Shivaay on Rocket Boys 2 (Updated)

If Kalam’s intro sequence of “har shaakh par ullu baitha hai” questioning the loyalties of a minority yet substantial number of Indian Muslims was the punchline of season 1, season 2 belongs to Dr Bhabha’s “We’re surrounded by trouble”.

Abzee’s Oscar Predix for the year in film 2022 (Updated)

The nominations for the 95^th Academy Awards will be announced in exactly 2 weeks’ time. After the slapgate that was the Will Smith-Chris Rock embarrassment of last year, the Covid affected restricted ceremony of the year prior to it, the host-less events from the couple years before that, and the shadow of the #MeToo and #OscarsSoWhite movements that loomed over the two ceremonies previous to these… the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences would like the Oscars this year to be a return to normalcy and one that would be remembered only for the films rather than any scandal or drama. Having host Jimmy Kimmel back to anchor the evening is a step in that direction.

At a time when global film industries are in a state of flux, audiences’ viewing habits are shifting, and theatrical outings are becoming more and more about just tentpole releases… perhaps this will be the massiest Oscars in years. The Oscars have always battled low ratings owing to charges of snubbing popular films in favour of snobbish prestige fare. Think The Hurt Locker winning over Avatar, or Anthony Hopkins in The Father over Chadwick Boseman in Black Panther… there are several examples.

Summer blockbusters and superhero films, genres that have kept the film industries and theatres still relevant, have always received a reluctant appraisal from the Academy in technical categories like Visual Effects and Sound. The 95^th Academy Awards could be different.

Shivaay’s note on Amitabh’s legacy and Pink

Enough said about legacy, box office records, longevity etc. etc. etc. There’s a moment in every legend’s career when mere mega stardom transforms in Legacy. And that LEGACY for me as a viewer and childhood fan of Amitabh Bachchan was perhaps the best film of the decade of the 2010s PINK!

Krish on Amitabh Bachchan

As a kid who grew in the 80s, all i can say that Amitabh is the greatest superstar there has ever been. My first movie of his in theatre was the 5th or 6th rerun of Mr Natwarlal in Anand theatre Thane and that was sometime in 1984 or 1985 when the movie actually came in 1979 and i saw that in a packed house then. Unfortunately the electricity went and we had to come back home sadly 😦

An Jo on AB’s and SRK’s come-backs

On AB’s and SRK’s come-backs…

Quite surprised at the turn — maybe the colors of Holi did play their magic — of tide here: Marcus, Master, everyone acknowledging AB’s unparalleled stardom: Been wanting to write this for a long time. As I believe someone said here, it is difficult and futile to compare stars of different eras and their levels of connectivity to the audience.

tonymontana’s viewings (Updated)

Iratta:

I find myself picking another Malayalam film for casual viewing after Netflix recommended me this based on my viewing habits. I knew the detailing would be spot on as expected from many a film from this language n industry, bit I didn’t brace myself for a stunning performance from Joju George in a dual role: that of a unruly cop and his twin brother — both in the force.

Z’s Viewings

Watched The Romantics past couple night.

SPOILERS…

Best part for me was few second scenes of Yash Chopra marriage.
How Aditya Chopra was a better dancer than Hrithik when they were kids and having friendly dance competition at parties.
How Aditya visualized and built the YRF Production House.

Dichotomy of Opinions on the identity of ‘PATHAAN’ – An Jo

Dichotomy of Opinions on the identity of ‘PATHAAN’

“Munna/Jay – Now I cannot sit quiet with a dumb analyst’s, politically motivated reply and hitting below the belt by using ‘Jo’ Blow. I really do not have much time due to my travel and personal issues with close relatives’ health [which I have mentioned], but some hidden moles are just coming out and making a mockery of film criticism. NEVER, have I mentioned that PATHAAN is a bad film or a fine; honestly because, I haven’t seen it. I have put in my qualifiers that my reactions are purely based on the trailer, and the tropes SRK and his team have used to mint millions. I apologize since in one statement I used Z’s marital status; but even that, was with a semblance of decency. Still, I owe him an apology just on a human basis.

