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Release date(s):March 12, 2010 (2010-03-12)

Directed by:Paul Greengrass

Produced by:Tim Bevan
Eric Fellner
Lloyd Levin
Paul Greengrass

Written by: Brian Helgeland
Rajiv Chandrasekaran (Book)

Starring:Matt Damon
Greg Kinnear
Brendan Gleeson
Amy Ryan
Khalid Abdalla
Jason Isaacs

Cinematography:Barry Ackroyd

Editing by:Christopher Rouse

Studio :StudioCanal
Relativity Media
Working Title Films

Distributed by:Universal Studios


Country:United States

Language:English

Budget:$100 million

Story:

Green Zone is an action thriller war film written by Brian Helgeland and directed by Paul Greengrass. The film is "credited as having been 'inspired' by"[1] the non-fiction 2006 book Imperial Life in the Emerald City by journalist Rajiv Chandrasekaran, which documented life in the Green Zone, Baghdad. The film stars Matt Damon, Amy Ryan, Greg Kinnear, and Brendan Gleeson. Production began in January 2008 in Spain and moved on to Morocco. The film was globally released on March 12, 2010 with releases available from March 10 in some countries. Released in Australia on 11 March 2010.

All the war-zone authenticity in the Arab world cannot salvage the silly Hollywood plot at the heart of "Green Zone," Matt Damon and Paul Greengrass' first collaboration outside the Jason Bourne realm.

Their thriller about the futile search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq is a visual and visceral knockout that's utterly deflated by a story as common, coarse and unappetizing as Army field rations.

The movie pales further by arriving in theaters just days after the Academy Awards triumph of the vastly superior Iraq war story "The Hurt Locker," a film many people have yet to see. For the price of a couple of tickets to "Green Zone," you can own the DVD of a truly great war film in "The Hurt Locker." "Green Zone" emulates the let's-build-a-democracy-just-like-ours intent of the U.S. occupation of Iraq in 2003, as chronicled in Washington Post reporter Rajiv Chandrasekaran's "Imperial Life in the Emerald City," a book cited in the credits as the inspiration for the movie.

Greengrass and screenwriter Brian Helgeland have taken a setting rich with novel dramatic possibilities and made up a fictional action tale just like any other, with the same lame plot contrivances and the same stiff, artificial characters.

You've got the incorruptible working-class patriot in Army Chief Warrant Officer Roy Miller (Damon), who leads a WMD team frustrated that detailed intelligence reports continually fail to turn up any traces of Saddam Hussein's supposed arsenals.

You've got the sniveling, scheming bureaucrat in Pentagon intelligence man Clark Poundstone (Greg Kinnear) and an internecine clash with his honorable nemesis in CIA man Martin Brown (Brendan Gleeson). OK, so the CIA good guy thing is kind of new. You've got the cliched journalist in Wall Street Journal reporter Lawrie Dayne (Amy Ryan), who seems incapable of piecing together a story unless it's handed to her in a neat folder marked "top secret."

And you've got the Special Forces thug in Lt. Col. Briggs (Jason Isaacs).

We all know now the weapons that prompted the invasion of Iraq did not exist. The filmmakers concoct a simple-minded WMD conspiracy to explain the bad intelligence reports, then lob Miller into the middle of it.

Miller's encounter with well-meaning Iraqi "Freddy" (Khalid Abdalla, who played one of the Sept. 11 hijackers in Greengrass' "United 93") leads him to one of Saddam's top aides, who holds the key to exposing the conspiracy.

Other than Abdalla, who captures a sense of Iraqis' conflicted emotions over Saddam's overthrow and the U.S. occupation, Damon and his co-stars deliver nothing more than serviceable performances. The roles do not call for much more, Ryan in particular stuck trying to make her few shallow lines sound meaningful. The WMD debacle was a colossal intelligence failure that Greengrass and company dilute to a base Hollywood plot device so they can turn the boys loose in Baghdad with all the firepower a big studio budget can muster.

There's barely a story to hold "Green Zone" together, the movie just hurtling through firefights and chases, pausing for breath with the occasional revelation to prod Miller on in his quest.

For pure ambiance, "Green Zone" is a marvel. Though shot in Morocco, Spain and England, the action feels as though it takes place in the heart of Baghdad.

Greengrass, who directed Damon in "The Bourne Ultimatum" and "The Bourne Supremacy," applies similar techniques — darting camera work, quick cutting, haphazard framing — to create the same sense of documentary immediacy in "Green Zone."

For Hollywood pundits, industry folk and Oscar fans still paying attention on Monday, a major question remained: How did Hurt Locker beat Avatar?

For as much as "The Hurt Locker" was the critics' darling, it had three major strikes against it in its battle against the mighty James Cameron's "Avatar."

First, the box office was paltry — it's taken in just $14.7 million domestically, compared to an amazing $720.6 million for "Avatar." That makes "The Hurt Locker" the lowest-grossing best picture winner since accurate records have been kept.

Second, it had no big acting names, usually an important factor in Oscar victory.

And third, it was about the Iraq war, a subject moviegoers traditionally just don't want to deal with. "Iraq is usually the kiss of death at the Oscars," says Tom O'Neil, blogger for the Los Angeles Times' Envelope, an awards site.

But even with 10 nominees in the running for this year's best picture Oscar, the two films — whose directors were once married — were quickly pitted against each other in the race for Hollywood's highest honor.

How did "The Hurt Locker" win out? Theories abound:

Finally a non-political film about Iraq
Many films about the Iraq war have fallen into a trap of appearing preachy or at least having a strong point of view. Viewers may or may not agree with that view — that still doesn't mean they want to get it at the movies.

But "The Hurt Locker," a story of three technicians on a bomb-defusing team in Baghdad, is at heart an action movie — a documentary-style close-up of the men, their relationships, their missteps and the almost unbearable tension inherent in their exhausting, terrifying, tedious work.

"This isn't that kind of muckraking film aiming to show torture or violation of rules of war," says Robert Sklar, film professor at New York University. "This is a film about men trying to save lives rather than take them. It's also a buddy story. It has classic war-movie themes."

