Movie Jail Relay Race

       A new relay race has been started by Nostra of My Film Views and Terrence of The Focused Filmmaker.

      The idea:

"It’s time to put some movie people in jail. The object is to give a prosecutor’s argument as to why these movie people belong in “Movie Jail” whether it be for violating the integrity of the content source of one their films, or being a sell-out, just making bad movies overall, getting worse as time goes on or not being in a good movie for many years.

The baton will be passed to another blogger who will have to do the following:

In order to free someone from Movie Jail they have to do 2 things

1 – Give a defense attorney argument defending the plaintiff

2 – Pay bail: the cost of which is another case for the court and a prosecutor’s argument against the actor/director of their choice that will replace the one set free.

There must always be 10 people in Movie Jail."

      I was passed on the baton by the awesome Josh of The Cinematic Spectacle. 

      I apologise for taking so long to do this. I had had my eyes on the person who I am taking out of the movie prison for a while now, but it took some time to find the person to replace them with. But once I knew who to put in, it seemed like the most obvious choice there was.

      The current inmates-

George Lucas

Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer

Jennifer Aniston

Sam Worthington

Tom Cruise

Adam Sandler

Al Pacino

Eddie Murphy

Raja Gosnell

       The entries so far-

Nostra of My Film Views

Sati of Cinematic Corner

Alex of And So It Begins...

Steven of Surrender to the Void

Stevee of Cinematic Paradox

Josh of The Cinematic Spectacle

      Who I am setting free- 

Michael Cera

      If you look at the list of my top 100 films, you will notice that Mr. Cera here stars in two of them. That's more than the likes of Ryan Gosling, Meryl Streep, Robert De Niro and Shah Rukh Khan. While I do love these actors more, I have to say that the reason why Cera's films are there is because they make me happy. Michael Cera comes in awesome, happy films. I will always watch a film of his because I am guaranteed joy and entertainment. There are worse crimes. So his roles are similar, but they are still very different from each other. Paulie Bleeker is no Scott Pilgrim. I have loved him in Nick and Norah's Playlist, Scott Pilgrim vs the World, Juno and Superbad and really liked him in Youth in Revolt and whatever I have seen of Arrested Development. Also he is brilliant in interviews, always witty and quick. Plus, his characters have the best names EVER- Paulie Bleeker, Scott Pilgrim, Nick Twisp, Francois Dillinger. With names like that, come on!

      Who I am putting behind bars- 

Katherine Heigl

         The woman who dealt the final and perhaps the most fatal blow to the genre of romantic comedies. This used to be one of the best and most intelligent genres there was, and while it was on a decline, we still had some wonderful films in the 80s and 90s. Then Katherine Heigl suddenly became the queen of romcoms and they became painful, sappy and well, shit. Mila Kunis's character in Friends with Benefits says it best, "Shut up, Katherine Heigl, you stupid, little liar!" She is a liar because this genre is so much better than her and her brand of spineless humour and romance. I rest my case.

       I pick the excellent Anna of Defiant Success to pass on the baton to. Can't wait to see who she picks!

Thoughts

A bit late, sorry. Here are the thoughts-


1) Let's start with trailers because it was THE BEST WEEK OF TRAILERS EVER!! I mean Wrath of the Titans people- Yaaaaayy!! No I'm kidding ofcourse, because that film is a joke. First up, we have the last part of Christopher Nolan's epic Batman trilogy The Dark Knight Rises. OMG it's awesome!! So I had been dying to get a glimpse of Catwoman because I am just the biggest fan of her portrayal by Michele Pfeiffer, and Anne Hathaway looks and sounds brilliant! Yes, it's a bit too much like Batman Returns, with the ball and all, but who cares? And I like Bane finally. People have issues with the voice, but I thought it was fine and like seriously, Nolan has toppled over cities in his films; he can handle voice issues pretty adeptly, I am sure. Then there is the trailer to Peter Jackson's The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey- OMFG it's awesomer!! Martin Freeman looks spot on fantastic as Bilbo Baggins, and it's great seeing old favourites like Gandalf, Galadriel, Gollum and the One Ring. I've missed Middle Earth, though it will take a whole year till we go there properly. These two are among my most anticipated films of next year. There were other trailers too- Bel Ami, which is Robert Pattinson's next. It looks okay-ish. I like onscreen playboys, so it will probably become a guilty pleasure. Lastly, there's the teaser to Ridley Scott's Prometheus. I've started watching the Alien films, and I do not think this film will be my cup of tea due to my wuss-nature. However, my Fassy fever knows no bounds and I'll probably still watch it.


