Monday 30 September 2013

Everything was beautiful and nothing hurt.


Generations from now will look back and marvel at this show about a man named Walter White who sometimes went by the name of Heisenberg till he became Heisenberg and Heisenberg became him. They will laugh and cry and gasp. They will fall in love with Jesse Pinkman and all his "bitches". They will adore the villains and feel frustrated by the good guys but will know that the show is better and greater than all of that. Even a fly in this show will not be just a fly.
And we will rejoice because we were there.

Goodbye Breaking Bad. Thanks for the memories.

Saturday 28 September 2013

Thoughts

Hiiii guys! I know I am the worst blogger in the world and I'm really sorry for not posting anything of late but here are my thoughts:

1) Life update/sleep-deprived rant- So the reason I haven't been blogging is because I am generally too tired to write down lucid thoughts. I mean, you guys follow me on Twitter, so you obviously know... I don't think I've mentioned this but I finally started 2nd year of college and it's been pretty hectic so far. There was the annual prize day last week and yours truly here won a certificate of effort in film studies. Yaay! I wore my grandma's silk sari, which is a really difficult thing in itself and gosh how do Indian women do it all the time(!), and took a million crazy photos with my friends because we were super bored. Next, I am directing a one-act play for the drama competition again. If you remember, this was the same competition I took part in last year when one of the actors ended up getting dengue though we don't know that at the time and she forgot all her lines and as a result everyone else forgot their lines and I was having panic attacks backstage but we still managed to bag the technical prize. This year we intend to win, well, ALL OF THE AWARDS, but first and foremost, put on a good show. Speaking of, yesterday my friend Alliya and I went to watch a play called "Colour Blind" starring Kalki Koechlin, and it was great, and then we actually got to meet her! For those unacquainted with Indian cinema, the only Hollywood actress I can think of who is most like Koechlin is Jennifer Lawrence, at least in terms of acting skills.
Me, Kalki Koechlin, Alliya

I've never met an actor before, especially someone whose work I really admire and I was very starstruck. Everyone go watch Dev D!! I had such an adrenaline rush throughout the evening that I'm pretty sure I'm going to have low adrenaline (is that a thing? It feels like a thing) for a month. So yaay, more sleepiness! Also, I waste so much time on Twitter, it's ridiculous. I would leave it were it not for all the awesomesauce conversations about 90s Bollywood or hot men. Anyways, that's all about me. To the actual film stuff now...

2) It's been ages since I saw Fargo and I have been thinking of rewatching it. Looks like I'll have to do that pretty soon because who should bag a major role in the Fargo miniseries but my fake husband, Martin Freeman! He's going to play Lester Nygaard, the character played by William H. Macy in the movie. I am very curious to see how this turns out. I'm not the biggest Coen brothers fan but I did like Fargo quite a bit.

3) The Tarzan movie is still happening! Alexander Skarsgard in playing the jungle man and Christopher Waltz has joined the project as the baddie and the producers are trying to get Emma Stone to get on board as the leading lady. I. Am. There.

4) So Oscar talk has started in full swing now. 12 Years A Slave won the main award at Toronto Film Festival and is apparently the frontrunner for Best Film. It's a little too early to start speculating about that, imo, but it looks like a lot of studio heads have gotten cold feet and many "Oscar-bait" movies have been postponed to next year. A pretty cool teaser of Foxcatcher released (see below) the day before yesterday, followed by a quite unexpected announcement of its delayed release in 2014. Joining it is Nicole Kidman-starrer Grace of Monaco, The Immigrant which has Marion Cotillard and Joaquin Phoenix, and Scorsese's The Wolf of Wall Street appears to be heading in the same direction. Just this shows how unexpected award seasons can be so people should calm down. I'd also like to note here that the previous TIFF winner was one of my two most favourite films of last year and can't wait to see if something similar happens this time.

5) Alex Withrow's blog turned 6! He's posted his first short in celebration (which I still haven't watched, sorry Alex!!!). Everyone go wish him and watch the short 'cuz he's awesome.

6) Angelina Jolie's next film Unbroken, about a World War II hero, Lou Zamperini has cast Jack O'Connell as its protagonist. I suppose this is old news but I just found out about it and I'm super happy. I am a massive fan of O'Connell's thanks to Skins and I think this sounds v. promising. If you read about the life of Zamperini, the man had one obstacle after another, including a meeting with Hitler, and I am excited to see both Jolie's and O'Connell's work. The cast also includes Garrett Hedlund and Chronicle's Alex Russell.

