Union Budget 2020: वित्त मंत्री निर्मला सीतारमण अब से कुछ देर बार लोकसभा में आम बजट को पेश करेंगी. इस...from आज तक https://ift.tt/3aZ8z7W
Actor Linda Hamilton says she would like to believe that her future in the Terminator franchise is over in the wake of the dismal performance of the latest entry Dark Fate.
The actor, however, is open to working on a project in the franchise if it is made on a smaller budget.
"I don't know. I would really appreciate maybe a smaller version where so many millions are not at stake. Today's audience is just so unpredictable. I can't tell you how many laymen just go, 'Well, people don't go to the movies anymore.' That's not Hollywood analysis; that just comes out of almost everybody's mouth.
"It should definitely not be such a high-risk financial venture, but I would be quite happy to never return. So, no, I am not hopeful because I would really love to be done. But, if there were something new that really spoke to me, I am a logical person, and I will always consider viable changes," Hamilton told The Hollywood Reporter.
The 63-year-old actor came back to the franchise with Tim Miller-directed Dark Fate, which also featured Arnold Schwarzenegger, Mackenzie Davis, Natalia Reyes, and Gabriel Luna.
However, the film, produced by James Cameron, turned out to be a major misfire as it collected $261.1 million against its $185 million budget.
The critical reviews were also polarised, with some praising the action and the performances in the film, while others criticising its story and plot twists.
On paper, Uncut Gems reads like a tale of Talmudic recompense, the story of Jewish diamond dealer Howard Ratner, his debts, his rocky marriage and his pending colon cancer diagnosis during Passover.
Howard, played by Adam Sandler, is a rough-around-the-edges father of three, and in the hands of lesser filmmakers, his story might’ve made for an adequately charming dramedy about working one’s way out of financial corners and making amends with family. It is, in a way, but in the hands of Josh and Benny Safdie — whose sleazy, high-intensity New York indies feel like genetic hybrids between John Cassavetes and 1970s Times Square pornos — the film proves to be intoxicating on the surface, and downright stressful underneath.
Uncut Gems is one of the very few movies to exude BME: Big Mad Max: Fury Road Energy. It’s a mile-a-minute masterpiece punctuated by shots of adrenaline, and anchored by career-best work from Sandler and everyone involved. It’s not just about a man trying to be righteous in an un-righteous world — Jordan Hoffman calls it “aggressively Jewish” in his Times of Israel interview with the Safdies — it’s also about how that struggle for righteousness gets complicated when addiction is thrown in the mix.
Where the Safdies’ recent efforts (Good Time, Heaven Knows What) plunge into the world of street drugs, Uncut Gems is about a man who can’t stop betting on basketball games. In some ways, the film even follows the structure of a sports film; it features the same highs and lows, the same speeches and rousing moments, and the same cross-cut climax involving the big game and secondary characters watching it intently — only it’s told from the perspective of one of those outsiders looking in. But basketball, and sports betting, are just the vehicles for Howard’s real addiction. The high he chases is success, in whatever twisted form he can get it and no matter how much it hurts him.
He’s a loser addicted to winning.
Howard’s way in to the world of NBA happens to be real-life Boston Celtics player Kevin Garnett, who plays a warped version of himself during the summer of 2012. Upon visiting Howard’s window-less showroom in New York’s Diamond District (accompanied by Lakeith Stanfield as hot-headed assistant Demany, who helps Howard reach high-profile Black clientele), Garnett becomes obsessed with a gorgeous uncut black opal, which Howard painstakingly smuggled from an Ethiopian Jewish tribe. Garnett, or “KG,” is convinced the opal gives him mystical good luck, but the stone isn’t for sale; in fact, Howard has just agreed to auction it so he can pay people back. Through a barter intended to be temporary, the stone ends up in Garnett’s possession for longer than Howard can afford.
