I caught the Bollywood film 3 Idiots last week, making it my 2nd Indian movie in as many weeks. Funny enough, this was more than I’ve seen in the past couple of years. Even more surprising, I saw it at the Indian movie theater in Fremont, a place I avoid going at all costs. I hadn’t been there in several years and within 5 minutes of getting there, I realized why. But that’s another story.

When I first saw a commercial for 3 Idiots, I thought it was one of those random Indian comedy movies that’s not as funny as it thinks it is. But it actually turned out to be a rather … wait for it…. good movie. (Italicized for emphasis!)

3 Idiots is about three friends during their time in engineering college in India. Yes, it’s funny but that’s not all the movie strives to be. Instead, it adds a message in there about the pressures of living up to expectations.

Aamir Khan is great in this movie so I’ll forgive him for being what, 45? and playing a 20 year old. If anything, I forgive him for Ghajini (sorry, pretty upset that credit wasn’t given to Memento). His two cohorts are from Rang De Basanti and are great as well. I’m not going to lie to you, in addition to all the funny parts, the filmmakers blatantly try to get you all choked up at certain moments. I’m admitting nothing of course.

I texted a friend of mine who had already seen it about having watched it and she mentioned something that was on my mind as well – I just saw two Bollywood films, this one and Wake Up Sid, that emphasized the need of having a profession your passionate about.

Anyways, all in all, good “fillum”.

Check out Wake Up Sid too if you can.

Side note: I can’t believe how many Aamir Khan movies I’ve seen. Looking at this list on IMDB, I’ve seen almost all of them.

My favorite Aamir Khan movies include:
-Dil Chahta Hai
-Lagaan
-Rang De Basanti
-3 Idiots
-Earth
-Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikander
-Qayamat Se Qayamt Tak (classic)

Side, side note: I implied above that I haven’t seen too many Indian movies as of late. I used to watch so many more because even though they weren’t all the best of movies, they were at least entertaining enough. I feel like that’s changed. I don’t want to invest in Indian movies that much anymore because it’ll end with me wanting those 3 hours back. That, and you can’t watch most Indian movies with the family anymore. Dunno what’s up with that trend.

A lot of sites are not only writing about their “Top 10s” of the past year, but of the past decade. So I thought, why not do that too? I mean, my opinion is just as valid as anyone else’s.

I’ll give you a second to stop laughing…

Here it is, my “Top 10″ of the last decade. DISCLAIMER: I’m not proclaiming these to be the 10 best ever as I am well aware that everyone has different tastes. Also, I’m sure I forgot about something here or there that I wish I would have included.

In no particular order:

Donnie Darko – There’s just something about this movie… I can’t quite explain why I’m so into it. For some reason, Donnie speaks to me. All I know is that no one can ever doubt my commitment to Sparkle Motion.

Pan’s Labyrinth – I think that how one interprets the ending determines whether one is an optimist or a cynic.

Children of Men – A lot of the movies about the not-so-distant future depicted dystopian societies and this was one of them. There are some excellent scenes in this movie.

Spirited Away – I remember when I was watching this movie for the first time on DVD. I hadn’t been that engrossed in a movie in quite a while. I was so deep into the fantastical world that Miyazaki created, I couldn’t get up to make myself a mocha even though I really wanted one. That is huge, my friends.

Pride and Prejudice – I wasn’t too keen on watching this movie because I wasn’t a Keira Knightly fan and I thought the BBC version of Pride and Prejudice was really good. There wasn’t much too improve upon, y’know? And yet, I saw this movie despite my misgivings and loved it. This is probably the girliest movie I like although I didn’t think of it is a girly movie until I had let my manager borrow it and he returned it like this.

V or Vendetta – Remember, remember the 5th of November… I don’t know how many conversations this movie inspired. Everyone I know who watched it wanted to talk about it and give their take on the events that transpired in the film.

The Prestige – I just thought this movie was awesome and ended up reading the book it based on, which was great in its own regard.

Waking Life – I get something out of this movie every single time I watch it. In the simplest way to describe it, it’s an animated movie about dreams but it really is a lot more than that. Whenever I recommend Waking Life to someone I always say the same thing, that it’s not a popcorn movie that you watch with your friends, it’s a movie you have in which you have to focus and stick to it, even if the beginning doesn’t seem to make any sense. Trust me though, it pays off.

