The Big Bad Swim Review

A comic gem that got lost in the rough of film distribution.

Here's one for Roger Ebert's Overlooked Film Festival. Ishai Setton's witty comic drama, "The Big Bad Swim," navigated many successful laps through the festival circuit last year from Tribeca to Avignon, collecting four fest honors and critical acclaim in its wake. But the harsh reality of the film distribution business has set in: The film is now in a very small regional release throughout the nation before its DVD release next month.

To be sure, the film lacks star names, but then so does "Knocked Up." "Swim's" two female leads, Paget Brewster and Jess Weixler, are bright, attractive, sexy actresses whose performances certainly appeal to men and women. In fact, Weixler made a considerable impression this year at Sundance in "Teeth," causing the jury to create a special prize for her. But that film hasn't been released yet, so "Swim" can't build on any growing fan base for the actress.

None of which explains why such a sharp comedy didn't gain an enthusiastic distributor. There aren't that many solid comedies, whether aiming for mainstream audiences or sophisticated adults as "Swim" does, that they should fall by the wayside.

Setton and his writer, Daniel Schechter, cleverly situate their multicharacter story in and around a local gym's swimming pool, where terrified, water-phobic adults gingerly approach an adult-ed swim class much as the vacationers in "Jaws" eyed the bloody water. Among them are a cop terrified of the water, a young woman looking for a guy and a wealthy couple learning to swim so they can use their new pool.
The two main characters are the least frightened of the bunch. Amy (Brewster), a high school calculus teacher, takes the class to escape the strain of a crumbling marriage to a fellow teacher. Jordan (Weixler), who somehow never got around to learning how to swim, uses the class to relax between her two high-stress jobs -- blackjack and roulette dealer at an Indian casino and dancer at a strip club.

The hunky instructor has his own issues. Noah (Jeff Branson) has undergone years of therapy, both physical and psychological, because of an athletic injury. Coming out of his shell now, he is thinking of making two major moves: getting off his meds and acquiring a dog.

Amy and Jordan wind up fast friends, exchanging confidences even as Amy experiments with a romance with a much younger gambler (Michael Mosley) she meets at the casino. Meanwhile, Noah gets a dog. Then one night he wanders into Jordan's strip club, unaware that his student works there.

Jordan's young brother and aspiring documentary filmmaker David (Avi Setton), who is enrolled in a class taught by Amy's husband, wants to make a docu about his sister's life -- and lifestyle. His partner in crime, Hunter (Ricky Ullman), has a major obsession with his big sis.

With each clever plot twist, the film maintains focus on its characters, digging out emotional truths from their interplay and behavior. Brewster, Weixler and Branson spark to the main action as believably troubled yet determined people. And the metaphors about taking the plunge and confronting your own worst fears work out neatly as the interlocking story lines unfold.

Tech credits are fine, both in and out of the water, in this Connecticut-based production.

THE BIG BAD SWIM
Argot Pictures/Setton Sun Prods.
Four Act Films
Credits:
Director: Ishai Setton
Screenwriter/Executive producer: Daniel Schechter
Producers: Ishai Setton, Chandra Simon
Executive producers: Sandy Garvin, David Raymond
Director of photography: Josh Silfen
Production designer: Valerie Green
Music: Chad Kelly, Julian Velard
Co-producers: Ryan Kampe, Elana Pianko, Sylvain Tron
Costume designer: Cara Liedlich
Editor: Ian B. Wile
Cast:
Amy Pierson: Paget Brewster
Noah Owens: Jeff Branson
Jordan Gallagher: Jess Weixler
Hunter McCarthy: Ricky Ullman
David Gallagher: Avi Setton
Martin: Todd Susman
Joanna: Darla Hill
Carl: Kevin Porter Young
Running time -- 96 minutes

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JhoomBarabar Jhoom- DVD Rip (*ing Amithab, Abhishek, Bobby Deol, Priety Zinta, lara)

JhoomBarabar Jhoom :

Star Cast

Abhishek Bachchan...... Rikki Thukral Preity Zinta...... Alvira Khan
Bobby Deol...... Steve
Shruti Seth
Amitabh Bachchan...... sutradhar
Lara Dutta...... Anaida

Producer

Aditya Chopra

Director

Shaad Ali

Screen shot:

DOWNLOAD :All Links are uploaded in Rapidshare.com

JBJ 01
JBJ 02
JBJ 03
JBJ 04
JBJ 05
JBJ 06
JBJ 07
JBJ 08

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Boom with Katrina Kaif and Amitabh Bachchan

BOOM :
Starring : Amitabh Bachchan, Katrina Kaif, Padma Lakshmi, Gulshan Gover, Zeenath Aman, Madhu Sapre, Seema Biswas.Music : Talvin SinghDirector : Kaizad Gustad

Download :
Boom 1
Boom 2
Boom 3
Boom 4
Boom 5
Boom 6
Boom 7
Boom 8

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License to Wed Review

A "comedy" about a minister who is a pathological voyeur and chronic manipulator who likes to destroy marriages before the wedding.

Comedies don't get much lamer than "License to Wed." Working from a flawed premise with characters lacking credibility and plot turns more moronic than funny, the movie flatlines in about five minutes. Yes, it does star Robin Williams, but this is the cloying Williams who turns up in such movies as "Patch Adams" and "Jack." And for Mandy Moore, the film reps a step backward into nondescript fluff after proving herself capable of sterner stuff in "Dedication" at January's Sundance Film Festival. This "License" should expire a week after opening.

Williams plays an overheated if not mentally unbalanced minister who puts engaged couples through a relationship torture test before he will agree to marry them. So the movie asks us to accept a man of the cloth illegally bugging a couple's bedroom with minimicrophones, having the bride drive down a street blindfolded and encouraging the groom to pick fights with his future in-laws. Another of his great ideas is twin robotic babies that scream and defecate to simulate what having children is like. (Which, of course, ignores all the joys of real parenthood.)

Moore and John Krasinski of NBC's "The Office" play the put-upon couple, but nothing in Kim Barker, Tim Rasmussen and Vince Di Meglio's belabored screenplay (from a story by Barker and Wayne Lloyd) explains why they put up with any of this nonsense. Moore is therefore forced to play her character as too dumb and insensitive to notice, and Krasinski is a guy who will go along with anything including allowing the reverend to break his nose.

The most obnoxious character -- though just barely -- belongs to child actor Josh Flitter, who plays the reverend's henchman, Choir Boy. He does all the breaking and entering, electronic spying and remote controls on the berserk Robo Babies. He is made to look positively evil and is, we are told, a "minister in training." God help the parishioners of that church.
Christine Taylor and DeRay Davis play the thankless roles of Moore's divorced sister and Krasinski's best friend, respectively, each charged with delivering nothing but bad advice. Meanwhile, Peter Strauss looks stiff and unhappy as Moore's aloof dad.

For the record, no less than a dozen people took some sort of producing credit on this film.

LICENSE TO WED
Warner Bros. Pictures
Warner Bros. Pictures in association with Village Roadshow Pictures presents a Robert Simonds/Phoenix Pictures production
Credits:
Director: Ken Kwapis
Screenwriters: Kim Barker, Tim Rasmussen, Vince Di Meglio
Story: Kim Barker, Wayne Lloyd
Producers: Mike Medavoy, Arnold W. Messer, Nick Osborne, Robert Simonds
Executive producers: Bradley J. Fischer, David Thwaites, Kim Zubick, Dana Goldberg, Bruce Berman
Director of photography: John Bailey
Production designer: Gae Buckley
Music: Christophe Beck
Co-producers: Christine Sacani, Louis Phillips, Trevor Engelson
Costume designer: Deena Appel
Editor: Kathryn Himoff
Cast:
Rev. Frank: Robin Williams
Sadie Jones: Mandy Moore
Ben Murphy: John Krasinski
Lindsey: Christine Taylor
Carlisle: Eric Christian Olsen
Choir Boy
Josh Flitter
Joel: DeRay Davis
Running time -- 90 minutes

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Broken English

Parker Posey again proves her necessity to the indie film world with her complicated performance in Zoe Cassavetes' feature debut. Demonstrating that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, the screenwriter-director has delivered a well-observed film boasting highly realistic performances and dialogue, if not plot elements. But it's Posey's fascinating portrayal of a thirtysomething Manhattan single woman looking for love that lifts the film above its "Sex and the City" predictabilities.

Posey plays Nora Wilder, who smoothly handles customer relations at a posh boutique hotel catering to the rich, famous and difficult. Still single -- a fact that she is constantly reminded of by her nagging mother (Gena Rowlands) -- Nora looks on with admiration at the seemingly perfect marriage of her best friend, Audrey (Drea de Matteo), and her adoring director husband (Tim Guinee).

The difficulties of singlehood are well-demonstrated by a couple of episodes. In the first, Nora succumbs to the charm of a famous actor (Justin Theroux) only to discover that the self-obsessed lout is dating his current co-star. In the second, she goes on a blind date -- set up by her mother, no less -- that proves disastrous when the ex of the man (Josh Hamilton) suddenly shows up.

Ready to give up, Nora then meets a handsome and perfect Frenchman, Julien (Melvil Poupaud), who boasts a sexy accent to go along with his perfectly angled fedora. Just as the relationship is staring to jell, however, he goes back home to Paris, with Nora eventually following in an impulsive attempt to continue the relationship.
The film is ultimately more effective in isolated scenes than with its overall narrative, which becomes particularly ineffective with the Parisian interlude and the highly contrived ending. But those scenes, depicting the poignancy of someone desperately looking for emotional as well as physical connection, provide equal measures of emotion and humor, and Posey is superbly equipped to handle them. Her complicated performance provides the film with a depth not always present in the script.

BROKEN ENGLISH
Magnolia Pictures/HDNet Films
A Vox3 Films and Phantom Film Co. production
in association with Backup Films
Credits:
Director-screenwriter: Zoe Cassavetes
Producers: Andrew Fierberg, Jason Kliot, Joana Vicente
Executive producers: Todd Wagner, Mark Cuban
Director of photography: John Pirozzi
Production designer: Happy Massee
Music: Scratch Massive
Co-producer: Keisuke Konishi
Costume designer: Stacey Battat
Editor: Andrew Weisblum
Cast:
Nora Wilder: Parker Posey
Julien: Melvil Poupaud
Audrey Andrews: Drea de Matteo
Nick Gable: Justin Theroux
Vivien Wilder-Mann: Gena Rowlands
Mark: Tim Guinee
Running time -- 97 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13

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'Die Hard' vs. Pixar: Trackers smell a rat

After a 12-year hiatus, Bruce Willis' John McClane was pulled back into action to protect the nation from cyber terrorists, and his fellow citizens took notice. "Live Free or Die Hard," from 20th Century Fox, took in $9.1 million Wednesday on its first day of national release, the studio said.

Still, McClane, who has handily defeated effete Eurotrash in the past, is destined to find himself overshadowed this weekend by a Parisian rat with a refined palette.

The fourth "Die Hard" didn't set any records -- the current record-holder for an opening Wednesday is Sony Pictures' "Spider-Man 2," which bowed to a single-day gross of $40.4 million on June 30, 2004.

But Fox execs pronounced themselves pleased with both the day's opening number -- which included some Tuesday night showings -- as well as positive responses from audiences that saw the movie, which debuted in 3,172 theaters.

"It built through the night," said Fox president of distribution Bruce Snyder, adding that strong 10 p.m. showings suggest "Die Hard" is connecting with young males as well as the older males who grew up with the franchise. "We did exit surveys, and the reactions are some of the best I can remember seeing, which bodes well for the film."

By the time the dust settles Sunday night at the North American boxoffice, Remy the rat, the animated hero of Pixar Animation Studios' "Ratatouille," is expected to emerge as the weekend winner, outgrossing Willis' time-tested and constantly embattled ex-cop -- at least on the basis of the Friday-Sunday returns. Nevertheless, McClane could have the last sardonic laugh if "Die Hard" ends up with a larger cumulative gross after five days in the marketplace.

Buena Vista's release of "Ratatouille," which will be dishing up laughs in 3,940 theaters, is arriving on a wave of rave reviews for the latest film from director Brad Bird. Pixar -- whose brand has been front and center in the marketing of the film -- and Bird have set themselves a tough challenge because Bird's last movie, "The Incredibles," opened to $70.5 million in November 2004. In fact, when Pixar's "Cars" debuted in June 2006 to $60.1 million, it was regarded as something of a disappointment.

The G-rated "Ratatouille" does face obstacles, what with a rat as its protagonist and a title that doesn't exactly roll off the tongue, but the film is sure to reach out to families as well as college-age and older adults. It should easily nudge aside the previous weekend's No. 1 film, Universal Pictures' "Evan Almighty," which also is courting the family crowd but which appears destined to fall to third place overall.

Still, some weakness in the tracking suggests that whatever its ultimate take, "Ratatouille" might be hard-pressed to climb above the $40 million mark for the weekend.

"Die Hard," on the other hand, should easily outperform earlier installments in the franchise. The original first started blowing things up nearly 20 years ago in a different movie universe -- it grossed $7.1 million during its first wide weekend on its way to a cumulative $83 million domestic haul. The 1990 sequel, "Die Hard 2," bowed to $21.7 million and eventually grossed $117.5 million, while 1995's "Die Hard: With a Vengeance" scored an opening of $22.2 million and a $100 million total.

Directed by Len Wiseman ("Underworld: Evolution"), the latest "Die Hard" has been designed as a PG-13 rather than an R rating. The weekend is aiming for a three-day tally that crosses the $30 million mark.

Focus Features' "Evening" and the Weinstein Co.'s "Sicko" both are opening in fewer than 1,000 theaters -- 977 and 441, respectively -- but Michael Moore's latest documentary, which takes on the ills of the health-care industry, enjoys the edge.

"Sicko" has been generating news stories even before it debuted at the Festival de Cannes in May even as the Weinstein Co. has been working hard to downplay expectations, insisting that the docu is more likely to perform similarly to 2002's "Bowling for Columbine," which opened in eight theaters and eventually grossed $21.6 million in the U.S., than 2004's "Fahrenheit 9/11," which bowed to $23.9 million in 868 theaters on its way to a $119.2 million gross.

Arriving via a carefully controlled theater count via distribution through Lionsgate Films, "Sicko" could have a launch along the lines of last year's Oscar-winning docu "An Inconvenient Truth." Although that docu percolated longer in limited release, it grossed $6.6 million when it moved into 404 theaters in its fourth weekend. Insiders are pegging "Sicko's" bow at about $4 million, but it could reach into the $5 million-$7 million range.

Making a bid for the older female audience -- just like "The Devil Wears Prada," which countered "Superman Returns" on the comparable weekend last year -- Focus will unwrap "Evening," director Lajos Koltai's adaptation of Susan Minot's novel about a dying woman looking back on her life.

Starring Vanessa Redgrave, the film boasts one of the most impressive lineups of actresses in some time, with Meryl Streep, Glenn Close, Natasha Richardson, Claire Danes and Toni Collette among others vying for screen time along with Patrick Wilson and Hugh Dancy. However the film fares over the long run, though, it probably will face a modest beginning, bowing somewhere less than the $5 million mark as it attempts to establish a foothold in the top 10.

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Ghosts of Cite Soleil Reviews

An outstanding, unvarnished doc that takes no prisoners.

The raw, uncompromising "Ghosts of Cite Soleil" from Danish writer-director Asger Leth is a relentless, in-your-face, verite documentary set in war-torn Haiti during the reign and fall of the Aristide government circa 2004. It's an unforgettable, visceral journey into the heart of darkness, grueling poverty and anarchy. Imagery of garbage-strewn streets and squalor as well as news footage and a pulsing soundtrack by Haitian-born Wyclef Jean, who also is an executive producer and appears briefly, add to the docu's hard-edged, driving force.

"Ghosts" will have a limited U.S. theatrical run this month and could build a respectable audience with good press and word-of-mouth.

Shooting in a gritty, guerilla style, primarily with a hand-held 16mm camera, Leth and co-director Milos Loncarevic put themselves in considerable danger following the violent, dead-end lives of two charismatic brothers with nothing to lose. 2Pac and Bily are gang leaders in Cite Soleil, one of the meanest and poorest slums in Port-au-Prince. The phrase, "They could just as easily kill you as look at you" comes to mind with this duo. (The ghosts of the title are the already dead or "chimeres," armed gangs employed by Aristide to do his dirty work, whose members don't have much life expectancy).

Slim and taut, Bily, the more eloquent and philosophical of the two young men, wants to improve his situation. However, he lives by the gun and is prescient enough, as it turns out, to know that oblivion awaits him around the next corner. 2Pac, a profane wannabe rapper, is the pragmatist, a man of action whose sober world view has been toughened by his harsh existence. He's not without aspirations, though, and in one remarkable scene he calls Jean and sings the story of his life over the phone. The enigmatic Lele is a French relief worker involved with both men; all are trapped in a pointless cycle of fear, revenge, rivalries -- real or imagined -- and murder.
Guns are the accessories of choice, and through no fault of the filmmakers, it's difficult to keep up with or sort out the internecine warfare between gangs and the different government regimes. Leth, son of director Jorgen Leth ("The Perfect Human"), lives in Haiti, so he gained extraordinary access to his subjects and won something approaching trust. (The gangsters were, after all, offered an irresistible chance to immortalize themselves on film.) Cloaked in darkness and with the camera inches away from his face, 2Pac free-associates for posterity while sitting on the floor of his dingy shack.

The filmmakers get us in closer than we want to be to these explosive men, tagging along while they're out looking to hurt someone or hanging with their soldiers. Natural-born leaders and killers, the brothers share a battle-worn intelligence and a love of rap. Who knows what they could have been had fate dealt them a better hand. But intuition and history dictate a bloody end to their story. There's no way out for these two, not even through the magic of music.

GHOSTS OF CITE SOLEIL
ThinkFilm
A Nordisk Film A/S, Sakpase Films, Sunset Prods., Independent Pictures production in association with the Danish Film Institute.
Credits:
Director-screenwriter: Asger Leth
Co-director: Milos Loncarevic
Producers: Mikael Chr. Rieks, Tomas Radoor, Seth Kanegis
Executive producers: Kim Magnusson, Cary Woods, Wyclef Jean, George Hickenlooper, Jerry Duplessis, Jorgen Leth
Directors of photography: Asger Leth, Milos Loncarevic
Production designers: Asger Leth
Music: Wyclef Jean, Jerry Duplessis
Editor: Adam Nielsen
Running time -- 90 minutes

Some Other Reviews

RATATOUILLE REVIEWS
Charlie Bartlett Reviews
1408 (2007) Movie Review
Live Free or Die Hard Review
Marigold (2007) Movie Review and Stills
Naqaab (2007) Movie Stills
Ram Gopal Varma Ke Sholay
APNE Review
Rank & Review: ITWAN
Ocean's Thirteen Review
TRANSFORMERS THE MOVIE Coming Soon
Surf's Up (PG) Review
Ranting about Hostel2
Pirates of the Caribbean
The Mahabharata
Laaga Chunari Mein Daag review

Read more »

RATATOUILLE REVIEWS

The most beautiful movie Pixar Animation Studios has ever created is also swarming with rats. That's among the marvelous paradoxes of Ratatouille, director Brad Bird's sensational followup to his Oscar-winning The Incredibles. Sumptuously designed but audaciously embracing its potential "ick" factor, this daring and disarming comedy may foster a new respect for the scuttling vermin dreaded by city-dwellers everywhere.

Of course, Remy, Bird's furry hero, is no ordinary rodent--this French country rat literally stands apart from his fellow scavengers by virtue of his acute sense of smell. His taste for the finer foods in life puts him in perilous situations, as he lingers in kitchen areas where no rat should be visible for too long. Remy's recklessness exposes the entire colony to a gun-toting old woman, which forces their retreat to the makeshift crafts they've docked at the river. Caught in a swirling current, Remy takes an unexpected detour through the sewers and winds up in the dream city of any gourmet, Paris. He soon finds himself in the restaurant founded by his idol (as seen on TV), the late Auguste Gusteau, a portly chef who gained notoriety promoting the notion that "anyone can cook."

Before he can escape the bustling kitchen of Gusteau's, Remy sees the new garbage boy, Linguini, spill a vat of soup and attempt to repair the damage by adding ingredients at random. The affront to Remy's sensibilities is too much, and the bold rat takes matters into his own paws and races to rescue the tainted broth, with a dumbfounded Linguini as his only witness. The reconstituted soup is a huge success, and the garbage boy is ordered to reproduce the recipe the following day. Linguini discovers that he and Remy are able to communicate, and the boy and rat develop an eccentric operating system in which Remy hides under Linguini's chef's hat and pulls his hair like a marionette. And thus the greatest culinary team since Smith & Wollensky is born.

Needless to say, there are complications. Gusteau's head chef, the diminutive Skinner, is a hot-tempered autocrat who has sold out his founder's reputation by launching a line of frozen dinners--and who has good reason not to see Linguini succeed. Then there's the looming presence of Anton Ego, the toughest restaurant critic in Paris. And finally, there are all those hungry relatives of Remy's who descend on Gusteau's once word gets out about his inside track on an endless food supply.

With Ratatouille, Brad Bird solidifies his status as one of the finest writer-directors working in animation today, with a sophisticated wit that can be savored by adult audiences and comic timing comparable to the late master Chuck Jones. (Note the impact of a simple cut after Linguini accidentally knocks over Remy's cage into the Seine.) The scenes of Linguini attempting to cook while yanked around by his secret mentor are slapstick ballet in the tradition of the great silent comedians. And there are several breathless and beautifully choreographed action sequences that bode well for Bird's future plans for a live-action debut.

Bird doesn't shy from his queasy premise (developed by original director Jan Pinkava and reconceived by Bird); except for the refined Remy, the rodents in this film generally look and behave enough like real rats to inspire the occasional shudder. And Bird's brilliant script takes an impossible situation--a rat who wants to be a chef--and sees it all the way through to a most satisfying and startling resolution.

Comedian Patton Oswalt (TV's "King of Queens") is endearing as the passionate Remy, and Incredibles production designer Lou Romano lends a deft vocal performance as the hapless Linguini. Ian Holm is maniacally amusing as Skinner, and Janeane Garofalo pulls off a convincing French accent (though occasionally hard to understand) as Linguini's love interest, headstrong fellow chef Collette. Brad Garrett is fun as the spirit of Gusteau urging Remy on, and Brian Dennehy brings his formidable presence to the role of Remy's roughhewn dad. Best of all is the great Peter O'Toole in an exceptionally droll and robust performance as the curmudgeonly critic Ego.

Bird and his team have created an animated Paris to die for, a riot of lush, evocative 3D detail that almost demands repeat viewings. The Pixar artists have also clearly studied the "foodie" culture, offering a vivid and detailed depiction of the workings of an upscale restaurant kitchen and transforming CGI bytes into enticing bites of haute cuisine.

An irresistible feast of comedy, imagination, intelligence and heart, Ratatouille will have audiences clamoring for seconds.

Distributor: DISNEY-PIXAR
Running Time: 110 mins.
Color: Color
Production: A Walt Disney Pictures presentation of a Pixar Animation Studios film
Genre: Adventure, Animation, Comedy
Film Width: 2.35
Sound: Dolby Digital (AC-3), DTS, SDDS
Language: English


Cast:
Patton Oswalt (voice) Ian Holm (voice) Lou Romano (voice) Brian Dennehy (voice) Janeane Garofalo (voice) Brad Garrett (voice) Peter O'Toole (voice) Peter Sohn (voice)

Credits:
Director(s) Brad Bird
Co-director(s) Jan Pinkava
Screenplay by Brad Bird
Story by Jan Pinkava Jim Capbianco Brad Bird
Story consultant Mark Andrews
Producer(s) Brad Lewis
Executive producer(s) John Lasseter Andrew Stanton
Production designer(s) Harley Jessup
Edited by Darren T. Holmes
Music by Michael Giacchino
Supervising animator Dylan Brown Mark Walsh
Supervising Technical Director Michael Fong

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Charlie Bartlett Reviews

One of the best teen comedies in ages.

The teenage rebel is such an iconic figure in cinema, one verging on cliche, you would think that smart filmmakers would steer clear at all costs. Fortunately, writer Gustin Nash and director Jon Poll, each making his feature debut, are perhaps too new to their jobs to be smart.

Consequently, we have a fresh, provocative, surprising take on this figure in "Charlie Bartlett." The film certainly hits the anticipated areas of teen angst, alienation, loneliness, disenchantment and drug use. But the makers maintain a comic touch, preferring keen observation and even irony to cynicism and despair.

Indeed, the film could be accused of being overly optimistic in the many neat resolutions of its characters' problems if it were not for the filmmakers' insistence in maintaining a veneer of fictional wish-fulfillment, a kind of wink to the audience that it would take an unlikely and sagacious teen like Charlie Bartlett to perform so many miracles. And even one of his miracles backfires badly and nearly tragically.

This whip-smart comedy should do well at the boxoffice in its early August slot, when tentpole fatigue might have set in and audiences young and old search for movies with signs of brain activity. Marketing is key, though, followed by the film's word-of-mouth and critical reception.
Like Holden Caulfield, Charlie (Anton Yelchin in a possibly career-altering role) gets kicked out of a fancy prep school at the beginning of the story. But his reaction is quite different. He accepts his punishment -- he was manufacturing fake IDs on a large and highly profitable scale -- but remains cheerfully optimistic about his prospects even when his wealthy mother (Hope Davis) has no other choice than to put him in public school. He already has been kicked out of nearly every private school worth mentioning.

Charlie doesn't know how he fits into the world, but he is determined to fit. He is a natural-born schemer but understandably uncomfortable with the genes he might have inherited. His dad -- we find out much later -- is doing time for one of his schemes, and his mom is not, as they say, dealing with a full deck. So it is he who must take care of her rather than the other way around.

The first day at the new school starts like so many other teen movies where the new kid gets a rough treatment. But what sets this one apart is how our Charlie responds. He makes the class bully, Murphey (Tyler Hilton), his partner in a pharmaceutical business he develops. For Charlie has discovered a quick cure-all for many of his fellow students' life problems: He dispenses Ritalin, Prozac and other make-it-go-away pills to the school' populace, medicine he can so easily score because his mom maintains family shrinks on a standby basis.

Charlie sets up shop in the boys' restroom, where he lends an ear to the myriad problems of low self-esteem and desire for popularity that so many classmates feel. Two people take notice of his own sudden spike in popularity: the school's disconnected principal Gardner (Robert Downey Jr.) and the principal's daughter, offbeat beauty Susan (Kat Dennings), who is drawn to Charlie's sunny personality.

The duel between the principal, under increasing pressure from the school superintendent to maintain control over an increasingly out-of-control student body, and the rebellious Charlie and how this impacts his budding romance with Susan is the main story line. However, the film touches on the lives of many students in often poignant ways, including the bully with a well-disguised softer side, a most unpopular, suicidal kid (Mark Rendall) and a cheerleader (Megan Park) whose sexual availability covers up her deep insecurities.

Yelchin delivers one of those performances that pop eyes. He is old and wise and yet a kid. He is in constant motion but never out of focus. He hits every comic beat without sacrificing any of the seriousness of the issues and character dilemmas strewn throughout the story. He carries the movie on his shoulders yet shares every scene with fellow actors superbly. It's a breakthrough role.

Among the adults, Downey and Davis are wonderful, offering soul-searing looks at human frailty and disenchantment that comes with age. Dennings shares many tender moments with Yelchin, allowing the natural chemistry between these young actors spark the romance within the movie.

The Canadian-based production is aces, with the school and homes having a lived-in look that so seldom permeates teen movies.

CHARLIE BARTLETT
MGM
MGM and Sidney Kimmel Entertainment present an Everyman Pictures/Texon Entertainment/Permut Presentations production
Credits:
Director: Jon Poll
Screenwriter: Gustin Nash
Producers: David Permut, Barron Kidd, Jay Roach, Sidney Kimmel
Executive producers: William Horberg, Jennifer Perini, Trish Hofmann, Bruce Toll
Director of photography: Paul Sarossy
Production designer: Tamara Deverell
Music: Christophe Beck
Co-producers: Steve Longi, Gustin Nash
Costume designer: Luis Sequeira
Editor: Alan Baumgarten
Cast:
Charlie Bartlett: Anton Yelchin
Principal Gardner: Robert Downey Jr.
Marilyn Bartlett: Hope Davis
Susan Gardner: Kat Dennings
Murphey Bivens: Tyler Hilton
Kip Crombwell: Mark Rendall
Len Arbuckle: Dylan Taylor
Whitney: Megan Park
Running time -- 96 minutes
MPAA rating: R

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Download 1408 (2007) (DVDSCR) (x264) (AAC-ViVACO) Movie

1408

Directed by: Mikael Hafstrom

Written by: Matt Greenberg, Scott Alexander
& Larry Karaszewski
Based on the Short Story by: Stephen King

Starring: John Cusack, Mary McCormick, Jasmine Jessica Anthony and Samuel L. Jackson
Released by: Dimension Films

Like many movie goers this past weekend I went and saw the only movie that was remotely interesting out in theaters, that wasn't an Animation or a Foreign Film. I wasn't expecting too much from the Film but at the same time I had high hopes fortunately it didn't let me down... Well some parts did but we'll get to that later. If you can't decipher what the movies about from the trailer let me once again give you the basic plot summary for the millionth time, since apparently Hollywood did not do it's job. John Cusack's character Mike Enslin is a writer of Haunted tourist sites to but it frankly. He stays in these "Haunted" mansions and other interesting places over night to experience why they are spooky and to see if there's a haunting. He gets a post card telling him not to spend the night in room 1408 (1+4+8=13) a nice touch if I do say so myself. So after some research he becomes interested in the room and tries to book it. Eventually he gets the room but not before hearing Sam Jackson (So to be Nick Fury in Iron Man way to go Marvel :P) the Hotel Manager out.

Jackson goes into the long history of Deaths and accidents that have occurred in the room since the Hotel's opening with Cusack mocking him believing it to be the usual selling technique he's become acquainted with in his profession. Jackson's Character is unable to sway him, and is forced to let Cusack stay in the room. From there the room really takes a psychological twist and dives into the mind of Enslin (Cusack), pulling from it his deepest trauma the death of his Daughter. Really there's nothing more to say about the movie plot because the rest you'll need to see and it's not my job to ruin the movie for you, unless of course it's a bad movie in which case I will most definitely ruin it so that you won't be tempted to see it.

I like several things about the Film, everyones acting for one was very good and Cusack carries the movie by himself and does so very well. For practically staying in one room the entire time never did I find myself bored or uninterested in what was happening. It did a great job of keeping the intense feelings and making you uncomfortable watching several of the scenes. I loved the fact that Cusack's Character relied on his voice recorder almost like a crutch. He uses it to talk himself up and to keep his fears in check. I think a lot of Stephen King's works have this element in it and it almost always translates well onto film. Just thinking of one scene in particular where he's talking into the recorder makes me want to slap down another 11 bucks and see it again. So take some time and see it before it's beaten out of theaters by Summer Blockbuster after Blockbuster. And please don't see Transformers send a message to Hollywood and tell them you won't stand for the Murder of a franchise.

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Spiderman-IV Movie Leeks Possible Villains

Spiderman director Sam Raimi talked friday night to Mtv about the fourth spiderman movie.

He indicated that he may again sit in the director chair under the process of the Spiderman 4 movie.

He also named a couple of possible enemies for the next movie, enemies like Electro, Vulture, maybe the sinister six as a team.

"Either way, if this tangled web does still involve the filmmaker, Raimi has been busy brainstorming about the villains he'd like to get into the next flick. "I would love to see Electro, Vulture, maybe the Sinister Six as a team,"
Raimi said.

Damn I think its fast to get some news for the spiderman sequel, number 3 hasn't even been released on dvd yet. But hey, something to look forward to.

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Live Free or Die Hard (2007) (CAM 2CH AC3-TBS) 778mb Download Movie

A 20th Century Fox release, made in association with Dune Entertainment, produced in association with Ingenious Film Partners. Produced by Michael Fottrell. Executive producers, Arnold Rifkin, William Wisher. Co-producer, Stephen James Eads. Directed by Len Wiseman. Screenplay, Mark Bomback; story, Bomback, David Marconi, based on the article “A Farewell to Arms” by John Carlin, certain original charac-ters by Roderick Thorp.

John McClane - Bruce Willis
Matt Farrell - Justin Long
Thomas Gabriel -Timothy Olyphant
Bowman -Cliff Curtis
Mai - Maggie Q
Lucy - Mary Elizabeth Winstead
Warlock - Kevin Smith
Agent Johnson - Yancey Arias
Taylor - Christina Chang
Russo - Yorgo Constantine
Casper - Andrew Friedman
Raj - Sung Kang
Clay - Matt O’Leary
Rand - Cyril Raffaelli
Trey - Jonathan Sadowski

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It's the Luddite versus the techies in "Live Free or Die Hard," and guess who wins. Back for a fourth round after a decade on the sequel sidelines, Bruce Willis enthusiastically resurrects resourceful working-class cop John McClane as the unlikely opponent of computer creeps bent on bringing down a digital-dependent nation. Tone careens madly from serious peril to action camp and everything in between, but the sheer quantity of often outrageous stunts should help overcome franchise mustiness to entertain general auds and rack up solid returns here and abroad.
First two "Die Hard" installments appeared in 1988 and 1990 -- the third followed in 1995 -- meaning that those interested in reviving the series had to confront the fact that much of the target aud for such a picture wasn't even born when John McTiernan's original hit the screen. Fox, scenarist Mark Bomback and co-story writer David Marconi have responded in obvious and safe ways, pairing Willis with a scruffy young computer geek with an anti-authoritarian streak and an aversion to physicality (Justin Long), making the villains disaffected (and very attractive) Yanks rather than foreign religious fanatics, and tailoring the package for a PG-13 rating rather than an R, which is what the previous three entries received.

Helmer Len Wiseman, a musicvid vet with a certain following based on the "Underworld" duo, plays up the incongruity of McClane being forced to confront the technical expertise of very 21st-century baddies who know how to shut down communications, data and security systems with the tap of a laptop key.

When the FBI realizes its computers have been hacked into, McClane is assigned to haul in Matt Farrell (Long), a New Jersey slacker on a laundry list of suspects. Even this isn't easy, however, as French (!) assassins frantically attempt to take Matt out even as McClane endeavors to spirit him away.

In short order, the ultra-efficient culprits, led by ice-cold, black-clad tech genius Thomas Gabriel (Timothy Olyphant), bring Washington, D.C., to the sort of standstill it hasn't experienced since "The Day the Earth Stood Still." After Wall Street is thrown into similar disarray, Matt sees that someone is setting off a "fire sale," a three-step plan to shut down everything in the country that's run by computer.

While the government -- Homeland Security, FBI, NSA, the armed forces, police, et al. -- scrambles to figure out what to do, McClane tries to keep Matt alive at least long enough to reveal what he knows about the dastardly project in which he was an unwitting participant. At every turn, they are attacked by Gabriel's well-armed goons, precipitating numerous action scenes that are ludicrous on the face of things -- McClane successfully battles a marauding helicopter with a fire hydrant, then a vaulting car, and later rides the wing of a spinning fighter jet -- but so much so that they'll become the sort of audience talking points people will have to see for themselves.

Along the way, the anti-gov nasties also kidnap McClane's daughter (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), making the battle "personal," in time-honored tradition.

All the "Die Hard" films have centered upon terrorists, but the ones until now dwelled in the pre-9/11 world; by avoiding contempo reality (there's barely a mention of it), new entry can legitimately be accused of evasiveness, even timidity. But filmmakers largely disarm this sort of criticism by recasting the film as a virtual action cartoon, one you can laugh at and even enjoy for the preposterousness of its propositions. Any doubts about how seriously pic is intended are dispelled in the third act with the arrival of Kevin "Clerks" Smith as the ultimate high-tech geek who humorously handles an overload of exposition and helps close the noose around Gabriel and his misguided cohorts.

Head shaven and still in fine shape, Willis has no trouble convincing that he's still capable of handling heavy action. Long's character spends so much time seeming desperate that thesp has little opportunity to give him other personality traits, leaving Matt a basically rote creation. Olyphant is all unruffled smoothness as the vengeful villain, while Maggie Q, as Gabriel's martial arts-proficient g.f. and Winstead as McClane's initially estranged daughter provide incidental hottie moments.

Set pieces' outlandishness notwithstanding, pic's physical aspects feel convincingly real.

Camera (Deluxe color, widescreen), Simon Duggan; editor, Nicolas de Toth; music, Marco Beltrami; production designer, Patrick Tatopoulos; supervising art director, Troy Sizemore; art directors, Beat Frutiger, James Hegedus; set designers, Greg Hooper, Geoff Hubbard, Anshuman Prasad; set decorator, Robert Gould; costume designer, Denise Wingate; sound (Dolby/DTS), Steve Nelson; sound designer, Cameron Frankley; re-recording mixers, Andy Nelson, Anna Behlmer; visual effects supervisor, Patrick McClung; visual effects, the Orphanage, Digital Dimension, Riot, Pixel Magic, Amalgamated Pixels; special effects supervisor, Mike Neinardus; stunt coordinator, Brad Martin; assistant director, Dieter Busch; second unit director, Brian Smrz; second unit camera, Jonathan Taylor, Gary Capo; casting, Deborah Aquila, Tricia Wood. Reviewed at 20th Century Fox studios, Los Angeles, June 22, 2007. MPAA Rating: PG-13. Running time: 129 MIN.

Variety is striving to present the most thorough review database. To report inaccuracies in review credits, please click here. We do not currently list below-the-line credits, although we hope to include them in the future. Please note we may not respond to every suggestion. Your assistance is appreciated.

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George Harrison to get Walk Of Fame star

The late George Harrison will join his former bandmate John Lennon on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame.

The ex-Beatle was among the list of inductees announced for 2008's ceremony. Other figures from the world of music include Ricky Martin, Christina Aguilera, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

The pavement stars have been a feature of Hollywood Boulevard since 1960 and are awarded to entertainers in film, television, theater, and music.

According to Hollywood's honorary mayor, Johnny Grant, 2008's artists were chosen "for a combination of professional achievement and community involvement."

He added: "I am happy to announce an array of celebrities who have earned this recognition for a combination of professional achievement and community involvement."

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Giant Ancient Penguins Liked it Hot

The two new, extinct species, the giant penguin Icadyptes salasi (right) and Perudyptes devriesi (left) are shown to scale with the only extant penguin inhabiting Peru, Spheniscus humbolti (center).
Credit: Kristin Lamm

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Laaga Chunari Mein Daag review

With Pradeep Sarkar’s last directorial venture, “Parineeta” really proving to one of those unique and most appealing cinematic outcomes of recent years, expectations are definitely high even this time with his first movie under the Yash Raj films banner. The movie calls itself “Laaga Chunari Mein Daag” and stars few of the finest talents of the industry such as Rani Mukherji, Abhishek Bachchan, Jaya Bachchan, Konkona Sen Sharma and Anupam Kher. The other actors roped in for this movie include Kunal Kapoor, Kiron Kher, Farida Jalal and Tinnu Anand.

As the undeniable fact comes to one’s notice that none of the lead actors from Sarkar’s last movie are a part of this one, but the truth is that the role of Konkona Sen Sharma was previously offered to Vidya Balan and also that Saif Ali Khan was the first choice for the role of Abhishek Bachchan. Anyhow, the movie now brings the real life mother and son (Jaya-Abhishek) together on the silver screen. Abhishek plays the love interest of Rani in the movie. Reports also state that Jaya will play mother to Rani and Konkona.

The movie is about woman empowerment and traces the journey of two sisters (Rani and Konkona) from their small time family to a big city, thus validating the issue that it is a strictly woman oriented movie lead by the three talented ladies in the main roles (Rani, Konkana and Jaya). The male characters can be termed as the supporting cast of the movie. The movie is slated to release on the 12th of October, this year.

Yash Raj films, directed by Pradeep Sarkar, endowed Bong Bombshells, a commanding subject… Need we say more!!!!!!!

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The Mahabharata

Cast :
Amitabh Bachchan,Manoj Bajpai,Kabir Bedi,Juhi Chawla,Dharmendra,Madhuri Dixit,Kamal Hassan,Meera Jasmine,Karan Johar,Ajith,Kajol,Aamir Khan,Salman Khan,Shahrukh Khan Trisha Krishnan,Madhavan,Mohan Lal,R. Siddharth Narayan,Naveen Nischol,Rajnikant,Shreya, Jackie Shroff,Sridevi,Preity Zinta,'Chiyaan' Vikram,Nagarjuna Akkineni
Sohail Khan

Directed by : Mani Ratnam,Bobby Bedi

Big B in Mahabharata film and as a funky fun God


Big B is known to be an icon and a legend in the film industry especially after he made his comeback in the industry with the popular television show ‘Kaun Banega Crorepati’. Amitabh has played several diverse and some of the best roles on-screen in his films. Keeping up this trend Big B is now all set to play a funky and cool God in his film ‘God Tussi Great Ho’. According to some sources Big B may also play the role of ‘Bhishma’ in Ravi Chopra’s film version of Mahabharata. It is also being rumoured that Amitabh may once again be seen in his popular comeback show ‘Kaun Banega Crorepati’ next year which will definitely be a treat for his fans.

Ravi Chopra is all set to make a film version of Mahabharata under his home production banner B.R Films. The television version of Mahabharata was also launched by B.R Films and went onto become extremely popular worldwide. The buzz in the industry is that Ravi wants Amitabh to play the role of ‘Bhishma’ and Rani Mukherjee to play the role of ‘Draupadi’ in his film version of Mahabharata. However Ravi Chopra refuses to discuss the star cast at this stage. He has just completed ‘Baabul’ with Amitabh. Rani, Salman and John and is currently waiting for the film to release.

Chopra however does say “I have been toying with the idea of making this epic into a feature film and now that Baabul is wrapped up I can take up this challenge.” An interesting piece of news is that the film will actually be a six hour movie which will be the longest film in the history of bollywood. But Chopra is quick to clarify this aspect saying “I will release it in two parts-part one on one Friday and the second part on the following Friday.” Chopra intends to work on both films simultaneously and has allotted a budget of Rs.150 crores for both the parts together. The film version will also have a lot more glamour and first class special effects.

Big B will also be seen playing a funky fun God in Rumi Jaffrey’s ‘God Tussi Great Ho’ which will also star Salman Khan. According to sources Bachchan senior will play a funny, spunky and dude like God, who has this on-going dialogue on life with Salman Khan. However the ever modest Amitabh says “it’s just a role albeit with a fantasy element that’s fun to do. And working with Salman is always enjoyable.” Amitabh recently celebrated his 64th birthday and was even unwell last year, but this does not seem to be slowing him down, in fact he’s all geared up for his forthcoming projects like Ram Gopal’s film where he plays Gabbar Singh, and also his worldwide concert along with son Abhishek amongst others films.

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Marigold (2007) Movie Review and Stills

Cast: Salman Khan, Ali Carter, Helen, Nandana Sen, Suchitra Pillai, Rakesh Bedi, Gulshan Grover,Vikas Bhalla
Director: Willard Caroll
Producer: Praveen Nischol
Music Director: Shankar Ehsaan Loy
Lyricist: Javed Akhtar

‘Marigold’ is an Indo-American collaborated venture. It has been making rounds in the entertainment industry ever since it’s making was announced. The film stars Salman Khan, a star name in the Hindi Film industry in the lead opposite Ali Carter, known for her films like ‘Final Destination’ and ‘Legally Blonde’. ‘Marigold’ will also make the Hollywood debut of actor Salman Khan as it is categorized under cross over cinema.

Willard Carroll, director of ‘Marigold’ is better known for his film ‘Playing by the Heart’, which starred Sean Connery and Angelina Jolie. Willard Connary calls ‘Marigold’ as an attempt to bridge the gap between Hollywood and Bollywood, the two big names in the world of cinema industry.

The mega project has been produced by Praveen Nischol. Apart from Salman and Ali, the film also stars Helen, Nandana Sen, Suchitra Pillai, Rakesh Bedi, Gulshan Grover and Vikas Bhalla. The musical trio of Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy has composed seven tracks for the film on the lyrics creatively crafted by Javed Akhtar.

The basic plot of ‘Marigold’ boasts of a romantic comedy wherein the film industry is kept as a backdrop. An American actress, played by Ali Carter gets stuck in India. worse that, she is out of cash. She decides to play a small role in a Bollywood musical, so that she can earn enough money to get back to her nation. Here the beautiful meets the handsome and cool choreographer Prem, played by Salman Khan. This marks the beginning of a journey wherein Ali explores the Hindi Film Industry with some good and not so good experiences.

Bollywood actors gunning for Hollywood isnt unheard of but now even our music makers are going west. The Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy trio is all set to make its Hollywood debut with the much-talked about movie Marigold. The movie will be the first ever Indo-US co-production in the backdrop of Bollywood, starring the resident hottie Salman Khan and other Indians.


A lot of musical exchange is happening between India and the West and thats good, says Loy Mendonsa of the trio. He adds that working with director Williard Carroll was a good experience. He makes his point and backs off. He loved the soundtrack of Dil Chahta Hai and even gifted his friends some of our music.

The songs of Marigold are in English and Hindi with lyrics by Javed Akhtar and Shari Watson and sung by Shaan and Shankar Mahadevan.

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Naqaab (2007) Movie Stills

Banner: Tips Music Films
Cast: Bobby Deol, Akshaye Khanna, Urvashi Sharma, Vikas Kalantri
Director: Abbas-Mustan
Producer: Kumar S Taurani, Ramesh S Taurani
Music Director: Pritam Chakraborty
Lyricist: Sameer

checkout some of the previous films directed by the director duo of Abbas-Mustan. The list encompasses films like Agnikaal, Baazigar, Khiladi, Daraar, Soldier, Ajnabee, Badshah, Chori Chori Chupke Chupke, Humraaz, Aitraaz, Tarzan and 36 Chinatown. The list includes a variety of films with different themes. Abbas-Mustan are known as the director duo who bring in a lot of variety and style in each of their films and don’t stick to a particular genre as such.

This time again, Abbas Mustan are ready with their next venture titled Naqaab, claiming itself as the most shocking thriller of the year. The film stars Abbas-Mustan’s hot favourite Bobby Deol along with Akshaye Khanna and debuntante Urvashi Sharma. Urvashi Sharma is a model and has worked in quite a few music videos, the recent ones being ‘Something Something’ with Mika Singh and ‘Doorie’ with Atif Aslam.

The music of the film is composed by Pritam and Sameer has penned the lyrics for the soundtrack. This is the first time that Pritam is working with Abbas-Mustan.

Naqaab also brings back the team of Humraaz, Bobby Deol, Akshaye Khanna and Abbas-Mustan together. Naqaab is a thriller which will witness two men vying for attention from the same girl.

The plot of Naqaab revolves around Sophie (Urvashi Sharma). She happens to be from a middle class background. Sophie’s character is that of a sexy and confident young girl who is engaged to Karan Khanna (Bobby Deol), a stylish millionaire.

Things move on smoothly until one day, Sophie meets Vicky Malhotra (Akshaye Khanna). Vicky is a struggling actor. He is an ambitious man who can do anything in quest of becoming an actor. Sophie’s interest in Vicky gives rise to a lot of problems in her relationship with Karan.

The film also emphasizes on the pasts of the three characters, which add more spice to the already existing tadka.

Watch out for the most shocking, rocking and mindblasting thriller of the year to look out for Sophies decision, her ambition and the impact of the threesomes past.

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Ram Gopal Varma Ke Sholay

Banner
Adlabs Films Ltd

Status
Under Production

Color
C

Release Date
August 31, 2007

Language
Hindi

Genre
Drama

Shooting Studios
Filmistan

Producer
Ram Gopal Varma

Director
Ram Gopal Varma

Star Cast
Amitabh Bachchan...... Gabbar Singh
Mohanlal...... Inspector Ranveer
Sushmita Sen...... Devi
Nisha Kothari...... Ghungroo
Gaurav Kapoor...... Ahmed
Rajpal Yadav...... Soorma Bhopali
Sushant Singh...... Sambha
Urmila Matondkar...... female dancer in the 'Mehbooba Mehbooba' item number
Abhishek Bachchan...... male dancer in the 'Mehbooba Mehbooba' item number
Prashant Raj...... Jai Ranade (Jai)
Ajay Devgan...... Virendra Chavan (Veeru)
Jeeva
Suchitra Krishnamurthy...... Ranveer's wife
Sachin...... Gabbar's brother

Cassettes and CD's on
T-Series

Singers
Sukhwinder Singh
Sunidhi Chauhan

Music Director
Ganesh Hegde
Bappi Lahiri

Choreography
Ganesh Hegde

Processing Labs
Adlabs Films Ltd

Publicity Designs
Marching Ants

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Yellowcard - Paper Walls [Advance]

Yellowcard - Paper Walls [Advance]

Another leak has arrived, and I'm not complaning. This time around it's alternative rockers Yellowcard. Now it's not the Retail of thier new album, it's missing two songs so I'm calling it an advance. I was a fan of thier "Ocean Avenue" album, but lost interest of them when they released "Lights and Sounds" last year. Since then they've been working on this, and were able to make a better album from what we have here. The uptempo tracks like "Light Up the Sky" and "Fighting" are deff good. But I actually found myself enjoying the midtempo ballads more like "Shadows And Regrets" and "Keeper" probably the best song on here. So deff check this early version of the album and BUY YOUR COPY JULY 17TH!!

1. The Takedown
2. Fighting
3. Shrink the World
4. Keeper
5. Light Up the Sky
6. Shadows and Regrets
7. Five Becomes Four
8. Afraid
9. Date Line (I Am Gone)
10. Dear Bobbie
11. You and Me and One Spotlight
DL: Yellowcard - Paper Walls [Advance]
DL Link 2: HERE
DL Link 3: HERE
(LINKS WILL BE TAKEN DOWN SUNDAY! THANKS ARE APPRECIATED)
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Sholay Movie Stills and Picture Gallery

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Who Will Google Buy Next?

Google is the new Internet behemoth, snatching up small companies left and right. So, in this article, I ask: what tech gems are in the running for Google's growing subsidiary menagerie? To help predict, I will first take a look at who Google has acquired in the past and what Google has done for them, and then I'll throw out a few possibilities for Googlification and discuss where they might fit into Google's strategy.

Google's past conquests have been varied, but they have all been smallish Internet companies that are doing cool stuff. I'll go through them here, with a brief blurb about how they were acquired, and what has changed in the post-Google era.

Deja News (Google Groups) - This web-based Usenet archive started life in 1995. Between 1999 and 2000, Deja overexpanded into a comparison shopping portal. Losing money, Deja sold the shopping component to eBay in late 2000, and it became part of Half.com. In February 2001, the big G entered the game and snatched up the Usenet archives, reintroducing them as Google Groups and extending them back to 1981 with the help of private collections. Today, Google Groups features Deja's Usenet, mailing lists, and Yahoo! Groups-esque features with a Gmail-like interface.

Outride - Outride, Inc. was an information retrieval spin-off from Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC). Google acquired certain technology assets in September 2001 and quickly integrated them into its search engine. Outride.net currently forwards to Google.

Applied Semantics - Google bought up this contextual advertising company in April 2003 and used it for its AdSense/AdWords services, allowing it to compete with Yahoo!'s Overture.
Kaltix - This 3-person personalized search startup company was quickly picked up by Google in September 2003. Kaltix formed the foundation of Google Personalized Search. Kaltix.com currently forwards to Google.

Blogger - Blogger was the flagship product of Pyra Labs. For a long time, Blogger was free of fees and ads, but it wasn't making money. After the original capital for Pyra dried up, a number of employees resigned, including the co-founder. In an effort to become profitable, Pyra introduced the ad-powered Blogspot hosting and the pay Blogger Pro service. It wasn't quite enough, and Pyra needed more resources, so Google stepped in during 2003. Blogger was redesigned by professional web designers in May 2004, and is now one of the most-used blogging tools.

Picasa - Picasa, a $30 photo organizer program, was first released in October 2001. In May 2004, Picasa announced integration with the Google-owned Blogger, and in July 2004, Google bought the company. Soon, Picasa was free, and it featured Google trademarks like an "I'm Feeling Lucky" button. The software routinely wins awards from leading PC publications.

Keyhole - Keyhole is a digital mapping company founded in 2001. Presumably to cut out the middleman for the not-yet-released Google Maps, Google bought them in October 2004. Since then, there has been an immediate price reduction for the Keyhole software (from $69.95 to $29.95), and integrated satellite photos in Google Maps.

Zipdash - Google acquired this traffic/mapping company in 2004 and put it to work in Google Maps. Although the acquisition was not publicized, Zipdash is mentioned in Google's 2004 annual report.

Where2 - This Australian mapping company was also mentioned in the 2004 annual report, but not much is known about it. It also had something to do with Google Maps.

Urchin - In March 2005, Google acquired Urchin, a web analytics and statistics company. Though we haven't yet seen what they're up to with it, it will probably be used with AdWords/AdSense, with statistics about clickthroughs and such.

Dodgeball - Google acquired this two-person cell phone social networking company in May 2005. The company was looking for investors, and Google apparently fit the bill. So far, nothing has happened with this company, but it will probably have something to do with Google Mobile.
So those are the companies Google has acquired. A common misconception is that Google has only been acquisitive since its (in)famous IPO. As shown here, however, the IPO has only made it easier for Google to buy companies it likes. Pre-IPO, from 2001 to August 2004, Google acquired 6 companies. Post-IPO, from August 2004 on, Google has acquired 5 companies. In the year since the IPO, Google has almost matched the number of companies it acquired in the prior three years.

Now that we've taken a good look at the past, here are my picks for the companies Google should, could, will, may, perhaps is considering to, would be cool if they were to, might acquire.
Sensible AcquisitionsThese companies are tossed around quite a bit by bloggers as possible Google fodder, and they would integrate well with Google's current offerings and its future strategy. They're all pretty small companies, but quickly becoming popular among web users in the know. No surprises here.

Technorati - If Google is the average person's homepage, Technorati is the homepage of the underground, tech-savvy web user. Technorati is a blog portal whose average visitor enjoys podcasts, Wikipedia, and the Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Providing more cutting edge results than a normal search engine, Technorati would integrate well with Google News and/or Blogger, and could perhaps feature blogs on the Google Personalized Homepage. Technorati is somewhat similar to Bloglines, which was purchased by Ask Jeeves recently.

Buzznet - Yahoo! beat Google to the punch by acquiring Flickr, one of my candidates in the first draft of this article. Like Flickr, Buzznet is a photo hosting and sharing service that features unique tagging features. It is possible to browse by tag and see all sorts of interesting stuff. Buzznet would probably jibe with Picasa's Hello photo posting service, perhaps include some sort of photo-Blogger, and integrate well with Orkut.

Koders - Koders is a search engine for open source code that works remarkably well. With the recent push for plugins for Google Desktop search, Koders would be an interesting addition to Google's software initiatives. It would make sense to combine with Google Code and Google Linux Search in some way.

GuruNet (Answers.com) - Recently, Google stopped linking to definitions on Dictionary.com, and started linking to Answers.com instead. Answers features a wealth of information about different topics, and uses Wikipedia for much of it. Since Wikipedia's non-profit status rules it out as a potential Google acquisition, Answers.com would be the next best thing. It also would help improve Google Q&A quite a bit. Interestingly, GuruNet is a publicly traded company (AMEX: GRU) with a market cap of about $100 million.

del.icio.us - This social bookmarking and tagging application could be used to improve Google search results, and perhaps integrate with Orkut in some way. Were Google to buy Buzznet as suggested above, this would work well with it.

StumbleUpon - This unique browser plugin and service would probably improve Google results and add a new level to the venerable search engine. It would probably combine with the Google Toolbar in some fashion, since the two have some similar functions.

Propel - Similar to Google Web Accelerator, Propel claims to speed up your browsing experience. The company is run by optical mouse inventor Steven T. Kirsch, who is no stranger to buyouts: his Frame Technology Corp. was purchased by Adobe, and his Infoseek was bought by Disney. This could help Google out with Web Accelerator, which it has been having trouble with.

From Left Field Here are some companies you probably haven't heard of, and some companies you know very well that fit in less well with the Google plan. It is not too likely that any of these will be bought by Google, but keep in mind, most of Google's past acquisitions have been unexpected.

Audioscrobbler/Last.fm - So far, Google hasn't made any inroads into the music industry. However, these sites together form an interesting, Google-ish service that uses algorithms reminiscent of PageRank to calculate the top artists and similar info.

TiVo - TiVo is a little too big and a little too well-known to be bought by Google. Also, Google's experience with hardware is limited to Google Search Appliances and similar. But, TiVo would work well with Google Video. TiVo seems to fit better with Apple Computer's media plans than it does with Google's geek mentality, though.

Icosystem - This swarm intelligence company might be useful for radical new spidering algorithms or some new form of PageRank. It's only peripherally Google-ish, though.

Monster - Monster is the most popular job search site. Some bloggers have tossed this idea around, touting various forms of integration with other Google services. They also mention that Yahoo! owns HotJobs. However, one wonders whether Google is interested in this market at all.

Coral - This caching service would probably be interesting and useful for Google's own cache. However, it is run by NYU, so it's not a commercial company, and may not be up for grabs.

The Open Directory Project - The definitive web directory has long been partnered with Google for the Google Directory. But the Google Directory hasn't been updated in a very long time, and it still sports the old tabbed Google design, which lacks links to Froogle and Google Local. Although the ODP is owned by Netscape, Google should have sufficient cash to acquire it since the IPO.

Stayhealthy/Fitness Expert - This online health company doesn't offer content a la WebMD, instead providing health and fitness hardware, self-test kits, and a kiosk joint-ventured with IBM. The hardware interface is web-based. As with TiVo, Google's limited hardware experience may be a problem, and one wonders whether Google is interested in the health and fitness space.

World66 - World66 could be Google's answer to Yahoo! Travel, with some work. Its Wiki style, however, might be too wild for Google's liking.

My Way - This image ad and popup-free page is very Google-like. However, it's redundant to existing Google offerings, and these days having no popups isn't as big a deal as it was 3 years ago. It might compete with Yahoo!'s portal, though.

So there you have it, my picks for Google's next additions, and some less likely, but nonetheless interesting, possibilities.

There are also a number of other companies that would appear to be a good match for Google, but cannot be for various reasons. Many of these include non-profits like The Internet Archive or Wikipedia. Others like IMDb are owned by other larger companies which would not sell them (in this case Amazon.com), and still others are open-source driven like BitTorrent or the Mozilla Foundation (also a non-profit) and would not make a good fit in a corporate environment.
Many of the companies listed above might not be considered by Google alone. Microsoft, Apple, Amazon.com, Adobe, and Yahoo! are just a few of the web giants that have made it a habit of buying attractive Internet companies. I bet they're regretting that they never approached Google itself with an offer!

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