Best of 2017

More like favorites actually...

1. Angamaly Diaries (Lijo Jose Pellissery)
2. Get Out (Jordan Peele)
3. A Ghost Story (David Lowery)
4. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (Martin McDonagh)
5. The Death of Stalin (Armando Ianucci)
6. Columbus (Kogonada)
7. Maayanadhi (Aashiq Abu)
8. Loveless (Andrey Zvyaginstev)
9. Dunkirk (Christopher Nolan)
10. Thondimuthalum Driksakshiyum (Dileesh Pothan)
11. Lady Bird (Greta Gerwig)
12. mother! (Darren Aronofsky)
13. Good Time (Safdie Brothers)
14. The Florida Project (Sean Baker)
15. Mudbound (Dee Rees)
16. The Square (Ruben Östlund)
17. Call Me By Your Name (Luca Guadagnino)
18. Sexy Durga (Sanal Kumar Sasidharan)
19. The Killing of a Sacred Deer (Yorgos Lanthimos)
20. Okja (Joon-ho Bong)
21. Logan Lucky (Steven Soderbergh)
22. T2: Trainspotting (Danny Boyle)
23. Split (Manoj Night Shyamalan)
24. The Shape of Water (Guillermo del Toro)
25. The Disaster Artist (James Franco)
26. John Wick: Chapter 2 (Chad Stahelski)
27. The Meyerowitz Stories (New & Selected) (Noah Baumbach)
28. Baby Driver (Edgar Wright)

2016- Best Malayalam Films (2016)

Malayalam cinema is ending 2016 with a whimper as there are no Christmas releases due to a strike (Kerala dei!)... So here goes my list of best Malayalam films from 2016...

1. Maheshinte Prathikaram (Dileesh Pothan)
2. Ozhivudivasathe Kali (Sanal Kumar Sasidharan)
3. Monsoon Mangoes (Abhi Varghese)
4. Munroe Thuruthu (Manu)
5. Kammattipaadam (Rajeev Ravi)
6. Idi (Sajid Yahiya)
7. Leela (Renjith)
8. James & Alice (Sujith Vasudev)
9. Guppy (Johnpaul George)
10. Kismath (Shanavas K. Baavakutty)
11. Kali (Sameer Thahir)
12. Anuraga Karikkinvellam (Khalid Rahman)

Favorite Directors List

Can't fucking sleep. So this is what I am doing. Putting up a fucking list. Here goes my list of favorite directors and three favorite films of theirs.

