All world movie news blog

You Will Hear Linda Hamilton in 'Terminator Salvation'

2009-03-18T09:06:00.000-07:00

"Remember how, in the previous Terminator movies, learning computers kept getting sent from the future? This is that future, and Christian Bale is Edward Furlong." When those fateful lines begin Terminator Salvation, Linda Hamilton will be the one speaking them. A CHUD source who saw the film has confirmed that the actress's call-back voice-over begins the epic story. Let's hope McG also managed to get that Schwarzenegger cameo, a final shot that reveals it's been him telling the entire story to his Terminator grandchildren.

(Thanks, Rick.)

Anushka Sharma & Shahid Kapur In Yash Chopra’s Next

2009-03-18T09:05:00.002-07:00

Yashraj banner is famous for encouraging new talents. After introducing Anushka in the runaway hit Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi, the production house is reported to be making another film with her in female lead. And Shahid, who’s already working in the banner’s ‘Hadippa’ (tentatively titled) with Rani Mukherjee , is set to be Anushka’s hero.

According to sources, Parmeet Sethi has written the script which Aditya Chopra liked instantly and decided to back the project. Well, Parmeet’s association with the YRF has been since he acted in Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge . It’s heard that Parmeet has also signed a contract with YRF for three films.

The film is believed to be a romantically themed family drama set in Punjab. It is reported that Adi recommended Anushka’s name to Parmeet for the film. And Shahid reportedly gave nod to the project once he heard the narration and his character sketch.

As for now, Yashraj Films is waiting for their year’s first release New York, starring John Abraham, Katrina Kaif and Neil Nitin Mukesh. Source

Aamir Khan - Admiring Tamil Films A Lot

2009-03-18T09:05:00.001-07:00

Inspired from the tamil version ‘Ghajini’ the hindi remake received a grand welcome in Bollywood and became an all time super hit so much so that Aamir Khan is now an ardent fan of Tamil films.

Aamir had even told that it was actor Surya –the hero in the Tamil ‘Ghajini’ who persuaded him to take up the project in Bollywood with full confidence. One of the top stars of Kollywood Vijay got surprised when he met Aamir recently. He got amazed when Aamir recognized him and told him that he and his wife Kiran are big admirers of his dancing style.

Aamir seems to have developed a soft corner for the Tamil flicks. After all ‘Taare Zameen Par’ became the only Hindi film to win the Gollapudi Srinivas Memorial award which is hugely respected in Tamilnadu.

Every one knows that Aamir never attends any award functions. So if he came all the way to Chennai to receive the award at a time when he was injured, it shows the respect he has for Kollywood ! Source

Esha Deol - Caring For The Khan Family

2009-03-18T09:04:00.001-07:00

Esha Deol has always been a close friend of Feroz Khan’s family. She was once upon a time romantically linked with cousin Zayed. Feroz Khan himself is very fond of the girl and Esha would drop in at the FK house in Juhu even if the boys weren’t around to catch up with her Feroz Uncle.

So it wasn’t surprising to see Esha making regular rounds of the hospital when Feroz Khan was recently hospitalized. But unlike other celebrities making a scene out of hospital visits, we are told Esha would be very subdued and would make a quiet entry into the hospital and spend time with Feroz Khan doing her best to avoid drawing attention to her in the hospital.

Knowing Feroz Khan being a scrabble fan, she would be playing word games with him to keep him in good spirits in his troubled times.

One evening she was even seen carrying a dabba of home made food for him and basically taking good care of his like his own kin. That’s quite touching. Source

Akshay Kumar - Living The Ultra Luxurious Life

2009-03-18T09:02:00.000-07:00

Akshay Kumar today is one of the most popular names in the industry. Right now he is being pampered by Shah a lot. A helicopter has been arranged to help Akshay reach the shooting spot on time.

And for a 40-day shooting schedule, Akshay will get a lavish seven-bedroom bungalow sprawled over four acres of land. To top it, the bungalow has a functioning gymnasium and a swimming pool. Since Shah knows Akshay’s preferences well, he has also installed a home theatre system in case Akshay feels like catching up on movies.

Most importantly, a chef has been hired to cook special food to Akki’s liking.

‘Action Replay’ stars Aishwarya Rai opposite Akshay. The movie’s story will be told in reverse time, that is, the protagonist will grow from an old man to a younger one. Source

Hrithik Roshan Chooses His Dad’s Film Over IPL Promotion

2009-03-18T09:01:00.000-07:00

IPL is no doubt a star studded game of cricket. And why not, Super stars like Shah Rukh, Preity, Akshay, Katrina, Hrithik had been a source which derived a lot of glam to IPL. It can be well recalled that Hrithik Roshan had promoted Mumbai Indians last year and it was a glorifying success. Unfortunately, this time there will be no Hrithik promoting.

Source very close to the actor said, “Hrithik will not be promoting IPL this year as he had done for Mumbai Indians last year. The reason is very clear that Hrithik is too engrossed in his forthcoming film, Kites, for which he has put his heart and soul in it. He is totally devoted to Kites and does not desire a single flaw to occur.”

Now where IPL is going leaps and bounds, where celebs like Shilpa Shetty and all are joining in to add the glam quotient in it, Hrithik is concentrating more on his film Kites, and obviously who won’t, when the film is from his dad’s banner and is one of the biggest budgeted movies till date.

We hope Hrithik’s ‘Kites’ literally flies like a kite in the air, over coming every other kites and paving its way to sour high and higher. Source

Amrita Arora Cancels Her Honeymoon Trip

2009-03-18T09:00:00.001-07:00

Just married couple Amrita Arora and Shakeel Ladhak had to cancel their honeymoon trip to Mexico due to excessive drug violence in the country. Mexico was the choice of Amrita but unfortunately she had to drop her plan on looking at the unsafe scenario of the country. Western beauty and spicy cuisine fascinated Amrita to choose Mexico. A source close to Amrita says, “Amu and Shakeel had planned a 15-day honeymoon. They were to leave on March 14, go to New York and head to Mexico from there.

However, due to escalating drug violence in the last week, their plans stand cancelled. Amrita has been to most European cities, so she wanted to either go to Mexico or Hawaii places she’s never been to before.”

Their families have been debarring them from going to Mexico. “Finally yesterday, both Shakeel and Amu decided they would fly to New York and then go to Hawaii or some other place rather than risk their lives going to Mexico.” Source

Manisha Koirala Refuses To Work With Amol Palekar

2009-03-18T08:57:00.000-07:00

Manisha Koirala was overwhelmed when she was offered a role by actor-turned-director Amol Palekar in his new film. But later she refused to accept the role as it turned out to be just a cameo.

“I’d have loved to work with Amolji. It was an interesting character, that of a Buddhist monk. I’d have given my right arm to play the role, if only I had at least two scenes… achcha chalo, only one meaty scene. I’ve never believed in measuring my roles in terms of playing time. Lekin kuch to hona chahiye… (but something should be there).”

Manisha had to reluctantly say no. “It broke my heart. Because I’m into Buddhism. And I want to work with Amolji.” She expected Palekar to offer her yet another opportunity to relive her golden days of “Khamoshi”, “Bombay” and “Dil Se”.

Now the role has gone to Antara Mali who was last seen in Ram Gopal Varma’s “Main Madhuri Dixit Ban-na Chahti Hoon” and “Naach”. Source

Shahrukh Khan Referring Madhavan

2009-03-18T08:54:00.000-07:00

The king Khan Shah Rukh and R. Madhavan have many things in common. While Shah Rukh Khan is the undisputed king of Bollywood, Madhavan on the other hand is the undisputed king of the South. In fact many people have actually compared their acting skills on screen and even SRK is aware of this.

The two haven’t shared the screen space together yet, in fact Madhavan was supposed to star in Karan Johar’s ‘My Name Is Khan’. Unfortunately Maddy got a little too busy with Aamir’s ‘3 Idiots’ and missed the chance to pair opposite SRK. Madhavan’s ‘Guru En Aalu’ is a remake of ‘Yes Boss’ will be hitting the screens on March 20. The director of the film, Selvah shared an interesting statement at this time.

He said, “When I informed about my wish for remaking ‘Yes Boss’, Shah Rukh Khan without any pause referred Madhavan would be the right option”. Source

Hugo Weaving and Michael Bay confirm Megatron will be in Transformers 2

2009-03-18T08:52:00.000-07:00

Hugo Weaving recently spoke to AdelaideNow and let slip that he’ll be returning as the voice of Megatron in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.

“I’ve already done it,” Weaving says, adding Bay had told him to keep the news hush-hush. “He’s over in LA and we were working on the video split sort of thing and I had this strange conversation where he seemed to imply it was all a big secret. So there you go, I’ve given you the secret scoop.”

Weaving is coy about revealing too much, but does give a tiny hint.

“I think in the last one, doesn’t Optimus Prime pick up a little bit of, a little shard of the cube, or the thing that’s left, and he takes it with him. Maybe there’s something there… but I don’t know,” he laughs.

This revelation led director Michael Bay to post a message of his official site confirming the news. Bay had previous been trying to keep it a secret, even telling Empire Magazine that “He’s not in this movie.’’

Okay cat is out of the bag. Megatron is back —- but you will only get to see him from the long lost past. We go way back in time as this movie explains the mythology of the Primes. He is not a tank like everyone suggests, but an alien vehicle. But sadly he does not has much screen time.

Michael

Prince of Persia targeting female audience

2009-03-18T08:50:00.000-07:00

Two new images of Jake Gyllenhaal from Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time have appeared online over at The Huffington Post. The casting of Gyllenhaal all makes sense now. The game is mostly played by males which means Disney have that demographic, so in order to get females flocking to see this action/adventure they needed to hire a good looking A-Lister (just like they hired Johnny Depp and Orlando Bloom for Pirates of the Caribbean). I know your game Disney! (And it will probably work).

Fantastic Four getting a reboot?

2009-03-18T08:49:00.001-07:00

Despite the first Fantastic Four film getting a sequel the franchise never set the box office alight the way 20th Century Fox hoped, which meant that a third film received no green light. However, according to IESB Fox may be planning on giving the franchise a reboot.

The two films previously released never really caught on with the fans and the studio is reportedly looking to completely retool, recast and recrew the franchise. This means no Tim Story, no Iaon, no Julian (thank the maker, he never sat well with me as Dr. Doom), no Chris, no Chiklis and no Jessica.

The franchise is looking to be “less bubble gum” this time round following the Iron Man template, which was a complete success in reviews and box office take but a bit darker when it came to its superhero. Iron Man was in no way as dark as The Dark Knight but was funny, action-y as well as a bit on the serious side.

20th Century Fox have a deal with Marvel which means they have to put the X-Men rights into use otherwise they go back to Marvel after 4 years (hence X-Men Origins: Wolverine, X-Men: First Class), so I’m guessing they have a similar deal with the Fantastic Four rights. A third film wouldn’t be worth making so a reboot seems like the only option. However, I think it’s a bit too early yet. The public may have welcomed a Hulk reboot but soon they will notice a pattern with all of the failed first attempts getting a makeover.

Sienna Miller says we’ll be getting a “violent girl-fight” in G.I Joe

2009-03-18T08:48:00.000-07:00

It is inevitable in movies that if you have two good looking females on opposing sides, they have to have a good old cat fight at some point. G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra is keeping with tradition and we will be getting a Sienna Miller vs. Rachel Nichols “violent girl-fight”. Oh, and they’ll be wearing them leather suit while going at it.

From MTV:

Sienna said her favorite scene, however, was decidedly low-tech, depicting her evil Cobra assassin pulling hair with Joe agent “Scarlett” O’Hara. “There’s a really, really good girl fight between Rachel Nichols and myself,” she explained. “It’s like a proper, violent girl-fight scene. And we both worked so hard for the choreography and the training of it. … We both got hurt. I’m clumsy, so I slipped on a rubber bullet at one point and sprained my wrist quite badly. She ran into a flame and got burned.”

I hope we get a glimpse of this in the next trailer, whenever that will be.

James Cameron is NOT making his own damn Avatar trailer!

2009-03-18T08:47:00.002-07:00

One of the cool things about having James Cameron in your email address book is that whenever some Avatar news goes flying around you can check whether it is true or not, and that is exactly what AICN did after talk of Cameron rejecting 8 trailers appeared online a few days ago.

Harry,

Good to hear from you. As usual the rumor mill is grinding out mostly spurious stuff. I have no plans at present to go to Showest, and in any event we have decided not to unveil material there.

As to the trailer story, I have no idea where that came from but I haven’t rejected any trailers (yet) since I haven’t seen any yet. They’re still working on them for presentation, which presumably will be soon. I’m sure I’ll reject a couple once I have the chance. Right now I’m just focused on having a movie to sell.

The cut is shaping up nicely and the stuff coming in from Weta Digital is astonishing. Every once in a while, as we are absorbed in some intensely detailed discussion about sub-surface scattering or the way a tail is moving in the animation, I’ll just stop and have this moment of clarity, as if seeing it for the first time. And I realize that’s what the lunar astronauts must have felt like. They’d be in the middle of some complex set of procedures and they’d look out the window and go “Oh, yeah. That’s the frickin’ moon!” It feels like that.

Anyway, back to the grind.

Jim out

Scarlett Johansson confirmed for Iron Man 2 also!?

2009-03-18T08:47:00.001-07:00

Deadline Hollywood are on a role with these Iron Man 2 scoops. There had been talk of Scarlett Johansson joining the cast as The Black Widow ever since Emily Blunt had to drop out due to scheduling conflicts. To be honest I didn’t want it to be true as I was hoping Blunt, Fox and Marvel could work something out as she would be great in the role, however things didn’t work out. Now apparently Scarlett Johansson is confirmed for the role.

Now I’m told that Emily Blunt won’t be in the sequel and Black Widow will now be played by Scarlett Johannson. (Interesting because Scarlett actually screen-tested for the role and didn’t get it.) But I hear that, unlike Mickey’s money, the deal for her is “just the opposite, a terrible deal made by CAA,” one of my insiders says. “It’s as bad as any deal that I’ve heard. It’s lowball money. And it ties her to countless movies, including that ensemble The Avengers, which is what makes this brutal for a lot of actors.”

I’d hardly call signing up for The Avengers movie ‘brutal’. It’d be damn exciting! Moving past all the gossip I think if the deal was that bad Johansson wouldn’t have agreed to it.

I have only seen one movie that Scarlett has been in and that was Home Alone 3. I don’t really know whether she will suit the role, although I know Blunt would have suited it better. What do you think? Good casting or ‘meh’ casting?

Spider-Man 4, Thor, Captain America and The Avengers release dates

2009-03-18T08:46:00.003-07:00

Sony and Marvel have announced that the release date for Spider-Man 4 will be May 6th 2011. Marvel also announced release dates for some of it’s upcoming movies, which you can see below.

Iron Man 2 - May 7, 2010
Thor - June 17, 2011
The First Avenger: Captain America - July 22, 2011
The Avengers - May 4, 2012

From the looks of things 2011 is the place to be. We will be getting Spider-Man 4 in May, Thor in June and Captain America in July. Only 2 years to wait!

Eclipse gets a director - Juan Antonio Bayona

2009-03-18T08:46:00.001-07:00

We heard last week that Drew Barrymore was apparently being considered to direct the third film in the Twilight saga, Eclipse. However she isn’t…because someone else is.

From Variety:

Summit Entertainment has tapped Spanish director Juan Antonio Bayona to direct “Eclipse,” the third pic in the “Twilight” vampire series.

Summit, which had no comment Wednesday, is expected to make the official announcement soon. The minimajor recently gave “Eclipse” a release date of June 30, 2010.

Bayona’s a protege of Guillermo Del Toro. He directed the Spanish-language horror-thriller “The Orphanage,” which was exec produced by Del Toro, and is attached to helm the Universal thriller “Hater,” with Del Toro and Mark Johnson producing.

Could it be that Summit have actually made a good choice? Guillermo Del Toro is a great director, so a protege of his will no doubt have an eye for film making.

Wonder Woman film gaining momentum?

2009-03-18T08:33:00.001-07:00

We have been getting lots of superhero movie news recently. Iron Man 2 and Green Lantern are edging closer to filming, and Marvel are starting to line up the dots for the big Avengers movie in 2012. However, if you look close enough you will realise one thing. It’s a cockfest. After the bad apples such as Catwoman, Elektra and Aeon Flux, studios have steered clear of female driven superhero movies. However now according to IESB the Wonder Woman movie is picking up speed at Warner Bros.

There was a regime change late last year over at Silver Pictures, Andrew Roma is now the man in charge and will be the man spearheading the live action Wonder Woman project along with mega producer Joel Silver.

Sources in the Burbank studios have confirmed there is quite a bit of movement on the WW front. With Green Lantern going into production this year, it looks like Princess Diana may finally get the go ahead from WB.

WB and Silver Pictures are in the early stages but they are eager to get started on the movie. Sources tell IESB that WB is looking for new writers on the project and have been taking pitches the last few weeks.

In the past there have been a number of starts and stops with the Wonder Woman movie. Megan Gale was set to play the character in Justice League: Mortal, however Warner Bros. have put the movie on told for the time being. They have made it clear that they want to follow Marvel’s lead by introducing the characters in solo movies and then joining them together in a movie further down the line. Green Lantern will be Warner Bros. first outing, so I wouldn’t be surprised if they were planning on Wonder Woman to follow him.

Sin City 2 could start filming this year says Rosario Dawson

2009-03-18T08:32:00.000-07:00

The last we heard on Sin City 2 was that the script had been written, and Frank Miller said filming could begin in April. Well it is now March and is doesn’t look like filming will begin any time soon, however Rosario Dawson told MTV that filming could till take place this year.

“Yeah, I talked to Robert [Rodriguez] and Frank [Miller],” she said of a recent conversation with the director and writer who joined forces with Quentin Tarantino for the hit 2005 film. “They actually just finished the script for ‘Sin City 2’ a few months ago.”

“There’s talks about it shooting sometime this year.”

If they intend to start filming this year we should start hearing some casting buzz over the upcoming months.

Pics of Angelina and Liev on the set of Salt

2009-03-18T08:31:00.002-07:00

Some more images from the set of Salt have appeared online. This time we get a look at Liev Schreiber on set with Angelina Jolie in New York. Liev plays a character called Winter, Jolie’s ally and supervisor in the CIA’s Russia office. One or two images also feature Chiwetel Ejiofor, who plays a counterintelligence officer trying to take her down.

New Terminator Salvation poster revealed

2009-03-18T08:31:00.001-07:00

Myspace were sent a new poster for Terminator Salvation which you can see below.

Ryan Reynolds talks Deadpool

2009-03-18T08:29:00.001-07:00

While on the rounds for Adventureland Latino Review got the chance to ask Ryan Reynolds about X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Reynolds spoke about the role of Deadpool in the film, about a possible Deadpool spin-off and how ‘chummy’ the atmosphere was on set.

Will we care about your character Deadpool?

Reynolds: You know, I think you will.

Because he’s kind of a good guy, bad guy…

Reynolds: Ya, he walks the line. Ya, I think you will actually care about him. You’ll be curious about him. You’ll be curious beyond the film, you’ll be curious about him. I play Wade Wilson and I play Deadpool, and the character I play as Deadpool, I personally, Fox may differ from me, but I personally don’t consider him as Deadpool, I consider him to be what Deadpool becomes. Or the thing Deadpool came from. It doesn’t carry on past that.

There’s talk, because Deadpool is so popular, that Fox might want to do a spin-off. Would you be interested in that?

Reynolds: Ya, I love the character. I’ve always loved the character. I remember reading one of the Deadpool comic books, and somebody asked Deadpool what he looks like. And he said he looks like a cross between a Shar-Pei and Ryan Reynolds. And I was like, I really, really wanna play this guy at some point. I thought it was pretty cool. It’s a guy that knows he’s in a comic book. How hard is it to shoot that properly? That’s not something they put in Wolverine nor would it belong in that universe.

Sam Raimi still deciding Spider-Man 4 villain. Wants Dunst to return.

