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Monday, February 22, 2016

Deadpool; American superhero film

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Deadpool is a 2016 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name. It is the eighth installment of the X-Men film series, and is directed by Tim Miller. Written by Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, the film stars Ryan Reynolds, Morena Baccarin, Ed Skrein, T. J. Miller, Gina Carano, Brianna Hildebrand, and Stefan Kapičić. In Deadpool, Wade Wilson hunts the man who gave him an accelerated healing factor, but also a scarred physical appearance.

Development of a Deadpool film began in February 2004 with New Line Cinema. However, in March 2005, New Line put the film in turnaround and 20th Century Fox became interested. In May 2009, after Reynolds portrayed the character in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Fox lent the film to writers, and in April 2011, Miller was hired for his directorial debut. CGI test footage created by Miller and Reynolds was leaked in July 2014 to an enthusiastic response, leading to Fox greenlighting the film that September. Additional casting began in early 2015, and principal photography took place in Vancouver, Canada, from March to May. Visual effects were provided by multiple vendors, and ranged from the addition of blood and gore to the creation of the completely computer generated character Colossus.

Deadpool premiered in Paris on February 8, 2016, and was released on February 12, 2016 in North America in IMAX, DLP, D-Box and premium large formats. The film had the highest-grossing opening weekend for an R-rated film in North America, and broke numerous other box office records, while receiving generally positive reviews, with critics praising Reynolds' performance, the humor, and the action sequences, but criticizing the plot as formulaic. A sequel has been greenlit.

Wade Wilson is a former special forces operative who works as a mercenary in New York City. He meets escort Vanessa Carlysle at a local bar and they become romantically attached. One year later, Wade proposes to her and she accepts, but he suddenly collapses. Wade is diagnosed with terminal cancer and though Vanessa remains by his side, he fears losing her.

A recruiter from a secret program approaches Wade offering an experimental cure for his cancer. Although Wade initially refuses, he decides to leave Vanessa and undergo the procedure. At a laboratory, Wade meets Ajax and Angel Dust, whom he instantly resents. Ajax injects Wade with a serum designed to awaken latent mutant genes, then has him subjected to weeks of torture to induce stress and trigger the mutation without success. Wade discovers Ajax's real name, Francis Freeman, and mocks him. In response, Ajax straps Wade into an airtight chamber which raises and lowers the oxygen level to keep Wade constantly on the verge of asphyxiation. Ajax reveals to Wade their true purpose: to make super-powered slaves to be sold to wealthy customers. Several days later, Wade develops a healing factor which cures his cancer and he escapes from the chamber with a severely disfigured face and skin. He attacks Ajax, but relents when told that his disfigurement can be cured. Ajax subdues Wade, impales him with a rebar and leaves him for dead in the burning laboratory.

Wade attempts to return to Vanessa, but is afraid of her rejecting him because of his appearance, and keeps himself away from her. After consulting his best friend Weasel, Wade decides to hunt down Ajax and have his disfigurement cured. He becomes a masked vigilante, takes the alias "Deadpool", and moves into the home of an elderly blind woman named Al. Following a string of leads, Deadpool tracks down Ajax to a convoy of cars on an expressway. He kills all the escorts, corners Ajax and demands a cure to his disfigurement. The confrontation is interrupted by two X-Men, Colossus and Negasonic Teenage Warhead, who have been trying to recruit Deadpool. Taking advantage of the distraction, Ajax escapes. Colossus handcuffs himself to Deadpool and begins dragging him away, in order to take him with them back to the X-Men's mansion. Deadpool cuts off his own hand and escapes. His hand slowly regenerates overnight.

Ajax goes to Weasel's bar and learns about Vanessa. In response, Weasel calls Wade and tells him Vanessa is in danger. Wade goes to the strip club where she works but hesitates before he can face her. As a result, Ajax has time to kidnap Vanessa. He and Angel Dust tell Deadpool to meet them on a decommissioned helicarrier in a scrapyard.

Deadpool convinces Colossus and Negasonic to help him, and the trio takes a cab to the scrapyard. While Colossus and Negasonic battle Angel Dust, Deadpool fights his way through Ajax's henchmen, and eventually engages him in close combat. After Angel Dust knocks out Colossus, Negasonic uses her power to repel her, but accidentally destroys the equipment holding the helicarrier upright. As the helicarrier tips over, Colossus wakes up and takes Negasonic and Angel Dust to safety, while Deadpool successfully saves Vanessa. Ajax, still alive, attacks Deadpool, but is subdued and reveals there is no cure for Wade's disfigurement.

