I've probably missed a few from when I first got into Bollywood, but oh well!

( Read more... )

Let's see how many movies I can watch this year...

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Total: 171

Updated: June 14th, 2009

I randomly found that an LJ user (salivia_baker) took the time to type out the list of '1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die'. I love these kinds of lists, and decided to fill out which ones I've seen. How many I've seen? I don't know. I'm not going to take the time to figure out how many I have.

( Read more... )

( AFI's Top 100 Movies List )

I was going to watch them in order from 100 to 1, but... I doubt that will work.

Current total: 66/100

I'm watching Ek Raaz (1963, Kishore Kumar, and Pran). I have a mouth full of ketchup chips.

Pran chooses this time to show up on screen.

Me (raises arms in air like Rocky): "Prrrnnnnn!!!!"

Class act, yessir.

Yeah! I'm on a roll today! We got Indian revolutionaries, people dressing up in strange outfits and going to Oz, and body issues! And it's only 6pm!

Lydia is an overweight sales clerk in a trendy home furnishings store, nearing 30. Though she is a member of a Fat Acceptance Group (a movement dedicated to fighting prejudice against overweight people), she is still struggling with complex feelings about her body and its place in the world. Darcy, a recovering-anorexic real estate agent in her mid-20s, is struggling with the same issues from a very different perspective. Her attempt to join the Fat Acceptance Group (since she sees herself as fat) is quickly rejected - but it introduces her to Lydia. Lydia is initially wary of Darcy's efforts to become friends, but Darcy's hunger for emotional contact breaks through the wall of apparent differences and they begin an unexpected friendship.

A very interesting and realistic film about what appears to be polar opposites (anorexia and obesity), but deep down they're struggling with the same feelings.

They're both struggling with their own body image. They both have eating disorders. Two different perspectives on the same real problem.

It was really interesting to see.

Rating: 4.5/5

( To spare to sane... )

Yes, I have officially lost it...

Shaheed (1948)

Dilip Kumar! ♥ He's so handsome and young in this. This was even before Andaz with Nargis and Raj Kapoor came out!

Before I talk about the movie I must point out that Shahrukh Khan looks a lot like young Dilip Kumar and I gotta wonder if Shahrukh Khan is a big Dilip Kumar fan because wow, Dilip's acting in this serious role is pretty much the same as Shahrukh Khan's acting in a serious role. I didn't really notice it before with other Dilip Kumar films I've seen.

I couldn't really find much out about this movie. The Wikipedia page has barely anything, and IMDB has even less. I don't even know the name of the actor who played Vinod. I thought I saw Shashi Kapoor as young Ram, but upon further reflection and comparing Shashi Kapoor as young Kewal in Aag (also 1948) I see that it's not him. The kid playing young Ram in Shaheed does look familiar though...

Ram (Dilip Kumar), Vinod, and Sheela (Kamini Kaushal) grew up together. As a child in the 30s, Ram believed in independence from the British. Vinod always said that one day he would arrest Ram because of these ideas. Both of them had feelings for Sheela, with Sheela always favoring Ram over Vinod. Now grown up, Ram is a revolutionary choosing the way of violence over non-violence, and Vinod is the crooked police officer fueled by jealousy of Ram and Sheela's love for one another trying to capture him.

Yes, another film of the revolution. I think I've seen too many of them. I find myself going, "INQUILAB ZINDABAD!" along with the people in the films...

Now, I'm not going to pretend that this is the greatest film ever, because really - it's not. It was a really good watch, but nothing I'm really itching to watch over again anytime soon, and I'm not really even reccing it. If you like Dilip Kumar and are a completist, than sure. Or if you're really into films about revolution.

Rating: 3.5/5

The Wonderful World Of Oz (1910)

Oh yes... I went there.

The earliest surviving film adaptation of the novel clocking in at 13 minutes.

Now, it was... odd. Definitely not award winning. As a movie in general it's not that great, but I gotta give it credit for trying because... well... It was 1910 lol.

Like uhh... A Trip To The Moon (1902). I don't think it's a particularly great film. I love it, I think its greatness comes from the fact that it was the first real sci-fi film ever, and was about them going to the moon. This was 55 years before Sputnik-1, and 67 years before Niel Armstrong actually set foot on the moon.

I'm fascinated by these kind of things.

I can't give this one a rating, sorry. Just go WATCH IT YOURSELVES.

Uhh... J'adore la langue française.

Unfortunately, I can't speak it or write it worth a damn, despite having taken it in school from grade 2 to grade 10.

The other night I had a dream where we (parents, Michele, and I) were around the TV waiting for Obama's presidential address. That in itself is odd because we don't really care and just watch something else on TV.

So we were watching it. He came out and was waving to the crowd and everything.