Given the number of people Howard already owes — including a group of tough-as-nails loan sharks who begin to stalk him at family events — he goes down a path of increasingly desperate hijinks. What little money he does make ends up with his bookie, in case he can make some more, and the snowball effect of his borrowing-and-betting soon leads to chaos. It’s this chaos which the Safdie brothers are so adept at capturing, and which editors Benny Safdie and Ronald Bronstein (who co-wrote the film) build on so methodically, ultimately re-shaping it in the film’s heart-pounding climax, into something rhythmic and euphoric.
The film is cacophonous, rife with overlapping dialogue that makes even small-talk teeter towards sensory overload. However, it achieves momentary serenity in the moments someone talks business; this clarity makes Howard, and the audience, perk up and pay attention. Similarly, objects and people which Howard finds alluring (financially, sexually, or both), exhibit a luminescent quality. Mere minutes into the film, as Howard goes about a regular work day, his messy state of mind is crystal clear to us: everything and everyone is noise — unless they can help him either crawl out from under his debts, or place new bets.
Howard is a man who has nothing but good luck, even at betting, but he either squanders it at every turn, or has it squandered by people he already owes. The filmmakers constantly subvert expectations by setting up scenes where it seems like his personal life is about to implode, and then it doesn’t (among them: a secret visit to his young mistress, played by Julia Fox, that feels like it could go wrong in ten different ways). Yet moments later, Howard’s addiction causes things to implode anyway, either through his own actions or six-degree domino effects.
Sandler plays Howard as a man spread paper-thin, both by his financial situation and by his life on the brink of divorce. Every exhausted line of dialogue is uttered from between clenched jaws, as a forced smile sits jaggedly beneath his eyes. If you’re alive and reading this in the shit-show that is 2020, it’s hard not to see him as a mirror. He radiates the feeling of “barely keeping it together,” in what isn’t just the best performance of his career, but the best performance by any American actor in 2019; it’s a sham(e) the Oscars don’t recognise this.
Each supporting performance stands out too, thanks in part to the Safdies’ penchant for filling non-star roles with everyday people. Non-actors, first-time actors, and veterans usually relegated to the margins all shine in the Safdies’ work, especially in Uncut Gems, where characters veer in and out of Howard’s day at breakneck speed, but still leave a lasting impact. It’s one of the few films to capture the radioactive, in-your-face energy of walking down a crowded New York sidewalk.
The Safdies’ gritty approach extends, unapologetically, to their use of faces and bodies far outside “conventionally attractive” norms. It’s realism as stylism in the context of Hollywood gloss, whether it’s Sandler’s naked “dad bod” during vulnerable moments, or a uniquely-shaped face you’d remember vividly if you passed it on the street. Each close-up reveals seams most often hidden by makeup, from wrinkles to razor burns, and each character gets to look as achingly human as they feel. Idina Menzel plays Howard’s fed-up wife Dinah, a woman whose composure feels like a dam about to break. Radio host Mike Francesca shows up as fast-talking bookie Gary, a man too preoccupied for Howard’s problems. Eric Bogosian plays Arno, a stone-faced loan shark with whom Howard shares a surprising history. Millionaire gambling addict Wayne Diamond plays… himself? The list goes on.
The Safdies love unusual faces as much cinematographer Darius Khondji (The Lost City of Z) loves dark environments. Most of the film unfolds in dim locales, but it’s never hard to tell what’s actually happening; often times, mere glimpses of eyes or mouths are enough to convey a core sensation. The film was shot using long, anamorphic lenses, which make every rapid lateral movement feel disorienting, especially in tight spaces. The deep black-ness in the frame provides a greater contrast with the garish colours — most often, hues of blue — and shooting these low-light scenes on 35mm lends itself to a heavy film grain reminiscent of seedy ’80s crime flicks (picture Joker’s aesthetic, but actually purposeful). The combination of grain and lens choice adds a peculiar, fluid texture to the aforementioned un-made-up faces, as if your eyes are meant to dart towards and around them, taking in each imperfect detail.
