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Movie Recco : Rian Johnson’s Brick because whatever it’s about, they act smarter than they look and drop it too

Posted: October 16, 2010 by moifightclub in cinema, Movie Recco
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If you thought high schools are for musicals and vampires, and you like your high school that way, then please move to the next post. Because Rian Johnson’s Brick is nothing like that. The header of the post is actually a dialogue from the film. And like that line, in the film they talk cool and they act cool, without going Slo-Mo. And sometimes, its even difficult to follow what the characters are saying.

It starts with a dead body and a man blankly staring at the body. The text appears on screen – Two Days Previous. The story rewinds, telling us what, how and why it happened, and comes back to the present. Add detectives, femme fatale, dons and drugs – the perfect  noir combo. Though its a minimalistic setting but the large and open spaces adds a superb eerie feel to the film, adding that perfect mood for this detective drama.  Joseph Gordon-Levitt is in almost every frame of the film and its easy to spot why he climbed the stairs so fastly with 500 Days of Summer & Inception.

According to IMDB.com, here is the synopsis of the film…

A teenage loner pushes his way into the underworld of a high school crime ring to investigate the disappearance of his ex-girlfriend.

And if directorial debuts don’t have interesting tales behind the making, then half the fun is gone. So,  as it happens, nobody was willing to put money in this film. Rian got it from family and friends, shot it in just 20 days in his hometown and the special effects were done in-camera. And  when Coen Brothers are the inspiration for the filmmaker, one thing is for sure – cool quotient is added in dollops. And we aren’t complaining!

Watch it for its perfect mood setting with minimalistic approach and for a noirish story well told. The film was screened at the Sundance Film Festival in 2005 and bagged the Special Jury Prize. Focus Features picked it during the fest and gave it a theatrical release.

First Look : Sudhir Mishra’s Yeh Saali Zindagi (Trailer)

Posted: October 16, 2010 by moifightclub in bollywood, cast & crew, cinema, first look, songs & videos, Trailer
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Aha, finally its here. The trailer of Sudhir Mishra’s new film Yeh Saali Zindagi is out. It stars Irfan Khan, Chitrangada Singh, Arunoday Singh, Aditi Rao Hydari ( Woohoo – Remember the best thing about Delhi 6 ? ), Sourabh Shukla, Sushant Singh and Yashpal Sharma. It seems to be in the zone of Mishra’s earlier film Is Raat Ki Subah Nahi. The trailer looks kickass!

First Look : Phas Gaya Re Obama (Poster, Trailer & Synopsis)

Posted: October 14, 2010 by moifightclub in bollywood, cast & crew, film, first look, pics, songs & videos, Story / Plot / Synopsis, Trailer
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The film is directed by Subhash Kapoor and stars Rajat Kapoor, Neha Dhupia, Manu Rishi, Amole Gupte and Sanjay Mishra. Its distributed by Warner Brothers.

According to official release, Phas Gaye Re Obama is a comedy set against the backdrop of global recession. The film traces the journey of Om Shashtri, an American citizen of Indian origin, who loses all his wealth overnight to the global recession & has been asked to vacate his home by the bank unless he pays up $100,000 (mortgaged amount) within 30 days.

Seeing no other option Om comes to India to sell a small piece of an ancestral property. But within days of landing in India he is kidnapped by a ‘recession-hit’ underworld gang those who think that he is still a millionaire. What happens to Om, is he able to save his home, how did the ‘poor’ gangster cope with their ‘poor’ catch & what do small town Indian gangsters have to say to President Obama… that’s what the film is all about.

 

Oscar Race for Best Foreign Language Film – Peepli Live to compete with 64 films

Posted: October 14, 2010 by moifightclub in Awards, cinema, News
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And thats not all.

