On the Road (2011)

On the Road is a film adaptation of the Jack Kerouac novel of the same name directed by Walter Salles and starring Sam Riley as Sal Paradise and Garrett Hedlund as Dean Moriarty. It is being produced by Francis Ford Coppola. Filming began on August 4, 2010, in Montreal, Canada, with a $25 million budget. The story is based on the years Kerouac spent traveling America in the 1940's with his friend Neal Cassady and several other figures who would go on to fame in their own right, including William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg.

Directed by Walter Salles

Produced by Francis Ford Coppola
Rebecca Yeldham
Nathanael Karmitz
Charles Gillibert

Written by Jose Rivera
Jack Kerouac novel)

Starring
Sam Riley
Garrett Hedlund
Kristen Stewart
Kirsten Dunst
Viggo Mortensen
Amy Adams

Music
by Gustavo Santaolalla
Cinematography Eric Gautier
Studio American Zoetrope
MK2
Film4

Distributed by
DreamWorks/Touchstone Pictures (US/Worldwide)
Icon Film Distribution (UK)
MK2 (France)
Country United States

Language English

Budget $25 million

more info please visit http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0337692/

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Zhang Yimou New Film: Under the Hawthorn Tree

The Love of the Hawthorn Tree (simplified Chinese: 山楂树之恋; traditional Chinese: 山楂樹之戀) is a movie directed by the Chinese director Zhang Yimou. It was adapted from the popular 2007 novel "Hawthorn Tree Forever" by Ai Mi, which was based on a true story, and was set during the Cultural Revolution.The film was released in Mainland China (September 2010), Hong Kong (November 2010) and in Singapore.



Set during the end of China's Cultural Revolution in a small village in Yichang City, Hubei Province, China, this film is about a pure love that develops between a beautiful high school student, Zhang Jingqiu and a handsome young prospector named Lao San. Jingqiu is one of the "educated youth" sent to be "re-educated" through work in the countryside under a directive from Chairman Mao.

She arrives with a group in Xiping village, in the Yangtze River's Three Gorges region, where they are shown a hawthorn tree called the Tree of Heroes which was reputedly nourished by the blood of Chinese martyrs executed by the Japanese during World War Two. Jingqiu is lodged with the family of village head , where she meets geology student Sun Jianxin (nicknamed Lao San) ,who also takes his meals at Zhang's home, and was drawn his responsible and honorable character.

Lao San's father is a high-up in the military but his mother committed suicide four years ago after being branded a "rightist". Jing's father is also a political prisoner somewhere in China and her mother is branded as a "capitalist" and is reduced to menial work to support their family. Following the political persecution of his father, Jing Qiu lives up to his mother’s expectations and becomes the rock of the family.

Despite the fact that this could imperil the future of Jingqiu and her family, the two main characters fell in love at first sight and their relationship continues the following year. Lao San also promises to wait for her until she grows up. She, however, becoming conflicted between love and duty.

However, Lao San later develops leukemia and forces himself to leave his sweetheart. Jing, without knowing about his deadly disease, is only reunited with him when he's dying. Will their love ever become fulfilled?


Directed by Zhang Yimou
Produced by Zhang Weiping, Cao Yuayi, Hugo Shong, Bill Kong
Written by Yin Lichuan, Gu Xiaobai, A Mei (novel)
Story by Ai Mi
Starring Zhou Dongyu, Shawn Dou
Music by Qigang Chen
Cinematography Zhao Xiaoding
Editing by Meng Peicong
Distributed by Edko Fims Ltd.
Release date(s) 15 September 2010 (2010-09-15) (China)
Running time 114 minutes
Country China
Language Mandarin

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October 2010 Film Release: Buried (2010)

* Release Date:October 8th, 2010
* Starring: Ryan Reynolds, José Luis García Pérez, Robert Paterson, Stephen Tobolowsky, Samantha Mathis
* Director:Rodrigo Cortés
* Writer:Chris Sparling
* Studio:Lionsgate
* Genre:Mystery, Thriller
* Official Site:experienceburied.com, twitter.com/lionsgatehorror, facebook.com/experienceburied
* Runtime:1 hour 35 minutes

Paul Conroy is not ready to die. But when he wakes up 6 feet underground with no idea of who put him there or why, life for the truck driver and family man instantly becomes a hellish struggle for survival. Buried with only a cell phone and a lighter, his contact with the outside world and ability to piece together clues that could help him discover his location are maddeningly limited. Poor reception, a rapidly draining battery, and a dwindling oxygen supply become his worst enemies in a tightly confined race against time- fighting panic, despair and delirium, Paul has only 90 minutes to be rescued before his worst nightmare comes true.