7) Photos- The first official image of Kenneth Branagh's Cinderella has arrived and it has Lily James, who is playing the eponymous heroine and looks pretty convincing. On another fairytale movie set, a number of photos of Into the Woods, Rob Marshall's new musical, have found their way online. LOVE Chris Pine's hair. He's such a Disney prince, it's mental. Also, do see the first official image of Queen Meryl Streep being all ab fab in blue hair. Also, the first image of Fury has been released. This has a pretty amazing cast of Brad Pitt, Logan Lerman, Michael Pena and Shia LaBeouf, and I am looking forward to it.

8) Everyone has watched this, yes?

Cedric Diggory 4eva! Also that shot on the beach is like everything I want in life.


9) The Avengers: Age of Ultron has an official plot synopsis now!!!! Here it is-
"As the US Government creates a force known as Ultron, The Avengers are told they are not needed any longer. But when Ultron turns against Humanity, it’s time for The Avengers to assemble yet again for their most dangerous challenge ever."

I AM V.V.V.V.V.V.V.V.V.V.V.V.V.V.V.V.V.V.V.V.V.V.V.V.V.V.V.V.V.V.V.V. EXCITED FOR THIS FILM!!!

10) TrailersNeed for Speed which looks okay but I love Aaron Paul so I'm excited for it. Jude Law-starrer Dom Hemingway looks brilliant and I think I will love it. It also has Richard E. Grant and Emilia Clarke who most oddly plays Law's daughter but whatevs. Frozen actually looks pretty fun and I love Christmas-y movies so I will wait for it. The fourth teaser of Nymphomaniac has come out and I think it is my favourite so far. Alexander Payne's next Nebraska finally has a trailer out and it looks pretty damn awesome and I think I will like it a lot. The now-delayed Foxcatcher has a pretty intriguing trailer indeed and I think Steve Carell is going to kill it. Last but not the least, have you checked out the opening credits of the new American Horror Story season? Never have nightmares been better justified.

11) Finally, I feel that my blog needs more Idris Elba. Heck, we *all* need more Idris Elba-
Congratulations on your everything.


Namaste.

Friday 27 September 2013

Across the Universe Podcast: Episode 10

Episode 10: I Want Candy

Hi guys! We apologise for being slightly late with our newest episode, but heyyy look! It's our 10th episode!! How quickly does time fly etc.? I'm kidding of course. This little podcast has taken a lot of effort and scheduling and whatnot but my fellow chicks with accents, Mette and Sofia, and all the support from the blogging community have made it an immensely fun and rewarding ride so far.

To celebrate, we discuss the career of one of our most favourite directors, the gorgeous Sofia Coppola. It's a bit long and messy, but it won't be Across the Universe Podcast without it! Enjoy!

Content:
00:27- Chick Chatter
02:45- Trailer
03:19- Interesting Movie of the Fortnight
21:37- Coppola Time
1:16:27- Plus and Goodbyes

Music: 
Bow Wow Wow "I Want Candy"
Azealia Banks feat. Lazy Jay "212"
Cilla Black "Across The Universe"



Follow us at: facebook.com/acrosstheuniversepodcast
Write to us at: acrosstheuniversepodcast@gmail.com
Find us on iTunes: search for Across the Universe Podcast

Sunday 15 September 2013

Thoughts

      Hi guys! Sorry for the delay but Blogger has been acting crazy for me for the past few days. This very post has taken 5 attempts. Anyways, onto cinema/television-related thoughts.

1) So on my 21st birthday, I finally got myself all the Harry Potter books and DVDs. I had been wanting to do this for a very long time but kept postponing, and this obviously was a great birthday gift as Harry Potter is such a huge part of my childhood, and me for that matter. So imagine my and I guess every Potterhead's surprise when our queen, JK Rowling, announced that she is going to write the screenplays for a new series of movies set in the wizarding world of Harry Potter. The series will be about the writing of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, a companion book that Rowling had released along with the Harry Potter books. Admittedly, I was a little apprehensive when I first heard about this because I don't want anything muddying up the legacy of Harry Potter. But I have faith in Rowling, and the fact that like us, she too can't get enough of the wizarding world. Plus these movies will technically not have anything to do with Harry Potter himself. They will be set in 1920s New York, which in itself is just AHMAZING. And they will follow Newt Scamander, the writer of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, and the adventures he has while writing the book. Like many people on Tumblr, the first actor whose name popped into my head for the role of Scamander was *obviously* Matt Smith. I mean, Scamander is a famous Hufflepuff and every Doctor Who fangirl knows about Smith's weird obsession with hamsters. Also the fact that he's a pretty fantastic actor. Having said that, I will be glad with almost any actor they choose because heyyy, more Brits in the Harry Potter world!! I will soon acquire the book itself and I'm officially stoked for the movies now.