Oscar likes films with an important message
Often the Academy honors big, sweeping films, which "The Hurt Locker" is certainly not. But it also looks for films with a substantial message. "Oscar likes films of importance, with a capital I," says film historian Leonard Maltin. "Often they're big films, but this is a small film that dealt with a really important subject."

Oscar voters don't care about box office
Who says Oscar cares about box office? "The Oscars don't pay attention to that at all, and nor should they," Maltin says. In fact, he adds, they've often been accused of being too elitist, favoring independent movies over big films favored by the broader public.

Yes, they do!
Nonsense, says O'Neil, of The Envelope: "The Academy wants their movies to do well. Then they anoint them." Even last year's "Slumdog Millionaire," which originally almost went straight to DVD, had made $40 million before the nominations, then rode to $70 million by the time of the awards, he says.

It's about the campaigning
All of "Hurt Locker's" technical merit aside, "it would be naive to think Oscar campaigning had nothing to do with it," says O'Neil. He credits Cynthia Swartz, whose public relations firm was given the Oscar campaigning job by Summit, the film's distributor, which was looking for industry respect and had plenty of money to fund the campaign, having already cashed in with the "Twilight" vampire movies.

"It was a very savvy campaign," says O'Neil. "Full force, and highly aggressive."

The woman factor
As compelling as her movie was, director Kathryn Bigelow had a compelling story of her own. This director who specializes not in female-oriented films but in big action thrillers had a real shot at becoming the first woman in Oscar history to win the best director prize, with her film winning best picture, too.

Yet Bigelow tried to downplay that element of her story, saying in interviews that she just wanted to be seen as a filmmaker, not a female one.

"Bigelow refused to capitalize on the woman factor, and to her credit," says Maltin. Everyone else wanted to make it a story but her. Still, you can't deny it had some impact."

The ex factor
Nor did Bigelow have any desire to capitalize on the "Ex Factor" — in case you're way behind on your Oscar gossip, she was married to Cameron from 1989-91. Were there some voters who were secretly rooting for her to leave him in the dust? No way of knowing, and the two seemed amicable through the awards season, with him standing and cheering as she won her Oscar. Still, there's no doubt that the "battle of the exes" (ok, we're done with the puns) added to the hype.

Best Picture

      The Hurt Locker
      Kathryn Bigelow, Mark Boal, Nicolas Chartier and Greg Shapiro
 
Actor in a Leading Role

      Jeff Bridges
      Crazy Heart
  
Actor in a Supporting Role

      Christoph Waltz
      Inglourious Basterds


Actress in a Leading Role

      Sandra Bullock
      The Blind Side

Actress in a Supporting Role

      Mo'Nique
      Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire

Animated Feature Film

      Up
      Pete Docter

Art Direction

      Avatar
      Rick Carter and Robert Stromberg (Art Direction); Kim Sinclair (Set Decoration)

Cinematography

      Avatar
      Mauro Fiore

Costume Design

      The Young Victoria
      Sandy Powell

Directing

      The Hurt Locker
      Kathryn Bigelow

Documentary Feature

      The Cove
      Louie Psihoyos and Fisher Stevens

Documentary Short

      Music by Prudence
      Roger Ross Williams and Elinor Burkett

Film Editing
      The Hurt Locker
      Bob Murawski and Chris Innis

Foreign Language Film

      The Secret in Their Eyes (El Secreto de Sus Ojos)
      Argentina
      Directed by Juan José Campanella

Makeup

      Star Trek
      Barney Burman, Mindy Hall and Joel Harlow

Music (Original Score)

      Up
      Michael Giacchino

Music (Original Song) : Crazy Heart

      "The Weary Kind (Theme from Crazy Heart)"
      Music and Lyric by Ryan Bingham and T Bone Burnett

Short Film (Animated)

      Logorama
      Nicolas Schmerkin

Short Film (Live Action)

      The New Tenants
      Joachim Back and Tivi Magnusson

Sound Editing

      The Hurt Locker
      Paul N.J. Ottosson

Sound Mixing

      The Hurt Locker
      Paul N.J. Ottosson and Ray Beckett

Visual Effects

      Avatar
      Joe Letteri, Stephen Rosenbaum, Richard Baneham and Andrew R. Jones

Writing (Adapted Screenplay)

      Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire
      Screenplay by Geoffrey Fletcher

Writing (Original Screenplay)

      The Hurt Locker
      Written by Mark Boal







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82nd Annual Academy Awards – Predictions

Avatar: 'Avatar' leads Oscar discussions online

"Avatar" Vs "Heart Locker" hard contest

Nominees for the 82nd academy award

Will ‘Hurt Locker’ have an ending like ‘Brokeback’?

A few days from now the best movies of the year will be judged and awarded athe Oscars…..and the line up this year is very competitive.

82nd Annual Academy Award Winners for Best Picture

Oscar Predictions are always a crap shoot but we will pin down who we think will win the Best Picture and Best Director and in this year’s entries there is am ex-husband and ex-wife competition. Directed by Kathryn Bigelow on a thriller involving the Army Explosive Ordinance Disposal team who disarm road side bombs.

Here are the Political News Oscar Predictions:

• Best Picture: The movie Hurt Locker is a wartime personal story of a journalist Mark Boal who’s experience with a bomb squad set in the conflict of Iraq. While this is a spectacular movie we still have to weight the odds are on Avatar. Avatar: The Oscar goes to Avatar for Best Picture

• Best Director: Kathryn Bigelow for Hurt Locker
• Best Actor goes to Jeff Bridges in Crazy Heart.
• Best Actress goes to Sandra Bullock for The Blind Side
• Best Supporting Actor and the winner is Christoph Waltz for Inglourious Basterds
• Best Supporting Actress and the winner is Mo’Nique in Precious.
• Best Original Screen Play goes to Quentin Tarantino for Inglourious Basterds
• Best Adapted Screen Play goes to Up in the Air
• Best Art Direction has to be Avatar
• Best Visual Effects again has to be Avatar.
• Best Sound Editing and the winner is Avatar.
• Best Sound Mixing ditto on Avatar.
• Best Makeup will go to Star Trek.
• Best Costume Design will go to Young Victoria.
• Best Cinematography a tie between Avatar and Hurt Locker but we will give
• in to the 3-D effects and Avatar will walk away with the Oscar.
• Best Film Editing goes to Hurt Locker.
• Best Original Song goes to Crazy Heart.
• Best Original Score goes to Up or Avatar it is a toss up.
• Best Documentary Feature goes to The Cove.
• Best Foreign Film and the winner is Un Prophete.
• Best Animated Feature and the Oscar goes to Up.

