MILK review

Sean Penn and Gus Van Sant have a proposition for us: a biopic dedicated to the memory of San Francisco activist and City Supervisor Harvey Milk, the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in California, who was murdered by a fellow supervisor in 1978.

Sean Penn plays San Francisco City Supervisor Harvey Milk in "Milk," directed by Gus Van Sant.

The subject may be a tricky sell, but the timing feels right -- a few weeks late to save Californians' same-sex marriage rights, admittedly, but the need to keep on fighting through adversity may be Milk's most important legacy.
And "Milk" is a powerful movie that will stir more than a few hearts and minds.
An audiotape Milk records "just in case" is screenwriter Dustin Lance Black's convenient structuring device, foregrounding the story's tragic outcome and allowing Milk to narrate his own life story.
In this telling, it's a life that begins at 40 -- when he picks up Scott (James Franco), falls in love, comes out and drops out. The year is 1970, and San Fransisco beckons. Their Castro Street camera store soon becomes a focal point for the booming gay community, and it's not long before Milk makes the first of several unsuccessful runs for district supervisor.
Civic elections might seem like small beer, but the persecution that compelled Milk to run for office is no trivial matter. The gay rights movement's most critical accomplishment, the film suggests, is how it liberated gays to be themselves.
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As Milk tries to explain to his heterosexual colleague Dan White (Josh Brolin), this isn't about principles, it's about people's lives -- three of his lovers had threatened suicide. One of them, Jack Lira (Diego Luna), goes through with it. The political can't get more personal than that. Ironically, the devoutly "normal" White is the one who is truly messed up.
Here's another irony: To earn the recognition and validation of the voters, Milk has to shed his reborn hippie uniform and ponytail, put on a suit and get a haircut. Making the same calculation, director Gus Van Sant has axed the long takes and experimentalism that made "Elephant" and "Paranoid Park" arresting but decidedly marginal experiences and turned in his most conventional movie since "Finding Forrester." In other words, he's playing it straight this time.
The strategy is sound; the execution, nearly flawless. Van Sant captures the time and the place with unobtrusive precision, seamlessly mixing in reams of archival news reports. (She may not know it, but Anita Bryant has a co-starring role in this movie.)
Penn is studied and thoughtful, impassioned and immediately sympathetic as Milk. It's easy to see how he attracts so much support -- and how his drive and commitment don't leave enough time for a "real" life. When Penn smiles, there's always pain there -- it's almost a wince -- and he smiles a lot here.
"Milk" may be a little too homogenized for some tastes. Like "Philadelphia" and "Brokeback Mountain," it's careful how it advances its agenda (and it does have one).
But it's not just a single-issue movie. In its conviction that "change" isn't effected through rhetoric alone, but through the hard slog of campaign work, persuasion, inspiration, inclusion and good old, bad old politicking, "Milk" says something about how progress is achieved in America. In that respect, it evokes the best aspirations of the country -- and, for that matter, of filmmaking.

slumdog review

Slumdog Millionaire is a 2008 British drama film directed by Danny Boyle, co-directed by Loveleen Tandan,and written by Simon Beaufoy. It is an adaptation of the Boeke Prize-winning and Commonwealth Writers' Prize-nominated novel Q & A (2005) by Indian author and diplomat Vikas Swarup.
Set and filmed in India, Slumdog Millionaire tells the story of a young man from the slums of Mumbai who appears on the Indian version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? (Kaun Banega Crorepati, mentioned in the Hindi version) and exceeds people's expectations, arousing the suspicions of the game show host and of law enforcement officials.
After screenings at the Telluride Film Festival and the Toronto International Film Festival, Slumdog Millionaire initially had a limited North American release on November 12, 2008 by Fox Searchlight Pictures and Warner Bros. Pictures, to critical acclaim and awards success. It later had a nationwide release in the United Kingdom on January 9, 2009 and in the United States on January 23, 2009.[3] It premiered in Mumbai on January 22, 2009.[4]
Slumdog Millionaire was nominated for 10 Academy Awards and won eight, the most for any film that year, including Best Picture. It also won five Critics' Choice Awards, four Golden Globes, and seven BAFTA Awards, including Best Film. The film is also the subject of controversy concerning its portrayal of India and Hinduism as well as the welfare of its child actors.

it got total 8 oscars.

oscars 2009 nominiees and winners

Best Picture:

