Thoughts

Hello all. I'm back in India and in exam mode. I would skip this post but too much has happened in the world of cinema and etc.

1) So Edgar Wright isn't making Ant-Man anymore because Marvel is officially gone crazy. I knew the "films planned till 2028" was a sign of bad things to come. This especially sucks because Wright has been involved since phase 1 of MCU but due to creative differences, he won't be directing it. Joss Whedon tweeted this in support-

Apparently, things aren't great with him too and I've read in a few sites about how he won't return after The Avengers: Age of Ultron. Just when I thought Marvel will experiment with other unique filmmakers too, it goes and shits over everything. I still love the cast of Ant-Man, IF they remain, and so I will watch it but I am v. v. v. sad about Wright leaving. Ant-Man was my most anticipated film of next year but though it will still release on the same day, I don't care about it half as much.

2) Cannes '14 just wrapped up. You can go to a million film sites and read all about it. All I have to write about is firstly, how Lost River apparently is as bad as I thought it would be. However, if I was being honest, this is all I was thinking of. Like seriously, I spent a day just looking at videos and pictures of the Gos's magnificent return to Cannes. HOW is anyone that sexy? It blows my mind. Anyways, back to the movie stuff or whatever, I am actually very happy about Xavier Dolan winning the Jury Prize (along with Jean-Luc Godard of all the cinematic legends) for Mommy. It's officially become one of my most anticipated films of this year. Other films I am excited to check out are Foxcatcher, Mr. Turner, Maps to the Stars, Two Days, One Night, Lost River (I still *have* to see it), The Wonders, How to Train Your Dragon 2 and Clouds of Sils Maria.

3) I don't know where my brain has been lately but there are a number of awesome-sounding films that are in production and I know NOTHING about them. First, there's Trainwreck, the new Judd Apatow film. Okay, I'm not the world's biggest Apatow fan so I can understand why I overlooked it but HOLY SHIT, it has an amazing cast! Brie Larson, Tilda Swinton, Ezra Miller (!!!), Bill Hader, Amy Schumer and Vanessa Bayer. Woah! Also Tilda and Ezra back in a movie together! Then there is Tulip Fever which has Dane DeHaan, Jack O'Connell, Christoph Waltz, Zach Galifianakis and Alicia Vikander. It is romance set in 17th century and it's all about tulips and art, all of which sounds pretty and obviously it will be pretty because it has DeHaan, O'Connell and Vikander. Galifianakis is also tied to three other really exciting sounding projects- Richard Linklater's Larry Kidney, which will also star Will Ferrel, Michel Hazanavicius' Will, which might have Paul Rudd also, and Jared Hess' Loomis Fargo along with Owen Wilson and Kristen Wiig. Woah again! Linklater is one of the most exciting filmmakers EVER, and though Hazanavicius' The Search didn't get very good reviews from Cannes, his return to what I think is a comedy, (the story is about a man whose life changes when his "author" in Heaven quits) is good news. As for Hess' film, it's based on a true story about one of the biggest heists in American history and all you or I really need to care about is that it will have Wiig's character using her "feminine wiles" to lure these other characters into thieving and THAT. SOUNDS. AMAZEBALLS. Luca Guidagnino's last movie I Am Love was stunning and his next one, which is apparently a "sexy thriller", will also star Tilda Swinton along with Margot Robbie, Ralph Fiennes and Matthias Schoenaerts. There are all these movies too, most of which sound pretty good but I don't have the energy to write about them.

