Mathura, June 17 : Ashish Sharma of Uttar Pradesh's Mathura city attempted an unusual feat to break a world record of watching films non-stop for the longest time.
During his marathon movie-watching attempt, Ashish watched 48 Bollywood films for over 120 hours and ended his feat on Monday here. He started at 11:08 a.m (IST) on June 11 and ended up at 8:12 p.m. (IST) on Monday (June 16).
Sharma surpassed the previous record of 117 hours and four minutes set by Claudia Wavra of Germany.
Ravi Shankar Godara, a Guinness Record holder, confirmed Sharma making the record.
Godara set the Guinness Record on May 20, 2007 for memorizing most birthdays in two minutes and got the eligibility of participating in any Guinness World Record event attempt and observe it.
"The record was first made by Claudia Wavra from Germany for 117 hours and four minutes and Ashish was supposed to break it. He started on June 11,2008 and followed the stated rules and regulations of the Guinness Book of World Records as provided to me," said Ravi Shankar Godara.
Ravi Shankar Godara also said that the longest movies watching marathon record breaker was duly checked by a doctor after every four hours.
The conditions also stipulated that the duration of each movie should not be less than 90 minutes and the participant can have rest for 10 minutes after each film.
Ashish, however, said that his attempt to enter the Guinness World Records was to bring the name of his native place Mathura into record books.
"I saw a book of the Guinness Book of World Records in a library in Nehru Place market of New Delhi. After studying it I felt there was no mention of Mathura in such a book of records. So, I decided to do something that will place Mathura in the record book," he said.
Ashish, however, will be issued the world record title one month later after scrutiny of his data, statements of witnesses, CDs and DVDs.
I've always been a fan of honest assessments in interviews -- I'm talking about those fleeting moments when an actor, actress, director, or anyone else in film backs out of the marketing machine for a second and speaks about their work honestly. It drives me up a wall when I see a talented person lather a bad movie/role in platitudes as if we won't figure out that they're lying. Sure, they have to help buzz for their projects, but sometimes a spade is just a spade.
Katherine Heigl has ticked off many recently for removing her name from Emmy contention because she doesn't feel the material she was given on Grey's Anatomy was worthy of consideration. It may be a bit too truthful, but isn't it accurate? Her character arc isn't the stuff of Emmy nominations. We complain when actors are given nods they didn't really deserve, but are equally put off when someone pulls their name out of the running for that reason. Or, is it just because she admitted it publicly? Or, that she's been very honest before? I wasn't entirely thrilled with the portrayals in Knocked Up, and was relieved that she admitted so herself, even if the film has given her a lot of success.
It's been so long since we discussed Hounddog that it seemed like the film had already come and gone without a whisper. Not quite. The infamous Dakota Fanning movie that caused many waves for a controversial rape scene was planning to hit theaters on July 15. Now a new press release says the film will hit theaters starting September 5, where they are hoping to get the surprisingly high gross of $15 million before hitting shelves on DVD on January 20, 2009.
But that's not all. The company says that along with cross-promotion with other titles, it will "be supported with national television and radio ads, a consumer sweepstakes, and in-store merchandising." Defamer has mused about a whole Simpsons/7-11 approach with "Hounddog Sex Shacks," but the snark is not that big of a jump.
Whether warranted or not, the film has ruffled the feathers of many people, and it seems surprising that sweepstakes and in-store merchandising are being thrown into the mix. Hell, push aside the unrest and just think about the initial response. When Kim reviewed it from Sundance way back when, she said: "Hounddog is also one of the least likeable films I've seen here at Sundance -- and not, as you might expect, merely because it has a scene of the young actress being violently raped."
How far will they take it? We'll have to wait and see.
Earlier today, Elisabeth shared with you a Slate story that questioned whether United Artists photoshopped a picture of Claus von Stauffenberg so that it would look more like Tom Cruise when they were promoting the casting of the actor in Bryan Singer's Valkyrie. That post is over here. Read it. Love it. Investigate! In the same Slate story, however, they talk a bit about Mission Impossible 4. There's been rumblings recently of a new Mission Impossible -- how Cruise and Paramount's Sumner Redstone wined and dined one another -- leading many to believe they may patch things up and move forward on a sequel. Wonderful. Fabulous. Let's hold hands.
