Kiss Me Stupid

        Every year The New York Times celebrates some of the best performances of that movie year with cinema-themed shorts. To the best of my knowledge, they've always done shorts around single actors like the one using movie lines or the only-actresses one. This time 'round, they've chosen movie kisses as their theme and this one might be my most favourite yet. I really think so much of acting is about reacting and so it's great to see these actors work together. Also, the whole concept reminds me of the ending of Cinema Paradiso which is one of the greatest movie endings ever!

Benedict Cumberbatch and Reese Witherspoon

 Swoon! God, even Edgar Wright wants a full movie about Witherspoon's Barbarella and Cumberbatch's Zorro. Make it happen, Hollywood.

Laura Dern and Steve Carell

It's sooooo funny! I think the funnier ones were my favourites and this one is definitely there. They're adorbs.

Jenny Slate and Rosario Dawson

Awwwwww. Again, I will watch an entire film about both of them, even if it is just them partying all night.

Chadwick Boseman and Kristen Stewart

This was a bit meh but god, so much energy from Stewart!

Patricia Arquette and Jason Schwartzman

Lolwut? I'm so happy Schwartzman is in this list btw. I really hated Listen Up Philip but the performances in it were so great.

Timothy Spall and David Oyelowo

My favourite one! It would be my favourite based on the way Spall fixes his tie at the end alone.

Shailene Woodley and Jack O'Connell

Aww this one was sweet. These two should totes come in a movie together btw. Both of them are such natural performers.

Julianne Moore and John Lithgow

Does anyone else think that Moore is getting hotter with age? She's like my role model. This one was so much fun. I want to go dancing with both of them!

Miles Teller and Gugu Mbatha-Raw

Gosh, Gugu is one stunning woman. I really like their pairing too. It was beautiful.

            I want someone to make a 200 Cigarettes type movie (but better than that, obviously) with all these actors and all these story lines. I would seriously watch it and probably love it.

Do you all look forward to these shorts every year too? Which one of these is your favourite? Does anyone else miss Rosamund Pike in this list?

Across the Universe Podcast: Episode 20

Episode 20: Let's Fall in Love

Birds do it, bees do it etcetera etcetera... It's Valentine's Day! Well, almost. And to celebrate, Mette, Sofia and yours truly look at some unconventional films about love in this episode.

We also have a special Interesting Movie of the Fortnight feature this time 'round, along with a new, shorter format.

Enjoy. Fall in love. Whatever.

Content:

0:27- Chick-chatter

3:49- Trailer

4:50- Interesting Movie of the Fortnight

12:40- The chicks discuss Harold and Maude (1971)

20:47- The chicks discuss Last Night (2010)

32:57- The chicks discuss Bright Star (2009)

43:34- Plugs and Goodbyes

Songs:

Ella Fitzgerald "Let's Do It (Let's Fall In Love)"

Amy Adams and Lee Pace "If I Didn't Care"

Fiona Apple "Across The Universe"

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Download episodes from: Our Dropbox page

Love me do- Favourite Pixar Love Stories

      Pixar films are known for their emphasis on friendship. Their latest feature, Monsters University, shows us the beginnings of one of their most celebrated bromances, as it were. But, as much as I enjoyed it, I was really blown away by the short The Blue Umbrella that was shown before it. This was a love story, and it got me thinking about the different romances that Pixar has given us. These are my top 10.

Honourable mentions- I think Mr. and Mrs. Potatohead from the Toy Story movies and Fergus and Elinor from Brave are the only other couples in Pixar-verse, and as cute as they are, we don't see the romance aspect of their lives explored much.

10) Lightning McQueen and Sally Carrera in Cars

I barely have any memory of Cars, but I do remember liking their relationship a lot. He's the stud and she's the pretty but clever girl, basically. They were cute.

9) Mike Wazowski and Celia Mae in Monsters Inc.

Or should I say, Googly bear and Schmoopsie poo. The fact that monsters that are more or less based on Cyclops and Medusa can be this adorable is a testament to Pixar.

