The rest of the evening was uneventful. Stayed at home, watched tv and made several unsuccessful attempts to sms folks at midnight.
Rachu had a bad hangover on New Year's Day. Well, she was puking like crazy till late afternoon anyway. We have not yet found out the cause of the problem, but think its either the mushrooms that Sindha ate the previous day or the egg that we fed her in the morning. It was quite sad to see the poor thing collapse in my arms, dehydrated and exhausted. She is much better today, though not completely cured.
Saw my first ever DVD - Gangs of New York. The video store guy had a copy of Kill Bill too, but I didn't want to take it as I was pretty sure it was a pirated version. Might check it out later. Ebert's review of Gangs is good, the last paragraph pretty much sums up what I thought of the movie
[snip]...I do not think this film is in the first rank of his masterpieces. It is very good but not great. I wrote recently of "GoodFellas" that "the film has the headlong momentum of a storyteller who knows he has a good one to share." I didn't feel that here. Scorsese's films usually leap joyfully onto the screen, the work of a master in command of his craft. Here there seems more struggle, more weight to overcome, more darkness. It is a story that Scorsese has filmed without entirely internalizing. The gangsters in his earlier films are motivated by greed, ego and power; they like nice cars, shoes, suits, dinners, women. They murder as a cost of doing business. The characters in "Gangs of New York" kill because they like to and want to. They are bloodthirsty, and motivated by hate. I think Scorsese liked the heroes of "GoodFellas," "Casino" and "Mean Streets," but I'm not sure he likes this crowd.
Watching a movie on DVD is definitely a whole new experience ! I'm now looking forward to
How much did those things cost? And whatever you do, don't watch Once Upon a Time in Mexico .
ReplyDeleteGot the dvd player for Rs 6200 and the microwave for Rs 4700.
ReplyDeleteMexico is the sequel (prequel ?) to Desperado, right ? I had it on my maybe-watch list, will downgrade it to the nothing-better-to-do list
If you KaZaa, and have a relatively fast connection, you can download KillBILL. i dont think it's worth buying till Tarantino releases the 2nd part. Very frustrating to just watch the first, and i think there might be extras when you buy the original with both parts.
ReplyDeleteYeah, Once Upon a Time in Mexico is the third part in the Mariachi trilogy, Desperado being the second. Its a sequel but features a lot of flashback sequences. Its not that bad... but yes it is one of those nothing-better-to-do movies.
ReplyDeleteOh, I've seen Kill Bill Vol 1 already. This was for the second time viewing.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you re. the buying. There might be some goodies in store if I wait.
Isn't 625K a region-free player?
ReplyDeleteI thought Daniel Day Lewis was amazing in GONY. I didn't read the full Ebert review, but I too agree with the excerpt.
I'll be in B'lore in Feb 2nd week.
ah you've seen it :)
ReplyDeleteIt looks like he rushed to get it out - the production was not as tight as.. say reservoir dogs or even pulp fiction.. but still classic tarantino with the dismembering :)
From what I read, splitting the movie into two was a decision made by Miramax, with Tarantino playing along later.
ReplyDeleteWasn't there a prequel called El Mariachi?
ReplyDeleteYes, 625 is a region free player, or so they claim. I've told the salesperson that I'll bring back the system if it doesn't play all regions.
ReplyDeleteDDL was very good indeed. However, he did have an author backed role.
Look forward to meeting up in Feb !
Mariachi was the first in the series. Desperado was the sequel, as far as I know.
ReplyDeleteApparently it was Tarantino who suggested the title "Once Upon a Time in Mexico" to Roberto Rodriguez, inspired from the Sergio Leone westerns.
The guy sitting next to me laughs at all the corny jokes ("Are you a Mexican or a Mexican't"?) to show that he can follwo English. The guy sitting behind me says "What the hell is going on here?", while his wife says "Oh. Too many killings" . I fought a losing battle with sleep.
ReplyDeleteAnd that, is my movie review.
You have a good speaker set as well? A minimum 5.1 is recommended for paisa vasool DVD experience.
ReplyDeleteNo, my speakers are just about the average stuff I guess. I'm not going in for the total paisa vasool experience just yet. My tastes in movies don't warrant a home theatre, really
ReplyDeleteactually based on "once upon a time in china" - which is a damned good movie if you can get your hands on it.
ReplyDeletetarantino is quite well known for ripping off hong kong action flicks, especially those starring chow yun-fat, who does typical rajnikanth style bash-em-up movies, that have comedy far more vulgar than senthil/goundamani can dream of.
Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs are both remakes of HK action flicks, as a matter of fact.
--srs
Now this really interests me. I know Reservoir Dogs did take 'inspiration' from City on Fire, but this is the first time I'm hearing anything about Pulp Fiction being derived from a Hong Kong action flick. Care to explain ?
ReplyDelete