SNATCHED | Could it be your Mother's Day movie?

Can a female lead comedy deliver at box office? Well, the casting is pretty stellar, so expectations would be high. But can Amy recreate her Trainwreck magic, or was it beginners luck? Can Goldie Hawn still deliver the goofball comedies she's known for? That's already a lot of pressure for any movie to handle. And as far as this movie goes, the wonderful cast and talented director Jonathan Levine do their best to deliver you as good product as possible. 

Amy Schumer and Goldie Hawn, playing daughter & mother, who go on a vacation to Ecuador, where they end up getting "snatched", and there adventure begins through the jungles of Amazon. That does sound like a sellable & interesting premise, with such sellable & interesting cast as well. However, that's where the problem begins. With such team, you expect a lot. And unfortunately, you may not get as much as you want. But you do get a lot!

The film opens with a hilarious tone, where Amy plays your most annoying customer at a clothing store, who turns out to be a salesgirl (yes, that scene is very Amy, and very funny!). After getting dumped by her boyfriend, she has no one else to go her non-refundable vacation to Ecuador. So she guilts and forces her mom, played by Goldie Hawn, to join her. The mom is super annoyed at every opportunity she gets, and just wants to stay at the hotel. The daughter wants to go out & explore. She meets this handsome & charming British man, who takes her to places under the radar, the real Ecuador. Next day she pulls her mom with her, and they end up getting kidnapped, thrown in a cell with a scorpion, and blood on the walls (after all, it's South America!).

After her boyfriend dumps her on the eve of their exotic vacation, impetuous dreamer Emily Middleton (Amy Schumer) persuades her ultra-cautious mother, Linda (Goldie Hawn) to travel with her to paradise. Polar opposites, Emily and Linda realize that working through their differences as mother and daughter - in unpredictable, hilarious fashion - is the only way to escape the wildly outrageous jungle adventure they have fallen into.

This is where the real adventure starts. They try to escape, where Amy's killing spree starts, which of course annoys her mom more. They meet a small town store-manager turned explorer/adventure (played marvelously by Christopher Meloni), who's trying to help them escape. One the other hand, her super annoying and man-child brother is stalking the state department to coerce them into finding his mama & sister. This whole bit is definitely funny. And so is the scene where a doctor tries to pull out a tapeworm out of Amy, the "old school way". The adventure continues, of course leading them to discover who they are, and find a new love & admiration for their mom/daughter.

I have to say that film is beautifully shot. Almost too beautifully for a comedy like this. Amazon jungle looks lovely, and Ecuador looks inviting (if we keep the kidnappings aside).

That leads to some of the problems in the film. It's filled with stereotypes (gun toting, long haired Colombians). Even though Amy and Goldie do there best to split you up (Amy's scene of trying to "clean herself up" in the bathroom, to get ready for a possible "get together" with James, is joint point blank hilarious AF), there's just several times that the premise is not supporting those jokes. So... Too many cliches & stereotypes? Yes. Does it get boring or annoying? Yes. But is it also funny? Yes, yes. At several places. So should you watch it? That's up to you.

After her boyfriend dumps her on the eve of their exotic vacation, impetuous dreamer Emily Middleton (Amy Schumer) persuades her ultra-cautious mother, Linda (Goldie Hawn) to travel with her to paradise. Polar opposites, Emily and Linda realize that working through their differences as mother and daughter - in unpredictable, hilarious fashion - is the only way to escape the wildly outrageous jungle adventure they have fallen into.