2) Soon after my last weekly thoughts post, in which I had spoken of Benedict Cumberbatch leaving Guillermo del Toro's Crimson Peak, it was announced that Tom Hiddleston will be the actor replacing him. I'm totally fine with this. Not only is Hiddles also an amazing actor with a great voice, but this means that he and Jessica Chastain, aka the two most inspirational and loveliest actors out there, will be acting together. Big Yes! The film also stars Hiddles's Only Lovers Left Alive co-star, Mia Wasikowska, and Charlie "Fifty Shades" Hunnam.

3) One of my most favourite films of last year was Leslye Headlands's rude, smart and hilarious Bachelorette. Her next movie Sleeping With Other People will see her re-teaming with the fabulous Kirsten Dunst and joining them is Jason Sudeikis. It is about a womanizer befriending a serial cheater and even though the basic plot sounds typical, I am fairly sure that Headland's dialogues and wit will make it anything but. 

4) Anton Corbijn, who made the fantastic Control, will be next making a film on the relationship between James Dean and Life magazine photographer Dennis Stock entitled Life. It will follow Stock, a young photographer, who was assigned to shoot Dean, a young rising star at the time, and how their relationship evolved before East of Eden made Dean a perennial Hollywood star. Dane DeHaan has been cast as Dean and Robert Pattinson will play Stock. Am I the only one who thinks the casting is a bit of a mind-bender? DeHaan is quite attractive in his own way, but he's no James Dean. I can see it in terms of their acting styles but it's just a bit weird. Still, Corbjin is a very good director, and he used to be a rock photographer, so he seems perfect for the job.

5) So Lars von Trier has gone a bit nuts. More than usual, I mean. Nymphomaniac, his grand tale about a woman's sexual journey from birth to the age of 50, was already going to be a two-parter. It has now been announced that the two movies will have a combined running time of 5 hours *and* there might be a potential TV series. Like woah! They already have something like 100 hours of material. The first movie is apparently more of a comedy (though I'm not sure what a von Trier comedy is) and it gets darker in the second movie (like, duh). I don't know, man. I'm curious but 5+ hours of von Trier sounds a bit... suicidal.

6) Disney has decided to release Edgar Wright's Ant-Man in the summer of 2015. In case you don't remember, this is also the time when The Avengers: Age of Ultron, Star Wars VII, Jurassic Park 4 and the new Terminator movie will come out. Even if you ignore the last two (like I am), it just seems so stupid! Ant-Man was going to be a risk no matter when they released it. The superhero isn't well-known, he's *called* Ant-Man, Wright is more of a cult director- none of these scream big blockbuster hit. The film hasn't even been cast yet. On the other hand, the first Avengers movie is *only* the THIRD HIGHEST GROSSING MOVIE OF ALL TIME, and Star Wars nerds even managed to make the new trilogy a big financial success and undoubtedly they'll do the same this time. I, for one, am actually looking forward to Ant-Man even more than Age of Ultron, and it will be a crying shame if it fails to do well. Gahh, this sucks!

7) They finally have a name and a poster for the Doctor Who 50th Anniversary Special- "The Day of the Doctor". There is still no sign of the trailer but gosh, I'm excited. Did you spot the "Bad Wolf" sign in the poster?!!

8) Trailers- Seth Rogen, Rose Byrne, Zac Efron, Dave Franco and Christopher Mintz-Plasse star in new comedy Neighbours. I think it looks pretty funny, and I do like the people involved. I have a new found appreciation for Efron. It might have something to do with The Paperboy... The Railway Man has a pretty great cast but it still feels kind of blah. Why does Jeremy Irvine keep coming in these depressing tales? Though the trailer of True Detective is kind of all over the place, just the talent involved (Cary Fukanaga, Matthew McConaughey, Woody Harrelson) and the fact that visualised bleak crime dramas are all the rage right now, I am really looking forward to this television series. Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom looks pretty good. Early reviews have all been been raving about Idris Elba's performance so yaay! The best trailer of the week is that of Richard Ayoade's The Double. Moody, silent, weird, two Jesse Eisenbergs (!)- love it. Can't wait for this film.

9) Finally, a huge reason why Breaking Bad is such a great show is its two main actors, Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul. Here's them being awesome on a Jimmy Fallon sketch, Joking Bad-
I love them both. Also, Aaron Paul looks extra hot here.

