LEONARDO DICAPRIO AND KATE WINSLET A MAGICAL PAIR ON SCREEN

Now that Titanic 3 D is going on in the theaters, I can't help going back to the time when the movie was first released 15 years ago in 1997. The movie had become such a sensation and I think that's one movie I watched twice. I don't usually watch a film more than once. Leonardo Dicaprio and Kate Winslet looked adorable in 'Titanic' and the emotionally demanding roles they portrayed left a profound impression in the hearts of people who watched it. Titanic is an American epic romantic historical disaster film directed, written, co-produced, and co-edited by James Cameron. Off screen, Kate and Leo share an extremely close friendship through the years.

Leonardo DiCaprio, 37, has acted in a number of remarkable films and he is a fine and gifted actor who gets into the skin of the character and you cannot help but admire the justice he does to the roles he dons. Some of his best films that I've seen are:

* What's Eating Gilbert Grape
* Titanic
* Man in the Iron Mask
* Catch Me If You Can
* Gangs of New York
* The Aviator (Leonardo Dicaprio won the Golden Globe award for Best Actor, for his lead role in Aviator)
* The Departed
* Blood Diamond
* Body of Lies
* Revolutionary Road
* Shutter Island
* Inception

After Titanic in 1997, the beautiful Kate Winslet teamed up with DiCaprio in 2008 to star in the movie, 'Revolutionary Road'. When I had watched that, I thought, gosh years have passed by and they looked so different in 'Revolutionary Road' as compared to 'Titanic'. Yes, age catches up with big stars too. Kate Winslet, 36, is a wonderful English actress with multiple awards to her credit. She received the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in the movie 'The Reader' and the Golden Globe award for Best Actress in her lead role in 'Revolutionary Road'. Some of the wonderful movies she acted in are:

* Sense and Sensibility

* Hamlet
* Titanic
* Enigma
* Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind
* Little Children
*The Reader (Academy Award for best actress)
* Revolutionary Road (Golden Globe award for best actress)
* Contagion
* Carnage

Kate as a child

Revolutionary Road (DiCaprio with Kate Winslet)

Besides acting, Leonardo DiCaprio has produced two films Garden of Eden (2007) and Orphan (2009). He is a die hard environmental activist as well. Two movies starring Leo is scheduled to be released in December 2012 are:

* The Great Gatsby - The movie is directed by Baz Lurhmann and it's based on a 1925 famous American novel by the same name by F. Scott Fitzgerald. The storyline has Nick Carraway (Tobey Maguire) who is lured into the lavish world of his neighbor, Jay Gatsby (DiCaprio), only for Nick to later see through the cracks of Gatsby's opplulent existence, where obsession, madness, and tragedy await. 

* Django Unchained - Directed by Quenton, the story revolves around a slave turned bounty hunter, Django (Jamie Lee Fox), who wants to rescue his wife from the hands of Calvin Candie (Leonardo DiCaprio), a ruthless plantation owner. 

Now that's a long wait until December, if you are Leonardo DiCaprio fan. So in the mean time, head to the theatres and enjoy Titanic in 3 D! It doesn't matter if you have seen it 15 years ago, you're sure to enjoy the re-release even more.

Some pictures of DiCaprio as a child...and now.

MOVIE MIRROR MIRROR

I had blogged about the fabulous costumes in movie Mirror Mirror even before it was released. The movie is directed by Tarsem Singh (maker of 2011 movie Immortals). Mirror Mirror is a comedy, drama adventure film that revolves around an evil queen who steals control of a kingdom and an exiled princess Snow White enlists the help of seven resourceful dwarfs to win back her birthright. Mirror Mirror stars Julia Roberts as the evil queen and Lily Collins as Snow White. Lily Collins is the daughter of the famed musician-singer Phil Collins.  It's a gorgeously charming children's film, with a modern spin which would please the adults too. This would make a nice movie for the whole family to watch. The sets and visuals are grand - quite a treat for the audience with beautiful costumes designed by the late Oscar award winning costume and visual artist Eiko Ishioka. 

Michael Lerner (who dons the role of Baron, in Mirror Mirror) told in an exclusive interview with Courtney Howard, www.veryaware.com, "Fables, short stories and fairytales are just very poignant and they really tell you the wisdom of living - the wisdom of life. I think Snow White is an example of that." 

Visit Kuwait Cinescape for movie screening locations, timings and online booking. 

MOVIE WRATH OF THE TITANS

If you've seen 'Clash of the Titans'  and enjoyed it, if you like Greek mythology, full time action, adventure, and some gore, then the blockbuster sequel, 'Wrath of the Titans' movie is for you. Actually I am not a fan of movies laced with a lot of gore, but I did enjoy Clash of the Titans. 

'Wrath of the Titans' is directed by Jonathan Liebesman, starring Sam Worthington, Liam Neeson, Rosamund Pike, Ralph Fiennes and Edgar Ramirez. The movie centers around Perseus, who fights the underworld to rescue his father, Zeus, captured by his son, Ares and brother Hades who unleash the ancient Titans upon the world.

