The Tag and The Rant  

Posted by Vee

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The Tag
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I was tagged by Vicky. And I went for this without two thoughts as this was on movies. A pretty easy and neat.

1. Name five of your all time favorite movies.

Hindi Ones:
Arth
Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron
Masoom (old)
Maqbool
Black Friday


English Ones:
Casablanca
Breakfast at Tiffany’s
Motorcycle Diaries
Scent of a Woman
Schindler’s List

2. Name one movie which you recommend as a "must see".
Life Is Beautiful

3. One and only one movie that you have seen many times. [Watching on TV won’t count]
Rock On (The movie which I have seen more than 2 times in theater; for various reasons though)

4. Which movie comes to your mind when I say funniest?
Shoot the Piano Player (French)

5. Which movie(s) made you really emotional?
The Lives of Others (German) and How Green Was My Valley (English)

6. Which movie series was as interesting as the first part?
Godfather Series (Without any doubt)

7. Which movie didn’t, according to you, live up to your expectations?
The Da Vinci Code.

8. Which movie surprised you?
13 Tzameti (French)


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The Rant
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A quick look at the movies I saw over the weekend.

The Wizard of Oz: (1939)
Supposedly second in the list of Top 5 Hollywood Movies (Classic) of all time, the movie is a musical and fantasy film. The story is about an Orphan Dorothy (Judy Garland). Her dog Toto once bit a certain Miss Gulch who gets an order from court to take the dog away. The dog any how runs back to Dorothy upon which she decides to run away from the village. And there starts a fun journey wherein a coward lion, a scarecrow, a tin man join her. I find the movie just about ok. I wanted to watch this as now only 1 movie is left to be seen out of that list. That it is in top 5 of all time classic is actually attributed to the fact that the movie was hugely loved when shown as TV series as it was not very commercially hit when released.

Rating – 3 n half

Gentleman’s Agreement: (1947)
Gregory Peck stars in this drama as a Journalist who wishes to unravel the Anti-Semitism (resentment against Jews) outlook by posing himself as a Jew. What he unearths upsets him a great deal. As a Jew, he realizes to what extent people actually go and the hostility doesn’t stop at the work. His fiancée too is in tight spot concerning all this hara-kiri.

Rating – 3 n half

Roman Holiday: (1953)
I have always ranted (whenever given prospect) of my love for Audrey Hepburn so much so that I started digging for all her movies after I watched Breakfast At Tiffany’s, but her debut movie (Roman Holiday) always eluded me. And the fact that it had my other favorite Gregory Peck made me restless beyond control. I got it through a friend finally. Audrey went on to win Academy Award in her debut film where she portrayed a role of Royal Princess. Rome is the last destination on her tour of European cities. Upon reaching there, she runs away from her palace and roams around the street of Rome as a commoner. She meets a Journalist (Gregory as a Journalist yet again) and falls in love. But beware; the climax is not what our Bollywood guys would have made out of such story.

Rating – 4

Chariots of Fire: (1981)
The story based in year 1924 talks of 5 athletes preparing for upcoming Olympics. Zero down and you have two protagonists who are aiming for the 100 meter Gold. One of them is Jewish who would go to any extent to prove his detractors wrong and other is Christian who would not run on Sunday as running on Sabbath (religious day of rest) is sacrilege.

Rating – 4

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26 Pointless but Viscous Comments.

man...u are a great movie watcher..!!
i mean variety...
i always wanted to watch international movies...but never got time to do...i watch all hollywood, bollywood, kollywood,mollywood movies...even the flop ones...

now i want to watch some phoren maal too..!! i think you can be a good guide..!!

:)

breakfast at tiffany's is one of my favs too :)

suggest me some good french movies bro :P

have seen Chariots of Fire and will give it 3.5 :D

niceLy Done bro..cheers

Vinz: Thanks. Yes, I am a follower of World Cinema. And I too watch Bolly, Kolly, Molly movies. and like you even flop ones.. :):)

Sure buddy, Anytime, can recco you some really good piece of cinema.

Chhote Nawaab: Isn't(Wasn't) Audrey drop-dead gorgeous?

2 french movies you can pick from this list it self. STPP and 13 Tzameti.

Apart from that go for these 3: Red, Blue and White. These are three different movies made by same director. I am not getting it on DVDs anywhere. I saw it some 7 years back during Film Festival.

And then you have some light ones like Bed and Board, In The Mood For Love, The Soft Skin

And the ultimate one is Irreversible. If you have not seen yet, just get hold of it and do watch.

Itna foren ka maal????

Hmmmm, Jaane Bhi do is a personal fav of mine too....

Cool tag

What is the story of Arth? I try to avoid sad movies as I get too much depressed. But I literally fell off the sofa watching the drama scene in Jaane bhi do yaaron.

Smita: Haan ji pura videshi.. JBDY is a classic. Nothing and I say none of the comedies after that can beat it.

Reema: Arth is based on infidelity and what else..hehe. But, the execution is class apart. And so was that of 'Izazzat' (remember that movie).

Yes, such movies can be upsetting but it depends the way you approach cinema. U need to chuck ur personal bag n baggage. Tough to follow but possible.

oxy...

i have absolutely no clue about all the foreign films that you have referred to here. someone gifted me akiro kurusawa (i know i've got it wrong) 'dreams' ... not yet watched it...heh heh...

your hindi movie line-up is good...ARTH was very dark yaar...mind wreaking songs though...

scent of a woman hah...?