Hollywood-With the Academy Awards just days away, fans online are increasingly discussing the nominees for best picture, a category that has expanded to include 10 films this year, along with the actors and actresses nominated in a lead role, according to analysis undertaken by The Nielsen Company using Nielsen Online BuzzMetrics.

Mirroring its global box office success, Avatar dominates online discussion of films in the movie category, grabbing more than a quarter of all buzz globally surrounding the 10 Oscar-nominated films.

In India too Avatar is the most discussed movie online and has a majority share of buzz, followed by Up in the Air which is the second most discussed movie in India.

"It is not surprising to see discussions revolve around the movie Avatar so much, as it was one of the most awaited movies of the year 2009 and the fact that it came from the James Cameron stable, who had previously wowed everyone with Titanic, the wait was only justified. On the other hand following AR Rahman's double Oscars for his music in the film Slumdog Millionaire last year, the buzz online in India is quite palpable," said Karthik Nagarajan, Associate Director - Nielsen Online, The Nielsen Company.

In the main acting categories, Golden Globe winners Jeff Bridges (for Crazy Heart) and Sandra Bullock (for The Blind Side) take the global buzz lead against their competition, with each capturing more than a quarter of buzz globally.

Mumbai-He repairs almost anything, including irreparably damaged relationships. But this film about damaged lives needs no repairing. My Name Is Khan is a flawless work, as perfect in content, tone and treatment as any film can get. The ‘message’ of humanism doesn’t comes across in long pedantic speeches.

The film’s longest monologue has our damaged but exceptionally coherent hero Rizwan telling a congregation of Black American church-goers about his dead son.

And if that moment moves us to tears it’s because the emotions are neither manipulative nor flamboyant. It isn’t because Rizwan’s son Sameer perished in a racial attack. It isn’t even because Shah Rukh Khan delivers his life’s best performance in that moment of reckoning. Rizwan’s heartfelt rhetorics are not about changing the world with words. Born with a physical disability this is a man on the move. And boy, does he move!

In what is possibly the most touching testament on film to the spirit of world peace and humanism (lofty ideals to achieve in the massy-masala format but see how pitch-perfect Johar gets it), Rizwan takes off on a picaresque journey to meet the US President with a message that initially strikes us as being too naïve for reiteration.

But look closer. Some of life’s basic values have been lost in recent times. Writer Shibani Bathija’s seamless screenplay, arguably the best piece of writing since Rakeysh Mehra’s Rang De Basanti, recovers that long-lost message of loving your fellow human being unconditionally without getting trite around the edges.

Sex and politics have nothing to do with it. It’s okay to hug your neighbour.

First and foremost, My Name Is Khan is a wonderful story told with a flair and flourish that leave a lingering impact on the viewer. Almost every frame is composed with a mix of mind and heart creating an irresistible progression of moments so tender and forcible we’re simply swept away in the tides of the tale about a very special man who undertakes a very special journey.

My Name Is Khan opens with Rizwan boarding an American flight being frisked after a suspicious co-passenger hears him chanting religious passages. Before we begin to suspect this to be one more film on the persecution of the innocent Muslim, Karan Johar, doing a smart and slick spin away from his trademark content and style, takes his hero on a journey that crosses several emotional, political and geographical borders before stopping with breathless integrity to say, life doesn’t go on…it changes colours and textures with the moral values that the individual chooses to confer on the life given to him.

Superbly scripted by Bathija with pithy outstanding dialogues by Niranjan Iyenger, the film is edited by Deepa Bhatia with just that much amount of time allotted to the character’s and their thought processes to make them appear warm humane and tangible without over-punctuating their presence.

To take one example, when Rizwan's brother (Jimmy Shergil, making the best of his brief but comprehensive role) quietly tells his lovely wife (Sonia Jehan) to not wear her veil to work in the US because God would understand, the scene with beautiful economy conveys the couple’s mutual empathy and determination to override the hatred outside their home.

Karan Johar, always a master of overstatement, for once holds back. The silences in My Name Is Khan often speak far more eloquently than the spoken words. The relationships that the inarticulate Rizwan forms during the course of his life from child to husband to father to a political individual are contoured with a luminous lack of laboriousness. Whether it’s young Rizwan (played sensitively by Tanay Cheda) and his mother (Zarina Wahab, memorable in her brief appearance) or much later, Rizwan and his step-son (brilliant young discovery Yuvaan Makar), the traditional relationships are done-up in striking but subtle shades. We look at every moment in the film (even the clumsily-done flood sequences) as special because they are part of vision that goes far beyond the real of hop-in-hop-out entertainment.

The director swerves out of his comfort zone without the sound of screechy wheels. Karan Johar’s unconventional take on modern marital mores in Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna faltered due to over-statement. In Khan, he doesn’t try hard. The characters and their predicament, as America gets increasingly suspicious and hostile about the Muslim presence, are portrayed with a lightness of touch that lights up almost every sequence.

Then there is Kajol to provide the kind of natural light to every frame that no amount of artificial light can supplement. As Rizwan’s Hindu wife Mandira, with a smart intelligent son, she has a distinctly secondary role to Shah Rukh Khan. She leaves a lasting impact as a divorcee and later an angry wife and grieving mother, as only Kajol can.

