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| In quotes: Anthony Minghella tributes | Friends and colleagues of Anthony Minghella have been paying tribute to the film director, who has died from a haemorrhage at the age of 54. ACTOR JUDE LAW  I am deeply shocked and saddened to hear of Anthony's untimely death.  Jude Law and Anthony Minghella worked together in three films |
I worked with him on three films, more than with any other director, but had come to value him more as a friend than as a colleague. He was a brilliantly talented writer and director who wrote dialogue that was a joy to speak and then put it onto the screen in a way that always looked effortless.
He made work feel like fun. He was a sweet, warm, bright and funny man who was interested in everything from football to opera, films, music, literature, people and most of all his family, whom he adored and to whom I send my thoughts and love.
I shall miss him hugely.  |
- Mood:sad
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In an unlikely coup, artist-turned-director Julian Schnabel transformed French magazine editor Jean-Dominique Bauby's miraculous 1997 memoir of life as a completely paralyzed stroke survivor into a film that captures the essence of the book in both its horror and its unexpected beauty.
The last thing 43-year-old French Elle editor-in-chief Jean-Dominique Bauby (Mathieu Amalric) remembers is picking up his son in the suburbs of Paris and racing off to the movies in his bright red convertible. ( Read more... ) | |
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| Bollywood stars claim race abuse | By Dil Neiyyar
BBC Asian Network |
  Arshad Warsi says the incident shocked him |
Two of Bollywood's biggest stars say they were racially abused while filming in west London. A group of white men in a car are said to have hurled insults at Bipasha Basu and Arshad Warsi as they shot the film Dhan Dhana Dhan Goal in Southall. Arshad Warsi told the BBC Asian Network of the incident in May: "I was shocked. I'm not used to this sort of thing." The area saw racial violence in the 1960s and 1970s but community leaders say such incidents are now rare. Mr Warsi said the experience shook him and his fellow actors. "A car stopped with a couple of white guys. They just lashed out at us and totally gave us their point of view. "It's the first time I've experienced this." The actors had been recording a scene close to Glassy Junction, the area's famous Indian themed pub. "For me it was an alien thing. It was like, do people actually think like that?" Mr Warsi added. 'Absolutely disgusting' Fellow Bollywood star Jonathan Abraham was also on the set of the film, which was released in the UK on Friday. "When you come into London and you're shooting, its the last thing you expect," he said. Locals were angry that two of the Indian film industry's stars were abused by racists. "It's disgusting, absolutely disgusting," said 19-year-old student, Preety Johal. Racial violence was common in Southall in the 1960s and 1970s. The area has also witnessed race riots. In 1979 there were street battles when the anti-immigrant National Front held a meeting in the town hall.  Bipasha Basu is one of the stars of Dhan Dhana Dhan Goal |
This resulted in the death of anti-racist campaigner Blair Peach. Two years later there were further troubles after a far right skinhead band played a controversial concert in the town. It is a different picture today. The town's Indian and Pakistani communities for the most part live happily alongside Somalis and the newest immigrants from eastern Europe. Campaigners such as Janpal Basran from Southall Community Alliance say racism is rare. He said: "We're now known as a very mixed, vibrant town. It's usually very tolerant, very welcoming town." It is not the first time that a Bollywood star has been verbally roughed up in Britain. Shilpa Shetty made international headlines when fellow contestant Jade Goody was verbally abusive to her on the Big Brother show on Channel 4.
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| Jay Stone , CanWest News ServicePublished: Friday, November 16, 2007Robert Zemeckis's motion-capture technique gets a fabulous showcase in this version of the epic poem about a sixth-century Danish hero who kills a monster named Grendel. There are spectacular sequences, especially in the 3D version of the movie, and imaginative sequences that will have you on the edge of your seat. But it's oddly unengaging. Starring: Ray Winstone, Anthony Hopkins, John Malkovich, Robin Wright Penn, Brendan Gleeson, Crispin Glover, Angelina Jolie
Directed by Robert Zemeckis
Written by Neil Gaiman and Roger Avery
Parental advisory: violence, disturbing images, nudity, not suitable for small children.