Colossus urges Deadpool to spare his enemy, but Deadpool kills Ajax. Wade turns to Vanessa, who removes his mask revealing his face. Vanessa is angered that Wade left her, but still loves him. She accepts him, and they reconcile by kissing.
In a post-credits scene parodying Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Wade bids the audience to leave because the movie is over. Wade however has a change of heart and announces a sequel featuring Cable before reminding the audience to pick up their trash.

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Thursday, February 11, 2016

Public Enemies; An American biographical mob drama film

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Public Enemies is a 2009 American biographical mob drama film directed by Michael Mann and written by Mann, Ronan Bennett and Ann Biderman. It is an adaptation of Bryan Burrough's non-fiction book Public Enemies: America's Greatest Crime Wave and the Birth of the FBI, 1933–34. Set during the Great Depression, the film chronicles the final years of the notorious bank robber John Dillinger (Johnny Depp) as he is pursued by FBI agent Melvin Purvis (Christian Bale), Dillinger's relationship with Billie Frechette (Marion Cotillard), as well as Purvis' pursuit of Dillinger's associates and fellow criminals Homer Van Meter (Stephen Dorff) and Baby Face Nelson (Stephen Graham).

Burrough originally intended to make a television miniseries about the Depression-era crime wave in the United States, but decided to write a book on the subject instead. Mann developed the project, and some scenes were filmed on location where certain events depicted in the film occurred, though the film is not entirely historically accurate.

After killing Charles Floyd (Channing Tatum), FBI agent Melvin Purvis (Bale) is promoted by J. Edgar Hoover (Crudup) to lead the hunt for bank robber John Dillinger (Depp). Purvis shares Hoover's belief in using scientific methods to battle crime, ranging from cataloging fingerprints to tapping telephone lines.

In between a series of bank robberies, Dillinger meets Billie Frechette (Cotillard) at a restaurant and woos her by buying her a fur coat. Frechette falls for Dillinger even after he reveals his identity, and the two become inseparable.

Purvis leads a failed ambush at a hotel where he believes Dillinger is staying, and an agent is killed by Baby Face Nelson (Graham), who escapes with Tommy Caroll (Garrett). Purvis requests that Hoover bring in professional lawmen who know how to catch criminals dead or alive, including Texan Charles Winstead (Lang).

Police arrest Dillinger and his gang in Tucson, Arizona, after a fire breaks out at the Hotel Congress, where they are staying. Dillinger is extradited to Indiana, where Sheriff Lillian Holley (Taylor) has him locked up in the Lake County Jail in Crown Point. Dillinger and other inmates use a fake gun to escape. Dillinger is unable to see Frechette, who is under tight surveillance. Dillinger learns that Frank Nitti's (Camp) associates are unwilling to help because his crimes are motivating the FBI to prosecute interstate crime, which imperils Nitti's bookmaking racket, thus severing his connections with the Mafia.

Carroll goads Dillinger into robbing a bank in Sioux Falls with Baby Face Nelson. During their escape, both Dillinger and Carroll are shot, and they have to leave Carroll behind. The group retreats to the Little Bohemia Lodge in Manitowish Waters, Wisconsin and realize their haul is significantly less than Nelson said it would be. Dillinger hopes he can free the rest of his gang from prison, including Pierpont (Wenham) and Makley (Stolte), but Red Hamilton (Clarke) convinces him this is unlikely.

Purvis and his men apprehend Carroll and torture him to learn the gang's location. Purvis organizes an ambush at Little Bohemia. Dillinger and Hamilton escape separately from the rest of the gang. Agents Winstead and Hurt (Frye) pursue Dillinger and Hamilton through the woods, engaging in a gunfight in which Hamilton is fatally wounded. Trying to escape, Nelson, Shouse, and Van Meter hijack a Bureau car, killing Purvis' partner Carter Baum (Cochrane) in the process. After a car chase, Purvis and his men kill Nelson and the rest of the gang. Hamilton dies that night.

