Showing posts with label Hollywood Movie Review. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hollywood Movie Review. Show all posts
Slumdog Millionaire
Posted On Thursdayat12:12 AM by Ark_Light_333
Slumdog Millionaire is a 2008 British film directed by Danny Boyle, written by Simon Beaufoy, and co-directed in India by Loveleen Tandan. It is an adaptation of the Boeke Prize-winning and Commonwealth Writers' Prize-nominated novel Q & A by Indian author and diplomat Vikas Swarup. Slumdog Millionaire was nominated for ten Academy Awards in 2009 and won eight, the most for any film of 2008, including Best Picture and Best Director. It also won five Critics' Choice Awards, four Golden Globes, and seven BAFTA Awards, including Best Film. Despite the film's success, it is the subject of controversy concerning its portrayals of Indians and Hinduism as well as the welfare of its child actors.
Set in 2006, the film opens with a police inspector (Irrfan Khan) in Mumbai, India, interrogating and torturing Jamal Malik (Dev Patel), a former street child from the Dharavi slums. In the opening scene, a title card is presented: "Jamal Malik is one question away from winning 20 million rupees. How did he do it? A) He cheated, B) He's lucky, C) He's a genius, D) It is written." At the end of the film, the answer is given. Jamal is a contestant on the Indian version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? hosted by Prem Kumar (Anil Kapoor). Jamal has made it to the final question, scheduled for the next day, but the police are now accusing him of cheating, because the other possibilities, that he has a vast knowledge, or that he is very lucky, both seem unlikely. Jamal then explains that, while at least the question about Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan was very simple, he knew the answers of most questions by chance, because of things that happened in his life. This is conveyed in a series of flashbacks documenting the particulars of his childhood. This includes scenes of him obtaining Bachchan's autograph, the death of his mother during Hindu-Muslim riots in the slums, and how he and his brother Salim befriend Latika. The children are eventually discovered by Maman (Ankur Vikal) while they live in the trash heaps. Maman is a gangster who "collects" street children so that he can ultimately train them to beg for money. Salim is groomed to become a part of Maman’s operation and is asked to bring Jamal to Maman in order to be blinded. Salim rebels against Maman to protect his brother, and the three children try to escape, but only Salim and Jamal are successful as Salim purposely lets go of Latika's hand as she tries to board a train they are hopping while trying to escape. Latika is re-captured by Maman's organization and raised as a culturally talented prostitute whose virginity will fetch a high price.The brothers eke out a living, traveling on top of trains, selling goods, pretending to be tour guides at the Taj Mahal, and picking pockets. Jamal eventually insists that they return to Mumbai since he wishes to locate Latika. When he finds her working as a dancer in a brothel, the brothers attempt to rescue her, but Maman intrudes, and in the resulting conflict Salim draws a gun and kills Maman. Salim then uses the fact that he killed Maman to obtain a job with Javed (Mahesh Manjrekar), a rival crime lord. Salim claims Latika as his own and when Jamal protests, Salim threatens to kill him and Latika intervenes, accepting her fate with Salim and breaking Jamal's heart.
