 here)
In several parts of this film, I was reminded of Annmariya. Same single parent family, same kid with too many worries, same unusual relationship between an older tougher man and the kid. But while Annmariya took place in a world of magic and destiny where nothing ever went really wrong, this film took place in the “real” world, and was much sadder.
Hello my fellow Americans! And other people who are reading this post out of curiosity even though they know it has no call to action for them! There are 3 things I want to alert you to in American politics.
Well, everyone has decided that the duldrums of February is the time to promote their films, and the duldrums of March is the time to release them. It’s an interesting sign of the state of the industry that I find the piddling little early spring releases much more interesting than the big deal winter ones.
Monday again, time for questions! Although the questions have slowed a little the past few weeks, I may end up making this more of a every other week thing.
Time for my silly post! This week, I was looking at my DVD shelf trying to think of what to talk about, and my eye fell on K3G. And I suddenly remembered the one very unfinished plot point in that movie. Whatever happened to Rani’s character?
dontcallitbollywood 