By Somini Sengupta
NYT, The Arts, C7
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
This article is about how successful “Slumdog Millionaire” is and how India finally has something to be proud of. It has a good lede, which tells what the article is going to be about. Sengupta says one day it’s all about depictions of filth and brutality fueled angry blogging and stray street protests, and all of a sudden, India wakes up to the news of “Slumdog” winning 8 awards, and the country went “Jai Ho,” which means “Let there be victory.”
The article goes on into a summary of what happened at the Oscars when A.R. Rahman was awarded for best score and best song. Sengupta also talks about his performance and Rahman’s speech, which he dedicated the Oscar to his country.
Sengupta “but” statement is when she says India has never been so proud of their country since the time the man who played Gandhi, but he was only part Indian so it didn’t matter to them as much. But for “Slumdog,” even though it was a movie made by a British director and screenwriter, and backed up by two American studios, almost the entire cast was from India and the movie took place in India. The main character, Dev Patel is British, but of Indian descent.
The article ends with a quote from 9-year-old star Rubina Ali Qureishi’s mother Mrs. Qureishi saying she is very excited to have a daughter come back home, greeting her with her favorite food, Chinese style noodles. “She has crossed the ocean. With God‘s blessing she will return.”
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Monday, February 23, 2009
"Where There's Hope There's Oscar"
David Carr
NYT-Weekends Arts
Friday, February 20th, 2009
There is a huge colored picture in the front, which draws a lot of attention to the article. There is a woman jumping on a man’s back and reaching for an Oscar from the man who’s handing them out, but teasing at the same time. Aside from this picture, the article starts with a very strong lede as if the picture is not enough. The lede is about a person looking into their mailbox and seeing bills when magically an invitation pops up for the 81st Annual Academy Awards. Then the person realizes it’s a scribbled note from their neighbor inviting her to come to her house to watch the awards on ABC in her widescreen and promises a treat of her special nachos.
Carr mentions The New York Times Oscar Website, which is a daily blogger where people write who they think might win an award. He has “The Carpetbagger‘s 2009 Predictions” where he predicts the winners of the top twelve most important categories with a little explanation as to why he thinks that person will win the award.
Carr ends the article with a question: “And finally, given that many will be watching through less than rose-colored glasses, can Hollywood find a way to acknowledge the ties we are living in without giving in to the gloom?”
NYT-Weekends Arts
Friday, February 20th, 2009
There is a huge colored picture in the front, which draws a lot of attention to the article. There is a woman jumping on a man’s back and reaching for an Oscar from the man who’s handing them out, but teasing at the same time. Aside from this picture, the article starts with a very strong lede as if the picture is not enough. The lede is about a person looking into their mailbox and seeing bills when magically an invitation pops up for the 81st Annual Academy Awards. Then the person realizes it’s a scribbled note from their neighbor inviting her to come to her house to watch the awards on ABC in her widescreen and promises a treat of her special nachos.
Carr mentions The New York Times Oscar Website, which is a daily blogger where people write who they think might win an award. He has “The Carpetbagger‘s 2009 Predictions” where he predicts the winners of the top twelve most important categories with a little explanation as to why he thinks that person will win the award.
Carr ends the article with a question: “And finally, given that many will be watching through less than rose-colored glasses, can Hollywood find a way to acknowledge the ties we are living in without giving in to the gloom?”
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Wrenching Film Poses Marketing Challenge
By: Brooks Barnes
Thursday, Feb 5, 2009
The Arts C1
This article is about an award-winning film “Push: Based on a Novel by Sapphire,” and how it has a lot of racial conflict. Marketing executives feel the film is more for an African American audience, and is hard to attract white audiences. The film is having marketing challenges; the film’s marketing cost is suppose to be $25 million, and so far they only have $5.5 millions from Lionsgate. Oprah Winfrey and Tyler Perry were sent a copy of “Push” and were asked to lend support. They both agreed and felt the film is very powerful and is highly recommended to the public.
The lede is confusing, because you can‘t really tell what her review is about.
