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Ande Thomas (69 KP) rated Aladdin (2019) in Movies
May 29, 2019
Jemaine Clement recommended ABCD: Any Body Can Dance (2013) in Movies (curated)
Lenard (726 KP) rated Aladdin (2019) in Movies
Jun 9, 2019
I was a huge fan of the original. The live action remake is faithful, maybe too faithful especially given the director is bare knuckle boxing fan Guy Ritchie. Will Smith is good as Genie. He carries the comedy and romance well. The actress playing Jasmine is a revelation especially in her big solo. My only complaint which is not about the film just a preference is they should have taken a risk and turned the musical numbers into full Bollywood productions.
Aasiyah Sidat (34 KP) rated 2 States: The Story of My Marriage in Books
Jul 9, 2018
India Culture at it's Finest
I am a big big Bollywood fan!
I love the drama and the action, the singing and the choreographed dance, I love it all.
In 2014, a film called 2 states was released in the cinemas. Now, this film did have one of my favourite actresses, Alia Bhatt starring in a lead role so I was so excited to watch it.
I was not disappointed.
Continue reading my review at: https://www.readsandrecipes.co.uk/2017/11/indian-culture-at-its-finest.html
I love the drama and the action, the singing and the choreographed dance, I love it all.
In 2014, a film called 2 states was released in the cinemas. Now, this film did have one of my favourite actresses, Alia Bhatt starring in a lead role so I was so excited to watch it.
I was not disappointed.
Continue reading my review at: https://www.readsandrecipes.co.uk/2017/11/indian-culture-at-its-finest.html
Sara Cox (1845 KP) rated Om Shanti Om (2007) in Movies
Nov 30, 2019
Contains spoilers, click to show
I absolutely love this film! It's the 70s and Om is an extra in movies. He is besotted by a big star actress Shanti. He discovers some secrets and watches as he secret husband plots and executes his plan to be rid of his career ending problem. Years later Om finds himself seeking revenge for Shanti. The music in this film is catchy and really makes it. If you have never watched a Bollywood before, this is one I definitely recommend to start with. I love the bright colours and as always love the twists and turns to ensure a happy ending.
Matt Peers (0 KP) rated Aladdin (2019) in Movies
Apr 20, 2020
A great live action remake. The kids and I fully enjoyed this one. If you have to choose between this one and The Lion King remake, give The Lion King a miss. Aladdin does not skimp on the music, it even gives Princess Jasmine her own new powerful number. There is a strong Bollywood influence that creates a feast for the senses no matter what your age. Overall, Aladdin gifts us with more original content and developped characters whereas The Lion King remake played out like a less cute, uninspired carbon copy of its original. Robin Williams' genie was inimitable but Will Smith's own take is 'fresh' (geddit?) and just as charismatic in its own right. If you have kids, treat them to this.
Mayhawke (97 KP) rated The Strange Disappearance of a Bollywood Star in Books
Feb 13, 2018
Kahn is establishing himself as a solid and reliable voice in cosy crime
Vaseem Khan is still a relatively new voice in cozy crime fiction, but I have been with him since the start, and on current showing I shall be with him long into the future.
One of the great pleasures for crime fiction readers of the last decade has been the influx of new voices as - in the search for something new and different - the British market has been opened up to translations from abroad (Camilleri, Akunin, Vargas) and English-language fiction set in different cultural environments (No.1 Ladies Detective Agency, Aurelio Zen, Dr. Siri Paboun). Khan has proven himself a skillful and delightful contributor to the latter category, lifting the vibrant sounds, colours, smells and characters of India (good and bad) from the page as he weaves remarkably clever and entertaining stories of brutal thefts, murder and abduction for the protagonist, Inspector Chopra (Retd) & and his mystical and cheeky four-legged sidekick, Ganesha, to unravel.
His latest book sees a young and arrogant Bollywood star abducted on the eve of his most important film shoot to date. As the biggest and most expensive film in Bollywood history grinds to a halt money, reputations and lives are on the line and Chopra is employed to quietly find and return the prodigal starlet to his duties. It quickly becomes apparent, though, that the boy has not just had a Bieberesque tantrum, and that the funding for, and personalities behind the movie may be a lot murkier and more complex than they seem.
