A load of crap from an idle brain

Prime Focus, the Mumbai based post production company has worked on significant portions of the recent blockbusters, Avatar and The New Moon.

Prime Focus played an essential behind-the-scenes role in two of the biggest Hollywood blockbusters of 2009 — Chris Weitz’s “New Moon” and James Cameron’s “Avatar.” The company established itself as one of the cutting-edge firms in the visual effects business by producing about 10 percent of James Cameron’s path-breaking 3D superhit and a whopping 80 percent of the shots for the second installment of the Twilight franchise.

“’Avatar’ obviously is the biggest of all,” Malhotra said. “We’ve done some exemplary work in ‘GI Joe’ and ‘New Moon’ as well. But when you’re working on ‘Avatar’ as one of the top five vendors you have got to a lot more credible space than working on just any movie.”

The London Stock Exchange-listed company’s portfolio of work runs the gambit from “Avatar” to top Bollywood hits like the Amir Khan starrer “3 Idiots” to Splinter Films’ DVD release of a live performance by Beyonce. The company already owns the lion’s share of the Indian post-production and visual effects market, and the international business is expanding rapidly.

Full article here

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Eurythmics – Sweet Dreams

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQHrspjw4aA]

Joan Jett – I love rock n roll

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3T_xeoGES8]

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Watching movies endlessly these past few weeks.  But iam unable to find any time to write a detailed review of them. If and when i find time, i will write something detailed about the ones i liked.  As of now, a list of the movies and my ratings.

Basic Instinct -1 (4/5)
Taken  (4/5)
A Wednesday (4/5)
21 (3/5)
Mumbai Meri Jaan (3/5)
Charlie Wilson’s War (3/5)
Rock On (3/5)
Chamku (2/5)
Hijack (1/5)
Mukhbir (1/5)
Maan Gaye Mughal-e-Azam (0/5)
C Kompany (0/5)
Meet the Spartans (0/5)
Aeon Flux (0/5)
Basic Instinct -2 (0/5)

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Anil Ambani’s Big Entertainment is going the whole hog. Not wanting to left behind by the elder and more successful brother, Mukesh he is on an investing spree. After picking up Adlabs, and consolidating it, the Big Entertainment group has forayed into Hollywood and has announced development deals with Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt, Will Smith, Julia Roberts and Nicholas Cage.

Reliance Big Entertainment, the media and entertainment company of the Reliance ADA Group, said that it will provide development funds to eight Hollywood production houses. The company did not reveal the capital it plans to invest in this venture, but sources said the investment would be in the range of USD 500 million to USD one billion.

The development funds would be provided to eight creative forces in Hollywood including Nicolas Cage’s Saturn Productions, Jim Carrey’s JC 23 Entertainment, George Clooney’s Smokehouse Productions, Chris Columbus’ 1492 Pictures, Tom Hanks’ Playtone Productions, Brad Pitt’s Plan B Entertainment and Jay Roach’s Everyman Pictures.

In another development, Ambani’s Big Entertainment is investing a billion dollars to produce 69 movies. This will be in 9 languages in the next 2 years in India.

A major announcement was made at the 61st Cannes Film Festival. Over the next two years, the Anil Ambani led Reliance BIG Entertainment will invest one billion dollars in the production and distribution of films. A whopping one billion dollars – that’s what Reliance BIG Entertainment, the media and entertainment arm of the Reliance Group will invest in India’s film industry over the next two years.

The company will be producing and distributing 69 feature films in nine languages – and this investment by Big Entertainment is more than the cumulative of all the other players in the industry put together. Deals for producing films include projects with various Bollywood filmmakers. Like Producer and Director Vidhu Vinod Chopra who will be making two films Broken Horses and Talisman which is based on the Chandrakanta fables starring Amitabh Bachchan.

Vidhu Vinod Chopra says, “The Reliance tie-up took almost six months. They will market it worldwide.” Big Entertainment has also signed a deal with Farhan Akhtar’s Excel Entertainment for a sequel to Don starring Shah Rukh Khan.There are also film production deals with Shyam Benegal, Madhur Bhandarkar, Vivek Agnihotri and Sudhir Mishra. Reliance will also be opening distribution offices in India, the UK, US, South East Asia, Middle East and Australia.

Film making is an inherently risky business. With so much at stake, will Anil Ambani end up with egg on his face or will be laughing all the way to the bank? Only time will tell.

Full articles here and here

Links to the Anil Ambani companies: Adlabs, Big FM, Reliance Anil D Ambani Group

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This weekend, i watched Doctor Zhivago. To be honest, i found it better than Lawrence of Arabia. Cant believe that iam having the opportunity to watch such classics courtesy the Singapore National Library. God bless them

Had heard so much about the director, David Lean. And after watching 2 of his all time classics, i realise why his name is taken with so much of respect. *bows*

The sets, the sweeping cinematography, the background score by Maurice Jarre and the power packed performances by Omar Sharif, this is a must see. I cant believe that a movie of such epic proportions was made in 1965.

My rating **** and half (4.5/5)

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