As though there was not enough drama in the NFL this season, we have even juicier news than Plaxico Burress shooting himself in the foot, Tom Brady being out for the season, the Dallas Cowboys not making the playoffs and Brett Favre being “forced” out of Green Bay.

Mike Shanahan with his Team

Long-time Denver Broncos head coach and most recently executive VP of football operations, Mike Shanahan was fired Tuesday. Shanahan was dropped two days after the last day of the regular season, where his Broncos lost a decisive game to division rival, San Diego Chargers. After going 8-5, the Broncos lost their three remaining games, being the only team in NFL history to lead a division every week, and then lose that top spot in the final game. All that being said – what the flying fuck, Denver?

Loyalty, motherfuckers, do you speak it?!

Let’s see…Mike Shanahan was with the Denver Broncos for 14 seasons. Over that span, he had a 61.6 winning percentage, won back-to-back Super Bowl titles in the 1997 and 1998 seasons, and only had two losing seasons in 1999 and 2007. Before being let go on Tuesday, Mike Shanahan was the longest tenured head coach in the NFL, with the next closest being Jeff Fisher of the Tennessee Titans who has 11 seasons under his belt.

There were certainly some obvious firings that were going to take place this off-season, but Shanahan’s name was not on anyone’s radar. In my opinion, this was a horrible decision by the Broncos’ owner Pat Bowlen, and I sincerely hope it bites him square in the ass. On behalf of Mike Shanahan to you, Mr. Bowlen: go fuck yourself and the horse you rode in on.

What makes this even more bizarre is that it even took the players by shock – just imagine your current manager being fired out-of-the-blue, even though he seemed perfect for the job and did it for 14 MOTHERFUCKING YEARS! Broncos’ starting quarterback, Jay Cutler, had this to the Rocky Mountain News after he found out:

I’m disappointed, I’m shocked, I’m not happy about it, I’m not pleased with it at all. We had zero inkling this was going to happen. I didn’t have a clue.

No big deal though, if Cutler becomes too outspoken – which he typically is – just can him too, right? He only racked up the most passing yards of any Broncos QB in 2008, surpassing John Elway’s previous mark, but who cares? It’s business, baby. Right?

Mike Shanahan watching Jay Cutler Throw

The only way there could be any justice in this is if the Kansas City Chiefs pick up Shanahan as their head coach, and he beats the shit out of the Broncos every time they face each other in division games for the next 14 years. I’m not even a Broncos fan and I still feel this is a piece of shit move of epic proportions. I sincerely hope the Broncos’ record drops like a turd next season, you assholes.

I’ve been wanting to write about Radiohead all year, and I hope you got your hands on the special edition box set of the 7^th Radiohead album, In Rainbows. This is due to the fact that one of the best Radiohead tracks to date, Go Slowly can only be found on the bonus second disc.

At any rate, if somehow you haven’t heard, Radiohead is an English Alternative Rock band from good ol’ Oxfordshire (which sounds like a bit of a juxtaposition if you ask me), led by Mr. Thom Yorke. This album marks their first major album release that wasn’t on a music label contract. Also, the opportunity was given to fans to donate what they wanted for the new album, and the response was overwhelmingly positive, with many people paying well over the retail amount for this masterpiece. Over the years, the band has incorporated electronic elements to the primarily down tempo mood, which in my opinion was quite the welcome addition to the arsenal. Also, the lyrics on the latest album hit home to a lot of issues that we deal with on an everyday basis, using clever, albeit simple metaphors. A good and easy example is found in the first track 15 Step, with the line, “First you reel me out and then you cut the string.” Which doesn’t sound like the du jour of lyrics, but surrounded by the frantic, yet eerily controlled instrumentals and noises, it pulls you in to what I believe to be one of the best albums of the year.

Anywho; I’ll keep this report brief. Listen up for the tracks Bodysnatchers, Reckoner, and Jigsaw Falling into Place (possibly one of the greatest songs and interesting subject matter approach in quite a while if not evar!) on the first disc. But if you got the chance to purchase (or otherwise acquire) the second disc, then give Go Slowly, Up On the Ladder, and Bangers and Mash a little TLC.

