Downtown no Gaki no Tsukai ya Arahende!!

Bottom line: I really don’t understand Japanese culture but Gaki No Tsukai is fun.

3/4

In Japan, for the past ten years on New Years Eve, a program called Gaki No Tsukai Batsu Game has been broadcasted. According to Wikipedia, the full title is Downtown no Gaki no Tsukai ya Arahende!! which translates to “Downtown’s This Is No Task for Kids!” Five comedians take part in a 24-hour challenge where they cannot laugh. If they do, they are punished (usually it’s a spanking at the hands of rod wielding masked men). They are comedians so they have a tendency to make each other laugh, but to ensure punishments the producers introduce humorous situations, gags, and cameos. The program has become so popular that it is around five hours long.

As a slight aside, there is a group called Team Gaki who write English translation-subtitles for the show. They not only translate the dialog, the signs, the text, but they include helpful culture cues. At one point, for example, one of the comedians is forced to dress up in a costume. When he walks into the room, all of the other comedians burst into laughter. It isn’t just a silly costume; it’s a character from a manga published in the early ‘70’s. Team Gaki puts a special explanatory note on the screen. It’s wicked awesome. Even better, they offer download links to the previous Batsu games (in high definition too).

Even with the translator notes, Gaki No Tsukai is a potpourri of culture that is lost on me. Occasionally, a junior member of the crew speaks casually to a senior member. The insolence of using a casual tone becomes a humorous point of contention. One, there is a language difference. In English, as you probably know, we don’t have a clear distinction between casual and formal speaking. Two, it’s interesting that even in these absurd situations, those cultural tenets hold strong.

I’d love to know more about the role of violence or physical comedy in Japanese culture and television. There’s a scene where two forty-year-old men dress in Sumo wrestler garb (so they’re nearly naked). The one tickles the other and if the other makes a noise, he loses. This tickle fight is performed in front of the five comedians who, again, will be spanked by masked men if they laugh. I don’t think you could get more homoerotic which, of course, is fine. I just don’t understand it, culturally.

Would I recommend Gaki No Tsukai? Well, it’s bizarre and funny at times. If you are down for watching something different and you’re into slapstick or physical humor, then definitely check it out. Thanks for reading!

Spectre

Directed by Sam Mendes. Written by John Logan, Neal Purvis, Robert Wade, Jez Butterworth, and Ian Fleming (characters). Starring Daniel Craig (James Bond), Christoph Waltz (Blofeld), and Léa Seydoux (Madeliene).

Bottom line: Spectre is one of the most generic and bland Bond films I’ve seen; there’s really no reason to see it.

