#indian movie rating

[artistcard]

Pushpa 2: The Rule - Movie Review: A Larger-Than-Life Sequel with Moments of Brilliance and Flaws That Hold It Back

Director Sukumar’s Pushpa 2: The Rule had monumental expectations following the cult success of Pushpa: The Rise. With Allu Arjun reprising his iconic role as Pushpa Raj, the film aims to raise the stakes, exploring the protagonist’s evolution from a smuggling underdog to a ruler in a world fraught with chaos and treachery. Released on December 5, 2024, the sequel delivers spectacular sequences,…

[newspatron]

Pippa Movie 2023 Review: A Gripping and Inspiring War Drama

I hope you have enjoyed and appreciated this article, and I hope you have learned and felt something from this article. I also hope you have watched and liked the movie Pippa 2023, and I hope you have celebrated and respected the movie Pippa 2023.

Pippa 2023 is a movie that has generated a lot of buzz and anticipation among the Indian audience. It is a war drama that tells the true story of Captain Balram Singh Mehta, who led his tank squadron in the Battle of Garibpur during the 1971 Indo-Pakistani war. The movie is directed by Raja Krishna Menon, who has a reputation for making realistic and gripping films. The movie also features a…

[ratgrinders]

Never Stop Blowing Up Favorite Movies

Wendell Morris

Weird Science - 1985 science fantasy/teen comedy. "Nerdy social outcast students Gary Wallace and Wyatt Donnelly are humiliated by senior jocks Ian and Max for swooning over their cheerleader girlfriends. Humiliated and disappointed at their direction in life and wanting more, Gary is inspired by the 1931 classic Frankenstein to create a virtual woman using Wyatt's computer, infusing her with everything they can conceive to make the perfect dream woman."

The Fast and the Furious - "A media franchise centered on a series of action films that are largely concerned with street racing, heists, spies, and family."

Real Genius - 1985 science fiction/comedy. "Chris Knight, a genius in his senior year, is paired with a new student on campus, Mitch Taylor, to work on a chemical laser, only to learn it will be used for dangerous purposes."

Liv Skyler

Empire Records - 1995 coming-of-age comedy/drama. "The film follows a group of record store employees over the course of one exceptional day. The employees try to stop the store from being sold to a large chain, and learn about each other along the way."

Scarface - 1983 crime drama, and a remake of the 1932 film of the same name. "It tells the story of Cuban refugee Tony Montana, who arrives penniless in Miami during the Mariel boatlift and becomes a powerful drug lord." Additionally, "Less than two months before the film's release, Scarface was given an X rating by the MPAA for "excessive and cumulative violence and for language".

Clueless - 1995 coming-of-age teen comedy. "Considered to be one of the best teen films of all time...The plot centers on a beautiful, popular, and rich high school student who befriends a new student and decides to give her a makeover while playing matchmaker for her teachers and examining her own existence".

Usha Rao

The Horse in Motion - Published in 1878, a sequential series of 6 cabinet cards depicting the movement of a horse. Regarded as "the world's first bit of cinema", and the first film ever created.

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde - 1931 horror film. "An adaptation of The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, the 1886 Robert Louis Stevenson tale of a man who takes a potion which turns him from a mild-mannered man of science into a homicidal maniac."

102 Not Out - 2018 Indian Hindi-language comedy drama. "Dattatraya Vakharia is a lively 102-year-old who lives his life to the maximum and takes everything in a jovial way for his heart is that of a 26-year-old youngster regardless of his age. His 75-year-old son, Babulal Vakharia, is his exact opposite for he believes that he is now too old and fragile to enjoy life and lives a routine life."

Russell Feeld

American Gigolo - 1980 neo-noir crime drama. "A high-priced male escort who becomes romantically involved with a prominent politician's wife, while simultaneously becoming the prime suspect in a murder case."

La Femme Nikita - 1990 French-language action thriller. "[Nikita] is a criminal who is convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment for murdering policemen during an armed pharmacy robbery. Her government handlers fake her death and recruit her as a professional assassin. After intense training, she starts a career as a killer, where she struggles to balance her work with her personal life."

Waking Life - 2001 animated film. "The film explores a wide range of philosophical issues, including the nature of reality, dreams and lucid dreams, consciousness, the meaning of life, free will, and existentialism. It is centered on a young man who wanders through a succession of dreamlike realities wherein he encounters a series of people who engage in insightful philosophical discussions."

Andy 'Dang' Litefoot

Suburbia - 1983 coming-of-age drama thriller. Follows "a group of suburban youths who run away from home and adopt a punk lifestyle by squatting in abandoned suburban tract homes."

Goldfinger - 1964 spy film and the third installment in the James Bond series. "The film's plot has Bond investigating gold smuggling by gold magnate Auric Goldfinger and eventually uncovering Goldfinger's plans to contaminate the United States Bullion Depository at Fort Knox."

Fire in the Sky - 1993 biographical science fiction mystery. "It is based on Travis Walton's book The Walton Experience, which describes an extraterrestrial abduction"

Paula Donvalson

Muriel's Wedding - 1994 Australian comedy-drama. "The film focuses on the socially awkward Muriel whose ambition is to have a glamorous wedding and improve her personal life by moving from her dead-end hometown, the fictional Porpoise Spit, to Sydney."

