Happy Wednesday!!! My brain suddenly announced to my head “it’s FALL!” I am resisting the urge to put all my summer clothes in storage and take down my a/cs since Chicago is supposed to have hot weather for at least one more week.
I’ll start!
Reading: Catherine Aird mysteries! They are support light and pleasant, I recommend them to those of you who need something super light and pleasant to read. Oh, and here is a detailed article in the San Diego paper about the DDLJ musical: https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/entertainment/theater/story/2022-08-28/a-look-inside-how-the-old-globe-is-bringing-bollywoods-most-beloved-romance-ddlj-to-the-american-stage
Watching: New season of McDonald and Dodds! Lovely British odd couple detective pair show in Bath, which is very pretty.
Thinking: Even if it’s too early to do other fall things, I can at least work on the yard this weekend. Gonna trim all the trees back really hard, and reseed the lawn with clover, and swap out the summer welcome mat for the Halloween one.
Listening: It’s Rajkummar Rao’s birthday today, AND we are heading into Halloween season. So, I’m thinking Stree of course:
Now, question for you! Actual question I need help with, I’m starting up the movie discussion group I host through my church again, what good English language movies have you seen recently that might be interesting choices? Previous top picks were The Birdcage, The Good Liar, Iris.
dontcallitbollywood 
Reading: I am still reading Dorian Gray as I’ve been so busy+sick the past few days. So I’ve been reading reaaally slow. Like I’m only 3 chapter in the book.
Watching: I watched Hulchul for the 2nd time and I absolutely love it. I have 2 thoughts, one is that most movies get enemies to lovers wrong. The whole idea about enemies to lovers is that these are 2 people who are really sexually attracted to each other but can’t admit it which is why they bicker but they don’t really hate each other. Most movies show people who genuinely hate each other and try to make you like them. This movie does the trope right by showing how they seem to care about each other from the start. Another example would be pride and prejudice. 2nd thought is a comment my mother made when I went to visit her. She’s been a fan of Akshaye, from the start and she compared him to Ranbir. I disagreed as I feel Akshaye is a lot more versatile and talented while Ranbir just does coming of age movies all the day. I wonder your opinion. Also Akshaye while private doesn’t seem like a pretentious person with doing tons of comedies and not doing arty style films.
Listening: Jhoom Bararabar Jhoom soundtrack is so good. Bol Na Halke Halle is the best by far. I should get to watching the movie sometime soon.
Thinking: I am sick as the rain did affect me. I don’t have pneumonia thankfully but I do have a cold and just really want to watch a no stress movie. However I just watch no stress movies and should watch more artsy style films. I’m honestly just in the mood to sleep as my whole sinus region is affected. However when I sleep I feel more tired and don’t sleep straight. I just want to get better.
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If you want a no stress movie, watch Jhoom Barabar Jhoom! I love it so much, and it is so happy and low stress.
Totally agree with you about Hulchul, I love that movie. It’s the way the enemies part is set up, like from the start they are paying attention to each other, and there is no REAL reason behind their hatred besides hatred. That says there is something there.
Also, yes, Akshaye forever over Ranbir. Akshaye voluntarily put his career in lowgear, he didn’t just get lazy!
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In some ways it reminds me of DDLJ. Where Kajol just hates SRK for no reason except that she needs to hate him as he’s guy and guys are evil (as she’s been told her whole life). That makes their love story work so much better as its all about Kajol getting over her fear of boys and expressing herself.
Akshaye also has mentioned numerous times that he had some personal issues which is why he stopped acting in movies. Ranbir while I do feel bad for him for losing so many of his relatives started putting his career in backseat way back in 2013. It wasn’t due to his personal problems but more his inherent nature.
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Exactly, and Akshaye’s personal issues made him retreat totally from fame and everything. Not sure how personal issues make you still willing to do interviews and be photographed at parties and things, but not willing/able to actually go to work on a regular basis.