1/4 Daniel Craig returns to his role as the International Man of Mystery super spy James Bond in Spectre. Spectre is the name of a super secret evil organization. I believe the organization first appeared in Thunderball (1965) but it never became more than an occasional reference. In this iteration of the franchise, however, Bond has to take the villainous conglomerate head on and, let me tell you, he does so with an unbridled lackadaisy. Quite honestly, there isn’t anything noteworthy about Spectre. It’s almost like the filmmakers said, “Alright, well, we don’t have any ideas for James Bond right now so let’s just have him go after that big villain organization. What was the name of it? Octopus? Ghost? Oh yeah, Spectre!” It comes across as a poor attempt to increase the stakes. It seems silly though; after all, a poker game could be made exciting. It’s all about how you do it. But, in any case, artificially making the stakes bigger (or attempting to) happens throughout the movie: Bond gets a fancy new Aston Martin DB10 (made especially for this movie), he uncovers secrets about his upbringing, and in the introduction, he blows up an entire city block. All this and it still falls flat. It seems like everyone involved phoned in for this film. I’m not just talking about the performances. Consider the one of the main subplots for this film. The 00 program is being phased out by a new department of the government that focuses on having a complete digital surveillance network *cough* NSA *cough*. “Is the 00 Program too old fashioned?” Now, wait a sec. The plot for Skyfall (a previous Daniel Craig-Bond movie) focused heavily on the government questioning the relevancy of the 00 program too. One of Spectre’s colorful villains is the assassin Hinx played by Dave Bautista. He’s a giant guy with metal thumbnails. Have the villains always been this silly? Odd Job - a nigh unintelligible bodyguard who throws a metal bowler. Jaws - a giant tough guy who has metal teeth. Pussy Galore - a woman actually named Pussy Galore. Alright, alright. Maybe this villain wasn’t that silly… So, in the interest of our discussion, let me get to some spoilers so we can really talk about this move. In sum, don’t see Spectre. If you’re a Bond fan, I’m sure you’ve already seen this but if you haven’t, don’t worry about it; there are plenty of other, better Bond movies. Maybe it was a shift in tone. Up to this point, Daniel Craig as James Bond was the super serious Bond, but from the cheesy lines, to the weak dialog, Spectre feels like a poorly executed throwback. Now, let’s get to some nitty gritty details (mind yourself of spoilers). Let’s consider Christoph Waltz’s character and his catchphrase. The scene is set for a sinister villain meeting; villainous figures sit in a big room discussing recent successful assassinations. A big door opens and, shrouded in darkness, the ringleader enters. Yadda yadda yadda the villain welcomes the hitherto hidden James Bond (to the shock of no one but James). The villain sits forward into the light, looks menacingly up at James and says “Cuckoo.” Clearly, that’s supposed to be a villainous catch phrase but it isn’t very successful. Now, in much the same way that I looked at other Bond henchmen, the catch phrases from James Bond characters aren’t the best; lot’s of innuendo or little singers. The first example that comes to mind is a fight scene where a thug falls into a bathtub. Acting quickly, Bond throws a lamp into the water and electrocutes the baddy. Bond looks and says, “Shocking.” It’s quick, cheesy, but it does its job. I think one of the more successful lines is from Goldfinger. It’s the famous scene where Bond is tied down to a steel table and he’s about to be sliced by a cutting laser slowly. Goldfinger says, “You’d better choose your next quip wisely, Mr. Bond.” “Do you expect me to talk?” “No, Mr. Bond. I expect you to die.” Again, it’s basic and quick and it’s successful because it’s unexpected. I don’t know what I would’ve expected him to say, but I didn’t think he would be so frank. Granted, by this point, this line is a cliché but it’s certainly better than “cuckoo.” To understand what ‘cuckoo’ means, we have to wait the entire movie until the villain gives an extended monologue (according to IMDB): Blofeld: You know what happens when a cuckoo hatches inside another bird's nest? Madeleine Swann: Yes. It forces the other eggs out. Blofeld: Yes. Well, this cuckoo made me realize my father's life had to end. In a way he's responsible for the path I took... [to Bond] Blofeld: So thank you, cuckoo! “Cuckoo”? More like “contrived.” But seriously, it feels like a plot device that the writers thought would be totally cool because it bookends the interactions between the characters. Only the movie goes on for another half hour. Moreover, it’s meaningless without the explanation and, once provided, doesn’t feel satisfying. As guilty as it makes me feel, I’ve gotta say, at the end of the movie, when Bond decides not to kill the Waltz, I was hoping Bond would say ‘cuckoo.’ Gosh that would’ve been cheesy (and maybe that’s why they didn’t do it) but it could’ve been fun. I mean, how can we be all serious when you have a villain with metal thumbnails? One last point that I’d like to bring up is the intro sequence. The Bond franchise is famous (or infamous) for it’s introductions. They are always stylized in a way that fits into the movie. Consider the theme for Casino Royale. The main plot device in the film is a poker game so the intro features bullets in the shapes of spades piercing figures that fall apart into little hearts, etc. They can be enjoyable because sometimes they foreshadow the movie. In line with the rest of the film, Spectre’s intro is lame. I was going to try and find a more sophisticated word but lame works. Instead of being stylized in a neat way, it’s just clear images of Bond, women and nigh literal scenes of the preceding film, with the modification of octopi. Instead of a bikini – an octopus is wrapped around a woman’s body. Instead of a pillar – a tentacle. Instead of shadow cast by a hand - it’s an octopus. I mean, I get it guys, the mascot of the secrete organization is an octopus but sheesh, let’s tone it down a little. So, what do you think? Did you see Spectre? Follow up question if you have, are you a fan of Bond movies? Let me know in the comments below! Thanks for reading!

