I was able to catch a screening of the new film Slumdog Millionaire last night. The movie, directed by Danny Boyle, tells the story of Jamal Malik, an impoverished youth in India as he progresses through India’s version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire.

I know, I know. That’s the premise? It’s a bit more than that. At the start of the movie, Malik has already accumulated 10 million rupees on the game show and is thus arrested for suspicion of cheating. As the police inspector says, doctors and lawyers are on the show and do not go past 16 thousand rupees. What does a slumdog know?

So as Jamal is sitting in the police station, questioned by the inspector about his response to every single question, the audience watches as Jamal gives his story and we see how his path in life revealed the answers. We see him as a young boy with his brother Salim and friend Latika. We see him grow up and try to make some kind of living. We’re with him on his journey to find Latika, who he had lost track of. We find out about the events in his life that ultimately bring him to the hot seat of the popular game show.

I read that they couldn’t find a decent person to play Jamal Malik in India and that’s why they went with British actor Dev Patel, who turned out to be perfect for the role. The cast also includes Bollywood actor Anil Kapoor playing himself (or a smarmy version of himself. I’m not entirely sure), newcomer Frieda Pinto playing Latika, and Irfan Khan as the police inspector. Khan has made a name playing in non-Bollywood movies like A Mighty Heart, The Namesake, and Darjeeling Limited and now, this.

Slumdog Millionaire depicts an India that Bollywood usually tries to steer clear of. Boyle shows us the life of kids in the slums and the brutal reality that a lot of them face. It’s not light hearted and fluffy. Also, while the score is composed by A.R. Rahman, one of Bollywood’s most notable composers, there are no songs that the leads spontaneously break out to from 6-8 times during the movie. Instead, the score complements the visuals to give us a really good story that sticks with you after you leave the theater. Highly recommended.

The folks over at Warner Brother realized that maybe the Superman Returns movie wasn’t as good as it should have been. From a Wall Street Journal article: Warner Bets of Fewer, Bigger Movies

‘Superman’ didn’t quite work as a film in the way that we wanted it to,” says Mr. Robinov. “It didn’t position the character the way he needed to be positioned.” “Had ‘Superman’ worked in 2006, we would have had a movie for Christmas of this year or 2009,” he adds. “But now the plan is just to reintroduce Superman without regard to a Batman and Superman movie at all.

So… this could mean a Superman movie that will block out all memories of Superman Returns!

Here’s my wishlist for a probable Superman movie:
- The Superman portrayed should be a Post-Crisis Superman.
- No illegitimate children of Superman hanging around. Please.
- Lois Lane should already know Clark Kent is Superman - I mean, c’mon, we should be past this by now.
- No Kevin Spacey. He didn’t play Lex Luthor in the last movie, he played Gene Hackman playing Lex Luthor.
- Superman needs to show some expression now and then.
- The plot can’t revolve around real estate. You would think that this is common sense.
- Different director. Sorry Bryan Singer, you had your chance.

Keeping fingers crossed.

I meant to post about an issue close to my heart a while ago…

Netflix will soon be abandoning separate profile queues for one account.

This is absolutely ridiculous because it is such an awesome feature. You see, I only want one movie at a time. Back when I had my own account and was receiving 3 movies at a time, I realized it was a bit much for me. So, I canceled my account and started my own profile on my brother’s account, only receiving one movie at a time, which suited my tastes. My brother and I did not have to compete as to who’s movie got to ship next. Instead, he was doing his own thing with his one queue and I was doing my own thing with my own queue. When I returned a movie, the next film in my queue would ship. The movie would arrive with my name on it.

Anyways, you get the picture.

But after September 1, my queue and profile will simply go away.The queues will not even be merged. I don’t want to resort to competing for movies. My brother said that I can make my own account again and only do the 1 movie at a time option. Not only will that be a pain, but it will also be a bit more expensive than just getting that 1 more movie from my brother’s account.

Not cool, Netflix. Not cool.

David Pogue of the New York Times discusses this in his blog here.

UPDATE: Due to the overwhelming number of complaints, Netflix has decided to keep the profiles feature. Woohoo! This means I can go back to mooching off of my brother’s account.

Over the weekend, I saw Morgan Spurlock’s documentary Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden. It was good but it’s tailored for those who do not know much about worldly affairs. If you know the results of the “War on Terror,” that actual people with feelings live in Muslim countries, and that the population at large in these countries don’t really care for Bin Laden, then you don’t really need to watch this as it is dumbed down for the average person who doesn’t know much of anything. It’s effective for this specific crowd though and fulfills its purpose.

There was one part that cracked me up and I thought I would share it with all of you. In the beginning, Spurlock went through defensive training by an organization that prepares civilians traveling to Middle Eastern countries. The class even taught people what to do in case they are taken hostage. In one scene, Morgan Spurlock is crouched down on the  floor with his hands behind his head while an instructor play acts as a terrorist. He holds a gun to Spurlock’s head and asks in a threatening voice: “Are you going to convert to Muslim?”

Convert to Muslim?! Hahaha.

*shakes head* Oh the humanity. . .

The Oscars finished not too long ago and, considering that I hadn’t seen most of the movies, the show wasn’t too bad. There were only two categories where I was really rooting for people/movies:

Persepolis for Best Animated Movie
and ‘Falling Slowly’ for Best Song from the movie Once.

Persepolis lost out to Ratatouille (figures) but Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova won for Falling Slowly. Once was one of my favorite movies from last year (even though I can’t really explain why it was) so I was beyond happy when these two won for the song that they wrote and performed within the movie. Although I liked their performance at the Oscars, it didn’t beat the song within the context of the movie. That was something else.

As it happens with all acceptance speeches with more than one person, the orchestra played music over Marketa when it was her turn to talk. But, then something happened that I have never seen in the history of watching the Oscars:

John Stewart, the host, brought her back out again so she could finish what she wanted to say.

Not only did she get a second chance to address the audience, but she utilized that time to say something meaningful. Check it out -

I really wish Persepolis won though. I think it should have been in the best Foreign Language Oscar. I don’t remember the last time I went to the theater when the audience was as transfixed with a movie like they were with Persepolis - laughing one moment and then in somber silence the next. I couldn’t stop thinking about it for a while.

Anyways, not a bad Oscar broadcast.