"And in that moment, I swear we were infinite." - MY FAVOURITE SHOTS OF 2012

12 shots for '12.

"C'est le temps de l'amour"- MY FAVOURITE SCENES OF THE YEAR

         Here's the thing. Somehow, my favourite scenes this year have either been fight scenes or mainly scenes with singing or dancing in it. Is my true Bollywood spirit seeping through? I don't know, but I do know that the following are some of the most memorable moments of 2012, cinema-wise.

Honourable mentions- Pitch Perfect finale, Accordion interlude in Holy Motors, Calvin J. Candie and the skull in Django Unchained.

10.

Johnny Depp's cameo in 21 Jump Street

For a film that was surprisingly hilarious, its funniest moment comes when original 21 Jump Street man and my movie god (who still very much has it going on if he'd stop coming in crap) reveals his secret identity. Laughter ensues.

 9.

The flight scene in Argo

I admit that I did not know about this whole part of history until I watched the film so the finale was actually really nail-biting for me. However, from what I have read, it thrilled even those who knew about it. The plane lifting off is one of the happiest, most uplifting moments of last year's movies and in my eyes, warrants that Best Film Oscar.

 8.

The voting scene in Lincoln

Speaking of uplifting scenes, this part of Lincoln really stood out for me. I am not the biggest fan of the movie and I was pretty bored throughout but here, when I did know the result and was still so moved by it, I loved the film (but that's it).

7.

The beach dance in Moonrise Kingdom

Heaven would be being in a place and a time and a scene like this.

 6.

The cell breakdown in The Master

In a way, this could have been in my favourite fight scenes. I just love the contrast between these two men which is most prominent here. Freddy goes batshit crazy in the cell, and Dodd just stands there, cool and composed, looking on. Brilliant.

 5.

Gena's and Clyde's kiss in Bachelorette

What makes this scene even more amazing is the fact that the song that leads to the kiss in the film, The Proclaimers' legendary "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)", was put in afterwards. I love Lizzy Caplan and Adam Scott and their chemistry here is to die for.

 4.

"Who Were We" sequence in Holy Motors

Holy Motors is a film full of unforgettable, incredibly original scenes. This one, though not the most unique sequence in the film, is my favourite because it is so poignant and mysterious and beautifully shot. In a way, it is the antithesis of the beach scene in Moonrise Kingdom, but it is just as touching.

 3.

Hester underground in The Deep Blue Sea

I realise also that my list is full of either really happy, life-affirming moments or incredibly sad ones. This one is both in a way. Hester, played immaculately by the lovely Rachel Weisz, comes to the train station to commit suicide after another fight with her lover when she is transported back to the time when she, along with her husband and many other people, were hiding out there during the London air raids. There was a song and a glimpse of hope in a lot of misery and Hester finally realises that life, however terrible it may become, is still worth living.

2.

"I Dreamed a Dream" in Les Misérables

This scene gave me shivers when I first saw it. I understand why Anne Hathaway is going to win an Oscar for a scene that barely lasts five minutes. The range in it is astounding- sadness, nostalgia, disappointment, bitterness, anger, and finally, the acceptance of such a faith. The way I see it, this song captures the last moments of hope in a person, how it does fight to stay alive but life has other plans. I cried.

 1.

The final dance scene in Silver Linings Playbook

This scene was made to be loved by me. A kooky dance number in a ballroom competition- come on! It is fun and romantic and sexy and has one super uncomfortable moment but that just makes it better and they play "Fell In Love With A Girl" and there is tap dancing and the leads staring into each other's eyes a lot- TOTES AMAZEBALLS! Happiest, most awesome scene of the year.