2009-03-18T08:28:00.002-07:00

IGN caught up with Spider-Man director Sam Raimi today at the SXSW Film Festival to discuss his new horror film Drag Me to Hell, and while chatting with the director they slipped in a couple of questions about Spider-Man 4.

According to Raimi, he has yet to decide on the villain for Spider-Man 4, though he has firmer plans for the film’s love interest.

“Right now, I’m working with the production team,” he explained. “I’m in the earliest stages of working with the writer, trying to work out a story.”

He added, “We’re closing in on Spider-Man’s adversary or adversaries… but I think Sony is going to want to release the Spider-Man announcements themselves.”

When asked if Mary Jane Watson or Gwen Stacy would take centre stage in terms of romance, Raimi was a little more forthcoming.

“I’m hoping that Kirsten [Dunst, who plays Mary-Jane] will be in it, but we’re still talking about that,” he revealed. “Definitely, she’s got to be in it. It wouldn’t be the Spider-Man series without her.”

Sony recently announced that we will be seeing Spider-Man 4 in May 2011, so Raimi has at least a year to get everything sorted. I got the feeling they introduced Gwen Stacy in Spider-Man 3 to spice things up a bit. Maybe they could makes things even more interesting by adding a character that could be both a love interest and a villain. *cough* Black Cat *cough*

More Thor casting info. Natalie Portman as lead female?

2009-03-18T08:28:00.001-07:00

Last week we heard that Josh Hartnett was among a short list of actors who Marvel wanted to play Loki, and that Alexander Skarsgård (True Blood) was in the running to play the thunder God himself, Thor. Well now a source tells Deadline Hollywood that Hartnett is actually in the running for Thor, not Loki, and that Natalie Portman is apparently front runner to play the female lead.

Sure, there’s a big push to cast Josh Hartnett in the winged helmet, which is ironic since Warner Bros once upon a time threw an amazing amount of money at him to play Superman but he refused. But my sources say there’s an equally powerful lobby to cast an unknown. I’ve heard that, besides Hartnett, the following actors are being tested: Charlie Hunnam (the British co-star of the F/X series Sons Of Anarchy); Tom Hiddleston (award-winning British actor and RADA graduate who played Winston Churchill’s son in HBO’s The Gathering Storm), Alexandar Skarsgard (Stellan’s son who has appeared in the HBO Iraq War miniseries Generation Kill and vampire drama True Blood, and who’s definitely visually right for the role), and Joel Kinnaman (some Danish dude). Meanwhile, I’m told Natalie Portman is in the lead for the female lead.

Out of all of Marvel’s upcoming movies Thor will be one that will be the trickiest to convert onto the big screen (apart from whoever gets the job of joining the characters together for The Avengers). With the release date being pushed back to 2011 it gives director Kenneth Branagh more time to sort everything out, including who he will cast as the lead. I haven’t read a Thor comic so I have no idea who Natalie Portman would play if this turns out to be true, although I like her as an actress.

First look at Olga Kurylenko in Centurion

2009-03-18T08:27:00.002-07:00

The last time we saw Olga Kurylenko she was playing a tough cookie Bond girl in Quantum of Solace, and now it appears she will continue that tough cookie streak as she does battle against the Romans in Centurion. The image comes from Empire, who also had a chance to visit the set and talk to director Neil Marshall (Doomsday) and Olga herself.

“Etain is kind of revenge incarnate,” says the writer/director, speaking to Empire exclusively on set. “Her family were butchered by the Romans, she had her tongue cut out by the Romans, she’s had a hell of a time and she’s out for Roman blood.”

“She’s quite furious,” agrees Kurylenko. “Because one sense is not there – she can’t speak – all the others are more developed. She sees very well and hears very well: she is an animal!”

Set in AD 117 Centurion centers on the 9th Legion fighting for their lives behind enemy lines after a devastating guerrilla attack. Michael Fassbender (Inglorious Basterds), Dominic West, and Noel Clarke are among the cast, and the film will be released later this year.

Transformers 3 gets a release date

2009-03-18T08:27:00.001-07:00

According to Variety Paramount and Dreamworks have set a release date for Transformers 3, July 1st 2011. No news on whether Michael Bay, Shia LaBeouf or Megan Fox have officially signed on, but they will most likely be back.

2011 is turning into one hell of a Summer. We will be getting Spider-Man 4 and Thor in May, and The First Avenger: Captain America and Harry Potter
and the Deathly Hallows: Part II in July.

Michael Bay says ‘wtf’ to the 2011 Transformers 3 release date

2009-03-18T08:26:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Paramount/Dreamworks announced that we will be seeing Transformers 3 on July 1st 2011. Well director Michael bay took to his blog to express his views on this, as he will most likely end up directing it.

Wait a Minute!

I said I was taking off a year from Transformers. Paramount made a mistake in dating Transformers 3 - they asked me on the phone - I said yes to July 4 - but for 2012 - whoops! Not 2011!!! That would mean I would have to start prep in September. No way. My brain needs a break from fighting robots.

Michael

Seems Paramount and Bay have some things they need to discuss…

Dragonball Evolution reviews

2009-03-18T08:23:00.002-07:00

Dragonball Evolution has already been released in some parts of the world such as China and Japan. As a result reviews have been pouring online…and it doesn’t look good (although that was expected).

Anime News Network gave it an F:

In the end, it all boils down to one thing: this movie appeals to nobody. It was made for no one. People who aren’t familiar with the Dragon Ball story at all will be so flabbergasted by what’s happening that they will likely tell everyone they know that it’s one of the worst movies they’ve ever seen. Fans who do know what the general story is will be furious at just how unbelievably badly they screwed this entire thing up. Kids are used to better writing than this in their weekday afternoon cartoons (although you may run into a kid who has never actually seen a movie before, and they might dig it until you show them another movie). It’s a clunky, tiresome, badly executed, horribly written pile of shame that deserves no quarter.

Nuke the Fridge

This film was easy to sit through, but not worth the price of admission. The plot is almost nonexistent and pasted together with visual effects when they needed to fill in gaps where there was nothing to say. The scope of his film is too small and almost feels like it was more for a direct to DVD release. “Dragonball” deserves better and so do you, my advice is to go read the manga.

AICN

Dragon Ball: Evolution is a terrible film for both DB fans and as a standalone film. It’s not unwatchable, but it’s definitely in the same league as Street Fighter circa JCVD which means you’ll want to gather your friends and have a great laugh together.

A Nutshell

This is basically a movie that only children below the age of 5 will enjoy tremendously, despite having to see 6 half-balls, contributed courtesy of the 3 lead female characters, being continuously flashed on screen, thanks to some neck plunging wardrobe (where’s that malfunction when you need one?) Totally bland and really uninteresting, I would suggest sticking to the manga instead.

These are all negative and so far I haven’t been able to find a positive one to counter all of the bad buzz.

Thanks to movieboy1 for the links.

Linda Hamilton’s voice will be in Terminator Salvation!

2009-03-18T08:23:00.001-07:00

In February Linda Hamilton, who played Sarah Connor in the original Terminator films, told MTV that she was talking with the Terminator Salvation people about possibly doing a voice-over in the film. Now Chud have word from someone who has already seen the film that Hamilton’s voice-over is indeed in the film.

A source who has seen the film confirms to us that Hamilton’s voice over is in the film, and that it works very well in context. Her voice over is not long, and it comes at the very beginning of the movie; the source compared it in tone and style to her voice over in T2.

We have also been getting strong hints that Mr. Schwarzenegger will also be appearing in some form. We have to hand it to director McG for making this happen and keeping the Terminator universe connected. It will make the viewing experience just that little bit cooler!

X-Men Origins: Wolverine 90% what Gavin Hood wanted

2009-03-18T08:15:00.002-07:00

20th Century Fox are known for pushing their weight around in regards to creative decisions on films. We’ve heard situations where they haven’t been too kind to directors, such as with Alex Proyas during I, Robot, who has said he will never work with them again, and more recently with Mathieu Kassovitz on Babylon A.D. There have been some rumours from the X-Men Origins: Wolverine set that Fox have been asses to director Gavin Hood, which involved Fox ordering people to re-decorating a set. To this day we haven’t heard anything more of it, and to be honest it was kind of a crappy rumour to begin with. I’m sure Fox could do much worse than paint the set a different shade of dark.

According to David Poland’s The Hot Blog Gavin Hood has had pretty much most of what he wanted as they come into the closing stages of post-production.

And here’s one for good measure… had a chat with a high-ranking, unmotivated-to-bullshit member of the Wolverine team… and the take is that the movie is about 90% what Gavin Hood wanted as they finish up post. So… how evil does that make Fox and will the studio get a break? Or is 90% of his vision for the first-time action film director of a comic book film not enough? Or do you think you know what percentage of compromises that Zack Snyder and Chris Nolan (the first time around) and Bryan Singer really made when making their comic book films for Warners?

Fanboys have a habit of letting their dislike for Fox overshadow their judgement on some potentially good movies, however I don’t think X-Men Origins: Wolverine will disappoint (unless you’re a Deadpool fan).

Drew Barrymore Takes On W

2009-03-18T08:15:00.001-07:00

Drew Barrymore is on the cover April 2009’s W Magazine, and she is looking hot and vampy in this photo shoot. She appeared on good friend Jimmy Fallon’s new gig in late night in his opening week, and he had a sneak peek of this cover on the show, but now we not only have the cover but a look at some of the pictures inside. In the pages of the magazine, she talks about her life, love life and career.

She is an woman that is known for living life with no holds barred, but she even saw herself starting to settle too much. That would never do. She shook things up in her life three years ago by creating her own production company. The latest from the actress was released in February - He’s Just Not That Into You. Next up for Drew is Grey Gardens. Check out the photos from the magazine below. The issue of W hits newsstands on March 24th.

On ex Fabrizo Moretti: “One of the most, if not the most, important relationships I’ve had in my life. We’re still very close. I’m just learning who I am and how relationships work and how to make them function. No different from anyone else.”

Mayer & Aniston Are Done!

2009-03-18T08:14:00.001-07:00

Yes, that is the news out of Hollywood this morning. John Mayer is reported to have dumped Jennifer when she returned from promoting Marley & Me in Europe last week. The couple seemed to be happy, and we heard plenty of marriage and engagement rumors. Those rumors either had him proposing on her birthday last month or shortly afterwards.

The two were out and about at the Oscars together, also hitting the parties. However, now friends of the two are saying these two are completely done. Aniston recently spoke to a UK magazine about relationships and she had the following to say:

Who ever said that every relationship has to last forever? That’s hoping too much. I think every relationship is a world unto itself.

Haven’t we heard this one before? How many times will these two make up and break up before they finally call it quits for good? Is this the time or not? Representatives for both sides have declined to comment. Are John and Jen done? What do you think?

The Prince Of Persia - First Look

2009-03-18T08:12:00.000-07:00

This is the post where we call Reese Witherspoon one very lucky woman! She is currently the arm candy of one Jake Gyllenhaal, but I think after you see these pictures, you might think it is the other way around. Reese and Jake have been together for awhile now, and he has a new project coming out - Prince of Persia.

We won’t see it hit the big screen until 2010, but we received our first look at the movie and Jake when a few stills from the movie were released recently. Jake and Reese have currently been in Europe together as Reese promotes Monsters Vs. Aliens. What do you think? Are you ready to see Prince of Persia to hit the big screen?

Hollywood Movie Report

2009-03-18T08:09:00.000-07:00

Another Monday morning has arrived, and this means it is time to look at what happened at this weekend’s box office. Some might be shocked to see what happened this weekend though. After clearly dominating in its first week, Watchmen dropped in its second week of release to second place. This week’s top player at the box office was Dwayne Johnson and Carla Gugino with Race To Witch Mountain. Yes, Carla is also in Watchmen, so now she can say that she had two number one movies at the box office in the month of March 2009.

What is most shocking about this is the fact that Watchmen dropped so much from its first week. It only brought in a third of its first week’s sales with $18 million in earnings. Race To Witch Mountain came out on top with $25 million. The other new releases this weekend, The Last House On The Left and Miss March, came in at third place and tenth place, respectively. The Last House On The Left is another horror movie remake, but it did well with $14.7 million in earnings at the box office.

As for what is coming out new in the week ahead, we have three new movies hitting theaters - Duplicity, I Love you, Man, and Knowing. I am quite interested in Knowing based on the trailer alone, but Duplicity has star power with Julia Roberts and Clive Owen together again. On DVD, Twilight fans can pick up their copies on Tuesday as the movie hits store shelves. For a full list of this week’s releases, check out after the jump.

March 20
Duplicity
I Love You, Man
Knowing

March 17
Twilight (PG-13)
Punisher: War Zone (R)
Elegy (R)

Barney Miller The Complete 3rd Season
F Word, The Series 2: Uncensored
Ghost Hunters Season 4, Part 2
Head Case Season 1
Hollywood Residential Season 1
JAG The 8th Season
Married… with Children The Complete 10th Season
Marvel Superheroes The Mighty Thor: Enter Hercules
Mr. Belvedere Seasons 1 & 2
Nanny The Complete 3rd Season
Pup Named Scooby-Doo Complete 2nd, 3rd & 4th Seasons
Sergeant Preston of the Yukon Complete Season 1
Spectacular Spider-Man Volume 2, Volume 3
Suspense The Lost Episodes, Collection 3
Zeta Project Season 1

March 17
The Script - The Script
Lionel Richie - Just Go
Gabriella Cilmi - Lessons To Be Learned
Jupiter Rising - The Quiet Hype
Willie Nelson - Naked Willie
BoA - BoA
Marianne Faithfull - Easy Come, Easy Go
Static-X - Cult Of Static
Ida Maria - Fortress Round My Heart
Randy Weeks - Going My Way
Superdrag - Industry Giants
Caroline Weeks - Songs for Edna
Nick Lowe - Quiet Please: The New Best Of Nick Lowe
Mick Fleetwood Band - Blue Again [live]

Transformers 3, MacGyver And More!

2009-03-18T08:03:00.000-07:00

It seems there is a lot happening in the movie news world. Transformers 2 isn’t out in theaters yet, but we already know there is a good chance we might see Transformers 3. A date for that one has been set for July 1st, 2011. The studio behind the big robots said this doesn’t mean there are definite plans for the movie yet. They are just claiming their space now.

Other films also in the works are two from television. One is the possible jump of Macgyver to the big screen. Richard Dean Anderson made this series famous before he headed through the Stargate for ten years. No word yet on whether or not he would make a return to the role that made him famous or not yet, but you never know. It could happen.

The last film in the talking stages now would bring the 1960s animated television series, Johnny Quest, to life. Yes, as in a live action film. Zac Efron is being looked at to play the starring role, and Dwayne Johnson is in talks to play Agent Bannon. What is up with The Rock doing all these kids movies?! It must be working because we know Race To Witch Mountain was number one at the box office this weekend.

In other movie related news, Andy Samberg has been given the honor of hosting the MTV Movie Awards this year.What do you think of these moving coming down the line?

Jenna Jameson and Tito Ortiz Welcome Baby Twins!

2009-03-18T07:58:00.000-07:00

Twins seem to pop out these days for stars who want to settled down and have children. The fist time parents Jenna Jameson and Tito Ortiz are on the twins list adding two boys to their happy family. The porn star and her UFC star gave birth on March 16th in the location of Newport Beach. Tito seems to be a very happy dad and Jenna is also excited with her babies and if you are thinking about it there are no signs of wedding bells in the near future for the couple, as Jenna told, “I think I’m gonna stay unmarried and just go for the babies! I’m following in Angelina’s footsteps!”

Jai Veeru - Movie Review

2009-03-18T07:57:00.002-07:00

Banner: Siddhi Vinayak Movies
Producer: Narendra Bajaj, Shyam Bajaj
Executive Producer / Co-Producer: Varun Bajaj
Director: Puneet Sira
Star Cast: Fardeen Khan, Kunal Khemu, Dia Mirza, Anjana Sukhani, Arbaaz Khan, Rajesh Khattar
Lyricist: Sameer, Omer Inayat
Music Director: Bappa Lahri

The film “Jai Veeru” takes the friendship theme from “Sholay” and merges it up with other masala movies of 70’s , to get a package comprising of item numbers, dance, emotional sequences , comedy and action but the film fails to impress in any of these fields and the overall effect is rather nullified.

Jai is a mechanic and Veeru is a car stealer and both get together to form a burglar team although they don’t like each other. Jai wants to meet gangster Tejpal with the help of Veeru who is in love with a bikini girl, who comes out of the ocean. As the processes of running and chasing takes place, Jai is hit with a bullet on his skull and he takes medical treatment for the injury. A metal plate is implanted on his head and it is shown that Jai is married and settled with a nurse.

Then some kind of diary is traced by Veeru that contains telephone numbers and list of clients and contact numbers of the villain .The film’s direction is below average and script takes awful turns at unexpected moments. The overflow of masala elements fails to impress the audience. Nothing is exceptionally catchy or attractive. The comedy scenes fail to generate humor. Editing is not done properly. Cinematography is ok.

Kunal Khemu and Fardeen Khan appear ok (Kunal’s performance is better than Fardeen) and Anjana Sukhani and Dia Mirza’s performance is average. Arbaaz Khan, Govind Namdeo, Rajesh Khattar and Rakesh Bedi are ok. The film doesn’t have much appeal to get audience.

Rating: 2/10

Bollywood box-office report

2009-03-18T07:57:00.001-07:00

The movies released in the week are “Jai Veeru,” ”Gulaal” and “Little Zizou.” All the three movies have less famous actor and actresses and the storyline of Gulaal and Little Zizou do not resemble the typical Bollywood kind of movies. The results of the three movies on box office will be clear after the weekend collections. Anurag Basu is expecting to get some good benefits from his film “Gulaal” because his “Dev D” made collections more than expectations.

Last week, three Bollywood movies got released - “13B”,”Dhoondhte Reh Jaoge” and “Karma and Holi.” The three movies almost failed to get audience. The openings of the moves were poor and movie makers suffered losses. Same was the fate of movies released prior to last week, such as “Kisse Pyar Karoon” and “Siddharth –The Prisoner.” Some good news came from “Slumdog Millionaire” that continued to make collections from sale of tickets in India and in foreign countries. Slumdog millionaire made a total of collection of around Rs 14 crores from Indian market.

“Delhi 6” collected around 28.50 crores from the screening of the movie in previous two weeks .Both the weeks had no movies to compete a big banner film but “Delhi 6” did not benefit from the opportunity whereas many felt the collections were ok. “Billu” had similar fate and it collected not more than Rs 25 crores and that must have made Akshay Kumar proud because his “Chandni Chowk to China” fared better than “Billu” that had Shahrukh Khan in a cameo role.

Anurag Kashyap’s “Dev D” fared still better and brought profits for its maker because the movie grossed a total of around Rs 15 crores from previous week’s screening and “Dev D” was a low budget ,low promoted movie, that did not expect to perform well when it got released in the last week.

Bollywood : Winners of Kela awards match Filmfare award winners in some categories!

2009-03-18T07:56:00.001-07:00

What is the logic behind deciding an award winner? Priyanka Chopra gets the Best Actress Award for “Fashion” and for the same role she is getting the Kela award from another magazine and the magazine claims that the results were decided by online polls. Bollywood’s Golden Kela Awards for inferior movies is given by Random Magazine. The awards are inspired from the Golden Raspberries Awards of Hollywood and the selection for award winners has been made by online polls and the nominations were decided by the Random Magazine board.

Not only for Best Actress Award but also for Best Actress in Supporting Role of Filmfare matches the Worst Actress in supporting role of Kela Award that too for the same film “Fashion.” The main categories of awards include award for Worst Actor Male, Worst Female Actor, Worst Film and Worst Director.

The Lifetime Achievement Award was given to actor Mr. Jaspal Bhatti who said “the award was long due for me.” Other winners of Golden Kela Awards were Worst Actor award for Himesh Reshammiya for “Karzzzz,” Worst actress Priyanka Chopra for “Love Story 2050,” Worst director Kunal Kohli for “Thoda Life Thoda Magic,” Worst Supporting Actor - Salman Khan for “Hello” and worst Supporting Female was given to Kangana Ranaut for “Fashion.” Even in the case of Worst Debutant – the winner is Harman Baweja in male category and Anoushka Sharma gets the Worst Debutant Female. Many other awards functions have nominated Anoushka and even given her best debutant award.

