A load of crap from an idle brain » films

Avatar, New Moon and the Indian Connection

Liju Philip — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 05:03:22 +0000

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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More ramblings…

Liju Philip — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 09:21:17 +0000

Some great news all round. India has taken a series winning 3-0 lead against the Sri Lankans in the 5 match one day series. Meanwhile, South Africa humiliated Australia by winning both the one day and test series. To rub salt into the wounds, New Zealand forced a win in the first one dayer against Australia on the last ball of the match.

Brad Haddin lived upto his captain’s reputation as a cheater by dislodging the bails with his gloves instead of the ball and had the gall to question Daniel Vettori when his actions were questioned. Pricky Ricky Ponting followed suit in defending his co-cheatmate. I was waiting to hear a classic in the lines of

If you are questioning my integrity, then probably you shouldn’t be sitting here.

but, unfortunately no such pearls of wisdom sprouted from Ricky’s mouth this time. In other news, Ricky Ponting has been asked to rest. Heh. Great news. If Australia are really serious about mounting any challenge to South Africa or India, they seriously need to get rid of Ricky as captain. He’s still a good batsman and commands a place in the team purely on his batting and fielding. But when it comes to captaincy, he often looks lost when the chips are down.

Roger Federer lost in the finals of the Australian Open and that’s something iam unable to come to terms with. Rafael Nadal seems to be his achilles heel. Nadal has quickly moved from being a good player on clay to grasscourts too. So, Federer has lost his monopoly in Wimbledon now having lost to Nadal last year. Am sure Federer will make a comeback and break Sampras’ record of 14 grand slams, but the delay is the killer.

Watched Vicky Cristina Barcelona last weekend. Scarlett Johansson is yummy and so is Penelope Cruz. I still cant get over the evil role of Javier Bardem in No country for old men and had a tough time thinking about him as a casanova in this movie.

Meanwhile, i will have some great 2 weeks starting this sunday. Biwi ji will join me here in Singapore

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New Movie Page

Liju Philip — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 12:22:10 +0000

Considering the amount of movies i watch, i felt that a separate page is needed to justify it. So, i have put up a listing of all the movies that i have watched this year in the new page called “Movies“. Yes, its just 11 days into the year but i have already watched 13 movies. Am a movie maniac you see

Its difficult for me to write detailed reviews for each and every movie i see because sometimes i end up watching 4-5 movies over a weekend. And by the end of the week, i have no patience to write anything about it other than rating them on a 1- 5 scale. Though if i do have the energy, i might write a few lines about them.

I soon plan to put up another page that will track all the books that i read. Not that i read a lot. Weekends are spent watching movies, so the only time for me to read a book is when iam travelling to and from work. Also that depends on how tired iam. So, most of the time, i just plug in some music into my ears and doze off (if iam fortunate to get a seat).

Above picture courtesy: Tinypic

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Cant wait to watch…

Liju Philip — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 13:30:42 +0000

Terminator Salvation

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdvaP9oNe2M]

Youtube link

Valkyrie

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSy96KB7Dh4&feature=PlayList&p=2E3250E469189C83&index=0]

Youtube link

Che

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VvENx90srto]

Youtube link

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Is Joker the terrorist of our times?

Liju Philip — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 06:55:35 +0000

Vir Sanghvi makes a chilling comparison between the Joker (villain in the movie Batman) and the terrorists who attacked Mumbai last month.

Consider the plot of that film. Gotham City is gripped by a wave of terror. The motive of the criminal does not appear to be money—in one memorable scene, the Joker sets fire to a mountain of cash—and there are no demands made of the authorities. The villain causes mayhem and murder simply because he can.

Nor do the usual methods work. When the Joker is arrested, the police leave him alone in a room with Batman who beats him up to find out what his plans are. But no amount of violence—even from as powerful a figure as Batman—makes any difference. The Joker is past the stage where he cares about pain.

In that sense, the Joker is the crime fighter’s ultimate nightmare: a villain with no wants or desires, with no agendas and no obvious weaknesses. He kills because he likes it. He keeps Batman alive because he enjoys the battle.