Oh, and before I forget, I know some of you are thinking, “But Flak, didn’t this album come out on December 31^st of 2007?” And I get that, sure, but really, it’s that good, I pushed it back a day.

So the economy is down, and yet it seems that at this strange time of year when people pretend like they sincerely want to listen to Harry Connick Jr. and drop significant dough on pet accessories, the malls are flooded to the point of asphyxiation. You pretend like it is all in jest until you realize that the same soundtrack has been played over every store in every city for every day of the last six weeks and it sounds remarkably like bank elevator music. Let’s face the facts- it doesn’t appear that Of Montreal is releasing a holiday album any time in the near future. There are the mildly “fun stores” that make it worthwhile to wait amidst the mob where you can fiddle with gadgets and whatsits while a cute but dorky genius fixes your new iPhone.

Then, there are those dreaded “haunted house stores”. You know exactly the ones that I’m talking about. They are the ones where, every five seconds, someone in a cardigan is cutting into your goddamn line of fire and asking if you are in need of assistance. Clearly, you do not need help, or you wouldn’t be walking at such a rapid pace, jittering from an overdose of Red Bull, pretending to talk on your cell phone to avoid this plagued interaction between brainy and bimbo.

The demons of Hollister.

The last time I was dragged into a haunted house, I had to close my eyes and hug one of my friends to the point where it was affecting his blood flow to stop myself from crying at all of the fiends jumping out at me in cheap stage makeup. I have to say, walking into a Hollister store during the holiday season seems to have the same overall effect on me. You never know when one of them is lurking around the corner, just about to creep up on you with their Jessica Simpson brand hair extensions and Neutrogena bottle faux look. The especially fun part is, when you are actually in need of some relevant form of assistance, like having a fitting room opened to try on a pair of plaid pants that you never should have touched in the first place, the store suddenly turns into some kind of ghost town (I guess, with the demons come the ghosts). Then of course, you’ve got the series regulars of Hollister: the gaudy gum chewers with hair eight shades too light of human and a nice roll of American trash fat around their waistline which apparently some mass memo told them to expose to the world.

So why did I go on this unexpected trip to Hollister?

I’m honestly strapped for cash and couldn’t afford to buy the twelfth installment of the Saw films, so went for the nearest free and ghoulish adrenaline rush.

UFC 92: The Ultimate 2008

UFC 92 is one of the biggest cards I’ve seen in recent memory, if not the biggest. The three fights I will go over could each easily anchor any card as the main event, and there were no disappointments, but plenty of upsets. This was the sort of event that really confuses me when I hear people are still fans of boxing, because the UFC is so much more exciting than boxing. Where UFC has really excelled and boxing has decisively slowed down is the fact that there are MMA fighters that are becoming household names, while the average person couldn’t name two or three boxers.

Quinton Jackson vs Wanderlei Silva

This fight is in the Light Heavyweight Division, and is the third fight overall between Quinton Jackson and Wanderlei Silva. The first two fights between them went to Silva, with both of those fights were in Pride fighting (the main MMA competitor to UFC). These fighters really don’t like each other, but it is easy to not like Jackson – he loves running his mouth, and he is extremely flashy. Before the fight began, you could see that Jackson looks much smaller than in prior fights, and Silva is just a mean looking motherfucker. Silva comes into the fight as the favorite, especially since he won the last two times they faced each other.

1st Round

The fighters did not tap gloves to start the fight, which is usually typical sportsmanship at the beginning of a fight. It started extremely cautiously from both men, with only some signs of fighting half-way into the round from Silva’s leg kicks and one big knee. They didn’t even exchange punches, even though it was all a stand up fight.

Silva goes in for a soft right punch, that Jackson easily ducked under, and countered with a BIG left cross. This exchange was out of absolutely nowhere, and that left cross knocks Silva out cold. Jackson went in for a few more punches when Silva was on the ground, but those were pointless – Silva was fully knocked out after that left cross. Jackson wins by knockout at 3:21 in the first round.

Conclusion

This was a strange fight, to be sure. Really not much of anything happened prior to the knockout. You could have sneezed and missed it because it came out of nowhere. Silva was clearly surprised, and Jackson was probably surprised it ended the way it did. My guess is that if that same left cross landed later in the fight, Silva would have been able to take it because he would have been warmed up.