Dillinger meets Frechette, telling her he plans to commit one more robbery that will pay enough for them to escape together. When Dillinger drops her off at a tavern he thinks is safe, she is arrested. Frechette is beaten during interrogation to learn Dillinger's whereabouts, which she does not reveal; Purvis and Winstead eventually arrive and intervene. Dillinger agrees to participate in a train robbery with Alvin Karpis (Ribisi) and the Barker Gang, intending to flee the country the next day. He receives a note from Billie through her lawyer, Louis Piquett (Gerety), telling him not to try to break her out of jail.

Through Zarkovich, Purvis enlists the help of madam and Dillinger acquaintance Anna Sage (Katić), threatening her with deportation if she does not cooperate. She agrees to set up Dillinger, who she believes will come to hide out with her. Dillinger and Sage see Manhattan Melodrama at the Biograph Theater. After the film, Purvis signals other agents upon seeing them leave. Dillinger spots the police but is shot before he can draw his gun. Winstead listens to Dillinger's last words. Purvis goes to inform Hoover of Dillinger's death.

Winstead tells Frechette, still incarcerated, that he thinks Dillinger's dying words were, "Tell Billie for me, 'Bye bye Blackbird'". Billie sheds a tear - 'Bye Bye Blackbird' was the song the houseband was playing when Billie and Dillinger first met each other and danced together in a dinner-club. The closing text reveals that Melvin Purvis quit the FBI in 1935 and died by his own hand in 1960, and that Billie lived out the rest of her life in Wisconsin following her release in 1936.

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Rashomon; A Japaneese Famous Film

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Rashomon (羅生門 Rashōmon) is a 1950 Japanese period drama film directed by Akira Kurosawa, working in close collaboration with cinematographer Kazuo Miyagawa. It stars Toshiro Mifune, Machiko Kyō, Masayuki Mori and Takashi Shimura. The film is based on two stories by Ryūnosuke Akutagawa: "Rashomon", which provides the setting, and "In a Grove", which provides the characters and plot.

The film is known for a plot device that involves various characters providing alternative, self-serving and contradictory versions of the same incident. Rashomon marked the entrance of Japanese film onto the world stage; it won several awards, including the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival in 1951, and an Academy Honorary Award at the 24th Academy Awards in 1952, and is now considered one of the greatest films ever made.

The name of the film refers to the enormous, former city gate "between modern day Kyoto and Nara", on Suzaka Avenue's end to the South. The characters it's written with literally mean 'the castle gate'. The term Rashomon effect refers to real-world situations in which multiple eye-witness testimonies of an event contain conflicting information.

The film opens on a woodcutter (木樵り; Kikori, played by Takashi Shimura) and a priest (旅法師; Tabi Hōshi, Minoru Chiaki) sitting beneath the Rajōmon city gate to stay dry in a downpour. A commoner (Kichijiro Ueda) joins them and they tell him that they have witnessed a disturbing story, which they then begin recounting to him. The woodcutter claims he found the body of a murdered samurai three days earlier while looking for wood in the forest; upon discovering the body, he says, he fled in a panic to notify the authorities. The priest says that he saw the samurai with his wife traveling the same day the murder happened. Both men were then summoned to testify in court, where they met the captured bandit Tajōmaru (多襄丸), who claimed responsibility for killing the samurai and raping his wife.

Cast of this movie: 
  • Takashi Shimura as Kikori, the wood cutter
  • Minoru Chiaki as Tabi Hōshi, the priest
  • Kichijiro Ueda as the listener, a common person
  • Toshiro Mifune as Tajōmaru, the bandit
  • Machiko Kyō as the Samurai’s wife
  • Masayuki Mori as the Samurai, the husband
  • Noriko Honma as Miko, the medium
  • Daisuke Katō as Houben



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Ivan's Childhood; A Famous Movie of all Time History of the World

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Ivan's Childhood (Russian: Ива́ново де́тство, Ivanovo detstvo), sometimes released as My Name Is Ivan in the US, is a 1962 Soviet film directed by Andrei Tarkovsky. It is based on the 1957 short story Ivan (Russian: Иван) by Vladimir Bogomolov, with the screenplay written by Mikhail Papava and an uncredited Andrei Tarkovsky. The film features child actor Nikolai Burlyayev, Valentin Zubkov, Yevgeni Zharikov, Stepan Krylov, Nikolai Grinko and Tarkovsky's wife Irma Raush.

