Brittish made film Slumdog Millionaire Sweeps the academy awards this year with no fewer than eight awards along with Kate Winslet who picks up her first long awaited oscar for "Best actress in a leading role" in the film The Reader.
The awards for Slumdog Millionaire are as follows:
Best Picture: Slumdog Millionaire
Director: Danny Boyle, Slumdog Millionaire
Original Song: “Jai Ho,” A.R. Rahman and Gulzar; Slumdog Millionaire
Original Score: A.R. Rahman, Slumdog Millionaire
Film Editing: Slumdog Millionaire
Sound Mixing: Slumdog Millionaire
Cinematography: Slumdog Millionaire
Adapted Screenplay: Simon Beaufoy, Slumdog Millionaire
Monday 23 February 2009
Friday 20 February 2009
Monster
Starring: Charlize Theron, Christina Ricci, Bruce Dern, Scott Wilson, Pruitt Taylor Vince, Annie Corley Lee Tergesen,
Director: Patty Jenkins
Studio: DEJ PRODUCTIONS
Run time: 104 mins
Released: 2004
Charlize Theron stars in this gritty drama based on a true store about prostitute, Aileen Wuornos who killed 6 men in 1989-90 (she was on death row for 12 years until eventually executed in 2002} She meets Selby Wall (Christine Ricci) in a lesbian club. Even though she"s not gay, she forms a relationship with Selby, a young runaway. Wuornos is spurred on by this new kind of love to get a real job but with no success. After too much humiliation, she goes back on the game. The first man she picks up tries to rape and kill her who she then shoots in self defence. Unfortunately fed up of being the victim all the time, She takes it out on the other men she picks up by robbing and shooting them dead. The killing spree ended after she shot entirely innocent Scott Wilson.
Heavily made up for the part as Wuornos, Charlize Theron is barely recognisable from her usual beauty as portrayed in films like THE ITALIAN JOB 2003 and THE DEVIL"S ADVOCATE 1997. One of the most memorable performances of a true story in film history.
Script was written by director: Patty Jenkins
Friday 13 February 2009
The Bucket List
Starring:: Jack Nicholson, Morgan Freeman, Sean Hayes, Rob Morrow, Alfonso Freeman, Rowena King, Beverly Todd
Director: Rob Reiner
Studio: WARNER BROS. Run time: 97 mins Certificate: 12 2008
Brief description of The Bucket List
Edward Cole (Nicholson) is a billionaire tycoon who is currently sharing a hospital room with blue-collar mechanic Carter Chambers (Freeman). Though at first the pair seems to have little in common, conversation eventually reveals that both men have a long list of goals they wish to achieve before they 'kick the bucket'.and start to form a bond. But obviously they can't accomplish such ambitious objectives while being confined to a hospital bed, so now in order to live their lives to the absolute fullest Edward and Carter will have to make a break for it.
Director: Rob Reiner
Studio: WARNER BROS. Run time: 97 mins Certificate: 12 2008
Brief description of The Bucket List
Edward Cole (Nicholson) is a billionaire tycoon who is currently sharing a hospital room with blue-collar mechanic Carter Chambers (Freeman). Though at first the pair seems to have little in common, conversation eventually reveals that both men have a long list of goals they wish to achieve before they 'kick the bucket'.and start to form a bond. But obviously they can't accomplish such ambitious objectives while being confined to a hospital bed, so now in order to live their lives to the absolute fullest Edward and Carter will have to make a break for it.
Girl Interrupted
Starring: Winona Ryder, Angelina Jolie, Clea Duvall, Brittany Murphy
Director: James Mangold
Studio: UCA
Run time: 127 mins
Certificate: DVD Certificate 15.gif
Genres: Drama
Language: English
Released: DVD: 14 Sep 2004
Production year: 1999
Taken from Kaysen's popular memoir, GIRL, INTERRUPTED director James Mangold (HEAVY, COPLAND.) Winona Ryder stars as Susana, a confused teenager whose lame attempt at suicide lands her in a psychiatric hospital. In there, she meets a motley mix of characters, including Lisa (Angelina Jolie), who at first wins Susana over with her uninhibited character. The pair form a tight friendship, but that connection is threatened when Lisa falls even further out of control. With Ryder and Jolie's solid acting, this picture makes compulsive viewing.
Cloverfield
Starring: Michael Stahl-David, Lizzy Caplan,
Mike Vogel, Jessica Lucas, Odette Yustman,T.J. Miller,
Director: Matt Reeves
Studio: PARAMOUNT HOME ENTERTAINMENT
Run time: 90 mins
Certificate: 15
Released: 2008
Rob Hawkins is due to leave New York for Japan and his friends throw him a surprise party to see him off. But the festivities are suddenly interrupted when a mysterious fire blowing creature suddenly starts attacking the city. With only a hand-held camera Rob and a few of his friends set out to escape the destruction. The hand held camera style gives the picture gritty newsreel type realism, depicting tall buildings being destroyed by the creature, the army fighting this strange creature and general panic scenes: including shop looting and desperate rescue attempts are the order of the day.
