RIFLE RANGE BOY

Anora (2024) Director: Sean Baker https://thefutureoftheforce.com/2024/10/31/review-anora-2024/ I was nearly knocked off my socks when I heard that 'Anora' won five Academy Awards, including Best Film, Best Actress, and Best Director. However, receiving the Best Film award is beyond any rational justification.   My first impression of it when I viewed it was that it seemed like rubbish. It reminded me of the numerous B-grade films that excited teenagers in the 1980s when they gathered around their friends' VHS players to watch Koo Stark in 'Emily'. The plot is thin and predictable, and the storytelling fails to present anything new. The storyline has been told and retold in numerous other films, though it serves more as a subplot. For context, this narrative follows a pole dancer who also works as a prostitute and finds herself infatuated with the debauched son of a Russian oligarch. According to her, the correct job title is exotic dancer. They dive into a whirlwin...

  Sound of Freedom (2022)  Director: Alejandro Monteverde This movie drew a lot of flak from either side of the spectrum. People over the subject matter put forward in the movie cry foul over the lack of publicity about this movie. On the other end, those who stand by the belief that the whole talk of the existence of secret pedophilic prostitution is bunkum are up in arms. They cannot believe that Tinseltown is pandering to conspiracy theorists. It does not help that it is the third highest-grossing film in the US after Barbie and Oppenheimer.  On one end, big studios had malaise, like Fox and later Disney, which bought Fox to get off the ground. It had to be purchased by a small independent studio funded by crowdsourcing and the excellent work of Mel Gibson and the movie star Jim Caviezel, who played the protagonist Tom Ballard. For a long time, during Trump's tenure, a strong lobbyist swore to the presence of an entity called QAnon. Nobody could pinpoint who QAnon actu...

Mandi (Market Place, Hindi; 1983) Directed by: Shyam Benegal It was a time when Bollywood could not go wrong. With their vast array of capable actors, there controlled the narrative. Even though initially, Bollywood catered for the masses. It tried to put forward the leftists' agenda, and the rest of the population would just feed off their hands. So when Bollywood made a movie out of a classic satirical novel with prolific and talented actors of that era, the likes of Shabana Azmi, Naseeruddin Shah, Smita Patil, Om Puri and Amrish Puri, it became an instantaneous national and international hit. It has a string of accolades under its belt to boast. Things have turned 180 degrees since OTT platforms democratized movie releases. It seems that the Bollywood mafias are struggling to produce even a single hit. All their recent releases have tanked repeatedly. Conversely, unknown newcomers often shine at the top. This movie takes a sarcastic look at the unholy alliance between the madame...

The Bacchus Lady (2016) Director: E J-Yong Bacchus was a new word to me. It actually refers to the Greek god of wine, sometimes associated with Dionysus. Following the 1997 Asian financial crisis, many elderly people found themselves needing to fend themselves. The Miracle at Han River, following years of economic boom following the Korean War, left a country so entwined in the material chase that the traditional Confucian values had lost their appeal. Many young Koreans had emigrated, leaving their elders at home. South Korea is said to be having one of the worst social safety nets amongst OECD countries for its senior citizens. OECD (Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development) countries comprise intergovernmental economic organisations with 38 nations founded in 1961 to stimulate world trade and stimulate economic progress. Its precursor, OEEC, was started in 1948 following the implementation of the Marshall Plan to develop post-WW2 Europe. The poverty rate of elderly peop...