:-)

Preeti: Then ask me, I can recommend some real gems which you have missed watching. Trust me, the world cinema is too huge and withot running down our Bollywood I would say there are many movies to be seen.

Akira Kurosawa (Japanese director)is a well known and you should definitely see his work.. Definitely and then there are many Dutch, Korean, Iranian, Frenc, German directors you should not miss.

I am fan of Hindi movies as well as I said and ARTH was one such movie which I will never forget. I saw it when I was just 12 or so but could not decipher it much. But then after many re-runs I started loving it. And same goes for 'Izaazat'. What a movie and what songs.. :):)

So sad, I havnt even half of the movies you mentioned. I have limited my viewing capabilities to the desi flicks. Watching movies of Hindi, Malayalam, Tamil, sometimes Telugu is all that I do. Of course, the popular English ones too.

U seriously are one movie maniac!!!

Vimmuuu: Ah, Do not be sad. Ask me and I will tell you only if you interested in world cinema. Else, be content with what you watching. And to be very very honest I guess the movies made in Tamil and Malayalam are way above Bollywood flicks. I too have watched movies made in these two Languages (especially the award winning ones) and man they are just amazing.. Some day I will write only on Regional movies. Some day!!

Yes, I am. Give me movies any day and I will be happy for the rest of the day.

Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron was the one i liked a lot.....

My comments only on the English movies. Agree with all your choices. Casablanca is a brilliant brilliant movie.

Interesting answer for Qn. 7, but the fact is that most book adaptations are really bad compared to the book. The only exception would be The Godfather movies.

Oxy,

Good choices there. Though I havent watched most of these, but heard about them.

Gregory Peck in To Kill a Mockingbird was amazing.

Marlon Brando in A Streetcar Named Desire.

Have you seen My Fair Lady?

A Movie No One Should Miss? Hard to say. I can provide a list.

Rakesh: JBDY is a classic and likable in every sense.

Avionic: Yups, Casablanca was a gem. "Here's looking at you kid" is one of the best one-liners of all time.

Most (almost all) are indeed bad adaptations. And should be. Hpw can you possible cover each nuance of the book in 2 hours of movie. Not possible... but yes Godfather did fair well though not the only exception. I too used to think that till I saw few other movies based on novel (quite many actually) and had to accept there are movies other than Godfather series that have done justice to the book...

Avdi: Yes, Gregory was amazing and now do watch his Gentleman's Agreement and Roman Holiday please. He was awesome in both especially GA..

Marlon in 'A Streetcar....' Pheew, he surprised me.. Imagine you see his Godfather and then you see hi solder movies.. haha.. totally different. Marlon was an Ace in true sense.

OF COURSE I have seen 'My Fair Lady', off course. I was never a fan of any one particular actor (including our movies) till I explored Audrey. :):)

I too can. At least 50 such toh I can easily provide. Let's come up with our own lists and exchange.. what say?

Hmm .. thats interesting. Give me a couple of names. The last 'popular book' adaptations I saw were LOTR and Da Vinci Code and of course the HP series. I'd be really interested to watch movies that you felt stayed true to their source.

Hmmm, well to start with, if u look closer home there are many like Ray's work and few Marathi ones which I feel you would not be very interested in..

So, if you take Hollywood, I feel 'A Beautiful Mind' and 'Atonement' can be termed as the ones...

When we adapt a book, we cannot cover it wholly but by 'staying tuned' we mean we do not bring in extra if we cannot show all keeping the real essence intact.

So, I would also consider 'To Kill A Mocking Bird'... And then there are few Polish/Dutch but for these I need to do some R-n-D as when I saw them it showed 'Based on the novel' n all that jazz..

have to say Atonement is a good watch.
Just watched momento again :D

V: Oh yes, absolutely.. McAvoy is a good actor.. From the current lot I like him apart from Jude Law. Have you seen his The Last King Of Scotland?

Btw bro, Saw 2 Dutch, 2 Japanese and 1 Polish movie over the long weekend. Mazaa aa gaya.. Probably will write about them...

Oops, forgot to talk about Momento.. Oh man, kya movie hai... Let's see what Aamir has to say to that now.. u knw of the rumors/controversy with Aamir's upcoming Ghajini na?

naam batao re..kaun kaun si dekhe...??

yeah man i saw it..It's surprisingly moving, and equally as devastating, Forest Whitaker plays Idi Amin, and gives the performance of a lifetime. One of the best that I've ever seen..

yeah i heard of it..i know it will be a copy..and who better other than Best of the KHANS.

don't know what ppl might say..most of them won't even understand it..so i think it will not be a big hit as a stupid movie like Singh is king...But it will be another milestone for AaMir.

True indeed.. Aamir will surely add another feather (even if people do not buy it).. We in India still can make craps like Race, Jannat n Singh is King a massive hit..

Yet I have faith in film-makers like Anurag, Vishal et al to take our cinema to another level.

I saw these:
Dutch: Magonia and Grimm

Japanese: Chungking Express and Happy Together

Polish: Katyn

is it magonia or magnolia??

as currently i am downloading Magnolia ...

Nopes, Nopes, Nopes... Magnolia is diff ( I saw that long back in English language).. Magonia is diff one.. It's Dutch.

okay..will see the dutch one after this :)

something awaits you here ;D

http://smellofearthafterrain.blogspot.com/2008/10/kick-ass-award.html

cheers big B :D

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