American Beauty
Starring: Kevin Spacey, Sam Roberts, Annette Bening, Thora Birch, Wes Bentley, Mena Suvari, Allison Janney, Scott Bakula, Peter Gallagher, Chris Cooper
Director: Sam Mendes
Studio: DREAMWORKS HOME ENTERTAINMENT
Run time: 117 mins Certificate: 18 2000
Brief description of American Beauty
AMERICAN BEAUTY is the story of Lester Burnham (Kevin Spacey), a suburban father who loses control when he becomes fed up with his repetitive life. Burnham tells us in voice-over from the film's opening that this is the day he dies (using the SUNSET BOULEVARD flashback approach), this adds an inevitable tension to events and keeps the story flowing forward at all times. Lester quits his job on a whim and regresses into young adulthood, lifting weights, smoking pot, and discovering the innocent sexuality of his 16-year-old daughter's best friend, Angela (Mena Suvari). His wife, Carolyn (Annette Bening), has her own midlife crisis. A real estate agent, she experiences a youthful awakening when super-agent Buddy Kane (Peter Gallagher) seduces her repeatedly. Meanwhile, Jane (Thora Birch), the Burnhams' daughter, is spied on by Ricky (Wes Bentley), the mysterious boy next door who carries a video camera around with him at all times. When Ricky's father, Colonel Fitts (Chris Cooper), discovers something potentially horrifying on one of his tapes, and when Carolyn's rage for Lester's actions boils over, the time bomb finally explodes..
Director: Sam Mendes
Studio: DREAMWORKS HOME ENTERTAINMENT
Run time: 117 mins Certificate: 18 2000
Brief description of American Beauty
AMERICAN BEAUTY is the story of Lester Burnham (Kevin Spacey), a suburban father who loses control when he becomes fed up with his repetitive life. Burnham tells us in voice-over from the film's opening that this is the day he dies (using the SUNSET BOULEVARD flashback approach), this adds an inevitable tension to events and keeps the story flowing forward at all times. Lester quits his job on a whim and regresses into young adulthood, lifting weights, smoking pot, and discovering the innocent sexuality of his 16-year-old daughter's best friend, Angela (Mena Suvari). His wife, Carolyn (Annette Bening), has her own midlife crisis. A real estate agent, she experiences a youthful awakening when super-agent Buddy Kane (Peter Gallagher) seduces her repeatedly. Meanwhile, Jane (Thora Birch), the Burnhams' daughter, is spied on by Ricky (Wes Bentley), the mysterious boy next door who carries a video camera around with him at all times. When Ricky's father, Colonel Fitts (Chris Cooper), discovers something potentially horrifying on one of his tapes, and when Carolyn's rage for Lester's actions boils over, the time bomb finally explodes..
Tuesday 10 February 2009
Vacancy
Starring: Kate Beckinsale, Luke Wilson, Ethan Embry, Frank Whaley, Scott G. Anderson, Mark Casella, Norm Compton, Caryn Mower, David Doty,
Director: Nimród Antal
Studio: SONY PICTURES Run time: 80 mins Certificate: 15 2007
Brief Description of Vacancy
A young married couple break down in their car and are forced to stay at a creepy, isolated motel. The manager of the motel seems harmless at first but soon shows his true colours after they find hidden video cameras in their room. They realize that unless they escape, they'll be in grave danger of becomming the next victums of a snuff video.
Director: Nimród Antal
Studio: SONY PICTURES Run time: 80 mins Certificate: 15 2007
Brief Description of Vacancy
A young married couple break down in their car and are forced to stay at a creepy, isolated motel. The manager of the motel seems harmless at first but soon shows his true colours after they find hidden video cameras in their room. They realize that unless they escape, they'll be in grave danger of becomming the next victums of a snuff video.
Friday 6 February 2009
Movie Industry Asks-Grandpa for $600,000 for Four Movies
A 67-year-old man was sued by the movie industry for his 12 year old grandson's movie downloads. Apparently, the kid downloaded four movies - three of which they already owned. For this, the movie industry asked for a settlement of four thousand dollars. When the man refused, mainly because he didn't have four grand, they then sued for $600,000 to make an example of the poor old guy. Personally, I think it is an outrage that legal technicalities would be placed above human beings. Hollywood is always big on raising taxes to support the poor, but download their movies and they'll take grandpa and grandson out. I know they don't want people watching their movies for free, I get that, but hopefully reason will prevail in this case and grandpa will be let off the hook. If not, Hollywood has just taken up tactics reminiscent of the Nazi Gestapo.
It has been reported that illegal downloading costs the movie industry an estimated $5.4 billion a year, but I don't see how. The quality that I've seen in the past on movies that my friends downloaded is so bad I really don't see the point. I have spent a lot of money to have a big screen high definition television set. Why would I download a blurry movie? I mean if you are going to spend the money for a fancy TV, it's a pretty big waste not to have the store bought high quality DVD of your favorite movie. Most downloaded movies are caught by a camcorder in theatres. So you have to imagine the guy doing the recording is wavering back and forth the whole time. You also have to deal with noises from the audience. If you ask, me it's too nerve wracking to even sit through that.
