Many Kinds of Anime In The World

Moving Animation

2011-06-10T07:57:00.002+07:00

Maskot Rider Kuga Anime

2011-06-08T16:27:00.001+07:00

Rurouni Kenshin Anime

2010-11-29T06:39:00.001+07:00

RACE TO WITCH MOUNTAIN

2009-04-25T08:53:00.000+07:00

Race to Witch Mountain is a re-imagining of the 1975 film Escape to Witch Mountain. Both versions of the film are based on the 1968 novel Escape to Witch Mountain by author Alexander Key. The film is directed by Andy Fickman and stars Dwayne Johnson, AnnaSophia Robb, Alexander Ludwig, and Carla Gugino.

Filming began in Los Angeles in March 2008. Race to Witch Mountain was released on March 13, 2009.

Jack Bruno (Dwayne Johnson) is a cab driver in Las Vegas, who is picking up and dropping off passengers to the UFO convention at the Planet Hollywood Casino and Hotel. One of his passengers is Dr. Alex Friedman (Carla Gugino), a failed scientist who is giving speeches about legitimate scientific theories of UFOs and outer space.

The next day Bruno is approached by two large men telling him that Wolff would like to see him. After fighting them, Bruno drives off, later noticing two children, Sara (AnnaSophia Robb) and Seth (Alexander Ludwig) sitting in the back seat of the cab. They tell him they need to go to a certain destination and are willing to pay all they have ($15,000) to get there. They lead him to a run down house in the middle of nowhere. Meanwhile, Major Henry Burke (Ciaran Hinds) is searching for information on the two aliens that landed some days earlier.

When they arrive at the house, the children tell Bruno that they will be re-united with their relatives soon. Before leaving Bruno hears a crash coming from the house. He is startled to find them hiding behind a couch. Though grateful for his concern, the children tell him they must continue their journey without him, as they can trust no one. Nevertheless, Bruno decides to follow them, which leads him to the basement of the house. There the kids are pursued and attacked by a strange creature as they retrieve an object in a plant. They manage to escape from this creature.

When leaving they are attacked by a "Siphon", a creature built to destroy a certain target. The Siphon pursues them until it causes a crash of his spaceship into a train, the creature survives, though wounded. The trio eventually find themselves in a small town, Stony Creek, where they encounter Tina the waitress (Tia from the original movie) and the sheriff (Tony from the original movie), now both grown and settled in the town to which they escaped in the original movie. The children explain to Bruno that they are aliens from a distant planet, who are sent to Earth by their parents because the government of their dying planet intends to attack and invade Earth so that their kind may live on there. They also explain that the object they obtained at the house contains the results of an experiment which their parents set up. The research from this experiment will save their planet without having to attack and invade Earth. However their planet's military prefer the idea of invading Earth and sent the Siphon assassin to stop them. They are next pursued by government agencies trying to retrieve the children for experiments.

They are joined by Dr. Friedman at the UFO Expo. With help of one of Dr. Friedman's friends they discover that the ship they are searching has been relocated to a government base at Witch Mountain. While preparing to leave the UFO Expo the Siphon arrives, it prepares to attack but Sara uses her powers to knock him through a wall. The group,now including Dr. Friedman, after evading the pursuing government agents eventually arrive at Witch Mountain. At first the children are captured along with Bruno and Friedman. Nevertheless the two humans escape and come to rescue the kids. The Siphon causes a distraction by attacking the base. They manage to free the children and reach their ship. By running the Siphon over they escape but the Siphon hangs on and gets on board. Bruno and Seth battle the Siphon in the lower sections of the ship, unmasking him in the fight. Finally, Bruno defeats the evil alien by knocking him into the ships engine. The kids drop Jack and Alex off and after a tearful goodbye, they head back to their ship, but give Bruno and Alex a device that will allow the kids to always find them. And Sara gives Jack the power to use his brain to the mind reading ability.

During the end credits, Bruno and Dr. Friedman (now a couple) are speaking at a UFO convention about their new successful book called "Race to Witch Mountain". The last scene shows them driving off in a car Bruno dreamed of getting honestly as he had mentioned to Friedman earlier—a Mustang similar to that driven by Steve McQueen in Bullitt. This mind-blowing event stuns the entire audience, causing them to comment aloud. As they are about to leave, the device the kids gave Bruno before they left goes off, indicating that they may be returning.

For years, often narrated around the place of the secret in the middle of the Nevada desert, with the phenomenon and mysterious scenery. The place was known by the name of Penyihir mountains (Witch Mountain), and during a person penegmudi the taxi (Dwayne Johnson) bertemua two adolescents with the supernatural strength, he realised that he was being in the adventure that could not he described. When they only had the opportunity to express the Witch Mountain secret, many sides tried to stop them...

THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS 4

2009-04-24T08:58:00.002+07:00

Relations between Dominic Toretto (Vin the Diesel) and Brian O’Conner (Paul Walker) quite unique. On the one hand Dom really hated Brian because he was police that menyamar became the racing driver to arrest the gang of the robber who was led by Dom, but on the other side, Brian could also rescue his life several times. After trying to move further away from Brian, finally fate brought Dom returned to Los Angeles where he must meet Brian again. However this time came back Dom was forced to have to establish the work was the same as the person who was hated by him this because the two of them faced the same enemy. There was no choice for Dom and Brian apart from trusting each other to complete their personal mission was their respective. Brian was assigned to infiltrate into the network of the distributor of narcotics named Antonio Braga (John Ortiz). Brian found the gap when Braga looked for an uncivilised racing driver to be made the courier. Unfortunately, Dominic also aimed at the same position although in fact Dominic's motivation was pure revenge. Dominic wanted to avenge the Letty death (Michelle Rodriguez) Because of the Braga conduct. A film had genre racing could remain until the fourth sequel might be still being an achievement. But could be also the launching of this fourth part as the redeemer from two episodes beforehand that failed. This was seen from the player's composition that was the same as the first part that threw the genre of the film racing last 2001. Acknowledged or not, 2 FAST 2 FURIOUS and THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS: Tokyo DRIFT indeed failed to occupy the level that was the same as the first part. Two films appeared to lose taring when compared with the episode initially. The topic that began to be felt monotonous and the fight sequence that still did not pull could be made the failure scapegoat of this film in the market. But apparently the reality did not make Universal Studios surrendered and emerged the fourth part with original lineup this. But although being regarded as the correction by this fourth part, apparently same efforts too much were not successful. The menu that was served also still not far from three parts beforehand. Finally, the studio only could hope that the genre interested persons of the film racing still enough and was prepared to spend money to watch this film. The plot was not strong enough to make this film be something that was deserving to be recalled while acting of his players also was classified as the standard then. The visual matter indeed still quite interesting although in fact did not have something that was completely new. If you passed three parts beforehand, possibly did not have mistakenly you tried FAST & FURIOUS this was the reverse if you followed franchise this from the beginning, will not be unfortunate if you passed this one. Except, of course, if you want to recalled the past saw the appearance of Vin Diesel and Paul Walker.

Knowing controlled the United States Cinema

2009-04-23T08:51:00.001+07:00

Los Angeles: Thriller-supernatural about doomsday, "Knowing", succeeded in becoming the most quick-selling film this week in the United States and Canada. The film that was starred in by Nicolas Cage this succeeded in eliminating two films that also were released last week namely the romantic "I Love You" comedy", Man" and Julia Roberts newest, "Duplicity". "Knowing" told a story about an astrophysics expert of John Koestler, that was played by Cage, that found the row of the figure that was written in 1959 by a kindergarten pupil. The row that originally dipikir random that, evidently showed big disasters, the location, and the number of his casualties during semicentenially following. In the list, Koestler found the railway collision will happen, and true that happened. In the list was latest, Koestler originally suspected the number of casualties of being "33". But evidently that the opposite from the "EE" letter that meant everyone (everyone else) alias doomsday. This film didanai by Summit Entertainment, the relatively small producer but succeeded in printing several hits. Before "Knowing", Summit has produced "Twilight" that in the week It was first that his income almost three times of the film fold that were starred in by Cage this. "Knowing" set aside "I Love You, Man" and "Duplicity", two other films that also were released widely in the United States. "Duplicity", that was in the third level, was starred in by Julia Roberts and Clive Owen. The two of them became second-hand the secret agent who tried to steal money from the company of the competitor's medicine.

Knowing

2009-04-22T08:45:00.003+07:00

WHAT IT IS LIKE when you could see what was not printed in the eyes of the other person, heard that was not heard by the other person and felt what was not felt to be other by the person? You felt something will happen, but you did not know that what. That sixth sense or the hallucination completely? The primary school girl in Massachusetts, during 1959, was named Lucinda Embry, blind about the future. However he the key to the prediction of destruction of the earth alias doomsday. Lucinda was known as the mysterious pupil, tampang him sad, gloomy and often did not speak. The most foreign noose in the class. However, he had the secret that made all his life be full of the question mark. One day, Lucinda's school held the agenda buried a time capsule. The capsule that will be opened came back 50 years afterwards that was full of the envelope. In the envelopes contained the picture of era children in the 50 's about the future. Strangely, not the picture that dicoretkan Lucinda in paper, but the random figure. He wrote figures with very fast, and so his teacher, Ms Taylor,Seized the paper. Don't wrong! Not Lucinda the figure maniac, he only wrote followed whisperings on his ears that did not can be heard the other person. During the burial of the time capsule, Lucinda suddenly vanished. He disappeared. Everyone looked for him. The official of the school was then mobilised. Ms Taylor had finally found Lucinda. The small girl was in the cupboard in the saddening condition, his finger was smeared with blood. In 2009, during him the time capsule was lifted from the grave. All the pupils fought for mutual envelopes. Caleb, one of the pupils, got the envelope belonging to Lucinda. Initially, the father Caleb, John Koestler considered the envelope of only fads of past children. However, Caleb tried convincing, the envelope possibly useful. It was curious, John that was professional as a professor afterwards studied each random digit that was sealed in this old paper. Relied googling, John realised the figures not the normal figure. The figures exact referred in several tragedies that claimed extraordinary casualties, including the unlucky incident that claimed his wife, your mother of Caleb, until making John did not believe the Lord.After the day, the life father-child this changed. Remain at three disasters that did not yet happen in 2009. How did John overcome this situation? Now Caleb that tuna rungu since being born must hear whisperings, as that was heard by Lucinda. John worried at the same time the fear, Caleb will be following figure casualties. But he was not possible to run away from this fate. After fighting as hard as possible, to investigate the disaster as well as to follow again the tracks of Lucinda Embry, John got the answer. Knowing was a work novel of Ryne Douglas Pearson, that afterwards was translated in the form of the film under the direction of the director Alex Proyas. The film that was released by the first time on March 20 2009, this was close with nuances thriller that was gloomy enough. Might be counted, almost all the characterisations in the story drained emotions and the nervousness. The core from the message that wanted to be sent by the writer apparently was not far the difference from the The Eye film. However, the film that was starred in by Nicolas Cage this was superior in the level the depth narrated. Why not, Pearson dared to lift the side of spirituality that Uptil now was identical to the East world. He united him with the scientific level, technology, and the pattern thought realistic in the style of the Western World. But, Knowing not the ghost's film. Pearson the success smuggled the idea at the same time mendekonstruksi by chance about the history of the universe creation. Aesthetics thought the writer as though forcing open the understanding of the individual of reality and the truth of the history of civilisation. That all that happened in the world has been written, was recorded neat: that was born, that died, that came and that went. And only 'that was chosen' that will create the new generation after ate Khuldi. You might believe, might also not. Because this only the film, only related: the reconstruction from the construction on reality, that could be still being believed in by you, could also not.

KNOWING

2009-04-21T08:42:00.002+07:00

An excavation that was carried out in a school found things from the quite deliberate past was buried to be found by people in the period that will come. One of the results of the findings were the row of the figure that was made by a child fifty years that set. Originally the row of the figure was seen like the row of the random figure but evidently over the row of the figure was kept by a mystery. Caleb Koestler (Chandler Canterbury), Putra John Koestler (Nicolas Cage) brought the findings and showed to his father who indeed was an astrophysics expert. After researching the row of this figure, John realised had a message that wanted to be sent by the writer and evidently in the row of the same figure was kept by a frightening fact. In the row of the figure was kept several incident notes for fifty last years. Meaning that, when the row of the figure was written, the writer knew what will happen in the period that will come. Although originally did not believe, but John finally Want to not want to feel worried that the prediction that was written in the row of the figure really will happen. And that was most frightening was the prediction that mentioned that before long the human race will be extinct. Currently John has two choices: allowed all that to happen appropriately or tried to oppose fate and to rescue all humankind from the extinction like that was depicted in the prediction from the past. The problem is, is there the person that believed in John's words or John must undertake this noble mission alone. The idea of the world of the end indeed was classified as the classic idea. When you could see ARMAGEDDON that was starred in by Bruce Willis last 1998, approximately the same idea that tried to be promoted through this film. His difference possibly was the existence of diffusion between the science approach and the religious approach that were united in the film had a duration of 121 this minute. Possibly Alex Proyas, the director, tried to embrace the religious group to be able to enjoy this film from the side of their look They also. In fact Alex's idea was not wrong. Unfortunately in his casting was still being felt seldom prop up. Alex tried play safe by not trying to mention the religion frankly but continue to the spectator will be brought to this one connotation because of Alex put several clue that headed there. The matter special effect, in fact not there is one that is new but Alex used him by means of that was quite effective so as to not make an impression basi now from the matter of acting, apparently too much did not have the quite serious problem. One that ought to be regretted precisely was Nicolas Cage that later was still often being trapped playing in films that even damaged the image that he got up since him playing in VAMPIRE 'S KISS.

Shinjuku Incident

2009-04-20T08:32:00.000+07:00

For the lovers Jackie Chan, now had the happy news. There was the new film, his title was Shinjuku Incident.Film this was starred in by Jackie Chan and was directed by Derek Yee. His production time was quite long, that is begun in November 2007. Usually films that were starred in by Jackie Chan, the draught would fight scenes, was come between with the humour. However this time, this Shinjuku Incident film was a drama film. The director Derek Yee said that :”mungkin uptil now people really familiar with the image of Jackie Chan as the fight actor, and now the time to change to the drama. In several interviews, Jackie Chan personally said that possibly for the scene eksyen him only 1 percent then. There were rumours that said that Jaycee Chan, the child Jackie will also join in playing in the film ini.Namun still could not be ascertained. This film will initially be released on September 25 2008 but was postponed to the first quarter in 2009. At this time was in post-production. The short synopsis: In the beginning of the 1990 's,a tractor mechanic by the name of the Steelhead call (Jackie Chan) came to Japan illegally, because of looking for his sweetheart who was named Xiu Xiu (Xu Jinglei). Steelhead and his friend Jie (Daniel Wu) met in the territory that was full of the activity, Shinjuku in Tokyo and tried to look for the work of getting money. When Steelhead knew that Xiu Xiu married headed by Yakuza (was the same as the mafia) Japan that was named Eguchi (Ken Watanabe), he decided to continue to live in Japan. He agreed to work to Eguchi as the killer in order to be able to become the Japanese citizen. In short time, he has been involved too far that resulted in him could not run away from Yakuza to again became the normal person.

THE INTERNATIONAL

2009-04-19T08:35:00.000+07:00

The death of his workmate when undertaking the task of making Louis Salinger (Clive Owen), a Interpol official, to terobsesi settled a big case that involved a biggest financial institution in the world. Louis in fact not realise that what he did often will not mean because of the big institution to have had the network that was firm all over the world. THE INTERNATIONAL Louis be sure that International Bank of Business and Credit (IBBC) had the connection with a series of crime that happened all over the world. He expected the bank that was based in Luxembourg this was involved in the arms trade, money laundering, and had the power to determine whoever will become the leader in a country. With help of a New York public prosecutor named Eleanor Whitman (Naomi Watts), Louis began to investigate the tracks of this IBBC crime. This adventure brought Louis travelled around the world from New York, Germany, France to Italia only to pursue Wilhelm Wexler (Armin Mueller-Stahl), CEO IBBC, that was responsible for all the illegal operation this bank at the same time that To the cause of the death of the workmate Louis. Well-off, two officials of this law demolished an organisation that has been rooted strong all over the world? THE INTERNATIONAL THE INTERNATIONAL this could be acknowledged as the 'other side' from thriller from Bourne or Bond. Many exchange of fire scenes and the chase with backdrop famous cities all over the world but with the hero's noose that more 'humankind'. Meaning that, Tom Tykwer, the director, did not make this main leading figure become a 'humankind super' that could do any but more as a humankind that tried hard to bring about what was believed in by him. The taking of the picture could be considered to be perfect because of having the 'tiring' impression that was representative from the camera trick to depict the hunting over this world. The performance backdrop several important locations like Guggenheim Museum in New York also were used effectively and did not have the impression seemed like these locations only one tempelan in the whole the tie related. THE INTERNATIONAL Unfortunately the beautiful story must end here because of having several The gap from the side of the writing of the text. The character of several main leading figures appeared to be not enough to receive the development so as to be able to not attract the sympathy of the spectators. Finally the impression that emerged was: they were and moved in accordance with the requirement for the text and not became one in the text. Possibly the idea this story was too big to be packed in the format of the film had a duration of less than two the hour. Because of the text that did not satisfy, then wanted did not want indeed that was casualties was Clive Owen and Naomi Watts. They could not do many to make the leading figure who was played by them to the real noose. However with all the limitations, the actor and this actress still could act with quite good.

THE SHINJUKU INCIDENT

2009-04-18T08:21:00.000+07:00

The love brought a tractor technician from China named Steelhead (Jackie Chan) departed for Japan. Steelhead meant looked for Xiu Xiu (Jinglei Xu), his sweetheart that suddenly disappeared without having the news. An arrival in Japan, Steelhead must bear the disappointed feeling because that he found not like that he hope for. When arriving there, Steelhead just realise that the dark immigrants from China available in the country the life is isolated from the Japanese community generally. They lived in the hiding because of being frightened was caught and returned back to China. Because of not having the alternative, Steelhead was forced to have to survive in Shinjuku by working to the blue-collar worker. Not old at intervals of, Steelhead succeeded in finding Xiu Xiu but unfortunately not like that he hope for. Xiu Xiu evidently has changed the names and will immediately marry Eguichi (Masaya Kato) that immediately will become the Yakuza leader in the area. This reality did not make the Steelhead intention subside. He afterwards tried to approach Eguichi And straightaway got the belief from this Japanese man. And because of Steelhead help also, Eguichi had finally succeeded in eliminating the weight rival and holding the authority as the leader Yakuza. As the feeling statement thank you, Eguichi bestowed the Shinjuku territory for Steelhead. Evidently increasingly old Steelhead with Eguichi, increasingly was difficult also for Steelhead to leave the world of the crime. Various ease that he could since him with Eguichi increasingly made him fall to the world of the Japanese crime. Apparently in the film was entitled SHINJUKU INCIDENT this Jackie Chan tried to run away from trademark the champion kung fu that since 1976. The proof is, although still had several scenes that involved Jackie in the struggle, but his impression he was a person petarung the street and not the champion kung fu. In fact this was just very legal but the image that has been strong that in fact could not be eliminated just like that only with a film, except if this film had the strength that could change the image that has adhered on the marrow fans. From the side Acting, Jackie Chan indeed not the newcomer in front of the camera. With track record for almost 40 years, explained he did not have the problem with the interpretation of the text in the form of the movement, the face and the intonation. Moreover with the idea related that really Asia like this, clear did not have the quite serious problem. Unfortunately, hard efforts of Jackie Chan this was not matched by the idea related that original. As a result, none made this film be recalled by the person and become the turning-point for Jackie Chan. Saw this film, appeared to not have his difference by seeing the Hong Kongese film in the 80 's that was dominated by the idea the story croaked the life of the world of the crime in Hong Kong. To just recalled the glory of the Hong Kongese film in Indonesia, this film might be made one of the choices, but not if you hoped for something that was spectacular from the noose of Jackie Chan.

The Cleopatra

2009-03-12T08:01:00.000+07:00

Two generals most had the power in the Roman empire, Julius Caesar and Markus Antonius, to yield to Cleopatra. He became the legend, menginspirasi he wrote the book, the drama, and dozens of operas. So many people felt so many people knew Cleopatra, without really knew who and how the queen's Egyptian noose in fact. Cleopatra not Egyptians. He the descendants of the Ptolemy dynasty that came from Macedonia. The Ptolemy dynasty had the power in Egypt for three centuries after the Egyptian subjugation by Alexander the Great. Cleopatra was pharaoh Ptolemic first that studied the Egyptian language. He also pharaoh finally Egypt, because after his death, Egypt became one of the provinces in the Roman empire.
according to the history note that was made by the Greek writer, Plutarch (that also wrote the story lived Archimedes) in his book of Life of Anthony was depicted by Cleopatra “benar-correctly did not record, outside biasa” and “kecantikan him not duanya”. However from Cleopatra's picture that was gotten to ten currency coins that were made in his government's period, be difficult to say Cleopatra pretty. His neck was fat, his nose was bent, his ears were long, and his chin stuck up. High his body then only 1,5 metre …. So, what made Cleopatra be like this enchanted? Cleopatra's beauty was di’dalam’, not in tampilan ‘luar’ him. He could speak in nine languages. His brain was sharp. His charisma was strong. His policy was astonishing. He was educated high, and had extraordinary grandeur since early. Plutarch wrote “Percakapan him captured extraordinary … ” and “Perbincangan him tempted. The character is, that merasuk in his action like that enchanted was not said. The sound from his voice was sweet … “. He was so interesting, so as “Plato acknowledged four praise kinds, but Cleopatra had thousands.
Cleopatra was not pretty, but he succeeded in controlling the heart of two people who most had the power in his period, Julius Caesar and Markus Antonius. Caesar said, “Tidak had blood in vena him, apart from sun blood. Hathor that was sweet remained in the eyes and mortar lututnya”. Cleopatra inherited the Egyptian kingdom that was bankrupt. Sebegitu the bankruptcy, until could not print the gold coin, and only made the coin from metal that was not so good his quality. That was the reason often was not found the coin with the picture himself. He built troops, made Egypt strong, maintained peacefulness in negri him, and the success pitted opponents of the strength against each other so as to wage war their peers personally. The Egyptian capital, Alexandria, was the city that most advanced in the world at the time. The city had the health service, the big library, the extraordinary lighthouse, and was a centre of the culture and interesting knowledge the person from all over the world.
Unfortunately, forensic knowledge can not show to us Cleopatra's face. Napoleon seized much treasure from France, including the case of the mummy Cleopatra. Most treasure was returned to Egypt, but the case of the mummy Cleopatra was unintentionally left. During the 1940 's, the French workers found the case of his mummy, and threw his contents to the place of the disposal …. Cleopatra's beauty not in tampilan physical him, but as the icon in the love legend, then the painters, the writer of the drama, and the manufacturer must have of the film put forward Cleopatra that was pretty lovely. The film “Cleopatra” that was made during 1963 put forward the actress was prettiest in the period, Elizabeth Taylor. The film that was made beforehand, like “Antony and Cleopatra”, give Cleopatra's role to Florence Lawrence, while Helen Gardner performed Cleo in the film “Cleopatra, The Quin of Egypt”. Elizabeth, Florence, and Helen were not wrong still was actresses was prettiest in his day. Apparently, the world still believe in that the woman that enchanted must had paras pretty lovely …
For the women who were not lucky to be blessed with the slim body slender, sparkling white people, and the face shone like the full moon, not need to restless. Imitate Cleopatra. Be the clever woman, wise, and had personal grandeur. Certainly the world will be on our hands …..