Rating: Three stars out of five The technical marvel that is Beowulf breaks the boundaries of visual effects -- it is a spectacular illustration of innovation that pushes the limits of what we have seen in the cinema. We are referring, of course, to the sight of Angelina Jolie naked, which happens somewhere between the part where the good guy kills the monster and the sequence where he fights a dragon. Jolie is not actually naked in the traditional sense -- Beowulf is shot in the motion-capture technique that turns actors into computerized images -- but it's close enough to see that Jolie is a memorable special effect all on her own, even allowing for the fact that she is painted gold, has high-heeled feet, and sports a 40-foot pony tail with a lethal-looking point. Suffice it to say that Grendel's mother has got it going on. Grendel, for those who fell asleep during high school English, is a monster that has been devouring nearby villages in sixth-century Denmark until the king, a loutish blowhard with a bad mead habit and played by Anthony Hopkins with much bluster, calls for a hero to come and save the day. Enter Beowulf, a computerized hunk with the face and voice of Ray Winstone and the body of something that has come directly from the professional wrestling circuit. "I am Beowulf," he announces, "and I'm here to kill your monster." Hey your majesty: the monster guy is here. After much mead and teasing -- the king's castle is a sort of 6th Century frat house, with all the appropriate macho posturing -- Beowulf takes off his clothes (to even up the odds) and fights Grendel, configured by Crispin Glover as a slimy, skinless giant that looks like a combination of Skeletor and, well, Crispin Glover. It's the first of several memorable scenes of mayhem in Beowulf, although there are a couple of shots in which the fancy-shmancy computer stuff looks like the old-fashioned stop-motion technique that Ray Harryhausen perfected in The 7th Voyage of Sinbad. It only serves to make Beowulf that much more charming. Beowulf then has to take on Grendel's mother, an encounter that goes a little differently than he might expect (Grendel must have gotten his looks from his father), and the movie, like the poem, scoots ahead several decades to show us an older, wiser Beowulf being forced to fight a dragon, a sequence that will have you holding on to your seat. This is the best dragon fight ever: it dances through the air, over steep canyons, and over skies filled with arrows, breathing fire and vertigo. The movie was directed by Robert Zemeckis, who has improved on the technique he first showed off in The Polar Express: these people look more real, although the queen played by Robert Wright Penn has a few moments where she looks as if she is made of plastic. It is being shown in Imax 3D in some theatres, which is certainly the way to see it. Beowulf is a feast of sword points being jabbed into your eye, hideous monster teeth slobbering into your popcorn and dazzling rain pelting your feet. It also employs a fine cast, including John Malkovich as the king's creepy adviser and Brendan Gleeson as Beowulf's heroic but pragmatic sidekick (he's always relieved when Beowulf turns down his offer to go into the monster's cave with him). And the screenplay by Neil Gaiman (the Sandman comic series) and Roger Avery (Pulp Fiction) expands the Beowulf legend to be not only epic and Freudian ("The sins of the father," moans an old man on a cross, an early victim of dragon fire) but also pulpy: "In the name of Odin, no wonder my loins are burning," is a typical Viking cry. It's fun, but it's exhausting -- motion-capture animation is big on spectacle but weak in human interest, and Beowulf jumps from battle to battle with more fire than heat. It's brilliantly made but oddly uninvolving, a showcase for technique that could be the future of film but rarely carries you away like real actors can. There are a couple of exceptions, of course. The dragon is fabulous. Angelina Jolie may also have a future in movies.