The Long Kiss Goodnight - 1996 action thriller. "The story follows an amnesiac schoolteacher who sets out to recover her identity with the help of a private detective when they discover a dark conspiracy."

Under the Tuscan Sun - 2003 romantic comedy-drama. "Based on Frances Mayes' 1996 memoir of the same name, the film is about a recently divorced writer who buys a villa in Tuscany on a whim, hoping it will lead to a change in her life."

[starryalpacasstuff]

Queer Indian Media: A Compilation

A couple of days ago, @impala124 sent @lurkingshan an ask about the lack of discussion about Queer Indian Media in fandom spaces. I wrote about it here, @neuroticbookworm here, and @waitmyturtles here (both of them have excellent points, I highly recommend you read their posts!). It's become quite apparent that people are willing to watch and engage in discourse about queer Indian media, it's just that the lack of popularity and accessibility makes it harder for people to start. So, I've decided to make a list tracking all of the queer Indian media I know of, and hopefully also any meta/discourse about it, which is an idea I've had floating in my head for months now.

This list is by no means comprehensive, so if you have recs, send them my way! Text me on DM, send an ask, tag me in your posts, whatever. And though it's not possible for me to watch everything on the list, I will be slowly going through as many of these as I can and writing about them, as well as hopefully finding more stuff and easier to access versions for the ones that are harder to access right now. This post is going to be a slow work in progress, but I'm hoping to update it regularly. So, if you'd like me to keep you updated, let me know through the tags/replies and I will tag you in future posts!

I've tagged the people who've recommended certain shows alongside each show. Everything on here is available online. The hyperlinked titles lead you to the media itself, meaning that it's available for free online with subtitles. Other details will be mentioned separately.

Disclaimer: The media I have watched/read have recommendation ratings (which will not always reflect my enjoyment of something, rather are based on how much I'd recommend it). While I did lightly screen everything on here, the criteria was 'has a trailer or otherwise showing queerness to be a central theme in the story' and 'is available online', so take that into account if you decide to pick something up, and definitely watch trailers and/or skim the wikipedia pages beforehand.

Movies

Fire | English | @neuroticbookworm 

Recommendation: 8.75/10 A 1996 movie surrounding a lesbian couple packed with commentary on religion, class, purity culture and more. Quick Pitch + Historical Context

Kapoor & Sons | Hindi | @neuroticbookworm

Available on Netflix, Prime, and paid on Youtube and Apple TV

Kaathal-The Core | Malayalam | @neuroticbookworm 

Officially on Prime, also available grey without subtitles

Meta by @ineffable-opinions

Super Deluxe | Tamil | @neuroticbookworm 

Officially on a paid streaming service called aha, grey on youtube

Dear Dad | Hindi | @neuroticbookworm 

This is grey on youtube without subtitles, available officially on Disney Hotstar and Amazon Prime,

Geeli Puchi (Ajeeb Dastaans) | Hindi | @blorbingqls @neuroticbookworm 

Available on Netflix

Cobalt Blue @blorbingqls

Officially on Netflix, also available grey without subtitles

Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga | Hindi | @fallsouthwinter @usertoxicyaoi @neuroticbookworm

Available officially on Netflix, but can also be found grey in two parts without subtitles

Recommendation: 8.5/10 What seems like a typical bollywood movie about a man falling in love with a girl who's family opposes their marriage takes a turn halfway through when it is revealed that the girl has a secret girlfriend. The protagonist then resolves to help the pair by convincing the family to accept them.

Chitrangada: The Crowning Wish | Bengali | @silverquillsideas @neuroticbookworm 

I believe it's available on prime, but you might need to do some digging. Also available grey on youtube without subtitles (the movie is in part Bengali, part English)

Shubh Mangal Zyada Savdhan | Hindi | @silverquillsideas @twig-tea @neuroticbookworm

Officially on Amazon, grey on youtube without subtitles

Maja Ma | Hindi | @flyingrosebeetle @silverquillsideas 

Available on Amazon Prime

Badhaai Do | Hindi

Officially on Netflix, available grey without subtitles

Loev | Hindi

Available on youtube with Spanish (I think?) subtitles

Margarita With A Straw | Hindi

I believe this is a cut version, it is officially on Netflix which is likely the uncut version

Recommendation: 9/10 A self-discovery story about an Indian woman named Laila with cerebral palsy with great rep and beautiful execution. Meta by @wen-kexing-apologist

Chandigarh Kare Aashiqui | Hindi | anon

Available grey without subtitles, officially on Netflix

Amar Prem Ki Prem Kahani | Hindi | @flowerbeasblog @aneechan

Officially on Jio Cinema, also available grey without subtitles

Time Out | Hindi

Available on Netflix

My Brother…Nikhil | Hindi

Available on youtube without subtitles, also on Amazon Prime

My Son Is Gay | Tamil

Hindi dub available on youtube without subtitles

Little Hearts | Malayalam | @ineffable-opinions

Available officially on Amazon Prime

There's multiple storylines, one of which is queer Meta by @ineffable-opinions

Moothon | Malayalam | @non-beingnary

This is grey on youtube without subtitles, it's officially on Amazon Prime and Zee5, both need subscriptions

Aligarh | Hindi | @ayoungroyal

This is grey with subtitles, it says the subtitles are in hindi for some reason but they're actually in English. Officially on several subscription platforms: JioCinema, Zee5, Amazon Prime, Apple TV