Wrath of the Titans is in 3D would be good to watch - satisfy your curiosity about what's in store in the sequel and 'feel the wrath!'

Visit Kuwait Cinescape for screening locations, timings and online booking

MOVIE THE BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL

The weekend is here and there are some really nice movies being screened at the Kuwait Cinescape. 'The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel' is comedy drama, directed by John Madden, starring Judi Dench, Maggie Smith, Tom Wilkinson , Bill Nighy, Penelope Wilton, Celia Imrie, Ronald Pickup and Dev Patel.  'It's based on the novel 'These Foolish Things' by Deborah Moggach. A young Indian man, Sonny (Dev Patel) dreams of turning his family owned grand neglected old palace in Bombay (now Mumbai), built during the days of the British rule in India, into the Best Exotic Marigold Hotel to attract tourists. He sends out advertisements in UK, promoting his hotel .  His ad is seen by pensioners from different walks of life, whose children have all grown and have gone off to follow their careers and busy with their families, leaving the parents to follow the monotony of a reduced life. They feel there is no place for them in the society and decide to make this trip to India to the Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. Now the hotel is not what was boasted about in the ads. However, the adventures and the very trip transform the elderly tourists in many ways. 

Visit the Kuwait Cinescape for screening locations, timings and online booking.

MOVIE A THOUSAND WORDS

How about watching a comedy movie this weekend? That too an Eddie Murphy one. Directed by Brian Robbins and written by Steven Koren, 'A Thousand Words' is a comedy drama movie in which Jack McCall (Eddie Murphy) who is a literary agent, lies to a New Age guru, Dr. Sinja (Cliff Curtis). Now as a consequence of lying, Jack McCall gets cursed by Dr. Sinja with a magical Bodhi Tree with 1000 leaves in his backyard. Each time he says a word, a leaf would drop. Now according to the curse, when the last leaf falls, McCall is doomed to perish.  So what does he do? What  should he do? How can he survive the curse? Will the lessons he learn from the tree help him? Well, find out by watching the movie.  

To know where the movie is being screened and for online booking, visit Kuwait Cinescape

MOVIE AMREEKA BY CHERIEN DABBIS

The movie 'Amreeka' by Cherien Dabbis will be shown at Maidan Cultural Center today, March 20 at 7pm.

Amreeka is a family drama movie laced with heartfelt humor, in which Muna, a single mother leaves the West Bank with Fadi, her teenage son, in hope of a promising future in Illinois, USA, after she gets her green card. For livelihood, Mona prepares falafel burgers as well as hamburgers at the local White Castle. Amreeka is a universal journey into the lives of a family of immigrants and first-generation teenagers caught between their heritage and the new culture in which they now live and the quest for a place to call home. The film stars Nisreen Faour as Muna, and Melkar Muallen plays her 16 year old son, Fadi. The rest of the cast include Hiam Abbass, Alia Shawkat, Yussef Abu-Warda and Joseph Ziegler.

'Amreeka' was written and directed by award winning director, Cherien Dabis who was named on Variety's "Top Ten Filmmakers to Watch". The film went on to win top awards in Dubai, Rotterdam, Cairo, Chicago and Aspen. Dabis received several generous grants in support of the film, including the National Geographic’s All Roads Film Project Seed Grant, the Jerome Foundation’s New York City Media Arts Grant as well as the New York State Council on the Art’s Electronic Media and Film Distribution Grant. The movie is produced by Christina Piovesan and Paul Barkin. 

To know more about the movie and director Cherien Dabbis visit Amreeka movie Facebook page 

Location : Maidan Cultural Center, near Shaab Park

Time : 7pm to 8.30 pm

Charges : Free Admission

Melkar Muallen (left) as Fadi and Nisreen Faour (right) as Muna

JULIA ROBERTS FABULOUS COSTUMES FROM MOVIE MIRROR MIRROR

Julia Roberts and  Lily Collins star in a comedy fantasy movie Mirror Mirror, based on the classic fairytale Snow White, which is scheduled to be released in U.S. on March 30. The movie is directed by Tarsem Singh, who is the maker of the recent mythical epic 'The Immortals'.  Lily Collins, daughter of  famous singer-musician  Phil Collins, plays Snow White and Julia Roberts dons the role of the 'evil queen' Clementianna. Now one of the specialities of the movie is the totally elaborate and out of the world costumes Julia Roberts and Lilly Collins get to wear, which also weigh quite a bit. The costumes were created by the late Oscar Award winning Japanese designer and visual artist,  Eiko Ishioka, known for creating magnificent surreal, dream like sensual costumes for movies and even national and international events,  passed away in January, at the age of 73 in Tokyo. She was suffering from pancreatic cancer. Eiko Ishioka's name was honored in the Hall  of Fame in 1992. She is also a recipient of Cannes Film Festival award, Grammy Award and Academy Award for her work. 

Eiko Ishioka, Visual Artist and Costumer Designer