jaman_films (original) (raw)
June 10th, 2008
Drunken poets are meeting on Jaman (instead of the racetrack) @ 03:18 pm
I’m one avid lover of art. Sometimes living in California’s earthquake country I wonder if I will be killed by an avalanche of old records, beat up poetry books, and movie ephemera when the big one hits. So when I was cruising the new movies on Jaman I nearly jumped out of my skin to see the new doc on Charles Bukowski -”the poet laureate of Skid Row.”
Not only is this brilliant king of drunken poets caught on tape in all of his full iconic (and drunken, and womanizing, and gambling, and rowdy) glory. But there is also footage of that infamous Beat Lawrence Ferlinghetti and modern folks like Bono and Tom Waits talking about Bukowski’s influence and reading his work.
Films like this capture moments in time. They capture the elusive hook that makes us as humans turn to paintings and novels and music and poetry for our own inspiration. Movies like this change my life. I hope you love it as much as I do. Because WOW! I don’t think I can say it any better than that.
Dubai by Design. An Opera House fit for a Prince. @ 03:16 pm
Paris has the Eiffel Tower, China has The Great Wall, New York has the Empire State Building and San Francisco has The Golden Gate Bridge. Landmarks shape the city, and for Dubai that landmark will soon be the Opera House.
Zaha Hadid and Patrik Schumacher have designed a new Opera House Cultural Centre to be built in Dubai. Located on an island in Dubai Creek, the development will be connected to Greater Dubai by a road to the mainland. The art gallery contains exhibition space that is comparable to the Guggenheim Museum in New York. The hotel will accommodate guests in a 6 star setting.
Dubai Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum stressed the need to highlight the rich heritage and culture of the UAE and to reflect its Arabic and Islamic values.
May 30th, 2008
Shark & Bake Right Here @ 12:45 pm
Trinidad & Tobago is known for its multi-cultural, vibrant people, great curries and shark & bake on the beach, and now, the revival of the episodic series Westwood Park. 15 episodes (watch them for free!) of the trials and tribulations of two major families.
I laughed at the first episode because I thought it was very cliche, sort of like a Dynasty set in the Caribbean. but three more episodes later, I had to admit, I was hooked. In this day of nothin but reality shows, its fun to watch some actors going at it with predictable but fun storylines. Besides, who can resist the island inflicted English accents?
Vidhu Vinod Chopra brings it on Jaman with “Eklavya, The Royal Guard.” @ 12:44 pm
Our Cannes festivities included hanging with Acclaimed director of Eklavya, Vidhu Vinod Chopra (VVC) and a gang of red-carpet ready folks on the beach front. That’s VVC himself third from the left and some of the Jaman crew, including our Big Man In Charge, Gaurav Dhillon. (Third from the right)
Yes, we’re beaming because we’re drinking champagne in Cannes, but also because we get to bring Eklavya, the Royal Guard, to the world. Now playing on Jaman, Eklavya was India’s submisison to the Oscars in 2008 and stars some of India’s best actors, including Amitabh Bachchan, Saif Ali Khan, Sanjay Dutt, Vidya Balan and more. Variety International called Eklavya a “Shakespearean Tragedy”. The Times, UK says it’s a “Bollywood Epic”.
Now you get to decide. Watch it here
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull: Jungle thrills, now and then @ 12:29 pm
The big question to come out of the Cannes Film Festival (at least for the American media) was perhaps “Was the wait for INDY 4 worth it?” INDY 4 of course is the long-awaited INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL and the question couldn’t be more beside the point. The series has picked up too many fans around the world, and even if the advance word on the film was discouraging, none of these fans could possibly be deterred from seeing it.
INDIANA JONES is a Hollywood roller coaster ride, defying rules of physics and even contradicting its own plot points in its efforts thrill its audience. The movie begins promisingly, placing our hero in the 1950s against the threats of that era (the American anti-Communist Red Scare, the specter of the atomic bomb, Area 51), but it’s quick to return him to the jungle thrills and mysterious artifacts familiar to the series. The expectations surrounding this film were always going to be high, and the creation of it was a long one, during which script drafts from no less than M. Night Shyamalan, Tom Stoppard, and Frank Darabont were all rejected. But, without wanting to reveal too much, it is disappointing to say that for all of Steven Spielberg and George Lucas’ reverence for the serials of Hollywood’s Golden Age, their work on INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULLS has resulted in little more than an overblown episode of THE X-FILES.
Speaking of the Golden Age, whether INDIANA JONES left you cold or left you wanting more you might be interested in checking out some of the serials that inspired the films. Spielberg’s specific referents for RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK (and the rest of the Indiana Jones series) were the serials of the famous Republic Studios, but there were a number of studios creating similar suspense-driven, episodic storylines for the cinemas of the Golden Age.