Out of the 65 films, some are festival favourites and winners too. There is Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Biutiful (Mexico), Xavier Beauvois’s Of Gods and Men (France – Grand Prix at 2010 Cannes), Apichatpong Weerathesakul’s Uncle Boonmee Can Recall His Past Lives (Thailand – Palm d’Or Cannes 2010), Susanne Bier’s In a Better World (Denmark), Denis Villeneuve’s Incendies Canada), Danis Tanovic’s Circus Columbia (Bosnia and Herzegovina), Florin Serban’s If I Want to Whistle, I Whistle ( Silver Bear at Berline 2010), Semih Kaplanoglu’s Bal ( golden Bear at Berlin 2010), and Oliver Schmitz’s “Life, Above All” (South Africa).

Here is the complete list…

Albania – East, West, East, directed by Gjergj Xhuvani

Algeria – Outside the Law, directed by Rachid Bouchareb

Argentina – Carancho, Pablo Trapero

Austria – La Pivellina, directed by Tizza Covi & Rainer Frimmel

Azerbaijan – Precinct, directed by Ilgar Safat

Bangladesh – Third Person Singular Number, directed by Mostofa Sarwar Farooki

Belgium – Illegal, directed by Olivier Masset-Depasse

Bosnia and Herzegovina – Cirkus Columbia, directed by Danis Tanovic

Brazil – Lula, o filho do Brasil, directed by Fábio Barreto

Bulgaria – Eastern Plays, directed by Kamen Kalev

Canada – Incendies, directed by Denis Villeneuve

Chile – The Life of Fish, directed by Matías Bize

China – Aftershock, directed by Feng Xiaogang

Colombia – Crab Trap, directed by Oscar Ruíz Navia

Costa Rica – Of Love and Other Demons, directed by Hilda Hidalgo

Croatia – The Blacks, directed by Goran Devic and Zvonimir Juric

Czech Republic – Kawasaki’s Rose, directed by Jan Hrebejk

Denmark – In a Better World, directed by Susanne Bier

Egypt – Messages From The Sea, directed by Daoud Abdel Sayed

Estonia – The Temptation of St. Tony, directed by Veiko Öunpuu

Ethiopia – The Athlete, directed by Davey Frankel and Rasselas Lakew

Finland – Steam of Life, directed by Joonas Berghail & Mika Hotakainen

France – Of Gods and Men, directed by Xavier Beauvois

Georgia – Street Days, directed Levan Koguashvili

Germany – When We Leave, directed by Feo Aladag

Greece – Dogtooth, directed by Yorgos Lanthimos

Greenland – Nuummioq, directed by Torben Bech and Otto Rosing

Hong Kong – Echoes of the Rainbow, directed by Alex Law

Hungary – Bibliteque Pascal, directed by Szabolcs Hajdu

Iceland – Mamma Gógó, directed by Friðrik Þór Friðriksson

India – Peepli Live, directed by Anusha Rizvi

Indonesia – How Funny (This Country Is), directed by Deddy Mizwar

Iran – Farewell Baghdad, directed by Mehdi Naderi

Iraq – Son of Babylon, directed by Mohamed Al-Daradji

Italy – The First Beautiful Thing, directed by Paolo Virzì

Israel – The Human Resources Manager, directed by Eran Riklis

Japan – Confessions, directed by Tetsuya Nakashima

Kazakhstan – Strayed, directed by Akan Satayev

Latvia – Hong Kong Confidential, directed by Maris Martinsons

Macedonia – Mothers, directed by Milcho Manchevski

Mexico – Biutiful, directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu

Netherlands – Tirza, directed by Rudolph van den Berg

Nicaragua – Le Yuma, directed by Florence Jaugey

Norway – Angel, directed by Margreth Olin

Peru – Undertow, directed by Javier Fuentes-León

Philippines – Noy, directed by Dondon Santos

Poland – All That I Love, directed by Jacek Borcuch

Portugal – To Die Like A Man, directed by João Pedro Rodrigues

Puerto Rico – Miente, directed by Rafi Mercado

Romania – If I Want to Whistle…I Whistle, directed by Florin Serban

Russia – The Edge, directed by Aleksei Uchitel

Serbia – Besa, directed by Srdjan Karanovic

Slovakia – The Border, directed by Jaroslav Vojtek

Slovenia – 9:06, directed by Igor Sterk

South Africa – Life, Above All, directed by Oliver Schmitz

South Korea – A Barefoot Dream, directed by Tae-gyun Kim

Spain – Even The Rain, directed by Iciar Bollain

Sweden – Simple Simon, directed by Andreas Ohman

Switzerland – La petite chambre, directed by Stéphanie Chaut & Véronique Reymond

Taiwan – Monga, directed by Doze Niu

Thailand – Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives, directed by Apichatpong Weerathesakul

