Monday, January 12, 2009

watch 90210 episode 13 season 1: 90210 s01e13 / 90210 1.13


90210 returns with its second episode 2009 with 90210 episode 13 season 1/90210 1.13 entitled Love Me or Leave Me. Adrianna, still struggling with her drug addiction, faces new problems after she finds out that she is pregnant. In 90210 s01e13 / 90210 1 13, Adrianna then reveals her secret to Naomi and Navid who each react to the news differently. Meanwhile, Tabitha surprises Annie and Dixon with a Christmas gift, a new car, while Annie and Ethan make an escape to the desert resort city of Palm Springs. Ryan, ont the other hand, has an unpleasant encounter with Kelly and Silver while Annie is surprised that Ty will also be auditioning for the new school play. Whew, looks like a lot will be happening in 90210 season 1 episode 13 / 90210 s01e13 so you
better not miss it.

For those of you who won't be able to catch it on TV, don't you worry because you can watch 90210 s01e13 / 90210 1.13 Love Me or Leave Me here. The full video stream of this episode will be posted on this page immediately after a copy becomes available online. Check back for it regularly. In the meantime, here is a short story description of Love Me or Leave Me and its preview clip.

Tabitha gives Annie and Dixon a new car without consulting their mom; Annie and Ethan sneak off to Palm Springs; Adrianna shares her secret with Naomi; and Dixon surprises Silver during a trip to the beach.

Preview: 90210 season 1 episode 13 / 90210 1.13
Love Me or Leave Me: 90210 episode 13 / 90210 s01e13

24 season 7 premiere: 24 season 7 episode 1 / 24 7.01 (s07e01)


Jack Bauer is back! In the premiere episode of 24 season 7 (24 7.01/24 season 7 episode 1), we will finally see him again in action as he works on a major national security incident when the firewall responsible for protecting America's government computer infrastructure is breached. The 24 season 7 premiere/24 season 7 episode 1 will also see the return of Tony Almeida, Jack Bauer's former CTU partner. He is "resurrected from the dead" and is now behind a plot to grab power from the government. More exciting action and scenes will be revealed as 24 7.01/24 s07e01 unfolds on January 11, 2009 ( it is up against the 2009 Golden Globe Awards).

The full video stream of Jack Bauer's return on the 24 season 7 premiere/24 7.01 will be available online very soon. As always, a copy of it will be posted on this site for those of you who prefer to watch it online or for those who may opt for repeat viewing. Please check back for it regularly. In the meantime, here is a short description of 24 season 7 episode 1/24 s07e01 and its preview clips. BTW, the first 17 minutes of the premiere episode has been released several weeks ago and I have likewise posted it below.

Whilst standing trial, ex-CTU agent Jack Bauer is called away by the FBI when an old friend is discovered to be involved with terrorists.


Preview: 24 season 7 premiere / 24 season 7 episode 1


2009 Critics' Choice Awards winners/2009 Critics' Choice Awards


The 2009 Critics' Choice Awards winners/2009 Critics' Choice Awards results have just been given out ushering the 2009 awards season in Hollywood into second gear. Soon other winners from award-giving organizations will follow with the Golden Globes winners coming out this weekend. For this year, the Critics Choice Awards has been highly anticipated because 2008 was a strong year for film, from big studio productions to small independent films. The 2009 Critics' Choice Awards nominations/2009 Critics' Choice Awards nominees list also reflect strong performances with front runners like Sean Penn, Brad Pitt, Anne Hathaway and perennial nominee Meryl Streep coming out on top

of almost every nomination list. Furthermore, one thing observers and fans are watching out for is Heath Ledger and Dark Knight. Will Heath win posthumously?

Many questions filled the air as the awards were to be handed out. The same questions that are in the minds of fans for the rest of the awards season: The Dark Knight's eerie crime fighter, or Brad Pitt's reverse ager? Angelina Jolie's superb as a heartsick mom, or Anne Hathaway in her best role yet? Sean Penn inhabiting a gay icon, or Mickey Rourke getting back in the ring? Seymor Hoffman as an accused priest, or Ledger's Joker? Penelope Cruz romping in Spain or Kate Winslet being put on trial? The questions have been answered and the 2009 Critics Choice Awards winners/2009 Critics Choice Awards results have been announced. See who won below.

