I think at some point, perhaps even in the near future (
this especially rad trailer played before the feature), the West will begin to start taking the Indian film industry a bit more seriously. They'll have to if they can put out more films as good as the perfectly serviceable action flick
Shivaay. Besides some opening act goofiness, and the expected expansive runtime (near three hours, answering the question of what Liam Neeson's Taken would be like if it was an hour plus longer and a much more thorough biography of its principal characters), its not really any more ridiculous then any of the mainstream Hollywood action films from now until the 80's golden age, and it has all the pleasures one gets from a film wherein a musclebound stiff tears through goons like wet paper. Once the table setting is over with (lots of sincere melodrama and I don't really mind that) and the plot device, um, I mean mute daughter (because why not go full Dickensian) of the hero is endangered, then things start getting violent and stabby and doesn't really stop until the end. I don't mean to overpraise this film, its no masterpiece its just another dumb action movie, but its clearly punching above its weight class. The world always needs more well made action films, so why not try one where there's at least one music scene and an intermission?
Anchorman, with Will Ferrell, man, that's a funny movie. But its funny because I didn't have to live through it, I didn't have to be a female reporter who was constantly being pulled apart by the demands of her job, the sexism of her day, and the contradictions of trying to lead a normal life in any era, if I did it might have drove me a little nutty. The fact-based
Christine shows a mid-70's Floridian reporter as she's already a bundle of frayed nerves, and then follows her as depression and mounting personal setbacks further take their toll. Is it a media commentary, a sad reflection on how little progress has actually been made in the decades since the time portrayed? Eh, not entirely, but it is a bit. What its best at is taking an unusually well realized look at a supremely awkward person who struggles to fit in. Its an uncomfortably well done portrayal of a mentally troubled person. The tragedy that drives the film comes slowly, but you can really feel every step on the path to get there. That the film isn't a grim march towards a tragic end is due to its extremely absorbing and fascinating portrait of its main character. She invites sympathy, even as she does her damndest to drive such feelings away.