Not so fast. Slate says Paramount offered Cruise the chance to produce the sequel (they have to since it's in his contract), but not star in it. Not star? Cruise? No way. And that's exactly what happened: Cruise turned down their offer. Now, says Slate, Paramount may hold off on making a new Mission Impossible until their contract with Cruise's production company expires. This will then free them up to go out, cast some hot young stud as the new Ethan Hunt (or some other random Hunt-type dude), and continue along with a fairly popular action franchise.
Tom Cruise and Valkyrie just cannot stay out of the press -- and alas, the press has rarely been good. Well, here comes a bit more controversy: There have now been claims from German press that United Artists doctored a photo of hopeful Hitler assassin, Claus von Stauffenberg. In the interests of historic representation, journalistic credibility, and a chance to see how weird Cruise's career can get, Slate took the above photo (released by United Artists) to their design experts. Visit the magazine to see the details of their analysis -- but they have come to the conclusion that it has been doctored. A comparison with a AP file photo of von Stauffenberg is remarkably different than the one UA has been publicizing. It seems to be the same photo, but that too could be up for debate. Possibly, UA is guilty of nothing more than carefully choosing a flattering photo. Other photos of von Stauffenberg, which are from the front and better lit, don't have much of a resemblance to Cruise.
Visit Slate to judge for yourself, then come back and tell us your take. If it has been doctored, how silly is that? Plenty of historical figures have been ably played by actors bearing little resemblance to them -- and perhaps even the better for it, as they didn't rely only on physical looks to carry the role. The whole story smells of insecurity on the part of someone (or everyone) at United Artists. Though, for now (or until more experts weigh in), we'll just chalk this up as another piece of fascinating Hollywood mystery.
The rap on Cyd Charisse was that she was a far better dancer than an actress, but I don't care what you say: The lady had presence. When that endless leg stretched out before Gene Kelly's dazzled eyes in "Singin' in the Rain," you knew a star was being born.
Like all the pure dancers of Hollywood -- Astaire, Kelly, Eleanor Powell -- Charisse expressed persona through movement rather than dialogue, and in her case that persona was smoky, sinuous, and cool: a quintessential 50s mix of sex and poise. She was the choreographic equivalent of a classic Sinatra LP.
She also had one of the great Hollywood birth names: Tula Ellice Finklea. Born in Amarillo, Texas, and nicknamed "Sid" by a brother who couldn't pronounce "Sis," she moved to Hollywood when she was young to study ballet. After dancing with the Ballets Russes and a first marriage to her teacher, Nico Charisse, in Paris, Charisse made the move into film, starting with 1943's "Something to Shout About." (It wasn't.)
It was her dance number with Astaire in 1946's "Ziegfeld Follies" (here's a link to the video; Charisse turns up about 1:30 in) that made audiences sit up and wonder who the hell was dancing with Fred. She still had to wait six more years, until the climactic "Broadway Melody" setpiece of "Singin' in the Rain," to become a full-fledged household name. After that it was more Astaire ("The Band Wagon," "Silk Stockings") and more Kelly ("Brigadoon," "It's Always Fair Weather"), and a 60-year marriage to singer Tony Martin, who survives her. Feast your eyes on the Mickey Spillane-derived "Girl Hunt Ballet" number from "Band Wagon":
Class is what she had, and legs as long as Manhattan. Of all her movies, the one I treasure most is 1955's "It's Always Fair Weather" -- the dark, dyspeptic answer-musical to "Singin' in the Rain" -- in which Charisse entertains a gym full of pug-faced boxers who toss her around the ring in delight and sing "Baby, You Knock Me Out." That she did. Behold -- we were not worthy.