“Dark and depressing rarely does very well at the box office, and with life outside the multiplex so rough these days, people see to be gravitating toward fluffy fare more than ever.” Barnes.
I think she is talking about the movie, but since the movie hasn’t even come out yet, no one would know what she is talking about.
The “but” statement is in the fourth paragraph which says even though the movie won three top awards at the Sundance Film Festival, it has a lot of negative imagery. Then Barnes mentions the marketing challenges it is facing.
The kicker is a quote from Oprah Winfrey saying how the movie “is raw and powerful and splits her open.”
Thursday, Feb 5, 2009
The Arts C1
This article is about an award-winning film “Push: Based on a Novel by Sapphire,” and how it has a lot of racial conflict. Marketing executives feel the film is more for an African American audience, and is hard to attract white audiences. The film is having marketing challenges; the film’s marketing cost is suppose to be $25 million, and so far they only have $5.5 millions from Lionsgate. Oprah Winfrey and Tyler Perry were sent a copy of “Push” and were asked to lend support. They both agreed and felt the film is very powerful and is highly recommended to the public.
The lede is confusing, because you can‘t really tell what her review is about.
“Dark and depressing rarely does very well at the box office, and with life outside the multiplex so rough these days, people see to be gravitating toward fluffy fare more than ever.” Barnes.
I think she is talking about the movie, but since the movie hasn’t even come out yet, no one would know what she is talking about.
The “but” statement is in the fourth paragraph which says even though the movie won three top awards at the Sundance Film Festival, it has a lot of negative imagery. Then Barnes mentions the marketing challenges it is facing.
The kicker is a quote from Oprah Winfrey saying how the movie “is raw and powerful and splits her open.”
Thursday, February 5, 2009
I Wish I Was Uninvited
Director Thomas Guard not only gives you the plate of food, but also spoon-feeds it to you. Based on the previews of this horror movie, one knows the plot, so the movie gets so predictable that the horror scenes are not surprising. The ending is unexpected, but confusion arises about the beginning and middle of the movie after the truth is revealed in the climax.
The horror film “The Uninvited,” starring Elizabeth Banks and Emily Browning has a good plot of an evil stepmother who feels uninvited by the daughters of Steven (David Strathairn), a book writer who starts dating Rachel (Banks), the nurse of his ill wife who dies in a tragic fire, helplessly in bed in the guest house. The daughters, Anna (Browning) and Alex (Arielle Kebbel) suspect Rachel of murdering their mother.
The movie starts off with Anna talking to her psychiatrist in a mental hospital, where she was placed after a huge break down when her mother died. The doctor gives her the news of finally being able to go home and “finish what she started.” Again, this movie is so predictable, one can guess that this phrase is so awkward, the writers Craig Rosenberg and Carlo Bernard, would not let it stand alone. This phrase is brought up again later on in the movie, which answers the question of the real reason why Anna was placed in the mental hospital.
Even though the movie is very obvious, Browning saves the movie and steals attention. She does a good job in playing her role as the girl who gets dreams and experiences deja vus of Rachel’s so called victims who are trying to tell her something. Browning is very convincing in expressing the hard time she is going through with her mother’s death and her father dating the evil woman.
The relationship between the two sisters is very strong. Anna and Alex are really close even though they have different personalities. Alex is the rebel teenager who goes to parties, gets drunk and is very flirty with the guys. Anna is the emotional one, but seems to go more insane throughout the movie.
Banks performance is poorly applauded. It is hard to picture her as a scary character after seeing her performance in the comedy “Zack and Miri Make a Porno” with Seth Rogen as Zack’s (Rogen) best friend. Banks also has a more sophisticated, serious role in the film “W.” with Josh Brolin where Banks plays Laura Bush, George W. Bush‘s wife.
In “The Uninvited,” Banks gives unblinking stares and short pauses after every few awkward sentences that slowly become irritating after a while, causing the film to lose its role of a horror movie.