Tata for now!

Across the Universe Podcast: Episode 9

Episode 9: Crushcruscrush

In this episode, MetteSofia and I deal with much lighter and sillier and gigglier fare as we list our Greatest Cinematic Crushes. We feel it is the perfect topic for the end of summer and we had a lot of fun recording it, and hopefully it is as entertaining listening to it.

Also, a note for our listeners: we have reached the maximum storage capacity on Podomatic and as a result have deleted a couple of our earliest episodes. For those who are new to Across the Universe Podcast and wants to listen to these episodes, we will soon have them available for download, the details of which will be given by the time the next episode airs. Stay tuned :)

Content:
0:23- Chick-chatter
4:07- Trailer
4:48- Interesting Movie of the Fortnight
25:11- The chicks discuss each of their Top 5 Cinematic Crushes
1:20:29- Plugs and Goodbyes

Music:
Paramore "Crushcrushcrush"
The Cardigans "Lovefool"
Cilla Black "Across The Universe"



Follow us at: facebook.com/acrosstheuniversepodcast
Write to us at: acrosstheuniversepodcast@gmail.com
Find us on iTunes: search for Across the Universe Podcast


Sunday 8 September 2013

"How can you tell if you're drunk if you're never sober?"

       2013 has been an odd sort of year. I feel that the only reason that I haven't been completely blown away by most movies was because of my own expectations. I remember noticing sometime towards the end of last year how my most anticipated films of the year were mostly sequels. My top 3 ended up being Star Trek Into Darkness (fun if forgettable), Before Midnight (ummm) and topping the list was Edgar Wright's final installment in his Three Flavours Cornetto Trilogy, The World's End. I think I managed to lower my expectations for the latter, albeit being super duper excited everytime I read its name anywhere, but now that I have watched it, I kind of feel perplexed by it. Here's my review:


          The World's End follows five childhood friends, headed by their leader, their "king", Gary King- a reckless young man who plans an epic pub crawl with his friends in their town, Newton Haven. They were to visit twelve pubs in one night, starting with The First Post and ending with the one and only, The World's End. Unable to finish "the Golden Mile" as teenagers, a still very immature King decides to end what they started and reunites with his much grown-up friends twenty years later and they return to Newton Haven. However, they soon find out that something very fishy is going on in their old town and getting drunk and getting annihilated might not be the same thing after all.

         With Edgar Wright movies, the basic plot itself is not very important. He bends and moulds genres almost effortlessly. In Shaun of the Dead, we got a action-horror-comedy with a heart. In Hot Fuzz, he took every buddy cop movie ever made and transformed it into an uproariously funny look at country life. Scott Pilgrim vs the World painted the world of a guy incapable of dealing with relationships and adult problems with the bright colours of comic books and video games. Similarly, The World's End may just appear to be a film about people getting drunk and fighting an alien invasion, but it is really about a man who has refused to grow out of his teenage self's idea of cool and fun and is stuck in life while all of his friends have moved on and left him alone. It is also about friendship and closure, till both the bitter end and the lager end.


          The film, like the first two installments of the trilogy, Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, was written by Wright and Simon Pegg, and stars Pegg and Nick Frost (BEST ONSCREEN COUPLE EVER) as its leads. As expected, one of my most favourite things about the movie ended up being its writing. One-liners after one-liners, it was very hard to stop grinning or straight out laughing throughout most of the movie. For instance, "smashy smashy egg men" has to be one of the funniest things I have ever heard. But quite surprisingly, The World's End also had a poignancy to it that I was not expecting. Yes, the first two movies also have a human and emotional arc at their centres too, but this was so much more mature and affecting. Dealing with themes such as nostalgia, denial, the mundanity of life and even the attempts of the corporate world to control and conform everything and everyone, I can see my twelve-year old brother not enjoying it as much as he does Hot Fuzz, but that's not really a disadvantage. Far from it, actually. It is much more grown up film dealing with grown up things but in spectacular Wright-fashion. I even found myself, for the first time in an Edgar Wright movie, tearing up during one of the scenes, and not because of laughter. And this is linked with my other most favourite, and most pleasantly surprising, aspect of the film- Simon Pegg's performance.