© CanWest News Service | |
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| Nov 14, 2007  "Dragonball" Twentieth Century Fox is finally moving forward with a live-action adaptation of the hugely popular manga "Dragonball," casting the stars of the movie and setting a release date of next summer. Justin Chatwin is starring as the hero while James Marsters will play the villain in the sci-fi adventure, which will be directed by James Wong. The movie has been penciled in for a worldwide release date of Aug. 15, 2008. Stephen Chow, the filmmaker behind "Kung Fu Hustle" and "Shaolin Soccer," is producing. "Dragonball" is one of the most successful Japanese cultural exports of all time. The manga, created by Akira Toriyama and published by Tokyo's Jump Comics, was adapted into graphic novels, video games and a phenomenally successful television series that ran in Europe, Asia, Latin America and North America. "Dragonball's" popularity also generated more than $4 billion in merchandising sales. In North America, the property achieved the zenith of its popularity under the name "Dragonball Z." The story follows an adult humanoid alien named Goku, who discovers that he was sent to Earth to blend in and destroy our population but instead elects to protect it from an oncoming alien onslaught bent on dominating the universe and controlling the mystical objects from which the film takes its name. Chatwin, who will play Goku, has already begun training under the auspices of stunt performance company 87Eleven, which has executed and designed action pieces in pictures such as "The Matrix," "The Bourne Supremacy," "Mr. & Mrs. Smith" and "300." Marsters is playing the villainous Piccolo. Wong rewrote the previous draft by Ben Ramsey. Production begins later this year. Other major roles are currently being cast. Chatwin, repped by WMA, is best known for his playing Tom Cruise's on in Steven Spielberg's "War of the Worlds." Marsters is best known for his role as vampire Spike on "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" Piccolo. He is repped by the Kohner Agency and Himber Entertainment Wong co-wrote and directed "Finale Destination" and "Final Destination 3," and was a writer-exec producer on "The X-Files." He is repped by Endeavor. | |
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| Dhan Dhana Dhan Goal |  Director: Vivek Agnihotri
Music Director: Pritam Chakraborty After Chak De India, the next sports anthem was expected from Vivek Agnihotri's Goal (now renamed as Dhan Dhana Dhan Goal). The movie has already created a stir with its previews and the introductory song. But for a film based on sports, the music overall is under-composed. The kind of beats expected are missing! So is the variety in the song line-up. Billo Rani - the track which has already created a stir, begins in the qawwali style reminiscent of the tunes composed during the 1980s era. The singer initially sounds off-key and very irritating because of the nasal sound, but does succeed in setting the mood as the song progresses. The song has already been the talk of the town because of the folksy mujra moves by Bipasha along with beau John Abraham. The music may sound familiar, but it is uniquely composed, something you notice after listening to the remixed version of the same. This is one of those clichéd qawali songs that the veterans would definitely not stand. The remix version is a good foot stomping track, where the male voice contribution is more effective than the female. | | | After Billo Rani is Ishq ka Kalma with very sporty beats and a trendy set-up. The rap spots within this song show effort and add on to a good listening experience. This song is very much like those typical Pritam compositions which will once again appeal to everyone. Neeraj Shridhar has done a splendid job with the vocals here.
The track titled Hey Dude was expected to be a rap or a disco track, but turns out to be one of those inspirational tracks of every film with the sports theme. This song is on the lines of Lagaan's Chale Chalo but of course, what sets it apart are the techno beats, retro style compositions and the trendy finishing. The packaging of the song with the title Hey Dude does appear strange, but nevertheless this is a good track!
When the next track Halla Bol begins, one wouldn't be surprised to see the neighbours stand up in respect because the start sounds very much like some national anthem being sung. The lyrics 'Halla bol, Aage Dol, Darna Kya, Jor se Bol…' sometimes also sounds like some poem being recited by an adult. This track continues with its high musical notes all through, giving it a very unlikable feel. The track, which is also the second of the three inspirational songs of the movie, should have gone low at some points to make it more engaging.
Tara Ru, the last of the song line-up in this film, is a better version of all the inspirational tracks. Javed Ali has done a superb job and with this song, Javed Akhtar turns out to be a star lyricist once again. Although this track does go flat at some places, it is nevertheless a well composed 'Pritam number.'
