Scott Kraft
Scott Kraft
I think he plays Darpak Veda, Bollywood's famous sci-fi villain.
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Slumdog Millionaire
- Thread starter Brad Kane
- Start date
...Love Actually...
Or Crap Factually (courtesy of John Patterson at the Grauniad).
Chris Coad
Chris Coad
originally posted by Scott Kraft:
I think he plays Darpak Veda, Bollywood's famous sci-fi villain.
Yeah, I've never seen the show. About Bollywood grifters, or con artists, or something like that, yes?
Jeff Pinhey
Jeffrey Pinhey
Saw it a couple weeks ago. Danny Boyle directed (Trainspotting) and initially got a lot of grief (non Indian director doing a movie in India) but he sure made a great movie....
The first half of the movie is the best movie I have seen in years. Not as crazy about the Bollywood/Hollywood style in the second half. But still the best picture of the year, well, maybe tied with Wall-E.
The first half of the movie is the best movie I have seen in years. Not as crazy about the Bollywood/Hollywood style in the second half. But still the best picture of the year, well, maybe tied with Wall-E.
Jeff Grossman
Jeff Grossman
I saw "Valkyrie" the other day. It was dull.
I just saw "Religulous" tonight. It was fun, but not worth the fee.
I just saw "Religulous" tonight. It was fun, but not worth the fee.
originally posted by Jeff Grossman:
I saw "Valkyrie" the other day. It was dull.
I just saw "Religulous" tonight. It was fun, but not worth the fee.
My in-laws felt compelled to screen "An American Carol" (a film I'd never heard of ) for us. I can only describe the experience as mind-bendingly awful.
Mark Lipton
Chris Coad
Chris Coad
originally posted by Jeff Grossman:
I saw "Valkyrie" the other day. It was dull.
I just saw "Religulous" tonight. It was fun, but not worth the fee.
Are you a Bill Maher fan? Might be red meat for the faithful...
Jeff Grossman
Jeff Grossman
Perhaps. There were many closeups of him.Are you a Bill Maher fan? Might be red meat for the faithful...
The closing homily was good.
The Guardian's (London, i.e.) review of this movie:
Film/Review: Slumdog Millionaire (818)
GUARDIAN NEWS SERVICE
(SLUMDOG)
By Peter Bradshaw in London
STANDFIRST 1: Danny Boyle's undemanding but wildly watchable melodrama
excites Peter Bradshaw. STANDFIRST 2: Slumdog Millionaire - Director: Danny
Boyle - With: Dev Patel, Anil Kapoor, Saurabh Shukla, Freida Pinto, Irrfan
Khan (120 mins)
I so rarely get the chance to write this: here's a film that reminds me of
Max Bygraves's 1970s chart classic, The Deck of Cards. This heartwarming
monologue (originally recorded in the 40s) narrates the story of a humble
soldier, hauled out of a church parade by a furious sergeant for playing
cards. Before his disgusted commanding officer can send him to the
glasshouse, this poor semi-literate squaddie explains that for him, the
deck of cards is his Bible: the Ace is the one true God, the two is the Two
Testaments, the three the Holy Trinity - and so on until the gruff CO, like
Bygraves's entire listening public, is reduced to a quivering tearful jelly
at this simple soldier's dignity and piety.
Something very similar happens in this wildly silly but perfectly watchable
melodrama, adapted by screenwriter Simon Beaufoy from the 2005 novel Q&A by
Vikas Swarup and directed by Danny Boyle. Despite being overpraised - it
arrives garlanded with the kind of reviews that must have come out after
the opening night of King Lear - this is still very effective
entertainment.
The movie is about the Indian version of the hit TV show Who Wants to Be
a Millionaire? Dev Patel plays Jamal Malik, a former Mumbai street-kid who
has a job making tea at a call centre. He astonishes all of India by
entering the show as a contestant and triumphantly getting question after
question right. Is he a fraud? A savant genius? Or is something weird going
on? His amazing winning streak means he has to come back the next evening
for the final big-money question and overnight he is brutally interrogated
by Mumbai cops convinced he is a cheat. They take him through each of the
questions he got right, and Jamal's life story unfolds in flashback as our
hero reveals that each question, like each of Max Bygraves's cards, has a
special significance. His tale involves crime, drama, knockabout comedy and
romance. Various characters determine his fate: his gangster brother Salim
(Madhur Mittal), the love of his life Latika (Freida Pinto) and Prem (Anil
Kapoor), the creepy - quizmaster himself, who has his own interest in
Jamal's staggering success.
