Some of the Movies I've Loved and Not for 2008-On Oscar Track ...Who Cares?

I've meant to do a lot of movie reviews on here over the last six months and never got about to doing them! So on Oscar night whether they are on the Oscar track or not here are some of the movies I've loved recently and the ones I've not and even a mention of the ones I refused to go see and the ones that I did see and was pleasantly surprised!:)

So in alphabetical order here are some of them I can remember!

AUSTRALIA
Loved it! And no it wasn't just cause Hugh Jackman of my We Three Kings! fun and fame was in it! I loved it and unexpectedly so...because I just decided to go see it to meet up with some people and we figured it was the most passable thing on in cinema. I thought I was going to see before me a sweeping love saga unfold. And yes it was indeed a love story...but it was about Australia! I couldn't get the idea of 'dreaming' out of my head after I saw the film. It made me think about aboriginal peoples all around the world and how they really could have such a feel for the land...so much so that they become intuitive...it made me think of myself...I searched within...it made me realise that although I had never visited India I knew it because that was what Hinduism was...it was a tapestry of India...an ode to its rivers and valleys...its plants and flowers....and I feel the South Indians the Saivites were the ones who really were the aboriginal peoples of their they really knew the lady...it is why I celebrate that Hippy Master Shiv today! :)And it made me wonder of the land I now live in Trinidad. What do I know of it? Well it's aboriginal peoples...we have practically wiped them out and their voice here...well the Europeans did and we were the peoples they brought from another time when people still thought they could own each other...but what about now? It is almost impossible to gather much of the original peoples of Trinidad information...it is pretty much lost...but I could at least try to adapt the approach I know from Hinduism here in this land...and it was what I had been doing anyway...but Australia inspired me to keep on Dreaming....

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Well they say it was just made from an idea in a book by F. Scott Fitzgerald but whoever wrote this script made me want to read the book...or wonder how the book would read...the writing was just so rich...the story so wondrous and sweepingly epic. It also rang through that life is really only what we choose to make it...and that each one of us come here for a very unique point and purpose and we should just do it! Made me kinda recall this one of my posts.

The Tale of Despereaux
I kept meaning to write this review and say Gotta See Despereaux! or Gotta Love Despereaux! :) He was so cute...such a pretty, pretty, cute mouse as my mummy put it!:) Cute enough just to watch the film for! :) But again a film about living your purpose and not just going with the masses...where one mouse dared to go! It was also interesting the whole inherently deep spirituality in it like all good children tales! About the light and the dark and the sea faring rat and the ones from the sewer and the mouse who was suppose to be afraid but was not. And the kindness in that sea faring rat's eyes and his voice...aaawwww...what a sweetly made film!:) It still remains with me! :) I have to buy this film you know! And then there was soup! And I just love soup! Mmmmmm....who can not love soup! Well the sea faring rat for sure would agree!:) Everyone should see Despereaux! Gotta see Despereaux!

And really those were the three films I really had fun with in 2008. I saw Seven Pounds and was so so disappointed! Oprah your review and having Will on the show just didn't ring through! It wasn't the acting... that was fine even good at times...it was just the whole concept of the film and the whole idea in the end...geez...a man killing himself to give his organs....come on now! I wrote my rant on that film in response to my blogging friend Matt Welsh's post on spiritual media blog...here.

Also there is Slumdog Millionaire...it never released on the island and I'm not a bootleg copy watching kinda girl plus Matt Welsh has posted here said it was very gory and I just not worth watching if you can't take that even though it is to show reality perhaps...I know it is true but I go to the cinema to be inspired not come out blue! So...it is why I didn't go to the darkness that was Dark Knight (Batman) even though everyone said it was so good and it wasn't just cause Joker was being played by a now dead man! And no it is not just going to be a cult classic for his fans? I don't know...I just didn't go!

But on the night of the Oscars as I pray to Shiv I say I hope AR Rahman fears well as I've always loved his music. I've heard Jai Ho! and I know it's not his best for sure. But the 'white people' are now being exposed and that's great for sure! I wish him all the best and I say although I love his music he could not ever with Ismail Darbar contest! :)

Escape from Bollywood!