So, if you weren’t invited to watch this movie, you would want to remain uninvited. This “want to be horror film” is definitely not a movie anyone would want to see twice.
The horror film “The Uninvited,” starring Elizabeth Banks and Emily Browning has a good plot of an evil stepmother who feels uninvited by the daughters of Steven (David Strathairn), a book writer who starts dating Rachel (Banks), the nurse of his ill wife who dies in a tragic fire, helplessly in bed in the guest house. The daughters, Anna (Browning) and Alex (Arielle Kebbel) suspect Rachel of murdering their mother.
The movie starts off with Anna talking to her psychiatrist in a mental hospital, where she was placed after a huge break down when her mother died. The doctor gives her the news of finally being able to go home and “finish what she started.” Again, this movie is so predictable, one can guess that this phrase is so awkward, the writers Craig Rosenberg and Carlo Bernard, would not let it stand alone. This phrase is brought up again later on in the movie, which answers the question of the real reason why Anna was placed in the mental hospital.
Even though the movie is very obvious, Browning saves the movie and steals attention. She does a good job in playing her role as the girl who gets dreams and experiences deja vus of Rachel’s so called victims who are trying to tell her something. Browning is very convincing in expressing the hard time she is going through with her mother’s death and her father dating the evil woman.
The relationship between the two sisters is very strong. Anna and Alex are really close even though they have different personalities. Alex is the rebel teenager who goes to parties, gets drunk and is very flirty with the guys. Anna is the emotional one, but seems to go more insane throughout the movie.
Banks performance is poorly applauded. It is hard to picture her as a scary character after seeing her performance in the comedy “Zack and Miri Make a Porno” with Seth Rogen as Zack’s (Rogen) best friend. Banks also has a more sophisticated, serious role in the film “W.” with Josh Brolin where Banks plays Laura Bush, George W. Bush‘s wife.
In “The Uninvited,” Banks gives unblinking stares and short pauses after every few awkward sentences that slowly become irritating after a while, causing the film to lose its role of a horror movie.
So, if you weren’t invited to watch this movie, you would want to remain uninvited. This “want to be horror film” is definitely not a movie anyone would want to see twice.
Two Bickering Sisters,a Stepmom and an Ominous Garbage Can
By: A.O. Scott
NYT, The Arts Pg. C10
The lede is mean, but funny and true. Scott uses first person and wrote his review in a feature story format, which I find very interesting. It makes the review entertaining. I can picture him sitting at the theater and having the two guys behind him commenting on how bad the movie is. The “but” statement is also in the lede, which is good, because he
tells the reader right away how he feels about the movie “The Uninvited.”
Scott spoke about how the film was suppose to be the remake of “A Tale of Two Sisters,” which is a horror film of two Korean sisters. He says it is nothing like it.
The kicker emphasizes on how much he regrets getting invited to watch the movie, which is funny, because my review on “The Uninvited” was similar to his, even though I read his review after I wrote mine.
NYT, The Arts Pg. C10
The lede is mean, but funny and true. Scott uses first person and wrote his review in a feature story format, which I find very interesting. It makes the review entertaining. I can picture him sitting at the theater and having the two guys behind him commenting on how bad the movie is. The “but” statement is also in the lede, which is good, because he
tells the reader right away how he feels about the movie “The Uninvited.”
Scott spoke about how the film was suppose to be the remake of “A Tale of Two Sisters,” which is a horror film of two Korean sisters. He says it is nothing like it.
The kicker emphasizes on how much he regrets getting invited to watch the movie, which is funny, because my review on “The Uninvited” was similar to his, even though I read his review after I wrote mine.
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
I Wish I Was Uninvited
Director Thomas Guard not only gives you the plate of food, but also spoon-feeds it to you. The horror film “The Uninvited,” starring Elizabeth Banks and Emily Browning has a good plot of an evil stepmother who feels uninvited by the daughters of Steven (David Strathairn), a book writer who starts dating Rachel (Banks), the nurse of his ill wife who dies in a tragic fire, helplessly in bed in the guest house. The daughters, Anna (Browning) and Alex (Arielle Kebbel) suspect Rachel of murdering their mother.
