Slumdog Millionaire - My fifth favorite film of 08' thus far and 100% on Rottentomatoes. An India version of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire??? Yeah, I was skeptical too. However, when you have the director Danny Boyle (Trainspotting, Millions, 28 Days Later, etc.) at the helm...it is so much more.

It is more like a coming of age store in a unique setting...the slums of India. Think the fresh backdrop and kinetic energy style of film making in the same vein as "City of God", but more of a crowd pleaser. Part coming of age in the slums tale, part gangster flick, romance, dark comedy, and the game show of course.

This will have the audience either crying, smiling, standing, and/or applauding at the end. The official 2008 crowd-pleaser.

Short scene...no trailer cut yet...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1115RRGCv40

The best way I can describe Slumdog Millionaire is as a "ghetto fable"... the ghetto in question just happens to be Mumbai... now, some of the plot details and conveniences were a bit on the sketchy side, but the performances by each of the leads (and the actors playing their younger selves) were so engaging that you find yourself emotionally invested in what happens to them... if you're the type that doesn't believe in chance or fate or destiny, or believe that logic rules everything, then forget it, I don't think you're not going to like it one bit... but I went with it and thought it was really entertaining... the "kinetic" filmmaking style was quite irritating at first, but I got used to it and ended up enjoying the movie... the style took me back to the Danny Boyle of Trainspotting and 28 Days Later...

I could see exactly why Fox Searchlight would pick this one up, as it is a crowd-pleaser like you said... I read somewhere that Danny Boyle didn't want to do the film initially because he was put off by the Who Wants to Be A Millionaire elements of the story... shit, this is the kind of movie that could fill that "Fox Searchlight Crowd Pleaser" slot that Little Miss Sunshine and Juno filled at the Oscars the past couple of years...
________________________________________________________________________
<------ Master Baiters, read it and weep.

Yeah...it definitely relies on the fate/destiny theme.

I just thought it was well put together...this should get an editing award (no doubt) and superb acting by the real people (no acting experience) Boyle used in the film...smart choice. Also, the soundtrack was ill...was like that Madlib India instrumental album.

I'm surprised they got the ok to center this flick around the "Who Wants To Be a Millionaire" game show with all the politics, violence, and corruption elements involved.

Also, the ending credits/dance sequence was fun and different for this type of film.

Seen this with director Boyle in the audience and he took time for discussion and I got a photo with him. He is crazy cool, down to earth, and was happy to just kick it with everyone.

SKins
--------
<--------- my cousin
www.richardlouissaint.com
photobloggin' it:
http://blog.richardlouissaint.com
Join Creative Slump No More: www.creativeslumpnomore.com

having said that, Anwar is not a strong enough character to judge Dev by. I watched slumdog in anticpation that any second, his character will break free and act a fool like he does on skins.

worth a watch, but severly overrated
the scenes with the little kids are by far the best
boyle does a great job directing and the unique gameshow flashback narrative method is a great idea, but the acting and story are a little iffy at times
also, the ending does not tie in with the tone of the rest of the film at all
very cliche all throughout
bout a 3/5 stars for me

don't get me wrong, it definitely was feel-good, but this is not an oscar-calibre film apart from the direction

i was kinda underwhelmed, but at least it was entertaining and enjoyable

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=h-f2rAOrzfg

The look of it looks great.

I was very skeptical about the game show theme but the way it was used here was quite clever. I'd say this is a must see for all the City of God fans out there. I'm not gonna compare the two but the similarities will be obvious. Both the cinematography & editing was some of the best I've seen so far this year. Paper Planes on the soundtrack was a nice touch as well.

So DB has done a drug flick, a horror flick, a kiddie flick, sci-fi, & now Bollywood. Fair enough if yall dont wanna label those movies with those specific genre tags, but safe to say he's 1 of the more versatile & talented directors working today?

And did the actor playing the host of the game show remind anyone else of this guy? http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0316284/

Or was that just me?

like Zoo said...if you go into it with an open / non nit picking mind...

its an amazing movie with above average story telling and cinematography.



------------


www.sepiamutiny.com

V.

i remember watching WWTBAM in India when i went to visit (called crorepati) and amitab bachan was the host. woulda been interesting to see him in this.

I really liked this movie. Something held it back from being great but it was very good, one of the year's best.

Part of me thinks that it really isn't getting a real marketing push because the bigger studio is going to pull an Infernal Affairs and make a version of it based in America.

It was sold out when I went last Saturday, I'm probably going to see it with my girlfriend tomorrow.

I've read that Boyle really nails the depiction of Bombay, I'll give you my take on it when I check it out.

I loved the film and found it to be a perfect mix of mainstream appeal & indie film making sensibility. The story is conventional in a sense, but the execution of it is anything but. The way the back story of the characters is weaved in with the questions on Millionaire is very effective, and even though you get the sense that you know how it's going to end, you really don't care because you're strapped in for the ride after the first flashback scene.

I don't think I've been to a movie here before where the audience is cringing and ooohing and aaahing all the way through, and ended with applause. Make sure you stay for the credits, there's a sequence you need to see, at the theater I saw it everyone let out a "oooooohhh shit!" expression when it came on.

All of the acting is great, especially the kids who play younger versions of the three characters, and they're absolutely adorable. The casting director did a great job, no wonder Boyle gave her a co-directing credit.

Boyle's style and the Mumbai setting combine to create a visual style that's full of energy, colour, and life. I lived in B-Bay for 3 months, and even worked in one of the slums depicted in the film and in my opinion Boyle totally nailed it. He was able to address the reality of living in a slum without dwelling too much on things that usually distract Western filmmakers (bad sanitation) and kept focus on what really matters - people, characters.

It was great to see Anil Kapoor (the host of Millionaire, biggest star in Bollywood in the 80's) getting some shine as a villain for a change, and of course Irfan Khan is always on-point.

If this film isn't nominated for a few Oscars it will be a crime. But of course it wouldn't be the first time that a great film is overlooked, or that the Academy used some xenophobic criteria to eliminate a film - "We can't nominate that film, it's set in a foreign land and uses subtitles for 1/3 of the film - Americans don't like those films"

>Boyle's style and the Mumbai setting combine to create a
>visual style that's full of energy, colour, and life. I lived
>in B-Bay for 3 months, and even worked in one of the slums
>depicted in the film and in my opinion Boyle totally nailed
>it. He was able to address the reality of living in a slum
>without dwelling too much on things that usually distract
>Western filmmakers (bad sanitation) and kept focus on what
>really matters - people, characters.

I was part of a community outreach program in Mumbai for 2 summers in high school ...most of our work was done in Dharavi but we also did some work near the Chamra Bazaar...

and I spent a summer doing an internship for Tata Inc. in Mumbai when I was in college..


how did you like Mumbai? you Desi?


------------------
Scarface - Emeritus
Freeway - Philadelphia Freeway

***************
I've traveled far and wide through many different times...

www.smokingsection.net

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They got a pic of her that is just NICE!!!!!

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http://smokingsection.uproxx.com/TSS/?p=19001









http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r9/chowyunskinny/Gold%20Chef/iron_chef.jpg

Excellent movie!!!! saw it at a screening in Philly last week.Will go and see it again... Danny Boyle even showed up for a Q & A after the film was over..For all those who liked 28 Days and Weeks Later.. There is going to be a 28 Months Later

but once again my area sucks when it comes to limited showings.

but I was entertained.

3.5/5.0

Nice feel-good flick. Excellent direction and cinematography. Interesting slice of life and social commentary. And oh yeah...a bonafide DYME PIECE as the female lead.

Thumbs up!

There were just some things that irked me, like how he used...3? MIA tracks on the soundtrack. I'm a fan of her music, but I don't know. something about their use said "this movie is made by a Briton" to me.

The story was a cool idea, but the characters didn't grab me too much. a lot of times i found myself wishing jamal would either do something else, say something, get the fuck out of there, let it be... I don't know, I guess everyone was kind of frustrating.

I did like the ending though w/ the cell phone and all. Salim's end seemed a little corny and maybe a bit out of character. It's true that he had always walked a fine line of both looking out for his brother and then screwing him over, but it was kind of odd. I thought that he was at least going to set the money on fire.

>There were just some things that irked me, like how he
>used...3? MIA tracks on the soundtrack. I'm a fan of her
>music, but I don't know. something about their use said "this
>movie is made by a Briton" to me.

When were the other 2 besides Paper Planes played?

>The story was a cool idea, but the characters didn't grab me
>too much. a lot of times i found myself wishing jamal would
>either do something else, say something, get the fuck out of
>there, let it be... I don't know, I guess everyone was kind of
>frustrating.
>
>I did like the ending though w/ the cell phone and all.
>Salim's end seemed a little corny and maybe a bit out of
>character. It's true that he had always walked a fine line of
>both looking out for his brother and then screwing him over,
>but it was kind of odd. I thought that he was at least going
>to set the money on fire.

I thought the bathtub shit was mad corny

>
>When were the other 2 besides Paper Planes played?

Near the beginning, I didn't recognize the track, but it was definitely her voice on it. And i'm counting that sort of paper planes remix used after the real track appeared.

but I found it very annoying that they used not only paper planes (which pineapple express killed) but also the remix AND in back to back scenes. It really took me out of the movie and hate those scenes.

Reminded me of City Of God, both in its content and the tone/way it was shot. Definitely had me engaged for the entirety of the film. I'd say the only part where they lost me was with Salim's last line in the movie...just sort of seemed a little hokey in comparison to the rest of the film.

Still, great flick and one that I would definitely recommend and see again.

The ending was a little cheesy but it was a fun ride. I got some City of God vibes at times but didn't reach those levels. I know they are two totally different films but the shooting, editing and color styles begged for comparisons.

The little kids and tweens were great.

I have seen this year. Thoroughly interesting and entertaining.

Very well done. It somehow turned the implausibility into an asset. Really impressed, because this could have easily turned out really stupid.

I loved this movie until the end. The end was too hokey. Credits portion was cool. The little kids are the best this about this film. I loved the bulk of this movie. 90%.

I would go see it in theaters if they were showing it in my area but they arent...lol
__________________________________________________________
http://randywatsonculture.blgospot.com

The way that Boyle drops you straight into India is extraordinary. The storytelling was exciting, kept me guessing, and was well-acted throughout.