It is Mother's Day weekend, so if you have nothing better planned. Amy & Goldie say, you should go watch SNATCHED. ;)

Production companies: Chernin Entertainment, Feigco Entertainment, Twentieth Century Fox
Distributor: Fox
Cast: Amy Schumer, Goldie Hawn, Joan Cusack, Ike Barinholtz, Wanda Sykes, Christopher Meloni, Tom Bateman, Oscar Jaenada, Randall Park, Bashir Salahuddin, Al Madrigal, Kevin Kane
Director: Jonathan Levine
Writer: Katie Dippold
Producers: Peter Chernin, Jenno Topping, Paul Feig, Jesse Henderson
Executive producers: Kim Caramele, Tonia Davis
Production designer: Mark Ricker
Director of photography: Florian Ballhaus
Music: Chris Bacon, Theodore Shapiro
Editors: Zene Baker, Melissa Bretherton

Rated R, 91 minutes

Amit Masurkar tells tale of Indian elections with NEWTON. #Tribeca2017

India is world's largest democracy, and indian elections play a huge role in that. Amit Masurkar's film NEWTON is a satire, which shows a face of that election process. The good thing is the film is able to present that with lot of humor, clubbed amazing performances. the film is also beautifully shot, in some remote parts (actual locations) of India, which gives it lot of authenticity. Rajkumar Rao, who has become a powerhouse in Indian independent cinema now, is quiet wonderful as the righteous, strength and no-nonsense election officer. His nuanced performance is wonderful to watch. But the biggest hook of the film is it's beautiful story, told quite spectacularly by the director Amit V Masurkar. The film acts as a comedy, a thriller, a drama and a political commentary, all-in-one!

The film is story of Newton, who is a stickler for principles – whether with respect to his unusual name or the not entirely orthodox way in which his arranged marriage has been handled. He’s given the job of a volunteer election worker and entrusted with a mission that demands the utmost flexibility if it’s to succeed. Newton is flown by helicopter into the jungle. The village where he’s to make sure that the election is carried out properly turns out to be a democratic stress-centre, where he must keep devious military personnel and oddball bureaucrats in check – even as the voters, the very people the whole thing is about, remain strangely absent. The Adivasi – as the indigenous people of India are called – are wise to keep their distance from this staged spectacle of democracy and put up resistance with a cunning game of hide-and-seek. Newton remains true to his principles. When a foreign election monitor arrives, the tide turns in his favor – but only temporarily.

With a feel for the special, multifaceted humor of his compatriots, Amit V. Masurkar succeeds in making Newton into a black comedy about the pale specter of democracy in dark times. We had a chance to talk to Amit. You can watch it here:

Uploaded by MyNewYorkEye on 2017-04-27.

Amit V. Masurkar was born in Bagalkot, India in 1981. He studied Engineering at the Manipal Institute of Technology in Karnataka, India from 1999 to 2002. He then worked as an assistant director on films made for television, before writing comedy sketches for TV and film screenplays starting in 2003. From 2003 to 2006, he also studied History at the University of Mumbai. NEWTON is Amit V. Masurkar’s second film after the sleeper hit SULEMANI KEEDA in 2014. 

NEWTON was part of the Co-Production Market (CPM) at Film Bazaar 2015 and also one of the Film Bazaar Recommends titles at Film Bazaar 2016.

About Drishyam Films
Drishyam Films aims to build a platform for unique voices of Indian independent cinema and create global content with rich Indian flavours. The company's filmmaking journey started with the award-winning film Ankhon Dekhi directed by Rajat Kapoor. Its success was followed by Umrika directed by Prashant Nair which premiered at Sundance Film Festival 2015 and bagged the Audience Choice Award. Soon after, Dhanak directed by Nagesh Kukunoor won the Grand Jury prize at Berlinale 2015, and Masaan directed by Neeraj Ghaywan picked up two big awards at Cannes 2015. Drishyam’s next film Waiting directed by Anu Menon, premiered at the prestigious Dubai International Film Festival. All their films have been released theatrically to universal critical acclaim. Their upcoming productions include Atanu Mukerjee’s Rukh starring Manoj Bajpayee and Amit Masurkar’s Newton starring Rajkummar Rao. Drishyam Films had partnered with the Sundance Institute, USA between 2015 to 2016 to organize Screenwriters’ lab for Indian writers in its endeavor to promote content-driven cinema. They have set up a VFX studio specialising in post-production and visual effects for feature films and commercials. Drishyam VFX has provided end-to-end VFX services for tent-pole Bollywood films such as Abhishek Kapoor's Fitoor, Ashutosh Gowariker's Mohenjo Daro and Vishal Bharadwaj's upcoming feature Rangoon, among many others.

