Minth Collections

Leighton Meester Photo

2009-12-28T18:56:00.003+07:00

Elisha Cuthbert Photo Galleries

2009-02-01T19:38:00.002+07:00

Elisha Cuthbert

2008-12-20T17:40:00.003+07:00

SA former child star whose flame continued to burn bright into her teen years, blonde beauty Elisha Cuthbert has successfully carried the success from Popular Mechanics for Kids and Are You Afraid of the Dark? into a featured role on the hit FOX series 24 and a successful film career. A Calgary native who landed her first modeling job at the tender age of seven, it was a mere four years later that Cuthbert instinctively knew that she wanted to spend the rest of her days in front of the lens. Following an appearance in the 1997 feature Dancing on the Moon, Cuthbert landed a job as a field correspondent for the acclaimed Canadian television series Popular Mechanics for Kids, and her reporting proved so effective that she caught the attention of first lady Hillary Clinton, who invited Cuthbert to Washington for a meeting.

Though she spent the majority of her youth in Montreal, Cuthbert moved to Los Angeles at age 17 in order to pursue an acting career. Featured roles as a reluctant pilot in Airspeed (1998) and a time traveling teen in Time at the Top (1999) were soon to follow, and by the time Cuthbert joined the cast of Nickelodeon's Are You Afraid of the Dark? in 1999, it was obvious that her talent was growing. Her role in the made-for-Canadian-television feature Lucky Girl only furthered her reputation as a dramatically capable rising starlet, and her distinct onscreen facial expressions and convincing performance soon caught the eyes of producers who were preparing a new thriller series for FOX. Cast as Jack Bauer's (Kiefer Sutherland) damsel-in-distress daughter, Kimberly, in the breakout hit 24, Cuthbert's character suffered through multiple kidnappings and a mountain lion attack over the course of the series' first two seasons. In the episode of 24 in which she shared a scene with the mountain lion, Cuthbert made news when the beast actually attacked her on the film set, sending the frightened actress on a trip to the hospital with an injured hand. On the heels of 24, Cuthbert took a supporting role in the comedy Old School before appearing in the subsequent romantic comedies Love Actually (2003) and The Girl Next Door (2004), the latter of which found her taking the lead as an ex-porn star who becomes the object of affection to a lonely suburban boy unaware of her past.

source : elisha-cuthbert.com

Catherine Zeta Jones Photo Galleries

2008-12-14T20:20:00.000+07:00

Christina Aguilera

2008-12-14T20:00:00.001+07:00

True to its title, Stripped, the audacious new RCA Records release from Christina Aguilera, strips away the last remnants of her previous teen idol persona and what’s left is as real as it gets.

The sixteen new tracks that comprise Stripped, including her sensational debut single, “Dirrty,” showcases an unadorned, unfettered and fearlessly outspoken artist who has liberated herself, her soul and her music on an album that is as much a declaration of independence as it is a convincing demonstration of her fierce and original talent. Simply put, this is the real deal.

“When you’re seventeen years old, green and inexperienced, you’re grateful for any guidance and direction you can get.” Says Christina on her rocket sled ride to the top following the 1999 release of her eponymously-titled debut album, with its string of consecutive chart toppers, including “Genie In A Bottle” and “What A Girl Wants.” It was a feat she would repeat the following year with Mi Reflejo, the smash Spanish language version of her debut, followed by her hit holiday release, My Kind Of Christmas.

Ten million plus albums, a Grammy win for Best New Artist and a marathon round of world touring later, Christina began to fearlessly break free from the mass media mask that hid her true self, and the full scope of her talent.

“I felt trapped,” she admits. “I was under the thumb of people who were mostly interested in keeping me doing exactly the same thing. But I’m not blaming anyone,” she’s quick to add. “You learn fast in this business and, once I knew where I wanted to go, I didn’t let anyone get in my way.”

Where she wanted to go, at least initially, was to her Los Angeles home where she could catch her breath, reconnecting with herself and her two canine companions. “I needed a break,” she reveals. “I wanted to disappear into empty space for awhile. So much had happened in such a short time, and not only in my career. I’d gone through a breakup with my first real love and I began realizing that I should be experiencing a bit more of life than TV and recording studios, hotels and green rooms.”