2009 Critics' Choice Awards winners/Critics' Choice Awards results

Critics' Choice for Best Picture
Changeling
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Doubt
Frost/Nixon
Milk
The Reader
Slumdog Millionaire
Wall-E
The Wrestler

Critics' Choice for Best Actor
Clint Eastwood - Gran Torino
Richard Jenkins - The Visitor
Frank Langella - Frost/Nixon
Sean Penn - Milk
Brad Pitt - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Mickey Rourke - The Wrestler

Critics' Choice for Best Actress (Tie)
Kate Beckinsale - Nothing But the Truth
Cate Blanchett - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Anne Hathaway - Rachel Getting Married
Meryl Streep - Doubt
Angelina Jolie - Changeling
Melissa Leo - Frozen River

Critics' Choice for Best Supporting Acotr
Josh Brolin - Milk
Robert Downey, Jr. - Tropic Thunder
Philip Seymour Hoffman - Doubt
Heath Ledger - The Dark Knight
James Franco - Milk

Critics' Choice for Best Supporting Actress
Penelope Cruz - Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Viola Davis - Doubt
Vera Farmiga - Nothing But the Truth
Taraji P. Henson - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Marisa Tomei - The Wrestler
Kate Winslet - The Reader

Critics' Choice for Best Acting Ensemble
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Doubt
Milk
Rachel Getting Married

Critics' Choice for Best Director
Danny Boyle - Slumdog Millionaire
David Fincher - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Ron Howard - Frost/Nixon
Christopher Nolan - The Dark Knight
Gus Van Sant - Milk

Critics' Choice for Brest Writer
(Original or Adapted Screenplay)
Simon Beaufoy - Slumdog Millionaire
Dustin Lance Black - Milk
Peter Morgan - Frost/Nixon
Eric Roth - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
John Patrick Shanley - Doubt

Critics' Choice for Best Animated Feature
Bolt
Kung Fu Panda
Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa
Wall-E
Waltz With Bashir

Critics' Choice for Best Young Actor/Actress (Under 21)
Dakota Fanning - The Secret Life of Bees
David Kross - The Reader
Dev Patel - Slumdog Millionaire
Brandon Walters - Australia

Critics' Choice for Best Action Movie
The Dark Knight
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Iron Man
Quantum of Solace
Wanted

Critics' Choice for Best Comedy
Burn After Reading
Forgetting Sarah Marshall
Role Models
Tropic Thunder
Vicky Cristina Barcelona

Critics' Choice for Best Picture Made for Television
John Adams
Recount
Coco Chanel

Critics' Choice for Best Foreign Language Film
A Christmas Tale
Gomorrah
I've Loved You So Long
Let the Right One In
Mongol
Waltz With Bashir

Critics' Choice for Best Documentary Feature
I.O.U.S.A.
Man On Wire
Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired
Standard Operating Procedure
Young At Heart

Critics' Choice for Best Song
'Another Way to Die' - Jack White and Alicia Keys/Jack White - Quantum of
Solace
'Down to Earth' - Peter Gabriel/Peter Gabriel and Thomas Newman - Wall-E
'I Thought I Lost You' - Miley Cyrus and John Travolta/Miley Cyrus and
Jeffrey Steele - Bolt
'Jaiho' - Sukhwinder Singh/A.R. Rahman and Gulzar - Slumdog Millionaire
'The Wrestler' - Bruce Springsteen/Bruce Springsteen - The Wrestler

Critics' Choice for Best Composer
Alexandre Desplat - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Clint Eastwood - Changeling
Danny Elfman - Milk
Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard - The Dark Knight
A.R. Rahman - Slumdog Millionaire



Postscript: BTW, Here are the important dates to remember in the 2009 Hollywood awards calendar: the 2009 Golden Globe nominations on December 11, the SAG nominations on December 18, the 2009 Golden Globe Awards on January 11, the 2009 Oscar nominations/Academy Award nominations on January 22, the SAG Awards winners/results on January 25 and the 2009 Oscar Awards on February 22, 2009. And while we're on the subject of awards, let's throw in the 2009 Grammy nominations announced last December 3 and 2009 Grammy Awards (winners and results) on February 8, 2009.