Frank Mir vs Antonio Nogueira

This fight is for the Interim Heavyweight Championship, and the winner of this fights Brock Lesnar for the Heavyweight title. Frank Mir and Antonio Nogueira have a black belt in Jiu-Jitsu, but Mir has a much better stand up game, and Nogueira would have the edge on the ground. You may remember Mir from years back when he was at the top of his game, prior to a devastating motorcycle accident, that many said he would not recover from. During his return to form, Mir actually beat Lesnar, but that was when Lesnar was very inexperienced in the UFC, so a re-match would be killer. That being said, there’s still a big, dominating fighter standing in the way of that re-match, with Nogueira being the heavy favorite to win. Nogueira is probably the ugliest fighter in MMA today, with the kind of face that even possibly a mother couldn’t love.

1st Round

The round starts with lots of kicks from Mir, and he landed a couple big right punches to the head of Nogueira. Mir is controlling the fight early, and keeps pushing the action with punching combinations that lead to uppercut after uppercut. Mir knocks down Nogueira with a big straight left, but he did not follow it up on the ground because he wasn’t ready to knock out Nogueira and probably felt he would lose momentum.

Nogueira is surprisingly not doing shit this round; he’s basically a punching bag for Mir. As the first round closes, Mir knocks Nogueira down again; Nogueira took brutal punishment this round, and he’s lucky to get out of it.

2nd Round

Not a lot going on to start the first half of the round; Nogueira kept back tracking when Mir would try to come in. Mir lands a straight left that rocked Nogueira back, which Mir followed up with a devastating left hook that knocks Nogueira down for the third time, and wins Mir the fight. With 1:54 in the second round, Mir wins by technical knock out.

Conclusion

This was all Mir from the get-go, and in 38 MMA career fights, is the first time Nogueira losses by knock out. As Nogueira stood back up after the fight was called, he stumbled around like he didn’t know where he was; Nogueira got fucking rocked. Mir is now the new Interim Heavyweight Champion, and awaits his re-match with Lesnar to see who will hold the heavyweight title.

I really like Mir as a fighter, and as a person. He studies his opponents thoroughly before facing off, and is essentially a historian of MMA fighting. Some people don’t like him because he looks like a pretty boy, but it’s not his fault that he’s so dominating that even a dominating fighter like Nogueira could do no damage to him. After his win, Mir showed Nogueira tons of respect, and even added these humbling words:

I’ve never been more afraid in my life as I was when I walked into the ring tonight

Rashad Evans vs Forrest Griffin

This fight is for the Light Heavyweight Championship, and is considered the main event for UFC 92. Forrest Griffin is the winner from the first season of the Ultimate Fighter show, while Rashad Evans won the second season. A couple interesting things about Evans MMA / UFC career: he has never been defeated in MMA and he’s never attempted a submission in UFC. Evans is a former NCAA Division 1 wrestler, but he has turned into a stand up fighter, who likes to ground and pound if it gets to the floor. Griffin is the every man fighter, that most UFC fans like because he is a no nonsense, scrapping fighter. Griffin is a freestyle fighter, with heavy striking (particularly kicking due his long reach), and great submission technique.

1st Round

Early on they are trading nice leg kicks, with not much going on in the punching game. Griffin was able to land lots of leg kicks, although none of his high kicks landed. Evans is very quick with his combinations – going in fast, and coming out fast – with great foot work as usual. The first round saw no clinches or take downs, as both fighters were sizing each other up with an all out stand up fight. Griffin took this round, but only marginally; his biggest strike was a hard kick to the ribs which Evans really felt. This round was easily the most exciting round of the evening so far.

2nd Round

Evans starts off with some nice left jabs, but that Griffin started to push the issue. Griffin started this round much more aggressively, and after a couple successful combinations, it looked like he could smell blood. After this big rush from Griffin, Evans blows him a kiss and grabs his dick – exactly why very few people like this cocky, flashy asshole.