Sisak | Hindi | @blorbingqls

Shows

Romil and Jugal | Hindi | @anixknowsnothin

You do need a vpn if you're outside India to watch it with the above link, it's also grey on youtube without subtitles

Recommendation: 8.5/10 India's modern gay remake of Romeo and Juliet, five years before Bad Buddy Random thoughts

The Married Woman | Hindi | @a-not-knowing-bisexual-wizard

Dev DD Season 2 | Hindi

Legitimately no clue whether this and the prev are grey or official

Made in Heaven | Hindi | @flyingrosebeetle @non-beingnary @neuroticbookworm

Available on Prime

All About Section 377, Still About Section 377 | Hindi

The Story Tales S2 | Gujrati

Insomnia | Hindi

It's a streaming service I've never heard of before, not unlike Gaga, this is one of the darker shows on the list so please do check out the trailer beforehand

Amra 2GayTher | Bengali

Available on two streaming services here and here, both paid

Happy Family, Conditions Apply | Hindi | @non-beingnary

Officially on Amazon Prime, first episode available for free on the official youtube

As far as I know, it's a sitcom with a queer subplot, but I'm not sure how relevant it is to the story

Murder In Mahim | Hindi | @soberbutsleepless

This is grey without subtitles, its available officially on JioCinema but you need a subscription

Mini gls from @twig-tea (og post here)

Firsts S3 | @tinyreadinglifelight

Neverland

Maaya 2

Last two eps do not have subtitles but the story is followable

The ‘Other’ Love Story @/silverquillsideas 

Just Another Love Story

Books

Memory of Light

Recommendation: 5/10 A historical book set during the colonial era, the lesbian romance is mostly a subplot that loses its way towards the end. It's kind of a drag, but the history component is somewhat interesting.

Don't Let Him Know

Recommendation Rating: 7.5/10 with serious trigger warnings including rape. It's a brutally honest book designed to make the reader uncomfortable, so proceed with caution. I personally liked it quite a lot, but that's majorly because of how authentic the book felt.

Falling Into Place

Recommendation Rating: 8/10 A modern lesbian romance that follows similar beats to the typical thai bl/gl. A little underdeveloped in some places, but overall quite good.

My Magical Palace

Cobalt Blue

The Paths Of Marriage

Marriage Of A Thousand Lies

[10101]

An Indian man recently committed suicide because of a demand of alimony from his wife who wanted to divorce him. But the specifics of the case and the demand of alimony being valid aside, the common reaction of the Indian man has been insane and I wanted to share some of it here. I need feminists here to please read this and spread this around.

For context: dowry is (mostly) a Hindu Indian system in marriage whereby the bride’s family gives a certain amount of material possessions as a “gift” to the bridegroom’s family. In India, even now, marriage is explicitly or implicitly considered “marriage of two families” rather than “marriage of two individuals”. But dowry deaths often result from the in-laws perceiving the dowry to be less or it not existing because the woman is poorer or easy to exploit. In many cases, the in-laws burn the woman or severely abuse her until she commits suicide. There are laws protecting against this, but sometimes many cases aren’t reported, and many do not receive adequate punishments (a similar case with rape)

How do Indian men react to this information? With the idea that Indian laws favour women. How interesting. They believe that a woman can use these laws to ruin any family or man. Besides the whole fake case fallacy, this also shows just how wilfully ignorant or straight up evil these men are.

Moving on to the reactions

Exhibit A:

Here, khap panchayat usually means a certain caste’s “panchayat” (a rural governance body) that is not recognized under Indian law. It continues, in many cases, to protect caste-based discrimination and misogynist practices

You might think these men are just reactionary so it doesn’t matter. But this is unironically how many Indian men think, and it is abundantly clear they act on it or intend to do so

Exhibit B:

“Pooja paath” basically means saying a Hindu prayer everyday with (usually) a small temple in your home. In other words, this man believes men must force their wives to become religious. Because a good Hindu woman would supposedly never fight for her rights

“Kutai” means beating.

The photo is actor Ranbir Kapoor in the Bollywood movie, Animal, which is essentially a misogyny manifesto at this point and highly acclaimed by Indian men despite its extremely low IQ reactionary content

As per the latest reports I could find, 30% of Indian women face domestic violence at the hands of their husbands or in-laws. But there is always an underrepresentation of the facts of rape and domestic violence rates in India. A large part is because much of it goes unreported. I can attest to this as someone who has heard of at least 3 such cases of extreme domestic violence where no action was taken purposefully. Additionally, the last report I remember reading mentioned at least 82% Indian men have raised a hand at their wives. I think that should tell you everything about an actual possible domestic violence rate.

Exhibit C:

The man who still likely has female friends and a girlfriend. Or his liberal sister following his account. Inside group chats and their own circles, we are all aware of how awfully these men talk about women. But on the outside, some trying to appear more friendly to women try giving placating statements like these. This is, as should be obvious, factually incorrect. There is not a single country in this world that favours women in law in a way that they are more privileged than men. Equity as a principle demands that the oppressed be given laws that seem to be privileging them, but in reality are an attempt to put them at least at the same functioning position as the oppressor group. This is basic liberal politics and an average man in India does not even understand this

I don’t have much words anymore. The Indian feminist movement is extremely weak and fragile. It is as liberal and as divided as you can get. We are not equipped to fight with this the way Korean women have been strong enough to. I’m not sure what can save my Indian sisters, but I want more people around the world to at least understand the sheer depravity of Indian men. We have to deal with this dehumanisation on a daily basis, on top of the threat of being raped and mutilated, or burned by our in-laws if we’re married off. There is a reason why Amnesty once called India the worst country to be a woman, despite all the opposition to this mere idea.

