Drama
McKay's Review
I have heard some buzz about this movie here and there but didn't really know what it was about and just kept putting off this movie for awhile. Boy, that was a big mistake. This movie was incredible. Everything about it is making me feel that this was probably the best movie of 2008. The concept of the story, the acting, the location, the cinematography, the music, everything was perfect.
This movie has a main story and then smaller stories throughout the movie that are memories of the main character's life.
This movie is about a young man from Mumbai, India named Jamal who goes on the Indian version of "Who wants to be a millionaire?". He ends up answering many of the questions with ease but unfortunately many of the answers have come to him from tragedies and hard times from his childhood, which shows him and his brother Salim as little boys seeing their mother murdered and becoming orphans and living on the street and in harsh conditions. It also shows the struggles and life decisions each other takes that becomes their paths in life. While Jamal and Salim are still young they meet a young girl named Latika who they become friends with and Jamal ends up liking but again life tears them apart from each other and Jamal spends a lot of his youth searching for her. FYI Freida Pinto, who plays the older version of Latika is incredibly gorgeous. You could call this movie a simple love story but I feel it is a lot more.
I highly recommend seeing this film.
-McKay R.
A-
Ron's Review
I'm sorry to say I was not as blown away by this film as McKay was. Yes, I'm aware most consider it the best movie of the year. Yes, it will probably win a whole lot of Oscars, and most likely take home best picture. Yes, the cinematography, acting, art direction - all excellent. Where this movie sort of faltered for me was in the story itself. Don't get me wrong, I thought it was a decent film, it had some pretty nifty moments, and I'm a big fan of Danny Boyles' work for the most part - (see Sunshine, Trainspotting, or 28 Days Later) yet this movie didn't resonate with me as much as I expected it too. I will venture to say I didn't detest this film as I did Juno - against the popularity it had with the masses. I don't know what it is. Perhaps the hype just built it up to unreasonable expectations. Perhaps as a man being happily married for close to two years, the story of love lost then love found then love lost again then love found again doesn't quite tug at my heart strings. Of all things I found the story sort of trite and predictable. Of course you know from the get go the main character wins crap loads of money, so I didn't feel there was a whole lot of tension in the game show scenes. The title itself slaps you upside the head - "Poor guy from India gets insanely rich". I'm aware that the meat of the movie is in the story of how he gets to that point, but even so - I'm sorry to say I got kind of bored with Jamal's story. I really wanted to love the movie too. REALLY! But you can't force yourself to enjoy something. Perhaps the older I get the less I appreciate film art with character stories and look forward more to explosions and gun fights. Perhaps it's because I hate the game show "Who Want's to Be a Millionaire". Those who know me know I've really been at odds with what the academy has deemed Oscar worthy in the past. Titanic? Bleccchhhh. Return of the King? Good popcorn fun and fantastically epic but give me a frigging break. And when was the last time anyone watched Annie Hall? The Departed was pretty good though..... I will say that Slumdog does hold up really well within Danny Boyle's film resume, and has successfully portrayed harshness in poverty stricken India. And he's probably made stars out of two very young and talented actors. But I will say that unfortunately, I have enjoyed other films a lot more this year.
-Ron J.
B
-McKay R.
A-
Ron's Review
I'm sorry to say I was not as blown away by this film as McKay was. Yes, I'm aware most consider it the best movie of the year. Yes, it will probably win a whole lot of Oscars, and most likely take home best picture. Yes, the cinematography, acting, art direction - all excellent. Where this movie sort of faltered for me was in the story itself. Don't get me wrong, I thought it was a decent film, it had some pretty nifty moments, and I'm a big fan of Danny Boyles' work for the most part - (see Sunshine, Trainspotting, or 28 Days Later) yet this movie didn't resonate with me as much as I expected it too. I will venture to say I didn't detest this film as I did Juno - against the popularity it had with the masses. I don't know what it is. Perhaps the hype just built it up to unreasonable expectations. Perhaps as a man being happily married for close to two years, the story of love lost then love found then love lost again then love found again doesn't quite tug at my heart strings. Of all things I found the story sort of trite and predictable. Of course you know from the get go the main character wins crap loads of money, so I didn't feel there was a whole lot of tension in the game show scenes. The title itself slaps you upside the head - "Poor guy from India gets insanely rich". I'm aware that the meat of the movie is in the story of how he gets to that point, but even so - I'm sorry to say I got kind of bored with Jamal's story. I really wanted to love the movie too. REALLY! But you can't force yourself to enjoy something. Perhaps the older I get the less I appreciate film art with character stories and look forward more to explosions and gun fights. Perhaps it's because I hate the game show "Who Want's to Be a Millionaire". Those who know me know I've really been at odds with what the academy has deemed Oscar worthy in the past. Titanic? Bleccchhhh. Return of the King? Good popcorn fun and fantastically epic but give me a frigging break. And when was the last time anyone watched Annie Hall? The Departed was pretty good though..... I will say that Slumdog does hold up really well within Danny Boyle's film resume, and has successfully portrayed harshness in poverty stricken India. And he's probably made stars out of two very young and talented actors. But I will say that unfortunately, I have enjoyed other films a lot more this year.
-Ron J.
B
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