Slumdog Millionaire was.....
...awesomesauce. :):):)
Definitely not a movie that you'd come out of the cinema being all OMGDIDYOUSEETHATEFFINGCOOLSCENE??!! and proceed to talk about it for days...but if you did not leave the hall with a big goofy smile on the face and a warm fuzzy feeling, then you have no heart. NO. HEART.
I'm too lazy to google or wiki the casting director...but he did a hella great job. Dev Patel was awesome as main character, Jamal. He always manages to capture in his expression a perfect blend of poignance and optimisim. I don't know how he does it, but dayum, he's gooood. You just want to root for the guy after all the shit (literal and figurative) he's been through! And if you've ever watched a Bollywood movie, you know how they like to stylize a "bad" character to the point of hilarious cartoonishness. Madhur Mittal as Jamal's brother Salim was en pointe as a believable villian with a conscience YET they managed to retain the cheesy Bollywood badboy hair and sunnies XD
Children who played the younger versions of the main characters were effective and Freida Pinto's performance was...well...alright. Personally I felt that her Latika could be played by any other actress, but still, she's smoking hot, so all is forgiven. Haha! :P The only other semi recent movie I can think of with an equally high calibre cast is the combo of Aaron Eckhart, Heath Ledger and Christian Bale in TDK.
The movie was paced well...you had no time to feel bored or disinterested, and I really liked how the chronology of events played out. The movie starts right smack in the middle of the timeline, then moves seamlessly back and forth between a series of past flashbacks and it's effect on the current happenings and finally decelerates into a happy, happy ending. Other movies and directors (*cough Baz Luhrmann *cough* Australia *cough*) need to take a leaf out of Danny Boyle's book if they want to tackle a film with such a strong slant towards a particular country's culture.
I noticed faults (I'm nit picky like that!)...For one, God knows where Jamal picked up such advanced conversational English when speaking to tourists and Salim's accent sometimes turns distinctly British. The whole premise of the show, where Jamal's pitiable and poverty stricken childhood events are fated to coincidentally hold the answers to ALL the questions on "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire" kind of requires some...okay....a huge suspension of belief. But hey, doesn't everyone hold a secret wish that somewhere out there, some grand big plan is a part of your destiny...just waiting for the right time to happen? :)
Overall, great great great heartwarming and uplifting show well well well worth your money.
Go watch it. NOW.
GOGOGO.
Definitely not a movie that you'd come out of the cinema being all OMGDIDYOUSEETHATEFFINGCOOLSCENE??!! and proceed to talk about it for days...but if you did not leave the hall with a big goofy smile on the face and a warm fuzzy feeling, then you have no heart. NO. HEART.
I'm too lazy to google or wiki the casting director...but he did a hella great job. Dev Patel was awesome as main character, Jamal. He always manages to capture in his expression a perfect blend of poignance and optimisim. I don't know how he does it, but dayum, he's gooood. You just want to root for the guy after all the shit (literal and figurative) he's been through! And if you've ever watched a Bollywood movie, you know how they like to stylize a "bad" character to the point of hilarious cartoonishness. Madhur Mittal as Jamal's brother Salim was en pointe as a believable villian with a conscience YET they managed to retain the cheesy Bollywood badboy hair and sunnies XD
Children who played the younger versions of the main characters were effective and Freida Pinto's performance was...well...alright. Personally I felt that her Latika could be played by any other actress, but still, she's smoking hot, so all is forgiven. Haha! :P The only other semi recent movie I can think of with an equally high calibre cast is the combo of Aaron Eckhart, Heath Ledger and Christian Bale in TDK.
The movie was paced well...you had no time to feel bored or disinterested, and I really liked how the chronology of events played out. The movie starts right smack in the middle of the timeline, then moves seamlessly back and forth between a series of past flashbacks and it's effect on the current happenings and finally decelerates into a happy, happy ending. Other movies and directors (*cough Baz Luhrmann *cough* Australia *cough*) need to take a leaf out of Danny Boyle's book if they want to tackle a film with such a strong slant towards a particular country's culture.
I noticed faults (I'm nit picky like that!)...For one, God knows where Jamal picked up such advanced conversational English when speaking to tourists and Salim's accent sometimes turns distinctly British. The whole premise of the show, where Jamal's pitiable and poverty stricken childhood events are fated to coincidentally hold the answers to ALL the questions on "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire" kind of requires some...okay....a huge suspension of belief. But hey, doesn't everyone hold a secret wish that somewhere out there, some grand big plan is a part of your destiny...just waiting for the right time to happen? :)
Overall, great great great heartwarming and uplifting show well well well worth your money.
Go watch it. NOW.
GOGOGO.