Based on the previews of this horror movie, one knows the plot, so the movie gets predictable and cliché at some point that the horror scenes are not surprising. The ending is unexpected, but confusion arises about the beginning and middle of the movie after the truth is revealed in the climax.
The movie starts off with Anna talking to her psychiatrist in a mental hospital, where she was placed after a huge break down when her mother died. The doctor gives her the news of finally being able to go home and “finish what she started.” Again, this movie is so predictable, one can guess that this phrase is so awkward, the screenplay writers by Craig Rosenberg and Carlo Bernard, would not let it stand alone. This phrase is brought up again later on in the movie, which answers the question of the real reason why Anna was placed in the mental hospital.
Even though the movie is very obvious and cliché, Browning saves the movie and steals attention. She does a good job in playing her role as the girl who gets dreams and deja vus of Rachel’s so called victims who are trying to tell her something. Browning is very convincing in expressing the hard time she is going through with her mother’s death and her father dating the evil woman.
The relationship between the two sisters is very strong. Anna and Alex are really close even though they have different personalities. Alex is the rebel teenager who goes to parties, gets drunk and is very flirty with the guys. Anna is the emotional one, but seems to go more insane throughout the movie.
Banks performance is poorly applauded. It is hard to picture her as a scary character after seeing her performance in the comedy “Zack and Miri Make a Porno” with Seth Rogen as Zack’s (Rogen) best friend. After years of being best friends and living together, they decide to make a porno when they realize the huge pile of unpaid bills and no possible way to pay them off. Banks also has a more sophisticated, serious role in the film “W.” with Josh Brolin where Banks plays Laura Bush, George W. Bush‘s wife.
In “The Uninvited,” produced by Walter F. Parkes, Banks gives unblinking stares and short pauses after every few awkward sentences that slowly become irritating after a while, causing the film to lose its role of a horror movie.
The “want to be horror film” “The Uninvited” is definitely not a movie anyone would want to see twice.
Based on the previews of this horror movie, one knows the plot, so the movie gets predictable and cliché at some point that the horror scenes are not surprising. The ending is unexpected, but confusion arises about the beginning and middle of the movie after the truth is revealed in the climax.
The movie starts off with Anna talking to her psychiatrist in a mental hospital, where she was placed after a huge break down when her mother died. The doctor gives her the news of finally being able to go home and “finish what she started.” Again, this movie is so predictable, one can guess that this phrase is so awkward, the screenplay writers by Craig Rosenberg and Carlo Bernard, would not let it stand alone. This phrase is brought up again later on in the movie, which answers the question of the real reason why Anna was placed in the mental hospital.
Even though the movie is very obvious and cliché, Browning saves the movie and steals attention. She does a good job in playing her role as the girl who gets dreams and deja vus of Rachel’s so called victims who are trying to tell her something. Browning is very convincing in expressing the hard time she is going through with her mother’s death and her father dating the evil woman.
The relationship between the two sisters is very strong. Anna and Alex are really close even though they have different personalities. Alex is the rebel teenager who goes to parties, gets drunk and is very flirty with the guys. Anna is the emotional one, but seems to go more insane throughout the movie.
Banks performance is poorly applauded. It is hard to picture her as a scary character after seeing her performance in the comedy “Zack and Miri Make a Porno” with Seth Rogen as Zack’s (Rogen) best friend. After years of being best friends and living together, they decide to make a porno when they realize the huge pile of unpaid bills and no possible way to pay them off. Banks also has a more sophisticated, serious role in the film “W.” with Josh Brolin where Banks plays Laura Bush, George W. Bush‘s wife.
In “The Uninvited,” produced by Walter F. Parkes, Banks gives unblinking stares and short pauses after every few awkward sentences that slowly become irritating after a while, causing the film to lose its role of a horror movie.
The “want to be horror film” “The Uninvited” is definitely not a movie anyone would want to see twice.
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