Celebs at 53rd BFI Times London Film Festival on 14th Oct 2009.

World Champion Monster Energy driver Jenson Button takes time out of his Abu Dhabi preparations with his closest crew.
Jenson Button is reunited with girlfriend Jessica Michibata ahead of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and takes physio Mike Collier for a wakeboard session in Dubai.

Having secured the Formula One world title in awe-inspiring style less than a fortnight ago, Jenson Button arrived in Dubai determined to get some down time with his girlfriend, Jessica Michibata, after they were kept apart in Sao Paulo. With the final race of the season on the horizon Jenson has been preparing for this weekend’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix with his trainer and taking stock of his phenomenal achievement with his closest friends.

Jenson’s pre race routine involves extensive physical training, which has become the stuff of folklore in the past couple of seasons. The tables were turned however when Jenson set a routine of his own for physio, Mike Collier, on a wakeboard off the Dubai beach. Jenson had been taking in a cruise of the marina with Jessica earlier in the morning when he came up with an endurance session with a twist.

“Mikey and I are each other’s task masters when we train back home on the bikes or on a run so I decided I’d throw him a curve ball and see how he got on with wakeboarding. As usual he could do with a bit more style but he looked pretty useful at it.” joked Jenson.

JB will now travel to Abu Dhabi for his first race since being crowned World Champion. The way in which he scythed through the field in Interlagos only 10 days ago should be a warning sign to the paddock that he’s not prepared to wait his turn behind slower cars or drivers. “Brazil was an incredible experience. It was a race where I had to fight for it and put in a championship winning performance and that’s what I did.” says Jenson: “Coming into the last race as World Champion is a special feeling and I’ll be fighting just as hard for the win here.”

With the added incentive of putting on a champion’s performance for the friends and family who have travelled to the desert, Jenson’s season looks set for a final flourish. Be sure to follow JB riding the crest of the World Championship wave via www.monsterenergy.com.

The men who stare at goats will also entertain you

The film The Men who stare at Goats is based on Jon Ronson’s novel and the most appealing factor of the film is the goats profile adorning the poster and the title that reads “More of this is true than you imagine”. Also the cast of the film that includes George Clooney, Ewan McGregor, Jeff Bridges and Kevin Spacey contribute to the crowd pulling factors for the film.

The hilarious trailer of The men who stare at goats is well marketed and it hits bang right on target; the audience will definitely get excited to watch the film. The goat that stirs so much of curiosity will keep you wondering almost throughout the film; it appears in the second half of the film.

The director of the film Grant Heslov has the credit of co-writing the Oscar-nominated films Good Luck and Good Night and this is his first venture, as feature film director.

The story goes like this; Bob Wilton (McGregor) is a journalist who wants to prove his mettle to his wife who is on the verge of ditching him. Bob Wilton goes in search of a solid story all the way to Kuwait and eventually this journey takes to Iraq. And in the hotel, Bob gets to interview a member of New Earth Army Lyn Cassady (George Clooney).

The founder of this branch was Bill Django played by Jeff Bridges who invents this branch to find innovative ways of fighting rather techniques of psychic fighting. The member from this branch would visualize the prisoners’ cell and spy the enemies with their spirits. The members do not attack the enemies physically, but it is through all the mental mumbo jumbo. And not to forget the goat, which the member sit and stare until their heart stops! The members of this army branch were called the Jedi warriors.

George Clooney in The Men Who Stare at Goats

Bill Django is a part of the flashbacks and Cassady narrates the story about New Earth Army and how he was trained under Django to become a Jedi warrior. So the whole movie is see through a Cassady’s narration of the Jedi warriors and he tells Wilton about they used the psychic powers to get into the enemies’ territory. Well, if you want to believe in paranormal powers watch the movie for the funny side of it.

Clooney and Jeff Bridges are the funny duo and they have done good job as Jedi warriors. Bridges plays the brilliant role as the head of the NEA where yoga, drugs, dance etc are part of the training. The branch was supposedly existed in the 80’s can you eat that?