Before Sunset – I love how this sequel to Before Sunrise is set 9 years later, with the actors 9 years older themselves. I wasn’t sure which one I liked better and kept on flip-flopping between the two before Before Sunset finally won out as my favorite. Jesse and Celine had more realistic views in this movie than in the other one, mostly due to their characters’ experiences in the time that passed in between the movies. I definitely have appreciated this movie more upon multiple viewings.

Monsters, Inc.- Hands down my favorite Pixar movie. “Oh, hey. We’re rehearsing a – a scene for the upcoming company play called uh, Put That Thing Back Where It Came From Or So Help Me. It’s a musical.”

Honorable Mention: Volver, Once, Fantastic Mr. Fox, Persepolis, Batman Begins/The Dark Knight, Memento.

And there it is. Feel free to tell me how lame my movies are and that the movies on your list are oh so much better than mine

I was lucky enough to catch a screening of Where the Wild Things Are last night at the Metreon in San Francisco. Author Dave Eggers, who co-wrote the screenplay was in attendence and said a few words before the start of the movie and a Q&A with director Spike Jonze, actress Catherine Keener (‘Mom’) and Max Records (‘Max’, the kid in the movie) followed the screening.

I really liked the movie. However, this isn’t quite a review as it is about a thought I had during the movie: I really don’t know how it would play for little kids. At times it was dark, the kind of bleakness that a child may have trouble coping with if watching on a big screen.

As I was discussing the movie with a coworker today (some people knew I was going to watch it and wanted my take on it), I told him the above. I said that although I got a sense that most of us in the theater really liked the movie, Where the Wild Things Are didn’t really come off as a family film and so I wondered how successful this movie would be. Don’t get me wrong, I want it to make a ton of money, I just couldn’t help thinking about it may have lost some of its potential audience due to the nature of the film.

My coworker said that this may not be a hindrance for the success of the movie. If anything, this movie is better off being aimed at adults.

I thought about that and realized he had a point.

The crowd in the theater consisted mostly of older people, from mid-twenties on up, with a lot of middle-aged folks in attendance. If Where the Wild Things Are was entirely for children, then multiple generations, the many who have read the book since the 60s, would have felt left out. Instead, we were given a movie about a child, about innocence, and it worked. Somehow, I was able to really connect with a movie in which the title character is a little boy in a wolf costume with an incredible imagination.

Of course, there’s another point that I may be missing entirely – maybe kids these days can handle more emotional upheaval than I give them credit for. They don’t need to be coddled, y’know?

Here’s hoping Where the Wild Things Are is the success that it deserves to be. Props to Spike Jonze and Dave Eggers for sticking with something that they believe would better represent the book instead of creating the film that the studio initially wanted. However, to give Warner Brothers credit, they did eventually come to see the movie as Jonze intended it. They also provided a print of the movie for benefit screenings, like the one I went to last night. The proceeds went directly to 826 Valencia writing/tutoring center. Very cool.

Also, just as an FYI, Dave Eggers wrote a novelized version of the movie called Wild Things, which will be released soon.

The movie will be released on October 16. Watch it!

First of all, I have to say that, while not flawless, this year’s Academy Awards broadcast was the most entertaining in years.

Most of the people/movies expected to win, won and so maybe there weren’t many actual surprises but Hugh Jackman was a great host. The host of the Oscars doesn’t have to be a comedian, just someone who engages the crowd and gets them interested in the show and I thought Jackman did a great job.

Just a couple of things.

-Yay for Slumdog Millionaire! I sincerely loved that movie and I don’t know the last time I was rooting for a movie to win like I was doing for Slumdog. It was awesome that pretty much the entire cast was there, even the little kids. I think the kid who played little Jamal was my favorite.

- Also loved how A.R. Rahman won for Best Score and Best Song. Loved the performance too.

- I was expecting either Waltz with Bashir or The Class to win Best Foreign Language Oscar and was surprised that neither of them won since those two were the favorites.

- I had a problem with the stars of High School Musical being featured in one of the performances. And why was the guy from Twilight presenting? He really did look like a vampire (not that I have actually met any vampires in real life).

Anyways, beyond a couple of gripes, good show.

The other day, I finally caught a showing of Waltz With Bashir, Israel’s entry for Best Foreign Language Film. This animated film is based on filmmaker Ari Folman’s attempt to recover memories of his time as an Israeli soldier in the Lebanon War in the 1980s. Folman’s use of animation conjured up memories of Waking Life and Persepolis, the latter mostly because animation was used to tell a true story there as well.

