 We should do our channel on Rockin' Chair some now. I agree. Hey, welcome back to our Stupid Raxiates, of course. I'm Rick. And you're also on Instagram and Twitter from all g'sick content. Thanks to Patreon for watching. Subscribe if you haven't yet. Like button. Bang! Hey, Patreon. See you tomorrow. Oh, yeah, you're doing a little live on Patreon, right? I am, yeah, yeah. But today, little children, we're doing a movie with you. The not-so-anticipated film. Yeah. PS1, or how would you say that? I will butcher it. Like everybody's names and the cities and the towns and the characters, I would try to pronounce it Honeon Sullivan. Part one. Yeah. Obviously, the historical epic based off of the book, the Tamil book directed by Mani Ratnam. Yeah. Obviously, the screenplay was written by Mani Ratnam, produced by Mani Ratnam, composed by our non-Brahman. And Rick started reading it, but he only got a little through, right? Yeah. There they are. Oh, nice. Oh, they're all colorful, too. Yeah. Nice. But, and if you're wondering why we're Skyping right now, I'm out of town right now. And so that's why we're having to use Skype. So just know that. But obviously, this is a new film. And so we're going to do mostly non-spoiler reviews. And then if we want to get into spoilers, there's a lot going on in these films, as we predicted. And so whenever we get to spoilers, we will let you know beforehand. But just you've been warned. So this will be mostly non-spoiler. But Rick, your initial thoughts of PS1, sir. A couple of days ago, Andrani and I went to go see the movie The Woman King because there's been a lot of Oscar buzz about that. And one of the things about that was we felt like a lot of the production design and the costuming just, it looked like it had just been made, manufactured. We didn't feel like we were in the era and in the place because it just everything looks so fresh and looks so clean that it never really made us believe we were in the time and in the place. The exact opposite is true for this movie. And basically anybody who wants to know how to frame a shot, use frames per second, how to use a jib or a stationary shot or a POV. This is a master class in cinematography and directing. And ultimately we can get into the details. Andrani and I both saw it together and we both really, really liked this movie a lot. Yeah. I did as well. It's one of actually, especially in Indian cinema, I'd put it already in the top three films coming out of India this year. Yeah. In fact, when we were driving in the car I said, you know, as much as I enjoyed Brahmastra and it is really a entertainer and it's much lighter fare as it were, we just as a whole, this one for us is meatier and richer and a much more satisfying film experience. Yeah. Absolutely. I totally agree. And the complaints I've seen about this film are stuff that we had talked about before of what we thought this film was going to be. The people that are disappointed that I found with this film, because I looked up some reviews after I saw it and people want Bahubali. And I'm like, it was clear from the trailer, this is not going to be a big action every five seconds film. This is what we thought it was going to be. This is Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones, mostly about the story. It's actually a very Game of Thrones really, because obviously of what's going on, but it's mostly just about these characters and what they're doing and the shenanigans going on between characters and there's very little action going and there's some good action towards the end and there's some stuff like that. But that is, if you're going in for this, you're going to hate it. You're going to hate this film, because you'd want to go into this film and sit there and experience this story that whoever, the Kalki, right, is the original author, they created and Mani Rottenham has created in the film in this whole set of this world. It is just wonderful. It is captivating. It is just you're just engrossed in what the stories and I'm sad, but I'm also happy I didn't know the story because then stuff got to be kind of surprised to me, but also I'm like, I kind of want to read it all before the next one. Right. I know and I really like to know the diehards who like the stupid baby who sent me this book series, who just adores this literature all of their life and I'd really like to know how they feel it's been translated because that's going to be a completely different and very, very valid opinion because they have a completely different set of standards that they're going from. But for those of us who are not only novices to the story and the books, but also still very, very young and green in our understanding of Indian culture and South Indian culture, I just I freaking thought it was fantastic. Yeah, it was really good. Really, really enjoyed it. So let's just get into the nitty gritty here. I thought, let's start with the performances, man. These ladies, like everybody was pretty good, like really good. There's like one character that I didn't care for and I'll get into that later. But when like Ashwarya, when I need to know their names here, sorry. Is it Trisha? Yeah, Trisha Krishnan and Sorbita, all of the women, but especially Ashwarya and Trisha, I believe is the other main girl. And you're obviously referring to Ashwarya Rai because there is also the actress, Ashwarya Lakshmi. Yes, they were all