Griffin keeps working on the inside and outside of Evan’s left knee with powerful kicks; even more so than the first round, Griffin is landing kicks left and right, to the legs, mid-section and head of Evans. Evans not doing much of anything this round, until he gets a big right hand in. Evans changes his strategy a bit by leading his attacks with kicks rather than just all punching.

Griffin ends the round with a really nice combination that concludes with a small superman punch to the face of Evans. Griffin really took advantage of his reach advantage with leg kicks, and clearly pushed all the action in this round. While Griffin only marginally won the first round, he decisively won the second round.

3rd round

Griffin once again starts aggressively with nice combinations. At this point in the fight, it has basically been a kickboxing fight, with the clear edge going to Griffin. A minute into the round, Evans has his first big opening with a ton of punches taking Griffin to the ground. While Griffin is on his back, Evans lands several hammerfists, which looked like it was going to be the end, but nice work from Griffin to get out of it and get into a full guard. At this point, Evans sees that he is not going to finish it off yet, so he eases up until he can get a better position.

Still on the ground, on a closed guard from Griffin, Evans lands some really powerful right elbows, which allows him to get onto his knees for more leverage. Now with even more control, Evans starts making it rain punches, with a vicious of ground-and-pounding. Evans seals the fight with a huge straight right to the chin of Griffin, which allows Evans to get on his feet and starts pounding away at a flailing Griffin. After several lefts directly to the head of Griffin, the fight is called. Evans wins by technical knock out at 2:46 in the third round.

Conclusion

This was a big shift of momentum, as the fight was definitely going to Griffin until Evans landed his big punches to get Griffin to the ground in the third round. When Evans started teeing off his hammerfists, it was the beginning of the end. Evans is now the new Light Heavyweight Champion.

Griffin, very humbly thanked all the fans for coming out to watch the fight, and said he simply got his ass kicked by the better fighter in Evans. Even in defeat, I liked Griffin more than Evans.

Now that the Golden Globe Noms are out and the Emmys have passed us by, even though Lenny (and a whole host of other people) think that the Golden Globes are bunk, I can’t help but want to bring attention to shows that deserve their accolades. Lucky for you, I am a “Mystic” and can sense things of quality.  As I put a finger to my temple and rub my belly I am sensing…Gabriel Byrne…HBO…Diane Wiest…casting by Junie Lowry-Johnson and I can most certainly tell you without watching, that this show is a finely sculpted work of art.  Don’t worry, I watched it to confirm my genius.

BASIC PREMISE
Based on the critically acclaimed Israeli show Betipul, Psychotherapist Paul has a half hour session each week with his patients and as we get a look inside their closets, so too do we get a glimpse into his.  His marriage is falling apart and he seeks the counseling of his own therapist at the weeks end, felling as though his own ability to evaluate his patents and his life, is slipping.  Nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Television Series – Drama.

THE CAST

Gabriel Byrne as Paul Weston: A yes card for me whenever he’s on the bill, I ask fewer questions and I just watch.  Portraying the seemingly complacent and endlessly frustrated psychotherapist.  A compelling dichotomy of the Sage for others struggling at the same time appearing to have a greater inner struggle than all his patients put together.  A seemingly effortless portrayal garnering him Emmy and Golden Globe nominations.

Diane Wiest as Gina: Paul’s friend and Therapist.  Winner, 60th Emmy Awards; Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for this character.  Nominated for Best Supporting, 2009 Golden Globes with Melissa George.  Brilliant woman…nuf’ said.

Melissa George as Laura, PATIENT: The girl’s on fire!  Damn these Aussies!  I want to move to Australia, get citizenship and the instantly brilliant film & television career that comes with the passport!  GOSH!!!  Sharing that 2009 Golden Globe nomination with Diane must feel really hot!  She’s compelling…and gorgeous.  GOSH!!!

Blair Underwood as Alex, PATIENT: Helping to fulfill the hotness quotient of the series, darling of Junie Lowry-Johnson, who has dipped into the Blair Underwood Well of talent before.  For those of you who may not know, she and her staff have an incredible eye for talent.  HBO… nuf’ said.  Nominated for a 2009 Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actooooor.  Last nominated in 91 for L.A. Law, he has SERIOUS competition but it further validates his performance and his position on the short list.

Michelle Forbes as Kate: Playing Paul’s wife, She’s such a great combo of hot and hard core!  IMDB this woman if you don’t know how impressive her hard-core resume is.  Maybe it’s the great bone structure or just the fact that she has mastered the art of tough which, as an actress I can tell you that VERY few Actresses have that skill.  The only thing that I don’t understand is why she hasn’t gotten a nom yet?  Did you see Battlestar Gallactica?…I don’t get it.

Mia Wasikowska as Sophie, PATIENT: AUSSIE!  She’s, what…10?…so obvious her career hasn’t had time to go too far, but she’s working plenty, soon to be Alice in Tim Burton’s Alice In Wonderland.

Embeth Davidtz as Amy, PATIENT: A different role than what I’m used to seeing her play, it’s nice to warm up to her and be sympathetic.

Josh Charles as Jake, PATIENT: As an avid Sports Night fan, it’s interesting to see Josh Charles play such a creep.  A dimension I didn’t know he had.  Well done!

WHAT I DIG: Being relatively self analytical I really enjoy trying to figure out where he’s going with his patients treatment.  What he’s trying to get out of them and how it may reflect on him.

WHAT I DON’T: I love good writing so I happily suck it up, but the palpable stress that Paul is experiencing is such a downer it pains me to watch.

WILL IT LAST: It’s HBO and it’s a cheap show to make so the show will run it’s course.  Who knows how long that will be?

This will be the first of two games between the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers, for a repeat of their showdown in last seasons finals, where the Celtics mopped the floor the with the Lakers. Celtics are on an absolute tear this season, with the best start in NBA history at 27-2, and this game will really be a test of how each team stacks up this season. Celtics are looking for their 20th win in a row against an offensively-charged Lakers team, that is 23-5 overall, and 14-1 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.

To start the game, Paul Pierce, of the Celtics, and Kobe Bryant, of the Lakers, are doing whatever they want offensively. Rajon Rondo, of the Celts, picks up two quick fouls within the first three minutes of the game, but Celtics coach Doc Rivers elects to keep him in the game. Neither team is doing anything on the offensive glass to start the game, nor are they containing dribble penetration. First quarter is pretty even, with the Celtics up 24 – 23. Bryant finished the first with 10 points, even though Ray Allen played him extremely well on defense. Neither big man – Kevin Garnett, of the Celtics, or Pau Gasol, of the Lakers – had much of a first quarter. Celtics only starter on the floor to start the second quarter is Pierce, while the Lakers have starters Bryant and Andrew Bynum. The Lakers also have Trevor Ariza and Lamar Odom on the floor who are both easily starters if they played on any other team in the NBA.

Doc Rivers Yelling at Celtcis (AP Photo/Jeff Lewis)

What I love about Ariza, besides his athleticism and court awareness is his hustle. After a huge hustle play, from Ariza, the Staples Center crowd went absolutely nuts. Bryant and Allen are shooting lights out to start the second quarter. Two beautiful alley-oop play from Rondo to Garnett quiet the crowd momemtarily. Near the end of the half the Lakers finally start getting some offensive rebounds, and start playing a more physical brand of basketball. Very clear that when the starters for both teams are on the floor, the Celtics have the edge, but when the benches are out there, the Lakers were outplaying them. Strange that the Celtics first trip to the follow line was with 13.5 seconds left in the first half while they average 29.6 per game. The Lakers clearly out-hustled and played better defense than the Celtics. Bryant finishes the first half with 16 points, and Garnett has 12 points. Going into half-time, the Lakers up 51 – 46.

To start the third, Luke Walton dishes a pretty bounce pass to a back-door cutting Bryant who slams the ball home, energizing the crowd. Pierce starts extremely hot on the offensive side and playing inspired, while the Lakers are getting a nice lift from Bynum’s physical play. As the third quarter reaches the half-way point, the Celtics are playing a bit sloppy on both ends of the floor, with missed assignments on defense, and terrible passing on offense. What is impressing me the most about the Lakers is their beautiful ball movement, and their ability to play good defense without fouling. After the Celtics show some signs of unraveling, Doc Rivers takes a well-placed time out, to get his team back on track. This leads to a 15-5 run from the Celtics, where Pierce and Allen start really taking over on offense, and the Lakers are not getting any second chances on their trips down on offense. To close the third, Odom hits two three pointers back-to-back, which is pretty unusual for the 6′ 10″ forward. Lakers reclaim their lead, with a 9-3 run, with Bryant on the bench to end the third. Going into the fourth quarter, Lakers are up 71 – 67. Now Phil Jackson, Lakers head coach, is only 12 minutes away from his 1,000th career victory.

