HOLLYWOOD + World Cinema Thread

ORSON WELLES 1915-1985

http://www.cobbles.com/simpp_archive...elles-1939.jpg


Influential, Uncompromising, Expertly-Genius Film Director/Producer, Hollywood's Premier Enfant Terrible and Victim; Director of Filmdom's Most Studied Film - Citizen Kane

Suggested Filmography: Citizen Kane (1941), The Magnificent Ambersons (1942), The Stranger (1946), The Lady From Shanghai (1948, Macbeth (1948, Othello (1952), Mr. Arkadin (1955), Touch of Evil (1958, The Trial (1962), Chimes at Midnight/Falstaff (1966), F for Fake (1975).

USA Box Office Returns
for the weekend starting 2 January 2009


RankWeekend TotalWeeksScreensWeekend screen avg.Cumulative
box office1.Marley & Me (2008 $24,263,763 (-33%)23,505$6,922$106,664,046
2.Bedtime Stories (2008 $20,501,339 (-25%)23,684$5,564$85,539,168
3.The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008 $18,691,248 (-30%)22,988$6,255$79,297,086
4.Valkyrie (2008 $14,094,617 (-33%)22,778$5,073$60,743,291
5.Yes Man (200$13,910,477 (-16%)33,434$4,050$79,507,388
6.Seven Pounds (2008 $10,068,518 (-24%)32,758$3,650$60,147,298
7.The Tale of Despereaux (2008 $6,939,295 (-22%)33,091$2,245$43,661,775
8.The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008 $5,049,648 (-34%)42,337$2,160$74,424,256
9.Doubt (2008 $5,000,893 (-6%)41,287$3,885$18,705,481
10.Slumdog Millionaire (2008 $4,690,769 (9%)8612$7,664$28,676,598

Holy Oscar! Why Dark Knight should swoop Best Picture from Slumdog Millionaire



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January 8, 6:41 PM
by Dominic Patten,



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It has been a truly great year for movies.

And in such a year, Slumdog Millionaire, the Mumbai rags to TV riches film emerged as the near favorite for this year's Oscar for Best Picture.

Now I know the nominations haven't even been announced, that happens on January 22, but with widespread critical praise and momentum, the Danny "Trainspotting" Boyle directed film is sprinting ahead of other potential contenders like The Wrestler, Frost/Nixon, Milk and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. It's easy to see why; Slumdog is an insightful, inspiring and deeply personal film of love, globalization, and chasing a dream and that dreamgirl. It is exactly why movies are one of the higher arts.

However, there's a dark horse in this coronation and someone might be cleaning up the Oscars the way he has Gotham. Traditionally action movie blockbusters just don't register on the Academy's radar. While they rake in the bucks and the teenage boys, action movies aren't commonly considered, with the exception of the Special Effects and Stunt departments, to be innovative or evolutionary enough. They are, for the most part, a formula.

The Dark Knight is different.

It is epic.

Epic and after last year's lowest rated Oscars full of films few had heard of and almost no one had seem, it was also populist. With director Christopher Nolan a the helm again, Christian Bale as Batman, Gary Oldman back as god cop Jim Gordon and the magnificently minimalist Michael Caine returning as butler and bodyman Alfred, this was one sequel that was far far better than the first film.

And then there was Heath Ledger.

The actor died not long after completing his performance as the crazed Joker in the film. At first I thought, as I wrote in this August post, that the praise he posthumously received was misplaced. I was wrong. I've seen Dark Knight several times since and on each viewing the complexity of Ledger's layered performance becomes more evident. With the addition of Ledger's Joker, Nolan's Batfranchise became the biggest budgeted existential American film of all time, a virtual big screen Marquis De Sade and a Box Office success.



There is no doubt Ledger will get an Oscar nomination and there is little doubt he will rightly win. Which is but one building block in why the Dark Knight could end up winning Best Picture.