Some other sections of awards were “Bawra Ho Gaya Hai Ke Award” was given to RGV, “Wafaa” got “When Did This Come Out Award”, Lajja Award for Worst Treatment of a Serious Issue Award was bagged by “Deshdrohi” , Insensitivity Award was taken by “Fashion” , Dara Singh award for the worst accent for Katrina Kaif, Most Atrocious Lyrics for Anvita Dutt Guptani for Lucky Boy from “Bachna Ae Haseeno” and Most Irritating Song of the Year was taken by “Tandoori Nights.”

Bollywood : Actors’ reincarnation stories used to promote the book?

2009-03-18T07:54:00.000-07:00

San Francisco researcher Walter Semkiw’s book “Born Again” has reincarnation stories of top Bollywood stars and politicians. The book claims Shahrukh Khan was Bengali dancer actor Sadhana Bose in his previous birth and Amitabh Bachchan was actor Edwin Booth in his previous life. Edwin had two wives, Mary Devlin, who was his wife for short duration is Rekha in Amitabh’s current birth as per the book and Mary McVickers, Edwin’s second wife is said to be reborn as Jaya Bachchan.

There are other reincarnation stories in the book such as Former President of India Abdul Kalam was Tipu Sultan in his previous birth. Tipu Sultan was famous for using rockets in war against British rule for the first time. Tipu Sultan used better technology in war. The book also claims that Tipu Sultan’s father Hyder Ali was Vikram Ambalal Sarabhai in next birth. Sarabhai is father of Indian Space program.

Other stories are of former Prime Minister of India Jawaharlal Nehru who is said to be the next birth of Bahadur Shah Zafar II, he was banished by British rule and was imprisoned and he was the last of the Mughals. The book claims Bahadur Shah was reborn as Jawaharlal Nehru and after Nehru, he was born as Benazir Bhutto, the first woman prime minister of Pakistan. There are reincarnation predictions about Indira Gandhi and Rajeev Gandhi as well.

But the most controversial part in the reincarnation story is that Shahrukh Khan was born in 1965 and Sadhana Bose died in 1973.Same is the case with Benazir Bhutto who was born in 1953 and Nehru died in 1964.The book explains the stay of soul in two bodies at a time. But the stories also indicate that once a man born in rich family is always born in a rich family in subsequent birth. The person who is popular in his previous life is famous in his next life. There are no proper explanations into the connections made about the two different people or the reincarnation stories have been made, just to promote the book.

Sikandar - Music Review

2009-03-18T07:53:00.000-07:00

The music of the film “Sikandar” is composed by Sandesh Shandilya Justin Uday and Shankar Ehsaan Loy are guest composers in the album.

‘Dhoop Ke Sikke’ – Lyrics of the song is by Prasoon Joshi and the song is composed by guest composers Shankar Ehsaan Loy. The song is in voice of Shankar and Anusha Mani and classical singing has been mixed to rock kind of music. The lyrics are about innocence and kids.

‘Gulon Mein (Serene Version)’-The song comes in two versions. One of the versions is called “Serene Version” and the other is the “Upbeat Version.” The poetic song’s composition is inspired from romantic songs of 70’s 80’s like “Gulmohar gar Tumhara Naam Hota, Ajnabi Kaun Ho Tum” and many others. The serene version is in Mohit Chauhan’s voice and the musical instrument used in the serene version is guitar. The song is romantic number and the Mohit’s voice makes the song powerful. The song is by Justin Uday. The lyrics are by Neelesh Misra who dedicated the song to Faiz Ahmad Faiz, the famous poet of Pakistan.

‘Gulon Mein (Upbeat Version)’ –The fast version of romantic song Gulon Mein has the keyboard sounds, guitar and other instruments and it is in voice of K.K. The fast version is by Sandesh Shandilya.

‘Arzoo (Naat)’ – Since the film is based in Kashmir a local number ‘naat ‘is also present in the album. The song is a spiritual number and it is in voice of a little boy Mehrajuddin. The local flavor and religious feel is present in the song.

‘Allah Hoo’-The song is in voices of Hrishikesh Kamrekar and Yash Navrekar and the song appears fresh for new voices but it is similar to Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan’s song. The lyrics by Kumaar are impressive. The music is by Justin-Uday.

‘Manzaraat’ - Shilpa Rao is behind the mike for the song and the folk touch is prevalent. The lyrics and beats are like a dance number “Bhumro Bhumro” kind.

‘Chaal Apni’ - Hamsika Iyer and Hrishikesh Kamerker get together for the song and it is ok. The theme of the song is like “Choti Si Aasha “but intensity is less. The Kashmiri tunes have been added to make the song feel to be from the valley.

The music composers have tried to have at least one musical instrument or sound in the songs that makes the song appear to be from the Kashmir valley and lyrics have also been written to enhance the Kashmir effect. The song ‘Gulon Mein’ is good to hear.

Rating: 5 / 10

Bollywood : Aamir Khan will do the role of a Sardar in a commercial

2009-03-18T07:52:00.000-07:00

After doing romantic roles and six packs roles, Aamir is set to do a role of a “Sardar” in a commercial. Aamir did the Mannu bhabhi role for coke advertisement and he will do an elderly Sikh man in another TV commercial. Aamir has proved, he does all the roles with perfection.

In his last movie “Ghajini”, he did the role of a shirtless man (like Salman Khan which might have annoyed Salman, who was ruling the gym going shirtless genre in Bollywood and even Shahrukh who was praised for six packs in OSO).Now it is turn of Sardar Akshay Kumar to see how Aamir portrays a Sardar. Akshay Kumar played the role of a Sardar in his movie “Singh Is Kinng” and he inspired many other actors to do role of Sardar in Bollywood movies.

Before Akshay, no Hindi actor ever tried to appear in the role of a sardar with a pagdi and come onscreen with unshaved face. Akshay took the risk and reaped the benefits. Even Shahrukh should be praised for appearing in the role of an unappealing man in “Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi.”

Bollywood stars are working hard on varieties in looks and Aamir will appear in the role of an elderly Sardar in the TV commercial for Tata Sky and he will also be wearing a black spectacle and he will have wrinkles on skin for the role. The look will be very serious and Aamir may be difficult to identify.

Aamir previously was seen in the role of Chinese man in an advertisement then Dinu Kaka .Later he played “a good husband who allows his wife to watch TV and he, instead talks to his mother-in-law on phone.” After doing young man in “Rang De Basanti” and “Dil Chahta Hai” and serious roles in “Ghajini,” Aamir is waiting for some more challenging roles and it is expected that he will be able to surprise his fans through his upcoming movie ‘3 Idiots.’

Bollywood : Should the elderly actors make way for the young ones?

2009-03-18T07:50:00.000-07:00

There are not many young actors and actresses who are leading in Bollywood and it can also be said that not many youngsters are talented like Shahrukh Khan or Aamir Khan to make way for them in Bollywood. Most of the top stars such as Shahrukh Khan, Aamir Khan, Salman Khan and Akshay Kumar have been dominating the silver screen from almost 15- 20 years and from their first movie onwards; these actors proved they had the talent to reach the top slot.

What has been the reason for Bollywood not having real actors, is it the family culture, where the children of actors and actresses are getting chance to do movies and new faces not from Bollywood families, are not getting opportunity to prove their talent or the lack of seriousness in making movies, as most of the movies are made taking people from fashion world and the talented ones are not considered.

Audience today is not spending on viewing movies they don’t consider valuable. Sometimes you see people not fit to be in acting world, doing lead roles in expensive movies. Today you have Neil, Imran and Ranbir, the new faces into Bollywood, who appear to be talented but all of these belong to famous Bollywood families and they got a chance to prove their talents through various advertising and marketing ways. You don’t find truly romantic heroes or action heroes in Bollywood.

The performance of actors doing romantic roles is not serious and even action heroes are not like angry young man Amitabh Bachchan. It is said that there is lot of competition in Bollywood but it is even evident that there is a big vacancy for good actors and actresses in the Hindi cinema Industry.

Meri Padosan -Movie Preview

2009-03-18T07:45:00.000-07:00

Banner: Sagar Creations
Producer: Ashok Bagla
Director: Prakash Saini
Star Cast: Sarvar Ahuja, Sadhika Randhawa, Sanjay Mishra, Khayali, Heena Tasleem,
Ashok Bagla
Lyricist: Rishi Azad, Jai Salwan
Music Director: Ravi Meet, Manoj Negi

The story of the film “Meri Padosan,” is about Viju and his wife Kavita. Viju works as a clerk and Kavita is a housewife. The story starts when a struggling director Shyam Gopal Verma comes to stay in their neighborhood at his friend’s residence. His friend is Prem is a media promoter and he lives with Aslam, employed in bank in the same house.

The struggling movie director Shyam is in search of new stories and sometimes he gets into fast forward mode when he sees Viju and his wife Kavita together. One day Shyam spots a vacancy in a media channel for a director. “Live India,” the channel is searching for new directors and when Shyam approaches the channel, he finds almost 500 directors are struggling to get the post in the channel. Shyam fills the form for the post and he tries to search for a story to be shot.

One day Shyam looks outside the window and he sees his neighboring Viju coming back from office and Viju meets his wife Kavita waiting at home. Kavita hugs her husband and the couple kisses each other and Shyam feels the chemistry between the couple is amazing and he feels he got a story to be captured in camera.

Shyam has no money and he hires a camera for 10 days and captures the romance of the married couple in his camera. He shoots some funny and romantic moments of the two and tries to get a break in his career. Will Shyam succeed in getting his lifetime break? The film “Meri Padosan” is about the neighbor and the movie director.

'Transformers': We're already talking about a third film?

2009-03-18T07:43:00.000-07:00

Apparently Paramount's decision to release the third Transformers movie in July 2011 was news to director Michael Bay, who's currently finishing the second movie in the series, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, which is due this summer. Bay said on his official website that he was under the impression that the third movie would be unleashed in July 2012, not 2011, and that he "needs a break from fighting robots." Either way, you have to wonder: Should Paramount even be committing to a release date before the script is completed, before a director is officially on board, and before the second Transformers movie has opened?

Also, if Bay ultimately opts not to direct the third Transformers movie, who should replace him? I'd love to see a filmmaker with a leaner, less oppressive style take the helm. My dream pick: Alfonso Cuarón (who has already proven that he can handle massive franchises by directing Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban). Cuarón would lend the Transformers film a palpable sense of urgency while not sacrificing the major set pieces (the extended action scenes in Children of Men trump anything seen in Transformers).

But I'm probably speaking heresy to the legions of moviegoers who did enjoy Michael Bay's Transformers, so what say you, PopWatchers? Should Paramount do whatever it can to keep Bay happy, even if that means pushing the third movie back a year? Or is there another director you'd rather have leading the "robots in disguise"?

[http://www.ew.com/ew]

Hollywood, Box Office Report: 'Race to Witch Mountain' casts a spell at No. 1

2009-03-18T07:38:00.000-07:00

The Disney family film update Race to Witch Mountain won the weekend box office in fine fashion, grossing $25 million, according to Sunday's estimates from Media by Numbers. That's the second best opening ever for a movie fronted by Dwayne Johnson alone, trailing only the first feature that starred the artist formerly known as The Rock, The Scorpion King, which banked $36.1 in its 2002 debut. Race to Witch Mountain's take was in line with expectations and garnered an okay CinemaScore grade of B+ from an audience that was 60 percent female. It should stay strong at the box office at least until Monsters vs. Aliens opens in two weeks.

Also in Race to Witch Mountain's favor: weak competition from reigning champ Watchmen (No. 2), which dropped a hefty 67 percent from its big opening last weekend to gross $18.1 mil. Zack Snyder's adaptation of Alan Moore's landmark superhero saga is clearly slowing down, although it has grossed $86 mil in 10 days.

Freshman fright flick The Last House on the Left was next at No. 3, with an anticipated $14.7 mil. That's a decent sum for a horror movie that had the added benefit of opening on Friday the 13th; indeed, it's in line with what most scary remakes tend to bring in on their first weekends. Thus, you can expect this film (which got a so-so B CinemaScore review) to fall off the map after this frame, since that's also what most horror movies do.

Taken (No. 4 with $6.7 mil) remained in the top five well into its second month at the multiplex. Tyler Perry's Madea Goes to Jail came in at No. 5 with $5.1 mil. And the weekend's other new wide release, the Playboy-centric comedy Miss March, grossed an unsexy $2.3 mil way down at No. 10.

Meanwhile, the limited indie release Sunshine Cleaning, starring Emily Blunt and Amy Adams, scored the highest opening-weekend per-theater average thus far in 2009, dusting up a stellar average of $53,500 in four theaters in New York and Los Angeles.

Overall, the box office was a little on the sluggish side, dropping nearly 17 percent from the same frame a year ago, when Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who! was the big winner. Still, this is just the first "down" weekend in more than a month, which is comforting.

American Idol : 'Dancing With the Stars' gets close to overtaking 'American Idol' in the weekly race

2009-03-18T07:35:00.000-07:00

American Idol is on top of the weekly ratings yet again. For the seven days ending March 15, Fox's megahit took the Nos. 1 and 2 spots, with 25.8 million viewers for the Tuesday competition episode and 25.5 million for the Wednesday results episode. Normally, the disparity between the competition and results shows is far greater, but musical performances from Kanye West and American Idol alum Kelly Clarkson on Wednesday night likely helped bump up that installment's viewership.

That said, Idol may have finally found some serious ratings competition! ABC's celebrity hoofing juggernaut Dancing With the Stars, which premiered to a very hefty 22.8 million viewers, closely nipped at the heels of Fox's karaoke titan: It trailed Ryan Seacrest & Co. by just 2.7 million. Fox must be shaking at the prospect of DWTS overtaking Idol in the weekly ratings. We're not quite there yet, but it is a very real possibility in the not-too-distant future. In fact, the season 8 premiere of DWTS was the most-watched debut ever for the series and the second-highest-rated in the advertiser-coveted 18-49 demographic. And there was this, too: DWTS' nearly 23 million viewers were the most drawn to ABC on a Monday night since May 2006. Guess what execs at ABC are probably doing right now? Maybe...dancing!

The rest of the Top 20 was business as usual. CBS's CSI rolled in at No. 4 and ABC's Desperate Housewives popped up next, with 14.6 million, to round out the Top 5. Then it was your usual menagerie of CBS procedurals, ABC's Grey's Anatomy, CBS's Two and a Half Men and Survivor, Fox's trio of dramas (24, Lie to Me, and House). And, NBC's Law & Order: SVU (possibly buoyed by all the news about star Mariska Hargitay lately?) made a surprise appearance in the Top 20. Want to see exactly where the rest of the shows landed? The complete breakdown is after the jump.

Photo Credit: M Becker/Getty Images

Hollywood :California Woos Film And TV Producers

2009-03-18T07:30:00.000-07:00

If you thought that everything that has to do with the movies we see come out of Hollywood all come from the same place, think again. The truth of the matter is that more and more TV and film producers have been moving away from Hollywood – and the state of California, actually – in an effort to save on their expenses for production. It is but understandable, as the taxes in the state are quite notoriously high.

A natural consequence of this mass exodus of TV and film producers is the state’s government effort to stop them from leaving. And what has The Terminator done to do so? He has signed a bill offering considerable tax incentives to those TV and film producers who carry on with their production within the state of California.

If you are thinking that Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is being a sell out by offering these tax cuts, you just might be wrong. Looking at it from another point of view, the fact is that he just might be doing the state a huge favor. If he didn’t offer these incentives, the state’s losses could very reach $10 billion by the end of the year. The tax incentives, on the other hand, involved $100 million per annum. Now compare those two figures….

The question now is this: “Is the tax program working?”

Apparently it is. According to Amy Lemisch, the executive director of the California Film Commission, she is swamped with calls from producers, directors, and studios, asking about how to keep production in the state. For us viewers, I guess this means “authentic” Hollywood films?

Hollywood : Underworld: Rise of the Lycans Review

2009-03-18T07:25:00.000-07:00

Thanks for checking out our Underworld: Rise of the Lycans review.

I was beyond excited when I first heard about the original Underworld movie. I mean come on… werewolves versus vampires! Does a geek need to hear anything else to get his blood pumping? The answer is no. Add on top of that a hot as hell Kate Beckinsale dressed in tight leather fighting the armies of the night. Sign me up! Unfortunately the movie didn’t quite live up to it’s potential. It had fantastic style and a great mythology behind it, but it suffered in its execution. It did introduce us to my all time favorite movie vampire however… Viktor! Then came Underworld 2 and it was… how do I put this? A giant sack of crap. It’s just best that we all treat it like Highlander 2 and just forget it ever existed.

When they first announced that there would be a third Underworld film I was extremely apprehensive (because the second one was so bad and he story seemed to have nowhere left to go), until I found out that it was going to be a prequel. An Underworld movie about the old war. Showing the Vampires in all their glory and the Lycans in all their savagery. This was the Underworld movie I had been waiting to see. Did it deliver on all my hopes and dreams? No… but it was still quite good and without a doubt the best Underworld film to date.

THE GENERAL IDEA

The synopsis for Underworld: Rise of the Lycans looks something like this: “This prequel story traces the origins of the centuries-old blood feud between the aristocratic vampires known as Death Dealers and their onetime slaves, the Lycans. In the Dark Ages, a young Lycan named Lucian emerges as a powerful leader who rallies the werewolves to rise up against Viktor, the cruel vampire king who has enslaved them. Lucian is joined by his secret lover, Sonja, in his battle against the Death Dealer army and his struggle for Lycan freedom. FX artist Patrick Tatopoulos, who developed the creatures for the first two films, is directing.”

THE GOOD

The term “all killer no filler” comes to mind here. Very little precious screen time is wasted on us puny humans (except as Vampire or Lycan food). Almost every second of this film is spent with either Vampires or Lycans on the screen. Usually pissed off at each other… often killing each other. For a film like Underworld this is a total positive because it seems like the producers are finally starting to clue in to the fact that in a werewolf/vampire movie… we wanna see werewolves fighting vampires. Now if only Michael Bay can learn the same lesson with Transformers… but I digress.

The visual effects for this film… when you really consider how small the production budget was… are amazing. You have to understand that by Hollywood standards the budget on Underworld: Rise of the Lycans was beyond tiny. Oh there are times that the effects look like they came from 2002, but I was very impressed with what they were able to pull off.

One of the big risks and problems with doing sequels is that you can end up doing stuff that is totally inconsistent with the other films. I like to call this the “Phantom Menace Effect” (what the hell do you mean Darth Vader built C3PO? Huh… Obi Wan doesn’t remember R2D2?). But Underworld 3 totally nails the issue of consistency… probably better than I’ve ever seen a prequel done before. Everything fits perfectly and flows seamlessly into the events of the first Underworld film. Not an easy task… but they did it very well.

The battle scenes were done often and well. I won’t say they were mind blowing or anything like that… but there was good quality and quantity in terms of violence for certain… especially the bigger battle scene. The film is guilty of a bit of shaky cam during the fights… but it wasn’t bad enough to detract from the fights overall.

Viktor is still the coolest Vampire ever

THE BAD

Oh dear heavens… this movie has one of the WORST sex/love scenes in the history of werewolf vs. vampire movies. Ok, one of the worst of any kind of films. It just sort of comes out of nowhere… feels awkward as hell… has absolutely zero heat to it and by the end doesn’t even pay you off with so much as a Rhona boob shot.

While Viktor is still the baddest vampire on the block… this movie almost neutered him a little bit. He was not nearly as menacing or “all powerful” as he was in the first Underworld film. This MIGHT be considered a tiny bit of a spoiler… but in the first Underworld film Lucian’s big plan was to create a Half Vampire/Half Werewolf creature that could potentially stand a chance in a fight against Viktor… because no one can stand toe to toe with Viktor and last more than 5 seconds. Not Lucian, not anyone. Viktor was just too powerful. But in this film, Viktor and Lucian go toe to toe and almost seem like equals. It’s a minor point, but one that bothered me nonetheless.