When Howard is kidnapped in a dimly-lit car, all the characters are shot almost entirely in closeup. Relevant exposition claws its way out from under chaotic yelling — you barely notice the word “fuck” is used a record 408 times — as more than half the screen is occupied either by Sandler’s disheveled five o’clock shadow, or Bogosian’s world-weary dark circles. It’s a scene emblematic of most of the film, and the collective effect is nerve-wracking; all that’s missing is the stench of stress sweat.
I could spend all day fawning over the plot — have you really experienced cinema if you haven’t seen the star of Grown Ups 2 fight a coked-up The Weekend, awash in black light and set to Kendrick Lamar? — but words pale in comparison to being swept up in the film’s discordant melody (punctuated by the unsettling synth sounds of experimental musician Oneohtrix Point Never).
Uncut Gems is the kind of movie that burrows into your pores. It makes you feel unclean, but it’s also a rapturous experience; a “rollercoaster of emotions” insofar as the rollercoaster has malfunctioned mid-loop, oscillating back and forth while you’re suspended in free-fall.
For Saif Ali Khan, the year 2020 started with a bang as his first release of the year, Tanhaji: The Unsung Warrior got cash registers ringing at the box office, and this year is going to be extremely busy for Saif, with both, films and a web show coming one after the other.
“Yes, this year has started off quite well. I am really happy and let’s hope it continues. I got some great compliments for Tanhaji. A filmmaker called me and said he was taken aback by the intensity. Somebody else said that how it was quite naturally done. But what made it special for me was quite a lot of action. It was a very theatrical kind of performance without going over the top and that was difficult,” says Saif as he walks on a treadmill, in an interaction with Firstpost.

Saif’s next is his home production, Jawaani Jaaneman, a romantic comedy where he plays a non-committal man in his 40’s who gets a shock on meeting his young, pregnant daughter.
The film, that also stars Tabu and newcomer Alaya Furniturewala, revisits Saif’s super hit dance number 'Ole Ole' from his 1994-release Yeh Dillagi (1994). “How time flies! I have done the recreated version of 'Ole Ole' and Sara (his daughter) has done Love Aaj Kal 2 which is ready for release. I have been working for nearly 30 years and I hope I will work for another 30. We have seen different times and different stages in movies and this is the best time to be working. Some of the most exciting roles are being offered now. I would rather be working in today’s movie industry than any time in the past. I wouldn’t change this time for any other. And as far as Love Aaj Kal is concerned, it is basically a young person’s story, it is for today as the title implies and every generation will have a new story. Maybe Imtiaz can make it when he is 60-70 with Taimur (laughs). He can continue making it,” says Saif.
Ask him if he approves of the reprised version of the song and Saif says, “Sometimes, you have to listen to the marketing team and what they think will sell or what the trend is. But starring in the remix of your own song is interesting. But then I also feel that 'Ole Ole' was probably best left where it is...It’s a great song and to reinvent is not something I’d have liked to do. But like I said, you listen to the marketing bosses.” Earlier, Saif was offered a cameo in Love Aaj Kal 2 but the actor declined the offer as the role didn’t excite him much. “Imtiaz offered me a part but it is not something I connected with. I wasn’t particularly excited about it,” he says.
“But Jawaani was great,” says Saif sounding excited about his upcoming release. “I really loved my part. Nitin Kakkar is a wonderful director. He has really elevated the script and made it into a very entertaining watch. It is quite a basic story about a guy who is not accepting his responsibility, in fact, he has not accepted himself and how he finally does. It is beautifully made. I have done quite a few films in this genre and all those were about girls but accepting the responsibility of your daughter just adds a certain maturity and gives it a more interesting feel,” he further adds.
Saif’s character in the film is being described as a mature playboy, to which he says, “I don’t know how sophisticated my guy is (his character). His name is Jazz, he is quiet basic. Yes, I guess he is a mature playboy but he is more like a hard drinking Punjabi Londoner who wakes up God knows where sometimes (laughs). So it is good fun to cross those lines on screen to actually drink too much. I have never done anything like this before. He is quite a mess in many places and I know many people like that. Hopefully people will relate.”