8) Princess Atta and Flik in A Bug's Life

A Bug's Life is one of the most forgettable Pixar films, which is a shame because it is quite good. One of its best parts for me was the relationship between Atta and Flik. They both want to do good, but don't know how. Flik is the daring one with the crazy ideas and Atta is the one with all the responsibilities, who by the end they realise the worth of each other. It is very sweet.

7) Ken and Barbie in Toy Story 3

Come on, I'm a girl! This was like my first dream couple ever, and to see them brought to life onscreen was a genuine childhood fantasy come true. And I just love how Barbie is the kickass one and Ken is the super flamboyant one.

6) Buzz and Jessie in Toy Story 2 and 3

I adore how the uber cool Buzz Lightyear tends to become speechless around Jessie. When his Spanish settings kick-in in Toy Story 3 and he becomes the romantic charmer he is inside, it is both hilarious and lovely to watch.

5) Linguini and Colette in Ratatouille

When we first meet Colette, she is shown as a really determined woman who has almost forgotten to smile. Enter Linguini with all his charming klutziness, and one magical Parisian kiss later, we have one of the cutest and most "opposites attract" philosophy-affirming couples in animated history.

4) Mr. Incredible/Bob Parr and Elastigirl/Helen Parr in The Incredibles

I really appreciate how movie doesn't show the courtship and rose-coloured, puppy-love years of their life, but rather the tougher middle ages and all the problems that they bring with them, and how these two get through them as both as superheroes and a real married couple.

3) Blue Umbrella and Red Umbrella in The Blue Umbrella

I can't help but connect this short to a quote from Doctor Who- 

"It's the oldest story in the universe. This one or any other. Boy and girl fall in love, get separated by events--war, politics, accidents in time. She's thrown out of the hex or he's thrown into it. Since then they've been yearning for each other across time and space."

Only Pixar can make a love story between two primary coloured umbrellas this magical and relatable.

2) WALL-E and Eve in WALL-E

WALL-E is the closest thing to a romantic epic that Pixar has given us. A garbage-packing robot who after hundreds of years of solitude finds love in a beautiful and feisty robot and will travel across space to get her back. The scenes when Eve goes into standby and WALL-E tries to make her active again, or that space-dance, are all just so wonderful.

1) Carl and Ellie in Up

Because this is the dream. Pixar, in Carl and Ellie, gave us one of the most endearing, magically human, incredibly touching love stories ever depicted onscreen, all within ten minutes. I'm tearing up just thinking about it because it makes me so happy and so sad. In a film all about the spirit of adventure, I think theirs is the greatest adventure story of them all. And the fact that Carl endeavoured to make Ellie's dreams come true even after her death is just beautiful.

So this was my list. What did you think?

"I'm a delusion angel. I'm a fantasy parade."

I absolutely adore this scene. Before Sunrise is a fairy tale-like movie because of the very very very high improbability of something like this happening to someone. Recently I read somewhere that "man can believe the impossible but never the improbable". Still the sweetness and the chemistry and just everything between the leads entices us to wish and wish and wish for something like this to happen.


Of all the modern fairy tale elements in the film, the most ethereally romance-y is when this street poet, with his raggedy clothes and cigarettes, sitting at the side of the Danube, offers to write a poem for our protagonists Jesse and Celine around a word they give him, the word being "milkshake". He comes up with this totally beautiful poem which, like many other instances in the movie, fits in with the situation of our young lovers perfectly. 


I have always had a thing for him. From the very first time I saw Before Sunrise. He's so otherworldly and amazing and pathetic, but in a complete romantic sense. It's like he isn't real. He only appears to lovers when they need him, though they don't know it, and maybe the lines in the title of this post are what describes him. He's like a god of love, asking the obvious question to two such people- "Don't you know me? Don't you know me by now?"