good. But like when she got on, I was like, these women seem in charge. Oh, they are. That's that's the first impression I like. All these men are like doing their thing and they're they're parading around. But it's it really seemed and I don't know because I've read the books. It really seemed that these women were the ones that were actually the one pulling the strings and doing everything. They Ashwarya has never won. Look better. She looks absolutely great. Gorgeous, gorgeous. This is one of her best performances, I think. She I agree. She drenched in power. Absolutely did everywhere. And and she did exactly what you need and came from the you know, if you wanted one of the most we talk about it all the time, one of the most important things you can do as an actor on film. And it's especially important with this kind of a role is understand the power and stillness. And she is clearly aware with her experience as an actress of how to captivate you and just that shot they used in the trailer. As you know, they should. There's that one shot of her where she's standing almost kind of three quarters and and the cameras just slowly it was from her. And it's just it's a slow pull. And I thought the cast uniformly was really, really good. I would give special nods like you to all of the women. I felt like all of the women were exceptional because they also had exceptional characters to play. Yeah. But I also I thought Karthi, who I think was probably he was basically our lead in this, because he was the one that we followed most part, right? Right. In his journey. But I thought he did really well. He kind of had this swagger about him. He was, but he also had good presence, good comedic timing. I liked him a lot as well as Vikram, who has great screen presence. And he's really you could like you're like, oh, I believe that he's conquered and just killed a whole bunch of people like he's a person to be feared. I thought they both did really, really well. What do you think about them? Yeah, I did, too. I really I'm interested to see which of the characters you weren't particularly fond of because for me, there wasn't anybody that I wasn't connected with. This is absolutely giving no spoilers away. And I think it would be obvious when you're talking about an epic novel. This is an ensemble piece. It's just and that was that's the one drawback, I would say, for pretty much anybody. And it isn't just me. It was also for my Indian wife, who's Bengali. She also, you know, she doesn't speak Tamil. She's not as familiar with the South region as South Indians would be. It was hard, worth the effort, but it was hard to keep track of every character name and every location because the one of the hardest parts was when you see the spelling of the name in Tamil, there's no real English translation of a word. So like you see the name spelled, but when they say the name as a standalone, you're like, that's not how that's pronounced. And it's like, well, actually, yeah, doofus, because there's no English way to express that, you know? So that yeah, that was tough. That was one of the the the things that people were telling, like after people had seen it and we were saying we were going today and they were like, good luck keeping up with all the names. So here's the thing. I I'm terrible with names in real life. OK, like just I've worked with people for years and not known their name because after a while you can't ask anymore. And so I'm just like, hey, man, hey, I do it, bro. It's it's a terrible thing that I do because it's just ADD. I think it's just I can't keep track. So Indian films, it's kind of the same thing. I was like, I know this character. I know this face. Right. I know I unless it's like Charlotte Khan's name is Raj. I probably know most people in most Indian films names. I'm just going to be honest with you guys. I'm just like, I know that character. I know them. I never keep track of their names almost ever. I'm just like, I know that character. That's who they are. I don't know their name. And so I was especially hard. Yeah, I wasn't really trying to keep track of names. I was just like, I recognize the faces. I was like, OK, OK, this is him, this is him, this is him, this is him. But there this is there's a lot. This almost could have been and I almost wish it was like Game of Thrones series, a 10 episode 10 hour series. Because I feel like even though it's three hours, it kind of flew by for me. I thought it was a pacing was really, really good pacing. But like, I know that there's so much more information that they probably could have brought out and helped us sympathize or grow to care for certain characters more in certain episodes because there's so much, but obviously they need the money. They need the box office and so they need to do it in certain ways. But I'm glad they did it in two films, at least. Yeah, I'm sure there's so much information. Oh, my stars. Yes. And I mean, there's there's I'm looking at five books over here. And I'm sure I mean, I could be wrong. That's something I'd love to if we were if we got the opportunity to interview Monty Rottenham. I would I would want to ask him that right out the gate is was that ever a consideration? And I talked about that with Andrani as well afterwards and thought, you know, obviously this would work story wise, probably better as an extended series like the Game of Thrones or Lord of the Rings. However, you