Andrew Bynum Contesting Paul Pierce's Layup Attempt (AP Photo/Jeff Lewis)

Celtics intelligently start the fourth by running their offense through Allen, to bring it within two points three minutes into the fourth, and a few minutes later it is as though they forgot about Allen. Neither team is really in sync offensively half-way through the fourth; they are playing with lots of emotion, but the skill level has gone down drastically. With under five minutes left in the game, Ariza charges up the crowd with yet another huge hustle play, diving out-of-bounds and saving the ball. Garnett is having a big fourth quarter on both end of the floor, while Kobe Bryant is relatively quiet. Under three minutes to go, and the game is dead even, meaning that every trip down the floor is that much more critical. Ray Allen has lost his range in the fourth quarter, throwing up more three point bricks. Gasol turning the heat up to bring the Lakers up by four with two minutes left in the game; Lakers on a 6-0 run. The big men for both teams are taking over, with Gasol and Garnett trading off brilliant plays. Gasol scores the Lakers last 7 points, with all three of his baskets coming off of assists from Bryant, putting the Lakers up 5 with 1:38 to go. Gasol comes up big again with a huge block on a Ray Allen three point attempt, which essentially caps the game. Lakers finish the game on a 13 – 2 run, and get the win 92 – 83.

Celtics winning streak ends at 19, and Jackson gets to his 1,000th career victory the fastest in NBA history. It was incredible hearing how loud the crowd was getting in the last few minutes of the fourth quarter. Lakers win this game on the shoulders of Gasol’s big plays and Bryant’s excellent ability to spread the offense. This wasn’t a playoff game, but it definitely felt like it, and it came down to the defense and hustle play from the Lakers to pull off this huge victory. Garnett played extremely well for the Celtics for the entire game, but Pierce and Allen definitely tapered off in the fourth quarter, when it really mattered. Nonetheless, if both teams keep up this type of intensity for the rest of the season, there’s no doubt that they will have a re-match in the finals.

36-Hour Sale: All Los Angeles Kings Home Game Tickets for January Only $11.50!

The Los Angeles Kings, in conjunction with Sports Chalet and KTLK AM 1150 present a pretty sweet-ass ticket sale. Tickets for all Kings home games, at Staples Center, in January will be $11.50 a pop – that is absolutely dirt cheap! They state that lower-level seating is also including with the $11.50 ticket pricing. On top of it all, you can feel good about your purchase as $1 from each ticket sold will benefit the Children’s Hospital. Seems like a fucking no-brainer if you ask me. Pricing is available for only 36 hours, starting tomorrow, Friday December 26th at 11:50 a.m., and going through Saturday December 27th at 11:59 p.m. Get on this deal early, to beat out all those piece of shit ticket scalpers.

The games in January are against several top caliber teams, so even if you are not a huge Kings fan, you can at least see some quality hockey all around. Each game starts at 7:30 p.m. PST, and here are the dates and teams the Kings will face:

• Saturday, 01/03/09 versus Philadelphia Flyers
• Thursday, 01/08/090 versus Anaheim Ducks
• Saturday, 01/10/09 versus New Jersey Devils
• Monday, 01/12/09 versus Tampa Bay Lightning
• Thursday, 01/15/09 verus Detroit Red Wings
• Thursday, 01/29/09 versus Chicago Blackhawks

When you hit the TicketMaster purchase page, remember to key in the password: JINGLE. For ticket purchasing information, go to LAKings.com. Hope to see some decent turnout from anyone in L.A. that calls themselves a Kings fan!