The film’s director, elaborating on Saif’s character has said, ‘When men turn into their 40’s but in their head they are 18 then there is a problem’. And when Saif is asked how he copes with the fear of aging, he says, “There comes in age where you worry about getting older. You also worry about life running out and that is human. Anyone who says that they are not really thinking about it, I pity those people because it will hit them hard one day. But then you see people around you who are living happy lives. My mother is so busy and active. Also people like Anil (Kapoor) and Amitji (Amitabh Bachchan). They are busy in their work and I think I am going to be like that because I am getting better and I am enjoying my work. My life is full. I am doing quite a lot of work and I want to take an equal amount of time off to experience beautiful things in this life before it is all gone to dust which will obviously happen one day.”
Saif and Tabu may have done couple of films together, but, apparently, Jawaani Jaaneman is their first film where they have scenes with each other. “I don’t remember giving a single shot with Tabu ever. We did Hum Saath Saath Hain and Tu Chor Main Sipahi, and I did a guest appearance in Biwi No 1 but I don’t remember speaking a line to her. She is a fantastic actor. She has done a cameo in Jawaani but it is a very important role and we needed someone who can really act. She very graciously agreed to do the film,” says Saif.
Last few years may have been creatively satisfying for the actor with films like Rangoon, Chef, Kaalakandi, Bazaar, Laal Kaptaan, but all these films didn’t perform well at the box office.
Now with the huge success of Tanhaji, and after some niche, artistic films, Saif has decided to return to commercial Bollywood space. “Yes, now I really want to concentrate on box office. I want to do more commercial stuff, and if I do something that isn’t as commercial it would be for Netflix or Amazon and at which point it should be absolutely insane. It would be fun doing Bunty Aur Babli 2 which is also more commercial. I am looking forward to doing that more consistently and also getting paid well for it. That is the plan. If I do something off-beat then it should be for a nice web show and not for a movie. I am also doing Ali Abbas Zafar’s web show Taandav, so that is the kind of mix I am looking at,” says Saif, one of those rare actors who is not bound by any image.
“I don’t want to have any tag. The image you should have is of having no image and you can play different parts, but, of course, some parts might suit you more than others. But I still don’t know what it is and which part suits me more. You can overthink these things but the idea is to do some nice work, enjoy that and balance that with experiencing life, travel, meeting friends. Some people like working a lot..whatever gives you happiness. Because life is short, so how you enrich it is up to you,” he says.
He continues, “I have a line-up of films though it is not really great in today’s time to have a large pipeline but these are the commitments I am looking forward to. I am excited about all of them happening one after the other. So there is Bunty Aur Babli 2, there is Lafdebaaz (alongside Siddhant Chaturvedi and Ananya Panday produced by Farhan Akhtar and Ritesh Sidhwani’s Excel Entertainment) and Hindi remake of Vikram Vedha, and after all that I want to do Bhoot Police (a horror comedy) which I am really keen on and that will be at the end of the year. Then I just have one day guest appearance in Mr Bechara. This year has started of quite well and let’s hope it continues.”
When asked if he will be part of the sequel of 2013 zombie comedy Go Goa Gone that producer Dinesh Vijan recently announced, and Saif revealed, “I have got really nothing to do with Go Goa Gone any more. I have sold all the rights and all the interest in it. So, if they offer me a part and if I feel like doing it I will do it. But there are so many exciting things happening.”
Lastly, does Saif feel confident with the success of Tanhaji – his first Rs 100 crore film after 2013- release Race 2, and the actor signs off saying, “It is quite easy to be confident with a successful film behind you but I find my confidence from being able to do my work well. I have done Tanhaji after a string of flops but I find my energy somewhere else. I think success and failure needs to be viewed equally dispassionately.”
The talented Aditi Rao Hydari has been a noticeable presence in Tamil cinema over the last couple of years thanks to her work in Mani Ratnam’s films such as Kaatru Veliyidai and Chekka Chivantha Vaanam. She is now gearing up for the release of Psycho, directed by Mysskin.