The scenes of courtship between Mandira and Rizwan work so beautifully because of the exceptional chemistry between the two actors. More than a strong political statement and moving message of peace My Name Is A Khan is a love story of a man who can’t express his love through words, only deeds. This is a film that Frank Capra would’ve made if he had lived long enough to see 9/11 happen.

The narration is carpeted with virtues, both invisible and visible. Ravi K Chandran’s cinematography captures the incandescent soul of the pure-hearted protagonist as effectively as the stubbornly unbroken spirit of unknown passersby on the streets of America.

Rizwan, we are told, is petrified of the yellow colour. The offending colour recurs with just a hint of insistence. Rizwan wears shocking pink because he hears Mandira’s buddy (Navneet Nishan) say it suits her. He proposes marriage and sex (in that order) at the most inopportune moments. He suggests Mandira have her dinner when she’s traumatized by grief. He wears his dead son’s shoes as he takes off to meet the President. Rizwan moves by his clock. But his tale is timeless.

Shah Rukh Khan doesn’t PLAY Rizwan. He becomes one with the character’s subconscious, portraying the man and his spirit with strokes of an invisible paintbrush until what we see is what we cannot forget. Undoubtedly this is Shah Rukh’s best performance ever.

This is no ordinary hero. And My Name Is Khan is no ordinary film. Long after the wary-of-physical-touch, Rizwan has finally shaken hands with President Obama, long after the heat and dust of racial and communal hatred has settled down the core of humanism that the film secretes stays with you.

Yes, we finally know what they mean by a feelgood film.

Mumbai-The 1,000-odd people crammed into the foyer of the Emirates Palace auditorium greeted the star cast of “My Name Is Khan” with screams and claps, as the movie had its world premiere in Abu Dhabi last night (Feb 10).

Walking the narrow strip of the red carpet first were sponsors, studio bosses and the crew. The crowd grew restless, chanting ‘Shah Rukh, Shah Rukh’, as the wait lengthened. The chants subsided only when Karan Johar and Kajol walked in.

“We’re thrilled to be here, to be showing our movie in Abu Dhabi for the first time. Hope you like it as much as we enjoyed making it,” Karan Johar told the media lining the rope.

K-Jo was wearing his own collection, while Kajol glowed in a red and black Manish Malhotra sari. “Thank you so much for having us here,” she said, again and again.

The director and the heroine of “My Name Is Khan” shook hands and signed autographs with their fans, before moving into the auditorium.

A few minutes of silence and then a roar from the crowd. We knew Shah Rukh was on the red carpet. Very smart in a Karan Johar creation, he stopped at every media cluster to talk and shake hands. “I feel sorry that my movie may not get the opening it deserves in my own city. But I hope and pray it all works out,” he said.

Shah Rukh bent down to hug a little girl right in front of me and then the frenzy began. The fans flooded into the area reserved for the media and begged him for autographs and pictures. He obliged, for as long as he could, before he was ushered into the imposing auditorium.

Inside the theatre

Once inside, the same fans greeted K-Jo, SRK and Kajol with roars of approval as they went up on stage to say a few words ahead of the screening of “My Name Is Khan”.

“I may sound shaky and scattered because I am really nervous. This is the first official screening of my film,” Karan Johar said. “It is a part of my heart. A part of the heart of every team member… I’m proud to have the film flagged off in Abu Dhabi.”

“This is the finest piece of role, character, that anyone has written for us,” said Shah Rukh Khan, thanking K-Jo for letting him and Kajol be a part of “My Name Is Khan”.

“I hope you like the film. And even if you don’t we’re not returning the money,” he said, triggering laughter and claps among his fans.

The movie

As the reviews have said repeatedly, “My Name Is Khan” is a deeply moving and powerful film. Director Karan Johar has gone on record to say he has stepped out of his comfort zone in this movie. And that is evident.

There are no songs and dances; there is no colour-co-ordinated world and there are no overly-emotive scenes. A taut story of alienation, isolation, deep grief and ultimate triumph, “My Name Is Khan” uses the background of 9/11 brilliantly to tell the very personal story of Rizwan Khan, a Muslim man with autism in America.

SRK, as expected, is brilliant, under emoting instead of over emoting, as he usually does. Kajol actually outshines him in certain scenes. The support cast, particularly Zarina Wahab and Pravin Dabbas, were excellent as well. Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy’s music, subtly used, helped convey emotions the way words couldn’t have.

The movie could have been half an hour shorter though, and it is definitely not a watch for children.

The audiences were left asking for more when Bollywood megastar Shah Rukh Khan took off his shirt a la Salman Khan while shooting for a special episode of a music reality show.

Shah Rukh, who went to the reality show with filmmaker Karan Johar to promote their forthcoming movie My Name Is Khan, surprised everyone when he climbed up on a table and danced to the tune of Deewangi deewangi from his hit movie Om Shanti Om.

He then took off his shirt and flaunted his abs, said a source from the sets.

On the show all the songs sung by the contestants were from Shah Rukh's movies and the superstar shook a leg with all of them.

Super star Priyanka Chopra, who is set to cross the 200,000 mark in Twitter followers, visited the headquarter of the micro-blogging website in San Francisco after being especially invited there.

Priyanka tweeted about her visit to the headquarter where she met Biz Stone, Twitter co-founder.

"My day was really interesting because I was invited to Twitter headquarter in San Francisco! Had a great time. Thanks Biz and team for the wonderful hospitality," she posted.

The 27-year-old, who has been shooting in US for Sajid Nadiadwala's Anjaana Anjaani, is going to cross the 200,000 mark as far as her followers on Twitter are concerned. At present, she leads the Bollywood bandwagon on the site with 196,903 followers and has left stars like Shah Rukh Khan, Hrithik Roshan, Preity Zinta, Shahid Kapoor far behind.

"Priyanka was in the US for her movie shoot. She had to drop by at a studio for the NDTV Indian of the Year programme and there she met theTwitter team. She was invited to the headquarter office in San Francisco since she is so popular among the Bollywood celebs on Twitter," a source close to the actress said.