Cleopatra Film

2009-03-11T07:54:00.000+07:00

Cleopatra is a 1963 film directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz. The screenplay was adapted by Sidney Buchman, Ben Hecht, Ranald MacDougall, and Joseph L. Mankiewicz from a book by Carlo Mario Franzero. The film starred Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, Rex Harrison, Roddy McDowall and Martin Landau. The music score was by Alex North. It was photographed in 70 mm Todd-AO by Leon Shamroy and Jack Hildyard.

Cleopatra chronicles the struggles of Cleopatra VII, the young Queen of Egypt, to resist the imperialist ambitions of Rome.

Production

The film is infamous for nearly bankrupting 20th Century Fox. Originally budgeted at $2 million^[2], it was made at a cost of $44 million — the equivalent of $295 million in 2007 dollars (see the list of most expensive films to produce), making the movie the third-most costly ever produced worldwide and the second most expensive in United States after Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, which has a budget of US$300,000,000 (accounting for inflation in each case). This was partly due to the fact that the film's elaborate, complicated sets, costumes and props had to be constructed twice, once during a botched shoot in London and once more when the production relocated to Rome.

Filming began in London in 1959. Mankiewicz was brought into the production after the departure of the first director (Rouben Mamoulian), who had in mind African-American actress Dorothy Dandridge for the lead role.^[3] He inherited a film which was already $5 million over budget and had no usable footage to show for it. This was in part because the actors originally hired to play Julius Caesar (Peter Finch) and Marc Antony (Stephen Boyd) left due to other commitments. Mankiewicz was later fired during the editing phase, only to be rehired when no one else could piece the film together.

Elizabeth Taylor was awarded a record setting contract of $1 million. This amount eventually swelled to $7 million due to the delays of the production, equivalent to over $47 million today. Taylor became very ill during the early filming and was rushed to an emergency room where a tracheotomy had to be performed to save her life. The resulting scar can be seen in some shots. All of this resulted in the film being shut down. The production was moved to Rome after six months as the English weather proved detrimental to her recovery, as well as being responsible for the constant deterioration of the costly sets and exotic plants required for the production (the English sets were utilised for the spoof Carry On Cleo). During filming, Taylor met Richard Burton and the two began a very public affair, which made headlines worldwide. Moral outrage over the scandal brought bad publicity to an already troubled production.

The cut of the film which Mankiewicz screened for the studio was six hours long. This was cut to four hours for its initial premiere, but the studio demanded (over the objections of Mankiewicz) that the film be cut once more, this time to just barely over three hours to allow theaters to increase the number of showings per day. As a result, certain details are left out of the film, such as Rufio's death.^[4] Mankiewicz unsuccessfully attempted to convince the studio to split the film in two in order to preserve the original cut. The film has been released to home video formats in its 243-minute premiere version, and efforts are under way to locate the missing footage (some of which has been recovered).

The arduous process and enormous cost of completing Cleopatra resulted in the end of the sword and sandal epic.

Plot

The film opens with Julius Caesar defeating Pompey at the Battle of Pharsalus. Pompey flees to Egypt, where he hopes to enlist the support of the young Pharaoh Ptolemy XIII and his sister Cleopatra, as he was on good terms with their father.

Caesar pursues Pompey and arrives in Alexandria in early October 48 BC. He meets Ptolemy and the boy's advisers, who seem to do most of the thinking for him. As a gesture of 'goodwill', the Egyptians present Caesar with the severed head of Pompey, but Caesar is not pleased. As Caesar settles in at the palace, Apollodorus arrives disguised as a rug peddler, bearing what he says is a gift from Cleopatra. When a suspicious Caesar unrolls the rug, he finds Cleopatra concealed within. After a short conversation, Cleopatra leaves for her chambers with an escort of Roman soldiers. Later, she returns to spy on Caesar and witnesses him suffer an epileptic seizure. Days later, she warns Caesar that her brother has surrounded the palace with his soldiers and that he is vastly outnumbered. Caesar is unconcerned and insists that he can hold them at bay for the time being.

Caesar orders the Egyptian fleet burned so he can gain control of the harbor. The fire spreads to the city, burning many buildings, including the famous Library of Alexandria. Cleopatra angrily confronts Caesar, but he refuses to pull Roman troops away from the fight with Ptolemy's forces to deal with the fire. In the middle of their spat, Caesar begins kissing her to silence her. They are interrupted by news that Ptolemy's troops are attacking one of the palace gates. The Romans hold and the armies of Mithridates arrive to reinforce the Roman legions.

The following day, Caesar passes judgment regarding the conflict between Ptolemy and Cleopatra. He sentences Ptolemy's lord chamberlain to death for arranging an assassination attempt on Cleopatra, and rules that Ptolemy and his tutor shall be sent out to join Ptolemy's now vastly outnumbered troops, where it is certain that both will die.

Cleopatra is crowned Queen of Egypt. Soon after, Cleopatra promises to bear Caesar sons. She dreams of ruling the world with him. When their son Caesarion is born, Caesar accepts him publicly, which becomes the talk of Rome and the Senate.

Cleopatra (Elizabeth Taylor) confronts Julius Caesar (Rex Harrison)

Caesar now returns to Rome for his triumph, while Cleopatra remains behind in Egypt. Two years pass before the two see each other again. After he is made dictator for life, Caesar sends for Cleopatra. She arrives in Rome in a lavish procession and wins the adulation of the Roman people. The Senate grows increasingly discontented amid rumors that Caesar wishes to be made king, which is anathema to the Romans.

On the Ides of March, the Senate is preparing to vote on whether to award Caesar additional powers. Despite warnings from his wife Calpurnia and Cleopatra, he is confident of victory. However, he is stabbed to death by various senators as he is making his way to the Senate.

After the funeral pyre, Octavian is named as Caesar's heir, not Caesarion. Realizing she has no future in Rome, Cleopatra returns home to Egypt. Caesar's assassins, among them Cassius and Brutus, are killed at the Battle of Philippi. Marc Antony establishes a second triumvirate with Octavian and Lepidus. They split up the empire: Lepidus receives Africa, Octavian Spain and Gaul, while Antony will take control of the eastern provinces. However, the rivalry between Octavian and Antony is becoming apparent.

While planning a campaign against Parthia in the east, Antony realizes he needs money and supplies, and cannot get enough from anywhere but Egypt. After refusing several times to leave Egypt, Cleopatra gives in and meets him in Tarsus. Antony becomes drunk during a lavish feast. Cleopatra sneaks away, leaving a slave dressed as her, but Antony discovers the trick and confronts the queen. They soon become lovers.

Octavian uses their affair in his smear campaign against Antony. When Antony must later return to Rome to address the situation brewing there, Octavian traps Antony into a marriage of state to Octavian's sister, Octavia. Cleopatra flies into a rage when she learns the news.

When Antony next sees Cleopatra, he is forced to humble himself publicly. She demands that a third of the empire be awarded to Egypt in return for her aid. Antony acquiesces and divorces Octavia. Octavian clamors for war against Antony and his "Egyptian whore". The Senate votes for war and Octavian murders the Egyptian ambassador, Cleopatra's tutor Sosigenes, on the Senate steps.

Richard Burton as Marc Antony

The war is decided at the Battle of Actium. Seeing Antony's ship burning, Cleopatra assumes he is dead and orders the Egyptian forces home. Antony follows, leaving his fleet leaderless and soon defeated. Cleopatra somehow manages to convince Antony to retake command of his troops and fight Octavian's advancing army. However, Antony's soldiers have lost faith in him after Actium and abandon him during the night; Rufio, the last man loyal to Antony, is killed. Antony tries to goad Octavian into single combat, but is finally forced to flee into the city.

When Antony returns to the palace, Apollodorus, not believing that Antony is worthy of his queen, convinces him that she is dead, whereupon Antony falls on his own sword. Apollodorus then takes Antony to Cleopatra, and he dies in her arms. Octavian captures the city and Cleopatra is brought before him. He wants to return to Rome in triumph, with her as his prisoner. However, realizing that her son is also dead, she arranges to be bitten by a poisonous asp.

Cast

Elizabeth Taylor as Cleopatra
Richard Burton as Marc Antony
Rex Harrison as Julius Caesar
Carroll O'Connor as Servilius Casca
Roddy McDowall as Octavian, alias Augustus
Martin Landau as Rufio
Hume Cronyn as Sosigenes
Andrew Keir as Agrippa
Kenneth Haigh as Brutus
George Cole as Flavius
Pamela Brown as the High Priestess
Cesare Danova as Apollodorus
Francesca Annis as Eiras
Richard O'Sullivan as Pharaoh Ptolemy XIII
Gregoire Aslan as Pothinus

Source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cleopatra_(1963_film)

The Flock film

2009-03-11T07:50:00.000+07:00

The Flock is a 2007 thriller film directed by Andrew Lau, the co-director of the Infernal Affairs trilogy. The film, which marks his first English-language film, stars Richard Gere and Claire Danes.

Plot

A hyper-vigilant employee of the Department of Public Safety (Richard Gere) checks on registered sex offenders. While training his young female replacement Allison Lowry (Claire Danes), he must track down a missing girl (Kristina Sisco) whom he is convinced is connected to a paroled sex offender he's investigating. Working against the clock they unravel the twisted details to track the potential killer.

These are his last working days, because he has been fired for not working according to the rules.

Cast

Richard Gere - Agent Erroll Babbage
Claire Danes - Allison Lowry
Ed Ackerman - Louis Kessler
Dwayne L. Barnes - Vincent Denniso
Avril Lavigne - Beatrice Bell (Suspect's Girlfriend)
Ric Maddox - Det. Martin Ryder
Paul McGowen - Det. Grant P. Stockdale
Russell Sams - Edmund Wells
Matt Sanford - James Ray Ward
Carmen Serano - Colette
Kristina Sisco - Harriet Wells
KaDee Strickland - Viola
Ray Wise - Robert Still

Source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Flock_(film)

The Bank Job 2008

2009-03-10T07:47:00.000+07:00

The Bank Job is a 2008 British crime film directed by Roger Donaldson and starring Jason Statham, based on the 1971 Baker Street robbery in central London, from which the money and valuables stolen were never recovered. The producers allege that the story was prevented from being told because of a D-Notice (now known as a DA-Notice) government gagging request, allegedly to protect a prominent member of the British Royal Family.^[3]^[4] According to the producers, this movie is intended to reveal the truth for the first time,^[5] although it includes significant elements of fiction and the extent to which it represents historical fact is difficult to determine.

The premiere was held in London on 18 February 2008, and the film was released in the UK on 28 February 2008.

Plot

Petty-criminal-gone-straight Terry Leather (Jason Statham) owns a failing car-sales garage and is being harassed by two debt-collectors. His old girlfriend Martine (Saffron Burrows) offers Terry a chance to earn enough money to never worry about debt again: a bank robbery in Baker Street, London. Terry gathers a bunch of petty-criminal friends to help execute the plan. They lease a shop two lots away from the bank and start digging a tunnel underneath the middle shop (a chicken fast-food restaurant) in order to reach the underground bank vault. Terry employs Eddie (Michael Jibson), a worker in his garage, as a "watchman" with a walkie-talkie to sit on the roof of the building opposite and keep a look out for trouble.

What they don't know is that Martine, who has been caught smuggling heroin into Britain and desperately wants to avoid jail, is setting them up on behalf of MI5, which wants the contents of a certain safe deposit box (No. 118) within the bank. This safe deposit box contains compromising photos of a female member of the British Royal Family (identified in the film as Princess Margaret) participating in a threesome. The photos are in a box belonging to a black militant who calls himself Michael X; he is using the photos to avoid trouble with the Metropolitan Police, and MI5 is desperate to keep the photos out of circulation.

As Terry and his crew dig, their radio chatter draws the attention of a local amateur radio operator, who listens in on the conversation and realises he's overhearing a bank robbery in progress. He calls the police, but with a ten-mile radius to search and a lack of concrete details, they fail to pin the robbery down.

After they have broken in and begin looting the vault, Martine goes for the deposit-box with the photos. A suspicious Terry opens the box with her and, upon seeing the pictures, knows that Martine has a hidden agenda. In addition to those photos, further photos of a number of high-ranking government officials are found, at the top a senior MP in compromising positions in a local S&M brothel. The robbers pocket these with the money and other valuables. Terry arranges for alternate transportation "to be safe", throwing off MI5 who had intended to immediately intercept them.

Guy (James Faulkner) and Bambas (Alki David), leave with their share of the spoils. When Terry confronts Martine over the photos, she explains their predicament. Meanwhile, the robbery is discovered, and the police — both corrupt ones receiving payoffs and honest ones — start their investigation. MI5 is likewise searching. Lew Vogel (David Suchet), a local club owner, is worried about the contents of his ledger, which lists every payoff he's made to the police, which by chance also was stolen during the robbery. He also phones Michael X to inform him that his box containing the royal 'portraits' has gone missing. Michael X starts to get suspicious of Gale Benson, a British spy who has befriended his brother and gone with the family to Trinidad.

The club owner manages to find one of the robbers, Dave (Daniel Mays) and tortures him for information with a sandblaster. When he eventually tells Vogel everything, Vogel goes to the garage where Terry worked and kidnaps Eddie, who was the lookout during the robbery, taking him to the same secret location and tying him down. At the same time, the senior MP is shown the photos of himself in the brothel, and agrees to try to help absolve the robbers of all wrongdoing and give them safe passage out of the country. Meanwhile, MI5 issues a D-Notice forbidding the press from reporting on the heist any longer. Police simultaneously release recordings from the walkie-talkie conversations, in the hope that someone will recognize the voices. These recordings are heard on the radio by Terry's family.

The club owner's accomplice eventually shoots Dave in the head and threatens to shoot Eddie also unless he gets his ledger book (with incriminating info about payoffs) back. Lew makes an agreement with Terry, agreeing to meet him at Paddington Station in London. During this time as well, Guy and Bambas are murdered by unknown people, and Michael X kills Benson in Trinidad. Terry has Kev give the same instruction to the officer in charge of the investigation, citing knowledge of corrupt officers under his control. He also convinces the club owner to go to Paddington Station at the same time, offering him the book with details of corrupt officers in return for the safe return of his mechanic. This results in a large meeting of all of the involved parties at the same time.

Terry stands on the platform waiting for the others, while Martine meets up with Tim Everett, her original contact within MI5, on a bridge overlooking the scene. The club owner and his corrupt police accomplices arrive with the mechanic, but recognize MI5 agents present and run. At the same time, the head of MI5 arrives (with Lord Mountbatten), handing over the documentation and passports that Terry bargained for, in return for the photos of the princess. Terry then chases the fleeing club owner and his henchmen. He starts to attack the club owner, and then fights with one of the aides, knocking them both out. The second aide appears with a gun, but Terry manages to avoid the shots and knock him out with a brick hastily dislodged from a wall.

The police officer in charge of the investigation then arrives, and sees the robbers being arrested. He speaks with the MI5 officers present, who direct police to let the robbers go. Terry gives the ledger to the police officer before he, Kevin, and Eddie go away. Vogel and the corrupt officers are arrested instead. Everett personally supervises Michael X's arrest in Trinidad and Tobago and has Benson's remains exhumed for reburial in Britain.

The final scenes have Terry and Martine say good-bye, and Terry and his family enjoying a relaxed and carefree life on a small sailing yacht of their own, near some sunny beach.

The epilogue states that the revelations about the brothel forces many government officials to resign. Scotland Yard starts investigating the corrupt officers named in the ledger. Michael X was hanged in 1975 for Benson's murder and his personal files are kept hidden in the British National Archives until 2054. Vogel gets imprisoned eight years for crimes that were unrelated to the robbery. The murderers of Guy and Bambas have never been found. About GBP 4 million worth of materials and money was stolen from the robbery. At least 100 safety-deposit box owners did not claim insurance nor identify their items in the boxes.

Production

Screenshot illustrating how a special outdoor set was constructed for production of the film

The film is in part based on historical facts. A gang tunnelled into a branch of Lloyds Bank at the junction between Baker Street and Marylebone Road, in London, on the night of 11 September 1971 and robbed the safe deposit boxes there. The robbers had rented a leather goods shop named Le Sac, two doors down from the bank, and tunnelled a distance of approximately 40 feet (12 metres), passing under the intervening Chicken Inn restaurant.^[4]

Robert Rowlands, a radio ham operator, overheard conversations between the robbers and their rooftop lookout. He contacted police and tape recorded the conversations, which were subsequently made public. The film includes lines recorded by Rowlands, such as the lookout's comment that "Money may be your god, but it's not mine, and I'm fucking off."^[6] After four days of news coverage, British authorities issued a D-Notice, requesting that news coverage be discontinued for reasons of national security, and the story disappeared from newspapers. The purpose for the D-Notice was never disclosed, and its existence was not confirmed until recently.^[4]

The film's producers claim that they have an inside source, identified in press reports as George McIndoe, who served as an executive producer.^[7] The film's claims that the issuance of the D-Notice was because a safe deposit box held sex pictures of Princess Margaret, and the possible connection to Michael X (whose governmental file purportedly is secret until 2054), are apparently based on information provided by McIndoe, though it is not clear what is the basis of his information or how specific it is supposed to be. The film makers apparently have acknowledged that they made up the character Martine, and The New Yorker's conclusion that it is "impossible to say how much of the film's story is true" appears to be correct.^[8]

Part of the filming took place on location at the offices of Websters, 136 Baker Street where the rooftops were actually used for lookout purposes. The majority of outside shots, namely shots including the bank and adjacent shops, were done on a specially constructed set of Baker Street, to retain an authentic feel of the period and to allow for greater control of visible elements.

Cast

US Release Poster

Actor	Role
Jason Statham	Terry Leather
Saffron Burrows	Martine Love
Richard Lintern	Tim Everett
Stephen Campbell Moore	Kevin Swain
James Faulkner	Guy Singer
Craig Fairbrass	Nick Barton
Daniel Mays	Dave Shilling
Alki David	Bambas
Michael Jibson	Eddie Burton
David Suchet	Lew Vogel, club owner
Peter Bowles	Miles Urquhart
Peter de Jersey	Michael X
Keeley Hawes	Wendy Leather
Hattie Morahan	Gale Benson
Christopher Owen	Lord Mountbatten

Source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bank_Job

The Quarantine Film

2009-03-09T07:42:00.000+07:00

The television reporter of Angela Vidal (Jennifer Carpenter) and cameraman him (Steve Harris) was assigned to cover the activity of the Los Angeles city firefighters. When coming the task call for the fire extinguishers, Angela and cameraman him then went along as well as to the location. Their arrival there, evidently the police has been in the place of this incident. Suspected of having a woman that tertular an illness that was not yet known by authorities. The woman who was infected that afterwards attacked the resident who lived in the apartment and caused the disturbance.

When trying to leave this apartment, Angela realised that all the apartment has in quarantine by the government side. All the communication channels including, the telephone, the TV, and the internet were severed up until the deadline that was not yet known. Really was isolated from the outside world, Angela and all that entered the quarantine must fight to be able to go out safely. QUARANTINE this could be still being the film remake fastest that had been made. His original film personally just was released by the end 2007 then and in a period less than one year remake him has circulated. When you could see his original version could be QUARANTINE this will not be too interesting because the director decided to make this film same precisely with his original version.

For a film that functioned to intimidate, this film was classified as enough successes. This success in fact was not free from the taking trick of the picture that seemed to be taken from the camera cameraman in this film. Results, the film that seemed to be made like documentary this was still being felt more real although sometimes rather annoying also saw the camera that always wobbled be proper for when we saw the video produced by the documentary recorder. Although being simple enough, this trick in fact was potent enough for you to allow this film to flow automatically. Several films from the genre that was same like THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT and CLOVERFIELD also used the trick that was same to achieve this effect. And could be mentioned that only this the only main pillar of the horror film directed by the director John Erick Dowdle this.

From the side of the story, could be mentioned that the idea of the foundation of this film already basi because of many horror films beforehand that also carried the idea of the similar foundation. Made the location of the film be closed in one area that was not too wide indeed gave the effect thriller that was quite strong. Films thriller other like P2 or SAW also made use of this 'crowded space' as the mainstay weapon to give nuances was 'shackled' that usually causes the feeling of panic. However of course should not hope many matters of acting of his players. The film from this kind indeed was not made show off the acting capacity. While his players could put forward the frightened expression and could scream as strongly as possible then was enough already.

Quarantine 2008 film

2009-03-09T07:38:00.000+07:00

Quarantine is a 2008 American horror film directed by John Erick Dowdle and starring Jennifer Carpenter, Jay Hernandez , Greg Germann, Steve Harris and Johnathon Schaech . The film is a remake of the Spanish horror film REC.^[4] Shot in the cinéma vérité style, it was released on October 10, 2008 by Screen Gems Pictures. The film features no incidental music, being "scored" with sound effects.^[5]

Plot

The film opens with reporter Angela Vidal (Jennifer Carpenter) and her cameraman Scott Percival (Steve Harris) doing a report on the night shift of a Los Angeles fire station. Angela and Scott are introduced to firefighters Fletcher (Johnathon Schaech) and Jake (Jay Hernandez), whom they will be following for the evening.

A medical emergency at an apartment complex is reported and the night shift is sent in. Yuri (Rade Serbedzija), the building manager, explains that a woman has been screaming, but is now silent. They are joined by two police officers, James (Andrew Fiscella) and Danny (Columbus Short), in the lobby. They are led to the apartment of Mrs. Espinoza (Jeannie Epper), the source of the screaming. Yuri unlocks the door when she does not answer, and a dog runs out. Within the apartment, Espinoza is struggling to breathe, covered in blood, and foaming at the mouth. She bites James in the neck, severely wounding him, before being subdued by Fletcher. The others take James downstairs to get medical assistance, but find the building sealed shut by the authorities. Fletcher falls from the top floor, bitten, breaking his leg. Lawrence (Greg Germann), a veterinarian, tends to the injured men.