RESERVOIR DOGS Reunion at #Tribeca2017, with 25th anniversary screening and panel talk.

Tribeca Film Festival 2017 saw the reunion of the team of cult classic RESERVOIR DOGS. Twenty-five years ago, auteur filmmaker Quentin Tarantino reinvigorated cinema with his singular voice in his canonical feature Reservoir Dogs. He generously provided a 35mm print from his archive for this special 25th anniversary screening.

Uploaded by MyNewYorkEye on 2017-04-29.

Uploaded by MyNewYorkEye on 2017-04-29.

The screening was followed by a panel discussion with Quentin himself, joined by Tim Roth, Steve Buscemi, Harvey Keitel and Michael Madsen. They talked about the colossal failure of first screening at Sundance; Quentin counting the walkouts from early screenings during the torture scene; casting of Michael and rest of the cast; making of the movie and a lot more. Watch the videos below to get the word directly from the horse's mouth.

Uploaded by MyNewYorkEye on 2017-04-29.

Uploaded by MyNewYorkEye on 2017-04-29.

Uploaded by MyNewYorkEye on 2017-04-29.

RESERVOIR DOGS panel talk, (part-4) at 25th anniversary screening at Tribeca2017. Harvey Keitel talks about Michael Madsen in Reservoir Dogs.

RESERVOIR DOGS panel talk, (part-5) at 25th anniversary screening at Tribeca2017

Uploaded by MyNewYorkEye on 2017-04-29.

Uploaded by MyNewYorkEye on 2017-04-29.

Reservoir Dogs, directed and written by Quentin Tarantino. (USA). They were perfect strangers, assembled to pull off the perfect crime. Then their simple robbery explodes into a bloody ambush and the ruthless killers realize one of them is a police informant. But which one? With Harvey Keitel, Tim Roth, Michael Madsen, Chris Penn, Steve Buscemi, Lawrence Tierney, Edward Bunker, Quentin Tarantino.

Subscribe to TRAILERS: http://bit.ly/sxaw6h Subscribe to COMING SOON: http://bit.ly/H2vZUn Subscribe to CLASSIC TRAILERS: http://bit.ly/1u43jDe Like us on FACEBOOK: http://goo.gl/dHs73 Follow us on TWITTER: http://bit.ly/1ghOWmt Reservoir Dogs (1992) Official Trailer #1 - Quentin Tarantino Movie After a simple jewelery heist goes terribly wrong, the surviving criminals begin to suspect that one of them is a police informant.

Elina Psykou, director of SON OF SOFIA #Tribeca2017

Elina Psykou's SON FO SOFIA won the best international film award at Tribeca Film Festival 2017. The film is written and directed by Elina and stars Viktor Khomut, Valery Tcheplanowa, Thanasis Papageorgiou, Artemis Havalits, Christos Stergioglou, Iro Maltezou. In her second feature, Elina Psykou explores the inability to express and accept love. Son of Sofia gives a glimpse into Misha’s mind as he is confronted with early puberty and clashes with adulthood.

We had an opportunity to talk to Elina, here are the excerpts:

Art Shrian: The film deals with several subjects like immigrants, family, Parenthood, childhood amongst many. What do you think is strongest & core theme of the film, and why?

Elina Psykou: For me the strongest theme of the film is identity formation. Of all types, such as national, sexual, linguistic, religious, political… Misha is at that sensitive age where he has to build his personality and he is surrounded by so many stimuli. All the others themes, like immigration and family, come to contribute to his identity formation, to his coming of age, let’s say.

AS: Was it specifically challenging to work with kids or young artist? How was your experience?