Thoughts

         Helloo people. I do this post a full week after I was supposed to, but I've just been that busy/ tired/ dead lately. This is what is up-

1) So I am directing a one-act play for my year in the annual inter-year dramatics competition in my college. It's been a sort of whirlwind since it has only been a month in the new college and I don't exactly know what I am doing or am supposed to do most of the time. But I like it. I don't remember the last time I was excited about actually doing something apart from watching a certain movie or whatever. It's like that Catcher in the Rye quote- "I like it when somebody gets excited about something. It's nice." It *is* nice and though we are probably screwed for the final performance that will happen the day after tomorrow (SOO SCREWED), this may just be, as my mother embarrassingly calls it, my "directorial debut" (ugh, moms -.-). Yeah I wish it was a little less, well, crazy but we do have period costumes and fake mustaches and it is funny. All I want is that we put on a good show :) Also technically, my directorial debut was in 5th grade, with another one-act play which was about 3 minutes long. The teacher said that I was a good director, and I have come to think that this is probably the point where it all started...

2) Okay in the movie world this is what is happening: Baz Luhrmann's adaptation of The Great Gatsby will now be released in 2013, which sucks because all I wanted was a Very Leo Christmas. Next, Joss Whedon will also direct The Avengers 2- YAAAAAAAAYY! I am already hooked :D :D And Ben Affleck might direct the Justice League movie- YAA...eh what? In some ways, it might be surprisingly good, since Affleck is definitely a better director than actor, but I don't know. I can't quite picture it, at all.

3) One of the most anticipated films of this year, Paul Thomas Anderson's The Master has released a new poster and a whole bunch of pictures. I think the poster is gorgeous and weird, just like everything that has been released of the movie so far. The pictures clearly show that it is Joaquin Phoenix and not Philip Seymour Hoffman who is the lead, and I am still plenty happy about that. Another obvious powerhouse performance of this year will be Daniel Day-Lewis's in Lincoln. He looks brilliant!

4) Trailers- Another of the highly-awaited movies of 2012 is Seven Psychopaths, and goddamn the trailer is fantastic! I luurrvvee In Bruges, and what with people like Sam Rockwell, Woody Harrelson and Christopher Walken, this film is almost definitely going to be mindblowingly awesome! Trouble with the Curve, which is a film I can see myself not caring about one tiny little bit. I'm sorry but I just am that closed-minded when it comes to sports movies. Also, STOP MAKING MOVIES AND GO BACK TO MAKING MUSIC, JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE!! I just had to get that off my chest. A Royal Affair starring Mads Mikkelsen, which looks intriguing. Great Expectations looks terrible, but Jeremy Irvine is adorable and I think casting HBC as Mrs. Havisham is a stroke of genius. Finally there is the hilariously awful trailer of Red Dawn. I only talk about it because it has Josh from Drake and Josh! Remember him/that? What happened? :O

5) By the by, the films that I am most looking forward to this year are- 15) To the Wonder, 14) Imogene, 13) Perks of Being a Wallflower, 12) Ruby Sparks, 11) Place Beyond the Pines, 10) Anna Karenina, 9) Midnight's Children, 8) Holy Motors, 7) Moonrise Kingdom, 6) Beasts of the Southern Wild, 5) Skyfall, 4) The Hobbit, 3) The Master, 2) Seven Psychopaths, 1) Django Unchained. 

And so far my favourite films have been (not counting Margaret because I think that's a 2011 film)- 5) Chronicle, 4) Bachelorette, 3) TDKR, 2) Brave, 1) The Avengers. Clearly you can see that I haven't watched anything.

6) Finally, this is courtesy of Anna from Defiant Success-

Never get a mind filter, you glorious, glorious man.

Bbyee!