Yes, I already said the quality and quantity of the visual effects in Underworld 3 were extremely impressive considering the budget… but you don’t just get a free pass because of your budget. This is still a Hollywood film and as such we expect a certain level of quality to the movie done with some consistency. So while I have no idea how they pulled off so much with so little… you still have to dig them for how poor (by proper Hollywood standards) some of the visual effects looked.

The movie lacked one of the strong elements of the first Underworld film. STYLE. With all the weaknesses of the first film, you were always taken with it’s pure visual/fanionable/cultural and mythological STYLE… especially of the vampire covens. This film didn’t have any of that. Instead of living in plush decadence, the vampire city seems dreary, cold and as lifeless as their own vampire hearts. Too bad.

OVERALL

Underworld: Rise of the Lycans succeeds in all the areas is needed to in order to deliver a fun time at the movies while failing to deliver what it required to make it really special. The wussing out a bit of Viktor, some bad visual effects and lack of real style are overcome just enough by the pure amount of Vampires fighting Vampires, the effectiveness of the continuity with the first Underworld film and the decent performances by Michael Sheen, Bill Nighy and Rhona Mitra to end up being the best of the franchise so far and worth a trip to the movie theater. Overall I give Underworld: Rise of the Lycans a 7 out of 10.

Hollywood Movie Review : Watchmen

2009-03-18T07:21:00.000-07:00

Thanks for checking out our Watchmen Review. For years, Watchmen has been the one graphic novel that most comic book fans have been waiting for with insane anticipation. Very few other graphic novel properties held as much potential to be a classic movie… and yet at the same time no other graphic novel seemed to hold as many challenges.

The big question that I, and many other had about Watchmen was: “Could a faithful adaptation work on screen as well as it does on the printed page”? The fear was that a literal translation from page to screen would be too slow and heavy for the average film fan… while at the same time a fear that too much of a departure from the novel would dilute Watchmen into just another shallow comic book superhero film. So with much anticipation and much apprehension I went in to see Watchmen. Did it live up to it’s massive potential or fall into snares of the unique challenges it faced? In my opinion, it lived up to, and exceeded its already impressive potential. For me, Watchmen is the best movie of 2009 so far.

THE GENERAL IDEA

The synopsis for Watchmen looks something like this: “Watchmen” is set in an alternate 1985 America in which costumed superheroes are part of the fabric of everyday society, and the “Doomsday Clock” - which charts the USA’s tension with the Soviet Union - is permanently set at five minutes to midnight. When one of his former colleagues is murdered, the washed up but no less determined masked vigilante Rorschach sets out to uncover a plot to kill and discredit all past and present superheroes. As he reconnects with his former crime-fighting legion - a ragtag group of retired superheroes, only one of whom has true powers - Rorschach glimpses a wide-ranging and disturbing conspiracy with links to their shared past and catastrophic consequences for the future. Their mission is to watch over humanity… but who is watching the Watchmen?”

THE GOOD

Where do I begin? Let’s start with the action. For those of you who have read the graphic novel, you know that Watchmen is not your typical superhero comic book. It’s not filled from cover to cover with big action sequences… yet somehow director Zach Snyder was able to find that delicate balance of inserting very impressive action / combat sequences without taking away from the real identity of the film by making it look or feel like an action movie. Each and every fight / action sequence was masterfully put together. Exciting, beautifully choreographed and shot in such a way that we the audience got to clearly see each second of the action. I’ll tell you right now that while I won’t say Watchmen is either better or worse than the recent Christopher Nolan batman movies… the action sequences (especially the fights) are far superior than anything The Dark Knight offered (aside from maybe the armored truck chase scene).

A theme that went extremely unappreciated in Superman Returns was also used in Watchmen with just as much if not more effectiveness. How does someone with god like power stay connected with the human race? Not just with the others they live with, but with their own humanity as well? As a result of a tragic accident (isn’t that how all superheros get their powers?), Dr. Manhattan finds himself in that situation. We see him over time losing more and more of his humanity and his interest in the human race as a whole. Still barley holding on to his intellectual belief that he SHOULD help humanity, but increasingly letting his actual emotional connection slip away. He still thinks he SHOULD care… but he increasingly doesn’t. In this way Dr. Manhattan, for me, is the most fascinating character in the film whose own moral dilemma stands in a juxtaposition to the self inflicted crisis the human race finds itself in. For me, Dr. Manhattan’s observations of the sinking world sets the context for the entire story of the film and it was executed beautifully.

If Dr. Manhattan is the most fascinating character in the film, Rorschach is flat out the most cool. I admit I was not thrilled with the casting of Jackie Earle Haley at first. He’s a wonderful actor, but I didn’t buy him for a minute as Rorschach… that is until I saw him actually playing the roll. Now I think it was one of the best castings I’ve seen this year. Without the god like powers of Dr. Manhattan, Rorschach is no less complex of a character. His very loose grip on sanity is grounded in his desire to enforce justice… mostly manifested by a bloodthirsty drive to punish the wicked. Even his old comrades in the Watchmen keep their distance from him now and see him as dangerous, but as we explore the history and past of Rorschach we start to understand what made him snap, losing his connection with humanity. Dr. Manhattan is losing his as a result of his god like power and his lack of common ground with humanity… while Rorschach is losing his as a result of his increased disgust with the state of humanity. Brilliantly played out.

Creating an alternative world within the real world and real history is no small task, filled with the potential to be cheesy. Thankfully, Snyder found a way to make it interesting and remarkably believable. Sure… Richard Nixon was elected for a third term as president… and the audience didn’t blink. This world was gritty, real and filled with the authentic fears and tension of the cold war which were pivotal to making the story work.

At it’s heart, Watchmen is a mystery film. Who is killing off the heroes? What is the bigger conspiracy and what is its goals? The movie is pushed along by these questions which also sets the framework for the rest of the story to exist within. On this level it works extremely well. Since I read the graphic novel I already knew the answers to those questions… and somehow the movie got me just as caught up in the pursuit of the answers as other people who had no idea. Brilliant!

Throughout the film the movie raises larger moral questions. The standard black and white textures of comic book films (which is often perfect for comic book films) is replaced by endless shades of grey. Where does justice stop and vengeance begin? To what extent do the ends justify the means? How great does the “greater good” have to be in order to warrant unspeakable actions? Does humanity even deserve to be saved? These are huge questions that Watchmen resists the urge to give quick trite answers too. Each character comes to their own conclusions and beliefs.

THE BAD

I’ve got to say that I wasn’t impressed by Malin Akerman’s performance as Silk Specter II. As a matter of fact, I found that just about anytime she spoke it pulled me out of the film. The dialog was fine, the character itself was fine… the performance was not. I’m not saying Malin Akerman isn’t a fine actress (I haven’t seen her enough to give that opinion), but for whatever reason, she stood out as a high school play in the midst of a Shakespearean festival.

The film’s decision to use of a younger actress, Carla Gugino, to play the aged Silk Specter I was a terrible one. Oh she was great in the flashback scenes showing her when she was a superhero and young… but they should have just cast a different older actress to play the much older version. Not only did they not have her ACT old enough, she LOOKED terrible… she looked like a young woman in bad old woman make up. Much like Malin Akerman’s performance, it pulled me out of the movie whenever it was on screen.

I found the last 5 minutes of the film or so started to unravel a bit. I think the film did indeed need a little bit of an epilogue to it, but they didn’t do one very well and felt like it was just filling screen time as opposed to putting a book end on the story. But this is a minor point and thankfully it was pretty short.

OVERALL

Watchmen is a brilliant, wonderfully shot, wonderfully told and wonderfully experienced movie that skillfully navigated the potential pitfalls that a story like this one presents. Vibrant and complex characters, exciting and beautiful action sequences, an exceptional story with a compelling mystery and broader themes and questions rarely approached in “comic book” films. A few small slips here and there with some poor choices in terms of casting or endings doesn’t at all derail the Watchmen steam train. A terrific film. I can understand and see why certain other critics may not appreciate the film nearly as much as I’ve ended up appreciting it… but I disagree with them. Go see it… see it a couple of times to really catch everything going on. You’ll be glad you did.

Overall I give Watchmen an 8.5 out of 10

Hollywood : Watchmen Drops to Second at the Boxoffice

2009-03-18T07:20:00.001-07:00

Very few films have ever had an increase in their second week (Borat was one of them) but Watchmen has finished out its second weekend at 18million in second place just above Wes Craven’s Last House on the Left, though some reports are saying third (House finished at $14m).

Hardcore Nerdity reports:

Watchmen lost it’s #1 spot to Disney’s PG-rated family flick Race To Witch Mountain, but held it’s own against the incoming R-rated remake of Wes Craven’s Last House On The Left. Interestingly, while Last House beat Watchmen’s numbers Friday, it finished #3 for the weekend after Watchmen defied industry expectations with an impressive Saturday comeback.
After a staggering 78% dropoff from the previous Friday, Watchmen experienced an equally staggering 42% increase the following night. To put that in perspective, The Dark Knight had only a 22% bump on it’s second Saturday.

$18million is still pretty impressive considering the more family friendly Dwayne Johnson starring remake of Witch Mountain was destined to dominate the boxoffice. (Remember the Squash)

I honestly didn’t think that Watchmen would break $10million this weekend, so I guess it exceeded my humble expectations, but still not enough to really launch it into the hall of fame.

Watchmen was one of those films were you just loved it to death for what it was supposed to be, or you hated it. There doesn’t seem to be any middle ground.

I didn’t anticipate Hayter’s Open Letter to have that much of an impact, though I did agree with the principal behind it.

Hollywood : Vin Diesel talks Possible Sequels to his Hit Films

2009-03-18T07:18:00.000-07:00

Vin Diesel sat down with Latino Review to talk about Hannibal, XXX3, Riddick and even the idea of doing a Fast and Furious 5

Vin talks about Fast and Furious going to Europe:

I think a few pictures at a time ahead. I try to work out stories in the way I approach sequels. In that, Coppola way. I try to think out the story, even before we go to shoot the film that’s at hand. So yes, I have been thinking about it. I actually brought up the idea of shooting both of the movies back to back to the President of Universal. He was like, “What? We’re just getting our feet back together.”

I will give Vin Diesel this much, the guy has ambition. You can never say any of his failures were from lack of trying but he fell out of the limelight for a reason.

The interview goes on to talk about returning to the Riddick franchise (Which Vin parallels to Lord of the Rings a lot) as well as his directorial effort while staring in the upcoming Hannibal the Conqueror.

He talks a good talk, and makes me wonder if he is just right off his rocker, fully unaware of what he is saying or if he is a lot deeper than we ever give the lovable lug credit for.

Hollywood : Hard-Boiled Sequel is now a Stranglehold Prequel Reboot

2009-03-18T07:17:00.001-07:00

The sequel to Hard-Boiled movie may never come to pass, but more likely a movie based on the plot and character of the popular video game Stranglehold will. Except that it will be a prequel. And a re-imagining. Ok, is this even going to be in the same franchise??

Twitchfilm says:

We are now developing a movie of STRANGLEHOLD, and just signed the writers Fabrizio & Passmore. It will be a hardcore action film set in both Hong Kong and Chicago. We will keep some of the action set pieces of the game, but the story is different. It is a total reinvention, with a much younger Tequila. In other words, it is not a sequel to HARD-BOILED.

So not only is it a reboot of sorts, but it is a prequel as well? That’s an odd mix.

Seems like they are sticking to some of the things that made Hardboiled a hit, but then going back a step in to Tequila’s timeline and starting over. Reboots usually do involve some retelling, so the easiest way to do that without stomping on the toes of a popular film so fresh in our minds would be to go younger. This gives them more flexability and hopefully gives us something new to a franchise that probably didn’t need a reboot.

Hollywood :MacGyver to be Adapted to Feature Film

2009-03-18T07:16:00.001-07:00

Someone must have been digging through old 80s action shows looking for Reboots and realized that someone forgot to tap MacGyver for big screen adaptation gold. Well it looks like that is exactly what is going to happen.

Latino Review says:

“MacGyver” was a science-oriented adventure series that ran from 1985-92 on ABC. Richard Dean Anderson, later of “Stargate: Atlantis” and “SG-1″ fame, starred as an incredibly resourceful secret agent for the Phoenix Foundation who frequently would escape from dangerous situations with ingenious and lightning-quick engineering trickery.

As much as I like Richard Dean Anderson for immortalizing the role and still finding work afterwards, I really hope that if they do this, it isn’t with Anderson. They haven’t said they are pursuing Anderson, and I hope they don’t.

My reasoning is that if they were to do MacGyver with Anderson in the lead role, the movie will be no better than the TV Movie events they made. The concept is pretty cool when you think of it. A guy who fights crime while creatively jury rigging devices? That has so much potential for a cool action movie, but you can’t help but think of the cheesy TV show where it was perfectly normal to see him make a jet ski out of a coffin.

There is potential here for something really cool, but considering Brener’s last line in the interview, I worry that it will just be a cheese fest not worth of another TV Movie.

“We think we’re a stick of chewing gum, a paper clip and an A-list writer away from a global franchise,” said New Line’s Richard Brener, who will oversee with Sam Brown and Walter Hamada.

Can MacGyver be made cool again?

Hollywood : Sam Raimi talks Spiderman 4

2009-03-18T07:15:00.001-07:00

Sam Raimi hit the interview circuit and hit up a few places to talk about Spiderman 4.

ComingSoon.net shares:

Raimi says that he and the production team are “in the earliest stages of working with the writer, trying to work out a story.” He added that they are just working on the fourth installment and not also a fifth film. Previous reports had claimed that Sony Pictures would be making the fourth and fifth movies at the same time, but that doesn’t appear to be the case.
The helmer said that they are closing in on Spider-Man’s adversary or adversaries for the fourth pic. “All the characters or villains or villains, whatever we decide to do will be from Stan Lee’s creations or those that came after him,” he said.

And will Kirsten Dunst return as Mary Jane Watson? If it was up to Raimi, definitely: “I’m hoping she’ll be in it and I’m planning on having a story with her in it… It wouldn’t be the Spider-Man series without her.”

I know everyone will land on Dunst returning as MJ. I really don’t mind her as Mary Jane, my concern with her is that they focus too much of the story on her. MJ in the books was the damsel in distress and some momentary distraction to ground Peter’s life with a romance. But as much as Spiderman’s story has always been about his struggle with his secret identity and trying to juggle his private life and still be the hero. Those are elements of his character, but they shoudln’t be the focal point.

Mary Jane is a fine addition to the series, they just need to redirect the focus away from emo-peter, and give us a Spiderman story with some side story, not all side story with a little Spiderman.

I suspect we will finally see the evolution of Dr Connors (mentioned more than once in the series) finally becoming the Lizard. Frankly I hope they stick to the Sinister Seven before resorting to some of the lesser known villains.

Hollywood : Linda Hamilton Confirmed for Terminator Salvation

2009-03-18T07:13:00.000-07:00

Rumours of Linda Hamilton making an appearance in Terminator Salvation are now confirmed. She will offer a narration, but not actually appear in the film.

/Film says:

In February, Linda Hamilton revealed that she was in active negotiations to reprise her role as Sarah Connor for a voice over in McG’s Terminator Salvation. CHUD now has confirmation that she not only agreed to do the read, but the voice over is already cut into the beginning of the film.

I think this is fitting to have Hamilton doing the voiceover narration to the film. She was always making recordings and keeping a journal to help guide her son, so it is fitting that in a world long after Sarah Connor is on the Earth, we would see some sort of continued impact on John Connor’s life.

I was hoping for some flashbacks, but I can live with this. It is a suitable tribute.

Transformers 3 Release Date Announced

2009-03-18T07:11:00.000-07:00

Looks like the Transformers are hoping to mark their territory in a summer that looks to have more blockbusters planned than any in recent memory. Transformers 3 is getting a release date of July 1, 2011 and the second chapter has yet to be released.

Latino Review says:

Paramount and DreamWorks are forging ahead with “Transformers 3,” dating the movie for release on July 1, 2011.
It’s the first official word of the three-quel. Paramount insiders have said that the dating of the pic isn’t an official announcement that the project is going forward; rather that the studio wanted to plan a stake in the date.

I like how they tease that the movie itself is not official, but if they move on it that’s where it is going to land, hoping to scare off any competition for the time slot.

I have no doubts that Transformers Revenge of the Fallen will rake in the bucks. And we all know that any movie that makes that kind of cash is always up for consideration of a sequel.

Bollywood : Aamir Khan champions Earth Hour 2009, Lead India and Incredible India campaigns

2009-03-18T07:08:00.000-07:00

Birthday Boy Aamir Khan turns 44 years younger today. The defining actor who has excelled in every role, be it that of an actor, producer and director, has donned the mantle of a crusader for social causes in 2009. Aamir Khan will be leading the Earth Hour 2009 campaign for India. As a part of the 'Vote Earth' campaign, everyone will be voluntarily switching off their lights for one hour on on Saturday, March 28, 8:30 pm to 9:30 pm local time. The symbolic flip of the switch is our way to express solidarity against climate change crisis and global warming.

More than 80 countries and territories including India, have pledged their support to VOTE EARTH during Earth Hour 2009. Aamir Khan who is serious about the Vote Earth campaign is forthright in his views,"Climate Change is undoubtedly and regrettably, the biggest immediate long-term environmental challenge we face. A failure to come to sound policy outcomes on climate change will not only have a negative environmental impact but also social and economic consequences for all of us. Stand up and join us in the fight against climate change. Support Earth Hour.”

Let us all take a stand in saving our planet from climatic crisis and global warming. Join Aamir Khan in the Orkut Earth Hour campaign and/or Facebook Earth Hour campaign

Bollywood flop card for the 1st Quarter: So far, so bad!

2009-03-18T07:04:00.001-07:00

The Bollywood Report card for the first quarter of 2009 can be marked in RED. With flops written all over, not a single movie has done good business from January to March' 2009(the first quarter). Movies like Chandni Chowk to China, Dilli 6, Luck By Chance, Billu, Dev D, Dhoondtey Reh Jaaogey, Victory, Luck By Chance have done bad to mediocre business. Movies like Billu, though appreciated by the masses could not recover their investment. Only the two horror flicks Raaz 2 and 13 B have done above average business. 13 B, is the only film that should be lauded because it was above expectations, thanks to good content in spite of the fact that it had no major star or marketing muscle.

Bollywood 2008 which ended with a bang courtesy Aamir Khan's Ghajini and SRK's Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi, have again nosedived. The movies to release in the immediate future, are : The Bipasha starrer, Aa Dekhen Zara; Yash Raj films' New York, Subhash Ghai's Paying Guest, Mukesh Bhatt's Jashnn, Sanjay Gupta's The Great Indian Butterfly and Vishal Bharadwaj's Kaminay.

However the fate of the above films also does hang in balance because of the rift between the producers and the multiplex owners. There is a loss of revenue in the media also which undertakes the promotion, marketing and packaging of film; viz, radio, TV or print. As one member of the United Forum puts it, if the strike goes on for another 3 months, the movie and the media stands to lose another Rs.500 crores.

[http://bollywoodtrends.blogspot.com]

Bollywood 2009: Year of Fear and supernatural thrillers

2009-03-18T07:01:00.000-07:00

Bollywood 2009 began with a scream(read Raaz-The Mystery Continues and 13 B), gives us the clue that horror is the flavor of the year. If Bollywood 2007 was the year of sports, 2008, the year of terror-based films, Bollywood 2009 seems to be about super natural thrillers.

Raaz 2 was about a spirit tormenting a girl so that he could take revenge on wrongs done to him. 13B was a unique story about a TV set telecasting a daily soap that has events that are going to happen in the lives of the family watching the series. The forthcoming Bipasha Basu-Neil Nitin Mukesh starrer, Aa Dekhen Zara has a camera predicting the future through a series of pictures and photographs. Akshay Kumar starrer-Tasveer 8x10 has the lead actor gifted with the unique ability to talk about the lives of dead people who are complete strangers, by looking at their photographs. Akshay Kumar will also be starring in Action Replay, reportedly made on the lines of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,where he will be born as an old man, getting younger with each reel. Producer Vashu Baghnani's son Jackie Baghnani, makes his debut in a thriller, in which his character has the ability to forsee the future.

