This is Sparta !!!

Well the summer is already here, and the blockbuster sequels wont take long to come.But the most anticipated movie for me is releasing next week (not in India though, its here on 16th March).I am talking about "300"



In 480 BC, the Persian king Xerxes (Rodrigo Santoro) sends his massive army to conquer Greece. The Greek city of Sparta houses its finest warriors, and 300 of these soldiers are chosen to meet the Persians at Thermopylae, engaging the soldiers in a narrow canyon where they cannot take full advantage of their numbers. The battle is a suicide mission, meant to buy time for the rest of the Greek forces to prepare for the invasion. However, that doesn't stop the Spartans from throwing their hearts into the fray, determined to take as many Persians as possible with them.

Get to watch the trailer Here

And the Oscar Winners are...

Well the Big night is over and let see how I fared with the predictions

Best Supporting Actress: Jennifer Hudson (got that one right) for Dream Girls

Best Supporting Actor: Alan Arkin (predicted Eddie Murphy) for Little Miss Sunshine

Best Actress: Helen Mirren (Doubted it would be anyone else) for The Queen

Best Actor: Forest Whitaker (Good guess) for The Last King of Scotland


Best Director: Martin Scorsese (Was not surprising) for The Departed

Best Picture: Now this was a 3 horse race between “Babel”, “Little Miss Sunshine” and “The Departed” and the winner is “The Departed”

My Oscar Predictions

Here are my picks for the big Oscar night, having seen most of the films ..will give my predictions


ACTRESS - SUPPORTING
Adriana Barraza – BABEL
Cate Blanchett – NOTES ON A SCANDAL
bigail Breslin – LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE
Jennifer Hudson – DREAMGIRLS
Rinko Kikuchi - BABEL

My Prediction: Though my personal choice would be Rinko Kikuchi, It would be Jennifer Hudson to walk away with the golden statue this year.

ACTOR - SUPPORTING
Alan Arkin – LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE
Jackie Earle Haley – LITTLE CHILDREN
Djimon Hounsou – BLOOD DIAMOND
Eddie Murphy – DREAMGIRLS
Mark Wahlberg – THE DEPARTED

My Prediction: Another statue for "Dreamgirls" as Eddie murphy will pick up this, Alan Arkin will be my choice.


ACTRESS - LEADING
Penélope Cruz – VOLVER
Judi Dench – NOTES ON A SCANDAL
Helen Mirren – THE QUEEN
Meryl Streep – THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA
Kate Winslet – LITTLE CHILDREN


My Predication: 2 words Helen Mirren.



ACTOR - LEADING
Leonardo DiCaprio – BLOOD DIAMOND
Ryan Gosling – HALF NELSON
Peter O’Toole – VENUS
Will Smith – THE PURSUIT OF HAPPYNESS
Forest Whitaker – THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND


My Prediction : Though Forest Whitaker is almost certain to take it , Peter O'Toole or Leonardo might spring a surprise


DIRECTING
Alejandro González Iñárritu - BABEL
Martin Scorsese - THE DEPARTED
Clint Eastwood - LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA
Stephen Frears - THE QUEEN
Paul Greengrass - UNITED 93

My Prediction : This is almost a lock for Scorsese for his brilliant "The Departed" .Closely followed by Paul Greengrass


BEST PICTURE
BABEL
THE DEPARTED
LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA
LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE
THE QUEEN



My Prediction - This would be the most competitive category with every film being equally good to win the coveted prize. I would love to see "Little Miss Sunshine" get it , but I might be proved wrong by "Babel"

Reunion of "The Doors"

According to the latest reports the reunion of the legendary Grammy winning band "The Doors" might be possible if Pearl Jam lead singer Eddie Vedder agrees to perform with them.

