movies

This was a heavy Brit week for me with a few from India thrown in.

• Wicked (2024): Half of a musical needing its 'part 2'.
• The Life of Chuck (2024): Thanks to y'a'll for recommending this. Poignant.
• Sita Sings the Blues (2008): Animated. Indian tale of Sita, wife to Ramayana, as told by modern people trying to remember the details and interspersed with the 1920s Annette Hanshaw singing.
• Good Bye, Lenin! (2003): German. East German mom wakes from coma after Berlin wall falls, so son pretends they're still divided.
• Taking Tiger Mountain by Strategy (1970) Zhi qu wei hu shan (智取威虎山): Recommended for historical reasons. Details here.
• Pyaasa (1957) प्यासा (aka Thirst): Indian. Highly Recommended. Director Guru Dutt also stars in his own most-celebrated film (see also Paper Flowers).
• Don (1978) डॉन : Bollywood singing/dancing crime thriller with Pauper/Prince motif except with a crime lord instead of a prince. Pretty good for what it is.
• He Ran All the Way (1951): beautifully shot, tense, but so much melodrama.
• Any Wednesday (1966): Flick about cheating exec tries for funny but is cringe.
• Crooks and Coronets (1969) aka Sophie's Place: Telly Savalas is a crook who likes the Brits he's supposed to rob. Okay, but skippable.
• Inside Out (1975): Skippable Comedy/Thriller where crooks try to steal Nazi gold. Telly Savalas, Robert Culp, James Mason, and so on. Yawn.
• From Beyond the Grave (1974): Brit ghost-y shorts tied together by Peter Cushing's curio shop. Good for its (now-dated) type.
• Die! Die! My Darling! (1965): Brit thriller/camp fave. Tallulah Bankhead is a strict religious crone grieving her dead son and so she takes his once-fiancee captive.
• When The Wind Blows (1986): Animated. Elderly British couple chat and prepare their cottage as nuclear war begins. Well done. Mildly recommended.