My Name Is Khan continues to dominate the international charts. The combined total from key international markets, at the end of 10 days, is approx. Rs. 46.25 crores.
U.K. BOX-OFFICE
Note:- Collections of several films are unavailable. Hence, this list is incomplete.

* My Name Is Khan [last weekend: No. 6, this weekend: No. 9]: In its second weekend, the film has collected £ 4,48,747 on 91 screens, with the per screen average working out to £ 4,931.
Total: £ 19,60,349 [approx. Rs. 14.05 crores].

U.S.A. BOX-OFFICE
* My Name Is Khan [last weekend: No. 13, this weekend: No. 17]: In its second weekend, the film has collected $ 7,00,885 on 125 screens, with the per screen average working out to $ 5,607.
Total: $ 32,53,168 [approx. Rs. 15.01 crores].

AUSTRALIA BOX-OFFICE
* My Name Is Khan [last weekend: No. 10, this weekend: No. 15]: In its second weekend, the film has collected Aus. $ 1,73,846 on 37 screens, with the per screen average working out to Aus. $ 4,699.
Total: Aus. $ 7,62,584 [approx. Rs. 3.17 crores].

OTHER KEY MARKETS

* Singapore: USD $ 3,01,094 [approx. Rs. 1.39 crores]

* Pakistan: USD $ 3,65,298 [approx. Rs. 1.68 crores]

* East and West Africa: USD $ 1,65,260 [approx. Rs. 76.22 lacs]

* Middle East Markets: USD $ 2.21 million [approx. Rs. 10.19 crores

This is a a piece of news which will hurt the fans of Shahrukh Khan. King Khan has lost it out to the perfectionist Aamir Khan once again. Shahrukh's My Name Is Khan which had got a bombastic opening opening in it's first week has lost grip over the Box Office in it's second week and seems to be no match for Aamir's 3 Idiots. My Name Is Khan has seen a steep fall in the second week with occupancy falling as much as 60% to 80%.


This is not the first time that Shahrukh has emerged No. 2 in the race. In 2008 too Shahrukh's Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi was going well but when Aamir's Ghajini released the movie found tough to breathe. Ghajini had gone on to establish records at the Box Office which was incidentally broken by Aamir starer 3 Idiots. Now having lost two consecutive rounds to Aamir, Shahrukh will find it tough to keep his 'Baadshah of Bollywood' tag.
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Shah Rukh Khan's "My Name Is Khan" : Questions of religious and national identity

• Hrithik Roshan
• Kangna Ranaut
• Barbara Mori
• Kabir Bedi
• Nick Brown

Hrithik Roshan starrer romantic saga ‘Kites’, which also marks the Bollywood debut of Mexican model Barbara Mori, will hit theatres worldwide on May 21.

The Hindi and English versions of ‘Kites’ will release worldwide simultaneously in 60 countries.The first trailer of the movie, which has been produced by Rakesh Roshan, distributed and marketed by Reliance Big Picture, was unveiled in 1700 screens on 12th February.

With wins at the Producers Guild, Directors Guild, Writers Guild, and British Academy Awards, “The “Hurt Locker” ” has clearly been racking up the major pre-Oscar prizes in the last month.

"Avatar" Vs "Heart Locker" hard contest

Nominees for the 82nd academy award

Britain's love of the underdog triumphed Sunday as intimate war drama "The Hurt Locker" beat 3D spectacular "Avatar" to take six prizes, including best picture, at the British Academy Film Awards.

Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino is confident that “Jersey Shore’s” second season won’t disappoint fans of the hit MTV reality show.

It's over between actress Abbie Cornish and boyfriend Ryan Phillippe, her spokesperson confirms to e-celebrity exclusively.

Director: Joe Johnston
Screenplay: Andrew Kevin Walker, David Self, Curt Siodmak (1941 screenplay)
Actors: Anthony Hopkins, Benicio del Toro, Emily Blunt, Hugo Weaving, Geraldine Chaplin
Cinematography: Shelly Johnson
Music: Danny Elfman
Release Date: February 12, 2010
Rating: 6 out of 10


Review:

The Wolfman is a remake of the popular horror classic that was produced by Universal over 60 years ago. Instead of capitalizing on a more contemporary adaptation of the character the studio decided to stick with the old plot and feel of the original. This includes the overseas location and time period, accompanied by plenty of blood and gore. This film could have been an amazing revamp of its predecessor but the excessive violence and unnecessary bloodshed ruins it all.

Lawrence Talbot, a haunted nobleman, returns to his family estate after his brother’s fiancee informs him of his death. It turns out that his sibling was murdered in the woods by a mysterious creature, who inflicted fatal wounds that weren’t of human origin. Against the advice of others he delves deep into his search, which sets a life changing event in motion. Throughout the film we try to figure out if it was destiny, a curse, or bad luck that leads him to his fate of becoming the Wolfman.

The Good:

Anthony Hopkins: The Oscar winning actor was the epitome of evil as Lawrence’s father. He was so emotionally detached that every time his character appeared on screen you always wondered what was going on behind his eyes.

The Horror: This film was genuinely scary. There are a lot of jump scares, but they actually work and make you want to check your surroundings ever so often.

Editing: The editing here helped with building up tension and fear within the film. There were certain scenes that could only work with the right cuts at the right time, and they were able to pull that off.

The Bad:

The Direction: The cast of this film was great, but it didn’t seem like their talent shined through. It takes a good director to bring out the best in their actors, and that didn’t happen here. Joe Johnston had two Oscar winners, and a Golden Globe nominee, yet they all gave mediocre performances. It makes you wonder what type of direction he was giving them.

The Accents: The location of the film is supposed to be near London, yet everyone’s accents are completely different. Del Toro’s is American, which they explain in the film, but Blunt and Hopkins are another story. Both actors are British in real life, yet Blunt sounded like an American doing her best British impersonation.

The Gore: There are some extremely graphic scenes that didn’t need to be shown. Every time the Wolfman appears expect to see exposed intestines, stomachs, and plenty of heads being clawed off during your viewing.