Thoughts

1) Trailers- So last week I completely forgot to put some of the v. important trailers because I'm stupid. First we have the two identical Man of Steel teasers, except for the voice overs- one has Kevin Costner as Jonathan Kent and the second has Russell Crowe as Jor-El. They are, as many have said, extremely Terrence Malick-esque, with butterflies and whatnot, but I kind of like it- especially the flying bit at the end. Then we have, what might be the most anticipated film of the year for many, many film lovers, P.T. Anderson's The Master. It looks very intriguing and the cinematography is beautiful. Next is Brad pitt-starrer crime flick Killing Them Softly. I like Pitt in this avatar and love the trailer especially towards the end. Kirsten Dunst, Lizzy Caplin and Isla Fisher star in Bachelorette, which is kind of like Bridesmaids (it even has Rebel Wilson), but perhaps meaner and less depressing. I really want to watch this- I love Kiki being a bitch, and gosh her clothes in the trailer! The best trailer of this week is obviously of Skyfall, the next James Bond movie. It looks absolutely badass and gorgeous. Love Judy Dench as M, love Ben Whishaw as Q, love eerie Ralph Fiennes and Javier Bardem, and love love love Daniel Craig and his suits. I am so stoked! Also, I must talk about the Doctor Who series 7 trailer. Though I liked the teaser more, this one is pretty awesome too, with River Song, aka the love of my life, making an appearance, and also all those blown Daleks, which is supremely cool. CANNOT WAIT!


2) Peter Jackson is making The Hobbit into a trilogy. I don't know how I feel about this. I mean, will we even get to hear Benedict Cumberbatch's awe-inspiring voice in the first one? Poor Jackson doesn't ever want to stop making these movies, understandably so. Also, he should definitely take some of Total Film's attempts to name the third film into consideration. My favourite :')


3) Emma Stone will star in the next Cameron Crowe film, Deep Tiki. It has a really weird plot about a disgraced military contractor finding himself when he is sent to some top-secret base in Hawaii. I am only writing about this because in Emma Stone's fantastic acceptance speech for the Trailblazer Award in MTV Awards, she talked about Crowe being one of her role models. And since she is one of my role models, and my fake BFF, I hope this is a great film for her sake.


4) The Olympics have started and no, I am not going to discuss the sports since I hate all sports; this is about the opening ceremony made by Oscar-winning director Danny Boyle. I sort of liked it. I saw all of it, minus whatever was cut during the fucking commercial breaks and between the march of countries that begin with the letters J-P, because I fell asleep then. In my defence, it aired from 1:30 am to 5:30 am here. Here's what I did like- Kenneth Branagh coming out of nowhere, James Bond and the Queen jumping off a helicopter (though I don't know how much I like the idea of both of them um, together... Bond has quite a reputation with the ladies, you know), J.K. Rowling, who is my queen, reading Peter Pan, big bad Voldemort, Rowan Atkinson being awesome, the whole music bit (except that cellphone love business), especially The Sex Pistols playing with the Queen present there, head banging to Arctic Monkeys at 4:30 in the morning, that one hot torch runner, the lighting of Sauron's Eye Olympic torch, the pretty fireworks and just the fact that Paul McCartney was there. There was a lot of weirdness too, the weirdest being the creepy giant baby that obviously was from Boyle's very own Trainspotting.


5) It has to be spoken about- Vertigo has replaced the fifty-year champion of Sight and Sounds "Greatest Films" list, Citizen Kane. Now I haven't seen the latter in the longest time, but I remember being blown away by it. Vertigo, not so much. In the entire top 50 list, I have seen 21 movies, which is decent-ish. From this list itself, another Hitchcock giant, Psycho, would probably top for me, followed by Taxi Driver (or maybe the other way round...), and then In the Mood for Love. The director's list is slightly better, with Taxi Driver at least in its top 10. Also I have seen 8 of the films, so yaay! Also check out the choices of some of the best directors around.


6) The sequel to the prequel, X-Men: First Class is going to be called X-Men: Days of Future Past which is based on an 80s comic of the same name and it has alternate timelines, so it will affect the events of the first three X-Men films too, and that awful Wolverine one too. The first one was certified girl porn, so I am obviously really looking forward to the prequel sequel (I just like saying that).


7) Check out Eternity of Dream's New York City in Genres. Also, the LAMB Foreign Chops: Modern Bollywood. I contributed to both (shameless self-promotion etcetera).


8) Finally, you know what I said about Daniel Craig and his suits-

Please, please, please make him the next Bond.