Now, consider the situation we found ourselves in during the siege of Mumbai. We had nothing to negotiate with the terrorists. They did not care about money and they had no political demands. We could not engage them in conversation, listen to their demands and then slowly whittle them down as hostage negotiators usually do.

Interesting read. Read the full article here

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Now Watching

Liju Philip — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 14:28:42 +0000

My Blueberry Nights (*** 3/5)

To End All Wars (**** 4/5)

Mean Girls (* 1/5)

Hero (**** 4/5)

Max Payne (** 2/5)

Karzzzz (** 2/5)

Children of Men (*** 4/5)

Above pictures from: IMDB & Santa Banta

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Dev.D – Promo

Liju Philip — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 13:14:22 +0000

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRLjycn11Rw]

Woohoo…. Anurag Kashyap is back, after No Smoking and Black Friday. Dev D is the story of Devdas set in the current age.

The only Deol that i like, Abhay Deol. Am very much impressed by his selection of movies – Socha Na Tha, Manorama 6 feet under, Ek Chalis ki Last Local.

Aankhon ka hai dhoka, Paisa tera pyaar,

Tera emotional atyachaar

Produced by UTV Spotboy and a rocking soundtrack, this is one movie am waiting for.

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Ghajini Promo

Liju Philip — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 11:54:03 +0000

Aamir Khan is back… and how. The trailer of the much anticipated Murugadoss directed, Aamir Khan starrer Ghajini is out. And by the looks of it, looks like a super violent movie.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_VLLlLR7dU]

Is it a 6 pack or the very elusive 8 pack? Lets wait for the verdit to happen, but boy am sooooper excited. Cant wait for the music to release. The tamil version had some terrific foot tapping music by Harris Jayaraj and a muscular Surya to boot. Honestly, i was not impressed by the Tamil version. Especially the climax which i though was a letdown. But with Mr Perfectionist, Aamir in the lead, am waiting with bated breath.

Above picture courtesy: Aamirkhan.com

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Movie Reviews & 500th post

Liju Philip — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 05:11:01 +0000

Edit: Ya, just saw that this is my 500th post. Yay

Cold Mountain (2/5)

Inspite of the splendid acting, cinematography and music, the movie left me cold. Dunno why.

Inside Man (2.5/5)

Spike Lee directed movie starring Denzel Washington, Jodie Foster and Clive Owen. Sure recipe for a taut thriller, right? Unfortunately not. But its not a bad watch. Watch out for the opening and ending credits of the movie with AR Rahman’s Chhaiya Chhaiya playing in the background. No reason for the song to play there. It felt more or less like watching an english movie with an item song in it

Prom Night (0/5)

Pathetic, boring, stupid slasher flick.

Drona (-1/5)

Abhishek Bachchan and superhero? hahahaha. That is the joke of the century. Wish wifey dear Aishwarya would do something about hubby’s flabby body. Half of the time, Abhishek is so sissy and stands with his heads bowed that you wonder if the superhero is suffering from a bad case of ‘inferiority complex’. And now, Goldie Behl (who?) is planning a sequel. May God save all of us from this Groana.

For the first time i have used a negative rating and the honour goes to Drona.

Kidnap (1/5)

A unique movie where mother (Vidya Malvade) and daughter (Minissa Lamba) compete on screen to see who has the better cleavage. Trust me, its still not worth it. Sanjay Dutt looks haggard and wonders what the eff he was doing in this movie. As for Imran Khan, he has miles to go before he can even be a patch on his mamu jaan, Aamir Khan. Sanjay Gadhvi, the director is an a$$. He is better off in the company of the morons from Yash Raj. Only they have the balls to promote his movies.

Pictures courtesy: Santabanta and IMDB

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Movies watched over the past week

Liju Philip — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 09:54:33 +0000

Death at a funeral - 3/5

Cloverfield – 2/5

Casino Royale – 4/5

Before Sunset – 3/5

Outsourced – 3/5

Disaster Movie – 0/5

Original Sin – 2/5 (for the steamy scenes of Angelina Jolie and Antonio Banderas)

Taare Zameen Par – 3/5

Matchstick Men – 3/5 (The hindi movie Bluffmaster starring Abhishek Bachchan was a ripoff of this movie)

All pictures courtesy: IMDB

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