As well intended as her much-deserved hiatus may have been, the vocalist and songwriter still had to contend with the restless creative energy that had fueled her preteen trajectory from talent show contestant in and around her native Pittsburgh to international superstardom.

“I’m driven,” is Christina’s frank admission. “Even in the midst of touring, I was thinking about what my next album would be, writing bits and pieces of songs in journals and scrapbooks.”

That album, like Christina’s long overdue R&R, would have to wait. Unable to resist the lure of a promising creative collaboration, she joined forces with Pink, Mya and Lil’ Kim on the smash “Lady Marmalade” single and video. That eye-popping slice of ear candy kept her front and center in the international spotlight even as she began, slowly and steadily, to lay the groundwork for a musical manifesto that would change all the rules.

“I was straight ahead about what I wanted to do,” Christina continues. “For a long time, I’d been uncomfortable with the image that had been built around me and my music. It felt like I was pretending, trying to hide the real me, and hurting inside because of it. This time I was determined to step beyond the hype and glitter, to take it back down to the bare necessities. It was like starting all over again.”

Yet at the same time, Christina’s bold work-in-progress wasn’t simply a reaction to the past. “I wanted to explore some of the music that had inspired me coming up,” she explains. “I’ve always been a huge fan of soul. I love real rock & roll and hip-hop, of course, is one of my biggest influences. I wanted it all.”

And what she wanted she set about to achieve with a relentless determination and a willingness to stretch her creative boundaries. “I’ve always thought recording was about attaining perfection,” she reveals. “What I discovered making this album is that getting across real feelings is what’s important. As much as possible, I wanted to have the listener right there in the studio with me. I wanted to introduce myself, to get down to it. What mattered was sharing what I was really going through…for the first time.”

And the first and most formidable challenge for Christina was to assemble a supporting cast that, in her words, “weren’t influenced by my old image.” A ruthless process of elimination yielded a production and songwriting team that included, among others, Pink producer Linda Perry; the team of Redman and Rockwilder; Alanis Morrissette producer Glenn Ballard; fast rising studio wizard Scott Storch, as well artist/producer Alicia Keys.

Recorded over an eighteen-month stretch, with Christina firmly at the helm every step of the way, Stripped slowly but surely took shape, not only as an exercise in breathtaking stylistic diversity but as a resonant and revealing look into the mind and emotions of a young woman on the verge of personal and professional liberation.

The result is resonant and revealing original tracks that decisively shred Christina’s squeaky clean persona, even as they set the stage for a career that, millions of albums and concert tickets later, is only now just getting started. The proof is all over Stripped, from the opening notes of “Impossible,” the smoky ballad by Alicia Keys, to the romantic revelations of “Can’t Hold Us Down,” featuring the persuasive production of Scott Storch; from the soaring affirmations of “Beautiful,” to blistering licks of “Make Over,” to the superheated funk of “Dirrty,” featuring Redman and Rockwilder. “I loved ‘Let’s Get Dirty,’” Christina reveals, “So I asked Rockwilder to put something together kind of like that for me.” She laughs. “What I got was a little too close, but then I figured, ‘Why not?’ The track is like an answer song to the original, only from a female point of view.”

As much excitement and surprise as a first listening to Stripped might generate, there are other textures, urgent, honest and unguarded, that emerge with time. “Everything I sing about in ‘I’m OK’ is real,” she asserts. “I took it right out ofmy life and I’m singing it right to my Dad.” While another Stripped standout, “Can’t Hold Me Down,” may at first sound like payback to a certain superstar rapper, for Christina that’s hardly the point. “I haven’t got time for all that,” is her retort. “I’m more interested in helping girls stand up for themselves. That’s what the song is about – double standards and how we’re supposed to look and act a certain way just to please men. If I have any influence as an entertainer, I want it to be optimistic and uplifting, to make this world a little better place to live.”