4) Other casting news- Michael Shannon has joined the lesbian drama Freeheld which also stars Ellen Page and Julianne Moore. That's one powerful trio, right there. Emma Stone might just become Woody Allen's new muse (YAAAAAAYYYY!!!) as she's going to star in his next film with Joaquin Phoenix also. Ben Wheatley's next, High Rise, which already has Tom Hiddleston and is therefore highly anticipated, will now also boast of Jeremy Irons and Sienna Miller among its cast members. I really like both of them and the project keeps sounding more and more exciting. The second collaboration between Jonathan Levine, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Seth Rogen, after their adorable and touching 50/50, has a new addition to it in the form of Anthony Mackie. I approve of this. The Helen Mirren movie about a Holocaust survivor fighting to retrieve lost Klimt paintings called The Woman in Gold will now also star Tatiana Maslany who will play Mirren's character's younger self. You all have probably read this in a lot of places already but let me do my bit- Maslany is one of the best actresses out there right now and deserves to be a major star. She's amazing and I love her and those who don't watch Orphan Black should. Finally, Benedict Cumberbatch has replaced Guy Pearce in the Johnny Depp-Joel Edgerton gangster flick Black Mass, and it will also star Adam Scott. The biggest thing about this casting news is that I am officially more excited about Cumberbatch and Scott being in a movie together than the fact that it has Depp. #timeschange

5) Since I have already bitched about Marvel, let me spread the love around and also talk about DC. The new Superman-Batman movie is going to be called Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice. BAHAHAHAHHAAHAHA WHAT?!! What's with the V? I do not get it. At all. My favourite tweet about this title was this:

BATMAN V SUPERMAN: LAWN OF JUSTICE pic.twitter.com/HCHZM4SuX3
— Ali Arikan (@aliarikan) May 21, 2014

6) Lars von Trier wants to make an action movie next. I don't even know. I have been trying to imagine what it would be like but I'm failing completely, which is fine because even if I come up with some concept, I have fully believe that LvT will totally upend it and do something else entirely which is part of his charm *hehe*. He's also writing a horror movie set in Detroit for Kristian Levring. LvT has already made one of the most terrifying movies I have ever seen, Antichrist, which is a movie I never, ever, ever want to rewatch, ever. I would honestly rather eat my own leg than watch it again. According to Levring though, this new one called Detroit, will have more classic American horror elements than whatever the fuck LvT does. Let's see how both of these pan out.

7) The Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them trilogy might have found their director already. Reports say that Warner Bros are asking OSCAR-WINNER Alfonso Cuarón (the caps bring me joy, okay?) to direct the three films based on the Harry Potter companion book of the same name. Cuarón is responsible for one of the most celebrated installments in the Harry Potter franchise, Prizoner of Azkaban and is certainly the filmmaker who set the path for the kind of direction the films then took. I will be incredibly happy if this comes to pass. They still haven't cast the films yet but hopefully they will do so soon.

8) I recently stumbled upon this video of Jennifer Aniston's opening SNL monologue in the 90s which is all about Fight Club because she was dating Brad Pitt at the time. It's super strange. Also, it is hard to believe that Fight Club was so topical at a point of time that Jennifer Aniston, of all people (I mean, she's still spoken of in relation to a type of hairstyle :/), did a skit on it.

9) Posters and pictures- Everyone has freaked out about the Fassy-Cotillard (but mostly Fassy) Macbeth posters, yes? Good. This link has all the new pictures, first clip and the poster of the Daniel Radcliffe-Zoe Kazan starrer What If? This film will give me diabetes. Also the first official images of the majorly awaited Todd Haynes' Carol, starring Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara as a lesbian couple on the run in the 1950s have arrived. This film will rock!

