Lunchbox at the Sundance 2014

 

Amanda Lippert interviews Ritesh Batra and Irrfan Khan of The Lunchbox. The film follows the developing relationship of two accidental pen pals in Mumbai. Batra discusses the writing process, the effect of color on storytelling, and how it felt to premiere at Cannes.

Brought to you by Microsoft Surface, Assimilate, Eizo and AJA.

Producer: Elan O’Connor
DP: Denny Kukahiko
Editor: Christopher Frederick

 

 

Golisoda – Movie review

Return of the Pasanga boys makes this film as big as any returning big stars in the film industry. The film is about four boys Pulli (Kishore), Settu (Sreeram), Sithappa (Pandi) and Murugesh (Murugesh), who work as vegetable porters in the Koyambedu Market. Orphaned since birth, their only adult presence is their employer Aachi (Sujatha) . Working early morning and sleeping in the daytime and living a carefree life is their routine. One day when they go for a jolly ride with one of their adult friend they get arrested and spend the night at the police station with other drunk accused . When others get identified and get bailed out by their friends and family, they realise that an identity is important in everyone’s life. They reach out and with he help of NKB alias Naidu (madhusudan)who controls the market , start a small restaurant inside the market And create an identity for themselves.But things turn ugly when one of naidu’s men misuses the restaurant and the boys lose their business and when threatened they turn against NkB. How they regain their identity form the rest of film.
A brilliant story of friendship and heroism marks the comeback of Vijay Milton as a director. A well selected cast and a equally good performance from each and every one of them makes it a treat to watch. The character ATM played by newcomer shalini was brilliant . The story by pandiyaraj well written , but good have been edited in the second half.The music even though there were no item numbers or duets supported the film throughout ( but could have avoided the song with power star) . Goli soda has given a new identity to heroism . 7/10

 

Malini 22 Palayamkottai – movie review

Malini, played by Nithya Menen is a 22 year old nurse who’s ambition is to work in canada . Varun (Krish J Sathaar) is a manager at a consultancy agency who helps Malini with her visa papers. Varun slowly charms Malini and make her fall in love, only to be fed to his boss Prakash’s (Naresh) sexual appetite .when Malini tries to go the police she is framed of drug trafficking and sent to prison.How Malini recovers from this and takes revenge forms the rest of the story.
A very predictable story which needed to be strong in screenplay and acting ended up being sloppy in all departments in the film.the acting was mediocre , dialogues were poorly written, zero screenplay and edited to make everyone sleep in the cinemas. We know Nithya Menen can act but her performance wasn’t good enough. Kovai sarala who had to carry the so called comedy track was an irritating through out the film . The innocent who changes overnight into a avenging angel doesn’t convince the audience. I give it 2/10

 

Minugurulu – Telugu Movie To Be Released On Airtel Digital TV Along With Theatrical Release

Airtel Digital TV is releasing a Telugu feature film, Minukumanna Minugurulu on digital TV through its Pay Per View platform on the same day of its theatrical release.

Releasing on January 24, 2014 on Airtel Digital TV at 00.30 hours, the movie will be available to customers for 5 days until January 28, 2014 on channel number 157 on Airtel’s Digital network. Customers can book to watch the movie by sending a SMS <BOOK 157> to 54325 from their registered mobile number for Rs. 100/- per day. This payment will allow the customers to watch any or all of the 8 shows of the movie aired on that particular day.

Releasing non-mainstream films on DTH (Direct To Home): Mainstream, commercial film like Vishwaroopam saw opposition from theatre owners for its release on DTH owing to the loss of revenue that theatre owners may face. On the contrary, the director of Minukumanna Minugurulu which portrays the lives of 40 visually impaired & orphaned children, has been looking for avenues to release the film.

Speaking at the  Children’s Film Festival of India (CFFI), Ayodhyakumar Krishnamsetty, Director of the film was hoping that the film’s screening at the film festival would fetch them a distributor for its national release. Unlike the proposed price for Vishwaroopam which was at Rs 1000, this film is being priced at one-tenth of that price, at Rs 100 per day on DTH with facility to view all 8 shows of the film throughout the day. While Kamal Hassan was looking to counter piracy through the digital release of his film, film like Minukumanna Minugurulu could receive visibility through this release.