Clooney is good as an ex-Jedi warrior and the McGregor has also done a commendable job as a aspiring journalist who got his hands on the most intriguing news story. Kevin Spacey who plays the role of Hooper has also  done a good job. The movie though funny and entertaining it lacks a well-defined plot but never mind it is still a good movie to watch.

Will give it as one of the best movies of the year

It wouldn’t be an exaggeration if the film Untitled were rated as one of the best movies of the year. The best art of the film is that it gives meaning or art form to the most unusual of music, which is created by kicking a bucket with chains or any noise in the surrounding is wrapped as music. A real music lover or connoisseur of art would not accept this.

The best of art galleries and best of music albums has the weirdest of piece of art are recognised to be masterpieces. Probably the movie mocks at such irony or glorifies the ‘different’ art is what you cannot identify in the film. Nevertheless the movie conveys through its lead character the difference between music and noise. Adrian Jacobs (Adam Goldberg) who is in the lead role tells us that ‘noise is unwanted and art is what want to see or hear’, which is clear-cut; art is what one perceives it to be.

Adrian is an unsuccessful musician and hardly gets very few audiences for his concerts and his brother Josh (Eion Bailey) is a successful painter. The two brothers though are creative people their commercial success is poles apart. Josh’ paintings sell like hot cakes; hospitals and hotels buy loads of his paintings but he is not quite contented with this fame, Josh desires for critical acclaim.

Adrian’s situation is just the opposite there are hardly anyone who appreciate his music and that keeps him unhappy most of the times. The best part is Adrian chases away those few people who genuinely appreciate his music. But Adrian seems to be comfortable in his dejected state and he believes that people around him should also feel exactly the way he feels. Until one day he meets Madeline Gray (Marley Shelton) who is the owner of the art gallery and through whom Josh sells his paintings. Josh invites Madeline to attend his brother’s concert and she likes Adrian’s music instantaneously.

Adam Goldberg, Marley Shelton in (Untitled)

The film Untitled gets tremendous strength and support form its actors who have done a remarkable job. Jonathan Parker the director of the film has done commendable job with direction and characterisation. Marley Shelton has give an outstanding performance and Goldberg has played his role to perfection rather he has displayed a natural and honest performance. David Land has given the original score, which is skilfully done.

The movie is for audience who have some kind of culture interest. It conveys the message that any form of art brings out the real person captured within you rather it is a reflection of oneself. The connection between art and life is well portrayed in Untitled. The main characters finally find the balance they were actually looking for. The film encompasses almost all areas of culture, which makes it that much more interesting.

The movie focuses on the funny side of life and art. And it is an honest attempt to say the least and you will love the realism portrayed with some humour sprinkled on it.

Disney’s A Christmas Carol- Get Scrooged as winter sets

The movie Disney’s A Christmas Carol is animation treat this season and writer director Robert Zemeckis has yet again proved his skill to make a 3D movie with precision.

The Oscar-wining director has been successful in evolving animated characters that look so close to humans and this is where Zemeckis technical craftsmanship makes such a huge difference. The fact that the animated characters are so similar to real human characters makes it more believable. Robert Zemeckis has beautifully adapted Charles Dickens’ timeless classic A Christmas Carol into a well-directed animation.

Disney’s A Christmas Carol gains an edge over his previous two animations; The Polar Express and Beowulf and that is mostly because the origin of the story is from an unforgettable classic. Charles Dickens penned this story in 1838 and it has luckily got into the right hands else there are movie makers who have the potential of creating rubbish out of classics.

The story is about Ebeneezer Scrooge (Jim Carrey renders the voice over for Scrooge’s character) who is a wealthy old miser who has not celebrated the Christmas Eve for seven consecutive years and with that many among audience will go into nostalgic moments trying to remember the story narrated by Dickens. Yes most of them will be familiar with the tale of Ebeneezer Scrooge. But this is not to draw comparisons between the classical tale and the contemporary motion picture, as both have their share of genius.