The film tells the story of orphan boy Ivan and his experiences during World War II. Ivan's Childhood was one of several Soviet films of its period, such as The Cranes Are Flying and Ballad of a Soldier, that looked at the human cost of war and did not glorify the war experience as did films produced before the Khrushchev Thaw.

Ivan's Childhood was Tarkovsky's first feature film. It won him critical acclaim and made him internationally known. It won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival in 1962 and the Golden Gate Award at the San Francisco International Film Festival in 1962. The film was also selected as the Soviet entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 36th Academy Awards, but was not accepted as a nominee. Famous filmmakers such as Ingmar Bergman, Sergei Parajanov and Krzysztof Kieślowski praised the film and cited it as an influence on their work.

On the Eastern front during World War II, the Soviet army is fighting the invading German Wehrmacht. The film features a non-linear plot with frequent flashbacks.

After a brief dream sequence, Ivan Bondarev (Nikolai Burlyayev), a 12-year-old Russian boy, wakes up and crosses a war-torn landscape to a swamp, then swims across a river. On the other side, he is seized by Russian soldiers and brought to the young Lieutenant Galtsev (Evgeny Zharikov), who interrogates him. The boy insists that he call "Number 51 at Headquarters" and report his presence. Galtsev is reluctant, but when he eventually makes the call, he is told by Lieutenant-Colonel Gryaznov (Nikolai Grinko) to give the boy pencil and paper to make his report, which will be given the highest priority, and to treat him well. Through a series of dream sequences and conversations between different characters, it is revealed that Ivan’s mother and sister (and probably his father, a border guard) have been killed by German soldiers. He got away and joined a group of partisans. When the group was surrounded, they put him on a plane. After the escape, he was sent to a boarding school, but he ran away and joined an army unit under the command of Gryaznov.

Burning for revenge, Ivan insists on fighting on the front line. Taking advantage of his small size, he is successful on reconnaissance missions. Gryaznov and the other soldiers grow fond of him and want to send him to a military school. They give up their idea when Ivan tries to run away and rejoin the partisans. He is determined to avenge the death of his family and others, such as those killed at the Maly Trostenets extermination camp (which he mentions that he has seen).

A subplot involves Captain Kholin (Valentin Zubkov) and his aggressive advances towards a pretty army nurse, Masha (Valentina Malyavina), and Galtsev's own undeclared and unrequited feelings for her. Much of the film is set in a room where the officers await orders and talk, while Ivan awaits his next mission. On the walls are scratched the last messages of doomed prisoners of the Germans.

Finally, Kholin and Galtsev ferry Ivan across the river late at night. He disappears through the swampy forest. The others return to the other shore after cutting down the bodies of two Soviet scouts hanged by the Germans.

The final scenes of the film then switch to Berlin under Soviet occupation after the fall of the Third Reich. Captain Kholin has been killed in action. Galtsev finds a document showing that Ivan was caught and hanged by the Germans. As Galtsev enters the execution room, a final flashback of Ivan's childhood shows the young boy running across a beach after a little girl in happier times. The final image is of a dead tree on the beach.

Cast of this movie:
  • Nikolay Burlyaev as Ivan Bondarev (as Kolya Burlyayev)
  • Valentin Zubkov as Capt. Kholin (as V. Zubkov)
  • Yevgeni Zharikov as Lt. Galtsev (as Ye. Zharikov)
  • Stepan Krylov as Cpl. Katasonov (as S. Krylov)
  • Nikolai Grinko as Lt. Col. Gryaznov (as N. Grinko)
  • Dmitri Milyutenko as Old Man (as D. Milyutenko)
  • Valentina Malyavina as Masha (as V. Malyavina)
  • Irma Raush as Ivan's Mother (as I. Tarkovskaya)
  • Andrey Konchalovskiy as Soldier (as A. Konchalovskiy)

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Sunday, January 24, 2016

The Revenant; an American frontier revenge film

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The Revenant is a 2015 American frontier revenge film directed by Alejandro G. Iñárritu. Written by Iñárritu and Mark L. Smith, based in part on Michael Punke's The Revenant: A Novel of Revenge, the film is inspired by the experiences of frontiersman and fur trapper Hugh Glass. Set in 1823 Montana and South Dakota, the film stars Leonardo DiCaprio as Glass, and co-stars Tom Hardy, Domhnall Gleeson, and Will Poulter.

