Diana director 'devastated' by reviews

The director of Diana says he has "no regrets", despite the film's poor reception in the UK. Oliver Hirschbiegel told the BBC that the movie's critical mauling was "devastating, but when you make a film you don't think about the reactions". The Telegraph described the film "a special class of awful", while the Mirror called it "cheap and cheerless". Hirschbiegel admitted the reviews had put off audiences, but he still hoped people would "make their own minds up".

"In all the other places where it's opened - in Poland, the Czech Republic, Turkey and Slovakia - it's been very strong," he said. "I think for the British, Diana is still a trauma they haven't come to terms with." Starring Naomi Watts, the film depicts Princess Diana in the final years of her life, with a focus on her affair with heart surgeon Hasnat Khan, played by Lost's Naveen Andrews. Oliver Hirschbiegel says his depiction of Diana is "very un-British" It entered the UK chart at number five in its opening weekend, taking £623,000 at the box office. This week, it dropped to number nine.

Hirschbiegel, who previously made Downfall, a German-language film about the last days of Hitler, called his experiences with Diana "deja vu, because it has the same reactions in the UK as Downfall had in Germany on release". "I hope it is a matter of stepping back and looking at it afresh in a year or so, because it is a very British story and I am a very German director." He added that Diana "was the most complex character I have ever tried to depict - more complex than Hitler. The one thing they both had in common was they were born actors".

Earlier this week, at the Zurich Film Festival, Hirschbiegel described the film as "very un-British" and described the critical reaction as harking back "to what newspapers like the Daily Mail would write about her back then - really vile things. So I guess I succeeded." The film has been sold to distributors in more than 40 countries and will be released in the US on 1 November, 2013.

'50/50' Review

'50/50': The Reviews Are In
Most critics think the comedy about cancer proves anything can be funny.

When Will Reiser first found out he had cancer, he and his comedy-writer buddies (including Seth Rogen and "Pineapple Express" scribe Evan Goldberg) would jokingly wonder if Reiser's disease would bring them all a Make-a-Wish opportunity to hang with Led Zeppelin.

That rock-and-roll dream never came true, but Reiser's battle with, and eventual remission from, cancer did gift them all with one thing: "50/50," a comedy (out now) that is drawing rave reviews from critics and is being discussed as a possible contender come awards season. Though not all reviewers have found it easy to find yuks in a deadly serious topic, far more point to the film as an example that nothing is out of bounds when it comes to art and comedy; handled deftly, anything can lead to laughter and learning.

The Story
"Adam Lerner (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is a nice guy with a great job at a Seattle NPR station, a promising relationship with up-and-coming artist Rachael (Bryce Dallas Howard), a best-friend-since-high-school named Kyle (Seth Rogen) to hang with -- and, as he learns to his horror in a doctor's office, cancer. ... Also woven deftly into the mixture is Anna Kendrick as a young (very young) therapist assigned to work with Adam; [Anjelica] Huston as the kind of mother who explains 'I want you to know that I smothered him because I love him' to anyone who will listen. ... It's not a perfect movie, but it doesn't matter. '50/50' takes on a bold subject and makes us laugh and cry. I thought I didn't want to see a cancer comedy; I was wrong." -- Moira McDonald, The Seattle Times

The Laughs
"Scenes where the pals trash a piece of once-important memorabilia in a backyard rampage and the after-effects of pot-laden cookies scored at the chemotherapy clinic show loopily grinning Gordon-Levitt at his best. Kudos to [director Jonathan] Levine for not letting Rogen's very funny comedic bits overshadow the proceedings. The actor dials it down ever so slightly and isn't afraid to be the butt of jokes -- watch for Gordon-Levitt's spot-on Rogen impersonation. The suggestion a bald head and a cancer diagnosis could be the ultimate pickup leverage leads Adam and Kyle into funny territory. But the hilarity turns with the exploration of deeper relationships as Adam finds new friends among the genial stoners of all ages at the chemo clinic." -- Linda Barnard, Toronto Star

The Writing
"[Reiser] draws on his personal battle with a rare form of that disease. His success rate in the delicate balance between comedy and the profound devastation of such an illness is much greater than 50/50, but the film is not without its tonal lapses. ... Reiser has written his characters with an indelible sweetness and vulnerability, which allows the cast to deliver performances with some depth. So a situation such as Kyle insisting that Adam and he should cruise girls at a bar looking for sympathy lays -- Cruisin' with the Big C as it were -- comes off as quite funny as does Adam's first chemo session where he ingests weed-laced sweets created by a fellow patient's wife and floats out of the hospital afterwards." -- Kirk Honeycutt, The Hollywood Reporter

The Dissenters
"In the pantheon of tastelessness designed to make you laugh at diarrhea, menstruation, masturbation, yeast infections, fellatio and worse, you can now add a stupid horror called '50/50.' Artificial, irresponsible, filthy and forgettable, it knocks itself cross-eyed trying to make you roar with laughter at chemotherapy, with the nauseating Seth Rogen milking most of the yuks. But a stoner comedy about cancer? I don't think so." -- Rex Reed, The New York Observer

The Final Word
"The reason '50/50' works is it's not trying to force us into any particular emotion. It fits in the emerging category of sad-man comedies such as 'Up in the Air' and 'Crazy, Stupid Love,' telling its downbeat tale with tenderness, sincerity and warmth. '50/50' isn't a cancer buddy comedy or a male weepie but a message movie. The message is that you can tackle pretty much any subject matter and tell a story any way you want to onscreen as long as it's absorbing." --

Contagion Movie Review

Contagion Movie Review

Cast: Matt Damon, Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow, Kate Winslet, Laurence Fishburne, Jennifer Ehle, Marion Cotillard
Direction: Steven Soderbergh

Story:

Gwyneth Paltrow returns home to Minneapolis from a business meeting in Hong Kong with something as innocuous as a cough and a headache. Within two days she is dead and the doctors tell her grieving husband, Matt Damon, they don't know why she died. Before Damon can come to terms with his loss, the epidemic spreads the world over and nearly millions succumb to it within a short span of time. Panic spreads, governments are thrown into a tizzy, riots break out and the profiteers begin to reap gold. Can a civilised world cope with a deadly virus or are we still as ill-equipped as we were during the plague outbreak?