lose the majesty of the cinematic experience in a theater. And I'm I'll take that experience and sacrifice maybe the fact that we missed out on some of the story. And I bet Monty Rottenham would say if you want the deeper details, read the book, yeah, because this this movie, if there's a movie that deserves big screen attention, this is this is Braveheart. This is Gladiator. And I wish we would have gotten an IMAX, man. It would have been so beautiful. Next, because I'm so happy he filmed the both films at the same time, so we get it next summer. Is yeah, I really want to just if even if it's playing, it was only a one theater in IMAX here. I think next time we're going to make the trek out if it's at the same theater. Yeah, because I think this is one that's it's worthy of of seeing because of the beauty of the sets they created, right? Yeah. And that's what I wanted to say is a aside from the obvious genius direction and cinematography and the solid cast major, major, major shout out to production design, costuming, all the set decorating, all of the fluidness between practical effect and visual effect. There were times where you couldn't tell what was green screened and what was set pieces. It was just flawlessly interrelated. Yeah, there were probably a handful, I'd say, of certain CGI moments that you could tell they decide. Yeah. And like I said, don't go in this for the action. OK, no, there is some good action. I'm not there is some good absolutely. But do not expect or do not expect Bahubali. Do not expect anything like that. Just those are little sprinkles, but they're like at certain times. There are certain moments that like clearly they're spending their money on set pieces and beautiful costuming as opposed to they're like, well, we'll not spend this money on this VFX portion. We're going to spend it everywhere because we care about more about the story than the overall thing. But there are those certain moments that you're like, yeah, I can see that CGI there easily. But and don't don't go in before we die. I agree. I agree. It's like when you watch Game of Thrones and especially while you're watching dragons right now, the you know, the first season of Thrones, you're going to get story. You're going to get character, which is what we had hoped for. And what I think you would expect if you know Monty Rottenham's films, yeah, he's going to he's a storyteller. He's he's not going to be focused on action. And what before we get into spoilers, one last big shout out is how about A.R. Ramon, you know, I want to talk about that. They shortened all the songs and that pisses me off. Yeah. And I understand why we got the songs the way we did so we can hear them all. But we never got all of the songs in their totality to me off. Yeah. That's a little bit of a spoiler for you guys. You don't get all of the songs in their totality. So sorry if that's getting into spoiler territory. We reacted, I think, to most of them, right? Yeah. I was like, oh, cool, we're going to get like it's going to go on for five to ten minutes of this. And they cut it off. And I was like, why? Well, I'm sure Monty Rottenham is like. This is one of the best scores. I'm sure it was the whole the score is gorgeous. And it's a perfect example of how not to overscore a film. But I'm sure it was, hey, yeah, it's it's money. The songs are gorgeous. We're going to do standalone releases of the song so people can hear the whole thing. But I've got a novel to tell and I don't want this to run four and a half hours. So, yeah, they were all so good. And it's just I was the thing I was upset about is how short it they were. And like I said, I'd say if. I really enjoyed this film, like you said, I think it's without even thinking about it, I could probably make this in the top three Indian films of the year already. Agreed, agreed. RRR, if you're going for entertainment, go for that one. That's still the best if you're if you're going for just like you. This is I think equally as good of a film. That's just a different style of film, right? That's just that's pure entertainment. It's a very different style as all. This is just good film just in a very different way. And it set design was gorgeous. The music was gorgeous. The acting was great. And so I go in just to be experienced the story. And that's all that's all you want to do. OK, yes, being grossed in this story. And I think you're going to enjoy yourself and be in and just enjoy being submerged because you do believe these people are who they are. And you're in this time frame and Marvel at the gift. There are some directors that are very, very good. And there's some that are tremendously gifted. Manny Rotnam is a master director, master director. Yeah, I hope this does really well. Who knows how to do, but I'm so glad he did both at the same time so you don't have to wait years for me. I think it's somebody says it's coming out June of next year, right? Or something like that, which is great. We only have to wait just less than a year, which is awesome. But yeah, let us if you haven't seen it, please go watch it already. We're going to get into some spoils right now. The one character I did not. He wasn't awful, but he was my least favorite was the friend of. Arthi, our messenger spy friend. Yeah, the big. I loved him. No, you. He was like he was the most like everybody else was like. Normal grounded, right? And then he was that one. He