Friday, April 16, 2010

movie review : Clash of the Titans (2010)

by DJ Synth-bach
This is the latest movie which falls under the category '3-D digital projection'. It is a remake version of the 1981 super-hit movie based on Greek mythology. The 2010 version is a reminder that great technologies alone cannot make a great film. Not everyone can be a James Cameron.

This is the kind of movie where the producer might have said to the director : 'I will provide you all the latest technologies. Go and make a mega hit !' A desperation to make it 'big' is well evident though 'Clash of the Titans' mostly fails in its enterprise. And if you strip the film out of all its technologichal gloss, it may look like a B-grade sword & sorcery flick. Even the occasional presence of Liam Neeson could n't come to its rescue. The younger member of the audience may enjoy the battle-sequences esp. various monsterous creatures that appear in the movie from time to time. But for a seasoned movie-goer there is little new to offer. Rather than seen a movie, I felt like I have walked into a book-shop and gone through the pages of a comic-book on Greek mythology.
Anyway I am greatly excited and optimistic about the new technology 3-D digital which transforms the movie watching experience. I greatly look forward to release of the Tim Burton's latest movie Alice in Wonderland. I have always been great fan of Lewis Carroll and also Tim Burton. I have also enjoyed the animated series on TV. I am sure Tim Burton and 3-D will make a good combination.

Saturday, March 20, 2010

The Oscars 2010

BEST PICTURE
Avatar
The Blind Side
District 9
An Education
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Precious
A Serious Man
Up in the Air
Up
BEST DIRECTOR
Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker

James Cameron, Avatar
Quentin Tarantino, Inglourious Basterds
Lee Daniels, Precious
Jason Reitman, Up in the Air
BEST ACTOR
Jeff Bridges, Crazy Heart
George Clooney, Up in the Air
Colin Firth, A Single Man
Morgan Freeman, Invictus
Jeremy Renner, The Hurt Locker
BEST ACTRESS
Sandra Bullock, The Blind Side
Helen Mirren, The Last Station
Carey Mulligan, An Education
Gabourey Sidibe, Precious
Meryl Streep, Julie & Julia
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Matt Damon, Invictus
Woody Harrelson, The Messenger
Christopher Plummer, The Last Station
Stanley Tucci, The Lovely Bones
Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Penelope Cruz, Nine
Vera Farmiga, Up in the Air
Maggie Gyllenhaal, Crazy Heart
Anna Kendrick, Up in the Air
Mo'nique, Precious
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

Mark Boal, The Hurt Locker
Quentino Tarantino, Inglourious Basterds
Alessandro Camon & Oren Moverman, The Messenger
Joel & Ethan Coen, A Serious Man
Peter Docter, Bob Peterson, Tom McCarthy, Up
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Neill Blomkamp & Terri Tatchell, District 9
Nick Hornby, An Education
Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci & Tony Roche, In The Loop
Geoffrey Fletcher, Precious
Jason Reitman & Sheldon Turner, Up in the Air
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
Ajami, Israel
El Secretro de sus Ojo, Argentina
The Milk of Sorrow, Peru
Un Prophete, France
The White Ribbon, Germany
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
Coraline
Fantastic Mr. Fox
Princess and the Frog
The Secrets of Kells
Up
ART DIRECTION
Avatar Art Direction: Rick Carter and Robert Stromberg; Set Decoration: Kim Sinclair