Danny and Jake go upstairs to subdue Espinoza, where they find the cleaning lady dead in her apartment. Danny shoots Espinoza when she charges at them. They all return to the lobby, meeting Sadie (Dania Ramirez) on the way. By this time, all exterior windows and doors are being sealed, and cell phones are being jammed. Anyone who attempts to leave is forced back at gunpoint. Jake believes they are being quarantined due to a nuclear, biological, or chemical emergency. Danny and Jake round up the tenants and bring them to the lobby, including Elise (Stacy Chbosky), who is displaying the same symptoms as Espinoza.

While Fletcher, James, and Elise are treated by Lawrence, Angela begins interviewing tenants. One little girl, Briana (Joey King), is sick. Briana claims that she has a dog named Max who was sick and taken to an animal hospital. Lawrence states that the symptoms of those infected are similar to rabies, only much more fast-acting.

Downstairs, Fletcher shambles into the lobby on his severely broken leg, but Danny injects him with a sedative, while Angela and Scott notice Bernard and Sadie sneaking away, looking for a TV to try to discover what is happening outside. Espinoza's infected dog appears and attacks one of the tenants. They reach Bernard's apartment and turn on the news, where the chief of police claims that everyone has been evacuated from the building, just before the power is shut off. The group is then attacked by Elise, whom Scott kills with his camera.

Danny rounds everyone up in the textile shop and states that Centers for Disease Control and Prevention agents are coming in to give blood tests. The residents are also told that anyone who is not infected will be released. Lawrence points out that the only way to test for rabies is through a brain sample, not a blood test, but Danny insists on following procedure. After a roll call, Yuri reveals that the penthouse apartment of the building is being rented by a man from Boston who is absent.

The CDC agents arrive and examine the infected victims, taking a brain sample from Fletcher. Fletcher breaks his restraints and attacks one of the agents. Danny, Jake, and the other agent escape, leaving Lawrence locked in the room with the infected. Lawrence gets infected, the textile shop is locked and the surviving CDC agent is forced to explain the situation: Briana's dog was brought to a vet with an unknown illness and infected all the animals there. The dog was traced back to the apartment building; Briana's fever is then called into question, and she bites her mother before running upstairs. Briana's mother, who is now hysterical, is handcuffed to the stairwell.

Danny is bitten by Briana, and many of the survivors downstairs are bitten as well. The survivors lock themselves in an upstairs room. The surviving CDC agent has been bitten and runs away to keep from infecting the others. He is locked in an adjacent room while the others try to figure out what to do. Sadie is also bitten but Bernard pleads with the others not to kill her. Bernard cuts through a window seal to call for help, but is killed by a sniper. Yuri reveals that they can escape through a basement passage into the sewers; however, the keys are in his apartment. He is then killed by the infected CDC agent. His wife is then killed by Sadie, who has succumbed to the infection.

Angela, Scott, and Jake make their way to Yuri's apartment to get his keys, avoiding and killing several infected while doing so. Jake is bitten along the way, and the infected Danny chase Angela and Scott into the penthouse apartment. Within, they find newspapers with articles related to a doomsday cult. They discover that the man from Boston, who was renting the penthouse, was a member of it. One of the articles tells how the cult broke into a military biological facility to steal the virus. A noise from the attic prompts Scott to investigate, and he finds an infected boy. The boy destroys the light on Scott's camera, so he turns on the night vision. Angela and Scott then see an emaciated man (Doug Jones) emerge from another room. He walks past them initially but attacks Scott when Angela inadvertently makes a noise. Angela watches through the night vision of the camera as the infected man eats Scott. The man then attacks her, causing her to drop the camera. The final shot is of Angela crawling back to the camera only to be dragged into the darkness, screaming.

Cast

Jennifer Carpenter as Angela Vidal
Steve Harris as Scott Percival
Jay Hernandez as Jake
Johnathon Schaech as George Fletcher
Columbus Short as Danny Wilensky
Rade Serbedzija as Yuri Ivanov
Greg Germann as Laurence
Bernard White as Bernard
Dania Ramirez as Sadie
Marin Hinkle as Kathy
Joey King as Briana
Denis O'Hare as Randy
Jeannie Epper as Mrs. Espinoza
Doug Jones as Thin Infected Man

Source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quarantine_(2008_film)

Made of Honor : When the Friendship became the Love

2009-03-07T08:32:00.000+07:00

The love could grow because of being used to it together. At least so that happened to Tom (Patrick Dempsey). Tom was a person playboy that often gonta-substitute for the girlfriend. The appropriate face and Tom's athletic posture always succeeded in tempting the heart of women who were met by Tom. On the other hand Hannah (Michelle Monaghan), the intimate friend Tom, was the type of the romantic woman and hoped for the arrival of the man who always was his dream. Hannah wanted immediately to marry but still not found the man that be suitable that he hope for. Once, Hannah must go to Scotland for 6 weeks, because of receiving the task from his place worked. Since Hannah's trip, Tom felt lonely. Uptil now he had not had the friend was as good as Hannah that always was ready to become the friend for Tom. Tom finally realise that what uptil now he regarded only friendships evidently was the love. Be certain of what he felt, Tom then was planned to deliver this to Hannah a return from Scotland later.
Now Hannah available in Scotland met Colin McMurray (Kevin McKidd), a millionaire from Scotland there. Several times met, their relations were then increasingly close. Colin had finally revealed the feeling of his love for Hannah and had asked for Hannah in order to become his wife. Evidently Hannah then felt the same way and was prepared to marry Colin. Hannah will in fact plan to reside in Scotland after his marriage later. Not played Tom's disappointment when hearing this news. Hannah will in fact ask Tom to become his colleague during the marriage later. Seriously Tom granted his friend's request although Tom evidently had the other intention. Tom hoped could stop Hannah's marriage by being present during the marriage later.
There was the impression was 'forced' when watching this film. It was final that the story could have been guessed from the start of the story and made the duration of the film for the length of 90 minutes more seem like only was waiting for time then. Tom's character that was played by Patrick Dempsey then seem like unreal. How could it be that the person with the level of the egoist was as high as Tom could change in a period less than Hannah's 6 temporary weeks that spent time 10 years expected Tom's love to be able to change in a period less than 6 weeks also. Despite this, the 'relations' impression that was established between Tom and Hannah was convincing enough and was glad being watched. For only an entertainment, this film of the comedy drama indeed more than just entertained. There was a message about relations between humankind that tried to be sent by the director and the writer of the text.

Made of Honor 2008

2009-03-07T08:28:00.000+07:00

Made of Honor (Made of Honour in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada and Australia) is a 2008 American comedy film directed by Paul Weiland and written by Adam Sztykiel. It was produced by Neal H. Moritz and was released by Columbia Pictures in North America on May 2, 2008. The film includes the last ever screen appearance of Sydney Pollack.

Synopsis

Tom and Hannah met at Cornell University in 1998 when he accidentally slipped in her bed thinking she was his lover, Monica. He was impressed by her honest personality and how she did not fling herself at him.

Ten years later, Tom (Patrick Dempsey) is very successful. He has become wealthy from his invention of the "coffee collar," has plenty of guy friends, and a new girl every week. Hannah has remained his friend. It is obvious that she is crazy about him, even as he takes her for granted.

Hannah (Michelle Monaghan) goes to Scotland on an acquisition trip for her museum and Tom realizes he feels empty without her. He becomes dissatisfied with his relationships with other women and decides to tell Hannah his feelings when she returns. However, when Hannah comes back, Tom learns that she has become engaged to wealthy Colin (Kevin McKidd) and that the two plan to move back to Scotland. Hannah asks Tom to be her "maid" of honor and he agrees so he can try to stop the wedding and win Hannah back.

While in Scotland, Tom plans to tell Hannah he loves her. They share a passionate kiss at her bachelorette party, then break away. Hannah then gets whisked off by her bridesmaids. That night, Hannah goes up to Tom's room to talk to him. But before she arrives, Hannah's cousin, who Tom broke up with, comes into Tom's room and attempts to seduce him. Hannah walks in right as Hannah's cousin is on top of Tom. Tom and Hannah have an argument, and Tom leaves for home. On his way back, he decides to stop the wedding. On horseback he makes it to the chapel just in time, and kisses Hannah, who decides to cancel the marriage and marry Tom.

Cast

Patrick Dempsey as Thomas "Tom" Bailey Jr.
Michelle Monaghan as Hannah
Kevin McKidd as Colin McMurray
Kadeem Hardison as Felix
Chris Messina as Dennis
Richmond Arquette as Gary
Busy Philipps as Melissa
Kathleen Quinlan as Joan
Sydney Pollack as Thomas Bailey Sr.
James Sikking as Reverend Foote
Kevin Sussman as Tiny Shorts Guy
Beau Garrett as Gloria
Hannah Gordon as Duchess McMurray
Elisabeth Hasselbeck as Herself
Whitney Cummings as Stephanie
Brandon Saario as Paul
Enen as Pet Dog
Murray McArthur as Driver in Scotland

Source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Made_of_Honor

The Tropic Thunder Film

2009-03-07T08:25:00.000+07:00

If you go see Tropic Thunder this weekend, don't be late. The four fake ads that open the movie are perhaps the apex of its considerable comic invention. After a sleazy pitch for an energy drink called Alpa Chino's Booty Sweat, we're treated, or subjected, to trailers for three abysmal-looking upcoming movies titled Scorcher VI: Global Meltdown, The Fatties: Fart 2, and Satan's Alley (that last being a kind of medieval remake of Brokeback Mountain, in which closeted monks played by Robert Downey Jr. and Tobey Maguire furtively fondle each other's rosaries).
These trailers are not only uproarious in their own right; they serve as nifty exposition tools for Ben Stiller (directing for the first time since the 2001 Zoolander), who can now plunge us into his deranged universe without needing to provide back stories for the four main characters. We learn that Alpa Chino (Brandon T. Jackson), purveyor of Booty Sweat, is a rapper trying to break into acting. Tugg Speedman (Stiller), aka the Scorcher, is a fading action star hoping to move into serious roles. The flatulent star of the Fatties franchise, Jeff Portnoy (Jack Black), is also in quest of acting cred, though his heroin habit stands in his way. And Kirk Lazarus (Downey Jr.) is an Australian method actor who submerges himself in his characters to a disturbing degree.
As the real movie (or is it?) opens, these four Hollywood brats find themselves in a Southeast Asian jungle, shooting a war epic under the direction of Damien Cockburn (Steve Coogan), who, in turn, is subject to the whims of tyrannical studio head Les Grossman (Tom Cruise, oh my God, Tom Cruise—but more on that later). The project is quickly going south—four days into shooting, report the tabloids, it's already a month behind schedule—and Grossman is threatening to shut the whole thing down. In a desperate meeting with Four Leaf Tayback (Nick Nolte), the Vietnam vet whose memoir inspired the film, Cockburn agrees to try shooting "guerilla-style": He'll strand his actors in the jungle with hidden cameras, terrify them with faked explosions (rigged by the movie's tech guru, Cody, played brilliantly by Danny McBride), and film them as they make their way back to civilization without cell phones, assistants, masseuses, or other perks of the trade.

In addition to the fake perils Cody has set out for them, the actors fall prey to some real ones: A local drug gang led by a teenage warlord (Brandon Soo Hoo) mistakes the Americans for DEA agents and starts hunting them through the jungle. Internecine struggle begins among the team of thespians as the credulous Speedman insists this is all part of the filmmakers' plan while the marginally smarter Lazarus tries to lead the group to safety.

Did I mention that Downey's character is in blackface this entire time? Well, not exactly blackface; with DeNiro-like intensity, Lazarus has undergone a surgical skin-darkening procedure to prepare himself for the plum role of an African-American soldier. The fact that his fellow cast member, Jackson's Alpa Chino, is an actual black man in a much smaller role bothers Lazarus not at all. In one of the movie's funniest scenes, he enfolds the younger actor in a brotherly embrace while intoning a speech about race relations that begins, "Over 400 years ago …" and culminates in a solemn recitation of the lyrics from The Jeffersons' theme song. Anyone walking into Tropic Thunder looking to be offended by Downey's minstrel turn will soon find that the movie is two steps ahead. His role is no one-note, let's-shock-the-audience race joke—it's a densely layered little study of American racial anxiety. In an ongoing gag, Lazarus never breaks character; even when his life is in peril, he maintains his soul-brother voice and tone of mau-mauing self-pity. Obsessed with authenticity, he's the biggest phony there is.

Robert Downey Jr. knocking a role like this out of the park is no surprise. But who could have foreseen Tom Cruise nearly stealing the movie in a fat suit, a prosthetic nose, a skinhead wig, and an Austin Powers-style mat of chest fur? Cruise is always at his best when he's skewering some unpleasant aspect of his own persona; thus, the crazed motivational speaker he played in Magnolia was a career high point, and the supremely crude Les Grossman is another. Maybe as the head of United Artists, Cruise really does spew vicious obscenities on the phone and engage in triumphant hip-hop dances in an underground bunker of an office. At any rate, never has a role so cannily taken advantage of Cruise's compact, thumblike body shape—that is, his physical resemblance to a penis. As Les Grossman, he's a literal and figurative dick, and it's the role of a lifetime.

Source : http://www.slate.com/id/2196991/

Tropic Thunder 2008

2009-03-07T08:22:00.001+07:00

Tropic Thunder is a 2008 American action satire comedy film directed and produced by Ben Stiller and written by Stiller, Justin Theroux, and Etan Cohen. The film stars Stiller, Jack Black and Robert Downey, Jr. as a group of prima donna actors making a Vietnam War film when their fed-up writer and director decides to drop them in the middle of a jungle, forcing them to portray their roles without the comforts of a film set. The film was produced by DreamWorks and distributed by Paramount Pictures.

Stiller had the idea for the film while playing a small part in Empire of the Sun and later brought on Theroux and Cohen to help him complete the script. After the film was greenlit in 2006, filming took place in 2007 on the Hawaiian island of Kauai over 13 weeks and was later deemed the largest film production in the island's history. Tropic Thunder had a massive marketing promotion, including posting faux websites for the characters and their fictional films, airing a fake television special, and selling the fictional energy drink advertised in the film, "Booty Sweat".

Released in the United States on August 13, 2008, it received generally good reviews with 83% of reviews positive and an average normalized score of 71%, according to the review aggregator websites Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic, respectively. It earned $26 million in its North American opening weekend and retained the number one position for its first three weekends of release. The film grossed $180 million in theaters before its release on home video on November 18, 2008.

Plot

During the filming of Vietnam veteran John "Four Leaf" Tayback's (Nick Nolte) memoir Tropic Thunder, the actors—fading action hero Tugg Speedman (Ben Stiller), five-time Academy Award-winning Australian method actor Kirk Lazarus (Robert Downey, Jr.), rapper Alpa Chino (Brandon T. Jackson), and drug addicted comedian Jeff Portnoy (Jack Black)—behave unreasonably (with the exception of newcomer supporting actor Kevin Sandusky (Jay Baruchel)). Production is going poorly: rookie director Damien Cockburn (Steve Coogan) is unable to control the actors while filming a large war scene and just five days into shooting, filming is reported to be a month behind schedule. Cockburn is ordered by studio executive Les Grossman (Tom Cruise) to get the production back on track or risk having it shut down.

Acting on Tayback's advice, Cockburn drops the actors into the middle of the jungle, where he has installed many hidden cameras and special-effect explosions rigged so he can film "guerrilla-style". The actors have guns that fire blanks, along with a map and a scene listing that will guide them to the helicopter waiting at the end of the jungle route. Unbeknownst to the actors and the production, the five actors have been dropped in the middle of the Golden Triangle, the home of the heroin-producing Flaming Dragon gang. Shortly after the group is dropped off, the actors are stunned to see Cockburn blown up by a land mine. Speedman, believing Cockburn faked his death, attempts to convince the other actors that it was a hoax. The gang, believing the actors are DEA agents, ambush the actors. The actors scare away the gang and Speedman persuades Chino, Portnoy, and Sandusky that Cockburn is alive and that they are still shooting the film. Lazarus is unconvinced that Cockburn is alive, but joins the other actors in their trek through the jungle.

When Tayback and pyrotechnics operator Cody Underwood (Danny R. McBride) attempt to locate the now-dead director, they are captured by the gang, at which point Tayback is exposed as a fraud when Underwood pulls off his prosthetic hooks to reveal fully functioning arms. Meanwhile, the actors continue to forge through the hostile jungle. After Lazarus and Sandusky discover that Speedman is leading them in the wrong direction, the four actors, tired of walking through the jungle and hoping to be rescued, part ways from Speedman who leaves by himself to follow the film's scene listing.

The next day, Speedman is captured by several members of Flaming Dragon and is taken to their heroin factory. Believing it is the prisoner-of-war camp from the script, he continues to think he is being filmed. The gang discovers that he is the star of the box office bomb Simple Jack and force him to reenact it several times a day. Meanwhile, in Los Angeles, Speedman's agent, Rick Peck (Matthew McConaughey), is trying to negotiate with an uninterested Grossman an unfulfilled term in Speedman's contract that entitles him to a TiVo. Flaming Dragon calls the two and they demand a ransom from them, but Grossman instead curses out the gang. Despite the threats he made to the Flaming Dragon, he then tells Rick that they can benefit more by collecting the insurance claim on Speedman's death, even offering the agent a share of the profits along with his own personal Gulfstream V.

The actors stumble upon Flaming Dragon's heroin factory. After seeing Speedman being tortured, they plan an ambush based on the film's script. Lazarus impersonates a farmer bringing in a captured Jeff, distracting the armed guards so Chino and Sandusky can sneak in to where the captives are held. After the gang notices inconsistencies in Lazarus' story, the actors open fire on the gang, temporarily subduing them. When the gang realizes that the suspected DEA agents are only actors using guns filled with blanks, they begin firing on the actors.

Chino, Portnoy, Sandusky, and Lazarus locate Speedman and attempt an escape in Underwood and Tayback's recaptured helicopter. After rejoining with Tayback and crossing a bridge that Underwood has previously rigged to detonate, they meet up with Underwood at the helicopter. Speedman asks to remain behind with the gang which he considers his "family", but he quickly returns with the murderous gang in hot pursuit. Tayback detonates the bridge just in time for Speedman to reach safety, but as the helicopter takes off, the gang fires an RPG at their helicopter. Rick unexpectedly stumbles out of the jungle carrying a TiVo box and throws it in the path of the RPG, saving them all. Footage from the hidden cameras is compiled into a feature film, Tropic Blunder, which ends up becoming a major critical and box office hit and a multiple-Academy Award winner.

Cast

Ben Stiller as Tugg Speedman: Compared to a young Sylvester Stallone,^[3] he is the highest-paid, highest-grossing action star ever due to his Scorcher franchise. He now has a current reputation of appearing in nothing but box office bombs, and after a failed attempt at portraying a serious role in Simple Jack, he joins the cast of Tropic Thunder in an attempt to save his career, taking on the role of Four Leaf Tayback.
Robert Downey, Jr. as Kirk Lazarus: An Australian multiple Academy Award-winning method actor, Lazarus had a controversial "pigment-changing" surgery to darken his skin for his portrayal of the African American character Sergeant Lincoln Osiris. Lazarus refuses to break character under any circumstances while filming and during the majority of the shoot and only speaks in his character's Black English, much to the annoyance of co-star and genuine African-American, Alpa Chino. Lazarus's Satan's Alley faux trailer about two gay priests at an 18th century Irish monastery parodies films like Brokeback Mountain and Downey's own scenes with Tobey Maguire in Wonder Boys.^[4]^[5]
Jack Black as Jeff Portnoy: Compared to Chris Farley,^[3] he is a drug-addicted comedian-actor well known for playing multiple parts and the frequent use of flatulence in films. In the film-within-a-film, he plays a raspy-voiced soldier named Fats. Portnoy's The Fatties: Fart 2 faux trailer, about a family (with each member played by Portnoy) which enjoys passing gas, spoofs Eddie Murphy's portrayal of multiple characters in films such as Nutty Professor II: The Klumps.^[6]^[7]^[8]
Jay Baruchel as Kevin Sandusky: A young, unknown actor who is the only one of the cast who has read the script and book and attended a boot camp before the film, to play a young soldier named Brooklyn. He serves as the straight man, being the only actor without an internal conflict or insecurity.
Brandon T. Jackson as Alpa Chino: A rapper who is attempting to cross over into acting, portraying a soldier named Motown, while promoting his "Bust-A-Nut" candy bar and energy drink, "Booty Sweat". He accidentally reveals himself to be gay during a conversation with the other actors revealing he is dating Lance Bass. His name is a play off of Al Pacino.^[9]^[10]
Nick Nolte as John "Four Leaf" Taylor: The author of Tropic Thunder, a memoir of his war experiences on which the film-within-a-film is based, who hatches the idea to drop the actors in the middle of the jungle. When he is captured by the Flaming Dragon gang, it is revealed he lied about being a war veteran and losing his hands. Tayback claims he wrote the memoir as a tribute to the soldiers who served in the war.
Tom Cruise as Les Grossman: The foul-mouthed and hot-headed studio executive behind Tropic Thunder.
Danny McBride as Cody Underwood: The film's choleric explosives expert. He assists Tayback and Cockburn in dropping the actors into the jungle. He idolizes Tayback and is disillusioned and enraged when he discovers Tayback lied about his military service.
Matthew McConaughey as Rick "Pecker" Peck: Tugg Speedman's extremely devoted agent and best friend.
Steve Coogan as Damien Cockburn: The inexperienced British film director who is unable to control the actors in the film. After dropping them in the jungle to finish the film, he is killed when he steps on a land mine.
Bill Hader as Rob Slolom: Assistant and right-hand man to Les Grossman.
Brandon Soo Hoo as Tran: The young leader of the Flaming Dragon gang. He was compared to Karen National Union guerrilla leaders Johnny and Luther Htoo.^[11]
Reggie Lee as Byong: The second-in-command of the Flaming Dragon gang.
Trieu Tran as Tru: Another Flaming Dragon member who dresses in drag for the re-enactment of "Simple Jack" and remains such for the rest of his screen-time.