Then gunshots rang out, he got shot in the abdomen, and fell to the floor.

We were sitting around the TV like, "... You're shitting me. Did that just happen?"

... Yeah, Obama got assassinated in my dreams.

I found that to be odd because I don't really care either way about him.

I randomly found this film thought it sounded interesting. A French film about love in post-WWII Hiroshima between a married French actress and a married Japanese architect? I had to see it.

While shooting an international movie about peace in Hiroshima, a married French actress (Emmanuelle Riva) has a torrid one night stand with a married Japanese architect (Eiji Okada). They feel a deep passion for each other and she discloses her first love in times of war in the French town of Nevers to him. He falls in love with her and asks her to stay with him in Hiroshima.

It's an artsy French film which appears almost like a documentary for the first 15 minutes with newsreels of Hiroshima aftermath combined with a voice-over of a conversation between 'he' and 'she' (they never say what their names are and are only referred to as 'he' and 'she').

The rest of the film has 'he' trying to convince 'she' to stay with him in Hiroshima for a while longer because 'he' has fallen in love with her. In doing so, 'she' tells him about how she fell in love with a German solider during the occupation in France during the war, and how his death and the humiliation at the hands of the other women in the town led to her mental breakdown.

Now, life I've said before, I'm not a highly articulate person who can go on for five pages about the psychological reasons behind some people preferring one length of sock over another, and I try not to pretend that I do. I love psychology and would love to be able to figure that out, but alas.

My point is - I don't know what else to say about this film. If I try to talk about this and that I'll just sound like a pompous ass.

It was different, artsy, and slowly paced. I liked it.

Rating: 4.5/5

Guru Dutt! ♥ I loved him in the sweet comedy Mr. And Mrs. 55 with Madhubala. Guru Dutt starred in films, and decided to start making him own. He made some thrillers, some sweet comedies (like Mr. And Mrs. 55) and after these successes he was financially secure enough to make the serious art-house films and not worry about going bankrupt.

Pyaasa is one of those films, and I discovered it on THIS list of '25 Must See Bollywood Films'. As I've slowly seen films featured on the list (for the record I've seen 15 out of 25 of them, and bought four of the other 10 in my last order from Nehaflix), I've come to see that some are questionably on there, while others are rightfully in place. Pyaasa is one of those films that really deserves to be on there.

Unemployed Vijay (Guru Dut) is the youngest in his family consisting of his widowed mom, and two brothers. His passion is poetry - frowned upon by his brothers - who want him to find gainful employment instead. Vijay's poems are quite radical in which he laments about the poor, the destitute, and the arrogance of the rich after the departure of the British from India. His efforts to get them published are in vain. He takes to drinking, gets in trouble with the law, is disowned by his brothers, ends up at a brothel and befriends a prostitute named Gulabo (Waheeda Rehman). Gulabo is sympathetic, listens to him as he pours his heart out, and decides to assist Vijay.

I... Don't know what to say! It's a tragic film!

Okay, I thought of something...( SPOILERY TALK )

So while everyone else is off crying over certain something-something happenings on the five days of Torchwood, I'm off crying over Guru Dutt being his tragic self in a tragic film he produced, directed, and starred in back in 1957.

On a less depressing note...



Rating: 5/5

...

*shrug*

I'm going to go watch Pyaasa now.

Awwwwwww... DEV ANAND ♥ Even when he's depressed and suicidal - DEV ANAND CONTINUES TO HAVE AMAZING HAIR.

Funtoosh is about a man (Dev Anand) who witnessed his mother and sister burn to death in a fire. After losing his mind, he ended up in a metal aslyum and called himself 'Funtoosh'. Years later he is released. He soon discovers how cruel the world can be and decides to commit suicide. Another man saves his life and promises to give Funtoosh everything great in life for a week, and after that week if he wanted to die, he would let him. However, this other man has an anterior motive in saving Funtoosh's life...

I must start at the beginning. After Funtoosh is released the music is fun and happy. But as Funtoosh begins to discover how cruel people can be and slowly has all his possessions taken from him, the music begins to warp until finally Funtoosh, dejected and in tears, begins to sing about the cruelty he has seen in just a day and decides to take a stranger's advice and end it all.

Funtoosh in a way made me think of the Raj Kapoor starrer Shree 420 from just a year earlier. Both Funtoosh and Raj were simple, naive young men who had fun and eccentric exteriors while dealing with their inner demons. Both were crushed by the ways of the world, and both were manipulated by the so-called higher class.

Anyways, like several other old Bollywood films, this one suffered from a bit of bad editing. It seems that a couple scenes were cut short.

One example is when Funtoosh is on the roof of the building ready to jump. The guy shows up in his car looking to see what's going on, and suddenly Funtoosh is in the car with the guy and the guy is saying that he didn't mean for him to go kill himself.