Anyways coming back to story, Scrooge loathes Christmas and has not been celebrating it since his partner Jacob Marley’s death. Marley’s ghost appears and warns Scrooge about the three ghosts who will visit him soon. Well the spirits appear and remind Scrooge of past Christmas Eves and also show the people around who are celebrating the eve with so much fun. The three ghosts cautions Scrooge of the events that are likely to take place in the future Christmas Eves if he does not mend his ways.

A Christmas Carol

Scrooge’s past life shows that he was a happy-go-lucky guy who had been hard working and just like any normal youngster goes crazy about Belle, and when she confronts him about his present behaviour, Scrooge fails to explain and the audience does not get a clear picture of Scrooge’ transition. Scrooge’s drastic change in behaviour has not been explained in the movie.

The movie undoubtedly is a good adaptation of Dickens’ story and the animation thoroughly supports the story and characters of the film. The other biggest highlight of the film is Jim Carrey’s voice over; he has rendered his voice to the three ghosts and the ghost of the future Christmas too, which makes the characters much more interesting.

The film is not all in all a children’s film there are certain spooky scenes that will scare the kids may be we can rate it under PG. The movie is a nice Christmas gift for movie lovers and it has definitely got the entertainment factor that will draw audiences.

Is like a good served lunch

The film Precious is based on the novel Push written by Sapphire. Lee Daniels has directed the movie and the writer is Geoffrey Fletcher. The story raises from utter despair to the level strong hope, which is emerges as a genuine work of art from director Lee Daniels. Here is a sensitive story that will move you and sympathize with the lead character but by the end of the film you will appreciate the great resilience shown by the character.

The film is so real and the performances by every actor make the movie that much more genuine and believable. And director Lee Daniels deserves a pat on his shoulder for taking the all-new actress in the lead and Gabourey Sidibe has let down the filmmaker; her debut has been a remarkable discovery and the proof is her outstanding performance as Precious.

Precious is an ugly looking fatso and she is literally dying of insecurity with her physical appearance with illiterate status, physically abused by her father and as a result she is pregnant.

Precious has no guts to face the world and how will she? She is in a whirlpool of horrifying problems that has subjugated her completely and is afraid to speak up or look into people’s face to say the least. Precious is devastated and to top it her mother (Mo’Nique) treats her badly in spite of knowing that her husband has raped their daughter. Precious’ mother is angry about her not because she is frustrated with her husband’s incest but she feels Precious has stolen her husband.

But amidst all the despair there is a strong factor that is much beyond this pain and that is hope. This hope is not that evolves out of Precious but from her teacher and social worker who believe that things can get better Precious’ life. The film definitely does not transit like a fairytale, which has a happy ending but it is about realising the inner strength and also know that each one of us are unique and special.

Amina Robinson, Gabourey 'Gabby' Sidibe, Stephanie Andujar in Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire

The film was first screened in the Sundance Film Festival with the title Push, which received the jury prize and emerged as a favorite film but later the name of the film was changed to Precious, as there was another film with the same name.

The stupendous performances from the supporting actresses definitely deserve an award but to pick one of them is a tough task. Precious’ mother Mary played by Mo’Nique is truly amazing; Mo’Nique is the most loathsome character of the film. Precious’ teacher Ms. Rain is palyed by Paula Patton and Mariah Carey play the role of Ms. Weiss who is a social worker.

The three women have given electrifying performances and not to forget the debutant actress Gabourey Sidibe who has given a phenomenal performance that will move the audience.

You will be missing out some great artwork if you do not watch the film that is so genuine. And, here is an authentic American film, which has got all the right ingredients, and the audience is served with a good and an honest film after a long time.

Yet another kind of a movie to disappoint you

The Fourth Kind is supposedly based on true events but nothing seems to be believable or true about the movie to say the least. It could really be pain to sit through the entire that runs for about an hour and a half. It simply feels waste of time, effort and money of course. Is creativity losing its way or are filmmakers falling short of finding good meaningful stories to present to the audience?