I guess I am, paraphrasing something that Jesse says in the movie, just projecting my own romantic ideals on a bum and possible alcoholic, but such is the power of a movie like this. Gah it's so flawless...

"I'm not finished."

           After doing the The Film Experience's "Hit Me With Your Best Shot" last year with one-half of my two most favourite movies of all time, Moulin Rouge!, I had expected to partake in many more of these this year. Alas it wasn't to be, but with a lot of difficulty I've managed to do one such post for another of my most favourite movies, another romantic one- Tim Burton's Edward Scissorhands.

         It is a very interesting looking film. I thought about several aspects of it which I like. One of the funniest things about the film, because it is a very hilarious film too, is the gossiping housewives. This time around, I actually noticed how Burton showcases their hair, since that will become a bit of a centerpiece of the film later on. If you enlarge the picture, you'll see how Helen, played by Conchatta Ferrell (the second housewife) still has a roller in her hair in the last shot.

          The most ferocious housewife of them all of course is Joyce, played splendidly by Kathy Baker. When I was taking screencaps of the film for this post, I felt oddly compelled to take some of her big, witchy, sharper-than-scissors nails.

          Also the scissors- I love how almost always the scissors are shown before Edward himself. It is a sad albeit incredulous reminder of what life must be for a man like him.

          Look at this gem of a shot where both are shown together- wonder which one is more deadlier...

         But now, after this rather long intro, let me get to my favourite shot. It was a little difficult to choose because my personal favourite part of the film is when Kim, played by the lovely Winona Ryder, asks Edward to hold her, and he says that he can't; it is a painfully beautiful scene that unfortunately cannot be captured in a screencap... you have to see Johnny Depp's amazing acting to truly feel it. But then, Kim makes him embrace her, and there is a little flashback to when the Inventor, played by Vincent Price, is finally going to give him real hands.

            It is this part that makes you realize how much he wants to be with Kim. He yearns for her, for her touch and beauty and love, as much as he yearns to have hands and be normal. And somewhere inside he's afraid it won't be just like how he never was able to get the normal hands. This is the true tragedy of Edward Scissorhands, the one and only.

"Love, the poet said, is woman’s whole existence." ~ MY FAVOURITE ROMCOMS

Happy Suck-Face Day people!

          Isn't that funny? And I get it now as I have see Star Wars.  Anyways, I had made this list last year but blogger decided to delete most of it and I could not be bothered to redo it until now. Romcoms or romantic comedies are my favourite genre of films after dramedies, and certainly the one I know most about because growing up in the 90s with 90s Bollywood movies, everything was a romcom even if the film was technically from another genre.
           I have decided to put 14 films in my list because of the date obviously (whatever will I think of next?!). Except the first one, everything else is in random order.

Pretty Woman (Dir: Garry Marshall)

It's my ultimate favourite Hollywood romcom: a modern fairytale. True that the female character was a hooker and many of us aren't, but the magic of the film lies in how a poor girl finally finds her prince charming, in the city of angels. But of course more than anything, what makes this film really enchanting is its leading pair. I don't think any other couple in my list look as good as Julia Roberts and Richard Gere in this film. Roberts's contagious radiance and Gere's dapperness, and the way their characters just go so perfectly with each other. *Swoon*

When Harry Met Sally (Dir: Rob Reiner)

"You realize of course that we could never be friends, " and thus one of the greatest romcoms sets in motion. The Billy Crystal and my personal romcom queen Meg Ryan starrer explores the age-old question that can a man and a woman be friends without, you know...it getting weird? It's funny and sweet and the leads are awesome and it has that fake orgasm scene which has to be one of my favourite scenes ever.

Annie Hall (Dir: Woody Allen)

Annie Hall is one of the greatest films ever, with one of the most memorable and beautiful characters ever- Annie Hall played by the divine Diane Keaton. Even Alvy Singer, Woody Allen's character which is almost always the same, has a different adorableness to him. A nervous romance, as its tagline reads, brings to life the quintessential Allen-esque characters- the slightly unsure Annie and the always cynically-upright Alvy and their doomed love story, or maybe a successful modern one, that will entertain us forever.