         As much as I love Shaun and Sergeant Nicholas Angel, King ends up being Pegg's crowning glory, as it were, in the trilogy. He is the kind of character that first we feel sorry for being stuck in a rut for twenty years, but who later on rebukes us for our pity. I mean, he's Gary Fucking King and he's not having any of our shit! Impulsive, inappropriate, rude, sad, hilarious and oddly heroic, Pegg plays him with a sort of gusto that I haven't seen in a while. His manic movements are mixed with a strange sort of sadness of a man who never grew up to his ideal self, the king he had always imagined himself to be. It really is a wonderfully complex comic performance that is only elevated with his natural chemistry with Frost, who himself ends up being quite the convincing action hero of the film.


           There are other things to appreciate in this film too. The rest of the "Five Musketeers" consist of Martin Freeman, Paddy Considine and Eddie Marsan and they are all also very funny, and Marsan is just adorable. Other actors like Rosamund Pike and the second James Bond to appear in this trilogy, Pierce Brosnan are slightly wasted, but it is nice to see them all the same. The direction of course is top-notch. Wright has a gift of constructing elaborate fighting sequences, full of gags and with amazing editing, and all the fights in The World's End are no different. Added to that are all the pop cultural allusions to body-invasion films and also to his own films, as Wright has managed to create a look and feel for his films that is completely unique and instantly recognisable. And I do have a soft spot for filmmakers who do that.

         Throughout most of the running time of the film, I was completely enthralled. The tempo picks up considerably in the last act of the film with loads of fights and one awesome, side-splitting exchange in The World's End. I will say that at least in the first viewing, I got a sense of The World's End not being as flawlessly put together as the rest of Wright's movies, but I was so impressed with the themes that were being shown here, along with Pegg's acting of course, that I was totally enjoying myself. I really thought that maybe I won't be disappointed after all, just as I had hoped and prayed. And then it ended in the worst way possible.


         T.S. Eliot's "The Hollow Men" ends with a frequently quoted line- "This is the way the world ends, not with a bang but a whimper." There is a part of me that cannot help but associate it with The World's End. And it's not just that the ending almost managed to ruin the film completely, but also that that is the ultimate ending of what could have been my favourite trilogy of all time. I cannot forgive that ending- it was just so awful.

        Still, in retrospect, the pros outweigh the cons by a huge margin and I am quite pleased with The World's End, though not as enamoured as I had hoped to be. I can fully see myself falling more and more in love with the film in the future (minus the ending obviously), now that there are no more expectations to be met. Wright's movies are full of little details which is what makes them so rewatchable and I don't doubt that he and Pegg must have hidden a number of slices of fried gold in The World's End too. Why, even when I was coming up with my oh so scholarly comparison to "The Hollow Men", I noticed how the blanks in the film are sort of hollow men, and so are the human characters in a way, and was that Wright's intention all along? Also that this might be the movie in the trilogy that I feel people will connect to the most on an emotional level because it deals with one's expectations of themselves and reality being otherwise and choosing to accept that or not.


         I don't know if the Three Flavours Cornetto Trilogy, a name that has stuck after a brilliant joke made by Wright based on Kieslowski's Three Colours Trilogy, will end up being my favourite trilogy of all time, but I kind of want to go with Gary King's proclamation at the end about how imperfection is better than something cold and perfect and The World's End might just be that. I mean, we will always have the disableds.


Friday 6 September 2013

Thoughts

         AND IT'S BACK! It has been more than 2 months since my last weekly thoughts post and obviously a lot has happened since then. Here are my thoughts on the biggies, so to speak.

1) Natalie Portman dropped out of the new Fassy-Macbeth film and her replacement is none other than Marion Cotillard. I had thought that Portman would be interesting but this is just PERFECT! The amount of talent and sexiness that is going to be unleashed will be amazing. I have the Scottish play in college this year (second year, yaay!), and our professor was talking about how we will watch its various cinematic adaptations when we're done with the text, and all I could think of was how my favourite one is yet to come. I am so excited for this.

2) Sooooooo... Batfleck. My biggest problem with the casting is not even the acting thing. It's just that Ben Affleck has a super ugly chin and it will look awful in his Batman mask. The only reason I liked him in Argo was because the beard was hiding that chin. And he's also coming in the new David Fincher movie, Gone Girl. Just no. I don't want this. Make movies, Ben. Don't come in any! However, I do love the Rosamund Pike casting.