For Christina Aguilera, it all begins by getting real. “This music is who I am,” she confidently asserts. “You can take it or leave it, but I’m not going to change, not for anyone.” In the end, she says, it’s a tribute to the millions of worldwide fans who have made her a household name. “Fans grow up, too,” she smiles. “We’re all reaching out for something more real and if we really want it, we’re going to find it. This album is for anyone who really wants it.”

source

Drew Barrymore Photo Galleries

2008-12-14T18:33:00.006+07:00

Slumdog Millionaire (2008)

2008-12-11T02:25:00.000+07:00

In Slumdog Millionaire, directed by the whiz-bang fabulist Danny Boyle (Trainspotting, Sunshine), Jamal (Dev Patel), an 18-year-old Indian orphan who has spent his life scavenging on the streets, lands as a contestant on the Hindi version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, and he wins — big. Don't worry, I'm not giving anything away: An opening title informs us that he wins 20 million rupees (in U.S. currency, that translates roughly as...an awesome amount of cash). The host (Anil Kapoor), who looks like Omar Sharif if he'd been a high-end vacuum-cleaner salesman, models his act on the British version of the show, which may be why he's a lot more condescending than the courtly Regis Philbin. Mercilessly, he mocks Jamal for being a ''chaiwalla'' (a boy who serves tea — extremely low on the class totem pole). Yet the kid is immune to insults — or, it seems, nerves — and he becomes a folk hero as he keeps knocking out those impeccable final answers.

The prospect of an uneducated orphan from the slums of Mumbai winning a pot of gold on a game show that hinges on worldly knowledge is, of course, the stuff of purest fairy tales. Based on Vikas Swarup's novel Q & A, with a script by Simon Beaufoy (The Full Monty), Slumdog Millionaire is nothing if not an enjoyably far-fetched piece of rags-to-riches wish fulfillment. It's like the Bollywood version of a Capra fable sprayed with colorful drops of dark-side-of-the-Third-World squalor. A framing device has Jamal being interrogated by Mumbai cops who want him to confess how he won the show (they believe, wrongly, that he cheated). To let us know how he won, the film keeps flashing back from Jamal's stint on Millionaire to scenes of his life as an innocently scheming Dickensian ragamuffin.

Orphaned during a riot, the young Jamal (Ayush Mahesh Khedekar) skips around India with his older brother, Salim (Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail), the two boys scrambling to survive in a bustling, hothouse landscape of exploitative treachery. They're detained, along with a bunch of other orphans, by a vile crook who doesn't just use them as beggars; in a touch to give Fagin the willies, he likes to blind his orphans by pouring boiling liquid into their eyes, because then they'll earn more sympathy from passersby. The two escape, along with a girl, Latika (Rubina Ali), whom Jamal falls for and keeps trying to rescue. But just as we're reeling from this close encounter with evil, the movie reveals its true, happy design: This episode, and others like it, provides Jamal with the precise piece of information — in this case, a song title — he'll draw on, years later, to answer the questions on Millionaire. The inventor of the revolver, the figure on a $100 bill (he learns that one while scamming U.S. tourists at the Taj Mahal)— all the knowledge he'll need is offered by his life of hardship.

As Slumdog Millionaire jumps from the fear and degradation of Jamal's childhood to the snippet of game-show victory each episode provides, the audience relaxes, secure in the knowledge that the hardship and cruelty on display are, in their way, as much of a fairy tale as the mad-money TV triumph they presage. Slumdog Millionaire is brash and lively and compulsively watchable, but with Boyle working at full boil, it is also an unabashed concoction — a movie that turns the horror of broken Indian childhoods into a whooshingly blithe, in-your-face picaresque. Not since Les Miz have you felt this gooey-good about kids whose lives were this bad.