Bridget Jones's Diary (Dir: Sharon Maguire)

Bridget Jones is somewhat of a role model for me. She shows me that despite being fat and old, someday two British heartthrobs will fall for me and fight over me *sigh*. The book is epic and so is the film. Reneé Zellweger as the clumsy thirty-something Brit whose lovelife is like a modern Pride and Prejudice. Her Mr. Wickham is her flirtatious and unfaithful boss Daniel Cleaver, played by the gorgeous Hugh Grant and her Mr. Darcy is Mark Darcy played by super-suave Colin Firth, whose portrayal of the latter Darcy in the BBC production of P & P led the author Helen Fielding write the book in the first place. Good times.

The Apartment (Dir: Billy Wilder)

It just pains me to think that once upon a time romcoms won Best Picture Oscars. But this really is the best of the best. Only Billy Wilder can make such an endearing and smart romcom so successfully. And the leads- the brilliant Jack Lemmom and the adorable Shirley MacLaine are absolutely perfect and they have an amazing chemistry together that really fuels the film and makes it so great.

Le fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain (Dir: Jean-Pierre Jeunet)

Yes this film is a great many things, but it is a romcom too. And a bloody adorable one at that. Amelie and Nino are made for each other, and the way our heroine woos him is just genius. This is THE love story for quirky people, those who take pictures of clouds or record different kinds of laughs and so on.

(500) Days of Summer (Dir: Marc Webb)

Many call this a modern-day version of Annie Hall. Isn't that compliment enough? Though there are quite a bit of similarities- the self-doubting guy, the girl on whom the film is named, and ofcourse relationship problems, 500 Days is so very different. It's structurally different with the non-linear storyline. It's more pessimistic from the get-go. Summer is not really a person but more of an idea of a person. But all in all, it is a lovely film which avoided them evil clichés and gave a breath of freshness to this somewhat dying genre.

Harold and Maude (Dir: Hal Ashby)

If you haven't seen this film and just look at a synopsis somewhere, they'll talk about how it is a love story between a young man and an old woman. That may look peculiar, but once you do see it, it all makes sense. This excellent dark comedy is a love story first, with the morbid Harold and the lively Maude obviously falling in love because how can they not? They are like death and life and they belong together. Such a beautiful film, and damn funny too.

It Happened One Night (Dir: Frank Capra)

This was the first film to win the Big 5 at the Oscars and remains one of the only 3 to have done so. The other two deal with lunatics, and this one is a romcom. What does that say people? I found it interesting that I liked it so much because I have seen the Bollywood remake of this so many times and I quite like it, and I have a habit of usually liking the original or the remake or none. And I really really liked this! It had to do with the leads and the script and the story of course. Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert are such a delightful pair and all the Oscars were very well deserved.

Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist (Dir: Peter Sollett)

Come on, you knew this was bound to be there. I keep professing my love for this film and the concept and the leads and the soundtrack and everything. It is a film that I can watch again and again, on an infinite playlist as it were, and never get bored because this is an absolutely darling film.

Sabrina (Dir: Billy Wilder)

I saw this last week and I love it so much. This is another film whose Bollywood remake I had seen but did not like. But I always had a feeling that I would love it. I think it balances the funny parts with the romantic parts exceptionally well. Audrey Hepburn is a dream here. I mean she always is, but something about Sabrina and her innocence and ability to love completely is so captivating.

High Fidelity (Dir: Stephen Frears)

I had to decide between this and another Nick Hornby adaptation, About A Boy, but this one is more romcom-y. It is said to be the romantic comedy for men, and I guess that makes sense. It is funny and sad and cute and John Cusack is at the top of his game in this. The music helps, and so does the supporting cast. Thoroughly enjoyable.