Sidenote: If you hated on Miracle at St. Anna for "too many coincidences" or "corny ending," then you better get out your hate gun. This is a more concise, more entertaining film, but it carries a very similar theme about fate.

the autograph scene was my favorite scene. those kids were so amazing. i haven't felt this way about child actors since the Wire season 4.

all around great film...beautiful, tragic, inspring and heartbreaking all at once.

also i have a question: what was the game show host referring to him as? i know it was a word that means 'chai server'...was it 'chaiwala' or something like that?

d

"There always have been motherfuckers, and there will always be motherfuckers, but what we can't do is let them control our motherfucking lives." - Correspondent John Oliver from The Daily Show re: the Mumbai terrorists

>the autograph scene was my favorite scene. those kids were so
>amazing. i haven't felt this way about child actors since the
>Wire season 4.
>

that was my favorite scene also. I literally lol in the movie theater. great movie.

or "chaiwala". just means tea vendor/server.

and i agree, the kids were great in this flick.

hilarious

it's really easy to get jaded towards movies with all of the heartless garbage that gets churned out, but it's movies like this that bring me back.

just a beautiful (visually and emotionally) flick. everyone involved just laid out their passion and energy on screen.

i very rarely turn myself completely over to a movie and discard all sarcasm and jadedness, but this movie chipped away at my little Grinch heart. i gave in. i went for the ride. and it's the best movie-going experience i've had this year.

and as a side note, THIS is how you do stylized film-making. Boyle employs all of his usual visual tricks (sharp angles, shaky-cam, over-saturated colors, non-linear editing) but they SUPPORT the heart of the story. when he breaks out the shaky-cam for a chase scene, we're always aware of where all the characters are in relation to the environment and each other. compare this to a shitfest like Quantum of Solace and it's night and day.

really fantastic experience.

second best movie i seen all year outside of the Dark Knight and thats not saying much, because i got about 20 films i have yet to see, but it is very good. i dont understand all this fate destiny shit people are talking about, but i do believe its riff on city of god's set and color pallet and cinematography was done very well. the film also alluded to some serious social and political struggles in india such as Hindi vs. Muslims conflict, India's process of westernized Industrialization, and the explotation of homeless/negleted children, which served as a backdrop for the development of the three main characters. and the who wants to be a millionaire plot did not bother me at all. i thought the interaction and chemistry between jamal and the host was excellent. not to add there were many very disturbing and funny moments within the film which played well off of each other, never allowing the viewer to sit too comfortably within the devolopment of the story. for the first 75% of the film i would have given it a straight 5 stars, but than it slipped into hollywoods hands and forced itself into the romantic love conquers all narrative that just became silly by the end, plus Salim's death was mad corny. all in all i think the bollywood homoage during the credits was a nice touch to much of the films seriousness. thank creative minds everywhere sumthing outside of the dark knight was really really really worth my money this year

the crux of the narrative was "what if you got on a quiz show and every question was related to a pivotal moment of your life?"

"it was written"

i disagree. all that it was written shit was hollywood gloss added 2 the love conquers all narrative 2 incorporate themes of fate and destiny which makes its accessible 2 the general audience. at its core, whether intentional or not, (which again is the beauty of good art) is that slumdog deconstructs the idea that the poor are dumb and disposable. just as in general debates around race, class and history, ethnic studies argues that out of our colonized situation and day 2 day struggles a vital and intrinsic situated knowledge develops, this movie exposes how this knowledge is gained, shared and integral 2 our survival against a harmonic power. jamal, salim, and ol girl live and survive due 2 their incredible ability 2 process and internalize the world around them. thats why the host is so pissed that jamal is answering these question correctly, how did the poor bastards social outkast learn this shit about bourgeois society. all in all i think the film express a will 2 live and love, which at times it over does. not some silly alluding 2 fate and destiny like him not knowing the the name of the third muskateer and answering correctly. that scene/plot is added for the sake of smiles and tears, its whatever in my eyes. what i spoke 2 above is the most important.

-----------------------------------
http://www.myspace.com/rawsouthpaw

Some of my photos:
http://fotologue.jp/workshopvisuals

--"how did the poor bastards social outkast learn this shit about bourgeois society."

I thought the host was one of the poor bastards himself and didn't want another person rising up and taking away his spotlight. That's why he gave the wrong answer, to keep his own status. It was one of the better moments of the film IMO. Not only are the upper class trying to keep you down but other people who should be working with you are trying to push you down so they can help their own status.

But I agree with the rest of what you wrote. The film was about destiny. I especially liked that it brought it up in the beginning and didn't just drop it on you at the end like some movies. Also, it kind of showed how people can learn from even the worst moments of their lives and grow from them and use those lessons to reach their goals.

i thought he was from the slums as well at times, but than him giving Jamal the wrong answer kind of muddied if he was or not. like he was telling Jamal hey you're like me, only to screw him because he was from the upper cast and hated the lower cast

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=botdmsQilnU

one of the best Cheers eps ever.

but i do believe
>its riff on city of god's set and color pallet and
>cinematography was done very well. the film also alluded to
>some serious social and political struggles in india such as
>Hindi vs. Muslims conflict,


HindI is a language.

HindUism is a religion....and followers of HindUism are HindU.


Not everyone who speaks Hindi is a Hindu...and not everyone who is Hindu speaks Hindi as their primary language...

It irks the SHIT out of me when people cant understand the difference between the two.


I hope its just a typo on your behalf considering i and u are next to each other on the keyboard...but if I had a penny for every time someone asked me if I was a Hindi...or if I spoke Hindu...I'd be a multimillionaire.


------------------
Diplomats - Diplomatic Immunity
Little Brother - The Listening

yes. it was a typo. but thanks for further adding to the distinction

Reverend Lovejoy: Aw, that's super.

Saw it this past weekend and it hits all the right points I was looking for it to touch on

Couldn't imagine how it would live up to the hype but it did. Mumbai looked stunning, the casting was inspired, I loved the narrative and Freida Pinto.... wow.

Loved the movie.

not out here for a few weeks yet tho (have some reservations about there being a happy sing song/dance at the end though - like, does EVERY film about/set in india have to have some bollywood element to it?!).

although i havent seen this yet, if anyone likes this, i would recommend salaam bombay which mira nair directed. brilliant film.

With some bollywood corniness thrown on the side..

An awesome film. I really enjoyed it, although the ending was a bit too "disney" with everything coming together for my depressing soul.

I haven't read the book, but people have told me it's a lot of grittier...as well, I don't think the jumping in the toilet scene translates well in a movie. It just looked cartoonish!

And yup, Freida Pinto was absolutely gorgeous. *bites fist, I need to marry a woman that looks like that* Nice to finally a see a darker hued Indian woman in a lead role for once.

I found M.I.A.'s music a bit annoying, but I guess it fit the film...the cinematography and pacing were great.

Good work Danny..

ever, with this and trainspotting.


>I haven't read the book, but people have told me it's a lot of
>grittier...as well, I don't think the jumping in the toilet
>scene translates well in a movie. It just looked cartoonish!

nothing is as powerful

------
http://tinyurl.com/6p5tbn

good film too.

her name is... not desi sounding.

------------------
Diplomats - Diplomatic Immunity
Little Brother - The Listening

-----------------------------------------
clap, mufukahs!.. (c) p.s.
-----------------------------------------

..and miles to go before i sleep...

just off the premise of the plot ALONE hints you to that.....

however, his brother's straight HOOD. dope movie overall, but a bit overrated at times. 1st half was quite epic, tho

I mean, dude did step up when he had to a couple of times, but he was equally bitchmade too......
______________________________________________________________________________

"There's a fine line between persistence and foolishness..."
-unknown

"To Each His Reach"
-George Clinton

visually, it was great, but my god why did they have to make it an "every thing is wrapped up with a bow" type movie? I wanted him to get hit by a train as he was jumping across the platforms at the end. I would have loved this movie if that happened.

if we're talking in terms of love story. both had sappy endings, but i felt that chenmistry between WALL-E & EVE better

still a good movie, but i standby my claim that it's very overrated

Of COURSE it needs a happy ending.

and what is the destiny? for the two of them to be together or for him to win the gameshow? And the brother's death was hit-you-over-the-head poetic too. I just would have liked something about it to not be so great, like he gets the final question wrong or we don't even know if he gets it right or wrong or, like I said above, he gets nailed by a train.

________________________________________________________________________
Yeah, you fookin' mad.

Yeah, let's follow this guy and root for him to succeed and overcome the odds and win the money and the girl... only to have him lose the bread in the end, or, as you suggested, get hit by a train. Awesome.
________________________________________________________________________
Yeah, you fookin' mad.

Because, you know, it was "realer" than the one Kevin Smith used

Even though tonally it was out of place with the rest of the movie and made no logical sense, kinda like watching a fable and rooting for the poor kid from the ghetto to lose the money he's trying to win, and/or get hit by a train

Sort of like that
________________________________________________________________________
Your battleship has sunk
I wish Grandma could see us...

had I know that going in or had that made apparent in the opening 45 minutes of the film, cool, I would have been fine with the ending. I started to get inclanations that the movie turned from a drama to a chick flick with the MIA montage. By the time we got to him being in Mumbai, working at the phone center, a certain part of my brain was pissed off that it got dupped into seeing a disney movie when Doubt just opened.

Gone Baby Gone>Shawshank Redemption; that's where I'm coming from.

I mean the fact that the girl wants nothing to do with him until he's able to get rich and after she screwed up her life. If he lost and she still went with him it would have said so much more and I would have thought the film was great. But it's not great and really pretty perplexed by why so many ppl that I consider intelligent enjoy this film this much. It's extremely predictable and really the msg isn't that deep to be hit over your head with for 2 f'n hours. I'm glad I snuck into Milk after seeing this film b/c I was able to see what a truly great film was like and not be disappointed with my sunday.

Seriously,

The movie was a fairy tale. Like many fairy tales, it
had a realistic setting, with realistic circumstances,
and a relevant messages, but that doesn't change the fact
that its a fairy tale.

The dumbass ending you wanted to see wouldn't have made the
social commentary any better. It just woulda been a sad movie,
doggie.

Please, STFU.

Oklahoma Sucks and so does your opinions



----------------------------


O_E: Your Super-Ego's Favorite Poster.



"I ORBITs the solar system, listenin..."

(C)Keith Murray, "Cosmic Slop"

But your anger is totally fucking awesome


----------------------------


O_E: Your Super-Ego's Favorite Poster.



"I ORBITs the solar system, listenin..."

(C)Keith Murray, "Cosmic Slop"

>and what is the destiny? for the two of them to be together
>or for him to win the gameshow?

It's both.

It was written.

If you didn't like that ending, you didn't dig the fairy tale aspect. Fine. But that's what it is at its absolute core.

LOL @ cats in here mad at the happy ending.

I mean, WOW.

What a bunch of dicks.



----------------------------


O_E: Your Super-Ego's Favorite Poster.



"I ORBITs the solar system, listenin..."

(C)Keith Murray, "Cosmic Slop"

question, cuz he went on the show for Latika, not the money. he didn't even really care about the money (I mean obviously everyone cares about money to some extent and of course he'd rather have it than not, but the money itself wasn't what was driving him at all). once he got with Latika he wouldn't have even sweated losing the money too tough, so it still would've been a happy ending regardless. but yeah I recognized the fairy tale aspect so it didnt' bother me or anything.

he should have just totally faded to black after he locks in on the last question, then cut to the train station. Go ahead and piss off people who thought it was about the money by not even answering that question; the last scene has nothing to do with the money so why do it?

whatever...

