Movies over the weekend

I'm listening to wonderful music I haven't heard in a really long while. Also, I'm usually slow to take to current hits, and find it a bit crass to follow mass choice in Hindi film music, but I really like a couple of songs from this forthcoming movie called 'Gangster'. The Bhatts don't consistently make watchable movies, but they do have good music and (usually) novel ideas in their movies.
Since we're living in a time of poor quality Hindi Films being made anyway, I think the least we should expect is good music but sadly even that is missing from movies. However, I expect some summer attractions to at least hold my interest while I'm in Bangalore for my internship.
I saw a song clip from Krrish and felt strangely enthused about it. That's the great quality of Rakesh Roshan's films - they somehow make me feel like they will offer unpretentious masala entertainment. Also, like I mentioned in a long movie post sometime back, Roshan Sr. is the only person in the whole world who knows how to present his hard-working, immensely talented but somewhat misguided son. Krrish holds the promise of entertainment. Ditto for Fanaa. All I've seen of it is a teaser-poster with Kajol (unibrow over beautiful brandy eyes) looking demurely down and Aamir Khan looking at her. It holds promise because I trust Aamir Khan to exercise enough influence to prevent Yash Chopra or Karan Johar or whichever one of them is directing it from turning it into their trademarked soppy product, considering he must have been cajoled (*chuckle*) into doing the movie. I think I can picture in my mind exactly how the poster would've looked had it been SRK on the poster instead of Aamir Khan. He would have been looking with liquid eyes under that irritating 's' of his eyebrows at Kajol, looking like he was going to cry if you looked for too long.
Basically, I'm thirsting for a good Hindi movie after having watched a whole lot of classic 50's and 60's movies in the last few days. I enjoyed most of them, but they are a little dated and I'd much rather watch good cinema from my time, i.e. now. Brief reviews are as follows:

Roman Holiday - Watch it, if not for Gregory Peck, if not for Rome in black and white (if you're into that sort of thing), if not for its famous Vespa scooter scenes, if not for its subtle and genteel humour and charm, and if not for its historical value and classic status, then for Audrey Hepburn. Audrey, Audrey, Audrey. She has the kind of dazzling smile that makes life worth living and reaffirms one’s faith in romance and beauty. She's so beautiful and so charming I had a knot in my heart when I was watching the movie.

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly - First real Western I've watched, unless I count Unforgiven too. Found it really slow and boring at first, and went to sleep twice during the movie (also because I find it uncomfortable watching movies with other people in hostel rooms – this having nothing to do with them, but rather with my inexplicable discomfort; I feel constrained and feel an immense desire to be alone in my room) but was rewarded for my perseverance with a nice ending, made special by great music by the grandfather of Western Film music – Enrio Morricone.

Vertigo - Hardly any suspense, and whatever little there is, is revealed in the middle of the movie for no reason at all. Boring and unnecessarily dragging in parts, but deserves to be seen nevertheless for the romantic parts. I couldn't make up my mind whether I liked Kim Novak or not (also because I compare all women on screen with Audrey Hepburn now, and let's face it, she's a goddess). Apparently, she was famed for her beauty but I thought her face was too long and her eyebrows too thick and weirdly shaped among other turn-offs.

Rear Window - Disappointing end after a promising beginning, again boring and slow in parts, but has great dialogues that are witty and sharp in a way that seems to be characteristic of Hitchcock's films. James Stewart is good (in both films) and especially well-cast as the sardonic and terminally bored photographer, and Grace Kelly is divine. The parts I most enjoyed were the romantic scenes between Stewart and Grace Kelly and the sharp banter between the nurse and Stewart, especially when she lectures him on how what used to be simple relationships are now subjected to overanalysis and how the demand for intelligence in every activity has ruined the simple pleasures of life. I found my thoughts being articulated by her and him in turn.

Man on Fire - Got bored of Rear Window, so watched this two-hour breeze of a movie in the break. Very fast paced, technically innovative with the use of fast and shaky cuts and yellowish lighting and funky editing etc, and a decent storyline that faltered only in giving an unsatisfactory climax, this was a perfect antidote to the overdose of classics I was suffering from. Denzel Washington was good and Dakota Fanning seems disturbingly precociously good.

Adaptation - The mind boggles at Charlie Kaufman's complexity and range of thought. I had earlier loved Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind written by him, and now this movie has sealed my regard for him. This movie is definitely arty, as was ESOTSM, so you may not like it, but what it is not is pretentious. I was a little dissatisfied by its ending, but then I read about it a little and understood why the end was the way it was and then could do nothing but prostrate before Kaufman's talent.

PS: I came down to CSC to post this because thinking of opening blogger from my Net connection in my hostel is a dream, and now it refuses to open here either. Obviously, they don’t make these websites for users in developing countries where premier technical institutions feel easy and fast Internet access in hostel rooms is a luxury would-be engineers and scientist would do well to avoid getting used to.