Hey growing up seeing Hindi films or Indian movies like we call them in Trinidad or like how the whole world likes to call it now Bollywood films I always saw 'white people' in them. Usually to me the 'white people' in them represented a kinda stereotype of people with 'loose morals' things considered quintessential 'un-indian like' like showing lots of skin and drinking alcohol (especially girls). Of course the stereotypes world over have been changing and there is so much cultural mixing these days. And let's not forget that on 'The Simpsons' the Indians become Pakistanis and Hindus and Muslims have their religion mixed into a new religion perhaps that is progress for peace so who knows!?

So I probably can't put my finger any longer on what the 'white people' would be stereotyped as in these films anymore. But hey it seems it is not only me who thinks the 'white people' are stereotyped generally negatively cause you will hear the British woman on the clip saying how she doesnt know but usually the westerners are portrayed as baddies in the films so...

But yea I always wondered where those 'white people' in the films used to come from I think way back in the day they used to get some light skin indians to pass as white when they couldnt get enough of them. And I've seen the same attempts to make actors look like they were African in race too. But yep in modern times they have lots of actual 'white people' in there and now I know how! Check out the clip! I like Shubash Ghai's films by the way so I am in no way critiquing the film itself here and you will see the guy covering the story has the same intent cause he does say the film put together looks exciting!

This is just a back door look at how 'the white people' come into the films...amusing really...Of course Katrina Kaif herself is half white so...dunno pretty soon the white people might be the goodies and the stars?! Course that is a whole other post about the changing ideal of beauty as a whole in India and the film industry there. But this is just an amusing video clip I stumbled onto from MSN on Slate V and they said you were free to blog it so I thought I'd share it here! So enjoy the clip and if you feel like it drop me a line and let me know what you think of it too ...just for so...To me it is interesting how in the end the guy muses about how this is a kinda reverse outsourcing in a way!

Notice in the story they keep going the 'Westerners' but to me that is just cause they dont want to bring race into it cause let's face it...it is the 'white people' they mean ...and when people say 'westerners' do they mean people living in the Western hemisphere of the earth? What do they mean by that? I mean isn't Australia the Eastern hemisphere? So really they mean race but they don't say it?

Of course I'm sure tourist seeing this may not wish to be extras again but remember this is just one guy's perspective and story and to each his own so...of course in India like any places with extreme poverty where people have to fight for survival you have to be careful if you come from a place where such a fight is not as intense due to more resources per person! White people or not...but oh yea then I forgot white people = westerners! :)

By the way Sameer Kumar looks exactly like a co-worker of mine that is Trinidadian of Indian ancestry! I can't wait to tell him one of these days! :)

Early Close of My Advent Calendar...by My Definition at Least!

This is just a post to let all my readers know that I closed off my Advent Calendar earlier than planned...well by my definition of it at least...cause I had defined it as ending after the 'Twelve Days of Christmas' which would have been on Tue 6 Jan 09. However let's face it in the modern world when people hit New Year's day it's all bout the resolutions for many and really Christmas and Advent ends once people go fully back out to work. And like this year cause Mon is the first Monday in January and clearing New Year's day and the day after (usually a recovery day for some)everyone is going to hit the pavement hard stomping off to conquer the world supposedly? So for all intents and purposes I need to come to the reality that Christmas is through...but on Universal Collective Prayer I will continue to speak about the 'Three Wise Men' and trumpet them off on Tue 6 Jan 09 especially since Epiphany celebrations still today is a big event in many cultures and celebrated worldwide in Christianity.

Also I am ending it early cause on a personal level I was all tired out...and really on New Year's Day I was re-borned so was tough for me too to go back! :) However the Three Wise Men followed me into this life and so I will have a longer departure time with them and only say goodbye to them on the 6th of Jan! :)

Best Wishes and hope you all had a lovely Christmas/Advent season and look forward to celebrating it again with you next year and to other festivals and seasons as they come along in this 'Great Big Blue Marble' called Planet Earth!:)

And I leave you with a You Tube clip I've shared in the past that was the introduction to a children's TV show when I was growing up that was aimed at kid's understanding cultures globally. I remember it being on Saturdays here in Trinidad. It was an American TV show but showcased kids from all over the world. You can read more about the show on wikipedia at this link.And I share it in the hope that in this New Year, 2009, me and readers from all over the world will get closer...and perhaps I will even start to hear more from them on here too...comments welcomed! :)

Advent Calendar:HAPPY NEW YEAR!-Nostradamus Predicts a Golden Age!