Victor Frankenstein

Directed by Paul McGuigan. Written by Max Landis (screenplay) and Mary Shelley (novel). Starring Daniel Radcliffe (Igor), James McAvoy (Frankenstein), and Andrew Scott (Inspector Turpin). Bottom line: Victor Frankenstein is so bad it makes me wonder if filmmakers (actors or otherwise) regret participating in movies from time to time; it’s not fun bad, just bad bad. .5/4 Daniel Radcliffe provides the voice over introduction to Victor Frankenstein. “You know this story. The crack of lightning. A mad genius. An unholy creation.The world, of course, remembers the monster, not the man. But sometimes, when you look closely, there's more to a tale. Sometimes the monster is the man.” Did that just blow your mind?! But, wait, isn’t that kinda the whole point of the book? Now, I’m not knocking the movie for attempting to do something different but what Victor Frankenstein is doing feels really lazy. It’s not like they are reinterpreting the story or some of the major themes, it’s mostly just a recasting of superficial elements.. Now, the crux of the movie is, well, about Victor Frankenstein (McAvoy) and Igor (Radcliffe) as they struggle with the technical and ethical quandaries of reanimating life. In this iteration of the story, Igor is an abused clown in a steampunk circus. In his free time, he studies medicine. One thing leads to another and the young medical student, Frankenstein, recruits the clown to be a laboratory assistant. The graphics and special effects are perfectly ordinary. Style-wise, we have a steampunk feel. If you aren’t familiar with steampunk, it’s Victorian England with, potentially, futuristic technology; it has a lot of bronze work and pipes and steam. Fine. Whatever. I’m as big a fan of steampunk as the next guy but it feels like a marketing ploy here. I mean, Victor Frankenstein is big budget flick aimed at us millennials. Let me tell you, we love steam-punk. So it just feels like the decision of the marketing department to stylize the movie this way. There are other decisions that make me feel like this was marketed towards millennials but I’ll get more into that later. The dialog is dismal and it doesn’t help that everyone phones in their performance. Well, everyone except for James McAvoy, he’s just overacting the heck out of his role. He was so pleasant in X-Men: First Class why is he doing this? The story itself, at least the direction in this film, was disappointing. I’ll go into detail in a bit but, without spoiling anything here, it will suffice to say that it was a let down. Overall, I would recommend that you actively avoid Victor Frankenstein. It’s bad acting in a bad adaptation with tired art direction. Go and see Van Helsing if you want a supernatural but light and fun movie. Now, let’s discuss this movie in a little more detail -- so mind yourself of spoilers. I mentioned that this movie was geared towards millennials. Let me describe the plot a little more. So we have Igor, the character to whom we are supposed to relate. He’s just a guy who is really interested in medicine. Unfortunately, he’s trapped in an abusive world (the circus). He’s saved by Frankenstein and given the opportunity to do great things. We have Frankenstein whose all for science; he’s the “God is dead because science is awesome!” type of guy. I get the feeling that he’s supposed to be “cool” because he’s an atheist but he gets a little too carried away with his experiments for us to gravitate towards him. Meanwhile, a dogmatic, fundamentalist Christian inspector (Scott) pursues the protagonists. The inspector is definitely bad because he’s like our parents. This leaves us in the middle with Harry Potter (Igor, that is). He wants to study medicine and science because it’s interesting. He’s neither an angry atheist nor a Christian; he’s more of an agnostic. This moderate quality of the main protagonist is something I’ve noticed about other millennial movies. Consider Premium Rush starring Joseph-Gordon Levitt. He’s a Law student who doesn’t really want to be an attorney. He’s doing what he wants; and that means being a bicycle courier. But then the movie ends with the statement, “Maybe someday I’ll have a suit and tie job, but today I am going to ride.” Pick what you want, dude. I don’t want to hear any of this, “I’m young so I’m going to play and then I’ll grow up tomorrow,” nonsense. Victor Frankenstein is a lot like that too, particularly with Igor. This quality of the plot reminds me of what I understand of the German philosopher, Friedrich Nietzsche. In his one book, he describes a shift in power dynamics in society. In the medieval period, we had knights and dukes and lords - the “nobility.” The nobility had the power because they took it and fought to keep it; they were like hawks. They were to whom we were to aspire. Hence, being “noble” is a positive trait. But, if they were so great and powerful, why did the system topple? It failed because of what Nietzsche calls “slave morality.” The slaves who opposed this feudal system didn’t actively rebel they just passively shuffled their feet until the system crumbled. In the metaphor where the nobles are the hawks, the slaves are the sheep. It’s a sort of passivity or apathy that characterizes the sheep. Before I get into how this ties into the movie, I feel like should note that one of the things about Nietzsche is that there are problematic ways to interpret his ideas, case and point, the Nazis. For our purposes, I’m pointing out some of the characteristics that he describes with respect to the movie. Igor, for example, wants to do science because it’s cool. He’s ok with reanimating animals but he mildly objects to reanimating a human. He says that he doesn’t want to participate anymore but he doesn’t really give a reason why. His reasons certainly aren’t the same as the fundamentalist inspector. He doesn’t actively support or oppose the experiments either. He just says, ‘I’m going away with my girlfriend.’ After all, it’s a whole lot easier to abstain than to give a definite answer. We have these driven characters but are left with the one standing still. Consider the final lines of the movie. Frankenstein writes Igor saying, “I’m continuing with my experiments… Be ready because I’ll call on you someday…” Frankenstein’s experiments are where it’s at, that’s where I want to be. I don’t want to be with Igor as he just shuffles about. Gah! There’s the rub. Maybe the reason I’m writing and thinking about this so much is because it hits close to home. The reason it’s frustrating though is because the film doesn’t provide anything satisfying. There’s no insight or direction or call to arms. It’s just a character that resonates with a target audience and that’s that. In a way, it reminds me of the phenomenal Italian movie Il Posto. It’s about a kid who gets a job at a big corporation. If you get a job at this corporation, you are pretty set for life; it’s a career that pays well. Sure, you’re stuck doing meaningless, boring work but it’s safe. II Posto is wonderfully thought provoking. Victor Frankenstein, on the other hand, feels like most of the decisions regarding message and plot were created for marketing purposes. It feels cheap and lazy. So, in summary, don’t see Victor Frankenstein. It’s a stupid movie and writing about it has made me mad. Stupid Victor Frankenstein… >:| In any case, thanks for reading! Have you made the mistake of seeing Victor Frankenstein? Please do let me know what you think in the comments!

Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Written and Directed by J.J. Abrams. Written by Lawrence Kasdan, Michael Ardnt, and George Lucas (characters by). Starring Daisy Ridley (Rey), John Boyega (Fin), Oscar Isaac (Poe Dameron).

Bottom line: Star Wars: The Force Awakens was awesome; you don’t have to be a Star Wars fan (you don’t even have to have seen any of the other movies) to enjoy it.

3.5/4

Sometimes, when I write a movie review, I struggle to find a starting point. Some movies require a little background or description to help illustrate my points. It can be a pain if the movie is bad or convoluted. It’s worse in the case of the latter because I risk giving away too much of the plot. Fortunately for me, Star Wars: The Force Awakens does not fall into these categories. I don’t have to say very much at all about the plot to recommend it to you. In fact, I don’t think I’ll even go into the plot at all for my review.

Just about everything in this movie is wonderful. John Williams is back with another solid score (though it struck me again how his scores all sound the same). The dialog was solid. The graphics and special effects were splendid. (I’ve come to associate J.J. Abrams with his sense of moderation and taste). There are little bits of fan service (that is, stuff for returning fans) but it doesn’t get in the way. New characters and worlds were introduced smoothly and blended well with the returning characters.

The weakest part of Star Wars: The Force Awakens was the two-dimensional villains. Now, don’t get me wrong, this is going to be a trilogy but they still could’ve made the villains compelling, rather than hinting at a future back-story. That said, all the other characters were perfectly fine. I especially liked Harrison Ford’s return as the dashing rogue Han Solo. It was his most vitalized performance in quite a while.

I’ve also got to hand it to the merchandising powerhouse that is Disney. Everything in this movie, from the light-sabers and the blasters to the revamped X-Wings, can be turned into something to buy. At one point, a character jumps in a Tie Fighter and says, “I’ve always wanted to fly one of these.”

“Me too,” says I. Thank goodness I can in the new Star Wars: Battlefront III for the PS4!

Han Solo shoots Chewie’s crossbow, looks down at it, turns and says, “I gotta get me one of these.”

 “Can I have one of those too, Dad? And Kylo Ren’s light-saber too!”

Does this diminish the movie? Absolutely not, I just thought it was funny to see.

Now, I was never the biggest fan of Star Wars. It’s not that I dislike them I’ve just never really liked them. That said, I loved Star Wars: The Force Awakens. I’ve seen this twice so far and it got me pumped up each time. It made me want to go on an adventure. I wanted to fly around in space ships. Heck, I wanted to just be a part of the movie making process.

At this point, just about everyone on earth has seen Star Wars: The Force Awakens but if you haven’t, I highly recommend you do. The people I’ve met who haven’t seen it explain that they aren’t Star Wars fans. I assure you, you don’t have to be a Star Wars fan to enjoy it. It’s fun if you are a Star Wars fan so you get some of the references but that’s just icing on the cake.