EP: It was my first time working with a kid, plus it was his first experience with a camera. So, both me and Viktor (the kid who plays Misha) were enthusiastic about exploring the process. Viktor is a really cool and clever kid, so we didn’t face any difficulties. From the very beginning, I decided not to give him the whole script and this was the most important challenge for me as a director. I just read to him the story and then started improvising with the other actors. It was really useful that he didn’t have the script in his home, so he didn’t have to learn lines etc. This way, he stayed authentic and fresh, and his interest never waned until the last day of the shoot.

AS: The film is multilingual. Why these specific languages? And how was casting and scripting for multiple languages.

EP: The story is set in Greece, so Greek was a normal choice. As for the Russian, I decided that Sofia and Misha had to be from Russia, first for realistic reasons, as the majority of women immigrants in Greece come from Eastern Europe. But second, I felt that the culture and sociopolitical history of Russia took me down a very interesting cinematic path. So, I explored songs, the communist background, the Olympic games, TV programs and I finally used a lot of traditional elements of the region.

Casting was really challenging. We found Misha in a multicultural school in Athens, but we tested a lot of kids from Russia and Greece as well. The same for Sofia’s part, we tested a lot of actresses from Russia and Greece, but we finally found her in Germany. As for the rest of the kids, we found them in schools and cultural associations of immigrants. And finally, it was easier for the Greek actors, as they are quite famous in Greece, so we didn’t have to discover them!

Scripting and directing a film where most of dialogue is in a language I don’t speak (Russian), a language so different from my native one, was challenging as well. I decided to take some private Russian lessons only to discover that Russian is so difficult... But I insisted, I continued the courses and I studied every single line of dialogue. Very soon I managed to understand what I was listening to and I could follow the actors and their feelings. The communication between all of us was a present day Babylonia in a way – we communicated in Greek, Russian and English, as well as some Bulgarian, as for coproduction reasons, we had also four Bulgarians technicians in our set.

AS: How was the experience of having your film at Tribeca?

EP: It was wonderful. After so many years of working on the film, I was nervous but enthusiastic at the same time, when the time came to present it to the world. The screenings and the audience were really warm. So, now the film is an adult, it exists without me, it can fly away from me, like Misha in the end…

AS: What do you think about diversity and inclusion in film industry (women and others, both behind and in front of the camera)

EP: It is difficult to know what’s happening in other countries, but in Greece the things are getting much better. There are almost as many talented and recognized female directors as there are male. The same for actors and actresses and of course for artistic collaborators. Yes, sometimes it is difficult to be a woman or a non-white in the film industry, but I am optimistic that this is changing and I think the most powerful weapon against any prejudice is our movies and artistic work.

AS. Finally - What’s your most favorite and least favorite thing about New York? Be candid!

EP: It was my first time in New York, so I didn’t have the time to explore everything I wanted to. I really liked Williamsburg and the walk to Brooklyn’s bridge, plus I enjoyed the gospel at St. Joseph Church in Harlem. In Manhattan, I felt strange, like part of a video game, and this fascinated as well as terrified me.

After her celebrated debut, "The Eternal Return of Antonis Paraskevas", Elina Psykou returns with "Son of Sofia," a dark, yet tender coming-of-age fairytale that strikes a masterful balance between realism and dreams, much like its young lead.

Synopsis: Two years after his father’s death, Misha’s mother has created a new life in a new country. After migrating from Russia to Greece she has found a husband for herself, whose obnoxious attempts at disciplining her son are less than welcome. Moving to Athens means Misha’s life is being uprooted and his identity reformulated. This deeply personal story is enveloped in fairy tales, set in the peculiar cultural circumstance of the summer of 2004, as the Summer Olympics pervade all casual conversations and the ever-popular winning song of the Eurovision Song Contest plays in the background. What is public and communal invades the private in the form of sports, music and television. A child’s imagination transforms difficult situations into the dark side of fairy tales.

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https://www.facebook.com/SonofSofia/