It was only after a conversation he had with an old friend that Folman had one memory resurface of his time in the war and he wasn’t even sure that it was a real memory. He set out to find out about his time in the army, which included tracking down former soldiers he fought with and former soldiers in other battalions that he may or may not have crossed paths with during that time in the early 80s.

The film was shot mostly like a documentary as animated Folman spoke to animated versions of real people (I believe only one person was voiced by an actor but was still based on a real person). Not only did he talk to people in the army, but psychologists and others that provided insight on the nature of his memories and war. These interviews are supplemented with scenes from the war. As we see Folman getting closer and closer to discovering his role in the war in general and a massacre more specifically, the viewer gets drawn into Folman’s journey through his lost history.

The movie was intense and raw at times. After watching it, I realized I don’t know much at all about the Lebanon War and not a thing about the massacre that occurs in the movie that resulted in the murder of 2,000 Palestinian refugees.

The following from the Wikipedia article for Waltz With Bashir:

Like all Israeli films, the film has been banned in most Arab countries, with the most harsh critics in Lebanon, as the movie depicts a vague and violent time in Lebanon’s history. A movement of bloggers, among them the Lebanese Inner Circle, +961 and others have rebelled against the Lebanese government’s ban of the movie, and have managed to get the movie be seen by local Lebanese critics, in defiance of their government’s request on banning it.

I really don’t understand this knee-jerk reaction. Folman is trying to unearth memories that have been long ago repressed and in doing so, provides a look into the war that is devoid of propaganda that would have colored the experience of watching Waltz With Bashir otherwise. I really do hope that Lebanon and other Arab countries allow this movie to screen.

At then end of the film, everyone in the entire theater merely sat there in silence when the credits started rolling. No one got up immediately. We all just…sat there as we still tried to absorb Folman’s quest into long repressed memories. My friend and I were discussing whether or not we could watch it again. I’m actually not quite sure if I could but I definitely do recommend at least one viewing of Waltz With Bashir in order to get a bit of insight into a period of time that many of us don’t know anything about.

I was told once that I am a pretty dark person. I was told this after I proclaimed that Donnie Darko is one of my favorite movies. I can live with that.

From the very first time I watched Donnie Darko, there was something that drew me to it. I couldn’t quite explain my fascination with the movie, just that it somehow affected in a manner in which most movies don’t and nothing can tarnish that.

I hope.

You see, there’s a sequel that’s coming out.

I first heard about the sequel with a wall post on Facebook from my cousin’s friend, who knew I loved Donnie Darko. I researched it and then wrote the following on her wall in response to her initial post about whether I was excited about the sequel:

I won’t lie to you, the Donnie Darko sequel may prove troublesome as it may compromise the integrity of the original. The original writer/director, Richard Kelley, is not involved at all and the only returning character is the youngest sister. I’ll be interested to see the direction in takes though and hope it’s not being made to capitalize on the cult success of Donnie Darko. Crossing fingers now…

This was followed up with another post on her wall in which I acknowledged that I may have been a bit too serious *cough*.

io9 had an article today about the Donnie Darko sequel titled S. Darko, which is coming out in April on DVD. I think I’m going to be too scared to watch it especially since it seems to have nothing to do with anything. I think I’ll just go ahead and watch Donnie Darko again and remember better times.

I finally caught Frost/Nixon at the theater and was pretty entertained. The movie depicts the events leading up to and including the interviews of Former President Richard M. Nixon, the only president to ever resign, conducted by TV personality David Frost. I wasn’t aware of these interviews at all until this movie was advertised (I wasn’t aware of the stage play either) so I wanted to watch this bit of history in Hollywood format.

I really liked the movie. The acting was top notch and there was even a moment or two when I was at the edge of my seat. One aspect of the movie that I really liked was when the movie would cut to interviews with the cast in character, showing the character’s name at the bottom while they provided their thoughts on various events throughout the movie. It gave the movie an almost documentary-like feel at times.

However, the accuracy of this movie has been called into question and for that reason alone, I almost didn’t watch the movie. I understand when material needs to be tinkered with to make a better movie but I have read that some parts are completely far off. Check out writer Elizabeth Drew’s article in Huffington Post, Frost/Nixon: A Dishonerable Distortion of History for information about this topic.

From the article:

But it’s because of the enormously historical importance of that period that the film raises serious questions of its legitimacy. The film’s plot is a contrivance; its telling is so riddled with departures from what actually happened as to be fundamentally dishonest; and its climactic moment is purely and simply a lie. Literary license in the name of drama or entertainment is one thing; the issue comes down to what one is taking license with, and the degree of license being taken.