Kareena loves Saif so much Why !

2009-03-18T06:51:00.000-07:00

Kareena Kapoor in a recent interview to popular tabloid Mumbai Mirror, revealed why Saif Ali Khan is the most understanding man in her life. Here are the excepts of the interview, where Kareena Kapoor reveals why she loves and adores Saif Ali Khan a lot:

On Saif's role during her breakup with Shahid Kapur:
Choice is where you choose to be, and where you want to be and in such a personal issue, I think there’s so many things that happen which one shouldn’t be digging up and shouldn’t talk about. Saif has always been my friend first in that period and now my lover, so I think we’ve grown from friends to being in this relationship. And the choice is that I clearly wanted to be where I was. I don’t believe in mud slinging, I don’t believe in discussing my relationships, I think the fact that I’ve just been purely honest and I’ve never hidden the fact that I was with Saif and that I am with Saif.

About marriage:
I want to tie the knot but at the right time. People think that Saif is pressurizing me but I would like to say on record say that he’s never done that. In fact I am always wanting to tie the knot and he’s the one whose been telling me that "listen, lets give it some time, lets wait, your are at a stage which every girl would want to be at in their career, so sit back and just enjoy the roller coaster ride for some time. And that’s what makes me love him more to tell you the truth. I don’t think any man in the industry would ever want to tell an actress the same thing. The reason why I want to be with him is because he is so supportive of my work and respects me for what I am doing.

About Saif proposing her everyday!
Can you believe that? Poor thing he is so upset, he’s like "Why are they doing this to me?" Saif Ali Khan is actually the guy who has wanted to be single all his life, run away from relationships, run away from commitment, but the fact is that he always tells me "you are actually the only girl that I really wanted to commit to." I am with him all the time, but I give him space to be with his family, to do what he wants to do with his work. The fact that I am not the heroine of his first production just goes to show that we have our complete different zones when we work.

Terminator Salvation: New Posters & Trailer

2009-03-12T23:52:00.000-07:00

We are only about two months away from the time when Terminator Salvation hits the big screen, and in the past week we have seen more hit the Internet for the movie starring Christian Bale as the man to save mankind from the machines that try to take over the world.

Both new posters, and an all new trailer have hit, and now we are able to see even more of what this movie is about. Rumors of Arnold making an appearance still pop up every so often, and from some of the new photo stills recently released for the movie, it looks like John Connor is set to be a dad with Kate Connor, played by Bryce Dallas Howard, looking a bit on the pregnant side.

The actress was also pregnant at the time, so these pictures could show McG using that to his advantage. Check out the poster and trailer below. What do you think? Are you ready for termination?

Movie Report - 3/9/09

2009-03-12T23:47:00.000-07:00

A good Monday to you! Watchmen was the only movie released into theaters this passed weekend, so it is no surprised that the movie managed to come in at number one. Everyone I spoke to this weekend went to go see this one movie, so the only question for the weekend was just how much the movie would make. We now know that answer. Watchmen managed to pull in an estimated $55.7 million at the box office this weekend. Will it be able to top the box office for a second week in a row?
We know it will try, but will any of the new releases set to come out stand a chance? The biggest release this weekend is Race To Witch Mountain, which brings Dwayne Johnson back to the big screen with a movie directed to the kid market. This is another one of those remakes as well. I remember watching Escape To Witch Mountain when I was a kid, so now I’m wondering just how well the movie will do. I am predicting Watchmen to top the box office for second week in a row.
As for other releases, we have a number of movies hitting DVD this week on Tuesday including the award-winning Milk, Transporter 3 and Cadillac Records. Fans of Caroline in the City, Family Ties and Get Smart also have new seasons of those series hitting DVD this week. As far as music, season one American Idol winner, Kelly Clarkson, is out with a new CD Tuesday. Check for a full list of releases after the jump!

March 13
The Last House on the Left
Miss March
Race to Witch Mountain
Sunshine Cleaning

March 10
Role Models (R)
Transporter 3 (PG-13)
Milk (R)
Rachel Getting Married (R)
The Boy in Striped Pajamas (PG-13)
Cadillac Records (R)
Happy-Go-Lucky (R)
Synecdoche, New York (R)

Adventures of Champion Best of Season 1
Baron The Complete Series
Best Years The Complete 1st Season
Caroline in the City The 2nd Season
Cracker The Complete Collection
Family Ties The 5th Season
Get Smart Season 2
Girls Next Door Season 4
Only When I Laugh The Ultimate Collection
Red Green Show 2001 Season
Samantha Brown: Passport to Great Weekends Season 1
South Park The Complete 12 Season
Starter Wife Season 1
Woody Woodpecker Show Woody Woodpecker Favorites

Kelly Clarkson - All I Ever Wanted
Corbin Bleu - Speed Of Light
Chris Cornell - Scream
Taylor Hicks - The Distance
Madeleine Peyroux - Bare Bones
New Found Glory - Not Without A Fight
The-Dream - Love vs. Money
Dope - No Regrets
J. Holiday - Round 2
Razorlight - Slipway Fires
The Rippingtons - Modern Art
Ronnie Milsap - Then Sings My Soul [2 CDs]
John Wesley Harding - Who Was Changed And Who Was Dead
Cursive - Mama, I’m Swollen
Yngwie Malmsteen - Angels of Love
Sarah Brightman - Symphony: Live In Vienna [CD + DVD]
Elvis Presley - I Believe: The Gospel Masters [4 CDs]
Rick Springfield - My Precious Little One [Amazon.com exclusive]
Nat King Cole - Re: Generations
Ballas Hough Band - Ballas Hough Band
Rocco DeLuca - Mercy
Mirah - (a)spera
Francisca London - Francisca London

Britney Spears “If U Seek Amy” Music Video Premiere March 12

2009-03-12T23:39:00.000-07:00

Remember Britney’s controversial song “If U Seek Amy” which was almost banned from radio stations not long ago? Now the pop Celebrity who is currently touring, is set to launch a controversial video for the single “If U Seek Amy” which will debut online on Thursday, March 12.

The video will appear exclusively for 24 hours on the Virgin Mobile USA website, who are sponsoring Britney Spears’ Circus Tour, as well as on Britney.com and BritneySpears.com. If you want to see Britney Spears playing a pie-baking, sexy housewife in the video, wearing a 1950s-style blonde wig, pink shirt, and short white skirt, this video will make your wish come true.

Entertainment Charts

2009-03-12T23:35:00.000-07:00

Movies: Box Office

Box Office Chart of the top 10 movies this week
	Top Movies	Weekend Gross*	Number of Screens	Per-Screen Average	Weeks in Release	Gross to Date*
1	Watchmen Warner Bros	$55.7	3611	$15413	1	$55.7
2	Tyler Perry's Madea Goes to Jail Lionsgate	$8.8	2151	$4091	3	$76.5
3	Taken Fox	$7.5	3016	$2470	6	$118.0
4	Slumdog Millionaire Fox Searchlight	$6.9	2890	$2396	17	$125.4
5	Paul Blart: Mall Cop Sony	$4.2	2558	$1642	8	$133.6
6	He's Just Not That Into You Warner Bros.	$4.0	2445	$1644	5	$84.6
7	Coraline Focus	$3.3	1959	$1691	5	$65.7
8	Confessions of a Shopaholic Buena Vista	$3.1	2290	$1363	4	$38.4
9	Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience Buena Vista	$2.8	1276	$2183	2	$16.8
10	Fired Up Screen Gems	$2.6	1798	$1446	3	$13.4

See movie grades from critics and readers
Get showtimes and tickets in your area

Source: Nielsen EDI

Weekend gross and gross-to-date figures in millions; includes some multiscreen theaters and prints shipped as well as individual screens

'Iron Man 2' adds Mickey Rourke and Scarlett Johansson: Even more excited now?

2009-03-12T23:31:00.000-07:00

The amount of talent Marvel has assembled for Iron Man 2 is pretty impressive. You have actor/writer Justin Theroux penning the script, multihyphenate Jon Favreau behind the camera, and A-list talent like Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, and Samuel L. Jackson reprising their roles from the stupendously awesome original (with Don Cheadle stepping in for Terrence Howard, to boot). Then, then, you add Sam Rockwell and Mickey Rourke as villains and you have the formula for one hell of a sequel. And let's be serious: Rourke was born to play a villain in a superhero flick. Just look at that face! It was meant to be.

To me, there seems to be only one weak link: the just-confirmed Scarlett Johansson. Sure, she's a fine actress given the right role and is guaranteed to look sultry in a skintight leathery costume. But her character, Black Widow, is a Russian spy. That's right, Russian. The thought of Johansson attempting a Russian accent sends chills down my spine, PopWatchers, and not in a good way. It certainly doesn't do Johnasson any favors that we've been imagining Emily Blunt in the role for quite some time (who had to drop out because of scheduling conflicts). Blunt surely would've killed and could have used the profile boost. But, I'll look at this from a glass-half-full perspective: While Johansson has floundered in big-budget blockbusters (The Spirit or The Island, anyone?) in the past, this plum role is her chance to shine.

Regardless, are you as jazzed for Iron Man 2 as I am? Is Johnasson a good choice to play Black Widow? And can you believe we have to wait until May 7 of 2010 to see it?

Photo Credit: Johannsson: Kevin Winter/Getty Images; Rourke: Gennadi Avramenko/Epsilon/Getty Images

The Last House on the Left (2009)

2009-03-12T23:30:00.000-07:00

By Owen Gleiberman

Out for kicks, a family of sadist-sociopaths corners a teenage girl in the woods. She is raped (by the father) and left for dead — and that, no exaggeration, is the lighter half of this desperate-to-be-shocking exploitation dud. The original version of The House on the Left, released in 1972, was the first film directed by Wes Craven, who basically refracted Ingmar Bergman's The Virgin Spring through the dementia of the Manson family. The movie was vile but terrifying. This remake is merely vile (and dull), with a badly miscast Tony Goldwyn as the raging dad who makes revenge for his daughter's violation look more gratuitously brutal than the crime. F

Sunshine Cleaning (2009)

2009-03-12T23:28:00.000-07:00

With Albuquerque as the setting, Alan Arkin as the rascally grandpa, and a happy atmospheric condition in the title, the makers of Sunshine Cleaning aren't exactly subtle about their recycled ideas… er, reconstituted artistic influences. And just in case a potential moviegoer doesn’t make the connection, this peachcolored comedy about a wacky family who shove their sadness into a bulging closet is being marketed as ''from the producers of Little Miss Sunshine'' All that's missing from the formula is a Volkswagen Microbus.

But wait! Soon enough, Rose Lorkowski (Amy Adams), a single mother scrounging for income in bad-economy New Mexico, picks up a reasonable automotive facsimile — a junker van. The wheels, see, are necessary for Rose’s new specialty business in crime-scene cleanup and biohazard disposal. The learning curve, she figures, can't be that steep; she already works as a housecleaner, sometimes vacuuming the plush carpets of women she went to high school with. In search of a partner, Rose ropes in her younger sister, Norah (Emily Blunt), who's an even less functional grown-up. We know Norah is a bad girl because she wears raccoon eye-shadow and smokes. We don’t yet know why she’s so blue, but then, it took a while for Steve Carell, as Little MissSunshine’s droll, suicidal uncle, to share his pain. So hang on.

Now all that's missing is an adorable little wise-eyed kid who has a special relationship with Gramps. But wait! Rose's inquisitive son, Oscar (pint-size TV pro Jason Spevack), is a bright boy so bored in his local elementary school that he makes mischief. That's probably just as well, since the need to transfer Oscar to a private school is what awakens Rose's entrepreneurial spirit in the first place. Soon, this thirtysomething underachiever whose glory days peaked when she was a high school cheerleader is zipping around Albuquerque, cheerily mopping up blood and brains and, along the way, finding a new sense of self-worth. Don't ask why a woman who looks as radiant and charismatic as Amy Adams thinks scrubbing bathtubs is her only career path — after all, Jennifer Aniston wielded a mop in Friends With Money, and Jennifer Lopez cleaned hotel sinks in Maid in Manhattan.

Meanwhile, Oscar gets to spend quality out-of-school time with Arkin's Gramps, a generic failed dreamer with a million lousy moneymaking schemes that only somebody in a movie would think up. (At one point the old guy tries to sell a shipment of bad shellfish to an unimpressed restaurateur.) We're eventually told why Norah is so sad— and the backstory is one melodramatic storm cloud too many. At least she gets to hang out for a while with an interesting, equally bruised woman played by 24's always-welcome Mary Lynn Rajskub.

That's the silver lining in this emotionally inconsequential dramedy: Truly lovely performances by Adams and Blunt pierce the thoroughly artificial climate. New Zealand-born director Christine Jeffs and screenwriter Megan Holley were lucky to land these two talents when the film went into production back in 2007, just after Blunt broke through in The Devil Wears Prada but long before Adams' Oscar-nominated turn in Doubt. As blooming Rose, Adams taps into a delicate vein of warmth and humor that makes her every reaction fresh; we may not understand why this arbitrarily thwarted character has settled for so little, but we cheer for Adams in the role. (The actor makes a showstopper moment out of Rose's attendance at a shallow classmate's baby shower.) And wielding the attitude of a not-as-tough-as-she-thinks chick, Blunt complements Adams' honeyed energy with her own irresistible, more deadpan vigor. She's a great eye-roller.

One other bright spot: Both Rose and Norah have adult sex lives — imperfect, to be sure, but real sex lives all the same. For a time, Rose has a lusty relationship with a married cop (Steve Zahn). Norah, meanwhile, beds a guy who means as little to her as she means to herself. These brief nods to the reality of female sexuality seem almost accidental in an otherwise contrived movie. But I'm grateful for the sky-clearing flashes of insight. B–

'Madea' tops 'Jonas Brothers' for a second box office win

2009-03-12T23:22:00.001-07:00

Jonas Brothers proved this weekend that they are no Miley Cyrus. The teen pop stars' 3-D concert film, Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience, opened in twice as many theaters as last year's Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus Best of Both Worlds but grossed a scant $12.7 million at the box office -- less than half of Cyrus' bow. Jonas still managed to pull in a solid average of $10,000 but grossed far less than what most prognosticators were predicting. It also wasn't strong enough to best Tyler Perry's Madea Goes to Jail, which won its second weekend in a row with $16.5 million. Madea's total now stands at $64.9 million.

Oscar winner Slumdog Millionaire showed that the Academy Awards can mean something at the box office, grossing $12.2 million in its widest weekend of release since bowing more than four months ago. The Danny Boyle-directed film's total gross soared 45 percent for the weekend and now stands at an impressive $115.1 million. Liam Neeson's Taken became the second unlikely film of the year, after Paul Blart: Mall Cop, to cross the $100 million, grossing an additional $10 million its fifth week of release. The film, whose gross stands now at $107 million, dropped an amazing 12 percent -- not bad for an under-the-radar action thriller. And rounding out the top five is New Line's He's Just Not That Into You. The romantic-comedy ensemble grossed $5.9 million to put its total at $78.5 million. The other new wide release, Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li, grossed $4.6 million as expected, for an eighth spot in the line-up. Box office as a whole was up 11 percent for the frame, which is quite impressive considering it was a pretty quiet weekend as everyone awaits the debut of next weekend's Watchmen.

Danny Boyle to direct 'My Fair Lady' musical update?

2009-03-12T23:20:00.001-07:00

The false rumor that Slumdog Millionaire's Danny Boyle would direct the next James Bond movie dominated the news cycle today, but the Academy Award winner is the talk of the town for another high-profile gig. It may sound far-fetched, but numerous sources tell EW that Boyle is talking to Sony Pictures about helming the studio's remake of the musical My Fair Lady, which already has a screenplay by actor-writer Emma Thompson. In fact, one source says that Boyle's interest in Lady has prevented him from working on the teen-assassin project Hanna, from screenwriter Seth Lockheed, which Boyle has been developing for a while. Both Sony and Boyle's reps declined comment.

Whether he would actually do My Fair Lady or not is another matter, but Boyle has never been one to follow the rules. His indie edge might be just the jolt the staid Eliza Doolittle could use. You never know, the results could be loverly....

Photo Credit: My Fair Lady: Everett Collection; Danny Boyle: Samir Hussein/Getty Images

Rihanna and Chris Brown: Does a reunion mean case closed?

2009-03-12T23:18:00.000-07:00

In the monthlong media blitz following 21-year-old pop star Rihanna's alleged Feb. 8 beating by her 19-year-old R&B beau Chris Brown, the duo's case has certainly been tried in the court of public opinion. But according to the latest news, the charges have yet to reach the bench. Will they ever, what with recent reports that the onetime lovebirds are back together?

After being spotted at one of Sean "Diddy" Combs' homes on Miami Beach's Star Island -- Brown was repeatedly photographed; Rihanna was not -- the duo flew back on March 2 to L.A., where Brown had been scheduled to appear at an arraignment three days later. When contacted on March 3, however, the Los Angeles Police Department said that the case was still under investigation and had not yet been moved to the district attorney's office -- a necessary step for arraignment.

What isn't necessary to press charges in cases of domestic violence: the victim's cooperation. According to Nancy Lemon, the director of the UC Berkeley School of Law's Domestic Violence Law Practicum, it's "extremely typical" for domestic violence victims to opt out of testifying against their abusers, and Lemon says there is at least one academic study that indicates that conviction rates actually go up when the victim does not appear in court. "Probably 80 percent of the time in the United States, domestic violence victims either don't testify at all, or if they do testify, they may testify for the defense," says Lemon, who emphasized that she was speaking generally and was not familiar with the details of Brown's alleged crime.

Photo Credit: Frank Micelotta/Getty Images

'ER' final episodes: Doug reunites with Carol...and Dr. Benton?

2009-03-12T23:17:00.000-07:00

When George Clooney left ER in 1999, executive producer John Wells began to conceive the series finale of his NBC drama. Okay, maybe he was a tad premature, but he realized that it was quite possible that all of ER's original cast members would eventually jump ship (as they did) and he wanted to be prepared. And he insists that his plans for the two-hour finale on April 2 at 9 p.m. (preceded by a one-hour retrospective) haven't changed much over the past decade. "I really wanted to say to the audience, 'This place is still here, and if you took the wrong off-ramp in Chicago, you'd end up in front of the hospital where these people have always worked,'" says Wells, who penned the final episode, which is currently shooting in Los Angeles.

Actually, the long good-bye to County General has been going on since November: Early cast members Noah Wyle (Dr. Carter), Laura Innes (Dr. Weaver), and Anthony Edwards (Dr. Greene) have already guest-starred. And Clooney -- whose return as Dr. Doug Ross is one of the worst-kept secrets in TV -- will be joined by costars Julianna Margulies (Nurse Hathaway) and Eriq La Salle (Dr. Benton) for much-anticipated cameo appearances throughout March sweeps. Wells won't say exactly when we'll see them (nor will NBC confirm reports that Clooney will appear March 12), but he does suggest that fans set their TiVos ASAP. "You should not expect them all to be in the finale," warns Wells. "We've spread them out over the season. I didn't want to do something like somebody dies, or there is a celebration, or the hospital closes, so that's why everybody comes back. I wanted it to be natural." He'll confirm one star for the finale: Wyle, the one original cast member who has appeared in the most episodes of ER.

For more about ER -- including how it almost got pink-slipped by NBC before it went on the air in 1994 -- check out the latest issue of EW.

Box Office Preview: 'Watchmen' will be No. 1, but how much will it make?

2009-03-12T23:14:00.000-07:00

Watchmen opens this weekend, in case you haven't heard. Word of the comic-based film's long-awaited debut did get out around Hollywood, apparently: The competition is completely steering clear. So, as the only big new release, Zack Snyder's anticipated adaptation of Alan Moore's geek bible certainly will be No. 1. But just how well will it do? Read on. Oh, and did I mention that it's long-awaited and anticipated? Just making sure.