>he should have just totally faded to black after he locks in
>on the last question, then cut to the train station. Go ahead
>and piss off people who thought it was about the money by not
>even answering that question; the last scene has nothing to do
>with the money so why do it?
>
>whatever...

LOL that would have been a latte ending if I've
ever seen one

all trying to be deep and shit

foh

put a real ending on there. i'm glad the
writers weren't pussies and decided to piss
on the frappalatte crowd

make a fairy tale that cats can smile about

Fuck pretentious dicks like you


----------------------------


O_E: Your Super-Ego's Favorite Poster.



"I ORBITs the solar system, listenin..."

(C)Keith Murray, "Cosmic Slop"

and you hating on people who enjoy to think is not news, given your 6 years of praying at the alter of stupidity on this site.

>and you hating on people who enjoy to think is not news,
>given your 6 years of praying at the alter of stupidity on
>this site.

Praying to the alter of stupidity.

Hmm.

Well, we all don't run the 100 meters in
10.01 like you do, champ.

I mean, given your cinematic eye and olympic-scale
sprinting speed, I'm just curious as to why you is
so mad.

Seriously.

















































































































































































































Mad?

----------------------------


O_E: Your Super-Ego's Favorite Poster.



"I ORBITs the solar system, listenin..."

(C)Keith Murray, "Cosmic Slop"

and because people in this post are pointing out flaws in the film your acting really huffy muffy going with the personal attacks about other people's opinion on art. That's a) ignorant and b) really mad.

>and because people in this post are pointing out flaws in the
>film your acting really huffy muffy going with the personal
>attacks about other people's opinion on art. That's a)
>ignorant and b) really mad.

I mean, you the one upset at the fairy taleending. If that
ain't a calling card sign of madness, I don't know what is.

The ending you suggested was corny as shit, fam. Deal
with it.

You're sort of a high strung dude in general, which is
okay, but your anger bubbled over in this instance, and
its sad.

The ending you suggested was absolutely horrific. Dreadful.

As in, a complete trainwreck.

maybe then you will land an actual dev. deal.

Being complex or ambiguous for absolutely no reason at all is the hallmark of pretentious fuckers worldwide.

2009 and we are still obsessed with dark meditations and ruminations on every single little thing?

That's just fuckin' dumb.


>and you hating on people who enjoy to think is not news,
>given your 6 years of praying at the alter of stupidity on
>this site.


______________________________________________________________________________

"There's a fine line between persistence and foolishness..."
-unknown

"To Each His Reach"
-George Clinton

>Being complex or ambiguous for absolutely no reason at all is
>the hallmark of pretentious fuckers worldwide.

^^^That should go in the description for PTP.
Goddamn



>2009 and we are still obsessed with dark meditations and
>ruminations on every single little thing?

We'll never run out of people with low intellectual self
esteem who want shit to be needlessly complex in order
to make themselves feel smart for appreciating it.

Real smart people liked the actual ending, because it was
actually smarter than any of those dumbass "alternate"
dark endings the latte crew keeps suggesting.

>That's just fuckin' dumb.

Yep.



----------------------------


O_E: Your Super-Ego's Favorite Poster.



"I ORBITs the solar system, listenin..."

(C)Keith Murray, "Cosmic Slop"

I simply critiqued something about the film I didn't like, the ending. Then I get jumped on by people who love fairy tales as trying too hard to be complex; who's being more of a facist dick head in that scenerio?

you basically said multiple times that you wanted dude to get hit by a train so that it wouldn't be a disney movie as if:

a. Disney movies are all bad/sugary
b. Dude getting hit by a train made any sense whatsoever.

You also said the last scene has nothing to do with the money and that it should have been changed to piss off a segment of viewers which is:

a. stupid because if you don't get that it's not about the money after the first half-hour of the movie you're an idiot.

b. dumb because they basically hit you over the head MULTIPLE times throughout the movie that it's not about the money.

c. nonsensical because if you didn't get that it wasn't about the money in the end, how does cutting that scene out transmit the message that it's not about the money? It doesn't. It's not like dude was making it rain over even excited that he won. He left and sat in a dirty ass train station afterwards. I just leaves a loose thread which in and of itself doesn't make the movie any better.

______________________________________________________________________________

"There's a fine line between persistence and foolishness..."
-unknown

"To Each His Reach"
-George Clinton

the first half of the movie was one thing, a morality tale of sorts, and the second half just slid into something different. Everything being wrapped up with a positive ending seemed to betray the first half of the film.

It's also really interesting how hard people are taking criticism of this film.

If the first half is a morality tale as you suggest, then doesn't the movie end like it has to? Morality tales don't work unless you someone learns something or something is resolved.

and the second half doesn't betray the first half at all. Everything in the first half is mirrored or resolved in the second half. And not just the game show question stuff. Nothing is wasted. if you really look at the film, everything in the second half relates to the first.

i.e. when they are little kids, Jamal tell Latika that he's gonna make a lot of money so he can buy them a house on Harbour Road and live well. What ended up happening? Even though the money was a distant second to the girl, it happened. Which plays perfectly into the destiny theme running throughout the WHOLE movie.

Another example is the beggar scam dude. He made Salim go get Jamal so he could blind him too. Even though Jamal couldn't sing worth shit, he wanted to be unnecessarily evil and make Jamal sacrifice his brother. That very same act got him killed. If he had told Jamal to go get some other random kid, they wouldn't have run away and eventually came back on his ass with the revolver.

I just strongly disagree that the film is as bi-sected/incomplete as you suggest.

>the first half of the movie was one thing, a morality tale of
>sorts, and the second half just slid into something different.
>Everything being wrapped up with a positive ending seemed to
>betray the first half of the film.
>
>It's also really interesting how hard people are taking
>criticism of this film.


______________________________________________________________________________

"There's a fine line between persistence and foolishness..."
-unknown

"To Each His Reach"
-George Clinton

But it was pretty clear that he went on the show for Latika and not for the money all along... dude gave not two shits if he got the final answer wrong, so that's why he totally guessed at it with no basis. The host even gave that reminder that he would lose EVERYTHING if he got it wrong. Remember those flashbacks when he was a kid? When he was in the hotseat he realized it was ironic that his life experiences helped him with all the previous questions but for the BIG money question his life experiences came up short. He was *this* close to exposure to the answer several times as a child but never did find it out.

If he DID care about the money then he woulda took the guaranteed 10 mill rupees and bounced the hell outta there.

And to round out the fairy tale theme, this was a kid who's known nothing but strife and struggle his entire life. He was born into poverty, his mother is killed while young, he's got a d-bag older brother, the love of his life keeps getting snatched from him, he keeps getting shitty jobs AND he kinda looks like a goofball.

Let the dude have the cash and the girl in his older years, damn.

>he should have just totally faded to black after he locks in
>on the last question, then cut to the train station. Go ahead
>and piss off people who thought it was about the money by not
>even answering that question; the last scene has nothing to do
>with the money so why do it?
>
>whatever...

faded to black?? really??

LOL!

Dude, you sound a little first-year-film-studies-snob here...trying to be profound and shit...

I for one am SO glad they didn't go the pretententious, art-house angle with the ending.

Seriously...what the hell is so wrong about a feel good ending? They used to do them all the time in movies....remember??

The movie is about a kid from the slums and destiny....its about a kid making it against the odds....

And it probably would hav eworked just fine. I did like the ending they used better, 'cause personally I wanted to see the kid end up with the girl and the money. But, storywise, it wasn't really essential if he got the money or not.

in the past week, i was able to catch 7 pounds, the wrestler, and slumdog millionaire. im also gonna catch gran torino in the next couple of days (i'm on vacation)

i enjoyed the wrestler and slumdog more than 7 pounds and im having a hard time deciding which one i liked more between the two.

i loved both though, but since this is a slumdog thread:

the actress that plays Latika is beautiful.

i liked how these kids were hustlers.

the scene when jamal gets the autograph was hilarious.

samil was a great character, but jamal was kind of a square.

cinematography was excellent

"THAT'S DOPE".......

i admit i was annoyed by all the damn marketing
btu i saw it anyway
and do not regret it
good flick
needed some cute dudes
but good flick anyways
~~~~
When you are born, you cry, and the world rejoices. Live so that when you die, you rejoice, and the world cries.
~~~~

arrrriiihoooooooo...

the children's scenes were very strong.
impressed is an understatement.

i thought the end was a bit weak, &
it just got too sappy for me.

good film though.

arrrriiihoooooooo...

to you...i'd really like to know.

because your overwhelming praise of it over at GD...

really is problematic since there was so much wrong with the second hour of the film...

Slumdog Millionaire was a GOOD movie but that overly melodramatic, ridiculously sappy second hour, mind you that was utterly predictable, killed it from being great.


and the bollywood dance number...what purpose did that serve? they could have ended it AT the kiss and kept it moving.

but the kids WERE great...ALL of them.

so the melodrama and predictable happy ending IS india... well indian cinema anyway.... when u read a fable, the emphasis isnt so much on the "realism" as it is on the lesson that is learned by the tale.... indian cinema also makes it a point 2 make the audience exit from reality into fantasy land... i thought it was a good display of the indian spiritual concepts of destiny and karma...

>so the melodrama and predictable happy ending IS india...
>well indian cinema anyway.... when u read a fable, the
>emphasis isnt so much on the "realism" as it is on the lesson
>that is learned by the tale.... indian cinema also makes it a
>point 2 make the audience exit from reality into fantasy
>land... i thought it was a good display of the indian
>spiritual concepts of destiny and karma...
>
>
>


but i am wary of giving it a "greatest film of 2008" award like a lot of people are...

it is a good movie, not an outstanding one.

>but i am wary of giving it a "greatest film of 2008" award
>like a lot of people are...
>
>it is a good movie, not an outstanding one.
>
>

im goin 2 see benjamin button tonite and wrestler later this week

my list:

4 Months, 3 Weeks, ad 2 Days (as dark and grimy as it was, it was an extremely well written film about post-communist romania in the 80s and the reality of how abortions just RECENTLY (in the past 20 years) became legal in that country. Anamaria Marinca and Laura Vasilu should SERIOUSLY be nominated for Oscars but won't be and that's' a shame.

Frozen River-Melissa Leo is a tour de force in this film and doesn't get ENOUGH work...Misty Upsham MORE than holds her own also. Oscar nods for these two would be GREAT...don't count on it.

The Visitor-who knew the weak assed, nebbish reporter who fabcricated stories on the final Season of THE WIRE was a talented writer and director? Richard Jenkins, Haaz Sleiman, Danai Jekesai Gurira (Zenirab), and Hiram Abbouss were all outstanding. once again, oscar nods deservedly need to go to EVERYONE from acting to writing and directing. not counting on it.

