Special Correspondents (3/4) | Conversation with Ricky Gervais, Eric Bana and others

Ricky Gervais is one of the most unapologetic, honest and hilarious comedians today. This movie is an example of that in many ways. Ricky picks the topic of journalism, but does not make it into a “statement”, but makes it into quite an honest human story. We got to attend a special screening and world premier of Ricky’s next directorial venture, which he also wrote & acted in, Special Correspondents. The film was followed by a special conversation with Ricky and team of the film.

 

***Spoilers***

Ian Finch (Ricky Gervais) is Chief Sound Engineer” at the not so popular radio station in New York. That’s his achievement in life, which his wife Eleanor (Vera Farmiga) is not very proud of. She craves an exciting, successful life, and ends up cheating on him with Frank Bonneville (Eric Bana). Frank is the local celebrity radio correspondent, who believes he’s meant and destined for better things. He gets a mission to go to Ecuador for reporting from the war zone, with Ian as his accomplice.  Due to a “small mistake” by Ian, throwing away their passports and tickets, they end up in the apartment of his friend’s right across from radio station, instead of Ecuador. They create fake reports, and start false reporting, to not let their boss (Kevin Pollak) know about it. And before they know, the plan goes too far for them to be able to handle, and it gets out of hand. Even though still benefiting there downwards careers and Eleanor’s aspirations as well.

***Spoilers end***

Ricky plays these underdog roles, which are complete contrast of Ricky we see at Golden Globes. But this movie is more a human story than a statement. And as expected, Ricky rocks the role. Eric Bana is quite brilliant in his role. You really can’t imagine anyone else in the role of a suave, cocky but a failure-ish guy. Vera seems kinda tired in her role, but it also suits the role. America Ferrera and Raúl Castillo are quite hilarious in their roles and Kevin is a treat to watch as well. He was life of the post-screening conversation as well.

The conversation felt like a roast of Ricky. But revealed some interesting information as well. Like:

  • Ricky feels like a fish out of water, that’s why he writes and plays such roles.
  • America wasn’t sure about the film, but did it because of Ricky. With Ricky, either way it’ll be fun.
  • Netflix is great platform, since it guarantees people will see it. That’s why Ricky chose it.
  • The movie wasn’t shot in Ecuador, since Ricky felt too lazy to shoot it there.

Listen To The Conversation Here:

The movie is on Netflix now, so go watch it.

It’s quite a fun joy ride.

Ricky Gervais's hilarious comedy follows a struggling radio journalist and his hapless technician faking frontline war reports from a NYC hideout. Only on Netflix April 29.

The Jungle Book (4/4)

We all have our memories of watching Disney's animated Jungle Book, and most of us loved it. Growing up in India, watching Jungle Book every Sunday, was something I looked forward to. And I was really looking forward to this movie. And to put it in few words, The Jungle Book is awesome. We really have to thank Jon Favreau, for not ruining our childhood memories, but actually nourishing and refreshing them.

There's not much spoilers in the story, since most of us know it. It's a story of a boy, who got lost in jungle, when his father was killed by a Tiger. The boy was found by a black leopard, and left with wolves to grow up, as a man-cub, as a wolf. Until the Tiger finds the boy again, and vows to kill him. And the boy decides to take on the tiger, instead of running away, with the help of his old and new friends.

But the beauty of the film is in its authenticity to the source material, both the original Disney film, and the original work by Rudyard Kipling. The film manages to create the magical world that Disney did in its animation film. And probably what Mr Kipling would have imagined. The animated jungle is surreal, beautiful, scary, deep, big, all at the same time. The animated animals are as real as real animals, I believe. Thanks to the amazing technology, and Disney $175 million budget, it all looks just perfect.