10) Trailers- Let's get television out of the way. The Doctor Who series 8 teaser is totally pointless but I need this show in my life already. I have missed you, TARDIS. Speaking of Doctor Who, Karen Gillan's new TV show Selfie, which is based on Pygmalion looks really silly but really cute at the same time, especially Gillan. I laugh at the Gwyneth Paltrow and Lady Gaga jokes every time. The trailer of the last season of True Blood doesn't feature Eric AT ALL! Whyyyyyyy?!! Also, sue me but Flash looks adorable! The guy is so cute. Can't wait :D And Gotham doesn't look too terrible either. Coming to movies, I guess this puts me in the minority but I wasn't too buzzed about the Interstellar trailer except perhaps the last bit in the space. I am obviously dying to see the movie and I do love everyone in it (in other words, put down your pitchforks, internet) but just the trailer itself isn't as awesome as I expected it to be. The Clouds of Sils Maria trailer looks interesting enough but it is really the actresses that are drawing all the attention. I can't help but think that Moretz was born to play roles like this. I haven't seen Drinking Buddies yet but I still think that I will love Happy Christmas, if not for anything else other than Anna Kendrick. I love her. The Life of Crime trailer reminded me just how much I need a Jackie Brown rewatch. I'm most excited about Isla Fisher in this, 'cuz she's ab fab. Disney's Big Hero 6 looks like the cutest thing ever, AND it's a superhero movie too! Yaay! It could very easily be awful but The Riot Club looks exactly like the kind of movie I will eat up, at least for now. I mean, rich, hot, spoilt, British boys doing bad things *swoons*. As I wrote above, no matter how it is, I will be watching Lost River when it comes out. Its teaser is incredibly strange but Matt Smith saying "Look at my muscles" over and over again does win it some points because duh. I don't know about you all, but I have liked/loved all the films that Matthew Vaughn has made so far and Kingsman: The Secret Service looks like it will continue that tradition. Colin Firth looks dapper as fuck. Ditto for his role in Magic in the Moonlight, the trailer of which is also out. I think it looks absolutely charming. Could Emma Stone be any cuter? Finally, my favourite trailer since the last thoughts post and a strong candidate for my favourite trailer of the year is that of Guardians of the Galaxy. I have watched it some 57 times and I love it to bits. So funny, so entertaining and it really gives nothing away. I love the music, I love that it features a space raccoon tugging at its own crotch and *obviously* Chris Pratt is my new dream man. I'm hooked (on a feeling)!

11) And last but not the least, you all totally expected me to post these, right?

I mean, I had to. Just look at the man.

My reaction to all this, btw-

:'( Byeeee.

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!

"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.

"We are going to get to the World's End if it kills us."

As excited as I am about May 8th being the day our podcast starts, and also because it's my mother's birthday (HAPPY BIRTHDAY MUM!), there is yet another reason why I have been looking forward to it. Director Edgar Wright, on his Twitter page, announced that the trailer to The World's End, the last part in his Blood and Ice Cream/Three Flavours Cornetto trilogy, will be released on May 8th. AND TODAY IS THAT DAY!!

This film topped my most anticipated films of 2013 list, and with good reason too. I absolutely worship the first two films in this v.v.v.v. vaguely linked trilogy, which are Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz. The first is at #10 of my 100-ish favourite films list, and the second is my 101st favourite film of all time and hence the one I regret the most for not having in the list. Edgar Wright is one of my most beloved directors because his ability to make something awesome and exciting out of almost boring genres, aliens and the apocalypse in the case of The World's End. There is a lot of humour and fun action in his films, and they have the most unexpected of heroes in them. Speaking of, The World's End also sees the return of Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, aka, BEST ONSCREEN COUPLE EVER! There's also my husband Martin Freeman, Paddy Considine, Eddie Marsan and Rosamund Pike, who are all excellent.

So here's the trailer and the stuff I loved in it-

All the pubs.

And this.

And all the awesome-looking aliens

And this.

And all the action.

And this.

And the fact that the trailer's tagline is this.

And of course, this.

EEEP SO EXCITED! I'M TOTES PREPARED TO GET ANNIHILATED!

My Favourite Directors

        Well my blog is almost three now and I am celebrating this milestone with various lists. In this, I look at 15 of my most favourite directors, since I am simply incapable of stopping at just 10. Even though I might have not seen all the films that they have made, these filmmakers are my role models and people I admire the most in this world. Cinema is a gift and no one makes me more thankful for it than the following visionaries-

15.

Tim Burton

In spite of the unfortunate choices Burton has been making of late, he was one of the first directors to make me crazy about films. His eccentric characters, dark humour, unique settings, but all with a romantic touch to it are usually a joy to watch. Not to mention he uses my favourite actor in everything ( that should stop for now though).

Favourite films- Edward Scissorhands, Big Fish, Ed Wood

14.