Turkey – Honey ( Bal), directed by Semih Kaplanoglu

Venezuela – Hermano, directed by Marcel Rasquin

Yeh kaisa “Mausam” ka jadoo hai mitwa ? Here is our weather report

Posted: October 3, 2010 by moifightclub in cinema, film, reviews, Scripts, Special, Story / Plot / Synopsis, writing
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The weather was cloudy, again. And this time, it rained. We again headed to Juhu for some chaana zor garam. And again, it was Ripley’s Believe It Or Not. This time it was the script of Pankaj Kapur’s directorial debut Mausam. It stars Shahid Kapoor and Sonam Kapoor.

And those of you who are still wondering about the “again” factor, click here to read how we got lucky one day and put an open bet on Imran Khan’s famous dud – Luck. And if you  are curious to know the weather report this time, read on…

Looks like Pankaj Kapur’s aim is to tell an epic love story, which crosses the barriers of age, time, space, religion, countries and events. But the problem is, there is nothing epic about it. Its all about Harry and Aayat’s meeting, separation, meeting, separation, meeting, separation and finally, well, we all know how hindi films end.

And this meeting & separation of lovers happens all of a sudden, every time, once, twice, thrice and so on. The script is divided into four seasons, each like one chapter that tells us how the lovers meet to separate again. It starts with political undertones, and then, few more big national and international news incidents are added in every chapter to separate the lovers. The story starts in 1992 and ends in 2002. The impact of one big international incident is hilarious, its just in one scene. And there is NO need for it.

In the first season, the set up is quite elaborate, all about a marriage that has got nothing to do with the main story.  The story moves in sluggish pace and will test your patience. The second season is the one where the love story happens. And its all in Scotland. Why ? No clue. It could have been any other place, even in India. The lovers don’t get to meet because there is a communication gap. And may be, the distance helps in making the gap wider.  Season three keeps the lovers away from each other for some reason or another and then the finale in season four. One more big national incident and suddenly all is well. So, the drama is all about the communication gap and  after a point, we felt like we should just call up both Harry and Aayat and tell both of them about their whereabouts. No need to struggle to find each other. That was 70’s, sir!

If we can’t finish about 120pages at one go, it means there is something wrong with us or with the script. First 30 pages and we were snoring and how! And there are three songs in the first 30 pages. Jejus! Holy fuck! Its PANKAJ KAPUR – one of the best actors we have. Lets go back.

We tried again and finally managed to finish it. And re-read it. Its not bad, its just boring. May be, Pankaj Kapur should continue with acting or may be, he will prove us wrong and show us the big middle finger. But with Shahid Kapoor and Sonam Kapoor in the lead, it needs the talent of Wong Kar-Wai to make something interesting out of this script. And yes, lot of scenes have to go. Lots! Just go. They don’t make any sense and go nowhere though the story moves from Kashmir to Mallukot to Scotland to London to Udhampur to Ahmedabad.

And here is what we liked – The writer-director seems to be very clear about the ambience sound he wants and the way he wants. Almost every scene has decription of the same. Some of the romantic scenes in season two are interesting. There are options written for some of the scenes – either this way or that. And here is one scene from the script….

I/E.  TRAIN/TRAM.  SCOTLAND  – DAY

Harry and Aayat are seen standing in a train or tram, it is crowded.

AAYAT

Bua ab hamare saath rehti hain.

HARRY

Oh! I see. Kaise hain ?

AAYAT

Theek hai….aur tum ?

