[ItzToday.com] 'Gulliver's Travels' Movie Review

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• 'Gulliver's Travels' Movie Review
• Hot Pamela Anderson named PETA's person of the year
• 'Alexander' reviews left Colin Farrell in depression
• Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie visit children's cancer centre
• Tanushree Dutta says Shedding clothes is a public demand
• Singer Kanye West's stylist created own school uniform
• Mel B says she can't stop talking about sex

'Gulliver's Travels' Movie Review Posted: 01 Jan 2011 10:00 PM PST Film: "Gulliver's Travels"; Director: Rob Letterman; Cast: Jack Black, Jason Segel, Emily Blunt, Amanda Peet, Billy Connolly, Chris O'Dowd; Rating: *1/2 It is one of the greatest satires of all times that "Gulliver's Travels" has been relegated to children's literature. That the latest filmed version of the same treats the masterpiece with similar disdain is but a satire on humanity itself, which ironically writer Jonathan Swift repeatedly indulged with in the book. Lemuel Gulliver (Jack Black), a delivery boy, is one of the little people in his office and cannot express his true feelings for travel editor Darcy (Amanda Peet). After being fired, he fakes being a travel writer and takes up an assignment to explore Bermuda triangle. There, he disappears, only to wake up in Lilliput, the land of the small people who see him as a beast at first, but he manages to win them over in the end, while also uniting a commoner in the land with the princess. There is a hint of a soul in the film with delivery boy Gulliver being the little, insignificant person in a big office and then the low caste Lilliputian Horatio (Jason Segel) aspiring for the higher class princess Mary (Emily Blunt). But when you consider the actual analogy of the original book, where the warring Lilliputians and Blefuscu were intended by Swift as criticism of modern society, this falls flat. Quite contrary to the original satire, the film actually seems to endorse modern life with all its faults, as Gulliver turns Lilliput into mini-Manhattan. This and the parody of Hollywood is not done with any higher intention but cheap thrills. Sadly, these barely raise a chuckle. The film thus ends up as nothing but a show of special effects for little children who incidentally have seen better effects in far superior films. Also the introduction of the big people near the end (Brobdingnag in the original story) is out of place, and gimmicky. It could have waited for a sequel. Perhaps the makers had the correct premonition that the film won't survive to have a sequel, so they had to cram all in one. Even the little emotions and build up of mood that could have helped audiences connect with it are rushed up as if the makers were in a hurry to finish the film. Jack Black is himself in the film, indulgent and loony, which may or may not suit the story depending on your take on both the film and Jack. Director Rob Letterman, who has given two decent animation films "Shark Tale" and "Monsters Vs. Aliens", fails miserably with this one. Unlike the original book, which is a parody of modern life, the film self-cannibalizes, ending up becoming a ludicrous parody of itself to be watched only if there's nothing else to do.

Hot Pamela Anderson named PETA's person of the year Posted: 01 Jan 2011 09:56 PM PST London, Jan 1 (IANS) "Baywatch" beauty Pamela Anderson has been named the person of the year by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) for her tireless work to end animal cruelty. "For years, Anderson has been penning letters and posing in ads for PETA UK's American affiliate in order to raise awareness about cruelty to animals and demonstrate how easy it is to avoid contributing to animal suffering," dailystar.co.uk quoted a spokesperson as saying. The organisation Friday recognised Anderson for helping to draw attention to animal rights issues by speaking to students at Oxford University, posing for pictures with her body 'painted in butcher markings', doing commercials for the anti-fur campaign and calling on Indian leaders to ban the country's leather trade.

'Alexander' reviews left Colin Farrell in depression Posted: 01 Jan 2011 09:53 PM PST London, Jan 1 (IANS) Actor Colin Farrell admits he went into depression mode after his film "Alexander" didn't fare well at the box-office and also considered turning his back on acting career. "That was tough. I say tough relative to a charmed life, but I'm not going to apologise for how much it affected me emotionally and psychologically. I was going to walk away from acting. I couldn't even buy a packet of cigarettes without feeling like I needed to say sorry to the guy behind the counter just in case he happened to see the thing," dailystar.co.uk quoted him as saying. Farrell became even more withdrawn following the box office failure of "Miami Vice" in 2006. "I just completely fell to s**t on that one. It was literally the first time I couldn't say to anyone around me, 'Have I been late for work, have I missed any days, have I been hitting my marks?' Because the answers would have been yes, yes, and no... I lost the ability to be confident that I could make a change myself."

Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie visit children's cancer centre Posted: 01 Jan 2011 09:48 PM PST London, Jan 2 (IANS) Superstar couple Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie have made a brief visit to a children's cancer centre. The couple -- who raise six kids, Maddox, nine, Pax, seven, Zahara, five, Shiloh, four, and two-year-old twins Knox and Vivienne, together -- were joined by Brad's parents to the St. John's Jane Pitt Paediatric Cancer Centre Wednesday. "They stayed about 45 minutes. It was a very nice visit," femalefirst.co.uk quoted hospital's spokesperson Cora Scott as saying. Last year, Pitt and Jolie, along with family, donated $1 million to St. John's Foundation for Community Health and had the paediatric cancer unit dedicated to the Pitt's mother Jane. "Jane Pitt is a gem in our community. She's a very wonderful woman who cares so very much about the well being of children," Scott added.

Tanushree Dutta says Shedding clothes is a public demand Posted: 01 Jan 2011 09:44 PM PST Kolkata, Jan 2 (IANS) Bollywood bombshell Tanushree Dutta feels that actresses are asked to shed inhibitions in front of the camera mainly to cater to the public demand and not because the script demands it. "Actually, when people come to you with the line that shedding of inhibitions is the demand of a particular screen role, they are actually pandering to the public demand. Words like demand of the role or the character are all trash," Tanushree told IANS in an interview. Asked whether she is ready to shed clothes if the character required that, Dutta said: "In Bollywood, people have been making movies for more than half a century and they are made in such a way that you need not shed off all your inhibitions. I would really draw the line. I am no more a newcomer in Bollywood." Tanushree had won the Femina Miss India Universe title in 2004, and made her entry into Bollywood in 2005 with the hit film "Aashiq Banaya Aapne". She starred in "Chocolate: Deep Dark Secrets" the same year, and came to be considered one of tinsel town's dark horses. But she failed to live up to the initial expectations of her fans as most of her films except "Dhol" and "Bhagam Bhag" bombed at the box office. Asked about the fate of most of her films, the former beauty queen said: "To what extent a film works is beyond me. My first film 'Aashiq Banaya Aapne' did wonders at the box office. Then 'Chocolate' was also quite popular, but it didn't have the same effect as the first one. "I just look at my work and of course it's my responsibility to sign good films so as to make sure that people come to watch. But sometimes there are lots of things which are not in our hands. I always try to do the best I can. Some movies work, some movies don't," said the 26-year-old actor. spending more than five years in Bollywood, and with an experience of working in nearly 12 Hindi and Telugu films, Tanushree now wants to do something different. "At this point of time I really want to do a historical movie. May be it's going to take some time. I have covered various genres. I have done romantic, psycho-thriller, thriller, crime based, comedy, romantic comedy. Now I want to do a periodical. I also want to do a musical film," she said. Tanushree nurtures a dream of working on a hardcore subject and literature-based Bengali film in the coming years, but says that she hasn't got an impressive offer yet. "I have always wanted to work in a Bengali film. But till date I haven't got that kind of offer that would impress me. "Bengali filmmakers have come up with subjects that are so touchy and hardcore. Literature- and sahitya-based movies are made here. I want to work in literature-based movies in Bengal as this is the specialty of the Bengali film industry," said Tanushree, who has completed a month-long acting workshop in the US. Tanushree said she wants to sign movies, but she doesn't have the "psychology" of having back-to-back releases in a short span. "I am planning to sign movies. Actually I don't have that psychology of having two back-to-back releases in three months. I don't know what I am going to sign next or when I am going to sign next. But one thing I can guarantee, that it's going to exciting," said Tanushree.

Singer Kanye West's stylist created own school uniform Posted: 01 Jan 2011 09:34 PM PST London, Jan 2 (IANS) Singer Kanye West's stylist Cassius Marcellus Cornelius Clay created his own uniform when he was in school because he was "dissatisfied" with the "informality" of its dress code. "My school had a dress code of khakis with collared shirts for the younger boys. Dissatisfied with the informality of khakis, I adopted a personal uniform of exclusively white turtlenecks, grey flannel trousers, and black & white spectator shoes," femalefirst.co.uk quoted Clay as saying. "Occasionally on weekends at home I would pretend to be a pharaoh with amulet and sceptre," he added.

Mel B says she can't stop talking about sex Posted: 01 Jan 2011 10:02 PM PST London, Jan 1 (IANS) Former Spice Girl Mel B says she is worried married people think she's "a pervert" because she talks about her sex life a lot. "We have lots of sex, we raise our kids very well and Stephen cooks dinner every night for the whole family - life's good," contactmusic.com quoted her as saying. "Everybody has sex, especially if you're married. I don't know if married people will be inspired by me though - they might just think I'm a pervert." Mel who raises her daughters Phoenix and Angel from previous relationships also revealed she thinks having sex is a good way to keep fit. "I think any kind of sexual activity is a bit of a workout if you do it right. We have good communication with each other and I never fake it," she said.

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