Steven Spielberg

One of the few Hollywood directors introduced to me through my dad, I was instantly swept away in Spielberg's close encounters with adorable yet heart-breaking aliens. And after that came the ultimate hero in the form of a daredevil archaeologist. I began thinking of him as the coolest action director, only to then stumble upon Schindler's List and be stunned. Very few directors can do equal justice to childlike wonder and the worst of humanity.

Favourite films- Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Schindler's List, Close Encounters of the Third Kind

13.

John Hughes

I have had nothing resembling an American teenage, but I almost feel like I have because of Hughes's evergreen films (and yes, I know how depressing that sounds). No one understood young people like him. His films are as funny as they are perceptive and smart. Also, Kevin McCallister was every kid's role model.

Favourite films- The Breakfast Club, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Home Alone

12.

Martin Scorsese

It was very recently when I actually started watching Scorsese's films. I started with Taxi Driver, and needless to say, I was completely bowled over. A true devotee of cinema, most of the films that I have seen of his are violent and edgy, with troubled characters and a lot of Rolling Stones. Then of course, there is Hugo, which is one of the most beautiful love-letters to films I have ever seen and kind of helped me turn my life around, something I am very thankful to Scorsese for.

Favourite films- Taxi Driver, Hugo, The Aviator

11.

Pedro Almodóvar

When I first sat down to watch Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, it was more for that outrageous name than anything else. Instead, I got this hilarious, colourful, slightly crazy tale of wonderfully real women and I was instantly hooked on to Almodóvar. Every film I see of his turns out to be beyond anything I could have imagined. Complicated narratives that seamlessly mix melodrama and humour (in most cases), memorable characters and vibrant look have made him quite a favourite of mine, in spite of having watched only five of his films.

Favourite films- Talk to Her, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, The Skin I Live In.

10.

Alfred Hitchcock

The master of suspense himself. It is not only the terror and the thrill of his films that is so engaging, but also the exploration of the human psyche that he did better than anyone before or after him. His storyboard precision and complete domination over his work is more than inspiring.  His films can be darkly funny, romantic, tragic, horrific and exciting. The way he crafted his scenes has caused some of them to be imprinted in our minds forever, from a crop-cutter to the birds in a playground to an unbelievably passionate kiss to of course, a murder in a shower.

Favourite films- Psycho, Notorious, Rear Window

9.

Paul Thomas Anderson

I have seen five out of the six films that PTA has made and among them, I was indifferent towards one and hated another because of huge amphibians falling from the sky. Which leaves me with only three films and god, what mighty films they are in their own ways. He is prodigiously gifted in his craft. One of my favourite things about his films is how they have a momentum to them- they keep building up and they have the power to just leave you rapt. Added to that characters that have never been more broken, excellent single-takes, gorgeous cinematography and scores. Also, the existence of Boogie Nights never fails to baffle me- how did he do it?

Favourite films- Boogie Nights, There Will Be Blood, Punch-Drunk Love

8.

Billy Wilder

He possibly has the greatest range as a director that I have ever seen. I refused to believe that the man who made Some Like It Hot also made Double Indemnity. Same for The Apartment and Sunset Boulevard. His comedies and his noirs are equally fantastic and his characters unforgettable.

Favourite films- The Apartment, Sunset Boulevard, Some Like It Hot

7.

Wes Anderson

It really speaks to me when a director puts effort into making his film completely his own, so much so that even a single shot of his movies can make the viewer figure out that it is that specific director's movie. Basically, auteurs are the shizz and Anderson is one such singularity in today's world of cinema. His use of colours and music, with efficient yet troubled characters in the centre of it all is a joy to watch, even though his films usually have a dark undercurrent to them. The Bill Murray presence is also appreciated.

Favourite films- Rushmore, Moonrise Kingdom, Fantastic Mr. Fox

6.

Edgar Wright

Now Wright has made only three films, but all of them are so full of awesomeness that I happen to love the shit out of him! He has a sort of Midas-like touch with which he takes over-used genres like zombie movie or buddy-cop movie or a video-game/graphic-novel inspired movie, and turns them into hilarious, smart, heroic tales about love and friendship and a girl with hair like this. 