Two and a Half Men season 6 episode 12: Two and Half Men 6.12


Fresh from its holiday break, Two and a Half Men season 6 episode 12/Two and a Half Men 6.12 dishes out another episode of laughs with "Thank God for Scoliosis". What are the brothers and Jake up to this time? Well, for one thing, Jake and uncle Charlie will fall for the same girl, a waitress, and with compete with each other for her attention. Meanwhile, love is also in the air for Alan, who will find himself attracted to his receptionist. Will Alan pursue her, or will his attraction lead to nothing (as always)? I'm more interested on the outcome of the uncle and nephew competition and I wonder who will win. We will have to tune in to Two and a Half Men s06e12/Two and a Half Men 612 to find out what happens.

. The full video stream of Thanks God for Scoliosis: Two and a Half Men s06e12/Two and a Half Men season 6 episode 12 will be available soon for all of you avid fans of the show. A copy will be posted on this page as soon as it becomes available online so please check back regularly. In the meantime, here is a brief description of the episode this week as well as its promo clip.


Alan finds himself attracted to his receptionist, while Charlie and Jake compete for a waitress.

Preview of Two and a Half Men season 6 episode 12 (s06e12)
Thank God for Scoliosis: Two and a Half Men 6.12

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The Big Bang Theory season 2 episode 12/Big Bang 2.12 (s02e12)


The comedy tandem returns this Monday as The Big Bang Theory season 2 episode 12/The Big Bang Theory 2.12 resumes its run after the holiday break. Teaming up with How I Met Your Mother, they provide the laughs for Monday nights on CBS. In this week's episode, The Big Bang Theory 212/The Big Bang Theory s02e12, the nerds are at it again as "drama" ensues. Penny's criticism of Wolowitz's romantic life pushes him into depression and AWOL for a fighting robot battle the rest of guys are depending on him for. What will this lead to? Will Wolowitz snap out of his depression in time for the robot competition? Find out this Monday when The Big Bang Theory s02e12/The Big Bang Theory

season 2 episode 12 airs.

For those of you who'll miss this episode, or for those who may want to watch it again after its airing, the full video stream of The Killer Robot Instability, The Big Bang Theory 212, will be available on this page soon. Please check back for it. As always, a copy will be posted here immediately after the video stream becomes available online. For now, here is the preview clip of The Big Bang Theory 2.12/The Big Bang Theory season 2 episode 12 and its plot summary.

When Penny's comment about Wolowitz's love life sends him into a depressed stupor, his friends lose their most important team-mate in an upcoming fighting robot competition.

Preview: The Big Bang Theory season 2 episode 12 (s02e12)

2009 Golden Globe Awards winners / Golden Globe winners 2009


2009 golden globes winners, golden globe awards winners, 2009 golden globe awards results, golden globe winners 2009, golden globe winner 2009, 2009 golden globe awards results, golden globe results 2009, 2009 golden globe results, read my mind, monacomeLooking for the 2009 Golden Globe Awards winners / Golden Globe winners 2009? You are at the right place. The 2009 Golden Globe Awards winners/results will be posted on this page as soon as the winners are announced on television during the live broadcast of the 2009 Golden Globe Awards in a few hours so check back this page regularly.

The homestretch of the 2009 awards season has begun with the three most anticipated prizes in Hollywood - the Golden Globe, the SAG and the Academy Award, all giving out their distinctions one after the other. The 2009 Golden Globe nominations, as well as the 2009 SAG nominations,
have been announced early last month and are due to reveal the winners soon. The 2009 Academy Awards nominations/2009 Oscar nominations (the biggest prize of all), on the other hand, will be revealed on January 22 with the winners revealed a month later. Various award-giving bodies have already handed out their choices earlier. Though the critics and different guilds had varied choices for the winners, they were more or less in agreement on the nominations with the following actors and actresses included in almost all the nominees' list: Sean Penn for Milk, Brad Pitt for The Curious case of Benjamin Butler, Mickey Rourke for The Wrestler, Anne Hathaway for Rachel Getting Married, Meryl Streep for Doubt, Angelina Jolie for The Changeling and Sally Hawkins for Happy-Go-Lucky. This group of actors and actresses have dominated nominations this year and there is no doubt the 2009 Golden Globe winner for best actor and best actress will also be one of them.