A Christmas Tale--Catherine Denevue..shit that's it. just FIERCE as Catherine D. doing what she does best...act her ass off.

Rachel Getting Married--fantastic film with top notch performances.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button--as long as it was, it was still a very good movie. And, Brad Pitt OWNED it he reall did.

The Dark Knight--Aaron Eckhart, Heath Ledger, Maggie Gyllenhaal, etc. are all fantastic. I think if it wasn't so "dark" (aka REAL), it would be getting MORE love with the critics and awards.

Tell No One--first and only film to be adapted from a Harlan Coben novel and in French no less. Francois Cluzet (Alexandre Beck) and Kristin Scott Thomas (Helene Perkins? who knew she could speak French WELL?) and it was great...even though it came out in europe in 06/07, i didn't catch it until the summer of 08.

Rocknrolla: shitty execution, but hilarious performances, particularly by Tom Hardy (Handsome Bob), Tony Klebell (Johnny Quid), Mark Strong (Archie), and also Gerard Butler (One Two) and Thandie Newton (Stella), Guy Ritchie showed that he is capable of a DECENT, complex, ensemble dramedy/thriller--too bad THIS wasn't it. But, a fair effort though.


i still have yet to see:
The Wrestler
Revolutionary Road
Doubt
The Reader
Wendy and Lucy
Let The Right One In (which i'm going to see thursday since it's playing out here)
Gran Torino (though the mixed reviews aren't a good thing at all)


so this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHsUpCv7iRU

if u did, what did u think?... i dl'ed it, will probabably watch it tomorrow....

but have been hearing some good buzz about it. will have to download it myself at some point....

>The Dark Knight--Aaron Eckhart, Heath Ledger, Maggie
>Gyllenhaal, etc. are all fantastic. I think if it wasn't so
>"dark" (aka REAL), it would be getting MORE love with the
>critics and awards.

More love from the critics??????? It got 94% on rotten tomatoes, how much mor love could you want? Also too real? It's a rich who trains martial arts and fights crime in a bat suit, how real is that? Even the joker, am I really to believe he'd make it that far up in the crime world? It's an action movie that's why it doesn't get that many awards, simple and plain. Not b/c it's dark or too real....

>so the melodrama and predictable happy ending IS india...
>well indian cinema anyway.... when u read a fable, the
>emphasis isnt so much on the "realism" as it is on the lesson
>that is learned by the tale.... indian cinema also makes it a
>point 2 make the audience exit from reality into fantasy
>land... i thought it was a good display of the indian
>spiritual concepts of destiny and karma...

without taking the usual predictable formulaic/sappy route.

I went in with the idea that, as Zoo put it, this is a "ghetto fable," and as a fable I was able to accept the coincidences and plot conveniences because the film wasn't necessarily going for realism (despite how real the setting looked). And I don't know why people are complaining about the "sappy" ending. As previously stated, it's a fable -- it's supposed to have that kind of joyous, tied-in-a-bow ending. I don't see how it's any less sappy than "Wall-E," anyway. (*SPOILER* Although, if I was going to change anything, I wouldn't have had Jamal win the million. He didn't seem to care about the money, only trying to find Latika -- she was his destiny, so he didn't really NEED to win to give us the satisfying ending.)

And I actually thought the Bollywood dance sequence under the credits was strangely bad-ass.

awards..ALL of them.

Dev Patel, Freida Pinto BOTH need oscar nominations--Dev Patel definitely.

the second hour....i wasn't as impressed with the second one.

but, a good movie.

i wasnt personally... i absolutely loved that flick... but i did notice that... wondered if i was the only one

i saw it again with a friend today and we talked about that..wasit a deliberate choice to make Salim dark (evil) and Jamal light (good), given india's issues with the color caste system?


actually, quite a few people were talking about that after i got out the theatre today.

iono.... personally, i guess i rationalized it by sayin that it was simply the relationship between 2 brothers and the evil one "happened" 2 b darker than the righteous one... i mean, the script itself was written by a brit and the movie was directed by another one... so im not sure that they would necessarily have some sort of cultural bias that would have them instinctively tap into the indian color complex.... although i do see that there was an indian as co-director.... wonder how much of a role she played in the casting of the actors....

just something i noticed.

i was more bothered by the random bollywood dance number at the end of movie.....

>i was more bothered by the random bollywood dance number at
>the end of movie.....

i loved it
~~~~
When you are born, you cry, and the world rejoices. Live so that when you die, you rejoice, and the world cries.
~~~~

Good movie. I really enjoyed it. One of the better/if not best movie I saw this year. Problem is...I didn't see many good movies. (No Wall-E yet). So I give it a B+. I wold definitely recommend it to friends.
____________________________________
Gamertag: slballer

Last 7 movies I saw:

Slumdog Millionaire: B+
Benjie Button: B+
Yes Man: B
Rendition: B-
Redbelt: C-
Invasion: C+
Quantum of Solace: B

Its not even worth engaging armchair critics who didn't like the second hour of the movie. You've either seen some Bollywood movies before and you get why it ended the way it did or you don't get it and you write it off as disney.

I have nothing to add that hasn't been said. Astralblak's observations and insights are the most on point to me.

cried at the end.
was great.

V.

This was the best movie any of you have seen in a year, at least,
so please, shut theeeee fuck up.

Homos.

Seriously - stop posting like bitches.

Shit was dope.

I mean, maybe its just me but the way it was done was ridiculous at times. That being said even with that I was highly entertained by it however calling it one of the best of the year is a bit much for me.

I'm curious.

Cheesy relative to what?

----------------------------


O_E: Your Super-Ego's Favorite Poster.



"I ORBITs the solar system, listenin..."

(C)Keith Murray, "Cosmic Slop"

that every single question they asked him he just happened to have experienced the answer first hand in his life.

way too unrealistic, but you just have to go along with it. however, for a movie aiming for realism, I had to mark this up as one of its flaws.

>that every single question they asked him he just happened to
>have experienced the answer first hand in his life.

Wow.

>way too unrealistic, but you just have to go along with it.
>however, for a movie aiming for realism, I had to mark this up
>as one of its flaws.


Wow.


Your post is less believable than the movie. For your sake,
I hope you're kidding.

its a valid gripe no matter the intentions of the film.

but the way it was portrayed seemed like the movie was going for a realistic approach here- given the rest of the story, their depiction of India.

if it was a happy go lucky fairytale story - would they have tortured the kid.

this is the same board comparing this to City of God- would you say thats not a realistic movie?

i still think its a very good, and technically great, but you just have to go with it.

Because you can't be fucking serious.

>its a valid gripe no matter the intentions of the film.

No, its not, actually.

>but the way it was portrayed seemed like the movie was going
>for a realistic approach here- given the rest of the story,
>their depiction of India.

That's how the best fairy tales are told: real stories,
real events, real context, real shit going on and a,
specific, miraculous chain of events.

You can't hold the miraculous chain of events to the
same realistic guidelines, because then it wouldn't
be a miracle.

Tons of stories are like this, and the best fairy tales
achieve specifically because they make you feel like you
are in a cold, dark world and then spring the miracle
on you. The reality sets the contrast for the miracle.

That's the entire fucking point of fairy tales. If you
don't get that, than you're probably on drugs.

Its actually the blueprint of hundreds of good films, plays,
short stories, and novels.

>if it was a happy go lucky fairytale story - would they have
>tortured the kid.

Read above: The reason why fairy tales work at all is
because their ambiance is real, and the only thing that
is miraculous is the individual or the event itself.

See: The original Cinderella, Snow White, etc.

Real poverty, real issues, real sadness.

Very few miraculous events.


>this is the same board comparing this to City of God- would
>you say thats not a realistic movie?

It is like City of God, in a lot of ways.

But its unlike City of God in others, which is why its
a good film, because its a completely different fucking
movie.

Jesus Christ you guys are dense.

>i still think its a very good, and technically great, but you
>just have to go with it.

No, you just have to be intelligent. If you're not intelligent
than you're going to miss the fact that

a) Its a fairy tale

b) Its the best kind of fairy tale, because it places
the miracle in a very realistic backdrop.

Hell(no pun intended), even the New Testament is like that.
I, a non Christian, look at is bible as a fairy tale,
featuring a real world, with real conflicts, and real shit going
on + 1 miraculous person who does miraculous things. Its
actually a pretty cool fairy tale when you take all the other
bullshit(that resulted from it) out of it. Good life lessons.
Good history, etc.

after your laughable Dark Knight threads, among others.

we'll just have to agree to disagree in this case because i dont think every rags to riches story is required to be viewed as a fairytale, especially in this case. logic still applies in film and that shit was stretch armstrong.

Why?

No shame in being wrong.

That's the only way you learn.

>we'll just have to agree to disagree in this case because i
>dont think every rags to riches story is required to be viewed
>as a fairytale, especially in this case.

Nobody said every rags to riches story has to be a fairy
tale.

This one, however, was a fairy tale.


>logic still applies
>in film and that shit was stretch armstrong.

The only thing illogical was the specific miracle.
Everything else was perfectly logical.

whatever, its not that big a deal.

the fact is i liked the movie, but my opinion hasnt changed- and i do understand what you're saying- just dont see it the same way.

>the fact is i liked the movie, but my opinion hasnt changed-
>and i do understand what you're saying- just dont see it the
>same way.

If you didn't see the film as a fairy tale then you didn't
see the film.

That's like watching E.T. and getting upset because finding
extraterrestrial life on earth has never happened and so
therefore, defies logic.

I mean, I understand that all movies have to stand up to
realism in many regards(I'm the first to argue this), but
in both E.T. and SDM, the entire world around the miracles
are 100% realistic. The departures from reality take form
in a run of events on a gameshow in SDM, and in the form
of an alien in E.T.

Both are absurd outliers in a world that is 100% realistic,
which is why we like both films.

Not sure what's so hard to understand about that.

----------------------------


O_E: Your Super-Ego's Favorite Poster.



"I ORBITs the solar system, listenin..."

(C)Keith Murray, "Cosmic Slop"

talk about going off the deep end..

>talk about going off the deep end..

I mean, you're the one that doesn't know what
a fairy tale is, sparky.

Shame on you.

----------------------------


O_E: Your Super-Ego's Favorite Poster.



"I ORBITs the solar system, listenin..."

(C)Keith Murray, "Cosmic Slop"

Of all the things to possibly criticize the movie for, I can't believe some people are attacking the lack of realism regarding the plot. I never once questioned the "coincidences" of the story because it's spelled out for you right in the beginning -- with the text asking "How did Jamal win the million?" with one of the answers being "It was written" -- that this is fable/fairy tale/fantasy.

>but the way it was portrayed seemed like the movie was going
>for a realistic approach here- given the rest of the story,
>their depiction of India.

the background setting was going for a realistic approach as far as depicting the conditions and day-to-day struggles of people in the slums of Mumbai. but that doesn't mean the plot/storyline was going for a realistic approach.