1. Watchmen -- $75 million
I still vividly remember the shockwaves that rumbled through Tinseltown when Snyder's last R-rated graphic-novel techy epic, 300, opened to a huge $70.9 mil on this weekend two years ago. (The ground shook so intensely that I felt tremors in Las Vegas, where I was that weekend.) That was huge. And this movie, with a similar pedigree, a similar fan base, a similar release pattern in more than 3,000 venues, including several expensive-ticket IMAX locations, should be pretty damn big, too. But will it be bigger than 300? Marginally, yes, I think. Watchmen could be hurt by its nearly three-hour running time, but it's based on a monumental book about which excitement has been building for two decades. What's more, it's opening in a few hundred more theaters than 300 did, and ticket prices have gone up in the years since the Spahhhhrtahhhns stormed the box office. Keeping track of its returns will be fun, indeed.

2. Slumdog Millionaire -- $10 million
The Oscar winner got a boost after its Best Picture win and has now grossed more than $200 mil worldwide.

3. Tyler Perry's Madea Goes to Jail -- $9 million
In less than two weeks, Tyler Perry's latest movie has become his top domestic grosser to date, with nearly $70 mil in the bank.

4. Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience -- $8 million
Eh, don't feel so bad for the boys. They may not have made Miley-sized millions last weekend, but their big-screen extravaganza averaged almost $10,000 per theater -- and it should hang on strong this time around.

5. Taken -- $7 million
With little direct boy-baiting competition (except, maybe, Friday the 13th, which was only viable for one day, really), Liam Neeson's action flick has cruised to a $110 mil take at the box office during the past month. Which is to say: Watchmen's debut could finally hurt a bit.

Box Office Report: 'Watchmen' wins the weekend with $55.7 mil

2009-03-12T23:13:00.000-07:00

After all the anticipation and hubbub, the weekend is coming to an end and the box office results are here: Watchmen (No. 1) grossed $55.7 million during its first frame, according to early estimates from Media by Numbers.

That's a solid sum, to be sure, although it's certainly on the low end of most projections. Watchmen premiered in more theaters (3,611) than any other R-rated movie in history, and it averaged an impressive $15,413 per venue, despite a potentially problematic long running time. It also scored the biggest debut of 2009 so far. Nonetheless, the movie's $55.7 mil take (including $5.5 mil from 124 IMAX screens) is substantially smaller than the $70.9 mil that 300, the last R-rated graphic-novel movie from director Zack Snyder, earned on its opening weekend two years ago. And aside from that theater-count statistic (which almost any film could break at any time, really), there will be no major records to report on this weekend (for example, Watchmen's debut was just the fifth-best opening ever for an R-rated movie).

I'd argue, in fact, that this opening is a bit soft, considering the great expectations that came with Snyder's adaptation of Alan Moore's landmark comic book -- not to mention Watchmen's hefty grosses from screenings at midnight on Friday and throughout its first day. After attracting some major initial interest, banking $25.1 mil on Friday, the film's audience dropped off dramatically during the weekend: It grossed $19 mil on Saturday and is expected to bring in just $11.5 mil on Sunday. These are all big numbers, don't get me wrong, but, when combined with the fact that the film got a lukewarm CinemaScore grade of B from an audience that was largely comprised of older men, it all points to a rapid downward trend that may be difficult to reverse in the weeks to come.

Elsewhere -- yes, there were other movies playing at the multiplex this weekend! -- a number of films continued to do what Watchmen must now aspire to, perhaps in vain: They stayed strong deep into their long runs. Tyler Perry's Madea Goes to Jail (No. 2) grossed $8.8 mil on its third weekend; the film, Perry's biggest yet at the box office, has banked $76.5 mil to date. Taken (No. 3) also moved along like the unstoppable force it has been for more than a month now, earning $7.5 mil and bringing its six-week sum to $118 mil. Best Picture winner Slumdog Millionaire (No. 4) was next with $6.9 mil, which boosted its domestic haul to $125.4 mil. And Paul Blart: Mall Cop (No. 5) took its eight-week total to $133.6 mil thanks to another $4.2 mil gross.

Meanwhile, Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience (No. 9) completely fell off the map, dropping a staggering 78 percent to gross just $2.8 mil. According to Box Office Mojo, that's the 15th biggest second-weekend decline of all time.

Overall, the cumulative box office was up nearly 8 percent over the same frame a year ago, when 10,000 B.C. opened big, making this the fifth consecutive "up" weekend at the multiplex. So, all in all, I'd say today's was a good report, indeed.

'Troll 2': Talking with the Alabama dentist who helped make the 'Best Worst Movie' of all time

2009-03-12T23:10:00.000-07:00

"We were just trying to be good citizens of Utah, helping this Italian crew make a movie" says part-time actor -- and full-time dentist! -- George Hardy of his participation in the 1990 movie Troll 2. What he actually helped make is what bad-film aficionados widely agree to be among the worst movies of all time. Troll 2 is a ludicrously scripted, appallingly acted B-movie that is also, confusingly, not a sequel to the Sonny Bono-starring 1986 flick Troll. In fact, this straight-to-video film doesn't even feature any trolls. Rather, it concerns goblins in the town of Nilbog (yes, that's goblin spelled backward) who turn humans into vegetables, which they then eat. (The goblins are vegetarians.)

Troll 2 has attracted a growing army of fans over the past few years who have packed screenings around the country. The film, and the cult that has sprung up around it, is now the subject of a documentary. Titled Best Worst Movie, the film was directed by Hardy's Troll 2 costar Michael Paul Stephenson and will debut at the SXSW Film Festival on March 14. EW spoke to the none-more-genial Hardy about Troll 2, his unlikely status as a cult movie icon, and, of course, teeth.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: How's it going?
GEORGE HARDY: Great. I'm very honored to be talking to Entertainment Weekly. Although this is my second interview with you. Back in 1995, someone there interviewed me about these movie-viewing glasses that I had for my dental office. You put these glasses over the patient's eyes and it looks like there's a big screen. I was one of the first dentists in the United States to do it. I would show people Troll 2 while I was drilling on their teeth.

Isn't it bad enough that you're drilling their teeth without making them watch your terrible movie as well?
Exactly! Exactly! I know! [Laughs] But, I remember extracting someone's tooth once and they wanted to stay after the extraction to watch the rest of the movie. They were so enthralled by it.

So, how does an Alabama-born dentist end up starring in an Italian-made, Utah-shot horror movie?
I had a little background in acting at high school. But I went into the dental field because I like working with my hands. Shortly after, I ended up going out to Salt Lake City. One day, a patient comes in -- she was an actress -- and she said, you ought to audition for things. So, I got an agent, and she calls me and says, "George, there's this movie going on up in Park City." I auditioned to about nine or 10 Italians in this smoke-filled room -- no one spoke English –- and a day or two later I get the phone call saying I'd gotten the second lead. My heart almost came out of my chest. It was a three-week shoot for me. I would kind of alternate days of going into my dental practice and then going out and shooting with all these Italians. Very few of them spoke English, except Laura Gemser who was our wardrobe lady. She was famous from a lot of Italian porn films.

Were you aware at the time that she had previously appeared in the likes of Emanuelle: Queen Bitch and Emanuelle in Hell?
No, little did we know. But she was very sweet.

What was the shoot like?
Michael and myself would sit over in the corner and try to decipher the script. We just couldn't understand what it meant. Literally, we had no clue.

What exactly was the problem?
The way it was written was not the way Americans speak. One of us would say, to Claudio [Fragasso, Troll 2 director], this is not the way you say this in America. But they would say, "No, no, no, this is the way you do it." We just did what we were told. I think that was because of the language barrier. How can you argue with someone who doesn't understand what you're saying?

Is it true that, originally, you thought the movie was going to be called Goblins?
Yeah, all of us did.

How did they get away with calling it Troll 2 when it is in no way connected to the original Troll?
It is my understanding that Italians will do a film that rides coattails of another. They do it all the time.

When did you first realize that you were the star of a terrible film?
My sister called me and said, "George, your movie's out and I've got to tell you something: It's bad." I go, "Well, how bad is it?" She says, "Well, it's really bad!" Then one of my patients brought me a copy. I watched it in my dentist's chair. I looked through the viewing glasses and watched the very first scene. I almost got this sick feeling inside of me. I thought, Oh, s--- and put it away. I put it on the shelf and let it collect dust for almost 16 years.

But now you're a cult movie icon who gets treated like a rock star at screenings!
It's amazing. When I meet fans, they literally are shaking. If you go to a screening in Boston or New York, everyone knows the lines. When I started to laugh with it, and not look at it as a serious situation, that's the point I really embraced it. I don't run from it anymore. It's pretty cool being in the worst movie ever.

For Best Worst Movie you and Michael tracked down Claudio in Italy. What was that like?
Honestly, we went with kid gloves on. We didn't want to hurt anybody's feelings. But, how do you break the news to someone that they are the director of one of the worst films in the history of all cinema?
He does seem a little irked during various parts of the film. But I think there was a shift in Claudio when we brought him over to the U.S. and we took him to the screenings and he saw the thrill on people's faces. People would go up to Claudio and say, "This is genius!" And, hey, what is genius, anyway? It could be genius. [Laughs] It could be!

Clearly, Claudio considers Troll 2 a good film. And one with a message! In fact, he told me, via e-mail, that the film is really a polemic against fanatical vegetarianism. Did he mention that during the shoot?
No.

He also said that the actors in the film recite their lines in an intentionally parodic manner.
That wasn't my experience. I was trying to do my best!

The documentary ends with the announcement that Claudio is planning a sequel called Troll 2: Part 2. Would you be prepared to once again put down the drill and pick up a script?
I think so, yeah. Why not? But, how could you catch lightning in a bottle twice? How would you be able to repeat that?

Box Office Preview: Will 'Race to Witch Mountain' brew up a win?

2009-03-12T23:03:00.002-07:00

Another month, another Friday the 13th, another batch of scary remakes on tap. Man, those movie-marketing/distribution wizards are predictable! This weekend, multiplex visitors will get to choose from the creepy paranormal-kid "reimagining" Race to Witch Mountain and the bona fide horror update The Last House on the Left. The former has the edge, I say, but let's not forget about Watchmen, which opened to frighteningly, uh, moderate numbers of its own last time around.

1. Race to Witch Mountain -- $28 million
Okay, perhaps Disney's new family film, starring Dwayne Johnson, isn't such a shock-fest. It's just that I remember watching the original Escape to Witch Mountain (featuring Green Acres' Eddie Albert!) when I was a kid, and being totally freaked-the-F-out by it. I dunno why. Maybe it's because I was four years old. Anyway, regardless, this take on that not-quite-classic movie should wind up in the winner's circle, thanks to solid star power and broad appeal opposite a bunch of R-rated fare. The Pacifier -- another family flick featuring that other burly guy, Vin Diesel -- opened to $30.6 mil at this time of year in 2005, so expect a gross in the same neighborhood.

2. Watchmen -- $21 million
Besides coming in $15 mil-$20 mil below expectations, Zack Snyder's superhero adaptation lost a lot of steam following its strong debut last Friday. Its mid-week numbers have been in the good-but-not-great $3 mil range. So a big drop of, like, 60 percent wouldn't be out of the question this weekend.

3. The Last House on the Left -- $13 million
The new Friday the 13th movie did big business last month, opening to $40.6 mil on Friday the 13th weekend (which also tripled as Valentine's Day weekend and Presidents Day weekend). So this update of Wes Craven's 1972 fright flick may also get a nice boost...even though it's based on a much less well-known property...and it isn't playing in a true holiday frame...and it isn't called, you know, Friday the 13th! So, yeah, it probably won't be nearly as big, but I do know at least one person who'll be attending.

4. Taken -- $6 million
Why, hello there, old friend.

5. Miss March -- $5 million
This star-free sex comedy about two dudes on a quest to visit the Playboy Mansion should not be confused with the short-lived Alicia Silverstone TV comedy Miss Match. Or March of the Penguins.

What do you think? Make your predictions below!

Photo Credit: Ron Phillips

Oprah Winfrey: my Rihanna, Chris Brown show 'a huge, teachable moment'

2009-03-12T23:03:00.001-07:00

Oprah Winfrey's live show about "dating violence" and Chris Brown's alleged beating of Rihanna was one of those TV moments when Oprah becomes a nationwide town meeting, in which Winfrey uses her extraordinary outreach and influence on America to try and shed light and counsel on a cultural issue. Dedicating the hour to "all the Rihannas in the world, and all the young men who would think of hitting a woman," Winfrey didn't shy away from arguing with young members of the audience who expressed sympathy for the male violence of which Brown is accused.

After a report from Entertainment Tonight correspondent Kevin Frazier that Rihanna and Brown are recording a duet and may write a book together about domestic violence, Winfrey told one teen her take on the Rihanna-Brown situation: "If you go back to a man who hit you, you don't think you're worthy of being with a man who won't."

At Winfrey's side was Tyra Banks, who'd given over her own talk show to the same topic earlier in the day, and repeated a sentiment she used there: "There's no excuse for a man to put his hands on a woman, ever, ever, ever." She also talked about a relationship she'd been in, in which she felt herself a victim of "emotional abuse." Banks intruded too often into the interviews Winfrey conducted, it seemed to me, but she did make a valuable point when one teen expressed disappointment that Rihanna apparently hasn't abandonded Brown and therefore wasn't a "role model." Banks reminded the audience that Rihanna is "a girl... an entertainer," not a role model, and shouldn't have to bear this added pressure.

Winfrey's presentation was most interesting when interviewing teens in pre-taped moments and live via remote locations such as Boise, Idaho, and Charlotte, North Carolina. Declaring her show a "huge, teachable moment" for America, Winfrey also interviewed a pregnant young woman, Britney, whose boyfriend, the father of her child, was in jail for attacking her. This interview was at once electrifying and queasy-making.

The hour skipped around a lot, with Winfrey showing a clip from a 1993 show she did about a girl whose boyfriend killed her, and then brought the mother of that girl onstage to talk with Britney and her parents. This seemed a stretch, since this woman, not identified as any sort of professional and speaking as she put it, based on "what little I know about this situation," couldn't offer much in the way of useful advice. As always, Winfrey was sincere, careful with her facts, and offered a lot of websites and phone numbers for viewers in similarly troubled or dangerous situations to contact. She concluded by calling out, "God bless, Rihanna, Chris!"

Did you watch? Do you think Oprah is a useful forum for the discussion of these issues?

Jon Stewart takes Jim Cramer apart: getting mad at the 'Mad Money' man

2009-03-12T22:53:00.000-07:00

What The Daily Show with Jon Stewart billed as "the week-long feud of the century" almost ended in a very funny fizzle: Instead of being his usual feisty self, financial advisor Jim Cramer could not apologize fast enough to Stewart for what he repeatedly called his "shenanigans" as host of CNBC's Mad Money.

Note I said "almost," because something pretty amazing happened. Things got dead-serious as Stewart played 2006 clips of Cramer talking about how to manipulate stocks and create Wall Street rumors during the time he was a hedge-fund manager. You could almost see the blood drain from Cramer's face every time the camera returned to him in the studio with Stewart. Talking about the present-day crisis, Stewart tore into Cramer, saying for doing things like urging his viewers to buy Bear Stearns stock shortly before that investment bank collapsed. "It's not a f------ game," said Stewart, asserting that what Cramer and other financial reporters did could be considered "criminal at worst."

Yes, the half-hour was frequently hilarious. Showing a clip of Cramer using a rolling-pin on some pie crust with Martha Stewart on her TV show earlier in the day, the Daily Show host said, "Don't you destroy enough dough on your own show?"

Stewart alllowed as how he and Cramer are, as TV entertainers, "both snake-oil salesmen to a certain extent." He said that in all the joking and sniping that had been done over the past few weeks about financial news reporting on TV, Cramer had "become the face of this, and that's incredibly unfortunate." Cramer said meekly, "I'll try" to do better by the public in the future. But the dismantling of Cramer's reputation had been done. The audience kept interrupting with applause and cheers, and for once it didn't come across as a matter of hey-our-guy-just-pounded-a-jerk. It sounded like a small explosion of relief that finally, someone on TV was making sense about what has happened to money in America, and it wasn't Jim Cramer.

Preity, Salman & Kareena - Together Worth 80 Lakhs !

2009-03-12T22:52:00.001-07:00

The latest upcoming director Prem Soni is presently preparing to shoot a special song for his film Main Aur Mrs. Khanna with its lead stars Salman Khan, Kareena Kapoor and Preity Zinta in Mumbai.

Sources reveal that a huge set is presently being erected for the song shoot the cost for which will run to Rs. 80 lakhs. This song will be shot between 20th to 25th March in a Mumbai studio.

Farah Khan who has become very selective about her choreography assignments after turning director and now mother especially, will be choreographing this special song. With this song the entire shooting of the film will be completed.

Sources further inform, “All those who have seen the rushes just can’t stop gushing about the film’s magnificent look and the chemistry shared between Salman and Kareena who were last paired in the romantic tragedy Kyon Ki directed Priyadarshan. Sohail and Preity who have very significant roles in the film too are outstanding in their roles.” Source

Hrithik Roshan - Getting Recognition Across The Border

2009-03-12T22:51:00.000-07:00

The superhero Hrithik Roshan, just selected by Forbes among the half a dozen Bollywood actors who have a name in Hollywood, was delighted and surprised when he was recognized on the streets in the US while shooting for Kites.

“That was a change. It makes me feel good to see our films are crossing borders. At a bank in the US when you’re withdrawing money you are delighted to realize that the person on other end of the counter knows who you are. Or salesgirls at shops…they recognize you and go, ‘Are you?….And when you tell them, they go, ‘Wow!’ …yeah it feels good.”

“I haven’t set any goals for myself as such. I just want to keep evolving as an actor and a person. That’s the only mission in my career. If Kites takes me international, I’ll be happy.”

On the other hand Hrithik Roshan’s Kites co-star Barbara Mori came to Mumbai and went without being recognized. Source

Abhishek Bachchan To Appear On “Oye Its Friday”

2009-03-12T22:49:00.002-07:00

On The heir to the throne of the renowned ‘Bachchan’ parivar …Abhishek Bachchan will be on the hot seat on Oye It’s Friday The fun – frolic conversation with Farhan Akhtar will revive their growing up experiences, the ‘starry tales’, their families and a lot more sizzling gossip, only on Oye It’s Friday March 13th at 10pm only on Imagine. Yours Fridays have just got bigger and better.

The biggest prankster of Bollywood Abhishek Bachchan took the Hindi Film industry by storm with his amusing performance in the recent flicks, ‘Dostana’ and ‘Delhi 6’ and captured the hearts of his fans. He owes his success to his mentor Mani Ratnam who gave him a chance to play the role of two interesting characters in ‘Yuva’ and ‘Guru’.

Farhan and Abhishek remember their childhood memories growing up together the discussing the theme birthday parties …how they used to dress like superheroes to show off their untapped talent. Abhishek also talks about his happy married life and his soul mate Aishwarya and a lot more…

The fun isn’t over yet; as Kolkata’s famous music band ‘Chandrabindoo’ is singing the song “Come to me “from Abhishek’s movie “Bluffmaster” in Bengali. The band is known for satirical, colloquial lyrics, full of references to current affairs and cultural phenomena. Abhishek was all stunned with the act and regretted that he could barely understand few words of it in spite of the fact that his mom is Bengali.

More on the show is one of the most unusual, astonishing, unique and creative act of its kind in the World, Octopus Act created by George Munteau and Sintia Cristo Lovean from Romania. They have been performing this unique act around the world from the last 20years. So stay glue to your television screens to know what slithers onto the stage.

Come shake a leg with Junior B dancing on the tunes of ‘Come to me’ with the Oye girls this week on Oye It’s Friday March 13th at 10pm only on Imagine. Source

Surprise, Surprise - Katrina Can Now Speak Hindi Fluently !!

2009-03-12T22:49:00.001-07:00

It was a celebration time for the unit members of the film Rajniti. By now everyone is aware of the fact that Katrina Kaif is not too polished with her Hindi diction. Recently during the shoots in Bhopal, Prakash Jha who is known for his realistic films wanted Katrina to deliver her dialogues, lengthy ones at that, in chaste Hindi. He asked our pretty Kat to learn it by heart.