Overall:

There are certain elements from the original Wolfman that do appear in the remake, the only problem is those similarities are overshadowed by unnecessary blood. This is not a movie for the weak at heart or those with sensitive eyes. The Wolfman is a mixture of old school Gothic horror mixed with the Saw franchise. Does that sound like a pleasant combination to you? If so, you should definitely give it a shot this weekend.

Directed by	Martin Scorsese
Produced by	Bradley J. Fischer Mike Medavoy Arnold W. Messer
Written by	Laeta Kalogridis Steven Knight Dennis Lehane (Novel)
Starring	Leonardo DiCaprio Ben Kingsley Mark Ruffalo Michelle Williams Patricia Clarkson Emily Mortimer Ted Levine John Carroll Lynch Elias Koteas Jackie Earle Haley and Max von Sydow
Music by	Robbie Robertson
Cinematography	Robert Richardson
Editing by	Thelma Schoonmaker
Studio	Phoenix Pictures Appian Way Productions Sikelia Productions
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release date(s)	February 19, 2010 (2010-02-19)
Running time	138 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$80 million

Review:
Director Martin Scorsese's latest collaboration with Leonardo DiCaprio is a brain-scrambling good time.

Release Date: February 12, 2010
Studio: New Line Cinema (Warner Bros. Pictures)
Director: Garry Marshall
Screenwriter: Katherine Fugate
Starring: Jessica Alba, Kathy Bates, Jessica Biel, Bradley Cooper, Eric Dane, Patrick Dempsey, Hector Elizondo, Jamie Foxx, Jennifer Garner, Topher Grace, Anne Hathaway, Ashton Kutcher, Queen Latifah, Taylor Lautner, George Lopez, Shirley MacLaine, Emma Roberts, Julia Roberts, Taylor Swift
Genre: Comedy, Romance
MPAA Rating: PG-13 (for some sexual material and brief partial nudity)
Official Website: ValentinesDaymovie.com
Review: 3/10 rating | 5/10 rating


Story: While Valentine's Day is allegedly the busiest time of the year for the delivery of mushy messages and corny love trinkets all around town, the same should never be the case in a movie. Hyperactively busy in the extreme while negotiating endless crisscross plot lines between way too cute celeb cameos that include geriatric infidelity and worse, Garry Marshall's Valentine's Day is skits-ophrenic moviemaking when less would have indeed been much more.

In other words, where does one begin. It's Valentine's Day morning in LA, and shy guy florist deliveryman Reed (Ashton Kutcher) wakes up extra early to propose marriage to ambivalent girlfriend Morley (Jessica Alba), who seems to more attached to her cellphone. Literally. Which means that Reed has to figure out just how to pry her fingers loose from the notoriously addictive gadget, in order to find that spare finger for his engagement ring.

While on another side of town, anxious television news anchor Kelvin (Jamie Foxx) has just been demoted to puff piece patrol to sniff out human interest holiday stories, while the weathergirl taps dances away to stimulate the sagging ratings. And which Kelvin needs to wrap up, before jogging over to a press conference at which a famous athlete will announce he's gay.

Elsewhere, giddy grade school teacher Julia (Jennifer Garner) who is otherwise fairly luckless in romance, daydreams between classroom lessons about her current surprise requited crush on a possibly too good to be true affectionate physician. This while a more sensible and stern army captain (Julia Roberts) shares a philosophical plane ride with a mysterious stranger. Who will actually get to have the last word eventually in wrapping up this overly crowded scenario, that seems less like a smoothly paced script than a rush hour traffic jam on the LA freeway.

But there's more. Also getting in on the act for some dubious comic relief, is Jessica Biel as a thoroughly unconvincing sad sack who can't get a date. As a frantic Anne Hathaway appears to be revisiting her persecuted workplace drudge in The Devil Wears Prada, with Queen Latifah seemingly preempting Meryl Streep this time around, doing The Devil Wears Plus Size Prada.

And while Hathaway moonlights on the sly during work hours as a phone sex operator to make ends meet and pay for her health insurance and outstanding student loan, her dirty talk conversations are so lame PG, that the actual phone sex industry may end up losing business. Though Queen Latifah's boss from hell secretive impulse to move in and take over Hathaway's seductive operation with virtual bullwhip in hand, couldn't be funnier and saves this collaborative mayhem from looming movie overkill.

