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Saawariya, a review by dfmorgan

Saawariya

Year: 2007
Director: Sanjay Leela Bhansali
Cast: Salman Khan, Rani Mukherjee, Ranbir Kapoor, Sonam Kapoor
Overview: From Sanjay Leela Bhansali, one of India's most acclaimed cinema directors comes a love story. Saawariya is a tender and romantic musical which centres around the chance encounter of two people Raj (Ranbir Kapoor) and Sakina (Sonam Kapoor) and an impromptu romance that's initiated in the remote picturesque town of Simla, a quaint hill station in Northern India.

Watched: 13th Feb. 2011
My Thoughts: This film is based on the story "White Nights" by Fyodor Dostoevsky, not a work or author that I have ever read therefore I cannot compare them. The film is set in a red-light district and Gulab (Rani Mukherjee), one of the women who work there, relates a story that takes place over four or five nights. A wandering musician, Raj (Ranbir Kapoor), arrives in town and meets a young woman, Sakina (Sonam Kapoor), crying on a bridge. She is pining for her love, Imaan (Salman Khan), to return from whence he had wandered. The tale is about unrequited and requited love and although I guessed part of the ending I didn't expect the final outcome.

My Rating: An enjoyable 3



(From Dave's DVD/Blu-ray Reviews on February 13th, 2011)

The Great Race, a review by GSyren

The Great Race (085391-109129)

United States 1965 | Released 2002-06-04 on DVD from Warner Home Video

160 minutes | Aspect ratio Anamorphic 2.35:1 | Audio: English Dolby Digital 5.1, French Dolby Digital Mono

Directed by Blake Edwards and starring Jack Lemmon, Tony Curtis, Natalie Wood, Peter Falk, Keenan Wynn

My thoughts about The Great Race:

The Great Race is a fun movie with many great gags but it has some problems. The great humor in the movie comes mainly from Professor Fate's misadventures. The trouble is that the movie spends too much time in various subplots, making it drag. At 2 hours 40 minutes it's almost an hour too long. I guess long roadshow movies with intermission were very much in vogue in the sixties. But there just isn't enough story to support it. The film could do without the suffragette subplot. In fact, as much as I love Natalie Wood, her character could go as well. The Great Leslie isn't very exciting, but he is necessary as a foil for the professor. Miss Dubois isn't. The saloon sequence is nicely done, and I like Dorothy Provine's song "He Shouldn't-a, Hadn't-a, Oughtn't-a Swang on Me!", but the whole sequence would work better in another movie. Here it just slows things down. Likewise the whole Prince Hapnik subplot, although I have to admit that the pie throwing sequence is hilarious. And then there is a subplot within the subplot; the takeoff on The Prisoner of Zenda. It is quite good, but again not really relevant to the main story. The unfortunate result of this is that the funniest part of the movie is the part before the race actually starts. Then the story starts to bog down. Sure, there are several good laughs within the race as well, but it never really lives up to the expectations that were built up before. In comedy, repetition is part of the fun. Up to a point. I feel that Blake Edwards is milking "Push the button, Max" a little too much. But even though the film is much too long, it's worth watching (and re-watching) just for Jack Lemmon and Peter Falk.

I rate this title

(From Reviews and ramblings by Gunnar on July 23rd, 2015)

Lesbian Movie Marathon, a review by Tom

Title: Tipping the Velvet
Year: 2002
Director:
Rating: 15
Length: 175 Min.
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.78
Audio: English: Dolby Digital Stereo
Subtitles:

Stars:
Rachael Stirling
Keeley Hawes
Sally Hawkins
Jodhi May
Hugh Bonneville

Plot:
Set in England in the 1890s, Tipping the Velvet is a colourful, passionate and entertaining love story, which follows our heroine's growth into womanhood.

EPISODE 1

The glamorous world of the 19th -century music hall provides the backdrop for Nan's first love affair with Kitty Butler, a popular male impersonator. When Kitty is offered the chance to perform in London, a delighted Nan accompanies her as a dresser, but true success doesn't happen until Nan becomes part of the act.

EPISODE 2

Alone and devastated by her betrayal, Nan cannot return to her family in Whitstable so takes to the streets to survive. In her guise as a male impersonator, she finds a niche in the Victorian sexual underworld and is also drawn into the web of a rich Sapphic, society widow who offers sex, excitement and luxury but at a perilous price.

EPISODE 3

Diana throws out Nan and Blake and Blake disappears with all of the money leaving a totally destitute Nan. The only person she can think to turn to ends up unwelcoming to her. So begins a very different phase for Nan, which leads ultimately to her making the most important decision of her life

Extras:
Interviews
Photo Gallery
Scene Access

This mini series is based on another novel by the same author, whom provided the source for "Fingersmith", the other mini series I reviewed recently. And I liked this adaption just as much, if not more, as "Fingersmith".
I am surprised, with what you can get away with in a BBC series. If it had been an American series, it would have to be at least HBO (or something similar), to be able to show this. Of course here in Germany it wouldn't have any trouble to be on normal prime time

Rating:

(From Lesbian Movie Marathon on April 29th, 2009)