2) Okay it's a bit late to have this outburst, but WHY THE FUCK WAS HARRY POTTER NOT NOMINATED FOR BEST ENSEMBLE IN SAG AWARDS?! There was Prof McBadass brilliance in this also :'( Stupid award voters and their low opinion of children movies. It is because they are all dead inside and their soul is as shriveled up as an ugly raisin.


3) Couple of days back I saw Juno and Scott Pilgrim Vs The World. Does anyone else miss Michael Cera? I dooo. I also want him to re-team with Edgar Wright. Can't there be more Scott Pilgrim films? I mean 2011 was a good year film-wise, but there was nothing like Scott Pilgrim, so that's a big fat fail.


4) Stevee Taylor of Cinematic Paradox got me on a Harry Potter high again, with her Harry Potter marathon. It'll be weird seeing all the films over the course of like a week. I cannot imagine it. I'm going to be doing a somewhat similar thing next year, when I see all the original Star Wars movies. I have a good feeling I'll hate them and not really understand them, but I look forward to be proven wrong (hopefully).


5) Are there other series like these that I need to watch? I'll be dabbling in Westerns also. And I have to see the 1939 films. Help all ye more knowledgeable folk!!


6) Finally- this is the best Christmas tree ever-

MERRY CHRISTMAS! Be good kids :D

Byeeee. Falalalala.

"You are literally like my musical soulmate."

        I have a list of films that I, without fail, watch once a month since the first time I saw them. These are Scott Pilgrim vs The World, Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, The Boat that Rocked and The Social Network. And well a Tarantino film, but they are on like a revolving basis. Apart from TSN and the QT flick, the others are not exactly great works of art. But they make me happy, and I think films that one rewatches a lot should do exactly that.

         Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist follows the adventures of one Nick and one Norah when they go to NYC one night to see the secret show of their favourite band Where's Fluffy. Nick has been heartbroken over his ex Tris for a month now, and his band The Jerk Offs/ Shit Sandwich/ Fistful of Assholes/ undecided, consisting of Dev and Thom, who are both redonkulously gay, want him to move on. His salvation comes in the form of Norah, a smart-mouthed girl whose dad is a big music producer, and who goes to the same school as Tris and is best friends with the very attractive, but generally very wasted Caroline. When Nick's band is performing at a club, Tris comes to show off her new conquest to the depressed Nick, while also taunting Norah about her messed-up lovelife. So Norah, who had previously noticed the cute Nick, goes up to him and asks him to be her boyfriend for five minutes to ward off the evil little Tris, and kisses him. Thus begins their infinite playlist, and night. Nick's friends see that there is an obvious attraction between him and Norah, and decide to take the drunken mess, aka Caroline off their hands while they go find Fluffy, and perhaps true love. Amidst all this a lot of things happen- Nick gets over Tris, Nick's Yugo is used as a bedroom by Seth Meyers (!!) and some equally drunk woman, Caroline gets lost and finds Jesus, Norah comes to terms with her relationship between her and her somewhat boyfriend Tal, and they do find Fluffy.

       That was a gist of what the film is about. I have seen it so many times, that writing out its plot is oddly impossible. The story is based on the novel by David Levithan and Rachel Cohn. I've read the book, and I was suprised to find that there are quite a lot of differences between it and the film. For example I would have never cast Michael Cera as Nick according to the character in the book. Sure he's sweet and chivalrous, but there's something very non-Cera about him. He is not exactly the Cera-brand cute... he's old school gentlemanly, and I dunno- Cera just doesn't come to mind.  And Norah is slightly painful; nothing like the super-gorgeous and quirky Kat Dennings. But I am glad that they did cast these two. They are one of my most favourite pairings ever- they are so sweet that they should make one's tooth ache, but the quarreling makes them all the more endearing.

