Filed under: Foreign Language, Celebrities and Controversy, Newsstand, Movie News, Cinematical

Bollywood cinema -- Hindi movies emanating from the Mumbai region in India -- are often noted for their conservative values when it comes to onscreen interaction between male and female stars. This is, after all, the land where they used to cut away from onscreen kisses before they happened. This makes it all the more bizarre that actresses from the Indian film industry keep getting busted for prostitution.

Two actresses, Saira Banu and Jyoti, were arrested on August 23rd after an early morning raid of a brothel in the Hyderabad area -- further adding to the persistent rumor that India's leading ladies can be had if the price is right.

To be fair, neither actress is a Bollywood starlet -- both have worked in the smaller Tollywood region -- nor were they working on a street corner in a bad part of town. The area the actresses were arrested in is a high price neighborhood that houses government ministers, IT executives, and other well to do citizens. Still, both were arrested for taking part in what local authorities like to call "the flesh business."

As an article at Will Barnes Online mentions, this isn't the first time this happened. The real questions are why and are India's movie starlets really for sale?

Hit the jump for some possible answers and explanations.

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Ben Affleck is here with the entire cast of "The Town," a heist movie he shot in Boston, America's new favorite most dangerous and most dangerously accented city. This afternoon he held a press conference for the movie. Most of the cast was there. So was Chuck Hogan who wrote the book. It was a standard international festival press conference. The actors -- Chris Cooper, Blake Lively, Jeremy Renner, Rebecca Hall, and Jon Hamm -- sat and watched the director handle most of the queries. In this case, Affleck is a director who acts, so his animated responses didn't put everyone to sleep. He didn't get the best questions, but he made the most of what he had. Here, he talks about sex scenes with Lively and Hall. 

There are many things to love about this city. The cost of a subway token isn't among them. For years this festival has been concentrated in the theaters and buildings uptown. So the object is to station yourself nearby. In a smart move, the festival has moved to a cluster of downtown facilities. In a dumb move, I forgot. So I've been heading south on the train, which is fine, except each trip costs $3. 

The fare purchasing system feels ancient. It includes dealing with old metal boxes that eat only cash and coins then drop a bunch of tiny metal tokens that love to disappear. Some machines have a $5 bill intolerance, and don't get me started about why I haven't done what you're probably thinking I should: buy a pass (only next week's are for sale). But the station agents have been helpful in telling me what my options aren't...

(At left: Andy Garcia and Eli Wallach in "The Godfather: Part III.")

An addendum to the two previous posts on this year's honorary Oscars. The movie business can be one small world. This year's recipients, you will recall, are Francis Ford Coppola, Eli Wallach, Jean-Luc Godard, and Kevin Brownlow. So? So Wallach plays the treacherous Don Altobello in Coppola's "The Godfather: Part III." Godard's "comeback" to feature filmmaking, "Sauve qui peut," was released in the States (as "Every Man for Himself") by Coppola's production and distribution company, American Zoetrope. And the Brownlow restoration of Abel Gance's "Napoleon" was presented under the aegis of (you guessed it) American Zoetrope. Clearly, Coppola has been good at making people offers they can't refuse -- and recent movie history is that much the better for it.

Filed under: Documentary, Drama, Independent, Celebrities and Controversy, Newsstand, Trailers and Clips, Trailers and Clips, Movie News, Cinematical

Cinematical's David Ehrlich wrote about Uwe Boll's newest project 'Auschwitz' earlier this week, noting, "As a Jew, a cinephile, and a person, I fervently believe that no historical episode should be protected from filmic representation, but after watching the NSFW trailer even Neo-Nazis might be shaking their heads going, 'Seriously Uwe, I think they've been through enough.'" After watching the trailer myself, all I have to add is, "Blergh."

An intrepid reporter over at Vice made contact with Uwe Boll -- first through Facebook and then over the phone -- to discuss his movie. Boll, who has engaged in boxing matches with his critics, had a lot to say. Like, a lot. And it wasn't just his detractors he's furious at, but also Germany as a nation and its attitude towards portraying the Holocaust, according to him.

Boll is not known for pulling punches verbally either, and the reporter barely had a chance to get a word in edgewise during his rants, which include choice bits about his educational background ("WHAT THE F*CK! Why do I get counted as an idiot, I'm a Doctor of Literature! I studied economy!") and much more.

Boll's anger isn't just directed towards his critics, though, but towards his homeland, Germany.

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Filed under: Celebrities and Controversy, Politics, Movie News, Cinematical

Stephen Frears' 2006 offering The Queen sees Helen Mirren as Queen Elizabeth II. After the death of Princess Diana, she retreats from the public eye, not addressing the demise of "The People's Princess." But there's a newly elected Prime Minister, Tony Blair (Michael Sheen), who believes she should speak to her public, and meets with her to try and convince her to break her silence. Screenwriter Peter Morgan tried to imagine the meeting, and with no record or accounts to give him a truthful basis, he mused that the Queen says: "You are my 10th prime minister, Mr. Blair. My first was Winston Churchill."

Far from a "how d'you do?," the chances of Morgan being right with his guess are slim to none. Nevertheless, in Tony Blair's memoirs, A Journey, he recounts a very similar interaction.

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Filed under: Documentary, Independent, Magnolia, Theatrical Reviews, Celebrities and Controversy, Cinematical Indie, Reviews, Cinematical

Why is it so weird for an actor to make a career change and decide to be a rapper? The idea works in reverse. Hip-hop stars transition successfully to TV and movies all the time, and though few if any abandon their first profession completely, a lot of them end up more focused on the new course they've taken. We may be reminded of this imbalance while watching the new documentary I'm Still Here, in which actor-turned-rapper Joaquin Phoenix meets with rapper-turned-actor Sean "Diddy" Combs to discuss the former's interest in recording a hip hop album. Combs gets rather annoyed at "JP" (Phoenix's new rapper name) for seemingly treating rap as an easy thing to do. There's a definite level of irony to the pairing of these two figures here. As there is with another candid moment between Phoenix and a genuinely stunned Mos Def.

Phoenix's mistake could be that he retired from acting suddenly and outright, or it might be that his talent for rapping is undeniably thin. Or, frankly, that he's white. Yet the fact is, regardless of his skin color or how he went about it and whether or not he was good at his chosen music genre, there is a plain and simple factor that movie stars can't overcome, and that is the fame game. Even when well-received critically or commercially, like an Eddie Murphy or a Kevin Bacon, the world will never be able to separate the music or the act from the celebrity attached to it. People listening to or seeing a live performance by Dogstar or 30 Odd Foot Grunts primarily sees Keanu Reeves or Russell Crowe in their respective band. We saw that mess with Billy Bob Thornton last year. And it's an interesting matter to, um, explore in a, uh...

Hold on, I'm going off in a direction unsuited to this film and, I presume, unsuited to your interest in it. Let me address the real issue after the jump.

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Filed under: Action, Comedy, RumorMonger, Celebrities and Controversy, 20th Century Fox, Remakes and Sequels, Venice Film Festival, Cinematical

Just as he's returning to the Spy Kids well once more, Robert Rodriguez can't see why he shouldn't go forth with a sequel or two suggested at the end of his trailer-expanding exploitation romp Machete.

As the film premiered at the Venice Film Festival, the filmmaker/seemingly excellent cook told IGN that "we made the trailer to Machete not knowing that they'll be a movie afterwards and then people came after us and said where is the movie, so if people come after us and say where is Machete Kills Again then we'll know we'll need it."

Machete took in a decent $14 million this weekend (compared to the lackluster $11 million opening of the much costlier Grindhouse in 2007), and I'm not sure that Rodriguez is about to lose star Danny Trejo to any other franchise in the meantime (well, except for the Spy Kids series, where he plays... Machete).

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• A blade-wielding former Federale (Danny Trejo) seeks revenge against those who betrayed him.
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Original: Movies.com Top 10 Box Office

Filed under: RumorMonger, Celebrities and Controversy, Contests, 'Fone Finds, Cinematical

Update: Nokia UK has quashed the sex scene rumors and has confirmed to Cinematical that the scene will be set in a hotel room, but involve a gang of ninjas racing through the building. It's a light-hearted scene and "certainly not of a sexual nature."

For a good dose of post-holiday bile, chew on this: Pamela Anderson has reportedly agreed to partake in a cinematic sex scene with a fan. Yep, if you ever watched her saucy seas sex tape with Tommy Lee and wished you could get close to the ex-Baywatch star, it's as far away as entering your name, e-mail address, and phone number ... and being a resident of the UK.

A contest brought to you by Nokia UK, the McHenry Brothers (who wrote and directed the upcoming Jackboots on Whitehall) will grab the company's new Nokia N8 and shoot a short film called The Commuter in high definition with the device. There's quick turnaround on this -- filming is slated to take place on September 20th in London.

But is it really a sex scene?

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