Posts tagged streets
“Slumdog Millionaire” Wonderful and Heartbreaking
Dec 24th
Wonderful and Heartbreaking
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE is a gem of a movie by director Danny Boyle that is suspenseful when it shouldn’t be and uplifting when it is at its most depressing.
Of course, this could also describe the country of India, where the story takes place.
The film begins in 2006 as we see 18-year-old Jamal Malik being tortured by the police. Jamal is a “slumdog,” an orphan from the extreme poverty of the slums of India. And yet somehow he has managed to appear on India’s version of “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?” and unbelievably answered all of the questions correctly up until the last one, which will be asked that night.
The producers of the program suspect that Jamal is cheating, because how else could a slumdog possibly know the answers to all those difficult questions?
Jamal tells the police defiantly, “I knew the answers.”
Then in flashback we see the progression of questions as they were asked, and in further flashback we see the lives of young Jamal as a child and his older brother, Salim, and the event in their struggles just to stay alive that provided Jamal with the correct answer to the question.
At one point, they befriend a young orphan girl named Latika, and she joins the two brothers growing up, whom they refer to as “the third Musketeer” based on their having read the famous novel by Alexandre Dumas.
One of their life-changing moments was when they were all taken out of a garbage dump by a group of adults who claimed to be an orphanage, but in reality they exploited all the children under their control and taught them how to beg on the streets and the ways to get the most money.
However, when Salim discovers the horrible plans in store for Jamal, the two boys escape, but Latika can’t keep up with them, and she is left behind in the clutches of the adults.
In fact, one of the reasons that Jamal wanted to appear on the quiz show was in the hope that Latika would be watching and get back in touch with him.
The construction of the film is wonderful, the pictures are beautiful, but the stunts involving the child actors look terrifyingly dangerous, making you wonder how they were accomplished.
SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE is both wonderful and heartbreaking.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
Slumdog Millionaire – Movie Trailer
Nov 12th
Accused of cheating and desperate to prove his innocence, an eighteen-year-old orphan from the slums of Mumbai reflects back on his tumultuous life while competing to win 20 million rupees on India’s Who Wants to Be a Millionaire in Danny Boyle’s inspirational drama. Jamal Malik (Dev Patel) may not have a penny to his name, but that could all change in a matter of hours. He’s one question away from taking the top prize on India’s most popular television game show, but as with everything else in Jamal’s life, it isn’t going to be easy. Arrested by police under suspicion of cheating, Jamal is interrogated by the authorities. The police simply can’t believe that a common “slumdog” could possibly possess the knowledge to get this far in the game, and in order to convince them of how he gained such knowledge, Jamal begins reflecting back on his childhood. As young boys, Jamal and his older brother, Salim, lived in squalor, and lost their mother in a mob attack on Muslims. Subsequently forced to rely on their own wits to survive, the desperate siblings fell back on petty crime, eventually befriending adorable yet feisty young Latika as they sought out food and shelter on the unforgiving streets of Mumbai. Though life on the streets was never easy, Jamal’s experiences ultimately instilled in him the knowledge he needed to answer the tough questions posed to him on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. And though Jamal makes a convincing case for himself, one question still remains: why would a young man with no apparent desire for wealth or fame be so determined to win big on a national game show? Of course, it won’t be long until everyone finds out the answer to this burning question, because as Jamal sits down to find out whether he will be rich beyond his wildest dreams, 60 million viewers remain transfixed to their televisions eager to see if he’ll correctly answer the final question.
“Pride and Glory” Long and Complicated
Oct 30th
Long and Complicated
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
PRIDE AND GLORY is a police drama with problems, and one of its biggest problems is that it looks like too many other police dramas that we have already seen.
This could be the reason why it was released more than two years after it finished shooting and its release date has been postponed more than once.
On the other hand, it has a strong cast and it looks authentic, probably because director Gavin O’Connor and his brother Gregory, who are sons of a New York City cop, wrote the story together.
Colin Farrell plays Sgt. Jimmy Egan, and he has married into a police family. His brother-in-law, Ray Tierney, is played by Edward Norton, and his father-in-law, Frank Tierney, Sr., who is the chief of detectives in Manhattan, is played by Jon Voight.
Frank has another son, Frank Jr., who is the precinct captain of the station house where Jimmy works.
The story begins with the killing of four police officers in an apartment building, and the severity of the situation is such that only trustworthy cops are wanted to investigate it. All four officers worked in the station house with Jimmy, and one was Ray’s friend and former partner.
So, Frank Sr. asks Ray to be on the task force, telling him, “Raymond, do me a favor. Forget the past.”
You see, Ray has been off the streets for the last two years working in Missing Persons, whereas the previous eight years he had worked on the Major Case Squad before something happened when Ray got shot in the face, and he has the ugly scar to prove it.
Early on, the audience learns that Jimmy was somehow involved in the death of the four policemen, and a lot of cash also figures in the situation.
The story takes place at Christmastime, and we see a lot of family get-togethers with wives and children, but gritty police work is the emphasis of the film. That and the rough language that apparently goes along with it.
Even though Frank Sr. tells Ray to check in with him if Ray gets anything, Ray ignores that directive when Ray is informed that a policeman was involved in both the original killings and in another shoot-out later on.
Then Ray finds trouble.
PRIDE AND GLORY is too long and complicated.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”