Favorite films- Shaun of the Dead, Scott Pilgrim vs the World, Hot Fuzz (and The World's End 'cuz duh)

5.

Stanley Kubrick

Like in the case of Wes Anderson, a Kubrick film is always distinctly-Kubrick. The camera angles, settings, music, movie adaptations of questionable books, sometimes nudity are what makes them so Kubrick. But the reason why he gets a higher ranking is, well, balls. I think his films are ballsy and bold and he is completely unafraid to show futility of war or glorification of violence or a sci-fi adventure that shows human evolution or a dream-like odyssey of self-discovery and so on. There is nothing I love more than ambition, and all his films were extremely, ballsily, ambitious, which is magnificent.

Favourite films- A Clockwork Orange, Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, 2001: A Space Odyssey

4.

Sofia Coppola

Yes I do realise that this list has a dearth of female directors, but if its any consolation, I happen to be in love with one. Ever since I saw The Virgin Suicides, Coppola's way of story-telling has enticed me. Her films are very feminine, with usually a beautiful and lonely girl at the centre. Still, it's not just flowers and clothes with her films, even though something like Marie Antoinette can make you believe that. Her later films all tackle with growing up around wealth and fame, and how lonely it makes a person. The atmosphere and lighting in her films, with a soft, lovely scores accompanying them, make her films uniquely dreamy and romantic.

Favourite films- Marie Antoinette, The Virgin Suicides, Lost in Translation

3.

David Fincher

The thing I love about Fincher is that he makes good, clean, practically perfect movies. While many of the other directors in this list are chosen for their particular quirks and trademarks, which Fincher has as well, he is here because of how well made his films are. Notorious for his incessant takes to get the perfect shot, it is evident from the end products why he does so. Probably because of his music video-director roots, Fincher's film are impeccably paced and his dark and gritty thrillers are a lot of fun to watch with their special brand of uncomfortably dry wit so (see: the Enya song in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo when a man is about to be raped and killed).

Favourite films- Fight Club, The Social Network, Se7en

2.

Quentin Tarantino

I am tempted to write "BECAUSE HE IS AWESOME!!!!" and be done with it, but we all know it is more than just that. Tarantino lives and breathes films, and he uses this love for them to make an amalgam of the many, many, many things he has watched and give us his movies. His movies are gorgeously violent and incredibly funny, with some doomed romances on the side. His characters talk like no other, fight like no other and definitely dance like nothing I have ever seen before. The man even has his own filmography planned, which even though sounds nothing short of apocalyptic for us QT-worshippers, is infinitely cool because he is just that interested in movies, including those he makes himself.

Favourite films- Kill Bill Vol. 1, Pulp Fiction, Inglourious Basterds

1.

Woody Allen

While Hugo in many ways helped me get my film-loving back on track, it was Woody's The Purple Rose of Cairo that made me first realise how much I loved and lived cinema. I owe whatever life I am going to have to this man. And it's not just because of Cairo, but almost every film that I have seen of his. Woody Allen's movies have a knack of curing me of whatever mood is ailing me at a point of time and making me feel calm and happy because I have watched something I loved, and also incredibly wistful because I could never make anything like that. Woody does dramedies better than anyone else, which my favourite genre. His films can be deadly funny and still have a lot of poignancy in them. I laugh, I cry, I feel inspired by all the cultural aspects of his films, and even frightened by the bleakness in his dramas. 

Woody makes his films because he makes his films, and there is no other reason to it. He tells a story and moves on to the next, and though that makes it harder to catch-up, it is something magical when I stumble upon a Woody film that I know I will love forever (which thankfully happens often enough). 

His muses are as legendary as they are beautiful and his love for New York is contagious, even though I have never been there myself. The use of music, of arts and culture, lately the beauty of European cities are some of the things that make his movies so special. In the end though, it is all about the stories and relationships that he can show so masterfully.

Favoruite films- The Purple Rose of Cairo, Interiors, Midnight in Paris

Woody Allen is my film god and my greatest wish is to meet him once and to thank him (and then break down crying etc.).