We follow Jamal and Salim at three different ages (with two sets of nicely matched tyke actors), but it's when Jamal is 18, and played by Dev Patel, that the movie takes on a touch of gravitas. Patel is tall, with a serious thin mouth, sloping eyebrows, and a wiry boyish toughness rather like that of Shia LaBeouf; he holds the camera while appearing to do nothing — the mark of a star. Madhur Mittal, as the older Salim, is a study in contrast — a permed weakling who goes to work for a gangster — but I wish the grown-up Latika (Freida Pinto), whom Jamal finds enslaved to that same thug, looked less like a supermodel. It's all part of the movie's fanciful sentimental tidiness. Slumdog Millionaire rousingly celebrates the escape from the slums, but since it’s Jamal’s childhood that allows him to win big on TV (and to win that girl), you could also say that the movie ennobles poverty.

source

Quantum of Solace Movie Reviews

2008-11-17T03:46:00.004+07:00

Scorsese did it with Christ and Nolan most recently did it with Batman. Those are two iconic film characters that usually embody pristine souls of clarity and goodness. Their emotions aren’t usually played upon because they don’t usually find themselves being rattled. That was until Scorsese and Nolan injected their heroes with a Shakespearian sorrow and made them human. Now, Marc Forster - with the 22nd James Bond film from Ian Flemming entitled “Quantum of Solace” – injects the same serum to James Bond; the only man in the history of cinema that is lusted by children and men and women of all ages. Now after seeing “Quantum” how would they like to embody a Bond that has an unwelcoming conscious that craves a vulnerable soul?

James Bond has become a pinnacle to our society today. If his name were to be found in the dictionary it would indicate the words smooth, suave, dreamy and charismatic, not a tragic figure who invites bruises and scratches to his face preferably over kisses. Most Bond films, including last year’s “Casino Royale” where “Quantum” picks up an hour after, provides the audience to escape the everyday casualties of life, not to sulk our hero in them and watch him slowly become – how can I put this? – Human. When Daniel Craig signed on to play Bond it was an awakening to a new chapter in the franchise. Dreamy love-boats, who adorned perfectly cropped hair and always a step ahead of their nemesis, were replaced by a more rugged man whose first instinct isn’t to bed women but to put a bullet in the bad guys’ heads. He rightfully accepts the bumps and bruises that follow throughout the process.

In “Quantum,” Bond (Craig) isn’t motivated by any high-tech gizmo or sumptuous woman, but has his killer instincts set out to revenge the death of Vesper (Eva Green), his lover turned double-crosser in “Casino Royale.” In pursing her killer he uncovers Dominic Greene (Mathieu Amalric), a business mogul who’s looking to control Bolivia’s entire water supply and eventually the world. He’s more of an Al Gore, economy friendly villain than the all cunning, blood crying La Chiffe. Greene manages to have people working all over for him, especially doubling as M’s (Judi Dench) M16 agents. New Bond girl Olga Kurylenko as Camille is used as bait by Greene for business deals, but it’s Bond who understands what she really desires for because it’s the same thing he’s driven by; revenge.

Director Forster is a worthy entry to direct a Bond film that has for the first time James Bond’s heart ripped from his insides. The proof lies within Forster’s repertoire. “Quantum” calls for revenge and emotion and he answers its call. Just watch his “Finding Neverland” and “Monster’s Ball” for further reference of humans apprehending life’s pitfalls.

The script is co-written by Oscar winner Paul Haggis and is a bit too congested. It’s become almost mentally impossible to follow any Bond film without asking yourself questions at the end. “Quantum” ultimately can do away with the script because it’s a movie that’s only interested in a maimed humanity, two actually, and how each goes through action scenes, jumping from Italy to Haiti to Bolivia, to satisfy their hungry hearts. To portray James Bond, the epitome of cool, like that can be dour to some. There isn’t any love interest between Bond and Camille because they’re so fueled by revenge. No sarcasm or exotic foreplay. No showcasing extravagant cars or gadgets. No lines of dialogue containing “Bond….James Bond.” Bond doesn’t say anything about his martini being “shaken, not stirred,” because his soul is literally shaken to the core and he’s mad as hell and isn’t going to take it anymore. It may take a while to warm up to this new portrait of cool. But when you do, you actually realize for the very first time that you’d hate to be James Bond. Well, kind of.