As much as I empathize with Hollywood on protecting their turf, attacking their potential customers is not the way to go. Producing great products is the most logical course. Hollywood's movie box office slump this year is not caused by a bunch of 12 year olds downloading movies on the net. DVD sales, after all, are still very high. People want to watch movies on their big screen TV at home at their leisure. Besides, you pay the same amount to take your family to the movies as you do to buy a DVD you can watch over and over again. You can't have your cake and eat it too. Either you sell a product to your audience in the theatres or for their home use. The movie industry can't expect to have people paying to see all their movies at the theatre and turn around and buy the DVD too, unless the movie they are selling is of superior quality like a "Passion of the Christ", "Batman Begins", "Star Wars", etc. An increasing number of people are not going to rush to the theatre to get the same experience they can get at home.
Get dvds, movie posters, wallpaper, and movie news at http://movie-poster.ws/, and if your into television check out http://tvcrazy.net/
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Tim_Frady
It has been reported that illegal downloading costs the movie industry an estimated $5.4 billion a year, but I don't see how. The quality that I've seen in the past on movies that my friends downloaded is so bad I really don't see the point. I have spent a lot of money to have a big screen high definition television set. Why would I download a blurry movie? I mean if you are going to spend the money for a fancy TV, it's a pretty big waste not to have the store bought high quality DVD of your favorite movie. Most downloaded movies are caught by a camcorder in theatres. So you have to imagine the guy doing the recording is wavering back and forth the whole time. You also have to deal with noises from the audience. If you ask, me it's too nerve wracking to even sit through that.
As much as I empathize with Hollywood on protecting their turf, attacking their potential customers is not the way to go. Producing great products is the most logical course. Hollywood's movie box office slump this year is not caused by a bunch of 12 year olds downloading movies on the net. DVD sales, after all, are still very high. People want to watch movies on their big screen TV at home at their leisure. Besides, you pay the same amount to take your family to the movies as you do to buy a DVD you can watch over and over again. You can't have your cake and eat it too. Either you sell a product to your audience in the theatres or for their home use. The movie industry can't expect to have people paying to see all their movies at the theatre and turn around and buy the DVD too, unless the movie they are selling is of superior quality like a "Passion of the Christ", "Batman Begins", "Star Wars", etc. An increasing number of people are not going to rush to the theatre to get the same experience they can get at home.
Get dvds, movie posters, wallpaper, and movie news at http://movie-poster.ws/, and if your into television check out http://tvcrazy.net/
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Tim_Frady
Monday 2 February 2009
Survivors origional (1975-77) series & how it compares with the 2008 version
My Own 5***** Raiting
In one of my earlier posts, I talked about the new series of Survivors which was shown on BBC1 late last year. It was a huge success & the BBC have commissioned a new series due out later this year. As some of you may know, this series is a remake of the original 70"s Survivors which ran for three seasons (1975-77) To my surprise and delight, I found this on utube, in fact nearly all the first series (13 episodes) apart from episodes 6 and 8 - and up to episode 8 in the 2nd. I remember it a little bit when it first came out but as I was only a small boy then the theme music used to give me nightmares.
The new series follows the basic story of the old one but there are a few important differences. I won"t mention most of them here though. but I will say that there are some new characters in the new one, probably to move on with the times. There"s also background music in the scenes, where as the old series had no music at all save for the very scary theme tune. Whether the old or new series is better is difficult to say. The original is obviously longer with 13 compared to 6. The special effects in the new one are better but it"s condensed down quite a bit. This is maybe why they"ve had to change some of the story lines. If I had to choose, I would go for the original. Having no background music in the filming doesn"t ruin the intensity of the situations that the characters often find themselves in. Also it hasn"t dated much at all and is as gripping as ever.
The 1st. 2nd & 3rd. series of Survivors is available to rent on DVD at Lovefilm which you can visit by clicking one of the adverts on this page.
by T. Dunn Copy@right 2009
In one of my earlier posts, I talked about the new series of Survivors which was shown on BBC1 late last year. It was a huge success & the BBC have commissioned a new series due out later this year. As some of you may know, this series is a remake of the original 70"s Survivors which ran for three seasons (1975-77) To my surprise and delight, I found this on utube, in fact nearly all the first series (13 episodes) apart from episodes 6 and 8 - and up to episode 8 in the 2nd. I remember it a little bit when it first came out but as I was only a small boy then the theme music used to give me nightmares.
The new series follows the basic story of the old one but there are a few important differences. I won"t mention most of them here though. but I will say that there are some new characters in the new one, probably to move on with the times. There"s also background music in the scenes, where as the old series had no music at all save for the very scary theme tune. Whether the old or new series is better is difficult to say. The original is obviously longer with 13 compared to 6. The special effects in the new one are better but it"s condensed down quite a bit. This is maybe why they"ve had to change some of the story lines. If I had to choose, I would go for the original. Having no background music in the filming doesn"t ruin the intensity of the situations that the characters often find themselves in. Also it hasn"t dated much at all and is as gripping as ever.
The 1st. 2nd & 3rd. series of Survivors is available to rent on DVD at Lovefilm which you can visit by clicking one of the adverts on this page.
by T. Dunn Copy@right 2009
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