Porco Rosso

Written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki. Starring Shûichirô Moriyama/Michael Keaton (Kurenai no Buta), Tokiko Katô/Susan Egan (Jina-Sama), Bunshi Katsura Vi/David Ogden Stiers (Pikkoro-oyaji).

Bottom line: Porco Rosso was so cute and so much fun; I highly recommend it especially for kids.

3.5/4

In Porco Rosso, we follow an Italian WWI pilot who was cursed to look like a pig. The story consists of Porco fending off sky pirates and the attacks of an American ace in the inter-war period.

This is a Miyazaki movie so, if you’re familiar with his movies, it won’t surprise you to hear that the animation is wonderful. It’s colorful and happy. Porco’s introduction and the introduction to his relationship with the pirates give you a good indication of the tone of the movie.

We see Proco lounging on a secluded beach. He is called on the radio to go fend off some pirates who are robbing a cruise and, to make matters worse, they’ve captured a class of schoolgirls!

Now, I cringed when I heard “schoolgirls” because, you know, I thought hyper-sexualized high school girls (aka early Brittany) but it was just elementary school children. I suspect it was a translation thing or maybe a cultural terminology issue. Anyway, we cut to the pirates and the one groans, “Do we have to take all 15?”

“Oh course! We can’t split them up from their friends!”

And then they go on to let the kids climb all over the plane while being “kidnapped.”

Even when Porco comes to the rescue the scene is light-hearted. Porco shoots out the pirate-plane’s engine and even lets them keep a little of their loot to pay for repairs. “I don’t want to be putting them out of a job,” Porco explains.

I saw the English dubbed version. I’m generally a proponent of original audio with subtitles but, in this case, the dub was perfectly good for the movie. Michael Keaton does a great job of voice acting Porco. The voice of Meg from Disney’s Hercules is the voice of Porco’s love interest. Do you remember Everybody Loves Raymond? Well, Raymond’s brother (the one with the deep voice) is a pirate alongside the voice of Patrick Star from Spongebob Squarepants. The daughter in Father of the Bride voices the spunky engineer. It’s a solid B-grade cast.

When I was describing the cast to a coworker, he said that a mark of a good B-grade cast is when you say, “Do you remember that show? Well, the side character from that show was in this.” That is, you know the actor not through their name but through a point of reference.

I would highly recommend Porco Rosso especially for kids. It’s fun and happy and I’ll probably see it again at some point. Thanks for reading! I’m on a Miyazaki kick at the moment so I will probably write a review about another soon. What about you? Are you looking forward to seeing anything in the near future?

Ponyo

Written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki. Starring Tomoko Yamaguchi (Risa), Kazushige Nagashima (Kôichi), Yûki Amami (Granmamare).

Bottom line: Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea is an adorable Miyazaki movie but because of the odd story, I wouldn’t recommend it as someone’s first Miyazaki movie.

3/4

If you aren’t familiar with Hayao Miyazaki, he’s like the Japanese Walt Disney. He and his studio, Studio Ghibli, are responsible for Spirited Away, Grave of Fireflies, Princess Mononoke and others. Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea (henceforth referred to as Ponyo) is one of their most recent films. I love Miyazaki movies, particularly how they animate water; Ponyo’s defining characteristic is that it’s about the sea so, naturally, it was on my to-watch list.

Plot wise, Ponyo feels pretty thin. There is a fish that wants to become a little girl. Only through true love can this happen…and also only through true love can she save the world from being flooded.

There isn’t too much else to say about this one, quite honestly. The animation is beautiful, Ponyo (Nara) and Sôsuke (the little boy, voice by Hiroki Doi, who finds Ponyo) are adorable, and the music is great, and it has a happy ending.

If you were unfamiliar with Miyazaki, I wouldn’t recommend this as your introduction to his movies because of the odd plot. I’d start off with something like Spirited Away or Kiki’s Delivery Service, and then after a little while, add Ponyo to your queue.

My wife and I have been watching a couple of Miyazaki movies so I’ll be writing some reviews about them in the next couple days. Next up: Princess Mononoke and Porco Rosso.

