Entries tagged “Slumdog Millionaire”
"Slumdog Millionaire" might mean a grittier Bollywood.
By Vadim Rizov on 10/19/2009
Filed under: Zeitgeist
Ready or not, Bollywood, here comes the sex, drugs and violence. At the Guardian, Nirpal Dhaliwal gives a qualified thumbs-up to "Ride the Wave Johnny," a new Mumbai-based melodrama about a boy who...okay, I can't paraphrase this: The Johnny of the movie is a coffee-boy who also delivers cocaine for his gangster boss, Chutta, while nursing dreams of escaping to Dubai. Having seen his parents murdered in his rural village, he eeks [sic] out a living in the big city under the wing of Chutta's lover, an obese Muslim transvestite... Johnny's tale is interwoven with a moving love triangle involving... MORE »
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Paul Schrader goes Bollywood.
By Vadim Rizov on 10/12/2009
Filed under: Abroad
It's been a rough decade for Paul Schrader. Writing "Taxi Driver" only gets you so far -- his last two films ("The Walker," "Adam Resurrected") received token releases met with widespread critical indifference, and his "Exorcist" prequel was reshot by Renny "Deep Blue Sea" Harlin. For a guy who takes himself as seriously as Schrader does, that has to hurt. So Schrader did the same thing anyone in his position would do: he sulked off to India to make a Bollywood gangster thriller/musical: "Xtrme City," which will soon start casting. Hey, everyone's doing it. And it's not Schrader's first venture... MORE »
A fine romance, with no kisses.
By Vadim Rizov on 10/07/2009
Filed under: Abroad
When making a romantic movie, you traditionally have to include, at the very least, either some lip-locking or use of the word "love." Which could be a problem for "Atonement" director Joe Wright, whose next project is an adaptation of "Indian Summer: The Secret History of the End of an Empire" by Alex von Tunzelmann. Though it sounds like one of those books about how the discovery of a spice or the invention of the toaster oven changed the world, it's actually a history of the affair between Jawaharlal Nehru, India's first prime minister, and Edwina Mountbatten, the wife of... MORE »
Monday morning massacre?
By Vadim Rizov on 09/21/2009
Filed under: Biz
The recession is officially fading and box-office grosses are as strong as ever, but the entire film industry seems to contracting in pain today, from major to micro. Variety reports that Universal has frozen development for the rest of the year -- if your project wasn't already realistically getting made, there'll be no more cash for rewrites and meetings. Disney's allegedly doing the same, and Warner Bros. is dealing with its financial woes by stiffing writers. Meanwhile, indieWIRE's Anne Thompson calls this year's Toronto an "indie bloodbath," with only one big-name title sold for seven figures -- Tom Ford's "A... MORE »
The 2009 Oscars: Liveblogged
By Alison Willmore on 02/22/2009
Filed under: Awards
The most sincere Oscars ever? Or, really, just the thriftiest? Here's a record of my liveblogging of the 81st Annual Academy Awards. Though I'm feeling as lacking in Oscar predictive mojo as I've ever in my life, let's go ahead and put these out there anyway: Best picture: "Slumdog Millionaire." Director: Danny Boyle. Lead actor: Mickey Rourke. Lead actress: Anne Hathaway. Supporting actor: Heath Ledger. Supporting actress: Penélope Cruz. Animated feature: "WALL-E," unless God is angry. Doc: "Man on Wire." Foreign language film: "The Class." Adapted screenplay: "Slumdog Millionaire." Original screenplay: "Milk."12:00: All in all, the ceremony was warm and... MORE »
Yay! Awards!
By Alison Willmore on 12/04/2008
Filed under: AwardsCourtney Hunt's "Frozen River" may turn out to the year's big winner, at least in the indie film award ghetto -- it won Best Feature at the Gothams on Tuesday, with star Melissa Leo taking the Breakthrough Actor award, and it's been nominated for seven Spirit Awards. "Trouble the Water" took the Best Doc prize, Lance Hammer was deemed breakthrough director for "Ballast," and "Sita Sings the Blues" picked up the Best Film Not Playing at a Theater Near You prize. More at indieWIRE. Meanwhile, the National Board of Review, traditionally the first of the circles to hand out best... MORE »
"I'm going to Bollywood!"
By Alison Willmore on 11/25/2008
Filed under: Coming attractionsPaul Schrader, who actually has a movie coming out this year -- "Adam Resurrected," whose circus/Holocaust combo dooms it to "The Day the Clown Cried" associations -- is going with the latest trend and heading to Bollywood. "I've been getting indie movies made for 20 years," he told the Hollywood Reporter. "But I take a good look around and what I see is a barren, barren place -- in terms of the financial community, in terms of audiences, in terms of distribution. It's cold out there." But it's warm and friendly in Mumbai! "Extreme City," his project, will apparently be... MORE »
Critic wrangle: "Slumdog Millionaire."
By Alison Willmore on 11/12/2008
Filed under: Critic wrangleHalf grimy portrait of Mumbai poverty, half fable by way of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire," Danny Boyle's new film "Slumdog Millionaire" was a hit at Toronto, where it won the Audience Award, and is a solid candidate for a sleeper hit in the new "Juno" sense of the term, given that the film's from an established director and cost a reported $15 million (cheap!). Will it sleeper its way to an Oscar nomination? It's certainly edgily feel-good; as Manohla Dargis at the New York Times puts it, "this proves to be one of the most upbeat stories about... MORE »
Odds: "Slumdog Millionaire" finds a distributor, Todd Solondz makes a sequel.
By Alison Willmore on 08/28/2008
Filed under: OddsDanny Boyle's new film "Slumdog Millionaire," a comedy about a Mumbai orphan who gets on the Hindi version of "Who Wants to be A Millionaire?", was set to premiere at Toronto in distribution limbo after Warner Independent Pictures went away. No longer -- Fox Searchlight is partnering with Warner Bros. to give the film a theatrical release on November 28th. Meanwhile, at her blog at Variety, Anne Thompson writes that "One film that is negotiating a final distribution deal is Steven Soderbergh's four-hour-plus, two-part Che," and adds that "I'm betting that the film will wind up in the hands of... MORE »
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