Development of the film began in August 2001, when Akiva Goldsman purchased Punke's manuscript, intending to produce the film. Iñárritu signed on to direct in August 2011, and in April 2014, after several delays in production due to other projects, Iñárritu confirmed that he was beginning work on The Revenant and that DiCaprio would play the lead role. It is the second on-screen collaboration of DiCaprio and Hardy, following Inception. Principal photography began in October 2014; delays associated with location and crew challenges resulted in its end date moving from May to August 2015.

The Revenant premiered at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles on December 16, 2015, and had a limited release on December 25, 2015, followed by a wide release on January 8, 2016. The film was well received by critics who praised DiCaprio and Hardy's performances, Iñárritu's direction, and Lubezki's cinematography. The Revenant won three Golden Globe Awards, and has been nominated for 12 Academy Awards, the most for the 2016 ceremony, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor (DiCaprio) and Best Supporting Actor (Hardy).

The film begins with an 1823 quasi-military hunting party of trappers and hunters hunting for pelts in the unsettled wilderness of the Louisiana Purchase under the command of their Captain, Andrew Henry. Hostility from the Native American Arikara Indians leads to an ambush of the hunting party. Only about one fourth of the hunters manage to escape on one of their rafts, salvaging as much as they can while still under fire from the attacking Arikara.

Henry leads the escaping party, knowing that they are still being pursued by the Arikara. The party is further slowed down when Hugh Glass, one of the experienced hunters, stumbles on a mother grizzly bear and her cubs while he is separated from the rest of the party. The enraged grizzly attacks and seriously wounds him. Although Glass eventually fires a gunshot and kills the bear with his knife, he is by then nearly dead himself, and the hunting party can only provide rudimentary medical care. The party takes the wounded Glass with them, but because he is on a makeshift stretcher he slows their march. Finally one of the party, John Fitzgerald, suggests to kill Glass so they can move faster. Henry initially tries to kill Glass himself but is unable to do so. Instead, he offers payment for several men to stay behind with Glass. When two boys (Hawk, Glass' son, and a young Jim Bridger) volunteer, Fitzgerald points out the likelihood that those boys and Glass will be killed — leading the boys to give up their payment and Henry to up the reward, so much so that Fitzgerald himself volunteers. 

Henry makes Fitzgerald promise that he stays with Glass until he dies and gives him a proper burial. Once separated from the main hunting party and alone with Glass, Fitzgerald tries to kill Glass (who is so wounded that he cannot even speak) by smothering him, only to have Hawk stumble upon this murder attempt. A struggle ensues, and Fitzgerald kills Hawk while Glass helplessly watches. When Bridger returns, Fitzgerald claims he does not know where Hawk is. He later makes up a story that he saw Indians down by the river and tells Bridger they must abandon Glass for dead. Bridger hesitates but eventually flees with Fitzgerald, leaving Glass with a canteen he has carved a spiral on.

Glass eventually crawls away and struggles to recover, walking through the woods for days and keeping alive by feeding on roots. He is tracked by the same Arikara who attacked earlier, and whose chief is looking for his kidnapped daughter Powaqa. Glass escapes a close encounter with them by floating down rapids. Meanwhile, Henry and the surviving hunting party return to their nearly dilapidated barracks outpost. While Fitzgerald and Bridger make their way to the outpost, Bridger realizes that Fitzgerald lied about the Indians by the river so they could leave Glass behind, but is intimidated by Fitzgerald into keeping silent. When the two arrive at the outpost, Fitzgerald convinces Henry that Glass succumbed to his wounds and that they lost Hawk, who was most likely attacked by the Arikara. Henry pays Fitzgerald his reward, but Bridger refuses his payment.

Glass encounters Hikuc, a friendly Pawnee, who feeds him raw bison and says that his family was slaughtered and he wants revenge, "Revenge is in the hands of the creator." The two travel together on horseback, and the Pawnee builds Glass a shelter one night during a blizzard. Glass awakes to find his friend hanged by a group of French pelt hunters camped nearby. Glass rescues an Indian girl who is being raped, who turns out to be Powaqa, the kidnapped daughter of the chief following Glass' trail. He retakes the horse which the French hunters stole from his murdered Pawnee companion, accidentally leaving behind Bridger's canteen. He rides away only to encounter the hostile Arikara. During his escape Glass falls off a cliff, killing the horse and wounding himself even further. Glass keeps warm for a night inside the carcass of the dead horse. Back at the outpost, a lone hunter is found carrying Bridger's canteen. Most believe the hunter stole it from Hawk not far from camp, so they organize a search party to look for him. Fitzgerald does not join them and stays behind in the outpost. Instead of finding Hawk, Henry's group eventually comes across Glass and brings him back to the outpost.