I checked on the cast of voice actors for both the original Japanese cast and the American dub. Looking at the cast, you can tell this was definitely a big budget movie; Matt Damon (Kôichi), Betty White (Sôsuke grandmother), Tina Fey (Sôsuke’s mom), and last but not least, the voice of the villain is Liam Neeson! We watched the original Japanese audio and it was great but, if you prefer dubs, I think Ponyo would be a good experience. Although, now that I’m thinking about it, Liam Neeson’s voice is so distinct I wonder if it would break my suspension of disbelief.

In writing this, I was going to include some links to my other reviews of Miyazaki movies but, in looking at my previous reviews to my shock, I don’t have any! So, I’ll have to build upon Ponyo to do a little series of Miyazaki movies. So, until then, thanks for reading! Please let me know, in the comments, your thoughts on Miyazaki!

Tamasha

Written and directed by Imtiaz Ali. Starring Ranbir Kapoor (Zed) and Deepika Padukone (Tara).

Bottom line: Tamasha’s best quality is its music and there are a bunch of songs that are smoothly incorporated into the movie.

3/4

Tamasha opens to a play; a clown is talking to a robot walking on a treadmill. The clown touches the robot on its heart causing it to malfunction and step off the treadmill. The clown speaks to the audience saying the robot has a story to tell. We cut to a boy being scolded for not doing well in school. You might be able to guess where this is going: the boy is forced into a safe, responsible mold, going to school to become a scientist (or something) even though he wants to be an actor.

During the preceding intro credits sequence, the boy spends his last few rupees to hear a story from the park’s resident storyteller. The storyteller mixes up his story but justifies it by saying it is always the same story, just different characters. It’s pleasant to hear that because Tamasha’s story is just like all the others but its execution is what differentiates it. Anyway, fade to black. Open to Corsica, France, where we are introduced to the love story.

If you’ve read my other reviews for Bollywood movies, you might be familiar with my general lack of understanding when it comes to the genre. Tamasha, however, would be a solid movie for someone not familiar with this style of movie. Sometimes in Bollywood movies they break into songs at, to me, odd times, or they have these over-the- top plot points that I don’t quite understand. In the case of Tamasha, it felt closer to a Hollywood musical.

In the initial love song for example, Zed (Kapoor) and Tara (Padukone) are talking about their plan to have a weeklong fling (sans physical contact) and never meet again. Amidst the festival going on around them, they exchange clever lines and then break into song. The song conveniently lines up with what the festival musicians are playing. Speaking of songs, I loved the music from this movie; the songs are catchy and fun.

The movie opens to the stage play and then jumps back in time to see Zed as a child. It then jumps back and forth in time to show how various plot points play out. Unfortunately, the best example will give away spoilers, so I’ll wait until later to discuss it.

The performances of Ranbir Kapoor and Deepika Padukone were perfectly fine, except for a point that I will discuss in a bit. I must say that they both have this look, where their eyes tear up but they don’t cry. They do it well and they do it several times throughout the movie.

The only thing I didn’t like was how Zed was portrayed when he was breaking out of his mold. I don’t think there are any major spoilers in this next part. Have you ever seen Office Space? It was the movie about a guy who hates his cubicle job and then, through a botched professional hypnotherapist session, stops caring. He shows up late and has a new generally chill but disconnected demeanor. Zed, as you might’ve expected, experiences a similar existential crisis. Instead of shouting, “I quit!” or just quitting, he just becomes an insane jerk. Not just kooky but I’m-not-going-to-be in-a-relationship-with-you-because-you-might-murder-me insane.

Part of his morning routine is to hold the elevator door open for a little old lady. Once he starts to snap, he smiles at her as he lets the door closes. He shouts at his boss and makes a general scene. Is it too much to ask that protagonists in this situation address their concerns coolly? I mean, instead of flipping out, couldn’t he have just started writing a screenplay or taken up acting in his free time?

This doesn’t detract too much from the total movie, however. Overall, it is fun, colorful, and happy. At about two hours and twenty minutes, Tamasha is a long Bollywood film but it only drags in the last scene or two. I’d recommend this movie to someone who is even mildly interested in Bollywood. One strategy, I’ve come to use for selecting Bollywood movies, is to first listen to some of the music videos for the movie. If you like the songs then check out the movie, otherwise, pass on it.

If you are interested, here are some links to the videos on YouTube:

Heer Toh Badi Sad Hai

Matargashti

Wat Wat Wat

Safarnama

Whew, I’m sorry for the delay with the reviews, peeps. Writing is not too different from exercise, it’s just working out different muscles; it’s arduous at the time but really satisfying. In the comments below, let me know what you think of those songs!