Source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tropic_Thunder

Monsters, Inc 2001

2009-03-07T08:19:00.000+07:00

Monsters, Inc. is a 2001 computer animated comedy film and the fourth feature-length film produced by Pixar Animation Studios. The film was released to theaters by Walt Disney Pictures in the United States on November 2, 2001, in Australia on December 26, 2001, and in the United Kingdom on February 8, 2002. Monsters, Inc. was written by Jack W. Bunting, Jill Culton, Peter Docter, Ralph Eggleston, Dan Gerson, Jeff Pidgeon, Rhett Reese, Jonathan Roberts and Andrew Stanton. It was directed by Pete Docter, Lee Unkrich, and David Silverman. [1]

Monsters, Inc. premiered in the United States on October 28, 2001, and went into general release on November 2, 2001 and was a commercial and critical success, grossing over $525,366,597 worldwide.[2] Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes also reported extremely positive reviews with a fresh 94% approval rating.[3]

Plot

Monsters, Inc. is the city of Monstropolis' power company. Monsters, Inc. sends its employees to human children's bedrooms to scare the children, through teleportation doors set up on the work floor. The screams of children generate electric power for the city. However, the monsters believe that children themselves are toxic, and go to great lengths to prevent contact; should a monster be touched by a child or their belongings, the Child Detection Agency (CDA) is alerted to sanitize the affected being. With increasing numbers of children becoming desensitized by mass media, Monsters, Inc. CEO Henry J. Waternoose is finding it difficult to scare the children enough to meet the power demands of the city.

One night, James P. Sullivan ("Sulley"), Monsters, Inc.'s top scarer, finds a door on the work floor after hours - in violation of policy. Peering inside, the child's room appears empty, but Sulley finds that a human girl has followed him through the door, thinking him to be a giant kitty. Terrified of contamination, he tries to return her, but is forced to hide when Randall Boggs, a competitive co-worker, come out of her door and returns it to the company's door vault. Sulley quickly hides the child and gets hold of Mike Wazowski, his co-worker and best friend, to figure out the situation. Together at Sulley's home, they discover that being touched by the child is not harmful at all, and that when she laughs, surrounding electrical power surges to incredible levels. Sulley nicknames the child "Boo" and becomes her caretaker until they can get her back home.

Sulley and Mike disguise Boo as a baby monster and return to Monsters, Inc. the next day. Mike attempts to get the right door to return Boo, but the doorkeeper, Roz, refuses due to Mike failing to return paperwork. Boo wanders off into the plant, with Sulley giving chase. They accidentally stumble upon Randall and his "scream extractor", a device that takes the screams directly from a child, which requires Randall to actually kidnap the child and bring them to the monster world. Sulley takes Boo and attempts to reveal Randall's actions to Waternoose, but is forced to demonstrate his scaring skills to new employees before he can do so. When he scares the robot subject, Boo becomes frightened of him, and is revealed as a human. Sulley tries to explain the situation to Waternoose, but comes to realize that Waternoose is actually in on the scream extractor plan, allowing Randall to develop it in order to keep Monsters, Inc. from going out of business. To keep them quiet, Waternoose orders Sulley and Mike exiled to the human world, and gives Boo to Randall to extract her screams to generate more power.

Sulley and Mike, stranded in the Himalayas, realize that Boo's life is in danger, and find a nearby Nepali village where they locate a door connected to Monsters, Inc. Scarefloor F (Mike and Sulley's work station). They are just in time to save Boo from the extractor, and attempt to catch Randall, eventually leading to a chase on and through the millions of doors in the door vault. They eventually triumph when Boo overcomes her fear of Randall and starts beating him with a Wiffle bat. Sulley throws him through a door, and then they smash the door to pieces to prevent him returning. The next scene shows a trailer in a Southern swamp, with Randall's silhouette passing by the window. A boy's voice calls "Hey ma! Another gator got in the house!" A woman answers, "Gimme dat shovel!" A great deal of whacking and bonking ensues as they drive Randall outside. Sulley, Mike, and Boo then lure Waternoose into a trap, forcing him to reveal his plan while they were recording it as to present the information to the CDA. Waternoose is arrested and Sulley is lauded as a hero, but Roz (revealed to be Agent 001 of the CDA) insists that Boo must return to her world and that her door be destroyed so that she cannot return. Sulley and Mike return Boo to her room and say goodbye to her, and watch sadly as the CDA put her door through a wood chipper, reducing it to splinters, one of which Sulley holds onto as a keepsake.

Sometime later, Sulley has become the CEO of Monsters, Inc., and has changed their approach - instead of scaring children, they make them laugh, which generates ten times more power, making both the monsters and children happy. Mike reveals a special project to Sulley - he has managed to rebuild Boo's door save the one piece Sulley kept, and invites him to finish it. Sulley places the last piece and enters the door, where Boo instantly recognizes him, much to Sulley's happiness.

Voice cast

Main article: List of Monsters, Inc. characters

John Goodman as James P. "Sulley" Sullivan
Billy Crystal as Michael "Mike" Wazowski
Mary Gibbs as Boo
Steve Buscemi as Randall Boggs
James Coburn as Henry J. Waternoose III
Jennifer Tilly as Celia Mae
Bob Peterson as Roz
John Ratzenberger as the Abominable Snowman
Frank Oz as Fungus
Bonnie Hunt as Ms. Flint
Jeff Pidgeon as Mr. Bile
Dan Gerson as Needleman and Smitty
Sam Black as George Sanderson

Source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monsters,_Inc.

The clumsy racial attitudes of Beverly Hills Chihuahua Film

2009-03-07T08:14:00.000+07:00

Beverly Hills Chihuahua (Disney) isn't terrible. OK, it's kind of terrible, but it's a talking-dog movie, and anyone who goes to a talking-dog movie without being prepared to step in poop deserves to ruin his shoes. Indulgent parents and animal lovers, steel yourselves for pooches done up in couture outfits (who is the canine Edith Head, I wonder?), quadrupedally modified one-liners ("Talk to the paw!"), and a plot that's like a succession of "Yo quiero Taco Bell" commercials minus the fast-food come-on. And owing to the film's message that every stray dog's dream is to get taken in by a loving family, it's probably wise to give the pound a wide berth on the drive home.
Nevertheless, there are moments when, to borrow from the movie's doggie-modified parlance, Beverly Hills Chihuahua is "off the leash." (Note to Disney: I'd appreciate it if "Josh Levin: Beverly Hills Chihuahua is off the leash!" doesn't appear in upcoming newspaper ads. Please read on.) Drew Barrymore nails the rich-bitch inflection of pampered lap dog Chloe, making barked-out commands like "I have a mani-pedi at 11 and you have to make my waffles" sound just as grating and odious as they read on the page. It's Barrymore's pleading voice that makes Chloe's downward spiral upon getting lost in Mexico—her diamond-encrusted Harry Winston collar gets stolen, and she's forced to sleep in a cardboard box under a park bench and fight off a pack of strays for a discarded churro—actually amusing at times. Andy Garcia, too, brings depth and pathos to the role of a jaded ex-police dog—his character, the German shepherd Delgado, has the best movie-animal flashback since the chimp Elijah in Being John Malkovich—and Luis Guzmán does his best dog-voicing work in years as a pit bull caught up in the dog-fighting racket.

Source : http://www.slate.com/id/2201448/

Beverly Hills Chihuahua Film

2009-03-07T08:12:00.000+07:00

Beverly Hills Chihuahua is a 2008 comedy film by Walt Disney Pictures directed by Raja Gosnell and released October 3. A trailer of the upcoming Disney film Bolt was seen at the beginning. The plot centers around a Chihuahua who gets dognapped in Mexico and has to escape from an evil Doberman, El Diablo, with help from a lonely German Shepherd, Delgado, and a hyperactive male Chihuahua, Papí, who has a desperate crush on her.

Plot

Vivian (Jamie Lee Curtis), chihuahua Chloe's (voice of Drew Barrymore) owner, leaves the pooch with her irresponsible niece Rachel (Piper Perabo) to dog-sit. Rachel decides to go to Mexico with her pals, leaving Chloe in the room; the dog sneaks out and gets stolen while trying to find Rachel. Chloe ends up tossed into a dog fight ring in Mexico City, left to defend herself from El Diablo (voice of Edward James Olmos). Delgado (voice of Andy Garcia) rescues her from the fight, unleashing the other dogs from their cages and unlocking the ring to allow the two dogs to escape. Delgado was planning to just walk away, but he feels bad and decides to help Chloe get back home. The leader of the dog fights realizes that Chloe is worth something and sends Diablo to find Chloe. Rachel stays in Mexico to find Chloe. Meanwhile, Delgado hears Diablo's war cry from far away, which means he's caught her scent, and promptly pushes Chloe into a mud puddle to wash off her Chanel No. 5. He then helps Chloe reach a 5-star hotel in which she is a preferred customer, however, seeing she is covered in mud, the employees kick her out. Meanwhile, Delgado sees a white Chihuahua he believes to be Chloe in the resturaunt. Believing Chloe abandoned him, he leaves. When Chloe comes around to the front, she finds that Delgado has abandoned her. Chloe's doggie friends back home are enjoying a birthday party, while they wonder where she is, believing her to be somewhere "under a palm tree being waited on by some hunky husky". Meanwhile, Chloe has found shelter for the night in a cardboard box under a bench. Rachel's friend sneaks into Vivian's house to get a picture of Chloe when she is caught by the landscaper, Sam (Manolo Cardona). He and his dog Papí (voice of George Lopez) from Beverly Hills, who is in love with Chloe, go to Mexico to find her. Rachel and the landscaper team up and set off to find Chloe. In the morning, Chloe has a run-in with Diablo, and Delgado swoops in to save her. They run through a museum, Diablo hot on their heels. They manage to escape, and they ride a truck to Puerto Vallarta. Meanwhile, Papí smells Chloe's scent on two of the dogs from the dog fights, and Rachel and Sam bring them to Rachel's hotel room, where they wash them and brush their teeth. The two dogs are later given loving homes. In Puerto Vallarta, Chloe's only form of identification, her diamond-studded collar, is stolen by a con artist team consisting of a rat, Manuel (voice of Cheech Marin) and an iguana, Chico (voice of Paul Rodriguez) (who is reluctant to go along with Manuel's plans). Furious, Delgado puts her on a train headed northwest to Tijuana, then turns to leave. As the train pulls away, Chloe reminds Delgado he promised to get her home. He gives in and runs after the train, barely making it on board. When the conductor comes around, Delgado decides to escape the train. Chloe, seeing he jumped off, jumps on top of him. As they walk to civlilzation, Chloe finds out Delgado used to be a police dog. He failed a major bust and his partner got hurt, causing him to lose his sense of smell. The two are then attacked by mountain lions. Delgado fends them off while he barks at Chloe to go hide, the latter hiding in between Delgado's legs. The two are then saved from the mountain lions by a pack of Chihuahuas. The leader, Montezuma, Chloe and Delgado to a set of old Aztec ruins where they live. He tells Chloe that the Chihuahua breed is a mighty one, and that they are not meant to be lap dogs. He then tells Chloe she has to find her bark, which comes out as a high-pitched squeak. He reassures her that her bark will come when she needs it. Chloe and Delgado head out in the morning and make it to a national park in Mexico, where Chloe is regonized as the lost dog on the posters by an employee. Rachel and the landscaper go to get Chloe but Diablo beats them to her. Delgado hears her distress bark, but can't find her location because of his lack of sense of smell. The rat and iguana con artists give Delgado the diamond-studded necklace so he can trace her scent, and his sense of smell comes back to him. They end up in an old ruin where Papí gets locked in a cage; Chloe helps Papí to escape. Chloe finds her bark when Papí is cornered while trying to distract Diablo, and with the help of Delgado, they get Diablo to surrender. Delgado gets reinstated as a K9 Unit and Rachel and Sam take the dogs home. Back in Beverly Hills, Vivian likes Chloe's new smell (an earthy smell she obtained from the ruins, dubbed Mexico No. 5 by Papí). Papí and Chloe relax on the patio. Chloe thanks Papí for his help and she tells him that she loves him in Spanish and she licks him down to the ground as her way of showing her love. Before the end credits, Papí explains what happens to the Diablo and the other two dog fight dogs, he and Chloe go on their first date, and Sam begins dating Rachel.

Cast

Humans

Jamie Lee Curtis - Aunt Viv
Piper Perabo - Rachel Ashe Lynn
Manolo Cardona - Sam
Maury Sterling - Rafferty
Jesús Ochoa - Officer Ramirez

Source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_of_the_Border_(2008_film)

Hope Over Tasmanian Devil Cancer

2009-03-07T08:10:00.000+07:00

The world's largest marsupial carnivore is facing extinction from a mystery facial cancer.

But scientists say Cedric appears to be naturally resistant to the contagious tumours which have killed half the devil population in Tasmania.

Cedric is the first Tasmanian Devil to have shown any immunity from the disfiguring disease.

Infected animals become so consumed by the cancer they can no longer eat or see and eventually die of starvation.

Breakthrough

Cedric was captured in western Tasmania last year, along with his half-brother, Clinky.

Both were injected with dead tumours by scientists. Clinky produced no antibodies, but Cedric did and appears to have built-in defences against the mystery illness.

The experiments have now moved up a gear.

Researcher Alex Kriess says the pair have had live cancer cells inserted into their faces.

"They haven't developed a tumour so far," he said. "We injected very few cells so it might take a while until they develop anything that we can see."

Cedric's apparent resistance to the disease has been seen as a significant breakthrough.

The facial tumours are decimating devil numbers on Tasmania's east coast. Cedric is from a genetically different population on the other side of the island.

Scientists hope marsupials that share his genetic pattern could also be immune to the cancer or capable of responding to a vaccine.

If real progress is not made soon, experts worry that the Tasmanian Devil could be extinct within 20 years.

Source : http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7323794.stm

Tasmanian Devil (Looney Tunes Cartoon)

2009-03-07T08:07:00.001+07:00

The Tasmanian Devil, often referred to as "Taz", is an animated cartoon character featured in the Warner Bros. Looney Tunes series of cartoons. The character appeared in only five shorts before Warner Bros Animation closed down in 1963, but marketing and television appearances later propelled the character to new popularity in the 1990s. Today, Taz is one of the most recognizable members of the Looney Tunes roster.

Creation and first appearance

Robert McKimson based the character on the real-life Tasmanian Devil. The most noticeable resemblance between the Australian marsupial and McKimson's creation is their ravenous appetites and crazed behavior. Although the Tasmanian Devil's appearance does not exactly resemble the real marsupial, it instead contains multilayered references to other "devils"; he has horn-shaped fur on his head (similar to the Devil's appearance) and whirls about like a dust devil (similar in appearance to a tornado) which sounds like several motors whirring in unison. Taz is constantly hungry and devours everything, animate or inanimate. His efforts to find more food are always a central plot device of his cartoons.

In fact, this appetite serves as the impetus for McKimson's Devil May Hare (first released on June 19, 1954). In the short, the Devil stalks Bugs Bunny, but due to his dim wits and inability to frame complete sentences, he serves as little more than a nuisance. Bugs eventually gets rid of him in the most logical way possible: matching him up with an equally insatiable female Devil. The character's speech, peppered with growls, screeches, and raspberries, is provided by Mel Blanc. Only occasionally would Taz actually speak, usually to utter some incongruous punchline, (eg. "What for you bury me in the cold, cold ground?") and yet is capable of writing and reading.

After the short entered theaters, producer Eddie Selzer, head of the Warner Bros. animation studio, ordered McKimson to shelve the character since it was "too obnoxious". After a time with no new Devil shorts, however, Jack Warner asked what had happened. He then saved Taz's career when he told Selzer that he had received "boxes and boxes" of letters from people who liked the character.

Later shorts

McKimson would go on to direct four more Tasmanian Devil cartoons, beginning with Bedeviled Rabbit (released on April 13, 1957). The she-devil returns in this cartoon, now as Mrs. Tasmanian Devil, but Taz's romantic feelings for her prove to be his Achilles' heel when Bugs uses a sexy female-devil costume to deliver some explosives to him. McKimson would also pair the Devil with Daffy Duck in Ducking the Devil (August 17, 1957) before pitting him once again against Bugs in Bill of Hare (June 9, 1962) and Dr. Devil and Mr. Hare (March 28, 1964). His final appearance done by the classic Warner Brothers directors, writers, and voice actors was in Bugs Bunny's Looney Christmas Tales appearing in The Fright Before Christmas segment and at the very end eating the sleigh full of presents.

Marketing and later years

After Warner Bros. closed its animation studio in 1964, the Tasmanian Devil would remain a nostalgic favorite for many filmgoers. The character also gained new fans when the Looney Tunes shorts entered broadcast syndication. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Warner Bros. marketers seized upon this, and through their efforts, catapulted the character, now dubbed "Taz", to even greater popularity.

This late-blossoming popularity would pay off for Taz in Warner Bros. television animation. For example, his miniature understudy, Dizzy Devil, is a recurring character in the Fox TV series Tiny Toon Adventures which debuted September 14, 1990. Taz himself appeared on several episodes of the show, where he was voiced by Mel Blanc's son, Noel.

Then on September 7, 1991, Taz got his own show, Taz-Mania, which ran for three seasons on Fox. The show recasts the Devil as a dim-witted teenager (voiced by Jim Cummings) who lives in a warped 1950s-era sitcom household. Taz now has an angsty teen sister, a rambunctious little brother, a June Cleaver-esque mother, and a nonchalant father (based on Bing Crosby). In the 1996 film Space Jam, Taz was voiced by Dee Bradley Baker.

Taz also made a cameo in 1995's The Sylvester and Tweety Mysteries, in the second season's The Scare Up There (November 2, 1996).

Taz was seen endorsing the "Mega Meal" in 1994 in a commercial for Kentucky Fried Chicken, which was a large meal intended to feed several. Taz's animation is shown in conjunction with a live-action KFC restaurant, where Taz says "Taz like Mega Meal", and proceeds to wolf it down in his infamous messy and devil-may-care manner. A narrator says it is "big enough to feed your whole family....or one Tazmanian devil". For some time with a purchase of the Mega Meal, KFC would give out promotional mugs featuring Taz and other Looney Tunes characters.

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, Taz was used extensively in Chevrolet Monte Carlo advertisements featuring the late Dale Earnhardt, intended to show the dual nature of the personal sports coupe. The ads used the tagline - "The side you show the world is up to you."

In a Subway commercial advertising the year 2000 with party subs featured the Looney Tunes characters, when they were about to eat, Taz ended up eating the whole thing we then find out Daffy had hidden a piece and Taz snatches it from him, the toys also featured Looney Tunes character keychains.

Baby Taz from Baby Looney Tunes.

On September 7, 2002, an infant version of Taz appeared as one of the regulars of the Baby Looney Tunes series. The infant version of him was voiced by Ian James Corlett. Most recently, he has had guest spots in Looney Tunes: Back in Action (2003) (where he was voiced by the main actor in the movie, Brendan Fraser) as part of the ACME team and two episodes of Duck Dodgers. In addition, the Histeria! portrayal of Attila the Hun is directly based on Taz.

The character of Slam Tasmanian on Loonatics Unleashed, voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson, is portrayed as a descendent of Taz. His surname is unique among Warner Bros. Tasmanian Devil characters, who generally adopt the "Devil" part of Taz's name.

A brief clip from a Taz cartoon appeared prior to the opening credits of the movie Twister. The clip was also seen on the VHS release of the movie, but it was cut out when the DVD was released.

Taz also had his own chocolate bar in the UK, It was a caramel version of the Cadbury's 10p Freddo Frog bar.

Relationship with the Tasmanian Government

After much lobbying from the Tasmanian state government in Australia, Warner Bros. decided to assist the fight against extinction of the Tasmanian Devil due to Devil Facial Tumour Disease.

Tasmanian Environment Minister Judy Jackson, prior to the company's support, heavily criticised Warner Bros., stating that the company had made millions of dollars from the character, but did not put up any money when other companies had.

The deal with Warner Bros. allows the Tasmanian Government to manufacture and sell up to 5000 special edition Taz plush toys with all profit going towards funding scientific research into the Devil Facial Tumour Disease.^[1]^[2] The deal also aims to increase public attention towards the threatening disease.

The Tasmanian Government and Warner Bros. have previously disputed the government's right to use the character as a tourism promotion, which Warner Bros. offered if they paid for it. The government refused this offer.^{[citation needed]}

Source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tasmanian_Devil_(Looney_Tunes)

The Milk of Sorrow wins in Berlin

2009-03-07T08:04:00.001+07:00

BERLIN (Reuters) - Mournful Peruvian entry "The Milk of Sorrow" (La Teta Asustada) won the coveted Golden Bear award for best picture at the Berlin film festival on Saturday.

The first Peruvian film in competition at the annual cinema showcase, the story revolves around Fausta, the product of a rape inflicted on her mother during two decades of rebel violence in which around 70,000 people died or disappeared.

After her mother's death, the virtually silent Fausta (played by Magaly Solier) is determined to bury her in her native village but in order to do so must confront the malaise that afflicts her like a sickness.

The title is based on the idea that Fausta's mother passes sorrow on to her daughter through breast milk.

"This is for Peru. This is for our country," director Claudia Llosa told the awards ceremony. "I hope more women will be encouraged by this," she added at a press conference. "We need more women directors, actors, we need more women in films."

Although the slow-paced picture was not among the favorites to scoop the main award from 18 films in competition, it is likely to be a popular winner.

It includes the premise that Fausta has inserted a potato inside herself to prevent her from being raped like her mother, and haunting songs add to the magical realist feel.

The backdrop of violence in Peru in the 1980s and 1990s is omnipresent despite never being portrayed.

The country was shattered by wars by guerrillas seeking to impose communist rule, and in response the military and police committed widespread human rights abuses.

On a big night for South America, Uruguay's "Gigante" picked up two prizes.

Like "The Milk of Sorrow," the picture is low-budget and slow-paced, and follows a supermarket security guard who becomes obsessed by a cleaning lady and begins to stalk her.

It shared the runner-up Silver Bear with German entry "Everyone Else" (Alle Anderen) and the Alfred Bauer award for innovation in filmmaking along with veteran Polish director Andrzej Wajda, who presented "Sweet Rush" (Tatarak).

STARS SHUNNED

The best director prize went to Iran's Asghar Farhadi for "About Elly" (Darbareye Elly), a popular film about middle-class Iranians who cause disaster when, in order to uphold strict social conventions, they layer lie upon lie.

"A few days ago there was a festival in Iran and this film was screened and it got the award from the people as the best film," he told reporters. "I'm glad my compatriots agree with the opinion of the jury."

The best actress Silver Bear was won by Everyone Else lead Birgit Minichmayr from Austria, and best actor was awarded to Malian Sotigui Kouyate for "London River."

It recounts how two people looking for children missing in the 2005 London suicide attacks forge an unlikely friendship.

Films starring well-known actors were largely shunned, although "The Messenger," in which Woody Harrelson and Ben Foster play army officers who tell next of kin that loved ones died in combat, won the screenplay Silver Bear.

"It (The Messenger) deals with a side of war that is the soldier's perspective," Foster said. "What are the true results of war? That's beneath politics and that's just human loss. Everyone in this room can relate to loss."