All The voice cast is just brilliant. Idris Alba gives a new definition to Shere Khan. He's fierce, terrorizing, and mighty. Bill Murray's Baloo is definitely the best Baloo, and the best bear character ever. Who better than Bill to be our beloved, funny, laid-back, smart-ass, Baloo.Christopher Walken as King Louis is quite a treat, in his New Yawk accent. Ben Kingsley, Lupita Nyong, Scarlette Johanson, Giancarlo Esposito and all the voice cast is great. And last, but not the least, Neel Sethi is the best Mowgli ever. Not just because finally an actual Indian is cast as Mowgli, but because he's all that Mowgli needs to be. He acted with no partners, but all CGI, which was done in post-production. And he does amazing job.

You may not like this movie, if you do not like good movies. You would like the movie, if you like good movies. So, you should go watch it! 

Trailer:

Watch the brand new trailer for Disney's The Jungle Book now! See the legend come to life in 3D, Real D 3D, and IMAX 3D on April 15! 🐻🐯🐵🐍 Directed by Jon Favreau ("Iron Man"), based on Rudyard Kipling's timeless stories and inspired by Disney's classic animated film, "The Jungle Book" is an all-new live-action epic adventure about Mowgli (newcomer Neel Sethi), a man-cub who's been raised by a family of wolves.

Checkout the video below to see behind the scenes of the

Subscribe to COMING SOON: http://bit.ly/H2vZUn Subscribe to TRAILERS: http://bit.ly/sxaw6h Like us on FACEBOOK: http://bit.ly/1QyRMsE Follow us on TWITTER: http://bit.ly/1ghOWmt The Jungle Book B-ROLL (2016) - Scarlett Johansson, Lupita Nyong'o Movie HD An orphan boy is raised in the jungle with the help of a pack of wolves, a bear, and a black panther.

Director: Jon Favreau Screenplay: Justin Marks Story by: Rudyard Kipling Music composed by: John Debney Raised by a family of wolves since birth, Mowgli (Neel Sethi) must leave the only home he's ever known when the fearsome tiger Shere Khan (Idris Elba) unleashes his mighty roar.

THE BOSS (2/4)

Melissa McCarthy is definitely one of the funniest, boldest and smartest woman in Hollywood. And she proves that again, in her new movie THE BOSS. The movie is about a self made billionaire businesswoman (47th richest woman) who hits a bump, and goes into slump. But she pulls herself out, with help of her newly made "family", and in the process, helps the not-so-rich family, friends and many-many young girls as well. Sounds like an emotional dramatic motivational film, right? But oh well, this is Melissa we are talking about!

***spoilers***
Michelle Darnell (Melissa) is not just rich, but also a "bitch". Under pays her hard working assistant Claire (the wonderful Kristen Bell). Cheats, steals and destroys other's career and her own love. And does a little inside trading (like everyone in the so called rich world does), which lands her in jail. She also ends up losing everything she has made, and literally ends up on street. Since she has no family or friends, but a lot of haters, she ends up at Claire's doorstep, where she finds a shelter, on Claire's young daughter's insistence. But the snobby, condescending and anti-family/love Melissa is a nightmare guest. That's where the real fun begins!

To recover and redeem herself, she decides to sell Claire's delicious home recipe brownies. The inspiration for Darnell's brownies business are the Girl Scout cookies, but business-oriented, where everyone makes real money. This is where the next level of hilarious-ness ensues. Struggle, success, family, love, revenge, and even real action. Empires get made, sold and fought for. And is all quite funny & fun!
***spoilers end***

Even though it's a hilarious joy ride to watch, some jokes do seem to fall flat. There's many cliches, and slap-stick jokes, that everyone may not find funny. The dialogues are not as comical genius as you may want. The editing is tight, but direction seems to get lost at times. But overall, the film finds its direction, and does a fine job to entertain.