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Frost/Nixon

Milk

The Reader

Slumdog Millionaire (Winner)

Actor:

Richard Jenkins in The Visitor

Frank Langella in Frost/Nixon

Sean Penn in Milk (Winner)

Brad Pitt, in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Mickey Rourke in The Wrestler

Actress:

Anne Hathaway in Rachel Getting Married

Angelina Jolie in Changeling

Melissa Leo in Frozen River

Meryl Streep in Doubt

Kate Winslet in The Reader (Winner)

Supporting Actor:

Josh Brolin in Milk

Robert Downey Jr. in Tropic Thunder

Philip Seymour Hoffman in Doubt

Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight (Winner)

Michael Shannon in Revolutionary Road

Supporting Actress:

Amy Adams in Doubt

Penelope Cruz in Vicky Cristina Barcelona (Winner)

Viola Davis in Doubt

Taraji P Henson in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Marisa Tomei in The Wrestler

Director:

David Fincher in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Ron Howard in Frost/Nixon

Gus Van Sant in Milk

Stephen Daldry in The Reader

Danny Boyle in Slumdog Millionaire (Winner)

Foreign Film:

The Baader Meinhof Complex Germany

The Class France

Departures Japan (Winner)

Revanche Austria

Waltz With Bashir Israel

Adapted Screenplay:

Eric Roth and Robin Swicord-The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

John Patrick Shanley-Doubt

Peter Morgan-Frost/Nixon

David Hare-The Reader

Simon Beaufoy-Slumdog Millionaire (Winner)

Original Screenplay:

Courtney Hunt-Frozen River

Mike Leigh-Happy-Go-Lucky

Martin McDonagh-In Bruges

Dustin Lance Black- Milk (Winner)

Andrew Stanton, Jim Reardon and Pete Docter-WALL-E

Animated Feature Film:

Bolt

Kung Fu Panda

WALL-E (Winner)

Art Direction:

Changeling

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Winner)

The Dark Knight

The Duchess

Revolutionary Road

Cinematography:

Changeling

The Dark Knight

The Reader

Slumdog Millionaire (Winner)
Sound Mixing:

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

The Dark Knight

Slumdog Millionaire (Winner)

WALL-E

Wanted.

Sound Editing:

The Dark Knight (Winner)

Iron Man

Slumdog Millionaire

WALL-E

Wanted

Original Score:

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button-Alexandre Desplat

Defiance - James Newton Howard

Milk - Danny Elfman

Slumdog Millionaire- AR Rahman (Winner)

WALL-E Thomas Newman

Original Song :

Down to Earth from WALL-E - Peter Gabriel and Thomas Newman

Jai Ho from Slumdog Millionaire- AR Rahman and Gulzar (Winner)

O Saya from Slumdog Millionaire- AR Rahman and Maya Arulpragasam

Costume:

Australia

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

The Duchess (Winner)

Milk

Revolutionary Road

Documentary Feature :

The Betrayal (Nerakhoon)

Encounters at the End of the World

The Garden

Man on Wire (Winner)

Trouble the Water

Documentary (short subject):

The Conscience of Nhem En

The Final Inch

Smile Pinki (Winner)

The Witness — From the Balcony of Room 306

Film Editing :

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

The Dark Knight

Frost/Nixon

Milk

Slumdog Millionaire (Winner)

Makeup:

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Winner)

The Dark Knight

Hellboy II

The Golden Army

Animated Short Film :

La Maison en Petits Cubes (Winner)

Lavatory — Lovestory

Oktapodi

Presto

This Way Up

Live Action Short Film:

Auf der Strecke (On the Line)

Manon on the Asphalt

New Boy

The Pig

Spielzeugland (Toyland) (Winner)

Visual Effects :

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Winner)

The Dark Knight

Iron Man

ARUNDATHI REVIEW

remember shyam prasad reddy?? remember kodi rama krishna?? AMMORU?? the excellent graphical oriented movie which rocked the theatres.it had such an impact that the ammoru idols are placed in each and every theatre.The pair is known for an excellent output. with the hit like ammoru we expected "ANJI" wil be a blockbuster. but due to its long making time and the graphics are already been into some serials of tmail tv industry and so the movie dint work.the movie was not taken care in screenplay part. ofcourse it is good at graphics. and the another main reason for its flop is the story doesnt suit well for the "MEGASTAR". its the history.a mixture of good and bad. now they are back....... the same pair is back again......