3) So they're actually making the Fifty Shades of Grey film. HOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW?! Anyways, Charlie Hunnam and Dakota Johnson will star as the pervs protagonists, Christian Grey and Anastasia Steele. Apparently a lot of people are v. unhappy with Hunnam because they wanted Alexander Skarsgard instead. First of all, I don't understand why this film is having fangirl problems. I mean, it's a mommy porn book, not some great work of literature. Secondly, Hunnam is quite hot but I too agree that Askars would have been ideal casting. Christian Grey can be a very intriguing character in more capable hands than that of the author, E.L. James. As for Johnson, I am pretty certain now that more guys are going to watch this film than girls because she is plenty attractive. Though I will wait for trailers and stuff, I do think that I will watch this when it comes out just to see what the heck have they done with the material. My only hope is that they don't shy away from male nudity. Not that I want to stare at penises or whatever, but I do get wayyyyyyy more than my share of boobs on television and film.

4) James Spader is going to play Ultron in The Avengers: Age of Ultron. Ultron is obviously the baddie, and a rather powerful one at that, but director-braniac Joss Whedon is going to make some interesting changes. I am anyways very excited for this film, seeing how I am gaga about the first Avengers movie. Spader is a very cool choice, and he has some big shoes to fill after the God of Mischief (and cheekbones), Loki, played by Tom Hiddleston.

5) The Book Thief has been made into a movie starring Geoffrey Rush and Emily Watson. I am so annoyed by this. This is one of the only books that has actually made me cry and whenever I envisioned a film, I could only see an animated one. From whatever I can make of the trailer, it looks very generic. It's World War 2, it's Nazi Germany, there is a kid, there are British actors putting on German accents- it's all been seen before. One of my favourite things about the book was that it was narrated by Death and that was one of the biggest reasons I thought its film could only be made in an animated form. I don't think this version has Death as a character at all, which is a shame. The book ends with Death saying, and this is one of my most favourite last lines in a book ever, "I am haunted by humans." And I just don't see it happening in the movie. I really wish people would try and think out of the box once in a while. So glad The Little Prince will be animated (that made me cry too).

6) Other casting news- Benedict Cumberbatch dropped out of Guillermo Del Toro's next film, Crimson Peak. Shame I say! I read the plot of the film and he was probably set to play a kind of a sinister charmer-type character, which would have been perfect, what with his voice and all. No news on the replacement yet. My one-time dream husband, Josh Hartnett, is having a sort of comeback in a psycho-sexual horror TV series called Penny Dreadful. It will co-star Eva Green and is being written by John Logan who has penned films like Hugo and The Aviator. I think it sounds very cool and mysterious and I like it when actors I used to obsess over do well. Shows that I had taste :P In a similar vein, Tom Sturridge has gotten two very exciting roles. He will star in Oliver Assayas's Sils Maria, playing Chloe Moretz's boyfriend (ew), but the cast also includes big names like Juliet Binoche, Kristen Stewart and Daniel Bruhl. He will also star in Thomas Vinterberg's English language debut, the film adaptation of Thomas Hardy's Far From the Madding Crowd, along with Carey Mulligan and Matthias Schoenaerts. Two fantastic projects, methinks. Next, James McAvoy will play Frankenstein in the new Frankenstein movie. It is being directed by Paul McGuigan and Chronicle's Max Landis has penned the script. McAvoy will co-star with my favourite person in the world, Daniel Radcliffe, who is playing Igor. This is going to be a twist on the classic horror tale and seeing how these two gorgeous, blue-eyed and very talented actors have already been cast, I can't wait to see who they pick to play the monster. Mia Wasikowska has been replaced by Rooney Mara in Carol, the film based on a novel by Patricia Highsmith. It is going to be directed by Todd Haynes and also stars Cate Blanchett. I personally think it is a step down, albeit not a very big one, because I feel that the Blanchett-Wasikowska dynamic was a better one. Still, Mara is a fine actress and I just want this movie now. Finally, Sir Ian McKellen is going to play Sherlock Holmes in Bill Condon's A Slight Trick of the Mind where the renowned sleuth is made to come out of his retirement to solve a case. All I can think of is that that Sherlock is a sexy one. It's also funny to note that Condon just made The Fifth Estate with the best Sherlock to date, Benedict Cumberbatch.

6) TV news- True Blood is finally ending! I was bemoaning the fact that HBO renewed it for a seventh season, but they've announced that it is to be the last season of the once great show. It is *still* a lot of fun, but mostly because it has become so batshit crazy that you kind of can't look away. Chiefly because of this. Neil Cross, the creator of the fantastic show Luther, has reportedly written a film script for a Luther movie, that is going to be a prequel to the tv series. First of all, yessssssss! More Idris Elba for everyone! Second of all, I really hope they find some way to include Ruth Wilson's delicious Alice Morgan, even if it is cameo. American Horror Story: Coven is going to start soon and its brilliant promos have started already. Also, look at this poster. SO BLOODY PUMPED!