Starring: Daniel Craig, Olga Kurylenko, Mathieu Amalric, Judi Dench and Giancarlo Giannini
Director: Marc Forster
Release Date: November 14, 2008
Running Time: 106 min.
MPAA Rating: Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action, and some sexual content.
Distributors: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) and Sony Pictures

source

Britney Spears

2008-11-17T03:39:00.003+07:00

Britney Spears (born 2.12.1982)

Britney Spears’ debut album Baby One More Time found her international stardom in 1999 and contained the Billboard topping single ‘Baby One More Time. She has sold over 83 million records worldwide, currently making her the eighth best-selling female artist in American music history, having sold 31 million albums in the U.S.

Her turbulent personal life has been well documented. Most recently, On the evening of 3rd January 2008, police were called to Spears's home after she refused to relinquish custody of her children. As a result of an order placed by her psychiatrist, Spears was taken to UCLA Medical Centre on January 31 where she was diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder.

Britney’s Childhood

Spears was born in McComb, Mississippi and raised in Kentwood, Louisiana.

She auditioned for the Disney Channel series ‘The New Mickey Mouse Club’ when she was just eight years old. At the time, she was considered too young to join the series, but a producer on the show suggested that she meet up with an agent in New York.

When she turned 11, Spears returned to the Disney Channel for a role in the ‘The New Mickey Mouse Club’. She remained on the show from until the age of 13, from 1993 to 1994. Her young co-workers on the show included Christina Aguilera (pop singer), Justin Timbelake (who would go on to be her boyfriend for some time), Joshua Chasez (also in N’Sync with Timberlake), Keri Russell (actress) and Ryan Gosling (actor). She returned to schoool in Kentwood for one year after the show had ended.

After school, in 1997, she joined the all-girl group Innosense for a short period of time but later that year she recorded a solo demo tape and was signed by Jive Records on the strength of the demo. She eventually became the opening act for boy bands Backstreet Boys and N’Sync.

Britney’s Musical Career

Her first single ‘Baby One More Time was released in 1998 and became an instant international success. It sold nine million copies worldwide. The song’s accompanying music video featured Britney dressed provocatively in a midriff-baring schoolgirl uniform.

The album, also called Baby One More Time was released in January 1999, reaching number one on the Billboard 200. The album subsequently acheived worldwide sales of over 25 million copies. In December 1999, she won four Billboard Music Awards and in early 2000, she took home the Favorite Pop/Rock New Artist award at the American Music Awards. She went on to receive two nominations at the Grammys, that same year, though she lost out to Christina Aguilera and Sarah McLachlan.

Her second album, Oops I Did It Again debuted at number one in the U.S. by selling 1,319,193 units during its first week of sales. Concerning both musical content and sales, the album was very similar to Spears's debut, although critics were more favourable to this second album.

In 2000, Britney gained two more Billboard Music awards and another two Grammy nominations. She also garnered controversy at the MTV Music awards when she ripped off a black suit to reveal a provocative nude-colored and crystal-adorned outfit.

Spears third studio album, Britney was released in November 2001. Although not as successful as her previous albums, she gained some creative control by co-writing five of the album's tracks. It still managed to surpass Michael Jackson’s album Invincible when it had a successful debut at number one in the U.S. by selling 745,744 units during its first week. The singles did not fare so well. The lead single ‘Im A Slave 4 U’ peaked at 27 on the Billlboard Hot 100, making it the album's biggest hit. At the end of the album’s promotional tour for the album, Spears announced she would take a six-month break from her career.

During her third consecutive MTV Video Music Awards performance, she controversially utilized caged animals and danced erotically with a large albino python draped over her shoulders. At a performance at the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards, she performed the song ‘Like A Virgin’ with Christina Aguilera and was later joined by Madonna, with whom Spears locked lips, in a highly publicised kiss.

Spears’ fourth studio album, In The Zone, was released in November 2003. The album used lesser-known producers such as RedZone, as well as big names such as Moby and R.Kelly. The album reached number one in the U.S. charts during its debut week, with over 609,000 copies sold. Spears became the only female in music history to have her first four studio albums debut at number one.

The album spawned the hit single ‘Toxic’, winning Spears her first ever Grammy, despite previous nominations.