Vedder had joined the three existing members of the group for shows and studio sessions a decade ago and drummer John Densmore reveals he would love to have Vedder perform with his band mates

Well here is hoping that it does happen , would be great to see them perform live

Iron Maiden To Rock Bangalore

International heavy metal gods Iron Maiden is all set to rock Bangalore on the 17th of March.. Its just been confirmed by the band and it can be found in the bands official website

http://www.ironmaiden.com/index.php?categoryid=15

So rejoice all Indians this is once in Life time oppurtunity ..Dont miss this.

Visually Stunning Masterpiece - Pan's Labyrinth

The one complaint I could think of against “Pans Labyrinth “is that it would be tagged “From the director of Hellboy and Blade 2” which is total injustice to the movie being compared with such mediocre films.Our film opens with a momentary shot of a bleeding Ofelia (Ivana Baquero), as the frames are introduced in reverse. We are told that it is the time of the Spanish Civil War. Ofelia and her heavily pregnant mother Carmen (Ariadna Gil) arrive at a nationalist military base in the woods and introduced to her stepfather, a vicious commanding officer, Capitan Vidal (Sergi Lopez) a fascist captain and a vicious sadist tasked with flushing out the remaining guerillas from the forests of Northern Spain

Uncomfortable with her new surroundings, suspicious of her stepfather and desperately concerned about the worsening condition of her mother, Ofelia uncovers a strange alternative world as she runs into a magical fairy who leads her to a mystical labyrinth, where she meets a mysterious faun, Pan (Doug Jones), who tells her that she is the long-lost princess of an underground kingdom, and that she must complete three dangerous tasks to return to her throne.
The story becomes more intense and the movie shifts back and forth ,between the labyrinth, where Ofelia has to retrieve a golden key from a giant toad and face the Pale Man - a creature that has plucked out its eyes and can only see by placing them on its hands. And the real world where Vidal dogged pursuit of the Communist forces is hampered by a rebellious but motherly housekeeper Mercedes (by Maribel Verdú, the sexy older woman from "Y tu mama también”) as it boils down to a cinematically brilliant climax which leads to a debatable ending.


Do not be fooled. This is a movie about children, but not for children. Brilliantly directed, masterfully set up, and visually jaw dropping The acting is top-notch, and young Ivana Baquero has a huge and brilliant future ahead of her (imagine Dakota Fanning, only better and less annoying) and Sergi Lopez looks like the reincarnation of Ralph Fiennes in "Schindler's List". The animation is phenomenal, but not nearly as breathtaking as the costumes or scenery. The labyrinth itself just sucks all the breath out of you when you see it at night for the first time.

A dark, brutal fairytale, chillingly set in the real world but full of hope and warmth, Pan's Labyrinth accomplishes a masterpiece, Pity it lost out on the “Best Picture” nominee , To me this would have won hands down (not having seen “Letters of Iwo Jima”).This is last year's best fantasy film. And it seems it will remain that way maybe till “300” releases

The Illusionist - Predictable, but Entertaining

This is one of the movies with no hype surrounding around it, low production and very reliable actors as compared to another high profile movie of the same genre “The Prestige”,but this movie is entertaining and has agood mix of romance, mystery, and magic.

After an attention-grabbing opening scene, the first half of the movie, through traditional flashback, is a familiar rich-girl-poor-boy yarn, seen umpteen times in our bollywood movies. After being torn apart for 15 years, the childhood friends (not quite sweethearts then) re-encountered – Sophie (Jessica Biel) of a noble family now about to be married to a crown prince (Rufus Sewell) while Edward (Edward Norton) has established himself as Eisenheim the fast rising magician that captures the fancy of the Vienna audience at the turn of the century. While considerable screen time has been given to Eisenheim’s career as a magician, the focus up to this point is on how Sophie and Eisenheim’s old friendship has been rekindled into romance with the crown prince being the obstacle.