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Interesting take on enemies-to-lovers because I think mine is the opposite! In the context of a Turkish series I’m currently watching and really liking, I’ve been thinking about how well it does this trope and the reason is the leads are really at odds with each other initially for good reason. The male lead is pompous and self-absorbed and actively tries to get her fired from her job and play with her reputation. I hated him then, but they do such a good job of making him pay for his schemes and showing his growth and realization that I adore him now. Maybe it’s me, but I prefer seeing a solid reason for the hatred in the beginning for this trope to work. Even in DDLJ, Simran had plenty of reasons to ‘hate’ Raj IMO.
Margaret, this might be an interesting discussion topic, I’d love to know what others think!
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I think we are definitely at odds with our view on enemies-lovers. However, I think this would be a great discussion question. I also believe that I definitely have exceptions to this rule. For example, Meteor Garden 2018, has the most irritating male lead who does such annoying things for the female lead however he also protects her and keeps helping her. I think that works also Dylan Wang is so damn charming even when he’s annoying. No, it’s not because he’s good-looking as there are many good-looking annoying men. It’s because he has something on the screen which immediately makes you root for him even when he’s wrong. Or perhaps it’s his good looks who knows …
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McDonald and Dodds is so good! Man, I’m trying to think of a Christopher Lee movie as a pick for you since everything I’ve watched even slightly recently is not church group appropriate, and he did so many you’d think there’d be something. Taste of Fear? The least weird genuinely great movie he’s been in.
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How’s The PRivate Life of Sherlock Holmes? Or, of course, The Hobbit.
On Wed, Aug 31, 2022 at 2:38 PM dontcallitbollywood < comment-reply@wordpress.com> wrote:
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Haven’t seen The Hobbit. Private Life of Sherlock Holmes has an all time great first half hour or so, then descends into cowardice and plot chaos.
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The Hammer Hound of the Baskervilles is a little nutty but fun, by the way. Peter Cushing is maybe not top tier as Holmes but almost, Christopher Lee is stupid beefcake which is great.
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What do you think when you see a poster like this:
or this:
I thought: Wow, finally a romantic malayalam movie. Love triangle and with great actors. Must watch!
I didn’t want to spoil myself and so I didn’t watch the trailer. When will I learn? turns out it’s not a love triangle, but a movie about a radio dj who had cancer and lost his voice. Now he’s depressed and doesn’t know what to do with his life. Manic pixie therapist Manu Warrier decides to help him. I swear she must be the most annoying doctor/therapist I have ever seen in a movie. I don’t know how I managed to finish this film, because it was so boring. I think the most boring movie I saw this year and it says a lot because I have seen a lot of boring stuff this year. The only good part of the movie – Sshivada. I love this woman, and it hurts me she isn’t offered better roles.
I also watched Vashi – Tovino and Keerthy Suresh courtroom drama. The idea wasn’t bad: a couple, she is a laywer, he a district attorney must fight in a court, while they are preparing their wedding. The problem is that the guy she is defending is decisively guilty and she sucks as a lawyer. Keerthy isn’t also the best actress so in the scenes when she should look worried for the case while busy with wedding preparations she is like: man, I hate when my super sexy fiance who looks like Tovino Thomas harrases me with the wedding stuff while I have this super important work to do. And because her character is not a good lawyer the only thing she does is victim shaming and talk rubbish against women rights. I don’t recommend this film. The only good thing is Tovino in his white lawyer shirts, but unfortunately the amount of nonsense Keerthy says is greater than his sexiness.
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What good English language movies have you seen recently that might be interesting choices?
Spencer. It’s so good. I recommended it to my sister and she also loved it.
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I watched Darlings this past weekend and I liked it and I thought Vijay Varma was so good! Like, when he’s being all sweetsy sweetsy to Alia to make her take him back he made me think “Huh. Maybe he’s OK this time” while at the same time knowing perfectly well that he wasn’t. And then when he’s hateful I just hated him. I think the movie really showed the difficulty of leaving an abusive partner, even when everyone is supporting you. Quibble: unlikely that a woman of Alia’s social class would have a different gorgeous outfit every day, although I did enjoy the outfits.
