Only Three

Two Saturdays in a row now that I've gone out to dinner and some socialization with the group post discussion, which means fewer movies watched. Not that I rue the time spent not watching movies.

I borrowed four DVDs on Thursdays but only managed to watch two, and watched a Hindi film today. So the three:

• Collateral
  Uh ... watchable, I guess. A bit of the letdown in the denouement. I don't understand Tom Cruise's character at all. I prolly would watch it again if it were playing on FX or some other cable channel, but not otherwise.
• The Hundred-Foot Journey
  Was hoping for a sweet and gentle film in the vein of Salmon Fishing in the Yemen and The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, but nope. It's watchable enough. Inexplicably, I found Manish Dayal to be Julian Cheung's Indian doppelgänger — no idea why. It's food porn plus the delectable Helen Mirren and yet ... I found the movie insipid.
  I thought the bit after Hassan left for Paris was too rushed and not well fleshed out. Actually, maybe the movie should just focus on Le Saule Pleureur's and Maison Mumbai's rivalry, the xenophobia and racism (which resolves in two interracial relationships, yay), and the harmonization of cultures and cuisines.
  Also: Why did Om Puri play Juhi Chawla's husband?! He's too fucking old. Holy shit, I'd thought she was playing his daughter and that Hassan and his siblings were "Papa's" grandkids. Another also: I thought Juhi Chawla looked terrible and totally blame the lighting and cameramen and whatnot. How could they conspire to make her less than her radiant self?!
  And, goodness, the entire family must've been so traumatized to suffer through two major attacks by fire. Like, holy shit, that's horrible but they all seemed so very well-adjusted? I don't know ...
• Baby
  I didn't like this as much as I thought I would — and, in fact, found much of the tension in the film really contrived.
  If Special 26 was Neeraj Pandey's take on an Ocean's Eleven-esque heist, then Baby was his take on the political-ish thriller, Argo. That's just my uneducated opinion though. Baby apparently had great reviews ...
  Okay, but I must say there were plus points. One, Priya (Taapsee Pannu) could kick ass and take down Wasim Khan without resorting to below-the-belt hits (which I was screaming for her to do during that fight scene). I actually screeched, "Kick him in the balls! I don't know whether Neeraj Pandey is feminist enough to not kill you off as collateral damage!!!"
  So Priya is actually one level up from Constable Shanti (Divya Dutta) in 26 since Priya had something to do other than mouth throwaway lines. (Sadly, apparently the women who play Akshay Kumar's significant other in Baby and 26 are more or less as insignificant in one movie as in the other.)
  Second plus: Akshay Kumar shirtless! Can Kumar and Ronit Roy both be shirtless in the same scene in the next movie, pretty please? Needless to say, their inks should be allowed to show!

Okay, must hunker down to finish my reading AND finish watching the other two DvDs I borrowed by the end of this week.