                         Nominees for the 82nd academy award




Actor in a Leading Role
•    Jeff Bridges in “Crazy Heart”
•    George Clooney in “Up in the Air”
•    Colin Firth in “A Single Man”
•    Morgan Freeman in “Invictus”
•    Jeremy Renner in “The Hurt Locker”
Actor in a Supporting Role
•    Matt Damon in “Invictus”
•    Woody Harrelson in “The Messenger”
•    Christopher Plummer in “The Last Station”
•    Stanley Tucci in “The Lovely Bones”
•    Christoph Waltz in “Inglourious Basterds”
Actress in a Leading Role
•    Sandra Bullock in “The Blind Side”
•    Helen Mirren in “The Last Station”
•    Carey Mulligan in “An Education”
•    Gabourey Sidibe in “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire”
•    Meryl Streep in “Julie & Julia”
Actress in a Supporting Role
•    Penélope Cruz in “Nine”
•    Vera Farmiga in “Up in the Air”
•    Maggie Gyllenhaal in “Crazy Heart”
•    Anna Kendrick in “Up in the Air”
•    Mo’Nique in “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire”
Animated Feature Film
•    “Coraline” Henry Selick
•    “Fantastic Mr. Fox” Wes Anderson
•    “The Princess and the Frog” John Musker and Ron Clements
•    “The Secret of Kells” Tomm Moore
•    “Up” Pete Docter
Art Direction
•    “Avatar” Art Direction: Rick Carter and Robert Stromberg; Set Decoration: Kim Sinclair
•    “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus” Art Direction: Dave Warren and Anastasia Masaro; Set Decoration: Caroline Smith
•    “Nine” Art Direction: John Myhre; Set Decoration: Gordon Sim
•    “Sherlock Holmes” Art Direction: Sarah Greenwood; Set Decoration: Katie Spencer
•    “The Young Victoria” Art Direction: Patrice Vermette; Set Decoration: Maggie Gray
Cinematography
•    “Avatar” Mauro Fiore
•    “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” Bruno Delbonnel
•    “The Hurt Locker” Barry Ackroyd
•    “Inglourious Basterds” Robert Richardson
•    “The White Ribbon” Christian Berger
Costume Design
•    “Bright Star” Janet Patterson
•    “Coco before Chanel” Catherine Leterrier
•    “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus” Monique Prudhomme
•    “Nine” Colleen Atwood
•    “The Young Victoria” Sandy Powell
Directing
•    “Avatar” James Cameron
•    “The Hurt Locker” Kathryn Bigelow
•    “Inglourious Basterds” Quentin Tarantino
•    “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” Lee Daniels
•    “Up in the Air” Jason Reitman
Documentary (Feature)
•    “Burma VJ” Anders Østergaard and Lise Lense-Møller
•    “The Cove” Louie Psihoyos and Fisher Stevens
•    “Food, Inc.” Robert Kenner and Elise Pearlstein
•    “The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers” Judith Ehrlich and Rick Goldsmith
•    “Which Way Home” Rebecca Cammisa
Documentary (Short Subject)
•    “China’s Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province” Jon Alpert and Matthew O’Neill
•    “The Last Campaign of Governor Booth Gardner” Daniel Junge and Henry Ansbacher
•    “The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant” Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert
•    “Music by Prudence” Roger Ross Williams and Elinor Burkett
•    “Rabbit à la Berlin” Bartek Konopka and Anna Wydra
Film Editing
•    “Avatar” Stephen Rivkin, John Refoua and James Cameron
•    “District 9” Julian Clarke
•    “The Hurt Locker” Bob Murawski and Chris Innis
•    “Inglourious Basterds” Sally Menke
•    “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” Joe Klotz
Foreign Language Film
•    “Ajami” Israel
•    “The Milk of Sorrow (La Teta Asustada)” Peru
•    “A Prophet (Un Prophète)” France
•    “The Secret in Their Eyes (El Secreto de Sus Ojos)” Argentina
•    “The White Ribbon (Das Weisse Band)” Germany
Makeup
•    “Il Divo” Aldo Signoretti and Vittorio Sodano
•    “Star Trek” Barney Burman, Mindy Hall and Joel Harlow
•    “The Young Victoria” Jon Henry Gordon and Jenny Shircore
Music (Original Score)
•    “Avatar” James Horner
•    “Fantastic Mr. Fox” Alexandre Desplat
•    “The Hurt Locker” Marco Beltrami and Buck Sanders
•    “Sherlock Holmes” Hans Zimmer
•    “Up” Michael Giacchino
Music (Original Song)
•    “Almost There” from “The Princess and the Frog” Music and Lyric by Randy Newman
•    “Down in New Orleans” from “The Princess and the Frog” Music and Lyric by Randy Newman
•    “Loin de Paname” from “Paris 36” Music by Reinhardt Wagner Lyric by Frank Thomas
•    “Take It All” from “Nine” Music and Lyric by Maury Yeston
•    “The Weary Kind (Theme from Crazy Heart)” from “Crazy Heart” Music and Lyric by Ryan Bingham and T Bone Burnett
Best Picture
•    “Avatar” James Cameron and Jon Landau, Producers
•    “The Blind Side” Gil Netter, Andrew A. Kosove and Broderick Johnson, Producers
•    “District 9” Peter Jackson and Carolynne Cunningham, Producers
•    “An Education” Finola Dwyer and Amanda Posey, Producers
•    “The Hurt Locker” Kathryn Bigelow, Mark Boal, Nicolas Chartier and Greg Shapiro, Producers
•    “Inglourious Basterds” Lawrence Bender, Producer
•    “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” Lee Daniels, Sarah Siegel-Magness and Gary Magness, Producers
•    “A Serious Man” Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, Producers
•    “Up” Jonas Rivera, Producer
•    “Up in the Air” Daniel Dubiecki, Ivan Reitman and Jason Reitman, Producers
Short Film (Animated)
•    “French Roast” Fabrice O. Joubert
•    “Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty” Nicky Phelan and Darragh O’Connell
•    “The Lady and the Reaper (La Dama y la Muerte)” Javier Recio Gracia
•    “Logorama” Nicolas Schmerkin
•    “A Matter of Loaf and Death” Nick Park
Short Film (Live Action)
•    “The Door” Juanita Wilson and James Flynn
•    “Instead of Abracadabra” Patrik Eklund and Mathias Fjellström
•    “Kavi” Gregg Helvey
•    “Miracle Fish” Luke Doolan and Drew Bailey
•    “The New Tenants” Joachim Back and Tivi Magnusson
Sound Editing
•    “Avatar” Christopher Boyes and Gwendolyn Yates Whittle
•    “The Hurt Locker” Paul N.J. Ottosson
•    “Inglourious Basterds” Wylie Stateman
•    “Star Trek” Mark Stoeckinger and Alan Rankin
•    “Up” Michael Silvers and Tom Myers
Sound Mixing
•    “Avatar” Christopher Boyes, Gary Summers, Andy Nelson and Tony Johnson
•    “The Hurt Locker” Paul N.J. Ottosson and Ray Beckett
•    “Inglourious Basterds” Michael Minkler, Tony Lamberti and Mark Ulano
•    “Star Trek” Anna Behlmer, Andy Nelson and Peter J. Devlin
•    “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” Greg P. Russell, Gary Summers and Geoffrey Patterson
Visual Effects
•    “Avatar” Joe Letteri, Stephen Rosenbaum, Richard Baneham and Andrew R. Jones
•    “District 9” Dan Kaufman, Peter Muyzers, Robert Habros and Matt Aitken
•    “Star Trek” Roger Guyett, Russell Earl, Paul Kavanagh and Burt Dalton
Writing (Adapted Screenplay)
•    “District 9” Written by Neill Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell
•    “An Education” Screenplay by Nick Hornby
•    “In the Loop” Screenplay by Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci, Tony Roche
•    “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” Screenplay by Geoffrey Fletcher
•    “Up in the Air” Screenplay by Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner
Writing (Original Screenplay)
•    “The Hurt Locker” Written by Mark Boal
•    “Inglourious Basterds” Written by Quentin Tarantino
•    “The Messenger” Written by Alessandro Camon & Oren Moverman
•    “A Serious Man” Written by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
•    “Up” Screenplay by Bob Peterson, Pete Docter, Story by Pete Docter, Bob Peterson, Tom McCarthy