At the mid-point, however, the tone of the movie take a rather abrupt turn,giving it a new life, as a dark mystery with also a supernatural flavour.
Eisenheim’s magic becomes the obsessed focus of both the audience and Chief
Inspector Uhl (Paul Giamatti) who tries to unravel its mystery. After some
twists and turns, however, the final revelation brings the audience to a
realisation that this is a rich-girl-poor-boy story after all more seasoned
audience can probably see the ending twist coming. There are also, not
unexpectedly, plot holes, as a water-tight plot is very difficult to come by.
However, none of this stops the movie from being vastly entertaining, with a
satisfactory conclusion.

My main complaint of this movie is the characters, everyone
is one dimensional, The prince is a tyrant, the Inspector is corrupt and power
hungry and the romance between the lead protagonists is forced and doesn’t help the cause. On the other hand, the plot was engrossing, the pacing and timing moved well, the cinematography was beautiful with very little CGI for the magic scenes. It’s
become almost blasphemous in the movie world to criticize any performance by
Edward Norton, but this actor, who can play just about any role thrown at him,
does deserve the distinction. His portrayal of Eisenheim is no exception. Giamatti’s
role as the chief inspector does not seem to be terribly demanding at first
glance, but that is the pivoting role and Giamatti fills that role admirably. Jessica
Biel was the surprise and is convincing in her role as a period elegant noble
lady. Pity it got lost with the hype of “The Prestige”..but certainly a great
watch on a lazy Sunday afternoon.

Stunning Piece of Work - Children of Men

Alfonso Cuaron returns back to form with his brilliant film (after a mildly impressive “Harry Potter and the prisoner of Azkaban”) with a dark, dreary, and bleak vision of the future. Children of men works on several levels; as a thriller it betters recent Hollywood action flicks; as an example of expert film making and on another level it offers a damning indictment on the increasingly right

wing political morality currently prevalent in UK and US government (but you don’t have to read that into it to enjoy the movie).

The plot is simple. In the year of 2027, Women are no longer fertile and the worlds youngest citizen, who was just 18 just died. Theodore (Clive Owen) is in London, where explosions are common and cages filled with illegal immigrants rounded up by riot police .When approached by ex-wife Julian (Julianne Moore), a figure from his activist days, Theodore finds himself the guardian of a woman who somehow is pregnant, with the hopes of getting her to mysterious group called the Human Project. This girl, Kee (Claire-Hope Ashitey) is pregnant and an immigrant. Theo is pulled in different directions, not knowing whom to trust in a world which would embrace having a baby, but wouldn’t acknowledge (and probably kill) the baby’s mother because of her immigrant status. Theo must travel past mounting obstacles, past all of the lies and deception, and try and help this girl and her soon to be born baby to reach her destination.

The casting is pretty well perfect. The film features solid performances from Clive Owen, who is at his rugged, rumpled best, and Julianne Moore is underused. Supporting players also do well: Michael Caine is terrific as Theo’s pot-growing hippie friend. Chiwetel Ejiofor plays a militant activist who can be both deadly cool and explosively hot.

The cinematography of this film requires a special mention .The camera is fully engaged in the world around the characters. There are several extended shots in this film that are absolutely mind boggling. The piece de resistance is a climactic nine minute extended tracking shot without a single cut. Other poignant images include scenes of caged foreigners ready for transport, an Abu-Ghraib inspired prison -- complete with attack dogs, disrobed and masked prisoners -- and a not-so-subtle visual allusion to Pink Floyd’s classic album cover, "Animals," with an accompanying flying pig.

As good as it is though, this movie is not for everyone. It is very violent, and depressing in its’ portrayal of the future. The government goes through cities blowing everything, and anything away for no apparent reason at all. It is quite disturbing, because many of the themes portrayed in "Children of Men" are not far off from real life. One thing that bothered me was that many things were not explained, like why women where infertile, or why the government had turned on everyone. I’m assuming, in the case of an artsy film like this, that the director wants to leave it up to the viewer to decide some things for himself. One thing that really stood out in this film is that it shows what the world would be like without children, and it wouldn’t be good.