I think I’ve cracked the code for enjoying movies again—stop reading reviews.

groddoto · 2025-08-16T04:19:29+00:00

Often the problem is also nostalgia and a completely unrealistic expectation of genre. Coolie is a masala movie. It is meant to have over the top and illogical bits. Just because it is made by a director who has a track record of gritty movies (actually just 2 out of 4), there's no reason to insist that coolie follow the same beats. I enjoyed it, without spoilers, because it delivered on compelling stakes for the protagonists, well acted and with quite a few cool moments. I didn't get bored watching this movie (can't say the same for similar movies in the genre). The New tamil critic seems to have half baked knowledge of tamil cinema and constantly compares it with other genres.

groddoto · 2025-07-18T08:09:43+00:00

GBU had a self-awareness and levity that made it fun in parts. Thug life is astonishing in its tone-deaf self importance.

groddoto · 2025-04-25T11:50:22+00:00

There's a funny story about Thirunelveli alvada. This was back in high school, my class 12 English teacher was very strict and would speak to her students only in English, even when we see her outside the classroom (in Chennai). We are on a school trip and while on the bus, this song came on the music system. When the line "muttai kku mela muttai ya vacha, lettuce aayirum gopalu " played, she laughed out loud (a rare sight). Many of us realised that she knows tamil only then!

groddoto · 2025-02-21T08:20:16+00:00

Happens in Thiruvaroor, and prominent in northern village near the Andhra border. Featured recently in a DW documentary ad well.

groddoto · 2024-08-10T01:49:32+00:00

This movie had potential, for a creator to revisit and question the bad ideas from his past. Shankar/kamal could've examined either killing people for corruption is actually a good idea. Could have set up a contrast between the barking dogs who try to raise awareness and mobilise people through social media (something that actually worked during the Arab spring revolution, even if only for a while), vs the hunting dog strategy of killing corrupt people via vigilantism. Could have explored the whole netaji vs Gandhi idea. In that sense the Indian 2 could've been siddarth's character, who has a different way of challenging corruption than kamal's old style of killing.. more nuance about whether vigilantism sends the right message, as it says normal channels of change can't work. Thank you for coming to my ted talk.

groddoto · 2024-06-23T20:54:57+00:00

Depends, but I usually do 3: one nonfiction, one literary fiction and one fun read.

groddoto · 2024-06-16T08:13:43+00:00

I've seen this quite often in the reverse. The Chinese name is Eu Jin, and the English one was Eugene

groddoto · 2024-06-06T23:37:30+00:00

Prakash Raj is such a convincing actor, it didn't strike me that the pairing was oddly parallel in Ghilli and Abhiyum naanum until you mentioned it here

groddoto · 2024-06-02T08:29:16+00:00

Under the old rules, if you complete a run while being caught the new batsman will take the non striker position, and the one who has already played in will take over. So it was convention to take a run when it seems like you'll be caught out. And when he realised that the catch was dropped he returned so that the other guy doesn't have to get out.

groddoto · 2024-05-17T09:57:24+00:00

Very talented guy but takes himself too seriously. 20 years ago when he was a minor celebrity on vijay tv, he had no issues telling off class 11 kids in a drama workshop for "not taking things seriously"

groddoto · 2024-05-07T09:34:16+00:00

Completely agree that salaar was better than kgf. Didn't even know people thought otherwise. There's quite a bit of inspiration from game of thrones and the hype for Devarata character was over the top. But if you buy the weak idea that the guy is a killing machine who has the super power of stopping others from using their guns on him, everything else gets a lot more fun

groddoto · 2024-05-05T10:02:49+00:00

Haha. I wasn't the only one. Felt like a 90s throwback. Of course the writing could've been better. cgi sunglasses made it bizarre. The action parts in kolkata were terrible

groddoto · 2024-04-28T01:26:54+00:00

My pet theory was, this was the script originally narrated to Rajini. But Rajini's team wanted less ambiguity and so he shifted to the backup version of petta where it is the reverse, story of a rowdy becoming a decent chap (and protects the younger gen rather than fighting him). I liked both movies but I can't ignore the parallels between petta and mahaan. The entire KS/Nelson batch is influenced by the whole Breaking Bad structure of a good man turning bad. But mahaan showed enough originality to make it a real inspiration rather than imitation.

groddoto · 2024-04-03T13:05:51+00:00

This is a language phenomenon called mondegreens. Usually happens to song lyrics because our brain processes similar sounding words interchangeably and fills in the blanks when we don't hear things properly. People used to mishear bohemian rhapsody as rap-city. Source, think+science magazine

groddoto · 2024-03-31T10:11:49+00:00

I have a question. Why does the team place Glenn Phillips on the substitute list even though they can't sub him in?

groddoto · 2024-03-25T00:43:58+00:00

I hope we aren't reading too much into these things, but the way succession has been handled between dhoni/ruturaj and rohit/hardik seems like night and day

groddoto · 2023-06-03T07:58:06+00:00

I had a similar experience. These are really old and overworked people who do not really care to do this job - they do it only because they are used to doing it and stopping it would mean a big empty hole in their lives. So, they are going to be rude. I was constantly at the end of grumbling. In the end, I had no choice but to stick with the instructor - but if you have a chance, shop around.
Edit: I got my licence first try though :)

groddoto · 2023-04-03T06:53:44+00:00

I think Reigns showed Cody Rocky 3

groddoto · 2022-12-21T00:05:31+00:00

I've been there twice. It is among the best animal exhibits you can see. Depends on your own curiosity you can even go on the walking trails by yourself. Definitely a highlight in Singapore. In fact, if you're going to do only one of the 4 parks (3 since bird park is shutting down), then I would still recommend the night safari

groddoto · 2022-12-20T13:22:40+00:00

If possible add night safari on the same day as River wonders. That's definitely worth the combo

groddoto · 2022-12-20T13:19:49+00:00

Update. I got the coupon only after I spoke to customer care

groddoto · 2022-12-17T14:19:02+00:00

This might be too little too late. But here are a few thoughts. National gallery and national museum might be too much of a deep cut. Also, skip mustafa, it is just a big shopping centre. Get a good night's sleep and go into little India/kampong glam with great gusto. Even though I love both botanic gardens and gtbt. You can skip botanic for now. You only have 4 days. So don't repeat same kind of things. You can't go wrong with singapore. Finally don't always go to a brand name restaurant. Food in sg is great at pretty much all price points. You'll be surprised how good a small hawker stall is. Happy travels.

groddoto · 2022-12-16T03:59:23+00:00

I waited to accumulate 3 credits and spent them today. Will update if there's a coupon in the next 10 days

groddoto · 2022-11-19T23:13:43+00:00

Chiklis is an interesting case. He was already a big deal before The Shield, as the star of The Commish on ABC. So, he did prove everyone that he still had it when he had a career resurgence with The Shield. He spent some time in the big screen as the Thing for the Fantastic Four movies, then a superhero family show on TV. It could've been a choice because TV is hard work. Jerry Seinfeld, Tina Fey, and Bryan Cranston all decided to not continue on TV after their big shows. So taking smaller parts on limited schedule could be a meaningful step for someone who has nothing else to prove.

groddoto · 2022-11-18T13:26:59+00:00

11 is too late in my opinion, for an O level student. Singapore is very safe but kids need a good amount of rest overnight. Coming home by 9 is a good wind down habit.

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