Trailer: The Great Gatsby - Dec 25th
Directed by Baz Luhrman, starring Leonardo Dicaprio, Carey Mulligan, Joel Edgerton, Tobey Maguire, Amitabh Bachchan, and Isla Fisher.
Well this is setting my expectations pretty high.
Go see Cabin in the Woods, but don’t read anything about it beforehand. You’ll be really glad you did.
Take Shelter is another one of my favorite movies from 2011. Michael Shannon and Jessica Chastain give truly award-worthy performances in the film, though I worry that Chastain might get typecasted as characters that cross their arms and quietly exude angst. Chastain and Shannon are both up for Independent Spirit Awards tomorrow and hopefully they will get the recognition they deserve.
A Separation was extraordinary. I’ll admit that I was suspicious that this was another simplistic depiction of Iranian society (like Reading Lolita in Tehran) and that was the main reason its been so celebrated. Fortunately, this is not the case. Asghar Farhadi, the film’s writer and director, masters a perfect balance of subtlety and complexity. The film’s plot evolves so naturally and gradually that the monumental developments in the narrative feel perfectly intimate and understated. If you can, see the movie before it deservedly takes home the Oscar for Best Foreign Film.
Melancholia is stunning. I had no idea that the apocalypse could be so beautiful. In addition to the incredible cinematography of the film, the film’s cast does a fantastic job of performing their characters’ tremendous, but unique fragilities. Who knew how well Kirsten Dunst can act? Though her performance as Justine was award-worthy (and she did win Best Actress at Cannes), Charlotte Gainsbourg’s transition from quiet resentment to utter breakdown is completely breathtaking.
The movie is opening in theaters today and is already available on iTunes and ondemand. As with Lars Von Trier’s other films, it will stay with you well after you’ve seen it.
Hisss is on Netflix instant view now. If you need a good laugh, I highly recommend it.
In the film, Mallika Sherawat makes out with a muppet snake. Some other stuff happens, but that was my main takeaway.
Irrfan Khan deserves better roles than this.
Official trailer for The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
Directed by John Madden (Shakespeare in Love) and starring Judi Dench, Bill Nighy, Dev Patel, Tom Wilkinson, and Maggie Smith, the film follows a group of British retirees who, enticed by the exoticism of advertisements, decide to retire in India.
I’ll reserve my judgement until I see the movie, but I’m hoping that the trailer and the film’s tongue-in-cheek use of the word “exotic” suggests that unlike Eat, Pray, Love or The Darjeeling Limited, the movie might take a more complicated look at the practice of Westerners traveling to India to “find themselves.” Plus, that is a pretty impressive cast.
As Kajol can demonstrate, Bollywood had the manic pixie dream girl down way before Hollywood made it trendy.
Fun fact: This movie’s original title was Everyone in this Movie is Really Likeable.
My favorite part of the movie was when Paul Rudd did something stupid enough to compromise any semblance of believability in the movie, but still managed to be likeable enough to get the audience to laugh. Then Rashida Jones wore some ugly glasses but was still likeable. Then Elizabeth Banks acted really high-strung, but in a really likeable way.
Although I was a bit suspicious, I watched Happythankyoumoreplease and enjoyed it more than I expected. It’s guilty of quite a bit over-the-top quirkiness and cheesy dialogue, but I found something pretty endearing about the movie’s mildly self-destructive downtown twentysomethings. Despite the numerous comparisons I read, this isn’t Josh Radnor’s Garden State; despite the tone of the movie and the fact that it’s written and directed by a sitcom star, Happythankyoumoreplease seems to deliberately avoid some of the cliches that have become so associated with Zach Braff’s directorial debut. The potential manic pixie dream girls in this movie, despite some quirky aspirations and slang, are definitely the type of women who would be aware of the phrase “manic pixie dream girl” and embarrassed by the comparison. The performances in the film are good overall, and though much of the praise I’ve read has been focused on Kate Mara and Malin Akerman, I was most struck by Zoe Kazan, who I hope to see in more movies soon. Definitely check this out if you have a chance!
For the most part, I end up pretty embarrassed when I revisit the movies I loved when I was in high school.
Garden State? Seriously?
However, I still love Amélie. Rewatching it was totally worth it.
I feel like “Paul Bettany plays a priest that fights vampires” is too weird of sentence for it to be a thing.
Arnold is available.
Batman and Robin, an atrociously bad movie, is a guilty pleasure of mine. I can’t help but be impressed with the scriptwriters for managing to create a movie where 70% of the dialogue is made up of puns.
“Neelam Ke Nabh Chaaye” from Utsav (1984)
Utsav was directed by Girish Karnad, one of India’s top playwrights. Based on the ancient Sanskrit play Mṛcchakaṭika, the film stars Rekha as Vasantsena, a revered courtesan. Differing greatly from style of cinema commonly seen in post-liberalization Bollywood, the film draws upon the rasas, or a series of aesthetic styles established in the Nātyasāstra.