[lcdrarry]

24 May 2024 | LCDrarry Fic

White, Blonde & British

Prompt: “Red, White & Royal Blue”, 2023, Matthew Lopez Prompted by: Moon_Peach Author: Anonymous Word Count: 40,058 words Rating: Explicit Warnings: Mentions of death, drug and alcohol use and abuse, homophobia, racism, discrimination, brief mention of marital SA

Notes: This was truly a labour of love and I had such a great time writing it! I've watched RWRB no less than 50 times and read the book over three or four times at this point and every single time, all I can think about is how drarry-coded Alex and Henry are. This fic is HEAVILY inspired by Casey McQuiston's work and combines some of my favourite parts from both the book and the movie, adding back in some quintessential characters like June, who were unforgivably erased from the narrative for the film. Thank you to my partner E and my good friend T for the support and encouragement throughout the entire process, I couldn't have finished this without you guys. And a HUGE thank you to the LCD mods for their hard work in running this spectacular fest!

Summary: Prince Draco Malfoy is known all over the world as “The Modern Day Prince Charming”, ask anyone - well, anyone except for Harry Potter, first son of the Indian president and (self) sworn rival of said stuck-up, snobbish prince.

Read it now on AO3.

Please help promote the fest by sharing your favourite submissions, so more people can enjoy all the amazing new Drarry works of LCDrarry. Thank you!

Creator reveals are on 15 June.

[jgroffdaily]

Karan Soni and Jonathan Groff are well-known for their blockbusters – but their latest project, the critically acclaimed indie A Nice Indian Boy, marks a welcome gear change.

The guys discussed their new film, currently rated 100% Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, with Attitude alongside director Roshan Sethi at last night’s BFI London Film Festival screening at the Curzon Mayfair.

Asked to sum up the film’s plot, Karan said: “My character meets Jonathan’s character, we fall in love, and then I have to introduce him to my very traditional Indian family. He has to win them over before the wedding.”

Added Jonathan: “I just watched the movie for the first time a couple of days ago; I wanted to see it in a theatre, not a link on my laptop. And I was so overwhelmed by the power of this movie.”

“I’ve been saying the movie is for everyone – for queer people, for not queer people, for Indian people, not Indian people,” Roshan meanwhile told us.

Sharing feedback he’s received from parents at screening Q&As, Karan said: “They spoke about their own journey, with not going to their children’s weddings. They’ve come to peace with it years later, but they’ve missed chunks of their lives with their children. A lot of them spoke about, if they had a version of this movie earlier, maybe would have bridged that gap sooner.”

Jonathan, of course, is known for his work in the two Frozen films and 2021’s The Matrix Resurrections, plus popular TV shows like Glee and Looking. The Tony Award-winner is also a stage veteran, with credits including Hamilton and Merrily We Roll Along.

“That would be amazing if that happened,” said Jonathan of the possibility of fans of his studio films supporting this title. “That, in some ways, is out of our control. But in my gut, I feel like great work and great art finds its way. I believed in this script and this team. … Happily, if there are people who are Glee or Frozen or Mindhunter or musical theatre fans, I’m so happy to bring them this story. But I think the movie is powerful enough to bring people on its own accord.”

Describing the plot of the film, Roshan said: “We shot a dance sequence that appears somewhere in the movie. It was tremendously difficult, but very memorable!” And asked for standout feedback to the film, he said: “Probably from my mother, who said she understood me in a way she hadn’t before! It was very sweet, very moving.”

Reflecting on the importance of film criticism, Roshan said: “It’s the most important thing. This is my second independent film, and third overall. In each case, independent films in particular, … survive on the critics’ response. That’s what gets the attention of distributors, who are all reading every single review and looking at the Rotten Tomatoes score. It [makes it] easier to make the next movie as well. It makes a huge, huge difference. Also, people at the distributors often don’t believe there’s an audience for a movie. Critics often prove that there is.”

[fellow-traveller]

So I just bought the latest JoJo magazine. Haven't read it thoroughly yet but there's a lot of stuff on Part 3-6 which is kinda cool. But I'm kinda reminded from the book that Polnareff was born in 1964. Should he be alive in 2024, he'd be 60 years old.

But it makes me wonder how old Hol Horse actually is.

He never had an official birth year, like the main characters in SDC, so we can only assume by his background, which, unfortunately, we don't have that either.

(whatever past this point is just what I got from a few hours of reading, so apologies dear curators of history and translators of CDDH if they are not accurate...)

While I haven't finished the Crazy Heartbreakers novel yet, I'm just gonna use that as the basis for Hol Horse's background, canon or not. So we go with the fan translation that Hol Horse originated from an "Eastern European country that had ceased to exist in 1999". Meaning, he was most likely born in Czechslovakia, Yugoslavia or East Germany of the Eastern Bloc, between 1950-1970.

What's interesting about these three no-longer-existed nations is that they were famous for Osterns i.e. Eastern European Western cowboy films. Osterns that were exact replicas of Spaghetti Westerns most likely started with Yugoslavia's Winnetou (1963), and Czechslovakia's Lemonade Joe (1964). Additionally, two famous non-Soviet cowboy films that were allowed screening in the Eastern Bloc were Magnificient Seven (1960) and Gold (1969). I'm omitting East Germany cowboy films at this point since most of them tell the Western stories from the Red Indian's perspective.