was he's like the what often happens in Indian films, but with the mom that that I don't like. He's the big over the top one. OK, so let me make sure I'm thinking about that. You're talking about because character names and actors I'm going to destroy. He's big and he's fat. He has the hair on his head. Oh, sorry. No, no, no. He's the one who was like the student and the devotee of Shiva. Yeah, who was talking to gotcha. Yeah, I'm sorry. He brought a lot of the comedy to it. He just was my least favorite. I know who you're talking about. I liked him. I like that. That was my least favorite of it. What do you think? And maybe they did knows in the in the book, right? Obviously, I'm trying to get it away. Ashwarya Rai is a mermaid. Like, what is I know? I know what is happening with that? I don't know. And I love that I don't know. It was one of the weirdest moments of it where I'm like, OK. And then it just that's the end. And I thought, well, what is she? What the heck is going on? Yeah, I know I have zero thought about it. And that's why I was like, I'm so conflicted because I like learning stuff in films. But also, I'm like, there's probably so much more that you could appreciate if you knew the book. Yeah, about it. Yeah, then you give away exactly what's happening in the book if you watch the second film. So I don't know. I don't know what to do there. But yeah, I'm pretty excited about watching it. Was there some other stuff you wanted to talk about in spoilers? Yeah, I wanted to talk about I think it's is it Vikram or is it I think it's Vikram who has the character names and the characters. Vikram is the one that was in love with Ashwarya. Exactly, it is Vikram. The moment I I loved both the way he delivered this and the way Mani Ratnam shot it when he had his monologue about the first and second time he dies and what that was before before animation before the interval. Yeah, and he's standing on like overlooking the sea and and he's telling you in a very Shakespearean way about that moment. And I love the way they revealed that in two different segments of the shot and he busts open the door and there she is tending to his enemy and he just jumps up on the bed and the blood goes right behind her. But particularly his performance in presenting that monologue and the way Mani Ratnam shot him. I that's one of my favorite moments in the film. Yeah, that was a great moment. And there was so much about what Mani and his cinematographer who I think is like a they work together for years, I believe. Yeah, Ravi Varman, Ravi Varman. Yeah, so many interesting shots in this film and how they decided to like there's one they started from almost the butt cheek of the horse. Yeah, remember that. Remember that shot? And then they kind of came around to reveal the character. Yeah, I was like, I don't even know how you think of that. But it was beautiful. I loved it and a lot of really beautiful overhead shots. Really pretty overhead shots that were both just for the aesthetic, but also gave you the idea that the gods were watching what's going on. And I also really enjoyed I enjoyed how Karthi's character, every beautiful woman he saw, my life is yours. You are the most beautiful jewel. Your wish is my command. Every one I turned to enjoying one point. I went, it's my dad because you want to make my dad happy. Put a pretty girl around him and he goes like this. But he did it well because I was like, I'm very well. I believe his he has game. He's like, I believe that like, like when that moment when he, a Shawariah, the whole scene with him and a Shawariah was great. Great scene. Basically every single scene with a Shawariah was absolutely a masterclass in acting. Because she, she, even though everybody was stand out, she was stand out. She's so, so good. And so was the other female as well in this. But like when she was sending him away through the secret passage and they were kind of flirting almost to through the wall. I love that moment. Yeah. I love that moment as the doors closing. Yeah. Yeah. It was love that moment. And then you figured out that, you know, who, who is she double crossing? Right. Exactly. I still don't know who side she's on. That's exactly what I'm trying to. And I were talking about in the car, I'm like, OK, so it was very clear about the Cholas and what was going on. And I think, I think what she's doing, because she is the queen of the king, who's the enemy of the people. But she was clearly one of the Cholas. And I think she's conspiring to make sure that they lose. But then there was another moment in the film where I'm like, is she doing that? I still think she is. I think that's what we're seeing when she's in the water. I think she's there somehow, someway. I don't. I have no clue what the mermaid ashore is. Yeah, I don't. But when we talk about the action sequences, the one that is the last sequence we'll talk about for sure, I thought it was great. Yeah, that's where they spent their money. But the saving private Ryan Normandy beach scene. Oh, yeah. It was small, but man, did you get banged for your buck, especially the final pullout shot where you see the scope of the battle that had happened on the shore? Yeah, I loved that sequence. Yeah, that what they did like, like the battle, like the beginning battle sequence, that battle sequence rates the end battle sequence, right? They did spend their money well on those battle sequences. It's