Henry furiously searches for Fitzgerald only to find out that Fitzgerald has stolen all the money in payroll safe and escaped. He has Bridger imprisoned for treason, but Glass assures him that Fitzgerald lied to Bridger in order to convince him to leave Glass for dead and that Bridger wasn't present when Fitzgerald killed Hawk. Henry tells Glass that he intends to bring Fitzgerald back dead or alive, and Glass insists on coming with him. Henry and Glass split up to approach Fitzgerald from separate angles, only for Fitzgerald to ambush Henry and kill him. Hearing the gunshot, Glass returns to find a deceased Henry. He sets up a trap, placing Henry upright on his own horse while simultaneously hiding himself with a loaded gun under the pack blankets on Henry's horse. Fitzgerald shoots the dummy, only for Glass to reveal himself and shoot Fitzgerald in the shoulder.

Fitzgerald flees with Glass in close pursuit, and they face off on a river bank. Glass fights and nearly kills Fitzgerald but, remembering what his Pawnee friend had told him, he instead pushes the heavily wounded Fitzgerald downstream — into the hands of the approaching Arikara. The chief, now accompanied by Powaqa, scalps and kills Fitzgerald but spares Glass in return for helping his daughter. As the film ends and with his revenge on Fitzgerald complete, Glass walks away from the river bank before collapsing and suffers from a final hallucination of his deceased wife, who similes at him before disappearing into the woods.

Here

  • Leonardo DiCaprio as Hugh Glass, the man left for dead by his fellow hunters.
  • Tom Hardy as John Fitzgerald, a selfish member of the party who advocates abandoning Glass.
  • Domhnall Gleeson as Captain Andrew Henry, the hunting party leader.
  • Will Poulter as Jim Bridger
  • Forrest Goodluck as Hawk, Glass' son
  • Isaiah Tootoosis as young Hawk
  • Arthur RedCloud as Hikuc
  • Grace Dove as Hugh Glass' wife
  • Paul Anderson as Anderson
  • Brendan Fletcher as Fryman
  • Kristoffer Joner as Murphy
  • Melaw Nakehk'o as Powaqa
  • Duane Howard as Elk Dog, father of Powaqa
  • Brad Carter as Johnnie
  • Lukas Haas as Jones
  • Tyson Wood as Weston
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London Has Fallen; an upcoming American action thriller film

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London Has Fallen is an upcoming American action thriller film directed by Babak Najafi and written by Creighton Rothenberger, Katrin Benedikt and Chad St. John. It is a sequel to Olympus Has Fallen (2013) and stars Gerard Butler, Aaron Eckhart and Morgan Freeman, Alon Moni Aboutboul, Angela Bassett, Robert Forster, Melissa Leo, and Radha Mitchell.

Filming began on October 24, 2014, in London, a Christmas break started in November with filming resuming in February 2015. London Has Fallen is set to be released on March 4, 2016 by Focus Features under their recently revived Gramercy Pictures label.

In London, the British Prime Minister has died under mysterious circumstances and his funeral is a must-attend event for leaders of the Western world. What starts out as the most protected event on Earth turns into a deadly plot to kill the world's most powerful leaders and unleash a terrifying vision of the future. The only hope of stopping it rests on the shoulders of the U.S. President Benjamin Asher (Aaron Eckhart), his formidable US Secret Service lead agent Mike Banning (Gerard Butler), Vice President Allan Trumbull (Morgan Freeman), and a British MI6 agent (Charlotte Riley) who rightly trusts no one.