1. Stanley Kubrick (Dr. Strangelove, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Eyes Wide Shut)
2. Michael Haneke (The Seventh Continent, Funny Games, Code Unknown)
3. Coen Brothers (The Big Lebowski, No Country For Old Men, Blood Simple)
4. Quentin Tarantino (Pulp Fiction, Inglourious Basterds, Reservoir Dogs)
5. David Lynch (Lost Highway, Mulholland Drive, Blue Velvet)
6. Wong Kar Wai (Chungking Express, In the Mood for Love, Happy Together)
7. Frances Ford Coppola (The Godfather: Part 2, The Conversation, The Godfather)
8. Michelangelo Antonioni (The Passenger, L'Avventura, Blow-Up)
9. Werner Herzog (Aguirre: The Wrath of God, Encounters at the End of the World, Fitzcarraldo)
10. Krzystof Kieslowski (The Decalogue, Three Colours: Red, Three Colours: Blue)
11. Akira Kurosawa (Rashômon, Ran, Ikiru)
12. Sergio Leone (The Good, The Bad & The Ugly, Once Upon a Time in America, For a Few Dollars More)
13. Steven Soderbergh (Sex, Lies & Videotapes, Traffic, Kafka)
14. William Friedkin (The Exorcist, To Live and Die in L.A, Sorcerer)
15. Luis Bunuel (Belle de Jour, The Exterminating Angel, Viridiana)
16. Andrey Tarkovsky (Stalker, The Mirror, Solyaris)
17. Billy Wilder (Double Indemnity, Ace in the Hole, The Apartment)
18. Alfred Hitchcock (Rear Window, Vertigo, Dial M for Murder)
19. Sidney Lumet (Dog Day Afternoon, 12 Angry Men, Network)
20. Richard Linklater (Boyhood, Before Sunset, A Scanner Darkly)
21. Robert Altman (The Long Goodbye, The Player, Short Cuts)
22. Jim Jarmusch (Only Lovers Left Alive, Dead Man, The Limits of Control)
23. Abbas Kiarostami (Taste of Cherry, Certified Copy, Like Someone in Love)
24. Martin Scorsese (Taxi Driver, The King of Comedy, Mean Streets)
25. Paul Thomas Anderson (There Will be Blood, Punch-Drunk Love, Boogie Nights)
26. Wes Anderson (Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums, The Grand Budapest Hotel)
27. Nuri Bilge Ceylan (Once Upon a time in Anatolia, Climates, Distant)
28. Ruben Ostlund (Force Majeure, Play, Involuntary)
29. Paolo Sorrentino (The Great Beauty, The Consequences of Love, The Family Friend)
30. Ingmar Bergman (Persona, Cries & Whispers, Wild Strawberries)
31. Federico Fellini (La Dolce Vita, 8&1/2, La Strada)
32. Andrey Zvyaginstev (Leviathan, The Return, Elena)
33. Michael Mann (Thief, The Insider, Heat)
34. Jacques Audiard (The Beat that my Heart Skipped, Rust & Bone, Read My Lips)
35. Nicolas Winding Refn (Only God Forgives, Drive, Valhalla Rising)
36. Woody Allen (Annie Hall, Manhattan, Midnight in Paris)
37. Xavier Dolan (Tom at the Farm, Mommy, Heartbeats)
38. Andrew Dominik (Killing Them Softly, The Assassination of Jesse James by the coward Robert Ford, Chopper)
39. Roman Polanski (Chinatown, Repulsion, Rosemary's Baby)
40. Ridley Scott (Bladerunner, The Martian, The Counselor)
41. Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu (Birdman, Biutiful, Amores Perros)
42. Kim Ki-duk (Filmography as a whole is great, pointless talking about individual films)
43. Pedro Almodovar (Filmography as a whole is great, pointless talking about individual films)
44. Takashi Miike (Filmography as a whole is great, pointless talking about individual films)
45. David Cronenberg (Filmography as a whole is great, pointless talking about individual films)
46. Michael Winterbottom (24 Hour Party People, The Trip, The Killer Inside Me)
47. David Fincher (Fight Club, Zodiac, The Social Network)
48. Edgar Wright (Hot Fuzz, Shaun of the Dead, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World)
49. Denis Villeneuve (Enemy, Sicario, Incendies)
50. Majid Majidi (Filmography as a whole is great, pointless talking about individual films)
51. Takeshi Kitano (Hana-Bi, Kukujiro, Violent Cop)
52. Jean-Luc Godard (Contempt, Vivre Sa Vie, Bande a part)

Best of 2015- Malayalam

Here it goes...Click on the links for reviews...Nothing spectacular like Munnariyippu from last year but some very decent films...

1. Lukka Chuppi
2. Premam
3. Aadu Oru Bheekara Jeevi Aanu
4. Double Barrel
5. Anarkali
6. Valiya Chirakulla Pakshikal
7. Ennu Ninte Moideen
8. Nee-Na
9. Chirakodinja Kinavukal
10. Karma Cartel

Best of 2015 (2015)

I thought 2014 was a glorious year and compared to that 2015 has been rather underwhelming. Anyway, I will be updating this list as and when I watch good ones from 2015 and the minimum cut-off is 3.5/5. Short films, TV mini-series, documentaries etc-all included... Yet to see- 'The Forbidden Room', 'Macbeth', '45 Years', 'Son of Saul', 'Dheepan'...