HARRY

Main bhi theek hun

AAYAT

( smiles a little or small laugh)

Nahi. I mean tum kahan rahe itne saal ?

HARRY

Kaha raha hun….(looks at her) Mallukot station se tumhari gadi ko jate dekha – ussi waqt air force mein selection ka khat mil gaya. bas phir training, uske baad commission, ab jahan jahan posting hoti hai vahin rehta hun.I mean in a way Mallukot choot sa gaya hai.

AAYAT

Mallukot what a lovely place na ?

HARRY

Yaad hai tumhe ?

AAYAT

Yes, of course.

There is a silent pause. They look at each other.

Show us the finger, sir! Show us. We are waiting and how!

The film is produced by Madhu Mantena, Reliance Religare (Sheetal Talwar) and Eros Entertainment. Madhu and Sheetal’s last masterpiece was Rann. And Eros have been delivering one dud after another. Their latest is Anjaana Anjaani. Click here and here to read what the makers have to say about this film.

Sirs, hope you do read scripts before you decide to produce a film. Hope you do know how to read a script. And hope you will be able to deliver. Good luck. And if you decided to produce the film because it has Shahid Kapoor and Sonam Kapoor, well, its never too late to start praying. Jejus!

Bigg Boss 4 – The list of new inmates is out and here is their claim to fame!

Posted: October 3, 2010 by moifightclub in News, television
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Here it is – The list of 14 inmates who are gonna entertain us for the next few weeks in Bigg Boss’ house. Two models to serve as eye candy, superchor, super dacoit, lawyer, two MMS scandal toppers, one motormouth, one beefy boy who made national headlines for wrong reasons, a cross-dresser, an actor & actress who were linked once, a non-controversial actor & actress to play the nice guy/gal roles – wow! It can’t get more colourful than this. And add Salman Khan as the new host of the show. Perfect.

Put the cursor on the pics to know more about them and their claim to fame.

First Look : Imran Khan & Deepika Padukone’s Break Ke Baad (Poster & trailer)

Posted: September 30, 2010 by moifightclub in bollywood, cast & crew, film, first look, News, songs & videos, Trailer, video
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Yawwwnnnn! One more love story with two good looking wooden blocks – Imran Khan & Deepika Padukone.

Its directed by debutant Danish Aslam, produced by Kunal Kohli and stars Imran Khan , Deepika Padukone, Sharmila Tagore, Shahana Goswami and Yudhishtr. Music is by Vishal DUDlani and Shekhar and lyrics by Prasoon Joshi. Reliance Big Pictures will distribute the film.

Click on the play button to check out the first trailer…

Mumbai Film Festival 2010 – Films to watch & things to do

Posted: September 30, 2010 by moifightclub in cinema, Film Festival, News, Special
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This is the 12th year of the Mumbai Film Festival organised by MAMI ( Mumbai Academy of Moving Images) and looks like this year’s fest might turn out to be the best so far. Reasons ? Well, they got the best of the lot from Cannes, Venice, Berling, Sundance and Locarno.  200 films from 58 countries will be screened and here are the highlights…

1. It opens with David Fincher’s The Social Network, which is already getting some great reviews.

2. Sofia Coppola’s Somewhere, winner of Golden Lion at Venice 2010.

3. Abbas Kiarostami’s Certified Copy. Juliette Binoche bagged the Best Actress Award for it at Cannes 2010.

4. Semih Kaplanoglu’s Honey which won the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival 2010.

5. Li Hongqi’s Winter Vacation – bagged the top prize at Locarno Film festival 2010.

6. Xavier Beauvois’ Of Gods and Men – won the Grand Prix at 2010 Cannes Film Festival.

7. Lee Chang-dong’s Poetry – won the Best Screenplay award at 2010 Cannes Film festival.

8. Alexei Popogrebsky’s How I Ended This Summer – Best Actor Award for Grigory Dobrygin & Sergei Puskepalis and Outstanding Artistic Contribution Award to its cinematographer Pavel Kostomarov.