It really would've helped if I didn't listen to people who called it an "Indian version of City of God", just like I should've ignored the "City of God is like a Brazilian Scarface" talk.

Really like how they used the questions to tell the story.

I just wonder if Indian orphans are about to be the Hollywood fashion accessory of 2009. I think they're done with Africans now.

My only complaint was it got too much praises from so many people. The structure of how they told the story was great but at times I wish they would not relate every experience to a question, which they didn't. Actually, probably if this was made in America with popular American actors. The outcome might be different.



we pray for dollars and we work for change © Slug of Atmosphere

:)

Quit trying to be somebody’s boss and be a leader © Brother Ali

Why?

Not everything popular sucks you know.....
______________________________________________________________________________

"There's a fine line between persistence and foolishness..."
-unknown

"To Each His Reach"
-George Clinton

I'll tell you truth, I have no idea why I typed that. I'm was probably trying to say so many people hyped the film, that many might think it's just an OK film.

ummm...

I guess, I don't want to over hyped the film.

we pray for dollars and we work for change © Slug of Atmosphere

:)

Quit trying to be somebody’s boss and be a leader © Brother Ali

when you get nominations for elementary acting THEN there's justification for backlash....

the movie was good, but it shouldn't be praised for EVERYTHING. so i see his point

i think the 1st portion is better than the latter portion, not because of the realism vs. idealism bullsh*t some of ya'll are talking about...

i just felt that the child-actors were that strong in this movie.

lil jamal (no pun) and lil salim did great acting jobs.

lil salim came off as that young-killer-in-waiting, looking for that daytime-action.

lil jamal was funny, endearing, and charasmatic throughout his time on screen.

i thought those two did a splendid job.

loved the music in the film, the story, how he knew the answers from his life experience (which isn't far-fetched nitpickers).

just a great movie and deserves all the attention it is getting.

was a bit weak.

ans the sappyness didn't bother me...

>was a bit weak.
>
>ans the sappyness didn't bother me...

He was a little boy. For the most part kids that
age like all girls like sisters, at least to a degree.

I had a "girlfriend" in the damn 1st grade, and we ain't
do shit but play in the sandbox together. I had a huge crush
on her, but it didn't really manifest no different than how
I played with my boys.

Now, when second grade hit, I was in full mack mode tho


----------------------------


O_E: Your Super-Ego's Favorite Poster.



"I ORBITs the solar system, listenin..."

(C)Keith Murray, "Cosmic Slop"

______________________________________________________________________________

"There's a fine line between persistence and foolishness..."
-unknown

"To Each His Reach"
-George Clinton

In regards to all the debate about the ending, Disney, and coincidences....

This movie is about India and is directed by a Brit. From his view, you can't make a movie about India without citing Bollywood.....And it's interesting to see cause Bollywood has always cited western cinema.

I'm surprised noone's pointed this out yet.

This movie had to be sentimental, romantic and epic cause those are the driving forces of Bollywood. Danny Boyle has managed to make this film whilst showing respect and paying homage to the culture it takes place in. At the same time, he attempts to critique the social order of this culture. It's a fine line to walk, cause some may complain that his portrayal of poverty and corruption are ethnocentric/condescending. Others may complain that the story is too epic and fantastical. ......But that's how stories are told in India.

Good movie.....I'll take the Wrestler and Gran Torino over this though. Benjamin was boring....

Okay, anyone who thinks this is a problem with the movie, simply because it relies too much on "coincidence", really need re-access their own imagination and their ability to interpret the use such devices in film. The whole point of making the answers to these questions relate to Jamal's life is to show that our understanding of human education is elitist and close-minded (much like the people who don't understand this point of the movie). While we understand educated people as people who are well-read and possess tons of education (and implicitly, money), we give very little value to the education one receives through poverty and hardship (whether in the United States or in India, we treat the notion of education and intelligence in this manner). The whole ordeal where he is beaten, insulted and tortured by police is there to show that nobody in and 'respectable' position in society could fathom that a low-life slum dog could possibly know the answers to these challenging questions. But we see in Jamal, more than just a slum dog, but a bright, inquisitive and resourceful child that -- had he been raised in a wealthier environment -- could have been a doctor or lawyer or computer genius. Through the challenges of his life, we retained knowledge and that's why he knew the answers. He probably learned a lot of things and probably could have answered more questions. But if you think that its just all about fate and coincidence then you missed the whole fucking point of the movie.

Fate and coincidence are the main themes of this movie.

"It was written"

I think you point out a valid sub-theme. Education, poverty and our perception of intelligence being influenced by class are present in the script.

But Fate is still the driving theme.

All the complaints are the product of people not being familiar with the standards/characteristics of bollywood films.

It'll be interesting to see how people in India react to this movie...I think it was just officially released today. Noone here has identified themselves as Desi and it'd be interesting to hear their viewpoint. I'd assume that, being more familiar with Bollywood movies, one would be more likely to accept/enjoy the fantastical script.

anyway, Pinko Panther - excellent post

even some people who liked it

>Fate and coincidence are the main themes of this movie.
>
>"It was written"

There are a couple ways one could take this message. You could take it on a religious/spiritual level and argue that his destiny was written by some higher power but if that's the case then the movie falls flat on its face because, in the end, his mother is dead, his brother offed himself, children in India are still scavenging for loot in garbage dumps and slums are still subject to raids by opposing religious fanatics (which, then, really complicates the "it was written" message if the film's writers truly intended to go the "fate/destiny" route). Further, would this not be the shallowest movie of all time if all of the terrible things that I mentioned are suddenly offset by something as cheesy as "he got the girl and the money in the end"? Why would this movie focus so hard on the social and economic hardships of Indian society only to negate all that torment with such a contrived ending.

On the other hand, I argue that it wasn't about fate but about struggle. Instead of seeing "it was written" as a message of fate, I see that as meaning that the answers to the Millionaire questions were written by the struggles throughout his life. Those who receive top dollar educations in the worlds' most prestigious academic institutions write their lives through essays, exams, term papers, presentations and projects. Jamal's life was written by a form of education that comes from daily struggle: wondering where your next meal will come from, escaping child slavery, hustling at the Taj Mahal and escaping village raids. His voyage across different landscapes in India and his experiences meeting a variety of tourists, gangsters, slavers and even working professionals helped him amass so much knowledge. He gained knowledge that the vast majority of us do not recognize as "intelligence" let alone "education". In this view, his life was not written by some grand force of destiny, it was written by his experiences within his social and economic environment.

Of course there is a great deal of luck and coincidence involved for him to get on the show and have everthing fall in place as they did, but I don't think that luck and coincidence always means "fate/destiny". In fact, in real life, most instances of extreme wealth are partly a result of luck and coincidence. Being in the right place at the right time is the formula of many successful people. If this movie were simply driven by fate and destiny then, yes, he was destined to win the the money and get the girl. His mother was destined to get lead piped in the face, his brother was destined to blood bathe himself in a glorious gangsterific orgy, children of India are destined to find their meals and income in garbage dumps and slavers are destined to rule those children. That's not a very "happy ending" (as people are saying) if you ask me.

Besides, I think the film makers are intelligent enough to have noticed these details. I don't see them going with any other interpretation of "it was written" than the fact that he wrote his own destiny with the help of some lucky circumstances. Makes much more sense that way.

Some interesting points but I'm not sure what your main point is.

"He wrote his own destiny and had a little luck as well"?

I don't understand how that makes more sense of the film. His character could be described as a 'passenger' in this film. He reacted to his circumstances....he didn't have the education/power to be proactive. He just kept surviving and adapting to life's challenges. I don't think the moviemakers portray him as writing his own destiny. If anything, that's his brother's story.

And if I'm not mistaken, the final question was the only one he didn't actually know which meant that he simply guessed the answer. He got the answer right because he was destined to.

This movie is a fairytale...so there's no need to apologize or try to justify the coincidences/luck. It'd be like criticising Cinderella because pumpkins can't turn into carraiges.

i mean, DESTINY?

emperor palpatine has wrecked the last 30 years of american film criticism

what does destiny tell you about anything. if it wasn't such a grand word, then people would see how banal their statements were

"The film was about, like, eventuality."

therefore, all the questions were INTENDED to be coincidences. jamal was destined to get those questions that related to some of this most memorable and/or tramatic parts of his life, all of them in some way relatable to his purpose and reason he went on the show in the 1st place.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/filmblog/2009/jan/15/danny-boyle-shows?commentpage=3&commentposted=1

theres an article about it here... (which seems like a case of pandering to people that thnk only westerners can get non western culture right - the line about "they should be ashamed that it took a white man to show India how to do it" is pretty awful) arguing that hes just jealous that a white guy made a film about the 'real' india.

which might be true (ABs comments seem pretty idiotic to me, like hes trying to defend/hide the fact most of india is poor - as if duh, no one had noticed), but slumdog seems pretty fucking corny, so i dunno how people are seeing it as the best film about the real india ever made or anything lol. (not seen it yet tho so maybe i should keep quiet til i do)

the thing is though, if bollywood producers did suddenly start making films about normal (poor) indian people, i wonder if the avg man on the street in india would still go and see it. im sure thats what most bollywood producers would argue, to defend what they do, but at this point it might just be a cop out so they can keep churning out escapist shit.

itll be interesting to see if all the attention given to slumdog makes bwood producers/directors start thinking more about films that say something to the general populus about their lives.

Very good film. Easily top 5 of the year (forming my Spilled Latte list in my head right now.) Some of the best child acting I've seen in a long time.

I liked the film thought it was 7/10, but that's being kind. This film isn't that great, the soundtrack was decent, the acting was impressive at times, depending on the age but overall the film was decent.

I mean first of all, how does he not get over this little girl that he knew for a month but somehow got over his mom's death like that.

2nd she wanted nothing to do with, she continually rejected him, even choosing his brother over him. I mean ppl keep saying this film is about fate but that's really more the game not the rest of things. She wanted NOTHING to do with him until he was going to win that money. I mean can you say gold digger? Also why can't he get the msg she doesn't want anything to do with him, if that happened in real life EVERYBODY would say he's the most pathetic person ever but for some reason it's destiny when in film form.

3rd the msg ain't even that deep (everything happens for a reason? really pretty much heard and acknowledged that concept in my mid-teens), so why do they beat me over my head for 2 hours?

4th do you really want me to believe they're going to let the kid go to the washroom alone without security in the middle of answering a question? Makes no sense what's so ever.

This film was alright but ppl need to start watching actual films and not 1 film all year and transformers the rest of the year and praise the 1 film they saw as the greatest film of the year b/c it's not. It's sad that ppl will probably only see this film and skip Milk, The Wrestler, Grand Torino, Synecdoche New York, hell even JCVD JEAN CLAUDE VAN DAMME"S FILM was better than slumdog.

It's a very good film in a year with no truly great film. 7/10 gets you an Oscar nom.