Berlin's main competition was seen as weak by critics.

Apart from "The Messenger" and Renee Zellweger's witty 1950s comedy "My One And Only," big Hollywood names failed to shine.

"Mammoth," starring Gael Garcia Bernal, tackled this year's hot-topic issue of globalization, but was panned by critics, as was minimalist fashion spoof "Rage" in which Jude Law plays a cross-dressing model called Minx.

"Happy Tears" had a far-from-happy reception, despite Demi Moore and Parker Posey playing the lead roles.

Source : http://www.reuters.com/article/entertainmentNews/idUSTRE51C2DG20090214

The Milk of Sorrow' wins at Berlin festival

2009-03-07T08:01:00.000+07:00

BERLIN – Director Claudia Llosa's "The Milk of Sorrow," a movie that addresses the fears of women abused during Peru's turbulent recent history, won the Berlin film festival's top Golden Bear award.

The movie stars Magaly Solier as Fausta, a young woman suffering from a mysterious illness that is said to be transferred through the milk of mothers who were raped or physically abused during Peruvian authorities' long war against leftist guerrillas.

The Spanish-Peruvian co-production is Llosa's second feature film.

"This is beautiful ... this is such an honor," Llosa said after receiving the award Saturday night. "This is for Peru. This is for our country."

"We need this kind of prize," she said at a later news conference. "It is important to us that people get to know our films."

The festival's jury grand prize, which comes with a runner-up Silver Bear, was shared Saturday by two films.

Argentine director Adrian Biniez' debut feature "Gigante" tells the story of a supermarket security guard who falls in love with a cleaner, while German director Maren Ade's "Everyone Else" follows a couple during a difficult vacation.

Iran's Asghar Farhadi was chosen as best director for "About Elly," which looks at thirtysomething Iranians' attitudes to life.

Sotigui Kouyate was named best actor for his part in director Rachid Bouchareb's "London River." He plays a French Muslim desperately awaiting news of his son after the 2005 terrorist attacks in London.

Birgit Minichmayr won the best actress honor for her role as half of the awkward couple in "Everyone Else."

The best script award went to Oren Moverman and Alessandro Camon for "The Messenger," in which Woody Harrelson and Ben Foster star as U.S. Army officers responsible for informing families about the deaths of soldiers. Moverman also directed the film.

The award for an outstanding artistic contribution went to Gabor Erdely and Tamas Szekely for what the jury called the "sound design" of "Katalin Varga," from British director Peter Strickland.

Two movies shared the festival's honor for innovative film making: Biniez' "Gigante" and "Sweet Rush," the latest film from Polish veteran Andrzej Wajda.

The winners were chosen from a field of 18 movies by a seven-member international jury under British actress Tilda Swinton.

"The Milk of Sorrow" is the second consecutive Latin American winner in Berlin. Last year's Golden Bear went to Brazilian director Jose Padilha's "The Elite Squad."

Source : http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090214/ap_en_ot/eu_berlin_film_festival

THE PINK PANTHER 2, The Theft Mystery of the French Symbol

2009-03-07T07:55:00.000+07:00

Inspector Jacques Clouseau (Steve Martin) possibly not a brilliant police but will not be that denied if innocence and his luck sometimes even made him become a competent detective exposed the case of the crime. When a thief was named The Tornado suddenly emerged and stole several valuable objects, French police did not have the choice apart from again assigned Jacques Clouseau that originally was moved to the traffic part. Co-operate with police from various countries, French police formed a team pemberantas the crime that had a membership of police from various countries. Jacques Clouseau was afterwards sent to gather with the team that had a membership of Chief Inspector Randall Pepperidge (Alfred Molina) from England, Inspector Vicenzo Brancaleone (Andy García) from Italia, Kenji Mazuto (Yuki Matsuzaki) from Japan and Sonia Solandres (Aishwarya Rai) from India. Evidently, from however many valuable objects that were stolen by The Tornado, there was one valuable diamond expensive that was acknowledged as The Pink Panther that also became the symbol of the French country that could not be replaced.
Then began the investigating team from various countries investigated the tracks that were left by The Tornado. As usual, while investigation, often happened the foolish incident resulting from the conduct from Jacques Clouseau that sometimes appeared to be pursued relentlessly by bad luck. The comedy film produced by the director's directive Harald Zwart this was the sequel from the THE PINK PANTHER film that the release last 2006. The Clouseau role was still being entrusted to the actor Steve Martin that was last was playing in the film of TRAITOR. Pengambilan of the picture of this film took place in Paris and several cities in the United States. There were two matters that ought to be regretted from this film. That was first was casting good that was not matched by the text and his equally good direction. As a result the actors and the actual supporting actress could 'do more' appeared to be the shallow character that only emerged by turns from the beginning to the end of the film. Aishwarya Rai that usually appears first-rate in Bollywood films then was felt so sink in this film. His profit of Alfred Molina and Andy Garcia was enough overcame the situation and appeared better although that could not be then compared with their films beforehand.
The second problem was the failure the director dam the writer of the text to present the long idea, The Pink Panther, of becoming a quality show. Finally, this film only became only a series of the physical humour the THE THREE STOOGES kind or Warkop Special Capital District that straightaway forgotten when the film ended. However was free from all that, the performance of this film among them films box office evidently was good enough also. Reportedly, since being launched last February 6, this film has gained US$28 million more all over the world.

The Pink Panther 2 Film

2009-03-07T07:48:00.000+07:00

The Pink Panther 2 is a 2009 spy comedy film directed by Harald Zwart^[2] It is the sequel to the 2006 film The Pink Panther, a reboot of the popular comedy series.^[3] The film was released on February 6, 2009 in North America.^[4] In the film, Inspector Clouseau must team up with detectives from other countries to rout the daring cat burglar, The Tornado, who has returned after a decade of inactivity. Steve Martin, who reprised the role of Clouseau, originated by Peter Sellers, polished the original script written by Scott Neustadter and Michael M, Weber in November 2006.^[3] Columbia Pictures, partnering with MGM on the sequel, hired the team of Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel to perform a further rewrite in January 2007.^[5] Principal photography began in Paris on August 20, 2007, then moved to Boston several weeks later, where filming ended on November 2, 2007.

Bollywood actress Aishwarya Rai Bachchan appears in the female lead as criminology expert, Sonia Solandres. John Cleese replaces Kevin Kline as Chief Inspector Dreyfus with Jean Reno and Emily Mortimer reprising their roles as his partner Ponton and his girlfriend Nicole. Andy García and Alfred Molina round out the cast as detectives, Inspector Vicenzo Brancaleone and Chief Inspector Randall Pepperidge.

Plot synopsis

When the master thief, the Tornado, begins stealing expensive artifacts, the Government of France assembles a Dream Team of Detectives to solve the case. Inspector Clouseau is reassigned from his task as a parking officer by Chief Inspector Dreyfus to join the Dream Team in Japan, site of the Tornado's recent heist. At the airport, as soon as he is officially leaving France, news breaks that the Pink Panther Diamond has also been stolen. Clouseau travels back to the scene of the crime, where the other members of the Dream Team, Inspector Pepperidge (Great Britain), Vincenzo (an Italian), Kenji (an electronics specialist from Japan), and Sonia (a researcher and criminology expert from India), are gathering. They go to Rome to investigate a black market fence, Alonso Avellaneda, who deals with The Tornado. Assuming he is The Tornado, the Dream Team question him while Clouseau snoops around. Avellaneda successfully vindicates himself by demonstrating that he lacks a bullet-wound to the right shoulder- the Tornado was shot in that shoulder during a theft over a decade ago-, and after they leave, he meets with The Tornado himself.

Later on that night, Clouseau and his partner, Ponton, spy on Avellaneda, using a wire they have planted on him, as he takes a date out for dinner. Unfortunately, the mission is compromised when they find Vincenzo and Clouseau's girlfriend, Nicole, together at the restaurant. Having been banned for burning down the restaurant earlier, Clouseau disguises himself as a dancer and attempts to switch the wire to Nicole's table. In the process, he ends up burning down the restaurant again. At the same time, The Tornado steals the pope's ring, an act which begins to turn public opinion against the Dream Team. When Clouseau's acts of foolishness aggravate the situation, he is voted off the team, with only Sonia sympathizing with him. Shortly afterward, Clouseau is called to an office where they see the Tornado has killed himself, and left a suicide note claiming he destroyed the Pink Panther- regarding it as being so beautiful that he could not bring anyone other than himself to own it- and left the other treasures to be recovered. Examining a key they found in the Pope's Chambers, they successfully match the DNA of the victim with DNA of the Tornado acquired when he was shot, and thus believe themselves to have solved the case. However, Clouseau is unconvinced and believes the Tornado was not the thief.

For their victory in recovering the stolen items (minus the Pink Panther), a celebration is thrown in the Dream Team's honor. Clouseau, who was not invited, tries to convince Dreyfus that the real thief is still at large, but is ignored. Dreyfus relays to the group that Clouseau told him Sonia was the thief, and the group, treating the idea as a joke, work out a plausible explanation for how she could have done it; as the Tornado's ex-lover, she would have in-depth knowledge of his methods, and has set up a situation to draw all attention to the thefts of the other artefacts while leaving her free to sell on the Pink Panther as the only treasure that could be cut up and sold on without suspicion. As Sonia tries to leave, Nicole asks her to take everything out of her purse. Sonia pulls out a gun, and after initially threatening to shoot Nicole, runs upstairs. Clouseau and the rest of the Dream Team chase her all around the building, while they all (except for Clouseau) make fools of themselves. Finally cornered, Sonia threatens to destroy the Pink Panther, and Clouseau successfully goads her to do so. Clouseau reveals that she had destroyed a fake gem he had switched with the real one, and that the Tornado, a master thief and a recognised authority on valuable gems, would have recognized this; therefore, his suicide note- where he praised the beauty of the gem- was forged and he was actually murdered. He reveals that he had given Sonia's car a ticket two days before the Pink Panther was stolen, contradicting her alibi of having been delayed to the crime scene because of her flight. Dreyfus tries to claim credit for having appointed Clouseau to his parking job, but Clouseau, remembering Dreyfus told him to deny this to anyone who asked, rebukes the claim. Clouseau later marries Nicole at the end of the movie.

Cast

Steve Martin as Inspector Jacques Clouseau - a clumsy police officer and now-recognized "Protector of the Pink Panther"

Jean Reno as Ponton - Clouseau's assistant and sidekick, moves in with him with his kids after being kicked out by his wife due to his duties

Emily Mortimer as Nicole Nuveau-Clouseau - Clouseau's girlfriend and later wife who falls for Vicenzo

Aishwarya Rai as Sonia Solandres - an Indian criminology expert and the Tornado's old girlfriend, at the climax, she is revealed to have caused the thefts

John Cleese as Chief Inspector Charles Dreyfus - Clouseau's boss who often gives him meaningless assignments to get him out of his hair, later performs the marriage ceremony for Nicole and Clouseau

Andy García as Inspector Vicenzo Brancaleone - an Italian buisnessman who joins the Dream Team

Alfred Molina as Chief Inspector Randall Pepperidge - a British inspector and deducer who joins the Dream Team and bets that if Clouseau solves the case, he will go around in a tutu for a day, which he does

Yuki Matsuzaki as Kenji Mazuto - a Japanese technology expert who joins the Dream Team

Lily Tomlin as Mrs. Yvette Berenger - a manners teacher who is brought into the office, often calls in Clouseau to discuss his inappropriate manners (calling women sexy and Japanese "our little yellow friends", and hanging Ponton's kids out of the window), she falls for Vicenzo at the end of the film

Johnny Halliday as Laurence Milkin - The Tornado, killed by Sonia and framed for the thefts

Jeremy Irons as Alonso Avellaneda - a man the Dream Team checks out as the first suspect

Source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pink_Panther_2

The Blackyardigan Cartoons for Kids

2009-02-18T09:43:00.001+07:00

For little kids, the line between reality and fantasy is very thin. Their backyards can suddenly turn into pirate ships, distant planets, desert dunes, or whatever they can imagine. That’s what The Backyardigans is all about.

Each 3D CGI-animated episode of “The Backyardigans” is a journey into the kind of fantasy play that happens in every little kid’s mind. They’re epic, musical fantasy adventures, preschool-style, fresh from the minds of three kids – a precocious penguin named Pablo, a laid-back moose named Tyrone, the appropriately named Uniqua, and their friends.

Every day they meet in their adjoining backyards to explore wherever their imaginations take them – be it
a deep tropical rainforest, an enchanted castle, or a vast ocean.

On each fully realized adventure, “The Backyardigans” sing and dance to tango or tap, jazz or hip-hop, calypso or operetta, rockabilly or Irish jigs.
That’s right, it’s a musical. “The Backyardigans” explore different types of music just as they explore the whole
wide world without ever leaving their backyards.

And best of all, after each adventure, they always get home just
in time for a snack!

Source : http://www.nickjr.co.uk/shows/backyardigans/index.aspx

The Backyardigans Cartoons

2009-02-18T09:39:00.000+07:00

The Backyardigans is a Canadian 3-D CGI-animated^[1] children's TV series, created by Janice Burgess. It is a joint production of Nick Jr. and the Canadian animation studio Nelvana. Debuting on November 22, 2004, it originally had 20 episodes. It aired on CBS from October 2004 until September 2006. Music for the show is written by Evan Lurie, of The Lounge Lizards, and Douglas Wieselman. The characters were designed by children's book author and illustrator Dan Yaccarino.

On April 30, 2006, Nelvana and Nickelodeon jointly announced that twenty new episodes were ordered for the upcoming fall schedule.^[2] In the UK, the second season debuted on October 30, 2006. The third season was released in Canada in March 2008, and the series made its Australian debut in the same year. A fourth season is currently in production.^[3]

Plot

The show is an animated musical-adventure series aimed at children between the ages of 2 and 5^[4]. In each episode, the show's five preschool friends—Pablo, Tyrone, Uniqua, Tasha, and Austin—rely on their vivid imaginations to transform their backyard into completely different worlds, in which they go through many sorts of stories and adventures. The time-frame of the show can range from a few hours to more than one full day, but in reality, the story always ends just in time for one of them to invite the others for a snack. The imaginary story then reverts to the backyard, and the characters all rush to the house of the person who offered the snack and enter it. After a second, one or more characters open the door, quote the catchphrase specific to the episode and then close the door, ending the show. The episodes focus on the stories as much as they do on music and dancing, with each one featuring a different music genre (such as big band, reggae, Spaghetti Western, polka, Motown, and disco) and four new songs, usually with at least one rearrangement of a well-known or traditional song.

Characters and voice cast

Each of the five characters on the show has two vocal actors: one for the speaking parts, and one for the singing parts. In the United States and Canada, the voice actors are all actual children.

The dancing on the show is first performed by live-action dancers, and their movements are later transported to animation. Choreographer Beth Bogush describes the process: "What we do is we film live footage in the studio and then they send that off and they do a Leica, and then they send it to the animators. And the animators just watch, and they're pretty precise. What we film for that day is pretty close to what you see in the character."^[5]

Pablo

Pablo, a blue penguin wearing blue bow tie and a blue and yellow propeller beanie, is the one who most often has the ideas. Due to his energy and impetuousness, he takes the lead in many situations, but often goes into a "panic attack" when he faces an obstacle, running around in circles and telling everyone not to panic until someone interrupts him to propose a solution with "Pablo... Pablo?... PABLO!", at which point he stops, turns to the character and calmly asks "Yeah?"

The number of panic attacks decreased considerably after the first season.

Speaking voice: Zach Tyler Eisen (Season 1), Jake Goldberg (Season 2-3)

Singing voice: Sean Curley (Season 1-3)

Dancer: Tasha Cooper (Season 1-3)

Tyrone

A good-natured (and sometimes fearful) red-haired orange moose, he is Pablo's best friend, and almost his complete opposite in terms of personality. He is laid-back, cool-headed, and known for his ironic comments. At the end of every episode, he remarks, "That was an excellent (type) adventure, don't you think?" Despite not appearing to wear trousers (except on rare occasions, such as "Race Around the World"), Tyrone somehow manages to put his hands in his pockets.

Speaking voice: Reginald Davis, Jr. (Season 1), Jordan Coleman (Season 2-3)

Singing voice: Corwin C. Tuggles (Season 1), Leon G. Thomas III (Season 2-3), Dimani Roberts (Season 3-4), Tyrell Jackson Williams (Season 3-4)

Dancer: Greg Sinacori (Season 1-3)

Uniqua

A curious, self-confident and high-spirited pink creature with polka dots and overalls, she is almost always sweet and friendly, though her strong opinions and occasional stubbornness get in the way of her relationships. She is more tomboyish than Tasha, often imagines herself in roles requiring brains and fortitude (scientist, pirate captain, etc), and loves books (as seen in episodes such as "The Masked Retriever").

Uniqua is a unique creature that is unlike any other in the world, and Uniqua is also the name of her species.^[6]^[7] Creator Janice Burgess describes Uniqua as 'the child she wishes she was like as a child'.^[8] She has been called simply "Uniqua, the pink" in Knights Are Brave and Strong.

Speaking voice: LaShawn Tináh Jefferies (Season 1-3)

Singing voice: Jamia Simone Nash (Season 1-3)

Dancer: Hattie May Williams (Season 1-3)

Tasha

A little girl yellow hippopotamus, in red shoes and a flowered dress. Of the five characters, she is the only one who wears shoes at all times. She looks like a sweet little girl, but underneath she's rational, skeptical, and likes to get her own way. Of the five, she tends to be the most serious, though Tasha can also be giggly, silly and full of fun.

Speaking Voice: Naelee Rae (Season 1-2) Gianna Bruzesse (Season 3)

Singing Voice: Kristin Klabunde (Season 1-2) Gabriella Malek (Season 3)

Dancer: Darlene Dirstine (Season 1-3)

Austin

A fun-loving purple kangaroo who moved into the block recently during Season 1;^[9] this makes him a little shy on some occasions (such as the episodes Castaways and Race Around the World), and reluctant to join in. He is also very self-confident, and tries to help his friends whenever they need, sometimes in quirky ways. Says Bogush: "Austin's usually the one pulling up the rear. He's kind of a get-along guy."^[5]

Although rarely appearing in the spotlight, he does take the role of the "main" (or most focused on) character in only two episodes: Race Around the World and Castaways in season one. In season two, his main role also limited to two episodes: Samurai Pie and Scared of You. Finally, and most recently, season three features him as the main character in the following episodes: Le Master of Disguise, Caveman's Best Friend and Pirate Camp.

Speaking voice: Jonah Bobo (Season 1-3)

Singing voice: Thomas Sharkey (Season 1-3)

Dancer: Kristine Frost (Season 1-3)

Occasional characters

Sherman

Two episodes in the first season, The Heart of the Jungle and Polka Palace Party, feature a character called Sherman the Worman, an intelligent yellow-and-orange-polka-dotted worm who talks in gibberish, although the characters seems to understand him.

Wormans also appear in the third season episode What's Bugging You?, though these Wormans are somewhat different, in that their typical 'speech' is meeping instead of gibberish and they are capable of speaking (high-pitched) English.

Other characters

Mission to Mars features an alien mom, voiced by Alicia Keys; an alien baby, voiced by Shakira Lipscomb; and Rover, a dog-like surface vehicle, as guest stars. In the UK version of the show, the baby alien is voiced by Maria Darling, but this has the unfortunate effect of having the baby sound exactly like Tasha (also voiced by Darling); given that Tasha is seen providing the "boinga, boinga, boinga" sound during the pre-imaginary portion of the episode, however, this may be intentional. Alicia Keys vocal is not affected by the normal "Anglicization" that is common in the UK version of the show. The small alien is also featured at the end of Newsflash, though it isn't the same alien as in Mission to Mars and doesn't appear to be a baby.

Tale of the Mighty Knights has an egg which makes its own unique sound. It is called Eggbert by Uniqua & Tyrone, Eggwin by the Grabbin' Goblin (Austin), and Eggie by the Flighty Fairy (Tasha). The egg later hatches into a baby dragon. The dragon's singing voice is done by Adam Pascal.

It's Great to Be a Ghost and Secret Mission include voices near the end of the episode that do not come from any of the main characters. They're rumored to have come from Evan Lurie, one of the show's composers. There are also announcer voices at the beginning of the newscast in Newsflash, and throughout Tale of the Mighty Knights. The Legend of the Volcano Sisters has a clam that sounds like a puppy and even pants and barks.

Caveman's Best Friend featured a dinosaur pup named Boy, who was Austin's pet during the episode. A similar-looking dinosaur appeared during To the Center of the Earth.

Setting

The characters live in houses adjoining a large backyard common to the three central houses (Pablo's, Tyrone's and Uniqua's) that is transformed by imagination into various adventure settings. Each house roughly corresponds to the color scheme of the character: Pablo lives in a blue house, Uniqua in a pink one, and Tyrone in an orange one. Tasha's house, which is to the left of the three central houses, is yellow and Austin's, to the right, is partially obscured by a fence but what is visible is purple. The fence, which surrounds the combined properties of the three main characters (Pablo, Tyrone and Uniqua), has an gate in it which leads to Austin's house. The curve of the street allows the play area to be roughly equal in distance from each house's back door.

Not everything that appears in the imaginary world has a real-world counterpart. Often trees, boulders, brickwork, or similar objects appear where nothing originally existed. By the same token, even large trees in the real garden disappear completely when the imagination part of the story commences.

When playing in their imaginations, the characters often pull items out of thin air, from behind their backs or from something clearly not large enough to hold them; a technique known in animation as hammerspace. The episode "Eureka!" had a running gag in which Pablo would search for certain items on his saddlebag, pulling out enormous objects in the process (e.g. a tuba, a surfboard and a fully inflated rubber dinghy).

Other examples include occasions in "Riding the Range", where Tyrone could produce a seemingly inexhaustible supply of apples, "The Snow Fort", where Tasha and Uniqua each have a rucksack that contains a rescue kit, including shovels, hooks, and suction cups, "Race Around the World", where Austin has a racing pack in which he keeps numerous items, such as a hook, rope, Band-Aids, and a water bottle, and "High Tea", in which Tasha manages to store tea-leaves, a teapot and four cups and saucers in a small purse.

UK version

In the UK, The Backyardigans are shown daily on Nick Jr., Nick Jr. 2 and Nick Jr. on TMF (formerly "Noggin on TMF"). The characters have been redubbed and in seasons 1 & 2 are voiced by three British actresses; Maria Darling (Tasha and Tyrone), Janet James (Pablo), and Lizzie Waterworth (Uniqua and Austin)^[10]. In the third season, Emma Tate (who also voices Destiny Angel in Captain Scarlet) took over the roles of Tasha and Tyrone from Maria Darling.