The Fourth Kind seemingly wanted to be one of its kind but unfortunately the film has failed to please the audience and the critics as well. The film has gone overboard to bring in some realism but in the process has lost the actual purpose of keeping the audience interested.

The movie is about humans who have seen extraterrestrials or UFOs. These people give an elaborate description about their alien and UFO experiences, which is endless and the audience will lose patience listening to their stories and will get tired waiting for some thrill and entertainment. Many unanswered questions such as why the keeps staring into people’s windows and why the aliens chose to take away so many people?

These questions are left unanswered, probably the director got carried away by the stories that people narrated and he left the answers to the people’s imagination. The owl was mostly used to give a touch of mystery but sadly the poor fellow was not given any meaningful role to play, he just sits and stares into the windows like a dumbo. The audience might sympathise with actors and the owls involved in this film.

Well coming to the story it is about the real incidents that took place in Nome where people were disappearing and the psychologist Abigail Tyler (Milla Jovovich) who gets patients complaining of strange incidents; her patients’ report of waking up as early as 3 am and the owls watching them through the windows.

The director of the Olatunde Osunsanmi film has taken too much pain to make the movie look real and each scene bears an archived footage but alas! If only the director had put all his efforts in making a better cinema rather than proving the facts or painstakingly trying to show that it was all real. And this realism is never ending, which will test the audience’ patience to a great extent.

Milla Jovovich in The Fourth Kind

If it is real it need not be proved so hard, just a mention of ‘based on true story’ while rolling the credits would have saved so much time, effort and money. It is like hammering the audience with the true facts.

But Milla Jovovich’s acting deserves a mention, whatever she has been asked to do she has done it with honesty but unfortunately for her she has been cast in the wrong movie. But if you read the article written by Kyle Hopkins, which discloses the mystery that the FBI investigated a few cases in Nome and came to the conclusion that too much alcohol consumption and the cold climate were the connecting factors and the people who disappeared had fallen in to the Snake River.

Well if this testimony makes any sense or logic then screaming out aloud that it is based on true facts is actually not true. The rest is left to audience’s discretion; Believe it or not.

Singer-actress Mariah Carey has come out in the open about the domestic problems she encountered in her marital life.

She says that she had undergone emotional and mental abuse from Tommy Mottola, during her five year marriage life to him. She was married to the music mogul from 1993 to 1998.

Carey, who is currently doing promotions for her new movie ‘Precious’ where she essays the role of a social worker who tries to help a teenager who has undergone abuses.

She then said how abuse was not a new thing to her.

She said: “Abuse has several categories…emotionally, mentally, in other ways. It’s scary. I just think you get into a situation and you feel locked in. If your situation is similar to one of the situations I’ve been in, which I won’t harp on… For me to really get out of it was difficult because there was a connection that was not only a marriage, but a business where the person was in control of my life.”

Brit actress Sienna Miller, who had called off her relationship with her DJ beau George Barker last month, has now reconciled with him.

She had said that her work commitments in the Broadway had made her take such a hard decision.

The pair had been dating since July but the Hollywood actress had to move to New York recently for her Broadway production ‘After Miss Julie’. She then called off the relationship saying that it was very difficult to commit herself to a long distance relationship.

But reports suggest that the couple is giving love another shot. They were spotted enjoying a romantic stroll in New York’s SoHo district.

A source has said: “They seemed very much a couple. George was talking about how he was excited about their plans for the night.”

So after being unlucky in love with Jude Law and others, she seems to have found steady love.

The latest buzz is that RnB star Whitney Houston is heading to Russia to play a pair of wintry shows in December.

The songstress will perform at the Moscow Olympiyskiy Stadium on 9 December (09) and at the fabled Ice Palace in St. Petersburg three days later.

The two dates are part of Houston’s first global tour in 11 years. Her last Russia performance was in 2004.

Promoter Andrey Agapov has said, “Whitney Houston is a legendary singer and performer, much loved by Russian audiences and fans worldwide. I’m thrilled to bring Ms. Houston back to her fans in Moscow and St. Petersburg.”