For an actually overrated film, check out Ben Button. Expertly crafted but a waste of a premise.

I mean we have some of the best films come out this year. Milk, Persepolis, JCVD, New York Synecdoche, Mr Lonely, Encounters At The End of The World, Son of Rambo, 4 months 3 Weeks & 2 days, The Wrestler, The Fall, Dark Knight, The Footfist Way, Paranoid Park, Revolutionary Road, In Bruges, Grand Tarino, and hell even Tropic Thunder was good.

And that's including the films I haven't seen but I've heard amazing things about Rachel Getting Married, Frost/Nixon, Vicky Cristina Barcelona, Waltz with Brashir, Che, A Christmas Tale, Young @ Heart and The Class.

It's been a great year it's just nobody bothered to go see a lot of these films b/c they're too lazy to watch a film without stars or take on subjects that aren't escapism (And I would consider Slumdog Millionaire escapism).

I've heard like no buzz about it whatso ever. I don't even know if it's been nominated for any of the big awards? pretty sure it's no even rated lol. F*ck ppl can't take criticism of this movie

Maybe "shitty" is an overstatement but this year was, at best, average and personally I wouldn't even go that far.

That doesn't mean that zero good or very good films came out. I think most films that came out this year were immediately forgettable. (And I'm talking American films, not foreign films which have carried this entire decade along with documentaries) There were some great performances but I don't think there were any great films.

Gran Torino is a footnote in Eastwood's career. Sean Penn was great in Milk but I thought the film was only OK (and supposedly not as revealing as the doc made over a decade ago).

The Foot Fist Way? C'mon, I know the guy who directed it and I'm not about to use that as evidence that this was even a slightly below average year for film.

And The Fall (like Benjamin Button) was an average film that was crafted very well.

I'm not saying zero good films came out but I wasn't all that interested in seeing most of the movies this year and when I came out of the theater, the film was out of my thoughts by the time I got home.

I think that was the 'Munich'
year.



----------------------------


O_E: Your Super-Ego's Favorite Poster.



"I ORBITs the solar system, listenin..."

(C)Keith Murray, "Cosmic Slop"

I think this decade has been arguably the worst ever in terms of American studio films.

You're right on 2005. That might be the worst of this decade but I don't think this year was much to sneeze at either.

I'm not a big fan of the films that were considered the top that year but there were plenty of good and great films that year.

Oldboy, Rize, 40 Year old virgin, No Directin Home, Enron: the smartest men in the room, The squid and the whale, Last Days, Hotel Rowanda, Hustle and Flow, A history of violence, The Constant Gardener, Good Night and Good luck, Grizzly Man, Downfall, Cache, Millions, Broken Flowers, Kung Fu Hustle, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Mysterious Skin, Devil's rejects, Sin City, and although not everyone would agree but Jarhead, Crash and The Woodsman.

There's rarely terrible years for films, it just you have to seek out the good ones and can't depend on hollywood's trough to feed it to you.

And this decade, docs and foreign films have basically been carrying Hollywood which has churned out a below-average slate of films.

This year had IMO zero classic films (and yes, Batman fans, I know you disagree) and most of the films will be forgotten pretty quickly. Frost/Nixon was one of the best movies of the year and that would be a middle of the road film most other years IMO.

The 80's get shit on but I'd take 1988 over 2008 in a heartbeat.

>I'm not a big fan of the films that were considered the top
>that year but there were plenty of good and great films that
>year.
>
>Oldboy, The squid and the whale, Hustle and Flow, A history of violence, Millions, Broken Flowers, Jarhead, Crash

I just said they were good or great films which is pretty hard to disagree with imo. Crash maybe, but oldboy and millions? idk. Jarhead was trashed by most ppl so I don't know how you can say it's overrated, but I did point out that a few of those picks a lot of ppl wouldn't agree with so.....

back in September i was talking about how weak 2008 was. Then all the Oscar bait dropped and damn near all of it was mediocre, alright and good but forgettable.

Paranoid Park was ass imo. You did name that many films for a whole year. There will always be good films but 06 and 07 had WAY better, amazing films drop than 08. There weren't any No Country, There Will Be Blood, Children of Men or Pans Labyrinth that just blew away audiences imo. Plenty of movies in the past have had less stars than this year. this year actually had a ton of big stars in Oscar movies compared to last year. No Country For Old Men's biggest star was Tommy Lee Jones.

every damn movie is escapism. They're all fictional. We go to the movies to escape.

"every damn movie is escapism. They're all fictional. We go to the movies to escape."

I mean I don't know about you but I didn't see 4 months, 3 weeks and 2 days for escapism or many other films I watched. And not all films are fictional or fully fictional, I mean Persepolis might not be completely true but it's defiantly not all fiction.

As far as those 2 films coming out in 2007, they were shown in festivals but I believe both of them weren't released in theaters until 2008 in North America and that's why I included them.

You might not have liked Paranoid Park and a lot of ppl didn't but that doesn't mean it's ass. Gus was able to totally bring out a new style after experimenting with his death trilogy.

>I liked the film thought it was 7/10, but that's being kind.
>This film isn't that great, the soundtrack was decent, the
>acting was impressive at times, depending on the age but
>overall the film was decent.

LOL.

>I mean first of all, how does he not get over this little girl
>that he knew for a month but somehow got over his mom's death
>like that.

LOL.


>2nd she wanted nothing to do with, she continually rejected
>him, even choosing his brother over him. I mean ppl keep
>saying this film is about fate but that's really more the game
>not the rest of things. She wanted NOTHING to do with him
>until he was going to win that money. I mean can you say gold
>digger? Also why can't he get the msg she doesn't want
>anything to do with him, if that happened in real life
>EVERYBODY would say he's the most pathetic person ever but for
>some reason it's destiny when in film form.

LOL.

>3rd the msg ain't even that deep (everything happens for a
>reason? really pretty much heard and acknowledged that concept
>in my mid-teens), so why do they beat me over my head for 2
>hours?

LOL.

>4th do you really want me to believe they're going to let the
>kid go to the washroom alone without security in the middle of
>answering a question? Makes no sense what's so ever.

LOL.

>This film was alright but ppl need to start watching actual
>films and not 1 film all year and transformers the rest of the
>year and praise the 1 film they saw as the greatest film of
>the year b/c it's not. It's sad that ppl will probably only
>see this film and skip Milk, The Wrestler, Grand Torino,
>Synecdoche New York, hell even JCVD JEAN CLAUDE VAN DAMME"S
>FILM was better than slumdog.

LOL.


----------------------------


O_E: Your Super-Ego's Favorite Poster.



"I ORBITs the solar system, listenin..."

(C)Keith Murray, "Cosmic Slop"

I mean at least i backed up my point, could u do the same?

we pray for dollars and we work for change © Slug of Atmosphere

:)

Quit trying to be somebody’s boss and be a leader © Brother Ali

i felt the only fully developed character was jamal, whereas latika was a shell...a beautiful face, but lacking in character, and salim's sudden unexplained redemption always bothered me....it's like out of the blue he gain a change of heart when it should of shown his evolution leading towards that like MR. from the color purple (for example)

Yeah that redemption scene bothered me too, but I have a feeling something was left on the cutting floor. But even Jamal doesn't come off as fully developed, I mean he's suppose to be street smart but for some reason totally trusts Latika and Salim even though they screwed him over, her especially. Plus he has absolutely no goal in life other than get this girl. I mean what the hell is he going to do in life when the story ends?

the ending didn't bother me much because i assumed from the start that this was a modern day faily tale and in tradition of fairy tales, it ends with them "living happily ever after"

so that didn't bother me....now as for the SCRIPT portion, the one thing that REALLY erked me was the miscommunicated idea on if latika was raped or not....now i don't want to be spoon fed every detail, but that scene was not explained well AT ALL....i assumed she wasn't raped because she was supposely a virgin and worth alot and considered that salim joined the gang it was somewhut a tradeoff...but then again i could be completely wrong.....

everything you just said was fucking wrong.

http://card.mygamercard.net/lastgame/rjcc.png

www.engadgethd.com - the other stuff i'm looking at

#1 most of what I said was opinion so how could it be wrong, #2 I cited many examples from the film so how could I not what it? #3 you're retarded for even suggesting I haven't seen the film

watch the movie and you're a fucking idiot. everything you criticized, didn't actually happen you fucking dumb shit.

http://card.mygamercard.net/lastgame/rjcc.png

www.engadgethd.com - the other stuff i'm looking at

first pf all you haven't actually brokendown anything I said and proven me wrong, u've only called me retarded. But since I'm in a debate mood I'll break down why YOU ARE THE BIGGEST RETARD EVER!!!!!

AGAIN I STATED MOSTLY OPINION SO HOW COULD I BE WRONG?????

"I liked the film thought it was 7/10, but that's being kind. This film isn't that great, the soundtrack was decent, the acting was impressive at times, depending on the age but overall the film was decent."
Nothing could be wrong in their b/c it's opinion so you're all ready looking stupid.

"I mean first of all, how does he not get over this little girl that he knew for a month but somehow got over his mom's death like that."
This actually happened, there was very little mentioned of the mother after her death except of course the one question. So u're 0 for 2 you retard.

"2nd she wanted nothing to do with, she continually rejected him, even choosing his brother over him. I mean ppl keep saying this film is about fate but that's really more the game not the rest of things. She wanted NOTHING to do with him until he was going to win that money. I mean can you say gold digger? Also why can't he get the msg she doesn't want anything to do with him, if that happened in real life EVERYBODY would say he's the most pathetic person ever but for some reason it's destiny when in film form."
This is an opinion and it's not an opinion that is out of line. I mean fact she wanted nothing to do with him until towards the end of the film. She had a few chances to be with him and choose none of them. So I can't be wrong so 0 for 3, you're looking really retarded.

"3rd the msg ain't even that deep (everything happens for a reason? really pretty much heard and acknowledged that concept in my mid-teens), so why do they beat me over my head for 2 hours?"
Another opinion, and again nothing out of line. THERE WAS NOTHING DEEP ABOUT THIS FILM. Even the ppl who enjoyed the film, say it's just a fairy-tale fluff and so I'm not wrong, maybe u don't agree and this is deep for someone like you, but hey I'm sure a lot of things I find pretty obvious and/or shallow are deep to you.

"4th do you really want me to believe they're going to let the kid go to the washroom alone without security in the middle of answering a question? Makes no sense what's so ever."
Absolutely a valid fact, I mean in you're giving away tons of money would u let the contestant talk to whoever comes into the washroom. And let's be honest no tv host is going to allow not having his own washroom. so we're 0 for 5, looking REALLY REALLY RETARDED.

"This film was alright but ppl need to start watching actual films and not 1 film all year and transformers the rest of the year and praise the 1 film they saw as the greatest film of the year b/c it's not. It's sad that ppl will probably only see this film and skip Milk, The Wrestler, Grand Torino, Synecdoche New York, hell even JCVD JEAN CLAUDE VAN DAMME"S FILM was better than slumdog."
Again, an opinion and that that leaves us with a total of 0 points that aren't true and 6 points that proof you're retarded. Take care you dolt.

the girl did try to be with him while he was broke.

you forgot the scene at the train station you fucking retard?

http://card.mygamercard.net/lastgame/rjcc.png

www.engadgethd.com - the other stuff i'm looking at

Also we have no idea if she went there to talk to him or be with him. You're assuming but I'll give u the benefit of the doubt.

I'm just going to repeatedly call you an idiot, since you are one.

if you wanted to not be fucking dumbass, you'd have paid attention to the movie you dumb piece of shit.

"she just wanted to go there and talk"

foh

http://card.mygamercard.net/lastgame/rjcc.png

www.engadgethd.com - the other stuff i'm looking at

is suddenly going to run off with a guy she barely knows except for a moment she had when she was a kid. I mean of course I'm being naive.........gtfoh you dumbass.
clearly you didn't have any point except the girl one and that's why nothing you say makes sense in regards to everything I've said. B/c how did I not pay attention during the movie if I've given many examples. And like I pointed out many times, NOTHING ELSE I SAID IS OUT OF LINE AND IS MOSTLY OPINIONS WITH VALIDITY SO HOW CAN I BE WRONG? fuck you're pride is so big you can't even back down, you're on the internet buddy, none of this matters and yet you're too afraid to let your ego slide. at least I gave you that point even though I don't believe it's true.

she didn't reject him you dumbass.

she saved his life b/c his brother was going to shoot him.

you didn't watch the movie you dumb syphilitic piece of shit.

http://card.mygamercard.net/lastgame/rjcc.png

www.engadgethd.com - the other stuff i'm looking at

She clearly didn't put up a fight and went with him. Just like she went with the bigger gangster later on.

http://card.mygamercard.net/lastgame/rjcc.png

www.engadgethd.com - the other stuff i'm looking at

when he posted 50 times here with his main point of hate that she didnt wanna be with him b4 the money... even though if your dumb enough to forget the train scene they make it a point to show the scar during the last scene to CONFIRM one final time the efforts made for them to be together...

http://sayitwitme.blogspot.com/
www.myspace.com/spathegod

congrats on being a grade A moron.

I haven't met 1 person that I respect their film taste that has praised this film. It's not a great film, it's extremely cheesy and only saved by it's directing, soundtrack and cinematography. The acting is good and bad, the script is terrible and this is just another film in a long line of films that get tons of praise at the time and nobody gives a shit later (Little Miss Sunshine, Titanic, A Beautiful Mind). Ppl are trying to make this out to be the next City of God but in no way is this film anywhere close. It's a medicore film that ppl who rarely see FILMs (not Transformers) went and saw and were so amazed that it wasn't the same bullshit they've been feed all year and so they praise it as the greatest film of the year (some even ever) and it's sad.

>2nd she wanted nothing to do with, she continually rejected
>him, even choosing his brother over him. I mean ppl keep
>saying this film is about fate but that's really more the game
>not the rest of things. She wanted NOTHING to do with him
>until he was going to win that money. I mean can you say gold
>digger? Also why can't he get the msg she doesn't want
>anything to do with him, if that happened in real life
>EVERYBODY would say he's the most pathetic person ever but for
>some reason it's destiny when in film form.

Cheesy? Considering the main theme of the movie? It's a modern-day fairy tale executed very very well, and imo it was great.

Destiny.....it was written they would get back together.

Totally outside-the-formulaic-Hollywood box filmmaking.

by the end of the movie I actually cared about the characters and wanted the kid to win.

that's more than I can say about 99% of movies these days.

http://card.mygamercard.net/lastgame/rjcc.png

www.engadgethd.com - the other stuff i'm looking at

>by the end of the movie I actually cared about the characters
>and wanted the kid to win.
>
>that's more than I can say about 99% of movies these days.

Period. Nothing else to say about it, really.

Its just fuckin enjoyable.


----------------------------


O_E: Your Super-Ego's Favorite Poster.



"I ORBITs the solar system, listenin..."

(C)Keith Murray, "Cosmic Slop"

n/m

The "hipster" backlash has OFFICIALLY begun!

slate.com:

>the oscars

What, Exactly, Is Slumdog Millionaire?

Is it a) a portrait of the real India, b) a Bollywood-style melodrama, c) a fairy tale, or d) a stylishly shot collection of clichés?

By Dennis Lim

"You wanted to see the real India? Here it is," the young Indian hero of Slumdog Millionaire tells an American couple, right after they find that their rental car has been stripped for parts. The winking come-on of Danny Boyle's Oscar-nominated hit is precisely that—see the real India—but this is a movie with a conveniently fluid notion of reality. In this fairytale vision of squalid poverty, the slums of Mumbai are bathed in golden light, and hardscrabble lives are energized by jacked-up camerawork and the cool, cosmopolitan pop of M.I.A. on the soundtrack. We see the real-world horrors that might befall a kid from these parts—begging syndicates, religious violence, abusive cops—but experience them simply as plot contrivances, hurdles to be cleared as we wait for him to get the girl and go from rags to riches while he's at it.

Slumdog is nothing if not a transglobal movie—funded with British and American money, shot entirely in India by a British director with a largely Indian cast and crew, from a script by a British writer adapting a novel by a London-born Indian author—and it's instructive to compare the reactions from around the world.

Premiering at the big North American film festivals at Telluride and Toronto last fall, Slumdog was crowned an underdog Oscar contender, a film that could go from barely getting a release (its original distributor, Warner Independent, folded last year) to the ultimate Hollywood jackpot, just as its hero, Jamal, makes his way from the slums to the biggest prize on Who Wants To Be a Millionaire.

While the film won near-unanimous praise when it opened here in November, in the United Kingdom, thanks perhaps to residual colonial guilt, there were a few more dissenting voices. A columnist at the London Times called it "poverty porn," bringing up the question of exploitation that has largely been elided in stateside discussions.

And in India, where Slumdog opened last week, the debate has been vigorous. Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan, the focal point of a key scene in Slumdog (he doesn't actually appear), wondered on his blog if the film would have received as much attention had it been made by an Indian director. Some locals have questioned its selective portrait of Mumbai, which ignores the middle class. Some slum residents, meanwhile, have taken exception to being called "slumdogs" (a term invented by screenwriter Simon Beaufoy; the original novel, by Vikas Swarup, is called Q&A). Despite all this pre-release publicity and mostly positive reviews, Indian audiences have so far stayed away.

It is understandable that the conversation has taken on a more serious tone in India, which has long been sensitive to depictions, by Indians and outsiders alike, of its lower socioeconomic classes. The great Indian filmmaker Satyajit Ray was criticized in Parliament for "exporting poverty." When the BBC aired French director Louis Malle's Phantom India, an epic travelogue that sought to capture the contradictions and complexities of Indian society, it led to a minor international incident, culminating in the expulsion of the BBC's New Delhi bureau.

The slums in Slumdog Millionaire are brighter and livelier than any we've seen before. Boyle is a gifted stylist and, for better or worse, an indiscriminate sensualist, the kind of filmmaker capable of finding tactile pleasure wherever he looks, from the junkie deliriums of Trainspotting to the cosmic reveries of Sunshine. For Boyle the director, the slums are above all an endless source of motion and color. The scene that best sums up his attitude comes early in the film, when young Jamal, stuck in an outhouse but determined to obtain Amitabh Bachchan's autograph, holds his nose and (in a nod to the famous toilet-bowl interlude in Trainspotting) gleefully dives into the outdoor latrine.

Some would argue that Boyle is guilty of aestheticizing poverty. That's a loaded charge, with its own problematic assumption about what poverty should look like. I would contend that the movie's real sin is not its surfeit of style but the fact that its style is in service of so very little. The flimsiness of Beaufoy's scenario, a jumble of one-note characterizations and rank implausibility, makes Boyle's exertions seem ornamental, even decadent. Beaufoy has suggested that Mumbai itself inspired this narrative sloppiness: "Tonally it shouldn't really work," he wrote in the Guardian. "But in Mumbai, not for nothing known as Maximum City, I get away with it." This is a corollary to the all-too-easy defense that Slumdog is awash in clichés because it is an homage to Bollywood movies. The resemblance, in any case, is superficial. Some of Slumdog's melodramatic tropes are Bollywood (and Old Hollywood) staples, but the limp dance number that closes the film lacks both the technique and the energy of vintage Bollywood.

If Slumdog has struck a chord, and it certainly seems to have done so in the West, it is not because the film is some newfangled post-globalization hybrid but precisely because there is nothing new about it. It traffics in some of the oldest stereotypes of the exoticized Other: the streetwise urchin in the teeming Oriental city. (The success of Slumdog has apparently given a boost to the dubious pastime of slum tourism—or "poorism," as it's also known.) And not least for American audiences, it offers the age-old fantasy of class and economic mobility, at a safe remove that for now may be the best way to indulge in it.

Eager to crank up the zeitgeist-y significance, the marketing machine at Fox Searchlight, which ended up buying Slumdog, told New York magazine that "the film is Obama-like," for its "message of hope in the face of difficulty." (Other journalists have since picked up on the meme.) Slumdog has been so insistently hyped as an uplifting experience ("the feel-good film of the decade!" screams the British poster) that it is also, by now, a movie that pre-empts debate. It comes with a built-in, catchall defense—it's a fairy tale, and any attempt to engage with it in terms of, say, its ethics or politics gets written off as political correctness.

A slippery and self-conscious concoction, Slumdog has it both ways. It makes a show of being anchored in a real-world social context, then asks to be read as a fantasy. It ladles on brutality only to dispel it with frivolity. The film's evasiveness is especially dismaying when compared with the purpose and clarity of urban-poverty fables like Luis Bunuel's Los Olvidados, set among Mexico City street kids, or Charles Burnett's Killer of Sheep, set in inner-city Los Angeles. It's hard to fault Slumdog for what it is not and never tries to be. But what it is—a simulation of "the real India," which it hasn't bothered to populate with real people—is dissonant to the point of incoherence.

Dennis Lim is the editor of Moving Image Source and a regular contributor to the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times.
________________________________________________________________________
Your battleship has sunk
I wish Grandma could see us...

No one cares about that shit, nigga.

Its an enjoyable fuckin movie.

Niggas need to really stop trying to conoct a reason
to not like it.

Its just good.

Be mad.



----------------------------


O_E: Your Super-Ego's Favorite Poster.



"I ORBITs the solar system, listenin..."

(C)Keith Murray, "Cosmic Slop"

By lumping both in the "urban decay fable" category

Killer of Sheep is an excellent slice-of-life portrait

Slumdog Millionaire is not

Lim gets an L for that one
_________________________________________________________________________
Your battleship has sunk
I wish Grandma could see us...