After her marriage to one of her dancers, Kevin Federline, Spears announced on her website she was taking another career break in order to start a family. However, November 2004 saw the release of her first greatest hits collection, Greatest Hits: My Prerogative, which debuted at #4 on the U.S. charts. Then, In November 2005, she released her first remix album, B In the Mix: The Remixes. With Spears still on maternity leave, the album did not reach the success of her previous albums.

In May 2007, Spears made her musical comeback, but overall, this proved to be a disappointment to many. A mini-tour for the House Of Blues failed to see her singing live for the 15 minutes that she performed. Her most recent was recorded with producers such as Sean Garrett and Nate “Danja” Hills in 2006 and 2007.

The result of these recordings was Blackout, her fifth album. Scheduled for release in November 2007, it was pushed up to October 30th due to internet leaks. It debuted at number two on the U.S. Billboard charts, selling 290,000 copies

Britney’s ill-fated performance at the 2007 MTV Music Awards received much media attention, being described as a disappointing attempt at a comeback. The BBC, for instance, stated that "her performance would go down in the history books as being one of the worst to grace the MTV Awards." Whilst critics at The Times noted that "Spears was out of synch as she lip-synched and at times just stopped singing altogether." Despite the backlash, however, the single has achieved success worldwide.

source

Scarlett Johansson

2008-11-15T20:38:00.002+07:00

Scarlett Johansson, born on the 22nd of November, 1984, in New York City, has an older brother and sister and a twin brother. She divides her time between New York with her father, a building contractor and Los Angeles with her mother, who looks out for her interests there. She's the only actor in the family, something she's wanted to be since she was three. Her acting career began when she was eight in the off-Broadway production of Sophistry with Ethan Hawke at New York's Playwrights Horizons.

Scarlett has been in seven movies, the first was North. For her role as Manny in Manny & Lo she was nominated as Best Actress by the Independent Spirit Awards (1997).

She attained worldwide recognition for her performance as Grace MacLean, the teen traumatized in a riding accident in Robert Redford's hit feature The Horse Whisperer, a role for which she won a YoungStar award and was nominated for a Blockbuster Entertainment Award. She has most recently been spotlighted for her performances in the acclaimed films Ghost World, An American Rhapsody and the Coen Brothers film The Man Who Wasn't There. Johansson's additional credits include Rob Reiner's comedy North, the role of Sean Connery's daughter in Just Cause, as well as notable appearances in If Lucy Fell and Home Alone 3. She is currently lensing Brian Robbins' The Perfect Score for Paramount Pictures.

Source

Rachel Getting Married

2008-11-12T05:24:00.002+07:00

A rollercoaster usually doesn’t last long. You’re guaranteed to get thrills and those butterflies that float around inside the stomach as you fly down the dips. You try and take it all in but it’s useless because it goes by all too quickly. But you still try anyway because you know you only have the given moment. A Connecticut home, full of people with different backgrounds and ethnicities, housing a wedding and the receptions that come with it, finds itself on the tracks of a rollercoaster that has the possibility of being derailed. With that in mind, each person present at this party tries real hard to enjoy the moment that’s full of music, family traditions and love. One character in particular, the bride, doesn’t realize all that was in front of her until the wedding has now become something of the past. By the time the end credits roll along she reminded me of Michael Corleone, the distraught human soul, at the end of Godfather Part II.

What makes a family useful is its ability to caress and refurbish painful predicaments and decaying wrongs. Director Jonathan Demme’s portrait of a young woman dealing with the pain that comes along with being human is intriguing because she goes through life having to deal with being supervised all the time and her fragile emotions are constantly picked at such a nagging pace by family members, whose affections she would have rather greeted instead. This is Demme's forte; fascination with the social outcast. We've seen that worked to perfection in his greatest film, "Silence of the Lambs."