The movie is heavily reliant on Melissa's shoulders, and she takes that load very well. She's funny, she's crass, she's gross, she's everything. She falls, jumps, fights, exposes, swears and everything an R rated film needs. Even though there's lot of kids in the film, t's quite R rated, aka not really a family film? Peter Dinklage is not very well used, but he's brilliant in his part. Hopefully, some day, some film can use his real talents. Or we can just rely on 'Game of Thrones' for that. Kristen Bell goes all in, in the role. She's one of the most under rated actress of today.  Tyler Labine is just hilarious in his short role, a great catch for this film, rather than some hollywood hunk. Ella Anderson (as the young daughter) and rest of the cast is great too. Another thing to point out as the casting, which is quite well balanced, with lots of woman, people of color/ethnicities and a good diverse mix. And it all works great!

So, if you like Melissa or you like female lead/oriented (if you don't, you should!), you'll like this film. If you're expecting a Bridesmaid or SPY, you need to slightly lower your expectation and just go and enjoy this funny movie and the wonderful Melissa McCarthy!

The Boss - In Theaters April 8, 2016 www.thebossfilm.com Academy Award®-nominated star Melissa McCarthy (Bridesmaids, The Heat, Tammy) headlines The Boss as a titan of industry who is sent to prison after she's caught for insider trading. When she emerges ready to rebrand herself as America's latest sweetheart, not everyone she screwed over is so quick to forgive and forget.

Supergirl (3/4)

Thanks to Greg Berlanti and Andrew Kreisberg, DC has a handle on how to do good TV shows. It sucks that they're not able to merge it with their movies universe, or even all other shows (it seems), but whatever. At least the TV shows are good!

The pilot episode of Supergirl was superb. Finally a show with female superhero in lead, who & which kicks ass. For an opening episode, it sets the plot pretty quick, defines the allies and enemies, preps our superhero quite fast, and gives some interesting action too. The casting and performances are superb. 

  • Melissa Benoist as brilliant both as Kara and Supergirl. She's naive, cute, dorky, nerdy etc etc as Kara, and a kickass superhero as Supergirl. Calista Flockhart is another gem, as Kara's boss Cat. And it was cool to see Dean and Helen as Kara's foster parents (the Superman & Supergirl form past).

The writing is quite good, with a good mix of humor and drama. The special effects are good for a TV show, although the expectation these days can be higher. Specially the action sequences can be better. The villains don't seem too bad yet, but let's see what more is in store.

***spoilers***

Kara-Zor-El is sent form Krypton to earth, to protect Kal-El (the Superman). But she gets stuck in time warp and lands on earth years after Superman is already established as a superhero. Considering her mission to protect Kal-El is not needed nay more, she joins the family of Danvers and starts leading a "normal" life as an assistant to successful but snobby Cat Grant. She wants to be more, she wants to be a hero, but seems she's needed. Until there's a plane crash, with her adopted sister in that plane. This gives her chance to be the superhero, exactly superman style, and save the plane. With this, the city and the world gets a new superhero, Supergirl!

Why Supergirl and not Superwoman? No need to ask Otto Binder and Al Pastino (creators of Supergirl comic character), the show explains that through Cat. There's also Jimmy Olson, sent by Superman to help Supergirl, be the hero she deserves to be. She also has help from Winn, her co-worker and friend who becomes her associate, helping her with her costume and find crimes to fight. And her adopted sister Alex works with DEO (Alien fighting agency), and the boss of DEO doesn't like Super-people. But they join hands together to defeat first of the many kryptonian super villains, who got released from kryptonian jail. And all of them were jailed by Kara's mom Alura-Zor-El. Also, there's evil twins sister of of Alura, Astra, who wants to rule earth.

***spoiler ends***

It's not a bird. It's not a plane. It's not a man. It's Supergirl. In the new drama from the world of DC Comics, Superman's cousin, Kara Zor-El, embraces her superhuman abilities and becomes the hero she was always meant to be. This Fall on CBS.

So, it was a good start to a possibly good show. As the show says itself during a scene, someone for young girls to look up to. But if it goes in right direction, this show may have some young & old, girls & boys and all kind of other fans too. Let's see where is Supergirl looking to fly next!