Years later, Jamal has a position as a "tea-boy" at a call centre. When he is asked to cover for a co-worker for a couple of minutes, he searches the database for Salim and Latika. He gets in touch with Salim, who has become a high-ranking lieutenant in Javed’s organization. Jamal confronts a regretful Salim on tense terms. Salim invites Jamal to live with him and, after following Salim to Javed's house, he sees Latika living there. He talks his way in as the new dishwasher and tries to convince Latika to leave. She rebuffs his advances, but he promises to be at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus railway station every day at five p.m. for her. She tries to discourage him, but on the first day that Jamal waits there, Latika attempts to rendezvous with him, but is recaptured by Salim and Javed's men. One of the men then slashes her cheek with a knife, scarring her as Salim drives off, leaving Jamal with the onlooking crowd. Jamal again loses contact with Latika when Javed moves to another house. In another attempt to find Latika, Jamal tries out for the popular game show because he knows that she will be watching. He makes it to the final question, despite the hostile attitude of the host who feeds Jamal a wrong answer during a break. At the end of the show, Jamal has one question left to win two crore, or 20 million rupees and is taken into police custody, where he is tortured as the police attempt to learn how Jamal, a simple "slumdog," could know the answers to so many questions. After Jamal tells his whole story, explaining how his life experiences coincidentally enabled him to know the answer to each question, the police inspector calls Jamal's explanation "bizarrely plausible" and, knowing he's not in it for the money, allows him to return to the show for the final question. At Javed's safehouse, Latika watches the news coverage of Jamal's miraculous run on the show. Salim gives Latika his phone, and the keys to his car, and urges her to run away. When Jamal uses his Phone-A-Friend lifeline to call Salim, Latika answers his phone and they reconnect. She does not know the answer to the final question either but, believing that "it is written", she tells Jamal in unsubtitled Hindi, "I'm yours" right before the phone connection is cut. Jamal guesses the correct answer to the question of the one Musketeer whose name they never learned, and wins the grand prize. Simultaneously, Salim is discovered to have helped Latika escape and allows himself to be killed in a bathtub full of money after shooting and killing Javed. Salim's last words are "God is great." Later that night, Jamal and Latika meet at the railway station and they share a kiss. It is then revealed that the correct answer to the opening question is: D) it is written.
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Posted On Saturdayat12:28 AM by Ark_Light_333
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is a 2008 film in a modern setting loosely adapted from the 1922 short story of the same name written by F. Scott Fitzgerland. The film is directed by David Fincher, and stars Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett. The film was released on December 25, 2008. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is not a movie one could have predicted from the makers of Se7en, Fight Club and Zodiac. It follows the life of Benjamin Button (Brad Pitt), who is born with the appearance and physical limitations of a man who is 85 years old. Abandoned in a nursing home by his father, Thomas Button, Benjamin begins aging backward on the outside of his body. While in the home, he meets Daisy (Cate Blanchett), a young aspiring ballerina. As the film progresses, the two fall in love, while struggling to deal with the issue of one growing younger while the other grows older. Nominally based upon the F.Scott Fitzgerald's story The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, the film has very little resemblance to its source material beyond the premise. The film begins with Benjamin Button's birth in New Orleans in 1918. His mother dies in childbirth and his father, Thomas Button (Jason Flemyng), upon seeing Benjamin's ancient crinkly face, races from the house in horror with the bizarre baby cradled in his arms. He leaves the newborn on the stairs of a nursing home run by Queenie (Taraji P.Henson), a practical woman with a lot of love to give. The score to The Curious Case of Benjamin Button was written by French composer Alexandre Desplat. Other Casts:Julia Ornold as CarolineMahershalalhashbaz Ali as TizzyJared Harris as Captain MikeElias Koteas as Monsieur GateauEd Metzger as Theodore RooseveltPhyllis somerville as Grandma FullerTilda Swinton as Elizabeth Abbott
Titanic 1997
Posted On Tuesdayat8:23 PM by Ark_Light_333
