The basu! Guide to the Movies

#TheUndoing (#HBO) Come for the wealth porn, stay for the over-the-top soapy fun, kid actor Jupe turning in another great performance, the inimitable Sutherland Sutherland-ing up a *storm*, and for Grant turning over to the dark side. As a committed Grant-ophile, I can't wait for his #Denzel-esque stream of against-type roles👏! PS. There's a fascinating class-struggle story somewhere in there about De Angelis & Cordova having the temerity to darken the steps of the rich and fabulous, but that's a story for another show… - - - #DavidEKelley #SusanneBier #AnthonyDodMantle #HughGrant #NicoleKidman Noah Jupe #DonaldSutherland #MatildaDeAngelis #IsmaelCruzCordova(so awesome in #BerlinStation!!!!) #EdgarRamirez #LilyRabe #NomaDumezweni @undoinghbo @hbo @susannebier

RIP #Maradona Larger than larger-than-life, saint, scoundrel, taker of breaths, breaker of hearts, boggler of minds, shaker of heads, bringer of smiles, heaver of sighs, taker of breaths…all the astonishing highs and devastating lows that life has to offer all rolled up into one blinding, charismatic package. Remember, *all* those years ago? All I heard was Baba go on and on about #PaoloRossi this and Paolo Rossi that. But something else was brewing in #Mexico86, something entirely magical(like that t-shirt that magically showed up with the green chap in the sombrero leaning on the football, man, did I *love* that shirt!) was brewing. We had one of those old-fashioned antennas, on a 10(15? 20? it's all larger-than-life at that age)-foot pole that you used this giant dial to slowly turn(no really, I once ran outside and that d*mn thing was physically turning!) to try and get such faraway exotic channels like Bahrain, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, Riyadh, Muscat even! And, for wha...

RIP #SoumitraChatterjee Still can't believe it, what a massive loss this is for Bengal…India…cinema…*all* of us really. Seemed like he was always part of our lives, and always would be. As long as I can remember, his name was uttered with awed reverence/glee/laughter/that familiar affection with which Bengalis always seem to refer to their heroes, like they're just one of us. By the time I caught up to him he was already in his venerated phase. Ma took me to the film festival in Doha to see Ghare Baire…what a treat to see my first #SatyajitRay film, on the big screen, and what a treat to see so many other legendary figures, and there he was, amongst all those legends, the one and only: Soumitra. He was always Soumitra, no? No -da/ji necessary, the one, familiar, familial, name was enough. And what a treat it was to go back and discover his filmography with the one, the *only* Satyajit. What a run they had together, I daresay(I dare, I *dare*!), perhaps the *grea...

RIP #AlexTrebek Growing up, we got the iconic theme music (ta-da ta-da ta-da tad-tada-tad-dum, right? I could *never* carry a tune😟) and clever answer-in-the-form-of-question setup through pop-culture osmosis before we saw a second of it, so by the time we actually got around to watching Jeopardy there was something warmly familiar about the whole thing, even its sternly genial(is that an ox-*and*-a-moron🤓?) host, who(m🤔?) we had never seen before, but instantly felt had always been part of our lives from the *very* beginning. Such was the magic of Alex Trebek. When I first got to Film School (remember those halcyonic[since we're throwing around a bunch of -ics around here🤗] days?), they showed us a bunch of iconic short docs (shot on film😱! remember *those* 🎞 days?!), was it all the same doc, were they different docs?, who amongst us can say?, there was #CalWorthington from #WorthingtonFord(did he bring a live tiger to the shoot?! er, bad choice of words😬, yikes😱,...

#AllInTheFightForDemocracy Good, stirring stuff as inspiration is made on from the legendary Garbus. The historical section, especially, was pretty eye-opening, and(he added parenthetically), quite aggravating. Thankfully, there will always be the many who will continue to push back against those that seek to disenfranchise major portions of the populace. Hopefully, the timeliness of this will, err, ebb over time… now that, truly, would be such stuff as dreams are made on… - - - #LizGarbus #LisaCortes #StaceyAbrams #AndrewYoung #CarolAnderson #AllIn #TheFightForDemocracy @allinthefilm @amazonprimevideo @lizfgarbus

#TotallyUnderControl Like one of those dystopian Hollywood thrillers where a mysterious virus threatens the world and it's up to a few brave people to risk it all and cut through the hogwash and save the world…except it's true😳…& we're not yet saved😱! Another eye-opening, informative, impeccably-crafted, nerve-jarring documentary from Gibney, the hardest-working man in the doc bizness(&, dude, he's turned it from an eat-your-veggies endeavour into a self-sustaining *business*[man😂], well done!). Look, AG's really set the tech standards for documentaries(to the point where it's sorta intimidating for the rest of us😬?!), but man, does he outdo himself here, coming up with all kinds of doo-dads(I think that's the technical term for them) to try and film this in the middle of a raging pandemic. And wait, did I see an updated version of #ErrolMorris's famed #Interrotron? Seriously, kudos to the team for pulling this all off. Great st...

Man, can you believe it, SeanConnery, *the* SeanConnery, the one whose name would be uttered with such awe by both Ma and Baba as far back as any one of us can remember, is no longer with us? How did that happen?! I'm pretty sure the first time we saw him was in #DarbyOGill, and I was like, man, he seems like fun. Then I think we must've seen him in Orient Express, I used to love those kinds of movies as a kid…and then, the *big* one, #IndianaJones! I mean, he was *perfect* no?, as Indy's dad, that smirk, that bluster, that swagger, that heart underneath it all…*perfect*. And, I began to understand, oh, right, SeanConnery! Time for a true confession: before ye olde #DanielCraig came along, #RogerMoore was my favourite #Bond (and maybe, still is😬?). And then, *much* later, we finally watched Goldfinger (we weren't allowed as kids, and I actually listened!), and Dr. No, and From Russia, and…well…yeah, I finally understood. The irony is that he never wanted to be...