Cast

  • Gerard Butler as Mike Banning, a Secret Service agent.
  • Aaron Eckhart as Benjamin Asher, the President of the United States.
  • Morgan Freeman as Allan Trumbull, the former Speaker of the House who was sworn in as the Vice President of the United States following the death of Charlie Rodriguez.
  • Alon Aboutboul as Aamir Barkawi, a terrorist mastermind who is #6 on the FBI's 10 Most Wanted list.
  • Angela Bassett as Lynne Jacobs, the Director of the United States Secret Service
  • Robert Forster as US Army General Edward Clegg
  • Melissa Leo as Secretary of Defense Ruth McMillan
  • Radha Mitchell as Leah Banning, Mike's wife and a nurse
  • Jackie Earle Haley as Deputy Chief Mason
  • Sean O'Bryan as Ray Monroe, the Deputy Director of the National Security Agency
  • Mehdi Dehbi as Sultan Mansoor, the youngest of three brothers whose life has been forever changed after a drone strike.
  • Charlotte Riley as the British MI6 agent
  • Waleed Zuaiter

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400 Days; an American science fiction film

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400 Days is a 2015 American science fiction film written and directed by Matt Osterman. It stars Brandon Routh, Caity Lotz, Ben Feldman, and Dane Cook as astronauts who are locked into a space simulator for 400 days. Cook also executive produced. The film was released on October 29, 2015 on DVD. A wider North American release occurred on January 12, 2016, both in limited theatrical run and on-demand.

A group of astronauts are locked in a simulator to study the long-term effects of space travel to distant planets. They are warned there will be unexpected challenges and scenarios they must work through. After losing communication with the outside world, they believe they are still being tested. Near the 400th day they find a dirty man in their kitchen. After discussion the crew decides to leave the simulator and discover a bleak and almost apocalyptic like desert world. Unsure if this land is a simulation or their new bleak reality, the crew venture to make sense of it all.

Cast
  • Brandon Routh as Captain Theo Cooper
  • Caity Lotz as Dr. Emily McTier
  • Ben Feldman as Bug Kieslowski
  • Dane Cook as Cole Dvorak, a character he describes as "a bit of a Jekyll and Hyde
  • Tom Cavanagh as Zell
  • Grant Bowler as Walter Anderson
  • Sally Pressman as Darla
  • Fernanda Romero as Zia
  • Frank Ashmore as Garcia
  • Dominic Bogart as Sketch

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Motu Patlu; an Indian animated television series

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Motu Patlu is an India CGI animated Sitcom television series airing on Nickelodeon. It is adapted from the classic comic strip on Lot Pot. It was premiered on 16 October 2012, beginning with episode "John Banega Don". It focuses on two friends, Motu and Patlu, living in the fictional city Furfuri Nagar. It focuses on how they land in hilarious situations and later rescue themselves merely by luck. Motu and Patlu are intimate friends of each other.

The director is Suhas Kadav and the theme music composer is Sandesh Shandilya. The producers are Deepa Sahi and Anish JS Mehta. The theme song "Motu Aur Patlu Ki Jodi" is sung by Sukhwinder Singh. Motu Patlu is based on characters created by Kripa Shankar Bhardwaj in 1960s for Lot Pot Magazine. After the success of Season One, Season Two premiered in 2013. Later, Season Three premiered on October 20, 2014 and season 4 premiered in June 2015.

The story revolves around Motu and Patlu, two friends living in Furfuri Nagar. It focuses on how they land in hilarious situations and later rescue themselves merely by luck. Motu and Patlu are intimate friends of each other. Samosa is the favourite food of Motu. . Motu always tries to steal samosas from a Chaiwala who is the only one who makes the best samosas in the city. Motu mainly creates problem and Patlu always solve it, some times Ghasita Ram,Chingam and Dr. Jhatka help them.
The main antagonist in the series is a criminal named "John the Don" who is always accompanied by his two henchman's. John intend to become a well known criminal but his plans always preys to fail due to motu patlu.

Here-
  • Motu: Motu is a fat man who serves as the one of the show's main protagonists. He likes to eat samosas. His best friend is Patlu. He often lands in trouble because of his actions. He and is always looking for the easiest way to earn money, have fun and get to eat lot of samosas, even if it means landing himself in trouble. Sometimes he gets over-expressive while celebrating his victory and can do something very foolish, like bringing back a pirate into the present who they had sent recently back to the past. He is also shown bragging about something he has never done. But he is a good man who wants to help others. He wears a red tunic with a navy blue (though mostly black) vest, yellow Pyjamas, and shoes. His talking accent looks influenced by Dara Singh.
  • Patlu: Patlu is a thin man who serves as the one of the show's main protagonists. He is often portrayed as the smartest guy in the whole city. He often gets into trouble along with Motu but he manages to help himself and Motu when they land in trouble. He always advises Motu to be in their normal track and thus lead a "danger free" life, but he can always be coaxed (or forced) by Motu into helping him. He dislikes samosas but loves to read newspapers. He wears a yellow tunic with orange leggings, black-framed glasses, and brown shoes.