7) Matt Smith is going to start filming his final episode as the Eleventh Doctor aka Worst Christmas Ever this week. He's going to wear a wig which is a bit depressing because his hair was one of the biggest reasons I started watching Doctor Who in the first place. Of course there is much, much, much more to the show than that, but it was definitely a stimulus. About the episode itself, apparently the villains, or at least one of the villains, are going to be the Cybermen. I was originally very against this because they are probably my least favourite villains, in New Who at least, but seeing how incredible Smith's performance in "Nightmare in Silver" was, it maybe a good thing. Oh and for any of us who thought we will only have our heartbroken, fat chance! Our hearts will instead be snatched from our chests and trampled upon and then have a bulldozer go over them, Moffat style! Moffat's told Doctor Who Magazine: "One of the horrors of regeneration is that a certain amount of his persona alters entirely. His appetites and his enthusiasm will change. And that’s sort of what I’m writing about now in Matt’s last episode, the fact that he’s terribly aware that he’s about to be rewritten. And it’s frightening..." I am going to be suicidal this Christmas, clearly.

8) Changing tracks, THIS IS FINALLY HERE!-
Simon Pegg is a god. Also, Pinto's faces.

9) Trailers- News has already started pouring in that Steve McQueen's 12 Years A Slave is incredible, with Chiwetel Ejiofor shining the most, and I think we can get a sense of that from the trailer. I only have seven words for The Counselor- Fassy Sex Eyes and Cameron Diaz, Hot Damn! You can read Sati's post for more details. I kind of squealed in the one of Jean Dujardin in the The Monuments Men trailer. I am looking forward to this film because I really like the plot. Fading Gigolo looks absolutely adorbs. I love Woody so much. I actually really like the trailer of Saving Mr. Banks, especially with that little "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" teaser. Tom Hanks and Emma Thompson are more than enough reason for me to be excited about it though. To be honest, I'm going to watch Thor: The Dark World just for Hiddles's Loki. Apparently they reshot it to add more Loki scenes so I can't be the only one. It looks quite fun on the whole too though. I'm only including Pompeii's trailer to emphasize on how dumb it looks and how much I don't want to watch it. Kit Harrington actually looks photoshopped to me. And his face is stupid. Spike Jonze's next, Her looks absolutely amazeballs. Love the cast, love ScarJo's voice, love the idea. V. excited. Dallas Buyers Club looks pretty good too, but unlike most people who are all for Matthew McConaughey in this, who *does* look brilliant, I am rooting for Jared Leto who I think is going to be even better. Also speaking of Scarlett Johansson, Under the Skin's teaser looks freaky as hell but I think she's going to rock. Lars Von Trier's Nymphomaniac is going to be something. It has released three clips so far, of the first three "chapters" of the self-professed nymphomaniac Joe's life. All are shocking and intriguing in their own way. Coming to Bollywood, Krrish 3 looks like a terrible mixture of all superhero movies. It's going to be so bad that it has to be watched with a bunch of people and be laughed at. Can't wait. The best trailer I have seen in all this while, barring Kill Your Darlings of course, is David O. Russell's American Hustle. Love the cast, the music, the look and Amy Adams most of all. This looks great and I really, really, really, want Adams to win that Oscar already.

10) Finally, as is a semi-tradition with this blog, this is me indulging in my girl-crush on Emma Watson-
She was excellent in The Bling Ring!

Until next time.

Tuesday 3 September 2013

The Month that was- August

        Hellooooo everyone! My exams are finally over!! I can feel life rushing back. And I can blog now! About what I don't know yet, but I'll come up with something. Don't you worry. I managed 20 movies in August so I'm happy about that.