In the British version, certain words and phrases that are not in common usage in British English are translated, such as "soccer" to "football" and "diapers" to "nappies". This naturally leads to some minor lip-synch issues, but most children would not notice these. Also in the British version, several of the snacks are different, since items like s'mores are not generally known in the UK, while others like granola bars are known by different names.

The ordering of episodes is not as consistent in the UK as is in the United States. For example, in the UK Secret of Snow was originally shown out of sequence, after The Legend of The Volcano Sisters. The final episode out of sequence, Special Delivery was eventually shown in the UK for the first time on August 13 2007. There was a considerable break between the Horsing Around episode, which was shown in April and this episode. "International Super Spy" was finally shown during Nick Jr's "Backyardigans Biggest Adventure Ever!" Weekend, 24th and 25th November 2007, and was the final episode from Season two to be broadcast.

The third season began broadcasting on Nick Jr. and Nick Jr. 2 during March 2008, although some episodes were again shown out of order. Based on the Episode list below, all episodes up to and including "Escape from Fairytale Village" have been broadcast (At 9 September 2008)

DVD releases

As of February 2009, seasons 1 through 3 have been released on DVD for the North American region. There are thirteen collections of four episodes each: It's Great to Be a Ghost (2005), The Snow Fort (2005), Polka Palace Party (2006), Cave Party (2006), Surf's Up (2006), Mission to Mars (2006), The Legend of the Volcano Sisters (2007), Movers and Shakers (2007), Into the Deep (2007), High Flying Adventures (2008), Mighty Match Up (2008), Escape from Fairytale Village (2008), Robin Hood the Clean (2009), and two collections of three episodes: Super Secret Super Spy (2007), and Tale of the Mighty Knights (2008).

In addition, individual episodes also appear in the Nick Jr Favorites DVDs: - "The Quest for the Flying Rock" on Nick Jr Favorites DVD volume 2. - "Race to the Tower of Power" on Nick Jr Favorites DVD volume 3. - "Pirate Treasure" on Nick Jr Favorites DVD volume 4.

In the UK, only the Cave Party, Polka Palace Party, "Snow Fort" and Surf's Up DVDs have been released, as of April 2008. These use the UK voices and language variations, although an early CD release of some of the songs from the show used the American voices. The UK DVDs also feature audio for French (France), Spanish (Spain), Italian, Swedish, and German.

The second through fifth DVD collections and Super Secret Super Spy include a second audio track in French (Canadian). Nelvana, the company producing the animation for The Backyardigans, is based in Canada, which is officially bilingual. The tempos of several songs are changed to match the French lyrics for both France and Canada, and the characters refer to themselves as "Les Mélodilous" in the opening and closing songs. Also, Tyrone is known as Théo and Uniqua as Victoria.

Episodes

For more details about these episodes, see List of Backyardigans episodes.

Season One

"Pirate Treasure" (Series Premiere)
"The Heart of the Jungle"
"The Yeti"
"The Snow Fort"
"Secret Mission"
"It's Great to Be a Ghost"
"Riding the Range"
"The Key to the Nile"
"Knights Are Brave and Strong"
"Viking Voyage"
"Castaways"
"Race to the Tower of Power"
"The Quest for the Flying Rock"
"Polka Palace Party"
"Surf's Up!"
"Eureka!"
"Race Around the World"
"Monster Detectives"
"Cave Party"
"The Tea Party" (also referred to as "High Tea")

Season Two

"Mission to Mars"
"Samurai Pie"
"Scared of You"
"Whodunit?"
"The Legend of the Volcano Sisters"
"Special Delivery"
"The Swamp Creature"
"Horsing Around"
"The Secret of Snow"
"Save the Day"
"Movers of Arabia"
"Cops and Robots"
"Sinbad Sails Alone"
"Best Clowns in Town"
"Into the Deep"
"Newsflash"
"Catch That Butterfly"
"A Giant Problem"
"International Super Spy — Part One"
"International Super Spy — Part Two"

Season Three

"Who Goes There?"
"Blazing Paddles"
"Garbage Trek"
"Fly Girl"
"What's Bugging You?"
"Chichen-Itza Pizza"
"To The Center of The Earth"
"Front Page News!"
"The Tale of the Mighty Knights — Part One"
"The Tale of the Mighty Knights — Part Two"
"Le Master of Disguise"
"Match on Mount Olympus"
"The Great Dolphin Race"
"Caveman’s Best Friend"
"Ranch Hands From Outer Space"
"Robin Hood The Clean"
"Escape From Fairytale Village"
"Pirate Camp"
"The Two Musketeers"
"The Masked Retriever"

Merchandise

Activision released the Backyardigans PC game, Mission to Mars in October 2006. In addition, there are interactive Backyardigans games available for the LeapPad and VTech's V.Smile consoles. Austin fans may be disappointed to learn that the V.Smile game is of the "Viking Voyage" adventure, in which he does not appear. There is also a LeapFrog ClickStart Game that is Backyardigans themed called "Number Pie Samurai" which allows children to join the Backyardigans for early computer skills: Using technology with music mousing, and teaches essential pre-school skills: Instrumental sounds, musical exploration, and numbers counting.

A book, titled Here Come the Backyardigans is available in the UK. The story involves Uniqua playing hide-and-seek with, and searching for — Pablo. During the journey, Uniqua finds Austin, Tasha and Tyrone in different places (such as the Snow Fort and the Pirate Ship) Strangely, some characters are found in "locations" that they have never been shown to visit (such as Austin being found in the Snow Fort — he was not in that episode).

Also released are the story books for the "Pirate Treasure", "Race to the Tower of Power" and "The Secret of the Nile" episodes. Other, more educational books (dealing with things like numbers, counting etc.) were also released in 2007.

Numerous cuddly toys and interactive character toys (mostly Pablo, Uniqua and Tyrone) are also available. Some involve the toy singing songs and using well-known phrases from some of the episodes. There are also Beanie toys of all the main characters available.

Source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Backyardigans

Movies Review : The Eagle Eye

2009-02-18T09:00:00.000+07:00

For a superpower country like America what is actually the biggest threat for its national security? Soviet Union has long been destroyed. Islam? They have much less weapons and armory compare to the superiority of United States army. So what’s left? That’s what you’re gonna find in this movie. I’m not gonna tell you though as it’s gonna be a major spoiler.

Eagle Eye tells almost everything you need to know about spy, intelligence, conspiracy, and all the technologies involved. But it doesn’t mean to be smart. If it does then it well fails. The movie real intentions actually is only showing many action and thriller sequences to the audiences from start to finish.

The story is quite interesting at the beginning. You could see what this movie offers right from the start, involving scenes from foreign land where US army have some intelligence mission to kill one of their enemy. After that the story rolls. There’s an ordinary guy named Jerry Shaw who suddenly drawn into a mysterious conspiracy. He later joined by Rachel, a single mother with a child.

Both Jerry and Rachel had to experience extraordinary moments of their life through some explosion, guns shooting, and car crash, without really know what’s going on. The conflict even brought them close to very high positions in the government. What is it really about? You can find the answer near the end.

Eagle Eye seems lack of intensity, even for audiences who expect total actions. Some of the action sequences were good in idea, but unfortunately quite standard in executions. Some scenes, especially on the car crash, could’ve been executed in a bigger scale and not really depends on fast editing.

To be honest I was quite disappointed to know what the story is all about. It’s not quite right. I know that Dreamworks and Steven Spielberg involved in this movie but it doesn’t have to be that typical. I also hate the ending. It should’ve been the other way around. I’m not gonna tell you though

The performance of future big star, Shia LaBeouf was just average. Actully I was thinking that he’s not fit in his role as Jerry Shaw. He needs to build a different image of him during serious action scenes. While for Michelle Monaghan who played Rachel, well I always regard her best with her very good and sexy performance in Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005) or at least being Tom Cruise’s love interest in Mission Impossible III (2006).

In general Eagle Eye really suits you for a non-stop action/thriller ride. Especially if you can disregard any other aspects in this movie.

Source : http://sigitsusinggih.net/2008/10/18/movie-review-eagle-eye/

Eagle Eye Film 2008

2009-02-18T08:57:00.000+07:00

Eagle Eye is a 2008 action/thriller film directed by D.J. Caruso and starring Shia LaBeouf and Michelle Monaghan. The two portray a young man and a single mother who are brought together and coerced by an anonymous caller into carrying out a plan by a possible terrorist organization. The film has been released in regular 35mm theaters and IMAX theaters. The film grossed more than $170 million worldwide.

Plot

The United States armed forces have a lead on a suspected terrorist in the Middle East, but as the man is a recluse, getting a positive ID proves difficult, and the DOD's computer system recommends that the mission be aborted. The Secretary of Defense (Michael Chiklis) agrees with the abort recommendation, but the President orders the mission be carried out anyway. This turns into a political backlash when all those killed turn out to be civilians, and retaliatory bombings are carried out in response.

Jerry Shaw (Shia LaBeouf) is a Stanford University dropout who lacks direction and faces financial difficulty. He finds out his twin brother Ethan, an Air Force lieutenant, is dead. Following the funeral in January 2009, he goes to withdraw some money from an ATM and is surprised to see that he has $751,000 in his account. When he returns home, he finds his apartment filled with a large amount of weapons, explosives, and forged documents. He receives a phone call from an unknown woman, who explains that the FBI is about to apprehend him in thirty seconds and that he must escape.

Not believing her, he is caught by the FBI, and is sent to an interrogation room where he meets Special Agent Thomas Morgan (Billy Bob Thornton). When Morgan leaves the room to meet with Air Force Office of Special Investigations Special Agent Zoe Perez (Rosario Dawson), the unknown woman arranges Jerry's escape over a phone and has him join up with single mother Rachel Holloman (Michelle Monaghan). Rachel is being coerced by the unknown woman into assisting Jerry, by threatening to kill her son, Sam, a trumpet player on his way to Washington, D.C. from Chicago for a band recital.

The woman helps the pair to avoid the Chicago Police and FBI units, demonstrating the ability to remotely control virtually any networked device, such as traffic lights, cell phones, and even automated cranes. While Jerry and Rachel follow her instructions, the woman has other 'agents' have a crystal explosive made into a necklace and its sound-based trigger placed inside Sam's trumpet. Jerry and Rachel are led from Chicago to Washington, D.C. via Indianapolis and Dayton through various means. They reach an electronics store to which the woman directs them. Over several televisions she introduces herself to them: she is a top secret supercomputer called "Autonomous Reconnaissance Intelligence Integration Analyst" referred to as Ariia tasked with gathering intelligence from all over the world. Ariia can control virtually anything electronic and has been monitoring both their lives and brought both Jerry and Rachel to her.

In light of the mistake made by the President at the beginning of the film, Ariia has decided that the executive branch is a threat to the public good and must be eliminated. Ariia plans to destroy the President's cabinet, and calls this Operation Guillotine. It has decided to leave the Secretary of Defense, who agreed with its recommendation to abort the mission, as the successor to the presidency. She does not reveal this to Jerry or Rachel, merely explaining that she is trying to help the people of the United States.

At the Pentagon, where Ariia is housed, Agent Perez discovers that Ethan worked as a technician for the computer and locked it down to prevent Ariia from carrying out her plan. Perez warns the Secretary of Defense and they discuss the situation in a sealed room to prevent Ariia from hearing their conversation. Jerry and Rachel arrive at the Pentagon and are led to the supercomputer, where Ariia forces Jerry to impersonate Ethan and use an override code allowing her to go ahead with the plan.

Jerry observes CCTV footage displaying Ethan's fatal car crash (due to sabotaged traffic lights), realizing Ariia orchestrated Ethan's death since his twin could have stopped her. She then instructs Rachel to eliminate Jerry to prevent the lock from being reinstated, but Rachel cannot bring herself to do it. Rachel is led out of the building by Ariia while Jerry is caught by Agent Morgan. Having been warned by Agent Perez, Morgan believes Jerry's story and takes him to the United States Capitol. On their way, however, Ariia sends two MQ-9 Reapers UCAV after them. The first nearly works, the second, Agent Morgan destroys by sacrificing himself, and saves Jerry.

Meanwhile, Agent Perez returns to the supercomputer and is successful in destroying it (by smashing her CPU), but not before Ariia uploads 27% of its memory to another location. Rachel is unknowingly given the explosive necklace by a corrupt official (also led by Ariia) and sent to watch the President's speech. Sam's class, whose recital has been moved from the Kennedy Center to the Capitol for the President's State of the Union Address, begins to play.

The trigger that will set off the explosive necklace is set to activate when Sam plays a high F on his trumpet corresponding to the word "free" in the last stanza of the U.S. national anthem. Jerry successfully infiltrates the vicinity dressed as a Capitol policeman and fires his pistol into the air, stopping the performance and emptying the room just as Sam starts to play the note. Jerry is then shot several times by a Secret Service agent, who is unaware of the reason for Jerry's actions.

In the aftermath of the chaos Ariia caused, the Secretary of Defense urges that another supercomputer should not be built. Ethan posthumously receives the Medal of Honor while Jerry, injured but alive and well, receives the Congressional Gold Medal. The film ends with Jerry attending Sam's birthday party. Rachel thanks him for attending and kisses him on the cheek. She then tells Jerry that she's glad he's there. He then responds, "Me too."

Cast

Shia LaBeouf as Jerry Shaw / Ethan Shaw, a young slacker framed as a terrorist; and as his late twin Ethan Shaw, USAF officer.
Michelle Monaghan as Rachel Holloman, A single mother, also framed as a terrorist.
Billy Bob Thornton as Thomas Morgan, the patriotic and relentless leader of an FBI team tracking the cell.
Rosario Dawson as Zoe Perez, a government agent tracking the terrorist cell.
Michael Chiklis as George Callister, the US Secretary of Defense.
Ethan Embry as Toby Grant, Morgan's assistant at the FBI
Anthony Mackie as Major William Bowman, a soldier assigned to monitor the supercomputer.
Cameron Boyce as Sam Holloman, Rachel's musically-gifted son.
Julianne Moore (uncredited) as the voice of Ariia, a top-secret supercomputer bent on destroying the executive branch, believing it is a threat to the nation.

Production

Screenwriter Dan McDermott wrote the "original" script for Eagle Eye based on an "original" idea by Steven Spielberg who had been inspired by Isaac Asimov's short story "All the Troubles of the World."^[2] The studio DreamWorks then bought McDermott's script and set up the project to potentially be directed by Spielberg. When the director became busy with Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, he dropped out of the project. Director D.J. Caruso, who directed the 1996 TV series High Incident under Spielberg's executive production, replaced the director in helming Eagle Eye. However, Spielberg remained executive producer.^[3] In June 2007, actor LaBeouf who was involved in Spielberg's and Caruso's 2007 film Disturbia and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, re-joined the director and executive producer to star as the lead in Eagle Eye. McDermott's script was rewritten by screenwriters John Glenn, Travis Wright, and Hillary Seitz in preparation for production.^[4] Filming began on November 6, 2007^[5] and wrapped in February 2008.^[6] The film's visual effects were created by Sony Pictures Imageworks.^[7]

Caruso said by the time the film came to fruition twelve years later, "the technology had finally caught up to the storytelling... Everybody has a BlackBerry or an iPhone on their belt, and we think we're constantly being tracked. It's less science fiction than when Steven (Spielberg) conceived it."^[8] Caruso wanted to bring a gritty, 1970s-era sensibility to the film. Accordingly, a key chase scene in a high-tech package-processing hub on conveyor belts was shot without the use of computer-generated imagery. "It was like Chutes and Ladders for adults. It was pretty dangerous, and a lot of fun."^[8] While filming the scene, Monaghan suffered a welt after a cable brushed her neck and Caruso hit his head on a protruding bolt, requiring stitches.^[8]

Music

The music to Eagle Eye was written by composer Brian Tyler, who recorded the score with an 88-piece ensemble of the Hollywood Studio Symphony at the Sony Scoring Stage. The session was interrupted by the Chino Hills earthquake on July 29, 2008—and a recording of the quake hitting the scoring stage is online.^[9] The score was released on iTunes on September 25, 2008 and followed by a CD release on September 30.

Promotion

The official movie website features an ARG type of gameplay system to promote the film. The voice previewed behind the phone in multiple trailers contacts the player, placing them in unique experiences. This has been called the "Eagle Eye Freefall Experience". While official cast listings do not list the name of the actress behind the mysterious voice featured in the film and trailers, Rosario Dawson confirmed at the Hollywood premiere that it belongs to Julianne Moore.^[10]

Reception

Eagle Eye received generally negative to mixed reviews from critics. As of November 29, 2008, the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported that 27% of critics gave the film positive reviews based on 159 reviews, with the consensus that the film "is a preposterously plotted thriller that borrows heavily from other superior films."^[11] Metacritic reported the film had an average score of 43 out of 100, based on 28 reviews—indicating mixed or average reviews.^[12]

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave Eagle Eye a score of two stars out of four, saying: "The word preposterous is too moderate to describe Eagle Eye. This film contains not a single plausible moment after the opening sequence, and that's borderline. It's not an assault on intelligence. It's an assault on consciousness."^[13] James Berardinelli of ReelViews gave the film one and a half stars out of four, saying: "This movie tests the viewing public's tolerance for enduring crass stupidity when the payoff is a series of repetitive, ADD-infected chase scenes. Director D.J. Caruso does a moderately good job of hiding how incredibly dumb this screenplay is by keeping things moving at such a whirlwind pace that a lot more seems to be happening than actually is. In reality, the chase scenes don't mean anything because they don't advance the plot—it's mice on a treadmill, running and running and not getting anywhere."^[14] The Hollywood Reporter called it a "slick, silly techno thriller" and "Even those who surrender all disbelief at the door will be hard pressed not to smirk at some of wildly improbable plotting."^[15]

Josh Rosenblatt of The Austin Chronicle enjoyed the film, calling it "good, manic fun plus a heavy dose of political intrigue adding up to two hours of clamorous, mind-numbing nonsense." Calling it "The Transporter 2 on crack."^[16] William Arnold of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer also gave Eagle Eye a positive review, remarking that it's "engrossing as an intellectual puzzle" and "a solid thriller."^[17] Mark Bell of Film Threat said: "the film isn't a complete waste of your time [...] but don't expect anything brilliant."^[18] Nathan Rabin The Onion's A.V. Club called the film "achingly idiotic" and "the unintentional laugh riot of the year."^[19] Neely Tucker of The Washington Post said that Eagle Eye is "sometimes entertaining" but "doesn't have much to say."^[20] Robert Koehler of Variety felt that the film's "first 35 minutes sizzle" but "the story [becomes] near-parody in the final act."^[21]

Box office performance

In its opening weekend, Eagle Eye grossed $29.1 million in 3,510 theaters in the United States and Canada, reaching the first place position at the box office.^[22] As of January 4, 2009, it has grossed $177.1 million worldwide—$101.2 million in the United States and Canada and $75.8 million in other territories.^[1]. The budget of the film was $80 million.

Home video release

Eagle Eye was released on DVD and Blu-ray only in select stores on December 26th, 2008, three months exactly after its theatrical release, September 26th, 2008. The next day, it was released nation wide. iTunes released it a month later only as a rental. ^[23]

Mobile game

A mobile game based on the film was developed and published by Magmic Games. It was released for Blackberry, Windows Mobile, BREW, and J2ME devices prior to the film's launch in early September. There are also two games on the film's web site.^[24]^[25]

Source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eagle_Eye

The director of the surprise hit 'Slumdog Millionaire' defends his film against Indian critics who say it exploits the poor.Part 2

2009-02-18T08:52:00.000+07:00

Do you worry that the movie will face a stronger backlash in India? Have you taken any legal precautions?
No, not legal. Our priority at the moment is the children, and what they've been exposed to.

The child actors?
Yes, the young actors, especially the two that come from very poor backgrounds. We are working hard to try to protect them both. We have been for a long time, in terms of their long-term educational plan, but also what's happening now with the press following them. I also worry about any kind of violence, anybody getting hurt. In terms of furor, criticism, debate, you realize that part of your responsibilities as a very privileged person, as a filmmaker, is to stand up and be counted if you're proud of the film. You listen to what people have to say about it, and I'm proud to do that.

How long did you spend in Mumbai?
I spent about a year there, and was there permanently for eight months: five months preparation and then approximately three months filming. As soon as you touch India, specifically Mumbai, you feel electric, in good ways and bad ways. A pulse just charges through you. That hasn't changed since we started the film. I feel more alive than I've ever felt in my career.

It sounds like India had a huge impact on you. Can you just walk away from it?
Well, you can get on a plane, but you can't walk away from it. It's always going to be with you.

Do you think you will make another movie set in India?
I would love to make a thriller in the city. We made basically a picaresque film with elements of a thriller, romance, comedy. But all the time you're there, you're thinking, this would be the most extraordinary place for a thriller. Some of my favorite films actually used that element of the city; my three favorite films are "Satya," "Company" and "Black Friday." So I would love to do that. I don't think I'll do it next—it probably wouldn't be wise for me to do it next. But I would love to do it. I've begun talking to a couple of people about that idea.

Do you have your Oscar speech prepared in case you win?
[Laughs.] This is a wonderful opportunity: because the film features Benjamin Franklin—he's in the bit where the kid gets the [$100] note—I can use his great quote, that "Nothing is certain in life except death and taxes." To which I would add, "and law cases and protests." We've had an extraordinary reception and been given some extraordinary awards. You have to make sure that you thank the right people, but that comes from your heart, really, rather than too much preparation. So, no.

Is there anything else you'd like to add?
Just an acknowledgement to Mumbai and everybody who lives in that extraordinary city. What they put up with, and what they deal with—it's a gift for a filmmaker going there. And I will always be eternally obliged to it—and that's to everyone, to those who love us and those who hate us. Somebody sent me a quote from Plato, the great Greek philosopher: "Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle." That kind of approach helps you deal with everything, really, and that's how we tried to behave in Mumbai. Hopefully in the long run people will appreciate that.

Source : http://www.newsweek.com/id/182341/page/2

The director of the surprise hit 'Slumdog Millionaire' defends his film against Indian critics who say it exploits the poor Part 1

2009-02-18T08:49:00.000+07:00

"Slumdog Millionaire," a rags-to-riches story set partly in the slums of Mumbai, is this year's sleeper hit. With a modest budget of $15 million, it's gone on to earn nearly $100 million worldwide. Critics have awarded it top prizes at the Golden Globes, and the film has been nominated for 10 Academy Awards, including best picture. But back in India, the movie has become a cultural lightning rod, attracting protests and charges of "slum voyeurism." A lawsuit alleges it defames Mumbai's urban poor, and many take offense at the appearance of "dog" in the title. NEWSWEEK's Fareed Zakaria spoke with the director, British filmmaker Danny Boyle, about the film's creation and the resultant uproar. Excerpts:

NEWSWEEK: "Slumdog Millionaire" feels like a big movie in its commercial aspirations, but did you expect it to get the kind of critical acclaim it's received?
Danny Boyle: No. With every film you make you have what I call "the bathroom moment," where you look at yourself and you think, "OK, this is the one." Hope's a very important part of making a film. But you never could expect what's happened with this film. Having said that, I remember moments while making the film. Mumbai is such an exhilarating, extraordinary place to be, that you do think, "If I could capture some of this city, some of what a lot of people don't realize is here, it will be fascinating." It is an insatiable city in the sense that you want to capture it but can't—you can only get a bit of it.