So the American Film Institute is airing its top 10 list of genre movies, 10 in fact: animation, courtroom drama, gangster, romantic comedy, fantasy, western, sports, mystery, epic, science-fiction. The show is another of the group's highly arguably but immensely watchable -- especially so since it's looking temporally impossible for the Lakers to catch the Celtics -- summer specials. Although, seeing Rob Reiner impersonate Lee J. Cobb in "12 Angry Men" might have cost me my appetite. (Right now, they're on courtroom dramas and Sidney Lumet's movie is number three.)
The lists were culled from a pool of 500 movies (50 per genre) and distributed to a big list of critics (not me), historians, and film professionals. And since the AFI has already done horror-thrillers, musicals, romances, and comedies, this list gets a bunch of marketable categories over with. Now it's official: These lists are a real video-store organization principle.
I do like that "A Cry in the Dark" made the cut of courtroom dramas (sing it in your finest American Top 40 voice: "number nine"). Is "Schindler's List" really an "epic"? According to the institute's definition, pretty much: It's a "genre of large-scale films set in a cinematic interpretation of the past." Fine. In romantic comedy, "City Lights" was number one. That's nice. So is "Thief of Baghdad"'s coming in at number nine on the fantasy list. (Criterion just put out a new edition.) Dirty-old "Shampoo" did not make the cut.
Here's the rest of the lists.
ANIMATION
1 SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS (1937)
2 PINOCCHIO (1940)
3 BAMBI (1942)
4 LION KING, THE (1994)
5 FANTASIA (1942)
6 TOY STORY (1995)
7 BEAUTY AND THE BEAST (1991)
8 SHREK (2001)
9 CINDERELLA (1950)
10 FINDING NEMO (2003)
FANTASY
1 WIZARD OF OZ, THE (1939)
2 LORD OF THE RINGS: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING (2001)
3 IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE (1947)
4 KING KONG (1933)
5 MIRACLE ON 34th STREET (1947)
6 FIELD OF DREAMS (1989)
7 HARVEY (1950)
8 GROUNDHOG DAY (1993)
9 THIEF OF BAGDAD, THE (1924)
10 BIG (1988)
GANGSTER
1 GODFATHER, THE (1972)
2 GOODFELLAS (1990)
3 GODFATHER PART II, THE (1974)
4 WHITE HEAT (1949)
5 BONNIE AND CLYDE (1967)
6 SCARFACE: THE SHAME OF A NATION (1932)
7 PULP FICTION (1994)
8 PUBLIC ENEMY, THE (1931)
9 LITTLE CAESAR (1931)
10 SCARFACE (1983)
ROMANTIC COMEDY
1 CITY LIGHTS (1931)
2 ANNIE HALL (1977)
3 IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT (1934)
4 ROMAN HOLIDAY (1953)
5 PHILADELPHIA STORY, THE (1941)
6 WHEN HARRY MET SALLY? (1989)
7 ADAM'S RIB (1949)
8 MOONSTRUCK (1987)
9 HAROLD AND MAUDE (1971)
10 SLEEPLESS IN SEATTLE (1993)
COURTROOM DRAMA
1 TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD (1963)
2 12 ANGRY MEN (1957)
3 KRAMER VS. KRAMER (1979)
4 VERDICT, THE (1982)
5 FEW GOOD MEN, A (1992)
6 WITNESS FOR THE PROSECUTION (1958)
7 ANATOMY OF A MURDER (1959)
8 IN COLD BLOOD (1967)
9 CRY IN THE DARK, A (1988)
10 JUDGMENT AT NUREMBERG (1961)
EPIC
1 LAWRENCE OF ARABIA (1962)
2 BEN-HUR (1959)
3 SCHINDLER'S LIST (1993)
4 GONE WITH THE WIND (1939)
5 SPARTACUS (1960)
6 TITANIC (1997)
7 ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT (1930)
8 SAVING PRIVATE RYAN (1998)
9 REDS (1981)
10 TEN COMMANDMENTS, THE (1956)
SCIENCE FICTION
1 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY (1968)
2 STAR WARS: EPISODE IV- A NEW HOPE (1977)
3 E.T. - THE EXTRA TERRESTRIAL (1982)
4 CLOCKWORK ORANGE, A (1971)
5 DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL, THE (1951)
6 BLADE RUNNER (1982)
7 ALIEN (1979)
8 TERMINATOR 2: JUDGEMENT DAY (1991)
9 INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS (1956)
10 BACK TO THE FUTURE (1985)
WESTERN