My fearless forecast is for Sean Penn to take the Best Actor plum with either Anne Hathaway or Meryl Streep getting the Best Actress prize. My prediction is the same for the SAG and the Oscars, with Meryl Streep having a stronger chance to win in the latter. She has been nominated so many times, 14 as of 2008 - the most by any actor or actress, and it's been ages since her last win. i think the Academy will give it to her this year.

Anne Hathaway may have to prepare a speech for the 2009 Golden Globes. Not only is she a strong contender but a recent "slip" at the 2009 Golden Globe Awards website led many to conclude that she will be announce as the winner for Best Actress tonight. From the list of nominees in every category, many were surprised to find a star beside Anne Hathaway's name. Was it a pre-empted announcement of the winner? Did the Golden Globe webmaster accidentally reveal one of tonight's results? Many think so. However, I disagree. The winners' names are known only to the accounting firm tasked to tabulate the votes and not even Golden Globe officials know the results until they are announced on stage (at least that's what is stated in the rules). So I think the Anne Hathaway "slip" was just a typo. (Photo source: topsocialite.com)


We will know the complete list of 2009 Golden Globe Awards winners/2009 Golden Globe winners as the results are revealed on live television tonight. The follwing list of nominees will be updated as the names are announced so if you don't have live coverage of the event, check this page regularly for the results.

2009 Golden Globe Awards Nominees/Nominations for Film
(the 2009 Golden Globe Awards Winners for Film will be highlighted as announced)


Best Motion Picture, Drama

* The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
* Frost/Nixon
* The Reader
* Revolutionary Road
* Slumdog Millionaire

Best Motion Picture, Comedy

* Burn After Reading
* Happy-Go-Lucky
* In Bruges
* Mamma Mia!
* Vicky Cristina Barcelona

Best Actor, Drama

* Leonardo DiCaprio, Revolutionary Road
* Frank Langella, Frost/Nixon
* Sean Penn, Milk
* Brad Pitt, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
* Mickey Rourke, The Wrestler

Best Actress, Drama

* Anne Hathaway, Rachel Getting Married
* Angelina Jolie, Changeling
* Meryl Streep, Doubt
* Kristin Scott Thomas, I've Loved You So Long
* Kate Winslet, Revolutionary Road

Best Actor, Comedy or Musical

* Javier Bardem, Vicky Cristina Barcelona
* Colin Farrell, In Bruges
* James Franco, Pineapple Express
* Brendan Gleeson, In Bruges
* Dustin Hoffman, Last Chance Harvey

Best Actress, Comedy or Musical

* Rebecca Hall, Vicky Cristina Barcelona
* Sally Hawkins, Happy-Go-Lucky
* Frances McDormand, Burn After Reading
* Meryl Streep, Mamma Mia!
* Emma Thompson, Last Chance Harvey

Best Supporting Actor

* Tom Cruise, Tropic Thunder
* Robert Downey Jr., Tropic Thunder
* Ralph Fiennes, The Duchess
* Philip Seymour Hoffman, Doubt
* Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight

Best Supporting Actress

* Amy Adams, Doubt
* Penélope Cruz, Vicky Cristina Barcelona
* Viola Davis, Doubt
* Marisa Tomei, The Wrestler
* Kate Winslet, The Reader

Best Director

* Danny Boyle, Slumdog Millionaire
* Stephen Daldry, The Reader
* David Fincher, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
* Ron Howard, Frost/Nixon
* Sam Mendes, Revolutionary Road

Best Screenplay

* Simon Beaufoy, Slumdog Millionaire
* David Hare, The Reader
* Peter Morgan, Frost/Nixon
* Eric Roth, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
* John Patrick Shanley, Doubt

Best Foreign Language Film

* The Baader Meinhof Complex (Germany)
* Everlasting Moments (Sweden)
* Gomorrah (Italy)
* I've Loved You So Long (France)
* Waltz With Bashir (Israel)

Best Animated Feature Film

* Bolt
* Kung Fu Panda
* WALL-E

Best Original Score

* Alexandre Desplat, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
* Clint Eastwood, Changeling
* James Newton Howard, Defiance
* A.R. Rahman, Slumdog Millionaire
* Hans Zimmer, Frost/Nixon