Hot and sexy Brazilian supermodel Gisele Bundchen, who is carrying her first baby with American football player husband Tom Brady, has not let her pregnancy stand in the way of what she wishes to do in life.

She has cleared her first helicopter flying exams, just months within she enrolled herself for the course.

Her tutor says that she is natural in flight.

Shoreline aviation president Keith Douglass has said: “Gisele hasn’t finished her license yet, but she did pass her written exam. Now, there is one more step along the way, the practical exam, which is coming up in another week. She has been doing an excellent job. She is very dedicated. She flies at least three days a week. Flying a helicopter isn’t easy- it is a handful, because you can’t stop flying and just cruise but she is doing great.”

But he also admits that her baby bump is making her time in the cockpit tricky. She is due next month.

He added: “We have pilots that fly right up to the end of pregnancy. She doesn’t go very high, maybe 500 feet or 1,000 feet, which is nothing. She is always close and can get down quickly if she needs to. She is feeling great and looking great. She has been doing an excellent job. But she is almost to a point where she is too big to be flying.”

Now that’s how she makes a great combo- a career driven woman and a committed mum to be too.

This seems to be growing into a very interesting love triangle. Something or the other is always happening in Brangelina’s life and unlucky in love Jennifer Aniston hasn’t found a steady man yet, despite many steamy relationships.

There’s a latest buzz that Jen is urging her former husband, Hollywood heartthrob Brad Pitt, to quit his relationship with his current partner Angelina Jolie so that he can come back to her.

It seems that the former ‘Friends’ blonde disclosed her feelings after reports came out about Brad and Angelina planning to call off their relationship. There were also talks of Aniston meeting Pitt after the latter underwent a motorcycle accident last month.

In the midst of all this, it seems heartthrob Pitt is confused with what he should do. It seems on one hand he has Aniston desperately waiting for his comeback and he has also convinced Jolie, the mom of his kids that Aniston was not anywhere in his mind.

Hope at least for the sake of his six kids, Pitt takes a wise decision.

Supermodel and mum of four Heidi Klum has stepped down from the catwalk at this year’s Victoria’s Secret fashion show and has opted to host the event instead.

The leggy German model has been stalwart of the annual lingerie showcase, which sees the world’s highest paid and most stunning models take to the runway in skimpy underwear and angel wings. The fashion show will take place on 1 December and features a performance from the Black Eyed Peas.

But rather than force herself back into shape following the birth of her fourth child last month (Oct09), the new mum will play host at the sexy event.

The stunner model married to singer Seal, famously toned up in time to strut her stuff at the 2006 Victoria’s Secret show- just two months after she gave birth to her third child.

But this time she recently told the website she was worried about missing the show altogether: “The last time (I gave birth), I had two months, and I don’t know if I have that much time this time. It was pushing it the last time. But if I don’t make it, I’m sure I’ll be very sad.”

Now it seems she has worked out a really good deal.

The latest is that Oscar winning actress Reese Witherspoon has offered her services to cops investigating a fight between two photographs battling for the best snap of her.

Not very long ago the ‘Legally Blonde’ actress stood by helpless as the paparazzi lashed out at each other, after spotting the star in Brentwood, California.

According to an eyewitness, she then agreed to stay at the scene when police arrived and described the “brutal” fight to officers, insisting she would be “happy to co-operate”.

An attractive actress and a mother who also loves social work. That definitely is a great combination.

Actress Kate Hudson had to shed weight for her upcoming movie ‘Earthbound’ to essay the role of a lethally ill woman who falls in love with her doctor.

She achieved so by quitting the use of alcohol.

In the end, she could lose 20 pounds.

The buzz is that Goldie Hawn’s actress daughter found the perfect diet solution by cutting out her favourite boozy beverages, but she also disclosed that it was very difficult for her to stop using these beverages, especially wine and tequila.

She reportedly told Elle magazine, “I love my glass of wine. I love tequila. To be in New York for two weeks and not have one beverage, I’m not sure I’ve ever done that!”