Katrina plays a politician in the film (which apparently has been inspired by Sonia Gandhi) and her character is required to speak unadulterated Hindi sans an accent.

Katrina disappeared for hours. And just before the final take, Jha asked Kat to deliver her dialogues once. To everyone’s surprise the actress delivered her dialogues without a mistake. Jha along with his crew were speechless for a second.

The actress has indeed come a long way! Source

Amitabh Bachchan Appreciating The Younger Generation

2009-03-12T22:48:00.000-07:00

Ranbir Kapoor recently visited on a set where Amitabh Bachchan was shooting for his next film.

Big B has written in his blog about Ranbir Kapoor :

“Had another star son Ranbir Kapoor visited on sets. He later sent me a sweet and affectionate sms, which was most endearing. Talking about my look in the film. He has shaped up so well in his career so far and with such ease and rapidity. Cannot imagine he was assisting Sanjay Leela Bhansali as an AD on ‘Black’. His tutoring and training on Ayesha the little girl that played Rani’s younger portion, paid such dividends for the little artist. “

Further about Ranbir Kapoor,”He and Sonam Kapoor were assistants on the set together. And now look at them. Big stars in their own right. Feels so wonderful to watch how this generation grows and accomplishes itself.’

So the legend is appreciating the new generation in Bollywood. Source

Priyanka Chopra - Footprints In Italy Museum

2009-03-12T22:47:00.002-07:00

Priyanka Chopra has become the first Indian actress to be given the chance to cast her footprints in the famous Salvatore Ferragamo Museum. Now if anyone has doubts regarding the enormity of the honour that came knocking for Priyanka, read this.

The Museum situated in Florence was built in 1995 in the memory of Salvatore Ferragamo, who is considered as the greatest shoe designer of the world. The Museum which is considered as the temple of shoe design has a collection of over ten thousand models of shoes created by the designer over a period of 40 years.

Speaking about her experiences in Italy, Priyanka said “Salvator’s son, Leonardo who manages the family business, hosted a dinner on Tuesday at his home in my honour. It was very nicely done. I was happy to be at the receiving end of their attention. The museum has foot casts of famous personalities like Marilyn Monroe, Sophia Loren and Drew Barrymore. And now it has my foot cast too. The Ferragamos are going to send me custom-made shoes regularly and of course, their bags.

Other than Priyanka, Maharani of Cooch Behar- Indira Devi is the only other Indian to have cast her footprints at the Salvatore Ferragamo Museum. Source

Shahrukh Better Than Aamir In Maintaining Relationships

2009-03-12T22:47:00.001-07:00

Inspite of his shoulder injury, Shah Rukh turned up at the Filmfare awards recently only to say how stars should be ‘sportive’ about other’s wins as well. Without paying heed to Aamir’s allegations of labelling SRK a narcissist, Shah Rukh praised himself by saying, “I always feel that I will win the Best Actor award.” The award eventually went to Hrithik for Jodhaa Akbar and even then the Baadshah was seen enjoying the evening…

Taunting Aamir for not showing up at award functions, SRK said, “An actor has to be sportive about other’s wins as well. I love attending award functions as they honour those who’ve worked hard on their films.”

Shah Rukh’s patch up with the Bachchans is another signal of him showing Aamir and Salman that he is still the best when it comes to maintaining relationships within the industry.

“People call me a good PR but more than anything I am a fantastic person,” said SRK at the recent Amrita Arora wedding too! Source

Filed under Aamir Khan, Bollywood News & Masalas,

Raima Sen & Gul Panag At Shabana Azmi’s Holi Bash

2009-03-12T22:45:00.002-07:00

Bollywoood actor and social activist Shabana Azmi celebrates Holi the festival of colours with her husband and film lyricist Javed Akhtar in Mumbai. There was Raima Sen, Gul Panag besides loads of TV stars and bollywood celebrities to accompany Shabanaji.

Raima Sen and Gul Panag both are involved in small projects in order to kep themselves busy. Source

Koena Mitra Playing Holi At The Country Club

2009-03-12T22:45:00.001-07:00

The Country Club of India celebrated Holi at its clubs across the country. Spreading cheer and vibrancy in the air, CCIL made huge arrangements with its show RANG BARSE – the celebrities to add more colour, the DJ music, the raindance and colourful hues of gulal. The setting seemed perfect for the most enjoyable holi celebrations.

Film stars like Koena Mitra, Geeta Basra, Anjana Sukhani and Nauheed Cyrusi joined in the revelry at Country Club’s Spring Club in Kandivali Mumbai. While applying gulal to each other these gorgeous bollywood babes struggles to keep the while outfits off colour. Source

Bollywood Celebrating Holi In Its own Style

2009-03-12T22:35:00.000-07:00

As already reported bollywood star Amitabh Bachchan stayed away from Holi celebrations and so did others for various reasons. A sneak peek at how the Bollywood stars spent the day.

Amitabh Bachchan: ‘Nothing! We’re celebrating no Holi this year. Yes, I know our home is an open house on Holi every year. Hopefully we’ll be back to celebrating Holi next year. ‘This year too many tragic events have happened around us. On a personal level, my father’s passing away then my mother’s prolonged illness have suspended Holi celebrations in my house. And then, of course, the things that are happening in Mumbai city and the country. Do you think anyone is in the mood for celebration? We’re not. Maybe next year.’

Preity Zinta: ‘What am I doing for Holi? Nothing. Sleeping the whole day. Recovering from my jet lag after my trip to New Zealand. In any case, I think Holi has lost its original spirit long back.’

Deepika Padukone: ‘I’ll have the day off. I’ll celebrate with my family and close friends.’

Farhan Akhtar: ‘For the time in living memory I won’t be home for Holi. I’ll be shooting abroad. It breaks my heart to miss Holi. Can’t be helped.’

Bipasha Basu: ‘I’ve no Holi plans. I’m allergic to the abeer and other Holi colours. I’ll spend Holi with my family, devouring Holi delicacies. It’s a diet-free day for me.’

Abhishek Bachchan: ‘I’ll be shooting. No Holi this year at home. Just work.’

Genelia D’Souza: ‘I’ll be shooting In Delhi on Holi.’

Hurman S. Baweja: ‘I’ll be shooting in Delhi for ‘It’s My Life’. I think my lightmen, camera crew, director and co-stars will be my Holi victims. Watch out, here I come.’

Himesh Reshammiya: ‘As always I prefer to work on auspicious days. I’ll be recording a new song for ‘Ishq Unplugged’ on Holi.’

Urmila Matondkar: ‘I’m not much of a Holi person. I’ll be chilling at home watching some good movies and hoping no one gets rowdy with women who have to step out of their homes.’

Celina Jaitley: ‘This Holi I’m in Hyderabad. I’ll be spending it with the cast and crew.’

Tusshar Kapoor: ‘I’ll be meeting up with my friends for lunch and not playing Holi, since I stopped doing that long ago.’ Source

Why Slumdog Millionaire is just another mediocre film, Errors, mistakes and clichés of Slumdog Millionaire

2009-03-12T22:34:00.001-07:00

Slumdog Millionaire is a bad film, an actor once said in a public platform. He had his reasons and most of them are not far from the truth. Slumdog Millionaire has won an ensemble of Oscars and it is a thing of pride for Bollywood’s best music director A.R.Rahman , lyricist Gulzaar and sound-mixer Resul Pookutty for having won home the glory But let us ask ourselves is is Slumdog Millionaire really a good movie from Bollywood standards? If yes, then how come Slumdog Millionaire has flopped or been rejected by Indian audiences?

Slumdog Millionaire is just another average wanna-be Bollywood film. We are not talking about the poverty aspect which was highlighted by Amitabh Bachchan. We are talking about the movie content purely, which is notches below the standard of what can be called quality film-making. Slumdog Milionaire has the same lost and found formula done to death by Indian film-makers. Haven’t we seen an street urchin becoming a ganglord, in the 70s Bollywood flicks?

What is Slumdog Millionaire trying to say? That it is okay to steal shoes from the Taj Mahal? Is this the message that the movie portrays to young children? Also, how comes Anil Kapoor who plays the quiz master so quietly sneak in Jamal(Dev) to the police? How come there is no uproar? How come the media is never interested? And why will the police unnecessarily grill the boy, give third degree treatment to a someone who has won public adulation and one crore rupees? Not only is the plot far-fetched, there are also clichés galore: Salim and Jamal are muslims, the other musketeer Lathika HAS to be from the other caste, otherwise the plot will not move ahead. When the two boys are separated from Lathika, she HAS to turn into a prostitute. The director is clearly going the clichéd way which has ever been experimented so many times by our Bollywood film-makers. Where is the creativity? If an Indian film-maker had the same film, I seriously doubt the critics would have given the film four or five stars.

Jamal grows up to be a ‘chai-wallah’ in a call center. But he answers questions in the ‘Who wants to be a Millionaire’ in the finest UK accent, akin to an MBA grad from UK? I have yet to see a chaiwallah from a call center who speaks such eloquent English. Let’s look at the performances. Anil Kapoor has clearly over-acted in his wanna-be Clint Eastwood accent. Praises and award nominations are being heaped on the dusky Freida Pinto who played Lathika in Slumdog Millionaire. But is it really an engrossing performance? Far from it. Looking above from the platform and giving a model pose does not call for an arresting performance. Her real test will lie when she gets to do performance driven roles.

A.R.Rahman has given far better music in his previous albums and one rues the fact that the Oscar fraternity completely ignored him for a much superior score in Lagaan. One can sense that the honor is primarily because of a white connection (read Danny Boyle). Though the plot is not really convincing, the treatment of Slumdog Millionaire and the screenplay is admittedly good enough. But that does not mean Bollywood has been bad in screenplays of late. Movies like Rang De Basanti, Dil Chahta Hai, Ghajini and even Gangster were also better if not equal in terms screenplay treatment. So there is nothing in Slumdog Millionaire to feel ‘wow’ about, at least to the people who have grown up on Bollywood films. Also let’s not forget that Slumdog Millionare is essentially an English film, the artistes and some of the crew is Indians.

Dyslexia is a major concern in the US, and the truth is the best movie on dyslexia in the world was made by an Indian- Taare Zameen Par. Isn’t it a shame that we are unnecessarily heaping praises on a mediocre film Slumdog Millionaire when a masterpiece like Taare Zameen Par was ignored by the Oscar jury. Let us be practical and assess the quality of movies with a sense of discern. Something which Indians actually did-Slumdog Millionaire is a flop in India.

Billu movie review, Billu is a 'cut' above the rest!

2009-03-12T22:33:00.001-07:00

Billu is yet another brilliant work from Priyadarshan. He has set his tale on fictionalized village of Budbudha. Director Priyadarshan has proved his mettle on making movies based on fictitious villages like Malamaal Weekly and he does not disappoint this time with Billu. The best part about Billu is that the movie looks straight out from a Balbharti school text book. A very pleasing tale of friendship, the movie is inspired by the mythical tale of Krishna and Sudama.

Story of Billu: Billu(Irrfan Khan) is an extremely poor barber who is trying hard to make ends meet. People in the village choose to be aloof from his family. Even Billu’s children are removed from the school due to his inability to pay fees. Enters in the village, the biggest superstar of the country Saahir Khan(Shahrukh Khan). Billu’s family including his wife(Lara Dutta) and the kids sort of know that Billu has had close friendship with Saahir. But when they know that the star is in their village, they begin to spread news about the friendship between Billu and Saahir Khan. The whole village comes to know about this and they begin to bribe, pamper, cajole and persuade Billu to make them meet Saahir.

Billu who has his own reasons not to meet Saahir, tries his best to dissociate himself from the star and the set-up. So much, that the villagers smell a rat and abuse Billu for spreading falsehood. It is only in the climax, which is sensitively handled, that we know about the deep, underlying relationship between Billu and Saahir Khan

Best points of Billu:
1. Deft direction by Priyadarshan who develops the plot in an interesting manner
2. The characterization of Irrfan Khan.
3. Manisha Korde comes up with some smarty, witty dialogues.

Performances in Billu:
Irrfan Khan has given an applause-worthy performance. Catch him at his best in the scene when he calls Saahir Khan’s guest house from a public phone. Shahrukh Khan is brilliant as usual, though he does not have much to do, except in the last few scenes. He even indulges in self-deprecatory humor where he talks about his fight with another popular Khan.

Final point: Billu is one of the finest works of director Priyadarshan. The best part about Billu is its simplicity. Billu is a nice, feel-good film. And yes, you can take your kids along! For barbers(oops!), Billu should be a ‘cut’ above the rest.

Pepsi burps as Shahrukh Khan goes for Coke, Sprite

2009-03-12T22:32:00.001-07:00

Shahrukh Khan had stated in media that Pepsi had kicked him out because he was too old for the brand. Looks like Pepsi has taken its brand image of 'youngistaan' too seriously and sacrificed the king for a pawn(read Ranbir Kapoor). Coke jumped at the opportunity and signed Shahrukh Khan for their popular brand Sprite.

Shahrukh Khan will now have Coca-Cola's Sprite has the official sponsor for his IPL team Kolkata Knight Readers. Coke is now in high fizz because all the three popular film stars, Hrithik Roshan, Aamir Khan and now SRK will be endorsing Coke. Shahrukh Khan is certainly make Pepsi C(h)oke!

Delhi 6 movie review, Delhi 6 fails to impress

2009-03-12T22:31:00.001-07:00

Many had high expectations from Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra who had made the trend-setting Rang De Basanti. His latest offering Delhi 6 is unadulterated boredom. Delhi 6 has a plot similar to Ashutosh Gowariker’s charming movie Swades. While Swades was cute and progressive to an extent, Delhi 6 chugs along slowly and is sadly regressive. Also the director in Delhi 6 deals with a lot of things, which is why he loses track most of the time.

Story of Delhi 6: There are quite a few stories running parallel as the movie takes you on a documentary style tour through the bylanes of Delhi. There are two warring brothers Om Puri and Pawan Malhotra who are at loggerheads with each other. Ompuri has a daughter Bittu (Sonam Kapoor) whom he wants to marry off at the earliest. Sonam Kapoor however nurses an ambition to go to Mumbai to participate in Indian Idol. We have Abhishek Bachchan playing Roshan who has come from the US to take his terminally ill mother back to the States.

There is also an untouchable played by Divya Dutta who has an opinion on all and sundry. There is plot of the money lender(Prem Chopra)’s wife who is sleeping around with a debtor played by Cyrus Sahukar. There is Rishi Kapoor who gives preachy sermons on how to love and lead life. He is a failed lover who still pins for Tanvi Azmi. In the midst of all this, there is a fictitious monkey-man(Kaala Bandhar) who is creating havoc in the town. Roshan is exposed to a lot of customs, orthodox conventions and superstitions during his stay. He has to take the decision to really take his mother to the US or stay home with his beloved Sonam Kapoor. Meanwhile, the so called kaala bandhar has created so much tension in Delhi 6 (Chandni Chowk) that there is a near riot between Hindus and Muslims. Do you really think, you can do justice to all these stories in a matter of 2 hour and 20 minutes. ?

Technicalities of Delhi 6: With all three talented people Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, Prasoon Joshi, Kamlesh Pandey at the helm, it was expected the writing would be great. But sadly, with probably all three giving inputs, the screenplay falls flat and becomes really boring and complicated. Rang De Basanti, the director’s previous outing had one of the best screenplays ever in Bollywood history. Delhi 6 is a huge let down as far as editing and screenplay is concerned.

There are some scenes which just stop abruptly and there are some which drag unnecessarily Rakheysh Omprakash Mehra appears to be a confused director in Delhi 6. The whole deal about the monkey-man as a metaphor seems far-fetched out of place. Chandni Chowk is a town, not some conservative, orthodox village. You can't expect Abhishek Bachchan to be the only broadminded person there.

Plus points of Delhi 6:
1. Beautiful screen presence of Sonam Kapoor. She really looks cute and her costume designer deserves a thumbs-up.
2. The ‘masakali’ and the ‘Dil Mera’ picturization has been creatively shot
3. Absorbing post interval only to fizzle out in the end.

Minus points of Delhi 6
1. Absolutely slow and sluggish plot development in the beginning, and a weak, stupid end
2. The director takes on more than he can chew.
3. The Ram Leela sequences, which are one too many; infused with regularity only to slow down the already lethargic pace.
4. The end makes you scream at the writers. Abhishek Bachchan dies and goes to heaven where he meets papa(Amitabh Bachchan of course). Big B sends him back to earth and Abhishek Bachchan is saved. Oh my! Lord of Lords. You cannot make a bigger blunder than that! In fact, frankly when Abhishek Bachchan is mistakenly killed, it created some sort of impact. But then the next thing, you know he is resurrected!
5. Distinct similarity to Swades. There are a couple of scenes, especially when Sonam Kapoor is supposed to meet her prospective bridegroom and also towards the end when Abhishek has to take his mother back to the US, that give you a feeling of déjà vu.
6. The title song of Delhi 6 is curtailed. There could be other parts snipped instead.

Performances of Delhi 6:
Abhishek Bachchan does not get in right for Delhi 6, his accent sounds made-up. Sonam Kapoor is the most endearing part of Delhi 6. Her enthusiasm in ‘masaakali’ song is laudable. However, she could have done better. In the climax scene, when she breaks down, the entire theatre broke into laughter. Rishi Kapoor’s character is poorly developed. Atul Kulkarni should not have done the role, the movie reduces him to nothing.Vijay Raaz, Divya Dutta, and Om Puri are the only ones who impress. Delhi 6 has Amitabh Bachchan’s career-worst special appearance.

Final conclusion: Delhi 6 puts you to sleep. By the time, we left the movie theatre, two people were already catching their 40 winks.

A.R.Rahman a bigger global star than SRK or Aamir Khan?

2009-03-12T22:30:00.001-07:00

A.R.Rahman has won two Oscar awards for Slumdog Millionaire for Best Original Score and Best Original Song-Jai Ho. A.R.Rahman. A.R.Rahman is now the proud two time Academy Award winner for 2009. Apart from the Oscar awards, A.R.Rahman has won Four National film awards, seven Filmfare Awards, twelve Tamil Filmfare Awards, a Critic's Choice Award, a Satellite Award, a BAFTA award and a Golden Globe; the last four for the super successful Slumdog Millionaire.

A.R.Rahman had won National Awards for Roja, Minsara Kanavu, Lagaan and Kannathil Muthamittal. A.R.Rahman's Filmfare Awards for Bollywood include gems like Rangeela, Dil Se, Taal Lagaan, Saathiya, Swades (Background Score), Rang De Basanti and Guru. There is a sure shot chance of A.R.Rahman to win Filmfare Awards 2009 for Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na.

This shows that A.R.Rahman is as a big a star like SRK or Aamir Khan if not bigger. Post oscar, A.R.Rahman has become a name to reckon with. It is also truethat a movie often garners a fabulous initial because of Rahman's music as was evident in Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na. Unlike the Khans who were not successful, the soft-spoken A.R.Rahman quietly climbed up the ladder of determination and got home the much elusive Oscar for India. We sincerely feel that A.R.Rahman should have been given his due for Lagaan at the Oscars. The music was completely ignored though it was a handiwork of a genius. But then Slumdog Millionaire's music was endorsed well by the director and makers of Slumdog Millionaire.

Do you really think A.R.Rahman's best work is the Oscar adorned Slumdog Millionaire or has he given better music? Which according to you is A.R.Rahman's best music album and song? Do write in or fill the poll to the left of the blog

Filmfare Awards winners 2009, Jodhaa Akbar and Rock On win big time at 54 Idea Filmfare Awards

2009-03-12T22:28:00.000-07:00

54 Idea Filmfare Awards 2009 drew to a close with Jodhaa Akbar winning 5 Filmfare Awards, including Best Actor, Best Director, Best Lyrics, Best Background Score and Best Movie. Priyanka Chopra won the Best Actress Filmfare Award.

Here is the list of 54 Idea Filmfare Awards 2009:

Best Movie: Jodha Akbar

Best Director: Ashutosh Gowarikar for Jodha Akbar

Best Actor in a Leading role (Male): Hrithik Roshan for Jodha Akbar

Best Actor in a Leading role (Female): Priyanka Chopra for Fashion

Best Actor in Supporting Role (Male): Arjun Rampal for Rock On!