What really strikes one after listening to all the songs is the lack of variety in the songs and the lack of a 'sporty' feel in all the tracks. Only the lyrics time and again remind one that the songs belong to Goal, but the music doesn't cling on to the theme of the film.
Our Rating - 3/5
| | By Aaishwari Chouhan (Radioandmusic.com) |
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| Strike Stress By Steven Zeitchik NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) - As a hundred striking writers gathered at Rockefeller Center in the chilly New York morning, Seth Meyers of "Saturday Night Live" could be seen turning to a union spokeswoman and mouthing the words, "Let me know if you need anything." It was a telling moment for the Writers Guild of America (WGA), whose media strategy has both shied away from and desperately needed a public face. With both the east and west coast branches of the WGA taking heat for their reticence in responding to claims made by the negotiating arm of the studios, the guild has staked out, depending on one's point of view, either the moral high ground or dangerously shy territory. As one publicity expert said, "Are you better off engaging with your opponents' accusations or staying above them?" In the writers strike of 2007, the public relations battle -- what WGA East president Michael Winship calls the bid to avoid the stereotype of "scribes in Malibu" -- might be just as important as the struggle going on at the negotiating table. "Our goal is to make sure people realize this is about the future of entertainment and how writers are paid for that entertainment, not about a rich entity against a richer entity," "Brothers & Sisters" creator Jon Robin Baitz said of the strike's media aims. Support among the press is critical to striking writers as they try to gain leverage and public support. At the moment, the writers have enjoyed a certain amount of goodwill, with bits lampooning management on shows like "SNL," "The Daily Show With Jon Stewart" and "Late Show With David Letterman." But as the strike wears on and writers no longer control the airwaves, they will need to find another way to make their case to the public. In most strikes, a prolonged stoppage tends to create indifference if not a backlash against the strikers. 
And that's where the voices might come in, which the guild might get even if it has chosen to stay quiet. A WGA East rep said that the guild didn't ask "30 Rock" star/creator Tina Fey to stand for interviews in front of her employer's offices. But such figures as Meyers, Fey and Eva Longoria Parker -- who Tuesday offered sympathy and food when picketers protested on the "Desperate Housewives" set -- are poised to turn into the strike's poster children, much as Letterman did nearly 20 years ago. Like the late-night star, the personalities have something most writers don't: a profile that viewers can recognize, and perhaps identify with. While the guild officially has frowned upon on-the-record interviews, the reaction has varied by studio lot. At Fox, interviews were hard to come by, but things were friendlier at Warner Bros. and Paramount, where figures like Jeff Garlin were cordially giving interviews. In New York, informal news conferences seemed to be happening up and down the picket line, with outlets from CNN to the New York Times lobbing questions at writers and filmmakers like writer-director Peter Hedges ("Dan in Real Life"), who noted the irony of having a movie in theaters at the same time he stood protesting the company that released it. One of the biggest faces has been prominent through his absence. Jon Stewart has yet to make an appearance on a picket line but has attracted attention thanks to a rumor, since denied, that he was covering the salaries of his staff for two weeks as well as a making a closing dig at the AMPTP before he left the air last week. While viewers could blame the stars if a strike continues, others say the resentment could be channeled back to the producers. "Networks have done poorly on the basis of bad ratings and low levels of viewership when they were trying their best," said brand and imaging expert Robert Passikoff of New York-based Brand Keys. "What do you think is going to happen when they can't provide their best?" Reuters/Hollywood Reporter | |
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| The Cup (Phörpa)
Director: Khyentse Norbu
Cast: Jamyang Lodro, Orgyen Tobgyal, Neten Chokling
(Fine Line, 2000) Rated: G by P. Nelson Reinsch
Tibet from the Inside
The World Cup and Tibetan Monks are not the two topics most likely to pack Americans into cinemas. A combination of the two may actually frighten away some viewers. But first-time director Khyentse Norbu's film about these two topics, The Cup, deserves an audience, perhaps particularly an U.S. audience, in part because it imagines and indeed, promotes, a sense of global community (no snickering please). The film also reveals — at least it feels like a revelation — that the monks are very similar to people who regularly go to movies.