1. Room (Lenny Abrahamson)
2. Slow West (John Maclean)
3. Kung Fury (David Sandberg)
4. Clouds of Sils Maria (Oliver Assayas)
5. Court (Chaitanya Tamhane)
6. The Look of Silence (Joshua Oppenheimer)
7. The Martian (Ridley Scott)
8. Bitter Lake (Adam Curtis)
9. Show Me A Hero (Paul Haggis, David Simon)
10. Mad Max: Fury Road (George Miller)
11. The Lobster (Yorgos Lanthimos)
12. Duke Of Burgundy (Peter Strickland)
13. A Most Violent Year (JC Chandor)
14. Eden (Mia Hansen-Love)
15. Ex Machina (Alex Garland)
16. Mistress America (Noah Baumbach)
17. The Big Short (Adam McKay)
18. Sicario (Denis Villeneuve)
19. Titli (Kanu Behl)
20. Look Who's Back (David Wnendt)
21. The Ardennes (Robin Pront)
22. Masaan (Neeraj Ghaywan)
23. Steve Jobs (Danny Boyle)
24. Going Clear (Alex Gibney)
25. Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation (Christopher McQuarrie)
26. While We're Young (Noah Baumbach)
27. Youth (Paolo Sorrentino)
28. Black Mass (Scott Cooper)
29. Nina Forever (Ben & Chris Blaine)
30. Beasts of No Nation (Carey Joji Fukunaga)
31. Yakuza Apocalypse (Takashi Miike)
32. Best of Enemies (Robert Gordon, Morgan Neville)
33. The Wonders (Alice Rohrwacher)
34. Merchants of Doubt (Robert Kenner)
35. The End of the Tour (James Ponsoldt)
36. Lukka Chuppi (Bash Mohammed)
37. Premam (Alphonse Putharen)
38. Aadu (Midhun Manuel Thomas)
39. Double Barrel (Lijo Jose Pellissery)
40. Deadpool (Tim Miller)
41. Far From The Madding Crowd (Thomas Vinterberg)
42. The Hateful Eight (Quentin Tarantino)
43. The Revenant (Alejandro Gonzalez Inaritu)
44. Mustang (Deniz Gomez Erguven)
45. Deep Web (Alex Winter)

Best Malayalam Films From Recent Times

It seems like there has been a renewed interest in Malayalam cinema off late owing to the successes of films like 'Drishyam' & 'Premam'. I consider the period 1980-1995 to be the golden age of Malayalm cinema and what followed after that was a period characterized by very bleak mediocrity. That time-period coincided with the utter dominance of the two stalwarts, Mohanlal & Mammootty, in all areas of the industry including the creative process and the writers/directors took backseats as films were tailor made for them to 'Perform' in larger than life roles. A bi-product of that was the creation of fans associations and the intense competition between the two sets resulting in the making of some really bad films. It is not fair to just blame the two stars and their asshole sets of fans for the fall in standard since there was also a dearth of talent in all other areas of the industry to accentuate the situation.

Things are beginning to change and a generational shift is well and truly happening. Even though some people are calling this to be again a golden age for Malayalam cinema, I am bit more cautious and would class it just as a recovery from the doldrums. The films that gets noticed and mentioned by non-malayalees are the big box office successes and as is often the case, much better films goes under the radar. So here is a list of what in my opinion are the best Malayalam films from recent times, which I define as post 2010...

1. Angamaly Diaries (Lijo Jose Pellissery)
2. Maheshinte Prathikaram (Dileesh Pothan)
3. Maayanadhi (Aashiq Abu)
4. Ozhivudivasathe Kali (Sanal Kumar Sasidharan)
5. Akam (Shalini Usha Nair)
6. Njan Steve Lopez (Rajeev Ravi)
7. Thondimuthalum Driksakshiyum (Dileesh Pothan)
8. Sexy Durga (Sanal Kumar Sasidharan)
9. Monsoon Mangoes (Abhi Varghese)
10. Munnariyippu (Venu)
11. Chaappa Kurish (Sameer Thahir)
12. Vedivazhipadu (Shambhu Purushothaman)
13. Neram (Alphonse Puthran)
14. Aadu Oru Bheekara Jeeviyanu (Midhun Manuel Thomas)
15. Annayum Rasoolum (Rajeev Ravi)
16. Kammattipaadam (Rajeev Ravi)
17. Idi (Sajid Yahiya)
18. Munroe Thuruthu (Manu)
19. Veettilekkulla Vazhi (Dr. Biju)
20. Lukka Chuppi (Bash Mohammed)
21. Rakshadhikari Baiju (Ranjan Pramod)
22. Premam (Alphonse Puthran)
23. Shutter (Joy Mathew)
24. Double Barrel (Lijo Jose Pellisery)
25. 1983 (Abrid Shine)  
26. Drishyam (Jeethu Joseph)

Film Soundtrack Mixtape-2014

I am not a music connoisseur and if you ask me which is my favorite album from a certain band that I listen to, the answer would most probably be 'Best of InsertBandName'. The way I discover contemporary music is usually based on 'Best Album of the Year' poll conducted on RAWK (a Liverpool fans forum that I visit regularly). Last year it was Lost in the Dreams from the band 'War on Drugs' and the year before it was Drenge  from the band with the same name. Apart from these, another source for discovering music is from the soundtracks of films that I watch. So the following is a list of best music I discovered through watching films from last year.

