• Where is my cow?

    For a while now, I have been meaning to write a blog post on Rowdy Rathore.  But just when I figured out what I wanted to say, Baradwaj Rangan beat me to it. To be fair, he does it better than I would have. So let me speak of a couple of peripheral observations that I

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  • The Avengers

    The Avengers is like an amped-up version of Mr. and Mrs. Smith, that Jolie-Pitt starrer that worked wonderfully when it focused on its characters and got a little ho-hum when it focused on the gunfights. I say amped-up because, while a grudge match between two professional killers only trashes a suburban house, anything involving Thor

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  • Sarfarosh holds fond memories for me: it was the first film I saw with my wife. We had barely become acquainted and had gone out to watch it with a mutual friend. Not exactly a first date, but hey. But even if you ignore my personal bias , I think there is much to admire.

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  • 3

    Beware: There may be occasional spoilers! I’ll try not to give the movie away, but no promises. I spent a fair bit of time trying to write this review, but the words came in fits and starts and the thoughts were a bit too disjointed. So I’m just going to dump them here. Let me

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  • Most people have their reasons for picking a favourite: It’s the first place I visited It’s scenic/has a lot of history/… The people are wonderful Mine is a combination of the above, but the precise moment when I fell in love with the place has to do with my love for the movies. Gdansk was

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  • Kahaani

    It’s a dirty trick, really: setting a movie in Kolkata during Durga Puja, knowing that this very fact would make it nearly impossible for me to find fault with it. I lived in Kolkata for around 6 years as a grad student, and I haven’t lived in any city before or since that I have loved

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  • White Chicks

    The entire principal cast of A Streetcar Named Desire received Academy Award nominations for acting in 1952. Three of them won. The one who didn’t? Marlon Brando. I’ve been following the Oscars regularly for nearly as long as I have been a serious movie buff. That’s a long time, and the quizzerly part of my brain

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  • Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu

    I often wonder about star/numerical ratings for films. How does a film earn, say, 3 stars out of four? Is there a sort of formula employed by those who give out these ratings, or is it a quantified version of what is essentially a qualitative reaction? Is there an objective way of doing this? Here’s

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  • I tried to like this movie, I really did. But when a talented writer-director like Cameron Crowe sets his sights on mediocrity, he is good enough to be able to achieve it. Despite having a quirky plot (widower Benjamin Mee uproots his kids, moves to the countryside, buys a derelict zoo, gets it up and

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  • The Vadivelu Principle

    Over the past few years, I have found myself gravitating towards the conclusion that any movie can be improved by the presence of Vadivelu in it. Examples (some of which I have mentioned in earlier blog posts and comments) include: Wanted (the English version involving curving bullets and a curvier Angelina Jolie): Given how often

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