This article was a bit of a response to Lim's piece.

latimes.com:

>The Big Picture

Patrick Goldstein on the collision of entertainment, media and pop culture

'Slumdog' backlash: Fair or foul?

Whenever there's an overwhelming favorite in the Oscar race, you can be sure, human nature being human nature and the media being the media -- in short, an institution that likes to build 'em up and then knock 'em down -- that the overwhelming favorite will soon find itself fighting off a nasty backlash.

Slumdog_2That's exactly what's happening right now in the Oscar race to Danny Boyle's "Slumdog Millionaire," which in recent days has gone from beloved underdog to embattled front-runner. When I was on the phone earlier this month with Fox Searchlight marketing chief Nancy Utley, she wondered, perhaps wanting to get an outsider's perspective, how the movie was doing. At the time, I told her: "Not that you can really control it, but the only thing you have to worry about is peaking too soon."

I guess you can say the peaking has begun. Alice Miles has a column in the London Times calling the film "poverty porn," hammering the writers and critics who've labeled "Slumdog" as a feel-good film when it is filled with "scenes of utter misery and depravity." Time magazine posted a piece Monday saying the film was "no hit" in India, with only 25% of theater seats occupied (an assessment hotly dispute by distributor Fox Searchlight.) A number of Mumbai slum residents have objected to being labeled "slumdogs." My own newspaper had a front page piece, headlined "Indians Don't Feel Good About Slumdog,' " contending that "some Indians are groaning over what they see as another stereotyped depiction of their nation, accentuating squalor, corruption and impoverished if resilient natives." And now Slate magazine has posted a withering assessment of the film by Dennis Lim, a regular contributor to both the N.Y. Times and L.A. Times, who scoffs at director Danny Boyle's "fairytale vision of squalid poverty," arguing that Boyle is guilty of "aestheticizing poverty."

Lim is a formidable essayist, whether embracing or attacking a film, so his words pack quite a wallop.

Why is 'Slumdog' suddenly coming under attack? Is it the work of a whispering campaign by nefarious Oscar rivals? Keep reading:

First off, let me put my cards on the table. "Slumdog Millionaire" is my favorite movie of the year, in part for the same reasons Lim despises it. Lim appears somewhat queasy that Boyle finds "tactile pleasure" wherever he looks. For me, that is a plus, especially coming at a time when so many films seem bogged down in dreary social realism ("Revolutionary Road"), chilly technical perfectionism ("The Curious Case of Benjamin Button") or such respectful idealism that they rarely examine their leading character's flaws ("Milk"). It seems unfair to thump "Slumdog" for something it isn't -- Boyle clearly didn't intend the film to be a grim expose. And why fault it for not populating the screen with real people when, in fact, the filmmakers deliberately cast real kids from the slums, even though, from a commercial standpoint, the film would've been far more accessible if it had used better-fed, English-speaking young actors in the movie's first act.

What's far more intriguing to me is why immensely popular works of art invariably inspire a backlash. In fact, the backlash -- or its first cousin, historical revisionism -- is a creation of the modern media age. Today's critics, who are invariably the torch bearers of the backlash posse, are suspicious, if not openly hostile, of any piece of art that is granted too much widespread -- i.e. uncritical -- public acceptance. In fact, the "Slumdog" crew should take the whole thing as a back-handed compliment, since you have to be incredibly successful even to inspire a backlash. No one would bother to launch an attack on a tiny cult classic or an obscure art film -- it's the picture's very popularity that inspires a critical counter-attack.

For years, pop music was haunted by this kind of cranky contrariety. During the height of the alt-rock era, any scruffy young band that had a huge hit or left their tiny indie label for a big, bad record company was sure to be cut to ribbons by jilted critics or rabid fans who saw the group's commercial success as a craven sell out. (Of course the revolt against pop stardom has largely abated now that no one actually buys any records anymore.) But film critics have been just as quick to abandon filmmakers after the first blush of success. If a movie sells for a boat-load of money at Sundance, it's instantly a target for critical second-guessing, simply because of its newfound notoriety.

In fact, the true art of Oscar marketing these days is the strategy of lowering expectations. In film, as in politics -- Hillary Clinton being the most recent example -- no one wants to be a front-runner. It simply makes you a target. Fox Searchlight has tried, in vain, to keep a lid on the tsunami of affection that "Slumdog" has inspired not just from critics, but also from rank 'n' file moviegoers, having bought far fewer "For Your Consideration" ads and staged far fewer media events than its competition, in the hopes of allowing "Slumdog" a few more precious weeks of flying under the backlash radar.

But now the movie is under fire. Once the sniping begins, the only thing to do is wait it out, hoping that the backlash fire runs out of fuel. One of the worst afflictions of our media age is that many of our most persuasive cultural apparatchiks are almost instinctively wary of commercial success, as if it were a curse instead of a delightful, altogether unlikely blessing for an artist. Whether you're a critic or simply a loyal fan, when you see a film that rocks your world, don't second guess your instincts. There's nothing wrong with love at first sight.
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Your battleship has sunk
I wish Grandma could see us...

Hating Slumdog has become a public "I'm smart" ID card.

Seriously, GTFOH

People who don't like it are lying and went through a
bad breakup.

Period.

I honestly didn't think Slumdog was a great film, it was a decent film. I don't try to use this to make myself feel smarter and I'm not depressed or dead inside b/c of it. It's a simple film and with that you're going to get ppl on both sides of the fence. Just b/c you really enjoyed it doesn't mean there's flaws (AND this film had plenty).

As for the article I thought that was a terrible article b/c it really only brought up 1 or 2 points that ppl had a against it, mainly the filmmakers exploiting a 3rd world nation's suffering to make a feel good for well-off nations (Which I don't particularly agree is true). It didn't bring up any of the other arguments against the film (Not a real representation of India, too simple a story, way too convenient plot points, etc.) and really I don't think the author could have countered too many of the other points.

But my biggest criticism against the article is that AWARDS DON"T MAKE A FILM!!!!!!! I mean Goodfellas only won 1 oscar, didn't anyone after the Oscars go hmmm the academy was right Goodfellas wasn't that great a film Dances with Wolves a lot better NO!!!!!!! Of course not, I mean it's nice to be recognized but don't go out of your way to make sure you get an Oscar. And just b/c you win an Oscar doesnt mean it'll make your more prestige, I mean is Titanic considered one of the greatest films ever? Not many ppl that I know think that.

it's the only respectable thing to do.

http://card.mygamercard.net/lastgame/rjcc.png

www.engadgethd.com - the other stuff i'm looking at

I'd like a follow up piece about how silly it is that films can "peak" too soon. That somehow films get much better or worse from Dec. 31st to the day the ballots are sent in.

I understand that opinions can change over time but less than a month into the new year? Really?

I thought it was great and I got it. Latika.........more like HOTIKA!!! I dont know what it is about Indian scared women but I love em. For some reason I did sorta have a *gasp* Babel feel to the way it was made but I still enjoyed it.

With that said, I like Ram better.

Up next:
The Reader
Ben Butt
Frost/Nixon
Milk
Rev Road

Finally saw it and I was very pleased with it

Finally saw it and I was very pleased with it

this movie was amazing, I can't believe some are saying it is overrated and not a great movie... I loved the shit out of it... the child actors were incredible... I really wouldve liked to see the youngest Jamal get a supporting actor nod over the RDJ in tropic thunder

My favorite film of 2008. I was afraid that it wouldn't get the Oscar,but it cleaned up last night. I was happy.

he kept slipping into his natural british accent which is odd for a kid from the slums in india, and bizarre facial contortions during the game show im guessing were meant to show his awkwardness but they just looked like someone desperately trying to convey something but didnt know what that was. other than that, i still liked this film, for the most part.

>he kept slipping into his natural british accent which is odd
>for a kid from the slums in india,

you wouldn't notice it unless you knew he was british.

> and bizarre facial
>contortions during the game show im guessing were meant to
>show his awkwardness but they just looked like someone
>desperately trying to convey something but didnt know what
>that was.

his expressions conveyed what he was thinking and feeling, whether it was about Latika, reliving memories of his childhood the movie pretty much pointed that out. it was pretty straight-forward...

>other than that, i still liked this film, for the
>most part.

dev did good, man.

>>he kept slipping into his natural british accent which is
>odd
>>for a kid from the slums in india,
>
>you wouldn't notice it unless you knew he was british.

its not about whether you know hes british or not, its about him failing to hide his original accent. if youre acting as someone whos from the slums in mumbai, then you need to get the right accent, and do it convincingly, and not slip out of it. you cant do it half arsed.

>> and bizarre facial
>>contortions during the game show im guessing were meant to
>>show his awkwardness but they just looked like someone
>>desperately trying to convey something but didnt know what
>>that was.
>
>his expressions conveyed what he was thinking and feeling,
>whether it was about Latika, reliving memories of his
>childhood the movie pretty much pointed that out. it was
>pretty straight-forward...

he looked constipated. in a variety of ways.

>>other than that, i still liked this film, for the
>>most part.
>
>dev did good, man.

he didnt deserve a bafta nomination for his performance though. the kids who acted as him and his brother when they were younger were in much more of the film and they deserved to get nominated much more than he did.

>>>he kept slipping into his natural british accent which is
>>odd
>>>for a kid from the slums in india,
>>
>>you wouldn't notice it unless you knew he was british.
>
>its not about whether you know hes british or not, its about
>him failing to hide his original accent. if youre acting as
>someone whos from the slums in mumbai, then you need to get
>the right accent, and do it convincingly, and not slip out of
>it. you cant do it half arsed.
>

you mean like Kate Winslet's german accent in The Reading? (she did a good american accent though in Revolutionary Road)

i mean seriously. i've heard a lot worse.

nobody is screaming about his accent but you. he did well enough, not being a native. it was suffice.

>>> and bizarre facial
>>>contortions during the game show im guessing were meant to
>>>show his awkwardness but they just looked like someone
>>>desperately trying to convey something but didnt know what
>>>that was.
>>
>>his expressions conveyed what he was thinking and feeling,
>>whether it was about Latika, reliving memories of his
>>childhood the movie pretty much pointed that out. it was
>>pretty straight-forward...
>
>he looked constipated. in a variety of ways.
>

yeah, long lost loves will constipate you...lol

but seriously,

he looked how he was supposed to look in the scenes that demanded it.


>>>other than that, i still liked this film, for the
>>>most part.
>>
>>dev did good, man.
>
>he didnt deserve a bafta nomination for his performance
>though. the kids who acted as him and his brother when they
>were younger were in much more of the film and they deserved
>to get nominated much more than he did.

agreed here.

award-winning performance from Dev? no. Dev did a good job for the role though. if anything Freida was the weakest link. All she did was look pretty.

the best actor was little Salim, followed by little Jamal. Little Salim showed a range of emotions of caring brother, jokester, young killer/gangster in the making, etc.

Besides the little kids, the movie didnt really do much for me.

The romance was dreadful.