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus Art Direction: Dave Warren and Anastasia Masaro; Set Decoration: Caroline Smith
Nine Art Direction: John Myhre; Set Decoration: Gordon Sim
Sherlock Holmes Art Direction: Sarah Greenwood; Set Decoration: Katie Spencer
The Young Victoria Art Direction: Patrice Vermette; Set Decoration: Maggie Gray
CINEMATOGRAPHY
Avatar Mauro Fiore
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Bruno Delbonnel
The Hurt Locker Barry Ackroyd
Inglourious Basterds Robert Richardson
The White Ribbon Christian Berger
COSTUME DESIGN
Bright Star Janet Patterson
Coco before Chanel Catherine Leterrier
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus Monique Prudhomme
Nine Colleen Atwood
The Young Victoria Sandy Powell
DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
Burma VJ Anders Østergaard and Lise Lense-Møller
The Cove Nominees to be determined
Food, Inc. Robert Kenner and Elise Pearlstein
The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers Judith Ehrlich and Rick Goldsmith
Which Way Home Rebecca Cammisa
DOCUMENTARY SHORT
China's Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province Jon Alpert and Matthew O’Neill
The Last Campaign of Governor Booth Gardner Daniel Junge and Henry Ansbacher
The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert
Music by Prudence Roger Ross Williams and Elinor Burkett
Rabbit à la Berlin Bartek Konopka and Anna Wydra
FILM EDITING
Avatar Stephen Rivkin, John Refoua and James Cameron
District 9 Julian Clarke
The Hurt Locker Bob Murawski and Chris Innis
Inglourious Basterds Sally Menke
Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire Joe Klotz
MAKEUP
Il Divo Aldo Signoretti and Vittorio Sodano
Star Trek Barney Burman, Mindy Hall and Joel Harlow
The Young Victoria Jon Henry Gordon and Jenny Shircore
ORIGINAL SCORE
Avatar James Horner
Fantastic Mr. Fox Alexandre Desplat
The Hurt Locker Marco Beltrami and Buck Sanders
Sherlock Holmes Hans Zimmer
Up Michael Giacchino
ORIGINAL SONG
Almost There from The Princess and the Frog Music and Lyric by Randy Newman
Down in New Orleans from The Princess and the Frog Music and Lyric by Randy Newman
Loin de Paname from Paris 36 Music by Reinhardt Wagner Lyric by Frank Thomas
Take It All from Nine Music and Lyric by Maury Yeston
The Weary Kind (Theme from Crazy Heart) from Crazy Heart Music and Lyric by Ryan Bingham and T Bone Burnett
ANIMATED SHORT
French Roast Fabrice O. Joubert
Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty Nicky Phelan and Darragh O’Connell
The Lady and the Reaper (La Dama y la Muerte) Javier Recio Gracia
Logorama Nicolas Schmerkin
A Matter of Loaf and Death Nick Park
LIVE ACTION SHORT
The Door Juanita Wilson and James Flynn
Instead of Abracadabra Patrik Eklund and Mathias Fjellström
Kavi Gregg Helvey
Miracle Fish Luke Doolan and Drew Bailey
The New Tenants Joachim Back and Tivi Magnusson
SOUND EDITING
Avatar Christopher Boyes and Gwendolyn Yates Whittle
The Hurt Locker Paul N.J. Ottosson
Inglourious Basterds Wylie Stateman
Star Trek Mark Stoeckinger and Alan Rankin
Up Michael Silvers and Tom Myers
SOUND MIXING
Avatar Christopher Boyes, Gary Summers, Andy Nelson and Tony Johnson
The Hurt Locker Paul N.J. Ottosson and Ray Beckett
Inglourious Basterds Michael Minkler, Tony Lamberti and Mark Ulano
Star Trek Anna Behlmer, Andy Nelson and Peter J. Devlin
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen Greg P. Russell, Gary Summers and Geoffrey Patterson
VISUAL EFFECTS
Avatar Joe Letteri, Stephen Rosenbaum, Richard Baneham and Andrew R. Jones
District 9 Dan Kaufman, Peter Muyzers, Robert Habros and Matt Aitken
Star Trek Roger Guyett, Russell Earl, Paul Kavanagh and Burt Dalton

Saturday, February 6, 2010

DVD : The Magnificient Seven

The Evergreen movie Classic

Yul Brynner and Charles Bronson .... Deadly Combination .

