List by Guardian readers
"Film memory has kept them all for us, beyond death or, better, beyond youth."
- Dumitru Ion Suchianu
I have terrible taste in films - I know it, my family knows it and so do my friends. So much so that when my nephews want to have a 'Bad movie night in' they look to me to make the choices. I'm still not sure whether or not that's a compliment. Some nights it keeps me up. (Kidding). Whenever friends suggest getting together to see a movie I cringe way down deep inside because, ultimately, I know this means that we're going to watch one of two types of film: something so arty and obscure as to be beyond my comprehension or, worse, something so touchy-feely-girly-romantic that I'm embarrassed to be a girl. Either way, I'm on the outside looking in. When it's my turn to choose they groan in exasperation because 1) someone will die a spectacularly glorious death complete with explosions and blood on-camera and 2) there will be no romance unless there is a most awesome knock-down drag out fight where the bad guy gets beheaded first. Or handcuffed. To date I'm not sure which pleases me most. Needless to say, I don't get asked to the movies much by anybody including my two best friends. (I have only two best friends - I convince myself it's about quality not quantity instead of the truth which is that nobody can stand us except...us).
Showing posts with label international movies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label international movies. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Friday, July 22, 2011
Top 5 highest-grossing Bollywood films
List by Tosca
I adore Bollywood movies. They're so full of life, colour, drama, music, romance, action, emotion and, let's face it, sometimes cheesey humour. The women are always beautiful and graceful and the men extremely goodlooking. My first tentative foray into Bollywood films wasn't a success at all, though. I had no clue about anything. I didn't know what actors or actresses I liked, I wasn't too sure if I would prefer the comedies over the dramas and I was totally unaware that some of the films are about three hours long. Three hours! I have the attention span of a goldfish so I felt my heart sink right then and there. It was about that time that a colleague at Manurewa Library, Sunita, decided to step in and help. Brilliant for me, probably not so much for her :) Thanks to Sunita I was hooked from her very first recommendation - Baghban starring Amitabh Bachchan - and have never looked back. Baghban is, essentially, a romance. Admittedly one that is 170 minutes long, but it was so beautiful I cried my heart out. How could I not when Raj and Pooja were separated, never having spent a night apart during their marriage, and finding it incredibly hard to stay positive when living in different parts of the city? I remember dad passed through the lounge at one stage and paused. After standing still for about five minutes he sat down and watched the last hour with me. Absolutely quiet. Didn't say a word. Then, when it finished, he took it down to his room and watched it from the start. Around this time mum was living half the week in Kaitaia and half the week here in Auckland and, maybe, it reminded him of that. I'm not sure. I didn't feel comfortable enough to ask. It would be another two years before he felt ready to move up there altogether with mum and, in the meantime, we watched a lot of Bollywood movies - me the romantic comedies (of course) and dad the action movies. In light of the fact that we're celebrating the NZ International Film Festival (NZFF) this month, I was kinda curious about what the highest-grossing Bollywood films would be which, of course, led to this post. (Longwinded explanation that I managed to sum up in one sentence).
Query: Do you watch Bollywood films?
I adore Bollywood movies. They're so full of life, colour, drama, music, romance, action, emotion and, let's face it, sometimes cheesey humour. The women are always beautiful and graceful and the men extremely goodlooking. My first tentative foray into Bollywood films wasn't a success at all, though. I had no clue about anything. I didn't know what actors or actresses I liked, I wasn't too sure if I would prefer the comedies over the dramas and I was totally unaware that some of the films are about three hours long. Three hours! I have the attention span of a goldfish so I felt my heart sink right then and there. It was about that time that a colleague at Manurewa Library, Sunita, decided to step in and help. Brilliant for me, probably not so much for her :) Thanks to Sunita I was hooked from her very first recommendation - Baghban starring Amitabh Bachchan - and have never looked back. Baghban is, essentially, a romance. Admittedly one that is 170 minutes long, but it was so beautiful I cried my heart out. How could I not when Raj and Pooja were separated, never having spent a night apart during their marriage, and finding it incredibly hard to stay positive when living in different parts of the city? I remember dad passed through the lounge at one stage and paused. After standing still for about five minutes he sat down and watched the last hour with me. Absolutely quiet. Didn't say a word. Then, when it finished, he took it down to his room and watched it from the start. Around this time mum was living half the week in Kaitaia and half the week here in Auckland and, maybe, it reminded him of that. I'm not sure. I didn't feel comfortable enough to ask. It would be another two years before he felt ready to move up there altogether with mum and, in the meantime, we watched a lot of Bollywood movies - me the romantic comedies (of course) and dad the action movies. In light of the fact that we're celebrating the NZ International Film Festival (NZFF) this month, I was kinda curious about what the highest-grossing Bollywood films would be which, of course, led to this post. (Longwinded explanation that I managed to sum up in one sentence).
Query: Do you watch Bollywood films?
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Top 5 French films
List by Michelle
"Photography is truth. The cinema is truth twenty-four times per second."
- Jean-Luc Goddard
This month we're celebrating the NZ International Film Festival (NZFF) by highlighting various international films and/or NZFF festival-related actors, actresses, screenplay writers, authors (for books-into-film) and directors whose DVDs we hold. This particular list, while not directly related to NZFF 2011, highlights some great French films that you may not have seen. Thank you, Michelle, for the list idea :)
If you'd like more film-related recommendations make sure to follow us on Twitter and Facebook! Everyday we'll be recommending films from our DVD collection. You can find all NZFF-related tweets using the hashtag #nzff.
"Photography is truth. The cinema is truth twenty-four times per second."
- Jean-Luc Goddard
This month we're celebrating the NZ International Film Festival (NZFF) by highlighting various international films and/or NZFF festival-related actors, actresses, screenplay writers, authors (for books-into-film) and directors whose DVDs we hold. This particular list, while not directly related to NZFF 2011, highlights some great French films that you may not have seen. Thank you, Michelle, for the list idea :)
If you'd like more film-related recommendations make sure to follow us on Twitter and Facebook! Everyday we'll be recommending films from our DVD collection. You can find all NZFF-related tweets using the hashtag #nzff.
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