So it's safe to say that Hol Horse, who stole time to watch a cowboy film in the cinema that inspired his cowboy persona, must have been a child between 1960 and 1969. Assuming that movies at that time had no age ratings, and that age 4 is the average minimum for one to be allowed to enter a cinema, Hol Horse could have been born anytime between 1956 and 1965.

Taking the samples of the famous Osterns and Westerns listed that tell a tale of a skilled gunslinger in a typical spaghetti cowboy setting who became an unexpected hero and saved the fair maiden by the end of the film, only one truly stood out: Lemonade Joe.

Lemonade Joe is a satirical cowboy film that tells the story of a lone cowboy and skilled gunslinger named Lemonade Joe, who loves a non-alcoholic soda called Kolaloka (sounds almost like Locacaca, doesn't it?). Using his gunfighting skills, he convinced a town to embrace the soda and stop consuming alcohol, while also courting the daughter of a missionary.

What I found most interesting is that another name for this film is "The Horse Opera."

Now, I don't know if Araki or Kadono (the writer of CDDH) ever found inspiration from this film. This is purely on the assumption that our beloved Hol is just a goofy yet capable cowboy that suits the satire genre so well.

So! Assuming that this was probably one of the many films that inspired our Hol to be the cowboy he was meant to be (and also inspired his Stand), since Lemonade Joe was screened in 1964, we can then assume that Hol most likely was born in 1960. Which makes him the same age as Avdol. And also makes him at the ripe age of 39 during the CDDH's run.

He's definitely old. But still the best cowboy in JoJo ♥

[indianmovielinks]

Horror Movies to Watch on Halloween/Samhain/All Soul's Night

Free & legal streaming links to a few of the Letterboxd top-rated Indian horror movies

Bramayugam (The Age of Madness) - Thevan, a folk singer of the Paanan caste, has a fateful encounter when escaping slavery, leading to discover an ancient tradition altering his destiny.

Bulbbul - A child bride grows into an enigmatic woman ruling over her household and hiding her painful past, as supernatural murders of men plague her village.

Manichitrathazhu - A young couple, Ganga and Nakulan, arrive at Madampalli, Nakulan's ancestral home. Hailing from a family that follows tradition and superstitions, Nakulan’s uncle Thampi objects to the couple’s idea of moving into the allegedly haunted mansion, which Nakulan ignores. The couple moves in anyway following which seemingly supernatural events begin to happen.

Stree - Based on the urban legend of Nale Ba that went viral in Karnataka in the 1990s, a town is held in the grip of terror by tales of a mysterious woman who calls men by their name and then abducts them, leaving only their clothes behind.

Bhool Bhulaiyaa - When U.S.-based Siddharth visits his Indian home town with his new wife, he insists they stay at his ancestral home, laughing off family members' warnings of ghostly goings-on in the mansion.

Pizza - Michael, a pizza delivery boy, lives with Anu, an aspiring horror fiction writer. One day, on a delivery run, he goes to a bungalow and mysterious events begin to unfold.

Shaitaan - Kabir and his family’s fun weekend retreat takes terrifying turn when an intruder takes over the control of the body of his teenage daughter, putting her at the mercy of his increasingly sinister orders.

Bhediya - Inspired by legendary folklore rooted in Arunachal Pradesh, Bhediya tells the story of Bhaskar, a man who gets bitten by a mythical wolf and begins to transform into the creature himself. As Bhaskar and his ragtag buddies try to find answers, he is worried that the monster in him will wipe out human existence in the local town.

Bhooter Bhabishyat - A young director listens to a hilariously scary story narrated by a stranger, where a group of ghosts try to save the only place they can haunt in peace.

Romancham - A game of Ouija board goes hilariously wrong when seven bachelors unexpectedly invite a spirit and try to make the best out of the situation.

Tumbbad - In 1918 on the outskirts of Tumbbad, a cursed village where it always rains, Vinayak, along with his mother and his brother, care of a mysterious old woman who keeps the secret of an ancestral treasure that Vinayak gets obsessed with.

Please reblog so more people can find movies to watch tonight!

[sammetal25]

Lore

Dawn of New Kingspire ; Part 2

For the next two decades, King Oswald poured all the resources and assets of the Empire that made New Kingspire the capital of the world, A status that is still maintained to this very day.

For bigger the settlement grew, the more the slaves were brough in. The natives of the country, The Irish, Polish, Indians ,Africans and almost every single inch of the known world.

As time went by King Oswald's madness crossed his own reputation. From Jus primae noctis to 'Gladiator' battles where young children would get teared to shreds by rabid dogs to painful death sentences to those who even dared to look him funny or utter his name in vain.

But like all oppressors, HIs life didn't have a happy ending. One of his bastard Son from one of the native slave He R*ped. Chenoa, The Brave rose to overthrow him.

At the age of 12, He started a secret rebellion that would subtly disrupt the day to day activities of the empire. As time went on, Chenoa amassed a great army comprising former/escaped slaves, common enemies and disillusioned Veterans of the Empire.

He laid a great seige on the city and alongside his most trusted allies, He stormed the palace butchering anyone in his path. After meeting face to face with his Father for the first time, The king already gone mad as he just killed all his Children, Wives and Concubines in mad paranoia.

