Posts Tagged ‘cast’
Thursday, February 19th, 2009
Review
As an aspiring film maker and a critic I sometimes forget what it is that makes me love movies, because seeing so many bad ones puts you off. Slumdog millionaire reignited that flame for me two fold. The movie is an inspiration to filmmaking, a masterpiece, a shining light in a dull room. If you watch one movie this year it has to be Slumdog Millionaire.
The story of a man who came from the slums of India to be on Who wants to be a Millionaire?. He’s just one question away from the twenty million rupee grand prize. However the authorities can’t see how a slumdog could know the answer to questions that doctors and lawyers couldn’t answer. They pull him in for questioning and an amazing life story unfolds before their eyes. Could it be that it’s this man’s destiny to win the grand prize?
From the opening minutes you can just feel that there’s something special about this movie. The cinematography is fantastic and the score awe inspiring but all of that is blown away by fantastic acting, especially from the kids, and an amazing story. I’ve said it countless times; many movies should never have left the screenplay stage. The screenplay is the most important thing. Without an amazing story you can’t get an amazing movie. What really brings this story to life is that it’s so real. It’s not trying to prove a point or change a perception, it’s telling an amazing story from start to finish.
That doesn’t mean to say the story isn’t done in style. Danny Boyle has put together an amazing movie and deserves all the recognition this film is giving him. The acting is raw, real and crisp. All the elements have come together perfectly.
Hollywood has forgotten to a large extent why movies are made. It’s not all about money; it’s about the age old art of telling great stories, where the tribe gathers around the fire to hear the best stories over and over again. This movie gets that right.
What makes this movie more real is the reality that this is a story that in actuality takes place in our own country, within our own townships. It tackles those universal questions of is it ever OK to do wrong and when will we ever get over our discrimination of all kinds?
This is a tribute to Indian film making and an honouring of the hard lives slumdogs live. It’s hard not to fall head over heals in love with Slumdog Millionaire.
Tags: A.R. Rahman, Anil Kapoor, British, cast, Christian Colson, composer, Danny Boyle, Dev Patel, director, Drama, Fox Searchlight Pictures, Freida Pinto, genre, Irrfan Khan, Jamal Malik, Madhur Mittal, Marc Williams, producer, release date, review, Runtime, sa, screenwriter, Simon Beaufoy, slumdog, Slumdog Millionaire, South Africa, starring, street kid, studio, USA, Who Wants To Be A Millionaire
Posted in Drama, Movies, Reviews | No Comments »
Saturday, January 17th, 2009
Review
People are interesting to say the least. Have you ever sat and watched how funny people are? Have you ever looked at yourself and seen how funny you are? We do weird things, behave irrationally and take ourselves far too seriously. Burn After Reading pokes fun at life and people in general.
The story in itself is so confusing and ridiculous that it’s funny. The plot balances on a thin spy-thriller rope. It involves a CD lost by a disgraced CIA employee and found by a couple of, to put it nicely, unintelligent gym employees. What it really covers though is a collection of caricature (fancy word for exaggerated personality) studies stirred together and displayed for the world to see. It’s real are raw and different to most movies you will ever see. It is a commentary on the complete idiocy of man kind. With the catch phrase, “intelligence is relative,” it has to be.
What keeps this movie from going in all the wrong directions is essentially brilliant acting. Brad Pitt and George Clooney seem to love playing their idiotic characters as they experience some of the most absurd things. Full credit must be given to Frances McDormand who really shines as a totally believable idiotic gym worker, Brad Pitt’s co-worker, who is obsessed with having cosmetic surgery.
As usual, movies with sex, nudity, violence, and bad language loose points with me. For two main reasons: As a Christian I don’t appreciate it, an explanation which comes with so many different questions but I will leave it at that. The second is that it limits the amount of people who can watch it or would be willing to. This is not a family movie in any sense. This movie is only rated 13 yet it contains the full collection of SNVL. Although I will not rant about the disgusting job the ratings board is doing at the moment it should have been rated 16 at least.
Although the movie can and probably will be totally overbearing to the average viewer it provides an originality and truth that is undeniable. This one is for an acquired taste.