9. If I want To Whistle, I Whistle – Silver Bear at Berline Film festival 2010.

10. Aamir Bashir’s directorial debut Harud is in International Competition for the First Feature Film Of the directors.

11. Hang Sang-Soo’s Hahaha – won the top prize in Un Certain Regard category at Cannes 2010.

12. Michael Haneke’s The White Ribbon (Cannes winner 2009), Danish film Submarino (was in competition in Berlin 2010) , Takeshi Kitano’s Outrage (was in Cannes competition 2010), Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu’s Biutiful, Mike Leigh’s Another Year and Mathieu Amalric’s On Tour will have screening under World Cinema section.

13. 20 documentaries from across the world.

14. Japanese Cinema – Screening of 43 films from Japan including Takeshi Kitano’s Boiling Point, Takashi Mike’s Crows Zero and Akira Kurosawa’s No Regrets For Our Youth. Kurosawa’s Chief AD will present the special screening of Ran.

15. Mainsteam titles – Company Men, Inside Job, Banraku, Letters to Juliette.

16. Screening of Good Night I Good Morning – directed by Sudhish Kamath (film reviewer with The Hindu) and has cameo by Rediff’s film critic Raja Sen. Time to return the favours ? Dear Raja, will you be there ? 😉

17. Screening of The Untitled Kartik Krishnan Project directed by Srinivas Sunderrajan and starring our very own Kartik Krishnan.

18. Film Business Centre – plan is to get sales agents and buyers from across the world.

19. Master class in direction by Jane Campion and round table by Oliver Stone with Indian Filmmakers. Emerging Directors panel with Nandita Das, Kiran rao, Anusha Rizvi will be moderated by Sooni Taraporevala. Daily Open forums by Indian Independent Filmmakers Worldwide.

Venues – Chandan Cinema, Juhu and PVR ( Juhu).  Also, 2 screens in Metro Big Cinemas ( Marine Lines) and one screen in Big Cinemas R City (Ghatkopar).

Dates – 21 -28th October 2010

So, what are you still waiting for ? Go, run for your registration. Click here for online registration.

WTF : The budget of Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Guzaarish is 80cr!

Posted: September 30, 2010 by moifightclub in bollywood, film, News, WTF, Xclusive
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Yes, 80 fucking crores! What are the guys at UTV Motion Pictures smoking ? Please pass the dope. And believe it or not, the budget is not the only shocking part of the film.

Try guessing director Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s fees. As wild as you want. And if you are done with it, breathe easy and hold your jaws tightly. Bhansali has been paid Rs 25 fucking crore as writing & direction fees! Beat that. And 25 crore to the director whose last film was Saawariya! BTW, do the guys at UTV read scripts ? Doesn’t look like. Atleast thats what it seems from their last few releases. And those of you, who are still bothered about Saawariya – how it got made and financed, click here to read the curious case of Saawariya. Its a must read. Seems like UTV guys don’t subscribe to Open Magazine. Do it, its good. And Beware!

Also, Hrithik Roshan has been paid Rs 15crore and Aishwarya Rai’s fees is Rs 5 crore for Guzaarish, and both of them command much higher fee in the market. Bhansali’s 25crore fees also include the clause that he will get Hrithik & Aishwarya Rai  at a discounted rate. The production budget of the film is Rs 35 crore. And that’s how the total budget is Rs 80 crore ( 25 + 15 + 5 + 35)

Now, the big question is how do they plan to recover so much ? It seems UTV is clear on that front. If they are lucky, they will break even. If not, its just to make their CV look good, maintain their position in the share market, make it look big to get easy funding. Its all about the big picture with the biggest stars and a big director and Guzaarish is just a 80crore tool to make that picture look good. The film ?  Well, it seems like Prestige meets The Sea Inside meets The Diving Bell and the butterfly.

VOTD : Ram Gopal Varma turns singer for Rakht Charitra!

Posted: September 28, 2010 by moifightclub in film, music, News, Simbly South, VOTD
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Yes, here it is. Ramuji ke dil ki paak awaaz!

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