Byee.

Thoughts

1) Look at the banner people! Granted it's pre-2011, but so much joys.

2) So one of my most anticipated movies of this year, Alfonso Cuarón's space epic Gravity has been pushed back to 2013. Gahh. It sounds so mindblowingly amazing. Already I have an ever-growing list of films that I must watch next year- Sofia Coppola's Bling Ring, Daniel Radcliffe-starrer Kill Your Darlings, the sequel to Star Trek, the very strange sounding Pacific Rim by Guillermo Del Toro, some other 100 sequels.

3) Joel Edgerton has dropped out of double feature The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby and has been replaced the James "BLUEEE-EYES" McAvoy. Yaay. I mean I will pay good money to watch just one movie with McAvoy and Jessica Chastain, and these are two different movies- His and Hers, which in itself sound very intriguing. Edgerton frightens me a little bit, and I absolutely adore McAvoy, so I'm very happy with this casting choice.

4) Speaking of happy casting choices, Cate Blanchett and Mia Wasikowska will star in the movie adaptation of Patricia Highsmith's The Price of Salt, which will be called Carol. It is a romantic story, about an up-and-comer, played by Wasikowska, who falls for a middle-aged housewife, played by Blanchett, in New York in the 1950s, who then set out across the United States with a private investigator in their trail. I read somewhere this will almost be like Brokeback Mountain for lesbians since it's a great emotional story. The two Aussie actresses are absolutely lovely and I am very excited for this project. Also it will be co-written and directed by John Crowley, who made the brilliant yet underrated Boy A.

5) Trailers and Teasers and Clips, Oh My - Hyde Park on Hudson which has Bill Murray playing FDR. It can be a charming movie, but the trailer is all over the place. Love the cast- especially Murray and Laura Linney. Magic Mike's second trailer is much more about objectifying men than custom furniture, as it should be. It does look interesting, but gahh Channing Tatum. The Watch which looks insane. Like a wannabe Edgar Wright movie, but I do think that the people in it are all right. Won't Back Down which isn't a sequel to Never Back Down. In fact it stars Oscar nominees Viola Davis and Maggie Gyllenhaal. The trailer is awful, but the film might just be good-ish. Now on to Cannes- Holy Motors which everyone seems to love because of its craziness has an equally mundane yet captivating trailer. The Paperboy, which everyone hates because Nicole Kidman looked so wonderfully trashy, like seen in the clip. Killing Them Softly which has some totally random clip not even with Brad Pitt, but people seem to really like this film. The new Bond film Skyfall has a cracker of a teaser out. It looks absolutely incredible and cool, and I'm properly excited for this film now. It's just how a teaser should be made, and the same goes for P.T. Anderson's The Master (and with that all the film nerds died and went to heaven). This too looks awesome and weird and Joaquin Phoenix is back on his A-game. Finally, my king of trailers, one that I have seen about 30 times already- Baz Luhrmann's gorgeous and wonderfully OTT adaptation of The Great Gatsby. I love how it looks, and we can already see the many details from the beloved novel like the gigantic bespectacled eyes that have literally been haunting me, the beautiful shirts scene, the swimming pool etc. I love how pretty Leo looks, and Mulligan too (still not Daisy, sorry). I loved how sexy Jordan was in the book, and newcomer Elizabeth Debicki nails it. Joel Edgerton looks totally repulsive, how Tom was. Also Amitabh Bachchan, who is one of the biggest Bollywood stars, makes his Hollywood debut in this. The only thing lacking in the trailer was Tobey Maguire, and I hope they don't reduce his role because I love Nick as I love all narrators. All of this, perfectly complimented by that controversial Jay Z- Kanye West track in the opening and then the amazing Jack White cover of "Love is Blindness" later on. LOVE IT!!

6) Someone buy me this. Please.

7) Finally, I'm sorry I have nothing so I'm going to leave you with this-

Bye. Keep twirling :D