Raj5 on ‘Pathaan’

Saw the 9pm show of Pathaan last night in Chicago. The theater was about 80% full, and it was the 4th showing of the day in that theater. BOI is right, SRK is 1-10 overseas. I had friends join me who rarely watch movies in theaters, purely because it was SRK’s comeback film. You could feel the mass hysteria in the theater, and this was a normal Wednesday night! Everyone lost their minds at 1) SRK’s entry 2) John’s entry 3) **Spoiler** Salman’s cameo and the dialogues between the 2 Khans.

Master on ‘Pathaan’

Watched PATHAAN. Movie is good and not great but the movie has the perfect combination of ticking off all the checkboxes in covering everything: a proper bollywood syp/thriller/heist bad-spy gone rogue, good spys from everywhere, etc.
The movie starts well with SRK’s introduction and fight sequence (just like Bond movies do) prior to the titles and it is extremely well shot and choreographed (albeit too fast).

Krish on Pathaan

Saw pathaan, with family. Packed house. Personally i agree with what Z said. Maybe i over expected a bit. Movie is surely decent and watchable but there is a derivative feel about the movie. If one has seen FF series they have seen it all. There are some good scenes like the opening scene, a scene on frozen ice river, one scene with a virus leak and every single scene John appears the movie crackles with energy. The Salman cameo also plays well with gallery.

An jo on ‘Pathaan’ Trailer

The trailer review: Have been poor at reviewing trailers but a bit better at reviewing movies. However, catching some breathing space during hectic schedules, caught the trailer and quite liked it. Not impressed with the trailer as a whole but it provided the lay of the land and what to expect, and specially, what not to expect, quite literally and clearly.

A sharp and well-cut trailer, encompassing parts of the current mood of the country portrayed openly, while maintaining the ‘Pathaan’ identity as intended to meet SRK’s attempts over the years of his film-acting career.

Films watched in the Year 2022

I was working on my annual Oscar predictions, and I somehow also ended up doing a side project on the films I saw last year. Here’s a snapshot of my film viewing in 2022.

I saw a total of 180 films last year, at an average of 15 films a month and roughly 3-4 films a week.

NewYork Magazine on “How a Nepo Baby Is Born”

How a Nepo Baby Is Born

How a Nepo Baby Is Born Hollywood has always loved the children of famous people. In 2022, the internet reduced them to two little words.

In 2022, the internet uncovered a vast conspiracy: Hollywood was run on an invisible network of family ties — and everybody was in on it! Everyone is someone’s kid, but it was as if everybody were somebody’s kid. Euphoria, the buzziest show on television, was created by the son of a major director and co-starred the daughter of another. Actress Maya Hawke was not only born to two famous parents but looked like them, too. Half of Brooklyn’s indie artists had dads with IMDb pages. Even Succession’s Cousin Greg turned out to be the son of one of the guys who designed the Rolling Stones’ lips logo. Aghast, content creators got to work. An unwieldy phrase — “the child of a celebrity” — was reduced to a catchy buzzword: nepo baby. TikTokers produced multipart series about nepo babies who resembled their famous parents, exposés on people you didn’t know were nepo babies (everyone knew), and PSAs urging celebrity parents to roast their nepo babies “to keep them humble.”

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What powers the Boycott Bollywood movement and why is it working : By Sharmi Adhikary

Sharmi Adhikary

Link

Though Karan Malhotra’s period action drama Shamshera depicted the story of a dacoit tribe and their fight for independence against the British, the Ranbir Kapoor and Sanjay Dutt starrer tanked massively. This failure was symptomatic of the audience’s ire at the rabid anti-Hindu stance in the script. The hero is shown as an atheist, while the villain sports the shikha and the elaborate tilak worn by upper-caste Brahmins. Since soldiers recruited by the colonizers were not encouraged to wear their religion so prominently on their uniform sleeves, this forced maligning of Hindu iconography was clearly directed at expressing Hinduphobia. The audience, Yash Raj Films should have realised by now, would not be duped so easily anymore.