Thoughts

This has taken a while. I call this THE MOTHER OF ALL THOUGHTS POST! Just think it is catchy...

1) Personal update- Yes people, I am alive. I have just been v.v.v.v.v.v. sick. I had a seriously bad case of viral fever and I was/am really weak. I am about the worst person in the world to ever fall sick, since I cannot swallow pills and literally prefer dying but yeah I was nursed back to health by my family. I then had to travel from Calcutta to Dubai in my fragile condition. They put me in a wheelchair which was super embarrassing and just added motion sickness to my list of discomforts. The plane journey itself was extremely boring. I have a history of discovering awesome shows in flights like Doctor Who and Luther. This time there was Kenneth Branagh and apparently Tom Hiddleston-starrer Wallander though the latter wasn't there and the show was boring as fuck. Also the only new film to watch was People Like Us (which was again very boring and overly dramatic) and Beasts of a Southern Wild, a film that has been on my to-watch list ever since I saw its trailer, was showing on the return flight so rats! The only good thing about this whole journey was that this unbelievably hot guy was there in my plane but yeah that led to nothing. Another thing I liked about it was in the five hours I seemed to have stood in the passport control line, there was a group of really quaint old British men behind me who were hilarious and right now while reading JK Rowling's latest The Casual Vacancy, I cannot quite stop picturing the men as part of the book. Right now my mother is force-feeding me back to health (or so she wishes) and I keep thinking back on the days of the illness where I was this close to finally being my own Tyler Durden but eh whatever. At least I can blog now.

2) Posters and pictures- Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, part 2 has the most hilarious poster of all time. I cannot get over how ridiculous it looks. Speaking of, Carrie looks plenty terrible too. What is a good poster is that of my most anticipated sequel of all time, The World's End. This film will be so epic. My darling Daniel Radcliffe is doing two films. There is a poster for his romcom The F Word with Zoe Kazan which looks sweet. There is also the released picture of him avec horns in Horns. It does look kind of retarded, but this film sounds cool. Also since we're talking about weird pointy things (TWSS), the new Wolverine picture looks mental. Hugh Jackman does not need to be that photoshopped. He is a beautiful man as it is.

3) Okay so you know how long I've been gone? Back when Seth MacFarlaine hosting the Oscars was big news. I haven't actually seen anything he has done (Family Guy, Ted) but it seems like a weirdly ballsy move by the AMPAS so we'll see where this goes. What is great hosting news is that Tina Fey and Amy Poehler will host the Golden Globes. YESSSS! I just keep thinking of Mean Girls for this, even though they are more famous for Saturday Night Live and Baby Mama together. Still, epicly awesome funny ladies FTW!

4) Continuing with my last weekly thoughts post about TV shows and movies- The Coen Brothers are making a Fargo movie. Woaaahh! I know right. I don't remember Fargo very well, just that wood chipper scene and saying "Yeah" like Frances McDormand for weeks after that. I am not big on Coen Brothers (yes I know blasphemy!) but this will be interesting. Also Alfonso Cuarón and JJ Abrams are making some sci-fi supernatural tv show together, whose premise is about "a girl in possession of a great gift/powers — which will come into their own in seven years — and the man who is sprung from prison to protect her from those trying to hunt her down ." Then David Fincher and Kevin Spacey have developed a political drama show called House of Cards. Why don't I know these things? It sounds pretty impressive. It also stars Robin Wright, Kate Mara and Corey Stall.