Movie Review:

Contagion is topical, slick, fast-paced and embellished with a stellar ensemble cast that keeps you engrossed in the drama, despite the fact that most of them don't take much of screen time. The three doctors, Kate Winslet, Jennifer Ehle and Marion Cotillard make brief appearances in the film, but their contribution to the development of the plot is by no means minimal. Laurence Fishburne, as the reputed official representative, torn between principles and a personal transgression for a loved one, is as human as you can get. How many people wouldn't use their clout and break the queue to get a vaccine for somebody they love? Hardly any. Matt Damon as the common man left at the mercy of fumbling officialdom and social anarchy etches a picture perfect role of a man desperate to save his daughter, even if it means locking her up at home and depriving her of all social contact. Then, there is Gwyneth Paltrow, quite unforgettable as the deliciously naughty business woman who doesn't mind hooking up with her ex, while her husband and son wait for her at home: another brief role that last longer than its screen time. And finally, Jude Law as the rogue blogger is mesmerising with his rebellious streak that chooses to question all the players in this high drama and throw light on the nefarious deals between governments and pharmaceutical companies which make the most when death strikes.

The high point of Soderbergh's film is its tone: never sensationalist, always restrained and therefore credible. With the world grappling with sundry new epidemics -- SARS, Mad Cow Disease, Swine Flu -- Contagion has an expediency to it which makes it eminently watchable. Doesn't seem too far-fetched, this threat of a new and deadly disease that originates from a bat and a pig and spreads through something as unavoidable as human touch. Time to be scared. Really scared.

Sex And The City 2 Movie Review

Sex And The City 2 Cast

Sarah Jessica Parker ... Carrie Bradshaw

Kristin Davis ... Charlotte York

Cynthia Nixon ... Miranda Hobbes

Kim Cattrall ... Samantha Jones
Minglie Chen ... Bergdorf Salesgirl

Chris Noth ... Mr. Big

David Eigenberg ... Steve Brady

Evan Handler ... Harry Goldenblatt
Alexandra Fong ... Lily York Goldenblatt
Parker Fong ... Lily York Goldenblatt
Mario Cantone ... Anthony Marantino

Willie Garson ... Stanford Blatch
Noah Mills ... Nicky

Liza Minnelli ... Herself
Billy Stritch

Director:
Michael Patrick King

Sex And The City 2 Movie Review

Sex And The City 2: Not much fun in here! Rating: 2 out of 5*, Starring: Sarah Jessica Parker
, Kristen Davis, Cythia Nixon and Kim Cattrall, Director: Michael Patrick King

The reason why the series on HBO, 'Sex And The City' rocked, was because the four women at its center were smart and funny and genuinely devoted to each other despite their differences. Also because it was a pleasure to see a show that celebrated different choices for adult women and because the clothes were frothy and fetching and finally because it was sheer fantasy, but one in which we could, if we squinted, recognize ourselves and our friends. But sadly, after having been converted into a film series, the same does not hold true any longer.

In this sequel to the 2008 released first film, neurotic writer Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker) is starting to realise that life after saying "I do" to paramour Mr Big (Chris Noth), isn't everything she thought it would be. Samantha (Kim Cattrall) has moved back to New York and is battling valiantly against menopause, and Miranda (Cynthia Nixon) has forgiven adulterous husband Steve, targeting her rage instead at her chauvinistic boss. Meanwhile, Charlotte (Kristin Davis) is struggling to be the perfect wife to the ever-dependable husband Harry and a perfect mother to their two daughters. By chance or rather dramatic contrivance, Samantha is invited to the United Arab Emirates to sample the delights of a newly opened luxury hotel, and she takes her chums along for a ride. Once in Abu Dhabi, they revel in an obscenely expensive hotel suite equipped with four butlers, sit and drink in the bars exactly as they do in New York and go camel-riding in the desert, wearing special camel-riding outfits purchased that day at Dior. Problems arise when Carrie's ex, Aidan (John Corbett), mysteriously shows up, in Abu Dhabi, and there is lingering tension over whether the gals will get to the airport in time to avoid the horrors of the flying coach.

Amongst the notable sequences of the film are - Carrie's signature narration as she struggles with settling in to a married life, she thinks is losing its "sparkle as she does make some poignant observations about the different phases of a woman's life, especially for those who choose not to have children. Then there is the bad mother confession session between Miranda and Charlotte, and the hot-flash set at Samantha's oversexed (at this point, uncomfortably inappropriate) experience with menopause. But then these small moments are far outweighed by the film's extended product placement sequences, hawking overpriced goods that no average "SATC" fan could ever afford. The contradictions grow even more unpleasant as they romp about Abu Dhabi indulging in the city's excesses, while getting some stern reminders about the treatment of women in that part of the world. Trite attempts to navigate across the cultural divides only make it worse. At over 2 and half hours of running time, SATC 2 is unspeakably long, so there's plenty of space to fill in with non-events.

Amongst the cast, Kim Catrall easily towers above the rest of the three ladies with her accurate comic timing.

However, the film, for all its faults, is not a bore. In the latter half, it is as mesmerizing as a motorway car crash played in slow-motion. But it is sad to observe that, unlike most women; the once-beloved Carrie and co have got significantly sillier with age.