Aditi is also set to begin shooting for Tughlaq Darbar, in which she is paired opposite Vijay Sethupathi. The exquisite beauty is also busy with work in the Telugu, Malayalam, and Hindi film industries, and can be described as a true-blue pan-Indian actress. Firstpost recently caught up with the expressive actress for a freewheeling chat ahead of the release of Psycho, to talk about her working experience with auteur Mysskin, Dhanush's long-in-the-making sophomore directorial, and starring in commercial entertainers.
"Mysskin's brain works uniquely, and he can say just about anything on the shooting spot. It took some time for me to get used to the vibe on his set. When I was in the frame, he once commented “chi” loudly on the mic and said that his frame isn’t supposed to look so beautiful and that his films are synonymous with being ugly and dirty. I took it as a compliment and also got to know about his vision and making style. His sense of humor is also quite remarkable; you wouldn’t think that a person who cracks such jokes would handle such dark, twisted topics in his films," Aditi Rao told Firstpost.
(Also Read: Mysskin on his upcoming thriller Psycho: I'm a fan of Alfred Hitchcock, this film is an homage to the master)

Aditi termed working in Psycho as a very intense process due to the grim nature of the film. In fact, Mysskin has called the film the most violent feature in Indian cinema. “I used to take all these long showers at the end of the day. My scenes in the film were physically and emotionally demanding, as there is an element of torture involved in the story. But I don’t take a film’s part home and can detach myself from the film’s mood once the shoot is over. Mysskin is very clear in what he wants, and you just have to follow what he says; you don’t have to go overboard with your performance. I have a few combination scenes with hero Udhay, including the lovely melody Unna Nenachu. Most of my scenes are with newcomer Raj (who plays the psychopath in the film).”
Aditi doesn’t get into the comparison game when asked to comment on working with stalwarts such as Mani Ratnam, Sanjay Leela Bhansali, Imtiaz Ali, and now Mysskin. “When I decide to do a film, I have to be convinced by the director’s intent and vision. That has nothing to do with whether he or she is from the North or South of India. Ultimately it’s all art, and the director has to be truthful to what he is setting out to do. In general, I like being challenged as a performer, and I love working with demanding people. Mani sir is extremely demanding; working in two of his films has made me feel at home in his Madras Talkies premises. I go there and hang out with the ADs whenever I’m here in Chennai," she said.
Aditi says that she is particularly happy when a filmmaker with whom she has worked once, calls her for one more film. “Though it doesn’t eventually materialize at times, it still gives me a high when a filmmaker expresses his interest in working with me again. That happened with Mani sir, in Tamil with Kaatru Veliyidai, and Chekka Chivantha Vaanam, and Mohanakrishna Indraganti in Telugu (Sammohanam and the upcoming V).” Aditi is now collaborating with Mani Ratnam for the third consecutive time in Ponniyin Selvan. However, she refused to divulge anything about the film. "I'm really not supposed to talk about it," smiles Aditi when asked about the magnum-opus.
Aditi had committed to do Dhanush’s untitled sophomore directorial venture, which commenced with much fanfare a couple of years back. The film has now hit a roadblock due to issues surrounding the producers Sri Thenandal Films. She is still optimistic that the film will resume work and reach its finish line. “It’s not just optimism; I’m actually sure that the film will happen. My instinct is usually right. I loved working with Dhanush as a filmmaker. Being an ace actor himself, the way he extracted work from us was fantastic," she said.
On a concluding note, Aditi also talked animatedly about commercial cinema and how she doesn’t look down upon the format. “Ultimately, cinema is all about telling stories and reaching out to people. Every film is commercial in its own way; the bigger commercial films reach out to more people and do more business. And, commercial cinema doesn’t mean that the heroine has to just look good on screen in the songs and a couple of scenes. The audience will get bored if they keep staring at a good looking heroine who doesn’t have much to do in the story.”
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