Already on his third book in two years he promises to be as prolific as he is enjoyable.
One of the great pleasures for crime fiction readers of the last decade has been the influx of new voices as - in the search for something new and different - the British market has been opened up to translations from abroad (Camilleri, Akunin, Vargas) and English-language fiction set in different cultural environments (No.1 Ladies Detective Agency, Aurelio Zen, Dr. Siri Paboun). Khan has proven himself a skillful and delightful contributor to the latter category, lifting the vibrant sounds, colours, smells and characters of India (good and bad) from the page as he weaves remarkably clever and entertaining stories of brutal thefts, murder and abduction for the protagonist, Inspector Chopra (Retd) & and his mystical and cheeky four-legged sidekick, Ganesha, to unravel.
His latest book sees a young and arrogant Bollywood star abducted on the eve of his most important film shoot to date. As the biggest and most expensive film in Bollywood history grinds to a halt money, reputations and lives are on the line and Chopra is employed to quietly find and return the prodigal starlet to his duties. It quickly becomes apparent, though, that the boy has not just had a Bieberesque tantrum, and that the funding for, and personalities behind the movie may be a lot murkier and more complex than they seem.
Already on his third book in two years he promises to be as prolific as he is enjoyable.
Awix (3310 KP) rated Aladdin (2019) in Movies
Jun 12, 2019
Eye-searingly garish, largely redundant auto-cash-in on the 1992 cartoon (which, full disclosure, I've never seen) - if you don't know the plot, well, what's wrong with your parents, did they never take you to a pantomime when you were young? Cave, lamp, genie, princess - I note that Widow Twankey has been ruthlessly scythed from the story.
After a slow start it does generate some energy and entertainment value, mainly because of Will Smith's turn as the genie (Will Smith in good movie role choice shocker!), and for anyone looking for something of substance to contemplate, there is an interesting subtext about the nature of power in traditional hierarchical societies. In the end, though, it manages to take panto plotting, Broadway show tunes, MOR power-ballads, blockbuster CGI, and Bollywood dancing and produce something which still feels essentially lifeless and calculated.
After a slow start it does generate some energy and entertainment value, mainly because of Will Smith's turn as the genie (Will Smith in good movie role choice shocker!), and for anyone looking for something of substance to contemplate, there is an interesting subtext about the nature of power in traditional hierarchical societies. In the end, though, it manages to take panto plotting, Broadway show tunes, MOR power-ballads, blockbuster CGI, and Bollywood dancing and produce something which still feels essentially lifeless and calculated.
Kirk Bage (1775 KP) rated 3 Idiots (2009) in Movies
Mar 3, 2020
So, I am writing a coffee table book that selects the 200 top films of 2000 – 2019. Called, predictably, 21st Century Cinema: 200 Unmissable films. It uses a system of rating I devised called The Decinemal, which takes the ten categories by which a film can be rated (Direction, Script, Design, Lead Acting, Support Acting, Music, Photography, Critical Acclaim, Watchability and X-Factor) and scores them out of 10, to give an overall score out of 100. Whilst not foolproof, it does give a remarkable working basis for comparing movies of different genres, and the ratings often bear a striking relation to the democratic system used by IMDb – a film scoring 7.2 on that website might be a 75 decinemal, for example, and that feels like that validates its use.
It has been a very fun, if time consuming, project. The difficulty is keeping up with new releases every year, and trying to catch some of the more obscure foreign language films out there that get high scores on IMDb. One such film was 3 Idiots, to date the highest rated Bollywood film on that website, with a score of 8.5; which is high! Very high! So I have to watch it and find out for myself.
Now, Bollywood is not me for, barring the odd amusement of how bizarre they can be. I find the musical interludes often grating and incongruous, and the melodramatic acting styles something that the cinema of most other countries outgrew decades ago. So it is hard for me to be objective about it. On the whole they just don’t compete on any level with American, European or, well, any other country’s output. In short, I would never normally watch one at all.
