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Three One-Minute Reviews and a little gem…
Sorry to be MIA this past week. But as way of apology and to make it up to you all, I’ve compressed a lot into this post –
First, three quick reviews…
One minute review: Royal Tenenbaums
Directed by Wes Anderson, I LOVED this movie. I’d heard mixed reviews, but this film really got to me. It is a mix of happy and sad, touching and quirky. It does an amazing job of using humor and sarcasm to lighten the mood about life’s difficulties and failings. This messed up family of over-achievers deals with love, death, marriage, breakups, addictions and recoveries in this film that will stay with you for at least a little while. I keep thinking back to it and every time I do, I smile. The acting was phenomenal across the board – Angelica Huston, Gene Hackman, Ben Stiller, Gwenyth Paltrow, Owen Wilson, Luke Wilson – all amazing. If you haven’t watched it, do!
I was really keen to watch The Queen, directed by Stephen Frears because I’d heard such great things about Helen Mirren. And after watching it, I have to agree – she is phenomenal. I felt I was watching the “actual” Queen (MI-6 should get in touch with her. She could be a great double). Michael Sheen who played Tony Blair and James Cromwell who plays Prince Phillip were also good, but the rest of the cast was average. It is the view from the inside of a week we are all familiar with – a very interesting look at how a monarch learns about how the world has changed, re-acquaints herself with a new generation and the new expectations of her subjects, and emerges as strong as ever. Worth watching for Helen Mirren.
Backwaters, by Jagmohan Mundhra, closed the IAAC film festival. It was the worst movie I have ever seen. The entire movie was dubbed poorly (why not use sync-sound??), the acting was, at best, average, the screenplay was TERRIBLE and the lines were the worst I’d seen in a long time. If the director thought some T&A action would save the film, puh-leeze think again. Most people were pissed at having wasted their time. IAAC embarrassed themselves by closing with this film and it didn’t do justice to the better films in the festival. As someone sitting next to me said “A film student would have been embarrassed to have made this”.
Besides watching these fine (or not-so-fine) films, I also figured out how to start writing again (other writers, jump in on this!)
And I found a VERY cool site (that every movie buff should visit) and compare it to YouTube. (To be clear — this is the little gem referenced in my title)
Hope everyone had a great weekend!
4 Responses to “Three One-Minute Reviews and a little gem…”
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Shripriya, Thanks for the little gem - Ubu - great link - and the sneaky tips to get us writers off our a$$es.
Thanks to your review - gotta watch Queen!
“If the director thought some T&A action would save the film, puh-leeze think again.”
Not sure if you are aware of this, but a lot of people think Jug Mundhra is great! I was one! Jug was the answer to all our prayers - and the man who we wished we were - in my teens. Ask anyone from Hyderabad who was a college goer in early 90’s and he would tell you how popular were the jugs picked by Jug’s on show @ Shalimar, RK, Kishore, and that other sleazy theater in Ramkoti, near New Science College (forgot the name).
Tatvamasi!
:-D Then you may have liked the movie.
Hey Shripriya
Thanks for the amazing link. Now I am gonna constantly frequent your blog!
The Royal Tennenbaums rocks! Wes Anderson is my God! Have you seen The Life Aquatic(its even better) & Rushmore?
Here a lil review I wrote on TRT:
This movie apart from being a cult classic by Wes Anderson and many other things, made me crack up like nothing else did before. I was in splits on hearing the one liners, written so aptly clever in grammar and wit, they blow you away.
It is the baap of all messed-up-family sagas. Forget The Osbournes, welcome The Tennenbaums. Alec Baldwin is the narrator here. The movie, apart from all its humorous overtones, touches you at some emotional level which makes you identify with the strangest of characters which might look exaggerated but extrapolated realizations of people we bump into all around us.
This is a must see for all the lovers of COOL in cinema. You can’t miss the brilliant casting and the strangely intriguing but involving characters. Though I never like Luke or Owen Wilson, and I hate Ben Stiller, I simply could not have hated them in this one. They have to be seen to be believed, and you have the usual suspect Bill Murray as the quintessential confused old man in love. For me, the revelation of the movie has to be Luke Wilson and PAGODA!!(you may remember him- the funny Kumar Pallana from The Terminal(Gupta)). He is a regular Anderson feature, but is simply hilarious in his mechanized responses in this one. Don’t miss the scene where he stabs Hackman with a fake knife.(you ll run for the rewind button over n over again)
Another scene where I cracked up big time was the embarrassing finale of Luke where he is simply outrageously weird. Talking about weirdness, Gwyneth scores (!) in a stoned avatar too. And check out Danny Glover as the archaic archeologist. I can go on talking about the movie, but I guess that’s what it does to you. Everything from music to casting to timing is just too perfect to be true in this one. Not to be missed.
Retrieved from “http://bfs.wikia.com/wiki/The_Royal_Tannenbaums”
:)) definitely agree with shripriya on backwaters. thanks to PFC, got to meet up with her at this screening as well.. thx oz :)
the funniest thing was “jag” (as he is affectionately called by his lead actor in backwaters) responded to an audience member’s question about making the film particularly for IAAC by saying that if aroon [exec director of the film festival] wants a comedy film for next year’s festival, he will make a comedy film for her. to this, an audience member behind me muttered “you don’t need to make a comedy. you already have one.” :)) backwaters is slated as a thriller. more like friller.
hard to believe this is the same guy that made bawandar.