Chula Vista

The camera work in the beginning made me nauseous and that was watching on a TV. Can't imagine what it was like on the big screen. Happened to a lesser degree when they were walking around inside the club.

__________________

“The fact that we live at the bottom of a deep gravity well,
on the surface of a gas covered planet going around a nuclear fireball 90 million miles away
and think this to be normal is obviously some indication of how skewed our perspective tends to be.”

bob.

the very beginning with the two old men

it was a bit much in the theater....but i felt Enter the Void was a much more brutal attack on my sense on the big screen

__________________
A kiss is the beginning of cannibalism.

Reach out, pierce the fine fabric of the sheltering sky, take repose.

GuD

^ I envy you're getting to see that on the big screen... I was kinda bored at times with that movie but it was definitely an interesting one.

__________________
I spit bullets in my feet
Every time I speak
So I write instead
And still people want me dead
~msc

Exo

The Lunchbox

My knowledge of Bollywood has been reduced to a horse sliding under a truck as if it has been frozen in place. I think I may have the notion that all Bollywood films rival the low budget B movies that we see in grindhouse theaters in America. My ignorance couldn’t be more apparent. The country pumps out more movies than one could count and while a lot of them consist of special effects shots as shown above, there are a great number of quality cinema coming from India. While I haven’t seen any of his films, the work of Satyajit Ray has made it’s way to the eyes of American film nerds. I think I should make the nice Indian woman who works at my library happy and finally take her up on her suggestions to watch his films. Tonight though I decided to start with a more recent film from the country of India, The Lunchbox.

My local art house was playing this for a couple weeks but I couldn’t get myself to make the drive over there. This is the problem with living across the river from New York City. I ****ing hate going anywhere else. The theater is a half hour drive west and I just couldn’t find the time. I was interested in it because I have this weird romantic film itch I’ve been scratching lately so when it was available on Netflix DVD service I added it to the top of my queue.

If this film was made by an American production company, Rachel McAdams and Richard Gere would have starred and it would have been directed by Lasse Hallstrom. It would have rivaled Nights in Rodanthe or whatever that slop of a movie was called and would have been attended by every house mother in the nation. The film centers around two adults in India who correspond through lunch due to an error in the infamous lunchbox delivery system. The woman, played by Nimrat Kaur, is neglected by her husband so when she finds out she’s been making lunch for another man, played by Irrfan Khan, she continues to do so. The two build a relationship through letters and what looks like delicious food and BAM we have our movie. You see what I mean about the America thing? They’d call it “Lunch for Two” and it’d gross 100 million dollars. Somebody is going to read this and it’s going to happen. Watch.

The film ended up being such a pleasurable watch. I think I watch films like these every once in a while because my viewing tendencies lean towards a lot of dark horrible ****. People dying or people killing. Rape. Ghosts. Mafia. Zombies. Violent Crime. All usual stuff going through my eyes and ears. I needed this. Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t a walk in the park. There are some pretty heavy emotional scenes in the film carried out by some pretty fantastic acting by Kaur and Kahn. The film builds the relationship and character of these two people with subtlety and care. There were no long conversations setting up backstory or details that didn’t need to be there. The details were revealed as they needed to be. The screenplay was tight but contructed in a way to let the film breath. Not a lot happened in the first hour. That was okay though. We were treated with some nice food preparation and Indian scenery with a bit of character development thrown on top. By the end, I was fully involved with how these two people ended up. The ending by the way…perfect. They didn’t insult my intelligence by assuming I don’t have a goddamn imagination. I like when filmmakers let me end the story with my mind. I don’t need a bow every time.

Like I mentioned, Kahn and Kaur were wonderful, Kahn especially. Ever since I saw him in “Life of Pi” I’ve been completely impressed with him as an actor in everything else he’s been in that I’ve seen. He’s on my list of completely underrated by extremely talented actors. Hell, even his small role in The Darjeeling Limited was great. Kaur had the scene of the movie. She was able to convey a whole range of emotions with just her eyes. Also, he conversations with her Auntie upstairs were fun to listen to.

The film is a great watch when you’re feeling ****ty or just want to watch a warm, light hearted film about a small romance in India. It was genuine and superbly acted and written.

4.5/5

Key

The Addams Family

Found it on Netflix, and was struck with the thought that I had never actually seen this movie. And it was definitely better than I expected. Nothing to spectacular or revolutionary, especially for it's time, but it has the sort of comedic feel to it that I get when I watch Beetlejuice. Simply cheesy, but still enjoyable nonetheless. And a few quirky quotes that can be taken from it, of course.

"Would you like some girl scout cookies?"
"Are they made from real girl scouts?"

Yac

Ok, google censorship time The poster for the movie Irreversible contains a naked boob. Now any sane person wouldn't mind it, especially since it's not porn, it's a movie poster. But! Not google Google in their infinite wisdom (read: incomprehensible double standards) has already flagged this site as "evil" and threatened to take google ads away, the sole source of income. That's why, before they do it again, I'm forced to edit out the poster - I'm sure all of you will be able to find it if you want.
Yac.

Chula Vista

Sorry about that. She's actually not naked and wearing a dress but in hindsight I can see why someone could mistakenly think otherwise.

__________________

“The fact that we live at the bottom of a deep gravity well,
on the surface of a gas covered planet going around a nuclear fireball 90 million miles away
and think this to be normal is obviously some indication of how skewed our perspective tends to be.”

bob.

agreed

the poster shown here was the same poster in every major newspaper and on the side of bus stops in major cities in America

the woman on the poster is clearly wearing a tight white silk dress and has hard nipples

the poster itself represents something the director was trying to say about rape itself....as the woman in the picture...who is raped....is in fact raped by a gay male who has no sexual desire for her.....but rather looks at rape as a sadistic pleasure...which is exactly what it is....the rape scene is vile and represents just what this act is.....and the only way to represent that is to show it for what it is

on that....funny that in this movie nobody talks about the man getting his head bashed in with a fire extinguisher while men in a circle masturbate.....but they talk about the 9 minute rape scene of a beautiful woman in a tight dress....this is exactly what the director wanted to expose

i can totally understand your situation here....i just find it sad that someone actually had to report something so obviously not offensive....provocative yes....but not offensive....just to get a rise out of their own pathetic ego

__________________
A kiss is the beginning of cannibalism.

Reach out, pierce the fine fabric of the sheltering sky, take repose.

GuD

I never watched Irreversible for that scene alone. I couldn't stomach 9 minutes of having to watch something like that... eek.

I watched Brave because I'm corny. It was okay. All of Disney/Pixar collaboration films seem to have the same message(s) but in different settings and through somewhat different plots. Whatever, it was cute and I liked it. Now I'm gonna watch the Rabbi's Cat.

__________________
I spit bullets in my feet
Every time I speak
So I write instead
And still people want me dead
~msc

Frownland

__________________

Studies show that when a given norm is changed in the face of the unchanging, the remaining contradictions will parallel the truth.