This movie has interesting antecedents. It is not the first to be made
about Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? Patrice Leconte's 2006 film My Best
Friend, starring Daniel Auteuil, features a nailbiting edition of the
French version of Millionaire. Leconte's film, like Boyle's, culminates
with a "phone a friend" showstopper and both cheekily suggest the show is
transmitted live, when, in real life, it is of course recorded and edited
well in advance, at least partly to weed out the cheats.
I have some knowledge of all this, incidentally. I was once the "friend"
telephoned by a contestant on the show but at the crucial moment, my mobile
phone was, shamingly, out of range. The quizmaster's face was reportedly a
picture of polite bemusement as my voicemail message echoed pointlessly
around the studio, before being smartly cut off and the contestant was
permitted to phone another "friend". Naturally, hiccups like that don't
make it on to air.
Slumdog Millionaire is co-produced by Celador Films, owners of the
rights to the original TV show, and so it functions as a feature-length
product placement for the programme, whose apotheosis here came when
would-be cheat Major Charles Ingram tried to scam the quiz in 2001. All he
got was a suspended sentence, a fine and minor celebrity status, and the
show got mouthwatering publicity. In this film, poor Jamal is, simply on
suspicion of wrongdoing, beaten to a pulp by the police and horribly
tortured with electrodes - the nastiest interrogation scene I've watched
for a while. But afterwards he makes it into the studio as fresh as a
daisy. What the Mumbai police make of their unflattering portrayal, I can't
imagine.
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.
Interestingly, the co-creator of Millionaire, Steven Knight, is himself
a screenwriter who has scripted far more serious films than this: Stephen
Frears's Dirty Pretty Things (also co-produced by Celador) and David
Cronenberg's Eastern Promises. Slumdog Millionaire really is gentle
compared with, say, Robert Redford's satire Quiz Show and softcore compared
with Danny Boyle's famous movies, Trainspotting and Shallow Grave. In fact,
it's more of a kids' yarn, like his wacky caper Millions.
Well, for all this, it's got punch and narrative pizzazz: a strong,
clear, instantly graspable storyline that doesn't encumber itself with
character complexity, and the cinematography by Anthony Dod Mantle is
tremendous. It's definitely got that quirky-underdog twinkle and the
silverware glint of awards can't be far away.
Film/Review: Slumdog Millionaire (818)
GUARDIAN NEWS SERVICE
(SLUMDOG)
By Peter Bradshaw in London
STANDFIRST 1: Danny Boyle's undemanding but wildly watchable melodrama
excites Peter Bradshaw. STANDFIRST 2: Slumdog Millionaire - Director: Danny
Boyle - With: Dev Patel, Anil Kapoor, Saurabh Shukla, Freida Pinto, Irrfan
Khan (120 mins)
I so rarely get the chance to write this: here's a film that reminds me of
Max Bygraves's 1970s chart classic, The Deck of Cards. This heartwarming
monologue (originally recorded in the 40s) narrates the story of a humble
soldier, hauled out of a church parade by a furious sergeant for playing
cards. Before his disgusted commanding officer can send him to the
glasshouse, this poor semi-literate squaddie explains that for him, the
deck of cards is his Bible: the Ace is the one true God, the two is the Two
Testaments, the three the Holy Trinity - and so on until the gruff CO, like
Bygraves's entire listening public, is reduced to a quivering tearful jelly
at this simple soldier's dignity and piety.
Something very similar happens in this wildly silly but perfectly watchable
melodrama, adapted by screenwriter Simon Beaufoy from the 2005 novel Q&A by
Vikas Swarup and directed by Danny Boyle. Despite being overpraised - it
arrives garlanded with the kind of reviews that must have come out after
the opening night of King Lear - this is still very effective
entertainment.