basically everything in between those that they probably didn't spend as much on, even though I thought there was some really good kills, like when that person just got drenched with arrows, the arrows in the chest. Yeah, yes, just drenched. I loved it. So like that would be like the biggest flaw with the film is that sometimes there's CGI that is obvious, but they just clearly decided that they were going to spend their money elsewhere. Yeah, totally. Yeah. And obviously, who knows what I'm assuming the second one will probably be the same because they filmed at the exact same time. Yeah. And so now they're just doing post on it, right? It just I would think that's all they're working on now is the the post and the digital effects. And yeah, it was the little spots. It wasn't a matter of straining credulity and not looking believable. It all looked believable, but those little moments, it was typically with some of the uses of small fire, like the fire in the hand they were all holding. Yeah. And then there was one point where someone's coming up the bridge in a beautiful shot. And I could tell that the night torches along the bridge actually had had the light put in in post. Yeah. But when somebody jumped off something, you could tell that they were on a wire and they died them down, essentially. So there's there's things like that that were obviously there. But if you're going in for that, you're just going to be incredibly disappointed. Going for the story and enjoy. Yeah. Well, I hope you're not already here. You haven't seen it. Exactly. And I would I would watch this again. Like I don't know if you remember in in theater class and it may not have been in the theater class per se. It may have been in film appreciation. One of my favorite things to do was to show how Kevin Costner uses editing to control the emotion of the the moment in an open range and how the opening sequences when they're on the range, he lets at least 10 seconds go by between each edit. But then when they go into the town in order for you to feel the speed of the town quicken up, he does edits every like three seconds. And it's a very intentional director's design to make you as an audience member feel the agitation of city life versus country life. And this is all over the place with money. Like as they're coming down the hall, he doesn't just shoot that stationary at the end of the hall as they're running. He has the cinematographer with a steady cam or they actually had it on tracks. I think it was steady cam because they showed the floor going backwards as they're running in. And then he does the exact opposite when he wants the stillness and majesty of a shawarie arise queen. Yeah, he doesn't do anything rapid with her. Everything is very regal. And then obviously he goes speeds up the frames per second on the battle sequences. And then he he does an aerial shot that's more majestic when he's coming down on a village versus one that's moving faster in the battle sequence. It's just yeah, you could watch this just to sit there in marble at the direction and cinematography alone. Yeah, easily. Yeah. And that's why I really wish it's they didn't have any IMAX is here where I'm in in San Antonio, Texas, but they had one in Los Angeles. So if they won in Los Angeles, it's very they did not put on a lot of IMAX screens, which is unfortunate. It definitely deserved to be seen and I deserve to be seen in IMAX. So hopefully the next one that since there's going to be a lot more hype for it, that they'll they'll be releasing more. But even if it's not and if we're both in Los Angeles, I think we might make the trek down to see the IMAX. Because I think I would like that. I think it would be worth it for I read the style of it. And but anyways, fantastic film. I'm very, very glad in it. I think it's good that we saw Vikram Veda first, even though I enjoyed that. I know you didn't. But because obviously, I think you would have been even more disappointed in Vikram Veda if you saw this one first, because you're correct. Your expectations, expectations would have been much higher. And so it's probably good that we saw Vikram Veda first in going into this one. But fantastic. It lived up to the hype and I'm very glad it did. And I don't know actually what big film there's to look forward to now until Shahrukh Khan's Patan in in July. Yeah, as far as Indian cinema, we've got some big ones, obviously, in American cinema, because we have the Oscar season starting up. But well, there's going to be little films. But I'm talking like we had like throughout the year, we had RR, then we had Vikram, then we had Brahmastra, then we had even ones that we didn't like, certain ones, the force-gump one. And so there was there was all these little things. And now I don't know what there is between now and January. Yeah, I know there's going to be a bunch of films that we probably like, but there will be there's going to be. Yeah, there's a lot. We've seen quite a few teasers and trailers of small things that were like, please, I hope this is available for us to see. But yeah, this one definitely lived up to the expectation. Anyways, let us know what you thought about this film. Did you like it? Didn't you like it? Are we idiots? Are we not idiots? Just let us know. Well, we are idiots. Yeah, let us know down in the comments. And if you're Monty Rottenau, come on the channel. So we'd love to talk to you.