Today I am talking about re-birth and how this morning I was visualizing the blooming of white roses like how in films they make things move quickly so the roses go from buds to fully grown in seconds and to this visualization I was hearing the sound of Cat Steven's Morning has Broken...well I thought what would be an appropriate film to show for these feelings on this blog and I decided to dabble a bit into TV again although this is a very famous TV special and so kinda warrants it spilling over as film in a way...

You see everyone bad mouth's Nostradamus' predictions or always sees them as bad or like gloom and doom...the Third World War and all but I saw this docudrama when I was a child... they were really big back then...the TV moguls loved to churn them out. And especially when I was growing up in the height of 'the Cold War' American talk of World War three and nuclear holocausts were always abound! And this docudrama-Nostradamus-The Man Who Saw Tomorrow with Orson Welles (who I always mixed up with Alfred Hitchcock the director and with George Orwell the authour btw:)) will always be a classic.

But I am showing the very last clip for it because I want you to see how it all fits in with my morning's visualization and how it could be what instilled that idea in me as a child of the dawning of a NEW GOLDEN AGE!And how it dawns after we sort out all the hurt and conflict...in this portrayal it happens after pain and war...but perhaps if we could resolve it peacefully by talking to one another trashing it out...? Arab-Israeli talks anyone?

MAYBE THIS YEAR WILL BE THAT DAWN?...HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Advent Calendar:HAPPY NEW YEAR-TCM's Tribute to the Movie Greats Gone This Year!

Here is Turner Classic Movies-TCM's tribute to all the movie greats that left the earthly plane this year. I offered it as my sixth day of Christmas and Happy New Year gift to you! Cause when people leave this earthly plane it is happy too if we view the leaving as a time to celebrate their life and what they gave us while here on earth! :)Cause really death doesn't have to be bad although of course we miss 'em too is why we cry but really if their's were lives fulfilled we should be celebrating and crying instead when lives are wasted due to inaction...But for sure we will miss Paul Newman not only for his work on film but his work in so much more especially with his Newman's Own line! :)I guess we miss some more than others cause their actions were so grand we wish they could do it forever and ever! :) And of course some of them on here especially like Heath Ledger, Bernie Mac and even Michael Crichton I find may have left too soon...but of course death can come at any age...But certainly they must come back again for an encore even if not just as before? Well some of you said yes to reincarnation on my poll this year so...

Advent Calendar:5th Day of Christmas-Angels on TV

I know this is a film blog not a TV one but today on this the Fifth day of Christmas on all my blogs I'm talking bout Angels and yep there are many good films about Angels out there but I just couldn't help myself but to talk about my fav TV shows ever about Angels!

-Highway to Heaven

and

-Touched by An Angel

If I had to choose one I'd say Highway to Heaven as it was more real but both were beautiful in their own way. Both happened a decade apart one around 1984 and one around 1994. I enjoyed both and at different ages, stages and eras of my life but for sure there were two series that I could tune in week after week to enjoy! :)

Here are the kick off parts for both shows as they used to start off on TV and for sure again I'd say the Highway to Heaven one is more powerful but again both strong and beautiful in their own ways ...enjoy! :)

Advent Calendar:4th Day of Christmas-The Gift of Hope in Film!

Tonight on all three of my blogs I'm giving the gift of 'Hope'. So on this blog where the theme is Books and Films I'm going to give you Hope as shown through films. I didn't have to look far on YouTube as Manny the Movie Guy has already done a lovely compilation of this year's films he thinks show hope that I think is a most fitting gift and I've seen or plan to see most of the films on his list if they are on in my neck of the woods! Here it is! Hope you enjoy tonight's gift to you on this the 4th day of Christmas! :)