I also finally finished Ranveer vs Wild. SPOILER: Ranveer didn’t die.
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Maybe Alia expressed her fantasy desires by buying way too many new clothes?
WHAT! Ranveer doesn’t die????
On Thu, Sep 1, 2022 at 1:27 AM dontcallitbollywood < comment-reply@wordpress.com> wrote:
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I actually saw Vikram Vedha for the first time this past week and it was a good movie but it wasn’t as good as I was expecting it to be. I think I was expecting something bigger and this movie was quite grounded. Are you planning to watch the hindi remake (doesn’t it come out soonish)?
I also finally caught up on season 3 of Never Have I Ever. Even though I definitely have picked a side in the Team Ben/Paxton debate, I love how the main love story of the show is between Devi and her Mom.
Even if you don’t watch Sita Ramam soon, you should check out the soundtrack. It’s so good and I’ve been obsessing over this song lately!
I know I’m a bit late to it but I saw Bladerunner 2049 sort of recently and loved it! I avoided it for the longest time because I wasn’t really a fan of the original Bladerunner but I really liked this movie and felt it made the original better.
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I saw this Jennifer Garner movie called Catch & Release that wasn’t bad, but wasn’t exciting, but it would have been good to see with others because there was a lot to talk about. Especially how she chose the wrong guy. It starts at the funeral of her fiance, and then gradually we learn he wasn’t all he was cracked up to be.
I started watching a Chris Rock & some other guy buddy flick but at one point he masterbates to porn while kids walk in and I didn’t want to deal with that with kids watching.
And I made myself finish the Darlings movie and I loved it!
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Yaaaaaaaaaay! I’m so glad you finished Darlings. The ending makes the whole movie. That is, knowing that the writers were heading towards that line of not forgiving the husband while also not letting her turn into him. And yaaaaaaaaay, happy ending!
On Thu, Sep 1, 2022 at 5:57 PM dontcallitbollywood < comment-reply@wordpress.com> wrote:
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Cuttpatli just dropped on Hulu last night so I watched it. Are you planning to review the film? I will say that it’s imminently reviewable, as there are aspects that are excellent, good, bad, cringe, and laugh-out-loud awful. So it is fodder for a Masala of a film review!
Without giving much away, I’d say this movie would have fit in the landscape of mid-tier Hollywood crime thrillers from the ’80s or ’90s (or perhaps “TV movie of the week” from that same era). So if you like that sort of thing, you will find this movie very watchable, even if your review after watching is not very kind.
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Oh, this does look fun and stupid! Maybe a good choice for a Friends Movie Night?
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There are definitely large chunks that are stupid, but also lots of it works really well, and other parts that will make you either mad or disappointed. It’s such a mixed bag. It’s very easy to see your way into the better film it could have been.
But i would rather see Akshay in this film than in most films he comes out with nowadays. This (only better) should be his lane – its perfect for his age, stardom, and skill set.
Yes def a friends movie night sort of watch, so that you can chat about it during and after.
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Forgot to add- it’s a remake of a better Tamil film Ratsassan.
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How was Sargun Mehta? She plays a policewoman. She was the only reason I was interested in this film, and I was disapointed the movie went directly to OTT and wasn’t even publicized much.
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I think she was just fine. Not great but good. She had to sell a character arc that wasn’t quite believable, but in her hands, I believed it.
I think my problem was that I found her and Rakul Preet Singh to have such similar looks and features, that it actually made the plot confusing for a while. They really have similar coloring – hair, eyes, skin.
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I JUST DISCOVERED I CAN WATCH BRAHMASTRA IN CATANIA THIS WEEKEND!!!!
Keep your fingers crossed I will be able to go 😃
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