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National Schools Film Week 2010

This year’s dates are:
England, Wales & Northern Ireland – 14-22 October 2010
Scotland: 28 October-5 November 2010
National Schools Film Week (NSFW) provides teachers and their students the opportunity to see a wide range of films at local cinemas entirely free-of-charge.

The Festival's goal is to support classroom teaching by providing schools with a powerful experience for their students that links directly to elements of the curriculum, supported by an on-line library of resources related to individual films and more generic topics, essentially an extension of the classroom.

Over 400,000 students and their teachers attended the Festival in 2009 and this year the Festival, which operates on a scale and with a degree of sophistication unknown in any other country (2,800 screenings at 540 cinemas across the UK) celebrates its 15th birthday.

We welcome bookings of all sizes. Some schools will bring an entire Year group or Key Stage while others attend on a class-by-class basis. We absolutely do not limit places to any number of students or schools to any number of bookings. As long as there is space in the cinema, you are welcome!

more information please visit the official website at http://www.nsfw.org

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Film Review: The Social Network

A mesmerizing, bewildering and infuriating protagonist makes this movie about Facebook's creation a must-see.

"The Social Network" has as its protagonist a character drawn in a Shakespearean mode, a high-achieving individual who carries within him the seeds of his own destruction. This would, of course, be young Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg), the man behind the social-network phenomenon Facebook.

As the movie makes abundantly clear, the facts behind its founding are in dispute but, without a doubt, Zuckerberg did create Facebook. Yet far from celebrating this feat, the movie examines how a man who cares little about money became the world's youngest billionaire yet lost his one true friend.

At least that's what the movie says happened. The film, written by Aaron Sorkin, is based on Ben Mezrich's book "The Accidental Billionaires" and Sorkin's own research yet neither writer, predictably, was able to talk to Zuckerberg to get his point of view. So it is as a fictional construct -- based on ample public sources, however -- that "Mark Zuckerberg" achieves its Shakespearean dimension. He gains the whole world but loses his most meaningful asset because of a fatal flaw on view in the very first scene.

"Social" has the potential to be that rarity -- a film that gains critical laurels and award mentions yet also does killer boxoffice. Certainly, Sorkin, the film's director, David Fincher, and its heavyweight producers have crafted a smart, insightful film that satisfies both camps. The hook is the film's of-the-moment topic but the payoff is its hero. Or antihero or villain or whatever.

The very first scene? Harvard undergrad Mark and his girlfriend, Erica (Rooney Mara), are trying to have a dinner date at a noisy Cambridge brew pub. Or at least she's trying. He's talking a mile a minute with every syllable screaming egocentricity and dripping with sarcasm and defensive insecurity. She can't even change the topic. Indeed, she can't even tell what the topic is.

After one insult too many, it's easier for Erica to break up with Mark. So the flaw is most ironic -- the guy who will revolutionize the way people communicate can't communicate himself. He is virtually blind to anyone else's perspective.

Pissed off, Mark jogs home to get drunk, hit his computer and, to take his mind off Erica, accidentally invents Facebook. Okay, it's not Facebook; it's Facemash, a stupid idea that only a genius computer hacker/scientist would dream up in which he hacks into Harvard's computer system, downloads all photos from the "facebooks" of the university's houses and asks students to vote on which girls are the hottest.

The contest goes viral, crashes Harvard's computer system, earns Mark a reprimand from authorities but attracts the attention of Harvard twins Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss (Armie Hammer and Josh Pence with the help of special effects). These are wealthy and privileged scholar-athletes trying to develop an inner-campus website to create a place for students to meet, greet and perhaps score dates.

They approach the anarchist-hacker, who is intrigued by their idea but prefers to go to his best friend and fellow Jew, Eduardo Saverin (Andrew Garfield), to finance a social network that contains elements of the Winklevosses' idea but transforms it into what we now know as Facebook.

Then the rest of the movie, in an inspired move by Sorkin, takes place at legal depositions. Because a few years later, Facebook is a billion-dollar miracle and lawsuits are flying everywhere: The twins and their Indian-American partner Divya Narendra (Max Minghella, who doesn't look or act Indian), and Eduardo, who has been frozen out of Facebook thanks to the Svengali-like efforts of Napster creator Sean Parker (Justin Timberlake), are all suing Mark.

As everyone recollects his version of events, the film flashes back to these developments. You understand no one's testimony is reliable but Sorkin tries to sort out the possible scenario that lands everyone in this legal soup.

The story thus becomes a tale of power, fame, betrayal, revenge and responsibility. Under Fincher's astute direction the characters fairly pop out at you. Even in a one-scene performance, famed Harvard president Larry Summers (Douglas Urbanski) startles the viewer with his abrupt impatience and sterling wit as he dismisses the twins' heavy-handed attempt to enlist the school in their cause.

