Really Quick Reviews: Love Aaj Kal, Life Partner, Kaminey, Inglorious Basterds and Show Business...and Dexter.

It's been a really long time since I blogged about anything I've read or seen, so this is starting to play catchup.

I realized that I got so, so used to seeing Hindi movies that were really bad (after the strike, and then this brain-cell killer which was the big-budget movie that was released after it), that my expectations had been set really low. In general in the past few months, I'd come to believe that if I don't cringe too many times during a movie, and there are at least a couple of things I find amusing, that's really all I have the right to expect.

So one really good movie was great, a second really great, and a third left me uncomfortable with my sense of satisfaction; I probably need to reset my expectations from Hindi films again.

Love Aaj Kal was incredibly good; well-directed, perfectly cast, incredibly romantic and funny.
Even the surprising casting was effective.

Life Partner: It was a pretty good Govinda movie and its been a while :); nuff said.

Kaminey: was spectacular: as were the lead pair and every single actor in the movie. Its a brilliant director's homage to Tarantino. It's tense, funny, thrilling, fast-paced with incredibly interesting characters and surprise twists that make sure you were paying attention. The film's music, particularly the background score is definitely the best I remember in a Hindi movie for a while...which brings me to:

Inglourious Basterds: so, so, so good...for so, so many reasons. :)

Continuing the movie theme: I finally finished a novel. Show Business by Shashi Tharoor.

While the real-life inspiration for most of the principal character's traits and the incidents in his life is pretty obvious, I really enjoyed both the setting, the vivid pictures of Tharoor's characteristically cheeky turns of phrase and humor.

Finally the online Netflix subscription means I got through the first season of Dexter: I'm hooked.:)