Reportedly, this is the first film from the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan and the first film in the Tibetan language, and anyone who sees it will likely look forward to the next film from Bhutan or in the Tibetan language fortunate enough to get world wide distribution. The story, which is based on fact, begins in 1998 as two boys, Palden (Kunzang Nyima) and his nephew Nyima (Pema Tshundup), arrive at a Tibetan Buddhist monastery in India. The older boy shares a room with the mildly rebellious Orgyen (Jamyang Lodro, playing himself).( Read more... ) | |
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| Book week: Rahila Gupta, on slavery under our very noses
12th September, 2007
 Immigration has never been a popular subject in Britain, more so recently as it has become a major issue not only for British whites but also Asians.In such an environment it is unlikely that someone advocating completely free and open national borders would get a popular reception. But then Rahila Gupta has always been a pioneer of sorts, never afraid to voice her opinion regardless of the political weather. The writer and activist, who was one of the early supporters of the women's group Southall Black Sisters, has just published a book on modern day slavery. 'Enslaved' looks into those corners of modern Britain that we know exist but often choose to ignore. For the book she talked at length to five people who were enslaved and have only recently found some measure of freedom. The book features several stories: Farhia Nur, a woman who escaped civil war in Somalia but, as a failed asylum seeker, cannot work or claim benefits and had to sell sex for food; Liu Bao Ren, a Chinese man who fled religious persecution in China, was smuggled into the UK after a tortuous journey and ended up in dangerous construction work, sometimes only for board and lodging; Amber, an Indian woman in a forced marriage who was starved, imprisoned and assaulted. She continually compares such situations to the slave trade, abolished by law only two hundred years ago. She says: "We often assume that slavery belongs to the past or, at best, to the developing world. In reality all our lives are touched by it and our demands as consumers keep it alive. Worse still, we can find slavery closer to home. Many people in the UK are starved, imprisoned, beaten, sexually violated, and made to work without pay." "The scenarios are many and varied: a massage parlour on your local high street where a trafficked woman sells her body; a beach where cockle-pickers work; the kitchen of a middle-class family where the 'servant' sleeps; or the bedroom in which a man imprisons his 'foreign' wife." Free the Slaves, an American non-government organisation, estimates that up to 25,000 people may be enslaved in Britain today. The worldwide figure is 27 million. She wrote recently: "In a democracy such as the UK, the fourth richest country in the world, there is a moral disconnect between a foreign policy avowedly promoting human rights abroad and an immigration system at home that is based on sacrificing human rights in the drive to keep numbers down." "A culture of disbelief infects the entire system: children are really adults in disguise, and therefore x-rays are to be introduced to authenticate their age; refugees are really 'bogus' because 80% fail the government's draconian criteria; those who are trafficked - that is, coerced or duped - into prostitution are not really trafficked because they knew what they were letting themselves in for." She is certainly right that these are not the kind of stories most people want to hear. The press is infected with the idea that immigrants into Britain are either spongers of welfare benefits or likely to start a riot any minute. Rahila Gupta most recently came into the limelight when her co-authored book, Circle of Light, was made into the film Provoked, starring Aishwarya Rai. As part of Southall Black Sisters she had chosen to challenge the legal system at the time in its treatment of abused women. She was also editor of the book 'From Homebreakers to Jailbreakers: Southall Black Sisters' and has written radio dramas for the BBC. Enslaved is published by Portobello Books and is out from 13th September. A launch event is being held by Amnesty International. | |
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| U.K.'s minority report more than a black-and-white issue LONDON -- There has been a deserved round of hand-wringing among film companies and moviemakers here recently, following the publication of a terse report that says ethnic minorities and the poor are finding it tough going in the U.K.'s audiovisual job market. Everyone involved in the film biz knows just how hard it is to get a movie made, but for those from ethnic minority communities or poorer backgrounds, the barriers are even more imposing. ( Read more... )- Mood:awake
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