Surprisingly, I found 3 Idiots, although clownish and OTT, quite entertaining from the start. I even found one or two of the obligatory musical numbers very catchy and a lot of fun! Also, lead actor Aamir Khan, one of India’s biggest stars, was very charming and watchable. Of course, it is colourful, loud and has a childish sensibility, but some moments made me genuinely laugh. The main problem actually came from it being padded out to almost 2 and 1/2 hours, which was far too long for comfort. If it had been more economical I may have even been able to say it was worth watching.
Sadly, it is the moments of cultural difference and pure silliness that dragged it down. Despite its positive points, ultimately it is a mess, and to compare it on the standard I judge all films I see I have to be fair and not patronise it. Certainly in terms of the Bollywood fare I have seen bits of over the years, I can see why it is so well thought of. I can also see how films like this gain such a high rating, because it is the native audience it was made for that cast the votes. Which is fair enough, but does give it an unreasonably high score.
I think if more people watched it and rated it, it would balance out at a 6.5, and it probably deserves that for sheer entertainment value. I have certainly seen many worse films! Applying The Decinemal objectively, however, it comes out like this: Direction 4, Script 5, Design 6, Lead Acting 6, Support acting 4, Music 5, Photography 6, Critical Acclaim 7, Wachability 5, x-Factor 6. Added up that gives it a Decinemal of 54 – a far cry from the 74 it would have needed to make my top 200. And I stand by that score, as the level of likelihood of everyone’s enjoyment of it.
To an extent it discourages me from watching anything from this part of the world again, but I can’t say I didn’t appreciate why it was such a big hit. Interesting.
It has been a very fun, if time consuming, project. The difficulty is keeping up with new releases every year, and trying to catch some of the more obscure foreign language films out there that get high scores on IMDb. One such film was 3 Idiots, to date the highest rated Bollywood film on that website, with a score of 8.5; which is high! Very high! So I have to watch it and find out for myself.
Now, Bollywood is not me for, barring the odd amusement of how bizarre they can be. I find the musical interludes often grating and incongruous, and the melodramatic acting styles something that the cinema of most other countries outgrew decades ago. So it is hard for me to be objective about it. On the whole they just don’t compete on any level with American, European or, well, any other country’s output. In short, I would never normally watch one at all.
Surprisingly, I found 3 Idiots, although clownish and OTT, quite entertaining from the start. I even found one or two of the obligatory musical numbers very catchy and a lot of fun! Also, lead actor Aamir Khan, one of India’s biggest stars, was very charming and watchable. Of course, it is colourful, loud and has a childish sensibility, but some moments made me genuinely laugh. The main problem actually came from it being padded out to almost 2 and 1/2 hours, which was far too long for comfort. If it had been more economical I may have even been able to say it was worth watching.
Sadly, it is the moments of cultural difference and pure silliness that dragged it down. Despite its positive points, ultimately it is a mess, and to compare it on the standard I judge all films I see I have to be fair and not patronise it. Certainly in terms of the Bollywood fare I have seen bits of over the years, I can see why it is so well thought of. I can also see how films like this gain such a high rating, because it is the native audience it was made for that cast the votes. Which is fair enough, but does give it an unreasonably high score.
I think if more people watched it and rated it, it would balance out at a 6.5, and it probably deserves that for sheer entertainment value. I have certainly seen many worse films! Applying The Decinemal objectively, however, it comes out like this: Direction 4, Script 5, Design 6, Lead Acting 6, Support acting 4, Music 5, Photography 6, Critical Acclaim 7, Wachability 5, x-Factor 6. Added up that gives it a Decinemal of 54 – a far cry from the 74 it would have needed to make my top 200. And I stand by that score, as the level of likelihood of everyone’s enjoyment of it.
To an extent it discourages me from watching anything from this part of the world again, but I can’t say I didn’t appreciate why it was such a big hit. Interesting.