The Mad King taunted Chenoa to end his life. He however proceeded to cut off all his limbs, ears and tongue. He barely kept him alive to further torture him by plucking out his eyes and teeth. He personally committed every survivable torture known to extended his agony. For years, Oswald begged him for the mercy of death that Chenoa never granted as The Mad King was thrown into isolation for the rest of his days.

Chenoa would go on to rule the empire through a figurehead with the same iron fist He inherited from his father minus the cruelty and unfairness.

For the next four centuries, New Kingspire would go on to become a symbol of hope and opportunity where immigrants from all over the world would join the melting pot with unbroken period of Industrial and Technological revolution.

The extremely wealthy businesses and entrepreneurs shaped up the city's economic landscape that evolved into Cloud soaring Skyscrapers, a booming movie industry, The World's biggest stock exchange, a big Music industry, Sports center and many more attractions.

The golden period also brought world's highest crime rates, racial tensions/riots and budget crisis often leading to massive economic downfall which opened paths for the smartest, strongest and cruelest of the criminals to form their own families that would eventually form 'The Council of the 9' who practically control and run the Underbelly of the world's largest city like clockwork with intricate rules and instituions.

With support and connections with the top 0.1%, the entertainment industry, politicians from both sides and even agencies like CIA & FBI on some strict uneasy terms.

The Council of the 9 is the modern day version of Hercules's Hydra without any shortages of heads to spare.

Those who walk into the shadows only escape by the gentle guiding hand of the grim reaper. You being a miracle, is thought to be dead. You hope that you won't get involved in the fold any shape or form ever again in the city of 50 million people.

[brokoala-soup]

South Indian cinema: Part 1

I think we (I) don't talk enough about my obsession with the South Indian film industry. I'm less of a star or fame powered fangirl and most of my obsessions start from very niche observations and qualities. Both me and my mom are good cinema enthusiasts, that being said, we love not just watching movies but also analyze them and talk about them in great lengths and detail; and it isn't always just about the actors but also the scenes, the cinematography, the dialogues and so on. We enjoy a good story based cinema that's more about carrying the characters in place and action than about how much hype a movie gets. I enjoy old movies, including monochrome movies of the yesteryears and the faded coloured classics of the 70's and 80's.

Let me go from one obsession to other. First, comes my unexplainable obsession with actors who are also trained dancers. That's a sexy characteristic because it adds an edge to the actor's identity over being just a movie star and IMHO, it also refines the depth of character and acting skills (many talented actors who aren't dancers do exist, this is just my view). I have this captivation with dancers because something in them, be it the unseeable depth of efforts and practice and hurdles they cross before they set foot on the stage or be it the inordinate amount of beauty they express and portray in both costumes and jewelry or be it the grace with which they carry themselves or be it the way the fluidity, fragility and fierceness of dance entwines with their soul and body making it indistinguishable, obvious and redefines their identity and adds meaning to their character for the better. Irrespective of gender, classical dance forms in my opinion, have a profound effect on the individual and somehow makes them all the more charming to me because it's art that flows in their body and art has that unique fragrance to which you can never turn a blind eye to. It also anchors you down to your inner zen because gender conforms and norms are all broken (atleast in Indian classical dances) as both male and female dancers play either roles in dances and it's all the more about expression and emotion than the role per se. And that I think is a very liberating thing and I love Indian classical dances for it.

So here goes the list: Kamal Haasan is a trained Bharatanatyam and Kathak dancer; the best of which is seen in his performance in the movie Sagara Sangamam which is a majorly dance based movie. My most favorite scene is when he humbles Sailaja when she opposes his critique. Padmini, one of the famous Travancore sisters, was a trained Bharatanatyam dancer and in her retired days also opened a dance school and taught abroad. Shobana, one of my favorite actresses, who is also the niece of the Travancore sisters is a trained Bharatanatyam dancer; she also received a national award for her performance in the Malayalam movie Manichitrathazhu which was the original for the famous Chandramukhi, Bhool Bhulaiya, Nagavalli, Aatmamitra etc. I rate her acting top notch because her expressions and her eyes often speak way more than the dialogues. Revathi, is again a trained Bharatanatyam dancer and has delivered multiple box office hits and is also one of my favorite actresses. Bhanupriya, who's pretty famous in tamil and telugu cinema, is a trained Kuchipudi dancer and appeared in the film Sitaara which went on to win the National award for that year. Jayalalitha, apart from her successful political career was a leading film actress in the tamil industry. She was trained dancer of multiple forms like Bharatanatyam, Kuchipudi, Mohiniyattam, Kathak etc. Sukanya, who famously starred against Kamal Haasan in Indian, is a trained Bharatanatyam dancer. Prabhu Deva, who we all know as the Michael Jackson of India, is a trained Bharatanatyam and Udupi dancer. Amala Akkineni, is a trained Bharatanatyam dancer and also has a degree bachelor degree for the same from Kalakshetra. Vineeth, who works mostly in tamil, telugu and malayalam films is a trained Bharatanatyam dancer; lesser known but he's Shobana's cousin and Padmini's nephew from her husband's side. Asin, who is well known for her role in Ghajini, is also a trained Bharatanatyam dancer. Jayam Ravi, now well known as the Ponniyin Selvan after the famous novel adaptation, is also a trained Bharatanatyam dancer.