Best Actor in Supporting Role (Female): Kangana Ranaut for Fashion

Critic Awards

Best Actress: Sahana Goswami for Rock On!

Best Actor: Manjit Singh for Oye Lucky! Lucy Oye!

Best Jury Award: Nishikant Kamat for Mumbai Meri Jaan

Special jury mention to Prateik Babbar and Purab Kohli for Jaane tu ... and Rock on! respectively

Music

Best Music Director: A R Rahman for Jaane tu ya Jaane Na)

Best Lyrics: Javed Akhtar for Jashn-e-Bahara (Jodha Akbar )

Best Playback Singer (Male): Sukhwinder Singh for Haule haule (Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi)

Best Playback Singer (Female): Shreya Ghoshal for Teri ore... (Singh is Kinng)

R D Burman Upcoming Talent: Benny Dayal for Ghajini

Best Story: Abhishek Kapoor for Rock On!

Best Screenplay: Yogendra Vinayak Joshi, Upendra Sidhaye for Mumbai Meri Jaan

Best Dialogue: Manu Rishi for Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!

Technical awards

Best Background Score: A R Rahman for Jodha Akbar

Best Costume : Manoshi Nath for Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!

Best Cinematography: Jason West for Rock On!

Best Sound Design: Vinod Subramanyam for Rock On!

Best Choreography : Longines for Pappu Can’t Dance Sala . ( Jaane Tu...)

Best Editing: Amit Pawar for Mumbai Meri Jaan

Best Production Design: Vandan Kataria and Monica Angelica Bhowmick for Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!

Best Action: Peter Hein for Ghajini

Best Visual Effects Award: John Deitz for Love Story 2050

Best Sensational Debut (Male): Farhan Akhtar and Imraan Khan

Best Sensational Debut (Female): Asin Thottumkal for Ghajini

Sony Filmfare Best Scene Award: Rab Ne Bana di Jodi

Lifetime Achievement Award :Bhanu Athaiya, Om Puri

Things that we do not agree with Filmfare Awards 2009:
1. A Wednesday did not get a single award at Filmfare Awards 2009, in spite of being the most under-rated movie that stood out all guns. Most would agree that A Wednesday deserved awards for the best script(this was really an original story), best dialogue and best actor in a critics's role to Naseeruddin Shah.

2. Paresh Rawal has arguably given his career best performance in Mumbai Meri Jaan. Sad that he was even nominated!

3. Why has Filmfare scrapped the 'Best Actor/Actress in Comic Role'? What if you have someone excelling in a tragic or serious role, and the other doing absolutely amazing in a comic role? Shoudn't the actor playing comedy deserve better? People like Rajpal Yadav, Paresh Rawal will be side-lined if they scrape the comic role awards. This year, Abhishek Bachchan had a chance to win for his funny act in Dostana.

4. The best male singer awards which went to Sukhvinder for 'Haule Haule' is a suspect. Songs like 'Zara Si" from K.K for Jannat, Pehli Nazar from Atif Aslam for Race and 'Kabhi Kabhi Aditi' from Rashid Ali for Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na were far more popular in terms of music and singing. May be Sukhvinder won it as a consolation because he missed going to the Oscars. Let us honor him here instead, if he couldn't go to Hollywood,isn't it?

5. Hrithik Roshan's was a critically acclaimed role, not a popular one. He should have got the Best Actor critics award. In the popularity polls for best actor of 2008, 44 percent voted for Shahrukh Khan, 41 percent for Aamir Khan and just 8 percent for Hrithik Roshan. It goes without question that popular performances were of SRK(Rab Ne) and Aamir Khan(Ghajini). Both of them saved the industry from incurring huge losses at recession. It is useless giving awards to Aamir Khan because he cares a fig for these awards. You can't give it to SRK every year, so it is better to give Hrithik the best actor (popular) award.

Sufi Malhotra (Puneet) is the winner of MTV Roadies 6.0

2009-03-12T22:26:00.000-07:00

Sufi Malhotra is the winner of MTV Roadies 6.0 Hell Down Under, if reports have to be believed. Sufi has already become a celebrity by now with his picture gracing Men’s Health Magazine and other brands. Sufi Malhotra who was voted out in the very first episode because he was considered a threat to the group, makes a wild card entry. Sufi Malhotra, who believably emerges winner of MTV Roadies 6.0, had a rocky start in MTV Roadies 6.0, especially during the personal interview with Raghu and Rajiv. Both of them asked him to f*** off because they thought he was throwing in an attitude and he was looking at MTV Roadies as a way to further his modeling career. He did get a chance to speak again in the interview, only to be voted out in the first episode of MTV Roadies 6.0. Nerves of steel and a go-getter attitude has reportedly made Sufi winner of MTV Roadies 6.0. Incidentally, MTV Roadies is an Indianised version of MTV' reality show-Road Rules.

The other people who became a come-back in MTV Roadies 6.0 through wild-card entry are Nauman and angry young woman Palak (aka Gurmeet). Here are the MTV Roadies winners of preceding seasons.
* Season 1 - Rannvijay Singh from Jalandhar
* Season 2 - Ayushmann Khuranna from Chandigarh
* Season 3 - Parul Shahi from Delhi
* Season 4 - Anthony Yeh from Kolkata
* Season 5 - Ashutosh Kaushik from Saharanpur

Ranvijay Singh, winner of MTV Roadies Season 1, has hosted every season thereafter till now. Ranvijay who looks calm and composed in Roadies 6.0 will also be making his Bollywood debut in London Dreams that stars Salman Khan, Ajay Devgan and Asin, with music by A.R.Rahman. Ashutosh Kaushik, winner of MTV Roadies 5.0 went on to win the mother of all reality shows in India, Bigg Boss Season 2. Ashutosh is the winner who has won two big reality shows! The reported winner of MTV Roadies 6.0, Sufi Malhotra, also seems to have a wonderful Bollywood career lined up for him. All the best!

Stars shine bright at Amrita Arora's grand wedding, Shahrukh and Salman don't cross paths

2009-03-12T22:21:00.000-07:00

Amrita Arora's wedding sangeet party seemed to have a bigger starry attendance than a Filmfare Award nite. The starry sangeet on March 5, enlivened with a galaxy of stars, who came in to grace the occasion. The dress code was Indian, set by Mallaika Arora Khan and Arbaaz Khan themselves and the venue was a suburban night club in Juhu, Mumbai.

Sexy sarees, graceful salwars, ethnic sherwanis and classy shararas were duly worn by those who mattered, except the odd man out who likes to do things his way-yep, Salman Khan. He came dressed in jeans and left at 3 am in a white shirt, in a totally un-starry style. More on that later.

Shahrukh khan too came, much unexpectedly hours after Salman Khan came in, at midnight. While Salman Khan was perched at the outside bar with Arbaaz Khan, Sohail Khan and buddy Sajid Nadiadwala, Shahrukh Khan came in with wife Gauri and stayed at the bar inside. After watching the sangeet peformances on stages, Shahrukh headed to the bar inside and hung with his group of friends, including Karan Johar. In other words, Salman Khan and SRk did not meet, did not greet and did not cross paths.

Though Shahrukh Khan left an hour after he arrived, Gauri stayed with pals Bhavna Pandey, Suzanne Khan and Seema Khan. Farah Khan who choreographed the numbers, too left early.

According to reports, Salman Khan is still quite angry with Shahrukh and is in no mood to patch up though Shahrukh is more cordial.Salman left the party in an autorickshaw at 3 am, while girlfriend Katrina stayed back. Both of them maintained a distance from each other.

Blue, the most expensive movie in Bollywood heading for an August release

2009-03-12T22:16:00.000-07:00

Blue starring Akshay Kumar, Sanjay Dutt, Lara Dutt, Katrina Kaif and Zayed Khan, is supposed to be the most expensive movie in Bollywood. With a budget exceeding Rs.100 crores, Blue is heading for an August release. The sensational Australian signer with a pretty face and a knock out butt, Kylie Minogue will be singing for a number in the film. The music of Blue is composed by the best music composer in the world presently,A.R.Rahman. Kylie Minogue will also be playing a small role in Blue.

90 percent of Blue has been shot under water. There are also reports that Blue is inspired from the 1997 Hollywood film, The Deep, directed by Peter Yates. Blue is directed by one-tme ad film maker Anthony D'Souza, who has debuted in the film as a director. What is Blue all about? Well, Blue is about a group of people who are looking for a treasure in the deep sea. They meet with obstacles like sharks while going for the kill.

While shooting for Blue, Akshay Kumar was actually hit by sharp object in the sea and his forehead was bleeding profusely. Since sharks could smell blood from afar, his life was in danger. The lifeguards and scuba divers saved Akshay Kumar in time and brought him to the shore. All the actors in Blue had to learn deep sea diving and jump more than 100 feet deep into the sea.

"I didn't know deep sea diving and had to train for six months before joining the team of Blue," Lara said. "But I got the biggest fright when I was told to jump into the sea without an oxygen mask. Thankfully, everything went well." Katrina Kaif who has reportedly done the costliest item number in Blue has even had her role extended in Blue. She will be paired opposite Zayed Khan.

Blue, the movie with many firsts to its credit, is also the first movie to be shot in Bahamas. Akshay Kumar who had a debacle in Chandni Chowk to China will be looking forward to Blue, apart from other movies like 8x10 Tasveer, Action Replay and Kambakkht Ishq. Akshay Kumar who will be rubbing shoulders with Kylie Minogue in Blue, will be seen acting opposite Hollywood stars like Sylvester Stallone, Denise Richardsand Brandon Routh in Kambakkht Ishq. The only problem with Blue is how the costs will be recovered because it made on a very expensive scale. The producers are finding it difficult to get distributors for the film becasue of the huge cost involved in recessional times.

Aamir Khan-Shahrukh Khan war hots up! Aamir Khan and SRK in a war of words!

2009-03-12T22:12:00.000-07:00

The latent and underlying negative vibes between Shahrukh Khan and Aamir Khan have reached a new high with Aamir Khan expressing his doubts on Shahrukh Khan's twin USPs: stardom and humor. Aamir Khan, in an interview to Times of India had this to say about Shahrukh Khan: "Now that his films are not doing well, SRK has lost his sense of humor as well".

It all started when Aamir Khan wrote a lousy post on his blog about Shahrukh Khan being his dog, which even Aamir's fans didn't take too kindly. Though Shahrukh Khan maintained a dignified silence at that, Aamir's comment on SRK being bad at marketing, ruffled Shahrukh Khan's feathers. Now, it will be interesting to know what Shahrukh Khan has to say about the new salvo that Aamir Khan has launched against him.

Here are the excerpts from various interviews which Aamir Khan and Shahrukh Khan have given to different sections of media in reaction to each other's statements:
Shahrukh Khan's reaction to the blog post of Aamir Khan where he labelled SRK as a dog:
"Hum log hum umar hai — main, Salman, Aamir. Aur hum jab milte hain toh is se bhi ajeeb batein karte hai. (All three of us — Salman, Aamir and me are the same age and when we meet, we talk stranger stuff than this.) I have to take it with a sense of humour and I do have a sense of humour. If i can do it with others, then I should accept it."

Shahrukh Khan's reaction to Aamir Khan making the theater staff sport the Ghajini cut in Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi's screening:
Shahrukh Khan: I think it is a good strategy. You take the biggest brand in the country that is SRK and then use that platform to publicise yourself. I think Aamir rocks. The problem is that I cannot use any another brand because there is no one bigger than me".

Aamir Khan on Shahrukh Khan's marketing skills, or the lack of it:
“Shah Rukh is excellent in PR. I am not sure about his marketing. You don’t have to be there for marketing your movie. Someone like Himesh Reshammiya…you see a cap and you think about him. That’s marketing. You go to a theatre and you see a Ghajini look. That’s marketing. I don’t have to be there. I think the thing in which Shah Rukh excels is PR. He has that quality and does that very well.”

Shahrukh Khan's reply to Aamir Khan who expressed doubts about his marketing skills:
" Why is there an assumption that I would listen to what Aamir Khan thinks about me? In his mind, a lot of things he has done are right for him. But obviously, it’s not the universal truth. So with due respect to his wonderful mind, I don’t accept it. I do what’s right for my film. I think every film has its own breathing space, it’s own way of working and I think Billu only has this much space in that I’ve done what was needed for it. "

"I think the case with Aamir is woh kehte hain na, naya-naya musalman hota hai? Toh woh naya-naya producer bana hai. Aamir, the producer, has a lot to do. There is a certain public awareness you need to create for a film, depending on the film itself. It can’t be ke mein Billu Barber hoon toh logon ke baal katna shuru karoon ya chadd jaoon unke sir pe. I think Ghajini was marketed very well. He’s produced one film (Lagaan) and a couple others that too in partnerships with people. We’ve been producing for a long time and we have discovered what is right and what is wrong.Actually, as much as Aamir knows the difference between marketing and PR, I don’t know the difference. I am still the old-fashioned guy who thinks PR is a dirty word, and maybe so does Aamir, that’s why he said it. But the fact that I speak to people I have known over the years is because of a personal relationship rather than a professional need, which makes people like me a little more."

Shahrukh Khan on Aamir's statement that SRK has only been talking about himself in the past 20 years:
"Mein shehar mein toh tha nahin, toh jab sher jungle se baahar jaata hain to bahut log bahut kuch bolte aur karte hain. Sometimes I feel thoda zyada bol diya usne, but I don’t hold it against him. I really don’t live my life analysing anyone else’s motives or remarks or decisions. I’ve always said am like a horse with blinkers on. You can market a film very well but it may tank, it happened with Asoka. I think Paheli was beautifully done. I went to the Oscars and did my thing, no one else has done this apparently; and I am taking the word of publicists there. I don’t analyse Aamir at all. I don’t have the time for it. I think I prey on his mind, but then I prey on everybody’s mind, it’s okay."

Shahrukh Khan stating why he does not clarify things with Aamir Khan:
"No, I don’t call him up. In fact, I don’t call up anyone. He didn’t call me up to say this, did he? It doesn’t affect me. But I told him when he spoke about the dog reference that my children didn’t like it. So he came home and said sort of a sorry to my kids. He very sweetly told them, “I love your dad, he’s my friend and I didn’t realise it…” But he didn’t convince my kids. They really liked him, now they don’t. Though I keep telling them, ‘usko bhi pasand karlo yaar, koi baat nahin.’ When I meet him I’ll tell him those are two fans he has lost for sure. I had a lot of jokes about the dog bit, but my wife told me not to tell them. My wife has told me for the last 24 years, ‘nobody understands your sense of humour. So just shut up, keep it to yourself."

Aamir Khan on what SRK said about how Aamir's dog reference have made his kids turn away from being his(Aamir's) fans:
"Let me say one thing clearly, no matter what Shah Rukh tells his children, I will tell my kids to always love and respect him. What he teaches his children is entirely up to him. I can understand that he is bitter as his films have not done well. I have only have warm regards for him and wish him all the very best. I do understand that Shah Rukh works very hard and gives a number of interviews, which I think is a wonderful quality. I think he is upset as his films have not done as well as he expected them to but I wish him all the success he deserves."

Aamir Khan on why SRK uses his name publicly
"I have been working in the industry for over two decades and I have never made any comments about anybody. However, over the years I noticed that Shah Rukh has been repeatedly talking about me publicly. In all fairness, I too decided not to remain quiet and respond to him publicly."

Aamir Khan's latest salvo on Shahrukh Khan's king khan status and his firebrand humor:
"I am least interested in dethroning him. He can be very happy with all the thrones and all the crowns. I am not interested in any of them. He has never hesitated in making fun of me. Even in his films he has made fun of Manoj Kumar and Dev Anand. It shows that he has a great sense of humour but where does it all go when I say humorous things about him? I remember him saying in one of his interviews that he was joking about calling himself No.1. I find it very funny as I have never seen anyone proclaiming, 'I am No.1'. Neither did Sachin Tendulkar ever say that he is No 1 nor did Lata Mangeshkar. Take any field for that matter, Vishwanathan Anand never says that he is the best and I don't think Dilip Kumar or Raj Kapoor ever said that. I am saying all this in a lighter vein so he too should take my comments lightly. I think that his sense of humour suddenly disappears when it comes to me. As far as I am concerned, my favourite star is Amitabh Bachchan and for me he is the number one."

Bollywood Trends comment on the war of words between Shahrukh Khan and Aamir Khan going the SRK-Salman Khan way:
Both Aamir Khan and Shahrukh Khan have proved beyond doubt that like other stars, they have fragile egos. With all regards to Aamir's Khan performance and the quality of films he does, AK is not articulate in his views, and most of the time his humor falls flat, which one could make out from his blog post, citing SRK as a dog. Shahrukh Khan is media friendly not because he influences the media, but because he has a sappy sense of humor and makes great copy. Shahrukh has been self-deprecating in his jokes too. In fact, when Shahrukh khan was asked why he had done Ashoka, he said, "Ashoka was not good looking and tall, which is why I fit the bill" He even poked a lot of jokes on himself in Om Shanti Om and Billu.

It will be interesting to know how the the media's fave kid, Shahrukh khan reacts to Aamir's salvo. Watch this space for more.

Incidentally, this is what Shahrukh khan had to say on his stand-off with Salman Khan:

“I don’t like talking things private to me. I’m talked about because I’m emotionally not available to everyone and that disturbs them. They have the right to talk and I have no issues,” he said. “I think like a father would whereas Salman thinks like a son. That’s okay. We are two different kind of people. We had nothing in common. We think differently.Salman and I had some really good times together. Strangely, these memories are fading away. So I’m sure even the bad memories will fade.We are both happy in our own worlds. If a reconciliation happens — good; if it doesn’t happen, — very good. Not being friends doesn’t mean Salman and I are great enemies.”

Freida Pinto features on the cover of Cosmopolitan

2009-03-10T02:46:00.000-07:00

By Bollywood Hungama News Network

Freida Pinto is practically everywhere. Right from the silver screens world over, to the super exclusive red carpet to the Oscars to a high profile Hollywood film cast and back home, she is on the covers of every possible magazine. The latest one being fashion and lifestyle magazine 'Cosmopolitan'.

In this issue, the by-now-HOT-property Freida talks all about her life, pre and post the cult film Slumdog Millionaire. She also talks about her take on the controversy surrounding the film. And for all you wannabe Freida boyfriends, here's a quickie on what this hottie needs in her guy. She says that he has to be a blend of everything and that he needs to be hilarious but know when to draw the line. And he definitely should not be someone who has to try too hard as it becomes scary for this angel.

For more such inside dope on the lady of the moment, pick up a copy of the latest issue of Cosmopolitan and discover the real Freida for yourself!

Karan Johar's Dharma Productions inks distribution deal with UTV

2009-03-10T02:37:00.000-07:00

By Bollywood Hungama News Network

Karan Johar's Dharma Productions has signed an exclusive worldwide distribution deal with UTV Motion Pictures for its next two releases. The deal includes theatrical, home video, overseas, satellite and all other new media distribution rights. The two films namely Wake Up Sid and Rensil D'Silva's yet untitled film are slated to release in the second half of 2009.

Wake Up Sid is directed by Ayaan Mukerji and stars Ranbir Kapoor and Konkona Sen Sharma. The music of the film has been composed by the celebrated trio Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy. While the Rensil D'silva film stars Saif Ali Khan, Kareena Kapoor and Vivek Oberoi and the music has been scored by Salim-Sulaiman.

"Karan has a brilliant slate of films to his credit. He brings a tremendous entertainment quotient to his films coupled with immense understanding of the pulse of the audience. His films are amongst the most awaited across the country and around the world. We are thrilled to start what we hope is the beginning of a long relationship with Dharma Productions," said UTV CEO Ronnie Screwvala.

"I've known and been in touch with Ronnie for a long time now and I am glad that finally we are getting a chance to work together. His passion and sensibility towards understanding cinema is exceptional and I'm looking forward to working with UTV Motion Pictures," said Karan Johar.