7/10
Tags: and Brad Pitt, burn after reading, cast, Comedy, crew, D.C., date, Eric Fellner, Ethan Coen, Frances McDormand, genre, George Clooney, Joel Coen, John Malkovich, release, review, Richard Jenkins, Robert Graf, South Africa, Tilda Swinton, Tim Bevan, Washington
Posted in Comedy, Movies, Reviews | No Comments »
Monday, November 17th, 2008
The blonde Bond is back and he is not in a good mood. Quantum of Solace is an action packed, no bars held killing spree from start to finish which will have many die hard 007 fans rather upset. It brings a fresh new Bourne Ultimatum feel to the series, re-inventing the usual Bond we know and love and turning him into a killing machine.
There is no time for snappy jokes and sweet talking woman this time around as Quantum kicks off just a few hours after Royale. Bond is entrenched in rage, can’t sleep and everyone is still seemingly clueless about the organisation which took Bond’s love. Bond isn’t helping much either, managing to kill off every possible lead they have.
The environmental message sneakily carried in the background is becoming so common place today that it’s beginning to become boring. The conspiracy is that a supposed charity is a cover for an organisation which is controlling the world’s leaders by exploiting their greed. Everybody has a hidden agenda and the one’s Bond thinks he can trust end up getting killed.
Bond manages to travel to some fantastic places which gives the movie a much wider scope and enhances the super spy ideal of the Bond franchise. Although the movie has less time for character development you still get the feeling Bond grows in this movie and admirably so. Some of that can be attributed to the fact that he doesn’t sleep with his more attractive double, although he did try.
What is really great to see is that the Blonde girl is more than just a sideline is this film. She has her own problems, story and strength, something which will have feminists slightly happier when it comes to the overly confident Bond films.
Overall it’s an entertaining watch but it’s definitely not the action movie of the year. It will be a while before anything can beat the Dark Knight.
Tags: 007, bond, cast, crew, Daniel Craig, gallery, Gemma Arterton, Giancarlo Giannini, images, Jeffrey Wright, Judi Dench, Mathieu Amalric, Olga Kurylenko, pictures, preview, Quantum of Solace
Posted in Action, Adventure, Movies, Reviews | No Comments »
Monday, September 22nd, 2008
Tags: Anant Singh, bones, cast, director, Durban, gallery, Gray Hofmeyr, Hekule, Helena Spring, Kaseran Pillay, Kuvuki, Kuvukiland, Leeanda Reddy, Leon Schuster, Meren Reddy, Mr. bones, producers, Redcoat, South Africa, springbok, synopsis, Tongayi Chirisa, writers
Posted in Comedy, Movies, Reviews | No Comments »
Monday, July 14th, 2008
Review
High School Musical is a phenomenon that has taken the world by storm. Its third instalment is set to heighten that status to all new levels. High School Musical 3 takes the humble school of East High onto the big screen, and it does it in style.
This time around our stars are seniors struggling to come to grips with leaving high school and starting new lives. It’s a solute to the three years of HSM and a start to what may be a new breed of stars who will continue the legacy.
Because we are actually expected to pay to watch HSM3 the cast and crew kick every aspect into high gear. The songs are on a bigger scale, the dancing is on an entirely new level and the story telling, although still basic, is of a higher quality. Kenny Ortega deserves a solute to some awesome choreography, especially in the boy’s junk yard scene.
It can be appreciated that more screen time was given to characters who we didn’t see much of in previous movies but loved them anyway. Ms Darbus has some more time to shine as does Kelsi and Martha. But essentially this is still Tory and Gabriella’s story.
Two new stars have joined the cast namely Matt Prokop who plays Jimmy Zara and Justin Martin who plays Donny Dion. Donny doesn’t say much but he and Justin are great new characters who are rumoured to be the ones continuing the HSM legacy.
What seems to have made this series a success is its romanticised high school experience. We love it because as simple as the story is, it shows us what high school should really be about. It allows us to kick back and just pretend we are in a perfect world were the only problems are how far away our best friends are going to be and which school to go to. It breaks into that part of us that thinks it’s a star and allows that dream to sparkle again.
Take your big head out the way and go and enjoy some pure unadulterated fun with High School Musical 3 – Senior Year. 7/10
Tags: Ashley Tisdale, award, awards, behind the scenes, cast, crew, disney, Disney Channel, emmy, gallery, High School Musical 3, High School Musical 3: Senior Year, hsm, hsm3, Kenny Ortega, Lucas Grabeel Corbin Bleu and Monique Coleman, movie, official, pictures, shoots, synopsis, Vanessa Hudgens, Zac Efron
Posted in Movies, Musical, Reviews | No Comments »