Sleepless in Seattle (Dir: Nora Ephron)

I for one am not a fan of An Affair to Remember. I hated that and its Bollywood remake. Sleepless in Seattle is infinitely better than the film it glorifies. It takes the whole idea of "strangers meeting and falling in love" to another level. Meg Ryan makes her second appearance with this, and her co-star Tom Hanks is equally charming. It's terribly clichéd and I would never do this, but if I had to go meet someone on the top of the Empire State Building, it will be because of this film and not the other.

Something's Gotta Give (Dir: Nancy Meyers)

Aren't old people falling in love just so freaking cute?! Of course if I look half as good as Diane Keaton when I am her age in this, I will be a happy old bunny. Also if I can bag an old fox like Jack Nicholson, won't that be something? They both played lovers in Reds, but as an aging single playwright and a Lothario with a taste for younger women, their relationship in this is far more fun and fascinating.

There you have it. Hope you enjoyed it. Now I will go eat ice cream and watch Casablanca. Yes, do put two and two together.

Suggestions please

I am suddenly in the mood to watch a romantic film. But I don't know what to watch, especially with my hard disk gone. Any suggestions? Preferably something not very sappy. 

"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.

"You may see me only as a drunken, vice-ridden gnome whose friends are just pimps and girls from the brothels. But I know about art and love, if only because I long for it with every fiber of my being."

It has been a good five or six years since I first saw Baz Luhrmann's musical romance Moulin Rouge!. It was one of those experiences that change our lives forever- we think different, see things in a new light, understand ourselves better. You may think that I am over-exaggerating, but I was (am) young and impressionable...and boy that film impressed me! I felt right at home with the revolutionary Bohemians of the Moulin Rouge, and found kind of soulmate in Christian- a Romantic to the core who, without any influence as such, just naturally believes in truth, beauty, freedom and above all things, love. However, when I was watching it today for The Film Experience's Hit Me With Your Best Shot, I also found myself identifying with Satine... "Why live life from dream to dream, and dread the day the dreaming ends".


Therefore you see how this film that often tells me more about myself than almost anything else. So it was a real dilemma to chose my favourite shot, there are just so many things to love in this film. For instance:


1) The sublime beauty of Nicole Kidman as Satine.

2) The humour (just had to put that).

3) Obviously the absolutely gorgeous El Tango de Roxanne, which has everyone screaming at some point, deserves to be shown.

While all these are fantastic, I am now left with two finalists. One is an actual shot within the film, another is a set of six shots that come in the end of the credits.

The Best Shot- This really shows the magic of the film. Here are two people standing on clouds, with an umbrella, the Eiffel Tower and the moon with a face on it in the background. The scene happens when Christian, played by the wonderful Ewan McGregor, is wooing Satine by "Your Song". A melody sung from his heart, for hers, and she is swept away so much so that she imagines a completely unrealistic, yet dreamy place where both of them belong together. I think the background pays homage to the great musicals of yesteryears...the umbrella from Singin' in the Rain, rooftop from Mary Poppins, the Eiffel Tower for An American in Paris, and well the singing moon. I love films which transport us to places, and this singular shot takes me to a wonderland of romance and delight.

The Best Shots- Seriously, this is the favourite part of the film for me. I especially wait for credits to end everytime I watch Moulin Rouge!, because it is incomplete for me until I see these final six shots. I weep, I smile, I feel warm- why? Because these shots reaffirm my belief in the world. The fact that what these wild Bohemians believed in is not something the world has forgotten. We sing the songs that they sing- from Bowie to Kiss to Madonna. Their anthems are our anthems now; art and beauty and freedom and love prospers. It is a little hard to notice with all these Dukes lying around, but come what may, everything the film and its characters holds so dear still exists. That is what the story is all about, and I ardently love it.

Moulin Rouge! is 10 years old now, and I do hope it goes down in cinematic history as the beautiful love story with a Bohemian Can Can twist and a total tribute to the great songs of the 20th century. I mean honestly as lovely as the shots are, the film is nothing without its songs. Do watch and listen!