(02-13-2026, 12:29 PM)Drunk Monk Wrote: Sandiwara

(02-13-2026, 12:33 PM)Drunk Monk Wrote: The Singers

I can't find my old post of this video:



...but I saw today that they are coming to SF Jazz for two days in June:

Quote:TUFF TIMES NEVER LAST

KOKOROKO

TUE-WED, Jun 16-17
7:30PM
MINER AUDITORIUM

London-based septet Kokoroko “are masters of African fusion, intent on bridging the divide between young people and African popular music of old” (GRAMMY.com). Led by trumpeter/vocalist Sheila Maurice-Grey, the ensemble makes their debut at SFJAZZ with music from their latest Brownswood release, Tuff Times Never Last, which blends jazz, highlife and West African grooves, lovers rock, and 80s-inspired British R&B and funk. 

TICKETS & INFO

(01-19-2026, 08:50 PM)Drunk Monk Wrote: Blades of the Guardians

The Mandalorian and Grogu. Might as well just start the thread now. Don't touch the buttons.

(09-18-2025, 12:54 PM)Drunk Monk Wrote: Dead to Rights

Like Dhurandhar https://www.brotherhoodofdoom.com/doomFo...p?tid=8755 this is another intensily ultravi tollywood film. I watched it because it had a martial reference. The protag is an Indian raised in Japan and trained as a samurai. The yakuza kills all the surviving samurai but him. He befriends a Bombay port mogul on his journey back to India, and becomes his protector. 

OG is dubbed an incarnation of Kalki - the restorer of dharma. What he is here is invincible. He cuts through gangs with his katana, goes full auto, and kills hundreds of thugs throughout the film, blowing stuff up, setting places on fire, literally toppling skyscrapers and parrying bullets. Insane ridiculous action, all in slomo wifh a driving edm beat and sanguineous sprays. 

I don’t know what happened to Indian film. The action used to be lame. Now it’s absurdly brutal and bloody, relentless and merciless. Kids get shot in the back. Lovers get murdered. Failed henchmen are popped of by their bosses unflinchingly. So ruthless. Lots of decapitations and arm lopping off.

I have two fav scenes that capture the ultravi

1. OG is cutting down gangsters and casually tucks his katana under his chin mid-fight to straighten his belt.
2. OG kicks a gang leader on to an exploding car which blows him into the air. OG leaps to meet him midair and decapitates him, all in glorious slo-mo.

This film is nuts. The plot is twisty and there are a lot of characters. 2 1/2 hours of movie gives a lot of time, except that all the action is all in dramatic slo-mo. 

And this is just the beginning - it sets up part 2. This is the 2nd installment in the Sujeeth cinematic universe - the first is Saaho (2019) which I might have to watch. Sujeeth is the writer/director.

There’s a father/daughter arc, and of course, the daughter is named Taara (with 3 As). 

And yes, 2 tollywood dance numbers. 

Pawan Kalyan plays OG and I didn’t find him leading action star material at all. He was uncharismatic and reminded me of an Indian Charlie Day. 

Not D00M reccomended unless you just need a massive ultravi fix.

This is a buddy film that you've seen a bunch of times. Dak is a loser predator that has to go on a journey to prove himself to his father. He's very serious. Along the way he picks up an annoying, chatty travel buddy, Elle Fanning...a synth, with no legs. So he carries her around while he pursues his quest. The film is all about the flaura/fauna of this planet. Really well done cgi creatures...

Weyland/Yotani is up to their usual tricks: collecting specimens from around the universe and being generally nefarious.

Hilarity ensues. 

The other CGI isn't stellar. The army of synths (all identical) isn't great. Some of the ground vehicles are pretty fake looking, but generally, it was a fun watch. 

I'm not big into the Predator franchise, but I enjoyed this.

Recommended.

--tg

I went to Alamo in Mountain View for an early preview. I had high hopes going in, I really like Sam Rockwell...but I got there early enough to catch the Alamo pre-show reel which included an interview with the director talking about other movies that influenced this. He cited Dog Day Afternoon for act 1, some anime (Akira?) for act 2 and Repo Man for act 3. I didn't get that watching the film, but I did get that he was referencing other films constantly. This movie was all over the place. Mostly, it's a zombie movie and really badly wants to be a funny Black Mirror. It gets heavy handed with the messaging: mobile phones and AI are bad, but doesn't really get any deeper than that. There's a monologue bit near the end that was very conspicuous and didn't really need the rest of the movie.

It tries to be funny, the monster that appears in the trailer is like a bad, early, genAI dog images/videos with recursive heads in a fractal nightmare. They could have pulled that string harder for great effect...Generally I found it all a little flat.

It almost redeemed itself towards the end with an extra act. I'm not a Michael Peña fan. He always stands out as himself. I find it hard to take him as a character. I think the movie might have been better if they cast all unknowns with Sam Rockwell.

Wait for the small screen...

--tg

--tg