At the People's Choice Awards, the caped crusader cleaned up in his categories.
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The film is already on the Oscar nod books joining Tropic Thunder, The Wrestler, The Reader, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Hellboy II: The Golden Army and Synecdoche, New York for the Academy Award for Outstanding Makeup nomination. Now director Christopher Nolan has received a Best Picture nod from both the Writer's Guild and the prophetic Director's Guild. At tonight's Critic's Choice Awards




A superhero movie has never been taken this seriously before. Sure Robert Downey, Jr.'s Iron Man had a certain panache but for the most part superhero movies are ignored because for the most part they suck. Once you get past the explosions and the costumes, there is often nothing to them. There's the snakebelly low expectations and execution of the Fantastic Four flicks, Punisher, the horrific Hulk and the visual arresting but otherwise vapid Spirit. Now some will say that the recent Spiderman blockbusters have raised the level of superhero flicks but the truth is once you get past the "with great power comes great responsibility" stuff, the webslinger is just another guy in tights.

The closest comparison is Gladiator, which won Best Picture in 2000, and even then the much less traditional Dark Knight is still a far different creature. The Dark Knight defines categorization. It is a superhero movie the way Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather is just another Mob movie.

Like the 1972 masterpiece, the Dark Knight swims in the dark undercurrent of America and men's souls. It is a tale of endless struggle in a world seemingly gone mad where the heroes are the villains and the villains seem like heroes.

It has transformed its genre and, in the best tradition of American art, not been afraid to strike a widespread public chord.

On February 22, don't be surprised to see stars from No Country for Old Men, last year's Best Picture winner, open the envelope and send out a very distinct Batsignal.

http://image.examiner.com/images/blo...eath_joker.jpg

source - examiner

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ~ BILLA ~

ORSON WELLES 1915-1985

http://www.cobbles.com/simpp_archive...elles-1939.jpg


Influential, Uncompromising, Expertly-Genius Film Director/Producer, Hollywood's Premier Enfant Terrible and Victim; Director of Filmdom's Most Studied Film - Citizen Kane

Suggested Filmography: Citizen Kane (1941), The Magnificent Ambersons (1942), The Stranger (1946), The Lady From Shanghai (1948, Macbeth (1948, Othello (1952), Mr. Arkadin (1955), Touch of Evil (1958, The Trial (1962), Chimes at Midnight/Falstaff (1966), F for Fake (1975).

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Citizen kane kandirunnu miniyannu... :salut:

Zodiac I have seen 2 versions.
I think one was a realistic portrayal,other was a real gripping fictious climax.
I havent seen a more thrilling scene than the writer seeing the killer face to face.
I wish RC has something like that!Wud be terrific.

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Originally Posted by PassionForCinema

Zodiac I have seen 2 versions.
I think one was a realistic portrayal,other was a real gripping fictious climax.
I havent seen a more thrilling scene than the writer seeing the killer face to face.
I wish RC has something like that!Wud be terrific.

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Malayalathil ingine oru padam varunnathu ennaanavo? :grin:
Rosebud ennu kettappol vere entho okke expect cheythenkilum climax expect cheythirunnilla...

Yes,someone shud try something like that in a really small budget.
My picks wud be indrajith the writer and sreenivasan the killer.moulding it with some serial killer story that has happened here.

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Originally Posted by ZodiaC

Malayalathil ingine oru padam varunnathu ennaanavo? :grin:..

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b patient man........njan udane thanne film fieldilekku irangunnundu:order:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by PassionForCinema

Yes,someone shud try something like that in a really small budget.
My picks wud be indrajith the writer and sreenivasan the killer.moulding it with some serial killer story that has happened here.

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Orennam annanu thanne direct cheythoodee....:grin:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by damion

b patient man........njan udane thanne film fieldilekku irangunnundu:order:

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Shakeela padangal aavashyathiladhikam erangi kazhinju.... :whistle1: