Slumdog Millionaire - Reviewed! Plus: LOTS MORE!

What's up, loyal readers? I'm back, and I'm psyched, as tonight myself and a few fellow rock n' rollers will be hitting up the Gibson Ampitheater to take in a show from one of the greatest rock bands of the last few decades - the Smashing Pumpkins. Sure, the Pumpkins' lineup isn't quite intact from it's 90's peak, but it should be a cool show nonetheless. And in only a few days, I'll be taking a ride on the Highway to Hell, aka going to one of my all-time dream concerts, AC/DC. Hell's bells, it's time to get thunderstruck!

But yeah, it will be interesting to see what songs are played tonight - the Pumpkins are doing two shows on each stop of their tour, and are apparently not repeating any songs from one show to another. This means that whichever songs got played at last night's LA show will be MIA at tonight's. I'm hoping we still get a lot of the classics (I've yet to check out the setlist from last night ...), so, we shall see. But yeah, last night I gave myself a refresher course on the Pumpkins' illustrious catalogue, from Ava Adore to Zero, so I'm primed and ready for tonight's show.

TV STUFF:

- Sorry guys, I did not see last night's FRINGE yet and still haven't caught up on Monday's CHUCK. Laundry, shopping, and other randomness put a damper on my TV consumption, although I did take in one episode from the DVR ...

- That episode being Monday's TERMINATOR: THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES. It's weird, despite this one being a pretty unusual episode in a lot of ways, it also exemplified a lot of what's been good and bad about the show. On one hand, there's no doubt that this was a smartly-written episode. It presented an intriguing mystery, in which Cameron investigates evidence that a Terminator cyborg had actually time-travelled to the 1920's, where it went on to integrate into society and become a wealthy landowner. Of course, all of the Terminator's moves in the past were, as per their modus operandi, designed to plant the seeds for all kinds of nefarious future plans. We've never really seen the Terminators do much time-travelling with a purpose *other* than to kill John Connor, so this was an interesting new element added to the mythos, and opens up all kinds of possibilities for Terminator tales set in different time periods. In addition to some intriguing ideas on that front, the episode also presented a pretty nuanced examination of Cameron's slowly-expanding understanding of humanity. We see that she has a night-life of sorts outside of the Connor's home, and that she's even made a "friend," who in an odd way she seems to value as a companion and ally. I really like the slow build they've done with Cameron, it's really amazing how deftly her evolution has been handled. But here's the thing - as much as there was a lot I admired about this episode, I couldn't ignore the fact that it was slow - really, really slow. The Cameron segments were at least interesting on a number of levels, and Summer Glau is really doing an awesome job in this role (Emmy anyone?) ... the John / Riley stuff though ... there is pretty much zero chemistry when those two are together and the scenes in this episode just had a generic teen-angsty feel to them. Again, the show needs to overcome that feeling that it's just a placeholder between movies, and balance out its more contemplative side with some BIG ideas and even bigger action. It'd be one thing if this episode was just the quiet before the storm ... but the show still has a marked lack of momentum and intensity, where one doesn't necessarilly get the feeling that all of this buld-up is actually going somewhere exciting. I really do admire how this show comes out each week and defies expectations by being so smart, nuanced, and deliberately-paced, especially when it comes to Cameron. But at the same time, it's desperately in need of some forward momentum and sense of urgency to its storytelling.

My Grade: B


- Alright, I've reviewed 2 of the 3 movies I saw this past Thanksgiving weekend, so it's about time I completed the trifecta. Take heart though - I've saved the best for last ...


SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE Review:

- After a summer movie season that managed to make history, with a slew of giant-sized blockbusters that set new standards for the action movie genre, the Fall and Winter movie lineup thus far has been, well, a bit underwhelming. Sure, there've been some great movies so far - but after last year's Winter season, which brought us cinematic titans like No Country For Old Men and There Will Be Blood, this year's lineup can't help but look a bit thin in comparison. Now, there are still some heavy-hitters yet to come, and this year is top-loaded, with lots of the biggest prestige flicks packed into the last couple of weeks of December. But, with SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE, I think we may have gotten the first 100% legit-extraordinary film of the Winter.

Slumdog works on a number of levels, and part of its brilliance is that it keeps defying your expectations and turning into something other than what you thought it would be. The movie shifts from coming-of-age parable to modern-day fairy tale to gritty crime drama to star-crossed romance with amazing effortlessness, and its this potent combination of genres and themes that makes the movie such a loaded narrative and intense viewing experience.

It's funny, because describing the movie's plot doesn't quite do the film justice. On the surface, the tale doesn't even sound especially compelling. Basically, it's the story of a young slumdog in India who comes from a life of poverty, violence, and constant danger. However, a strange series of fateful events lead the boy, Jamal, to become a contestant on the Indian version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. Remarkably, the shell-shocked Jamal answers question after question correctly, and inexplicably wins the million-dollar (well, rupees, in this case) prize. But even though his victory makes him an instant national icon, Jamal's victory is soon declared suspect, and because of his lower-class origins and lack of education, Jamal is accused of cheating. He's arrested, taken into police custody, interrogated, beaten, and tortured - all because the authorities were skeptical that a random "slumdog" could win on a popular gameshow. But while this is the plot in a nutshell, it isn't *really* what the movie is about. Because where the magic of Slumdog Millionaire unfolds is in the fact that the Who Wants To Be a Millionaire thing is only a framing device by which to tell us Jamal's life story. And this is where the movie becomes a modern-day fairy tale - in flashback, Jamal recounts how by some luck of fate, the key events that shaped his young life also, as if by magic, gave him the knowledge to answer each of the gameshow's questions.

And in this way, director Danny Boyle zips and weaves through Jamal's formative years, showing us how he and his brother, Salim, deal with crime, poverty, and the struggles of adolescence. Boyle's direction is as sharp and kinetic here as it's ever been - he immerses you in this world of magical-realism with the same force and visual power as he had in Trainspotting. The location-shooting in India is often breathtaking - there's an authenticity to this movie that you wouldn't have gotten if it were filmed in a studio. Instead, the world of Slumdog is living and breathing. And that's further augmented by the kickass soundtrack, which blends Indian rythms with modern beats to create a musical playlist that's both memorable and a vital part of the movie.

And somehow, Boyle keeps the movie feeling coherant despite its shifts in tone. This is a movie that in a span of two hors has you cringing at acts of violence, laughing at childhood antics, and rejoicing along with Bollywood-esque song-and-dance numbers. On paper it shouldn't work, but it does, in a sleek, ultra-modern package that gels in the same way as the clashing cultural influences on the soundtrack.

It helps that the acting is superb. The cast of Indian actors, including the children who portray Jamal, Salim, and Jamal's eventual love interest, Latika, are all amazingly great. Same goes for the various villainous and shady characters whom they encounter. When Jamal sits in the darkened TV set of who Wants to Be a Millionaire, risking his fortunes before the fake-smile and menacing demeanor of its host, it's as if Jamal is holding court with the Devil himself. The power and intensity of these potentially-hokey scenes speaks to the many levels on which this movie works - as fairy tale, as metaphor, as a tribute to the Indian culture and spirit, and as a reflection of a new world of global culture and a universal presence of the American Dream.

This is a movie that sweeps you up with the sheer force of its momentum and doesn't let go. And it may just be among the best movies of 2008 thus far - filled with numerous breakthrough performances by a cast of great yougn actors, and brought to life by one of Danny Boyle's best directorial efforts to date, if not his very best. A must-see film that everyone should make an effort to check out, I can't recommend Slumdog Millionaire enough.

My Grade: A

- Alright, PUMPKIN time!