The series is premised in a fictional town of Furfuri Nagar in India . Furfuri Nagar is small peaceful typical Indian town adjoined by a river with few shops a large market area, bus depot, temples and a few rectional places .There are few villages and few neighbouring town shown in the series. Despite Being a small town it has its own airport. It's not clearly mentioned where the town is actually located in India but, most of the vehicle carries number plate number starting with MH which stands for the state of Maharashtra, it's also supplemented that police force of the town wears uniforms of the Maharashtra Police.

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Wednesday, January 20, 2016

Rebellious Flower; a spiritual Hindi film

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Rebellious Flower is a 2016 Hindi film directed by Krishan Hooda. The directorial debut written and produced by Jagdish Bharti is based on initial years of Rajneesh Osho. The film won Special Mention Jury Award at 12th Salento International Film Festival, Italy. This is first biopic on early life of Osho Rajneesh and its supported by Osho Foundation. The film is scheduled to release on 15 January 2016.

Rebellious Flower is inspired by life of spiritual guru Rajneesh Osho. The plot is based on several incidents from his childhood and young life. Child Raja embarks on a journey within himself to understand the universal truth. He meets three mentors - Magga baba, Pagal baba and Masto baba who guides him through his journey and helps him find the true essence of being.

Casting for Rebellious Flower:

Prince Shah – Child Raja
Shashank Singh – Young Raja
Mantra - Magga Baba, Pagal Baba and Masto Baba
Kirti Adarkar - Nani
Bachchan Pachera - Nana
Indal Singh - Baba

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Chalk n Duster; Indian drama film

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Chalk n Duster is a 2016 Indian drama film about commercialization of Indian private education system, directed by Jayant Gilatar, starring Juhi Chawla, Shabana Azmi, Zarina Wahab, Girish Karnad and Divya Dutta. The film talks about teacher and student's communication, and highlights the problem of teachers and students where teaching way in the education system is changing day by day. It is Directed by Jayant Gilatar, Written by Ranjeev Verma, Neetu Verma and Produced by Amin Surani. Upon release, the film received mixed to positive reviews from critics. Hindustan Times cited the films as "It’s a well told ethics versus greed story". The film was made tax free in the North Indian belt.

The film is an emotional journey of two teachers Vidya (Shabana Azmi) and Jyoti (Juhi Chawla), serving at a Mumbai–based high school. Their passion and love for teaching, bonds them in a special relationship with their students. Their gratification is good grades, moral values they strive to impart to students. However, in an evil turn of events, a wicked lady, Kamini Gupta (Divya Dutta) gets appointed as the principal, thus changing the fate of the administration. Vidya is one of the senior staff members at this fair to middling educational institution, which has thus far functioned smoothly. Everything changes with the appointment of a new principal. The teachers face unpleasant surprises when the popular and considerate Indu (Zarina Wahab) is replaced by the ambitious and cut-throat Kamini (Divya Dutta), who aspires to upscale her middle-class school. Teacher’s chairs are removed from the classrooms, the tea is no longer free and subjects are juggled so that, for example, the overweight Hindi teacher is now assigned physical training.

All this gets too much for the good-hearted Vidya, who suffers a heart attack after a sudden and unfair dismissal. In solidarity, her friend and colleague Jyoti (Juhi Chawla) decides to take on Kamini and the misdirected board of trustees, led by Anmol (Arya Babbar). This entails using a TV channel as a platform for reminding viewers that teachers need support, recognition and more pay. The drama ends with a recovered Vidya and Jyoti taking on a Who Wants to Be A Millionaire styled quiz to win Rs.5 crore. The trade-off is that if they lose, they will have to accept their termination.

Casting for Chalk n Duster
  • Shabana Azmi
  • Juhi Chawla
  • Divya Dutta
  • Upasna Singh
  • Girish Karnad
  • Zarina Wahab
  • Sameer Soni
  • Aarya Babbar

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