One of the great icons of pulp fiction who crossed over to the silver screen was Tarzan, King of the Apes, a vine-swinging jungle hero (famous today mainly for an oft-imitated yell) created by novelist Edgar Rice Burroughs. Most features and serials featuring Tarzan throughout the 1930s depicted him as a physically strong but rather stupid hero. Burroughs signed off on a serial that offered a Tarzan closer to his conception – the hero of THE NEW ADVENTURES OF TARZAN was intelligent and cultured, as well as strong and agile. THE NEW ADVENTURES was offered in a number of formats, including the two feature films – THE NEW ADVENTURES OF TARZAN and TARZAN AND THE GREEN GODDESS – available now on Jaman.
Across all of the different films and serials in the 1930s Tarzan was played by an athlete; Olympic silver medal winner Herman Brix plays Tarzan in NEW ADVENTURES and GREEN GODDESS, performing all of Tarzan’s stunts himself, and giving a truly startling version of the Tarzan yell.
Also on Jaman, and interesting from a historical perspective, is TARZAN THE FEARLESS. Buster Crabbe (seen above) appeared as Tarzan for the first and only time in FEARLESS; the role began a career that reach a plateau in various serials as Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon (the latter a direct influence on George Lucas’ STAR WARS series).
For those seeking the source of more specific references made throughout the Indiana Jones series; the scene in RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK in which Jones is dragged behind a truck was directly inspired by a similar stunt in John Ford’s STAGECOACH. Jaman has that one, too!
May 27th, 2008
Jaman celebrates the life of Sydney Pollack @ 10:11 am
Sydney Pollack, the Academy Award-winning director of “Out of Africa” who achieved acclaim making popular, mainstream movies with A-list stars, including “The Way We Were” and “Tootsie,” died Monday. He was 73. Pollack, who also was a producer and actor, died of cancer at his home in Pacific Palisades. As an actor, Sydney starred in such films as, “Eyes Wide Shut,” “Michael Clayton,” and “Random Hearts.”
He died only hours after the HBO premiere of “Recount” which he executive produced.
“Stars are like thoroughbreds,” he said. “Yes, it’s a little more dangerous with them. They are more temperamental. You have to be careful because you can be thrown. But when they do what they do best — whatever it is that’s made them a star — it’s really exciting.” -Pollack spoke of his preference for working with big stars.
“Dustin’s breasts fall down. The high heels hurt his feet. The makeup causes pimples, and the heat makes his beard show through after a couple of hours. It’s a three-and-a-half-hour makeup job, and then the makeup only has a life of four or five hours. We didn’t anticipate that.”- on Tootsie in 1982.
Sydney Pollack has made numerous contributions to the world of cinema and his legacy will continue to live on.
Source Los Angeles Times.
Post-Cannes wrap up @ 09:58 am
Cannes Wrap Up
We’re just back from the whirlwind that is Cannes and finally thinking about the last week. It was a great festival for us. We came to bring Jaman to the attention of the Movie Industry in a big way, and we left feeling the satisfaction that comes from a job well done. From the “Getting Jiggy with Jaman” article, to our cocktail party that kept on going, to getting in front of key people who wanted to know more and more…we did indeed make our mark. It’s times like these that make the long hours, hard work, and extra under-eye coverup all worth it. Revolutionizing the movie business is hard work, but we’re getting there and last week proved us dead on. You keep on watching and telling your friends about us, and we’ll keep on bringing you those movies!
Posted by Geetanjali on 24/05/08 And the Palme d'Or goes to...
The French film “The Class,” a frank tale about classroom life using real students and teachers at a junior high school, won top honors Sunday at the Cannes Film Festival. This is the first French film to win the award since 1987.
Benicio Del Toro won Cannes’ best-actor prize for “Che,” Steven Soderbergh’s four-hour-plus epic about Latin American revolutionary Che Guevara.
Sandra Corveloni was chosen as best actress for “Linha de Passe,” in which she plays the mother of four brothers struggling to make better lives for themselves in a Brazilian slum. It was her first role in a feature
And the other top nods go to:
LME D’OR
- Entre Les Murs (The Class), directed by Laurent Cantet
GRAND PRIX (Runner-up prize)
- Gomorra (Gomorrah) directed by Matteo Garrone
BEST DIRECTOR
- Nuri Bilge Ceylan for Three Monkeys
JURY PRIZE
- Il Divo directed by Paolo Sorrentino
BEST ACTOR
- Benicio del Toro in Che
BEST ACTRESS
- Sandra Corveloni in Linha de Passe (Line of Passage)
BEST SCREENPLAY
- Lorna’s Silence by Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne
CAMERA D’OR - Hunger, directed by Steve McQueen
Posted by ryana1979 on 25/05/08
May 20th, 2008
Bruce Weber reveals the real Chet Baker @ 07:23 pm
Bruce Weber’s documentary of Chet Baker’s life, “Lets Get Lost” screened last night as part of the Cannes Classic program. I got a ticket to the red carpet event and now have had a day to mull over the film. Can’t get the music out of my head - haunting, longing and oh so sad. Beautifully shot in black and white, the film received a heartfelt standing ovation. We then all headed over to Agnes B’s villa for the private after party that lasted until the sun came up and Chet Baker’s music played on…
Posted by Geetanjali on 20/05/08
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