Digital release of such non-mainstream films could create a good opportunity for independent film-makers to release and monetize their films. Indie film makers could and should look into this model especially if their movie release clashes with a big budget movies which are likely to have bigger marketing budgets and brand presence. This model could help them generate revenue even if the film does not manage to procure sufficient screen in multiplexes.

info: http://www.medianama.com

 

Best picture nominees for the Oscars 2014

Click on the titles below to see their official trailer videos

 

Was is a Thala or Thalapathy Pongal ?

Click below on the title to read their respective reviews

 

Veeram – Movie review

Veeram
After a mediocre success of Aarambam, Ajit’s Veeram  produced by Vijaya Productions released this pongal . Set in a village backdrop, Vinayagam (Ajit) with his four brothers who runs a vegetable wholesale business in the village market.A very straight forward person who doesn’t hesitate to use violence to settle even a small dispute.A life without parents ,Vinayagam has brought up his brothers sacrificing his life for theirs . He also stays unmarried fearing a woman would bring rift between brothers and disrupt the family. But when the brothers themselves fall in love, they try to match him with Kopperundevi(Tamanna) an architect student comes to the village temple . After initial hiccups they both fall in love , but when Kopperundevi comes to know about the violent side of Vinayagam she leaves him. Does Vinayagam change his character for love forms the rest of the story.
The director as kept it simple in the story and built sequences specifically for the hero to command right from the intro scene to the climax. And with Ajit’s screen persona it has lifted the film so high that you barely see any mistakes or get bored in the film.Ajit eases himself in his role and commands every moment.Even though the main plot happens in the second half, the audience are kept busy throughout . DSP provides enough background score but fails to shine in the songs .Santhanam provides clean comedy and his utilized properly.the mismatch in the whole film was Tamanna who fails to match with Ajit’s larger the screen presence.Veeram even though with some flaws stand tall in the pongal release . i give it 6/10

 

Jilla – movie review

Jilla

Pongal starts today for Vijay’s fans as Jilla released as early as 3.30 am all over Tamilnadu today. Sivan (Mohanlal) a Don who rules Madurai along with his adopted son Sakthi (Vijay). Even though he is an adopted son, he is treated as the eldest son in the family and enforces all the criminal activities his father desires. When a new police commissioner humiliates Sivan, he realizes that he needs to have his own man in the police hierarchy. He convinces Sakthi to become a police officer.Initially refusing to his father’s request, Sakthi however obeys Sivan and becomes the Asst.Police commissioner and gets appointed in their own City. When one of Sivan’s Criminal activities transforms into huge calamity, Sakthi realizes the pain they had caused to the people so far and tries to convince Sivan to quit the life of crime. This breaks their relationship and movie breaks for intermission.

Initially returning from the theater I thought Jilla was better than Thalaiva, but as I was writing this review, both where equally bad in screenplay, direction and story. Except Mohanlal had a better screen presence the Sathyaraj compared to both the movies. Mohan lal just eases away in his scenes and easily takes center stage in most of the scenes. Poornima Bhagyaraj makes a comeback in the film as Vijay’s mother. Kajal Agarwal collectively comes for around 12 min in the film 10 min of them are in the songs, and in the other 2 min she gets embarrassed and humiliated. No idea why Parotta Suri was in the cast ,because there was no comedy track in the film.With nothing for the fans to cheer, the film has only massive action sequences one after the other. First half builds a story but the second half slows down and irritates you with unnecessary songs and scenes. The film clearly needs to be reduced by 20mins.  I give it 4/10.