Questions of religious and national identity, of the sense of right and wrong, of combating a certain isolation that comes with a behavioural disorder. But what triumphs over all the complexities unfolding in a tumultuous post 9/11 America is Rizwan Khan and his essential goodness that tells you unwaveringly – his name is Khan and he is not a terrorist.
Director Karan Johar is in unfamiliar territory here. The super intelligent Rizwan, who has Asperger’s Syndrome, a form of autism, his halting voice with his inability to communicate, and his many relationships – with his mother, his brother, and yes, Mandira, and her son Sam.
Rizwan who finds love and loses it some years later when his Khan identity becomes all important in a tense, suspicious America. You sit through three hours waiting to get a glimpse of Shah Rukh through Rizwan Khan, but it doesn’t happen.  All credit to Karan Johar for that.
If Shah Rukh lives and breathes Rizwan in what is one of his finest roles, Kajol as Mandira, the vivacious single mother, is also good – as always. The chemistry between them if not always crackling, then heartwarming..
Like a piece of music that gradually rises to grand crescendo, ‘My Name Is Khan’ begins with Rizwan as a child with his mother – so good to see Zarina Wahab after such a long time – in a tenement in Mumbai and ends with cheers from the US’ first African American president in a crowded rally.
It’s from his mother that Rizwan learns his first lessons of humanity; as the 1983 Mumbai riots rage outside, she tells the young boy that the world is divided into good people and bad people.
It is this essential humanism that carries Rizwan through from Mumbai to San Francisco where his brother stays, then to the suburb of Banville where he moves in with Mandira and Sam, and even when he is taken to be a terror suspect.
Sam, his ‘only best friend’, is subjected to a vicious race attack because he takes on Rizwan’s surname. Mandira hits back, saying that the worst thing she could have done was marry a Khan and Rizwan is out on the roads – unable to articulate his feelings but backpacking his way across the US to meet ‘president sahib’ so he can tell him: ‘My name is Khan and I am not a terrorist.’
It is a road journey through a troubled post 9/11 America towards humanism and the essential goodness of the human spirit.
This is a US where chanting the name of Allah gets you into trouble, where the word terrorist and Khan in conjunction can put you behind bars. Rizwan moves from being a terror suspect to a nationwide hero who exposes a terror mastermind. And then, the man with the mission who travels to Wilhelmina that is literally drowning in a hurricane to supervise a heroic rescue mission.
There’s Afghanistan and Iraq, Bush and Obama too. The US’ first African American president is voted in and, in that final feel good moment Rizwan meets him in front of thousands of people and his goodness is validated.
Plenty of great one liners. When he is refused entry into a presidential fundraiser for the poor in Africa that is only for Christians, he leaves behind $500 saying: ‘This if for those who are not Christians in Africa.’
The music by Shankar Ehsaan Loy is superb. This is not a film without flaws, it is at least 20 minutes too long for one and flags in the pre-interval period, but here is one straight from the heart. It has a message, in these days of tensions over language and religion, one which needs to be heard.

Mumbai-Salman Khan in a period film?!! I won't deny I was a bit apprehensive about how Veer would turn up to be. Yes, from the look and feel it did look like a period film, but fifteen minutes into the film, I was pleasantly surprised to find myself enjoying the plot as we saw cannons roar, swords clash and men on galloping horses slaying one another on the battlefield.

Set in the times when the British were colonising India, Veer is a tale of bravery, treachery and love rolled into one. As the British enslave India with their shrewd 'Divide and Rule' policy, kings and nawabs fall to their guile and entrust their kingdom to them, one of them being Jackie Shroff, the Raja of Madhavgarh. He cheats the Pindaris, a fighter tribe from Rajputana, to please the British and loses his right hand to Prithvi Singh (Mithun Chakraborty).

Prithvi, one of the proud heads of the Pindaris, swears to return and kill every white man and the Raja to avenge the deception that cost his tribe, their land and their reputation. The vile Raja of Madhavpur too harbours a similar intention behind his cool demeanour. But as fate would have it, little did he realise that one day his daughter Jashodhara (Zarine Khan) would fall in love with the bravest of them all, Veer.

Now Veer not only takes on the British rulers, he also has to fight the cunning Raja of Madhavgarh. But then he has fallen head-over-heels in love Jasho and has killed her brother (Puru Raj Kumar) too. Will he succeed or won't he is for you to figure out.

Salman seemed to be back in form. He has lost more weight this time and looked better than in Wanted. It felt good to see him dancing gracefully and emoting right at the same time, maybe because Salman himself has invested a lot in terms of story as well.

The film has good music with a few hummable tracks.

But the discussion would be incomplete if we don't talk about Sallu's action sequences and his dialogues. As in Wanted, here too he has a few punch lines kept aside for his fans. Sample this: Ek bar leta hoon toh paanch ser gosht le ke hi chhodta hoon. If this was not all he goes on to prove it by actually killing a rebel Pindari with his bare hands by scooping out his flesh. And guess what he comes up with? 'Tol lena, paanch ser se zyada hi hoga." Woof!!

American and  Twilight Star actress Kristen Jaymes Stewart is best known for playing Bella Swan in Twilight and New Moon, and will reprise her role in Eclipse.

American actress Kristen  Stewart is best known for playing Bella Swan in Twilight and New Moon, and will reprise her role in Eclipse.