This is in my list (can't think more, brain fried) do feel free to add more. Tagging @sister-of-satan @voidsteffy and @bipdf because I think y'all will enjoy reading this

Do reblog and tag people who'd enjoy reading this

[silveragelovechild]

“Abigail”

I saw Abigail last night at an early screening. I enjoyed it, it’s a bloody good romp of a vampire movie. Alisha Weir plays the ballerina vampire. She’s 14 but looks maybe 10 or 11. (By the way, Weir was also excellent in 2022’s movie musical Matilda.)

The premise is that 6 criminals are hired to kidnap a young girl and hold her for 24 hours until they are paid $50M in ransom from her mega rich father. But will any of them survive to collect their payday?

The two main bad guys are played by Dan Brown and Melissa Barrera. Of course Brown is best known for playing prime and proper Matthew Crawley in Downton Abbey. He’s fun here as a former cop gone bad. (Is he using a Queens New York accent?)

Barrera has been in the news lately for being fired from the cast of the next Scream movie. (Barrera spoke out against the treatment of the Palestinians in Gaza which wasn’t considered Kosher by the powers that be in Hollywood.) Besides Weir, she’s clearly the focus of the movie and I think she’s good.

The plot pretty much involves: Act 1: the kidnapping and introduction of the characters; Act 2: they discover who/what Abigail really is and try to back out of the deal; Act 3: Lots of blood and mayhem - the movie is Rated R for a reason.

At some point I was reminded of Agatha Christie’s Ten Little Indians. That was deliberate because later that book is a minor plot point.

Overall I think it’s well paced but towards the end there’s a little too much Monologging. But it quickly gets back to the explosive climax that directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin Tyler Gillett are known for. (If you saw their 2022 film Ready or Not you’ll known what I mean.)

Abigail is not for the squeamish but if you enjoy vampire movies, check it out.

[jadedbirch]

As my lovely wife @zoi-no-miko said "We must feed the source of our marriage!"

And so, I bring you my sacrifice and review of the OTHER 2023 The Three Musketeers movie, compliments of the UK. And this one has a Black d'Artagnan! Unfortunately it also has a 1.8/10 IMDB rating 🤣

Ramblings and review under the cut!

Having watched this 94 minute "masterpiece" I must start by saying, this is not an adaptation of the Dumas novel, it's an adaptation of the 1993 Disney version of The Three Musketeers. So, all the best parts are lifted straight out of the Disney movie, including direct lines of dialogue, and the best action sequences. Le sigh.

The plot is also quite similar. The Cardinal plots to have the young king assassinated, and to accomplish this, he has an elaborate plot to disband the musketeers and implicate them in the murder. A one eyed Rochefort and a comely Indian Milady are his co-cosprators.

Richelieu, who I must keep reminding everyone was in his late 30s during this time historically, now looks like this:

And the musketeers, delightful assholes that they are, look like this:

That's right. They are so poor, they can't even afford pants! Just kidding, but for Reasons, they spend a fairly long scene pantless, and require the help of "Madam Chevreuse" (an homage to Marie de Rohan) and "Madam Coquenard" (an homage to Porthos' wife), who were a delightful little invention that I rather appreciated. Especially since Porthos had to sleep with them both in exchange for their help 🤭👌🏻.

Unfortunately, the rest of the movie is fairly Meh. Unlike The Fourth Musketeer, which took place entirely indoors, this one does its low budget business entirely in some "forest" which looks a lot like a local park. There are also about 11 extras who have to cover their faces in every scene so that they can be killed over and over again. The dialogue is really stilted, d'Artagnan is as breathtakingly dumb as the one in The Fourth Musketeer, and the pacing is completely off, causing surprisingly dull periods to pass that make the movie feel a lot longer than it is.

In a plot device that is truly inspiring in its stupidity, people go around saying things like "Have you seen this symbol ⚜️? Take a good look at it ⚜️⚜️" as if all of France isn't literally covered in ⚜️⚜️⚜️, including the embellishments around d'Artagnan's own neck. At least they use proper French currency in this one.

I think the biggest problem the movie has is that it fails to commit to a genre, going from slapstick comedy to taking itself way too seriously within minutes.

So, in summary, this fails spectacularly as both an adaptation of the book AND as an adaptation of the Disney movie. The casting of the 3 assholes was actually pretty good and it did have some fun moments, but all of them were plagiarized so I can't really give them points for it. It's really disappointing that with all the juicy goodness that both sources of material have to offer, the result is this lackluster and forgettable experience.

Grade: I have to give it an F for originality, and as an adaptation of the Disney movie it gets a C+.

[into-september]

"Life of Pi", the Movie, was much like I remember the novel from way back when: intriguing start and then we have to suffer the ennui of the castaway along with Pi for three hundred pages until Creepy Island.

Yeah, I spent most of the film waiting for Creepy Island to show up already. I'd say to 100% watch the film which must've been a frickin' marvel in the cinema with 3D and the apropriate soundscape, but be prepared for a kind of middling story.

Bollywood would probably be a better bet for learning about language use in India, by which I mean the amount of English spoken between family and friends in daily life (particularly in a part of the country that was at that time a French colony, but my knowing nothing is why I'm bringing this up). "Slumdog Millionaire" posed the same questions, fwiw, and while I get the demand for linguistic streamlining in a western production for an audience untrained in reading subtitles, the very real presence of English as a living language in contemporary India made it annoying when I can't tell if we're supposed to believe these people are speaking Englisn in an RL unlikely context, or annoying that English is being used to represent dialogue supposedly spoken in another language.