1) Vitamin C from CAN-Inherent Vice

2) Born to Die from Lana Del Rey-Mommy

3) The Taste of Blood from Jozef Van Wissem & SQÜRL-Only Lovers Left Alive

'Only Lovers Left Alive'  is the soundtrack of the year and should be listened to in its entirety.

4) El Condor Pasa from Simon & Garfunkel-Wild

5) I Love You All from Michael Dassbender-Frank

6) Death from Mica Levi-Under the Skin

The entire soundtrack is very creepy...

7) Vengeance from Perturbator-The Guest

The Guest is 2014's Drive in terms of Soundtrack. A very fun film to watch as well.

8) Deep Blue from Arcade Fire-Boyhood

I am a fan of Arcade fire but hadn't heard this track before watching Boyhood.

9) Experience from Ludovico Einaudi-Mommy

10) Funnel of Love from Madelline Follin-Only Lovers Left Alive

11) Far From Any Road from The Handsome Family-True Detective

12) Secure the Galactic Perimeter from The Soronprfbs-Frank

13) Obsidian from Gatekeeper- The Guest

14) Think from KALEIDA- John Wick

Search ResultsSQÜRL

Best of 2014

Here it goes...

1. Birdman (Alejandro Gonazalez Inarritu)
2. Leviathan (Andrey Zvyaginstev)
3. Boyhood (Richard Linklater)
4. Force Majeure (Ruben Östlund)
5. Only Lovers Left Alive (Jim Jarmusch)
6. Enemy (Denis Villeneuve)
7. Calvary (John Michael McDonagh)
8. Winter Sleep (Nuri Bilge Ceylan)
9. Nightcrawler (Dan Gilroy)
10. Grand Budapest Hotel (Wes Anderson)
11. Wild Tales (Damian Szifron)
12. New World (Hoon-jung Park)
13. Predestination (The Spierig Bros)
14. Black Coal, Thin Ice (Yi'nan Diao)
15. Under the Skin (Jonathan Glazer)
16. Inherent Vice (Paul Thomas Anderson)
17. A Most Violent Year (J.C. Chandor)
18. A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night (Ana Lily Amirpour)
19. Kraftidioten (Hans Peter Moland)
20. Whiplash (Damien Chazelle)
21. Citizenfour (Laura Poitras)
22. The Babadook (Jennifer Kent)
23. Two Days, One Night (Dardennes)
24. Mommy (Xavier Dolan)
25. Edge of Tomorrow (Doug Liman)
26. Housebound (Gerard Johnstone)
27. Wild (Jean-Marc Vallee)
28. Listen Up Philip (Alex Ross Perry)
29. The Drop (Michael R. Roskam)
30. Locke (Steven Knight)
31. Munnariyippu (Venu)
32. Love Is Strange (Ira Sachs)
33. What We Do In The Shadows (Clement & Waititi)
34. The Rover (David Michod)
35. Kumiko, The Treasure Hunter (Zellner Bros)
36. Snowpiercer (Joon-ho Bong)
37. Maps to the Stars (David Cronenberg)
38. John Wick (Chad Stahelski)
39. Respire (Melanie Laurent)
40. '71 (Yann Demange)
41. Foxcatcher (Bennett Miller)
42. Starry Eyes (Kevin Kolsch & Dennis Widmyer)
43. Timbuktu (Adberrahmane Sissako)
44. Starred Up (David MacKenzie)
45. Le Week-End (Roger Michell)
46. Tusk (Kevin Smith)
47. A Most Wanted Man (Anton Corbijn)
48. Ida (Pawel Pawlikowski)
49. Why Don't You Play In Hell? (Shion Sono)
50. Fruitvale Station (Ryan Coogler)
51. Frank (Lenny Abrahamson)
52. Jodorowsky's Dune (Frank Pavich)
53. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (Matt Reeves)
54. The Guest (Adam Wingard)
55. Godzilla (Gareth Edwards)
56. Obvious Child (Gillian Robespierre)
57. Coherence (James Ward Byrkit)
58. X-Men: Days of Future Past (Bryan Singer)

Its been a rather good year.