Best Original Song

* "Down to Earth," WALL-E; music by Peter Gabriel, Thomas Newman; lyrics by Peter Gabriel
* "Gran Torino," Gran Torino; music by Clint Eastwood, Jamie Cullum, Kyle Eastwood, Michael Stevens; lyrics by Kyle Eastwood, Michael Stevens
* "I Thought I Lost You," Bolt; music & lyrics by Miley Cyrus, Jeffrey Steele
* "Once in a Lifetime," Cadillac Records; music & lyrics by Beyoncé Knowles, Amanda Ghost, Scott McFarnon, Ian Dench, James Dring, Jody Street
* "The Wrestler," The Wrestler; music & lyrics by Bruce Springsteen


2009 Golden Globe Awards Nominees/Nominations for TV
(the 2009 Golden Globe Awards Winners for TV will be highlighted as announced)


Best Television Series, Drama

* Dexter
* House
* In Treatment
* Mad Men
* True Blood

Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series, Drama

* Sally Field, Brothers & Sisters
* Mariska Hargitay, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
* January Jones, Mad Men
* Anna Paquin, True Blood
* Kyra Sedgwick, The Closer

Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series, Drama

* Gabriel Byrne, In Treatment
* Michael C. Hall, Dexter
* Jon Hamm, Mad Men
* Hugh Laurie, House
* Jonathan Rhys Meyers, The Tudors

Best Television Series, Comedy or Musical

* 30 Rock
* Californication
* Entourage
* The Office
* Weeds

Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series, Comedy or Musical

* Christina Applegate, Samantha Who?
* America Ferrera, Ugly Betty
* Tina Fey, 30 Rock
* Debra Messing, The Starter Wife
* Mary-Louise Parker, Weeds

Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series, Comedy or Musical

* Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock
* Steve Carell, The Office
* Kevin Connolly, Entourage
* David Duchovny, Californication
* Tony Shalhoub, Monk

Best Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television

* A Raisin in the Sun
* Bernard and Doris
* Cranford
* John Adams
* Recount

Best Performance by an Actress in a Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television

* Judi Dench, Cranford
* Catherine Keener, An American Crime
* Laura Linney, John Adams
* Shirley MacLaine, Coco Chanel
* Susan Sarandon, Bernard and Doris

Best Performance by an Actor in a Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television

* Ralph Fiennes, Bernard and Doris
* Paul Giamatti, John Adams
* Kevin Spacey, Recount
* Kiefer Sutherland, 24: Redemption
* Tom Wilkinson, Recount

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television

* Eileen Atkins, Cranford
* Laura Dern, Recount
* Melissa George, In Treatment
* Rachel Griffiths, Brothers & Sisters
* Dianne Wiest, In Treatment

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television

* Neil Patrick Harris, How I Met Your Mother
* Denis Leary, Recount
* Jeremy Piven, Entourage
* Blair Underwood, In Treatment
* Tom Wilkinson, John Adams
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Slumdog Millionaire (2008)


Slumdog Millionaire
Ishika Mohan/Fox Searchlight Pictures

Dev Patel in the film “Slumdog Millionaire.”

November 12, 2008

Orphan’s Lifeline Out of Hell Could Be a Game Show in Mumbai

A gaudy, gorgeous rush of color, sound and motion, “Slumdog Millionaire,” the latest from the British shape-shifter Danny Boyle, doesn’t travel through the lower depths, it giddily bounces from one horror to the next. A modern fairy tale about a pauper angling to become a prince, this sensory blowout largely takes place amid the squalor of Mumbai, India, where lost children and dogs sift through trash so fetid you swear you can smell the discarded mango as well as its peel, or could if the film weren’t already hurtling through another picturesque gutter.
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Mr. Boyle, who first stormed the British movie scene in the mid-1990s with flashy entertainments like “Shallow Grave” and “Trainspotting,” has a flair for the outré. Few other directors could turn a heroin addict rummaging inside a rank toilet bowl into a surrealistic underwater reverie, as he does in “Trainspotting,” and fewer still could do so while holding onto the character’s basic humanity. The addict, played by Ewan McGregor, emerges from his repulsive splish-splashing with a near-beatific smile (having successfully retrieved some pills), a terrible if darkly funny image that turns out to have been representative not just of Mr. Boyle’s bent humor but also of his worldview: better to swim than to sink.