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

ABBA


Eagle lyrics
They came flying from far away, now I'm under their spell
I love hearing the stories that they tell
They've seen places beyond my land and they've found new horizons
They speak strangely but I understand
And I dream I'm an eagle
And I dream I can spread my wings
Flying high, high, I'm a bird in the sky
I'm an eagle that rides on the breeze
High, high, what a feeling to fly
Over mountains and forests and seas
And to go anywhere that I please
As all good friends we talk all night, and we fly wing to wing
I have questions and they know everything
There's no limit to what I feel, we climb higher and higher
Am I dreaming or is it all real?
Is it true I'm an eagle?
Is it true I can spread my wings?
Flying high, high, I'm a bird in the sky
(I'm an eagle)
I'm an eagle that rides on the breeze
High, high, what a feeling to fly
(What a feeling)
Over mountains and forests and seas
And to go anywhere that I please
And I dream I'm an eagle
And I dream I can spread my wings
Flying high, high, I'm a bird in the sky
(I'm an eagle)
I'm an eagle that rides on the breeze
High, high, what a feeling to fly
(What a feeling)
Over mountains and forests and seas
Flying high, high, I'm a bird in the sky
(I'm an eagle)
I'm an eagle that rides on the breeze
High, high, what a feeling to fly
(What a feeling)
Over mountains and forests and seas
And to go anywhere that I please..

Friday, December 25, 2009

Padma Lakshmi

Top Chef host Padma Lakshmi has launched her new cook-book. It is tantalizingly titled 'Tangy Tart Hot & Sweet'. The former super-model has previously released an autobiographical cooking-manual named Easy Exotic which was well received. Hope the second book too will be equally successful.

Monday, December 7, 2009

movie review : 2012

My teenaged cousin recommended this movie, so I went to watch it though I have an aversion for such movies. The previous disaster-movie I watched in theatres is Armageddon way back in the 90's. Then I almost fell asleep , bored of watching the destruction & mayhem. This time I managed to ward-off falling asleep. Infact the movie 2012 is throw back to 90's style of film-making. But one often gets the feeling that this style has run its course and is fast getting out-dated.

Undoubtedly 2012 is treat for special-effect fans. The whole experience is similar to that of playing a video-game , or taking a joy-ride in a theme-park. There is a feeling of instant-high which will fade sooner or later. And apart from the special-effects there is nothing else worth noting. None of the charactors stuck in the mind. The screen-play ( if such a thing exists) is shoddy. The dialogues are cliched and artificial. The back-ground score is predictable. The story-line has an uncanny resemblance of H.G Wells' short-story The Star (which deals with a star that is heading towards earth , causing many natural disasters in our planet) though Wells does not specify any particular date for the event. Like a typical Hollywood blockbuster, 2012 also has Us vs Them theme - only difference being Them is not an alien but nature's fury.

Many similar movies have released particlarly in last decade are from the same director but 2012 shows his prowess are on decline. Neveretheless the director succeeds in highlightinging the impact of world-end on different individuals according to their attitude towards life which he potrays satirically. For example, in one such scene where the fast impending disaster being watched by a pessimistic, lonely radio-jockey and the ever-optimistic hero . The first man smiles and even laughs at the dreadfull sight of nature's fury while the hero - a family man with a wife and 2 kids - wore a dump-founded expression , a la Kate Winslett of Titanic.


So if you are a die-hard special-effects fan , then go for it. Or if your idea for a perfect movie-outing is a small,quiet Woody Allen kind of movie , then ignore '2012'.

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Jason Scott Lee

THEN & NOW ..


notable movies :
Blind Fury (1989) Uncredited, Bruce Lee's Brother
Back to the Future Part II (1989) Whitey
Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story (1993) Bruce Lee
The Jungle Book (1994) Mowgli
Soldier (1998) Caine 607
Arabian Nights (2000) Aladdin
Timecop 2: The Berlin Decision (2004)
The Prophecy: Forsaken (2005)
Nomad (2006)
Dance of the Dragon (2008) Cheng