"ARUNDATHI" the movie of "sonu sood". yes its the movie of sonu sood.he got an awesome role and its totally justified.The dialogue dubbing excellently suits him.
the dialogues like "AMMA BHAMMAALI" "80 ELLU GA NANNU E SAMADHI LO KULLABETTTINA NINNU VADALA BHAMMAALI VADALA" "VASTA VAST TAPPAKA VASTA" looks simple but when delivered by the dubbing artist and when heard as they are delivered by pasupathi(sonu sood) thye wear a powerful volumes.
ANUSHKA the title role performer in arundathi must have taken more care in dancing steps.the dialogue delivery and the facial expressions are well handled.she showed the matured action as "ARUNDATHI". the way she stands. the way she walks. the way she looks. at this point i have to present u the child artist who played the "ARUNDATHI" role. she had that looks, that tigress appearance. correct emotional expression.
coming to production he is shyam prasad. who never comprimises for a good output. kodi rama krishna who just delivered "EK POLICE" with naga babu which bombed at the theatre the next moment "ARUNDAHTI" kept him on the peaks.
best scenes:

1.when she enters the old palace she suddely changes her character to arundathi.

2.the shiyaji shinde sequences are all well handled.

3.the child artist role played by "ARUNDATHI"

4.the death scene of arundathi.

5.the making of weapon from the bones of arundathi.

6.the sonu sood becoming the real "AGHORA'

7.the way arundathi contols pasupathi and fixes him inside.
the following scenes might have been taken care of making

1.the dancing sequence of arundathi before pasupathi.

2.the climax graphic sequences.

3.the way the flashback was told.
the song "jejamma" has not got apprisals before the movie. but in the movie it aptly fixed to the arundathi role.

The theme taken is presented in trailer which created interest and the same thing is written in the movie when the title appears . it goes like this "paga tho maraninchina manishi pretatma avutundi. adi thana paga therchukune varaku e lokanni vidichi podu"

totally the movie is a nice thrilling experience. its the first hit in 2009.
i rate it 4 out of 5.

sasirekha parinayam

Krishna vamshi showed his talent in making people irritated. this movie is very very boring.rooutine routine routine. the comedy trails failed.we even dont feel like watching a movie. its bombed at box office.

jenilia has got another bubbly role like "haasini". she did well. but due to the failure of the movie it will not be recognised.

the movie starts with"aahana pelli anta"old song.with the titles..its the director style.jenilia is cute and great in first song.

she delivers this dialogue "nannu edokarakamga vadilinchesukundam anukuntunnara... antha bhaaram ipoyana meeku" she did well especially here.the scene where she escapes from boat and goes to a shore... she rises from water..that scene is beautifully picturised. "entira ala chustunnav.. bsc computer science ikkada..." excellently said by jenilia involved in her bubbly character. she will do what comes to her thought suddenly.she will not think. hero is very cautious.. he thinks twice before he does anything.

the way the director showed the east godavari people flower shirts and black spects.

the background scores reminded me of "anand" backgrounds.old songs. the songs situationis not good. director might have taken care of the songs and music.he used his own routine police concept played by jeeva in chandamama.. here also but by another actor.aada pilla aggipulla dialogu is good.

the new dialogue i felt in this movie is "nenu maheshbabu thumps up ee taagutm"

the scene where jenilia see the christ paint on road and says "om eesukreesthayanmaha" is good.

NTR tells about railway department in "rakhi". tarun tells about "vijyawada" here.. its waste in this movie.it has no effect.the only fight in the first half is good. nicely composed.the interval has something refreshing in the boring journey reminded me of "jab we met".. thats a twist and life of the movie.

coming to the second half its too boring.the song shot in cloth show room is good jenilia is a real nice model.

the fear she expresses for going to hyd alone actually shows the love towards him.

director used happydays fame "piditalli" and another girl shankars love here in this movie to turn the love of hero and heroine.

parachuri gopala krishna is very very impressive in negative role given to him. and his intreresting dialogue delivery. aahuti has got a routine role. and routine dialogues.(chandamama).

tarun says about the wife he wants.. director thought it should be a impressive scene.. but in the flow of the movie its the very very boring scene.

ms narayana track is also waste.

climax hospital scene is good. but waste.because the movie already irritated.the ultimate irritation is the song as a last scene. god we cannot bear it....

totally its a flop.