"I Will Remember You"

Angel S1E8

For the Angel/Buffy fans. What are they called, anyway? Spuffy rolls off the tongue, but what is this, Bufgel*? I’m not going to google it on my work computer, that is for sure**.

*sounds like the tiger balm version of muscle milk
**that was the correct decision. However, buffyandangelcouples.wikia.com tells me that it is “Bangel” which seems a little mean considering how little they actually get to bang.

Anyway, Buffy visits Angel to tell him off for skulking around Sunnydale (“Pangs”), but while fighting a demon together it turns Angel into a human. Well, that’s cool, he thinks. Human souls are much more durable than vampire ones, so he and Buffy can have tons of sex. But as he adjusts to human vulnerabilities he feels guilty that The Powers that Be probably didn’t bring him back from hell so he could eat peanut butter chocolate ice cream in bed.

I think it, I say it.

Angel S1E4-7

Yet another blonde woman is in peril from a dangerous stalker in “I Fall to Pieces”. His methods are supernatural but otherwise he’s distressingly mundane. Kind of an interesting counterpoint to the Buffy S3 episode “Beauty and the Beasts” where the abusive boyfriend turns bad via chemistry/magic - here the stalker was already abusive, he just happens to use detachable body parts to get what he wants. Also, very creepy.

“Rm w/a Vu” or “In which Cordelia gets a new apartment, completely loses her security deposit but finds herself.” I am so, so glad Cordelia got to be on this show. By the end of Buffy S3 it seemed like she was often just around to justify her place in the opening credits and letting her do things here is very exciting.

More Kate Lockley in “Sense and Sensitivity.” Because police brutality is funny when it’s a lady! I mean, I like Rani in Mardaani, I liked Bhavani, I cheered when they beat people up. I don’t know if I feel less sympathetic because Kate’s motivations are less noble, or if it’s just that my sympathy plummets when the cop's in blue instead of khaki.

On the other hand, Angel wears his hawaiian shirt disguise, which is the best.

“Bachelor Party”

There has to be a gif somewhere of Doyle trying to fight while wheeling around trapped in a box, because that’s hilarious. The episode is interesting because so far the only “good” demons are exceptions - Angel, Doyle, that annoying guy from Buffy S2, Anya (kind of), but here we have a whole family of demons who aren’t evil. Who are in fact, quite normal. Except not. Except kind of. So it’s a cool way to play with the introduction, because first KenRichard is the bumbling ex’s-new-partner who is distressingly normal, especially in comparison to Doyle. Then we find out he’s a demon and feel vindicated, even though the sequence is a little too neat to be true. So yeah, he’s a demon, but a good guy from a normal family, and Doyle’s ex-wife isn’t in trouble at all. Now it’s just awkward until KenRichard tries to eat Doyle’s brains and Angel has to save someone for real. It’s all a great farce, and yet still manages to leave us with “well, okay, these guys wanted to eat our protagonist’s brains, but demons still seem like reasonable people”.

Brooding In the Dark

I’ve decided on an epic rewatch of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel. Unfortunately, I got through Buffy S3 without ever writing anything, so I’m starting with S1 of Angel and just going with it. It’s not Bollywood, but it’s got cheese and melodrama and I really like it and have lots of things to say, none of which are terribly intellectual so it seems like it'll fit right in on this blog.

I think Angel has smiled more in the first three episodes of this show than he ever did in three seasons of Buffy. That plus lampshading his habit of brooding alone in the dark endears me to him more than any amount of true love could have.

I realize that most people gif this kind of thing. But I a) do not have photoshop and b) am lazy.

Kapoor & Sons (2016)

I’m not going to say I wasted $9.50, but I would rather have watched Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu, which is also written and directed by Shakun Batra, is also really annoying, but is on netflix and has Kareena Kapoor. Plus better songs.

So this is a family drama. I refuse to call it a melodrama, despite the sheer density of familial lies, resentment, and tragedy in this movie, because I like melodramas. Melodramas have big stories, evoke big feelings, and take you away into a world where even the mundane is full of dramatic significance. This is normal drama, just a hell of a lot of it. Dysfunctional families just don’t do it for me, or maybe I can only stand one per year and I already watched Dil Dhadakne Do. I can’t really fault the acting (well, maybe Sidharth Malhotra’s) but boy was this long and really overwritten.

Darr (1993)

Darr means “fear”, and the tagline is “A violent love story”, just so you know what you’re getting into. It’s not a love story at all. It’s beyond those stories of all-consuming love like Dil Se all the way past Raanjhana and into some heavy-duty crazy. So naturally I enjoyed it.

 Shahrukh Khan plays Rahul, an unbalanced young man dangerously obsessed with Kiran (Juhi Chawla).

Kiran is as beautiful and carefree as Juhi usually is. As she gets ready to leave college, she’s serenaded by an unseen singer. She assumes it’s her fiance, Sunil (Sunny Deol*), but as she searches the campus and the gardens, the mysterious voice stays hidden. It’s not Sunil, it’s Rahul, and as the movie goes on, the refrain “tu haan kar/yah naa kar/tu hai meri Kiran” (Whether you say yes or no, you’re mine) becomes more and more disturbing because we will find out that is exactly what he means. Nothing Kiran can do will stop him.

*My favorite part of the wikipedia entry on this movie: “Chopra offered Sunny Deol the choice between playing the role of Rahul and Sunil. Deol chose the latter, believing it would be an asset to his career. However, this did not happen.”

Dilwale (2015)

First things first: Kajol. Kajol Kajol Kajol Kajol. In case anyone was not aware that she’s the most beautiful woman on the planet, she is, in fact, the most beautiful woman on the planet. DO MORE MOVIES KAJOL I HEART YOU. Seriously, go watch Mehndi Laga Ke and then Gerua and tell me she has aged a single day. (And then try to work out that sympathetic crick in your neck after watching her do all those backbends.)


Second: This movie was not as good as I wished it could have been, but it was better than I was expecting. We are all here for the SRK-Kajol jodi anyway, right? And on that front, it delivers. It delivers the same thing we’ve seen a billion times before, but when we’re depending on Rohit Shetty for the delivery, he does well to avoid too much innovation.

Third: The promo picture is inaccurate. There are no gigantic wrenches in the movie. All wrenches are normal-sized.

Pyar Jhukta Nahin (1985)

I was watching Hamari Adhuri Kahaani, but that turned out to be pretty insufferable, so I found myself some Mithun to cleanse my palate. Plus, Padmini Kolhapure! The mom from PPNH! I seem to have gotten very lazy about finding subtitled versions of movies, because apparently I couldn’t be bothered to fork over $10 and wait for Amazon Prime shipping, so I watched it on youtube. The plot is straightforward and the story is sweet.

The beginning is pretty hilarious. Preeti (Padmini) drunkenly crashes her car into a lightpost and starts getting hassled by the sort of group of jackasses that always show up when a heroine is doing something improper (as if that excuses it). And like always happens, the hero shows up to leap through the air and kick everybody in the face at the same time. Our hero Ajay (Mithun Chakraborty) tries to help Preeti, who keeps trying to emphasize what a shareef ladki she is. Shareef though she may be, she is also very drunk, so Ajay hauls her home to let her sleep it off.

This is very considerate of him, and in return she accidentally sets his bedroom on fire.