Speaking of linguistic streamlining: For some godforsaken reason this film was dubbed. I genuine can't fathom why, unless it was intended for use in schools for kids younger than the recommended audience (11 year rating here), but why would you use this film with kids that young? Sure, there's a tiger, but the tiger does not take away from the shipwreck and the animals eating each other or the animals possibly being allegorical of if-you-know-you-know. The tiger isn't cute.

I watched it in English and only checked out the dub out of curiosity, and my only notable verdict is that adult Pi was underwhelming, but then I'm not sure how much experience 95% of the actors had; the cast list was full no no-names. I appreciate that they at least made the effort to have at least the major Indian characters voiced by people whose genetic origin was... possibly from the Indian subcontinent at least, if my linguistic prejudices correspond to statistics about the non-European migration to Norway (by which I mean that I suspect Pakistani descend; none of the non-Norwegian names stood out to me as obviously Indian when I skimmed the cast list).

But of course I had to see how they did Gérard Depardieu. And it could be coincidence, it could be on purpose, but he was voiced by the only name I recognised and why wouldn't I recognise the Grand Old Man of Norwegian dubbing - both acting and producing - whose many, many merits includes Obelix in both animated form and the live action films from the nineties.

Anyway, film is super mega pretty and worth a look even if it's just for the visuals.

[haggishlyhagging]

Ideologically, our world is in the throes of a major regression to the woman-hating dogmas of both Christian and Islamic fundamentalism. There is in literature and film an unprecedented barrage of violence against women, of graphic portrayals of woman-murder and rape compared to which the earlier literary violence (of a Taming of the Shrew or a Don Juan) pales to insignificance. Also unprecedented is the current proliferation of hard-core pornography that, through a multi-billion-dollar industry, blares out into the home from books, magazines, comic strips, movies, and even cable television the message that sexual pleasure lies in violence, in the brutalization, enslavement, torture, mutilation, degradation, and humiliation of the female sex.

As Theodore Roszak noted, the resistance to the nineteenth-century feminist movement was marked by an increase in what crime records term aggravated assault, severe, bone-breaking domestic beatings, the setting of a wife on fire, the putting out of her eyes. Because throughout recorded history violence against women has been the androcratic system's response to any threat of fundamental change, in the wake of the twentieth-century women's liberation movement has come a substantial rise in violence against women. Examples are Indian bride burnings, Iranian public executions, Latin American imprisonments and tortures, worldwide wife batterings, and the global terrorism of rapes—which scholars estimate now occur in the United States at the rate of one every thirteen seconds.

Viewed from the perspective of Cultural Transformation theory, the systems function of the massive and brutal violence against women today is not hard to see. If androcracy is to be maintained, women must be suppressed at all cost. And if this violence—and the incitements to violence through the revival of religious calumnies against women and the equation of sexual pleasure with the killing, raping, and torturing of women—is mounting all over our globe, it is because never before has male dominance been as vigorously challenged through a global, mutually reinforcing, synergistic women's movement for human liberation.

Never before has the world seen such a mushrooming of governmental and nongovernmental organizations with memberships in the millions—groups ranging from the official All China Women's Federation to the National Women's Studies Association, the National Organization for Women, and the Older Women's League in the United States—all dedicated to improving the status of women. Never before has there been a United Nations Decade for Women. Never before have there been global conferences attracting thousands of women from every corner of the world to address the problems stemming from male supremacy. Never before in all of recorded history have women from every nation on this earth come together to work for a future of sexual equality, development, and peace—the three goals of the First United Nations Decade for Women.

The growing recognition by women—and men—that these three goals are related stems from the intuitive perception of the dynamics we have been examining. For once the function of male violence against women is perceived, it is not hard to see how men who are taught they must dominate the half of humanity that is not as physically strong as they are will also think it their "manly" duty to conquer weaker men and nations.

Be it in the name of national defense, as in the USA and USSR, or in the holy name of God, as in the Muslim world, war or the preparation for war serve not only to reinforce male dominance and male violence but, as illustrated by both Hitler's Germany and Stalin's Russia, also to reinforce androcracy's third major systems component, authoritarianism. Times of war provide justification for "strongman" leadership. They also justify the suspension of civil liberties and rights—as illustrated by the news blackout during the U.S. invasion of Grenada in 1983 and the chronic martial law in embattled nation after nation in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

In the past, the pendulum has always swung back from peace to war. Whenever more "feminine" values have risen for a time, threatening to transform the system, an aroused and fearful androcracy has thrust us back. But must the current swing backward inevitably bring on more and more domestic and international violence and, with it, more and more suppression of civil liberties and rights?

Is there really no way out of another—now, nuclear—war? Is this to be the end for the cultural evolution that began with such hope in the age of the Goddess, when the power of the life-giving Chalice was still supreme? Or are we now close enough to gaining our freedom to avert that end?

-Riane Eisler, The Chalice and the Blade: Our History, Our Future

[dudeshusband]

i could see why racists would protest in front of this movie

an emancipated black man became a military hero.

not the best handled thing for sure (still very Good Americans v. the Big Bad Indians, still treats the black character as a second rate support for the white leads. very 1962.)