Firsts:
1) In the Loop- After the announcement of Peter Capaldi as the new Doctor, I had to see him action. The movie was good and he was awesome!
2) The Paperboy- Not half-bad. Kidman was on fire and I appreciated all the objectification of Zac Efron.
3) Chennai Express- Bollywood excrement. How could you, Shahrukh?!
4) The Heat- I thought it was really funny and both Melissa McCarthy and Sandra Bullock rocked!
5) Byzantium- Some really interesting ideas in place and occasionally breathtaking visuals.
6) 40 Year Old Virgin- It was fun but I think it's a little over-hyped.
7) The Conjuring- Good, simple, effective horror film with characters one could care about.
8) The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl- The extent to which I can procrastinate is mind-blowing. So bad. So, so, soooooooooo baaaaaaaaaaad.
9) Now You See Me- Enjoyable and incredibly dumb. I wish someone would make a proper good film starring Mark Ruffalo, Jesse Eisenberg and the lovely Melanie Laurent instead.
10) We are the Millers- Harmless fun.
11) Madras Cafe- Pretty good although the acting left much to be desired and the ending was terrible.
12) Prince Avalanche- Really liked it and Paul Rudd is amazing.
13) Mud- Loved it. The story, the themes, the look, the acting, especially that of Tye Sheridan. A really good movie.
14) Amores Perros- It had been on my watchlist since forever. I liked it a lot but I could not look at a dog for the next two days. And I don't even like dogs.
15) Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan- Really awesome and awful at the same time. I dug it.
16) Stories We Tell- I have decided to consider this a 2013 movie and good luck to any other films this year who think they're going to replace it as my number 1 of the year. It was just *that* fantastic. Blown away completely.


Rewatched:
1) Beautiful Creatures- What can I say? I really enjoyed this film.
2) Ghost World- I had not watched it in AGES. Enid Coleslaw is such a role model and I love Seymour always.
3) Legally Blonde- I needed inspiration to keep studying. Elle Woods provided it to me. On this watch I discovered that a Coppola directed her Harvard admissions video. Like, wow.
4) Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day- I'm just a masochist. How else would you explain watching the British Lee Pace scenes over and over again?


TV shows:
1) True Blood, season 6- This show is so stupid but I just can't let go. I mean people get their blood vacuumed out of their bodies and there is fairy vagina-light sex and Alexander Skarsgard just sunbathing naked on top of snowclad mountains and so on. This season was actually a vast improvement from the last one but then it all had to go to shit in the finale. I *did* skip all the werewolf and Sam parts though so there may be something to that. I really hope season 7 is the last one. a) Favourite episodes- It will have to be between "At Last" and "Fuck the Pain Away" because Eric, Jason and Sarah Newlin were all in top form and it felt like old True Blood again. b) MVP- I'm going to go with Anna Camp's Sarah Newlin who had some of the greatest lines and scenes of the series. c) Favourite death- I figured True Blood too needs this category. Season 5's 'Death By Fly' and season 3's Russel Edgington's "We will eat you after we eat your children." are my absolute favourites. This season though, Sarah Newlin killing the Tru Blood lady with her own fancy stilettos takes the cake. And the fact that she prays after that is the awesome icing. 4) Favourite quotes-
Eric: "When you dream of me, dream of nice things."

Sarah Newlin: "I truly believe God wants me to fuck you."

Willa: "Is this going to hurt?"
Eric: "Not the way I do it."

No need of explanations, really.

2) Teen Wolf, season 3- This show is fun, okay! There was a lot more action this time 'round but it still manages to get a lot of laughs. a) Favourite episode- "Alpha Pact". It was really action-packed plus Stiles and Lydia finally kissed so yaay! b) MVP- As much as I love Stiles, and I really really do, I think Holland Roden's Lydia rocked this season. She's kind of inspirational. Also, she's a banshee. c) Favourite quote- This entire exchange had me in stitches.

Stiles: "Missing and presumed dead, Scott, because he was probably a virgin. You know who else is a virgin? Me. I'm a virgin, okay? You know what that means? It means my lack of sexual experience is now literally a threat to my life, okay. I need to have sex. Like right now. Someone needs to have sex with me like today. Like someone needs to sex me right now!"
Danny: "Alright I'll do it."
Stiles: "Woah! What?"
Danny: "Come over to my place at 9. Plan on staying the night. I like to cuddle."
Stiles: "That is so sweet. Are you kidding?"
Danny: "Yes. I'm kidding."
Stiles: "You don't toy with a guys emotions like that, Danny. It's not attractive, alright?"

3) Luther, series 3- Oh it was sooooooooooo good. Creepy, exciting, emotional- just great. And this probably had my favourite series finale of the year, barring Doctor Who of course. Alice Morgan 4eva!
4) Thick of It, series 1 and 2- Really funny though I wish I cared about politics more. A lot of the things go over my head.
5) Southcliffe- It wad going really great but I felt that the last episode kind of fizzled out the intrigue and made it too dramatic.

Final tally:
                          Firsts- 123                            Rewatched- 51                        Shorts- 2
                                                                          Total- 176


        So my plans for September are to watch as many movies as I can. And maybe join zumba classes 'cuz I like the word "zumba". Also, Breaking Bad series finale!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ZOMG GUYS, I CANNOT WAIT!