 

Anatomy of a $200 Music Video Shoot

How Two Singers, Some Rental Bikes, a Rig, a U-haul and a Blackmagic Cinema Camera Delivered on a Micro Budget

By Beth Marchant   /   Jan 3, 2014

And the Giraffe is a two-person indie band started by friends Nicholas Roberts and Joshua Morris, an audio engineer, while both were students at the University of Florida in Gainesville. The pair recorded two EPs while still in college and are currently recording their first full-length album in Nashville. With big hopes for their new song “Sorry,” they headed to L.A. and tapped friend Harrison Sanborn to shoot and direct the song’s music video—their second—on a shoestring budget. “We had been talking about a number of ideas for the video,” says lead singer Nicholas Roberts, “but strapping a camera to a bike to show each of us in close up as we rode through L.A. seemed to be the most feasible and cost-effective of the bunch.”

Sanborn, an up-and-coming feature cinematographer and aerial photographer with a handful of original shortform projects under his belt, immediately suggested using the Blackmagic Cinema Camera (BMCC), light enough to fit on a rig yet rugged enough to then be strapped to the handlebars of a rental bike. “I bought the camera soon after it was released and have been shooting test footage,” says Sanborn. “For the video we’d discussed doing something simple but also unusual and eye-catching. I knew our camera choices were really limited by size and weight, and the Blackmagic camera is probably the best camera in its size and weight category. It was the natural choice for this type of project. You have a much wider dynamic range than any DSLR of a similar size, and much better video recording formats to work with in post. I also knew it could give us that unusual perspective we were looking for.” Sanborn used a Tokina 11-16 mm lens for every one of the bike-mount shots.

Shot over two full days in Los Angeles and about 200 miles outside the city in a dry lakebed, the video cuts between Roberts and Morris as they sing in transit. Using a scratch track from the camera, Sanborn cut the video in Adobe Premiere Pro CS6 and synced the audio to the original recording of the song. He color-corrected the edit with Red Giant Magic Bullet Looks. “The money we spent on this shoot was really the bike rental fees and gas money to get from L.A. out into the middle of nowhere and drive around until we found the right location,” says Sanborn.

Setting a small camera on a rigid rig still presented plenty of challenges. “During one afternoon and evening of tests, we tried to stabilize the camera as much as possible,” says Sanborn. “Unfortunately, on a mount like that it’s very difficult to isolate vibrations, so we made these semi-elastic tape straps which helped tie the camera down but also dampened the vibrations. At first, we were getting some very-high-frequency vibrations that would have been too difficult to use.” Sanborn was also discriminating when it came to choosing where the bikes would go. “We were very selective about [the] physical surface on which we’d shoot, and I also cut out a fair amount of footage that was unusable.”

(from left) Director Harrison Sanborn with And the Giraffe’s Joshua Morris and Nicholas Roberts

Most of the resulting footage, however, was exactly what they’d hoped for in those early creative discussions. “Even though we tried to avoid them, heading out to the Santa Monica Pier there were these huge potholes and bumps,” says Roberts. “It felt like the camera was flying all over the place. But when we watched the footage later it was much more stable than I thought it would be.”

Sanborn says the camera’s dynamic range also meant he didn’t need to budget in a separate lighting setup. “You can go in and out of shadows and under trees and you can be in a heavily backlit situation and with no bounce or fill light and you are still able to resolve the detail that’s there.” He also owns a Sony PMW-F3, which he used with a Zeiss CP2 Compact Prime lens to shoot the lakebed sequence at the end of the video. “I really like the F3 and have most of the PL-mount lenses for it. It was the best choice for those long shots. But what the Blackmagic camera is great for, even on a bigger production, is pick-up shots when you need them and unusual POV shots,” he says.

The downside of Sanborn’s version of the BMCC, he says, is the battery life. “You only get about an hour of recording time before you have to charge it back up again.” Unlike in the newer Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera, the battery is not removable. “We charged it in between locations in my car,” he says. “It would have made it too top-heavy to add an external battery like an Anton Bauer to the rig.”

Sanborn says the team looked online for nearby dry lakebeds before settling on the final location the night before the shoot. “We saw some crappy Google Maps images and decided to go for it. When we got there it was infinitely better. It looked like an alien landscape and was so serene. It was one of the most amazing places I’ve shot, and it just worked beautifully for the video and the song.”

http://www.studiodaily.com