       Cera is one of my top leading men in all honesty. I do love most of his films, even though he has made only a handful. He makes Nick so believeable- in his jealousy, in his desperation, in his honesty. He is funny, but not in a HA-HA kind of way, but much more subtle. Just a few lines here and there, and you know that he has a sense of humour, but not overly so. When he looks at Tris or Norah and whispers that he finds them beautiful, it's not a common compliment, but something quite sincere. Sure one may say that he does the same roles over and over again, but I think Nick stands out in all his quiet sincerity and earnestness. Dennings is just lovely as Norah. The screen brightens up whenever she smiles. Her make-up artist does a simple job on her- a bit of eyeliner and red lipstick, but it just looks so attractive. From her anger to her embarrassment to happiness, every feeling is so clear and well, charming. I can't help but smile at all her emotions, because we all feel like that at times, and if only some of us could look that good. God Tris and Caroline had nothing on her. 

       Speaking of, I also loved Caroline, who is played by Ari Graynor. She was hilarious in all her drunken-ness and did not shy away from barfing or belching or picking out a piece of chewing gum from inside the toilet (okay I skip that part everytime). Also Nick's friends- Thom played by Aaron Yoo, Dev played by Rafi Gavron and "beefy guy" Lethario played by Johnathan B. Wright, they were all very cute and funny in their own careless natures. I want friends like that- gay and funny and caring and at the same time, always after having a good time. The nemeses- Tris and Tal are played by Alexis Dziena and Jay Baruchel. Both are evil, conceited, and selfish. Again in the novel, the characters were different, in the sense that they were nicer and had more dimensions. But still I think that it is fun to have them as the bitchy bad guys, and then see them get served!

        One of my favourite things about the film is all the extras. There is obviously the afore-mentioned Seth Meyers. Along with him there is also Andy Sandberg, John Cho and Devendra Banhart and a whole lot of other people. They are just people from the streets screaming out random stuff, or pant-less alter boys, or creepy street-bums, or omniscient deli shoppers. I love them because that is how I imagine New York to be like- random, profane, mad and funny. 


        Nick and Norah has many of the things that I love to see in films. As already mentioned above- there are a lot of interesting characters. Another thing is the time-lapse. I love films that begin and end in a small period of time. This film gives me just that. Staying out all night, looking for a friend or an imaginary band or just the one, and that one night is all there is. In the book there is a very nice passage about this- 

"I shouldn’t want the song to end. I always think of each night as a song. Or each moment as a song. But now I’m seeing we don’t live in a single song. We move from song to song, from lyric to lyric, from chord to chord. There is no ending here. It’s an infinite playlist." 

This is what the film is for me...and it's perfect.

         Lastly, and very importantly, the actual songs in the film are incredible. This film has one of my most favourite soundtracks ever. I literally got into so many bands after listening to the soundtrack, it's ridiculous! The songs add to the feel of the one night...of the magical and weird New York...of finding things and people.

          I think this is the perfect time-pass film. It's funny, romantic, light, musical, and the leads are a treat for sore eyes. For truly this film would have been nothing without the adorable and enviable chemistry between Cera and Dennings. It's a particularly good watch on rainy afternoons (Yaay! Monsoon's here!). Do watch.

"High school is like the training wheels for the bicycle of real life. It is a time when young people can explore different fields of interest and hopefully learn from their experiences. In coming to terms with my own personal setback, I have been able to learn that I don't need to rely on drugs and alcohol, and that I'm very lucky that more people besides myself and Carrie weren't injured in the accident. And I have learned that to overcome life's obstacles you need faith, hope and, above all, a sense of humor." ~Ghost World

SCHOOL'S OUT!!

      This is it. No more school for me. Today was officially my last day of school EVER.

So as of today I am an ungraduated, unemployed, unmotivated 18 year old with poor-to-moderate knowledge of films, books, pop culture and nothing else. Fun I tell ya'!

Well since an era of my life just finished, here's a few things that I had wished for and did not happen to me (in my 12 years of school):

1) I did not become Molly Ringwald.

2) I never faked out my parents and took a day off.

3) I did not become a princess.

4) I did not get to sing (or receive) a random musical number.

5) I didn't become a spy.

6) I never met a Cera-ish character who is just soooo perfect.

7) I did not have a magical prom moment (or just a prom).

8) I did not have a European city adventure.

9) I did not take part in a revolution.

10) I did not form a clique/ ruin people's lives/ did anything Mean Girls-ey (except I do use the phrase "BOO YOU WHORE" a lot).

11) I did not time travel.

12) I GREW UP!!

:(

      Since I had exams for a month now, I couldn't finish my Favourite High School Movies List in time to commemorate the occasion. It will hopefully be up in a few days, because I will be jobless like that (JOY!).