5) Casting news round-up- Daniel Radcliffe may be starring in Frankenstein which will bring a  sci-fi spin on the classic horror story. It sounds very offbeat and cool and I like everything Radcliffe has been attaching himself to post-Potter so this can continue the trend. Ben Whishaw might star in Steven Spielberg's Robocalypse. I love Whishaw and think he's a wonderful actor and it will be very good for his career to be attached to a big project like this. Martin Freeman and Eddie Marsan have joined the already awesome cast of The World's End. I really cannot effing wait for this film. Not only will Marc Webb be returning to direct The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (YUCK), but Shailene Woodley is in talks to play Mary Jane Watson (DOUBLE YUCK). I like Woodley but I think I have made my animosity towards the first Amazing Spider-Man movie and the absolutely horrendous role of Mary Jane Watson be known far and wide. I will hate this film too. I know it. Robert Pattinson will star alongside Carey Mulligan in Hold on to Me which is about a real life femme fatale and seems like a juicy part for Pattinson to, pardon the pun, sink his teeth into. Amy Adams will star as Janis Joplin in a biopic directed by Lee Daniels, which sounds very interesting even though I have not seen any of Daniels's work yet. Also Natalie Portman may star as Jackie Kennedy in the biopic Jackie that was once a pet project of Darren Aronofsky and Rachel Weisz. I can see it happening.

6) Apparently Benedict Cumberbatch is the new James Bond villain for whenever Bond 24 will come out? What? Why do I read about these things in Indian tabloids? That's bloody amazing though. Just the thought of verbal and possibly physical sparring between two very attractive British men in suits *fans herself*.

7) Since when was Michael Fassbender part of the Terrence Malick film that also has Rooney Mara and Ryan Gosling? It's very hard to keep track since Malick is making like 50 movies, but this is the music festival one. But man, Fassy and Gosling in one movie together is not going to be good for my nerves. Still, who knows who will actually make the final cut (this thought keeps me up at night).

8) Everyone has heard this, yes? I kept hearing it even though it was triggering my headache back when I was sick-

9) Back when I was gone, Sati's absolutely brilliant site Cinematic Corner turned 1 year old. Her blog puts mine, and let's face it, probably yours to shame also. It is just that good and that pretty. And it's only a year old, a prospect that makes me sick and disgusted. Let's hope it continues to be this awesome for many many more years to come.

10) Edgar Wright will be definitely making the Ant-Man film so good on Marvel for officially becoming wayyyyyyy cooler than DC. Also Agent Coulson will be there in the S.H.I.E.L.D. tv show pilot so maybe he didn't die, which will be very sneaky on Nick Fury's part. Still yaay! because Agent Phil Coulson is ab fab.

11) Trailers- The Lone Ranger which looks wayyy too serious, and it should have more of Armie Hammer seeing that he is in fact the Lone Ranger. A proper trailer for Lincoln came out that does not make it look like War Horse with Daniel Day-Lewis. I like it so much more. Stoker that looks ahmazing and creepy and is definitely one of my most anticipated films of next year. Zero Dark Thirty also released an actual trailer that makes sense. I'm still not a hundred percent sold on this film but I do love me some Jessica Chastain and this is like her first proper big profile lead role so yaay! Hitchcock looks really good and fun. Anthony Hopkins is killing it as Alfred Hitchcock and Helen Mirren looks really good too. I love how Scarlett Johannson doesn't even get a mention. It ain't her movie! Carrie's teaser looks good until you actually get to Carrie, being played by Chloe Moretz. She looks stoopid. They will all laugh at her!! The new Gangster Squad trailer has a lot more Emma Stone to offer, but it looks the same to me. I have become so much lesser enthused about this film as time has gone by. Still, gotta love Gosling in a suit. Finally the latest Django Unchained trailer is all sorts of batshit crazy, especially in the form of one delicious Calvin Candie, played by Leonardo Di Caprio. This film will be fantastic.

12) Finally, who else was devastated by the mid-season Doctor Who finale? I have never cried like that for a tv show ever. I will write about it but for now-

Truth. Troll.

Okay so I will be back soon. I hope. Byeee.

I am already in lesbians with this...

HOLY SHIT! I DON'T KNOW WHAT ANY OF THIS MEANS BUT I'M SO EXCITED!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!

*after a few deep breaths*

This is the Comic Con teaser poster for the third and final film in Edgar Wright's Blood and Ice Cream/ Three Cornetto Flabours Trilogy, all starring my favourite onscreen couple, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost- The World's End. I live for the day when this releases.