I do recommend the movie but with the caveat that you won’t walk out knowing more about that time in history. Instead, the movie may prompt the viewer to find out what really happened.

I was able to catch a screening of the new film Slumdog Millionaire last night. The movie, directed by Danny Boyle, tells the story of Jamal Malik, an impoverished youth in India as he progresses through India’s version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire.

I know, I know. That’s the premise? It’s a bit more than that. At the start of the movie, Malik has already accumulated 10 million rupees on the game show and is thus arrested for suspicion of cheating. As the police inspector says, doctors and lawyers are on the show and do not go past 16 thousand rupees. What does a slumdog know?

So as Jamal is sitting in the police station, questioned by the inspector about his response to every single question, the audience watches as Jamal gives his story and we see how his path in life revealed the answers. We see him as a young boy with his brother Salim and friend Latika. We see him grow up and try to make some kind of living. We’re with him on his journey to find Latika, who he had lost track of. We find out about the events in his life that ultimately bring him to the hot seat of the popular game show.

I read that they couldn’t find a decent person to play Jamal Malik in India and that’s why they went with British actor Dev Patel, who turned out to be perfect for the role. The cast also includes Bollywood actor Anil Kapoor playing himself (or a smarmy version of himself. I’m not entirely sure), newcomer Frieda Pinto playing Latika, and Irfan Khan as the police inspector. Khan has made a name playing in non-Bollywood movies like A Mighty Heart, The Namesake, and Darjeeling Limited and now, this.

Slumdog Millionaire depicts an India that Bollywood usually tries to steer clear of. Boyle shows us the life of kids in the slums and the brutal reality that a lot of them face. It’s not light hearted and fluffy. Also, while the score is composed by A.R. Rahman, one of Bollywood’s most notable composers, there are no songs that the leads spontaneously break out to from 6-8 times during the movie. Instead, the score complements the visuals to give us a really good story that sticks with you after you leave the theater. Highly recommended.

The folks over at Warner Brother realized that maybe the Superman Returns movie wasn’t as good as it should have been. From a Wall Street Journal article: Warner Bets of Fewer, Bigger Movies

‘Superman’ didn’t quite work as a film in the way that we wanted it to,” says Mr. Robinov. “It didn’t position the character the way he needed to be positioned.” “Had ‘Superman’ worked in 2006, we would have had a movie for Christmas of this year or 2009,” he adds. “But now the plan is just to reintroduce Superman without regard to a Batman and Superman movie at all.

So… this could mean a Superman movie that will block out all memories of Superman Returns!

Here’s my wishlist for a probable Superman movie:
- The Superman portrayed should be a Post-Crisis Superman.
- No illegitimate children of Superman hanging around. Please.
- Lois Lane should already know Clark Kent is Superman – I mean, c’mon, we should be past this by now.
- No Kevin Spacey. He didn’t play Lex Luthor in the last movie, he played Gene Hackman playing Lex Luthor.
- Superman needs to show some expression now and then.
- The plot can’t revolve around real estate. You would think that this is common sense.
- Different director. Sorry Bryan Singer, you had your chance.

Keeping fingers crossed.

I meant to post about an issue close to my heart a while ago…

Netflix will soon be abandoning separate profile queues for one account.

This is absolutely ridiculous because it is such an awesome feature. You see, I only want one movie at a time. Back when I had my own account and was receiving 3 movies at a time, I realized it was a bit much for me. So, I canceled my account and started my own profile on my brother’s account, only receiving one movie at a time, which suited my tastes. My brother and I did not have to compete as to who’s movie got to ship next. Instead, he was doing his own thing with his one queue and I was doing my own thing with my own queue. When I returned a movie, the next film in my queue would ship. The movie would arrive with my name on it.

Anyways, you get the picture.

But after September 1, my queue and profile will simply go away.The queues will not even be merged. I don’t want to resort to competing for movies. My brother said that I can make my own account again and only do the 1 movie at a time option. Not only will that be a pain, but it will also be a bit more expensive than just getting that 1 more movie from my brother’s account.

Not cool, Netflix. Not cool.

David Pogue of the New York Times discusses this in his blog here.

UPDATE: Due to the overwhelming number of complaints, Netflix has decided to keep the profiles feature. Woohoo! This means I can go back to mooching off of my brother’s account.