British director, Danny Boyle, delivers another heart-touching, emotional film with Slumdog Millionaire. You may remember his film last year, Sunshine, about a team of astronauts who need to re-ignite the sun (sounds far-fetched, but it was well made, and the acting was fantastic). Slumdog takes place in Mumbai, India – which you may recall was unfortunately in the news in late November due to the terrorist / hostage situation in three of their major hotels – telling the tale of how two young brothers from the slums (hence “slumdogs”) “made” it, in their separate ways. One out of greed and hunger for power, the other to be with his true love.

Slumdog Millionaire Movie Poster

Jamal Malik (played chiefly by Dev Patel) and his older brother, Salim (played by various actors), had it fucking rough growing up. When you literally live in trash while growing up, maybe “rough” is not quite expressive enough, but it will do. The film is told from Jamal’s perspective, during a torturous police interrogation. Jamal made his way onto the Indian / Hindi version of the television show, Who Wants to be a Millionaire?, and there is the suspicion that he fraudulently answered the questions on the show. Each answer to the shows’ questions holds with it a story in Jamal & Salim’s past, that Jamal retells to the police detective, giving a thorough explanation as to how a slumdog could possibly hold such a wealth of knowledge. Throughout the series of stories, we learn how Jamal met his true love, Latika (played by the beautiful Freida Pinto), and see that his whole life since then has been trying to rescue her from a subservient life with the scum of Mumbai.

While Jamal and Salim both were mischievous children, Salim most certainly was the more aggressive and daring. Both boys, along with dozens of other children and Latika, are taken as captives to a large pan-handling / swindling syndicate. When the boys escape, Latika is left behind, and Jamal is left with a burning desire to find her again. Salim slowly shifts into a life of crime, to a much heavier degree than Jamal could handle. After they reconnect with Latika, Salim shows that he can be sinister & cruel even towards his younger brother, which leads to them going their separate ways. Jamal ends up working as an assistant in a call center, while Salim turns into the right-hand man the biggest mobster in the area.

Jamal Answering Questions on the Show

The acting was spot-on; Patel was simply perfect for his role. In general, the acting felt so real and intense that it makes you question why more American actors can’t play these types of roles. There was a strange friction caused by the game show host (played by Anil Kapoor), which I never really figured out – for some reason he did not want Jamal to win. Going off of subtle dialogue clues, my guess is Kapoor’s character did not want to play second-fiddle, in terms of popularity, to an off-the-street slumdog. It felt surreal seeing some of the shots from Mumbai, just knowing this is how millions of people have to survive (not just in India, of course). The atmosphere, raw nature and violence of Slumdog Millionaire reminded me of the Brazilian cities in the film City of God.

I was never a fan of the game show when Regis Philbin hosted the American version, so I took the liberty of reading up on the rules of the game, since it seemed strange to me that you could hear a question and possible answers, then decide if you were going to keep the money you already earned or answer the question. Not to say I didn’t trust the film makers in getting their facts straight, but you can never be too sure, and they portrayed the show accurately. You could probably chalk that up to me trying to find a problem with the film, because I really couldn’t otherwise.

The pace of the film is perfect – there is a constant level of intensity that would fluctuate throughout the film, and it is never dull or slow – even the most attention-crazed movie goers will not be bored. There is really only one thing that kind of stuck out at me, and my guess is it was removed during the editing process. The film never fully explains how Jamal got onto the show, only that he did it he could get into contact with Latika, who was a fan of the show, as much of the area was. Jamal does explain at one point that he knew exactly when to call, so that some person could have their best chance of getting through to the show, but the whole process of how he made it on was never developed.

The Lovely Latika, played by Freida Pinto

Could someone please fucking put Freida Pinto in more films? This girl is absolutely gorgeous, and I’d put her acting ability at a Natalie Portman / Scarlett Johansson level, albeit this was Pinto’s first credited role, so it might be a bit of “beginner’s luck”, if you will. You might think it is silly to get on a game show to have your true love find you again, but if you have exhausted all other options of communication, and your true love looked like Pinto, you’d answer those questions too. Now I am pretty torn; Milk seemed like a shoe-in for best picture of the year, but Slumdog Millionaire throws me an unexpected curveball. Regardless of who has more political pull with the Academy, you should see this film. It is a little graphic at times, but most certainly a great movie to catch with your significant other, or with just about anybody. My final answer is…

D: It is written.