Do you think part of the resonance and appeal of the movie stems from people's fascination with India, and Mumbai in particular?
I think so. That's one of the reasons I wanted to make the film. I didn't want to make the film because of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire." I have to say, though, I've rethought [the importance of India to the film's appeal]. Although that is an element in it, for the public it's the universality of the story. People want to root for Jamal. It doesn't matter where he comes from. There's always a point where [a film] goes beyond a writer and director and becomes the characters. That's the reason for a lot of the success of the film: it's actually people's appetite for his story and his quest. The first time we showed the film was at the Telluride and Toronto film festivals, and I remember having to rethink it, because—and it seems the most obvious thing in the world now—it's basically the "Rocky" story: a kid succeeding against all odds. And it's not about success in the end, it's about love and a girl.

It struck me as a very Dickensian story: the ups and the downs of the big city, with a very human tale of love, lust and fortune at its core. Was Dickens a conscious influence?
When I asked Simon Beaufoy, the writer of the script, what it was like writing it, he said, "You can't escape the shadow of Dickens, dealing with these extremes within an extraordinary city." He felt the shadow of Dickens on him the whole time. The tone shift, where you shift from high comedy to moral horror to an exhilarating dance sequence at the end—people think we put that in to give it a commercial, feel-good ending. The truth is that if we left out the dance it would have been a really imperfect picture of the city, because it's such a part of the city, the instinct of the city. That's why it had to be in the film. The only question was whether we put it in the middle or the end. So yeah, Dickensian—it's very, very true. He's the master storyteller, and you follow his lead in having confidence to slam such extremes next to each other in a film and risking such vast variations of tone. It shouldn't work—the rule book says you can't shift tone like that constantly—but it does.

In India itself, there's been a cloud over what have otherwise been very sunny skies for the film. Some activists have claimed that the title is demeaning. What did you mean by "slumdog"?
This is one of the saddest things for me. People are absolutely entitled to say whatever they think about the film. Protest is a healthy part of life in India, provided it doesn't become violent. Basically [the title] is a hybrid of the word "underdog"—and everything that means in terms of rooting for the underdog and validating his triumph—and the fact that he obviously comes from the slums. That's what we intended.

Some people seem to feel that you are shining a spotlight on Indian poverty.
It's an entertainment, in the end. It's not a documentary. But we wanted to depict as much of the city as possible. For me, it wasn't the romantic "Rocky" story. My central thrust was to try to capture, within our narrative, as much of the city as possible, and you cannot ignore that part of life in Mumbai—nor would I want to. It's crucial for me. That's the bedrock, the starting point. I would do that again because it is one of the most extraordinary things that hits you about the city, the way that the slums sit beside everything else. They're not ghettoized, they're not separated—everything sits side by side.

For me, the slums were so extraordinary. This is something that's very difficult to convey. I think when you go, if you don't know the city, as I didn't, part of you expects abject poverty. And what you find, of course, is an extraordinary energy of life there. People on all sorts of levels are all working, doing bits of business. You sense a kind of resilience against all odds. It's really breathtaking. As a filmmaker, I wanted to try and capture that energy, as well as show the circumstances in which people are forced to live. But despite that [the people] are extraordinary. I hesitate to use the word inspiring because you would be foolish to use that word about it, but on a human level, it is inspiring. If we could all live our lives as resourcefully as people with so little do! Whereas we [in the developed world] live in such luxury, yet complain about things and moan about things. There are people who are making the most of themselves in very limited circumstances.

Source : http://www.newsweek.com/id/182341

The Slumdog Millionaire "hits the jackpot"

2009-02-18T08:46:00.000+07:00

The framing device is one of the cinema’s most venerable ways of telling a story. From William Holden floating facedown in a swimming pool at the beginning of “Sunset Blvd.” to Peter Falk reading Fred Savage the story of “The Princess Bride” to Ewan McGregor sobbing at his typewriter in “Moulin Rouge!” it’s a great way to use flashbacks to tell a story and flesh out the characters.

And you’ve never seen a framing device like the one in “Slumdog Millionaire,” a movie so compelling and, ultimately, upbeat, that it left me grinning wider than anything I’ve seen in ages.

The framing device involves young Jamal (Dev Patel), a teenager who fetches tea at one of India’s huge telemarketing companies. Jamal has captured the imagination of the entire country by winning millions of rupees on the India’s “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?” Naturally, in a country where the caste system hasn’t completely disappeared, the idea of a “slumdog” answering such difficult questions has the show’s host (Anil Kapoor) convinced that the kid must be cheating, so when we first meet Jamal, he’s being interrogated by the authorities.

A sympathetic police inspector (Irfan Khan of “The Namesake”) takes Jamal through each question that he got right, and in explaining how he knew the answers, Jamal tells his life story of growing up in the slums of Bombay with his hot-headed brother Salim, of being taken in by a Fagin-like exploiter of children and of Latika, the girl he’s loved all his life.

It’s best to know as little of the plot of “Slumdog Millionaire” as possible, so I’ll reveal no more. But Jamel’s story encompasses everything from pluck and triumph to horror and cruelty, and screenwriter Simon Beaufoy (“The Full Monty”), adapting the novel “Q&A” by Vikas Swarup, makes this tale almost Dickensian in both its flourishes and its soul.

Jamal, Salim and Latika are each played by three actors at different ages in their lives — children, pre-teens and young adults — and all nine performances are knockouts. It’s Patel, however, who anchors the film and draws the audience into this fascinating story.

India, with its overcrowded streets, cluttered urban skylines and sprawling vistas, becomes a character in the story, too, thanks mainly to Anthony Dod Mantle’s stirring cinematography. Poverty never looked as dazzing as the overhead shots of the maze-like Mumbai ghetto.

I was surprised to learn, after the fact that “Slumdog Millionaire” runs two hours, as those 120 minutes zipped by. (It’s a stark contrast to, say, “Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa,” which felt longer than “Berlin Alexanderplatz.”) Once “Slumdog” launches into its final act, you’ll get that pang that comes with the last chapter of a great book you wish you weren’t about to finish.

Source : http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27669648/

Slumdog Millionaire Film

2009-02-18T08:38:00.000+07:00

Slumdog Millionaire is a 2008 British drama film directed by Danny Boyle, co-directed by Loveleen Tandan,^[3] and written by Simon Beaufoy. It is an adaptation of the Boeke Prize-winning and Commonwealth Writers' Prize-nominated novel Q and A (2005) by Indian author and diplomat Vikas Swarup.

Set and filmed in India, Slumdog Millionaire tells the story of a young man from the slums of Mumbai who appears on the Indian version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? (Kaun Banega Crorepati, mentioned in the Hindi version) and exceeds people's expectations, arousing the suspicions of the game show host and of law enforcement officials.

After screenings at the Telluride Film Festival and the Toronto International Film Festival, Slumdog Millionaire initially had a limited North American release on 12 November 2008 by Fox Searchlight Pictures and Warner Bros. Pictures, to critical acclaim and awards success, and later had a nationwide release in the United States on 23 January 2009^[4] and in the United Kingdom on 9 January 2009. It premiered in Mumbai on 22 January 2009.^[5]

Slumdog Millionaire won five Critics' Choice Awards, four Golden Globes and seven BAFTA Awards, including Best Film, and has been nominated for ten Academy Awards. The film is also the subject of controversy concerning its portrayal of India and Hinduism as well as the welfare of its child actors.

Plot

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. Jamal is a contestant on the Indian version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire (Kaun Banega Crorepati) 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 the autograph of Amitabh Bachchan; the death of his mother during Hindu-Muslim riots in the slums; and how he and his brother Salim (Madhur Mittal) befriended the orphan girl Latika (Freida Pinto). As Jamal's favorite book from his short period in school was The Three Musketeers, he refers to Salim and himself as Athos and Porthos, and Latika as the third Musketeer.

The children are eventually discovered by Maman (Ankur Vikal) while they live in the trash heaps. Maman is a gangster (a fact they do not actually know at the time they meet him) 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 (which would improve his income potential as a singing beggar). 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 pickpocketing. 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 "chai-wallah" (a boy or young man who serves tea) 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 and 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 5 p.m. for her. One day 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.

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 an incorrect answer during a break. At the end of the show, Jamal has one question left to win 10 million, or one crore, 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 his explanation "bizarrely plausible" and allows Jamal 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 the keys to his car and his phone 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", Jamal guesses the correct answer (Aramis) 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 train station, and finally share a kiss.

Production

Screenwriter Simon Beaufoy wrote Slumdog Millionaire based on the Boeke Prize winning and Commonwealth Writers' Prize nominated novel Q and A by Vikas Swarup.^[6] To hone the script, Beaufoy made three research trips to India and interviewed street children, finding himself impressed with their attitudes. The screenwriter said of his goal for the script: "I wanted to get (across) the sense of this huge amount of fun, laughter, chat, and sense of community that is in these slums. What you pick up on is this mass of energy." By the summer of 2006, British production companies Celador Films and Film4 invited director Danny Boyle to read the script Slumdog Millionaire. Boyle initially hesitated since he was not interested in making a film about Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?^[7] Boyle soon found out that the screenwriter was Beaufoy, who had written The Full Monty (1997), one of the director's favorite British films, and decided to revisit the script.^[8] Boyle was impressed by how Beaufoy wove the multiple storylines from Swarup's book into one narrative, and the director decided to commit to the project. The film was projected to cost US$15 million, so Celador sought a distributor to share costs. Fox Searchlight Pictures made an initial offer that was reportedly in the $2 million range, and Warner Independent Pictures made a $5 million offer that Fox Searchlight could not top.^[7]

Gail Stevens came on board to oversee casting globally. Stevens has worked with Boyle throughout his career and is well-known for discovering new talent. Meredith Tucker was appointed to cast out of the US. The filmmakers then traveled to Mumbai in September 2007 with a partial crew and began hiring local cast and crew for production in Karjat. Originally appointed as one of the five casting directors in India, Loveleen Tandan, has stated that she "suggested to Danny and Simon Beaufoy, the writer of Slumdog, that it was important to do some of it in Hindi to bring the film alive [...] They asked me to pen the Hindi dialogues which I, of course, instantly agreed to do. And as we drew closer to the shoot date, Danny asked me to step in as the co-director."^[9] Boyle then decided to translate nearly a third of the film's English dialogue into Hindi. The director fibbed to Warner Independent's president that he wanted 10% of the dialogue in Hindi, and she approved of the change. Filming locations included shooting in Mumbai's megaslum and in shantytown parts of Juhu, so filmmakers controlled the crowds by befriending onlookers.^[7] Filming began on 5 November 2007.^[10]

In addition to Swarup's original novel Q and A, the film was also inspired by Indian cinema.^[11]^[12] Tandan has referred to Slumdog Millionaire as a homage to Hindi commercial cinema, noting that "The writer Simon Beaufoy studied Salim-Javed's kind of cinema minutely."^[11] Boyle has cited the influence of the following Bollywood films set in Mumbai: Deewaar (1975) by Yash Chopra and Salim-Javed, Satya (1998) and Company (2002) by Ram Gopal Verma, and Black Friday (2004) by Anurag Kashyap. Satya (its screenplay was co-written by Saurabh Shukla, who plays Constable Srinivas in Slumdog Millionaire) and Company (based on the D-Company) both offered "slick, often mesmerizing portrayals of the Mumbai underworld" and displayed a lot of "brutality and urban violence." Boyle has stated that the chase in one of the opening scenes of Slumdog Millionaire was based on a "12-minute police chase through the crowded Dharavi slum" in Black Friday (itself adapted from S. Hussein Zaidi's book of the same name about the 1993 Bombay bombings).^[12]^[13]^[14]^[15] Deewaar, which Boyle described as being "absolutely key to Indian cinema," is a crime film based on the Bombay gangster Haji Mastan, portrayed by Bollywood star Amitabh Bachchan, whose autograph Jamal sought at the beginning of Slumdog Millionaire.^[12] Anil Kapoor noted that some scenes of the film "are like Deewaar, the story of two brothers of whom one is completely after money while the younger one is honest and not interested in money."^[16] Some of the other Indian films cited by Boyle as reference points for the film include Satyajit Ray's Pather Panchali (1955), Mira Nair films such as Salaam Bombay! (1988), Aamir Khan's Lagaan (2001) and Taare Zameen Par (2007).^[17] The rags to riches underdog theme underlying the film was also a recurring theme in classic Bollywood movies from the 1950s through to the 1980s, when "India worked to lift itself from hunger and poverty."^[18]

Bollywood star Shahrukh Khan, the current host for Kaun Banega Crorepati (the Indian version of Who wants to Be a Millionaire?), was initially offered the role of the show's host in the film, but he eventually turned it down (the role was ultimately played by another Bollywood star Anil Kapoor).^[19]^[20]^[21] Paul Smith, the executive producer of Slumdog Millionaire and the chairman of Celador Films, had previously owned the international rights to Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?^[22]

Cast

Dev Patel as Jamal Malik, the protagonist, a Muslim boy born and raised in the poverty of Mumbai.^[23] Boyle considered hundreds of young male actors, although he found that Bollywood leads were generally "strong, handsome hero-types", not the personality he was looking for. Gail Stevens, the Casting Director, pointed him out from the British television ensemble drama Skins, of which Patel was a cast member.^[7] The actor was cast in August 2007.^[10] Patel is now represented by UTA. The original choice for the role was Bollywood actor Ruslaan Mumtaz, but the producer of the film "found Ruslaan too good looking for the role and so he was replaced by Dev Patel."^[24]
- Ayush Mahesh Khedekar as Youngest Jamal
- Tanay Chheda as Middle Jamal
Freida Pinto as Latika, the girl with whom Jamal is in love. Pinto was an Indian model who had not starred in a feature film before.^[7] Regarding the "one of a kind" scarf she wears, "designer Suttirat Anne Larlarb" says, "I wanted to bookend the journey--to tie her childhood yellow dress to her final look."^[25] She is now represented by CAA.
- Rubina Ali as Youngest Latika
- Tanvi Ganesh Lonkar as Middle Latika
Madhur Mittal as Salim, Jamal's elder brother.
- Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail as Youngest Salim
- Ashutosh Lobo Gajiwala as Middle Salim
Anil Kapoor as Prem Kumar, the game show host.^[26]
Irrfan Khan as the Police Inspector
Saurabh Shukla as Constable Srinivas
Mahesh Manjrekar as Javed
Ankur Vikal as Maman
Raj Zutshi as Millionaire show producer
Sanchita Choudhary as Jamal's mother
Shah Rukh Munshi as a Slum kid ^[18]

Release and box office performance

Stars Dev Patel and Freida Pinto at the 2008 Toronto International Film Festival

In August 2007 Warner Independent Pictures acquired the American and Pathé the international rights to distribute Slumdog Millionaire theatrically.^[10] Though Warner Independent Pictures paid $5 million to acquire rights to the film, the studio was hesitant about its commercial prospects. In May 2008, Warner Independent Pictures shut down, initially suggesting that Slumdog Millionaire would go straight to DVD.^[27] In August 2008, the studio began searching for a buyer to relieve its overload of films at the time.^[28] Halfway through the month, Warner Independent Pictures and Fox Searchlight Pictures entered a pact to share distribution of the film with Fox Searchlight buying in a 50% stake.^[29] As of 13 February 2009, the film has grossed $129,547,783 worldwide.^[1]

North America

Slumdog Millionaire was first shown at the Telluride Film Festival on 30 August 2008, where it was positively received by audiences, generating "strong buzz".^[30] The film also screened at the Toronto International Film Festival on 7 September 2008, where it was "the first widely acknowledged popular success" of the festival,^[31] winning the People's Choice Award.^[32] Slumdog Millionaire debuted with a limited North American release on 12 November 2008, followed by a nationwide release in the United States on 23 January 2009.^[33]

In its first week, the film grossed an "impressive" $350,434 in 10 theatres, a "strong" average of $35,043 per theatre.^[34] In its second weekend, it expanded to 32 theatres and made $947,795, or an average of $29,619 per theatre, representing a drop of only 16%.^[35] In the 10 original theatres that it was released in, viewership went up 16%, and this is attributed to strong word-of-mouth.^[36] The film opened in wide release on 26 December 2008 at 614 theaters and grossed $4,301,870. In the weekend of 23-25 January 2009, the film reached the widest release at 1,411 theaters. As of 8 February 2009, the film has grossed $77,426,000 at the Canadian and US box office.^[1]

United Kingdom

The film released in the United Kingdom on 9 January 2009, and opened at #2 at the UK box office.^[37] The film reached #1 in its second weekend and set a UK box office record, as the film's takings increased by 47%. This is the "biggest ever increase for a UK saturation release," breaking "the record previously held by Billy Elliot's 13%." This record-breaking "ticket surge" in the second weekend came after Slumdog Millionaire won four Golden Globes and received eleven BAFTA nominations. The film grossed £6.1 million in its first eleven days of release in the UK.^[38] The takings increased by another 7% the following weekend, bringing the film's gross up to £10.24 million for its first seventeen days in the UK.^[39]^[40] In its third week, the film's total UK box office gross rose to £14.2 million ^[41] and is expected to exceed £20 million.^[39]

India

The Indian premiere of Slumdog Millionaire took place in Mumbai on 22 January 2009 and was attended by major personalities of the Indian film industry. More than a hundred Indian film personalities attended this event.^[42] A dubbed Hindi version, Slumdog Crorepati (स्लमडॉग करोड़पति), was also released in India in addition to the original version of the film.^[43] Originally titled, Slumdog Millionaire: Kaun Banega Crorepati, the name was shortened for copyright purposes. Loveleen Tandan, who supervised the dubbing, stated: "All the actors from the original English including Anil Kapoor, Irrfan Khan and Ankur Vikal dubbed the film. We got a boy from Chembur Pradeep Motwani to dub for the male lead Dev Patel. I didn't want any exaggerated dubbing. I wanted a young unspoilt voice."^[44]

Fox Searchlight released 351 prints of the film across India for its full release there on 23 January 2009.^[45] It earned Rs. 2,35,45,665 in its first week at the Indian box office,^[46] or $2.2 million according to Fox Searchlight. Though not as successful as major Bollywood releases in India during its first week, this was the highest weekend gross for any Fox film and the third highest for any Western release in the country, behind Spider-Man 3 (2007) and Casino Royale (2006).^[45] In its second week, the film's gross rose to Rs. 3,04,70,752 at the Indian box office.^[46]

A few analysts have offered their opinions for the film's performance at the Indian box office. Trade analyst Komal Nahta commented that, "there was a problem with the title itself. Slumdog is not a familiar word for majority Indians." In addition, trade analyst, Amod Mehr has stated that with the exception of Anil Kapoor, the film lacks recognizable stars and that "the film ... is not ideally suited for Indian sentiment." A cinema owner commented that "to hear slum boys speaking perfect English doesn't seem right but when they are speaking in Hindi, the film seems much more believable." The dubbed Hindi version, Slumdog Crorepati has done better at the box office and more copies of that version will be released.^[47]

Critical reception

Reactions from the Western world

Slumdog Millionaire has been critically acclaimed in the Western world. As of 30 January 2009, Rotten Tomatoes has given the film a 94% rating with a 181 fresh and eleven rotten reviews. The average score is 8.3/10.^[48] At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the film has received an average score of 86, based on 36 reviews.^[49] Movie City News shows that the film appeared in 123 different top ten lists, out of 286 different critics lists surveyed, the 3rd most mentions on a top ten list of any film released in 2008.^[50]

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun Times gave the film four stars, stating that it is, "a breathless, exciting story, heartbreaking and exhilarating."^[51] Wall Street Journal critic Joe Morgenstern refers to Slumdog Millionaire as, "the film world's first globalized masterpiece."^[52] Ty Burr of the Boston Globe describes the film as a "sprawling, madly romantic fairy-tale epic is the kind of deep-dish audience-rouser we've long given up hoping for from Hollywood."^[53] Ann Hornaday of The Washington Post argues that, "this modern-day "rags-to-rajah" fable won the audience award at the Toronto International Film Festival earlier this year, and it's easy to see why. With its timely setting of a swiftly globalizing India and, more specifically, the country's own version of the "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" TV show, combined with timeless melodrama and a hardworking orphan who withstands all manner of setbacks, "Slumdog Millionaire" plays like Charles Dickens for the 21st century."^[54] Todd McCarthy of Variety, praises the script as "intricate and cleverly structured", the cinematography by Anthony Dod Mantle's, and Chris Dickens' editing as "breathless" He concludes that, "as drama and as a look at a country increasingly entering the world spotlight, Slumdog Millionaire is a vital piece of work by an outsider who’s clearly connected with the place."^[55] Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times describes the film as "a Hollywood-style romantic melodrama that delivers major studio satisfactions in an ultra-modern way", and the "hard-to-resist 'Slumdog Millionaire,' with director Danny Boyle adding independent film touches to a story of star-crossed romance that the original Warner brothers would have embraced, shamelessly pulling out stops that you wouldn't think anyone would have the nerve to attempt anymore."^[56] Manohla Dargis of The New York Times, calls the film "a modern fairy tale," a "sensory blowout," and "one of the most upbeat stories about living in hell imaginable." She concludes that "In the end, what gives me reluctant pause about this bright, cheery, hard-to-resist movie is that its joyfulness feels more like a filmmaker’s calculation than an honest cry from the heart about the human spirit."^[57] Peter Brunette of the Hollywood Reporter, while giving it a positive review, states the film is "a high-octane hybrid of Danny Boyle's patented cinematic overkill and Bollywood's ultra-energetic genre conventions that is a little less good than the hype would have it."^[58] Several other reviewers have described Slumdog Millionaire as a Bollywood-style "Masala" movie,^[59] due to the way the film combines "familiar raw ingredients into a feverish masala"^[60] and culminates in "the romantic leads finding each other."^[61]