Titanic is a 1997 disaster film directed, written, co-produced and co-edited by James Cameron about the sinking of the RMS Titanic. It features Leonardo DiCaprio as Jack Dawson, and Kate Winslet as Rose DeWitt Bukater, two members of different social classes who fall in love aboard the ill-fated 1912 maiden voyage of the ship. The main characters and the central love story are fictional, but some supporting characters are based on real historical figures. Gloria Stuart plays the elderly Rose, who narrates the film in a modern day framing device. Production of the film began in 1995, when Cameron shot footage of the real wreck of the RMS Titanic. He envisioned the love story as a means to engage the audience with the real-life tragedy. Shooting took place at the Akademik Mstislav Keldysh for the modern scenes, and a reconstruction of the ship was built at Playas de Rosarito, Baja California. Cameron also used scale models and computer-generated imagery to recreate the sinking of the ship. Titanic became at the time the most expensive film ever made, costing approximately US$200 million with funding from Paramount Pictures and 20th Century Fox. Originally slated to be released on July 2, 1997, post-production delays pushed back the film's release date to December 19, 1997. After word broke out that Titanic's release date was pushed back, the press believed that Titanic would fail and cause the downfall of Fox and Paramount. Despite low expectations, the film was both a major critical and commercial success, winning eleven Academy Awards including Best Picture and becoming the highest-grossing film of all time, with a total worldwide gross of approximately $1.8 billion.Filming Titanic was an arduous experience for all involved. The schedule was intended to last 138 days but grew to 160—twenty days shy of six months. Many cast members came down with colds, flu, or kidney infections after spending hours in cold water, including Kate Winslet. Several left and three stuntmen broke their bones, but the Screen Actors Guild decided, following an investigation, that nothing was inherently unsafe about the set. Cameron never apologized for running his sets like a military campaign, although he admitted, "I'm demanding, and I'm demanding on my crew. In terms of being kind of militaresque, I think there's an element of that in dealing with thousands of extras and big logistics and keeping people safe. I think you have to have a fairly strict methodology in dealing with a large number of people." After almost drowning, chipping an elbow bone, and getting the flu, Winslet decided she would not work with Cameron again unless she earned "a lot of money." Of course, Titanic's central aspect is the love story between Jack and Rose, and the crush it has on Cal. The romantic story isn't original, but this is not a bad thing. Cameron re-invents the story to fit the time period and its characters. Everything fits perfectly, with nothing ever seeming contrived or awkward. Jack's immediate interest in Rose, and Rose likewise, is completely understandable. She is suffering emotionally, and Jack is there to support her. Themes from Romeo and Juliet are included, such as Rose being an upper-classman, and Jack being lower class. But the emotional connection between Rose and Jack is almost palpable, and this fuels the film's first two hours. We watch the trials of Jack and Rose, and as they overcome them, the ship comes closer to destiny. With a ship as large as the Titanic was, it was destined to crash. And of course, the ship isn't stocked with enough lifeboats to accommodate the 2,200 passengers. In the end, over 700 people survive, while the rest drown, freeze, or commit suicide.
Titanic is rated PG-13 for disaster related peril and violence, nudity, sensuality, and brief language. The nudity is not inappropriate, as it is done tastefully. Winslet appears topless, but Cameron never exploits the nudity. If we do manage to see her topless, it is not because Cameron wanted to, but because the camera happened to be there. Titanic is a grand epic motion picture which is sure to sweep the Oscars. This is the first film since Schindler's List that I have wanted to win Best Picture, and has a good chance at doing it.
Titanic is by far the best film of the year. Titanic will be remembered as an instant classic, going down in history as the most expensive film ever made, but also as one of the best films ever made. Titanic received steady attendance after opening in North America on Friday, December 19, 1997. By Sunday that same weekend, theaters were beginning to sell out. The film debuted with $8,658,814 on its opening day and $28,638,131 over the opening weekend from 2,674 theaters, averaging to about $10,710 per venue, and ranking #1 at the box office, ahead of Tomorrow Never Dies. By New Year's Day, Titanic had increased in popularity and theaters continued selling out. Its biggest single day took place on Valentine's Day 1998, making over $13 million on that day, more than six weeks after it debuted in North America. After it was released, it stayed at #1 for 15 consecutive weeks in the U.S. box office, an undefeated record 1998 US box office. By March 1998, it was the first film to earn more than $1 billion worldwide.[31] Some theaters in Australia, India, and South Africa ran it for more than one year. The movie stayed in theaters in North America for more than nine months before finally closing on Thursday October 1, 1998 with a final domestic gross of $600,788,188, and making more than double that amount overseas with an international gross of $1,248,025,607. The film accumulated a grand total of $1,848,813,795 worldwide, and to this day Titanic retains the record as the most successful box office film in history.
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