The movie is about the Indian version of the hit TV show Who Wants to Be
a Millionaire? Dev Patel plays Jamal Malik, a former Mumbai street-kid who
has a job making tea at a call centre. He astonishes all of India by
entering the show as a contestant and triumphantly getting question after
question right. Is he a fraud? A savant genius? Or is something weird going
on? His amazing winning streak means he has to come back the next evening
for the final big-money question and overnight he is brutally interrogated
by Mumbai cops convinced he is a cheat. They take him through each of the
questions he got right, and Jamal's life story unfolds in flashback as our
hero reveals that each question, like each of Max Bygraves's cards, has a
special significance. His tale involves crime, drama, knockabout comedy and
romance. Various characters determine his fate: his gangster brother Salim
(Madhur Mittal), the love of his life Latika (Freida Pinto) and Prem (Anil
Kapoor), the creepy - quizmaster himself, who has his own interest in
Jamal's staggering success.
This movie has interesting antecedents. It is not the first to be made
about Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? Patrice Leconte's 2006 film My Best
Friend, starring Daniel Auteuil, features a nailbiting edition of the
French version of Millionaire. Leconte's film, like Boyle's, culminates
with a "phone a friend" showstopper and both cheekily suggest the show is
transmitted live, when, in real life, it is of course recorded and edited
well in advance, at least partly to weed out the cheats.
I have some knowledge of all this, incidentally. I was once the "friend"
telephoned by a contestant on the show but at the crucial moment, my mobile
phone was, shamingly, out of range. The quizmaster's face was reportedly a
picture of polite bemusement as my voicemail message echoed pointlessly
around the studio, before being smartly cut off and the contestant was
permitted to phone another "friend". Naturally, hiccups like that don't
make it on to air.
Slumdog Millionaire is co-produced by Celador Films, owners of the
rights to the original TV show, and so it functions as a feature-length
product placement for the programme, whose apotheosis here came when
would-be cheat Major Charles Ingram tried to scam the quiz in 2001. All he
got was a suspended sentence, a fine and minor celebrity status, and the
show got mouthwatering publicity. In this film, poor Jamal is, simply on
suspicion of wrongdoing, beaten to a pulp by the police and horribly
tortured with electrodes - the nastiest interrogation scene I've watched
for a while. But afterwards he makes it into the studio as fresh as a
daisy. What the Mumbai police make of their unflattering portrayal, I can't
imagine.
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.
Interestingly, the co-creator of Millionaire, Steven Knight, is himself
a screenwriter who has scripted far more serious films than this: Stephen
Frears's Dirty Pretty Things (also co-produced by Celador) and David
Cronenberg's Eastern Promises. Slumdog Millionaire really is gentle
compared with, say, Robert Redford's satire Quiz Show and softcore compared
with Danny Boyle's famous movies, Trainspotting and Shallow Grave. In fact,
it's more of a kids' yarn, like his wacky caper Millions.
Well, for all this, it's got punch and narrative pizzazz: a strong,
clear, instantly graspable storyline that doesn't encumber itself with
character complexity, and the cinematography by Anthony Dod Mantle is
tremendous. It's definitely got that quirky-underdog twinkle and the
silverware glint of awards can't be far away.
russell briggs
Russell Briggs
But still the best picture of the year, well, maybe tied with Wall-E.
Wall-E was, indeed, really, really good!
Jay Miller
Jay Miller
Saw Slumdog Millionaire tonight. Good movie.
I suppose this will be the movie I go to see this year. Got it over with early but I wanted to celebrate surviving the round of layoffs at work by doing my bit for the local economy.
I suppose this will be the movie I go to see this year. Got it over with early but I wanted to celebrate surviving the round of layoffs at work by doing my bit for the local economy.
Eden Mylunsch
Eden Mylunsch
Apparently, not everyone bought into the spirit of the film.
-Eden (borrowed a copy of the DVD from a friend who's a member of the Academy- it's written into all of the Malibu CC&Rs that if you get advance screening copies you're obligated to share them with your neighbors after you've voted)
-Eden (borrowed a copy of the DVD from a friend who's a member of the Academy- it's written into all of the Malibu CC&Rs that if you get advance screening copies you're obligated to share them with your neighbors after you've voted)
Scott Kraft
Scott Kraft
Now we know where the pirates are!