The young woman is Kym (Anne Hathaway) and she’s been released from a rehab center. She has been in and out for ten years and results are visible. She gets the opportunity to be in attendance at her sister Rachel’s wedding at their father’s home. Kym returns home to find a celebration in the making, not for her return, but for the wedding which will be a wedding that hasn’t been captured before on celluloid. What her return home does is serve her a reminder of her haunted memories, and minor indications of a brighter future. Hathaway manages to wipe away the sexiness and beauty that layered her face in previous films in order to replace it with a pale and skinny face that is searching for a soul. Her tour-de-force performance steers the movie away from melodrama and towards a near classical narrative.

The Connecticut home is bursting with energy. A homey estate that belongs to a family of disconnected souls. It homes a dysfunctional child trying to cope with her personal struggles, Kym, and a child who abides by the everyday rules. The abiding child is named Rachel (Rosemarie DeWitt) and she’s getting married to Sydney (Tunde Adebimpe), an African American musical guru who has a face that announces redemption. The bride and groom’s families couldn’t be more different when it comes to appearances and traditions. Demme goes for the unnatural approach by not focusing on the interracial marriage. He doesn’t even give the slightest hint at it, scoffing it off for a lesser director to approach such a cliché. This results in the film being more truthful than it plans to be. More truth is found in this technique than the handheld device Demme uses to track each member of the family. Yet it’s with the shaky camera that he uses to distract us from the interracial marriage. His movement from room to room, person to person is Altamnesque. Every character the lens focuses on is worth listening to. The reception dinner is a perfect example of this. No matter who is doing the talking we can’t help but to only be lulled along like we have known these people for the most part of our lives.

This wedding, so unorthodox and elaborate, mounts to form an isolated island around Rachel. Constantly yelling and harassing her sister for her entire stay, the father (Bill Irwin), a weak man who may take the tragic past harder than anyone in the family, finds himself in the middle of an ongoing sibling rival that recalls to mind The Prodigal Son tale. If his soul isn’t being gnawed at by the past, it’s certainly gnawing at his divorce from his first wife Abby (Debra Winger). She’s a firecracker waiting to be ignited so she can showcase her explosions and vent steam.

If there’s a flaw in Demme’s film, and there is, it’s contained within the characters of the two sisters, Rachel and Kym. Though each actress, Hathaway and DeWitt, give great performances, their characters are focused too much on arguing with each other. It almost gets to the point that as we watch the movie we become familiar and comfortable with the families in it, and then it clicks; it seems as if the audience is being used. Just as we nestle up real snuggly to the family and feel welcomed, most of the characters then begin to spill their guts out to us. Almost as if they use the audience as a ploy in order to unleash their furies and dilemmas. We’re the lucky psychiatrist who has the fortune of listening to some real rubbish and even some entertaining stories by patients who are basket-cases.

source

Brideshead Revisited Movie Review

2008-11-12T04:37:00.005+07:00

Brideshead Revisited is a film adaptation of Evelyn Waugh’s acclaimed novel of same name. The novel was first published in 1945 and has been regarded as one of the British literary classics. David Yates was originally assigned as the director of this film. When he was attached to his project, he secured Jude Law, Jennifer Connelly and Paul Bettany as Sebastian, Julia and Charles respectively. However, Yates had to step aside when he was offered to direct Harry Potter The Order of Phoenix. Julian Jarrold (Becoming Jane) took over the project, along with Jeremy Brock (Last King of Scotland) and Andrew Davies (Bridget Jones Diary) as the screenwriters.

There are a number of notable similarities between the protagonist of the book, Charles Ryder and Evelyn Waugh himself. Both Ryder and Waugh went to Hertford College, Oxford; studied history and were much more interested in painting than being a history scholar. In fact, Waugh only graduated from Hertford with a third- class-degree and left Oxford before he finished his studies. When asked of whether he played any sports, his answer was “I drank for Hertford.” Waugh was known to dabble in homosexuality while he was in Oxford, although that was never proven. As for Charles Ryder, his relationship with Sebastian Flyte was always questionable. Was it merely platonic, or was there more to their friendship?