1 SEARCHERS, THE (1956)
2 HIGH NOON (1952)
3 SHANE (1953)
4 UNFORGIVEN (1992)
5 RED RIVER (1948)
6 WILD BUNCH, THE (1969)
7 BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID (1969)
8 MCCABE & MRS. MILLER (1971)
9 STAGECOACH (1939)
10 CAT BALLOU (1965)
SPORTS
1 RAGING BULL (1980)
2 ROCKY (1977)
3 PRIDE OF THE YANKEES, THE (1943)
4 HOOSIERS (1986)
5 BULL DURHAM (1988)
6 HUSTLER, THE (1961)
7 CADDYSHACK (1980)
8 BREAKING AWAY (1979)
9 NATIONAL VELVET (1945)
10 JERRY MAGUIRE (1996)
MYSTERY
1 VERTIGO (1958)
2 CHINATOWN (1974)
3 REAR WINDOW (1954)
4 LAURA (1944)
5 THIRD MAN, THE (1950)
6 MALTESE FALCON, THE (1941)
7 NORTH BY NORTHWEST (1959)
8 BLUE VELVET (1986)
9 DIAL M FOR MURDER (1954)
10 USUAL SUSPECTS, THE (1995)
There's no way around it: Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson owes at least some of his fame to the way his dominating figure fits the blockbuster action stereotype with near-mechanical sleekness. However, he also offers an alternative to that reductive perspective. Looking sharp in a business suit and speaking with the relaxed professional discipline of a CEO, Johnson showed up at a screening of Get Smart on Sunday at the CineVegas Film Festival displaying sheer confidence. The screening took place at the Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino, where Johnson had recently acted in Race to Witch Mountain("We just added to the chaos," he said), but on this visit, Johnson got a chance to remind people that he's not just a one-note performer, but someone who plays an active role in the international film community (not to mention the health community, since The Rock Foundation pushes obesity prevention).
Outside of his supremely meta performance in Richard Kelly's Southland Tales, Johnson has made his interests in adventurous cinema increasingly clear, and boldly champions independent artists. You can get a small glimpse of this aspect of his personality in Operation Filmmaker, documentarian Nina Davenport's account of an Iraqi filmmaker named Muthana Mohmed whose aspirations tragically fall short of the expectations surrounding him. Landing the opportunity to work for Liev Schreiber on the set of Everything is Illuminated, the 25-year-old Mohmed grows increasingly frustrated with the boring tasks given to him, and continually blows opportunities as a result of his unbalanced work ethic.
What exactly does your moviegoing sensibility owe to Stan Winston? The special effects pioneer died Sunday at 62 following a long battle with multiple myeloma cancer, but he has left a deep imprint in our collective cranium. There are nice encomiums from Steven Spielberg, James Cameron, and many others at Wired, EW, the Associated Press, and the L.A. Times, but maybe the best to way to memorialize this casual, hardworking craftsman is to post photos of some of his work. Yeah, he's responsible for all of the following. A full filmography is at IMDb or at Winston's own site.
And as of June 16th, the Vatican has formally denied the long-awaited request on behalf of the filmmakers to film crucial scenes within the critical churches of Santa Maria del Popolo and Santa Maria della Vittoria.
According to Variety, the proper permits require cooperation between the Italian government and the Vatican. However, since "the film pursues a type of fantasy that damages common religious sentiment," they were not approved. The production has already relocated to near Naples in an effort to double the needed interior shots, and the film is still scheduled to open on May 15, 2009.
Tom Hanks' hair could not be reached for comment at the time of this post.
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On June 5th, production began on 