The official synopsis-

“20 years after attempting an epic pub crawl, five childhood friends reunite when one of them becomes hell bent on trying the drinking marathon again. They are convinced to stage an encore by mate Gary King, a 40-year old man trapped at the cigarette end of his teens, who drags his reluctant pals to their home town and once again attempts to reach the fabled pub, The World’s End. As they attempt to reconcile the past and present, they realize the real struggle is for the future, not just theirs but humankind’s. Reaching The World’s End is the least of their worries.”

Thoughts

Another week people. It rained here the other day and it was amazing. But then, the bugs came. Ugh Indian monsoon -.-


1) I have no one to watch The Avengers with. I hate this world. Team Loki forever! Also, speaking of other blockbusters and teams, Josh "Peeta" Hutcherson adopted a special needs puppy and named it Driver, after Ryan Gosling's mysterious character in the awesome Drive. So obviously, I am with the bakers now!


2) Okay am I the only one who hates studios revealing information on sequels before the first part has even been released? I mean as evident as it is that nothing will happen to Ironman and Black Widow in The Avengers, they can shut up about how RDJ and Scarlett Johannson are returning in Ironman 3 for a second. Especially considering The Avengers is what all the other Marvel films have been building up to. Having said that, I am beyond pumped about the other cast members joining Ironman 3- Sir Ben Kingsley as the villain, the always brilliant Guy Pearce and maybe even La Chastain, in some sexy scientist role. Also, it seems that The Amazing Spiderman 2 is already getting written by the Star Trek writers. The first part hasn't even released yet. It is okay to plan ahead, just release the news afterwards.


3) Best Film News of the Week- The World's End, which is said to be the last part in the Blood and Ice Cream/ Three Cornetto Flavours Trilogy, all directed by Edgar Wright and starring Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, aka Best Onscreen Couple EVER, is being written. Or rather has already been written by Wright and Pegg and its second draft is ready. OMGOMGOMG! I live for the day it gets made, and I am seriously not exaggerating. Let the world literally end after that and I would not care at all.


4) And now for some bad news, at least for me- the much awaited Darren Aronofsky "Noah" movie has found its savior, in the form of Russel Crowe. Ai yai yai... I really do not like Crowe. He's my anti-Depp and I find it very difficult to sit through his films. Gladiator was good but I did fall sick after watching it. And I like L.A. Confidential because it is a great film and has Guy Pearce and Kevin Spacey in it. I have only been looking forward to his next film Les Miserables because it will have the wonderful Hugh Jackman singing in it. I was quite excited and intrigued about the "Noah" film... I don't know how much I want to see it anymore.


5) Trailers- The trailer to Oliver Stone's Savages was released a few weeks back but I forgot to post it. It's a bit crazy, but I guess we expect that from a Stone movie. However, the block of stone that is Blake Lively telling us at the beginning of the trailer that she may die at the end of the story is a humongous faux pas. It just makes the film extremely predictable no matter how it ends unless she is somehow strapped onto a cow-shaped Death Star and oh I don't know... it's all bad!! I do like the fact that it has Salma Hayek and Benicio Del Toro though. Hope Springs, which has Queen Meryl reuniting with The Devil Wears Prada director, David Frankel. It looks sweet and also stars Tommy Lee Jones, who is always a delight in lighter roles like this one, and Steve Carell. The *hopefully* final trailer to Pixar's Brave has been released. I can't wait for this film and Merida's hair enough. Lawless has a friggin' awesome trailer out. Firstly it has an absolute dream cast- Shia LaBeouf, Tom Hardy, Mia Wasikowska, Gary Oldman, Guy Pearce and oh so sexy Jessica Chastain. Secondly, I love Prohibition-era stuff, especially those big-ass tommy guns. Finally, the trailer of the week comes in the form of the lovely Ruby Sparks. I love Paul Dano! It is made by the wonderful people who made Little Miss Sunshine and I completely adore the premise of the story. I can see myself becoming obsessed with this film and hating reality even more after that. It also stars the likes of Annette Benning, Antonio Banderas and Steve Coogan.


6) Finally, I'm in love with this song and video-

Adieu mon chérie.