Other critics offered mixed reviews. Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian gave the film three out of five stars, stating that "despite the extravagant drama and some demonstrations of the savagery meted out to India's street children, this is a cheerfully undemanding and unreflective film with a vision of India that, if not touristy exactly, is certainly an outsider's view; it depends for its full enjoyment on not being taken too seriously."^[62] Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle states that, "Slumdog Millionaire has a problem in its storytelling. The movie unfolds in a start-and-stop way that kills suspense, leans heavily on flashbacks and robs the movie of most of its velocity. The filmmakers' motives are sincere. The story is interesting enough. Yet the whole construction is tied to a gimmicky narrative strategy that keeps Slumdog Millionaire from really hitting its stride until the last 30 minutes. By then, it's just a little too late."^[63] Eric Hynes of IndieWIRE panned the film and wrote it is "bombastic" and "a noisy, sub-Dickens update on the romantic tramp's tale" and faulted the film's glossy and sentimental portrayal of societal poverty, and described it as "a goofy picaresque to rival Forrest Gump" in its morality and romanticism.^[64] Armond White of the New York Press called the film "decadently over-hyped" and "Gitmo for guilty liberals", also stating that "over-stimulation crushes feeling [and] only evokes sentimentality" and that "Boyle trades exploitation for schmaltz".^[65] Matthew Schneeberger speculates as to why the film has angered some Indians stating: "Say an Indian director travelled to New Orleans for a few months to film a movie about Jamal Martin, an impoverished African American who lost his home in Hurricane Katrina, who once had a promising basketball career, but who -- following a drive-by shooting -- now walks with a permanent limp, whose father is in jail for selling drugs, whose mother is addicted to crack cocaine, whose younger sister was killed by gang-violence, whose brother was arrested by corrupt cops, whose first born child has sickle cell anaemia, and so on. The movie would be widely panned and laughed out of theatres." ^[66]

Reactions from India and Indian diaspora

The film has been a subject of discussion among a variety of people in India and the Indian diaspora. Indian film critics have "largely embraced the movie."^[45] Nikhat Kazmi of the Times of India calls it "a piece of riveting cinema, meant to be savoured as a Cinderella-like fairy tale, with the edge of a thriller and the vision of an artist." He also argues against criticism of the film stating that, "it was never meant to be a documentary on the down and out in Dharavi. And it isn't."^[67] Renuka Vyavahare of Indiatimes suggests that, "the film is indeed very Indian" and that it is "one of the best English films set in India and revolving around the country’s most popular metropolis Mumbai."^[68] Kaveree Bamzai of India Today calls the film "feisty" and argues that it is "Indian at its core and Western in its technical flourish."^[69] Anand Giridharadas argues in The New York Times that the film has a "freshness" which "portrays a changing India, with great realism, as something India long resisted being: a land of self-makers, where a scruffy son of the slums can, solely of his own effort, hoist himself up, flout his origins, break with fate." Giridharadas also calls the film "a tribute to the irrepressible self."^[70] Poorna Shetty states in the The Guardian that "Boyle's depiction of Mumbai is spot on." She further states that the film displays the "human aspect of the slums and the irrepressible energy and life force of the place" and "a breathing snapshot of the city that is always stripped of its warmth when depicted in the news."^[71]

On the other hand, Mukul Kesavan of The Telegraph (Kolkata) states that the film is "a hybrid so odd" (due to the decision to have the first third in Hindi and the remainder in English) "that it becomes hard for the Indian viewer to do the thing that he so effortlessly does with Ghajini or Om Shanti Om — namely, suspend disbelief." Kesavan further states that, "the transition from child actors who in real life are slum children to young actors who are, just as clearly, middle-class anglophones is so abrupt and inexplicable that it subverts the ‘realism’ of the brilliantly shot squalor in which their lives play out."^[72] Film critic Gautaman Bhaskaran questioned the "euphoria in India" in a review for The Seoul Times after the film's release there, arguing that with a few exceptions, "there is nothing Indian about this film." Bhaskaran questions inconsistencies in the plot and concludes that it is a film of "very little substance" as well as "superficial and insensitive."^[73] Another film critic (author of The Essential Guide to Bollywood), Subhash K. Jha, also states in Bollywood Hungama that he found the film "over-hyped and disappointing" and also suggests that the territory has already been covered by Indian filmmakers (Mira Nair in Salaam Bombay and Satyajit Ray in the Apu Trilogy).^[74] Soutik Biswas of the BBC further argues that Slumdog Millionaire is an imitation of Indian films that have been "routinely ignored" and suggests that, "if you are looking for gritty realism set in the badlands of Mumbai, order a DVD of a film called Satya by Ramgopal Verma. The 1998 feature on an immigrant who is sucked into Mumbai's colourful underworld makes Slumdog look like a slick, uplifting MTV docu-drama."^[75]

In addition, filmmakers have commented on the film. Bollywood director and superstar Aamir Khan (whose film Taare Zameen Par was India's submission to the Academy Awards but was not chosen as a finalist for Best Foreign Film) ^[76]^[77] stated in an interview with NDTV that he doesn't "see ‘Slumdog…’ as an Indian film. I think it is a film about India like Gandhi (that) was made by Sir Richard Attenborough. Similarly, ‘Slumdog…’ is about India but it is not an Indian film. I hope it does well in (the) Academy (awards). I don’t think it’s got to do anything with India or abroad. Filmmakers are creative people and they are storytellers. They are telling us a story. I don’t think ‘Slumdog…’ is making an attempt to show the underbelly of India or that may be its selling point."^[76]^[77] Director and filmmaker Priyadarshan criticized Slumdog Millionaire as a film which is a "mediocre version of those commercial films about estranged brothers and childhood sweethearts that Salim-Javed used to write so brilliantly in the 1970s." He also stated that he viewed the film at the Toronto Film Festival and that, "The Westerners loved it. All the Indian[s] hated it. The West loves to see us as a wasteland, filled with horror stories of exploitation and degradation. But is that all there's to our beautiful city of Mumbai?"^[78]

Authors and scholars have responded more critically to the film. Salman Rushdie stated in an interview with the New York Times that he is "not a very big fan" of Slumdog Millionaire. He further commented: "I think it’s visually brilliant. But I have problems with the story line. I find the storyline unconvincing. It just couldn’t happen. I’m not adverse to magic realism but there has to be a level of plausibility, and I felt there were three or four moments in the film where the storyline breached that rule."^[79]Radha Chadha, co-author of The Cult of the Luxury Brand: Inside Asia's Love Affair with Luxury (with Paul Husband), offers an analysis of the film in Livemint. She argues that while Slumdog Millionaire is entertaining, it is still a "masala film," the kind of Bollywood product which Indians grow up watching. As to its popularity in the West, she further suggests that what is "ordinary" (in terms of film genre) for an Indian audience, "is extraordinary for the world" and that "the mesmerizing soft power of Bollywood which has kept a billion Indians enthralled for decades is touching the rest of the world."^[80] Asst. Professor of sociology (Wellesley College), Smitha Radhakrishnan, states in UCLA's Asia Pacific Arts journal that the film offers "an action-packed, devastating, intriguing, and oddly beautiful world." Radhakrishnan also argues that while its "outsider's" view offers an "unexpected advantage," there were notable "slip-ups" of which the "most glaring was the language. Despite the plausible explanation that Jamal and Salim picked up English, posing as tour guides at the Taj Mahal, it is highly implausible that they would come out of that experience speaking perfect British English, as Dev Patel does in portraying the grown-up Jamal. It's highly implausible that he would speak to Latika and Salim in English as an adult too."^[81] Professor Vrinda Nabar, the former Chair of English at the University of Mumbai, argues that the film ignores the "complexity" of Mumbai as "a city in which sensitivity coexists with despair, commitment with indifference, activism with inaction, and humanism with the inhumane."^[82] Shyamal Sengupta, a professor of film studies at the Whistling Woods International Institute for Films, Media, Animationa and Media Arts in Mumbai, criticized the film for its stereotypical portrayals of Indians by calling it a "white man's imagined India. It's not quite snake charmers, but it's close. It's a poverty tour."^[83]^[84]

Awards and honors

Main article: List of Slumdog Millionaire awards and honors

Slumdog Millionaire is highly acclaimed, named in the top ten lists of a number of newspapers. It won all four of the Golden Globe Awards it was nominated for, including Best Drama Film; five of the six Critics' Choice Awards for which it was nominated; and seven of the eleven BAFTA Awards for which it was nominated, including Best Film. In 2009, the film has also been nominated for ten Academy Awards.

Soundtrack

Main article: Slumdog Millionaire (soundtrack)

The Slumdog Millionaire soundtrack was composed by A. R. Rahman who planned the score over two months and completed it in two weeks.^[85] Rahman won the 2009 Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score and earned three Academy Award nominations, including one for Best Original Score and two for Best Original Song, one shared with M.I.A. for the song "O..Saya" and the other shared with lyricist Gulzar for the song "Jai Ho". The soundtrack was released on M.I.A.'s record label N.E.E.T. Radio Sargam termed the soundtrack "magnum opus and the entire world is known to this fact."^[86]

Controversies

Loveleen Tandan

After the nominations for the 66th Golden Globe Awards were announced, a Chicago film critic launched an online campaign to demand that Loveleen Tandan, who Danny Boyle appointed as co-director for the film, be nominated for Best Director alongside Boyle at the Golden Globes and the 81st Academy Awards. The campaign organizer Jan Lisa Huttner stated: "If she's co-director during the filmmaking and marketing process, why isn't she co-nominee when the awards are passed out?" She noted "how rare it is for female directors to be in the awards race." After finding out about this campaign, Tandan sought to end it, stating, "I can't tell you how embarrassed I am by this [...] The suggestion is highly inappropriate, and I am writing to you to stress that I would not wish it to be considered."^[87]

Slumdog Millionaire's producer Christian Colson says Tandan's credit is being misconstrued to mean she is on equal creative footing with Boyle.^[87] Colson stated that Tandan's title was "strange but deserved" and was developed over "a Coca Cola and a cup of tea" in order to identify her as "one of our key cultural bridges."^[87]

Amitabh Bachchan

One of the first celebrities thought to have discussed the film was "Bollywood legend"^[88] Amitabh Bachchan, from whom young Jamal eagerly seeks an autograph in the beginning of the film and who was the original presenter for Kaun Banega Crorepati, the Indian version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? He has an entry on his blog dated 13 January 2009^[89] stating that on another part of his blog there were "comments for the film ‘SlumDog Millionaire’" which he noted indicated "anger by some on its contents." He further states that, "if SM projects India as Third World dirty under belly developing nation and causes pain and disgust among nationalists and patriots, let it be known that a murky under belly exists and thrives even in the most developed nations." Bachchan also states: "It's just that the SM idea authored by an Indian and conceived and cinematically put together by a Westerner, gets creative Globe recognition. The other would perhaps not."^[89] This entry was widely reported on by the press as a criticism of the film.^[90]^[91]^[88]

In a later entry,^[92] Bachchan responded to these media reports by stating: "Fact is - some one mentioned the film on my blog. Some expressed opinion for it, some against. And yes, they contained some strong assumptions. I merely put both of them up and invited debate [...] Media, in India has taken the pros and cons of OTHERS, as MINE, built their headlines and put it safely out, thereby, causing the consternation. All the expressions that have been attributed to me are in fact the expressions of others."^[93]^[92] In another entry,^[94] Bachchan states that Anil Kapoor invited him by phone to the premiere of the film. During the same phone call, Bachchan also spoke with Danny Boyle and described him as "gracious and complimentary to me and my work." Bachchan states that he offered his "apologies" over headlines "created by media" and that Boyle "understands and acknowledges my calling him."^[95] Following the film's release in India on 23 January 2009, Bachchan called the movie "wonderful" and praised the fact that A.R. Rahman received three Oscar nominations. ^[96]

Protests and lawsuits

Following its release in India, the film faced criticism from various members of the public alleging that the film fuels western stereotypes about poverty in India and that it peddles "poverty porn" and "slum voyeurism".^[45] Tapeshwar Vishwakarma, a representative of a slum-dwellers' welfare group, has filed a defamation lawsuit against the film's music composer A.R. Rahman and actor Anil Kapoor, alleging that slum-dwellers were depicted in a bad light which would be a violation of their human rights.^[97]^[98] Vishwakarma's lawsuit alleged that the name of the movie is derogatory and he was particularly displeased that Indians associated with the film did not object to the use of word "slumdog."^[97] Nicholas Almeida, a social activist working in Mumbai, organized a protest against the film on the grounds that it intentionally exploited the poor for the purposes of profit, and that the title 'Slumdog millionaire" was offensive, demeaning and insulted their dignity. The protesters were slum dwellers in Mumbai, holding posters like "I am not a dog"^[99] who objected to being dehumanized as "dogs" in the film title.^[100]

Protests against Slumdog Millionaire have extended beyond Mumbai to other parts of the country. Slum dwellers in Patna, the capital of the Indian state of Bihar, have intensified protests against the movie. Activists have reported that slum dwellers will continue to protest till the film's director deletes the word 'dog' from the title.^[101] Protests in Patna intensified on 26 January 2009, when "protesters tore down posters and ransacked a movie theatre" screening the film. The following day, the police in Bihar tightened security "outside theatres in the state to thwart any further attacks."^[102]

Hindu Janjagruti Samiti has protested against the film for its allegedly inappropriate portrayal of the Hindu God Rama.^[103]^[104] The activist group believes that the portrayal of Rama is derogatory and "hurts the sentiments of Hindus". Writing for the conservative Daily Pioneer, Kanchan Gupta reiterated the objections of the activist group that the film provides a one-sided portrayal of the complexities of religious conflict in India, and that the film depicts Hindus as "rapacious monsters".^[105]

Child actors

According to the UK newspaper, The Daily Telegraph, Azharuddin Ismail (who played Salim as a child) was paid £1,700 and Rubina Ali (who played Latika as a child) £500 for a month’s work on the film. The child actors continue to live in makeshift shacks in the slums of Bandra, a suburb of Mumbai, according to the Telegraph^[106] and ABC News.^[107] The Telegraph also reports that Ismail's home has been demolished by the local authorities and he now sleeps under a sheet of plastic tarpaulin with his father, who suffers from tuberculosis. A Fox Searchlight spokesman has responded that for their one-month work on the film, the child actors were paid three times the amount of an average annual salary for an adult living in their neighborhood.^[106]

On 26 January 2009, Danny Boyle (director) and Christian Colson (producer) released a written statement saying that they had “paid painstaking and considered attention to how Azhar and Rubina’s involvement in the film could be of lasting benefit to them over and above the payment they received for their work”. Boyle and Colson have stated that they have "set up trust funds for Rubina and Azharuddin and paid for their education," although the exact amount of the trust funds is not known.^[106] Boyle has explained that, "We don't want to reveal exact figures about what's in the trust fund, what's in the bank account for them for when they leave school because it will make them vulnerable and a target really but it is substantial, and they will hopefully gain benefit from the film long after the film has disappeared and long after the media who are chasing them at the moment sadly have lost interest in the film and that's been our approach throughout and I think it's the right approach."^[108]

^{Source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slumdog_Millionaire}

The Eyeshield 21

2009-02-18T08:35:00.000+07:00

Sena Kobayakawa is a boy who has been bullied by others all his life. On top of the bullying he has constantly relied on his older sister figure Mamori Anezaki to protect him. Now that he is entering into his high school years he wants to change however as he is entering Deimon High School the same place where Mamori is attending it becomes obvious that he will find it hard to change when being around an overprotective childhood friend. Sena is remarkably weak however he has an amazing running speed and dodging techniques. For Yoichi Hiruma and Ryokan Kurita it is their last year to compete for the Christmas Bowl. They are apart of a American Football club aiming to win the tournament however they have always lacked talent. After seeing Sena’s speed Hiruma decides to force him to becomes the teams running back. Sena’s talent is beyond an average high school boy so it is likely that other schools would want to have him on their team. To hide Sena’s identity from other schools as well as to keep Mamori calm, Sena wears an eye shield to hide his face. Soon the name of Eyeshield 21 spreads across the region and Sena becomes a key player in Hiruma’s team the Deimon Devil Bats.

There have been many sports based anime serials made but only some are good and this is one of them. Similar to the famed Hajime no Ippo there are numerous exciting moments in this series. When it comes to shounen anime I find that the plots are very similar. Its generally a boy who was once weak becoming strong through determination and will power. I have seen many of these types of serials however I don’t tire of them. There has been an anime about most of the major sports but American football never really came to mind. The series teaches you allot about the sport and its rules but whats great is that each character has their own unique personalities. Its something that should be seen by all sports genre lovers out there as its one of the better sport themed serials available. You may be thinking that you have no interest at all in American football however I think that its less about the actual sport featured and more about the overall enjoyment of the characters and how they progress through the story.

Source : http://tokidoki.animeblogger.net/anime/eyeshield-21/

The Eyeshield 21: Field Saikyou no Senshi Tachi Import Hands-On

2009-02-18T08:33:00.001+07:00

If you want a glimpse into how the Japanese view American football, Eyeshield 21: Field Saikyou no Senshi Tachi for the Nintendo Wii is a good place to start. The game, based on the popular manga series from Riichiro Inagaki and Yusuke Murata, follows the exploits of one Sena Kobayakawa, a diminutive player who nonetheless finds great success on the football field thanks to his great speed and agility. Forced to hide his identity with a green eyeshield (thus the title of the series), Sena and his Deimon Devil Bats teammates battle all comers on the gridiron. Like last year's Eyeshield 21 for the Nintendo DS, Field Saikyou no Senshi Tachi (which roughly translates to The Field's Strongest Warriors) features controls that are completely different from typical Madden and NCAA football games, along with a healthy dose of Japanese craziness.

Eyeshield 21 contains two main game modes--a story mode that seems similar to the one found in the DS game (which had our hero Sena recruiting kids to play on the Devil Bats) and a separate mode that lets you jump into matches against any of the teams found in the game. We spent the majority of our time in the latter mode and found it remarkably similar to the DS Eyeshield game. As in the handheld game, which made vigorous use of the stylus and touchpad, you can play the majority of Eyeshield 21 by either moving the Wii Remote or pressing a few buttons. The controls are simple enough, though they can be challenging, especially when it comes to the passing game.

Forget the halfback option and shotgun twin TE trips plays from your Madden playbook. You've got only four basic plays in Eyeshield 21, and they all revolve around specific players in your lineup. There's a basic running play, which lets you hand off to either your running back (such as Sena, if you're playing the Devil Bats) or the full back; a passing play; a second type of running play that puts emphasis on the play of your offensive line; and a kicking play for either punts or field goals. Let's take a look at how each of these play types work in the game.

Like all of the plays in Eyeshield, the snap is called by the quarterback automatically. For running plays, you can choose which runner you wish to hand off to by pointing at his picture with the Wii Remote. Once your quarterback hands off the ball, you have a minimal amount of control over which direction you run the ball by pointing with the Wii Remote. This makes practically no difference, however, as you're guaranteed to run into more than one defender. Once you encounter a would-be tackler, you're taken to a minigame that puts you in a first-person view of the action. A timer at the top of the screen shows you how much time you have left before you are eventually brought down. As a defender approaches you, you can move the Wii Remote in one of four directions--up, down, left, or right. An icon pops up on the screen to show you where your defender has chosen, and if you choose any other direction, you'll get by that defender. Should you choose the same direction as the defender, you will either get a huge amount of time lopped off your clock or be tackled outright. How much yardage you gain depends on how many defenders you can successfully juke.

Be quick with that remote and you just might avoid a few tackles.

Once you get used to the controls of running the ball, it's time to try a passing play or two. Passing is more complex than running and requires a bit more precision with your Wii Remote. After calling a pass play, your quarterback will take his drop, and a timer will appear on the screen, similar to the one you have when running the ball. If that timer runs out, your quarterback will be sacked, so quick decision-making is crucial. After his drop, you're taken to a first-person view of the quarterback's field of vision, and you can look left and right to spot receivers by moving the Wii Remote left or right. You can then choose the receiver you wish to throw to by pointing at him on the field and pressing the A button. The next step is the actual throw--a green and yellow horizontal meter appears onscreen with a cursor sliding quickly back and forth. The idea here is to stop the cursor in either the green or yellow portion of the meter by flicking the remote forward. A "green" pass will make it to the receiver, and a "yellow" pass will give the receiver a better chance of getting yards after the catch. With the ball in the air, the final job is to actually catch it. To do so, you switch to the receiver's point of view. As the ball hurtles through the air, you have to point at it with your Wii Remote and click on it before it falls offscreen. If you click in the green zone before your opponent, you'll catch the ball and immediately fall down. If you click in the yellow zone, you'll catch the ball and be able to run with it.

The alternate run play lets you play as the offensive line in a sumo-like minigame that has you shaking the controller, trying to push the other line back and gain your runner some crucial yards. This play seems mostly designed for those times when you need a quick few yards to get a first down, though we were able to bust a few longer runs a couple of times. Finally there's the kicking game, which gives you a horizontal kicking meter, the top portion of which will be green. If you stop the cursor in the green zone, your kick will be successful (be it a punt or a field goal), no aiming or wind adjustments needed.

As you might expect, playing defense is very similar to the offensive game in Eyeshield. To tackle a runner, for example, you try to choose the direction he chooses with your Wii Remote to run down his timer and eventually bring him down. When playing as a defensive back, you have a chance to block or intercept the ball by clicking on it with your Wii Remote when the ball is in the air. You can also try to push your opponent's offensive line back and stuff a runner during his short-yardage attempts. In addition, by shaking the Wii Remote during passing or kicking plays, you can rapidly decrease your opponent's timing meter and maybe even get a sack or a blocked kick in the process.

Yoichi's got a gun for an arm. And that's in addition to his actual gun.

Though the controls are very different from your typical American football game, they aren't the only reason Eyeshield 21 feels very different from what you might be used to. For one thing, the characters seem to run forever during their various plays but end up gaining only four or five yards at a clip. At the default two-minute halves, it's very difficult to score at all unless you rely solely on big passing plays. Because all of the passing, running, tackling, and receiving animations are prerecorded, there's a strange sense of disconnect when playing the game; you rarely feel in control of the players. Then, of course, there's the absolutely over-the-top character design and frenetic pace of it all. Characters are always yelling, and in some cases they fire automatic weapons in the air in celebration. It's crazy stuff, and you'll spend much of your first few minutes with the game with your mouth agape, shaking your head at just how nuts everything is.

Still, once you get used to it, Eyeshield has its own charm--a blend of its unique controls and the characters' exaggerated earnestness. No, this isn't the deepest football game you're ever going to play--far from it, actually--but it is unlike practically any other sports game we've ever played. Unfortunately, it seems like the odds of the game making it stateside haven't improved over those of the DS game. Still, if you're a fan of the series or are just looking for a football game that's 100 percent Madden-free, Eyeshield 21 might be a good import for you.

Source : http://www.gamespot.com/wii/action/eyeshield21/news.html?sid=6167496