Fincher also places events in milieus that ring true. His portrait of campus life among America's elite is pitch-perfect, every bit as much as the drug-and-party excesses of Silicon Valley and the war rooms of corporate attorneys.

There have been complaints from early screenings that no one is very likable in this movie. You'll get no argument here but that's beside the point. "Mark Zuckerberg" is thoroughly unlikable but he is an original. Ask yourself: How many truly original characters show up in American movies?

Mark exists in his own world. He dresses like he just rolled out of bed and doesn't relate to people half as well as he does to computers, algorithms and user databases. He finds people, at best, helpful to his creations or, at worst, annoying. He cannot speak civilly to anyone yet has the verbal skills to hone in on sore points with his acquaintances. His oral jousting with the deposing attorneys is brilliantly rendered in dialogue Sorkin presumably lifted from transcripts.

About the only character that comes off well is Garfield's Eduardo. The guy seems to care genuinely about his ex-friend and is bitterly unhappy about his treatment by Mark. Everyone else is borderline manic, such as Eduardo's sweet-and-sour girlfriend, played by a Brenda Song.

The production is the best studios can offer with Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross' hypnotically repetitive score, Jeff Cronenweth's fluid, sparkling cinematography and Donald Graham Burt's pinpoint-accurate production design all major pluses. There's no flaw here.

So the film comes down to a mesmerizing portrait of a man who in any other age would perhaps be deemed nuts or useless, but in the Internet age has this mental agility to transform an idea into an empire. Yet he still cannot rule his own life to the point he doesn't lose what's important to him.

At least that's what the movie says.

Opens: Friday, Oct. 1 (Columbia Pictures)
Production companies: Columbia Pictures in association with Relativity Media present a Scott Rudin/Michael De Luca/Trigger Street production
Cast: Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield, Justin Timberlake, Armie Hammer, Max Minghella, Josh Pence, Brenda Song, Rashida Jones
Director: David Fincher
Screenwriter: Aaron Sorkin
Based on the book by: Ben Mezrich
Producers: Scott Rudin, Dana Brunetti, Michael De Luca, Cean Chaffin
Executive producers: Kevin Spacey
Director of photography: Jeff Cronenweth
Production designer: Donald Graham Burt
Music: Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross
Costume designer: Jacqueline West
Editors: Angus Wall, Kirk Baxter
Rated PG-13, 120 minutes

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Movie Review: Inception (2010)

Dom Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) is a skilled thief, the best in the dangerous art of extraction: stealing valuable secrets from deep within the subconscious during the dream state when the mind is at its most vulnerable. Cobb's rare ability has made him a coveted player in this treacherous new world of corporate espionage, but it has also made him an international fugitive and cost him everything he has ever loved. Now Cobb is being offered a chance at redemption. One last job could give him his life back but only if he can accomplish the impossible--inception. Instead of the perfect heist, Cobb and his team of specialists have to pull off the reverse; their task is not to steal an idea but to plant one. If they succeed, it could be the perfect crime.

But no amount of careful planning or expertise can prepare the team for the dangerous enemy that seems to predict their every move. An enemy that only Cobb could have seen coming.

Genre: Action, Sci-Fi
Duration: 2 hrs. 28 min.
Starring: Cillian Murphy, Ellen Page, Leonardo DiCaprio, Marion Cotillard, Ken Watanabe, Tom Hardy
Director: Christopher Nolan
Producer: Christopher Nolan, Emma Thomas
Distributor: Warner Bros. Pictures
Release Date: July 16, 2010
Writer: Christopher Nolan

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Avatar The Most Popular Movie

More than a decade in the making, James Cameron's 3-D fantasy about a colony of human astronauts hoping to plunder an alien rainforest represents a quantum leap in movie magic; watching it, I began to understand how people in 1933 must have felt when they saw King Kong. Motion-capture animation, which transposes actors’ physical movements and facial expressions to digital characters onscreen, has never been executed with such accuracy and delicacy, and the planet's strange, colorful landscape is so minutely realized, with such careful study of botany and biology, that the movie's standard eco-parable feels effortlessly sincere. None of this would matter, though, if not for Cameron's perfectly arcing story line, in which a paraplegic military man (Sam Worthington) gets a chance to inhabit an ambulatory alien body and ultimately must choose between his own people and the tribal community they're about to attack. With Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang, Michelle Rodriguez, and Giovanni Ribisi. PG-13, 162 min.

Avatar showtimes: Tuesday, December 22
Official Site: www.avatarmovie.com
Director: James Cameron
Writer: James Cameron
Producer: James Cameron and Jon Landau
Cast: Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Stephen Lang, Michelle Rodriguez, Sigourney Weaver, Giovanni Ribisi, CCH Pounder, Joel Moore, Laz Alonso and Wes Studi

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