Swimming comes naturally to Jamal (the British actor Dev Patel in his feature-film debut), who earns a living as a chai-wallah serving fragrant tea to call-center workers in Mumbai and who, after a series of alternating exhilarating and unnerving adventures, has landed in the hot seat on the television game show “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.” Yet while the story opens with Jamal on the verge of grabbing the big prize, Simon Beaufoy’s cleverly kinked screenplay, adapted from a novel by Vikas Swarup, embraces a fluid view of time and space, effortlessly shuttling between the young contestant’s past and his present, his childhood spaces and grown-up times. Here, narrative doesn’t begin and end: it flows and eddies — just like life.

By all rights the texture of Jamal’s life should have been brutally coarsened by tragedy and poverty by the time he makes a grab for the television jackpot. But because “Slumdog Millionaire” is self-consciously (perhaps commercially) framed as a contemporary fairy tale cum love story, or because Mr. Boyle leans toward the sanguine, this proves to be one of the most upbeat stories about living in hell imaginable. It’s a life that begins in a vast, vibrant, sun-soaked, jampacked ghetto, a kaleidoscopic city of flimsy shacks and struggling humanity and takes an abrupt, cruel turn when Jamal (Ayush Mahesh Khedekar), then an exuberant 7, and his cagier brother, Salim (Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail), witness the murder of their mother (Sanchita Choudhary) by marauding fanatics armed with anti-Muslim epithets and clubs.

Cast into the larger, uncaring world along with another new orphan, a shy beauty named Latika (Rubina Ali plays the child, Freida Pinto the teenager), the three children make their way from one refuge to another before falling prey to a villain whose exploitation pushes the story to the edge of the unspeakable. Although there’s something undeniably fascinating, or at least watchable, about this ghastly interlude — the young actors are very appealing and sympathetic, and the images are invariably pleasing even when they shouldn’t be — it’s unsettling to watch these young characters and, by extension, the young nonprofessionals playing them enact such a pantomime. It doesn’t help even if you remember that Jamal makes it out alive long enough to have his 15 televised minutes.

It’s hard to hold onto any reservations in the face of Mr. Boyle’s resolutely upbeat pitch and seductive visual style. Beautifully shot with great sensitivity to color by the cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantel, in both film and digital video, “Slumdog Millionaire” makes for a better viewing experience than it does for a reflective one. It’s an undeniably attractive package, a seamless mixture of thrills and tears, armchair tourism (the Taj Mahal makes a guest appearance during a sprightly interlude) and crackerjack professionalism. Both the reliably great Irrfan Khan (“A Mighty Heart”), as a sadistic detective, and the Bollywood star Anil Kapoor, as the preening game-show host, run circles around the young Mr. Patel, an agreeable enough if vague centerpiece to all this coordinated, insistently happy chaos.

In the end, what gives me reluctant pause about this bright, cheery, hard-to-resist movie is that its joyfulness feels more like a filmmaker’s calculation than an honest cry from the heart about the human spirit (or, better yet, a moral tale). In the past Mr. Boyle has managed to wring giggles out of murder (“Shallow Grave”) and addiction (“Trainspotting”), and invest even the apocalypse with a certain joie de vivre (the excellent zombie flick “28 Days Later”). He’s a blithely glib entertainer who can dazzle you with technique and, on occasion, blindside you with emotion, as he does in his underrated children’s movie, “Millions.” He plucked my heartstrings in “Slumdog Millionaire” with well-practiced dexterity, coaxing laughter and sobs out of each sweet, sour and false note.

“Slumdog Millionaire” is rated R (Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian) for brutal violence.

SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE

Opens on Wednesday nationwide.

Directed by Danny Boyle; written by Simon Beaufoy, based on the novel “Q & A” by Vikas Swarup; director of photography, Anthony Dod Mantel; edited by Chris Dickens; music by A. R. Rahman; production designer, Mark Digby; produced by Christian Colson; released by Fox Searchlight Pictures. Running time: 2 hours.

WITH: Dev Patel (Jamal), Ayush Mahesh Khedekar (Youngest Jamal), Freida Pinto (Latika), Rubina Ali (Youngest Latika), Madhur Mittal (Salim), Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail (Youngest Salim), Sanchita Choudhary (Jamal’s Mother), Anil Kapoor (Prem) and Irrfan Khan (Police Inspector).