Aside from a bit of bad editing and handling through the years, it was a great film. Dev Anand is super great. I've seen him in three films so far (Jewel Thief, Guide, and now Funtoosh) and he hasn't let me down yet! Solid performances all around.

( YouTube Clips! )

Rating: 5/5

If you enjoyed Shree 420, I think you'll enjoy this one. And if you haven't seen either this or Shree 420...

What are you doing still reading this silly blog? Go see them!

My god, what a silly movie! I love it!

The Sharma brothers consist of former boxer, Brijmohan (Ashok Kumar); Jagmohan (Anoop Kumar), an Electrical Engineer; and Manmohan (Kishore Kumar), a Mechanic. The brothers operate a garage under the name of 'Mohan Brothers'. Brijmohan had been in love with wealthy Kamini, but she decided to marry someone, and since that day, a heartbroken Brijmohan hated all women and instructed his brothers not to get involved with them. Ten years later, Jagmohan and Manmohan meet and fall in love with wealthy Sheela and her friend, Renu (Madhubala) respectively. They continue to meet on the sly so as not to incur their brother's wrath.

I must say that I love Ashok Kumar. Love, love, love. But then, most of you probably know that by now. It's great to see him in a comedic film. He wasn't that hilarious of a character. He was the most serious of the bunch because he was heartbroken... ASHOK - I WOULD HAVE MARRIED YOU!!!!! *cough* Also, seeing Ashok and Madhubala on screen again makes me want to rewatch Mahal... again... Hmm, did they star in any other movies together (just them) aside from Mahal?

Kishore Kumar continues to be hilariously awesome. I can't help but smile and laugh and dance in my chair during the films he stars in and the songs he sings as well. He's got crazy energy, and it's contagious!

Madhubala - like I've said before - is great in that she can be glamorous, dramatic, or funny at a drop of a hat. She was great!

( YouTube Clips! )

Rating: 5/5

I randomly went to Nehaflix and saw... FIVE DOLLAR SALE!

I ended up buying...

Saheb Bibi Aur Ghulam (Guru Dutt is a servant who falls in love with his employer's wife)
Pakeezah (Raj Kumar is an aristocratic who falls in love with a prostitute)
Zanjeer (Amitabh Bachchan is an honest police officer who gets framed for a crime and goes for REVENGE - Pran also stars as Amitabh's BFF)
Dostana (Abhishek Bachchan and John Abraham pretend to be gay lovers in order to secure a posh Miami apartment)
Aar Paar (Guru Dutt is a taxi driver who ends up on the wrong side of the law when he falls for the daughter of a gangster)
Aah (Raj Kapoor falls in love with Nargis while engaged to her sister and gets TB)
Chaudhavi Ka Chand (Guru Dutt ends up in a love triangle involving Waheeda Rehman and one of his closest friends)
Anand (Rajesh Khanna has terminal cancer and Amitabh Bachchan is the doctor who tries to help him through to the end)
Do Ankhen Barah Haath (Based off true events, a warden tries to rehabilitate six murderers in a country farm)
Azaad (Dilip Kumar is Batman a businessman by day, urban vigilante by night!)
Amar (Dilip Kumar falls in love with a milkmaid while engaged to Madhubala)

... I don't know about you, but I've noticed a few common themes going on here...

The total came to $78, plus $16 for shipping. US funds, of course.

10% coupon code, plus $20 gift certificate, plus $15.30 in credit from three movies that failed to have subtitles later...

$50.90 US which roughly comes to $59.20 CAN!

*dances*

I saved $43.10 US!

One thing I don't get about this show...

WHY IS THE CASH REGISTER IN JOE'S BAR FACING TOWARDS THE PATRONS?

I have $35.30 worth of credit on Nehaflix.com.

$15.30 from three movies which didn't have subtitles.

And one $20 giftcard from kathputli_girl (SHE DIDN'T NEED TO DO THAT).

*waits for the $5 sale*

So little has happened in the past two days that this is all I have to say.

Well, I got earrings and stuff in the mail, and my eye (yes, the right one which is STILL enlarged) has been hurting and itching - but fake tears are working wonders for me.

I work tomorrow, get Friday off, then work Saturday, then Monday, and I can't remember past there...

Just going to post this quickly because I gotta have a shower and go to sleep...

I found pretty Gregory Peck icons yesterday and decided to watch a Gregory Peck film, but sadly, I've only ever really seen him in To Kill A Mockingbird (I'm probably seen him in something else, but hell if I can remember).

Anyways, I watched Captain Horatio Hornblower R.N. and me looovvveee. Gregory Peck was handsomely dashing all while being self-conscious and awkward.

I know nothing of Horatio Hornblower, but methinks I need to...

Rating: 4.5/5