Charles Ryder (Matthew Goode) bonded with Lord Sebastian Flyte (Ben Whishaw) after the drunken Sebastian vomited all over Charles’ room on the first night he moved into Oxford. The following day, Sebastian apologised by sending him flowers and asking him out to lunch. They quickly became the best of friends, often using the Latin term contra mundum when they talked to each other. It’s always going to be them, against the world. However, things became increasingly complicated when Charles met Sebastian’s family. Lady Marchmain (Emma Thompson) is a staunch Catholic who ruled the household with a firm hand. She had four children; Lord Brideshead ‘Birdie’, Julia, Sebastian and Cordelia. From the moment Charles laid eyes on Julia (Hayley Atwell), he was mesmerised. Nevertheless, Charles’ feelings for Julia became a cloud that hanged upon his friendship with Sebastian.

As expected, Emma Thompson’s performance as Lady Marchmain was brilliant. Her cold and steely demeanor gave me chills to the bone. I completely understood why her children behave like nervous wrecks whenever she was around. Ben Whishaw was marvelous as Sebastian Flyte, the charming and flamboyant son who constantly struggled with his homosexuality and how it made him a constant disappointment to his mother. Sebastian dealt with these issues through drinking and avoiding his family as much as he could.

The main theme of the movie is Catholicism, although the movie tried its best to downplay its religious content. Every main character in the movie struggled with guilt, and then in the end they were redeemed through the power of grace. Julia always thought of herself as a bad girl, and married Rex because it was the right thing to do. Poor Sebastian, who often called himself a heathen, moved to Morocco and spent his life at a monastery while dealing with his alcoholism.

I really enjoyed Brideshead Revisited because of its engaging story that concentrated on the universal themes of love, friendship and religion. The performances were outstanding, the dialogue witty and the scenery breathtaking.

Now, I just have to head to the bookshop and buy the book.

source

Privacy Statement

2008-11-11T23:23:00.001+07:00

What follows is the Privacy Statement for all freshminth.blogspot.com websites (a.k.a. blogs) including all the websites run under the freshminth.blogspot.com.

Please read this statement regarding our blogs. If you have questions please ask us via our contact form.

Email Addresses

You may choose to add your email address to our contact list via the forms on our websites. We agree that we will never share you email with any third party and that we will remove your email at your request. We don’t currently send advertising via email, but in the future our email may contain advertisements and we may send dedicated email messages from our advertisers without revealing your email addresses to them. If you have any problem removing your email address please contact us via our contact form.

Ownership of Information

freshminth.blogspot.com is the sole owner of any information collected on our websites.

Comments/Message Boards

Most freshminth.blogspot.com websites contain comment sections (a.k.a. message boards). We do not actively monitor these comments and the information on them is for entertainment purposes only. If we are alerted to something we deem inappropriate in any way, we may delete it at our discretion. We use email validation on most of our message boards in order to reduce “comment spam.” These email addresses will not be shared with any third party.

Cookies

Currently we assign cookies to our readers in order to save their preferences. This data is not shared with any third party. Accessing our websites is not dependent on accepting cookies and all major browsers allow you to disable cookies if you wish.

Third Party Cookies

Many of our advertisers use cookies in order to determine the number of times you have seen an advertisement. This is done to limit the number times you are shown the same advertisement. freshminth.blogspot.com does not have access to this data.

Traffic Reports

Our industry-standard traffic reporting records IP addresses, Internet service provider information, referrer strings, browser types and the date and time pages are loaded. We use this information in the aggregate only to provide traffic statistics to advertisers and to figure out which features and editorials are most popular.

Legal proceedings

We will make every effort to preserve user privacy but freshminth.blogspot.com may need to disclose information when required by law.

Business Transitions

If freshminth.blogspot.com is acquired by or merges with another firm, the assets of our websites, including personal information, will likely be transferred to the new firm.

Links

freshminth.blogspot.com websites frequently link to other websites. We are not responsible for the content or business practices of these websites. When you leave our websites we encourage you to read the destination site’s privacy policy. This privacy statement applies solely to information collected by freshminth.blogspot.com

Notification of Changes

When freshminth.blogspot.com makes changes to this privacy policy we will post those changes here.

Contact Information

If you have any questions regarding our privacy policy, please contact us.